Welcome dear writers, to our 57th edition through the wondrous depths of imagination! It's your resident squirrel, @Brisby, with the pleasure of hosting you again this week! I'm sure you're all eager to begin the next challenge so I'll ignore the manticore at the door so that we can get to it!

Courtesy of our terrific partners, @Crowdmind, we're now also giving away sweet golden SNAX tokens! Let us raise our frosty mugs of banana grog to them! Haven't heard of SNAX? Then I urge you to check out Crowdmind's Interview with the team from the SNAX blockchain as well as our previous post.

What treasures await within the @Curie & @Crowdmind enhanced Bananafish chest?

1st place: n. 5 STEEM & 500 SNAX tokens

2nd place: n. 3 STEEM & 300 SNAX tokens

3rd place: n. 2 STEEM & 200 SNAX tokens

Popular vote: n. 7 @steembasicincome shares
(Please note there is a minimum of three votes to active the popular vote reward so don't forget to vote for your favorite story!)

Best comment: n. 3 @steembasicincome shares.
Thanks to @curie's generous funding we reintroduced this reward! We are looking for an insightful curation comment. It doesn't have to be necessary long or flamboyant.

To receive your SNAX rewards, you'll need to have a SNAX wallet.
For those who like instructions with photos, here's a handy tutorial.

---

Map of the Bananafish Realms from a squirrelly perspective!

• Share the love and tell a friend about the contest!

• Join the Bananafish Realms discord chat for fresh updates and other amenities.

• Vote, vote, vote your favorite story in the comments below!

• Use the #finishthestory tag.

• Try to post your story as early possible and not at the last moment (or after the results! argh!) to give people chance to read yours before they vote

• Respect the dreadful 500 words limit! o_0

• Help our contest & workshop to grow by giving it some visibility and consider linking back to this post in your entry.

Without further ado, good luck, brave storytellers.

Shiro

^{by @Brisby}

Shiro paid the street vendor for his lemonade, unfazed by her curious glances to the glove on his hand. Any other day, he would have answered the unspoken questions of the smiling woman with a light quip. A bit of banter went miles in getting people to overlook his many...eccentricities.

Today though, he couldn't muster anything witty. Throngs of people were milling about the square, mindless to those who were in a hurry. His quick errand run had become a snail-paced slog behind wandering looky-loos. The brown jacket he wore was sodden thanks to the blistering bake of the summer sun. He'd give anything to shed his sweaty layers but the memories of what had happened the last time...

Compounding his exhaustion were his ever-present traveling companions. Their desperation for his attention had begun fraying his nerves since he left home. Ignoring their antics and way they clung to him had worn his energy to a hair's breadth. Sheer obstinance was all that kept him from screaming at them in the middle of the crowd.

Shuffling aside to savor the crisp drink in the shade of the over-sized umbrella, Shiro felt something crunch beneath his heel. Dammit! Whatever he had broken, it sounded expensive.

Behind him a voice shrilled, "You're paying for that!"

Shoulders slumping as he fingered his wallet, he turned. "Sorry! I didn't know...", his voice choked to a halt. Not because the person was intimidating. The blonde slip of a girl glaring daggers at him wouldn't have been able to frighten a hamster. Nor was it due to her beauty, as she had been graced with an unfortunate nose.

It was the reaction of his companions that stole his breath.

Gone were the shadowy undulations and static flickerings who had doggedly followed Shiro since he was a child. What remained were swirling vortices of crimson and pitch. Amorphous, they writhed. They wailed. The air thickened with the depth of their need.

Without warning, unctuous tendrils sprang. Shiro cried out but it was too late. Oozing with hunger, his companions snaked to envelop the girl. Her wide hazel orbs rolled to the heavens before she collapsed to the ground.

Let’s grow together!

The wise pectin-packed Bananafish wants all of its beloved people to benefit from rich upvotes. The more of us join the trail or delegate SP, the more our vote on your entries is worth.

Unity is strength, if you would like to contribute to the cause, click here to delegate 25 SP, 10 SP or find out here how to delegate an amount of your choosing!

Following the voting trail is an effortless way to make sure you always support the other participants to the Bananafish contests, automatically upvoting the posts (but not the comments) @bananafish upvotes. It only takes a few minutes to join, you can find all the instruction on how here. So check it out and make the most of your voting power while supporting your fellow bananites!

Let’s raise a glass to @foffelius, @steelochlaver, @f3nix, @marcoriccardi, @anixio, @gwilberiol, @calluna, @ntowl, @dirge, @seesladen, @theironfelix, @letalis-laetitia, @vdux, @felixgarciap, @tristancarax, @khasa, @stever82, @brisby, @drazeus, @robinsonr810, @michaias who are already in the trail.

Join the fun! Here is how this contest works:

• An unfinished fiction story or a script is posted.

• You finish it with your own post (use the #finishthestory as your first tag) or a comment in the comment section. A limit of 500 words is recommended.

• WIN 10 STEEM, 10 @steembasicincome shares & 1000 SNAX to the writers with the best endings.
  
  

GOOD LUCK, BRAVE STORYTELLERS!