Eeek, it’s Wednesday! You’d think this would be routine by now, but sometimes the days slip by, almost like staring out the window at the scenery during a long car ride. Some people get bored by those, but if you start with an idea, next thing you know, the scenery’s blinked by in a flash and you arrive with an entire story in your head.
So let’s get prompting, so you can get to building new worlds!
| Proposer | Proposition | Builder |
| Fiona Grey | A lot of time was wasted bringing in dragons. | Leigh Kimmel |
| nother Mike | You put your right foot in and you shake it all around… | AC Young |
| AC Young | The unicorn was called Lily, after the flowers she habitually wore in her mane. | Padre |
| Leigh Kimmel | The icon for the new AI art bot was an anthropomorphic raccoon with an artist’s palette and a big grin. | Fiona Grey |
| Padre | She washed it down with a glass of cold milk. | nother Mike |
Forgot to send one in this week? Just discovered this little corner of the internet? Grab a spare!
| Spare | Tick, tock, we don’t own a clock. |
| Spare | The statue of Napoleon and his rearing horse was a town fixture. Until the midnight when Marengo blinked… |
| Spare | The spaceport’s proximity was convenient, other than the glowing blue ooze. |
| Spare | After months of experimentation, he finally made a doughnut that screwed onto a doughbolt. |
| Spare | The town mascot was a skunk. Which made parades hazardous. |
| Spare | The zebra striped unicorn was a bit out of place in the herd… |
Here you’ll find willing audiences. Tell us about your world in the comments!
Header image by Fiona Grey
More Odds Than Ends 
This week nother Mike supplied me with: You put your right foot in and you shake it all around…
This reminded me of the Hokey Cokey, but I went a different route.
—
Steve stepped boldly into the test chamber. He had volunteered for testing a mysterious new technology in exchange for a promotion from Private to Lance Corporal – he was confident that he was en route to Sergeant or higher but getting on the next rung early was still valuable.
The chamber was large, and had a high roof. The walls and ceiling were covered in what looked like soft foam. The floor seemed soft and springy.
In the middle of the chamber were a pair of gloves and a pair of boots. The voice of the tech in charge of the test came out of a speaker somewhere. “Start by putting on the gloves.”
Steve put on the right glove first. It was stiff and jointed like a gauntlet, although it wasn’t made of metal, rather a thick artificial material that appeared to be layered with additional objects sown between the layers. The wrist section needed to be fastened with buckles as it was hinged on one side with a slit down the other to permit wearing.
Then came the other glove. It was harder to put on thanks to the restrictions in movement caused by the glove already on his right hand. Nonetheless he managed it.
“Now the boots. Put your left foot in, then put your right foot in.”
The boots were made of some sort of metal, and reached halfway up Steve’s shins. The fastening was similar to that used in ski boots, tightening the fit around the foot, ankle and lower leg. Steve put both his feet into the boots, and then tightened the fastenings to fit.
“Now shake it all about.”
“What?” asked Steve.
“Shake your arms and your legs, and see what happens.”
Steve thought that he would end up looking like a fool, but he started to wave his arms around and jump up and down.
He started, but he didn’t finish. As soon as he started to jump the boots activated, and he shot into the air. His gloves started to propel him around the room also. He lost control almost instantly, and careered into the roof. He rebounded and shot into the wall.
Steve curled up into a ball. The propulsion mechanisms in his boots and gloves shut down. He then waited until he stopped bouncing off the roof, walls and floor.
Still once more, he carefully unravelled himself and got to his feet.
“Well done,” came the excited voice from outside the room. “You’ve successfully triggered the AI in the kit. The next step is to control your flight.”
“How?”
“The AI learns from your movements. It works with you to develop the advanced controls. The process is unique to the user, so I can’t help you.”
Steve groaned internally. No help from outside was only going to make the task very difficult.
He put his arms down to his sides, bent his knees, and slowly straightened his legs once more. The boots activated once more, but at a less powerful setting than previously.
Steve rose slowly off the floor. Then, once his legs straightened completely the boots shut down again. He started to panic, and reflexively pushed his toes down against the soles of his boots – and the boots turned back on.
He relaxed once more, and suddenly his right boot dropped in power relative to his left. He lost control almost instantly, and reverted to curling up into a ball and waiting until he stopped bouncing off the walls and floor.
By the time the session ended, and Steve was told to remove the gloves and boots, he had figured out how to hover vertically, and gain and lose height vertically. Sideways movement, and anything non-vertical was still beyond him.
That evening, the conversation amongst the testers was loud and boisterous, as they all regaled each other with their successes. Steve heard more than a few boasts about the amazing manoeuvres that the tall tale teller had managed.
He and a few others who didn’t engage in boasting congregated together. They discussed their problems and tried to figure out solutions to them. There would be more sessions in the test chamber over the rest of the week and beyond, and Steve was determined to figure out how to fly in the equipment being tested.
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Oh, cool! I’m glad they didn’t have him test the augmented reality goggles at the same time! I mean, imagine having the AI try to “help” you see while you are bouncing around! Next session, maybe!
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Ooo, I like the learning curve being individual and unique.
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And now mine is up on my LiveJournal at https://starshipcat.livejournal.com/1413697.html. Not bad for a busy week that included a convention and some work on various digital devices.
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I’m late! https://fionagreywrites.com/robots-make-art-inc/
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A nice workaround!
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Padre proposed…
She washed it down with a glass of cold milk.
[aha! So we have at least one character, colloquially known as she, and an action, washing it down with a glass of cold milk. Now, what might it be? And why is this action worthy of note? Hum…]
A slice of Gramma’s pumpkin pie was a meal in itself. The creamy pumpkin pie filling, with a strong cinnamon flavor, just filled your mouth with flavor. The crust added that dash of crunchy goodness. She chewed it up, swallowed, and in moments, had eaten the whole thing. She washed it down with a glass of cold milk, and felt renewed, ready to face the day.
[oh….October memories!]
[whoops! The week ran away with me, and I have no words… better luck next week?]
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I’d like some pie now…
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3.1415926…. * 2.78128…..
pi*e
(pi)(e)
pie
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