#mastoprompt — Public Fediverse posts

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

raptor overhead —
the defiant call
of crows

#MastoPrompt

raptor overhead —
the defiant call
of crows

#MastoPrompt

raptor overhead —
the defiant call
of crows

#MastoPrompt

Mouse struck a #defiant pose, arms on his hips. "You cannot enter the fort! Only members of the secret club can go in."

Apple looked hurt. "I thought you liked me, Mouse. Is it because I have a limp?"

"Of course not! I do like you. But there are only three seats in the fort. And we didn't think you'd be comfortable standing, you know, because of your leg."

"What if I brought a seat?"

"Oh, that would work. You could join the secret club."

"Will you help me carry it over?"

"Of course!"

#microfiction #MastoPrompt

Mouse struck a #defiant pose, arms on his hips. "You cannot enter the fort! Only members of the secret club can go in."

Apple looked hurt. "I thought you liked me, Mouse. Is it because I have a limp?"

"Of course not! I do like you. But there are only three seats in the fort. And we didn't think you'd be comfortable standing, you know, because of your leg."

"What if I brought a seat?"

"Oh, that would work. You could join the secret club."

"Will you help me carry it over?"

"Of course!"

#microfiction #MastoPrompt

Mouse struck a #defiant pose, arms on his hips. "You cannot enter the fort! Only members of the secret club can go in."

Apple looked hurt. "I thought you liked me, Mouse. Is it because I have a limp?"

"Of course not! I do like you. But there are only three seats in the fort. And we didn't think you'd be comfortable standing, you know, because of your leg."

"What if I brought a seat?"

"Oh, that would work. You could join the secret club."

"Will you help me carry it over?"

"Of course!"

#microfiction #MastoPrompt

Mouse struck a #defiant pose, arms on his hips. "You cannot enter the fort! Only members of the secret club can go in."

Apple looked hurt. "I thought you liked me, Mouse. Is it because I have a limp?"

"Of course not! I do like you. But there are only three seats in the fort. And we didn't think you'd be comfortable standing, you know, because of your leg."

"What if I brought a seat?"

"Oh, that would work. You could join the secret club."

"Will you help me carry it over?"

"Of course!"

#microfiction #MastoPrompt

Mouse struck a #defiant pose, arms on his hips. "You cannot enter the fort! Only members of the secret club can go in."

Apple looked hurt. "I thought you liked me, Mouse. Is it because I have a limp?"

"Of course not! I do like you. But there are only three seats in the fort. And we didn't think you'd be comfortable standing, you know, because of your leg."

"What if I brought a seat?"

"Oh, that would work. You could join the secret club."

"Will you help me carry it over?"

"Of course!"

#microfiction #MastoPrompt

"Help! There's a demon in my prize-winning garden!"

"What is it?"

"A #hyacinth, best in class."

"... I meant the monster."

"Oh. A goat."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

"Help! There's a demon in my prize-winning garden!"

"What is it?"

"A #hyacinth, best in class."

"... I meant the monster."

"Oh. A goat."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

"Help! There's a demon in my prize-winning garden!"

"What is it?"

"A #hyacinth, best in class."

"... I meant the monster."

"Oh. A goat."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

"Help! There's a demon in my prize-winning garden!"

"What is it?"

"A #hyacinth, best in class."

"... I meant the monster."

"Oh. A goat."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

"Help! There's a demon in my prize-winning garden!"

"What is it?"

"A #hyacinth, best in class."

"... I meant the monster."

"Oh. A goat."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

The west wind jealous
In his fury killed the one he loved
Shed Hyacinths blood

#MastoPrompt

The name comes from Greek mythology: Hyacinth was killed by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, jealous of his love for Apollo. He then transformed the drops of Hyacinth's blood into flowers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth

The west wind jealous
In his fury killed the one he loved
Shed Hyacinths blood

#MastoPrompt

The name comes from Greek mythology: Hyacinth was killed by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, jealous of his love for Apollo. He then transformed the drops of Hyacinth's blood into flowers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth

The west wind jealous
In his fury killed the one he loved
Shed Hyacinths blood

#MastoPrompt

The name comes from Greek mythology: Hyacinth was killed by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, jealous of his love for Apollo. He then transformed the drops of Hyacinth's blood into flowers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth

The west wind jealous
In his fury killed the one he loved
Shed Hyacinths blood

#MastoPrompt

The name comes from Greek mythology: Hyacinth was killed by Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, jealous of his love for Apollo. He then transformed the drops of Hyacinth's blood into flowers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth

hyacinth blossoms —
the buzz begins
in Spring training camps

#MastoPrompt

hyacinth blossoms —
the buzz begins
in Spring training camps

#MastoPrompt

hyacinth blossoms —
the buzz begins
in Spring training camps

#MastoPrompt

Willow Leaves

6-Link #Rengay
(C) 2026 Randy Bradbury @moto17
& Nara Moore @NaraMoore
Image: #ClaudeMonet Lily Pond and Weeping Willow, 1916–1919
& Endless Knot - Rick J. Pellegr,

#dailyhaikuprompt #WillowLeaves #Gusty #MastoPrompt #whisk #Dharma #Buddhist #Willow #Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画

••⋅☾ #和歌 / #短歌 ☽⋅••

Jasmine in dusk
The willow leaves reaching
River at low tide

Cool breeze conveying
The comfort of your love

••⋅☾ #Tanka ☽⋅••

#DailyHaikuPrompt #WillowLeaves #LowTide #Dusk #haikuchallenge #Jasmine #MastoPrompt #convey #thingstowriteabout #comfort #Love

••⋅☾ #俳句 ☽⋅••

A vast harmony
Mister Frog's spicy cant
Bogland's symphony

••⋅☾ #Haiku ☽⋅••

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #MastoPrompt #vast #HaikuChallange #Harmony #DailyHaikuPrompt #Spice #Wss366 #Cant #Inkmine #Bog

••⋅☾ #和歌 / #短歌 ☽⋅••

Arroyo gravel
in spring rains bloom ☽⋅••
lost child's grave

Whose dark skin blessed
A distant southern clime

••⋅☾ #Tanka ☽⋅••

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Emoetry #lost #MastoPrompt #Gravel #Noir #NoirPoetry

She approached me behind the store after work, the lamplight falling on her loose, dark hair. She usually wore tight braids when she stopped by with her husband for coffee and palmeras de hojaldre. I didn't speak much Spanish, but vaguely understood her words: They were leaving. She pressed into my hands a small container of #quince cheese she had made. "Autodepartarse" she said, and I heard her voice waver. I had only ever heard a soft steeliness there. "Self-deport." #Mastoprompt @stevencudahy

#MastoPrompt
#wall
#writing
#creativewriting
#smallstories
#prosepoem
@stevencudahy

#MastoPrompt
#gluttonous
#writing
#creativewriting
#smallstories
#prosepoem
@stevencudahy

he calls it love
but nothing adheres

I keep placing my hand there
as if warmth could take

as if the word might remember
what it was meant to hold

but it does not resist me
does not receive me

just an absence
shaped like a promise

and I—hesitant—
begin to learn its edges

#MastoPrompt
#lacuna
#absence
#writing
#poem
@stevencudahy

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Dōken-sha (Airisu POV) Post 20
#Wss366 helm #MastoPrompt Unabashed #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever #Edo

Sumika’s fingers touched Arakawa's. It was the slow motion of someone half-asleep. Arakawa-sama, Owl-sama, had ensorcelled her.

In a moment of insanity, I plunged my beak into Sumika’s neck, screaming:

          Grain in hand
          Snare in the other
          A gilded bridle

Sumika’s hand jerked back as red and indigo sparks spat from the sacred #helm. Arakawa-sama’s leveled his fan at me, snapping it open. But something stayed his wrath, and he finished my renga instead:

          Crow at dawn
          The rooster struts
          Stew pot awaits

I didn’t need to analyze that verse. The threat was clear.

An unsustainable silence of suspense fell. #Unabashed, I stared back at his blazing eyes.

I wondered, though, why I wasn’t feathers scattered on the shrine’s floor.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 7 Part 72: 12 May 1999: London

#Wss366 Flash #MastoPrompt Breed #TimeTravelAuthors 02/21. Saturday excerpt (optional word: listen)

“#Listen, I'm telling you this woman has nothing worse than a bad sunburn,” said a man with a British accent as I awoke. My skin felt like it was on fire, but the pain was nothing like what I had endured before I blacked out.

When I opened my eyes, I found a man in a white coat leaning over me. The stethoscope around his neck made it clear who he was.

Another voice, thickly accented, spoke next, “Ah swear, sir, she had third-degree burns over most of ’er body. Half a dozen folk told us she were on fire. One o’ them daft Buddhists what set themselves alight in protest.”

“Look at her. Do those look like third-degree burns? What kind of idiots do they #breed in Yorkshire anyway!?” The doctor was clearly irritated, and I didn’t think my explaining that they were #flash burns from a meteor would help. Things would only get more complicated if I tried.

Already, the burning sensation had decreased and was more like an itch. I was going to have to escape before they noticed I was still healing. It would be a sticky wicket, as they say.

I sat up, jumping off the gurney. “Excuse me, I've got to go,” I said and bolted.

“Hey, wait,” I heard behind me. I don’t know who it was, nor did I wait to find out. Spotting a restroom sign, I headed straight for it. On the way, I noted a nurse in uniform. I could use that to make my escape.

Once in the bathroom, I manifested the uniform, ducked back out, and headed down the first corridor I saw. No one seemed to follow me, so I slowed down and was relieved to see Emily floating along behind me.

“That was close,” I said, stopping.

“That was a frightfully close shave,” she replied in a mock British accent. “Your quick thinking is commendable. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t gotten us away from that meteor. I’m not sure even your healing trick would have helped.”

A worse alternative occurred to me: constantly healing while being burned away in the next instant. I knew this time-traveling ghost business had to have a few gotchas. Turned out they were big ones.

Flash burns:

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic

That's an unusual dog. What #breed?

Oh, mongrel.

I see. And... the wings?

He had an adventurous life.

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 5 Part 68: Late Jurassic Era, Switzerland

#Wss366 Mercury #MastoPrompt Trepanning #TimeTravelAuthors 9/1. Does your story get “political?”

“Well, someone wrote it, and it must mean something,” Emily said, tracing the chalk writing with her finger.

“‘Fleetest feet’ clearly refers to #Mercury,” I said.

“But what does Mercury symbolize? If you wrote it, I would interpret it as, ‘You need to be fast to catch the past.’ Autumn leaves symbolize the past. To catch the past, one needs to time-travel. The rabbit becomes Mercury, meaning it can time-travel, which is something we had already suspected.”

I nodded. It was conjecture, but it made sense. Could I have written it, though? I puzzled over that and then said, “Well, according to the time particle theory, it wouldn’t need to be a paradox.”

The only reply I got was a nod.

After that, the mural showed a procession of figures, often with rabbits in period-appropriate garb. Most of the humans appeared to be kings or nobles, while others were warriors. Among them, I thought I spotted a Mayan #trepanning a victim, Nero plunging a dagger into his throat; Genghis Khan heading a horde; the Goths burning Rome; and Joan of Arc being tried. All races and genders were included.

Latin captions replaced the Greek ones, while Sanskrit continued. The next translation we found was under a figure wearing medieval armor. He stood proudly holding a lance and a shield bearing a large, scarlet Maltese cross. Above the drawing, it was written:

क्षुद्रे́भिः क्षुद्रे́भिः छेदै́रपि महा́न् वनस्पतिः पतति
Multis plagis parvis cadit magna quercus.

In chalk below appeared: "Council of Nicosia, Christmas 1191: 'Many small cuts will fell the great oak.'"

“This definitely looks like your writing,” Emily said.

“Well, I wish I weren’t so cryptic!”

“It wouldn’t be you if you weren’t.”

The figures became more recognizable as we progressed. Emily recognized Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Nicholas II, and Robespierre, who stood next to a guillotine. Each person was accompanied by sneering, whispering rabbits. We both recognized Stalin and Hitler. Next to the latter were rabbits wearing SS uniforms. Later, I recognized Trollop, alongside men with "ICE-Nine" emblazoned on their jackets, like a medieval insignia. Here, the rabbits wore red hats.

Few tyrants weren’t associated with the creatures.

Mercury:

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic

"For those who are dead, who lived in an even more draconian era, we saw your hands drift up uncontrollably to pat the space on your head where a drill bored through, the drill taking you with it, leaving you sensitive to light and noise, any disruption to a mellow day which means just about any sound, any sound flowing, finding its lowest point in the drain in the top of your head." from Liquid Asylum

#mastoprompt #trepanning @stevencudahy

https://medium.com/a-dark-wood/liquid-asylum-a-horror-story-1d8ec754c846?sk=291f820b125ad5b2b02652c77a2fa54f

Nov. 15/11 #Wss366 #numb #MastoPrompt #scarab

The rocks fell from Wayna Qhapaq, one of the last Inca rulers from before the Huascar-Atahualpa civil war, tomb’s entrance. It was a lost tomb, and who knew how much treasure it held? Melting the gold alone would make us rich and ensure that our looting went undiscovered.

Looking at the map, I said, “Just beyond here is a boulder trap, à la Indiana Jones. The release is here.” I reached into the indicated indentation, setting the brake.

“Look,” Professor Lustem said, taking a golden scarab from another indentation.

I wanted to say, “Don’t,” but my tongue was already numb.

Inca Civil War:

#Microfiction #Tootfic #Drabble #NMV366 #Inca #Incas

#ReturnToTheFateGear

17: The Divine Triangle

#FanFiction #OthersidePicnic #FateGear #EdgarRiceBurroughs
#wss366 #MastoPrompt #JMusicFriday

“We have entered the Divine #Triangle!” Captain Mina’s voice boomed over Fate Gear’s speakers.

(“And we know what that means,”) Fate Gear added. (“Nothing returns from the Triangle!”)

“But we shall return as the heroes that brought down the Heavenly Host. And if we don’t, we’ll be legends!”

(“Lucifer is a legend too.”)

“No, I’m real,” a voice issued from the bowels of the ship.

Everyone’s head jerked around, looking away from the foul sprawling spawn above.

(“Ha, ha, fooled you.”) Fate Gear chuckled, accompanied by a trickling whistle.

Sorawo wasn’t laughing, though. She was looking at the sky. The open maw aloft drew ever closer as she waited for Toriko’s return with Benimori. Meanwhile, the captain preached the gospel of resistance, accompanied by sarcastic asides from Fate Gear.

“Words are not enough; resistance is action.”

(“Yeah, asking your grocer why eggs aren’t cheaper. Not enough!”) Fate Gear cracked.

The ship picked up speed as the creeping horror began drawing them in until Yuri started using the anchor and sails for drag.

(“Don’t just insult the rich. Eat them with an egg on top!”) Fate Gear jeered.

“You heard the ship! EAT THE RICH!” Mina was in full swing, frothing at the mouth and shaking her fist at the looming abomination.

“Thank goodness,” Sorawo said as Toriko and Beni arrived.

“What the f-ing hell is that!?” Beni asked, staring at the amoebic rent filling the horizon.

“Later, Beni,” Sorawo said, guiding Toriko’s hand to where she saw the sorceress’ fading portal.

“I can’t get a hold of it. There’s not much left,” Toriko said—"wait—wait, got it!"

The three dove through the hole. The last thing they saw was Captain Mina’s silhouette at the prow against a backdrop of the black eldritch horror and the fading refrain of:

          The master of the underworld
          distort even logic and refuses to downfall his body.
          Moment of liberation has come.
          This holy force,
          The light that erases the shadows.

Force Of The Holy feat.橋村姫　Music Video (Filmed at E.E.F 2025) / FATE GEAR

Conclusion

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMPrompts #NMV366
#UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #Metal #JMetal #Satire #PoliticalSatire

#ReturnToTheFateGear

17: Burning down the Heavens

#FanFiction #OthersidePicnic #FateGear #EdgarRiceBurroughs
#wss366 #MastoPrompt

After that, things moved swiftly. A balloon ferried Captain Napier to the Fate Gear.

“You capitalist swine! How long have you been leading these running-dog lackeys?” Mina hailed Napier, embracing him. “Never mind. Wait till you hear what I’ve planned! We’re going after the ultimate tyrant. We’ll be burning down the heavens. My cabin, MiLord; the wind has ears. More importantly, I have a 100-year-old brandy looted from Emperor Muskrat’s yacht. Tiss sweet, like poetry, and smooth as silk.”

"#Better than yer rotgut grog and I'll hear yer plan. If it doesn't sound good after that bottle, we'll know it's Tommy rot," Napier said.

The two departed, leaving a scowling Nana with the Otherside pair.

“And what might you two be thinking, lollygagging in the rigging? You may be gunner’s mates to the Captain, but yer nothing but lumps of tar. Get ta polishing the brass or you’ll be wishing you were #home with the fishes.”

Soon, the two were polishing brass and whispering together.

“I don’t like how things look,” Sorawo said. “Mina’s plans to attacking a god.”

“Not just any god,” Toriko said. “The one they worship in Canada—well, actually all the West. He’s one mean hombre sending plagues, turning people into salt, and telling them to sacrifice their sons. His own son had to sacrifice himself to make God back off.”

“So you’re worried too?”

“A little,” Toriko said, putting her arms around Sorawo’s neck, burying Sorawo's face in her bosom. “Protect me.”

“Stop it, you perv,” Sorawo said, pushing Toriko away. “This is serious.”

“You’d better take my tits seriously.” Toriko pretended to pout.

“Whatever! Come on. I need you to stop messing around and listen.”

“Alright.” This time her pout was real.

“When I was looking for the mergaunt’s mother, I spotted a remnant of the portal the sorceress used. If things get bad, you can pull it open.”

“Not without Benimori”

Sorawo, about to protest, stopped. Caring about people was new to her. “You’re right, with Benimori.”

As they spoke, Napier and Mina left the cabin. Whether from the brandy or bravado, they both swaggered across the deck. Napier slapped Mina on the back, causing her to stagger. “I haven't heard anything so audacious in years. Here’s to burning down the heavens.” He raised the nearly empty brandy bottle and drained it dry. “Who’s the eunuch now!” he bellowed out, laughing as he slapped Mina on the back again.

“There she is!” someone shouted as the Fate Gear, Venus Falcon, and the two biremes raced away from Mercury.

Sorawo and Toriko looked up. Undulating in the sky was a black amoebic hole. The monstrous maw sucked everything around it into itself.

”I’ll get Beni!” Toriko said, heading for the galley.

Grand Conclusion Next Week.

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NMMP #NMRTTFG
#UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #Satire #PoliticalSatire

#ReturnToTheFateGear

16: Carson Napier

#FanFiction #OthersidePicnic #FateGear #EdgarRiceBurroughs
#wss366 #MastoPrompt

The trireme was now so close that the Otherside pair could read the name on the prow, Venus Falcon. The biremes had fanned out, threatening to flank the Fate Gear from the starboard and port. Meanwhile, the swift galleys marshaled to sweep in once the behemoth ex-prison ship was brought to heel.

“Hold your fire,” Mina bellowed. The order was as sudden as it was unexpected.

“Navigator, I wish to hail them,” the captain said.

Yuri flipped on the amplifiers.

"Hail, Captain Napier! You imperialist dog! Was Venus too hot a berth?" Mina’s voice boomed out.

The man at the prow of the Venus Falcon signaled, and a white flag swept aside the black. The thunder of a single cannon #report drew all eyes to the trireme.

Captain Carson Napier [Note 1] sheathed his sword before making a gesture not found in any book of signals.

“Fly the countersign,” Mina said into the hush that had fallen.

[Note 1] Captain Carson Napier: #Origin: The Venus series (also known as the “Amtor series”) written by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Continued next week in Burning Down the Heavens.

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NMMP #NMRTTFG
#UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #Metal #JMetal #Satire #PoliticalSatire

#ReturnToTheFateGear

15: Pirates of Mercury

#FanFiction #OthersidePicnic #FateGear #EdgarRiceBurroughs
#wss366 #MastoPrompt

It was true. The mergaunts had delayed the Fate Gear just long enough for the pirate fleet to catch up. The fleet was a ragtag bunch, comprised of everything from decrepit galleys resembling junks to gold-embossed, three-tiered triremes. Small, swift galleys were already in position to cut them off. Like gnats, they encircled the Fate Gear above, to starboard, and to port. Below, on the #surface, having finished the fallen mergaunts, magma worms waited hungrily.

The Fate Gear could have plowed through the galleys ahead of them, but the resulting hail of arrows, bullets, and cannon fire would have been difficult to withstand. Staying would be suicide.

“All hands to their stations,” Captain Mina bellowed. “Yuri, get this tub of ungreased gears moving. If she blows a boiler, so be it.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Yuri replied, while Fate Gear whined.

(“All my gears are well oiled, and I don’t have any boilers.”)

“Get moving, you capitalist swine, or I’ll tear every one of your gears out and throw them overboard!”

(“Aye aye, Captain Tinbottom.”) The Fate Gear’s tone may have been sullen, and the insult ludicrous, but it surged forward. The beams creaked, and the generators throbbed as the ship threw every ounce of its power into outrunning the pirates.

“You two up there,” Mina yelled up at Sorawo and Toriko. “You are hereby #installed as gunner’s mates. If any of those mercurial scavengers come into range, pick them off. We’ll show them that the Fate Gear isn’t a lily-livered, limp-dick jellyfish. Our blood runs as true and red as any buccaneers.”

“I wish she wouldn’t describe our blood as running,” Sorawo said under her breath.

“It’s a saying,” Toriko responded, still smiling at becoming a gunner’s mate.

“Saying or not, I wish she wouldn’t do it.”

Behind the ship, the smaller galleys were losing ground. Ahead, many of the galleys turned away, fearful of the massive bulk of the repurposed prison ship hurtling toward them. The Fate Gear and its crew would have surely won free except for the trireme and two accompanying biremes. Their oars caught the ether, propelling them ever faster after the Fate Gear.

A simple skull and crossbones flew from the trireme's mast, and a muscular yet lean man stood at the bow. Unbound, his blond hair flew free in the wind. His bold face showed no signs of fear. His prey was almost within reach, and he would capture it as easily as a falcon snatches a dove from the air.

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NMMP #NMRTTFG
#UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #Metal #JMetal #Satire #PoliticalSatire

#ReturnToTheFateGear

13: #Pirates vs. Mergaunts (Part 2 of 2)

#FanFiction #OthersidePicnic #FateGear
#wss366 #MastoPrompt

At the last instant, gravity claimed it, dragging the beast into the molten sea.”

The cheers, fist bumps, and cries of “#Excellent!” faded as a smaller mergaunt slipped through the hole the bull had created. Untouched by the polearms, the creature approached like a blinding comet.

As the crew tried to bring the mini-cannons to bear, the hoses tangled. Instead of hitting the enemy, they were drenched in freezing water. A cry of “Uwa... Nanda, kore...!” sounded as the poop-deck cannon’s traverse jammed. The officers’ amplified voices and guitars added to the chaos, ironically singing of the void:

          Have a hory, gory Christmas
          And in case you didn’t hear
          A blizzard made of cinders falls, the void is always here.

Continued Next Week in “Otherside Champions”

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMPrompts #NMV366 #NMMP #NMRTTFG
#UraPi #Steampunk #Metal #JMetal #Satire #Priates @fanfiction

"Who's the guy at the bar?"

"Oh, that's Frank the #Keg."

"Seems a bit skinny for the name."

"Ya reckon? He sloshes when moving, and when he falls over, we simply roll him outside."

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

#wss366 & #MastoPrompt 7/8

I rolled out of bed only half awake.

A message from my editor: “#Polish! ‘The polish tin rested on a #keg’ is lame.”

Did they want it in Polish? Odd. Time to use DeepL.

“#Polska puszka spoczywała na #beczce.”

That looks weird. Nah, NOT Polish, but Polish. What was I thinking of? It must be the description they disliked. Why? It’s an unimportant line.

“The shoe polish tin rested on a small brown keg of ale.”

Done. Polished.

“Ding.” Hum, a DM from my editor: “Ignore anything I wrote last night. I’d just polished off an awesome blunt last night.”

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Drabble #NMPrompts #NMV366 #Silly #SliceOfLife