Writing Championships #5

Pink Procrastinators

The sunset was beautiful today.

False sat on the edge of the highest tower of her cyberpunk base, overlooking the Shopping District down below. The sun was slowly sinking at the horizon, sending swaths of red, pink, and yellow streaking across the sky. From up here, the shops seemed dwarfed by the sheer size of her base. But there were a few buildings that were taller, as if they were reaching up to False.

The newly constructed HEP tower was a good example. Not only was it built on Scar Mountain, which was a vantage point in of itself, but it also extended even farther up with its concrete spires. False thought it was a beautiful build, but the Resistance mockingly called it a llama.

Thinking about the Resistance sent a spike of irritation through False. She was a bit surprised by how strong her reaction was to the opposing side in the Turf War, especially since the Hermits had had conflicts in the past.

But...this time was different. There was more tension in the air. Hermits were taking the war more seriously--it wasn't just fun and games anymore. It was getting out of hand, but neither side was backing down.

False hated having Hermitcraft split up again. It started off as just a stupid argument over grass and mycelium, for god's sake. But it had grown into a fight for power--the turf, the land of the Shopping District. There was no compromise--one side won, and the other lost.

False was on HEP's side, of course. She didn't want to openly resist the mayor. But others didn't seem to care, and they supported mycelium. That was the Resistance. False didn't want to think negatively about her friends, but she couldn't stop the growing anger she was feeling.

A firework bursting snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a flash of pink and brown fly by, spiraling ever so slowly down to the Shopping District. As their flying slowed, False began to make out who it was.

"Stress!" she called down, hoping that a small talk with the Hermit would ease the tension between the two sides. Stress was a Resistance member, after all. Stress glanced up, and False thought she saw a glint of irritation in her eyes for a second. Then, it faded, and Stress plastered on a smile.

"Ello, False!" she yelled back.

"Hey, do you mind if you come up here and talk to me for a bit?"

A moment's pause. Then, "Okay! Give me a second."

Stress shot straight up before slowly sinking down to stand next to False. Now that she was closer, False noticed that her smile was more strained than she let on. "So...what did you want to talk about?"

False noticed the wariness in her friend's voice, too, but she didn't say anything. "Nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you, is that too much?"

"Oh. Uh, okay!" Stress took a seat next to False. "The sunset is very pretty today, isn't it?"

"Yeah," False ventured. Then, on a whim, she added, "The HEP building looks pretty against it, right?"

Stress tensed. False swore mentally, hoping she hadn't messed up. Then, "Yeah. It does. Why?"

Fuck it. False decided to go straight to the point. "Well, maybe part of the reason why I brought you up here was to talk about the Turf War."

"What about it?"

Stress's voice had a hard edge to it. No going back now.

"...Why did you join the Resistance?" False blurted out before she could say anything else. "I mean--HEP is the better option here, isn't it? The mayor will--"

"Your mayor is the reason why we're in this predicament in the first place!" Stress snapped out of nowhere. False blanched. "W-what do you mean?" she protested.