Winter: More acutely than Rikka, Winter has internalized the equivalent of the world of cardboard speech.

Ever since she crushed her first Kindle with her bare hands, she's had a certain feeling that things break when she gets angry.

And so she tries hard to keep her emotions in check so she doesn't do something she'll regret.

Beyond that... I mostly have to keep in mind that Winter isn't the timid girl I first picked up.

She's much less afraid to speak her mind than she used to be, and she's willing to rise to the occasion if she has to.

Raz took mine, so Chrono/Kevin

Well, lemme hit Rikka first, at least.

I think... well. The big one that keeps hitting me is that her dependence on Mana comes and goes, particularly during major emotional swings.

If she's depressed, she'll cling. Badly. But if she's feeling particularly headstrong, she doesn't really... need Mana to be capable of getting things done?

Rikka has the power to become her own person, and eventually, she gets there. And that's something to be conscious of, because even when Mana is her everything, she still has to keep herself a separate entity.

Also, Rikka being the brains of the operation means she gets to break out the big words nobody else uses. Thankfully, her friends are pretty much at the same level, so there's no Book Dumb going on.

That brings me to original strength Chrono. Who is... an interesting case, to my mind.

The biggest problem for Chrono, and one I've mentioned before, is that he's bound by The Book and everything within.

So there's a certain running undertone of "but what happens in the Bureau if he does this? Is this legal? Would he actually get away with this?"

Sometimes, that answer is no, and I have to reel him in and give him an appropriately dejected response.

Sometimes, that answer is yes, and Chrono reminds you there's an Arc-en-ciel on his boat. Or that he knows how to wrangle Midchildan magic better than anyone else aboard, power limits aside.

There's also the fact that he definitely doesn't act his age to keep in mind. Chrono doesn't do "kid things". Ever.

If it didn't create a huge dissonance with point number one, he'd be the kind of person you'd expect to go drinking after work, typical salaryman attitude.

(Instead, he goes and pores over legends and captain's logs after work.)

Kevin is the same thing, but magnified. Not so much the first part - he knows his job, and he knows what his limits are. And, to an extent, when the result is more important than the method.

Chrono won't break the rules to get the job done. Kevin absolutely will.

I miss these characters a lot

But he definitely has the same problem with "married to work". It took Natalie to drag him into the sunlight, and it does show. He's a little faster to react positively to things.

I can bog him down in brooding thoughts less, too.

......aye. Well, good to keep the gears running, I guess. Just in case we find a place to throw them that won't explode in the process.