((right it wont let me edit the original so here is the edited new timeline post))
"Well, not me alone. Me and my crew, and some people we picked up along the way." She is shaking a little with relief; she saw in his face that he understands, as it were, the situation. "Like I said, those in the know are just - resigned to it. Maybe they're right, they're all a lot older than me. But there has to be a solve, something - "
At some point in her lecture, she'd stopped walking. Now she leans against the wall, crushing the butt of her cigarette under one heel, and lights up another.
"We call them horrors, or just the enemy. Mostly just 'the enemy.' I dunno how it works for you, but for us - if we name them, it gives them a foothold, right? Like we're saying they're supposed to be there, we've made them part of our world, in a super literal way. So 'the enemy' is about as specific as anyone likes to get."
She gestures a little with her cigarette, the smoke trailing in random patterns. "What threw me is, like, for us, being a magic user doesn't present like, a special risk? Maybe it makes it easier for some of them to find you and turn you, but - heck, if you aren't awakened, they can just, you know, wake up the magic already in you if that's what you want. They don't need you to be able to use magic to get you. So if the bastards have a foothold, everyone's equally at risk. There's no safety in just not using magic, because the magic that's letting them in is the rising mana levels of reality itself, and even if no one ever slung a spell ever again they'd still be here and operating."
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"Well, not me alone. Me and my crew, and some people we picked up along the way." She is shaking a little with relief; she saw in his face that he understands, as it were, the situation. "Like I said, those in the know are just - resigned to it. Maybe they're right, they're all a lot older than me. But there has to be a solve, something - "
At some point in her lecture, she'd stopped walking. Now she leans against the wall, crushing the butt of her cigarette under one heel, and lights up another.
"We call them horrors, or just the enemy. Mostly just 'the enemy.' I dunno how it works for you, but for us - if we name them, it gives them a foothold, right? Like we're saying they're supposed to be there, we've made them part of our world, in a super literal way. So 'the enemy' is about as specific as anyone likes to get."
She gestures a little with her cigarette, the smoke trailing in random patterns. "What threw me is, like, for us, being a magic user doesn't present like, a special risk? Maybe it makes it easier for some of them to find you and turn you, but - heck, if you aren't awakened, they can just, you know, wake up the magic already in you if that's what you want. They don't need you to be able to use magic to get you. So if the bastards have a foothold, everyone's equally at risk. There's no safety in just not using magic, because the magic that's letting them in is the rising mana levels of reality itself, and even if no one ever slung a spell ever again they'd still be here and operating."
She shrugs.
"Presents a real problem, I tell you."