madimpossibledreamer

If you happen to have experienced Wednesday, please write a detailed report of everything that had occurred. Yesterday we discovered that no one within the library actually remembers anything about the day, so if we can find anyone who does happen to remember the day, we can determine if this is a Stand attack and try to implement countermeasures. Thank you.

Writing’s on the Wall

Stand User: Wesley Wyndam-Price (Deceased)

 

Power: B	Speed: C	Range: S
Durability: E	Precision: D	Potential: D

Writing’s on the Wall is what could be described as a typical long-range remote Stand capable of following basic instructions (such as ‘target anyone that enters this area’), but targeting a specific individual requires work done beforehand, such as luring one person away from a group and ordering Writing’s on the Wall to target only those who enter that particular area. The Stand is, to some extent, indiscriminate; while those who know its method of targeting can avoid becoming a target, any mistakes can easily end in the death of a potential ally or the User.

 

Writing’s on the Wall has two different appearances. One is a ‘blood-ink’ in puddle form or ‘moving’ form in which it seeps like a liquid over a surface, although it will move in non-realistic ways, like flowing up a wall or moving faster than a slope would warrant. The second, when a target is selected, is when the Stand sets in on a wall or other surface the victim can see, and it will either have the note ‘Come play my game I’ll test you’ (in which case it will lead the target to a location in the first appearance type) or form two lines describing a manner of death (usually an unpleasant death). In this form it will appear like it is drying or it has dried.

Everybody in Place-The Stand can follow very simple orders, and will then prioritize targets based on the first one to speak. Note that the Stand has trouble ‘perceiving’ a target if the target enters a less well-lit area. It is unclear whose perception matters here. The deceased Speedwagon Foundation Agent Galanis suspected a Tulpa situation, in which case, it might not even be that the Stand can ‘see’ its target. What might matter if this theory is correct is whether the victim targeted can see, or rather, perceive the Stand (and thus, if a blind Agent or one with limited vision would have an advantage in such a circumstance). While this is no longer a necessary consideration for this particular Stand, what we are coming to learn from cataloging all these Stands is that it’s likely this will not be the only Stand whose powers rely on it being perceived. Similarly, if leading its target through a darkened location, it may lose track of the target, allowing them to escape, but in well-lit areas as long as the Stand can be seen in the periphery of vision it retains its control. Using this power (usually triggered by Come play my game I’ll test you, though if a group sees the same message, another exposure is apparently not necessary) it can ‘puppeteer’ lead its targets to a particular location, though this appears to be chosen at random by the Stand and not its User. The distance and time involved can vary, but it does apparently need to lead its victim at least a few steps (the exact minimum length has not been measured). From the images left behind in Transmissions from a Lonely Room (see Stone Temple Pilot), it is clear that not every Agent looked at the writing (specifically, Marchant did not), but possibly, since Vasquez read it out loud, that was enough to ‘perceive’ it and thus grant it the ability to target victims.

What Evil Lurks-Depicted above is What Evil Lurks, when the two-line message of death appears. The circumstances for the death do not have to be present—Writing’s on the Wall was able to manifest demons which disappeared after killing the victim and drown another with no liquid. It’s possible that the victim themselves manifests the manner of death based on the threat and feeling of impending doom/inescapability of the Stand, depending on whether or not the ‘Tulpa’ explanation, above, is the accurate one.

Voodoo People-A victim being targeted by Writing’s on the Wall in either capacity seems incapable of fighting their fate. They are capable of using their own Stand, should they have one, although the only likely method of actually interrupting the power is by attacking the User. Writing’s on the Wall has, as far as anyone can tell, disappeared since the death of its User, so theoretically if a victim being attacked could have managed to kill Wyndam-Price using a Stand before their own demise, they might have survived. (Tragically, it appears that this may have been the case for Agent Dunstan.) Other than preventing himself from being targeted by his own Stand, this also appears to be the reason why Wyndam-Price used his Stand far away from him, when he had the choice—to prevent himself from being possibly neutralized before Writing’s on the Wall could deliver the killing blow. It is, however, possible for another person to intervene—if the victim has the ‘appearance’ or ‘should have’ died, the Stand will move on to its next victim based on the order of who spoke and follows the simple conditions previously set.

Sources: wikipedia, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/415/the-mayan-pantheon-the-many-gods-of-the-maya/

Today, everyone stopped being able to understand each other abruptly. Luckily no one has taken this badly enough to get violent, but neither written communication nor sign language has worked. It will be fine for a bit, but we may experience supply difficulties if it takes too long. In the meantime, I’ll take what notes on the phenomenon that I can and hope they’re intelligible once this ends—because someone will figure out how to undo it.

Cabrakan is Zipacna’s twin brother, and as such is a giant humanoid caiman. Like his brother, he was also defeated by the Hero Twins and trapped within Xibalba. He is the deity of earthquakes and mountains, meaning that while his brother raises mountains up, he tears them down. It would be an incorrect assumption to position Cabrakan as the destructive twin and Zipacna as the creative twin—they are both equally responsible and capable of devastation, if in vastly different ways (consider a mountain spontaneously rising out of a highly populated city, for example!). If anything, Zipacna was his enabler, and the plotter of the two, knowing exactly what to say to goad his twin into whatever he wished.

The Hero Twins used trickery on Cabrakan to kill him, just as they had killed his brother, asking for his help destroying a mountain. They poisoned their kills with magic handfuls of earth and cooked them underground before presenting them to Cabrakan, insisting that he was the one who deserved to eat for the great deed he was going to do, leveling the mountain to aid passage of merchants through the region. Infused with the power of Earth, Cabrakan slowly weakened and was unable to call on an earthquake, collapsing in the attempt. The Hero Twins then dug a grave and buried him alive.

Cabrakan is strong and has some powers over Earth, although he is weaker and less cunning than his twin, and his powers are less useful when he, too, is trapped underground and therefore likely to hurt himself as well as his foes. It’s even possible that he has a fear of causing himself to be buried again—not that he would stay dead, in Xibalba, but it can’t be comfortable waiting for death in the manner you were first killed only to resurrect once again.

Sources: wikipedia, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/415/the-mayan-pantheon-the-many-gods-of-the-maya/, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26337239

At first, I suspected that someone was playing a prank. You might notice that we used to have red pens. They seem to have all been replaced with green pens of the exact same brand and style. As usual, I put out an inquiry and thought nothing more of it, until one of the other librarians pointed out that our manufacturer does not sell this line of pens in green. I am still looking for information, but when reporting any observations please keep this in mind. Thank you.
 

Camazotz is, quite possibly, the source of every fear of vampire bats, at least in South America. I am told, by Dawn, that he is also the most recognizable of the Mayan gods, having appeared in many different fictional depictions and articles about ‘the Mayan Batman’, as if he would act as a superhero. There are those who argue that the common understanding of the deity is incorrect and Camazotz has more to do with a role as a messenger and fertility god status, and the only Xibalban connection is to disease, but this appears to be wrong (unless the belief of humans in the meantime has somehow changed his actual powers and personality—which is possible, although is rarely as simple a matter as was depicted in the film Ghostbusters).

A creature of few words, Camazotz and his court of vampire bats wait for the right moment to strike and then do so. Unlike many of the other Lords of Xibalba, Camazotz does not want human sacrifices as much as the sacrifice of blood, and prefers to take it from still-living victims. In addition, he is different than the others in that he would rather hunt down such sacrifices himself, rather than have them freely offered by humans, though he will not turn down a feast freely given, either. Sacrifices were often given to try to convince Camazotz to target another, to varying effect, but might also be given to attempt to inflict disease on one’s enemies.

As one of the Xibalbans listed by name as having been defeated by the Hero Twins, Camazotz is one of the deities of the Underworld trapped within Xibalba, unable to venture out and gather more victims on his own. Some of his court escaped, however, and may bring down a living mortal or two when they get the chance. Even then, though, travel to Xibalba has become much more difficult after many of the entrances were sealed by the Hero Twins, so the original Vampire Bat might be dreadfully thirsty and his patience seemed to be wearing thin.

Even then, his personality does not seem to have changed all that drastically. Capable of teamwork to a greater degree than most other Lords of Xibalba, although not with his equals, Camazotz and his bats work in silent tandem in attempted ambush tactics to try to inflict decisive blows, such as stealing the head of one of the Hero Twins (who was later resurrected).

Sources: wikipedia

Testing has revealed that the blood belonged to Diavolo, although how he didn’t finish dying before teleporting into our library to bleed to death is another mystery. Gold Experience Requiem might have the answers, but if he does, like his User he’s not inclined to explain himself.
 

Little is known about Awilix, possibly because while an important deity she tended to stay out of the spotlight, unlike her counterparts. In addition, she may have been replaced by a different female deity later, and was barely mentioned in the story of the Hero Twins. This does mean that she is likely not one of the ones trapped in Xibalba, unlike some of her counterparts.

What little knowledge we have on the subject suggests that Awilix has many aspects of duality (Dawn assures me that this is true of many actual non-magical cats, and while I’m not sure the validity or importance of the observation, I’ll include it). She has two forms, as a goddess of the moon (for which she appears in bird form) and night (for which she appears in jaguar form). She may also have some sort of connection to the sun as well, though this connection is much more tenuous. She is also sometimes depicted in a male form, though it’s possible that form is only used for specific occasions, since she did not do so while they saw. Other associations are the underworld, sickness, and death, though as her inclusion with the Lords of Xibalba might indicate, that was to be expected.

Her final role is as a patron of the ballgame, though whether this means that she usually plays or merely favors the players of the game and might even offer them her blessing should they give her something in return.

What was observed was that Awilix is playful, may be impatient or lose interest easily, and almost certainly was playing and not actually putting all her effort into the fight. She can navigate perfectly in low-light conditions and can probably be vicious under the right circumstances, but seems to have some sense of fair play, unlike her fellow deities.

Sources: wikipedia, https://www.thoughtco.com/maya-gods-and-goddesses-117947, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/415/the-mayan-pantheon-the-many-gods-of-the-maya/

The other day when we were tidying up, we found an old draft of Dr. Kujo’s doctoral thesis. We asked him if he wanted it back, but he just grunted. He might have been smiling, but the other interns tell me I was absolutely just imagining things.

I would be remiss if I didn’t cover the other true Lord of Xibalba. While the rest are known as Lords of Death or Lords of Xibalba, two of the inhabitants are known with the title by their name, Lord Akan and Lord Kisin. Neither Lord Akan nor Lord Kisin can leave Xibalba, following their defeat at the hands of the Hero Twins. However, this was not quite as much of a problem for them as it was for the rest, since with a few exceptions Mayans believed most humans would end up in Xibalba and would need to try to make their way through the area. Unlike his counterpart Lord Kisin, who is shown as a ruthless hunter when the situation calls for it (and given that he has his own demonic hounds, similarities could be drawn to Arawn), Lord Akan is considered more of a demonic figure capable of self-decapitation, as was observed during the ball game.

Priests would actually dress up as him in order to perform the New Year’s ritual sacrifices, sometimes of their own blood and often with the blood or lives of others. He presides over drinking and disease, as well as suicide, which was considered the opposite of a religious taboo in Mayan religion, only considered inferior to dying in battle. He also has some kind of tie to Jacawitz, but what that tie is remains unknown, given that the two were not observed interacting much and much of the Mayan texts were lost to the conquistadors’ destructive habits. Scholars debate whether he was known by the other names, such as Uacmitun Ahau or God A Prime, but a tenuous connection had previously been identified in the literature, and a mere god of drunkenness and overindulgence would have no reason to be present in Xibalba or have earned any respect from its inhabitants. His part of Xibalba was not seen on the recent trip, since none of the rooms or areas were covered in bones, and it’s likely he regards his bony kingdom while getting drunk.

See: the usual suspects (Wikipedia) + the following: https://yucatantoday.com/en/who-is-kukulkan/
 

Several of the reports found when rearranging the library have been signed off on by one ‘Jani Snellman’. However, no such individual, as far as we know, has worked for this institution. If you have ever worked with or heard of this person, please contact your supervisor right away.

Unlike the others, it is not surprising that Kukulkan did not appear in person in the halls of Xibalba. That is because Kukulkan is not associated with Xibalba in any way, except perhaps in a tangential manner. Both are associated with water, only Kukulkan is associated with the life-giving aspects of water, and Xibalba is associated with the death-related aspects. More broadly, just like Tohil, he has aspects over the weather, but only uses his power to aid growth, such as that of crops or the Mayan people.

The story of the Hero Twins, which I previously mentioned in connection with Xibalba, tried to rid the world of the Lords of Xibalba, because such cruel and capricious masters would naturally be targets of rebellion after a while. Those such as Kukulkan, on the other hand, were never a target of this defiance. While it is likely some sacrifice was demanded, as this is a common trait of all Mayan deities, like Balam the demanded tribute was not high, and often probably did not even require death.

In addition, like Balam, the results were not unpredictable. Kukulkan is an honorable deity of his word. Rather than changing the terms last minute, as is common with the Lords of Xibalba (particularly when it comes to, say, deals to ‘prove one’s worth’ and save one from death or eternal torment), Kukulkan honors his pacts.

It is theorized that this is due to Kukulkan’s position, although this theory should never be mentioned to the Lords of Death, as they would likely take great offense. Rather than vying for a place in a rather crowded kingdom (Xibalba, in this case), Kukulkan stands rather alone in his lofty perch in the sky, and as such has no need to engage in the type of deific drama common to several of the known pantheons. Kukulkan is even known to be a pacifist-type god, preferring to avoid conflict where possible (but is also, as one might guess, completely capable to end a fight if one starts—in most cases, the attempt poses no threat and he is thus liable to ignore it, unless it poses a greater threat to creation).

Kukulkan prefers to interact with events remotely, and not even Balam can always explain the reasoning behind various actions, but what is clear is that he has much regard for creation and life, and those who would destroy that utterly must count themselves his enemies.

While it is unclear that Kukulkan has any interest in the material goods or economies of the earthly plane, several of those who counted themselves as his followers were merchants and traders, and certainly these professions could be expected to be more honorable and peaceful than any other type of contact in the region.

References also exist to the idea of Kukulkan existing as a divine messenger, but it is unclear who he would be delivering messages from, unless this has something to do with the conception of the king as divine. He was associated with royalty, although this might be less of a case of divine right, as the kings and their subjects probably assumed, and more of an instance of keeping an eye on the rulers in a region to ensure they were not endangering too many with their rule.

It is not particularly surprising that Kukulkan felt a kinship with and thus was able to speak through the Stand Violent Whispers. He would also feel a kinship with Q’uq’umatz and Quetzalcoatl, assuming that the three are not, in fact, one and the same. Their form is similar, that of a colorful winged serpent.

 

Note: A lot of my information here comes from Wikipedia. I know, I know, but as Giles says, most of this comes from the account of the Hero Twins, of which I was finding a ton of summaries (such as this one: https://www.worldhistory.org/Xibalba/) and a lot less full texts with actual details. I did use a few other links: https://mythology.net/others/concepts/xibalba/ and https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/underworld, and some aspects of the ball game also came from Wikipedia, https://www.dkfindout.com/us/history/mayans/ball-game/, and https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mball/hd_mball.htm. Feel free to share any resources you have; I’m planning on a remaster once I finish and would absolutely fix anything at that time. (I am aware that some of the most commonly listed Lords of the Underworld such as Pus Master aren’t present. This has to do with considering fights with them, and several had a little too much overlap with the fight against Tukákame or not having enough meat there to get much of a grasp on.)

As the saying goes, it never rains but it pours. We are informed this is particularly common in London, the former headquarters of the ISWC. Our records are soon to contain information on actual deities (not sure how that works) such as those contained below. Soon this will be, as some would say, ‘old hat’ but in the meantime it’s very exciting. The second-most expensive cake was also great, although the interns were bouncing off the walls. We’re fairly certain it was not a Stand effect this time, though have taken the step of adding extra padding in the meantime. There’s a lot more to research and learn, but there’s even more dangers, so please, take care. (Thus far, the tactics seem to be roughly equivalent: study the origin of an effect, determine strengths, weaknesses, and type of contact, and consult with this database to see if any previous encounters are known, though something of the actual strategy used after that point might differ considerably.) We are assured the following is, in fact, a deity, though in such a case it is probably more analogous to a location-bound Stands.

I am told I am writing to kindred spirits. In truth, my position has always been one more of observing, researching, and the like than actual field work, as the title Watcher might suggest. Nonetheless, it has been less than pleasant to be uninvolved this time, hearing of danger after danger occurring to my no-longer-so-young charges and being unable to do a thing about it. Worse still is the idea that I likely contributed to my own lack of involvement myself. The feeling is even worse knowing that the mastermind behind so much of this was a fellow Watcher—one that I’d known well, as a matter of fact. Sharing what little we know of Xibalba and its inhabitants is something to do, allowing me to feel useful and valued, at least.

Xibalba itself is alive, though not sentient. It takes the form desired by its inhabitants. It can, in some places, mimic sentience in order to give life to its tests. How it does this is not known for certain, but I can share one popular theory. The line of thought goes that the souls of those slain within the grounds (and also potentially those sacrificed to the Lords of Death) are trapped within, making it a truly haunted underworld, I suppose. The intelligence of these souls can be borrowed for tasks and then discarded, because it is mere mimicry without understanding.

The path, location, and exact details of the various tests involved can thus vary widely. One conquistador unfortunate enough to make his way within (and fortunate enough to return with his life, though perhaps not intact) stated that he believed that the differing accounts of the contents of Xibalba were a mere matter of bad record-keeping. This line of reasoning seems to be mainly founded on the idea that “primitives” could not possibly “keep their stories straight”, a woeful misunderstanding of oral tradition. Given that changeable location characteristics are common to several Hell Dimensions, it stands to reason that such could be true of an underworld as well. Several commonalities between the stories can also be found if one looks. The most detailed and thus ‘definitive’ version is the story about the Hero Twins as they descend into Xibalba to bring an ending to the unreasonable demands of the Lords of Death.

The path to Xibalba is roughly the same no matter the account. It differed in this case, I suspect, because the route in was not the “true” path to Xibalba. Fortunately, in most cases it would be extremely difficult to simply appear in Xibalba. One must purposefully travel there under the usual circumstances, although I suppose it is possible one could end up there if you were, say, fleeing the wrath of those you wish to conquer. This is even more of an accomplishment as the Lords of Death defeated by the Hero Twins, so you are extremely unlikely to encounter most of them if you do not enter the place. In fact, other than the Milky Way itself, there are only a few known locations, all of which involve caves or cenotes (hidden sinkholes). New entrances never can be made, although previously forgotten entrances can be discovered.

I would not be surprised if Wesley either crudely carved a cenote on the ground himself or had it done. Symbolically, this could serve as a ‘stand-in’, the first step in a ritual summoning of the path to Xibalba itself. If the conditions are met, if only symbolically, it appears that the path to Xibalba can, in fact, be summoned, responding to something that looks like the traditional requirements and, in fact, is nothing of the sort.

From there, there’s a river of scorpions, a river of blood, and a river of pus. While it seems Wesley was unable to import enough scorpions to accomplish this goal, he did have a river of blood from those he’d slain. However, continuing on this ‘stand-in’ theme, he had, presumably, blocks of stone carved, colored, and had the “rivers” installed along the path down in the pyramid, assuming he did not do so himself. (It seems unlikely, as he might end up trapped himself.)

Many who reach the so-called “court” believe they have passed all obstacles and are now in a position to bargain, but this is not in fact the case. This is yet another test—those wishing to speak to the Lords will be invited to sit next to extremely lifelike mannequins on burning hot benches in order to petition the court. If one manages to survive or avoid this danger while remaining polite, the Lords will become personally involved.

The exact Houses, order and number of said Houses, and occupants differ depending on account and may be chosen depending on what is believed will be the most effective against the outsider (or, in Mayan mythology, any who do not die violently), with Camazotz’s reign over the House of Bats being the notable exception. Even two instances of the House of Bats may not have the exact same layout or dangers. The ones encountered this time were the House of Night, House of Rattling, House of Jaguars, House of Razors, House of Bats, and the House of Heat. They may be known by different names.

Similarly, the ball game is known by different names, including ulama, pok-a-tok, and pok ta’ pok. Ritual sacrifice was involved, but scholars disagree as to when it happened. It is unlikely that winners or losers were beheaded at every game, but given the bloodthirsty nature of Mayan deities this probably only is true regarding the human versions. Not being able to use your hands or feet is common, although “allowed” body parts differed quite strongly. Most games lasted for quite a lot longer than was played, but even with the way Xibalba is allowed to manipulate where and how it relates to the flow of time outside its borders, there would not have been enough time to complete a full game. A modern version is still played today, and this time we can confirm there are no instances of human sacrifice. Some methods of scoring did not involve the stone rings, since not all ballcourts had one. The deities cheating was supposedly not an uncommon occurrence, although I am unaware of any stories where the court itself changed, perhaps indicating that even Xibalba considers the game too sacred to bend to the will of its masters in this regard.

 

To the intern on duty: please re-file the previous entry, thank you.  It was misfiled along with the other Stands and powers in the database.  This is the other half of Miss Rosenberg’s report and more accurately fits in this category.

For starters, there’s just the straight-up things he can do.  He’s got an understanding and ability to read machines that you usually only see in cyborg characters.  If I had to guess, his straight-up WPM and hacking skills are on par with mine, though he probably only took a vow of ‘do no harm using this’.  Well.  Not that I meant any harm when I was hacking everything, either.  I was just curious, both what I’d see and whether I could do it.  But he’s a priest, so he probably has vows he takes very seriously.  On top of that, he probably can augment his hacking using spells.  You know, the kind of spells you use so often they become muscle memory, so you barely have to put any thought into it, like if you walk or drive a certain way to work or school every day for weeks you find yourself doing it without thinking. 

I don’t find myself agreeing with many—okay, pretty much most—of the decisions they made designing D&D (stick around Andrew for long enough and you find yourself learning things by osmosis), but memorized spells almost make sense to me, in context.  Almost.

You should be able to cast other spells, too, though.  But if you end up doing it enough, you should be able to learn how to, say, light candles without saying the words.  You still need something, as a vehicle for focusing your will, but it might just take a slight hand gesture or, in Father Styx’s case, doodling on the screen with a stylus.

From what I hear, it doesn’t sound like he’s reading the screen, either.  I only half remember this, really, but it sounds like he’s absorbing the information directly, assimilating it, like I did with the books when I was evil. 

So he can probably write code manually or use his magic to do so, and very possibly simultaneously.  Which is probably why Wolfram & Hart wasn’t prepared for him, and also probably why we should get a technopagan to look at our own security and maybe keep an eye on them full-time. 

They’re probably used to viruses and other automated stuff trying to break through their systems, maybe the occasional hacker.  But the ability to automate hundreds of processes and simultaneously be able to keep your attention on an additional fifty more is way more than they’re prepared for.  And once in, he can probably do things that traditional viruses can’t do, like upgrade file permissions for server access.

As for other things he can do, he’d also made his church and church grounds a place of power, infusing blessings and spells of protection into the area.  From the sound of it, possibly by using the power and internet lines as ley lines and conduits of spells.  That’s a longer-lasting, ritual kind of thing.  It’s possible he could even store some power there to draw on later.  On the other hand, as Robin rightly assumed, it means that he’s far weaker outside it.  And while he’d been able to have some effect in the rest of the town, the amount of space you can cover with an undertaking like this is kinda limited.  Worst case scenario, like with Miss Murder, this meant that he’s kind of trapped inside his medieval castle.  If he got reassigned, he could move it, but this kind of thing requires constant maintenance, and he’d have to give up one for the other.  It’d take a bit of setup, too.

It’s clear he sees the drawbacks, too.  He’s intelligent.  I mean, I got that much from the email, once I went back and looked at it.  That’s why he set up a network.  Traditionally, using coordinated magic over a distance like that is really difficult, so most people try not to do it or only do it over the intersections of major ley lines, but that’s one of the really genius things about the way his magic works.  If you use ley lines, it’s basically like those quantum physics things where particles are entangled and essentially the same spot or adjacent even over massive distances.  If you treat the internet as one giant ley line, though, it doesn’t matter where you are, so you might as well go fancy with it and make fun shapes like a star.  Symbolism powers it up, or I guess you could say serves like a signal boost?  So when you can, adding in a little extra never hurts, unless you end up with unintended associations, but usually someone who knows what they’re doing can avoid those.  It doesn’t fully get rid of the limitation, but it’s a way of trying to cover for it.

And when you want to protect an area but you don’t have enough oomph to cover the entire area, you set up a warning system.  Which he did, using the police cameras and probably the town’s power and internet grid, to be able to sense the intentions of visitors and make a siren go off as a warning when something bad comes in.

You could also probably use blessings, particularly if you’re a priest, to protect areas or people.  From what I’ve been able to gather, given that he’s being a little reticent about the whole thing, this is more of luck manipulation than anything.  It won’t necessarily save anyone and isn’t the flashiest, but if something can happen to help, it will.  Like a killer rabbit bringing back someone friendly from the dead by accident, or just happening to run into someone friendly in the nick of time.  It probably needs to be renewed and fades over time, though.  I don’t think he names his powers and maybe not even all of his spells, and I’m not naming all of them, but my brain suddenly said ‘Deus ex machina’ and it’s perfect not only because of the meaning of the phrase but it’s also—it’s literally God from the machine, and he’s a technochristian, come on.  I’m not telling him, though.  I don’t want him to be mad at me.  I’m fairly sure he’d find it funny, but not perfectly sure, and I’d want to be perfectly sure before I start making religion jokes in someone’s presence.

Astral projection is fairly common, so I’d guess it works fairly similar, except it looks like holograms, and also it tends to be fairly difficult to do it into someone’s comatose or sleeping brain.  If I had to guess, that has to do with all this weird science stuff about how the brain and human consciousness actually works.  Human brains function through electrical impulses, and electricity is how he does a lot of his powers, so that probably makes it easier for him than normal astral projection.  He’d be pretty scary as an enemy.  It’s a good thing he’s friendly.

The last bit of actual magic they saw was the flashy battle magic stuff, the consecration spell.  He cast an electric cross that repels the ‘unholy’ by drawing it on his phone.  I wonder if he’s written an app-spell, and I wonder if he’d mind letting me look at the code for pure curiosity’s sake.  A lot of this stuff could be massively helpful for at least protecting our new HQ.

He’d also mentioned taking care of vampires and undead before, which would be a great way of using the surveillance system to know where to go.  He didn’t demonstrate any of that, but I think he was mainly dealing with one at a time or maybe a few small groups and wasn’t trying to do the big flashy spells like the consecration at the same time, so that’s kind of a ‘duh of course I didn’t hear about any of that’ moment.

I’ll update when/if I learn anything else.  Because this speculation/learning/reverse engineering stuff is fun.

I apologize for taking this long to send along my notes, and hope a digital copy suffices for your records. I am largely unfamiliar with the methods of shipping physical copies of documents securely. On the other hand, I can be almost completely sure that this delivery will not be compromised, as breaking through both my magical and cybersecurity measures would be almost impossible, at least at the present time. At a more opportune moment, I would be more than happy to help meet any digital needs of the Speedwagon Foundation or International Slayers’ and Watchers’ Council, as, I’m sure, would my colleagues. I’d even be willing to do so in an act of charity, though would not be upset with the company of a nice bottle of alcohol as I work.

For the moment, I am sure while the delay might be unfortunate, the circumstances are understandable. While not truly regretful of her actions, young Pixie has shown no inclinations to continue her serial killing, and I have had a hand in keeping an eye on the young lady from several of my visiting colleagues, though, of course, they cannot be away from their own duties forever.

If this were usual circumstances, I would turn her over to the police and speak on her behalf at the trial. Not, of course, that murder is a sin that should be ignored, nor that it does not leave a stain on her heart. But she is still a child, however prolific her killing. I am told your Foundation has dealt with similar cases in the past, and would like to be of assistance, because while I do not believe she regrets her actions or possibly ever will, I do believe she could have a change of heart, or at least, that she could be convinced not to believe her Stand quite so much.

It took me a while to read through the various files of unsolved murder cases I suspect to be her doing, and will provide as useful a summary as I can.

Miss Murder

Stand User: Pixie “Cooper”

(While I am capable of hacking the records to find the names of her adoptive parents, who are surely among her victims, she insists on being known by the same last name as her older ‘sister’.)

Power: S	Speed: C	Range: C
Durability: B	Precision: D	Potential: B

Miss Murder, or Murr, as Pixie likes to call her, looks almost perfectly like a friendly rabbit. The Stand has three red eyes, though, though it can keep one eye closed to blend in, and acts nothing like the prey animal a regular rabbit would be, practically taunting others to take action against it. It is unclear whether it is taunting others to do something ‘bad’ and thus become a target or simply finds doing so amusing. Its fur is normal, however, and touching or petting it has no ill effects.

The Great Disappointment-This is mere speculation on my part, since young Pixie refuses to tell me and I suspect she might not even know, but Miss Murder seems to be able to read a person’s past. Unlike Pixie, I do not believe that the Stand is an impartial judge in its ability to discern ‘good’ from ‘evil’, as those are very complex and messy concepts to read, and likewise suspect that the Stand might be searching for excuses to kill, but cannot be certain.

File 13-Likewise, it does not appear that past tragedies in a location are chosen at random, since the bloodier or well-known are usually but not always selected. I have encountered valid claims of location psychometry and suspect that the Stand is able to see the past history of a location and discern which tragedy it wishes to use.

I Hope You Suffer-Both of the two known active uses of Miss Murder’s power have the ability to be destructive, though as could be guessed by the name of the power, I Hope You Suffer focuses more strongly on destroying the individual, while Now The World affords more possibility of escape. Both bring out the past tragedy of a place (Pixie calls them ‘sins’). I Hope You Suffer tends to focus on more single person crimes that happened in a particular location, such as recreating a murder, focused on a single person that Miss Murder has deemed ‘bad’.

Now The World-Now The World recreates larger-scale tragedies of a location, such as accidents and natural disasters. They still can do horrible damage, though interestingly repairing the damage to a location is much easier than saving people affected by the power.

In addition, I suspect that she hasn’t spent much time investigating her powers, believing that to be Miss Murder’s choice, not her own, since she believes every single person targeted by her Stand deserves that cruelty. She claims that Miss Murder brought her sister to her (and is devastated by her loss), a fact that by anyone else might be dismissed as the ramblings of a distraught little girl. Stands and powers exist. She might be able to bring ghosts back and tie them to a location or object, or be able to manifest good as well as evil. I have not, however, spoken to her about these musings, as I gathered it would be better for this to be done in a setting with a professional at dealing with Stands should something go awry.

( A/N ) ( Settle in for a horror story, with some descriptions of gore and violence. )