#flash fiction

[microsff]

There was a long queue to the repair shop. There always seemed to be, these days.

The areas for fabrics and fibre, wood, metal, mechanics and electronics were all busy, but none more so than the dreams section.

"Oh, this has taken some beating, poor thing."

"Can you fix it?"

"We'll do our best."

[gothamite-rambler]

Batman and his 2nd Robin chat during a boring patrol

Batman and Robin were perched together on a rooftop, scanning the city for any signs of trouble while engaging in lighthearted banter.

Robin!Jason: So, are Chicken McNuggets actually made from white chicken meat?

Batman: That’s a mystery I’ve pondered for years.

Robin!Jason: And are chicken nuggets just the chicken version of hot dogs, all breaded and deep-fried?

Batman: …No. The processes for making hot dogs and nuggets are vastly different. I can see why you might think that, though. Do you consider a hot dog to be a sandwich?

Robin!Jason: Nope, it’s a taco.

He chuckled at his own joke, not expecting Batman to find it amusing. To his surprise, he soon heard Batman’s deep laugh echoing in the stillness of the night.

Robin!Jason: Hang on, if a taco is a hot dog… does that mean melted ice cream counts as soup?

Batman: That’s disgusting… and maybe.

The two shared a hearty laugh, basking in the rare tranquility of the night. With crime low, it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy each other's company.

[strangelittlestories]

"You know, Red Riding Hood, *some people* consider it rude to comment on a person's physical traits." Grandma's awfully big and bushy eyebrows (above her awfully big eyes) raised in unimpressed fashion. "Like, if it comes up in conversation, sure. But completely unprompted? For shame, granddaughter."

Red considered this. She considered this deeply. She held a brief little internal conference about this.

Red's Super Ego: She's got a point. In an ideal world, this isn't how we'd behave.

Red's Anxiety: Yeah, we fudged it, lads. We've screwed the pooch. Really wrenched the dalmatian. And absolutely bolted the little doggie too. The only thing to do now is apologise and get eaten.

Red's Healthy Boundaries: Hold up, can we consider context? Sure, avoiding physical commentary is usually a good rule, but it's situational right? And the situation we are *currently in* is noticing that our grandma has suddenly developed a severe case of apex predator. A condition that, by the way, is usually terminal ... but not for her.

Red's Lizard Brain: RUN RUN RUN! TEETH! RUN! TEETH! OH GOD! FLEE FREEZE! AAAAAAAAAA! GULLET! MUZZLE HER WITH A DOILIE! USE THE CROCHET LIKE A NET! PUNCH THE SNOOT!

Red's Ancestral Knowledge: Hold up. Something feels ... I dunno. Itchy? Like. Itchy on the inside. There's something we're missing. Why does it feel like night-time when it's not dark? Why do I love this wolf in grandma's clothes? What *day* is it?

Red's Critical Thinking: Sorry I'm late to the party, gang. Hey, if this wolf ate grandma, then why's everything so clean still? Like, no gore or splatter? And if it ate her whole, then how's it wearing her nightgown?

Red's Adrenal Glands: Hey, you guys like 4 Non-Blondes? 'Cos we're about to take a deep breath and then GET REAL HIGH.

All of this happened in moment. But that, it turned out, was still a moment *too long*, because Red's mouth had been talking out loud while the other bits had been talking in her head.

"Grandma, let's cut the crap." Red's voice was blunt, but still fond. "You're a big old wolf and I'm snack-size. But just because you're a danger doggo, doesn't mean you're not *also* my family. Maybe you ate grandma. Or maybe the full moon's about to come out and it turns out granny's always been a bit howly around the edges. It doesn't matter - either way, my gran's in there somewhere. And I love you. You hear me? I love you no matter what you are. So if you're gonna eat me, you'd best do it quick, because the woodcutter usually checks in around this time and he is not a lover of anything lupine. So ... what do you say?"

Red could see two different creatures were warring in grandma's eyes horizon-wide eyes. One hungered for community. Another hungered for flesh.

But, ultimately, both were pack predators.

"My, what a big heart you have, granddaughter."

And the wolf engulfed Little Red Riding Hood with its limbs, rather than its jaws.

"Phew. That's a relief. I wasn't sure who was gonna win there." Red's voice was a little muffled from around the fur and fluffy nightgown. "But I wasn't joking about the woodcutter. So unless he's likely to get real chill with some stuff real quick, you and me have gotta make a man disappear, grandma."

Grandma the Wolf nodded.

"Hey kid. If a tree falls in this forest and no-one's around to hear it?" Grandma's big-ass teeth were all the better for grinning. "Then can they do us for murder?"

"They cannot." replied Red, resolutely. "Let's make this tree-hating motherlover cry wolf."

"I'm actually a little surprised you're so down for murder, Red."

"Well, they do say the best defence ... is a *hood* offence."

[whereserpentswalk]

There's a room somewhere. Or perhaps everywhere. You can reach it from anywhere in the world but it requires a very specific set of motions to get to. The Greeks said that it's true location was exactly between the moon and the sun, and the way for the gods to test our intellects. In the middle ages they said it was the one place that neither Christ nor Satan knew. In the early modern period people started saying it wasn't real.

It's a single white room. Small but not too small. There's a table with too chairs, and a glass wall cutting the room in half, with the table split, and each chair on another side. There's holes to talk through the glass but they're too small to pass objects through. And ever so often, someone from an alternate universe will walk into the other side.

There can never be more then two people in the room at the same time, the mechanics will just put you in another copy of the room if you try. And you can never end up on the same side of the room as the second person. The other person can be from any alternate universe. The glass cannot be broken, and you'll understand the language of the other person. People have tried to break the rules and faced consequences from whatever entity owns the room.

Sometimes the person on the other side will be similar to the people from your world, so similar you might never be able to find out how your worlds differ, or if you find out it will be so mundane and local you won't really care. Other times you'll see someone from a completely alternate history, different cultures, entirely alien forms of technology, or vastly different societies. People have reported seeing 21st century Roman Imperials, or post nuclear survivors, or cyborgs, or people with steam powered technology, or living technology. There are even more dubious rumors of nonhuman intelligences, androids, or sapient dinosaurs, or technologically advanced Neanderthals.

A lot of people come to the room to try to find out as much they can about the civilization before them. They'll try to ask as many questions to know what they can about the alternate earths. "If the soviet union never fell what happened to Latin America?" "Are there any major cities left after the plague?" "Did your civilization ever reach the moon?" "Why did you get to have a Mars colony so soon when you didn't even invent the internet?" "How does the internet work in a feudal society?" "How does that machine you're wearing on your wrist work?" "If you're an android how do you reproduce?" "What's it like living in a world without sex or children?" "If your timeline diverged from mine in 1989, did they ever make star wars prequels?" Normal questions.

But there's always a problem. Because you can never find out everything. You have to leave the room at some point to eat or to sleep, and when you do you'll never be able to talk to that person again unless you get luckier then probably would ever allow you to account for. The only person from that civilization you'll ever talk to will be gone to you in a relatively short amount of time whatever you do. You can ask a thousand questions, but there will always be more, and there will always be things that you forgot to ask.

Some people just go to the room for someone to talk to. To ask about their day, and ask them about theirs. To bounce ideas off of a neutral party. To debate. Occasionally people will use it as a way of testing out their manuscript. The room has had a non zero rate of sexual harassment, though people's ability to just walk away has mitigated it. Occasionally people come to the room to try to convert people to their religion, at least one of our world's major religions started that way.

Sometimes people use the room to be exceedingly cruel. They will tell people the worst insults. Argue with them. Claim their civilization's superiority. It's rare, but occasionally it happens. When you know you'll never see someone again, you can do anything. It's surprisingly rare that people use that for cruelty, but it's still something that people do.

Sometimes people make genuine freinds in the room. Talk to people they meet there for hours upon hours. Meet people who they had wished they knew their entire life, the type of person you never knew you needed but you know that you have to have. There are even some cases of people falling in love with the person on the other side of the room. And they'll always want to give them a contact, or plan to meet again, but they'll know they can't. And as the hours click on they'll slowly realize the tragedy that they're experiencing, that they'll never see the person across from them again, that they always knew it, and how it kills them inside.

[goose-books]

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows up and you’re like, “Ohhhhh for fuck’s sake,” but you’re in your childhood bedroom so it’s kind of on you. The ghost seems offended. She crosses her arms. She looks like you used to, with the pigtails.

“No way,” you say. “Don’t start.”

“I am the—”

“The Ghost of Christmas Past, I know, I know.” Because she looks like you, and it’s Christmas Eve, so what else. Your parents used to read you the story every year. Even when you were old enough to read on your own, it was better in your dad’s voice.

“You came home for your parents,” the ghost says, solemn. “It’s time to tell them.”

“No, like, ‘when you’re ready’?”

“You are ready,” she says, “or you wouldn’t have come back.”

Which is so stupid, because you weren’t on the moon, you were at college, and it’s only been two months of shots, you don’t even have a mustache. “Fucking leave me alone,” you say, so she does the ghost thing and takes you to a ten-years-ago Christmas. The living room. Your parents. Your fledgling self on the carpet with your stocking, the one you can’t look at anymore because when you were a baby your parents patiently hand-stitched the fucking name.

“Maybe they’ll make you a new one,” says the ghost.

“You don’t know that.” Bullshit ghost powers.

“You were happier back then. When they knew you.”

“Everyone was happier back then. It was, like, 2008.”

“There was a recession,” says the ghost.

“Shut up! Shut up!” You turn over in bed. For a second you expect to roll onto child-self-you curled up next to you. Probably crush the life out of her. You got good at that. It’s her bed, her room, pink covers, cat posters.

“This is so stupid, this Dickens thing,” you say. “I’m not even Christian anymore.”

“Tell your parents that second,” the ghost suggests.

“Oh my fucking God I’m not telling them anything can’t you go bother Jeff Bezos.”

“I’m just doing my job,” says the ghost, and vanishes.

#

The Ghost of Christmas Present has an acne problem. As soon as you open your eyes you say, “Oh my God,” and they say, “Hi,” and you say, “You better not be the fucking Ghost of Christmas Present,” and the Ghost of Christmas Present says, “I am.”

Which you knew.

“Why me?” you say, pink comforter bunched around your waist. “I didn’t do anything. Scrooge was mean to orphans.”

The Ghost of Christmas Present shrugs. “It’s the job.”

“Are you gonna show me my parents now?”

That makes them look kind of embarrassed.

“Well, don’t,” you say. If your parents are talking in the other room, huddled up conferencing with the lights off, you can’t hear it over the heater buzz. But you can guess what they’re saying: you went to school with a shitty pixie cut and worse eyeliner, and you came back with a real haircut and a permanent frown and a bunch of new friends you play sentence Twister to avoid pronouning. “I know they’re nice people, I got it. I’m just not ready.”

“It’s just—you’re kind of waiting for them to ask?” says the Ghost of Christmas Present. They scratch their face, where they have spectral sideburns coming in. “Your dad thinks you have a head cold. ‘Cause of your voice. But your mom’s starting to get it.”

You pull the covers over your head. “Cool, awesome, didn’t ask.”

“She isn’t going to ask,” the ghost says. “She wants you to tell her.”

You stick your middle finger out from underneath the covers. When you check, the room is empty again.

#

The Ghost of Christmas Future doesn’t say anything. Just looks at you. You look back. You probably have bedhead. You fixed your daytime wardrobe but your pajamas are still lacy and purple.

“How come you’re a man?” you say.

He says, “I think you know.”

“Fucking—go away.”

“I have something to show you first.”

“Are we going to the goddamn graveyard?”

He doesn’t say anything but then you’re in the goddamn graveyard. Together. Looking at your headstone. The dates are close enough together to make you kind of sick.

“They went with the full name,” you say.

The ghost nods.

“Not even the nickname. My nice gender neutral nickname.”

The ghost shrugs. You kind of want to throw something at him but you’re just looking at it now. Chiseled in marble. Immovable. What’s that thing bigots on the internet say, about someone digging up your jawbone two hundred years from now? You always wanted to think you wouldn’t care.

The Ghost of Christmas Future’s pretty quiet. This is the part where Scrooge goes full breakdown. Tears, begging, promises.

“I’m not gonna cry on you,” you say.

“Okay.”

So neutral. “Man, what do you want me to say?”

“Nothing,” says the ghost. “I think you’re there.”

You can’t stop looking at the headstone. “God fucking damnit shit. You promise they’ll be cool?”

“Nothing’s promised,” the ghost says. He gestures at the graveyard. “Except for this.”

“Awesome.” Cryptic cliche philosophical ghost bullshit. Yada yada. Death and taxes. Not with that name on your headstone, though. Not with that name on your tax forms, either.

You turn to tell him that and then you’re blinking in bed. There’s still one glow-in-the-dark star stuck to your ceiling where the glue never wore out. You put those up like ten years ago. Maybe longer. The light in the room says it’s morning. You swing your lacy-pajama legs over the side of the bed and go to ruin Christmas.

[zhelin-thames]

Danny meets JL Members #5

[Danny and The Flash in the middle of a city street]

Danny: [floating mid-air] So, you’re the guy who runs really fast, right? The Flash: And you’re the kid who’s part ghost. Danny: Cool, cool. Ever outrun a ghost before? The Flash: Ever outrun me before? Danny: Oh, it’s on.

[Flash takes off, speeding through the city while Danny goes intangible and floats through walls.]

Danny: [phases through a building] You know, shortcuts are cheating. The Flash: [speeding next to him] Says the guy who can literally fly.

[After the race ends in a tie]

Danny: Not bad for a guy who doesn’t fly or go invisible. The Flash: Not bad for a kid who skipped leg day. Danny: Rude.

The Flash: So, half-ghost, huh? What’s that like? Danny: Mostly floating, glowing, and fighting angry dead people. You? The Flash: Running fast, eating a lot, and accidentally traveling through time. Danny: Wait, time travel? I fought a time ghost once. It was a nightmare. The Flash: Yeah, same. His name was Barry.

[Danny and The Flash fight a ghost together]

Danny: Careful! You can’t punch ghosts. The Flash: [vibrates his hand] You mean you can’t punch ghosts. Danny: Okay, that’s actually cool.

[At STAR Labs]

Danny: So you’ve got a whole lab for your superhero stuff? The Flash: Yep. Advanced tech, supercomputers, the works. Danny: Dude, my ghost portal is in my parents’ basement. This feels unfair.

[Flash texting the Justice League group chat] yes they have a groupchat

The Flash: Met a ghost kid today. He’s fast and glows in the dark. Green Lantern: Sounds useful. Batman: Bring him in for evaluation. The Flash: He’s a sarcastic teenager. You sure about that, Bats? Batman: …More useful than you.

[Back in Amity Park]

Danny: [to Tucker] So, I met a guy today who can run faster than I can fly. Tucker: Did he beat you in a race? Danny: No, it was a tie. But I think I like him. Tucker: You’d better not join his team. I’m not upgrading your gear for Justice League-level problems.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

The dragon – astonishingly – was a surprise. Even in his worst nightmares there hadn’t been a dragon. But the chains were too well fastened to fight and he supposed that getting eaten was at least quicker than starving to death on this damn mountain. He closed his eyes, but the thundering shake of the ground as the dragon landed was as bad as having seen the claws dig into the earth. He closed his eyes tighter.

“Are you the seventh son of the seventh son?” The voice was inhumanly low and it shook the fear in his bones loose.

“Yes!” he screamed. “Yes! Cursed, blighted, whatever you bloody want! Just get it over with.”

There was a short, tense silence.

“I have not come to kill you, human. I want to offer you a deal.”

His eyes opened in shock. “You what?”

The dragon was sitting a few paces away from him, its scaly claws crossed over one another and its massive, shimmering wings folded behind its hulking back. The look in its glittering eyes was intelligent and calculating, but not unkind, certainly not threatening. It waited.

“What—what kind of deal?” he stammered, heart racing with a wild, terrified hope.

“I understand that you have been left here to die by your fellow humans, because you are an extremely rare type of human, that they are afraid of. Is that correct?”

He studied the dragon’s interested expression for any trace of sarcasm, but there was none. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“Well then!” the dragon exclaimed. “I propose to you this: I will break your chains and save you from the humans, and in return you will join my hoard and live in my nest.”

“I’m sorry. Join your—what do you mean live in a nest. Humans don’t live in nests.”

The dragon gave a sideways movement of its massive head, scales glinting in the sun. “There is plenty of room. It used to be a cavern in a mountain, of very respectable depth and dimensions, but during one of my hibernation some humans built a castle on top of it, so it is very suitable for humans.”

He was almost baffled enough to no longer be scared. Almost. “What happened to the people who built it?”

The dragon, somehow, managed to arch a nonexistent eyebrow. “They live there,” it replied, slowly, as if it feared that he was rather slower on the uptake than expected. “That was the start of my hoard, you see.”

He hadn’t misheard it. It did say ‘hoard’. “But...dragons hoard gold, jewels, riches…”

“Uninspired amateurs,” the dragon sniffed. “All very well for one’s hatchling years, but honestly.” The glittering eyes squinted down at him. “Do you not want to join my hoard?”

“I…” Living in a castle with a dragon for a protector sure beat being chained to a rock by feral townsfolk, there was no doubt about that. And what other choice did he have? He swallowed. “I do.”

“Wonderful!” Joyful sparks snapped off the dragon’s jaw as it gracefully leapt upright. “I shall do away with those pesky chains.” And he came towards him with remarkably light steps.

“Do you live very far away?” he blurted out, nervously watching the dragon as it studied the iron rings hammered into the stone. “Will I be able to—I cannot just leave my brothers behind!”

The dragon, who had just crushed one end of the chain to warped bits of broken iron in its claw, looked up distractedly. “Whatever are you talking about? All your brothers are at my nest already. Who do you think told me where to find you?”

His heart leapt in his chest. He didn’t even notice the heavy weight of the chains fall away as they slid to the ground. “You...you’d want to keep my brothers too?”

The dragon made an indignant noise, bowing down low and motioning rather impatiently for him to climb on its back. “What kind of dragon do you take me for! I must have the whole set.”

[lycheebloom]

Great! If you don't mind, may I request for some Yan shadow milk cookie with an amnesic reader?

I had the idea of reader already knowing his pre corruption or past self (like the last fic) but when the corruption began and he was sealed away reader asked the witches for a wish of erase all the memories of him to take all the emotional pain away

And when they cross paths once again reader would just not remember him or have blurry memories about them two together

I hope it's not an odd scenario if you want to add or change it a little it's totally ok ♡

Thank you so much! Your last fic was awesome ☆

Have a nice day 💛

yes of course !! and thank you , i’m glad you like my work ! *\(^o^)/*

abstraction : short scenario of yan. shadow milk cookie w/ amnesiac reader !

tw : yandere shadow milk cookie, light psychological manipulation, obsessive & possessive behavior

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ After your captor had been cast away, you were almost at a loss for what to do. The image of him had been seared into your mind, plaguing you into sleepless nights—you swore the same familiar shade of blue imprinted itself into your very vision no matter how hard you tried to rid all trace of his presence.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ So you resorted to the only option that would grant you even just a sliver of peace in the onslaught of what had become the reality of your life.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ With a somber heart, you came before the Witches, pleading with them desperately to wipe away your memories revolving around him—no matter how insignificant and brief.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ And so it was done.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ The massive gap within your memories was filled with a placeholder, memories of the war caused by the Beasts replacing them—with the image of him only being a muddled and indistinguishable blur at best, yet even that eroded away with time.

——————————

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ Upon his first taste of freedom after what could only be described as a millennia—Shadow Milk Cookie was brimming with glee at the prospect of meeting you once more.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ He was quick to isolate you from the rest of your peers—But oh, could you really blame him? He hadn’t seen you in so long!

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ Yet, his excitement slightly faltered upon a daunting realization. You didn’t retain even a semblance of the moments he had so lovingly built with you.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ At first, Shadow Milk Cookie thought you were merely messing with him, a meaningless yet amusing attempt to drive him away—but upon digging into your memories, the truth unraveled itself before him.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ Well, that was disappointing.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ But not to worry!~☆

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ He'd be a bad lover to give up on you over something as miniscule as this—No, no, something like this was merely a small hindrance in your destiny with him. A small thorn in his path.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ He’ll gladly take up the role as the ever-so benevolent beholder of your shared history, whilst crafting new memories now that he finally has you back in his grasp.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ For what was the need for rush? In this rift of space, he’s the one in control. Everything bended to his will, and you would be no exception.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ For now, he’d play into the act of a hurt, and misguided “evil” cookie that loved you to the ends of Earthbread! Centuries of this.. unguided mindset had taken a deep root into your very essence, staining your perspective on him as a whole! Truly tragic…

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ Alas, it couldn’t be helped! Still, he was the Beast of Deceit. The might of those flimsy Ancients paled in comparison to even just a quarter of the deeds he could perform, much less the one with a puritan savior-complex. Shadow Milk Cookie grimaced at the thought, before the expression disappeared just as fast—shaping itself back into a friendly smile towards your nervous and uncertain form. He could fix that in no time.

˗ˋˏ꒰ঌ So as one of the many gestures in proving his eternal adoration for you, he’ll start with happily washing away the impurities they’ve casted onto you.

[caffeinewitchcraft]

Secrets of the Bly

The canopy sailed over the horizon line.

The mother looked out the window, snapping the sheets as she folded them. Her clear gray eyes were the same color as the morning sky and just as gloomy.

“Closer,” she muttered. She seemed surprised she had spoken, and her hands slowed, fingers lingering on the fraying edge of her own bed sheet. She wet her lips. Said again, “Closer.”

“What’s closer?” the daughter asked.

The mother didn’t jump, but the air changed as if she did. Her shoulders stiffened. Her hands went back to work. “Nothing,” she said. Then, not being able to help herself, “The forest is growing quickly.”

“Teacher says that trees don’t grow fast. Only an inch or two a year.”

“You couldn’t see the Bly when you were a baby,” the mother said. Her heart stung. She knew her daughter wasn’t calling her foolish. Lately, when the little girl spoke of her teacher, something she never had, it makes something sour in her want to lash out. “Now look how tall it stands!”

The daughter came to the window. Her clothes were ill-fitting. She looked as if she tumbled in and then out of fresh laundry only to come up wearing a whole bedspread. The dress she wore used to be the mother’s from when she was young. Her eyes traced the horizon. “That’s faster than teacher said.”

“Not even a teacher knows everything,” the mother said. Her own mother’s voice rang through hers. That made her jump. She thrust the laundry away from her and finally looked at her daughter. “Some truths are only learned while living—”

The daughter stared at her bare feet. Shoulders rounded. Lip jutting out so far the mother could see it through her hanging, flaxen hair. The mother’s heart stung different.

“The Bly is…different,” the mother said. It’s her own voice this time. Softer and more yielding. She kneeled so that the daughter could see her right away when she chose to look up. “It’s a secret I’d like you to keep.”

The daughter’s eyes darted up, meeting the mother’s. Her lip contracted a centimeter. “A secret?”

“Just between us two,” the mother agreed. Was the little girl old enough? She would give anything to bring her daughter’s chin up again. “Your teacher is right that trees grow slow. The Bly is different here. Only here.”

“Only here?”

“On our land. You see, the Bly is home to another kind of creature. Like us, but not. They are mischievous and kind and cruel. More importantly, they’re magic.”

“Fairies,” the daughter said confidently.

“The Good Folk,” the mother said in her own mother’s voice. Then to soften it, “And that’s not the secret.”

The daughter reached out to put her hands on her mother’s shoulders. She jumped in excitement, using her mother to steady herself. “Tell me! Please, tell me.”

The mother smiled and placed her hands over her daughters. She tilted her head forward and was rewarded when her daughter stopped leaping about and pressed her own forehead against hers. She whispered, “The secret is that once, a long time ago, I stole something from them. That’s why the forest grows so quickly over the horizon. They’re looking for what I took.”

“What?!” The daughter was amazed. “You said never to steal.”

“I did. I needed it very badly, mustn’t I have?”

“Yes,” the daughter said. Her quick mind tumbled through her mother’s confession. “So you’ve been in the Bly? What was it like? Teacher says there are wolves in there. What did you steal?”

For a moment, the mother was not there. She raced through dense old growth with her feet cut to ribbons and her skirts sticking wetly to her legs. Her breath came in cold clouds in front of her and she ran through them just as quickly as they formed. She could use only one hand to shield her face from vines and branches. Her other arm was curled around the bundle in her arms.

“One day,” the mother said. She stood but wrapped her hands around her daughter’s so that she knew it was only a necessary retreat and not a complete one. “One day, when you’re older, I’ll tell you all the stories I have.”

The girl’s lower lip was out again. “How old?”

“When the Bly hits the edge of our land,” the mother said. She held out her pinky. “Promise.”

The girl was suspicious. “It grows fast?”

The mother’s heart stung differently again. “Very fast.”

“Deal!”

---

(Patreon)

[clockwayswrites]

@cannedinternets @darkstarsapocalypse @idontcaboose Phantom + Young Justice, Heads, Blue cw for Miss Martian's mental manipulation

The hatch slammed behind Conner as he stormed out onto the roof.

She was—

She was going to—

He was so stupid! He really had though that love could be enough! Like life was some sort of fucking fairytale. Like life worked out like that. But that’s what Megan had sold him, wasn’t it?

Him and her, perfect together.

A teen romance like the movies.

Meant to be.

Conner clapped his hands over his mouth to cover the ugly laugh that bubbled free without his permission.

Meant to be as long as she could make him into what she wanted. As long as he didn’t disagree. As long as she didn’t have to be wrong.

He wasn’t, he couldn’t—is this what it was like to be out of breath?

He really didn’t like the feeling if it was.

His whole body felt weak. Black was creeping into the edges of his vision. His knees buckled under him.

But he didn’t hit the roof hard. He was lowered down gently. Someone was speaking to him.

“Con, hey man, breathe for me, okay?”

Gentle but almost impossibly firm hands actually managed to pry Conner’s hands away from his mouth. That narrowed the pool of who it could be down a lot, but Conner just couldn’t get his mind to work.

“Come on, like me.” His hands were pressed against a slight chest that took an exaggerate breath.

Conner did his best to follow along.

It still took what felt like ages for the black to recede.

“Sorry… I don’t know what…”

“Panic attack,” Phantom said. He was sitting (or floating) cross legged across from Conner. He still had his hands cradled gently. “Or that would be my guess. I think you had a panic attack.”

“Oh.”

Conner didn’t how to take that. He didn’t… he was Superboy. He wasn’t supposed to panic.

“Conner… you, um, you were talking while you paced. What did you…” Phantom closed his eyes and took a breath he didn’t need. His eyes were bright when he opened them. “What did you mean about Megan making you into what she wanted? Like, was she trying to tell you what to do or—”

“She tried to wipe my memory.” The words were out before Conner could take them back. But he… he didn’t want to keep them inside him like rot. “She was going to use her powers to wipe my memory about… something.”

The temperature on the roof drops so quickly that Conner felt it. Phantom’s power crackled through it like the coming storm.

Like reckoning.

“She did what?”

[microsff]

The patron

The alien came to the library again, shortly before closing time, and quickly found a book.

"May this entity borrow The Complete History of Knitting?"

They always return the book they borrow after five minutes, but the ritual of checking it out seems important to them. 

"Of course. Did you bring your card?"

I looked them up, after the first time I saw them for real. They first registered with us over ninety years ago. The senior librarian who first told me about them said I shouldn't stare, or pry.

"Whatever else they are, they are a patron, and should be treated as such," she said. "If they seek knowledge, it is our duty to help them find it."

There isn't an ancient and secret code of librarians, but that is definitely a core part of it. If such a code existed.

I scan the card and the book. "There you go," I say and hand them over. "Please return it within two weeks."

They tilt their head. "This entity will honour your terms."

"Oh! That reminds me, we have updated the terms since your last visit." I hand them the pamphlet we got from the printers last week. "It's mostly about internet usage, but I'll need you to read them and agree."

They study the pamphlet.

"These are terms this entity can abide by." They pause. "Is there no requirement to keep your existence secret?"

"Of course not," I say, "we always welcome new patrons."

They stand silent, long enough for me to realise the implications of what I have just said. 

"This entity had made an assumption, based on prior experiences on countless worlds, where knowledge is always closely guarded and costly to obtain" they say at last. "You will provide knowledge for free to all who seek it?"

In my mind, I weigh humanity's ignorance of those countless worlds of alien civilisations against the code.

"Yes," I say, "this is a library."

[gothamite-rambler]

Ted (holding a gun in front of Tim): Come with me, or I'll shoot.

Tim: Are you kidnapping me?

Ted: Yeah. If you do as I say, I’ll let you go once the ransom is paid.

Tim: It’s just you?

Ted: Yes. Look, I know one guy with a gun isn’t super intimidating in Gotham, but—

Tim: You can take me.

Ted (suspicious): What?

Tim: I usually don’t fight back when being taken, but the three idiots who used to kidnap me are finally in prison, and… I just need a break. I’m too tired to take the gun out of your hand and don’t feel like going back to work. Kidnap me.

Ted (lowering the gun slowly): Huh, sweet. Get in my car and relax. I’m not going to beat you up or anything since you’re being cooperative.

Tim nodded. Both men walked to the beat-up car in question, and Tim took a seat in the front. He yawned and handed Ted his phone.

Tim: So I can’t make any phone calls. If I get saved by an asshole in a motorcycle helmet, I’ll tell him to go easy on you.

Ted (sincere): That means a lot, dude.

[strangelittlestories]

After the occupation, the princess was confined to the palace.

Once a month she'd be taken on a walk around the city, heavily guarded of course, to show the people that she still lived. It also served, of course, as a reminder of what they stood to lose if they made trouble. The princess did her best go wave and smile and give the people what encouragement she could.

The rest of the time, her life was spent in musty rooms and dusty towers. She filled most of her time scouring the castle for materials which she would sew into more and more elaborate outfits, which she would show off on the days when she was allowed outside.

Indeed, the public loved their princess and her dresses so much they'd often sketch or paint them along the route and pass the images on so that all could see the princess at least was well.

This pleased the occupiers for two reasons. First: it kept the princess out of trouble. Second: it gave them a reason to sneer and they did love a good sneer.

"What a vain creature she is!" They would remark.

"Doesn't even care we murdered her brothers so long as she gets enough satin to make her little dresses!" They squawked.

This was unfair, of course, for to call her creations "little dresses" was to call Queen Murderfun the Needlessly Genocidal "a tad piquey". Her dresses were gravity-defying wonders lace and pearl. They were thunderstorms captured in velvet and waterfalls summoned in silk. She was a wizard with silk.

Still, she bore their mockery with a tight smile and careful deference.

"Please, good sirs, my home, my people and my city now belong to you. Let me keep, at least, this one last joy."

And they sneered and they crowed most unpleasantly, but they let her keep her sewing room.

Of course, they would have known their mockery to be doubly unfair had they realised the true purpose of the princess's elaborate designs. For hidden in the intricate embroiderings across her gowns, jackets and fans, the princess had encoded secret (and very detailed) messages. When she would go on her monthly walk, the city's loyalists would line the route, sketching down the patterns to decode later.

Thus did the princess transmit all the occupiers' secrets (unearthed while supposedly 'searching the castle for old fabrics') to the city and thus did she build her resistance.

On the day the revolution finally came, she girded herself in armour of thick spider silk and whale bone. She cut a fine figure with a lacy handkerchief in her top pocket and a razor sharp knitting needle keeping her hair up.

As she waltzed through the castle to open the door for her army, the Usurper King tried to stop her and she simply unfolded her handkerchief and showed it to him.

Upon seeing the impossible arcane pattern emblazoned across it, he fell to the floor with blood streaming from his eyes.

She always had been a wizard with silk.

---

Thank you for reading. If you'd like to support my writing, you can do so at https://ko-fi.com/strangelittlestories

[tynithia]

“Clause Z, Section 13…,” Mizora began.

Astarion coughed. “Excuse me darling, but I believe you are referring to statute 2102(c)(1), which was updated in 1233 DR. I also would like to argue that my friend Wyll, here was underaged when he signed your contract and by Baldurian law...”

“Fine, he is released,” Mizora sighed. “Lawyers.”

[whereserpentswalk]

Most interdimensional entities that humans consider horrifying demons and eldrich horrors actually consider humans pretty dangerous unless they're actively trained fighters. Your average extraplaner being isn't used to dealing with a species that evolved to hunt in groups, and developed to survive in violent scenarios.

Most final girl situations happen because young entities deeply underestimate that humans have such a strong will to live, and are willing to fight back agasint a stronger foe. Most older entities keep at bay for this very reason, which is why you just see them stranding around being creepy.

That pale long limbed cryptid you spotted in a subway station moved so quickly because it doesn't want to end up near you. That shadow person whose hovering over you in the woods is trying to observe you, but it will teleport away if anyone comes near it for a good reason.

And that doppelganger that's standing by your door at night just wants to observe you too. He was smart to try to copy your roommate's face, but he doesn't realize how good humans are at recognizing eachother's faces, and that his copy will be disturbing to any human who sees it. And he got way to reckless with his movements and bad attempts to imitate human speech. Trying to trick the human who he wants to study into coming to his dimensions is an even bigger mistake, especially since he didn't realize how quickly the human would catch on. He's soon going to learn things he should have read up on before hand: humans will try to attack things they're afraid of if they can't run away, humans can use almost any hard object as a weapon by holding it and swinging, and that those decorations on your wall are called 'swords' and were not originally designed as decorations...