trans_9 | But Sooner Or Later God'll Cut You Down [Open]

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But Sooner Or Later God'll Cut You Down [Open]

'Running away' is, in Howard's opinion, the most useful thing the human body can do. And unfortunately, he has plenty of reasons to think it will come in handy at some point, or at various points, in the future.

That's why he's set up a 400 yard circular track-slash-obstacle course in Hydroponics, as well as set up markers for hundred meter, two hundred meter, and mile routes. Every other morning, before Med Bay shifts, he's here, improving on speed and stamina. He knows full well that even if he gets into the best shape of his life, he can still be outrun (or outflown) by his super-powered, magical or metahuman peers, but it's better to have that added little bit of competence if and when he ends up sprinting away from danger.

He's feeling the results, too. There's no way to time if he's getting faster, but where he was once just skinny, he's becoming lean, and the mile run that used to exhaust him leaves him considerably less winded than it did a few months ago. And he's getting much more confident going through the tunnels and up the ladders of the obstacle course.

The only thing looking worse for the wear is his shoes. At some point he's going to have to relegate his velociraptor shoes to a beloved keepsake, because the seams are literally coming apart around his toes.

Howard double-knots his shoelaces and stretches a bit before running the obstacle course again.

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"If you want to explain, I will do my best to understand," Daja said politely. She wouldn't press any further, but she would listen if Howard wished to talk.

"Oh, a rest day, I see," Daja said, nodding. "And yes, I am very lucky. For a long time I was alone from my world. It means a lot to me, that she is here with me."

Sandry was one reason why Daja wasn't working as constantly anymore - if there was anyone Daja could count on to nose into Daja's work hours and make sure she was getting a break, it was Sandry.

Howard pauses for a second, then decides on honesty. "We starved back home, for almost a year. Not just like hungry starving, but cannibalism and eating garbage starving. So it's not practical to need more food, in case it happens again."

He doesn't say 'in case I have to go back' because he doesn't want anyone thinking he'd sabotage the crew's efforts to restore their world to spare himself a second round with his homeward. He wouldn't, but it would be a bald-faced lie to say he doesn't bounce the thought around in his head at night. "And anyway, eating in front of other people is just weird. It always feels like a performance or something."

He tilts his head a bit, subtly appraising Daja. He supposes she does look a little more relaxed than the last time he saw her, but it could just be that she's not at work, and not in a business setting at the moment.

"I never had any siblings. Are you two, like…?" He links his middle finger over his index finger, the gesture for 'close' or 'tight'. "Because even though I don't like the people Spacey Stacy brought over from my home, I think it helps just having them around. It's nice not having to explain everything all the time to anyone."

And then realizing he's spent the last few minutes explaining advertising to Daja, he catches himself. "I mean, no offense."

"I see," Daja said, her expression kind. She still wasn't sure if Howard was someone she liked, but she could feel for him, with what he's been through. "My brother faced the same thing, you know. He used to live on the streets. Although he never tried to eat less food. He actually hoarded quite a bit of it, in case one day it wouldn't be there anymore."

Briar had eventually learned that he wouldn't have to worry about where his next meal would come form anymore, but it had taken a while.

"Yes, we're close. All four of us are - we aren't blood siblings, but we are family. Although we have had times we're we've been at odds," she said. At Howard's quick apology, she smiled wryly. "Of course," she said, amused. "It can be tiring indeed, not having anyone who understands your ways."

Howard flinches a bit at the comment about hoarding. He's not about to mention that he engages in such behavior - that just means that if things go sour, people will know he's the one to rob. Even if Daja doesn't suspect that Howard's guilty of it, she's familiar with the behavior of people who've starved.

"It's not about eating less. It's just about needing less, in case. I eat plenty here."

He smiles and gives a quick nod back, glad to have not inadvertently offended her. "If you aren't blood siblings, why?"

Considering that her own brother had done the, Daja certainly couldn't be one to judge even if he had hoarded. But she decided not to comment on the way he'd flinched - Howard had his pride, she could tell. He didn't need her to make an issue of it.

"They are my foster siblings. When I lost my family, I was sent to Winding Circle Temple to live, and we all ended up living together."

It's strange how the more he talks to Daja, the more he's finding in common with her, rather than different. Sure, she doesn't come from a world with advertising or World of Warcraft, but she comes from a place where starvation wasn't unheard of, and where entire families are things that can be 'lost'. Not that these things don't happen in most worlds, but usually they're things you hear about, not see up close and personal.

At the same time, Howard can't imagine getting close enough to anyone to consider them 'family'.

"Was that like, some kind of orphanage?" It sounds religious, which Howard fins dumb, but Zouichi's already pointed out that Howard can be a little harsh when it comes to spirituality.

It wasn't frequent, but starvation and death wasn't uncommon in Daja's world. Every city housed people like the poor, in the slums and the lower parts of town. For her world, that was just the way things were.

"An orphanage? No, it is a temple of the Living Circle religion. Some of the children are sent to live there because they have no family to care for them, yes, but many go to Winding Circle to receive an education, particularly in magic. That's why I was, although at the time I didn't know I had magic at all."

"Wait, so you opted into an education?" Not that that's entirely different than Howard opting into learning medicine, but he's picturing the temple as a schoolhouse now, and the idea of ever voluntarily attending school is absurd to him. "What for?"

"Why would I not?" Daja said, looking at Howard like a little bit odd. "Everyone needs to learn. Especially with magic - if you don't learn how to control it, it can be very dangerous."

"Because formal school is like..." Howard pulls a face. "I don't know, I hated every minute of it. I learn better on my own, or from watching other people do things and figuring out what they do. I just wouldn't ever want to go back if I can help it. It's such a slow, weird way to learn things."

"I never said Winding Circle was a normal school," Daja said, amused. "They did offer classes, of course, but Winding Circle is no Lightsbridge. Ambient magic such as mine is more...practical. It's not the kind of magic you can learn in a classroom."

Lazily, Daja drew a circle in the dirt with the end of her staff. "Winding Circle is where I learned smithing," she added.

Howard doesn't understand part of what Daja says - Lightsbridge? - but he nods anyway. "What...is ambient magic, anyway? Because I've run into a lot of different magics around here and never heard anyone call it that before."

"As far as I can tell, ambient magic is unique to my world," Daja said. She had yet to meet anyone from another world who understood the term, so it was the only conclusion she could come to. "Unlike academic magic, ambient magic is rooted in ordinary and natural things. For instance, my magic is rooted in fire and metal, and the strength of my magic comes from not just myself, but from the fire and metal itself. It's like...when I use my magic, I don't just place a spell. My magic becomes a part of the metal. Do you understand?"

He doesn't, quite. He doesn't understand how that's different than enchanting an object itself, but he doesn't want to come across as slow, so he nods. "Yeah, makes sense. So that's why you went into smithing, right? Because that's the marriage, I guess, of your two elements or whatever."

"I didn't actually know I had magic when I started learning," Daja said with a smile. "But my magic is a part of me. Having learned how to use it, I couldn't imagine living my life without using it."

Howard bites back saying something extremely pessimistic, about how you should never get so used to something you love that you don't have a plan for what to do if you lose it. "Man, all you guys and your magic and superpowers. It kind of sucks being baseline. The most special I can do is build things and I'm still nowhere near Engineering's level on any of it."

"Don't you think being able to build things is special?" Daja inquired. "Magic can do much, yes, but so can human creativity and ingenuity. And even with magic like mine, the strength of my magic depends on the quality of my blacksmithing. Magic is a tool, like any other, and just one of many."

"It's not special. Better than ordinary, maybe, but not special. Besides, a builder is only as good as the materials he can find." Although Howard pauses - couldn't the same be said of smithing? Poor metal couldn't possibly make a fine sword, no matter how talented the maker. "So if your magic and smithing are correlated, would you even be magic if you didn't smith anything?"

"And magic is only as strong as your will - and in the case of ambient magic, your craft. If the metal is weak, my magic can only do so much," Daja pointed out. Then she paused, considering Howard's question - it wasn't one that had ever occurred to her before. "I would still be magic, because it is a part of me. I would still have that connection to fire and metal, but I wouldn't have the right outlet for my magic. I would still be able to sense different kinds of metals and touch fire without being burned, for example, but I would be unable to make anything like the creations that I can make by smithing."

Howard things it probably goes without saying that even if he were magic, his magic would, like his will, be fairly weak.

"So it's sort of nature and nurture, isn't it? I mean, it's weird to think about those things that are inherited- no, I mean..." he pauses, trying to find the word 'inherent' and aware he missed it, but unable to pull it out of the air. "Anyway, that are just part of us, right? It's about what happens to us and what we do, too. Like the whole would-people-still-be-awful thing, if they weren't in awful situations. You'd still be magic, it'd just be latent."

Howard catches himself, realizing he's rambling about something only tangentially related to their conversation. "Sorry. Anyway. Like I said, it's just weird to think about."

"Yes, in a way. Some mages are naturally more powerful than others, but without improve their skill they would never become Great Mages," Daja said nodding. "Although in the case of magic, not learning to at least control your own magic is dangerous. Sometimes exceedingly so, with particular kinds of magic."

Daja doesn't show any signs that she minds the rambling - if anything, she enjoys talking about her magic. "It's quite alright. And now that you mention it, it is rather weird to think about. Without magic, my life would be quite different." In fact she wouldn't even be alive - she would be dead, along with the rest of her family.

"Sometimes when kids developed superpowers back home, they'd get themselves lit on fire or end up half-phased into walls or almost burying themselves alive. Or hurting other people. But it's not like we really had a structured training system for them, so, well." Howard shrugs. "You just hope to not get fried by anyone on accident, I guess."

He folds his arms, furrows his brow a little and tilts his head over in a clear expression of Serious Thinking. "I don't know, I think a lot about those things we just take for granted. Things just can change that fast-" he snaps his fingers- "so it's best to have a plan for everything, you know?"

Daja winced. "That is exactly why learning to control your magic is so important," she said. "In fact, that is the reason why any mage that discovers someone with magic is responsible for either teaching them, or finding them someone who can. In exchange for the teachings we received, that is our responsibility."

Although Daja herself hadn't been too keen on the idea when she'd first found a pair of untrained mages. Still, she'd come to see why it was so important.

"They can," she said, her expression serious. The death of her own family was proof enough of that. "But to have a plan for everything is impossible. I don't imagine that anyone would have been able to predict the destruction of our universes - or the fact that we would all wake up here, on this strange ship."

He nods. "But that's begging the question that people who know how to use their magic already exist by then. Once upon a time, way back, there had to be someone who was completely S-O-L when they discovered they were the world's first magician."

Howard punches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. "No, not like that. But I mean, just having plans for basic contingencies. Like, showing up here, I knew what to do without any of the people I knew at home. I knew what to look for. But then again, I guess I didn't lose all that much when my universe bit the dust."

Daja frowned. "But there has always been magic," she said, perplexed by the very idea. "And before humans, there were the gods."

She looked at Howard, considering. In theory, Howard's attitude was entirely sensible. But form all her experience with Howard, Daja had the sinking feeling that the young man tended to take this attitude too far. "Having plans for basic contingencies is certainly a good idea. But there comes a point where planning becomes...well, too much."

But Sooner Or Later God'll Cut You Down [Open]

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