Spread hope like fire

[the_bloody_road]

[Dias has been keeping to himself for quite awhile; the duration of his 'gift' from Santa was a long one, and it's only recently that he's stopped breaking everything he so much as brushes against. He was (and still is; definitely holding a grudge) Not Happy, needless to say, although fortunately the accidental wreck that his house became fixed

Comments

B

[prodigious_mage]

Eh. Too long and flashy.

[No one asked for your opinion, Palom.]

[the_bloody_road]

[Dias turns a glower on the boy. Somehow...he's strongly reminded of Leon.] Who asked you?

[prodigious_mage]

If you're gonna practice in public, you have to be willing to have people judge.

[the_bloody_road]

It's not like you can practice with a sword inside.

Anyway, you're a kid. What do you know about swordsmanship?

[prodigious_mage]

I'm usually on the wrong end of one, but you can learn that way too, right?

I was talking more about the magic, anyway.

[the_bloody_road]

... [This just gets the boy stared at. The kid's way too young to be a fighter, so what is he talking about...?]

It's not magic. Heraldry doesn't work the same way at all.

[prodigious_mage]

It looks pretty much the same to me.

[And Palom is suddenly holding a fireball. He spends a few seconds reshaping it into a crude bird shape before sending it flying at the same tree.]

See?

[the_bloody_road]

[Dias' eyebrows went up. So, a precocious child mage...where had he seen that before...?]

Just because it looks similar doesn't mean it is. I can't use magic. These kinds of moves are fueled by inner strength, not crests. [His world has a vaguely unusual magic system.]

...you remind me of a boy from my world, though. [Beat.] He's a brat, too.

[This isn't said with quite as much malice as it could be.]

[prodigious_mage]

((Automated Response: Back from hiatus! If you'd like to suspend this thread, please feel free to do so.))

I don't know what you're talking about. But I've got inner strength and magic.

We're always misunderstood.

[the_bloody_road]

Hmph. Can you do that with a sword?

And 'misunderstood' isn't the word I'd use.

[prodigious_mage]

See? You're misunderstanding me again. I don't need a sword to beat up monsters.

[the_bloody_road]

Well, unless you're channeling your strength into a weapon, then what you're doing is magic.

Never liked magic much, myself. Too unreliable. Run out of spells and you're helpless. A sword's useful all the time.

[prodigious_mage]

Run out of spells? . . . You mean mana? That's a mistake only a novice mage would make.

And it's not even true.

[Palom, who has always been holding on to his rod and has not just materialized it now for the purposes of convenience, swings it carefully in the direction of the tree. Four or five arrows appear out of nowhere to thud into the bark.]

[the_bloody_road]

[This earns the boy a cocked eyebrow.] Not bad. But how good are you with a regular weapon, really?

[prodigious_mage]

[He considers that for a few moments.]

Well. The staff isn't just for helping me cast magic. I can probably fight with it OK for a few minutes.

I've got a lot of knives, too.

[the_bloody_road]

Not very long. You ought to be able to fend for yourself without magic.