The Bard and The Phoenix II

I find myself having returned to The Phoenix's room, in her domain. The same movie plays, but something feels different. Can a movie so similar be called a sequel? I find myself with the intention to find out.

She greets me with her usual warmness, though I now hear the hollowness within her interactions, as if she goes through the motions, perhaps has all along, though I was not tuned to hear it.

"Alright, were going to play a game where we're monsters. What do you want your powers to be?"

"I want to be cool, but not an empty kind of cool, cool because I've got stuff going on, ya know?"

As always, she cocks an eyebrow here, with a curiosity where I still cannot tell if it is part of the usual script or not. "You want to be cool... In a game where we're monsters?"

The words do not change but, when she meets my gaze to say this, I see a flame spark in her eyes. She knows something is different, and she knows that I have caught the moment when she figured this out. As such, she changes her approach, and her tone becomes serious.

"'Cool' is a weighty power. You are unaware of how many possible fans one can have. Or, at least you have been unaware..."

"What if my fans were cool too? Like every single one of them knew how to play it cool when interacting with me, knowing that this is how I am most comfortable. That being said, what if they can also tell, definitively, when I am in the mood to interact differently, and presumably jump at the chance to say hello?"

Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops. "You figured all of that out from a dream narrative loosely involving an alien species that could only comprehend existence as being in a movie?"

"Yes, and it is an idea that feels like it has been brewing for some time." I give her a cool wink, practicing my character's moves already. She blushes and turns, beginning to pace as she considers this development. I do the same. When she does not continue, I do.

"I have heard the innumerable unseen called machine elves. I have heard the division of the innumerable, largely unseen, masses called angels and demons. What if this entire foreign population was already familiar with the monster called The Bard, from our prior iterations and adventures, and are the fans of which I speak? I imagine that 'being in the mood to interact' might manifest as reality suddenly surging in my favor, in a variety of ways that I didn't even realize that I needed or was looking for. Given my personal belief system, I would say that I have heard The Gifts of The Holy Spirit defined in worse ways."

She stops suddenly and turns back, to let her strong gaze add weight to her words. "In much worse ways." As if something clicks within her, a genuine, seemingly entirely unscripted smile forms on her face. "Okay, let's see how it plays out. I'm in the mood for something different anyway, even if it is much the same."

"Even if?" My tone reels her in until she admits her true thoughts on the matter, even if only through her expression. 

She rolls her eyes. "I have been wanting to adventure with you again for quite some time, and I like this slight, but potentially earth shaking, adjustment. Let's do it!"

I pump my fist into the sky and give a cheery "Huzzah!" Rather than a portal, this way or that, the space around us melts and congeals all at once, as if my fans have spotted their first invitation to step out of the woodwork.