Gold Star for Robot Boy

[Null]

Miranda and her boatload of Stantons found a quiet room in the London student union complex -- even with so many people around, there was more milling about in the central area for now, so some privacy could be had.

"So, Miranda. Been doing some light reading?" the boy said, once everyone who was to be there was there.

[Miranda Weaver]

"Funny you should ask that," she says, "Care to take a guess at what I've been reading?"

[Null]

"'The many trials and tribulations of Will Angelina Stanton, Champion of the Morrigan and all-around dingbat?"'"

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda's fist clenches tightly as she resists the urge to slap him. "Do I look like I'm amused? Do you think the Morrigan would be amused by this?"

[Null]

"Do you think the Morrigan is here?," the boy said throwing up his hands.

"Look, this is not a pretty universe, and sometimes, we have to do what we have to do to get by. You have no idea the kind of people who are in this universe! We got split because a telepath was able to cleave through us like butter. We had gotten better about that under Sam's tutelage, and yours, but the strain of being sent here broke everything down.

So, yes, in the absence of your all-knowing and all-powerful mother, I've had to take some steps into my own hands. He's safe now."

[Miranda Weaver]

"I don't know about the rest of the people here. I can't speak for them. But you, you I thought I knew." Her wings rustle softly. "He is not whole. And if he is not whole, then neither are you."

[Null]

The boy sighed. To his credit, he rolled his eyes only slightly.

"I'm not an action figure to be kept in the box less I lose my value. What he is is all the parts of me that are weak, and vulnerable and pathetic. The parts, if I remember correctly, that you railed against quite a few times," he added, pointing his finger at Miranda. "About being too eager to please, too eager to follow orders and demean himself for your mother, yes?"

[Will Stanton]

Will sighed, too. "He's almost right. All the bad bits were, in fact, shaved off -- but that's him. All that...frustration, and fire and pain. I can't believe I was ever that much of a...of a..of a jerk."

[Miranda Weaver]

"You are both also a part of the person who took time to help a young woman who had become so frightened by her visions that a piece of her mind tried to forcibly separate itself. You agreed to help without question for someone who had done everything not to deserve your assistance. A young woman who publicly antagonized you and questioned your faith because of her own fear. I know the pain and dangers of an unbalanced mind. I would not wish it on my worst enemy, much less you."

[Null]

"I am that person," the boy countered. "I am the Champion of the Morrigan; I'm the one who helped you find your path. It took courage, and determination, and not blinking in the face of extreme pressure. It did not take a pressing desire to be baked into a pie and smothered with ice cream."

[Will Stanton]

"I am that person," Will piped up. "I used to be the Champion of the Morrigan...and it took kindness, and compassion, and the bonds of both friendship and family to find your way home. It did not take going out into the street and punching the first person you see."

[Miranda Weaver]

"You are both *parts* of that person and it required all of those things and more. Your view of each other is so one-dimensional. You only see things that you think are problems. You," she stabs a finger at the Boy, "can't see that a heart without compassion and mercy doesn't make you strong, it makes you cruel."

[Null]

"Miranda, " the boy said quietly. "Do not confuse a heart that has steeled itself with a heart that does not care.

Do you know how many times I've woken up, smiled, and turned, expecting to see Sara or your mother lying next to me, only to find a pile of pillows instead? Every morning since this Sam broke into a box meant for your mother, I've had to deal with the fact that I'm alone, in a universe with no place for me, without our crazy, fucked up family, surrounded by parodies and twisted versions of people I still hold dear. If that has made me hard in your eyes, it's because this world is hard.

I 've done what I can to protect him," he said, pointing at Will. "I 've stopped random telepaths from rooting through him. Ive made it so he doesn't hide who he is and what he wants, as humiliating as that is. He's not me anymore, and I'm thankful for it, though I wish that I were Will and his name was mud.

Ah well. If he wants to be Will and a piece of property here, to hell with him. I'll be Will and a Champion when I get home."

[Will Stanton]

"I'm never going home. I sinned in my heart, gave up on the Morrigan, tried to settle for a false fantasy. They like me here, sure, but it's not the same. I think it's getting better now, with the Pack almost willing to take me into their lives.

And now you and Robin are here, and we can all be one happy family together."

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda's wings rustled again, the rainbow feathers losing their colorful spectrum and bleeding to glossy black. She looks like she's about to say something, but then she just tries to grab the Boy's mind with her telepathy, trying to project both him and herself into Will's mindscape as she and Haley had been earlier.

[Null]

The boy tried to resist, but Miranda had long since learned how to handle her Uncle Will, and in they went.

The gold box was still there, plain as day. Next to her was....the Champion?


Well, maybe not quite, but this was an aspect of Will she had seen before. His hair was wild an unkempt, his face and chest covered with Celtic symbols painted in woad. At least he was wearing pants this time.

[Miranda Weaver]

The flame at the time of Miranda's avatar's staff was burning bright orange and white as she regarded the champion and the gold box. "You didn't protect him, you fool. You imprisoned him," she gestures at the box. "I realize you're both hurting. I realize you've both been away for us longer than we've been looking for you. But I expected better of my mother's champion."

[Null]

"I will admit, I'm not as skilled a carpenter as your mother. You'll forgive me, what with having no telepathic powers.

But I was taught and trained to construct a box to hide in until the Morrigan came to rescue me. When I needed to protect and hide my inner soul, we imagine a box, locked with our heart. And only one with the keys to that heart may break it.

I'm no goddess, but I stand by my craftsmanship," he said, gesturing to the box. "I think it's a rather elegant solution, what with me holding the keys. "

[Miranda Weaver]

"Open it." It was not a request. "Let's see what damage has been done and left to fester."

[Null]

"Of course. Let's go survey the damage together."

He walked over to the box, and rapped on the door.

"Admin, admin," he said, before the voice on the other side could say anything, and the door swung open, taking Miranda and the boy into the center of town; a town recovering from disaster.

The factory was still up and running, smoke coming out of the chimneys and delicious smells floating in their direction. The statue of Miranda's mother still held it's place of pride, even if some of the gold had flaked off, revealing the chocolate underneath. The town, though, was a different story.

The main street had cracked down the center, patched up a little awkwardly with chocolate and gummy patches to fill in the holes. What was normally a bustling marketplace was...less so, at the moment. It wasn't abandoned, but it was much less crowded than normal, with people going from place to place, awkwardly exchanging hellos as they moved past one another. Several of the buildings had collapsed in on themselves, but repairs were underway, with temporary tents taking the place of some of the other ones. It was as if an earthquake had hit, and was gradually being recovered from.


The forest, which normally stated on the outskirts of town, the realm of Badb...was gone. Scorched to the ground.

[Miranda Weaver]

"Whoever did this better hope I never find them." She begins walking up the main street towards the factory, the core as she believed it.

[Null]

"She hasn't popped into this dimensional-thing yet, but it's a version of...well, of Melpomene. After seeing what our Mel did to me, this is child's play.

I suppose it's ironic that in a dystopian universe, our greatest enemy is a more...minor inconvenience."

The factory was humming along just fine, with workers waving at Miranda as she strode through like she owned the place. I mean, she didn't, but when the boss' daughter comes around, you humor her, right? Some workers were maintaining the automated factory machinery, which had taken a bit of a beating during the disaster that happened here, but it was mostly running smoothly; automated cranes and conveyor belts whizzing around the main factory floor, sending sweets and baked goods in, out and around.

The boy grabbed a scone from one of the conveyor belts as it whizzed by and started munching on it.

[Miranda Weaver]

"Minor inconvenience? You call what happened to you a minor inconvenience?" Seeming more or less satisfied that the factory was in some sort of order, she returned to the town, looking out towards where the wood should be.

[Null]

"I'm here, aren't I? You remember what I was like when the Morrigan finally pulled me out of Melpomene's grasp; after months of being tortured and degraded and used.

She was an...expert. She knew what to remove, where to create wounds, when to let things rest so they would heal more so they would hurt more... she's a sadist. It took months for me to be anything close to right, and I never did stop going to therapy.

This time, here I am, doing just fine. And it didn't take a pagan goddess bringing down the full extent of her terrible glory on someone to do it. Just a little good old fashioned Will-power."

The wood was just scorched to the ground, gone. There had been animals here for hunting, groves for romping, fruit for eating. There had been life and motion -- and it wasn't here.

Presumably, if Will had been cleaved in twain, the wood had been on the OTHER side of the cut.

[Miranda Weaver]

"You are not 'doing fine'. An Institute-level telepath could see that." She rubs the bridge of her nose. "I need to think about this," she comments as she begins to withdraw them from Will's mind.

[Null]

The two emerged back in the room, where Will had been patiently waiting, kicking his feet back and forth as he sat on his chair.

"Gnnnna. Astral shenanigans always give me such a headache," the boy complained.

[Miranda Weaver]

Since there's no wing-accommodating chairs handy, Miranda turns a chair around and sits in in backwards. "Metaphor is not for everyone, I suppose," she comments, taking the staff-cylinder off her belt and rolling it idly in her fingers as she thinks.

[Null]

Seeing Miranda's chair situation, Will quickly shifted into a chair like the ones Nailah had had specially built for their home; with open backs so winged visitors wouldn't feel quite so awkward.

The boy rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall.

"Eager to please, or just eager to have your ass in his face? Only his doctor knows for sure."

[Miranda Weaver]

"That's not funny," she says, doing that 'looking at you without looking' thing she does. "Uncle Will, I'm okay, really. Why don't you go find Robin? Spend some time with her."

[Null]

"It's a little funny," the boy protested.

[Will Stanton]

"If you don't need me, I'll go see who's around," Will said, shifting back and smiling.

He walked over and gave Miranda a quick kiss on the forehead first. "Good to have you here, Miranda. Love you."

And out he went.

[Miranda Weaver]

After Will leaves, her jaw tenses and she begins playing with the switch on her staff, extending both ends, retracting, extending one end, then the other end, then retracting. The sequence continues to repeat like a mantra and the set of her jaw gets tighter. The Boy had seen this before. This meant she was riding deep into her precognition.

[Null]

The boy frowned, and got down on one knee in front of Miranda.

"Hey, Miri, it's OK. Deep breaths and join us in the present. Things'll be fine, yeah? You'll be laughing about this with your mom and mum by dinnertime tomorrow."

[Miranda Weaver]

She lets out a long breath, "No... I won't. I need some aspirin or something."

[Null]

"We'll get you sorted. We'll hunt down a first aid kid for you."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam walks in, her eyes still unfocused, navigating by something entirely else.

It takes a moment before she seems to notice Miranda and The Boy.

"I'm sorry. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She asks wearily.

[Null]

"Just some family business.

I don't suppose you have an aspirin on you?"

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda seems to bristle a little bit at Sam's presence, but just rests her head on her arms.

[Samantha McManus]

"I can ah... go find some if that's better?"

[Null]

"Nah, it looks like you've been run through the wringer yourself. I'll track some down," the boy said, standing up and heading out. "Back in a few minutes."