A Heroic Date?

"The End is the Beginning" - Application story, expanded

“Just ask!”

“No!” Dennis knew winning an argument with a literal embodiment of his stubbornness was an uphill battle, but he wasn’t one to back down from a fight. Especially if the fight was over something as important as whether he would need to endure the embarrassment of a rejection for years.

“You and I can rescue someone from an inferno, but you can’t bear to ask a girl’s parents if you might be able to spend some more time with her?”

“You know as well as I do that you’re not Courage!” Dennis glared up at the brown-scaled ox that was his Trait. “And it’s not the same. She’s not in dire need of a husband, especially of a peasant like myself. Her grandparents are clan founders. You know that.”

“And you’re in her clan,” Persistence insisted. “They don’t just take everyone, you know. Has the courage they’ve been teaching you not gotten through your skull yet, or does it only apply when nobody is watching?”

“This is not the same. If I mess up in an emergency, I might have to live with that, but people will encourage me. I’ve seen that happen. But if I ask and they reject me…”

“Then you’re just going to give up and look for another girl in your class?” Goodness, this was painful. Persistence knew that getting Dennis to give up on something was hard, but getting him to start was even harder, sometimes.

Dennis glared at him. “Fine!” he huffed.

---

“Say, who’s that?” Dennis whispered to the young man next to him. He wasn’t from around here, but the “Hero Clan” (and wasn’t that a pompous name—not that they didn’t do their best to live up to it) came to his village on a recruiting tour and Persistence fit their bill. The girl he was looking at wore the uniform of a leadership trainee, so that explained why he hadn’t seen her before, but boy was she pretty. The black-furred eagle on her shoulder looked fierce enough, but the leadership team, as far as Dennis had learned, didn’t really have any combat capabilities, so the mess hall was probably the only place he’d ever see her.

“You don’t know?” his buddy whispered back. “That’s Miranda.”

Nothing about the tone indicated why Dennis should know that name. He frowned and returned the obvious question, “Miranda who?”

“Of the Glade,” the answer came with an exasperated breath. “I know you’re from the middle of nowhere, but come on, man.”

Glade, Glade… Oh, this glade. The place that the clan was set up. So that meant she was from the founder’s family… and Dennis was suddenly a lot more nervous.

---

Miranda sighed. Every time they held a competition or a recruitment show or what-have-you, her family shuffled her off to someplace out of the spotlight. She’d been raised on their values of self-sacrifice and heroism and so on, but apparently they were less than happy reaping what they’d sowed when her Trait turned out to be Honor. Not that Honor was a bad Trait. She was perfect for the leadership role, as a matter of fact, but only so long as that leadership was not by example. Miranda and Honor could still rescue people, just so long as they had the abilities to get themselves out of it without her help. Which definitely did not sound as great as Honor was when you said it that way.

Today was not a competition, but they had company over and they didn’t want Honor doing her thing “on accident” (come on, she’s Honor, she’s not going to do that) and getting anybody upset, so Miranda had to eat lunch with the people in other classes. Honor, for her part, was discouraging people from speaking to Miranda. It wasn’t as fine-tuned as that might sound; she just shortened the range of the aura until it would only encourage nervousness within a few feet.

And Miranda would have stayed in her slump if not for the surprise she got when an ox moved into her space. At first, she just looked up at it in surprise and blinked. What is this doing here? But then a young man who couldn’t have possibly been with the clan very long came up behind the ox and started trying to drag it away by one of its hind legs, and she registered that the man must be the ox’s Origin by how unperturbed it was. “Come on, Persistence, move!” the boy whisper-shouted at his Trait. Miranda barely held herself back from laughing at the sight; the ox was enormous and nobody in the room would even reach its thighs. With a name like that, moving him probably would take a bit more muscle than the boy had to give.

Persistence didn’t seem to be affected by Honor, so Miranda thought talking would probably be the way to go. “Persistence, why did you decide to approach me?”

The ox appeared to take a moment to think. Perhaps it was not quite as blunt as it otherwise appeared. “You seem to need a friend,” he said. “I think Dennis would make a fine friend.”

“Shut up!” the young man responded, still suppressing his voice. His cheeks were turning red, though Miranda couldn’t be certain on the reason. He was still straining himself against his Trait’s leg.

“I see,” Miranda said, visibly ignoring the evident Dennis. “And what would it take you to let me eat my lunch in peace?”

“This conversation was enough.” Persistence turned and Dennis stumbled as he moved. Miranda did not laugh, but she felt certain she would later, in private. That ox was an existence unto itself.

---

“Just ask!”

“No!” Dennis knew winning an argument with a literal embodiment of his stubbornness was an uphill battle, but he wasn’t one to back down from a fight. Especially if the fight was over something as important as whether he would need to endure the embarrassment of a rejection for years.

“You and I can rescue someone from an inferno, but you can’t bear to ask a girl’s parents if you might be able to spend some more time with her?”

“You know as well as I do that you’re not Courage!” Dennis glared up at the brown-scaled ox that was his Trait. “And it’s not the same. She’s not in dire need of a friend—” Dennis had almost said “husband,” but it was way too early for that— “especially if it’s a peasant like myself. Her grandparents are clan founders. You know that.”

“And you’re in her clan,” Persistence insisted. “They don’t take everyone, you know. Has the courage they’ve been teaching you not gotten through your skull yet, or does it only apply when nobody is watching?”

“This is not the same. If I mess up in an emergency, I might have to live with that, but people will encourage me. I’ve seen that happen. But if I ask and they reject me…”

“Then you’re just going to give up and look for another girl?” Goodness, this was painful. Persistence knew that getting Dennis to give up on something was hard, but getting him to start was even harder, sometimes.

Dennis glared at him. “Fine!” he huffed.

That conversation was only the evening after Dennis first saw Miranda, but it was a couple of weeks before he saw her again. Not that it was for lack of trying: attempting to meet with the heads of the clan took time, especially if what you wanted to talk about had nothing to do with your work. Dennis even had to take another real mission after several times checking on his request’s progress, which meant a few days away from the hall altogether. But when he returned, he found a summons waiting for him.

After making himself presentable, Dennis led Persistence over to the meeting tent. They had a house, but the tent was where they met with general clan members—perhaps because those members tended to be dirtier than their more noble house guests. It was a bit of a hike to the nearest water feature and wells weren’t for bathing. The guard at the door let him by after a wave of his summons, and Dennis was able to see the interior of the tent for the first time.

It was a roomy tent indeed, but with the humans and Traits already inside, it was starting to feel a little cramped. What he could see that was not alive included a table with a very large map of the area spread out on it, a few marking figures placed here and there upon the map. A box of additional markers peeked out from behind the table. Closer to the entrance than the map was six identical wooden chairs, and three of those already held occupants. In the middle sat Bruce, a particularly muscular man despite his age who exuded even more strength than his enormous bear Trait, as if that was even possible. To his right sat his wife, Nicole, who was petting her vibrantly red ferret; on his left, Miranda. Both Miranda and her furry eagle looked distinctly uncomfortable.

“Take a seat!” Bruce’s voice boomed. “Show me your Trait in full!”

While the statement wasn’t entirely accurate to what Persistence could do, it was the sort of pep talk Dennis needed. He stood up a little straighter, then marched over to the center seat opposite Bruce, standing still for a moment before taking a seat in a professional manner.

“Now, to what end did you make a personal request to me?”

It was on the form Dennis had filled out weeks ago, but he supposed that it didn’t hurt to repeat the statement. He had to show that he meant what he said. “Sir, my training is for bodyguarding. Miranda’s is… not.” It had taken some work, but he did find out that she was doing leadership, and she usually ate separately with her family. Her training wasn’t relevant to the request, however. “But could you rearrange things a little so that we might be able to see each other more often? Persistence and I agree that the four of us spending time together would perhaps be helpful to all of us.” The ox nodded as well.

When Dennis finished speaking, the tent was silent for several seconds. It took so long that Dennis nearly opened his mouth again, but he froze when Bruce suddenly and broadly guffawed. Everyone stayed quiet while the clan head laughed, waiting for him to finish and say something, which he did promptly. “Boy, be straight with me: you want to spend time specifically with my daughter? And it’s not just because of her station?”

Dennis took a breath first—no need to appear hasty—then nodded. “In the mess hall, she seemed lonely. I believe I could be a good friend.”

“And better than a friend?” His implication was beyond clear.

“If it comes to that, yes.” Dennis found himself turning mildly pink, but he was doing his best to keep his eyes on his conversation partner rather than the beauty in the corner.

“And your Trait, Persistence. What can he do? Not every Trait of the same name is the same, you may recall.”

“He is immune to harm by any means, sir. When we focus, I gain a little of that.”

“Immune to harm? What of help?”

“I am what I am,” Persistence answered in Dennis’s stead. “No more, no less.”

“Hm.” Bruce paused a moment before turning to his daughter. “Miranda, what do you make of that? Do you think he could become a good friend?”

Miranda blinked. She hadn’t honestly expected the conversation as a whole, though thinking back to the name and her chat with the ox, it did make sense. But here: her father asking for her input was quite rare, however often she sat in on his meetings. She had to take some time to think.

Persistence is immune to… everything, huh? It wouldn’t do to ask Honor if that included her ability, not during this meeting, but the ox’s demeanor from before perhaps answered her question. And Dennis can be immune as well. Someone that Honor cannot influence does sound nice. It’s been a few years since I could have that kind of friendship. Her friends of younger years had all gotten their Traits and gone into training wherever they fit, and they didn’t really keep up especially after they learned about Honor’s ability. Miranda couldn’t really blame them; abilities that could mess with people’s heads always sounded creepier than they really were.

“Dennis, do you know what Honor can do?” Miranda spoke at last. She stroked her eagle’s head as she said it, perhaps for clarity for Dennis’s sake. The eagle let out a shrill noise that didn’t sound displeased.

That hadn’t come up in his research. “No, I do not. Why?”

“She can encourage you to think a certain way. I know that sounds invasive. I understand if you don’t wish to pursue this anymore.”

It wasn’t the first Dennis had heard of such abilities. He was pretty sure most weren’t in the clan; there were tales of brigands who could strike unnatural fear into their targets. Persistence wasn’t the only Trait with physical invincibility, but mental immunity seemed rarer in the clan. But if Dennis could walk through a collapsing building without getting a scratch on him, he felt pretty assured that he could withstand a friend who might try to mess with him. It wasn’t like they were foes. And the eagle’s name was Honor, for crying out loud.

“I can manage that,” Dennis said confidently.

“And there we have it!” Bruce declared. “I’ll work something out for you.”