A BEAR OF A PROBLEM (Snow White and Rose Red flash fiction!)

Well look at me. It's been a minute since my last fairytale-inspired flash fiction. So here I am now, posting this late in the month and late in the day. xD

Anyway! Yes, today I'll be sharing a flash fiction piece inspired by the prompt over on Intuitive Writing Guide, inspired by this month's fairytale at Fairytale Central! And this month's fairytale is Snow White and Rose Red, which is one that I wasn't too familiar with.

I'm pretty sure I had read it before (in that big book you see in the above photo), but I didn't remember anything about it until I read it this month. And it's SUCH a sweet story! It's about sisters who love each other and are actual sweet human beings and it's just such a refreshing turn from the same old, same old girl-meets-boy story that most fairytales have.

I have to admit, this month's prompt was a bit tricky to work it. At least for me. But maybe that's because I waited until the last possible second to write my piece for it. And I'm not going to lie, this month's chapter of Trentley and Jynnia's story is pretty ridiculous and convoluted. xD I'm trying not to take these stories I write for the fairytale prompts too seriously, as in not stress out over making them perfect and tying up every loose end. Even though I plan to write a series based on the characters and situations in these stories, those will definitely be very different and I'll put a lot more thought into planning those. It really is just a fun writing activity and I've definitely been having fun, so hopefully you guys will enjoy even if it is senseless. xD

Here's the prompt:

And you can find the original post here.

Also, I have to say that I kind of tweaked the prompt just a tiiiiny bit because of the direction I wanted to go with the story. Hopefully no one will mind. ;D

Anyway! Enough of my rambling. Here's this month's story, inspired by Snow White and Rose Red!
Hope you enjoy!

      ***

 "Why is there nobody who can tell us what this jewel means?"
 Jynnia clutched the red jewel in her hands, willing the strength of her fingers to either force answers out of it or destroy the blasted thing once and for all.
 Trentley crumpled up the business card of the fortune teller whose tent he had just come from. Turned out, she only knew the future and not the meaning of magical objects. Although he seriously doubted her abilities, as she had predicted he was going to leave Jynnia and join her circus.
 "Trouble is, nobody's going to believe we got this thing from a genie unless they're crazy," Trentley said. "Which is why we're limited to fortune tellers and devoted magicians."
 "And none of them know anything." Jynnia kicked up dust as they walked through the various circus performers around them.
 "We'll find someone who can help us," Trentley said, resting an arm around her shoulders as they walked. "We have to. The genie may not have told us the answer we wished for, but he gave us this jewel. And that means that somehow, it will give us our wish eventually."
 Jynnia grumbled but did not oppose the theory.
 The sun was hot on all the tents around them, so they strolled toward the nearby forest. Jynnia could feel eyes on her as they exited the circus area, and glared around to see who might be watching them. Her gaze slipped over almost everyone at first, but then darted back to someone she had missed before.
 There was a little person, an old man who could not have been over three feet tall, standing just outside one of the tents. Watching her and Trentley go. He did not look hostile, but his face wore something like suspicion. Jynnia tensed as she made eye contact with him. She did not like being watched.
 "What's wrong?" Trentley asked.
 Jynnia turned quickly to look at him. "I'll tell you in a minute. Hurry up." And she pulled him faster toward the woods.
 "What?" Trentley demanded once they were within the cover of the trees.
 "That dwarf back there," she said. "Did you see him? He was watching us!"
 "Yes, well, we didn't exactly belong there," Trentley said.
 "No, I mean watching us! Like we had... something... he wanted." Her voice fell at the same time as her gaze, which dropped down to the object still in Trentley's hand. He looked down, too, and then they looked up at each other in alarm.
 "Maybe he knows something," Trentley said.
 They turned and were just about to run back to the circus when they saw the little dwarf ambling through the trees toward them.
 "Who are you?" Jynnia demanded, at the same time Trentley said, "Hello!"
 "Hello," the dwarf said, nodding. "My name is Barnen."
 "I'm Trentley, and this is Jynnia. Do you know anything about this?" Trentley held his palm out with the jewel in it. Jynnia gasped and began to snatch it out of his hand--what a rash decision he had made!-- but changed her mind and stood still, hoping that Trentley knew what he was doing.
 The dwarf started and reached for the jewel. Trentley closed his hand and pulled back.
 "Answer my question first," he said.
 Barnen sighed. "Fine. Since it's in your possession, I suppose you have at least some right to know." He pointed at Trentley's clenched fist. "That belonged to my brother. It was one of the many unique jewels he lost upon his death. That stupid bear took the jewels when he killed my brother, but I've been traveling the land trying to find them all. They were very important to him, you know."
 "Wait, what?" Jynnia exclaimed. "What bear? What are you talking about?"
 "The bear who killed my brother to save those two wretched girls," Barnen said, venom shooting from every word. Jynnia backed away a step. This little man's temperament had risen about sixteen notches in two minutes.
 She narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, we--"
 Trentley put a hand out to stop her. "Two girls?" he said. "Are you speaking of the tale about the sisters who met a bear and were rescued from a..." He looked the man up and down-- it was a short trip-- and hesitated.
 "It is no tale, but a true account," Barnen said. "And since those very important jewels were spent, spread across the land, it has been my life's mission to recover them all. When I found my first, I was able to curse all the rest, that it might be easier to find them."
 "Curse them... how?" Trentley asked.
 "By bestowing on them past events of magic!" Barnen shouted. "I knew it would draw attention. I know the world today generally does not believe that all the fairytales, as you call them, were indeed true. But I know better, and so now anybody who is in the presence of one of these jewels will have to answer to some form of magic from those stories."
 Jynnia looked at Trentley. "The tower," she whispered.
 "And the lamp," Trentley said. He looked back at the dwarf with his head tilted. "But this has happened to us twice. We didn't see any jewels."
 "Twice!" The dwarf stomped his foot. "You have come across my jewels twice-- no, three times now, and I have only found one?" He rubbed his bearded chin and mumbled, "There must be quite a spread of them around these parts. Guess I'll have to stick around." He shook his head and looked up. "Trust me, boy, if those things happened to you, there were jewels around. They could be anywhere, you know. Hidden away in that tower you spoke of. Along the countryside. Anywhere. And now..." He leapt forward and began to pry Trentley's hand open. As he struggled he ground out with a red face, "This one will make you regret ever seeking answers!"
 Eventually the little man's concentrated strength won out over Trentley's fingers trying to conceal the jewel. The dwarf cried, "Ha!" and then took off in the other direction. He skidded to a stop and turned around. "Your curse for this one will be arriving any moment now!" he yelled. "Get ready!"
 They watched him go, seeing little point in following him.
 "Well, that happened," Jynnia said.
 Trentley groaned. "Now what?" he said. "Are we just doomed to keep going through life discovering these jewels and going through all these fairytale things?"
 "I don't know," Jynnia said. "It doesn't seem like that one did anything."
 Suddenly Trentley coughed, deep and loud. "Are you okay?" Jynnia said. It was a very unnatural sound that had just come out of his mouth.
 He smiled wearily. "Yeah. Guess I just had a hairball."
 Jynnia wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Eww!"
 "Must be left over from that enchantress I met a few weeks ago with all that hair..."
 She laughed again and placed a hand dramatically over her heart. "Why couldn't you have fallen in love with a human, like normal guys?"
 He was about to respond when suddenly, in a flurry of splitting seams and flying fur, he found himself growing. Growing in size. Growing fur and claws.
 And a few moments later, there he was, a great beast in the middle of the woods with a fair maiden. She looked at him in alarm, wide-eyed and ready to flee should his demeanor have changed.
 But he simply looked at her and said, "Says the one crushing on a bear."

***

LOL. XD

This installment of The Adventures of Trentley and Jynnia is definitely the silliest. But I don't know, I kind of enjoyed writing a totally ridiculous dwarf and pulling the fairytale world into the real world.

What'd you think of this month's fairytale flash fiction? Would you have such a chill reaction if you turned into a bear? xD And have you been taking part in these prompts? If so, link to your post in the comments so I can read!

Thanks for reading!