short stories

Last Meal Ticket

~ Blaine Arcade ~ 1 Comment

In a dystopian near future, a chef who prepares only the final meals of the condemned takes it one order at a time…

(estimated reading time: 22 minutes)

Last Meal Ticket

by

Blaine Arcade

For once, the Republicans decided to pay for something. Stranger still, they were paying for public luxury, welfare class. Rather than a renovation it was more fitting to call it a metamorphosis when the workhorse building that had served a dozen governmental purposes got new paint, burgundy and charcoal, big curtains everywhere like a theater, crowned with three additional floors, and soundproofing that made the interior absorb anxiety.

Big rooms full of people still granted a sense of solitude in the weak lighting, turning others into shadows and props. Elegant, always fading and sinking like dusk in a sand tunnel, the Hall of Corrective Reduction had become an admired fixture of the city almost immediately after its transformative surgery.

Where did Republicans find the money for a public service? After the moral revolution of January 6th, 2025 and the elimination of the Demon-rats all public funds were successfully moved from the deep state and into less leaky deep pockets, safe and secure. Those pockets didn’t open very often; congress under the supreme president insisted it was earmarked for investment, and once those investments paid out the American people would see ten thousand times what they put in. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Story Redux #14: Last Spot in the Bouquet

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

Last Spot in the Bouquet

prompt provided by swetankarmy

The cruise liner Seraphina had sunk more than a year ago. Its bow stuck out of the slimy sand at the bottom of the ocean like the jagged lid of a can pried open. Her contents had spilled out, settling into a swath next to her. Bacteria had come. Worms had come. Now the eels were enjoying their day in the accidental reef.

They came by the hundreds to hide and sleep in its shadows, but Seraphina provided them so much more. The eels hadn’t realized what living in the nearly lightless depths had done to their minds, with nothing to focus on, or to cherish, as it all simply drifted until it was buried. Now, here was something prolonged in burial and lively in construction. Eel minds experienced attention, new things to see beyond a dim horizon of marine snow. Continue reading →

Chased

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

This story takes place in our cillimorphs universe, the team of monster buddies and the broad strokes customized by screen_ghost_ over on our interactive fiction writing Twitch stream.  Head on over there and give it a follow if you want a team and a story of your very own!

Chased

screenghost'steam

There was night, and then there was the night shift inside a BTBL warehouse. Every florescent light was dimmer than its buzz was loud. Music wasn’t permitted, because you needed to listen for any creaks of structural instability in either the walls or the inventory, which were the same thing when you worked for the Brass Tacks Building Company, which Rupe did, and had been doing for all of three hours now with the other two members of the night crew. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Stories Redux #13: Cheeks, Permanently Rosy

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

Cheeks, Permanently Rosy

prompt provided by DarkLordofSheep

Normally, all the lamps around the frozen grounds would be ablaze. Now, only the ones inside the workshop were lit, and their flames seemed weak and frightened. December was upon them, the night near-permanent, but that had never stopped them before. This year, this Christmas, was different. Two claimed the sled as their own now; the second was on his way.

Riddles the elf was hard at work alongside his kin, tiny fingers slaving over the last of the toys, stitching manes into hobby horses with black marble eyes the size of quail eggs. His own eyes darted back to the wardrobe in the corner of the workshop. That was where Santa kept his cloaks, but he only wore one of them around this time of year: the red one. He clung to it now especially with that bloated specter on the horizon. Continue reading →

Jimothee Jenkins Jukes Jungle Justice

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

This story takes place in our cillimorphs universe, the team of monster buddies and the broad strokes customized by Hadnto over on our interactive fiction writing Twitch stream.  Head on over there and give it a follow if you want a team and a story of your very own!

Jimothee Jenkins Jukes Jungle Justice

by

Blaine Arcade

Hadnto'steam

The planet Woodzy was not known for mysterious jungle islands that knocked you out of the sky and trapped you inside some kind of invisible force field, so one Jimothee Jenkins could be forgiven for not having his wits about him when it happened.

He was a cillikeeper, a coach of those profoundly silly creatures called cillimorphs, but some who knew him called him a drifter instead, while those who knew him best called him a bum. As far as he was concerned, a bum was the imago form of a cillikeeper, someone who had embraced the silly lifestyle so passionately that traditional employment looked like willingly taking on a chronic autoimmune disease. Continue reading →

Skipper Eden’s Big Break

~ Blaine Arcade ~ 1 Comment

This story takes place in our cillimorphs universe, the team of monster buddies and the broad strokes customized by Screamingecho over on our interactive fiction writing Twitch stream.  Head on over there and give it a follow if you want a team and a story of your very own!

Skipper Eden’s Big Break

by

Blaine Arcade

Cheerleaders are always in the wrong place. Somebody keeps putting them on the field, during the game, when they really belong in the preamble, in the lockers and dressing rooms, motivating the people who aren’t quite sure if they can get themselves out there and perform their best. Luckily for Skipper Eden, he had five incredible cheerleaders with him before he even entered Club Nosering:

screamingecho'steam

In his particular future, on his particular planet, along with the other habitable worlds and realms, it helps in most situations to have cillimorph friends. Skipper was a cillikeeper in addition to an announcer (he’s getting to the announcer part), so had plenty such friends. His cheerleaders were his closest. And they were, in random order, just the way cillimorphs like it, a Tictuttle, a Mudaub, an Egvelope, a Rimeroot, and a Puckerluck. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Stories Redux #12: Crafting a Rabbit Hole

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

Crafting a Rabbit Hole

prompt provided by pinkeyepoxy

Tiff’s tears pattered against the pile of metal debris. Tink tink tink. She tried to reach her hand in once more and came out with a fresh scratch on her forearm. Blood welled up. Rain joined her tears, filling the air with the sound. Tink tink tink tink tink. The broken husk of the hovercycle that topped the refuse was far too heavy for her to lift, and her arm certainly couldn’t stretch that far in.

“Why?” she asked the overflowing dump that was her next door neighbor. They lived in an illegal apartment, barely more than a room in a basement in a slum in one of the poorest super-cities in the world. At least it was one of the poorest according to all the E-zines that blew over from richer neighborhoods. Tiff’s place was currently encroached upon by a new surge of trash. Every day it inched closer to the window she used to crawl in and out of their home. Her boyfriend Masser could barely fit through, and risked hitting his head every time now. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Stories Redux #11: Oil Drips from a Shell

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

Oil Drips from a Shell

prompt provided by dark_lord3

Ding-in-ding! the tiny bell over the gas station door chimed. Sammy strolled in, confident in his ability to immediately sniff out any bags of Caliente Corners in the place. Corners was, in his opinion, the finest mass-produced brand of jalapeno cheese chips in their arid region. He sighed at the sight of the place; he wouldn’t be needing his skills after all.

There were plenty of shelves, but there was a snack shortage. Candy was in decent supply, as well as chips, jerky, gum, and plenty of miniature tubes of emergency toothpaste, but sometimes it was a single package of each brand. His eyes, trained to spot the right color of crinkly plastic, immediately singled out the sole remaining bag of sour cream Caliente Corners. Its green edge poked through the bottom of a shelf and hung there, like a person dangling from a tree branch. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Stories Redux #10: A Hardy Cheese Arrives in America

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

A Hardy Cheese Arrives in America

prompt provided by WolfChkin

The package arrived in the Sandwich District of Pastapolis with little fanfare, the bulk of which was three serving trays over, on Reuben Street. A local pride parade was in full swing. Sugar confetti rained down on the tray from apartment windows. Bacon flags in an assortment of colors flew from baguette floats, topped with the local dancing spread.

 Everyone came out to celebrate their bread, lettuce, and cheese together. The LGBLT organization had arranged the whole thing and now flanked the floats, passing out garnishes. A barbecue chicken singer flung melodies and flecks of sauce the crowd’s way, giving shout-outs to all the finger sandwiches, beefcakes on weck, and Italian subs out there. Continue reading →

Twitch Stream Stories Redux #9: 1, 55, 102

~ Blaine Arcade ~ Leave a comment

These stories were written live on stream based on prompts provided by the viewers. They have been edited, with this second more in-depth edit occurring much later, but not meaningfully rewritten or expanded so as to preserve the spirit of the exercise. Sadly, the prompts themselves were not recorded until many stories in.  Sometimes the prompts were silly challenges, or quirky thoughts, or dark ideas, or utter nonsense.  I did my best each time.

If you enjoy this, please check out the other activities from the stream. If you would like something longer and much more thoroughly planned, simply investigate my more traditional work at the top of the page.

1, 55, 102

Prompt provided by givemeallthecoffee

The secondary valve of the unit stuck out against the ocean floor like a sore pectoral fin. Its metal had rusted completely over the cycles, but it failed to blend in with the ivory Shotan corals or azure water-fans. The surrounding area was dense with invertebrates, all instinctively knowing to steer clear of metal. It had been bred into their pencil point brains by generations of deadly encounters.

Metal belonged to the Gurgeon, smartest creatures of this ocean, of this planet, and of this system. Their civilization was unchallenged in all directions by a third of a galaxy arm. Unchallenged by rivals at least. Continue reading →