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[unij]

The How's My Driving? MemeEDIT: Also


universejuice 8:43 pm argh I have so much writing left to do
Kia 8:43 pm ^^; Shall I leave you to it, then?
universejuice 8:44 pm idk I'll probably keep putting it off. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just NaNo but I have no idea what to write for the short story.
Kia 8:45 pm ^^;
Kia 8:45 pm find a random premise and just start writing?
universejuice 8:46 pm Yeeeah I spose
Kia 8:46 pm Here's one: There's a sheep in the room. Nobody has any idea how it got there, and it's hungry.

Title: Symbolic
Series: original
Rating: PG for language
Word Count: 560
“My carpet,” Jacob insisted, “Is completely ruined.”

“Gotta say, man, you’d think there would be bigger things to worry about right now.”

“Carpet cleaning’s expensive,” he shot at the brunette girl who was sitting on his ottoman. “Carpeting is expensive. I don’t want to think about how long it’s going to take to get the smell out of this place. Who knows how many little surprises the thing’s left me, it need not be mentioned how filthy it is.”

Mallory leaned against the yellow-gray pillow of hair, pouting and wrapping her arms about it. “Don’t talk about him like that, you’ll hurt his feelings.”

“You know that sheep are female, don’t you,” Al commented from off to the side. He was watching the animal with a slightly furrowed brow, more curiosity than disdain.

“Mnaaa,” said the sheep.

“Just. I don’t care.” Jacob stamped an ineffectual foot, and pointed at the door. “Just get it out of my apartment. If this is some sort of asinine prank, I’m not laughing.”

“Calm down, Jacob.” Al received a glare as he flicked some dark hair out of his face and stepped towards the sheep. “This sort of thing doesn’t just happen randomly. I really don’t think we should brush it off as random happenstance.”

“What sort of happenstance is it, then, Al? Because, honestly, I can’t think of any reason for a sheep to have arrived in an apartment room on the fifth floor, who knows how many goddamn miles away from a farm.”

“Maybe it’s a sign, from Buddha or someone,” Mallory offered. “You should take up knitting. I hear it’s stress-relieving.”

Al ignored the young woman, but Jacob didn’t seem likely to run short on sour looks at any point in the near future. “There are plenty of urban farms in San Francisco. We do have a history of being smug for doing things our own way, you know.” He smirked faintly. “We can call around, see if any of them have noticed holes in their gates, or something."

“Mnaaaaaaah.”

The smell of the creature was definitely beginning to add to Jacob’s headache. He took off his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. “Al. Last time I was aware, sheep weren’t particularly skilled at climbing stairs, working elevators, or opening locked doors. Whether or not it escaped from a farm is hardly the most pressing mystery.”

“Your door was unlocked,” Mallory commented. “Listen, what’s the big problem? We bring it to the local animal shelter, they find some open field for it to munch on, Jacob can buy some air fresheners.”

“Mrrrrrraaaaaaahhhhh.” The sheep had begun inspecting the carpet carefully. Al took a step forward to lift its head away before it could contemplate further how good shag could taste. Its head lowered again as soon as he pulled back.

“Yes. Let’s just… get it out of here. I don’t care how it got here, I just want it out. I’m calling the shelter. Mal, go get your car.” He turned to go to the kitchen.

Al sighed. “I can’t even think of any symbolic reasoning for this. Sheep don’t mean much of anything besides getting herded around.”

Mallory shrugged as she rose. “I don’t know, man. For all we can tell, it’s just a bored, hairy mammal with a grudge for Jacob’s apartment value.”

“Myahh.”

Comments

[aviekokyre.livejournal.com]

That sheep probably knows the meaning of life.

Okay, but seriously, I'm floored that you can turn such a random prompt (And how did Kia think of it?) into a piece that works and doesn't resort to pure crack and over the top reactions. The three different reactions show a lot about the characters despite short length of the piece. That's not easy to do. I like this piece a lot.