What's in a backstory?

When John was younger, one of his favorite things to do was go to the library and read the various “For Dummies” books that they had there. Sure, it was kinda weird, but John was a weird kid! Mostly he did it for the entertainment value, seeing how dumbed down some stuff would be and how random some of the stuff would be that apparently had to have a guide written about it. It was a fad that randomly would resurface out of nowhere, but it had its place in his childhood.

One of his favorites to read was “Making Friends for Dummies”, mostly in the imagined scenario where some middle aged white guy would go into a bookstore and buy a book like this just because he had no idea how friendships worked. It made him chuckle, and as a kid with no experience of how hard it can be to make friends in the real world, John would read the book for the sheer hilarity factor of that concept alone.

But in all those readings and rereadings of the book, John had to admit it was lacking in one section that would be of great help right now. Specifically, a section on “what to do when your new friend turns out to be a hardened killer and child soldier.”

Seriously, holy fuck, John was in a mini-spiral about this whole thing. Moira was an actual child soldier, trained form her youth to be a zealot for a religious order and be ready to kill the heretics this order demanded her to smite. She was fully willing and able to kill John if he gave the wrong answers, and while she said she would be guilty, that really wasn’t as comforting as John wanted it to be!

John really hadn’t processed what Moira said until he sat at his usual lunch spot and had gotten out his packed lunch. When it settled in his brain what Moira said, he just sat there stunned and at a lack of ideas for what to do. Should he talk with Moira about it? She was pretty hardcore about the Order so he doubted that she would see any of their methods as detestable. Maybe talk about African warlords like Komy who had child soldiers? No, she would probably take offense to being compared to him. Plus, Komy was a special kind of evil. Had to have a whole charity come after him. And made a guy jack it in San Diego.

“You know, I think that sandwich is close to breaking. Stare at it a few minutes longer, it might finally tell you where the bombs are hidden.”

John was broken from his thoughts, turning to see that Alex was next to him with her school lunch. “What?”

Alex smirked. “You were going all Batman stare on that sandwich. I was half expecting you to say ‘now talk’ before biting into it.”

John gave a short snort of laughter. “No, I was just… thinking about stuff. Got kinda lost in my own head there for a second.”

“Dude, I get it. Trust me, you don’t have to explain it,” Alex started to pick at her food, grimacing at the mysterious meat on her plate. “They claimed it was pot roast today, but I’m pretty sure it's made of horse.”

“Nah, horse is too expensive,” John said with a smirk. “Rat is more in budget.”

“Beats the pot pies of high school,” Cho said, having joined the two of them across the table. “Still convinced they replaced all the chicken in those things with old tire rubber.”

“Or how about those hot dogs? Sally still won’t touch one after she bit into hers and it was green,” Alex replied,

“Did she ever get sick from those?” John asked.

“No, she threw them up directly afterwards,” Alex said, and all three of them grimaced with disgust. “At least Ashcroft puts some money into their food. Though not enough if you were to ask me.”

“On another topic,” Cho said, starting to dig into his own lunch, “where were you? Didn’t see you on Discord or on Steam last night. Decided to avoid gaming all of a sudden?”

“Not quite,” John said with a smirk. “I started going to a teacher last night! Figured that if I learned enough self defense to deal with Frank in the few hours that Moria taught me, how good could I be by actually training properly?”

“So you’re no longer training with Moira?” Cho asked.

“Well, I’m still learning from her. But it's mostly sparring to let me practice what I’ve already learned.”

There was a brief moment of silence, letting John take a couple of bites of his sandwich. But as he swallowed down his second bite, Alex chimed in once again, “Well, Dr. Ling, I am afraid the diagnosis is fatal.”

John and Cho both looked to Alex, who had stood up with a serious look on her face. Instantly, Cho’s expression shifted to match Alex’s, and he responded, "What's the diagnosis, Dr. Luellen?”

“The patient, who was once showing healthy signs of nerdiness and intelligence, has been infected with a terrible case of becoming a jock.”

“Now hold on,” John interjected. “I’m not becoming a jock.”

“Refusal to play video games, caring more about training and exercise, seeking out a personal trainer,” Cho listed off. “Yes, I am afraid you may be correct, Dr. Luellen. The patient is doomed.”

“A shame. He has such a career of being not a lame-ass muscle bound meathead. Time of ****, 12:5-”

“Wait!” John shouted. “There surely must be a cure!”

“Hmmm…” Cho pretended to flip through pages on a clipboard. “Well, if the patient is to continue with their working out, it may be pointless to try.”

“Now, now, Dr. Ling. There is another solution,” Alex said. “Perhaps if the patient were to ensure he has time to both work out and play games? Perhaps ensure 50ccs of going to the arcade with his best friends on Friday?”

John rolled his eyes. “I made sure to ask Erik for Friday evenings off.”

“Oh, shit. Cool.” Alex’s whole demeanor changed as she sat back down, digging back into her food. “Then we good. You’re still as lame as us.”

“Is that who’s training you? This Erik guy?” Cho asked, getting out his phone.

“Yeah. But don’t bother googling him,” John said, knowing what Cho was about to do. “He dropped teaching a while ago. Took a lot for me to convince him to teach me. Only way I found out about him was through a flyer my mom lucked out in finding.”

“Damn, a proper Mister Miyagi. Has he made you wax his car yet?”

‘No, but he made me stab a bull demon in the eye with a pen,’ John thought to himself. “Not yet, but don’t give him any ideas.”

From there the three friends continued to banter and laugh, happy to just enjoy spending time with one another. John wished he could tell them, and in all honestly had yet to see any reason why he could not. Yet something tickled in the back of his head, making him think that magic was to be kept secret from those not magically inclined. Perhaps it was Gaia hinting what he should do, or perhaps it was the knowledge that he did not have good proof of magic. But either way, he kept his knowledge of magic secret, with no intentions to tell them for the foreseeable future.

“What exactly is the Order?”

Erik looked up from a magazine, having told John to do a few laps before coming back in for the next leg of his training. The rest of the school day had treated John well, and he had been quick to go back to the dojo to properly train. But all day John wondered more and more about this Order that Moira was dedicated to, and he doubted that Moira would give him an unbiased answer if he asked. And considering his connections to the Abyss were Moira or Erik, it didn’t really leave him with a lot of options of who to ask.

“Odd question,” Erik said, turning back to his magazine. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, the person who trained me before all this is a part of it and seemed… biased in her opinion of them. Figured I could ask you to get a more unbiased view.”

“Who said I’m unbiased?” Erik said, turning a page. “For all you know the Order stole my lunch money and I hate them now.”

“Well, I don’t exactly have a lot of options.”

“You always have the option of getting back to your workout.”

John rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to be so dodgy about your answer. It's an innocent enough question.”

Erik groaned, setting his magazine down. “Kid, you just became my pupil. Don’t ruin our relationship with dumb questions I don’t wanna answer.”

“You can’t give me anything? Moira mentioned you had a history with he-”

“Moira? Moira Brighton?” Erik interrupted.

John smiled. “Ah, so you DO know them!”

Erik let out a huff. “Course I know them, kid. Their US headquarters is here in Springfield. I would be surprised if you found a mage in this town that didn’t know the Order.”

“Ah, but you don’t know just the Order. You know specifically Moira.” John took a few steps towards his teacher. “Kinda weird for a random adult to be on a first name basis with someone my age.”

“Don’t you have some sit-ups to do or something?” Erik said with a small growl.

John shrugged, lying down on the ground before starting to get back into his workout. He continued to work out in silence, but Erik did not return to his magazine. Instead, he just looked out into nothing, clearly contemplating something. Finally, as John moved towards his pushups, Erik spoke up again, “I used to be a part of them.”

“The Order?” John asked.

Erik nodded. “It was a long time ago. I helped to train Moira back when I was a part of them.”

“What even is the Order?”

Erik stayed silent for a few moments, letting John get another pushup in before answering. “The Order of the Golden Rose is a holy order, worshiping Gaia in the form of “The Lady.” They believe that she created everything in the world and is the source of all magic. They also channel her divinity to protect humanity from itself, seeking to drive back the evil of the world who would **** the gifts The Lady has granted us.”

“Why did you leave them?”

Erik shook his head. “Ain’t close enough to tell you that one, kid. Let's just say we had a few differences on how the Abyss should be governed.”

“But are the Order good guys?”

“Sure,” Erik said with a shrug. “As good as the Abyss gets. But they aren’t good people. Well, there are good people but it's not a good organization. I guess. It’s complicated.”

“Can’t you explain it better?”

But Erik just stayed silent, lost in a sea of his own thoughts. So John continued to work out, wondering what happened between his teacher and the holy order he once served.

John held up his fists, bouncing from one foot to the next as he kept a watchful eye on his opponent. He could feel the sweat dripping down his head, the blood pumping in his ears as he tried to read her movements. Her stance conveyed a knowing comfort of what she was doing, betraying that she was a clear expert in the field of combat.

“IN THE NAME OF THE LADY!” Moira yelled, dashing forward and swinging her broomstick towards John’s side. But his focus had paid off, and as the head of the broom swung at John’s middle, he stepped back just enough that the bristles barely grazed him. Her recovery was slow, giving John time to step into her and throw a punch at her shoulder.

However, he did not expect her to continue pushing forward, his punch not having the time to extend out and hit her body as she body-slammed into him, pushing him back for a few feet before coming to a halt. Her sudden stop caused John to stumble, offsetting him long enough for her to resume a proper fighting stance.

“Damn,” John said, wiping a bit of spittle from his mouth. “Seems like someone doesn’t want to go easy on me.”

“I’ve already given you a handicap by not using a proper hammer,” Moira said in a serious tone, but the grin on her face betrayed her enjoyment of the situation. “If I wanted to take it easier on you, it wouldn’t be proper training, now would it?”

John rolled his eyes, putting his fists up once again. The two of them had been training now for about 20 minutes or so, and while John still wanted to interrogate her about the Order and everything regarding that, it was nice that she was back to her old self.

Granted, that old self now had the ability to open an illusion barrier for them to train in and go a bit more all out, but it was still the same Moira.

This time, John chose to press the attack, darting forward and getting into Moira’s personal bubble before she could react. He quickly threw light jab after light jab, and while Moira had brought up her arms to defend herself, she was clearly on the backfoot. John continued to press the advantage, caring not that his Fighting Style was not damage focused. This was training, and he treated it as such.

Besides, he wasn’t really doing any damage considering that Moira had armored up before they started fighting. His fist continued to connect with the leather bracers she was wearing, thankful that she didn’t put on proper plate or chain mail. His left connected, then his right. Left again. Right again. Punch, punch, punch, pu-

Moira finally had readjusted, sweeping down with her broom-hammer and her body to push John back, getting her the precious distance she needed to get away from John. John quickly reset his footing, holding his fists up as Moira fully readjusted her stance.

“Not bad, Newman,” Moira said, blowing some hair away from her face. “Erik teach you that one?”

“Nah, fighting games,” John said with a smirk. “You’re a zoner, so I’ve gotta take a Rushdown playstyle to close the distance and keep you on the backfoot.”

Moira raised an eyebrow in confusion of the terms, but said nothing and instead simply raised her weapon once again. She and John paced around one another, with John looking to try and find a weakness in her defense while she, presumably, planned a strategy of attack.

“Hey, quick question for you,” John said as they made another round. “Are the Order good guys?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Moira responded. “Of course we are. I wouldn’t be a member of the Order if I thought they were evil.”

“Sure.” John dashed forward, throwing a punch or two towards Moira that she quickly blocked, and he dashed to the side before her broom-hammer could come down onto him. “But, like… Are they good people?”

That gave Moira a moment of pause, which John chivalrously did not capitalize on. “I… Um-”

“Cause the way Erik talked about you and the Order, he made it clear that you are good guys but not a good organization. Or something like that.”

Moira remained silent for a moment. “We do what is necessary to keep people safe,” she said after a few seconds. “Sometimes it is more… harsh than other people would find tasteful.”

“He also wouldn’t tell me why he left.”

“But he did tell you he was a part of our Order?” Moira asked, to which John nodded in affirmation. “I’m surprised he told you that much. He and the Order did not part on good terms.”

“Why?”

Moira stood still, thinking about what to say and letting John slip out of his Fighting Style. “Remember what I told you? How we have to kowtow and play nice with some of the guilds in the Abyss?”

“Sure.”

“Well, the hardest part about being a member of the Order is when you can do something, and want to do something, but are restricted on what you can do,” Moira explained, taking a seat. “Sometimes I see the evils of what the Abyss can do and wish I could stop them. But the treaties and agreements we have with some of those mages means my hands are tied and I cannot do what is right.”

“Sounds dreadful,” John said, sitting next to his friend. “Think that is why Erik gave me the test he did?”

“Remind me what that test was?”

“He had me stab a slaver in the eye with a pen. And fight his demon wife.”

Moira laughed at that, her voice causing John’s heart to do a small somersault in his chest. “Oh, that definitely sounds like him. Yeah, he probably wanted to make sure you weren’t a corrupt mage and that you were a mage who would do what was right no matter what. Unfortunately, I can only say I am one of those two things.”

Moira sighed, putting down the broom before rubbing the back of her neck. “Honestly, I can see why he left. I can’t say why, as it's his story to tell, but I wouldn’t blame him for it at all.”

John grumbled and crossed his arms. “God, I wish Abyssals could stop being so… frustratingly vague with everything.”

That earned another laugh from Moira, who patted him on the knee. “Oh, trust me, that is one part of the Abyss that NEVER changes.”

John and Alex took a slow walk together away from the school. Thankfully they had managed to avoid Frank once again, and as it turned out Alex had an errand to run not too far away from where John was going to go by train. So they figured they could walk for a few blocks until their paths diverged.

Or, at least, that was John’s excuse. In reality he just wanted to spend more time with Alex. While Cho was his first friend, Alex was probably his best friend. He always felt he could be honest with Alex and get her advice. And while he still wasn’t sure about telling her about the magical world, he wanted to ask her about Erik and Moira and this whole Order thing.

“So… hypothetical question,” John began.

“Whenever you ask a hypothetical question, it’s usually not one,” Alex interrupted. “Just ask me straight out.”

John was stunned silent for a moment before smiling. He still couldn’t tell her the exact truth, but video games would always be a good excuse. “So I’m running through story mode in a game.”

“Dork. But continue.”

“Well, I just learned about an order of… I guess good guys? Sorta? They are good guys in the way they are trying to do good but have questionable methods and have to do work with some lesser evils to stop greater evils.” Alex motioned for him to continue. “Well, see, one of the characters I have been romancing is part of the order and is pretty devout.”

“She hot?”

John thought to Moira. And then he thought of Moira in that workout outfit, especially when she got sweaty after a proper fight. “Yeah. Yeah, she is.”

“Hell yeah. Continue.”

“Well, another character I am good friends with was a part of this order, and left because he wanted to do good without having to work with evil people.”

“Ah, a classic chaotic good vs lawful good conundrum,” Alex said, nodding as if she was a wise sage. “Truly, a debate for the ages.”

“Yeah. Only I don’t know who to side with more.”

“Why choose a side?” Alex asked. “Can’t you romance the girl and still be friends with the guy?”

John thought for a moment. “I mean, yeah, I guess. But what if I have to choose a side?”

“Well, who do you think is more correct?”

“The guy.”

“Then there’s your answer!” Alex said with a smile. “Ain’t that hard, dork.”

“But what about the order girl?”

“Look, games like that usually have the characters you wanna romance realize that there is more to life than rules and shit and they will probably leave the lawful good order to go be chaotic good with you,” Alex said as they turned the corner. “Or maybe hanging out with the chaotic good guy will reveal a chaotic good girl you can romance. Seriously, just play how you think would be best. Ain’t that hard.”

“What would you choose?” John asked.

Alex stayed silent for a moment, the two of them walking in step. “I dunno. Maybe the guy. I always had a thing for proper chaotic good guys. But, like, not the Superman type. More like the… I dunno, Spiderman type. Fun, quippy, but always down to do what's right.”

John smirked. “I figured you would be more for the bad boy archetype. A proper bike riding, chain smoking, norm bucking badass who don’t need no chaotic good.”

Alex chuckled. “Nah, he would be stepping on my bit! Can’t have TWO badasses sticking it to the man! Otherwise he could outdo me!” The two of them shared a laugh, coming to a stop in front of a street corner. “Ah, shit. This is where we part ways,” Alex said, looking at the street sign. “You sure you gotta go train?”

“Positive.”

Alex shrugged. “Shit. Well, guess you gotta go learn to be a badass and all that other dumb crap. I gotta go do the thrilling job of finding groceries for dinner and picking up my dad’s prescription. I know, I know, you’re jealous, but it's okay. One day you might be as cool as me. Maybe.” She then gave John a quick hug before walking away, waving bye to him as she walked off.

But even as John walked down towards the bar, far away from Alex, he could still feel the warmth from her arms and still smell the shampoo in her hair.