Puzzle Reveal! August 2016

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

What: August’s Puzzle.
Why: For striving, accomplishment, glory, and banners!
When: To enter the contest proper, post fics to puzzleprompts by 11pm EST, Wednesday August 31st.
Thanks: To everyone who has posted this week! I think I have your tags all given out now and look forward to reading your fics :-)
Apologies: I meant to have this puzzle up sooner, but your mod has been having some health issues. Which is also why there was no newsletter on Monday.

Reminder: September and December will be amnesty months, when you can answer any puzzle (up to four) that you like.

Note: As usual, each piece has some extra descriptions, examples, and restrictions. Even more than last month, many of the pieces are influenced by the existing ‘Creature Feature’ themes in myth and fandom. So depending on your interests, this will either be a ridiculously easy or frustratingly difficult puzzle.

For Author’s Notes: For fics longer than 500 words, with more than three prompts, or where a prompt is being used metaphorically/obscurely, it is super helpful to me if you all give me some description of how you are using each prompt. Likewise for original or small/obscure fandoms, where I may not know so and so or such and such is a whatsit. Thanks!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask below, or PM me if you feel more comfortable.
Cheers, and happy puzzling!

August AO3 Archive

New levels of play:

Crack/Bad Fic Challenge

Puzzlepromts and Cosmic Collision Crossover

Reminders:

*All powers and attempts at magic/sci-tech, etc. can go horribly wrong, or simply not succeed, and still count.

*Possible interpretations are not limited to the below. These are just examples to intrigue your muses.
*If the puzzle piece does not have "must be shown" or similar, then it can be 'off stage'/referenced in memory or conversation. But only one prompt may be used in this way. All others must be shown, especially if they are marked as such.
'Shown' means any 'on screen' representation, so it can be a character/narrator reading about it in a book, looking at a picture or video, saying something is happening, hearing it/psychically sensing it, etc. If there's an additional 'action' component to the 'shown', then the action must be 'on screen' in some way in line with above. And please, don't hesitate to ask me questions below!

August Puzzle

Power Hour: Flight

Must be supernatural, super power, magical, mythical, plant/crystal sourced, mechanical, or sci-tech.
Astral projection, ‘flight’ through dimensions, space folding, and teleportation count.
Can be a plane, space ship, robot, angel, Thunderbird, etc.

Cannot be a mundane, earth bird flying around.

Physically demonstrated flight through the air or space is not required if it’s something that obviously flies, such a plane or space ship.

Astral projection, space folding, and/or teleportation must be shown in the fic.
'Felines' used for the 'Creature Feature' or 'What's My Line?' piece, must be shown flying to count for both pieces.

Creature Feature: Cats/Feline Shifters/Sphinx
Must be shown in the fic.

This includes any supernatural/mythical/original feline or part feline creature.

Does not have to talk or be completely sentient, as long as it a little more than a housecat or regular earth big cat.

Can be an earth cat that is super big/ferocious/crazed in some way, like a feline Cujo.

Can be any feline - human shifter, like from True Blood.

Can be robotic, cyborg, sci-tech like Voltron cats.

Can be magical or talking like Luna from Sailor Moon or Aslan from Narnia.

Can be feline people like the Thundercats.

Catwoman, Black Panther and other feline themed superheroes/villains count.

Can be a witch’s familiar, with or without a human form or mind, like Kit from Charmed.

Can be the local legend about The Great Cat that everyone fears, but may or may not be real.

The ‘Genosian’ big cat (Nexu) in Attack of the Clones and Jasmine’s pet in Aladdin count.

Any cat owned or working for a magic user/hero/villain or deity counts, even if they aren’t sentient or magical, like a goddess’ mount, cats/lions pulling deities’ chariots, Azriel from the Smurfs, or Blofeld’s cat from James Bond.

Garfield and any other ‘extra special’ animated/cartoon cat counts.

What’s My Line?: 'Black Cat' by Janet Jackson

Any part of title, song lyrics, video below, tone, theme, etc. may be used. Please specify in Notes.

Lyrics and video below.
*Black Panther, Eartha Kitt, or any other 'Creature Feature' black cat or character can only count for one piece. Unless you also use some of the song lyrics, theme, etc. But this is a way to include a mundane earth cat (black or otherwise) in your fic. But, if you use this piece for a mundane earth cat, you can't also use it as a second piece with the lyrics.

Adulting Sucks!: Cleaning up after others.
Must be shown in the fic.

Can be physical or metaphorical, as long as the character is cleaning up someone or something else’s mess.

Can be cleaning up after pets, spouses, kids, neighbors, co-workers.

Can be ‘cleaning up’ someone’s emotional mess or work related mistake.

Can not be someone who cleans for a living/pay, such as a maid or janitor, unless they are doing it in their off hours.

Classifieds: Soldier/Warrior/Cop/Knight/Guard(ian)/Gladiator
Character must be shown in the fic, but not necessarily 'working'.

Can be robotic, animal, plant, machine, sci-tech, human/mundane, magical, etc.

Any law enforcement/peace keeper counts, like marshals, bounty hunters, security/body gaurds, etc.

Any paramilitary force counts, like mercs, militias, private corporate armies, etc.

If a person, humanoid, living feline of some sort, superhero, etc, they do not have to be ‘on the job’ to count.

The character can be warring/fighting/peace-law keeping/guarding/etc. for fun, profit, kindness, under coercion, or any other reason.

Mercenaries, duelists, martial artists, boxers, and wrestlers count.

Machines count, like probe droids or motion sensor lasers, as long as they can react in some way, either with attack, restraint, or alarms.

Does not have to be humanoid or animate, as long as the statue/object/necklace, etc is supposed to be really guarding/protecting something with unseen magical powers that cause an effect if set off.

Protection spells/curses on tombs count, as long as they are real and cause an effect if set off.

Cannot just be mundane security cameras.

Cannot be a chess piece, toy soldier, etc, unless it is ‘animate’, like Wizard’s Chess/Harry Potter or in Toy Story. Or is magically/sci-tech guarding something.
Must be shown flying to count for both prompts.

Mother Nature: Summer’s heat

Can be dry or humid, night or day.

Can be in an artificial environment like the holodeck on Star Trek.

If your fic is set in space, then the environmental controls can be malfunctioning to count.

Someone needs to be hot (and preferably inconvenienced/miserable about it) to count! If it’s a cat, they can enjoy it, I suppose ;-)

Random Descriptor: True/Right or False/Wrong

Must be something ‘concrete’, as in the answer to something that has a definitive answer, not a matter of opinion or morality.

Ex: Cannot be murder, simply because it’s ‘morally wrong’. The murder itself must be wrong/right, as in wrong person, right place, ineffective method, etc.

Can be a successfully executed or FUBAR’d plan/mission.

Can refer to a character’s actions, choices, answers to a riddle, school exam, etc.

Can also be more macro, as in government policy, cultural practices, etc. as long as it refers to a concrete outcome as direct effect of said policy, practice, etc.

Ex: Taking Batman/Daredevil/etc. off the streets to accomplish ___, but the opposite happens. Or it works. And yes, both Batman and Daredevil count as warriors/guardians.

Random Object: Musical Instrument

Does not have to be in play if an obvious instrument like piano, guitar, or designated alien musical instrument.

As with ‘cutting device’, if it is not a usual instrument, such as a metal pan and wooden spoon, must be actually used in the fic to make music.

Cannot be singing with one’s vocal chords, snapping, clapping, or stomping. Must be an object independent of the character.

Can be a shell, bone or other natural/living/dead object used to make music.
As with 'Creature Feature', you can only use a musical instrument for this piece, or with the video below for 'What's My Line?'. But you can use a musical instrument and lyrics/theme from the song to count for two pieces.

What’s My Line Extras:

Title: Black Cat official video.

Source: Janet Jackson Vevo

'Black Cat' Lyrics

All the lonely nights I spend alone

Never around to love me

You're always gone

Cause you're hangin out

Breakin' the rules

Oh the man has come

Looking for you

You're a rebel now

Don't give a damn

Always carrying on

With the gang

I'm trying to tell you boy

It's a mistake

You won't realize

Til it's too late

Don't understand

Why you insist

On ways of living such a dangerous life

Time after time you stay away

And I just know that you're telling me lies

Black cat

Nine lives

Short days

Long nights

Livin on the edge

Not afraid to die

Heart beat

Real strong

But not

For long

Better watch your step

Or you're gonna die

You're so together boy

But just at a glance

You'll do anything

If given a chance

Scheming, plannin lies

To get what you need

So full of promises

That you never keep

Don't you tell yourself

That it's okay

Sick and tired of

All of your games

And you want me to stay

Better change

Makes no sense to me

Your crazy ways

Don't understand

Why you insist

On ways of living such a dangerous life

Time after time you stay away

And I just know that you're telling me lies

Black cat

Nine lives

Short days

Long nights

Livin on the edge

Not afraid to die

Heart beat

Real strong

But not

For long

Better watch your step

Or you're gonna die

Comments

[killing-kurare.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you had health issues, I hope you're feeling better now :)

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

I am, thanks :-)

[sidhe-faerie.livejournal.com]

Feel better soon. Not feeling well in the summer is the worst.

PS: My feline shape shiftier, Nellis from Dark Realms says 'hi'

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "Summer heat" might have been inspired by personal current misery. The outside world is an oven!

Squee to your feline shape shifter!

I think I managed to get all the current posters at least one piece that will fit their usual writing fandom :-)

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Whereabouts are you, if I may be so nosy?

I'm in southwestern Florida. I got home a while ago and looked like I'd just crawled out of a pool. D:

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

I totally feel you. I'm in Charlotte, in the Carolina Piedmont, which is some kind of geographic hell zone that traps heat and wind, which is why we have such bad storms. They don't move. It's really weird. And very common for different areas of town to have completely different weather. Or you could be driving and it be pouring rain, then a minute later, dry sunshine, and then a mile or so later, more rain, that's just standing still in one spot, pouring totally vertically. And what wind we have is hotter than the air right now!

Sorry for the rant. My air conditioner can't keep up, so it's 80 degrees in here :-/

But I'm sure it's horribly muggy where you are. :Breezy Hugs:

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Two of these are no-brainers for my muse -- meaning I should be able to easily work them in anywhere -- but only two! Hmmmmmmmm.

Is it cheating to just have a person be talking about the prompt or thinking of a memory or something? I remember for one of the early prompts you said "reading about vampires" counts for a vampire prompt, so... is it kinda similar to that? Now, it would be douchey to just have someone HAPPEN to talk about various things randomly with no purpose other than to use the prompt. But if it's NOT that, is it okay? Just curious. I don't have any solid ideas so my heart won't be broken if you say no :) I actually kinda did that already with the dragon prompt for this month cuz there wasn't an actual dragon, but it was woven into the fic three times so...yay for not being completely random? And I think it added something to the fic

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Now, it would be douchey to just have someone HAPPEN to talk about various things randomly with no purpose other than to use the prompt.

Damn. Now I'm tempted to do exactly that.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Haha! I should stop giving you ideas! ...except last time it actually turned out pretty well, with that drabble :D

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

I got modded a little for that. :P

And yes, you need to stop with those ideas! *tries to resist them*

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Oh whoops *whistles innocently*

Maybe you could just post it to your LJ, and your friends will be scratching their heads wondering where you're getting all the random convo topics from that have nothing to do with the story :)

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Just don't try and give me any more ideas! You realize Who Is Like God's May Day Morning is what came of me trying to write a crack fic for you? Mission very much not accomplished there, lol.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

THAT was supposed to be crack?? No I didn't realize -- ha!

And btw my air conditioner is set at 82. LOL. Granted, most people here don't go above 80, I'm a weirdo. But every degree makes a difference in the bill! I can turn a fan on if I get hot (I have one timered for when I'm falling asleep)

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

No....grrr....that story wasn't supposed to be crack. I can totally hear Jabba going "huh huh huh."

It's what the crack fic I started, morphed into, once I started adding world building. I got more interested in hydroengineering project Who was flying over, than the surprise sex he was going to get there. :eye roll: which led to me building the mermaid enclosure...that somehow led to a riot. I don't ask, I just write down what the muse tells me to.

Your home is 82 on purpose?! If you get hot?! :Faints dead away:

I have a 'fan' that was an old one from work. As such, I am still very hot and vaguely sticky.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

LOL if that was your crack I'd hate to see a serious fic, yeah ;) I understand being a slave to the muse's whims. I did have to giggle at "I don't ask, I just write down what the muse tells me to" - LMAO

Haha, yep! Well when it's 114 outside, 82 is downright COOL! It's all relative. I don't think it was that hot today. Now I have to look... yeah, only 109 in my area of Tatooine today. It's supposed to be under 110 through next week, yay. Currently 98 degrees out, at 9:20pm. But! It's very dry here, we don't sweat the way you guys do! To us, a humid day is like 20% humidity :) And people who moved from back east, which is like MOST people here, say the higher temps are preferable to the higher humidity.

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 80 degrees is really not too bad when the humidity is low; I can take 90 degrees if that is the case. Compared to the temperature outside, that's fairly comfortable. But here in my area of Dagobah, it often feels like a sauna outside even when the actual temps are not very high.

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

You guys are made from stronger stuff than me. I would be a puddle of goo in either place.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Dagobah! Ha! I visited Orlando a couple years ago and definitely noticed the humidity... it was October, so not too bad, but it felt warmer to us desert dwellers than the temps indicated. And we marveled how with all that water around, Disney World didn't seem to have any mosquitoes. They must do something amazing to the water. It's probably muggier where you are?

LOL @ your Han gif below :) Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay CRACK FIC! You could totally do a bizarre Reylo pillow talk fic... neither one of them would be too skilled at pillow talk, I imagine, so it'd be totally in character. *gigglesnort*

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

I've not been to Orlando/Disney World since my teens, but I can promise you that there were mosquitoes. I think they get more selective when they have so many food sources to choose from, and they seemed to like me very much. :(

I'd imagine so; humidity is at nearly 100% most nights.

Reylo pillow talk - why stop there? They could be saying the most unromantic/random things while actually doing the deed. It'd be almost like a Girls/Star Wars crossover. ;)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

It'd be almost like a Girls/Star Wars crossover

OMG now I want to see one! LOL. How awesome would it be for either Adam or Kylo to happen across the other having a hissy fit and feel like he's looking into a mirror?! *snicker*

But yeah, not exactly romantic smoothtalkers, either of them. I think the above fic should have bonus points if the term "pussy wall" is used :) Though I'm not sure that would count as a cat prompt...

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Ew! No, lol, 'pussy wall' does not count! Unless it's a cat's vagina ;-)

But the idea of Rey and Kylo having ridiculous sex talk has definite funny potential, IMO.

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

LOL, if you set the genre to 'crack fic' or 'bad fic', and it's funny, I will allow that :-) But you have to do that with most of the prompts! And it has to be completely ridiculous! But well written all the same.

Now...what do you think of that challenge...Wicked Jester?

;-)

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think I need to go to bed before I wind up staying awake half the night writing a crack fic. ;P That challenge will be dealt with... in the morning!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Oh, this promises to be interesting. Good luck!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

No, I know what you mean, and I've done that too. I just haven't published my fic here for this month. But the TARDIS is off screen. And others have had dream sequences or simply referred to a puzzle piece. If I require it to be present, I add that to the notes, like I did for Moon this month. And I said Astral Projection and Teleportation have to be shown in August.

So as long I didn't say it had to be present/shown, then go ahead and talk about it. But a memory could still show it, if it was flashback style. Good luck with the writing!

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Okay cool. There's actually a canon TLOU scene with a couple of these prompts together within like 10 seconds of each other, if talking counts :) but I'm not sure I can do anything with that scene and keep it canon-friendly because of where it falls in the story... too many connected scenes with no time lapse between. Maybe a drabble though. Hmmmmmmmm

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Hey, BTW, I'm gonna add the 'reference to something off stage' type rule to the puzzle above. But with a limit of only one prompt, except for the crack fic challenge. I might have to make special dares a regular thing. It's kind of fun :-)

So, only one prompt piece can be referenced that's not present, cool? And that doesn't included pieces that are marked "have to be shown." Hope that makes sense?

[luminations.livejournal.com]

In general it's nice to make exceptions for crack :)

That sounds fair. It should limit our shenanigans enough. Soooo... if it's a picture or poster of the thing, does that count as being "in" it? It's not just someone talking about it and there's physical representation of some kind, just not the actual thing?

And that's my last question, I swear! Until the next one. Maybe. Hehe. Eventually your puzzle reveal posts are going to be 2000 words or more :)

Oh look I have a "flight" icon I never get to use!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Yikes, sorry I didn't back to this. Yes, as long as it is 'on screen' in some way (book, picture, flashback, dream, heard/psychically sensed but not seen, etc), that fulfills the 'shown' requirement. Unless there's an additional 'action' component to the 'shown', then the action must be 'on screen' in some way.

And um..they aren't flying in that icon (unless they're flying high on crack lol) She is having an awesomely empowering moment, and he is having super dirty thoughts ;-)

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Okay cool. I could do something with the scene I'm thinking of then, but... it's not the easiest scene to work with really, unless I wanna just add thoughts to it. Argh. Hopefully a plot bunny will come bite me and I'll think of something better.

They ARE flying! She says so in the movie! "I'm flying, Jack!" She has super powers! As for the dirty thoughts... he was probably having more in the scene THIS icon is from, lol

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Hello, I am wondering if Millicent may count for the feline prompt? She is General Hux's cat. I tried to provide a link about it but my comment got marked as spam, lol.

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Absosmurfly! She's got a Tumblr and was invented and tweeted by someone associated with the franchise. Until Pablo says she doesn't exist, that's good enough for me. As I'm a stubborn old fuddy duddy, I consider everything JJ is doing fan fiction anyway, so...

And also, the anti-spam bots are getting on my last nerve these days with their over zealousness. My email announcement of your first comment didn't include any spam worryage. I looked up Millicent on my phone and ROFL to Kylo covered in ginger hairs. For future reference, I can unmark spammed comments, usually, lol.

Also, thanks for bringing her to my attention! Now I have enough villains with cats for a themed promo banner, yay!

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Oh, this makes me happy! I've already written her into my story, I just would not have claimed it for the prompt if it didn't count, lol.

Ah, okay! I didn't know if you would receive any notification at all for a comment marked as spam, that's why I deleted it. But that's good to know.

There's going to be a themed promo banner of villains with cats?? Yay, I can't wait to see it!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Yay for making someone happy tonight! And fair warning, the idea of a 'line' of promo banners is to get you all to promote Clan Terror for me :-)

I always see the comment as screened, but sometimes I have trouble unspamming them :-/ And so far, out of maybe six warnings in the last six months, only one seemed to be spam. Just this week, oddly enough. It was in a foreign language that I completely didn't recognize, and linked back to what looked like a genuine sock puppet/dummy account, so I deleted it (on purpose, lol).

[wicked-jester.livejournal.com]

Hi, I've looked around for a post that further explains how amnesty works in this community but couldn't find anything - my question is how does one present a fic during this time? I have a one-shot fic I'm working on that uses August's prompts which I would like to submit when it's finished. Can it just be posted like normal, or are there different rules that apply? Thanks!

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

That is the nicest way anyone has asked me to get off my arse and moderate :-) Seriously, I'm sorry, I should have made a post about that days ago.

In the subject/post description line put the month's name along with the fic title and number of prompts. Thanks!