Drabble #232: Spirals

[jalenstrix]

...we had a nice response to my last posted drabble prompt of Drabble 226, with entries by redwolf, and commenting by me (jalenstrix), one of your intrepid drabble proposers. Huzzah!

As always, special labyfic love to redwolf for adding entries and comments for several previous drabble prompts. Our continuing and abiding love to redwolf! And my great thanks for everyone's patience with my own slower prompt creation. It's been a month.





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

Spirals

Spirals of what? Involving who? Why are there spirals anyway? 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 third Monday of next month (Nov 17).

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

Fling

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah watched the birds slowly spiraling higher as they rode the thermals over the Labyrinth.

The owl tucked his wings and dropped into a dive, hurtling towards the ground at an alarming speed, before dramatically spreading his wings at the last moment to slow his descent and gently land atop the garden wall.

Sarah muttered under her breath about showboating feather heads and grinned unrepentantly when the owl turned his head and blinked at her. His stately demeanour only slightly tarnished as he hopped to the side to avoid a flying goblin.

“George,” Sarah called out to the boy who was playing on the lawn with a group of goblins. “Mind your aim, please.”

The boy turned to Sarah, bowed his head and saluted her, then promptly returned to chasing goblins, using his staff to fling them over his head as he caught them. The flung goblins kept returning to join the game, so the only danger to anyone was being in the firing line of an ejected goblin.

The owl clacked his beak loudly to catch Sarah’s attention and she asked George to stop his game for a moment.

Everybody looked up as the raven, who had continued to circle overhead, now tucked her wings to mimic the owl’s maneuver. She shot down as swiftly as the owl, but slowed her descent much higher above the ground than the owl had, before gliding over to the wall and landing neatly at his side.

Sarah clapped and George whooped in delight, the goblins joining in loudly.

The owl launched himself off the wall, transforming into Jareth as he landed. He turned to look back at the raven, who ruffled her feathers before transforming into Ada. Jareth lifted her down from the wall and she ran to join her brother’s game.

“Her landing is improving,” Sarah noted, smiling happily when Jareth kissed her in greeting.

“It is,” Jareth agreed. “George’s issue seems less troublesome as well.”

As the boy was using his staff less to balance when walking upright and more as an offensive weapon or, in this case, a goblin flinging tool, Sarah could concur.

The only thing that did seem to be a cause of fascination for the pair was not that they could shapeshift, but how different their eyesight was in each of their forms.

“They’re adapting well.” Sarah was surprised just how quickly the children were getting the hang of changing forms and wondered if she would be as malleable in their place or if her adult experiences would be an impediment. She had to admit that the thought flying with Jareth would be worth the hassle. Sarah just hoped that in such a case it wouldn’t be as chaotic as her experience with magic, because unexpectedly transforming into a bird when she was annoyed in a meeting was unlikely to help the situation. Although, she supposed the upside was that she could then fly away from the annoyance or deposit her displeasure, so there were advantages.

Foolish

[apachefirecat]

Word Count: 500


She spirals downward, falling pass familiar staircases and brilliantly shining stars alike. She hears the slithering snickers of Goblins; the wild, boisterous carrying ones of the Fieries; and the behind-handed chuckling of the living doors. It all blends together to make a strange but somehow lovely, almost bewitching music. Above it all, she hears the twinkling that comes with the swirling lights and glamorous crystal balls that always accompany his transformation.

Over it all, interweaved like a spider springing through his web from one silken strand to another, are the voices of the hands. She can feel them grabbing her now, pinching, squeezing her, and then letting her go when she most needed them not to. "She said down," they entone, and their words echo around and around her as she spins downward, downward pass the oubliette, back to her life, back to the dark and lonely misery that is her real world.

She was wrong.

"Too late now," they tell her over and over again.

"She said down!"

"She said no!"

"She said she didn't love him -- "

" -- couldn't love him -- "

Sarah awakes with a start, their cruel laughter burning her inside and out. Doors and drawers slam. Beings giggle, scoff, and slither back into her dreams, her memories. She hears the frantically beating wings of his owl form. But she knows it's not real. None of it's real. They are real, of course.

He offered her a dream, but she was a foolish child. She turned it down. She turned him down, and this -- this world, her world -- is her punishment.

Sarah gropes out blindly, ignoring the scream and the hands -- the feathers -- she can still feel on her flesh. She finds her bottle and drinks more -- long, eager swigs. She doesn't want this world. She hates this world, this miserable life, but she's trapped here in the biggest oubilette of them all.

She can't find her way back to him or to their home, but she doesn't have to stay here. She doesn't have to stay here. Sarah drinks long from the bottle. The drained bottle slips from her paled fingers to crash on the floor. Her eyes close as she slips away from her trap again.

Only she's smiling this time. She's smiling, because he's smiling this time with a come hither look to his luscious lips. He tosses his regal mane as the music begins again. She reaches for him; he dances away again, ever elusive now that she's denied him. Gladly, she gives chase.

"Ah, Sarah, Sarah," he croons though she can not hear him. She does hear his chuckle that seems somehow to wrap around her on this never-ending journey, never ending because she can never actually catch him. She never will actually catch him again, even though she'll spend her whole life trying. "You were always mine, foolish girl." He scoffs at her but feels the pain and ache just as strongly, but the curse has trapped them both.


The End

Re: Foolish

[redwolf]

Sarah is not in a good space 🦊🧡

Re: Fling

[apachefirecat]

Love the children! <3

Re: Fling

[redwolf]

Thanks! They are fun 🦊🧡