Permanent link
The Barely Employed Bittern
Random inspiration: barely employed bittern
AI-generated painting and story
The story
The bittern had applied for thirty-seven positions this month, all in wetland conservation, none of which required standing still for hours while pretending to be a reed. It had hoped the temporary data entry role would be a bridge, but the keyboard was too wide for its beak, and the ergonomic chair kept tipping sideways. Now, at 3:14 p.m., it waits for a reply that will not come, the lamp buzzing like a confused insect, the mug cold, the screen glowing with the quiet indifference of systems that never noticed it was there.
The brief
A lone bittern stands hunched on a cracked linoleum floor beside a flickering desk lamp, one wing slightly drooping as it stares at a half-filled coffee mug and a blinking cursor on an outdated monitor displaying 'Application Submitted'.
The painting and the story were written from this same scene, so the two describe one moment.
Comments and bookmarks
Comments are plain text from NPDev accounts. Bookmarks stay private to the account that saved them.
No comments yet. Be the first to say something.
Sign in to join the conversation.