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Thranguy posted:Thunderdome Week CCCCXXIX: A Space Wizard Did It I’ve never participated in one of these before and I haven’t written fiction in literal years so it’s going to be absolute garbage but in. Also flash please. I hope I did this right and this is the correct week, the Halloween stuff threw me
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Oct 23, 2020 00:58
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 22:05 |
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Quite frankly I think everyone involved in that fight should also make their stories have no verbs, see how much THEY like it I am also now realizing that postcolonial literature is not a good thing for me to attempt because I know absolutely nothing about the subject or important literature in that field and it does not seem like a smart one to just jump into so I am going to quietly skirt around that as much as possible.
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Oct 23, 2020 02:44
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I said I wasn’t a good writer I don’t know what to tell you
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Oct 23, 2020 18:12
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“Excuse me, would you be interested in a timeshare on Callisto?” Words: 976 “Excuse me, would you be interested in a timeshare on Callisto?” I hate this job. There’s a million jobs on Jupiter and I get stuck in this godforsaken Blimposphere trying to sell tourists a lifetime commitment to one of several dozen dead moons. No one ever wants one, of course, and I can’t blame them, but that’s never stopped us from trying. Any of us. The moment visitors arrive here on Callisto, thousands of people crammed into a blimp and launched from the surface of Jupiter, they’re shuffled down a hallway full of cramped kiosks and guys like me desperately trying to convince them that they can’t possibly live without whatever dumb poo poo we’ve been instructed to sell them. Could be worse, I suppose. Three kiosks down, someone’s selling “authentic laser weaponry” and despite his best efforts, there're at least six deaths a week from people insisting on trying them out. Still not sure why he’s selling real weapons but tourists love ‘em. There’s supposed to be dampening fields in here to prevent laser fire but they broke years ago and no one’s bothered to come fix them. This isn’t the most popular ‘sphere on the planet and it’s rarely worth the effort for some of the planetside guys to fix anything, especially because you have to take a blimp to get here. I don’t put much effort into this job anymore, at least not as much as I used to. Usually I just sit and watch people walk by, wondering how it got to this. *** When I was a boy, I was always told that the universe was full of endless possibilities. New planets discovered every day, endless new frontiers to explore. Stories of space wizards and grizzled, intrepid explorers pillaging ruins and saving alien damsels in distress. “Each planet a new adventure!” Enormous forests blanketing the surface of Mercury, warring tribes fighting under twin suns on a distant desert planet, sprawling underwater civilizations below the oceans of Neptune. I always dreamed of being one of those explorers. Sure, there’s a lot of them already. But if there’s an endless number of planets, who’s to say there isn’t room for one more? Hell, that’s what my dad did and what his dad did. But when my dad wanted to settle down and start a family, technology grew and advanced much faster than I did, and by the time I was old enough to consider it, there wasn’t much left within reach to actually discover. When you’re a kid, no one really talks about what happens AFTER these new, bold frontiers are explored. There’s only so much pillaging you can really do, and once a planet or moon or whatever has been discovered, people just move on to the next one. The lucky planets are left alone because there wasn’t much happening there, but god forbid some cool poo poo was found there once because as soon as word gets out, it’s going to turn into a tourist hellhole. It’s happened countless times and it’s what happened on Callisto. There isn’t much even happening on the moon anymore, honestly. A century ago, they found some kind of religion or cult or something living in some of the tunnels in the moon. By all accounts it wasn’t really a particularly successful cult. But it was enough to get the attention of some of the bigger tourism agencies and once they got a hold of the story they were quick to spin it enough to whip people into a frenzy. “The Death Cult Tunnels of Callisto” became a popular tourist attraction. The fact that there’s almost nothing here but craters didn’t stop anyone. Now the entire moon’s just sprawling metropolitan complexes full of hotels and timeshares and novelty gift shops and people like me shoved into tiny boxes in crowded hallways. The closest I get to exploring the cosmos is staring out the window at night. They say the universe is infinite, but it’s never felt smaller. *** “Excuse me, would you be interested in a timeshare on Callisto?” For once someone actually stops in front of me. “Brrrrbl pppp borlp *plop burp*” The worst part of translation implants is that you still hear the native language before it’s translated and Neptunian sounds like someone bobbing for apples in a thick custard. The older translation models take a few seconds to fully translate so I just have to stare at the tourist’s wet, wet face. “I don’t know what that is, I’m here for the guns and the cult tunnels.” Yep, that tracks. I motion with my thumb to the gun kiosk and zone out again. Moments later I hear muffled shouts and more Neptunian, interspersed with cries of fear. Before I can really react, my implant flares up, finally translating. “Don’t touch me, I know how guns wor-“ I hear the shots ring out before the sentence finishes, and I feel a warmth bloom in my chest. An almost comforting warmth. I’m pretty sure that guy just shot me, but I really, really hope he didn’t. The warmth has started to warp into a numb pulsing, and I’m starting to lose feeling in my hands. He definitely shot me. I can hear other sounds now, mainly yelling. Someone’s telling me to hold on, and someone else is calling for help. It’s too late now but I’m glad they’re trying. I hear more Neptunian and pray I die before it’s translated. As my vision starts to darken and blur, my thoughts drift back to space. Maybe I missed my chance to make my mark on the galaxy, but who knows? Maybe there’s new frontiers on the other side, mine for the taking. That thought fills me with a final bit of happiness as I take my last breath, but not before my translator whispers the last thing I’ll ever hear. “Can I still see the tunnels? I bought a day pass.”
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Oct 26, 2020 06:44
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That was fun, hopefully mine was at least palatable. Didn’t get a DQ so that’s a good sign. I’ll ask the fiction advice thread for ways to improve but if you have any critiques I’d also appreciate them.
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Oct 27, 2020 19:59
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in and vaguely concerned
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Oct 27, 2020 23:06
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Christ this is going to be a weird week Alright I’m changing mine to a  please give me four more tia mr rex
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Oct 28, 2020 04:07
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oh christ i forgot about this and it was a toxx i have failed you glorious ruler tyrannosaurus, please make my death swift and/or toss me in the body pit, whatever is appropriate
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Nov 2, 2020 06:27
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make it quick and painless, im sorry i failed you also before im killed for the word blood gods, some clarification. i assumed a new prompt was posted by the winner of the previous prompt but a new one was posted before the old one was even critted, why's kloc making a new prompt? not that im complaining that's a solid prompt and if i return ill join it and definitely not toxx this time
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Nov 2, 2020 18:19
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in, i will have to rereg soon i suspect but im posting now to be safe i know better than to toxx now so i definitely won't do that this time but i'm not a coward, haunt me (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
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Nov 2, 2020 22:33
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This is the best prompt I’ve seen in this thread, I’m dying. I would like to be the LUCKY (second) SUMMONER please.
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Nov 3, 2020 21:36
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Well, you've convinced me. I will pay 100 words to drink water and more importantly NOT drink whatever the hell the Pardoner's been drinking.
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Nov 4, 2020 09:26
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C8 please
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Nov 5, 2020 05:06
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 22:05 |
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Yes hello mister hedge magician, please cure me of my tarot reading, preferably without killing me.
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Nov 6, 2020 21:14
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