The Rising Dawn, # 11— "Water and Luck"
- David Parker
- Oct 2, 2023
- 4 min read
[Short stories. Images generated by hotpot.ai]
Citizen Snow, provisionally a member of The Rising Dawn Society, was practicing her ability to manipulate water. Before, her abilities had been limited to water-bend with words, such that her insights, knowledge, and inspired spirit could produce remarkable feats of refreshment to her former students. Now, it was intimated by (Sir) Gallant, the lead figure of the Dawn Society, that she should practice both physical water-bending as well as ‘spiritual’ water-bending. Ms. Auspice, or Jessica Auspice, which had been her Normy name, complained that her techniques performed best when she was surrounded by her children, her beloved students.
Gallant had responded that being a Sentinel required that her water-bending skills to be several orders of magnitude greater, meaning for starters, she would need to practice with real water. Second, she would need to find the gumption to use her techniques without being in a warm and loving environment. She needed to learn to do it when she didn’t want to.
Presently, a stream of water the size of a quarter was slowly walking on thin air. Her training wasn’t done until she had drained a 2-liter of water this way, and after removing it all, neatly sent it back into the bottle.
Removing it wasn’t hard (anymore), because she didn’t need to order it so carefully. However, aiming the stream back into the bottle was nigh impossible, and every time she spilled more than she should, she became frustrated and the stream of water collapsed, soaking the tile floor. There was water everywhere from practicing all morning, 2-liter bottles likewise littering the area.
“You look tired,” said Yahtzee, who had just bumped in, making rounds that no one asked him to make. “Oh yeah? I’m only doing the physically impossible.”
Yahtzee smiled and laughed briefly. He had a face you couldn’t stay angry at.
“Can I watch?” “Well, it only makes me more frustrated,” said Snow. “But I’m a good luck charm!” said Yahtzee. “Are you?” “My Normy name is Eric Chandler. But I vastly prefer Yahtzee.” “Okay. Noted.”
There was silence.
“So what is it you do, Yahtzee?” said Snow, softening greatly. He would have been the sort of student she loved. “If I suffer enough bad luck, I can make up for it in good luck.”
At this, Snow laughed, because nothing sounded more ludicrous. She wasn’t mocking him, but it just sounded funny.
“If only that’s how it always worked,” said Snow. “Actually, real life can be a lot better than just Karma all the time.” “Huhn. I’d be happy with nothing but Karma.” “That’s what you think.”
Snow stopped practicing altogether, letting water splash to the ground. She looked at him in wonder, as though perceiving wisdom in an unlikely place.
“Tell me how it works.” “It really hurts to save up good luck. All kinds of little things go wrong, all the time.” “That’s—” she wanted to say, ‘my life’, but it wasn’t really true. She had lots of little things to be thankful for.
Except for her soaking clothes.
“What kinds of things happen?” “The easiest thing to do is lose money playing online poker.” She was astonished. “Isn’t there a better way!?” “Yeah, but it’s slower. If you play games that rely on luck, you end up losing a lot.” “That’s WAY easier.” “You hafta get used to losing.” “Hunh. So if you lose enough playing World of Warcraft, it can save someone’s life?” “Uh, yeah. That would take a lot of losing.”
There was silence.
“So, by playing video games all day, you’re doing your job?” “Kinda. Your mind has to work a certain way.”
There was silence as she tried to bend water again.
“Do enlighten me.”
“Like, you have to let your whole soul be lucky or unlucky. Like, I have all this time to play games, but I don’t feel like playing ‘em. Or I feel like a cheeseburger, but all we have is vegetables, and no dip. Or I feel like vegetables, or apples, but all we have is soda.”
She laughed again and the stream of water collapsed, spraying water again.
She said through laughter, “Oh, you poor thing. I think I have that super power too.”
“Really, though.” “No,” she said, and stopped laughing, “But I think I feel better.” After some more laughter, she sighed, “Well I can’t stand being soggy anymore. I’m calling it a day.” “Well, time to be unlucky for a while,” said Yahtzee, readying to depart. “There was no bad luck there? I still can’t water-bend very well.” “But now we’re friends!” he said with unsurpassable cheer, “Bye-bye!”
*-------------------------------------------*
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