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burrowkit · 2 hours ago

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As I set up the small propeller to generate a little electricity while the river rolls through, a dark cloud seemingly appears on the horizon. Trouble. Danger.

The lightning flares in the distance. A storm wielder. A really pissed storm wielder. Supercell is her name to the masses, but I just know her as Sarah. She's my next door neighbour, and one of the many heroes that spends their days defeating my plots.

Minor things, like shutting off everyone's cars to prevent them from driving places. They keep harming the environment!

Or destroying a factory. Does no one understand how much damage those things can do to the environment?

Last night, I took apart the bridge that was poorly constructed and used hazardous materials.

Oh! There goes the Blur. He got his name because of how quickly he moves. He flies, and he can run fairly quickly. I like to call him Blair, the local librarian worker who ensures all the kids in town have a safe space to work on their homework.

Man, I love Blair. Platonically, of course.

I step away from my propeller, giving it a quick test and discovering that it does, in fact, work. It's not nearly as powerful as I want it to be, but hey, I can't exactly call up Supercell to send a lightning bolt into my batteries to charge them.

Even if it would be more ecological friendly.

I brush my hands on my jeans, drying my hands off from sticking them into the river. I head back to my small little abode. It's not much, but it's all that I need, truly. It's a beautiful place, which conveniently hides my lair.

The TV is already on as I head for the sink, which confuses me. I always turn that infernal thing off. I look over and-

Oh.

Oh my.

"Breaking News, Supercell and Blur are in a massive fight with a newcomer to our province! Purple Doom has decided to leave the thriving metropolis known as Toronto, and moved out to one small town-" I turn it off, already knowing what it'll say.

Purple Doom.

Oh, I've hated him for a good long time.

The boards holding my home together creak at my anger. I growl at the tv, spin, and quickly finish cleaning off.

This is my home, and I'm determined to ensure Purple Doom follows my rules.

It takes me little time to get dressed. And then I do something I vowed never to do.

I order my genetically modified birds to pick me up. To fly me to the battle.

And it's...

They drop me to the ground and I land in a crouch, one hand ever so slightly brushing the earth.

Blur lands right next to me, the bruises blossoming on his face are already healing.

"So scared of us, you needed back up, Purple Doom?" He mutters out, struggling to breathe as he notices me.

Still, Purple Doom looks to me. He already knocked Supercell off her cloud, and he looks... genuinely surprised to see me. "Cotton Candy, what a pleasant surprise," he grins at me.

I stand up, giving him my dazzling grin. "Funny, I distinctly recall telling you my name was Cotton."

He stares at me for a long moment, then chuckles. "That's not how nicknames work, darling."

Next to me, Blur is struggling to stand, but one quick glance tells me he's too injured. A few too many broken bones in his ribs to make the task easy.

I gently will the Earth to wrap his chest, gently, to help keep the bones in place. Not that I care if doctors advise this treatment or not. I urge the plants to ooze some of their cool sap onto him. It likely won't do much through his costume, but I hope it helps. I encourage the plants to grow without being attached to the ground. To help the hero.

I can still hear his quick intake of breathe, fearing that I'm attempting to strangle him.

I focus back on Doom. "Ah, nicknames. Like you were called Flowerchild, because you were once all about peace?" I suggest in return.

Doom eyes me. Carefully. Behind him, I can see Supercell struggling to her own feet. Quickly, and I hate doing this, I call on some of the local animals, unheard to them all, urging them to guard Supercell. I ask the trees, too. They sway their branches to prevent any attacks from harming her.

"Are you here to stop me? Or are you finally admitting your plan was foolish and wish to join me in my quest for destruction?"

I scoff. I laugh. I roll my eyes. "Me, join you?" I shake my head. "How about your surrender now, before I decide to take you out of the game. Permanently," I raise my eyebrow at that.

He does the deep laugh that only a super villain with an insanely high degree of egotism can achieve. "You? Kill me? You can't even hurt a little spider."

Oh. Oh my. He's going there?

"Did you forget who ranked the top of the list for strength?" I counter. He falters slightly, that mask, but he quickly brings it up once more. "You may have gotten stronger, Gloomy, but so have I."

"You can't even defeat a couple of weak superheroes!" He shouts at me, voice echoing around the clearing. Nearby, another stream babbles. Talking. Whispering. Sharing all the secrets of the pain it's been through. "How do you expect to beat me?"

"Maybe I never wanted to defeat them?" I calmly fire back, shoving my hands in my pockets. A tree branch snaps, and my hands looks in the direction. Supercell just- she just-

I force myself to look back to Doom, who is readying his powers. I can't think about Supercell hurting a branch because Doom wants to destroy the world and I can't I just can't I-

Snap.

My eye twitches.

A vine snakes out and grips Supercell. I hear her yelp in surprise. I'm not even sure if that was me, or the vines I gave life to by my mere presence.

And then, I do something that is such a mary sue element, but I raise my own power. I draw on the animals. The earth. Even the river, begging for help after the torment it went through in this recent battle.

I let them all have their human-level intelligence.

I let them all become personified beings.

I can practically hear the gulp from Gloomy.

The purple fire at his fingertips flare, creating a circle, but the river, now brought to life, just wraps around him.

My heart breaks as he slashes out at the river.

Still, I have to do something even more heartbreaking.

I have to take a life. An actual life.

And I have to destroy the earth to do it.

"Please," I beg the earth. I note Blur next to me, the question in his gaze, wondering why I'm pleading him but I'm not pleading him. "Please, I need your help. We cannot let him do this to you," I whisper, dropping to my knees, touching the grass. The dirt beneath it. I reach out with my magic.

"Let me up," Blurry Blair wheezes out.

"I'm not talking to you," I whisper, meeting his eyes. I can feel the tears tracking down my cheeks. "Besides, you aren't tethered to the ground."

He laughs a moment at that, like it's a joke. I think he might need to see a doctor. He must've hit his head pretty badly. "You're asking Purple Doom to help you?"

"No, I'm asking Mother Earth to help," I stand, drawing confidence from this decision. The one that tells me that to do right, I must do wrong. "Mother Earth, please, I beseech you to aide me against my current predicament. I ask you this as I have sacrificed myself time and time again to your altar. And, in doing this, a sacrifice will be made on both of us, to protect your altar once more. Will you do this?"

The ground begins to shake. Supercell is leaping over the tree which means-

No.

Another vine snakes out, but she's too quick. Too powerful.

"Sarah! Don't!" I call out, but it's too late. She's leaping at Purple Doom. A powerful punch on his way, as the ground shudders below him.

It begins to split, and he looks down in absolute horror, as he remembers just who I am.

One of my birds whisks in, scooping up Sarah. I hear her yelp in surprise and pain but really, I need her safe.

She's my favourite person at the local introvert book club.

The earth shudders, beginning to close and I launch myself at him, sweeping his feet. He topples in and pulls me with him. I beg my creations to return to as they were. To leave me.

The earth closes in on us and I make no attempt to escape.

He screams at me, pulling me in, dragging me into the depths of the earth, begging me to save us.

But I don't need to.

The earth swallows us. I hear the audible gulp.

I wait the time. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. He can't breathe. I'm not surprised. Few can be in the embrace of our one true mother and breathe air.

He stops moving altogether, and slowly, slowly, I melt into the earth.

"Did she just-did they just-"

I step out of a newly grown tree, winching at the trunk now destroyed.

Supercell and Blur are there, huddled by the small scar in the earth, the marker of Purple Doom's grave. They are both bloody and bruised. Their protective armour is torn.

Supercell looks pissed, like she's ready to take on the whole world. And yet, she's got tears rolling down her cheeks. I know this. "I can't believe she just did that!" She exclaims, finally able to finish her sentence.

"She called you Sarah," Blur comments, removing his mask. "How did Cotton know our names? How?"

Shock.

A small carpet of moss drapes over their shoulders, to keep them warm.

That just results in them turning at me, looking in horror. Shock. Pain. Anger.

"You let us think you died? To save us!?!" Supercell screeches.

"I thought you knew by now, I'm hard to kill," I cross my arms over my chest, giving them a smirk.

They stare at me, Blur quickly replaces his mask.

"Really?" I scoff.

He... lowers it once more. "I..." he begins, glancing behind him. "I didn't know you could do that," he meets my eyes.

I shrug. "There's a cost to this kind of power," I retort.

"So you thought you'd let us think you died? And what, you want to play hero now?" Sarah demands.

"No," I sigh, dropping my hands to my sides. "No, I haven't tried to be a hero since I was a young child," I admit.

"Then why? Why save us?" Blair demands. "That is what you were doing, right? The cold compression? The branches to stop Supercell?"

"They were a shield," I counter immediately, already on the defence. "Do you know how dangerous Purple Doom is? He could've just... snapped and poof! Everything is up in flames and you'd be dead and-"

"Why do you even care?" Sarah demands.

Silence.

"Why do you even care if we live or die?" She repeats.

"Maybe I don't like seeing everyone and everything suffering," I admit.

It's the truth. It's my villain story. I could hear of all the horrible things animals were being abused by. Even regular house plants. I could report to the police until I was blue in the face, but nothing ever happened. Even if the abuse was to another human. I never had proof.

I only had the word of an animal or a plant.

And then I heard what a company was doing to the environment. I begged everyone to help, but I was told that the company was making everyone money.

That sometimes we had to sacrifice the environment for the greater good.

Arguing that the greater good was our continued existence as a species was ignored.

I was brought to the villain academy after that, where I swiftly rose to the most dangerous. Never the most deadly, though. My gifts prevent me from enjoying a kill. The only joy brought to me by a death, like Purple Doom's, is knowing it'll help the environment. Or it'll save it.

"That's a very hero comment," Blair tentatively suggests.

"Maybe," I look off to the river, and I can see the small marks made on her. Where the rocks have tumbled in, and she weeps now. And yet, she sings. She sings about how she helped to defeat the evil. That one day, she'll take her new marks and change them. And that she will heal. I smile at that. "Stay strong, North," I offer the river.

"You can... hear the river?" Supercell tentatively tries out.

I shrug once more, focusing on them. "Look, I'm a supervillain. Apparently, wanting to protect the environment at the risk of breaking laws makes one a supervillain. I'm proud of that. But let me make this very clear, you two are my superheroes. And no one is allowed to mess with you. And no one is allowed to screw up the earth, got it?" I demand of them, and then I pivot, storming away.

"Cotton, wait!" Blur blurs into my path. I raise a fist, preparing to punch him, but he has his hands up. "How do you know our identity?"

"You," I answer. "You're... you," is all I can offer up. He frowns. "You feel like you no matter when you are. You're always you, so I can tell."

He looks highly disturbed at that.

"How do we find out who you are?" Sarah steps to be beside Blair, but she looks more... genuine. Her mask is off, too.

"You don't," I answer calmly. "Or maybe you do. Maybe you already know who I am. There are only so many of us ecological freaks in town."

And I walk away. To be alone. To figure out how next to protect the planet itself.

I know that look in their eyes. It's one of pity. One of wonder. How exactly is someone protecting others, a villain?

They may have thought my power was over plants. They may have thought I used my brain to overcompensate for a weak power.

But tonight?

I'll have to be careful. I've just revealed my abilities. The fact that I can control animals and plants alike. Fungi, too, not that they saw. I can plead to the Earth herself for help.

What's to stop me from figuring out how to control humans, because after all, we're human like at times, no?

And what's to stop me from making a sentient army of trees to fight my battles?

They'll be preparing for the worst now. And I never wanted them to.

But that's a tomorrow problem.

Tonight, I shall slip back into my human life and discuss my latest book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Tomorrow, I will return the book to the library and take out a book called Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan.

And the day after that, I will plot the downfall of humanity's innate ability to destroy the world around them.

You pretend to be a small-time villain. At worst, you annoy the local supers but your crimes never hurt anyone. All fun and games until things change when a truly sadistic super villain invades your turf and murders a few of the supers. No one has seen the extent of your true powers until now.

#writing prompts answered #long post #writers on tumblr #superheroes #supervillains #ecology #environment #speak laurie halse anderson #reaston to breathe rebecca donovan

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burrowkit · 4 days ago

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Wait, are you telling me that not everyone knows about both the insanely frustrating yet satisfyingly cathartic practice of hitting your car with a snow brush / your fists in an attempt to remove the layer of ice from your car?

That you can use the brush side to remove all the snow, only to then need to use the scraper because the snow melted and froze onto your windows?

They don’t know about The Penguin Walk? You know, the oddly penguin-like walk in order to walk on a sheet of ice without slipping? Ensuring your weight is over your foot when you put it down? That once you’re familiar with it, you can find ways to go faster and have longer strides? That sometimes it’s fun to push off like you’re skating cause that’s super fun? To run and then slide on your feet across a patch of ice?

They don’t know how impossible a little ice on a little hill can be? That even cars struggle? They don’t know how to drive in snow and ice? (Okay, this one’s an on going joke by people living in the snowy, icy places).

They don’t know that one has to be careful lest they give themselves a heart attack while shovelling snow? And that snow plows aren’t always the magical answer?

They don’t know the childish joy of licking snow? Of licking the frozen icicles? The crunch of breaking through the layer of ice from frozen rain, to get to the snow below? Or how beautiful a freshly groomed ski hill can feel? Look? Be?

Edit: in case it’s not obvious, I do understand not everyone knows about this, I was being ski to rot sarcastic while trying to helpfully explain some of the other things to note about living in “winter wonderland”

You know what I've never really seen realistically depicted in fiction? The way that people in places that get a huge amount of snow deal with said snow. Specifically in the cities. I get that it's probably not exactly an intuitive thing to think about if you've never lived in a place that gets a lot of snow, and even if you do, you probably figure that they must have some really sophisticated infrastructure systems specifically for this purpose. It's not like they'll just scoop the snow off the streets and gather it into huge piles, and then just climb over the progressively larger and larger snow piles every single year for months while waiting for the piles to melt in the spring.

We do. There's no point in planning more sophisticated systems to get rid of something that'll eventually just go away on its own. So they just pile the snow into randomly designated spaces that cars or people aren't supposed to go through, and let it pile up. There's significantly less street parking available in the winter because some spots where you could otherwise park a car are currently the parking spot of a snow pile three times taller than a car.

You get used to it. And if you grow up around here, it never even occurs to you to think of it as something strange in the first place.

#snow #ice #cold #Canada #writing #writing advice

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