vignettes

[marycatelli]

This week's prompt is:
listen 😮

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

[marycatelli]

Herding the children took effort, after they had slept for that long, but once inside, they sat and listen.
She recounted the tale. Giovanni, and Nino, agreed that he had woken when she had taken the necklace from Princess Lucinda.
He had not even felt her putting it on herself.

[marycatelli]

In the room, Helena still whispered, "What spell were you talking about?"
"Why," said Mafeo, "the spell we haven't got but which it was just as well that they thought we had."
They both giggled.
"The bowl first," said Scholastica.
"Boots first," said Helena. "We must arrange them properly first."

[marycatelli]

Did you listen to your teachers? he said to himself. A wolf is not placated, like a deer, by looking small and helpless. Appear as dangerous as you can.
He paused to pull his arms free. He could flap his mantle quite far, and so look larger than he was.

[marycatelli]

A sound from outside had her sigh. It would not grow easier for fussing over her appearance. She was not going to a festivity, at that.
She went to the door. Florio stood outside, looking dignified and handsome. He offered his arm as graciously as a prince. They walked on.

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

"We often speak of optical telescopes as 'the big eyes' and radio telescopes as 'the big ears,' but today we seldom look through eyepieces or listen through headphones. Modern telescopes at any wavelength are primarily data collectors." Dr. Doorne paused to look from one to another of us. "That means that modern astronomy is almost entirely data-driven, to the point that it is essential to have a thorough understanding of statistics. Not just the basics that an administrator or business owner might need for running a statistics package to analyze the operations of various units under one's authority, but a deep understanding of how statistical analysis works, its limits and its blind spots. If you don't have a good idea of what you should be seeing, you can easily follow an error, perhaps a problem with your equipment, down a very unpleasant garden path."

Yep, she was going to launch into the story of AXIL, the Advanced X-Ray Interferometry Laboratory, and how a slight imprecision in the stationkeeping of the two satellites led to massive errors in the data it produced, to the embarrassment of a number of scientists. Academic papers that had to be withdrawn, masters' theses and doctoral dissertations derailed -- a trauma that haunted astronomy and astrophysics even today.

[marycatelli]

Hmm. How much of the audience had heard it before?

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

Given that it was a major trauma for her, since she was a research assistant for a professor who was doing a lot of work in X-ray astronomy, probably the better part of her audience. It's one of her big cautionary examples for the absolute importance of proper procedure at every step of scientific endeavor, including having others check your work with other instruments before you release.

[marycatelli]

Ah, superiors.

[marycatelli]

At the end of their story, he said, carefully, "They are saying at the outpost that you must be feral knights."
The brown-haired girl pulled back, looking frightened, but the pale-haired one said, "We would have to be. No one knighted us. Unless they did it while we were asleep."

[marycatelli]

He picked up one, paler than most, but as brown as she was. "What you do is explain the new spell to the bear. Thus, you are forced to make things clear before asking for aid. It helps you to think clearly, which is always wise when you work magic."

[marycatelli]

The forest loomed even more darkly as she approached. Though she listened intently, she heard no birdsong, no squirrels or rabbits rustling through the dead leaves.
There had been bees back in the meadow, she thought, uneasily, and glanced back. Butterflies gleamed like jewels as they flitted about the flowers.