Flash Fiction: Infernal Salon 9/21/24: Mina and the Mice

On Saturday, Sept. 21, Arvan Eleron's Twitch channel hosted another Infernal Salon, as part of his two-day Arvathon sub-a-thon to get more subscribers on Twitch and more Patreon pledges. During most of Friday and Saturday, he played Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures video games, but for about an hour and a half on Saturday (around 04:09:40 to 05:35:00 here), he held a writing salon where professional authors (and a musician) created flash fiction (and music) based on prompts taken from the Negocios Infernales game. 

This is a diceless game created by Carlos Hernandez and CSE Cooney that uses a special deck of tarot-like cards to "create characters, establish relationships, and inspire roleplay" -- cards, all with unusual and interesting art, emblazoned with new adages like "Roots enough can bring the castle down" and "And yet, however stumblingly, progress." 

The premise of the TTRPG is that aliens have interrupted the Spanish Inquisition -- people bargain with them for things, becoming "wizards" thereby, as the apparently benign aliens try to guide humans toward kindness and thus toward galactic civilization. However, if you don't want to try that, you can just use the cards as writing prompts: ideas to spark your own stories!

So on Saturday, the game creators led William Alexander, Sol Foster, Steve Toase, Sophia Babai, Danni Brigante, Silvatiicus Riddle, and Dylan Haston through a quick creation session. Each person got a set of three cards drawn from the deck, and then they were allotted 20 minutes to use one card or combine them with each other to inspire them to write poems, short stories, or music. 

After the pros got their sets, the viewers in chat all got a set from which to craft their own creations. I was apparently the only person watching the stream to create something, although we usually have several people contributing.

Once all the prompts were drawn and read out, Hernandez and Cooney vamped for a little while, and then the 20 minutes were up for the first creator, who read their creation aloud as the next creator finished their activity.

Prompt cards for chat (including me):

In Your House, Make Mice Fear You
The Scavengers Win Every War
Piety Is Surrender

I thought first about a housewife battling mice, and considered calling her Minnie, but that was too on-the-nose, so to speak. Then I thought of naming her Mina, and everything else fell into place.

This is what I wrote in 20 minutes. Arvan read it onstream after all the pros were done with their pieces, and it was well received. I thought of some possible revisions later, like pointing out the awful possibilities if Mina hadn't submitted (incarceration at Seward's asylum, or even Lucy's fate), but I think it came out alright, even if obviously derivative:

Mina and the Mice

Mina had been through a secret war, fighting by her husband’s side to defeat a horrible predator who had killed her best friend, who assaulted, and menaced her husband, their allies, Britain, and all of Europe. Now he tried to shelter her from every wind – she, without whom the monster would have escaped to regroup – and denied her equal partnership in his work and even in their marriage. She was reduced to the home front, cooking and cleaning, now the scourge of nothing more than mere mice scavenging for scraps, a far cry even from the rats who had swarmed the monster-hunters in the estate next to the asylum. 

Her heart and mind rebelled at this reduction of her sphere, but every time she tried to step off her pedestal, her husband gently, lovingly, protectively placed her back there. He said she’d been through enough, and wouldn’t have her sullying herself in the business world. When she argued, he looked worried. He wouldn’t say it, but she could see him wondering if she’d been left tainted after all. He brought the learned professor in to consult. He said the scar on her forehead that had marked Mina as the monster’s had vanished with his vanquishing, so she appeared pure and pious once more; however, the professor didn’t say not to worry. He said to watch. 

And so Mina settled in for a long campaign. She must have patience. She would bide her time, and wait for the scraps of information that her husband let fall at night, and build a plan for her eventual freedom. She would remain pure and pious in public, surrendering to her husband’s will. Mina made herself  a meek mouse. Eventually, the watcher’s attention would waver, and then she’d seize her chance. THIS scavenger would win the war.