paradoxcase (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
paradoxcase) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rainbowfic2025-09-24 04:09 pm
paradoxcase) wrote in rainbowfic2025-09-24 04:09 pm
Entry tags:
Light Black #27 [The Fulcrum]
Name: Dreamstuff
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #27: Break
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 1289
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Peatäro
In-Universe Date: 1912.3.3.8
Summary: Qhoroali experiments with the "dreamstuff" compound.
Setsiana did not see the Sohanke girls again the following morning; the next thing she heard about it was Liselye coming by to tell her that she and Cyaru had returned them to their timelines. She had to admit that she did feel a little bit better now that she had helped free some slaves and had actually been able to contribute some tangible good to the world, even if Qhoroali had done most of it.
Towards the end of the week, Peatäro showed up at the apartment again. “What are we doing this time?” she asked.
“The twenty-second century compound,” said Qhoroali. “I’ll just start with the experiments, this time. Hopefully it will be more interesting than it was last time.”
Peatäro shrugged. “Cusäfä’s notes say this one seemed pretty inert,” she said. “That’s a good thing, from his perspective, but I’m guessing you won’t be pleased.”
“We’ll see,” said Qhoroali.
Peatäro disappeared, and returned with a small portable shelf, which contained a variety of vials full of liquids and chucks of solid material, suspended by their flared necks. Setsiana was sure that some of them must be ordinary substances, but most she could not identify. Qhoroali had with her several vials of what was presumably the twenty-second century substance. Wasn’t this the one with the strange “dreamstuff” element in it? Setsiana was interested to see what it would do. They put on the strange spectacles, and unlocked the door to Qhoroali’s experiment room.
They began the same way they had with the previous substance, with Peatäro pouring it out onto the table under the dome. This one did seem to be straightforwardly a liquid, although it did not seem to wet the table, and sometimes formed into beads, like quicksilver. The color, however, was an iridescent blue.
After observing it for a bit, Qhoroali put the majority of the substance back into her vials and began introducing the things from Peatäro’s shelf, one at a time. She would introduce a substance, watch for a bit to see if anything was going to happen, and then, when nothing did, she emptied the contents of the dome into a small basin which she set off to the side. Then she would put another small amount of the “dreamstuff” substance back under the dome and try the next thing from the shelf.
The long process of trying everything on the shelf concluded, with no results. Qhoroali stood staring at the dome as Peatäro emptied it for the last time, with her hands on her hips, clearly frustrated. “Can we try the lightning?” she asked.
“What for?” asked Peatäro. “Is it going to mean something important to you if it turns out to be a conductor?”
“I don’t know. It will tell us something, which is more than the rest of this did.”
“It told us that it doesn’t react with any of that stuff. That’s still information, even if it’s not whatever you were hoping for.”
“Can we try the lightning?”
“Sure, fine. Let me go get it.” Peatäro took the shelf full of vials and left the room.
Setsiana watched her go, and continued to look apprehensively at the closed door for several seconds after she had left. “Lightning?” she asked, nervously.
“Yes,” said Qhoroali. “It’s quite normal to use lightning to power everything in the future, actually. It’s how Cusäfä’s phone, and the noise-canceling headphones, and the lights I showed you before all work. It’s not that scary, they know how to keep it contained. They rely so heavily on it that when their lightning generators go down, their entire society grinds to a halt because they don’t know how to do basic shit without lightning, anymore.”
“So you’re going to… strike the substance with lightning?”
“Not exactly. You won’t see the lightning, or anything. If it conducts it, it’ll be invisible, except for the fact that it will power a light and turn it on. If it doesn’t, then the light just won’t turn on, and that’ll be it.”
“What does it mean if the light turns on?”
“I don’t know. I just… want to see it do something.”
Peatäro returned with a wad of wires and a clear glass bulb not unlike an empty qoire bottle. She detached the dome from the table, and replaced it with an empty basin. “I think this probably isn’t going to do anything really exciting, so it should be fine like this.” She poured the dreamstuff substance into the basin until there was a good layer of it across the whole bottom. Then she unwound the wires. Setsiana saw that they connected the mouth of the bulb to a small container with a cylinder in it like the ones Qhoroali had put into the lights at the secret place, or into the earmuffs from earlier. Further on, the wires also connected a switch, and then both ends of the wires terminated in metal prongs.
Peatäro set the prongs into opposite sides of the basin, made sure they were both submerged, and then flipped the switch.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then suddenly, a light flickered briefly from within the bulb. Then it flickered again, and again, and again, until it was shining almost continuously, like the lights at Qhoroali’s secret place had. Qhoroali was looking at the bulb, a smile painting its way across her face. “Finally!” she said. “It actually did something.”
Setsiana wasn’t looking at the bulb anymore; she was looking at the basin. Something was happening to the liquid, some vigorous bubbling or turbulence along a line connecting the the two metal prongs. Was that supposed to happen? Qhoroali had said she wouldn’t be able to see the lightning. As she was wondering if she should call Peatäro’s attention to it, a jet of the liquid seemed to rise into the air from the midway point.
Setsiana stepped back from the table and shrieked in Vrelian. The next thing she saw was a glob of the substance coming towards her face, just before her vision cut out. Somewhere she heard Peatäro yell, and then was aware of nothing more.
She awoke a few minutes later (or so she hoped), lying on the floor of the experiment room. Peatäro hovered above her, looking at her very intently. She was wafting her hand in front of Setsiana’s face, as if to clear the air, although Setsiana could not detect anything strange about it. “Are you alright?” Peatäro asked. “I turned the switch off, and it stopped doing… whatever that was. No idea why it did that.”
“I think so.” Setsiana did not feel like anything had physically hit or hurt her, and hadn’t felt short of breath prior to fainting. She wondered what had caused it. She could feel a vague headache starting, somewhere behind her temples, but that was it.
She sat up, and saw that Qhoroali was also sitting on the floor a little ways away, distractedly massaging her head. A blue bead of the substance rolled off of Setsiana’s face onto the floor; Peatäro attempted to wipe it up with a piece of tissue she had with her, but it did not seem to want to be absorbed. She sighed. “I’ll have Mosetai clean this place out more thoroughly. She has Ways.”
Setsiana got to her feet and went over to Qhoroali, who was starting to stand up, as well. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” said Qhoroali. “I think I got splashed? You too, I guess. But I don’t know what knocked me out.” She rubbed her head again. “Ugh, I don’t need a headache, today. Let’s call it quits for this. I think we’ve tried everything we can with that substance, anyway.”
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #27: Break
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 1289
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Peatäro
In-Universe Date: 1912.3.3.8
Summary: Qhoroali experiments with the "dreamstuff" compound.
Setsiana did not see the Sohanke girls again the following morning; the next thing she heard about it was Liselye coming by to tell her that she and Cyaru had returned them to their timelines. She had to admit that she did feel a little bit better now that she had helped free some slaves and had actually been able to contribute some tangible good to the world, even if Qhoroali had done most of it.
Towards the end of the week, Peatäro showed up at the apartment again. “What are we doing this time?” she asked.
“The twenty-second century compound,” said Qhoroali. “I’ll just start with the experiments, this time. Hopefully it will be more interesting than it was last time.”
Peatäro shrugged. “Cusäfä’s notes say this one seemed pretty inert,” she said. “That’s a good thing, from his perspective, but I’m guessing you won’t be pleased.”
“We’ll see,” said Qhoroali.
Peatäro disappeared, and returned with a small portable shelf, which contained a variety of vials full of liquids and chucks of solid material, suspended by their flared necks. Setsiana was sure that some of them must be ordinary substances, but most she could not identify. Qhoroali had with her several vials of what was presumably the twenty-second century substance. Wasn’t this the one with the strange “dreamstuff” element in it? Setsiana was interested to see what it would do. They put on the strange spectacles, and unlocked the door to Qhoroali’s experiment room.
They began the same way they had with the previous substance, with Peatäro pouring it out onto the table under the dome. This one did seem to be straightforwardly a liquid, although it did not seem to wet the table, and sometimes formed into beads, like quicksilver. The color, however, was an iridescent blue.
After observing it for a bit, Qhoroali put the majority of the substance back into her vials and began introducing the things from Peatäro’s shelf, one at a time. She would introduce a substance, watch for a bit to see if anything was going to happen, and then, when nothing did, she emptied the contents of the dome into a small basin which she set off to the side. Then she would put another small amount of the “dreamstuff” substance back under the dome and try the next thing from the shelf.
The long process of trying everything on the shelf concluded, with no results. Qhoroali stood staring at the dome as Peatäro emptied it for the last time, with her hands on her hips, clearly frustrated. “Can we try the lightning?” she asked.
“What for?” asked Peatäro. “Is it going to mean something important to you if it turns out to be a conductor?”
“I don’t know. It will tell us something, which is more than the rest of this did.”
“It told us that it doesn’t react with any of that stuff. That’s still information, even if it’s not whatever you were hoping for.”
“Can we try the lightning?”
“Sure, fine. Let me go get it.” Peatäro took the shelf full of vials and left the room.
Setsiana watched her go, and continued to look apprehensively at the closed door for several seconds after she had left. “Lightning?” she asked, nervously.
“Yes,” said Qhoroali. “It’s quite normal to use lightning to power everything in the future, actually. It’s how Cusäfä’s phone, and the noise-canceling headphones, and the lights I showed you before all work. It’s not that scary, they know how to keep it contained. They rely so heavily on it that when their lightning generators go down, their entire society grinds to a halt because they don’t know how to do basic shit without lightning, anymore.”
“So you’re going to… strike the substance with lightning?”
“Not exactly. You won’t see the lightning, or anything. If it conducts it, it’ll be invisible, except for the fact that it will power a light and turn it on. If it doesn’t, then the light just won’t turn on, and that’ll be it.”
“What does it mean if the light turns on?”
“I don’t know. I just… want to see it do something.”
Peatäro returned with a wad of wires and a clear glass bulb not unlike an empty qoire bottle. She detached the dome from the table, and replaced it with an empty basin. “I think this probably isn’t going to do anything really exciting, so it should be fine like this.” She poured the dreamstuff substance into the basin until there was a good layer of it across the whole bottom. Then she unwound the wires. Setsiana saw that they connected the mouth of the bulb to a small container with a cylinder in it like the ones Qhoroali had put into the lights at the secret place, or into the earmuffs from earlier. Further on, the wires also connected a switch, and then both ends of the wires terminated in metal prongs.
Peatäro set the prongs into opposite sides of the basin, made sure they were both submerged, and then flipped the switch.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then suddenly, a light flickered briefly from within the bulb. Then it flickered again, and again, and again, until it was shining almost continuously, like the lights at Qhoroali’s secret place had. Qhoroali was looking at the bulb, a smile painting its way across her face. “Finally!” she said. “It actually did something.”
Setsiana wasn’t looking at the bulb anymore; she was looking at the basin. Something was happening to the liquid, some vigorous bubbling or turbulence along a line connecting the the two metal prongs. Was that supposed to happen? Qhoroali had said she wouldn’t be able to see the lightning. As she was wondering if she should call Peatäro’s attention to it, a jet of the liquid seemed to rise into the air from the midway point.
Setsiana stepped back from the table and shrieked in Vrelian. The next thing she saw was a glob of the substance coming towards her face, just before her vision cut out. Somewhere she heard Peatäro yell, and then was aware of nothing more.
She awoke a few minutes later (or so she hoped), lying on the floor of the experiment room. Peatäro hovered above her, looking at her very intently. She was wafting her hand in front of Setsiana’s face, as if to clear the air, although Setsiana could not detect anything strange about it. “Are you alright?” Peatäro asked. “I turned the switch off, and it stopped doing… whatever that was. No idea why it did that.”
“I think so.” Setsiana did not feel like anything had physically hit or hurt her, and hadn’t felt short of breath prior to fainting. She wondered what had caused it. She could feel a vague headache starting, somewhere behind her temples, but that was it.
She sat up, and saw that Qhoroali was also sitting on the floor a little ways away, distractedly massaging her head. A blue bead of the substance rolled off of Setsiana’s face onto the floor; Peatäro attempted to wipe it up with a piece of tissue she had with her, but it did not seem to want to be absorbed. She sighed. “I’ll have Mosetai clean this place out more thoroughly. She has Ways.”
Setsiana got to her feet and went over to Qhoroali, who was starting to stand up, as well. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” said Qhoroali. “I think I got splashed? You too, I guess. But I don’t know what knocked me out.” She rubbed her head again. “Ugh, I don’t need a headache, today. Let’s call it quits for this. I think we’ve tried everything we can with that substance, anyway.”
no subject
I think we’ve tried everything we can with that substance, anyway.”
LOL, I'll say so.
no subject
Thank you for reading!
no subject
no subject
Thank you! I hope the story doesn't get dull, haha.
no subject
Anyway, this is intriguing!
no subject
Thank you! And yeah, it's been a while since Peatäro actually studied chemistry, and there are probably better people to do the job of keeping Qhoroali from blowing up the apartment, haha.