The Bracelet:
A crowd looked on as she paraded through the street. Smiles, jeers and cheers, though mostly the latter. Those who readied her told of the excitement that would be abound in the streets and prepared her for the event, explaining that simply avoiding their eyes would keep them as quiet as possible.
Exhausted, she marched forward heavily, each step a chore. The throng grew thicker at the street's side as the procession neared her wooden throne.
Steps creaked with eerie volume as she climbed atop the dais, tears no longer held back. Her guard placed a hand on her white gown'made special for the occasion'a sympathetic gesture that she did not believe true in spirit.
Sitting on the throne her brass bracelets clanked together. She brought her head up, facing out into the multitudes before her. An executioner came forward, head draped in black, wielding a heavy axe.
Before Your Time:
'Wait, so you never played Half-Life?'
'No, dude, must have been before my time. I don't know, I didn't start gaming until I started college. They had, like, four Xboxes hooked together at the frat house. It was totally clutch, we played Halo all night.'
'Clutch? Never mind, dude, you're missing out. I know the way of the Halo player, yeah, great game, you could totally beat my ass after six Jäger-bombs, whatever, but you can't accept it as the pre-generator of all that is modern gaming just because it was the first thing you encountered. Yes, it brought the culture into the mainstream, but really that's a strike against it. That's like saying Harry Potter is the end-all, be-all fantasy novel.'
He looked at me with a slurred sort of eye, slanted in its understanding. 'Dude,' he said, 'Fuck you, I could TOTALLY kick your ass in blood gulch.'
