Summary: Regis has his coming of age ceremony – too bad the trio didn't ask for any details about what it entailed.
Coming of Age
By Dark Ice Dragon
"Oh, Number 3," Tao sobbed into Regis' shoulder, and M-21 sighed at the sight of it, "it feels like only yesterday you were 199!"
"Guak! That's because I was 199 yesterday!" Regis argued, attempting to free himself from Tao's hold, but to no avail.
"Ah, you're all grown up," Tao continued, stepping back and wiping away a non-existent tear.
"Hmph," Regis said, sniffing. "I am no different than I was before."
"But you're an adult now!" Tao exclaimed. "Once we get back home, I'm throwing a party!" He shook his head, sighing dramatically. "I can't believe you didn't tell us, so I hardly have any time to prepare; then again, we'll start off small – don't want to shock you toomuch."
The apprehensive look on Regis' face made M-21 snort, but he only raised his eyebrows when Regis levelled a glare at him. "If you want to waste time and be late to your own coming of age ceremony, fine, we won't stop you."
That was enough to make Regis start hurrying towards the door, and M-21 shook his head. Regis' coming of age ceremony was for nobles only, but the rest of the household had been invited to Lukedonia anyway, which left him, Takeo, and Tao with nothing to do until it was over. He was sure Frankenstein had gone back into his lab and wouldn't be seen for hours (unless he had invited himself into the ceremony, and M-21 wasn't sure if he wanted to know about the blow-up that would occur because of it).
"Do you wanna see if the Central Order guys have loosened up any since we last saw them?" Tao asked him and Takeo once Regis was gone.
…They didn't have anything better to do. "Yeah." So long as they didn't end up trying to kill each other, anything was better than staring at the wall for hours on end. Then again, Tao would probably be measuring if the Central Order knights had relaxed by seeing how long it took before they snapped and attacked them…
xOx
The next morning, M-21 walked into a giant bat. He'd seen bats before, when he'd been travelling around the world with M-24, but he'd never seen a bat that could walk on its hind legs, or one that could stand at chest-height. Not to mention, the bat was completely white, except for its ears, which were black.
"You're kidding," M-21 said flatly, crossing his arms. "It went wrong?" Because he and Seira didn't walk around as giant bats, so that was the only explanation M-21 could think of.
Regis snorted, shooting him an unimpressed glare. "I take it you didn't ask the houseowner about what the coming of age ceremony entails?" Regis' newly formed fangs created havoc with his pronunciation, but he was still understandable.
"…No," M-21 admitted. He had assumed, along with Takeo and Tao, that the ceremony was just an acknowledgement of how old Regis was. M-21 studied Regis: he wasn't wearing a shirt, not that M-21 was surprised – Regis' arms were probably the biggest change that he could see, because they were wings now, a leathery membrane stretching out between each of Regis' elongated digits, but at least his legs were 'normal' enough to fit into trousers. M-21 didn't think Regis (or any of the nobles, for that matter) would be able to handle walking around 'naked'.
"Every noble goes through this when they come of age," Regis started to explain, his ears swivelling around. "Our body's full potential is unleashed and our bodies change as they adjust to the new power. Once our bodies have grown accustomed to it, they change back."
…Huh. "And how long does that take?" Well, they were nobles, so it should have been expected that they did things differently.
"A day, usually."
"Ah, that's good, I suppose," M-21 said, nodding.
Regis narrowed his eyes at him.
"I was wondering how you were going to eat without hands," he explained, smirking.
And ow, M-21 found out nobles-turned-bats were also able to make the high-pitched shrieking sound if they really wanted to.
xOx
M-21 raised his eyebrows at Regis, who glared back. "Yes?"
"I was expecting you to change after turning back," M-21 remarked, "not stay exactly the same."
"As I told Tao," Regis said, huffing, "I am still the same person I was, coming of age ceremony or no."
"Stubborn, 'snarky', and short."
Regis raised an eyebrow. "Yes."
Hah. All right, he'd give that one to him.
I had another ending, a crack one: Regis has shot up after changing back and he's now the same height as M-21. XDD M-21 remarks how the hell are they going to explain how much Regis grew overnight, and Ik-han is going to be devastated at no longer having his short partner. XDD;;;
I'd blame darlingfox for reminding me about trope_bingo, and the fact that I'd been up for 24 hours travelling and had only had 3 hours worth of dozing in all that time, but we know my brain could have come up with this on its own without any other factors. XDDD (Yep, currently on holiday with much limited, super slow internet access!)
Aaaaalso, 266! OMG. GUESS WHAT I WANT TO WRITE RIGHT NOW? \o/