Uncomfortable Homecoming: Science Fiction

The air smelled funny. That was the first thing she noticed when she stepped out onto the loading dock. She had remembered the scent as being like cinnamon bread, but instead all she smelled was the pungency of bodies that had not been sent through the mandatory deodorizer every day, regularly, and taken their pheromone suppressant pills. She'd never noticed the smell before. She shook off the discomfort as she swung her duffel bag over her shoulder. Homecoming was never easy. They'd warned her about that. She hadn't really believed them, though; now she wished she'd paid more attention during that lecture. She never would have dreamed of scoffing off a lecture about the dangers of a new planet she was being set down on as part of an explorer team; why had she thought--

Inspiration: Well, coming home after a week and a half away!
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: Nice setting, but no extra story oomph here.

A Contagion of Magic: Fantasy

The contagion was in among them and widely spread before they even realized what they were dealing with. At first, they thought it was only a series of tragic mishaps by alchemists and court wizards. It spread mostly at first in the poor district, where the inferior wizards held court, and where they often worked together because no one wizard was powerful enough on his own to accomplish anything in a meaningful way. The court wizards assumed that the poor wizards were destroying themselves for no reasonable cause, just because they were fools and idiots tampering with forces too big for them to understand. It took a while for the court wizards to understand that they, too, were dying and infected. The infection progressed in odd ways, and though court wizards stayed--

Inspiration: "contagion"
Story Potential: Medium-high.
Notes: An interesting setting for a short story or secondary storyline in a novel. A contagion of magic, spread through collaboration--preceding the Dark Ages, perhaps?