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"Alright, I need you to relax your arm, okay?"
Kluke held Bianca's hand gently in her own, watching her skin ripple into golden scales.
"Easier said than done." She grumbled, eyeing up the syringe Kluke held in her other hand.
"Bianca," Kluke dropped her hand with a sigh, "I will reiterate again that this is a booster vaccine so you don't get sick from modern viruses."
Bianca let a low growl rumble from between her teeth, golden tail snapping to and fro across the desk.
"CAREFUL!" Jiro leapt from his seat to snatch up phials and papers that scattered to the ground.
"Sorry, sorry!" Kluke knelt to help, shuffling under the table to scoop out the last of the documents.
Jiro had generously allowed Kluke access to his lab to give Bianca a checkup so she could explain exactly what this mysterious vaccine was as well as have someone decently versed in the Ancient language around.
Bianca was a fast learner, but some gaps still remained.
"Okay, okay, I'll try!" Bianca's nostrils flared as she stretched out her arm, willing her scales to vanish. Kluke adjusted her ribbon as she picked up the syringe. Her touch was gentle as she took Bianca's hand and carefully applied a pad of anaesthetic to her upper arm.
"Okay," she murmured softly, "this is a vaccine that consists of small fragments of common illnesses people on the surface can suffer from. By using a trace amount-"
Bianca tensed as the needle pierced the skin of her arm, Kluke's soothing voice easing her along on an irresistible wave of calm,
"-of an illness, you can make your body create antigens to combat it in the future. Now you may feel a bit unwell for a day or two after this, but that's normal. There! All done."
Bianca grumbled again, but her body language was far less tense.
Over at a microscope, Jiro couldn't help but listen to Kluke's gentle voice; with such calm composure it was no surprise she became a doctor. He'd be lying if her tone didn't stir feelings deep inside of him, a memory of a time back in their past, but he knew he didn't truly feel that way any more, and neither did Kluke.
A bell cut through the quiet, Bianca jumping as Kluke accidentally stuck a plaster to her shoulder.
"Just me." Jiro wheeled his chair over to a monitor beside the door, flicking a switch to bring up a hazy display.
"Hey, Mr Minotaur!"
Jiro's face flashed red with heat, rising from his chair and hurrying to release the locks whilst trying to shield his face from the others.
"Mr Minotaur?" Kluke flashed him a smirk as she sheathed her tools. He decided not to humour her and make everything worse.
No sooner had he opened it up, Devan slipped in and swept Jiro into his arms, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"Devan..!" Jiro extracted himself from his grasp, voice strained to really hammer the point home, "I'd like to introduce you to my old friend, Kluke and... my new friend, Bianca."
Devan instantly let go, nervous laughter bubbling in his throat,
"Ahaaa, hi! Nice to finally put a face to a name! Jiro talks a lot about you, Kluke!"
He offered a hand to her, slender yet calloused, and Kluke took it with a firm shake and a smile,
"It is a pleasure, Mr Blademaster."
"Ah, you heard that?" He laughed, "Sorry, sorry. What can I say? He drives me wild!"
Jiro somehow turned an even darker shade of red, Kluke resting her chin upon the heel of her hand,
"Oh, so you're an item? And when were you gonna tell me about this, Jiro?"
Jiro mumbled something vague, massaging his brow as he willed the ground to eat him up. Devan offered Bianca a hand with a bright smile, "Captain of the Blademasters, at your service."
"I am Bianca, and thank you but I don't need your services." Bianca gave his hand a firm shake, sharp teeth glinting with her smile.
"She's quite literal." Kluke regarded Devan's incredulous look; it took a little while to understand that Bianca was just a very blunt person with no rude intentions.
Usually.
"Ohh, the dragon?" He nodded, "yeah Jiro told me. Nice to finally meet you, Miss Dragon!"
Bianca looked at him, before bursting into barking laughter,
"HA! I like you."
"Devan? Oh, hi, Jiro! Didn't expect to find you here!!" Shu appeared around the door, Jiro letting out an audible growl as he massaged his forehead,
"It's MY lab!!!"
Shu ignored him, a habit that spanned years, and slipped in to Devan's side, "So you're going out again on an expedition soon? Can I come?"
"If you're not busy, I'd be happy to welcome a magic user along." Devan clapped a hand to his shoulder with a grin as bright as Shu's.
"Jiro's dating him." Kluke flashed Shu a sly smile, Jiro almost having an aneurysm over being the centre of gossip in the middle of his own laboratory.
"Huh? Neat! Glad you finally popped the question!"
"THATS NOT-! That's not what that means, now can everyone who's not supposed to be here LEAVE??"
Kluke hid her smirk behind her delicate fingertips, "Well my checkup is all clear! Let me know how you feel after a few days, Bianca."
Bianca hopped down from the desk, flashing her a thumbs up.
"So, you're actually a dragon?" Devan couldn't conceal his curiosity.
"Half dragon," Bianca shrugged, "I was made from human and dragon DNA, in a lab."
"A human?? Grown in a lab??" He looked baffled, but with a sparkle of curiosity glinting in his eyes, "That's incredible."
"And now if you'll excuse us," Kluke took her arm, "we've got an appointment with the tailors."
Bianca blinked at her, before nodding, "Yeah, we've gotta go. See ya!"
They swept from the lab, leaving the faint sounds of aggravation, retorts, and bright laughter behind.
"When was this arranged?" Bianca murmured as they made their way up the stone steps from the refurbished dungeon,
"Since we were stuck in a room full of testosterone and awkwardness." Kluke smirked, giving her arm a pat, "I think we need some girl time."
Bianca looked at her out of the corner of her eye; her bright smile, her soft gaze that hid a sharp mind.
"Every girl needs a good wardrobe." She beamed, giving Bianca's arm a gentle squeeze.
"I'd like that." She returned her smile, a fluttering warmth filling her chest as they headed out into the sunlight.
~
"I think... the gold one."
They stood in the changing rooms of Juberry Tailors, a small shop in an alley just to the side of the high street stretching through the heart of Jibral castle town. It was unassuming but the lack of common footfall made it a quality, not to mention quiet, place to visit for a casual browse. Though Kluke mended a lot of her own clothes, sometimes the odd luxury of paying someone else to do it was a well earned treat, so the rosy woman behind the counter knew her all too well.
Bianca had cast a deep bow in greeting, the owner warmed by her eccentric politeness and ushering them back of house to try some of her tester garments. Initially hesitant, Bianca soon got into the swing of showing off a variety of clothes, from comfy leggings to a dress blessed with a bounty of ruffles. Even if it looked ghastly, she seemed delighted to experience them all. Zola had been kind enough to lend her some of her spare clothes, despite how roomy they were to her.
"So did you not have many clothes in the Core?" Kluke leant on her hand as Bianca rustled behind the partition curtain.
"No, it was all practical stuff that wouldn't rip when we transformed." She called out, "I've never had stuff like this before."
It warmed Kluke's heart, being able to grant her this experience. She sat back, watching Bianca come out in a long dark coat.
"You look like Devan." She laughed, Bianca leaping into a pose and fencing the air with an imaginary sword, earning her a bright laugh.
"What's your deal with Jiro by the way," she grinned, "I can tell, there's history."
Kluke gave a sigh, leaning against the arm of the chair. It wasn't an exhausted sigh, but it was lengthy; rippling the surface and diving down deep into the depths.
"It was a few years ago when we all gained our Shadows, and we set out to return home, and then eventually save the world. Things... happened during this, that made Jiro feel especially protective of me. If anything, it could have exacerbated the feelings he already had."
Bianca swept back behind the curtain, face reappearing to urge her to continue in her fabric-thin absence.
"It was... sweet," she smiled, "I'd lost my parents so soon before and, what with the Land Shark affecting the whole town, I really didn't have many folk who I felt I could rely on."
"Land Shark?" Bianca was back again, a pensive scowl painting her brow with her usual disproportionate intensity.
"It's..." Kluke mimed fins with her hands, "this huge metal shark that can transform and move through the air and ground, it had serrated teeth and... lasers..."
"Ohh... I think those are Megalonimbus? I think??"
"How do you know all this stuff?" Kluke watched her sweep out in bootcut trousers, her back open in a halterneck top.
"Proximity." She twirled to the mirror, "even though I wasn't allowed to leave the Cube, we had all sorts of machine production and management going on. Plus Flos... one of my dragon friends, was really interested in them."
Kluke saw the pang of sadness flash across Bianca's face, a sharp clap of her hands breaking the spell,
"Did I ever tell you about how both of them tried to make me date them?"
"Both? As in Jiro and Shu?" Bianca gasped softly, the irresistible lure of gossip drawing her in like a fish on a line and away from the murky waters of her past.
"Oh yes, my birthday a few years ago. Shu gave me this beautiful lily and Jiro gave me a shiny rock."
"Ooooooh." Bianca breathed, eyes and dragon half twinkling at the idea of a nice shiny rock.
"Then they got so blustery over getting me to choose who I liked better. They're SUCH children!!"
"So who did you pick?" Bianca swept back into the booth.
"Neither," she chuckled, "I asked if they'd wait until my next birthday, and by then they'd forgotten."
"So how DID you feel? Getting asked that?" She reemerged in a purple summer dress, cooing in delight as her tail snaked out to accompany the twirling folds.
"Well..." she hesitated; no one had actually asked her how she had felt about it all. The sudden leap from friendship to the pressures of attempted romance. She felt scrutinised, with no answer that wouldn't completely mess everything up,
"It was weird. Suddenly my two friends I'd known since we were little were looking at me differently. I wasn't a friend any more... it felt like they were seeing me as a woman, and I sure as hell didn't feel like a woman."
"That sounds a bit gross." Bianca wrinkled her nose.
"No, no, not in that way," Kluke shook her head, readjusting in her seat, "we were all dumb kids from a tiny town in the sticks; none of us really knew what was happening and what would happen. Everyone does stupid, awkward stuff at that age."
"Have you ever felt that way about them? Romantically, I mean?" Bianca stopped twirling to face her directly, gimlet eyes staring at her.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again,
"I don't think I've ever felt things for a guy before, not truly. Like... sometimes it felt like I did but it's so hard to say what's real and what's because... it was expected of me. I'd think of kissing a random man and it... blegh."
She gave a shudder of revulsion, "I can't. It doesn't help that I was trying to keep up with the others; trying to view them as men and not as the two dumb boys from my childhood who would mess around in sand and make forts out of wood."
Bianca nodded, turning back to the changing room again,
"That sounds crap. Sorry, Kluke. It must be so exhausting having to grow up so fast to keep up with others. I... can relate."
She didn't want to pry, but Bianca's history was a tantalising doorway usually locked so tightly.
It felt nice just chatting as girls, doing fun girly stuff without any pressure of appointments and deadlines and obligations.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she finally decided, "it sounds so hard; you're in a completely new time as well. I... can relate to how you feel, about losing your family. I lost mine too, I had to suddenly grow up. I didn't want the village to pity me, as the poor little orphan girl who needs protecting, so I had to stand on my own two feet pretty quickly. Even after gaining a Shadow, summoning Phoe for the first time, I was still viewed as helpless. Fuck!"
She jolted to her feet, the chair scraping back against the wooden floor,
"Even Nene saw me as helpless! He used me as a stupid pawn because both him AND my own friends singled me out as the weak one.I can heal with and without magic! I can summon FIRE for fucks sake!!!"
The curtains swept back, Bianca wearing a pink halter top and black shorts, and she swept Kluke up into her arms as she bent and warped to her draconic form.
She was so warm, and every fibre of her body ached with 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry you went through that.', a feeling of such unrelenting tenderness that both shattered into heavy tears.
Bianca's horns scraped the ceiling as she bowed over Kluke, holding her close to her body.
"If it makes you feel better," Bianca's voice was a deep, heavy rumble in her dragon form, a lush baritone from deep in her chest, "I'm humbled by your magical capabilities, as well as your practical."
"Really?" She sniffed, looking up at the end of Bianca's golden snout.
She nodded, "Yeah, you managed to almost completely drain my magic under a huge amount of stress. Not to mention you were brave enough to reach out to me first."
"Well..." she wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "you were scared, and I knew how it felt."
"I don't think you're weak, and I'm sure your friends don't either," she rested her chin atop Kluke's head, "but I'm glad you told me this."
"You're welcome," Kluke let out a soft laugh, "now let's get back to your clothes, yeah?"
Bianca nodded, letting Kluke down to slowly retract to her human form.
"It's beautiful by the way," Kluke smiled as she sat back down, "your dragon form."
Bianca blinked at her, violet eyes shimmering like amethyst that crackled with euphoria,
"No... human has ever told me that before..."
"Well let me be the first." She smiled, "now come on, I think this outfit needs a bit more something, you know?"
She ushered Bianca into the changing room, holding up a length of blue fabric,
"What about a half skirt? Just a bit of drama, you know? And maybe a corset thing?"
Bianca felt her face warm; heated by the undiscovered pleasantries of just gushing over impractical things, the beauty of accessorising over the pressures of maximum practicality.
For a split second, she felt Nivis tucking the fabric into her waistband, then she caught Kluke's smiling face in the mirror,
"See? It's practical but has a bit of extra something to give it shape!"
"Yeah..." she smiled softly, "I like it. Thanks."
"It's on me." She flashed her a bright smile, "It makes a world of difference when you look good. It makes you feel good too."
"Yeah." Bianca rubbed the fabric between her fingers.
That dull ache in her chest seemed to grow just a little bit lighter.