Astrum Venatus - Tara audition

*Back, Forward, Square*</i>

1:13pm. It was the third time Tara had checked her watch in the last few minutes – as though looking at it would make the next 3 hours & 17 minutes go quicker.

It was the day of the Astrum Venatus Mini Competition, and Tara O'Dell – Betsy's Burgers Employee of the Year – was stuck behind the counter, waiting for customers. Granted, she was working at the B.B store at the stadium where the action was happening...but she wanted to be out there watching matches, not inside watching everyone else out there through the windows!

*Back, Forward, Circle*</i>

"This is bizarre..." commented Aiden, 'cook du jour' (basically, he was in charge of the grill for the day), as he walked toward the counter from the kitchen.

Tara pressed the pause button on her game & looked up at him, not impressed that he'd disturbed her mid-way through a difficult combo.

"Who'd have thought a busy day like today would be the slowest day for business? I mean..." Aiden took a breath, "Why wouldn't spectators hungry for violence be hungry for burgers?"

Tara rolled her eyes at her workmate. *Trust a drama major to overdramatise things like that!*</i>

"Hey," she finally spoke, "I'm not complaining! I'm getting paid to play Mortal Kombat!"

Aiden gave her an awkward look. "Uh, Mortal...what? And what the hell is that?!?" He was pointing to the console in her hands.

"Uh, it's a PSP...from the 2000's. And Mortal Kombat is a game. I found them at an antique store...they worked, and came with heaps more games...and they were cheap! What can I say? I love all things old school!"

Aiden shook his head. "You're weird!"

It wasn't the first time Tara had heard that. Heck, she'd been called a lot worse.

Un-pausing her game, she called Aiden a jerk under her breath then continued to punch & kick her way against Scorpion.

"Excuse me, am I disturbing you?"

Tara looked up to find a handsome grey young man leaning against the counter, trying to see what she was doing.

"Uh...no...sorry." She turned the console off, a bit embarrassed that she'd been caught not working."What can I get for you?"

"A cheeseburger would be nice...no, make that two," the customer replied.

"Two cheeseburgers. Is that all for today?"

"Uh, yeah. That's it. Thanks."

Waiting for Aiden to make up those burgers seemed to Tara like an eternity – so she had no choice but to make small talk with the grey guy.

"So....are you enjoying the tournament?"

Finally taking his eyes off Tara's PSP, he looked up, reluctantly replying, "I can take it or leave it. You?"

He didn't look like he was enjoying it too much at all – but who was Tara to judge?

"Haven't seen any of it yet! I've been stuck here all day...well, technically only 4 hours...but it sure feels like it!"

The thin grey man briefly smiled, and looked directly at Tara. She had never seen eyes like his before – purple & bright, yet so expressive.

"Will you get time to watch any matches?"

"Hope so – I wanna catch Kai'orema's fight!"

"The Neahro? He already fought."

"Damn!" This was the only match Tara had actually planned on seeing, as it was scheduled after 5pm – but she guessed it had been brought forward. "How did he go?"

"He beat Joey Taylor – rather quickly, actually."

"Excellent!"

"You like him?"

"He's my cousin...on my mom's side...I gotta cheer for family, right?"

"I guess so." As he said this, the young man's face saddened a bit. Maybe family wasn't a good topic to talk about. Tara needed to change the subject...and fast! The awkwardness was growing...

"Aiden," she shouted behind her, "where are those burger?"

"Coming...leave me alone!"

"Professional," the grey guy mumbled, loud enough for Tara to hear. She chuckled for a moment.

"So, you're Neahro?" Once again, he looked at Tara, curiously.

"Half. My mum is...dad's Irish. Where are you from?"

Puzzled by why this girl wanted to know about him, he once again reluctantly replied, "Uh...Hertanel."

"Oh wow! You're a Myteril? I've heard so much about your planet, but I've never been!" The truth was, Tara hadn't been anywhere other than Earth & Neahronta, which was when she was 7.

"Oh, I'm Tara, by the way..." Another awkward silence followed. The Myteril didn't seem like he wanted to continue the introductions, so Tara went on, "...and you are...?"

"Uh...Nevermind..."

"See, that wasn't so hard...Nevermind</i>...was it?"

He didn't answer. Instead, Nevermind looked at Tara's PSP, having never seen this kind of technology before.

Tara knew that this silence meant she had to once again move onto another topic of conversation...so, she inquired about the status of the burgers.

"Almost ready!! Geez..." Aiden was usual slow, but this beat his record!

"I'm so sorry about this, Nevermind. I'm sure it won't be too much longer...just between you & me, I think Aiden's angry that he has to be at the grill today. I'm sure he'd do anything to make this day a living hell for me...especially because he knows I don't wanna be here..."

Nevermind looked at her again, but this time he was smiling. "You don't want to work?"

"Nope...I've had enough!"

The Myteril's smile broadened a little, and he was about to answer Tara when Aiden emerged from the kitchen.

"Two cheeseburgers for you, sir," he said as he called a paper bad across the counter to the customer. "And here is your lunch, your majesty." And he threw another bag at Tara, which she almost failed to catch.

"Real mature, Aiden!" But he hadn't heard her – he'd already made his way back to the grill.

"So, you said you've had enough of work?" Nevermind was still cheekily grinning.

"Uh, yeah, but I've still got a while before I'm done for the day."

"I think I can help you out."

Tara had no time to ask what Nevermind meant, when the lights in the store started flickering, and Aiden started cursing at the machines in the kitchen, most of which were beeping.

"What the hell is going on? I leave you two in charge, and look what happens!" Manny, the store manager shouted as he walked into the store after being on lunch break. "Seriously, what did you..."

All the power turned off. No lights...no radio...no noises coming from the kitchen, except for Aiden's cursing. Manny ran behind the counter and into the kitchen. A light bulb switched on in Tara's head, realising what, or who, had been behind this. She turned to the Myteril, "You weren't kidding when you said you could help me out!"

Nevermind let out a short laugh, "You're welcome." And with that, he walked out of Betsy's Burgers, leaving money on the counter.

--------

"Come on, Jade! Hit him with your stick! Yes...that's it!"

A cold, half-eaten cheeseburger on her lap and the PSP her in hands, Tara sat on a hill outside one of the amphitheatres. A fight was underway, but she couldn't be bothered joining all the screaming fans – right now, she just wanted to relax – and knew the perfect way to do so...

"Stupid girl – HIT HIM!!!" She shouted at the fictional character on her screen, "No....No..."

"What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"

That voice seemed somewhat familiar, but it wasn't until Nevermind sat down beside her that Tara realised who it was. He looked at the games console curiously.

"Are you still beating up that poor guy?"

Tara couldn't help but smile. "Ok, firstly: that's Scorpion – he's a ninja and he's evil...and secondly...yes, I'm still beating him up."

"I don't understand how you could enjoy something so violent!" From the way he had phrased it, Tara could sense that Nevermind did NOT enjoy bloodsports.

"Well, I need something to let out my frustration after working with Aiden!"

"You don't like him, do you?"

"What gave it away?"

They both smiled, and Tara turned off Mortal Kombat, replacing it with Little Big Planet. "Here – something that doesn't involve sending your opponent to hospital," Tara said, handing the PSP to the Myteril, showing him the basics of this new game.
"So, why aren't you at work?" Nevermind knew the answer had to do with him, so he asked it with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Uh, well, the electricity shut down – which I'm sure you know NOTHING about...Manny had no choice but to shut the store and let us go early...of course, Aiden blamed the whole thing on me!"

With that, Nevermind let out a laugh, and taking his concentration off what he was doing, accidentally proceeded to drain the PSP's battery of its energy. The screen went blank – both Nevermind & Tara looked at it, then at each other...and broke out in more laughter.

"Rellyap! Sorry about that!

"That's ok...I've probably been playing with it too much today anyway."

Tara opened up her backpack and threw the dead console in. Nevermind caught a whiff of cheeseburger,  and then noticed the Betsy's Burgers paper bag sitting towards the top, with one burger inside.

"Uh, are you gonna eat that?"

Tara picked up the paper bag and screwed up her face, "No way! It's gone cold..."

"That's no problem," he interrupted, as he took the bag from her hands, and stared intensely at it. Soon, steam seems to be rising from the top of the bag. Nevermind took out the burger – now hot, unwrapped the grease paper and licked his lips, like he hadn't seen food in days.

"Woah!" Tara couldn't believe her eyes, "You're a microwave!"

Nevermind looked at Tara, seemingly shocked, "Hey, there is NOTHING</i> micro about me!"

"Why Never...if I didn't know better, you just tried to tell a dirty joke!"

The cheeky grin returned to Never's face. "I'm glad you noti..."

Nevermind put his hand to his ear. It seemed like he was listening to someone or something. Tara hoped that nobody had been eavesdropping on their conversation, especially because what the Myteril said a few moments before.

"Are you sure? ... I mean, sure. Whatever you say." Never all of a sudden looked sad, or disappointed.

"What's up?" Tara asked him. Nevermind was hesitant in responding. Finally, he summoned up the courage to answer her.

"Uh...you've been invited to participate in the Astrum Venatus...to fight...and all that..."

"But I can't fight! I mean, I did 5 compulsory self-defence classes at NASA for the scientists' kids...but I can't fight...except on that thing!" She pointed to hear PSP, then sighed. "But, I guess they won't let me fight like that, huh?"

The Myteril shook his head. "I'm sorry, Tara. But True wants you to take part..."

"And there's no way I can reject the invitation, can I?"

Never fell silent. He really didn't like violence – in fact, he hated it – and he knew that there was no way Tara was going to get through one fight without being beaten severely...or worse, killed. Although he had only met this half-Neahro a few hours before, Nevermind could tell enough about Tara to know that this would potentially end in tragedy – but there was nothing he could do about it, nor could he give her any indication on how he was feeling.

He stood up, and told Tara to meet at Dock 7 of the stadium complex in 4 hours with whatever belongings she felt necessary to bring. And then he left.

Tara sensed that the Myteril wasn't too happy with 'True', whoever they were, and this decision. To be honest, Tara wasn't too hot on the idea either! But there was no way of saying 'no'.