Vivi

II

"Morpheus!"

Vivi groaned. She sometimes changed her face when going out in public, but she didn't like doing it. She had just been going to the farmer's market. She just wanted to have an easy Sunday morning.

"My name is Vivianne Moreau," said Vivi. "Please do not address me as Morpheus or any other nickname."

"Miss Moreau," said the journalist, unfazed, "How do you respond to the allegations that you have been approached by the Kremlin?"

"Without going into details," growled Vivi, stubbornly continuing to select potatoes, "I'd remind them that I have always declined to work for violent organisations."

"Don't you think it's your moral duty to use your abilities to fight those who would use their abilities for evil?"

"Evil according to whom?"

"According to the American people!"

"The American people can't agree on whether or not to put pineapple on pizza," said Vivi. "They are certainly not an authority on who deserves to live or die. For the last time, I'm not going to fight people, okay?"

–

Vivi was grumpy enough as she trudged back home that the grass started wilting under her feet. She stopped for a moment and took deep breaths to centre herself. Why wouldn't the paparazzi leave her alone? Why did they always look for her emotional buttons to press, as if upsetting her would make a better story? Vivi breathed through her seething anger.

Gradually, Vivi began to notice and feel the life in the meadow surrounding her. As she breathed, grass and weeds around her swelled and grew lush, and flowers of red, yellow and pink blossomed. She smiled, feeling better already. She looked back at her brown footprints in the meadow, and wished for them to turn green again. They did so.

Vivi felt light and, as if to express that feeling, decided to take a step up into the air. At her wish, the air offered a firm and springy support, a little imaginary step that vanished as soon as she was done with it. She leapt up several metres, getting a beautiful view of her home.

Home was Trust, an ecovillage Vivi had joined some years ago. What started as a holiday turned into a project, and a project became a family. Vivi could imagine almost anything into being, and at the request of the villagers, had used that skill for the most wondrous architecture. It was fanciful, fluid, colourful, art deco, a little bit of Gaudí and a little bit of Rivendell, with levitating and glowing structures that seemed to belong to a fairytale. Each house was a part of the whole, but also unique, and it was Vivi's particular pride that she created each dwelling according to the special personality of the person who would inhabit it.

Since Trust, Vivi had begun to travel and create more art – mostly for free, mostly for ecovillages and other progressive projects. But she always came home. She had good reason to.

"Hi, my love," said Peter and she stepped into their home from the balcony. He gave Vivi a kiss.

"Hi, cutie," said Vivi, smiling. "Where's Celine?"

"She's on a date in town, I think."

"A date? I'm jealous," said Vivi, grinning.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Whatever will you do without her for two hours? It's not as if you have anyone else you might want to make out with."

Vivi grabbed Peter's butt and skipped down to the kitchen. She put the potatoes down on the counter and looked for a peeler.

"Need any help?" asked Peter.

"Sure," said Vivi.

"No you don't," teased Peter. "You can just imagine us some food."

Vivi sighed theatrically. "You know that's not how it works."

"Yes it is. You materialised some delicious pasta for us last week."

"You know what I mean. I have to be inspired, otherwise it takes more energy than it's worth."

"So get inspired!"

"Inspire me then!" laughed Vivi.

"Ooh, you want me to inspire you, huh?" said Peter in a faux-sexy tone.

"Bad! Bad Peter!" laughed Vivi, batting away his advances. They kissed a little, and then finally separated and got to peeling potatoes.

–

Lunch was french fries dipped in ketchup, hummus, mayonnaise, garlic mayonnaise, spicy mayonnaise, paprika mayonnaise, chinese five spice mayonnaise... actually, by the time Vivi suggested to put lime and cilantro in the next portion of mayonnaise, she was having so much fun that the idea just materialised in front of her. It was a pity, because by then they really didn't need any more dips.

"Carrot sticks?" laughed Vivi as Peter brought this last item to the table by the sofa. "You think that's going to save us?"

"We can only hope," laughed Peter. He sat down opposite Vivi on the sofa. They lounged like that, toes touching, and ate.

Eventually they were done, and a comfortable silence descended. Peter started looking thoughtful, and asked, "Did you hear about the super-terrorist attack in Denver yesterday?"

"No," said Vivi.

"Just some senseless violence. We don't even know the guy's motives. But whoever he is, he's got these forcefield powers, so people are calling him Shockwave. He's done several attacks in the last few weeks."

Vivi frowned. "Why are you telling me this, Peter? You know I don't like to hear this kind of news."

Peter shrugged. "Denver's not far away. I figure it might be something you need to know. Can't hurt to be safe."

"I guess..."

There was a ring at the doorbell. Vivi got up and opened the door. It was James, another member of the ecovillage.

"Vivi, I thought you'd want to know. The Statue of Awakening has been destroyed."

"What?"

James showed Vivi and Peter his phone with a news clip. Sure enough, where the statue had been was now a pile of sparkling shards of blue glass. Several trees nearby had been flattened as well.

Vivi's heart sank. "Is this about the planning permission thing?"

"I doubt it's something so boring. It must have been done by a super. People are saying maybe it was Shockwave."

"Speak of the devil..." muttered Peter.

"I have to go fix it," said Vivi.

Peter's jaw dropped. "Vivi, wait a minute. This happened, like, an hour ago. Shockwave could still be there."

"I don't care!" cried Vivi. She was being unreasonable and she knew it – but the Statue of Awakening was so special to her. It had come to her in a dream, and in fact had never left her dreams since then. There was something in the special way the light caught the blue glass to flood the chest of the figure, as if it were radiating love and hope and soul-strength. The strength of Vivi's soul, maybe. Or the spirit of the times.

When she conceived of the Statue of Awakening, Vivi had already known every last detail, as if she had been simply remembering it. She knew where it had to be and how it had to be. Buying the plot of land had been tiresome enough, let alone trying to do it all legally, which is why most of Vivi's commercial projects since then had been undertaken in order to pay her team of very skilled lawyers. Honestly, she had never really won that legal battle; they had just stalled for long enough that the local government had started to notice the massive influx of tourism the statue brought in.

There was something about the Statue of Awakening that contained the essence of everything Vivi dreamed of, hoped for, and stood for. To destroy it was to destroy her heart. She couldn't bear to leave it broken, not even for a second.