Just Add Prompt

A 4662-post collection

Challenge #01995-E171: Dangerous Beasts

This isn’t my prompt but I’d like to see what you can do with it.

“I don’t want to know who I was. Before... before... before I was kidnapped as a child,” ze says, and there’s something pained in zir dark eyes. “A happy, drooling kid. Or whatever. Look- if I- if I wasn’t always this way, bitter and angry, that means xe won. That xe changed me. Made me into a new being. I can’t know that. I’m not strong enough.”

I wonder if the pain in zir’s eyes is the kid xe never managed to kill. -- Anon Guest

They lie when they say resistance is futile. Resistance is hope. Resistance is yet another tactic against the enemy. Against the oppressor. Against whoever holds you to their standards and judges you harshly for not being the thing they wanted you to be.

True evil begins with treating people as things. The Human called Fang remembered that.

Selthyr had taken Fang as little more than an infant. Much like a human hunter would take a tiger or a bear cub as a pet, and train it to do tricks. Selthyr never once forgot ze had a hazardous Deathworlder in their retinue. Hir means of controlling Fang were strict, and debatably fair. And it was impressive to have a Deathworlder as a guard dog. But like a bear or a tiger cub, the beast will eventually turn against cruelty.

Support me on Patreon / Buy me a Ko-fi

Continue Reading

Prompts remaining: 27 Submit a Prompt! Ask a question! Buy my stories!

Challenge #01994-E170: Look Up

One of the last astronomers left on the planet after the Great Protectionism Act (the one that isolated the entire populous from anyone or anything beyond their home planet) goes on a quest to shut off all non-emergency service related power on the planet in order to show the people the beauty and worth of the the night sky. -- Anon Guest

With every great rise of knowledge and understanding, there is an equal and opposite fall into wilful ignorance. This is

Read more »

Challenge #01993-E169: The Protection Experiment

Considering the terrifying methods our immune system uses to keep us safe, can you please write a story about how aliens first dealt with human diseases (probably something that has a high mutation rate) that jumped the species barrier?

How did they deal with the pandemic (think of what smallpox did in North America) their own immune systems were unprepared for? How did they handle what they found when they researched the crazy human immune system?

Autoimmune disorders?? -- Anon Guest

If

Read more »

Challenge #01992-E168: Show Me the Way...

Pre-human contact, a single human accidentally finds themselves in space, and the single most powerful being there to boot. They don’t use their powers for good or evil though, they just really enjoy messing with the other sentients, good and bad alike. Please write a story about how this human deals with the various attempts to get rid of them. (Diplomatic or through force) -- Anon Guest

I had to come to term with a few things. One: Alien abduction is

Read more »

Challenge #01991-E167: Unobtrusive Observation

Time you can visit. all you can take is pictures, all you can leave is footprints. -- Anon Guest

There are rules to time travel. Some are invented on the fly, others make more sense than that. First and foremost is no excessive interaction. One cannot, for example, go back in time to tell Freddie Mercury or David Bowie how influential they become. Especially towards the start of their careers. One cannot also travel back in time and leave an iPhone in

Read more »

Challenge #01990-E166: Mystery Analysis Department

Step back in Time. It smells different, the food is odd. But you are here to record History. Pick an Era.

the Past is a different country -- Anon Guest

The oddest thing about the early twentieth century had to be the colours. Followed closely by what people willingly put in their mouths. It was just... odd... to see any era before the nineteen fifties in any other tones but black and white.

The past is another country, indeed. The food is

Read more »

Challenge #01989-E165: Pax Paradoxical

There is one place where nearly all species cohabit. It's not some planet capital or forsaken space station. It's a spa resort. This artificial planet is ideally place to naturally accommodate all type of species, with a wide range of temperature, humidity and luminosity. And when nearly 30% of your customers are part of the most "dangerous" Deathworlders, and high figure of all species came regularly here, let's say that it's also the safest place in existence. -- Anon Guest

There's only

Read more »

Challenge #01988-E164: Here Comes Trouble

A demon who really loves their job of messing with people accidentally does something really really good or nice and is horrified to find a single angel feather growing on their wings as a result. -- Anon Guest

Hathreon followed the Crowley School of low-grade evil. From little annoyances, big cruelties grow. The demon could count overpriced, slow coffee, constant urban renovations, and the kind of people who insist on going into the backs of crowded elevators when they're only riding one

Read more »

Challenge #01987-E163: One Mildly Ominous Evening in Ankh-Morpork

Archancellor Ridcully slowly walked around the blue box. It looked safe enough, despite the weird noise as it appeared. -- Anon Guest

And then someone who looked almost exactly like that fellow from the post office[1] popped out from the door. "Oh hallo," he said. "I seem to be very much lost. You see, I was on my way to Barcelona, and..." He trailed off. "Have I been here before?"

Archancellor Ridcully had a train of thought that couldn't be shifted

Read more »

Challenge #01986-E162: Inner Beautification

Yarn Bombing. Putting hand made yarn stuff in public places. Once done to stop authorities from removing much needed bus stop/shelter. Weird but true. Put your own spin on this. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I could not find any instance of yarn bombing as an avenue of protest. It's mostly a wasteful form of gentrified graffiti.]

As a child of the depression, Cynthia hated waste. She never got more than she needed in the first place, and did her utmost to

Read more »

Challenge #01985-E161: Dare to Daydream

The cosplayers are out and on the loose. Inspired by an Anime convention in town. -- Anon Guest

Andrew turned a corner and walked headlong into Wonderland. Or Narnia. Or Terabithia. It was hard to tell. Storybrook for certain, because everyone looked like they stepped into reality from the realms of imagination.

Robots and Heroes and Elves, oh my... Andrew checked behind him and the rest of the world was... the rest of the world was... the rest of the world. People

Read more »

Challenge #01984-E160: All of Them?

A place is marked as “ No weapons allowed”.

One (or more) of the crew proceeds to spend a ridiculous amount of time removing all of the weapons from their being.

Cue terror and hilarity. -- Anon Guest

[AN: My favourite trope!]

"No, no, Human Jan. You do not check that your weapons are operational. You check them in. For safety and safekeeping."

"Right," said Human Jan. "Nobody has weapons, nobody can harm anyone. That's the theory, right?"

"That is the practice," sighed

Read more »

Challenge #01983-E159: The Secret

A human led crew of ragtag aliens get captured and are being held separately for interrogation.

The issue isn’t getting them to talk.

The issue isn’t even getting them to shut up. In fact, they’ve been perfectly cooperative.

The only issue?

They’re all telling equally terrible, completely contradictory lies. -- Anon Guest

You know the scene. You know the cuts. You've seen it so many times. Multiple people are asked the same question, and the audience is treated

Read more »

Challenge #01982-E158: Sufficient Motivation

“You can still save the world.”

“I could,” grinned the human, “if I wanted to.” Behind them, the Capital burned.

“But you won’t.” My voice was more hoarse than I’d ever heard it, and I could taste the bitterness of my own blood running down my cheek.

The human’s “shrug” was silhouetted by the flames.

“Convince me.” -- Anon Guest

What motivated a human? Greed? No. This human was already profiting from the current course of events. Events that

Read more »

Challenge #01981-E157: One Educational Day on a Strange New World

Due to the dangerous and rather... peculiar circumstances of the mission, all crew members were assigned a personal “guardian human”.

Your human seems to hate you. At least if their glare and “sarcasm” is anything to go off of. You’ve already tried all the suggested bonding methods but you’re certain that she wouldn’t hesitate to leave you (to die! On that gods-forsaken planet!) if given the chance.

But then the storm came. -- Anon Guest

Edge Territory Planetary Survey,

Read more »