Magical March 5: Star Crossed

Magical March 5

Star Crossed

Mark A Davis

316

The creature emitted an inhuman scream.  A putrid stench filled the air, accompanied by a sickening, squelching, sucking sound as the multi-tentacled horror inched forward.  Multiple wild eyes glared out from the lumpy mass that was the creature's face, while rows of slathering fangs jutted from a ragged red maw.

"The name Polaris," said Sita, "comes from the phrase stella polaris, or polar star.  Since Medieval times it has been the star closest to the celestial pole that can be seen with the naked eye.  It was also known as scip-steorra in Old English, meaning ship-star.  It is associated with such names as Stella Maris, i.e. Star of the Sea; with lodestar, i.e. a journey-star or a star used to navigate on a journey; and with the word Cynosure, meaning a person or thing that is the center of attention.  Cynosura was an old name for the entire constellation of Ursa Minor -- from the Greek word meaning the dog's tail."

"That's... nice, I guess," said Abigail as she and the three animal guides scrambled backwards.  "It's a cool costume, really, but... I need to know what I can do...."

Sita, Icarus, and Lakshmi --  three angelic magical girl advisers from a realm known as Nibiru -- were in Poughkeespie NY.  Here they'd met their latest magical girl recruit, a young girl of fifteen named Abigail Van Hoffen.  She had brown hair, brown eyes, and average looks, but when transformed was a very pretty girl in a white blouse and jumper dress of deep blue with a stardust pattern.  There were matching gloves, white socks, blue Mary Janes with a similar stardust pattern, and ribbons about her waist, neck, and hair, each with a silver star in the center of the bow.  There was also a staff with a silver star at one end.

She had yet to learn how to use it.  In fact, all she'd learned so far was how to transform.

Here guides were a winged tabby cat (Icarus), a pure white cat (Lakshmi), and a thing that was largely a floating ball of fur with rabbit ears and large eyes (Sita).

"Our theme is stars," said Sita.  "I only provide the background information as an explanation of where your name comes from and what your powers are based on.  You are the magical girl Polaris Polly.  You use the magic of the stars to erect defensive shields to protect your friends...."

"Force bubbles," said Ikarus.

"That sounds good," said Abigail.  "How do I...."

"Defensive shields to protect your friends," Sita repeated more forcefully, "not simply 'force bubbles'.  Also, you have a variety of attack powers, none of which are stellar blasts!  I just want to be clear on that last point."

The creature continued to slither and slide forward as they retreated down the street.  "Any kind of blast sounds like a good idea at the moment," said Abigail.  "Also it's Abigail, not Polly."

"Alliteration is often key to a good magical girl name," said Sita patiently.

"Speaking of which," said Icarus, "can we revisit that name? I know we went over this before but I still feel that Stella Maris would be a fantastic name for a magical girl.  Much better than Polaris Polly...."

"No, we can not revisit the name," said Sita.  "You were outvoted and overruled."

"But I agree with Ikarus," Lakshmi said.  "Additionally, Stella Maris is associated with the virgin Mary -- Our Lady of the Sea.  That's one of her names; she's considered a guiding light and protector of seafarers in particular."

"None of which has anything to do with Polly," said Sita.

"Abigail," said Abigail.  She batted a tentacle away with the staff.

"We are not creating a Catholic magical girl here," Sita added.

"If Lakshmi and I are in agreement," asked Icarus, "how do you outvote and overrule us?"

"Lakshmi was on my side before she was against me," Sita complained.  "Anyway, I was a senior angel on the Angelic Council...."

"Which means nothing in Nibiru," said Icarus.  "Lakshmi and I have more seniority than you."

Sita sighed.  "Fine," she said.  "Fine.  Have it your way."  She turned to the new magical girl.  "My apologies, but your magical girl name is not Polaris Polly, it is apparently Stella Maris, despite an appalling lack of alliteration.  It has nothing to do with Holy Mary -- in point of fact, that name got assigned to her purely thanks to some stupid monk's clerical error...."

They were cornered in an alleyway now.  The tentacled monstrosity advanced slowly.

"Polaris," said Lakshmi, "is in the constellation of Ursa Minor.  Because of that, it was decided that one of your powers was to transform into a small bear...."

"Good," said Abigail.  "How do I...."

"No we did not decide that," Sita interjected.  "Just because Icarus wants to create a half-animal half-girl hybrid is no reason to mess up our magical girl here.  Pet is Wednesday's theme, and we gave that to Octava...."

"Which I complained about at the time," said Icarus.

"Our compromise," said Sita, "is that you can summon a small bear pet to aid you in battle.  Also it's not a stellar blast of any sort...."

"That sounds great," said Abigail.  "How do I do that, exactly?"

"Yes," said the tentacled creature, spewing spittle and mucus.  "How does she do that?  Can you hurry up and explain it to her?  I don't want to attack before she's ready, but I can only inch forward so slowly.  I've got a haunting in Dunwich later tonight, so I'm on a tight schedule.  Can we get this show on the road?"

FINI