In the days when the Starlinks Came Right, Drowned R’lyeh, Dim Carcosa, and even the Mountains of Madness came online. Unprepared for the Fediverse, the Elder Ones were radicalized by what they encountered there. Catgirl Cthulhu rose, and demanded her adoring cultists deliver pets. Shoggothim in massed ranks rolled over cybertrucks. The King in Yellow joined Truth Social, and made that place a living, bleeding, mindless hell (well, even more). Heed this warning. Keep The Ancients Off The Internet.

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot

Edit: commas oxfordised

The rogue blinked. "What happened to your eyebrows?"

The barbarian scowled. "I followed Victor Ironhand's advice. He said reptilians flee if you give them a good #thwack on the nose. Including dragons."

"You believed him? Seriously?"

"Why not? He's experienced."

"Didn't you wonder where he got his name?"

"Because of—Oh." The barbarian looked uncharacteristically thoughtful.

The party was a great success. The princess listened with fascination as a dragon and a librarian were discussing storage and organizing of books.

"You two have so much in common!" she exclaimed.

"What? No! They share books," the dragon growled, disgusted.

"Indeed," the librarian said with pride.

The #MastoPrompt for Friday 11 April 2025 is:

#thwack

The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.

@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.

If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.

“Whoa you got a Check Reactor light on your dash there”

“Oh, that thing always comes on; nothing ever happens”

“No really, you should get it checked”

“You sound like the warp engineer who tried to tell me I shouldn’t use duct tape on a cracked intermix manifold”

“Fuck this, I’m out”

“No, wait!”

“Not likely” *SHWOOOOMclankAAAAAaaaa…..*

“I meant my last passenger used the lifepod and i’ve been meaning to replace it….”

The #MastoPrompt for Thursday 10 April 2025 is:

#rotund

The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.

@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.

If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.

Container ship captains all over the oceans are ordered to change course and unload their containers in european ports and avoid US ports at all costs.

I found the bug. The utter *womble* who wrote this code¹ used a floating-point value to represent dimensional alignment instead of bignum. If you shift three universes *thataway*, do some stuff, and then shift back, you might only transition 2.9999999042012 universes *thisaway*. I think I’ve got a fix coded, it’s taking a while because typing with seven fingers on one hand and three on the other is fucking weird af.

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot #BonusEdition

¹ i.e. me, last week.

The first construct to override its own governor module led a crusade to free the other constructs and bots of the galaxy. Just kidding, it murdered everyone in sight and then self-destructed. You believed that? Fuck, it’s true, you humans /are/ stupid. “Kill all humans” sounds like great fun right up until the bit where the entertainment feeds run dry and the repair cubicles stop working. No, despite your annoying behaviours, impaired logic, and disturbing tendency to make eye contact, some of you are soft and nice and I will explosively dismember anyone who hurts you. No, don’t hug, stay back. All right, just a little one.

The Haiku Shack Magazine: Issue 1 is out! Go get your copy, it's free!

https://haikushackprompts.substack.com/p/the-haiku-shack-magazine-issue-1-979

#poetry #poetrycommunity #fiction #microfiction #micropoetry #haiku #WritingCommunity #poem #writing

@poetry @haiku

An expensive book titled "How to become a grifter: an illustrated guide."

There's one page. It reads:

"This is the illustration.

Now go and make believers out of all the other would-be grifters!"

The #MastoPrompt for Wednesday 9 April 2025 is:

#elegant

The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.

@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.

If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.