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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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."

"Oh." Howard pauses. "You're not one of those people who thinks time's circular, do you?"

Howard tries to keep his voice neutral, but it's pretty clear he thinks that kind of philosophy is downright stupid.

"I don't think so. I mean, you're overprepared, what do you lose except some time and sleep? You're underprepared, you're done for. Or you just barely scrape by."

"You mean like reincarnation? Those who follow the Living Circle religion do, but I am a Trader. When we die, Bookkeeper Oti balances the accounts of our life, and sends us to our afterlife," Daja said, feeling not entirely sure that she was following Howard correctly.

"Time and sleep are valuable - and if you prepare too much, you may mistakenly think that you have prepared for everything, and find yourself unable to deal with something that your plans have not accounted for," Daja said. "If your plans are too strict, you have no flexibility."

"No, like the idea that the worlds ends and then all this happens over again and...wait, your god is an accountant?" Howard manages to catch himself from laughing by making it sound like he's coughing, but Daja is doing nothing to raise his opinion on religion.

"You can never be prepared for everything. You only think that way if you're clueless." He folds his arms, looking somewhat uncertain, like Daja's asked a question he doesn't know entirely how to answer. Or like she's asking him to acknowledge how fragile all his nets of security and backup plans are.

"That sounds like a very strange idea," Daja said. Then she frowned, displeased with the way Howard was talking about Bookkeeper Oti. "Bookkeeper Oti is a keeper of records," she said, sounding a little cross. "A Trader must not die with debts owing. If Oti did not check to see if our records were balanced, how could we be sent to the right afterlife?"

After the life Daja had lived, Daja might not be the most Trader-like of Traders anymore. But Traders were her people, and Trader Koma and Bookkeeper Oti were gods who demanded respect. She didn't like seeing others scoff at the Trader ways and gods.

"Then why do you seem to be trying to?" Daja said, her eyebrows raised.

Ah, so apparently Traders take this economy thing very seriously. It reminds Howard a little bit of Albert. Fortunately for Howard, no nostalgic feelings of longing bubble up for his former roommate and business partner.

"I'm not saying anything. It's just, you know, me and religion don't get along so well most of the time." That's as polite and diplomatic as Howard can manage on the subject.

He shrugs. "Because it's better than just giving up, right? At least I might be ready for something, even if it's not everything. You know. When something awful happens." When, not if. Optimism is for the weak.

Daja watched Howard with slightly narrowed eyes. Daja had plenty of experience with diplomatic answers - she was a master of them herself - and she had the definite feeling that Howard was simply hiding many unpleasant thoughts.

He didn't have to believe in her gods, but she would expect to not hear him disrespect them.

"That is true," she acknowledged, bowing her head. Daja paused for a moment, and decided that it was time she was moving on. "It has been good speaking with you again, Howard," she said politely.

Howard just barely stops himself in time to keep from saying "it's okay, I've heard of dumber religions." Given that religion tends to bring out a spree of vituperative vitriol from him, it's only because he's slightly scared of Daja that he manages that much.

"Yeah. You too." He waves a bit, then stretches for a second. "Later."

With that, he runs off.

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

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