vignettes

[marycatelli]

This week's prompt is:
flame

Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term.

Comments

[marycatelli]

"What a temper," murmured Delia.
"It's as hot in there as if they still cooked using flames, instead of firestones." Charlotte-Rose tilted her head. "Maybe that's so they have an excuse to drink."
"How much do they have to cook?" said Ava. "It can be adjusted."
They looked at her.

[marycatelli]

Breakfast first. Brewing the potion over an open flame was the only way to make it work correctly, and for that, she needed to have her wits about her.
"Do not be too curious," she said. "It is unwise for nobility to act as if administering justice were our concern."

[marycatelli]

"As long as we get firewood," said Ned, "the castle is still more comfortable than some inns we will stay at."
Rosaleen nodded. "And we won't have to worry that I will mention having the horn to the innkeeper. Especially since I don't have a magical stick to belabor him."

[marycatelli]

Dead branches appeared ahead of him, half hidden by shadow. A way to hide, Marcus told himself, his heart hammering, and ran toward them. A light appeared ahead. No, two lights, and they were too strange a shade to be either flame or sun.
No sign of necromancy. He ran.

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

Now that Misha Gruzinsky had taken his place at the head of the table, Elaine couldn't decide whether it was better or worse than the empty chair. Her fondest memories of him were of the teenage cadet on leave from the Suvorov School in Yekaterinaburg, and she could still see the echoes of that youthful exuberance in his mature features. But growing up had also brought out the resemblance to his ur-brother, which made this reunion even more awkward.

What is Tsar Joseph trying to achieve with this? Is he just hoping that I'll reveal the location of Sparta Point, confirm that Spartan is indeed Leonid Gruzinsky? Or is the Tsar hoping that nostalgia for that first blush of puppy love, that first kiss we shared on a muddy riverbank, will lead me to compromise myself with him in some way?

[marycatelli]

sneaky