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Challenge #04539-L155: Something-something Power, Something-something...?

'You may find after a time that the having is not so pleasing as the wanting. It is not Logical but I have found it to be so.' More or less a 'Spock' quote . Have fun. -- She Who Knits

[AN: Unfun Fact - My mother rubbed my aspiration failures into my face with this quote at every opportunity. I am desperately trying to not let that flavour this story. Wish me luck]

Hail to the Chief Executive Officer, they who have the power of ultimate control. They decide the schedule. They decide the pay. They decide who stays and who goes. They have the staff to do just about everything for them. They get to have holidays in luxurious resorts, have yachts, and play golf.

He who decides who rises and who falls.

There is a dance, in the offices. Under the buzzing hum of neon lights. Suck up to the upper ranks, but not too much. Be the right amount of helpful. Be respectful when correcting the ones above... and show authority to the ones below. Always be on guard against the obviously obsequious toady. They are for sure after your post.

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Challenge #04538-L154: Singer For Supper

You need or want something non standard or they do not sell what you want in the usual retailers. Bespoke, Made to Measure, Made for you to use. Or for you to gift to someone. -- She Who Knits

Automation is great for standard things. Everyone agrees with that simple fact. You can replace broken things with a near-identical copy, at a relatively cheap price. This applies very well to things, especially things of common use.

Furniture, vehicles, housing... even shaped foodstuffs,

Challenge #04537-L153: Please Don't Make Me Laugh

They say laughter is the best medicine, but that's not quite true. It's just a good aid to proper care. -- Anon Guest

Let me get this into your head - laughter is not always the best medicine. Just try doing it when your next breath is being debated by committee. Metaphorically, of course. It's just as difficult to breathe when it feels like you're allergic to air.

I'll spare you the sordid details of abundant mucous generation and leave you with

Challenge #04536-L152: Desperate Motivations

To get to where they are needed, they must travel through the maelstrom of lightening, heavy rains, winds, ... and worse. -- Anon Guest

The world was full of scars like this. If 'scar' could apply to an eternal cyclone guaranteed to repel travelers from attempting to breach it. In the middle, in the eye of that permanent storm, was the floating island of Aljanna. A paradise lost to most of the mortal world.

Legend held that they were safeguarding a mighty weapon.

Challenge #04535-L151: Blown Back

The first hundred times didn't work out so good, but this time it will. -- Anon Guest

If at first you don't succeed... the saying goes. Sometimes, try, try, and try again, is not the ideal solution. It's that kind of philosophy that results in history's echoes.

Again and again, those who rise to power seek to create their ideal society by forcing the populace to adhere to rigid rules or face harsh punishment. Again and again, the populace rebels and the

Challenge #04534-L150: Ameliorative Measures

They said the eclipse would only last minutes. It's been a century. -- Anon Guest

We know the sun is still there. We can see its corona around the shadow of the moon. We're lucky that we have the technology to grow crops without sunlight. We're very lucky that our energy sources aren't causing more problems than they solved.

If this had happened half a century earlier, we would be looking to our extinction in a mere handful of years.

If it

Challenge #04533-L149: Sweet-scented Poison

I got these new flowers today. They whisper to me, while I sleep; whisper secrets nobody can know. -- Anon Guest

They look like nice flowers, don't they? The way they gleam in the light. They're so pretty. I received them in an opalescent vase three months ago and they haven't wilted. They only need fresh water once a day. They're beautiful... and they're driving me mad.

They whisper to me whenever it's quiet. Soft words that I can barely understand. They're

Challenge #04532-L148: Surprising Discovery

There is a hollow world held together by the great spider web, spun by countless arachnids led by their queen -- Anon Guest

The Impossible Nebula should not exist. Nevertheless, it exists anyway. If there's enough gasses orbiting a sun to provide air to breathe, with asteroids mixed in, it should form a planet. Or even two of them.

Humans and other Deathworlders have made a sport of navigating the entire orbital circuit without major injury.

Most of the landmarks, stopping points,

Challenge #04531-L147: Oh, the Deprivation!

Poor, poor, pitiful me. -- Anon Guest

This had to be the worst day. She couldn't find any of her servants. There was nobody to dress her and she'd been wearing the same nightgown all day. Nobody had fed her breakfast. None of her tutors had come to give her any of her lessons, and she was well overdue for Elementary Dressage.

She had had the rudest awakening with a slave grabbing her out of her bed and setting her loose -barefoot!

Challenge #04530-L146: Oddly Desired

Gifts. And sometime the person gifted has non-stand 'want it's' - Inspired by Mother's day Lady who got a trailer of horse manure for her roses. -- She Who Knits

Felice squealed in joy at the sight of the cart and what she could see inside it. Logs of hazel wood. Baskets of dragon eggshells and scales. Careful shelves of assorted gemstones. Vials of creature blood and mats of felted creature hair.

"Oh you shouldn't have," she cooed.

"It's all ethically sourced,

Challenge #04529-L145: Flaws Flayed Bare

Yes, I am a killer. Don't worry, none of those I kill ever suffer. Your death will be completely painless, unlike what you did to YOUR victims. The warnings to others like you come later. You are, after all, going to be quite a lovely statue when I'm done. Your muscles out for the world to see.

( The displays are based off of this. https://bodyworlds.com/ ) -- Anon Guest

[AN: FTR the bodies used for that art are donated for the

Challenge #04528-L144: Eye of the Needle

Seeing the pain in their eyes, the tailor promised this.

"I will love this child as my own blood, care for them to the best of my ability, and ensure they have a good life. But, they will know, you are also their parents. Even away, you will be in the heart."

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04495-l111-fated-family -- Anon Guest

Kismet Foundling's first memory was the careful flash of a needle and thread through soft cotton cloth, dyed with madda. Rennie

Challenge #04527-L143: Prodigal Return Protocol

The universe loves unexpected plot twists. The human is still alive, just barely, suffering oxygen deprivation. A cranky old space-trucker manages to haul them into the otherwise empty cargo hold, turn the air on, and help.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04503-l119-so-long-and-thanks -- The New Guy

The odds of being picked up by a passing vehicle when close to death in a Livesuit are millions, possibly billions to one. Fortunately for Human Zain, million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten[

Challenge #04526-L142: The Power Within

They were from a place that mistreated them for their weight and was upset. Twii, and a kind therapist who realized that the main problem was a genetic disorder, helped them realize that their life was worth keeping. That hope was not just an obscure word in the dictionary. -- Anon Guest

Therapist Kremp said he needed a confidence boost. Peej was almost entirely certain that she was going to set up some easy test to pass or some false scenario in

Challenge #04525-L141: Treacherous Terrain

You're never too old to learn. And despite their ages, even ancient legends make mistakes. These two get quite the tongue lashing about watching where they're going as, in a moment of distraction, they nearly walk into an area where rock slides are being deliberately triggered to stabilize the hillside. They almost got buried. -- Lessons

Even though he looked like a Gnome, Bibrid was still a Dragon, and retained the compulsion to collect bright, shiny objects. That was what started it,

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Challenge #04539-L155: Something-something Power, Something-something...?

Challenge #04538-L154: Singer For Supper

Challenge #04537-L153: Please Don't Make Me Laugh

Challenge #04536-L152: Desperate Motivations

Challenge #04535-L151: Blown Back

Challenge #04534-L150: Ameliorative Measures

Challenge #04533-L149: Sweet-scented Poison

Challenge #04532-L148: Surprising Discovery

Challenge #04531-L147: Oh, the Deprivation!

Challenge #04530-L146: Oddly Desired

Challenge #04529-L145: Flaws Flayed Bare

Challenge #04528-L144: Eye of the Needle

Challenge #04527-L143: Prodigal Return Protocol

Challenge #04526-L142: The Power Within

Challenge #04525-L141: Treacherous Terrain