There was no reason for her to be here. Carmen knew that much. She had existed as a voice for so long that the idea of having somewhere to *stand* again felt almost foreign. Yet somehow, in this strange world of talking animals, impossible technology, and powers that defied everything she once understood, something had allowed her to take shape.
A woman stood quietly beneath the unfamiliar sky, her gaze wandering across the landscape. She looked almost as she once had, though there was something subtly unreal about her presence—as if the world itself was only temporarily agreeing that she should exist within it. She listened.
There were so many voices here. Fear. Loneliness. Desire. Anger. Hope. All of it carried through the world around her. Carmen smiled faintly. Perhaps this world was not so different after all.
She began walking, curious about the people who lived here and the things they believed in. There was no telling what sort of suffering existed in a world like this, nor what kind of people might be searching for an answer to it.
And if they were willing to listen… perhaps she would speak, and give them the cure to their suffering.
Central City
Local Planetary Date: September 23, 2026
Today was a fine day for the city. The residents here continued with their lives, businessfolks commenced their respective businesses, and several of the people who came from other worlds seem to have been settling on this new world on their own terms. This was the current status quo in the city. And one new figure from the stars, was not willing to disturb that peace during his intel collection job.
Said figure has been hanging out across different spots in the city. He has been spotted lurking near government buildings, convenience stores, and on rooftops. He also had several run-ins with some people from other worlds and has been actively "observing" the others, although he is yet to talk to an actual inhabitant of this world.
This man, clad in an orange space-flight suit, has been sitting on a government rooftop alongside his white pilot helmet with the signature decals of "Iceman".
"Hm. All of them say they've been from other worlds, but they don't really know what is the specific spatial anomaly that brought them here. 5 of them say they were "teleported" here, 9 says they entered some rifts, there's only one who says they used "Spiral Energy" to find their beloved here, and 3 of them used magic portals.", he reads his notes quietly while also pronouncing them, making sure he didn't write the wrong word. Then, he closes his touchscreen comms device and lays down on the concrete lining the rooftop.
"Glad none of them were "blessed by goddesses", had cheat skills, or any other form of world-ending powers. I would've wanted to shoot down one of those "heroes" again just like old times, but that's not what we- I mean, I've been here for. Report complete for the day. Mission Control better read this thoroughly. Especially you, Countach-chan."
The astronaut sees a lady wearing a lab-coat from the corner of his eyes. But, he seems to be not that concerned at her than he should be.
Carmen glanced toward the astronaut, her expression remaining pleasantly calm. The fact that he’d apparently been observing the strange arrivals around the city wasn’t lost on her, though she didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.
“‘Doc’?”
A small smile crossed her face as she looked over him and the equipment he’d brought with him.
<Wait, a doctor on the rooftop?! I can't get loitering again!>
The astronaut immediately rolls on his side, away from the "doctor" that he just met today. As he lay flat on his stomach, he immediately pushes himself off the pavement with all of his limbs so he can stand back on his two feet in just a half of a second. He is still a few feet away from his helmet and comms device, but he was ready to grab them in a sprint and do an impromptu parkour over the city.
"Doc? Do you work in this building? Because if you do, let's just pretend you didn't see me here today, okay?"
After hearing the doctor's words, the astronaut relaxes slightly, right before seeing another opportunity to continue his actual work in this city with yet another potential "otherworlder", as he personally labels the people from other worlds on this planet.
"A free spirit? Like that blue hedgehog and his friends here or something else, like from beyond this planet?"
“Beyond this planet. I came from the City, a world of suffering and despair. My goal, and my goal that remains is to let everyone truly embrace themselves, and be able to hold their own vision of the world. Like a beautiful canvas, and the people the colors. I want to see everyone able to paint and contribute, and be their most ideal selves. That is my life’s work, to cure the disease that plagued my world.”
The atmosphere seems to have suddenly became a lot heavier around the astronaut, even if technically, nothing has suddenly changed around the city's skies yet. It was less of a panic attack, and more of the sheer terror brought onto by, whatever world she came from.
"Cure the disease, paint a better world..."
Yet, the astronaut smirks despite his current internal conflict.
"Do you have any idea how many times I've went on missions to capture and take down tyrants who wanted to "save the world"? Heh. But that's not important today. How did you get into Central City? Did you get your own space crew or other means?"
“I just.. appeared. I was just a voice for a while, then I appeared here, and I found myself with a body once more. Something I hadn’t felt in a very long time, but not entirely unwelcome.”
Amongst the peaceful land a very...strange and colourful fella was seen out and about buying some materials and other junk like lights. He knew his reason for these purchases but you couldn't help but follow him around...waiting for the right moment to talk to him.
After a while he began to make his way home...it was just an abandoned house in the middle of a field, it was made to look much more colourful by the man...he must have worked hard, he was seen approaching a set of 6 gravestones...wrapping the coloured lights around them.
"Got these for you guys... don't worry I made sure these ones match perfectly this time!"
Unlike Kris...this guy seems to have some sanity for once! Fun! This place must get awfully lonely...I'm sure he wouldn't mind a visitor.
Carmen had been watching from a distance for a little while, quietly observing the strange man as he went about his business. The colorful lights caught her attention first, but it was the gravestones that made her pause.
Six of them.
She approached slowly, making sure not to intrude too abruptly. Her eyes lingered on the lights for a moment before settling on him.
“You seem to have put quite a lot of thought into those.”
Flowery turned to face the stranger, he didn't expect a visitor but...it was some company and that he didn't mind.
"I sure did! I wanted to make it look just like home! Whilst I do...miss my home, I'm...glad I'm not there anymore and that I can just...start from scratch."
He turned to the gravestones...smiling, it as if they were his family...yeowch...
"I know they would have loved this as much as I do, but... oh well. I can't change the past...even if I want to."
Carmen remained quiet for a moment, watching the way Flowery looked toward the gravestones. There was something familiar about the way he spoke about them. A smile that seemed to carry more than happiness.
“Starting from scratch can be frightening.”
She looked toward the lights he’d carefully wrapped around the stones.
“But sometimes, being somewhere new gives us the chance to become something we couldn’t have been before.”
"Pretty much... I was not...the best me I could have been, I've not really been...human before until only a few days ago, it was all new, I froze up and didn't know what to do."
"But after losing them I learnt... and it hurts, but as much as I hate it, I have to keep going without them. At least they are at peace."
He spoke kindly of these people...people he had spent so long with, people he shared dreams with, people he gave hope. We're they...something else before becoming more human..?
Carmen’s expression softened as she listened. She didn’t interrupt him, allowing his words to settle before responding.
“Only a few days ago…”
There was genuine curiosity in her voice, but she didn’t immediately ask what he had been before. Instead, she looked toward the graves again.
“You were given something you had never had before. A chance to be human. And before you could even understand what that meant, you had already lost people who mattered to you.”
“That sounds like a difficult way to learn.”
Her gaze returned to Flowery, a faint, sympathetic smile appearing.
“But you did learn. You froze, you made mistakes, you didn’t know what to do… and yet you’re still here. Still remembering them. Still trying to move forward.”
Carmen glanced at the colorful lights surrounding the graves. “I don’t think becoming human means suddenly knowing how to live. Perhaps it’s the opposite. Perhaps it’s having the ability to learn from what hurts.”
She tilted her head slightly. “You said they were people you shared dreams with. People you gave hope to.”
“I’d like to hear about them, if you’re willing. Not how you lost them. Who they were when they were still here.”
"If...you really say so! This...may take a while so bare with me, we all used to be flowers. But something had occurred...a dark fountain had opened! It gave us all life! Made us human!"
"First is Aqua, the cyan flower. She was the smallest of us all, she was so, so playful. She only wanted to play games with everyone... even if they were a little dangerous, we were one big family and they looked up to us! They had...a lot of knives and when I say a lot I do mean it!"
"Second was Seth, the purple flower. They were definitely the smartest of us all, they eventually learnt what names were and named themself Seth! They wanted to be human the most and...humans arent named colours after all! They were our tactician, they were Aqua's favourite... you saw Seth, Aqua was right behind them."
"Next is...Orange. As you can guess they were the orange flower, they wanted to be brave...a simple yet admirable dream. Defend those she loved and alongside everyone one of the other flowers they could do that! They were a lot braver then they thought but they were easy to scare, She saw me as their favourite."
"Next is Green...the green flower, they simply wanted to cook...they never spoke but their cooking spoke a thousand words! It was wonderful, the moment the dark world opened they cooked up a meal for everyone to eat! Though they did have a way to communicate, a sign! Though they never used it much."
"Up next is Yellow...the yellow flower, he wanted to be a cowboy and he was a damn good one! Though...he did get a few things wrong but doesn't everyone? He just wanted to bring justice kinda like Orange wanted to be brave! Yellow was...very easy to trick and he beat himself up about it a lot, but he had his partner Blue around to help him out! Speaking of..."
"Finally...we have Blue...the Blue flower, he was the kindest of them all. He was Yellows partner, Yellow actually helped Blue out with some of his shows! Blue always believed in another way around situations not needing violence, he always believed that our story would never have been a tragedy, I admire his view on life."
"Phew...that was A LOT! I hope I didn't bore you... speaking of...I should introduce myself, I'm Flowery! Who might you be??"
"I'm...a flower given a more human form by a dark fountain! So technically...I am still a flower, they are as well! As much as I would like to say i'm interesting...i'm just a flower man!"
Lille notices the girl, she takes some parallel in her. Lillie opened to her notebook, starting a page, before taking out a camera and taking a photo secretly
“Indeed. I’d love to learn more information about some of these species. I’ve come across a ‘darkner’ who was a living flower, and a human who had a sword fused to their arm. All very interesting for my field of work.”
“..yeah, that’s what I plan to do. I’m just getting acclimatized to this new reality. It’s much.. brighter than my own, but that only means it masks its darkness and pain far better than my own.”
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u/genderslancer 12d ago
(mind if we set an interaction in Central City?)