《In Search of a Protagonist》11 - Friendship
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I must confess that I felt more naked now that Drei was wearing just a belt then when she was wearing nothing at all, I had even got used to being totally naked and walking in public, it just feels weird now… and more naked.. how?… I don't know, just feels like it. Don't blame me for now knowing how to explain my more-naked-feeling-but-wearing-more-clothing… I know it is weird.
We were alone now, with no Adel, she went back home after we got our belt-pockets.
Drei and Zwei were leading the group somewhere, being the most 'experienced' ones with the outside world they naturally took charge.. But let's be real, our experience was getting lost once and that's it. I can't deny that it is 'more' but still… almost ignorable.
I would also like to say that they knew where they were leading the other three, but they did not, they were just walking in silence randomly. luckily we stumbled in a nice little clearing, with a couple of benches in a circle and 4 small squared tables with chairs on both sides, much like those public places to play chess, you know?
Zwei decided first to sit on the branches, the rest just kind of followed. For the first time they started to talk with each other, like, REALLY talk to each other, like friends or family that leaves under the same roof since birth.
The chit chat started slowly... I guess that's fair, they know how to talk but until now none of them had a real long nice conversation with anyone.
They spend about half an hour or more with only a few random comments like: "I like this place", "It is nice and cool here" or "I like the new belt"...
However the curiosity helped them after that, they took the chance that Adel was absent and they would not be scolded for any random thing, and started to ask and share experiences with one another. Finally.
"I'm so happy we have the pockets now, it was hard to carry the Ejew all the time"
"I guess, I only took it today and was super worried that I would drop it, or forget somewhere"
"Right? I almost lost it yesterday when I got distracted while exploring with Drei"
"You think Adel would recycle us if we lost it?"
"Maybe? Who knows, she changes her attitude all the time, I have no idea what she is thinking"
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"Zwei, Drei… you said you explored this place right? How was it?"
What followed was an epic tale of how the two of them got lost and received help from a nice lady that worked somewhere nearby.
"Can we explore today too? How do you know what time you need to be back?"
"Ah… Yesterday Adel said we should be back by sundown, but I'm not sure how to know it is sundown before the sun is down..."
"We got tired of exploring and decided to come back, I think it was way before the limit… but it was lucky since we got lost and all that..."
"Yea, we were lucky, I don't even want to think about being late, we should also be back early today"
"Yes it would be good, I'm ok but also a little tired, I want to sleep a bit..."
"It makes sense, today was the real first time I was not tired after using the Seontto"
"You can not get tired after using it? Amazing!"
"I'm actually feeling better after the session, weird right?"
"It's not just Zwei, I'm feeling better today too"
"You two are always fast..."
"Hey hey, I just remembered… Yesterday Adel got super mad with us because we did not bathe when we got back home from outside, we cannot forget to bathe once we get back!"
"What? Why?"
Again, what followed was a super detailed description of their time on the bath with Adel, it was so detailed that I don't think they will need further instructions to bathe correctly.
They continued to chit chat a bit more about random daily stuff. It was really nice to witness the birth of the newly found friendship. They will need to be friends with one another to survive Adel... and have a happier life in general.
They got tired after a while and decided to go home, taking turns to use the Ejew so everyone would be able to practice and also to not get lost. It was early again, the sun was still high, I would say the middle of the afternoon now.
Drei and Zwei made sure to NOT forget to bath, and everyone bathed together, it was a happy and fun moment. After that everyone decided to take a nap until Adel called. Not sure about the others, but even if Drei was doing great with Seontto she still felt sleepy very often, even if she was physically great, she needed to sleep more than I would like to admit. I don't know why but I can guess… they are growing FAST, I think their bodies just need more rest in the growing phase then a normal teen would.
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*
Nothing different happened yesterday, Adel called us, we did a 15 minutes session, we talked a bit with each other once she left the room then we slept until this morning, Adel called again, we came downstairs, everyone is here hearing Adel explain that we will start a new type of training.
"Until now I was guiding you, I was starting the Seontto myself, indirectly managing how you consumed mana, I was controlling the time you were immersed and all that... Starting today we will train so you can do the entire process by yourself, I expect everyone to master it all in 10 days, but you will have 15 days to do so, it is more than enough time and practice"
"Will it hurt again?" The one who asked was Vier, the one who was most tired of all yesterday and questionably the 'worst' of us in mana control. I personally think she has potential but lacks practice. She is also very afraid of pain, maybe more than the rest. After yesterday's night session, during the time we were chatting with each other, she mentioned that she was really happy that it finally stopped hurting, and confessed that she was afraid of the training sessions… poor child.
"No, if you follow my instructions it should not hurt. It can happen though, I don't remember anyone in my group having any pain, but I heard that it can happen." Her group? Is she talking about the time when she was a child too? She is right? Right?
"I hope it doesn't hurt, I don't like pain"
"Ah, that… don't worry, it will change once you are mature enough" What? What will change? We won't feel pain anymore? Will we feel so much pain that we will get used to it and it won't bother us? Thats a serious statement Adel, can't you elaborate more?
"..."
Isn't one going to ask her about that??? That's some serious stuff that I'm curious about! Please anyone ask her!!!
"...Let's start today's training. I'll teach you how to commence the process, it is basically making the Seontto light up, see"
Really, none asked and I'll have to leave without knowing it… I can only trust that time will teach me.
"Channel your mana thru here, you will feel some resistance, you need to keep pushing….."
Adel followed with a not so terrible explanation about how to establish a connection with the stone, then let us practice, making sure to not go past this connection. She gave us a serious warning, she told us that without mastering the first step, we should not do anything more than the initial connection, otherwise things will be bad... and we all happily obeyed, I mean… if SHE is telling us that it is bad, it is probably really bad.
She let us keep practicing the initial process, which I'm going to call 'Seontto ignition'' because it really feels like we are lighting a fire inside the stone, for a while, I would say about one hour or so? I can't be sure because I lack any means to actually measure time here. What I'm sure of is that it was a lot longer than the usual session.
"Ok, that's enough for now, you will resume practicing the same thing tonight" She proceeded to sit down on her unusual chair and put her hands on her usual spot.
"Since you only practice the connection you did not actually replenished or filtered your mana, we need to do that now. It will be the usual process that you are familiarized to. I'll start, now concentrate."
After that Adel went downstairs to the training room to do whatever she always did there and we went outside again.
The outside had many more children than usual today, all randomly walking, probably exploring the outside for the first time.
We were still on our doorstep when I spotted Mia and her children, they were pretty close to our house. A minute later Zwei and Drei noticed her too, they made eye contact with each other and that was all that was needed for a rapid decision to be made between them.
They both ran in opposite directions.
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