To All Heroes

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

To Everybody:

Whether we've met or not, I'd appreciate a reply from as many people as are willing, especially if you didn't just come from a version of Earth.

So, let's talk holidays. Christmas, I was willing to let pass as a coincidence. Any civilized planet out there with a winter season ends up with some version of a winter solstice. It doesn't matter the time or the planet or the alien race, they've got some kind of tradition that we would recognize. Celebration for being 'almost out of the dark,' as a friend of mine would put it.

But Valentine's Day? Definitely a product of Earth, of a specific time period of Earth, to be sure. At least, in my experience. And that's where you guys come in. Anybody else, not from Earth, have a custom or a legend like this? Something specifically surrounding a holiday, something that's celebrated. Also, is anybody else reading up on Aqures Ixen legends enough to know if we're going all going to be dealing with rabbits and eggs in two months? If so, I'm calling shenanigans now.

-Captain Jack Harkness

Comments

[line_piece]

Was that one based on a famous thousand year old rabbit?

-Chiaki

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Thousand year old rabbit? Not really. Easter, well, depending on who you ask, it's either a religious holiday, or a holiday about the return of spring, or an excuse to hide colored eggs.

Now I've gotta hear the story about the thousand year-old rabbit, though.

-Jack

[line_piece]

I don't know about thousand year old rabbits, but there is the celestial brush-god of the moon. She appears with a mochi-pounding mallet and teaches an ability that can turn day into night.

-Chiaki

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

This is another one of those conversations where I'm missing some key context from the world you come from, isn't it? What to ask first? Let's go with "teaches an ability that can turn day into night?" How do you do that?

-Jack

[line_piece]

You have to draw a crescent-shaped brushstroke across the sky in the pattern of a backwards 'C.' It's useful when there's a quest you can only complete at nighttime but you don't want to wait for it to happen on its own.

-Chiaki

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

And then you can turn day into night, whenever you want? Okay, I'll accept the 'magic' explanation only so far. What happens if you've got a whole bunch of people who have this ability? Do they just keep changing up the day/night cycle whenever? What? How does that not drive everybody crazy?

-Jack

[line_piece]

No, only one person can have this ability at a time. It would get too confusing otherwise.

-Chiaki

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Okay. Fair enough. I guess, my next question, is that kind of how magic works in your world? The mages here all seem to have access to the same kinds of magic, fireballs, or healing spells. Which is neat, but pretty generic, compared to being able to change day into night. Magic's more powerful where you come from, but only one person can know some things at a time?
-Jack

[line_piece]

No, that kind of stuff exists too. It just depends on the setting.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Oh! Have you traveled to more than one other world before? I used to travel between worlds, just not between realities like this. And here I didn't think you were experienced at this kind of thing.

[line_piece]

No, this is the first time.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Okay, I'm confused. Trying to unravel this whole magic thing is new to me, sorry, if I'm asking so many questions. But you've seen more than one system of magic before, depending on the setting? How can that change, then?

1/3

[line_piece]

Well, sometimes you're playing an MMO and sometimes you're playing single player. There's a lot more flexibility available when there's only a single hero.

2/3

[line_piece]

3/3

[line_piece]

...I should have mentioned a lot earlier that I was talking about a video game, probably.

1/2

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Of course you were.

2/2

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Wait a minute, though, I can still use this. There's magic here, actual magic, have you seen a world like this in a video game?

[line_piece]

Not exactly like this, but there are similar tropes. That's why I knew what most of the Jobs did right away.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Well, I suppose some of it's pretty self-explanatory. Archers shoot things, not hard to figure out. Haven't quite gotten the hang of this Dark Knight thing, other than 'hit things with swords.'

I'd love to know how the concept of 'kung fu monks' got over here, though. Usually, the word 'monk' conjures up images of religious hermits, not people who can do flying kicks.

[line_piece]

Oh, I can tell you all about the Dark Knight class if that's what you want to know about.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Really? Well, then, I am all ears. How would you explain it? It's like, these sword attacks seem to draw on energy, but what kind? I'm, what's the best way to put this? Tapped out of the life energy I used to have?

Long story.

[line_piece]

That's pretty much it. In games, they'd call it 'HP' or 'Hit Points.' It's really just a numerical way of measuring your life force. Dark Knight attacks drain HP in exchange for dealing more damage. It's a risky strategy, but if you pair up with a healing class like White Mage it can be really effective.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Wait. So maybe this is like something I've done before. I'm going to have to test some of this out.

But, you said it's safer if you've got a White Mage with you, hunh? Any chance you're going to be free for some training sometime soon?

[line_piece]

A White Mage can heal the Dark Knight after each attack, making it possible to use their strongest techniques indefinitely.

[She smiles just a touch at that.]

I'm free now if you want to try it out.

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Let's set something up behind the house, before we try this on something that's hitting back.
-----

When Chiaki gets back to the house, Jack is working on setting up a makeshift target. He's still a little uncomfortable holding the sword; it's just not a weapon he's trained with before. He raises a hand and smiles with Chiaki appears. "Hey. Thanks for agreeing to this."