The Deal

A devil appears in front of a struggling musician. After a lengthy sales pitch trying its hardest to make the musician sell their soul, throwing in all sorts of bonus perks, the musician sends the devil packing empty handed.

"I'll just practice harder. Get there on my own strength, even if it means I'll never make it to the top... and perhaps it's even for the best if I don't make it to the top, because fame tends to lead to all sorts of temptations, and I really don't want to end up where you come from! In fact, I'll devote the rest of my life to becoming the best person there is."

As the devil sank down through the ground the way it'd appeared, the musician couldn't help but notice a twinkle in its eyes —oh so many eyes— and a smile on its face... a bit strange for a demonic being who just failed their task...

"Perhaps it's a glutton for punishment? Or... no, surely that couldn't be? Maybe it was an angel in disguise, sent here to put me back on the right path..?"

The musician returned to music with a new resolve, and spent their life in devotion for all that's good. Their life was long and full of struggles and hardship, and they never made it anywhere near the top, but they found peace knowing they hadn't sold their soul.

One day they woke up, but found themselves standing in front of big pearly gates, and a familiar face standing next to them.

"So good to see you again, my old friend! Thank you so much for setting me back on the right path so many years ago!"

"The right path? You, and everyone else, were always going to end up here anyway," it said with a sincere smile, "follow me."

The musician followed the being as the gates creaked open, slowly revealing a glow that filled you up with warmth throughout.

"You like the pearly gates? I bought them with all the extra points I won by getting you to follow a good life. Souls are worth so much more if you get their hopes up!" it cackled, as the flames and screams suddenly erupted through the opening gates of hell.

#FiXatoWrites #WritingPrompt #microFiction #writing #FiXatoCreative

I'm still waiting for a Groundhog film where his loop seems to break after he does whatever the hell he wants because he thinks it comes with no consequences.

Maybe first do a bit of fourth wall breaking by having him recognise he's looping "like that guy from Groundhog Day", and then first spends a couple of loops trying to do good things, just for the sake of getting out of the loop, only to not break out of it. (Perhaps because he's not genuinely trying to help others, but rather only does it to help himself.)

After several loops trying to nail the perfect loop, only to wake up disillusioned on Day One again, he cracks and spends the next loop giving in to every intrusive thought, including taking out the groundhog, ending the day in jail.
Only to wake up the next day, Day Two... still in jail. Now his loop is broken and he's forced to face the consequences of his choices.

Not quite sure how to end it though...
Perhaps that at first he thinks it's because he took out the ground hog, but eventually he realises it's because he only did the good things with the intention to get out of the loop. A bit like how The Good Place explored Immanuel Kant's deontological philosophical concept of "good without qualification"; doing good because you should, and not because of the reward you are expecting because of it.

And once he truly realises that, perhaps sacrificing himself to save someone else, he wakes up on Day Two again, but this time that day continues on from how the very first Day One would've ended.

Alternatively maybe play with the idea that all this time he's been in Purgatory, and having finally realised the mistakes of his life, he's finally ready to move on to the next stage of his afterlife.

Or a combination of the two, and having to carry on with his life, never being sure if he's still stuck in a longer loop, doomed to repeat at some point as a Purgatorial punishment loop, similar to those from some episodes of #Lucifer.

#FiXatoCommentsOn The Italian Groundhog Day You Didn't Know Existed in the Goodnight Rita - A Groundhog Day Deep Dive podcast series

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I awoke in an ice bath, with several organs missing.
"Organised! I said I wanted to be more organised! Not organ-iced!"

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Bob challenges Alice to a light manipulation challenge. The next day they have to show the result of their light manipulation.
The next day Bob tells Alice to go first. Alice shows off the double slit experiment. Afterwards Bob says he's done already.
When Alice is confused, Bob asks if she wasn't only lightly manipulated into doing an experiment.

#FiXatoWrites #LightManipulation

#FiXatoCommentsOn B. Dylan Hollis' #Pfeffernüsse recipe:

In the Netherlands these 'kruidnoten' (literally: spice nuts), as they are called in Dutch, are still a traditional treat around St. Nicholas Day, 5th/6th of December. (Though I've yet to see them with an icing coating; white, milk, dark chocolate coatings however, are common; and tasty!). They usually already arrive in shops around September/October though.
Though they are colloquially also known as 'pepernoten' (literally: pepper nuts), those are technically a different treat; where kruidnoten are small and crispy, pepernoten are bigger and more chewy. As wikipedia describes it: "They are light brown, square shaped, and made from the same ingredients as taai-taai : rye flour, sugar and anise, and sometimes also cinnamon, and clove. They are fairly chewy, though they harden gradually when exposed to the air."

You should find a recipe for taai-taai (pronounced similar to 'Thai Thai', I guess); you might find that interesting to make and taste too.

#Kruidnoten #pepernoten #taaiTaai #Sinterklaas #StNicholasDay #BDylanHollis #FiXatoWrites

"Okay, you've told me they are buried in plot 2532C of the Groundhaven Cemetery, but you haven't told me when they are buried", the time traveller asked the wisp.

#microFiction #writingPrompt #FiXatoWrites

Atlas stood on the hill
Atlas shrugged
and as the Earth rolled down towards him,
Sisyphus thought:
"here I go again..."

#microFiction #FiXatoWrites #FiXatoCreative #Atlas #Sisyphus #mythology

Friend spotted
tomatoes falling
Couldn't ketchup

#SixWordStories #FiXatoWrites #FiXatoPUNishes #FiXatoCreative #pun #puns #PunDay

historian wanted
timetravellers need not apply

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Someone kept stealing my food from the shared dormitory fridge!
So, I thought I'd get back at them by mixing in laxatives with my chocolate cake.

In other news, apparently I'm a sleep walker.

#shortFic #microFiction #FiXatoWrites #FiXatoCreative