Instant Story

Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #01945-E121: Caveat Emptor

"Marry in haste, repent at leisure," or what happens when the icing is off the gingerbread. -- Anon Guest

Tyn could not understand why Thel had gone through so many spouses. Thel was the dreamiest star of romance and song in the entire world, and Tyn counted hirself lucky to share a minute with the famous and wonderful Thel, and now ze was sharing hir life with them. It was the life of Tyn's dreams.

Red carpet. Glitz. Glamour. The intense and burning jealousy of her friends and age-mates. And of course an entourage. And a security team to protect hir from angry fans who thought that killing hir was going to clear their path to this rarified position. Like killing anyone's spouse would make that person love you. Tyn remembered being that demented, once. Before ze thought things through.

It was a year of fun and bright lights. Fashion and fame. Attention and adoration from the entire world. And then the entertainments showed how Thel had been carrying on with more than one of their co-stars. And more than one of their fans. Tyn sighed and remembered that that was how ze had gained the exalted position of Thel's fifteenth wife.

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 14 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!

Challenge #01944-E120: Detect Trap

If it looks too good to be true, it's probably a con. -- Anon Guest

Exciting opportunities were to be found in the Callibreso Void, according to the promotional puff piece. A new force was being investigated that could be a natural form of anti-gravity, as opposed to the gravity generators that were the sole responsibility and product of the Nae'hyn. If it could be isolated and harnessed, then it would be a new revolution in propulsion technology. You, too, could get

Read more »

Challenge #01943-E119: It's a Living

Having the tact and sensitivity of a kick in the ass can be considered a disadvantage in nearly any circumstance, mostly when dealing with superior or ambassador. But from time to time it allows you to unfreeze some situation. -- Anon Guest

Sometimes, delicacy and care are needed in a given situation. Sometimes, people need a swift kick in the butt. For the former, there is the entourage. Which contains all the people who know tact and negotiation, and how to 'handle'

Read more »

Challenge #01942-E118: Made Great Again

Mouth on Legs politicians willing to promise anything or come up with grand schemes to get elected. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I need an image of Google Search asking "Did you mean Donald Trump?" Nonny - I write fiction. Nevertheless, I'll give it a go.]

It was going to be a bold new era. Things were going to change. The rich would pull their weight in the economy. People were going to have the playing field both leveled and cleared. No child

Read more »

Challenge #01941-E117: Well Met, Helpmeet

Third hand, semi trained person needed to "here hold this'," Pass tools, shine lights. -- Anon Guest

There are only so many fates when you're an orphan, and Krop figured he was one of the luckier ones. Sold to a travelling show as a crewman's prentice. The food was a great deal better than orphanage food, but you could say that about any food outside of an orphanage or a monastery. In one, the meals were bland and austere because the monks

Read more »

Challenge #01940-E116: Pax Princeps

My son now has a five year old daughter. He referred to her as 'Princess' and I had to tease him. "What are her duties as a Princess? Does she negotiate treaties between her dolls and her teddy bears? Does she preside over public events? Does she have any input on new legislation?"

It backfired. Now she DOES negotiate treaties among her stuffed critters. -- Bard2DBone

Most little girls like to play Princess. Most little girls do so by wearing sparkly, frou-frou

Read more »

Challenge #01940-E116: Mama Done Tole Me

a world that's basically space America but taken to its logical extreme and becoming a redneck paradise -- Anon Guest

[AN: Trying not to go to Greater Deregulation here]

There are the Few, but we don't go near the likes of them. We are the Many. We look after our own. We make do with what we got. We earn what we can, and we got our pride. Every now and again, the Few come along and try to tell us what

Read more »

Challenge #01939-E115: Baby's First Flight

I'll spread my wings and learn to fl- oh, crap, sorry, I didn't mean to knock that over. I underestimated my wingspan. -- TheDragonsFlame

The thing about wings is, they're the largest part of any flying creature's anatomy. They have to be. In order to independently lift one's own body-weight, most of that weight has to be doing the heavy lifting. And if you're flapping to do it... well... there's a reason why the largest flying birds in the world employ the

Read more »

Challenge #01938-E114: Shark Generosity

Temptation comes in many forms, 30% off for one. -- Knitnan

Sale season was something Shayde was used to happening during the new financial year. Something that this new age didn't have. What they had, instead, was tax season. Which lead to the tax season charity sales. Excess stock that the companies could no longer afford to store, was to be sold at a discount to those who could otherwise not afford it.

Shayde, who could afford anything she liked now-a-days, still

Read more »

Challenge #01937-E113: Very Important Tools

Why on Earth would you ever need more than one of those? -- Anon Guest

"Listen. There is a philosophy about the right tool for the right job. And these tools all have a different job."

"But six different spatulas? Why?"

"This one's best for scrambling. This one's best for tossing. This one can flip a pancake with ease. This one is good for chasing things around on a griddle," the chef laid them out as he spoke. "This one's excellent for

Read more »

Challenge #01936-E112: Recurring Pathology

You finally decide to re-arrange or clean up an area and find stuff. -- Knitnan

"This is not a collection," said Rael. "This is a hoard."

Eyah sighed. "Yeah. I might have a problem."

Rael leveled a ersatz-telepathic Look at his fellow Faiize. It said, You may have made the biggest understatement since some alleged genius claimed that black holes are 'a bit heavy'.

"Okay. Yes. I have a problem. I can not stay away from glittery objects. I mean... I have

Read more »

Challenge #01935-E111: The Brat Who Would Be King

The modern 'royal' needs the stamina of a marathon runner, the patience of Job, the ability to be pleasant to the most boring bunch of Social Climbers and have a cast iron bladder. She must also be a Constitutional Law expert and a crack shot. The rest of you just have to put up with anyone who wins a popularity contest. -- Anon Guest

You may have heard the words, Nobles oblige, or, uneasy rests the head that wears a crown. These

Read more »

Challenge #01934-E110: True Tall Tale

You can find out a lot about a Nation by reading it's 'fairy tales'. -- Anon Guest

Civilisation tells stories. Oral history, moral fables, just-so legends, and in the case of humans, rampant fiction that builds and mutates as it goes. And every now and again, you meet the Fae Tales. Stories of otherworldly beings who have mental processes that squirm like worms, who steal children for laughs, who either prey on the mad or avoid them like the plague. There's something

Read more »

Challenge #01933-E109: Once Upon an Adventure

We 'narrative apes', don't just tell stories, we play games to pass the time. -- Knitnan

Humans are an inventive lot. They invented inspired desperation as a survival instinct. They invented fiction to make their lives more interesting. They're one of the few cogniscent species and the only known Deathworlders to have boredom. They can multitask, and some of them can multitask, apparently, faster than light. Some are capable of multitasking with mind-boggling precision. Others can't remember what they were doing two

Read more »

Challenge #01932-E108: Cute, Fluffy, Dangerous

It looks adorable, acts so very cute, and even smells attractive. Don't go near it with barge pole. There's got to be some huge catch. -- Anon Guest

Humans are bizarre. At any given moment, they will attempt to tame and then ride any beast bigger than one of their domestic canids[1]. They will coo over and attempt to pet any given venomous or aggressive creature. But it was on the planetary system WEP969HU84I, nicknamed Planet Cutiekiller, that another aspect of

Read more »