Well, I’m not late this week! And I got to write my first battle! Yay! (Umm, it’s a little gritty, so be warned.) And here’s our refresher:

• Conduit - established hero, energy absorption and reflection

• Blink - trainee, teleporter

• Awareness - trainee, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings

• Reset - trainee, able to send himself back in time and change his actions

Awareness was just finishing her breakfast dishes when she started to sense the heightened intent of people working at the Agency’s Dispatch unit. It still amazed her that she could pick something like that up at such a distance. The Agency had set her up in a quiet little village about a three hour drive northeast of Calgary. Her focus and tuning had been getting better, but the distraction of over a million minds in Calgary had tested her capacity. It seemed that as her filters grew, so did her range. Or perhaps she’d always had this range, but the closest people drowned everyone else.

Regardless, she and her mental trainers were finding she was able to pick up on familiar minds at ever growing distances. Dispatch could be worked up over some local emergency, but given the number of flashes of her or her team she picked up, it was likely a new Portal. If they contacted Conduit, she’d know right away, as he was definitely on her mental “quick dial”.

She dried her hands on a tea towel and left the frying pan in the drying rack and made her way to the laundry room. The Agency had provided each of them with multiple uniforms, but she had just washed one last night, so why not enjoy that fresh-out-of-the-dryer scent on this recon.

With a smile, Awareness put her Agency earbud in and answered Conduit’s call.

“Good morning, Awareness,” he said, “new portal south of the city.”

“Thank you, Conduit, I’ll get prepped and locate Blink and Reset.”

He disconnected and prepared to call Reset. It’s not that he’s rude, but he knew he really didn’t have to fill her in, either.

She also didn’t have the heart to tell him he was subconsciously projecting a meme of a baby pumping it’s arm and saying, “It’s Go Time!”

She couldn’t read actual thoughts, but they were working on fine tuning the images she could send and receive. Memes were surprisingly effective for getting the point across, and she appreciated that Conduit was learning that as well, even if not intentionally.

The first thing Awareness noted with this Portal was the sound. Granted, she’d been in her peaceful cabin in the middle of nowhere, but this was excessive. The Portal appeared in an alley in a small town, but the noise made the whole neighborhood sound like it was holding a festival. Definitely drawing the attention of the townsfolk. Fortunately, Portals were now being treated with all due caution, and the containment teams had arrived quickly.

There was loud music, people laughing and shouting with joy, those bells, calls and bangs that everyone associates with the midway of any decent fair. But this sounded like all the sounds of the Calgary Stampede funneled in to the alley.

She took her customary spot close to Conduit as he was briefed by the incident commander. With this being the fourth Portal close to Calgary in as many weeks, she was getting a good read on this gentleman. He was precise and focused, he was not at all distracted by the chaos of the sounds. There were some responders who were less focused, craning to see through the shimmering oval.

As Conduit finished the briefing Reset and Blink approached, checking their gear. Blink was bouncing from foot to foot. Ok, maybe it wasn’t just the civilian responders having issues with focus.

One of those civilians turned in their direction - and immediately paled. He stuttered some half formed words and skittered off to one of the trucks. Reset looked at Awareness with a question in his eyes.

“What was that about?” he leaned in and asked over the din.

“Naked old people.” Awareness replied simply.

“… I’m going to need a little bit more than that.”

“The first time we met, his gaze… lingered… and I didn’t like where his mind was going. So I populated it with an image scorched into my memory from a vacation to Sweden.”

“Which was…”

“Multigenerational mixed gender nude saunas.”

“… So… every time he looks at you now?”

“Naked old people.”

Reset’s eyebrows shot up. Then he nodded. “Seems fair.”

Watching the Portal entry procedure Conduit had developed was becoming routine, but Awareness enjoyed the opportunity to fine tune her senses. To everyone else, Reset simply appeared to walk through the Portal and then started to prepare his gear. What she could see during his loops was astounding, if she knew to expect them. It would be like those old stereoscopic viewfinders her grandma had shown her, except the two identical images would start to vary. A quick portal entry usually didn’t have a lot of variation, but she and Reset had experimented on their own.

Once, they went to a mall and Reset set an anchor and let her know. He then went and got a coffee at a national chain location. After he had his first sip, he reset and found a locally owned coffee store instead. Awareness used a voice recorder to describe what she was seeing as he walked through the routes. The voice recording had her detailing the double vision of Reset visiting both locations. However, when he returned from the local shop, she could remember making the recording - but had no memory of him visiting the national chain. If she really focused, she could see hints in her own memory, but it was clear as day in Reset’s. He had truly lived both, at the same time. She did feel the pain he experienced at the end of the loop, and multiple loops increased the pain greatly. On occasion, when Reset had been forced to try multiple jumps, all Awareness would sense would be blurred images. And even if she wasn’t checking, those iterations could lead to an unexpected shock of pain.

The local coffee was better, by the way, so she went there for her own…

The men had finished their entry, and she could see Blink eagerly describing the various concessions and rides he had seen on his quick recon. Awareness could always count on him to provide a great counterpoint to Conduit’s stoicism and Reset’s ennui. She was eager to join them, partially from seeing his excitement, but she had to admit the carnival sights and sounds were egging her on as well. Memories of Stampedes with her friends in years past coming to mind with ease. She stepped through the portal and…

Staggered.

She lurched forward, one hand flying to her head, another out to the onrushing ground. She managed to halt her fall with one knee and her hand, thankful for the uniform’s knee cushioning and gloves.

Another wave of emotion brought her second hand to her head. Fear. Desperation. Exhaustion. But above all that a single - clear - word was present in her brain…

CELEBRATE!!

She felt a smile forcing its way to her face, and the sight of it stopped her team cold.

She could feel Conduit’s confusion and concern and she grasped for it like a lifeline. Focusing on his analytical mind pushed the overwhelming emotions down. The command remained, but more as an overheard shout, not a directed call to action. She accepted his proffered hand and shakily rose to her feet.

“What is it?” he leaned in and asked.

“Something… someone is forcing them to act this way,” Awareness forced out in a harsh whisper.

The team looked around, emotions now sobered by Awareness’ obvious discomfort. People leaning against game booths with barely enough strength to throw the rings at the targets. Others at food trucks, bellies distended as they jammed food into their own protesting mouths. A nearby carousel slowly rotating with people grasping the gaily painted horses with white knuckles, some of them collapsed and rag dolling to the side. All with ghastly smiles. All of them weeping.

She straightened herself and pulled up her hood. Setting her jaw, she pointed down the midway.

Following her gaze, the rest of her team could see the head and shoulders of an absolute brute of a man above the teeming crowd. He was looking in their direction, but at the glowing Portal, not at them. He seemed to be conferring with someone nearby, a cocky grin on his face.

Conduit looked to Blink and circled a finger in the air. Blink disappeared.

“We have to help.” Awareness growled and marched forward. Reset and Conduit rushed to walk forward in front of her, working to match her pace.

Blink reappeared behind them, adjusted, and quickly matched their strides.

“Looks like five, but only three seem active, one is definitely a hostage. The giant is holding a girl, another is pushing a boy in a wheelchair, and the last jackass is walking along sending shocks into the civilians.” He reported, “Also, at least a dozen men moving in the background, stripping the displays and picking the crowds clean.”

“The boy in the wheelchair,” Conduit asked, “Another hostage?”

“Hard to tell, his eyes are blazing, but he’s focused on the girl.”

“Noted.”

“The boy is a hostage,” Awareness said through gritted teeth, “and the cause of this.”

Conduit’s fists clenched. He’d heard enough. Reset checked his watch and Awareness immediately felt his thoughts devolve into a blurred mass. She had to block the multitude of paths from her mind and trust Reset was picking the right one. She braced for the rebound pain they would both experience. Blink started loosening himself up as he strode forward with the team.

The desperate laughing crowd parted before them, something akin to hope showing in their eyes as they sensed the determination of the four people moving through them.

The huge man quickly came into full view. He was walking forward with his massive left hand wrapped around the neck of a teenage girl. Casually dragging her unconscious body behind him. Easily two feet taller than Blink, his unnatural bulk was dwarfing the man to his right who was pushing the wheelchair. The teenage boy in the wheelchair had been roughly treated, bruised and bloody, his clothes scorched. His jaw was firmly set, eyes blazing as he looked helplessly at the girl. Awareness continued to scan the crowd and spotted a slender man with long hair gleefully twirling and administering electric shocks to the helpless crowd.

As she processed the scene the slender man’s eyes caught hers and he shouted, “Boss! Something’s up!”

Conduit’s hand moved to his earbud, but Reset was faster. “Blink - the girl! Conduit - the electric man! Awareness - Calm!”

With that Reset charged the giant.

Awareness immediately brought to mind an image of the Alberta Rockies over the rolling Prairies and concentrated on sending out a wave of calmness. Blink was instantly behind the giant grabbing one of the girl’s shoulders. Conduit charged to the left, directly at the electricity projector.

The “boss” raised his right hand and tracked Conduit as he ran, a gout of white flame shooting forth. The electricity projector was a heartbeat behind, firing at Awareness. But he was too late. Conduit intercepted that blast as well.

Blink suddenly appeared to Awareness’ right, softly lowering the girl to the ground. The brute sensed his empty hand and bellowed in rage. Seeing the onrushing Reset he lashed out with his massive right hand, connecting with Reset’s center of mass. The beast grinned as Reset’s limp body flew back and crashed through a line of concessions. Awareness winced as she felt Reset’s pain radiating out.

Standing at the confluence of two powerful beams of energy, Conduit turned his attention to the monstrous man and redirected the electricity at him. The bulk didn’t seem to protect him from electricity, and he began to twitch.

The teenage boy turned and looked at Awareness. He mouthed the word, “Calm” and she could feel his power redoubling her own.

Blink appeared behind the slender man and the two were gone in a breath.

The huge brute fell twitching to the ground.

The boss seemed to recognize his peril and stopped the flames, he quickly raised his hands saying, “Hey, wai…”

Blink appeared in front of him, levelling him with a devastating right cross.

“No.”

They all heard a sickening crunch of bones as the slender man fell from the sky and crumpled to the ground, his legs and ankles taking the brunt as he screamed.

The boy threw himself forward out of the chair, having spotted the girl. “Sleep!”

Around them, a dozen men in various states of retreat fell in to an instant slumber. Crawling forward, the boy reinforced Awareness again with a hoarsely shouted, “Calm!”

The crowd started to fold in on themselves, sitting or leaning, grabbing others for comfort, but no panic. They still felt the horror, but the two super minds were holding back their instinctive reactions.

Awareness was turning to the scattered wreckage of the concession stands when she sensed Reset’s… satisfaction? Then the pain of the collapsing possibilities in his mind almost overwhelmed her. Conduit moved quickly to offer her a steadying shoulder. Blink was already tearing through the wreckage looking for Reset.

The local first responders were augmented by the Agency’s containment team crossing the Portal. Mostly minor injuries, the mental trauma and overeating would cause the most concern.

Reset was still unconscious. Awareness could sense the same swirling void she had felt after his powers had manifested. That had left him in a coma for weeks, there was no telling how long he’d be out this time. No one knew how many iterations he had tried. His bones and open cuts were already stitching themselves. It seemed his reset power worked on his body as well as time. Conduit took this as confirmation of what some of the scientists had hypothesized - Awareness as an explanation for one of many topics Reset refused to talk about.

This world’s local super authority had swooped in to collect the criminals. The teenage girl had been returned to her family. The teenage boy? He was ‘being evaluated’, ostensibly in a legal sense, but likely in a power sense as well.

As they waited for the authority he had tearfully explained he’d thought joining the super gang would impress the girl. When they learned what he could truly do, they had pressed him into service. Awareness hoped the super authority here would be able to give him some better guidance.

Blink and Conduit stood on Awareness’ porch, looking out over the lake. They had visited Reset again, but there was still no change. His body had completely healed, but his mind still hadn’t… returned? It was tough to say what exactly was happening to him.

It was especially tough on Conduit who was feeling guilty for not protecting his trainee. It was very hard to reconcile that Reset had chosen that result. What had been the alternatives? Reset simply could have gone back to before they entered the portal and waved them off… Maybe he did, and the result was even worse. Reset had proved that he would not walk away from innocents at risk, that was for damn sure.

Awareness stepped out on to the porch, set the tray of chamomile tea down and they sat and watched the sunset in silence.

This is a response to ’s Week 5 Portal Prompt - A World in Celebration.

This was both tough and fun to write! I’m such a “super” fanboy, I kept picturing the fight scene in my head and getting worked up. I’m a sucker for heroism of all sorts. I hope it lands somewhat the same for you.

Hope you enjoyed!

Dave

First note: Sorry it’s late - Jake Wood’s listing of excuses… now…

This week’s Indie Ink Fund Portal Prompt sees the portal opening upon a quiet village where “No one seems surprised that you have arrived. In fact, they seem relieved.”

What a perfect opportunity to crossover my Portal stories with the Millcreek Village stories!

Quick Refresher:

• Conduit - established hero, energy absorption and reflection

• Blink - trainee, teleporter

• Awareness - trainee, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings

• Reset - trainee, able to send himself back in time and change his actions

• Millcreek Dave - A pleasant mid-50s experiment participant, runs Edgeworks Cafe and Bar - was cloned and miniaturized, his clone recently left for Story Ville

Reset woke to the sound of his phone ringing on his bedside table. Since it was still dark, the ringing meant it had to be Conduit calling about another “training opportunity” - that is to say, a new portal opening somewhere nearby. While it didn’t classify as a true emergency, there was a requirement to respond as soon as was feasible. Nothing had come through a Portal to this side, yet, but there was always that possibility. Had it truly been an emergency, Reset would have likely woken up to Blink standing in his bedroom.

“Hello” he answered, trying not to sound to groggy.

“Good… uh… morning, Reset.” Conduit replied, also trying to hide the cobwebs. “Got a new portal on the east side of the city, and the Agency would like us to do a standard recon. Are you at home?”

Asking was really just being polite. Since they were “on-call” they were all required to have their Agency headsets close at hand, which would show Dispatch where they were. Plus, Conduit usually woke Awareness first for these early morning calls. The Agency headsets were great, but nothing beat the direct sense Awareness had of her team. Not a prying, per-se, as she explained it. She had “gotten used to their mental fingerprints” and could pick them out at quite a distance.

“Yep,” Reset replied, “how much time until our superUber appears?”

Conduit barely contained a chuckle, “I’m calling Blink next, but Dispatch says containment is already on site. Sounds like it’s in the middle of nowhere, and was just discovered by chance. How does 20 minutes sound?”

“Sounds great, Conduit, I’ll be showered and packed when he arrives.” Reset disconnected.

They had very quickly settled on using their codenames, addressing Conduit as “Sir” just felt off, given that he was the second youngest of the four. And he had no official rank for reference. Heh… Captain Conduit to the rescue!

Reset had known of Awareness from company events, but they rarely had to address each other out loud, due to her powers. He had gotten used to the phenomenon of thinking, “Oh, I should say something to…” and seeing her looking directly at him.

Blink also worked for the same company, but had just been hired. It was easier for Reset to just refer to him as Blink, and vice-versa. So, they all just stuck to codenames.

After a quick shower and checking his gear, Reset went to his living room to wait for Blink. He was chowing down on a granola bar, wistfully looking at his French press when Blink appeared. He briefly considered resetting to before his shower and making coffee instead, but that seemed to be a frivolous use of his power. He sighed and gave Blink a nod to say both “hello” and “game on” as he scarfed down the last bite.

Conduit had not been kidding when he said it was in the middle of nowhere. The portal was set about two hundred meters back from a railroad crossing on a rural road. A shimmering oval hovering over the canola stubble, barely visible in the dawn’s light.

Reset could see that Conduit was getting a briefing from the incident commander, Awareness off to the side silently monitoring. It was a brisk morning and Reset was thankful for the insulation in his trainee uniform. Still a shock to the system to go from a warm bed, to a hot shower, to the middle of a chilly farmer’s field. He and Blink moved off the gravel road to join the rest and he could feel his boots sink slightly in the thawing ground.

“…just seems peaceful.” the incident commander was finishing with a smile.

Reset took a look through the portal, and he had to agree. It looked to be dawn on the other side. From what little he could see, the buildings would fit in to any Alberta village. Conduit gave him the nod and they started their preparations to enter the portal. Noting the time on his watch, and tightening his pack, Reset stepped through with Conduit.

“Hello! Welco…”

***

Reset registered the greeting as he instinctively bounced back to before they entered. The two stepped forward again, Reset keeping his eyes to the right as he passed through this time. He saw the man as he began his greeting.

“Hello! Welcome to Millcreek Village!” said the tall, cheerful looking man. Standing behind what looked to be a long wooden collapsible table… with coffee and pastries on it?

Conduit quickly stepped between the man and Reset, and Reset noted the time on his watch again.

“Uhh… hello?” Conduit began, “have you..”

***

Reset followed procedure and set himself back to his second anchor point.

“Uhh… hello?” Conduit began, “have you been waiting for us?”

“Sure have!” came the bright reply, “I was out for a morning run and spotted this… uhh… doorway? I don’t really recall seeing one of these before, but after a bit I started seeing activity on the other side, so I figured I’d get set up!”

At this, Blink stepped through the portal and promptly teleported away, back again, and then right in front of the table. “You have coffee!?!” he exclaimed.

The man, who was maybe a tiny bit shorter than Blink only seemed taken aback for a second before he eagerly replied in the affirmative. Awareness was through seconds later and also rushed the table to reach for an empty cup as she perused the pastries.

Reset saw Conduit lightly roll his eyes, but they all knew if Awareness approved, there was no immediate danger. Seeing no reason to delay, they also stepped forward. The coffee smelled good!

“Oh wow!” the man remarked, “Four of you! Glad I got properly set up. We were expecting new people, but we weren’t sure when… or how… they would show up.”

“You haven’t seen portals before, but you were expecting new people?” Conduit queried.

“Well, to be fair, I don’t really remember how we got here, so I guess a portal is as good an explanation as any! Oh… I’m forgetting my manners! I’m Dave!” Dave finished with his hand out.

Reset noticed a quirk in Awareness’ eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything and turned back to the cruller she was enjoying. Conduit took the proffered hand and introduced the team by their codenames.

“Oh neat!” came Dave’s reply, “superhero names, team costumes, the big guy seems to be able to teleport… are you a super team??”

Reset almost bobbled his coffee, the eagerness and earnestness was a lot to take in this early in the morning.

Conduit, ever the stickler for detail, remarked, “We prefer to just call our selves ‘supers’ and leave the ‘hero’ portion for the media. But, yes, the four of us work together.”

Awareness smirked and said, “Awww, Conduit, we’re a super team!!” but then got a little more serious and stated, “Dave here has never seen a super before.”

Reset saw Dave blink a couple of times as he processed.

“Uh, no,” he said slowly, “I mean I’ve seen some pretty amazing things over the last few weeks, but not sure I’ve seen anything like a costumed superhe… err… costumed super before.”

“Dragons!!” Awareness exclaimed in delight, causing the other four to quickly look to the sky. “Sorry, that caught me completely off guard, but the images were so vivid and joyful!”

Dave smiled and tapped the side of his bald head, “I guess that makes you the mind reader on the team, that’s awesome! Yes, I have plenty of fond memories of all the magical creatures I’ve run in to in Millcreek. Where are you all from, if I may ask?”

Reset could see that Conduit was still processing the idea of dragons and magic so he spoke up, “We’re from Calgary. It’s in…”

“Canada!” Dave interrupted, “Calgary, Canada! I’m from Calgary! …But I’m pretty sure Calgary doesn’t have super powered people.”

They all paused to process, with Awareness helpfully breaking the silence.

“Dave’s Calgary… Dave’s world doesn’t have supers. But other than that, it’s almost the same. Neither of our worlds have dragons, so…” she trailed off.

“I mean…” Reset began with a shrug, “given my power, is a multitude of similar worlds that far fetched?”

Reset was glad that Dave seemed blissfully unaware why the rest suddenly looked so downcast.

While Conduit and Dave commiserated about the latest Flames season in both their worlds, Reset sidled over to Awareness. She looked at him with a wide smile - something he wasn’t used to seeing. She seemed to be waiting for his question to be spoken, so he obliged.

“You seem exceptionally calm, what’s different about this portal?”

“The village is calm, everyone is happy, feeling like they belong, but still curious about their surroundings. And…” she paused, “Dave isn’t the only one to welcome us to the village.”

Reset looked around, then back to Awareness.

She smiled, “The mayor, Maple, seems to be able to communicate indirectly, and she told me we were welcome to explore.”

“‘Communicate indirectly’? Is she a telepath like you?” Reset asked.

“Well, I’m technically more of an empath, feelings and images.” She explained, “With Maple, I can actually hear her talking to me, as if she was standing next to me. And I think she’s either hearing my thoughts, or my projections are enough, and she’s intuiting the rest.”

“Another super?”

“I… I don’t think so? Maybe the magic Dave was talking about?” Awareness shrugged. “All I know is she seems very… in charge. But not in a bad way. She’s invited me to continue the conversation.”

“Are you going to go find her?

Awareness smiled at him. “I don’t think one just goes to meet Maple, but we can talk just fine like this. I might just go find somewhere out of the way to sit.”

It was nice to see her so relaxed. Even in the calmest locations, Awareness always seemed a little on edge to Reset. He finished his coffee, feeling the calm wash over himself as well. He’d still stick to procedure and set time anchors, of course, but it was nice to see everyone so relaxed.

Well, except for Blink, he was always a bundle of energy. Blink had butted in to Dave and Conduit’s hockey discussion and Reset overheard the gleeful shout, “You have a gym here!!” And with that, Blink disappeared, hopefully not startling any early morning gym users.

Checking his gear, Reset got ready to ask Dave a question when Awareness called out the answer, “Maple suggests you seek out a woman named Rose. She apparently has the best feel for the soil around here of all… the um… humans.”

He looked at her quizzically, but she shrugged in response. Fair enough, he supposed. At least Dave isn’t an animated character… or a triceratops… It’s been a weird couple of months.

Arriving at 123 Forest Lane (what a quaint address for a lovely village), Reset checked his watch. Partially to lock in an anchor, partially to make sure it wasn’t too early. The house seemed very still, a beautiful cottage with an amazing garden full of a wide variety of flowers and plants. He had to admit he was truly impressed. Given his experiences with some of his longer resets, he was learning to appreciate stopping to smell the roses, as it were. He once popped back more than twelve hours by mistake, and had a lot of time to kill before any action he took would affect the outcome. Since he was already in downtown Calgary, he had stopped by the Devonian Gardens to relax. (He’d changed his watch setting to a 24-hour clock after that…)

It was still early morning, but this village had a bustle to it, so Reset knocked on the door and waited. With no answer he decided the best thing to do would be to move out to the Lane and get his sample kits ready.

Holding one of the larger glass jars up to the morning sun to check the cleanliness, he was startled by an unexpected sight. As his brain processed it, it seemed like some sort of trick of perspective. A woman was… hovering(?) in the distance, but it almost looked as if she was sitting on the edge of the jar. He quickly moved it to the side to see this flying person better and realized his mistake. It hadn’t been perspective, she was tiny, and was actually sitting on the lip of the jar! And his sudden movement pitched her right into it with an annoyed shriek!

Fortunately, little wings on her back fluttered to slow her fall, but she looked really perturbed. Reset tried to hold as still as possible, afraid of disturbing the jar any further.

“What do you think you are doing?” came a tiny, muffled voice from the jar.

“Oh, I am so sorry, you startled me, I thought it was a trick of…”

“Are you just running around bottling up all the residents of Millcreek?” she demanded, little fists on her hips.

“I… uhh” Reset honestly couldn’t remember a time he’d been more flustered, including an argument with a anthropomorphic rabbit.

“‘I…uhh’” she repeated back to him, “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

He tried to gather his composure, “I’m very sorry, miss, I… well, I wasn’t aware this village had Tinkerbells”

With that, she shot out of the jar and right up to his face - pausing so close to his nose he almost went cross-eyed. “I am NOT a Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell is a distinct character, I am a pixie! One with my very own name!”

Reset ran through a number of possible replies, shook his head and then…

***

Arriving at 123 Forest Lane (what a quaint address for a lovely village), Reset checked his watch. Partially to lock in an anchor, partially to make sure it wasn’t too early.

Reset rolled his eyes. He was glad no one ever truly knew when he used his powers. He’d have a lot of explaining to do for using them to avoid an awkward personal encounter! But, hey, if you control time, wouldn’t you?

Without knocking, he moved back to the Lane and waited patiently. All glass jars and assorted containers safely still in his pack. After a few minutes, the pixie flitted in to sight and flew up to him.

“Hello!” she said brightly, “Are you waiting for us?”

“I am waiting for Rose, I was not aware she had a pixie companion.” Reset replied amicably.

“You don’t seem shocked to see me.” the pixie commented, maybe pouting a little.

“Oh, you’ll find I’m rarely surprised.” Reset countered flatly.

The pixie introduced herself as Wonder and was helping Reset prepare his testing equipment. She was full of curiosity and questions and he was happy he had that second chance to make a first impression. Wonder saw someone approaching down the lane and excitedly told him it was Rose on her way home from fishing.

That was actually a stroke of fortune, the scientists at home were always bugging him to bring back “fauna samples”, but hunting and fishing were not usually easy to manage. He hoped Rose would be willing to part with some of her catch for the researchers.

Reset adjusted his uniform and checked his watch, out of reflex, and smiled at the approaching Rose.

“Good morning!” she called out as she got close enough, “Wonder tells me you are here for a visit!”

“I am!” Reset replied, holding out his hand, “My name… err… they call me Reset, and it’s a real pleasure to meet you. Wonder tells me you know a lot about gardening.”

It was the first time he felt awkward about using his codename, but he stuck to protocol. Rose didn’t seem to mind, as she warmly shook his hand and introduced herself.

“Are you a new resident in Millcreek?” Rose asked.

“No, we are just investigating a portal that seems to have connected our worlds. They only seem to stay open for about a week, and then move on.” Reset explained.

“Well, that’s disappointing, it would be nice to get some new people to fill up some of these empty houses! But, I am really curious about the nature of the roses here, so maybe you can help us out.”

“What is making you curious?” Reset was instantly engaged by her affable nature.

She smiled and told him, “The roses were around this house when I arrived in Millcreek Village. They never stop blooming. At first I couldn’t believe that no matter how many flowers you cut, another bloom replaces them overnight!”

“Fascinating!” Reset remarked. “Is it just when you cut them, or is it any damage?”

“Oh, I’ve even fallen on top of one, and the next day it was just as perky as it was before my accident.” Rose explained, “I’ve got plenty of empty pots if you’d like to dig a plant up to take with you. I’d love to know how they grow for you!”

“I really appreciate your offer, and I will take you up on it.” Reset pondered, “I wonder if the magical elements will carry on in our world.”

“That will be interesting to see, as there has been a recent change since our Lantern Festival, and not all of them are growing back the same.”

“Your garden seems quite full, what do you mean?”

“Some of the roses I dug up after the festival were not replaced, so I’ve taken to planting some tomato seeds I had brought with me.” Rose explained.

“Are the tomatoes acting any differently here?” Reset asked, genuinely curious.

Rose indicated a patch, “These tomatoes are from an old variety of seed called Brandywine, but I’m thinking about calling them Millcreek Red, because they seem to grow a bit differently here. The germination rate was 100%, much better than I’ve had before. They are bushier, and it seems, more prolific.”

“Very interesting!” Reset wasn’t a horticulturist by any means, at least not yet, but he had always been a fan of the scientific method. As he understood it, this garden had samples grown from local stock, and now samples grown from imported seeds. The scientists would be happy if he could provide both. “Would it be possible to get a sample of the tomatoes as well?”

“Please do!” was Rose’s eager reply.

Rose and Reset had a wonderful morning talking about plants and gardening and eventually joined the rest of the team for lunch at the Edgeworks Cafe - oddly located on the third floor of the gym with only a climbing wall for access. Rose was delighted when Blink offered to teleport her to the cafe, as she had been keen to try the twisty slide Dave had installed to get back down. What a unique village this turned out to be!

The team lingered much longer than their normal recon mission, in fact, Reset went so far as to set a new anchor on the Calgary side of the portal. Awareness let them know that Maple was happy to have them, but discouraged any others from making the crossing. Reset suspected the mayor may have been picking up on their desire to visit as long as possible, and was giving them an official excuse to do so.

It was going to be a lovely week!

Again, sorry this is late!! Life happens! - This is a response to the ’s Week Four portal prompt.

And special thanks to and Rose at for letting me use their characters for this crossover event!

Hope you all enjoyed!

Dave

(Also, thoughts on using the “***” to signify a reset, help or hindrance?)

I’ve teamed up with as part of an interview series for creators and their readers to learn about each other. I’m really happy Millie included me, and I can’t wait to read more of these over the coming weeks!

So here goes. Questions by Millie. Answers by me.

So, Dave. You’re an IT guy turned Author. Give us the background sketch on who Dave is.

I was a math geek all the way through school and ended up getting accepted to the Engineering department at the University of Calgary. I balked when a stupid technicality meant I’d have to write an “English Proficiency” exam to attend. Being remarkably stubborn, I chose to take the year off and ended up going to University of Lethbridge for a History and then an Education degree. After a couple of years teaching Elementary school, which I loved, I had troubles finding a new position. I decided to go do some technical training, since I loved computers. The idea being that I could go back and teach High School Social Studies and Computers. And my love of math and systems took hold again.

So, I moved into a career in IT, and I really enjoy it! But time marches on, and I want to explore my “retirement” options. Some sort of job that doesn’t involve after-hours support and constant learning of technologies that evaporate every five years. And maybe, with all that hypothetical extra time, I’ll be able to write a book or two? I’ve always loved telling stories and using my imagination, so who knows? My Substack is about trying things out and seeing what works for me. If it hits an audience, great, but I mostly want to get ideas out of my head and see how they land.

Is it true that Canadian = Hockey fan? How does hockey affect your creative work? Or does it? Maybe it doesn’t….

Total stereotype! Only 99% of us are hockey fans!

Kidding of course, but even those Canadians who profess to hate hockey will catch themselves spouting phrases like, “Elbows Up!” or “Keep your stick on the ice!” since hockey does permeate a lot of Canadian culture. In my case, my Grandpa Dave was a semi-pro hockey player and coach in the 30s and 40s. He was even recruited by two NHL teams – but back then he made more money playing semi-pro and being a full-time accountant. He also had a young family he didn’t want to leave. So, I picked up his love of the game.

I never played ice hockey, as skates were not an option for a kid whose feet grew in odd, budget ruining, spurts. But I did play floor hockey into my 40s.

I do plan on having some sort of hockey league in space in any books I write. I’ve already carved out space in my brain that is dealing with frictionless surfaces and differing gravity effects on the game. And I do think throwing some quirky hockey language into my shorter works might help differentiate my writing.

I’ve read several of your pieces - there’s a heavy tilt toward science fiction. Has that been a life-long love? What drew you to write in this genre?

Sci-fi really is a life-long love. I also love fantasy and alternative history, but if I have a choice of the three placed in front of me, I’ll pick up the sci-fi book first. Same with a TV series or movie, honestly.

And as they say, write what you’ll love, because you’ll have to read it 96 times…

I think it’s just easier for me to look at a prompt and pop together a few sci-fi elements, since they are all swimming around in my brain. Plus, I like learning about the mechanics, theoretical or not, and seeing if I can challenge myself to stay consistent. This can lead me to get way down into the weeds and sometimes lead to paralysis as I’m researching too much, but I’m getting better at letting go. I do know I have specifically written stories just to fix the mechanics of a story I half remember reading twenty years ago.

On the flip side, I also like how you can just choose to throw part of the mechanics away! “How long did it take to get to that planet?” “Who cares? Laser swords!!”

It really boils down to comfort and confidence stemming from decades of source material, and the love of using a setting that is all your own to build your narrative.

Your stories are often fun - and a lot of them have a surprise ending. You seem to really enjoy coming out of left field with an unexpected twist. Is that just how you process the story? Or are you shooting for a specific reader impact?

I really do love a twist! I love short stories, especially in anthologies that include a variety of authors. They allow me to get a feel for an author without committing to a whole novel or trilogy. And the stories I found I enjoyed most are the ones with a twist.

I find when I’m writing though, I’ll have one twist in mind, and as the story plays out, a different twist comes to mind. A few of the Flash Fiction February stories surprised me – I’d write a sentence and think, “Ok, that’s the new ending!” then do some editing to make it work.

It’s the editing where I’m shooting for that impact. I like subverting the reader’s expectations, but I need to make sure I’ve done my best to set them along the path. I feel a story with a twist ending works best if the reader can start over, knowing the ending, and it still makes sense. The “Ah… that was a clue!” moment.

Give us a read on your creative philosophy - what’s really going on inside there.

I’m still trying to figure things out, so my philosophy really is throwing stuff into the void and seeing what works. I haven’t done creative writing since my university days, so I want to explore structure and what I like first. Once I’ve got an idea of where I’m comfortable, I want to start pushing those boundaries.

I’d like to say I want to have fun with my writing, but I have managed to write some introspective and/or darker themed pieces, and I’ve learned from those as well. But I imagine I am going to keep to the lighter and funnier pieces. Mostly because it lets me focus on the writing and not worry about upsetting myself or the reader. Maybe once I’ve built my confidence as a writer, I’ll be able to trust myself a bit more with uncomfortable themes.

Where do you see your writing developing? Working on a novel? Something else?

I’ve had an idea for a sci-fi novel for about 15 years, and it intimidates the heck out of me! Not the idea, the transformation of that idea into a novel. It’s just been sitting there in my brain, nagging me on the treadmill, sparking new ideas, but nothing like a form. That’s still the goal, and Substack is the baby steps. As I read more from other writers, I gain more perspective on what will be needed.

I think in the short term, I’d really like to start building out a short story portfolio, something that could be put into anthologies. It’s what I love reading the most, so if I can start that process even the failures would be “quick” lessons I can work with. Who knows, maybe that novel idea I have becomes a series of short stories instead.

Talk to us about inspiration - where do you get yours? What triggers that “I’m going to write about this” drive?

People who know my in real life could probably give you a partial answer to this – I see something, it sparks a memory, and I get antsy until I say that memory. I’m getting better at it, but I imagine hidden in some boardroom is a sign that says, “Days since Dave told a ‘Back in My Day’ story: 0.” I think some of my career retrospective articles have been my brains way of letting of that steam.

For fiction, I’m really enjoying seeing various prompts on Substack. Sometimes the prompts are right up my alley, and I go with them. The ones I really have fun with are the ones where I think I can guess where most writers will go with it and I want a twist. That’s not to say I don’t expect other writers to have a twist, most will. But those are the ones where a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the setting and style. I can spend less time building that, and more time preparing the twist.

I also take inspiration from my reading/entertainment. I am a voracious reader and TV/Movie watcher. I like to be out of my own head and in someone else’s world. A lot of times that content will get me thinking about how I would handle a certain issue or challenge. Writing is giving me that opportunity.

You’ve posted pictures of your home area in winter. I assume there are buildings under the snow. Does your local environment shape your writing or creative effort in any important way?

Ok, I am looking forward to posting pictures of how beautiful Calgary is in the Spring. Any. Day. Now… ;-P

I think the biggest impact is the frustration I feel when I see winter portrayed incorrectly.

Movie Scientist: Exposed skin at this temperature will freeze in minutes!

Same Movie Scientist: Let’s hike from Washington DC to New York without our faces covered!

It spurs me to “fact” check almost all my settings, since I know someone will get just as annoyed as I do if I do something wrong. I won’t let that be an absolute blocker, but I make sure I take it into consideration. And if I’m the one making up the rules in a sci-fi or fantasy setting, I know I need to keep those rules consistent. Even if it’s only for me.

Final thoughts?

I’m really enjoying my Substack experience so far. I imagine that enjoyment will ebb and flow. I’ve already seen creators I really enjoy leave, but I’ve found new ones to follow. I’ve decided to stick it out for the long haul. Have this as my home base for writing and getting my ideas out there.

I don’t know how the algorithm will treat me in the long run, but I’ve decided it’s not something I’m going to stress about. I’ve made some really strong connections, and I value those. And I also value the totally random likes and comments I get when someone discovers an older piece of work. (Or that birthday picture from Hobbiton which still gets hits!)

Hope you all enjoyed!

Dave

Quick refresher - this is the second part, find the first part here - Looney

And our supers:

• Conduit - established hero, energy absorption and reflection

• Blink - trainee, teleporter

• Awareness - trainee, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings

• Reset - trainee, able to send himself back in time and change his actions

Blink grabbed his wallet and headed back to join his team in front of the portal.

In his living room.

Of all places.

The bubbly orchestral music had faded to a nice background volume. The brightly colored buildings still bobbed a little, but not as noticeably. And they were bright! Like the artist was limited to RGB combinations that had ‘Lush’ or ‘Vibrant’ in their descriptions.

No, no no, I don’t want ‘mauve’, I want ‘Rich Magenta’!!

Blink snickered at the thought, and he’s pretty sure Awareness ‘heard’ or felt his inner monologue. She gave him a small smile as acknowledgment and finished checking her gear. Conduit and Reset were ready to go, so they began their breach process. Reset noting the time on his watch and the two stepping through together.

And they didn’t turn in to cartoons.

That was a little disappointing. And not just because of the five dollar bet. How cool would that have been?

On the other side of the portal - that different world two steps away - Reset showed a concern that had nothing to do with his lack of animated form.

“What’s wrong?” Conduit asked.

Reset shook his head and replied, “I can reset back to before we enter the portal, but…”

He twisted his arm so everyone could see. Reset might not be animated, but his watch definitely was! An oddly cheerful face, with chubby cheeks, twinkling eyes and a joyful smile had replaced the blank face of the watch. The minute and hour hands had been replaced with little gloved hands that gave an upbeat wave any time anyone looked at them.

“The watch hands won’t stay still long enough for me to set an anchor.” Reset finished.

As Conduit looked to be processing that thought, Blink and Awareness waited patiently. Finally, Conduit held out his right hand, palm upwards, and a small flame burst to life and was just as quickly extinguished. Two nearby bushes let out little shrieks of fear, hiked up their roots and scampered away. Conduit shook his head. Hiding a smile, he produced a short cattle prod he carried in case he needed to energize himself. He pressed the contacts to his left arm and pulled the trigger.

Instead of a crackle of electricity, the team heard a muffled, “GO ON. HA. GIT. GIT ALONG!”

That proved to be too much for the team’s composure and they all started to chuckle. Well, Blink had moved past chortle to guffaw, but he had already been keyed up. He eventually noticed bright blue ice crystals forming on Conduit’s hand and assumed he had changed tactics.

Conduit confirmed by saying, “Ok, powers seem to work, but with some limitations. This will just be a light recon, so we’ll move forward with Reset’s anchor point being before we enter. Blink, get it together, you’re next.”

Blink worked to compose himself. He stepped through the portal with a smile but almost lost it again when his normally silent teleport was announced with a loud ‘Fwooop’. He tried a couple more, and as he looked back at Conduit and Reset he saw a Blink-shaped white cloud quickly dispersing. Not ideal, but not horrible… unless there’s a smell… He quickly ported back to the team and surreptitiously inhaled. To his relief the cloud didn’t seem to have a scent.

The last through the portal was Awareness who paused as she looked at the space over Blink’s head. Seeing the confused looks from her companions she asked, “Can you not see that?” with a gesture. They all took a second look, Blink looking straight up.

“There’s a white bubble over Blink’s head with a cute little skunk trying to sniff its own butt!” She giggled, “No one else can see that?”

The rest of the team checked a third time and shook their heads. She snorted again, “Now I can see a cartoon version of each of you, over your own heads, looking confused!”

Blink could feel his eyes widening in excitement, he had to know… and Awareness obliged by creating a bubble over her own head showing the men their cartoon renderings.

Reset, and his copy, rolled their eyes.

Conduit examined the image, “I guess we can see how your power has been affected. Anything else seem strange?”

“As far as I can tell, they are working the same. The thought bubbles just seem to be… added color, maybe?” Awareness replied. “Although, I was expecting to be overwhelmed and it’s the opposite. Right now I can only sense us. Not even animals.”

Conduit summed up what they knew, “Cartoon world, powers are altered but mostly functional, and we’re not cartoons.”

He held out his hand to Blink who slumped a little bit, fished out his wallet and handed a five dollar bill to Conduit. They both paused for a second as Sir Wilfred Laurier1 smiled and winked at them from the bill.

At this a small dirt hole appeared at their feet which disgorged a brown and white rabbit. Rabbit? It definitely had all the rabbit characteristics, barring the fact it was standing almost as tall as Awareness and wearing a… bandit outfit? A black cap with holes for the ears to poke through, a black mask, and a black and white striped shirt. No pants. Of course. And big fluffy feet.

The rabbit produced a stalk of celery from… somewhere, and with a distinct New Jersey accent said, “Great! So are we all done with the setup? Some of us have places to be!”

“Oh ho! The big guy is excited! He’s bouncing almost as much as my family at a sock-hop!” The rabbit continued in his rapid fire cadence, “Yep, walking talking rabbit! I like to think I’m the star of this town! You all know your lines? No? Ok, well, I guess we’re improvidising!”

Conduit was looking more confused, but he reached out a hand towards the rabbit in introduction and began, “Hello, I’m…”

“Fantastic!” The rabbit interrupted, hands out, “Stay just like that!”

He promptly disappeared, leaving behind a puff of smoke. Blink quickly took another sniff, just to be sure.

They stood there nonplussed for a couple of seconds when they noticed the music surrounding them pick up in tempo. The rabbit reappeared holding a large canvas bag with dollar signs affixed. He quickly placed it into Conduit’s outstretched hand and Conduit gripped it out of reflex. In a nearby building, an obnoxious alarm started calling out, “Ding Ding Ding” over and over. The rabbit made two more quick trips, dropping similar bags at the feet of Reset and Blink.

Still trying to process, Blink muttered, “No ‘fwoop’?”

“We’ve already done that gag, kid. Keep up!”

The rabbit held up his hand, quickly folding down his fingers as he counted, “Three, two, one.”

As he closed his fist, two bulbous black and white police cars rounded the corner and halted in front of the dumbfounded group. Four massive shapes popped out of the vehicles. Each of them taller than Blink, and twice as broad. How had they even… Blink shook his head. These ‘police officers’ with massive horns and rings in their noses were obviously bovine in nature, but were standing on their hind legs like the rabbit. If Blink wasn’t so confused he’d be having a ball!

The bull officers rushed towards the group. Conduit released the bag and placed himself between the officers and his trainees. The onrush stopped with mere inches to spare and one of them bellowed, “What is going on here?”

Before any of the supers could speak, the rabbit exclaimed, “It was them officer! These foul humans robbed the bank!!”

The four humans turned to gape at the rabbit, who they noted was now dressed in a sharp business suit. The rabbit looked at his fancy watch and remarked, “The bank has only been open for five minutes, and they robbed it!!”

Awareness and Reset moved closer to Blink, to make a possible escape easier, Conduit stepped forward with hands raised.

“Look officers,” he started, “I assure you that we have done no such…”

“Don’t listen to his silly lies,” the rabbit interrupted again with a wave into the air, “look at what they are thinking!!”

At that, four bubbles appeared, one to each hero, and they witnessed the cartoon versions of themselves sneaking in to the nearby bank and running off with bags of money. The bull officers pulled their gigantic sidearms and started yelling at the team to surrender.

Conduit looked to his team. Blink was ready to take Awareness and Reset away. The other two had moved into fighting stances. The humor evaporated immediately. Conduit had a little swell of pride and nodded to them. He slowly moved his hands behind his head, trusting his team to do the same.

“We surrender.” Conduit stated calmly and quietly.

Blink and the rest followed their trainer’s lead. Surely Conduit had a plan. At the very least, a reset would get them home to before this happened. Two of the officers lowered their guns and reached for their handcuf….

“BO-RING!!” exclaimed the rabbit. “Where did you guys learn how to super? Let’s try that again!”

Suddenly, everything froze. Then like a rewinding VHS tape, which Blink should have no concept of… everything started to move backwards. The guns came back up, Conduit’s hands moved away from his head. Sounds warped and ended with finality, not reverberation. Awareness and Reset sidled away from Blink. Another pause.

“The bank has only been open for five minutes, and they robbed it!!” the well dressed rabbit yelled.

Fwooop!! (Because it’s funny again) Blink appeared at Conduit’s side and grabbed at his holster. Without even drawing it, he pressed the trigger.

“GO ON! HA!! GIT! GIT ALONG!” boomed through the street.

The officers lowed and ran to their cars. Reversing and then spinning away, they were gone in an instant.

“Nice instincts, kid.” Said the rabbit with a nod.

“Seemed the thing to do.” Blink replied.

“You were using our powers.” Conduit declared.

The rabbit regarded the quartet and twisted an ear. All four froze in place. A wiggle of the nose and they were standing in Blink’s living room again, looking at the rabbit calmly leaning against the edge of the flaming portal.

“You’ve got quite the team there, Conduit.” The rabbit said with no hint of accent - no humor. “Masters of time and space, mistress of the mind, and… you… wellll…” he waved his paw. “When you all start to really figure out your powers, you’ll know how to find me again. But for now, I think it’s time to close this portal.”

The rabbit turned and walked towards the vibrantly colored city. The portal slammed shut behind him.

I knew this prompt would be fun!! Thanks ! Hope everyone enjoyed!!

Dave

Indie Ink Fund

The Portal Stays Open: Weekly Prompt Three

One portal closed…

Read more

17 days ago · 13 likes · 6 comments · Indie Ink Fund

Blink was settling down on the couch with his bowl of cereal, trying to decide what to watch on Netazon when the telltale signs of an opening portal appeared in front of the TV. He was immediately beset by a number of warring impulses. The first was to teleport away to safety, but the weeks of training since his power manifested nipped that in the bud. There was, of course, the natural human instinct to jump up and exclaim… well, something - also suppressed by the agency training… and the desire to not spill milk on the couch. Lastly, the urge to grab his phone and film it like so many TikTubers had.

Wait. Actually, that last one makes sense. The Agency geeks would throttle him if he missed a chance to document a portal as it opened.

He teleported to the kitchen. Yes, he knew it was lazy to teleport five meters, but he was saving time, right? He put down his cereal, grabbed his phone and Agency earpiece, and ported back to the living room. Fumbling a bit, he managed to get the recording started. Portrait mode, of course, the portals were taller than they were wide. Plus, Blink knew it would annoy Awareness…

At the same time he thumbed the earpiece and waited for the Agency Operator to pick up.

“Operator 124 registering call from Trainee Blink” was the almost immediate response.

“Trainee Blink reporting a new portal opening in my living room, requesting instructions.”

There was an uncharacteristic delay in the response. As far as Blink knew, this was the first time someone from the Agency was present when a portal opened. They were starting to understand the timing, but the locations always seemed to be random.

“You haven’t stepped through it yet, have you?” came the tentative question from the operator.

Ah, my reputation precedes me, Blink thought, but said, “No, it’s still forming. I am recording with my phone, but have not approached. Are there reports of other portals?”

“Not at this time. Are there any civilians present?”

“None.”

“Please stand by as I contact Control.”

“Understood.”

Fortunately, the Agency doesn’t use hold music. Strange that the portal would appear in his living room. There wasn’t any consensus on any sort of planning or pattern in the past, but this seemed to be more than a coincidence. Blink was generally on the initial recon team, maybe the portal was being considerate of his travel time? He tried not to snicker at that thought, especially considering his powers.

Hmm… considering his powers… Were the portals possibly being attracted to him? The last one was the first within the Calgary city limits, this one popped up less than two meters from his couch…

The portal finished its expansion, sparkling gold rim surrounding a kaleidoscope of colors. The colors started to form recognizable shapes, but stayed just as vivid.

“No. Way.” Blink blurted out in awe.

“Say again, Trainee Blink?”

“Sorry, operator. The portal has finished forming and it’s a Saturday morning cartoon!!”

“… say again, Trainee Blink?”

“It looks like a city, but all the buildings look hand drawn! Like a cartoon! I think the buildings are… dancing? With little puffs of smoke coming from their chimneys!”

“Uhh…”

“Do you want me to ‘say again’?” Blink couldn’t resist asking, while still eyeing the spectacular sight.

“Um… sorry. Permission to enable external mike and camera on your suit?”

Now it was Blink’s turn to pause as he looked down at his bathrobe and boxers. “Hmm, hold on for a couple seconds.”

Well, here’s something Blink had wanted to try. He pictured where his uniform hung in his spare room. He gave his phone a soft lob into the air, popped up to the second floor and grabbed the shirt in his left hand, then snagged the phone out of the air with his right as he re-appeared in the living room. With a satisfied smile he spoke, “Permission granted.”

“Not sure what I’m looking at, Trainee Blink.”

Dang it… Blink quickly turned the camera to point at the portal… and not his dinosaur patterned boxers…

There was an additional couple of moments as the operator, and presumably the Operations Centre viewed and listened to the transmission.

Almost inaudibly Blink heard, “Mr. Blue Sky?” and another faint reply, “Yeah! ELO!”

Now it was Blink’s turn, “Uh, say again, Operator?”

“Apologies, Trainee Blink,” came the rushed reply, then a little louder, “there’s some cross-talk in the Operations Centre.”

The operator’s voice definitely had the you all better shut up, or you’re in trouble tone Blink had heard from many teachers over the years. He had to smile. The music and bright colors were infectious! He really, really, hoped that the portal opening in his condo didn’t somehow exclude him from being on the first team through.

His thoughts were interrupted. “Telemetry confirms portal has reached a stable size. Requesting confirmation from Control on initial recon team.”

Oh please, oh please, oh please, Blink thought. Paused for a second. Yep, he had thought that, not said it. That would have been embarrassing. “Understood, Operator. Uh, would you mind disabling audio and video as I, uh, get changed?”

“Copy that, Trainee Blink, audio and video disabled until your say-so.”

Not wanting to waste time, Blink stopped the phone video, ported to the spare room and grabbed his grey uniform pants and jika-tabi1. He quickly dressed and thumbed the earpiece again, “Any update, Operator?”

“Control has authorized your team for initial recon, they are being contacted now.”

“YES!!” Blink thought… nope… that was out loud. But the operator was too polite to comment.

The song had finished playing, but lively music in the same style could still be faintly heard.

Theme song and then incidental music? Would there be tubas when a hippo walked by? OMG! Were there going to be anthropomorphic hippos? Bunnies? Please let there be anthropomorphic bunnies! Or ducks…

Blink’s train of thought was interrupted by the operator, “Your team reports ready for retrieval, you may proceed.”

“Understood.”

Blink’s mind instantly picked up successive images of the locations of his three teammates. Super handy for a teleporter to work with a telepath who could gather and project accurate images! With three quick ‘ports, the team was gathered in Blink’s living room in front of the vibrantly colored portal.

“Nice place.” Reset remarked as he looked around.

It was hard to get a read on Reset. Correction. It was hard for Blink to get a read on Reset. Awareness was, well, aware. Conduit also seemed to understand his trainees. But Reset was a mystery to Blink. While Conduit and Awareness looked at the portal in awe, Reset was just casually looking around Blink’s living room and kitchen. Blink couldn’t be sure if Reset was just naturally unflappable, or if he had relived this particular moment a dozen times and was just bored.

“Yeah, thanks, I rent it from my uncle.” Blink replied, “He’s giving me a great deal.”

Reset nodded and cinched the straps on his backpack.

Blink started to put his “game face” on, then a thought struck. “Hey team!” but then he looked at the man who could rewind time, and the woman who could read minds, “Uh, hey, Conduit! I’ll bet you five bucks we turn into cartoons when we cross the threshold!”

Conduit smiled, then lifted his chin towards the dining room table, “Grab your wallet. I’ll take that bet.”

This one was getting a little long, but I had fun digging in to Blink’s character! Plus, ending on a silly cliffhanger was fun! For me. ;)

Dave!

Indie Ink Fund

The Portal Stays Open: Weekly Prompt Three

One portal closed…

Read more

17 days ago · 11 likes · 2 comments · Indie Ink Fund

In a little while from now

If I’m not feeling any less small

I promise myself to treat myself

And tackle that climbing wall

And climbing to the top

Will slither down and flop

In an effort to

Make it clear to whoever

Wants to know the twisty slide is finished

.

Left standing at the gym missing him

Were people saying, My God his clone

Left town alone

Who’ll prep the breakfast buffet

We may as well go home

As I did on my own

Alone again, naturally

.

To think that only yesterday

We served coffee night and day

Looking forward to, who wouldn’t do,

The stories they would tell me to pay

For the food we had prepared

Very happily we had shared

But the mist did lift, a surprising gift

Suddenly there were options

.

Leaving me the gym

No more him, Millcreek feels empty

Oh, I’ll hang out with all my friends

Who like drinking their sweet tea

On my lonely Street

I truly am indeed

Alone again, naturally

.

It seems to be that

There are more towns hidden in this world

That can be explored

That won’t be ignored

That’s what he’ll do

That’s what he’ll do

.

My clone again, naturally

.

Looking back over the weeks

That laboratory full of geeks

I remember that day when my clone was made

Just an error in her new techniques

And at fifty-four years old

One body became two souls

Had to understand how the only man

I had ever been was sundered

Leaving us to hide

With our pride so sorely wounded

Despite encouragement from friends

I have to say I brooded

And when he hiked away

I cooked and cooked all day

Alone again, naturally

No clone again, naturally

Ok, the meter isn’t perfect, but it was fun! Millcreek Dave might be getting a karaoke machine - fair warning. ;-P

Dave

Here are the characters appearing in this story, with links to their “flash-horror” original origin stories - (And be warned, they are dark, so don’t read them if that will upset you - I’m still “Goofy Dave”, I had just wanted to try something - the descriptions below are all you really need to know going forward.)

Reset - Able to rewind time and change his own actions

Blink - A teleporter who is able to bring others with him

Awareness - A telepath/empath who can sense and project feelings and images

Conduit - Established hero in this world with energy absorbing abilities

(Insubstantial ended up not getting powers after Reboot, but I don’t want to ignore his story, since that’s how he became insubstantial…)

The Portals had been appearing for the last six weeks. Seemingly random locations around the world, connecting to… elsewhere. Conduit and his group of trainees had been assigned to briefly check out a couple of them. They were perfectly suited to reconnaissance missions which was why he was allowed to use the portals for training.

The newest Portal was discovered in a partially finished basement in a Bowness home. It might have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the heat and humidity the homeowner noticed blasting out of his basement. He’d done the responsible thing and evacuated his family and notified the authorities. By the time Conduit arrived with his trainees, the whole neighbourhood had been cordoned off.

Conduit regarded his group as he half paid attention to the incident commander who was controlling the scene. Blink was his usual bundle of energy at the beginning of an assignment. Already a large man, Blink had really taken a shine to the advanced physical training, and it showed. He’d be intimidating, except for his infectious smile.

Blink was the youngest of his trainees at twenty-five. He was also the most eager to get through the probationary period and become a full-fledged, licensed superhero. He’d probably make a killing on endorsements with his good looks and affable personality, but everyone could tell he was earnest in his foremost desire to help.

At the other end of the bubbly spectrum was the stoic Reset. He was forty-five when his power activated. Conduit always had a weird sense of guilt at the pain he had caused Reset, since to him the explosion had never happened. But you could still see it in Reset’s eyes when things were quiet. He also recognized his ability to jump back in time could be a game changer in the super powered world. So Reset trained, practiced with his power, strove to improve and learn.

A pointed glance from under Awareness’ hood reminded Conduit he needed to refocus on what the incident commander was saying.

“…and the three officers stationed downstairs say they can hear something large moving through the trees on the other side of the portal.”

“Thank you, sir.” Conduit replied, “My team will be very careful. Is there any indication anything is trying to come through?”

“The containment team says it’s acting the same as the other portals - similar atmosphere, albeit hotter and more humid, and something about the portals seem to keep insects and the like on the opposite side.” He replied, “And with it being a closed basement, we’re pretty sure nothing larger has come through.”

“Pretty sure?”

“We’ve swept the basement, but the homeowner didn’t discover it until he got home from work. The science team is doing what they can, and any samples you bring back will help.”

“Makes sense. Thank you, Lieutenant.”

Conduit reflexively looked to Awareness and a nod indicated she felt that was all the info the incident commander had. She wasn’t really prying, she would just sense if someone was holding something back, consciously or not.

At thirty-one, Awareness was two years older than Conduit, her powers had also activated at the event that had affected Blink and Reset. She’d had a comfortable corporate job, with a lot of prospects up till then. But it’s hard to focus on spreadsheets and reports when you’re feeling the emotions and thoughts of every person in the building. She was receiving training in focus, but she still had work to do. He admired the fact that she was willing to help out with these reconnaissance missions while still getting her powers under control.

He also appreciated the fact she was wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up so he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes at him for “internally monologuing” instead of focusing on the mission at hand.

He smiled as he saw Awareness slowly shake her head and shoot him a wry smile.

The Portal was similar to others that had appeared, like a two dimensional oval doorway limned with shimmering golden light. They really seemed to be a tear in space, as you could enter in either direction and arrive at the same place. Through this one a primordial jungle could be seen, with all the accompanying humidity and sounds. Conduit knew it was hotter than normal, but an aspect of his power allowed him to regulate the temperature around him. On their desert excursion, Blink had called him the “Team A/C” as he drew in the excess heat.

There definitely was something large moving around near the opening. Possibly drawn in by the curious sounds from the Earth side of the portal. Maybe the light of the portal itself. It was tough to judge distances through a two-dimensional view, so the team would have to be careful.

Reset checked his watch then nodded to Conduit. The two stepped through together, as Conduit would not let someone else take a risk he wasn’t ready to face himself. Reset looked at his watch again, and a couple of seconds later winced. Conduit could see Reset’s hand flinch, but his control was getting better, it no longer flew to his forehead. He felt for the man, but it was a necessary step to ensure their safety.

The most powerful part of Reset’s power set allowed him to instantly return to a moment he had noted on his watch. In Conduit’s perception, they had simply walked through a door. For Reset, the two crossed the threshold, then he would snap back to make sure the Portal allowed him to go back to a time before entering. Once across the portal, they decided they needed to test whether the ability worked within the world itself.

While Reset insisted the pain was manageable, Conduit knew there was more to it. Reset had fallen into a coma for a month after hitting the fire alarm on that fateful day. Awareness had assured Conduit that he was healing, but it was rare to see Reset smile.

As Conduit and Reset started surveying the forest for movement, Blink made his entrance. Similar to Reset, he would teleport a couple of times through and near the portal.

When Awareness hopped through the portal, back to the basement, then back again, the three men paused to look at her. She then proceeded to do a little Hokey Pokey and turn herself about - which got a laugh out of all of them.

Still chuckling Conduit said, “I get it, it seems silly, but we can’t just assume that the rules will be the same on a different world. The rules say there shouldn’t be Portals!”

Awareness simply pushed back her hood and hitched her chin at Reset. Conduit could see the smirk still on his face. He turned back to say something and she smiled and softly replied, “I’m aware…”

“On that note,” Conduit said, trying to regain a little control, “we are going to have to come up with a better codename than Awareness, it’s an odd name to shout out at a critical moment.”

“Why would you need to call out to get my attention?” she replied with a smirk.

He thought for a moment and shrugged. Well, she had him there…

“Blink,” he called softly, “would you mind taking a look around to see what’s making that ruckus?”

The large man shot him a thumbs-up signal and vanished. Conduit knew Blink would move through the canopy so he didn’t bother trying to track his movement. Reset had already unbuckled his backpack and was preparing to take soil and vegetation samples. Awareness just smiled and waited for Conduit to ask his question.

Her easy smile and relaxed posture already hinted at the answer, but since he was the one being a stickler for procedure he relented and asked, “What are you sensing, Awareness.” Perhaps putting a little more emphasis than he needed on the odd moniker.

“No hostile thoughts nearby, mostly apprehension mixed with curiosity. Definitely not human. My best guess is lizard-like, but I haven’t had much practice with lizards.” She forestalled his next question (of course) by continuing, “I do sense predatory thoughts, but nothing coming in our direction.”

She brightened as Blink re-appeared in front of the group, but didn’t steal his thunder.

“Oh boy!” He exclaimed while hopping from foot to foot, “You all have to see this!!”

“What is it?” Conduit asked.

“DINOSAURS!” Blink shouted with all of the restraint of an eight year old.

Even Reset’s head popped up with a look of wonder at the exclamation. The stoic look quickly recovered and he intoned, “The geeks will absolutely insist we get some sort of sample from a living dinosaur.”

It was hard for Conduit to disagree, they were generally supposed to do a quick recon and report back, but c’mon… dinosaurs?? How would he feel if they sent in a different team after they reported back and he never got to see a real live dinosaur? Reset was already sealing his samples and shrugging his backpack on to his shoulders.

Blink showed a remarkable degree of patience as he guided the team through the underbrush. He could have easily teleported the four of them back to his discovery, but no one wanted to deal with a startled dinosaur. Awareness was using the time to project feelings of curiosity and calmness. She wasn’t sure it would work exactly as expected, but she seemed to be satisfied as they made the ten minute trek.

When they got to the edge of the clearing they could see the small herd of massive creatures. Conduit wasn’t a paleontologist, so his best guess was that they were something akin to Triceratops. Each one as long as a city bus and easily as tall as any elephant he’d ever seen. It was hard to keep his jaw from dropping in awe. Probably the first time the term, “majestic” had popped into his mind with zero prompting. He was glad his body cam was capturing this, as he had to admit he’d have a tough time holding a camera still.

They seemed to be gathered in a defensive formation, and he thought he could see smaller forms moving behind the massive adults. The largest of the adults had moved a few paces ahead and was looking in their general direction. Although there was some spittle around its muzzle from some earlier agitation, it appeared Awareness had mostly succeeded in calming them down.

Conduit turned to Reset with his hand out for the swab kit - which certainly didn’t seem equal to the task, but it’s what they had in the pack. Reset simply shook his head and said, “Not this time,” turned and walked to where Awareness already appeared to be briefing Blink on how to approach.

Conduit suppressed a shudder. When Reset made a decision so forcefully, there was a good chance he had just lived through something horrible.

Blink took the tiny swab in hand and teleported to the trees to one side of the beast. He took two slow steps out from cover and then crouched to make himself seem smaller. It seemed a bit ridiculous when compared to the size of the dinosaur, but he did not want to appear to be any sort of threat. He paused there as the creature observed him. Awareness was focusing so hard that Conduit could feel his own curiosity kick in to higher gear.

It was working.

While still eyeing Blink warily, the monstrous lizard slowly started to walk towards him. Blink showed remarkable self control and stood as still as a statue with the swab extended. The massive head stopped less than a meter from him, and a gigantic tongue flicked out to taste the air.

Along with a massive glob of spittle!

Blink’s eyes went wide as he got soaked to the shoulder in dinosaur spit! He valiantly maintained his composure, but over the comms they could all hear the harshly whispered, “Reset?…. Reset… Reset!” Plea, understanding, accusation.

Conduit looked to Reset who seemed to be very busy studying something in the nearest tree. Awareness had pulled her hood back up, but he could see her shoulders softly shaking.

Eventually the Triceratops analog lost interest and wandered back to his herd, and Blink made his way back to the team. He smiled to show there were no hard feelings. Game had to recognize game. Blink had pulled more than his fair share of pranks using his abilities.

He handed the soaked swab kit to Reset, gave a cheeky little wave and said, “See you all back at the portal.” And then he was gone.

Conduit saw Reset’s involuntary wince and had to ask, “How many times did you have to reset to pull that prank?”

“Twice.” Reset replied. “Hiked through this jungle three times to get it right.”

“Worth it.” Reset and Awareness said at the same time, and Conduit had to smile and agree. Blink might have been wet and embarrassed, but he also got to look a living dinosaur in the eye. He would forgive them.

As they started the return slog, he did grumble loud enough to be heard, “Not sure why I have to walk back because of you two jokers…”

This was a response to the Week Two portal prompt -

Indie Ink Fund

The Portal Stays Open: Weekly Prompt Two

One portal closed…

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24 days ago · 12 likes · 16 comments · Indie Ink Fund

I’m glad I got to re-use some characters and play around with them, and I hope you enjoyed!

Dave

We finally decided that “Original” Dave would stay in Millcreek, and I would travel. I know it was a hard decision for him… for obvious reasons. I love to travel, but I also love the comfort of routine, the stability that comes from knowing all there was to know about a place.

Ok… maybe Millcreek isn’t the best place to say you know everything about it, even after a month - Millcreek is… weird. A comfortable weird, of course, with a steady job and an established routine.

Truly an odd parting, both of us envying the other, not knowing if we could keep in touch, not knowing if I could come back to visit those who stayed behind.

Ultimately, though, if we both stayed, one of us would have to be “Dave” and the other would be “David” <shudder> - that’s a bridge I won’t cross. My family calls me “David” when I’m in trouble…

I get to move on, and I get to be the definitive “Dave” for this new location. Maybe one day we’ll have to figure out better nomenclature, but leaving lets me stay “Dave” for now. I am distinctly myself - which is a little odd to say - but it’s true. I worked the morning shift, he worked the nights. Sure we’d see the same people, but at different times in the day, in different contexts.

He got to ride on a dragon, I got to feed a newborn dragon. These are events that change you! I could tell the difference as I discussed one event or the other with the other villagers. Calling on a memory of a lived experience versus simulating the feelings gleaned from a debriefing - guess which one was more sincere?

It really is a relief that people know. I’m sure my odd behavior has caused some discomfort, and that pains me. Dave and I truly didn’t know if Dr. Cassie would, or even could finally disintegrate one of us. That’s a wee bit stressful!

In the end, though, if she does have the ability and desire to do that to us, it’s still on us to live our lives to the fullest. No more deception out of fear, no more hiding, no more second guessing. Dave will continue to be Millcreek Dave, I will be Story Ville Dave - both of us will be Dave.

Gosh… that’s a mouthful of a self help slogan -

“Be who you are, even if you live in a different village than yourself!” I don’t think that will catch on.

“Be the best ‘You’ that you can be… except for that other ‘You’… who is also striving to be the best… so be the best ‘Me’ that you can be…” Nope… that’s not it, either.

“Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again…” Nope…

Well, whatever.

There seemed to be quite a few of the original villagers staying. Those who were staying had that relaxed calmness that Dave achieved when he finally decided. There were certainly questions that needed answers, maybe more than when the experiment started, but we did get some answers.

Those who were leaving? Some were gone before I left the house again. I can respect that, not sure where they went. Others were gathering near the signpost, trying to guess what lay ahead, excitement and a little fear mixed in their expressions.

I packed light, Dave and I made a meal together for the first time - which was odd. Some clothes, no personal items, since we didn’t have any transferred to Millcreek initially. A couple bottles of wine… gosh I hope there’s good wine and coffee in the next village! Oh goodness, what if it’s all energy drinks and Jägermeister??? No… no one would be that cruel… says the guy fearing random disintegration…

I walked around town, knocking on doors, saying goodbye to those who answered, respecting those who were finding it hard to do so. I said goodbye to Dave last.

Maybe we get to stay in touch, maybe one of us will be able to get more info from Dr. Cassie. Hopefully there’s good people and fun activities in Story Ville. The other destinations sound great, but something just appealed to me in the Story Ville name.

I’m off to make my own story!

For the first monthly prompt by for Millcreek Village

Millcreek Village

The Mist Has Lifted...

Art by Jenifer Jorgenson…

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a month ago · 17 likes · 12 comments · Maryellen Brady 💗📚

Follows “A Tale of Two Daves” and “Millcreek Village - The Lantern Festival”

Hope you enjoyed! I’m looking forward to continuing these tales - with a little less identity crisis - in the coming months!

Dave

Back in December I wrote a set of quick superhero origin stories with the premise “What happens when a new super power goes wrong?” I’ve wanted to revisit these characters, but haven’t had the opportunity. But then I saw the Indie Ink Fund’s Portal prompt for this week - and it clicked! I want to do the Portal Prompts. I want to revisit these characters. Ta-da - these characters can go through the portals!

So, please let me re-introduce my characters and their origin story:

It started with Reset where we meet a character whose power is the ability to travel back in time a limited amount.

Next was Insubstantial - this character gained the power to become invisible and insubstantial, but no control.

Blink continued the theme of lack of control, this time with teleportation.

And the last novice super was introduced in Awareness - she had telepathic powers.

They all gained their powers due to a catastrophic explosion caused by an established (in that world at least) hero in Power. His ability allows him to absorb and redirect energy.

Those did not have happy endings, so I wrote a final (happier) story for all five of them in a single post - Reboot. And then talked about the whole process in the Notes, including how I chickened out on the pacing and released the last five stories at once, when I should have done them individually.

When I posted the last story I had 20 subscribers. Thanks to some fun Substitute teaching stories, Flash Fiction February, and organic growth, I’m up to 144. Which is really cool. So for 124 of you, there’s some homework above. ;)

Kidding of course - here’s all you need to know:

We are picking up after the events in Reboot - things turned out ok, other than some property damage and a few injuries. Oh, and a powered down bad guy. Here’s my tentative names:

Reset - sure, good name for someone who can rewind time, I’ll make that his “hero” name.

Insubstantial - he ends up not getting his powers, so he’ll be “Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Story.” ;)

Blink - Yep, sure, good temporary hero name for someone who can rapidly teleport.

Awareness - Hmm… ok, fine for a temporary name - maybe someone in the comments can come up with an original name for someone with telepathy.

Power - He’s the “established” hero with the redirection ability, so I’ll use the second story title, Conduit, for him.

I think I’ll be treating these portals as training / team building events, but the story could evolve from there. I don’t know these characters at all, so I’m excited to see what happens over the coming weeks. And hopefully we come up with a better name for Awareness!

Stay tuned!

Dave

The Indie Ink Fund Link that I’ll be using for the first prompt, if you’re curious:

Indie Ink Fund

The Portal Stays Open: Weekly Prompt Two

One portal closed…

Read more

20 days ago · 6 likes · 5 comments · Indie Ink Fund

With the festival come and gone, and our secret being out in the open, we had to make a decision about who would stay. It was made a little more difficult when we realized how many friends would be staying, but we did both have a spirit of adventure - how else do you end up in a miniaturized world with your identical replica?

Our first attempt at “Rock, Paper, Scissors” had been a predictable mess. Ever since I was a teacher, I always threw Rock first, it was a promise I made my students. Some times when the class earned a treat, we’d play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” as a class vs. teacher. I told them I would always throw “Rock” first.

Part of that was a Simpson’s reference, of course, “Good ole rock, nothing beats rock.” Part of it was me showing that I would always keep my word - I have a tendency to be sarcastic, which I had to unlearn while teaching Grade 5/6 - at that age and younger, they tend to trust an authority figure without question. I promised to always correct myself if something sarcastic slipped out - and to always throw “Rock” first.

Silly, I know. But trust is important to me, both ways.

Anyway… short story long - we had to come up with another idea! A poker game seemed too random, a game of chess seemed too personal, involving someone else felt… awkward.

“You choose,” I finally said, willing to speak a truth both of us had so far avoided, “You’re the original Dave, that gives you a few years seniority.”

He looked away for a second, then with a laugh replied, “You’re calling me old?”

“Just your atoms, molecules, cells, organs, etcetera - your lived experience is technically the same as mine.”

I had been freelance IT consulting since my “early retirement” - which in Gen X speak really means - “quitting your 9to5 to do gigs on your own time.” As an “OINK”* I was fortunate that I had the opportunity, and I was slowly socking away money to open either a sandwich shop, or maybe a board game cafe… I don’t know, it was still early. I mostly worked via word of mouth, which was nice - hanging out with old infrastructure buddies and being the hired gun to solve various IT short falls. Worked with a couple of recruiters as well. I wasn’t making bank, but I was comfortable.

It was one of those recruiters who introduced me to Dr. Cassie… err, I mean, Dr. Cassandra Jarving. Rule number one - when the attractive evil scientist introduces herself with a giggle and “Youuu can call me Dr. Cassie” - the appropriate response should be, “Nooope”.

Granted, her business card didn’t say “Evil Scientist”…

I think…

Hmm… man, I was like one of those poor film noir detectives who was in over his head from the word “Go”.

Sax music - “The Dame wore a lab coat that fit like a little black dress, her voice growled like she had just finished a pack of smokes and a bottle of wine. I looked through those thick corrective lenses into the deepest, most intelligent brown eyes…”

Ok, I’m an IT guy, not a writer…

I was there to review the security of her IT systems, and nothing else. She mentioned her work was in “theoretical matter transportation”, I joked about Star Trek… apologized. Maybe the frightened looks of her lab techs should have been a warning.

The gig was a couple months of work, not every day, but enough that we became familiar. I have strict… well… guidelines… on not dating co-workers, and especially not employers. But I thought we were hitting it off. She seemed sweet and kind - as long as I didn’t joke about her life’s work - which I get.

Which is to say, when I woke up strapped to the gurney in the lab, I was a little surprised! I had thought our dinner was going well…

The sole lab tech in the room, Vanessa, wouldn’t make eye contact, and scurried out when I called her name. Dr. Cassie… err… Dr. Jarving came into the room and stood over me.

“Rutabaga?” I said meekly.

It took her a second, and that cute smile of hers (stop it, Dave) spread as she understood my joke, “No, Dave, there’s no safe word. I’ve decided you are the perfect volunteer for my human trials.”

We both glanced at the restraints.

“Well, you would have volunteered eventually. I have a deadline.”

You know, a cute smile and an evil glint in the eye would be a lot more attractive… if I wasn’t STRAPPED TO A GURNEY. But, I tried to keep my cool, “So, what exactly are we about to trial?”

She typed a few commands on her system, one that I was explicitly not to access during my work, and the opaque glass wall on my right side cleared.

Neat! I didn’t know there was a secret chamber! Oh man, I was so in over my head…

Vanessa stood on the other side of the glass at a similar system. She still wouldn’t make eye contact with either of us.

Dr. Jarving started some more typing and said, “I am going to be transporting you to that room, then to my secret site in Edmonton, and then back, it should only take a couple of minutes for the procedure and subsequent testing.”

Oh great, she has a secret site, too. Like any well-adjusted scientist and… wait, “Transporting??”

“Yes, a few key strokes and ‘zip-zap’ you and the gurney are over there, then Edmonton, then back!” She looked triumphant.

“‘Zip-zap’?”

“I’m still working on the technical terms. And once you’re back, I will interview you to see how the process felt, which is something I couldn’t do with the previous animal subjects.” She continued, “Vhich is vhy you are avake, I need you alert und avake zo we can interrogate you!”

My eyes went wide.

She laughed, “Too much?”

“Yeah, I think the fake German accent was a bit too on the…” my world… shimmered?

“… nose” the voice on the overhead speaker finished. My voice.

I glanced to my right, just as he did - we had the exact same instinct - since we were the same person. I saw his body… shimmer, and then solidify.

I could hear the frantic typing to my left and I could see Vanessa typing just as fast in the other room.

“What are you doing, Vanessa?” Cassie shouted and then she gasped. I looked over and she was staring me in the eyes. “You shouldn’t still be here!”

At this point I turned and looked at my mirror self - but it wasn’t a mirror. In a mirror, the little patch of white beard on my right cheek would be facing down, on his side of the glass it was facing up, since he was turned to his left. He? I?

Vanessa shouted, “I couldn’t let you do it to a person, Cassandra! I hacked in and disabled the disintegration protocol!” She then looked at the two of us and mouthed, “I’m so sorry!” and ran from the room.

Both of me shouted, “Disintegration protocol??”

At least Cassie had the decency to look a little sheepish, “Well… yes… technically the transporter makes an exact replica of you at the target location using the available atoms and data. Once the transport is confirmed we… uh… dispose of the source material. Otherwise, we end up with this situation.”

Being the “source material” I was a little put out by this declaration. I was trying to come to terms with my feelings as I heard a chuckle come over the loud speaker.

“What’s funny?” Cassie asked.

“If you’d given me access to these systems…” he began.

I smiled in spite of my horror, “… Vanessa wouldn’t have been able to hack them.”

All three of us started to chuckle at that. A little grim, but… here we are…

As we finished our glasses of wine and flashback, I paused.

“Wait,” I said softly, “You saw me shimmer as well?”

“Yep,” he replied, “I figured that was part of the process.”

“Maybe - or do you think that second shimmer was another copy being sent to Edmonton?”

“… shit”

Hope you enjoyed!

Our month long Millcreek adventure is over, but myself, and some others will be continuing to expand on this little world! It was a ton of fun, and a really neat way to collaborate with so many people! I look forward to more stories about the various Daves!

Dave :D

*OINK - One Income, No Kids :)

I got home from Edgeworks, and he was waiting for me in the kitchen. I panicked and checked to see the blinds were drawn, and that no one was behind me. This wasn’t our protocol. We’d gone almost a month without screwing this up, I was shocked that he was being so careless.

He’d already poured two glasses of wine and moved one closer to me. Trying to get over my shock, I blurted out, “What the hell, Dave? What if someone is watching the kitchen door?”

He took a sip of his wine and shrugged, “I think the gig is up, Dave,” emphasizing our name, “the Lantern Festival is tonight, and there are two lanterns and two pens waiting for us.”

I looked at the elegant floating lanterns sitting on the table, and then at him. He was calm and relieved, and, well, if he was calm… I was calm. I mean I certainly had to trust his judgement. And to be fair, a wave of relief hit me too.

We’d been keeping this secret since even before Millcreek. Since she had messed up. Millcreek was just a handy place for her to hide her mistake. Mistakes? Obviously Millcreek had known about us, but she had warned us what would happen if other people did. Poof… one of us would be gone. Heck, maybe both…

But Millcreek and Edgeworks had proved to be the perfect cover. No one really questioned how the guy working the cafe managed to work eighteen hours a day. They had their own worries, or if they thought it was strange, they chalked it up to the magic of the village.

Plus, we were doing what we loved! Putting smiles on faces one meal at a time!

I took a sip of wine and smiled, “Ok, what’s the deal with the lanterns?”

“They’re wishing lanterns. At the festival, we ‘write our deepest wish’, and ‘release our truth’ with the rest of the community.” I could tell he was quoting right from the instructions.

“Hmm, that sounds lovely… do you think the town’s magic is going to be granting our wishes?”

“Would it matter if it did?”

“No,” we both smiled, but I finished the thought, “We’d wish for the same thing either way.”

We clinked our glasses and picked up our respective pens - I wish for everyone to find a place where they can be comfortable and accepted, so that they can grow into what they truly want to be.

Reflexively we checked each others and smiled. “Gosh we’re corny.”

The Festival.

It was more somber than we expected. Perhaps having a wonderful pool party hosted by Vivienne in the first week, and the recent dragon baby shower, this one didn’t have that edge of spontaneity. I think there was an air of expectation - the written wishes, the “Phase 1” in the paperwork we had all discovered - we seemed to know this was going to be monumental.

My neighbors were initially shocked to see two Daves, but I think some of them were beginning to suspect. A missed conversational reference, a slightly different scent - we tried to debrief, maintain a similar diet, habits, but we couldn’t be perfect. And, there are a lot of perceptive people in town!

A few of them had questions for us, but most were focused on what the night meant for them and our new friends. I couldn’t blame them.

I’ve always loved a lantern festival. The practical magic of a little flame lifting the lanterns into the sky. Watching them congregate and move together through the sky.

The mist barrier provided a twist, however. As the lanterns reached the edge of the mist, some burst into flames, some fell into the lake. Enough burned that they had an effect on the mist - it started to disappear.

A marked signpost came into view - five arms in five directions - Fire & Ice Falls, Moonlight Beach, Story Ville, Sand Star Village, and Cathedral Valley.

We all heard Maple’s voice as if she was standing beside us. Congratulating us on getting through the first phase - the first ever group to do so. We were given a choice, to stay at the way station that is Millcreek, to guide new people joining on this journey. Or venture forwards ourselves - pick one of these new directions and see what wonders they held.

I looked at my replica. We knew the answer. Both. One would stay to welcome people to Millcreek, one would pick a direction and go.

1-2-3 - Rock

1-2-3 - Rock

1-2-3 - Rock

Heh… Good ole rock… nothing beats rock. We’ll need a better way to decide who stays and who goes. It’s kind of bittersweet since we both know we’ll be happy either way.

Real Dave is still travelling, but I would love to do a collaboration, which is why I left the interactions at the festival vague, and haven’t picked a direction (or Dave) to go. I wanted to get this out there early, though, just in case someone wanted to write a brief Millcreek Dave interaction - there’s two of us!

I can’t wait to see the rest of the stories! And I hope I get to write more about Millcreek Dave very soon!

Thank you everyone, and a special thanks to for rolling with all the changes we creatives have thrown at you this month!

Dave (Dave, and Dave)

Oh man… I think I pulled something hauling all that food to Iris’ for the baby dragon shower! But it was totally worth it. From a curiosity point of view, I wanted to see if a sea dragon liked food it wouldn’t normally find in nature. From a scientific point of view… maybe a newborn dragon doesn’t have the most discriminating palate… Still totally worth it.

I got home, resolving to do a few more stretches, and found another bottle of wine waiting out in the kitchen. No food, but he must have known I’d eat at the party, so he would have made something for himself. I grabbed the bottle and a couple of glasses and headed to the basement and sub-basement.

And, realized I’d forgotten to bring that table to the vestibule. Every day I remind myself, every day I forget! There’s just so much activity to keep up with, I’m surprised I remember my name!

“Dave!” He greets me with a smile as I come through the second door.

“Hello! How was your day? I see you tidied up some of those papers that were piling up.”

“Tidied up and… reviewed - it’s been an… interesting day.” He replied with a glance toward the lowest part of the digging we were doing.

“You found something down here?” I surmised as I twisted the corkscrew.

“I did, but let’s leave that for a minute. What do you remember about the Millcreek contract?”

“You mean the one we ‘signed’ before we came here?” the air quotes being heavily implied, since my hands were full. We smirked at each other as the cork came loose.

I started pouring and asked him, “I remember very little. Let’s face it, we knew she was going to send us here, one way or another. Might as well keep her happy and get some concessions. Oh no… are the concessions gone?”

“If the concessions were gone,” he replied, indicating the ever-growing sub-basement “I don’t think we’d be standing down here.”

Fair enough, I thought as I looked around. We’d made some good progress, and it was quite comfortable now. Good lighting, floor levelled, managed to sneak down a bigger table… which is when I should have brought the vestibule table… darn it… Even a couple yoga mats and some spare dumbbells from the gym. Not the Ritz, but not the worst place I’ve ever lived, either.

“So, what about the contract?” I asked.

“It’s got two mentions I don’t remember, regarding the experiment. Something about a ‘Phase 1’, and in the tiniest of prints… somewhat appropriately… ‘Miniaturization process not guaranteed reversible’”

“So… what you’re saying is she signed us up for an experiment where she didn’t know the end, and wasn’t sure she could fix if anything went wrong?”

We looked at each other… laughed… sighed… laughed again a little quieter.

I handed him his glass and we clinked, “At least we have wine and great neighbors!”

It was really good wine. And the neighbors are awesome as well, of course. We savored for a moment, then I recalled he had hinted at something else.

“You hinted you found something?” I asked.

We had decided to dig out a little bit, and then down. We were hoping that since we were so close to water, there would be a relatively high water table. With any luck, maybe even an underground river. So far neither of us had been stuck down here for any length of time, but a source of fresh water, or in a worst case scenario… a latrine… would be ideal. Yep… not the Ritz…

“I found something,” he nodded, “but I think it’ll be better for you to see it, instead of me explaining it.”

With that, he picked up the pickaxe and headed over to the lowest part of the cavern. A bright lantern was still hung on the wall and as I got closer, I could see what had interested him so. At the lowest point of the dig there was…

“Mist?”

“Yep,” he confirmed, “that’s what it looks like. Doesn’t seem to move. I almost had a panic attack when I thought it was some sort of gas I was letting seep in… but it just sits there.”

“What’s behind the mist?” I asked.

He handed me the pickaxe, “Go for it, champ! As soon as I realized the broken rock was just sitting on it, I cleared enough to get a good look, and then went and made some dinner. This is above my pay scale!”

I considered for a second, then set down the pick, “We get ‘paid’ the same amount. We should do some research, first.”

“Great minds think alike…”

“… And dull ones seldom differ!” I finished the phrase.

We both stood regarding the mist, slowly sipping our wine. After a couple of minutes we went back to the table and sat.

“Any word from her?” I asked.

“Not even a punctuation mark.” He replied, “I suspect we’ve been completely cut off.”

“Or she’s forgotten about us.”

“Or she’s forgotten about us.”

He poured himself a second glass of wine and motioned towards my glass. I waved him off, “I think I need to do some stretching before bed. Don’t want to be too limber before limbering up. Let me brief you about the dragon baby shower, and then maybe we can call it an early night.”

After I filled him in, he nodded, then with a twinkle in his eye and his best Columbo impression, “Oh, just one more thing…”

I smiled and waved for him to continue.

“This Lantern festival… what do you think it means, ‘everyone must participate’ - is that going to be a problem?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly, “maybe that’s something you can ask about while you’re out and about tomorrow.”

“Fair enough.” He replied, as he topped up his glass with a little more wine. He started heading for the door and remarked, “Don’t stay up too late, we might have a busy week or two!”

I smiled back and tried to think of a couple good stretches for a sore back and legs.

Yep, it was going to be busy… and interesting.

Hope you enjoyed!

Also - I’m going to be travelling for the next couple of days - I wanted to write something up quickly, but I am totally available for any collaboration - just might be slow to respond with/to a full story.

Dave

It took me a bit, but I had to admit it, having the café on the third floor of the gym was a touch of genius. At that height, the patrons had a good view of the village and the surroundings – especially if they went out on the balcony. Plus, the elevated view of the gym led to some fun interactions. Imagine struggling through a set and a voice from on high shouts, “You got this!” … yeah… you got this.

The climbing wall being the only way up was still… unique, but many were game. I did decide to set up a small table on the first-floor patio with a small coffee and tea service. I get it, sometimes you’ve got places to be! And sometimes you think it’s a right to get to the Brick… and you’re here instead!

I had just hauled down the fresh carafes and was pouring some hot water into a second teapot when I saw one of my Pine Street neighbours approaching. He was at least a decade younger than me, maybe more, but his bearing… his eyes… he had seen a full life, and maybe a half on top of that.

“Tea?” I asked.

He looked over my basic setup and acknowledged that I had tea as well as coffee at the ready. “You’re already ahead of most cafés.”

I served him a cup from the first pot and guessed, “First week in town?”

He regarded me for a moment. He had seen things in his other world that would keep me up at night – but he had seen things in this last week that were truly awe inspiring, “Is it that obvious?”

I had to smile, yes - magic seems to be real here, “Everyone has the same look the first few days.”

I busied myself with sorting napkins and wondering at my own experiences of the week when he interrupted my reverie.

“Hypothetical question.” He spoke.

Ooh, this’ll be good! Trying to match his calm and measured tones about the fantastical, I replied, “Those are usually the least hypothetical ones.”

“If someone were sitting on their porch yesterday morning,” he said slowly, “and two dragons walked up carrying baked goods… should they consider that unusual?”

Ok… don’t laugh… don’t laugh… “HA!”

I couldn’t help it, remembering my first encounter with Deleiri.

“Good,” he sighed with relief. “I was worried I’d finally lost it.”

Trying to play it cool, I pretended to busy myself with a cloth, and calmly said, “You met Mello and Deleiri.”

He blinked at me – yes! … coolness achieved!

“That casually?” he asked.

“They’re friendly,” I said, keeping my feigned calmness, “New neighbours, right?”

He nodded, but I could see the gears in his head turning, “Well,” he said, “that answers one question.”

“And raises several more?” I said, blowing into a coffee cup and rubbing it with the cloth… oh no… I’m going to need to take that back up to the dishwasher. It looks so cool in movies, but so unhygienic!!

Fortunately, he missed my momentary flash of panic and grimly replied, “Occupational hazard.”

So. Cool.

I wish I had that presence at his age.

He leaned back and focused on something behind me through the massive glass walls of the gym.

“Tell me something,” he said.

“Yes?”

“How exactly does one reach the café?”

At that moment I noticed the climber working their way up and did a mental inventory of what was still out on the buffet, it should be ok for a few more minutes. I pointed at the wall and tried to give a confident smile.

He nodded slowly.

“Right.”

I was sure there was at least one pan of eggs out, and the yogurt and fruit had recently been topped up. And, I’m getting quick at climbing my preferred path, I didn’t want to miss out on this chance to get to know my neighbour.

“Lantern Festival?” he suddenly asked.

Oh, right, the posters! I have no idea who put those up, but… still playing cool I just glanced at him.

“Big event?” he inquired.

Well, geez, I don’t know… But I bet whoever put up the posters would, “Depends who you ask.” I said with an unearned smirk.

He folds his arms and gruffly asked, “Care to elaborate?”

Even with no clue, the answer came to me easily, “You’ll want to see it.”

Because, heck, I want to see it!!

He nodded slowly. I don’t think I’ve fooled him one bit. “Fair enough.”

He finished his tea, thanked me and stepped back into the street.

I’m going to have to keep an eye on him. Oh, who am I kidding, I have to keep an eye on everyone, there are so many sharp people in this village! Oh man… does that make me the proverbial village idiot?

Well… I know food and I know coffee I remind myself. And that reminded me I have been meaning to stop in on the new proprietor of the Brick. We must support each other in this village; one café couldn’t possibly satisfy the palate of every resident.

I took an inventory of the lower coffee station and made a quick climb to the main café to check on the diners there. Everything seemed fine, and people seem casual enough to excuse a momentary absence, I decided to make my way over.

I’m happy to see a few of my regulars when I arrived and I made sure to put on my biggest smile, so they know. Abhishek and I aren’t competing for their business, we’re working to give the village variety and good coffee!

And that espresso machine. Let’s just say, if anyone tells my espresso machine about it, I’m in trouble. What a machine. Those dials, the immaculate steamer, the resonance. This was a machine made from the magic of this village. It knew.

And Abhishek was learning. He approached the machine with intention. Not always his. He was learning to approach with the intention of the customer. I could teach him the beans, the foam, but I think he was learning the magic. Don’t get me wrong, I make a mean sandwich, but when someone needs a coffee for their particular day, this will be the place to go in short order.

I gave my head a little shake and cleared my throat, “How are you making out today, Abhishek?”

He turned and calmly regarded me, “Dave, I am doing very well today, thank you.”

I had to admit, I envied him, not just for the magnificent espresso machine, but for his full immersion in his new condition. I knew he wasn’t ready to acknowledge it quite yet, but his whole demeanor told me he was home. Home.

Maintaining my smile, I glanced around, and sure enough, the Lantern Festival posters were in the Brick as well.

“Looks like we have something to look forward to soon,” I said with a gesture to the poster.

“Yes,” he replied, “this village never ceases to surprise.”

Darn… I don’t think he knows either, but I guess that’s to be expected.

“Well,” I replied, “maybe this will be a great catering opportunity! Let me know if you hear anything.”

“Of course, Dave,” he replied graciously, “We could bring the very best the village has to offer.”

I smiled. I love the confidence. This might be a place where “nothing but the best” is simply a fact. But we shall see. Abhishek seemed to have everything well in hand, so I take my leave with a wave.

There is so much going on, so much to learn. It’s a bit scary, but I love it.

Thanks Abhishek and BentButTrue! And if others want to pop by Edgeworks during the week, feel free! It’s always hopping, and Millcreek Dave is almost always there. And if you want to bounce ideas off of me, just drop me a line!

Thanks!

Dave

It’s been a while since I’ve done any of my work history as a break from fiction, so I thought this would be a nice chance in between Flash Fiction February and the next Millcreek prompt. This is four quick stories - two from student teaching, one from subbing, and one from my Grade 5/6 class. A little schmalzy, a little silly, and a lot of learning for me.

Lunchtime

My second of four teaching practicums was a grade 3 class on the Blood 148 First Nations reserve in Southern Alberta. Beautiful new school, super engaged staff, but definitely a tough assignment. And I am super grateful I got the opportunity because it really opened my eyes and mind. We got to visit a Residential School that had been converted to a college nearby - imagine a sheltered 25ish yr old guy trying to explain the Canadian Residential school system to 8 and 9 yr old’s who likely had relatives who had been torn from their families to live in these horrible buildings. We got to do a Sober Walk with the elders of the community where all of the adults announced their years, months, days, or hours of sobriety and tell their stories.

But the most touching moment came at exactly the right moment. I was getting completely overwhelmed, only half the students had shown up for the day, and they were not ready to do anything close to learning. I wasn’t angry, I was flailing. And my co-teaching mentor saw it, so she suggested I head to the staff room and have an early lunch.

I calmed down and ate my lunch, and headed back to the classroom in time for the kids to start eating. I was just sitting at my little card table, trying to salvage what I could for my afternoon lesson plan when one of the boys came over. He’d told me to f-off earlier that day, so I wasn’t too keen to speak to him. But he was holding half of his sandwich. He held it out to me and said, “Did you forget your lunch, Mr. Boyko? I have extra!”

And all of a sudden, I realized it was never personal. The greatest lesson I could ever learn as a teacher. I thanked him and told him I’d eaten earlier - and we sat and came up with a plan to keep him focused in class. He admitted he had trouble keeping his eyes on the page, so I agreed to stand with my finger on the top of his worksheet while I spoke to the rest of the class. Every single class from then on.

Maturity

Ok, let’s do a lighter story! My last teaching practicum was at an amazing K-12 school that was generally only one group of students per grade. I was teaching Social Studies and Computers to a range of kids from Grade 5 to 9. And my “homeroom” class was this awesome bunch of Grade 8 students. My mentor teacher would have them journal every morning, write about what they had done the night before, their homework, whatever. And they were allowed to ask questions of the teacher in the journal if they wanted. When he announced I would be reviewing their journals, he suggested this would be a good opportunity to get a different point of view than what they were used to with him.

One young lady ended her journaling that morning with a sweet and heartfelt question which I’m sure every Grade 8 (and older) girl has wondered - “Mr. Boyko, when do boys get more mature?”

When I got to that, I shook my head and chuckled, there was probably a more “teacherly” answer to give, but I went with my instincts and wrote, “I hate to say it, ____, but for a lot of boys, Grade 8 is about as mature as they get!”

The next morning, her mother came into the classroom and shook my hand. “I’ve been trying to tell her this!!”

Smoking in the Boy’s Room (not really)

This is from my substitute teaching days, when Alberta and the various municipalities were experimenting with all sorts of smoking regulations. I think one of my favorites was a brief period where you couldn’t smoke in the bar - but you could on the bar patio - but NOT on the sidewalk in front of the patio. So you’d have these weird interactions with people in line leaning over the railing to smoke.

Anyway, I was subbing for a Grade 11 class in a small town, and at this point in time we generally turned a blind eye to the students smoking outside. But… I’m kind of a jerk… especially when I’ve subbed in a class a couple of times.

Grade 11 girl: Hey, Mr. Boyko, can I go get a drink of water?

Mr. Boyko: Sure thing, take your time, we’re just doing homework.

Girl proceeds to walk outside to an area clearly visible from the classroom and light up. We wave.

Grade 11 boy: Hey, Mr. Boyko, can I go outside and have a smoke?

Mr. Boyko (smirking): I’m sorry, as you are under 18, I can’t legally be any part of allowing you to go out and have a smoke.

Grade 11 boy: But you let her go have a smoke!

Mr. Boyko: No, I let her go have a drink of water, she chose to go have a smoke, now go sit down.

He sits dejectedly.

Different Grade 11 girl: Mr. Boyko, can I go get a drink of water?

Mr. Boyko: Sure thing! Take your time.

Girl heads out to join her friend and lights up. Waves.

Grade 11 boy: Mr. Boyko! Can I go out and have a smoke??

Mr. Boyko: I told you, I cannot legally allow you to go out and have a smoke, please sit down.

He sits down angrily.

Another Grade 11 girl: Mr. Boyko… May I Go Have A Drink of Water??

Mr. Boyko: Yes, You May Go Have A Drink of Water.

You guessed it. Waves.

Grade 11 boy: Mr. Boyko? <class pauses expectantly> Umm… can I go get a drink of water?

Mr. Boyko: Yes!! You can go get a drink of water!

Class applauds!!

Praise

My first actual class was a Grade 5/6 split in another southern Alberta town. In this town, if a student was sick for the day, I could count on a parent flagging me down on my drive home to get their homework assignment. (I didn’t have a lot of money, so ended up driving a used purple Chevy Cavalier I had purchased from a local dealership… my students called it “Barney”… sigh…) We would teach all subjects to our classes but sometimes my Grade 5s would join the other Grade 5 class, and my Grade 6s would join the other Grade 6 class. So, at times I would only have ten or fifteen students in my classroom. It was a dream first time teaching gig.

One day, when there was just the fifteen Grade 6ers, I walked in and found them all huddled around one boy’s desk examining the assignment I had just marked.

Mr. Boyko (bemused): Hiya, what’s going on here?

Spokeswoman: Well, Mr. Boyko, you wrote ‘Great’ on his homework.

Mr. Boyko (confused): Um, yeah… why is that causing a conversation?

Spokeswoman: You usually either write, ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’, or nothing at all. So we were trying to figure out if ‘Great’ was better or worse than ‘Excellent’.

Mr. Boyko (chagrined): Oh… I see… I will try to do better with my comments.

Spokeswoman: Thank you, we’d appreciate that.

Grade 6 kids are clever! And boy did I have spectacular fun with my amazing thesaurus after that!

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

Dave

I’m still decorating - and the breakfast buffet is over on the right. There is patio seating behind the bar - mostly so my flying friends can enjoy as well! This was all built in No Man’s Sky. It’s a geek’s paradise.

And here’s the opening menu:

One of real Dave’s retirement business ideas is to open a sandwich shop in a town near where I worked in the Potash mines. They work 12 hour shifts one kilometer underground, with no lunch facilities. You bring a giant sealed jug of ice-water pulled from a trough by the elevator, and whatever lunch you carry. The elevator ride is fifteen minutes, so you stay down the whole shift.

My idea was to have a drop off service - they drop off one empty lunch cooler with menu picks - I prep and leave it waiting for the next day, and they swap lunch coolers. Steady business, minimal customer interaction, win-win!

Anyway - this was just fun, killing time until it’s time to call my mom for our Sunday chat. :)

Dave

Firstly - here’s some notes about Millcreek Dave (so far) as I am more than happy for him to be an incidental part of any story - he works at the gym and coffee shop, and frequently jogs around the neighborhood when not working. He’s polite and amiable, I like how he was described as having a Retriever type personality - that’s perfect! Lots of “Oh wows” and interest. I’m more than willing to roll with the punches - or tosses into the air! Millcreek Dave is genuinely happy to be here and likes getting to know about people. For a more in depth interaction, fire off a DM, and we can work it out, I think that will be awesome. But if you just need someone to have your character chat with over the coffee counter, while doing an exposition dump about your character - Edgeworks is open long hours and Millcreek Dave will listen!

Aside from the general notes, it should be noted that Millcreek Dave does work around some social anxiety, mostly agoraphobia, so he tends to explore a place for exits and bathrooms, and almost always arrives early to invitations. And sometimes his mind locks up - sometimes he’ll remember talking to you earlier, but not the exact specifics. Sometimes, the anxiety really ratchets up and he suffers from some “situational face blindness” - he sees you at the gym, he knows you immediately, he sees you at the grocery store, he’s still polite, but you can tell his mind is trying to figure out how he knows you. As he gets more settled in, you’ll find out he’s a work horse at the gym and cafe - always seems to be around, especially once he figures out the regular habits of his customers and friends. Home is for quiet reflection and “Dave-time” but he’s not averse to having people over - with some notice. Oh yeah, his default response to any spur of the moment invitation is almost always, “I’d love to, but…” But he’s working on that. And for the sake of simplicity, he’s pretty close to real Dave in background - but not exactly, of course - early fifties, semi-retired IT guy with a background in education. And if you ask him what semi-retired means, he’ll say, “Well, I do like to keep myself busy, you know.” (Hence the cafe job.)

Now - some narrative - this’ll be some more town and home observations, Dave will definitely go to the pool party Vivienne is holding, and will do his best to mingle, but will default to trying to hang around with Deleiri, as he tends to be drawn to childlike wonder, although he won’t monopolize - think of it as a social lodestar for keeping his anxiety lower “Oh, looks like Deleiri is going to do something cool, please excuse me.” Feel free to work him into party conversations, though - he is trying to learn about you all… Polite, gracious, observant, and genuinely excited.

I’m still in awe of Millcreek Village, it’s so… unique! Let’s go with unique. And not just because of the size, I’m getting the impression that there’s more than meets the eye with some of the other residents. And by impression, I mean, getting tossed in the air by a literal dragon! That was frickin’ awesome!

I’m still about 50/50 on the mushrooms… I think for now, I’ll stick with what I get in the local shops, I’m not much of a forager anyway.

The Edgeworks Gym and Cafe has been a ton of fun to get set up. The village sponsors, or perhaps the past tenants had left me a ton of fresh and frozen ingredients. And the espresso maker was top of the line! Oh, the creations I’m going to make! And wait till they try my turkey/cream cheese/cranberry sandwiches!

I’m getting used to the idea of it being on the third floor, and only accessible via the climbing wall - frankly, I think it adds to the ambience. I heard the other cafe in town has a new proprietor, so I’m not the only source in town. Man, imagine how many angry interactions I’d have with people coming for that first cuppa and facing the wall! But, I figured out the wall is adjustable, and I’ve set up a couple of paths that are as easy as climbing a ladder, if you look close enough. (Harnesses still mandatory! Although, I’m really curious how bad a fall from this height at our relative mass would be. Like an ant tumbling off a picnic table, maybe?) And I was surprised at how many people have just gamely tackled the wall without so much as a grumble. That one lady, Vivienne, I think, barely seemed to notice the inconvenience!

It’s a quick walk from the gym to my lovely new home at 421 Pine Street, I just have to walk the perimeter of the Blue Aspen farm and pop in the back door. The kitchen is at the back of the house, with a decent sized breakfast nook. I think the rest of the first floor was to be split into living and dining rooms, but I’ve just set it up as a big open space. Lots of seating, a couple throw rugs, low and high tables, I’ll move stuff around as I get more settled. Oh, and a little half bath for when I’m entertaining. (But you’re always entertaining Dave, wocka wocka…)

The second floor is split between a guest bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a “bonus room” that opens to the covered patio. I’ve got the blackout curtains set up in the guest bedroom, and like most of the house, wired for convenience! I am a geek after all. Wireless speakers and lights throughout, remote control curtains and blinds, they did set me up with a nice modern place!

And the third floor? It’s amazing! Essentially one large bedroom and ensuite, huge closet, and the sky-lights - so open and bright during the day - peaceful at night. Full-on soaker tub, huge steam shower, I could retire right here! And, yes, thoughtfully tucked away from the skylights - thank goodness, given my three dimensionally advantaged neighbors! Although I will be able to soak in the tub and stare up at the… hmm… stars? I wonder what the night sky really is in here…

Anyway, I had just gotten home from the lovely pool party at Vivienne’s (I was right about the name), and was happy to see a nice bottle of wine and some nibbles set out for me. I’d enjoyed myself at the party, but it was a thoughtful touch to leave out a nightcap. I picked up the tray, the bottle and glasses and headed down to the basement.

Oh, the basement. This was a stipulation and an accommodation for my participation in her experiment - which I’m starting to realize is more than just her experiment. The basement is essentially the man-cave. Bookshelves line the walls, a couple of deep leather chairs, oak… everywhere… even some tasteful tapestries. I set down my “burdens” on a high table along the south wall and proceed to the north wall to browse for a book. Ah, there it is. I carefully pull the leather bound book off the shelf, feel the heft, briefly open it and inhale that, well… leather bound book smell. Then I reach behind and activate the lever. Replacing the book, I quickly move to the west wall and place my palm on the center of the tapestry and I’m rewarded with a <click> from behind the north tapestry.

I gather everything up, and with a gentle push, move beyond. And… remind myself I’d meant to put a table in the vestibule… Darn it. No matter, maybe tomorrow. As the first door seals, I look up at the camera and smile. A green light comes on to show me he’s aware of my presence and I lean into the wall for the retinal scan. The second door opens, and I step into the real cellar.

Rough-hewn from the surrounding rock, a couple of small chairs, a bed, and a card table are all that are in this space. Oh, and him, of course. I open the bottle and set everything down next to the laptop on the table.

“Thanks for setting out the wine and snacks,” I smile, “I take it you’re up for a chat?”

“Of course, Dave, I want to hear all about the party,” he says with a glint of… jealousy?

“I have a few good stories to tell you later, but I want to talk about the experiment.” I say.

“Oh, in what sense?”

“I think there’s a lot more going on than we initially thought”

“You mean the dragons?” he smirks.

“You’re just jealous you didn’t get to fly,” I smirk back, “I get the feeling all you will need to do is ask! But, it’s more than that - I don’t think all of these people are from the same place as us?”

“Because we don’t have dragons in Calgary?”

“Smart ass. But, it’s more than that - you know how when someone asks you where you’re from and they don’t recognize your answer?”

“Well, yeah… we’re from Calgary…” and his voice changes pitch to simulate a conversation, “‘Oh, Calgary..?’ - ‘Yes, Calgary - it’s in Canada…’ - and you know they start picturing Toronto or the Maritimes.”

“Exactly!” I reply, “Except some of these people didn’t even know where Canada is.”

“Maybe they’re Americans…”

“Be nice…”

“Sorry,” but he smiles. Waving his free hand in a generally upwards direction he follows with, “Maybe she can give us some more info when she deigns to reach out.”

I nod. “Have you heard from her?”

He pours us both glasses of wine and then turns the laptop screen to face me. A chat window is open -

?

“Huh,” I grunt, “Think she’s channeling her internal Victor Hugo, or is she just too uninterested to type an entire sentence?”

He smiles wryly, “Only one way to find out” and he swings the laptop back and types “!” and hits “Send”

He lifts his glass and we toast. I say, “I do appreciate that we have the same sense of humor.”

He smiles, takes a sip, and says, “So, how about you tell me more about the party and all the interactions you had today, and I’ll tell you how the tunneling is going.”

Hope you enjoyed! And I hope you’re looking forward to learning more about Millcreek and Millcreek Dave!

Dave

First Day in a new community! Home, Sweet Miniaturized Home!

Ha! I should get that done up in a little petite point and frame it at the front door. Would it still be petite point? Itsy-bitsy point? I imagine there will be some language adjustments as we get used to our new miniaturized surroundings, and some that will stay the same.

“Hey Dave, how was your run today”

“Hey hypothetical neighbor, it was great, I did 5 millimeters today!”

Yeah, that’ll take some getting used to…

I woke up this morning in my new home at #421 Pine Street, and it was like winning the lottery, truly. A three story house, well-appointed, bedroom taking up the entire attic/3rd floor space - with a walk-out balcony! Still needs some personalization, of course, but that’s the excitement of a new place.

There was a covered balcony on the second floor as well, big enough to have a party, private enough to hide out and read a book in the evening. Maybe throw a BBQ up there so I can grill up some Portobello mushroom steaks…

Oh… right… there’s apparently a “Mushroom Queen” in town. Does that mean she’s the main provider of mushrooms? Dresses like a mushroom? Oh goodness… made of mushrooms? Is there an area of town that is all mushroom people?? Maybe I should figure that out before I start planning meals! “C’mon over to Dave’s place and chow down on your neighbors!!” is not the best first impression…

I’ll explore more of the house later, I managed to get transferred to town early, and I want to walk around before it gets too busy. I did hear someone blasting out some Dead Kennedys, which was pretty cool. Made it a little less surreal and empty. I’m a little shy at first, so I’ll armor up in my running gear - if anyone sees me, I can always just do the “wave and tap watch” as if I’m trying to keep my time. Heck, if they can keep up - maybe a new running buddy. But it is a great excuse to explore and avoid conversations until my comfort level goes up.

Oh, and the gym! I was so pleased when they approved my application to work in the gym cafe! Again - I like people… in short bursts… and working behind a counter always gives you that - “Oh, another customer” out of a conversation. I’m sure I’ll make a bunch of friends, but I also know how to regulate my social activity, been doing it for ages.

The gym is really well laid out, great equipment - although I can’t work up the nerve to see if the markings are in pounds or kilograms… or… micrograms?? I shake my head as I think of that. Super spacious with three stories - the gym’s cafe being on the third.

Um… no stairs that I can find… just a climbing wall… That’s unique. May have to rig up a pulley system for leg days.

Anyway, the Edgeworks Cafe is just perfect, everything I’ll need to serve up fresh coffee, healthy snacks, sandwiches, and the all important smoothies! They even have one of those cool shawarma type rotisseries. I don’t know the scale difference yet, but maybe I could stick a blueberry on there and carve off chunks for the smoothies. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

I’m going to busy myself and wait for more of new neighbors to show up. With a “Bog Witch” and a “Mushroom Queen”, maybe I’m in for some mystical adventures.

I’m excited!

This is a response to the week 1 prompt of the Tales from Millcreek Village World Building event by

I look forward to getting to know my neighbors and seeing how this shapes up. I have been a fan of shared worlds since diving into “Thieves World” and I still pick up every new “Wild Cards” collection as they are published. There’s really no limit to how this will shape up, so I wanted to just set a very basic intro to my style. Looking forward to seeing what shenanigans “Dave” gets up to in this setting.

Hope you come along!

Dave

The last prompt for the Flash Fiction February is to revisit one of our stories. I’m going to revisit the last one I wrote - Death in the North. It was pretty straight forward, no twist ending, and I really liked it. This time there might be a twist, though…

Laura had been watching the man since she arrived in this little town that was a paradise for her kind in the winter, a nightmare in the summer. The thought of the weeks of sunshine caused her to shudder, even though she knew it only by concept.

The man was dying, but he carried himself with such strength a casual observer wouldn’t be able to tell. This was a small town though, and even if Laura couldn’t sense the death in him, she could tell by the way those around him acted. A sad head shake after a conversation, the smiles that never truly reached their eyes, the little gestures each of the townsfolk made. Without explicitly saying it, they were making the town ready for him after his last flight home from the doctors.

She had been coming to this town for decades. At first there were dozens of her kin, then a handful, then just her. A vampire could find respite from the sun in Vegas, or Hong Kong, or any of a dozen other cities that never truly slept anymore. An inconvenient town in the north no longer held the appeal it once did. But Laura kept coming back every year. Maybe she had learned to love the outdoors more than the younger vampires. Many of the newer vampires who had worked office jobs and rarely strayed into nature - indoors was all they truly knew.

But part of her knew it was the hope that word would one day get to her beloved Carmilla. Laura’s father had told her Baron Vordenburg had slain Carmilla, had thrown the body in to a river. There was still a part of Laura that hoped. Maybe that was a symptom of being turned at an age when optimism seemed to spring eternal. Eternal hope and eternal life had proven to be its own special kind of curse. But Carmilla had once been called Millarca, Mircalla before that, maybe somewhere another anagram was hunting young women, unaware that Laura had turned. Eternal hope…

The last plane was long gone. Laura and Jack had shared a meal and conversation, though only Jack had eaten. She had told him she didn’t need to feed, a small lie, he didn’t need to know she had blood hidden away and that she would hunt when he rested. She had offered to turn him. It was not something she had ever done before. Seeing how much he loved this town she had hoped he would accept. He could be counted on to return every year. It was selfish of her and she was relieved when he declined.

He spoke of Danielle, his beloved. He didn’t hope she loved him, he knew with every fiber of his being. And he had loved her, travelled with her, cared for her as she got sick, cradled her as she died. He slept in a room at the back of the diner now - Danielle’s Diner as the town folk called it. They’d made it up for him after Danielle had passed. He couldn’t bear to live in the little house they had shared and couldn’t bear to be away from the diner she had loved.

Was that something she could have had with Carmilla? Or was she just prey?

Laura delighted at the “server room maintenance” as silly as it seemed. Jack took pride in making sure the dials and lights were all within a certain range. As he got weaker and she did more, that look of pride would fall on her more often than not.

How silly.

She was an ancient vampire. She could have lived a life of leisure, or commanded industry with wealth and power, and she was here taking joy in dials and buttons. In the, “I really appreciated your help today, Laura” that Jack would say at just the right moments.

She had carried him to the house he and Danielle had shared. He still couldn’t bear to be inside without her. She held him as he shivered and breathed his last. He had looked at her, but beyond and whispered, “I love you, Danielle.”

Laura’s heart ached as she kissed his forehead and replied, “I love you too, Jack.”

And with that I pushed back from my keyboard and wiped a tear from my eye. Taking a quick look to make sure it wasn’t crimson.

I looked in the mirror and saw that I/we/he had cried a few more tears, maybe his/our/my reflection helped me hold it together for those last few words.

“You did good, Dave.” We both said.

Fooled ya! This was a sequel to Cosmic Inspiration - Local Representation!

Seriously, though, this has been an inspiring month for me. I could be like an Oscar speech and individually thank everyone who stopped by, liked, commented, shared, but I know they’d start playing the walk off music, and I’d forget someone! But I do explicitly want to thank for this month of unique prompts and heartfelt congratulations. It really meant the world to me.

Everyone else, please take a look in your mirrors and know that you inspire

Dave.