don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

[heritrix]

Like the ones they shout in cartoons? [She doesn't sound incredulous. That's amusing, but really smart when you think about it.] What's yours?

[zomgboom]

Tick, tick, boom! [She points at Rin and snaps her fingers. It's really weird to do that without something exploding.] I used to, like, go by Boom-Boom. It was a stupid name, but I was fourteen or something when I came up with it so whatever.

[heritrix]

That sounds like a car commercial.

[Boom-Boom, Zoom-Zoom.]

[zomgboom]

All of my codenames were mega stupid. [She counts them off on her fingers as she lists them.] Boom-Boom, Meltdown, Boomer, Time Bomb, Firecracker, Madame McSplode . . . It's why I don't, like, use one anymore.

[heritrix]

You went through that many in ten years?

[zomgboom]

It was more like twenty? I dunno, I don't really keep track.

[Time is an illusion, comics don't care.]

[heritrix]

[...]

You know what? [Rin laughs lightly, shaking her head.] At this point, I just accept that. The stories you tell about your life are some of the strangest ones I've ever heard.

[So far. So far...]

Does that make it my turn?

[zomgboom]

If you're, like, ready? I can tell you more stupid stories if you're, like, still trying to figure out what to say or whatever.

[She means it. Rin's . . . one of her favorite people here? So she's inclined to let her speak at her own pace.]

[heritrix]

[OH... Rin wouldn't expect that at all. During the first trial she made a bad impression, so she assumes most people here don't care much for her.

But Tabby is a lot of fun, so that would pleasantly surprise her. As it is she smiles at the offer, not picking up on the reasoning behind it.]

It's okay, I think I know where to begin.

The important thing to understand about magic in my world that it can't exist without mystery. Magical energy is like water in a well. Everyone draws from the same source, so the more people know people know about it, the less energy there is to go around. If too many people learned the truth, the well would dry up entirely.

The Mage's Association and any mage worth their salt will hide the truth at whatever cost. They don't hesitate to kill anyone who happens to find out about them; it's the most approved way of handling it.

[Rin props her chin in her hand, eyes flickering back to the secrets.] I hate that rule, so I've always been extra careful to avoid discovery.

[That's part of it. She's pausing to make sure Tabby understands so far, before getting into the rest.]

[zomgboom]

So magic is a natural resource and you have to, like, do magic on the down low because of it. [That's . . . weird. Doesn't sound anything like the Sorcerer Supreme, but most worlds aren't like home so that's not surprising.] Does it refill or is it just, like, this is the amount that exists and as we use it then it's gone forever?

[heritrix]

It's a little bit of both. Human mages can generate magical energy too, by converting their own life force, but our spells won't activate in the first place without interacting with the mana in the world around us.

[She raises a finger.] You know how you can't have fire without oxygen, right? It's exactly like that. We're providing the fuel, but without the world's energy to create that chain reaction, we can't make any explosions.

[That's imagery she hopes Tabby can appreciate, because Rin also enjoys blowing things up. Both figuratively and literally in this case; the girl does love her exploding gems. But anyways:]

Both resources replenish, but at different rates. It might take only a few days or hours for humans to generate more mana, depending on how much has been used, but the world replenishes its energy more slowly, as best as its able.

If too much was taken from it all at once, then yeah. It really could be gone forever. It's happened in other worlds.