The idea is to take advantage of how cool the creative commons license is. You are welcome to create a short story based on these characters, or sketches based on a scene in the story. There are plenty of unnanswered questions, and the ending is more like a beginning. So, go ahead and write about what they do next, or how they met, or whatever. But please email me a copy so I can post it here (I will definitely give you credit and link back to your website). My email is maguireseanscott@gmail.com.

“Just leave me alone. Don’t tell me it’s going to be okay, or that she’s not worth it, or I’m better off without out her,” Larry paused just long enough for his friend to think he was finished, but then added, just as his buddy was about to speak, “It’s not just her. It’s everything man. Everything!”  He pushed a lock of hair from his face and took a swig of beer. He contemplated for a second whether the sweeping of the hair was too dramatic, then considered whether thinking about whether it was too dramatic proved it was in fact too dramatic, then pushed the whole issue out of his mind because,  after all, nothing mattered anymore anyway.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” said Mo.  Larry sighed heavily and took another swig of his beer.  Mo ignored the slight annoyance in the back of his mind at how dramatic the sip of beer was.  He also ignored the long, thick black hair, and the puppy dog eyes, and, generally, the whole act.  After all, that was part of Larry’s appeal with – as he called them – the ladies.  He was the sensitive type. That’s just how he played the game.

“What you need is a little perspective,” said Mo.  Larry threw his bottle against a tree and faced his friend, fists clenched.

“I said leave me alone!” Larry collapsed to the ground, covering his face.  Mo repressed a sigh when he heard Larry crying. He started to roll his eyes, but stopped in mid roll.  Instead he put a hand to his chin and contemplated whether to reveal his big secret to Larry.

Larry, to his credit, didn’t stop crying when his friend, instead of rushing to comfort him, simply stood there beholding the spectacle. It seemed genuine to Mo. In fact, Mo really believed that Larry believed his grief was genuine.  Shouldd I pat him on the shoulder? He thought.

“No, really,” said Mo after a bit, “you need perspective.” There was no reaction, except that Larry continued his quiet little sobbing routine. He even made a honking sound with his nose, which seemed to Mo like a really gross thing to do because Larry didn’t have anything to blow his nose into except his bare hands.  “I am telling you, you need some perspective.”

Larry suddenly jumped to his feet, confronting his friend with an angry – but not too angry – expression. 

“And how are you going to do that?” Demanded Larry. “How, exactly, do you plan to help me overcome the loss of the only woman who ever mattered to me?  By giving me perspective?”  Larry took a step forward. Mo held his ground.  He was watching Larry’s hands to see if there was any actual snot in them, but they were clenched into fists, so he couldn’t tell.

“You’ve only known her for two days,” said Mo.  He knew before he finished the sentence that he shouldn’t have said it, but he couldn’t resist.  Sometimes these things just force themselves out in the open. 

“Of course,” said Larry dramatically, “of course you would say that.”  Larry opened his hands and lowered his head, defeated. Mo noted with relief that the palms were completely snot free. “So,” Larry added, his head still lowered, “how are you going to give me perspective.”

“I’m going to use my powers.”

“What?”

“I’m going to use my powers.”

“Yes, I heard what you said,” stated Larry, his head still lowered, “but what I mean is what the hell are you talking about? Is that some kind of parable, or a subtle joke, or something?”

“I never told you this before, but I am omnipotent. What I’ll do is I’ll use my powers to give you perspective.”  Larry, in an uncharacteristically non-dramatic way, didn’t answer.  In fact he didn’t do anything, except raise his head so he could stare at Mo.  Even the way he didn’t do anything was completely devoid of drama, which worried Mo. It was quite unnerving, actually, knowing how dramatic Larry normally was. Mo opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. Better to let Larry talk first. But Larry kept staring at mo in that unnerving non-dramatic fashion, so after a second or two he decided that, yes, it probably was better to go ahead and say something.

“I’m omnipotent,” he repeated, “it means I am all powerful.”

“I know what ‘omnipotent’ means.”  Mo wasn’t sure what would happen next, so he just waited.  Larry turned in the opposite direction and started walking away.

“Jerk,” he said to himself.  He walked towards the path that would lead back to the cabin and, from there, back to the car, which would lead back to campus, and from there back to… Mo wasn’t sure what it would lead to. But he knew he shouldn’t allow it.

“I’m not joking,” said Mo, and hurried to catch up to Larry. He ran ahead of the long-haired young man  and blocked his path.

“Omnipotent?” Asked Larry, coming to a stop.

“I’ll prove it. Watch this.” Mo snapped his fingers and two beautiful bikini-clad woman appeared, standing on each side of him.  Larry looked at them, bewildered.  Mo snapped his fingers, and the women disappeared.  Larry peered into the woods.

“Where are the cameras?” He said. “What kind of joke is this?”

“Okay, fine. How about this?” Mo snapped his fingers again, and suddenly they were in a blizzard, with sub-zero temperatures, and blinding snow.

“What the?” Demanded Larry, this time quite dramatically, “where are we?”  Mo snapped his fingers again, and they were back in the woods.  Larry brought his hands together for warmth, but dropped them again when he realized they were back in the woods.

“That was the Antarctic.” Said Mo. “But watch this,” he put his hand up so he could snap his fingers again, but Larry rushed at him and grabbed his hand.

“No no no,” he said, still shivering a bit, “I believe you.”

“Good,” said Mo, “so let’s get started.” He snapped his fingers, and a giant bubble appeared around them. It was transparent, so they could still see everything. But it blocked out the elements. Even though the climate in these woods was notably mild, even for a summer evening, the climate inside this bubble was even better. In fact, Larry realized he was experiencing the most ideal climate he had ever felt in his life. Air conditioning, a good day on the beach, none of it even came close.

“What are you doing?” He asked. 

“I have to protect you from the elements where we are going.” Said Mo.  

“Um,” said Larry. Mo waited patiently for Larry to finish his sentenced, or at least to make some kind of additional sound, but all he did was look around himself, so Mo snapped his fingers.

The ground rushed away from them.  The trees also rushed away from them, and at an ever-increasing rate. Larry realized, on an intellectual level, that it was actually the two of them –inside the bubble- that were moving. But Larry didn’t feel any movement, so his body told him it was the trees, then the clouds, then the stars that were moving. 

The vacuum of space added to the illusion they weren’t moving, but a planet rushed by, then various colors and random lights and various optical illusions created by gaseous clouds and cosmic dust. The effect was completely outside of Larry’s realm of experience, and he knew he was going to vomit.

“Oh, sorry,” said Mo, and snapped his fingers. Larry suddenly felt better. In fact, he felt better – physically speaking – than at any point he could remember in his life. If only his love were here to experience it with him.

“Thanks,” he managed.  In another second or two, they came to a complete stop.

“So,” said Mo, “What do you think? Now you can get some perspective.”  Larry looked around. Mostly he saw black nothingness.  There was an interesting little green cloud in the distance, if he looked just below his left big toe.  And directly above them there was a fuzzy ray of orange light that seemed to shimmer a bit. Otherwise, Larry didn’t see much.  He dramatically brushed his thick black bangs from his face, and shuddered.

“Don’t hurt me,” he said.

“You see? Perspective!”  Larry didn’t react, except to let out a long, thick breath. “Look over there,” said Mo.  He pointed over Larry’s right shoulder. Larry tried to follow, squinting.

“What are you talking about? I don’t see anything.”

“There,” repeated Mo.

“I don’t… wait.” Larry glanced at Mo, then back outside. “Are you talking about that little dot?”

“Yes. You know what that is?” Larry cocked his head.

“I think you need to clean the bubble”

“No, look again. That’s the earth,” said Mo, “that’s perspective, right?”  Larry pressed up against the edge of the bubble as Mo spoke, “that’s everything you have ever known your entire life. Right there in that little dot. “

“The earth?” Larry asked. 

“What do you think of your lost love now?” Answered Mo.

“My love,” said Larry pathetically.  He sank to the floor, which was awkward for Mo, because, being in a bubble, Larry slid to the middle so that Mo had to step over him with one foot.  Mo looked down at Larry as he straddled the young man. He feared for a moment that Larry would assume the fetal position and start sucking his thumb or something equally dramatic.  Instead, he cast an accusing glance at Mo.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” 

“Um,” Mo began.  He hadn’t expected this reaction. “Um,” said again.  He tried to think of a way to explain all this to his friend, but Larry sprang to his feet, forcing Mo to shift his weight and let him up.

“I get my heart broken, and your idea to help is to bring me out here?”  Larry pointed dramatically in the general direction of the dot that, until now, had been everything he knew.

“To give you perspective.”

“Perspective? Are you serious? Perspective? What are we, two-thousand light years outside of the solar system?”

“About a tenth of a light year, actually.”

“Even better.”  Said Larry, folding his arms, and dramatically refusing to push the thick black hair away from his face. “Even better.”

“Yes, but, perspective.”

“That’s too much damn perspective, you moron! Look at that. Look at it. My entire life is a little smudge on your magic bubble!”  Mo snapped his fingers, and the gaseous clouds and random lights began to move once more. Soon, they were passing the Kuiper belt, then the asteroid belt, and finally they entered the earth’s atmosphere.

“I was just trying to help,” said Mo, trying not to make eye contact. Finally, they were on the path near the cabin, right back where they had started.  Mo snapped his fingers to make the bubble disappear.

“I can’t believe you!” Shouted Larry.

“I was just trying to help.”

“By pointing out to me how insignificant I am in the universe? Yes, I feel much better, thank you.  The only woman I ever loved is not even a spec. Thanks. That makes me feel better.  ”  Larry walked towards his car, the pebbles on the path crunching dramatically beneath his feet.

“I admit I may have acted a bit rash,” said Mo, rushing to catch up. “I just wanted to help.” He had to jump sideways to avoid running into Larry, who had suddenly stopped walking.

“You’re omnipotent, aren’t you?’ Asked Larry.

“Yes.” Answered Mo.

“Why didn’t you just make me happy?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.  I hadn’t thought of that,” said Mo.  He nodded his head in agreement.

“But if you are omnipotent, you think of everything.”

“Actually, I’m omnipotent, not omniscient. Could you imagine if I were omniscient? I’d never make any mistakes.”  Larry shook his head and resumed walking towards his car.  Mo followed him, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.  Larry got in his car, and slammed the door as hard as he could, just to emphasize how angry he was.

“I’m really sorry,” said Mo.  Larry pointed to his ears, then to the closed window, and made a rolling motion to indicate he couldn’t hear Mo.  Mo considered teleporting them to some area where he could force Larry to listen to reason, but decided against it. That might be taken as some sort of hostile act.

“Fine,” said Mo, and stepped away from the car.  Larry drove away, acceleratorating fast enough to spin the wheels. It went about twenty yards before screaching to a halt.  The car sat there for a moment before the reverse lights came on. Mo watched with curiosity as the car backed up.   Larry rolled down the window.  He had his cell phone to his ear.

“This is her,” whispered Larry, his hand covering the receiver, “she needs our help.”

You can check out the about page if you are curious why she would by me software designed for artistic people, isntead of software designed for lawyers. Also, I think it has to do with the fact that digital painting doesn’t run the risk of getting paint all over the carpet.  My first attempt to use digital media to create art resulted in this:

Anyone got a toothpick?

This is a sketch by me, based on Ed Beard Jr.’s sketch drawing that he did for me on the inside cover of the art book I bought from him at FLARF

So back to the digital art pad my wife got me.  It came with a copy of corel paint. It’s not the full program the professionals use, but it’s enough for me for now, seeing as how I am not a professional.  So, the first drawing I did was, of course, of a dragon.  It’s a basic line drawing, but it turned out better than I expected. So, I was happy.

Let me just insert another thought about Ed.  As I mentioned, I had just bought a book of fantasy illustrations from Ed Beard Jr. (I met him at the Florida Renaissance Fair), and, on the inside cover, he sketched a picture of a dragon in about five minutes using a magic marker.  So, the above painting was based on that.

To give you an idea of how awesome Ed Beard Jr. is, his sketch was in marker, which means no “undo” button or eraser or anything, and he did it in less time than it takes me to boot my computer, and the final result is so awesome it makes me weep whenever I look at it, but what the hell, right? He’s a professional.  

By the way, Ed has a really cool discussion about painting in digital vs. physical media. I personally enjoy painting in acrylic or drawing with pencils or penk & ink much more than painting in the digital medium, but I do also like the digital process enough to want to also be able to do that too. 

So I did my little sketch using his as reference.  Also let me add that as a person he is totally awesome. So click here right now and buy something from his online store or at least snoop around and see what his art is like. Then come back to this page so I can show you what I did next.

So what I did next was try to make an actual painting (an actual digital painting, not an “actual” painting. I mean, it’s an actual painting, but in the digital medium. I’m just going to cut that thread off right here, because if I’m not careful, I could end up making this entire entry a parenthetical thought in which I debate with myself the nature of reality in the digital age).

It’s still more of a line drawing with color instead of a real painting, but I think I’m on the right track. So, here it is. The artist in me keeps pointing out that it’s not much in the composition area, and I shouldn’t post paintings before I really get the hang of the medium, but the blogger in me says that it’s late and you have something to post so post it and let’s go to bed.  So, here it is:

Where the Damsels at?