Myshuno! 2012 - piece 10
Nov. 13th, 2012 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dicreasy2Title: Switch it on.
Prompt: Getting used to electricity. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rosefyre)
Rating: U.
Spoiler rating: 0/10.
Summary: Stuart ponders electricity.
Notes: Ever had an idea you really like, but can't quite get down on paper well enough to satisfy you? Well that's what's happened with this drabble. It takes place in Marina's universe, not that long after Stuart arrives there. I could see this happening very clearly, but can't get the words right to convey everything I want to. Despite that, I'm posting it anyway, because I really want to get to prompt 16 by the end of the month.
Word Count: 509.
Night had fallen by the time Stuart returned home from his lecture and the house was in darkness. “Hello, anyone home?” he called as he unceremoniously dumped his bag on the floor. Given how dark the house was, he hadn’t expected an answer and therefore wasn’t disappointed when none came. In fact, he quite liked the silence of the house. Well, if you could call it silent. That was one thing that was taking some getting used to about being in Sierra Plains; there was never any true silence. When he was laying in bed at home, the only noise to be heard was the occasional creak of a floor board as the house settled for the night, and the tick of the clock by his bed, but here there was constant noise whether it was the gurgle of water in pipes, the hum of the air conditioner, or the buzz of the fridge downstairs. Part of it was, he knew, due to the house being far, far smaller than his childhood home (his bedroom there had been only slightly smaller than the footprint of any building in Sierra Plains), but part of it was down to something almost completely foreign to him: electricity.
Electricity was something that he had had only a passing acquaintance with in Regalton, but here it seemed as if everything was powered by it. One might expect him to be most fascinated with the contraption that Mikey and Phil used to write their essays, but in truth, he had never seen anything of the like before and therefore accepted it without question. No the thing that fascinated him more than anything, was the lights. He had attended the theatre in Simdon with his family one time when he was a teenager. A great deal had been made by the theatre’s owners over the new electric lighting they had installed to replace the traditional lime-lights. When he and Bertie had discussed it afterwards, they had admitted that yes it was easier to see the action on the stage, but neither had been able to see the idea catching on anywhere, and dismissed it as a fad. Living in Sierra Plains, had proved to him that he and Bertie had been mistaken. Not only that, electric light was so easy; all he had to do was flick this switch and the lights would come on. Back home, if he wanted to light the drawing room, he would have to turn on the gas tap to a lamp, light the jet and incandescent mantle, before adjusting the gas flow to get the correct level for the time of day. And he would have to do that for each of the six fittings in the room. He would then finish lighting the oil lamps and only then would the drawing room be properly lighted. Here, he just had to press one switch.
He did just that. Then switched it off, then back on again. Instant light. That was something that was going to take some getting used to.
Prompt: Getting used to electricity. (
rosefyre)Rating: U.
Spoiler rating: 0/10.
Summary: Stuart ponders electricity.
Notes: Ever had an idea you really like, but can't quite get down on paper well enough to satisfy you? Well that's what's happened with this drabble. It takes place in Marina's universe, not that long after Stuart arrives there. I could see this happening very clearly, but can't get the words right to convey everything I want to. Despite that, I'm posting it anyway, because I really want to get to prompt 16 by the end of the month.
Word Count: 509.
Night had fallen by the time Stuart returned home from his lecture and the house was in darkness. “Hello, anyone home?” he called as he unceremoniously dumped his bag on the floor. Given how dark the house was, he hadn’t expected an answer and therefore wasn’t disappointed when none came. In fact, he quite liked the silence of the house. Well, if you could call it silent. That was one thing that was taking some getting used to about being in Sierra Plains; there was never any true silence. When he was laying in bed at home, the only noise to be heard was the occasional creak of a floor board as the house settled for the night, and the tick of the clock by his bed, but here there was constant noise whether it was the gurgle of water in pipes, the hum of the air conditioner, or the buzz of the fridge downstairs. Part of it was, he knew, due to the house being far, far smaller than his childhood home (his bedroom there had been only slightly smaller than the footprint of any building in Sierra Plains), but part of it was down to something almost completely foreign to him: electricity.
Electricity was something that he had had only a passing acquaintance with in Regalton, but here it seemed as if everything was powered by it. One might expect him to be most fascinated with the contraption that Mikey and Phil used to write their essays, but in truth, he had never seen anything of the like before and therefore accepted it without question. No the thing that fascinated him more than anything, was the lights. He had attended the theatre in Simdon with his family one time when he was a teenager. A great deal had been made by the theatre’s owners over the new electric lighting they had installed to replace the traditional lime-lights. When he and Bertie had discussed it afterwards, they had admitted that yes it was easier to see the action on the stage, but neither had been able to see the idea catching on anywhere, and dismissed it as a fad. Living in Sierra Plains, had proved to him that he and Bertie had been mistaken. Not only that, electric light was so easy; all he had to do was flick this switch and the lights would come on. Back home, if he wanted to light the drawing room, he would have to turn on the gas tap to a lamp, light the jet and incandescent mantle, before adjusting the gas flow to get the correct level for the time of day. And he would have to do that for each of the six fittings in the room. He would then finish lighting the oil lamps and only then would the drawing room be properly lighted. Here, he just had to press one switch.
He did just that. Then switched it off, then back on again. Instant light. That was something that was going to take some getting used to.
