--------- Camera CR-4 Stream=LIVE■ Cayde-6: SHE WHAT? Ikora: Its nothing she could help, The Light fills us all, some are just chosen sooner than others Cyade-6: What am i supposed to do with her?! Im not a -static- Babysitter! Ikora: Come on, like its her fault! You're the Hunter Vanguard, shes a Hunter, shes your responsibility. Cayde-6; SHES TEN YEARS OLD! ___________________ Two Hours Earlier, Earth. He wizzed busily over the ruins of an old settlement, beyond the wall. Before the battle of the Six Fronts this was a small outpost, where refugees from the surrounding countryside were kept. He was pinging, sending out his own light, and feeling for a response. When he felt something ping back, he would scan it. So far, he hadn't found anything promising. Gliding easily amongst the wreckage a ping came back, with a curious resonance. What was this? It came from the ruins of a domicile, faded bits of brightly colored plaster scattered here and there, charred and weathered. It was under a slanted length of sheet rock that he found the strongest ping. His Guardian! He was so excited! He dissipated the slab and beheld a pile of rags and bones. This was it. Sending out a small part of his own light he called to being the particles that would make up his warriors bones, its muscle ad its flesh. He watched as it collected, but surely, something wasn't right. No, let it play all the way out, maybe it was the shadows. But when the assimilation was done it was no illusion. Before him, curled around a musty skeleton, was a girl, maybe not even ten years of age. His optic shuttered twice, but it was no lense smudge, no trick of the light. He watched as she cried out in fear and tossed the skeleton away from her, skittering backwards on her rump and pattering about as if in an instinctual effort to protect herself. She grabbed the weathered femur of a body behind her and swung it, until she spotted him. She stared at him, eyes as wide as dinner plates. She was an Awoken, her skin a bright green like spring leaves and lithe and willow withes. The short hair covering her skull was an outrageously bright shade of blue. She stared at him with luminescent orbs of gold, so like a cats. She trembled at him, and tried to speak. She took a shaky breath and coughed, leaning over and clutching her slender throat. Protectively he hovred closer, but she was up and pointing the bone at him. " Who, where am i?" The Ghost sighed, uh oh. ______________________ She sat at a table in a conference room, sterile, white, smelled like dry things and old food. She was supposed to meet someone named Cayde-6, or thats what Floaty-Ball said. Floaty-Ball seemed to be a bit worried, so she gave him a friendly smile. " Its ok Floaty-Ball, Mr Cayde-6 will fix it, grownups always do." Her smile radiated the child like innocence that belied those of her years. " Im hungry, is there any food?" Her Ghost was about to answer when Ikora Rey entered the room brusquely, followed by a very annoyed Catde-6. " Yes, we are going to feed you here soom sweetheart, but first we need to know a few things." Ikora sat down infront of the small child and offered her a bottle of water, which was quickly opened and gulped from. Cayde-6 sat down and groaned, crossing his arms infront of him. A friendly smile from Ikora, the only other female, was all it took to loosen the little ones lips. " Hi! My names Jadis, i woke up from a bad dream and found Floaty-Ball, he called some nice people and they fought these big things with lotsa arms and and" She began to throw off tiny sparks of electricity, gathering at her hands as she flailed them. " this man gave me this!" She pulled a small, blunt knife out of her lap, the energy running along it and arcing back. Cayde-6 saw and reached for it, but pulled away. Looking to Ikora he shook his head in stubborn refusal. Ikora frowned at him and turned away. Her demeanor changed as she looked upon the child again. " Hi Jadis, my names is Ikora. Im sure your friends treated you nicely, even gave you that toy." Ikora cooed. But Jadis was having none of it. " Its not a toy, its a knife, and knives are dangerous. She said it as a parrot would, as if she had been taught it at a young age. Ikora nodded, she was smarter than she looked. " Well Jadis, do you remember anything about your dream?" Ikora inquired. Cayde-6 made a scoffing noise, as if he doubted it. Jadis furrowed her brows and thought seriously on it, and when she spoke it was softly. " Dark, it was night time, and everyone was running. I dont know why, but we hid instead. I wanted to run but i felt someone pick me up and take me inside. Then it got hot, really really hot. Thats all i remember." She looked up at Ikora who nodded slowly and stood. Cayde-6 got up and left, but before he did he looked back at the child in the chair. Exos were unreadable on a good day, but Ikora could discern nothing from his expression. She walked around the table and patted Jadis' fuzzy head. " We'll send in a robot with some food ok? Wait here." Ikora smiled widely down at her. Jadis nodded, and she left the room. Her ghost followed them out, but Ikora stopped him. " Ghost, this is your Guardian. You need to stay with her." She was stern, and the Ghost floated back, reprimanded. Flying back to hover above the table by Jadis he looked at her. " What is my name?" He asked hopefully. It was a ceremony he had dreamt of for as long as he could remember. Getting a name. Jadis smiled, baring pearlescent green teeth. " You're Floaty-Ball. What are these?" She reached out and much to his surprise plucked one of the four front apexes out of his stasis field and turned it over in her hands. He gave an indignant squeak and dissolved it, assembling it again in its rightful place. Evidently this elicited a game of keeo away, because the next instant she had stolen it again and popped it in her mouth. She smiled devilishly at him, her eyes bright. With a tired sigh he unmade it again, watching as its dissolved particles streamed out of her nostrils. In wonder she opened her mouth and watched it stream away. This tickled her so much that she dissolved into giggles. The Ghost sighed, This was going to be a long day. ======================================= Installation 1 of The Jadis Chronicles