alias

A snippet of a conversation between you and a fae, where the latter really wants your name. You can give it some push back (names are important), but the snippet ends before the conversation is concluded. Leaving to wonder whether we succumbed to the fae’s demands…

This entry in the Neo Twiny Jam, written in 500 words or less, concerns an encounter with a mysterious spidery being in the forest.

This is a fae-like tale, which a creature asking for your name whose motives may not be everything you think they are...

This is honestly a pretty good setup and mostly good execution, but the limitations of the wordcount bind this story and it ends long before the narrative energy has been expended. A less weighty tale or longer matter might make this stronger.

This is a short story that takes an idiom and turns it on its head effectively. That idiom is "may I have your name," except, well, it’s literal in this case. It’s hard not to feel a bit defensive about all this. You get some interesting deflecting responses. You shouldn’t have to say them.

I don’t think there's any way to do as the fairy asks. But it’s a really neat look at invasive, unwelcome questions and having one’s personal space breached in a way that doesn’t make me need to go wash my hands after.

They way it ended for me, I wondered if the fairy ever had any intentions of taking your name, or it just wanted to be annoying, like a low-key catcall. Maybe it had no power to do anything.

It’s an interesting clever twist on chance encounters where someone was rude to you for no reason at all and you are left wondering "what did I do" and wondering why you feel just a bit icky even if you can't put your finger on what the random passer-by did to annoy you.