It’s once again time for snippets and bits of words based on the #1lineWed theme. This week, words are being CROWD sourced and you know what they say, two;s company and three’s a CROWD. This bit started as a flash fiction challenge with the prompt “a fragile thing” and it was written shortly after the massive fire at Notre Dame. It’s a short one today because I haven’t expanded it but it is/will be the basis for a chapter in the next Penumbra Papers book.
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Sade stood on the bridge over the Seine leading to the island where Notre Dame Cathedral stood encased in a steel skeleton, it’s steeple lying where it’d crashed. The fire, while devastating, hadn’t been catastrophic—at least not to the gargoyles. Roman, gargoyle sentinel, stood on her right. Nikos, Drakon of the Kholikikos Dragons stood on her left. One gave off the chill of carved granite, the other the heat of a volcano.
“Magic is a fragile thing,” Nikos said. “Like a human life.”
“But Magicks aren’t.” Bitterness shaded Sade’s voice.
“You are formed by the fires of your desires and longings, Sade.”
“Bullshit.”
“You aren’t exactly human.”
She opened her mouth to scald him, but Roman’s soft admonition stopped her, “He’s right, Lady Sade. You are driven by your viewpoint, by perceived injustices. You ingest it, push it deep, and then, when nothing makes sense and you are going under, drowning in the swirling brew of emotions, you explode.”
Excited shouting and laughter and what sounded like cannon fire captured their attention. A mob tumbled down the Qual de Conti and cascaded around the corner to dance along the Boulevard Saint-Michel toward the Eiffel Tower. A cannon fired again, the shell exploding above the crowd, raining pink powder down on them.
“Yes.” Nikos pointed to the throng. “You look just like them when you detonate, all pretty in pink.”
“You take that back!”
Nikos never saw her fist. Through a busted lip, he said, “I rest my case.”
****
What about y’all? Writers, have any crowded words to share? Readers, who else had Hardy’s “Far From the Madding Crowd” as required reading in high school English?
Silver James 
Love Sade! Awesome snippet! Yay!
It’s been a while since I wrote a crowd scene, talked about a crowd, or had crowded thoughts for one of my characters. I went in the way back machine to look at some crowd stuff in an older novel, but ugh, it’s bad. So, nope, nothing for ya today.
That’s okay. Sometimes, solitary makes for better. 😉 I really gotta get off my arse and get Sade’s, Wiz’s, Dillon’s, and the book for Susan Stoker written. 🤯