The Stormcrow, A Superhero's Tale Options

[Acadian]

’Often her moods were reflected in the local sky, for good or ill. So far she had a fight, and a chase, and several cartoonish splats, all without a major thunderstorm. She was doing well.’
- - Loved this.

‘She briefly considered closing her eyes and reaching out in astral space. But she was not sure how far she might need to push her senses, or even what the teleporter's powers might feel like in the magical realm.’
- - Also, not recommended while flying. . .

"Wow," January realized that she was staring,’
- - In the last episode, Jan fell under the spell of an elusive sweetroll. Here, she is entranced by the lovely Hannah. I love how that she can be distracted by such tempting treats, as it is so consistent with her nature.

Well, so much for not setting off a thunderstorm! Her first kiss with Hannah certainly did that!

I hope that Hannah is what she sort of seems – a fledgling white-hatted cape but we shall see. Looks like her concern now must shift to the same concern Hannah has – avoiding Hungry Ghost. And hopefully she’ll learn more about what is going on with those two.

[Renee]

Ah yes, that is true about the Sears catalog. My gosh, we'd also browse through that as kids. I'd look at clothes and dolls, my brother would look at models and RC cars. I remember especially when the Atari and Commodore 64 first became popular, Sears had all those games pictured in their catalog.

Now to the story. Yes that is true about phones being tracking devices. How would Gadget direct her phone's signal to the South Pole? I am assuming he hacked into some satellite station down there???

No, don't close your eyes while flying! Phew. What is nuyen? Google says it's Japan's newer currency.

oddess, she even smelled wonderful, a mixture of lavender and hyssop that sent January's nostrils to Freyja's hall.

Sweet! This whole part is written with tenderness, Rosa. Very nice.

January has a crush now on Hannah, but still she won't give her real name. She refers to herself as Stormcrow. That suggests a few things about trust, and I get this. But let's see if this barrier gets broken down as they maybe get to know each other better. Oh..

Whoa whoa! That's her first kiss? Well if it's going to be anybody, certainly another meta would be the best choice. It's like with celebrities. Sometimes this is why they only date other celebrities. Because none of us other mortals would be able to handle newfound fame, and deal with the sort of lifestyle and pressures celebrities deal with all the time.

"I'm January," she heard herself say.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 13 2021, 02:59 PM

[SubRosa]

Acadian: Jan managed to keep her cool enough to avoid influencing the elements. At least until Hannah kissed her...

We will finally get some answers in today's episode.



Renee: Spoofing your GPS location is not that difficult. There are even apps you can download to do it for you.

January did not have a lot of opportunities for dating as an out trans girl in school. Nor much afterward. It is not the kind of thing that makes people line up for you. Hannah is a bit of a unicorn, in that she's got no problem with that.

And there goes the real name, as well as her hero name. Jan is going all in now. For better or worse.





Lā shǐ


Book 8.6 - Blood

"You're the writer!" the other woman exclaimed. "I saw you on the Crow Tales Podcast! You are amazing. You're beautiful." Then her lips were once more planted firmly against her own, and January felt herself drowning in the sheer delight of it all.

Gadget's voice yelling in her ear snapped January out of it however. The exact words escaped her attention. But the frantic tone did not. That brought her back to reality. She had just shown her face to a complete stranger. She had just blown her secret identity.

She pulled away with a supreme effort of will. Letting go of Hannah, she put her fingers to use drawing her helmet back up over her head, obscuring her face behind its cowl. She did not rush. In fact, she used the activity to stall for time. Even after the headgear was firmly ensconced upon her skull, she methodically pulled her hair out through the hole left at its bottom just for that purpose. She smoothed the golden strands out across her shoulders, and put them into a semblance of order that her emotions lacked.

"I'm sorry," she eventually spat out. "I don't normally do that. I mean, I have never done that."

Hannah's cheeks flushed red, and she looked down for a moment.

"I don't really either," she admitted. "Well not that often. You are just, not what I expected. You know you are Fire, right. I mean, like you said, just wow."

Now it was January's turn to blush. Before she knew it, Hannah's hands were holding hers. January missed when she had reached out to take them. Not that she was disappointed. She squeezed the other woman's palms gently, and was gratified to feel Hannah return the clasp.

"Are you crazy!" Now Gadget's words had come into focus. "What were you thinking! You are going to blow everything! We need to get ahold of Blood Raven. Maybe she can hypnotize her into forgetting your face."

"I can't talk about this right now Gadget." January said quite honestly, for many reasons. Hannah stared at her quizzically, clearly wondering who she was speaking to. Begrudging every moment of it, January pulled her hands free and tapped at Sága's interface. Her audio link to Gadget cut off a moment later, giving her time to focus on one thing at a time.

"That was my virtual partner," January explained.

"Gadget," Hannah said. "I remember you mention him in your interview on Worldwide Network News."

"He was just telling me what an idiot I am," January again said with absolute honestly. What on earth had gotten ahold of her? She was acting like... well... a teenager. She had always held herself above all that business of raging hormones and stupid decisions. Well here she was after all, right down in the mud with every other stupid teen.

"You aren't an idiot," Hannah insisted. "You are amazing! I saw what you did against those Nazis, and that giant spider. And what you did back there in that mall. But that was nothing compared to when you came out to the world. You are the bravest person I have ever heard of. That's why I came here to find you."

January tried not to blush once more at the compliment. She led the other woman to one of the benches that lined the interior of the gazebo, and sat down beside her. Hannah instantly clasped a hand around one of January's. The superheroine had no desire to ever let go.

"About that," January felt a little more in control of herself as she steered the topic back to business. "Your powers are out of control. It's ok. I can help you with that. We can help you with that. It's all about discipline and self control. I can teach you some meditation techniques that can help you center yourself. So you can focus your will."

"The first step is visualizing what you want to happen," January fell back on her magical training, hoping it would work for a meta-human as well. "Make that clear in your mind. Then focus your will on making that reality. It is not enough to want it to happen, or hope it to happen. You must be absolute in your certainty. It will happen, no matter what."

"Then finally you need to practice." January finished her spiel. "No amount of study or meditating or willing is a substitute for taking real, physical action. We make the world what it is. Not just by wanting it, or thinking it, but by getting our hands dirty and doing all the hard work."

"Right, so where do we start?"

"Perhaps by calling your mother?"

January nearly jumped out of her skin. It was Hungry Ghost. He was standing right there at the edge of the gazebo. She had been so focused on Hannah that she had not even noticed his approach. She leaped to her feet, and immediately put herself between him and her. She did not raise her hands or fall into a fighting crouch just yet. But she was ready for anything.

"Enough white hat. I am not here to fight." The supervillain held up a hand in a gesture of peace, with open palm outward. He pressed a button on his staff with his other hand, and it collapsed into a short baton. He tucked the weapon away into a holster on one leg, and took another step forward, both palms outward now.

"He's got his video camo turned on now," Gadget noted when January turned his audio feed back on. "I can't see a thing on your suit cams."

"Who are you?" Hannah was on her feet, and pushed forward to stand beside January. "What do you want with me?"

Hungry Ghost reached up with one hand and pulled off the balaclava that covered his head. He could have stepped off the cover of any fashion magazine. He wasn't simply handsome, he was beautiful. He looked young, except for the gray that sprinkled the hair of his temples. Otherwise that hair was a jet black masterpiece, swept back from his high forehead and ears. More of that dark hair dusted his upper lip and chin. January instantly recognized the same high cheekbones, brown eyes, and heart-shaped features that defined Hannah's face.

"Don't you recognize your father?" he asked.

"Daddy?" Hannah's voice wavered. "Is that you?"

"It's me princess." He took a step forward. But Hannah took a step back. January tried to keep her eyes on both, not sure of what might happen next. Things had definitely taken a turn. But whether for the better or worse was anyone's guess. She knew better than anyone that bringing blood ties into the mix tended to only make things more volatile.

"Then where have you been all my life!" Hannah did take another step closer now. "You disappeared when I was a kid. That man came to kill me and my mother because of you, and you didn't come! If it wasn't for Thunderbolt and Riven we'd be dead!"

"I know princess," Hungry Ghost did not look so much like a dangerous supervillain right now. Nor even a dangerous domestic abuser. Instead his face fell. "That's why I stayed away. My life was putting you and your mom in danger. I had to cut all my ties, so no one could follow them back to you again."

"So why are you here now?" January did not like stepping into the middle of a family dispute. But it had occurred to her that she might be able to avoid some of the disputing if she got things back on track in the here and now.

"Did she tell you that she knocked down her bedroom wall with her powers?" Hungry Ghost turned to face January. "That's why I am here. I've had someone watching over them all this time, just in case. I have been tracking her for the last two days."

"How, how do you keep doing that?" Hannah questioned.

"I'll bet he has your phone number." January said. "He might have even cloned it, so he receives every call and text you get or send. Or maybe he did that to your mother's phone. From there he could get your number, and from that your GPS. All you have to do is have your phone turned on for him to track you."

"Your operational security is terrible princess," Hungry Ghost said to Hannah. "It was really very simple."

"My operational..." Hannah fumed. "I'm 19 years old, why do I need operational security!"

"You shouldn't have to." Hungry Ghost sighed. He walked to one of the park benches within the gazebo and slumped down. "All of my life I have tried to be a good father, and all I have ever done is make things worse. That is why your mother and I split up when you were five. All we ever did was argue. Then when you were eight and that hitman came for you and your mom, I knew it was all my fault. He was there for me. You and your mom were just in the wrong place, and he decided to use you as bait. I was in Hong Kong. I tried to get back as soon as I could. But it's a long flight. Thankfully the white hats got there in time to save you."

"I came here now to help you." Ghost continued. "That's why I have been chasing you. I have been trying to catch up to you. I can teach you to use your powers, just like I learned to use mine. It only takes practice. I just want you to be safe."

"Safe!" Hannah exclaimed, "You scared the lā shǐ out of me!"

January had no idea what that word meant, other than it sounded very Chinese and very, very bad.

"That was not my intent," Ghost murmured. January felt sorry for him in spite of herself. She could relate to digging yourself into a hole you could not get out of. "I am here because I want to be a part of your life."

"A part of my life!" Hannah looked furious now, "after all that's happened, you want to be a part of my life! You just want me to be a criminal, like you. You want me to break into places and steal for you."

"No!" Ghost sprang to his feet and waved his hands in agitation. "That's your mother talking! I'm not..."

"A criminal?" January finished his sentence. She held Sága out, and revealed a scrolling list of charges he was wanted for. "Interpol has entered the chat."

"Stay out of this white hat!" Ghost slapped January's proffered arm away. "This is none of your business. Why are you even here?"

"She's here because I want her here!" Hannah cried. She stepped closer to January, and folded one of her hands around January's once more. Their fingers just automatically intertwined, as if pulled together by magnets. "I trust her. I came here to find her. Not you."

January almost winced at the last word. She knew that hurt more than any of her aura punches ever could. At the same time, she could understand exactly why Hannah would say it. So maybe all those hours in therapy had helped her after all?

"Hannah, I understand why you feel that way," she began, thinking back to everything she had learned about expressing herself. "I have a father too, and he's... well he's not great either. But the fact is he is still your father, even if he is a tool. He's at least making some effort, which is more than a lot of other dads ever do. I am not saying you should forgive him, or forget anything. It is just something to think about, when you decide what you want your life to be."

"And you," she turned to face Hungry Ghost. "You are going to have to get used to the fact that your daughter is pissed at you. If you really do want her in your life, you are going to have to be patient, and be willing to hear all the ugly things you don't like. If you want her to see you are more than just a thief, you are going to have to show her you are more than that. And that's going to take a long, long time. We aren't going to fix that in the next five minutes."

Sweet Freyja, when did she become a family counselor! She yearned for the simple days of punching spiders.

"Hannah, if you want to stay with her, then I understand." Hungry Ghost's eyes stared at their intertwined hands. "If you change your mind, if you want to see me, or just talk, I will always be here for you. Here is a number you can reach me at."

He reached into a pocket, and withdrew a blank business card, with a phone number scribbled across one face. He handed it to Hannah, and then looked at January.

"Don't even try to trace that," he scowled. "My operational security is lot better than hers."

"I am not here to arrest you. As long as people's lives or livelihoods aren't in danger, I don't care what you do." January replied evenly, then allowed her tone to soften. "This is personal, I get that. I would never get in the way of someone's family. I'm trying to help. That's what I do."

"In fact, if you need help you can call me." January regretted disengaging her hand from Hannah's. But she had to in order to pull out her own business card and hand it to Hungry Ghost. "This is my Stormcrow number. I'm not going to help you rob a bank, or sabotage a rival gangster. But I am here for Hannah's father."

Ghost said nothing. But he did nod, and put the card away in one of his pockets. He turned back to Hannah, and tentatively stepped forward. He opened his arms, as if hoping for a hug. But she closed up, and wrapped her arms firmly across her chest.

"I love you princess," he murmured. "I hope one day you can believe that."

With that he pulled the balaclava mask back down over his features. With a single leap he vanished through the roof of the gazebo and the trees beyond. That left January and Hannah alone once more.

"So what do you want to do Hannah?" January asked. Their hands were once again clasped together. "I will do everything I can to help you train. It shouldn't take long for you to master the basics, at least enough so you won't have to worry about lashing out and destroying things by accident. You could probably safely go home in a few days. He is right. Your mother is probably worried about you."

"I don't know about that." Hannah sighed. Her free hand was now sliding across the small of January's back. "My mother is... well, she's strict. She wants to know everywhere I am, and who I am with, all the time. She drives me crazy sometimes. I think she's afraid I'll turn out like my dad."

"Well you can stay with me," January offered. Hannah did not answer. The kiss that she planted on January's lips said far more than words ever could.

[Acadian]

You weren’t kidding when you said this episode would provide some answers.

I’m delighted to see this budding romance between Jan and another woman who not only readily accepts her but is clearly drawn to her.

Gadget almost blew a Gasket over Jan unmasking herself! But sometimes a girl gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

I’m relieved to see Hungry Ghost does not seem to be a threat to either January or Hannah.

A new roommate!


Nits:
'January had no idea what word {that?} meant,'
'I'm not going to help you rob a bank, or sabotage {a?} rival gangster.'

[Renee]

You weren’t kidding when you said this episode would provide some answers.

Yeah I agree. I knew at some point her identity would be revealed to somebody, but I was thinking it would be some retired detective, or a fan who spends too much time on the internet comparing Jan and Stormcrow's many hundreds of pics until accidentally coming across some similarities.

Now... where is the Hungry Ghost? Because that's the Nightgirl's dad, right? Seems he was chasing after these two, but couldn't keep up.

Ha ha Gadget is freaking out!

I know what falling in love is like... it's the best. Better than any drug. So I know the feelings Jan is experiencing as she stammers her words and can't quite get her face cowl back on fast enough.

Oh gosh, her father is there. Jan really needs to take time off, and go somewhere with Hannah. I understand this won't happen because there's always some new crisis. But she really does just need to be a teenager for awhile.

I think Hungry Ghost (as her father) chose a bad time to show up. Not that there's any good time, but damn! He interrupted their "moment"!

"So what do you want to do Hannah?"

You know.... stuff...

[treydog]

Happened to see an article in the Wikipedia regarding Fordson Island in Dearborn, and immediately thought of your Stormcrow.

The interesting thing was that, although the island was created in 1922, by the 1980s, the city of Dearborn had forgotten it existed.

Given how much of a role the Detroit (and environs) landscape plays, it seemed like a possible setting for some Jan activity.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: It has been a long, long time coming as I have been focusing on other aspects of January's life. But it was high time I threw some romance in the mix, with all of its complications. Ones that January has no time for of course.

In this whole series I am trying to portray villains as a spectrum of danger. Some - like Nazis - are just absolute evil and cannot be bargained with in any way. Others are less of a threat, and might sometimes even be dealt with without violence, or with a minimum of it. Like Hungry Ghost. Some might even become allies in the future.

Thank you for the nits, as always.



Renee: The whole revealing your secret identity thing is a tough line I walk in the narrative. Some people who do comics treat it with incredible nonchalance. Take the MCU, where no one has a secret identity, and the writers just completely ignore the impact that would have. The opposite end of that scale is that danger of revealing your ID prevents your character from having any relationships at all. Which is obviously not ideal from a writing standpoint either than just ignoring reality.

I have been emphasizing the dangers of revealing your secret identity with occasional allusions to the olde time hero Hailstorm, who suffered a tragic fate after his ID was printed in the papers. But I am finding completely shutting January out from others is a bit too stifling. So I am going to have her start opening up a bit with certain people in the future, mainly teammates. Because you cannot have a permanent super team without people knowing who everyone else really is. It makes sleeping and bathing in Titans Tower kind of difficult.

Not to say that Jan will be telling her mother or the Knights of Nerddom or the public. Just that she will start reaching out more. Like she did last book with Lighthammer.

January would love to just take some time off and go somewhere with Hannah. In fact, they will, in a manner of speaking. Just not far away. And of course something will come up. Something very, very big.

But first, she got to meet her new girlfriend's dad! That is great on the first date. Said no one. But he is a dad, it is his job to interrupt moments.


treydog: Three Dog in the house! OWWWWW! (well, loud howl noise). Thanks! Fordson Island looks like it could be a great place for a supervillain's lair. I have added it to my list of potential locations. I have a file where I keep a list of spots like that, like a former Nike nuclear missile base that is just a few miles from where I live. That Nailhead site is a treasure trove for lost locations like that.





Book 8.7 - Blood

January knew that it was a worse idea piled on top of a bad one. But Hannah already knew her name and her face. So what was the point in not taking the next step? Her secret identity was already far, far out the window as far as the other woman was concerned. Or at least that was the rationalization that she clung to. When she was not busy clinging to Hannah at least.

The other woman spent a minute talking to her mother on her phone. January tried not to eavesdrop, and made a point to turn away from Hannah to at least convey a tiny illusion of privacy.

"You are not seriously considering letting her stay in your crib are you?" Gadget said in a calm, measured voice. January appreciated the fact that he was trying to be the sane one, instead of yelling at her.

"What do I have to lose at this point?" January said honestly. She walked out of the gazebo to get some distance between her and Hannah. "She knows who I am. I am going to help her. I have to. You know that."

"Yeah, I know that, and it's the right thing to do," Gadget agreed. "But you could take her to the Raven's Nest instead. Or who knows what other safe house that your grandma might have stashed away."

"The Witch House has the sanctum," January reasoned. "I think that's the place she needs to train. It's helped me and Ôkami so much being in there. I think it will help her too, given what she can do."

"You don't know the first thing about this girl," Gadget pointed out. "This whole thing is going to go sideways on you. You know that, don't you?"

"Why can't you just give her a chance?" January said with exasperation. "She likes me. She's someone that really likes me. Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"You know why," Gadget said. "It's not fair. I know it's not. But the fact is you are a white hat. Nazis and wizards both want you dead. And they will use her to get to you if they can."

"It's not always that bad," January contended. "Other capes have loved ones. They have girlfriends. Look at Thunderbolt and Riven. Or Stinger and Zero Point."

"Ok, maybe she is your Riven or Stinger," Gadget allowed. "But you know how many dates I have been on this year? Know how many times the next morning when they weren't trying so hard to impress me, I found out what choads they really were? It's a lot of times. Turns out sex is not a great way to get to know someone."

"Good goddess, can't you just be happy for me!" January instantly regretted raising her voice. There was no way Hannah missed that. That was not going to make a good impression.

"I am trying to," Gadget sighed. "I really am. I want to be. But I worry for you too."

January turned to find Hannah staring back at her from the side of the gazebo. Her heart fell. She had definitely heard that.

"Look, we're going back to the Witch House. I am going to need your help putting some safeguards on her phone first. And then we're going to need your brain when we do some training. Are you going to help me?"

"Of course I am," Gadget insisted. "I am always going to be at your side."

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to put you in all this with your friends." Hannah frowned. "I should just go. I can figure this out on my own. You don't have to put yourself out for me. You don't have to worry. I'm not going to tell anyone your secret."

"I know you're not," January forced herself to smile. "That's why we are going back to my place. But first, we need to make it less easy for your dad to track you there."

She held out her hand, and Hannah placed her phone in her palm. January absentmindedly noted that it was the latest I-Phone, ensconced in a case that was decorated with glittering stars and rainbows. It was a far cry from January's discount J1 Hamsung, which was half the size, and probably had one tenth the frills.

She quickly pried the phone open and pulled out the sim card. She slotted it into Sága. The mini computer's screen glowed to brilliant life, and lines of code scrolled down it at super speed. Clearly, Gadget was doing something. After a few moments the work stopped, and the card popped back out of her digital assistant.

"Done," Gadget declared. "Anyone tracking her through it will think she is in the middle of the Sahara desert. Any apps listening in through the microphone will get Rick Astley on a continuous loop, and any of them looking through the cameras will just get a black screen."

"Ok, can you teleport us both back to the mall?" January handed the phone back to Hannah. "It's a shorter trip from there."

"Oh that's easy," Hannah smiled. She put a hand on January's shoulder. The next thing January knew, the world was twisting and wrapping itself around her. It was like being surrounded by a dozen funhouse mirrors that stretched and distorted reality all around her. For an instant, all other sensation vanished. She could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet, or the air on her skin, or that lovely lavender and hyssop scent of Hannah's perfume. She could not even feel the other woman's hand upon her shoulder. The ever present pull of gravity itself even vanished, and for that brief instant she had no idea what direction was up.

Then they were standing on the roof of the Lakeside Mall, and everything was back to normal. January blinked, and reached out one hand to touch Hannah to steady herself. She was relieved when she took her hand, and entwined her fingers around her own.

"That was... weird." January admitted.

"Yeah, it can be tough on some people, especially the first time." Hannah admitted. "It makes my mom sick to her stomach. She blew her cookies the first time."

"Eww," January made a face at the thought of someone vomiting. The she realized what else Hannah had said. "So you mother knows, about your powers then?"

"Yeah," Hannah said. "She kind of saw it first hand. One time she grounded me, and I wanted to go out to see my boyfriend. So I teleported to the porch. She ran out to yell at me, and I just teleported again. Thank goodness no one else noticed."

"Boyfriend?" January raised an eyebrow.

"Disaster was more like it," Hannah shook her head. "I was 16, and had a lot to learn."

January glanced down through the skylight at their feet. It was the atrium outside of the pastry shop and the Macy's. That reminded her of recent events. She reached out and pulled the Nightgirl mask back down over Hannah's face. Then she lifted Sága and dialed the number of the Sterling Heights Police Chief.

"Captain Nowakowski," she began when he picked up. "I'm sorry I dropped the call. Things got complicated. But it's all worked out now. Everything is fine."

"We have a positive ID on the perpetrator with the staff," her home city's top cop said. "It was Hungry Ghost, a black hat from the West Coast."

"I know, I talked to him," January said. "It was all a big misunderstanding. It's all cleared up now though."

"Did you capture him?" the police chief asked. "You should take him to the state police, we aren't equipped for holding meta-humans."

"Uh no," January said. "I just talked to him, and found out what he was after. It wasn't anything nefarious after all."

"Don't tell me you just let him go?" There was no mistaking the incredulous tone in Captain Nowakowski's voice.

"He sort of let himself go," January said honestly. "He has a way of doing that. The important thing is that no one was hurt, and that he's not here to rob anyone. In fact he's probably out of the state by now."

"What about this other perpetrator?" the police chief asked, "the girl?"

"The young woman was not a perpetrator," January insisted. Why was every young woman a girl, but every young man still a man? "She was an innocent meta-human, who just got caught up in the middle of things. She's with me now. She came to find me in fact."

"So let me get this straight, the bad guy got away, and the person he was chasing was there looking for you," the chief recounted. "Just what was it this guy was after anyway?"

"That is not something I can say." January said quite honestly. "But I do know that he's no threat to anyone, at least not in Michigan, and at least not for now. It's all wrapped up really."

January heard a long sigh come through the receiver of the phone. January imagined that this was not what the police chief imagined working with a superhero might be like. Cops measured success by making arrests. January did not. So far as she was concerned, the whole thing had been a great success.

Once free of her law enforcement entanglements, January turned back to Hannah.

"Ready for some fun?" she smiled. She walked around behind Hannah and slipped her arms around the other woman's waist. She leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Now hold on tight, and don't be scared, I won't drop you."

January's wings unfurled and stretched out to either side. A single leap sent them rocketing skyward. Then the great sweep of her wings sent them soaring to the west, high above the streets and subdivisions below. Hannah practically squealed in delight, and began pointing out landmarks far below.

They came up on the wide, divided lanes of M-53 all too soon for January's taste. From there they banked hard to the left, and in no time at all they were sailing above the long serpent of trees that made up the Clinton River nature trails. January dove down into the far side of the woods, causing Hannah to grip her tightly. But they did not snag a single branch, and came down to the grass behind the Witch House without incident.

"That was incredible!" Hannah exclaimed. "I can't imagine what it's like to do that every day!"

"You never know, you might be doing it yourself someday," January replied, and furled in her wings. "I wasn't always this good. I'm still learning in fact. But wait until you see..."

January's words trailed off as she felt the presence of Blood Raven. As ever, she was a hot, coppery taste in the back of her mouth, like fresh blood. It was not just her ordinary senses that warned her of the other heroine's nearness. As they always did since she had mastered their control, the magical defenses of the Witch House sang out to warn her of the other woman's presence as well.

"What's wrong?" Hannah asked.

"Blood Raven just got here," January sighed. "I had hoped you wouldn't have to meet her so soon. She can be a little... overwhelming."

"I don't see anyone," Hannah turned her head this way and that to look about the empty back yard.

"I can sense her presence." January raised one hand to point to the tower that jutted skyward from the Queen Anne masterpiece that was her home. "She's waiting for us upstairs, in the sanctum."

"How do you know this stuff?" Hannah wondered.

"It's magic," January replied. "It's what I do. It's what I am."

[Renee]

Wow, see I wouldn't know about superheroes revealing their identity as being a nonchalant thing with some stories, so that's something new. I get it, too. It's not something you just want to give away.

That is great on the first date. But he is a dad, it is his job to interrupt moments

Ha ha. He is getting to perform at least one of the biggest parental awkward moments, this is true. Wanna be a father, eh? Here's your intro.

Gadget is skeptical of Hannah, that part is enjoyable to read. Yeah, the Witch House is a good choice. Just make sure she knows about the Tardis. What it is, what it can do, and therefore tread carefully. Or just don't go in there. Yeah, that's it.

Are Thunderbolt and Riven, Stinger and Zero Point others in this story, or are they other heroes from maybe other stories? Sorry, I don't wanna google and get led in a bunch of directions.

Wow, Avery won't quit. I wonder if he's a little jealous?

Yaaah, discount Samsung flipphone, you go girl!

Lol @ Rick Astley. Hey, at least it's not Richard Marx.

Uh oh, Blood Raven. I mean, maybe things might go well with Hannah, but why do I have the feeling of consternation?

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 27 2021, 03:22 PM

[Acadian]

A neat episode as Jan wrestles with what to do with her new pal.

”But the fact is you are a white hat. Nazis and wizards both want you dead. And they will use her to get to you if they can."
- - Nicely captures the risks of superheroes forming emotional attachments.

“Are you going to help me?"
"Of course I am," Gadget insisted. "I am always going to be at your side."
- - We knew what Gadget’s answer would be before he replied. In this regard, he seems as steadfast an anchor for Jan as Acadian is for Buffy.

"Ok, can you teleport us both back to the mall?" January handed the phone back to Hannah. "It's a shorter trip from there."
"Oh that's easy," Hannah smiled.
- - The possibilities here only struck me as I read this exchange. As mALX would say, Awesome!

"How do you know this stuff?" Hannah wondered.
"It's magic," January replied. "It's what I do. It's what I am."
- - Welcome to the world of witchcraft, Hannah!

Can't wait to see Blood Raven's reaction to her ggggggreat grandaughter's latest 'stray cat' rescue. I hope she accept's it as gracefully as she did Ryo. One big difference here though is that Jan has known Ryo for a long time and he came with a foundation of trust. Though optimistic about Hannah, there is still much unknown about who she is - hence, Gadget's reasonable concerns. As I said, it will be interesting to see how Blood Raven reacts.

[SubRosa]

Renee: The other heroes I name-dropped are other supers in January's world. Zero Point and Stingers are part of the Sentinels superteam in Chicago. Riven and Thunderbolt are a partnership in San Francisco. Both are married. The latter sold their wedding photos (in costume) to People magazine. The same as any celebrity couple.

I could not resist a Rick Roll. It is now a classic troll move.


Acadian: Gadget is always a steadfast friend. Even when he thinks Jan is being a complete idiot. It goes both ways of course.

Teleporting would be a nice power to have. The entire world would be no farther away than your front door.

One thing about writing the previous scene and the coming ones between January and Hannah is that they subtly demonstrate how far January has evolved as a magician. The way she casually tosses off "I sensed her presence" and the like are examples of how she now takes for granted her powers. Hannah being there really throws it all into sharp relief, as it is all new to her, and nothing that she takes for granted.

Blood Raven is full of surprises. As we shall again see.








The Witch House Exterior

Witch House Floor Plans


Book 8.8 - Blood

January walked up the steps to the covered porch that ran the length of the back wall of the house. The wooden space was all but empty, with nothing but a few lawn chairs and a small plastic table to fill the long area. The back doors unlocked with a wave of her hand. Now that the wards were attuned to her, she no longer needed anything as mundane as a key. The house simply responded to her commands.

She swung the twin doors open, and lead the way into the kitchen. The large room was cut in two by a long kitchen island that ran through the center of the space. A trio of chipped and battered stools sat against its long granite-topped counter, which was cluttered with dining accessories such as salt and pepper shakers and napkins. The side of the room which the doors opened up into had been a dining nook. But now it stood bare, as January's mother had taken their table when she had moved out. Beyond the island was the actual cooking area, with oven, fridge, sink, and rows of cupboards wrapped around two walls.

A full size dining room lay beyond the food prep area, in the back corner of the house that flanked the driveway. But January led them straight ahead, to another opening in the opposite corner. This put them in the center of a diamond-shaped intersection. Another doorway led to a large, bare room in the back, left corner of the house. A nook kitty corner to it led to multiple doors, all of which would lead to spaces in the front left corner of the building.

But January led them in the opposite direction, into the very center of the house. An octagonal rotunda took up this space, and rose up two stories overhead. A staircase curled up two walls to the floor above. Directly across from them was the foyer in the front right corner of the home, beside the driveway. She could see the front door of the house at its far end.

January led them up the stairs to the second floor. The steps ended here, and a balcony ringed the center of the building, looking down into the rotunda below. Numerous doors jutted from this mezzanine, like spokes radiating from a wheel. Set into the ceiling overhead was a single attic hatch.

She led them around the balcony to a small loft in the front corner of the building, the one that bordered the driveway. That put them directly above the foyer and front door, and was part of the round turret that rose up in that corner of the house. January once more tapped into the wards of the home, and golden light spilled from her fingers. The light faded, and with it one wall of the room. This revealed a stairway leading up to a perfectly ordinary-looking door overhead.

"Whoa, this is, this is magic?" Hannah could not contain the look of amazement from her features.

"Just wait until you see what's next," January murmured.

She led the way up the hidden stair. Mana dripped from her fingertips as she again opened the door above with a spell of golden light. She did not touch the door or handle. The lock simply clicked over, and the door swung open on its own accord.

January led the way into the Keziah Talmadge's sanctum sanctorum. The ceiling rose high overhead, and the walls spread out at least the width of a football field. As ever, January could not discern the exact shape of the chamber. One moment it was a cube, the next it was an ovoid, then it was hexagonal. It always defied description.

A pebble mosaic stretched across the entire floor, like those from countless Roman and Byzantine temples and manors. But these stone artworks did not depict religious figures or scenes from nature. Instead they traced out numerous lines that twisted and curved about, and crossed and overlapped one another in every direction you followed them. Each line was a different color, at least when you started to follow its course. But a strange thing happened the farther you traced it. Soon enough it was another color entirely, but you could never put your finger on where the shift had taken place.

Similar strips of metal were set into the amorphous walls, drawing out more lines and shapes. Once more these were of different colors, depending on the metals used. Copper burned with a bright reddish hue, gold glowed like the sun, silver shone like the moon, and iron loomed cold and gray as a winter sky.

A sea of beads hung from strings in the ceiling, whose proper surface was lost in the snowstorm of hanging pellets. They came in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some were of metals such as the aforementioned copper, gold, silver, and iron. Others were of minerals like malachite, carnelian, and bloodstone. Still more were of organic materials such as amber, wood, or resins. She could not truly see the ceiling beneath it. Instead it was an upside down range of hills and valleys that stretched from one end of the room to the other.

As always, the entire chamber swam before January's eyes. It formed, and reformed, as she turned her gaze across it. The more she concentrated upon one set of lines and shapes, the more sharply they sprang into focus. The room conformed to that reality, while others faded away. It was like a sandbox where castles were formed from pure imagination.

Standing in the middle of the sprawling chamber was Blood Raven. She was clad in her red and black armor. As it was wont to do, the scarlet mane of her hair flowed gently in a breeze that did not exist. Her cape snapped out behind her as she whirled to face January. Then she was standing directly before her, even though she had been hundreds of feet away an instant before.

January braced herself for a tirade about how foolish she was behaving. "Et tu, Sanguinus Corvum?" she managed to force out in rough Latin.

"That should be 'Et tu, Vulpes Corvum Videt Sanguinem'," Blood Raven responded with a wry smile.

"So you aren't going to chew me out?" January wondered.

"What words might I broach, which you have not already entertained within your own private discourse?" Blood Raven laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "My friend, you are so mature that often times I forget that but nineteen years have passed before your eyes. What right have I to deny you your youth? When I was your age, the burdens I carried upon my shoulders were but trifles compared to those which you take for granted. I cannot cast judgment upon thee. I need only accept you for who you are, which I do gladly."

January was flabbergasted. This was the last thing she had expected. She always thought of her herself as the one filled with surprises. Once again, she was reminded that she was but an apprentice in that regard, when compared to her seven-times great-grandmother.

Blood Raven stepped around January and stood before Hannah. January had been so focused on receiving a hostile reaction from Blood Raven, that she had completely forgotten her new charge. She spun about to find the poor girl gaping openly at the sight of the room that surrounded them. The door had closed behind them, and left no sign of its existence. As usual, it had entirely vanished after it had shut. That left the three of them in the sea of infinitude that was the sanctum.

"It's smaller on the outside," was all Hannah could blurt out. Her eyes darted between the magical room, and the two superheroines before her.

"My old mentor would say that time and space are nothing but thread for the weaver." Blood Raven said. "They are for us to cut, and fold, and shape as we desire. It would seem that you have this power as well. We shall explore that in time, along with the mysteries of this place."

"But first there are more pressing matters that must be attended to." Blood Raven reached out to take both of Hannah's hands gently within her own. She stared deeply into the young woman's eyes. "Dear child, would that this meeting had taken place under better circumstances. However, the world does not arrange itself according to our desires, no matter our best laid plans."

"You have been initiated into a world that is wider, and far more perilous, than most can conceive. I pray that you apprehend the danger. You are in possession of knowledge that others will not only kill for, but kill with. For the rest of your life, you must always be on guard that you do not let this slip from your tongue. No matter how much you might trust another, or how angry you might become, or how spiteful. You can never divulge January's name. Do you understand that?"

"Of course I know!" Hannah pulled back, eyes ablaze with affront. "I would never put Stormcrow... January, at risk. I know what's at stake."

"Do you?" Blood Raven shook her head. "It is not January whom this knowledge endangers. It is you. She is the one placing you in danger. Not the other way around. We have many enemies, and their ranks will only swell as time marches past. Those who fail against our arms will look for easier targets to vent their spleen upon. As others have noted, bullies punch down, not up."

"They will come for you my dear," Blood Raven explained. "Should January's identity ever be promulgated, you will be among the first her enemies will come for. The same with anyone else near you. I am told you have a mother and father. If either happens to be in your proximity, they will suffer the same fate. You have placed yourself in harm's way. I pray you consider this with care."

Hannah was silent, and looked down at her feet. January did not know what to do. She wanted to step forward, and take the other woman in her arms, and tell her everything was going to be alright. But while that lie was a warm and soft comforter to wrap around oneself on a cold winter's day, it was also still a lie.

"Other heroes have girlfriends and boyfriends." Hannah finally blurted out. "Do you give this same spiel to them? Or am I special?"

"They do, and I would if given the opportunity, and you are very, very special." Blood Raven circled around behind Hannah, speaking as she walked. "Pay heed my young apprentice. No relationship built upon a lie ever lasts, just as no house built upon a foundation of sand ever stands. I wish nothing but the best for you and January. I want her, and you, to find as much joy and fulfillment as you might wrest from life. But you will never find that with your eyes closed."

She stood beside Hannah, and gestured to January. "Look at January, see her for who she truly is. Not the mask she wears. But who she is underneath this role we all play for the public. It is not at all glamorous, or awe-inspiring. She is just a woman, with her burdens and flaws, like any other. Look at what your life with her will be and be honest. Not with me, but with yourself."

January felt distinctly uncomfortable with both women staring at her. She never did like being the center of attention. Her life never got better when people noticed her after all, only worse. Wearing the suit and helmet helped of course. It put up a wall between who she really was and the rest of the world. Which January realized Blood Raven had just been saying.

She reached up and pulled the winged helmet from her head, and let it hang back against her shoulder blades. With one hand she absentmindedly pulled her long hair from the hole in the base of the protective headgear, and let it spill free. She knew that her skin was sweaty, and she prayed that her makeup was not smeared or running.

"You mean like, right now?" Hannah squeaked.

Blood Raven actually laughed at that. An occurrence as rare as it was welcome. Even January managed to crack a smile, in spite of everyone staring at her.

"No, no one expects that." January stepped forward, and finally did take one of Hannah's hands in her own. "My great-grandma has a lot of experience at living. She knows that you cannot sell a wine before its time. I like you Hannah, I really do. I want to get to know you better. We'll just have to see what happens."

[Acadian]

’It was like a sandbox where castles were formed from pure imagination.’
- - A wonderfully evocative description.

You did a nice job of building up suspense during Jan and Hannah’s trek to the inner sanctum. We knew Hannah would be properly awed by both the sanctum and the expected appearance of Blood Raven. And, after being chastised by Gadget about bringing Hannah into her coven, I knew Jan would be anxious about Blood Raven’s reaction.

Blood Raven does indeed continue to surprise us. In this case she shows she is still ever so much Blood Raven but that her relationship with Jan has changed both of them.

I wonder where this will go – both from a Jan + Hannah perspective as well as the future of Hannah’s own magic. Will she become part of the Blood Raven’s growing brood of superheroes?

[Renee]

Oh [censored], she's taking Hannah into the magic room. This is a big step in their relationship (if they are to have one). Oh [censored]. There's Blood Raven. Will Branwen disapprove? I'm taking a pause here to guess.

I don't think she will disapprove, actually. She's mentioned several times by now she supports her grand X7 niece's lifestyle. Why wouldn't she want to see it flourish? And why not with someone else who also has superhuman powers? It's just that <<<automatic reflex>>> I have as a reader. Raven shows up? There's gonna be trouble.

Gosh I love the way she speaks. And I was right. with my second guess.

Raven scrutinizes Hannah. This is as close to Meet The Parents as Jan's going to experience. Mom missed her chance since Jan was sadly celibant during her earlier teenage years. And dad's going to be a permanent no-show from now on. Was pretty much a no-show when they lived together, too.

Whoa. Easy there, great aunt! These two gals just met, and you're already talking about worst-case scenarios! (Sorry.) Easy.... Eeeasy.

I wonder how the rest of their first date is going to go! They should get some pizza.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: I finally found a set of floor plans that I could use for the Witch House. Naturally I had to tweak them to fit the picture of the exterior I already had. But it worked out really nice. So now I can give some detailed descriptions about the inside.

Blood Raven is one of those examples of people being a multitude. We often only see one side to a person, especially a public one. From that we build up an image of them which is not necessarily accurate. We never see what they are like when they are out of the spotlight. Or when they are not fighting. Or when they are not being confident for the cameras. Blood Raven has a great depth of compassion and empathy. But you never see that when she is smiting Lovecraftian monsters and nazis. We only see it in personal moments like these with January.

Hannah is not actually a magician. That will be made clear this episode in fact. But as we will learn, there are a lot of similarities between training one and the other.


Renee: That sanctum is a big step. It is the heart of the Witch House. But there is no place better to train. Not only are not not going to accidentally blow anyone up there, but it will also show the trainees the universe writ large.

You are right, in that this meeting with Blood Raven is as close to a meet the parents episode that Hannah and January are likely to get. Blood Raven is in many ways a parental figure for January, in that she is a mentor who has already made all the mistakes waiting ahead of January. I suppose it is only fair, since January had to meet Hannah's father already.

The rest of their first date is going to be pretty unusual.







Is Spacetime Really a Fabric?



Book 8.8 - Blood

"In the meanwhile, we shall train." Blood Raven stepped away from Hannah. "I can see that you are not a magician, but rather a meta-human. But the training of both is similar in many regards. Visualize the effect you wish to create, expend your energy, and will it into reality. Most of all practice, again and again, until doing using your abilities becomes as natural as walking, and just as importantly, not-doing it is as natural as sitting still."

"Your talents are a part of who and what you are." Blood Raven waved an arm to indicate the chamber around them. "This room will show them to you, writ large. All things are possible here. All times, all places."

"You said you have been teleporting for a long time," January said. "But the rest started recently. Just what has been happening?"

"I was teleporting since I was 14," Hannah explained. "It took years before I could go more than a few feet. And it took a lot of work. But in time I got better. Now it's easy. I just picture where I want to go and make an effort, then I am just there."

"But now things have changed," Hannah went on. "The world, it looks different to me. I see things I never did before. It is like there is this... landscape to the universe. I see it in front of my eyes now, when I never could before. Right now, I can see it more clearly than ever."

"Try and explain what you see," Gadget's voice came out of Sága's speakerphone. "Is it like this?"

January turned her arm around, so that Hannah could see Sága's screen. Classic images of spacetime drawn out as a grid upon a flat surface filled the screen. Some of them showed objects like planets and stars, and how they dimpled spacetime around them.

"No," Hannah shook her head. "That is like a flat sheet, with a dip in it. I can see in many more directions than that. Especially now, when I concentrate, I can see maybe a dozen."

"And each dimension is at a right angle to the next?" Gadget asked.

"Yes," Hannah answered. "But I have to look really hard to see most of them. It's a lot easier here. Normally they are really small."

"Okay, how about this?" A new image sprang up on Sága's screen. This one showed a planet suspended with a three-dimensional grid. The far edges of the grid were all straight lines. But as they neared the planet, they all curved inward toward it. It was like the lines were all dimpled by the presence of the world.

"This is more like it!" Hannah cried. "It is like the world has these contours, like hills and valleys, and I can sense them. But I don't really see it directly. It's more like water. I can see when ripples go through it. I can see the bends and curves that shape it. Sometimes when I concentrate I can create those bends and curves. And that's when my force fields shoot out. Like when I hit you and my dad in front of the cinnamon store."

"I'm so sorry about that," Hannah murmured. "I didn't mean to."

"I know," January said just as quietly, and squeezed Hannah's hand in affirmation.

"So I think what you are seeing is spacetime, the literal fabric of the universe," Gadget explained. "But it's not really a fabric. That is just a way of visualizing it. It's just a mathematical structure that we can describe with equations. Like a series of lines that describe the probability of things like physical matter or radiation behaving in a certain way, such as falling into a planet or jetting out into space."

"That's not all," Hannah explained. "I can see lines and angles between things. Well I notice them now at least. I never really understood that until I stepped in here. I can see them right now plain as day."

"Look there," she raised one hand toward the ceiling. "I can see something there that has more than just three dimensions. Every time I look around here, I can see more than just the normal universe. It is like there is a whole new world in this room."

"It is the same world we all live in," Blood Raven said. "Only here it is so much easier to bear witness to. Just as we can draw a cube on a piece of paper, and visualize a three-dimensional object rendered down to only two dimensions, this place can do the same, only with all reality. It is always here, most of us are simply unable to ever perceive it. Apparently you are."

"This is such a relief! I thought I was going crazy," Hannah breathed. She turned her head, and January had to fight the urge to kiss her. Thankfully Blood Raven was right there. That made it easier to not display affection, since it would have been in public.

"Now we have a grounding in the reality of your situation," Blood Raven declared. "Usually when a meta-human's powers first awaken, it is only at a very low intensity. One must practice and exercise it in order for it to mature. You have experienced this with your teleportation. But that clearly is not your only power. Rather it is evidently but one facet of your true ability, the control of space and perhaps even time. Your raw power grew as you honed your teleportation. Now you must learn to use the rest of your abilities. Unfortunately not with the baby steps of a starting meta-human, rather you must do it with all of this power you have heretofore marshaled."

"So let us do something practical with all of that might," Blood Raven wrapped up. "Create a force field."

January stepped away to give Hannah some space. The other woman closed her eyes, and put her hands out before her. Her brows knotted up in concentration, and she grunted with effort. It looked like she was trying to push a stone block. Yet it did not budge.

"I don't know, I can't," she finally broke off the effort with a sigh.

"It usually worked when someone was coming at you," January pointed out. "Maybe if we just-"

"Defend yourself!" Blood Raven roared. With a great flourish, she leapt forward, directly at Hannah. January's fighter's eyes could see that she was telegraphing her movements from a mile away. She clearly was not trying to actually surprise Hannah.

The young woman raised her arms defensively, apparently on reflex. An opaque barrier sprang up in the air in front of her. Again, January was reminded of a shower door. She could almost see through it, but only general silhouettes. The barrier was even the same size as such a door might be, except that the top and bottom were rounded into an elliptical shape.

Blood Raven struck it and stopped cold, like a doll thrown against a brick wall. She dropped down to her feet with ease, and clapped her hands with approval. She stepped around from the force field, so that Hannah could see her.

"Excellent!" Blood Raven cried. "Remember how that felt. Remember what you just did. Now again!"

This time she simply pantomimed sending a punch at Hannah. The old force field melted away, and another sprang to life in front of Blood Raven's new position. The older heroine struck it with her fist, only for the blow to ineffectually bounce off. January could tell that Blood Raven was holding back of course. Now was not the time to build strength, but simply to learn the movements. With that in mind she jumped into the act as well.

"You are unwise to lower your defenses!" January shouted. She charged at Hannah from another direction. But she was careful to not move too quickly. A new force field popped into the air in front of her. January allowed herself to run into it, and bounce away a moment later.

January was glad to see a grin flash across Hannah's face, as she dropped the force field between her and January, in order to create a new one to block Blood Raven a third time. Clearly, this was not only good practice, but a boost to the young woman's confidence. That was something everyone could sorely use more of these days.

January was careful to wait her turn before going at her again. This was not training for a real fight. It was far too early for that. Right now she wanted Hannah to simply build her skills and her trust in herself. They could turn up the difficulty later, when she was ready to take off the training wheels. After all, Rome was not sacked in a day.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Hannah squirmed. January held her hand and gently squeezed.

"Of course I am," January insisted. "It's the right thing to do. It will be fine."

They stood atop the roof of the Lakeside Mall. The strange rooftop world of the mall stretched out around them. The most noticeable things were all they skylights. Pyramidal shapes of glass, they rose up like pimples on the face of the building. Another level of the roof below revealed the usual forest of heating and cooling units, and other mundane machinery.

January was clad in her Stormcrow armor, winged helmet pulled down firmly over her features. Hannah wore a similar outfit. It was a backup suit that Avery had lying around in case of emergencies. It lacked many of the amenities of the full suit. For example, the helmet did not have the decorative wings, or any of the electronics within. A copy of Sága did not grace Hannah's forearm, and there was no cape to drape from her shoulders. It also lacked all the solid plates that her current armor possessed. It was just the basic hagfish suit.

But it did serve its purpose as a means of protecting Hannah's identity, which is all that mattered.

Space and time warped, and January found them standing within the mall below. They were in front of the cinnamon store. She resisted the urge to buy another sweet roll. She still had a headache from the one she had eaten earlier. There must have been more sugar in those things than a cake factory.

Everyone stopped to stare of course. It was not like people just teleported into a building every day. As ever, January did her best to smile and look friendly. All the while she kept them moving down the nearby stairway to the ground floor, and across the mall. A few people asked for selfies, or simply took them without asking. January took out the time to oblige them. This was part of how she hoped that reaching out people might create a positive influence after all.

Many people asked who her friend was, and if she was a new member of the Blackbirds. January smiled and deflected them as best she could. She was not about to put words in Hannah's mouth. For her own part, Hannah looked stunned by the attention, at least at first. She gradually warmed up to it however, and smiled for the cameras along with January.

"Should I have a super name?" Hannah whispered into January's ear as they made their way past the fountain in the center of the mall.

"If you want one," January shrugged. "Gilda will probably come up with one if you don't. Just remember, you never have to do anything in public again. Just because you have powers, does not mean you have to be superhero. Plenty of people with them aren't."

"But if I was, what would I call myself?" Hannah wondered.

"I dunno," January pondered. "Warp? Blink? Vortex? Curvature of Space and Time?"

"It's no wonder Gilda gave you your name, that last one was terrible." Hannah laughed.

Finally they reached Hot Topic. January led the way through the racks of gothpunk fashion and accessories. They came to a square glass counter in the center of the shop, filled with bric-a-brac, from jewelry to buttons. Standing within was a middle-aged woman in a Sisters of Mercy tee. Her pixie haircut was bright green, and her nose was pierced with a diamond stud.

"Hi!" January blurted out in her perky phone voice. She instantly regretted it, as usual. It did not create the image of a calm and cool professional. "We are here to return this. Well, give it back."

"Whoa, you're Stormcrow!" The Sister of Mercy's eyes lit up. Her eyes turned from January to Hannah. "That means you're... you're... that girl who was here earlier, when things went all cray cray."

"Um, yeah," Hannah said. She raised the Nightgirl mask she had taken, and laid it on the counter. "That's me. I'm here to give this back. I didn't want to take it. But my scarf was falling off."

"Wait a minute," Sister of Mercy's eyes took on a hard cast. "You stole that!"

"She borrowed it," January insisted, "because of a pressing need. Now she is here to give it back, because she is not a thief, just like I am not."

"Ok...ok..., I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing it back." Sister of Mercy raised her hands in surrender. "It's just that we get so much shoplifting it makes me paranoid."

January's eyes scanned the countertop. They fell upon a sharpie sitting beside the cash register. She scooped it up with one hand, and picked up the mask with the other. She scribbled her name across one cheek of the mask, then set it back on the counter.

"There you go, one mask autographed by Stormcrow," January declared. "It must be worth... oh at least ten cents more than what it was before."

"You should get her to sign it too." Another woman, this one with blue hair and a lip piercing, came over. She wore a top with an atom emblazoned across it, whose protons were all colored bright red. Written across it was a message to stay positive. A sucker floated around between her ruby red lips. "She's a superhero too. Or at least she will be."

"You sign it, and I'll give you anything you want in the store," Sister of Mercy smiled. She picked up the sharpie and handed it to Hannah.

She stood there gripping the writing instrument in one finger. She stared at the mask.

"What do I write?" she wondered. "I mean, who do I sign it as?"

"You don't have a super name yet?" Miss Proton asked.

"We were just talking about that." January said. "There's nothing that really sticks just yet."

"Well there's Sextant," Sister of Mercy offered. "It's how sailors figured out where they were. Or maybe Warp, since you warp through space."

"What about Vector?" Miss Proton declared. "It's an object that has both direction and magnitude, basically a line. Put three of them together and you can create a three dimensional coordinate system, like a Cartesian system."

"Or maybe Vortex," Miss Proton added a moment later when everyone stared back at her blankly. "It's a region in a fluid in which a flow revolves around an axis line. Like what you see in a whirlpool, or the wake of a ship, or the accretion disc around a black hole."

"Well that's two for Vortex then." Hannah stared from the women around her to the sharpie in her fingers. "I like that. Vortex it is!"

Vortex set the pen to the mask, and scrawled out her new name. Afterward they took selfies with everyone.

[Acadian]

A fascinating foray into time-space phisics that, with Gadget’s helpful narration, was somewhat broken down from magic into almost-understandable science. You did a good job of trying to explain some challenging concepts. Then some ward training. I picture Hannah’s ward much like the spells of the same name in Skyrim.

Blackbirds! Great name for Blood Raven’s coven / Stormcrow’s posse.

Finally some fun mall crawlin’ – and a supername for superHannah! I think Vortex is a fabulous choice.

[Renee]

That's cool. So she started teleporting in her room, perhaps. Probably was not even sure what the heck just happened. Now look at her.

Sounds like Gadget just showed them a classic black hole pic. With a grid of multiple squares, and all that. Whoa, that's wicked. She can see these angles or whatever wherever she looks. And they're all around us.

See, that's something I think could actually exist. If you had said to somebody from the earlier 1800s there are invisible waves all over the place, and that pretty soon we'll be using some of these invisible waves to send voices around into something called a "radio", and folks can listen to this voice which is miles away, you would have been scoffed at. Everyone would have laughed. But see, that's the thing. I think radio waves and what we know now are just the beginning. There are a lot of things we can't see.

Yeah, don't show affection in front of auntie, very good. Jan's learning quick.

Rosa, have you ever seen Stranger Things? If not, Hannah reminds me of one of the characters in that series, named Seven. Seven got her name because she was child number 7, raised in some secret organization from very young to become a meta. She could move stuff around, create forcefields and so on. Just like Hannah seems to be trying.

"You are unwise to lower your defenses!"

She sounds just like Branwen!

Back at Cinnabon. Hey, even meta-humans cannot heed the call of the sweetroll. Nice. Sisters of Mercy. These gals have taste.

There we go. Vortex work, mos' def.

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 12 2021, 01:10 PM

[SubRosa]

Acadian: I had to do a lot of digging into physics to write that section explaining how Hannah's Spacetime Control power works. It was actually one of the ideas I had to be January's powers. But the force fields were just a little too similar to Aela's wards. So I went passed over it for the magical elemental martial artist birdwoman idea instead.

I like the Blackbirds a lot. However, it does not really fit anymore, now that the team has grown beyond the two corvids. Though a Blackhawk will be appearing soon. They will soon be getting a new name for the larger coven, at the end of this book in fact.

I decided to change Hannah's super name from Warp to Vortex at nearly the last minute. Vortex has a cooler sound to it, and fits well with black holes, which we shall see are something Hannah has an interest in, being spacetime anomalies and all.


Renee: The fabric of the universe is a funky thing. At one time many people thought there was a literal physical fabric called the aether. But that has been disproven. As Gadget said, now physicists see the "fabric" as simply being a metaphor that we can use to build equations upon that explain the likelihood of matter or energy behaving in certain ways. Mostly it is because of how gravity "dimples" or warps spacetime. The most extreme example being black holes, which are so extreme that they are literal holes in our universe to somewhere and somewhen else. Hannah has the power to not only sense all of this, but alter it according to her will. She has the potential to be one of the most powerful supers to ever exist.

I did watch Stranger Things. Hannah will eventually figure out telekinesis as well. But she does not have quite the same set of abilities as Eleven. For example, Hannah cannot do the remote sensing. It was the military's experiments with remote sensing that inspired Stranger Things, among other things like MK Ultra.

You are unwise to lower your defenses!

I tried Cinnabon last week for the first time in years, if not forever. OMG was it sweet! It gave me a headache. I went back and edited that into the story. It was too much sugar for January, and she could not finish it. She cannot do really spicy or sweet or otherwise extreme tasting food.









Witch House Floor Plans

Iron Maiden Killers Tee

Pre-Raphaelites


Book 8.9 - Blood

"Whew, that was a relief," Hannah pulled back the spare Stormcrow helmet from her features. Her other hand was firmly ensconced within January's own hand. January had to admit, she liked the feeling. It was soft, and warm, and oh so comforting a feeling.

They strode across the hard tiled floor of the rotunda in the center of the Witch House. She led them up the curling staircase to the second floor. This time instead of continuing along the mezzanine that ringed the space, she took an immediate right turn, toward the back of the house. That put them in a small vestibule, bordered by three doors. January took the door on the right, and strode into her bedroom.

It faced the back yard, and was set in the middle of the rear wall of the building. That put her directly over the kitchen below. It was a wide space, easily twice the size of her old room. A fireplace sat in one wall, opposite the long windows that revealed the yard outside. Farther along the inner wall was the door to a walk-in closet, which spread out behind the fireplace. Set in a third wall were a pair of double doors, now open, that revealed a spacious private bathroom that sat in the corner of the house that bordered the driveway.

The master bedroom looked even larger than normal thanks to the lack of furniture January possessed. There was her narrow twin bed with its soft watermelon-colored quit. It jutted out from the back wall, between two of the main windows. In one corner was her plain white desk, in the other her equally plain vanity. Along a third wall was her plain white dresser.

She had taken down her old pictures of fighters. Now the walls were mostly empty. But a few prints of Pre-Raphaelites such as John William Waterhouse and Dante Gabriel Rossetti hung prominently upon the walls. These glorious fantasy portraits brought a bright splash of color that invigorated the space.

Scattered around the floor and her bed were the summoning diagrams that she had been studying before all the excitement. January had forgotten all about them! She rushed to gather them all up into a messy stack. Then she tucked them away into a drawer in her desk, along with her tablet.

When she was finished she turned back to find Hannah studying her list of Viking Virtues. Set in an unremarkable wood frame, they were printed on plain white paper, and hung from the wall near the door. January stepped over to stand beside the other woman, and ran her eyes across the words written there.

Do Not Live In Fear
"The error is the result of letting fear rule your actions" - The Saga of Harald Hardrade, c.46.

Friendship
"A true friend whom you trust well and wish for his good will: go to him often exchange gifts and keep him company." - Havamal, s.44.

Kindness
"A kind word need not cost much, The price of praise can be cheap: With half a loaf and an empty cup I found myself a friend." - Havamal, s.52.

The Law Is Not Always Right
"When truth and fairness are different from what is law, better it is to follow truth and fairness." - Bandamanna Saga, c.6

Be A Part Of The World
"He is truly wise who has travelled far and knows the ways of the world. He who has traveled can tell what spirit governs the men he meets." - Havamal, s.18.

Never Hide My Truth
"Sorrow eats him who can no longer open his heart to another." - Havamal, s.121.

Prepare for the Worst
"A wayfarer should not walk unarmed, but have his weapons to hand." - Havamal, s.38.

Sacrifice
"Nine whole days and nights, stabbed with a spear, offered to Odin, myself to mine own self given." -Havamal, s.138.

Never Give Up, No Matter What
"Often times it is not numbers that wins the victory, but those who fare forward with the most vigor." - The Saga of Thrond of Gate, c.19.

"What is this?" Hannah asked, "pages from some ancient Viking text?"

"Sort of, this is mine," January said proudly. "I took these lines from the Havamal, and some of the sagas. They inspire me, help remind me of who I want to be, and who I need to be. I used to have the Nine Noble Virtues. Until I found out they were written by a literal fascist. Then I burned them."

"Ugh, gross" Hannah made a face.

"But it turned out to be a good thing," January nodded to the framed set of ideals. "It pushed me to make my own code instead of looking to someone else's. One in which kindness and friendship are just as important as being ready to fight and sacrifice."

She pulled her hand free of Hannah's, and stepped away from the other woman for a moment. She closed her eyes, and called up her mana.

Fire give me passion and energy. Transform me in the night sky.

With that her armor was gone. She had returned to the same clothing she had been wearing before all of the day's excitement had begun: a plain white cami and a pair of cutoff shorts. Free of the tight armor, she closed her eyes and relaxed for just a moment.

"How do you do that?" Hannah wondered.

"It's magic," January turned and smiled. "Now let's get you out of that, and into something a little more comfortable."

Now it was Hannah's turn to smile. She began to do a striptease, gyrating in the middle of the bedroom floor. She had January's full attention. The erotic dance did not last long however, as the helmet did not want to come off. As with the helmet of January's primary suit, it was attached to her tunic by several snaps at the nape of the neck. That allowed her to take it off and let it hang over her back. January had to step up and help her with it, along with the rest of the suit. It turned out that armor was not really intended for anything more than protection.

Eventually they ended up sitting together on the bed, with the pieces of the backup Stormcrow suit scattered around the floor. Wearing nothing but her underwear, Hannah plopped herself down on January's lap. She wrapped her arms around her neck, and kissed her gently on the lips. The next thing January knew she was laying back on the bed, with Hannah straddling her.

Then her stomach growled.

Hannah laughed, and rolled off of her. January could not resist laughing either, and covered her face with her hands. "Now that really puts a person into the mood," January giggled.

"Yes," Hannah agreed, "to eat."

"I should go downstairs and make dinner," January moaned and sat up. "And you should get dressed. Check the closet and the dresser. I'm sure I've got something that will fit."

With a supreme effort of will January pulled herself off the bed and walked to the door. She could not stop herself from turning at the door, and gazing back at Hannah. The other woman was draped across her bed in a most inviting fashion. It took even more willpower to turn away from that, and force her feet to take her out the door.

She stepped to the rotunda, and leaped off the balcony surrounding it. She dropped lightly to the tiled floor below, and strode to the kitchen in the back of the house. It was Wednesday, that meant spaghetti. So she started boiling water, then moved on to the other steps of making the meal. She lost track of time in the simple tasks, and the next thing she knew Hannah breezed into the room.

She wore a pair of January's multicolored tights, and her old Iron Maiden tee, depicting the classic version of the band's monster mascot from the Killer's album cover. January instantly smiled at the sight. That shirt always brought back good memories.

"I know we already had your regular birthday, but I want you to have this too." January's mother walked into her cramped bedroom. She held out a dark top and handed it to the younger woman.

January took it by the shoulders, and let the cloth fall open, to reveal a classic Iron Maiden tee. The band's iconic monster mascot grinned under a lamppost and brandished a hatchet in one bony hand.

"I bought this at their Toronto show when I was nineteen," her mother said. "A bunch of us from MSU made a road trip out there for it. Since you just turned nineteen, I wanted you to have it."

"That shirt looks good on you," January breathed as Hannah walked over to the stove, where January had been warming up sauce in a pot.

"Where did you get this?" Hannah wondered. One of her fingers played with the collar. "It looks vintage."

"It is," January said. "It's my mom's. She gave it to me last summer on my birthday. She bought it at one of their concerts when she was my age."

"You have a weird mother!" Hannah laughed. "You know other mothers pass on things like wedding rings, or strings of pearls."

"Well, she has a weird daughter, so I love it!" January smiled. "Besides, all my father ever passed down to me was a curse."

"A what?" Hannah's face looked quizzical. "I thought I had daddy issues."

"We all have daddy issues." Now January wished she had kept her mouth shut. She turned back to the stove, and mixed the spaghetti sauce.

"Did I say something?" Hannah's arm wrapped around her waist, and her flowery scent filled January's nostrils as she sidled up beside her.

"No," January insisted. She turned to look at Hannah, whose lips were invitingly near her own. "I like seeing you in the shirt. It reminds me of my mother."

"Well then," Hannah pulled away, and peeled off the shirt with a flourish. That left her completely topless. "That's the last person I want you thinking of when you look at me!"

"I... um...you..." January struggled for words. Then Hannah's lips were dancing across her own, and she no longer had to pretend to know how to form words. January did not know how long they stood there in front of the stove. It was long enough for a bubble of sauce to pop up, and spatter them both.

Hannah leaped away as the hot spaghetti sauce splashed across her bare skin. January did not mind the searing heat. But the bright red spots that now blossomed across her white top were another story. She should have known better than to wear white while making spaghetti! She followed Hannah's example, and pulled the cami over her head. Unlike her, she headed for the utility room to douse it with bleach while it was still white.

[Acadian]

The January Doctrine! Well done and suits her well.

Armor + striptease = not a good combo.

A fun, domestic scene as the two women get to know each other better and confirm their strong mutual attraction via teasing/flirting despite being interrupted by distractions.

I chuckled that Jan’s practicality won out over her passion at the end with that white cami top.

[Renee]

Nice, look at all that space. That's a lot of room in the Witch House! January could have one heck of a DnD campaign in any of those rooms with all her friends & acquaintances mentioned earlier, but I understand having a gigantic nerd party would not make for as exciting a chapter for us.

I tried Cinnabon last week for the first time in years, if not forever. OMG was it sweet! It gave me a headache.

Hey, you're doing research for the story, like a method writer! I don't know if you have Peet's Coffee in Michigan. If so, that stuff is like crack + meth in a to-go cup. Last time I drank too much of that I seriously got paranoid. Not that Jan or any of the others on her side would ever go that far, but I can see one of the villains being a Peet's addict. Don't do "research" on Peet's (or whatever equivalent you've got up there) without caution.

Star Wars!

I like where it says she's got a lack of furniture. Indeed, I can imagine how much space there is. When it says "she took down her pictures of fighters" which fighters are we talking about? Martial artists and such?

The Viking Virtues part breaks my heart. That's my favorite part of getting to know someone you care about. Little moments like this (talking of Hanna's point of view, now).

I am glad you added the striptease part in. It's a definite new step for this story, and for any of your other stories I've read so far. It also makes me feel a little more at ease with some of the content I'm about to post in the next Vicious.

Gawd I hope these two don't get interrupted with a distress call.... WHOA mom's got some metal in her! I wonder how she wound up with dad, then.

That T-shirt is Vintage. Gah, we're all getting old.

Yikes. The end's got me all hot & bothered. How am I gonna post Vicious now? Maybe it's time for a shower...


Edit: better yet, time to rock out to some Iron Maiden. Yah!!!! Go go go Eddie!!!!

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 17 2021, 04:02 PM

[SubRosa]

Acadian: I was disappointed to learn that the Nine Noble Virtues were indeed written by a member of the British Union of Fascists. But as January said, it gave me an opportunity to dig in and create a new set of values for January to define herself by. In the end, it turned out much better this way.

I enjoyed writing the flirting scenes with the interruptions by everyday distractions. That kind that come up all the time in non-super life. It was a nice opportunity to show super characters living the same as everyone else. Spaghetti stains and all...


Renee: Maybe some day I will be able to work in a giant nerd party at Casa de Jan. But probably not until Season Two at the soonest.

If you look back at the very start of the story, you will see mentions of various MMA fighters she had pictures of. I forget their names at the moment. She does not need to look up to people like them anymore. Now Jan is the inspiration for people like them.

The (failed) striptease was an amusing anecdote, which might be a story that gets told in the future. Just one of those examples of how when you want something to be romantic and steamy, it can often just completely fall apart.

Mom is definitely metal. She's a cool chick. Dad was cool back in the college days too. Until his career went nowhere because college teachers almost never get made professor these days, or get real full-times jobs with benefits from universities anymore. Instead 75% of instructors are basically part time gig workers, which is just wrong in so many ways.










Three Wil Wheaton Moon Shirt

Angry Pakistani Cricket Fan

Witch House Floor Plan

Felix the Black Lab


Book 8.10 - Blood

So began January's first romantic dinner at home with her new girlfriend. She was not sure if that was what Hannah really was. But with both of them clad in new attire, they settled down to an Italian dinner in the kitchen. She set their plates out on the granite-topped island in the middle of the room, and they perched there upon two of the stools. It was not like January had a dining room table after all. Her mother had taken that with her when she moved out.

"I know you got spaghetti sauce on the other top, but you can do better than that," Hannah looked up from her plate to nod at January's new shirt.

January looked down, and raised an eyebrow in Spockian incredulity. "This is my Three Wil Wheaton Moon shirt," she said, as if that explained everything.

"That guy looks like some kind of nerd," Hannah murmured. "And what is that in the corner. It looks like a hyper dimensional object?"

"He is a nerd, and that is a twenty-sided die." January declared. "Don't they have Star Trek where you come from, or The Guild, or TableTop? Or role-playing games?"

"OMG, I've fallen in love with a nerd..." Hannah murmured through a mouthful of spaghetti. January could not help but notice the "L" word in there. She was not sure if Hannah had even noticed that she had said it. January, on the other hand, was speechless. It was a condition Hannah had a habit of inspiring within her. January found that all she could do was blush in response.

"So are you and you know, Blood Raven a thing then?" Hannah broke the long silence that was forming at the kitchen island.

January nearly spat a mouthful of spaghetti across the kitchen. As it was she had to fight to keep from choking on the noodles and ground hamburger. The very thought horrified and sickened her at once.

"No, no, no, no, no, just no!" she finally spat out. "She's my great-grandmother!"

"Your great grandma?" Hannah looked incredulous. "She can't be that old. She looks younger than my mother."

"She a lot older than you think," January said. "Actually, she's my seven-times great-grandmother, on my father's side."

Hannah put her hands on her hips, and stared at her like the meme of the angry Pakistani cricket fan.

"It's true," January insisted. "She was born before the American Revolution. She's about two and half centuries old."

"Not even supers live that long," Hannah argued. "Well maybe Janos Heisen, I hear he's just a brain in a robotic body. But supers weren't even around back then."

"You are right, meta-humans were not around back then." January replied. "But magic was. It sort of runs in our family, sometimes. There is no escaping our blood."

Hannah shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know what to believe with you," she declared. "You say the most outrageous things. Then you do the most outrageous things."

"I will never lie to you Hannah," January reached out and took one of her hands for a moment. "Magic is real. It's a part of me, and my family. It has been for at least a thousand years, back to Blood Raven's father."

"Don't tell me he's still around too," Hannah laughed. Her face turned serious when she saw that January was not laughing.

"Blood Raven killed him seventy years ago." January frowned. "But he has a habit of not staying dead. That's what those diagrams up in my bedroom are about. They're summoning rituals to bring him back. Someone out there is trying to do just that, and we have to stop them before it's too late."

"And he returns to rule the Earth from beyond the grave!" Hannah mocked and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, that sounds like a movie."

"It's reality," January stood up and took her plate to the sink. "If you want to live, you had better take it seriously, because a djieien, or a buggane, or a nibinabe is no joke. They are nightmares from beyond this world, and they are all Nátthrafn's to command.

"That's what that spider was in Ferndale, wasn't it?" Hannah did look sincere now. "No one ever explained where it came from, or where it went to, just that you defeated it."

"The Summoner brought it up from the Abyss," January explained. "They are growing stronger, calling more and more powerful creatures, until they are finally strong enough to call Blood Raven's father."

"And then what?"

"Then... I don't know. Once upon a time he was just an evil man, and his cruelties were bounded by the limits of magic at the time." January said quite seriously. "But ever since Tunguska, there are no limits. You have seen what Blood Raven can do, and she is only two and a half centuries old. He has had a thousand years to refine his power. I don't think he's human anymore. If he comes back, it might just really be the end of the world. That's why we cannot let that happen."

"Ok, so count me in." Hannah stood up from the kitchen counter. "We'll do it together. When do we start?"

January felt a swell of pride within her chest at the other woman's declaration. Clearly, Hannah had a lot of nerve. She just hoped it was real courage, and not bravado. There was really no way to tell until things got real. But did she have the right to push Hannah into that kind of situation in the first place?

"First things first," January said. "You need to train, and prepare, and be in full command of yourself."

"I will," Hannah insisted. "I am. When do I get my own super suit? I've got a name already - Vortex - thanks to you."

"I... dunno," January said honestly, "in time, when you're ready."

"Who says when I am ready?" Hannah challenged.

"You do, when you show it," January replied.

"Now that's circular logic," Hannah argued.

"It is," January agreed. "It is also true. You will be ready, when you are ready."

"Now you sound like some old kung fu master," Hannah shook her head.

"Must be my grandmother rubbing off on me," January observed.

* * *

January took Hannah on a tour through the Witch House. It was laid out like a wheel. The axis was the tall rotunda in the center of the house that stretched up through both floors. The other rooms circled around the rim of the house.

She started at the main entrance and foyer. It sat in the front, right corner of the building, beside the long driveway. A covered porch sat outside, and ran the length of the front wall. Once inside, a wide opening led from the foyer to the rotunda in the center of the house. But January did not take this route.

Instead she briefly opened a door set in the left wall of the foyer. A study was revealed beyond, that sat in the front of the building. The walls were lined with bookshelves that now sat empty. A great wooden desk lurked at the far end of the room, and a massive globe stood from the floor, depicting the world as it was known centuries ago. But other than these few things, the room lay quiet and alone.

From there January led them back to the foyer, and this time through a door on its right wall. This led into a living room that bordered the driveway. A large window allowed light to stream within, and a massive fireplace took up one corner of the room. Other than that however, it too, was empty.

January continued to lead the way counter-clockwise around the rim of the house. Next they found themselves in the dining room. It was also empty of course, as January had neither a table nor chairs to put in there. That put them in the back, right corner of the house. Continuing in their circuit of the house, January led them through the kitchen, and into the small diamond-shaped intersection beyond.

From here a family room in the back, left corner of the house was visible, and the central rotunda in the opposite direction. January led them past each, and into small room with more doors. One led to a utility room crammed with appliances. Another led to a small bathroom. The final one led them into a sun room in the front corner of the house, which she had converted to a gym.

Much of the hardwood floor was covered in thick mats. A full length mirror was mounted upon one wall, and free weights were stacked up in a cradle against one of the floor to ceiling windows. January's dragon silk punching bag hung from its Armex steel mount in the center of the wide space. In one corner was a bench press and in another an elliptical machine. Finally, an inversion bar was bolted to the ceiling, with a pair of gravity boots clipped to it.

That completed their exploration of the ground floor of the house. After ascending the grand staircase that curled up around the rotunda, January led them around the second floor. A balcony ringed the open space in the center of the building. Right off the stair was a little intersection where several doors met. One led to the master bedroom in the center of the rear wall, and beyond that the private bath attached to it. Another door led to a large room in the left, rear corner of the house. It was lined with windows, but January could not guess what its original function had been. Now it just sat empty, like most of the house.

Two more doors in the tiny vestibule led to a small bedroom and a bathroom set against the left side of the building. She continued to follow the balcony counter-clockwise past them. The rest of the floor was lined with bedrooms. Most had small, private baths within them. That is except for the loft in the front, right corner of the house of course. This was the room that hid the secret stairway that lead to the sanctum above.

When they returned to the landing at the top of the stairs and the small intersection there, January reached up to an access hatch in the ceiling above. She pulled down a string from it, and swung down a folding ladder and straightened it out. Once it was firmly planted on the floor, she led the way up into the attic. The space was cramped, and the roof sloped sharply overhead. Several dormer windows allowed some light to trickle within. This revealed a treasure trove of wooden crates, barrels, boxes, and containers of all sizes and shapes. There were even ceramic jugs like the amphorae used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

"What is all this stuff?" Hannah wondered.

"I don't really know," January shrugged. "I think it belonged to the original owner, Blood Raven's teacher. I haven't really looked that much. I didn't want to disturb her stuff."

"In case she comes back?" Hannah asked.

"I don't think she is coming back," January said. "From what Blood Raven has said, she's moved on from this world."

"Oh, I didn't know she was dead," Hannah murmured quietly.

"Oh, she not dead!" January laughed. "She's moved on, literally. She's exploring the multiverse. I think she taught herself how by creating the sanctum."

"Well that's... cool!" Hannah breathed. "Now that place makes more sense. It's like, it makes you really see reality, and what's behind reality, how it all works."

"Yeah, she sounds like she was a really cool lady," January nodded. "She's why it's called the Witch House. She made it. I looked it up. It's built in the Queen Anne Revival style. But she built it at least a century before the style existed."

January led the way back down out of the attic. Once they were down she folded up the ladder and pushed the hatch up to stow it in the ceiling once more. From there they went to the bedroom. Aside from the exercise room, it was the only completely furnished area in the house.

"I can't believe you don't have a TV," Hannah said with amazement when they sat on her bed. "I've never seen a house without a TV."

"If I want to watch something, I just use my tablet," January shrugged. She leaned over and picked up her old Fire 7 device. "Not that I usually do, between working out, training, reading, and writing, there isn't much time for anything else."

"You're my warrior poet," Hannah smiled, and wrapped an arm around January's waist.

January turned the tablet on, and was pleased to see a notification from Imgrr. She tapped several times on the screen to open up the picture-sharing app. It went to a series of photos of a dog with disfigured head. It appeared like one side of his face had melted and collapsed, from his nose all the way back to his eye.

"Yay, it's Felix!" January crowed. In the brand new video that she clicked on, the dog raced about someone's kitchen floor. The black Labrador retriever's tail wagged furiously, and he was clearly excited about the meatballs the videographer was feeding to him by hand.

"Ewww, that's horrible!" Hannah literally recoiled at the sight of the dog. "How can you look at that?"

"What?" January felt puzzled. "Felix is adorable!"

"What is like, wrong with him?" Hannah made a sour face.

"He was born with a cleft lip," January explained. "He's been getting regular surgeries for it. But I don't think he'll ever be completely normal."

"That's terrible!"

"Terrible? He's wonderful," January said. "Look at him. Look at how happy he is. He couldn't help how he was born. But that doesn't stop him from loving his life to the fullest. He's an inspiration for me."

"An inspiration for plastic surgery..." Hannah mumbled.

"Oh, that's mean!" January gasped. She turned back to stare at the dog's face, and her voice reflexively dropped into baby talk. "He's such a good little boy."

[Acadian]

"So are you and you know, Blood Raven a thing then?" Hannah broke the long silence that was forming at the kitchen island.’
- - I can perfectly imagine Hannah asking this while trying to do so nonchalantly – perhaps even while chewing a mouthful of spaghetti. And I can just as clearly imagine Jan’s reaction!

A wonderful review of what’s at stake and the background for Jan’s ‘Main Quest’. And a great tour of the Witch House as well.

Is that a small red flag I detect? You can tell a lot about someone based upon how animals react to them. And, I figure you can tell almost as much from how someone reacts to an animal. I am really hoping Hannah works out well for Jan. I already know that Hannah would be lucky to have Jan as a gf.


Nit? ’The final one led them into a sun room in the front corner of the house, which she had converted to gym.’ - - converted to a gym or into a gym perhaps?