Drabble #197: Fierce

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 196, with entries by apachefirecat and redwolf, and comments by apachefirecat, jalenstrix and redwolf

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

Fierce

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

Fierce

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah waited until the door to the meeting room closed before reactivating the room’s privacy magicks.

“Some of the gloss came off that report,” Bishop tilted his chair back and put his feet up on the table.

“That was the point of the exercise,” Sarah sighed as she produced a scrying crystal with a flick of her wrist that contained further evidence. Jareth had helpfully crafted the device she was using, which was for the best when her own attempts had left a sizable gap in an ornamental hedge.

If it wasn’t for the woman’s obsequiousness immediately rubbing her the wrong way, Sarah was concerned she would have missed other red flags. On paper the woman seemed a good fit as a team leader and she certainly presented well, but all of her reporting was suspicious due to a tone that framed the work as a solo effort when Sarah knew the woman had the backing of a team.

“Her arrogance to imply that she wrote that report was astounding.” Bishop had been amused to watch the woman struggling to respond to deeper questions that should have been easy to answer if she had actually been the author of the presentation.

“I am not fond of people who steal the credit for the hard work of others.” Sarah ground her teeth in annoyance as she examined the crystal in her hand that had been use the monitor the woman’s recent interactions with her team. “I really shouldn’t have been surprised to learn she’s been bullying her staff.”

Bishop shrugged. “They do seem to be narcissistic traits that go together. Although, from what we’ve learned from your observations.” He nodded at the crystal. “It looks like she weaponises incompetence to get others to do her work and then presents it as her own.”

“That’s bad enough,” Sarah agreed. “But the screaming tantrum she threw when I asked for something on a tighter time frame was disturbing. I would have to assume this is a common occurrence based on the high turnover of people who’ve worked with her.”

“I’m concerned that no one has complained about her behaviour.”

Sarah nodded thoughtfully. “So am I and I wonder if she’s been threatening people.”

“What do you plan to do about her?” Bishop raised an elegant eyebrow.

“Jareth suggested a solution that should work,” Sarah grinned in a manner that did not bode well for others. “I’ll be demoting this woman and replacing her as team leader, but that role needs someone with a suitable background in the area, prior experience in leadership and an ability to stand up to threats of intimidation.”

“I am assuming Jareth’s suggestion will be able to handle a narcissist having a meltdown.”

“Considering that they’re a dragon shifter, I would hope so, but seeing the woman end up a steaming pile of ash when she attempts to reassert her nonexistent authority on her new team leader may bring a smile to the faces of those she’s been torturing.”

Re: Fierce

[apachefirecat]

Love your idea here, and I continue to enjoy the uniqueness of this vast 'verse you've built for them! <3

Also, I'm pretty sure every one of us has had the misfortune to have to deal with a woman (or man) as is discussed here!

Re: Fierce

[redwolf]

It would be so cathartic to have your bully reduced to a nasty stain on the rug. 🦊🧡

Re: Fierce

[apachefirecat]

Absolutely! <3

Different

[apachefirecat]

Word Count: 500


She wakes, sweating, gasping, heart pounding, a familiar scream trapped in her throat. She sits up; already, reality is returning. She does not need to look around her at the familiar surroundings. She knows where she is, where she was, and where she yearns to be. She knows she's still stuck here, in this world where she doesn't want to be, alone without her friends or anyone else who ever may have truly cared for her.

Toby had been a baby at the time she had sacrificed everything to save him. Of course he doesn't remember. It's not his fault, or so she tells herself time and again. It's her own fault. She should have found another way. She should have made another deal. She keeps trying, keeps trying every way she can find to call back to him, but he will not answer. He doesn't even come when she takes kids in her care and tries to offer them to him -- not that she'll actually let him take them, and perhaps that's why he doesn't come.

Because he knows she doesn't want to make a deal. She doesn't want the children to actually be taken. She can sacrifice them no more than she was able to sacrifice her own brother all those years ago.

Or maybe she did hurt him. Maybe she hurt him so badly he can not come now, or ever again. Maybe he hates her. Maybe her determination to save her brother made the only man who ever loved her hate her. Maybe it even did worse... He had looked so weak and forlorn in those last few minutes.

But no. NO! Hoggle had said he was doing well, still thriving, still being a maniacal tyrant back before his visits had stopped. Jareth stopped those visits, Sarah knows. She knows he is to be feared and is a fierce foe, but she knows too that he will never truly harm her. He loved her. She was just too young and naive to see it at the time, and she'd not been able to allow any harm to come to her brother.

She should have found another way. She would now, if she could only get the chance again. She would find a way to both save the baby and the King. She wonders, not for the first time, what Jareth's life had been like when he had been a baby. After all, he is the only human amongst Goblins, or at least he appears (mostly) human. Majestic, supernatural even, but still mostly human. Was he a baby left behind?

Drawing her knees up to her, Sarah considers what she could have done differently. She plays it different so many times over and over again in her dreams. Had she not gone down when the Helping Hands had tried to help, as she'd dreamed just now, what would have changed? Could she have reached him, loved him, been his Queen? She weeps in darkness.


The End

Re: Different

[redwolf]

Sarah is really trapped in a holding pattern here. I do hope she finds a way out. 🦊🧡

Re: Different

[apachefirecat]

I know what the dragon's role is now!!! Hee! LOL