aka Supernova's pledge to write something sometime soon.
It's kind of sloppy but here's the beginning of a story:
! Prologue: Pink
! “If we keep the south hospital open, it will be pretty popular.”
! “But where will we get the money from?”
! “There’s always the Colours fund, right? No one will miss a few million there.”
! John Prairie sighed as his strategists gabbled away. The meeting had been promising; all the financial backing was there and he was ahead in the polls. But of course, a term in office meant all the usual troubles, and the planned hospital closure was at the forefront. And so, as he marched down the cool steel corridors with a trio of eager advisors and a pair of stony-faced bodyguards, he found himself explaining it all once again.
! “I won’t cut that fund,” he reminded them as they entered the lift, “because the Colours programme is the damn well most important thing happening in this city. People will live if their hospital moves a mile further in. They’ll get over it in a year or two.”
! Ding.
! “Chopper’ll be five minutes, sir,” one of the bodyguards informed him as they stepped onto the roof. Prairie cast his eyes over the night sky, over the steel and concrete mess that was his city. Five minutes’ break he had here before the next meeting – some dinner at the Colours school. He made some distance from his entourage to enjoy the summery breeze on his own and think. And he found his mind drifting inadvertently to the Colours fund.
! “I will not cut that fund,” he muttered to himself.
! “Noble sentiments, Mr Mayor.”
! Praire’s eyes flicked up. There by the railing, a figure stepped out of the shadows and into the floodlight. He was probably quite young, with red hair overlong, dressed semi-formally in a pink shirt and black tie. A little mask hid his eyes. Prairie was suddenly quite aware that his bodyguards were pretty far away from him.
“Good evening, young man.” He wasn’t really sure where to start. Why are you up here? Why do you want to speak with me? Are you going to vote for me?
! The figure only smiled at him. “Good evening Mr Mayor. I have a little message for you.”
! “Oh? And what would that be?” It was starting to feel quite warm indeed. Prairie could hear the bodyguards coming over.
! The boy held out his fist, and opened his palm. And there bloomed a pink rose, its petals beginning to tear off in the breeze. “There is a flower in this city that has always been kept from blossoming. Did you know? Well, that flower will soon bloom thrice before your very eyes. At the first, the river will run with blood. At the second, the glass will shatter. At the third, all will come into the open, and the freak show will begin.”
! One of the bodyguards shouted something, but whatever it was, it was lost beneath the roar of dozens of little petals morphing into flame, spiralling all over the rooftop. The young man dropped off the railing. Despite the blaze and the hard hammering of his heart, Prairie leaned over the edge in time to see the masked man disappear in a pink flare.
I'm kind of embroiled in wanting to write a much more well thought through and much bigger story, but I haven't made so much progress with that and felt the urge to write something more on the wacky side, so I started this. Hopefully, I'll keep working on it~ yeah right