vignettes

[marycatelli]

This week's prompt is:
arm 💪

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]

He stretched his arms. He had leapt about a good bit, but it was amazing how much he had to grab and lift himself, without use of his powers, as they worked.
He looked about and assured himself that he could see how the flood had subsided as they labored.

[marycatelli]

Bernard leaned forward, on his arms. "She may have a defense. And an attack. She's only been here for hours, and it sometimes takes up to a week to learn the extent."
"Weeks, sometimes," said Theo. "When the power is odd."
"We were attacked, and she did nothing against it."

[marycatelli]

"Perhaps there are spells that will let you learn that," said Violetta. "There's the library in the tower."
"Oh no," said Sophie. "Your brother failed you if he did not at least tell you that you should go to the great library. The tower library are too small to have anything of use."
"Go to the great library and return with an arm filled with books," said Emalie. "There are master wizards who can guide you about the place to look for spells."
"Nothing directly for the tower," said Mistress Matilda. They turned, and she smiled on them. "Or the labyrinth. Or the forest. But there are many, many, many spells in there." She glanced between them. "Some scholars wait for the lectures lest they go down a wrong path and not have the wits to return."
"That," said Sophie, "is a silly sort of prudence. Wisdom to abandon a path is needed for true mastery. Who wants to show less during the Scholar's Year?"
I do, thought Violetta miserably. Then she pulled herself up. She wanted to show enough skill not to make everyone stare and wonder how she ever received a place, because she wanted no one to notice her. Perhaps she should help the others in her tower, and they might save the lives, and receive any adulation for the deed.
"Mistress Matilda," said Sophie, "is there a servant who can lead us to the library?"
"I will take you there myself," said Mistress Matilda, and smiled.

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

How interesting. Sam contemplated his latest lesson in Chonguri. In English, "arms" meant both one's literal forelimbs, and weapons -- a reminder that expression had its roots in a time when weapons were wielded by hand, with the literal strength of one's arm, rather than the pull of a trigger. In Chonguri, ke-kiiya literally meant the claws in one's paws, but it also could mean weapons. Unsurprising, given the substantial natural weaponry of a sapient felid.

He thought back to this morning's Inspiring War News Segment, an interview with a human molecular biologist on some distant station, who'd improvised a solar sail racer out of an exploratory drone -- and then turned it into an improvised weapon upon discovering mid-race that the system was under Tchiador attack. Would a Kitty come to such an insight, or did their tendency to think of weapons as extensions of their own formidable natural weapons lead them to think of "weapons" only in terms of items specifically designed as weapons, rather than seeing the weapon potential in a wide variety of other tools?

[marycatelli]

Ah, xenopsychology