10 Chapter 10 : Experimenting again

Author note : come one, come all to my fabulous (not really…), marvelous (nope.), original (meh!) Patréon page ! https://www.patre*n.com/user?u=66371596 or search for Cathbel on their website.

Now, enjoy the new chapter !

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Ever since Skye moved in, Doreen is always squatting our place. Well, her two best friends live under the same roof, I guess that's to be expected… Another thing that was expected (even though it took more than a decade for me to notice), they've discovered magic.

Unlike my parents who hid for years, I'm just… very bad at this. Which makes me think that perhaps it's a good idea not to become a vigilante. My identity wouldn't stay secret for long I'm guessing.

I really wonder why I'm even working so hard at this point… I mean, I know why. I'm mostly curious about what my power can truly accomplish and there's also probably my desire to become strong. Strong enough to do everything I would want to. Strong enough to defend myself. Strong enough to survive in this crazy world.

For now, I know that my mom and dad are protecting me. And to be perfectly honest, it bums me out ! Mentally, even with the hormonal teenager shit I'm going through, I'm still mature. Mature enough that I can probably get my own apartment and live by myself. And mature enough to understand how the world works.

The thing is, if I want to leave the nest and fly on my own, I still need to build some muscles in my wings. See what I mean ? That, and I need to find out more about the world. Skye and Doreen in Midtown high is one thing. The X-men's existence another… There are events from some of the movies but, they don't really add up to what I know. And Skye's identity… It's not the one from the MCU. Doreen doesn't even exist in those (at least, she didn't before I died).

What about the bad guys ? Is Hydra even embedded in SHIELD ? Does SHIELD even exist ? What about weapon-X and the other shitty organizations like the Hellfire club, AIM or the Hand ? There's simply too much I don't know. And until I do, I won't be comfortable… Not that my parents will even let me leave, though.

So, I work, learn and train. My calligraphy's getting better, obviously. I've a few different polices now that I can use which is very useful. I've defined them to be used in some situations, acting the part of different coding languages. Like HTML, C++, Java and Python.

Now, back to Doreen and Cory, and the fact that they found out about magic. At first, Doreen was quite excited about it, and in her usual fashion, wanted to learn it. As soon as she found out how much studying needed to be done, however… She kinda dropped it.

Cory is another matter. She is a logical, hard working girl that is a little bit of a nerd. She doesn't mind doing research, or studying for something she finds interesting. And magic… She finds it resembles coding (which she loves) a great deal. So, she's been studying with me, mom and dad.

Sitting at my desk, I roll my wrist to warm it up a bit. I do that for a while as I lose myself in my thoughts. There's a lot I can actually do with my ink… And I'm still discovering more every day. As my mom and dad said a while ago, I can actually enhance every spellwork requiring me to write using my ink. Meaning : rituals, runic (or not) enchantments, but also talismans and a lot of other things.

But then, I'm thinking… Writing talismans, preparing rituals, engraving enchantments. It all takes time. It's not a problem per say, since I'm not active as a vigilante or superhero. However, if I or/and my parents are ever attacked out of the blue, it means that I won't exactly be able to fight back efficiently, unless I carry the stuff I prepared everywhere with me. And going to school with a backpack filled with yellow paper scribbled with esoteric shit. Yeah… no !

I'm already kind of an outcast at school because of how I looked. If the kids heard that I also had cultist, or witchcraft nerdy stuff like that ? Bullies will target me, for sure !

So… What can I do ? Answer : actually, a lot ! Unlike a regular sorcerer, I don't actually have to advertise it ; I can hide it. Carrying sketches or notes is not viewed as weird. And as I found out, the ink can stay dormant pretty much indefinitely. Well, as long as there's still magic in it, at least. After that, it either disappears or becomes inert and unusable. Still haven't figured out why it does one thing or the other. There doesn't seem to be a logic, but perhaps it's one I'm not seeing yet. Perhaps it's linked to the amount of magic power contained in it as it usually has a random amount of it. Well, I find that the greater amount of ink I used, the greater the magic inside. Still, with two similar volumes, the amount of magic can vary pretty greatly.

I still don't know if I can manipulate, add or subtract how much magic there is inside of my ink. Sorcerers don't exactly learn how to manipulate magic in its raw form. That's why they study so long and hard… In order to replace the hazardous, instinctual mana manipulations that some races (and sub-races such as witches) can innately use by precise calculations, quantity of magic fixed by a contract with an entity, etc…

But dad says it's too soon for me to make any contract, and even if I do I doubt it'll be useful for this particular problem. And to be honest, the idea of being contracted to an entity is… not to my liking, to say the least. I rather like the idea of growing my power slowly. I'm not sure but I think that it's potential might even be superior to the Scarlett Witch's power.

I finally lower my dip pen toward the ink bottle. Slowly, methodically, I start to write a program… Or rather, a tale of commands and instructions. Given that I'm currently safely at home, I feel like taking my time. Writing in code might be a little faster, however I also need to make sure there's no mistake in it. And contrary to the English language, I'm simply not familiar enough with it.

Cory's been helping me in that regard : we're devising a simple, and swift language for me to write my programs with. Well… She's doing most of the job and I'm just learning it little by little, actually.

Right now, though… Right now, I want to try something new. I know that I can burn shit up, make them blow up… Is it possible for me to do other things with my ink ? So, I start drawing. My drawings are getting better, though I still prefer the cartoon-ish design over the more realistic ones. Even though I suspect, the realistic ones might hold more power… Then again, maybe not.

That's the things with my ink and its power. When I first started working with it, I thought it only worked on myself. More specifically my mutation. But then, I discovered that it isn't so. As I said earlier, I was able to create and define a symbol that affected the outside world by igniting.

And, as I applied myself on my calligraphy, I noticed how it enhanced the effects of the ink, not only on myself, but on other things as well. At one point, I even had hair… But since I'm more used to not have any, I decided to lose them, again. That, and the girls said I looked weird with hair… Go figure !

I worked on several different typeface, both to see if it would change things, and in order to have more variety… Because I found that, variety helped me a great deal in organizing, programming etc… And I was also curious to find out whether different typeface had different effects on the ink. Besides increasing or decreasing their power according to how well I wrote, it didn't really.

Still, I keep working on it. I figure if I can write things differently, and I define the typeface to give it its own function, those will be enhanced. And it does. For example, I use a gothic typeface to animate my writings and drawings. It makes them more fluid, more life-like.

« Now I wonder if… »

The cartoon man resembled a cow-boy with his lasso hanging from the side of his belt. Then, I start writing…

{The cow-boy grabs his lasso and twirls it above his head}

As I write, I see from the corner of my eye how the drawing start to move.

{The cow-boy aims and throws the loop around the pencil on the desk.}

Once again, the drawing does as is written on the paper. I notice how the pencil move slightly as the rope drawing seemingly loops around it.

{Once the rope is secure, the cow-boy pulls the lasso back to him.}

And as I suspected… The pencil is drawn to the drawing. I smile in satisfaction.

« This… has potential. »

Yet another application of my powers…