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Challenge #00434 - A059: One Extraordinary Shift in the Museum of Disturbing Things

1.

No-one was quite sure if the now-almost-constant presence of at least a couple of humans wandering around the Museum of Disturbing Things ooh-ing and aah-ing at the exhibits made things better or worse..

What made the Disturbing Things so disturbing was not only that they existed, but the history that went with them.

Unsurprisingly, the humans had an entire wing. Some were gruesome exhibits from old Terra, like the skull of a man who survived being pierced through it with an iron rod. Some were more modern, like the replica of Andrew Jones’ space armour. The man had defeated ninety-nine planet-eaters. Or an eternally-turning human cookbook compendium, which demonstrated all the unusual, unappetising, or unconventional foods that a human could consume.

And now, almost every day, there were humans in it, too.

Shayde stopped at the diorama of a tyrannosaur menacing a fun-park jeep. “I ain’t seen it, but I’m pretty sure tha’ was a movie.”

“I’ll make certain the staff are notified,” drawled Rael. “Obviously, there’s been some confusion over your realities versus your fictions.” He sighed. “And sometimes, there still is.”

“Cannae help it if we’re good at it.” Shayde pondered the diorama. “This must'a been when we still thought tyrannosaurs were carnivores. And definitely before we figured out they had feathers.”

“Let me guess. You managed to travel back in time and see it in person?”

“Na, nuthin’ like that. I looked it up.”

Of course. Just when he was used to the impossible, she had to use mundane measures on him.

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Challenge #00433 - A058: Registered Toxic Passenger

(unfortunate real-life inspiration time!)

Considering how the aliens react to comparatively non-corrosive/hazardous materials, they must have either gone into DEFCON 1 or completely catatonic the first time a human vomited.

Other humans making sympathetic noises and cleaning up  (*gasp* without even a hazard suit, the horror) while the aliens panic are completely optional

(No wonder the humans are insane, they’re full of hydrochloric acid strong enough to melt their own internal organs)

“We have lost spin,” said

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Challenge #00432 - A057: Arachnaphobia

It took a surprisingly long time for the other cogniscients to realise how much /they/ scared the humans too.

Of course, some got the message more quickly than others

Lo-grav worlds are rarer than high-grav ones. For reasons that become quickly obvious the more one learns of physics and biology.

When low-gravity life evolves, it happens in artificial environments.

Which are also targets for scavengers.

The spider-people of H'nuf'ruf learned of humans through such expeditions. They never saw humans as dangerous, and

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Challenge #00431 - A056: One Dark Evening at a Motel of Ill Repute

Dear person checking behind the curtain for serial killers, DO YOU MIND?!? Sincerely, serial killer trying to take a shower”

[AN: That’s practically a story on its own.]

Hannibal shrieked and hid his junk with the shower rose. And both hands. “What the hell, Will?”

“Sorry. It’s this place. It’s like I'm compelled to check the shower curtains for serial killers.”

“Well, there’s just me. Do you

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Challenge #00430 - A055: Ballroom Blitz

Everything was going swimmingly until someone pulled out a disco ball.

“The music’s nice and all, but there’s somethin’ missin’.”

“By now, I dare not ask,” deadpanned Rael. “Just accept that whatever it is is most definitely a bad idea and leave things alone for a change.”

“Aaaahh… What sort'a party would it be wi'out a disco ball?”

*

The answer to that question, especially with Meyahndans sharing

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Challenge #00429 - A054: Urgent Call Home

T'reka’s first communications with the others in her colony group/science base/whoever, after being around the humans for a while

“Uh. Trekker?” said Su-syn. “Your… thing making noise.”

T'reka checked it. It was the urgent-summons. And there was no time to get to her base. “I must checking in! No time. Running is too slow! If I fail, they burn continent.”

Su-syn grinned. “Not worries.”

It was called a Horss.

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Challenge #00428 - A053: One Fine Afternoon in the Local Comic Shop

A recent submission to the Hawkeye Initiative involved Wolverine instead:

https://24.media.tumblr.com/3d2615b3cd199b3c78d97b5d9376b96a/tumblr_mzpei7EzOd1rmx3kqo1_500.jpg

So, how did he get into the situation on the right?

[AN: Since the short answer of “Sara did it” is cowardly…]

He had one job. In two parts. Part One: Escort Sara to the comic shop and back. Part Two: Keep them both out of trouble.

And it was going well, so far.

“Uuuugghhhh…”

In

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Challenge #00427 - A052: A Strange Meeting in a Bubble Dimension

Sara, T'reka and bug-based cuisine

[AN: Sara Louise Adrien and T'reka exist in different universes, so of course Shayde has to get involved. If you meant Sahra Johnston then you’ll have to submit a new prompt :) ]

“Uuuuunnnggghhh….” Rael moaned. He felt like he was forced into his usual, humanoid shape too early. “Wh’t?” He looked to his right and was shocked to discover a historical figure at his elbow. Living, breathing fame. Replete

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Challenge #00426 - A051: When You Meet a Stranger...

K'iiv and Del are adorable, how did they meet/begin their relationship?

K'iiv preened his plumage nervously. He hated meeting new people. All the good advice for conquering social anxiety never, ever worked. It was either completely wrong for the situation or just… completely wrong.

Nevertheless, he attempted to use them anyway.

Going into a situation without a plan was infinitely less preferable than going in with a bad one.

Today’s plan was, picture the stranger without their feathers

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Challenge #00425 - A050: Metal's Mettle

People die by the soldier’s steel. People live by the blacksmith’s iron. – RecklessPrudence

They say that magic and iron don’t mix.

What do they know?

Common magic does not fare well against iron and steel because both are a different kind of magic. It is a magic of muscle and might and hot fires. Making useful things out of that which was once just rust.

And it is why, should you travel to the village

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Even a God/dess needs sustenance.

A (literal, not figurative) God/dess, fallen on hard times, forced to work 9-to-5 to make a living, in the absence of offerings et cetera. And how the lowly mortals around them feel about it.

Make it as light-hearted or dark, as uplifting or Schadenfreudic(?) as you please. – RecklessPrudence

(#00424 - A049)

[AN: Considering that 99.99999% of Gods are arseholes…]

Grace tried to hurry past the street market. Goddamn hippies were bad enough, but now there were goddamn foreign

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Romantic vs Classicist*

A seemingly eternal argument between some friends and I.

*As defined by a philosophy student who was party to some of them - he later admitted he got the definitions from ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’.

“Form follows Function. A well-built machine, designed to last decades if not longer, has a quiet craftsmanship, an economical beauty, which no amount of pointless frippery or gilding - or, indeed, curved plastic - can ever match.”

“But much

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Pugs.

Because you can’t say Peter Lorre and not get my attention.  Something to do with an Uplifted pug or pugs.  Possibly freaking everyone out with their good intentions couched in their minion-ish voices. – weirdlet

(#00422 - A047)

Buddy, Igor knew, was not the best dog for the negotiations table. Buddy would literally say ‘yes’ to anything, provided someone was scratching his ear.

Igor… tried.

He had Buddy fitted up with the Diminished Responsibility locator bracelets, of

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Challenge #00421 - A046: A Peculiar, Yet Typical Argument

If no-one from the future comes back to stop you, is it really that bad an idea?

“Yes it is,” said Rael, gently shoving Ambassador Shayde onwards. “Especially when time travel is a theoretical impossibility trapped in the realms of science fiction.”

“They said tha’ about goin’ tae the moon. Now look at it.”

“That’s not the point and you know it.”

“Ach, why’d ye have tae

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Lady slings the booze.

It’s been shown that Mystique (in her comic incarnation, at least), when her ability to focus is sufficiently thrown-off by illness, drugs, emotional shock, or othersuch concentration breakers, that her ability to shapeshift is disrupted, to the point that she can’t maintain a form, often shifting uncontrollably/unconsciously or even sporting features from multiple recently-assumed forms at once in a Picasso-esque jigsaw.  Once I learned about that, I couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of

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