[Silver]

“Isn’t this so coooool?” Mimsy said while she skipped along the path to the park.

“I don’t know if I’d say that,” Gira said. “... Though I do like grey.”

Mimsy was lucky that Gira did not intend on spending the entire trip being as grumpy as possible. She actually seemed kind of happy, which was rare for her. It was really a shame that they were too busy to put her good mood to better use.

“Right,” Mimsy nodded. She paused for a moment to look around the park.

[Silver]

Everything was exactly the same as it usually was, except that it was all completely devoid of color. It felt like an old photograph but nobody was smiling at the camera. Mimsy was reminded of those stuffy old books that Gira liked. No wonder she seemed like she was in such a good mood.

Gira wasn’t usually very optimistic, but she felt good about this mission. Instead of finding the lack of color scary or unsettling, she found it kind of comforting. There was a peacefulness to it that she really appreciated. If only the world could feel this peaceful and not also be in serious danger at the same time.

[Silver]

For that matter, they didn’t even know that the change was a malevolent one, or that it was fixable in any way. For all they knew, this was just how the world was and would always be. Still, they all sent out on missions to try to solve it in any way that they could.

“What is it?” Mimsy asked as Gira turned on her heel and started walking in a new direction.

“I’m not sure,” Gira said. “I want to go this way.” If she did have a plan, she clearly wasn't planning on saying it out loud, at least not yet.

[Silver]

Mimsy had long since gotten used to Gira doing weird things for basically no reason, so she was happy to go along with it. It wasn’t like she had any better ideas, anyway. This whole thing had her really stumped. Usually, missions were a little more… straightforward.

“Do you think we’ll just… find the color? Like in a huge box, and we just let it out and it’s all PCHEW and flies all over the world?” Mimsy flailed her arms around imitating the colors in her explanation.

“That sounds like it came out of a children’s story book.”

“Yea but it would be so cool, right?”

[Silver]

“I guess it would,” Gira nodded. She didn’t really think that was going to happen, but she wasn’t totally beyond playing into Mimsy’s weird fantasies if it made her happy… and quiet.

“What do you think happened to the color?”

“If I knew, do you think I’d be here, doing this?”

“Oh come on, I’m not saying you have to know, but you know, you could like… guess?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“You’re so lame.” Mimsy said that last line very quietly under her breath. Gira heard it, but pretended like she didn’t to keep the peace.

[Silver]

Gira abruptly reached out and nearly knocked Mimsy off her fear. “Hold still,” she insisted. Mimsy threw her hands up exasperatedly and mouthed ‘what the heck?’.

Gira glared into the bushes at the side of the trail, waiting for something to move. Mimsy held her breath and stared, too, though she didn’t know what she was looking for. If Gira was doing it, it must be a good idea, though.

After a few insanely tense seconds, a little rabbit popped out of the bush, twitched its nose, and hopped away. Mimsy squealed with delight and started hopping away after the little creature. Gira cringed visibly at the sound of her screeching, but decided to follow them anyway.

[Silver]

“What are you doing?” Gira called out to Mimsy who was hopping further and further ahead.

“I’m gonna chase him!”

“... but why?”

“You… thought it... was interesting… right?” Mimsy panted between her words. “Maybe it... knows something!”

“How could it possibly know anything?”

“Stop being grumpy and help me catch it!”

“Wait!”

“I can’t wait, it’s still running away!” Mimsy stumbled awkwardly as the little rabbit she was chasing dashed back and forth wildly, trying to throw her off of its trail.

“No seriously. Don’t catch it, maybe it will lead us somewhere!”

“Ok but we still have to chase it, it’s pretty fast!”

[Silver]

The two of them scrambled after the rabbit. They struggled to keep up with the way it zipped and zagged like it had no idea where it was going. Mimsy was just about ready to give up and fall over when something caught her eye.

She found one last ounce of energy and bolted after it. There was something in the grass! It was… pink?

“Gira! Oh my, oh my, Gira! It’s pink!” She shouted so loudly that all the local animals fled in different directions to get away from her.

[Silver]

“Pink, what?” Gira said. She was stopped cold by the sight of a single pink flower. It stood out so plainly with everything else around it being only shades of grey.

“It’s so beautiful,” Mimsy said. She was starting to tear up at the sight of it. It certainly helped that pink was her favorite color.

“It… really is,” Gira nodded in agreement. It was rare for them to finally agree about something.

“What do you think we should do with it?” Mimsy mused.

“I’m not really sure…” Gira hadn’t even thought about what they’d do if they were successful. She had just assumed that they’d find some monster to fight or something more… dramatic.

[Silver]

“I think we should take it back with us!”

“What if it’s magic, and when you pick it, it dies?”

“We can’t just leave it here, can we?”

“I… I really don’t know.” Gira hated admitting when she didn’t know something, but she was so baffled that she didn’t have time to be coy about it.

“I’m going to do it,” Mimsy said. Before Gira was able to stop her, she reached down and plucked the flower from the ground. She could only hope that it wasn’t about to drain all of its color to be lost forever, like all of the others.

[Color Harvested]