- Location
- Alaska
@Immortal Lurker groundbreaking symbological exegesis my dude. Easily a Deus Vult/10
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Witchcraft (Young Justice SI)
- Thread starter Hexxart
- Start date
Sounds good. I'm in. I've often thought myself that the best way to affirm absolute good would be the restoration of the Byzantine Empire, but people look at me funny when I say it out loud.
- Location
- Elsewhere
So blood magic is a good start, but with a name like that you are obligated to learn at least some mirror-based magic.
Preferably involving traveling through them.
- Location
- Indonesia
It seems that clothes enchantment draw its power from the wearer. I'm okay with Superboy learn some magic. God know he have the smart. Might give him new hobby other than starring at static.
- Location
- Nowhere
- Pronouns
- She/her
Here I thought I was being subtle and clever. 'Oh I'll drop a few hints to foreshadow future events' and here you come along and spoil it for everyone. That's it I'm done, you all know how it ends now. Nah. I'm just joking her shirt is just a generic edgy teen shirt, it doesn't actually foreshadow anyhting. Probably. I might be lying.
But more seriously I'm glad your enjoying it so far. I have to admit now I'm curious to see what symbolism you could come up with for her incantations. Some of them have actual symbolic meaning and the rest I made up on the spot.
Something, something when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. You saw most of Bloody Mary's offensive spells this chapter and she doesn't have any experience in a real fight. So she ended up just throwing whatever she had on hand against the Fog before thinking about what would actually work the best.
She figured out the correct trick eventually it just fook her a little while.
Please stop sharing my notes with everyone.
- Location
- texas
Please stop sharing my notes with everyone.
Well in that case I feel I should point out that Mirror Master encountered Bloody Mary behind the mirrors over in Flash.
So she could meet the legend herself that way, if you so desired.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Hmm...
Create a large mirror out of reflective blood....
summon a demon thats on your side from it?
- Location
- Under a Rock
This sounds like fun!
I choose to interpret this as the Latin sanguine and the Greek kenesis. Basically "Blood, move!" There are two things I want to get into here.
First, this is a drop dead simple command. Yet she can do lots with it, including things that don't seem directly related to moving blood. To me, this implies extensive mastery of the spell. Rather than offload the complexity on to foci or rituals, she understands the magic well enough to do it mostly in her head with an extremely general command word.
Second, if I'm correct about the etymology, why is she mixing roots? Hemokinesis sounds badass, and is already a word! For that, I look at the other definition of sanguine. Outgoing and social. A sanguine personality is focused on connecting with other people.
Wanting to connect with other people is very much in line with what we have seen of Amanda so far. She wants to make a good first impression on the team, and wants know Red Tornado's preferred pronouns.
In the theme of "connections" the very first use we see of Sanguis is to setup a sympathetic ritual!
Sanguine works better than the Greek "haîma" because sanguine references both how she uses the spell and how she wants to interact with the world.
This, as near as I can tell, is a Fate Apocrypha reference. Amanda has good taste in anime. Shamefully, despite watching and liking Fate Apocrypha, I didn't catch the reference until I googled it.
Kazikli Bey is the Noble Phantasm of one Vlad III, and it basically just throws an amazing number of pointy things that can't miss at your opponent. Beyond that there is just so much stuff to unpack here.
First of all, in means something like "Impaler Lord", and it is basically a Turkish nickname some people in the Ottoman Empire had for Vlad III. But in real life the Ottomans used a European term for lord rather than the distinctly Ottoman "Bey", because Vlad III was from Wallachia. This difference is important.
Since Amanda is the one doing the impaling in this case, "Bey" might refer to her (It might not. See Begum). If it does, "Bey" usually refers to a lord of the Ottoman Empire. The same Ottoman Empire that ruled Istanbul for 500 years. Amanda might be trying to establish legitimacy for her future conquest, or claiming that legitimacy is something she already has.
A second, much sadder connection is the character of Vlad III in the Fate series, who I will refer to as Lancer to avoid confusion with the historical Vlad III.
Lancer was a hero in life, who defended his country from the East and the West with ruthlessness and cunning. Lancer's character arc is a tragedy, because the world and the people around him insist on seeing him as something he's not. Namely, a vampire. This eventually destroys him, as the stories of him being a vampire are so strong that they overwhelm petty things like him never having been a vampire. He gets turned into a vampire, entirely against his will, in an ultimately pointless betrayal by his master in an attempt to win the grail war.
Amanda, fortunately, seems to be surrounded by better people than that.
I should have guessed this, but, "The Hand of God Commands Movement!"
Curious. Amanda is clearly the one commanding movement here. So is she referring to herself as the hand of God? In keeping with her t-shirt, "The Hand of Absolute Good Commands Movement!" She sees herself as a force, one with the aim of bringing about Absolute Good.
Now the energy costs. It isn't as efficient as she would like, and it seems to have a fairly low limit. Focusing on what is right instead of what is easy. And the world is very difficult to change, with limits on what one person can accomplish.
EDIT: I was wayyyyy off base with this one.
As if the God imagery weren't potent enough, now she is just straight up calling upon angels. The -el suffix has always meant "of God". Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raziel. Huh, that last one looks super close.
Time to play Kabbalah! Raxiel is Raziel, minus a Z and plus an X. Except we are playing with Hebrew letters now, so its actually minus a Zayin and plus a... well, the Hebrew alphabet apparently doesn't really have a proper "x" as in "hexxart". So we have two options. First is to go with a K and an S. So the Latin letter 'X'. It got its start as the Greek letter X, which Wikipedia says is pronounced something like "Ki". Since playing Kabbalah allows us to ignore vowels if we feel like it, Raxiel is Raziel, minus a Zayin and plus a Khaf.
Zayin represents struggle. Khaf represents humility. Both letters can also represent a whole bunch of other things, but this ties in nicely with the Cross of Saint Peter.
For a starting point, Raziel is the archangel of secrets and mysteries. Raxiel is presumably similar, but with less struggle and more humility. So I take it that Raxiel is an angel or archangel of epistemic humility. Some times you don't know something, and it is important that you acknowledge that. And Raxiel is your angel in such times.
I assume you gain favor with Raxiel by patiently listening to people you assume are wrong, just in case they turn out to be right. And they apparently pay you back with blood.
Huh. The sin of anger. And she has control of it, better than most. Here I am putting aside my tongue-in-cheek default and assuming this means more or less what it says. Amanda has a lot of anger, but she controls it, directs it towards specific targets, and uses it as fuel.
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An Angel is a possibility, but so is a Fallen Angel, especially since this seems to concern something called "Hellfire".
I think I'm enjoying reading your commentary more than I am the actual chapters. Keep up the good work.
- Location
- Nowhere
- Pronouns
- She/her
Have a cookie* for reminding me that Mirror Master exists. It gave me a fun idea.
*Warning do not eat. Cookies can be redeemed for one free question.
I don't think biology works like that.
You actually got quite a bit correct.
Sanguis was derived from sanguine, with both meanings being applicable to Amanda.
Kazilik Bey is indeed a Fate reference.
and your serious analysis of Peccatum Irae was right on the money.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
How reflective is blood?
at least two people say it can be reflective....so maybe with magic it could work?
- Location
- Alaska
She could probably just smear some blood on the mirror if she needed to make the necessary connection.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
True, but thats less Dramatic..
- Location
- Alaska
Honestly, I just wanna see this edgy teenage blood-mage do a big ol' Blue Skidoo into some sort of trippy mirror dimension.
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You could go crazy with all the blood based powers.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
Well now, this is quite fun!
Introductions - Part 5
- Location
- Nowhere
- Pronouns
- She/her
Episode 1 - Introductions Part 5
Philadelphia
August 8, 22:03 EST
I winced as a cutting pain shot through my foot. Looking down, I saw that I had stepped on my athame. I guess that both my shoes and sheath were burned to ash a moment ago. At least the cut's from my athame - if it'd been a normal piece of glass I'd have to wait for it to heal normally.
A sliver of focus saw the wound on my foot close, and the pain from it faded away. Athame now in hand, I resumed my walk towards Superboy and Robin, this time being far more careful where I placed my feet.
As I closed the distance I heard Robin giving a report of the event of tonight to Aqualad.
"Yeah. we retrieved the Fog. Took out another handful of Shadow's as well. One of them with the codename Cheshire made off with a computer with valuable data." Robin said into his communicator.
'Understood. We are moving Dr. Roquette to a Justice League safe house now that she has completed her work. We will see you back at the Mountain,' Kaldur responded.
"So... what now?" I asked as I approached the pair. After the intensity of the fight, the parking garage seemed to be cloaked in silence. Speaking almost seemed to be in violation of the natural order. I knew that it was just a trick of the mind, a result of the sudden end of the chaos I'd just been involved in. But that didn't make the parking garage seem any less eerie in the aftermath.
"Now we secure the bad guys and sit on them until the police arrive. Make sure the metahuman containment teams can secure them, and then give our statements." Robin answered easily. I nodded in understanding. Cleanup work, the least glamorous part of the job.
"How are we going to secure this guy? I doubt that a pair of handcuffs would fit him." Superboy asked gesturing to Hook-arm.
"Might be able to help with that," I volunteered. "If you can get me a hair from each of them I can make sure that none of them try anything before the police can get here."
"Superboy you want to do that while I get the police on the phone," Robin asked.
"Fine," Superboy grunted before he set about to gathering hair samples.
I found a relatively untouched column that I could lean against without letting any of the Shadows out of my vision. I glanced around guilty; there was no good reason that I couldn't gather the samples myself. But now that the fighting was over I could barely find the strength to stand. That would be the adrenaline crash, the analytical part of my brain told me.
I allowed myself to slide down the column until I was resting in a sitting position. I could have died tonight. If Cheshire had stabbed at my throat or eye, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
I rubbed my arms feeling the cold for the first time tonight. Why am I even doing this? I'd never gotten in an actual fight before tonight. Was this all for some childish fantasy of being a superhero?
Superboy walked over with a fistful of hair in his hand. "Here you go." He grunted before walking off again. How did they do it, risk their life day in and day out for total strangers?
I twisted the strands of hair around my index finger and started casting. "Legati Peccatum, Legati Peccatum," I muttered over and over. Each time I spoke the words I felt the spell take to hold a bit tighter. Inertia: the start is the hardest, but then it gets easier to keep going.
Having something to do took my focus off of the what-ifs and maybes of the earlier fight.
Robin came out of the Shadow's car frowning. He had a metal cylinder in his arms that I was reasonably certain contained the Fog within.
"That the Fog?" Superboy asked, giving the container a baleful glare.
"Yeah," Robin responded.
"What's wrong then?" I asked between my iterations of the binding spell.
"In order to use the Fog, they would've needed a computer hookup. But I searched the whole car and there's no computer there." Robin explained
"Is it really that important?" Superboy asked.
"Yes! If we had the computer we could see what information they had stolen, maybe figure out other targets and maybe even trace the signal back to one of their bases." Robin explained. "But Cheshire probably grabbed it when she ran,"
"Why just the computer and not the Fog as well?" I asked. "Why just leave it after all the trouble they went through to have it made in the first place?"
"They probably figured out that we were tracking the Fog, but without knowing how we were tracking it they couldn't risk bringing it back to a safe house. So she left it behind so she could escape with as much data as possible."
"Speaking of how did you know Cheshire? She's not exactly a high profile member of the Shadows." Shit, time to lie my ass off.
"Mr. Blood keeps tabs on his fellow immortals," Technically true, "and he noted Cheshire as one of the Demon's Head's the more promising Shadows." I lied through my teeth. I really hoped that Batman never followed up on this line of question with Mr. Blood. He'd always known that there was something off about me, but he never pressured me to explain what exactly it was.
Before Robin could interrogate me any further the sound of sirens interrupted us. Saved by the bell.
I returned my focus to my spell while Robin and Superboy dealt with the police. It's now or never for an escape attempt.
"Legati Peccatum," I began again. Better to be safe than sorry.
If I believe that, then why am I out here? I didn't have to volunteer to be a superhero, I didn't have to volunteer for the team most likely to see combat. What the hell am I doing?
To my surprise, the cops didn't use extra strength restraints on the Shadow's we'd captured. Instead, they just handcuffed the lot.
As I looked closer, I could see that all of the criminals now had some sort of high tech collar on, and one of the officers in tactical gear was holding what looked like a key fob. I guess that's what metahuman restraints look like. More humane than I'd imagined.
Cyclops and Hook-arm had recovered enough that they could be led into the armored van rather than carried. Not-Spiderman, however, was unable to walk properly.
I froze as I saw the emergency responders cut away his bodysuit to examine his legs. Even from this distance, I see that they were bloodied and bent at unnatural angles. Part of me wanted more than anything to go over there and help the emergency responders, to lose myself in the work I'd once done a lifetime ago. Another darker, more sinister part of me rejoiced to see the pain my handiwork had wrought. Even a year ago, I would have been horrified to see myself take joy in someone else's pain. Oh, how things change.
Am I even capable of being a hero? Or am I just a sadist living out her fantasies?
No, no. I shook my head, I'm not going to start falling down that rabbit hole. I'm not going to keep double guessing myself. I made this decision, and I just have to hope it was for the right reasons.
The Shadow's secured by the police, I stopped casting my spell. As I stood up, I felt the effects every blow I'd taken this night to catch up to me. My dress had cushioned me some, but it didn't cover my entire body. Ugh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I need to check if Mr. Blood knows a good poultice for bruises. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be closer to the rule than the exception.
Well, except for the amount of clothing related damage. I really hope that's not normal.
I wandered over to where the police were milling about to see if I needed to do anything else or if Robin had already taken care of it.
I got a few odd looks but no one ventured any closer, so I guessed Robin did all the talking necessary. Probably for the best, not sure how eloquent I'd be right now.
A few minutes later the police gave us the all clear to leave the scene. When Superboy carried the Fog away to the bioship, no one complained. Wait, can we just take material evidence from an active crime scene without penalty? I should probably figure out what legal powers I actually have as a member of this program.
The flight back to Happy Harbour was quiet, All the fighting we did tonight is catching up to us. Everyone here probably just wants to go to sleep.
"So, how was your first time?" Robin asked out of the blue.
I blinked, trying to process the non-sequitur. What.
"Wait, uh what, I mean my first time what?" I managed to choke out.
"Your first time on a mission on the Team, why What did you think I was talking about?" Robin asked, barely containing his mirth. Come on, you're a preteen, don't go making these jokes.
"I, uh..." Right, I'm going to ignore the second half of his question, "Intense. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't that."
"Yeah," he said nodding his head. "The first time you get in a fight where you realize that the other guy is trying to kill you is tough."
It was my first time fighting period. I swallowed back the words, I don't want to come off as weak or uncertain now. Not after I just got on this team
"How do you do it?" I asked, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth "Deal with the what-ifs and maybes, I mean. All the ways tonight could have gone better or worse."
"I just keep in mind that I did everything I could, and that every mistake is a learning experience," Robin said solemnly. Deja Vu.
I couldn't quite prevent myself from chuckling. My chuckles quickly grew to a full-bellied laugh. Which turned hysterical a moment later.
"I'm sorry, it's just I've heard almost those exact words before," I said getting my laughter under control. "Applied to something different but the message was the same." images from a lifetime ago flashed through my mind. A pocket knife with a red plastic handle, a crying woman, the red on my hands, and the moment she went still. And the hand on my shoulder and soothing words afterward.
"I just wished it helped," I finished, bitterness coloring my tone.
"Yeah, wouldn't that be something?" Robin responded, his voice barely above a whisper.
Philadelphia
August 8, 22:03 EST
I winced as a cutting pain shot through my foot. Looking down, I saw that I had stepped on my athame. I guess that both my shoes and sheath were burned to ash a moment ago. At least the cut's from my athame - if it'd been a normal piece of glass I'd have to wait for it to heal normally.
A sliver of focus saw the wound on my foot close, and the pain from it faded away. Athame now in hand, I resumed my walk towards Superboy and Robin, this time being far more careful where I placed my feet.
As I closed the distance I heard Robin giving a report of the event of tonight to Aqualad.
"Yeah. we retrieved the Fog. Took out another handful of Shadow's as well. One of them with the codename Cheshire made off with a computer with valuable data." Robin said into his communicator.
'Understood. We are moving Dr. Roquette to a Justice League safe house now that she has completed her work. We will see you back at the Mountain,' Kaldur responded.
"So... what now?" I asked as I approached the pair. After the intensity of the fight, the parking garage seemed to be cloaked in silence. Speaking almost seemed to be in violation of the natural order. I knew that it was just a trick of the mind, a result of the sudden end of the chaos I'd just been involved in. But that didn't make the parking garage seem any less eerie in the aftermath.
"Now we secure the bad guys and sit on them until the police arrive. Make sure the metahuman containment teams can secure them, and then give our statements." Robin answered easily. I nodded in understanding. Cleanup work, the least glamorous part of the job.
"How are we going to secure this guy? I doubt that a pair of handcuffs would fit him." Superboy asked gesturing to Hook-arm.
"Might be able to help with that," I volunteered. "If you can get me a hair from each of them I can make sure that none of them try anything before the police can get here."
"Superboy you want to do that while I get the police on the phone," Robin asked.
"Fine," Superboy grunted before he set about to gathering hair samples.
I found a relatively untouched column that I could lean against without letting any of the Shadows out of my vision. I glanced around guilty; there was no good reason that I couldn't gather the samples myself. But now that the fighting was over I could barely find the strength to stand. That would be the adrenaline crash, the analytical part of my brain told me.
I allowed myself to slide down the column until I was resting in a sitting position. I could have died tonight. If Cheshire had stabbed at my throat or eye, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
I rubbed my arms feeling the cold for the first time tonight. Why am I even doing this? I'd never gotten in an actual fight before tonight. Was this all for some childish fantasy of being a superhero?
Superboy walked over with a fistful of hair in his hand. "Here you go." He grunted before walking off again. How did they do it, risk their life day in and day out for total strangers?
I twisted the strands of hair around my index finger and started casting. "Legati Peccatum, Legati Peccatum," I muttered over and over. Each time I spoke the words I felt the spell take to hold a bit tighter. Inertia: the start is the hardest, but then it gets easier to keep going.
Having something to do took my focus off of the what-ifs and maybes of the earlier fight.
Robin came out of the Shadow's car frowning. He had a metal cylinder in his arms that I was reasonably certain contained the Fog within.
"That the Fog?" Superboy asked, giving the container a baleful glare.
"Yeah," Robin responded.
"What's wrong then?" I asked between my iterations of the binding spell.
"In order to use the Fog, they would've needed a computer hookup. But I searched the whole car and there's no computer there." Robin explained
"Is it really that important?" Superboy asked.
"Yes! If we had the computer we could see what information they had stolen, maybe figure out other targets and maybe even trace the signal back to one of their bases." Robin explained. "But Cheshire probably grabbed it when she ran,"
"Why just the computer and not the Fog as well?" I asked. "Why just leave it after all the trouble they went through to have it made in the first place?"
"They probably figured out that we were tracking the Fog, but without knowing how we were tracking it they couldn't risk bringing it back to a safe house. So she left it behind so she could escape with as much data as possible."
"Speaking of how did you know Cheshire? She's not exactly a high profile member of the Shadows." Shit, time to lie my ass off.
"Mr. Blood keeps tabs on his fellow immortals," Technically true, "and he noted Cheshire as one of the Demon's Head's the more promising Shadows." I lied through my teeth. I really hoped that Batman never followed up on this line of question with Mr. Blood. He'd always known that there was something off about me, but he never pressured me to explain what exactly it was.
Before Robin could interrogate me any further the sound of sirens interrupted us. Saved by the bell.
I returned my focus to my spell while Robin and Superboy dealt with the police. It's now or never for an escape attempt.
"Legati Peccatum," I began again. Better to be safe than sorry.
If I believe that, then why am I out here? I didn't have to volunteer to be a superhero, I didn't have to volunteer for the team most likely to see combat. What the hell am I doing?
To my surprise, the cops didn't use extra strength restraints on the Shadow's we'd captured. Instead, they just handcuffed the lot.
As I looked closer, I could see that all of the criminals now had some sort of high tech collar on, and one of the officers in tactical gear was holding what looked like a key fob. I guess that's what metahuman restraints look like. More humane than I'd imagined.
Cyclops and Hook-arm had recovered enough that they could be led into the armored van rather than carried. Not-Spiderman, however, was unable to walk properly.
I froze as I saw the emergency responders cut away his bodysuit to examine his legs. Even from this distance, I see that they were bloodied and bent at unnatural angles. Part of me wanted more than anything to go over there and help the emergency responders, to lose myself in the work I'd once done a lifetime ago. Another darker, more sinister part of me rejoiced to see the pain my handiwork had wrought. Even a year ago, I would have been horrified to see myself take joy in someone else's pain. Oh, how things change.
Am I even capable of being a hero? Or am I just a sadist living out her fantasies?
No, no. I shook my head, I'm not going to start falling down that rabbit hole. I'm not going to keep double guessing myself. I made this decision, and I just have to hope it was for the right reasons.
The Shadow's secured by the police, I stopped casting my spell. As I stood up, I felt the effects every blow I'd taken this night to catch up to me. My dress had cushioned me some, but it didn't cover my entire body. Ugh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I need to check if Mr. Blood knows a good poultice for bruises. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be closer to the rule than the exception.
Well, except for the amount of clothing related damage. I really hope that's not normal.
I wandered over to where the police were milling about to see if I needed to do anything else or if Robin had already taken care of it.
I got a few odd looks but no one ventured any closer, so I guessed Robin did all the talking necessary. Probably for the best, not sure how eloquent I'd be right now.
A few minutes later the police gave us the all clear to leave the scene. When Superboy carried the Fog away to the bioship, no one complained. Wait, can we just take material evidence from an active crime scene without penalty? I should probably figure out what legal powers I actually have as a member of this program.
The flight back to Happy Harbour was quiet, All the fighting we did tonight is catching up to us. Everyone here probably just wants to go to sleep.
"So, how was your first time?" Robin asked out of the blue.
I blinked, trying to process the non-sequitur. What.
"Wait, uh what, I mean my first time what?" I managed to choke out.
"Your first time on a mission on the Team, why What did you think I was talking about?" Robin asked, barely containing his mirth. Come on, you're a preteen, don't go making these jokes.
"I, uh..." Right, I'm going to ignore the second half of his question, "Intense. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't that."
"Yeah," he said nodding his head. "The first time you get in a fight where you realize that the other guy is trying to kill you is tough."
It was my first time fighting period. I swallowed back the words, I don't want to come off as weak or uncertain now. Not after I just got on this team
"How do you do it?" I asked, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth "Deal with the what-ifs and maybes, I mean. All the ways tonight could have gone better or worse."
"I just keep in mind that I did everything I could, and that every mistake is a learning experience," Robin said solemnly. Deja Vu.
I couldn't quite prevent myself from chuckling. My chuckles quickly grew to a full-bellied laugh. Which turned hysterical a moment later.
"I'm sorry, it's just I've heard almost those exact words before," I said getting my laughter under control. "Applied to something different but the message was the same." images from a lifetime ago flashed through my mind. A pocket knife with a red plastic handle, a crying woman, the red on my hands, and the moment she went still. And the hand on my shoulder and soothing words afterward.
"I just wished it helped," I finished, bitterness coloring my tone.
"Yeah, wouldn't that be something?" Robin responded, his voice barely above a whisper.
- Location
- Elsewhere
You realize you can never let the other witches know about this.
Simple, just twist his arms behind his back, and hook his right 'hand' around his left arm.
He'll never get out of it!
"Act confident, don't explain. Whatever they don't argue about is legal."