Taralynn’s Desk

Robynne laughed. Robynne laughed hard. In the past few weeks, she had been holding herself back from laughing this hard. Soon after her transformation, she discovered her real laugh caused her to receive a lot of attention from boys. Maybe she had a “cute” laugh or maybe it just made her seem more fun or approachable, but either way she had taught herself to hold back a little. Now, in the presence of her uncle, she didn’t feel any need to hold back anything.

Around the cheerleaders she was fake, to Dale and Eric she was polite but reticent, to Cory and Eli she had to prove she was still one of the guys, and to the girls she tried to act apathetic and not bother them with her problems. Just chatting with her uncle in his hotel room put Robynne at ease. For the first time in what seemed like years, she felt she could just be herself.

“Roxy Rhode!? You kidding me? I mean the names Polygal and Day LaMode were bad enough, but Roxy Rhode?”

“Oh, that’s not the worst of it, Uncle. So then Valor gives this speech while the monster is transforming. She says, ‘How dare you twist that which is sweet and delicious into a tool of evil. I am Spirit Guard Valor and in the name of Justice you will be punished!”

Taylor reared his head back and laughed. “This girl sounds like she’s absolutely in love with being a magical girl.”

Robynne nodded. “Oh yeah! Big time! When I first met her, well, I thought she was a little psycho. I mean… there is just something off about her, y’know? I mean, who is really into justice, love, and valor that bad? Frankly, I couldn’t understand why she was the leader of our quaint little band.”

Taylor tipped back his head and sipped on his soda. “And now?”

Robynne nibbled on the inside of her bottom lip a little, digesting her thoughts. “I think I’ve seen flashes of why she was chosen. That same fight against Roxy Rhode, I kinda… I should have listened to her when we started and fought together. I went in alone, thinking that because I had taken the last monster down myself that I could take down this one as well.”

“How did that go?”

Robynne winced. “I kind of got my hands encased in ice.”

Uncle Taylor stopped drinking his soda and sat up straighter. “Encased in ice? Did that hurt?”

“Oh, it was excruciating. Felt like every square inch of my hand was being stabbed with needles. When I finally got my hands out I couldn’t move them at all. It was like my nerves weren’t even there.”

Robynne watched her uncle examine her small hands from his chair. She knew that look in his eyes. Concern. “Your hands look fine now.”

She shouldn’t have mentioned the hand thing. Up until now, all her stories had other people getting hurt and injured. The rest of the stories involved her getting hurt or worse. Now that she thought about it, she would have died against Electronique if that annoying magical boy hadn’t saved her. She even had to go to the hospital after the Bearnadette Puffball fight. This wasn’t going to inspire much confidence. “Well, y-yeah! Kara can, well when she’s powered up as Spirit Guard Charity, she can heal wounds, broken bones, and other stuff. She’s really good to. She fixed my hands with a single arrow!”

“She healed you with an arrow? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Robynne laughed nervously. “Uh, no, it doesn’t. But she can shoot arrows that heal you. ‘Missile of Mercy’ I think she calls it.” Taylor kept his eyes on Robynne for a moment. Licking his lips, he moved his eyes up to the ceiling fan. He always considered his words carefully. “It was no big deal, uncle. It happened because I didn’t follow Angela’s directions to fight as a team. I tried to do it all on my own and paid the price. I’ve learned my lesson and won’t make that same mistake again.”

Taylor sighed. “Robert, I don’t wish to make it seem like I don’t trust you. You’re certainly a smart, young… person. But these situations are very dangerous. As your uncle, I’m worried that there has been so much nuttiness and danger around you that you’re becoming used to it.”

“Uncle, I’m fine.”

“Just because you’ve been fine in the past doesn’t guarantee you’ll be fine in the future. I’m glad you’re relying on your teammates more but they, like you, are teenagers. Teenagers are prone to lapses in judgment. And that is not an insult; it’s just a fact of life.”

“Uncle, you don’t need to worry! Every time things look down, someone shows up, does something, or comes up with a plan that solves the problem. Real Saturday morning cartoon superhero stuff. I don’t know how, but Fate seems to always send exactly what we need to save the day.”

“Fate?” Taylor raised an eyebrow. “Need I remind you that this is the same ‘Fate’ that is responsible for you being a girl, swearing up a sugar factory, and fighting evil while looking like you’re ready for a pep rally?” Robynne blushed, not having told her uncle about joining the Cheer Squad yet. “Do you really want to trust that Fate to keep you safe?”

Robynne sighed. She knew he was right to be worried. She had become too used to the danger to appreciate how hazardous and serious her life had become. “Well no… but what am I supposed to do about it? I can’t quit. The other girls need me too much.”

Taylor scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. “I don’t know, Robert.” He shrugged. “But I’m not going to just fly back home and pretend everything is all right. Do any of the other parents know how much danger their daughters are in?”

“I… I don’t really know. But I doubt it.”

Taylor nodded. “Well, I’ve decided on two things.” Robynne gulped. “First, I need to have a sit down with this Kudasipi or Koopanipi…”

“Kunapipi.”

“Whatever her name is, I need to sit down with this kangaroo counselor of yours.”

Robynne smiled. “She’s a wallaby actually. She hates being confused with a kangaroo.”

“Well I hate my nephew—niece… whatever being put in mortal danger. I’m going to need to get some answers from her.”

“Well, good luck with that. I’ve been trying to get answers out of her for a while. She’s very sketchy on details of Fate, what’s going on, and why the honey I was turned into a girl. I actually think she’s being honest when she says she doesn’t understand it either.”

“So then what? She has superiors that make decisions, don’t tell her why, and she is forced to deal with it?”

“That’s the impression I get. I was the only one more surprised than Kunapipi when I was told I was a magical girl.”

Taylor snorted. “This is starting to sound more and more like trying to deal with the government. Maybe I can scare her into giving me more information. Threaten to drag you back home.”

Robynne’s eyes opened wide. “Back home? Uncle! I’m not quitting this magical girl stuff. It may be annoying, frustrating, inconvenient, confusing, disturbing, and even dangerous sometimes… but I’ve already sacrificed too much to stop now! I–”

Her uncle held up his palm, trying to get her to calm down. “I know, Robert. I’m not saying I would move you back. I was just contemplating threatening to move you back as a means of maybe getting more information out of Scubaflippy.”

“Okay, now you’re just messing her name up on purpose.”

Taylor chuckled. “You caught me.” He let his childish grin fade into a wistful smile. “I really would prefer to just remove you from all this but I know it’d be pointless for me to try. At the first call for help you’d just do your transformation thing and run here on foot. You’re just like your dad–stubborn. Once he decided he was going to do something he stuck with it, no matter the cost.”

Robynne sighed. “I don’t want to have to worry about all this.”

“Unfortunately, we’re family. Worrying about one another is part of that relationship. It’s especially true when the kid you’ve raised is throwing himself into mortal danger on a semi-regular basis.” Taylor turned and glanced out of the second story window of his hotel room. “But it seems like the powers that be are hell-bent on keeping you in peril.”

Robynne leaned on the window sill next to her uncle. She listened as the crickets chirped into the autumn night. “Does seem like life has a habit of giving us the short end of the stick, huh?”

Taylor nodded. “Seems that way… but that’s where the other thing I’ve decided on comes in. Starting Monday I’m going to go looking around the area for any dental offices that need a hygienist. I’ll start around here and widen my search out to any of the nearby cities. I don’t want to be more than an hour away from you though.”

“Wait, you mean move here? What about the house? Grandma left it to you. You’ve lived your entire life there except for a little bit of college. You’re just going to leave it?”

“Robert, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you’re going through what is one of the most difficult periods of a person’s life. To top that off, you’re doing it after an abrupt gender change and responsibilities that put the lives of others in your hands. I need to be here for you.”

The young girl felt a lump form in her throat. “You… but your job, all your friends, your life it’s–”

“You’ve been my life for quite some time, Robert.” Taylor wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “Besides, it’s been very lonely in that house without you. Grandma would want us to stick together. It’s why she left us the house in the first place.”

“But you’ll have to start all over with your job and friends and…”

“I’ll be fine. There aren’t enough hygienists to meet the demand. I’ll be able to find work somewhere near here. I’m sure of it. As for friends, I haven’t had much of a social life and you know it. Lord knows I’ve exhausted the dating life back at home as well. I think a move would be good for me.”

Robynne smirked. “Looks like my dad and I aren’t the only stubborn ones.”

“It’s a family trait.” Taylor glanced at his watch. “It’s almost 10:30. Aren’t you supposed to be in your dorm by eleven? We better get heading out if you don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s been taken care of. I’m spending the night over here.”

“Been taken care? How?”

Robynne stretched and walked away from the window. “Remember my roommate I told you about? Noriko?”

Taylor glanced at his feet, thinking aloud, “Noriko… Noriko…”

“The ninja?”

“Oh, right! The ninja. How could I forget that you live with a ninja?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. Anyway she sent me a text a few hours ago telling me not to worry about getting back to the dorms by curfew. She said she’d take care of it.”

“Did she mention how she would take care of it?”

“As usual, she was pretty stingy with details. But she’s a ninja. I figure she must have something up her sleeves.”

The sound of someone knocking interrupted Kara’s cutting of fabric. “Come in,” she cheerfully requested.

The girls’ dorm RA walked into the room. “Just doing my nightly rounds. Need to make sure all you girls are in.”

Kara smiled, “Well, here I am.”

The RA walked over to Kara and inspected all the fabric in front of her. “What are you working on?”

“Just getting the patterns ready for Robynne’s costume for the Halloween dance. I’m cutting the patterns out and then will show her how to sew them.”

The RA raised an eyebrow, trying to piece together what the costume could possibly be. She didn’t give it much thought though. “Good work. Is Mary in her room?”

“I think so.”

The RA nodded and waltzed through the open door. Mary was half-hanging off of her bed, reading a manga upside-down. Her long black tresses splayed across the floor. Mary glanced up, or down from the RA’s perspective, from her book. She flashed a grin and waved. “Hiya! Don’t worry about me, I’m all here!”

The RA took a few steps backwards. “Indeed you are.” With a quick turn she walked past Kara again. “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess Noriko and Robynne are in their rooms as usual?”

Kara nodded absently, then gave a little gasp as she realized that Robynne hadn’t come home yet. She was so used to Robynne just sitting in her room playing on her computer that she had almost forgot about the failed slumber party and the arrival of her uncle. Robynne was going to be in big trouble.

The RA went to knock on the door to Robynne’s room, but before her knuckles knocked on wood the door flung open. The RA jumped back a bit as a small, pale Japanese girl looked at her with penetrating brown eyes. “Good evening.”

The RA gulped, never feeling very comfortable around Noriko. Something about the young girl always made the RA nervous. “Yes, hi. I see you’re here.” She took a quick survey of the room and noted that Robynne wasn’t at her computer like she always was. “Where is Robynne?”

“I believe that she is in the bathroom, ma’am.” Kara raised an eyebrow. She knew Robynne was gone… so what was Noriko up to?

The RA nodded her head and turned around, not quite taking her eyes off of Noriko. The fan in the bathroom was on along with the light. The RA rapped on the door. “Robynne, it’s me. I’m just checking to make sure you’re all in at curfew.”

Kara’s eyes bugged out as she heard Robynne’s voice echo out of the bathroom. “Yeah, I’m here. Just going number two in here.”

The RA cleared her throat, obviously not amused with the unnecessary detail Robynne used. “Yes, well then, I will just be off. You ladies have a good night.” With one more glance to make sure Noriko was where she last saw her, the RA strode out the door.

Kara scratched her head and stood up. She knocked on the bathroom door, “Robynne, when did you get back?” No response came.

“She did not return, Kara. I told her that she was free to spend the rest of the night with her uncle if she wished. I assured her that I would make sure she would not be in any trouble with residential administration.”

Kara opened the bathroom door to indeed see the bathroom completely empty. “But, I—I heard her.”

“What you heard was an imitation of Robynne’s voice. I used the art of ventriloquism to make it seem as if the voice came from the bathroom.”he he

“You—you can throw your voice?”

“Yes.” Noriko did not seem to think that there was anything amazing about this.

Kara blinked for a few seconds. Shaking her head, she convinced herself that she shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, Noriko did many things that were hard to believe. “And you did all this so Robynne could have some alone time with her uncle?”

“She seemed… unsettled when she spoke with her uncle. I simply thought spending time with him might put her at ease.”

“Aww.” Kara beamed down on the young ninja. “That’s really sweet of you, Noriko.”

The blue-haired girl swore she saw a slight blush on Noriko’s face. “Yes, well, it has certainly been a much busier day than we all intended. I must rest. I am sure that there will be more work to do tomorrow. Good night, Kara.”

“Sweet dreams, Noriko.”

Awww, Noriko is so secretly sweet! If only all ninja could be as sweet as her. She and Robynne will be hugging each other and talking about life’s problems in no time!

I debated on making this chapter longer but I decided to end it here. I think I’ve already spent too much time on the subject of Robynne and her uncle. We’ll see him again in Episode 44 for sure, but as some members of the forum have pointed out, his involvement can only be so much. After all, this is a story about magical girl policy.

Tune in next time to find out that Noriko plans to do a stand-up act with a dummy Robynne on her lap. It’ll be more fun than a sack of fangirls!

–Taralynn Andrews