Just Add Prompt

A 4644-post collection

Challenge #04598-L214: Lool-lay Nee!

How did the human toy collector scare the wet out of several pirates and have them begging for mercy without firing a single shot?

Three words - Lots of Furbies! -- The New Guy

Specific and unnerving hobbies are not merely a Human thing. Obsessions can overwhelm anyone, though exposure to Humans has been correlated with those who do have odd obsessions. One statistical outlier on that imaginary chart is Navigator Nor of the Mass Transit Vessel, Evergreen.

Hir hobby was a collection of Cursed Human Toys. Not in the supernatural sense of cursed, but in the, "this is deeply disturbing, why are you like this?" sense of cursed. Not just of toys with an infamous reputation, but toys with that reputation that had been altered to make it even worse. Havenworlders had to be protected from seeing Nor's collection in its entirety.

So when the Pynzaans Pirates attempted to waylay the Evergreen and appropriate the cargo, Nor left hir post and went scrambling for hir habitat. Not to protect hir collection, but to activate it.

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 16 Submit a Prompt!
Ask a question

Challenge #04597-L213: Save Every Library

Her library was immense, taking up over 90% of the station. She wasn't a member of the archivaas, but they did help her maintain it. Checking out materials was free, reading lessons were free, and if materials were returned late, rather than a fine, the person simply had a choice of making a donation, be it a book or monetary, to the library, to spend one hour working in the library to help maintain it. The dereggers that sometimes visited hated the

Read more »

Challenge #04596-L212: The Betrayal Game

The battle had been long, had been bloody, had been brutal. The invading forces were finally thwarted, though everyone, Wraithvine included, were exhausted. Bribid nearly ended up exposed, and the forces they'd helped defend the land were now going through the sad job of tending to their wounded, and burying the dead. -- Fighting Fit

Regrettably, war is the only option left. It is the failure of diplomacy, and the last resort. Or at least, it should be. This war, thank the

Read more »

Challenge #04595-L211: Loop de Loop de Loop

A scientist believes she has invented a time machine. Her best student agrees to enter it for a test, to better humankind. The student will absolutely not to a bunch of sports betting to get rich. No sports betting. Absolutely will not get rich using the time machine to bet on sports. -- Anon Guest

The rules of time travel are not written anywhere, though one of them might be to never go to Cambridge University on the 28th of June 2009.

Read more »

Challenge #04594-L210: General Ludd Returns

It was subtle at first. A friend who lost a friend. Others who saw. What happens to the body, any body, when the most vital parts refuse to keep going? Fewer workers were showing. Fewer willing to go to the Machine. More vanishing. What happens to The Machine, when its lifeblood chooses to stop flowing?

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04576-l192-sacrifices-for-the-cargo-cult -- Anon Guest

There was a fine, fine line to tread. Keep up the expected minimum, avoid the ideal maximum. Waver

Read more »

Challenge #04593-L209: One Hell of a Portent

Deep in the woodlands is a small town in the shadow of an obelisk. Upon this monument is a clock which has been counting down for centuries. No one remembers where it came from, what it means, but it is about to strike midnight and toll the centuries silent bell. -- Anon Guest

The clock has always been there. Attempts to find when it was built have resulted in nothing but frustration. Even the first images of Lumberhill, back when it was

Read more »

Challenge #04592-L208: They're Brand New

Save for their wings, you'd think they were human. They were wild and free-spirited. And their only desire was to learn about the world. The good parts, the bad parts, and everything in between. They were not angel, they were not demon, just... themselves. -- Anon Guest

"What'cha doin'?"

Barthus was used to hearing that kind of question from someone between three and eight years old. Not, and they had to look up from their work to check, an adult-shaped entity literally

Read more »

Challenge #04591-L207: The Valley of Cursed Death

Two hunters venture into the wooded mountains of the Mountain West where they come upon the ruins of a frontier town not marked on any maps. An aged man, must be more than a century old, was there at the founding, and tells the two why no one must ever settle on these lands again. -- Anon Guest

There was no such town on the map, yet the town was here. Well. The remains of the town was here. There were buildings,

Read more »

Challenge #04590-L206: You Were Warned

Oh my God, Spiders, millions of them, pouring out of the walls, everybody RUN! -- Anon Guest

Across the multiverse, there are constants. No matter the nature of civilisation, no matter the fiscal structure, there is always the roommate who freeloads, steals treats, and denies it. Some call them 'goldbricks', some call them 'assholes'. Some call them 'scabs'. Rickerd called hir annoying housemate Horb, because that was hir name.

Horb was a young Elf, 'merely' thirty-seven[1], with rather indulgent parents who

Read more »

Challenge #04589-L205: They Hunt in Summer

A disgraced archeologist discovers a ruin dating to the inter-glacial period. However, the searcher finds evidence of life, despite the place being buried for 14,000 years, and that life may be more serpentine than human in nature… -- Anon Guest

[AN: Fun fact - The pyramids were being built at the same time that Europeans were hunting mammoths. So "ruins dating back to the inter-glacial period" is like... active for Ancient Egypt. I'm going to assume northern hemisphere and inside the

Read more »

Challenge #04588-L204: A Knack For Finding Trouble

Wraithvine {& companion (?) maybe} finds hirself marooned on a deserted island, though the little patch of sand, coconut palms, and corals might hold more secrets than ze had first thought. -- Anon Guest

The good news, such as it was, was that the ship and crew had survived the storm. The bad news that Wraithvine was the one soul lost. Fifty people lived to see another day, return to their lives, and otherwise be a part of the world.

Wraithvine would evidently

Read more »

Challenge #04587-L203: Appeal to a Higher Authority

Deep in the seldom trafficked mountain vales and sheer canyons is a small town, friendly enough to outsiders, but whose denizens make it clear that any traveler should clear out by nightfall or remain inside the inn.

Only Wraithvine can get to the bottom of this, though it might be better to work alone on this one… -- Anon Guest

Wraithvine arrived in the little town close to sunset and was confused by the sight of people hurrying to their homes and

Read more »

Challenge #04586-L202: Unexpected Hero

"What do you mean all you do is screw up? You realize your actions just saved us all? None of this is your fault, stop blaming yourself!" -- Anon Guest

Of all the heralds of doom for the grand villain of the adventure, the one least expected is, "Oops." At least, not from the seemingly mandatory idiot minion. It came from the Adventurer's tagalong-mascot-adoptee... the scrawny little kid who was told not to come with them for the final battle... and snuck

Read more »

Challenge #04585-L201: Littlest Hero

An artist asks Wraithvine and Birbid if they can paint their portraits. They also want to do a special one of the fluffy Lilbit, the immortal cat. After all, they brought the cat that killed the rats that were causing such havoc in the fields. -- Anon Guest

It's not that often that cats become heroes. Even then, it's usually the associated person who gets the acclaim.

In this case, Lilbit came over with a rare version of zoomies and almost eliminated

Read more »

Challenge #04584-L200: Never Lie to Dragons

They had been rescued from a rich family that had kept them prisoner due to both their immense healing gift, and their emerald eyes, and gemstone horn and hooves. The dragon guised as a gnome knew what it was like to be so imprisoned and treated. And that experience helped them aid the distraught being. -- Anon Guest

Jade had been kept in the Gilded Palace since she hatched. She might have been there before she hatched, but there was no proof.

Read more »