Challenge #01676-D215: Starter Fuel
The morning cup of coffee, the snack brought from the little shop nearby, whatever gets you going in the morning. – Anon Guest
It was a booth called, Eat Drink Good Morning and there was one strategically placed in all the tram stops near residential areas. According to the advertising on its exterior, it boasted “everything you need to start your day”.
Shayde decided to put that to the test. Besides, she’d had a horrible night and needed her variety of pick-me-up. Not the all-nighter special. She’d had that exactly once when she was fourteen and woken up in hospital a week later.
“What will it be, Ambassador?” said the server at the counter.
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Challenge #01670-D209: Incident at the Old Mating Grounds
Lizards attract mates differently, no flowers etc. So, how do the Amalgam lizards court? One of the local species here climbs to a prominent spot, poses and nods. – Anon Guest
They called it Crestflare Bridge, and it had an unparallelled view of the Free Table Vendor area below. Tradition held that the tables would never have shaded covers. Because the females of assorted lizard species liked looking on the displaying males as they cruised between vendors.
Even now, centuries after the years when only reptiles and saurians walked the corridors of Amalgam Station, the railings of Crestflare Bridge are kept clear of all but those seeking to impress a mate. Thusly, all the buskers, mimes, and illusionists plying their trade on that bridge are not only single, but also seeking a mate.
Most will even wear some form of signal to indicate what sort of mate they’re looking for.
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Challenge #01663-D202: Conceptual Difficulties
Defying the Gods is an age-old tradition. How well it WORKS depends on who’s telling it… – @recklessprudence
“We’re having difficulty understanding this,” said Sherlock.
“I sympathise,” said Rael. “I’m having difficulty understanding it myself, and I was there to witness it.”
“We have the footage and the audio, of course,” Sherlock played it on one of his multiple screens. “She had a permit for incense and steam[1]. What was she doing with them?”
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Challenge #01643-D182: High-level Negotiations
Do you ever get the feeling that (God/the Gods) (has/have) a plan? And you’re the only one who can stop it? – @recklessprudence
Of all the forces of the multiverse, none is more terrifying than a being with the Gods on their side. They are unstoppable, indomitable, and irrevocable. And of all the beings in the multiverse, none are more pitiable than the ones the Gods merely use as a tool.
And when one comes against the other…
Shayde faced the Archdivine of Q'kexx'l across the remains of the battlefield. Thanks to the alleged gods who were using her, she was an equal to him in power and strength. He could call down lightning, she could absorb it and turn it against him. After an hour of lightning ping-pong, the shot went wild and blasted some poor peasant’s crops into an inferno.
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Challenge #01630-D169: Can’t Eat Just One
It is so hard to eat just one peanut or popcorn. – Anon Guest
The humans had a word for it. They had a word for lots of things. This one was ‘more-ish’. As opposed to ‘moorish’, which meant 'a human with darker skin, usually originating from a specific area of the largest continent in the northern hemisphere’, this one meant that the person eating the thing found it so tasty that they wanted… more.
One such food, easily digested even by Havenworlders, was popcorn. A simple carbohydrate that, shorn of it’s aggressively hard shell, could be an easy food for anyone and everyone. The additions, however, were as wide and varied as the consumers. It is wise, therefore, for a cogniscent to sample flavoured popcorns before dedicating themself to a Minute Bucket.
Shayde had no such cautions. She had travelled much of Earth in her youth, and possessed the sort of curiosity that had her treading into places that gave the angels nightmares. Case in point, this particular concession booth called Eat Simple Food in one of the lower gravity sections of the Elemeno.
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Challenge #01628-D167: Honey Trap
When stepping into a Gods domain, enter as the supplicant or as something greater than a God. Never as a conqueror, Gods take a deep and personal delight in casting down challenges to their authority. – @recklessprudence
We apologise for the inconvenience, said the words in her head. We must quarantine you from reality as you know it.
After ten years of bouncing from reality to reality, the being who called herself Shayde had to wonder what these superior powers were up to. She opened her eyes and saw white. White fog on white ground against white architecture and blazing white skies. She squinted against the glare.
Shayde placed her palm on the white ground and tried to push herself up. It looked like cotton wool, but it felt… sticky. And weirdly warm. And unpleasantly moist. Some of it was soaking through her clothing. It was a struggle to sit up, and when she did, for a brief fraction of a second, the moisture on her clothing looked like a red so dark it could almost be black. But then she blinked and more white invaded her vision. It looked like white paint. But there was something wrong about it.
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Challenge #01611-D150: Two Birds
“HOW?”
“You know, I learned a long time ago that if you say that in any matter relating to [Person], if you even get an answer it will probably lead to more questions.” – @recklessprudence
They used to say, “if a problem’s big enough, the Glunk will take care of it” on Amalgam Station. As a hostile biohazard, it was unique in the known universe. For a start, it was the only known biohazard in civilisation that counted as its own district.
People had been trying to get rid of it for centuries. And now Rael was watching through a regulated viewing window as… Shayde’s sheep wandered about and grazed on large portions of it.
They were a relic of a multi-dimensional bubble, had a negligible relationship with gravity, and gave bright purple, non-allergenic wool. They were also -as one might expect- hard to explain to the casual tourist. But now all four of them were inside the contained area that housed the Glunk, and none of the alarms had been tripped.
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Challenge #01603-D142: Eat Snax
“Fat grubs in butter sauce.” this was from a Lizard culture’s idea of Snack Food. Humans have popcorn, crisps, peanuts etc. So how about one of those Snack Food van equivalents that caters to various species, and make a good living thereby. – @knitnan
Eat Snax the sign blared in potentially noxious colours. Underneath, a more staid sign discreetly told the observant that this was a suggestion and not an order. Inside the ludicrously small booth, a popcorn popper was doing its work whilst someone in a cardboard hat was deep frying something. Another nauseatingly loud sign declared that, Unsuitable Food was sold here.
“What d'ye think?” said Shayde.
Of course she’d invest in something like this. The concept of small meals between actual ones was nothing new. Neither was the notion of empty calories. Putting them together in an easy access booth would either explode in unforeseen ways, or become another civilisation-wide hit that would soon get to everywhere. “It’s very… ‘you’,” he allowed.
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Challenge #01597-D136: T’s and Switch
It is not really rocket science unless there has been at least one unplanned explosion.
(Alt version)
It is not really rocket science unless there has been at least one rapid unscheduled disassembly. – @recklessprudence
Katie could easily learn to hate the summer monthly T-Shirt Days. Hackmeyer kept ogling her boobs. Well. Where something boob-like was still forming. She was fifteen, and the last time she’d been forced to go along with T-Shirt Day, she wore her age with the subtitle, Don’t even think about it. Which had earned her a talking-to by the Dean because Hackmeyer had complained.
Today’s Tee had a more witty quote. It’s not really rocket science unless there’s been at least one unplanned explosion. She got to wear it for a sum total of five hours before the Dean saw fit to lecture her about the ‘inappropriate language’. She politely asked about the fellow she’d seen with the Show me your melons T-Shirt and got promptly seen out of the office.
Gotta love the Boys Club. There were no other options.
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Challenge #01596-D135: The Little Touches
the stuff every JOAT needs, and of course the Bargain Bin. – @knitnan
It was one of those poky little storefronts that one could swear entered into another dimension. The ones with more depth than they rightfully should have had, and surprise extra levels with staircases and shelving designed by Escher. It was called simply Things and every JOAT browsed there at least once a day.
Inside was organised chaos. JOATs could do things with paperclips and ductape that no other cogniscent dared to try, but there was also a certain kind of allure that attracted JOATs to the place. The store carried the strange, the unusual, the assortments of odd things that JOATs and jackdaws alike found irresistible.
The stuff that demonstrated a concept. The stuff that could be disassembled and reconfigured. The stuff to store culch in. The things made for one purpose that could, nevertheless, be turned to other purposes that the original creator never intended.