Weekly Drabble challenge

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Rules:

1) A drabble is, by definition, a 100-word story therefore all responses should be 100 words exactly, no exceptions.
2) You may also choose to respond to this challenge with a five-minute sketch.
3) PLEASE put the word DRABBLE at the top of your post. That way people can easily spot the drabbles in amongst any reader comments they receive.

Comments

[godsdaisiechain]

Drabbles: Before we met

Jeeves
He smiled cheerfully, walking with young Lady Caligula in the garden one afternoon. I overheard her mentioning him in the drawing room. “Oh, Bertie? He is handsome and rich and pleasant enough. A fool, but he’ll do.”

“Admit it Florence, you love him. He’s such a darling lamb.”

“I do, but it will not make me soft. Lamb or not, he’ll have to grow up. I’ll wipe that goofy smile from his face.” She could be so needlessly, ruthlessly cruel.

I left Steeple Bumpleigh. Lord Brancaster sleeps frequently, and I study his books assiduously. I must forget young Mr. Wooster.

Bertie: Some years laterI always thought getting engaged should be a bit of a wheeze, what? Maybe a bit of a smooch or some cuddling in the moonlight, or somesuch. Bongo spoke highly of such things when we were alone and he was in his cups. The beazels seemed to want to bestow kisses and hugs

[eaivalefay]

*FLAIL* Okay, darn, I was going to claim one or two were favorites, but I can't pick. They're all shiny. *\o/* Makes me want to piece them all together into a long-ish "how they met" fic, or a "how they ended up unwittingly circling around each other until they met" fic. *g*

[godsdaisiechain]

Thanks so much! I am really glad you liked them.

I've been reading a lot of the actual fic these past couple of weeks, especially the older things (1930 and before) and well... it sets one to thinking, since Bertie grew up with the Crayes and Jeeves pays such careful attention to what goes on around him.

[eaivalefay]

Oh, I'd bet Jeeves knows all about Bertie's life before they ever officially meet. Jeeves is just the type of chap who would, and his line of work -- and fish-fed brain! ;) -- puts him in a good position to keep track of things. I wonder if Bertie ever noticed Jeeves before though, since Jeeves has worked in houses where Bertie's socialized... that would be interesting!

[krisreinke]

[Just a try at explaining Bertie’s valet fetish.]

“Hullo?” A male voice inquired.

Bertram Wooster huddled under the stairs, limbs tense as if some greater effort might shrink his shivering frame into even deeper shadow. No use. The black-suited man popped Bertie out like a cork from a particularly ill-fit bottle.

Dark eyes took in the ruin Eustace had made of Bertie’s coat.

The man frowned.

Bertie cringed. He knew he was in for a whipping.

“Come now, Master Bertram. No need for tears.” With a few swift strokes of a needle he had the buttons back, firm as ever. “See. All set to rights.”

And it was.

[godsdaisiechain]

Poor little thing! I love the cork in a bottle metaphor...

[krisreinke]

Thanks. :-)
I can't seem to write it - but I have this vision of a young Bertie who isn't (yet) wealthy and thus is quite the unwanted orphan. No one is *mean* to the lad - this isn't Oliver Twist - but no particular adult gives much of a damn about him. So he gets shuffled from house to house - being in the way whenever anything worthwhile is going on - and mostly living at school or at the home of whichever of his relatives is NOT home.

[godsdaisiechain]

You've done a stellar job, IMHO.

The image you have is rather like the early life of PG Wodehouse... shuffled from place to place, wherever someone has a space for him. It was pretty common what with all the adults killed in those flu epidemics and whatnot.

[krisreinke]

“Good luck, lad.” The cook plucked the book from his hands. “Lord Waldham’s agreed to keep you on as junior gardener.”

“A… gardener.”

“You’ve got the strength for it.”

He’d been hoping to continue on to high school, but his father’s death had destroyed that. Still, shouldn’t his studies at least have qualified him for indoor service?

She cut him off. “No backtalk, lad. Life is work. Learn that, and be content.”

Reginald plucked yesterday’s Times from the bin and patted the flattering reference he’d forged last night.

Gardener? Never!

He’d learned, all right. Learned to rely only on himself.

[krisreinke]

[ I have no idea where this Jeeves came from. Musey is evil!]

“Your references are most impressive.”

They were indeed.

Lord Pelham, deceased. Sir Patrick Fotthering, fled before the constabulary and never to be heard from again. Mister Thomason moved to America to pursue the literary arts. (Even less likely to be heard from, if the screed salvaged from the publisher’s bin was considered. Still, the signed stationary was conveniently reusable.) And his early service at Mrs. Mendham’s School for Young Ladies? That was a stroke of genius. Explanation for both his education and his (nearly extinguished) northern accent - all in one neat package.

Reginald Jeeves nodded. “I try to give satisfaction.”

[godsdaisiechain]

Very clever, indeed, young Jeeves.... so where did he learn about gambling?

[krisreinke]

“Game?” The bunco at the bar ruffled a dog-eared deck in enticement. “We’re an honest lot.”

“Nothing better to do today.” Which, unlike the previous statement, was generally true. Reg knew he couldn’t get a decent job the way he stood now. He looked a regular Country Charlie. He also knew they intended to fleece him. Fortunately (for Reg) the first was less than true, and the second a total delusion.

“I’m in too,” a second man, mouse-faced and pale, did his (poor) best to imitate an honest tradesman.

He had a decent jacket.

By tonight Reg would own it.

[godsdaisiechain]

Wowsies... is this part of the epic as well?

[krisreinke]

[No idea where these are coming from. Sorry

[godsdaisiechain]

This is fantabulous! 'Managed properly' indeed.

[random_nexus]

This is a comment on all of the previous bits you've been sharing here. I think you should gather them all and make a whole fic out of them (although I think maybe that's your intent?) because they're just so fun to read!

\o/

[krisreinke]

Someday - in about a billion years - in theory..... these are all bits of my head cannon but.... don't know that I will ever get all the words to jump into order.

But thanks. You warm my heart. :-)