Jaskier ♫ The Sandpiper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rollstoseduce) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
victory_road2021-08-03 04:38 pm
rollstoseduce) wrote in victory_road2021-08-03 04:38 pm
Text | Evening of August 2nd
[It's finally time for the fantasy trio to leave for Kanto and start a new badge journey, and like last time, they're taking a night train to sleep through it. Or that's the idea anyway - because also like last time, Jaskier wants to take the chance to chat a bit with the network. And after a little misunderstanding from the steward regarding Kiri, there's a topic that won't leave his mind.]
Many a similarity I've found among the realms us otherworlders hail from, yet there's one thing from mine (besides witchers!) I haven't found anywhere else: the Law of Surprise.
It's a custom as old as humanity itself, the granting of a seemingly impossible wish, the price a man who saves another can demand:
"Give me that which you already have but do not know yet".
It is a request for something which neither the savior nor the saved knows the nature of, until the saved man returns home. It could be a cute little pup or a mere crop, mayhap a new pair of shoes... or even a baby. So many heroic stories from my world were starred by a Child Surprise, often known as the Children of Destiny.
So imagine yourselves, if you will, in front of a powerful king or queen that asks you what reward you'd like for your service. What is your answer?
Do you ask for gold? A lady's hand in marriage?
Or do you dare to ask for the Law of Surprise to see what Destiny has in store in for you?
((As always, Jaskier needs to be super extra with his font. Lmk if you need me to drop it!))
Many a similarity I've found among the realms us otherworlders hail from, yet there's one thing from mine (besides witchers!) I haven't found anywhere else: the Law of Surprise.
It's a custom as old as humanity itself, the granting of a seemingly impossible wish, the price a man who saves another can demand:
"Give me that which you already have but do not know yet".
It is a request for something which neither the savior nor the saved knows the nature of, until the saved man returns home. It could be a cute little pup or a mere crop, mayhap a new pair of shoes... or even a baby. So many heroic stories from my world were starred by a Child Surprise, often known as the Children of Destiny.
So imagine yourselves, if you will, in front of a powerful king or queen that asks you what reward you'd like for your service. What is your answer?
Do you ask for gold? A lady's hand in marriage?
Or do you dare to ask for the Law of Surprise to see what Destiny has in store in for you?
((As always, Jaskier needs to be super extra with his font. Lmk if you need me to drop it!))
no subject
As to why it's been done away with... Do you remember what I told you about the embodiments of Chaos and Order trying to summon a demon prince to take over Nua and start a war that would kill thousands of people and shake up what they saw as too much stagnation in our way of life?
Well, they didn't quite get the war they wanted, but my friends who managed to defeat Chaos and Order sort of blew up the records department of the Heroic Oversight Guild so that no heroes or villains could get paid, so when tens of thousands of demons spewed through portals into our plane, no heroes (or villains, for that matter) stepped up to defend people. Everyone was sort of left to their own devices. I guess that's what it took to make people realize that the system had a lot of flaws, and it was time to let it go.
no subject
If I'm allowed to take a guess as an outsider, I think that it wasn't the flaws that made them reconsider things. It was people getting hit with the truth behind the illusion.
no subject
Maybe you're right. Maybe the whole idea was just destined to fail eventually, once people realized the truth of what was going on. The system crashing and burning makes my future a little more nebulous in the short term, but long term I still know what I want to do with my life, so I guess it doesn't matter whether I'm paying the bills with villainy in the meantime.
no subject
I've always been a bard, so it's hard for me to imagine what it must feel like not to know what to do with your life. In this realm, I'm not allowed to sing in just any tavern, but there are still plenty of means to be an artist and reach a wide public, so I only had to adapt my tools, not my goals. Do you still know what you want to do with your life here or is this conclusion of yours something home-related?
no subject
no subject
no subject
I could cast Speak With Dead, sure... *If* I still had access to my magic. As it is, I'm cut off from the afterlife completely, save for the ghost Pokemon I've teamed up with!
no subject
How hard it is to express both sympathy for such tragedy but also delight for taking you to such an opportunity. Since you sound nothing but content with your life, I shall go ahead and congratulate you on having found such a father and mentor that could help you with your abilities.
Speak With Dead, you say, sounding so simple and matter-of-fact! What a marvelous spell! You could make coin and fame by solving ancient mysteries! Learning the true stories behind tragic murders committed by jealousy and greed! Imagine the opportunities!
Powers sometimes come back during particular weekends, usually once or twice per year, from what I've heard. I wonder what you could learn from using such a spell on the local population.
no subject
[ Then again, she thinks her dad would like anyone. That's not always true, but as long as they have Rainer's best interests at heart, her dad would probably come around. ]
Oh, I never thought about using Speak With Dead that way! It's fairly limited— it only lasts 10 minutes or until I ask the corpse 5 questions, whichever comes first. And the corpse only knows what they would have known up until the point that they died. I can't impart any new information to them to take to the afterlife.
I knew about the weird weekends! We had one of them a little bit after I arrived here. I mostly spent the weekend throwing a giant party with some skeletons in a cemetery in Goldenrod! That was a blast, you should've been there.
no subject
Ten minutes or five questions! How limited is that? Although I suppose if their knowledge is limited as well, they do not have any answer about what awaits them after death, now do they?
Oh, that sounds like such a unique opportunity! I'm incredibly sorry for missing it. Promise me to send me a message next time you get your magic back, I beg you. I shall sing for your skeletons and we can create the most fantastic Samhain-themed show this realm has ever had the honor to witness.
no subject