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[Dec. 12, midafternoon]

Sitting amongst a pile of books that was once a single book on the floor, a blue-haired kid was deep in concentration. His forgotten, or perhaps unneeded, empty plate and cup sat beside him. To the rest of the world, this is all that would be seen. But for the kid, each book gave a clue, and the plate and cup were the center of all his mental energies.

Yes, Xeiashi was well on the way to discovering the secrets of magical stains. Thus far, he had found that, contrary to what his newly dubbed name implied, the remnants of magic could be swept away in the river of time, or even with a simple Dispel. They were easier to get rid of than the average ketchup stain on a shirt, but harder to get rid of than a rat infestation, mainly because the rats could be removed with a few swats of a broom; the magic, not so much.

But that is all beside the point, for he had also tracked down, and even found himself, the actual stains in question. If properly scanned, they can show the general state of mind that a caster was in, for example, angry or calm, and if the spell is recent enough, it will hold a bit of their energy's 'color.' Already he had learned that his energy's primary color was green, although he had no clue what that might mean, if it meant anything at all.

As for the innocent plate and cup, their slightly grimy exteriors betrayed nothing of the intense energy trapped within. Numerous castings of the same spells had caused them to nearly glow with the pent-up magic, although it was undetectable to anyone but a spellcaster, and they would need to know what to look for to see it. Regardless, if anyone that could see it came onto the scene, they would swear that a cloud of pure chlorophyll was floating around the dinnerware.

A low grumbling disrupted the kid's concentration around 3:00. 'What was that...' he managed to wonder before it sounded again, much louder this time. 'Owowowowowww....dangit, how long has it been since I ate?' A glance at a nearby clock told him all he needed to know.

'...7 hours?!? Holy crap! No wonder I'm starving, especially with the food these days,' he thought as he stood, long-unused muscles protesting their use. With many an ache and grumble, he managed to restore the spellbooks to their rightful places, although the task left him slightly lightheaded. 'Agh....dang, I should have stretched every hour or so, this sucks...' was his only thought in the meantime.

Shortly thereafter, Xeiashi was hobbling his way back to the dining hall, stopping every so often when a leg threatened to give way during an all-too-common cramp. These lessened, then eventually went away as his legs accepted that they were going to be used, whether they liked it or not.

If anyone questioned the sudden disappearance of food, they didn't complain much. Better the poor sap that ate it all than them, after all.

Xeiashi Zakariz, Mage of the Benevolent Order, Hut-Dweller, and Pursuer of the Truths in Magic

(( With the permission of Shin, who isn't up to posting any further, I hereby skip ahead five minutes in order to do THIS ))


Indeed, the water was calm once again, free from the presence of the eccentric mer couple, and-

"HEY MR. E, YOU FORGOT YOUR BOOK."

Oh dear lord. First, the ocean had vomited up a raging fish-man in Imaru's direction. Now, it was spitting a sketchbook, complete with a missing corner on the inside pages as a scar from the war it had inadvertently sparked, directly at the back of his head. At very high speed, having been flung like a discus.

If Imaru survived the encounter intact, he might turn around to see an all too familiar black head peeping out of the water to give him an energetic wave of farewell, and perhaps a hint of shiny tail as he dove down to return to his mate. If he didn't, well, he wouldn't be seeing anything at all, would he?

Rubbing the back of his head with one hand, holding the bloated wet sketchbook with the other, he turned in time to see what he presumed to be Zain, take his leave before he could say thank you.

"...Mr. E?"

Imaru turned to give a final wave to Alexi and Total before heading back to have his much-needed shower. Also, his book would need some drying time.

⊱ December 11 ⊰

LATE MORNING

Each step Coline took made evoked a soft crunching sound from the earth. It wasn't an entirely foreign sound; she had been through this path several times before that the rustling of leaves felt familiar, welcoming, like an old friend relishing her return. The winding forest path soon gave way to the cave entrance. The blanket of vines that served to hide its existence were no longer there, all thanks to Corie's monstrous revelation. For a moment she considered weaving together a new camouflage for the cave entrance. She laughed at the thought. She was growing attached to this place, it seemed.

There was probably little point in going back there each day. There were no leads apart from a strip of cloth and the testimony of a lowly recruit. She wouldn't be surprised if the Order decided to abandon the search at this point. But maybe, just maybe, if she came back here often enough, an important clue will reveal itself. Or maybe Bapp himself would waltz right in and tell her that he's okay?

"Don't be silly." she whispered to herself. "It can't be that simple."

And even if returning to the place of Bapp's disappearance were to do her no good, there was another reason for her visits - the towering pile of giftboxes. Everyday since that memorable day when the Captain literally dropped in, Coline had taken it upon herself to transport as much boxes as she could carry back to Eurydice's house. But now...

...?

An unexpected sight greeted her as she turned a corner. Silently staring up from the foot of the pile of giftboxes was a small girl, her clothes dirty and patched up, barefoot, holding a ragged bunny doll just about as big - if not, bigger - than herself. One question after another started to pop up in her mind. She was stunned. The scene caught her completely by surprise. Well, standing there wasn't going to get her anywhere, and so, after donning her sweetest smile, Coline carefully approached the little girl.

"Hello there," she began softly, in a tone especially reserved for children. This seemed to have caught the little girl's attention, and soon enough two big brown eyes were staring up at her. She was clutching at her bunny doll rather tightly. "What a cute doll you have! Does it have a name?"

....

"Wow. That's a lot of gifts, huh? Maybe one of them has your name on it. Want to go see?" Coline smiled a little wider in the hopes that it would make her feel a little more comfortable, but this did nothing to change the girl's deadpan expression. Or maybe a little, but in a way she didn't expect. The little girl's eyes widened for some reason, her mouth forming a small O shape. It was a tad worrying. "...Is something wrong?"

The girl bolted away.

"Hey, wait!" Coline called out. She gave chase, but it was too late. By the time she had reached the mouth of the cave the little girl was nowhere in sight. Coline's expression morphed into a mix between worry and utter confusion. It bothered her how a girl so small and defenseless could be left to wander in a place like this, but, as much as it pained her, the only thing she could do was pray for the little girl's safety. After the shock had settled in, the recruit went back inside for her ritual visit.

Spending time in the cave was always an opportunity to mull over recent events. How unfortunate it was that not a single one of them was pleasant. A memorial service was going to be held for the "departed" Professor Panda later in the day, and there was also that meeting with Storm after evening meals. She was reluctant to attend either of the two, but she had to make a decision sooner or later.

....

Picking herself up from the cold stone floor, Coline made her way out of the cave, empty-handed.

[Dec. 12, ~5pm]

When a man has a full stomach, they are very much inclined to be happy. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply when the stomach is filled with vast amounts of semi-inedible food. When that happens, the stomach is generally much happier when it gets empty again, and will go to great lengths to make it happen. Unfortunately, this also meant that the aforementioned man's next few hours were spent praying to the only God such people know, the Great Porcelain One. Even more unfortunate, the Temple's plumbing had yet to be repaired, and only water magic saved most of the Temple from smelling or, god-forbid, seeing what the semi-inedible food was like after a fool tried holding it down. As it turned out, burying such offal is a great way to combat the stench.

The pitiful man in question was none other than the recently-and-again hungry Xeiashi. The combination of his recent gastrointestinal distress, plus his hunger, plus the headache that came when he used magic while fatigued left him in a distinctly sour mood.

'...and really, how can they honestly expect us to help with restoration if they can't even feed us properly? Is somebody TRYING to kill us? If they were going to, why not make it easier and just shoot us or something...but Overseer forbid we get the EASY end of it...heck, SIN only has to break stuff, and we need to fix it AND make it better? Why us? Aren't we spread thinly enough as-is? Why can't we...'

"Oh...of course!"

This pseudo-enlightenment (more like stolen idea) served to improve his mood greatly. With a bit more spring in his step, he returned to the library to do more research.

Later that night, strange clanking noises and a lot of cursing came from the hut in the woods as he began a whole new area of R and D. His learnings of the underpinnings of magic would be spoken of later, he had slightly more real things on his mind.