Finish The Story Contest - Week #68!

in #finishthestory5 years ago (edited)

A contest with a pot of 10 STEEM, 15 SBI ? You're in the right place!

327 @steembasicincome shares awarded till now, plus 22.558 SBD, 370 STEEM, & 12402 SNAX tokens through the contest in 66 weeks!!

Contest Info

Welcome, dear writers, to our 68th Edition through the playgrounds of the fantastic!

What treasures await within the weary wanderer as it gazes into the eyes of the Old Ones?

For this contest, the rewards are:

1st place: 10 STEEM

Most Voted Story: 10 SBI (a minimum of 3 votes is required to activate this reward.. don't forget to vote your favorite one!)

Best comment: 5 SBI (We are looking for an insightful curation comment. It doesn't have to be long or flamboyant.)

Well, in my lingo that is called short-and-sweet and right on time for the holiday season. 😊

I'm here @dirge contributing a prompt, which stems from a fun winter writeup I penned a year ago. Looking forward to how you choose to end it. As for judging, I'll be consulting with @bananfish folk, we who pray to the gods of the sea at Innsmouth. So join our discord

As always, we thank our supporters and well-wishers who help us bring this exciting contest to our followers. In that, we thank @curie, @ocdb, @curangel and all our curators who enjoy and support genuine and quality content.


Map of the Bananafish Realms from a squirrelly perspective!

  • Share the love and tell a friend about the contest!

  • Join the Bananafish Realms discord chat for fresh updates and other amenities.

  • Vote, vote, vote your favorite story in the comments below!

  • Use the #finishthestory tag.

  • Respect the dreadful 700 words limit! o_0 But 500 is mighty fine as well.

  • Help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility and consider linking back to this post in your entry.

  • Contest Prompt introduced on December 17th Posts must be submitted, linked in the comments, by 12:00 Korean Standard Time on January 1st. We'll start the new year right. Posts submitted after deadline will be disregarded. "Sorry, but I've got a job," -@Dirge

good luck, brave storytellers.

The War On Christmas

“He just marched in and fell down on his bunk,” Tili the elf began. “Hasn’t said a word. He’s been staring at the wall.” Rili thanked him and opened the door to the worker’s dorm. Gili sat, his legs curled up to his chest, rocking back and forth, staring at the wall in the half-lit room.

“Hey Gili,” Rili said. He stepped inside the dorm and pulled up the blinds. “Heard you weren’t feeling too good. What’s wrong?”

Gili said nothing. He continued staring, his elvish eyes a shade of absence, black circles hanging beneath them.

Rili stepped forward and put a hand on Gili’s shoulder. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me, Gili,” he said. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

Gili turned his head to Rili, as if noticing him for the first time. The light slowly returned to his eyes. “What’s wrong?” Rili asked again.

“You won’t believe what I caught Santa doing…” Gili whispered.

***

Rili stormed out of the dorm, Tili chasing his heels down the shoddy hallway to the creaky elevator. “Well?” Tili asked. “What did he say? I heard him whispering.”

“We need to get a hold of Rudolph. Now,” Rili said.

“What? Rudy? What’s the matter?” Tili asked, the nervousness building in his voice.

“Do you still remember how to use a cane spear?” Rili asked.

“A cane spear? We haven’t used one of those in a thousand years…”

“I want every able bodied elfman and elfwoman out in front of the workshop, armed with a cane spear at sundown.” Rili smashed the elevator call button repeatedly.

“That’s crazy,” Tili said. “What’s happening?”

The elevator doors opened and Rili, foreman and village chief of the Northern Elves entered. “Santa’s dead,” he said.
“And the Cold has claimed him.”

The elevator closed. Tili collapsed to his knees. “My god,” he
whispered out loud. “It can’t be.”

The darkness of the hallway terrified him. Indeed, it seemed to call to him. Begging him to wander inside of it. Tili, for the briefest moment, heard a sound that, despite not seeing it, instinctively conjured an image into him mind. Of a skull, laughing.

***

Rudolph drew the arrow, firing it into the target. It flew straight enough, but landed just outside the rim. He swore, trying to load the bow again. But the booze was rising hard, now. And he fumbled with the arrow and it landed on the snow. “Damn this piece of shit,” he mumbled. “God damn elvish piece of shit.”

“Suppose it’s not a good time,” Rili said, wandering in from the frost clouds of the Northern Plains. “Not happy with our trinkets?”

“An elf couldn’t make a proper train or sleigh, let alone a bow and arrow.” Rudolph spat on the ground. “What business have you with me, little one?”

“The Cold has returned,” Rili said. “It’s consumed Claus. The wife is missing as well. Darkness settles upon the city.”

“And you expect my help?” Rudolph asked, lighting a cigarette. “You think the deers have any skin in this game?”

“I do,” Rili said, fixing his boo-bit-y cut-sy red hat against the frigid arctic winds. “I’ve called my elves people for the fight. Ordered them out in spears. We’re storming Claus’ manse at sundown in hopes to catch him off guard. He’s consuming us, Rudy. Eating elfmen and elfwomen both. Like little gingerbread people.”

“Yeah, well that’s not my problem.” Rudolph picked up his bottle of vodka, staring at the picture of his long dead deerwife. “It’s yours.”

“What happened to you, Rudy?” Rili asked. “You used to be something. A leader of your people. And now look at you. Lost in grief over a deer that cared for you not.”

Rudy guzzled more of the vodka, his red nose beginning to illuminate a hint of ruby light. “What do you know?” Rudy shouted, his eyes narrow in anger. “What does an elf know about love?”

“Enough to fight for it, Rudy. We need you. We need you and the deers.”

“The deers…are gone.” Rudy looked away, chugging the vodka and wandering off into the snow.

“I know you, Rudy!” Rili called after his old friend. “And this isn’t you!”

Rudy hesitated, his outline fading against the coming snows, before running off. Rili followed him as far as he could before the snows consumed him.

Let’s grow together!

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Let’s raise a glass to @foffelius, @steelochlaver, @f3nix, @marcoriccardi, @anixio, @gwilberiol, @calluna, @ntowl, @dirge, @seesladen, @theironfelix, @letalis-laetitia, @vdux, @felixgarciap, @tristancarax, @khasa, @stever82, @brisby, @drazeus, @robinsonr810, @michaias who are already in the trail.

Join the fun!

Here is how this contest works:

  • An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.

  • You finish it with your own post (use the #finishthestory as your first tag) or a comment in the comment section. A limit of 500-700 words is recommended.

The submission deadline: January 1st, 12 noon Korean Standard Time.

A special thanks to @gwilberiol, @dirge, @tristancarax, @theironfelix, @raj808, @brisby, @maverickinvictus, @cyemela, @marcoriccardi, @hidden84, @calluna, @oivas, @ntowl, @f3nix, @felt.buzz, @khasa and @vdux for their precious delegations, making this project a reality! If you like this contest..SPREAD THE GOSPEL! We're grateful for your resteeming and word of mouth. Everything helps to grow together!

GOOD LUCK, BRAVE STORYTELLERS!




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Let me see what my mind will cook up, @dirge. Nice to have you back for the time that you are.

I very much enjoyed writing this one. Great prompt/beginning for a story of...

The Curse of Christmas Future

Title Curse of Christmas Future.png

P.s. I found it impossible to stick to the suggested word count for this one, so I kinda treated myself to an early Christmas pressie of 300 words. Sorry ;-)

P.s. I found it impossible to stick to the suggested word count for this one,

Never mind @raj808, we are aware of your idiosyncrasy for words' cages 😜

I did well last week hitting the target spot on... but when the story demands more words... more words I shall feed it ;-)

Omg guess who's back for the Christmas special?? me of course, really loved this intro, there were so many directions to take it!
Here ya go, its my entry: https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@gaby-crb/the-war-on-christmas-finish-the-story-68

Here's an appropriate first blood for you. Rock on, Gaby!

1b77f9b.jpg

Whoop! I was determined to be first :)
Nice hat ;)

You were the first indeed. Full Metal Santa is never wrong 😎✌

There there... After all the questions - here is my story continuation...

Hope, you guys would have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. )))

https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@mgaft1/finish-the-story-contest-week-68

yep thanks for the submission!

Thank you for this contest! I really enjoying myself.

Can anybody kind point me to a some base ferrytale that discusses Santa Clause, elves and the rest of the paraphernalia. Surely I can go off the prompt only but I will prefer to be familiar with the prehistory. Thank you!

Насколько мне известно, Санта-Клаус был популяризован в 1930-е, это была рекламная кампания "Coca-Cola", он был лицом проекта. То есть, изначально надо было поднять продажи газировки в Рождество.
Но в поп-культуре его образ развивался, пародировался и дошло вот до таких комедий, какой вдохновлялся я при написании своей версии)

Я просто не сразу понял всех перепетий начального отрывка, и сколько из него является "унаследованным" из существующего фальклера и сколько придуманным автором. Вот и весь расклад. )))

Там же классика американских комедий) "Всё плохо, нужно спасти мир, нам нужен избранный... сойдёт и первый попавшийся, если убедить его, что он - избранный". А дальше - просто включить чувство юмора)

Мне нравится как трезво вы к этому подходите! Но таких комедий я наверное не смотрел. Мне нравились какие-то другие. Например такие, где герой говорит "Вы будите иметь этот траханный фан, хотите вы этого или нет." Или как это было в фильме Майка Маерса, где сесь диалог зиждется на двусмысленностях. )))

Thanks! I wish I knew of this earlier... This could have been very useful )

Did you know that Rudolph and Santa's other reindeers might well be all girls!? Only female reindeer keep their antlers throughout winter. By Christmas time most males have discarded their antlers and are saving their energy ready to grow a new pair in the spring.

Not sure what you're looking for exactly. Maybe try wikipedia for some ideas? The prompt was meant to be basically a fantasy setting only with North Pole themes

Wikipedia ha? I thought there was some basic legend or a fairytale that underlines Santa Claus's narrative that discusses Santa, elves, Rudolf, etc. , like, for example, Snowwhite or Thumbalina or Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't sure whether Tili, Rili, Gili, foreman and village chief of the Northern Elves were known characters, that are already settled in epos or they are the creation of this prompt only. What are the conditions of Santa's death? For example, there is a known character of Russian fairytales called Koshey Bessmertny (or deathless/indestructible) whose death is inside the needle, that is inside the duck, that is inside the rabbit that is inside the treasure chest on a remote island.

I also wasn't very clear from the prompt about who was in Santa's house and ate elves like little gingerbread people. Is it someone we suppose to know from a resident fairytale, or his/her identity is up for grabs?

Rudolf is a deer. I have no problem with his anthropomorphism, but him having hooves prevent him from holding the bottle and playing with the bow and error. Does the prompt assume him having more dextrous extremities?

@mgaft here's a link that you may find useful:

https://santaclausoffice.com/story-santa-claus-office/

I have to add that this tasty and totally enjoyable prompt by @dirge should just be welcomed with a thank you. We run a contests with rewards without asking anything to the participants (nothing is mandatory). The Finish the Story contest is not a public service, we are not funded by Steemit and we don't gain anything out of it (just the fun of writing together). Dirge gave us one of his stories as free material to play with and, to put things into perspective, I don't think it's his job to guide you through the background of Santa Claus or receive criticism because he pointed to wikipedia. You can perform a 3 sec web search by yourself, like I did, and find everything you need.
Also, the prompt doesn't have to explain everything. When it's about fiction, the rule of show don't tell is a must (google it). Moreover, such approach creates the right conditions for the participants to eventually fill those "gaps" in the narration with their own interpretation.

Hope you get the constructive spirit of my comment 😉 I'm curious to read your second half, go with the flow and enjoy!

Thank you! I don't understand why my questions are met with such resistance and indignation? I am not criticizing anybody or anything. I am trying to write a continuation following the guides given in the prompt. That's why I am trying to understand exactly what is written and implied in the prompt. I come from a math background where understanding the problem counts for 50% of the solution. Up until now, Santa's mythology has never interested me. So I had to go through some learning curve. That's all.

I am writing a continuation as we speak. So sit tight. )))

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