Character Story Final Poll

[Velox]

Vote here for your favorite Character Story entry. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL ENTRIES BEFORE VOTING.Voting begins now and will end on June 23rd at 11:59 PM EST. The entry with the most votes will be the winner of the Character Story theme and will then be either judged or polled against the winners of the other themes.

1. The Hippocratic Oath “You people aren’t serious,” the middle-aged sole surgeon of Alexanderburgh’s sole medical clinic, Mr. O’Connor, was pretty explicit in his expression of surprise intermingled with just a bit of shock and horror. With reason, too. After all, it’s not every day that three men, armed to the teeth, burst in through the front door of your clinic. George O’Connor was a typical 37-year-old man, not at all accustomed to people barging in through the door, especially not people that looked like they could shoot you with those dangerously lethal rifles in their hands any time now. He had a sturdy, but not particularly strong, build and darker skin than most of the inhabitants of Alexanderburgh, hinting to his Mexican ancestry on his mother’s side. Dark hair, cropped short just above the ears, and a dark goatee, and a complexion that was rather well suited to his just ever so slightly frightened expression at this point. Before him and rather intent on getting through the door that he was currently delicately positioned to block, stood the three aforementioned men. One was short, light-haired, grey-eyed, Caucasian, dressed in blue shorts, a white straight jacket and something of a fisherman’s hat on his head and a rather amused expression on his face. The frightening part, however, was the rifle in his hands, and the two men besides him, who weren’t half as relaxed as he was. They, like proper gangsters, wore suits of the finest Milanese make. And frowns on their faces. Rather grim ones. “Oh, come on, doctor,” said the laid-back one, a smile flickering on his face, “we only need to visit a friend -that wounded police officer that came in recently. We promise you, we’ll make sure no one thinks you had anything to do with… any mess that we may leave behind.” O’Connor was not a brave man. But this was one step too far. He forced himself to scowl. “What do you want with him?” with an ever more courageous tone, the doctor asked. “Lay your cards on the table, gentlemen. Truthfully.” Mentally, he wrote a testament, leaving all of his belongings to his wife and children… and forbidding his wife from burning his copies of all the books of A Song of Ice and Fire that he had, what she hoped for ever since that day when he decided to get a tattoo of a crowned wolf in honor of the Stark family, as was their sigil in the books. Meanwhile in reality, he slowly observed the frowns on the men’s faces growing ever tighter. “Let’s say we owe him something, Doc. I don’t think I have to pronounce every single detail of our plans regarding the good lieutenant out loud. You’re a smart man.” “Yes, I am. And frankly, gentlemen, I see no reason to let you pass. Hippocratic Oath.” Witnessing the quizzical expressions on their faces, he decided to add: “Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.” He crossed his arms. “I will not give up the life of one of my patients to save mine.” The laid-back suddenly turned as grim as his fellows. “Pity, ‘Doc.” It seemed to O’Connor that an eternity passed by as the rifles turned towards him. He wouldn’t remember which one of them shot. ------
2. Lost Metal “Doctor Smith, please put on your shirt! We are in the middle of an operation!” “But then nobody can see my tattoo, Nurse Claire. I’m beginning to think you don’t like it. “I don’t. And that hat is in rather bad taste, too. Wait, what am I saying, this is beside the point!” “Hmph.” Dr. Smith looked down at his bare chest. The dignified image of the mighty wolf, with its beautiful crown, greeted him as always. Of course, it was upside down, for otherwise, how could he see it? He had gotten the tattoo for his daughter’s seventh birthday. He knew she liked large dogs and princesses, so when he saw the stock tattoo in the parlor’s walls, he knew it was the perfect choice. For some reason, though, she hadn’t been as happy about it at her party. Maybe she didn’t get the gesture. He’d try to amend this by bringing up a stray dog from outside the house, but then his ex-wife had yelled at him, something about the dog having some disease or other. In all the commotion, he hadn’t had the chance to ask his daughter what tattoo she would get for his thirty-seventh birthday, which had been last week. She had given him a card. He had been a little confused, but decided to spare her feelings. Sometimes he thought he was the only sane person in the world. He began to put on his shirt. “I only wanted to display how much I love my daughter, but apparently some people don’t like that.” “Take off the hat, too.” “Out of the question. The hat stays.” “Why?” “I like the hat.” He didn’t see what the big deal was. It was scientifically proven that neon green fedoras with light-up features were pleasing to the eye. A respectable medic had conducted that research. (He was that respectable medic.) “Okay, what were we doing before you so rudely interrupted me, Nurse Claire?” “This is an appendectomy.” “Of course.” He examined the patient. There were no visible tattoos anywhere on his body. “He mustn’t love his family very much,” he muttered under his breath. “What was that?” “Nevermind.” He worked for a while, and then began to stitch the patient’s incision. The operation had been a success. It was then that nurse Claire spoke up: “Wait, I don’t think he’s breathing.” “Nonsense. We would have heard if his heartbeat decreased from the electrocardiothingy.” “Doctor, the electrocardiogram is plugged off, and it’s facing away from us. What are these wires?” “Oh! Now I remember! I needed a power source for my hat. My mistake. No harm done, though, right?” “Doctor, the patient is dead.” “So…no harm done, right? The corpse isn’t hurting.” “You are insane.”

   **

   Later, as he was eating a hot dog outside the hospital, he realized he had made a big mistake. He had left his favorite scalpel inside the patient. Bloody shame too. That scalpel had been engraved with his ex-wife’s face for their first and only anniversary. In a show of love, he hadn’t washed the utensil once. He didn’t think the people down at the morgue would let him retrieve it. Some people were just strange like that. ------

3. Odo, the Surgeon Extraordinare Doctor Spencer had not planned for this. He had planned for a successful operation on the young Miss Jamie, but that had not gone to plan at all. Her parents were well-known in the lawyering business, and they were watching the hospital like a pair of hawks honing in on their prey. One wrong move, one pair of unwashed hands, one slip of the wrist, and they would be closed down with medical licenses revoked. So, Doctor Spencer did the one thing he could: he called in the cavalry. There was a smash and a tinkle of glass as the window on his door was shattered, and a gloved hand slithered through the shards to open the door. A shady character sidled in, dressed entirely in black and bearing the image of a wolf wearing a crown tattooed on the side of his neck. Doctor Spencer cleared his throat. “Um, the door was open.” “You got a window on your door,” the figure rasped from under his wide-brimmed hat, tilted slightly downwards to hide his eyes. “Windows’re meant for breaking.” “Oh, uh… All right.” Doctor Spencer shuffled his notes nervously. “Well, I called you in for-“ “The Jamie deal. Girl’s got a dangerous illness, and you got a pair of dirty stinkin’ lawyers on your back about it.” “Yes, correct. Could you-“ “Girl shouldn’t be no trouble to fix up, if they’re willin’ to pay.” The brim of the hat lifted to reveal eyes that sparkled like diamonds, despite the man being almost in his forties. The wolf glared at Doctor Spencer in much the same way. He gulped. “Oh, good. I’m sure if you talk to them, they’ll-“ “No talking.” The man lowered his brim again and scowled. “Lawyers don’t sit right with me. Always watchin’ what you say, waitin’ for a slip-up.” Doctor Spencer didn’t much like being interrupted, but there was no being uppity around Doctor Odo. He had turned up from some foreign medical school, but he would not say where, and he had soon proved himself to be a surgeon extraordinaire. The man had a slight Brooklyn accent, but he never spoke of where he came from. He was notorious for his dangerous but effective methods, and he was Doctor Spencer’s only chance to get out of this jam. “Very well, I will arrange the price.” Doctor Spencer grinned uncertainly at him. “And this price would be…?” “A hundred million dollars,” Doctor Odo rumbled from beneath his hat. “No less.” Before Doctor Spencer could cry out in disbelief, Doctor Odo had made his exit through the office window. He watched the man flee before sighing and turning to his phone. “Ah, nurse Tordo? Cancel my appointments, and arrange for Jamie’s parents to meet with me… yes, THAT Jamie… oh, and call in someone to clean up the glass in here.” It was going to be a long, fussy argument, and a long, fussy day. -------

[Nuile the Paracosmic Tulpa]

It wasn't an easy choice, but #2 earned my vote.

Sincerely, Nuile: Lunatic Wordsmith

[fishers64]

#2 is a sick,sick, story - albeit marvelously done. So I'm going to have to vote for 1 - you don't just play around with life and death like that.

[dotcom]

#2 is a sick,sick, story - albeit marvelously done. So I'm going to have to vote for 1 - you don't just play around with life and death like that.

Although it reads like a deranged comedy, Lost Metal is more a serious story about a lonely man digging himself deeper and deeper into serious insanity, his unhealthy obsessions and a detachment from the real world. I wish I could do more with the character, but for this contest I decided to just present a crazy little chapter of his saga. If this was, say, a novel, the patient's death would be the point where it all stops being (crazy) fun and games. The lost scalpel would become a Chekhov's Gun with ridiculous repercussions (The title really doesn't make a lot of sense as is), there would be familial drama, and probably (imaginary) zombies, and his tattoo would probably save his life once or twice. It'd be a wild ride.But as it is, however, it is a sick little story with somewhat tasteless, morbid humor. I'm honestly a little surprised that it made it to the final polls. (Though, just to any potential #2 voters reading this, don't be discouraged by these statements! Feel free to vote for my entry anyways. :b )

[Ballom Nom Nom]

Number one seemed to be the best entry here, in my opinion.~B~

[Velox]

Polling period over; poll closed.