Fic: April Shower (S&S)
Title: April Shower
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1025
Characters/Pairings: Silver, Sapphire, Steel
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: Silver’s having trouble with a telegraph pole and a dead human - he’s not sure which is the most stubborn.
For justice_turtle in the 500 Prompts Meme: 365 - I walk out in stormy weather (Sapphire/Silver/Steel). Another fic fished out of an old notebook - my notes from the time suggest that I originally also meant this to be for an element_flash prompt “April showers”. (I’m, er, not sure which April… Probably 2014!)
(JT, don't worry if you can't read it for any reason - I took at least 18 months just to type it up; you can take as long as you need before you read it, or just not. ♥)
***
In the middle of a field, one telegraph pole was being rained on by a lone cloud poised far above it.
Many people might have thought that odd, but for Silver it was just a rather depressing aspect of what had been supposed to be a purely technical problem. Tweak the wiring, banish the unwanted signal from two years ago, that’s all they’d seemed to think it would need. And of course he could do it; of course he could.
It was only that at the moment his nice jacket was getting wet across the shoulders and water was trickling down the back of his neck as he worked. What was worse, the human engineer who’d died here two years ago and who was responsible for the echoing signal, kept hanging about and telling him he’d never finish the job. It was highly off-putting. This wasn’t what specialists were supposed to do, Silver thought, and shivered. He didn’t like the rain, he didn’t like being alone, and he didn’t like dead humans criticising his work.
“Not used to these models, are you?” said the ghostly engineer. “Knew they’d never get anyone reliable to replace me.”
Silver sighed. “You really don’t seem to understand, do you? You died. You shouldn’t be here. And I know all there is to know about every model of - ah - telegraph pole. I’m an expert on all sorts of things.”
“Well, you don’t seem to be getting anywhere,” said the deceased human. “Want me to tell you why?”
“I know why,” Silver said. “Everything I do, you’re twisting it about, aren’t you? Turning it into more electrical signals, causing yet more disruption.”
“And I’ll keep on till there’s nothing left of you.”
Silver focused on his task and tried not to be too scared. He could do this, obviously he could. “That’s impossible.”
“Well, we’ve got all day,” said the telegraph engineer. “We’ll find out, won’t we?”
Silver paused to pick another small tool out of his pocket and then wiped the rain from his face. “You must be causing a lot of trouble over there in the town. Wrong numbers all over the place, I shouldn’t wonder.”
A wire fell down suddenly and although Silver dodged it, it moved as if alive, snaking itself around his wrist.
“They can’t manage without me,” said the engineer. “I always said so.”
Silver scowled at him. “While I admire dedication to one’s craft, I do think that’s taking it a little too far. Don’t you think so?”
“I’ll make it back,” the man said. “You’ll see.”
Silver concentrated on slipping his hand free of the wire, though it kept trying to follow him as he worked, sliding round his wrist now, his leg then, hampering his efforts still further. And if this level of disruption was maintained, it was possible that the engineer might actually regain some sort of reality, although not what the human remnant of him had in mind, Silver was sure of that. There would be something else beyond it and that didn’t bear thinking about.
He had to turn his attention back to the wire again, which was looped around his ankle and sparking dangerously this time, when suddenly the rain ceased and the wire was pulled away.
Silver immediately gave his attention back to his work, but he smiled widely to himself. “Oh, at last,” he said without looking. He didn’t need to look. “You took your time, didn’t you?”
“You said you could do it,” Steel said. “You didn’t need any help.”
Silver glanced up then, half amused, half sheepish and held out his hands momentarily. “And I could have done, but I wasn’t in possession of all the facts.”
Sapphire smiled at Silver, standing there in a blue, grey, and white striped sundress, while she held up a vividly red umbrella over his head. Steel was glaring again, but not at Silver this time - at the recalcitrant wire he was now winding forcibly around his arm.
Silver couldn’t allow himself to be too distracted by his pleasure at the sight of the other two, however, so he continued to work on the pole, drawing the signal down through the wire he’d cut earlier and into his fingers, where he dispersed it into the air. It was all terribly simple, only a slight technical matter, as they’d said. It was just the presence of the engineer that nobody had bargained for.
“Somebody made a mistake,” Silver continued. “It wasn’t only the signal, you see. There was something rather nasty behind it. But then I don’t need to tell you that now, do I?”
Sapphire’s eyes glowed blue while Steel’s grip on the struggling wire intensified.
“Hurry, Silver,” Steel said.
Silver bent his head back to the task. “Almost there, Steel.” The signals that had been echoing in his head as they passed along the wires above had almost gone. There was still something, though, he realised, and beyond Sapphire’s protective influence, he could still feel the presence of the malevolent ex-human.
“Hmm,” Silver said, and moved himself suddenly to the top of the pole, unwinding the wires there, one by one, and then replaced them.
The cloud, he noticed as he finished, had gone and he was now perched on top of a telegraph pole in sunshine.
“There!” he said, reappearing on the ground beside his two colleagues. “Perfect!”
“Perfect?” said Sapphire, with a faintly mocking look in her eye. Her umbrella had now become a white and blue parasol.
Silver waved a hand. “Well, there may be a few minor missed connections and wrong numbers for a few more minutes, but the humans are used to that.”
“At last,” said Steel, and threw the coiled, now inert, wire at Silver, who caught it. He watched Silver as if that was some kind of test, and then nodded. “Yes, I think we’re done.”
Silver turned the wire over in his hands and managed a look of surprise when it became nothing more than glitter, which he blew in Steel’s direction. “So we are. And how glad I am you came.”
“Where else would we be?” said Sapphire.
***
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there:
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1025
Characters/Pairings: Silver, Sapphire, Steel
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: Silver’s having trouble with a telegraph pole and a dead human - he’s not sure which is the most stubborn.
For justice_turtle in the 500 Prompts Meme: 365 - I walk out in stormy weather (Sapphire/Silver/Steel). Another fic fished out of an old notebook - my notes from the time suggest that I originally also meant this to be for an element_flash prompt “April showers”. (I’m, er, not sure which April… Probably 2014!)
(JT, don't worry if you can't read it for any reason - I took at least 18 months just to type it up; you can take as long as you need before you read it, or just not. ♥)
***
In the middle of a field, one telegraph pole was being rained on by a lone cloud poised far above it.
Many people might have thought that odd, but for Silver it was just a rather depressing aspect of what had been supposed to be a purely technical problem. Tweak the wiring, banish the unwanted signal from two years ago, that’s all they’d seemed to think it would need. And of course he could do it; of course he could.
It was only that at the moment his nice jacket was getting wet across the shoulders and water was trickling down the back of his neck as he worked. What was worse, the human engineer who’d died here two years ago and who was responsible for the echoing signal, kept hanging about and telling him he’d never finish the job. It was highly off-putting. This wasn’t what specialists were supposed to do, Silver thought, and shivered. He didn’t like the rain, he didn’t like being alone, and he didn’t like dead humans criticising his work.
“Not used to these models, are you?” said the ghostly engineer. “Knew they’d never get anyone reliable to replace me.”
Silver sighed. “You really don’t seem to understand, do you? You died. You shouldn’t be here. And I know all there is to know about every model of - ah - telegraph pole. I’m an expert on all sorts of things.”
“Well, you don’t seem to be getting anywhere,” said the deceased human. “Want me to tell you why?”
“I know why,” Silver said. “Everything I do, you’re twisting it about, aren’t you? Turning it into more electrical signals, causing yet more disruption.”
“And I’ll keep on till there’s nothing left of you.”
Silver focused on his task and tried not to be too scared. He could do this, obviously he could. “That’s impossible.”
“Well, we’ve got all day,” said the telegraph engineer. “We’ll find out, won’t we?”
Silver paused to pick another small tool out of his pocket and then wiped the rain from his face. “You must be causing a lot of trouble over there in the town. Wrong numbers all over the place, I shouldn’t wonder.”
A wire fell down suddenly and although Silver dodged it, it moved as if alive, snaking itself around his wrist.
“They can’t manage without me,” said the engineer. “I always said so.”
Silver scowled at him. “While I admire dedication to one’s craft, I do think that’s taking it a little too far. Don’t you think so?”
“I’ll make it back,” the man said. “You’ll see.”
Silver concentrated on slipping his hand free of the wire, though it kept trying to follow him as he worked, sliding round his wrist now, his leg then, hampering his efforts still further. And if this level of disruption was maintained, it was possible that the engineer might actually regain some sort of reality, although not what the human remnant of him had in mind, Silver was sure of that. There would be something else beyond it and that didn’t bear thinking about.
He had to turn his attention back to the wire again, which was looped around his ankle and sparking dangerously this time, when suddenly the rain ceased and the wire was pulled away.
Silver immediately gave his attention back to his work, but he smiled widely to himself. “Oh, at last,” he said without looking. He didn’t need to look. “You took your time, didn’t you?”
“You said you could do it,” Steel said. “You didn’t need any help.”
Silver glanced up then, half amused, half sheepish and held out his hands momentarily. “And I could have done, but I wasn’t in possession of all the facts.”
Sapphire smiled at Silver, standing there in a blue, grey, and white striped sundress, while she held up a vividly red umbrella over his head. Steel was glaring again, but not at Silver this time - at the recalcitrant wire he was now winding forcibly around his arm.
Silver couldn’t allow himself to be too distracted by his pleasure at the sight of the other two, however, so he continued to work on the pole, drawing the signal down through the wire he’d cut earlier and into his fingers, where he dispersed it into the air. It was all terribly simple, only a slight technical matter, as they’d said. It was just the presence of the engineer that nobody had bargained for.
“Somebody made a mistake,” Silver continued. “It wasn’t only the signal, you see. There was something rather nasty behind it. But then I don’t need to tell you that now, do I?”
Sapphire’s eyes glowed blue while Steel’s grip on the struggling wire intensified.
“Hurry, Silver,” Steel said.
Silver bent his head back to the task. “Almost there, Steel.” The signals that had been echoing in his head as they passed along the wires above had almost gone. There was still something, though, he realised, and beyond Sapphire’s protective influence, he could still feel the presence of the malevolent ex-human.
“Hmm,” Silver said, and moved himself suddenly to the top of the pole, unwinding the wires there, one by one, and then replaced them.
The cloud, he noticed as he finished, had gone and he was now perched on top of a telegraph pole in sunshine.
“There!” he said, reappearing on the ground beside his two colleagues. “Perfect!”
“Perfect?” said Sapphire, with a faintly mocking look in her eye. Her umbrella had now become a white and blue parasol.
Silver waved a hand. “Well, there may be a few minor missed connections and wrong numbers for a few more minutes, but the humans are used to that.”
“At last,” said Steel, and threw the coiled, now inert, wire at Silver, who caught it. He watched Silver as if that was some kind of test, and then nodded. “Yes, I think we’re done.”
Silver turned the wire over in his hands and managed a look of surprise when it became nothing more than glitter, which he blew in Steel’s direction. “So we are. And how glad I am you came.”
“Where else would we be?” said Sapphire.
***
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there: