Ø5

[painlessfighter]

[The video cuts on mid-"Boooo", and Natsuo is sitting at the gazebo, sulking.]

I knew something was weird!! This place took away my fighting! I can't use spells anymore! Some stupid kid took my bag, and I was going to make him hurt for it. But nothing happened when I used the words! I had to run after him and kick him instead. Boring!!

[Heavy sigh!]

Ne, did anything happen to anyone else?

Comments

[desertdaggers]

Yeah. I'll be there in a bit.

[and fortunately there are no interruptions on the way, so there isn't much delay between Hawk shutting off the CAT and arriving at the gazebo.]

Hey!

[painlessfighter]

[He stands when he sees Hawk coming.]

Hi! So what can't you do anymore?

[desertdaggers]

Haha… straight to the point! [He grins, but drops it after a moment or two.] Well… the basis of all the jutsus I know is manipulating mana, and… I can't feel that at all. It's a little disorientating, to be honest. [at least back home, it's still slowly fading away, giving them all time to get used to the feeling.] My techniques are all in pieces, too…

It's word magic for you, right?

[painlessfighter]

So no mana means no magic. Right?

Mhm. [Nodnod] It doesn't matter what words I use, even the strongest ones aren't doing anything...

[desertdaggers]

Yeah. -well, I don't know if it's the same for everyone else, but… for me, definitely.

So… maybe the power behind that's gone, too.

[painlessfighter]

But how can they just take something like that? Words have power! They just do! How does that just go away? [Pause.] How does mana stuff just go away, either?

[desertdaggers]

Maybe the source got cut off, then. [frowning] Is the power just in the words?

… It happened back home. The Mana Tree, the source of mana… it began to wither away. So the level of mana in the world dropped, and now…

…it's here, actually. If you wanted to see.

[painlessfighter]

[Nodnod] And knowing how to make that power come out. But that's part of me.

It's here? The source of mana? Ohh, did it come from your world when all of the other stuff started showing up? And, yes, can I see? [curious!]

[desertdaggers]

That shouldn't be blocked off so easily. [still frowning] It's possible to silence someone to stop them from casting, but… clearly that's not the case here.

[he nods in response to that] Yeah. It's in one of the gardens here. This way. [he turns towards the gardens]

[painlessfighter]

[And Natsuo follows!]

At least they put it somewhere it kind of makes sense. When they brought Soubi's place here, they put it above a shop. [He makes a face.] How stupid is that?

[desertdaggers]

Yeah. [Hawk shrugs, turning a little to look at Natsuo.] Is Soubi the kind of person who wouldn't like that?

[painlessfighter]

Probably. Soubi’s private about a lot of things. Living above a shop would be noisy, and I don’t think he’d like that.

Ne, Hawk? Where was the tree before? Was it somewhere special?

[desertdaggers]

[he nods] It sounds like it. So, is he a friend of yours, or something else?

Yeah. [He pauses for a moment, partly to gather his thoughts and partly to remember which way to go from here] The Tree was in the Holyland… it's hard to get to. The gate there was sealed with the power of the Mana Stones… but those are gone now. I don't think just anyone will be able to get in, but… [He shrugs, mouth pulled to one side.]

[painlessfighter]

Mm. We're mostly friends. I think it's a little more complicated than that. But we help each other out, especially since Soubi and Ritsuka are just hopeless without us! [A little bit of a giggle~ Consider it a hint that he's probably childishly exaggerating.]

But then it came here, and it's not behind a sealed gate? Mm. This place is rude to take it like that and not even lock it up again.

[desertdaggers]

That's good. [he chuckles] Good thing you're there to help out, then.

I don't think anyone here would be able to do much with it, either way. The Tree here… [and they're getting pretty close now]