Each Sunday, Weekend Writing Warriors offers a selection of eight-sentence excerpts from writers in multiple genres and forms. Check out the full roster here.

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The others clapped and laughed, the more so when we took hold of each other for stability–nothing worse than banging lips into teeth–and fell over, because we were concentrating on the kiss, some kind of one-upsmanship turned into something else.

We untangled, laughing, and then one of the others said, “Hope that doesn’t mean the rest of us are going to starve.”

“Not for dumplings,” I said, “but this one’s mine.”

Phila winked at me. “And dumplings too,” he said. “As long as you’re still as quick with the prep.”

Which was the beginning of rather a lot of fun.

Every time I eat a fried dumpling, I remember that kiss, and if Phila were still alive, that would be a happy thing.

***

Speaker is Yasmin-3, Full Clone of the Great Shipwright (Naime). She’s the minor villain of the Ship’s Heart trilogy. Thanks to my writing comrade Lev Mirov, she’s getting her own novel. “Minor villain wreaks havoc on major villain when she discovers she’s been played and finds redemption through her love of sex and fried dumplings.”