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There were a lot of things that your average person took for granted, but out of all of them, "not being able to reshape the fabric of reality in accordance with your idle whims" was one that did not get enough appreciation.
It turns out that when you're capable of doing anything, then you're equally capable of doing nothing. And so one day, after a great deal of repair was finished, the most powerful psychic in all of time, all of space, and the entire span of creation made herself nothing.
…Sort of.
And once you were nothing, the best thing to follow up with was to do nothing.
So Terra Zaic , formerly the aforesaid most powerful etc etc, sat on the patio of Amphi-Bean, Placeburgh's most popular coffee shop, sipping at her lilypad latte — complete with a little 3D flower made out of foam! What will they come up with next? — as she watched the world that she created go by.
She had to stifle a laugh. Created made it sound so grandiose, as if there had been anything resembling intent behind the process. Or at least, she was pretty sure there hadn't been. Like 97.2% sure. It was hard to remember sometimes.
That was the thing about such an impossibly long life. A lot of it tended to blur together, lost to the fog of ages. That was why she wrote so much in her precious Diaries. So that she could remember. And because she wished so dearly for them to last forever, so that she would always have those memories, they did. That sort of thing happened to her a lot, so she had to be careful what she wished for.
Only she didn't have to worry about that anymore. Now she could barely bend a spoon. She could stand up on her table and shout to the skies about how she wished that it would rain pickles, and the only thing that would happen was that people would think she was a bit weird (which they already did, so no big loss, but still). Aside from the fact that she was one of three probably-humans on the planet, she was as ordinary as anyone here. And as she watched ordinary people going about their ordinary lives, she could almost cry from the sheer joy of mundanity.
Across the street, she could see a frog pushing a combination stroller and aquarium full of wiggling tadpoles, while passers-by on the street stopped to make funny faces at them. The proud frog parent was telling anyone who stopped for more than a few seconds how smart they were and how big they were getting and how they were sure that Clarence would sprout legs any day now.
Beyond that, a group of children of various species were defacing a wall with colorful chalk. One of them had inscribed a glyph resembling a stylized letter S, proving that some things were universal constants.
On the other side of the street, a robotic busker was playing a strange instrument that was like a hybrid of an accordion and a bagpipe, toot-squeezing out a merry tune while passers-by gathered to listen. Some of them had stopped to dance to the tune while some others were shouting requests.
Each and every one of them would go about their days reasonably certain that tomorrow was going to be very similar to today. And now that was going to be her, too. She wanted to go for walks in the park and create art! Maybe she'd even learn an instrument! She'd never bothered trying before, despite theoretically having infinite time in which to do so, but she wanted to do it now, especially since she'd need to do it the hard way! The thought made her heart flutter.
"Everything alright there, miss?"
She yelped and nearly fumbled her coffee as she was addressed, turning to see the waitress — a teal-skinned salamander girl with a name tag that read RILL — standing by her table with a concerned expression. Terra cleared her throat.
"I'm fine, thank you," she said quickly. "Just lost in thought! Thank you, Rill."
"No trouble," said Rill, beaming at her. Then she hesitated for a moment, looking Terra up and down. "You new in town? I know most of our regulars and you ain't ringin' a bell."
"New? Oh, heh, I guess you could say that. I'm T— uh, Tina. My name's Tina."
"Nice to meet you, Tina!" said Rill. "You picked a wonderful day to sit on the patio. The skies are blue, the breeze is lovely, and the Eternitoad is shining bright!"
Terra looked up into the sky, squinting. She couldn't stand to look for long, of course, but for just a moment, she caught a glimpse of an old beloved friend, beaming down on them all. It was hard to say what she was thinking, or even if she was thinking anything at all… but it would have been nice to imagine that she would be happy, seeing Terra now.
"You're right," she said, wiping her eyes with a sleeve. "It's a beautiful day."
Rill cocked her head. "You sure you're okay, Tina?"
Terra nodded quickly. "I'm fine. Just happy to be here. Can I have another latte, please? I loved the little flower."
"Aww, thank you!" said Rill, puffing up with pride. "I make 'em myself! I've been practicing!"
It was then that Terra noticed the little melon baller hovering in the air behind Rill, which did a little twirl when it was noticed.
"I'm not much of a psychic," said Rill, making her vessel dance through the air. "But I don't have to be, y'know? I can do little things that make people happy and that's enough."
Terra tried her hardest to will her eyes not to water. And because she was not all-powerful, it happened anyway.
"You know, I couldn't agree more. And you're right. It is enough."
And as Rill left to make a new latte, Terra thought about the ordinary things that she would do tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, and for the first time in eons, her future was bright.
