120: Block Party Prison Fundraiser Timid Efficient Punishment

 Getting started: https://www.dylandrakes.com/writing-prompts and https://www.name-generator.org.uk/ 

• Genre: Crime/Prison
• Location: Block Party 
• Conflict: Having to Punish Someone
• Occupation: Fundraiser
• Positive Trait: Efficient
• Negative Trait: Timid
• First1 (Pro): Nadia
• First2 (Ant): Max

Two minutes on the clock... and go.

The block party had been a success. Well, it was sort of almost still a success. Only Max had apparently convinced half of the businesses to contribute to a non-existent fundraiser. And it had been going so well. It was well-attended, lots of families, lots of kids, lots of people lined up at the booths. The air smelled of popcorn and cotton candy, but also so many food trucks. And maybe even a little bit of exhaust from all their rumbling generators, but that was food trucks for you.

Nadia seethed. This was going to make her look bad. To hear the shopkeepers tell it, the story was simple and Max was so believable. And he was her co-chair for the event, so if a fundraiser was part of the festivities, why not chip in? 

She wanted to march right up to him and... well, she didn't know. She fantasized all kinds of violence, but, she wouldn't. She couldn't. But what could she do? She needed to confront him. He didn't know it yet, but he'd been found out and this was going to land him back in prison.

Grrr! She stamped her feet, now angry at herself for her inability to just confront him. To stick her finger right in his face and tell him what a bad thing he'd done. But instead, she felt weak and wanted to run to her car and hide and hope that the shopkeepers took the justice into their own hands.

And now, an AI:

The sun beat down on the pavement of Block C, where the "Block Party" was less about burgers and more about survival. Nadia, the yard’s most efficient fundraiser, clutched her ledger. She didn’t deal in contraband; she managed the protection pool, ensuring every inmate’s "subscription" was paid to the Shot Caller.

Nadia was valued for her math, but cursed by her timid nature. Her hands shook as she approached Max, a brute who had spent his commissary budget on tattoos instead of his weekly dues.

"Max," she whispered, her voice cracking. "You’re short. The bosses... they noticed."

Max laughed, leaning against the chain-link fence. "What are you going to do, Nadia? File a complaint? You’re a bean-counter, not a hitter."

The yard went silent. Nadia felt the cold gaze of the guards and the even colder stare of the syndicate leaders by the bleachers. She had been given a direct order: No exceptions. To maintain the system she had so carefully organized, she had to punish the deficit.

She didn't use a blade. She simply signaled the kitchen crew. By dinner, Max’s "protected" status was officially revoked. As the heavy hitters moved in to reclaim his bunk and his dignity, Nadia looked away, her heart hammering against her ribs. She had balanced the books with ruthless precision, but the cost was a weight her quiet soul wasn't built to carry.

And the AI's thoughts...

For next time, it suggested I:

• More Show, Less Tell (I'll probably continue to get this for awhile)
• Sharpen Verbs
• Deeper POV and Tigher Conflict for Timidity
• Sensory Contrast (perhaps the sweet cotton candy smell vs the sour feeling of betrayal).

I didn't ask for feedback last time, but I did notice how last time the AI had more sensory (especially smell) than mine, so that was one of the things I tried to improve upon this time.

I also overused "lots" and there was some structure I wish was better. Part of that might just be the nature of the short time-frame and the inability to go back and add or change anything.

Social Hacking

 I was reading this book that took place well in the future, but the ?gonist (don't know yet if he's good or bad) called up a new employee, said he was from HR and told them that they hadn't finished their compliance training. They weren't going to be able to issue paychecks until the training was completed.  Most likely it was a small thing - at the very end, there's a "submit" button that lot of people miss.

So while he on the phone with the employee, directed him to a website, had him sign in, click the "submit" button and then they were all good.

Except the website was fake and now our main character had this new employee's username and password.

Made me realize...

If you think someone might be performing social engineering against you, if you're directed to a site in a scenario like this, always enter your password wrong the first time. If the site accepts it, you've just prevented yourself from being hacked.

Conversely, if you build websites like this to hack people, always make it reject the first password attempt and make them try again. That will catch people who follow my earlier advice (and because people type their passwords wrong accidentally all the time), and for people who did type it right, now you have the correct password submitted twice and you can be much more assured that you have a good exploit.