Honestly this whole damn thing could have been fixed by my out and out saying "Yes, we have to move everything back to the side of the portal it came from" which would have been done with a half hour more to work. I'm not saying it would have beaten other quite good entries but at least it wouldn't have been fundamentally flawed in omitting the answer to the question everyone rightfully has. Victim of the clock on this one. Thanks for the replies, folks.

Wow, okay, that was unexpected. I mean, really, really unexpected. I know I have this self-effacing thing going on, but the sheer quality and polish of some of the other entries should have blown this piece out of the water. "Planning Ahead" and "Mistmane and the Torii of Time" were easily my faves, and "A Timey Nightmare" and "Lesson One" were also strong entries. And "Better Left Unfinished" was sweet, sad, and also near the top of my slate.

I'm not in any way saying anyone's opinion is flawed. I'm tremendously flattered.

Some of the rough spots can be touched up, but the core bitterness that >>Posh and >>Xepher absolutely correctly notice is so inherent to the story concept that I'd call it unfixable. I guess I'm not sure what to do with this thing now, but that's a problem for another time, I guess. Thank you to everyone for reading and writing!

So the point is, you look at the art gallery, pick one, and write a story on it, yes?

Woo! Congrats on the top two-fer, Aragon!

>>horizon
I'll try and do better in the future. Honestly it's less a question of pulling one's own weight for me and more a massive, crippling inability to muster up the sense of self-importance needed to express an opinion.

Welp, wish me luck on my first time trying a short-form piece instead of a quickie.

>>Miller Minus
I need this silver to drive away werewolves, I'm afraid.

Potentially interesting and ballsy work that unfortunately drops to last on my slate due to the grotesque content at a level I feel is outside the rules for this round. Yes, I know it may be metaphorical, but IMO the point still stands and I had to judge accordingly.

Top of my slate, no complaints. You took the silly laugh-out-loud picture (which was also near the top of my slate) and made a real and interesting story out of it. Nicely done.

>>horizon
Same here, only, um, I wasn't doing something so noble as search-and-rescuing and had no other excuse.

Still, two entries. A red-letter day this is.