mogmelodies | To All Heroes

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To All Heroes

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

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"Yeah? Were ya headin' to the next one, or on vacation? Hope not vacation, cuz otherwise you got robbed, man. I know what ya mean, though. When I left Exsilium, it was March. I show up here, it's December. My birthday was in January, and as far as I'm concerned, this past January don't count."

He goes ahead and orders himself another drink - this guy can really put them away.

"I hope there's a chance we can get a vacation here. Is there a beach around here? Or hell, I'd go now. Mountains ain't far off. Wonder if this place's heard of snowboarding."

Jack stretches and leans back in his chair exaggeratedly. "Vacation. The permanent kind. British Government decided my division wasn't worth the trouble any more. Wish I could see the looks on everybody's faces when they find out that I just casually closed up that rift for them on my way out the door. You're welcome, and fuck you very much," Jack finishes up that sentence with a rude gesture.

Hunh. Looks like Jack needs another drink, too. "North sea coast, it's all cliffs and cold, fun times, but not exactly speedo weather."

"There's this place out west, haven't been yet, but airships go there all the time, Transo Gol-sau-cia?" He has to take a second to pronounce it out. "Locals make it out like the equivalent of Vegas. Which, after that crap," Jack points at Johnny, "sounds like you need."

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend snowboarding in a speedo. But ya got a point. I think I've had enough snow after Exsilium to last me a long damn time. Maybe this Vegas place is a better idea."

He does seem to like the idea, until he remembers how broke he is. But he also obstinately refuses to get a real job, and gets by on playing music on corners or for the occasional pub or theater gig. It was a good thing the roof over his his head was already covered, or he'd be in trouble.

"Guess I better start savin' up. And hope no one decides to wage war on the place til I get a chance to visit."

"Oh, don't even joke about that," Jack shakes his head. "That's when we know they're serious, because attacking a neutral place like that? Something that's mostly for entertainment? That's what'll really get people off their asses and fighting."

"But I can't really complain about the paydays for this hero gig. Or, really, you should see the amount of cash my room mate is floating around with. She's a natural at one of the card games here. It's not exactly direct gambling, like poker? But she gets ridiculous amounts of money for card games. I should'a gotten in on that, but it just doesn't quite make sense to me."

"Man. This place is pretty sweet if ya can make a livin' like that. I'm just a musician, though. Make what I can in the town squares and bars 'n stuff. I think business will pick up once the weather gets warmer.

"I don't really got many other skills. I was pretty good at fighting, then I got here and they took all my strength from me." He rolls his eyes at that, thinking how backwards this whole Job thing is. "I worked so damn hard to become a decent fighter while in Exsilium. Learned from the best. I mean, the whole Dark Knight/Monk thing is cool, I guess, but I woulda rather left things the way they were."

"In one way, oh, tell me about it," Jack shakes his head. "Gimme a gun over this bow-and-arrow crap any day. Why, how am I suddenly a terrible shot? I've been doing this-" slight amendment of what Jack was about to say there, "for- a really long time. How do my hands just forget overnight everything they knew about shooting a gun?"

Jack taps himself on the chest. "Same thing for the second job, Dark Knight. It works on a weird logic, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The idea of absorbing energy from your opponent, literally stealing their time away to add to your own? And then turning that energy back around to power the attacks? That's about the only way I can frame it."

"Same said card-game-playing roommate is also a White Mage, and it makes a lot better sense when you've got a healer backing you up." Jack shakes his head again in bewilderment. "It's still all so- ridiculous."

"And a little creepy, when you think about it. Truth be told, I may switch off this Dark Knight thing. I dunno. Maybe I'm just overthinking it."

Almost as creepy as his own demonic ability, which was sealed away along with his strength. Charm was just as creepy, and he didn't miss having that one at all.

"Yeah. I mean, I've seen a lotta movies, play a lot of games, read a lot of comics. Never did I think a world like this actually existed. But in Exsilium, we had people from all over the damn place. A lotta elves. Dragons. Other demons, even."

"Wow, that sounds-" Double-take as Johnny's words register, and then Jack's look turns confused. "Other demons?" Without thinking about it, Jack glances up at Johnny's horns, and suddenly it all makes sense.

"Maybe I should'a also asked about the world you came from before Exsilium, then?" He doesn't look creeped out at all, just very curious and fascinated, as he props his head up on a hand.

"Oh, uh. Yeah." Johnny rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed about the slip. This isn't the first time someone asked him about his world, but it was always hard to describe what's normal to you to others. He mulled it over for a moment.

"I dunno, it's just my home. I'm from Manhattan, and it was 2012 when I left. And I'm only half-demon. And while I was still there, I only met one other demon ever. Like, it's just humans, really. There ain't really other people like me runnin' around."

He'll leave out the part where his unknown father was an incubus. Or about the angels. That's a little much for him at the moment.

Johnny frowns as he looks into his glass, away from Jack. "That other demon - Lukas is his name - he was here. He showed up as one of those crystallized people last month. I spent two years lookin' for his stupid ass, and he turns up here like that." He mutters something blue before taking a long drink.

"Shit." Because what else do you say to a thing like that? "I know we're going to try to get those people back." Jack frowns. "But, if the people in the hospital are anything to go on, no idea what to do with them once we have them."

Crap, nope, this is bringing up things Jack doesn't want to think about. "Does that mean that everybody who comes here is stuck here, one way or another? Stuck fighting or eventually lapse into those crystals? Means dragging the Doctor here has messed up my timeline for good, and nobody gets the benefit of actually having him help."

The look on Jack's face has turned sour, and he matches Johnny's long drink. "Fuck. Sorry. About every step of this process. Sorry. Because nobody else is apologizing."

Johnny just shakes his head. "Ain't anything you should be sorry for. Someone else owes us all an apology. 'Specially if you know someone stuck like that, too. Who knows, maybe someday we'll figure out a way to reverse it, what with all the magicky bullshit that goes on here."

He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought, before speaking up again in a quiet grumble.

"Lukas might be a demon, but ya'd never meet someone more harmless in yer life. What I wanna know is why those who get brought here, get brought here. Why were we chosen?"

Jack props up his head with one hand. "Now isn't that the million dollar question? Part of me wants to say that it'd be easier to bring the noncombatants, right? Like, if they're going to give their 'Heroes' whatever powers they need in the first place, just bring in people who don't already have stuff going for them."

"But no, for some reason, they get people who already have abilities," he gestures to Johnny, "or fighting experience," waves a hand at himself, "and rewrite what we know into what they want us to be. It's stupid."

"I'd kind of understand, if it didn't seem so systematic. Like," Jack waves a hand in a circle, as if trying to will his thoughts into making more sense, "somehow what we were in our old reality isn't real here, so we have to get changed to fit the laws of reality of this world? That guy, Sephiroth, was saying something about that."

"Hnn, maybe. Ya think that'd be more, uh... polarizing or somethin', though. I mean, I haven't seen any other demons here. I don't think there are any. If they are, I don't think they're like me. You'd think in that case, I'd end up turned human or somethin'. Or half somethin' else. Same goes for anyone else who ain't human or hypello or moogle or whatever."

Johnny just shook his head. The more he tried to understand, the more questions he came up with instead. "I doubt any reason I'm ever given as to why I'm here'll be a good one. 'N if ya ask me, there's a difference between someone who doesn't know how to fight, and a guy like Lukas. I wouldn't call him a pacifist or anythin', but he just..." Was too dumb? Too nice? "I dunno. I guess not every Hero here's a combatant. But I doubt any of 'em bargain for human souls, like he does."

Jack gives Johnny a truly startled look at that. "And here I was about to suggest that the 'human souls' thing was just a cliche. Really? Life form not native to Earth, not human, my timeline would categorize you all as 'aliens.' But, the stories are somewhat true?"

"I guess it's hard to ask 'what's the difference between a demon and an alien' if you don't have any aliens. So, what's the deal, where do you come from, then?"

Johnny holds up a hand and ticks off a finger for each demon he can give an example of: "Demons who bargain for yer soul, demons who's job it is to give you nightmares, demons who make sure everything you own turns to shit, demons who... well, ya get the idea. Yeah man, they're out there. Least they are in my world. Most people don't know about 'em. Hell, I still barely do."

He taps a finger on the bar as he thinks that question over. "What's the deal? Who knows. Maybe there are aliens there. And vampires. And whatever the fuck else. Cuz if there's angels and demons that most people aren't aware of, who's to say all that other shit ain't around either?"

"There were certainly things like that, where I came from, interdimensional travelers who would latch onto an idea or a piece of folklore. Somebody's belief, or what they expected something to be, that could be more powerful than anything else. They'd end up looking like your classic horned and pitchforked demon because that's what the person they were talking to expected, you know? Angels, demons, ghosts," Jack shakes his head, "it was all kind of the same. Maybe it is the same, even here."

"Bah. Us two dopes with beers aren't going to crack this all open tonight. But I guess all this crap does put you at the front of the line for explanations, when we ever find who's doing this to us."

Johnny let out a long, slow breath, and nodded in agreement with Jack's assessment.

"I hear that, man. I'm kinda resolved to never solving most of the weird shit goin' on in my life. And it's been weird since day one."

He holds up what remains in his current glass for a toast. "To us, forever the chew toys of the universe. Universes. Whatever."

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