Messengers

SaffronGrey - The Transformer

The warm aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The cute clink of a ceramic mug on the counter. The wordless hum of the television through the wall.

Azalea woke up quite comfortably and, while always wary, was still pleased by the nice start of her day.

She found Cayce on Pyro's couch, the mug of hot coffee in his hand. He didn't look up at her, but raised his mug in salute. "Morning. Fresh coffee over there." He nodded toward the kitchen.

Az crossed the room. "Where's Pyro?"

"Grocery shopping," the anarchist replied, "although, I don't see how. He doesn't have a real job."

"Did you?" asked Az, helping herself to the coffee.

"Have a job? Nothing special, but at least I could be myself and get paid for it."

Az paused in her coffee-making, unsure of what to think about the 'be myself' comment Cayce had made. Quite the corny concept, but Az had never really thought much about it until that moment.

The idol shook the nonsense out of her head and took her cup of coffee to join Cayce on the couch. He was watching with rapt attention as Broken Hill appeared on the forecast map of the county. While not far from their Verde Valley location, it appeared so on the map. Cayce still thought about home.

"That tough exterior won't do you any good in the long-run."

Az was a bit startled by the sudden words, and then a little wary once she understood. "What?"

Cayce never looked her way, flipping through channels. "For someone always on the move, I bet you've never stayed still for so long, and with a set group of people you like, no less."

"What are you getting at?" Az couldn't ignore the fact that she was very alone with Cayce.

"Someday... you're going to meet someone who you're going to let inside, and once you realize what you've done, it'll be difficult to run away."

It was stuff like this, stuff about feelings, that Az seemed to avoid like the Plague. But Cayce usually said what he meant for a reason, or else he wouldn't say anything. Az was forever morbidly curious.

"Unless...,"Cayce went on, "you've already met him."

Az jumped to her feet, hot coffee spilling over her hand but she didn't care. If this was a game Cayce was playing because he was in a bad mood (usually involving Pyro) Az decided she didn't want to play. "What in the hell are you doing, Cayce? This s@!& is annoying."

"And yet you didn't stop me. You wanted to know what I was going to say. And you already know why. Want me to say it?"

Az still couldn't understand why she let him continue. Morbid curiosity.

Cayce smiled. "It's not love. That's for children. What you have for me is something different. Less than love, more than friendship." He then turned to the idol slowly, unfamiliar brown eyes meeting hers. "You want the anarchist."

Azalea moved back as Cayce's form began to shift and twist, mostly shrinking, the mohawk growing long and silky and turning a fiery red. She even changed Cayce's clothing into her own, a white top with a blue skirt, knee-high socks and old-looking brown shoes: a creepy school-girl. She smiled up at Azalea.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?"

Redheaded School-Girl rolled her eyes. "This an apartment, not the White House... although, I find it easy getting in there too.... Your boyfriends were out on boring errands, so I figured now would be a good time to deliver a message. I made the coffee and waited, so... you're welcome."

"They aren't my boyfriends." Maybe it was still early, but Az was disappointed she hadn't thought of a witty response. She was usually good at that.

School-Girl smiled. "The situation's easy to read. One of them was, and the other you want to be. Cayce is a very special boy. I can see why you would like him. As far as I know, you've spent about a mental-year with him. That's a very long time to fall."

So this girl knew the messenger who'd Groundhogged Az and Cayce. "Who are you?" Az asked again. School-Girl was making her uneasy.

She got to her feet, keeping obvious distance. "The name's Lana Marks. I'm a messenger, and here's my message: Still pieces are boring. Move around the board, please." She smiled and headed toward the door. "You can ask Cayce more about me. We go way back."

With that, the transforming idol left the apartment.