3/9

3/9 Tarot brings a whole deck of threats into a fight. Marie-Ange Colbert can give physical presence to figures pictured on her tarot cards. In the Hellions' debut, that means the Devil and the Knight of Swords become immediate problems for Dani Moonstar and Illyana Rasputin. The cards are small enough to hold in one hand. What comes out of them can fill the space between two teams. That gives Tarot a different fighting style from the students who charge straight at an opponent. She can put another figure into the encounter and force someone to deal with its weapons, reach and movement before they can reach her. The cards matter to her away from combat, too. Drawing the Lovers while thinking about the New Mutants unsettles her, and Emma notices. Her first fight also gives the manifestations consequences beyond a striking visual. Illyana can destroy the Devil with her Soulsword, and the psychic backlash affects Tarot herself. Marie-Ange has to respond with another card rather than simply stand safely apart from whatever happens to her creations. The choice of the mounted Knight of Swords changes the immediate problem for Illyana: the horse is dangerous as well as its rider. Tarot gets several different kinds of threat out of the same basic ability, making her more adaptable than a character whose attack always arrives in the same shape. It is easy to see how much a fight could change with a different card. For Marie-Ange, the other school already means more than a list of opponents. Her curiosity makes an interesting complication for a teacher who would prefer to decide exactly where her students' loyalties belong.