Let’s see what random characters, situations, props and settings we get and write some short stories together.
Can I actually stick to a word count??? Let’s find out!
During the last stream, the subscribers voted that we write some prompts based on the random-prompt website Writer Igniter.
Watch the process here, or scroll down for what we wrote.
The first prompt chat voted on was: a crazy cat lady, has an arranged marriage, spindle, creek in the woods.
Here’s what we came up with:
I’ve lived with my cat husbands for 11 years now. All twenty-three of them.
The cat goddess Ou-Bastnet conferred upon me a special mission. She chose me, a mere human, to become one of her holy children. Being born of sinful ape-flesh, it was not an easy journey. But every day I did her bidding and used my clumsy monkey-hands to spindle my husbands’ fur into a cat suit just my size.
It’d taken 11 years to finally satisfy the goddess, but today I put the last touch on my fur suit. All of my husbands gathered around the couch, eyeing my creation as their tails wiggled high. The suit was an amalgamation of Shadow’s black fur, Oscar’s orange, George’s spotted white, and all the others’ too. A solid three inches thick all around, complete with paws for my hands and feet, and a hood to wrap over my head with furry ears.
I was ready to become one of the holy children.
The only opening was a small hole in the rear end. I pressed my head into it, and passed through like being born into a new body. It slipped on surprisingly easy, as if it was always meant to be there. Before I knew it, I was looking through the furry eye holes at all my husbands
All twenty-three of them ran away. Crashes and clangs came from the kitchen as they burst through the door outside. I called after them, heartbroken. Were they rejecting me after all this time?
Dropping to all fours, I followed them, pounding my new paws against the tile floor and leaping out into the dirt and leafy backyard.
All of them were standing by the creek, waiting for me. They formed a path right up to the water which I slowly walked down.
When I made it to the water, Puddles the Maine Coon glanced at me, then jabbed his paw in the water, scooping out a green-yellow rock bass onto the ground in a single, swift swipe. As it flopped around, he looked to me with his deep, wizened eyes. I knew what I had to do.
It wasn’t enough to merely don the suit. I had to hunt like a cat too.
Saying a quick prayer to Ou-Bastnet, I dipped my paw in the cold water, feeling my heartbeat pulse through my furry body, as if counting down when the moment was to come.
I don’t know how I knew, but I just knew. I scooped my paw out of the creek, splashing water into the air.
Along with a long, glistening creek chub. It smacked against the ground and wiggled next to Puddles’ rock bass. I looked over to my husbands, all of them now giving me a look I’d never seen before: they were smiling at me.
When Puddles spoke, I don’t know how I knew what he said, but I just knew.
“Congratulations, my wife. We are now officially married in holy cat-rimony.”
The second prompt chat voted on was: kindergarten school teacher, can go back in the past and change one thing, garters, rusty old prison.
Here’s what we came up with:
What would you do with the power to change anything… once?
Maybe you’d be like me and hold onto your Chance forever. Like when you’re playing a video game and you hold onto the healing items, never using them for fear of running into a boss when you’ll really need them… only to beat the entire game with them still in your inventory.
I didn’t use my Chance when I flunked out of high school. Or when I got divorced. Or when I lost my job and had to start stripping for cash. Or even when I was arrested for drug possession and sentenced to two years in prison.
I knew using it wouldn’t make a difference. Sure, I’d ditch some jail time or whatever, but then what? I needed to save my Chance for something that I actually cared about.
A year into my sentence, I found out what that was. Thanks to the prison outreach program, I started studying to be a kindergarten teacher, and I fell in love. The students were so young and untainted by society, their sheer joy at fingerpainting and learning the alphabet squeezed life back into my dried-out heart.
I’d never tried so hard for anything in my life. I got my certification while behind bars, and a week after I was released, I had an interview at Stonypole Elementary. Best of all, I’d been such an exemplary prisoner that I wasn’t even required to reveal my criminal history. I sat down outside the principal’s office with the three other women for the interview, then was called in, ready to knock his socks off.
Until I saw his face. He was Daniel Cunningham, or Dollar Dan as we called him at the strip club. I’d personally danced with him a dozen times, and now he was staring at me, smiling, and ready to kick me out of the kindergarten interview.
I used my Chance. Flashing back in time back to Dollar Dan’s first visit to the club. All the bassy sounds and cigarette smells hit me an overwhelming wave, but I didn’t care. I ran up to my boss, pointed at Dan, and told him to kick that man out and never let him back in again. Accusations like that were taken seriously, and before he knew it, Dan was thrown out by our beefy bouncer Bill.
I flashed back to the present. Daniel the principal was no longer smiling, he merely gestured to the chair across his desk and I sat down for our interview where I kicked ass.
One week later I got the phone call. I hadn’t gotten the job.
Devastated, I tracked down the woman who’d been hired and messaged her. I needed to know what she’d done differently. I mean, I’d used my Chance for god’s sake!
Her message back to me was quick and to the point:
“idk y i got the job, but principal dan knew me from my time stripping, so maybe that helped lol”
Be sure to check out the video for dramatic readings, as well as a bit of the process.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: GAHAG