menial | 1 ~ when did I stop believing in Santa Claus? [audio/action]

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1 ~ when did I stop believing in Santa Claus? [audio/action]

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[A teenage boy is extricating himself with some difficulty from having been dumped, or appearing, in the middle of the fountain in the center of the village. He's muttering to himself and clambering out. He's dressed in the generic-enough North High uniform, but of more interest may be what he's saying -- which is picked up by the split-open journal next to him.]

...Really, Haruhi? After all of that, I'm in some other time and place again?! Oh, boy. She really just doesn't stop... Where the hell is it this time?

[Once he gets up and brushes himself off, he can be found staring with slightly less bewilderment than you might expect at his surroundings.]

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You could start by reading that over and figure things out from there.

...Sounds reasonable enough to me.

'Without a sign from Nagato, what else am I to do?'

Tell you what. I'll even let you hang out here for a while if you want. It's warm and everything, and then I can answer questions. Fair?

Fair. More than fair, positively munificent. Ah, thanks.

Sure thing. Feel free to get comfortable...I'll be here for a while.

'To anyone who might be listening to this, I'm sure she doesn't mean that comfortable, so stop thinking that.'

Great. It'll be fascinating reading, I'm sure.

Fascinating, confusing...sometimes they kind of run together. I think it's been fixed up enough times to make sense though. You're good at inferring things, right?

Sometimes. Depends on the kind of things to be inferred.

'When it's Haruhi's whims, sure. When it's Koizumi's insinuations, never.'

Nothing too elaborate. Not every single detail's written out, that's all. Sometimes you have to guess about the Filial Spirits or about the Shifts. Stuff like that.

...Well, as long as you're here, maybe you could explain. I'm guessing a filial spirit isn't what overcomes you when you're feeling bad about your parents' old age.

[Pff.] Good guess, but no. Not even close. So okay, first of all, what do you know about magic?

'It can be done by means of weird data manipulations controlled by strange aliens who create humanoid interfaces, or sometimes other aliens that aren't humanoid interfaces at all, or sometimes in limited circumstances by annoying good-looking espers--'

Nothing. Zero.

Get ready to learn. That's what the Filial spirits do around here. You get in touch with them and you learn from them about elemental magic. There's seven of them all representing the different elements, but some of the spirits are harder to talk to than the others.

'...And how do I increase my MP? By leveling up?'

To be honest, I think my innate magical capacity is close to zero. And closer to the negative side of it than the positive side.

If you're willing to try, you can always learn. That's basically all there is to it. The spirits will listen if you work hard enough.

'Sounds like my grandfather. Never convinced me to study hard, either.'

Did you learn?

I've been learning, but it's not my first priority if that's what you mean.

I think I might be better off staying away from all of that stuff. It goes over my head.

Fair enough. Okay, so what would you want to learn?

I don't know that there's anything I really want to learn. Except how to get home if I can.

That...is going to be a long learning process itself. We're still trying to get ahead, but we keep getting set-backs.

...I can imagine.

'If only I had a hint about why it happened... The real reason, that is. How could it really have to do with what they say it does?'

Still. In my experience, these things do end.

'Wait, that's indiscreet again.'

...what experience?

[He laughs nervously.

But he already knows that's not gonna work on Shiki.]

...How much do you know about Haruhi?

...depends. How much do you know about her? [There's no way she's going to be the one to spill all of the secrets.]

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