Prompts and story blurbs.

[Q]

Random short ideas from dreams or otherwise. Just some place to put them.

Scenes and descriptions are written so as to describe what happened here, not to tell the story. They may be fleshed out later.

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Scene 1:
Everyone is frantic and nervous, rushing around trying to do something. One person stands in the middle of the group, the nervous seeming to radiate off him/her an into the rest of the group.

"We have to do something quickly." He/she says. His (for sake of brevity will be referred to as 'he' from now on) back is covered with what look like open spiky wounds, concntrated around the sholders. It looks both horrific, necrotic and painful.

Suddenly, someone breaks off from the gruop and takes a look at his sholder. He dismissies it as normal, its a routine checkup. This person pauses and then replies in dismay, (The wing's growth looks like some sort of blood feather coming out of the pus filled spikes/disgusting growths)
"We're too late, you're beginning to grow wings."

The first person looks striken, this is not a good thing. "Is there anything we can do?"

"If we stop them as quickly as possible, we might be able to prevent you from joining them."

"And if not?"

"Then you will endure centuries of agony as the wings grow and you become a demon just like them."

(As far as I can tell the agony of the wings growing drives the person mad and they become a 'demon.' You get wings by doing certian types of deeds in relation to the demons. Aka act like them eventually become them. As for the rest, the dream stoped before I could see more. The main character did NOT want the wings to grow.)

Description 2: (Different setting)
World has some sort of magic system based on glowing white quartzlike crystals called 'ferro-crystals.' The crystals only glow when in contact with a source, coudl be a person with certian talents or something else. If a person has talents they are aligned with a specific 'element' like Air, Water etc.

A source can manupliate the crystal slightly, and use the specific trait associated with the 'element' they are aligned to. Elements are based on body not on spirit.

Air-body switching(one way only of course)
Scene:
The two main characters come acrosss a scene between bookcases in some open steampunkish/(crystal fantasy based) library. There is a tall thin man who just knocked dowm someone and is threatening him with a weapon. This weapon is glowing white crystal that has a glowing ball in the palm and sharp pointed crystals growing out of the fingertips of his hand (yes IN the hand).

The person looks up from his 'work', the victem is already incapacitated/dead, and takes notice of the two main characters.

"Oh so you have one, too? And Water? That would be far more useful to my line of work than Air." The man points his glowing hand (the one with the weapon) at one of the mains, then there is a blinding pulse of light, and the one main shoves the other down.

The man is lying back on the ground looking confused, and repeating "What?!" over and over.

The first main runs off, one hand glowing.

[Q]

Also, if you have writers block, try taking the lyrics of a song and writing a story based off them. NOT a song fic. If you do, don't post the song right away (maybe the artist) and we'll see if we can guess the song if you want.

Disturbed is good if you want action, btw.

[Wolves_Cry]

must resist... must work on RR post, must not ignore homework....

[Q]

Okay random idea:

Why are babies so facinated by the fact that they have hands?
Story solution: reincarnation concepts carried over in the unmatured brain. Perhaps story about someone whose perceptions of the previous (non-human) life never really fade..and expand on that. (Note: mannerisms are okay..abilities are not.)

Additional possibility: Possible near death experience causes partial reincarnation, with the spirit/soul (depending on how you view it) being in two places at once. However if one dies they both die.

Third possibility: The child it 'overshadowed' at a young age by and energy based being attempting to hide from something. The two merge with slight changed in personality and the constant feeling tthat their body is alien/strange/facinating.

[Q]

A few more ideas:

Viruses and schizophrenia:
So new studies have shown that Schizophrenia is likely caused by a retrovirus rewriting the 'junk' parts of your DNA (Scientific American) So what if the voices people hear are the voices of the virus. Include genetic memory, etc. (I swear I have read a sci-fi book similar to this premise. 'The one becomes the many becomes the One.' It was about virus' from space trying to engineer a host by driving evolution.)

Waking up dead--I keep using this phrase. So why not make a story out of it. Zombie, ghost, or something else(not necessarily dead or undead).
Alterntively, you wake up as someone else (and perhaps read an obituary of yourself or not).

Lucid dreaming--So lucid dreaming makes you basically a god in the dream world. So what if you have a scenario where a person is lucid dreaming on a regular basis and the abilities start to carry over to the waking world.

[Q]

This is interesting: www.arcdream.com/monsters/index.php

[Wolves_Cry]

you make my head go boom!

perception really messes with my head, like what if you were in a coma and dreamed out the rest of your life, influened maybe by what you sense in your real form, but thats really it, kind of like an alarm going off in a dream when its really your alarm clock.
not so much an idea, just a thought really

[Q]

Crack idea:
Person so used to backstabbing, backstabs self.
WTH, I don't even know.

[Q]

Once is happenstance.
Twice is circumstance.
Three times is enemy action.

[Wolves_Cry]

a red line on a calendar separating one week from another. Don't know why, but that image was one I woke up with...

[Q]

Alright, this one is from a dream last night:

First things first, I need to explain the TYPE of dream it was. On occasion I get these repeating dreams. Now for me, repeating dreams do NOT mean having the same dream over and over, butt rather to run through the dream once as a 'this is what should/might/has happened' and then a reset to the beginning of the scenario as a 'now lets see what you do' where I usually proceed to mess things up.

First time through was a bleak dank wasteland with perpetually red sky, smog like, so a seeming twilight everywhere. Like a last sunset on a dead world. There are no trees, and the only life really remaining are two humans and a pigeon with 5 eggs. Time jumps to the near future from that scene as the pigeon has died and the humans take care of the last life remaining before succumbing themselves. The pigeon babies hatch and grow up and the humans die.
I guess the message was, you need to save the eggs to save any chance of life, blah blah blah. (Dream logic fails as there were few bugs and no seeds for the birds.)

Now it cuts to my 'turn,' which seems to be just at the cusp of where everything goes wrong. The sky is still red although perhaps more orangish. the clouds are black but not with rain, and there are these lens like contraptions hanging in thy sky to collect as much solar power as possible to fuel the dying world.

So things end up that I go to this corporation to try and figure out just what is going on. Something there pissed me off, and so the dream becomes a battle ground. I go running through the facility at top speed wiping out any corporate people or the gun toting bodyguards with a wave of my hand and saying the word 'WIPE', and watching as they dissolve out of existence.

It then goes to a sort of spy movie, mafia, type thing as I run around taking out the guards and trying to find this specific laptop hard drive while avoiding capture.

The commands were in different colors for different types and as far as I can tell you can only use one color at at time (or perhaps ever, although i did use three specific colors) The commands MUST be said aloud or sub-vocalized. And no I do not know how to change color:
YELLOW 'commands.' (as far as I can tell, only one person at a time, although the commands execute fast)
It includes: '/n' which is just a marker,
'null' which is either a marker or ensures that the person won't be a threat
'CLEAR' which turns the person into a human vegetable, it 'clears' their mind
'WIPE' erases a person from existence
there is probably also a restore, but it may not be a yellow command

BLUE commands:
I don't really know too much about these except that they are fast, are very powerful and can hit multiple targets. the commands are similar to the yellow ones.

GREEN commands:
The support commands. Perhaps involving transport or shields or something. Might actually be the item commands for storage.

I don't know what qualities are needed to use these, or if there are more than the three colors. I do know that it wasn't unique to just me/my character in the dream, although the BLUE commands were unique to one person(not me, and its pretty self explanatory just who they did belong to. If you have to ask, think of what TYPE the commands are).

[Q]

www.archive.org/details/ird059
Just listen.

Some good ones to listen to are:
7
13
51
61
74
75
135
136

[Q]

Dream:
-people are living on a university like campus/boarding school. All have a strange membrane grwoing from their back, kiteshaped. The diamond points extend over the shoulders, starting from just under the shoulder blades. THe membrane attackes along the spine, and tapers to a point just above the waist. From that point, 3-5 tendrils of this membrane, about 2-3 inches wide eack, grow. Length is about 3 or 4 feet.

-At a certian age/time, around 18 years, a strange thing happens, sudddenly there is a rush of something felt through the body, and then afterwards that person can fly (presumably using the dinky kite wings). After this insident, these people usually 'graduate'.

-This university is being overseen by someone, who does not have these wing things. He is selling, or hiring out these people to other places, as (slaves, mercinaries, research, , legit things?)

-He knows what is causing these people to have this ability, and sometimes extra ones. It is unique to this area, and something someone introduced at somepoint.

-Extra abilities: fusing things together to make something whole in that shape, bringing life to things, extra flying strength(carry others)

-The instant when people get their abilities is described as the single most amazing moment, and they will never feel something like it ever again. It is like a full body connection with the universe for a single instant.

[Q]

Here are some good ones: www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html

[Feathers]

Master Spy
There are a group of peoples called Master Spies. Each kingdom and providence has them. Instead of wars and battles, the royalty plays games with the spies. Only the ruler knows the Master Spy’s true identity, when conflicts take place between kingdoms, the master spies are sent to assassinate each other. The first one who’s identity is uncovered is usually the first to die. The kingdom who owns the spy who wins, essentially wins the battle.

When meetings involving many kingdoms take place all of the Master spies go with their king and stand by them. They are allowed to wear masks and baggy clothing to attempt to hide their identity, but they have to be there.

[Q]

Hello random dream:

There are people that are cursed to take on a small mostly helpless animal form once night falls. They get a warning feeling near dusk and then sometime after that they succumb to the curse. The typical animal forms are small and easily contained and the person recalls little of being in that form. Examples of forms are insects, small lizards and at least one fish. While in animal form teh person remembers their identity but is partially ruled by animal instincts, memories upon waking feel dream like. When being transformed, the main goal it to be somewhere safe and hidden as most are helpless in their alternate forms.

In addition to having this curse, these people are able to see hidden things, such as places, people and the golem that carries out the curse. When a person is cursed, a golem arrives and places a loop of what looks like twine or string about their neck. That person is then cursed with a random form that takes effect at night. A person previously cursed can see this golem and attempt to stop the curse from being placed. This is done by having the loop of string/twine be placed around the golem's neck.

There is one case where a person does not have a helpless animal form. This person was experimented on in an attempt to make a battle form. The experiment was a partial success. This person has the alternate form of a rattlesnake, but 10% of the time becomes a dragon instead. Also if under attack near the transformation time, the person can shift from snake to dragon. Too long afterward and the form is locked in for the night. The same rules apply, however, and the person is mostly ruled by instincts. The dragon is wingless and looks similar to an oriental style dragon. it can breathe fire.

In a futuristic scenario, just after dusk the person's DNA signature shifts before the transformation, meaning trackers of preferences or locations do not register them as the same person. This is a key warning that the transformation will begin with the next 30-40 minutes.

[Wolves_Cry]

Wrote this about two years ago and forgot about it so imgonna post it because I can!~ not my normal cup of tea.

Bus (working title)

Chilling winds brought driving rain in from the north, it pounded against my window, and loud angry harsh howls filled the sill room. Everything was cold but the gold my hand, which felt like it was still molten.

My mother is saying something to me; I raise my gaze from the muddy pit where a wood box holds the battered corpse of my belated husband. It seems all the mourners have left; they paid their respects, left flowers for an empty husk pumped full of preservatives and prettied up like a wax doll to be on display. They fled from the cold winter rains, retreated to wrap themselves in pastel warmth, flee from the dampened world of drab earth tones. I realize that I dropped my umbrella; I bend to pick it up when my mother’s sharp voice pulls my attention to full alert.

“They can’t bury him until we leave” she says, holding out her hand, a jester used to tell a child that it was time to leave, I didn’t even have to take it, I could walk to her, she would put it on my arm, my cheek, my hand, a sign of comfort from one widow to another. So I went to her and I am not sure why, I am certain my brain didn’t tell my body to move, but it did. I walked with her watched the last few backs of mourners step past iron wards, slip into vehicles and drive off, far off, with a loved one to keep them warm and leaving me with their mummers.

“Such a tragic accident,” They whisper,

“It killed seventeen others.”

“That rain fall just made the roads a death trap.”

“Poor thing, he didn’t stand a chance.”

I look at my mother, age etched itself deep into her profile, she looked almost as fake as my husband did at the viewing, I wonder how near death stood to her, will there be another funeral in these cold days? How horrible I am thinking like that. My mother is in front of me, I walk slowly because my heals keep sinking into the saturated earth. Her back is so small; I can hear her aged bones groan.

I am driving, she sits beside me, talking again, I look in the rear-view mirror, Widow looks back. I realize that I haven’t cried yet today, have I cried at all? My brown eyes look tired but sober, griefless, I must look like a heartless wife, and maybe I am. A Greyhound squeals to an ear splitting stop not far from the cemetery where my husband lays to rest. I briefly consider getting out and flagging it down, Mother is talking again.

“Why was Jake on a bus heading to Chicago?” She asked bluntly, age does nothing to nosiness, just constraint. I don’t answer right away.

He smiles at me, bag in hand; he is telling me that even big boys need time off. I laugh; I will be lonely for this weekend, cold without his warmth shared, but glad that he is going to have fun. I drive him to the bus stop, it’s raining so he tells me to not wait out there for him. I do anyway. Shimmering lights illuminate the youth in his face. I kiss him, tell him I love him and to have fun. He kisses me back, pulls away, I watch the door close, him take his seat. The bus lurches and coughs, rolls then drives, he waves, smiling still.

My mother is talking; I should have taken the bus.

Stranger is yelling at my husband, a stranger in my shoes. This Stranger has been invading on our happy home for some time now, picking fights. My husband is getting irritated, Stranger keeps yelling, he yells back. He knocks his blue mug off the counter in his anger, shattering scars Stranger away for now. I am crying.

My coworker has flowers, a sincere concern on her face. “Should you be here Cathleen?” She asks. “It’s only been two days since the funeral.” I don’t look at her; just stare at the empty squares of a spread sheet. “You look like you haven’t slept in days either. No one will blame you; lord knows you haven’t taken a day of since your wedding.” She stops suddenly and realizes that she could have said something very painful, but I am numb to it at this point. My cell phone rings, I reach my hand in my pocket and smooth metal meets my touch. When did I put that in my pock? I ask myself as I pull it out. Coworker looks puzzled at the sight of the gold band. “Jake wasn’t buried with that?” she asks, still not looking at her I answer.

Husband is at the door, bag in hand, I stand in the hall way, we are smiling. I tell him to have a safe trip; he downs the last sips of coffee from his blue mug. It’s raining outside, a cold driving rain, he tells me that I should just stay home; I love him so I agree. I tell him I will be lonely without him, cold because he is not there to share the warmth. He drops the bag and kisses me, I kiss him back. He steps away, and pulls at his finger, removing his sacred vow to me, takes my hand gently, sets it in my palm then closes my fingers and seals it closed with a kiss. I give him the umbrella, watch him as his back is shrouded in a heavy mist.

I pack up my things and look at my watch, better hurry to catch the bus.

A quite Wife cleans with my hands, lays sheets one after another on my bed. Husband’s night stand is partially open and an envelope can be seen; she tries not to think about it, just how she doesn’t think about the packed bag in the closet. Wife glance at the clock, Husband will be home soon, she will help him cook dinner, apologies will be exchanged as will be kisses, sheets will be tangled and the Stranger from the morning will be forgotten. Wife bumps the stand, the drawer opens wider. She also forgets about the one way ticket for tomorrow.

My home is quite, there are condolences on the table, and I haven’t read most of them. My stomach growls, I am a lousy cook so I settle for a sandwich and beer then another then another. I call for my husband, silence answers. I shiver, take of clothing as I walk to the room, it would look like a honeymoon to a stranger. I lay in bed, I am lonely and there is no one for me to share warmth with. I hear the wind and the rain knocking at the window. I open my hand; gold catches the cold luminescence of the street light.

He is smiling as he tells me that he will be going to a conference in Chicago, he promises he will bring back a souvenir. He leans over to-

The illusion breaks. When was the last time I saw him smile? There is no one but me to fool here and I can be deceive no longer. I roll over and set the ring on his pillow, breath in his sent, memorizing it with the hope that it will push away the scent of exhaust, exhaust from a bus.

Cathleen and Jake argue at dinner, Cathleen goes upstairs angry. Pulls up the made bed, sinks down into the covers. Jake will come up any minute now, lay beside her, hold her to protect her from the bite of the winter winds. He always did after every one of their fights, fights that Cathleen started and fueled. She lays there for what seems like forever, until she hears his footsteps. She closes her eyes, pretends to sleep peacefully. He opens the door, opens the closet, and opens the bed stand drawer. He hesitates beside the bed. Cathleen can hear words struggle to free themselves from his iron resolve but he remains silent. More footsteps, not long after the front door opens and closes. All she can hear is the rain and wind howling at the window. She opens her eyes, stands and looks out at the eerie world, she can just make out Jake’s outline walking to the bus stop. Neatly set on top of the pillow is a folded official document. She opens it; a gold wedding band falls to the bed.

I hug the pillow tight, sobbing. It is so cold, but the ring burns my hand like it is still molten.

the italics are the illusions, the bold is the truth. The truth is deceptive and the truth is painful

[Q]

Result of a brainstorming session on IM. Cleaned up for readability.

---

There is a large atoll like area where there is no real land but the water is shallow and salty. There are large mangrove trees dotting the horizon against the light water and a few grasses or marshy areas
Although the ground seems to be only 2-3 feet under water, it is unstable, like quicksand, and so no one can walk on it anywhere. Every one travels in small boats, as large boats would become stuck.
i.e. you have a mangrove forest/everglades like area with no real solid ground, but people can farm/fish/gather, from boats
The mangrove trees are ENORMOUS and so the people live in/on them, build structures between the roots, etc.
The women are usually the ones out hunting/gathering/farming, since the mangroves are targets for attack. It keeps the families safe and the men can defend the tree.

There is a main land that had solid/normal ground but these people lack robust enough boats to get to it
Now every so often, like one in every 15 or so births, there is a child that has a longer limb structure, very unlike the norm. When such a child is born it is whisked off to a training facility and the parents never see it again.
This child is called a Runner on this atoll or a Wraith on the mainland. Runners are trained since birth to think of themselves as a utility.
A Runner has the capability, with training, to transition in to a parallel, monochrome, realm where the water isn't water, so they can run on it.
They are used as messengers in the atoll and messengers/assassins on the mainland.
However their gifts come with a price, because there are NO old runners
The more Runners transition into the other realm, the more they can forget or lose the ability to come back.

The other realm is a strange place
The sky is pure empty white with no light source. The ground is flat mid-grey with no texture, only shape and elevation, trees transition into ground with no color change and are only discernible by shape. The water is translucent light grey and dead still. Man made objects are very dark grey and living beings are pure black shadows
That is what the Runner sees.

In that realm a Runner feels nothing, no hunger, no fatigue and no pain. Nothing can hurt the Runner in that other realm, and they can walk on any surface they can see
After awhile they stop being able to move in any realm but that realm, even walking to the door needs a transition.
They stop being able to see how the world changes around them since they cannot pass with it and eventually they stop coming back at all.
Even other Runners in the realm cannot find them, or at least don't know where they've gone.
i.e. you gain the power to go places, but stop being able to care
A run of multiple miles would take a Runner seconds if they transitioned, while it would take a normal person hours.
They only have their abilities in the other realm.
A normal person seeing a runner transition would see them turn into a shadowy wisp like thing and dart off, hence the mainland term Wraith (not to mention that the mainlanders tend to leave death in their wake).
Runners typically do not see others in the realm, and no animals travel it as far as they know, but that may simply be an artifact of how runners don't meet each other


Potential additions:
The Runner genes are a recessive trait so the 1 in 15 in the atoll or the 1 in say 50 on the mainland
These people have a combination of two recessive traits and any mixing gives you the normal people who, under extreme duress ,MIGHT be able to shift/Run but are otherwise normal.
So what does the other side of the scale do?
Mainlanders have a way of pulling the Runners/Wraiths out of the other realm (if they can catch them that is).

The Runners may consider the other realm to be their afterlife, pure and without corruption, no pain, no wants, no anything.
For all we know, it COULD BE the afterlife.
What if someone DID come back?
Time doesn't really work right in there, so they wouldn't have aged much, although they might not be that sane.

[Q]

Heres another random idea

---

So the gimmick is: If a person has incurred a debt to someone they have a way of paying it off even if they don't have money, a kind of indentured service.
They go to the official and the arrangements are made for what length of time and whatever, then the official comes out with a leather harness inscribed with runes and having a carved bone amulet placed on it.
The bone amulet can be decorated but is often not, but the entire harness thing must be made out of organic materials, usually animal but very rarely plant based.
So the servant is taken to a yard and fitted with this harness, which transforms them into a specific monstrous thing that the person they are paying off can put to work doing things like pulling carts, body guarding, etc.
The indentured person's mind goes into a dream like state so they don't have to deal with the burdens (so long as the runes are placed/written correctly) and the beast is docile ( once again so long as the runes are placed/written correctly)
When the time is up the official removes the harness and the person transforms back, none the worse.
The beasts are also incredibly durable and hard to kill so there is little risk of foul play.

Now, actual criminals are treated differently.
The runes for docility and dream like state are tattooed onto them (sometimes branded) as well as the symbol of transformation, so there is no going back from that (without cutting the offending skin/branded area off, provided it can be found). However, of a rune or symbol is destroyed or defaced to a sufficient degree, it no longer comes into effect. i.e. enough scarring can obscure the mark enough to reverse the transformation.

The transformation symbols are very specific, and there are only a few known ones outside the archives. Anyone who has a unique one guards it jealously.

What if someone was tattooed that wasn't a criminal?
Snatch and tattoo and suddenly you have an extra 'criminal' to sell. Criminals are sold as beasts of burden, like horses or cattle (or slaves).

The beasts look nothing like regular Earth animals, nor mythical ones. So no dragons, gryphons, dinosaurs, horses, oxen, wolves etc.

[Q]

Scene:

---

She leaned forward, struggling in vain against the restraints binging her arms behind her. "Wait for me," She called out to the one face in the crowd staring intently at her. "Promise me you'll wait for me." She repeated as a sensation like plunging into a sold river climbed up her legs. The man in the crowd pushed forward, his mouth opening in a reply. One she never got to hear as the icy cold prickling sensation of the ritual engulfed her head and sent the world away in a kaleidoscope of changing colors.

The banishing ring stood empty once again as the priest lead another condemned forward.


If she had a mouth she would have screamed.

The chitinous armor of her face crunched under the blow.

Colors she had no name for illuminated the sun in blinding fury.


Three years ago he had watch as his lover was banished for the crime of murder. Now was the ending of her long imprisonment, and he waited as he had promised. The priests made their prayers over the stone circle, finely carved and recently cleaned of moss. The stepped back in synchronous movement and a figure emerged from the ring. She stood tall, just like she had when they sent her away, her head tilted back and her mouth open in a silent scream. Then she collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, eyes staring blankly at the horizon.

The ropes binding her were cut and she was carried off the temple platform. She looked at him with that blank stare. She whispered his name.




[[Notes: The portal sends the people sent through it jumping between minds of sentient and sometimes not sentient beings through the universe/galaxy/space. Their bodies are preserved as this happens, but often their minds are so bombarded by alien experiences and senses they come back unable to function.]]

[Q]

#1)  Khronon- name of main character and new element on periodic table.

hidden tunnels/catacombs, very old garden near smoky mounts. full of old stolen oriental statues. including a moss covereded styalistic Kirion, old vases etc.  animal that eats flesh when at a certian temp, zombie like.  gathering of super villians (this part's hazy) on this huge set of stairs leading up to a building of some sort.  it was dark.  i know there's more but cant quite remember

Khronon has a special ability, like a werewolf he changes forms at night, but not to another animal, but physically into another person.  Personality and mind stay the same but body is completely different  including fingerprints(stays same gender though)  he seems to steal things or fight, maybe mercenary of somesort

#2) different dream, parking, school like place in a city, been there or similar in older dreams.  old building near by, looks run down, we go to explore.  its strangely well furnished, if a bit messy from old clothing and food.  we get though it, its like a tunnel or something.  comfrontation at the end, a bit of a knife spar, i leave and go back with another as the fight continues until some one gets 3 cuts.  turn on lights, platforms raised...like 10ft square padding on a loft thing...quite comfortable.  never did find out who owned it.  'Honors dorms' were mentioned, memory in dream says they suck.