Star stood beside her sister in the Templar garrison on Draenor. She looked at the pictures taken of the graffiti as she scoured the room. The arcane writing on the wall had happened there…as well as a glitter-storm, go figure. Violet was combing the upstairs as well. The little arcane bird flitting to and fro, twittering like a morning songbird that just. Won’t. Shut. Up. The younger gnome frowned, tugging her pink hair. “Violet isn’t catching anything weird.”
Her older, half-sister scowled at the wall, the room. Her brown hair wasn’t in its usual impeccable ponytail, it was down, almost to the floor. Damn, how did she even brush it? Robin spoke slowly, nervous.
Nervous target. Slow to act. Will make a mistake. Hesitation. Strike in the hesitation. Once. Star shook her head, shivering. Not the time.
“It was a little girl, Ciera. A little girl…did this. I know I’m not crazy. Am I crazy?” Robin began to pace around the room, pointedly avoiding anywhere Violet happened to be at the time.
“You’re not crazy. There was some weird shadow thing in your head, right?” Star folded her arms across her chest and watched her sister wear a hole in the floor.
“Y—y-yeeeeessss.” Robin squeaked. “Ciera…stop looking at me like a target.”
“What. This is just my face.”
“Isn’t.”
Star blinked and shook her head. “Sorry. Habit.”
“Ciera…”
“I haven’t had a legit job in a few weeks. No one has tried to invade my house, or murder me and the rest of our family. I’m bored and addicted to stabbing people. It’s overall….a bad combination.”
Robin sighed and kept pacing. “So, what do you think?”
“This girl came in here, taunted you. Made you trash the place…left a flashy message. It’s to get into your head, Robin. And it’s working. Come on, you’ve seen me do this stuff. You’ve been in my head when I did this stuff.”
“I don’t want to think about that.”
Star frowned and crossed the room. She grabbed Robin roughly by the left shoulder and turned the slightly shorter gnome to face her. “The world doesn’t care what you want to think about. What you are or aren’t ready for. People don’t care. So, pull it together. I’d rather have a sister, not a corpse.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to come here.” Robin pulled away from Star’s grasp and took a giant step back.
“The darkness scares you. But you have a mind that can understand it. You called me here because you know I can, too. And you think Ceera has something to do with this. I don’t sense her magic anywhere here.” Star fixed her gaze on Robin. “Don’t let this get into your head. Whoever this is…they’ll break you.”
Robin pulled a white ribbon from her pocket and began to tie up her hair. Finally. “They took something. I don’t know what.”
Star smiled. Calm, calculated. Dangerous. As a Gyroshock should be.
“I’ve never seen that look before.”
“It’s the…FEL YEAH! GO GYROSHOCKS! …look.”
Robin couldn’t help but return the smile. “Of course it is.”
“The question is…what are you missing that they could have?”
————————-
“What are they doing now?” The small, dark room was much too cramped for even two gnomes.
“Arguing, debating. Stupid, self-esteem boosting speeches. The whole hero thing.” The black-haired gnome was resting on something resembling a beanbag chair, holding a small crystal.
“Isn’t she about to go piss off the two most dangerous ones?” The younger gnome grinned and leaped across the room, landing on the chair beside her accomplice. She giggled. “Let’s watch that! PLEASE, PLEASE!”
Selena rolled her eyes. “Why the hell am I your babysitter? It’s not fun to watch her work. She doesn’t have any magic.”
“It’s art, Selena. The way she fights! We could learn something. Mother said…”
“Oh, dammit. Why not. Might as well see if she manages to kill the overconfident ones. That’d be lovely.”
Erin giggled gleefully. “You’re the best sitter ever! The last one was lame.”
“You killed the last one.”
“She shouldn’t have been so boring.”
Selena sighed and tuned the crystal over to Stormwind’s shipyard.
Comments
No Comments