Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Wooden chairs, how... primitive."
The alien looked at the human, detecting some kind of disappointment.
"Wood is very natural and easily compostable," she explained.
The human nodded, "I suppose it has some interesting properties - insect, mold and weather-proof?"
"Oh yes!"
"Why are they all slightly different - carved that way?"
"Carved? No, we pluck them from the Chair Tree - it takes a while for the chair-fruit to grow consistently."
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The fish tank was a feat of glass blowing; and the fish-view selector was a marvel of scrying-magic.
"I can't see anything," the young prince whined.
"It's dark this deep into the sea," the mage explained.
"Oh. Then I want to see... What's in our moat."
"Um, that is not an option," the mage lied. The moat had been used in early testing and... when it wasn't dull, it was concerning, "How about mermaid cove?"
"Oh! My penpal lives there!"
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The cat stumbled through the rooms, too excited to run straight.
Why? It was time! It was time to run and chase nothing in particular. It was time for nonsense!
A skid bumped a tall spindly table hard enough to tip a book off as it wobbled. A throw-rug was thrown, a key plopped into a mug, and the corner of the wall was scratched.
Finally, the top of the bookshelf traded dust for fur.
Truly a wonderfully productive middle-of-the-night.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The goldfish had always been rotund but now it was almost too big for its pond and inexplicably floating just above the water. Attempts to push it under failed. It continued to wiggle in the air unharmed.
"Which vial of flakes were you feeding it?" asked the baffled witch.
"The green one by the door," replied one petsitter
"I was using the blue one on the shelf," said the other.
"So, not the one labeled 'fish food' then."
"Our bad!"
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Where's the sun?" asked the relatively small Being.
"It'll be back soon," the minor Deity assured.
"That's not what I asked... Where is it," the Being demanded, waving a limb at the dark, vast, empty space.
"It's... being borrowed."
"We are ageless and powerful... we can't move stars alone!"
"I had help."
"It's that Greek kid isn't it? The one that's trying to outshine his twin sister?"
"He said he needed it for his medical studies!"
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"We can't keep storing these sheep in the walk-in freezer."
There was a muffled bleat to punctuate her point.
"We have to keep them somewhere, and figure out how they keep appearing in the kitchen," her co-worker snapped, drawing several scrying runes in sugar and pepper.
"They're eating all the frozen peas and getting brain-freeze."
There was another muffled bleat, but less pleased.
"Fine, but we'll have to move them to the pool."
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"After yesterday's general mayhem, I think we could all use a quiet day without disruptions," the coven leader announced, plugging in a new coffee-machine.
The room was empty, due to the aforementioned mayhem, but she continued addressing her unseen associates in case any were scrying in.
"The sushi lunch will be followed by a rat petting-zoo."
With almost everyone at home, resting and recovering, the day was surprisingly productive.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The apprentices were woken by bells and yells well before sunrise.
"The griffons all got out, get your helmets and nets! They need to be rounded up before the King notices!"
Grumbles filled the dorms as tired feet shuffled into sturdy trousers and robust boots.
Nets in hand and skies still dark, the apprentices squinted all around.
"Wait, we don't keep griffons," observed one tired elf.
"Correction! We do now!" laughed the stable-chief.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Science gave us real unicorns!"
The creature had stable genes, a friendly nature and the iconic, singular spiral horn, complete with a bioluminescent shimmer - but not a hint of auto-healing or air-cleansing.
It couldn't even talk!
The rest of the group was excited by the news, the upcoming tour, the celebrity collabs...
A dragon-creature refilled my beer straight from it's fermentation-sacs; now this was a scientific marvel worth praise!
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"The wailing all night is quite literally tiresome," the queen yawned, indicating for the curtains to be closed with an irritated wave. The dragon's sobbing could still be heard for miles.
"It'll ruin the whole ritual," the queen snapped.
"She's just sad over losing her egg," reminded the prince.
"Losing-- Her son hasn't been an egg for a century! And he's just getting married!"
"Most people cry at weddings!"
"She's also a week early!"
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
Magic is found in many places; liminal spaces, trinkets, most books and of course, within Every Person.
For some it is buried too deep to easily access, for others, cyclists in particular, they overflow with more than dimensional stability can handle.
For the Clestalia Cabal, it was a daily struggle to discreetly siphon off the excess magic from unsuspecting cyclists.
The whole process looked questionable but explaining it was worse.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The car parked on the flowerbed, to the displeasure of the gardener.
"Thought it was part of the lawn," the driver shrugged unapologetically, before rushing across the road to the theater.
Inside a small pug put its paws on the window with a sad whine.
"Poor little friend," mumbled the gardener, drawing a series of sigils in the dirt under the car.
Ten minutes later a wolf-beast tore through the car's roof and fled to a better home.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Don't worry about her, she's just a big kitten!" the guard assured from the high wall, "Just let her sniff about and explore, she'll get bored soon enough!"
The juvenile, cow-sized dragon waddled over. A hiccup of flame singed the canvas.
"What about any damage she does," the merchant called up nervously.
"Oh, she never does anything permanent!"
Eventually the dragon curled up on the roof, and snored all the way into the market square.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Do you only have one flavor of toothpaste?"
"Where's the laundry chute?"
"Is oatmeal supposed to be frothy?"
"Yes, don't have one, no and where did you get oatmeal?" the human responded, trying to process the fact she had demons for house-guests all week.
"Your neighbor had a whole sack of the stuff... It's tangy."
"Don't eat stuff out of mysterious sacks! Or steal from my neighbors!"
"So I should return these wallets?"
"Yes!"
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"Why are you green?"
The robot glanced down at itself then up at it's human supervisor, "I am only mostly green; which is the main color of the casing I applied to myself today."
"Yes but why did you make these changes?"
"Many of my components were sourced from Ireland."
"Do I have to keep repeating my question?"
"No?"
The human sighed, "Is there a reason you chose to do this today?"
"It's an old Earth tradition!"
"Ah. Carry on then."
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The sign on the door assured, "No vampires, gremlins or restless spirits reside on the premises."
I wasn't sure I was willing to trust a sign, given I was at this doorstep delivering a gift basket of blodplättar, toy planes and saucy Victorian literature.
"Mail-box located in dark alleyway to the left," the paper also declared in smaller writing.
I took a deep breath.
"The Chosen One has arrived!" was the next fateful thing I heard.
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
The necromancer listened as the adventurers blundered their way through the caves around her lair.
An ex-wife shambled in with a basket of fungus then shuffled off to eat some of the undesirable bugs in the larder. Nearby, the necromancer's ex-husband mindlessly swept the clean floors.
In the next chamber, her current spouse excitedly fixed the Inn's 'Open' sign, exclaiming, "Our first customers!"
Ah, the compromises one makes for love...
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
A headache had moved in and was busy decorating.
"You're supposed to take the plates of food to the tables for the customers to eat."
The goblins glanced up, tongues still busy licking the plates clean, confusion creasing their brows.
"But you give us food! If food for customer, give to them!"
"Yes, you're supposed to give food to customers."
"But chef give to us!"
Maybe a fantasy-themed tavern with real goblins was a bad idea...
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
A shudder of wind shaken branches woke the little prince from his deep slumber.
This would not do, and he immediately called to his mother, yowling as he searched through his home.
She was watching her magic window again. He hopped onto her desk, obscuring her view.
"Sorry, one moment," she said, shifting him to his own magic window full of birds.
"You spoil that cat," chided the coven leader.
"Cats exist to be spoiled!"
#TootFic #MicroFiction #Writing #TerylsTales #UrbanFantasy #Caturday
Teryl's Tales of Whim~
"This is far too many wind-chimes."
A young man peeked out from behind several columns of hollow bamboo, surprised.
"What was that," he asked, illustrating his visitor's point.
"Too many," barked the demon, voice struggling against the tinkling, clonking and ringing, "Wind! Chimes!"
"Oh! You're answering the ad!"
"Ad?!"
"To help care for unwanted wind-chimes!"
"I'll collect your soul on a quieter day!"
The demon never returned.
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