Drabble #159: Transport

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 158, with entries by redwolf and comments by tojojo and redwolf.

For this prompt, we continue with our one-word/phrase drabble roots:

Transport

Tell us all about it. Labyfic-style, of course.

Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit of 500 words. Though remember that shorter pieces are most definitely welcome!

Your entry should take the following format, posted as a comment on this entry:

Word count: # of words
$your_beautiful_drabble

I'll be running weekly challenges in the space around jalenstrix's monthly challenges.

You can see our current collected suggestions here.

Remember: Feedback is LOVE. So do reply to your fellow labyficcers' drabbles if so inclined. (Though be careful of concrit unless specifically okayed by the author beforehand. Authors generally write for love.)

Comments

Study

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

While Sarah was more than happy that her tutoring had come to an end, as she ran a finger along the spines of the hefty tomes on the shelf, she resigned herself to years of playing catch up when it came to the history of the Underground. With a pleased smile, she pulled a volume that covered the people she’d be dealing with in a couple of weeks and found a comfortable chair to settle in for the duration.

Truthfully, her advisors would have everything covered and were more than happy to fill the gaps in her knowledge, but she preferred the written word to solidify a concept. As annoying as it could sometimes feel to have to study to keep in the loop, her people appreciated her desire to learn.

As she glanced at the contents to figure out which sections to speed read, she understood that it only showed her part of the picture. The foxes excelled at providing a more nuanced take on personalities and motivations. She never really expected that knowing who an ambassador was sleeping with would come in useful, but it was always better to have intel that you never needed than it was to be blindsided, and Sarah believed in going into negotiations fully armed in more ways than one.

She noted that the family tree showed the ambassador as being distantly related to his kingdom’s queen and wondered if he’d been rewarded with the role, sidelined to keep him quiet or if he was just a competent diplomat. Admittedly, experience had her err on the side of him being an entitled loudmouth that displayed way too many traits indicative of a disturbing level of inbreeding, but it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised to the contrary one day. Fortunately, these puppets tended to have their stupid buffered by a team of capable assistants, but everyone would still be forced to suffer through the performative theatre of watching men who’d failed upwards flail incoherently.

As she quietly wondered if it would cause a problem if she accidentally on purpose bogged the ambassador, a pair of familiar faces distracted her thoughts of politics when she spotted Ada and George as they perused the stacks.

Sarah had only overlapped a few classes with the pair, but it still brought a smile to her face to recall how studious they’d been and the way they worked as a team to cover each other's shortcomings in class. Ada was George’s translator, but they conferred on everything they did. Sarah had assumed it was a one sided arrangement, with Ada carrying George’s education, but she’d seen him teaching her wolf skills too.

With a sigh, Sarah returned to her reading. Although it had given her an idea. Threatening people with the bog, while effective, was a little passe. She wondered if she could alter the size of someone, because she just happened to know someone with a pond full of koi who had a taste for fairies.

Re: Study

[tojojo]

She's so...casually violent, haha. I love it!

Re: Study

[redwolf]

There are just some people you have to deal with who could use a trip to the bog. Or the koi pond, in this case 🦊🧡