Archives October 2022

[WP] Everything can be a prompt if you’re creative enough. (This wasn’t actually a published [WP]. Someone made this statement, and I responded with the story below…to help them prove their point)

…said the valet as he stepped between the reporter and the celebrity. In the midst of their interview, they begin looking back and forth between each other and the valet while internalizing the same question; Where’s security?

The valet pulls a set of keys from the breast pocket of his vest, then spins them on his index finger. The keys change in the spin, becoming a pen as he’s walking away. He raises the pin as if to sign the air but shakes his head.

He spins the pen on the top of his hand and turns his palm up as it changes again, becoming a can of spray paint. Looking at the can, he nods appreciatively, then leans over and swings his arms across his body then back out like an umpire calling a runner safe after sliding across home plate.

After the gesture, the valet now has a spray-can in each hand. Using his thumbs, he pops each lid off in turn, sending them tumbling into the air where one changes into a leaf and the other a feather, both of them getting carried away from him in an unfelt wind.

To start, the valet spays one can towards his face, causing a pair of safety goggles to form over his eyes. He shifts to the other can, spraying in an oscillating manner, and a breathing mask forms over his mouth and nose. Next, he alternates each over his body where his vest and slacks become a gray jumpsuit with rubber booties over his feet.

Safety first, he thinks, spinning the cans only to pop off a different colored top while releasing an additional feather and leaf.

He looks back at the air as he appraises something that only he can see. After playing out the image in his mind, he sets to work. He sprays each can in wild zig zagging patterns, and the paint fans forward in oscillating waves, the individual droplets drifting towards the industrial zone across the canal. The specs of paint look as if they’ll continue to drift away and apart, soon to be just another part of the city’s increasing air pollution concern.

But they don’t.

The flecks of paint begin sticking to the air as if some unseen canvas is standing between the painter and the smog engine. The paint cans twirl rapidly as leaves and feathers continue to peel up and behind the painter. After a time, the various color changes start to depict a landscape where the sky is actually blue. A variety of flowers begin to freckle the lush green meadow that emerges.

He adds various trees, a pond with a fish mid-jump, a sunrise beyond a hill, and a great white elk standing atop the mound with the sun at its back. Lastly, he pants a rope bridge from his gravel parking lot that leads over the canal.

With that done, he gives the painting a nod and turns around to find all of the leaves clustered and suspended in the air while all the feathers had formed birds that were frozen above. He spins the cans again, popping the lids off two different colors of brown. He sprays up into the leaves, moving back and forth as branches form and make connections to all the leaves. The cans trace back to the ground as the trunk takes shape and roots sink into the gravel.

Another spin and he turns the cans back on himself. The safety gear fades away as oversized glasses and a floppy sun hat take their place. A button up shirt, comfortable shorts and slip-on shoes replace the jump suit.

He flings one of the cans over his shoulder, while spinning the other. The birds behind him gain motion and the painted tree starts moving in the same unfelt wind. The other can sprays and forms a hatchet in his hand before he looks back towards his landscape with a smile.

He tosses the remaining can towards the painting and the lush landscape gains motion. The fish falls to splash back into water, the flowers sway with the grass, the tree leaves rustle, and the white elk turns his gaze towards the dreamer.

He reaches up to his hat, making sure the now felt wind doesn’t carry it away as he walks towards the sunrise. He passes into the painted place, crossing the bridge, and stopping long enough to use the hatchet to separate himself from the world he left behind.

The bridge falls away and he tosses the hatchet into the canal as the songbirds fly across to follow him. A moment later, the landscape separates into flecks of paint, moving away from each other while growing smaller. In a matter of seconds, it’s all gone.

The celebrity reaches up to rub at the back of his head before turning back to the reporter. “So are we still talking about cleaning up the city?” asks the celebrity. “Or should we talk about what just happened?”

“It’s been three years since we first left the village. We’ve traveled all over the world. We’ve overcome so many trials… But I’ve glimpsed into your future. And… I’m not in it.”

The penguin cast its gaze down the arrow shaft and beyond the arrowhead between him and the tiger stalking through the jungle’s undergrowth. Behind him is his life partner, holding the precious stone that he had given her so long ago. She’s clutching it tightly as her anxiety mounts with each step the tiger makes in their direction.

The arrow takes flight and sails true, sticking into the top of the tiger’s shoulder. It leaps backwards in surprise, then turns to bound away.

“Is it gone, Patrick? asks the penguin with the stone, her fins clasped over one another as if wringing her hands.

“Yeah,” he replies, lowering the bow. “We’re safe again, at least for a little while. But we need to keep moving, Penny. It’s only a matter of time before the tiger’s courage grows too large again.”

She nods, then turns to continue in the direction they had been traveling. “The new village shouldn’t be much farther, right?”

Patrick slings the bow over his back and follows after her. “We should be getting there any time now.”

She nods while continuing to walk on. “When we left the village, did you ever imagine us evading a tiger of all things? Orcas, sure. I knew to expect that. We were actually far luckier than we had any right to be.” She becomes distant as she thinks about the loved ones they had both lost.

“Tiger?” Patrick asks, looking up to the treetop canopy as a monkey leaps from one limb to another. “Not specifically, but I knew there would be danger beyond what we’d known before. But there was more hope in that unknown danger than there was in staying in a village with the knowledge that resources were running out. It was either stay and slowly die off through starvation or leave in pursuit of a new future.”

“But three years have already come and gone. I hope this village is more than just a pipe dream.”

“If it’s not, we’ll start our own village.”

Penny laughs. “With just the two of us? Are you mad?”

“I’d be mad to think I needed anyone else.”

She smiles and turns, backpedaling as she talks. “The trip has had it’s ups and down for sure. Do you remember the elephants that protected us from that pack of hyenas?”

“That’s a hard thing to forget, Penny, but I appreciate you not allowing me the opportunity.”

She smiles brighter as she recalls more. “Or how about that decaying rope bridge that we had to cross over that valley? We were soooooo high up, it was making me dizzy.”

Patrick just shakes his head, knowing that it doesn’t matter what he says, she’ll continue talking like he’s continuing the conversation. He smiles brightly as an idea occurs to him. “You know that’s not the original promise stone i gave you, right? I lost the original in a card game a few years ago.”

“And the waterfall! Oh, I just lov–wait, what was it you said?”

Patrick smiles broadly. “Just that I liked the elephants too.”

She narrows her eyes at him, suspiciously. “I thought I heard something about a promise stone?”

He looks around and past her as they are nearing a cliff. His sure grow wide as he looks past her, then points and runs. “We’re here!”

She turns to follow his excitement as he stops at the cliffs edge. Below, a giant wall wraps around an enclosed city. Plumes of smoke twist away from smoke stacks the dot the infrastructure and the sound of car horns almost be heard on the wind.

Patrick cants his head as he looks down and she walks up to stand next to him. “This is not what I was imagined,” Patrick says begrudgingly.

Penny looks down and then turns to meet his gaze. “If your future is to be down there, in that… then I can’t be in it.” She turns to walk away from the cliff.

He cants his head in the opposite direction while watching her walk away, then hastily wobbles up to walk beside her.

She looks down as his fin wraps around hers and she turns back to meet his gaze again. He takes her other fin with the stone and brings her fins together. She looks to her clasped hands and back up to him as he nods.

“I only care about one future,” he tells her. “And that one revolves around me, you, and this stone. Everything else is just filler.”

Her eyes begin to twinkle as he turns back to the jungle and looks back into the jungle. She rushes closer and loops her fin under his before looking out ahead. She smiles. “At least this time we know what dangers lie ahead of us,” she says, turning to meet his gaze. “Shall we go?”

He nods and they step back into the jungle.

[WP] You and your friend Lily, are chilling in class when all of a sudden there’s a lockdown, you hear the principal say “Attention students this is a code Black lockdown, I repeat a code Black Lockdown.” You hear someone mutter “Code Black means otherwordly entities, We’re dead!”

    “Hey, are you going to the dance next week?” Lilly asks while leaning towards the girl with the black hood. The black-hooded girl is slouching forward, crossing her arms on her desk with her chin resting on top.

    “Oh, what am I saying?” Lilly answers. “Of course, you aren’t going to the dance, Aubrey. Don’t you have to sacrifice a goat or something on Thursdays?”

    Can we punch her, Aubs? a voice asks in her mind. Please, can we punch her?

    No, Shades, Aubrey replies. There will be no punching of my classmates. We stay in enough trouble as it is.

    It’s Shadow Lord. How many times are we going to have to go over this? I know you’re doing that on purpose.

    Aubrey cuts her eyes over towards Lilly while ignoring both speakers.

    A squelch comes over the intercom followed by a stressed principal. “Attention all students and faculty members. I’m ordering a Code-Black lockdown. I repeat, Code-Black. Good luck, everyone.”

    Good luck, Aubrey thinks, raising her head from her desk. That’s new.

    A balding man seated at the teacher’s desk is rubbing the top of his scalp as he flips through a manual. He stops and reads through a page, then looks up, his square framed glasses making his eyes look abnormally large. He stares blankly for a moment, just blinking absently.

    “So what’s that mean, Mr. West?” asks a student.

    Mr. West looks around, suddenly remembering there are others present. “What’s that?,” he replies.

    “What-is-a-Code-Black?” another student asks slowly.

    “Oh, it means other-worldly creature.”

    “Shit! We’re dead.”

    “Language,” Mr. West scolds.

    Other-worldly creature, Aubry thinks. Is this because of me?

    Don’t go changing the subject, Shades replies. The Lord of Shadows would also be acceptable.

    Dude, focus! You can worry about your identity crisis later. Is this other-worldly creature here because of me?

    I swear, this is the last time I accept a binding—

    Aubrey stands abruptly, startling those around her. She pulls her hood over her eyes and her sleeves back down over her wrists. She is slinging her bag over her shoulders when Mr. West raises a finger into the air.

    “Uh, Ms. Aubrey, I think the principal wants everyone to remain in the classroom.”

    Shades, you’re going to have to show me how to use these powers. As much as I hate them, I’m not going to be the cause of my classmates getting eaten…well, except for maybe Lilly.

    Oh, now you want to know everything about the powers huh? Typical.

    Aubrey walks to the front of the class with her thumbs under her bag straps. Mr. West is still holding his finger in the air and his head is tracking Aubrey’s walk as she continues ignoring everyone.

    “Great,” Lilly declares. “Where’s the schizo heading off to?”

    Aubrey stops at the door while reaching for the light switch. She turns back, meeting Lilly’s eyes. “I’m going to tell the monsters where to find you of course.” Aubrey winks and turns off the switch.

    Her form becomes obscured, shifting into a black smoke, then passes under the door.

I had an artist finish some artwork for one of my stories. This turned out great and I’m super excited to have it finished!

[WP] Your wife has been dead for the past 5 years and you’ve moved on, going on dates to try and find a new partner. Last night, however, you heard the unmistakable sound of her whispering in your ear.

    “Are you there, Drew?”
    Drew cuts his eyes to the side but doesn’t otherwise respond. He’s sitting on his sofa, slouched down into the pillow tops while watching a movie.
    A huge explosion displays on screen, and Drew laughs heartily.
    “That didn’t sound very funny, Drew.”
    Drew suddenly sits up and looks towards the kitchen. He was used to hearing her voice— rather, the memory of it, but it had never referenced something he was actively participating in. He looks behind the sofa, then in the nearby storage closet. He closes the closet door and pauses, listening.
    “Drew, hunny, are you there?”
    “Yes, Anna. Yeah—I’m here,” he says folding his hands together and pressing them against his mouth. “I can hear you,” he whispers.
    “How are you holding up?”
    He nods, sulking. “I’m good, I’m good. One day at a time, you know?” He stares up at the ceiling, not really knowing where to look. “I—I’ve missed you. It would be nice if I could see you too.”
    “I’m sorry, Drew, but that’s not a good idea. You’re already refusing to let go, so seeing me isn’t going to help matters.”
    “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. Really. I’ve been doing better.”
    “Oh, yeah? Can you tell me a little about how that’s going?”
    Drew continues to scan around at his ceiling. “Well, I’ve been going on dates.” He nods. “Yeah, I’ve had several.”
    “Really? And how did that go?”
    Drew shrugs. “It was fine. Just waiting for the right one, I guess.”
    “So what was your last date like?”
    “Uh, would that be appropriate? With you being gone and all?”
    “We talked about that when we were together, Drew. Remember? We said, no matter what happens to either of us, we’ll do our best to find love again.”
    Drew nods. “I remember, Anna.”
    “So tell me about your date. What was her name?”
    “It was Ann—er Is—abelle. Yeah, Isabelle.”
    “Isabelle huh? That’s a lovely name. Anything else?”
    Drew shakes his head. “Not really. Nothing happened so what’s to tell? Why do you wanna hear about that stuff anyways? Aren’t you watching?”
    “Because I still care about you, Drew, and I want you to be happy. But you didn’t really go on any dates.”
    Drew nods. “Sure I did. Lots of ‘em.”
    “What were you watching earlier? Can you describe to me?”
    “Oh, you couldn’t see? I thought maybe you were watching with me.”
    “No, but I could hear the sounds of shooting and things blowing up.”
    “Yeah, it’s about some special forces guys. They were raiding a compound with and are trying to take out an evil dictator.”
    “And that was funny? Them blowing things up and shooting people?”
    Drew shrugs. “Yeah, because they deserve it.”
    “I don’t think that’s supposed to be funny, Drew. And it’s probably funny for the same reason you’re pretending to go on dates. You’re just covering everything up and refusing to see things the way they are. Laughing at explosions isn’t healthy. Surely, you can see that. You’re still stuck in denial, Drew. How long are you going to put yourself through this?”
    “Well, you left! It’s your fault. All of it is!”
    “Drew, it’s more complicated than that.”
    “Is it? You weren’t supposed to leave me like that! We’d be together forever—we said that! Forever! And you quit!”
    “If that’s what helps you cope, then sure, it’s all my fault, Drew. All of it. But does that really change anything for either of us?”
    Drew sobs and shakes his head. “I just want it to all go away. I want to wake up and things go back to what they use to be. Help me—help me do that, Anna? I just want—I just want to do it all over again, to do it right this time.”
    “Drew, you know that’s not possible.”
    “I just—” Drew backs into a wall and slides down to his butt, his hands drooping over his knees as he stares at the floor. “I can’t do this without you, Anna.”
    “Yes, you can, Drew. You always could. I never stopped believing in you. You know that right? I’ve always believed in you, but now—It’s wrong for me to keep holding onto you like this. We have to let go of one another and just appreciate what we shared. If we can’t do that, then we’ll just end up smothering each other until we’re both destroyed.”
    Drew’s head raises and he brushes the top of his knuckles across the underside of his nose. “You still miss me, Anna?”
    “Of course I do, Drew. Nothing’s ever going to change that. The only thing keeping me from being happy right now is knowing how miserable you are. So I can’t move on unless you do.”
    “So I’m causing you grief?”
    “Yes, Drew. The same way that I’m causing it for you. You have to understand though. I didn’t leave you. I’ve always been right here. I never left, but you didn’t either, did you, Drew?”
    Drew stands as rays of sunshine streak across the air above him. He stands and continues looking at it, then follows to see the light coming through the wall on the other side of the dining room table.
    “I haven’t been doing so well either, Drew. But I’m trying.”
    “Oh yeah?” he asks as he raises his fingers to move through the sunshine. Birds can be heard beyond the wall, and he turns back to look across his den. The blinds are open on his front windows, and he sees his porch light illuminating the nighttime setting.
    “I tried therapy for a while and that helped some.”
    “They have therapy where you are, Anna?”
    “Yes, Drew. But that didn’t do a lot for me, so I sought some questionable help elsewhere. I tried psychic readers and mediums…and you know what? It turns out that I had a knack for it, so I’ve been studying.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yes, Drew. It’s how I’m finally able to talk to you now…I’m a medium.”
    The sunlight continues to grow from the wall and illuminates the dining room table next to him. Anna is sitting on the opposite side of him and smiling back. The view between them is streaked with light and he has to use his hand as a visor to shield the light from the wall.
    “You look good, Anna.” She smiles warmly as a tear breaks into a sprint down her cheek. She nods.
    “I never left you, Drew,” she says, with broken words.
    “Yeah,” he says, rubbing the back of his head. “I can see that now. I—I’m sorry—about what I said earlier.”
    “It’s ok.”
    He puts his hand into the back of his jeans pocket and thumbs to the light from the wall. “I guess that’ll be for me then.” She nods again, unable to speak. “I’ll be seeing you, Anna.”
    He steps through.

I arranged for an artist to so me some story art and the project is getting really close to completion! He sent me the black and white version and only lacks adding color! The black and white image still looks amazing though, so I’m currently using it as a cover art for the online serial. Enjoy!

Smash ‘Em Up Sunday: Cosmic Horror
Max words: 800
Included Words: Dread, Unknowable, Forbidden, Yellow
Sentence Blocks: “We were not meant to understand.” “It was a violation of the order of nature.”

“Easy Sam,” says an astronaut. “No need to take this on yourself. Some things were just not meant to be understood.”

Sam is looking through a window to a sickly yellow orb that they once called home. “I don’t buy it. Surely, time constriction came up in one of our scenarios. I have family down there, Steve.”

“Had,” Steve corrects.

Sam becomes distant.

“Sorry, Sam. You know those in our profession don’t get the luxury of family.”

Sam looks at the white volleyball-sized orb. Its simple glass box is sitting on a pedistool. The most powerful and forbidden force, she thinks as she looks at the orb with disdain. And we’ve put it in a glass box, on a pedistool.

“Who among them could have claimed what we can? We’ve retrieved the first known aftermath of a closed black hole.”

“Who are we going to tell, Steve? They’re all long gone. There’s no one to tell.” Sam gestures to the glass case. “It doesn’t make any sense. If this thing is dense enough to constrict time, it should have gravity! That stupid white orb is a contradiction.”

“This closing of a black hole is unprecedented, so we’re in unknowable territory here. Wait, what white orb?”

Their eyes meet, then move to a rotating red light on the wall.

“Is Doug in the airlock?” Sam asks.

They run to the door and look through the viewing window. “Doug!” Steve yells, banging on the door.
Doug is facing away from them and peeing, rotating his hips as he sprays around the bowl. “Be right out,” he yells.

“What does he think he’s doing?” Sam asks. “Is he really pissing in the airlock?”

Doug reaches up to flush as dread fueled fists bang against the door. “Geez,” Doug says. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”

They watch as he pulls the manual override. He reaches for his face as his skin swells then cracks, releasing fluid and tissue to float out of his flesh enclosure.

Steve begins pacing, rubbing his palms against his temples.

“What the hell was that?” Sam asks, gesturing to the door.

Steve stops. “He didn’t know he was in the airlock. He couldn’t have known.” He walks over to grab Sam by the elbows. “What did you mean earlier by white orb?”

She pulls out of his grip and gestures to the glass box. “What else?”

Steve looks at the case and shakes his head as he approaches. “For me its a blue tetrahedron. We’re not seeing the same things, Sam.”

The lights begin to flicker and Sam’s balance starts feeling off. She reaches for a reassuring wall. “Something’s happening!” She yells, grabbing her head.

Her surroundings become a featureless black as all of her memories stand before her like rows of dominoes. They all retreat and she reaches towards them, then they are gone, erased like a magnet set against her hard drive.

Steve watches as her stare turns vapid. Her head ratchets, blank gaze aiming at him. The stare is a lifeless thing, a violation of the natural order.

The space between them grows, the floor seeming to stretch as the distance between them changes from five yards, to ten, to fifty.

“It’s not real,” Steve tells himself. “I’m still in the cargo bay.”

He takes an uneasy step, then another as he looks towards Sam’s distant stare.

“She’s only a few steps away. She has to be.”

The lights begin flickering and his eyes move to them and then to a now distant wall.

Movement.

“No, it’s not real,” he repeats, a mantra as he continues towards Sam.

The movement is a black mass that slinks across the floor like phlegm oozing down a wall.

Steve’s steps begin to hasten despite the mantra, but he freezes as it draws close to him.

It rises beside him, black goblets dripping in elongated strands of mucus. It reaches out and he quickly windmills his arm to knock it away.

His arm becomes a memory as his shocked gaze fixates on the stump at his elbow. His arm had as much effect as butter swung at a hot instrument.

Steve howls. “It’s not real!”

The mass falls down on him.

[WP] End with “I’m not here because you want me here, I’m here because you need me here.”

You are a waterboy. The midday sun is blazing with no cloud or reprieve in sight. The offensive and defensive coordinators stand out among the football players giving guidance as their team continues to practice on a day of record breaking heat.

The sides reset, then start another play. The quarterback pump-fakes to a receiver and then hands it off to the running back.

The runner drives into the back of the offensive line as the hole didn’t open as it should have. He keeps driving with both sides pushing back and forth until he is brought down.

A whistle blows and the running back is walking back to the huddle with his hands on his hips. He then reaches up, unsnaps his helmet, and takes a knee in place while leaning on his helmet. When prompted the running back says he’s feeling dizzy so they call for water.

You hear them call, so you snatch up the bottle carrier and hustle over. You see the team huddled around Markus, the running back, who’s also a bully that’s constantly messing up your hair or knocking your books out of your hands.

He sees you and extends a beckoning hand. “Give it here, dweeb,” he tells you.

You open your mouth to reply when two poofs sound next to your ears as two mini-yous appear on each of your shoulders. One is in white with a halo and the other is in red with a pitchfork.

They both look down at the bully and then the white one leans forward to look around your face to your other shoulder. “Hey, Red, you can take this one,” he says before looking back to you with a nod and a wink.

You look down to the you with the pitchfork. “Alright, he says to you. “I’m not here because you want me here, I’m here because you need me here.”

[WP] Paranormal phenomenon is real. Aliens have noticed and obsessively study Earth. One day while hiking, you’re being stalked by a faerie, but just before being snatched an alien abducts you, saving your life. They sit you down to discuss just how freakish Earth is.

The human ascends through a round opening in the floor with his arms and legs apart and shifting as he attempts to balance on some invisible mechanism.

The opening closes, allowing the human to step down onto the floor. He looks around to find a control room filled with busy bodies. They all seemed to have important work and continued on with their tasks while not sparring a glance for the dumbfounded human.

“Hello Steve,” comes a voice from over his shoulder.

The human turns back to the alien and shakes his head. “It’s Dave. Steve’s my twin brother.”

The alien’s head looks like an upside-down egg with human-like facial features that all sit towards the bottom of its head. It looks at the human, perplexed.

“I always knew you guys were real,” says Not-Steve.

The alien watches as Not-Steve looks around the control room with glee.

“Steve,” the alien repeats.

“Nope. Like I said, that’s my brother.”

“Do you realize you’re standing in an alien spaceship and surrounded by aliens?”

“Yeah. I always knew you were real though.”

“Well do you think it’s possible that we have more sophisticated technology than you?”

“Absolutely! You guys are light-years ahead of us. I just hope we never end up on opposite sides.”

“Quite. Well could you also believe that speaking may not be our primary means of communication?” It gestures to its enlarged head. “And that it would be reasonable to assume that telepathy was possible for us, allowing us to see into the mind of others to glimpse their true name?”

Not-Steve turns his palms up and gestures around the room. “Well of course! Just look at all this stuff in here?”

“Well, if you can accept all of that, why is it so hard for you to understand that your parents named you and then got you mixed up before properly labeling you, Steve?”

“Nope. I told you already. I’m Dave.”

“Alright, now you’re just being a Richard.”

“Nope–” Not-Steve’s eyes narrow. “Hey…I see what you did there.”

The faerie is shaking its fist at the space craft as the ship hovers in the sky. A light begins shinning on the ground next to the faerie and moments later, a human lands on the ground in a heap. The faerie looks back up, confused, then sees one of the aliens looking down through the opening.

“He’s all yours faerie!” Calls the voice. The door closes and the ship flies away.

[WP] An unfathomably ancient cosmic entity drifting through infinite space passed by this weird little planet called Earth and heard over their broadcast radio signals this extremely annoying, but incredibly catchy song. It can’t get the song out of its head and is going insane.

A substance like mercury drifts through humanity’s solar system. It collides with various forms of space debris and its contact acts something like a hot instrument through butter. Everything is peeled away as it’s consumed, causing it to grow and sending a sheen shifting across its reflective surface. The contact causes no friction with the substance and doesn’t alter its course or speed.

As it passes Saturn and Jupiter, it passes through several moons, growing drastically and taking an elongated shape. It then collides with the debris of a human satellite, consuming it and incorporating it into its ever-shifting nature.

A ripple reverberates through the substance like a stone hitting water. Its intent begins reaching through various wave forms as it searches for more to consume. It eventually comes in contact with sound waves and shifts along the spectrum as various sounds sync with the ripples shifting across its form. It stops on a particular song and the ripples grow still. Words and concepts stream across the soundwaves and suddenly the evolving creature taps into the internet to absorb context for the playing song.

Encountering a squid reference online, its shape mimics a squid as its appendages start to squirm in sync with the song’s tune. A green sheen starts to shift up and down the creature’s body and it begins to waggle as if it were doing The Worm through space.

“All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right,all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right.”

The squid mimic becomes more animated, popping and locking to the song as it sails towards Earth. It lifts its appendages towards its head and waves them while continuing to sway.

“Shake it, Sh-shake it, shake it, sh-shake it.”

The squid’s body develops swaying shoulders, then four sets of eyes, each having a multi-faceted nature like a fly. The song’s video begins playing on all of the reflective surfaces as the band plays and dances on stage. Suspenders then start forming over its shoulders, its appendages merge and become a pair of legs with a flannel pattern.

The head shifts again and its proportions change as its head becomes an appropriate size to its body. The head takes on a humanoid shape, having eyes, ears, nose and facial features that shift to mimic the lead singer. Its torso adopts a solid green color as its human form finishes, and it nods vigorously to the beat.

The song’s chorus is coming up and it loses control, getting pumped to join in. It opens its mouth–then dies.

Reference song:

Hey Ya! by Outkast