Main prompt: I want stories about protecting things, building stuff at the end of everything, holding on to what matters. I won't mandate happy endings, but if you write me a bummer of a story, I'm probably going to roll my eyes at you.

Optional sub-prompt (must request upon signup): I will give you a weird, absurd, or possibly nonsensical excerpt, premise, or hook. How you use this is up to you. Don't ask if you're just going to blow it off, though.

Sample sub-prompt:

Note that you don't have to use the character names generated with these prompts.

Toxx bonus: You may :toxx: to crit a number of submissions from this week only (week 493) for extra words. That means you are toxxing to do crits before you see the stories.

:toxx: for 1 crit: 150 extra words
:toxx: for 3 crits: 300 extra words
:toxx: for 5 crits: 500 extra words.
:toxx: for ALL crits: 1000 extra words.

You must toxx before signups close. No exceptions. The options above are the only available options—e.g. writing 7 crits doesn't get you more words than 5. Crits must be posted within 24ish hours of judgment. To help you out, I will tell you right now that it's very unlikely I'll judge before Tuesday night (PST) meaning you would likely have until Wednesday night to post your toxx crits.