InterNutter

Challenge #02249-F059: Hunter Hunted

Some Havenworlders and some Humans are playing Cops and Robbers as a training exercise and the Havenworlders quickly learn that Humans can control their predictory aura, by either increasing it to a degree that it would make even a Vorax run in fear or decrease it to the point of nonexistence. And the worst part is that the humans aren't even aware of it. -- Chara Dremmurr

Humans have so many games that hinge around the core mechanic of 'chase and symbolically kill the other guy'. There's sub-variants, including 'track down and..." as well as "evade detection in order to...", but the most common version is 'chase', and appears in almost all Human sports with more than two players.

This variant is called 'Cops and Robbers', and involves pseudo-hunter 'Cops' attempting to capture the clever-prey 'Robbers' who also have to infiltrate a base and covertly acquire a goal object. The hunters hunt, of course, and the prey have to avoid the notice of the hunters. Some are naturally better at this than others.

It took Frin some time to notice what the Humans were doing. Certainly, her species was improving at stealth and stealth games thanks to their exposure to Humans, but... This was something else. A Human in 'hunter mode' had something... else... about them. Call it an aura. Call it a sub-telepathic field. Call it a vibe. Whatever the true word for it was... these Humans were controlling it.

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Rain! Rain!

Finally, after what feels like forever in the dry, the rainy season has started.

We have a good rain that's settled in, but I'm still attempting to push it towards the dams and the drought-stricken zones. We need the rain. We do not need floods washing away what there is of the topsoil.

Of course, I could argue that we should be attempting to farm kangaroos and emus that are actually used to feast/famine conditions, but that's me. The problems inherent

Challenge #02248-F058: All Hail the Weird Ones

An entire planet seems to be "astronomical at best." -- Anon Guest

Aargus 6F is one of the weirder planets to evolve cogniscent life. Their parental gas giant, Aargus 6, is far out of the 'Goldilocks Zone', yet tidal forces caused by the orbit in combination with a rotating iron core have caused the planet to be warm enough to host life.

The skies are almost always dark on Aargus 5F, when they are not dominated by their parental gas giant, which

I Need a Day

I'm taking a break from my flash fanfiction today. I've been getting real dark of late and that's a sign of... something. I need a ray of hope. I need to stop looking at the news. I need...

I need a day of rest.

So, today, I'm focussing on the Instant, this blog, and that's it.

I'm calling it mental health. It might be a depression slump. I can't tell from here.

The news is dismal, my friends. My country's leaders are

Challenge #02247-F057: Slow Progress

Being an anxious over-thinker is hard. You usually scare yourself. -- Anon Guest

Why, oh why, did clinging to the very bottom rung of the social ladder feel like hanging desperately from a trapeze... roughly a hundred Sidu's up[1] and with no safety net? CL-3 tried not to hyperventilate and faint -again- as things continued to deviate from her expected norm. Not that she had been much better within her expected norm, but at least there was a routine. Everything changed

Welp...

We just had to re-wire our household internet because mice, but before that, I had my entire site crash. So I wanted that to be a decent excuse for learning how to fix my own dang 500/502 errors.

Before I did that, though, the aforementioned internet rebuggering. In which we discovered that the cardboard box Beloved was using as an improvised server shelf was encouraging mice. Mice that nibbled through all the very important internet cables.

No wonder the internet was

Challenge #02246-F056: Before You Can Fly

Hope may be the wings,

but courage is the belief

you were born to fly.

~Tyler Knott Gregson -- Anon Guest

Is there any greater motivation to the heart, mind, and soul than the words, you can't? The tinkerer known as Steelfoot didn't think so. She lost her feet to the cruelest winter that had ever cursed the northlands, and her legs below the knee with them. She was told she would never walk, she would never run.

She studied the metalworkers

You know what?

(Chicken butt)

Nah, but seriously. I think I'm going to keep monitoring my intake 'cause it seems to be working for me. Perhaps there's a psychological thing that triggers my brain into shifting the fat out or whatever, and just monitoring seems to work for some reason.

For example: The previously-mentioned glut of sugar and subsequent weight loss. See also the unaltered diet for the first few days with the altered weight loss.

I was good, yesterday. Deliberately choosing food options that

Challenge #02245-F055: Meeting Space

What if, to some aliens, the human race were their version of actual Orcs. As in; Mythical evil monsters that are virtually indestructible, can travel any terrain, near impossible to kill and, when in a large group, destroy/devour everything in their wake? -- Amberfox

[AN: I don't hold that any particular species is evil per se. They merely have oppositional goals to everyone else]

Humans are basically unkillable. They can withstand temperatures both hotter and colder than proper species. They can

Thursday

Not only do I have a crook Mayhem to fret about, but there's also a cleaning day. Mayhem's earliest appointment to see the Doc is right about exactly in the afternoon when I need to be watching for Chaos, so there's going to be some juggling there.

Fun times.

I dunno what the everloving eff is up with my bod. I'm under macros but over calories and it's either proof that calories are made up bullshit or something else be going on.

Challenge #02244-F054: Made Outta Ticky Tacky

Yet another 'Wonderful Scheme' that was going to make life easier, Might have worked if they'd only listened instead of hiring a "well-known designer." -- Anon Guest

Here's why planned community spaces suck: they're always designed by an older, able-bodied man who is more concerned with aesthetics than practicality. In order to be a Name in the business, they design for beauty in mind. Unfortunately, beauty is both blind and deaf to the needs of anyone not fit, young, or adult.

Stairs

Addle Daddle

I woke up convinced it was Tuesday, a fact not helped by Chaos' early morning tautology:

A Tuesday is still a Tuesday if it happens last week or if it happens today.

Well said, Miss Chaos. Well said.

But I still had a moment of existential dread about what yesterday was since I went and did my Patreon stuff yesterday. But no, it is Wednesday and the first thing I did with Chaos [after checking that it was Wednesday] was to help

Challenge #02243-F053: Hardy Malone and the Mystery Missive

The letter appeared on her homework desk, under her second-hand typewriter.

"Nanna! You said you changed things, and I told you to do something about it, and go read the papers from 1940 onwards. And you'll need 10 pounds to buy that chest in the Junk shop."

"But! But I'm 14 and still in school!" -Inspired by Casandre Jones. -- Knitnan

The letter was printed, and not by any means that she recognised. It certainly hadn't come from her typewriter. Her letter

New Tactics

Usually, when waiting for Chaos' bus in the mornings, I devote a patch of my time to fanficcery. I've taken to using that time for progress on my novel. A few sentences or paragraphs here and there can make all the difference.

As in, all the difference between me having a patch of spare time and me not having any at all.

I've started downloading the Hero Kids kits I paid for. I may yet have time to read up and practice

Challenge #02242-F052: A Critical Lack

"Talk."

"I won't talk even if you torture me."

"Then talk or we'll execute the hostages."

"If I don't talk you'll execute unarmed civilians, including women and children ?"

"Yes !"

"That's the first time you're dealing with Humans, right?" -- Anon Guest

"What does that even mean?" Kyarth frowned at the Human Leader. They were captive. They were all captive. Held helpless and under watch by the strongest of the Ryhijov. They were without any kind of escape, any kind of hope. The

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Indie writer seeks audience with an audience. Paying customers welcome. [pronouns: ze/hir] Daily free stories happen because it is an excellent counter to Writers' Block.

Challenge #02249-F059: Hunter Hunted

Rain! Rain!

Challenge #02248-F058: All Hail the Weird Ones

I Need a Day

Challenge #02247-F057: Slow Progress

Welp...

Challenge #02246-F056: Before You Can Fly

You know what?

Challenge #02245-F055: Meeting Space

Thursday

Challenge #02244-F054: Made Outta Ticky Tacky

Addle Daddle

Challenge #02243-F053: Hardy Malone and the Mystery Missive

New Tactics

Challenge #02242-F052: A Critical Lack