200X: Melody of the Variable
Chapter 2: Small Talk
This one’s a little weird, because it’s like a filler chapter, but also not. Like nothing too important happens, but also there’s some stuff you need to know. It’s hard to explain please read it.
Also the best way I’ll ever describe anything ever is in it, that’s a bonus.
Somehow, overnight, the name Buzz Buzz stuck to Buzz’s mind like spaghetti on a wall that just got super glue all over it, and then the spaghetti got taped down with Flex Tape. In other words, he woke up, and drowsily greeted himself as Buzz Buzz.
‘Well dang,’ he thought to himself, immediately after catching his mistake, ‘I guess I’m just going by that no matter what now.’
He stretched his arms and legs out with a yawn. The table wasn’t comfiest place to sleep, but at least Tori gave him a blanket. A human-sized one, but that hardly mattered to him. He wriggled his out from under the blanket and gingerly stood himself up on his arms and legs. He stared at his extra arms for a moment before taking note of how his limbs felt. His arms felt fine, just like yesterday. His legs seemed much stronger now that he had gotten some rest. Cautiously, Buzz Buzz lifted one pair of arms off the table, then pushed himself up with the other. He wobbled for a moment, then found his center of gravity. Now on his legs, Buzz Buzz looked around the room briefly.
Tori wasn’t around. He assumed she was alright, and just outside doing something. She was outside when he woke up in his new body yesterday, so why would today be any different?
He didn’t have to wait very long for Tori to enter the room. She was carrying a potted plant in her hands, though the plant inside didn’t look in the best of shapes.
“Oh! You’re up!” Tori said as she set down the potted plant on a dresser top. “Good morning, Buzz Buzz!”
With a small wave, Buzz Buzz replied, “Good morning.”
Tori grabbed a plastic chair from the opposite end of the room and pulled it over to the dresser where she had set the potted plant, then sat down.
She glanced over at Buzz Buzz and asked him, “So how goes it?”
“I just woke up, but I’m feeling fine,” Buzz Buzz told her, rubbing the back of his head with his top-left hand. “I can actually stand up now, which is good news.”
“Very!” Tori agreed with a smile. “Did you have a good sleep?”
“Yes!” Buzz Buzz replied. “You?”
“Yeah, pretty good,” Tori said, returning her attention to the dying potted plant. “I’m trying to find a way to restore life in plants. My last attempts kinda worked - they lived for a short time before dying extra quickly. I’m hoping that this mixture will work better than the last.”
Tori reached into a pocket on her shorts and pulled out a test tube with a cork in it. Inside the test tube was a clear liquid. She pulled the cork out and set it down beside her, then poured the liquid onto the base of the potted plant.
“There,” she said, putting the cork back in the test tube, “now I just need to leave it out in the sun.”
She held the pot with both hands and placed it on a nearby window cill.
She turned to Buzz Buzz, who was watching ever so curiously, and told him, “It’s dangerous to leave the plants outside. You never know what’s gonna try and tear it apart.” She frowned and glared to the side as she added with a mumble, “I learnt that the hard way…”
She lightened up and looked back at Buzz Buzz and suggested, “Maybe you should try flying? Better than having to walk around everywhere.”
Buzz Buzz hadn’t even thought of that. He had seen the wings on his back yesterday, but never actually thought to try flying with them.
“Oh yeah! But one question - how do I do that?”
Tori shrugged.
Buzz Buzz sighed, though there was no annoyance in it. He figured it couldn’t be too much different than using PSI. But with muscles instead.
Buzz Buzz frowned slightly as he focused on his wings. His frown deepened as he tried to lift them up, but nothing was happening.
Tori watched on with a look of concern before telling him, “Maybe you’re trying too hard.”
Buzz Buzz managed to twitch his wings before heaving out a sigh.
“Weeell, it looks like you’re gonna have to work on that,” Tori stated. “But I’m sure you’ll get than hang of it in no time!”
Buzz Buzz smiled.
“I was wondering if I could heal up that plant with my PSI, too…” He pointed up at the potted plant sitting on the window cill.
Tori gave him a curious look.
“My PSI abilities are support based - Lifeup, Healing… Those kinds of things. I’m not sure if it will work, but I want to try cast Healing on that plant…” Buzz Buzz explained.
“You want me to carry you up there?” Tori asked.
“Yes please.”
Tori put a hand to the edge of the table which Buzz Buzz stood on, and Buzz Buzz hopped over and sat in it. Tori lifted her hand up to the window cill, and Buzz Buzz climbed out and onto the cill. He approached the potted plant, which was a lot bigger up close, almost overwhelmingly. He swallowed hard, then focused on flowing PSI energy to his hands. After a quick moment, Buzz Buzz put his hands to the pot. A few moments of complete silence went by.
“...Did you do it?” Tori asked, hushing her voice.
“...Nothing happened,” Buzz Buzz murmured.
“Maybe it just doesn’t work on plants,” Tori suggested.
“That’s very likely,” Buzz Buzz replied, releasing his hands from the pot and turning to face her. He looked down at his hands as he said, “Though I can’t help but wonder if something’s wrong.”
He looked back at Tori and said, “Quick, I need you to injure yourself a little.”
“Wh-What?! Why?”
“Just give yourself a papercut or something! Something that can easily heal! I need to try something!” Buzz Buzz told her, urgency filling his voice.
Glancing around, Tori replied, “Uhhh, okay, weird request but I’ll do it.”
She rummaged around for a spare piece of paper lying around, and soon found an old report on something. She pulled her left glove off and gave herself a cut on her finger with the paper, sharply inhaling as soon as she did. She went back over to the window cill that Buzz Buzz stood on and let him climb onto her gloved hand. She held her hands close and let Buzz Buzz do what he had in mind.
Buzz Buzz focused his PSI energy on his hands, then placed them on Tori’s papercut. They stayed there for a couple of seconds before Buzz Buzz’s face contorted with concern, and released his hands from the papercut.
“I… I was supposed to use Lifeup Alpha on that…” Buzz Buzz murmured, mostly to himself.
“And it didn’t work?” Tori asked.
Buzz Buzz looked back down at his hands and gazed at them for a few moments. His eyes had filled with fear.
“Can I do anything?”
He held his hands out, his eyebrows furrowed, and after a second, a yellow-tinted shield of light appeared around him. His eyebrows twisted with worry.
“Well I can do that, at least,” Buzz Buzz mumbled to himself.
“Are you alright?” Tori asked.
Buzz Buzz sighed heavily. “I’ve lost most of my PSI abilities. All I can do now is make shields.”
“Oh…”
There was a brief silence before Buzz Buzz said to Tori, “Sorry about making you give yourself a papercut when I couldn’t heal it.”
“Oh, it’s alright!” Tori reassured him. “It’s just a papercut, nothing I can’t handle!”
Tori placed Buzz Buzz back on the table, then sat back down on the chair she had pulled up by the dresser.
“So, uh, PSI,” she said. “You mentioned it several times. I’m not exactly sure what it is…?”
Buzz Buzz’s eyes widened. “I should have thought about that! I’m so sorry.”
“Oh no, it’s alright!” Tori replied with a lopsided smile. “I kinda got what you were talking about through context anyway. I just wanted to know what it was.”
“Oh.” Buzz Buzz cleared his throat, then explained, “PSI is an ability sometimes found in humans that gives them supernatural powers. These can range from healing capabilities to creating fire at will.”
“OHHHHHH! I knew what it was this whole time, just not the NAME!” Tori let out a short laugh, then explained, “I recently discovered I had some of that PSI stuff and I’ve kinda been practicing it when I can… I guess that weird illusion-making thing I can do to myself would also be PSI?”
Buzz Buzz cocked his head.
“Like when I came in as a Starman yesterday and accidentally scared the crap out of you,” Tori elaborated.
“I suppose it would. There’s a lot of different PSI techniques, and it manifests in many different ways,” Buzz Buzz said.
“Awesome!” She held her hands close then said, “I can also doooo this.”
The room was still for just a moment, before a small flame burst to life in between her hands. Buzz Buzz’s eyes grew wide as he watched the flame flicker and dance before it died out.
“You know PK Fire?” Buzz Buzz gasped.
“Uhh, yeah. I can also make lightning, but it misses a lot,” Tori explained.
“Don’t worry, PK Thunder does that often, especially with fewer targets,” Buzz Buzz told her.
Tori nodded, then added, “I don’t get a lot of time to practice my PSI, ‘cause of work and stuff…”
Tori’s face lit up with recollection. “That’s right! I’ve gotta go to some other continent for work. Apparently I’ll be getting my orders when I get there.”
Tori looked up at the potted plant and lamented, “It’ll be a shame to say goodbye to this place…. I’ve grown really attached to it.”
There was a brief silence before Buzz Buzz asked, “So when do you leave for the other continent?”
“In a couple of weeks,” Tori replied. “That should give you some time to practice flying while I’m around!”
Buzz Buzz’s eyebrows furrowed. “You say that like I’m going to stay here… Can’t I come with you?”
Tori’s eyes widened with shock.
“...I… Actually, yeah! It’d be nice to have some company.”
Buzz Buzz let out a squeak of delight, punching a fist into the air.