Fiona_the_Ogre @Boudicca@octodon.social

"What the Lightning Left Behind" is yet another of the images from the ongoing sky related project.
Photographed in 2017 at #Istanbul, #Turkey

Edited using #Darktable in #ubuntustudio

https://liberapay.com/eylul

#editbacklog #artwithopensource #linuxartists #mastoart #artists #photography #photo #creativetoots

The tall cats are strange, loud and smelly. I try to improve the scent with my own. Their food smells amazing though but they hardly ever share it - I try to show them what sharing is, but my offerings are snubbed and buried away. I'd be insulted if they didn't designate food JUST for me. I'D share it if they wanted some.

At least they're warm on cold nights. And it's fun when they pretend their feet are some kind of prey under the sheets.

#tootfic #microfiction #writing #terylstales #caturday

The Amazon plunged her courtship spear at the feet of the tall, armor clad Valkyrie she had spent the last year fighting beside. She waited, knots of nervousness turning her guts in a way so different yet similar to the dawn before battle.

A long moment later, the Valkyrie bowed her head and smiled shyly, "I'm very flattered... my husband and I would be honored to have you by my side in battle and sharing our home."

#tootfic #microfiction #smallstories #fantasy #terylstales #lgbt #polyamory

Diversity is indeed very important.

We are the children of diversity

252 million years ago, 96% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial vertebrate species became extinct. All those species were adopting the same 'design pattern', mineralized skeletons

It seemed a good design. It turned into a common trigger that wiped out all those species that had made use of it

We are the children of those few species who were 'different', in that they used other patterns

Diversity is resilience.

When I was a child I feared the night.

Now I know,
The greatest horrors are committed by men in the light of day; Not monsters in the dark.

Now I go for easy walks on empty streets because I know that evil rises with the sun, and night hides well the innocent from their tormentors.

#smallstories

She was a being of vapors. I first glimpsed her dancing atop the candles of a birthday cake at the office. I saw her regularly over the week, grinning in the steam my latte.

She asked sweetly for a favor. I was so charmed, I agreed.

The old courthouse on the outskirts had been abandoned for years. I made sure there were no squatters.

And as the flames rose, she looked resplendent, rising and twisting leisurely across the smoky sky.

#tootfic #microfiction #writing #terylstales #urbanfantasy

#photo #photography

#photo #photography

gocomics.com/bloom-county/2018/06/06

#webcomic

I found a man, scarred & gruff, with butterflies on his wrists. He told me they were there to hide a mistake. Butterflies remind him that life can change and be beautiful. That lessons can be learned at any age.

I later found he had a moth on his ankle, barely discernible.
He said it was there to remind him that being seen rarely, but by a special few, is worth more than a spotlight.

It's enough to make an incubus fall in love.

#tootfic #microfiction #smallstories #fantasy #lgbta #terylstales

"There's a unicorn among our sheep," the shepherd reported to her father upon returning to the farmhouse.

"What's it doing there?" he asked, puzzled.

"I asked, it didn't answer."

"And I wouldn't press," warned her grandmother. Everyone agreed.

The next dawn, as the shepherd lead the flock out, she noted there were now two unicorns - one considerably smaller than the other.

For generations after, the wool from that farm was exceptional.

#tootfic #microfiction #fantasy #writing #terylstales

I had been told I was wasting time and money on my 'crazy' theory.

BUT after years of research, surveillance and trap setting, I had finally done it.

And honestly I didn't even care about proving anyone wrong by presenting definitive proof of what I'd suspected for years.

This was my personal triumph.

Finally able to confront my almost decade long adversary, I asked, "Why MY socks?"

The dragon admitted, "I had to hoard SOMETHING."

#tootfic #microfiction #writing #urbanfantasy #terylstales

One thing that I have learned over my years on the Internet is that when it comes to abuse you believe women first.

That's not to say that all women are genuine in their claims of abuse. That means that when there is the hint of abuse that you look at it from the POV of the woman making the claim.

This goes for technology issues as well. If a woman is telling you how something can be weaponized against women then you need to listen to them first. They have the experience.