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[Jean Valjean]

SUSY HAD THE POWER TO TURN THINGS INTO ANY COLOR OF THE RAINBOW SHE CHOSE.  It was a very potent power.  She was going to make all the difference in the world with it.

     By that, of course, one can only assume that all the difference in the world equated to making children happier, and she was most often seen changing the colors of balloons and carnival candy.  It was a pretty cool benefit, actually.  She got to see the smiles of children all the time and she let them believe in magic and all that.  In her mind, it was certainly making a difference..

     Then her sister, Katy, found out that she wasn't just switching balloons and that it was an actual superpower.
     "Wait, seriously, can you actually just change the color of stuff at will?" she asked.
     "Yes.  So?" asked Susy.
     "Can you change the color of my eyes?" Katy asked.  "I always wanted blue eyes, but I didn't want them to be contacts.  I want genuinely blue eyes."
     "What's wrong with the ones you have?" asked Susy.  "I always liked your brown eyes."
     "But blue would be cooler," said Katy.  "Why not?  You have your superpowers.  They're meant to be used, and you like using them to make life more fun.  Why not make my eyes blue?"
     "I don't know," said Susan.  "With great power comes great responsibility.  I think your eyes were meant to be brown."
     "What's the difference between my eyes and those balloons?" asked Katy.
     "Well, a lot of things," said Susan.  "You're a piece of art already so beautifully made.  I'd hate to alter it.  Balloons aren't that special.  I don't think it's right.  Please don't peer pressure me."
     "Alright, but could you change the colors of some of my clothes so that they match?"
     "Well, I guess I do that with my stuff every day," said Susan.  She looked down at her Sunday clothes, which included a playful red tie half-taught around her neck and a red trench coat that made her feel nice and pirate-y.  Red was her Sunday color, and she had orange for Monday, yellow for Tuesday, green for Wednesday, and so on, ending with violet for Saturday.  "Sure.  Is there anything you want?"
     "My prom dress isn't the right shade of pink.  I'd also like some prismatic blue highlights," she said.  "Something very artistic.  Hey, there you go!  Why don't you use your powers to be really artistic?  You'd be the best artist in the world!"
     Susy liked that idea.  After changing Katy's clothes, she went out to do a lot of "painting", although it was really just imagining any colorful image that came to her mind and willing it onto the canvas.  She figured people really enjoyed that, too, just like they enjoyed balloons.  It was different, but she still saw that it touched the world in new and unique ways.  She even impressed a guy named Emperor Kraggh who did a lot of black-and-white pencil drawings and didn't normally see the value in colorful art.
     She painted chapels and buildings and giant murals with all the colors of the rainbow, glorifying sunsets and country life, city life, and life.  She painted weather, childhood, adulthood, and the many things that people experienced between birth and death.  It was all glorious, and she was sure she was making a difference.
     Then one day a man in a white suit and cape came to her.  He had many, many superpowers and called himself Superman.  "Susan," he said.  "I heard you change the colors of clothes."
     "Wow, Superman.  Yes, I do.  What do you want?"
     "I also heard that you change the colors of balloons," he said.  "Someone named Clark Kent wrote a very interesting story about it.  I love how simple colors make such a huge difference in peoples' lives and spread so much love.  I have a question."
     "Yes?"
     "Could you change the colors of my suit?  They're all white, but I want a prism of the primary colors.  My home planet is a world of crystals and light.  I think it's a little more fitting."
     "Alright," said Susy.  She touched Superman on the chest and a spectrum of three bright colors spread throughout: red, blue, and yellow, as bright as the laserlights from the crystals on Krypton.
     "Thank you," said Superman, and he flew off.
     Susy felt silly.  She had no powers compared to him.  And he was making a true difference.  Then, a while later, it occurred to her that she created what might have been the mot iconic color scheme ever.  And she lived on happily.  It turned out that she really did make all the difference in the world with her power.

 

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 For the sake of clarity and so that certain elements of this don't seem quite so jarring, this was part of an Ambage Write-Off, and it was our objective to write a Rainbows-themed story in 15 minutes.  This was the first thing to come to mind.  Looking at what everyone else wrote, I'm surprised to find that I'm the only person who actually played the theme straight.  Almost everyone else used it to write something grim and/or depressing.  Lighten up, folks!

 

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[SkyLandOceAnna]

I love your story. That was a neat idea you had of how Superman got his colors for his costume. It certainly made me smile reading it. Thank you!

[The Novelist Called Nuile]

Nuile reporting for an SSCC Charity Review.
 

 

I also wrote for the "Rainbow" theme, and in my defense, my story was only grim and depressing for a satiric effect. But yeah, go figure; apparently rainbows really do make most people want to cry, to which I laid claim but did not suspect of truth. Got to love Aderia's "Rainbow" story, though. =P

I am inclined to disagree that writing it off as a Write-Off piece--yes that was a very bad pun--is a sufficient excuse to extenuate a lack in quality. If you think a story deserves improvement, improve it. But then, I can understand a lack of interest to bother with a by-the-way piece like this. However, I am moreover inclined to disagree that you needed the disclaimer at all, because there was no lack in quality . . . with one reservation. But I'll get to that.

On the whole I enjoyed it. I was impressed by how well you filled a flash fiction comedy with depth. You mixed a little wisdom into the conversation, there was a strong flavor of satire; and overall there was maintained a theme of the good that can be wrought by the simplest means, and the snowballing effect that can be instigated.

Now: that ending. I laughed. I almost wanted to cry--but I laughed instead. Superman's introduction was very sudden, his description very rushed, and his place within the story stuck out like that suit would if he ever attempted any sort of stealth instead of flying headlong into battle; even that, however, I can forgive: this is a fifteen-minute flash fiction piece, not to mention intentionally farcical. It was amusing and, for that, worth while.

On another note, you quoted Marvel in a story featuring a DC character. Knowing the latter, I rather rolled my eyes than laughed when I read the former, but groaners have as much merit as any other form of joke.
 

Then, a while later, it occurred to her that she created what might have been the mot iconic color scheme ever.

True, true. Barring the yellow--unless the logo happens to be yellow--it's a color scheme you'll find on most faucets. Very iconic.

On the whole I wouldn't have realized this was a flash fiction piece, because I see no difference from your usual style of writing. This, I commend.

 

Keep writing,

 

Sincerely, Nuile: Lunatic Wordsmith

Edited by Nuile: The Wiseguy, Mar 20 2013 - 08:40 PM.

[Jean Valjean]

Why thank you, Nuile.  I personally find it to be of a different style of some of my longer stories, but ah well.  Just so you know, though, I leave my work in the Write-offs unedited, save for grammar and spelling errors.  Otherwise, they aren't something I want to return to, lest I write a story based off one of these pieces. , which I have yet to do.  Speaking of which, I mentioned that I might write a story based off of that one with the Tombstone theme and I never did, and that was something I said to you, so I might have to get working on that sometime soon.

 

Anyhow, I'm pleasantly surprised by your thoughts on the piece.  Thank you for a simple, conversational response such as this.  It made me laugh.  And I read my own story again, and I laughed at it myself.  Indeed, I'm glad I could amuse you.

 

Also, I understood that you were being satirical with you story.  It was actually my favorite.  And Aderia/Eponine's piece was also very entertaining, in a completely "out there" sort of way.  Interestingly, I associate rainbow colors with flamboyant and annoying characters, since it sort of provides a sensory overload for me, so while they don't make me sad, per se, but they do make me agitated.  Hence, the one character in my literature associated with rainbows is a snarky "prankster god" of sorts, known for being annoying.

 

Now you know, even though that was kind of a tangent.

 

24601

Edited by Jean Valjean, Mar 27 2013 - 06:07 PM.