Love Is in the Air: a Valentine’s Day series by Jennifer Weigel
This is second third installment in a Valentine’s Day series of shorts by Jennifer Weigel in which unsuspecting lovers succumb to deadly gases. You can read the first two installments here:
Episode 2:
Meanwhile, Brad and Jeffrey were on a date night together to Phillipe’s Haute Couture Cuisine enjoying an exquisite romantic meal by candlelight at the corner table. After pouring Brad a second glass of champagne in their secluded nook, Jeffrey took to bent knee and procured a ring box from his pocket.
“Will you marry me?” he proposed in formal display.
“Oh, Jeffrey, will I?” Brad exclaimed. “Of course, silly. This is the happiest day of my life.” Brad donned the ring and pulled Jeffrey to him in a wide bear hug as his eyes brimmed over with tears of joy.
Jeffrey melted into the embrace but something wasn’t right. Distracted, he sniffed at the air. He’d gone to such lengths to ensure that this would be their perfect night together, on a special date in a secluded nook at the grandest restaurant in town. He’d planned every detail, even down to the seemingly innocuous display of cut flowers. But what was that smell encroaching on their bliss? The odor hung heavy in the air like a strong smelling cheese, but not one that the men could recognize or find any culinary appeal in.
Brad must have noticed it too, as he withdrew from the embrace and glanced warily towards the kitchen. No one else in the restaurant seemed fazed. Patrons laughed and toasted one another while waiters clustered at the extremities watching for any sign that their services were needed. Brad and Jeffrey were pretty isolated though, so maybe no one else had noticed it yet.
Jeffrey’s nostrils flared as he rose. “Excuse me a moment, darling,” he said as he strode towards the kitchen. He met his waiter head on as he emerged from the revolving door to the back.
“Sir, there is something dreadfully wrong with our table,” Jeffrey huffed.
“So sorry, Monsieur! Let me fix that for you, right away,” the waiter responded, hurriedly following Jeffrey to where his fiancé sat fanning the air in front of him with the wine list.
“What is that… smell…?!” Brad asked accusingly, his eyes tearing up.
“I’m sorry, Monsieur, but I smell nothing,” the waiter replied, dramatically inhaling deep breaths all around the table.
Jeffrey began to feel adrift and sidled back into his chair. Brad blasted him with sweeping gestures from the wine list in an attempt to drive fresher air in his direction as his face grew more and more pale.
“How can you not smell that?!” Brad questioned, exasperated and gasping for breath himself.
“Perhaps you would like a different table?” the waiter proposed after sniffing the air, the flowers, and even under the table to no avail.
Jeffrey collapsed in his chair, landing face first in his salade niçoise. Brad fell immediately after, tumbling from his seat onto the floor. The terrified waiter called out for help as he reached towards the men in turn. The restaurant was bustling with activity but it was too late, both men were already dead.
The paramedics and police were bewildered. Names were taken and witnesses interrogated but again there was no sign of foul play, nothing amiss, no lingering fumes to offer any indication of what had happened. It was the second unexplained event in an outbreak of seemingly disconnected deaths throughout the city.
You can find more of Jennifer Weigel’s writing by visiting her website here at Jennifer Weigel Words.
So, as you may have noticed, we have a special fondness for spiders here on Nightmarish Nature. Well, they are kind of the spokes-critters for horrifying animalia, perhaps because they are so freakishly different from us. Or maybe it’s because I find them a little disconcerting for all that I try to take the “you mind your business, I’ll mind mine” approach, at least if they stay outdoors. Or just because I really like to draw spiders for all that I prefer not to find them sharing my home (though I’ll gladly take spiders over other bugs or mice or larger critters who didn’t get an invite).
Anyway, this segment is devoted to the largest Giants Among Spiders, as if you didn’t have enough to worry about already. And the top place is contested based upon body mass or leg length. Most of these are tarantulas, which globally take top place among the large arachnids.
Goliath Birdeater Tarantula
The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula of South America is the biggest brute of spiderdom, weighing in at over 6 ounces. They build funnel burrows and are known to eat birds (although rarely), mice, lizards, frogs, and snakes, but largely any big insects including other species of spiders. They have urticating barbed hairs that they fling at would-be attackers as an irritant to escape. And people even eat them after they singe the bristles off. Here’s a National Geographic video showing this spider in action, in case you wanted to see a giant spider take out a mouse.
Giant Huntsman Spider
And with the longest legs, we have the Giant Huntsman Spider of Laos, with a leg-span of 12 inches. Their legs have twisted joints and they move in a crab-like manner, which furthers their impressive appearance. ‘Cause they’ve got legs, and know how to use ’em. They prefer to live in underbrush and cave entrances. These are like the big relatives of their Australian cousins, which we’ve all seen online and developed a healthy aversion to.
Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater & Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantulas
Next we have two more South American species: the Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater, which boasts one-inch fangs, and the Brazilian Giant Tawny Red, believed to be the longest-lived spider with a lifespan of up to thirty years. Both are in the tarantula family and have urticating hairs, a word you probably never read much before today unless you are in the hobby. So apparently South America is not the best travel destination for you if you struggle with arachnophobia, though I suspect you’d figured that out already. (I wouldn’t recommend Australia or Southeast Asia either.)
Face Size Tarantula
And finally the Face Size Tarantula, which has a very terror-inducing name reminiscent of the Face Huggers of Alien-glory. Anyway, these spiders have an 8-inch leg-span and live in India and Sri Lanka. They look kind of like big hairy wolf spiders with stripey legs, sometimes with pink and daffodil coloring.
If you enjoyed this eight-legged segment of Nightmarish Nature on Giants Among Spiders and their larger than life kin, please check out past segments:
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being?
2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found.
3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood.
4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you.
5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy.
6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface.
8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs.
9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy.
10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being.
11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon.
12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast
13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse.
14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond.
15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same.
16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost
17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without.
18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
So thank you for joining us on another AI art journey. You can still catch the last AI art journey on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Ugh. Maybe not.
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.
