Oneshot Theme Challenge

Interesting idea, but dude those themes are hard! I've been trying to come up with something for a while and... Sorry, not a single word

Maybe it's just me? I'm used to a little bit more precise themes on my own thread ^^"
Here's one for you to show us the way if you'd like : a kitten has fallen out of the window and is looking for a way back up. Things happen.

This is so sweet! Great job!
I'll try my hand on those new ones as soon as I find inspiration!

I want to try the librarian one​

I apologize if it's long. I don't normally write oneshots so I wasn't sure about the length. And for the grammar as well I wrote it rather fast and I changed it just a tiny bit it's not her first day of work.

The small library of Corable was known for its wide variety of books. It was an abode for the weary souls that needed a respite after a harsh dose of reality. A place where imagination soared it took on the form of a pirate ship or a castle to the readers that curled up on the overstuffed couches, that were scattered across it, and yet in the past months it had become desolate. Yes, adults would still come now and then, but something was missing. There was no laughter or hushed whispers. The playful voices of the children have all but disappeared. The owner of the library, Mr. Bailey, was rather perplexed at the sudden disappearance. Surely a war hadn’t come again, where the children had to be carted away, He thought with concern as he put on his best, patched coat and shuffled out of the building. The short, old man walked with his cane down the street. He ignored the surprised greetings of the townspeople, for they haven’t seen him in a century, as he made his way to the Corable school. To his relief, the children were still there, and not in military uniforms. As he walked into the schoolyard the man stopped a child.
“What’s your name lad?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“Thomas sir,” the boy replied. His pink horns that were scattered on top of his head shone like pearls in the sunlight as he bowed his head respectfully.
“Tell me. Why are you and your friends no longer coming to the library?”
Thomas thought for a moment. “Well, I guess it’s because of Miss Tulle sir.”
“Miss Tulle?” Ah yes, he remembered the new librarian.
“Yes, she is quite a nuisance sir. Doesn’t believe in children reading, says we’re too loud. My father said she came straight from the war,” the boy’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, “they say she’s got no imagination and couldn’t use her magic.”
“Is that so?” Mr. Bailey stroked his beard. “Thank you boy,” he dropped a few gold coins in the child’s hand, “Get yourself and your friends some duck cakes and bring them to the library this weekend.” Thomas nodded in excited agreement and raced off to find his friends and Mr. Bailey walked back to his library deep in thought.

Ms. Tulle was a woman of serious fortitude. It wasn’t hard to believe that she had no imagination. She literally reeked of it. She was young in age but her permanent frown made her look centuries older, Mr. Bailey observed as he sat her down for tea that afternoon.
“Duck cakes Miss.Tulle?”
“No thank you,” the woman sniffed, “I believe they’re bad for digestion.”
“Nonsense,” the man said lightly, “They’re good for the bones. Now, how do like your job Ms. Tulle I trust the townspeople treat you well?”
“As well as can be expected.”
“Hmm…” Mr. Bailey looked at the woman carefully. She was dressed in all black. The only color was in her light green eyes set in a pale face and a golden locket chain hidden behind her collar. “I have a favor to ask of you,” the man continued, “I found some old children's books in my attic the other day and would like for you to arrange them.”
“Hmph...very well.”
“Thank you, more tea?”

That evening Ms. Tulle set out to arrange the books. It was a rather tedious business, they were so dusty and heavy, but she did it with firm determination. A little later on, while she tried to balance a box on her hip, the lady tripped and fell in a heap on the floor, books scattered around her.
“Oh dear,” she exclaimed worriedly, she reached down to pick one up to see if it was damaged then froze. She couldn’t believe what she saw. Mr. Turnip's Adventures, the title read. The woman’s hands trembled.

“Mommy, mommy!” a young Ms. Tulle raced around the room with a laugh, “Read me Mr. Turnip’s Adventures, pretty please?”
“Alright, alright?” her mother laughed as she picked up the toddler, “Now where did we leave off?”
“He defeated the great Duke Pickle!”
“Yes he did!” she sat the girl on her lap and opened up the book, "and now he needs to fight off the Duke Pickle’s father.”
“Mr. Cucumber!” The girl squealed in excitement. “I want to be just like him, mommy! I want to be a hero!”

What’s this? Ms. Tulle thought horrified as she felt something wet slide down her cheek. Why am I crying?

“You can be anything you want dear,” her mother hugged her close, “Remember what your father always used to tell you? A Tulle can be anything…"
"With just enough imagination!” the girl finished pumping her fist in the air.

Is that what I’ve been missing all these years? The tears began to flow in earnest now as the woman held the book to her chest. Mother...I miss you so much. Her imagination wasn’t the only thing the war took away from her. The woman sobbed as she dropped the book to the floor and doubled over. She clutched the golden locket in her hand till she had cried out all her tears. And, in the Corable library, the third row on the left, under authors Ricestick to Silversmith, Ms. Tulle found her imagination.

Gosh this is so good! Very well done, good flow, an awesome ending, you owned it!

Aw Thank you!

Oh, hell yeah

I'm going to do the mermaid one: it sounds awesome, haha! Here it is:

Whatever the hell is rising from the fog rolling across the dark water, it's ugly.

Yosef clenches his teeth - the creature blinks, lids sliding vertically across bright yellow irises, ocean lapping around its rough, scaled hide. The creature stinks of salt and seaweed, and is covered in these slashes, deep and long, covering its body like snakes, and sweet god in heaven, they're gills.

Yosef is dead - this is the end, this monster from the depths of the sea will swallow him whole, consume his flesh, feast on his bones. It extends a webbed hand, covered in greenish muck, and smacks it wetly on the lip of his boat.

"Away, foul beast!" Yosef bursts, brandishing his broken oar. There's already too much water at his feet, and the hole in the wooden frame only invites more in.

Shall he drown, or be eaten?

The creature opens its mouth, rows or uneven, sharp teeth lined just beneath a pair of white, chapped lips.

Drown.

Definitely drown.

Yosef dives into the angry water on the other side of his rowboat. Brine stings his eyes, but he'd rather be lost to the depths of the sea and sleep forever in the arms of Poseidon than be torn apart by those horrid, nightmarish teeth...

Suddenly he's on a beach.

Yosef blinks.

The sun beats down, hot and tortuous, unforgiving, and his skin bakes in the heat. The moon is gone, the ocean a brilliant, gem blue, sparkling as crystal clear as glass. Somehow, it's daytime, but how is that possible?

His forehead smarts - he winces, gingerly touching the pads of his fingers to the sore spot. He must have hit his head on the bottom of the boat. But, how did he manage to wash ashore? The swells were dangerous, and there was no land in sight in the dark cover of night...

"You're welcome."

Yofes shrieks; the creature is lying beside him, bottom half long and slippery, covered in more greenish scales and ghastly grey flesh. He makes to jump to his feet, run away, but a pain in his leg brings him crashing back to the sand. The monster rolls its yellow eyes.

"You humans, so emotional," it drawls, and it begins to change.

It's sickly grey skin lightens, a pink hue rising as the sharp angles of its cheeks round out and smooth. The large, gruesome eyes shrink and slant inward, darkening to a compelling, rocky brown. Silken, thick hair grows from the bald scalp, pooling over the creature's hips, and it's torso-

"Goodness me!" Yosef exclaims, hastily covering his eyes as it takes the shape of a woman.

Totally topless.

Father Matteo would have his head for this.

It snorts, only it's oddly delicate, and the voice is no longer guttural and grotesque, but feminine and soft. "Is this better? I think your kind looks disgusting, but you poor air-breathers are beggars which cannot be choosers."

He peeks, hesitantly, from between his fingertips. "You're a...mermaid?"

She shrugs, and the transformation completes, leaving her quite stunning. The beast is no more. "If that's what you want to call me."

"Did you - did you bring me to shore?" Yosef asks.

"That awful excuse for a boat was sinking fast. I was going to tug it to land, but you had the bright idea to jump out and crack open your skull on the wood." The mermaid shakes her head. "Genius."

"Thank you, madam," he offers reverently, averting his eyes once again.

The mermaid watches him for several moments, brown eyes curious, and points a webbed finger towards the tall cliffs at the top of the beach. "A human settlement is beyond those rocks. You should find someone to splint your leg if you can make it to them. The fishermen come down often enough that you won't need to wait long."

And with that, she changes again, skin bubbling and shrinking and expending until the ugly monster is back, and she flashes him a toothy grin. Yosef screams.

"See you in the water, baby," she grouses, and leaps back into the froth of the waves.

A bit of an abrupt end, but that's how it goes with oneshots. I'm excited to see this thread get bigger! This is such a fun idea!

eyyy a few errors I didn't notice before I see now, I'll go in and fix them in a minute XD

Oooo I wanna do the mermaid one! I'll break up the writing so it looks longer, but it's actually quite short.
__
At the age of thirty, five years ago, Jeremy—or Jem, for short--remembered falling into the ocean. He was on a quest to find sunken treasure that an old man in the tavern had told him of. He was a thrill seeker through-and-through, always seeking intense emotions.

He found the treasure, but his best friend pushed him over the side of the boat because he wanted the treasure for himself.

In the water, he sunk. Water always felt so strange to him. When he first dipped a hand in, it could be hot or cold, but once he submerged himself fully, he barely felt it at all.

Except when he dunked his head in.

There was never anything more terrifying to him than dunking his head deep under water and struggling for breath as water surrounded and irritated his eyes and it felt as if his soul was trying to escape his body the deeper he went under—even if it was just to the bottom of a swimming pool.

As he sunk deeper and deeper into the sea after he was pushed off the edge of the boat, the water was freezing and he was terrified, and then, he got used to it and he oddly felt nothing at all. He wondered if he was dead. But then, a beautiful woman swam his way with the tail of a fish and angelic white hair. He realized she had used her magic to keep him alive.

He had never been in love. He was too strange, too odd, and too withdrawn for any woman to take interest in him. But this one had now.

It felt like she loved him.

She took him in her arms—an alien feeling to him—and swam him to the surface before kissing his cheek goodbye.

It all felt so real, like the warmth of water when he first dipped his hands in.
He spent five years searching for that woman—for that feeling again—but no matter how hard he searched for the mermaid, she was nowhere to be found.

He had submerged himself too deeply into the fantasy, and five years later, he suddenly felt nothing at all when it came to the mermaid.

He would have done anything to capture that feeling again, but he had gotten used to it, and it was no longer special.

He just wanted to keep chasing that fantasy, even if it wasn’t real.

After all, fantasy was always preferable to a reality where he barely felt anything at all.

One lovely afternoon, Juliette went boating around the local lake. It was the middle of autumn at that time - the sun shone through the sky and illuminated the orange leaves that fluttered in the scenery. Juliette rowed through the floating scatterings of maple leaves, leaving in her wake a blue path, much like the sky was during this outing.
Feeling the soreness in her arms, she placed her oars in the boat, taking out a book that she had intended to read for a long time, but neglected to get to. Though, the first few turns of the book's pages would soon be interrupted with a bumping of the boat. 'Did I hit something?' she thought to herself, peering over the edge to see what was underwater. And she found, under the surface and quickly approaching up towards her, a grim pair of yellow eyes.
With a splash, the creature emerged from the lake. A beautiful creature, to be frank - though possessing the lower body of a fish, what with reflective green scales and two fins, she had the upper torso of a well-toned woman, long locks of blonde hair, and a strikingly gorgeous face.
"Your life is now mine, woman!" The mermaid screamed at her.
But it was to this that Juliette set down her book and forcibly grabbed the hands of the creature.
"What are you doing?!"
"You're beautiful, has anyone ever told you that?"
"Wh-what?"
With a touch as gentle as a mother's, she lifted the mermaid into the boat, letting it sit across you. Juliette fixed her glasses, "I've been looking for a wife?"
"A wife?"
"Yes, a wife - and you're going to marry me."

Despite initial protest, the mermaid succumbed to Juliette's charm and uncanny resolve - the rest was history.

Help me