kaolin fire presents :: writing :: fiction

"ImpGame.0"

words

http://www.rustybarnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=835

"All you have to do is change its name. Then the universe will process it differently."

Sam stared at the orange, stretching his eyes to their limit and a bit past, the rind flashing into and out of focus; he peered closer, trying to see this mystical name embedded in its flesh. "Process it?"

The imp chittered on his shoulder, tongue frolicing in the air; now and then a sliver of the tongue would curl away separately, hooking on to some errant particle--or fairy.

"The universe is your orange," it cackled. A puff of smoke drifted away from its left ear.

Sam turned to look at it, and the room spun. "Orange?"

"Oyster?. I lose trail of the idioms from time to time." Its tail scratched an itch at the base of its neck.

Sam dropped the oyster, confusion turning to irritation. "You're supposed to be teaching me!"

"Some things you've just got to know," shrugged the imp. "And some things you can learn."

"Well, teach me what I can learn, then. That's what the fifty bucks was for!"

"You're not the first want-to-be-a-wizard that's answered my ad, Sam."

"So?"

"Do you see any wizard city-states popping up? Consider yourself just a little bit wiser than you were." The imp took a small nip of flesh from Sam's neck, and jumped away.

Sam squeaked in pain, jumping back himself. The imp chewed on the flesh a bit, turning it around in his small, scaly paws. "Maybe next time," it grumbled, and disappeared.