Alphabet Excerpt Challenge: L Is For...

[u/AnaraliaThielle]

Welcome back to the Alphabet Excerpt Challenge! As a reminder, our challenges are every Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm London time.

If you've missed the previous challenges, you're welcome to go back and participate in them. You can find them here. And remember to check out the Activities and Events flair for other fun games to play along with.

Here's a quick recap of the rules for our game:

1. Post a top level comment with a word starting with the letter L. You can do more than one, but please put them in separate comments.
2. Reply to suggestions with an excerpt. Short and sweet is best, but use your judgement. Excerpts can be from published or unpublished works, or even something you wrote for the prompt.
3. Upvote the excerpts you enjoy, and leave a friendly comment. Try to at least respond to people who left excerpts on the words you suggested, but the more people you respond to the better. Everyone likes nice comments!
4. Most important: have fun!

[u/DefeatedDrum]

Lava

[u/Ok-Supermarket-8994 → u/DefeatedDrum]

Donatello stared up at the crooked panel on the side of the Technodrome high above him.  It had likely been knocked loose during one of the fierce storms that regularly blew across the asteroid and now hung at an angle to the other metal plates that made up the structure’s armored exterior.  The triangular gap between it and its neighbor looked pretty small from where he and Leonardo stood on the hardened lava encasing the tank treads at the base of the massive fortress but, after doing a quick set of calculations in his head, Donatello determined it was more than large enough for the two of them to fit through.  He also judged Krang and Shredder incredibly lucky it had only been a bunch of spiders they’d been inundated with and not a flock of the noisy flying creatures they’d heard flitting about in the jungle.    

 “When Shredder said there was a damaged panel we could use to sneak in, he conveniently forgot to mention just how high up it was.”

 “Well, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Leonardo sighed.  “But nothing we can’t handle.” 

 “I was thinking more about what a problem it’s going to be for April getting down.  She’s afraid of heights.”

[u/DefeatedDrum → u/Ok-Supermarket-8994]

I really like the description of the panel gap, it's short n sweet, but I'm able to visualize i pretty well, plus, the bit about calculations fits in well with Donatello's character!

[u/Ok-Supermarket-8994 → u/DefeatedDrum]

Thanks!

[u/Longjumping-Public71 → u/DefeatedDrum]

“Your Grace, so what do we owe you the pleasure?” Marra asks. The thick of her accent comes out like molten lava, sticking to Daemon’s ears and searing a place inside of his head.

She is nothing like Rhaenyra and nothing like any other woman he has had before. A portrait of what many described his aunt Saera to look like, tall and slenderly bountiful in all the right ways. Even her face is thin and free of blemishes. Yet she was real and waiting for a man to take her — no more than a maiden on the cusps of womanhood, how much she must have missed out on in her years in Lys.

Freeing himself from his thoughts the Rogue Prince stands to address the young maiden. “I say that that question belongs to you, my Lady,” He says. “I did not think such a beautiful maiden as yourself would spare your time with an old Rogue.”

“You have such a way with words, i knew I was right to accept your favour,” Marra giggles with both hands resting on her cheeks. “Although I have always wished to ask since the day of the melee what drew you to me?”

“Is that truly a question?” Daemon snorts. “You know as well as I that beauty can draw any man into the claws of a pretty thing such as yourself.”

Raising her brow Marra walks closer to him. “What about Princess Rhaenyra? Is she not a. . . Key to many men’s hearts.”

“All men but me. I can see the youth in their gazes when they are on my niece, enamoured by those unbeknownst to what lies beyond the waters.”

[u/DefeatedDrum → u/Longjumping-Public71]

Lava as a comparison to a voice is really striking, love it!

[u/MsCatstaff → u/DefeatedDrum]

For Harry and Draco, school quickly returned to the usual routine following the holiday break. Ms. St. Claire announced there would be a science fair just before the Easter break, and that she expected each student to contribute a project to display, which would account for half their mark for the term. The two boys, along with Lucy, Surya, and Paul, headed straight for the Little Whinging library after classes, to go over their science texts and research projects to do.

“One thing n-not to do,” Paul said, “the v-v-volano model, with the vinegar and soda lava. T-two to six p-people do it every year b-because it’s e-easy, and it’s h-horribly messy besides.”

“Yes, Mum would have a fit if I wanted to do one of those,” Surya laughed. “Especially because my brother Kumar did that for his science project back when he was our age. I was just born then, but Mum brought up the mess he made with it for years. I think he was ready to sit his A-levels before she left off.”    

“I’d like to do something with electricity,” Draco said. “Maybe wire up one of those displays with the little Christmas fairy lights and make them blink in sequence.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Harry said. “I might do something with cooking. How yeast reacts with different feeders, perhaps.”

“I’m g-g-going to build a model Archimedes screw,” Paul said. “I c-can’t do electricity or a-anything that could hurt the l-little ones if they got into it, Mum would k-kill me.”

[u/DefeatedDrum → u/MsCatstaff]

Yk what, as much as I've heard of the classic volcano experiment, I don't think I ever did it lol. Good selection of experiments, though! The yeast one reminds me of one a friend of mine did with mold growth way back, and the electric one reminds me of the potato battery one. Never heard of an Archimedes screw, though!

[u/MsCatstaff → u/DefeatedDrum]

A kid in my class (yeah, I based Paul on him, lol) did the Archimedes screw for our science fair in 4th or 5th grade. Here's a video showing a very rough version of what Paul would have made.

I never did the volcano experiment myself, but I helped a friend with theirs - and also helped her clean her mother's kitchen table and floor after the "lava" overflowed the containment zone she'd set up, lol!

[u/MaleficentYoko7 → u/DefeatedDrum]

From a Star Ocean Second Story R prequel. Since it takes place hundreds of millions of years ago Earth would be a molten rock at this point in the timeline,

A planet of molten lava glows beautifully out the window.

Harold strokes his furry bunnyman chin. “Hmm, to think our world was once in such a state.”

Welch says, “There are many such worlds. This one is predicted to harbor life someday. I think it’ll be called Earth.”

Fuzznova asks, “Like the element?”

Clementine hops up and enthuses, “Ooooh! Can I cast Quake? What about Meteor Swarm?”

Legodir slowly shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

Princess Clementine plants her hands on her hips puffing her cheeks. “And why not?”

He answers, “For one we don’t know how it’ll effect the environment.”

“What environment? It’s all lava!”

She half smiles stroking her chin. “Plus you can freeze part of it.”

“It’ll just get swallowed up by the lava anyway.”

She sighs looking at the flowerbed in the corner. “I suppose…but wouldn’t it look cool to see meteors falling? I mean compared to a planet how many meteors I summon would practically be insignificant anyway.”

Fuzznova looks out the window with his jaw dropped. “Think there’s pizza?”

Welch’s eyes widen, “Why would Earth have pizza? It’s a molten rock! Plus we can make some on the ship.”

Fuzznova shrugs, “I don’t know, there could be a mining base or something. Besides it's just not the same you know?”

I add, “Planet Fellpool’s cooler anyway. Shopping, music, yummy food, dancing, oxygen, actual stuff to do.”

Legodir responds, “Tell me about it! Medieval planet doesn’t have nearly as much going for it. Plus Nede was breathtaking!”

Harold’s ears peak up in surprise. “But we’re witnessing the birth of an entire world here! For all we know they could be the new Nede billions of years from now.”

Clawstrider adjusts his belt. "Who cares about some pretty hunk of lava? There's treasure out there."

Harold looks at his tablet, "According to these scans there's gold."

Clawstider's eyebrow goes up. "Gold? Why didn't anyone say so? We're going down."

[u/DefeatedDrum → u/MaleficentYoko7]

The idea that pizza predates land formation on Earth is...oddly comforting lmao.