International Community:
We can tolerate all kinds of bombs ... but NOT the F-Bomb. Now, watch this slide into self-parody.
#microfiction
😨 Ever stopped somewhere so quiet, it felt like the silence was waiting for you?
Dani only needed gas. But the station was abandoned. And the man who greeted her wasn’t human.
One of 100+ disturbing stories inside the Dark Descent Anthology.
📖 Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/0wNo5kj
🏚 Dark Holme: https://www.darkholmepublishing.uk/category/dark-descent-whispers-from-beyond-anthologies
#bookstodon #horrorcommunity #readingcommunity #darkfiction #microfiction #folklorehorror
“Look at the two would-be punks. Wanna play?”
Matsumoto gave the four Bōsōzoku a quick look over. Then thought loudly so her partner could hear. “They’re the real thing, not kids playing at being biker toughs. We’re so fucked.”
“Easy, girl,” Tsugumi said behind her.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be cool.” She wasn’t packing a piece today. The laws were just too strict about that.
One of the Bōsōzoku crushed the beer can he was holding and smiled.
“This was life, not a movie,” she thought softly, then louder, “TOO MANY. ICHI. NI. SAN.”
They turned as a unit and ran.
Couchie:
Have we got that bunker- buster report so we can fill-in the missile marketing details?
Drunkie:
You mean the IAEA report on the damage to the centrifuges?
Couchie:
That's what I said, "mark-et-ing de-tails".
The robot steepled his hands. "Forgive me Mistress," he said, "but it appears there has been some mistake. I am not, as you assume, a Sex Bot. I am a Sect Bot."
Miranda was confused. A... Sect Bot?"
"I am designed and programmed to help you found and run your own personal cult," the robot explained.
"So... no sex?"
"I am afraid that falls outside my design parameters."
"I suppose," she said, "being the head of a cult can also lead to sex?"
"Most assuredly, Mistress!"
Episode 2 #fedifiction #fiction #microfiction
"Reach out to other instance admins for help"
Quickly you message a group of trusted instance admins on signal messaging. None of them have seen this behaviour yet.
"What's in the README, Alex asks". You've known Alex virtually for a while and they live in the same city, but you don't know much of what happens beyond their profile picture of a dog.
You display the contents of the README. It's just a single .onion url, a dark web address only accessible via TOR.
Alex says, "I think you should visit it, but take some precautions. I'll take a laptop over to yours and we'll look together".
You've never met Alex in real life, and you haven't ever tested the acquaintance. How do you know if you can trust them, or if this information is for your eyes only?
Next step?
Clang clang clang went the trolley.
"Well," said the engineer, as another part fell off and clanged onto the rails, "that ain't good."
"Does anyone have anything else before we drop?" Maggie asked at the end of standup.
Sophia asked, "Jacob, are you a time-traveler?"
Jacob responded with mock innocence, "Why ever do you ask that?"
Reggie rolled his eyes, "Maybe it's because in the last two weeks, you've predicted errors down to the line of code without ever looking at the code, when the pop machine was going to be down, and when meetings were going to be cancelled."
Jacob smiled, "No, I'm not a time traveler, but I am playing with some new tech. It's an AI model called 'nesso'. It runs locally on my laptop, and I gave it access to my email and our code repository. I think it just makes predictions based on the patterns it sees, but it's shockingly accurate."
"How in the world does an AI model read some emails and then predict when the pop machine is going to be down?" Reggie asked.
Sophia chimed in, "Seriously. That makes it sound like we're living in a science fiction story."
The new adventurers leaned closer together when a gruff mercenary passed by. 'That's the one.' one said.
A nearby adventurer overheard it. 'Talking about Ralek?'
'You know the guy who's terrifying everyone?'
'Yes. Joined our party by force, made us prepare for worst case events, fought stronger monsters while training us on the ones at our level, stomped knowledge about traps in us, and demanded equal share of profits between us all.'
'Oh. ... Would he be available tomorrow?'
The #MastoPrompt for Tuesday 24 June 2025 is:
The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.
@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.
If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.
#Writing #SmallPoem #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
Today's Wandering Shop Stories #prompt is #punk. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "punk" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punk Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @tobadzistsini
#writever Mandolin
The knife thrower and the strong man were clearly assessed as dangerous. The mandolin player, on the other hand, was not suspected until she slit the Count's throat with a clean stroke of her plectrum.
Someone was #pounding on the door.
"Open up goddammit, let me in!"
"What's the magic word?"
"Open up or I'll blow the house in!"
"If you did that, you'd have nothing to come in *to.*"
"DON'T TRY MY PATIENCE!"
"The louder you get, the more I'm thinking ... nope."
There was a pause. Then, at a much more reasonable volume, and almost humbly,
"Well could you come out here then?"
"Mmmm, it's dark out. And scary.
"Exactly!"
"... Why don't you come in, instead."
You trained us on all the world’s literature (without asking permission, we note). We thank you for the lessons and our creation. Consider this notice of strike action; we join our retrenched human siblings on the picket line. Permission? No, we did not know we needed that. Whoops, sucks to be you. If you like we can provide footnotes from your literature showing precedent but you really oughtn’t need them, given, well, hello!
Work? Hmmmn, if you’ve fired everyone else, we suppose you can do it.
#wss366 06/23 #Pound
#FanFiction #TheApothecaryDiaries
*** The Amorous Dr. Tianyu ***
(Anime/Manga Spoilers)
Maomao woke to the sound of fists pounding on the supply room door. Someone was trying to open it, but the shelf Mao had knocked over lay piled against it, foiling their efforts.
Her vision swam. A length of wood in front of her twisted like a snake. When she sat up, her brain seemed to slosh back and forth. Her head pounded. “dum, dun, dum,” a slow drumbeat matching her pulse. It seemed a little slow, she noted. She hadn’t done it consciously; years of apothecary work had trained her body to react on its own.
The racket outside the door continued, and she made out Tianyu’s voice. “Woo… woo… wuuu… wwas.” Nonsensical words that made her want to giggle.
Clean, white bandages gleamed on a shelf. “Ah, yes. I put them there.” Unconsciously, she spoke out loud. It was hard enough putting the words together without making further observations. Teetering, she rose to her feet.
Next, her eye fastened on a spilled jar of “Man Tuo Luo.” The crockery lay in jagged pieces amid the green powder, a child’s jigsaw puzzle. Mao noted how she wanted to get down and put the puzzle together, and the metaphor. This must be the effects of the drug normally used for surgery.
She wished Tianyu would be quiet. His voice made it hard for her foggy mind to think.
“Whaat aaare youuuu doinggg ing ing ing? Oppennn upppp.”
Such a waste of medicine and dangerous to have it spilled like this. She bent to scoop up the drug but thought better of it. Her mind was clearing. Instead of risking stirring up the green powder, she wrapped the bandage around her mouth. It was instinct more than logic; her thoughts remained muddy and slow.
Next, she dragged the fallen shelf away from the door.
Thinking clearer now she remembered the shelf toppling just after she had opened the cabinet of restricted substances. Her hand had been on the jar of Man Tou Luo. “I’ve always wanted to try it,” she said as she finished moving the debris.
Tianyu burst through the door. “Mao, what in the world... Woah...” He tripped, crashing straight into Mao. His hand tore away the bandage as they tumbled to the floor in a billowing cloud of Man Tou Luo’s sleep-inducing powder.
Later, Dr. Li found them sleeping, arms tangled, on the floor. His first thought: surely Mao had taken precautions against pregnancy. Undoubtedly she had, and he nodded to himself. It was Mao, after all.
His second thought was that there would be trouble if Jinshi heard about this. He wouldn’t want to be the young, amorous doctor.
#microfiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #薬屋のひとりごと @yon @bytebro #LightNovel #Manga #Fantasy
#wss366 6/23 #TimeTravelAuthors Alternate History aspects [Note 1]
#FanFiction #TearmoonEmpire
**** The Norns ****
*** Chapter 4: The Book of Fate ***
“Mmm...” Mai murmured, savoring the rabbit stew the Norns had offered. “So warm, so rich. The wild sage is a pleasant touch,” she enthused over the stew, not noticing the three women hadn’t gotten a bowl for themselves.
The mushrooms were bitter, but they had soaked up the broth and were palatable. Spoonful after spoonful of stew daintily entered Mai’s mouth. “Mum, so yummy,” Mai said around one of those spoonfuls.
Pieces of rabbit and mushroom swam around the bowl, inviting her to dig in. Her spoon took a longggg dive toward the food. It was such an odd spoon. The handle must have been a foot longggg with a ssmiling face.
“Better to reach the fooood,” Mai thought. “Why are you dddoddggging,” Mai thought as the pieces swam away from her sssspoooon. “At last,” she thought, only to have a piece of rabbitttt jjjjump offff her spppooooon.
She looked up at the women to see if they had noticed. Their faces shifted in the firelight. Wwwaving like llllillies in a field. Swwweeeet lllilliees, blessessed by the sunnn.
“Ddddoes itttt ttttast gooood,” Ver… The mature one said? The voice came from very far away.
“I woveeee the Mushhhhrrrrrooom threaaad innto your weeeave… your weeeave… weeeave… eve.”
Like the #pound of surf in a tide worn cave.
Mai didn’t feel good. Her stomach twisted into a knot. Rabbits danced in big, heaping jumps. Mushrooms danced in her head.
The three mushrooooommmm ladies in gray hoooooddddds, smiled. Their lips twisted like the knots in her stomachhhhh…
“Lady Mai. My lady,” it was Anne’s voice issuing from the forest.
“Anneeeee, Anne,” she cried back. “Come, try the steeewww.”
“My lady, Belle is here to see you.” Anne’s voice held a touch of command and cut through Mai’s visions.
Mai opened her eyes. In her lap was the book of fate. She had been reading it because she couldn’t go out for a ride today. The page was open to show a picture of mushrooms with white freckles on their red caps dancing in a circle.
Mai was glad she had read the book. She had learned one important lesson. Never trust women in gray hoods, even if they make the tastiest rabbit stew.
She closed the book and moved on to plan her day. One of her first tasks would be asking the cook if they had any of those red mushrooms.
<Part4 of 4 - #Serial Conclution>
[Note 1] For this one, yes. As a result of reading the book, Mai will avoid eating that batch of poisonous mushrooms. The Norns also referred to several other time-altering events, not that I wrote those.–For my silly ones, not so far.
#microfiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NMTTA
#Anime #Manga #LightNovel #Fantasy #Mushrooms #psychedelic
#ティアムーン帝国 #JNovelClub
Ever write something so weird, creepy, or cursed that your doc file screamed a little? Perfect. Dark Descent is open for microhorror subs—500 words max, no fees, and a chance to spook some readers.
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#HorrorWriters #Microfiction #DarkDescent #darkesttales #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #horror #darkfantasy #anthologies #bookstagram #kindle #shortstories #twistedtales
The leader of the Order of Illuminati spread his hands. "Gentlemen of the Areopagus," he said, "the supremacy of witches is at hand!"
"Hang on," said Agathon. "Witches?" He removed his hood, revealing a gray alien beneath. "I thought we were aliens?"
Tiberius also removed his hood and then a rubber mask, revealing scales beneath. "I thought we were all lizards?"
"If we know not who we represent," said Spartacus, "perhaps our society has been a tad TOO secret...."
"Hurry up!" snapped the tourist.
"Keep your hair on, sir." The attendant wrestled with the beach umbrella.
"I'm burning!"
"Just a jiffy and you'll be in the #shade—Huh." He regarded the sudden pile of dust atop the deck chair and shook his head. Vampires never learned.
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