asakiyume | placeholder microfiction

You're viewing

asakiyume's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

I don't like to go so long without posting! Just offline stuff piling on (nothing personally dire, though). The offline stuff is doing a number on my ability to write, but I still manage to squeeze out microfictions, though not quite daily. Here's one from a few days ago:

I dreamed of a pharaoh, awaking after death and arranging to his liking the various precious items buried with him.

"You've got quite an ego," I snapped at him (dream-me is apparently rude to people's faces), "having this massive pyramid built just so people would remember you."

"That's not why I had it built. It's for all the stories that collect around it. Adventures, time travel, curses, beings from the stars--I hear them all, and they entertain me," he replied.

And here's a sweet video my tutor sent me of Martin, a pygmy marmoset monkey, whining at Gordo-the-dog, who's relaxing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sonia

I love the little micro-fiction! (Although I still agree with the narrator's assessment.)

What a cute little pygmy marmoset monkey and the dog & person are so patient with it climbing all over them and whining. That would not be the right pet for me! Thanks for sharing!

From:

asakiyume

My pleasure ^_^

I had never known monkeys could be so tiny! Apparently pygmy marmosets are the tiniest.

ETA: re the narrator's assessment, definitely.

Edited Date: 2026-01-17 05:48 pm (UTC)

From:

f0rrest

I still question the Pharaoh's intent. Does he foster these stories for his entertainment alone? Or for the betterment of those involved?

From:

asakiyume

Oh no doubt he was a selfish asshole. People like pharaohs generally are. I imagine him being so sure that his riposte will make the narrator agree with him and the narrator thinking exactly what you said.

We're just lucky all those stories spilled out for all of us. Stories are like the honey badger, they do what they want.

Edited (weird grammar error) Date: 2026-01-17 05:47 pm (UTC)

From:

f0rrest

It's funny how dark motivations can sometimes lead to good outcomes.

From:

asakiyume

Yes! And sadly the reverse as well. I wonder how much of the time which ends up in which outcome. ... I guess it's impossible to know because you'd also have to be a judge of what counts as a bad motivation and what counts as a good one, and what counts as a good outcome and what counts as a bad one... and how much any outcome can truly be attributed to one cause. OMG STOP ME I NEED TO STOP.

From:

f0rrest

Stop.

From:

f0rrest

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I also like how it reveals how people justify their behavior to themselves. It's almost like the Pharaoh has told himself this same justification before when he was having an introspective moment realizing he was being an egotistical ass by having the pyramids built, of course without realizing that this justification is just a pretty coat of paint over the fact that he is indeed an egotistical ass.

Edited (minor stuff ) Date: 2026-01-18 01:06 am (UTC)

From:

asakiyume

Yeah, and additionally, "I'm not doing it for this reason; I'm doing it for this other reason" can be just plain mistaken thinking because the fact that you might be doing something for this other reason doesn't necessarily erase the first reason. People do things for multiple reasons.

Sort of the inverse of putting a pretty coat of paint on something is the sort of acid bath of motive analysis for good deeds, where if there's even the whiff of anything self-interested in your motivations, that taints everything, so much so that, for example, if you're not positively suffering doing your good deed, why then, you sinner, you're claiming to be doing something good when really you're just HAVING FUN. So, e.g., if you enjoy yourself cooking meals in a soup kitchen, then that's not ***reallly*** a good deed, that's you just having your jollies cooking and racking up social capital--no, to be truly a good deed you ought to be, IDK, cleaning out latrines... unless you like cleaning out latrines, in which case that's off the list too. Which is nuts, complete insanity.

For me, what makes the pharaoh still a selfish asshole is that whether it's to collect stories for your entertainment or just to have people remember you, it's still all about YOU. ... But also, I think the pharaoh would say to me, like the woman in the L'oreal commercial, "But I'm worth it." People like the pharaoh really think they deserve pyramids, for whatever reason they're constructed.

From:

sartorias

I love both story and vid!

From:

asakiyume

I thought you in particular would enjoy the video :-)

From:

sovay

"That's not why I had it built. It's for all the stories that collect around it. Adventures, time travel, curses, beings from the stars--I hear them all, and they entertain me," he replied.

Cool motive, still ego!

(I like this a lot.)