Fic: Determination
Title: Determination
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Nosy, Ianto, Tosh.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: There are so many things for an enquiring Fluff to learn, and Nosy wants to learn everything it possibly can, no matter how difficult it might be.
Word Count: 1123
Written For: Prompt 221 - Persistence at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Some people might have considered Nosy the Fluff stubborn, but it preferred to think of itself as determined. There were so many wonderful new things to learn amongst its human friends. Every day was a brand-new adventure, filled with fascinating discoveries, and it never knew what previously unimagined wonders it might encounter next.
No matter how much it had already learned, there were always new skills for it to master, and it was perfectly willing to try anything. Of course, some of its experiments proved more successful than others; as Ianto had said, no one could be good at everything, and Nosy had a few disadvantages, since it lacked limbs. Being a gigantic furry snakelike creature hampered its ability to do certain things that humans found easy, but sometimes, with a bit of patience and thought, Nosy could work out its own methods.
It had already learned to help with cleaning, using the feather duster Ianto had given it to dust large areas, and the tip of its own tail for delicate objects or small crevices. It could use the vacuum cleaner, if it got one of its friends to plug the clever contraption in. It could even fetch things for its friends, using a basket to carry them, or a small trolley that it could push around.
Not everything was about work and helping its friends, however. There were a lot of fun things to learn as well, toys to play with, and activities to enjoy. After watching someone called Michael Jackson on TV, it had dedicated itself to mastering body popping, although it still hadn’t quite got the hang of moonwalking. Nosy decided that probably worked better with feet. It had taught itself to hula with a hoop though, and according to its friends, had become pretty good at it. That was one skill where having an extremely flexible body proved to be an advantage.
Building things out of blocks was another patiently learned skill; Nosy had to be very careful, because it was hard to see where it was putting the blocks when it had to pick each one up in its mouth. Nevertheless, it had refused to give up. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That was one of the very wise things it had learned from its friends.
The blocks had proven useful in another, more important respect, because many had symbols called letters and numbers printed on them. It was with those that Ianto had given the Fluff its first lessons in human language, showing it how to spell out everyone’s names as well as simple words, so that it could ask for things and communicate with its friends. Of course, spelling things out in blocks was time-consuming, so the next skill Nosy had decided to work on was writing.
That proved a lot more difficult, as it had to grip a crayon in its mouth while somehow holding the paper down so it wouldn’t slide across the floor. It quickly learned that didn’t work very well; the Hub’s concrete floors were too uneven, and the tip of the crayon kept tearing the paper. The top of its toybox was a better writing surface, but it was an awkward height for someone who spent most of their time flat on the floor, so Ianto provided Nosy with a smooth, flat board to use as a writing desk. That helped a lot.
Nosy persevered in its attempts, and while it would never win awards for penmanship, its efforts did eventually result in it being able to write legibly, if rather wonkily. But even that achievement didn’t completely satisfy the Fluff. Writing notes by mouth was almost as time-consuming as using its blocks; there had to be a faster way of writing things down, and of course, thanks to human ingenuity, there was: The computer.
Computers were some of the most amazing devices Nosy had ever seen, perhaps even more amazing than cars that carried people and things wherever they needed to go, and switches which, when pressed down, would make lights come on, sometimes whole Fluff-lengths away from where the switch was. Computers could do just about anything, or so it seemed to a Fluff who had never encountered technology of any kind before it arrived on earth.
Nosy had watched Toshiko many times, as she tapped away at what she called a keyboard, where there were small black squares called keys, each marked with a letter, a number, or some other symbol. Some of the keys even had two! It marvelled as the symbols Tosh touched immediately appeared on a screen in front of her; that was clearly the fastest way to write, and therefore, Nosy knew it must learn how to do what Tosh and its other friends did.
Once again, the Fluff found itself hampered by its lack of hands. Tosh, and all the other humans it knew, had two hands apiece, each one blessed with five flexible appendages called fingers. With those, ‘typing’ on a computer keyboard was simple. Fingers could fly effortlessly over the keys, moving so fast the words appeared with the speed of thought. Nosy experienced a brief pang of envy; how wonderful it would be to have fingers! But it had none, and never would, so it would just have to figure out how to type without them.
Its snout was much too big and blunt for the small keys, and its tongue too awkward. The tip of its tail proved too fluffy, which meant the only way for a Fluff to type would be to grip something in its mouth and use that to press the keys. Obviously, that meant it would never be able to type at the speed most humans could manage, it would have to slowly tap one key at a time, but Gwen typed mostly with one finger of each hand, and seemed to manage well enough, so that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem.
Months of effort went into teaching itself to type, using an old laptop Tosh provided. There was a lot to remember, not just how to spell, and use the little symbols Ianto called punctuation marks, but how to turn the computer on, open the right program, and save its work when it was finished. But it was worth all the frustration when at last, after three years of living on earth, Nosy was able to type up and print out a report on itself and its homeworld, with everything it knew about its species, to be filed in the archives for future reference.
As Ianto said when Nosy gave him the folder, “Perseverance pays off, young Fluff! It may have taken you a while, but better late than never!”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Nosy, Ianto, Tosh.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: There are so many things for an enquiring Fluff to learn, and Nosy wants to learn everything it possibly can, no matter how difficult it might be.
Word Count: 1123
Written For: Prompt 221 - Persistence at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Some people might have considered Nosy the Fluff stubborn, but it preferred to think of itself as determined. There were so many wonderful new things to learn amongst its human friends. Every day was a brand-new adventure, filled with fascinating discoveries, and it never knew what previously unimagined wonders it might encounter next.
No matter how much it had already learned, there were always new skills for it to master, and it was perfectly willing to try anything. Of course, some of its experiments proved more successful than others; as Ianto had said, no one could be good at everything, and Nosy had a few disadvantages, since it lacked limbs. Being a gigantic furry snakelike creature hampered its ability to do certain things that humans found easy, but sometimes, with a bit of patience and thought, Nosy could work out its own methods.
It had already learned to help with cleaning, using the feather duster Ianto had given it to dust large areas, and the tip of its own tail for delicate objects or small crevices. It could use the vacuum cleaner, if it got one of its friends to plug the clever contraption in. It could even fetch things for its friends, using a basket to carry them, or a small trolley that it could push around.
Not everything was about work and helping its friends, however. There were a lot of fun things to learn as well, toys to play with, and activities to enjoy. After watching someone called Michael Jackson on TV, it had dedicated itself to mastering body popping, although it still hadn’t quite got the hang of moonwalking. Nosy decided that probably worked better with feet. It had taught itself to hula with a hoop though, and according to its friends, had become pretty good at it. That was one skill where having an extremely flexible body proved to be an advantage.
Building things out of blocks was another patiently learned skill; Nosy had to be very careful, because it was hard to see where it was putting the blocks when it had to pick each one up in its mouth. Nevertheless, it had refused to give up. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That was one of the very wise things it had learned from its friends.
The blocks had proven useful in another, more important respect, because many had symbols called letters and numbers printed on them. It was with those that Ianto had given the Fluff its first lessons in human language, showing it how to spell out everyone’s names as well as simple words, so that it could ask for things and communicate with its friends. Of course, spelling things out in blocks was time-consuming, so the next skill Nosy had decided to work on was writing.
That proved a lot more difficult, as it had to grip a crayon in its mouth while somehow holding the paper down so it wouldn’t slide across the floor. It quickly learned that didn’t work very well; the Hub’s concrete floors were too uneven, and the tip of the crayon kept tearing the paper. The top of its toybox was a better writing surface, but it was an awkward height for someone who spent most of their time flat on the floor, so Ianto provided Nosy with a smooth, flat board to use as a writing desk. That helped a lot.
Nosy persevered in its attempts, and while it would never win awards for penmanship, its efforts did eventually result in it being able to write legibly, if rather wonkily. But even that achievement didn’t completely satisfy the Fluff. Writing notes by mouth was almost as time-consuming as using its blocks; there had to be a faster way of writing things down, and of course, thanks to human ingenuity, there was: The computer.
Computers were some of the most amazing devices Nosy had ever seen, perhaps even more amazing than cars that carried people and things wherever they needed to go, and switches which, when pressed down, would make lights come on, sometimes whole Fluff-lengths away from where the switch was. Computers could do just about anything, or so it seemed to a Fluff who had never encountered technology of any kind before it arrived on earth.
Nosy had watched Toshiko many times, as she tapped away at what she called a keyboard, where there were small black squares called keys, each marked with a letter, a number, or some other symbol. Some of the keys even had two! It marvelled as the symbols Tosh touched immediately appeared on a screen in front of her; that was clearly the fastest way to write, and therefore, Nosy knew it must learn how to do what Tosh and its other friends did.
Once again, the Fluff found itself hampered by its lack of hands. Tosh, and all the other humans it knew, had two hands apiece, each one blessed with five flexible appendages called fingers. With those, ‘typing’ on a computer keyboard was simple. Fingers could fly effortlessly over the keys, moving so fast the words appeared with the speed of thought. Nosy experienced a brief pang of envy; how wonderful it would be to have fingers! But it had none, and never would, so it would just have to figure out how to type without them.
Its snout was much too big and blunt for the small keys, and its tongue too awkward. The tip of its tail proved too fluffy, which meant the only way for a Fluff to type would be to grip something in its mouth and use that to press the keys. Obviously, that meant it would never be able to type at the speed most humans could manage, it would have to slowly tap one key at a time, but Gwen typed mostly with one finger of each hand, and seemed to manage well enough, so that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem.
Months of effort went into teaching itself to type, using an old laptop Tosh provided. There was a lot to remember, not just how to spell, and use the little symbols Ianto called punctuation marks, but how to turn the computer on, open the right program, and save its work when it was finished. But it was worth all the frustration when at last, after three years of living on earth, Nosy was able to type up and print out a report on itself and its homeworld, with everything it knew about its species, to be filed in the archives for future reference.
As Ianto said when Nosy gave him the folder, “Perseverance pays off, young Fluff! It may have taken you a while, but better late than never!”
The End