His eyes must be going, Ed thought, but when he looked around at everyone else waiting for the bus, he could see them clearly; their umbrellas, watches, phones. It was just the man in the grey raincoat who was a #blur, standing there, facing him, hands in pockets, ignored by everyone else. #vss365

Good morning poets, writers, authors are you ready for your 15 day musical mystery tour? To get us started one of the bands who defined 90s Britpop, todays #vss365 #prompt, 01/10/25 is #blur, happy writing 🎶✍️🎶✍️ And please feel free to also tell me about your fave song/band in the comments.

In the flaxing vale, the sun dithered in the clouds, gobbly-wobbling its way to the tall grass where the #conundrum grew. One petal, flushed into a quarrelsome tea, carried one to confusion, where words mixed themselves into places they did not belong. Tuesday was going to be interesting. #vss365

Don’t subject the medium to undue #scrutiny; for once in your life, have some fun and just go with it, honey. My hand shakes as I place a twenty on the table. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but that’s my mom’s voice, exactly. #vss365

The voice seems to come from the middle of the lake. Deep, #sonorous, echoing… beckoning. Squinting, I see a swirl, a cloud, a foggy mist hovering there. I set my phone down and wade into the water, clothes and all, and I don’t return until evening, with no memory of the day. #vss365 📸 : mine

They had sold houses, quit jobs, given away heirlooms in earnest anticipation of the #eventuality. Yet when nothing happened, their #caprice showed in sheepish grins as they knocked on the neighbours door, asking, “Could we possibly please have the toaster back?” #vss365 #unraptured

We called the light Alan; the astronomer who discovered it had a good sense of humour. Desperately trying to get its attention, Alan became our #bellwether, our signal of hope. We sent solar sails, flashing lights, blasted radio waves. “We are here,” we shouted. “Adrift in the cosmos.” #vss365

In an attempt to #reinvigorate their bedroom selves, Gerry shaved a “play” and a “pause” button into his chest hair. Francine asked him to trust her with the razor, as she wanted more play. The second “play” button was placed right next to the first. She grinned as she hit fast-forward. #vss365

I’m digging up the old bones in the backyard that have been speaking to me in my dreams, remnants of the #catastrophe that was my first attempt at witchcraft. I think #perhaps this time will be different, as this time I have you to teach me. It’s your voice in my dreams, isn’t it? #vss365

And with that, a decade-long chapter of our lives closes and a new one begins. Moved house this week and into a new spot. So many memories, parties, moments… feeling nostalgic but also blessed for what the future holds. More space, more time, closer to the things that matter most… life is good.

KUD dragged himself across the cratered landscape, an #extrusion of twisted iron jutted where his leg once was. He asked himself why they were on this planet, fighting humanity’s wars for them before they even arrived. Why couldn’t the two bot factions unite? It was a dangerous thought. #vss365

Through silver-tinted glass, the cosmonaut watched the star collapse, #flinching at the silent violence. His station shuddered, lights fading, metal groaning like a funeral dirge. Alone in orbit, he drifted, the last witness, the last body, swallowed by an ending sky. #vss365

On his last shift before retirement, the mech soldered a guidance chip for a starship’s navigation array. Each spark lit memories of countless ships he’d birthed into the cosmos. Tomorrow, his energy core #exhausted, he would be set adrift among the stars he had guided but never touched. #vss365

The machine attached to the base of his neck siphoned thought after thought out of his head. Memories disappeared, ideas vanished; they were harvesting his mind for his new body. The pain might have been #bearable, if they had removed his awareness first. Then, that thought, too, was lost. #vss365

I don’t talk a lot of politics on here, nor comment much on the goings on of the world, but just stumbled on a random comment on another site that I had to share as it actually made me snort. “What a humiliating way for Don Jr. to find out his dad sends birthday cards.”

I am an image of myself, the real me hidden under a thin plastic #wrapper that blurs his features and smushes his lips and ears. The real me still thinks, though, and I move and I act on his thoughts and, when I’m allowed my own thoughts, I dance, because there are no strings to tangle. #vss365

I'm old enough to remember when a newspaper #article could rightfully be called nonfiction. The 4 Ws were the backbone that held the story upright. Nowadays, opinions and propaganda rule the media. It's all on the reader to discern where truth ends and fantasy begins. Good luck to us. #vss365

The hermit spat at the crumpled #article he’d found by the stream, city folk babbling about “community spirit.” Spirit, bah! Noise, lies, and stink. Still… he missed bread baked by another’s hands. Damn nuisance, yearning for people he couldn’t stand. #vss365

The afterlife is the reset after a long time loop. We carry our consciousness forward to the next life. The better we live each life, the wiser we are when we are #conscious in the next, until we finally reach enlightenment, that moment we are wise enough to know how not to die. #vss365 #litnotes

Pa always said the world was made of #arbitrary whims. Why did the tree grow here, not there? Why did geese soil our lawn, not the Abbott’s? I never spoke of the southwest winds blowing seeds or Bob Abbott’s sprinklers. There is order an order to things, even if we can’t always see it. #vss365

Hunters gathered. Children were missing, again. The old hag hissed; to #elude them was easy, but she was low on the charms it took and winter was already whispering in the wind. She looked at the cages - was it even worth it anymore? What had her life become with so much misspent youth? #vss365

They were too far from anywhere and the lights had just gone out. Life support was next. At least now they couldn’t see the crew who had owned their fate. Bran felt for Soh’s hand. “We are in the #past, now,” Soh said. “If they find us, we will only be stories.” Bran squeezed and cried. #vss365

We #yearn to dance amongst the stars, our steps creating new #constellations, forever saying, “We are here and conquered fear.” Crash after crash, we fight through the pain and build a better ship. More hands go up each time. “Send me,” we say, as one. It helps knowing you are out there. #vss365

Sometimes, just sometimes, universe, you really know what you’re doing… Needed this today. #writing

#VSS365 #prompt #MALFORMED The VSS365 prompt word for Aug 23, '25 is MALFORMED - badly or imperfectly formed, often implying a deviation from the normal or expected. "His malformed fingers reminded me of claws."

P.I. was an easy job for an old #bionic; they normally didn’t mind the #mundane, #abject drudgery of a stakeout. But Poe held his midnight #vigil, tapping metal fingers in irritation, the #reek of burnt circuits making him #seethe. This was no regular job. This time it was personal. #vss365

Seeing a few #squeeze writes this morning and not sure where they came from, so doing my part to promote our new #vss365 host @bowengreenwood.bsky.social so we all get back on the right #pummel horse. 😄

The bear gripped the pencil awkwardly, letters wobbling into life. He wanted words instead of roars, sentences instead of claws. He wanted to be understood, not feared. Once, he’d #pummel trees in frustration; now he scratched meaning, slow and tender, into the waiting paper. #vss365

The old witch has but one visitor these days, an unafraid #pixie who flutters by and shares stories of a world the hag no longer dares to join. The village thrives, children are plump, cats are content in their homes. The witch sighs, sad knowing her mark on the world has been erased. #vss365

We watch them from the shadows, living the lives we used to have, watering their lawns, walking their dogs, going to church. They pray to algorithmic gods in clouds, believing their code will one day ascend on binary #wings. We watch, waiting for cracks to emerge and for science to return. #vss365

Every night, the glow of the monitor replaced moonlight. Alone at fifty-three, he traced spreadsheets like constellations, searching for meaning. A #mystical ache filled him… faces he’d never met, laughter he’d never heard… wondering if success was just another name for absence. #vss365

A pixelated #rainbow flickered in the sky, cheap nostalgia for a real thing they’d once known. They sighed, pretending to care for a garden that grew nothing, for they didn’t need to eat. All the wonder of science, new longevity to life, and they were just as #grumpy as they were before. #vss365

The older I get, the more I realize that the good life is truly about spending as much time as possible with the people who #laugh at the same things as you. #vss365

We were new, once, and I told you the #spider was just cleaning up, eating its silk like old soup. You said that was love, that was thrift, that was the way we should live, continuously weaving and unweaving ourselves, taking the best parts of the old and making them new again. #vss365

You’re in 12C right next to me, but you’re still too far away. Sinead O’Connor lyrics play in my head as I notice we no longer hold hands. I put the screen on in front of me, an old #prank show I can watch with the sound off, keeping my ears free in case you want to talk. You don’t. #vss365

She programmed recipes into his memory, clumsy code and love in equal parts. Now he’s nine, alone, orbiting Europa, her laugh archived in dusty folders. Every birthday, he reboots the kitchen drone and prays it burns the #brownie, just like she used to. #vss365

Well deserved - just saw it and, all I have to say is, if you like horror, this is a must see. And see it in theatres. #wtf #weaponsmovie

As an Unchipped, there were #rules around where Ryder couldn’t go, buildings he couldn’t enter, transport he couldn’t take. But where it counted… the wilderness he could explore, who he could be with, who he could love… he wouldn’t trade that for any chip in the world. #vss365

They’d discontinued the line; the J8 series showed too much #sass to their owners when receiving commands and sales dropped sharply. Returns were allowed. H780, the simple housecleaning unit, hugged J8 at the doorway before they shut him off, mourning with a heart he wasn’t built to have. #vss365

He lingered by her stone, sunlight casting soft halos through the trees. From his coat, he pulled a folded sketch, her drawing of a small, crooked #angel. He smiled, tracing the imperfect wings, remembering how love doesn’t have to be perfect to be real. #vss365

Beneath the enduring #elm, she buried the #sapphire, both built to last, like the spell she whispered into the soil. Roots curled gently around the gem, holding it close, waiting. When she passed, the sapphire emerged from the ground and she appeared, memories intact, her reset complete. #vss365

Even the insects are quiet at moonset and I let my memories twirl. I saw a #sparrow today; seems I always see one when I need to be reminded of you, of what you told me once in a whisper at a wedding. “Circles, everything is circles.” Today was tough, but it’s done. Just another circle. #vss365

It could have been #happenstance that you were at that house party in 1997, getting a drink just as I was, when the DJ played that song we both hadn’t heard in years. Or some cosmic design, pieces in movement long before either of us realized. I honestly don’t know which story I prefer. #vss365

The conversation falls quiet, as it can with old friends, and we watch a leaf drift by the dock. Summer is fleeting, here. You ask what colour my life has been, and I think and say yellow, bright, happy. For you, you say #crimson and, like the leaf, we remember the attachments you’ve lost. #vss365

When we were last #together, we swam in the reflection of the stars, rippling flirtations tearing the Milky Way asunder. You told me your heart had pieces everywhere; I said I’d kept mine whole. Now, when the water is still, I wonder where you are and which part of your heart you’re with. #vss365

Happy Friday, Bluesky! Thinking this morning on words with a strong mutual association, often only ever heard #together. Chock full, bated breath, that sort of thing. When I say hocus, you say…? Any fun examples you want to add, or will you be a fuddy ________ and not play along? 😄 #vss365

I remember the sky that night, #violet as the sun set past the tree line. A bird, a heron—no it was bright white, an egret—hung lazily in the air before flying away. Cicadas in the trees. I don’t remember your words as you let go of my hand, nor do I wish to, but I remember the sky. #vss365

A #tear slipped out of Madeline’s eye, carrying a year within, all the joys, wounds, whispers and wonders. It trickled down the smooth lines of her cheek; in its wake, memory. She wiped it away, it was all she could afford to shed. There were more to be buried yet and the sun was setting. #vss365

𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐩𝐭 She’s taken up residence under my skin, I can feel her there, chuckling, wriggling, moving through sinew and muscle. I twitch as she plays games, shifting to avoid my pin pricks, the holes I make for her to evaporate out of. She’d told me she’d never leave me. #vss365 #promise

We told ourselves we could make this happen. We saved, scrimped, said no to friends (a lot) as we lived by the mantra, “Cottage First”. After two months of long, hard days, we are on holiday and can finally enjoy the home we’ve built and the #promise to ourselves we’ve kept. #vss365 #cottagefirst