Regenerating armor!

Stormcrow is taking a beating here – and a fair amount of it is protecting innocents. But that is her nature of course. Saving those two with the stalled truck trying to escape the observatory and trying to spare some of the native greenery is one thing, but saving those too dumb to get out of the way has to be frustrating. Especially having to save a news crew; that’s as bad as saving a convention of lawyers.

Quite the pulse-pounding ‘retreat’ as she draws the salamander along with her. She and Cray have the right of it, I think. Lead the fire beast to the sea.

Renee: Wow, those pictures are riveting, and haunting, considering they were the last things that person saw.

January's armor keeps getting holes and the like shot in it. So it made sense for her next upgrade to be something that would repair itself, so poor Gadget would not have to constantly patch it up between every fight.

I am not a fan of heights either. Well, actually it is falling that bothers me. I do love the view from high up. January, OTOH, loves both. Flying, falling through the air, that is bliss to her. So falling backward into nothingness with her eyes closed, that is pure joy to her.

It will be a couple weeks before we reach the sea. January has a long, difficult fight in front of her.


WellTemperedClavier: Public school might be the most difficult trial January ever faces. It certainly was the most unhappy and grueling time of my life. I think it is designed to torture everyone there and pass down generational trauma. Then I took some classes at my local community college. I could not believe the difference! I think it changes everything when the people around you are there because they want to be, not to mention because they are paying for it, and have a real stake in the entire process.

The salamander is actually less powerful than the firewing that we saw at Jobbie Nooner. It took an entire team of half a dozen to defeat it. But January is alone here (at least so far), and I wanted to show that it was still a dangerous opponent. Its greatest strengths are also the exact same ones that January possesses, which presents a unique challenge to her. It is almost like having to face a mirror image to herself. As you noted, she will not defeat it through sheer force of arms. She will have to think her way through this.


Acadian: Buckle up, because January is going to continue to be beaten, bruised, and burned for this entire book. Thankfully being a Defender is in her nature. Taking a hit is a what she is best at. Sort of like how Rocky Balboa softens up an opponent by letting them punch his face in for half-a-dozen rounds. Only she is better at it than Rocky.

There was an anime from a while back called Claymore. The heroines of the story were these human/monster hybrids called... Claymores, after the swords they also carried. They all had some basic powers, and the greater ones developed special abilities beyond that. Basically super powers. But they could be divided up into two camps, Attackers and Defenders. Each had definite advantages in abilities that favored one or the other. Attackers were better at offensive powers. Defenders were better at things like regenerating wounds and even restoring lost limbs, etc... Which one you were all came down to why you became a Claymore in the first place. Was it to strike back and kill the monsters? Or was it to defend people from the monsters?

January is a Defender through and through. So her Endurance and Invulnerability are her highest stats. I always make her a tank in all the games I play her in.







Two Steps From Hell - Sariel


The Plymouth Battlefield


Plymouth Pics
Aerial View

Buried Buildings

Round Building

The Pier


Fire Lord Zuko


Book 9.12 - Ashes

She led it through the abandoned neighborhood. She closed her eyes, and stretched out with her astral senses. The elemental was a literal bonfire of heat and color in the magical realm. The trees and grass were a soft glow of life, while the empty buildings left but a faded impression in astral space. The three tourists she had left behind were soft lights glowing monotone up the hill behind her. Thankfully she sensed no others like them nearby.

She lowered her magical senses and opened her eyes once more. It was just in time to block a claw aimed at her face. She retorted with a palm-strike to the elemental's jaw. The salamander's head rocked back under the impact. But she had not even scratched the volcanic stone of its hide.

Then January was on the run once more. The elemental stomped along in hot pursuit. It was faster than she would have imagined, quick as a forest fire. January followed a street down toward the sea, and the remains of the great pyroclastic flow that had once drained into it. This stretch of land was nearly empty of homes, and instead was filled with trees and brush. She stayed away from the edges of the greenery to spare it the following elemental's ministrations, and stayed on the road instead.

Soon a parallel street curved in to join the one she was on. January continued on the single road. Now there were more houses again. But not complete ones. These were rooftops peeking up from hardened mud and mounds of ash. Some had no roofs at all, and were simply bare walls that rose up from the sea of hardened tephra.

"You're in the old capital of Plymouth now," Cray intoned. "You are all clear. But that helicopter is still hovering in the distance. It looks like its looping around to the sea."

The greenery vanished abruptly, and she entered a world of dead ash and stones. The elemental was on her again. They traded blows in the lee of a rounded building that still rose up a few stories from the river of dust. Other, rectangular buildings clustered nearby. January wondered if they had been part of some resort in the past. Or perhaps they had been a museum, or government buildings? They looked too large to be homes. There was no way to tell what their purpose had been from the bones of the dead city.

They hammered back and forth at one another - January with fists and feet, the elemental with claws and teeth. It whirled around to use that tail once more. This time January was ready for it however. She did the splits, and dropped down to the earth while the deadly appendage sailed past overhead. It connected with the wall behind her. Concrete disintegrated under the blow, and the entire wall came tumbling down behind it. A giant cloud of dust kicked up after it, momentarily obscuring the elemental from January's view, and choking her throat.

She closed her eyes, and stretched out with her astral senses. There it was! The salamander was right on top of her. She rolled back and brought her feet in even as the beast leaped upon her. She planted the soles of her boots into the pit of its stomach and kicked out, even as she continued her roll. The salamander went flying, only to crash down to earth within another deserted building nearby.

January sprang to her feet and followed the elemental into the wreckage. The firefoot was in the process of rolling onto its feet when she caught it. That gave her the opportunity to deliver a roundhouse kick to its exposed side. The creature was once more rocketed away by the force of the blow, and hurtled out into the street.

January pursued, and soon enough she felt smooth tephra under her feet again. She opened her eyes to find herself in the clear plain of the pyroclastic flow. She dropped her astral sight, and instead used her mundane eyes to follow the flowing currents etched into the surface of the hardened ash and rock. The sound of crashing waves came to her ears, and the smell of the water impregnated her nostrils. She crossed that same road she had followed to get here, and a glance showed that it led directly to a pier thrust out into the ocean.

"That dock might be ideal," January said. She sprinted down the road toward it. The elemental now pursued her. She could feel the oven of its breath upon the nape of her neck, and she took care to zig and zag to avoid its occasional swipes at her.

"You can get it out over the water there, and maybe drop it in," Cray agreed.

"Or just smash the entire thing once we are on it," January thought aloud.

"Wait, don't do that," Cray warned. The sound of a plastic keys clacking was faint in January's earpiece. "I think it's still being used for barges. It looks like they might mine the volcanic sand. We don't want to ruin the livelihoods of the people who decided to stick it out here."

"Right," January agreed. No damaging the docks. It must have been so much easier to go through life as someone like Frostbite, who did not care about what happened to anyone else. She could certainly see the appeal to that sort of selfishness. No, not appeal, she realized, but rather the simplicity of it. The world must be an easy place to live in when everyone else was just an object, rather than a person.

"Heads up," Cray intoned a lower, more intent voice moment later. "You've got an aircraft inbound. It doesn't have wings, but it's not a helicopter either, its..."

"It's backup!" his voice picked up noticeably. "Stormcrow, you are about to meet Viuda, or Widow. She spends most of her time in Puerto Rico, but she gets around all over the Caribbean."

"I don't suppose she has any water or frost powers?" January hoped.

"She does not," a feminine voice replied in slightly accented English. "But nevertheless, she does persist."

January spared a quick glance up. Several hundred feet directly above was that aircraft Cray had alluded to. He was right, it was not a plane or a helicopter. It was generally oval in shape, and divided into two distinct segments, like a spider. The largest section was the body of the spider, taking up the center and rear fuselage. A smaller area that looked like a cockpit jutted out in front of that like a head. Two giant bubble canopies projected from the blunted nose of this head, flanked by more portals above, beside, and below them. Several other windows protruded from the body as well. Between those jutted numerous cylinders that looked almost like legs, or jet engines mounted vertically. Four on each side of the fuselage, these engines glowed with blue light, and must have been what propelled the odd, spider-looking craft.

An open ramp built into the rear of the vehicle steadily rose up to shut itself flush against the hull of the craft. Falling from it was a figure wearing a black exoskeleton that was definitely feminine in its curves. The form-fitting plates of the armor were accented by a red hourglass emblazoned on the stomach, and similar red flair decorated the shoulders and arms. Her helmet was shaped like a hoodie, whose hem was again lined in red. The face was completely obscured by a featureless mask, and was dominated by a pair of oversized- bulging white eye pieces that reminded January of the bubble canopies on the craft overhead.

Viuda came down right atop the back of the salamander. January expected it to be with a great crash of force. But instead she landed as gently as a feather, or a ballooning spider. The armored woman extended both of her arms, and shiny metal cables shot from her wrists. Their ends snaked around each of the elemental's forelegs, and brought the creature to an abrupt halt.

Viuda pulled back on the cables like a rider reining in a horse. But the salamander did not budge another inch. She dug her heels into the elemental's back. Basaltic hide crunched under the armored woman's feet, but otherwise did not give. A searing hiss rose up from the creature's hide, and it began to glow. First the black flesh turned orange, then red, then white in intensity, and a haze of heat wreathed the superheroine.

January saw her opening and took it. She leaped forward, and rose slightly above the salamander. She came down and dropped her elbow directly upon its head. This was the move that had decapitated the oniare at Gull Island, and had felled so many other opponents of hers. It was the biggest gun in her armory.

For an instant the world turned white. Then came the shockwave from the titanic blow. It deafened January, and kicked up a wave of volcanic dust all around. For a moment the earth shook under the impact. It momentarily turned liquid under the force, and a great ripple spread out through the hardened lava in all directions. Then January went flying backward, rebounding off of the salamander's basaltic hide like a rubber ball against a brick wall.

The next thing she knew, she was picking herself up off the ground. Looming over her was the salamander, utterly unfazed by the blow. Worse, she noted the glow rising up its neck, and the bulge in its skin that presaged its breath attack. January leaped skyward, and thrust her legs out to either side of her in the splits. The following torrent of lava and fire gushed by just inches underneath her. Its passage filled her body with a new wave of heat. But that was nothing compared to actually being struck by the molten rock. The last thing she needed right now was more of that.

Before January could recover, the salamander abruptly bucked its body forward, and elevated its hindquarters in the process. Viuda was thrown off balance by the sudden move, and went sailing straight ahead. January had no time to pull up or dodge out of the way. The Puerto Rican heroine smacked right into the center of her chest. January idly noted that the spider-woman's powered armor had a lot more mass than she would have imagined, given how light on her feet the other woman was.

Out of the corner of her eye January saw Viuda's cables snap off from the salamander's forelegs. Then the two heroines both cartwheeled backward through the air, arms and legs a jumble. January tried to pull in her limbs out of reflex, and go with the momentum rather than fight against it. But unfortunately there was another woman splayed against her, arms and legs entwined with her own. That turned her attempt at grace into an ungainly tumble down to the volcanic rock and dust below. They hit the ground like a meteor, and kicked up a cloud of detritus in their wake.

January found herself splayed on her back in the sandy tephra. The sound of waves beating against the shore was a low roar in her ears. So she surmised that the sea must be nearby. Viuda popped up on her feet beside her, and leaned down to offer her a hand up. January gladly took it, and turned back to look the way they had come.

The air was filled with a rain of light brown particles of volcanic sand and dust. A line gouged through the tephra to reveal their path. It led straight back to the salamander. The land between them was free of ruins or obstructions. Only the road that cut from left to right broke up the smooth contours of the long-cooled and hardened lava river upon which they stood.

The fire elemental stared at them across the distance. Its eyes glowed like bonfires, which they were after all. But it did not move forward to meet them. Instead it waited, and eyed them cautiously. January spared a glance back over her shoulder. The endless blue carpet of the Caribbean Sea stretched out to the horizon. It was not that far away, less than a football field in the distance. Compared to the miles she had come from the science station, it was practically a hop, skip, and a jump away.

"I wasn't expecting to run into you." Viuda spoke without taking her eyes from the elemental. "But it's nice to meet you anyway Stormcrow."

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine," January murmured. She was still not sure how this all worked. The superhero small talk that is. But she did not want to seem cold or unfriendly. "I was just in the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop in."

"You came to see Blackwood, didn't you?" Viuda laughed. "Yeah, I can always tell. I bet we get more metas just passing through down here than any other part of the world."

"Well it is a nice place to pass through," January said quite honestly. "Or at least it was until hot stuff here turned up."

January began to edge in closer to the salamander. She needed to keep its attention. The last thing she wanted was for it to head back inland, toward where people might be.

"So do you have any idea what this thing is?" the other woman asked. "It looks like Fire Lord Zuko's pet retriever."

"It's a fire elemental," January smiled at the anime reference. "Well, one type at least. They come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. I think this one is actually half earth elemental as well. I guess you might call it a magmamental."

"So how do we beat it?" Viuda asked.

"As I'm sure you just noticed, physical attacks do nothing, except make it salty." January explained. "We need to get it to the water. But it doesn't look like he's in the mood to cooperate."

Another appropriately epic 2SfH song!

Jan is certainly dishing out as much punishment as her foe, but neither is really winning as they dance down toward the sea.

Ahhh, the constraints of collateral damage considerations – don’t smash the dock. Her ruminations on the matter confirm she knows the price and willingly pays it. That is her nature.

And help arrives from the air. I had thought perhaps Lighthammer would blast onto the scene but here we have yet another superheroine with her own interesting appearance and tools.

The midair collision between the two women was a unique way to meet, but it also gave them enough distance from the enemy to share at least a few words.

The good news is that old firebreath isn’t charging them. The bad news is that it seems smart enough to be leery of the ocean. So much for simply leading it into suicide by sea. Looks like they’ll need a new plan to introduce their foe to the water.


Nit: ”She's spends most of her time in Puerto Rico, but she gets around all over the Caribbean."
- - Not sure if you meant 'She spends most…' or 'She’s spent most…'.

Let's see if she can't lure this burning inferno into the sea. Jeez the thing's still going. The part when it says she kicked its stomach, that's so weird to think it actually has a tummy!

Cray provides the role of a conservationist (sort of) as he tells Jan not to smash the thing near those barges. Don't want to ruin their livelihoods.



Ha! This is true. Frostbite even frosted up Blackwood's estate without a care!

... Oh cool. There's another metahero on the scene. Gosh, her world must be full of them, all over the globe. Again, we really need somebody to keep us Baltimorons in check. What does Viuda mean? ... Oh duh. Google says Widow. I wonder how she got that name?

One thing which strikes is I get the feeling Stormcrow is winging it, to some extent. She's sort of guessing how to get rid of this thing, you know? Her signature move doesn't work. And then Viuda shows up, and maybe Viuda has more experience with fire elementals, being from that area of the world. But it sounds like she's experimenting too!

"Superhero small talk!"

Yeah, the elemental is like "whoa wait" when it realizes it's been lured toward the sea. How are they going to get rid of this monster?!?!

--------------------------------

Yes, you said it (about heights). I am afraid of them, but also fascinated. The idea of being on top of a skyscraper or precipice ... I at least want to try to see the view. Fascinated by that. But moving up toward the edge? Nuh-uh. No way.

Videogames have actually helped in this regard. Like when playing the first Tomb Raider, I remember getting really frightened, goosebumps and all, whenever Lara would need to make some flip or whatever from way up high. But after playing all these Elder Scrolls games heights don't bother me as much. Overcoming fears in videogames!

Today's picture-link: I'd like to go to Dre's Chill Out Spot. 🍍 The Plymouth pics are spooky.

Enter Viuda!

I quite enjoyed the description of the character. The cables coming out of her arms are suitably spider-like while being distinct from Spiderman's portfolio.

I'm wondering if maybe Viuda can try again with the cables and somehow steer the elemental into the water? Perhaps Stormcrow can provide enough interference to keep the elemental occupied so that Viuda can more-or-less ride the thing.

Again, it's good to see that they take property damage seriously. People need that dock, and probably wouldn't be able to easily replace it.

Acadian: Since January and the salamander share a lot of abilities, I wanted it to be clear that they were evenly matched. So lots of fighting with no real resolution, yet.

I was looking forward to introducing some new supers in this chapter, from some place far from home. I did love the idea of "running into" one in the most literal sense. Blood Raven did she she ought to get out and meet people.

Viuda was a neat idea I had for a spider-man like character, but one that is technology based, and uses spider silk as both a material to make her powered armor from, but also as extra prehensile limbs. She would be a fun character to play in a table top RPG.

Thanks for the nit. That was supposed to be "She spends most of her time..."


Renee: Viuda's named after black widow spiders. She is all in black, with red trim, and spider-themed... I did not want to call her Black Widow, because, well, that's going to get people thinking of another character...

There are supers all over the world. When I decided to do a book set in a new place, I wanted to include some new supers from the area. That led me down some neat paths to create both Viuda and another character we are going to meet today.

January is definitely guessing, and figuring this all out as she goes. She had no idea she was going to be fighting a salamander this day. So she's making it all up as she goes along.

I had not noticed Dre's Chill Out Spot. It looks like it is some kind of bar or food stand? I saw some people leave some bad reviews for it. What were they expecting from a place in the ruins of an abandoned city, which is also in an exclusion zone (as in no one is allowed there to begin with?).


WellTemperedClavier: As I noted above, I think Viuda would be a fun character to play in a TTRPG. I went with the mechanical cable idea specifically to avoid the webbing we all know so well from Spider-Man. Plus it allowed me to take some extra steps with it, and make them fully prehensile, so she can do a lot more with them. In the end they are more like Doctor Octopus' arms than Spidey's webs.

January would not hesitate to smash one of Jeff Bezos's limos to smithereens to defeat a monster. He's not even going to notice its gone. But wrecking the 30 year old Geo Metro of someone barely making ends meet is another story. They need that car to live. So she would do anything to save that. The same with that dock. Unlike Frostbite, January's entire reason for being is to make things better for people, not worse. It is what makes her a hero, rather than a thug.

Put a pin in that idea of yours to drag the salamander to the water, we will eventually be getting back there...








Two Steps From Hell - Myth


Calypso inspiration

Calypso again

Taino Symbols - Spiral



Book 9.13 - Ashes

As if spurred by January's words, the elemental backed away from the heroines, and the sea behind them. January raised a hand to the sky, and her will tore it asunder. A jagged bolt of lightning spilled forth, and slammed down into the tephra behind the salamander. It flashed with blinding light and a deafening clap of thunder. January felt the sound waves from the burst punch into her body, even from a hundred feet away.

It did not harm the salamander of course, or even hit it. But the thunderbolt right behind him did get his interest. Those two flaming eyes set upon January, as if it could tell that she had directed the lightning. It charged forward, and January instantly circled to her left, away from Viuda. She gave ground before the angry elemental, giving the other heroine plenty of room to move around behind the monster.

Once she was in position, January stopped and held her ground. She put up her fists in a fighting stance, and simply waited as it charged upon her. She called up her power from within. Her elemental mantra ran through her head, and she used it to focus her energy into a clear, sharp purpose. She was Earth. She was the mountain. She was adamant.

The firefoot hammered into her like a bullet train. As when January had used her patented Stormcrow elbow drop upon it, the shockwave of the collision was deafening. The pressure wave hammered through the air like an explosion. It likewise surged through the volcanic earth below like a ripple through water, and for a moment sent the ground flowing in all directions as if it was a liquid. Even Viuda had to brace herself against the impact, which nearly threw the Caribbean heroine from her feet.

But just as her earlier attack had not harmed the elemental, the salamander's assault did not even scratch January. She literally did not feel a thing as the titan hammered into her. She was pure adamant; nothing in the world could so much as scratch her now.

However, the ground that she stood upon was another story entirely. The tephra immediately surrounding her feet remained just as inviolate as her body. But the volcanic sand and stone farther away - beyond the influence of her magic - disintegrated under the impact. January found herself and the soil at her feet being literally torn up out of the earth and tossed backward through the air. She felt like one of the gaming miniatures that Kell and Ryo loved to paint so much, with a little base under her feet and all.

Once her connection to the earth was severed, that base of tephra vanished however. It scattered away into the fine grains of sand that it was comprised of under normal circumstances. January flowed with the momentum, and changed from Earth to Water in an instant. She tucked into a backwards somersault and pin wheeled through the sky. Then she was Air. She came out of it with her wings unfolded, and with one quick flap of her feathers she halted her airborne tumble and shot straight up into the firmament.

She saw that Viuda had regained her footing. The other heroine took advantage of the opportunity she had been given by January's baiting of the salamander. She deployed those cables from her wrists once more. This time they were joined by a second pair of tentacles that sprouted from her back. All four of these limbs now snaked their way around not only the elemental's forelegs, but its rear limbs as well. They pinned them close against its body like a net, and in moments it collapsed onto its belly like a car with no wheels.

Viuda once more dug her heels in and pulled back on her wires. But the creature did not budge. Not an inch. January nosed down and pulled in her wings. She dropped to the tephra beside the spider-themed heroine, and added her hands to the cables. The two of them strained. But January found that the volcanic rock and sand under her own feet gave way, rather than the earth beneath the salamander.

"Sprock! I know what it's doing," January shook her head and let go of the spider silk cables. "It is part earth elemental. It's doing what I do, but even better. A lot better. It's becoming part of the Earth. Nothing in this world can harm it or move it while it's set like that."

Then January saw that telltale glow of fire run up along the creature's neck. Its basaltic jaws bulged, and a moment later a torrent of burning lava gushed forth. There was no time to move. She wrapped her wings around Viuda and held the other woman close. She had no idea how strong her powered armor was, or how much heat it could take. So she did her best to completely envelop her.

January's back was on fire a moment later. Her wings burned with heat. She felt like a steak on the grill, and she thought she smelled burning meat. She had to clamp down hard with her teeth to keep from screaming. But in spite of her best efforts, she found her body arching and shaking with the agony that ripped through her frame.

Either the salamander was growing more powerful, or it was wearing down her natural invulnerably. Either way, the gamer in her head warned her that she could not take many more attacks like that. She was going to have to put more of her dice into dodging in the future...

She felt the two of them spring up into the air. They were not flying however, for she could feel gravity's inexorable tug just a moment later. But they did come down beside the water, which had been at least a hundred feet away. So apparently Viuda was a jumping spider as well as a ballooning one.

"Are you ok?" the concern in the other woman's voice was plain. "Don't do that again, okey. I'm not made out of porcelain."

"Next time, he's all yours honey," January said through gritted teeth. She felt the other woman brush lava off of her back and shoulders. But it still felt like her body was on fire. She glanced down, and saw that Blackwood's new suit was indeed still intact. The titanium arm guard and meta-fabric that had been torn open earlier by the salamander's bite had even sewn themselves shut. But the metal glowed with heat, and the paint was completely gone once more.

She stepped forward into the water. The surf crashed across her ankles, and brought welcome relief. She fell to her knees, and bent down to let the waves wash completely over her. She instantly tasted the salt in the water on her lips. It was so glaringly different from the great freshwater lakes that surrounded her home in Michigan. But right now, salty or not, the water was a blessing.

"How are you doing Stormcrow?" Cray's voice came in her ear.

"Like a hot dog on the Fourth of July." January heard herself reply.

"Uh oh, it's starting to head back inland again." Viuda said from beside her. "We need a plan. Maybe I can bring Charlotte over and fill the hold with water, then dump it on Maggie over there?"

"Charlotte?" January wondered. She rose to her feet, and turned to see that the elemental had indeed turned its back on them. It was headed back north, toward the empty mansions of Richmond Hill, and the green land beyond.

"She's my flyer," Viuda nodded to the strange aircraft floating in the sky above. "Isn't she a belleza?"

"She is a beauty," January murmured. Thanks to her high school Spanish she could at least understand that much. "I've got a friend who would love to hear how she flies, and how you built her."

"But not right now, eh chica?" Viuda turned her gaze back to land, and the salamander beyond. "We need to either get this hombre to the water, or bring the water to it."

"Leave that me!"

January and Viuda turned as one to see a massive wave roll in to the shore. Unlike a normal wave, this did not stretch out in a long wall in either direction. Instead it rose up in a single peak above the normal water level. Standing atop the crest of this pillar of water was a woman clad in green and brown armor, with a staff gripped in one hand.

Her skin was a soft shade of green, streaked with irregular, flowing patterns of dark gray and blue. Her fingers were webbed, as were the toes of her bare feet. She had no hair, but her head was crested with spiny fin rays, that created a delicate pink halo around her heart-shaped face. If it were not for that fact that she had two legs, January would have thought she was a classic mermaid. Clearly, she was indeed some form of mer-folk, just not the kind from a children's movie.

As she neared, January saw that her armor consisted of a base layer of crisscrossed brown leather strips that covered most of her torso and hips. Over that she wore a "V" shaped chest piece of green coral that was cut into intricate swirling designs. More pieces of the coral armor graced her shoulders, forearms, and shins. Finally a headpiece of the same carved green material framed her face by covering her forehead and cheeks, but left the rest of her features and the back of her head bare.

The staff in her hand called to January. Crowning its peak was a symbol that January first thought was a spiral. Until she realized that it was not a single line curling down into itself. Rather it was two such curving patterns, swirling about one another like a whirlpool. As January watched, she could swear that they actually turned in a never-ending vortex.

The stave itself was clearly not constructed of wood or metal. Rather it appeared to be a long rod of glass or perhaps crystal. In fact, it reminded January of nothing so much as smoothly-polished ice, though that would be quite unlikely given the tropical climate. Yet still, she could not shake the feeling that it was made of water, somehow given solid form.

The weapon whispered to her secrets of tides and grottos, white beaches, coral reefs, and the endless abyssal plain far below. It told her of the sea, the dark mother that created all life, only to take it back to her bosom. Bagua - the name was whispered in her ear - Mother of the Waves.

January did not have to shift her senses into the astral to know that it was magical. The staff was literally telling her that. She idly wondered if the reverse was true as well. Did being near to January bring the sound of crows croaking and lightning cracking to the mer-woman's ears? From what Blood Raven had intimated in their training sessions, she imagined that it did.

"Calypso!" Cray exulted. "Good thing too, she is exactly what we need right now."

Now January remembered the newcomer. She had seen her on MeTube, in videos she had made National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, not to mention her own privately created content. As a science communicator, she was practically an ambassador for the oceans. But she never used her superpowers in her videos. Well, aside from her Deep One form, which she needed to live and work underwater. They were not about her showing off after all, but the sea itself.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here!" Viuda shouted to the newcomer. "I thought you were in the middle of the Atlantic with your boyfriend?"

"I was, that is why it took me so long to arrive!" Calypso proclaimed. January could not decide if her accent was English, French, some form of Creole, or all of them combined. But her voice was definitely rich and melodious, a sound that was a soothing balm to the ears. "And the Technocrat is not my boyfriend."

"But I see that you have been making friends Viuda!" the mer-woman continued. Her ichthyian eyes went from January to the salamander farther inland. "Some more welcome than others."

Cool, I like the sound of Viuda's outfit. Seems appropriate. As I know you detest spiders, I congratulate you for facing your fears as well, perhaps.

Yeah... let's leave bad reviews for a place whose charm lies not perhaps with quick service, or quality dining. People, I tell ya. This isn't Miami or New York, it's a place with active volcanic activity. It's like they show up to Dre's fully prepared to compare it to their favorite 4-star venue.

At first I thought Calypso already appeared in this tale. But I'm getting confused with the Xena TV show, which had a goddess named Calypso if I recall correct.

BAM she gets hit by the firefoot again! My gosh, the poor gal. She's going to be a mess after this is all over. I wonder how cold that shower's gonna be (the one she'll no-doubt take back at Blackwood's, or maybe she'll go to Dre's Chill-Out spot). Hell, what am I thinking? Maybe she'll just dive into the ocean.

Wow, that's very true. The thing comes from the earth, therefore it can also become the earth.

The 'gamer in her head'... Cool, we'll learn what this new meta is all about next week. Each new one is pretty fascinating. They're all very different. Right away, it's obvious Calypso is not the arrogant b1tch Frostbite is.

Yes. Dive into that salty sea-water.

That was quite a head on direct hit Jan took from the firefoot – with no ill effects. But that lava vomit was another story. Yikes! A quick dip in the ocean to recenter herself. Nice to see her armor is holding up and even self-regenerating.

I suspect Viuda’s aircraft dropping water, even paired up with a Stormcrow thunderstorm on top of the beast might not be enough. And in the nick of time, in surfs a Neried! Calypso seems like just what they need about now.

Quite the elemental clash here, with January using all her powers to adapt to the changing situation. One thing I always enjoy about these stories is how her gamer-thinking still bleeds through. It's such a humanizing element, and a relatable one, too. I often find myself reaching for gamer terminology in non-gaming situations and, you know, sometimes it's still pretty helpful.

Calypso seems like she's just what the team needs right now. Her powers are definitely water-related, and that'll have a strong effect on the salamander. So you described as being like an ambassador from the oceanic world. Is there like an Atlantis-type state here? Or is she more of a free agent who helps the undersea world without being beholden to any surface world polities? Or maybe this will all be answered in upcoming chapters.

Renee: Viuda's outfit was easy. I just imagined a powered armor spider-man, but modern and for a woman. Hence the hoodie part of it. Now Viuda's sidekick (who we shall not meet for a few more episodes), is another matter entirely.

Calypso was also the name of Jacques Cousteau's ship. She was also a nymph in Greek mythology, which is probably what inspired the Xena character. Plus it is also dance, and there was a character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies named after her. The name's got legs.

The salamander shares some of the same elemental powers that January does. That is what makes it such a difficult opponent for her.

Calypso is definitely nothing like Frostbite. She is one of the good guys gals after all.


Acadian: January can take a hit. As you have noted, she shares Rocky Balboa's fighting style of allowing her enemy to tire themselves out by punching her face in for a while. As you noted though, the heat from the lava is starting to take its toll. It would be boring if she was totally invulnerable to everything. There would be nothing to endanger her, and she would never be truly at risk. So her hit points are dropping.

Great call on the Neried! That very accurately sums up Calpyso. She is exactly what the team needs. Though as we shall see, even she cannot deal with this beastie on her own. It will be a tough nut to crack.


WellTemperedClavier: One of the fun parts of writing January is that she is a total nerd. So she thinks like I do, of making dice rolls, leveling up, etc... Plus the nerd pop culture references. All of her swear words are nerd-inspired.

We will learn more of Calypso in coming episodes, when there is some time for a breather. She's not anything as exotic as you were thinking however. She's just a human who can turn herself into an ichthyian, Deep One form. And she has some other powers, such as her magic staff that can control water. She is an oceanic ambassador in the same way that Jacques Cousteau could be said to have been one. She is an explorer, promoter, and presenter of ocean life and environments. That will get referenced in the near future, along with the other things in her background.

This world does not have most of the really exotic things that comics worlds tend to, like aliens and lost races. Except for magic and the multiverse, I have made an effort to keep it as low-fantasy, ordinary reality as possible. It is just humans with powers. I think the magic makes it weird enough. Especially given that January is so deeply immersed in it, being a magical super.





O Fortuna


Book 9.14 - Ashes

"We need to get some..." January began, but her words trailed off as the aquatic heroine roared right past on her towering wave of water. She and Viuda found themselves literally leaping after her to catch up. Leaping too slowly, for the newcomer moved like the tidal wave she had created, albeit in miniature form.

Before they could say a word to stop Calypso, she charged straight at the elemental. At the last moment she leaped off the crest of the wave, and stood back as it crashed down upon the salamander. A tremendous cloud of steam gushed skyward as the water met the molten stone of the salamander's body. It was so thick that it looked like gray-white smoke, and completely obscured the elemental from view.

January could hear the creature thrash about upon the volcanic sand and stone ground however. She closed her eyes and shifted her senses to the astral. The elemental's form was writ large there, impossible to miss. The steam that obscured it in the physical world was barely distinguishable here, nothing but fine gossamer threads blown in the astral wind. She could see the elemental whirl about frantically. Its tail blindly struck the remnants of a nearby building, and sent cinderblocks flying everywhere.

But January was back into range by then. She came down in front of Calypso and threw out her wings. Her feathers caught the worst of the broken chunks of concrete. Those they did not were batted aside by the web-like cables that leaped from Viuda's wrists and back. Those spider silk filaments seemed to almost have a life of their own, as they waved and darted back and forth in the air.

"I wonder if she has those tied into her nervous system," Cray wondered quietly. "She seems to control them like they were her very own limbs."

The mer-woman's tidal wave was gone by now. It had vanished in the haze of vapor that concealed the salamander. That was all that remained to mark its passing, aside from the mud that now squished underfoot. That mud rapidly dried and cracked with the heat that radiated from the elemental.

"I was about to say, that the last time we fought one of these, it took Lake Saint Clair to stop it." January was finally able to say. "We need to get it back to the ocean. Oh, and how are you with fire and lava?"

"It is not exactly part of my skincare routine," Calypso noted wryly.

"Well then, you'll want to move, because it's about to get hotter." January gave the other woman a gentle nudge. A moment later the reason why became apparent. Bursting from the wall of steam came a gout of molten lava. Thanks to her astral awareness, it had been easier than ever for January to sense the elemental readying the attack. This time, all three were safely out of the way before the fiery assault could strike any of them.

"Okay, so we have to move her, but we can't let her get set either, because she'll stick to the ground," Viuda thought out loud.

"She?" If Calypso had eyebrows in her Deep One form, surely one of them would have been cocked in Spockian incredulity.

"She named her Maggie," January noted. "You know as in-"

"Magma," Calypso finished her sentence. "Sometimes I wonder if you are a father Viuda, given all the dad jokes."

"Just wait until I ask you to pull my finger..." the armored heroine replied. One of her spider silk cables waved about in the air suggestively. A mask obscured the other woman's face, but January could easily imagine the grin she must have been wearing under it.

"Remember when Hercules fought Atlas?" Cray's voice was in January's ear. She tapped a button on Sága's interface, so the other women could hear him over the speaker. "Atlas drew his strength from the earth. So Herc wrestled with him and picked him up off the ground."

"I really need to work more on my Greco-Roman wrestling," January mused as she stared back at the salamander. The elemental now strode out from the depths of the fountain of steam. A haze of heat clung to its fiery hide, and its eyes glowed with rancor.

"My Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not going to help much then," Viuda mused. "It's all about ground work."

"Leave it to me," January declared with a certainty that she did not entirely possess. "Be ready with those cables, and Charlotte."

"My spider silk?" the other woman nodded. "I think I know where you are going with this chica."

The spider-themed heroine murmured something too quiet for January to pick up. But she followed the other woman's motion when she turned her head skyward. She saw her aircraft zoom silently overhead, and begin to move down toward them.

"And what shall I be doing during all of this?" Calypso asked. "I possess a store of water within my staff which I may use, but I cannot create oceans of it from nothing."

"Just be ready with another one of those tidal waves once we get it close enough to the sea," January reached into one of her belt pouches and withdrew a grenade. She took a moment to double check that she had the right one. This would be a bad time to accidentally pick one of the adhesive ones after all. Then she leaped toward the salamander.

"And keep it from breathing fire on Charlotte," Viuda added behind her. "She can convert some of the heat into electricity, but not that much."

January charged at the salamander a moment later. It did not hesitate as she approached, and leaped to meet her. Again, it bit at her face. January did not even try to dodge it. Instead she allowed those fiery teeth to clamp down around her neck and shoulders, and swallow her entire head within its long jaws. The viscous tongue of the creature was comprised of magma. She could feel the heat of it burning through her helmet, and sizzling upon the bare skin of her lower face.

It felt like she had dunked her head into a grease fire. It was all she could do to keep from trying to rip the monster free. But this was her plan after all. If it was busy biting her, it could not spit its lava at the others, or at Viuda's aircraft.

She lifted the grenade to her head, and stuffed it within the elemental's open jaws. She actually snagged the pin around one of its long, obsidian fangs, and used that to pull it free. The pin that was, not the tooth. She had read that trying to do that with human teeth would rip the tooth out. The elemental's dentition was far more resilient however. The spoon of the grenade popped off a moment later, and January braced herself for what came next.

It was not an explosion. Not of fire and force at least. Instead a cloud of fire-suppressant foam erupted all about her head. The flecks of creamy white fluff brought with them cool relief, and instantly dialed down the furnace of the elemental's maw. It did not become truly cold. There was just too much unrelenting heat for that. But it did abate the inferno for long moments.

The firefoot did not like that much. Either the taste or the temperature did not sit well with it. It tried to spit January's head out, and the foam with it. But this time she was having none of it. She was not about to let the elemental go. She clutched the salamander tightly, and no matter how it squirmed, it could not escape her grasp.

Thinking of Hercules and Atlas, she wrapped her arms around the elemental's lizard-like body. Her wings snapped out, and added their feathers to the suffocating embrace. Her fingers dug deep into the basalt scales of its hide, finding purchase in the red-hot gaps between them. Her fingers burned. But still, she persisted.

The firefoot then reversed course, and clamped down even more stridently. Apparently it had decided that if it could not escape, it would destroy her. Now its teeth and fire attempted to grind January's skull - and the offending fire-suppressant - into dust. It felt like being caught within a vise, or crushed beneath a car. But January would not give in to the pressure. She was Earth after all.

Earth give me strength, keep me grounded, protect me from harm.

The mantra ran through her head, and she focused her mana into it. She was stone. She was the mountain. She was adamant. She would prevail.

Distracted as it was by the fire-suppressant in its mouth, and its own assault upon January, the salamander did not root itself into the Earth as January did. It was attacking, not defending. That gave January the ability to lift its volcanic body from the tephra below. She felt it thrash against her. But it was too focused on grinding its obsidian teeth upon her helmet to seriously attempt to break free any more. At least not until it was too late.

January could not see anything of course, except for the furnace within the elemental's maw. The foam had vanished by now, incinerated within the oven of the firefoot's jaws. But she felt Viuda's spider silks wrap around both her and the salamander. They carefully slid off of her, and even wormed their way under her limbs. Once more January wondered if the Caribbean heroine could somehow feel through the cables, for they moved with the sensitivity of living fingers.

Then the spider silk clamped down tightly, and the elemental was yanked up hard into the air. That of course pulled January along with it, as she was still in its mouth. She felt something hit the salamander hard in the side of the head, down at the base of its jaws. Its mouth reflexively gaped open, and she felt blessedly cool water gush across her face.

January fell free. But before she could plop onto the volcanic sand below, strong hands caught her up. She opened her eyes to find herself being cradled in Calypso arms. The aquanaut's water staff hung in the air beside her, its butt stained with magma and basaltic dust. That answered the question of what had opened the creature's jaws.

January looked up to see the elemental rising quickly into the air overhead. Four of Viuda's spider-silk cables now entwined its frame. All of them led back up to Charlotte overhead. Somehow she must have detached them from her armor and connected them to the craft, unless it had more spider-tendrils of its own.

In any case, the spidercraft ceased its vertical motion, and shot toward the sea. Viuda hung from beneath the vessel, eyes ever upon the fire elemental captured in the cords.

"Charlotte's got her in her webs now!" the Puerto Rican heroine joyfully proclaimed.

January wanted to plant a palm into her face. Charlotte's Web. How had she not seen that? And she called herself a writer...

Some great teamwork once the exuberant water woman settled in to working with Viuda and Stormcrow.

"Okay, so we have to move her, but we can't let her get set either, because she'll stick to the ground," Viuda thought out loud.’
- - Like Stormcrow and Calypso, I too picked up on this instantly. Can Viuda sense the critter’s gender? Does the critter even have a gender?

I was actually a half step ahead of Stormcrow by also instantly picking up the Charlotte/Spider prosaic connection. Of course, I didn't have the distraction of a four-legged volcano trying to eat me either.

Stormcrow really doubled down on her Rocky Balboa tactics here – sticking her head in the fiery maw of the beast! That grenade turned out to be a great idea, as did a geyser from Calypso’s staff.

I’m nervous that something can go wrong but hopeful that Charlotte will be able to successfully discharge her cargo into the sea.

Love your new profile pic!

Yes, Jan is quite the nerd. I still am requesting an episode around the gaming table, with all her friends gaming out.

Nice job, Calypso. Yeah baby, steam that salamander. Wait no! The thing's biting Stormcrow again. Why is she letting it bite her? OH man, she put a grenade in its mouth. Shesus. But she is Earth. Yes, that's what I was thinking a couple episodes ago.

This episode's kinda fun. Even though they're battling a really dangerous monster, they're all sort of relaxed about it in a way. Their banter is sort of casual. Like cops on the job, perhaps.

Ha ha Charlotte's Web. I get it. But now what are they gonna do with Flamey Flame?

Seems as if they've wrapped things up.

A good conclusion to the battle! Viuda, Calypso, and January work well together. In particular, January seems quite versatile. She can adapt to situations on the fly, which is essential for a superhero. And as always, she's not afraid to go all the way. Sticking her head into the elemental's craw was a pretty bold move, but it's what needed to be done and she did it.

Acadian: Just like January, Calpyso had to learn the hard way that the salamander was not going to down with one punch. But once she settles in for the long haul, Calypso is a boon companion, as reliable as the tides.

I don't think the salamander has a gender. It is just human nature to anthropomorphize things, especially living ones. And once Viuda named the salamander Maggie, well it was a forgone conclusion that it was a she.

As usual, I spent a lot of time brainstorming for a name for Viuda's spidercraft. Charlotte just came out of nowhere, when I suddenly remembered Charlotte's Web. I read that as a child, and it was heartbreaking. It still remember it. It was one of those painful but important movements in life, when I really understood that death was real.

Jan is a little bit smarter than Rocky Balboa. A little. Hence her stacking the deck with that grenade. But she still has the same heart and gumption.


Renee: Thanks, it was time for a new profile pic, and now I have a bunch of new pics of January that I could comb through.

We will some gaming in the next book. I am not going into details, because I think that would be boring for most people. But gaming does feature prominently in a scene.

Even though January does not really know how to do the superhero banter, she manages pretty well naturally. It is just a group of confident people dealing with a problem. Maybe too confident. Or simply used to having to portray such an exterior to the outside world so as not to cause panic in others. As a super, you always have to think about the message you are sending. Not just in what you say precisely, but how you say it, how you act, etc... Panic is contagious, but so is hope. Jan and company are all about inspiring courage in others.


WellTemperedClavier: Ouch! That pun has me tied in knots...

Jan is definitely versatile, and always ready to adapt to any new situation in order to overcome it. That and her sheer guts are what really make her successful. Not to mention a little help from her friends.







Lava meets the sea


The Fyre Festival


Book 9.15 - Ashes

She made to follow, but Calypso held her tightly.

"Patience, a hurricane is not formed in a day." The other heroine cautioned. "Besides, you do not look so well. How do you feel?"

"Like barbecue," January admitted. She could hear hissing all about her. Then she realized that it was the metal of her helmet, which glowed white hot.

"Video camo is on," Cray said over Sága's speakerphone, which was still turned on. "You can take that off if you want to."

January lifted her hands to the headgear. She could not feel anything through her fingers. She was not sure if that was good or bad. Calypso moved to help her. Then she jerked her hands away violently, like someone touching a hot stove. January wanted to laugh at the thought. It was exactly like that after all. But at the same time she felt guilty. The aquanaut was clearly vulnerable to fire, just as she herself was to poison. The other woman's attempt to help had cost her dearly.

Finally January pulled her helmet from her head. Numerous holes gaped in its surface, where the salamander's teeth had torn through the titanium. One of the decorative wings had been snapped in half, and the other was flattened against the side of the helmet's dome. But even as she stared at the ruin of her headgear, she could see that the holes were shrinking, as the metal steadily grew back together. Even the battered wings were slowly but surely straightening and returning to their original shapes.

She ran one hand through her hair, which was now soaked in sweat and matted down against her scalp. But it was not her golden tresses that really interested her. It was her skull. She gingerly felt her way along its length, afraid her fingers were about to poke though rent bone and stick into the squishy parts underneath. She breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered no such holes or cracks in her cranium. As she had known for some time now, her body was much, much stronger than mere titanium.

Her old helmet had snaps that could connect its nape to the hem of her tunic. Mr. Blackwood's new and improved version did not have anything so crude. Instead the helmet bonded itself to her suit. Yet at the same time it moved freely in every direction. The material somehow stretched and contracted as it needed to. She knew that it could even completely detach if she desired. Back at Blackwood's she had put it on separately from the rest of the suit after all. Where was Ryo to read the owner's manual for her to see how to do that?

For now she simply let it hang upside down off the back of her neck, like a pot of cracked and sizzling metal. The air felt good on her face. Even better was the cool wash of water that poured down when Calypso held the whirlpool headpiece of her staff over her head once more. She breathed an audible sigh of relief at the water's kiss. She felt like she had been in an oven all day.

"You look bad," Calypso observed with a serious face. At least January imagined that is what her expression meant. It was hard to tell, given the ichthyian nature of her Deep One form.

"You know just what a woman wants to hear," January heard herself quip.

"I see you have Viuda's sense of humor." Calypso shook her head. She lifted her eyes to the sky, and the news helicopter hovering in the distance. "They are probably too far to get a good picture of you, but it is good you have the video countermeasures anyhow. This life can be... tricky."

"No kidding," January breathed. She had buried her brother just the week before, after finding out that he had been her arch nemesis. Well, one of them at least. Then her super girlfriend had left her.

That sent an icy dagger through her heart. Hannah. She had somehow forgotten her. Ever since she had seen the salamander on the news, Hannah had not even been a blip on her radar. That was all it took to forget about her: a rampaging magical super beast. She remembered the other woman's smell, that lavender and hyssop body wash that she used. She remembered those soft brown eyes that she could drown in. The soft roses of her lips...

Now gone forever.

What in Niflheim had happened?

January shook her head. She was not going to do that right now. She had to fight. She reached back and grabbed her helmet. It had cooled off now, thanks to the shower provided by Calypso's staff Bagua. She settled her helm down over her features, and set her eyes upon the Charlotte and her owner, who now flew down the beach.

The elemental was getting frisky. It jerked violently in the restraints, and threatened to drag the spidercraft down with it. Viuda dropped down onto its back, and clutched one of her spider-silk cables to steady herself. She snapped down yet another cable from her free hand, and struck the elemental in the head.

"How quick can you move on land?" January asked Calypso.

"Without a wave to ride, not very," the aquanaut answered. "Why did you-"

January scooped her up in her arms and leaped into the sky before the other woman could finish. Her wings snapped out, and caught the air by instinct. As always, her heart soared when she was in the sky. Maybe her brother was dead, her mother grieving, and her first love (was it really the "L" word?) was in the rear view mirror. But all that fell away once she was in the air. All of those were earth problems. Up here, she was free.

Her giant crow's wings ate the distance in no time at all. It was a good thing too, for the salamander had managed to twist around enough to turn its head toward the Charlotte's hull. January did not need astral senses to feel the flow the creature's magic to know what was coming next. That much was obvious by now.

Apparently Calypso knew well enough by now as well. She held out her staff, and magic called from it. The ocean answered with a great wave. Like the upsurge of water she had rode in upon, this was too tall, too narrow, and too quick to be normal. It was a hammer of water lifted from the surface of the sea, and it crashed upon the salamander even as the light of its inner fire began to work its way up through its throat.

The gout of magma was drowned before the elemental could spit it forth. But as before, the water itself was also vaporized in moments. It transformed into a nearly impenetrable cloud of gray steam that wreathed the salamander and Viuda alike. But the Charlotte kept her course, and winged them out from the miasma a moment later.

January noted that the elemental was quieter now. It struggled less in the spider silk bonds, and twisted back down, head away from the Charlotte. Apparently three doses of water had indeed taken some of the fire from its belly, in the most literal sense.

Then they were over the ocean, and the spider lines all snapped free at once. The elemental plummeted like a stone. At the same time the spidercraft shot up with the sudden loss of weight. Her owner held tight to one of the spider-silk cables, and waved gleefully to the falling elemental below.

"Adiós Maggie!" she crowed.

The salamander crashed into the water with a great splash of impact. Then the waters rose up and engulfed it in an even greater eruption of steam. It looked like the ocean had caught fire, and smoke gushed forth from the blaze. The water roiled around it in a miniature storm. Gallons of the liquid vaporized every second, but far more rushed in to replace it.

At Gull Island the surrounding lake had simply been too much for even a creature of living fire to stand against. Here it was the same, if not even quicker in fact. For this time it was an entire ocean smothering the elemental being. The salamander was an inferno, but even that could not continue to burn underneath the entire Atlantic Ocean.

The Charlotte turned in a lazy circle around the site of impact. January banked slightly to intercept its course, and feathered back with her wings to slow her forward motion. She came up to the small forest of cables that now hung like spaghetti from the aircraft's underside. She grabbed hold of one with a free hand, and waited for Calypso to do likewise. Only then did she allow her wings to rest, and fold up against her back. That left the three of them hanging suspended in the air beneath the futuristic spidercraft.

"It sure is nice to just hang out with friends..." Viuda breathed. She twisted upside down, and clamped the soles of her feet down upon the thread from which she hung. So attached, she let go with her hands, and suspended herself upside down like the spiders that she clearly took inspiration from.

January shook her head. She heard Calypso groan beside her. Now that was a dad joke. She turned her eyes down to the sea below. She could just barely make out the light of the elemental under the torrent now. It had first glowed white hot, then faded to red, and orange, and now was a dim yellow. Soon it went out entirely, and the waves began to settle back to normal.

"I sense it is not yet dead," Calypso intoned in her mellifluous voice.

"Nay, it is but defeated," January observed. "We need to move quickly. We can place it in a state of torpor and send it back home before it recovers."

"Send it back home?" Now Viuda's voice turned from amused to incredulous. "You do know that it was about to burn down what is left of this island, don't you?"

"Stormcrow is correct," Calypso nodded along with January. "This is a being of elemental power. It is a natural expression of our living world. To kill it, is to kill part of our planet."

The Puerto Rican sighed. "So what do we do with it then? Send it to the Fyre Festival?"

"That would have been an improvement, from what I've heard," January murmured. Then she spoke more authoritatively. "We'll take it back to the fissure or vent it came from. Then we drop it in, and weave a hibernation spell about it, so it does not awaken any time soon. When it finally does, it will have sunk deep into the fiery veins of the Earth's crust, where it belongs."

Calypso turned her head inland, to the glowing path the elemental had burned through the hills. "It should not be too difficult to retrace its steps," she observed. "Let us move with purpose then. Viuda, lower us down, and I shall assist in wrapping up your friend Maggie. Stormcrow, I suggest you go up inside, and take a moment to regain your strength."

Yikes, her helmet's all bashed up. She's lucky to be still with them. It was a good idea to turn to Earth as the elemental bit over her.

ichthyian -- today's new word for Renee. Sounds derived from Latin somehow.

She buried her brother a week before??? So much has happened. I can't remember how long ago the Jobbie Nooner occurred. I'm assuming it was two weeks ago, maybe three. What a busy life. So this must mean Jobbie Nooner, then the rescue of that giant cat, then she met up with those folks in the special bar, who sent her off to the islands where she is now. Phew.



She's super-busy, that's why. Being really busy can be a great cure to get over somebody, in fact. Well I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of her. Or her ghost father.

Whoa, there it goes, falling into the sea.

I'd like to hang out with the spiderwoman. Who wouldn't want to get caught up with her?

------------------------------

Nah, it won't be boring to any of us if there's a gaming-table scene. Because it's all about their personalities. Jan and her friends are a pretty distinct group, all with their own sets of humor (or not) from what I recall. Maybe some action junkie might find this dull, but not any of us!

Today's video... WHOA, those boats are just sitting right there as that huge flow of lava pours right near them! What the heck? I hope they abandoned ship!

Ah, you know about Fyre Festival too. That's another pit I fell into a few months ago, the whole story of Billy McFarland, his silly Magnisis club with its fake credit cards, and finally the Fyre Festival itself. As much as the actual festival sucked, it was rather neat that people nowadays are able to document how much it sucked, as they showed up to the grounds and found FEMA tents waiting. They recorded it all. And what they recorded comprised much of the content we see in those Netflix and Hulu specials.

This reminds me of a place in the zone known as Stonefalls in Elder Scrolls Online. To the east of the city of Ebonheart (not the same Ebonheart as in TESIII: Morrowind), there is a giant lava flow that goes into the Inner Sea, which is the body of water between Vvardenfell and the southern part of mainland Morrowind.

The salamander sounds similar to the ones in ESO too.

"As she had known for some time now, her body was much, much stronger than mere titanium." Looks like January has one-upped Sia.

Sick wave, bro.

Sounds like Blue Oyster Cult should be playing in the background. I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for youuuuuuuu.

We had talked about Calypso being nereid-like. Here’s one from ESO.

*

With Charlotte ferrying the trussed up Maggie toward the ocean, it was a great time for Stormcrow and Calypso to pause and assess the situation – and each other. Calypso has a kind heart but doesn’t play well with fire. Awesome how Stormcrow’s self-regenerating Blackwood helm is already healing itself. The cooling shower from Calypso’s staff must have felt wonderful indeed. Looks like Stormcrow’s still got all her important bits - whew! Glad she shook herself free from thoughts of Hannah. Oh well, let’s see how Charlotte’s external load is doing.

I chuckled when Stormcrow grabbed up her new Waterwoman pal and leaped into the air. The wings on her back are perfect to keep her arms free for exactly things like this. And Calypso quickly earns here fare by calling up a water hammer to douse Maggie’s pending belch of lava.

"Adiós Maggie!" she crowed.’
- - That’s gonna make for quite the show of steam, hissing and clouds I imagine! And your description of the firebeast’s impact did not disappoint.

Hanging out with friends under Charlotte! Viuda has a neat sense of humor which we soon see again with her Fyre Festival comment.

Helping Blood Raven defeat and return the firewing to the earth really pays off here as Stormcrow quickly formulates a plan, sells it to her allies and has the hibernation spell mojo to pull it off. Blood Raven would be proud. And Calypso is wise to urge Stormcrow to rest, center herself and recover her magic prior to the task.

I'm not surprised that January's still struggling under the weight of recent events. Yet sometimes throwing oneself into the task at hand is the best way to deal with it, which is what she's doing here.

It's very fitting that January's more interested in containing/returning the creature than killing it. Being kin, in a way, to the elemental world, she understands that big monsters still play a valuable role. Since the immediate danger seems to be over, and the elemental's not malicious, there's no reason to be cruel.

Renee: Ichthyian is word I often avoid, because it is always a nightmare to spell! Technically it is not even a word. It isn't in the dictionaries I use. They want you to use Ichthyoid instead. But like the "ian" suffix better.

January's timeline is very tight. Some of these stories are just days apart. The dates are there, so you can refer back to them. Since I have a timeline written out to help me keep track of it all, here it is so far:

2019

March 24 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (a goblin) during the Nain Rouge Parade. It is not anchored, and easily banished
May 4 and 5 (Saturday and Sunday) = Stormcrow Rising
May 5 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (flying head) during Cinco De Mayo, using elemental symbols to anchor it, making it immune from banishment
May 14 and 15 (Tuesday and Wednesday) = Stormcrow Recycled
May 24 = January's Mom files for divorce
May 25 and 26 (Saturday and Sunday) = Stormcrow Burning
May 25 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (buggane) during Technofest, anchoring it with an animal sacrifice
May 25 = The Flying Dutchman fire.
May 26 = Blood Raven reveals her identity as 'Aunt Branwen' to January
May 27 - June 1 (Monday -Saturday) = Stormcrow Pride [Ferndale Pride on Saturday]
June 1 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (djieien) during Ferndale Pride, anchoring it with a human sacrifice
June 1 - 9 = Crystal Death [Motor City Pride]
June 1 = Chad overdoes on Crystal Death at Leland City Club.
June 3 = first Crow Tales, featuring Frankenstein
June 8 = second Crow Tales, featuring This Spell For Hire. January stops the Death Dealer. Blood Raven humiliates Nazis at Motor City Pride
June 9 = Nazis on Crystal Death attack Motor City Pride
June 10 - 14 = Eloise
June 11 = January records interview with WNN.
June 13 = January quits working at the dojo, starts working on Artemis Argent with Rus
June 14 = January's interview is aired in its entirety, as well as in print and on WNN's website. It generates massive waves of both support and backlash against her. The same night she faces off against Gola at Eloise.
June 16 - 24 = Hammer Down
June 16 = January does first aborted taping of Crow Tales Podcast
June 17 = January does second attempt at Crow Tales Podcast
June 17 = Lighthammer ambushed at Cedar Point
June 18 = January's mom moves out.
June 20 = January meets Michigan AG.
June 21 = January meets with Ohio state AG, DEA, and Lighthammer to make a deal.
June 22 = Fourth Crow Tales, featuring Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys.
June 22-23 = January and Blood Raven patrol downtown, while the Detroit River Days festival takes place. Nothing happens.
June 24 = January does her first book signing at the library.
June 25 = (afternoon) January joins Lighthammer in a joint police raid on a ship in the Cleveland port.
June 25 - July 5 = Blood Ties
June 25 = (evening) Ryo gets his armor and sword at the Witch House
June 26 = January encounters Hannah and her father at Lakeside Mall
June 28 = The Summoner ambushes January and Blood Raven at Gull Island during Jobbie Nooner, summoning another Abyssal (oniare).
June 29 = fifth Crow Tales, featuring Nemesis, by April Daniels
July 3 = Funeral of the Summoner.
July 5 = Entire team trains on Green Island. Hannah melts down.
July 6-7 = Ashes


You are right, we have not seen the last of Hannah, or of her dad Hungry Ghost. They both have a role to play in (near) future events.

If you listen closely, the narrator in that video does mention that people are looking to win an Darwin Award by standing too close to the lava.

I remember hearing about the Fyre Festival when it happened. It always gave me some schadenfreude, given that the rich and pampered were suddenly being force to rough it like the rest of us have to do our entire lives. Not that I am condoning the grifters that put the whole thing on. But if a con artist is going to fleece someone, I prefer it to be a bunch of snobs.


RaderOfTheLostArk: I built the salamander around a picture I found of one (the mythical salamander that is). It was originally going to just be a fire elemental. But after looking at that picture, I realized I wanted it to be a Lava Elemental: essentially a hybrid of an Fire and Earth Elemental. That made it a much more dangerous foe.

I was actually watching a oceans documentary just last night where they had a surfer, and as I watched him on the waves, I realized that Calypso would not be a surfer herself. It would just be too easy for her!


Acadian: That is neat to hear that ESO has nerieds. I have always like them and nymphs.

I was glad to be able to show the reason for January's Blackwood upgrade in the same book she got it. Self-Repairing armor is definitely a plus in her line of work.

This was a fun book to write, as the synergy between January, Viuda, and Calypso really worked out better than I could have hoped for. They all really came together perfectly for this.

Viuda's dad jokes were one of those things I had not planned for ahead of time. They just came out as I was writing her.

This whole central antagonist in this book was built around showcasing what January had learned from Blood Raven in the last book. Just as it was about cleaning up an unintended mess left behind by the Summoner, it was also about January learning and growing as a magician. She's leveled up in her Sorcerer class.


WellTemperedClavier: Getting over a broken relationship is no fun. It can really feel overwhelming, and just blot out everything else in the world. Finding a way to not think about it is a blessing, whatever way possible.

I try to avoid being preachy in my writing, but Climate Change is as much a thing in January's world as it is in ours. January's feelings about the elemental are directly tied to that. The last thing she wants to do is harm the world even more than it already is, and killing an elemental would do just that. OTOH, she will also have some insights concerning that coming up, which will influence environmental issues in the future.

I am glad to see another vote for Viuda's sense of humor. She is a cheerful companion to have. She'd be fun to hang out with.









My inspiration for Viuda

Pantoscopic oval glasses



Book 9.16 - Ashes

January did not argue. She and Viuda ascended to the Charlotte's rear hatch. January did so by flying up and around. Viuda simply walked along the bottom of the craft's hull, as if she were out for a Sunday stroll. Then she took hold of the lip of ramp that had folded down from the stern of the craft. She swung herself out into space a moment later, and gracefully vaulted up and over its edge and onto the floor of the open ramp.

January could see that the entrance was wide enough to allow vehicles to drive directly in or out, albeit small ones. Most of the fuselage within was an open storage bay, like she imagined the interior of a cargo plane might look. The bare metal floor was studded with fittings that straps or cables might be hooked into to tie down freight. The walls and ceiling were left unfinished, revealing the bare metal frames and stringers that ran the length and height of the vessel.

Tucked between the longitudinal beams were several folding nautical bunks and jump seats. So too were other living amenities, such as a microwave, water cooler, refrigerator, even a small stove and oven. There was even a tiny bathroom and shower stall. Emergency gear such as life vests and parachutes were also neatly packed along the walls. Spaced among the gear and utilities were several small bubble canopies, that allowed one a view out the sides of the craft.

Beyond this lay the cockpit. It formed a small segment like a head that lay forward of the larger, abdominal section of the craft. It was elevated slightly from the cargo area, and had four seats. Two sat right up front and center, side by side. Each sat within one of the large, eye-like canopies in front of the ship. That would afford their occupants a full view in all directions but the rear. Two more seats were set a row back, and to either side. Control consoles rose up from the central space between the seats, and protruded from the walls and ceiling. Each was dotted with enough buttons, dials, knobs, and lights to make Gadget green with envy.

Viuda led January to one wall and folded a jump seat down from it. Once January sat down, she offered her a bottle of water. Then she climbed forward into the pilot's chair. The ship purred to life around her as if responding to her touch. A green heads up display glowed to life across the two main canopies, providing all manner of directional and environmental data.

January let the other women do her work, and took a moment to relax. Once again, she pulled the helmet from her head, and took a moment to enjoy the feeling of air upon her bare skin. Then she raised the bottle to her lips, and took a long, deep gulp, then another, and another. Before she knew it, half the bottle had disappeared. Yet she still felt thirsty, and she could not shake a growing sense of lethargy in her limbs. She was tired. Just plain tired, and wanted to lie down and sleep.

But she had promises to keep, and thousands of miles to go before she could sleep in her bed. She forced herself up to her feet, and paused at a small mirror tucked between two structural braces. She barely recognized the face that stared back at her. Her skin, which was typically so pale, was now red and cracked with what looked like a bad case of sunburn. No wonder Calypso had looked worried. She not only felt like a boiled lobster, she looked like one as well.

Her heart sank for a moment, and she wondered if her healing trance would be able to mend the injuries. Would she have these burns forever? Hannah had been the only woman in the world to ever find her attractive. Now even she would have recoiled in horror. Granted she had eventually done that anyway. No one was ever going to love her.

January tried to put that out of her mind. She had things to do, and worrying about her looks was not only vain, but pointless. She already had scars. She refused to be ashamed of them anymore. Each one was a story, something that made her who and what she was today. A few more scars, a few more stories, they were one in the same.

She climbed up into the cockpit and plopped down into the empty co-pilot's seat. She found that there were two foot rests for her to plant her feet against, with pedals built into them. She tried to avoid pushing them, or otherwise accidentally setting off any of the numerous controls around her. The last thing she wanted to do was crash the plane.

Viuda turned her head. The front face of her helmet turned transparent and revealed her features underneath. January was surprised to see how young she was. She was perhaps only in her mid-twenties, just a few years older than she was. She had imagined her to be at least as old as Lighthammer.

Her bronze skin was soft, and her long dark hair was straight as a ruler, and tied back from her head in a braid. She wore a pair of large, pantoscopic oval glasses, with transparent, burgundy-colored frames. Her lipstick was bright red, which lent her features a real pop of color. January idly wondered what shade it was, because it looked a lot like one of her own favorites.

"Feeling better?" Viuda grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "You look a lot better."

"Really?" January wondered. She did not feel much better.

"No, you look terrible," Viuda turned her head back to the surface of the ocean, which January saw was now just a few feet below her feet. Thanks to the bubble canopy, she really could look straight down between her feet and see where Calypso swam under the waves. The aquanaut wove a web of cables around the quiescent elemental. Then she finally looked back up and gave a thumbs up.

"You really need to learn to stop jumping in the way of danger," Viuda said. "You aren't indestructible you know. You're as mortal as the rest of us chica."

"If I don't, people die," January said. She took another long gulp of water. As refreshing as it was, it still did nothing to ease her thirst. "Don't tell me you are really any different?"

"You know, I've got some first aid back there." Viuda answered by not answering. "There's some burn cream. I can help you with it once we take care of Maggie here."

"Thanks," January said gratefully. "You know Blood Raven told me I should get out and meet people in the community. This wasn't how I imagined that going."

"Blood Raven told you that? Now I've heard everything." Viuda flipped a few buttons, and pulled back gently upon her control stick. The spidercraft responded by rising up into the air. In a moment it pulled the fire elemental free of the waves. It looked much less menacing now. With its flames apparently banked, it looked more like a wet cat than anything else.

"She's not who you think she is," January answered. She kept finding herself saying that to people, thanks to her mentor's often menacing and simply overwhelming presence. As ever, she made a note to herself to do things differently. "I'm probably not who you think I am either. None of us are, really. We are all multitudes."

"You sound just like her," Calypso's voice came from the back of the fuselage. She saw the aquatic heroine step off a pillar of water and onto the cargo ramp. She strode forward, and without even looking hit a button to shut the hatch behind her. "How is that old Raven? Still lurking from gothic steeples?"

"Well, we don't have too many of those in the D, but she makes the most of them." January smiled. "But you know Blood Raven too?"

"She is the one who bid me to come hither." The water-based heroine walked up through the cargo bay toward the cockpit. "Years ago, she helped a girl in Nassau learn to use her magical powers. She has been a good friend to me ever since."

"So are you a wizard too then Stormcrow?" Viuda's voice floated across the cockpit. "It always comes down to pirates, robots, wizards, or ninjas."

"She is a wizard, just as I." Calypso answered before January could speak. "In spite of the technological terrors she has constructed, Viuda is a pirate. She makes bold choices, is full of brash exuberance, and enjoys swinging on ropes."

"Hey, there is a precedent for that sort of thing in the Caribbean!" Viuda stuck her tongue out at her aquatic friend.

"Did you not have a girlfriend?" Calypso's turned back to January. "You two seemed quite inseparable on the recent videos. Will she be joining us? Her teleportation would have been most appreciated a few minutes ago."

"No, it turns out I didn't have one."

January looked away, and instead studied the ground as the spidercraft rapidly accelerated inland. The old, half-buried city of Plymouth stretched out beneath her feet. It was not damaged in the normal sense. Not like bombs had went off or anything. Instead it had just been buried, with only a few walls and rooftops rising from the plain of ash. It was strange how empty and quiet it all was, as empty and quiet as her love life.

"I am genuinely sorry to learn of this." Rather than taking one of the back seats, Calypso stood and held onto one of the bare structural beams overhead. She looked like she knew her way around the interior of the ship. Given their close proximity, and the easy nature between the two of them, she imagined that she and Viuda must work together quite a bit, just as January did with her team now. "Love is like the tides. She rises, and she falls."

"That's ok, we still have Toby here," Viuda's voice dropped into baby talk. January looked over to see a tarantula crawl along one of the heroine's shoulders. Now the entire helmet slid down from around the heroine's head. That allowed the dark brown arachnid to set the short, shiny hairs of its forelegs upon the woman's bare neck.

"He'll always be my little spider man, won't you Toby?"

January had to fight the urge to jump out of her skin.

She was back in Ferndale, wrapped up in spider silk. The djieien loomed over her, ready to suck the life from her flesh. January reached up to the sky, and stirred the power waiting there. The djieien loomed closer, its fangs bigger than swords. She stretched out for the lightning that could save her...

"Hey, are you ok?" Calypso's hand on her shoulder brought January back around. Thunder rolled ominously in the distance, and rain pattered the glass of the twin canopies. She glanced outside, and saw that the sky had gone black with clouds. It was as if an onyx blanket had been pulled across the firmament.

What had that been? Spiders usually did not give her the heebie jeebies. Not like they did some people. But her heart was racing, and suddenly she felt thirsty. She took another long drink of water to avoid having to answer, and finally forced herself to nod.

"Oh no, don't tell me you're an arachnophobe?" A look of genuine distress crossed Viuda's features. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask. Events just kind of ran away there. Toby is my copilot. He's the bestest buddy in the whole world, aren't you Toby. But sometimes I forget that other people don't like spiders as much as I do. I can put him away in his terrarium if it will make you feel better."

"No," January insisted. "I'm not... I mean, I'm fine. He's fine. It just... reminded me of something is all."

Perhaps a good perspective Jan has on her scars. I’ll bet, between her and Blood Raven, she’ll be able to recover her slightly roasted complexion though.

A nice in-flight opportunity for the three amigas to get to know each other a bit better.

Pirates, robots, wizards or ninjas. Now that is an interesting take on supers, and I can pretty much see where each of the ones you have introduced us to fit.

I chuckled at Jan’s discomfort over meeting Toby. She does have a bit of baggage that the arachnid conjures. And I think I recall that you are no fan of the eight leggers. . . .

Ha! I've done that a few times--"made up" a word, that is. My computer's screaming at me NO, that word is NOT spelled correctly, by putting red ink underneath it. But hey, if "Youtuber" and "influencer" can become words ...

Wow wow WOW wow thanks for the timeline! It doesn't go all the way back to the first chapter when she's in school, doing yoga in public. I love it! I'm going to copy-paste the timeline to my Documents folder!

When do you reckon the story starts from day one? Edit: I just visited the OP, and it looks like May of 2019 is Stormcrow Rising.



True. Also, the whole fact that they told Billy not to use Pablo Escobar's name for the original island (but Billy did it anyway) Is kind of funny. The dude is so arrogant! -- Otoh, I mostly feel bad for the workers, the poor folks who live on and around that island who built all that from scratch, and barely got paid.

"Lava Elemental". I can totally see that listed in the DnD manuals.

Charlotte sounds neat. It's even got a microwave. It's even got 'eyes'. How many wings does it have? That'd be wicked if the answer is 8.

Yes Jan is tired! She's been going going going, and this last battle was particularly tough, since she handled most of it by herself. It is rather ironic that she's flying in a plane today. Must be strange, being able to fly, and then getting into a vehicle which does all the flying for her.

The lava elemental looks like a wet cat!

Whoa, so they've already seen all these videos of Jan and Hannah!! What'd they do, put some vids up on MeTube?

Yes, Viuda's got a pet spider in her spidercraft. I bet she has a bunch of them wherever she lives. Just ... no centipedes, okay girl?



Somebody will.

Nice to see January channeling some Robert Frost there!

The general impression I've had of Book 9 is that it's a bit of an emotional (not necessarily physical) respite for January, while also showing that she's by no means over what happened. As she's still in an insecure place, the burns from the salamander immediately remind her of concerns regarding desirability. It's hard to never have something you wanted, and in some ways harder to get it and then lose it.

Her reaction to the spider is also an example. All these things do add up. Is there meta-focused therapy in this setting? Or maybe metas who focus on offering therapy (since a non-meta might have difficulty understanding some of the stresses)? On the other hand, a meta therapist would be a major target due to having privileged info so...

Yeah, this is tricky.

Still, she has another win under her belt and seems to have made a few friends along the way.

Acadian: Thanks to the confidence that she has been gaining from superdom, Jan has been getting over the scars on her wrists, not allowing herself to feel ashamed of them anymore. That confidence is translating over to other scars as well. She is getting more used to seeing them as simply rites of passage, rather than beauty marred.

Your 3 Amigas comment made me think of a trio of old Commodore computers.

Pirates, Robots, and Ninjas is apparently an old improv comic shorthand for different types of comics. But I am used to seeing it mostly on RPG forums with people taking it more literally as who would win in a fight: Pirates, robots, or ninjas. In any case, I could not resist interjecting it into the story, just with wizards added for obvious reasons.


Renee: The timeline goes back to before the beginning of the story. Every book/chapter is listed there by title.

Charlotte has 8 engine nacelles, 4 per side. She is a spidercraft after all...

It is quite a change for her to be flying inside a vehicle for a change. Come to think of it, I am not sure if she has ever ridden on an actual airplane.

There have been videos of Stormcrow in action being posted on MeTube, Instantgram, etc... since her very first fight. People are always holding up their phones to record everything.


WellTemperedClavier: I have always been a fan of Robert Frost, so I cannot resist throwing Frostisms in from time to time.

Book 9 is very much a matter of cleaning up after the mess left behind by the previous one. In the literal sense the mess of a leftover elemental being awakened by accident by the Summoner. In the emotional sense that of January dealing with the mental whiplash of becoming suddenly single again. It is one of the reasons I titled it Ashes. It is about being left behind in the ashes. That and of course... fire elemental.

Her reaction to Toby was very much a case of PTSD just rearing the tip of its ugly head. January has been the recipient of a great deal of trauma in a very short time. Not to mention other emotional extremes. It is going to have an effect. I am not sure how far I am going to take it. But I wanted to show that she is human, and is affected by the things in her life. It is not all just fun and games for her. That is also why I try to at least make subtle notes of the fear she feels every battle. The tightness in her chest, the dryness in her throat, etc...

There actually was a storyline in the DC comics based on a therapist for supers. I never read it, but as I understand it, it ended with someone being murdered.







Lava Vent (RL Kilauea)


Book 9.17 - Ashes

January looked out the window, away from the spider. She concentrated on her breathing, and her heartbeat. She moved the energy through her body, just as Blood Raven's books as Branwen Renner had taught her to. As she calmed down and relaxed, so too did the weather. By the time they arrived over the Soufrière Hills, the sky was a clear blue expanse once again.

Among the multiple domes of the volcano lay a fresh fumarole. It was an orange-red wound suppurating within the slope of the mountain. Magma bubbled there, giving off a steady stream of gas and smoke. A trail of lava led away from this rent in the Earth's crust. It meandered both down and up the hills to the north and west, and only ended where the salamander was finally defeated.

"So how do we perform this magic?" Calypso asked. "I have never done such a thing before."

"Well my first time was just last week. But I think the two of us can manage, just follow my lead once we get down there, and add your power to mine." January turned from one Caribbean heroine to the next. "Set Maggie down beside the fumarole. Calypso and I'll take care of the rest."

"Sí señorita," Viuda nodded. January climbed to her feet as the spidercraft lowered itself to the earth below. She followed Calypso back through the cargo bay, and waited while she opened the rear hatch. By the time the ramp settled into its down position, they were just above the ground. Calypso hopped out cautiously, as a normal person might when dropping several feet through the air. January leaped without a second thought. The impact on her ankles and knees from this height was not even worth noticing.

The salamander was bundled up beside them. As they watched, the cables that wrapped it up in a fine net slithered away, and snaked up into the hull of the spidercraft over head. January noted that the eight engine nacelles that straddled the Charlotte's hull changed their angle and glowed somewhat brighter. The spidercraft eased sideways an instant later, following the new direction of the engines. So clearly they provided not only propulsion, but directional control as well.

She was going to have to tell Gadget all about this. He was going to love it.

It was hot, this close to the bubbling lava. So much so that January found she could not sweat. The moisture just instantly evaporated from her skin. It was like standing inside an oven. Worse, the fumes in the air bit at her lungs, and the next thing she knew, she was coughing. She raised Sága and tapped its screen. An instant later her self contained breathing unit snapped down around her lower face. After taking a few deep breaths, she felt her lungs return to normal once more.

"Chica, you might want this!"

January and Calypso turned to see Viuda standing on the cargo ramp. Her helmet once again encased her features. She held a respirator in one hand, and tossed it to Calypso. The Caribbean heroine plucked it from the air. But she did not put it on right away.

Instead she paused a moment, and seemed to concentrate. January felt mana flow through her body, and wrap her in a cocoon. No, it was a chrysalis. It shrouded her in bright power, momentarily obscuring her from physical view. When it faded, the other woman's Deep One form had vanished. Instead she stood before the pair as an ordinary woman.

She still wore the same coral armor. But the faceplate had lengthened to cover her eyes and upper nose. Now rather than spiny-rays, a nimbus of curly black hair crowned her head. Her skin was dark onyx, and her eyes soft brown. The hands that reached up to fix the breathing apparatus around her mouth were quite human, with nails polished gleaming purple.

"It is a bit too dry here for my sea-form." Her voice was still exactly the same when she turned back to January. "It grants me many boons. But in this case, you might say that I am out of my element."

"I can imagine," January murmured. Just as she had recently learned that poison was more effective against her than most others. She expected that a water-based meta would have vulnerabilities to elements such as heat and flame as well. The universe gave with one hand, and it took with the other.

She stepped to the edge of the fumarole. It was a literal hole poked into the side of mountain. The rim that encircled it was stained yellow with sulfur, and a gray plume of gas steadily issued from its depths. A pool of magma lay right there, just inches below the edge of the hole. Its dark red surface was split with bright yellow cracks, reminding January of mud that had dried and fractured in the sun.

"The last time I did this, we got to go down into a vent," January mused. She stared at the surface of the molten rock. For a moment she forgot about the salamander. Instead she simply reveled in the majesty of unbridled nature. "It was beautiful. Not what I expected at all."

"Could we hurry up the wizard stuff," Viuda's voice broke her from her brief reverie. "I'm double-parked here..."

January smiled at the crack, then turned to Calypso.

"If you have a centering skill, this would be the time to use it."

January closed her eyes, and knelt in the volcanic ash. She stretched out her senses into the astral. Calypso was a rainbow of energy beside her. The salamander was of course, a literal bonfire in the magical realm. Viuda was a bright, but monotone flame compared to them in the aether, and her spidercraft a barely sensed outline. She did feel Toby within the craft, a pale shadow compared to the rest of them. Other than him and the other two women, there were no signs of life in the astral nearby.

"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."

January sang in English, then in Old Norse, then back again. It was not her elemental mantra. Instead it was a song her mother had taught her when she had been little. It was a simple song about counting crows. But the memories it held for her were strong. In a moment she was there again, sitting on her mother's lap on the front step of the house. Her mother pointed out birds in the trees overhead. Some were crows, some were not. But it did not matter to January, they counted them all just the same. All of them were magical in her young eyes.

January drew her power up from deep inside of her, and allowed it to wash out through the words. She knew that her runic circle would have sprung up around her now, glowing the same words in Elder Futhark. She concentrated on those words, on translating them, on what they symbolized.

The act calmed her. It drove all other thought from her head. There were only the memories, the words, the sounds, and the meanings. The rest of the world ceased to exist. The rest of her life ceased to exist. All of her problems, all of her fears, all of her regrets, simply vanished in the flow of power.

She felt Calypso's hands rest upon her shoulders. A moment later, the Caribbean woman's energy flowed into her own like a cool river. They intertwined like two seas meeting and becoming one, the waters mixing and intermingled with one another, until there was no difference between the two.

January directed that flow, just as Blood Raven had done back at Mount St. Helens. She sent its current to wrap around the salamander. The mana enveloped the creature, and encased it in a cocoon of power. As then, she was reminded of swaddling a sleeping baby in a blanket of down. She kept that image locked in her head, of peace, and serenity, and compassion. She made sure those feelings poured out with the magic, became a part of it, and defined it. It would be the anchor that her spell was built around.

One by one, the threads of her power wound their way deep into the aura of the elemental. Each brought light, and warmth, and peace, and healing rest. The creature would not awaken for centuries, perhaps millennia. When it did, she knew that it would be reinvigorated, stronger than before, and hopefully gentler. For compassion was a much an ingredient in this magic as pure power.

Their combined magic lifted the elemental up into their air now. January's eyes were still closed, so she could not see it in the real world. But she felt it in the astral. She directed the salamander to float over the fumarole, which was a warm island in the flow of energy around them. She sent the elemental down into the magma. She felt it part under its aura, and bubble up around it. She sensed a momentary cloud of gas escape from the molten rock. Then all became still once more, as the elemental passed deeper into the earth below.

She gently disentangled the threads of her magical power, and allowed them to gradually shrink back into herself. She was in no hurry. In fact, she allowed herself to once again simply enjoy the moment, and savor being a part of the natural world. A world that was both beautiful and terrible. But one that she was undeniably an integral part of.

She felt Calypso's power wash away. She allowed her own to fade with it, and finally opened her eyes once more. She still felt thirsty, and hot, and dry. In fact, she felt more tired than ever when she finally did clamber back inside the Charlotte. Calypso took her time as well, her motions leaden and slow. Once within, and the door shut behind them to keep out the toxic fumes, the other heroine took a bottle of water and literally dumped its contents over her head.

"That was not good for my skin care routine," she said in her melodious voice.

"Your skin is lovely," January said without thinking. The moment the words had left her mouth, she regretted them. Hannah instantly sprang to her mind, and she felt guilty for finding another woman attractive. Then she felt guilty for caring. Hannah had left her after all! At least she thought so. Or had she dumped Hannah? Even now, she really did not know.

Then she thought of how else that could be taken.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound creepy." January hastily added. "I just mean you look fine, a lot better than I probably do."

Yes, that is what I was thinking... a spidercraft should have eight ... nacelles (new word for me there) since it's based on an arachnid. It's like the original Batman show. Everybody had their own custom-made gear and vehicles.

Nice to see that Jan knows how to do something (combining magic) which a fellow heroine does not. See, she's learning much. I mean, yeah, think about that a moment. Jan seems fully able to switch from one elemental type to the next: fire, earth, air, etc. But Calypso is a lot more specialized, focusing on water.

I love when she goes into other planes. The poetry's awesome, too.

Aha, I see what they're doing here.

Yikes. She really's got Hannah on her brain. 💔 Can't even compliment somebody without feeling guilty about it.

But anyway, what is Calypso's answer to her compliment? Guess we'll find out (or not), next week! Next episode!

I see Charlotte uses vectored thrust to blend propulsion and maneuver. Probably even more so than the AV-8 Harrier does.

Jan’s centering song and the memories it holds is a neat way to show how far back her fascination with crows, birds and flight goes.

Loved your beautiful description of putting Maggie to bed. The blending of Stormcrow’s magic with Calypso’s with the resultant power and calmness. Mission complete!

I had the same thoughts at the end as Renee that poor Jan is still stuck on Hannah.

"Ashes" has a negative connotation. But ashes also make the bed from which the phoenix rises, anew, and we may be seeing a bit of that here. Not only is January healing (slowly, one step back for every two steps forward) but so was the salamander. The heroes put it back into its element, safe and sound.

Of course, trauma doesn't just disappear. It's not healed, so much as our psyches heal over it, the wound still there beneath the scar tissue. But that's something, at least.

Can't help but think of this song when I hear the word "ashes."

Whenever you read SubRosa's writing, you get a story AND education! Now I can add "suppurating" and "nacelles" to my vocabulary.

If only the salamander was named after a certain boxer, January could've yelled "Down goes Frazier!" I imagine that's not what her character would say, though.

Always wanted some sort of helmet where I could tap a button or screen, and then BOOM, a helmet snaps quickly in place.

Coral armor sounds dope. Down the road in the Fallout: Florida storyline, I hope to implement Coquina Power Armor/Warsuits in some way.

Hopefully, when that salamander wakes up in the far future, it doesn't start causing trouble again. But I suppose we'll never know.

Can you blame anyone for finding an attractive woman pouring water on herself even more attractive?

Renee: When it comes to superheros, everyone has to have their own shtick. Otherwise there is no telling one from another.

My take is that there is more to magic than any one person can know. Even someone as old as Blood Raven. Because whatever you think you can do, you can. And everything you don't think you can do, you cannot. Though that is not to say that it is easy to do things. It has to be something that is natural and right for you, and you have to exercise and practice and work at it. The same as any other skill. So there are indeed things January can do that Calypso cannot. Or Blood Raven cannot, and vice versa. Everyone is unique.

She only broke up with Hannah something like a week before. So she will have Hannah on her mind for some time.


Acadian: Charlotte does indeed use vectored thrust. Each of her engines can be independently directed and controlled, giving Viuda a sort of all wheel drive in the air. It makes her not only fast, but extremely nimble in the air. We will get more specifics on how Charlotte works next week, in the final episode of this book.

I wrote down January's counting crows song a long time ago with the intent of using it sometime. I have sneaked it in at least once already. But I wanted to use it more. I first heard part of it from a Counting Crows (the band) song. That is what prompted me to go look it up, and I found it was a nursery rhyme called One For Sorrow about counting magpies.

I really wanted to convey January's feelings of empathy when I wrote that part. January is as much about compassion as she of punching nazis in the face. It is why she is a hero, and not a thug.


WellTemperedClavier: January is definitely doing better by the end of this book than she was at the start. She is going to sort of acknowledge that either in today's episode, or the next. She has been making new friends, seeing more of the world, and reaffirming who she is and why she does the things she does.


RaderOfTheLostArk: Ashes makes me think of the band Ashes of Soma...

I think I learned suppurating from HP Lovecraft. Now that is a guy you have to read with his book in one hand, and the dictionary in the other... Nacelles is something I learned from Star Trek. Those long "wings" that stick out in the back of the Enterprise are its engine nacelles.

That is not what January would say. But she does know the "Fraiser's Down!" reference. She has studied that boxing match, and a lot of other ones, on MeTube.

When I was working on a Calypso's motif, I wanted to keep it as ocean-related as possible. So at first I was looking at shells similar to Morrowind's chitin armor. Then I thought of coral, and that just clicked as being perfect.

Ok, now it was my turn to learn. I had to look up Coquina. That is a neat idea to make armor out of that, especially since it already used as a building material.







Book 9.18 - Ashes

January disengaged her breathing array, and then slid the helmet from her head once more. Once again, the air on her skin felt good. She was quick to find another bottle of water, and took a long series of gulps from it.

"You are right, you do not look very well." Calypso laid her hand against January's forehead. "You are hot, and dry. Let me guess, you are thirsty, but cannot seem to drink enough? Do you feel tired, sapped of energy as well?"

"Yeah, you could say that," January nodded. She plopped down into one of the jump seats in the cargo bay, and sighed deeply.

"I think you have heatstroke my friend," Calypso declared. "It is a common enough affliction in these climes, even to those not engaged in mortal combat with fire elementals."

"Frell, I think you're right," January closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the hull of the aircraft. "The last time I felt like this was when I went on that Boy Scout camping trip when I was ten."

"You don't look like a Boy Scout..." Viuda murmured from the cockpit. January could feel the spidercraft lift into the air, and begin to fly away.

"Obviously it didn't agree with me," January chuckled.

"It looks like we have a companion," Calypso looked out one of the side window bubbles. "That's news helicopter is following us. I suspect they would like a story."

"Don't worry, they can't keep up with Charlotte," Viuda declared.

"No, we need to stop to talk to them," January insisted, "or at least with the police, or the governor, or whoever is in charge here."

"Those parasites?" Viuda scowled from the cockpit. "You know they just use people like us for ratings. We are a product to be exploited."

"I don't care about the reporters," January waved off the spider woman's dismissal. "I care about the people they will reach. They need to know what happened here, and that it won't happen again. We can't just punch bad guys in the face and slink off into the night, leaving everyone to wonder WTF? We need to be a part of our communities."

"She is right," Calypso nodded. "Put us down by the beach. At least I can get some water there. Then Stormcrow may speak to these reporters."

"I was thinking you two should," January shook her head. "This is your town. I'm just a tourist."

"Hey, I just drive the taxi boss," Viuda called out from the cockpit. "They don't pay me to talk to the press."

"Not a big fan of the Fourth Estate, is she?" January said quietly to Calypso.

"Not since a reporter deliberately misquoted her to create click bait," the aquanaut replied. "Always be on your guard with members of the press. Ancient and wicked they are. We must be cautious in our dealings with them."

"Yeah, I get that," January nodded. "It always makes me nervous talking to them too. Honestly, it's easier just punching things."

January felt a slight shudder run through the spidercraft as it came to a landing. The cargo ramp began its steady drop downward. January smelled the ocean as the air rushed in, and heard seagulls in the distance.

"Very well, I shall speak with them," Calypso stepped up to the rear of the cargo bay, and waited for the ramp to finish opening. "But I do not really know what happened here."

"It's all our fault really," January shook her head. "That firewing we fought at Gull Island must have come from here. The Summoner called it from deep within the earth, and he took it back to Michigan to fight us. Since the end of the battle we have been so intent on hunting down his partner - the Hierophant - that we never thought to find where the firewing had originated. I believe this salamander was nearby, and was awakened by the same call. It must have come up in its own time. Once on the surface, it simply did... what it does."

"Burn things," Viuda observed. She opened up a metal cabinet built into one wall that was marked with a red cross. She pulled out a jar of cream and knelt down by January's side.

"Transform them," Calypso explained. "That is what fire does. It is the element of change, and change is not always pleasant."

"More wizard talk," January could imagine Viuda's eyes rolling behind her helmet. "You aren't like that, are you Stormcrow?"

"I am worse!" she laughed. "Maybe it comes from our teacher. Blood Raven has a flair for the cryptic."

"It is a trope with us magicians." Calypso smiled. She closed her eyes, and her body transformed back into its aquatic form. Away went that glorious halo of black curls, and back came the spiny frills that created an ichthyian mane about her features. For a moment, it took January's breath away. She was amazing! In another time, Calypso would have been worshipped as a goddess. Or burned at the stake. They all probably would have been.

"The two of you go on without me," Calypso went on. The rear hatch was down now, its lip buried slightly within the ashy brown sand of the beach. January heard helicopter blades thrum louder and louder, and saw a storm of sand blow up nearby. "I will take care of this, and then I must return to the Sargasso Sea. Our work there must continue. But it was good to make your acquaintance Stormcrow. I look forward to our next meeting."

"Not yet, I'm in this until the end." January waved off Viuda before the other woman could begin slathering burn cream across her face. She pulled her helmet down over her features once more, and strode down the ramp to stand beside the aquatic superheroine. She glanced back to see Viuda lean back against the bulkhead and cross her arms across her chest. She was clearly not interested in joining them to talk to the press.

So she and Calypso walked down the beach to where the Worldwide Network News helicopter had settled down upon the sand. The Charlotte's cargo ramp clanged shut behind them. Then multiple cameras were trained upon the pair, and a man with a microphone began asking questions. January recognized them all. They were the same crew from the helicopter she had so recently saved from being set ablaze by the salamander's lava breath weapon.

January was a little surprised that the reporter addressed her in English. She had expected them to speak Spanish or French. But Cray whispered in her ear that Montserrat was still a British territory. So English was the official language. She went on to repeat to the reporter what she had just related inside the Charlotte about the origins of the elemental and its motivations. Her head felt light, and she had to stifle the urge to yawn. She just had no energy for any of this, and kept wishing for a drink of water.

She envied Calypso. The other heroine was calm and poised in front of the cameras, as if being on television was something one did every day. January wished for her confidence. She never liked people looking at her. Her life only got worse when others started to pay attention to her. That was when someone inevitably read her as trans, and the snide insults began.

Calypso showed her media savvy when January fumbled over the explanation of how the salamander had been called up the week before, without the awareness of her and her allies.

"So would you say that you and your team are responsible for this attack?" the reporter pressed. He seemed eager to find something sensational about the story. As if a fire elemental on the rampage was not interesting enough.

"No, she is not." Calypso was absolute in her insistence. "This salamander was inadvertently brought up by the Summoner. This is what happens when fools who chase power meddle with forces they cannot control, much less comprehend. The Summoner and the Hierophant are responsible for this. Stormcrow is responsible for stopping it. I cannot say that more plainly."

January let Calypso take the rest of the interview from there. Her head felt light, and she was so very tired. She was thankful when it was over, and the Charlotte's cargo ramp tilted down once more to let them back inside. January clambered within and plopped down into one of the folding seats. Then she set to guzzling another bottle of water while Viuda caked burn cream upon her skin.

She set the water down for a moment, and loosed the armor plate from her left forearm. It was the one that held Sága, and January breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the computer's screen was not cracked, or even scratched. This had been where the salamander had bit her earlier, in the old swimming pool. She rolled back the sleeve of her suit underneath. The meta-fibers had long since regenerated from the bite. But her flesh had not.

A long line of teeth marks punctured her skin, which was red and blistered around the injuries. Blood still flowed from the wounds however, and in a moment Viuda leaped to wrap them up with a trauma bandage from her medical kit. The other heroine paused a moment to look at the old scars that crossed her left wrist. There were a few shallow cuts, then one thick wound, which was still an angry white ridge across her flesh.

Viuda said nothing about the suicide scars. For her part, neither did January. But she did not shy away from the other woman's gaze either, nor allow her face to redden with shame. She was done with that. Her scars were part of her story - and a part of her - and she was not going to whitewash any of it.

When the powered armor heroine was finished, she folded down the sleeve of January's armor back over the now-dressed wound. Then she wiped her fingers and put away the medical supplies.

"Once the bleeding has stopped, you will need to disinfect that," Viuda warned. "Don't worry, the bandage itself is sterile. But you could still get an infection if you are not careful. There is no telling where Maggie's mouth has been."

January nodded. Bumps and bruises had been an ordinary part of her life for well... as long as she could remember. Gymnastics had gifted her with many a skinned knee and bruised elbow while growing up. Kickboxing, muay thai, and krav maga had only graced her with a plethora of new bumps and lumps. Not to mention the bullies of public school.

Granted, this was a bit more than just a scrape or black eye. But just as she had gotten used to those, she found that she was getting used to this as well. It was simply her new normal.

"It's not bad," January mused. She rotated her arm around to look at the dressing. "The quantum stings from that shrinking Nazi at Motor City Pride were a lot worse."

Calpyso shook her head.

"You are just like Blood Raven," the aquanaut intoned. "She too, was always cavalier when it came to pain and privation, as if they were mere inconveniences to her."

January smiled at the comparison. Whether or not it had been meant as a compliment, she certainly took it that way.

"Valhalla waits for us all..." she murmured softly.

"So where to next?" Viuda asked. "Are you staying anywhere? I can drop you off at your hotel. Or you can come crash at my place. I have a couch that more than one cape has surfed upon over the years."

"No, I have to get back home," January shook her head. Then she stopped herself. "I'm sorry. I'm tripping up on my words today. I appreciate the offer. I really do. In spite of all the fighting and heatstroke, it really has been a grand time, just meeting you all. I think Blood Raven was right. I did need to meet new friends."

"In fact, I wanted to thank you both," January continued. "Without the two of you, that thing would have never been stopped. Both of you saved the day. You're the heroes here."

"Hey, we're all the heroes here chica," Viuda disagreed vehemently. "We all did this together. No one of us could have done it alone. Granted, I did look better swinging on a cable than anyone else... But that is neither here nor there. Besides, this is our home turf. We are the ones who should be thanking you for coming down to lend a hand."

"You're right," January nodded. "That sounds like the kind of thing I usually find myself saying to Blood Raven."

"You and her really are a strange pair," Viuda observed. "She's so... 'grrr, dark avenger from the shadows'. And you're so... kind."

"She is kind as well," January insisted. "She is passionate. She is stubborn. She is opinionated. She is patient. She is the best teacher a person could ever hope for, and she is a good friend."

January laughed, when she realized that she had just repeated what Blood Raven had so recently told her about her own mentor: Keziah Talmadge. Now January wondered if years from now, one or her own apprentices might say the same about her.

"And she is fierce, and generous, and wise," Calypso added. "She always seemed to know when to push me, and when to give me space. She taught me that I had power, real power. She showed it to me, and helped me create it within myself."

"You wizards are a weird bunch." Viuda climbed up into the cockpit and settled herself into the pilot's seat.

"We are," January followed her up and strapped herself into the co-pilot's chair. This time when Toby loomed up over a control panel, she impulsively reached out with an open hand. The tarantula took a tentative step with one leg, then another, upon her palm. Even as light as they were, January could feel every tiny bit of pressure from the footsteps.

In spite of her best efforts, her skin crawled at the feeling. Try as she might, the face of the djieien stared back at her through her memory. Those eight eyes burned with green malevolence. They were eyes that had never witnessed the light of our sun. Eyes from a place of darkness and horror...

With an effort of will, she shoved those thoughts from her mind. She had defeated that Abyssal, and the one at Jobbie Nooner. If need be, she would do the same again if there was another time. She would not let it get to her.

Still, she gently set the large arachnid back down upon the central control console.

"Not ready for spiders then eh?" Viuda observed. "That's better than a lot of people though. I don't know why you all get so freaked out over them. They're just animals, like any other."

"One the size of an SUV tried to eat me a couple of months ago," January noted. "I guess it bothered me more than I realized."

Heat stroke. That makes sense given what Jan has just been through. She is a superheroine but she is also mortal after all.

"Always be on your guard with members of the press. Ancient and wicked they are.”
- - Quoted for truth.

Calypso is indeed smooth with the press but Jan needs to give herself more credit. Suffering from heat stroke while being asked to explain something complex to idiots would be a big challenge for anyone.

Jan is getting quite comfortable talking about her place as a wizard and that is good to hear.

She even takes a good step toward tolerating Toby. Ever striving to move forward, she is.

“Hamsters, Rangers, we’re all heroes today! Right, Boo?”

This whole storyline, sans Gadget and Blood Raven, has enriched our Stormcrow and was nicely done as she meets new friends, stretches her comfort zone, learns some new things and continues to network with other supers.

Uh oh, followed by a copter. Jan's got a good point about using the news to speak to local people. See, this is her own set of ideas here. It's more important for the people to know what happened. But damn, they might get misquoted. Gotta try at least, I'd say.

Alright, so yeah, first question. "Are YOU responsible for this attack?" Geez, really? That's the thanks they get?



That's lovely. I can almost hear her accent as she speaks, too.

The heat stroke's a good reminder that, amazing as she is, January's still mortal.

Good recuperation here. Though January's (and Viuda's) caution about the press is well-warranted, she handled herself well. Still, it's probably for the best that Calypso stepped in when some of the reporter's questions got too aggressive.

It also brings up the point that the Hierophant is a global threat. Part of me would like to see January take on more of a globe-trotting persona. Another part of me likes how grounded the story is in Detroit. Either way it goes, I'll be keen to see more.

Acadian: The heat stroke was absolutely intentional to help keep January grounded as a character. As you said, she is still human after all.

I adapted the ancient and wicked from another source that some people may be familiar with.

Put a pin in that quote from Minsc. You will note something related this episode.

January does not want to live in fear. She is ferocious about that. So she of course met her growing arachnophobia head on (even not the PTSD that is really the cause). Its not the spider of course. It's the nearly dying that is really bothering her.

One of the things I was going for with this Chapter/Book was to get January out of her familiar grounds, and out meeting new people. That meant no Gadget, and for the most part no Blood Raven. This was all about January stretching and doing things without them. As we near the end of Season One, roles will be changing, and January is going to have to do some growing.


Renee: You are right on the nose that this is January following her own code with speaking to the press. It is not what Blood Raven would do! But reaching out to the public is what January does. She has her own style now.


WellTemperedClavier: The media is always a tricky beast to deal with. Some of its members have ethics and come from a place of good faith. Others are utterly bankrupt when it comes to both. Jan had the misfortune to come across someone who was quite willing to stir a controversy where none existed, all in the name of ratings. Thankfully for Jan, Calypso was there to shut it down.

You are right that the Hierophant is a global threat. That will be made clear in the next Book, when I finally wrap up Season One. The story will mostly remain in Metro-Detroit, and the Great Lakes region in general. But January will at least occasionally stretch her legs and get out to other places. For example, I know that in Season Two one Book will be set in Washington DC and a nearby part of the Atlantic Ocean.








Spiders balloon using electrostatic forces

Jinn

La Sirene


Book 9.19 - Ashes

She stared out the window as the spidercraft rose up into the sky, and then zoomed out over the vast expanse of the Caribbean Sea. The island of Montserrat quickly faded away in the distance to her right, and soon they were surrounded by nothing but the deep blue of the ocean's never-ending waves.

"So where are we going?" Viuda asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my mind is wandering," January replied. "Do you know where Blackbeard's Castle is? I have another new friend who can make a gateway there for me to go back home."

"In Charlotte Amalie East, on St. Thomas?" Viuda nodded. "I know the place. Carnival is awesome there every year. Too bad you missed it this time around."

"That's what Harper said," January smiled.

"You know Harper, and Kaelin too?" Calypso asked. She stood behind January, one hand braced upon one of the bare metal ribs that ran down the inner hull of the craft.

Viuda changed course somewhat, and banked the craft to the left. "Of course she does, she's a wizard. Calypso here's good friends with them both. We all hung out together last Carnival. It was a lot of fun."

"I guess the world's a smaller place than we realize," January took another long swig from her water bottle.

The spidercraft zoomed across the sea with a barely audible hum. That prompted January to crane her head back, to get a look at the engines that straddled the sides of the fuselage behind her.

"How does Charlotte fly?" January asked. "Is it some kind of anti-gravity device?"

"In a way," Viuda preened. "It's an electrostatic repulsor system which I created. You know Coulomb's law right? The magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Well, I use the force of repulsion to create lift and velocity. I am also working on the inverse, using electrostatic attraction to pull me. If I create a combined repulsor/attractor, I could magnify my speed and lift capabilities by, well, I don't really know how much. But it sure is fun finding out!"

"And this one claims that wizards are a weird bunch..." Calypso breathed.

Viuda laughed at her own words coming back to her.

"It works the same way that spiders balloon," the Puerto Rican heroine explained."They don't create parachutes with their silk to catch the wind, like people used to think. Instead they can sense electrostatic energy through their hairs. When it's favorable, they climb to a high spot, spin a silken line, then hop off. The silken thread is charged by the static energy, and the repulsion gives them lift. Charlotte does the same thing. It's really very elementary."

"If you say so," January murmured. Still, she tried to hold as much of that in her head as she could. Gadget was going to want to hear all about it when she returned home.

"It's not a quantum foam-powered gravity drive like the Technocrat has in his space ship, but Charlotte has her charms," Viuda patted a control console appreciatively.

"So you know him? The Technocrat I mean?" January craned her head to look at the mer-woman behind her.

"Are you kidding, she went to school in the Technocracy," Viuda practically bragged before Calypso could reply. "Not many people earn a spot in their universities."

"It was just a scholarship program," the Bahamian superheroine pointed out. "Many others from around the world took advantage of it as well."

"Don't let her kid you Crowgirl, she's absolutely brilliant." Viuda insisted. The Puerto Rican inventor looked down to the tarantula that now crawled across her lap, and gently petted the bristly hairs upon its back. "She's almost as smart as Toby here, almost."

"An honor indeed, to be held among such august company," Calypso smiled.

"Hey, Toby is one of a kind you know," Viuda insisted. "He's a giant miniature space tarantula. He's smarter than he lets on."

"I've seen the documentaries you've done," January still looked back to Calypso. "Like the one where you filmed great white sharks giving birth for the first time ever. Or how you discovered the wreck of the Indianapolis, and used it to talk about how sharks really behave, as opposed to how they are so often negatively portrayed in the media for shock value. They're really inspiring. It is true that you're working with the Technocrat on cleaning up the ocean garbage patches?"

"I am, along with many others," Calypso nodded. "Unlike Viuda's rampant imaginations, it is a not a romantic getaway in the middle of the Atlantic. It has been a tremendous challenge, and a dangerous one. We first attempted to engineer a bacteria to eat the plastic. Then we tried nanites to break it down into elementary particles. Yet so far every solution has turned into a jinn we barely thrust back into its bottle."

"That sounds, bad..." January murmured.

"Yeah, apocalyptic movie stuff," Viuda murmured. "But Calypso has a simpler idea. Tell her about your idea."

"I shall, should you allow me to," the Bahamian heroine smiled. Then she turned from one woman to the other. "I have been working with fishermen to create a system to safely scoop up the plastic without harming marine life. Then it can be transported to a place where it can be disposed of, with whatever means Janos can come up with that won't destroy the world."

"Janos?" January wondered.

"Janos Heisen," Calypso said. "He prefers not to be called the Technocrat. It makes him sound like an autocratic ruler, which he is not. He does not even have an official position in the government of the Technocracy anymore."

Viuda gave January a knowing look across the control consoles, but said nothing.

"So, Janos hasn't been able to save the world, but the fishermen might?" January had to stifle the urge to chuckle.

"And the engineers," Viuda added. "You get the theorists like Werner who figure the big things out in the lab. You get the people like me who build it. Then you get the people like those fishermen who actually work with it every day of their lives. Sometimes they know more about how it really works than the rest of us. Put us all in the same room and we can do anything."

Of course, that was exactly how they had defeated the salamander: together.

"If it works, it shall give us a safe and reliable means of cleaning most of the world's oceans of garbage," Calypso said. "Yet the danger of microplastics will still remain."

"Why not use water elementals?" January wondered. "I mean they are water personified. If anyone can clean it out, it should be them."

"Sweet La Sirene, why did I not consider that?" Calypso planted an open palm against her forehead.

"You probably don't have heatstroke," January smiled. "Besides, Maggie today got me thinking about it. Twice now I've had to fight against elementals. Why not put them to use doing something positive instead? They are part of our world after all. Maybe they can help save it."

"Thank you Stormcrow, I must think on this," Calypso laid a warm hand upon January's shoulder. "So long as it could be done safely, and not like fools chasing power..."

January nodded at Calypso's reiteration of the same words she had used to describe the Summoner and Hierophant. They had seen elementals as nothing more than tools to be used and then discarded. She had just seen how that worked out in the end.

But then the difference between people like them and those like Calypso, was that while the Summoner and Hierophant did not take responsibility for their actions, Calpyso and company did. They did not just abandon their mistakes for others to deal with. They acted to prevent them from causing harm. Perhaps that was one of the only real differences between superheroes and villains?

"The Virgin Islands coming up," Viuda noted. January looked up to see a line of islands dead ahead. At first they were just darker stains upon the deep blue horizon. But soon they resolved themselves into individual land masses dotted with green hills. Turquoise waters hugged sandy white beaches, and small pleasure boats drifted to and fro.

At her direction, Viuda took January directly over Charlotte Amalie East. She did not see any need to be subtle. On the way, January had texted Harper to bring her back home. Sure enough, by the time that Viuda brought the spidercraft to a halt above Blackbeard's Castle, January could sense the warp in space above its tall, round tower.

After making her last goodbyes, January stepped out of the rear hatch and dropped to the roof of the tower below. She fell directly into the gateway. When her feet struck the ground she was no longer in the Caribbean. Instead she looked around to find herself standing in the middle of the Aura. A golden Veve shone around her feet, all stars, leaves, and solar crosses. But a moment later it vanished, along with the portal.

As before, the bar was empty. January wondered when they opened. It was not like she had a lot of experience with going to clubs. She was still too young to get into most of them after all. Harper greeted her with a smile, and a look of concern. A glance at the TV screen in one corner of the room revealed why. Worldwide Network News was showing the footage of her most recent encounter with the salamander at Montserrat.

"Are you ok?" the publican rushed up to January with arms held out. They looked like they were ready to catch January in case she fell.

"I am fine," January waved off her concern. "It's just a little heatstroke. Once I get home I'll enter a healing trance. I'll be good as new in no time at all."

"Just a little heatstroke," Harper shook their head. "This is why I'll never be cut out to do the things you and Blood Raven do. How you can take getting beaten to a pulp for granted is beyond me."

"Believe me, we don't take it for granted," January insisted. She looked back up, and saw an image of herself standing in front of that car at the science station. Her wings were spread out to create a wall between it and the fire elemental. A moment later it spat lava all over her, dousing her with liquid fire.

"Are you going to be ok to make it home?" Kaelin's voice came from the far end of the room. She emerged from the kitchen with a goblet in hand. Yes, it was an actual goblet, not a simple glass or cup. It was golden, and studded with precious gems. It looked like something you might find upon an emperor's table, or in a dragon's horde.

"It's ok, I'm just a little tired is all," January insisted. "It's not like I've been drinking."

"Well maybe you should," Kaelin said. She stepped up to January, and held out the potion in her hand. "Here, drink this. It will make you feel better."

"It's ok, real-," January began. Then she stopped herself. People kept offering to help her today. Why was she turning them all down? Without saying another word, she reached out and took the goblet from the other woman's hand. It held a glowing blue liquid within, and steam wafted from its surface.

Without a thought, she lifted it to her lips and knocked the entire thing back.

The liquid within was warm, and vaguely sweet. It kind of tasted like warm apple cider, but without the bite. Its heat spread out through her throat and torso, and suffused her body in a pleasant, cozy feeling. It reminded her of sitting in front of a roaring fireplace on a cold winter's night, wrapped up in a thick fleece blanket.

Just like that, the feeling of exhaustion that had been weighing upon her head and shoulders disappeared. That thirst that could not be quenched, was likewise nothing but a memory. She lifted a finger to her face, and her skin felt soft and smooth to the touch. It was a far cry from the dry and cracked sunburn she had been afflicted with just moments before.

"Wow, a healing potion." January stared down at the cup. "Where have you been all my life?"

"Detroit!" Kaelin giggled. She pressed several sealed vials into her hand. "Since you are determined to get yourself into trouble, here are some more."

"Thank you," January turned from one to the other. "Thank you both. This means a lot to me."

She heard her own voice, and turned her head back to the nearest television. Now she saw the tail end of her interview with Gilda Gadfly from the day before. January had to remind herself that it was really her voice that she heard. As always when listening to a recording, it sounded almost like someone else. January briefly wondered why our voices did that: sounded one way to us when we spoke, but another when we listened to it later?

"I have not been around as much as normal lately because of our investigation into the Hierophant." she heard herself say on the TV. "The deaths that he and the Summoner have caused weigh heavily upon me. My heart goes out to the people who are suffering. Blood Raven and our other allies feel the same way. I wish there was some way to make it better, but we just can't."

"Is there anything you would like to say to the Hierophant?" Gilda asked in a deadly serious tone.

"Yes, there is," January saw her own helmeted face stare back at her through the TV screen. "Stop. Just stop. In no universe does this work out the way you think it will. He will kill you. You know who I mean. That is what he does. It is all he ever does. I know you think you can trick him. But it won't work. You will end up the same as all those who have come before you."


The End of Book 9

I remember that spider "blooming" article a few years back. If you think about it, spiders have that weird ability to remain absolutely still for hours (sometimes days & weeks) as they chill on their webs. 🕸 So as they float high in the atmosphere, all they're doing is staying still, waiting like they usually do.

La Sirene? Is there a mermaid in today's story?



Cool, I'm glad she asked this. This is one of those questions which I actually wanted to ask.... but feared doing so. Viuda's quite knowledgeable. Viuda the Science Gal.

I know you are reluctant about spiders, Rosa. Does the tarantula crawling all over Jan make you queasy?

Wouldn't that be rad, to have water elementals clean up our mess! Sometimes I wish I lived in the Stormcrowverse. Or some aspects of her world bled into ours.

Gosh, she's back in the bar, just like that. That's almost ... almost like the trip down to the islands never happened. Except it did. Jan's still all burnt up, I assume.

Hee hee, sounds like Restore Fatigue combined with Restore Health. Somehow, I don't think the Hierophant is going to listen to her interview. Or if it does listen, will not obey.

Like Renee, I’m glad the spent the time to tell us something about how Charlotte flies.

"She's almost as smart as Toby here, almost."
"He's a giant miniature space tarantula.”
- - Thanks for the Minsc warning in advance – I could almost hear both these lines through his accented voice.

"Since you are determined to get yourself into trouble, here are some more."
- - Though Kaelin hasn’t known January long, she’s insightful enough to realize her new friend fights a lot like Rocky Balboa. . . .

I’m pretty sure that the Hierophant is not going to heed Stormcrow’s sage advice.

Heh, nice Baldur's Gate reference!

So is the Technocracy a sovereign state? Or some kind of international organization? Regardless, it sounds like Heisenberg has considerable sway, even if he's not entirely comfortable with how he's perceived.

At any rate, January's shown that wherever the Hierophant goes to cause trouble, she'll be close behind. Puts the pressure on him, and gives her more visibility.

A bit late on my part, but I wanted to add an addendum to the topic of media lack of ethics. As much as flack as the media gets (and the vast majority of it is deserved), the people who consume it often absolve themselves of the blame. The media does what it does in large part because, despite what many people in the general public claim, it's what sells. We supposedly hate conflict, but we also love reading/listening/watching about it. I don't want to go into too much of a spiel, but just thought I would add my 2 cents. Though yes, the vast majority of the media is not worth giving attention to.

Anyway, kind of funny still talking about January's heatstroke, as our AC crapped out over the weekend. It was fixed a couple hours ago, though.

I'll pretend I completely understood that part about Coulomb's Law.

Creepy crawlies.

Regarding hearing yourself differently on a recording, I once watched a TED talk about why that is. I forget most of the details as I haven't watched that video in years, but IIRC, there is a part of your ear that "turns off" when you are speaking because you don't need to use that part then. But when you hear yourself as you would anyone else, that part of your ear "turns on" again. That's probably an atrocious explanation, but that's what I seem to remember.

As this is the end of Book 9, I'm curious, SubRosa: Do you have an "end" to the entire Stormcrow saga in your head, or is it more of a "when the time is right" kind of thing?

Renee: I wanted to keep with the whole spider theme regarding Viuda's aircraft. So I looked up how spiders balloon, and found that their electrostatic repulsion was just perfect.

La Sirene is the Haitian loa (goddess) of the sea.

Viuda is definitely the science gal, while Calypso is the magic chick. Together they make a great duo.

I wouldn't want to have a tarantula walking over me. But I am a lot less bothered by one crawling over January. As Viuda said, they are just animals after all.

Well, it is still just an idea to use water elementals for that. It might not work, just like all the other ideas Viuda mentioned that they tried. Things are often easier said than done.



Acadian: It was nice to come across a new form of flight like the electrical repulsion, aside from the basic ideas of: "go really fast", or "ignore the law of gravity, because physics is just a suggestion" routes.

I could not help but throw in a Minsc and Boo reference as I was writing that part.

If the Hierophant was smart, he would not be doing any of this. As January pointed out, everyone who tries is, ends up dead. That is not even taking into account the utter foolishness of picking a fight with Blood Raven. I mean, she killed an entire panzer division once.


WellTemperedClavier: One of the reasons I made January a nerd was so that I could consistently use all these nerd culture references, like Minsc and Boo.

The Technocracy is a sovereign state. I spent a lot of time working, and reworking it. I still only have a general idea of what it is. At first it was going to be a republic in Central Asia, centered around RL Kazahkstan, Tajikistan, etc... But I did not like how that was working out with Heisenberg as its ruler. It felt too much like the White Savior trope, with this European scientist leading an Asian nation. So I moved it west to Central Europe. Right now I am working on the idea that it is Austria. But that could change if I have a better idea.

The Technocrat is RL Werner Heisenberg. I originally created him as a sort of Doctor Doom like character. A genius scientist in power armor who was the ruler of a country. Working up his background I realized that he had not been a villain for a long time however. Not since WW2. He fought for Germany of course, and at the end of the war he was captured by the Russians, in their own version of Operation Paperclip. When Stalin died he escaped, and I picture him being part of a complicated series of diplomatic moves that ended up in Austria gaining its freedom from both Soviet and Western control (which actually happened IRL). The Technocracy was created out of this as a socially progressive, pacifist society dedicated to education, science, and the arts. It is definitely the most advanced nation on the Earth.

I picture Heisenberg being the head of state at the beginning. But I know he stepped down from that a long time ago. He cycled through some other positions, like minister for education. Now he is completely out of the government. But he still has a lot of soft power, because his name carries a tremendous amount of weight. These days he follows his own passion projects. Such as a recent mission that he took to Jupiter and its moons. I am thinking he brought back some ultra-dense hydrogen from Jupiter, and he would have explored its inner planets. Now he is working on the project to clean up the ocean garbage patches with folks like Calypso, between other things.

Occasionally he also fights supervillains along the way. Because, this is superhero fiction after all. Being over a century old, and a meta-human inventor, he is one of the most powerful metas in the world. He is up there at the level of controlling spacetime, gravity, quantum energy, and the like. He will also be making a personal appearance near the end of this book. Along with every other active superhero and villain I have ever name-checked in all these stories so far.

Put a pin in what you said about putting the fire under the Hierophant's feet. Because that will be directly addressed this coming post.



RaderOfTheLostArk: Yellow Journalism is very much subject to the Law of Supply and Demand. If there is a demand for something, someone will provide it. As you said, the only reason it is profitable is because so many people eagerly slop it all up.

I am pretending I understand that part about Coulomb's Law too...

It is amazing how much of what we perceive as reality, is actually just our brain filling in gaps for us like that. Whether it is vision, memory, etc... It really is rather disturbing when you think about it.

I don't see a specific end in sight for the Stormcrow fic. I am kind of looking at it like a TV show, with distinct "Seasons". Each Season having its own theme and single overarching story. Books 1 - 10 is Season One. It introduces all the main characters and the world, sets them in motion, and gives them something gigantic to do.

I have a general outline for Season Two and its themes and plot written down. It will be a lot more down to earth, focused on fascism, a political race, and police brutality. January's mother will play a much larger role here.

Season Three is a very vague idea of January going on an accidental adventure across both time and the multiverse, where she is mainly just trying to get home, but learning more about magic and fighting along the way. I see her meeting Blood Raven's mentor Keziah Talmadge in the process. I see her in Viking Age Scandinavia, and learning that the Norse were not everything she had hoped for (she really does not fit in there). I also see her meeting her own fictional characters (in what is at least to them) a very real world. I see her reappearing back on her own Earth at the same moment she left, wondering if it was all real or just her imagination. Except that she will come back retaining all the knowledge she had gained along the way, like how to fight with a sword.



Since this is the final Book in Season One, I am going to repost the entire timeline again. All of Book 10 takes place in one day - July 8th (which is just one day after the end of the previous book).

2019

March 24 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (a goblin) during the Nain Rouge Parade. It is not anchored, and easily banished
May 4 and 5 (Saturday and Sunday) = Stormcrow 1 Rising
May 4 = January's first battle as Stormcrow against Lighthammer at ConFabulation in Southfield.
May 5 = January teams up with Lighthammer to capture conflict diamond smuggler Bhavin Subramanian at the Flint airport.
May 5 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (flying head) during Cinco De Mayo, using elemental symbols to anchor it, making it immune from banishment
May 14 and 15 (Tuesday and Wednesday) = Stormcrow 2 Recycled
May 14 = January's first battle against Archie at Source One Metals
May 14 = January overhears her parents argument about her being trans.
May 15 = January's second battle against Archie, then meeting with Isaac.
May 24 = January's Mom files for divorce
May 25 and 26 (Saturday and Sunday) = Stormcrow 3 Burning
May 25 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (buggane) during the Technofest, anchoring it with an animal sacrifice
May 25 = The Flying Dutchman fire.
May 26 = Blood Raven reveals her identity as 'Aunt Branwen' to January
May 27 = Memorial Day. January and her mom move into the Witch House.
May 27 - June 1 (Monday -Saturday) = Stormcrow 4 Pride [Ferndale Pride on Saturday]
June 1 = The Summoner summons an Abyssal (djieien) during Ferndale Pride, anchoring it with a human sacrifice
June 1 - 9 = Stormcrow 5 Crystal Death [Motor City Pride]
June 1 = Chad overdoses on Crystal Death at Leland City Club.
June 3 = first Crow Tales, featuring Frankenstein
June 8 = second Crow Tales, featuring This Spell For Hire. January stops the Death Dealer. Blood Raven humiliates Nazis at Motor City Pride
June 9 = Nazis on Crystal Death attack Motor City Pride
June 10 - 14 = Stormcrow 6 Eloise
June 11 = January records interview with WNN.
June 13 = January quits working at the dojo, starts working on Artemis Argent with Rus
June 14 = January's interview is aired in its entirety, as well as in print and on WNN's website. It generates massive waves of both support and backlash against her. The same night she faces off against Gola at Eloise.
June 16 - 24 = Stormcrow 7 Hammer Down
June 16 = January does first aborted taping of Crow Tales Podcast
June 17 = January does second attempt at Crow Tales Podcast
June 17 = Lighthammer ambushed at Cedar Point
June 18 = January's mom moves out.
June 20 = January meets Michigan AG.
June 21 = January meets with Ohio state AG, DEA, and Lighthammer to make a deal.
June 22 = Fourth Crow Tales, featuring Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys.
June 22-23 = January and Blood Raven patrol downtown, while the Detroit River Days festival takes place. They are joined by Ôkami, and all 3 intervene in a truck accident on the Ambassador Bridge.
June 24 = January does her first book signing at the library.
June 25 = (afternoon) January joins Lighthammer in a joint police raid on a ship in the Cleveland port.
June 25 - July 5 = Stormcrow 8 Blood
June 25 = (evening) Ryo gets his armor and sword at the Witch House
June 26 = January encounters Hannah and her father at Lakeside Mall
June 28 = The Summoner ambushes January and Blood Raven at Gull Island during Jobbie Nooner, summoning another Abyssal (oniare).
June 29 = fifth Crow Tales, featuring Nemesis, by April Daniels
July 3 = Funeral of the Summoner.
July 5 = Entire team trains on Green Island. Hannah melts down.
July 6-7 = Stormcrow 9 Ashes
July 6 = January captures tiger, does brief interview with Gilda Gadfly
July 6 = January's parent's divorce is finalized.
July 7 = Battle of Montserrat, January meets Kaelin, Harper, Viuda, and Calypso
July 8 = Stormcrow 10 Alliance





Blood Raven's Main Theme - Two Steps From Hell - Blackheart

Blood Raven and Stormcrow can be found on the Stormcrow Map

Memories Change Every Time You Access Them

The Iron Brigade


Book 10.1 - Alliance

July 8th, afternoon

"I met your old friend Calypso when I was in the Caribbean yesterday," January said. "She told me that you trained her."

"That privilege was indeed mine." The other superheroine's name brought a genuine smile to Blood Raven's crimson lips. "How does she fare? Long indeed has it been since we last met."

"She's good," January replied. "She and a bunch of other people are working with the Technocrat - umm... Janos Heisen - on removing plastics from the world's oceans."

"Glad tidings indeed," Blood Raven nodded. "She was always passionate about the sea, even as a child. It does an old woman's heart well to see that dedication invested within such a worthy endeavor."

The pair of superheroines stood atop one of a row of red-brick residence halls in the heart of the University of Michigan's main campus. Their feet balanced upon the knife edge of the roof's sharp peak. In January's case she literally rested her weight upon the dark shingles. Her mentor simply hovered in space as if gravity was merely a suggestion, rather than a law of nature.

Around them stretched out both the university and the city of Ann Arbor. Directly in front of them was a row of tennis and basketball courts, flanked by a large athletics field. Even now various groups of young people availed themselves of both to exercise and compete. Beyond stretched more of the university buildings, along with the twin smokestacks of a power plant. Farther away still rose the brick and stone forest of downtown Ann Arbor, interspersed in a few places with more modern-looking glass and steel edifices.

The narrow belt of the Huron River looped back and forth to their right, only to disappear behind them. Tall hospital and medical school buildings stretched skyward behind their backs, rising between them and the river's undulating course. Finally to their left stretched out a carpet of trees that covered the Forest Hill cemetery in a blanket of greenery. This continued on to form a nature area and arboretum that hugged the river as it meandered to the east.

In all directions beyond this stretched the long rows of neighborhoods of Ann Arbor and nearby Ypsilanti. A few lonely sentinel peaks rose from this expanse of suburbia, such as Michigan Stadium. But from up here, it was mostly green trees, homes, and fields that spread out to the horizon.

"So how many of us are there?" January asked.

"Us?" her mentor cocked an eyebrow whose incredulity even a Vulcan science officer would have been proud of.

"Daughters of the Raven," January replied. "People like me that you have trained."

Blood Raven leaned back her head and laughed.

"Daughters of the Raven?" she shook her head. "You are spending too much time around Cray. That young man loves his melodrama. But to answer your question, well, we should be here the entirety of this afternoon should I recount all of my apprentices throughout the centuries."

"In the last few decades then," January pressed. She was genuinely interested.

"Well, speaking purely of magicians, rather than meta-humans such as Vortex, there is yourself of course, and your friend Ôkami."

January tried not to react to the sound of Vortex's name. She really did. But that did not prevent an empty feeling from spreading through the pit of her stomach. She banished that feeling through sheer force of her will. She was so over her, completely over her. Whatever she had with the other woman - and January was still not sure what it even was - was done.

Sure.

"I met Kaelin here in Detroit when she was little. She had crafted a potion that allowed her to fly. But unbeknownst to her, its efficacy was of a very limited duration. She found herself marooned atop a church steeple. I had sensed her flight, and was there before anyone else noticed."

"I first met Calpyso whilst upon a quest in the Bahamas. Her parents were of great assistance to me, as they possessed a local knowledge which I sorely lacked. There was no mistaking their young daughter's growing power. She was practically a mermaid! So when the affair was concluded, I availed her of my own knowledge."

"There is Silverlight in Washington DC," Blood Raven continued. "I tutored her oh, some two decades ago. She is not one of Selene's Heirs, like myself. Yet she draws her inspiration from the moon goddess Selene. She takes after me in many ways."

"Then there is Riven. I met her in the 90s, in a small town near Mount Shasta. Like the others, she was young, much younger than you are now. She is now wed to Thunderbolt of course, and currently makes her abode in San Francisco."

"Wait, Riven is a magician?" January asked. "I thought she was a regular meta?"

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. "Like you, she has focused her magic upon the physical, even more so than in your case. It is how she creates her weapons and armor. It is also why she can alter their sizes and shapes."

"That seems to be a thing with us." January noted. "We all seem to have a shtick don't we?"

"A shtick?" Blood Raven seemed to fumble with that word for a moment, before she finally nodded. "Yes, I suppose so. There are magicians who are jacks of all trades, skilled in all manner of spellcraft. But I suppose the greatest of us focus ourselves upon an ideal, and we make that our reality. You have done this to become an elemental valkyrja, and Kaelin an alchemist. Riven is a master of weapons. Calpyso has her connection to the sea, and Silverlight the moon goddess whom she personifies."

"And you?" January spared a sidelong glance at her mentor.

"I am the raven ravenous," the elder heroine murmured, "The phantom queen."

January nodded. She had seen her mentor in action. With sword in her hand and fury in her eyes, she was indeed the Morrigan on Earth, the Irish goddess of magic, war, and death. Even her sword - Samhain - whispered in the Morrigan's voice, as if it was the goddess itself. Perhaps a better way of looking at it was that the raven sword embodied the ideal of the goddess. It was an idea given form and matter, and breathed into life through magic.

Or it was given a shtick, if one chose to look at it that way.

"But we have other things to discuss, and errands to run this day," Blood Raven went on. "We must return to the hunt. And it is time that you learned the secrets of the Hypnotic Voice."

Blood Raven took off into the sky. January unfurled the great crow's wings from her back and followed. Soon they were back to questioning all of those who had come into contact with her brother. They spent as much time in the air as possible to avoid complications with civilians. People always stared and flocked around someone wearing a cape after all.

They would not have worn their armor at all, save for the fact that driving back and forth in a car and constantly finding parking would have taken forever. Walking would have burned even more time. So the sky was still their best option for transport. Besides, as Blood Raven had already noted, the Hierophant knew they were hunting him.

"Let him hear the ravens shriek of his coming demise," her mentor had said.

Almost as if summoned by those words, January noted a curious man who strode the sidewalk beneath them. He was somewhere between fifty and fifty thousand years old. It was really hard to tell given his unruly mop of gray hair, and equally sloppy beard. She could see that he wore an old leather patch over one eye, as threadbare as the rest of his clothing, which appeared to be mostly old Army surplus.

He carried a hand painted sign high over his head which proclaimed that the end of the world was here. This was in sharp contrast to the two dogs that crowded his feet, whose tongues lolled happily in the summer sun. January guessed they might have been huskies, but really big ones. They were practically wolves, with their great statures and gray-white fur.

He was shouting something about the end coming for everyone. January could not make out the exact words. All she could hear was the screeching of ravens in her ears. She stared for long moments as they flew past this strange man.

Then she shook her head and continued on. They had things to do, and gawking over crazy people in the street was not one of them.

They made their way into one of the many university buildings. There Blood Raven questioned one teacher and student after another, January turned her senses to the astral. Her mentor had already explained the theory of how the spell functioned. It sank into one's brain and took hold of the mind. It could work in multiple fashions, from creating strong suggestions to guide behavior, to recalling memories, and of course to forcing the truth from subjects.

Now she watched as the tendrils of power quietly sank into the minds of one person after another. She watched how they activated various areas of the brain. But there was more to it than that. When Blood Raven encouraged them to remember past events, the spell was not simply working on their minds. It was doing something to reality itself, folding it somehow, warping it.

It took some time for January to put her finger on just what she was witnessing. Then she understood why it felt so familiar. It was similar to how Vortex warped space, connecting one place to another for just an instant, and stepping across the gap between them. Only Blood Raven was not linking places in the world with one another, she was linking two separate times in the world, the past with the present. Because of that, her subjects recalled events with the same clarity as when they happened. Because for all intents, it was happening even as they spoke.

"Memory is not a fixed thing, as many would like to believe," Blood Raven explained to her in private. "It is not a record chiseled in stone, which never changes. Rather every time we remember an event, we are in truth recalling the last time we remembered it. Not the original event. Because of this memories change over time, sometimes in drastic ways, like the wandering course of a riverbed."

"So it's like a playing a game of telephone with yourself, but across years," January observed.

"We called it pass along when I was your age, but yes, that is exactly the case." Blood Raven said as they flew to their next stop. "Because of this, simply prompting one to recall an event is not enough to summon a truly accurate depiction of events. One must step back through time, to the event itself. Otherwise you can never do more than witness the past as if through a mirror darkly."

"Now, it is time for you to try." Blood Raven said at their next stop. They touched down in front of a two-story home near the university campus. They still wore their armor of course, but she knocked on the door as an ordinary person would. Here in the suburbs there were at least fewer people around, meaning no crowds to mob them seeking selfies and autographs. Those few who were outdoors simply stopped from their gardening or walking their pets and stared. Some fumbled for phones to take pictures. But all were too far away to hamper their mission.

Also as January had already noted, they were not trying to be subtle anymore. The Hierophant knew they were coming for him. There was no point trying to hide it.

January called up her magic when the door opened to reveal a man within. He was middle-aged, with hair retreating back from his scalp. He was clad in the classic tweeds and stereotypical bifocals of everyone's idea of a professor. If she had written him as a character in a book, people would decry her from being unoriginal and uninspired. But it turned out that sometimes real life was common and ordinary, and exactly as you expected.

She looked into his eyes and reached out with her power. It sank into his brain with tendrils unseen to mundane eyes. Yet they were brilliant strands of energy within the astral realm. That glowing power subsumed his will, replaced it with her own, and turned him to nothing but a puppet on her strings.

January's stomach felt... wrong. It sank, like it had when Vortex had vanished from the beach on Green Island after their argument. She felt queasy. His mind was under her control, but she pulled back, as if she had burned a finger upon a hot stove.

She turned away, and pulled her magic in tightly to herself. She heard Blood Raven speak behind her, and felt the elder heroine's own magic complete the interrogation. They left without a word, and did not speak until they were both alone atop the roof of a nearby apartment building.

"Tell me," Blood Raven said gently.

"It felt... wrong," January scowled. "I don't think I can do that."

"That is a healthy attitude to take where these matters are concerned," Blood Raven replied. As ever, she had a habit of saying the last thing January expected. "This is very dangerous magic. The opportunities for its abuse are as plentiful as they can be catastrophic. Even with the best of intentions, one can inadvertently seed false memories within a person. Worse, it can turn another into a slave to your will."

"So why do you use it?" January asked.

"Because all power poses a similar danger," Blood Raven replied. "Take your strength. You can use it to save someone by lifting a burning motor car from their body. Or you can use it to rip them limb from limb. The Hypnotic Voice is no different. It can ease misery, or cause it. It is our ethics that determine how we employ all of these tools."

"I hear you," January still frowned. "But it still feels wrong."

"Then it is not for you," Blood Raven insisted. "Never use your power in a pursuit that unsettles you. It will likely go awry in your hands, for you are sure to unconsciously sabotage the endeavor. Worse, it will chip away at your ethical beliefs, until all feels permissible in the quest to fulfill your goals."

"Is that why you didn't use it on people like those Nazis at Motor City Pride?" January wondered.

"Yes," Blood Raven agreed. "This is a power I rarely employ. Usually only to gather knowledge, or to ease another's suffering. I remember slavery. The woman who suckled me as a babe was owned by my father, which is another way of saying she was owned by me. Never again. I did not serve in the Iron Brigade for that."

Thanks for the background info! I agree you made the right call in moving the Technocracy out of Central Asia. If you're still thinking about how to settled it, what about a Latveria-esque state?

Sorry, I'll stop backseat-writing!

For all of Blood Raven's eloquence, January does have a point about heroes having shticks. Maybe it's unavoidable. Anyone who's publicly known will be known for particular traits and styles, and that becomes their identity to some extent.

Interesting bit on the unreliability of human memory. I know that a lot of research has been done, and what I've read matches with what Blood Raven says. We recollect our recollections, and it gets a little fuzzier each time. Kind of scary to think about, when you realize that a lot of important testimonials in history are almost certainly inaccurate.

Good showcase of the difference between January and Blood Raven, with drawing out the memories. Blood Raven's a hero, but she is also a bit removed, able to take the long view (a function of her age). While she follows the "do no harm" dictate, she's basically okay with this power so long as it's used responsibly. But for January, the power seems intrinsically wrong. It's not something she'd ever feel comfortable using. Blood Raven handled it well, though. If it feels wrong to you, you probably shouldn't do it.

Thanks for including the revamped timeline. I think maybe I might do something like this for Vicious's tale.

That article is a good read. Makes sense. A good example is when we read the same book, especially years or decades later. That second time we read we'll get some things out of it different, even from things we remember the first time.

Elementally, since memories are a combination of thoughts and often emotion, this is why they are represented by air and water in occult studies. So yes, if we think of air and water, here we have two elements which are often changing moment-to-moment.

"How does she fare." Yes that would be quite a feat, if Raven is able to recover all of the apprentices she's had over the years. Centuries, actually.

Blea. Vortex. 🤬 Apparently, as much magical training and learning as January can engage, there is no magic which cures the broken heart.

Selene sounds interesting.

That dude with the beard and the End of World sign is significant. Foreshadowing right there, I'm thinking. Whoa. This whole scene When she does this mind-meld thing is trippy. Dangerous, too. And the final words of the story are surprising as well.


Ha ha a lot of us are guilty! ... I know I am.

WellTemperedClavier: I have already had all those thoughts you spitballed about the Technocracy. It is what the MCU did with Sokovia. It is where modern day Slovenia is. But I just never really liked the idea much. I prefer to be as real as possible. That is why I made the character Heisenberg, rather than just creating a fictional scientist. So for now the Technocracy is just going to be a fancy new name for Austria.

At the most I might add on a piece of southern Germany to it. That could have been part of the negotiations that created the Technocracy (and the same ones that made RL Austria a neutral party between the Western powers and the Soviet Union). I remember back in the Cold War everyone was expecting WW3 to start with the Russians sending a massive armored attack through the Fulda Gap. If that region was part of a neutral Austria, that might have been seen as a good thing by both the Soviets and Americans, as it might have prevented war, or at least made it less attractive.

Every superhero has to have their shtick! Otherwise you cannot tell one from the other. I find it works well in fiction where you have a lot of characters. Giving each some sort of motif or theme of their own helps make them memorable, and stand out as individuals.

The stuff about memory being so unreliable is something that I learned from my interest in skepticism and the paranormal (what some might call Wierdshitology). The unreliability of human memory is one of the things that drives stories of alien abductions and bigfoot sightings. Especially once you get into recovered memory therapy, where the therapy itself literally creates new, false memories that are indistinguishable from real ones. The MonsterTalk podcast and In Research Of both get into it a lot.

One thing I like about writing Blood Raven and January together is that they are so very different. Who and what January is often defined by how she diametrically opposes to Blood Raven. Yet in other ways, they are two peas in a pod. That is what makes them a great partnership.


Renee: A long time ago I realized that I needed to keep that timeline in order to keep events straight, especially when referring to earlier events in the later stories.

That is a very solid observation on how memory is represented by Air and Water. Maybe I will be able to do something with that some time in the future...

We are going to meet all of those recent Daughters of the Raven in the near future. Including a brand new one today.

Vortex is not so easily forgotten. She will be haunting January's heart for a while. First loves always do.

Silverlight is a fun character. She was very challenging to create. I even created a thread on Reddit to ask for help with naming her. I went through a lot of versions with who she is, what her powers are, and even where she lives. But she has turned out really neat. She would be fun to play in an RPG. But she is really overpowered in many ways.

Keep a pin in that one-eyed bearded dude. We will be seeing him again, more than once. And yes, January should listen to what he has to say.














January's Fight Theme - Two Steps From Hell - Never Back Down


Xochitl's home is on the Stormcrow Map

The Nahua

Inspiration for the Bone Wight

A Wight

Belly to Back (German) Suplex



Book 10.2 - Alliance

January did not reply. Something else had just taken her complete attention, with the suddenness of a rifle shot. Her head snapped to one side, along with that of her mentor. Both of them stared at the same spot near the horizon. It looked like a perfectly ordinary suburb. But a power rose there in the astral. It rose, and it called. It rolled through her like a sound wave, and continued on through astral space. Its cry was unfocused however, just gibberish, meaning nothing that January could discern.

It was not an Abyssal summoning. Of that January was certain. For one the poppet they had placed within Ann Arbor had not awakened to the call. For another this magic lacked the distinctive wrongness of calling to the Abyss. It did not have the stink of death and horror that was so deeply entwined with Abyssal magic.

Instead this power was clean, and pure, like that of a crisp wind blowing off an alpine lake. In some ways January found it to be a refreshing change from things of late. Between Abyssals and rampant elementals, it was nice to encounter something in the astral that was not trying to kill her, at least not yet.

Without a word between them she and Blood Raven were airborne an instant later. They shot through the sky and followed the magic back toward its source. Streets and homes swept by underneath them in a blur as they pressed to the east. In moments they passed beyond the border of Ann Arbor proper, and flew into the suburbs of nearby Ypsilanti as they homed in on the source of the magical signal.

They came to a halt over a neighborhood of small, wood framed homes. The area was laid out in neat, straight lines. The only rebellion against the rigid geometry was a single major cross-street that ran through the space at an angle, then bent back against itself in an opposite slant. To the north lay the campus of a high school, and farther east rose up the thick trees of a park, bordered by the open sports fields of yet more schools.

Their destination sat upon an intersection between this larger diagonal road and one of the smaller residential lanes that crossed it. Like the other homes nearby, it was a plain affair faced with white aluminum siding. Dark gray shingles covered its sharply peaked roof, from which jutted a red brick chimney. A detached garage of the same white wood and aluminum stood in the back yard.

That wide yard was bordered by a low chain link fence faced with a hedge. A pair of garden plots took up one corner, one of which sprouted tall ears of corn, and another sported green cucumbers and fat tomatoes. The long driveway that led from the street back to the garage was empty of vehicles.

January took a moment to partly shift her senses into the astral. She immediately felt Blood Raven doing the same beside her. Her mentor's aura was a burning star of power, glowing even brighter now that she had consciously bent her will to scanning the area. But January deliberately shaded that from her awareness, like an astronomer blocking out a star in order to view the worlds that might orbit it.

The neighborhood instantly sprang into her magical awareness. She felt the life tingling in each blade of grass, the bough of every tree, and the ear of every corncob. Larger forms of life puttered through the homes all around, and buzzed past on the streets between them. All were soft shades of grays, whether on four legs or two.

She focused her awareness on just the house. Its timbers were dull and faded in the astral realm. The aluminum that clad the exterior, and ran through the duct work within was even fainter, the cold metal barely casting a shadow at all in the magical realm. In contrast, brilliant lines of power coursed through the electrical wiring, and burned like molten silver through the dull gray features of the home.

January felt no auras within the house, save for a fly that buzzed through the kitchen. But she did sense magical power down there. That rose from the second floor attic and radiated out into the astral, like the waves created by a stone dropped into a pond. January felt that power roll through her once more. It was a call, but to nothing in particular. There was no intent driving it. It was simply a cry in the dark.

"They are masking their aura," Blood Raven noted, "just like the Summoner."

January nodded. She followed her mentor down to the ground. Blood Raven waved one hand, and the back door unlocked itself and swung open of its own accord. She strode into the kitchen, January in tow. The fly January had sensed fled the building for the open sky outside. That left the entire home now empty in her awareness, at least of life, but certainly not of magic.

She was on her guard. An aura-cloaked magician might lurk behind any corner. She followed Blood Raven through one room after another and watched her back, lest anyone try to sneak up on them. Neither woman made a sound. They stalked from dining room to living room. Everything looked entirely ordinary. There was a slightly frayed couch, worn chairs, and a large, flatscreen TV on the wall. An unmistakable Latin American accent ran through it all, including stucco walls, a fleece blanket in the colors of the Mexican flag thrown over one side of the couch, and a giant Aztec calendar carved in wood over the fireplace.

Blood Raven glanced through a pair of doors off the living room, and turned back to shake her head. January checked two more doors. She found that one led to an empty bathroom. The other led up a narrow flight of stairs. She immediately rose up the steps, and winced when one creaked loudly under her foot. She went on however, knowing that her approach had probably been noticed by whoever was creating the flow of power above.

She stood atop the stairs a moment later. That placed her against one wall of the attic. An open window beside her allowed sunlight to stream in and bathe the area in light. A narrow passage ran back from where she stood, lined by a wooden rail to prevent one from toppling over onto the stairs alongside it. This little mezzanine doubled back deeper into the house, and opened up into the main space of the attic.

More sunlight streamed in through a window at the far end of the room, and suffused the space with light. The walls sloped up steeply from either side, joining in a sharp peak overhead. A bed nestled beneath one side of the slanted roof, and a dresser lay across from it, while a desk sat under the window between the two. January noted that a box of professional drawing pencils at open upon the desk, just behind a drawing tablet that was connected to the laptop that also resided there.

The walls were draped in both colored and black and white drawings on loose sheets of paper. Some were clearly done by hand. But most were obviously printed out. A glance to the printer that sat on the floor beside the desk implied the source of the latter. Clearly, whoever lived here had both a talent and zest for creating art.

Most of the drawings were of nature scenes, especially the colored ones, which radiated vibrant green forests and burning red-gold sunsets. The black and white work was primarily of people. But not just any people. January saw herself depicted there, as well as Blood Raven. They competed for space with mythical beings such as feathered serpents, and numerous pentagrams, pentacles, triquetras, and other Wiccan symbols.

A round throw rug stitched in geometric Aztec designs had been tossed aside, revealing the bare wooden floor boards below. A simple magic circle was drawn out here in table salt. Set at its cardinal points were a small bowl of water, a feather, a burning candle, and an irregular chunk of rose quartz. At the center sat a cup filled with water, and two small resin statuettes that looked like Aztec or Maya deities.

Standing within this sacred space was a girl, January guessed perhaps of fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her hair was a raven black waterfall, and her eyes were soft brown. She was dressed in a Ms. Miracle tee and a pair of tights that matched that fictional heroine's blue and red attire. In one hand she held an athame that looked suspiciously like a miniature version of the elven sword Sting from the Lord of the Rings movies. In the other hand she clutched several loose leaf pages covered in hand writing.

None of this looked particularly unusual to January. It was clearly a standard ritual from Wicca or any of the other zillion branches of modern Witchcraft. Indeed, at first the sight came as a comfort. For this looked like nothing so much as a young Witch finding her power. Hardly a supervillain bent upon summoning monsters from beyond reality.

But what sent a shiver of dread down January's spine was the amulet openly displayed upon the young woman's chest. It was a large medallion of brass, carved with a giant scarab beetle in its center. It was exactly like the one her brother - the Summoner - had worn when he died. Its presence in the astral pulled at her awareness. Not because it radiated power, but rather for the opposite reason. It was a void in magical space, an empty spot that her awareness skittered off of entirely.

The teen looked up at January, and her eyes widened in amazement. January forced a smile to her lips. But she could not take her eyes from that amulet. She walked forward into the main room, and reached out for the medallion with one hand. She felt Blood Raven rise above the stairs behind her, and float through the air over the railing a moment later.

"Remove that amulet now child." Blood Raven's voice was soft, but commanding.

Instead the young Witch clutched at the brass medallion, and shrank away. Fear now competed with surprise for space in her eyes. With an effort January opened her hands to show her empty palms, in the universal gesture of peace. She continued to slowly step forward. She tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

"It's okay," January assured. "We aren't here to hurt you. We're here to save you."

"S...s...save me?" she stammered. "From what?"

"From that medallion," Blood Raven's feet came down upon the bare wooden planks of the floor. Still, her head brushed against the sloped ceiling above. "It is very dangerous. You must take it off, now."

"I'm Stormcrow, and this is Blood Raven." January took another step forward. She nodded to the drawings on the walls. "I can see you know us. You know we are here to help. Now what is your name?"

"Xochitl," the teen said.

"Sochi?" January repeated. "Like the city in Russia where they had the Winter Olympics a few years ago?"

"No." The young woman rolled her eyes, and January sensed that she had stepped into a well-traveled minefield. "Like the flower."

"I believe it is one of the Mayan languages, or is it Nahuatl?" Blood Raven murmured.

"Nahuatl," the young woman insisted.

Now January noted a book on her desk about Mesoamerican art. Well that was a big Duh! She could not help but bury a palm against her forehead. Could her foot get any deeper in her mouth?

"The world is a wider, and stranger place than any of us imagine," Blood Raven intoned. "None of us can know all of its secrets. Not even superheroes like Stormcrow and I. Perhaps you might tell us more, my young apprentice. But first, that amulet, I once more bid you remove it please."

"What is going on?" Xochitl frowned and stared from one woman to the other. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"You called," Blood Raven said plainly. With an open hand she gestured to the ritual space that the young woman stood within. "Your spell, it is a siren cry in the aether. Yet it has no form, no substance. It calls to nothing and no one in particular. We followed. You are fortunate that we are all that did so. There are things in this world and beyond that are not as beneficent as we."

"It's supposed to call an air elemental," Xochitl shook the papers in her hand. "The pages said that is what they summoned. I just wanted to try it out, to you know, see if it really worked."

"I think that was a trap," January continued to inch closer. She was now at the very edge of the magic circle. She could feel energy rising from it, marking out the sacred space. But it was weak, fleeting. She knew she could easily breach the barrier it created if she wanted to.

"How, how is this a trap?" the young Witch questioned. "I mean, it's just a spell, and an old necklace. It's probably not even magical at all, like I hoped it was."

January made her move. She was Air. One of her wings snapped out and punctured the barrier of the magic circle as if it was made of tissue paper. Her feathers sliced through the brass chain of the amulet an instant later. Then one of her hands pierced the ward of the magic circle yet again, and caught up the amulet as it fell. A moment later she had snatched it back out of the circle entirely, and held it up to study.

The brass felt warm under her hand. Then it glowed like a white hot iron, and the heat burned her fingers. Rather than let it go, she gripped it even tighter. Agony seared through her hand. But she was not a stranger to pain. It was just an ordinary part of life after all.

She felt the amulet squirm in her grip. It did not want her to hold it. It did not like her. In fact, even though it was a void in the astral, she could sense that it hated her, hated her with a white hot killing rage.

Just like that the scarab depicted in the center of the medallion erupted, as if an explosive had been set off within it. A creature of bone and nightmare came rushing out. January did not wonder at how it could have been contained within the tiny piece of jewelry. Clearly this was magic, and the monster had somehow been bound within the amulet, like a Jinn within a bottle. Only now it had been set free.

It was a bleached white skeleton, the size and shape of a person. But in addition to human bones, it also possessed a long, serpentine tail of vertebrae that trailed out from the base of its spine. Its eyes were fiery pits, and its fangs lunged for January's throat.

January reacted by reflex, and knocked the creature's head aside with her right elbow. She followed through by pivoting her frame around her hips in the opposite direction. She used this new counter motion to launch a power punch with her left fist, putting all the mass of her body behind it. The monster's skull rocked back under the impact, and it slammed against the barrier of the magic circle, which rose up behind it. The invisible screen of power disintegrated beneath the impact, and the salt that had marked it out scattered across the floor.

The monster stared at January, but did not strike again, at least not physically. Now that it was free of the amulet's cloak, January could sense it just fine in the astral. It was a dark, cold corruption of death and magic. It reeked of hunger, and resentment, and plain old hatred.

It reached out to her across astral space, and January felt her blood boil. She felt it drawn to the monster, like iron to a magnet. The life-giving fluid leeched from her nose and mouth, and flew in mid air toward the creature. Out of reflex she reached a hand up over her mouth and nose, which blood now streamed freely from. None of it fell to puddle on the floor however. Not a single drop. Instead it all flew through the air toward the skeletal creature.

But it stopped as quickly as it had begun. January felt power rise between her and the creature. It not only shielded her from the magical attack, but it also reversed its effects. Her blood flew back into her body, and its flow returned to normal. She did not have to guess who was responsible for her salvation, nor turn to look in her direction. Blood Raven was a master of blood magic after all, and January had been the benefactor of that power more than once.

Then January felt Samhain enter the physical world behind her, and heard its voice call out across the astral.

The raven ravenous,
Among corpses of men.
Affliction and outcry,
And war everlasting.

Then Blood Raven advanced past her, and was upon the bone wight. The dark steel of her Damascus blade was a blur in the room. But it was turned aside by a shield of arcane energy that emanated from one of the creature's hands. Brilliant sparks shot forth at the contact of the two magical forces, filling both the astral and physical realms with momentary light.

The monster replied with a slash of its claws that dug furrows down the flesh of Blood Raven's face. The elder heroine did not react to this in the slightest. January knew that her mentor lacked the invulnerability that she possessed herself. That was why her armor was real, rather than just for show. But even more so than January, pain did not seem to exist for the other woman. So far as January could tell, it was an idea that the elder heroine had forgotten. So she simply carried on as if nothing had happened at all.

The tail which hung down behind the skeleton's frame lashed out like a whip. January saw this was directed not at Blood Raven or herself, but at Xochitl. January became Water. She somersaulted off the side wall and ricocheted around the corner of the room behind the wight. She bounded off the back wall an instant later, like ball in one of those old pinball machines. She finally came down to the floor and spread her wings out around the young woman.

Even as she did, the sharp, gleaming bone of the skeleton's tail sliced an angry path through her feathers. Agony lanced through her wings. But they did not break, and neither did she. As ever, she endured.

January pushed Xochitl down to the floor, where she would be out of the way. Then she wrapped both of her arms around the bony ribs of the bone wight from behind. She arched her body backward, and pulled the monster up with her in a belly to back suplex. The skeletal creature soared through the air above her. Then they both crashed into the window behind them.

Glass shattered, and the wooden frame splintered around it. January and her enemy both went tumbling into space beyond, outside of the house. While still in midair she let go, even as her wings caught the sky. The wight dropped to the grass below, a flailing mess of white bone, while January hovered in the air.

She glanced up, and tore the sky asunder with a giant crack of lightning. A jagged bolt of electricity lanced down in an instant, bringing light, and heat, and deafening sound. It followed her will, and roared into the monster. Ribs shattered and vertebrae turned to ash under the elemental assault.

January saw Blood Raven through the window, standing protectively between Xochitl and the creature. Her mentor threw Samhain out toward her. She easily caught the leaf-shaped Celtic blade as it pin-wheeled through the air. Its grip fit in her hand like she was born to it, like it was part of her. She heard the voice of the Morrigan whisper in her ear in a silky smooth voice. The goddess told her tales of prophecy and slaughter, of Magh Tuireadh, and the end of the world.

January dropped to earth as the wounded bone wight struggled to rise. She swept aside the monster's claws, and brought the Celtic sword down upon its head. Its skull shattered under the impact. January felt the blade shiver as it continued down, and stuck hard into the monster's backbone.

"Valhalla calls," she growled to the undead monster.

Once more she entreated the sky, and tore loose another great bolt of lightning. It struck Samhain by the blade, and the tremendous force of the blast drove the sword all the way down to the ground. Electricity roared all about January, the monster, and the raven sword. The wight was literally cut in two, and what remained of its bones shattered into blackened fragments.

January heard a scream in the astral, a banshee wail that turned her blood to ice. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw people on the sidewalk stop and clutch at their ears. Cars frantically braked, and dogs howled. She swept the sword from side to side, and hacked what little remained of the bone wight to literal pieces. That scream faded into astral space, taking with it what remained of the undead creature's power.

She stared down. It was nothing but a pile of charred and broken bones now. No energy remained to animate its body. No spirit yet dwelled behind those shattered eye sockets. All that was left in its wake was a dark stain in the realm of magic. But January knew that this too would pass, and eventually vanish into the astral like chaff on the wind.

January turned her gaze from the creature's remains, to the sword in her hand. Sparks danced across the wavy Damascus steel of its blade. The same electricity bathed her in flickering light. As usual, it tingled, but in a good way. For long moments she simply enjoyed the feeling of the power that thrummed through her. She felt like a walking thunderstorm, primal and alive. She closed her eyes and breathed deep and slow, and allowed her body to relax. Then she thrust the blade point first into the blackened soil at her feet, and allowed the electricity to ground harmlessly into the earth below.

Then she lifted Samhain and wiped its point free against one leg. Once it was clean, she reversed her grip to an under-handed one. She now held the sword so that its blade thrust up alongside her arm, and its point jutted up from behind her shoulder. A single leap took her back up to the broken window above. She balanced there upon the tortured sill for a moment, then hopped lightly back into the bedroom.

"Gracias," January fell back to her high school Spanish as she proffered Samhain's leather-wrapped hilt to Blood Raven. Her mentor laid a hand upon the grip beneath January's, and for a moment she heard ravens screech, and the soft flutter of feathered wings. Then she let go of the Celtic sword, leaving it entirely to her teacher. A moment later it faded from reality, as Blood Raven sent it back to where ever it was the raven blade normally rested.

"Samhain is fond of you," Blood Raven murmured. "She knows your blood, and approves. Unlike others she has encountered of late."

January nodded. Blood Raven had once told her that she had forged the steel with carbon taken from her own bone, and quenched it in her own blood. Samhain knew her, and her descendants, intimately. It was a part of their family, not just figuratively, but literally.

The fight theme fits January very well. The music is progresses nicely from a period of introspection turning to hard driving clashes leading to a final forceful conclusion. Puts me on the edge of my seat.

Now that bone wright is inspiring. My first thought is to, “Run Away! Run Away!”

Totally get wanting to keep things in the realm of the real. Fictional countries can also pile up, which risks throwing the whole thing out of whack (Marvel certainly has a ton of them by now).

Part of me is wondering if the Hierophant is now sending out amulets like this to corrupt/kill people. Magic practitioners certainly aren't common, but there are enough neophytes out there that he could hurt a lot of folks this way. Xochitl was lucky that January and Blood Raven were in the area.

Alternately, he's specifically using Xochitl for some reason.

I also liked the routine between January and Blood Raven, specifically how they approached the issue. Blood Raven was much more demanding, which fits with her persona and the world she came from. January's more approachable. It's a good showcase of their respective personalities.

Sorry for my tardiness. Alaskan fjords are beautiful this time of year. . . . I began reading the Mercy Thompson series of books while at sea. After Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Stormcrow, I’ve decided urban fantasy is okay.


10.1

Yup, Jan is completely and totally sooo over Hannah. . . not.

Hypnotic Voice. I really enjoyed how you developed this based on the need to ferret out the original memory of an event rather than later recollections of it. It does suit Blood Raven – despite her darker persona, both her heart and willpower render her an appropriate and responsible user of such magic. I can also identify with Stormcrow’s reluctance and her desire to shy away from manipulating others. As an illusionist, Buffy is familiar with Stormcrow’s quandary and the care required when intruding into the mind of others.


10.2

A burst of mysterious but not inherently evil magic sends the heroinic pair airborne to investigate.

Wow, looks like they arrived in the nick of time so that when the wight popped out of the bottle, it was met by something more formidable than a baby witchling. A well done fight. I really liked how Blood Raven’s blade recognized and accepted Stormcrow as blood-kin. Also, crowgirl is getting really good at calling down the awesome power of lightning.


Nit: ’But she was not stranger to pain.’ - - 'no' instead of not?

Hmm, this new mention of something entering their spheres of awareness, what (or who) could it be? ... The fly flies away. Hmm, something creepy about this one. Like a trap!

Whoa, they see themselves as figures drawn on paper? What the heck? Total guess here as I read, but this seems the work of a teenager. It just has ... okay, damn. I think I was right. But I was gonna say those sort of drawings of mythical beings. They just seem so high school-ish.

"Remove that amulet NOW!" This is creeping me out, Rosa! Literally just got goosebumps.

Where are this child's parents or guardians or whomever? Seems she's in the house by herself. But she also seems sort of inexperienced. There's nothing malevolent going on here, seems Xochitl did some experimenting, but got into something she didn't expect?



Edit: That's a good idea with the timeline; I imagine it keeps contradictions from occurring, and keeps the story's facts consistent. As an example, any time I reread any of my works, even if they occur over the course of a few months (like Goblin Lady) in the beginning there will be little things which don't jive with stuff, habits, manners of speaking, etc. which take place later in the story.

In a sense sometimes this bothers me, but eh.

Can you show us the Reddit thread?

macole: I have a folder filled with artwork of various monsters. Whenever I see a good one, I copy it there. I look back in that folder whenever I am creating a new magical creature for the story, and pick something that fits. In this case I saw the picture, then decided what it was, and how it worked. We will learn more of that in today's post.


WellTemperedClavier: One thing I never liked about the DC comics universe is that I just have trouble becoming invested in Central City, Metropolis, or Midway City, etc... They just do not feel real to me, because they aren't. Gotham is the only one that really works for me, because it has been in so many Batman movies and comics and books. The city has a unique character all to its own. There are even maps of it. So it feels real to me. That is why I try to avoid creating fictional countries or even cities for the Stormcrow fiction.

I am not saying I will never do it. Never say never, as Sean Connery learned about doing James Bond movies. The big reason people do it is to avoid the negative consequences that might come your way if you vilify a real country. It is why I do create fictional counterparts for a lot of the products and services in the fiction, like Instantgram, Burger Baron, or FaeCola. That and I do want to show that this is not our world, but an alternate universe.

Put a pin in your musings on the Hierophant's plans with the amulet. All will become clear in today's episode as we finally get to talk to Xochitl.

As ever, Stormcrow and Blood Raven are so fun to write, because they are a study in contrasts in so many ways. While in others they are so alike. I never have trouble wondering what either would do. They both have such forceful personalities that they just sing from the page.


Acadian: Jan is sooo, over her. Yep, forgot all about her. Totally.

The whole episode with the Hypnotic Voice was a something I wanted to do to show how magic worked in the world. It is not simply a matter of ticking the right boxes and presto, rabbit out of the hat. It has to be right for you. Jan will probably never be able to do something like the Hypnotic Voice. Just like she has not been able to do a simple Arcane Bolt spell. They just are not in her personality. Magic is not just something you do. It is who you are.

Jan is going to get quite a lot of practice with Samhain in this Book. I too really liked how I have been able to give the sword a personality of sorts, including how it reacts to various members of the family, from Julian to January. It is old, and it is powerful, and it is a force to be reckoned with.

As ever thanks for the nit. Cleaned that up.


Renee: Xochitl is an artist, and a teen. So she draws what is on her mind. That is Stormcrow, Blood Raven, pentacles, and unicorns. Of course!

We will be seeing Xochitl's parents soon enough.

The timeline saves me a lot of time when I want to refer back to past events, and get the amount of time that has gone by right. So January can think that it was only a week ago that such and such happened, or just two days, etc... I was wasting a lot of time digging through my older stories to get that stuff right. Having it all organized in one place in the timeline makes it much easier.















Since Renee asked about it, here is a link to a topic I created on Reddit asking for help naming the superheroine who would eventually become Silverlight.


The Dearg Due

Nahua

IED

She's Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Transgender History by Susan Stryker



Book 10.3 - Alliance

January turned her mind from such musings. The here and now demanded attention, namely the young teen before her. Xochitl's eyes were wide as saucers, and she shook like a leaf. January looked down at her, and gently laid her hands upon the young woman's shoulders.

"Everything is going to be ok," she tried to sound as reassuring as possible. "When I pushed you down before, I was not trying to hurt you. That was to get you out of the monster's path. Keeping you safe is the most important thing for both of us."

"That... that... thing, it almost killed us," Xochitl stammered. "It was in the necklace the whole time, and I didn't even know it. It could have killed me at any time."

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. She gathered up the remnants of the brass amulet. It had shattered to pieces when the bone wight had burst from its bonds. The elder heroine picked through the bits of tortured metal that remained, and drew forth a single, blond hair. January did not need to shift her senses into the astral to know its source. She smelled it. It was from her brother Julian.

"This was a trap set specifically for us," Blood Raven continued. "That is why the Dearg Due came forth when Stormcrow laid her hand upon the amulet. It could only escape when our blood came into contact with it. You and this spell were simply the bait to draw us here."

"The Dearg Due?" January asked. As much as she had studied the Bestiary, that was one monster that she did not recall.

"My kin in Ireland named these creatures such," Blood Raven replied. "Some might call them vampires. But they are actually wights. They steal the blood of others, and use it to fashion a body of flesh from. This allows them to mimic the living, but only for a time. The blood always decays, and they are driven to devour more, and more. They prefer young males. But will take anyone if the opportunity arises."

"You're from Ireland?" Xochitl's voice brought January's gaze back around to the teen.

"Do my scarlet tresses not tell the tale?" Blood Raven smiled, and ran the fingers of one hand through her brilliant red mane. When Xochitl did not respond, her face turned more serious. "Please pardon the levity. It is not my forte. I was born in Boston, some time ago. But my people hail from Eire, at least on my mother's side."

"And your father?" Xochitl wondered aloud.

"The less said of him the better," Blood Raven could not contain a brief scowl.

"Denmark," January whispered, one hand held up against the side of her mouth so that Blood Raven could not see her lips move. "The same as me."

That brought a Spockian raised eyebrow from Blood Raven. But it did have the desired effect. Xochitl cracked a tiny smile, and some of the tension seemed to flow from her frame.

"And you, my young apprentice, where do your people hail from?" Blood Raven went down to one knee, so that Xochitl did not have to look up to see her.

"Mexico," she said, more readily than before. "A long time ago. My mom, she got really into genealogy after my brother was born. We go back to the Spanish colonizers, and before, to the Nahua."

January glanced about the room once more, and let her eyes dance across the books that graced a short bookshelf. There were more volumes on Mesoamerican history and culture. Likewise there were several tomes on modern Witchcraft, including one by Branwen Renner.

She also noted She's Not There, by Jennifer Finney Boylan, and Transgender History, by Susan Stryker. She even saw a hard copy of Artemis Argent and the Secret of Mystery Hill. It was one of the four-page teasers that she had printed out and bound herself by hand. She had given them out at her book signing at the Warren library. She tried to search her memory for Xochitl, but could not place her there. There had been too many people there that night for her to recall them all.

"Tell me Xochitl," Blood Raven went on. "Where did you find that amulet, and the pages from your spell?"

"It's not my fault!" she cried out. She pulled away, and looked defensively from one woman to the other. "I didn't know!"

"We do not seek to lay blame Xochitl." Blood Raven said softly. "We understand that you were a pawn in all of this. But we need to know."

"No one thinks you are a supervillain," January concurred. "But there is a real one out there. We are chasing him. That is why he did this. He put it - and you - out like an IED for us to stumble across. We need your help to find him."

"You mean the Hierophant," now Xochitl looked white. "I saw it on the news, from Jobbie Nooner. Those people died there..."

"The Hierophant killed them," Blood Raven said. "He will kill anyone who crosses him, anyone who inconveniences him. That is why we must end his reign."

"He isn't going to come after me is he?" Her eyes darted like a startled rabbit. "If he knows about me, will he come here?"

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. "We would smite his ruin should he be so foolhardy as to face us under open arms. Just as Stormcrow did that bone wight."

"We are going to keep you safe," January said with certainty. "That is what we do. We will always fight for you."

"Now, let us speak of the amulet," Blood Raven said gently.

"I found it yesterday," Xochitl relented. "I was out walking in the woods, by the creek, like I always do. I found both. The amulet was wrapped up around the pages, like a scroll. I don't know how no one else noticed it. It was just right there, I mean, you couldn't miss it, even in the bushes like it was."

January allowed her astral gaze to travel over the pages of the spell she had used. But they were entirely ordinary. However, something else called to her attention. It was a magical... odor. She followed it to the desk, and opened the top drawer. There she found another set of pages. These were written in Latin, in a precise script.

She brought them forth, and felt power flow around them. It was a simple spell that essentially formed a magical beacon in the astral. It was something no magician could fail to miss, while at the same time imperceptible to mundane senses. Were it not for all the previous excitement, she would have certainly noticed it sooner. As she stared at it, she realized that its power was fading. January imagined that the day previously it might have been like a spotlight. Now it was just a candle. Soon it would probably fade from existence entirely.

"I translated the Latin," Xochitl nodded to the original pages which January now handed to Blood Raven. "I took it in school last year."

"Very good, my young apprentice," Blood Raven nodded. "Did you see anyone lurking nearby? Have you sensed anyone around you lately? Anyone like us, or you? Anyone with magic?"

"I... no... I don't think so," Xochitl stammered. "I mean, I don't know how I would know. But I never saw a creepy guy in a black cleric robe, like they said on the news."

"It is as I expected." Blood Raven rose to her feet, and walked several paces away toward the stairs that led down the ground floor. January followed when she motioned her to do so. The elder heroine kept her voice low, in a tone too low for Xochitl to hear, and raised her wrist-mounted computer to her lips.

"Cray, set up drone surveillance around this place if you please, just in case. Stormcrow, I shall take these artifacts with me and see to it that they are destroyed, likewise with the remains outside. I suggest you remain here. The authorities shall require your attention, so will the child's parents."

"Maybe we should take her back to the Raven's Nest?" January murmured. She glanced back over her shoulder to where Xochitl fretted beside her bed. "She would be safer there, in case the Hierophant does come back to tie up loose ends."

"Physically, she would indeed be the safest there," Blood Raven agreed. "However, we must also consider that we would be plucking her from everything and everyone she knows, and isolating her in a strange and unknown environment. Look at her, she is frightened. My intuition tells me that her home and her family are where she belongs right now."

"In any case, the Hierophant has yet to strike in the same place twice," Blood Raven continued. "Nor is he wont to show himself in the open. I do not believe he will change his tactics. Xochitl cannot identify him, so she poses no threat to him. I suspect he will not take the risk of exposing himself just to kill her."

"But what if you're wrong?" January worried.

"Do you feel it the best course?" Blood Raven laid a warm hand upon January's shoulder. "I trust your judgment in this my friend. If you believe it to be wise, then we shall conduct her with us to the... Raven's Nest."

"You still don't like that name," January tried to force a smile to her lips.

"It is oh so dramatic," the older heroine shook her head.

"Hast thou partaken of thine visage in the looking glass of late?" January countered.

Blood Raven laughed at that, and now January did smile. She glanced back at Xochitl, who still sat on her bed. She fidgeted nervously with her hands, and stared forlornly at the salt scattered across the floor.

"I think you are right," January finally sighed. "She belongs here, with her family. But the newest Daughter of the Raven will need a teacher."

"Daughter of the Raven, or Daughter of the Crow?" Blood Raven raised an eyebrow that a Vulcan science officer would be envious of. She briefly turned her gaze to the young woman, only to look back to January.

"I don't think I'm ready for that." The mere idea felt like the weight of an ocean piled up upon her shoulders. Fighting monsters, now that was easy. Being responsible for a young person's future, well that was another matter entirely.

"You are more ready than you know my friend." Blood Raven once again laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "Perhaps you shall see that soon enough. Until then, I will teach her. Of course I will. But while I can show her how to find her power, and perhaps even grant some small advice on how to navigate the trials of womanhood, there are some things I just can never aid her with. You know of what I speak."

"Because she is trans?" January nodded. "Yeah, I saw that in her aura as well."

"You have a perspective on this I cannot grasp," Blood Raven insisted. "I can be her teacher. But you can be her mentor, and her friend."

"You're right, you're right, as always," January nodded.

"Why do I sense reluctance on your part?" Blood Raven probed. "I should think you would be ecstatic for such a challenge?"

"It's just, a little overwhelming," January said honestly. "What if I screw up? What happens to her then?"

"Welcome to life, my apprentice," Blood Raven laughed. "We cannot spend all our time meditating in a monastery. There comes a time when we must join the world, and even fudge the bucket upon occasion."

January tried not to laugh at that.

"Fudge the what?" she smiled. "Where did you get that from?"

"The Urban Dictionary," Blood Raven replied smoothly. "Ever do I strive to not be sus."

Blood Raven turned away, and walked back to Xochitl. Once again she knelt down in front of the young woman. This time she reached into one of her belt pouches and pulled out an iron ring of interlacing Celtic knotwork. She held it up before the teen, and twisted the inner row of knots in one direction.

Sága instantly blared a warning. So too did the computer mounted within Blood Raven's own armor. January fumbled with her digital assistant to stop the alarm, and saw that the miniature computer had placed a glowing pin on her current location.

"Test affirmative," Cray's voice intoned in her ear.

Blood Raven twisted the knots back into their original configuration, and handed the ring to Xochitl.

"Take this, wear it at all times," she said. "If you are ever in danger, use it as I just did. We will come ready to fight. Do not abuse this. Use it only in times of direst need."

"Now I must take my leave," Blood Raven continued. "Many errands of great import press for my attention. But fear not, for I leave you in the care of my friend Stormcrow. You could ask for no better sister than she, my young apprentice."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Xochitl asked.

"Apprentice?" Blood Raven wondered. "Are you not? You have stepped into a much wider world today Xochitl. I would show you this world, and your power, should you so wish it."

"Me?" the poor girl practically squeaked.

"I see no other sitting here," Blood Raven insisted. "Do you think yourself not worthy? Dispel such illusions. You called us here. You have power. We all do. But will you use it?"

"Well, what say you?" Blood Raven rose to her feet when Xochitl did not answer. "Do you wish to join Stormcrow, and learn the arts of magic?"

"Yes!" Xochitl leaped to her feet, features aglow with a smile.

"A wise choice, my young apprentice," Blood Raven said. "Now I shall not be able to avail myself of you for some time. Not until the menace of the Hierophant is put paid to. But until then I have several books for you to read. When I return, we shall discuss them, and see what you have learned. Fear not if some concepts elude your grasp. Rather make note of them, and we shall examine them closer together. For those are the things my counsel shall aid you with the most."

Blood Raven reached out and took up Xochitl's phone from where it rested upon the dresser. She drew forth a USB cable from her one of her armored wrists, and connected it to the device. She tapped the screen of her wrist-mounted computer for a few moments. Then she disconnected the phone and returned it to the young woman. Afterward she took another moment to point out the new files she had downloaded to it.

Next she drew forth a small square of cloth from one of her belt pouches. She unfolded it, again and again, until I had transformed into a large sack. It was not anything sleek or modern in appearance. Rather it looked like an old canvas bag, something an adventurer might cart around in a fantasy role-playing game. She tucked both sets of the summoning ritual's pages within, along with the fragments of the broken amulet.

Then Blood Raven took the window out. She did not leap as January had, but rather floated serenely outside. January could sense rather than see her move down to the grass and begin to gather up the remains of the monster, and also place them in what appeared to be her bag of holding.

"Right," she said, "I guess that makes me the TA. The first thing on our academic calendar will be to get this place cleaned up. The police will be here soon. Don't worry, I know how to deal with them. We'll have to call your parents as well."

"Oh no, my dad is so going to kill me!" Xochitl looked nervously to the broken window.

"Leave that to me," January breathed. "The dad part, not the killing. Speaking of that, this is very important. At this point no one needs to know you were using magic. In fact the less said about that right now the better. As far as anyone else is concerned, you were just an innocent bystander when Blood Raven and I showed up and fought that monster."

"But why?" Xochitl asked. "I was in the closet up until I was seven. I didn't like it much."

"I know," January nodded. "But there is more going on here than just you living your authentic life. The Hierophant is still out there. If he simply left the amulet and pages there for any magician to find and use, then he has no idea who you are. Best we leave things that way."

"Also, some day you might want to pursue a career that involves wearing a cape," January continued as her fellow magician considered her words. "The less you tie your day to day life with a super life, the safer everyone around you is. That goes for our relationship as well. For now at least, keep it on the down low. Blood Raven and I have many enemies. Some would rather come for you than for us."

"Oh boy," Xochitl sat down had on the bed once more, and stared at the phone in her hands.

"Yeah, it's a lot to take in." January sat down beside her. "Been there, done that. But you can do it. You are not powerless. You are strong. You have agency."

"If that was true I wouldn't need to hide!" Xochitl fumed. "It's just like school. Everyone has to pretend to be 'normal' - whatever that is. If you don't fit in, the bullies attack you like piranhas."

"Honey, no amount of power is an excuse for being a fool." January replied. "I got kicked out of my first junior high school because I beat up the bullies who used to attack me. I spent the next two years going to a different school that was miles away. I didn't know anyone there. I didn't go to school with my friends again until high school. In retrospect, I might have handled that better, or at least more strategically."

"Like worn a mask when you beat them up," Xochitl fumed.

"Well yes," January considered. "Or maybe found a way to humiliate them in public without getting kicked out for fighting. Remember, there is always a price to pay for our actions, and sometimes other people pay it for us. Think about that before you act."

She rose to her feet, and glanced out the window. Down below she watched as Blood Raven tucked the last of the Dearg Due's bones away in her bag. Then she folded the sack back up into that same neat, little square that it had looked like to start with. After secluding that back into her belt, she soared away into the sky. Moments later blue and white lights flashed in the street below, as several police cars pulled to stop outside.

"The police are here." January observed. "I will go deal with them. But first, let me borrow your phone for a moment."

January picked up the device, and found the favorite for Xochitl's mother. She waited while it rang, and watched the police officers begin to gingerly step across the lawn. Their eyes raced in all directions, and hands rested nervously on holstered guns.

January took her time and climbed into the window frame. She moved slowly, so as to not startle anyone, especially anyone with a gun. She kept her wings folded up on her back, and sat there for a moment with legs dangling out into space. Then she let herself drop to the back yard a story below. She took the fall without even needing to bend her knees in the slightest. Dropping from a second story window was no different from taking an ordinary foot step for her these days.

All the while she waited while the phone rang. Finally a woman answered as the first of the cops came up.

"Hi honey, what is it?" came the other woman's voice.

"Hi, is this Xochitl's mom?" January began in her perky phone voice. She silently cursed that damn excited, pleasant tone. She was trying to be professional after all.

"I am. Who is this? Why do you have my daughter's phone?" the tone of the voice on the other end of the line changed in an instant into one of guarded concern.

"I'm Stormcrow," January said, both for her benefit, and for that of the police. "I'm here at your house. Let me start by saying your daughter is safe and unharmed. She is upstairs in her room right now. She loaned me her phone so that I could call you. Blood Raven and I had a fight with a supervillain in your house. You might want to come home."

Your consistent use of Blood Raven’s anachronistic manner of speech is wonderful, as in the below examples:
"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. "We would smite his ruin should he be so foolish as to face us under open arms. Just as Stormcrow did that bone wight."
"Nor is he wont to show himself in the open.”
And very funny when Stormcrow pokes fun at her over it:
"Hast thou partaken of thine visage in the looking glass of late?" January countered.’
And even funnier when Blood Raven later says ‘fudge the bucket’ as she tries to be ‘sus’.

A solid conversation between the women as they debate the future and attendant mentorship of their young magical and trans apprentice. Blood Raven does have the right of it however that Jan needs to dive in and not let fear of mistakes restrain her.

Blood Raven has a bag of holding! Stormcrow neeeeeeds one of those to tote her crowbike in.

"Well yes," January considered. "Or maybe found a way to humiliate them in public without getting kicked out for fighting. Remember, there is always a price to pay for our actions, and sometimes other people pay it for us. Think about that before you act."
- - Well, this is some seriously solid and appropriate mentorship. Jan is off to a great start!

Jan is getting quite expert on dealing with ‘aftermaths’. We see that as the police arrive and she talks to her new apprentice’s mom.


Nit: ’Then she disconnected the pone {phone} and returned it to the young woman.’

Yes, that's what I'm saying (about the timeline). You've been writing SC now since 2019 if I recall correctly! That's a lot of info to keep track of.

Thanks for the Reddit link. Hey there you are, SubRosa Florens. Quite a busy thread there, too, nice!

Today's story makes me wonder if Xochtil knew what she was doing first of all. Did she expect there'd be a result, and quite a huge one as well? Has she does this sort of thing before, you know, maybe starting with a love potion in middle school perhaps? (That's what I did when I was experimenting with wicca btw. Didn't work!)

Weird. So how did this teenager get a lock of Julian's hair? Oh I see. This was a trap, like I assumed, sort of. But how did Xochtil get the amulet in the first place?

Ha, she's got one of Raven's books. 📕 Wow, she's got a bunch of books which are pertinent. Small world.

Okay, it sounds like that amulet was definitely placed in a spot so Xochitl could find it. Which is scary enough.... it means the teen's on the Hierophant's radar, somehow.

Nice, I'm glad the teen has joined them. But where are her parents or guardians? Okay, dad is mentioned. And mom is called. Sorry, I'm starting to sound like a karen. I bet mom's gonna be freakin out though. "WHAT? Superheroines are at my house?"

EDIT: and here's another thing. The Hierophant does seem to have really planned this. Notice that he's picked the teenager, who just happens to have all the books of Jan and Raven, and the teenager also just happens to be messing around with magic. The Hierophant places those items knowing all of this.

In fact, it seems the Hierophant has just helped the superheroes. Not coincidence, nor is it mistake, methinks.

Yeah, I hear you on DC Cities. I'm not a big comics guy, but from the media I have seen, Gotham's the only one that seems to be written somewhat consistently. The specifics vary, but it's always a dark and dangerous place with an element of the uncanny. The rest largely seem to depend on whoever's writing it, which makes it hard for any of them to stick.

Though the Hierophant's ugly shadow looms large, it seems like his effort might have only served to give Raven another ally. Xochitl's obviously pretty inexperienced, but January and Blood Raven are probably a good balance of teachers for her.

Haven't had the time to read all of the most recent entries here (real life has gotten busier again), but trying to make my way through. I do still have some thoughts to share if that's alright.

RE: DC Cities: I guess I never thought about it before, but I somewhat agree. If it's a fake city, it tends to be much more interesting if it's a completely fictional setting, or it is the real world but the city is in place of a real one or uses some notable aspect of one (e.g. Fallout cities and towns that have rebuilt on old foundations like Diamond City, New Vegas, and Rivet City). But with the exception of Batman, I don't care much about comics in general, so Gotham is naturally the only one of those fake comic book cities that I'm invested in.

I've always thought Xochitl was a cool name. Also some similar-sounding names from current and ancient Central-American/South-American culture as well like Quetzalcoatl or the city of Tenochtitlan.

"Bone wight" makes me think of a Bone Colossus from ESO (and in Skyrim's Anniversary Edition thanks to one of the Creation Club mods automatically added to that edition). Looks like he didn't get enough calcium if January and Blood Raven took him out.