Post B5txIsJTHaDLRI98RU by shtrom@piaille.fr
(DIR) More posts by shtrom@piaille.fr
(DIR) Post #B5tstARspffML9ZEWm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T22:37:39Z
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Story Set Up:One day you get a strange envelope in the mail. No obvious significance of the return address, it's just a shipping depot. In the large bubble envelope you find... your childhood journal. An old tattered notebook full of drawings and writings you remember well. Who could have sent it? A relative?But there is another much more serious issue. One you are reluctant to even confront.You never lost your old childhood journal. It's right there on the shelf. There are *two* copies.
(DIR) Post #B5tu7phUM9IYHwQJEW by itgrrl@infosec.exchange
2026-05-02T22:51:28Z
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@futurebird if you look at yourself in the mirror do you see a goatee…? 🤔 🖖
(DIR) Post #B5tuBEV2briK4RDqcq by Wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud
2026-05-02T22:52:05Z
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@futurebird ... How big is the gazebo, and does it look hungry
(DIR) Post #B5tuF6rKxU9VX5V2hM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T22:52:49Z
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@Wharrrrrrgarbl What??
(DIR) Post #B5tuOqyIsobx9bP8Pg by NotADropbear@aus.social
2026-05-02T22:54:31Z
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@futurebird “There are *two* copies.”No. What you realise now is that there are *at least* two copies.
(DIR) Post #B5tuTFCClBLfRU04qO by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-05-02T22:55:07Z
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@futurebird Knights of the Kitchen Table reference ?(or just Dork Tower, it's been a while, I tend to mix them up)But I don't understand why either would be relevant there ?@Wharrrrrrgarbl
(DIR) Post #B5tuTN4hSy6BsWYCG0 by Wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud
2026-05-02T22:55:13Z
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@futurebird https://web.archive.org/web/20080804140516/http://www.dreadgazebo.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8
(DIR) Post #B5tvdS2Py4fu7aqyeW by yatagarasu@dice.camp
2026-05-02T23:08:21Z
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@futurebird Time to call Central HQ and make sure you’re operating in the right timeline.
(DIR) Post #B5tveDyVju4QnNOXE8 by aka_quant_noir@hcommons.social
2026-05-02T23:08:29Z
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@futurebird You compare the copies, side by side. The text is the same, with one exception. One uses the Oxford comma, and the other does not. And one has a little stain that the other doesn't have, on page 6.
(DIR) Post #B5tvkrjWpctBqDYO4e by FranceskaMann@freeradical.zone
2026-05-02T23:09:43Z
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@futurebird how could this be?Is it possible that you mailed this to yourself from another dimension? The pages are exact copies of the journal on your shelf except for one detail: The dress you had worn and colored blue, is colored red in this new mystery journal.
(DIR) Post #B5tvqLXvPpd5kgjvBw by leadegroot@bne.social
2026-05-02T23:10:38Z
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@futurebird goddamit!! Time travel is possible! I was sure it wasnt! (and clearly im involved in its development - thats also unexpected!)
(DIR) Post #B5twapqL6WnF2NWK12 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:19:09Z
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"Remember that creepy copy of my journal someone sent me? Well I think I figured it out." If you were more honest with yourself you would realize you had not 'figured it out' but you are anxious to tell your friend what you discovered see if you can put this thing to rest. "I did what you said and compared each page and you were right. They aren't totally identical. There are all kinds of little differences.""Like what?" Sarah isn't looking reassured like you hoped she looks more worried.
(DIR) Post #B5twrEdkg40YZqS85g by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:22:07Z
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"Well like the drawings of my favorite animal. It was always the turtle. I remember that. But, in the copy it's frogs. Every turtle is a frog.""Okay." Sarah stirs her coffee, it's still too hot to drink. You have been worried she just thinks you made this whole thing up. But, you needed to tell someone. "And not just that, some of the math problems have different mistakes and numbers.""Are you certain you didn't just have two very similar journals?"You've been over this.
(DIR) Post #B5txBWLUYgspHVaJHc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:25:47Z
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You're started to get frustrated. Because Sarah keeps trying to explain it away. It's the yellow "Mead" brand notebook you bought at the five and dime. You remember wanting a light blue but they only had yellow. It's the same journal. Same dates, but also... different. Perhaps talking to anyone else was a mistake. "I don't think that's what this is." You say trying to hide your annoyance. "Listen, let's just talk about something else."
(DIR) Post #B5txIsJTHaDLRI98RU by shtrom@piaille.fr
2026-05-02T23:27:03Z
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@futurebird .
(DIR) Post #B5txYTtjpCnaLnYFiy by SoftwareTheron@mas.to
2026-05-02T23:29:54Z
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@futurebird Paranoia... meet Sarah, talk about the notebooks - but without actually bringing them along. Narrator may be _quite_ unreliable.
(DIR) Post #B5txwzZlhNyxY1tlcu by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-05-02T23:34:17Z
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@futurebird It's of course a very nice setting, but I'd be impressed if you can expend it without resorting to the overtired time-travel, multiple-dimension or evil-twin explanations (or worse, cop out and give no explanation at all).
(DIR) Post #B5tyHTLUj1AzfWzIhM by lesezeichen@ieji.de
2026-05-02T23:38:01Z
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@futurebird please go on I want to read more of this
(DIR) Post #B5tyM2a9eu3a6x1VL6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:38:53Z
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Hanging out with Sarah was great, but you probably did drink a little too much. Laying in bed you look at you phone 8:20am. You need to be at work in less than a hour. Calling in sick is tempting, part of you wants to look at the two notebooks again. Next time you'll bring them with you and show Sarah. Then maybe she'd understand why you are so shook up. You go to the book shelf to look at them again. And find that both of them are gone.
(DIR) Post #B5tyVYjnTUKyRi4XHU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:40:36Z
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And as you wake up more you realize calling in sick isn't an option. Not today. You are freaked out about the missing journals, but you need to get to work. You dress and wash up as quickly as possible and dash to the elevator. You are on the 8th floor.You live on the 6th floor. That was not your apartment.
(DIR) Post #B5tylFDrnZw4YRcH68 by LJ@zirk.us
2026-05-02T23:43:24Z
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@futurebird I'd read the hell out of that. Of course, i just finished a manuscript with a ton of Mandala effect stuff. :)
(DIR) Post #B5typu77hxGCXDgTD6 by count_01@mastodon.social
2026-05-02T23:44:15Z
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@futurebird Now I'm worrying whose pants I just threw on.
(DIR) Post #B5tyvfN5Qv9WY6tl9k by FranceskaMann@freeradical.zone
2026-05-02T23:45:17Z
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@futurebird Your husband is Mr. Pelicot. (It's a horror story now)
(DIR) Post #B5tyxFnjTQhFp87QIK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:45:37Z
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You have already pushed the button on automatic and look behind you at the door of the apartment where you slept. 8L not 6L the same exact floor plan just two levels up. You half expect the door to open. Should you go back? But you have locked the door. Maybe you will call in sick after all. Too panicked to take the elevator you run down the stairs to 6L. Rush to the door and then stop. What if someone is in there?
(DIR) Post #B5tzbBeSJyTKXMoyae by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-02T23:52:49Z
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To your horror the door knob turns. You back away making too much noise and duck back into the darkness of the stairwell just soon enough to see yourself run past, late for work. You listen. Then realize that "you" will also notice that it the wrong floor and so you flee down the stairs. You're going to work after all. At least at work things are normal.
(DIR) Post #B5u0kcTc3UQuIIoM5Y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T00:05:44Z
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As the work day draws to a close your dread builds. But you have been thinking. This other person, this near identical copy had to know more about this than you. They had to be the one who sent you the notebook. When you get home you are very careful when picking the floor. On your apartment door there is an envelope. You don't dare go in without reading it first. "I was also scared when I first found out about you. I assumed you were coping me. Which is probably what you think I'm doing."
(DIR) Post #B5u0ti3ChUQYBinEEC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T00:07:22Z
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"But I think something else is going on. I was hoping that the journal would prove it. Prove that this isn't just copying. It's something much bigger. We aren't the only ones. When you showed up drunk last night... I wasn't ready to talk, but I think we have to now.When you are ready. You know where I live."
(DIR) Post #B5u11kg4ojQOeUoIxU by not2b@sfba.social
2026-05-03T00:08:48Z
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@futurebird Maybe the imperfect copy of the journal was made by an obsessed stalker, now determined to gaslight you for reasons you need to figure out.
(DIR) Post #B5u1R3Tw2az8DCCGMi by Nonya_Bidniss@infosec.exchange
2026-05-03T00:13:22Z
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@futurebird This is great!
(DIR) Post #B5u1cDT9FTWuN99PDE by michaelgemar@cosocial.ca
2026-05-03T00:15:23Z
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@futurebird This is terrific!
(DIR) Post #B5u6f6HAwrV0hdkGJ6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T01:11:58Z
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Are you going up to 8L to talk to her right now, or will you try to pretend this isn't happening?
(DIR) Post #B5u7vcpBnjBgEp6AAi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T01:26:10Z
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Seeing yourself isn't like looking in a mirror. It's not even like seeing a video of yourself or hearing a tape of your voice. It's an experience that is at once flattering and demoralizing. I was surprised by how put together I looked. Surprised that I wasn't as short as I worried. But, also I seemed older, or she did. She looked exactly like me. Down to the slight limp when she opened the door. "I got your note." I said."Oh!" She said. "You want 8L, I'm 10L. You must be 6."
(DIR) Post #B5u8AlehFbjPyCPXgO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T01:28:51Z
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She lead me into an apartment identical to my own. On the couch, holding a cat identical to my cat was "8L."There were three of us."How many are there?" I said."At least two more, but we haven't looked at the south wing." Said 8L"Everything would be mirrored." Said 10L taking the words right out of my mouth.
(DIR) Post #B5uAdtmQK355TT2lpA by TobyBartels@mathstodon.xyz
2026-05-03T01:56:31Z
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@futurebirdThe narration shifted from second person to first person, so I thought that maybe we were shifting perspectives from 6L to 8L. But I guess we're still 6L.
(DIR) Post #B5uAlf4StUJYAiBTE0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T01:57:59Z
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@TobyBartels That is an error.
(DIR) Post #B5uBAq7Gxt4xfSVFp2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T02:02:32Z
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@TobyBartels Second person is a bit odd if you describe what the person looks like.
(DIR) Post #B5uBjQEVBsmzWkNIki by farah@beige.party
2026-05-03T02:08:44Z
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@futurebird Oh damn! Multiverse madness??It’s so good btw!!
(DIR) Post #B5uBm0BsTJl7cwNSsK by SholemAlejchem@hessen.social
2026-05-03T02:09:13Z
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@futurebird Ah, a nice twist on the everything is almost identitcal due to soulless conformity down to buildings, the tolerances of your lock and your alcoholism. Warm greetings from Brezhnew Era Soviet Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
(DIR) Post #B5uC3mnZ0Ch3IwU7c0 by jztusk@mastodon.social
2026-05-03T02:12:25Z
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@futurebird You might like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_HimselfA friend read this as a teen, and recently got a hankering to re-read it. He lent it to me. (Note: There's some old 1970s gender stuff that is rather 1970s. Make sure to get the updated version and read the author's note at the end to make that better. I won't say anything more, lest I do spoilers. 🤐)
(DIR) Post #B5uCbcHAdBNQW1SsOe by qurlyjoe@mstdn.social
2026-05-03T02:18:31Z
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@futurebird 🌟Have you been doing this here? This is the first I’ve seen if you have been.
(DIR) Post #B5uCgpVWrbmd05fP7Y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T02:19:31Z
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@qurlyjoe I post a micro fiction ever now and then. I should tag this one.
(DIR) Post #B5uD3cPLjZQ726dvA8 by qurlyjoe@mstdn.social
2026-05-03T02:23:36Z
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@futurebird definitely!
(DIR) Post #B5uExYl8aPVjt74ZHc by peterdrake@mstdn.social
2026-05-03T02:44:53Z
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@futurebird Have you seen Orphan Black? Not quite the same thing, but related (and extremely well done).
(DIR) Post #B5uLKp0ivh0yfyq2rY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-03T03:56:22Z
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@EricLawton Maybe if you watch a high rise from the right angle you see them on the alternating floors (because the layout of the bathrooms is different) their shadows moving over the windows almost in unison...
(DIR) Post #B5uLuML70PJ8BAJvzk by muddle@infosec.exchange
2026-05-03T04:02:46Z
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@futurebird There's the Blade Runner option, in which you are a replicant and the physical keepsake is there to reinforce the false memories that they introduce into all replicants as a way of inadvertently self-identifying. The disparity between spirit animals is just your personal production batch number.#TheBoysFromBrazil #VoightKampff
(DIR) Post #B5uMolAjrhrlPfMWpc by trurl@mastodon.sdf.org
2026-05-03T04:12:56Z
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@futurebird this is what happens when you rent an apartment at the former Hilbert Hotel...Also, I'm totally bringing some dice and coins to help randomize interjections so that we don't keep interrupting each other with the same thoughts. (This idea comes from Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist stories, wherein Shaper sibling-clones tend to favor games of chance because they're so evenly matched at everything.)
(DIR) Post #B5uPolrLbs3tPHzOHw by bmartin427@techhub.social
2026-05-03T04:46:33Z
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@futurebird sounds like a Blake Crouch novel
(DIR) Post #B5uRljyQMg5ib6ywa0 by ShadSterling@mastodon.social
2026-05-03T05:08:26Z
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@futurebird something else - bring Sarah, then go up
(DIR) Post #B5uVaJhE7fntjNkKCe by NSalwen@mstdn.social
2026-05-03T05:51:09Z
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@futurebird Like Hunter Biden's laptop.
(DIR) Post #B5ufT5IiFGNObCTCbY by tekguru@social.vivaldi.net
2026-05-03T07:41:56Z
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@futurebird @HollieK72 Could be a plot for a 50’s series like the Outer Limits.
(DIR) Post #B5ujBganFyrmrRt1Cy by roadskater@mastodon.social
2026-05-03T08:23:37Z
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@futurebird This whole thread, it's what has been dubbed a "personal alternate history", except you've got some cross-time crosstalk in there. Think of the movies Sliding Doors and Run Lola Run.
(DIR) Post #B5vQqEAe83L8cAEalU by dpnash@c.im
2026-05-03T16:32:46Z
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@futurebird Mirrored two-dimensionally, like a floor plan: no problem.Mirrored three-dimensionally, right down to the molecular level? Possibly a big problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Error
(DIR) Post #B60pWw6mWsBDjn7lom by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-05-06T07:02:49Z
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@futurebird That's the end ?
(DIR) Post #B611dkEQHfUINaiAUK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-05-06T09:18:40Z
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@lienrag It's not!But, it's part of the same much larger story I've been working on. I didn't think it was at first since these are new characters. But, it's the same issue from another perspective. So, I will post more, a lot more at some much later date. I like telling stories online, it's more like a campfire, you know? It can be hard to just go away and write a whole long book without worrying that it's not "hitting" that it's not exciting and compelling.
(DIR) Post #B61BucKNvG9AKZBToO by 3janeTA@beige.party
2026-05-06T11:13:43Z
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@futurebird @lienrag love it