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Manai grins. "It's better when you do that on a warm day than a cold day, though. But when you accidentally splash someone else..." She shudders for dramatic effect, but she's still grinning.
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"It's funny to splash someone else!"
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Manai grins and, for joking purposes, quickly scoots away from Helen.
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Helen's smile disappeared when the other girl scooted away. Did I do something wrong?
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"I hope the gods don't grant you water-related powers," Manai says with a grin. She waves her arms a bit. "Then again, I'm inside my safety bubble, so you couldn't get me anyways!"
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"Water powers?" she repeated. "Oooh, that would be great!"
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"What powers do you want the most?" Manai asks after a tiny bit. "Is it really water powers?"
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Helen thought for a long moment. "...No, I think I'd want the power to make bad people go away."
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"Bad people manipulation?" Manai jokes, though it seems she takes the thought seriously.
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Helen nodded. "Yeah, that."
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Manai grins a bit more, but her expression fades somewhat as she sees how serious Helen looks. "...have some people been bothering you?"
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The bird girl seemed confused by that. "Don't you? Everyone has people chasing them."
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Manai ponders that. "I don't think I do," she concludes after a bit of thought.
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"You don't think so? What do you mean?" Helen seemed do have grown tense.
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"I mean, I don't think I'm being chased by anyone," Manai says as explanation.
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"Maybe you just haven't seen them yet. They're sneaky."
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Manai holds a laugh in--the laugh was supposed to accompany the first part of her response--since it's not really the time to do so. Perpetual cheer problems, supposedly. "No, I don't think so. Who's been bothering you?"
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"The Hunters." She breathed the word and quickly took a look around, as if worried saying their name would summon them.
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They don't quite work that way, I think.
Manai, as she doesn't quite know what the Hunters are, doesn't have an immediate reaction the title, but then again, she hadn't expected to. She looks around the surroundings calmly. "Do you feel safe talking about it here, or do you want to go somewhere else? Inside a building somewhere, maybe?"
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"Somewhere safe," she squeaked. "Where no one else is around."
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That'd be a questionable choice if Manai were someone evil, but she isn't. She nods and looks around almost inconspicuously.
There's really not a lot of places to go to where no one's around, and there's also not a lot of room for her to interpret what's safe or not. She struggles to make a decision quickly as a result, but her gaze quickly hones on on something yet unseen. Maybe she can see it somehow.
"Are you okay with going over there?" she asks, gesturing faintly towards that direction.
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Helen squinted to where Manai was pointing. "What's over there?"
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"Well, no people," Manai says with a small laugh. "It's a bit less likely for anyone to, uhm, jump out from nearby."
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"...Ok, that sounds good," she agreed. Slowly, she got to her feet.
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Manai reaches out her hand on impulse, as if afraid Helen might fall while standing up from shaky legs or something. She gives an encouraging smile. "Okay! This way please!" She starts in the direction and stops slightly to wait for the other girl.
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Helen seemed unsettled by the gesture, and quickly pulled her hand back to her side. "I'm coming!" she said, following the other along.
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Manai skips down the path as a child would.
As they go in the direction that the girl pointed to, it can be seen that there is a pond there with some shrubbery and some trees. There is no bench, and the path does not lead to it. The pond itself is fairly small but not too small, its water clear, but the land around it is dry and a pair of squirrels skitter on one of the trees in play.
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"It's pretty here," Helen remarked, completely out of the blue.
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"I think so too," Manai agrees with a small smile. She skids to a halt near the pond. "Wanna go nearer to the water?"
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"Nearer do the water, please." Helen stepped closer to it and stared down at it.