A Whisper of Ink
The snake slithered across her left arm, forked tongue licking the fabric of the universe.
On her right leg, a Chinese symbol spoke of peace and tranquility.
However, what really ensnared him was the spiral on her back, contracting and expanding with each breath.
Gently, he closed his eyes as she branded him for life.
I found myself googling random stuff in search of inspiration, today. Although I can’t really say tattoos are a thing of mine, after stumbling upon the picture below, I knew exactly what I had to write.
Home
Everything looked better in the pictures. The rooms were bigger, the furniture appeared new, light shone everywhere.
In reality, the divisions were cold, cramped, drowning in vestigial traces of memories long gone.
Only Amber’s paintings had real substance, protruding from the walls into the depths of Jack’s imagination. Her brush, his thoughts.
Home hypnotic home.
I had lunch with a friend of mine, today. While we were eating, she told me stories of her quest to find a new place, how she had visited so many different places only to be disappointed in every single of them. One of the main reasons for that was the illusion being sold to her via pictures, brochures, and website links. The real deal had nothing to do with those carefully constructed scenarios and once the dismay set in, nothing could cheer her up. Given that she’s aware of the things I love to write, I scribbled this for her using her account as a reference. She loved it. Perhaps, you will too.
Exposure
“This is so weird…” Brian commented.
“What is?” Melissa asked, her legs crossed seductively in front of him.
“Self-promoting. I’m not good at exposing myself.”
“Need some assistance with that?”
“Yes, please.”
“Just relax then…” she cooed, preparing him for trance.
After that day, exposure was never a problem again. Porn sites say “Thank you.”
Today’s piece is about introspection, coping with shyness, stepping out of one’s comfort zone. At least, that’s what the rational part of my brain tells myself before the kinky neurons decide to throw a party and wreak everything havoc.
True Goddess
“Luke, it’s three a.m. Turn off the console… now!”
“But honey… I’m in the middle of the final boss fight!” He replied, holding on to the controller as if it were the Holy Grail.
“I am thou, thou art I…” Bethany whispered in his ear, awakening the slave persona.
The Goddess of Control wins again.
Today’s short story is brought to you by yet another video game franchise, namely Persona.
A spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei (真・女神転生, translated as “True Goddess Reincarnation”) series, its trademark features include a high school setting, a group of students as the protagonists, a silent hero and combat using strange manifestations of unconscious desires known as Personas. Its overall theme is an exploration of the human psyche and how the characters find their true selves through adversities and superation. The series’ recurring concepts and design elements draw on Jungian psychology and archetypes, along with multiple world mythologies and popular literature. Some of it is pretty heavy stuff, but I like it immensely, even though I was a latecomer to the whole thing with my first experience of the series taking place only in late 2012, less than five years ago.
For this piece, I picked up some ideas present in the last installment thus far, Persona 5, and did what I usually do which is turn everything upside down. I can’t help myself because therein lies the fun of it all. If you’re familiar with the game, I’m sure you’ll recognize the references contained past the first line.