Welcome to the freedom edition of odd prompts, where anything goes, because this is more odds than ends. Be a touch rebellious and see what happens. Throw the rules out this week! Be daring — use words ending in -ly and wait for the prim and proper* writers’ shocked faces.
So let’s get started. Here are your trade prompts – although feel free to mix it up a bit if you’d like or add a liberty theme to the mix. Will your prompt twist beyond recognition in a fascinating and exciting way? Toss off your restraints and try something new!
| From | Prompt | To |
| AC Young | New colonists were always confused. Winter was the dry season, Summer was the wet season. | Becky Jones |
| Becky Jones | The gardeners were always very careful when working around the gnome’s house. | Leigh Kimmel |
| Leigh Kimmel | Even with a checklist, we still managed to forget several things. And I could’ve sworn I put them in — but they’re not here. | nother Mike |
| nother Mike | Henry planted the free seeds that came in the mail before he realized they were supernatural seeds… | Fiona Grey |
| Fiona Grey | He had a brain full of caffeinated bees. | AC Young |
And here our your spares. As usual, these are up for grabs or sending in ideas, just tag it as a spare in the email to oddprompts@gmail.com. You can even send in or write about more than one!
| Spare | They were performing a “Keep Raining” dance. |
| Spare | “I gotta quit raising dragons!” |
| Spare | Then the building started vibrating to the song of the cicadas… |
| Spare | Don’t worry that it’s not good enough… just sing, sing along… |
| Spare | When the sunflowers started shining at midnight… |
| Spare | There was a bathtub full of bones in the cabin… |
That’s it for this week, folks. We’ll see you in the comments. Be bold!
*Author’s note: I have been called prim and proper at times. These people don’t know me very well.
Header image by Fiona Grey
More Odds Than Ends 
In this week’s prompt cycle, I received Fiona Grey’s: He had a brain full of caffeinated bees.
—
Caleb awoke. Something was very wrong. There was a loud buzzing sound.
Where was it? He turned his head this way and that, but the sound remained constant, without any variation. Gradually it dawned on him that the buzzing sound was inside his own head.
Suddenly his thoughts started flying here and there, each more fantastic than the last. His thoughts multiplied, jumping from subject to subject like the flights of a hive of bees.
His thoughts sped up, and then sped up again. But the buzzing continued unabated. It was now as if he had a brain full of caffeinated bees.
His thoughts shifted into eighth gear, and Caleb suddenly realised that he was unable to stop them from accelerating.
At this point Caleb heard a door opening, and someone enter the room.
“Training Override Seven-Four-Three-Two-Nine.”
Suddenly the buzzing in Caleb’s head ceased, and the bees stopped flying about his brain.
“Congratulations, Private Harrison. You’ve already accessed the higher functions of your implant. Now you will need to be taught how to use it without loss of control.”
Now that Caleb could think again, he remembered.
He had completed basic training almost, but not quite, at the top of the class. After which he had volunteered to test a new combat implant.
The goal was to create a new form of super soldier. One capable of ultrafast calculations, and extreme accuracy with weaponry at range, with the ability to transmit signals between themselves and to/from base using only their thoughts.
He had been taken to the military hospital, where the doctors had put him under and operated to insert the implant into his brain and connect it up to the surrounding organ.
Now he had come around after the operation, it seemed that his implant had been properly connected up, and was capable of the swift thinking that was hoped for.
The next few months, Caleb and his five fellow guinea pigs were put through their paces. Caleb was frequently grateful for the training override system that allowed the instructors to temporarily shut down the implant’s functions when he lost control of it.
Gradually, Caleb learnt to control the implant. There remained the danger of a thought feedback loop, like happened when he first awoke, but he learned how to recognise the signs, and short circuit the process in time.
He and his fellows developed abilities to process situations faster than soldiers with several more years, and sharp-shooting abilities better than many trained snipers. They downloaded the up-to-date codes, and could communicate securely with each other, with other units, and with headquarters.
Lance Corporal Harrison was sent out to serve in the 1st Regiment of the Phoenix Guard.
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Bzzzz! And now we need a set of short stories about these wunder soldiers! Cool!
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“Is this your first time doing glamour work?”
“Yes, maven. I’ve been doing magic mirrors, so this is all new. After the mirrors, it almost feels like cheating, though.”
“Wrong way to look at it, kid. Think of it as dressing the world up to look the way it was meant to look, and you’ll be closer to what we do here.”
“I like that. What’s the job for tonight?”
“The usual. A young couple falling in love, and don’t quite know it yet. Couples come to this garden so often we have a lot of things already set up to go: Stars at ten times brightness, alternating lavender and rose scents, texture glory cranked up to 11 for everything in range, even the handrails. Have a look and tell me what you’d like to add to the mix.”
“I’d work with the moonlight through the pergola, for starters. Match it with the ripple reflections.”
“Your mirror work taught you about light, I see. I’ll get the usual features ready to go, and for the extras: I’ll leave you to it.”
After the enchanted evening…
“Well done, kid. They were walking on air when they left—or close enough. Having the stone feel soft under their feet was a nice touch, and when the sunflowers started shining at midnight… Excellent.”
“Thanks. That means a lot from you. And I see what you mean about “the way it was meant to look.” We’re showing them what they’re too weak to see without us.”
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An enjoyable read.
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It’s probably against the rules, but this came to mind too…
—————-
“Never raise up what you can’t put down.”
“I get it, I get it,” Jochim snapped. “But they’re so damned fast I can’t lay a wand on them. Ectoplasmic fire still stings. I’ve gotta quit raising dragons!”
“You’ve just got to learn the difference between the soul flames for a human warrior and for a dragon.”
“OK, Sammael. I’ll bite. How do you tell them apart?”
“Damned if I know.” Sammael folded another soul-trap band and laid it in the linden-wood chest. “But I can’t believe your numbers. If there’d really been a dragon for every six fighters, the humans wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“I don’t know. Maybe the dragons fought each other here for thousands of years before Drachendammerung. Maybe you stuck my territory smack in the middle of a dragon cemetery. Whatever it is, there’s no way I’m going to make quota before the Guardians return.”
“The Master said we need to provide 2197 ghost warriors by full moon. That doesn’t sound like just “a bunch of ghosts.” We need that exact number.” He didn’t bother with the “or else.” Sammael unfolded. “I can give you a hand or three for a day to put down any wayward dragon ghosts, but these warrior ghosts want to escape and I can’t leave them unguarded for too long.”
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[…] colonists were always confused. Winter was the dry season, Summer was the wet season. Stop on by More Odds Than Ends to see what everybody did with their prompt challenges. If you like, pick up a spare and challenge […]
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I’m enjoying this series. Another good addition.
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Leigh Kimmel suggested
Even with a checklist, we still managed to forget several things. And I could’ve sworn I put them in — but they’re not here.
[okay… let’s try this…]
Hank scratched his head, and poked in the backpack from the Magical Academy again. Jim and he had been trying to pack for the school trip tomorrow, but something was wrong. He looked at Jim, who had the checklist in his hand. Then he shook his head and said, “Even with a checklist, we still managed to forget several things. And I could’ve sworn I put them in — but they’re not here.”
That’s when Jim frowned, and looked at the list again. And he groaned. “What’s worse is that I could swear there are new items on the checklist that weren’t there before, and I think some have disappeared, too!”
Hank took a deep breath, and pursed his lips.
“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that the list is changing, even while we’re trying to match it? And what’s in the dratted backpack is changing, too?”
Jim squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, and looked at the list one more time. Then he looked at Hank and nodded, slowly.
“You got it. So the list isn’t exactly stable, and the backpack probably has a portal to who knows where in it that lets things slide in and out. Which is going to make getting the two to match pretty unlikely. So what do we do?”
Hank thought for a minute, then reached for the checklist. Jim shrugged and handed it to him. Then Hank put the checklist in the backpack. And smiled at Jim.
“There! We can honestly say that we put everything on the list in the backpack. Now, admittedly, the physical items in the backpack may or may not match what’s on the list, but you have to admit, everything on the list is in the backpack. Right? After all, the list is in the backpack, so everything on the list is in the backpack! Now, is there anything you particularly want to bring along? I suggest we put it in the outer pocket of the backpack, since the couple things I stuck in there haven’t changed.”
Jim stroked his chin, then grinned and laughed.
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear you explain that to Professor Albright! He was the one who made such a point of telling us that we had to use the backpacks provided by the school, and that we had to make sure we had everything on the list in the backpack, wasn’t he?”
Hank nodded.
“Now, let’s get a good night’s sleep, and see what happens tomorrow.”
[that sounds like a fun start…]
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[…] Mine went to AC Young. Check out what he did with it over at MOTE! […]
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And now mine is up on my LiveJournal at https://starshipcat.livejournal.com/1380663.html. Not as long as I wanted, but Tampa Bay Comic Con and travel home from it took too much of my time.
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