written for: @flashfictionfridayofficial
prompt: FFF354; what is the prompt?
warnings: none
word count: 365
"What's today's prompt?" asked Elliott, the moment Ray swung open the door to the dusty, draftless room they worked in. Her fingers tapped impatiently on her desk, as mechanical as if they were pressing keys on the typewriter which stood, regal, upon it.
"I don't think you'll find this one interesting," said Ray. He passed the newspaper to Elliott's waiting hands. "It doesn't seem like what you usually write."
To his surprise, Elliott managed to wrench her gaze away from the newspaper. She never ceased flipping through it, however, moving almost as fast as she typed. "Isn't that the point?" she said, finally stilling her fingers. In the absence of rustling pages, the silence seemed to consume Ray. "Besides, I can't exactly not write. We agreed we'd write whatever the patrons submit. Otherwise, the newspaper won't publish the writing."
"We?" snorted Ray, dropping into the seat by his own desk.
Elliott rolled her eyes. "You're my editor."
"Not your ghostwriter."
Pursing her lips, Elliott turned another page. She smoothed out its creases. "You agreed to this."
"That I did," sighed Ray. He turned towards his desk, wincing at the scattering of ink-filled pens and stray documents. The day prior, Elliott had her typical maniacal writing session, where she was so consumed by an idea she had to get it on paper or she'd die.
Twelve hours later, the draft lay forgotten.
It had promise, Ray admitted to himself. Instead of tossing the words in the bin—where Elliott threw most of her writing scraps—he'd bind it up to store in a folder.
Months later, he was sure he'd find himself rifling through the pages, shaking his head at Elliott's quirks and forgetfulness. And then he'd replace the sheaf of papers back on its shelf, next to the published authors with their real, bound books, who didn't need to strike up a deal with the owner of the local paper to make a living.
Ray loved Elliott. She was his only real friend in the cold, unfeeling streets of the city. But sometimes, he wished she weren't so…eccentric.
Yet taking away what made Elliott Elliott felt sacrilegious. Ray couldn't leave her if he tried.
cruz insisting on calling lightning Old Man is so funny because he is, at most, only 11 years older than her (look at their model years, 2006 and 2017...)
and he is also like. not old. he's eternally youthful. absolutely classically designed. timeless car-wise and character-wise
i need data for a statistics project for school, so be my sample data, worms. i need thirty people minimum so if there aren't enough voters yet i'd love if you could help. thank you very much. worms.
take this test (https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/whats-my-jnd/), then come back here:
what's your JND?
.00030-.00099
.0010-.0017
.0017-.0024
.0024-.0031
.0031-.0038
.0038-.0045
.0045-.0052
.0052-.0059
.0059-.0066
.0066-.0073
.0073-.0080
.0080 or greater
Voting ended onMay 13
it doesnt have to be a good score, you dont have to take it multiple times, you dont have to get on a good screen, etcetera. just gimme your score please this is my final project grade :)
been thinking about the scene where lightning wakes up on the highway without mack
like overall its a ridiculous situation (and scary. imagine waking up on the side of the highway at night???). but after a minute youre like ah this is sort of Pathetic isnt it. lightning is a Literal Car and a grown man. he can just Drive to california, he is Made Of Vehicle. just read the road signs man. (sure his gas mileage+fuel capacity gives him a range of like 100 miles tops but even that's doable). he does not Need mack.
but his panic cues the viewer into what's going on underneath the layers of Intentional Ice Cold Ass Hole: when lightning is forced head-on to confront a physical manifestation his own loneliness, he is terrified. its one of the early setups to endear the viewer to him, disguised as some slapstick karma.
(also. he does need mack. thats his emotional support golden retriever that prevents him from going fully insane)
written for: @flashfictionfridayofficial
prompt: FFF350; give it time
word count: 422
warnings: none
Twelve days have passed since Eri planted the lumin tree, and a golden sapling has yet to break through the soil.
In her heart, she knows there is no way to force a lumin tree seedling to grow. But she stares daggers into the pot—hand-crafted and hand-painted on her sixteenth birthday—all the same.
It's the first thing she sees when she rises, and the last thing she sees when she sleeps, and it's driving her insane.
"It should have sprouted by now," says Eri, trying to stop the worry congealing her stomach from escaping into her voice. "Is this one faulty, or something?"
She doesn't need her mother to say, "No, darling, the trees never make mistakes," to know she's holding onto some misplaced hope. Almost two weeks, and the surface of the pot has remained stubbornly smooth, without even a hint of a curled tree.
Eri's mother smooths back Eri's hair, a gesture she did when they were both much younger. When Eri had no cares in the world except the problems of a child who'd known nothing but joy. "Give it time, Eri. It took my tree almost a month to sprout. Rue's tree spent almost six weeks in hibernation before it grew—she nearly gave up!"
The sun sparkles through their windows. Eri doesn't have the heart to respond to her mother's encouragement.
So Eri's mother presses a kiss to the top of her head. "Staring at it won't make it grow any faster. By this time next week, you'll have a beautiful plant, I'm sure. You'll see."
She moves to walk away, but her steps suddenly halt at Eri's broken voice.
"What if I don't?" Eri whispers, cracked around the edges, her heart chasing her words up to her throat. "What if it never sprouts? What if—what if I don't have magic?"
"Then you don't have magic," Eri's mother says. "You don't need magic to be special, Eri."
Eri wants to be special, though. She wants to compete with the other girls at school, who brag about how large their lumin trees are getting and conjure sparks out of the air like breathing. She wants a tree like her mother's, as strong and as beautiful as she is, taking in the sunlight from its spot by the window like it owns the place. She wants magic more than anything, and the weight hangs over her like a storm about to break.
"Yeah," Eri whispers, resting her chin on her hands. Her pot stays stubbornly empty. "I guess."
The Artemis II Moon rocket lifted off from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1, 2026. Our live launch day coverage continues on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_UjBMIzNo
Stick with us for more Artemis II content including live broadcasts for lunar flyby and splashdown, daily news conferences, and 24/7 streams providing views from the Orion spacecraft and from NASA Kennedy.
Okay but Subnautica's real horror isn't the big alien fish or the unknown or the gigantic leviathan with pincers trying to eat you, it's actually the inevitable consequences of late stage capitalism, colonialism, and not respecting the nature around you.
The horror is actually dozens of people being on a doomed tin can of a ship, crashed and stranded on a dangerous alien planet, that was never equipped for proper rescues or real survival in the first place.
The real horror is actually the fact that being underneath an indifferent entity of capitalism means you are genuinely expendable.
YES YES YES!!!!!!! SOMEONE WHO GETS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
like yes big creature scary but like OUGHHH YES THIS IS MY SHITTTTTT
you were NON-ESSENTIAL you were NOT IMPORTANT they did not care if you died they did not care about rescuing you they did not care about anyone on that damn ship
GODDDD I want a flashback of Annabeth Luke and Thalia on the run so bad. Like maybe showing them making the safe house that Annabeth uses this season and Luke really caring for her and really showing their past dynamic, and then that same night Annabeth is asleep and we see Thalia and Luke talking about the gods and just how close they were and we see how Luke was already on the path to Kronos even back then
