Just Add Prompt

A 4758-post collection

Challenge #01397-C302: Weird Encounters

Frisk Meets....

1) The Mystery Skulls

2) Scooby Doo -- Anon Guest

[AN: This puts the gap count down to ONE. Also, I'm assuming you mean the Mystery Skulls of MSA]

1)

Frisk signed, You're new. Hello.

The formally-dressed Skeleton in front of hir glared down at the child. He was apparently nodding to a beat that Frisk couldn't hear. He didn't speak, and that could be because he didn't have a lower jaw.

Frisk tried offering him some monster food. A candy that ze had saved from the bowl in the Underground.

This isn't Halloween, yet, kid said a voice that was not quite a voice.

Oh. So he was a ghost. I'm sorry, signed Frisk. I got confused. I know someone who can help. At that point, Frisk dialled up Blooky and Mettaton.

What are you doing?

It didn't take long, at least, not for Napstablook. Ghosts could be anywhere they liked in the space of a thought. Mettaton, emotionally attached to his robot body, had to travel through physical space, but... they all knew a boatman. Or boatwoman.

Between Blooky's shyness and Mettaton's showmanship, they got the new ghost talking about his issues, with Frisk playing the role of mediator. Mettaton kept using Frisk like a talking stick, and keeping contact with hir while he raved.

Ambassadoring wasn't always easy.

But Lewis (what an odd name for a ghost, it didn't even end in 'blook') detailed that he was only very recently dead. The remains of a human's determination, fuelled by revenge and more than a modicum of rage.

He was looking for his friends, who were still alive. The love he'd lost, and the one who... might... have killed him. Lewis was foggy on that point.

Frisk told hir ghostly friends to stay with Lewis. Ze had to find Arthur and Vivi and do some mediation. Ze was the Ambassador for all monsters, and this was hir job.

2)

It had been quite a chase, but now the Skeleton of Ebott Mountain had been well and truly caught.

"NYA-HA HA HA!" Cheered the Skeleton. "YOU HUMANS ARE EVEN BETTER AT HIDE AND SEEK THAN FRISK!"

"...ride an' reek?" echoed the dog.

"Uh," Fred shrugged. "Okay, gang, it's time to see who this monster really is..." He reached under the chin for a mask, and at that point, a small child landed on his arm and almost knocked him over.

"FRISK! OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE, RIGHT?"

Frisk, still in Fred's capable arms, signed urgently, This not monster, this friend! No kill!

"THERE'S NO NEED TO BE ALARMED, SMALL HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN DISCONNECT MY HEAD FOR UP TO SEVEN MINUTES! THAT'S A SKELETON RECORD."

Fred put Frisk down, and ze immediately went to loosen the ropes.

"THANK YOU FOR THE GAME, HUMANS," said Papyrus. "AND DOG. THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT WORKOUT. I SHOULD TELL UNDYNE ABOUT YOU."

Frisk very urgently signed, No, no, no, no, don't you dare! We need them all to live. Peace between monsters and humans, remember?

Papyrus was approaching seven feet tall, which was impressive when he stretched. Then he leaned down to the diminutive Frisk and attempted a murmur. "IS THIS ONE OF THOSE SOCIAL FLAW THINGS?"

Frisk nodded as ze signed, Sorry.

Papyrus had a map for the gang. "THIS WILL SHOW YOU WHERE THE GENUINE MONSTERS HANG OUT," he said. "GOOD LUCK FINDING YOUR FRIEND!

Shaggy watched them leave, hand in hand. "Like... that went differently from what I usually expect."

(Muse food remaining: 11. Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories! Or comment below!)

Challenge #01396-C301: Unconventional Saints

While skimming Reddit's D7D page, I ran across a thread discussing interesting house-rules various groups had invented for their games. Some were mundane, like what weapons did certain amounts of damage on critical hits, or which monsters were weak to certain elements, but one strange one stuck out...

"Paladins and Clerics who are sworn to the service of gods who are Lawful Good in alignment are, as a result of their intense piety and devotion, actually and literally able to piss pure

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Challenge #01395-C300: Don't Feed the Birds

Person 1: (Panicked and running) "There's a dinosaur in the time machine! THERE'S A DINOSAUR IN THE TIME MACHINE!"

Person 2: (Vaguely annoyed) "Again? Those sneaky bastards..." -- OohLookShiny

Callie looked vaguely alarmed as Baz dug into his mini-fridge and extracted a sausage.

"Don't worry," he said, "It's chicken." He casually strolled down to the temporal lab where a black-and-white feathered dinosaur waited and watched expectantly. As Baz entered, it burst into song.

"That... sounds like a magpie..."

"Probably one of their

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Challenge #01394-C299: Gods Grant It

In some religious systems the ruling Deity 'rides' or speaks through a member of the congregation. Like Lois McMasters Bujold's "Saints" I wonder if it's more of a problem than an honour. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I firkin LOVE anything written by Lois McMasters Bujold]

One good thing about taking shelter in an abandoned temple, Josephine mused, was that one was technically close to the gods. She'd prayed at half of those altars in the dead of the night. And now, at

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Challenge #01393-C298: Meeting of the Lost

Alphas have the charisma and make the most noise, but it's the Betas, and Gammas who do the most work. -- Knitnan

[AN: Alpha theory is a relic of Victorian thinking and all that 'might makes right', 'survival of the fittest', strength==power bullshit. The creatures we think of as 'Alphas' actually wind up winning the least female attention and losing out in the genetic lottery. I'm a writer, I research this stuff for fun]

He thought he had found some of

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Challenge #01392-C297: Liminal Time and Space

Night people. Those who by choice, obligation or calling walk or work the Night Shift. -- Knitnan

Children of the night... what interesting lives they have. Those who work from dusk to dawn work in liminal time. Where the strange is not just expected, it is background radiation.

People turning up to their workspace in PJ's, half their PJ's, and minimum legal clothing are a fine example. And though everyone talks about that one time a dude came in wearing a live

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Challenge #01391-C296: Strange Customers

Being alive put him at a severe disadvantage -- OohLookShiny

[AN: My instant thought on this is Miles Vorkosigan, but I'm trying to exercise myself here...]

This had to be the strangest motley crew to ever find themselves in Dr Mellitus' offices. One human boy, three automatons. The doctor had been intellectually aware that Junkers cobbled together their own creations from the waste-piles, but this was the first time he'd seen some that looked that way.

Especially the short one. She had

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Challenge #01390-C295: O My Mona

A soft smile hiding gritted teeth -- OohLookShiny

He called her Mona, for the smile that echoed the legendary painting. She never talked. Never opened her mouth. Never made a sound. The only communication he ever had from her was her soft and mysterious smile, and the glint in her eyes.

Not that he cared. He took his pleasures from her and left the money with the man who ran the House. But there was just something about Mona.

He came back

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Challenge #01389-C294: Inevitable Failure

"Hey, I might constantly manipulate people to stack things in my favor, but actually cheating is pushing it a little bit too far," -- OohLookShiny

"It's like this," said the campaign manager. "We gerrymandered, and you're still losing. We've changed the voter ID laws, and you're still losing. We've criminalised a majority of the folks who would never vote for you, and you're still losing. We've sent out false messages about easier ways to vote to the youth demographic and you're still

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Challenge #01388-C293: Cheerful Charlie

"No worries, Mate! No problem." -- Anon Guest

[AN: Other phrases that Aussies have learned to fear, especially those who remember Joh "I live to fuck up your life" Bjelke-Peterson, are "Don't you worry about that" and "She'll be right" ::twitch::]

If there was a worse curse for a ship's human, T'kethi couldn't think of a worse option than a N'Ozzie Engineer. T'kethi repeatedly set herself reminders to never again pick a human based on pure aesthetics.

They were all ugly, squishy

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Challenge #01387-C292: Ancient Wisdom

Measure twice, cut once, useful advice for anyone. -- Anon Guest

Rael knew he should have checked up on Shayde sooner. She had a knack for teaching new JOATs all the wrong tricks.

Chiefly: "Measure wi' micrometer, mark wi' chalk, cut wi' axe."

So, after hearing this, he simply had to barge in and defend his own honour. "The real adage, Trainee Melkith, is 'measure twice, cut once'. Ambassador Shayde labours under the misapprehension that she is funny."

"I was tellin' 'er

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Challenge #01386-C291: Anti-serendipity

"What happened to the scarf of invulnerability?"

"Uh... my cat ate it." -- OohLookShiny

The cat in question growled from its position under the ottoman. Yellow eyes glowed out from the shadows.

"The good news," said Ki'van, "is that the scarf itself is invulnerable. We... um... just have to wait a bit."

Now the growling from under the ottoman took on a slightly musical quality. So... the cat wasn't just pissed at him.

"I know she'll try to take my arm off

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Challenge #01385-C290: Sys iPhus

"I'm sorry, I can't... I'm broken,"

"Is that what they told you?" -- OohLookShiny

The Doctor skidded to a halt in yet another room in the complex. There, a vaguely cylindrical robot went in a circuitous path, repeatedly fixing things that, ultimately, caused everything to return to its original state.

"Sysiphus," he muttered.

Holly stopped, too, almost blundering into him. She took in the scene and said, "Excuse me?"

The robot paused. "I cannot aid you. I am... broken. I must... fix.

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Challenge #01384-C289: Well Why Not?

They've revived this show about MacGyver who could do almost anything with a swiss army knife and a roll of duct tape. -- KnitNan

[AN: The jury's still out on the new show. It's powered by more bullshittium than the original was]

The problem with improvisational souls like Mac was boredom. With nothing to do, nobody to battle, Mac would slowly gravitate towards junkyards and equally gradually fill his warehouse home with so much technological packrattus that Jack and Riley both worried

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Challenge #01383-C288: Default Fix

Imagine this 'go to' item [duct tape] had been lost and then turned up on Amalgam. -- Anon Guest

[AN: FYI, the titles you use on my forum for prompts do not survive my writing process]

Once upon a time, JOATs did not know about ductape. It seems impossible, but it was not as ubiquitous as it is today. Ambassador Harry was not the only one to come into Galactic society from the impact of the Chelete ship Explorer 255 and the

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