[WP] You have lived on earth your whole life. One morning, you wake up in the center of a modestly sized crater, as you look about you see fields of violet-tinted grass, a faint red sun in the sky overhead, and two moons in *much* closer orbit than our own. [Link to post.]
Lupe Villalobos standing around in a crater would not answer any questions. She reached up one of the sides gripping the violet grass around the upper rim of the hole. The texture of the violet grass felt the same as the green grass on Earth. The girl's coppery hair shimmered under the moonlight that she was making a point to ignore. She scanned the large field, turning slowly and staring out along the grassy plain.
"Whoaaaaa," Lupe whispered to herself. Despite the situation, she marveled at the beauty of wherever she was. The sight encouraged her to face the two moons she purposely kept at her back. She turned around and found that she could still feel surprised.
"Hi." Underneath the two giant moons, she saw a beautiful, giant woman at least twice her size. The woman's pale skin glowed in the blue moonlight and Lupe noticed a long red braid hanging over the front of her shoulder. She sat on a rock several feet away. The strange woman smiled at Lupe when she spoke. Lupe took a step toward her, then paused.
"Hi," she replied. "Where am I?" The woman chuckled, then turned her head to glanced at the twin moons. After a second she focused on Lupe again.
"Earth," she said with a smile. Lupe shook her head.
"I'm from Earth." She spread her arms wide to gesture at the field of violet grass. "It's nothing like this."
"You don't have grass?" She asked.
"Yeah. We have grass, but it's not purple," she said. Lupe reached down and grabbed a handful of grass blades and tossed them into the wind. Violet glimmers floated away on the breeze.
"It's violet," the woman corrected her.
"No, my grass is green. This isn't Earth, so where am I?" The woman's lack of hostility encouraged Lupe to step closer and she felt relieved when the stranger did not move. She decided to close the distance completely and kept walking.
"Earth," she repeated, then shrugged. "Just not yours." Lupe stopped walking. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.
"Huh?" She looked around again, then stared at her. "No way, it has to be a different planet. Earth doesn't have two moons and pur-violet grass."Why am I here? It has to be you because you seem to know a lot and there's no one else around." The woman smiled.
"Technically it is a different planet, but it's still the Earth of this universe. You're quick, that's part of why you're here." She cocked her head behind her. "C'mon meet the others." She stood with easy grace making sure she did not scare the girl away, then began walking in the direction she suggested.
"You're special," she began to explain, but Lupe interrupted her.
"How do you know that? Actually, how do you know anything about me?" She asked. The woman must have heard her footsteps halt in the grass because she turned to face Lupe. She sat again, in the grass, to put the girl at ease.
"We brought you here to have a talk. That's it. If you're not interested we'll put you back on your Earth, and go our separate ways," she said. "We didn't talk to you on your Earth because this way makes more of an impression. We've been watching you for a while, and you're pretty quick to change. I put you in that crater to distract you with questions we have the answers to and force you to listen."
"You brought me to a parallel universe just to talk to me?"
"Alternate, not parallel," she said. The smile remained on her face and Lupe found herself becoming more at ease with the woman.
"What's the difference?" she asked.
"Proximity I guess? It's not exactly that, but that's the best way to put it. If we were parallel with your Earth, the grass would probably still be green." She looked up. "There'd definitely be only one of those. The further you are from your home universe the bigger the changes." The woman's focus dropped to Lupe again. "But that's not why you're here. Although If you do stay you'll learn all that stuff."
"Okay. You said I'm here to listen, so I'm listening." Lupe walked to the woman and sat in the grass next to her.
"We want to invite you to a private high-school next year," she said. Lupe burst into laughter.
"You're kidding! I'm in an alternate universe because I won a scholarship???" Her laughter died down as she took in the violet field again. "It is beautiful though. I guess thanks for not just sending a letter." The woman stood again, with less care this time. Lupe felt comfortable enough with her that the tall stranger did not need to measure every movement. She walked away again, and Lupe scrambled up off the grass to keep up with her large steps.
"This is just where we train," the woman said. Lupe realized she led her towards an encampment in the distance. She recognized an orange glow and saw several figures seated around the fire. "I thought it'd be a good idea to show you where you'd spend a lot of time if you decided to join up." The woman said. Lupe made up her mind during the walk. Once the pair entered the orange glow Lupe saw a group of four kids her age, two boys and two girls. Each of the girls wore a glassy visor on their faces. One solid black on a dark haired girl, and the other translucent purple on a blonde girl.
As they approached the four kids stood from their seats and greeted Lupe and the giant woman.
"I'm in." Lupe blurted out when she saw the friendly faces gathering around her. She felt a hard slap on her back from the tall woman.
"Great to hear!" she said. The four kids stood before Lupe. The tall woman stepped forward, turned, and extended a hand to Lupe.
"My name's Flutter," the red-headed giant said, then she turned to introduce the rest. She pointed at the blonde girl, then worked her way down the line. "Purple visor is Eurys, black visor is Abby. Green board shorts is Todd." She gave a dismissive wave towards the fourth boy standing at the end. "And Felix."
"Flux," Felix said and stepped forward to offer Lupe a handshake. #46, El Sol." Lupe shook the boy's hand but looked at him with confusion.
"46? What?" She felt a reassuring pat from Flutter on her back.
"We'll get to that. By the way, you're #47, La Corona."
Comments
Post a Comment