What weird photos will we get when we pick some at random from a stock photo website?
And what weird story will we get when we string them together???
Let’s find out!
During the last stream, a subscribers requested that we write a story where we string together some random stock photos.
Watch a short version of the stream here or scroll down for what we wrote.
After picking a bunch of random photos from the Japanese site Pakutaso (by clicking the orange “gacha” button in the upper right), chat voted that we combine these four into a story:
Here’s what we came up with:
I remember Yuki’s first word. Strawberry.
Her mother held her as they plucked one of the red fruits off my vine. I was still a tiny plant, barely peeking out the white bucket they’d bought me in. Yuki held the strawberries over her eyes and giggled.
“You have strawberry eyes,” her mom told her. I smiled, but I wasn’t sure if I believed she really did.
Yuki loved to help water me with her plastic can, so much that sometimes she watered without her mom’s help. Sometimes she didn’t even use water.
One time she decided to water me with mom’s coffee. She poured the black liquid straight from the mug into my bucket, and when mom found out, she quickly pulled me out. I’d only sucked up a bit of the sludge before she planted me in the yard and gave me a nice cool drink from the watering can.
But I was thankful for Yuki. It was thanks to her that I got to leave my small bucket and start spreading out in my new home. Larger and larger I grew with fat, juicy strawberries ready for Yuki to pluck whenever she wanted.
She was always willing to share. Yuki introduced me to her friends whenever they came over, and I always made sure to pop out my best strawberries for them. She would even sometimes put a strawberry over her eye to make them laugh.
As I grew, Yuki grew too. Middle school. High school. She still came to snack on my strawberries, but she didn’t stay to chat for long. She didn’t put them over her eyes anymore. That was fine though. I didn’t believe that she really had strawberry eyes anyway.
The years passed. More and more of my strawberries fell to the ground, plump and red, uneaten by anyone except worms and ants. I watched Yuki through the window, wishing that I could move like her. That I could give her one of my strawberries.
My vines tangled and rotted. It got harder and harder to see. But when Yuki came out one day to sit in a chair in the yard, I did my best to show off my best strawberries for her.
Maybe it was because they weren’t as red or plump as they used to be, but Yuki didn’t take one. She sat in the chair and her mother painted her face. Yuki was getting ready for a dance, a big one. She was grown up, no time for strawberry plants.
With my fading sight, I saw what her mother was painting. A little red strawberry, beneath each of Yuki’s eyes.
“You still have strawberry eyes,” her mom told her. I smiled weakly, but I wasn’t sure if I believed she really did.
I didn’t see her much after that. Didn’t see much of anything. Yuki and her mom left the house. A new family moved in with new voices. And I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. A liquid being poured on me that was not water. Hot. Hotter than the coffee.
Everything turned to darkness. I felt myself shrivel away, smaller, smaller, then nothing.
Until I opened my eyes. I was sitting in a small white bucket, in a new backyard, with Yuki and her mom squatting in front of me.
“I’m glad you thought to cut a piece to bring with us,” her mom said. “I didn’t even see that the bush was still alive back there.”
“Of course I could see it,” Yuki said. She plucked a small strawberry off of my vine and held it in front of her eye. “I have strawberry eyes.”
And I believed her.
Be sure to check out the video for a dramatic reading, and some hilarious chat contributions!
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!
