trans_9 | but everything's just fine

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but everything's just fine

[[This is a continuation of this thread, open to magic bus people and probably anyone who happens to be walking by.]]

Kala watched Mister Barlow's hat bob a bit as he carried her. The bus wasn't that far away now, not really. She could almost feel it pulling at her. In it was a warm, safe bed, a bathroom that was very nice and had pipes, but she was worried. Not for herself, but for Mister Barlow, because it was made up of magic and it would be so bright. She'd been stupid. Stupid for not controlling herself. Stupid for letting herself slip up, for not forcing herself to spar. It hadn't been real fighting anyway. The ship probably would have stopped them. And they hadn't been fighting dead on, it was just a stupid surge. One she'd managed to stop.

Now, here she was, limp as anything and being carried by Mister Barlow all the way home when he was still hurting because she'd gone and-- And tried to just about fry him. It wasn't exactly successful, but at least she managed to heal him a little. Kala blinked and a few tears slipped down her cheeks. It wasn't his fault. Not even a little. But.

She'd...helped.

That was worth something.

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"Oh, ha ha. Ye know what I mean." He snickered before he said what next popped into his head, on principle if nothing else. "I'd love to help ye with yer insides."

Untangling.

Right.

Yes.

Untangling. Insides. That sounded...well. It sounded indecent and terribly amusing all at once. Kala bit her bottom lip to suppress laughter and wound up snorting softly before she went bright pink. She half glanced at him and kept walking.

"Well," she said, attempting to keep a straight face, "they are tangled."

"Exactly." Will wasn't even trying to hide his grin. This was grotesquely amusing to him. All the more so because of how she tried to squirm away from it. It was like back when Trust had joined their team at Helix... she'd become like his little sister, so breaking her out of her shell with horrible comments turned into a hobby.

Better days.

Kala prodded him in the side, shaking her head gently. She wasn't sure whether to be terribly embarrassed, shocked, or...something else entirely. And she refused to even think about anything but walking. Because she was a mage and-- And didn't have time to be thinking of other things.

Yes.

That was it.

No time for...thinking. About insides.

They walked on in silence for a little while, before he couldn't take it any more. He was a bard; silence was the enemy. Silence, just like a closed tab, was meant for fear and resentment. So, he started to hum a tune as they went. If she wanted her silence, that was fine, but that wasn't going to stop his enjoying the moment.

She didn't mind his humming. Not at all. In fact, it put her at ease and some of the tension that had been creeping back into her lessened. It was pleasant and such a good thing. In all honesty, she wasn't much of a fan of silence.

It meant being alone.

As they kept going he started to phase in and out of humming and actually singing under his breath. It was just what he did, always thinking about the next gig. Plus, it kept his mind off of other things like his damn arms. They were starting to itch.

"And I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day
and it's all your state of mind
At the end of the day, you've still got to say,
it's all right."

Despite the part of her that was terrified, she liked it. The singing. So she listened. It was Rising Phoenix that warbled counterpoint, her burbles almost an accompaniment and as much in tune as she could make it. In fact, it was pretty gafting eerie.

"Ah, a music fan. I knew I liked ye." He smiled as he continued humming.

Rising Phoenix said, her voice wobbling. Kala shivered a bit, but snorted, amused at her device's willingness to step outside of Kala's comfort zone as well as the environment she'd been raised in. But maybe, just maybe, there was a part of Kala, too, that wanted the music, the calming lilt of it. Or maybe it was a thing she carried within her that was big enough for Rising Phoenix to snag it and bring it out by herself.

It was a thought.

Will chuckled at her device. "Alright, ye know what? I've had enough from both of ye. Ye call me Will or Blin. Call me 'Mister Barlow' again and we'll be having words. I may be older than ye, but not that much. Besides, I'm pretty sure ye outrank me. Where I come from, even hardened criminals outrank me. Got it?" He grinned and went right back to his humming.

"Will, then," Kala said with a slight nod as Rising Phoenix half burbled up some sort of apology. "It suits you." And it did. It still felt odd, but she'd get used to it. She peered at him through the fall of her hair and decided she liked it. So.

Will.

She could do that.

He smiled. "Well, thank ye kindly. I suppose I've always been lucky to have a name that properly suits me. What about you, lass? Do ye think Kala fit ye? And Rising Phoenix?"

What? It talked, so it was appropriate to address it in conversation. It was the polite thing to do.

"I never thought about it," Kala said thoughtfully. "Da used to tell me I was named after some sorta fabled magic flower. I let people call me what they want, really."

she said, burbling happily, her tone dropping into a tenor at Rising and then back to female for the rest. Kala brushed her fingertips over the pendant and bit her lip. They had a new name because of her. In some respect, she'd chosen the new name herself.

Risingtide and Raging Phoenix.

"Rising Phoenix was once two devices," Kala murmured. "Risingtide belonged to mage Farliana's partner, who was killed shortly after they wound up on Antedis. During one of the first battles, most of Risingtide's programming was damaged, but his offensive programs were still intact. Almost twenty years passed, during that time, Farla...as I knew her...had been teaching me as mucha s she could about magic. Mid-Childa magic. I think her plane was to eventually pass Raging Phoenix onto me so that I could complete her job. But that's not what happened. Not at all. The Lost Logia, which interacted with the crystals native to my planet had implanted crystalline strands in all sorts of creatures, most of them insects, and somehow, they were turning the bugs against us--bugs and other creatures. The one that was stealing life from pregnant mothers was the one that killed Farla. It attacked us...and killed another woman and her child...before Farla used some sort of transportation magic to get us out of the village."

Kala closed her eyes.

"I woke up outside of a cave, too late to do much more than watch Farla die. I tried to heal her. I tried very hard. But she was broken in so many pieces when I found her. Farla begged me to put Raging Phoenix on, to stop the terrible shadow thing from devouring any more life and then she died. Just like that. She died just as I repaired the damage to her body and then...and then I was attacked. I sealed it, trapped it, took the crystal strand from it, and it was gone. It was after that I found Risingtide next to a pile of bones. They swore to protect me, both of them, even when Raging Phoenix was so weak and so damaged that her own offensive spells were all but worthless. But they linked together, for...for me. So I could finish what their mages had started." Kala let out a breath. "They became Rising Phoenix and we did what had to be done."

Rising Phoenix said, sounding absolutely jubliant.

Will absorbed all the information carefully, and then started to sort it out in his head. 'Lost Logia' was obviously some kind of big bad thing that changed creatures with these 'crystal strands'. She and her trainer fought them and lost, trainer died, gave her Phoenix. Later, she found Rising and put them together like a Frankensteinian jigsaw puzzle. The Centaur of devices.

"Uh-huh." It was a lot to take in, but he was a storyteller himself; this was his forte. He addressed the device first. "Well, at least ye are comfortable with yer name and who ye are. You," he said, turning his attention back to Kala, "need to work on that. A name is more than a label; it helps define who ye are. A wise bard on my word once said 'a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet'. It's true, but being a rose is who it is. If ye let yerself be identified by whatever people choose, then who are ye really? Kala is a beautiful name, lass, with a good, strong meaning. It suits ye well. Ye can choose to let it be who ye are or not, but if not, ye need a new nomer."

Apparently, he'd thought about this before.

Rising Phoenix burbled, pleased, and Kala walked in silence for awhile, thinking. Kala was the name her Da and Ma had given her, though her brother called Kali (mostly because it meant 'divine terror' or something) because he could. She wasn't sure there was another name that was her, anyway.

"Kala," she said. "It's the last thing I have left of my family."

"I knew ye'd have a good reason. Kala it is. Ye know, you two make a good pair. A regular Abbott and Costello." He smiled at the mental image of Rising Phoenix yelling 'Hey, Abbott!' at the top of her digital little voice.

Kala arched a brow, amusement flaring for a moment before she tucked it away. She had no idea what the gaft he was talking about, but it must be something funny because he was smiling. And smiling was a good thing.

For both of them.

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but everything's just fine

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