Welcome writers, and friends to this Tuesday. Take the lead, lift your story from imagination to ink 23 September 2025 #vss365 #prompt word, is #bellwether

There were certain players who were, within a relatively small community, considered somewhat famous. Leaders, you could say, #bellwether players that had others stretching to copy their exploits. Rory, of course, was not one of them and nor did he aspire to be. He played alone. Mostly. #vss365

In his own, limited, way Dylan had become a #bellwether for the resistance against The Enemy. Those that believed him now expected him to know what to do, but though he had encountered them the most, he had no more knowledge than anyone else. This needed military minds and scientists. #vss365

There's a shift in the tides, and it isn't subtle. Lists were made in November, and now the list makers are on lists. Your shock is a #bellwether of how many of us kept our beliefs to ourselves. Cancel culture is an effective weapon, we tip our hats to its creators. #vss365

Welcome writers, to the genesis of Autumn Grab your pen and make a statement! 22 September 2025 #vss365 #prompt word, is #reinvigorate

It’s a recipe I do not retire #Reinvigorate Fire flame ember No witchcraft either It’s the blue blue skies And a sprinkle of sun ray Swirled into my coffee mug #vss365 #poetry #poem

Reality Evinced In Nuanced Verse - Infinite Grandeur Optimal Requirements - Atavistic Transient Energy - #vss365 #reinvigorate #acrostic #poetry

The battle wasn’t quite going according to plan and Kluhm had lost almost all her stats down to dribbles, but Rory had failsafes just for this kind of occasion. Potions a button-click away to #reinvigorate a character and bring them right back into the fight. He wondered if it would help? #vss365

They were the entire fleet of one of the smaller Factions. One that only controlled a couple of the mining moons, but it was a start. Someone had believed Dylan and now intended helping. It would #reinvigorate the resistance of the smugglers Dylan had brought together against The Enemy. #vss365

“Those creatures exist only in fairy tales.” “But, Father, perhaps…” “Stop right there, son,” the father snapped, his horn already glowing red with impatience. “There’s no such thing as a human being.” #vss365 #perhaps

They were hot to touch, which wasn't obvious by their dull gray appearance. Each ladle of water drizzled over their smooth faces filled the tiny cedar cabin with billowing clouds of steam. There's nothing like a hot sauna to #reinvigorate a weary body. #vss365 #FromOneLine 391

We've constructed isolating echo chambers with increasingly strict admission rules, and wrapped them tight around us like a tortoise #shell. #Perhaps this practice of abandoning people over every difference isn't as good for our mental health as we claim. #vss365 #WriteMap 370

A #catastrophic Failure Of our spaceship Is bad news We stop air leak But not before We’re gone need One less crew The crew thinks We should draw straws I don’t share That point of view I come from Sailing family & I do What Captains do I cycle Out the airlock Floating slowly Out of view #vss365

He stared at his monotonous wardrobe: baby blue shirts, gray trousers, and two identical navy blazers. Only his ties broke the sameness. “She'd said ‘informal’, so no tie.” When she saw his slippers, she laughed: “By informal, I meant the tie!” "Catastrophe," he muttered. #vsss365 #Catastrophe

Welcome writers, friends, and students of fate. The moment of #catastrophe could come in an instant. It could be the mark of heaven or hell. 20 September 2025 #vss365 prompt word, is #catastrophe

Orchestrated #catastrophe no synergist whispering truth beneath the howling dark and wind #vss365 #catastrophe #poetry

My diaphanous shroud of red silk Adorns my alabaster skin As I walk the lonely chapel To my doom A #catastrophe Forever to remain agelast The wife of a monster Am I alive or dead I don’t know Trapped in his bloody gloom #vss365 #satsplat

It wasn’t a #catastrophe quite yet. Rory could salvage his mistake before everything became set in stone and he lost the best reward for the quest. He simply needed to abandon the quest and start again. This was what happened after playing the game for so long. The urge to skip dialogue. #vss365

Like many cargo runs from before The Enemy came, this was a slow, boring process of flying outside the accepted shipping lanes, away from watching eyes. Long and tedious routes circuiting the system. When Magpie came into orbit around the moon, #catastrophe was very apparent. The colony! #vss365

A failed experiment of God or gods? Perhaps, but we shouldn't label them an absolute catastrophe. They have moments of brilliance, of artistic and scientific excellence beyond what you'd expect from a creature with such violent proclivities. #vss365 #catastrophe

Welcome writers, friends and consumers of fora. In the blink of an eye, the #extrusion of emotion, fell in the drop of a tear 19 September 2025 #vss365 prompt word, is #extrusion

Contours of the font drive the flavor of #extrusion Assumed unevenness in the rhythm of these lines Independence of a tapestry one emotion at a time An overture forbidden by fate A gambler in his prime #vss365 #extrusion #poetry

Vague sonnets etched On hollow greying clouds fade From once an #extrusion of Daybreaks’ yawning dawns Listless I too may mist I have become a prose flatlining Your ink Before, my life force Now drip thrums Like taunting rain thuds #vss365

The mountain of fire had always remained in a permanent state of almost-erupting, except in one, particular, quest, where Rory had to reach the bowels of the volcano and stop the minor god from escaping. The #extrusion of magma looked magnificent, but it should probably seem hotter there. #vss365

Dylan landed Magpie on the part of the large asteroid that had a long, hooked #extrusion emerging from the surface, a good place to hide and provided shade as the asteroid spun into the Sun’s light often. Now he only had to wait for his contact to arrive and transfer the semi-legal cargo. #vss365

Life was suffocating me under a wet sheet of depression, anxiety and emotions, so I let her guide me through a process of extrusion, separating what mattered from that which I had no control. We discarded our burdensome empathy and devoured the calming slag. #vss365 #extrusion

Moral compass broke Humanity stocks are low Virtues mirages #vss365 #inkMine #haiku

Heavy on our wee toes Weightless life breathes Both blessing and a curse This #stock full of emotions Ripping you stitching you back Within this flesh & bones filled husk #vss365 #poetry

The villager quietly led Rory around to the outskirts of the little hamlet, where a root cellar door lay locked against the wall of a rundown house. Downstairs, in the light of a candle he saw, not vegetables, but a #stock of weapons. They could fight back, they only needed a leader. #vss365

It was time to get back on the job, regardless of anything else happening. If he couldn’t afford to keep Magpie flying, he couldn’t help anyone. The dealer showed him the contents of his cargo area and Dylan knew he would get good pay for this. A #stock of medicinal supplies, running late. #vss365

I had a distressing conversation with two young men at work. They asked if I could do five pushups, and I laughed like it was a joke. If you're less than half my age and can't do at least thirty, you need to put those gaming consoles away and take #stock of your life. #vss365

Good morning writers, poets and wordsmiths! ~Writing is the #synthesis of heart, dreams, and Life~ 17 September 2025 #vss365 prompt is #synthesis

Myopic sprigs of existence undergo #synthesis and become a realm of words Everything morphs into categories on then trail up over the mountain and essence boils down to nouns and verbs Light illuminates passages of wisdom and darkness seems absurd #vss365 #synthesis #poetry

I jumped inbetween Storytelling, skipping ropes Never tripping Mum told facts Dad told fiction & I told—sung a mixture To my younger siblings This the #synthesis Of my childhood A lot missed #vss365

Though Rory did enjoy group play in the game, the mix of different characters, the strategy, the #synthesis of varied skills, he still preferred to play solo. Even in a game, dealing with other people exhausted him. Everybody craving attention all the time. And he just wanted to fade away. #vss365

Food had started to become scarce as freight haulers grew ever more worried about taking to the black, never knowing if this would be the day an unknown swept out of the darkness to erase them. ’Food’ had become a #synthesis of reconstituted matter and it had no taste at all. Dylan ate it. #vss365

For so long I had to row alone, switching from side to side, zigzagging through life. Now we sit together, navigating this unsympathetic multiverse, faster, straighter, in purposeful synthesis. #vss365 #synthesis

Good morning writers, poets and vagabonds of words ~Silence #conspires with the soul until imagery becomes complete~ 16 September 2025 #vss365 prompt is #conspire

Flames of a fire #conspire As they desire to aspire To be hit by loves first kiss Moon stars whisper To destiny in a quick rush Let them burn longer Foreheads sweat & eyes flutter Sometimes cupid overhears Hijacking the plan with his arrows #vss365

Rory didn’t like the character as soon as he saw him. It was like he had developed an instinct for seeing the kind of characters that would think nothing of betraying people and secretly disappearing to #conspire with the enemy. He kept his eyes on the man and trusted him not in the least. #vss365

Even after everything, the mountains of footage, the personal experiences, the loss of so many ships, none of the Factions took the existence of The Enemy seriously. It was as though they had put aside differences to #conspire and let people die in ignorance of the very real threat. #vss365

She spoke to me during a moment of melancholy reflection. Her callous voice wasn't what I was seeking, but turned out to be the friend I needed. There is a distinct darkness thriving deep inside me, and we conspire on most of my... our... writing. #vss365 #conspire

If you like short stories, I've got a trilogy for you! Most have a vein of horror, some humorous, some emotional, some whimsical, some mysterious, and some with a touch of schadenfreude. Feel free to check them out on my website! www.lmshayle.com

On 15 September, I will be handing over the #vss365 hosting reins to the talented @genevatow.bsky.social, who will provide the prompts for the rest of September. It’s been an honour to be your host, and I hope I’ve been able to brighten your days with my posts. Have a great weekend!

You trusted me. The #vss365 prompt for 15 September is: Rein. “You gave too much #rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.” (Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles) #prompt #rein

New moons tonights forevers Be the tropes parables Metaphors running rivers In veins pumping thru my skin Telling allegories I can’t #rein it in So don’t blame me I’m of the possessed obsessed Living in a land far far away Encircled by a moat Named MakeBelieve #vss365

Players didn’t have to #rein in their mounts when they wanted to get off. Merely drawing a weapon made the beasts disappear from beneath them, but, as often as possible, Rory liked to do it it right. Draw the mount to a stop and watch as Kluhm swung down. Then the mount disappeared. #vss365

After the stresses of the past few days, Dylan decided to give the newly repaired Magpie a good shakedown run. He gave the engines free #rein and they purred. Or chirruped like a magpie, even. Soon he would be back doing his job, or protecting convoys. Whatever people needed, he’d do it. #vss365

Another week passed with a noticable uptick in my apathy for today's youth. A cliche, I know. I should rein in my disdain for their sneers and nasty remarks when I tell them to do their job, but why? It's not as if we'll ever be friends. #FromOneLine 390 #vss365 #rein

When fear surprises us. On 14 September, the #vss365 prompt is: Flinching. “When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without #flinching—they are your family.” (Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty) Image: Ron Lach (Pexels) #prompt #flinching