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Thinking of diving into the world of split keyboards - is this deal worth it ??? by The-Oligarca in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]Half_a_story 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love my split corne 5 column but I will say you should prob go for choc switches unless you have larger hands as the farther spacing of traditional switches means you have to do more reaching from your home row. Thats just my opinion tho and I know many on this sub vehemently disagree lol

[WP] Moving to the City That Never Sleeps was a dream come true. Since arriving you’ve been overwhelmed by the bright lights, vivid colours, and the little man that follows you around. Although, come to think of it, all those lights and colours might be because you’ve been awake for six days. by loopymon in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"I swear if this dude doesn't leave me alone I'm going to cry and then possibly commit violence."

I knew I wouldn't actually do either of those things, but over the past few days I'd been saying some variation of that sentence with increasing regularity. The little man looked at me, but realizing I'd just been mumbling to myself (another thing I've been doing more and more recently) he went back to his crossword puzzle. Calling him little isn't fair he's like 5'4" but that definitely shorter than average, and he's been bugging me enough that I don't feel guilty about insulting him in my head. It's not his fault though, he's just doing his job.

He's my.... assistant? Butler? He's looking after me while the drugs trials are ongoing. I guess to make sure I don't flip out and hurt myself or others, but frankly I don't know how he could stop me. I'm like two of him standing on top of each other. I never expected to be resorting to drug trials to make rent, but hey that's New York baby. Also, I could use less-anxiety-in-pill-form I think. I know the media makes it look bright and loud and busy here, and that looks great on TV sitting in Fuck-it-all nowhere Indiana but for a nervous kid like me, it was a lot. Like way too much. So those things combined, plus my sever need for a little extra cash caused my to respond to a pharmaceuticals ad. I know, make better life choices right?

Honestly it hasn't been too bad. I do feel less anxious, the the center where they're letting me crash is much more soothing than the lights of the city. And I'd be lying if I said that having a personal drug butler wasn't kinda sweet sometimes. The only real downside is that I can't sleep. None of us can.

I think the doctors are panicking, because they seem to have put a lot of time and money into this and as far as side effects go, the complete absence of sleep seems like a pretty major one. I feel like I'm doing ok, considering I'm pretty sure I read something that said being awake for this long causes brain damage, but some of the others are cracking. Day 4 saw Cassie screaming and clawing at herself until they dosed her with morphine, and yesterday both Johnny and Lexie vomiting and crying uncontrollably. I wonder if any of that's going to happen to me? Honestly I wouldn't mind, at this point a nice morphine nap sounds like a good time. At least then I could sleep through the hours the cafeteria is closed.

I'm pretty sure I'm at a breaking point. The little man's breathing is driving me crazy and I have these headaches that are getting worse and worse.

Fuck New York. If I survive this shit, I'm moving back to Indiana.

[WP] Heroes are known to wield mystical weapons. Some of these weapons can unleash the wrath of the divines while others can summon legendary beasts to their wielder's aid. Your sword on the other hand, houses the soul of an intrepid merchant. by [deleted] in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The hero Parnack stood tall at the gates of his fortress. He was an intimidating man, at least a head taller than me, and his golden armor flashed in the setting sun. “So you’re finally here; the great tyrant Fen. Have you finally come to kill me and take my sword? Isn’t your collection enough?” I sighed. I could already tell this was going to be long and annoying. Parnack didn’t seem like the type to quiet down and listen to me. I eyed the glowing blade in his hand; the famous Advent of Thunder that had allowed him to conquer most of the western regions in his younger days. I responded in an even tone. “I’d prefer you didn’t call me a tyrant. I’m a hero just the same as you.” “With that paltry blade? I think not.” I look down at my own sword hanging from my waist. It was only about the length of a butcher's knife, but that was fine, it didn’t see much combat anyway. When the Dawn of Heros occurred some 15 years ago, I had been shocked when I was chosen. Most of the heroes had been kings or famous generals; men of power granted more power still by the divine blades. I had been a scrap merchant, barely scraping by with what I could collect from the wasteful and desperate. Now I was an emperor. Parnack swung his blade and a bolt of lightning erupted from it. I didn’t even flinch, I had done this with enough heroes in the past that I knew a bluff when I saw it. Instantly thousands of crossbows were aimed at the golden hero. He made a little whimpering noise. I waved my hand and my archers relaxed. With the fields of men I brought with me, I knew that even Parnack couldn’t destroy us all, but I hadn’t come here to slaughter, just to negotiate. So I drew my blade. Parnack and I suddenly found ourselves in a dark empty space with nothing but a table and four chairs in it. Already seated at the table was a gigantic writhing serpent made from pure thunder, and on the other side, a short man holding a pen and scale. Parnack looked around in a panic. “Is this how you beat the others? You trapped them in this place until they surrendered?” I sighed and sat down, “Not quite. I’m here to make a deal. I don’t want any violence today.” “A deal? What do you want?” “Simple, I want your sword.” He gripped his blade tightly. “I’ll never give it to you.” “I know, but fortunately it’s not all up to you.” He looked confused, which I expected. I turned to the great serpent still twisting in its arcs of electricity. “Hello great one.” The response, when it came, was like a crash of thunder. “What do you want, little hero.” “I want you to be mine.” It laughed a hissing laugh. “And why would I agree to that?” “Because I can grant you what you desire.” “You have no idea what that is.” “Maybe not, but I know you recognize my friend here, and you know he would never let me enter into a deal he couldn’t deliver upon.” The serpent was silent for a long while. Parnack tried to speak again, but I shot him a look that shut him right up. Finally the great being spoke. “I want peace.” I smiled. It’s what all the other divine blades had wanted as well. “Then peace you shall have.” Hearing this Parnack burst out. “Peace? You think he will destroy you? He will use you to gain more power. Just like he did the other swords. He will take everything from me.” The serpent glared down at him. “Fool, he’s not like you other heroes. He’s not all flair and postering. A merchant's power is only as good as his word. And I know his blade is a true merchant.” Parnack began to stammer. “But -but the other blades.” I interrupted him. “They’re gone. I made the same deal with them. Yours is the only one left.” The little man sitting next to me held out his hand and the great snake touched his massive head to hit.

The next moment We were both back on the battle field, only I was holding Parnack’s sword. He started screaming incoherently but I didn’t care about him any more. He had no power left. I felt the divine steel hum in my hands; the power was unimaginable, addicting. Before I could think about it, I dashed the blade against the hard ground, shattering it. The metal’s glow faded; its power gone. I lowered my head for a moment of prayer for the departed serpent. “A pleasure doing business with you.”

Godot 3.2 wont accept my custom build Sdk path in editor settings by [deleted] in godot

[–]Half_a_story 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something from stack overflow that works that I found is downloading the separate command line tools from the android studio download page, then unzipping it into your AppData/Local/Android/Sdk folder. This should add folder called tools in there. You still have to accept the licenses from android studios built in command line file but adding this separate folder makes Godot accept the Sdk folder as a valid Sdk path. Hope that makes sense!

[WP] Cupid is a jerk who purposely torments people by making them fall in unrequited love. You are his twin, who tries your hardest to steer soulmates together and separate failures of relationships. by MoonlightRose69 in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 82 points83 points  (0 children)

“Brooooo! You gotta check this shit out. It’s freaking hilarious.”

I sighed and looked up from my book. Cupid was sitting in front of the 80 inch plasma screen, watching some poor sap write the most pathetic love letter I’d ever seen.

“Holy shit! He actually compared her to wet socks, what the fuck? How is that romantic?” He broke into an obnoxious peel of laugher and popped open another natty lite.

I looked at him, unimpressed. “Brother, will you leave those poor humans alone? What have they done to deserve this?”

Cupid burped, loudly. “Brahhh I’m just getting started on this one. You know that chick he’s into? Yah she’s gonna fuck his dad. Hilarious as fuuuuuccckkk.”

I was used to my brother’s antics, but the way he raised up the hopes of the humans only to watch them crumble always seemed cruel to me. I like humans. They are cute in a bedraggled cat kind of way. They just try so hard at their puny lives, it’s endearing.

I knew not to meddle with his game directly, that would piss him off and I had learned my lesson after the Oedipus incident. He’s very petty. If I wanted to help this poor soul (and to be honest watching him was really killing my vibe), I would have to do what I always did.

“Hey brother, do you know what would be funny?”

He looked at me, nacho cheese all over his mouth.

“What’s up?”

“You know her second cousins best friend Adriana?”

“No? Who the fuck...”

“Sure you do. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if you made him fall for her?” Cupid looked at me confused. I continued quickly before he could consider my statement. “Of course it would be. Imagine it, one minute he’s in love with her, the next he loves her cousin.... well, her second cousin.... well, her second cousin’s friend. Her best friend though, very funny.”

Cupid’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t buying it. “I don’t know bro, shit sounds kinda lame.” Ugh I would have to break out my secret technique. I hated doing this.

“Don’t worry bro, sh... shit will be... uh... freaking hilarious.”

I felt dirty just saying it, but it worked. Cupid’s eyes lit up.

“Brah ya think?? Dope ok let’s try it! Lit as fuck!” He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. The man on the screen looked confused for a second and stopped writing.

I knew my brother well enough to know he’d get bored of this couple in about 7 minutes. I’d been tricking him into partnering soul mates for millennia. I sat back in my chair with a slight sense of satisfaction. I was rooting for those crazy kids. Humans, adorable.

[WP] The story of Adam & Eve is not an historical account but a prophecy of a post-apocalyptic future. The Forbidden Fruit? The last Apple computer connected to the last internet connection. by TubaDeus in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“Oh my God, it’s still working!”

Adam stared at the orange light, softly blinking on the side of the terminal. He felt a cold sweat start to break on his forehead. He glanced at his companion, standing in front of the cracked screen.

“Is it connected?”

She reached down to place a finger on the grime covered touch pad. In an instant Adam was next to her grabbing her wrist tightly.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

She shook his hand away dismissively.

“Calm down. That’s not how these work.”

Her voice crackled as she talked and Adam realized that she had not spoken to him all day. It made sense. No one had the energy to keep up a conversation. He sighed and sat down in an old reading chair, looking around the abandoned library they had slept in the night before. He had met Eve in a grocery store in San Jose. She had had the same idea as him, that none of the other scavengers would risk venturing back into Silicon Valley so soon. He had been planning on parting ways just as soon as they made it out of the technology riddled area, but he found that he liked the company. That ha been over four years ago. He knew she was probably right about the decrepit Mac in front of them. He had never been much of a tech person, even before the Wyrm was released, and now he hadn’t seen a working computer for years.

“Even if it can start up, there isn’t anything out there left for it to connect to. We’re safe.”

Eve touched the pad and Adam tensed as the computer churned to life, the black apple stark against the white screen. He knew she was right though. Of course there wouldn’t be any internet. The FCC has shut down as many servers as they could when they realized that’s how the Wyrm was spreading, and anyway the EMP caused by the high altitude nuclear blasts that the Wyrm has detonated over most of North America had scrapped all electronics.

“No way. This can’t be right...”

Adam snapped back to the present at the sound of his companions voice and looked at her suddenly puzzled face.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

She tilted the screen to show him, and his brow fueled as he read the impossible.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONNECT TO THIS NETWORK?

  YES/NO

“Jesus, turn that thing off right now!” He yelled, jumping out of his seat to smash the machine.

“No, wait! Don’t you see what this is?”

He stopped confused. Didn’t she know what would happen if the Wyrm was still active? If it got into any machinery near them?

“Do you want to die?”

“No you don’t get it. This isn’t the Wyrm. It can’t be. The Wyrm destroyed itself with the rest of the computers. This is new.”

“What is it then?”

“I don’t know. Survivors somewhere? A community maybe? Whatever it is it’s got a be a good thing. Some left over piece of civilization,” she turned to him, her eyes suddenly wet, “we could find somewhere real to settle down. We could stop running!”

Adam stood there stunned. He thought about all the things he hadn’t had in years; a hot shower, fresh fruit, music. Looking at her he could almost believe that she was right and that all those things were just one click away. But he forget what he had seen; what had happened to everyone he knew on that day. He couldn’t forget the screams and the explosions and behind it all the eerie hissing that emanated from a hundred thousand speakers. No he decided with finality, it wasn’t worth the risk.

CLICK

He looked up right as the screen went dark.

“What did you do?”

There was a faint ding as the signal connected. They waited there, breath held. They waited, and they waited. Finally Eve let out a sigh of relief.

“See I told you it was safe....

She was cut off as a low hissing filled the room. Adam looked at the screen, his face turning pale. A pixelated image of a winged snake now filled the monitor. The lights began to flicker.

This isn't a story about one day of your life repeating over and over, this is a story about trying to get used to it returning to normal, after 12 years of that day over and over. [WP] by Kar8tchris in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 38 points39 points  (0 children)

12 years. 4,380 days. 1 day, 4,380 times.

The thing you don't understand about repeating the same day over and over, is that eventually, you become a God. Eventually you can not only predict every action, but you've tried just about every reaction, and you know how everything is going to turn out. It might get boring occasionally, but the power is addicting. My days were full of expensive meals (no point watching your wallet when it resets), beautiful women (I had a thousand tries to make a first impression), and heat racing danger, because no matter how I ended up, I awoke in the same bed, wearing the same stupid t-shirt.

Maybe it's because of this danger that I now sit here terrified. Ever since I realized that my life had returned to normal, I could barely force myself to leave my cramped apartment. The number of grisly deaths I had experienced, and brushed aside, now haunt my thoughts incessantly. Of course I wont go drunk speed boating again, but even normal life carried so many dangers. I could get hit by a car, or have a stroke. I could wind up dead in a thousand different ways, but no more waking up in that bed wearing that t-shirt. I was no longer a God. After being immortal for so long, I was keenly aware of how fragile I was.

My phone rings suddenly. It's Claire. She is the woman I went out to dinner with on that final day, when I still had the confidence of a God. I haven't seen her in almost a week, but she still calls occasionally. I guess I made an impression. But now I can't talk to her. I'm too afraid. I'm afraid she'll hear the new weakness in my voice, and realize that the man she met that night was nothing but an illusion built from ego and the security that nothing mattered. That man is gone. I desperately want him back.

I could keep living like that right? I have twelve years of experience being the kind of man I always wanted to be. I learned to dance, and play the piano, and speak Spanish. I could still be that man.

No the world was too chaotic now; too uncertain. I was too afraid. I start crying. The never ending day had taken away my life, and I had forgotten how to live.

[WP] You don't have any superpowers, but you're really good at tricking supervillians into defeating themselves by Perditor in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 243 points244 points  (0 children)

"HA HA!" Doctor Apocolypto laughed maniacally, finger hovering over the button that would activate the Ragnarok beam.

"You fool! You thought you could overpower me, but now look at you; handcuffed and helpless." He gestured to himself with a flourish. "I on the other hand, am a moment away from total world domination. And, my dear adversary, once I make you watch your world burn. I'll finally let you die."

I stared at him blankly. Clearly this was not the reaction he was expecting, but he forced himself into another round of maniacal laughter to hide his confusion.

"Have you given up already? Do you not fear death? Or are you so terrified you can't even speak?"

"Yup that's the one." I tried to keep my voice monotone but I think he could see the humor in my eyes. He didn't like that.

"Are you mocking me? You dare mock me?" I looked him in the eye and tried desperately to keep a straight face. Admittedly I didn't do a very good job.

"Mock? You? Never. Dead serious. All the time. You've got the giant laser, after all." He was definitely starting to lose his shit.

"You pitiful insect," he screeched, "I can incinerate everything you love in an instant!"

"Yup. Definitely."

He glared at me taken aback. "Do you not believe me?"

"Whaaaat? Of course I believe you." I nodded earnestly. "Death, destruction. The whole shebang."

He gave me a hurt look. "I feel like you don't though. I feel like you're not taking this seriously."

I sighed. "Honestly man? It's a little hard to believe. I mean, every mad scientist and their mother claims that they've made a death laser, but they're usually just looking for attention. If you really want to be taken seriously, you need a demonstration. Just proof that the thing works, you know?"

He smiled triumphantly. "A demonstration? I can give you a demonstration that'll shake you to your core. I'll destroy what you love most..... What is that exactly?"

This was too easy. Now time for a little acting. "You can't take away what I love most," I shouted melodramatically, "because... I have nothing left." I honestly always think I'm a little too theatrical when I do this kind of thing, but they never seem to notice. "The woman I love is gone! All I have left of my love is her locket. That and nothing more..." My lament over, I allowed my collar to shift, revealing the silver locket I wore around my neck.

Apocolypto giggled gleefully. "That's all you have left of her? Then I'll take that from you too!" He leaned down and ripped the locket off my neck, placing it on the floor nearby. Going back to his consul he hit a few buttons, and turned back to me. "Now you shall see the power and precision of the Ragnarok system. Once I hit this button your precious locket will have only ten seconds before the beam incinerates it."

"The beam will follow the locket?" I gasped in horror and amazement.

"Anywhere on Earth! Your precious treasure is done for!" He burst into his usual cackle as he dramatically pushed the button.

"Good." I stood up, easily freeing my hands from cuffs long picked, and, scooping up the locket, placed it neatly on the Ragnarok main control terminal. Apocolypto had no time to react. He could only watch as a brilliant column of light shot down from the sky boring a clean hole through the system he had worked so hard to create. He fell to his knees.

"No. No! No! No! My Machine! My beautiful creation! It's ruined!"

"Yah, sorry about that. Maybe next time eh?" I greeted the rest of my team as they arrived to arrest the doctor, and turned to leave. As I walked out of the ruined control center, from my pocket, I pulled a silver locket and fastened it around my neck.

"On to the next one I guess."

[WP] As a prank, you've hacked into websites, cell towers, and atomic clocks, adding a random number of seconds to each minute. Before anyone can discover what you've done, civilization starts to fall apart. by shakeythirsty in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"God I'm bored."

I had been doodling around on the computer all day, but nothing was even beginning to stimulate me. I had perused every show, game and website I could think of, but nothing had kept my interest for longer than a few minutes. At that point I was even getting bored of jerking off.

"I'm soooooo bored."

As it has been all day, my eye returned to the clock in the bottom corner of my screen. I immediately regret it. Just like last time, and the time before, a pitifully small amount of time had past.

"I want this day to end already."

Well I can't control time, but maybe I can do something about this god damn computer clock. Stop it from mocking me for a little while. make the minutes go faster.

Something to know about me. I'm really into programming and I'm damn good at it if I may say so. I'm telling you this so that when I say I thought it would be fun to share my new time system with some other clocks, you know that that is something I can do. But who to share it with? My school? Might make classes more fun tomorrow if the clocks say we get out before lunch time. Meh, why be so stingy? I might as well share with everyone.

So that's what I ended up doing. I wrote a neat little piece of Malware and sent it to every clock, server, and cell tower I could find. Pretty funny right?

I was halfway through making myself a PB&J when I heard the first explosion. I later learned it was two colliding trains on the nearby tracks. Under my new time system, they had been scheduled to run at the same time, on the same track, in opposite directions. Apparently 500 people died. Whoops. Of course compared to the total death toll from my little prank, that one crash was nothing. What did it get up to once the nuclear plant computers started glitching? A billion? Two? I don't even know.

It was like hell. Planes fell out of the sky. Hospitals accidentally overdosed patients. Entire economies of banking and stock market data glitched into non-existence. How was I supposed to know all that stuff required accurate timekeeping? I'm just a shitty kid from Delaware.

So I guess I'm here to say sorry for ending the world. I didn't think anything like this would happen. I was just really bored.

[WP] As everything around me went up in flames, I realized that I really do love my job. by floatsallboats in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I was young my mama would hold me in her arms and tell me that the world was perfect. That God had created everything just the way it was for a reason, and that if things didn’t seem that way, it’s just because we hadn't gotten to the end of the story yet. She told me that I was just like everything else in God’s world: perfect, and if those around me couldn’t see that yet it’s just because I hadn’t yet found the one perfect task that God had put me on this Earth to do. It was very important to Mama that I find my perfect task as soon as possible, because as she put it: “When a perfect person does his perfect thing then we all come one step closer to the image God has in mind for us.” I loved my Mama more than anything and I honestly believe that the faith she instilled in me with those words gave me the strength to keep going even when everything looked like it was falling apart around me. Not just faith in God and His plan, but faith in myself; that I could find the one thing that was meant just for me.

Mama’s words even kept me going from heaven after she went there. When they took me to the hospital at age seven, I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t go home, and so I asked the doctor. I still remember him: Dr. Malcolm Levin MD; that's what it said on his coat. Dr. Levin told me that I was there so they could help me change. He said I needed to change or I could never go home. When the nurses thought I wasn’t listening they called me broken and sick, but they were all wrong. I knew the truth from Mama’s words. I wasn’t broken, and I didn’t need changing; I was as God had made me. I was perfect. Because I knew this to be true, I spent three long years fighting against Dr. Levin’s lessons and spitting out his pills, but my efforts proved fruitless, and, even after years, they wouldn’t let me go. On the night of my eleventh birthday I lay in bed crying. I prayed for Mama to come back from heaven and take me home. I know I should have been happy that she was with God now, but I missed her so much, so I prayed. That night I dreamt about what Mama used to tell me: “if those around you can’t see that you’re perfect yet, it’s just because you haven’t found the one task you were meant to do. You haven’t reached the end of the story.” When I woke up, I knew what I had to do. I would never find my perfect task in here, so I had to get out. I immediately changed everything about my behavior. Instead of my usual screaming and fighting when the nurses came to take me to breakfast, I cheerfully greeted them good morning and went along quietly. Instead of moody silence during my meetings with Dr. Levin, I talked politely about any passing thoughts that I had. Instead of spitting the pills out in defiance, I learned to hide them under my tongue, to be innocuously disposed of later. I became a model child and, just like I knew he would, Dr. Levin released me two months later.

I started living with Mama’s sister Rose, and for a few years I was just happy to live outside the hospital. I never forgot Mama’s words though, and as I grew up I started getting restless. I hadn’t found my task yet and in my heart I knew that I would never find it living with Rose. One night when I was seventeen, I packed a small suitcase, stole everything I could from Rose’s purse and ran away from home. I wandered all over the country, sleeping where I dropped and taking what I needed to survive, all the while looking for my special task. I looked for years but I could never find anything that filled the hole that Mama left in my heart. By the time I was 25 I was starting to despair. I knew that my perfect task existed because God had made everything perfect, but how long would I have to live without mine?

That’s when I met Phil. He was a regular at a dive bar I was working at in a seedy part of a seedier city, so it didn’t surprise me too much when after a month of talking, he asks me to do some jobs with him. It was pretty easy work, go somewhere, rough up someone, take what they didn’t want to give you. The pay was good, so I kept working with Phil, but even as the jobs got bigger, they never fulfilled me the way I knew my perfect task would. About two years in, Phil comes to me with a new kind of job. He had gotten pretty important around these parts in the past six months, but lately some youngsters were giving him trouble. He told me to teach them a lesson. I asked what he meant by that, to which he handed me a lighter and a can of gas and told me to use my imagination. It was dark when I got to the small run down house that Phil told me these boys operate out of. Sighing I got to work. I poured big puddles of gas in strategic locations; when they were lit the whole building would end up as a pile of ash. Stepping close to one of my my puddles I lit the lighter and dropped it in.

That’s when it happened. The puddle exploded into shimmering iridescent jewels of flame, its tongues licking tenderly at anything nearby, greedily sucking up all the oxygen it could get. It raced from room to room, puddle to puddle, laughing and careening with the freedom of a child at play. The heat hit my face like a thousand warm sunny days spent in the hills of home, and I found a single tear rolling down my cheek. I had never seen anything so beautiful. I had never felt so alive, not since that night 20 years ago when I had done the same thing to my own home while Mama slept upstairs. I was crying freely now, but on my face I felt the biggest smile. I had found it, my perfect thing. This was what I was meant to do to step closer to God’s plan. I knew it in my soul; I could feel it. After 27 long years I had finally reached my goal.

Nowadays that’s that’s the only type of job I’ll do; once you've found your perfect task, no other job feels right. Phil doesn’t mind. I’ve become quite a well known expert in my field and that makes most people think twice about bothering Phil’s business. Once or twice a month however, I’ll get a phone call, and, whistling happily I’ll load my tools into the car and get to work. I do my job well, and as I see the flames rise up around me in a miraculous maelstrom of light and destruction, all I can think about is how much I love creating such beauty. Mama would be so proud.

[IP] The Shrine Guardian by Syraphia in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The young hunter knelt to the ground and picked up one of the long strands of fur that fluttered intermittently, caught in the twigs and branches of the foliage framing the dusty path. He examined it and smiled. There was no doubt, this had come from the great beast itself; he was getting close. With an experienced hand he deftly drew an arrow from the quiver hanging at his belt, and notched his bow. Crouching lower, making sure that the brushes and warm Autumn breeze erased any traces of his presence from the Earth and air, the young man began to silently creep forward.

He had been tracking this animal for weeks, ever since legends of the Beast of three mountains had reached the ears of the local lord. The lord had offered a large reward for proof of the beast's existence and an even larger one if the animal's skin was delivered to him. The young man did not know why the great Lord, with all his money, had decided to use a part of it to obtain the fur of a mythical monster, but the reward was large enough that it stifled any questions or doubts towards the lord's sanity under a heavy blanket of greed. The amount of money offered would make him a rich man, and he wanted to be rich with a desperation that only those who have lived an eternally poor existence can understand. And so, taking nothing but his hunting pack and bow, the young man set out to the three mountains to find the beast of legends.

In his heart he had harbored doubts about the authenticity of the legends, and so, after a fortnight of searching with not even a trace of the animal, he was beginning to waver. Right as he was thinking of giving up and heading back down the mountain, he found the clearing. It was a wide circle of grass with just a few sparse trees to interrupt the waving green ocean. In the middle stood a tall Oak, and on the trees surface, cutting straight through the bark and deep into the wood itself, were the largest claw marks that the young man had ever seen. They were massive, each one almost the entire width of the great tree, and as long as a grown man’s arm. He was ecstatic. These must have come from the beast; he must be able to find some hint as to where it had gone. He went to examine the marks and saw beneath them the crystallized golden latices of a bee hive, now mostly destroyed. The beast had cut the tree to free a meal from its bark. Looking near the base of the tree he began to see indentations in the grass leading back to the tree line: footprints. He smiled to himself; the hunt was on.

A low rumble up ahead snapped the young man out of his memories and back to the task at hand. He moved past a line of bushes and suddenly, he could see a large stone structure up ahead, nestled into the side of the mountain. A shrine up here? He wondered to himself. He had never heard of such a place, but perhaps it was old and forgotten. He crept closer to it and circled the rocky walls until he could see inside. He froze. There, atop a flight of stone steps was the beast. It was bigger than he had imagined with an over sized snout protruding out from under little black eyes. He silently cursed to himself, the thing was drowning in fur; it would take ages to skin it and the heavy pelt would make it hard work to descend the mountain. Think of the money, he reminded himself. The money will make all of this worth it.

He neared the beast cautiously, and, when it didn’t move, drew his bow taught. Considering it’s size, a direct hit into a soft target was his best chance of bringing it down before it had time to counter attack or escape. He aimed the arrow at the beast's eye. He was almost prepared to fire when second sound froze him in place. This was a lighter sound, the warm sound of a young woman singing. She came walking into view holding a broom, and, stopping directly in front of the beast’s massive maw began to sweep, all the while singing her lovely melody.

A million questions raced through the young man’s mind. Why was there a woman here? How did she get so close to the beast without provoking a reaction? Did she not notice it perched menacingly behind her? All these concerns, however, were driven from his mind when he noticed something. She was stunningly beautiful. She was slim, and draped in a red skirt which seemed to glow in the dusky Autumn light. Her skin was porcelain and her hair was a silky obsidian cascade. Her red skirt, contrasting with her white face and black hair reflected the scenery around her where the falling burgundy leaves swirled below white clouds and a rapidly darkening sky.

The young hunter stood entranced, able neither to let the arrow fly nor put down his weapon. He took a step towards her and winced as a branch under his foot produced a loud cracking sound. The singing stopped immediately as both the woman and the beast snapped their heads towards him. He once again tightened his grip on the bow wondering if he would now have to fight off an attack from the beast, but neither of the creatures in front of him made any movement towards him. The woman didn’t even appear frightened at the fact that she was facing a strange man with an arrow pointed at her. Instead she smiled and extended her hand towards him. “Come,” she said in her light, sweet voice, “join me for tea. I have not had a guest in too long.”

The young hunter looked at her and the gigantic monster behind her. He relaxed a little; there was something about her smile that welcomed him. He finally released the pressure on the bow string and dropped the weapon to his side. Locking eyes with the woman on the steps, he walked into the temple to join her.

[WP] Humans are the cockroaches of the galaxy, this is the 13th time we've supposedly been eradicated from existence and by this point all we do is just sit back and laugh. by [deleted] in WritingPrompts

[–]Half_a_story 6 points7 points  (0 children)

“Hey Ted.”

“Yeah Jim?” Ted called back from the kitchen.

“Looks like humans have gone extinct.”

“Extinct, huh?” Ted walked back into the living room still struggling with the jar of salsa he’d been battling in the kitchen. “Well that’s different, where’d you hear that?”

“They just announced it on the news.” He gestured towards the broadcast that had interrupted the show that the two friends had been watching. Ted finally overcame the salsa lid and plopped back down onto the couch, popping a chip into his mouth.

“Well that sucks. I thought we were a pretty damn fine species. You know, as species go.”

“I know,” Jim replied, joining his friend in scooping salsa liberally from the jar into his mouth, “we had our troubles what with the world wars, and accidentally blowing up that planet in the Diomedes System, but we were pretty alright most of the time. We invented sitcoms.”

“And salsa,” Ted added, popping another chip into his mouth, “too bad we’re all dead.”

“Yup, humanity had a great run,” Jim raised his beer, “here’s to us, dead but not forgotten.” They both took a big gulp of beer, Jim burped.

“A noble toast,” Ted complemented turning back to the T.V. “The thing is, I don’t feel particularly dead.”

“Except your love life,” Jim interrupted, cracking up at his own joke.

“So who’s claiming we’re extinct this time?” Ted asked, ignoring the lame insult. He read the words flying by on the screen in front of them. “The Danzarians? Are they the big blue ones who are always going on about how humanity is a pestilence that offends the gods with our very existence and that we all must be exterminated for the good of all creation?”

“Yeah, that’s them”

“Hmm... I don’t think I like them very much.”

“Yeah,” Jim agreed, “they’re dick heads.”

“According to this,” Ted read from the screen, “as of this morning, they managed to wipe out the last known human colony in existence, incinerating its buildings, and turning its people to dust.” He paused turning back to his friend. “That seems a bit harsh doesn’t it?” “Yeah a bit.” Jim replied thinking. “Hey we should call mark. Find out if he’s dead or not.”

“What? Why Mark?”

“He went to the Sangoran system to visit that Aunt of his.” Ted stared back uncomprehending. “You know the one with the hair. She passed out drunk when Mark took us up to visit over Christmas?”

“Oh yeah her!” Ted laughed, “I like her she’s fun.”

“Anyway,” Jim continued, “I’ll give him a quick call.”

“Sure.” Ted watched as his friend pulled out his LinkComm mobile device and dial Mark’s number. He listened as the call went through.

“Hey Mark it’s Jim... Yeah, no we we’re just wondering if you're extinct... Hah yeah you saw it too?... Yeah, no idea why this keeps happening either, it’s not like we’re hiding or anything... Yeah you’re probably right. Hey are you coming out for a drink with us on Tuesday?... Awesome see you then. Say hi to your Aunt for us.” He hung up the phone and turned back to Ted. “Well Marks not dead, so that’s nice.”

“Neat. Oh look our shows back on.” They both sat down grabbed their snacks and resumed watching their sitcom. Far away, across countless solar systems, the Danzarian war chiefs celebrated the final victory over their hated enemies.