"When we learned faster-than-light travel is possible if you make a sacrifice," the alien said, "we made a big one, to last millennia: our cultural diversity."
"Oh," said the human. "We make a sacrifice each journey."
"Of what?"
"Stories. I think of a story, and never tell it."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic
Notices tagged with smallstories, page 2
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Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Oct-2022 20:54:22 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 27-Oct-2022 09:36:52 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin The sigil was drawn, the summoning incanted. An incubus appeared, his perfect, naked form golden in the candlelight.
"How can I please you?" he asked.
"Stand like this."
He looked at the sketch.
"Looks weird."
"I know," said the artist. "Try to do it, so I can draw it right."
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Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 22-Oct-2022 20:58:56 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin I printed the sign out and stuck it up in the lab:
"You are already in the future"
Both cheesy and inspirational. Perfect for us doing temporal displacement research.
One morning I noticed someone had scribbled on it:
"Not today I'm not"
Look closely. Is that my handwriting?
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 20-Oct-2022 17:49:32 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin The poet cleared her throat. The dragon turned atop the hoard and peered down.
"Yes?"
"I seek a word."
"Do you offer one?"
"Callipygian."
"Nice. Hardly used. Was it apt, when used?"
"Yes, but not appreciated."
"So it goes. Your word?"
"Experience ecstatic joy?"
"Exult."
She did.
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Oct-2022 09:53:45 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Our neighbours to the east have such a small army," the prince said. "Why don't we just invade and take over?"
"Their knights carry swords forged from moon dust."
"So? Are those sharper than the swords of our knights?"
"If they are able to go to the moon, what else can they do?"
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Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Oct-2022 13:02:44 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Does sex make you impure?"
The nun of the God of Morals looked at the young person.
"Have you listened to followers of the Judging God?"
"Does it?"
"It can do."
"Oh."
"If you do it selfishly, coercively, falsely, or carelessly."
"They didn't mention that part."
"They never do."
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Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 15-Oct-2022 12:13:12 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin Once I was dead, it was curiously easy to accept it.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked.
Death extended a bony finger, pointing at a tall tower in the distance.
"What is that?"
"Your unread books. Unwatched films. Unplayed games. Etcetera."
"Oh. How much time do I have?"
"All."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Oct-2022 15:35:37 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Is magic more like cooking or baking?"
"How do you mean?" said the witch.
"When cooking you can change a recipe, but when baking you must follow the recipe exactly."
"I bet you cook more than you bake. The more you learn, the more you can improvise."
"So, neither?"
"Both."
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Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 11-Oct-2022 15:34:12 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin We found old letters in a metal tin, inside a plastic crate of mementos. Miraculously, they were still readable. Our poets worked on translations; the letters spoke of love, longing, and lust.
They could have been written today, by us.
Maybe they weren't so different, the Humans.
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 10-Oct-2022 14:59:13 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Where's the necromancer?" growled the hero.
"The free hospital," said the goblin.
"Harvesting the dying?"
"No, he runs it. Heals people."
"Why?"
"He says he wants good skeletons, when he raises his army of undead."
"A-ha! When will he do that?"
"He's been healing for centuries."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Oct-2022 14:06:17 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin The reader turned the page. The characters of the finished story gathered for a debrief.
"That was new," the Sage said.
"Nobody pictured us like that before," said the Masked Lady.
"I haven't felt that alive in ages," said the Colonel. "To be seen with new eyes..."
"A new life."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 06-Oct-2022 15:09:54 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "I'm sorry," said the dragon. "Can you repeat that?"
"You were seen approaching the town. I was sent as a sacrifice," said the maiden.
"No."
"If I am not to your liking, they can send my twin brother."
"No!"
"Then what can they offer?"
"An apology. To you, your brother, and me."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Oct-2022 19:53:34 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin After Holmes and the doctor left, Lestrade took the young woman aside.
"Tell me," he said, "how does he do it?"
"Sir?"
"You came to us first. Yet he solved it. How?"
"I cannot say. All I know is: he listened, and gave me his full attention."
"Pah! Anyone can do that!"
"And yet."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories #FanFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 30-Sep-2022 22:32:49 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin It was the first time Human scientists were invited to the Galactic Union cosmology confab.
Their paper "Please correct us..." summarised their understanding. It was well received apart from the ending.
"Not a heat death," S'Zr said. "It'll end after one 'Hold my beer' too many."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 29-Sep-2022 10:46:17 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "How can you travel faster than light? According to Einstein-"
"He told a good story," said the visitor from the stars, "but his wasn't the last."
"What?"
"We all tell stories to explain the universe."
"But one must be true."
"We have learned this: there are always more stories."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 28-Sep-2022 21:29:08 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Tell me about the alien," the investigator said.
"The what now?"
"The alien. We know a space ship landed here."
"Oh! That. Yes."
"Tell me."
"A spaceship landed. A door dilated. A guest emerged. We invited them to share our food and fire. They did so. They thanked us, then left."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Sep-2022 15:18:17 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "You own my lamp," the genie said, "and so I am obliged to offer you a wish."
"Are there any restrictions?"
"Only one. I can only fulfill wishes you will regret making."
"Well, that's simple. I wish you were free."
"That wish... I can grant."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Sep-2022 11:31:24 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Oh dear, you have a lot of... things."
The cyborg looked up. "The word is prosthetics."
"So much machinery. Don't you worry you will stop being human?"
"Oh, there is a line I will not cross."
"What line is that?"
"I will not question another person's humanity."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Sep-2022 18:06:36 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "I found these centuries-old comics about people with 'super powers'. Did people really have those?"
"No, people have never had- Heh. Well, some did. People like us did."
"Like us? But we're nothing special, there's nothing unusual about us."
"In those days, we were invisible."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories #BiVisibilityDay -
Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Sep-2022 15:40:45 UTC Micro SF/F stories by O Westin "Time to put the book down and go to sleep."
I look up. My future self is standing next to the bed. I check the time.
"Damn! Sorry."
"I only have myself to blame," future me says.
"You look terrible."
"I'm knackered. We need to find a way to travel more than five hours back."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories