Challenge: Characters to Avoid

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews. I kind of fell off last year, so we'll see how I do with it this year.)

Prompt: Characters I never want to meet...

I mean, let's just start with Hannibal Lecter. I don't think I'd be a likely victim of his -- don't fit the profile -- but who really wants to find that out? I like my liver right where it is. 

I'll just follow that one up with the Witch-king of Angmar. I'm both mortal and man, so I have exactly zero chance of killing him, and unless maybe we've negotiated a nice, fawning interview for Middle Earth News Network there's a pretty decent chance that he kills me very thoroughly, probably without even really noticing. 

Freddy Krueger might find me to be surprisingly difficult prey; I've always had interestingly narrative dreams, and frequently with pretty decent control over the direction of events. But, again, why would I want to risk it? Pass. 

Brooke Augustine is one of the most viciously cruel villains ever written; as a non-super-powered civilian, I wouldn't ever want to come to her attention, let alone meet her in person. Keep her and the D.U.P. far, far away from me.

StV: Awake Again, part one

Julie snapped awake again, unsure of where she was or what had just happened. This was becoming a little too much of a habit. She was... lying on a bed? Still dressed, but with her shoes off; still in the form of a deviant; more than a little nauseated. 

She rolled over on her side, and did her best to settle her breathing. She really didn't want to throw up.

"How are you feeling?" asked a gentle voice from behind her. 

"Bad," she said. 

The unseen voice chuckled. It was a woman's voice, Julie thought, soft and calming. "You got hit with a pretty big dose of tranquilizers. Whoever was after you wasn't being very careful. Do you know who they were?"

"No. No, I--" She cut off then, as fear shivered through her. Several fears, and she couldn't separate them. The people hunting her were supposed to be faking it, but her body had lost track of the distinction even before one of them shot her. Now she was presumably in a school full of the Deviant and Damned -- and since the woman hadn't commented on her appearance, she probably was -- which was terrifying in its own way. What if they realized she wasn't really one of them? What if they already knew?

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're safe now." The woman came around into her field of view and squatted down in front of her. Her skin and eyes alike were very dark brown, and she had a variety of colorful beads woven into the tight black braids of her hair. Slowly, carefully, the woman reached out and put a hand on Julie's shoulder. 

Julie started to sob. It would been perfect if she'd been acting -- her mother would be have been so proud -- but no, she was lying on the bed, half-sick and ugly-crying helplessly. Oh God, I'm so bad at this... 

The thought only made her cry harder.

Music: Another Level

Oh The Larceny: 

Quick reminder: don't believe anything you hear tomorrow.

StV: View from a Theater Roof

Mongrel crouched on the corner of the rooftop, watching as his hounds chased the girl across the parking lot. They were doing a good job: the girl zeroing in on the targets, the hounds very convincing in their pursuit... 

The whole situation was infuriating, but he held himself back. Command has been clear about his orders, and his orders were to have his team pursue the girl but let her escape with the other Anomalies. There were several ways that could go, but right now the girl was staying well ahead of the hounds and--

Shit. Anya had just run into something, a faintly-glowing wall that appeared in front of her, and looked to have knocked herself cold. Mongrel tensed, but made himself stay still. Of the targets, two had gone for the car and the other two were covering them; one of those two must have done something. 

"Capture them if you can," he said into his microphone. At least one of the Anomalies was competent, which meant his hounds were now in danger. They'd need to keep the targets busy, and that meant making a full effort--

One of the Anomalies was looking at him -- the boy, the primary target. "Huntsman, I've been spotted."

"Sloppy," his handler remarked. "These kids are better than they have any right to be, but still: sloppy."

Mongrel growled and stayed put. At least he didn't have his human face on; they wouldn't be able to identify him. The second Anomaly was the one who interested him, though. She hadn't noticed him, but she was the one who was shielding the girl, and likely the one who had taken down Anya as well. She'd make for an interesting hunt. 

Then her companion took a tranquilizer to the shoulder and shrugged it off, and suddenly it was hard to say which one Mongrel would have enjoyed hunting more. The second anomaly gestured, and Jerome -- who had fired the shot -- staggered back and collapsed as if somebody had hit him in the face with a baseball bat. Jesus. He considered intervening, but...

The girl stumbled and went down with a dart in her shoulder, and the primary target lunged forward, threw himself down beside her, and then scooped her up and carried her effortlessly back to the car. 

"I want them both," Mongrel growled, and Huntsman laughed. 

"You'll get them," the old huntsman told him. "But first, we're going to let them lead us to a whole lot more."

Villain: Pebbles

Name: Julia "Julie" Kensington Hendrix
Alias: Pebbles
Age: 22, but looks closer to 17
Appearance: As an Anomaly, 5'8" with a broad-shouldered, square-muscled build, pebbly gray skin, and glowing red eyes. As an Angel of the Age of Rebirth, 5'4" with sharp blue eyes. In either form her hair is a soft brown, just below shoulder length.
Job: Spy for the Age of Rebirth

"Julie Kensington" presents herself as an anomaly trying to escape from the Hounds of the CIA's DAAT program. Her pebbly gray skin provides her with a degree of armor (light when she's relaxed, heavier when she feels threatened) and she's strong enough to lift and throw a small car if she can get a decent grip on one. Her glowing red eyes allow her to pick out Anomalies and see in the dark, and if she wills it she can command others to obey her (fundamentally a psychic influence). 

She also has an alternate appearance, this one completely human, a more youthful version of her original appearance that makes her seem to still be in her teens. In this identity she is Julia (or Julie) Kensington Hendrix, daughter of Janet Hendrix, Speaker for the Rebirth. She retains much of her strength and all all of her ability to influence others, but is somewhat less well-armored and cannot spot Anomalies (which the Age of Rebirth refers to as Deviants) without having her eyes flare glowing red. 

Julie is a follower of the Age of Rebirth, a secretive cult currently focused on recruiting the wealthy and connected in exchanged for extended lifespan and renewed youth, which has recently come into conflict with the students of Saint Vincent's.

Challenge: Comfort Food

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews. I kind of fell off last year, so we'll see how I do with it this year.)

Prompt: Favorite Comfort Food and Why (+Recipes)

Oh, this'll be an interesting topic. I'm probably not the best person to ask, since one of my qualifications for a proper comfort food is that it has to be relatively easy to prepare, but I do have some answers for this prompt. So buckle in, and let's explore the wonders of...

1. Bacon. Literally just a plate of bacon. Drink a lot of water with this one, or maybe 3/4 water + 1/4 orange juice (arguably a comfort food in its own right).  I don't believe bacon requires a lot of explanation, but:

Recipe: Buy 4-8 packets of uncooked bacon. Put tinfoil over your baking trays, then lay bacon down in strips on the trays. Push the dog out from underfoot. Set the oven to 350 or 375 F. (The higher setting is a little faster, but also a little easier to burn things.) Cook until done -- usually about 20 minutes. Shove the dog out of the way again so you can open the oven. Remove trays and use tongs to move bacon to a paper plate covered with three-deep paper towels. Put a cover of two more paper towels on top, and set well back from the edge of the counters so the dog can't get at it. Reload tray with more bacon and reinsert, then nudge the dog aside and unload the next tray. Continue process until all your uncooked bacon has been converted into nicely-cooked bacon. 

Notes: Don't try to eat all the bacon at once. Have a bit and freeze the rest; you may need access to comfort food for longer than you realize. Also, you can then use it for:

2. Mac & Cheese & Bacon. So, now you've got this nice supply of frozen bacon just waiting for you to have an emotional/gastronomical breakdown. But, well, this time you need something a little different, with more carbs. Instant Mac & Cheese is here to help, but it's better with some of that bacon in it. Plus, the dog is less likely to take an ankle-adhering interest in what you're cooking.

Recipe: Find some Mac and Cheese -- I recommend one of the Cracker Barrel Instant Mac & Cheese boxes, if you can find one; it's a better flavor for this than the regular Kraft stuff, and cooks in minutes -- and cook it. Then crumble a few strips of bacon and mix it in. Stir it around, and enjoy. 

Notes: Adjust the Mac & Cheese vs. Bacon ratio as desired.

3. Instant Ramen. It's quick, it's tasty, it can be prepared as a soup or just as some noodles, and if you want to clear your sinuses you can either buy spicy or mix some hot sauce in. Plus, once again, it can be prepared with almost no time and effort. 

Recipe: Boil water, insert noodles, poke and stir until noodles soften. For soup, add the flavor packet and possibly some hot sauce directly to the water. For noodles, drain the water and then add the sauce packet, stirring until the flavor is evenly distributed. Easy Peasy.

Notes: Dog is unlikely to find this interesting at all, which can be a blessing some days. 

4. Long John Silver's. It's fast food incarnate: deep-fried and heavily battered whitefish, with french fries. Maybe some catsup and tartar sauce. There's no deep meaning here. It's hot, it's greasy, it's good. Plus, they won't let you bring the dog inside, so that's one less thing to worry about. 

Recipe: Drive to the nearest Long John Silver's and pay for somebody else to cook your meal. 

Notes: Be sure to ask for extra crumbs. You can apologize to your circulatory system later.

So there you go. What're your favorite comfort foods? (I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody else comes up with for this one.)

Music: Prisencolinensunainciusol

 Adriano Celentano: