The underground of the Crescent Federation were not, as propagandists would have you believe, particularly dark or dreary places to live. Rimgard, so named for its original role in protecting underground residents from the border conflict on the surface, was one of the brighter cities on Charon, and might have been a tourist attraction were it not still actively functioning in its original role. A gentle river flowed through the city, breathing life into every corner it touched before laughing over the waterfalls. Gemstones glittered like stars in the cavern roof, and together with the thousands of other warm lights scattered around the city, there was hardly a moment of darkness to drag a man down.
While many lived their whole lives never venturing to the surface, it wasn't particularly difficult to see true sunlight, if one were so inclined, and the surface, too, held wonders that the ground below could never rival. The frequent solar flares that often washed over Charon's magnetic field produced breathtaking auroras on an almost daily basis. Fields of flowers in rainbows of color stretched as far as the eye could see, tenderly grown by graying old soldiers to remind them of a home they would never return to.
Along the path beside one such field, a young woman knelt at the edge to gaze at a single flower, her chestnut hair playing a little in the breeze. She touched its petals one by one until, when she at last made a circle, a giggle dropped from her mouth.
"Good sir!" she called out to the elderly gentleman nearby.
"Yes, miss?"
"Are you a flower too? Because smell just as lovely."
The old man threw back his head and cackled. "Now now, go on you, git! And blessed mornin' to you!"
The woman tipped her hat and grinned. "That it is. That it is." She strode back down the path with a wheeled luggage case in one hand, snapping her fingers to a tune her lips whispered the words to. She took a public teleporter and stepped out of the station into what felt like a whole new world. As she navigated her way through the underground city, she couldn't help clutching her chest as she gasped at all the sights. Glistening towers, actual hovercars, and unique inventions with no equivalent back home dotted the urban setting. She almost forgot about her house until a well-placed You Are Here map reminded her.
When she arrived at the address of her new house, she took a moment to stare at it with satisfaction. The place was a little small for the neighborhood, but plenty big enough for one simple girl and any potential boyfriend. By the time she finished unloading all her things, however, an uneasy loneliness set in that drove her to march back outside, take a breath of fresh air, and set her sights on her next door neighbor.
The young woman reached for the doorbell. Her finger hovered over the button. In a few moments, she would meet another person with their own stories to tell, their own goals, fears, and histories, and their own unique personality. She would meet another mind, a creation of divine majesty unique in all the universe. And all it took was a few millimeters of movement.
Who would they be?
She pressed the doorbell to find out.
@Rabidporcupine
