momebie: (MCR Gee red)
[personal profile] momebie
T-12. The museum was silent and dark, except for the anterior storage room where Essa was putting the finishing touches on the artifacts that were going to be placed on view in the morning. Only the standing corner lamp was flicked on, but the room glowed with a bright orange burnish as the light from the Oota Dabun pushed away the late night shadows. Essa inspected its casing. A frisson ran down her spine as she ran a white gloved finger down the electrically tinted glass and searched it for cracks or signs of mistreatment.

The Oota Dabun was a legend that had recently become real. A slow burning star that had been trapped at the center of the Earth during its formation and then violently birthed through a volcano hundreds of years before Essa was born. It had been passed down through clans of native peoples all over the American continent, never housed in the same place twice. Those chosen to be caretaker for the star were blinded for the privilege, and it wasn’t lost on Essa just how incredibly lucky she was to live in a time when the star’s light could be contained and viewed by anyone. It was nothing short of a miracle, and was often billed as such in clumsy handbill copy.

Come and see the star. Confront the beauty of space.

Essa completed her check of the star’s casing and pulled her hand away. There was a flare of light, suddenly. The star looked like it was bubbling at its core. She took a step back just as a wave of light stronger than any recorded in the observation of the Oota Dabun rippled outward from its core and stretched across the lab. Essa put her hands up in front of her face. She could swear that something physical hit them as the light passed her, but when she pulled them away everything was as it had been.

“Losing it, old gal,” she muttered to herself. Essa wrote up her final report and left for the evening.

T-7 The rash sent her to the emergency care center at one in the morning. She’d been out for drinks with a friend from grad school, Cara, when her palms started to itch. She scratched at them absentmindedly until Cara became annoyed by what seemed like a nervous tick and grabbed her by the wrist, inspecting Essa’s hands. They were swollen and red, creased with white where her nails were digging into the skin.

“What did you get into this time?” Cara asked, motioning to the bartender for their bill.

“I don’t know. Maybe there was some turpentine on a work station. I don’t remember catching my hands in anything though.”

“Turpentine does not do that,” Cara said, signing the bill and dragging Essa out to the car.

The emergency care center doctor was also unimpressed with the assessment. “Do you have any allergies?”

“None that I know of,” Essa said, sitting on her hands, letting the paper pulled across the bed crinkle underneath her skin and do some of the scratching for her.

The doctor left the room and returned with a tube of white cream. “I want to try this first. Hold your hands out.”

Essa did as she was told. The doctor slathered the cream over both sides of her hands and her arms up to her elbows. There was immediate relief from the itching. The redness and swelling also died down almost immediately, which seemed to perplex the doctor, but he didn’t voice his concern. He merely set his mouth at an uneven dip and told her to come back if the swelling returned.

She let Cara drive her home.

T-5 Essa woke up in the middle of the night and she was freezing, though her skin felt hot and she was drenched in sweat. Her skin felt more than hot. She felt like she was melting, and her vision was blurred. Bright, white floaters were swimming in and out of view as she dropped out of bed and crawled to the bathroom.

Once kneeling on her tattered old mat she used the edge of the tub to pull herself up and was startled almost immediately by a bright orange light appearing behind her in the full length mirror hanging on the back of the door. Her hands, still sticky from the cream, lost their purchase and she fell, knocking her head against the hard edge of her toilet. Essa closed her eyes to stop the room from swimming and pulled herself up again.

Without looking, she flicked on the bathroom light and leaned in close to the mirror above the sink. When she opened her eyes again she was confronted with the orange glow. It was coming from her. Her pupils shone as if someone had shoved fairy lights into ping pong balls, the deep red veins were visible against the sclera, and the sweat on her forehead was leaving a dusty golden sheen on her skin.

She wanted to scream. There was panic climbing up her throat. She tamped it down, deciding this was a nightmare, and turned off the bathroom light before unsteadily making her way back to bed. The bed sheets were rolled into a tight cocoon and she shoved her head under her pillow, trying to escape the frigid air.

T-1 When Essa woke again she was fine. She didn’t feel tired, her hands were their usual shape and color, and nothing about her was glowing without the aid of a good foundation. Chalking it all up to nightmares and tequila, she tried to find something in her closet suitable for unveiling a star.

T-0 She’d gotten a slower start than she’d intended, so Essa was practically sprinting across the downtown streets on her way to the museum. The signal said WALK, so she went without looking, trusting the traffic more than she would have normally.

Later she wouldn’t know how to explain what had happened. She was standing in the middle of the road when she heard the car horn blare. She looked up to see a red sports car lumbering towards her and she threw her hands up, unable to make her feet move. Right then everything around her stopped.

She blacked out for a moment, her sight going dark. Her whole body felt as if she had inhaled all of the oxygen in the city. Her lungs held on to it for a beat, making her feel impossibly dense. Then everything returned to normal speed and she felt a release. There was a woosh and a crackle in her ears and light erupted from her.

Everything was suddenly as white as it had been black just moments before. It blinded her to look at it ebbing outward, so she could only imagine what it was like for anything on the other side. She began to shiver again, as her skin crawled, impossibly hot. The front of the car started to burn away as it was stopped in its tracks centimeters from her. No one who witnessed the occurrence would allow themselves to believe it.

It would be touted as a miracle.

Come and see the star. Confront the beauty of space.

This post was written in response to [livejournal.com profile] therealljidol Exhibit A, Week Four Topic: Ultra Deep Field. Concrit and comments are welcome.
(deleted comment)

Date: 2013-02-18 07:34 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you! I will totally cop to the fact that the glowing eyeballs showed up in my head first, so they were the thing that was most vivid for me as I was putting this down.

Date: 2013-02-14 07:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] comedychick.livejournal.com
Woah. Your descriptions of everything Essa was experiencing were very good. I think that was my favourite aspect.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:35 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thanks, dude. *fistbump* I might polish some of the description down, if I actually submit this idea to my friend, but I liked getting them out.

Date: 2013-02-14 01:39 pm (UTC)
theemdash: (Comic Nightwing)
From: [personal profile] theemdash
Ooh, okay, now I'm behind this. That was pretty cool.

Also I love the line that gets repeated and how it gets turned.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:36 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Ouran Tamaki/Kyouya pinky swear)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
EXCELLENT. Always good to have you on board.

Date: 2013-02-14 07:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] baxaphobia.livejournal.com
I want her power when I cross the street! A really fun story!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:36 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Me too. The problem comes with having her power ALL of the time, which is probably pretty inconvenient. I haven't decided how inconvenient yet. :p

Date: 2013-02-14 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] halfshellvenus.livejournal.com
Oh, this was really interesting!

I took it in a slightly different way-- that Essa was becoming the star, or as if a new star was being birthed inside of her It seems as if her transformation may not yet be complete.

Either way, I really liked it!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:37 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Essa IS becoming the star, more or less, and her transformation is far from complete. My work now needs to go into how inconvenient this will be for her in the long run, and how much of the great responsibility she's willing to take on in exchange for this great power.

Date: 2013-02-15 06:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] audreybuttercup.livejournal.com
It's like the star become a living entity through her. Neato!!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:38 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
And she's also becoming a whole new entity through the star. It's sure to be painful, but hopefully over time I can bring her some way to work it out. ♥

Date: 2013-02-15 08:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theun4givables.livejournal.com
I like that you never outright say exactly what was happening to Essa. Definitely made this piece way more interesting and engaging to read. :)

Date: 2013-02-18 07:39 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you! That's partially because I still need to work through some things in my head over her. Don't tell anyone. ;)

Date: 2013-02-15 08:56 pm (UTC)
shadowwolf13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] shadowwolf13
Incredible!! Great story. I love how she changes.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:39 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you muchly.

Date: 2013-02-16 04:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lady-ganesh.livejournal.com
And you post this just as the meteorite hits Russia, girl.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:40 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
I totally posted this before! No Russians were harmed in the making of my superhero. D: Though dude, wasn't that footage insane?

Date: 2013-02-16 07:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jem0000000.livejournal.com
Ooo, intriguing. I like how you've left what's actually happening to her open to interpretation. Nicely written! :)

Date: 2013-02-18 07:41 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
That's a bit because I haven't decided what to make of her yet. Don't tell anyone. ;) But you know, if I had had it all figured out I probably would have posted it the same way. Origin stories are always kind of clunky and it's more fun not to spell everything out.

Date: 2013-02-16 10:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myrna-bird.livejournal.com
I'd have been freaking out if I was her in the bathroom. Wow!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:42 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
I think she probably was too, she was just feeling too poorly to do anything about it. It's hard to pull together the energy to freak out when your insides might literally be on fire. Her life is about to get pretty interesting.

Thank you. ♥

Date: 2013-02-17 01:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] noodledays.livejournal.com
oh my gosh, what a quandary to find yourself in! D:

Date: 2013-02-18 07:43 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
With great power comes massive amounts of freaking out.

Date: 2013-02-17 03:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] roina-arwen.livejournal.com
I'll bet the redness and swelling of her hands and arms was a radiation burn. Nifty turn of events, and the description was well done!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:44 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
I bet so too. ;) It was also taken from an account I read of an astronaut whose suit had a tear in it while he was in orbit and what happened to him until he could get it stabilized.

Date: 2013-02-17 07:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kittenboo.livejournal.com
Oooh intriguing!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:44 pm (UTC)

Date: 2013-02-17 07:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phoenixejc.livejournal.com
Fascinating idea!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:44 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you muchly.

Date: 2013-02-17 10:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com
Holy crap! I love how your detail pulls in the reader, and how it starts from her shielding her eyes to the rash to the frozen sensation...excellent job!

Date: 2013-02-18 07:45 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you, dear. I might pare the details down some if I actually submit her to my friend as a possible project, but I really enjoyed getting them out.

Date: 2013-02-18 04:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kandigurl.livejournal.com
I have had several unexplained rashes, but none of them ever turned me into a star! Try harder, rashes, yeesh.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:46 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Man, tell your rashes to get with the program. I hope they don't end up turning you into something like an ancient lizard person. That might be even more inconvenient in the long run.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] talon.livejournal.com
I really like the structure of the countdown for this piece. Well written, with an excellent flow.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:47 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you, dude. I find that sometimes I need to keep myself on a really short leash to get out the important details.

Date: 2013-02-18 04:11 pm (UTC)
jenny_evergreen: (Jenny 11)
From: [personal profile] jenny_evergreen
Excellent! Very original. :)

Date: 2013-02-18 07:48 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
Thank you. That actually makes me feel a bit better about it, since it might end up being an origin for a product I'm working on with a friend and I have spent a lot of time fretting over how hard it is to differentiate superheroes.

Date: 2013-02-18 07:54 pm (UTC)
jenny_evergreen: (Jenny 11)
From: [personal profile] jenny_evergreen
I'm no superhero expert, but I've never seen or heard of anything quite like this. :)

Date: 2013-02-19 12:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alycewilson.livejournal.com
Interesting! So she turned into a star!

Date: 2013-02-19 03:10 pm (UTC)
ext_289215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] momebie.livejournal.com
That she did! Or she is, anyway. We'll have to see how far it goes. ;)

Date: 2013-02-19 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alycewilson.livejournal.com
Should be interesting. I know that one of the commenters said she wasn't familiar with a superhero turning into a sun, but I think that's one of the things that Jean Grey, a.k.a. Phoenix, could do in "The X Men"?

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