#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 25 — How long is the shortest story you've ever written? Can you link to it?

426 words. Lest Darkness Fall was formerly shorter. While still a very short story, it's really a scene fragment of what might become its own amnesia romance novella. It's set in my reluctance universe, so despite what looks like fantasy elements, it is actually SF. Explaining would be spoilers. It was likely around 350 words, but I took a moment to revise it to fit my more refined universe view, and I copied it below rather than linking it. Enjoy!

I asked, "Do I look like the woman you accuse me of being?"

I wanted to know. I wasn't the Sunny that Raven Caw had decided to named me because of my anemia. Even this encounter didn't spark memories.

The two day angels floated midair, gravity disturbance crackling and sparking around their feathered silver-blue wings. Twins? They wore plate armor that weighed as much as they did. They looked unimpressed, and pushed their spears closer. "Aye, you're a monster, but your face—"

Raven wasn't taking chances, using his leathery wing to pull me back. My night angel pushed his sunglasses up on his nose dismissively as he waved a similarly sparking quarter arc of folded gravity between us and them, teeth clenched. I smelled ozone mix with the corruption on the breeze.

I added, "Had she fought on this battlefield, she'd be dead." Scattered bones. Broken weapons. Tattered clothes fluttering. The stench.

I waved my arms expansively, at how bright day shine had settled as hot blinding circles of light at late afternoon height, split equally in the four cardinal directions. Though we'd had eternal day since the battle, the day shine hadn't broiled the world... yet. It left the zenith dusk blue, though.

I continued, "The old order is broken, like the sky. Would this woman you speak of leave our world like this, otherwise? Would she not let darkness fall after all these days of constant light?"

The day angels suddenly looked at different horizons. Surprised, it took me a few moments to notice the four shadows cast by each of the fire-blasted trees around us circle about, lengthening, deepening. As my heart stuttered in my chest, it seemed the shadows all pointed a skeletal finger at my chest.

Scattered cirrus transformed to strands of sparkling orange crystal, turning amethyst before dimming as the day shine vanished below the horizon. The sky went from hazy blue to midnight blue, before a bluer, dimmer, colder night shine rose to a mid-evening height in the cardinal directions.

I shivered. Night had fallen.

What an unfortunate coincidence, considering the trash I'd talked about the old order to a pair of its last soldiers. Rebels, was my guess. Or deserters, since they weren't dead. Neither good.

Not good either that my halo glowed around my head and shadows of numbers I didn't understand circulated along the faintly golden surface. I'd reflexively worked a miracle; I knew not what. Me. I did that. Coincidence? Had to be. Had. To. Be.

Night had fallen. I hoped it didn't get stuck.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

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#RSdiscussion

#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

A bit hard to follow. It seems like you took a long story and compressed it into a short one, leaving me feeling confused.

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 25 — How long is the shortest story you've ever written? Can you link to it?

426 words. Lest Darkness Fall was formerly shorter. While still a very short story, it's really a scene fragment of what might become its own amnesia romance novella. It's set in my reluctance universe, so despite what looks like fantasy elements, it is actually SF. Explaining would be spoilers. It was likely around 350 words, but I took a moment to revise it to fit my more refined universe view, and I copied it below rather than linking it. Enjoy!

I asked, "Do I look like the woman you accuse me of being?"

I wanted to know. I wasn't the Sunny that Raven Caw had decided to named me because of my anemia. Even this encounter didn't spark memories.

The two day angels floated midair, gravity disturbance crackling and sparking around their feathered silver-blue wings. Twins? They wore plate armor that weighed as much as they did. They looked unimpressed, and pushed their spears closer. "Aye, you're a monster, but your face—"

Raven wasn't taking chances, using his leathery wing to pull me back. My night angel pushed his sunglasses up on his nose dismissively as he waved a similarly sparking quarter arc of folded gravity between us and them, teeth clenched. I smelled ozone mix with the corruption on the breeze.

I added, "Had she fought on this battlefield, she'd be dead." Scattered bones. Broken weapons. Tattered clothes fluttering. The stench.

I waved my arms expansively, at how bright day shine had settled as hot blinding circles of light at late afternoon height, split equally in the four cardinal directions. Though we'd had eternal day since the battle, the day shine hadn't broiled the world... yet. It left the zenith dusk blue, though.

I continued, "The old order is broken, like the sky. Would this woman you speak of leave our world like this, otherwise? Would she not let darkness fall after all these days of constant light?"

The day angels suddenly looked at different horizons. Surprised, it took me a few moments to notice the four shadows cast by each of the fire-blasted trees around us circle about, lengthening, deepening. As my heart stuttered in my chest, it seemed the shadows all pointed a skeletal finger at my chest.

Scattered cirrus transformed to strands of sparkling orange crystal, turning amethyst before dimming as the day shine vanished below the horizon. The sky went from hazy blue to midnight blue, before a bluer, dimmer, colder night shine rose to a mid-evening height in the cardinal directions.

I shivered. Night had fallen.

What an unfortunate coincidence, considering the trash I'd talked about the old order to a pair of its last soldiers. Rebels, was my guess. Or deserters, since they weren't dead. Neither good.

Not good either that my halo glowed around my head and shadows of numbers I didn't understand circulated along the faintly golden surface. I'd reflexively worked a miracle; I knew not what. Me. I did that. Coincidence? Had to be. Had. To. Be.

Night had fallen. I hoped it didn't get stuck.

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#fiction #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon

#RSdiscussion

#RSstory #RSReluctanceStory

#microfiction #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory

The path for Nostr is clear.

There is no going back.

THIS THING IS GOING TO FREE THE WORLD!

Fiatlandia is a mess but Bitcoin can carry it all.

To everyone I follow that manages to see this post. I look at your feeds and see so much humour, insightfulness and value. But you post very infrequently. Some of you seem dormant.

I want you to know that even If no one likes or responds to something you post it does not mean it won't be valuable to someone in the future.

When I get a new follower I check out their feed

and if I managed to laugh and nod in agreement a couple of times I cannot help but like, comment, zap and follow back. Triggered positively by posts made months ago.

Say and post what is meaningful to you. What people think does not matter. Be true to yourself. I enjoy seeing your posts.

#nostr on.

Gm ☀️

I need to follow more plebs on here.

Please shill your favourite nostriches. Bonus for < 1,000 followers

Stupid people should think more.

Smart people should think less.

Perfect picture! This is why everyone should hold their own keys 🫡

In 1934, the US government passed Executive Order 6102 to seize gold held by Americans. If you think something like that can't happen today, think again

Custodial platforms can be forced to comply with government orders like the banks were back then

Here’s why:

90 years ago, a recently elected FDR faced a desperate and struggling economy. The president chose to villainize gold savers as ‘hoarders’ and seized their gold in an effort to fix the economy. All gold stored in banks was seized, however, most privately held gold was not.

When your bitcoin is held on an exchange, it’s not truly yours. The keys are controlled by a third party, which means it can be frozen or seized at any time

Check those terms and conditions 👀

Any exchange is one election and one bill away from having its bitcoin seized

The beauty of Bitcoin lies in its decentralized nature and the fact you can securely self-custody. When you hold your own keys , nobody can take your bitcoin. Self-custody is freedom and the only way to ensure your bitcoin stays yours.

History serves as a cautionary tale. Just as gold was seized in the past, bitcoin held on exchanges could face a similar fate. A mere 5% interest is NOT worth the risk of losing all your bitcoin. Self-custody your bitcoin and secure your future 🔐

It’s good to be a paranoid crypto anarchist!

I think there's a lot at play here with the saylor dynamic.

on one hand bitcoiner love to cheer on a champion for the cause.

on the other, this same champion doesn't do the one thing that everyone recommends doing. Self custody your coins. And now he's actively doubting that too.

people say this time is different, ETFs are regulated! blackrock is regulated! MSTR is regulated! coinbase is regulated!

And yet, all the same things were said of FTX.

The lesson of FTX, QuadrigaCX, Celsius, MTGOX and others is that Bitcoin is allergic to trusted third parties. Indeed, it was designed to remove them.

It may not happen tomorrow, but a rug pull of these centralized third party honey pots could happen at anytime. And they have happened.

Just because the honeypots are now larger and more "institutional" doesn't reduce that risk, or the risk of rehypothecation, which is dilutive to the Bitcoin float ie inflationary ie price suppressing.

OK. so the above dynamic sucks. Saylor besmirching self custody while simultaneously promoting MSTR tokens sucks. "bitcoin" Influencers like adam back, samson mow and others promoting MSTR sucks.

Self custody is THE mechanism that drives Bitcoin's price discovery mechanism. It's a glacial slow moving bank-walk, one sat at a time, away from third party custodians.

Who inevitably create derivative bitcoin tokens that inflate the supply of Bitcoin mechanically, but not technically. This dilutes Bitcoin's price discovery mechanism. Which is why it's important to self custody. Not just for verifying you actually own Bitcoin, but to call out the Keynesians in this space trying to play central banker.

The saylor worship needs to stop, the "oh but my 401K" and "but in some situations" coping needs to stop.

Saylor doesn't even know if MSTR has Bitcoin. he thinks they do, but they can't verify it without taking custody, which they don't (they give their Bitcoin to coinbase & fidelity who owns it for them.)

"oh but ALLCAPS! MSTR can't self custody because they're a corporation!"

then how the hell is coinbase doing it? they're a corporation too.

"oh, but ALLCAPS! MSTR has a fiduciary duty to it's share holders!"

That's what I'm saying! the rug pull risk is far greater with a third party custodian, evidently and historically. MSTR can reduce that risk by self custodying MSTR coins among it's board members, CTO & CFO in a collaborative multisig.

And as for you shareholders of MSTR token, I ask you, if saylor can't even verify that they own their coins, how can you? On another note, do you really think you have any say in how those coins are handled, given saylor is the majority shareholder? He could dilute you shares tomorrow and rug pull you legally and you'd have no recourse.

Been banned from twitter for a minute now, don't think i'll be going back. oh well.