The Stormcrow, A Superhero's Tale Options

[WellTemperedClavier]

Ah, a podcast sounds good. Especially since there will be tons of dis/misinformation about magic cropping up in the coming months. Granted, a lie's traveled halfway around the world by the time the truth has put on its shoes...

The governor's gotta be worrying a bit about liability here. In fact, I'm sure legislators are going to have big debates on this while the lawyers salivate.

Hm, I can definitely understand why Blood Raven's suspicious of the offer. Still, I think state-backing will be useful for January. An individual hero can exist outside the state if they stay small enough. But once you get a group together, you either have to work with the state or against it, and in this case going against it would probably create more problems than it would solve.

Or I guess you do what Heisenberg did and make your own state.

Okay, putting it aside for the time-being sounds more reasonable. That lets January get a better idea of what's being offered, and see how her compatriots feel about all this.

I don't blame January for being exhausted. I'd hate being a public figure, or anything close to it. That's one of the reasons I deleted/deactivated all my social media accounts, and I'm not even close to being semi-famous. Wonder if January's going to need to hire an Internet PR firm for the Alliance?

And here's Gadfly with something stupid. Fame and heroism do come with a high price.

This post has been edited by WellTemperedClavier: Apr 11 2023, 03:21 AM

[SubRosa]

Renee: If January was in one of those states, then it would just be a matter of time before she was a revolutionary. Blood Raven would be way ahead of her of course. She has plenty of practice at killing fascists.

We say Ope all the time in Michigan, in place of things like Oops. Its as Pure Michigan as Faygo, or Koegels, or Strohs.

The monster is the same one from earlier - Mishipeshu - who Silverlight summoned to help her fight the Hydra.


Acadian: There is a lot that Gretch can do for January and company, and already has. Starting with her offers to grant clemency to the many legally-dubious members of Jan's team. Full legal empowerment also puts her inside the cop house and gives her real authority among the badges, rather than just moral authority and the need to build personal relationships with individuals that might later help out, like Emelia Mercado or the Sterling Heights police chief. Plus of course a paycheck.

Sometime in the future January is going to have a sit down with some of the Sentinels to get their advice on going legit, as they are. As always, there are benefits and drawbacks.

As ever, January and Blood Raven are stark contrasts. It is one of the things I like about writing them together most.


WellTemperedClavier: The subject of damages will be coming up soon. Mainly in that Gov Gretch will be asking for federal disaster relief, the same as for hurricane or earthquake damage. Thankfully most of the damage was restricted to one end of Belle Isle, which is a park. So nothing truly critical was destroyed.

There is indeed a lot that official backing of the State can bring a cape. Plus some drawbacks. I will be exploring that now that we are in Season Two. Thankfully for January, she is on good personal terms with both the governor and attorney general. She lucked out with those two. And all of that is honestly just luck. I decided to base both upon their real world counterparts, which is why they are basically good people. Just ten years ago and things would be very different.

Hiring a PR firm, or person, is not something I ever thought of. But it is an excellent idea. If the Alliance is going to have a permanent social media presence, they should definitely have someone else handling it. You never want to read the comments yourself.

Gilda was not originally going to be in the end. In fact, my original ending was with January meeting her mother after the battle, and agreeing to start the podcast. I wanted to end both the book and the season on a hopeful note, and that worked really well. But then I realized that I was leaving loose ends about how the story of the battle would be presented to the public.

Usually I use a short Gilda Gadfly broadcast for that. This time I went into more detail with Jan and Blood Raven cleaning out the Hierophant's lair, and then talking with Governor Gretch. I wanted to show January stepping into the role as leader of the team. Her shouldering more responsibility is going to be important very soon.

But with all that seriousness, I still wanted to end on a funny note. So I turned to my old standby of Gilda, and had her ask a characteristically shallow and ridiculous question.







Riven in civilian attire

Kaelin

Inspiration for Kaelin's Outfit

Calypso Aqua Form Inspiration

Silverlight's Goddess Form inspiration (RL goddess Selene)




Book 11.1 - Raven Sisters

July 10 - 18, 2019

July 10th, morning

January closed her eyes and felt down for her mana. As ever, it was a cauldron of energy that bubbled deep inside of her. Here in the sanctum it was stronger, clearer, and brighter than usual. Now it was a fountain of power that suffused every atom of her being. She reached inward and took hold of that power, then stretched out with it to the room around her.

As ever, the sanctum defied description. The designs formed by the pebble mosaic of its floor, the strips of metal inset into its walls, and the strings of beads that hung from its ceiling flowed and changed like water. One moment it was a cube, the next it was a pyramid. Then it was monochrome, and after that a rainbow of color. It was everything, and nothing, at the same time.

She sang quietly to herself, and counted imaginary crows. She felt her power meet that of the sanctum and flow into it. She focused upon the teleportation waypoint that was fixed into the floor. Blood Raven had taken her through it numerous times. It had many different endpoints, each another waypoint that the elder heroine had forged throughout the city and beyond.

She could feel them all as the node came to life beneath her feet. She could see them in her mind's eye. There was the abandoned factory in Eastern Market, then the children's hospital in Ann Arbor, and another, and another. She flipped through them all as if she was swiping right through Scissr, looking for the one she wanted.

She slowed down when she came to the waypoint within the stairwell of the parking structure beside the Detroit Radiator Building, deep in the Financial District downtown. She knew from experience that she was nearing her destination. At the next point she finally came to a halt. This one was tied to the penthouse of the Radiator Building itself. January reached out, sent her energy into it, and brought it to life.

Her mana fell into the pathways inscribed by the runes of the two waypoints, like molten metal poured into a mold. The runes glowed to life and became a bridge, linking one point to the other. For that instant, they both existed in the same place and time.

Then just as quickly as the bridge had been formed, it vanished. January relaxed, and allowed her energy to ebb back down into that well of power deep within her being. She opened her eyes in time to see the pentacle inscribed in the floor fade from sight.

That floor had changed greatly from a moment before however. No longer did she stand upon the pebble mosaic of the sanctum. Instead the floor of the Raven's Nest lay beneath her feet, made of soft gold marble. The sprawling loft in which she stood rose for three stories in height, and was square in outline. A massive block of black marble filled its center, and stretched from floor to ceiling. January noted that the expansive family tree that had once inscribed its surface had been wiped clean, as if it had never existed in the first place.

Against this face of the marble tower stood a desk of lustrous cherry wood that stood upon gently curved legs. The last time January had seen this Ben Franklin desk its surface had been piled high with papers. Now it was bare, and she suspected that those documents were filed neatly away in the vintage wooden filing cabinets beside the desk.

She turned around to see the black baby grand piano gleaming near the floor to ceiling glass doors that led to the balcony outside. Lying atop its closed lid was a wooden violin case. Between it and the Ben Franklin desk were some new additions. Now there was a low coffee table of elegantly carved wood, whose surface was polished to a near-reflective sheen. Bracketing it were a pair of long, Victorian couches, overstuffed in blood red velvet. Similar chairs sat at either end of the long table. It looked like a scene from any five star hotel, in 1800s London...

Out through the window and beyond the balcony, she could see the decorative columns of the Book Cadillac hotel. Beside that loomed the Brutalist concrete pile of the Federal building. Farther still the Detroit River stretched like a green ribbon, and miles away the Ambassador Bridge spanned its emerald waters.

She felt Ôkami's hand fall from her shoulder, and turned to smile at her partner in capeness. The latter was clearly a term that was going to need more work... Like her, he was clad in his armor. As ever, he made her think of a high-tech samurai, for while his armor was forged from nanotwinned cubic boron nitride and dragon silk, it otherwise would not have looked out of place in 16th Century Japan. Except for the mini-computer built into one of his forearms of course.

January heard women's voices, and turned back to look deeper into the loft. She heard someone shout, and turned the corner to the computer lab. This was Cray's domain. The elder hacker was not here however. But several others were making use of his computers, to play a video game of all things. January recognized it as Doom. Not one of the newer versions of that first person shooter. But the original, so old it did not even have 3D graphics, but simple sprites. It was so old in fact, that it predated January herself.

"Cowabunga!" shouted a woman with long blonde hair. Her nose was not quite straight, and the arms left bare by her frayed New Kids on the Block tee showed more than one scar. Her skin was tanned from the sun, and looked a little worn by age. Combined with the crow's feet that faintly pattered around her eyes, January guessed she might be in her forties, maybe even fifties. January recognized her voice, and her bearing, as that of Riven. She had met the Californian heroine at the Battle of Belle Isle, and the party afterward. But she had practically grown up seeing her in action on television news and the internet.

Beside the older heroine sat Kaelin, making quite the contrast to Riven. Like January, she was half the other woman's age. Her smooth skin was fair, but not quite as pale as January's. Her hair was now dyed bright green, and rose up from her scalp in numerous spikes. She wore a black goth-punk outfit that consisted of a feathery jacket slung over a low cut top. Her legs were poured into a pair of skin-tight leather pants, with big, chunky boots that shod her feet.

They both looked up as January stepped into the computer center. Kaelin smiled, and Riven spoke up before January could say hello.

"Were we supposed to wear our Halloween costumes?" she laughed, looking at January's armor.

"I don't have one," Kaelin pouted.

"Oh, you are doing just fine," a mellifluous voice wafted in through one of the open doors to the balcony outside. Its author flowed into the room a moment later. It was Calypso. Like January, the Bahamian heroine was clad in her armor of dark gray leather and vibrant green coral. She was not in her sea-form however. Instead the completely normal skin under her mask was dark brown, and a mane of curly black hair rose from her head rather than a spiny frill.

"Dress like that in Nassau and believe me, you will stand out," she said wryly.

"I guess we all tend to do that." January murmured. Suddenly she felt self-conscious in her Stormcrow armor. Should she have come more laid back? What about secret identities? Riven certainly did not seem worried about that.

"Well, not all of us," Riven gave a pointed look behind January. She turned to see Ôkami vanish from sight. He just faded into nothingness, leaving only a vague shadow behind that wafted toward the central block of marble. In a moment he seemed to melt into the black surface of the stone, and January could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.

"Now that is quite the trick," Kaelin mused.

"Said the alchemist," January replied.

"Groups of strangers are stressful," Ôkami's voice rose from the black surface of the marble pillar. Otherwise there was no sign of his presence.

"Aren't they indeed?" Another woman strode from around the far side of the black marble that blocked of the center of the loft. She held an oversized tome in one hand that was worn and weathered by time. Her skin was made of milky white marble, and a staff of what appeared to be the same material was clutched in her free hand. The weapon was topped with white stone that looked quite different from the marble, possessing a rough and pitted appearance that gave a sense of great age. It was shaped in the form of a gibbous moon, and soft light spilled from its cratered surface.

She was clad in a suit of loose gray and white cloth with numerous folds. A hood was thrown back from her head, revealing a slender diadem with a crescent moon that rose from her brow like a pair of tiny horns. A belt of moonstones was slung over her hips, and similar moonstone bracelets girded her wrists. Finally, a long cape trailed out behind her.

"So we are all here then Silverlight?" Calypso nodded to the lunar-themed heroine. "I am eager to make our new sister's acquaintance."

[Acadian]

Loved your description of Stormcrow’s magical travel. In ESO, once you discover a wayshrine, you can travel to it from any other wayshrine. So when you activate a wayshrine, you basically navigate a menu to the one you want. You quite creatively gave this ‘menu’ feature a magical flavor.

’...turned to smile at her partner in capeness. The latter was clearly a term that was going to need more work...’[
- - Yeah, agree - some more work. Crowbro? Herohomie? Supersidekick? Nah.

Wow, Rivan’s a looker!

After you described Kaelin’s outfit, I chuckled as she lamented not having a Halloween costume.

A gathering of much of the coven it seems. I’m guessing ‘our new sister’ is the very young witch under training that Blood Raven and Stormcrow discovered.

[Renee]

Ah, looks as though we've started a new book. Another page is turned. And Miss January has gotten some rest.

I'd love to see this sanctum in action. Somehow, I don't think the CW would be able to portray this as magnificently as our imaginations can, even with all their CGIs and whatnot. Hmm, seems like she's astral-projecting. 🔮 No, teleporting

Somebody is playing Doom! mirocu's favorite game.

Wow, look at Riven. Kaelin's a cutie, too.

Aw, Okami's shy. Doesn't feel comfy around these gals, perhaps.

Nice, Silverlight is here. 🌙

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 15 2023, 11:45 PM

[WellTemperedClavier]

I love how unearthly the sanctum is. Gives that eldritch feel without seeming evil about it. And the place offers a very handy means of getting around.

I know the story goes that you can run Doom on just about anything, even a refrigerator. Have a feeling Cray could take that to some interesting places...

So it looks like the Alliance has its home base. One with a pretty solid entertainment network. Great for unwinding between missions.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: When I included the first of the waypoints back in Book 5: Crystal Death, it was just so Blood Raven had a hidden way to get into and out of the Raven's Nest without being seen. Sort of like Batman driving through a fake waterfall to get into and out of the Batcave.

I have expanded on the idea since then, especially since now January is actively using the waypoints. I turned them into an entire network of waypoints linking numerous sites together. I played Diablo II again a little last year, and that really helped flesh out the idea of them being part of a network. Like with ESO, you will recall that it too had a whole system of waypoints linking each map to the next.

Maybe January just needs to stick with Homies! (which is half serious. I worked up a Crowverse version of Insane Clown Posse - the Mad Fae Corps - who I think I am going to work into a future story. In the very least they and their Faegallos get a mention in this book.

A while back I played Blood Raven in Pillars of Eternity, and for that I found some some inspirational artwork for Riven so that she could be part of the Conspiracy of Ravens. For this time out she was going to appear out of costume, so I needed to really work out what she looks like normally. In the end I went with current day Jeri Ryan. I saw her recently in season two of Picard, and I was really impressed with her in that.

I did laugh about Kaelin lamenting her lack of a Halloween costume. As Calypso noted, she does not exactly blend in!

Our new sister will be making her appearance this very post.


Renee: This is a new Book, and a new Season. Welcome to Season Two of the Crow Show!

The sanctum would be tough to do in either live action or even animation. It is always shifting with each individual's perceptions. It is whatever you need it to be at the moment.

Riven is an oldie. She is in her mid-forties! So she has been playing the original Doom since it came out!

Ôkami is on the Autistic/Asperger's spectrum, and like a lot of neurodiverse people, social situations are very difficult for him. That is why his main power is to disappear. It is what being around most people makes him want to do.


WellTemperedClavier: The sanctum is one of the places I am most pleased with creating. I am glad I was able to make it into something that goes beyond being just a study or training room, but has an actual character all its own.

Cray can probably run Doom on the toaster in his apartment. Though using his tabletop supercomputer to play a 30 year old video game is sort of like using an ICBM to kill an ant. That is one of the reasons I went with Doom. It is just so incongruous, given the setting.

TBH, one of the problems I am having, if that is the right word, is that the Allies have too many bases. January has the Witch House with its sanctum. Then there is the Raven's Nest downtown with its super penthouse headquarters. A new area in the basement is going to be introduced in the basement of the Raven's Nest later in this book. So I find myself wondering if I should move the entire cast into the Raven's Nest to live there full time? Or if stick my original thought of them living in the Witch House? Right now they are bouncing between the two. Granted, they could just continue to do that indefinitely. Or use the Witch House as their place of 'normal' residence, and the Raven's Nest as their work HQ.






Xochitl

Calypso in civilian attire

Ryo in civilian attire

Blood Raven in civilian attire

Silverlight in civilian attire

January in civilian attire

January's Iron Maiden tee

Styx - Mr. Roboto


Book 11.2 - Raven Sisters

"Just go easy on her," January found herself saying. "She's new to all this. In fact, it might be a little overwhelming. I mean, have you looked at us?"

"Speak for yourself sister," Riven rose to her feet. With her tee shirt and jeans, she was the only one of them who looked ordinary.

"Some of us have identities to protect," Silverlight pointed out, "as you well know."

Riven shrugged. "If someone wants to kill my parents to get to me, they are welcome. The world would be a better place."

"You still wore your mask and suit for your wedding pictures in Person magazine," Kaelin pointed out.

"That was different," Riven waved one hand. "That was for the public. This is personal; it's just us and Xochitl. If she's going to be part of this sorority, then she has meet us, the real us, not just the parts we play on stage."

"Besides, there are ways to keep identities secret," the older heroine went on, "pacts to seal a covenant. When you have been around as long as I have, you learn to chill out."

No one replied to that. Instead they all turned their heads as one. They looked to the far side of the loft, beyond the great ebony stone that filled the center of the space. The waypoint hidden within the golden marble of the floor behind it burned to life. She could not see it. But January could feel the mana from it warming the air. She could smell it in her nostrils, sweet as flowers. It was alive and filling the chamber with magical life.

As when January had so recently arrived by the same method, the waypoint bent space and time. Some distant place joined this one for an instant, so that they both existed together. Then reality snapped back to normal again, and the pentacle faded away to nothingness beneath the floor.

They all strode around the penthouse to find that the mistress of the Raven's Nest now stood upon the waypoint. Her scarlet mane blew gently from a wind that did not exist. Her frame was clad in black and red dragon silk and Chobham armor. But January did not have to see Blood Raven to know she was there. Even without deliberately sensing in the astral, she could feel her mentor's presence. She had come so attuned to her ancestor's astral scent, that she could feel her in the room as easily as the floor beneath her feet.

The elder heroine slid one red-gauntleted hand from the shoulder of the girl beside her. January did not like thinking of other women as girls. It was diminishing. But the fact was Xochitl was not an adult. Nor was she a child either. She was somewhere in the middle of her teen years. They were those wonderful, painful, confusing years when one did not know what one was, or was going to be. But one certainly knew what they were not anymore.

January did not miss those years one bit.

She smiled, and shook her head. Here she was, not quite twenty yet, and she was being as patronizing as someone in their thirties, or worse, their forties! Goddess forbid she ever become so ancient and decrepit a Methuselah as that!

Xochitl wore a runched mini dress of floral pastels and a pair of sandals. Her coal black hair was pulled back from her face in a long, single braid. Her dark eyes grew to the size of saucers as she stared out around the Raven's Nest. But they quickly fell upon January and the others, who now gathered near the two of them at the waypoint.

"Xochitl, it is my estimable pleasure to introduce you to your siblings." Blood Raven swept one hand out to indicate the gathered heroines.

"I... umm.... ahhh..." were the only words that could escape from the teenager's lips. January caught herself frowning. She forced herself to stop, and instead forced a welcoming smile across her features. Riven had been right. It was a little overwhelming for a fifteen year old. To be honest, it would have been so for one of any age.

As if bidden by January's thoughts, the blonde heroine stepped past the others and reached out to Xochitl. She took the young woman's hand in her own and gave it a gentle shake. Then she led her to one of the long overstuffed Victorian couches that now took up space between the waypoint and the glass doors to the balcony that ringed the building outside.

"It's all a bit over the top, isn't it hon?" she said in a breezy, relaxed tone. "Don't worry. We're all just getting our costumes ready to go trick or treating this October. I'm Riven. But you can just call me Jeri. That's with an 'I' not a 'Y'."

"Hey, I dress like this every day!" Kaelin laughed. She sauntered over, and plucked herself down on the couch opposite Xochitl and Riven. She crossed one of her legs over the other, showing off the massive chunky boots that girded her feet.

"Kaelin usually has a bit more color though," January found herself interjecting. "She has a plaid skirt that really pops."

"Yeah, most days I like to put more punk in the goth-punk," the alchemist admitted. "But hey, you only live once right? It's good to meet you sister. I did get your pronouns right, right? I'm a she/her, or a they/them. I can be a little fluid that way."

The young woman simply stared in amazement at the goth-punk alchemist and nodded.

Silverlight and Calypso came and sat down as well. January noted that when Silverlight let go of her staff Mene, it simply stood straight up from the floor where she had left it, rather than falling over. As ever, the moon at its head glowed with soft light, just like the real moon on a dark night.

That made January realize that Calpyso had not brought her own staff: Bagua. She would have sensed it if she had simply put it down somewhere in the loft. That made January wonder if she had left it behind in the Atlantic. Could she call it to her, as January could summon her own armor, or Blood Raven could with her swords?

Blood Raven appeared then, making January realize that she had not noticed that the other woman had disappeared. She brought with her a silver platter bearing a tea service, which she set down upon the coffee table between the couches and chairs. She began to pour the steaming brown tea into one delicate ceramic cup after another. Riven reached out and took a small plate of crumpets from the platter, and began to pass it around after taking a bite from one.

"So I thought there was like, a brother too?" Xochitl finally spoke a full sentence.

"I am right here." Like most of the others, January nearly jumped from the couch when Ôkami spoke from behind her. Even as attuned as her magical senses were, she had no idea he had been there. When she craned her head back, she saw him squatting atop the back of the sofa, perfectly balanced on the thin strip of wood that ran along its crown.

Only Blood Raven made no reaction to his sudden appearance. Instead she simply handed him a steaming cup of tea.

"Domo arigato," the Japanese-American man nodded as he accepted the drink.

"Mister Roboto..." Riven murmured through a mouth filled with crumpets. Everyone stared, and she looked back.

"Don't tell me I'm the only one who remembers Styx?" she shook her head. "Way to make a woman feel old..."

Blood Raven laughed. It was a simple, yet warm sound. One January so rarely associated with her mentor. Yet it broke the tension, and soon everyone was laughing along with her. Except Ôkami of course, he never laughed at jokes after all.

"This is too much, is it not?" Blood Raven finally said to Xochitl. "Yes, I see it is. I was a fool to press so hard. I suppose I was caught up in the enthusiasm. It has been a tonic to renew my acquaintances with all of you; the young people whom have filled my days with such life and light in recent years."

With that Blood Raven closed her eyes and sang softly in Gaelic. January felt power rise up in her. A moment later it sprang to life in a glowing stream of Celtic symbols such as triquetras, triskelions, and other knotwork designs. These patterns wove their way around her body, only to fade moments later.

In their place Blood Raven stood in ordinary civilian attire, in this case a jumper dress with a white long sleeved top under a rust-colored strappy dress. Her hair lost both its length and color, shrinking to a bob with a decidedly softer shade of auburn.

January took a deep breath and did the same. Goodbye secret identity. She just hoped that Xochitl did not grow up to become her arch-nemesis, as so often happened in fantasy and sci-fi stories. She closed her eyes, and followed her mentor's example. When she opened them again, her armor had vanished. Instead she wore a pair of cutoffs and her Iron Maiden tee.

"Now that is more like it!" Riven exclaimed at the sight of the top. "I have the one with the Live After Death cover of Eddie bursting out of the grave."

"My mother gave it to me when I turned nineteen last year." January looked down at the image of the monster mascot Eddie from the band's Killers album cover that was now plastered across her chest. She touched the fabric with one hand. "She bought it when she was nineteen. I guess it's sort of a family tradition now."

"Wait, you're January Ward!" Xochitl's eyes glowed with amazement, and she pointed across the space to January. "I met you at the library. I've got your autograph, and a selfie!"

"It's actually January Ryan," January smiled softly. "Well, it will be soon. It's a long story."

"She is in a room with half a dozen superheroes, and it is the comic book writer she gets excited about." Calypso smiled, clearly amused at the dichotomy.

"I know you too!" Xochitl bubbled. It was as if the floodgates to her speech had finally burst. "You do all the ocean videos! You're based AF!"

Calypso laughed. It was a deep and rich sound that filled ones ears with delight to hear. "I thank you sister. Reaching out to people is indeed the ultimate goal of my work."

The Caribbean heroine's armor vanished a moment later, and she too revealed herself as an ordinary woman in a white sundress and sandals. She pushed a pair of oversized sunglasses up onto her scalp, and they fought for space among the explosion of curls created by her halo of jet black hair.

Then Silverlight's voice filled the space.

"From her immortal head a radiance is shown
from Elysium and embraces the Earth;
and great is the beauty that ariseth
from her shining light."

A glowing circle of silver light sprang up around her feet, outlining the same words in Ancient Greek script. January felt energy well up from within her, and reach out to wrap her in a cocoon. It collapsed a moment later, revealing her to be a woman in her thirties or so, with long, straight black hair and sun-bronzed skin. Her silver diadem had migrated down to a pendant that now hung from a chain around her neck. Her staff vanished entirely. She looked like a school teacher, wearing a peach sport coat over a V-necked cream top and matching slacks.

Ôkami did likewise as well. He spent a few moments working his fingers through a complicated series of Kuji-Kiri hand postures. Then his samurai armor disappeared, and he squatted there wearing his normal standard casual attire: a pair of loose chinos, a faded black t-shirt, and a worn black leather jacket.

Kaelin stared from one superhero to another, all of them having now changed into ordinary clothes. "I hope you don't all expect me to do that," she remarked. "I always dress this way."

"Wow," Xochitl breathed. "You are all so awesome! I wish I could be half a dope as you all are."

"We aren't dope," Riven shook her head. "Whatever that means... We're just people. Just ordinary people, the same as you. Even if some of us don't put on our pants one leg at a time."

"Yes," Silverlight chimed in. "Do not put us on a pedestal. We don't belong there."

"Yeah, in spite of my incredibly sick look, I am just a bartender." Kaelin remarked.

"I run a martial arts studio." Riven added.

"I am a marine biologist and science communicator," Calypso said.

"Cultural anthropologist and research scholar here," Silverlight explained. "Which is a fancy way of saying I read old books for a living, and talk to people about them."

"I code," Ôkami said curtly.

"And you know me, I'm a student, and a writer. At least I hope to be." January admitted.

Blood Raven sat silently through all of this, simply sipping her tea. Yet her eyes betrayed a sparkle of satisfaction. Perhaps even triumph? That made January wonder if this was exactly what she had hoped for when she had invited them all here together.

Now all eyes turned to the elder heroine. Blood Raven still said nothing. Instead Silverlight was the one to speak.

"She is the Raven Ravenous," the Greek-American woman declared severely. Then her tone softened. "And she's a good friend too. The best you could ever have."

"Even when she's a pain in the ass," Riven sighed.

"Especially then," January laughed in spite of herself.

Blood Raven simply continued to smile quietly, though the corners of her lips did incline upward somewhat at the quip.

"I just hope that someday I can live up to all of you, and all the things you have done." Xochitl licked her lips and swallowed hard.

"Do not," Calypso held up a hand and shook her head. "You need not earn a place at this table. You would not be here if you did not already belong. We all sat exactly where you are. That is why we are here. You don't have to live up to our example. You just have to be yourself."

"Easier said than done," Kaelin breathed. Riven nodded from across the coffee table at the young goth-punk.

"She knows," Silverlight softly. "We all do. That's the point."

"Yeah kid," Riven said. "No one expects you to be a superhero. Just figure out what you are passionate about, and try to make that part of your life."

"So what are you passionate about?" Xochitl asked pointedly.

Riven laughed and leaned back into the red velvet cushions of the couch. She brought her hands up and cracked her knuckles loudly. "I like to plant my fists in asshole's faces."

"I like to drop acid and play twister with Harper," Kaelin murmured. That brought a burst of laughter from everyone. Even Blood Raven chuckled. "Finger painting on each other is fun too."

"So what now?" Xochitl asked. "Do we play Jenga, or Pictionary?"

[Renee]

Crow Show! cute.

Ow wow, Xochitil is back. She's that teenager who got involved with the Hierophant's nonsense, if I recall correctly.

These are great pictures of them all. Ryo is exactly as I was picturing (although a bit older). Wow, look at Raven. HOY look at Silverlight. Not what I was picturing! She looks like a real estate agent! But yeah... that's her in civilian attire..

Jan's a cutie. Hmm. Think I've seen her face before, on some show or in some movie. Mister Roboto = STYX!!!

Forties ain't so bad. Actually, I predict by the time she's in her 40s a lot of the problems she had growing up, dealing with adverse modes of thinking from others who don't get it, a lot of those problems will be gone, by then. Most of society will become even more accepting. It's like if we look back to the '90s. Back then, it was so *Shocking* to see people getting piercings other than their ears, or dressing like punks, or even dressing outside the norm at all. These people got derided, criticized, they were "freaks". Now such things are completely normal, unless you're in some conservative area which is behind the times.

But I think by the time she's in her 40s she'll be having an easier go of it.

Cool. Xochtil is here. Spelt that wrong. Xochitl.

Blood Raven serving tea. That'd be an awesome sight. All the magnificent things she's done, ridding the world of baddies, righting wrongs, casting her powers to no avail against those who deserve it!!! Yet here she is, serving tea. ☕ That'd be a moment to rewind and play back on the Crow Show once or twice.

Xochitl knows Stormcrow's identity! Uh oh. Not that the younger teen is going to do anything nefarious with this information, it's just that she's young. Might not know about discretion, yet. Like, will she blab to her bestie (or anyone such)?

It's cool how they all have day jobs, neat.

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 23 2023, 03:57 PM

[Acadian]

’…the mistress of the Raven's Nest now stood upon the waypoint. Her scarlet mane blew gently from a wind that did not exist.’
- - I’ve notice this trademark of Blood Raven before but have not yet mentioned that I love it!

A wonderful welcome for young Xochitl. Quite the bonding ritual of trust as each hero stripped away their super persona to reveal the somewhat more normal person underneath.

Ah yes, what to do with a staff that is taller than you are when not in use. Unsummoning is handy but just having it stand there on its own is pretty cool too.

So Riven’s first name is Jeri – that makes it real easy to remember who she looks like.

[WellTemperedClavier]

Dang, this really is a swank HQ.

I hear January on not missing one's teen years. They can only be pleasant to those with selective memories.

Okay, so a big moment here: showing their real selves. Does build trust, though it means there's a risk as well. Classic porcupine's dilemma.

"She is in a room with half a dozen superheroes, and it is the comic book writer she gets excited about." Calypso smiled, clearly amused at the dichotomy.

Looks like the GLA is off to a good start! They get along, and are quite enthusiastic about this whole thing. Eventually, of course, comes managing the team which can get tricky. It's like how The Sopranos was, in many ways, a show about the pains of middle management that just happened to involve the mafia. Superheroes are obviously much more reliable on the whole than mafia members, but there's still a lot of dealing with outsize personalities.

[SubRosa]

Renee: Yes, Xochtil is the young mageling whom the Heirophant used to set a trap for January and Blood Raven earlier. The one Blood Raven agreed to train.

Real Estate agent is a good call for Silverlight's look. I actually wrote that down in a list of possible civilian professions to chose from for future supers.

I have posted the pic of January before, so that is probably where you have seen her. The real person is Georgie Stone, an Australian.

Blood Raven has served tea many times in her two and half centuries. It is something she would have learned to do back in Mrs. Gibson's School For Proper Young Girls after all.


Acadian: Blood Raven's hair was inspired by Mother Talzin from the Clone Wars TV show. I always liked the way her robe always waved in the air, like it was underwater, or being blown by an unseen wind.

The whole question of how much can you share with your teammates is a question I constantly wrestle with as the writer, even as the characters do the same themselves. On one hand you can never have an actual relationship with someone until you trust them. On the other, well there is the way things worked out between Obi-Wan and Anakin...

Staves are really cool. But like two-handed swords, kind of annoying to deal with when you are not using them. So I came up with Silverlight's method of having it just stand there on its own. While Calypso has the other way, of unsummoning it.

For a while now I have been in the habit of finding a picture of someone as a model for each character, and then describing that picture when I describe them. Lately I have been leaning into that by also using the model's name. Hence Riven is Jeri, after Jeri Ryan. Xochitl is likewise named after Xochitl Gomez, whom her picture is of as well. It just saves me from thinking of names.


WellTemperedClavier: Blood Raven would not be caught dead in a crappy lair. Well, she is a vampire, but she does know how to live. Come to think of it, she did grow up in a mansion. Though with her father's death when she was in her early teens, that changed dramatically, and she and her mother went to live in a working class neighborhood in Boston's North End.

This is not the Great Lakes Alliance. That is Gadget, Lighthammer, Blackhawk, etc... This is the Daughters of the Raven. I know it gets tricky because it is sort of like a second super team that January is part of now. But they are not really a team, not officially. It is just a collection of Blood Raven's proteges from the last 30 years or so. Which of course gets murky because some of them have done super stuff together now, and more will in the future. But I see it more of a mutual aid network going forward. Which granted could also be called a team.






Book 11.3 - Raven Sisters

"Now, we find our power." Blood Raven leaned forward and set her tea cup down on the table. She stood and stretched out a hand to Xochitl. After a moment the teen rose to her feet and wrapped her fingers in Blood Raven's. The elder heroine led her to the waypoint and called up its power. She paused there, and turned to beckon the others to join them.

They all stood from the couch and walked to join the pair. Hands reached out, and each took hold of the next. January closed her eyes, and simply let herself bathe in the wash of power that flowed over and through her. She felt space and time warp, stretch, and finally bounce back to normal. When she opened her eyes once more, they were standing within the sanctum of the Witch House.

January studied the faces of her cohorts as they turned and looked about the room that was not a room at all, but rather an amorphous intersection of realities. Ôkami was of course as nonchalant and unmoved as ever. That was just normal for him. But he was also accustomed to training within the sanctum by now, as was January herself.

Xochitl was the exact opposite. She turned in place and tried to stare in all directions at once. Her mouth dropped open in wordless amazement, and her eyes became as wide as saucers. Her sisters however, were all somewhere between. They looked around with varying mixtures of wistful nostalgia and comfortable familiarity.

"It is good to return here," Calypso smiled as she reached up to run her hands through the beads that hung from the ceiling. The multicolored stones all blended together into what appeared to be one solid mass from a distance. Stranger still, the plane they created soared hundreds of feet overhead. Yet the Bahamian heroine touched it nonetheless.

"It flows like watercolors," Xochitl finally said. "It's a canvas you can paint your dreams upon."

"I have heard the sanctum referred to as many things, but that is new to me." Blood Raven intoned. "Yet you are quite correct my apprentice. My own teacher Keziah created this place, either long ago or long from now, depending on one's point of reference. She is a traveler of both space and time. She forged this place to hone those skills."

"You will find your magic much more accessible here," Silverlight explained. "In this place that is everywhere and nowhere, there are no laws of reality to inhibit it."

"So magic is stronger here?" Xochitl asked.

"Not stronger," Kaelin shook her head. "Closer the surface, more easily grasped and molded."

"Anything you do here, you can do elsewhere," Riven went on. "It just takes more time and effort on the outside."

"That is what makes this such a good place to start out," January explained. "When you are searching for your power, this room will reveal it to you. It will dispel the fog of doubts and misconceptions your own mind has created."

"The heroism we recite,
would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp,
for fear to be a king."

January nodded along as Silverlight intoned the words of one of Emily Dickinson's poems.

"Just remember kid, we never know how high we are, until we are called to rise," Riven added.

"And then if we are true to plan, our statures touch the skies," January finished the stanza in that poem.

"TL;DR, do not sell yourself short sister," Ôkami said plainly.

"Let us begin," Blood Raven brought everyone's eyes around to her. "Xochitl, what is magic?"

"It's the ability to create change in accordance with one's will." The young woman practically recited the words, as if she had read them from a textbook. January remembered the electronic books that Blood Raven had given Xochitl on their first meeting. She imagined that she had indeed, read that from one of those tomes.

"I said shooting fireballs the first time," Kaelin murmured.

"Slaying dragons," Riven added.

"Inscribing curse tablets," Silverlight said.

"This is not fair," Calypso pouted. But January sensed that the other woman was being facetious from the sparkle in her eyes. "You gave her something to read first."

"It's so much easier to share media electronically these days," January answered before Blood Raven could speak.

"Welcome to the age of digital magic," Silverlight frowned. "I like the old books. I like feeling the texture of the paper under my fingers, reading the faded ink, breathing in the scent of centuries. Reading off a screen is just not the same, even if it might be more convenient."

"I am sorry," the Greek-American heroine's voice became stronger, clearer. "This is about you Xochitl. I didn't mean to detract from that."

January looked from Silverlight to the other assembled heroes, all apprentices of Blood Raven. Then she looked to their mutual teacher, and noted the glimmer in her eyes. Somehow, she suspected that this was not purely about Xochitl after all. It was about all of them, together.

"Remember, we can all use magic," Blood Raven resumed her lecture. "Some do have a gift for it, just as some have a gift for playing the piano, or striking a tennis ball. But we all can do so. The only people who cannot, are those who believe they cannot, for they will always sabotage their own efforts."

"And let's face it, a lot of people in this world go out of their way to tell everyone that they can't change it. They insist that things have always been how they are, they can't change them, and it would be wrong to even want to. Because bOtH SiDeS R TeH sAmE!" Riven interjected. She added extra emphasis to that last sentence, so that one could not mistake her contempt for those who uttered it. "It's very easy to lose faith in yourself - or never have it to begin with - and fall into that trap."

"This is crucial," Calypso now spoke. "Magic is the ability to change reality; to reshape it according to our will. Stormcrow does this every time she creates her wings. Riven does it when she manifests her weapons."

"You must know that you can create change," Ôkami said. "Just like you know that the sun will rise tomorrow, or that something you drop will fall to the ground." He reached out and a pool of darkness issued before his hand. In moments it coalesced, and formed into the shape of a sword. Then the shadow was gone, and his katana Chujitsu lay gripped in his fingers.

He immediately let go of the sword. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter of steel, sending echoes reverberating from the walls. Then he poked one toe under the grip and kicked up. The katana shot up into the air, and he easily caught it with his left hand. A moment later another shadow formed in the space around the weapon, and the katana simply vanished into its folds.

January stepped closer to Xochitl, and lifted her left wrist for the teen to see clearly. The scars that crossed them stood out in stark relief upon her pale skin. Several were faint marks, her first, hesitant attempts. Then there was a single, thick white ridge that crossed her entire wrist. That was when she really put her mind to it.

She lifted her other hand, and revealed a similar, if somewhat slighter, scar upon her right wrist. Changing the dagger to her left hand had been difficult; thanks to the tendons she had severed there. So she had not been able to hold it as strongly, or do as much harm to her right wrist with it.

"I did this because I did not believe I had any agency," She said quite honestly. "I did not believe I could ever change my life, or my world, and I just could not bear it anymore. I was wrong. Thanks to my mother finding me before it was too late, I survived. I endured, and you know what, I did learn to change myself, and my situation, one step at a time. That is when I learned magic."

She felt Ryo lay a warm hand on her shoulder. Some distant, analytical part of her brain reminded her of how rare that was. He did not like to touch people, at least not skin to skin, as he did now with his bare hand. This was a tremendous gesture for him.

"I used to think I was broken, a failure," Ryo said plainly. "Everyone called it being 'Special'. But I knew it meant I was less than everyone else. But watching January, I learned that just because I thought differently - and experienced the world differently - I was not broken. I simply have challenges that others do not. I was born into a world that was not made for people like me. Living in spite of that is what taught me to use magic, without even knowing it. I was determined to reshape my world and how I lived in it, and that is exactly what I did."

"Listen your siblings," Blood Raven walked across the space and waved a hand to indicate the gathered heroes. "They have much wisdom to impart. They have all walked this same road, each in different ways. They can help you find your way to walk it."

"So how do I walk it?" Xochitl asked.

"First we will learn to feel our magic," Blood Raven said. "Close your eyes. Everyone. That means you too Riven. Even you too still have much to learn, even as I do myself."

January did as her mentor asked, and shut her eyes. She followed along as the elder heroine walked them all through the same exercise that January had learned long ago in one of her books on Wicca. Unlike that time, her power did not manifest with a mere tingling in her skin, or a lightness in her head. Instead it was a cool wash of energy, like a crystal clear mountain stream. It was there - as always - gurgling deep within her being.

Thanks to long practice, it was child's play to lift that energy up and suffuse her body with it. She imagined that she was a tree, and that the power was sparkling through her branches, down to the very tips of her leaves. From there it dripped off like morning dew, and fell back down to earth. But that was not the end. Now she soaked up that power within her roots, and pulled it back up into the trunk of her body. She did this over and over, and constantly recycled the magic. It flowed through her being like water, and washed her clean and pure as a fresh spring day.

"I can feel it!" Xochitl exclaimed.

January stifled a giggle. She heard one of her sisters who was not quite so adept at containing themselves do so out loud.

"Oh lawd, I'm havin' an orgasm!" Riven cried out with great theatricality.

That brought peals of laughter from all around, and broke the spell. January lost her focus, and opened her eyes once more. She found that the others had done the same. Even Xochitl was laughing. But at the same time, January could see the triumph in the young woman's eyes. She had done it.

"At least someone here is having one," Silverlight murmured dryly.

"I have them frequently, and continually," Kaelin remarked.

"Yes, everyone in Charlotte Amalie learned that last Carnival," Calypso noted.

Kaelin stuck out her tongue at the older woman, only for Silverlight to reply once more.

"If you're not careful with where you put that, some of us might end up having an orgasm too," the Greek-American laughed.

[Renee]

Whoa, they're back in the Witch House. That would never get old, warping in and out of locations. Scare the heck out of the in-laws.

Oh, Xochitl is here too! Yeap I can imagine she must be blown away.

Just remember kid, we never know how high we are, until we are called to rise

QFT.

That is right, Jan's mother rescued her long ago. And then when Ryo touches her that reminds me of something. Can't think of what it is now. Ach, it'll come to me.

But it's neat to read about how magic works within them all. Seems like it's all quite a different process for each of them.

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 29 2023, 06:38 PM

[Acadian]

TLDR – I learned this from the official ESO forums. How appropriate for gamer Ryo to use the term.

A fascinating review of how magic works. The common threads and differences between practitioners. Too many mages could spoil the brew, but that simply did not happen here. Each imparted wisdom in their own way yet it all clearly reflected the one common mentor they all share.

Simply orgasmic!

[WellTemperedClavier]

All right, so the circle is growing their powers. Good explanation of magic here, and I quite liked the way you tied the underlying principles into the developments of the characters. Magic always seems to be a personal journey, in the end. Perhaps because it's the ultimate reflection of agency.

[SubRosa]

Renee: The Witch House is a fun place to write. I expect to be using it more now that we are in Season Two of the Crow Show. The Sanctum is of course its center piece. The part that really wows. It is a lot for anyone to take in.

Ryo does not like to touch people, or be touched, at least bare skin to skin. So that might be what you are thinking of. It is a big deal for him to reach out and touch January.

Magic is indeed different for everyone. That was one of they joys I had in writing this sequence with the Raven Sisters all gathered together. It was also one of the hardest parts of it. Because I had to explore how each of them interacted with magic in their own individual way.


Acadian: I actually keep a text file that I constantly update when I come across modern slang, so I can keep up with what the Zoomers are saying.

There is a special chemistry from gathering all the Daughters of the Raven together. They are each unique. But they all have a lot in common, thanks to their single mentor. In some ways, she has been as inspirational to others as January has. She inspires others to be the best they can be. She will accept nothing less.

Riven's orgasm joke just came to me off the cuff as I wrote it. So it had to go in. It really encapsulated her blunt, yet good natured, well, nature.


WellTemperedClavier: That was an excellent observation about magic being a reflection of agency. It is what I have been going for all this time. Coming up in a few more posts Blood Raven has a remark about how an oath is a statement of intent, and every time one uses magic, they are making their intent reality. So every time one does magic, one is making an oath.




Book 11.4 - Raven Sisters

"Tell me Xochitl, what is it that you felt? Describe it to me." Blood Raven prompted the teen.

"It's like... a color," the young woman frowned. "No, more than that. It is like, a paint set, buried deep inside me. I can see all the colors. I can mix them. I can spread them around, draw fine pictures with them, or just slop them all over the canvas."

January nodded along. It was completely different from what she felt. But she had come to expect that from magic. Everyone seemed to sense it differently and how was often rooted in their own lived experience. January herself experienced it as a flow, like water or wind, or a martial arts kata. For her it was tied into the elements, and if she was being honest: fighting. But Xochitl was an artist. So it was no surprise that she interacted with magic in such a manner.

"Good, good," Blood Raven nodded. "This is your power, it is yours and yours alone. Become accustomed to it. See it. Know it. Understand it. For it is part of you, and an expression of who and what you are."

"What is it called?" Xochitl wondered, "magicka, or mana?"

"There are as many different names for it as there are people who use it," Blood Raven said.

"The Romans called it numen or numina." Silverlight interjected. "The Greeks called it aion, which is the term I prefer."

"The Chinese call it qi, or ch'i," Ryo spoke next. He was in rare form. Usually he only became this gregarious on gaming nights, when he was getting so into character that he forgot everything else. "In Japan it is ki. This is how I know it."

"The Pacific Islanders called it mana," Kaelin explained. "I think that's where modern role-playing games get it from. I call it magicka though, like they do in some video games. I practically grew up playing Oblivion."

"In Yoga and Hinduism it is prana and kundalini." Calypso was the next to speak. "While in Yoruba it is ase. That is what it is to me."

"Yadda, yadda, yadda," Riven made a spinning motion with her hand, to simulate moving things along. "Islam calls it Barakah, Elphias Levi called it astral light, and so on. Everybody's got their own name for it."

"What do you call it?" Xochitl asked.

"I call it what is kid: energy," Riven said plainly. "Or if I've been getting into the devil's lettuce: mojo."

"Oh, what's your favorite strain?" Kaelin wondered. "I grow my own that I call Astral Light, after old Elphie."

"Well it depends, I mean for pain relief you can't beat..." Riven's voice trailed off as multiple eyebrows were raised in her direction. "Hey, it's perfectly legal these days. Not that I would give a crap if it wasn't."

"I can recall when one could buy cocaine and laudanum from any apothecary," Blood Raven murmured. "Yet we digress with such botanical observations. Xochitl, you must find your own terms for your power."

"What did the Nahua call it?" she asked.

"The Mexica knew it as teotl," Blood Raven answered easily, "While the Maya knew it as chu 'lel. But do not take my word for those, especially the Maya. There are numerous Mayan languages, it may well vary from tongue to tongue."

"Then I guess I'll call it teotl," Xochitl said with a thoughtful expression.

"Do not guess, know!" Riven laughed.

"Know your magic," Silverlight continued. "Your will must be absolute. Do not doubt, do not wonder, do not guess."

"A conjure woman who doubts, is a conjure woman who fails," January interjected as well.

She looked over to Blood Raven to see if her mentor was frustrated or upset at their hijacking of her lesson. But to the contrary, she seemed quite satisfied with herself, as if this was what she had hoped for all along.

"Now Xochitl, feel your teotl," Blood Raven focused all of her attention upon the teen now. "See it. See the colors. You will use them to create a light. Visualize that plain, simple ball of light glowing in the air before you. Do you bear witness to it within in your imagination?"

When the young woman nodded, the elder heroine continued.

"Take your teotl up in your hands," she instructed. "Pour it into that image in your head. Paint with the colors to create that light. Will it to take shape in the real world. Hold nothing back. Commit yourself entirely."

Xochitl shut her eyes, and thrust her hands out before her. Her features scrunched down with effort, her lips turned into a frown, and her eyelids clamped shut hard. January could see the muscles on her hands and arms tighten, and sweat sprang from her brow. She heard the young woman grunt, as if trying to lift a heavy weight.

Yet nothing happened.

Finally, Xochitl relented, and paused to gulp in a deep breath of air.

"I can't," she gasped. "I just can't. I can feel it there, it just won't do what I want."

"Welcome to magic sister," Riven practically laughed. "I bet not one of us got it right the first time. Just keep trying. Rome wasn't burned down in a day after all."

"The Great Fire took over a week," Silverlight murmured.

"I could feel your magic within you my sister," Calypso said. "Yet it did not rise to meet your will. Perhaps we should discuss centering techniques? They can help you focus your power."

"Yes," Silverlight nodded. "Before Tunguska, no one could do magic without first attaining an altered state of consciousness. Today chaos magicians call that state gnosis. The Neo-Platonists in the past called it illumination, or ecstasy."

"When I say ecstasy, I don't mean sex of course," the cultural anthropologist went on. "Plotinus defined ecstasy as the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness, and so becoming at one with the infinite. Plato said it was the ardent turning of the soul toward the divine."

"This when you focus your mind on one thing, and lose track of everything else," Kaelin explained. "Like when you are driving and your mind wanders, and you forget that you were driving, at least until you snap back to reality."

"They say that before Tunguska it took hours, or even days, for a magician to even be able to tap into their power, much less cast a spell," January related. "That is why ceremonial magic like that from the Golden Dawn is filled with such elaborate rituals. Doing the ritual is supposed to get you in the right head space for the actual magic that follows."

"To be a conjure-woman, you must embrace your power," Blood Raven stated. "As your siblings have noted, that is in spite of everything the world does to trick you into thinking that you are powerless. Next you must find this state of consciousness to call your energy. Today that is usually simple. It is just there, waiting for us to draw it forth as we might water from a well."

"However, the old techniques continue to have value." Blood Raven continued. "For those less naturally talented, or simply less practiced, they may be the key to unlocking their magic. Even for those with greater ability they can aid tremendously in focusing one's will."

"You can also use it to calm your mind and just vibe, even without doing magic." January interjected. "It is a way to remain silent in the presence of the divine."

"Until it removes the clouds from our eyes and enables us to see by the light that issues from ourselves." Silverlight now finished the quote from Plato. "Not to see what we think is good, but what is intrinsically good."

The Greek-American heroine stood up and closed her eyes.

"From her immortal head a radiance is shown
from Elysium and embraces the Earth;
and great is the beauty that ariseth
from her shining light."

A glowing circle of silver light sprang up around her feet, outlining what January suspected were the same words in Ancient Greek script. The crescent moon pendant that hung from her neck rose up and transformed into a diadem around her forehead. Her clothing vanished, only to be replaced by the white and gray robes of her super suit. Her skin transformed into white marble, and wings of shining moonlight sprang from her back. Even her staff Mene once more appeared in her hand, adding its own soft light to the room. Finally she opened her eyes, revealing them to be solid silver.

"Good goddess!" Kaelin nearly leaped from the couch.

"Yes, indeed," Silverlight intoned. "For me, it is my connection to the goddess Selene that is my center. I pray to her. Not that I believe that she is an invisible person living in the moon of course. Rather I invoke what she symbolizes, and I create that within myself. The goddess is my guide, my focus, my touchstone. The idea of her helps me remain silent in the presence of the divine, and see what is intrinsically good."

She closed those eyes of silver light, and took a moment to breathe deeply. Once again the Ancient Greek characters glowed to life around her in a turning circle. Then they were gone, as was her suit, wings, and staff. She stood before them as a perfectly ordinary cultural anthropologist once again, and sat down beside Calypso.

"I have an elemental mantra that I run though my head, or say out loud," January explained next. "I alternate it between English and Old Norse. Switching between languages helps me concentrate. It forces me to think of the words, and even how I think. That keeps my mind from wandering to other things. It forces me to focus myself."

"Sometimes I do the entire mantra. Sometimes I only do parts of it, when I want to concentrate on a single element." January closed her eyes and focused on Air.

"Air give me quickness in body and wit. Let the weights of the world fall from me."

With that her midnight black raven's wings sprang from her back. Thunder crashed over head, and a single bolt of lightning cracked loudly outside. She took a moment to flex her wings. They always felt good. They were a part of her after all, just like her arms and legs.

Finally she allowed the thunder and lightning to abate, and with them those glorious wings.

"Lately though, I have been doing something different," January continued. "I've been going back to a memory from my childhood. It was a day in autumn, because the leaves were turning colors, and falling like rainbows to the ground. My mother sat me down on the front porch, and taught me to sing a song that her own mother had taught her when she was little.

"One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss."

"We counted crows as we sang," January explained. "Well, we counted all the birds. They were all honorary crows that day. It's really a magpie song. But I'm not picky. They are all crows to me."

She looked down, and found that she was clad in her Stormcrow armor, and her wings once more rose from her back and stretched out around her.

"This," Calypso rose and laid a hand on one of January's wings. "This is a most powerful form of centering, as is Silverlight's. When you draw upon not only a skill, but something with real emotional weight as well, it can focus your power to its greatest extent. Remember, magic is not about logic, or rational thought, or mathematical formulas. It is about power, and emotion, and will."

"I have a memory from my own childhood," the Bahamian explained. "It is of my mother teaching me to swim in the ocean. The water was soft turquoise as she stood in the surf, and the white sand welled up around her toes beneath its surface. The waves were a constant roar as they beat upon the shore, like the heartbeat of the ocean. The sky was an endless blue overhead, from horizon to horizon."

"My mother held me up at the surface of the water, while I lay face down. I pin-wheeled my arms and legs back and forth, splashing the water everywhere. My mother walked with me, and we moved through the water. Eventually I forgot about everything else. It was just me, my arms and legs, and the sea. Finally I looked back, and my mother was standing a dozen feet away. I was swimming on my own, and I had not even realized it until then!"

"I always go back to that memory," Calypso said. "I lose myself in it and how I felt then, with just myself, my mother, and the sea. It is a simple thing. But it brings me great strength."

[Acadian]

I’m not surprised you maintain text files to help with your longer stories. At your suggestion long ago, I maintain a ‘Style Page’ file to ensure consistency. I also maintain a robust ‘Buffy Lore’ file to help keep track of things.

*

A fascinating exploration of magic and how it is unique to each mage.

Mojo!

So, Xochitl is going to be a teotler. That she can feel it within is good. I’m not surprised that she is a bit teotlstipated her first attempt to bring it forth.

Again, I love how the sisters share their own perceptions of magic. So different from each other yet each notably appropriate for their unique natures.

Silverlight’s explanation and display was awesome. I’d think her focus on Selene not only helps focus her magic but also keeps her on track for its use since it shows her what is intrinsically good.

If I was Xochitl, I’d have two questions: “Silverlight, what's the purpose of that staff?” and, “Blood Raven, what do you use to focus your magic?”

*

Nits:
"I've grow my own that I call Astral Light, after old Elphie." - - Not sure if you wanted ‘I’ve grown’ or ‘I grow’.
"The Mexica knew it is teotl," Blood Raven answered easily,’ - - Do you want ‘is’ or ‘as’?

[Renee]

Wow, a Zoomer slang text file! That's really dedicated. Branwen has no idea about this sort of slang (slang to her might be "bird thou never wert...") but Jan and Avery are all about it.

Kaelin grows her own pot, goodness! Anyway, energy seems a good generic term for magic. That's what it is, after all. All the other terms lend more of a mystical nature though.

The part when Raven seems pleased about the lesson going off-track, yes. I know not much about magic (except what I've read from the books) but one thing I know is it's a good idea to follow wherever it goes. Raven being open-minded, very positive indeed.

Silverlight's awesome. 🌙 Calypso learning how to swim... goodness her mom's lucky she didn't start to drown! Maybe it's because she knew daughter knew how all along.

Nits:
"I've grow my own that I call Astral Light, after old Elphie." - - Not sure if you wanted ‘I’ve grown’ or ‘I grow’.

When people talk though, we don't always say things entirely grammatical. Sometimes we even make mistakes!

This post has been edited by Renee: May 6 2023, 10:50 PM

[WellTemperedClavier]

"I can recall when one could buy cocaine and laudanum from any apothecary," Blood Raven murmured. "Yet we digress with such botanical observations. Xochitl, you must find your own terms for your power."

Ha!

Another example of how personal magic is. Just as each culture develops its own practices, so too does each individual within that culture. But whatever you call it, the power is real.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: My memory is not what it used to be, so when inspirations come to me I write everything down. I literally have dozens of text files of various notes in my Stormcrow folder, in addition to the actual stories. Super names that I might use in the future, different types of monsters, future outlines, and just general ideas for big or minor plots, and so on. Plus tons of pictures set aside for inspiration for things like powered armor, robots, super suits, vehicles, magic stuff, and so on.

Aside from the Austin Powers sexual prowess connotation, I have often seen the term Mojo used as slang for magic. Mostly in the 90s and early 2000s. But that is the right era for Riven to have picked it up.

Silverlight gets a lot of attention in this book and the next one. I really enjoy writing her. She would be a fun character to play in an RPG. In fact, she is the cleric in January's current team in Pillars of Eternity.

Silverlight might laugh, and say that her staff is for smacking people who annoy her with foolish questions! Hah! I am not sure if it got explored or not in Battle of Belle Isle. But the moon rock that forms it headpiece allows Silverlight to draw a limitless supply of magical energy from the Moon. But only if it is in the sky overhead. So it is a bottomless well of power for her, when she really needs it.

We have seen Blood Raven's centering skills. She creates those magic circles of Celtic knotwork when she does complicated magic, and sometimes she sings in Gaelic.


Renee: Blood Raven does try to keep up with slang, as has often been noted with humorous results, such as her endeavors to not be sus. She will even soon be cautioning someone to delay their rotation.

Kaelin is an alchemist, so she definitely has her own setup to grow special herbs and the like. No reason not to do it with the old Mary Jane as well. Both she and Riven are potheads. Riven for the pain relief and stress relief. She's been a super for 20 years, and it helps her stay sane. Kaelin just because she's young and likes to feel good.

Raven may not be so pleased about the lesson going off track, as she is with her proteges all stepping up and reaching out to Xochitl. This is not just a magic lesson, it is a bonding experience. Otherwise there would be no need for the others.


WellTemperedClavier: Trying to insure that each of these magicians has their own unique perspective on and relationship to magic has been really challenging. But it is working out pretty well. I am glad that I was able to create a really diverse group with what is essentially a soft magic system.





Book 11.5 - Raven Sisters

"So what should my centering skill be?" Xochitl's eyes were wide with unconcealed amazement.

"You tell us hun," Riven said. "I do a sword dance, because that's me. You got to do what is you. You dig?"

"What is it that you love doing?" Silverlight asked. "What brings you peace, and makes you lose yourself while you do it?"

"Well, I like walking in the woods," the young woman lifted one hand to her chin to think. "I like to draw too."

"Then do so," Ôkami said plainly.

"I don't have my pencils, or art pad," Xochitl sputtered. "I can't do it now."

"Yes you can," Blood Raven rose to her feet and stepped away for a moment. January felt power stir within the elder heroine, and reach out to the sanctum around her. Then she vanished through the waypoint system. She returned a moment later. In one hand she held a pad of drawing paper whose covers were dog-eared from use. In the other she gripped a credenza filled with colored pencils which were just as worn down.

"Why didn't I see it before," Silverlight slapped her open palm against her forehead. "My friends, I think we have a rune mage among us."

"A what?" Xochitl wondered as Blood Raven handed her the art supplies. January saw her flip open the pages of the sketch pad. Now she recognized it as one that she had seen previously in the young woman's bedroom. Illustrations of both herself and Blood Raven spanned its pages, along with landscapes, and various gods and monsters from Mesoamerican myth and folklore.

"Of course, runes, why didn't I see it too," January murmured.

Runic magic had been right in front of her eyes of late. The summoning circles that the Hierophant had used to summon Abyssals had all been so. She had even defeated him by reversing some of those runes. Then there was Blood Raven's waypoint network. When it came down to it, those were all runes as well.

Xochitl was an artist. How else would her magic be based?

"When we use magic - any magic - we raise power, visualize the result we want, pour our magicka into that, and will it into reality," Kaelin explained. "When one uses runes, it takes the place of the visualization. You draw what you want to happen. Then when you put your power into that, the rune directs the magicka to create the effect you want."

"It's like a traffic sign for magical energy," Riven said.

"So I just draw a light, and it becomes a light?" Xochitl considered.

"It does not have to be that specific," Calypso said. "Often runes are ideograms - characters from an alphabet - which each have a meaning. You choose an ideogram with the correct meaning, and it will do the work for you. Just remember to concentrate upon what you wish to occur when you draw the symbol. It will infuse your desire into the rune as you create it."

"So what rune do I draw then?" Xochitl asked.

"We don't know," January shrugged. "The hardest part of teaching someone magic, is that no one can teach you magic."

"This is all about you," Silverlight explained. "It is your journey. Only you can drive the car. We are just passengers along for the ride."

Blood Raven stepped near to the young woman, and laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder. She snapped her fingers with her other hand, and a small combo desk appeared before them. It looked like it might have been plucked from any high school, with its chair and small writing surface all built into one piece. She gestured for Xochitl to sit, and stood by while the apprentice stared at an empty page in the book.

"Close your eyes and take one of the pencils," Blood Raven said in a soft, soothing voice.

"How do I know which one if my eyes are closed?" she asked.

"You will know," Blood Raven replied gently. "Slow your breathing, ease your heart. Relax. Close your eyes, and feel your power. Now take the pencil."

January felt energy stir within the core of her newest sister. She watched as Blood Raven guided her hand - now with a yellow pencil gripped within her fingers - to the blank page laid on the desk before her. Blood Raven gently lowered her hand until the tip of the pencil touched the paper, then stepped back.

"Now think of your past. Think of your people. Think of the things you love to draw. Think of what brings you light."

With that the young woman's hand began to move. Starting from a single point, Xochitl pulled her hand around in an ever-widening circle. That created an expanding spiral in the center of the page. When she reached its outermost edge, she began to draw a series of petals that streamed out at right angles. Together, these formed into a corona, mimicking beams of light flowing from a central source. When she was finished, she dropped her pencil down one last time at the center of the spiral.

With that the power within her was unleashed. January could feel it flow from Xochitl's aura and into the rune. There the ideograph took that energy and formed it into a specific pattern. This ground down into the physical world. With that a soft golden light began to glow from the page. It rose up in a shining ball, and hovered in the air before the young magician's face.

January was back in the Belle Isle Casino. She knelt helplessly on the floor, surrounded by other runes. Runes written in Elder Futhark. She saw the Hierophant standing across from her, surrounded by an opposing set of runes. He began the ritual, and sent his magic into the sigils. They glowed to life one after another, as the mana flowed like water through the circles and pathways that linked them. Soon they all shone with a horrific light, and bathed her in terror. She heard screaming, and saw blood exploding...

January forcibly blinked her eyes open and shut, to dispel that image from them. Where in Niflheim had that come from? Her heart raced, and she fought to control her breath. She felt like she had just gotten off of a rollercoaster. It had all been so real, as if she had been there once again, trapped in that moment in time. It felt so real. It felt just like it had when it had happened.

She looked past her magical comrades to see that Xochitl had leaped up from her school desk. She was jumping for literal joy, reaching out for the glowing ball of golden light that she had created with her own power. She saw Blood Raven standing beyond the young woman, looking quite satisfied.

The elder heroine's features fell when she locked eyes with January from across the space. For a moment it felt like she was looking into her soul. It was as if she could sense the distress that had so suddenly grasped hold of January's mind.

January looked away. Whatever that had been, this was not the time for it. This was Xochitl's moment. It was her journey. She did not want to spoil it.

The others had crowded around Xochitl to offer their congratulations. Well, Ryo hovered slightly nearer, as back slapping was not his bag. January moved in too, to be part of the celebration. This was a big deal. Xochitl had a right to be proud of herself. She had taken a big step into forging her own destiny.

January allowed the warmth and joy she felt for the young woman to wash over her, and push away that strange flashback she had of Nátthrafn's summoning. Whatever that had been, it must have just been a blip. It was nothing to take seriously. It was probably just the result of too little sleep, and too much stress and excitement in the last few days. After all, living through the near end of the world was bound to have some side effects after all, right?

"I don't understand something," Xochitl asked after things settled down. "Does this mean that drawing runes is my centering skill? Or does it mean it is the only way I can use magic?"

"No, and that remains to be seen," Blood Raven answered quickly. "It may be a close relative to your centering skill, perhaps that will be something very similar. I suggest we explore drawing in general to learn that."

"But that is not the function of runes in magic. Originally they were a necessity for complex spellcasting. As has been pointed out, before Tunguska it was often too much for a magician to hold in their head. So instead most of us would inscribe our spellwork in the runes of magic circles, veves, and other symbology."

"The waypoint system which we all used to travel here is one example. I created it so that I need not perform the intricate calculations of spacetime travel every time I teleport from site to site. You may find this surprising, but even I have my limits when it comes to magic use. Teleportation is one of those things which some others may find trifling. But I find it quite vexing to execute without much preparation. So instead I imprinted each jump into the pentacles that become visible when I use the waypoints. Now I need only choose which leap I wish to make, and allow the runes to do the work for me."

"So it's kind of like an artificial intelligence, or digital assistant, but in magical form?"

"I think not," Blood Raven shook her head, though she did seem to still consider the idea. "Remember, a rune has no will, nor power of its own. Think of it more as a record one has pressed, with a spell imprinted upon it. We need but play it back to hear the song, rather than perform it ourselves at that moment."

"What's a record?" Kaelin beat January to asking, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"It is a-" Blood Raven stopped when she realized that her youthful protégé was being facetious. Her face took on a somber affect, and then she spoke again with exaggerated gravitas. "When the Earth was young, and we rode dinosaurs to our employment within the rock quarry, we spun these 'records' about to cut our way through the slate. We sliced them into hamburgers, which we then ate for dinner."

"Ancient history is so fascinating," Kaelin nodded along, trying not to laugh. "Can you explain floppy discs too?"

"Not in this lifetime, my young apprentice," Blood Raven shook her head. She turned back to Xochitl.

"The rune is simply your way of visualizing the effect you wish to create," she explained. "It may be that it is the only means by which you might effect spellcraft. That was certainly the case for practically everyone for hundreds - if not thousands of years. For some it does indeed remain so to this day. Or perhaps you may learn to create these runes in your mind, and in so doing implement your spellcasting. We shall learn in time."

"So I might not be a real magician then?" There was no mistaking the downward cast to the young woman's eyes, or the self-reproach in her voice.

"Nay!" Blood Raven insisted. "Banish such thoughts immediately my young apprentice. This is by no means inferior, or lesser. It is simply yet one more variation, in a field of endless variations."

"I can imagine there are a lot of advantages to rune magic," Kaelin was now quite serious. "It's similar to what I do: alchemy. You can store a spell within a rune and leave it there for future use. Perhaps use by anyone, not just yourself. That is how potions work. I put a healing spell, or flight, or night sight, or whatever it is I want into a potion, or candle, or what not. Then anyone can drink it, or burn it, and the spell goes off. I don't even have to be there for it to work."

"So she could probably make scrolls this way," January offered. When several of the others gave her puzzled looks, she explained further. "Like in RPGs. A scroll has a spell imprinted on it. You just pull out the scroll and read it, and the spell goes off. It works even if you don't know the spell yourself, or have the mana. Sometimes you can even use it if you are not a magician. It depends on the game."

"Yes, yes indeed," Blood Raven acknowledged. "All of this is possible. I once knew a man in the Pacific who did this with tattoos upon himself and his friends. A powerful mage was he."

"You mean I could tat myself up with magic spells?" Xochitl said. That disappointed look now transformed into one of wonder. "Or body paint up with them?"

"Absolutely," Kaelin nodded. "I enchanted the body paint that Harper and I wore at Belle Isle in order to protect us. We still have some left over in fact."

"So long as it is what is right for you, there is nothing that can hold you back." Blood Raven added.

"So let's do my centering skill next!" she cried.

"This is revelation enough for one day," Blood Raven shook her head. "For now, practice your light spell. Use your power, grow accustomed to how it feels, make it a part of you. For it is a part of you, it always has been, and always will be."

[Renee]

That's neat, two of these gals are into the wacky lettuce. It's just an unexpected detail I would not expect on the Crow Show. But one which definitely fits the times. Now... I wonder if any of the blackhats might dabble in some other substances. Like maybe those Nazis from earlier chapters have messed around with something really EVIL like meth (or some derivative of methamphetamine), as Hitler prescribed for his troops. 💊

Rune mage! See, Xochitl's cutting her own specialty from the multiverse. And what a cool talent to have while you're still in high school. Something which really sets her apart from other students. I foresee plenty of corn meal being bought from whatever local supermarket's near her parents' house...

Jan's having PTSD symptoms.

It was probably just the result of too little sleep, and too much stress and excitement in the last few days.

YUah!!!! Too little sleep, been saying this. Then again, what quality of sleep could she get with all this activity going on, anyway?

That is a great explanation: runes are a way to lay magic outside of a magic-user's head. Sort of like those Poppets which have been laid all over place (I think "poppet" is what they're called). When something untoward occurs near one of them, Jan or Branwen are able to feel the presence of whatever's causing them to ping.

Cool. I'm really psyched to play some Morrowind now, with a brand-new Bosmer Illusionist of my own!

[Acadian]

Another fascinating delve into the nature of magic and its variability. This time exploring what seems to be Xochitl’s affinity for runic magic.

My mind went the same place that Jan’s did – so that is how scrolls are made.

What a hoot when Blood Raven mentioned a phonograph type record as an example to a barely teenager. I admit the elder mage’s comeback to Kaelin was well done.

Nits:
- "It may {be?} a close relative to your centering skill, perhaps that will be something very similar.”
-"I can imagine there are a lot of advantages to rune magic," Kaelin was now quite seriously {serious?}.