| NAME: |-Josephine Jules Elliot a.k.a. Jo/Jojo or J.J.
| ALIAS: |-Arcana
| ABILITIES/SKILLS/EQUIPMENT: |-Magic/Mystical Reality Warping: J.J.’s main power consists of a superhuman ability to manipulate magical forces. However strong this power is, it can be degraded by lack of willingness to perform or stress. Having been self-taught, to perform more complex spells generally requires stating what effect she wishes to have in order to properly channel the energy. Things such as flight, telepathy, and kinetic skills that she has used or practiced more no longer required vocalized casting to perform. All of her powers fall into a sub-category of her natural affinity for mystic, magic, and arcane forces. Below are some of her most commonly used skills and spells, most of which have been practiced to the point of no longer needing spoken casting.
-Telepathy: As the earliest presentation of J.J.’s connection to the mystic forces, it is also one of her most controlled powers. She can read thoughts, broadcast or project her own thoughts, control others minds to manipulate their thoughts, actions, senses and emotions, and even go so far as to create illusions.
-Teleportation: Can teleport herself over undetermined distances. She has the ability to open portals to other places, dimensions, or worlds, and can transport other people through these portals. It can sometimes be necessary for her to say the name of the place she wants to travel if in an environment where her ability to concentrate is diminished or she does not want to open a portal.
-Telekinesis: Can levitate, propel, or manipulate objects and matter. One of the few skills that does not necessarily require her to vocalize her intentions.
-Electrokinesis: Can manipulate, generate, and discharge energy as either lightning or electricity from her hands.
-Concussive Force Blast: She can manipulate mystical energy to generate blasts, beams, bolts, and waves of energy.
-Flight: J.J. can propel herself in flight without vocalized spells. With vocalization, she can temporarily allow others to fly in her presence.
-Healing: She can quickly heal others through vocalized spell. However, the effectiveness is greatly affected by her willingness to do it. For example, if she were trying to heal an enemy, the effectiveness of the process would be extremely diminished and likely take longer than if she were trying to heal someone she had a genuinely empathetic desire to heal.
| LIMITATIONS AND WEAKNESSES: |-Power Overload: Although able to tap into mystic energy, there is a limit to how much she can use. Extended use of large amounts of magic overload her. She's never tested her limits past using up so much she fainted for a minute. She thinks it's possible to expand the amount of magic she can tap into, but she's hesitant to push her boundaries for fear she might end up worse than passed out.
-Stress: When trying to perform under duress, her spells may not work at all or they may not prove very effective. If she can concentrate well enough and only focus on what she’s doing, blocking out the external stress, she may be able to work through it slowly.
-Lack Of Willingness: Especially when healing someone, if she doesn’t feel willing to perform the spell, it will be much less effective, work more slowly, or not work at all.
-Lack of Concentration: Without being able to concentrate, especially under intense stress or in a loud environment, he spells will not work.
-Loud Environments: Going hand in hand with stress and lack of willingness to perform a spell, if she can’t hear herself vocalizing her spell, it won’t work at all.
-Vulnerability: J.J. is susceptible to any force that could harm or kill a human. She is not trained to peak human conditioning or skill, either. She is as vulnerable as the average human without her magic.
| SAMPLE POST: |Becoming a hero, in my experience, is rarely a decision made lightly without provocation. If you had told me a year ago I would be saving women from muggers, stopping jewelry store thieves, and putting a stop to power-mad sorcerers on the regular, I probably would have laughed in your face and told you to leave the creative storytelling to my father, the novelist. Of course, here I am, costume and all, trying to save the world from falling into chaos. That’s what I’m to now, but what about almost year ago when my defining moment happened?
10 months ago…
“Mom, it’s a dance, not senior prom!” I whined as I was unwillingly dragged into the third jewelry store we’d been to that day.
“It’s Winter Formal, Jojo, and you don’t have a single thing to wear. What happened to wanting to impress Daniel Peters?” My mother smiled warmly. I knew she just wanted to help, and of course I would be thankful the night of the formal when I looked like a million dollars because of her fashion guidance. It’s not that I had no sense of style, I did (still do), but I hated to shop. Jewelry was always last – find a dress first, then shoes, then jewelry to match.
Mom was getting one of the ladies to pull a delicate gold lavalier necklace and earring set when a guy, the guy, came in with a mask. Jewelry store robberies are a dime a dozen on TV, but I never expected for my mother to be held at gun point for trying to help an elderly woman who fainted from shock.
We were all supposed to be sitting on the floor just keeping quiet as he yelled at one of the clerks to load the bag with all the money from the register and the jewels from the cases – stereotypical, I know, but they have to originate from somewhere. The elderly woman was lying on the floor, presumably with her son who was trying his best to roust her with no success. Mom whispered to me, “say put,” and crawled across the floor to try and help him.
He noticed her, though, and immediately pointed the gun at her, “Lady! What did I tell you? Stop moving!”
“She needs help,” my mother insisted, looking defiant. She wasn’t a doctor – that would be too convenient – but she always seemed to know what to do. Maybe it was from all those books she read, I don’t know. She kept moving, determined to help those people because that’s what my mom did. She helped people however she could.
He stalked across the room toward her. I can still hear the way the gunshot rang out, bouncing off the walls and boring into me so I would never forget the way her body crumpled to the floor limply. There was something sadistic in the way he smiled, like he was pleased he had gotten to kill someone, like that’s what he’d been hoping for.
“Mom!” I yelped, my voice coming out squeaky and broken. He turned on me, marching right up and poking the gun at my forehead. I think he was just looking for a reason to kill someone else.
“You got a death-wish, twerp? Keep your trap shut or you’ll end up just like mommy,” he growled. There was an edge to his voice I couldn’t quite recognize, like he was pleased but he was taunting someone to ruin it so he could justify another murder. I wasn’t looking at him, but I bet he was smiling still. I had my eyes squeezed shut, clutching my hands together and trying not to cry.
“I didn't do anything… Please go away, please leave me alone,” my voice was a shaking, barely audible whisper.
“What’s that, pumpkin? Speak up for me,” he emphasized his words, pushing the barrel against my skull with each word.
“Leave me alone. I said l-leave me alone, I didn’t d-do anyhth-thing. Leavemealoneleavemealoneleavemealone…” I whimpered just slightly louder, and that’s when it happened – the thing that changed everything. There was a bright light, a string of curses and then silence except for the soft crying of the other hostages.
He was gone. Just like that.
That’s the first time I ever tapped into anything mystical, but the situation was just the right thing to jump-start that latent affinity. To this day, I don’t know what happened to him, just that I teleported him somewhere else. Losing my mother to a man that could have been stopped, that I had the power to stop if only I had known, that was my defining moment. Maybe I’m trying to make up for not being able to stop what happened, but I don’t think that’s all there is to it. I became a hero because not everyone is like me, and no one deserves to lose their mother like that. No one.
| NOTES: |-Is fifteen.
-Although she can be competitive, J.J. is a very quiet and gentle soul, and she lacks a lot of confidence in her power over mystic forces despite proving over and over that she is incredibly strong.
-Her father is a science-fiction novelist and professor of creative writing at a state university, her mother is part of the historical studies and anthropology departments studying human religion and the influence of ancient mystic arts on religion.
-She was named by her father after Josephine Jones, the third companion in the classic Doctor Who series, and famous sci-fi author, Jules Verne.
