Prompt

A 480-post collection

Challenge #00501 - A126: Sing-Along

Bitzer having a happy day and warbling through it.  Because sometimes it only matters if the music feels right for you.

Bitzer watched the clock as the second hand ticked closer and closer to The Time.

Ten. Nine. Eight.

Extract the vinyl EP, a souvenir from Walter Robotics and her time there, carefully from its sleeve.

The record player was already warmed up and set to her preferred levels.

Seven. Six. Five.

Record on the spindle. Speed set to 45. Needle free of dust.

Four. Three. Two.

Drop the record on the turntable.

Hold the head above the rotating vinyl.

One. Eight O'clock AM!

Drop the head.

“Attune your ears to the grinding gears…”

Bitzer sang along as she set up her activities for the day. “Colonel Walter was shocked, when he learned from the nile…” If it was noise to Matter Mistress Carol, she never said.

And if being happy came at the cost of a few wires and probes during the day, or perplexing questions from Miz Carol, then that was a good price to pay.

Miz Carol came down, coffee in hand and pyjamas still on, during the “La da da da da"s. Looking her usual morning mess. She sat on the stairs and watched Bitzer attempt to dance.

Both waited until the very last, "A very big steam-powered gee-raffe what smokes,” before attempting speech. “Good morning, Miz Carol. Will you come do the Nannergens[1] with me?”

“Nnnngghh…” Miz Carol took another swig of coffee. “How can you be so cheerful? Th’ sun’s barely up…”

“The sun’s been up for three hours, Miz Carol,” and then the next song started. “And I’ve been up for four.”

“Can’t miss Danger Mouse, can we?”

“Or Captain Planet,” Bitzer sang as she did the Nannergens. “Or Super Ted[2]. I listened with the headphones and tried not to yell at the screen.”

Miz Carol yawned. “I know. But Danger Mouse still needs to be nicer to poor Penfold. That was closer to seven thirty. You’re getting better.”

Oh. That was a relief. “I am ver-very sorry about the oth-other times.”

“I know. You tell me every morning. And I’ve forgiven you. Promise.”

“It’s almost time for science, isn’t it?”

Yawwnnn… “Yeah. Quarter past eight. Time for science.”

Bitzer put the B-side on and settled down in the chair for the wires and the scans. The chair was angled just so, so that she could see the faces of the robots who had been singing their songs on stage while she’d been undergoing examinations in the labs. With her gears and cogs in the open and multiple science types going through her workings.

This was much better.

I was lost and scared and all alone and there was darkness and all of my fears had grown into a monster I could not contain it had claws and teeth and oh so many fangs… But then… I saw… your eyes…” she crooned along.

It was a pretty song. And it made Miz Carol smile.

Being not alone any more was the best thing in the world.

[1] That little step the band does during ‘Steamboat Shenanigans’. Named phonetically.

[2] Actual morning lineup on the ABC during the late 80’s, early 90’s. Don’t ask me how I know 9_9

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Challenge #00500 - A125: Further Proof, if Any Were Really Needed

Prompt: Something involving the gympie gympie tree.

Because that is one scary tree.

[AN: Slightly scarier is the Manchineel, aka The Tree That Hates You. It’s native to Florida, possibly by cosmic accident. But if you read up on the Gympie Gympie, it’s a close call.]

Every living planet in the known universe has an island or a continent like Australia. Except for N'Oz (Originally, New Australia) which is almost all like Australia, except for one small island/

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Challenge #00499 - A124: Dominion

“Look there, that’s the fourth tribe —”

“Herd.”

“…whatever. Fourth herd of cows we’ve driven past in the last half-hour. Between that and what I saw regarding the cats you live with and you cleaning waste from their box of sand earlier,  I’m just saying, I’m not really that convinced you humans are the dominant species on this planet.”

“Well, we are kinda high up on the food chain,” said Sandra.

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Challenge #00498 - A123: Obvious Design Flaw

All those corrosive things humans excrete can come in handy sometimes, right?

(“We have to get out of this maze as fast as we can, but if we turn on the plasma cutter the monster will hear us!”
“Stand back, I got this” *spits at wall*)

“Sucrose! What the heck kind of alien builds walls out of sucrose?” asked Mabel.

“I have no idea, but we are going to need one hell of a dentist by the time we

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Challenge #00497 - A122: When The Rot Came In

The beginning of the end of Nufurria

(or- I’m *really* curious as to how this society began, what it was like in its heyday, and how interaction with the larger galactic culture changed it.  How do the Nufurrian ‘masters’ see themselves?)

Conception.

“Don’t you get it? We don’t have to be freaks and weirdoes any more! We can take all the furries and otherkin and everybody who loves anthropomorphics and go make a world in our

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Challenge #00496 - A121: Adventures With Incompatible Technology

The robots of Steam-Powered Giraffe meet Van Rijn’s Muses. 

{Fldth-whomp}

“I’m not saying she wasn’t a nice lady, Hatchy, I’m saying you really should have given that big, dangly robot her portal gun back. It’s done weird things to your cannon.”

“I like my new can-non,” grumbled a second voice. Presumably Hatchy.

“I’m k-k-kinda fond of it m-m-m-myself.” said a third. “But it’

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Challenge #00495 - A120: An Attempt Was Made

And they never spoke of the peanut-butter lobster incident again.

Meals, they said, were a uniting factor. Food, they said, was universal. Humans, they said, would eat anything.

But not this.

Plate after plate after plate of it came back. They were supposed to love lobster! But they were sending this all back with comments like, “it tastes funny” or “I’m allergic to the sauce”.

One of them even came into the kitchens to find Byaadi

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Random CoraSpine stuffs

First off, the SPG world has too many characters to fit everyone into a verbatim recast.

Though some fit easier than most…

Something to remember, though, for all its modern trappings, Coraline is still a Faerie tale. That’s Fae with an E. On purpose. Because those suckers are *VICIOUS*

My mother said I never should 
Play with the faeries in the wood 
If I did, she would say 
You naughty child to disobey 
Your hair won’t grow,

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Challenge #00494 - A119: One Fine Evening in the Commerce District of Station Alpha Five.

Sorry, but here’s another prompt http://cnvvj.tumblr.com/post/78934269709/harblkun-hookteeth-beltaguise-fantasy

Personally I just submit them as I have ideas/spot them on tumblr, but I try not to send 20 at once

[AN: I’m sure I did this before… But again]

“I’ve found a B or a D is better for me. There’s a fine balance between thermal security and back, neck and shoulder problems.”

A human sauntered over to

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Challenge #00493 - A118: Blood!

Nosebleeds, or to be more precise what do the other cogniscients think when it happens. Do they go for a medical kit and flutter about while the human sighs and holds their nose, or do they comment that at least the humans do something normally for once (but what scared them enough to defensively spout blood?) or something else entirely?

The human - the first they had met, was making an intermittent noise with its proboscis.

Snurf.

Communicating was spotty. Both sides

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Challenge #00492 - A117: Imagine There's No People

Challenge: No humans, or anything pertaining to them at all. That includes human-made or modified things, creatures, places, foods etc.

[AN: Ooooo a GOOD one :D]

Belok took note of the unusual structure as ze approached it. Ze could see that it was made out of ancient hulks of previous civilisations’ stellar vessels, but they had been… conglomerated. Docked, patched and - in at least one case - crashed together into one unappealing whole.

Ze tried all comms avenues including

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Challenge #00491 - A116: Random Curiosity

You mentioned Shayde’s much-debated status as “human” among the denizens of Amalgam. So I’m guessing that as well as all the “human status confirmed” moments there had to be a few cogniscients that just bluntly asked her what she was. And I’ll bet after the first twelve she started coming up with more creative answers/responses….

[AN: I doubt she made it as far as twelve]

There were drawbacks to being in the company of someone who was only

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Challenge #00490 - A115: One Alarming Discovery on the Paths Less Travelled

I may have already submitted a similar prompt, but there was mention made about how non-human species might be very good for autistes - some are very cuddly, some like particularly quiet environments, some have interesting textures. All good for degaussing or forcing the unwanted mob to back off when the autiste is having trouble communicating.

In case a similar prompt has already been made, I’ll request the first time a human of the autism spectrum met any of the Galactic

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Challenge #00489 - A114: Oxymoronic Artefacts

A sign in Braille that says “do not touch”

“Humans had to have made that,” said P’riix.

Tonq, the other archeologist on this ruined planet, peered at it. It was a wall plaque with two codified human languages on it. One of them, raised for the vision-impaired.

The flaking paint above read, “DO NOT TOUCH”

“Oh yes,” said Tonq. “We have clear evidence of humans.”

Which would alter all the reasonings concluded from the evidence

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Challenge #00488 - A113: Biggest Fans

A friend just showed me the opening lines to his new story and said I could use them as a prompt:

“This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know you can hear us, Earth-”
*sound of tape rewinding*
“…Sorry for the technical difficulties. To clarify, we are not the Mysterons. We are arguably worse.”

“Approach Cairo at vector two-one-niner by alpha seven,” sighed Kevin. “And we’ll thank you for a lack of

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