FICTION | META-FANTASY | MASH-UP

Radi’s Departure

Seldene Shorts, #9

Often, whenever I’ve — at last! — decided on something for definite, some following event forces me to change course.

This post is just the latest example. For my own creative sanity, I was determined to submit every mash-up I wrote to the publication that prompted them in the first place. Except, Prompt #32 from Jonathon Sawyer is perfect for returning to Seldene. Sigh…

Anyway, today’s slice-of-life meta-fantasy picks up from where we last left Radi: in Solway University’s Hardy Building, at her tutor’s office door.

Radi’s Departure

Radi hadn’t liked her previous supervisor anyway, but then she’d had to take maternity leave in the middle of the academic year. It wasn’t the baby’s fault, Radi knew — but still, it annoyed her. How would changing tutors so late in her degree affect her grades?

But then there was the new guy, this Dr Clare. He was an actual specialist in actual ancient myth, according to the Internet. She hadn’t heard of him before, but his PhD — on the societal effects of belief in ancient civilisations — that was totally her thing.

So he was the perfect person, really, to advise her.

Radi caught his blurry shape through the little misted window in the office door. She hovered, shifting her weight from foot to foot to foot again, like a pendulum — then knocked… listened.

‘Come in.’

She turned the handle, pushed, and found herself face to face with — wow. He must have just gotten his doctorate, because he was young — barely thirty, though God knew how difficult she found it, gauging ages, these days.

Radi blinked. There hadn’t been a picture on the department’s website. For some reason, she’d imagined someone middle-aged, at least — or maybe he really was older, and only looked a lot younger?

But no. He was wearing a shirt, without a tie.

She decided to like him, anyway. He was already looking up from his desk in her direction, something that his predecessor never bothered to do-

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘You must be… Raddy?’

She tried not to deflate. ‘It’s, uh, Ra-di. Like,’ she said, waving a hand to indicate the walls around them, ‘Hardy. The college.’

‘The college,’ he said with her. ‘Thanks. I’ll remember that.’

His office was sparsely decorated. Most wall space was given over to shelves. Above the small desk, a baseball bat was tucked away on the topmost shelf — the side of which had a Herdwick calendar (with crossed-off days) taped to it. What was he counting down to?

Radi sat opposite, on a sagging leather sofa. The pair exchanged pleasantries, but this didn’t last long because of Dr Clare’s — Pablo’s, he insisted — ‘maternity workload schedule’. He had a lot going on, he was afraid.

Meh. At least he was nice about it.

Pablo launched into a rundown of her situation, the progress she’d made already, and the final step on her Masters journey: the 10,000-word independent field report.

For once, Radi didn’t talk much. Pablo wasn’t what she’d expected, and it had really thrown her. Even worse, the surprise was sending pangs of emotion fluttering through her abdomen. First was fear: her old companion. She usually drowned it out with other things — tracing contour lines on a map, bathing in the music from her buds — but it was always there, really, underneath.

Annoyingly, there was also attraction. If she was ever gonna find her person, she knew, it would be at university. Back home, the boys were way too similar: so unthinking a-a-and discriminatory. Here, there was more diversity — in any kind of folk her age — than she had ever known. Pablo seemed way more like it. If only he wasn’t her tutor…

Radi sternly banished her visions of churches clouded with confetti. She concentrated on what Dr Clare was actually saying.

‘…you structuring your field report? Reading your outline, a journalistic approach could work really well for you.’

‘Yeah,’ Radi replied. ‘I wanna do creative non-fiction — like one of those long reads you get in online newspapers, especially — but also, including academic sources when they apply to my experiences.’

Dr Clare nodded. ‘A type of Creative-Critical response, then.’

Radi ignored the way his curls bounced when his head moved. ‘I was also,’ she continued, ‘thinking of using “The Hero’s Journey” — Joseph Campbell? Because I started out thinking of this as my latest quest, anyway — you know, in the adventure of my life? — and it’s just so associated with mythological storytelling.’

‘That sounds perfect. Which version? The 12-step simplification or the original 17?’

‘Not sure yet. I don’t know what I’ll find as I go… but,’ she smiled, ‘I guess right now counts as “Stage Four: Meeting the Mentor”!’

He chuckled. ‘Or “Three: Supernatural Aid”. And your “Stage One or Two: the Call to Adventure” could be your degree requiring this independent project in the first place. But,’ he added, ‘don’t focus too much on fulfilling all of the steps. Fiction isn’t real life. I can’t actually do magic.’

It was Radi’s turn to laugh — but she only gave a short one. This human Endymion already had done magic, in a way… more than he would ever know, and not necessarily white magic, either. ‘As I said,’ she replied, ‘I don’t know what I’ll find as I go.’

Radi immediately made sure to smile. ‘I’m keeping an open mind.’

Prompts Used and Points Gained

Main Theme (2 points)
#2: An old enemy has returned!
This may be a great opportunity to link to a past story you may have written!
Who is this old enemy and what will it mean?

Point Tally: 2


Constraints (1 point each; use 4)
A baseball bat *
Tons of confetti! *
A calendar with days "X"ed out *
An improvised weapon
Your guess at Jonathan's mom's age! (Hint: he's 37)
A leather object *

Point Tally: 4


Hardcore Constraints (2 points)
Introduce (or reintroduce) a character who suffers from being permanently deaf, blind, or mute.
OR
An innocuous box that, if opened... EXPLODES!!!

Point Tally: 0


Literary Device (5 points)
Outline a classic "Hero's Journey" that may or may not get completed.

Point Tally: 5


Bonus (1 point)
Add a section that tallies up your points at the end of the story.

Point Tally: 1

End Total: 12

I challenge Ben Ulansey to a future mash-up of his choice.

Copyright © E.A. Colquitt 2023