R-2/Stana/Audion: Getting Started on the Wrong Foot
R-2/Stana/Kit
9-12-01

       R-2 yawned. It had been a nice nap. Faintly, he could hear voices. 
The Sour Mug must be mobilizing for the evening. He idly wondered how long 
it was going to take Mom to notice he was gone -and using the penthouse 
suite to boot. It'd be kinda amusin', that'd be for sure.
       After stretching for a few minutes, he sat on the room's chair and 
studied the broken blade he'd salvaged from the wreckage. Taking the hammer, 
he pinged gently at the cracked edge, watching the cracks widen depending on 
where he hit. Satisfied with the study, he pulled a file from his pack.  It 
rasped sharply against the steel blade as he went to work.  Less than five 
minutes had passed before he was interrupted. From his belt pouch, the jiy 
emerged with a clacking shuffle. It hovered in place for a moment, then
began to float towards the window.
       "Oh no you don't," he said, snatching it out of the air. "Ah didn' 
give ya permission t' go wanderin' 'round." He put it back into the pouch. 
"Stay put," he admonished it.
       He had just picked up the file when it was clattering back to the 
window.  "Bloody hell," he swore and snatched it out of the air again. This 
time, he could feel its pull. It wanted to go somewhere, and quite strongly 
at that.  "Look you, you're mah jiy. Git that through your fool head."
       It pulsed and buzzed lightly in his hand.
       "Awright. Jus' this once. You go gittin' me 'n trouble an' Ah swear 
t' god Ah'll break ya. Got that?'
       Elsewhere in the room, laughter rang out.
       R-2 glared at the sprite sitting on the bedpost. "An' no comments 
fr'm th' peanut galley, either."

       The jiy dragged R-2 in a straight line through the few blocks of town 
that were between the Sour Mug and the burned out area. Or it tried to. R-2 
had to slap it around a few times to keep it from doing anything stupid, 
like try and go through a building. Eventually, they ended up walking 
through the burned wreckage where the fire had raged the night prior, moving 
out to the epicenter, where there was nothing but mounds of cold, dead ash.  
Mounds of cold, dead ash and two people who, in the waning light of the day, 
seemed to be studying said cold, dead mounds of ash.  One was a tall, 
slender man with albino skin and dark hair. The smaller of the two was a 
woman whose hair had the color of a botched dye job.
       R-2 sighed. This wasn't good. He was getting funny feelings from 
these people -he was rapidly growing to dislike this aspect of being Chosen.
       "Oooh! This should be neat." Sellie's voice came from above, which 
meant she was on top of his head. Absently, he wondered exactly how she got 
there without him oticing.
       The other two were watching him approach -it wasn't like there was 
much else to watch out here.
       "Ho there, good travelers! What brings ya t' this part a th' town?" 
R-2  deliberately surveyed the area. "Not a lot t' see out 'ere, eh?" Both 
figures watched him intently, studying him with an intensity he found rather 
discomforting -and rude.
       R-2 smiled big-like. "So, kin Ah intr'st ya 'n - Git back 'ere, ya 
damn fool!" For the jiy had taken that moment to slip from his grasp. Like a 
bowshot, it flew to face level with the woman and hovered there, flashing a 
deep brown.
       She started, startled by the sudden movement. Then her jaw dropped.  
R-2 snatched the jiy out of the air. "E-heheh. Sorrah 'bout that." He 
crammed it in his pocket, gripping it tightly.
       "Where did you get that?" the woman took a step forward. Her tone of 
voice was dead serious.
       R-2 gave his best negligent smile and waved his free hand. "Oh 
nowhere," he said, and began talking quickly. "It'z a gift fr'm a great-aunt 
up 'n Illinois. It's supposed t' attract rich customers t' me, but nooo~ it 
drags me out t' th' middle a nowhere t'
people who usually don't need mah wares. Auntie Jemima must not've liked me 
'r
somthin'."
       Her companion cut in. "This simpleton is a waste of your time," His 
tone was harsh and aloof.
        "But it's a Jiy, Audion!" she protested "there havenŐt been 
sightings of them since-" not to mention she was positive this was someone 
from her own world as well. Aunt "Jemima" indeed!
        "Ah!" R-2 balked, a bit taken aback, as relief washed through him. 
Quick escape!  "Well, then," he said, with a shrug.  "Ah shain't be a 
wastin' your time, then."  Turning around, he waved causally off to one 
direction, towards the richer part of town. "Ya kin
fin' lodgin' fit f'r you're lordship's tastes off that aways." Then, 
maintaining a tight
grip on the jiy, he began heading back to the Sour Mug. "Enjoy ya stay an' 
hopefully we ain't gonna bother each other no more. Later!"
       Audion's countenance darkened to pitch, and his eyes lit with a dark 
glow that seemed the antithesis of casual luminesence. His tone was chilled 
enough to burn were it possible, "I...think...not."
       Aurally, the light of their surroundings was engulfed in a profound 
nothing, save that of the chosen, the fey, and the Jiy. Audion could see the 
fey woman in the mirror of his conscious, small but lively, dense with life 
and energy as a white dwarf star. She was to be unscathed. The oscillating 
image of a firefly came clear to his sight, and Audion smiled. This time, it 
was not for want of magic, but for pleasure. He'd see this man drained of 
his strength, then he'd sever the flesh between each of his ribs. Then, and 
only then, after he'd suffered for his transgression, would he be allowed to 
die. Lordship indeed....he would learn his place and the meaning of the 
title he'd chosen to use.
       "R-2," Sellie's voice was vastly unamused, carrying no hint of  its 
earlier hilarity. "He's making a Nothing, and it's coming at you."
       The darkness coalesced around the light beetle, prodding at it 
hungrily, then breaking into and through it. R-2 stopped walking, his legs 
suddenly heavy and his stomach taking a violent turn. "Ah, crap."
       Stana's neck muscles tensed instantly, and there was a slight  
pounding in her temples. There was an unnaturalness to everything around 
her, and it was centered on Audion. She looked over, and seeing the pure 
hatred on his features, she had no questions as to the nature of the 
wrongness. She hastily stood in front of the elementalist, hand
outreached but not touching, features stern, " Audion, stop." she asked, 
wreaking her  brain for some way to halt him...she was not entirely sure 
what he was doing, but couldn't think it was good at all, "Bonded Jiy's are 
indication of  empathic abilities...and the only empath in Narada is Teri- 
he has to know where she is! I - we need to talk to him!"
        Audion's expression iced, and his eyes bore down into her's. "As you 
will it, Lady."
       The blackness receeded, obviously objecting. It pulled heavily 
Against Audion, and he struggled at its tethers to control it. It had not 
been satiated, though in the presence of the Chosen, and so threatened to 
turn on him. He ground his teeth, rending it away.
Somewhere along the exposed bones of his aura's arm, a hairlined crack began 
to
form. Audion frowned, "<I will not be ruled as such. Obey.>" The Void 
returned
to its former state of docility.
       Stana was flabbergasted it worked. But there was little time to 
celebrate as she rushed forward to R-2, hands outstretched to show she was 
unarmed. *honey and
not vinegar* she reminded herself sternly. *honey* Schooling her features as 
open as she could, she smiled.
       "Look, I know someone who has a Jiy just like that one...and it seems 
to be wanting to tell me something now, doesn't it?" she indicated to where 
the Jiy was still struggling to get free. "Her name was Teri Lynn, and  I 
really need to find her, do either of you know where she is?"
       For a moment, R-2 thought she was talking to Sellie, which was of 
course impossible, but then he realized she was addressing herself to  the 
Jiy as well. He allowed himself to wobble, then sank to his knees. The acrid 
smelling ash rose in a small cloud
around him, stinging his nose. His breathing increased, not much, but it was 
audible.
       "Teri." He turned a ring on his finger so the design was on his 
knuckle.  R-2 looked up at Stana, at the jiy. "Get here. Now." The jiy 
paused for a moment, then obeyed,
floating into R-2 hand. He felt its power flow through him, and his 
expression brightened a degree.  He held it  clasped firmly in his palm, and 
genlty rapped it with the ring. It chimed  -almost unnaturally so- but 
remained in his palm, unmoving. "Warn me," he said,  with a quick glance to 
his shoulder. "Teri," he said, looking back up. "She a
lil' shorter than ya, long brown hair, stacked, legs that don't quit,  an' 
don't put out?"
       Stana blinked as R-2 continued on. "If'n that's so, then sure. Ah 
Know 'er." He stood up, slowly, still keeping his hand close to each other. 
"Ah don' know ya'll, 'r what part ya playin' 'n this grandoise game Ah'm so 
ignor'nt 'bout, but Ah really hope ya'lls real
important." He rapped the jiy again, causing it to chime flute-like.  This 
time, an
orange glow lit within the center of it.
       "That is the Chosen of Earth, R-2," Sellie said, flatly.
       "An' Earth an' Fire ain't friends no more," he mumbled. "Teri hinted 
at it, an' this confirms it.  Dandy."
       Stana restrained herself from slapping him across the face at the 
crassness of his remark. The smile on her face was stiff and uncomfortable, 
but the detail was pushed aside at her the knowledge that he knew Teri. Even 
the semi-audible murmurings of his
passed off unremarked elation.  He knew Teri! "You do? Where is she?"
       R-2 took a half step back. "Safe fr'm those who oppose our station." 
He smiled, friendly. "Ah'm really too tired f'r this.  Ah really don' 
suppose ya'll'd be reasonable let us resume this chitchat 'n th' mornin'?" 
Power was building inside the jiy.
       "Wait, please," Stana said.  Despite his smile, the boy's eyes were 
wary, furtive, as they continually flicked between her and Audion.  "I just 
want to know where Teri is!"
       R-2 smiled, almost a smirk.  "Ya got a nice way a showin' that." The 
jiy, and the arm holding it burst into flame.  "I stand in the place of Fire 
until her return."  The fire was painless, but it was only a fraction of 
what he could feel building.  "I shall allow no harm to befall her until 
then!"  The rest of his body lit up.  "No matter what!!"
       He, rather, the fiery aura surrounding him, exploded.  The fires 
rushed outward in an opaque sphere.  In an instant, everything was consumed. 
  Of the three figures confronting each other in the waning dusk, nothing, 
not even a faint wisp of smoke, remained.