There’s a common refrain among creatives. ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ they are asked. ‘I just get them…’ vague wave ‘too many of them.’
Which is all well and good, until one day all those brilliant ideas dry up and blow away in your sleep and you are left with a blank. ‘Oh,’ the creative says, ‘I am not creative at all!’
This is when you come here, to prime the well and start the writing pump to draw up those ideas from the depths of your subconscious.
| Fist | Dots-and-dashes | Telegram for… |
| Fiona Grey | “Absinthe, check. Bohemian glass, check. Bail money, check. Live python – hey, where’s Snookums?” | Cedar Sanderson |
| AC Young | She was black and blue – dressed in black clothing that covered very little, and was consequently freezing in the cold air. | Padre |
| Padre | “The grapefruit was his Achilles heel.” | Leigh Kimmel |
| Becky Jones | The fairy ball was a glittering affair, held on the lily pads. | nother Mike |
| Leigh Kimmel | I thought we could drop in. Instead, they had a formal presentation, and I needed to be somewhere else. | Becky Jones |
| nother Mike | The bartender leaned over the bar and whispered, “Watch out for the bottles of jam.” | AC Young |
| Cedar Sanderson | First you dissolve the eggshells | Fiona Grey |
If you were caught unawares, and didn’t send in a prompt for the challenge, never fear! The spares are here!
| Spare | “Happy 1403!” |
| Spare | The heist of the Belgravian crown was Europe’s worst-kept secret, but only one person knew the truth. |
| Spare | Each day, the mask grew weaker. |
| Spare | A green valley surrounded by snow-covered mountains. |
| Spare | Putting a cat into a space suit for a walk on Mars was … interesting! |
| Spare | When the magic touched the dream journal, all those drawings escaped! |
Come back and tell us what the spare brought forth, in the comments. It can be words, visions, or musical. Have we had a musical response? we have certainly had musical prompts!
More Odds Than Ends 
This week nother Mike sent me in Morse Code: The bartender leaned over the bar and whispered, “Watch out for the bottles of jam.”
—
It seemed to be a normal day on the station. Not that Simon MacRobert had spent enough time in his job to know what a normal day actually was.
His shift had finished just an hour previously, and he was heading out for a post-shift drink.
The ‘Ulster Arms’ was the name of a pub on the station, one he hadn’t tried yet, so Simon went in for a drink.
There weren’t that many others in the pub, and a large proportion of those present were dragons – the name given to the lizard-like aliens that visited the station for trade.
Simon went straight to the bar, and ordered some whiskey (as might be expected from the name of the pub, the Irish spelling was preferred over the Scottish).
As the barman handed over the glass with the double-measure of whiskey, he leaned over and whispered “Watch out for the bottles of jam.”
Simon wasn’t sure what to make of this, but looking around he saw a bottle labelled Strawberry Jam near to where he was sitting at the bar. He picked it up, and had a closer look. It didn’t look as if there was a reason for the warning. Then…
Buried in the midst of the ingredients list was Red Demon Chilli Pepper. Even Simon knew not to risk messing about with that! Even the smallest amount in food could generate such heat that he wouldn’t risk eating anything containing that ingredient.
Simon was about to mention this to the barman when he spotted another note on the bottle: “Only for draconic consumption”.
No point saying anything. That little line was intended to indemnify the manufacturer and bar should a human blow their tastebuds eating the jam. And the barman had warned him especially of the danger. No, Simon would let this lie.
He finished his whiskey – very nice in spite of the spelling – and then departed to go to bed.
In the future he’d leave the Ulster Arms to the dragons, and would find somewhere else for his post-shift drinking.
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oh, dragons and pubs and space… fun!
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[…] in my head. Driven most likely by my distaste for PowerPoint presentations. Anyway, head on over to More Odds Than Ends to see what everybody else came up with for their […]
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not another runaway PowerPoint presentation! No, no…
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Three. Hours. Noooooooooo.
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[…] I have no idea where this is going, so let me know if you’re interested in exploring this extremely vague colony, and thanks to Cedar for the prompt trade this week! […]
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Nano eggs colored for Easter! Why not! Go for it!
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And now mine is up on my LiveJournal at https://starshipcat.livejournal.com/1503051.html. I’m thinking it picks up fairly close on the one where Sierra’s dad puts the Harness on her and drags her home.
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AC Young tapped out, “She was black and blue- dressed in black clothing that covered very little and was consequently freezing in the cold air.”
He climbed and climbed. The stairway spiraled up into the heavens, sweeping in tight arcs higher and higher. The few times he dared to look down, he could see the ground growing smaller and smaller beneath him until he lost sight of it as he passed through the clouds. And still the stairway went on up into the sky.
He had no idea how long he climbed, but he pressed on, his legs burning more and more with each step. He could not stop. There was no room to rest and any missed step would send him plummeting to his death.
At long last, he came to the top. Before him as spread an endless white blanket of clouds, softly glowing pink in the fading light of the sunset. The stars were beginning to appear in the dark sky above him, shining far brighter than they ever had below, smiling down on him as they whirled in their endless dance.
He tentatively took a step off the stairs and onto the clouds. They were soft beneath his feet, and he began to walk in the direction of the last glow of the sun. The clouds around him faded to a pale white, then the moon rose behind him, bathing the world around him in its pearlescent glow. He walked on.
After walking long into the night, he saw a small cottage in the distance. It grew larger as he approached and, just as the dawn was starting to tinge the sky behind him, he arrived.
Just as he was about to knock on the door, it opened and a beautiful woman stepped out. She was black and blue- dressed in simple black gown that barely covered him and blue and shivering in the cold air.
She started in surprise at seeing him, but then smiled warmly at him. “Welcome, stranger. What brings you to this lonely house?”
He bowed to her and replied, “You, my lady, I think. Are you the sun princess?”
“I was once. But that was long ago.”
‘I have come to find you and bring you home.” He paused. “You must be very cold,” he said. He swung the bear’s fur off his shoulders and draped it over her.
She smiled at him. “Thank you. It has been so long since I have been warm. I had almost forgotten what it felt like.”
He smiled at her, then turned around and stood silently next to her, watching as the light slowly grew in the east and the sun peeped up over the horizon. She lifted her face as the first beams shown full upon her and smiled a blissful smile, basking in the warmth, then she turned to him. “Would you like some breakfast,” she asked?
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Mine is up! https://cedarlila.substack.com/p/the-brides-education
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Becky Jones telegraphed…
The fairy ball was a glittering affair, held on the lily pads.
[oh, the bullfrogs were enchanted, watching those dancers on the lily pads…]
Helen sighed, watching the fairies dance. She always felt a bit awkward about attending these affairs, but the fairy couple and their baby insisted. After all, as they told her, not everyone has a mortal godmother! And she did enjoy them. The fairy ball was a glittering affair, held on the lily pads. She watched from the edge of the pond, enjoying the music and what she could see of the dancing. Of course, she also kept an eye on little Moonshine, the baby fairy, which her parents had asked her to watch while they danced. Moonshine settled down on her lap and slept…
[turnabout is fair play… but I need to think about what might happen, when the mortal godmother is taking care of the fairy baby…]
The fairy ball was a glittering affair, held on the lily pads. At least it was, until Oglethorpe decided he wanted to join in. After all, if the other fairies could dance on the lily pads, held up by their wings, he could too!
Well, actually, he couldn’t. Not very well, anyway. First he hovered too high, and the draft from his wings blew several dancers off the lily pad they had been lightly dancing on. Then he landed… well, a bit too hard, and his feet splashed right through the lily pad and into the cold water underneath. Which, of course, also managed to drench several of the other fairies now huddled on the lily pad, which was tilting and threatening to collapse.
He took off again, and didn’t do too much damage in the process. Of course, all of the other fairies were now watching, and the dance was a shambles, but…
[Hum, I don’t think so… although clumsy Oglethorpe might be kind of fun… eek! No time! Alright, let’s see what else has turned up…]
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