A Teaser from Story 1...

[robkelk]

On this planet, they called it the monomyth, but it had other names among the multitude of races in the galaxy.  Some called it the "tale of tales", while others called it "the path passing the gods."  But the elements of the story of a hero's journey remained astonishingly similar across nearly all of the races that Dr. Washuu Hakubi had encountered.  And the ones that didn't?  Well, they were all an exceedingly tedious lot, whose cultures' only story tended to be along the lines of "we will gloriously exterminate everyone else."  Dreadfully boring, and boringly dreadful, she believed.

She had first come to investigate this field of inquiry while thinking about Tenchi Masaki, which was the favorite pastime in the household where she had found herself the past few months.  All of the women there, without exception, had a romantic interest in Tenchi, but Washuu additionally had an academic interest, too.  It had started as a scientific investigation, as she assessed how his power had developed.  But as she began reading the literature of his home planet for fun, she began to see similarities in those stories to Tenchi's experiences, and to other stories from distant worlds.  And soon, she found her research reaching deep into the humanities.

Perhaps her research would have stayed in the humanities, if she hadn't noticed the letters.