Writer’s Workshop Submissions. Cycle 3, Week 2

Welcome to Cycle 3, Week 2 of the Writer’s Workshop! :smile:

As was discussed here, we’ve introduced some new rules and guidelines for the competition. Enough of the chit-chat though, let’s get to the submission rules!


Submission rules (note: these will differ slightly from week to week)

  • You can only submit one story per week.

  • [color=blue]The story must tie in with this cycle’s theme “The Forging of a Kingdom”[/color]

  • [color=blue]The theme for this week is “Close encounters of the Bunny Kind”[/color] (thanks @Zendo)

  • [color=blue]You must have a character who narrowly escapes death.[/color]

  • We’re asking for submissions to be no more than 400 words.

  • Vote for as many stories as you want - simply ‘like’ the associated post by clicking the heart at the bottom of the submission.

  • If you submit a story continuation from a previous week, there will be a varying number of automatic “likes” associated with the submission.

  • Keep all discussion of this week over here, as anything in this thread that isn’t a story will be moved or deleted.


Story submissions will close on Wednesday September 18th.

If there are any questions, feel free to pop over to the discussion thread and ask away.

Good luck writers! :smiley:

The farmer’s life was hard work, but it suited Joe fine. He was a mile or two away from the new settlement, but he enjoyed the isolation. It might be nice to have someone to share the view he enjoyed near the ocean cliffs… but really, other folks would just get in the way!

At the very least, he’d like to at get a dog or a cat - as the farm did have a bit of an issue.

That issue was bunnies.

The darn things were all over the place, digging holes here and there, nibbling on his crops.

He didn’t have the heart to hurt them, but deep down he knew he’d eventually have to be more ruthless. Isana would be livid if he let the people of their brand new settlement starve because he was too timid to take care of a rodent problem.

As Joe was walking back to his makeshift shack that day, he saw one of the little guys nibbling on a tomato plant - his FAVORITE tomato plant, the one right outside his home!

Deciding this was the moment he’d get more stern, Joe broke into a run.

“You little punk!” he shouted. “Get out of here!”

Raising his hoe and swinging it wildly, he chased the bunny, trying to look as menacing as possible while yelling crazy things.

The bunny ran and ran, eventually reaching a little outcropping on the edge of the ocean cliffs, and disappeared into some hole. Joe figured he’d take a look at the rabbit’s home.

Unfortunately, as he leaned out over the edge of the outcropping, the rock beneath him gave way. Time seemed to go in slow motion as he began the 150 foot fall down the cliff face.

Joe blacked out the moment he hit the water.

When he finally came to, Joe found himself on a small sandy beach. There was a hooded figure standing over him whose clothes looked soaking wet.

“So you’re alive after all.” said a high pitched female voice, speaking very quickly.

The figure lowered her hood, revealing a pair of long bunny ears. Was Joe dreaming? Her violet eyes looked amused, and her mottled grey and black fur was slick with water.

Her nose constantly wiggling as she talked, the bunny-woman spoke again.

“You’re the one who has been scaring my pets, aren’t you?”

6 Likes

At first, everything seemed to be going well, the heat from the lava warmed the whole fortress, cooked all the food and kept the forgers busy all day. Metal products where shipped out in steam cars. These steam cars where ran off small amounts of lava, in the very front. The speedy cart ran on wheels, along the very metal rails that had been forged a week earlier, but at about a year, 3 people where swallowed by a sink hole. At least, they though it was a sink hole.

Lauk (L-ah-uke) Had been building the new plaza statue base when the ground had opened, he and his two co-workers had instantly plummeted as the ground opened almost centered on the square. He hit the water with his feet first, knees slightly bent, as that was the best way to survive a fall. But it didn’t stop the pain, hitting the water felt like when he fell of the building roof, only not onto a empty cart. And not on his head.

Lauk’s female co-workers where gone by the time he woke up, Never have had being the best of friends, he assumed they had abandoned them, until he saw what appeared to be paw prints along the shore of the giant cave. He went jogging along the cave, following the paw prints.

As, he went, the walls appeared to become more smoother, more flat and purposeful. Suddenly, he noticed a chisel on the floor, and engravings on the wall. He slowly saw more and more engraving on the now entirely smooth dark walls, there where torches appearing more frequently now, he’d have been more afraid, but what monster would engrave their walls?

Lauk continued walking, trying to find something. when he noticed a stone door, attempting to push it open, someone on the other side said “Oof” and the door bounced off something. Trying the other side, he opened the door to a bunch of aggravated Bunnymen. The bunneyman he had knocked over seemed to be about to jump on him, but seeing he had no weapon, he just stood there. The bunnyman seemed surprised that the invader hadn’t even attempted to fight back, they took them with the other guards on their next rotation.

And that was the first Introduction of the bunneymen to, well, men.

1 Like

Three years, and the settlement hadn’t grown an inch. Simon knew that if the town he was in charge of failed he’d never work again. All because Lord Hendricks, and a great harvest, had made his town thrive, raising expectations the king had of the other settlements. And even though the town itself was fine, if not a bit short on food at times, they hadn’t expanded anymore then the edge of the forest. He had lately been asking if the farmers would expand to the other side of the small grasslands at the edge of the town outskirts, but refused for reasons they could not speak of. Now he was a fair man, but there was no reason for not expanding, some farms even seemed cramped along the borders. So he thought to bring it upon himself to be the first one to expand. He got all his wood and his trusty hammer and set to work. Then the flimsy wood post he’d set up snapped like a twig as a strong gust of wind blew by. He didn’t have time to dodge and it got him square in the head. He never even felt the ground collapse as he fell backward unconscious. He awoke with a pain like a hundred horses trampling him. He had almost lost consciousness again when he realized that a shadowed figure was standing over him in the dark. The shadowed figure seemed a little lanky for it to be anyone in the village.
“You’re lucky to be alive you know, the drop would have killed any normal human.” said the shadowed figure.
Even with the pain he realized it was too dark to be night, and the voice had sounded… off somehow.
“Where is this?” said Simon.
“Ah, that’s right, humans can’t see in the dark.” said the shadowed figure.
His eyes had almost adjusted to the darkness when a candle flickered on. He noticed that he was in a small grass hut when he saw the shadowed figure. Disbelief over took him as he shouted “WHAT THE-” the figure in front of him had ears half as tall as him, with a pink nose, and a furry face that was the wrong shape, then it hit him. “You’re, you’re a rabbit!” he exclaimed.
"Yes, and welcome to the land of the Bunnymen."
All pain was forgotten as he raced to the door of the small grass hut, as he looked out he saw a cavernous room completely full of similar grass huts. The cavern must have been bigger than the entire village! That’s when the pain returned that forced him to the ground. He thought he’d heard the Bunnyman say “My name’s Alphonse by the way…” before the world faded to black.

4 Likes

Dear audience, last time you learned that a good way to start a small kingdom is to crash a gigantic dirigible into unknown grounds.
Well you might have learned that if you had the gall to listen to that disgusting drunk, with whom I assure you I have nothing to do with.
I am here to offer you an insight of what did happen before that horrible crash.

It is a nice summer day and in front of a small mansion there is a bit of a garden party going on, what we are looking at is an event of the famous industrial Cor Vanbilt.

But a bit away from all the ruckus we see a young lady lying idly on the lawn, she does seem pretty bored in fact even unhappy.
Her blue and white gown flows around her, just when her eyes fall shut someone from the house yells “Isana”, she sighs and opens her eyes, to a bizarre sight that makes her gasp.

Above her, eye to eye with her a white rabbit looks down at her.
Isana jumps up in surprise, that rabbit is quite a sight, because – well – its dressed like one of finer society, even a tiny monocle bedecks his left eye.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk” the rabbit says “we are gonna be late, do follow me or else we won’t be making it in time!” from the house the voice of Cor yells again “Isana, the contenders are waiting for you, come here at once.”

Isana ignores that, already she is chasing the rabbit, soon they are in the woods close by.
After some minutes of that chase the rabbit suddenly vanishes.
Isana notices too late, that the reason for that was a large gaping hole in the ground and there she goes, falling down the hole.

Something hits her head in the fall and she loses conscience.
When she comes to, she lies on the ground, only a wonder kept her alive as directly at her left and right side long spikes protrude from the ground, which would have neatly speared her had she fallen any aother way.

Well as time runs out I’ll be brief.
She finds her fathers dirigible factory and from the cave she came in at, she can access the dirigible. Later she saves many people and her training in resource management allows her to start her own tiny settlement.

3 Likes

Close Encounters of the Bunny Kind
Excerpt from The Origin of the Toel State

Grenda the weaver sighed with relief.

A lot had happened since their arrival in the string of white stone cliffs they now called Toel. The breeze rushed up from the woodlands below, offering a cool, pleasant climate on the otherwise sun-beaten region. The weather was lovely.

Several structures had now been built, thanks to everyone’s efforts to bring timber up from the forest. The first couple of tries ended up with the lumber workers shrieking back down the hill as the solid tree trunks slipped free and threatened to bowl them all over.

But otherwise, the town was thriving and the area was pristine. Sure, there was the giant dead Titan peeking out from the canopy of the trees still, but Isana said it gave the village “character…” or something like that. But they loved their new homeland.

The miners had dug straight through part of the cliff, putting wooden struts and lanterns within. On the other side was a field, where they had planted their crops and cotton plants—Grenda’s destination.

The lanterns glowed silently as she passed a pair of workers, one of which spoke up seeing her. “Be careful, we’ve felt tremors around here recently.”

It was to be expected, it was a new tunnel still. But not even twenty steps farther, Grenda felt something. Nervously, she looked up.

And that was when the floor BENEATH her crumbled and gave way.

The sound called back the workers. “Are you alright?!”

Grenda had managed to grasp the side of the gaping hole, but she couldn’t hold on. Terror filled her as she lost her grip and fell below.

Yet as she dropped, she felt her body scooped up and carried. She looked to find a young man holding her, bracing for the approaching ground. The two crashed into the cavern floor, casting the two apart.

Slowly, Grenda became used to the dim light in the chamber. She looked up at the circle of light from high above. If she had fallen alone… she shuddered, thinking of her what would have happened. But the man…!

She soon found her savior nearby. But as he limped up, it was clear he was not human…she noticed long ears and whiskers, and a soft fur covered him. Looking at her, he gave a pained smile, and spoke one word as he gestured to himself: “Leporian.”

2 Likes

reminder: submissions for this week close in about 48 hours…

We pick up the tale with Cyrus having been assigned the first watch of the evening:

It had been several minutes since the last tremor was felt. Several glorious minutes where Cyrus wasn't feeling overwhelmed with numbing fear.

"Perhaps it's just a natural occurance out in the fringe?" he whispered to the darkness. If only they had constructed a more formidable perimeter. Surely this would be remedied, once construction began in the morning.

Even though his confidence was slowly being restored, Cyrus maintained his viselike grip on the sword resting across his lap. Suddenly, something flitted to his left, just beyond his field of view.

For the briefest of moments, he thought the shape was humanoid, but looked quite like an oversized rabbit.

"Preposterous."

More movement to his right. Cyrus's entire body stiffened. After a moment's consideration, he refused to investigate, for fear he may actually find something lurking beyond the campsite.

"I warned you!" hissed a a female voice, several yards behind Cyrus. "The Humans are not as blind as we've been led to believe. That one nearly saw you Jhorvis! And look at him. He's completely helpless!"

A lithe creature emerged from the shadows, his face framed in a scowl. Jhorvis moved with effortless grace, and left little trace of his passage. 

"Still yourself Rhouna. I am the Guard Scout of the Second Warren here. It is I who represents the Blue Division. Not you. I say the Humans are a threat. We proceed with the mission to capture and question."

Jhorvis looked back over his shoulder, towards the silhouetted shape of Cyrus in the distance. With two fingers, he motioned for Rhouna to circle, and approach their target from the left.

They moved with incredible speed, propelled by massive hind legs, and pounced. Jhorvis attempted to restrain Cyrus from behind, while Rhouna leapt for his feet. Cyrus made a feeble attempt to draw his sword, but only managed to cleave his own leg at the thigh. His cry of pain muffled as Jhorvis clasped a paw across Cyrus's mouth.

"Hold him steady Jhorvis! I need to bind him so he does no further damage to himself."

As Rhouna worked, Jhorvis felt the body he held collapse. His target had passed out. Jhorvis prayed it was from blood loss, and not his tight grip over the Human's mouth. Panicked, he looked at Rhouna.

"Quickly! Let's move this one to the fallback position before we're discovered."

"Fear not, Guard Scout of the Second Warren. His pulse is steady, and I can remedy his ailments once we secure our location. And don't worry, I won't tell Father you've botched another mission."

The two lagomorphs hefted their quarry, and quietly dissolved into the shadows.
4 Likes

ok, week 2 is now closed… voting will continue through Thursday… :smiley:

voting has concluded… congratulations to @Zendo on placing first, and sporting his swanky new title… :+1:

im forfeiting my second place spot, and awarding a tie for second to @PDanford and @naturalnuke… congratulations to you both as well! :smiley:

i’ll be throwing together week 3 in just a bit…

1 Like