Star Charm: Crimson
Quote:
Flower Power (15) : Destiny City has erupted with colorful wildflowers, both beautiful to look at and surprisingly fragrant. The aroma is incredibly alluring, and it's difficult not to be tempted to get a closer whiff. As expected, it smells even more amazing up close, and immediately after inhaling the aroma, colors seem brighter. Lights appear softer. The world takes on a warm, dreamlike quality where everything feels just a little more magical. Some describe glowing trails of light, shifting colors, or patterns that seem to move when they aren't looking directly at them. Others find themselves unusually cheerful, creative, or sociable. Unfortunately, not every experience is pleasant. What begins as a pleasant daydream can quickly become overwhelming, and the same flowers that inspire wonder in one person may leave another feeling confused, anxious, or trapped in an unpleasant hallucination. The effects always fade with time, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours, but no one seems quite sure why these flowers have such unusual properties. If you're the type to stop and smell the roses--be careful.
Dawn fiddled with the little crimson star charm she had gotten, it was given to her by her new coworker so she cherished it but it was also just the right size to play with when her anxiety spiked. She was now a working adult, using her degree in the field she had been working towards for years now. She was helping people! But she was also eyeing her paychecks and realized that being a public servant didn’t pay all that much. She was able to make ends meet but there was no wiggle room. Add in all the extra, unpaid, hours because she was a salaried employee, and she was starting to regret her decision. Working in the private sector paid more but they typically wanted a higher degree then just a Batchlers, they also wanted the experience. She didn’t have that. Not yet really. She was working on it but in the meantime she was looking at a bank account that wasn’t really growing, a fridge that was next to empty, and a social life that was non-existent. Not that she had one of those to begin with…. Except maybe… Dawn cut that thought off with a shake of her head. She was not going to dwell on her problems in the few hours of daylight she had left on her one day off.
She had spent the morning doing laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and other mundane tasks so while her apartment cooled down after meal prepping for the upcoming week, it was significantly cheaper that way, Dawn went for a walk to the nearby park. It was more like a patch of green, a large tree shading everything, and flowers for the neighborhood dogs to go to the bathroom, but it was better than her sweltering place where the window AC unit rattled more than her neighbor’s bed at night when his girlfriend is over.
It was nice under the shade, there were some pretty wildflowers blooming and the grass was thick enough that she didn’t worry about getting her pants dirty as Dawn settled down on the ground. She absently ran her hand over the bright blooms, not clue as to what kind of flower they were, but they were gorgeous anyway. Their scent tickled her nose, the fragrance wrapping around her even as she played with the charm and her mind wandered. She absently noticed how green the tree’s leaves were or how ethereal the light filtering through the branches was, the brightly colored cars zipping past the fence, or the vivid summer outfits people wore. Bright colors, soft hazy light, the fragrant soothing scent of the flowers. Dawn leaned against the tree and with a sigh let her eyes start to drift closed, it was nice being outside. Nice being away from everything overwhelming her.
Nice not to worry about her bills, or the work that was on her desk. Not worrying about the people who were, even then, struggling in the city. People she wanted to help but couldn’t because she just didn’t know enough, didn’t have enough time, didn’t have enough money. The blare of a horn had her eyes flash open only to squint in the glaring light. Everything was so very bright and harsh. Like the world. Hard and unfeeling. It didn’t care about how she was eating ramen and PB&J sandwiches. It didn’t care that water was her standard drink, not because it was good for you but because she couldn’t really afford anything else. Forget healthy foods like fresh veggies and fruit. It was expensive and the closest real grocery store was two miles away. So the local deli and corner store was her main stay. Her diet sucked. Her health stunk. She was sleeping horridly. Her neighbor needed new bed springs, or at least she needed new headphones, and she was pretty sure her boss detested her.
As the anxiety swirled around her, every little thing stupid she had ever done, or even thought she had done wrong, flooded her. Swamping her with all manners of horrid things. The chime of a phone had her instinctively check her pockets, fishing out the simple little device. It was the disposable phone that she had used to communicate with that officer some weeks back. She hadn’t heard from him since she graduated. There had been no need to continue their contact. No need for their deal.
And yet Dawn clutched that phone right then like it was a life line. She clambered to her feet and staggered away from the park, focused on the simple text that was on the screen. ‘It’s M, I stole the phone from B ; ) Congrats Grad, hope you're good. Hit me up if you ever want to talk, woman to woman. Later!’ Shocked, but feeling a strange sense of comfort from the strange text, Dawn hesitated before just texting back a simple ‘Thanks. I appreciate it’.
Later that night, when her thoughts once more drifted towards things it really shouldn’t, she pulled out the phone and read the text over again. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard but at the last minute she just ‘reacted’ to the message with a heart emoji before closing it and trying to get some sleep. She had work in the morning, and besides, the text wasn’t going anywhere… Nor was she entirely sure she responded any further. After all, ‘M’ was a corrupt senshi while Dawn was most decidedly not.
And that is where the danger inherently lurked.
