Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 721. Year Lucky 13! The last year of the cycle, the Moon Year. To those who keep coming back, I’m delighted to see you again!
Today is Thursday and that means it’s time to start flashing on #ThursThreads, the challenge that ties tales together. Want to keep up each week? Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Discord and the group on Facebook.
Need the rules? Read on.
Here’s how it works:
- The prompt is a line from the previous week’s winning tale.
- The prompt can appear ANYWHERE in your story and is included in your word count.
- The prompt must be used as is. It can be split, but no intervening words can be inserted or tenses changed.
Rules to the Game:
- This is a Flash Fiction challenge, which means your story must be a minimum of 100 words, maximum of 250.
- The story must be new writing, not a snippet from something published elsewhere with the prompt added.
- Incorporate the prompt anywhere into your story (included in your word count).
- Post your story in the comments section of this post
- Include your word count in the post (or be excluded from judging)
- Include your social media handle or email in the post (so we easily notify you)
- The challenge is open 7 AM to 8 PM Mountain Time US.
- The winner will be announced on Friday, depending on how early the judge gets up.
How it benefits you:
- You get a nifty cool badge to display on your blog or site (because we’re all about promotion – you know you are!)
- You get instant recognition of your writing prowess on this blog!
- Your writing colleagues shall announce and proclaim your greatness on Bluesky, MeWe, Discord, and Mastodon, etc.
Our Judge for Week 721:
Gamer, crazy cat lady and novice artist, Nellie Batz.
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“You sure this is going to work?”
All stories written herein are the property (both intellectual and physical) of the authors. Comments do not represent the views of the host and the host reserves the right to remove any content. Now, away with you, Flash Fiction Fanatics, and show us your #ThursThreads in the Moon Year. Good luck!
Name Calling
Let me tell you, and this is on the q. t., he’s an amazing guy. Sure, he’s never said sorry but that man, he knows himself. When the chips are down, I’d bet the house on him.
Recently, he called this meeting. It was super high level. All of his top advisors were hauled in from wherever they were playing golf and said, “Look, its getting out of hand. Even I can tell. I can’t keep on changing the names of places, lakes, enemies…eh, Little Marco. You know what I’m talkin’ about. It’s just gotta stop. I’m outta control. I mean. I don’t mind pissing people off but this schtick of meine, I mean, mine, I know it rankles folks. I used to love Canadians. Really. They’re so cute with their eh’s and their honey bees.”
I admit we were taken aback. The Big Guy was pretty damn close to introspection that my first instinct was to call in the Walter Reed Shrinks to give him the old Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. test. I knew he’d knock it out of the park. The guys got a memory like an elephant.
But he went even further, said, “Look, one more maybe. I’ve been thinking, go for the whole enchilada. Why’s it called EARTH? Why not TRUMP?”
He’d taken us on a complete 360-degree trip. No one asked, “You sure this is going to work?” Why would they. We’re flat earthers. Now, we’d be Flat Trumpers.
He’s frigging amazing.
250 Words
@billmelaterplea
@sterlings-son-2.bsky.social
Deshawn tried to settle his energy, but his Brother wolf was bounding around inside him like a pup with his first scent of roses. He found himself checking on his clothes—jeans, thermal shirt under a thicker flannel shirt with a pale green, gray, and white plaid—and his scent to make sure he was the best he could be for Grace.
Going to the Ironwood Cafe first was a good idea. Iris and Ben Maplewood were the leaders of the local Dryad’s Garden in Three Lakes, and they always had the best food in town. Plus it would give him some time to figure out a way to tell Grace about his Brother and that they were True Mates.
Are you sure this is going to work?
It wasn’t often that his Brother sounded so unsure, and it shook Deshawn a little to hear the hesitancy in his Brother wolf’s voice.
Yeah, it’s gonna work. It has to. Jayson and Kate will make sure of it.
He hoped.
He stepped into his boots and laced them up before heading out to the truck to warm it up. He wanted it to be comfortable by the time Grace was ready. He’d just pressed the automatic start button when he caught sight of a vehicle slow-rolling down their wintery road. Something about the vehicle seemed familiar and he scrutinized the model and color under the rime of ice and salt on its sides.
Patton Edgerton. What is he doing here?
249 ineligible #SirensInc words
@siobhanmuir.bsky.social
I took the hex wrench to the lawn mower. There were three screws that attached the right side of the handle to the mower chassis. “If this was a gas powered mower, I’d use a bolt and a nut, and permanently attach the handle.”
The chassis was a single piece plastic chassis. There were no plates or slots to attach the handle to. The damn screws were screwed straight into the chassis. Metal screws into a plastic chassis. With nothing to hold them in place. “Who thought of that?”
With the mower on its left side, I used the hex wrench to tighten all three of the screws back into the chassis. They all went in, and I couldn’t pull them out. This was as good as it was going to get.
I set the mower back on all four wheels. The handle was clearly bent to the left, and not by a few inches. It looked like it was half a foot or more off center. A $350 battery powered mower. Maybe 4 years old. Maybe only 3. It was clear looking at it that its days were numbered.
“You sure this is going to work?” I asked myself.
“Nope.” I answered. “But it is what it is.”
Sure enough. After mowing the yard one time, the handle was already working loose again. “I’ll have to screw it back down every time I use it.” It was going to be a long September.
244 words (Per Google Docs)
@mysoulstears.bsky.social
“So, you’re like an actual prince?”
“That is correct. We are a scion of the royal family of Hila. Our name is Dana.”
“Cool. Cara.”
Cara nodded appreciatively at the weird kid with the red-brown bowl cut. The one who saved her life by shooting a literal devil through the eye with a freaking arrow. They looked about her age. Though their fashion sense looked, like, ren faire old. And seriously purple.
“We were wondering,” Dana cleared their throat, “if perhaps you knew the name of the thunderous weapons your soldiers used against the gaunts.”
“Huh? You mean the assault rifles?”
Prince Dana’s eyes shone and their cheeks flushed.
“Marvelous! They seemed most effective. We should very much like to try one.”
Cara sucked a breath through her teeth.
“Yeah… That might be hard to arrange.”
“Fear not. We shall request one of our Guardian Animal.”
The prince clasped a hand around their medallion, drawing the attention of their cute, orange-clad companion nearby.
“You want to change your weapon? You sure this is going to work?”
Prince Dana smiled and held out their bow in their hand not clasping their medallion.
“Spirit of the Unicorn, grant us an assault rifle!”
The prince’s bow disappeared from their hand and was replaced by an assault rifle. A very purple assault rifle.
219 words
@davidaludwig.bsky.social
Sade wasn’t paid enough to herd this group of cats. She could depend on Caleb, her Werewolf partner. The plan she’d laid out happened in daylight so Sinjen was out of the equation. Sidelining the Vampire might be a misstep but she had reasons. The humans, Aisling and Carla, looked skeptical. She still hadn’t figured out the shy librarian’s role in this case, but she needed Carla’s witchy skills and the witch insisted Aisling’s knowledge would come in handy. Then there was the frickin’ Dragon. Nikos was always a wild card.
“You sure this is going to work?” Caleb looked askance at Sade.
“Do you have a better idea?” she shot back.
The Werewolf started to speak, then closed his mouth with a shake of his head.
Nikos added his two cents. “I vote we just let the Fae handle their own problems.” He shrugged off their glares. “They’re Fae. They fight. They always have. They always will.”
Druic took offense. “And you dragons have always sought peace?” He snorted and turned away from
Nikos to focus on Sade. “Ariel should be here.”
“But he’s not.” She eyed the youngster. “Do you know where he is?”
He shook his head. “No. And I will admit it worries me.”
It worried Sade too. “Did he get called back to court?”
“No.” Titania, the Seelie Queen, appeared from thin air.
Sade banged her head against the wall, muttering, “Why me?”
“Because Karma’s a bitch?” Caleb asked.
“Time for Plan B,” Sade announced.
****
250 Penumbra Papers WIP words
Silver James
https://silverjames.com
#ThursThreads is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week and I hope to catch you next week.