Thirsty Thursday: Mystic Gallery

 

Image by DarkmoonArt_de from Pixabay

Mystic Gallery

“Let us have a little fun with this place, Yadira,” Nyarlathotep suggested to his daughter, spinning in a rapid pirouette, and trading his sharp royal blue ensemble for a zoot suit composed of wild patches of colors and patterns seamlessly woven together. “The good Princess Ondina wished for this gallery to be a place where visitors could leave their cares behind. As you have observed, each of these paintings is the gateway to a wonderful world, but none of these worlds is our world. Let us create a gateway to our very own world. How do you think that it should look?”

Yadira sprang to her feet in a surprisingly spry manner for an impossibly ancient crone. She giggled with glee as she waved her hands, creating a vast canvas on the wall before her.

“I can’t decide on the frame, Father,” she reported. “What are your thoughts? Should it have an elegant or a rustic appearance? Should it appear old or new, green or blue, metal or wood, what would be good?”

“Since this is to be our combined world, I think that I should choose one attribute and you the next until we are satisfied with our efforts. I think the frame should be ornately carved wood if you agree.”

“Rustic and ornate at once, I concur. I believe that a muted gold would be the correct shade.”

“Absolutely! We do not wish for the gold in the frame to outshine the gold of the sun or suns in our world’s skies. I feel this should be a green and pleasant world. The Zoogs like green and I intend to invite a few of them to serve as guards.”

“An excellent choice, Father. There should be a lovely house near the center of the painting, the sort of place where one could invite guests for tea.”

“Splendid! Now, I believe there must be a fence with a gate surrounding the house. Nothing terribly intimidating, mind, but one should not look at our house and think that they could simply walk right in and help themselves to whatever they desire. One must go through the gate to get to the door, and before one can approach the door, they must check in with the Zoogs at the gate. I think that a nice hellhound or two would be a fine addition to the property, but I grant that they might frighten away guests.”

“The hellhounds should remain subtly in the background,” Yadira agreed. “What season should it be, Father? I was thinking spring or summer because I believe that our painting should have plenty of flowers.”

“A lovely spring scene, most definitely,” Nyarlathotep concurred, and though he smiled broadly, his eyes sparkled with tears. “Spring or early summer, yes. As you know, my love, I first met your mother at the time between winter and spring in the gardens of Zaïs. A more beautiful scene I have never seen—ah, but you have heard this story many times before.”

Acknowledgments

This is the first segment of a new chapter in my WIP A Night in West Holpry, which is part of the Tales from the Dreamlands/Yadira Chronicles series. The full chapter can be purchased on Odysee for 15 LBC (approximately $0.45).

https://odysee.com/@naughtynetherworldpress:d/Mine-Be:7

If you don’t have an Odysee account, you can get one here.

http://bit.ly/OdyseeWithMe

This story was submitted to the weekly Reedsy Creative Writing Prompts contest on 3 March 2021. If approved, it will be available approximately a week from that date. So far, all my submissions have been approved, but I make no guarantees. My work is free to read on Reedsy. Shares are greatly appreciated. I aim to start a New Cthulhu Mythos addiction, Naughty Netherworld Style!

http://bit.ly/CieYouOnReedsy

Prompts Used

Putting My Feet in the Dirt

http://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com

Reedsy Prompts

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/

Write a story where flowers play a central role.

Submitted on 25 March 2021.

Want More?

http://bit.ly/morennp

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)


Creative Commons License


This work is the intellectual property of Naughty Netherworld Press.

Reblogging is acceptable on platforms that allow it. Odysee’s reblog function is called repost, which makes things confusing since reposting is considered a no-no on most platforms. It’s fine to share the post using the repost function on Odysee. It is not okay to copy-paste the material into a new post.

Sharing a link to the post is acceptable.

Quoting portions of the post for educational or review purposes is acceptable if proper credit is given.

2 comments:

  1. It sounds as if their collaborative art is going to work well - which I suspect is rarely true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are definitely in sync.
      I'm not sure that I could do a collaborative with another author. It's not that I'm uncooperative. I tend to be fairly solicitous when working with others. But I have my own ideas about things.
      I tended to be the one that people in group projects asked to "organize" things, which is code for "you do the work and we'll take part of the credit."
      I always hated working on group projects.

      Delete

I try to get comments published as quickly as possible. I have ADHD and anxiety and sometimes I need to work myself up to be able to respond to comments. I don't always reply to comments on my blog, but I do try to visit as many people as possible when I participate in blog hops. I share your work on the monthly Roost Recommendations posts at ornerybookemporium.blogspot.com so others can discover your work. I do read and appreciate your comments.
Sorry, the Captcha is back and this time it's staying. I was inundated with spam comments when I turned it off. I wish butt rash on all the spammers out there.

An Olive-Green Gown and Malachite Shoes #8Sunday #RainbowSnippets #SnipSun

    Genre: Poetry plus a supernatural coming-of-age story (vampires).  Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3vz8uXw   Publication Date: February 15, 20...