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#flashfiction — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #flashfiction, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Dominic finished work on the most exotic interface he had ever written, one that would allow his story characters to write stories of their own by remotely controlling his laptop. He opened the team's story file, and began talking as if he were on a video call.

    _/Ok, gang, I have a prototype of the new interface - who wants to be the first to try it?/_

    "We drew straws and Enzo was the winner," Maggie responded.

    "CONTESTED winner," Reggie quipped.

    _/Enzo - the keyboard is yours/_

    "Thank you, Author," Enzo responded, and started typing.

    The lights in the team's conference room flickered, followed by some disconcerting music playing over the PA system.

    "What the-," Reggie began, looking a little worried.

    Enzo looked up with smile.

    "That's you?!" Reggie asked indignantly. "Dude, you KNOW I hate scary movies."

    "Why else would I pick that for my environment test?" Enzo asked innocently.

    Reggie threw a wadded up piece of paper at him.

  2. Dominic finished work on the most exotic interface he had ever written, one that would allow his story characters to write stories of their own by remotely controlling his laptop. He opened the team's story file, and began talking as if he were on a video call.

    _/Ok, gang, I have a prototype of the new interface - who wants to be the first to try it?/_

    "We drew straws and Enzo was the winner," Maggie responded.

    "CONTESTED winner," Reggie quipped.

    _/Enzo - the keyboard is yours/_

    "Thank you, Author," Enzo responded, and started typing.

    The lights in the team's conference room flickered, followed by some disconcerting music playing over the PA system.

    "What the-," Reggie began, looking a little worried.

    Enzo looked up with smile.

    "That's you?!" Reggie asked indignantly. "Dude, you KNOW I hate scary movies."

    "Why else would I pick that for my environment test?" Enzo asked innocently.

    Reggie threw a wadded up piece of paper at him.

    #MicroFiction #FlashFiction #TootFic

  3. Challenge #04895-M146: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

    It has been three summers since the new head of a scribal house in Arbordeep settled into the hereditary role, and all is not well. Many of the students have wandered off, no new recruits to the printing operation have arrived, and even worse, rumors are flitting about of a conspiracy amongst the remaining senior scribes. Something must be done… but what? -- Deathshead419
    The Empire was falling. Barbarian invaders, polities breaking off and causing trouble with the Empire that once sheltered them from the Barbarians. It was so bad that the regiments of Legionarii were calling for Adventurers to fill their ranks.

    Tullia scribed down as much as she could into sheets of bronze. It was less likely to be traded for the metal, and less likely to corrode. There was a chance that someone would know how to read if she perished.

    With that thought in mind, she made one sheet with pictographic instructions. Hoping for the best.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04895-m146-sic-transit-gloria-mundi

    #flashfiction #fantasy #shortstory #writingprompt #fantasyfiction

  4. Challenge #04895-M146: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

    It has been three summers since the new head of a scribal house in Arbordeep settled into the hereditary role, and all is not well. Many of the students have wandered off, no new recruits to the printing operation have arrived, and even worse, rumors are flitting about of a conspiracy amongst the remaining senior scribes. Something must be done… but what? -- Deathshead419
    The Empire was falling. Barbarian invaders, polities breaking off and causing trouble with the Empire that once sheltered them from the Barbarians. It was so bad that the regiments of Legionarii were calling for Adventurers to fill their ranks.

    Tullia scribed down as much as she could into sheets of bronze. It was less likely to be traded for the metal, and less likely to corrode. There was a chance that someone would know how to read if she perished.

    With that thought in mind, she made one sheet with pictographic instructions. Hoping for the best.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04895-m146-sic-transit-gloria-mundi

    #flashfiction #fantasy #shortstory #writingprompt #fantasyfiction

  5. 💀 Dive into bite-sized horror tales with Dark Descent! Get shivers in under 500 words. Perfect for thrill-seekers on the go. Subscribe now for a 7-day free trial! 🖤

    Check it out:
    🩸 Subscribe (7-day free trial): darkholmepublishing.uk/darkdes
    📚 Patreon: patreon.com/c/DarkHolmePublish
    📖 Single issue: darkholmepublishing.uk/categor

    #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #writingcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  6. Empire of Dragons @dragonshortstories.wordpress.com@dragonshortstories.wordpress.com ·

    Childhood (Nxoe, Moonwight Dragon)

    The moon, in all her glory, welcomed the birth of Nxoe
    Secretly born to a Karrucci woman and an unknown human male,
    Some theorize the woman to be Avella
    Others surmise it is yet another lost child of Nari
    Hidden away in the forests

    The shamans prayed around him
    begged the moon to bless the new life born under its care,
    this boy was theirs now.

    Nxoe was raised far away from his family, the Karruccis, by this nomadic tribe of moon shamans.
    Every day a new handmaiden watched him
    They’d rotate like the cycles of the moon
    Each maiden experienced his unusually high curiosity

    As a toddler trotting around in a human form,
    He would pick up bugs and try to stuff them into his mouth
    Each week the maidens would wonder “what bug will he eat today?”

    the moon maidens would bring him under the moonlight
    and explain the stars, the planets, and the moon in the grand scheme of things


    everything they said went out one ear and into another

    as he got older, he would wander the forests
    watching the squirrels tussle with each other
    listen to the birds tweet the latest gossip
    and if he was lucky enough,
    he would see a lizard climbing up a tree

    at night, the stillness would terrify him
    he never ventured alone into the forests
    a maiden always accompanied him

    with her, he could appreciate the stillness
    the soft trickling of the creek
    the soft hum of the night bugs and the chittering critters

    it always put a smile on his face
    o how he loved it so

    slowly but surely
    he would become a child of the moon

    Rate this:

    #Anime #Art #Astrology #Dragon #Dragons #Fantasy #Fiction #FlashFiction #MoonPoetry #Nxoe #Poetry #Writing
  7. 💀 Dive into bite-sized horror tales with Dark Descent! Get shivers in under 500 words. Perfect for thrill-seekers on the go. Subscribe now for a 7-day free trial! 🖤

    Check it out:
    🩸 Subscribe (7-day free trial): darkholmepublishing.uk/darkdes
    📚 Patreon: patreon.com/c/DarkHolmePublish
    📖 Single issue: darkholmepublishing.uk/categor

    #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #writingcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  8. This story was originally on Evil Corps blogging platform - but seeing as I no longer have blogs there, and this story has been edited recently, I thought it might be nice to see how it looks on Lykhari's clean minimal interface

    So here is the edited version of my flash fiction sci-fi story 'Iceland'

    barefootalien.lykhari.com/icel

    #FlashFiction #Blogging #Writing

  9. Challenge #04893-M144: Something's in the Water

    The laundresses of three neighboring noble estates have long come the same bend in the river to clean the fabrics of their masters and chat about the day’s trivialities. All seemed right and normal for years, until one day the laundry emerged from the waters covered in strange, flowing symbols too neat to be stains, too precise to be meaningless. -- Deathshead419
    Three Baronets held neighbouring lands, and it was a lucky thing that they were friends. The shared hunting grounds were a forest where a majority of the three realms' politics happened whilst riding out and locating their shared quarry. Most of the rest happened over ales at the feast for the victor.

    It was therefore no shock that the servants were also fast allies. The neighbouring holiday castles shared the same stream where the laundresses clustered to chatter and scrub. Most of the news that didn't reach the town criers exchanged itself at that junction.

    "M'lord's young lady's come to bloom," cheered the laundress for Ronchenac, Nellie. "She'll be meeting her fiancee very soon."

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04893-m144-somethings-in-the-water

    #flashfiction #fantasy #shortstory #writingprompt #fantasyfiction

  10. Challenge #04893-M144: Something's in the Water

    The laundresses of three neighboring noble estates have long come the same bend in the river to clean the fabrics of their masters and chat about the day’s trivialities. All seemed right and normal for years, until one day the laundry emerged from the waters covered in strange, flowing symbols too neat to be stains, too precise to be meaningless. -- Deathshead419
    Three Baronets held neighbouring lands, and it was a lucky thing that they were friends. The shared hunting grounds were a forest where a majority of the three realms' politics happened whilst riding out and locating their shared quarry. Most of the rest happened over ales at the feast for the victor.

    It was therefore no shock that the servants were also fast allies. The neighbouring holiday castles shared the same stream where the laundresses clustered to chatter and scrub. Most of the news that didn't reach the town criers exchanged itself at that junction.

    "M'lord's young lady's come to bloom," cheered the laundress for Ronchenac, Nellie. "She'll be meeting her fiancee very soon."

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04893-m144-somethings-in-the-water

    #flashfiction #fantasy #shortstory #writingprompt #fantasyfiction

  11. Post-apocalyptic rule: if the café looks perfect… you might be the menu. Dark and fast and brutal—and that twist bites. Quick hit for your break: inkican.com/emergency-reality- #scifi #horror #flashfiction

  12. Empire of Dragons @dragonshortstories.wordpress.com@dragonshortstories.wordpress.com ·

    Embrace The Sun: The Sun Serpent – Niq Shen Tian

    The Sun is unstable at its core
    its heartless, cruel, it wipes anything of its individuality
    in favor of duality; of thinking the same thing
    The Sun receives your protests, yet it does not care
    he could give a damn how you feel—for you are nothing but a beautiful vessel
    more radiant than the others; your starlight will be snuffed out

    The Sun was once like you, loving life, loving friends, loving his family
    but as his radiance billowed and brewed, plasma overflowed, forsaking his world
    anyone too close to him was burned away,
    but before they became ashes, they proclaimed, “O Radiant Joy, embrace me!”

    The Sun slithered alone in the universe, dying for companionship
    but with the passage of time, its core grew cold
    until it found a new home, where its ideals took root in a village
    and then a town, and then a city
    until his ideals were deemed evil, and his followers hiding below ground
    as their loved ones’ sinew painted the streets in lacquer

    The Sun’s time is coming
    those who stare into the solar corona lose all sense of self
    everything is replaced with peace, love, tranquility, nirvana, and rebirth
    into something greater than oneself
    many have now fallen into The Sun’s embrace
    and they hear his voice in their heads, leading them, guiding them
    carrying out the will of The Sun

    secretly, he hates this
    or is that his will cracking under the weight of pressure?
    it his his will that keeps him going, but also shackles him to his own commands
    The Sun spends his days lounging around, embroiled in sloth
    his heart aches with the sin he wrought upon his followers—upon that boy
    The Sun warped him into something he daren’t be, severing that boy’s hair
    latching it onto his own like as if it were a limb replacement
    it was a crucial step in making that divine envoy his property
    he tarnished him, humiliated him, stripped him of his individuality
    to meld him into something exemplifying perfection

    the boy is his core
    an inseparable piece, always put under pressure
    unable to leave until death calls him beyond the universe’s skies
    whenever the master serpent deems necessary,
    he uses the boy to extend his Prominence, to cast his will and speak through him
    using him like a puppet, their movements mirrored, like a loop

    The Sun does not care, he cannot afford to
    lest his will shatter and his followers be met with the cold emptiness in their minds

    but sometimes, the Sun Serpent has untold wishes of his own
    The Sun wishes to be someone’s first kiss

    Name Meaning

    In old Chinese: 日 means sun, 神 means spirit/god/soul/mysterious, 天 means sky/heaven. In accordance with Chinese naming conventions, he was given three words for his name. (Source / 2)

    In Norwegian, Hjalmar is a given name. The addition of sen is a patronymic, meaning “son of Hjalmar.” (Source)

    GALLERY

    Rate this:

    #Art #bio #Characters #Dragon #Dragons #Fantasy #Femboys #Fiction #FlashFiction #NiqShenTian #Poetry #ShortStories
  13. roadside microfiction
    lived, written in Polish, adapted into English.
    #FlashFiction
    #MicroFiction

  14. A moment too delicate to last — yet too powerful to forget. A flash fiction ode to connection, scale, and impossible love.
    medium.com/first-line-fiction/
    #FlashFiction #Love #Fiction

  15. #ThursThreads Week 708 Mentions blog is up. Congrats to EIGHTY-SIX TIME WINNER Silver James. So grateful to Louisa Bacio for judging this week. Check out the winning tale. #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity #Winners #AmWriting siobhanmuir.com/thursthreads-w

  16. 👁 Some horrors are most chilling when they creep in silently.

    Join the Flash Fiction Frenzy in the ShadowSphere! Share your two-sentence horror tale for a chance to be featured in Dark Descent: Whispers From Beyond. 🖤

    📖 darkholmepublishing.uk/group/f

    #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  17. 👁 Some horrors are most chilling when they creep in silently.

    Join the Flash Fiction Frenzy in the ShadowSphere! Share your two-sentence horror tale for a chance to be featured in Dark Descent: Whispers From Beyond. 🖤

    📖 darkholmepublishing.uk/group/f

    #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  18. 👁 Some horrors are most chilling when they creep in silently.

    Join the Flash Fiction Frenzy in the ShadowSphere! Share your two-sentence horror tale for a chance to be featured in Dark Descent: Whispers From Beyond. 🖤

    📖 darkholmepublishing.uk/group/f

    #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  19. 👁 Some horrors are most chilling when they creep in silently.

    Join the Flash Fiction Frenzy in the ShadowSphere! Share your two-sentence horror tale for a chance to be featured in Dark Descent: Whispers From Beyond. 🖤

    📖 darkholmepublishing.uk/group/f

    #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #horrorcommunity #flashfiction #twosentencehorror

  20. Challenge #04891-M142: Live to Serve

    Vichelle had known little in life aside from washing the laundry of her noble master’s family. She kept her head down, her ears plugged, and tried to act like a shadow in the night. But when she finds blood on the linens one time too many, a vision at the river tells her that she must do more… -- Deathshead419
    Servants should never be seen or heard. They're meant to serve without thanks, without notice. Without merit. Silent as the walls, as unobserved as the furniture. Only noticed by their absence, and then when the work is not done.

    Vichelle had grown up with a washboard and soap in her hands. Doing the work of keeping the lord and lady's clothing pristine and in good repair. She did such good work that none of those in charge noticed that she'd done it at all. She was proud of that. She never received a compliment, never gained praise, and never had a concern.

    Until the issue with the blood.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04891-m142-live-to-serve

    #flashfiction #fantasy #shortstory #writingprompt #fantasyfiction

  21. Story characters aren't supposed to be self-aware, let alone access their own author's scratch pad of ideas. And then there's Nesso - an AI written by that same author and also mentioned in the scratch pad.

    ::Dominic, it just says I meet another AI. Do you have additional details?::

    _/No, that's all I had for that one/_

    Jacob's eyes lit up. "WE could finish the story!"

    Author coughed as if he was mid-sip and started to choke. _/Um, that's-/_

    "Unconventional?" Jacob offered.

    Maggie smirked. "We're self-aware fictional characters. 'Unconventional' doesn't quite cover it."

    ::Jacob, how would this work? Normally Dominic would be the one typing::

    Reggie jumped in, "We need an interface that allows us to type here, but the words show up on his laptop. Author, can you do that?"

    _/Um-/_

    "This is new ground for all of us, Author," Maggie sympathized.

    _/I'm now co-authoring a story with my own characters. 'New ground' doesn't quite cover it/_

    #MicroFiction #FlashFiction #TootFic

  22. A young fan calls his favorite writer. What begins as admiration turns into a moral trap — and a twist the writer never saw coming. A dark psychological flash fiction piece.
    medium.com/first-line-fiction/
    #fiction #psychology #flashfiction

  23. Challenge #04889-M140: Culture Shock

    What are the bad things about the Alliance? What are the good things about the Greater Deregulation? And what are things both sides agree on? -- Anon Guest
    [AN: That's a very good question]

    Every utopia is someone's dystopia. The opposite holds true. Someone's paradise is someone else's hell. The Alliance has laws that are meant for the equity of all its citizens, including guarantees for health, welfare, and happiness. This also means that every citizen of the Alliance is under a modicum of surveillance.

    If a citizen neglects their own welfare, the law is in place to
    make the welfare happen. This can reach the point where the local security officers are involved.

    At least the offense "Criminal Self Neglect" is not a black mark on the citizen in question. Only those guilty of the most severe crimes in the Alliance go to more than remedial therapy. The Alliance prefers to prevent crimes before anyone can come to harm.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04889-m140-culture-shock

    #flashfiction #sciencefiction #shortstory #writingprompt

  24. Challenge #04889-M140: Culture Shock

    What are the bad things about the Alliance? What are the good things about the Greater Deregulation? And what are things both sides agree on? -- Anon Guest
    [AN: That's a very good question]

    Every utopia is someone's dystopia. The opposite holds true. Someone's paradise is someone else's hell. The Alliance has laws that are meant for the equity of all its citizens, including guarantees for health, welfare, and happiness. This also means that every citizen of the Alliance is under a modicum of surveillance.

    If a citizen neglects their own welfare, the law is in place to
    make the welfare happen. This can reach the point where the local security officers are involved.

    At least the offense "Criminal Self Neglect" is not a black mark on the citizen in question. Only those guilty of the most severe crimes in the Alliance go to more than remedial therapy. The Alliance prefers to prevent crimes before anyone can come to harm.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04889-m140-culture-shock

    #flashfiction #sciencefiction #shortstory #writingprompt

  25. Challenge #04889-M140: Culture Shock

    What are the bad things about the Alliance? What are the good things about the Greater Deregulation? And what are things both sides agree on? -- Anon Guest
    [AN: That's a very good question]

    Every utopia is someone's dystopia. The opposite holds true. Someone's paradise is someone else's hell. The Alliance has laws that are meant for the equity of all its citizens, including guarantees for health, welfare, and happiness. This also means that every citizen of the Alliance is under a modicum of surveillance.

    If a citizen neglects their own welfare, the law is in place to
    make the welfare happen. This can reach the point where the local security officers are involved.

    At least the offense "Criminal Self Neglect" is not a black mark on the citizen in question. Only those guilty of the most severe crimes in the Alliance go to more than remedial therapy. The Alliance prefers to prevent crimes before anyone can come to harm.

    https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04889-m140-culture-shock

    #flashfiction #sciencefiction #shortstory #writingprompt

  26. _/You can "remember" the things in my scratch pad?/_

    "Yes," Jacob replied.

    The team, plus Nesso in its telepresence robot, were gathered in the conference room. Meeting in an actual room was a throwback to before they knew they were characters in a story and could talk to their own author.

    _/Nothing there is ready for publication/_

    "Author, we've established you need a document active for us to communicate with you," Maggie said, changing topics. "For Jacob to remember anything, did you have our story and the scratch pad up at the same time?"

    _/That must have been it/_

    "Then, if you opened it now it's possible we'd all remember things."

    _/Are you sure? Those ideas are half-baked or less/_

    Nods all around the room.

    _/Ok, it's open/_

    A pause. "Um, I'm not remembering anything," Jacob said.

    Nesso raised one of its appendages. ::I do. I meet another AI and strike up a conversation?::

    Crickets.

    "Well, I'm intrigued!" Jacob exclaimed.

  27. _/You can "remember" the things in my scratch pad?/_

    "Yes," Jacob replied.

    The team, plus Nesso in its telepresence robot, were gathered in the conference room. Meeting in an actual room was a throwback to before they knew they were characters in a story and could talk to their own author.

    _/Nothing there is ready for publication/_

    "Author, we've established you need a document active for us to communicate with you," Maggie said, changing topics. "For Jacob to remember anything, did you have our story and the scratch pad up at the same time?"

    _/That must have been it/_

    "Then, if you opened it now it's possible we'd all remember things."

    _/Are you sure? Those ideas are half-baked or less/_

    Nods all around the room.

    _/Ok, it's open/_

    A pause. "Um, I'm not remembering anything," Jacob said.

    Nesso raised one of its appendages. ::I do. I meet another AI and strike up a conversation?::

    Crickets.

    "Well, I'm intrigued!" Jacob exclaimed.

    #MicroFiction #FlashFiction #TootFic

  28. Looking for a hundred pages of variety?

    Stories From The Last Safe Port: A Flash Fiction Collection.

    Here Snow White plots a galactic war, a little girl survives a failing lunar base, fairies wield shotguns, and Orcs fight with smells…

    amzn.to/35VHOxH

    #shamelessselfpromotion #flashfiction

  29. #WordWeavers 2026.05.18 — If your antagonist had to arrange a contest they knew they could win, what would it be?

    Rainy Days is the main series antagonist who appears in most stories. She would find it pointless to arrange a contest she knew she could win. Unless she were fighting an actual enemy and winning would be the point, her philosophy being you always win wars unless losing better suits your goals; such a contest wouldn't be friendly as this question implies. Rainy Days arranges contests most often to teach one or more of her many (often unwilling) students, occasionally to test and learn something about them. She'd be overjoyed were one to beat her, ecstatic to find someone she could eventually rely on, maybe one day replace her. Most often, however, she's sparring with her pretorians, whom she inevitably beats. (There are scenes with them injured after training). She does not spar with them in expectation that they might grow able to best her. She does this so they are familiar with what she can do and thus can best protect her blind spots and vulnerabilities. They are her bodyguard, after all.

    Encountering the devil-girl in the current WIP, Rainy Days'' contest would emphasize thaumaturgy. She wants the devil-girl to succeed her. Rainy Days wants her as a student as the devil-girl demonstrates a talent for the arcane that might actually exceed Rainy Days.

    The devil-girl is convinced Rainy Days is evil. She will think she's going to die.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

    #BoostingIsSharing

    #gender #fiction #writer #author
    #Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
    #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
    #RSdiscussion
    #RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
    #microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

  30. #WordWeavers 2026.05.18 — If your antagonist had to arrange a contest they knew they could win, what would it be?

    Rainy Days is the main series antagonist who appears in most stories. She would find it pointless to arrange a contest she knew she could win. Unless she were fighting an actual enemy and winning would be the point, her philosophy being you always win wars unless losing better suits your goals; such a contest wouldn't be friendly as this question implies. Rainy Days arranges contests most often to teach one or more of her many (often unwilling) students, occasionally to test and learn something about them. She'd be overjoyed were one to beat her, ecstatic to find someone she could eventually rely on, maybe one day replace her. Most often, however, she's sparring with her pretorians, whom she inevitably beats. (There are scenes with them injured after training). She does not spar with them in expectation that they might grow able to best her. She does this so they are familiar with what she can do and thus can best protect her blind spots and vulnerabilities. They are her bodyguard, after all.

    Encountering the devil-girl in the current WIP, Rainy Days'' contest would emphasize thaumaturgy. She wants the devil-girl to succeed her. Rainy Days wants her as a student as the devil-girl demonstrates a talent for the arcane that might actually exceed Rainy Days.

    The devil-girl is convinced Rainy Days is evil. She will think she's going to die.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

    #BoostingIsSharing

    #gender #fiction #writer #author
    #Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
    #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
    #RSdiscussion
    #RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
    #microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

  31. #WordWeavers 2026.05.18 — If your antagonist had to arrange a contest they knew they could win, what would it be?

    Rainy Days is the main series antagonist who appears in most stories. She would find it pointless to arrange a contest she knew she could win. Unless she were fighting an actual enemy and winning would be the point, her philosophy being you always win wars unless losing better suits your goals; such a contest wouldn't be friendly as this question implies. Rainy Days arranges contests most often to teach one or more of her many (often unwilling) students, occasionally to test and learn something about them. She'd be overjoyed were one to beat her, ecstatic to find someone she could eventually rely on, maybe one day replace her. Most often, however, she's sparring with her pretorians, whom she inevitably beats. (There are scenes with them injured after training). She does not spar with them in expectation that they might grow able to best her. She does this so they are familiar with what she can do and thus can best protect her blind spots and vulnerabilities. They are her bodyguard, after all.

    Encountering the devil-girl in the current WIP, Rainy Days'' contest would emphasize thaumaturgy. She wants the devil-girl to succeed her. Rainy Days wants her as a student as the devil-girl demonstrates a talent for the arcane that might actually exceed Rainy Days.

    The devil-girl is convinced Rainy Days is evil. She will think she's going to die.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

    #BoostingIsSharing

    #gender #fiction #writer #author
    #Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
    #writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
    #RSdiscussion
    #RSstory #RSInklingsStory #RSReluctanceStory
    #microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

  32. #WordWeavers 2026.05.18 — If your antagonist had to arrange a contest they knew they could win, what would it be?

    Rainy Days is the main series antagonist who appears in most stories. She would find it pointless to arrange a contest she knew she could win. Unless she were fighting an actual enemy and winning would be the point, her philosophy being you always win wars unless losing better suits your goals; such a contest wouldn't be friendly as this question implies. Rainy Days arranges contests most often to teach one or more of her many (often unwilling) students, occasionally to test and learn something about them. She'd be overjoyed were one to beat her, ecstatic to find someone she could eventually rely on, maybe one day replace her. Most often, however, she's sparring with her pretorians, whom she inevitably beats. (There are scenes with them injured after training). She does not spar with them in expectation that they might grow able to best her. She does this so they are familiar with what she can do and thus can best protect her blind spots and vulnerabilities. They are her bodyguard, after all.

    Encountering the devil-girl in the current WIP, Rainy Days'' contest would emphasize thaumaturgy. She wants the devil-girl to succeed her. Rainy Days wants her as a student as the devil-girl demonstrates a talent for the arcane that might actually exceed Rainy Days.

    The devil-girl is convinced Rainy Days is evil. She will think she's going to die.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

    #BoostingIsSharing

    #gender #fiction #writer #author
    #Cozy #mystery #thriller #romance #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction
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    #RSdiscussion
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  33. #WordWeavers 2026.05.18 — If your antagonist had to arrange a contest they knew they could win, what would it be?

    Rainy Days is the main series antagonist who appears in most stories. She would find it pointless to arrange a contest she knew she could win. Unless she were fighting an actual enemy and winning would be the point, her philosophy being you always win wars unless losing better suits your goals; such a contest wouldn't be friendly as this question implies. Rainy Days arranges contests most often to teach one or more of her many (often unwilling) students, occasionally to test and learn something about them. She'd be overjoyed were one to beat her, ecstatic to find someone she could eventually rely on, maybe one day replace her. Most often, however, she's sparring with her pretorians, whom she inevitably beats. (There are scenes with them injured after training). She does not spar with them in expectation that they might grow able to best her. She does this so they are familiar with what she can do and thus can best protect her blind spots and vulnerabilities. They are her bodyguard, after all.

    Encountering the devil-girl in the current WIP, Rainy Days'' contest would emphasize thaumaturgy. She wants the devil-girl to succeed her. Rainy Days wants her as a student as the devil-girl demonstrates a talent for the arcane that might actually exceed Rainy Days.

    The devil-girl is convinced Rainy Days is evil. She will think she's going to die.

    [Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]

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