The tarot deck was originally for card games. The modern playing card deck is sort of a simplified version. So cards and card games having magical powers and being serious business was around, and taken seriously by occult types, way before Yu-gi-oh The Abridged Series made a meme of it it. There's a scene where Roxis reveals that this is how is father makes a living and refers to himself as a duelist.
Black magic exists in the MK universe as of MK2, although I ignore most of that game. Isolde said that people once had to defend alchemy against charges that it was 'unnatural magic' instead of 'natural science.' She seems to know a lot about this.
Not to mention that Isolde's workshop, Tony and Renee, are the School Disciplinary Committee? Yeeeah.
Hermes Trismegistus is Hermes plus Thoth. Relating Al Revis to the Invisible College and the Renaissance's view that venerating Greek and Roman pagan gods were perfectly fine, but everybody else was still getting demonized? Well, except the Irish gods, but shh… The fic will go more into what this means later on.
Yu-gi-oh, especially the early manga, has the interesting concept of a game as a trial by combat, in a sense. A Shadow Game releases inhibitions in a 'who you are in the dark,' kind of way. Someone who would and did lie, cheat and hurt others when they could get away with it will do so in a shadow game, even if they actually believe there will be consequences. Roxis wants to beat Vayne, all throughout Mana Khemia, but definitely has the opinion that winning by underhanded tactics is worse than losing. Getting your soul eaten if you failed a divine/magical trial is pretty common in Egyptian mythology canon, actually.
The imagery of Vayne in the series is balanced between holy floating light figure granting blessings and black/red eldritch abomination. Shadow Magic and the Shadow Games are, or were supposed to be, a holy magic, a magic of justice, blessed by the gods and so on… that just happens to have an eldritch abomination involved.
I am posting this here earlier than planned since I want to get it caught up with the content on the livejournal group, since I really don't like having slightly different versions in two places. I'd like to post simultaneously and have that be that.
Also, Kyle in Atelier Annie is clearly related to Saphir and Jade.
What was it with alchemists today, Roxis wondered as he watched Flay and Vayne take down their opponents, one of whom had some sort of fire mana. The super-senior (Flay wasn't the only one who couldn't graduate) hadn't done anything but summon it and had it use a few skills. Even Vayne was far more imaginative and intelligent when it came to applying his mana's power. Or perhaps all of those techniques were Sulpher's ideas.
Roxis wasn't surprised when he won, but he was a bit amused when pink stuff appeared in Vayne's hair. Sadly, it didn't seem to be gum, from how easily it came out when Vayne dumped a bottle of water over his head after the match and scrubbed at his hair. "Sulpher!"
Sulpher just looked pleased with himself as he licked his now-clean fur. "Mrow." Did you want to fight with a pink sword?
"What's wrong with pink? Jess has pink hair. Where is Jess, anyway?"
Now Tony laughed loud enough to catch Flay's attention.
Roxis had known it. "I won't be party to this. A victory due to cheating is worse than a loss." It was giving up before you even started. Or worse. Roxis hadn't used it since coming here, he wasn't suicidal, but he was still aware of his other deck, the one his father had given him. They were perfectly ordinary playing cards, no different from a tarot deck.
And as long as everyone kept believing that then no one had to be burnt at the stake.
His father had spent years traveling the world trying to find a mana and a teacher. Trying to gain the power of alchemy, he'd discovered its lost half. Just because he didn't have the head for ratios and figures necessary to pass the entrance exams without mana power didn't mean he was stupid. Roxis really couldn't feel sorry for Vayne being run out of towns: he and his father had been forced to leave quickly often enough, when people thought the cheerful blond was a little too lucky. It wasn't as though it was anything to cry about.
No, they were just ordinary commercial playing cards. Knowledge was what made the difference, and the power to use them. Al Revis' reputation hinged on having nothing to do with magic, especially not anything that could possibly be mistaken for black magic. If a sorcerer were found among the students?
He should have tossed them over the edge of the island when he found them in his luggage, even though they looked like a perfectly ordinary deck. The fact they were a gift from his father just made it worse, really. The school would have to make an example of them both, or else alchemists everywhere would be tarred with the same brush and then who would heal crippling wounds or cure the pox?
Since he'd gotten his mana (and became constantly watched, not that he really minded) he hadn't dared take them out. But he couldn't throw them away.
"Tell them where she is or I'll forfeit." He wasn't using his other abilities, but part of the cost of them was that cheaters would pay and he couldn't risk that. Not after having come so far.
"You'll what?"
Roxis just gave him a look and drew his combat cards.
"Hey, this wasn't our idea!"
A test, then? For Vayne, probably. To see if he actually cared about the girl. He did not like the Professor's methods. He did not.
Sulpher did not act anything like an ordinary mana, yet Vayne had power. Sulpher acted like a perfectly ordinary cat. A black cat. The cause of Theofratus' death was unknown. Witches would grasp after any power, including alchemy, and Zeppel had gone there to keep the books from falling into the wrong hands.
The school taught alchemists to defend themselves against the unprincipled and wouldn't let them off the island until they'd mastered that as well as alchemy because there were dangers out there.
It was better to bring someone suspicious to the school than let them run around loose and endanger innocent people. But once they were here, someone had to keep an eye on them, and deal with them if it became necessary.
He'd thought Tony and Renee being in charge of student discipline was ridiculous until he'd realized that they had been chosen for combat skill and willingness to use it.
He'd been sought out on his first day here by the group whose job it was to deal with people like him and hadn't figured that out for months? He was such a fool. No, he couldn't quit, because then Tony would have even more reason to dislike him and the people in charge would want to know why.
Maybe that was why Roxis had agreed to Flay's ridiculous request that he join their workshop if he and Tony lost. He'd wanted a way out.
As he hesitated Flay was giving Vayne his marching orders. His guess was that Renee would put up enough of a fight to test them and then let them take Jess back safe and sound. They wouldn't want to draw too much attention to this, after all. If people found out they would ask questions and the idea was to avoid a witch hunt.
Well, he was all for that. Hopefully Vayne would get back before it was time for them to fight. He was prepared to bet they would only meet up in the final round, it would make sense to structure it that way, and the professors would want to see him fight for themselves. Hopefully Roxis and Tony would be able to press him hard enough that he would resort to dark powers to keep from losing.
So everything would be fine, he wouldn't be cheating, and perhaps if he kept telling himself that he'd believe it.
Roxis stalked off in search of something to calm his nerves. This was an alchemy school: of course people made alcohol, even if it wasn't served in the cafeteria. A lot of the other freshmen had been horrified by that, ones who had grown up drinking only small beer and milk because their local water supplies weren't purified by alchemy. Roxis remembered getting horribly sick the first time his father took him on a trip. He'd been told not to drink any water but he'd grown up with the manor's alchemy-protected supply and hadn't taken the warning seriously.
The school tried to discourage people synthesizing drunk, but if people wanted to drink anything hard before assignments and supply runs and failed or were nearly killed? Then it was a good thing they'd learn their lesson here, where they'd probably survive it.
He made it back in time for their next match, of course, and once the judge ruled that mandagoras grown with the power of a mana and under the control of an alchemist were legal he took out his opponents himself instead of using them. He just hadn't wanted his battle with Vayne put on hold while they made a decision.
Roxis also made a point of not speaking to Tony, which was petty but satisfying. Tony craved attention and acknowledgement and being ignored drove him up the wall. Roxis did it more often then he probably should, since he had to share a workshop with him, after all.
The referee Flay had shanghaied to replace Vayne as his partner was a member of the Combat Professor's workshop, and fairly good, actually. He had a technique that enhanced his sword with the power of the Cyclone Mana. Roxis had wondered about infusing his cards with poison and sleeping powder, but he had to touch the things himself, after all.
It wasn't until it was time for their match that Roxis started to worry. If Vayne didn't return, if Jess wasn't safe, then he would have to make a choice. Perhaps he could draw out the battle?
Luckily, once they were standing on the platform, Renee danced in. Literally.
Nikki rushing in next and saying, "We got her!" was redundant. She'd been using that technique to make her fan club go away since she'd learned it.
"Like, I appreciate the exercise, but can I stop already?" Now that she was no longer being driven before Nikki Renee started just shaking her hips instead of dancing properly, probably to give her legs a break.
"We're about to start, it's the last possible moment. What heroic timing. But where's Vayne?"
"He took Jess to the infirmary, just in case."
Flay frowned. "Even if he did rescue the damsel in distress, we still have the final confrontation with the villain!" He would be very disappointed if Vayne stayed there. No, he wasn't the type to want thanks and he'd be very amusingly embarrassed if a grateful maiden threw herself at him.
"Pamela said she'd stay to watch Jess, just in case." Only knowing Pamela this was 'in case she dies and I get to keep my new friend, instead of, 'in case she needs anything.'
"Ah, there you are! Almost perfect timing." If Jess had needed to be taken to Melanie then that came first, as much as it detracted from the moment.
Vayne looked even more disheveled than usual as he climbed up onto the platform while Flay and the referee thanked each other, but he quickly got ready for battle and didn't seem any weaker than normal. They'd both been fighting all afternoon. It was fair. As the Vice Principal ordered Nikki to release her fellow student and come with them as a witness he readied himself, smirking. Flay might have seen the mandragoras and Roxis had practiced several of his other skills during the warm-up matches, but Vayne didn't know them and Flay wasn't going to have time to brief him.
In the end it didn't matter. Flay and Vayne still won. Perhaps if Tony had a mana he would have been able to hold Flay off, but instead Roxis had to spend far too much time getting rid of Flay's flying metal things. They were very distracting, as were Tony's demands that Roxis do something about them.
When Tony and Renee got back from reporting Tony got one last dig in.
"Hey, you'd better get all your stuff out by tomorrow. I don't want any of Flay's stuff in our workshop."
Roxis really, really didn't like Tony. 'All Roxis' stuff,' meant not just equipment but the huffin tree, the tangerine tree, the grapevine against the wall, and the smaller pots containing spinacherbs, various flowering plants and root vegetables. And if he didn't get them out tonight, Tony would throw them out, meaning he'd have to set all that up all over again.
It had either been growing all of those or constantly being sent out on gathering missions because certain people kept using his materials. Flay's workshop would be even worse: they didn't like him and as the new member he would doubtless be stuck with the lion's share of the work.
Renee had announced that she was going to lie down in her room with her feet in a tub of cold water: no help there.
…Maybe it was a good thing he had let Nikki in that time. He had a favor to hold over her head.
"No, not Flay." Tony would not be happy if he knew Roxis had let him in. "And weren't you just in the infirmary? If the pots were light I wouldn't have asked for assistance." That left, "You can't touch solid objects: why are you even here?" and…
He smiled at Vayne. "You can carry the trees." Or he could try, and either sprain something or have to ask Roxis for help. Or both. "Nikki, help me with these pots. These two need direct sunlight and that one needs shade, the others can go anywhere out of the way."
"Oh, you do have flowers! This'll make the workshop so much prettier." The ghost was smiling at him.
As he packed things up Roxis made a mental note to ask if they had any books on exorcisms when he next wrote home. He'd be in serious trouble if he actually got rid of the school's semi-mascot, but it would be a comfort to know that he could, should the need arise.
"Do you have any pink flowers?" He suddenly heard from right behind him.
Staying sane was a need, right?
"Vayne, let me help. We'll get it out the door and then Flay can carry it the rest of the way," he heard Nikki say.
Curses.
Jess and Pamela, but mostly Pamela, directed the placement. "No, we can't put the trees there, that's Vayne's spot."
"Yeah!" Nikki agreed, eyeing the prime sun-warmed patch of stone in front of the window. Every time she went up to the roof people now people followed hoping for a concert, but Vayne would loan her his spot anytime she wanted.
"I don't mind," Vayne said as Roxis wondered what they were talking about. "We can nap in the loft anyway, there's sun there and it's more comfortable."
"Mrow." 'I can't climb ladders, remember?'
"You can ride up on my shoulder, right Sulpher?"
At first Sulpher didn't want to dignify that with a reply, but Vayne needed to be helpful, after all.
"You still take naps? How old are you, two?"
Roxis was amazed when Vayne started counting on his fingers. "I think I remember… six winters? Sulpher said my birthday was probably early fall, so…" Then he laughed sheepishly. "I don't remember a lot about growing up, though."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with taking naps!" Nikki said.
"Not for beastmen," Roxis acknowledged. "It depends on the subspecies, but most are less diurnal than humans are, if not outright nocturnal."
"Sulpher's kind of nocturnal, and I need to go with him when he wants to go do something at night. So I've been taking naps when he does so I don't fall asleep in class," Vayne explained.
"Your mana orders you around like that?"
Basically, yeah, but he didn't like how Roxis was saying this like it was a bad thing. Sulpher was his friend. "I don't mind."
Sulpher twined around his legs. "Take me up there." He didn't like all this rearranging of his territory. "And wake me when it's over." So he could examine the new environment.
Vayne knelt down so Sulpher could jump up onto his shoulders. "Uh, sorry guys. Sulpher's kind of tired."
"Tell her not to use the trees as scratching posts." Nikki needed to grow out of that kittenish habit.
"Uh…" She wouldn't do that.
Sulpher gave Vayne a look. He needed to be more observant: there were scratches on one of the posts holding up the loft.
Vayne just climbed up and curled up on the couch.
"Aww, they're so cute." Pamela smiled fondly. Fluffy mana like Teddy were the best, weren't they?
Flay coughed. "Whipped."
"Putting all the trees there will block the light that gets to the cauldron, though," Jess said. "If only they were smaller."
"Oh, that's not a problem." Roxis summoned his mana. "I think we should let the huffin grow naturally, but the tangerine tree would be better as a bush, and we can just have the grapevines grow around the window. What do you think?"
His mana, shy since there were so many people here, nodded, "Es," and went over to pat the various plants so they grew that way.
"Can you make the flowers grow all over the walls too?" Pamela floated over, and Roxis wanted to tell the ghost to stop pestering his mana. It was obvious that he was already more scared of her than he was of Tony.
The Wood Mana considered her very, very scary. Roxis was a lot braver than he was, and Pamela scared even him. And Pamela lived in the dark underground, like mushrooms, and they ate trees.
The way the Wood Mana pats the ground in those skill animations is seriously adorable.
