#PennedPossibilities 656 — How forgiving is your MC?

It depends on who Alexios would be trying to forgive. If it's a friend, well—he can be rather lenient. To friends, he's compassionate and understanding. He's able to "forgive and forget" rather easily for those he cares deeply about. If it's about rival gang members or the leaders, that's an interesting one to ponder. He might, he might not. It all depends on what was done to either him or his friends. Now if it's someone like Dr. Death, the answer is simply /no/. Just no. He would never be forgiving that piece of trash, not under any circumstances. He will take that seething hatred to the grave with him. It's eaten him alive for two hundred years at this point. Some deeds (and the pure evil behind them) just can't be forgiven.

Context: Dr. Death destroyed Alexios' home planet (named New Glasgow), enslaved his people, and used the majority of them for experiments. Ninety-nine percent of them died by that bastard's hands.

#PennedPossibilities 655 — What’s the most unusual source of inspiration you’ve found?

(Okay, I edited my post with my answer. I was too exhausted last night for any writing, even for just a quick prompt answer.)

This was such an interesting prompt. For the moment, I'll stick to the series I'm currently working on. I write in every genre, having written many different stories, and inspiration strikes at any moment.

Inspiration for this series, however, is quite a mind-blowing concept. Time to put my thinking cap on. It comes mostly from Blade Runner (an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and is set in a dystopian, futuristic Los Angeles in 2019). It was my first experience with the genre. The rest of my inspiration comes from decades of playing cyberpunk #TTRPG stuff, like #CyberpunkRED, #Cyberpunk2020, and my own homebrew games that fall within the genre. I'm actually a game master for TTRPGs, so all the hard, grueling work for my players is done (and created) by me. It's helped a ton. It made me fall in love with the genre. Combining that with SFF was a beautiful idea, and one that made everything fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. It worked out perfectly for me.

Inspiration strikes at the oddest of times and in the most interesting of places.

#PennedPossibilities 654 — How would your SC introduce themselves?

Cosmia (f): Hey there. I'm the friendly neighborhood bar-owner. Sit down, have a drink, and don't cause any trouble. And if you do decide to get a bit rowdy, go f*ck yourself. I'll kick your ass out by myself. I don't need a man's help.

Junk (m): I'm the right-hand man. Nice to meet you. Name's Junk. Call me... Junk. Yeah, that works.

Dante (m): Dr. Arcturius Cason, at your service. You may refer to me as Dante, though. Are you looking to make an appointment?

(For context, Dante's a doc.)

#PennedPossibilities 653 — MC POV: Your best friend comes over at 3 am to go on an adventure. Where are you (both) going?

Alexios: First of all, the only f*ckin' choom I have that would be coming over at three in the morning is Junk. He's a knob. Where are we headed, though? Probably out to a new ramen spot, let's be honest. Not exactly news, but we're foodies. Plus, he probably needs the company. Exciting lives we lead, huh? That's an adventure for us.

#PennedPossibilities 652 — Do you ever use cliffhangers at narrative breaks and / or chapter endings?

Credit: @NaraMoore

This was a great prompt that was submitted.

I constantly do—and that goes for both of these options. My friends hate me for it. I love keeping my readers on their toes and / or asking (or maybe begging) for more.