Drabble #173: Worried

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 172, with entries by apachefirecat and redwolf and comments by apachefirecat and redwolf

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

Worried

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

Fidget

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah had been concerned about Jareth’s meeting. It was one of those things that he really needed to attend, but he had little interest and the speaker, while extremely knowledgeable in his area of expertise, was so boring that anyone present yearned for the excitement of watching paint dry.

Jareth’s default method of staying awake in these situations was to manifest and juggle crystals. Unfortunately, in this case, that tactic would only serve to fluster the man and draw the situation out far longer than was comfortable.

Fearing a feedback loop of a boring speaker and bored Goblin King, Sarah entered the room and was surprised to find Jareth was alone.

“You didn’t bog him, did you?” Sarah looked around the room, wondering if the man had been turned into a table lamp, but didn’t notice that any new decorative objects had mysteriously appeared. The room looked as it should, there weren’t even any discolorations on the rug that could have indicated a more violent conclusion to the meeting.

“Tempting,” Jareth sighed. “So very tempting. But he lives to torture me again with the next quarterly report.”

Sarah frowned, unable to identify a low rhythmic noise that sounded a little watery. “Can you hear that?”

The sound ceased when Jareth held out his hand to Sarah.

“What is it?” Sarah took the unfamiliar object from Jareth. It was as long as her thumb and looked to be brass or bronze. As she turned it over, it shifted in her grip and the upper and lower halves slid apart, the movement halted by magnets with an almost liquid sensation. This was the source of the odd noise.

“Rook made it for me. It’s unexpectedly soothing to play with it.” He slid the halves of the gadget back and forth with a soft smile on his face. “I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the tactile thunks it makes are infinitely more interesting that whatever that dull, little man was wittering on about.”

Returning the gadget to Jareth, Sarah fondly ran her fingers through his hair, smiling as he leaned into her touch. She would have to thank Rook for providing Jareth with a distraction. A report was delivered, nobody was bogged and Jareth was in a calm mood. Usually, these meetings left him in a temper, so she was appreciative of both not having to weather the storm and the possibilities of an evening with a Goblin King whose attentions were solely on her.

Sarah didn’t quite have the heart to tell her husband that his shiny doohickey for surviving death by being talked at was what would be called a fiddle toy Above. Even though it was in a form that looked like an elegantly engineered sculpture, rather than a mass produced lump of brightly coloured plastic, the effect was much the same. Although, looking at the item as Jareth smoothly manipulated it, she supposed that not many Above fiddle toys could double as a weapon if you threw them.

Re: Fidget

[apachefirecat]

Definitely not! :) But somehow, I suspect our King could aptly make pretty much anything into a weapon of mass destruction!

I love how calmly and commonly you refer to "bogging" someone, as though it is a very common, daily occurrence! :)

On a side note, I DO understand the need to have things to comfort and distract ourselves in such cases, but this makes me wonder... Has anyone else noticed people bringing stuffed animals into work settings recently? I've had TWO colleagues now I've spotted cuddling a plushie at work, and it has taken EVERYTHING in me not to say something! Some advice as to how not to want to bog these people myself would quite be appreciated, if anyone can offer any. :)

Re: Fidget

[redwolf]

Cassowarys are already a weapon of mass destruction.

I'm WFH now, but when the office moved to a new location, instead of people having desks, they moved to hotdesking which everyone loathes. If you are stuck in the office, it's now an completely impersonal environment.

People like to have familiar stuff around them to own a space. If you have a desk, people could have photos, plants, a dozen Funko Pops or other familiar things around them. But if you're hotdesking, a plush could be something that's small, portable and unbreakable to make a space more comfortable.

If it doesn't interfere with anyone else and it stops someone from stabbing their coworkers, then it's probably worth ignoring.

Re: Fidget

[apachefirecat]

That is a very valid point, but no, not hotdesking here. They're actually very good about morale, both personal and team. I'm pretty blessed to have this place honestly. <3 It just DISTURBS me to see a grown person hugging a plushie out in public, especially in a work setting! *shrug* Hubby does say I'm always too serious.

Re: Fidget

[redwolf]

If you want some obscure reasons... some autistics use plushes to stim. It could have belonged to child or pet who is away, ill or dead. There are companies who make plushies from items belonging to loved ones or it could contain ashes.

Re: Fidget

[apachefirecat]

Very good point that I had NOT considered previously! Thank you!!

One Girl

[apachefirecat]

Word Count: 500


The Dwarf watched, with a deepening scowl etched on his sour, craggy face, as his King walked away yet again without bothering to engage him. There was no threat to be turned into the Prince of the Bog of Eternal Stench. There was no threat at all. It was as though his mere existence could not be bothered with by his Royal Assness, as Hoggle tended to think of the Goblin King, if even only to himself, never daring to voice his actual thoughts aloud. He was almost tempted to as he watched Jareth walk away from him, seeming to fade in and out of nothingness before his very eyes.

He shook his head slowly. He had never seen the lad so despondent! He recalled when Jareth had first been brought into the kingdom and how he had eventually bested the current King to take his spot. He had always been a flurry of power, wrath, vengeance, and pride, but none of that seemed to be present these days. For the last many moons, he had only seemed filled with sorrow. He had watched the boy grow from a babe whom not even his own sister or mother had wanted to a man who was practically a dragon in flesh. He even strutted with the pride and guarded his treasures like a dragon!

The man walking away from him now, however, was barely living. He was thinner than Hoggle had ever seen him before, and although he knew Jareth could take whatever form he chose, it still worried him. Worse by far, he was not caring what happened to the Kingdom, who tramped in or out of it, and seemed almost to want to become one with the wind. A phantom, Hoggle thought, his bushy, gray brow lowering from whence it had arched when Jareth had only walked away when he'd heard there was a new, non-girl intruder.

No one else had ever cared about the people before him -- and, Hoggle knew in his boots, none would care after. He heard a small, tisking sound below him and knew even the Wyrm was greatly upset. "I don't know what I'm going to tell the Missus," he heard him murmuring.

"Sire! Sire!" More of the guards were crying out, but Jareth simply kept walking until he vanished from their sights altogether.

Even Hoggle gasped at that. Only the Knight beside him remained calm. "Remember the legend, Sir Hoggle," the Knight spoke softly, placing an arm on Hoggle's.

"What're we gonna do?!"

"We are to wait. Only the girl who is right will be the one who can reduce the King as such, and if she is right, she will come again."

"Sarah," Hoggle spoke glumly.

From somewhere behind him, he heard Ludo's deep, gravelly voice repeat her name. Then the great, shaggy beast began to howl his worry. For once, no one told him to hush.

"Sarah," Didymus agreed.

"This time, we won't let her go."

Ludo howled for them all.



The End

Re: One Girl

[redwolf]

Nice touch to have Ludo's mournful howl set the tone at the end. 🦊🧡

Re: One Girl

[apachefirecat]

Thank you!