vignettes

[marycatelli]

This week's prompt is:
handle 👜

Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.

Comments

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

Mikhael Yehuda settled into a chair by the fireplace. "So how do you handle this cold?"

What cold? Elaine bit back those words, knowing they would only wound. This man came from Israel, where the climate was more like she'd experienced down in Silicon Valley. Unless he went up into the mountains for winter sports -- or training for whichever Israeli intelligence agency he belonged to -- he'd probably never experienced the sort of winters she'd experienced in Iowa as a child. And compared to that, winter here in the redwood forest was warm, just relentlessly wet.

"The biggest thing is staying dry." She shot a pointed glance at the damp hems of his pants, his wet socks above his house slippers. "That's why wool is so valuable in cold climates, because it doesn't wick moisture to your skin the way cotton does. So do several modern synthetics, but the most important thing is dry. Dressing in layers to trap insulating air is important, but you don't want too much, because if you start sweating while you're working, you'll end up just as dangerously wet."

"Dryad is correct." Spartan took his favorite chair. "On Luna, even astronauts doing surface work during lunar night must have air conditioning in life-support pack because EMU holds their body heat, and vacuum outside it is insulator."

[marycatelli]

Yes! Avoid the water!

Also, don't drink. Alcohol not only makes you dumb, it causes you to lose heat.

[marycatelli]

They could handle a baby in arms, thought Fianna, looking down at the baby with his icy-blond hair and his blue eyes. He was regaining rosy color.
Including in his hair, which turned black, and his eyes, which turned green. As green as hers.
"Bold words," said Osgar. "Can we?"

[marycatelli]

Then they came clear. Thin, wispy, luminous, white pillars. Not humanoid. He swallowed. Nevertheless, glowing with their own light. He did not think they needed hands to handle him.
Except, they did not move. They were not on the path itself. He walked forward. The air grew colder about him, but they did not move. He walked on. His shadow fell before him from their light. Then trees cut him off so that he walked in the forest dimness. His heart hammered and thundered, and for a moment, he bent over, his hands on his knees to keep himself up.

[marycatelli]

"Come away, dears, come away. He tried, but he could not handle you. He has given you up, so you must come with me. You do not want to fall into the hands of a woman like the one he rescued you from? Then you want to come with me."