[Oddness] Uptown Rumble IC

[Valik Sparks]

MRMM

They walk among us.


People.


Human beings. Every day they pass you by in the streets. Who are they? Where are they going? Where are they from?

Are they important? Do they matter? In a city of millions of individuals, how easy it is to lose one's individuality. They're like shadows. Masses of bodies with no names, and faces that go by in a blur.

Two young girls discuss a man for whom they both share a deep admiration. Do you hear them?
A tear rolls down the cheek of a boy as he waits at the crosswalk. Do you notice?
You hear your phone ring. You see the taxi you're looking for. Everyone lives their own lives, in their own worlds.

So what happens when two worlds are unexpectedly brought together?

Does one pull the other in, forcing the foreigner to abide by the laws of this world? Or do they come together to create a new world, in mutual harmony?


The two young men in the infamous Reductionist Retailer have stumbled upon each other. Both bearing secrets. Both with worlds much different from the norm. One has unwittingly touched the world of the other, and in a brief moment, he is overwhelmed with something outside of himself.

And little does the bright, young inheritor know that his arm is draped over a being of darkness and despair. The young man has created for himself a world of joy, and unending wonder. But can he protect his world from the darkness that is here, that is everywhere? Even there...

...on the streets. As he walks, with no fault in his steps, and no surprise in his day. For he is meticulous, and a hoarder of knowledge. He knows much, but how far can he truly see into the worlds of others? What does he know of the world belonging to the girl called Nora? Does he see the struggle of her heart?

The heart is a strange thing. For it seems it loves to to obsess, to fixate upon those certain things it deems valuable. It is different for every person.

For the schoolboy, Anton, and for the working man, Isaac, they live in worlds from which their hearts have rarely escaped from. They go about their lives, always moving, with faint aspirations, but nothing to truly capture their hearts, and give them...life. Will they ever find what they are looking for? Do they even know what it is?

Not like this girl. Elizabeth. As she moves through unfamiliar streets, in a new world, a world so unlike her own. But she walks with purpose, willing to be affected, and changed, by this world around her; for it is what she desires. She knows what she wants, and where she's going. Her heart yearns for something new, and fresh, and she has obeyed the call.

This one also knows her heart. Lorena Lee. A young woman in the making, full of passion, with a heart that beats with life every day. Her world is not rigid or tight, but expanding, malleable as she pursues knowledge, and ultimately, her dreams. In a way, her world has grown, without her even knowing, reaching out and touching the other worlds around her. She has awakened a heart that longs for something more than the simple kindness and amiable spirits of the friends she currently has. This heart has seen the passion in the life of Lorena Lee, and it wants to be closer, to taste of this energy even more. This heart belongs to a girl called Melanie Reed. She is 15 years old, a budding Sophomore at 10 Wood Academy. She is small, frail, and forgettable. Not extraordinary, nor outspoken. Her world is dull, with little individuality or creativity; she looks to others to nurture her world. She needs them. Their kindness, their love, and their passion. For she has none of her own.

Unlike her...the Woman in White. The one who sparked the heart of the young Korean man, and gave him something to obsess over, to fixate on. Something that gives him drive. Energy. If only he knew that at this very moment, she was donning her lavish, white dress. That she was singing softly to herself, as she gracefully penned lyrics upon paper, which she will sing tonight, at a humble, hole-in-the-wall karaoke bar.


They are all connected. And yet they are all separated. But how long will their worlds remain their own? How long until other forces inevitably come to destroy the worlds they have so carefully created for themselves.