Commentary from Paige: This is a reconstruction of how Susana's initiation into the Magical Renegades went. On a summer day in 2018, Paige was sitting at a cafe and began typing, with a 16 pound platinum-colored laptop at the table, and several books and records with her. By her laptop was a copy of Susana's autobiography, along with transcripts of audio recordings from the other Magical Renegades members.
"The ordway isay wasalay wordfishsay." Aurora spoke over the phone. It was a late 19th century payphone with a wooden case, inside a large, ornate wood and glass phone booth.
"Hey! We're delighted to hear from you again!" The person on the other line responded.
"I met the legend, and she's interested in the initiation."
"Great! Is she ready now?"
After a few moments, there was a response.
"I am! Susana said. Aurora had invited her into the phone booth.
"We're ready, and we'll be there in a minute!" Aurora added.
"We'll be ready too!" The person on the other line said with even more excitement in her voice.
After the call was over, Aurora cast a teleportation circle. She and Susana were surrounded in a lilac-colored light before warping away to their destination.
"Is this the place?" Susana asked. She glanced in each direction. There were hardly any buildings or houses in sight. The largest was the two-story red brick building that she and Aurora were teleported in front of. It was surrounded by small purple shrubs on the side. The nearest other house or building was around 100 feet away.
"Totally!" Aurora said in excitement, and walked towards the front door. Susana followed her, still not knowing what to expect.
"Am I really what she said I am, 'the legend'?" Susana thought. "I'm still a bit at sea over this, but I promised her that I'd go to this shindig. I'd love to see this other technology she talked about, but first, I need to see whether she and her friends are the real deal. Whether they're telling the truth about this other form of magic..." She was still thinking to herself when Aurora tugged at the door handle.
The door was firmly locked. It was made of wood, and had a horizontal slit. The slit was a few inches tall, was placed closer to the top of the door than the bottom, and was closed by a shutter.
Knock knock.
Aurora knocked on the door a few times. The shutter opened to reveal a pair of bright electric blue eyes peeking out the door. "What's the word?" The person asked.
"Itay isay wordfishsay." Aurora confidently said. The person behind the door opened it part way, accepting Aurora's answer.
The other person was a very tall woman of 20 years old, with a pale complexion, orange hair, and was wearing a short-sleeved, mid-calf length light gray dress decorated with a red bow, and a white apron. She had short bangs that reached just past her eyebrows, while the rest of her hair was slightly past shoulder-length. Her eyes could give an intimidating glare, but she looked excited. "Hi!" She smiled.
"Hi!" Aurora said back to her.
"Hey." Susana said.
"We're so thrilled to meet you." The orange-haired woman said. She stepped back a few feet to let Aurora and Susana enter the building before closing the door behind them. The lobby of the building was a large room with gray walls, and tiled floor. The walls weren't entirely plain; they were decorated and illuminated by different colors of neon lights. Susana curiously glanced at them, but didn't have enough time to ask whether they were magic, or a technology she'd never seen.
"Would you like to introduce yourself?" The orange-haired woman asked her. "I'll introduce myself too. The name's Christina." She motioned towards a few couches along the wall with a stack of books on a table in front of them.
The other members of the team were also present, which included a man of around 30 years old. He had a medium tanned complexion with scruffy purple hair with a slight beard. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt with a dark blue vest, top hat, and dress pants. His eyes were obscured by the goggles he was wearing. He was seated on a couch near a wall, but stood up, showing that he was taller than Susana and Aurora, though several inches shorter than Christina.
"You're the legend in-person! Delighted to meet you. When you're ready, we can start the initiation." He said with a smile, and offered to shake Susana's hand. She accepted the offer.
"I'm Susana." She introduced herself. "I'm almost ready, but I have a few questions. How does this work?"
"I'm Avogadro." The man in the top hat introduced himself. "During the initiation, you create a magical alter-ego for yourself. You're still human, but your alter-ego is a mage, who everyone will see as being separate from your human self." He explained.
"Hmm... That sounds safer than becoming a witch." Susana pondered. "But is there a catch?"
"You will rely on a magical device that has a power source to transform you into your mage alter-ego. If you lose it, it's knocked out of your hands in a fight, or it malfunctions, or runs out of power, you're powerless." He warned.
Susana looked concerned, but she was willing to accept this risk. "Nothing about the risk of losing my soul?" She asked.
"Nope. Carefully guard your magical device, maintain it, and conserve its power, and you should be fine!" Christina said. "We'll teach you how to maintain it!"
Susana thought about it for a few more moments, but felt more assured. "Alright, I'm ready to begin." She said, nodding. Aurora and the other Renegades cheered.
After the introductions, a demonstration was in order! Avogadro and Christina stood a few feet behind Susana, while Aurora stood a few feet in front of her.
"Most people have the capacity for magic to become classical mages, but it usually isn't sparked. Initiation through any means can spark it. You have that capability all along, or you don't, but anyone can become a witch or warlock, or become one of us." Avogadro explained.
Aurora reached into one of the pockets on her tunic, and pulled out two pocketwatches. The first had a silver exterior, the front panel had a gold star in front of a pistol shape near the top. Below it was another insignia, which resembled a stylized, eerie smiling face in a circle, but the eyes were star shapes. The neck of the pocketwatch was a metallic dark blue.
She stepped forward and handed this pocketwatch to Susana, and then stepped back to pull the other pocketwatch from her pocket. It looked similar to the first, but the front panel had a gold star surrounded by a pair of silver wings near the top, and the neck of this pocketwatch was a metallic light blue.
"I'll show you how this works, and then we can start the initiation!" She said, holding up the pocketwatch. The lights dimmed for a dramatic effect. Susana looked up and saw a set of 5 spotlights which may have been salvaged from old theater equipment. They were attached to a support structure from the ceiling, and connected to an elaborate contraption of wires, levers and dials.
One spotlight shone directly on Aurora. She pressed the button the top of her pocketwatch, revealing that the interior panel was a metallic blue, with a circular, clear glass panel in the middle. Behind the glass panel was an oval-shaped crystal that had gear teeth along the edges. The crystal glowed, and rays of light shone from it.
Susana looked in amazement. "This looks real!" She thought.
The pocketwatch began glowing a light purple, and levitated out of her hands, and above her. A circle on the floor surrounded her, and glowed. Magic dust and streams of multi-colored magic energy emerged from the circle, and began to swirl around her.
She appeared to turn into a glowing silhouette. The sleeves of her outfit puffed out, her hair grew longer, and her outfit gained a long skirt, and her pocketwatch changed into a pistol shape.
When the dust and fog cleared, Susana could see that Aurora's appearance changed. She had a similar hairstyle, but her ponytail was a lot longer, reaching down to her waist, and was tied with a black ribbon with a bow. She had a dark gray hat with a black brim and brass goggles with round, black lenses.
She wore a dark gray jacket with medium gray lapels and a front panel of the same shade. It had puffy sleeves with a medium gray, star-shaped patch on the side of each sleeve, on the upper parts of the sleeves. Below the puffs of the sleeves were black belts with brass buckles.
Susana was amazed, but perplexed over Aurora's fashion sense, which didn't resemble anything she had seen before. Aurora's jacket had three horizontal stripes running along the sides and back of the jacket; the top stripe was dark purple, the middle was a brighter blue, and the bottom strip was a vibrant light green. Gray frills lined the bottom edge of the jacket, which was worn over a white dress with a skirt that was split down the middle.
Aurora twirled to show off the colorful underside of the skirt that billowed when she twirled; it had a purple, blue and green gradient and shimmered. Under her skirt, she were knee-length parachute pants and white tights, and wore white boots with black straps. She had a reddish-gray belt around her waist, with a holster and a few pouches on the side.
Her magic weapon floated down towards her, and she caught it in one of her hands. It took the form of a silver ray gun with brass accents. It had a glowing power meter on both sides of the barrel. On both sides near the handle were a star-shaped power gauge that framed in gold, and the inside of the gauges glowed a bright yellow. The handle was a metallic blue and silver. She put her weapon in the holster, and twirled again before dramatically posing!
Avogadro, Christina the other Renegades applauded, and Susana quickly followed.
"Thank you!" Aurora said, waving to the others. "Awesome, isn't it?!" Aurora, as her alter-ego Renegade Midnight, asked to Susana. “You'll get an awesome mage alter-ego from your initiation too! My alter-ego is called Renegade Midnight Conductor, and my weapon is called Rising Star Altair!" She explained.
"I'm ready for this!" Susana said in excitement.
"Your weapon is called Quasar Sniper Pistol Star. Your alter-ego will have 'Renegade' in the name, with a reference to a color, but that's for you to choose." Christina explained.
Susana thought about it for a few moments. "I want to be Renegade Liberty!" She proclaimed. "It sounds good. It's what I fight for, and liberty is a shade of blue!"
"We'll accept that!" Christina said.
"Press the button on top, and then you'll say, write, or think the name of your weapon and follow it with 'Jump start'or'Umpstartjay'!" Renegade Midnight explained.
Susana nodded.
"Quasar Sniper Pistol Star Umpstartjay!" Susana said, after pressing the button on her pocketwatch. "Did I get it?"
"You did!"
Susana's pocketwatch opened up, showing that it had a sky blue metallic interior panel. The gear-shaped crystal behind the middle of the panel glowed. She looked up as the pocketwatch glowed brighter, and levitated above her before it changed into its weapon form. It hovered in the air for a few moments before it floated down towards Susana. She grabbed the handle and looked at the weapon for a few moments.
Renegade Midnight used her power to manifest a large holographic screen with the incantation. "I'll start with the first line, and we'll take turns with them until the last 2 lines. We'll say those together!" She explained.
Near the end of the incantation, Midnight and Susana put their weapons together. They glowed and created a bright light as Midnight and Susana said the last lines in unison: "But our foes shall weep, they shall cower... For we believe there"s no such thing as too much firepower!"
A large cloud of magic dust surrounded Susana as her alter-ego began to take form, as she focused her thoughts on what she wanted to be as a mage.
"Awesome!" Midnight cheered. The other Renegades cheered and applauded. Christina went to another room to retrieve a mirror. "Say hello to Renegade Liberty!" She said, holding a large mirror in front of Liberty to see herself. She looked at her reflection in excitement for a few moments before turning to the others.
"I'm ready to start training!" She eagerly announced.