"Sure. Why not." He opens the door. "Hey, Tally! You could try knocking next time?"

She swings in.

"Tally-wa!  This is Cam; Cam-la, Tally.  Should we be expecting any other guests?"

- A small headshake.

"Do re mi fa so la ti do what is going on with the suffix?" The door closes.

"As long as you're not pretending to be a pretty I don't think you have to worry about using it.  The wa and la versions don't mean different things; it's just whatever sounds right with the name."

"Buuuut you called me it."

"...It's complicated and more intuitive than anything with rules, but it's something like, 'used more in the second person than the third, demonstrating some sort of affection for or alignment with the suffixed person'.  Can be ironic, sarcastic, et cetera, but not in a way that undercuts its genuine use.  New pretties call almost everyone approximately the same age as them it."

(Tally's body, meanwhile, has changed from being mostly invisible to being covered in a black bodysuit of shifting scales.)

"I am a hundred and seventy two," says Cam blandly.

...Zane is maybe piecing that together with some other information he knows.

"Care to explain why and how you're going to space?"

"Well, Zane was under the apparently erroneous impression that we wouldn't be followed to space? But I'm not picky, I'm just trying to be vaguely helpful while orienting to this alternate universe dystopia."

...She looks to Zane.

"You're not the only one who's been having adventures, Tally-wa.  As far as I can tell, this seems to be an actual magical guy from an actual different universe."

"Pleased to meetcha."

"What do you mean, 'dystopia'?"

"I have not seen very much of the place but I think I hate it? I'm sure it has its good points, to be clear, I haven't been in it very long, and also maybe my standards are artificially inflated because where I grew up is really really nice."

"And you expect to be able to learn about it in space?"

"Sure. I can conjure up all the reading materials I might want. Drop a phone on somebody's head with a telescope to make sure I don't concuss 'em, if they seem like they'd be worth talking to."

"A what?"

"It's like a Rusty interface ring.  - Tally, why are you here?  Not that I'm not glad to see you..."

"You got in some sort of - random hovercar, that appeared out of nowhere, Zane.  I wasn't just going to let you disappear."