There used to be an old sign by the path, warning passers-by of the local sleeping willow, which would trap the unwary with fatigue, engulf them while they slept, and release them a hundred years later.

[microsff@mastodon.art]

There used to be an old sign by the path, warning passers-by of the local sleeping willow, which would trap the unwary with fatigue, engulf them while they slept, and release them a hundred years later.

There was a new sign:

"This sleeping willow is full."

And a map of other locations to try.

#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

[emilymbender@dair-community.social]

@MicroSFF Ooh! I love this. And my immediate thought was it would be interesting to read a novel set 100 years in the future tracking how the people who woke up first (having started their sleep first) guide (or don't) the later-comers as they wake up.

[emilymbender@dair-community.social]

@MicroSFF ... character arcs started by what in the 2020s led them to make that choice / the early-sleepers maybe read the decade quicker but also lack information about what happened next, etc.

[violanders@mastodon.nu]

@MicroSFF
https://beige.party/@barbiegirlinterrupted/116174088350533179

[andrewt@mathstodon.xyz]

@emilymbender @MicroSFF I expect the first wakers just put up a third sign, this time pointed inwards, toward the willow, saying "best give it another hundred"

[microsff@mastodon.art]

@violanders Hah!