Instant Story

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Challenge #02554-F364: Learning to See

Just as there are xenophobes amongst the various races outside the Galactic Alliance, so, too, are there within. Even amongst races that are, normally, allies. They and their family, and many within their community, were such xenophobes. They chanted Earth First during the protests they ran to show their displeasure of alien races being allowed to visit their world. Some of the more radicalized ones even committed crimes to try to "prove their point". This group, however in the minority they were, were hateful, loud, obnoxious, and at times, dangerous. And no matter how people tried to explain what a boon for Earth joining the Galactic Alliance has been, there was no convincing them.

Then several of the xenophobes were being exiled to the lunar penal colony. They expected, due to the rhetoric and spite they'd heard throughout their entire childhoods, to be brutally treated and tortured by the aliens that made up some of the security staff, and subjected to hardship. However, the therapists intended to use this as a teaching moment, and try, once more, to help these young men and women that what they'd been taught of the alliance between humans and the G.A. was not accurate at all. -- DaniAndShali

Terra for the Terrans had finally been classified as a terrorist group. Bombing a spaceport will do that to a group. Even sending fake bombs to a spaceport will do that. So will loudly announcing on social media that you plan to spread diseases to any hospital that accepts alien life into its halls. As a clear and present danger to society, these aggressively xenophobic isolationists were calmly collected and sent to a therapy centre for re-education.

Tam knew what to expect. Everything she had been taught said that these outsiders were a million times worse than anything she and her family did to defend it. Therefore she expected them to plunge her into a tank of bugs that would eat their way into her brain and then eat her brain, replacing it with something the aliens could use to turn her into a shambling shell of humanity. It would be excruciating.

They recorded her. Their mistake. She stated her name, rank, membership number and that she will never consent to any surgical procedure done by a god-damned dirty alien. Whether or not that record would ever see the light of day didn't really matter. She and the people witnessing it knew that she'd said it. There were witnesses. They couldn't kill everyone who saw and heard things.

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Challenge #02553-F363: Here There Be Sock Puppets

An enemy deathworlder, a xenophobe, constantly making life hell for the havenworlders around them. A general, proud, fierce, having suffered many tortures and never once broke, always escaped. But now, they were being held by humans. Pain meant nothing to them. When asked about the movements of new weaponry, the answer was always a snark and the spitting or words "Do your worst, I'll never say a word, you'll have to kill me."

The humans bring in what they call the 3rd

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Challenge #02552-F362: Find a Family

She was small, almost dangerously thin, but fast. Her parents, addled yet again on drink and the newest designer drugs, didn't even notice as she left their quarters in search of food. She heard, as she was contemplating swiping an unattended sandwich, that one of the big havenworlder freighters was docked and was on loading cargo for their next run. Large cargo freighters usually meant larger amounts of food. This wouldn't be the first time this young human had snuck aboard freighters,

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Challenge #02551-F361: You Hear Me

“Get back to work and if I see you with something in your ears again you’re fired!”

The human just stared blankly

“Do you understand me? Is your universal translator even working?”

It took the human a moment then wrote something down

‘My translator is with my hearing aids you took’ -- Anon Guest

In all things, communication is important. This is why any given traveller will find far more accessibility options available in Galactic space than many other places. It

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Challenge #02550-F360: A Hero is You

Grandma I got the big sad, can you read me a story? -- Anon Guest

Oh my child, my darling dear. Sadness must be hunted. A story can quell it, but you must trace it to be happy in the long term. It is a hunt only you can embark upon. You must armour yourself with happier times, you must strengthen your soul with the knowledge that your true family is always there to support you, and arm yourself with clever thoughts

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Challenge #02549-F359: Misunderstanding

"Why does everyone think I'm a Vampire whenever I tell anyone I transform into a bat?! There are over 1,200 species of bat and only 3 of them drink blood! I'd rather drink a cricket and fruit smoothie then get whatever Hematological disease you've got!" -- AmberFox

"So... you're undead?"

"What? No! I turn into a bat at will."

"But... vampire bat, right?" said Allie. "So if vampire bat, then vampire, then undead? It's the way it goes."

"No... there's over

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Challenge #02548-F358: Expect Them

Disasters happen and they turn up, usually in a camper-van/workshop. Mechanics, Electricians, Plumbers, the good ones keep their rates reasonable and do the insurance stuff for bread and butter and a bit of jam. The money is good, they leave behind grateful people, and good work. Their bonus is they have contacts everywhere for the next disaster. -- Anon Guest

No good deed goes unpunished, -- Ancient and confusing Human saying.

Disaster is inevitable. They divide a little patch of the

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Challenge #02547-F357: Now There Be Dragons

Waking up in the forest with a splitting headache, they realized something hit the car at tremendous speed. They awakened to finding in their lap a large, greenish-blue, egg. They had no idea where it came from but they carefully held it while scrambling out of the car and fleeing into the forest. They'd smashed the cell phone they'd been forced to carry, stolen the car, and fled from their very abusive foster-parents knowing that the foster-mother had probably called the cops

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Challenge #02546-F356: The Piracy Solution

The incidents of piracy were dropping dramatically since humans came on the scene. It wasn't that noticeable, at first, but it soon became ever more apparent. The fighting prowess, and sheer terrifying ferociousness, of humans in battle was considered a part of the issue, but the odd thing was, many pirates were now giving up piracy for more honest, and often more profitable, trades. And almost always it was after tangling with humans. A study now was being conducted. Were humans, with

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Challenge #02545-F355: Up to Interpretation

"A blade forged of the blood of my prey" does not necessarily mean humans!

the Chosen One runs off to a become a butcher while the apparition sputters angrily -- Gallifreya

Prophecies are funny things. When a child is born, they are lucky to get a prophecy that seems straightforward enough, until the inevitable twist at the end. A son prophesied to see the end of his father may only be there to witness those final moments, but if the father attempts

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Challenge #02544-F354: High Offensensitivity Rating

There was a cosplay event, the hotel didn't 'bother' catering for food or drink separately. Lunch Break! -- Anon Guest

Among the many mistakes the organisers made was to hold a high-nerditry event in an extremely non-nerdy city. On the other hand, the place was usefully central to all available modes of transport. The conservative citizens were busy holding protests near the main convention entrance and the hotel complex wished to deny to everyone else that they were holding host to weirdos

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Challenge #02543-F353: Good Kitty

A nonhuman deathworlder learning about major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation from a human so used to suffering from those that they treat the loss of their medication as an inconvenience, and apologize to the poor sap they got stranded with while they ask them to keep an eye out for self destructive behaviors.

"So, I've only got a few days worth of my meds, and it'll be at least a couple of weeks before we get rescued. Mind keeping an eye

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Challenge #02542-F352: A Mark in History

Let me show you “hero” the leader of the demonic army, the one you swore to kill, the demon king Drakornia Manafesto. Or you can call him by his formal title “Country of Gloria FIRST HERO” -- Anon Guest

They say every hero is someone's villain. Perhaps every villain is someone's hero. It's hard to imagine some of History's villains in that light. Perhaps Vlad the Impaler was kind to children and loved playing with kittens. Perhaps Jack the Ripper doted on

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Challenge #02541-F351: Labels and Assumptions

Several humans were starting to get more than just a little annoyed at constantly being called insane. Even at school, when their kids would goof off during breaks or if the kids were in the park playing, others treated them as though they were mind-damaged. When they joined the Galactic Alliance, they thought they would be treated like equals, but instead, they find that they tend to be treated like savages even by other Deathworlders. Sometimes the view that, simply because they

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Challenge #02540-F350: Wandering Minds

On earth in various places, there are buskers. People who will put down a hat, box, bowl, or other container and then will play music, sing, or otherwise entertain in the hope of donations. Then there are the flash mobs. Large groups of individuals who will coordinate a time where they will come together. They will mill about in a crowd and then, at a predesignated time, one individual will throw off their jacket or other covering and, in costume, begin to

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