They emerged just as dawn broke over the mountains. They'd been there for a long time, apparently, just buried, waiting. We never knew what the signal was that prompted their awakening, but it was something - they certainly didn't seem capable of coordinating among themselves. We barely had time to register what was happening before we were overwhelmed. Tiny legs, tiny claws, tiny teeth - individually they were laughable, but you never saw just one. They flowed over us. Some people they devoured, others they would leave untouched, maybe only eating their leather belt or shoes. We never understood how they chose. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #TinyTeeth

The wumjump herds were migrating. They careened across the landscape towards their traditional mating grounds with their distinctive asymmetrical gait - kind of a hop, a twist, and a skid. It looked ungainly in the extreme but no one could deny they made excellent speed. They were early this year, which usually indicated that a hard winter followed by a gentle and extended spring was coming. The usual scavengers lined the route, waiting for the last wumjump to clear so they could go in and feast off the small (and not so small) animals that didn't move quickly enough. Nature's majesty! #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Wumjump

The king's brother knew he would be better at the job. After all, what was the job, really? All you had to do was dominate, never apologize, exercise power judiciously but ruthlessly, and make sure people understand that your violence will always defeat theirs. Prince Hendor had been able to beat up his older brother since a growth spurt at the age of 14. How you could respect a king - and by extension a kingdom - whose younger brother could thrash him so easily? It wasn't until his coup failed that he learned that there was more to violence than strength. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Violence

I watched the gnomes frolic in the dusk. They weren't beautiful, these gnomes, but there was something magical in their unselfconscious joy. They pulled each others' beards and scampered in delight. I saw one snatch the little red hat off another and start to play piggy in the middle. But it wasn't bullying - the piggy was having as much fun as anyone, leaping for his hat with full throated roars of laughter. Their songs gave me a deep feeling of contentment, as if all were right with the world. It would have been cruel to tell them what was coming. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Gnomes

As our spaceship rapidly descended we braced ourselves for impact. This was a disaster, and entirely the result of my stupid mistake. The ship is not designed to operate in close proximity to anything with a gravitational field of greater than 3.74m/s^2 - we're supposed to dock with a station and take a shuttle to the surface. But I had to take a closer look. I really thought we weren't too close. I knew I was pushing it, but I had all the confidence - now feeling like arrogance - of a man who is rarely wrong. And now we were all paying. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Arrogance

0:27, 0:26, 0:25... In a movie he would snip the right wire and stop the countdown just as it got to :01. But this wasn't a movie, and he was very aware that his getting blown up was a very definite possibility. Indeed, at this point it seemed likely. How was he supposed to know what to do here? These hobbyists don't color code their wires. gaffer tape everywhere, getting his hands sticky. The sweat wasn't helping, getting in his eyes. 0:15, 0:14, 0:13... He just wasn't going to be able to do it. He was going to die. boom #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #boom

I could tell by the peculiar quality of the rapping on the door of my rooms that a new case was in the offing, and quite a delightful one at that. I emptied my pipe into the fireplace and bade the supplicant to enter. He claimed to be a mere census taker, but it was clear from the briefest of observations that he had troubles and wished to unburden himself. The orange stain on his trouser cuff, his unevenly frayed collar, and his nervous habit of saying "Could you just answer these questions please sir?" all gave the game away. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Afoot

The hunger gnaws at me. I can remember exactly the last thing I ate: a banana sandwich I made for myself for lunch three years, four months, two weeks and three days ago. The banana had been too big to fit entirely onto the surface of the bread when mashed down so I had a bit left over. I could have popped it into my mouth but no, I threw it in the trash. I can't tell you how often I have fantasized about that bit of banana. How am I still alive? Oh, you know, medical experiments and stuff. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Banana

I oozed down the stairs. My form had become fully inchoate during the night; I was no longer able to hang myself on my skeleton, indeed I was barely able to contain myself within a rubbery outer sack. This had not been wholly unexpected, but I was still surprised - how can one prepare for formlessness? Having reached the kitchen, I flollopped my way over to the table. I had a terrible hunger; I desperately needed something, but what? The butter - as soon as I saw it I knew I had to absorb it. I felt pretty good once I had! #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Butter

They knew the solution to their problem could be found under the mountain, in the old mines. The before people had left a lot of stuff down there, and it was said much wisdom. But that wisdom hadn't been needed after the reset, and so while the texts themselves remained, the ability to understand them had atrophied. They found their smartest citizen, winner of an enormous competition. She went down and devoted herself to the task of understanding. Weeks later, she emerged, staggering. "I have it!", she croaked. In a frenzy she spewed her learnings, for days, then she died. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #OldMines

As a culture we tell ourselves a lot of stories about aliens arriving. They're not really about that, of course - like most science fiction they are telling a parable about society using the aliens as a metaphor. But, despite this, they do color our expectations, give us a vocabulary of alien encounters that we tend to draw from. Will it be an invasion? An infiltration? Are they coming to invite us to an intergalactic civilization? Save us from ourselves? Gallingly, it turns out the most accurate prediction was Mister Mxyzptlk from the old Superman comics. Goddamn alien pranksters confusing everything... #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #AlienPranksters

I danced the dance of my people. I danced it defiantly. I danced it exultantly. I danced it challengingly. I danced it joyfully. I danced it for me, for you, for the people of my world and the people of yours. I danced in the streets, and in the houses. I danced as if daring them to stop me. And, eventually, they did. At first I took this as oppression, evidence that my kind would never be welcome here. But then they explained it was actually all the knives - I was making people nervous swinging them around. Which is reasonable. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #DanceTheDance

It's all weaving, that's what people don't get. They just don't. Telling a story: that's weaving words into events. Studying a topic: you're weaving facts into meaning. Writing code: weaving logic into action. Weaving a rug: weaving a rug. Ok, that last one is a joke. Jokes are also weaving, by the way. And of course magic is weaving too. That's really all it is. It's just weaving power and will into force. That's it. Of course you have to study the power, and learn to corral the will. There's skill in it, as in all weaving. And it's dangerous. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Weaving

I knew with absolute certainty that there was something I could say that would completely turn this situation around. If I could just find the right phrase, the right tone, this entire disaster could be salvaged and everything could go on as before. But my mind was a blank. I was speechless. Everyone was looking at me - they knew this was my time to shine. I opened my mouth in hopes that my brain would take the hint, but it didn't, so now I was just gawping. It was hopeless. I couldn't do anything. They were going to kill us. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #JustGawping

Run, said the beater. So we ran. Jump in here, said the carrier, and we did. Get out here, said the cadger. We got out. Then there was nothing, no instruction for the longest time. Will we starve here? Will we die? No no no, said the cormonger, come stay with me and I'll feed you for a time. And she did. And now you must leave, said the graven wyrm. So we left. Why must we always do as we're told? asked the remnant, one of my companions. But I had not been ordered to answer, so I couldn't. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #GravenWyrm

Refresh, refresh, cup of tea, click, refresh, pretend to read an article, refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Obviously if the number went up that would be best, but even going down would be something. It would be information, change, an occasion for a decision, an invitation to take action. But the number stubbornly just... stays the same. Maybe I need to clear the cache? No. maybe I should try another browser? Another device? No, there it is, still, static, stuck. How long has it been? I don't even know. It's all fallen away. I need the number to change. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Refresh

The cat liked being in the box. If it had been just left on the floor and forgotten she would certainly have found it, but as it happened she had been placed inside deliberately. Tenderly, yes, but without her express permission. Normally this would have been cause to resist, but she was sleepy, and full, and it was nice and warm. There was even a blanket! And also some equipment, but it didn't take up much room so she just pretended it wasn't there. She could hear people arguing: "Can we look yet?". At what? Quiet down, Schrödinger, she thought. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #CatBox

Time, never enough time. Always enough space, though... Such were the thoughts that led me, via Einstein's theory of relativity, to develop my space/time converter. At first it only worked one way - you could convert time to space, but not vice versa. It was surprisingly effective if you could avoid going insane when you saw it work. Basically, you would place the device in a room, turn it on, and retreat. When you went back to the room it would have grown larger relative to the amount of time that had passed. Going space-to-time was much more disturbing. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #SpaceTime

The foul seas we saw were too turbulent to cross, but we crossed them. The assembled armies that greeted our wave-tossed and salt-weary crew were too formidable to confront, but confront them we did. The agile-minded and subtle-tongued courtiers we encountered were too wily for us to get around, or so they thought until they realized we were already behind them. The ruling class were too intransigent and self-protecting to even consider our proposals, but they adopted them wholeheartedly. Finally, the Emperor could not be threatened, convinced, beguiled or outmaneuvered, as he was too stupid. In this they were correct. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #AgileMinded

As I slowly roasted in the braddled dock I contemplated the turn of events that had brought me to this pass. If I hadn't burnished the felt croover would I have fallen foul of the gratathalint? If I had been a little faster braiding the prout might the dean have overlooked the groddling? Maybe if I had, as I promised, actually achieved full mulching of the folectorator I might have earned enough brownie points to make up for my failure to freem the coveted graverner sufficiently to prevent keratasis. But it was useless to speculate - I was destined to cook. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #SlowlyRoasted

The entrails of the wondrous ferrous mouse we had been granted by the most extraordinary high authority under the frequently underrated backdrop whose campaign against the coming forces of those that arrayed their most precious and rare resources into such a tirade that our continued presence in the weirdly plaintive association of criminality inducing bell-like organisms seemed to protrude most unconvincingly along the ridges of what can only be described as an unerring attempt to sweep the provisions of the contested article into the deepest darkest liminal overtaking of our senses and our wills and all that we ever were. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #ContestedArticle

The anticipation was delicious. At least, he was hoping to bring himself to believe that. This would involve first thinking of it as "anticipation" rather than "dread", and then "delicious" instead of "debilitating". It would be nice to successfully reconceive of this unbearable tension as somehow pleasurable, but he doubted his ability to bring this off. It's only easy to fool yourself when you don't know you're doing it. This thing he was dreading - sorry, anticipating - wasn't going to be fun; that was the main problem. Maybe if he thought of it as the end of waiting? That could help! #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #UnbearableTension

The growth projections for the third quarter had failed to meet expectations. The numbers we were seeing weren't being driven, as hoped, by extrinsic positive flywheel interactions, but instead by the dead hand of the witch that had cursed our founder over a century ago. We came up with a list of action items for the incoming CTO and diverted some of the contingency budget from our overall construction modernization project in order to promote actualization of a solution. We expect quarterly progress reports and, more immediately, a plan to venture into the old swamp to retrieve her accursed remains. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #IncomingCTO
To make up for no daily drabble yesterday, today is a #DoubleDailyDrabbleDay!

As we improve our skills in a given field we come to learn what is truly important and what has been a crutch - a necessary aid on our path to full understanding, to be abandoned when no longer needed. As we start to learn we add - techniques, principles, strategies; when we truly begin to understand we start to strip away, to bring the thing to its essential nature. So it was with the wise woman of our village. When she started her advice was detailed, specific and wise. Now she has achieved mastery, and only ever says "don't do it". #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #TrueMastery
To make up for no daily drabble yesterday, today is a #DoubleDailyDrabbleDay!

So it goes And so it blows And so it grows The rose The garden stands athwart the wheel We tried to turn, it was not real Our running hands belayed the test We could not hurdle at our best So we fight Towards the light We are not right In sight These random lines of ersatz verse Could be construed as being worse This writing one line at a time Creates a poem that's a crime And so we cheer And swallow fear We cannot hear The mere Suggestion of our failed attempt To generate some much needed content #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #Doggerel

Taxes taxes taxes. Every year the same routine - the collector comes by with his "enforcers", they have a look around the yard, look you up and down, and make what they call a "guesstimate" of how much you owe. It would seem like a system ripe for corruption, where we the taxed could offer to pay the collector half the difference for a reduced bill or something, but the "enforcers" are loyal and well compensated, and the collectors know they would be ratted out. So we hide our wealth and dress down, and they grow ever more harsh and suspicious. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #TaxesTaxesTaxes

The aliens had been extremely hospitable since I landed among them, the only survivor of our multi-year near light speed expedition. Of course I was nervous. Were they fattening me up to eat me? Would I accidentally do something incredibly offensive and start a war? Would I break some obscure law and be sentenced to death? My anxiety peaked when they told me they were taking me to their zoo. "This is it," I thought to myself. "They probably have a human exhibit they're going to add me to, or they'll create one for me!" But actually it was fine. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #HumanZoo

The eclipse. Everything depended on it. The high priests of the undiscovered civilization into which he had stumbled were allowing him to choose the time and date of his execution - fortunately his baggage had contained an old almanack, and as luck would have it an eclipse was due right where he was just five days hence! He was confident that as sun worshippers they would be awed by his predictive powers and release him, perhaps even worship him! Of course, as sun worshippers they were well aware of the imminent eclipse and were pleased to have such a willing sacrifice. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #TheEclipse

I was very young when I realised that I was hunting for a particular place to live, a very particular sort of place. I had, in fact, been on the look out for such a place subconsciously for a long time. I searched for this place through the windows of buses and on every walk. It might be found on the way to school, or later, on the way to work. It would be a place where I could live at one with the city, like a rat, though it would be safe and warm. It might still be somewhere. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #LikeARat

The day the WiFi went down We didn't know what to do We couldn't watch our shows (we streamed) Or listen to our music (streamed) Our games were mostly Internet connected Would we have to Go outside? Look at Birds and Trees? Would we have to Talk to each other? (In person, not on WhatsApp or Zoom) Would we have to Find games to play with each other? In person? But then we realized Our phones had 5G We could create mobile hotspots We could stream our shows and music Using Chromecast (or similar) Then it came back Panic averted. #BubbleDrabbles

#DailyDrabble #BubbleDrabbles #PanicAverted