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   Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

   #writever Altitude

   Dragons can fly as long as they want at high altitude with no fear of frost : with their flame, they heat up the air ahead of them before they cross it. It is easy to do, once you master circular breathing.

   #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 15:17:42 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     • Steveg58

     @Steveg58 Thanks, truly, for the information!

   • Embed this notice
     Steveg58 (steveg58@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 15:17:43 JST Steveg58

     in reply to

     @aaribaud
     Hmm, you need to read up on avian physiology. Birds and most likely dinosaurs have circular breathing in a way that mammals can only vaguely approximate.

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 21:01:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     • Steveg58

     @Steveg58 ... and, following your advice, I did read up, and oh my! Birds *do* use circular breathing for temperature control!

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Shimmer

     Krek the Swift tenses as he realizes what spell Elena the Curious is casting. As he watches the first shimmer, he braces himself, body and mind focused on the one important thing when facing a Disko ball: staying alive.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 03-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Granite

     "Well," said the Princess, "the idea of replacing metal armor with thick granite armor was not bad in itself, as it did protect you well from Dragon fire, but sorry, sir Knight, I canot help you back up."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 04-Dec-2025 15:09:33 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Pasture

     Mountainside pasture is the safest time for the herd. Aliens don't like the steep plains, as they cannot abduct cows there because as soon as they land, their three-legged saucers keel over and crash.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 04-Dec-2025 19:34:36 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     • Noam writes

     @noam

     Alien captain:

     "... *Open the bay doors*? Isn't this saucer Constitution class? Ah. In this case... Send the hull cleaning crew. What? Right, make that the hull *repair* crew."

   • Embed this notice
     Noam writes (noam@libranet.de)'s status on Thursday, 04-Dec-2025 19:34:38 JST Noam writes

     in reply to
     @aaribaud I thought they opened the bay doors and beamed in the cows...
   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Friday, 05-Dec-2025 15:02:49 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Rustic

     "People think that I am rustic", said R42, "because my body is a crude, geometric likeness of the human shape. They neglect the fact that I have sensors better than theirs by several orders of magnitude."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Saturday, 06-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Dome

     A Wizard will conjure up a dome to protect his tower from his jealous Wizard neighbours' destroying spells.

     A Witch will conjure up a dome to protect a village from the fallout of a Wizard's tower's explosion.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Sunday, 07-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Rope up

     A giant beanstalk is no different from a steep rock face: you better rope up, lest you find yourself smeared on the ground over a hundred square feet area, even when you are a the hero of a children's story.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 08-Dec-2025 15:00:58 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Ibex

     It was bound to happen. All the ibexes hav... Sorry. All the ibices hav... Hmm... Ok. There's not a single Ibex left however up you go. They've climbed and climbed as temperatures rose... And now they're gone. Not dead! Disappeared.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 08-Dec-2025 17:59:05 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     • Nours

     @Nours

     En général ce sont des traductions (FR -> EN ou plus rarement EN -> FR) mais ça peut diverger pour deux raisons : quand les mots FR et EN sont différents 😤 ou quand j'ai une idée de vanne nulle qui n'a pas d'équivalence directe 😅

   • Embed this notice
     Nours (nours@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Monday, 08-Dec-2025 17:59:06 JST Nours

     in reply to

     @aaribaud
     Ah tiens je m'aperçois que tes écrits ne sont pas forcément les traductions de l'autre pouet 😅

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Tuesday, 09-Dec-2025 15:02:22 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Ruminate

     A Wizard brewing a potion for a cow will make four times more if it than usual, as the cow has four stomachs, right?

     Whereas a Witch would make four different potions, each designed to act in its own way as the cow will ruminate.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Dec-2025 15:00:50 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Waver

     "I think I just saw your golem waver."

     "Did you? There's probably been an earthquake in Farwaland. That's where it was baked. They are connected with the ground they were made from. *Jus soli*, *jus sanguinis*, it's all the same to them."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 11-Dec-2025 15:04:45 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Cedar

     "Here is the perfect spell!" exclaimed Krek the Swift. "All I need now is cedar bark!"

     "Which cedar?" asked Elena the Curious. "Lebanon? Cyprus? Deodar? Or Spanish, maybe?"

     Krek sighed and resumed his reading.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Friday, 12-Dec-2025 15:04:41 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Vulture

     "How shall I find the Dragon?" asked the Knight.

     "Go to the mountain," the Princess answered, "and find the vulture flying in circles; below it, you shall find the Dragon".

     "The vulture intends to eat the Dragon?"

     "... No."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Saturday, 13-Dec-2025 15:01:30 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Mordant

     "I known", said Count Scalat, "the saying about biting the hand that feeds you.. It tells nothing, however, with regards to necks. Now, if you will please stop running away screaming..."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Sunday, 14-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Rising

     The skilfulness of a spaceship pilot lies not in his ability to send his ship rising from a planet's surface and into space, but in his ability to return to said surface alive and in one piece should any problem whatsoever happen.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 15-Dec-2025 15:04:25 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Misty

     I don't care where it is written that a Witch must live in a shack deep within a misty forest, but that shack better have high-speed Internet, an asphalt road to the nearest city, and a company car if you want me in there. Your choice.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Tuesday, 16-Dec-2025 15:02:36 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Echo

     "That's a problem", agreed Elena the Curious. "Krek the Swift cast a Mana vacuuming spell on me, and I cast an echo spell. So, right now, he's vacuuming his own Mana in a closed loop. Oh well, leave him, he'll slowly deplete himself."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 17-Dec-2025 15:00:50 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Peak

     On a spaceship hull, it's vital to always have some anchor nearby to tie your lifeline tp. Thrusters on a spacesuit may be peak technology, but they could stop working. An anchor and wire rope won't.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 18-Dec-2025 15:01:26 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever On the side

     Well, we do keep the Dragon and Knight fight as a gig on the side for, like, children's parties, but frankly, we just love running our kebab joint together, you know, "you roast it, I slice it" kind of thing.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 18-Dec-2025 20:29:13 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     • Noam writes

     @noam

     Thanks! 😊

   • Embed this notice
     Noam writes (noam@libranet.de)'s status on Thursday, 18-Dec-2025 20:29:14 JST Noam writes

     in reply to
     @aaribaud Love it!
   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Friday, 19-Dec-2025 15:10:32 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Crystalline

     People often don't know that ghosts are not always ethereal forms. When exposed to cold, they solidify into a network of crystalline ectoplasm. Well, ‘solidify’ is a bit of an exaggeration: one breath, and the network disintegrates.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Saturday, 20-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Erosion

     One imagines golems indestructible and eternal. In reality, erosion sands them. Working hard all the time, they slowly wear themselves out and, over time, will eventually break down. Without ever having had a single second to themselves.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Sunday, 21-Dec-2025 15:01:23 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Aster

     Earthlings went from omnivore to vegetarian in ten years, so as not to risk offending the aliens whose ship was approaching the solar system.

     The alien who emerged from the ship turned out to be a giant Aster.

     A flower.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 22-Dec-2025 15:00:27 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Foehn

     When the robots acquired their legal autonomy and formed a population, we started studying them like we did humans. And then came the surprise: the foehn disturbs their functioning just as much as it disturbs that of humans.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Dec-2025 15:01:21 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Abyss

     Not many Wizards have had the courage to stare into the Abyss.

     Krek the Swift takes pride, rightly so, in being among the few who withstood the Abyss staring back at them.

     But only with Elena the Curious was the Abyss the first to *blink*.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Dec-2025 15:10:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Bleak

     After 50 000 years, Aliens had to admit the bleak evidence: failure was patent, and Earth would never carry intelligent life.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Thursday, 25-Dec-2025 15:00:29 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Meander

     Wizard cast their spells like mortar shells, in a predictable and Mana-consuming parabola.

     Witch let their spells meander on the path of least resistance and, always, toward their target's weakest point.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Friday, 26-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Shiver

     "The problem with the cold," said R42, "is that a human will shiver and, in so doing, provide a warning as to a potential future dysfunction, whereas a robot will just drastically lose battery charge and then stop sudd"

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Glaciologist

     "I'm a glaciologist, I don't run a hardware store! All that comes out of a melting glacier isn't necessarily--"

     "enly but as for me, as soon as conditions allow, I shall resume with my full capacity -- sorry, but who are you?"

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Sunday, 28-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Overlooking

     Wizards believe that from a high tower overlooking the landscape, they will be able to see their enemies coming from afar.

     Witches know that the further you look, the less clearly you see, and live in single-storey shacks.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Monday, 29-Dec-2025 15:04:22 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Depression

     The erratic, smoking flame was barely two yards long.

     The Knight recognised the signs, and lowered his sword and shield.

     ‘Sir Dragon, if you'll allow me... I'd like to talk to you about my past depression.’

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Dec-2025 15:00:28 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Appalachians

     An example of short-sightedness in geo-engineering: when you get continents to move around, you must check that any two of them won't collide. Neglect thinking 600 millions years in advance and bang! You get the Appalachians.

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction

   • Embed this notice
     Albert ARIBAUD ✎ (aaribaud@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 31-Dec-2025 15:11:32 JST Albert ARIBAUD ✎

     in reply to

     #writever Fall

     "I wish", said the Devil, "that you mortals had invented skiing before my Fall, that I would slide skilfully to the ground, not plunged into it. Of course, that would have caused Hell on Earth, but let's be frank, you're worse off right now."

     #MastoArt #FlashFiction #SmallStory #TootFic #MicroFiction