Instant Story

Challenge #01965-E141: The Life and Death of Maninsuit

Why oh why do giant apes, insects, arachnids, have this overwhelming desire to trash iconic buildings and bridges? Thoughs on 'z' grade movies. -- Knitnan

It woke. It felt strange. Different. In pain. Angry. These little things that once were larger were the source of its pain. It knew this. Instinctively.

It had more brains to think with. Some things merely scaled up, but others... scaled exponentially. More neurons meant more connections. More connections meant greater learning. Greater learning lead to a normally small creature thinking things that a creature of its kind was never meant to think. And it quickly came to the realisation that it should never have conscious thought in the first place.

So of course it got angry. It wanted to harm the creatures that made it this way. Going after individuals took far too long. It had a concept of passing time now. An awareness of its own mortality. Somehow, it knew how long it had to live, which was drastically shorter if it just started eating the humans willy-nilly.

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Challenge #01964-E140: Pitch Imperfect

"Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes." Mad Men speak from the age of Greed is Good. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Nonny - Mad Men is set in the 50's/60's. The Greed is Good era was the 80's. If anything, the Mad Men Era was the last time that companies were permitted to be openly evil]

Talthaxis was beginning to suspect that ze had entered another dimension when talking to these businesspeople from Greater Deregulation West-Northwest. They

Challenge #01963-E139: Like Fresh Air

"The blind shall walk and the deaf shall see - if you vote, if you vote for me!" Song lyrics came to mind as an election year looms. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Nonny, I scoured the internet, but I could not find that song you referenced. Help me out?]

Dani had to admit, it was a nice musical number. And the razzle-dazzle was sufficiently razzle-y and dazzle-y. Except... She had a few questions. "Uh. I'm pretty sure that blind people could always

Challenge #01962-E138: John Carter Was Here

Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional Mars. Too much going on at once, and full of predators. Add David Attenborough. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Seen the movie, never read the book(s). Vaguely familiar with the content on an osmosis level. Fans - forgive me if I mess this up]

"Early explorers of the Barsoomian plains made the mistake of assuming that the land was both hostile, and full of predators. Though the Martian tundra is hostile to human life, we can easily see

Challenge #01961-E137: A Word

Fictional character in 'Real World'. -- Anon Guest

A little kindness goes a long way. Especially when it's been so clearly lacking. When Jenny found Hodor shivering in an alleyway, she thought he was yet another homeless person out of luck. She'd given him a blanket she'd been planning to throw out anyway. And instead of saying anything that might have made sense, he'd said, "Hodor." And then followed her to work.

For Jenny, any weird situation was an opportunity. She'd always

Challenge #01960-E136: Playing With Alice

The lines of reality cross and a childhood print character is in our world. -- Anon Guest

Be careful what you wish for, they say. They know what they are saying. They've had to fight this sort of thing before.

But nevertheless, now that magic has returned to the world, some wishes have power. Some words are uttered in full faith. At the right time. On the right leylines. With the correct pose. On the correct night.

Star light, star bright, the

Challenge #01959-E135: Something Blue

Pick a cartoon character from print media, and the lines between reality cross. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I couldn't pick just one]

"Unglaublich..." said five voices at once. Various incarnations of Nightcrawler were staring at each other.

"Hail and well met," said another blue figure in a ridiculously tall hat. "This is not the markets I was in a second ago, not racially profiling, here, but... did anyone do anything... eldritch?"

"Fear not, citizens," said a big, beefy, man beef in a

Challenge #01958-E134: The New Terror

They warned us about AI, aliens, the government... but nobody expected the ducks. -- TheDragonsFlame

"That's not exactly true," said one of the survivors. "Alfred Hitchcock tried, but it didn't quite get there."

Sandy fed another page of a glossy magazine to the guttering flames as she tried to work this out. "You mean The Birds?"

"That was full of crows and seagulls and pigeons, though."

"Yeah, well. Ducks are hard to be believable as a threat. Or they were."

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Challenge #01957-E133: If it Works...

person one: human do you have a plan?

person 2 : yes

p1: a good one?

p2: a TERRIBLE PLAN! -- Anon Guest

G'roz stared at the human. "How can you have a plan that is terrible? Do you not say that a plan that works cannot be terrible."

Human Steve sighed and said, "It's terrible in that you'll find it upsetting, stressful, and with a high danger potential."

And it was telling how long G'roz had been around humans, because ze said,

Challenge #01956-E132: Impressive, But...

"Hmm... I'm impressed."

"I/We thought you'd like it."

"I said I was impressed, not that I like it." -- TheDragonsFlame

There are certain things that were just... impressive. A cellar full of drunk middle-schoolers chanting Fuck da police whilst a policeman is present. Singing, This is me giving a shit, in front of a man who has the power of life and death over you after he has just attempted to insult you. Staging a resistance against a superior force, alone,

Challenge #01955-E131: Good Morning! Good Morning!

From the "Coffee Zombie" Human to the "Warmth Seeker" Reptilian, the earlier hours of the morning can be amusing. -- Anon Guest

Of all the phenomenon in known civilisation, slow starters versus morning people is one of the most universal. The people who spring from their slumber, fresh-faced and cheerful and raring to go are both treasured and hated in equal measure. Treasured, because they are the kind of people who can be relied upon to make the coffee or hot beverages

Challenge #01954-E130: Surrogacy of the Beast

Are you mad?! You realize you basically just made a deal with the devil, right? Literally!” “Ah, you weren’t paying close enough attention. I did not just make a deal with the devil... No, in fact, the Devil just made a deal with me.” -- Anon Guest

"Now. Mister... Scratch," said the lawyer. "I understand that you wish this particular event to proceed, but my client wishes to have some... guarantees."

Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, Angel of Lies, the Fallen,

Challenge #01953-E129: Lost in a Hellscape

A couple who have no recollection of how they got there find themselves in a lethally dangerous environment where every creature and several of the plants seem to be trying to kill them. Being religious, they realize they are lost souls and this must be hell.

Then the search party finds them. They were vacationing in Australia and had wandered off after someone gave them roofies.

But what happened in between that would make and amnesiac tourist decide that they were just

Challenge #01952-E128: Transformative Love

Fan fiction, some of it heartbreakingly brilliant, some of it so badly written you wonder if they ever even saw the original series. But glued to their devices they tap out their allegiance to people or beings who are imaginary. -- Anon Guest

The Archive of Transformative Works is a subset of the Archivaas Conglomerate. Those who strive to preserve everything humanity or intelligent life has created. Even the worst that a barely creative mind has to offer. It is oppressively huge.

Challenge #01951-E127: Posthumous Communication

Sandwiched between cardboard, or up-market leather they colour our lives, change the way we see the world, and of course they never age. Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, James Bond, Mr Darcy, Alice, Tom Sawyer. -- Anon Guest

"And then there's the curious incident of the dog in the night-time," Alpex read out loud. Like all new readers, the reading was painful and slow and almost monotonous. Ze stopped. "You do know this method of information sharing is the one least likely to

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Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #01965-E141: The Life and Death of Maninsuit

Challenge #01964-E140: Pitch Imperfect

Challenge #01963-E139: Like Fresh Air

Challenge #01962-E138: John Carter Was Here

Challenge #01961-E137: A Word

Challenge #01960-E136: Playing With Alice

Challenge #01959-E135: Something Blue

Challenge #01958-E134: The New Terror

Challenge #01957-E133: If it Works...

Challenge #01956-E132: Impressive, But...

Challenge #01955-E131: Good Morning! Good Morning!

Challenge #01954-E130: Surrogacy of the Beast

Challenge #01953-E129: Lost in a Hellscape

Challenge #01952-E128: Transformative Love

Challenge #01951-E127: Posthumous Communication