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rainbowfic2025-12-11 01:49 pm
paradoxcase) wrote in rainbowfic2025-12-11 01:49 pm
Entry tags:
Light Black #18 [The Fulcrum]
Name: Experiments
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #18: Ignore
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 895
Rating: T
Warnings: Fantasy Drug (Ab)use
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Peatäro
In-Universe Date: 1912.4.3.3
Summary: Qhoroali does experiments with the timeline substance.
Peatäro let them into the experimentation room, and set up the table in the middle. Qhoroali put the flasks of the timeline substance on a shelf, and pulled out a bottle of qoire as she said, “I want to do all the experiments today. Everything we’ve got, including the new stuff I added to the list last week.”
“Sure,” said Peatäro. “I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t blow anything up without me.” She ducked back out the door.
Qhoroali leaned forward over the table with its clear dome and looked at Setsiana across it. “Are you excited?” she asked. “I am. We’ll find out how Time itself interacts with all that stuff — what substance might destroy it, or change it.”
“If there was anything here that could, wouldn’t it have already done that to the Tree?” Setsiana asked. “We’re inside of it, after all.”
“Not necessarily.” Qhoroali put the qoire bottle down and held up one of the flasks. “This stuff looks slightly different to us than the actual Tree does when we travel it, right? Or at least, it’s a different color. So potentially there’s something that could affect it from outside, coming from a higher dimension, that can’t affect it from a lower one.”
“And if you do find something that can destroy it, you’re going to, what? Go to that rip in Time we found and destroy the Tree? Destroy all of Time?”
Qhoroali shook her head, seeming amused. “No, silly. Just destroy Sapfita.”
“I still don’t think we actually saw Sapfita there,” said Setsiana. “That cloud was maybe some kind of source or supply of Time. It was feeding into the Tree. If you find something that destroys the substance of Time, and use it to destroy that cloud, I think it’ll just travel up the Tree and destroy the whole thing.”
“Sapfita is the source of Time,” said Qhoroali. “I told you before. You learned this at your temple, didn’t you?”
“You only want to destroy the branches where the priesthood exists, right?” Something about the romantic dream that could never be was making Setsiana irritable and confrontational today. “If Sapfita is the source of Time, and you destroy Her, what makes you think the parts of the Tree you don’t want to destroy will remain intact? Where will the Time to supply those branches come from?”
Qhoroali pursed her lips. “I think some primitive source of Time will always exist,” she said, “even if Sapfita has been destroyed. I think.”
“So, then you agree that the source of Time is not necessarily Sapfita, right? If it can exist even after She is gone.”
Qhoroali frowned at this, but before the argument could continue, Peatäro returned with the portable shelf from before. There did seem to be a few extra bottles on it that had not been there before.
Qhoroali took up the qoire bottle again, doled out three drops to herself, and then passed it to Setsiana for her to do the same. Qhoroali poured some of the substance out under the dome, and Setsiana watched the toy timeline Tree form with trepidation as Qhoroali introduced substances to it. Fortunately, at least as far as she was concerned, it proceeded in much the same way it had when they had experimented with the “dreamstuff” substance earlier; everything introduced to the substance seemed to slip between the branches of the Tree, or phase through them, leaving them unchanged and untouched.
When Qhoroali had finished, Peatäro said, “I suppose you’ll want to try electricity, the lightning, now.”
Qhoroali considered this for a moment, and then said, “No lightning.” As Peatäro began packing up the bottles and the shelf, she looked contemplatively at the yellow-green model timeline Tree under the dome. “There has to be something that affects it. They did something to it in 2307.”
Setsiana looked at her, curious now instead of apprehensive. “You don’t actually know what they did?”
“They were trying different things in different timelines, all at around the same time. In every timeline, they thought they succeeded, but since the effects exist even in timelines where they didn’t try anything, there must have been just one thing that worked and had reaching extradimensional effects across the whole Tree. Or maybe it was a combination of multiple things. I don’t know which of those things, specifically, were successful. Even if I did know, it’s not useful to me — they didn’t destroy anything, I think it’s more likely that they added something that wasn’t there before. But it does prove that there is at least one substance that we should have access to that can have effects on Time. I think we just haven’t found the right thing to test, yet.”
Setsiana watched her as they put away the table and dome. She only had until Qhoroali found whatever substance she was looking for to convince her not to use it. Some sneaking, traitorous thought went through her mind, that maybe if Qhoroali actually returned her feelings, she would see the error of her ways and understand. Setsiana pushed the thought away. Even if Qhoroali did feel that way, which she didn’t, it was probably an unrealistic fantasy that it would change anything. Qhoroali was already prepared to sacrifice her own existence for this goal; the sacrifice of love would surely seem a lesser price to her.
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #18: Ignore
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 895
Rating: T
Warnings: Fantasy Drug (Ab)use
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Peatäro
In-Universe Date: 1912.4.3.3
Summary: Qhoroali does experiments with the timeline substance.
Peatäro let them into the experimentation room, and set up the table in the middle. Qhoroali put the flasks of the timeline substance on a shelf, and pulled out a bottle of qoire as she said, “I want to do all the experiments today. Everything we’ve got, including the new stuff I added to the list last week.”
“Sure,” said Peatäro. “I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t blow anything up without me.” She ducked back out the door.
Qhoroali leaned forward over the table with its clear dome and looked at Setsiana across it. “Are you excited?” she asked. “I am. We’ll find out how Time itself interacts with all that stuff — what substance might destroy it, or change it.”
“If there was anything here that could, wouldn’t it have already done that to the Tree?” Setsiana asked. “We’re inside of it, after all.”
“Not necessarily.” Qhoroali put the qoire bottle down and held up one of the flasks. “This stuff looks slightly different to us than the actual Tree does when we travel it, right? Or at least, it’s a different color. So potentially there’s something that could affect it from outside, coming from a higher dimension, that can’t affect it from a lower one.”
“And if you do find something that can destroy it, you’re going to, what? Go to that rip in Time we found and destroy the Tree? Destroy all of Time?”
Qhoroali shook her head, seeming amused. “No, silly. Just destroy Sapfita.”
“I still don’t think we actually saw Sapfita there,” said Setsiana. “That cloud was maybe some kind of source or supply of Time. It was feeding into the Tree. If you find something that destroys the substance of Time, and use it to destroy that cloud, I think it’ll just travel up the Tree and destroy the whole thing.”
“Sapfita is the source of Time,” said Qhoroali. “I told you before. You learned this at your temple, didn’t you?”
“You only want to destroy the branches where the priesthood exists, right?” Something about the romantic dream that could never be was making Setsiana irritable and confrontational today. “If Sapfita is the source of Time, and you destroy Her, what makes you think the parts of the Tree you don’t want to destroy will remain intact? Where will the Time to supply those branches come from?”
Qhoroali pursed her lips. “I think some primitive source of Time will always exist,” she said, “even if Sapfita has been destroyed. I think.”
“So, then you agree that the source of Time is not necessarily Sapfita, right? If it can exist even after She is gone.”
Qhoroali frowned at this, but before the argument could continue, Peatäro returned with the portable shelf from before. There did seem to be a few extra bottles on it that had not been there before.
Qhoroali took up the qoire bottle again, doled out three drops to herself, and then passed it to Setsiana for her to do the same. Qhoroali poured some of the substance out under the dome, and Setsiana watched the toy timeline Tree form with trepidation as Qhoroali introduced substances to it. Fortunately, at least as far as she was concerned, it proceeded in much the same way it had when they had experimented with the “dreamstuff” substance earlier; everything introduced to the substance seemed to slip between the branches of the Tree, or phase through them, leaving them unchanged and untouched.
When Qhoroali had finished, Peatäro said, “I suppose you’ll want to try electricity, the lightning, now.”
Qhoroali considered this for a moment, and then said, “No lightning.” As Peatäro began packing up the bottles and the shelf, she looked contemplatively at the yellow-green model timeline Tree under the dome. “There has to be something that affects it. They did something to it in 2307.”
Setsiana looked at her, curious now instead of apprehensive. “You don’t actually know what they did?”
“They were trying different things in different timelines, all at around the same time. In every timeline, they thought they succeeded, but since the effects exist even in timelines where they didn’t try anything, there must have been just one thing that worked and had reaching extradimensional effects across the whole Tree. Or maybe it was a combination of multiple things. I don’t know which of those things, specifically, were successful. Even if I did know, it’s not useful to me — they didn’t destroy anything, I think it’s more likely that they added something that wasn’t there before. But it does prove that there is at least one substance that we should have access to that can have effects on Time. I think we just haven’t found the right thing to test, yet.”
Setsiana watched her as they put away the table and dome. She only had until Qhoroali found whatever substance she was looking for to convince her not to use it. Some sneaking, traitorous thought went through her mind, that maybe if Qhoroali actually returned her feelings, she would see the error of her ways and understand. Setsiana pushed the thought away. Even if Qhoroali did feel that way, which she didn’t, it was probably an unrealistic fantasy that it would change anything. Qhoroali was already prepared to sacrifice her own existence for this goal; the sacrifice of love would surely seem a lesser price to her.
no subject
An understandable conclusion, poor Setsiana! Qhoroali is very determined indeed. I look forward to finding out how this pans out.
no subject
Thank you for reading! I hope you like the conclusion that this will eventually come to in ~6 months or so.
no subject
no subject
Well, hopefully. Thank you for reading!