Drabble #260: Improvisation

[jalenstrix]

...we had a nice response to my last posted drabble prompt of Drabble 255, with a delightful entry by redwolf and commenting by me (jalenstrix), one of your intrepid drabbler proposers.

As always (always!!), special labyfic love to redwolf for adding entries and comments for several previous drabble prompts. Onward, laby drabblers, onwards -- may our fabulous redwolf continue to lead us forth!





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

Improvisation

Who's improvising, and about what? With whom? 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 last Tuesday of the month (May 26).

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

Honey

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

Sarah was not at all surprised that the cakes from the farmers market had never surfaced. Jareth could be like a dragon hoarding gold when it came to guarding a stash of baked goods. She did, however, put a lot of thought into the logistics.

There was no way he could eat it all at once, so it had to be stored and, as this was freshly baked produce, it had a limited shelf life. She wondered if he hid them in a pocket dimension where time flowed differently or perhaps he was catering a secret cake of the month club.

Sarah carefully spread butter on the thickly sliced bread, followed by a honey from their recent farmers market haul that she was working her way through. As she bit into the bread, she groaned in delight at the flavour. Each of the different types she’d tried were all delicious in different ways.

Taking another bite, she thought about an oddity she’d seen when she’d recently ventured out into the city. A goblin bearing a precariously loaded basket on his head had passed her in the street. The basket wasn’t unusual, but the fact that he glided past while standing on a large disc was a little odd. Sarah had been momentarily startled, but nobody else seemed to find this a strange occurrence.

“Thinking deep thoughts, my love?” Jareth pressed a kiss to Sarah’s forehead as he passed, before taking a seat and reaching for a slice of bread.

Sarah shook her head and described what she’d seen earlier.

“I believe it’s a cleaning appliance of some sort.” Jareth waved his butter knife around in emphasis.

Frowning as she tried to parse the explanation, Sarah looked at her husband. “Do you mean a robot vacuum?”

Jareth nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of honeyed bread. “I believe so.” He reached for another slice. “The strange little things escape their domiciles and drop into the Underground occasionally. One of the guardians investigated and determined that it was a…” Jareth paused at the unfamiliar term. “...firmware glitch. The goblins seem to be fond of using the devices as a form of transportation, so I implemented a series of spellwork guardrails that banish them back Above once their power source expires.”

Sarah sighed, it was just the kind of goblin adaptation of technology that she had come to expect. She did wonder if the robot reported that it had fallen into another world and what its owner thought when they emptied it and found it unexpectedly full of street detritus and glitter. However, whether or not it was a warranty issue if someone’s appliance wandered off on otherworldly adventures was definitely not her concern, but she didn’t envy their customer service team.

Jareth had finished eating and was carefully licking honey residue from his fingers in a manner that completely derailed Sarah’s contemplation of errant robots. She had a sudden premonition that the start to their day was about to be unavoidably delayed.