This is the first installment in a Valentine’s Day series of shorts by Jennifer Weigel in which unsuspecting lovers succumb to deadly gases.
Episode 1:
Shelby sat curled up in Braydon’s arms. Moments before they had been studying for their Psych 101 midterm together and he was lightly stroking her hair. They’d become closer over the course of the class, never officially dating but just growing more and more comfortable together than apart like a long-married couple.
They stared longingly into one another’s eyes and bent towards one another to kiss for the first time. It was a gentle kiss, coaxing and full of hope, dreaming of future possibilities and of building a life. They continued to gaze into one another’s eyes as they pressed their lips together once more in a longer display.
The textbook they had been reading fell from Shelby’s lap as they began to catch wind of something… untoward…
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“What’s that smell?” Shelby asked, her nose curling.
Braydon took a long sniff, inhaling deeply, before letting out a huge sigh. “I dunno,” he answered. “It’s kind of like stale corn chips and cheap lilac perfume.”
The aroma grew stronger. The air seemed thick with it, becoming heavier with every breath. It began to resemble unkempt feet, like bad body odor mixed with sweat, wet shoes, rapidly propagating bacteria, and perfume. Surely this was beginning to cross over into Zappa stinkfoot territory.
“It’s horrible,” Shelby exclaimed. “I can barely breathe.”
“I know,” Braydon replied. He wriggled free of their embrace and raised an arm to press his nose into his armpit. Nope. He discreetly sniffed at Shelby’s hair. Not that either.
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“What do you suppose it is?” Braydon asked.
“No idea,” Shelby replied, stretching forward quivering. “Whatever it is it’s awful.”
The couple arose. Shelby sat on the sofa massaging the bridge of her nose and burying her face in her sleeve trying to catch a whiff of what remained of her tropical sunset body spray. Braydon stood on shaky knees and slowly traversed the room, sniffing the air as he wove to and fro across the floor of his flat.
The noxious odor permeated everything. There was no escaping it. It was making both of them woozy. Braydon shuffled back to the sofa and flopped beside Shelby. He held her tight to him. Teary-eyed, she eagerly pressed her face into his shirt.
As the foul odor became even stronger, the rest of the apartment seemed to dim around them. The world grew hazier and hazier, as if they were trapped in some sort of all-encompassing invisible insect fogger. Shelby sobbed, trembling as Braydon drew her closer to protect her from the unseen terror.
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The police found them exactly as they had lain on the sofa, wrapped tight in one another’s arms. They appeared to have suffocated together. There was no sign of foul play, nothing amiss, no lingering fumes to offer any indication of what had happened, just two college co-eds tangled together.
Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist residing in Kansas USA. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video and writing. You can find more of her work at:
https://www.jenniferweigelart.com/
https://www.jenniferweigelprojects.com/
https://jenniferweigelwords.wordpress.com/
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
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 as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…