A Comfy Kind Of Restless

Hello!

My weekend was fab, and yet ‘Departure Glance’ is still on my mind…

I did not generate any more words for today’s piece, but played with one storyline that presented itself to me 😉

My thoughts about this were that our protagonist was semi-conscious in the forest, but unable to move or properly open his eyes, and this conversation was taking place above his prone body:

“Is he hurt?”

“Not seriously.”

“How much did they pour in the fire?”

“Not enough, it would seem.”

“He’s strong, he always was.  Did I ever tell you he almost died after birth?  That infection should have damaged him but -”

“Yes.”

“I wish he could ju-”

“It’s not an option.  We have discussed this many times”

“I know.”

“We must follow the plan, no matter who you claim he is.  He is handsome, however.  He shares your strong brow.”

“You have unwed daughters, my lady…”

“Do you presume…?!”

“He could be taught and trained.  You could make him worthy.  I hear there are great places of learning beyond these shores.  Take him to the elders, they might see some promise too.”

“These sound like orders, Paraton.”

“Heartfelt suggestions, only.”

“A leader does not rule by heart alone.”

Do you think this adds to the story in any way?  What did you glean from the above?

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for the coming weeks – follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with!

[Pic is from here]

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Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hiya 🙂

So…

Day 5 of writing this week’s random story!

(Here are days one, two, three and four)

Shall we see what Random Word Generator gave me to progress the adventure with, then?

Constant  Choke  Pattern  Contract  Medicine  Promotion  Crack  Venture  Epicalyx

My feet, unfortunately, kept up a constant throb as I tried to get comfortable on the sandy earth beneath my makeshift shelter.  I had started to feel a little breathless too, as if my woodsmoke was occasionally trying to choke me.  I put it down to the soaking I had received the night before, and gathered my cloak around me a little tighter while my eyes lazily watched the pattern of the firelight splay across the small beach.

I fell asleep a few times, but frequently startled myself awake, feeling as though I had just heard something move towards me over the sound of the rushing water and usual animal noises.  My pupils always took that split second to contract in the burgeoning light, and that was when I was convinced I witnessed something large retreating into the shadows – but it was gone as quickly as the thought appeared in my head.

I began to wonder if I should return to the village in search of medicine, my adventure-seeking and self promotion of just a few hours ago seeming absurd in that grey dawn of unease. 

Eventually, there came an almighty noise that I couldn’t explain away, and simultaneously three trees seemed to crack like mere twigs and plummet into the sand.  As my brain took this in, an elongated, scaly snout appeared from where the trees had once stood (at the height of a large horse) followed by two semi-webbed, scaly feet and the start of what looked like a long body.

The creature seemed to be about to venture towards the water’s edge, but I gasped a little too loudly and it turned its attention to me.

As it locked eyes with me (and I realised I hadn’t turned to stone) I had sudden visions of the flowers I had mutilated as a young boy, as well as all the strange names for the different parts of ‘flora’ that my mother had then painstakingly gone over from a complicated book of my father’s (to try and foster within me a little respect for nature).  Would my shirt collar be left circling the meaty hole where my neck once was: a sad epicalyx to my missing head, as this beast callously cast it into the falls…?

Somewhat understandably, I made up my mind not to wait to find out.

I am undecided whether to leave the story on this cliffhanger, or to forge ahead with the ideas that are swirling to answer the loose ends…one thing is for certain, however: I’m not writing anything over this weekend. Hubby and I are getting out with our friends on Saturday night and will be having a lazy day on Sunday 😉 so we’ll see what my preoccupations and workload are like on Monday.

So…this may or may not be the end of ‘Departure Glance’.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it, anyway!

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for the coming weeks – follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with!

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hello!

So is this the penultimate section of this week’s story, or will it reach into the weekend?!  Let’s crack on and see…

(Here are parts one, two and three if you missed them)

From Random Word Generator

Pyramid   Ministry   Paradox   Shift   Role   Easy   Secretion   Revival    Agony

That first night, it rained.

I had become frustrated with the task of properly constructing a tent for myself, having walked a fair distance and conserved as much food as possible, so I had slung the animal skin across some low hanging branches of a tree in a rough pyramid shape and curled up on the earthen ‘floor’.  I awoke in a puddle, a steady drip just behind me, where the wind had obviously caused the roof to slide. 

I moved closer to the trunk of the tree, first rescuing my belongings and firewood from the deluge as best I could.  I felt in need of ministry by morning: every joint seemed to protest at the slightest movement.

However, a young man can easily create a paradox within his mind at will, creating a seismic shift in his thinking when he wants to assume the hero role once more.  After something to eat, and in the warming sun that follows a storm, it is easy to laugh at a bad night and tell yourself that it built character.  Grandfather’s stories told of many such nights and the hero always survived.  There was nothing foolish in the path I had chosen for myself. 

There was tree sap (or some other less savoury secretion that I didn’t dwell on) staining my clothes.  I am now wearing proof of my struggles, becoming a man in the wild, an expert in overcoming obstacles.  I felt wonderful!

My spirits’ revival buoyed me through the whole of the second day, but my feet were in agony by the time I reached the falls, nonetheless.  My pride still made me take the time to fashion a shelter much more fitting for a male brought up in my village. 

Predictably, my second night brought no rain.  But it did furnish me with a different kind of adventure…

Oooo, let’s see what ‘adventure’ I can conjure up from tomorrow’s words, eh?!

*crosses fingers for lots of adjectives…*

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for the coming weeks – follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with!

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hey 🙂

(Here are parts one and two if you missed them)

From Random Word Generator

Outlook   Pocket   Suggest   Spot   Rate   Extension   Ball   Deposit   Visible

The positive outlook only wobbled a little while standing on the hill above the village; cheese and bread in my backpack, sharp pieces of flint in my pocket – first sunlight glinting off the little stream that wound past my sleeping mother and her fears of abandonment…

Everything seemed to suggest ‘routine’ down there.  Each tidy dwelling had its spot for drying clothes, and a designated area to cook and socialise.  There was always someone ready to rate how productive you were on any given day, so everyone kept busy and contributed as best they could. Each home was an extension of the next; a village journeying homogenously through whatever lay ahead. 

I could just make out the figures of some of our neighbours, checking fences and feeding animals.  The ball of my right foot started to ache, and I was surprised to become aware that I was straining to see so much when I had, just an hour or so before, been so ready to escape that life.

I resisted the urge to deposit my heavy pack on the grass and watch my mother discover I’d left.  I was not entirely convinced that I wasn’t visible from the ground and, anyway, that was sure to crack my resolve. 

I averted my gaze from the village, and kept walking.

Come back tomorrow and see whether our protagonist keeps heading into the great unknown…

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for the coming weeks – follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with!

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Hi!

This is what Random Word Generator gave me today:

We are on to the second instalment of this week’s story; here is part one if you need it!

Flavor   Future   Foundation   Module   Breakdown   Stake   Extreme   Hilarious   Struggle

I never really sought out adventure, but I got such a romanticised flavour of expedition and ‘the unknown’ one summer by helping Grandfather with the horses (for he had hurt his foot and was ordered to rest it as best he could for about a month) that I suddenly felt that my future lay beyond the village; and with Grandfather’s teachings as a foundation I could make my way in any terrain.

I started talking to the men who had explored beyond the next few villages, and got them to outline each module of kit they had taken with them – then I asked them to give me a breakdown of exactly what had been the most useful in tackling any difficulty they had come up against.

I kept my plans from Mother.  Father had gone missing a few years back, so I knew she’d naturally assume my life was at stake. “But, knowing me, I’d not do anything extreme; just reappear in under a week and regale everyone with pitifully hilarious accounts of my struggle to even keep a campfire lit” said my less confident side.

It is best to try to get these things over with, however, once they enter your head.  I of course would hate to sit and wonder “what if…” instead.

See you tomorrow for part three…

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for next week – please follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with! Thaaaank Yoooou!!

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!

Good Evening!

Gemma gave me a picture prompt on my Facebook sticky post today, and asked me to use Random Word Generator to conjure up all my words for this week.  Thanks Gemma!! 😀

(This particular waterfall is in Iceland, you can read about it here.)

As usual, I asked for five words initially to get my title; then changed the options so that I could have nine words to inspire my first instalment.

I chose ‘Departure Glance’ as my title because it seemed to have more possibilities than any other combination 😉

Then I got stuck in with today’s ‘big nine’:

Reptile   Turn   Relative   Judicial   Wander   Shower   Mixture   Dismissal

My Grandfather used to gather us all and tell us legends of the ‘reptile of the falls’. It had various abilities: could turn you to stone, or hypnotise you so you went back and murdered every relative you had; that sort of thing.  There seemed to be no judicial wiggle room for the creature – wherever he decided to wander in our lands, he was deemed to be up to no good.

As he continued to shower every impressionable young mind in the village with these exciting myths, Grandfather looked on inscrutably while we responded with a mixture of dismissal and a healthy respect for the waters’ edge.

There was a pilgrimage of sorts, taken by older teenagers with rebellion on their minds, once every year or so.  Mostly they came back disappointed and poured scorn on Grandfather’s stories.  But occasionally there was a tragedy that left us all a little unsettled, and looking over our shoulders more often when alone.

Join me tomorrow for Part Two!

Pssst!!! I need inspiration for the coming weeks – follow the instructions on my Facebook’s ‘sticky post’ challenge if you want to help me out and choose a picture and generator for me to play with!

Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter

Copyright © 2018  Montaffera All Rights Reserved

Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!