Drabble #198: Cloud

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 197, with entries by apachefirecat and redwolf, and comments by apachefirecat and redwolf

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

Cloud

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

Pyrotechnics

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah was more than relieved that her day was finally over and she could indulge in a long relaxing soak in the tub before curling up in bed with a trashy romance novel. She’d stumbled over the book in the castle’s library and was wondering which of the guardians was responsible for its appearance when she noticed it was just one of a sizable collection. With a happy wriggle to get comfortable in her nest of pillows, Sarah cracked open the book to find out if it lived up to the lurid promise of a cover that featured a purple haired, leather clad woman with a heavily tattooed, shirtless man wrapped around her.

Sarah was invested enough in the story of two outcasts finding love, or at least steamy, passionate sex on as many flat surfaces as possible, that she hadn’t noticed that Jareth had joined her. She was briefly distracted by questioning why the protagonists would be setting themselves up for splinters and friction burns when there was a perfectly comfortable bed in the room, but she supposed that practicality and comfort were not something that sold steamy romance novels.

Just as Sarah was musing if their current position was physically possible, she was startled by the room being lit by a scintillating array of brightly coloured lights.

“What is that?” Setting her book aside, Sarah grabbed a robe and walked onto the balcony. Jareth joined her, and from both the bare arms that wrapped around her and the solid press of his body, he hadn’t bothered with a robe.

Looking out across the gardens, the edges of the Goblin City and the vast expanse of the Labyrinth itself, Sarah couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She gasped as a gorgeous rainbow hued ball of light shot skyward from the direction of the city, before silently exploding into a cloud of tiny glittering lights.

“That was strange,” Sarah turned her head to look back at Jareth. “There was no explosion and I can’t smell cordite.”

Sarah had a brief moment to see Jareth frown before he transformed into an owl and flew towards the source of the light. She did have to wonder at the wisdom of flying towards an explosion, followed immediately by a concern that a naked Goblin King may not present quite the right gravitas for the occasion.

It was a surprisingly short time later that she saw his owl flying back to the castle and he glided in to transform at her side fully clothed. Sarah mentally shrugged at having that question answered.

“Ada and George have been busy.” Jareth took Sarah’s hand and led her back to bed. “They’ve taken a basic glow light spell that people use as night lights, manipulated it using basic fluid dynamic principles and managed to replicate Above fireworks.”

“It was the prettiest firework that I’ve ever seen.”

“It was also a clever magical adaptation. I think they may need advanced tutoring if they’re curious enough to experiment.”

Sarah's Great Serpentine Visit

[apachefirecat]

Word Count: 500


Sarah froze as she looked behind the curtain. Her dark eyes widened, and her skin turned a lighter shade of pale. Of all the types of women she might have expected to find on this, what she hoped to be the final leg of her journey hunting down a way to return to her true home, the idea the woman might not even be human had never occurred to her!

Okay, so in truth, she had considered it might be a Vampire or Fae somehow trapped in her world of science. But she had never once considered a winged beast! She had never once, she thought, heart beating frantically, considered a dragon might have been writing romance novels starring male Fae royals who always sounded very, very familiar!

She had never considered a dragon period!

She backed slowly away, letting the curtain drop back down, until she backed right into someone! "Easy, she doesn't bite." The voice was kind and reassuring, with a clear hint of laughter just underneath her words.

Keeping her eyes fixed on the curtain, Sarah turned her head just enough that she could glimpse the shopkeeper's colorful side. The woman's attire had reminded her of the Romani people when she had first entered this stall all the way on the other side of the world. She had chastised herself, telling herself that she was being close-minded -- but then she'd certainly not expected a dragon on the end of this trail!

A dragon writing romance novels?! The thought was almost more than she could bear, and her head suddenly pulsed. "Please do calm yourself and remember to breathe." The older woman did not sound like a Roma. Her accent did sound vaguely familiar, but right now, only one thought kept circling through Sarah's mind. There was a dragon on the other side of that curtain! A dragon who wrote romance novels!

"Arabella," the portly shopkeeper called out in a sweet, almost sing-song voice. "I believe you have another visitor."

There was a grumble that sounded like the beginnings of a low growl, but when the shopkeeper moved forward and lifted the curtain, with Sarah still caught between the instinct to flee and her desire to find the man who had haunted her dreams ever since she had still been a child, the dragon did not seem to be angry at all. Instead, -- Sarah swallowed hard --, she looked decidedly amused. Something danced in her green eyes as though she could not believe she had another visitor. That was the words the shopkeeper had used, right? Sarah fought to remember, but was pretty certain she had said "another visitor".

She found her voice. "D-Do you get visitors often?"

The dragon's mighty tail thumped the hard wood flooring, knocking over two chairs and flipping a cart over. No one bothered to check the merchandise on said cart as the dragon puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Everybody always wants to know about him."



The End

Re: Sarah's Great Serpentine Visit

[redwolf]

It Sarah a momento to break out of that amusing feedback loop. And now she's one step closer. 🦊🧡