Ok, so, once again I had an idea for a short tidbit that was too long for Twitter, but this time it struck me I could create a thread here for sharing microfiction that's over 140 characters. I don't know if you're going to use it, or if I'm going to use it, but if anything this thread can just die and go to the dreaded second page of the thread archive. I also don't think there should be any enforcement of lenght here of any kind, so from Microfiction Thread I turned it into Micro and Short Fiction Thread. You probably can post anything of any lenght here, even if you feel it's too big, but if it is very close to the 60k character limit for posts or if it's above said limit, perhaps one should create a Medium and Long Fiction Thread to go with that. Perhaps I'll do it myself if I ever write something that can fit there. For future reference, I think said thread would contain a meaningful number of external links for texts that don't fit the character limit, but maybe that's just me.
I'll begin:
"Small white clouds. The sun is shining, hot." As an extension of that, he rubbed the sweat off his forehead.
"Anything else?"
"Uh... The sky is... As blue as always?"
She took a deep breath to avoid any response that could come off as rude. "No. Feel the breeze?"
"Not really."
"Exactly. But look at the clouds. White, sparce and fluffly as a flock of sheep. Moving. See?"
He squinted his eyes. "I think... I think I do."
"Okay, now, what kind of message do you think the gods are sending us?"
"Summer has arrived and we might have rain sometime in the next days?"
"No. I mean, yes. But the message the gods tell us are always deeper than that. They are sending us a fortuitous message, that the rains this summer will start weak, but they warn us they might grow strong, so we should probably harvest the crops earlier and stock before the storms arrive. The sun glows strong, but not too hot, showing us the gods are pleased with our king's righteousness and our people's truthfulness. See?"
"Yes. It's not that hard when you put it that way."
"I've had many years of practice."
"Oh, no... look! Black, spiraling smoke! Is that an omen of bad things to come?"
"No. It's a warning of bad things happening right now."
"No!"
"No? Yes! Quick, let's search for an official and tell somewhere's on fire!"
As she turned around to leave, he glanced back to the sky and then to the smoke. He was sure he'd never understand any of this divination thing.