(The words that I already knew I marked with asterisks and guessed at the definitions. The definitions I guessed right are in italics, and the ones I got wrong are crossed out. All other definitions are either copied or paraphrased from Dictionary.com.)
| 01) | apostate | [describing] a person who forsakes his religion, cause, party, etc. (noun or adjective) |
| 02) | effusive | pouring out; overflowing; unrestrained |
| 03) | impasse | an unescapable position or situation; a dead-end street |
| 04) | euphoria* | extreme happiness or confidence |
| 05) | lugubrious | mournful, dismal, or gloomy, often exaggeratedly so |
| 06) | bravado* | display of bravery; a pretentious, swaggering display of courage |
| 07) | consensus* | general agreement; majority opinion |
| 08) | dichotomy | division into two parts or kinds; division into two mutually exclusive or contradictory groups |
| 09) | constrict* | to tighten, compress, or slow/stop the natural course or development of something |
| 10) | Gothic | a historical style of art and architecture, beginning in 12th century France and lasting through 16th century Europe; pertaining to the Middle Ages; blackletter typefaces |
| 11) | punctilio | a fine point or detail of conduct, ceremony, or procedure; strictness in observing formallities |
| 12) | metamorphosis* | a complete change |
| 13) | raconteur | someone who's good at telling stories and anecdotes interestingly |
| 14) | sine qua non | Latin for "without which not"; an essential or indepensable condition or element |
| 15) | quixotic | extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary or impractical; impulsive and often rashly unpredictable (adjective version of Don Quixote) |
| 16) | vendetta* | blood feud (often when family members try to avenge a death by killing the murderer or one of the murderer's relatives); any lasting feud or rivalry |
| 17) | non sequitur* | Latin for "does not follow"; |
| 18) | mystique* | an air of mystery or mystical power surrounding something; a framework of ideas, etc. constructed around a person or object to lend it enhanced value or profound meaning |
| 19) | quagmire* | unnavigable land, such as quicksand; a situation difficult to extricate oneself from |
| 20) | parlous | perilous, dangerous, or uncertain |
Dramatic Conclusion Time! *gasp*
"What was that?!" screamed Princess Bubblegum. "Finn? Finn! FINN!!" He couldn't hear her over the waves of effusive sound that seemed to swirl inside his head and constrict thought itself. Above all else, Finn knew he must protect his princess. Covering his ears, he staggered as fast as he could towards the door to find the source of the sound outside.
"Finn! Don't be a hero!" implored Princess Bubblegum. "I don't need your bravado! You'll get yourself killed, you quixotic--"
But it was too late; Finn was already gone. Thankfully, Jake had metamorphosed into a pair of earmuffs. Expecting to see a brawl of Lemon Children against Banana Guards, a final battle to settle the vendetta between the Lemon-Earldom and the Candy Kingdom, they were suprised to see only two fighters, both of them Lemons. The two Lemongrabs were identical; their only dichotomy was their clothing. One dressed in black, and one dressed in white.
Lemonblack and Lemonwhite were the source of the din; they had both been fighting with their Sound Swords. When they stopped sparring to argue, Finn was surprised that the sound of their piercing, lugubrious voices, sine qua non to the essence of the Lemongrabs, was a relief.
"This is unacceptable!" shrieked Lemonblack. "We had a consensus that I would lead the Lemon Children in battle!"
"Mnnmmnmmnmnmmmnm but I am the younger so my battle skills are sharper than yoooooooourrs!!" countered Lemonwhite.
"Non sequituuuuur!!! This is unacceptabllllllle!!!!!" screeched Lemonblack.
It was a parlous situation indeed; if the Lemongrabs continued fighting with their Sound Swords, the entire Candy Kingdom might be reduced to a quagmire of rubble and quicksugar. But if Finn and Jake tried to step in, both Lemongrabs might redirect their rage towards them, and then the rest of the Banana Army, and destroy the Candy Kingdom anyway. It seemed to be an impasse with no way out. But Finn refused to become an apostate, and would protect the Candy Kingdom to the end. The Candy Castle was no gothic palace, but it was Princess Bubblegum's home. That was enough.
"Jake, you go distract the Lemongrabs, and then I'll attack from behind!" commanded Finn, leaving the punctilio of exactly how to distract them up to Jake.
Jake dashed to the other side, shouting "Yo, Lemongrubs!" When both Lemonblack and Lemonwhite turned to hurl insults at the offending remark, Finn charged. He knocked the Sound Swords out of their hands before they had a chance to use them, feeling the rush of adventure-induced euphoria. While the Banana Guards captured all the Lemon Children that had gathered to see the fight, Finn struck Lemonblack to the ground and Jake took down Lemonwhite. Not too far away, they heard the Candy People cheering for their victory.
"Give up, Lemongrabs!" Princess Bubblegum had emerged from the Candy Castle. "If you go back to Castle Lemongrab in peace, I will supply you with Candy Seeds so you and your Lemon People will no longer go hungry. Do we have a deal, Earls?"
Defeated, the Lemongrabs both muttered incoherent nothings, which, in their language, meant "yes."
THE END (for now)
Thanks for reading!
I just noticed that in my last three posts, I've been writing more and more story with less and less vocabulary word density. In my first post, I could basically let the words guide the story; it's actually harder in the sequels when there's already have a predetermined direction! I ended my last post with a cliffhanger on purpose to make it easier for myself today... to be honest, I didn't even come up with the idea of the Sound Swords causing the noise until I started this post.
I know the Lemongrabs are suuuuper annoying, but for whatever reason I absolutely love them. Maybe I'm sick and twisted inside, or something. I tried to keep up the irrational, tortured mystique surrounding them for my vocab/fanfic, but it's so difficult to translate their way of speaking into text.
So, what do you all think? Am I a natural raconteur? Should my story about Lemons be a Lemony Lemon? Don't answer second question please :)
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