[Bob the hobo] A Celestial Wars Spin-Off Part 0139

PART ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE

Pop’s over a billion years old and Llyr’s age was in the billions (yes, there was an ‘S’ at the end of that!!!). And now Lady Col was throwing out that sixty-six million number like it was a week-long vacation. How trucking old is everyone from the Prydelands?

Robbie’s eyes went to Bianca, who chuckled and shook her head. “I’m a few years shy of six hundred.”

“Oh,” Robbie said, placing a hand on his chest like that was totally within the spectrum of normal and not a ludicrously huge number in its own right. Six hundred freaking years!!!! That was older than AMERICA in terms of European discovery! “Wow,” he went on, sitting back in his seat with a droll twist to his lips. “I wouldn’t have put you a day over two hundred.” He rolled his wrist like that was a given and was kicked in the shins arm for his trouble: hard enough that it actually hurt. “Owww,” he griped with a very real frown as he rubbed his shin. “Not. Nice.”

“Wait’ll she finds out what you said in the car yesterday,” Angus chuckled as he made his way through early morning traffic.

“Oh?” Bianca asked, leaning into the door to catch a glimpse of their driver.

Robbie was mortified. “Dude! What happened to the bro-code?!”

“Angus, what did he say?” Bianca probed.

Instead of answering, Angus responded with another deep, taunting chuckle that did nothing but bring an annoyed scowl to Bianca’s face.

As Robbie watched the byplay between them, he quickly realised Angus had no intention of betraying Robbie any more than he already had, but was doing this purely to get a rise out of his twin sister. “Man, if I didn’t know you were twins before, I certainly do now,” he snorted in amusement, looking from the side of Angus’ head to the albino woman in the far back seat. “Sit-stirring crosses not only the age barrier but species as well, huh?”

“We’re quintuplets, in human terms,” Bianca corrected, ignoring his latter comment entirely.

“There’s three more of you?”

“A medic and two fighters,” Bianca confirmed.

Nests and egg clutches … Robbie had to keep reminding himself that the true gryps weren’t human. When he was talking to two of them and they appeared every bit human, it was a really hard ask.

His eyes went back to Lady Col, who was looking on with a soft, superlative smile. “That was you, back at the healthcare centre, wasn’t it?”

Lady Col’s smile lengthened and she nodded. “Yes, dear.”

“Soooo … you’re allowed to use ranged shifting and I’m not? How’s that supposed to be fair?”

“I could cite your age as a valid reason for keeping you from your full potential, and in some ways, I will be,” she said. “Which brings me to the reason I am here. The ring you were given yesterday was one that I keep as a spare at the Prydelands. It both incorporates seclusion properties and a tefsla core, giving it a dual capability. Have you heard of tefsla?”

“Pop threatened Aunt Collette with it while we were internalising, but otherwise, not really.”

“Tefsla prevents external shifting, the way a seclusion ring prevents external bending. If you consume tefsla, it is, as the youth of today say, game over for your shifting. The length of time involved ranges from weeks to months. However, as a ring, its limitations become that of any other suppression ring.”

“Meaning I can still shift myself within the ring, just nothing outside of it.”

“Exactly.”

Robbie glanced from Bianca to Lady Col. “So, what’s changed?”

“You have, handsome. You have spent six months being tutored on all things by your grandfather Yitzak.”

“I just call him Pop.”

Columbine’s smile grew once more. “Which is of course, entirely your discretion, sweetheart. I make the distinction now in case you should ever come across other males further back from him, generationally speaking.”

“There are others?”

A hint of sadness crossed Lady Col’s face. “I did not think he would mention them, but yes, there are others. Yitzak’s parents are still alive, as are his grandparents and several farther back from there. In most cases you would either refer to them by their first names or with the title ‘grandfather’ in front of their name should you need to make the family connection. Much the same way you would say ‘cousin’ in front of any children your Aunt Collette may have.”

Robbie nodded. That made sense. Otherwise, there would be ten 'granddads'. “So, now that I was with Pop for six months, what does that mean?”

“It means that you now understand what is at stake, so I am able to remove your training wheels.” She reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and came back with two jewellery cases. A long thin velvet box and a square ring box.

She opened the ring one first.

“This is to replace your ring. It is a seclusion ring only and will block your bending. This one I am still going to make you keep on for the time being until you get a grasp on your shifting. I have found from a human perspective, shifting is easier to comprehend than bending.”

Robbie’s hand clenched around his ring. “But I don’t want to hand over my ring.”

“In this one instance, you won’t mind taking your family ring off, as you are trading it for another.”

Oh, well, that’s okay then … he supposed. He removed his ring and was immediately swept up in all the colours and connections that he’d lost touch with yesterday. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked around the car, sensing that same overlay of control that he’d never realised had been with him his whole life until his pop showed him. It had all been at his fingertips!

“Robert,” Lady Col called, snapping him out of his stupor.

“Uhh … yeah?” he asked, trying to make it sound as if he hadn’t been distracted like a cat with sparkling laser-lights. Lady Col was holding out the replacement ring. “Oh, right…” He really didn’t want to put it on, but when it slid the length of his finger and settled into place, the glowing overlay remained. His eyes skipped from one item to the next, practically waiting for the axe to fall and he was once again looking at everything the way everyone else did.

“That only keeps your bending from reaching beyond yourself, Robert.” She then opened the long, thin box to reveal a men’s curb chain bracelet in rose gold. “This will do the same to your shifting.”

Robbie had no idea why he held his left hand out and allowed her to snap the chain around his wrist, but sure enough, as soon as it was in place, the glamour of the world went away once more.

He couldn’t help the sigh of disappointment that escaped him.

“Sweetheart, did your … pop ever speak of something called attunement?”

Robbie scratched the back of his head. “Maybe?”

“I will take that as a ‘no’ then. That glow you saw in the world is called attunement. It is a very special state of affairs that comes naturally to those who are born here. It is not something you share with your pop, but you do share with your Aunt Collette.”

“Okay. What’s it do?”

“It allows you to manipulate the world outside the purview of your standard shifting and bending.”

“Wait … there’s more power than that?!”

Lady Col nodded. “It is why you have to be incredibly careful when you have either of your family pieces off, Robbie. Most of the family, like young Sam, only have access to one side of the power structure. The bending. So one ring, and he is automatically cut off from his attunement. Those like you and your Aunt Collette, have access to both.”

“So Pop doesn’t?”

“He was not born here, sweetheart, so his attunement is in Mystal.”

“Right. Right, right,” Robbie said, forgetting that part. He was so glad his pop showed him how to internalise memories because this particular discussion was going to need a few run-throughs to sink in. “Just those of us born here.”

“And in your case, you have two access points. Not just one. Shifting, and bending.” Robbie knew he was getting lost again, but thankfully, Lady Col seemed to realise it. “Picture your attunement as … a milkshake.”

“Okay.” That, he could do.

“People like Sam, have one straw in the milkshake, and when the straw is pinched …”

“No more milkshake. Okay, I get that.” Robbie’s eyes widened in realisation. “Oh, I see. Whereas I have two straws, right?”

“Exactly. Cut one off, and you’ll still have the other straw to draw power from.”

“So anytime I want to tap the glow, I only have to take off the bracelet.”

“Yes, but before you do,” she added quickly, as his hand reached for the clasp. “You need to understand exactly what attunement is.”

Robbie stilled his hand movement. “Okay.”

She paused for a moment, as if contemplating something, then smiled. “The modern era has certainly made this conversation so much easier to have,” she admitted. “Especially after the release of that movie at the end of last century. The Matrix. Have you seen it.”

Many, many times. His dad especially loved it. “The blue pill and the red pill?”

Lady Col’s smile grew. “Exactly.” She pointed at the ring. “The blue pill,” —then moved her hand to the bracelet— “and the red pill.”

“The one I can’t take off, versus the one I can.”

“Exactly. Focus on the blue pill, knowing you can’t take that off, and the world stays as it is. Take the red pill off and you can rewrite reality, just like that movie did.”

Robbie blinked … and blinked … and blinked some more. “Wh—at?”

“I think you broke him, Eechee,” Bianca chuckled.

“In terms of that movie, the Nascerdios are real. Everything else is changeable, but only if you’re attuned to the realm. I am not talking about looking at your bracelet and making it burnished gold, or silver, or even playdough. I speak in terms of erasing someone’s entire family line from history. Or moving a whole mountain range. Or changing the rotation speeds of the planets.”

Suddenly, Robbie didn’t think he could breathe. “I-I had the power to do that?”

“Whenever you have access to that glow, yes. Attunement is where you call home, and it is immensely powerful.”

Robbie slowly pulled his hand away from his bracelet and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling very squeamish. “I think I might leave that well enough alone for the time being,” he said, gulping hard.

“I thought you might,” Lady Col said, with a knowing smile.

* * *

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PART ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY

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((AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to whoever gave me the award for this. That was a lovely surprise!))

((All comments welcome))

I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here

For more of my work including previous parts or WPs: r/Angel466

For those who want to read this from the very beginning: Part One

FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!!