Drabble #217: Voice

[jalenstrix]

...we had a nice response to my last posted drabble prompt of Drabble 213, with entries by redwolf and me (jalenstrix), one of your intrepid drabble proposers, with commenting by us both. Huzzah!

As always, special labyfic love to redwolf for adding entries and comments for several previous drabble prompts. Onward, drabblers, inspired by our fabulous redwolf!





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

Voice

Is someone voicing something? Finding their voice? Giving a voice to something else? Tell us all about it. Labyfic-style, of course.




Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit for this month 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 aim to get my next drabble challenge out on the first Monday of next month (Aug 4).

I'm also very happy to take suggestions if something in particular strikes your fancy -- comment on this post or PM me with your suggestions. 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

Unmoored

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah would be most appreciative of a night out Above without another drink spiking incident. The perpetrators had been easily spotted, subdued and zip tied. Rook and Bishop had passed them off to the local constabulary without the need to enlist Jareth’s talents, which was a good thing as he’d downed several adulterated beverages and was not at his best.

If Sarah was being cynical, she strongly suspected this was deliberate, not just to ensure the safety of those in the venue, but to test the drugs on someone not human. While she appreciated that Jareth didn’t want to put anyone else at risk, she’d prefer it if he didn’t use himself as a guinea pig. Whether he was cataloguing the effects to weaponise the compounds Underground or just to recognise reactions, she was yet to determine.

Fortunately, Rook was experienced in Jareth wrangling and redirected his urges to tangle with the traffic.

Sarah, however, found herself having to hang back slightly due to Jareth experiencing time slippage. While it was certainly entertaining to hear Jareth wax lyrical about her younger self, every time his focus was drawn to her he kept trying to escort her back to her old university accommodations until Rook distracted him again.

When he started skipping along the bollards it was decided that it would be best to return Underground until Jareth finished metabolising whatever he’d consumed. Drunks interacting with street furniture may have been a common enough sight, but when the bollards were round topped, it was wet and the footwear was inappropriate, it started to draw curious glances.

Jareth’s gentlemanly urge to escort Sarah back to school did not end once they were home. Sarah didn’t want to find out if his magic was as disjointed as his time perception and she wasn’t sure how he’d handle seeing two Sarahs in his current state. Fortunately, they found that if she was screened from his view, they could hold a conversation, provided it was kept light and didn’t allude to the present day.

When they’d returned to the castle library, Jareth had found a seat on the floor by the fire and was engrossed in an impossibly complicated game of Cat's Cradle with Rook.

Sarah chuckled quietly as she watched Bishop writing notes. “How long do you think before it wears off?”

Bishop tapped his pen against his teeth. “One of the officer’s ran a test kit, so we know what the pharmaceutical was. The initial euphoria is typical, but humans tend to pass out, especially at the levels he imbibed and, as we can see, Jareth is alert and active. We've curtailed his attempts at magic, for obvious reasons, but I am curious about any impacts. If he’s still exhibiting any signs of impairment in an hour, Rook will flush it from his system.”

“I don’t like him harming himself like this, but it is sweet to hear him talk about when I was at university. He was always fun to study with.”