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From:

credere

Credence looks down at his forearms, bare with his sleeves rolled to the elbow. There's a little more muscle now, given the physical work the circus demanded, but he still feels weak in a way that the Obscurus doesn't. He's not sure a punchbag would make him feel better.

An odd cracking noise makes him look up. There's a flare in the centre of the room, like a fireball appearing from nothing, and then the long elegant shape of his phoenix circling the room with outstretched wings before settling on a perch that wasn't there before. Credence scrambles to his feet, his cat already startled out of his lap.

"Rune-!"

From:

poetontheinside

Ray's already resolved to get him in a room with one, though: he's trained enough guys to know how to coax it out of them.

The cracking noise coincides with a little ping! on Ray's communicator: the Admiral, agreeing with his request, and real fast too. It freaks him out for a second, and Goldstein is out of his lap in a split second, scrambling while Ray looks over at the graceful bird suddenly in the room with them.

"Holy shit."

From:

credere

Credence practically materialises at the perch, reaching out to stroke his fingertips along the bird's neck, eliciting a soft crooning sound.

"Hi," he whispers, voice a little choked. When he's been battered by loss after loss, it's so good to have something returned to him. "I missed you."

From:

poetontheinside

He's scrambled up, both to see a little better and to, well, not feel quite so intimidated by the animal. He fishes his glasses out of an inside pocket and fumbles them on, like putting on glasses would make this less impressive.

Wrong. It's more impressive. And he can see what it's doing to Credence, and he feels like he's finally done something right. Even if it's just putting in a lousy request with the Admiral.

He won't speak just yet; he's a little hesitant to interrupt the reunion.

From:

credere

Eventually, Credence looks over his shoulder at Ray, his fingertips still lightly stroking Rune's side like he's afraid he might melt away otherwise. His eyes are red-rimmed.

"...Thank you," he says, quietly.

From:

poetontheinside

That sort of vulnerability and emotion makes him go quiet. He runs his knuckles over his jaw and nods, though, feeling a little choked-up himself.

"No problem, buddy. You deserve to have something nice from home."

From:

credere

"This is Ray," he says quietly, to the phoenix. "He's safe. Ray, this is Rune. It's a German word, it means 'secret'."

He doesn't know how smart phoenixes are, but he's erring on the side of caution.

From:

poetontheinside

"Hey-- hey there, Rune." The syllables rest uneasily in his mouth, but he manages it, and he manages a smile, a wave.

"It's, uh-- nice to meetcha."

How does one talk to a giant, beautiful bird that might be smart enough to understand him?

From:

credere

Rune croons, cocking his head, then swoops over to land surprisingly lightly on Ray's shoulder. Credence smiles, almost unnoticeably.

"I - I think I should get my room fixed. I could ask Quentin."

It's a useful pretext on which to hang a conversation, if nothing else.

From:

poetontheinside

It feels like approval, from this magical creature, and he has to swallow to get the lump out of his throat. Stupid animals.

He raises a finger to pet Rune's neck, just a little, like he'd seen Credence do.

"Yeah," he says, carefully. "Think he'd be glad to help. And if he's a dick about it, you let me know. I'll come help."

From:

credere

Rune makes another quietly approving noise and grooms Ray's hair lightly with his beak.

"...I don't think he will. He's still my friend."

From:

poetontheinside

"Yeah, you're probably right," he says, a little distracted. It feels... kind of nice.

From:

credere

"And repairing things is something he's good at. I remember that now," Credence murmurs. "The first magic I did here was what he taught me from his world."

From:

poetontheinside

"Yeah?" He strokes Rune's neck again, to see what the creature likes. "What was it?"

From:

credere

Rune makes a pleased noise and continues mutual scritching.

"It was - "

He doesn't think he remembers the name, or at least not confidently enough to state it now, but the muscle memory is still there. His hands move, he feels something indescribable catch on - and rainbow colour starts to flow from his fingertips, like he's painting in midair.

From:

poetontheinside

Honestly, he hadn't expected him to actually do it. His scratching finger stops in mid-air as he looks at what Credence is doing, as the rainbow sprouts from his fingertips. He's transfixed. It's probably the coolest thing he's ever seen, and it might be because it's Credence doing it.

"That's awesome," he says, once his surprised has morphed into glee.

From:

credere

"It doesn't really do anything," he says, as the rainbow starts to fade into the air. "The first time I did it, it kind of...exploded. My room got really, uh, colorful."

From:

poetontheinside

He doesn't care. It looks cool, and it's honest to god magic, and Credence remembered his Barge past and made it into something nice.

"No kiddin'? Maybe you can do it again, on purpose this time."

From:

credere

"I'm not sure. I think it just happened then because I'd never done magic before and had a lot bottled up."

As if the splinters of his room aren't testament to the fact that it's all still there.

From:

poetontheinside

Ray hadn't gone so far as to assume he did this all by hand, no. He clears his throat but doesn't glance around meaningfully like he really, really wants to do.

"It's still a cool trick. You wanna show me more of that, you know where to find me, right?"

Magic! He's still not over it.