Notices by Micro SF/F stories by O Westin (microsff@mastodon.social), page 2

We found old letters in a metal tin, inside a plastic crate of mementos. Miraculously, they were still readable. Our poets worked on translations; the letters spoke of love, longing, and lust.
They could have been written today, by us.
Maybe they weren't so different, the Humans.
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"Is magic more like cooking or baking?"
"How do you mean?" said the witch.
"When cooking you can change a recipe, but when baking you must follow the recipe exactly."
"I bet you cook more than you bake. The more you learn, the more you can improvise."
"So, neither?"
"Both."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

Once I was dead, it was curiously easy to accept it.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked.
Death extended a bony finger, pointing at a tall tower in the distance.
"What is that?"
"Your unread books. Unwatched films. Unplayed games. Etcetera."
"Oh. How much time do I have?"
"All."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

"Where's the necromancer?" growled the hero.
"The free hospital," said the goblin.
"Harvesting the dying?"
"No, he runs it. Heals people."
"Why?"
"He says he wants good skeletons, when he raises his army of undead."
"A-ha! When will he do that?"
"He's been healing for centuries."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

After Holmes and the doctor left, Lestrade took the young woman aside.
"Tell me," he said, "how does he do it?"
"Sir?"
"You came to us first. Yet he solved it. How?"
"I cannot say. All I know is: he listened, and gave me his full attention."
"Pah! Anyone can do that!"
"And yet."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories #FanFic

It was the first time Human scientists were invited to the Galactic Union cosmology confab.
Their paper "Please correct us..." summarised their understanding. It was well received apart from the ending.
"Not a heat death," S'Zr said. "It'll end after one 'Hold my beer' too many."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

"Tell me about the alien," the investigator said.
"The what now?"
"The alien. We know a space ship landed here."
"Oh! That. Yes."
"Tell me."
"A spaceship landed. A door dilated. A guest emerged. We invited them to share our food and fire. They did so. They thanked us, then left."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"You own my lamp," the genie said, "and so I am obliged to offer you a wish."
"Are there any restrictions?"
"Only one. I can only fulfill wishes you will regret making."
"Well, that's simple. I wish you were free."
"That wish... I can grant."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"Oh dear, you have a lot of... things."
The cyborg looked up. "The word is prosthetics."
"So much machinery. Don't you worry you will stop being human?"
"Oh, there is a line I will not cross."
"What line is that?"
"I will not question another person's humanity."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"I found these centuries-old comics about people with 'super powers'. Did people really have those?"
"No, people have never had- Heh. Well, some did. People like us did."
"Like us? But we're nothing special, there's nothing unusual about us."
"In those days, we were invisible."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories #BiVisibilityDay

"How can you travel faster than light? According to Einstein-"
"He told a good story," said the visitor from the stars, "but his wasn't the last."
"What?"
"We all tell stories to explain the universe."
"But one must be true."
"We have learned this: there are always more stories."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"Time to put the book down and go to sleep."
I look up. My future self is standing next to the bed. I check the time.
"Damn! Sorry."
"I only have myself to blame," future me says.
"You look terrible."
"I'm knackered. We need to find a way to travel more than five hours back."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

"So, uh, you're an Elf?"
"Indeed."
"Are you, like, homo or heterosexual?"
"Me, or Elves?"
"Er, both?"
"Most Elves are homosexual, some are heterosexual, some bisexual. I am bisexual."
"You like both men and women?"
"What's gender got to do with it? I like both Elves and Dwarves."
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic

"Oh," he said. "When you said you were a mermaid... I thought you'd look different."
"Oh?" she said. "How?"
"Well... I thought you'd have larger eyes."
"To see in the dark?"
"And be more pale."
"From lack of sunshine?"
"Yeah. And thin."
"Oh! You've got me confused with Gollum!"
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic