1fandom - Themeset 1
I am sure this would have taken me less than the allotted two months if I hadn't become disgusted with some of the sentences and rewritten them, thus necessitating the rewriting of OTHER sentences that were basically about the same thing.
Speshful thanks to momo for her speshful help.
Fandom: The Iliad
Themeset: One
Rating: Hard R for language, warfare-related violence.
Warnings: Long, poorly-written, obsessive revisiting of some scenes over and over again. Also, language and warfare-related violence, for those who are offended by that.
1.) Mortal - Someday, the distant deadly Archer's shaft will strike home, sending fire through the veins and forcing the heart to an abrupt halt, and when that day comes, Achilles will find it almost a relief to be in the past tense.
2.) Broken - "Holy shit, those fucking bastards fucking broke the fucking truce!" Agamemnon screams, and Menelaus notices his fresh wound at exactly the same time the Trojan leadership does.
3.) Vanish - Priam has almost stopped watching from the ramparts; in the beginning, when his hopes were high, he could almost bear it, but now, with his sons dropping like flies, he would vastly prefer not to see.
4.) Rain - Reconaissance is a harsh mistress: tonight Odysseus is barefoot (for even the squelch of a sandal in the mud can mean death) and drenched, spying out the Thracian ranks and secretly envying his colleagues their dry tents and warm fires.
5.) Ocean - When Thetis embraces her son, he can always smell the faint tang of the sea, whence she returned long ago, after she fell out with his father.
6.) Tense - Staring each other down over the vast plains, knuckles white from gripping the shaft of a spear or the hilt of a sword, both sides stamp the earth, waiting for an officer's order and a herald's signal.
7.) Soon - In the morning, Hector kisses Andromache and tells her to expect him back for dinner; in the afternoon, Achilles makes a liar out of him.
8.) Why - Agamemnon's peculiar genius consists of the ability to say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time, coupled with a decided lack of self-awareness; he has never been able to figure out why half the camp resents him at any given time.
9.) Winter - The first fluffy, white flakes are a welcome reprieve--they herald the beginning of off-season, and while there may be the odd skirmish here and there, you can bet that it'll be half-assed at best.
10.) Fallen - The Trojans cluster like flies on a corpse (as indeed they are), and it's all Ajax can do to beat them back without stepping on Patroclus' body.
11.) Storm - Father Zeus' lightning cleaves the sky in two, and for one brief moment, the Achaean camp, roused from sleep, is as light as dawn.
12.) Door - After a long, futile day, Deiphobus loses his patience with the sentries and shouts, "YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO IT IS!" when they ask for the password; what nobody knows is that he's just drawn the attention of Odysseus and Diomedes to the door in the wall.
13.) Flash - Glaucus' armor glistens gold, and while Diomedes wouldn't wear it in battle, he wouldn't be averse to wearing it home to impress the wife.
14.) Wait - Until Patroclus comes back, Achilles isn't going to be happy; he paces to and fro like a caged lion, drumming his fingers, darting nervous glances to the Dardan plains.
15.) Shrine - Once, Cassandra loved being in the shrine at sunup, alone with silence and the god; now, she stays away, afraid of the laughter of Apollo.
16.) Black - The black ships catch fire much more easily than Hector had expected, and even better, he can press forward and pen the Achaeans in, while Achilles still holds back.
17.) Lost - "If I'd known he was going to pull the arrow out," Paris says that evening, "I wouldn't have bothered with shooting it in the first place."
18.) Cell - In her lonely prison, the priestess rants and raves, torn at first by furious ecstasies; afterwards, resigned to her fate, Cassandra falls quiet.
19.) Villain - "That hard-headed bastard is making me out to be the bad guy in all of this," Agamemnon frets, staring unhappily at the girl, who does not look up.
20.) Road - Tyrian purple no longer comes to Troy by sea, and the shepherds and cattlemen no longer drive their herds down from Ida or across the Troad; wait though they might, Priam and Agenor see little help, and less and less food, as time goes by.
21.) Weep - Andromache can't help it; she knows what happens to a woman alone, with neither brother nor husband nor father.
22.) Blind - He's not old Teiresias, but Calchas knows what he's doing when he reads the omens, and by now, the Achaean kings have learnt to doubt him at their peril.
23.) Pact - "Just promise me," Thetis says, trying not to give away any of her inner turmoil, "that he will look all the more glorious," and Zeus nods.
24.) Flight - It isn't proper to admit it, but Paris is secretly relieved that Aphrodite spirited him back home; for a moment, he was afraid that Menelaus was really going to throttle him.
25.) Hard - Achilles has, politely but firmly, sent them back to Agamemnon, who is even now waiting; as they head towards the lighted tent, Odysseus mutters to Ajax, "Stubborn fucker, isn't he?"
26.) War - Heels dug in, formations closed tightly, strategy covered and re-covered in endless councils, it's easy to forget that once they did other things too.
27.) Deed - "I'll do it if you'll get me Achilles' horses," Dolon says with an easy swagger.
28.) Unknown - Odysseus doesn't let himself have much in the way of downtime--it keeps his mind off home--but every once in a while, when he's forced into inactivity some way or another, he gazes towards the sea and wonders how they all are at home, and whether they're all right.
29.) Deep - The sun gleams stronger through the water as she rises closer to the surface, and when she sets foot on the shore, Thetis almost wonders if her own world under the sea is only a dream.
30.) Sudden - Patroclus realizes all over again, when Hector's sword bites home and breaks the spell, that he is not Achilles, and cannot be.
31.) Dread - Helen can't stand to walk past the elders of Troy, whose rheumy eyes follow her with something that might be hatred, or lust.
32.) Burn - Achilles holds up, or does a respectable job of pretending to hold up, until they light the pyre, and then the tears sting his eyes as it sinks in: Patroclus is dead, he is gone, he is not coming back, you will never see him again.
33.) Clock - Late at night, the monotonous dripping of the water-clock keeps Agamemnon awake as he waits for scouts, reports, night attacks--anything but this deadly, dismal slowness.
34.) Words - You can hear chatter wherever you go in the Achaean camp, though a few well-chosen obscenities give voice to most of the troops.
35.) Fast - Menelaus barely has time to notice--hey, isn't Antilochus coming on kinda fast?--before the younger man cuts him off, almost throwing him off the track.
36.) Three - Since the war began, the Fates have been working overtime, and Atropos cuts almost as fast as her sisters can spin and measure.
37.) Place - The dreary landscape never changes, and after ten years, Diomedes looks at it without really seeing it; he doesn't imagine that once he's home in Argos, he won't be able to stop dreaming about it.
38.) Irony - "It's funny because if Patroclus had lived, you might not be going to die now," Achilles says, spear swinging down even as Lykaon lunges tearfully for his knees.
39.) Sky - Calchas screws up his eyes, watching the clear blue expanse of the heavens for birds, lightning, clouds, anything.
40.) Closet - His mother's tears bother him, and during the day, Astyanax sometimes crawls into the old trunks and jars so that he won't have to hear her cry.
41.) Real - "Do you ever wonder if home was real?" Odysseus asks one night during a particularly dull watch, and Diomedes shrugs.
42.) Fair - Chryseis is golden of hair and skin and nature; one look at her, and any man can understand why Agamemnon doesn't want to give her back.
43.) Knot - Being overpowered and tied up is quite new for Aeneas; so is stumping along on his knees and uttering tortured "mmmph!" sounds at the other survivors of the raid.
44.) Low - The worst part of sentry duty is having to lie low, keep your voice low, and sometimes even keep your fire low.
45.) Well - "We could poison the wells, if they came this far," Antenor says in council, "but we'd be cheating ourselves out of clean water too."
46.) Token - Given that Thebe has been worn down almost to nothing when they finally sack it, nobody gets more than token plunder, but it's the principle that counts.
47.) Ugly - Sometimes, at the market or the temples, where she can see a lot of people, Helen wonders what it would be like if she were disfigured or old or leprous, but she can't bear to entertain the thought for long, and recoils.
48.) Lure - "Come to Papa," Diomedes mutters in the cold and dark, gripping the hilt of his sword and waiting for Odysseus to hurry up and drive straggling Trojans in his direction.
49.) Drink - It's been a long day, and by the time Deiphobus is done with the wineskin, there's precious little left in the bottom.
50.) Dust - Throat slit, facedown, whirled around the walls of Troy three times, dragging in the dirt: thus is the death of Hector, tamer of horses.
I'm going to rest from my labors for a week or so and concentrate on some other projects before picking up a new one.
Speshful thanks to momo for her speshful help.
Fandom: The Iliad
Themeset: One
Rating: Hard R for language, warfare-related violence.
Warnings: Long, poorly-written, obsessive revisiting of some scenes over and over again. Also, language and warfare-related violence, for those who are offended by that.
1.) Mortal - Someday, the distant deadly Archer's shaft will strike home, sending fire through the veins and forcing the heart to an abrupt halt, and when that day comes, Achilles will find it almost a relief to be in the past tense.
2.) Broken - "Holy shit, those fucking bastards fucking broke the fucking truce!" Agamemnon screams, and Menelaus notices his fresh wound at exactly the same time the Trojan leadership does.
3.) Vanish - Priam has almost stopped watching from the ramparts; in the beginning, when his hopes were high, he could almost bear it, but now, with his sons dropping like flies, he would vastly prefer not to see.
4.) Rain - Reconaissance is a harsh mistress: tonight Odysseus is barefoot (for even the squelch of a sandal in the mud can mean death) and drenched, spying out the Thracian ranks and secretly envying his colleagues their dry tents and warm fires.
5.) Ocean - When Thetis embraces her son, he can always smell the faint tang of the sea, whence she returned long ago, after she fell out with his father.
6.) Tense - Staring each other down over the vast plains, knuckles white from gripping the shaft of a spear or the hilt of a sword, both sides stamp the earth, waiting for an officer's order and a herald's signal.
7.) Soon - In the morning, Hector kisses Andromache and tells her to expect him back for dinner; in the afternoon, Achilles makes a liar out of him.
8.) Why - Agamemnon's peculiar genius consists of the ability to say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time, coupled with a decided lack of self-awareness; he has never been able to figure out why half the camp resents him at any given time.
9.) Winter - The first fluffy, white flakes are a welcome reprieve--they herald the beginning of off-season, and while there may be the odd skirmish here and there, you can bet that it'll be half-assed at best.
10.) Fallen - The Trojans cluster like flies on a corpse (as indeed they are), and it's all Ajax can do to beat them back without stepping on Patroclus' body.
11.) Storm - Father Zeus' lightning cleaves the sky in two, and for one brief moment, the Achaean camp, roused from sleep, is as light as dawn.
12.) Door - After a long, futile day, Deiphobus loses his patience with the sentries and shouts, "YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO IT IS!" when they ask for the password; what nobody knows is that he's just drawn the attention of Odysseus and Diomedes to the door in the wall.
13.) Flash - Glaucus' armor glistens gold, and while Diomedes wouldn't wear it in battle, he wouldn't be averse to wearing it home to impress the wife.
14.) Wait - Until Patroclus comes back, Achilles isn't going to be happy; he paces to and fro like a caged lion, drumming his fingers, darting nervous glances to the Dardan plains.
15.) Shrine - Once, Cassandra loved being in the shrine at sunup, alone with silence and the god; now, she stays away, afraid of the laughter of Apollo.
16.) Black - The black ships catch fire much more easily than Hector had expected, and even better, he can press forward and pen the Achaeans in, while Achilles still holds back.
17.) Lost - "If I'd known he was going to pull the arrow out," Paris says that evening, "I wouldn't have bothered with shooting it in the first place."
18.) Cell - In her lonely prison, the priestess rants and raves, torn at first by furious ecstasies; afterwards, resigned to her fate, Cassandra falls quiet.
19.) Villain - "That hard-headed bastard is making me out to be the bad guy in all of this," Agamemnon frets, staring unhappily at the girl, who does not look up.
20.) Road - Tyrian purple no longer comes to Troy by sea, and the shepherds and cattlemen no longer drive their herds down from Ida or across the Troad; wait though they might, Priam and Agenor see little help, and less and less food, as time goes by.
21.) Weep - Andromache can't help it; she knows what happens to a woman alone, with neither brother nor husband nor father.
22.) Blind - He's not old Teiresias, but Calchas knows what he's doing when he reads the omens, and by now, the Achaean kings have learnt to doubt him at their peril.
23.) Pact - "Just promise me," Thetis says, trying not to give away any of her inner turmoil, "that he will look all the more glorious," and Zeus nods.
24.) Flight - It isn't proper to admit it, but Paris is secretly relieved that Aphrodite spirited him back home; for a moment, he was afraid that Menelaus was really going to throttle him.
25.) Hard - Achilles has, politely but firmly, sent them back to Agamemnon, who is even now waiting; as they head towards the lighted tent, Odysseus mutters to Ajax, "Stubborn fucker, isn't he?"
26.) War - Heels dug in, formations closed tightly, strategy covered and re-covered in endless councils, it's easy to forget that once they did other things too.
27.) Deed - "I'll do it if you'll get me Achilles' horses," Dolon says with an easy swagger.
28.) Unknown - Odysseus doesn't let himself have much in the way of downtime--it keeps his mind off home--but every once in a while, when he's forced into inactivity some way or another, he gazes towards the sea and wonders how they all are at home, and whether they're all right.
29.) Deep - The sun gleams stronger through the water as she rises closer to the surface, and when she sets foot on the shore, Thetis almost wonders if her own world under the sea is only a dream.
30.) Sudden - Patroclus realizes all over again, when Hector's sword bites home and breaks the spell, that he is not Achilles, and cannot be.
31.) Dread - Helen can't stand to walk past the elders of Troy, whose rheumy eyes follow her with something that might be hatred, or lust.
32.) Burn - Achilles holds up, or does a respectable job of pretending to hold up, until they light the pyre, and then the tears sting his eyes as it sinks in: Patroclus is dead, he is gone, he is not coming back, you will never see him again.
33.) Clock - Late at night, the monotonous dripping of the water-clock keeps Agamemnon awake as he waits for scouts, reports, night attacks--anything but this deadly, dismal slowness.
34.) Words - You can hear chatter wherever you go in the Achaean camp, though a few well-chosen obscenities give voice to most of the troops.
35.) Fast - Menelaus barely has time to notice--hey, isn't Antilochus coming on kinda fast?--before the younger man cuts him off, almost throwing him off the track.
36.) Three - Since the war began, the Fates have been working overtime, and Atropos cuts almost as fast as her sisters can spin and measure.
37.) Place - The dreary landscape never changes, and after ten years, Diomedes looks at it without really seeing it; he doesn't imagine that once he's home in Argos, he won't be able to stop dreaming about it.
38.) Irony - "It's funny because if Patroclus had lived, you might not be going to die now," Achilles says, spear swinging down even as Lykaon lunges tearfully for his knees.
39.) Sky - Calchas screws up his eyes, watching the clear blue expanse of the heavens for birds, lightning, clouds, anything.
40.) Closet - His mother's tears bother him, and during the day, Astyanax sometimes crawls into the old trunks and jars so that he won't have to hear her cry.
41.) Real - "Do you ever wonder if home was real?" Odysseus asks one night during a particularly dull watch, and Diomedes shrugs.
42.) Fair - Chryseis is golden of hair and skin and nature; one look at her, and any man can understand why Agamemnon doesn't want to give her back.
43.) Knot - Being overpowered and tied up is quite new for Aeneas; so is stumping along on his knees and uttering tortured "mmmph!" sounds at the other survivors of the raid.
44.) Low - The worst part of sentry duty is having to lie low, keep your voice low, and sometimes even keep your fire low.
45.) Well - "We could poison the wells, if they came this far," Antenor says in council, "but we'd be cheating ourselves out of clean water too."
46.) Token - Given that Thebe has been worn down almost to nothing when they finally sack it, nobody gets more than token plunder, but it's the principle that counts.
47.) Ugly - Sometimes, at the market or the temples, where she can see a lot of people, Helen wonders what it would be like if she were disfigured or old or leprous, but she can't bear to entertain the thought for long, and recoils.
48.) Lure - "Come to Papa," Diomedes mutters in the cold and dark, gripping the hilt of his sword and waiting for Odysseus to hurry up and drive straggling Trojans in his direction.
49.) Drink - It's been a long day, and by the time Deiphobus is done with the wineskin, there's precious little left in the bottom.
50.) Dust - Throat slit, facedown, whirled around the walls of Troy three times, dragging in the dirt: thus is the death of Hector, tamer of horses.
I'm going to rest from my labors for a week or so and concentrate on some other projects before picking up a new one.