InterNutter

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.

Burpengary East http://www.cmweller.com 12539 posts

Challenge #02006-E182: He's a Griefer

“How could you?"

“I trusted you and, and you played me!”

“Like the cheap kazoo you are” -- Anon Guest

Some tasks are harder than others. Some efforts are purely emotional. And by the end of this mission to Zangress Four, Arlo was feeling weak as a kitten despite having all her health stats in peak range. The explorer she'd been hired to escort, Thuxx, had managed to make it through all kinds of potential hazards, including being one of those types who were too smart to know when to eat. Five Standard Months of constant worrying can drain the body and soul just as effectively as nigh-constant battle.

Arlo's battle had been with the elements, constantly protecting the cute, fuzzy, teddy-bear-looking Thuxx against the slings and arrows of a world apparently loaded with every kind of hazard imaginable. According to the records, Planet Thrillseeker was allegedly supposed to be a deep-time colony to make an entire world into a gigantic potential death trap for wealthy investors to have the time of their lives in. The creator of said thrill world did not go down into deep time with the colonists and had forgotten basic essentials like: how the staff was expected to survive. Or a decent breeding population. Or what the staff were supposed to live on after the wormhole closed. But they had remembered to make certain all the death traps and elaborate puzzles would remain fully-functional after thousands of years' worth of neglect[1].

Thuxx was safe, now. Back in his offices where he could catalogue relics and arrange bidders for them. And that was an immense relief. Arlo smiled just to watch him putter about the offices and write entries into his catalogue. "Your account has been credited, Human Arlo. You may return to your business or pleasure."

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Done, Done, Done, Done, Done, Done...

Today's title comes from this lovely tune which suits me to a T today. I am DONE.

I finished Clockwork Souls yesterday, and I just now got it converted to assorted formats for interested beta readers.

Loyal readers of this particular blog can read/comment on the docx version here if they so choose.

I've enabled commenting in all formats in the Clockwork Souls folder on my Google drive.

Not that I expect much action from this. But I will be looking

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Challenge #02005-E181: One Line to Cross

Humans are walking biohazard to everyone and everything. Our saliva can cause several pandemics alone is unchecked. If our gut is punctuated, the bacteria (and acid) inside us will eat us alive, not to mention whoever else may come into contact with it.

What happens when the galactic community first learns about this fact?

What happens when a human is found with an open gut wound that has been left untreated? -- Anon Guest

Humans will risk their lives for the beings

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Set Your Timers

My car is going in for a service at 10 today. That gives me a little less than three hours to get my shit together, and in the middle of trying to write this post, I got this bullshit:

[Shown here: Error message over an empty post titled (Untitled), message reads "Are you sure you want to delete this post?" and in a smaller font, "You're about to delete "(Untitled)". This is permanent! No backups, no restores, no magic undo button. We

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Challenge #02004-E180: Nice... Dog?

How do alien ambassadors to earth first react to trying to translate/figure out what is a dog and what isn’t? At this point it’s a minor policy at the embassy to just assume all furred quadrupeds smaller than a horse are dogs. -- Anon Guest

Terra's first unofficial ambassador was the dog. Closely followed by the cat. The cat was simply pest control, but the dog... there are few species of Terran origin that are more versatile. Some Havenworlders

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Finishing Season

Seems to be the time of year for finishing stuff up. I'm 1500 words away from the end of Clockwork Souls and I've just-last-night reached an ending for my fanfic, Crime and Punishment.

I'm going to ponder which fanfic I'm doing next because I can't not write. There's a few juicy ideas I have excerpts for. I just need to pick the shiniest one.

Announcements when that happens, of course.

Today's another cleaning day, and having our new toy means that all

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Challenge #02003-E179: Adventure is Out There

“I hate you.”

“You just saved my life! Plus, we both know you adore me.”

“Well, finding someone else to hate is too much work.”

“And risking your own life to save me wasn’t?”

“See? This is why I hate you. Nitpicking, and ungrateful.” -- Spotted

Everyone has heard of the Fisher King. Very few have heard of the Adventurer King, the one who decided to help his Kingdom by personally fighting the problems that plagued it. Unfortunately for Sir Dravyn,

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I think I got it now...

I'm into the swing of eating mostly protein. And my bod's still getting used to the change. I may have overdone the "energy" portion of my fodder last night because, dangit, I needed a treat after the run-around I got in finally posting yesterday's instant.

It went a little something like this:

  • Write story according to schedule
  • Attempt to merge in picture
  • 504 error apparently obliterates story
  • P A N I C !
  • Cursing
  • Realise that story is potentially lost forever and I
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Challenge #02003-E179: Sibling Ribaldry

How would aliens react to human-human relationships? Particularly close ones (best friends, romantic partners) where affection is mainly shown through quips and teasing? -- Anon Guest

Humans are pack animals. When enlisting Humans on to your vessel, one may consider the benefits of recruiting Humans who are already deeply bonded with each other. -- Galactic Advice Manual, The Care and Maintenance of Humans.

Humans accustomed to space tended to have monosyllabic names. Many were pronounceable by most Galactics. Such was the case

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'Tis Tuesday, I must Patreon

The kitchen has been unfucked, and with some good fortune, I may be able to convince my little darlings to put away the clean stuff once they're conscious.

Of course they've fallen into the holiday mindset of staying up as late as possible and sleeping in as long as possible. It's the holidays. I'm only awake because I literally can't sleep past 5AM.

That said, I'm in my "not going anywhere" ensemble of Kigurumi and toe socks with optional uggs.

And because

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Challenge #02002-E178: Double Scheherazade

Alien crew explores a likely-haunted spaceship wreck they found floating around -- TheDragonsFlame

Afterlives are one of the more complicated cultural complications in Galactic Society. Though citizens are not encouraged to insist on inserting their beliefs into others' heads, the topic of assorted beliefs is not taboo, either. One is expected to not judge, and not be judged in return. For instance: most cultures believe that some form of animated spirit persists after the mortal shell is deceased. Where it goes and

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Double Scheherazade!

Scheherazade is famous for telling a thousand and one tales. I'm about to firkin double that. Where's the firkin paparazzi?

[Of course I know my count is off. Leave me alone on this. I'm taking the win. When my story count is normalised, I will let everyone know about it.]

Today... after I'm done with this, I'm offski to grab this week's money and then I'll be back to extract some Blasts from Streemian (and cancelling those stalled posts) before I get

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Challenge #02001-E177: Ghosts... In... Space!

Alien crew spots ghost ship (not the derelict/abandoned kind, more like the ship itself is one of the ghosts) -- TheDragonsflame

In an infinite universe, all things are possible. The nature of time and events therein is cyclical. Of those tautologies, spaceport stories are made. This one just happens to come with documentation.

They were light years from civilisation, of course and without an accurate means of contacting anyone, of course. Because nothing interesting happens in the middle of civilisation with

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Second Day to Take

Short version: The family wants extra time to slack off.

Long version: The next Jurassic Park movie is playing at freaking last and I'm fairly certain they also want to play loads of Factorio again.

I'm allowing it.

Monday, I will begin posting my Blasts manually. Mostly because, every time I do that, Streemian comes back to life again. And it's been more than a month of inertia on this.

I no longer have a novel to summarise, and that frees up

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Challenge #02000-E176: Biorhythm and Blues

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man a damn nuisance to live with. -- Anon Guest

If there is one thing more annoying than a morning person, it is a morning person who is at peak sunniness in the pre-dawn hours. Four in the morning becomes four in the fucking morning with extra singing.

To his credit, Barry knew that his fellow shipmates liked to lie in, especially the most wonderful woman in the multiverse - Lup. His main squeeze.

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