Fray-Adjacent

Ronan looked at Xander. "He says it works for him."

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"You haven't been in Fandom long enough if you think anybody's gonna be surprised by me talking out loud to a ferret in public," Xander tells him with a nod.

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"You make a very fair point," Ronan said. "So, shall I, then?"

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"Go for it. ...This doesn't require nudity or blood-sacrifice, right?"

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"No," Ronan said. "Just words." And he started structuring the spell right there at the open doorway, weaving the words around the three of them as best as he could. He let their names flow through him from the Knowledge without reading them, without knowing them, just letting the syllables fall one-by-one from his lips. He didn't want to know the things he'd learn if he paid attention.

The familiar sensation of the universe leaning in to listen fell around the three as Ronan got closer and closer to the end of the spell.

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Bridge's powers might not work in quite the same way that they do when he's human-shaped, but he can still *feel* the spell as it begins to work.

//Xander?// he tries. //Can you hear me now?//

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Ronan finally reached the end of the spell, and with a quick word sealed the spell. The world returned to normal. "Try it now?" he said. "It should work now."

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Okay, so apparently he'd ~~pinged~~ spoken too soonas Ronan's spell hadn't finished yet. So he tries again.

//Xander? Can you hear me?//

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"Sorry, what?" Xander cups his hand behind his ear. "No reception. Going through a tunnel."

You know how the fingerwiggling is encoded in Bridge's genetic makeup? Guess what's encoded in Xander's.

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Cue the wee ferret flail. //It didn't work!//

Seriously. He never learns.

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Cue big human nose coming in contact with wee ferret nose. "Hi."

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Ronan rolled his eyes, but smiled. "I'll just leave these here, shall I?" He held up the bundle of Bridge's clothes. "The gloves are rolled into the middle, so don't let them drop out when you're unbundling."

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//Thank you!// Bridge says to Ronan. For possibly like, the tenth time that night. //You are so mean,// he informs Xander with a wee ferrety glare.

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"He sounds just like himself!" Xander? Is a dork. </newsflash>

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"Yes, he should. So I'm happy that's working out." He holds the bundle of clothes out again.

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Xander takes them, careful not to fumble the bundle. "Thanks, seriously. Last time... there were a lot of paw-motions and tiny ferret eyerolls."

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Which is not to say that there *won't* be any, this time. But this just means they won't be happening as a result of Xander not being able to *understand* him. //Charades is *hard* with paws.//

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"I can imagine," said Ronan. "So, uh, look me up when you're human again? If you... don't mind talking some more."

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//I will,// Bridge promises. //I hope you figure can figure out how to fix things, but in the meantime, yeah, if you need to talk? I can listen.//

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"Thank you." Ronan smiled. "I've got a good place to start, now, and that's more than I had before."

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Xander filed the conversation away to ask Bridge about later, but didn't push his way into it. "Thanks for getting him back here," he told Ronan instead.

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"It really was no worry at all." Ronan nodded. "It was a pleasure to meet you both," he said.

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//Same here,// Bridge says, and he would've smiled, but ferret-facial-expressions are sort of limited that way. //See you later, then?//

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"Absolutely." Ronan waved to Xander and Bridge as he departed.

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