Green Pastures part: 6 (Art Challenge)

Hi everyone, I finally finished part 5 of my story. I am making the story as I go so the more the characters get fleshed out, more I have to dream about their lives. I would like to award 1 SBD + the SBD portion of the payout for this post to artists willing to take on an art challenge.

You see, in this episode Franco enters a hullicinatory induced trance induced by gases released from within the earth. It would be so cool if you could make an illustration or any other art relating to this surreal moment in the story. Please note however that you can use any element of any part of Green Pastures as a starting point.

Here are the rules:

~ Set a timer to 30 minutes before you start because this is the maximum allowed time to make this piece
~ You must resteem this post
~ Make a post of your own about your art and include it in the comment section of this post
~ The art must be made by you, if not, say why in your post
~ If your creation is digital, you are not allowed to press undo. If you undo by accident, that is fine
~ If your create on physical support, use a permanent medium like pen. You should not be able to erase
~ If your chosen medium of expression is neither painting or drawing ignore the last 2 rules

I would also appreciate it if you used #noqualms as a tag but this is optional.
The entry which inspire me tho most to write Franco’s next storyline wins.
The winner will receive their prize around the time of payout for this post.
Here is the art I made applying the rules of this contest:

The early morning sun was peaking through the shelter’s roof. It was rare for Franco to want to sleep in but he was depleted and the prospect of catching his payload was risky business. He had crossed from BC to Alaska 2 weeks ago and had already depleted his caches, neither his snares or his artisanal fish baskets had delivered bounty. It felt like Nature was displeased with him and the mosquitoes had devoured the living life out of him last night after all that rain, the morning breeze had blown them away leaving the man free to enjoy a little morning joint.

He needed to make the most of the times when he resurfaced and corporate espionnage came as a way to maximise his investment of time and energy. When he was still living in society, he built a banking firm in the business of shorting unethical companies. It all started in 2009 with the Chinese shell mergers but soon enough his firm, ZeroSum Gain met some stiff competition from other firms like Murky Waters. Fortunately, ZeroSum Gain grew fast enough that they could keep themselves afloat shorting Canadian and American companies which had nothing to do with China although they were still working on a few shell merger cases in association with other firms but mostly lobbyists. Most of the current cases were small pickings but the beauty of it was that they didn’t need to short the enterprises all the way, they would often make a profit when the corporations went down to 50% of their given value at one point in time, because their reports were often bought by regulators. After all these years in the wild, he was out of the loops in many regards and mostly took care of field assignments. Through the years, he had helped establish that the amount of guar gum used in the fracking industries was bound to spike the cost of a specific cancer treatment. That many organic farmers were not growing organic food at all. His favorite assignment was when he had debunked an American fair trade coffee company named Simply Woke which was operating in Ecuador, ZeroSum made a fortune when the company went bankrupt which is exactly what he needed to stay in the wild as long as possible. Being a field agent allowed him to travel different part of the continent but it was risky business. He could not count the times that he had been held at gunpoint. He did not envy the people he had left back in the firm as they were commonly mistreated in other ways by the financial system at large. Although shorters were better understood than in the 90s, they were still treated as traitors to the capitalist system. Lawmakers were always dismissive to them, treating them like a tribe of hypocritical social justice warriors. The only shorters who were truly celebrated fought against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies along with politicians. Franco would always say: Get an ostrige to stick her neck out of the sand and she will resent you for life.

He began trekking in the forest looking forward to a proper meal and a beer, it had been far too long. It wasn’t until 2 PM that humidity hit and along with it, the bugs had come back full force.

“This is something I’m never going to get used to” he said to himself.

He was walking up a steep hill when he noticed the trees were a bit strange. They weren’t angling in their usual way; it was very noticeable especially since he remembered this area quite clearly as it was leading up to an apple tree which he often used as a vantage point. His heart sunk when he saw the tree he had bonded with cracked open. After living in the wild for so many years, it felt more like a friend than any person he knew. He also gave a thought at times to the person who must have had cleared the area and planted it because it was impossible for such an apple tree to grow in the wild. It all was very strange because there were no signs of a dwelling having ever been there.

He made haste to comfort his friend and when he got there, the injury was not as bad as he originally thought. However, when he turned his attention down the slope ahead he saw something he would have never expected in a million years. The land was twisted and the trees in shambles as crevices were canvassing the area. There had been a powerful earthquake here and the recent rains had distorted the topography even further. From his vantage point he could see a shapeless valley of mud crisscrossed by uprooted trees.

Navigating the disaster was perilous but the adventurer could not help himself, he had to explore the premises leaving the apple tree behind. His feet sank in the mud with every step. He was swimming in a cloud of black flies which no doubt had found a breeding ground in all of this chaos so he tried to cross the area hastily but but navigating through the fallen trees was difficult. As he was nearing the untouched woods he saw a person briefly behind the trees. He silently chased after the person unable to confirm if he had hallucinated. About an hour later, he saw a young man sitting on a moss covered rock in a small meadow next to a creek. His skin was extremely pale and he was laughing gleefully. Franco considered himself asexual but found himself was very attracted to this uncanny individual. The man began whistling a strange melody and it seemed as though the skies were opening up above them.

The next thing he knew a choir of cats was circling both of them walking in unison. There was a beige one, and a grey striped one, an Egyptian looking cat and a powder blue angora cat, one with a flat face and a cute white kitten. The purple sky was reflecting on their fur giving them a groovy appearance.

Suddenly the sky began changing from orange to black. This phenomenon started out slow but the colors began to change more and more quickly until the celestial tapestry was pulsing rapidly. He felt his body slowing down. He was terrified but still alert and he painfully went to join the young man who was now sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. There were dark transparent specks moving around in the air like the black flies from earlier. He sat next to this mysterious figure who had dark long hair. In this moment the face looked more feminine. “Where is Laura?”, the stranger asked Franco.
“She must be at home, watching a movie eating chips”
“Where is Laura?”
Laura!, thought Franco, she was in danger, he knew it.
The young man was gone, the cats and the forest were too.
He found himself in a vast expanse of black space with nothing recognisable except for the smooth floor under him . Laura, I must get in touch with her. He realized that he had been ignoring her messages, choosing not to see the secret codes she had been sending him through the dark web. His satellite connection had allowed him to occasionally go online out in the wild. She needed his expertise. She needed his help.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Steemit Dreamit is on Facebook and Discord!

You can hit me up on this very Discord if you need help with the challenge.