#boostingissharing — Public Fediverse posts
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#PennedPossibilities 1120: Saturday Word Edition: Share something from your WIP pertaining to the word “entertainment.”
Bolt is acting as the photographer for her friend Shugh as he interviews a male diva actor for a magazine similar to The New Yorker. Hers is a woman-centric society. The scene in this #excerpt hints that Bolt can be sexist as the actor being interviewed needles her.
Upstairs, Shugh hit it off with Morning Glory. Both men sought careers not often occupied by men. The actor-playwright became more animated as the magazine interview progressed, allowing me with my camera to fade into the background of the plush upper lounge of the theatre. By the time the long-legged delicate man started pacing as he told his life story, I had gleaned that his tale was glorified and larger-than life, like the man, his persona, his masks. His elegant pacing allowed me to move with my Flicka4, steadying myself using the back of a gilt divan, a bamboo formed-steel torchere lamp (one of pair), and then a black marble tea table to as I composed pictures of a celebrity, but a man, lost in thoughts about inflating the image he presented the world, finally dropping his actor's mask. I caught the sparkle in his eye. I caught flamboyant hands thrown wide, later framing his face as he sang a note. I caught an absentminded sneer aimed at an unnamed actress who'd worked to derail his entertainment career.
"I'm changing the way women perceive men," he declared. He sat abruptly on a hanger chair, one of those short shallow chairs built with a bench seat of a single plank of wood, finely finished glowing golden oak but uncushioned; it barely supported his thighs in deference to his hips, forcing the man to crouch. Also called a man's chair because a man looked really adorable hanging there when unclothed in a certain way. (It totally did Morning Glory.) That it made men shorter than any women in a room seemed like a plus, but then I was female. These days, especially in the city, I'd seen men leave a room in disgust if they saw one. Not Morning Glory! Probably furnished it here himself, stage managing, to spike the drama. Legs wide, crouching—his hands above his knees, framing his crotch—eyes narrowed and on me, his body language firmed up my perception of him.
Performatively male, sure of his good looks.
Aggressive.
Dominant.
He addressed Shugh still meeting my gaze. "Steamed Milk and Sugar—can I call you Milk? How does it feel working as her protégé? Do we live in progressive times?"
Hint, hint! I am a #gender #fiction #writer. If you think a hanger chair in this Basic Instincts scene is peculiar, realize that it is a male-oriented gender domination device analogous to what stiletto heels achieve physically with women in our society. Like many women today, Morning Glory is "owning" it (trying anyway) and changing the device's meaning.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
#PennedPossibilities 1120: Saturday Word Edition: Share something from your WIP pertaining to the word “entertainment.”
Bolt is acting as the photographer for her friend Shugh as he interviews a male diva actor for a magazine similar to The New Yorker. Hers is a woman-centric society. The scene in this #excerpt hints that Bolt can be sexist as the actor being interviewed needles her.
Upstairs, Shugh hit it off with Morning Glory. Both men sought careers not often occupied by men. The actor-playwright became more animated as the magazine interview progressed, allowing me with my camera to fade into the background of the plush upper lounge of the theatre. By the time the long-legged delicate man started pacing as he told his life story, I had gleaned that his tale was glorified and larger-than life, like the man, his persona, his masks. His elegant pacing allowed me to move with my Flicka4, steadying myself using the back of a gilt divan, a bamboo formed-steel torchere lamp (one of pair), and then a black marble tea table to as I composed pictures of a celebrity, but a man, lost in thoughts about inflating the image he presented the world, finally dropping his actor's mask. I caught the sparkle in his eye. I caught flamboyant hands thrown wide, later framing his face as he sang a note. I caught an absentminded sneer aimed at an unnamed actress who'd worked to derail his entertainment career.
"I'm changing the way women perceive men," he declared. He sat abruptly on a hanger chair, one of those short shallow chairs built with a bench seat of a single plank of wood, finely finished glowing golden oak but uncushioned; it barely supported his thighs in deference to his hips, forcing the man to crouch. Also called a man's chair because a man looked really adorable hanging there when unclothed in a certain way. (It totally did Morning Glory.) That it made men shorter than any women in a room seemed like a plus, but then I was female. These days, especially in the city, I'd seen men leave a room in disgust if they saw one. Not Morning Glory! Probably furnished it here himself, stage managing, to spike the drama. Legs wide, crouching—his hands above his knees, framing his crotch—eyes narrowed and on me, his body language firmed up my perception of him.
Performatively male, sure of his good looks.
Aggressive.
Dominant.
He addressed Shugh still meeting my gaze. "Steamed Milk and Sugar—can I call you Milk? How does it feel working as her protégé? Do we live in progressive times?"
Hint, hint! I am a #gender #fiction #writer. If you think a hanger chair in this Basic Instincts scene is peculiar, realize that it is a male-oriented gender domination device analogous to what stiletto heels achieve physically with women in our society. Like many women today, Morning Glory is "owning" it (trying anyway) and changing the device's meaning.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
#PennedPossibilities 1120: Saturday Word Edition: Share something from your WIP pertaining to the word “entertainment.”
Bolt is acting as the photographer for her friend Shugh as he interviews a male diva actor for a magazine similar to The New Yorker. Hers is a woman-centric society. The scene in this #excerpt hints that Bolt can be sexist as the actor being interviewed needles her.
Upstairs, Shugh hit it off with Morning Glory. Both men sought careers not often occupied by men. The actor-playwright became more animated as the magazine interview progressed, allowing me with my camera to fade into the background of the plush upper lounge of the theatre. By the time the long-legged delicate man started pacing as he told his life story, I had gleaned that his tale was glorified and larger-than life, like the man, his persona, his masks. His elegant pacing allowed me to move with my Flicka4, steadying myself using the back of a gilt divan, a bamboo formed-steel torchere lamp (one of pair), and then a black marble tea table to as I composed pictures of a celebrity, but a man, lost in thoughts about inflating the image he presented the world, finally dropping his actor's mask. I caught the sparkle in his eye. I caught flamboyant hands thrown wide, later framing his face as he sang a note. I caught an absentminded sneer aimed at an unnamed actress who'd worked to derail his entertainment career.
"I'm changing the way women perceive men," he declared. He sat abruptly on a hanger chair, one of those short shallow chairs built with a bench seat of a single plank of wood, finely finished glowing golden oak but uncushioned; it barely supported his thighs in deference to his hips, forcing the man to crouch. Also called a man's chair because a man looked really adorable hanging there when unclothed in a certain way. (It totally did Morning Glory.) That it made men shorter than any women in a room seemed like a plus, but then I was female. These days, especially in the city, I'd seen men leave a room in disgust if they saw one. Not Morning Glory! Probably furnished it here himself, stage managing, to spike the drama. Legs wide, crouching—his hands above his knees, framing his crotch—eyes narrowed and on me, his body language firmed up my perception of him.
Performatively male, sure of his good looks.
Aggressive.
Dominant.
He addressed Shugh still meeting my gaze. "Steamed Milk and Sugar—can I call you Milk? How does it feel working as her protégé? Do we live in progressive times?"
Hint, hint! I am a #gender #fiction #writer. If you think a hanger chair in this Basic Instincts scene is peculiar, realize that it is a male-oriented gender domination device analogous to what stiletto heels achieve physically with women in our society. Like many women today, Morning Glory is "owning" it (trying anyway) and changing the device's meaning.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
#PennedPossibilities 1120: Saturday Word Edition: Share something from your WIP pertaining to the word “entertainment.”
Bolt is acting as the photographer for her friend Shugh as he interviews a male diva actor for a magazine similar to The New Yorker. Hers is a woman-centric society. The scene in this #excerpt hints that Bolt can be sexist as the actor being interviewed needles her.
Upstairs, Shugh hit it off with Morning Glory. Both men sought careers not often occupied by men. The actor-playwright became more animated as the magazine interview progressed, allowing me with my camera to fade into the background of the plush upper lounge of the theatre. By the time the long-legged delicate man started pacing as he told his life story, I had gleaned that his tale was glorified and larger-than life, like the man, his persona, his masks. His elegant pacing allowed me to move with my Flicka4, steadying myself using the back of a gilt divan, a bamboo formed-steel torchere lamp (one of pair), and then a black marble tea table to as I composed pictures of a celebrity, but a man, lost in thoughts about inflating the image he presented the world, finally dropping his actor's mask. I caught the sparkle in his eye. I caught flamboyant hands thrown wide, later framing his face as he sang a note. I caught an absentminded sneer aimed at an unnamed actress who'd worked to derail his entertainment career.
"I'm changing the way women perceive men," he declared. He sat abruptly on a hanger chair, one of those short shallow chairs built with a bench seat of a single plank of wood, finely finished glowing golden oak but uncushioned; it barely supported his thighs in deference to his hips, forcing the man to crouch. Also called a man's chair because a man looked really adorable hanging there when unclothed in a certain way. (It totally did Morning Glory.) That it made men shorter than any women in a room seemed like a plus, but then I was female. These days, especially in the city, I'd seen men leave a room in disgust if they saw one. Not Morning Glory! Probably furnished it here himself, stage managing, to spike the drama. Legs wide, crouching—his hands above his knees, framing his crotch—eyes narrowed and on me, his body language firmed up my perception of him.
Performatively male, sure of his good looks.
Aggressive.
Dominant.
He addressed Shugh still meeting my gaze. "Steamed Milk and Sugar—can I call you Milk? How does it feel working as her protégé? Do we live in progressive times?"
Hint, hint! I am a #gender #fiction #writer. If you think a hanger chair in this Basic Instincts scene is peculiar, realize that it is a male-oriented gender domination device analogous to what stiletto heels achieve physically with women in our society. Like many women today, Morning Glory is "owning" it (trying anyway) and changing the device's meaning.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
#PennedPossibilities 1120: Saturday Word Edition: Share something from your WIP pertaining to the word “entertainment.”
Bolt is acting as the photographer for her friend Shugh as he interviews a male diva actor for a magazine similar to The New Yorker. Hers is a woman-centric society. The scene in this #excerpt hints that Bolt can be sexist as the actor being interviewed needles her.
Upstairs, Shugh hit it off with Morning Glory. Both men sought careers not often occupied by men. The actor-playwright became more animated as the magazine interview progressed, allowing me with my camera to fade into the background of the plush upper lounge of the theatre. By the time the long-legged delicate man started pacing as he told his life story, I had gleaned that his tale was glorified and larger-than life, like the man, his persona, his masks. His elegant pacing allowed me to move with my Flicka4, steadying myself using the back of a gilt divan, a bamboo formed-steel torchere lamp (one of pair), and then a black marble tea table to as I composed pictures of a celebrity, but a man, lost in thoughts about inflating the image he presented the world, finally dropping his actor's mask. I caught the sparkle in his eye. I caught flamboyant hands thrown wide, later framing his face as he sang a note. I caught an absentminded sneer aimed at an unnamed actress who'd worked to derail his entertainment career.
"I'm changing the way women perceive men," he declared. He sat abruptly on a hanger chair, one of those short shallow chairs built with a bench seat of a single plank of wood, finely finished glowing golden oak but uncushioned; it barely supported his thighs in deference to his hips, forcing the man to crouch. Also called a man's chair because a man looked really adorable hanging there when unclothed in a certain way. (It totally did Morning Glory.) That it made men shorter than any women in a room seemed like a plus, but then I was female. These days, especially in the city, I'd seen men leave a room in disgust if they saw one. Not Morning Glory! Probably furnished it here himself, stage managing, to spike the drama. Legs wide, crouching—his hands above his knees, framing his crotch—eyes narrowed and on me, his body language firmed up my perception of him.
Performatively male, sure of his good looks.
Aggressive.
Dominant.
He addressed Shugh still meeting my gaze. "Steamed Milk and Sugar—can I call you Milk? How does it feel working as her protégé? Do we live in progressive times?"
Hint, hint! I am a #gender #fiction #writer. If you think a hanger chair in this Basic Instincts scene is peculiar, realize that it is a male-oriented gender domination device analogous to what stiletto heels achieve physically with women in our society. Like many women today, Morning Glory is "owning" it (trying anyway) and changing the device's meaning.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589
#PennedPossibilities 1119: MC POV: How did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught you, and why is it so important?
[I will keep Bolt SFW, promise! Tl;dr tootfic follows, nevertheless.—RS]
A surprising number of my skills are self-taught. I must be a genius, even if'n I've done a lot of stupid things. My most valuable skill is flying, naturally being as I'm a day angel, but flight kindergarten failed me epically. Everybody fledged but me by 3. Despite the incentive of being picked on by all the girls in school (boys knew better), it took being shoved off a cliff at 10 before I flew, and then but for Mom and Uncle teaching me to land, I taught myself everything else. Turned out live'n in the world 3D is—My Stars!— flapping awesome, not at all frightening as I'd wound up myself into thinking. Flew into my share of lamp posts, but still, flap'n it! Spending more time a-wing than walking, I became an athlete, captaining the flight and field team, learning stunt flying, flight dance, and tandem. None of it more valuable than walking and running for the flightless in the long run, except, I guess, tandem.
They teach you never to fly close to anybody. I remember distancing from flight kindergarten. It was reiterated by every PE teacher there after. Knock it into your head, they do. A "primary feather length at wing tip; your height above." Feather fields will tangle if'n you're too close. You'll lose lift, they say, maybe crash, but that never made sense to me having learnt to fly late.
I experimented with all sort of crazy, consider'n that I skated out of most of the knocking of "flight stuff into my head" for the seven years everybody else was flying and I wasn't. I dove hard into precision flying, which meant warping my flight feathers hard, sometimes twisting the up and down fields to push away from or get sucked toward things like cliff walls or between tree trunks in a dense forest. Called decompensating. Dangerous? For you, unadventurous noob, maybe! I finally could get a finger length close to things—close enough to suck your hair and feathers against bark, rockface, and occasional stupid people who do their deer in the lantern light imitation seeing you, they think, flying into them—so why not boys? (Girls thought me a masculine muscle nerd! Their loss.)
While I found victims volunteers to fly near me in middle school, it was that first semester in high school that I perfected my awareness of my wings in space, and theirs, close up, and got boys to understand what I'd learnt. It helped that in high school, finally, the boys were less shy (especially the seniors) and dangling flying with us touching really helped incentivize them. Me, too, actually. I got better. They got better, caught the tandem fever, though we got chewed out by Coach when she saw, before she stopped noticing since we didn't kill ourselves. Our team morale soared. We started winning. I became captain of an otherwise male team. I got my string of ponies (stallions only).
Good times.
Valuable? Actually, valuable?
Well, a dozen years and lots of stupid decisions later, I have a friend, Blue, who is a praetorian training to protect Rainy Days. We encountered her in the sky, and I ended up flying stunts around the guy with her mirroring and challenging my agility, pushing me harder, apparently to test my limits, and to piss me off. I'm too competitive for my own good! She correctly figured out it was me who taught Blue flying tandem; it was the definitive skill that got him a job that was very unlikely for a guy to get.
Rainy Days praised me. She's far better at tandem techniques than me. Still. The Director of Home and the Nine Outer worlds praised me. My Stars!!!
Valuable? Flap yes!
Yet. Even considering when she left with Blue, the stress of me stupidly challenging the most important woman ever shot me out of the sky. I nearly crashed trying to land, then puked so hard, I thought some of my liver came up.
I still would challenge her again, given the chance. [Big words, Bolt! Read the quoted story for the second round. —RS]
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589
#PennedPossibilities 1119: MC POV: How did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught you, and why is it so important?
[I will keep Bolt SFW, promise! Tl;dr tootfic follows, nevertheless.—RS]
A surprising number of my skills are self-taught. I must be a genius, even if'n I've done a lot of stupid things. My most valuable skill is flying, naturally being as I'm a day angel, but flight kindergarten failed me epically. Everybody fledged but me by 3. Despite the incentive of being picked on by all the girls in school (boys knew better), it took being shoved off a cliff at 10 before I flew, and then but for Mom and Uncle teaching me to land, I taught myself everything else. Turned out live'n in the world 3D is—My Stars!— flapping awesome, not at all frightening as I'd wound up myself into thinking. Flew into my share of lamp posts, but still, flap'n it! Spending more time a-wing than walking, I became an athlete, captaining the flight and field team, learning stunt flying, flight dance, and tandem. None of it more valuable than walking and running for the flightless in the long run, except, I guess, tandem.
They teach you never to fly close to anybody. I remember distancing from flight kindergarten. It was reiterated by every PE teacher there after. Knock it into your head, they do. A "primary feather length at wing tip; your height above." Feather fields will tangle if'n you're too close. You'll lose lift, they say, maybe crash, but that never made sense to me having learnt to fly late.
I experimented with all sort of crazy, consider'n that I skated out of most of the knocking of "flight stuff into my head" for the seven years everybody else was flying and I wasn't. I dove hard into precision flying, which meant warping my flight feathers hard, sometimes twisting the up and down fields to push away from or get sucked toward things like cliff walls or between tree trunks in a dense forest. Called decompensating. Dangerous? For you, unadventurous noob, maybe! I finally could get a finger length close to things—close enough to suck your hair and feathers against bark, rockface, and occasional stupid people who do their deer in the lantern light imitation seeing you, they think, flying into them—so why not boys? (Girls thought me a masculine muscle nerd! Their loss.)
While I found victims volunteers to fly near me in middle school, it was that first semester in high school that I perfected my awareness of my wings in space, and theirs, close up, and got boys to understand what I'd learnt. It helped that in high school, finally, the boys were less shy (especially the seniors) and dangling flying with us touching really helped incentivize them. Me, too, actually. I got better. They got better, caught the tandem fever, though we got chewed out by Coach when she saw, before she stopped noticing since we didn't kill ourselves. Our team morale soared. We started winning. I became captain of an otherwise male team. I got my string of ponies (stallions only).
Good times.
Valuable? Actually, valuable?
Well, a dozen years and lots of stupid decisions later, I have a friend, Blue, who is a praetorian training to protect Rainy Days. We encountered her in the sky, and I ended up flying stunts around the guy with her mirroring and challenging my agility, pushing me harder, apparently to test my limits, and to piss me off. I'm too competitive for my own good! She correctly figured out it was me who taught Blue flying tandem; it was the definitive skill that got him a job that was very unlikely for a guy to get.
Rainy Days praised me. She's far better at tandem techniques than me. Still. The Director of Home and the Nine Outer worlds praised me. My Stars!!!
Valuable? Flap yes!
Yet. Even considering when she left with Blue, the stress of me stupidly challenging the most important woman ever shot me out of the sky. I nearly crashed trying to land, then puked so hard, I thought some of my liver came up.
I still would challenge her again, given the chance. [Big words, Bolt! Read the quoted story for the second round. —RS]
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589
#PennedPossibilities 1119: MC POV: How did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught you, and why is it so important?
[I will keep Bolt SFW, promise! Tl;dr tootfic follows, nevertheless.—RS]
A surprising number of my skills are self-taught. I must be a genius, even if'n I've done a lot of stupid things. My most valuable skill is flying, naturally being as I'm a day angel, but flight kindergarten failed me epically. Everybody fledged but me by 3. Despite the incentive of being picked on by all the girls in school (boys knew better), it took being shoved off a cliff at 10 before I flew, and then but for Mom and Uncle teaching me to land, I taught myself everything else. Turned out live'n in the world 3D is—My Stars!— flapping awesome, not at all frightening as I'd wound up myself into thinking. Flew into my share of lamp posts, but still, flap'n it! Spending more time a-wing than walking, I became an athlete, captaining the flight and field team, learning stunt flying, flight dance, and tandem. None of it more valuable than walking and running for the flightless in the long run, except, I guess, tandem.
They teach you never to fly close to anybody. I remember distancing from flight kindergarten. It was reiterated by every PE teacher there after. Knock it into your head, they do. A "primary feather length at wing tip; your height above." Feather fields will tangle if'n you're too close. You'll lose lift, they say, maybe crash, but that never made sense to me having learnt to fly late.
I experimented with all sort of crazy, consider'n that I skated out of most of the knocking of "flight stuff into my head" for the seven years everybody else was flying and I wasn't. I dove hard into precision flying, which meant warping my flight feathers hard, sometimes twisting the up and down fields to push away from or get sucked toward things like cliff walls or between tree trunks in a dense forest. Called decompensating. Dangerous? For you, unadventurous noob, maybe! I finally could get a finger length close to things—close enough to suck your hair and feathers against bark, rockface, and occasional stupid people who do their deer in the lantern light imitation seeing you, they think, flying into them—so why not boys? (Girls thought me a masculine muscle nerd! Their loss.)
While I found victims volunteers to fly near me in middle school, it was that first semester in high school that I perfected my awareness of my wings in space, and theirs, close up, and got boys to understand what I'd learnt. It helped that in high school, finally, the boys were less shy (especially the seniors) and dangling flying with us touching really helped incentivize them. Me, too, actually. I got better. They got better, caught the tandem fever, though we got chewed out by Coach when she saw, before she stopped noticing since we didn't kill ourselves. Our team morale soared. We started winning. I became captain of an otherwise male team. I got my string of ponies (stallions only).
Good times.
Valuable? Actually, valuable?
Well, a dozen years and lots of stupid decisions later, I have a friend, Blue, who is a praetorian training to protect Rainy Days. We encountered her in the sky, and I ended up flying stunts around the guy with her mirroring and challenging my agility, pushing me harder, apparently to test my limits, and to piss me off. I'm too competitive for my own good! She correctly figured out it was me who taught Blue flying tandem; it was the definitive skill that got him a job that was very unlikely for a guy to get.
Rainy Days praised me. She's far better at tandem techniques than me. Still. The Director of Home and the Nine Outer worlds praised me. My Stars!!!
Valuable? Flap yes!
Yet. Even considering when she left with Blue, the stress of me stupidly challenging the most important woman ever shot me out of the sky. I nearly crashed trying to land, then puked so hard, I thought some of my liver came up.
I still would challenge her again, given the chance. [Big words, Bolt! Read the quoted story for the second round. —RS]
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589
#PennedPossibilities 1119: MC POV: How did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught you, and why is it so important?
[I will keep Bolt SFW, promise! Tl;dr tootfic follows, nevertheless.—RS]
A surprising number of my skills are self-taught. I must be a genius, even if'n I've done a lot of stupid things. My most valuable skill is flying, naturally being as I'm a day angel, but flight kindergarten failed me epically. Everybody fledged but me by 3. Despite the incentive of being picked on by all the girls in school (boys knew better), it took being shoved off a cliff at 10 before I flew, and then but for Mom and Uncle teaching me to land, I taught myself everything else. Turned out live'n in the world 3D is—My Stars!— flapping awesome, not at all frightening as I'd wound up myself into thinking. Flew into my share of lamp posts, but still, flap'n it! Spending more time a-wing than walking, I became an athlete, captaining the flight and field team, learning stunt flying, flight dance, and tandem. None of it more valuable than walking and running for the flightless in the long run, except, I guess, tandem.
They teach you never to fly close to anybody. I remember distancing from flight kindergarten. It was reiterated by every PE teacher there after. Knock it into your head, they do. A "primary feather length at wing tip; your height above." Feather fields will tangle if'n you're too close. You'll lose lift, they say, maybe crash, but that never made sense to me having learnt to fly late.
I experimented with all sort of crazy, consider'n that I skated out of most of the knocking of "flight stuff into my head" for the seven years everybody else was flying and I wasn't. I dove hard into precision flying, which meant warping my flight feathers hard, sometimes twisting the up and down fields to push away from or get sucked toward things like cliff walls or between tree trunks in a dense forest. Called decompensating. Dangerous? For you, unadventurous noob, maybe! I finally could get a finger length close to things—close enough to suck your hair and feathers against bark, rockface, and occasional stupid people who do their deer in the lantern light imitation seeing you, they think, flying into them—so why not boys? (Girls thought me a masculine muscle nerd! Their loss.)
While I found victims volunteers to fly near me in middle school, it was that first semester in high school that I perfected my awareness of my wings in space, and theirs, close up, and got boys to understand what I'd learnt. It helped that in high school, finally, the boys were less shy (especially the seniors) and dangling flying with us touching really helped incentivize them. Me, too, actually. I got better. They got better, caught the tandem fever, though we got chewed out by Coach when she saw, before she stopped noticing since we didn't kill ourselves. Our team morale soared. We started winning. I became captain of an otherwise male team. I got my string of ponies (stallions only).
Good times.
Valuable? Actually, valuable?
Well, a dozen years and lots of stupid decisions later, I have a friend, Blue, who is a praetorian training to protect Rainy Days. We encountered her in the sky, and I ended up flying stunts around the guy with her mirroring and challenging my agility, pushing me harder, apparently to test my limits, and to piss me off. I'm too competitive for my own good! She correctly figured out it was me who taught Blue flying tandem; it was the definitive skill that got him a job that was very unlikely for a guy to get.
Rainy Days praised me. She's far better at tandem techniques than me. Still. The Director of Home and the Nine Outer worlds praised me. My Stars!!!
Valuable? Flap yes!
Yet. Even considering when she left with Blue, the stress of me stupidly challenging the most important woman ever shot me out of the sky. I nearly crashed trying to land, then puked so hard, I thought some of my liver came up.
I still would challenge her again, given the chance. [Big words, Bolt! Read the quoted story for the second round. —RS]
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/112497915608418589
#PennedPossibilities 1119: MC POV: How did you learn your most valuable skill? Who taught you, and why is it so important?
[I will keep Bolt SFW, promise! Tl;dr tootfic follows, nevertheless.—RS]
A surprising number of my skills are self-taught. I must be a genius, even if'n I've done a lot of stupid things. My most valuable skill is flying, naturally being as I'm a day angel, but flight kindergarten failed me epically. Everybody fledged but me by 3. Despite the incentive of being picked on by all the girls in school (boys knew better), it took being shoved off a cliff at 10 before I flew, and then but for Mom and Uncle teaching me to land, I taught myself everything else. Turned out live'n in the world 3D is—My Stars!— flapping awesome, not at all frightening as I'd wound up myself into thinking. Flew into my share of lamp posts, but still, flap'n it! Spending more time a-wing than walking, I became an athlete, captaining the flight and field team, learning stunt flying, flight dance, and tandem. None of it more valuable than walking and running for the flightless in the long run, except, I guess, tandem.
They teach you never to fly close to anybody. I remember distancing from flight kindergarten. It was reiterated by every PE teacher there after. Knock it into your head, they do. A "primary feather length at wing tip; your height above." Feather fields will tangle if'n you're too close. You'll lose lift, they say, maybe crash, but that never made sense to me having learnt to fly late.
I experimented with all sort of crazy, consider'n that I skated out of most of the knocking of "flight stuff into my head" for the seven years everybody else was flying and I wasn't. I dove hard into precision flying, which meant warping my flight feathers hard, sometimes twisting the up and down fields to push away from or get sucked toward things like cliff walls or between tree trunks in a dense forest. Called decompensating. Dangerous? For you, unadventurous noob, maybe! I finally could get a finger length close to things—close enough to suck your hair and feathers against bark, rockface, and occasional stupid people who do their deer in the lantern light imitation seeing you, they think, flying into them—so why not boys? (Girls thought me a masculine muscle nerd! Their loss.)
While I found victims volunteers to fly near me in middle school, it was that first semester in high school that I perfected my awareness of my wings in space, and theirs, close up, and got boys to understand what I'd learnt. It helped that in high school, finally, the boys were less shy (especially the seniors) and dangling flying with us touching really helped incentivize them. Me, too, actually. I got better. They got better, caught the tandem fever, though we got chewed out by Coach when she saw, before she stopped noticing since we didn't kill ourselves. Our team morale soared. We started winning. I became captain of an otherwise male team. I got my string of ponies (stallions only).
Good times.
Valuable? Actually, valuable?
Well, a dozen years and lots of stupid decisions later, I have a friend, Blue, who is a praetorian training to protect Rainy Days. We encountered her in the sky, and I ended up flying stunts around the guy with her mirroring and challenging my agility, pushing me harder, apparently to test my limits, and to piss me off. I'm too competitive for my own good! She correctly figured out it was me who taught Blue flying tandem; it was the definitive skill that got him a job that was very unlikely for a guy to get.
Rainy Days praised me. She's far better at tandem techniques than me. Still. The Director of Home and the Nine Outer worlds praised me. My Stars!!!
Valuable? Flap yes!
Yet. Even considering when she left with Blue, the stress of me stupidly challenging the most important woman ever shot me out of the sky. I nearly crashed trying to land, then puked so hard, I thought some of my liver came up.
I still would challenge her again, given the chance. [Big words, Bolt! Read the quoted story for the second round. —RS]
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.05 — ~From a purely aesthetic standpoint, what is your favorite color of ice cream?
Flamboyant. Pictured, one take on unicorn ice cream. Ask my friends, I have a thing for unicorns.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
Found on Tumblr. Text in image follows.
Every company in 2026: "oh god we spent so much money on AI. We need you to use it. Please dear god we need you to use it. Please use it and become addicted to it and need it in your life. Our entire 10 year business model requires you to be an AI addict and you're NOT DOING IT!!! We're gonna put it front and center. We're moving the buttons around so you accidentally click it and use it so you might realise it's there! Please we're begging you! If we can't get you addicted to AI then we can't charge you for it and it will have all been for nothing!!! You're just being SO UNREASONABLE RIGHT NOW!!! If you don't use it then we fired our workers, tanked our company direction, poisoned several thousand people's water, and more importantly spent our investors money FOR NOTHING!!!"
Me, deep diving into every setting on every application on every device: can I turn this annoying thing off or do I need to learn to ignore it...
The companies: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A BITCH!!!"
-
Found on Tumblr. Text in image follows.
Every company in 2026: "oh god we spent so much money on AI. We need you to use it. Please dear god we need you to use it. Please use it and become addicted to it and need it in your life. Our entire 10 year business model requires you to be an AI addict and you're NOT DOING IT!!! We're gonna put it front and center. We're moving the buttons around so you accidentally click it and use it so you might realise it's there! Please we're begging you! If we can't get you addicted to AI then we can't charge you for it and it will have all been for nothing!!! You're just being SO UNREASONABLE RIGHT NOW!!! If you don't use it then we fired our workers, tanked our company direction, poisoned several thousand people's water, and more importantly spent our investors money FOR NOTHING!!!"
Me, deep diving into every setting on every application on every device: can I turn this annoying thing off or do I need to learn to ignore it...
The companies: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A BITCH!!!"
-
Found on Tumblr. Text in image follows.
Every company in 2026: "oh god we spent so much money on AI. We need you to use it. Please dear god we need you to use it. Please use it and become addicted to it and need it in your life. Our entire 10 year business model requires you to be an AI addict and you're NOT DOING IT!!! We're gonna put it front and center. We're moving the buttons around so you accidentally click it and use it so you might realise it's there! Please we're begging you! If we can't get you addicted to AI then we can't charge you for it and it will have all been for nothing!!! You're just being SO UNREASONABLE RIGHT NOW!!! If you don't use it then we fired our workers, tanked our company direction, poisoned several thousand people's water, and more importantly spent our investors money FOR NOTHING!!!"
Me, deep diving into every setting on every application on every device: can I turn this annoying thing off or do I need to learn to ignore it...
The companies: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A BITCH!!!"
-
Found on Tumblr. Text in image follows.
Every company in 2026: "oh god we spent so much money on AI. We need you to use it. Please dear god we need you to use it. Please use it and become addicted to it and need it in your life. Our entire 10 year business model requires you to be an AI addict and you're NOT DOING IT!!! We're gonna put it front and center. We're moving the buttons around so you accidentally click it and use it so you might realise it's there! Please we're begging you! If we can't get you addicted to AI then we can't charge you for it and it will have all been for nothing!!! You're just being SO UNREASONABLE RIGHT NOW!!! If you don't use it then we fired our workers, tanked our company direction, poisoned several thousand people's water, and more importantly spent our investors money FOR NOTHING!!!"
Me, deep diving into every setting on every application on every device: can I turn this annoying thing off or do I need to learn to ignore it...
The companies: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A BITCH!!!"
-
Found on Tumblr. Text in image follows.
Every company in 2026: "oh god we spent so much money on AI. We need you to use it. Please dear god we need you to use it. Please use it and become addicted to it and need it in your life. Our entire 10 year business model requires you to be an AI addict and you're NOT DOING IT!!! We're gonna put it front and center. We're moving the buttons around so you accidentally click it and use it so you might realise it's there! Please we're begging you! If we can't get you addicted to AI then we can't charge you for it and it will have all been for nothing!!! You're just being SO UNREASONABLE RIGHT NOW!!! If you don't use it then we fired our workers, tanked our company direction, poisoned several thousand people's water, and more importantly spent our investors money FOR NOTHING!!!"
Me, deep diving into every setting on every application on every device: can I turn this annoying thing off or do I need to learn to ignore it...
The companies: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A BITCH!!!"
-
US citizens prepare to #VOTE.
The point is that Trump is cornered, and that is when he is most likely to do illegal and desperate things. So, if ever there's a time to fear some sort of extreme measure, like trying to declare martial law on Election Day, this would be it. One of us, namely (Z), does not think that this administration has the brains or the balls to pull that off. The other of us, namely (V), is not so sure. At this point, though, all that anyone can do is be vigilant, and to make sure to vote, and to vote in the way that is least subject to interference. For example, if you are able to vote early in person, that is the best bet. If you don't want to chance crowds and ICEmen on Election Day, get an absentee ballot and put it in a drop box or personally bring it to an authorized drop-off location. These avoid any attempts by the USPS to disenfranchise voters. And tell everyone you know to do likewise. (Z)
I'm doing so.
Quoted from this article by a pair of history and voting academics on the Electoral-Vote blog. Read the article, please.
-
US citizens prepare to #VOTE.
The point is that Trump is cornered, and that is when he is most likely to do illegal and desperate things. So, if ever there's a time to fear some sort of extreme measure, like trying to declare martial law on Election Day, this would be it. One of us, namely (Z), does not think that this administration has the brains or the balls to pull that off. The other of us, namely (V), is not so sure. At this point, though, all that anyone can do is be vigilant, and to make sure to vote, and to vote in the way that is least subject to interference. For example, if you are able to vote early in person, that is the best bet. If you don't want to chance crowds and ICEmen on Election Day, get an absentee ballot and put it in a drop box or personally bring it to an authorized drop-off location. These avoid any attempts by the USPS to disenfranchise voters. And tell everyone you know to do likewise. (Z)
I'm doing so.
Quoted from this article by a pair of history and voting academics on the Electoral-Vote blog. Read the article, please.
-
US citizens prepare to #VOTE.
The point is that Trump is cornered, and that is when he is most likely to do illegal and desperate things. So, if ever there's a time to fear some sort of extreme measure, like trying to declare martial law on Election Day, this would be it. One of us, namely (Z), does not think that this administration has the brains or the balls to pull that off. The other of us, namely (V), is not so sure. At this point, though, all that anyone can do is be vigilant, and to make sure to vote, and to vote in the way that is least subject to interference. For example, if you are able to vote early in person, that is the best bet. If you don't want to chance crowds and ICEmen on Election Day, get an absentee ballot and put it in a drop box or personally bring it to an authorized drop-off location. These avoid any attempts by the USPS to disenfranchise voters. And tell everyone you know to do likewise. (Z)
I'm doing so.
Quoted from this article by a pair of history and voting academics on the Electoral-Vote blog. Read the article, please.
-
US citizens prepare to #VOTE.
The point is that Trump is cornered, and that is when he is most likely to do illegal and desperate things. So, if ever there's a time to fear some sort of extreme measure, like trying to declare martial law on Election Day, this would be it. One of us, namely (Z), does not think that this administration has the brains or the balls to pull that off. The other of us, namely (V), is not so sure. At this point, though, all that anyone can do is be vigilant, and to make sure to vote, and to vote in the way that is least subject to interference. For example, if you are able to vote early in person, that is the best bet. If you don't want to chance crowds and ICEmen on Election Day, get an absentee ballot and put it in a drop box or personally bring it to an authorized drop-off location. These avoid any attempts by the USPS to disenfranchise voters. And tell everyone you know to do likewise. (Z)
I'm doing so.
Quoted from this article by a pair of history and voting academics on the Electoral-Vote blog. Read the article, please.
-
US citizens prepare to #VOTE.
The point is that Trump is cornered, and that is when he is most likely to do illegal and desperate things. So, if ever there's a time to fear some sort of extreme measure, like trying to declare martial law on Election Day, this would be it. One of us, namely (Z), does not think that this administration has the brains or the balls to pull that off. The other of us, namely (V), is not so sure. At this point, though, all that anyone can do is be vigilant, and to make sure to vote, and to vote in the way that is least subject to interference. For example, if you are able to vote early in person, that is the best bet. If you don't want to chance crowds and ICEmen on Election Day, get an absentee ballot and put it in a drop box or personally bring it to an authorized drop-off location. These avoid any attempts by the USPS to disenfranchise voters. And tell everyone you know to do likewise. (Z)
I'm doing so.
Quoted from this article by a pair of history and voting academics on the Electoral-Vote blog. Read the article, please.
-
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.04 — ~Reverse of last month's question: if e-books stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?
I have grown to like not filling shelves with dust collectors. A physical library isn't a status symbol for me anymore. I also like having my iPhone read books to me, which means ePub with or without DRM. Last, old eyes. I'd rather pinch to zoom instead of hold a magnifying glass or squint through bifocals.
I'd miss 'em.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#ScribesAndMakers 2026.09.03 — ˜Which ebook reader do you use?
I realize this has become a political question, but I hopped on the bandwagon over a decade ago. A Kindle. The corpses of previous generations litter the house, but the one that lives is a Scribe. Mostly, however, I enjoy books on my iPhone because I can have it read to me with the Alex voice. I try to buy ePubs when I can. I've already lost digital comics due to Dark Horse having shutdown their gen-1 service.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#BoostingIsSharing
#gender #fiction #writer #author
photographer chef cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1117. MC POV: If I looked in your fridge or pantry right now, what would I find?
[Bolt:] "A bag of crumbs." [She gives you a strange look, shakes her head, and walks away.]
Wait! Let me explain. Bolt discusses it in her narrative and rummages through her returnable muslin bag (they don't have plastic). She even gets nagged about it by a SC. Crumbs are day or days old food grocers or restaurants bag up and sell for cheap. Regulations ensure it's mostly balanced nutritionally.
The bag Bolt buys typically contains bruised or browning pomel or home tree fruit, beans, algal yeast paste (think Vegemite/Marmite), floof, and raw no-cook veg like carrots or cabbage. Because she's a day angel, the bags also contain seafood protein: dried squid—which Bolt 🎶adores🎵—and occasionally either shrimp crisps or dented or lost-label tinned fish.
Having persisted on this diet for a dodecade—augmented when she has the coin with fast food day angel style, often spicy fish and squid ramen—she's not entirely willing to stock her pantry with actual groceries she'd have to shop for. Crumbs can be eaten as is with water, or reconstituted by adding some water.
Quick. Simple.
She doesn't look forward to spending the extra coin from her photography sales then having to cook, too! Worse, her boarding house situation charges extra to use the kitchen. Bad enough there's no rain room (i.e., shower) and she has to pay to use the bathhouse down the street!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#cozy #mystery #sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#PennedPossibilities 1118: Name a catastrophic event that occurred in your world / universe.
[Some deep background, not necessarily yet canon. —RS]
Our civilization passed through the "singularity" and was (apparently) destroyed. With scant few people surviving a population bottleneck, with books and print long obsolete before the singularity, no readable technological information or history survived in the ruins. A character (a spoiler number of years later) in the series worked to destroy whatever archaeological clues existed, for reasons that are spoilers, through means that are spoilers, devastating major swaths of the planet (twice as it turns out, which is kind of spoilery) causing what is also spoilers, but she could do nothing about a planetary megastructure that remains a mystery millennia later. The multiple cataclysms and the fall of intermediate civilizations that followed is contributing to the decline in current days of the human population for reasons also spoilers such that humanity, even as an interstellar civilization, is likely to go extinct. And that's a catastrophe in the making!
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
#gender #fiction #writer #author
#sf #sff #sciencefiction
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory -
#GloriaSteinem, a #feminist icon, died yesterday. RIP. Here's a gift article for her obituary in The Atlantic magazine. I'll leave you with an instructive quote from the article about how girl culture is an insidious force controlling women's lives to their detriment, something Steinem herself was well aware of.
Needing approval, [Steinem] wrote, “is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.”
#Gender #Fiction #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #TheAtlantic
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#GloriaSteinem, a #feminist icon, died yesterday. RIP. Here's a gift article for her obituary in The Atlantic magazine. I'll leave you with an instructive quote from the article about how girl culture is an insidious force controlling women's lives to their detriment, something Steinem herself was well aware of.
Needing approval, [Steinem] wrote, “is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.”
#Gender #Fiction #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #TheAtlantic
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#GloriaSteinem, a #feminist icon, died yesterday. RIP. Here's a gift article for her obituary in The Atlantic magazine. I'll leave you with an instructive quote from the article about how girl culture is an insidious force controlling women's lives to their detriment, something Steinem herself was well aware of.
Needing approval, [Steinem] wrote, “is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.”
#Gender #Fiction #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #TheAtlantic
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#GloriaSteinem, a #feminist icon, died yesterday. RIP. Here's a gift article for her obituary in The Atlantic magazine. I'll leave you with an instructive quote from the article about how girl culture is an insidious force controlling women's lives to their detriment, something Steinem herself was well aware of.
Needing approval, [Steinem] wrote, “is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.”
#Gender #Fiction #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #TheAtlantic
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#GloriaSteinem, a #feminist icon, died yesterday. RIP. Here's a gift article for her obituary in The Atlantic magazine. I'll leave you with an instructive quote from the article about how girl culture is an insidious force controlling women's lives to their detriment, something Steinem herself was well aware of.
Needing approval, [Steinem] wrote, “is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.”
#Gender #Fiction #Writer #Author #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #TheAtlantic
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The Jan 6 Report Volume [Trump] One is released. Grab your copy before history can be rewritten!
#uspol #USPolitics #Trump #Democracy #Felon #Insurrection #Insurrectionist #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity https://newrepublic.com/post/190190/jack-smith-trump-january-6-report
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About the LA Fires: State Farm and other insurers dropped fire coverage for everyone (I think countywide) effective the end of 2024. Replacing the coverage proved time consuming to impossible. Many many are NOT insured. I know two who weren't insured because of this fiasco; one lost their family house.
The photo is of a friend's mother's house and I did not take it.
#lafire #fire #pallisadesfire #Photography #Photo #Wildfire #BushFire #BrushFire #Writer #Author #WritersOfMastodon #WritingCommunity
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#MiniMasterpieces 5 — Friend or Foe
I looked down from the plateau as wisps of fog drifted by on that humid hot first day. Caught up in a giant ring of fire that swept through the park, it affected my vision. It affected everything! It had transformed my family, but at least I could see. Differently. Telescopically. My older son and his cousins crawled near the cliff face, patrolling though confused and scared, heeding my warnings to watch the world below us. My twins and Little Betty, barely 1 1/2 years old, had become long, white eggs, the size of an SUV.
Out there, I saw: /Others./ We'd had a picnic at the seaside park. That explained the sand. It might have explained the scuba suit. It did not explain why a pig with a pink snout was wearing said suit. Silently watching us. Nor the yellow tanks, or the mask.
I had to assume the ring captured and transformed everything alive it found, leaving us in an alien world. It might have only been transmuting only people, or I could be facing changed coyotes and seagulls. Facing any beast, animal or human, worried me.
I was a mom.
My family and I were iguanas now, or were we iguanodons? Did this mean I was a dinosaur? I should have listened to Johnny when he babbled incessantly about them.
The one thing I knew for sure was that I could not take a chance that the pig man, nor anyone else, was hungry... for eggs or lizard meat.
We had to be alive to return home.
[Author retains copyright (c)2024 RS.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
#WritingPrompt #PennedPossibilities #VisualPrompt
#VisualWritingPrompt #Magic #Artcc: @floofpaldi
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#MiniMasterpieces 4 — Campfire Friends
"Ughhhh!"
I backpedaled so quickly, arms waving, that I tripped, loosing my staff. My right sandal flew into the fire. My heart beat so rapidly, I was instantly dizzy, which may be why I hit my head on a tree, slid over, scratching my cheek, flailing. I twisted—and oh my stars did that hurt!—but kept from splashing face forward into the lake. Just my hand.
Yes. I screamed like a 10 year old girl. I know because a purple poison frog had hopped on my chest when I was a 10-year-old. And. If you ever repeat that—you're toast!
It took me minutes to catch my breath, staring upward, heart racing. I checked if I'd peed myself, and I had not.
I don't often take Scarletto away from town, and I'd really had to think hard about bringing my boyfriend into the forest. He' smart, always working to solve disagreements for me with the guilds and crafters, but he really is more suited for life in any town, with its homes, restaurants, shops, and inns. His magic made me shiver, and he could be very sweet. Sadly, he was also a gentleman. I wanted more passion. I wanted him to kiss me as he had done that day...
To that end, I'd heard of the giant boulders discovered beside the Crystal Lake. The mouth of Puma river had changed outlets, revealing the previously hidden grotto. Travelers passing through the inn had told stories that if you and your girl camped there, you were certain to either marry or find the true demeanor of your love. Guild members had verified it, but none would tell why the place was special.
They teased me about my boyfriend.
I wasn't taking him there without first checking it out, of course. I needed to make sure it was safe.
I'd found it easy enough. No other boulders sat beside the gently lapping lake. I've fair night vision and the moon was full, so I had little trouble hiking without a torch. Scarletto would need some help, which meant he'd be holding me a lot. Nice little rock beach, actually. Spring hadn't caused the trees to fill with buds hiding the moon, or filled in the underbrush masking fallen deadwood. I assembled kindling. I arranged split wood in a cone, spilled fuel, and lit it.
Hands out over the crackling flames, I noticed something gleam above. I looked.
Demon eyes set in a lion's face below demon horns returned my gaze.
I then screamed, "Ugh...!" The rest you know.
Why some sadistic /fool/ had carved that, I've no idea! As I retrieved my smoking sandal, I resolved that were I ever to discover who the creep was—what an elaborate prank—I might just /accidentally/ break his leg.
On the other hand, my boyfriend did like ghost stories... I chuckled, grinning widely.
[Author retains copyright (c)2024 RS.]
#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool
#fiction #fantasy #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
#RSdiscussion
#RSstory
#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory
#WritingPrompt #PennedPossibilities #VisualPrompt
#VisualWritingPrompt #Magic #Art