#Erian is a council member

[divine--intervention]

NEW OC, THIS IS ERIAN

[averil2004]

Adaia: I'm just saying that Ezarel is younger, but more succesful than you.

Erian: ...

Erian: He's the leader of Absynthe Guard.

Adaia: I just said that.

Erian: Primo: I belong to the Main Council in the Confederation and my speeches are recognisable and some of them are even in the books for young wizards!

Secundo: I voted on the creation of the latest legislation and the correction of the older ones and other members of Confederation often ask me about my opinion, even if I'm not present at meetings.

Tertio: I'm a member of the committee defending Ultimate's rights and will probably be elected as chairman in the next election.

Quarto: I recently spoke with Miiko and Nevra and probably soon I will join the Light Guard, so me and Ezarel will be in the same rank.

Adaia, Ezarel and rest of the family: ...

[chloe-jayde]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[jettadarkwynd]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[cute1dfacts]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[breakbit]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[taylordmorris]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[benmauerberger]

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

ECB Is Said to Respond Only Slowly on Negative Rate Review

(Bloomberg) — Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

European Central Bank policy makers are in no rush to revamp their negative interest-rate policy despite Mario Draghi’s suggestion to look at the matter.

With two days to go before the institution’s April decision, the president’s call to “reflect” on softening the impact on banks has spurred limited action aside from a public debate. ECB committees, whose work is often the basis for formal policy proposals, didn’t discuss the matter in the week or so since his speech, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Euro-area bank stocks extended their decline on the news. The Euro Stoxx Banks index was down 0.8 percent as of 1:27 p.m. Frankfurt time.

The Governing Council may also need time to develop more of a consensus. Some officials are still convinced that the benefits of a deposit rate below zero outweigh the drawbacks and see no need to redesign the policy, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

While the effects of sub-zero rates have long featured in Governing Council debates, Draghi’s comment took several policy makers by surprise, and speculation that a measure might be imminent left some irritated, according to the people.

Guidance Fallout

Among their concerns is that an alternative that exempted some funds from the policy would challenge the ECB’s guidance by signaling that interest rates could stay low for much longer than currently indicated or even be cut.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the ECB’s discussions on monetary policy.

ECB officials are poised to gather in Frankfurt on Tuesday before their monetary policy decision on Wednesday, after which many of them will promptly leave for the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.

Since Draghi spoke, officials have disagreed in public on his call to look at negative rates. The French and Austrian governors both applauded Draghi, while Chief Economist Peter Praet said cautiously that any change would need to be justified under monetary policy grounds.

Praet’s colleague on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, insisted that the bank-lending channel is “fully operational,” while Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the ECB should “stay far away” from any move.

Sub-zero rates cost euro-area banks more than 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in profit every year. A couple of days after Draghi spoke, Societe General SA chairman and former ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said that the policy “basically is a tax” on bank profitability.

“We are now realizing that when you run negative interest rates for a long time, you undercut the ability of the financial sector to provide credit,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at German insurer Allianz (DE:) SE and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said on Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Of central banks that operate a negative rate policy, three try to cushion the blow with a so-called tiering system that exempts some funds from the charge. The ECB decided against that in 2016 when it lowered its deposit rate to the current minus 0.4 percent.

“The final decision on not having a tiering system or an exemption system was not only the desire not to signal that we can go as low as we want,” Draghi said at the time. “Also the complexity of the system is remarkable in an area like the euro zone, with many banks of different sizes, different conditions, in totally different market situations.”

(Updates with bank stocks in third paragraph.)

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/ecb-is-said-to-respond-only-slowly-on-negative-rate-review

[terrifyingrenegadelibrary]

Chapter 8

Caution: Coffee May Be Hot

Narration, Morgan’s voice: After Nicholas was killed, things started settling into a pattern around town.

-Pan over a shot of the town-

Narration: The damage was cleared up by some hired Magicians, and the public eye shifted away from the whole thing. Rogue Magicians weren’t exactly common, especially ones like Nicholas, but it wasn’t far enough out of the ordinary for anyone to really be fazed. Basically, things were getting back to normal.

-Zoom in on a street-

Narration: Well…mostly.

-Morgan and Laura are walking by hand-in-hand, chatting-

Narration: And you know what? Things are okay these days. Sure, there’s still the occasional problem…

-as the two walk, a Makhai passes, and the two run after it. Fade out-

Narration: But I still go to school, and I still play in the band. We even have another audience member now.

-cut to the band playing. Laura applauds-

Morgan: I think I managed to find that balance Laura talks about. Quinn seems kind of unhappy with Laura for some reason, but they all get along. Nobody likes Evan, but he keeps to himself these days anyway.

-Laura and Morgan are walking along again-

Morgan: The most interesting anything’s been this month was the new coffee shop.

-they come across a store announcing itself to be “Barstucks”, opening May 25th-

Morgan: Things are good.

-cut to Morgan drinking a cup of coffee as she leaves school, when Laura walks up-

Laura: Okay, so Barstucks represents a clear and present danger to the safety of our town.

-cut-

Morgan: …Barstucks?

Laura: Yeah.

Morgan: …The coffeeshop.

Laura: …Yes?

Morgan: Are you serious?

Laura: I am always serious.

Morgan: That’s a bald-faced lie.

Laura: I am sometimes serious.

Morgan: What’s so bad about it? Sure, it’s a little overpriced, but—

Laura: It’s being used to power a god.

Morgan: A god? What kind of god gains their power from—

-beat-

Morgan: No.

Laura: Yep.

Morgan: Of Coffee? Really?

Laura: I’m as surprised as you are. I almost thought Zaresi was trying her hand at jokes again.

Morgan: Reaper comedy night was not a rousing success.

Laura: It was not.

-the two of them pause to remember the travesty that is the mixture of 2020 comedy and 2036, but Laura ends the moment first-

Laura: Okay, but a Coffee god isn’t even the weirdest thing going on lately.

Morgan: That’s hard to imagine.

Laura: You know how nobody’s seen Evan all week?

Morgan: I just figured I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Laura: That’s what I thought too, but…come on.

-they go over to the local Barstucks-

Laura: Look through that window.

-Morgan does so, and-

Morgan: …Is that Evan?

Laura: Yeah.

-it’s awfully hard to tell, because he’s bleached his hair and pierced an ear-

Morgan: …What?

Laura: That’s still not the weirdest thing. Look at what he’s drinking.

Morgan: Is that a frappuccino?

Laura: Yeah.

Morgan: So his taste in coffee is terrible. He’s also terrible. What’s your point?

Laura: He broke his Contract with Zaresi yesterday.

Morgan: So he’s not even our problem anymore?

Laura: Unfortunately, he’s still very much our problem.

Morgan: Shame.

Laura: Evan’s probably the most freakishly loyal Magician I’ve ever known. When I first met him, he would have cheerfully died for Zaresi, and I think the only difference these days is that he’s a little more subtle about it.

Morgan: …Huh. How did you meet him, anyway?

-Laura sweatdrops-

Laura: That’s a story for another day. My point is, if he’s defected to some coffee god, then there is something seriously fishy going on. We’ve called a council over it, and we’re meeting behind City Hall.

Morgan: Oh. Well then.

-beat-

Morgan: Wait, so does this mean no more coffee dates?

Laura: We’re going to have to go back to ice cream.

Morgan: But coffee!

Laura: You are part of the problem here, you know that?

Morgan: Coffeeee…

Laura: …I’m sure that once we get rid of Barstucks, a normal coffeeshop will appear and we’ll be able to get coffee.

Morgan: You’re the best.

-she kisses Laura on the cheek-

-cut to behind City Hall-

-literally everyone is there, and already arguing-

Zaresi: This is unacceptable. The institution of godhood is not to be treated lightly.

Novju: What in this situation suggests that anything is being treated lightly?

Vorn: A god of Coffee, Novju?

Novju: Do you have some sort of problem with unorthodox Domains?

Erian: I mean, it’s kind of weird.

-Novju glares at Erian. Despite Novju being much shorter, Erian shrinks back-

Erian: …You know what I mean.

-Novju stares-

Erian: …It’s not that bad?

Vorn: It’s more than kind of weird! Fine, you’ve got your crazy fake Domain, but that doesn’t mean that we can just let anyone go around being a god of whatever they please!

Novju: You think my Domain is fake?

-a tiny flicker of blue spreads out from her feet, but disappears quickly-

Vorn: Oh, please. Like anyone’s going to worship a goddess of Parking.

Novju: I certainly seem to still be around. Face it, the only reason you object to a Coffee god is because it doesn’t suit your insufferably dramatic sense of what a god “ought to” be.

Vorn: You—

-she’s cut off by Zaresi interposing herself between the two-

Zaresi: What I believe that Vorn is attempting to say is that, while you are a fixture of this town, the increased presence of gods with, as it were…peculiar Domains does not bode well for the overall tenor of modern godhood.

Vorn: I wasn’t trying to say that at all!

Zaresi: I am being diplomatic.

Novju: I appreciate your efforts, but my opinion stands.

Zaresi: Very well. Nalis?

-the gods all turn to a young, incredibly attractive man trailing pink sparkles. He’s flanked by a number of Nymphs-

Nalis: Hmm?

-he seems to only just now notice the conversation-

Nalis: Oh, right. Yeah, I guess it does seem a little bogus.

-he grins lazily-

Nalis: So what is it we’re talking about again?

Novju: And people think a god of Coffee disrespects the institution?

-there’s a general devolution into arguing, until-

???: Excuse me! If I could have a say…?

-another Spirit walks over. He seems vaguely nervous, and is trailing a brown glow. He also looks like hipster trash, right down to a big muffler hat, a bad goatee, and flannel-

Zaresi: Ah. You.

Vorn: You really thought this was a good idea?

Spirit: I am Retilwa! I speak for the beans!

-there is a long silence-

Morgan: That was…awful.

Retilwa: Sorry. I’ve just…I’ve always wanted to say that.

-he enters the group-

Retilwa: Look, I get it, you don’t like me. I’m a whole new paradigm, and I’m weird, and you’re probably thinking “Wow, look at this guy, thinking he can just set up shop in under a new Domain and get away with it!”

Zaresi: In essentials.

Retilwa: Okay, but, can I make my pitch first?

Zaresi: Pitch?

Retilwa: If you think about it, I’m kind of the future of modern godhood.

Morgan: (aside to Laura) He’s not the first to say that.

Laura: Yeah, I’m not impressed.

Retilwa: Think about how much magic flows into coffeshops every day! Just, like…think about. Are we really just letting that go to waste? We have to innovate, man! Leverage our opportunities!

Novju: Well-said.

Morgan: Not really.

-Novju and Zaresi glare at her. She eeps and retreats-

Zaresi: I, for one, am done listening to you talk. All in favor of annihilating the upstart?

-Vorn raises her hand, but Erian, Novju, and Nalis don’t-

Zaresi: Erian? Nalis? I can understand Novju, but you two?

Erian: I mean, it’s weird, but why not give the guy a chance, right? He doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone.

Vorn: Nalis?

Nalis: I may not like him, but no need to rock the boat. Let’s see where this goes.

Vorn: Naturally.

Retilwa: So, that’s it, right? Can I go now?

Zaresi: …I suppose.

Retilwa: Cool, cool. Catch you on the flip.

-he skates away on a pair of Heelies-

Zaresi: …Novju, are you sure you do not wish to change your mind?

Novju: …His mannerisms aside, he is a god. If you violate the Treaties to make a direct attack on him, I will take that as an attack on myself and respond accordingly.

Zaresi: Should I be concerned?

Novju: You might be surprised.

-she disappears in a flash. Erian floats off on her umbrella, while Nalis simply strolls away-

Vorn: What are you waiting for, Zaresi? Scram.

Zaresi: A pleasure as always, Vorn.

-she drifts away, followed by her retinue-

Zaresi: Laura. Morgan.

Laura: Yeah?

Zaresi: You may have noticed that Evan is not with us. You have seen him, correct?

Morgan: …Oh boy.

Zaresi: Even ignoring Retilwa’s other quirks, I suspect him of foul play. I want you two to talk to him and Evan both. Find out what’s going on.

-she’s gone-

Laura: …That’s an unattractive prospect.

Morgan: It can’t be that bad.

Laura: I don’t think I want to talk to him. I can’t figure it out, but something about him creeps me out.

Morgan: I hope it’s not the flannel.

-she grins-

Laura: It might be the goatee.

Morgan: I can do the talking if you want.

-Laura smiles, and takes Morgan’s hand-

Laura: Thanks.

-Laura moves a little behind Morgan, who runs after Retilwa-

Morgan: Hey!

-Retilwa turns around, his brown aura sparking up-

Retilwa: Here to finish the job? I may not look like much, but I’ve taken a few self-defense classes. Gotta keep up the repertoire, right?

Laura: Deme fuerza…

Morgan: Don’t worry, that’s not why we’re here.

-Retilwa perks up-

Retilwa: Ah, looking for an internship then? Another local Magician’s already approached me with an offer to synergize.

Laura: Synergize? Really?

Morgan: You’re talking about Evan?

Retilwa: Ah, yes! Friend of yours?

Morgan and Laura: We wouldn’t say that.

Morgan: More of a co-worker, really. Until very recently, he was a Death Magician in Zaresi’s service.

Retilwa: Huh. He must really like coffee.

Morgan: Respectable.

-Laura makes a face, and peeks out from behind Morgan-

Laura: …Uh, sure. Is that what he said when he offered to form a Contract with you?

Retilwa: Something like that, yeah. He seemed pretty frantic.

Laura: …Can we talk to him?

Retilwa: I don’t see why not. Far be it from me to keep friends apart.

-Morgan laughs-

Laura: Sure. Morgan, let’s go see Evan.

-the two walk off-

Laura: Okay, that seemed deeply wrong.

Morgan: He seemed okay to me.

Laura: Really?

Morgan: Smelled like coffee. Kind of a hipster but that’s the worst I’d say about him.

Laura: Like that isn’t bad enough?

Morgan: Why don’t we just go check in with Evan?

-cut to the coffeeshop, where Evan is drinking while typing something on a laptop-

Laura: A vanilla steamer? Really? That isn’t even actual coffee.

Evan: It’s the principle of the thing, Laura. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.

Morgan: Pleasantries over, I guess?

Evan: Never really been my thing.

Laura: Cool, then I won’t bother either.

-she sits down, and glares at Evan-

Laura: What’s your angle here?

Evan: Pardon?

Laura: What’s going on? Did Zaresi want you to infiltrate this sad little hole in the wall to prove Retilwa was up to something?

Morgan: Uh, Laura, maybe keep it down a bit.

Laura: And if he did, was there some reason you never mentioned it to me?

Evan: There’s no angle here, Laura. I’m just not working for Zaresi anymore. I wasn’t getting anywhere doing that.

Laura: Since when has that been a concern for you?

Evan: Just look around at all these coffeeshop people. They’re all doing things with their lives. And what about me? Am I going to end up like Richard, spending all my time in graveyards by the time I’m thirty? Does that sound like a good way to live?

Laura: Um—

Evan: Retilwa offers a low-stakes partnership, see? I work for him when he really needs me, but in the meantime, I’m free to do what I want to better my life! I’ve been thinking about quitting school and maybe getting into some startup work…

Laura: Are you listening to yourself right now?

Evan: Also, we get coupons for coffee.

Laura: Your hair is blond and your ear is pierced!

Evan: You don’t like the look?

Laura: …Morgan, we’re going.

Morgan: Oh, okay. See you around, Evan.

Evan: Toodles.

-Laura and Morgan walk out-

Laura: You can’t tell me you didn’t think that was weird.

Morgan: Evan certainly seems off.

Laura: Off hardly does it justice. I don’t trust Retilwa any further than I could throw him.

-she thinks-

Laura: Actually, I could throw him pretty far, I think.

Morgan: He’s really weedy.

Laura: I guess we have to tell Zaresi.

-cut to them telling Zaresi-

Zaresi: …You think Evan was brainwashed? By coffee?

Laura: At this point, it seems like the most likely explanation.

Morgan: He might have just gone around the bend, you know.

Laura: I’m pretty sure that ship sailed a while back. This is weird even for him.

Zaresi: Hm. Do you have proof?

Laura: I can’t say I do…

Zaresi: Which means, unfortunately, that we are unable to act on your suspicions. If we could prove that Retilwa had acted directly to influence Evan, it would be sufficient provocation to attack him ourselves. Without that, however, we are still limited to indirect methods to recover our errant Magician.

Morgan: Uh, question.

Zaresi: Hm?

Morgan: What if he’s just switched sides? I mean, it’s kind of out of character, but a lot of weird things happened after Nicholas. Maybe he felt like the third wheel.

-she blows a raspberry at Laura, who looks pensive. She looks back at Zaresi-

Zaresi: …Our options being limited, Vorn and I have devised a plan. We’re gathering by City Hall again in an hour. Be there.

Morgan: If you insist.

-Laura and Morgan are walking to City Hall-

Morgan: You don’t think you’re being just a little paranoid? Evan’s a tool. We knew that. Maybe this is just a different expression of preexisting toolness.

Laura: You think that’s normal?

-she points down the street. There’s Evan, cleaning up the protective charms he’d been setting up previously-

Morgan: …I kind of thought that spray-painting sigils onto houses was weird in the first place.

Laura: Evan!

-he turns-

Evan: Hi, Laura! Want to help me clean up this graffiti?

Laura: No, I don’t.

-she brushes past him, Morgan following-

Morgan: …Okay, admittedly, Evan doing anything to improve the lives of other people is a little strange.

Laura: Thank you!

Morgan: …Sure we can’t just leave him like that?

-Laura sighs-

-at City Hall, they find Vorn having gathered up her troops, and Zaresi with Iggy and another Reaper-

Janice: Hi!

Richard: Afternoon.

Laura: Yeah, hi.

Morgan: How’s life?

Janice: Could be better.

Zaresi: The situation has officially reached the point where drastic measures are called for. To that ends, you will all be breaking your preexisting Contracts.

Morgan: Wait, what?

Vorn: We’re making a new god.

Laura: What.

Morgan: We can do that?

Vorn: It’s an extreme measure. We’re going to have one of our Spirits declare itself a Coffee god in order to provide some competition for Zaresi.

Morgan: Wait, what? How can a Spirit be a god?

-Vorn gives Zaresi a glance-

Vorn: You don’t tell your Magicians things?

-Zaresi shrugs-

Zaresi: I may occasionally forget to mention details.

Richard: A god is a Spirit that uses a ritual to absorb power from a given Domain. That’s all there is to it. Contracts just make sure that all of a Magician’s excess magic is going to the one Spirit.

Morgan: Promotion. Nice.

-Laura blinks-

Morgan: …Wait. So does that mean that you two used to be human?

-Vorn and Zaresi give each other awkward looks, impressive since neither have faces-

Zaresi: …We prefer not to discuss it.

Laura: Everything’s human in the end. It’s just a question of how many steps it took after.

Vorn: Moving on!

Zaresi: When two gods of the same Domain occupy the same immediate area, it creates conflict, as both rituals attempt to sap magic from the same well. It is a challenge that Retilwa will have no choice but to answer. So.

-she eyes the group-

Zaresi: Who wants to be a god?

Iggy: Well, as the Spirit present with the most seniority—

Zaresi: Quiet, Iggy.

-Iggy shrinks back-

Zaresi: You. You will do.

-she points at one of the Reapers, who immediately turns from a Reaper into a formless wisp of light-

Vorn: Richard, got the ritual?

-Richard hands the wisp a scrap of paper-

Richard: Read this.

Wisp: Uh... Quicolannicorganicholy? How is that even—

-there’s a hiss, and the wisp turns into a young woman, dressed in a similar style to Retilwa and with the same brown aura-

Morgan: Dang. Coffee gods are cute.

Laura: Really?

Morgan: Just saying.

Zaresi: How do you feel?

Coffee: Like I want to listen to music on old records. And not even good music. Music, from, like before I was alive.

Vorn: Right, right, sounds like it worked. Pick a name and get on with it.

Coffee: …How about Avarra? I like Avarra.

Zaresi: Avarra it is. Everyone, Vorn and I will break your Contracts, and you’ll swear to Avarra.

-there’s a sharp hiss. Morgan, Laura, Janice, and Richard don’t change, but the Reapers and Makhai do-

-they turn to Avarra, and pledge their service. The Spirits change into uniformed figures with aprons-

Janice: …

-they conjure a spell, which takes the form of a bean-

Janice: What? I was totally going to make an espresso shots pun. I hate this.

-Morgan, meanwhile, is producing a steady stream of fluid magic, while Laura’s more resembles coffee grounds-

Morgan: Is it just me, or does coffee magic actually smell like coffee?

Laura: It does and I hate it.

???: In the market for Magicians?

-someone walks up. It’s the boy from the graveyard and the forest. Laura and Morgan immediately go on alert-

Zaresi: Who are you?

Boy: A Magician without a Contract, obviously.

Morgan: Who do you work for?

Boy: Nobody. That’s kind of the point. Anyway, I couldn’t help but overhear that you were planning to set up some fights between the new Coffee god and the newer one, so I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. Proverbially.

Vorn: Why would we let you do that?

Boy: Because I’m incredibly competent. Just ask those two.

-he gestures at Morgan and Laura-

Zaresi: Well?

Morgan: Unfortunately, he’s not exactly wrong. But I don’t like him.

Zaresi: Not an immediate concern, I’m afraid. Do you have a name, Magician?

Boy: Have I really never introduced myself? You can call me Taylor.

-he grins at Morgan and Laura-

Morgan: …This doesn’t make us friends.

Taylor: Well, of course.

Avarra: Okay then. Who’s ready to put a stop to a trespassing Coffee god?

Laura: Finally. Let’s make this happen.

-smash cut. Avarra and co. are hanging around outside Barstucks-

Avarra: Well, I’m bored. This is boring.

Laura: He hasn’t even budged. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t even noticed us. I don’t get it, Avarra just being here should be stealing power away from him, but it’s like it doesn’t matter. Richard, are you sure you got the ritual right? Maybe Avarra’s not a Coffee goddess.

Richard: Anything’s possible, but it seems unlikely.

Avarra: What else would I be a goddess of?

Laura: Hipsters?

Janice: Gentrification?

Iggy: Is it possible that—

Laura: Iggy.

Iggy: Okay, okay.

Morgan: It’s been hours. Can’t we just call it a day?

Taylor: With zeal like that, it’s honestly a shock to me that you couldn’t beat me.

Morgan: Why are you even here?

Taylor: Nothing better to do with the afternoon.

-he yawns. Morgan rolls her eyes-

-time wears on. It starts getting dark, and Barstucks closes. Retilwa exits, Evan notably trailing behind-

Retilwa: So. How’s your scheme coming along?

Avarra: Scheme?

Retilwa: I get it. You guys don’t respect me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of respect. You think you can just claim the same Domain as me, and suddenly you get a share of the proceeds? Ever heard of copyright law? Monopolization of resources?

Richard: I’m not certain it applies to magic.

Retilwa: Seems like it does now. Evan, would you like to explain?

-Evan smiles, though it’s a more genuine smile than his usual wicked grin-

Evan: So, I’ve been working with Lord Retilwa—

Laura: Lord? Really?

Evan: --I’ve been working with Lord Retilwa on a ritual that keeps other gods from nosing in on his Domain. Using secret Coffee magic, I’ve reorganized the flow of energy to make sure any and all Coffee-related thoughts, feelings, or opinions go directly to him.

Retilwa: Or, in laymagician’s terms, you’re stuck without any power. If your god isn’t drawing any magic, then neither are you, which means that not only are you not coming anywhere near my business, you’ve completely crippled your entire side. I’ll see you tomorrow, assuming you haven’t given up by then. Ciao!

-he strolls off-

Morgan: What is it with people and saying goodbye in another language with the wrong accent?

-she gives Taylor a sideglance, which he doesn’t notice-

Taylor: Well, that was interesting. I was wondering why I felt so powerless. Oh well, shouldn’t be a problem if I break my Contract then.

-he does so, and skips away. Morgan hurls a stream of coffee after him, but it comes out as a trickle and doesn’t even clear a foot-

Taylor: Have a nice day!

Avarra: So that was a total bust.

-she sighs, and suddenly reverts back to a wisp. The other Spirits do the same-

Laura: We’ll try something else tomorrow. Maybe we could open up a stand or something.

Morgan: …Has anyone considered that maybe we’re being paranoid about this?

-everyone turns to Morgan-

Richard: No.

Laura: It’s not paranoia when they’re actually out to get you.

Morgan: But maybe this time they aren’t. Retilwa’s annoying, but it’s not like he’s really doing anything wrong. Let’s just let it lie.

Janice: Pssh. That’s no fun.

-they dart off, trailed by Richard and the Spirits. The Reapers head off in a different direction-

Morgan: Come on, Laura. Let’s call it a day.

Laura: …Morgan, how much coffee have you had the past couple weeks?

Morgan: Couple dozen cups. Why?

-cut to Laura dragging Morgan into the graveyard, where Liz is conducting a couple rituals, her limbs distorted into sigils and emitting odd humming noises-

Laura: Liz!

-the rituals all detonate. Liz sighs, and reforms, turning to face the two-

Liz: What’s going on? And why have you tied up Morgan?

Laura: I need your help.

-Liz stares-

Liz: Well, I won’t lie and say I’m not flattered, but I’m not at all interested in mortals, so—

Laura: You are badly misinterpreting this situation.

Liz: Thank goodness. What do you need?

Laura: Morgan got on the wrong end of a Coffee ritual. I’ve got no idea how to reverse it, and Evan’s out of commission.

Liz: …Hm.

-she takes Morgan by the chin and peers into her eyes-

Liz: What’s with you?

Morgan: Have you considered the benefits to unpaid internship?

-Liz recoils-

Liz: Goodness, she’s in deep.

Morgan: I’m kidding, jeez. Come on, Laura. Coffee makes people hyper, not brainwashed.

Laura: Except in this case, when it does both.

Morgan: Laura, there’s nothing going on with my brain!

Laura: (to Liz) My guess would be that Retilwa encoded some sort of ritual into the beans, or the machines. He might have started it himself; he’s probably getting Evan to perpetuate it.

Liz: Let me see…

-her hand twists into a sigil, and she scans it up and down Morgan, a low, tuneful hum pouring from it-

Morgan: Do you have any idea how paranoid you sound right now? This is what I’m talking about! If you hadn’t noticed, Evan actually seems happy with his life now!

Laura: Were you not happy before?

Morgan: I mean, I’m okay with things, but I’m barely 18! I was going to go to college next year! People our age aren’t worried about fighting people like Nicholas, you know! I should be thinking about where you and I are going to go on our date, or about my grades, not whether or not a Dragon is going to eat my soul! This isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life!

-Laura freezes-

Laura: …Do you mean that?

Morgan: I—

Liz: She doesn’t, actually.

Laura: Huh?

Liz: She’s under a compulsion. Complex one, too. It’s probably better if you just don’t listen to what she says while I fix it.

Laura: That won’t be a problem.

-montage of Liz forming various glyphs around Morgan, while Laura sits off to one side, stony-faced-

Liz: Well, let’s see if this works. Exorcisamus te…

Laura: Really?

Liz: Come on, let me have a little fun.

-Laura just stares at her-

Liz: Fine.

-Liz mumbles something to herself, and the glyphs all glow black. There’s a burst of brown light, and Morgan goes limp-

Liz: How do you feel?

Morgan: …Really tired.

Liz: Caffeine withdrawal will do that.

Laura: Now do you believe me?

-Morgan notices Laura, and looks guilty-

Morgan: …Um. What I said when the Coffee magic was in my brain. You didn’t…you know that’s not me, right?

-Laura looks incredibly tense, but nods-

Morgan: I want to help people. Maybe someday I’ll leave, but not today, and not while there’s still work to be done.

-Laura smiles, but still looks tense-

Morgan: And I love you. Do you know that?

-Liz makes a face. Laura relaxes a little. Morgan leans in and kisses her, and she relaxes a lot-

-Liz sighs-

Liz: Is this really the time?

Nalis: Don’t be like that, Liz.

-he grins. Morgan and Laura separate, startled-

Liz: What are you doing here?

Nalis: Young love, reunited?

-he clasps his hands together in the manner of a starstruck youth-

Nalis: Kind of my thing. But I’ll be on my way, now.

-he drifts away into rose petals-

Liz: …So. What’s been going on? I’ve been working on that ritual the last few weeks. And, incidentally, you ruined it when you interrupted me. So I hope this was worth it.

Laura: Well, um—

Morgan: New coffee shop is actually run by a god—

Laura: Of Coffee. And Evan defected. Which Zaresi’s not happy about, but without any reason we can’t just attack him.

Morgan: So we were leaving him alone.

Laura: But it turns out he’s brainwashing people through the coffee. Including Morgan. And probably Evan.

Liz: Wait, so you had me exorcise you? All that means is you’re right back to having no proof that anything’s wrong with the coffee.

-pause-

Morgan: …Damn it!

-she kicks up a chunk of grass. Laura facepalms-

Laura: Well…too late now.

-Morgan tilts her head-

Morgan: …Is it?

-cut to the two outside Barstucks, standing on either side of the door. Evan makes his way out-

Morgan: Hi.

-Evan turns around-

Evan: Hi, you two. Do you want something? I’m a little busy.

Laura: …We’re kidnapping you.

Evan: Oh.

Morgan: Don’t bother resisting, okay? It’d only be embarrassing for you.

Evan: You’re probably not wrong.

-cut to the graveyard-

Morgan: It’s getting chilly. Evan, are you sure Retilwa actually cares enough about you to come get you?

Evan: He would never abandon me.

-at which point Novju appears in a flash, Retilwa next to her-

Retilwa: Excuse me?! How dare you? Attacking another god’s Magician unprovoked?

Novju: He isn’t wrong. What’s the meaning of this, you two?

-Morgan and Laura gulp. Fortunately, Liz appears -

Liz: Novju, I understand your anger, but in this case, your trust is misplaced. We’ve reason to believe Retilwa is employing brainwashing magic in the coffee he peddles—

Retilwa: Peddles? Really?

Liz: -and that he used it to turn Evan to his side. Furthermore, he intends to do the same to the rest of us.

Retilwa: What possible grounds could you have for that accusation?

Morgan: Hey! I just had to get exorcised because of you, you—

Novju: Do you have proof?

Morgan: Not exactly.

-Novju raises an eyebrow-

Laura: But we’re about to.

-Liz places a hand on Evan’s shoulder-

Liz: I’m going to use the same ritual I used on Morgan. It burns away outside magic. If Evan is really acting of his own free will—

Evan: I am.

Liz: It won’t do a thing. But if he’s not…

-Retilwa glares-

Retilwa: And how do I know that ritual does what you say it does? You could just as easily put him under your own control!

Liz: Novju? You are on Retilwa’s side in the matter, are you not? Would you care to examine the ritual?

Novju: Please.

-Liz’s arm transforms into the sigil for the ritual, which Novju analyzes-

Novju: It does, indeed, seem to be exactly what Liz claims. I see no reason not to allow it to be tested on Evan.

-there’s a pause-

-and Retilwa runs for it-

Novju: Disappointing.

-he is suddenly reeled back in as the distance between him and Novju shrinks. She grabs him by the collar and reels him over-

Novju: I vouched for you, Retilwa. You were a proof of concept that unorthodox domains had a place. And you let. Me. Down.

-she shoves the coffee god to the ground-

Novju: Put Evan in the ritual.

-cut to Evan standing up, as the last of the Coffee magic drains away from him-

Evan: …Oh, Zaresi, what did I do to myself?

Morgan: Dyed your hair blond and got a really bad piercing.

-Evan whips around, glaring at Retilwa, who gulps-

Evan: You. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have my mind messed with?

Morgan: (to Laura) Does he not see the irony?

Laura: Nope.

Evan: If I could reaffirm my Contract now, I’d kill you where you stand.

-he takes out his knife and points it at the god, who flinches-

Evan: Whatever. I’ll do it later.

-he turns to Liz-

Evan: Where is Zaresi, anyway? Didn’t she want to see her right hand restored?

Liz: You’re not as important as you think you are. On the other hand, I’m not altogether sure where Zaresi is.

Nalis: Oh! I know this one!

-he appears in a shower of petals-

Morgan: Why do you keep being around?

Nalis: Reasons. Stuff. Things. Anyway, your god’s indisposed. As, in fact, are most of them.

-he beams-

Morgan: Huh?

Nalis: I’m pretty stoked with the Coffee ritual, Retilwa. Just so you know.

Retilwa: Um?

Nalis: In fact, I was so totally impressed when I found out about it, that I had my Magician conduct a ritual of his own to subvert it to my own purposes. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, don’t you know?

Everyone: Wait, what?

Morgan: What Magician? I’ve never seen any Magicians around you.

Nalis: That’s because I don’t declare them and I keep them completely secret so that each can further my goals in their own tiny ways. Duh.

Laura: Wait, that would be in complete violation of the treaties!

Liz: It would also explain why this town seemed to have so few Magicians.

Nalis: I mean, yeah, it’s against the Convocation.

-he grins-

Nalis: But so is hacking into an illicit Coffee ritual using Love magic in order to take over the minds of every single person in town who ever drank so much as a sip of Barstucks coffee, followed by manipulating those people’s magical connections to ensure that they focus entirely on me, depriving all the other gods here of any power they might have ever had and ensuring my absolute power. And I had a guy do that, too.

-pause-

Morgan: WHAT?

Retilwa: You hacked my ritual? Nobody hacks me! I—

Nalis: Dude, chill. Much like your fashion sense, you’re no longer relevant. Welcome to obsolescence.

-and dozens of chains burst from nowhere and impale Retilwa, tearing him apart, as Taylor steps into the graveyard-

Taylor: Hey there.

Morgan: …We really should have seen this coming, shouldn’t we have?

Evan: I wanted to do that!

Taylor: Probably. I mean, zephyr? I practically gave it away.

-he smiles-

Taylor: Speaking of tragic romances, and accidentally killing your lover, Morgan, how much coffee have you had lately?

-he points at her, touching a finger to his ring-

Taylor: Ophelia!

-a sigil forms…but nothing happens-

Morgan: There’s no Coffee magic in me, Taylor.

Liz: Burned it out myself.

Taylor: Hmph. Well, with Evan and Morgan out…

-he turns to Laura-

Laura: I don’t drink coffee. Bad for the…well, everything, apparently.

Taylor: That’s really disappointing, honestly, because it means I’m going to have to have someone else kill you all while I go finish some work.

-Janice steps out of the shadows, twirling their guns, which are now a bright pink and a tad more elegant than average-

Evan: Oh, dammit.

Taylor: So. An entire town’s magical resources, vs. three Magicians, one without a Contract, and a single Spirit, all powered by a goddess that may as well be a band Spirit for all the residual power she’s got left.

-he beams-

Taylor: Nice odds.

Nalis: Taylor, we agreed that I got to make the dramatic speeches.

Taylor: Aw.

Nalis: Unfortunately, with Taylor already having done so, I don’t think there’s much to say. Ah well. Arrivederci.

Morgan: …At least you can pronounce it right.

-Nalis drifts away in petals again, leaving Taylor and Janice alone-

Taylor: Any last words?

Morgan: Yeah. Taylor, your actions today stand in violation of the Divine Convocation. Should you not cease immediately, a reaction will be provoked!

-and she summons her scythe-

-which is essentially seethrough-

Morgan: Wait, what?

Taylor: Did I not just say that your goddess is incapacitated? Where exactly did you plan on drawing power from for your spellcasting?

-he yawns-

Taylor: Whatever. Janice, you know what to do.

-he saunters off, leaving Janice alone in the graveyard with the four-

Janice: Hi, you four! How’s it going?

Morgan: We’ve been better.

Janice: Yeah.

-they point their guns, and open fire-

[averil2004]

Ezarel: Me, Valkyon and Nevra have the most responsibilities.

Miiko: *literally leader of the Light Guard*

Erian: *member of the Shadow Guard, but also member of Main Council in the Confederation of Wizards*

Erian and Miiko: Are you sure about that?

[jeramymobley]

Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors

Under Armour, announced that Mohamed A. El-Erian has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr El-Erian is the former CEO and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO

“We’re excited to welcome Mohamed to our the Under Armour board,” said Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s chairman and CEO. “Mohamed’s renowned international, macroeconomic and financial expertise are welcomed strengths as we learn even more deeply into our transformation, driving greater operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder returns as we continue to drive our brand forward around the world.”

In addition to his current and former roles at Allianz and PIMCO, Dr El-Erian is a columnist for Bloomberg and a contributing editor at the Financial Times. He first joined PIMCO in 1999 as a senior member of the portfolio management and investment strategy group.

In 2006, he became president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s endowment, before returning to PIMCO in 2007 to serve as co-CEO and co-CIO. From 2012 to 2017, he was chair of the U.S. President’s Global Economic Development Council.

Previously, he was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and worked at the International Monetary Fund for 15 years, rising to the position of Deputy Director. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research serving on its Executive Committee, and chairs the Microsoft Investment Advisory Committee.

Dr. El-Erian received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, and an M.Phil and a doctorate from Oxford University.

“For more than a decade now, I’ve followed and admired Under Armour as it has grown to become one of the world’s largest athletic performance brands,” said Dr El-Erian. “I’m honoured to join the board of directors and to work with a management team that’s committed to creating long-term growth and returns for shareholders.”

The article Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors appeared first on World Branding Forum.

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Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors

Under Armour, announced that Mohamed A. El-Erian has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr El-Erian is the former CEO and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO

“We’re excited to welcome Mohamed to our the Under Armour board,” said Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s chairman and CEO. “Mohamed’s renowned international, macroeconomic and financial expertise are welcomed strengths as we learn even more deeply into our transformation, driving greater operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder returns as we continue to drive our brand forward around the world.”

In addition to his current and former roles at Allianz and PIMCO, Dr El-Erian is a columnist for Bloomberg and a contributing editor at the Financial Times. He first joined PIMCO in 1999 as a senior member of the portfolio management and investment strategy group.

In 2006, he became president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s endowment, before returning to PIMCO in 2007 to serve as co-CEO and co-CIO. From 2012 to 2017, he was chair of the U.S. President’s Global Economic Development Council.

Previously, he was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and worked at the International Monetary Fund for 15 years, rising to the position of Deputy Director. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research serving on its Executive Committee, and chairs the Microsoft Investment Advisory Committee.

Dr. El-Erian received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, and an M.Phil and a doctorate from Oxford University.

“For more than a decade now, I’ve followed and admired Under Armour as it has grown to become one of the world’s largest athletic performance brands,” said Dr El-Erian. “I’m honoured to join the board of directors and to work with a management team that’s committed to creating long-term growth and returns for shareholders.”

The article Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors appeared first on World Branding Forum.

[glenmenlow]

Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors

Under Armour, announced that Mohamed A. El-Erian has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr El-Erian is the former CEO and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO

“We’re excited to welcome Mohamed to our the Under Armour board,” said Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s chairman and CEO. “Mohamed’s renowned international, macroeconomic and financial expertise are welcomed strengths as we learn even more deeply into our transformation, driving greater operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder returns as we continue to drive our brand forward around the world.”

In addition to his current and former roles at Allianz and PIMCO, Dr El-Erian is a columnist for Bloomberg and a contributing editor at the Financial Times. He first joined PIMCO in 1999 as a senior member of the portfolio management and investment strategy group.

In 2006, he became president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s endowment, before returning to PIMCO in 2007 to serve as co-CEO and co-CIO. From 2012 to 2017, he was chair of the U.S. President’s Global Economic Development Council.

Previously, he was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and worked at the International Monetary Fund for 15 years, rising to the position of Deputy Director. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research serving on its Executive Committee, and chairs the Microsoft Investment Advisory Committee.

Dr. El-Erian received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, and an M.Phil and a doctorate from Oxford University.

“For more than a decade now, I’ve followed and admired Under Armour as it has grown to become one of the world’s largest athletic performance brands,” said Dr El-Erian. “I’m honoured to join the board of directors and to work with a management team that’s committed to creating long-term growth and returns for shareholders.”

The article Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors appeared first on World Branding Forum.

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Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors

Under Armour, announced that Mohamed A. El-Erian has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr El-Erian is the former CEO and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO

“We’re excited to welcome Mohamed to our the Under Armour board,” said Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s chairman and CEO. “Mohamed’s renowned international, macroeconomic and financial expertise are welcomed strengths as we learn even more deeply into our transformation, driving greater operational excellence, financial discipline and shareholder returns as we continue to drive our brand forward around the world.”

In addition to his current and former roles at Allianz and PIMCO, Dr El-Erian is a columnist for Bloomberg and a contributing editor at the Financial Times. He first joined PIMCO in 1999 as a senior member of the portfolio management and investment strategy group.

In 2006, he became president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s endowment, before returning to PIMCO in 2007 to serve as co-CEO and co-CIO. From 2012 to 2017, he was chair of the U.S. President’s Global Economic Development Council.

Previously, he was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and worked at the International Monetary Fund for 15 years, rising to the position of Deputy Director. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research serving on its Executive Committee, and chairs the Microsoft Investment Advisory Committee.

Dr. El-Erian received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, and an M.Phil and a doctorate from Oxford University.

“For more than a decade now, I’ve followed and admired Under Armour as it has grown to become one of the world’s largest athletic performance brands,” said Dr El-Erian. “I’m honoured to join the board of directors and to work with a management team that’s committed to creating long-term growth and returns for shareholders.”

The article Under Armour Appoints Mohamed El-Erian To Its Board Of Directors appeared first on World Branding Forum.

[edgysocial]

New Post has been published on http://edgysocial.com/weekend-roundup-north-korea-nears-the-brink/

Weekend Roundup: North Korea Nears The Brink

Not even two months into office and with only a skeleton national security team in place, U.S. President Donald Trump is facing what could be the most perilous nuclear-related military confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis over half a century ago.

Fearing an outbreak of “actual war” as North Korea has threatened, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week urgently called on its ally to end all missile tests and for the U.S. and South Korea to suspend joint military exercises. He warned that the U.S. and North Korea are “like two accelerating trains coming toward each other, and neither side is willing to give way.”

The potential calamity that could result from a clash between the two most unpredictable leaders in the world makes the search for a breakthrough more urgent than in previous crises. In their response to the latest tests, China has sought to pressure Pyongyang by halting coal imports, a key source of income for the Hermit Kingdom. But compounding the conundrum of how to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to heel, China is at the same time furious over the installation of a U.S.-South Korea missile shield aimed at the North but whose prying radar “can ‘reach’ into Chinese territory.” Completing the perfect storm, South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, thus removing her from office. After many years of slow burn, the North Korean menace has reached an inflection point where the whole region is at risk of conflagration.

Clearly it is time to try a new strategy beyond sanctioning and isolating North Korea to stop its nuclear threat. Madame Fu Ying, one of China’s top diplomats who has been dealing with Pyongyang since 2003, made the case to me recently in Beijing that this long-standing approach is not working, but only making the beleaguered regime more belligerent. Pulling out a chart tracing the decades-long path to nuclear armament and ballistic missile development, Madame Fu said the pattern is clear: when there are talks, the buildup stalls; when there are sanctions, the North doubles down on amassing an ever-more powerful arsenal.

“The U.S. keeps pressuring China to stop Kim, and we have gone along with that,” she said. “But it is America that, in the end, holds the key to resolving the crisis. That key is direct negotiations with North Korea as a step towards a peace treaty and a guarantee against regime change.” Absent that, her argument went, the only path to security from the North’s perspective is its weapons.

Despite other tensions, the highest priority now is for China and the new Trump administration to join as indispensable partners in pursuing a path along the lines Fu Ying has suggested. In such a scenario, North Korea would still likely retain a nuclear capacity ― unlike Iran, it already crossed this threshold long ago. But, in return for recognition and security, the Kim regime would be obliged to halt new testing and dismantle all intermediate and long-range missiles that could carry nuclear warheads to other countries, especially Japan.

Former U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, who participated in U.S. talks with North Korea’s leaders back in 1999, takes this diplomatic option seriously: “I believe that North Korea might well agree to give up testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles and agree not to sell or transfer any of its nuclear technology in return for economic concessions from South Korea and security assurances from the U.S.”

To be sure, such a deal would be hard for any U.S. administration to swallow. It rankles deeply to act as if rewarding aggressive behavior. But in this case the only other course to the U.S. negotiating directly with North Korea is the continuing buildup of an even greater destructive capacity that could be unleashed in an inevitable future war. As Perry writes, “I do not suggest this approach with any enthusiasm. But our only realistic alternative is military force.” 

If this far from perfect arrangement could be made, it would not only serve to reduce the immediate danger, but also serve as a new foundation for security and cooperation ― instead of confrontation ― between the U.S. and China on other issues at conflict in East Asia. 

One such area where Beijing and Washington are bound to clash, but will need to cooperate, is trade. As the West turns against globalization, Ivan Tselichtchev writes from Hong Kong that Asia is becoming the champion of free trade, building new links with each other that don’t depend on the American market. 

Key leaders are also clashing elsewhere outside Asia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week “accused the other of acting in bad faith” in a controversy over whether Erdoğan’s allies can campaign in Germany among the many Turks who live there ahead of an April referendum that would consolidate the Turkish president’s autocratic powers. Writing from Berlin, Fabrizio Tassinari sees this fraught moment ― the culmination of tensions all along the road of Turkey’s failed effort over decades to join the European Union ― “as the end of Turkey’s European history.” In an interview, French writer Jean d’Ormesson worries that the “real victim” of populism, both in the U.S. and Europe, is democracy. “All of France is moving to the right,” he laments. Nick Robins-Early reports on how “far-right bots” are behind the social media surge of French nationalist leader Marine Le Pen.

The issue of Islam and refugees continues to roil American politics as the Trump administration announced a revised travel ban this week. Taking the long view, Muslim scholar Akbar Ahmed advises Trump to learn from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II who, at the height of the Crusades, was able to work with his Muslim counterparts in Jerusalem to establish tolerance and the sharing of religious sites. Anastasya Manuilova reports from Moscow that there has been a noticeable decline in “Trumpophilia” as the “bromance” between the American president and Russian President Vladimir Putin dwindles amidst the Trump-Russia controversy in the U.S.. For most Russians, she says, “Putin’s bromance with Trump is already on its deathbed, and with it, any chance for a genuine reset.”

Following up on our interview last week with Indian author Pankaj Mishra, Gregory Rodriguez writes that, “[Mishra] sees the destruction of local, intimate, long-rooted systems of meaning as opening a spiritual Pandora’s box within which lies infinite doubt and disillusion.” To wrestle with the “nothingness” left behind, Rodriguez argues that “Western liberals need to admit that we have finally reached the limits of the Enlightenment’s cult of secular individualism.” 

Even as tensions increase over North Korea’s nuclear weapons, Ariel Conn raises the specter of a new threat on the horizon ― an “AI arms race” as the technology spreads to develop lethal autonomous weaponry.

Finally, our Singularity series this week examines a plan in New Zealand to rid the country of predatory plants and animals by 2050 through the use of “genetic engineering techniques to render invasive species infertile, exterminating them from within their own DNA.” 

WHO WE ARE

  EDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Co-Founder and Executive Advisor to the Berggruen Institute, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Executive Editor of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Alex Gardels and Peter Mellgard are the Associate Editors of The WorldPost. Suzanne Gaber is the Editorial Assistant of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is News Director at The Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost’s news coverage. Nick Robins-Early and Jesselyn Cook are World Reporters. Rowaida Abdelaziz is World Social Media Editor.

EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media), Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun).

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS: Dawn Nakagawa.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large.

The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea.

Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the “whole mind” way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine.

ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute’s 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as theAdvisory Council — as well as regular contributors — to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail and Zheng Bijian.

From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt.

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We not only deliver breaking news from the best sources with original reportage on the ground and user-generated content; we bring the best minds and most authoritative as well as fresh and new voices together to make sense of events from a global perspective looking around, not a national perspective looking out.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Business – The Huffington Post

[candyaim-blog]

Snap's Chief Taps Into the 'Right Now'

Mr. Spiegels singular approach will soon be more publicly on display. This week, Snapchats parent company, Snap, is expected to reveal its public stock offering paperwork for the first time. The filing will show how Snap is doing as a business and whether that justifies a public valuation of $20 billion to $25 billion, which the company has been reported to be seeking. It will also disclose Mr. Spiegels ownership stake in Snap; the public offering is set to vault Mr. Spiegel and Mr. Murphy, who is now chief technology officer, into the ranks of other tech billionaires. Continue reading the main storyAlong with financial information, Mr. Spiegel is expected to include remarks about Snaps mission that will showcase his zag-while-zigging philosophy. If you want to understand Snap, look at Evan Spiegel, said Todd Chaffee, a partner at IVP, one of Snaps three largest venture capital investors. He is the visionary who drives that company. Photo

A Snapchat banner at the New York Stock Exchange. Snapchats parent company, Snap, is expected to reveal its public stock offering paperwork this week. Credit Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters Mary Ritti, a spokeswoman for Snap, declined to comment for this story. Mr. Spiegel grew up in Pacific Palisades, a wealthy Los Angeles suburb, and attended Crossroads, a prep school in Santa Monica that counts Jonah Hill, Kate Hudson and Jack Black as alumni. He lived a privileged life, with expensive cars, exclusive club memberships and fancy vacations, according to records from his parents divorce proceedings. His father, John Spiegel, a securities lawyer who helped overhaul the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King beating in 1991, also had his children volunteer and build homes in poor areas of Mexico. While many techies talk about how the industry is a meritocracy, Mr. Spiegel has not shied from his wealthy roots. In public comments, he has said he is a young, white, educated male who got really, really lucky. And life isnt fair. At Stanford, also his fathers alma mater, Mr. Spiegel majored in product design and started a handful of companies with Mr. Murphy, a fellow Kappa Sigma fraternity brother. (Their early start-ups flopped.) There, Mr. Spiegel also met some of the men who would become his mentors, including Scott Cook, then the chief executive of Intuit, and Eric Schmidt, the Google chairman, who taught an M.B.A. class that he attended. Mr. Spiegel really is the next Gates or Zuckerberg, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview, comparing the Snap chief to Microsofts co-founder, Bill Gates, and Facebooks chief, Mark Zuckerberg. He has superb manners, which he says he got from his mother. He credits his fathers long legal calls, which he overheard, to giving him perspective on business and structure as a very young man. When Snapchat started taking off, Mr. Spiegel did not wait to graduate from Stanford. He moved the company to the Venice Beach boardwalk, away from what he perceived as Silicon Valleys too-narrow focus on technology. His decamping for Southern California put off some in Silicon Valley. The perception of a divide with Silicon Valley was also fostered by Mr. Spiegels rejection of a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook in 2013. Some who met Mr. Spiegel during Snapchats early days at Stanford describe him as akin to the villain of a 1980s teen movie. He often came across as having a healthy ego, an impression Mr. Spiegel sometimes stoked. Continue reading the main storyWhen Mr. Spiegel met Institutional Venture Partners to discuss possible fund-raising, for example, he told IVPs partner, Dennis Phelps, that he was unwilling to accept the firms standard investment terms. If you want standard terms, invest in a standard company, Mr. Phelps recalled Mr. Spiegel telling him. IVP went on to invest in Snaps third financing round in 2013. Photo

Mr. Spiegel and his girlfriend, the model Miranda Kerr, attending a dinner at the White House in May. Credit Andrew Harnik/Associated Press In Los Angeles, Mr. Spiegel has shown interest in the citys fashion, art and music scene. He met his fiance, the model Miranda Kerr, at a Louis Vuitton dinner. And he once toyed with the idea of owning a record label with ties to Snapchat, according to a 2015 email between Sony executives that was released by hackers. Hes different from most tech people because he knows whats cool and whats next, said Ryan Wilson, an artist in Los Angeles who goes by the name ThankYouX. He worked with Mr. Spiegel on a piece of art for one of Snapchats offices. He doesnt like things because a dealer says he should. He just likes what he likes, whether its made by a high school friend or a famous artist. Mr. Spiegel has also involved himself in some political conversations. In 2015, he met with Chinas president, Xi Jinping, as a member of the 21st Century Council at the Berggruen Institute. Its founder, Nicolas Berggruen, said he impressed a group that includes Mohamed El-Erian, the economist, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France with his thoughtful and mature approach to people. Last fall, Mr. Spiegel also attended a private dinner with John O. Brennan, then the director of the C.I.A. According to multiple attendees, Mr. Spiegel listened more than he spoke and had the ear of Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles. Mr. Spiegels unconventional streak may be most evident in how he has steered Snap. He has long said that a public offering was what was best for the company and its investors, even as other tech start-ups chose to stay private as long as possible. Since Snapchats debut, the app and the company have also undergone dozens of changes that were criticized for being too different from other consumer internet companies. Mr. Spiegel rejected the idea of a newsfeed in Snapchats app, for example, because he said people prefer stories chronologically. In Facebooks News Feed, posts are reverse chronological, meaning the newest posts are at the top. Continue reading the main storyUnlike other social networks, Snapchat also does not use algorithms to push people to see certain content. Snapchat users swipe their screens to navigate and view video vertically, rather than tap on menus or turn their phones to watch videos horizontally. From what I can figure out, he thinks differently about the way to monetize and develop a social network, Mr. Schmidt said of Mr. Spiegel. Investors who buy into Snaps initial public offering will soon be getting a piece of that approach. Allowing ourselves to be pulled in another direction is what makes us human, Mr. Spiegel said in a commencement speech at the University of Southern Californias Marshall School of Business in 2015. Quoting John F. Kennedy, he added, Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. Continue reading the main story