Word #64

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Here's your word for the week!

Don't look at the word until you are ready to write. When your fifteen minutes are up and you have completed your ficlet, you may either post it as a response here, or post a link to the ficlet in your own journal. If posting on your own journal, please hide the prompt word in some way (ie. under an LJ-cut) in order to avoid spoiling it for others.

Today's word is: flair

You can copy and paste this code when posting your ficlet if desired.
<b>Title:</b> <b>Fandom/original:</b> <b>Characters:</b> <b>Rating:</b> <b>Word count:</b>

Comments

[flamehail.livejournal.com]

Haha, your post worked, Katie. ^_^ I haven't written in a while, but no time like the present, right?

Also, the word made me think of a homonym. Close enough.

Title: none
Fandom/original: Original
Rating: G
Word count: 372

Rine's nostrils flared slightly. What was that smell? It was a strange combination of chocolate chip cookies and wet dog.

She slowed, looking for the source of the strange smell. The woods around her seemed normal enough. Birds twittered, a squirrel chattered at her from a branch. Pine needles cushioned and quieted her footsteps. The wind rustled the branches above her head. Nothing unusual.

She stopped, reaching out with her mind, seeking other consciousnesses near her. The billions of bugs she tuned out automatically. The birds she bypassed; she touched the squirrel's mind and it chittered louder, more scared than angry now. She sensed more squirrels, a pair of rabbits; further off were a doe and her fawn. Still nothing unusual.

Except--there. Not a mind, but a suspicious absense, a blank in the background buzz of bugs. Someone was there, someone blocking mind probes. She teased the spot, poking holes in the blackness. No response. Whoever had set the shield had set merely a passive block on a location, not an actively-maintained shield on a specific mind.

Rine decided to go investigate on foot. There wasn't much else to do, after all. She headed for the spot.

The blankness was centered in a small clearing. As Rine approached, the strange smell intensified. Soon, she could hear humming, and at last she saw smoke wisping its way through the trees. She peered around a tree on the edge of the clearing.

There, in the middle of the thinly grassed space, was a small fire, tended by a creature that resembled nothing so much as a giant rabbit. It hopped around the fire, poking at something cooking in its center. It had long rabbity ears that twitched in time with its humming, but instead of a bunny's bobtail it had a long tail that held a fork. The creature wore a sort of vest, covered in pockets, and a tam o' shanter perched precariously between its ears. It was soaking wet, and the body parts nearest the fire steamed.

Rine stared. She had never seen such a creature before. It did explain the smell though--the fork-wielding tail, steaming as it dried, was depositing golden brown cookies in a pile nearby.