Ombre and Iris

You know, about five years ago I created my own comic book universe with my own heroes and villains. Being only 17 at the time I thought that the ideas that I originally came up with were pretty unique and well thought out. As I grew older I kept the characters that I had created in my mind, constantly working and reworking out even the slightest detail on their origins and histories. To this day I'm not entirely satisfied with any of them. Even the one that I started with, "Ombre", had much of his origin scrapped to the point that his powers have little explanation on their source. But what I am satisfied with is his persona, what makes him the way that he is. It's to the point that it doesn't matter how he got his powers anymore. Besides, does anyone really care that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider anymore?

Anyway, thanks to an Internet friend of Kalinka's, (and a little persuasion from Kalinka herself.) I've decided that it's high time I let some more people see into the eyes of two of my most treasured characters: Ombre and Iris. You may remember them from a previous post from, like, August or something.

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Ombre

"They say that you’re the man without fear."

"No, that’s the Green Lantern - or Dare Devil - I forget which. Either way, that’s not me at all. They call me the man that fears nothing."

"You’ve lost me, aren’t those the same thing?"

"Not exactly, no."

"I’m not sure I follow."

"Yeah, most people don’t."

"Well, enlighten me. That’s what this interview is about. The public - I want to understand you better."

"Heh."

"What? What did I say?"

"‘Enlighten me.’ Funny that you should word it like that."

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"Fine, I’ll try and ‘enlighten’ you. I suppose the best way to start is with my name."

"‘Ombre’, French for ‘shadow’. You came up with the name because you morph into a shadow whenever you ‘disappear’, I already know that."

"Yes, and you’ve seen me use that ability how often?"

"Almost never, I know that you can but you never use it unless you absolutely have too. I always kind of wondered why that is."

"It’s because I’m afraid, afraid of nothing."

"I don’t get it, you say that you’re afraid, but then you contradict yourself by saying that your not afraid of anything."

"I didn’t say that, you just heard it. I said, ‘afraid of nothing’ not, ‘not afraid of anything.’"

"Now you’re just arguing semantics, they both mean the same thing."

"No they don’t. Listen just forget it, you don’t understand just like I knew that you wouldn’t."

"I’m sorry, I’m trying my best to understand your meaning, it’s jus–"

"Do you have ANY idea what it’s like for me every single time I use my powers? All you ever see is me melting into the floor or the wall, becoming a pool of black, like a shadow without anything attached. But for me it’s the purest of tortures. Total and complete isolation.

"It’s as if I’m transported to another world. Another world that’s devoid of anything at all. There is no matter, there is no air, there is no light, and sometimes I’m not sure I’m even physically there. All my senses simply shut down and there is nothing. No touch, no taste, no smell, no sound, no sight, nothing. Do you understand now? Nothing is a PRECISE and ACCURATE description of what I fear."

"..."

"I’m sorry. I over-reacted. It’s just...I’m not entirely comfortable talking about it."

"I think that’s enough for now, I think I’ll leave you to yourself for now."

"I think that would be best, goodbye."

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You'll notice that Ombre is actually the origin of the curse that I gave myself in the Lucid Seed stories. There's more to his powers than just being able to morph into a shadow, but those aren't nearly as important to his persona so they aren't mentioned here.

Next is Iris, I wrote this one to tell her origin for two reasons; one is that I actually like her origin, and the other is that I haven't really gotten as much inside her head as I have Ombre.

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Iris

Maria was born in another world that lies parallel to ours. This world was created by wizards and witches of past generations as a safe haven for magic users who were persecuted during the witch-hunts of the various eras on Earth.

Over many generations, the ruling class of this new world taught the idea that the old world was a cesspool of crime. It was with this mindset that Maria grew up. She was an optimistic young girl, she saw that her homeland would be seen as a utopia to the people of our world. She petitioned her father, who was a Governor, to build relations with our world to teach us to improve. Her father refused her offer, as the mis-created education of our world was used, in part, to cover up his own corruption. But Maria was determined, and despite countless warnings and threats of being disowned, she crossed over into our world, giving up her own name in the process, all to save us from a peril that never truly was.

What happened next no one could have anticipated. In her home world, her powers came as natural to her as walking, but here they were a terrible strain on her to even contain, more so to control once released. Her overflowing powers forced her to form barriers within her own psyche to protect everyone around her, weakening herself significantly. Doing so also created an instinctive need for her to release her powers, and with it a second personality which had seemingly complete control of her powers, but little regard for the well-being of others.

After regaining some control over her powers she set out to bring some measure of peace to our "chaotic" world. Much to her surprise, this world, though certainly not perfect, was nowhere near the cesspool she was taught that it was. She also found that protecting this world were various stable governments that saw to the safety and liberty of their people. She also saw that the world did have it share of criminals, but for the most part they were under control thanks to police and military forces.

Seeing that the world didn't need the savior she was expecting to become brought a sense of relief to Maria. Deciding to leave our world and return home, she went about retrieving the materials she needed to open a portal to her world.

Upon leaving a magic shop in search for the required spell components, Maria was drawn to a nearby flower shop because of a police car parked in front. At first she thought that maybe the officers could use some assistance. But when she arrived at the scene it became pretty clear that these policemen were, what she later learned were called, dirty cops. They were extorting the flower shop owner for "protection" money. Maria couldn't let these people get away with their crimes, and she knew this world's legal system well enough to know that these men could go on like this for months before justice could find them. So instead she decided to bring justice to them herself.

After using her magics to disarm the police officers she then used the vines in the shop to tie them from the ceiling until some honest officers could arrive and arrest. Wanting to repay Maria for her help, the flower shop owner offered her a flower as a gift. She said that the flower represented what she saw in Maria's eyes when she helped her. When Maria asked the woman what the flower was, she identified it as an Iris. Maria gladly accepted the Iris and elected to keep it with her and placed it in her hair, using her magically powers to keep the flower alive.

After that experience Maria realized that the system of our world was not infallible and rather than return home she vowed to protect the good people of the world from the persecution of corrupt peoples in stations of power, as well as help in the fight against common crime. The media quickly dubbed her "Iris" as most of the reports of her exploits had the defining trait of an Iris in her hair.

Maria accepted her new identity as Iris lovingly, having chosen not to return home until the corruption in our world is cleansed. Still blissfully unaware of the level of corruption in her home world.

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And there you go, I've put much of my creative thought into these two for the past five years. I'm under no illusions that they are perfect yet, so I'm willing to accept any critique anyone on ye ol' internets has. But remember, they are both very dear to me, so please be kind.

Marr Vell