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Challenge #01677-D216: Hobby Fallout

[Title: Obstacle Course] Some are carefully planned to stretch our physical strength. Some just happen. -- Knitnan

Storm season on Hitizzy was never fun. Especially when the storms hit both in space and on the surface of the planet. It was said that Hitizzy was a place everyone got into, once in a while, but the weather rarely got the people in Hitizzy, into a tizzy. Except for this one time.

Everyone knew that attempts at weather control always ended badly, so the entire population, transient and non, hand bunkered down for the duration. Which was forecast to last for further weeks. Deliveries to domiciles were either by printer or subterranean pneumatic tube. Which meant that the food was fresh, as were the pre-recorded entertainments. And so long as there were plenty of activities to keep one sane, the population at large was more or less okay.

None of this explained why the furniture in this rented domicile had been reclaimed and replaced with numerous engine parts.

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Challenge #01676-D215: Starter Fuel

The morning cup of coffee, the snack brought from the little shop nearby, whatever gets you going in the morning. -- Anon Guest

It was a booth called, Eat Drink Good Morning and there was one strategically placed in all the tram stops near residential areas. According to the advertising on its exterior, it boasted "everything you need to start your day".

Shayde decided to put that to the test. Besides, she'd had a horrible night and needed her variety of pick-me-up.

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Challenge #01675-D214: The Nut at the But

The way we use tools changes us. Anything from Sherlock Holmes to Tennis Elbow. -- Knitnan

Shanna hadn't thought of being a superhero when the alien ship crash landed in the ghetto. She just knew that alien debris was worth big cash and rushed into the burning frame to grab the first thing that looked portable. And then she ran for safety before the Enforcers could get there and arrest everyone who was too slow.

She got away. Far away. Didn't take

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Challenge #01673-D212: Middle Finger to Fate

An appellation for a person or group of people: They Who Defy Fate -- RecklessPrudence

On the day that the children become adults, be it their first blood or their first chest hair, they are told their fate. Most resign themselves to it. Some... fight.

Rare are the ones who are successful, and fewer still are the ones who go courting it.

Helen was told by the village seer, "You will die childless, and surrounded by Imps." She did not resign herself

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Challenge #01672-D211: Friendly Welcome

"Oh, and if you have to ask yourself, is [Person] fucking with me? The answer is always yes,” he says, and ahead of them [Person] cackles and gives a little fistpump in the air. -- RecklessPrudence

Most humans, when elevated to the status of Ambassador, acquire an air of caution. A weight to their words as if they know that they hold the fate of their homeworld in their hands. Almost all of them approach becoming an Ambassador as cautiously as they

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Challenge #01671-D210: Don't Kill Us Yet

In the immortal words of Genghis Khan: "U Wot M8?" -- RecklessPrudence

The Doctor slowly turned their head to glare at their new companion.

"What?" said Kylie.

"All of time and space. All of existence. All of... everything... and you take the first opportunity to tell a historically inaccurate joke."

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Challenge #01670-D209: Incident at the Old Mating Grounds

Lizards attract mates differently, no flowers etc. So, how do the Amalgam lizards court? One of the local species here climbs to a prominent spot, poses and nods. -- Anon Guest

They called it Crestflare Bridge, and it had an unparallelled view of the Free Table Vendor area below. Tradition held that the tables would never have shaded covers. Because the females of assorted lizard species liked looking on the displaying males as they cruised between vendors.

Even now, centuries after the

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Challenge #01669-D208: Favourite Flavour

 Auto Condimenter. -- Knitnan

The habits of humans fascinated Zyrik. It was why she went into food services, so she could study them in an environment where she would be invisible. She made Time off her anthropology as well as bussing tables, but anthropology was her chief area of fascination.

This latest example was a freight trucker fresh off their rig, sitting down to a big plate of deep fried potato prisms. The plate was already loaded with the house gravy, but

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Challenge #01667-D206: Good For What Ails You

Two words:- Chicken Soup. -- Anon Guest

Of all the dick moves that Wave of the Future performed, releasing a virus into the populations of Faiize had to be the worst. They did not, according to the press release, intend it to be deadly. Nobody believed them. The only proof, so far, was that none of the Faiize had died from it.

So far.

Rael couldn't rest in his tank for very long. He kept his home hothouse warm for comfort

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Challenge #01666-D205: High Risk Employment

Beware the old ones in a profession where one dies young -- RecklessPrudence

Fast reflexes, an almost preternatural awareness of one's surroundings, instincts like a knife blade. These are the things that make a good asteroid runner. Being able to get in, snag the asteroid, and get out without causing orbital upsets in one's wake is a skill that one only has to get wrong once for a life and a career to be over.

It's a job for the young and

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Challenge #01665-D204: What There is to Like

“Please be patient. Reality.exe has crashed and needs to be rebooted.” -- RecklessPrudence

All things considered, there are better ways to discover that life is merely a simulation and reality is a figment of some mystery coder's imagination. Regardless of the methods of discovery, it is quite a momentous reveal. And more than open to chaos.

For all that potential, there was nothing. Not darkness. Not light. No shape or colour. Not even static. The people were not falling. They were

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Challenge #01664-D203: Damnit, Podsbury!

“Wait, do you mean you made a new friend, or you made a new friend?” “Uhh, the first one. Wait, no, the second one... Which one doesn't involve artificially crafted Lovecraftian horrors of medicine?” -- RecklessPrudence

"The second one," sighed Master Brubrik, "Does involve artificially crafted Lovecraftian horrors of medicine," she spared another glance at the thing on the slab. "Which of course means that you mean the latter of those two options."

It had a tentacle wrapped around Podsbury's arm. "Daaaa

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Challenge #01663-D202: Conceptual Difficulties

Defying the Gods is an age-old tradition. How well it WORKS depends on who's telling it... -- RecklessPrudence

"We're having difficulty understanding this," said Sherlock.

"I sympathise," said Rael. "I'm having difficulty understanding it myself, and I was there to witness it."

"We have the footage and the audio, of course," Sherlock played it on one of his multiple screens. "She had a permit for incense and steam[1]. What was she doing with them?"

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