Serious Business

I pulled the test stripe out of the murky water where a couple of small fish had gathered. “The pH-value is good, slightly acid, as it should be.” Now that the object of their couriosity was gone, they swirled around and dispersed back into the sea weed. “But you need to clean your filter.” I showed Lia the stripe on which a couple of coloured patches indicated the quality of her fish tank`s water and pointed on one of them.

“Got that.” Lia performed a mock salute.

Cleaning the water filter is the most basic and simple thing a fish tank owner has to do. I felt like she used it as an excuse to make me visit her.

As she put the lid back on, so that the fish wouldn’t jump out if they felt like it, my eyes discovered that her computer was still on. I threw the test stripe into the bin and walked over to her desk, where a couple of drafts of various creatures lay in front of the monitor. Their drawing quality was midlevel, but still good.

“What is this?”, I asked, “New opponents?”

She shook her head. “No, this part of the magic system.” The chief programmer, director and everything else with authority in one person went over and let herself plump down onto the chair. She whirled around to face me, legs crossed. “We all like familiars, don’t we? Yes, we do!”

“Oh no, not this mode again.” This could take a while.

“But taking care of critters, having to feed them and stuff? We’re not responsible enough for this, at least, way too lazy.”

“Who are you talking about? Yourself, isn’t it?”

She hushed me. “Silent, I am not finished. You may ask questions when the presentation is over.”

A droplet of sweat formed on my temple. It may not look like it, but she was dead serious.

“So, what about… nah, okay, skip that. The idea is that every player character get’s three spirits. One for heart, mind and soul. They are fragments of aura. Without training, it may be impossible to actually see them. Whether or not they are actually there or form only when certain criteria are met, this is a question of lore.”

“You are only indecisive for now, isn’t it?” I tilted my head...

“You want to design some of them?”

...Then turned it up and down. Got the message.

“A lazy person may have the soul spirit reminiscent of a sloth, if she is also very wise, her mind spirit may look like an owl. And now, here is what they do: When two people with strong auras meet, they may engage in a passive fight. This means that actually their spirits, the fragments of their auras, do battle. The looser will feel the crushing presence of the winner, possibly feeling compelled to follow a command if their spirit of soul is defeated, for example. If their spirit of heart is defeated, they may even break out into despair.”

I threw in an idea: “What if a powerful criminal wants to raid a village? We could let a farm boy face him. And should his spirits defeat those of the criminal, despite his physical superiority, he may feel compelled to leave the village people in peace.”

Lia gave me a thumbs up. “That’s why you’re here. I need you to craft some mechanics arounds the spirits and design how combat works.”

“I thought you got me here for the aquarium.”

She grinned. “That’s not what you thought.”

“Well… maybe.” Totally true.

After she shoved a ton of notes to me, she pulled out a folding chair from behind a drawer and signed me to sit.

A couple of words decorated a piece of paper: “Dragon, fey, slime, demon, fruit…”

Lia snatched it out of my hand, “A typing system, are this elements? Cool”, and gave it a quick look. “What is ‘fruit’?”

“Uhm, I only threw it in for the fun of it.”

She handed the sheet back to me and tipped on her chin, eyes wandering off into the distance. Suddenly, she snapped back into reality. “I like that. Put in more of that, maybe two or three.” She looked over my shoulder as I scribbled a few more types down.

Just when she opened the game, her mother entered the room without even knocking.

Lia rolled her eyes. “I am twenty-two, mom, I bet you’ll never learn.”

She will never care, that is.

“Anyway, we are in the middle of some serious testing, could you come back later?”

“I am only here to…” Her mother was on the verge of being old, already in her sixties. You could hear that in her voice.

“Later please. Thanks a lot!”

“You know, she was only to bring us cookies like every time I am here? No need to be this harsh.” Then, a thought crossed my mind. “Are you alright?”

She paused her serious business work and sighed. “I didn’t tell my parents yet, but since recently, I really fell the urge to move out.”

I knew exactly what she meant.

“I am the youngest of their children. My two big sisters already have their own apartments. One is even married. Don’t want to be the one who leaves her parents alone.”

I adjusted my voice to be sound more steady and calm, and looked into her eyes. “I am the oldest of four children and I moved back in, so I am somewhat in the reverse position.” They were in school all day, so I rarely saw them at home at a different time than evening. “Hm. You don’t need to worry about that, I believe.”

She turned the computer off. “Maybe you’re right, it’s only natural for children to move out someday.”

Was this a pun? I could smell her trying to ease the mood ten miles against the wind. And it wasn’t quite rare for this smell to be accompanied by something.