trans_9 | Simple Things

Billy nodded. "It's affected me too, but it's holding off for now." Please don't let that have jinxed anything, he thought silently.

Even more silently, if that was even possible, he begged for forgiveness. I'm sorry! I promise you that it won't happen again, it was incredibly rude of me to think of her that way---

And the apology went at high speed, on and on and on. All that showed of it on his face was a hopelessly pathetic deer-in-headlights look. "That would be wonderful," he started to say, but the rest came out as foreboding gibberish.

You know what this means by now, right?

He's transformed into a lightning bolt, zapping all over the facility with electrifying results for about a minute. On the last bounce, the lightning transformed back into Billy and left him in a shuddering heap lying face-down on the deck, thoroughly shocked and miserable.

"...not so---soon enough," the heap mumbled.

Katara shook her head. I said it was all right. Teenagers do this all the time. Granted, we don't usually know about it, but it happens. Just...don't let it be there all the time, ok?

"Yeah, I know," Katara said, shaking her head. Unfortunately, that was when she heard the gibberish coming from Billy. "Oh, Billy, watch..."

BLAST.

And now her head was smoking and standing on ed, her clothes charred, her teeth clenched.

"Oh yeah, I wasn't the only one with the random magic."

OW.

Ronnae was almost done with the drying when she suddenly felt electricity run over her body. She let out a loud yelp in surprise. "Ah! What the?!" She looked over Katara confused then back. Where had B- She looked around quickly and noticed he was a shuddering heap a few feet away. She quickly got to her feet and hurried to his side, wrapping an arm around him to help him up a little, checking on him. "You alright?!" She asked, her face full of concern.

"Unfortunately not," Billy sighed when he could get up, waiting for the last of the electricity effect to fade. When it did, he sat upright with Ronnie's help and leaned on her.

"It was...shocking," he commented, still feeling out the new pains on his nerves and the scorching he was sure he had suffered. "But I lived, and I'm grateful for that much."

Katara sighed, smoothing her hair down, hoping the sting would subside. She walked over to Billy, her right leg twitching a little. "Billy?"

She was glad to see that he was ok though. "Oh good! I'm glad: is this the kind of power that you got Billy? I'm sorry. But at least we're all ok, right?"

She looked at Ronnae. "You were pretty resistant to that! Do you have some abilities Billy and I don't know about?"

Ronnae gave him a once over more, she instinctively moved some hair from his forehead and kissed it lightly, then each of his cheeks and nose. When she was about to kiss his lips she stopped and looked away quickly, embarrassed she rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward giggle. "Mama used to do that when me or my siblings got hurt... even when we got older..." She smiled warmly. "Anyone who told her we weren't her little cubs anymore sure got a beatdown... dad knew."

She turned her attention to Katara and shrugged. "Didn't really hurt I guess. I mean I suppose it has to do with my training, specially when I was specializing in the protection program. We would get barraged with both weapons of all kinds and any manner of spells at the platoons disposal... We even got dipped in magma to train us to fight dragons." She looked completely sincere as if this was normal training in other worlds.

"Ronnie?" Billy wondered why she was so close and instinctively closed his eyes---he was fine, wasn't he? That shouldn't need medical attention, but she did see fit to give him attention of a different kind. After a brain cell shortage caused by the surge of warmth he felt, he realized that Ronnie was pressing comforting kisses to his face. By the time he looked again, she was pulling away from his lips and laughing.

Oh, his skin was still hot and tingling all over, but it wasn't from the electricity that time.

When Billy's mind came back into focus, he reached for Ronnae's hand and squeezed it quietly in thanks and comfort. "You're even more powerful than I thought. I don't think I'd be able to withstand that, even morphed..." he trailed off, feeling a mix of admiration and worry. But he had to ask:

"You had more protection from those dangers than a human does, didn't you?"

She smiled at his hand holding hers and blushed at his compliment.

She then looked thoughtful, thinking back to their training. "I suppose, it depended on how harsh the general doing the drills was at the moment. We would either train in our full battle armor, which was generally enchanted. Or we would train in our sweats. Generals would claim it built character, but a lot got injured bad at times..." She frowned before looking curious for a moment. "Now that I think about it, I never got seriously hurt, even doing the same exercises the rest of the platoon did. Oh and mama said I was blessed with great healing, whatever that meant." In fact any singes that she might have suffered from earlier seem to have completely cleared.

Billy looked thoughtful. "Is it an enhanced healing factor? Some of our crew members have that---it usually means that their sense of pain is dulled in certain situations and that their cells regenerate faster than a normal person's when damaged. I have a variant of the ability, but it's most effective when my powers are active."

But he was rambling about the wrong thing! What was important was that everyone was okay. "I'm glad you're both all right," he managed to say slowly. "I apologize for the shock."

Ronnae shrugged with a shy smile. " I guess it never got explained to me. Then again I didn't really care, meant I could do my best on the battlefield longer." She laughed.

She nodded and squeezed his hand affectionately at his concern. "I'm good, and it's alright, it was out of your control." She looked to Katara, "What about you Katara?" She asked concerned.

Katara laughed. "I can't believe you guys actually were wondering how I was doing!" It was a good natured jab, because she was actually very pleased with the way things were going. She could have hugged the both of the,.

She shook her head. "Well, I can heal, actually, so its not really that big of a deal for me, but I'm actually really envious of what you can do. It's pretty amazing!"

Billy blushed slightly at that, leaning a little closer to Ronnie. It was true, they had been so tangled up in each other! "I'd never forget you, Katara," he promised, locking eyes with his Bonded. How could he forget? It was her fault that they were together like this.

He grumbled lightly, pulling his knees up to his chest. "It is. I hope you don't mind being the powerful force in the relationship, because I couldn't keep up."

...wait, did he say relationship? As in...oh, wonderful. It could mean best-friendship, couldn't it?

Ronnae was already blushing due to the compliments Katara had said, and she was very happy she was smiling and in good health.

Until, Billy spouted said words. Her eyes widened slightly and her face flushed, she averted her gaze shyly trying not to make eye contact. Did he just say that? Now did he mean it? Did she feel it was that way too?

She went to fidget with her fingers but noticed he still held one of her hands on his. Instead she bit her lower lip trying to steady her nerves. C'mon Ronnae you can face legions of demonic hordes and demigods but you can't do this kind of stuff?

She resolved to try and ease the situation by trying to make a joke... trying. ". . . . ." In the end all that came out was an awkward light laugh.

Katara chuckled. "Well, its all right. I know I'm no match for you guys. But these sorts of things happen from time to time, its pretty obvious that something like this would go, Bonded or not."

She walked over, and put her hands lightly over the two of theirs. "You guys are really good together, I think. But you can take as long as you want to figure that out. After all, you're both pretty hopeless with this stuff.

"Now! Who wants lunch?"

"I...uh..."

Of course, after the original statement, Billy had frozen in shock. That he'd slip up like that---way to lay your heart on the table, Cranston, he thought. Just when he almost felt he was going to explode from tension, Katara had to go and say that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, he shot along the Bond, but there was a note of gratitude for the distraction in it too. She always knew what to do.

"I think we've earned a lunch," he laughed, "what about you?"

Ronnae looked very relieved at the intervention and nodded hastily. "L-lunch sounds great!" She reluctantly moved her hand from his and placed it at her chest. She could feel her heart racing, she assumed it was due to her nervousness. "I ah... I'll go get my things and change!" She said with a hurry, getting up and grabbing her belongings, tossing an affectionate glance at Billy as she hurried by to the lockers.

Really. Changing was going to make everything better? Honestly, she could be naive and they were absolutely killing her.

Still, the progress was good. "We have a few sandwiches and I'm pretty sure I can see what else we could make for you guys. Ronnae, follow me, I'll make sure that you have a fresh pair of clothes, ok?"

Though with that combination...darn it, Katara couldn't help but be a little jealous.

Billy watched her go with a small smile on his face. "I'll catch up with you in the lobby, all right?"

He turned toward the mens' locker room, grateful to be having a moment to himself. As he worked the poolwater out of his hair and pulled on his clothes, he couldn't help but replay the whole disaster in his head.

Katara had laid it out in the open. They liked each other, and starting a relationship would be logical, wouldn't it? It would be wonderful to kiss her, wouldn't it? These feelings were strange and wonderful and he couldn't do a thing to stop them, so why was it so painful?

He might figure it out later. Sighing to himself, he finished dressing and headed out to the lobby.

Ronnae was staring at the locker that held her things. It seemed she was deep in thought. She had no idea how to proceed, I mean she did, it was no secret her siblings enjoyed gossiping about the who's and what's of the dating world within the family. But none of them was like her... They where all strong, determined and proud... They would have known exactly what to do, how to do it and when... Her? She might as well have been asked how to turn a murlok into a gorlok and back again... She sighed opening the locket as footsteps approached in her direction.

And Katara was there, putting a hand to her shoulder. "Look, I have an idea its awkward for the both of you, ok? Billy has never been with anyone, and those jerks at your world might have said a lot of things to make you second guess yourself. But this is natural, and you guys are getting along pretty well. Seriously, I'm really, really happy you came."

And she smiled genuinely. "Now come on! Let's get dressed and unwind! I have a feeling it'll be a good day for both of us, despite the spell mishaps!"

Ronnae smiled appreciatively with a warm laugh. "Thanks Katara... I'm really glad I came." She pulled out her bag and rummaged through it pulling out her usual clothes, along with her rolled up bindings.

She placed her swords on a bench and proceeded to strip, it seems her girl time with Katara had made her comfortable around her. She pulled up her undergarments and longshorts before turning to face Katara, a small blush on her face. "H-hey Katara... could you help me with this? I usually do it myself, but it's a pain." She extended her bindings to Katara, a shy look on her blushy face.

"I'm glad you did too," Katara said, grinning as she started to dry out her white underclothes and put on some nice blue ones. "I don't know why, but I never figured that you and Billy were connected for some reason."

She nodded, and started to make sure that the bindings fit well enough on Ronnae. "You know, I don't know at all what you've been through, and I know its sort of presumptuous of me to decide anything. I just wanted you to know that of all the people on the ship, Billy would understand. He's one of the best people I know, and I don't say that casually. He'll give you the shirt off his back if he could."

She smiled. "In any case, I'm really glad you're here. Let's go get some lunch!"

Ronnae looked thoughtful. Connected? What did she mean? She would think on it later. She smiled one her chest was well bound and gave Katara a thankful bow. She grabbed her shirt and trademark red hoodie, slipping it over her head. It took a bit to get her hair brushed and up in her signature long ponytails, but it kept her at ease. Once done she gave Katara a quick hug. "Th-thanks again, for everything. I'm really glad we met Katara. You. You can always count on me as a friend." She smiled shyly, putting on her belt and swords she gave a thumbs up. "Ready for some grub!" She seemed happy.

Billy, by that point, had started to pace anxiously around the lobby. He was even practicing a few of his combat moves to get the excess energy out---kick, strike, stretch---not as refined the smooth, elaborate katas Jason and Tommy had done, but he was finally getting the moves down.

Once he registered that he was no longer alone, he spun on his heel and smiled awkwardly at them. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd make it back. So are you ready for lunch?"

An extra wide smile was reserved for Ronnie. She always looked great.

Oh yes they were. Billy had even managed to make himself look more awesome by doing those martial arts moves: obviously, he knew a little more about presenting himself than Katara had given him credit for.

"Yeah, we are!" Katara said brightly, giving Ronnae a nudge. "A few sandwiches and a snack will be nice, won't it?"

She didn't miss the smile toward Ronnae. YES.

Simple Things

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