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Grilled Cheese is a product of Village Compute

Version devBuilt at: 2026-10-17 03:54:26 EDT

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Elm was lying on her back on the mossy rocks of the Gargant Foothills after the RAID that had earnt her a name. About her were piled the bodies of friends and foes. The clans didn’t habitually fight this hard or earn this much dead in one day. Life was precious, said the old ways. But talks had gone poorly, and neither side had been willing to back down when the fists had started flying. A blade had been drawn. Now, Elm was one of five who would make it home. A hero’s welcome, which was horribly ironic considering the catastrophic failure of their diplomacy.
For now, all she could do was lie there. She had blood on her face and aches in her bones. Her vision was swimming. Someone had knocked her on the head early in the fight, but she’d thought she’d shaken the concussion off. Turns out, she’d just delayed it. She’d brought a staff with her, the traditional weapon on the Unnamed, but it had shattered after a couple of swings. Some of its splinters still dug into her palm. Hair matted, hanging in her eyes. Teeth broken. And the birds… The sound of the birds chirruping in the distance was achingly, agonising loud!
And then she awoke. The birdsong was still there.
“Oh… fuck!"

She gasped and shot upright, her eyes widening. For years she had done everything she could to erase the raid from her memory. Now she closed her eyes and held her breath, turning the memory over and over until a cold sweat prickled across her skin and nausea settled heavily in her stomach.
Oh, fuck.

Mel Waverly - Wishing You Knew, chapter 5

“You’re sleeping in a ditch?! Why not just bite the bullet and go home?” Phil looked at his friend as if he was a different person.
“I need the ditch, I have another problem. Not just these shackles. This taser. It didn’t just stick me in that world making escape difficult. It actually reset my homeworld to that one and I have absolutely no intention of ever going back there in an uncontrolled drift. If I fall asleep, that’s where I go and if they capture me, it’s dead time. They don’t like slaves escaping, instant execution.”
The blood drained from Angie’s face. “Executed?”
“Yes. They don’t take slaves back, give them a slap on the wrist and send them back to their cell without any supper. Anyway, I think you’ve seen enough to convince you I’m not demented. We can drift back here so you can see how everything changes between here and home or we can go back to the courtyard so we appear in the clearing, your choice.”
“Courtyard” Ian chipped in “I don’t want anyone seeing me pop out of nowhere.”
Phil shook his head. “Here, I want to see this place change.”
“Angela, deciding vote...” Mike grinned.
“Here. Anyone sees us, tough. Just accuse them of being drunk.”
Yi-erwu let go.
The three stared in awe as the clouds danced in the sky. Then, without even a flicker, everything instantly transformed from cobbled streets populated by horses to modern tarmac and heavy traffic.
A short walk and they were back in the clearing. Yi-erwu appeared a moment later.
Phil’s awestruck expression seemed to have stuck solid. “Why didn’t you tell us! God, Mike, you can go anywhere, do anything!”
“Not quite. It takes a lot of walking to get most places where there’s a significant difference. I stumbled onto what look like the exact opposites of each other within a couple of days, tranquil, technology free versus hell on post-nuclear bombed earth. That’s another thing I need to do, check myself for radiation. No idea how long fallout sticks around, how long it takes to get washed away.” He …

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“I’m being absurd? She just told me she plans to raid this camp alone. That is absurd. Two dozen bandits, maybe more. Hostages. What is she thinking?”
“We’ve seen her handle groups of people before.”
“Nowhere near this many. And most of those times she barely made it out herself. If those hostages die because she is trying to show off…”
“A smaller group will be better for stealth,” T’orrin tried again.
“And if anything goes wrong?” K’allon argued. “This is a terrible plan.”
Just then, T’orrin saw the first curls of smoke rising from the camp.
“You probably should have brought this up before now,” he observed. “We’re here.”
“I didn’t know the plan before now. You need to call this off. Send for reinforcements.”
T’orrin hesitated, but only for a moment. “I trust her to handle this.”
“Well, I’m going to go talk to her. Tell her to reconsider.”
“K’al,” T’orrin called him back. “I’m asking you to stand down on this.”
K’allon raised an eyebrow. “And if I refuse?”

It opens its fanged mouth and makes a noise somewhere between the wail of a grieving child and the sound the demon ghost lady made in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Nazis opened the Ark of the Covenant.
I indulge in the thrill of victory for about a second and a half before the Moth King wraps his shadowy arms around me.
I hate porting, but I've never been this glad to be whisked into a cold tempest of darkness and nausea.

WIPSnips a bluesky writing community tag
October 9 - raid
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The image behind the text is a border that is dark blue with gold stars with a black background with neon blue border. An illustrated caticorn holding a pencil and writing in a book with a rose behind one ear is in the lower right corner. A different version of the same illustrated caticorn is curled up writing in the lower left corner

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Zeta gasped, as she peered within. A stunningly beautiful pendant, and a sturdy yet unassuming gold necklace cord to pair with it. The pendant contained a large oval garnet of exquisite quality, and a gold phoenix cradled it from the side, it’s body and tail wrapped around below.

Zeta understood it’s meaning in an instant. But as she rested upon the hospital bed, she wondered if she could ever live up to it.

Dinner with Death
Scene 1
Music: Vivaldi Winter
Int: Restaurant - Night
Death in traditional garb with sickle sits next to Robert dressed in a baby bonnet and diaper is dipping sushi into a bucket of soy sauce:
Death
(Waves sickle)
Hello are you crazy?
You just got out of hospital from heart failure.
Why you eating all that salt.

Robert
(in whinny baby voice)
I wanna indulge was deprived all the time in the hospital. Life ain't fair
(Pounds fists on table)

A graphic showing a constellation in a field of stars that looks like a dagger.

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A dark image with gold net decorations and white text that reads:

Viyana dipped her head, hiding a soft smile. "Maybe find a place that accepts pets."
"Dog, cat, bird or reptile?"
"Yes?"
Cory laughed. "You don't have a favorite?"
"It'll depend. I'll know once I meet whatever pet I get." She rubbed her arms. "I would love a cat, but I admit I have a soft spot for monitor lizards. If I can find a good place that's still close enough to work, I'll get both."
Cory’s current fluxed at her love for lizards, knowing the Salaki penchant for them. "I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you."

from NO DREAM LIKE FOREVER, by Nora Shear

Both instances of the word "lizard" are in bold pink font, and there are gold flourishes above and below the full text.

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Leo squinted at Orion, but the Orion Nebula was too dim to see through the wash of light in Center City. He wished again that he'd brought a telescope. His astronomical telescope was too unwieldy to travel with, but it would have made life in the sterile Council apartment tolerable.
I'd buy one, but I'm not going to be here long enough.
Though how true was that? Midnight's Ball was eight days away, but it wasn't going to be the end of his time here. ZL Holdings had offices and properties all around the world, and Leo would bet they all had some project in flight. Everything needed to either be completed appropriately or canceled, and then the Council would decide which Salaki would take it over. But he was barely through a single city, and he had many other countries to review. He could be here for a year.
I can't take this for another month, let alone a year. I’m already having a difficult time holding my snake-self at bay. If I don’t find some stress relief, I’ll end up in full florieren in the middle of Market Street.
Leo grimaced. He was sure that 'concealing the giant fire-snake' would not be high on Alder's to-do list.

- From NO SKY LIKE MIDNIGHT, by Nora Shear