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The point of this thread is quite simple. A prompt is posted. The first reply writes a short little blurb that works within that prompt and then the poster names a new prompt and the cycle continues.

So let's begin, shall we?

The Prompt
A brief biography about one of your characters as written/spoken by that character

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing?"

I looked up just in time to see my roommate bring in the bag of clothes I'd hidden in the balcony. She stood over them with her hands on her hips, her face redder than a sunburned radish.

Perhaps I should have told her before I started to pack, but it's always harder to go to Hawaii if you have jealous roommates. Therefore, I had kept it my little secret. I'd won the tickets fair and square in a draw from a local radio station. The rest of it had been easy enough to arrange. I worked in the hotel industry so I got cheap rates. The little bits of savings I had would do nicely for food and spending. I was going to Waikiki Beach and no one could stop me!

"If you're moving out you could have at least had the decency to say so. EVERY other roommate has moved out without telling me. I thought you were different! I thought you were better! And here you are paying rent for a month and MOVING OUT just like them!"

She was getting herself worked into a tizzy. I kept opening my mouth but there was no way to get a word in edge wise. Finally, I rolled my eyes and pulled out the tickets. I wasn't moving out. I was just going on vacation!

"Shelly, calm down. I'm just going on a short vacation. I won it. I'm not moving out and I'll be back in time to pay the next round of bills."

Shelly's eyes narrowed as they regarded all of me from head to toe, her arms crossed in front of her. Finally she snatched the tickets to see, and her whole demeanor changed.

"...... fine..... you'd better come back though or I'm totally stealing your dvd collection"

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Prompt: An interesting artifact is found in an unlikely place.

I wrote for the very first prompt and didn't post it in time. Then I wasn't inspired by the others. But a seemingly optimistic setting? That sounds like the perfect stepping stone to Fleality. ninja

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It was afternoon on a midsummer day, and the weather was perfect. In the back of Burger Tyrant, I took orders, money and brief glances at the sky through the squeaky drive-thru windows.

The thought came to me from nowhere. 'I don't even like burgers.' So I tossed down my hat and told the manager I quit. He stuttered through insults, stomped his foot like a spoiled child, but I just took a box of fries and left.

The walk was nice, I suppose. When you've got nothing to do and nowhere to go except to a home and a family that will screech and scold about another lost job, then the in-between times become the best. No sense getting anywhere, really.

I appreciated at the bushy green afros of every tree, white clouds the shape of cotton swabs, and four blocks in, I spotted a rat beside a garbage can. That's the city for you. It makes them hard, so they don't fear anything.

He was scruffy, missing half an ear. Part of a donut was clutched in his forepaws, and he nibbled with nonchalance until I was right in front, staring down at him. Then he said, "Did you have a nice life?"

I stopped walking. "Excuse me?"

"Your life," he said. "It's ending soon. I wondered if it was good, is all."

"I... guess so." What else could be said to a question like that?

"Well there's a confident answer." He twitched his nose and ears. "I've had an alright life, for a rat. Lots of food, lots of fun. Almost poisoned twice, and my older brother almost bit my whole ear off, but altogether, yeah it's been swell."

It felt polite to nod. While I was doing so, a roar filled the air, like an airliner coming in too low over the city. I looked up and saw it - not a plane but something similar, tube-shaped and growing in size.

"Is that...?"

"Nuclear bomb." The rat nodded. "Sure is."

"Well I'll be da-"

It was searing heat, like when you dump the fries into the fryer and oil splashes out, but this was the whole body at once. A quick sting, the whitest light I'd ever seen, and then it was gone. Everything - gone.

So the world ended, and there we were in limbo, a void of cool and refreshing black. People floated just like they'd been on the street, but there was no street, no world.

The rat floated near my feet, looking between his paws as if the donut might have died with him.

I lifted him to my shoulder. Something about limbo made me lonely, and the grip of his paws brought comfort.

"Well, there's one good thing," he said with a wiggle of his whiskers. "At least it happened on a sunny day."

~~~
Eee... I'm bad at giving prompts. @_@

In a familiar place (where a character would have noticed construction taking place) a door suddenly exists where none was there before.

Where the heck was everyone? Simon had been wandering around the town for an hour. It was like a ghost town. Not a sound except for the wind whistling through the streets as he wandered.

It looked as though the people had just disappeared. There were taps left running over and a small fire in one house where the stove was left on frying an egg. He had dealt with each situation as he'd come to it, searching the houses, the stores, every building he could find... all in search of the people and trying to figure out where they went and why.

Up stairs and downstairs, inside and out. The only sounds the ones he was making himself. Why had they all left him? Family, friends, neighbours. Where were they and why?

Had they just forgotten him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prompt: the sun was blinding that day.

Mahana stood, waiting for her turn, feet shuffling nervously on the reed floor of the stadium. As she looked at all the people, she marveled that there were this many in the world, let alone Hawai'i. Her Kumu Hula fussed around her, moving her pa'u skirt just so and adjusting the leis. She just kept shuffling, her feet trying to remember every step of the dance.

"You look lovely," Kumu Lil'oe smiled down at her pupil. Lovely. Right. Think lovely, graceful, smile. Mahana's tried to smile back at her Kumu. It looked more like a grimace.

Kumu Lil'oe laughed softly, her wisened eyes disappearing behind the crinkled skin. Years of laughing had done that to her. It was a beautiful effect. "You'll do fine. The point is to dance. Not to win."

That did make it better for her. Pushing a stray lock of her waist-length brown hair out of the way, she looked up at the judges seat and began to smile earnestly. Yes, to dance. To dance in the Merrie Monarch Festival at all was an honor to herself, her halau and her Kumu. She would do this.

Even with her new inner assurance she still felt her heart jump when they announced her. Blood rushing through her ears so hard she could hardly hear the start of the music, she gracefully moved on stage.

It was magical. It was as though the music took over her body. She could feel it. She barely noticed anything else, just lost in telling the story through her movements. And before she felt she'd actually been inside it, it was gone. A moment in time frozen in her thoughts, but all too soon over.

Mahana gradually awoke to the cheers of the audience ringing deafeningly through the arena. She'd done it! She'd really done it!

~~~~~~~

Prompt: brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

A funny thing happened on the way to work. By that I definitely mean more funny-strange than funny-humorous, just so there is no confusion.

I was in my car stalled in traffic, running just this side of late. Horns were blaring on all sides from those on the other side of late, but their impatience did nothing to alter the speed of traffic. The woman in the car to my left was doing her makeup in her rear-view mirror, talking on her cell phone, and drinking coffee. The guy on my right was brushing his teeth instead of doing makeup, but was otherwise the same deal. I could see the guy behind me singing along to the song blaring on my radio. All in all a typical morning.

I started out my day grumpy and irritated. I hadn't gotten much sleep due to the rumblings below my navel which stopped every time I gave up on rest, and began again every time I thought to give it another try. I hadn't heard the alarm, and so had missed my chance for a cup of coffee on the way out the door. It seemed to be kind of day where nothing would go right.

Then, going nowhere in rush hour traffic, another kick came from my gut and suddenly I realized that this was it. Life was no longer waiting for me somewhere around the next corner, the way it had always felt in university. I was there.

And the really strange part was that there, deprived of sleep and almost-late for work, is where I realized that life is good. I'm happy.

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Prompt: Green

Oh, that's just great. Autumn watched the heavy, dark clouds with disfavor. She was still hours away from the campsite, and at least two days from any civilization. If anything happened, it would be at least three days before anyone missed her.

She had expected the storm to move slower, had thought that at worst she would get caught in a severe thunderstorm. She could deal with those. But no, it was just her luck to get caught outside in an August snowstorm. She was an experienced hiker, but today she wasn't exactly prepared for winter survival.

The wind whipped around her, chilling the air from the unseasonal 10 degrees to the almost unnatural freezing temperatures. Quickly Autumn threw her bag to the ground and scrambled to find her long underwear and wool sweater. Without even a hint of modesty she shed her boots and pants, wincing as the biting wind raised goosebumps on her bare legs. As quickly as she could she pulled on the long underwear, pulling her pants back on over top. Her waterproof windbreaker came off next, the turtlenecked wool sweater covered her t-shirt and the jacket was pulled back on. The first white flakes were already dancing around her, melting as they hit the ground.

As her fingers worked to retie the heavy hiking boots, Autumn considered her options. She could try to push on to the campsite. There would certainly be other hikers there, possibly evacuation assistance. However, she knew she was coming up to an especially dangerous section of the trail. With visibility already lowered and the ground growing slippery, did she dare move ahead?

Did she dare stay behind? She had enough food and water for the next three days and she could stretch that, but she was unprepared for the weather. There was no guarantee that she could find shelter, and if the weather got cooler the flimsy gloves and hood could get her into trouble. Shelter would also be a problem. There may not be enough clear ground here for even her small tent, not that the tent would necessarily provide adequate shelter anyway.

She froze in indecision as the unexpected flakes swirled thicker around her, dusting the green undergrowth with white.

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Prompt: You see your main character in a store.