Instant Story

Challenge #03080-H172: Defeating Monsters

There was a sign on the door. It read "Warning! Deathworlder story time! Humans inside!" Faintly, through the budget soundproofing, a cogniscent with good hearing could make out the wailing cry of an alarmed human larva. One with even better hearing would be able to make out the voices of other young humans, saying "It's OK, it's OK, it's not real, it's just a story. Right, Miss? It's not real, right???" -- Anon Guest

Fairy tales do not exist to tell children that monsters are real, they say. Fairy tales exist to tell children that monsters can be defeated. That acknowledged, there are some who are unprepared for the finer details. Precautions are always taken, by necessity. Warnings for the literate. Pictograms for the less literate. Hazard stripes[1] for those who fail to pay attention to words or pictures.

Those who feel brave enough, prepared enough, or simply curious enough are welcomed, warned, and permitted to sit with the others. Most of them are under five. A few are a little too enthusiastic for their own good. The storyteller is on an elevated seat, gesturing as the words flow from mouth to listening ears. Offensensitivity shields stand between the room and an observer just outside the door. Unfortunately for Dyw, that shielding was the budget variety that was not as effective as it should have been.

"Strength was most important for the leader of the peoples, even though it had taken him many years to reach the seat of power and strength was fading from his limbs," said the storyteller. "So it came to be that the appearance of strength was as important as actually being strong. They used chemicals to put colour in his hair, and more chemicals to add colour to his face. They used clever speakers to interpret his ramblings, and always, he had to maintain a show of moral strength. That meant beating down on those judged as immoral, and enacting harsh punishments for the unlucky--" they stopped as one of the children burst into tears.

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Challenge #03079-H171: Ave Ceasar...

A: Those who share my purpose becomes allies, those that do not become casualty.

B: There’s nothing about this war that is that cut and dry.

A: Because you still have hope, that this war will end with your honour intact

B: I do

A: stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honour matter. The silence Is your answer. -- Anon Guest

War. They say it never changes, but it does. It gets increasingly

Challenge #03078-H170: The Inherent Hazards of Knomiras

Common sense is not that common, this most people know.

When you lack even that basic knowledge, it's sad how things can go.

They were listening to the instructions of the flight attendants as they had boarded their flight from the station. It was the usual routine safety instructions that all flights normally gave, and the usual "Here is what we do for this type of emergency" thing. Except, this time, a person scoffed, rolling their eyes, refusing to listen to a

Challenge #03077-H169: Constant Vigilance

A Companion notices that the ship's human's livesuit is picking up on wild, unusual fluctuations in hormones related to emotions and high stress. On questioning, the human informs them that, due to a somewhat negligent upbringing and poor socialization as a child and adolescent, they suffer from underdeveloped emotional maturity... that will never fully develop. That ship has sailed, and they were NOT on board.

The explanation is delivered in a calm, somewhat bored tone, with a bland facial expression. The livesuit

Challenge #03076-H168: Freedom By the Press

Ok, I gotta get in on this one! :-) I've been reading your stuff for a while now and I've not had the courage to post, but this sounds like the plot to one of the DnD games I was in and it was great, so anyhow!

The person that came in had the same story that many of the others did. A tale of woe where they'd been convinced the King's rules were why the person lived in poverty and pain.

Challenge #03075-H167: Fighting to Survive

'Hoverboard' on YouTube, actually large drone with person riding. What if the drone was used to carry essential items in times of need and trouble. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I've seen videos of these things. They are cool, but also loud as HECK. More annoying than the average dirt bike and three times as dangerous. And yes, Drones carried goods before they carried people]

Tal could trust the ones that made noise. Ze had learned to hide in the granite tubes until

Challenge #03074-H166: Homo Insula

Libertarian "paradise" world found by the Alliance. Probably called "Freedom" or something similar. -- Anon Guest

Imagine a world where there is no need for government or law, because the only rule is that of righteous morality. Laws come from God, as was intended by the Good Word. All that is right is moral and all that is moral is right. It's all about the fundamental rights of man.

Everyone else can suck it.

The strong rule the weak. It's the way

Challenge #03073-H165: Soft, Fluffy, Friendly

They had been working for a few months now with the havenworlders, who had gotten quite used to hearing them wake up screaming but it broke their crewmates' hearts to hear it each night. A de-regger rescue who was still learning that the world was not as cruel as they believed. The companion goes in one sleep cycle as the human begins to whimper and thrash in the special sleeping bag. A gentle hand petting the hair, a soft, trilling, lullaby, the

Challenge #03072-H164: Surprise Change of Plans

She was hunting for them, seeking hir out. The ancient one, the magi who went by many names, the one who had a thousand children, and more grandchildren than the world would ever know, yet possibly none by their own blood. Spotting their camp, the kobold, hir, and the bugbear child. Slowly through the underbrush she went as silent as a shadow in the moonlight. Then, swiftly, she sprang. Sudden flares shot out behind her in brilliantly colored sparkles, almost blinding in

Challenge #03071-H163: A Deal is a Deal

A: What am I your f** wingman?

B: Come on you owe me for last time.

A: be quiet you Sonofa- whatever, don’t come crying to me later. I’ll try to create an opportunity for you, oh, and this will cost a little mor-

B: yeah I know what you want, it’s in the basement. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Ah, the temptation to riff on A Cask of Amontillado...]

Friendship can get weird, sometimes. Those who know each other

Challenge #03070-H162: Weighed and Found Wanting

Entitlement. When one thinks of that word, they think of humans, especially stuck up females, though some males are as well, that are self-centered jerks who thinks the world should do everything THEIR way. But it comes in all forms. This havenworlder was self-centered, a total brat, and thought that just because the humans were kind to their kind and often allowed their people to ride on their shoulders to get from point A to point B safely, that the humans were

Challenge #03069-H161: Steep Repair Work

Hello InterNutter, long time reader, first time poster here. I was wondering if you could give us the other sides' view on this? How the parents, and students, felt and viewed things as they were being forced to watch the videos showing their actions and her pain? What the CRC's reaction was seeing something like that happen in their schools? How the witnesses who watched the trial, and the others following with the timeline, reacted to it all? How the administrators thought

Challenge #03068-H160: We Agree With You

HAH! (Heavenworlders Against Humans!) stated as an small movement which mutated into an organisation that had only 3 "simple" demands/ goals

1 Rid Alliance space of humans

2 Restrict Greater (and lesser) Deregulations to their own space and strictly guard and monitor their borders

3 Return to the peace and safety that was pre Human Alliance.

the Alliance was at a loss as to what to do with this steadily growing absurdity, as Heavenworlders had never recorded instances of *rofanticising past civilizations.

Challenge #03067-H159: Take Only Pictures...

Animals go extinct constantly on Earth due to habitat loss and human misuse of the lands and animal stocks. Thanks to the paradox of time, and good ships, they came since the earliest era, and animals being driven to extinction due to human actions were collected and taken to pristine worlds where they could thrive, being careful to introduce the animals in a way that didn't harm, or alter, the local ecology, but rather where the animals could integrate into the ecological

Challenge #03066-H158: Stolen By the Fae

Especially at the beginning of integrating humans into the Galactic Alliance, there are still humans that have never been to space, don't really need any training. What do a fierce crew who have 2 (as many as you want) death-defy-ing humans think of this? do they visit earth and see this? or is a human with no training forced out into space. how crazy can a human with no training be? probably just as crazy but that's not the point lol. Chaos

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Challenge #03080-H172: Defeating Monsters

Challenge #03079-H171: Ave Ceasar...

Challenge #03078-H170: The Inherent Hazards of Knomiras

Challenge #03077-H169: Constant Vigilance

Challenge #03076-H168: Freedom By the Press

Challenge #03075-H167: Fighting to Survive

Challenge #03074-H166: Homo Insula

Challenge #03073-H165: Soft, Fluffy, Friendly

Challenge #03072-H164: Surprise Change of Plans

Challenge #03071-H163: A Deal is a Deal

Challenge #03070-H162: Weighed and Found Wanting

Challenge #03069-H161: Steep Repair Work

Challenge #03068-H160: We Agree With You

Challenge #03067-H159: Take Only Pictures...

Challenge #03066-H158: Stolen By the Fae