Another Tuesday, another prompt! This time it was a randomly assigned prompt that fits rather well with Selia and her origins.
The prompt: Describe something very familiar (to you and your reader) from the perspective of character to whom it’s completely foreign.
And now… for a short snippet!
***
Soren Lascari stood behind Selia as she sat on the edge of the chair. Before her were two black boxes, a rectangular contraption with letters of the English alphabet scattered in no order she could discern, and another weird oblong object.
Gingerly, she wrapped her fingers around the ‘mouse’, which did not resemble any mouse Selia had ever witnessed in her life, and moved it.
The black box before her hummed and then an image appeared on it. A tiny triangle moved as she moved the ‘mouse’. She glanced up at Soren, confusion etched onto every inch of her face.
“It’s called a ‘computer’, Selia,” Soren said in a mix of Temerian and English.
She touched the hard screen of the monitor. Why was it called a ‘screen’ when it felt like glass?
It was all so very confusing.
“What is this?” she asked in English, pointing to the tall black box beside the monitor.
“That is the desktop. It is what powers the computer and puts the image on the monitor,” Soren replied.
He opened a drawer beside the computer and pulled out a small plastic book. Removing a round object, he held it up for her to see. “This is a CD. They’re often used to listen to music or to run a program on the computer.”
Selia’s confusion only grew. Soren smiled as he pushed a button on the computer. She jumped as a part of the computer slid out from the box.
“Easy, Selia,” he said gently, as he placed the CD into the tray. He tapped it and it slid back into the computer. “This is how you load the CD in the computer.”
“Maybe I should have just tried running,” she muttered. “This is so confusing.”
“You’ll learn fast,” Soren reassured her.
Something appeared on the screen. It was a box requesting if she wanted to run the program.
“Move the tiny triangle onto ‘run’ and push down on the left side of the mouse,” Soren instructed.
Selia did as instructed, hoping she wasn’t going to regret her decision to seek aid from Soren.
The message vanished, only for the screen to flash before something else to appear. This one asked to pick what language she wanted to learn.
“But I already know how to speak English,” she said.
“Yes, but you do not know a great deal about my land. I’ll teach you as much as possible on the trip back to the Mainland. This, though, will help you when I cannot instruct you,” Soren replied.
Selia sighed and pointed to the rectangle object with letters.. “This… thing? What is it?”
“It is a keyboard. It’s used to type on the computer.” He pointed to the monitor. “Follow the instructions on the screen.”
Trying to quell her fears and insecurities, Selia did as she was instructed. After a few clicks, the screen instructed her to type her name.
“Push the keys with the letters that form your name,” Soren instructed.
Carefully, she tapped the ‘S’ key. The letter appeared on the screen. Curiosity got the best of her and within seconds she had her name typed onto the screen.
A smile blossomed across her face.
This was all new and strange, but it was actually fun.
“I have a lot to learn in a short span of time, don’t I?” she asked, looking up at Soren.
He nodded, but a proud smile shone on his face. “We have a couple weeks for you to learn, but I have faith that you will learn everything quickly and desire to learn more before we reach our destination.”
Turning back to the computer screen, eagerness replacing the fear, Selia nodded. With the help of the ‘computer’ and Soren’s patience, she knew she could conquer this new, unusual life.
She could not look back. She could only look forward.
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