#and it's beautiful and magical and also mundane. and they become friends and work alongside each other

[nature-played-a-trick-on-me]

Started reading a library book I picked up on a whim from the 'hot' table and I have to return in a week bc it's from the hot table and so I started reading today. And I was like oh this is going to be GOOD and it STILL IS GOOD almost 100 pages in.

[the-iron-orchid]

Prologue: The Doorway 

(~1250 words, no particular warnings)

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Dreams are a doorway, my teacher says.

I have many dreams. I dream of the mundane - simple retreads of my daily life. I dream of the absurd, the surreal. I dream of vast white sands and achingly blue sky, of being a beast rather than a human. I vividly feel the sand under my paws, the great strength in my hind legs as they propel me into the air, the life draining from the small creatures I catch in my powerful jaws.

I dream of the Lazaret, a terrible place which holds a strange fascination for me. So many suffered and died there; I often wonder if it is this awful collective energy which draws me. Being what I am, I am sensitive to such things.

Haunting the Lazaret of my dreams is a woman, tall of stature and stately of bearing. Her face and form shift in my perception, but these other things remain the same. I can never quite recall our conversations... but they are lengthy, in the way of old friends.

She may be an ancestor. She may be a representation of my own higher self. She may be nothing but a lonesome spirit, one of countless victims of the terrible plague, bound to that place by her suffering. If my company eases her pain, then I am glad to provide it.

It has been years since I have seen anyone with the marks of the plague upon them - the extremities blotchy and veined, the whites of the eyes stained with scarlet. It ceased even more quickly than it came… though I do not remember when it came. My memory begins, or perhaps ends, three years ago.

Jinana Aditya is my name, but it means nothing to me. It connects me to no-one that I recall… no-one except Asra Al-Nazar, who is my teacher, and Phan Đạt Linh Heron, who is my best friend.

I’m told I was in a terrible accident, one that resulted in the loss of my memory and function. These two people have taught me almost everything that I know - from how to walk, talk, and care for myself, to the handful of spells that I have managed to master.

Heron has always been my best friend, since we were children. I do not recall this time, of course… but I trust him with my life. Along with Asra, he is the closest thing I have to family.

It is because of Heron that I journal so diligently, recording my dreams alongside my experiences, recipes, and thoughts. I have asked him about the woman I see in dreams, but he too is unsure if she is a spirit, or perhaps another dreamer. Even the living can become trapped in the realms of dream... and they can trap others, so I must be careful.

I have spent today’s waking hours as I spend most of them - minding the humble magic shop that is also my home, and practicing my spells. I am encouraged to use magic as readily as I use my hands, the way Heron and Asra do. Otherwise, the magical energy builds up inside of me like water behind a dam, and eventually finds other, less controlled ways to escape.

(I am told that this is how I came by the odd color of the hair on my head - it is entirely unlike the hair anywhere else on my body. I am also told that this is technically considered a curse... but I don’t mind. Children love my peacock-colored hair.)

Another thing I do is read the cards - the ones that anyone may purchase, and the ones that Asra made himself. In the hands of a magician (or a magician’s apprentice), the Arcana themselves may speak. Everyone wants to know what the future holds; our little shop has garnered something of a reputation.

It isn’t a glamorous life, or even a very exciting one. I keep mostly to the Center City District, and do not wander far afield on my own. In fact, I have not left the walls of the city within my memory.

But my life is comfortable enough. I want for little... except more frequent company. 

Maybe we should get a shop cat.

The shop is quiet this evening; I am alone, as I so often am. I sit in the worn, patchy armchair to one side, journaling as is my habit. I put the finishing touches on a sketch of a mud-dauber wasp which alighted upon my hand as I tended the rooftop plants this morning. She was beautiful, her carapace gleaming phantom blue over black, her waist like a thread and her eyes like jewels.

My sketch completed, I set my quill aside and rub at my tired eyes. I close them, just for a moment… just long enough to rest them. Then I will go and make myself some dinner.

In just a moment more…

...

I stand in a spectacular space, surrounded by towering marble walls. They are intricately carved, in places even gilded, set with stained glass windows that pour rainbow light over everything. Beneath these windows, three fountains spill endlessly into a pool below, crowded with floating lotus blossoms.

A meditative figure rests upon a pile of silken cushions before the lotus pool. The figure is feminine, but her face is obscured by the pure white light that emanates from her Ajna chakra, the third eye of the mind. Her long fingers are folded in a mudra of concentration. 

I know her immediately - the woman from my dreams. I have not seen her in some weeks, even months. But I have never seen her like this before, or in such a glorious space.

I can feel her keen awareness rake over me like the light. Beneath the obscuring radiance, her lips form a smile.

“There you are.”

I return to wakefulness with a start, just as the curtains to the back room part to reveal Asra.

“Oh! Jinana… did I startle you?” he asks, eyes wide.

“I was… just resting my eyes,” I tell him. “I must have dozed off. I’m about to make dinner, if you’re hungry.”

Asra smiles. “Then my timing is perfect. Look at this.” He comes over to the chair, proffering his gathering basket. He’s been out foraging in the forest again, it seems, and he’s brought home a bounty of mushrooms, potherbs, wild onions, berries, and even a few eggs.

“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?” I ask, and his face falls a little.

“...Yes,” he admits. “There’s something I need to attend to. But I didn’t want to leave you with the larder bare.”

I nod, smiling despite the little sinking ache that blooms in my chest, as it does every time he leaves. “Well, how does a dinner of wild-mushroom pilau sound?”

“It sounds wonderful,” he says, looking at me in that odd way he sometimes does - smiling, but with a certain tension about his brows and a shadow over his violet eyes. Perhaps he is impatient to be away from me.

We ascend the steep little staircase, heading into the tiny kitchen to prepare our meal. Asra wakes the stove salamander - a quaint accoutrement of the shop - while I clean and chop the mushrooms and onions. As I work, I ponder my dreams. What does it mean, to have seen the mysterious woman again, and in such a setting?

I suppose that I may find out when sleep comes to me again.

[davidmann95]

Best comics of 2018?

A handful of disqualifications up front: since they’re just beginning, I’m not counting Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter, The Green Lantern (though Evil Star explaining his name in #2 might be my favorite moment in comics this year), Ironheart, DIE, Shazam!, Killmonger, The Batman Who Laughs, or Miles Morales: Spider-Man, all of which almost certainly would have ended up somewhere in here with some more time. Additionally, I switched to a new online pull list system in March, so I don’t have a list of what I got before then - if I’m forgetting about something great that came out early this year, there’s a good chance that would be why.

Honorary Mentions: While there were plenty of comics I was happy to keep up with, a number stood out as exemplary examples of straight-take relatively traditional capeshit: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and companies’ Justice League, Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America (which would probably go among the best of the best if the art was a bit more consistent or the lineup more to my personal tastes), Brian Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman work in the Walmart 100-Page Giants, Donny Cates’ Thanos and Doctor Strange work (the latter might not have quite made it, but that last issue with Irving and Zdarsky was gangbusters), Steve Orlando’s brief Wonder Woman run with Laura Braga, ACO, and Raul Allen, Tim Seeley’s Green Lanterns, Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero’s Shuri, Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch’s Hawkman, Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Rod Reis, Dario Brizuela, and Joe Quinones’s Exiles, Captain America by both the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee team and the current Ta-Nehisi Coates/Lenil Francis Yu lineup, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti’s Tony Stark: Iron Man when it’s committed solely to being a superhero comic and not Dan Slott trying to be Contemporary, Brian Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, and Ryan Sook’s Action Comics, and Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli’s West Coast Avengers. 

On the slightly different side of things, Steve Orlando and Giovanni Timpano showed how you do an intercompany crossover right with The Shadow/Batman, Max Bemis’s Moon Knight while not living up to all it could have been - and likely to age poorly - had moments of truly bizarre grace, Saga was Saga even if I’ve lost the plot, Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt concluded as well as we all might have hoped, Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt’s The Wild Storm continued to build up steam in its own fascinating style, Doomsday Clock remains utterly captivating in spite of itself, and Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s The Wrong Earth is making the most of a deceptively tough premise. On the one-off end, Chip Zdarsky and Declan Shalvey’s Marvel Two-In-One Annual is an essentially perfect off-kilter Doom/Richards story, Action Comics #1000 had no chance of living up to all it needed to be but was largely a great set of Superman stories regardless, and while the remainder of the miniseries has thus far been fine, Tim Seeley and Carlos Villa’s first issue of Shatterstar was a strange, special delight.

My Favorite Comics of 2018

Rock Candy Mountain: Technically Jackson - the rail-rider who can beat Any One Man in a fistfight - reached the end of his journey for hobo heaven this year, and flat-out, every Kyle Starks comic is a perfect one. This is a book where the first issue has a dude beating ass with a beautiful savagery that leaves an awestruck onlooker declaring “He’s got punch diarrhea and their faces are the toilet bowl”, and by the end it built up to one of the most moving climaxes of the year. It’s a comic about fallen men finding redemption in friendship and in dreams, and also there’s a cage fighter who calls himself Hundred Cats because it would be really hard to fight a hundred cats.

Dark Knights: Metal: This is the final, perfected form of traditional Event Comic Bullshit. Everything good about Snyder, Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia’s Batman post-Court Of Owls is retooled and reenergized to fit the scale of a Crisis event, everything that I would have considered to be a weakness regarding their partnership either burned away or placed in a context where it becomes a strength. This is the Morrison approach to the DCU rightfully ascendant and presented in a form even more fit for mass consumption, and manages to live up to being the first classic-style, large-scale DC event comic in almost a decade - Marvel may blow its own load every six months until it’s simply got nothing to offer anymore, but DC waited until they really and truly had something, and that something was bloodsoaked magic.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (by Chip Zdarsky and assorted artists): I actually wavered a bit on whether this belonged in the best of the best as a whole; most of the issues this year were definitely very good (regarding Zdarsky’s run specifically, I haven’t checked out the Spider-Geddon tie-in stuff), but more on the honorary mention end of the scale. Ultimately however, the Amazing Fantasy arc and #310 are Spider-Man comics I’m going to be coming back to for years to come - the latter is going to end up in every ‘Best Spider-Man Stories Ever’ softcover from now until the end of time - and they tipped the scales.

Batman: Very much in the same boat as Spidey above; a lot of this year didn’t do it for me in the same way as this run has in the past, but The Best Man is the best thing anyone’s done with Joker since Morrison, the ‘wedding issue’ itself worked really well for me, Cold Days made a premise that’s often stymied creators work as well as people have always wanted it to, and the Dick team-up issue was a perfect little summation of a relationship, nevermind how much this year succeeded in getting me hyped up for things to come.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: This is one of those comics where it’s so consistently good in such a specific, quiet way that people stop talking about it, but for real, this has never not in the top five or six things Marvel is publishing at any given time for as long as it’s been around. Erica Henderson leaving right before hitting the Kraven story that had been building literally since its first issue 3 years earlier could have been disastrous, but North and new artist Derek Charm manage to hit their own rhythm and continue delivering one of the funniest, cleverest, most sincere superbooks on the stands every month.

Mister Miracle: Yeah, it really was that good.

The Immortal Hulk: So is this, and if I have to name a single best comic of the year, this has probably gotta be it. Al Ewing’s been Marvel’s best creator for a long, long time, and putting him and Joe Bennett (who holy moley, I don’t think anyone would have guessed had this in him) on a tentpole character Ewing’s got genuine reverence for worked out even better than a fanboy like me might have expected. It’s sublime horror, it’s perfect Marvel comics continuity bullshit, and if the superhero is at heart a morality fable, this is very much a soul-searing apex of the genre as it speaks of how we can all go wrong.

Eternity Girl: …or maybe this is the best? It’s probably gotta be this, Hulk, or Miracle. Mister Miracle’s where the comparison really becomes clear, as they’re both books way out on the fringes of the DCU dealing with a character grappling with depression amidst the mundanity of their cyclical existence. However, as perfectly constructed and rawly human as Mister Miracle is, this hits a lot more of my own buttons and expresses its own brand of more surreal emotional authenticity, and rather than the expected and beautiful next step of a pair of already-acclaimed creators with an established partnership, this was a shock coming out party for Visaggio and Liew, who do things stylistically just as odd to see in a DC Comic as anything King and Gerads came up with. It seemed to sail under the radar for readers but also seems to be racking up awards, and I hope this’ll attain the reputation it deserves in years to come.

Ice Cream Man: Likely the respectable fourth place to the three above, while I can’t quite sing its praises in quite the same way when it’s playing so hard-to-get that I can’t quite put a pin in what it’s ultimately about, oh my GOD this is as good as gut-punch horror gets. Not simply grody shock-value stuff, but pit-of-your-stomach-everything-in-the-world-hates-you-and-you-were-wrong-to-ever-believe-in-love shit that’ll rattle your bones and fuck you up good. Not usually a horror guy myself, but this is an essentially perfect comic.

The Man Of Steel: Screw all y’all, this kicked ass and after how hard the Rebirth books blew it - Jon and the new status quo were both excellent, Tomasi had good bits here and there alongside some quality fill-in teams, but those books were still aaaaaaaaaaassssss - this is exactly the fresh start Superman’s needed for years. Granted the Fabok interstitials had some wonky pacing, but this was on-point and insightful for Superman as a character, exciting as hell, and has thus far led to nothing but more good comics as far as I’m concerned.

Milk Wars: Did the various tie-ins live up to the bookends? Nah, though the Shade/Wonder Woman story was pretty good. But those bookends? Friends, those books were AAA+ sup-per-he-ro-bull-SHIT, and while I was initially let down because it seemed as though it would have Superman in a major role and then didn’t, this is even more of an apotheosis of the Morrison approach to the genre than Metal. ACO is ACO, Eaglesham slaughtered it, and Orlando and Way should be as joined at the hip as cowriters as Abbnett and Lanning used to be. This is a gold standard for strange, edgy, colorful, wondrous, fucked-up superhero comics, and there should be a million more like it every day.

Justice League (by Christopher Priest and assorted artists, primarily Pete Woods): On the exact opposite end of the scale, while I don’t think I can say I enjoyed this book as much as the current Snyder-helmed gonzo cosmic adventures, I absolutely feel this was the better of the two. More importantly, this run is the successful version of what just about every other Justice League comic of the past 15 years has been trying and failing to be as the post-Authority, post-Ultimates, post-Civil War take on the concept. It’s as smart and atmospheric and bold as a book like Justice League ever CAN be, building its exploration of the conceptual stress points of the team around one and two-part adventures and clever character dynamics, illustrating an interesting new take on how to handle the main team book with the power players: taking their ability to handle physical threats as a relative given, a structural conceit acting as a delivery mechanism for the politics and people in play. It hardly breaks new ground in terms of redefining the superhero concept, but it’s as far as they’ve gone with the marquis characters without ending in disaster, and it’s an approach I’d love to see more often applied to this scale.

Superman: Walmart 100 Page Giant (by Tom King and Andy Kubert): Of all the places for King to do a regular Superman comic, huh? Still, we’d already seen what he’d done in that Batman two-parter and Action #1000, so I’m more than willing to take what we can get (even if most are going to have to wait for this to come out in trade). There have been four installments so far: the first is the sort of stage-setting that’s common to this type of long-form arc but with a distinctly different atmosphere than how this is typically done with the character, evoking a sort of Miller-tinged Golden Age flavor connecting Superman back down to Earth before throwing him into the stars. The third is a great Fuck Yeah Superman Doin’ Superman Shit throwdown that gives Kubert a chance to shine. The fourth and most recent is haunting, inspired, moving, and tight as a drum. And the second begins as the worst-case scenario of Tom King doing a Superman comic, and ends as likely my favorite Superman story of the last 5 years. If it continues in its current direction, Superman: Up In The Sky is almost certainly going to be a perennial people are going to rank among the best Superman stories of all time for decades to come, and everything I’d want out of this team tackling my favorite character.

Detective Comics (by James Tynion IV and assorted artists): I’m honestly surprised at myself for putting this here, but I just have to hand it to this run - which had to go quite a ways to win me over, between its opening gambit with Batwoman’s status quo and centering the whole thing around my least-favorite Robin (even if it won me over to him over time) - as basically being the platonic form of Dang Good Superhero Comics. Not boundary-pushing, not the sort of thing you’ll remember in 20 years, but just really fun, exciting, good-looking, slick, character-driven adventures building on themselves into the logical culmination of 21st century popular Batman stories. This is Batman 101, but in a good way, and I honestly think that on reflection it’s gonna hold together better as a Batman run than its immediate predecessor in Snyder/Capullo.

You Are Deadpool: This is the smartest, funniest, most inventive big two comic of the year and even if you’re so tired of Deadpool that your skull bones are threatening to suddenly contract and spear your brain in an attempt at saving your weary soul from the prospect of seeing any more of him, you should get this.

Superman (by Brian Bendis and Ivan Reis): I noted Action Comics among the honorable mentions, as while it’s a dang good comic that I enjoy a great deal - and Ryan Sook may well have established himself as my ideal modern Superman artist - it’s very much the best possible version of *exactly* what you’d expect from Brian Bendis doing Superman. This, on the other hand, feels like Bendis stretching himself to do something truly different in a way he hasn’t in years, and the results are stunning. I won’t pretend Rogol Zaar has amounted to much of anything as of yet, but Bendis has acclimated to the realm of Cosmic Superman Punch-Ups in a way no one could have reasonably seen coming; he’s managed to sidestep his usual issues by anchoring each issue in a crazy setpiece and a single perfect Superman character moment, and Reis is doing work here than can unquestionably stand alongside his Sinestro Corps War heyday. Whether it’s #1 having Superman fight an astro-goilla in the middle of a questioning on his responsibilities to humanity, #4 going full Shonen in the best possible way with probably my favorite fight scene of the year, or #6′s storybook mythmaking building to the best, cruelest needle in the balloon possible, or the consistent delightful fucking with Adam Strange, every issue here has something I didn’t know I badly wanted to see, and damn if that isn’t exactly what I want in my Superman stuff.

Assorted one-offs: Along with the major arcs and runs, we’ve got stuff like the Thanos Annual and DC Nuclear Winter Special, as good as anthologies of this kind get. T-shirt Superman got one last ride under Morrison in the Sideways Annual, fighting his way out from under the wreckage of a weird DiDio book to get exactly the sendoff he deserved. The Injustice 2 Annual, of all things, was a perfect piece of bittersweet character work. Invincible #144 satisfyingly closed out The Best Superhero Comic In The Universe by essentially also doing Invincible #145-500 or so, putting this often tumultuous title to bed with the dignity it had earned. And finally, Slott and Marcos Martin’s The Amazing Spider-Man #801 was a perfect minor mediation not even on the title character so much as the basic moral appeal of the genre as a whole.

[writingnosefreak]

Tharaon’s Mirror Character Introduction: Emerald Bardsley (Main)

As much as I wish it was not true, Tom is right. I’m nothing but a total loser, laying here in rumpled sheets all morning, friendless, jobless and hopeless. A stupid girl born into privilege whose illusion of her own excellence was popped the minute she had to face the hard reality of adulthood. I cannot even hold a job I have studied for three years, let alone make friends with my co-workers, but have been reduced to this wretched parasite who is emotionally (if not financially) entirely dependent on my boyfriend. I have no future outside these walls, and I have no one to blame for it but myself.

Tags below.

Basic information

Full name: Emerald Gladiola Bardsley

Age: 23

Occupation: Emerald used to be an officer at the Special Unit of the police force of the capital city. Currently, she is unemployed.

Family: Younger sister, Treasure Bardsley. Their parents died when Emerald was five years old, and they were raised by their grandmother, who is also deceased by the beginning of the story.

Appearance: Emerald is about 182cm (5 ft 12 in) tall, lean and athletic. Since there have been lots of woodland fairies in her family, she has pointy ears, greenish skin and eyes the color of the jewel she has been named after. Her hair is very dark brown and curly, and when loose, it almost comes down to her waist. With her long lashes, high cheekbones and full lips, people usually consider her very beautiful. Emerald has a long scar on har left forearm from a fight with hellhounds back in high school, and some smaller scars on her hands and legs from more recent, work-related incidents.

Sexuality: Bisexual

A former daredevil queen of high school

Back when she and Cam were still at school, Emerald was always the most popular kid of her year. Many people would have given their eyeteeth for getting to be her best friends, but even though she liked to hang out with lots of people, Em never shared her secrets with anyone else but Cam. Since she was clever, outspoken and very talented at magic, she also charmed most of her teachers. In high school, Emerald made bravery the thing of the cool kids and lead her band of trusted on secret and forbidden trips to haunted houses, sinister caves and other dangerous places to fight monsters. This caused a lot of stress to Cam, who did not enjoy risking her life for a dare, but could not really say it, for Em scorned those who were too “cowardly” to join her.

Disappointed by her big dream

Ever since Emerald was seven years old and discovered that “superhero” is not a proper occupation in the world she lives in, she strived to become a police officer, studying diligently both magic and more mundane subjects and getting a lot of physical exercise. Her greatest dream was to become someone who fights evil in order to save and protect those that are weaker than her, and for that goal, she did not hesitate to strain herself. Emerald’s hard work paid off after high school when she was admitted into the police academy on her first try. Three years later, she graduated as the top of her class, thus securing her place at the Special Unit of the capital. However, she soon came to realize that modern police work is not what it used to be back when she started her studies. Instead of chasing criminals while firing whatever spells they can come up with, modern officers must use pre-programmed spell guns, as well as to engage in online patrolling alongside with the traditional kind. Building frustration in the less flashy reality of her dream job quickly lead Emerald into clashes with her superiors and getting bullied by her colleagues.

Well-hidden fears and insecurities

As popular kids tend to be, deep down, Emerald has always been a very insecure person. Orphaned at young age, she was always expected to be the strong one who sets a good example to her younger sister, so she learnt to hide her uncertainty and fear behind a façade of surface-level assertiveness. The two most important things that made this possible, were her perfectionistic nature and Cam’s loyal and supportive friendship. She always secretly admired Cam’s uniqueness, while never learning to not base her self-worth on other people’s opinions. Consequently, when she and Cam had their rift at the end of high school and stopped talking, Emerald lost her pillar of support and became much more vulnerable to external forces, ultimately drifting into an abusive relationship.

It’s been quite a while since I did Cam’s, so I’m really glad I was finally able to give a proper introduction to my troubled child, Em. Thanks to @authorified, your interest motivated me to work on this today. ^^ Next in line is the last member of the main character trio, Treasure, whose love for computers matches her sister’s hatred of them.

Tagging @imaghostwriter, @authorified, @kalis-scribbles, @kittensartsbooks and @simcatcher. Feel free to ask to be added to or removed from this list. :)

[neitherlandslibrary]

If You’re Not Watching “The Magicians” At This Point, You’re Missing Out On Something Great

Source

When it comes to the shows that hog all the attention in our era of peak TV, The Magicians is nowhere near the top of the list. Mainstream conversations about fantasy TV are often limited to the wild success of Game of Thrones, and The Magicians is nestled into an underrated corner of TV on the Syfy network. It’s easy for any series to get a little buried when there are 500+ shows and the Stark family around. But if we’re judging on ambition and inventiveness, The Magicians is one of the most notable shows on television — and its third season, which wraps up this week, proved that point over and over again. It’s a show that plays with story convention so consistently it blows up any boundaries that might hold it back.

Technically, The Magicians is built on the familiar. Based on Lev Grossman’s book series of the same name, the show began in 2015 as a sort of advanced-age Harry Potter meets Chronicles of Narnia. Unlike Hogwarts, the Magicians’ magic school — Brakebills — serves grad school students instead of children. When the characters discover and eventually become kings and queens of Fillory, their own version of Narnia, the escapist world operates as a Technicolor meditation on what it means to embrace adult responsibility. The series is also a direct descendant of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: It follows a group of ragtag young people as they repeatedly try to save the world. The characters fight through depression, sexual assault, addiction, and the general sense that things may never get easier. That’s all classic, well-trod territory. Which makes it all the more impressive that The Magicians inspires the feeling that it’s doing it all for the first time.

Here are just a few of the elements that make it stand out.

It’s one of the best ensemble shows about a group of twentysomethings.

From left: Stella Maeve as Julia, Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice, Appleman as Eliot, Bishil as Margo, Jason Ralph as Quentin, and Arjun Gupta as Penny in a promotional shot for The Magicians.

The Magicians has always had a stellar cast of characters on its side — a group of friends brought together via Brakebills and overlapping heroes’ journeys. They’ve fought moth-faced villains and conquered gods, each character an integral part of a larger and pretty magnificent whole. Eliot (Hale Appleman) has a palpable regality in both his look and his soul; Margo (Summer Bishil) has blossomed as a brazen queen; Quentin (Jason Ralph) is steadfast and earnest, buoyed by Ralph’s deep pleasantness, an energy that’s completely transformed the character from what he was in the books. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg — Julia (Stella Maeve), Penny (Arjun Gupta), Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), Kady (Jade Tailor), and Josh (Trevor Einhorn) are all worthy of their own odes. In a strange way, through them, The Magicians sits right alongside Insecure, New Girl, and Girls — it’s a sexy ensemble show about a twentysomething friend group. They muse on responsibility and the big life decisions you’re forced to make as you become a true grownup. They just do so while having hoversex, battling literal manifestations of their depression, and trying to run a kingdom or two.

And it has the kind of diversity that so many of the shows it riffs on lacked.

Beloved as Buffy may have been, it was also notoriously white. The Magicians, on the other hand, very much lives in a socially conscious 2018. A significant portion of its main cast is made up of people of color. Not only that, but every single one of them — from Maeve’s Julia, to Gupta’s Penny, to Bishil’s Margo — is the kind of complex, specific character you won’t find anywhere else on television.

A sizable portion of the characters also appears to be sexually fluid. Quentin, who on most shows would be the straightest white man on the planet, has a threesome with a man and a woman. He hooks up again with that same man in a later episode. There are no coming-out storylines, no hemming and hawing about labels — intimacies just happen to manifest in all types of ways on this show. On the one hand, there are always downsides to a lack of labels, including perpetuating the erasure of orientations like bisexuality. On the other, it’s kind of freeing to watch a show where it’s genuinely possible that anyone could sleep with anyone else and everyone treats that pretty casually. It goes well with part of what makes The Magicians so fun to watch: It actually does feel like anything could happen. The story options are wide open when everyone’s at least a little bit queer.

The Magicians’ third season has also heavily featured Candis Cayne, a trans actor who previously broke ground with her role on Dirty Sexy Money — the first time a trans actor had a recurring role playing a trans character on primetime television. Here, she plays the Fairy Queen, an intimidating force and a standout of the season. Another standout: Marlee Matlin’s Harriet — a deaf actor playing a deaf character who gets a beautiful moment in the spotlight with Season 3’s “Six Short Stories About Magic.”

What’s more, most of the show’s inclusivity goes unremarked upon on the show itself. Race, gender, and disability aren’t invisible to any of the core characters, but neither are they the focus. Characters will call out white supremacy and sexism without the show bragging about having a queen (and king!) of a magical realm be played by an actor of Mexican, Indian, and European heritage. Or a black man as the king of their neighboring kingdom. Or a mixed Native American woman on the path to becoming a goddess. And so on. Which is not to say The Magicians shouldn’t brag — if they want to spend all of Season 4 bragging about their magnificent ensemble, that would work too.

The show has a true sense of playfulness.

When Buffy aired its iconic musical episode in 2001, it had a ripple effect. Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Psych, That ’70s Show, and even 7th Heaven all turned themselves into musicals for an episode. The Magicians, for its part, has been following in those same footsteps since its first season. Only instead of just one designated episode, they’ve peppered musical numbers into every season so far. In Season 1, Quentin sang Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” while trying to break out of a spell that had him trapped in a psychiatric hospital. “One Day More” from Les Misérables made a magnificent appearance in Season 2, as Eliot prepared for a duel to save his kingdom. (That one resembled what Game of Thrones might look like if Game of Thrones liked to party.) And this season, The Magicians did finally designate a full episode to several numbers. It culminated in the show’s main ensemble joining together in a rousing rendition of “Under Pressure.”

Integrated throughout the show, these moments stand as a declaration: This is just what The Magicians is, at its core. These scenes aren’t just an aside, a whim to break through the mundanity for a single episode — though The Magicians is also very good at that. With this show, narrative is twisted like a rubber band and then flung across the room. This is a series where talking sloths serve as top political advisers, party gods get banned from Instagram for posting too many shots of nipples, and messenger rabbits say things like “eat my ass.” It’s a blast.

And the fun they have with the story will also punch you in the heart (in a good way).

Wrapped up in all of its magical elements, The Magicians also happens to be wildly convoluted. Here, though, it’s at least in a way the show seems to truly delight in. As things grew more complex in Season 3, every week felt like the writers were taking the series’ classic fantasy tropes and conducting science experiments on them. Sometimes the effect is that aforementioned playfulness. But their characters are still on a variety of heroes’ journeys — which means this show is also willing to rip your heart out and tap dance all over it. Honestly? It feels great.

If there was one shining highlight of the season — and the show overall — it was the Feb. 7 episode, “A Life in the Day.” In it, Quentin and Eliot are tasked with completing a mosaic puzzle as part of a season-long quest to bring magic back to their world. To do so, they have to travel to a past version of Fillory. But unable to leave until they complete their mission, they wind up staying in the immediate vicinity of that puzzle for…well, the entire rest of their lives. The show plays this out in an extended montage. The two grow restless. They fight, they bond. They hook up. Quentin meets a local girl, settles down, has a son. When she’s gone, Quentin and Eliot spend the rest of their lives raising the kid and growing old together. Like the opening montage of Up, it’s the kind of sequence that really hits you with everything that it means to be human. It stays with you.

By the end of the episode, Quentin and Eliot had completed the puzzle and found their way back to their youths and their usual timeline. But the show made sure the impact of their time together was felt. These two characters had lived out an entire life as loving partners, side by side. It was an emotional beat that packed a hell of a wallop, and payoff has been sprinkled through the episodes that have followed. Sometimes it’s in small asides between the two characters; sometimes it’s just in knowing the way they look at each other. It’s hardly the first time characters in a genre show have lived out their entire lives in a separate timeline. But “A Life in the Day” was indicative of what The Magicians does best: It uses its magical setting and all-star cast to mold itself into different forms. Sometimes, like in that episode, it knocks you off your feet in the process.

In another episode, called “Six Short Stories About Magic,” the narrative is split into six vignettes sorted by character. The final one is centered on Harriet, a freedom of information activist and magician who runs a BuzzFeed spoof called FuzzBeat (hi, guys!). As Harriet is deaf, 10 minutes of the episode take place in silence. The segment includes some long-awaited exposition into Harriet’s backstory, which we get through her perspective before the series explodes back into sound in its final moments. The effect is stirring.

In “Be the Penny,” we get another play on perspective as Penny finds himself separated from his body with his friends believing him dead. We spend the episode with his astral self, watching people react to his death as he tries desperately to contact them. In both of these, the show plays with form to reveal depth. Penny doesn’t get a normal death, so it follows that the episode focusing on that would be just as off-kilter as the story itself — and just as sad. Penny watches his friends grieve, though not always to his satisfaction, and he can’t reach them to tell them that he’s still there.

This kind of experimentation is not new to fantasy. Supernatural, in its seemingly 500th year on television, has employed practically every genre and meta twist there is. Most recently, the characters crossed over with Scooby Doo and literally became animated. And Buffy was groundbreaking in this field before that, not only for the aforementioned musical episode but also for forays into silent filmmaking with “Hush” and character experiments like “Tabula Rasa.” One of the joys of sci-fi and fantasy is that it gives you a built-in excuse to fuck with convention. The Magicians has reveled in that from day one — and from the ground up. And with this third season, it took itself to a whole new and thrilling level.

[recentanimenews]

10 Laid-Back Stories to Stay Cozy After Camp

Today marks the final day of our laid-back camping trip with OutClub and it’s time to come home. We may be returning from the great outdoors but there’s no reason we can’t keep things cozy. Although Laid-Back Camp has come to an end, there are plenty of sweet and silly stories to keep us all feeling warm. Below are some of the best slice of life anime has to offer, featuring equally endearing casts and maybe even a little bit of education about the shared hobby that brings them together.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless

The title says it all. Tanaka is a high school student stricken by an eternal feeling of listlessness that affects his everyday life in unique ways. His best friend and near opposite, the tall and athletic Ohta typically has to carry Tanaka between classes but finds ways to admire even the daily lassitude of his unusual classmate. Introduce the adorable and energetic, Miyano, the wannabe delinquent with an addition to cute things, Echizen, and the school idol with a secret alter ego, Shiraishi, and you have a wonderful cast of characters discovering eccentric ways to confront the bland tribulations of high school life. Tanaka-kun is Always Listless is one of the most comfortable, wholesome, and genuinely funny anime ever made and is guaranteed to replicate that feeling of sitting back and following along that Laid-Back Camp has offered us for the past 12 weeks.

Flying Witch

Slice of life meets fantasy in Flying Witch. High schooler and witch-in-training Makoto moves to the sleepy rural city of Hirosaki to live with her extended family, the Kuramoto family, while continuing her studies. It’s a small town so they don’t have many witches out there, leading to a few surprises as her social circle discovers her ability to make potions and fly on a broom. She’s just one of many quirky characters inhabiting the town, however. Flying Witch follows their lazy everyday lives as the youngest of the Kuramoto family, Chinatsu, becomes enthralled with the glimpses of the magical world Makoto affords them. The series is populated by a charming, well-meaning cast that are always looking out for, or poking fun at, one another. Each episode offers new discoveries, whether mundane wonders of their family’s agricultural traditions or magical revelations that lay just out of site in the city of Hirosaki.

Amanchu!

Futaba is lonely. A new arrival in the small coastal city of Shizuoka, coming from a larger city and leaving behind her entire life, she now has only her phone for company. Uncertain of her ability to make new friends, she nervously enters her first day of school and becomes subject of attention by the most eccentric girl in school, Hikari. Before Futaba knows it, Hikari has pulled her into the scuba diving club room and has her trying on wetsuits to join her in diving. Through her unexpected friendship, Futaba discovers a love of the sea and scuba diving. Joining the club, we follow her education in the finer details of scuba while being introduced alongside her to its advisor and fellow members. A beautiful series about finding new friends, learning new skills, and discovering a brand new world under the waves.

This Art Club Has a Problem!

The tale of Tsukimori Middle School's dysfunctional art club. Mizuki Usami is dedicated to improving her skills at illustration and painting but must fight an uphill battle against their lazy president, known only as “President” and her art partner Subaru, who is practicing art in the pursuit of creating the perfect 2D waifu. Unfortunately, Mizuki’s curse is tremendously powerful and she discovers she has unwittingly developed a crush on the eccentric Subaru despite all his perversions, eccentricities, and disregard for women who exist in three dimensions. A relationship you actively root against somehow transforms into a genuinely heartwarming series as the kids grow up little-by-little through their club hijinks and tumultuous emotions. Despite being the victim of such a tremendous curse, you begin to believe Mizuki will come out alright in the end.

Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club

Hiromi is a girl so air-headed she represents the exception that makes the rule about getting back on a bike. Having just moved from Nagasaki, Hiromi is looking forward to her first day at the Minami Kamakura Girls High School, but experiences difficulties reaching it by bike. After having to relearn how to pilot a bicycle with the help of a friendly local and classmate, Tomoe. Through cycling, Hiromi continues to make new friends and ends up joining the schools cycling club. From there, the series takes us on an extended tour of Kamakura through the girls’ biking adventures. Like Laid-Back Camp, each episode concludes with a real-life segment in which two of the show's voice actresses learn more about bicycling and the Kamakura region first-hand. A cheerful series about friendship through a shared hobby.

Non Non Biyori

Another slice of life taking place in a rural Japan, this time with an emphasis on rural. The cast of Non Non Biyori live in the tiny countryside village of Asahigaoka, far away from modern amenities the rest of us take for granted. Hotaru, having just transferred from Tokyo, struggles to adapt to the rural lifestyle with the aid of her classmates, all four of them, each different ages and grade levels, who together form the entire student body of their school. Even as she struggles with the concept of a town with only two stores, the locals find her confusion and city customs just as nonsensical as she perceives theirs to be. It’s a sweet series with frequent gags about a girl confronting culture shock within her own country and, eventually, learning to love a new land and lifestyle.

Aria The ANIMATION

Unique among the items of this list as a science fiction series. Aria takes place in the far future on the planet Aqua (formerly Mars) in the city of Neo-Venezia, a futuristic take on modern Venice. The setting is utopic, presenting a future free of conflict with advanced technology existing alongside anachronism like a recreation of the ancient city of canals. Akari, originally from Japan, works for the Aria Company in Neo-Venezia as an undine, an all-female profession of gondoliers that ferry people through the city’s canals and act as tour guides. The series meanders like a gentle current, following Akari’s life and her work as an undine. In addition to discovering more about her respected profession, Akari encounters a number of characters through her work who have their own stories to tell. Through Akari we learn about life in the alien city through the melancholic tales of its residents.

Silver Spoon

Created by Hiromu Arakawa, the mangaka behind Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon is set in the Ooezo Agricultural High School in Hokkaido. Yuugo enrolls in the school, believing it will have an easy workload and to escape his stressful home life. He quickly learns he’s underestimated both the school and its students as he learns firsthand the scientific knowledge and physical labor that drive modern-day agriculture and animal husbandry. As he gets to know his peers, he also discovers that each of them are driven and passionate about their area of study, a far cry from the content inheritors of their family trade he had believed them to be. Over the course of his term, Yuugo learns valuable lessons about compassion and prejudice alongside his rigorous curriculum, which allow him to begin to sort out his own troubled relationship with his family.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

One of the most wonderful slice of life series of last year, a reverse-isekai found-family series about a woman, her maid who is actually a dragon, and their daughter is also actually a dragon. Miss Kobayashi awakens after a night of drinking to discover Tohru on her doorstep. During her drunken wandering, she had saved Tohru’s life and, after bonding over drinks, invited Tohru to stay at her house as a maid. Both uncomfortable and unfamiliar with love, Kobayashi struggles with Tohru’s awkward romantic overtures as the dragon tries to understand and assimilate herself into human society. Add in a few more dragons and the series becomes a wonderful story of love, family, and finding ways to reach out to others, through awkwardness and misunderstanding, and form real connections.

Arakawa Under the Bridge

An unlikely slice of life set in a homeless encampment under a bridge in the Japanese city of Arakawa. Ko was taught by his father to never allow himself to be indebted to anyone but falls into the river and is saved by a girl in a tracksuit who calls herself Nino. To rid himself of his debt, he asks how he can repay her and, wanting for nothing, she asks that he experience love with her. Through Nino, Ko is introduced to the malcontents, eccentrics, and outcasts that reside in the surprisingly sophisticated community alongside the river. The series leans heavily into comedy and magical realism to present a diverse, almost circus-like community, but it’s not all gags. There are melancholic chords hidden among light-hearted humor about life as a social outcast and a thread of romance as Ko, despite himself, finds he is beginning to grant Nino’s request.

Hopefully, these series prove to be a peaceful way to pass the time and warm your heart just as well as a toasty campfire and, perhaps, you find one of them just as enjoyable as experiencing the great outdoors with OutClub. We're sad to see Laid-Back Camp go, but there are always new adventures on the horizon. Did I miss any particularly cozy series in this list? Find any of these recommendations recapture that same wonderful feeling? Let us know in the comments below!

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ajuimaginary]

Soulmate Seungkwan

Part of the Seventeen Soulmate Series

The world is a beautiful place in so many ways. There are brilliant landscapes, small acts of human kindness, and all sorts of captivating things that can catch an eye or turn a head. 

But the one thing that intrigues you most is the certain kind of beauty which is hidden away- by nature itself- by the unfathomable laws of the universe- by something no one quite understands.

There are things only certain people can see. 

When you look down at your body, you know your skin is covered all over in intricate tattoos; yours are bright, all ribbons of pastel colors, weaving together into decorative symbols, shot through here and there with the brightest threads of glowing gold. But no one else can see the marks. To their eyes, you have empty skin. 

Indeed, the only person ever able to see the tattoos that mark another is the one connected to them in their very soul: the other half: the Soulmate.

So every destined pair sees the world as a collection of normal bodies, right up until they meet their very own work of art. 

You glance up at the people around you, walking the streets, driving in their cars, passing by the windows of their houses. You look over all the blank skin, like rows of unpainted canvases in your eyes, and you wonder when the day will come where you catch sight of a tattoo.

You try not to let your thoughts wander too long. You don’t have much time to daydream, so you continue with your day as usual, letting yourself be lost in mundane regular activities again. You know it’s silly to get so caught up in your most romantic thoughts right now (after all, you’ve had the tattoos for your entire life and always known what they mean), but lately you can’t seem to stop yourself from being sappy.

You guess it’s mostly because you’ve been getting older, and all of your friends have started finding their soulmates, popping up every other week it feels like. It’s beginning to make you far too expectant for your own magical moment.

You look down again, and your eyes brush absently over a line of music curling against your wrist. You looked up the notes years ago, and played them out with clumsy child’s fingers on an old piano, and listened to the beautiful sound of them together. You’ve never heard them in a real song yet, but you know they’ll mean a lot to you one day. The very thought is enough to make you smile again.

People say all of the markings in soulmate tattoos are meant to represent your actual soulmate somehow. They reveal hidden secrets about the heart he has, the way you two will connect, the time you’ll spend together. You keep trying to unpiece the puzzle of them all, but really you know only time will tell what they actually mean.

You also often wonder what your soulmate’s own tattoos will look like. Over years and years of human history, people have shared enough about soulmate markings to see trends. You know the colors of your soulmate’s tattoos will be different from the pastel and gold on your skin (though certainly complimentary), because they will be made to match who you are as a person, while the pastels and gold are meant to represent him. You know that some of the symbols he carries will be different (representing parts of your own soul) and some will be the same (representing your connections and time as a couple). Apparently one of the most intimate thing about having a new soulmate is the time you’ll spend learning every inch of one another, getting accustomed to the details of your tattoos, seeing where they match and where they diverge, a perfect complimentary pair.

One evening, you end up hanging out with a whole group of your friends, getting to know some of the new soulmates that have joined your social circle recently. One of those new soulmates (bonded with the guy who invited you all over) is apparently very into music. With all of your encouragement, he plugs in his phone to let his Spotify playlist provide the background ambiance for the night.   

He has pretty good taste, actually, though you don’t know all of the songs that play. You make a note to look some of them up for yourself later, and when a few play in a different language (which you’re 99% sure is Korean), you realize you’ll have to ask him for the song names. 

So you look up to ask him. And then the next song starts. And you freeze. 

“What song is this?” you ask, voice too loud. 

Everyone in the room pauses, looks at you, confused by your intense tone.

“Huh?” the poor guy seems embarrassed. “It’s called 20. By a group called Seventeen.” he watches you nod in amazement, and clearly feels like he needs to provide more details. “It’s K-Pop.”

“I’ve never listened to K-Pop.” you say, still sounding stunned. “But I’ve heard those notes before.” 

Everyone looks at you in confusion, so you hold out your wrist to the room, indicating the tattoo only you can see. Realization becomes obvious on their faces as they infer your meaning. 

“Maybe your future soulmate will like the song?” the guy with the music says, looking excited already. “Seventeen are a pretty good group actually. You want to see some of their stuff?”

“If this song’s about to become a part of my life, I may as well get to know whoever sings it.” you agree. 

Some of the others go back to talking again. The guy pauses his music and grabs his soulmate’s laptop off him. You smile fondly to see that he knows the password, longing for a time when you will know your own soulmate so well. 

“I guess I’ll start with 20,” he says. “Since I didn’t let the song finish just now.”

And soon enough, he’s opened YouTube and clicked on the first performance version of the song he could see. Seventeen’s 20 (Picnic Live Version). 

He lets it play.

And only a few seconds in, as the camera cuts to a beautiful, well-framed shot of one of the group members, you let out a gasp, hand flying out to pause the video so fast you knock the drink right off the table beside you.

Every turns to see the commotion as some of your friends squeal. A whirlwind of people stirs around you as someone yells out for a towel and other begin trying to mop up the drink before it soaks into the couch. 

But you can only numbly say sorry, eyes still fixed on the screen, mouth wide open.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” asks the guy with the music.

“Who is that?” you ask, pointing at the screen.

With the drink disaster averted, you can hear the room is quiet again, everyone watching you, interested in your odd behavior.

“He’s called Seungkwan,” he tells you, looking puzzled. “He’s one of the main vocalists.”

“He’s- he’s-” you swallow past the sudden lump in your throat. “Those- there, on his neck, coming out of the collar of his shirt, curling around his ears- those are- they’re tattoos.”

The news sinks into the room. 

To them, he must look blank. Ordinary. 

Well, you reconsider, not ordinary. He’s beautiful. But he’s even more beautiful to you. Because you can see the artwork that no one else can. 

“Oh my god,” says one of your best friends. “Oh my god, Y/N, he’s your soulmate!”

The words echo in your head over and over. Soulmate soulmate soulmate. You hear pounding feet as everyone gathers around to see him, some people hugging you from behind, everyone yelling and talking loudly over top of one another. 

“Wait, wait, everyone shush!” the guy with the music says. He shoots a smile at his own soulmate. “Let’s play the whole song. Let Y/N get a chance to see their soulmate properly.”

They all fall silent. Whichever friend is hugging you from behind (you’re too numb to notice) squeals in excitement one more time before the room is filled with the song again. 

It’s beautiful. Your eyes fill with tears despite your desire to see clearly, and you keep blinking them away to keep your eyes in focus. Your soulmate can really sing. Amazingly well. Shocking well. And as the song continues you see more of him, gorgeous hands holding the mic with the same line of notes decorating the turn of his wrist. You suppose the song really is a milestone for you two now. The first time you ever heard his voice- your first ever connection.

You admire the tattoos, a flush to your cheeks now, knowing that they’re meant to be a mark of you. Of who you are. And the color and style of them really does feel fitting- though you never could have guessed what they would look like until this very moment, seeing them for the first time. But knowing that this beautiful, talented boy is meant for you almost aches.

When the song ends, your friends begin congratulating you, and you thank them in your still-stunned state. Finally, the guy who invited you, smiling proudly at his soulmate who showed you the music, guides you gently out of the main room to his bedroom, handing you his laptop.

“If you want, you can sit in here and watch more of his stuff,” he tells you kindly. “We don’t mind if you abandon the party. This is worth a good break.”

“Thanks,” you say. Your eyes are still filled with tears. You feel like the weight of the situation is finally starting to sink in. “That sounds good.”

So he leaves you with the laptop, and you watch videos long into the night. 

You discover even more about your soulmate. First, you see each and every second of his talent in all the Seventeen music videos and dance practices and special versions you can find on the official channel. Then you seek out more, and find through the magic of subtitles that Seungkwan is also funny, and incredibly sweet, and thoughtful, and witty as hell, and just kind of perfect in every way. Everything you’ve ever wanted. Even the hints of possible flaws you find are incredibly overwhelmingly endearing to you.

After everyone clears out from the party a few rooms over, your friend and his soulmate return to the room to find you, still feeling numb with amazement, and they sit alongside you until you finish a few more videos.

“Ready for bed yet?” your friend asks softly after a while, his arm around your shoulders by this point, looking at you with understanding in his eyes.

“Yeah,” you say, still staring at Seungkwan’s face on the screen, paused right at the end of the last video. “Yeah, I can’t believe this. When I wake up tomorrow, this is going to feel like a dream.”

“You can stay the night here, if you want.” he offers. “You don’t seem like you’re ready to make your way across town to your house right now.”

“That’s a good idea,” you laugh.

“So, are you happy?” asks the guy with the music. “Seungkwan is really cool, right? I told you Seventeen were a great group.”

“Yeah,” you agree. “He’s amazing.”

You tear your eyes away from the screen.

“But how the hell is this going to work?” you ask them in awe. “My soulmate lives in Korea. He doesn’t speak much English. And he’s famous.”

They exchange a small glance. Nod sympathetically. 

“That’s a lot to overcome,” your friend says.

His soulmate smiles at him across from you. “But you know, the universe has ways of making everything work out in the end.”

It’s a comforting thought at least. You go to sleep that night with your mind turning over and over with thoughts of Seungkwan.

The very next day, you enroll in a Korean language course. And over the next year and a half, you dedicate yourself to getting ready to meet him. Your whole life you had wanted to travel, feeling like there was something you needed to do, but you had never quite found the courage to jump right out of your comfort zone. And now you knew that the feeling had been the soulmate connection, tugging at you from far away. And soon, you would get to meet him. 

When Seventeen announces a world tour, you nearly pass out at the very thought. You call your friends in a panic, because the date of you meeting your soulmate may have suddenly been bumped much closer than you had been expecting. And they have to calm you down over the phone, reminding you that you don’t have to see him at the concert if you don’t want to. But of course you want to. 

If he’s coming, you have to see him.

-

“Why do we have to get the talk again before every tour?” Seungkwan complains to Hansol as they head back to the dorms to finish packing before they leave for the airport.

Their CEO, as always, had gathered them in the Pledis building after their very last rehearsal to wish them well on tour and remind them of a few legal things. The most important (and least likely to actually affect them) was the legal stuff surrounding soulmates. Idols always had to be very careful about that kind of stuff, since fans were known to obsess over the idea of their favorite idols having a soulmate. It was very important to make sure the news that a soulmate had been found was broken to them carefully- it avoided issues of stalking and the impact of the sudden media spotlight that a new soulmate may not be ready to deal with if their identity was suddenly uncovered by the public. 

So, the plan was, if any of the members caught sight of someone with tattoos while they were overseas on tour, they were not under any circumstances to talk to them until they could find a private place and a member of staff. That way the interaction could be handled well, and they could prepare to break the news to fans in a controlled situation. Usually a simple, cute VLive broadcast.

“Don’t know,” Hansol shrugs, only half listening really, since Seungkwan has his whiny voice on, and if they’re about to spend a whole plane flight side by side, he needs to conserve his energy to deal with it. 

“I mean, it’s not like any of us are about to meet our soulmates while we’re on tour!” Seungkwan continues. “What are the chances?”

That makes Hansol look up with a smile.

“Careful,” he says. “You never know what’s coming. And you do have English writing somewhere, right? Could be an international soulmate.”

“Yeah,” Seungkwan agree with a small sigh. He told Hansol about the written tattoo that said please stop crying clustered around some other beautiful little symbols in a circle on his inner elbow. “But that doesn’t have to mean anything. I’m sure nothing will happen.”

“Famous last words,” Hansol teases.

“Shh,” Seungkwan waves a hand at him. His best friend should know by now that he’s enough of a hopeless romantic without encouragement. “Don’t get my hopes up. I don’t want to be on edge the whole tour expecting my soulmate to appear when I knows it won’t happen.”

Hansol rolls his eyes at the dramatic tone.

“Anyway,” Seungkwan continues. “I just meant that there’s no point in the staff going over that stuff with us every time when we’ll probably never use it. Now I barely have time to pack and eat dinner before we have to leave for the flight...”

Mingyu appears suddenly behind them them, as the group reach the dorms, slinging an arm round both their shoulders.

“Maybe if you two had started packing sooner like I told you,” he scolds, clearly having caught the tail end of the conversation. “You’d have time to eat...”

So Seungkwan is distracted with bickering, the idea of his soulmate forgotten. For now. 

-

You don’t expect to see him until the concert itself. But as you sit around the day before, staring at airport pictures and thinking about how you and your soulmate are currently in the same city, you get a text from the guy who has become your best friend, the one who helped you first find Seungkwan all those years ago.

So you know how we left to pick up a few groceries? the text reads. Since he and his soulmate are going to the concert with you, you guys are staying the night together, and the two of them went to collect dinner. Well, you should probably see what we found along the way...

Right after, he’s sent a photo. It’s blurry and a little far away, but there, in the distance, you see a filming crew, a few fancy cars, a trailer, and, just beyond, the grainy figures of some Seventeen members. You call your friend instantly to get the full details. He tells you that they stumbled across the filming site on the way to the store- Seventeen in the middle of producing a music video. He gives you their location while you sprint out of the door. 

Luckily, it doesn’t take you long at all to get there. A crowd has gathered around to watch- some of them Carats who have clearly been following the boys, and others just passersby interested in the sight of a filming crew.

You get to the edge of the crowd a little out of breath, and join your friends. Before they can point out Seungkwan, you see him. Even more beautiful in person, standing with a few of the members off to the side of the filming site, apparently taking a break. He’s made them laugh uproariously at whatever he just said. Your heart squeezes tight in your chest, eyes roving over that art on his body, sleeves rolled up and neck bare, and keep returning to his face.

“S-Seungkwan!” you call impulsively, voice slightly shaky. He doesn’t turn, but some fans look at you. You push to the front of the crowd.

“Y/N, they asked us to stay behind this point,” your friend tells you nervously.

“Seungkwan!” you yell again, louder this time, bolder. 

He turns to you, sunlight in his hair, smile on his face. And the expression fades slightly at the sight of you. A couple members of security jump forward instantly when you take another step, gesturing for you to stay back. The people who were filming Seokmin a few feet away pause hesitantly, looking at you- in their eyes you seem like a crazy fan who decided to run forward.

But you know any moment Seungkwan will say something- let them know he sees your tattoos- let you run into his arms...

He stares at you. His face is... too blank. Like he can’t even see the tattoos on you. And for a minute you feel insane. Like you made the whole think up in your head. But perhaps he’s only shocked?  

“Seungkwan,” you say again, taking another few steps toward him.

You see panic in his eyes then. He looks around wildly. Vernon and Jeonghan (who were standing with him) gently lay hands on his back, looking at you suspiciously. Then Seungkwan catches sight of the security guards nearby. His hand twitches up, he taps a finger against his nose and nods in your direction.

And suddenly they step forward, in your way. 

“Please come with us,” they request. 

“Wait, you don’t understand-” you point beyond them. “I’m just-”

“Don’t start a fuss, kid,” one of the guards requests. “Just come quietly.”

They take you by the arms, and though you resist at first, you can see Seungkwan turning his face away, whispering something in Jeonghan’s ear, looking pale with shock. Vernon’s mouth is hanging open as he continues to stare at you.

“Seungkwan!” you yell one more time. 

There’s nervous laughter coming from the fans behind you. Seungkwan doesn’t look at you though. Security are still tugging on your arms, and you give in quickly, not wanting to cause a scene, letting them march you away, beyond the side of the trailer, away from the filming, away from your soulmate.

Away from your soulmate who refused to acknowledge you.

Feeling numb with shock, you wait for them to dump you out on the back street- Seungkwan’s blank face is already burned into your mind. You can’t breathe past the sudden pain in your chest- the feeling like your entire heart was just torn from your body. There’s no agony worse than seeing him in person and then being abruptly separated from him. Unacknowledged. Unwanted.

But they don’t dump you on a back street. As soon as you’re out of sight of the crowd, they take you up the steps to the waiting trailer and open the door.

Inside, you recognize Mingyu and Minghao, jumping apart in surprise at the sudden intrusion of people.

“What’s going on?” they ask, bewildered, looking at you in between the security guards.

“Do you mind clearing the trailer boys?” one of the guards asks them, and you can hear a friendly smile in his voice you don’t understand. “This is an important moment for- sorry, what’s your name?”

“Y/N,” you answer, totally confused.

“This is an important moment for Y/N. They need to wait here for a while. Apparently, Seungkwan just found his soulmate.”

Mingyu and Minghao light up, beaming, and before you can process anything, Mingyu throws his arms around you. You freeze there, in the midst of the hug, mind trying to process what on earth is going on. And if security somehow know you’re Seungkwan’s soulmate, why the hell did you just get dragged off???

“Welcome to the family!” Mingyu says cheerfully as he finally releases you from the crushing hug. Minghao gives you a little bow, a shard of worry in his eyes, and rests a hand on Mingyu’s arm.

“Come on, Mingyu, they look overwhelmed.” he says gently, like he’s noticed your state of total emotional turmoil. “Let’s let them meet Seungkwan before we crowd them completely.” 

They follow security out, giving you one last smile.

And you’re alone in the trailer.

But while your thoughts whirl in confusion, the door opens again. And you look up to see him. Seungkwan. Standing there and looking at you like you’re everything he’s ever wanted in life, his eyes scanning every inch of your body before coming to rest on your face.

Before you can open your mouth to say a word- even to ask what’s going on- his entire face crumples with tears and suddenly he launches forward into your arms, clutching you tight to his body, and weeping.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobs against your shoulder, shaking you with each breath. “I’m so so sorry it had to happen that way.”

“Oh my god, Seungkwan, I-” you can barely form words. Your hands reach up and land on his back, and pull him tighter against you, feeling like you could melt into his arms, feeling like you would do anything to comfort his tears, feeling like the world is settling back into its place again. “Please stop crying. I-It’s okay. I just- what on earth happened there?”

“We aren’t allowed to give fans any indication- we can’t let the public know a soulmate has been found until we plan the right way to let the news out. I had to- we’ve been given such strict instructions- I had to pretend I didn’t see and let security know with the hand gesture- I wasn’t allowed to engage until the staff could be informed- I-” finally he pulls back enough that you can see his face, pink from his tears, golden hair a little disheveled, but eyes stunning and deep with emotion, and so achingly beautiful. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“It was only a few minutes, Seungkwan,” you manage to say, chest warm with affection at the sight of his guilt. Your old pain feels distant already, now that you have him. Now that he’s yours, and you understand. And of course you forgive him. “I’m fine. I’m fine now you’re here.”

He looks close to breaking down again.

“Please tell me your name?” he asks. “I saw Mingyu and Minghao and they said they met you briefly and I- that’s so unfair. I want to know everything about you.”

“Y/N,” you say, a little shy now.

“Y/N,” he repeats, like the word is a song. He reaches up, a little laugh bubbling on his lips, and cups your face. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

And he kisses you, brief and shy, and oh-so-sweet.

“I’m the luckiest guy in the entire world,” he whispers in awe. 

“I’m luckier.” you protest, and it makes him laugh like a peal of bells. He’s still touching your face, and his fingers move down to touch a tattoo on your neck.

“My soulmate,” he murmurs, and he presses another little kiss to the spot. “I can’t wait to get to know you.”

“You too,” you return, your own fingers moving from where they were splayed on his back to touch a tattoo which skirts the edge of his jaw. “This is the start of forever.”

[maddiviner]

Hello everyone! Today, I’d like to discuss the concept of magical names, Craft names, magical mottos, and more! I get asked a lot about methods of finding or choosing your own name. It’s definitely a popular topic of discussion, both online and off!

What’s a magical name?

A "magical name" is a name used by in the context of magical practices. Many practitioners choose a new name to represent themselves on their journey.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that they stop using their given name. In most cases, they use the magical name alongside their official name. The latter is especially used in the context of magick or the occult, though.

A witch named Aaron might take the magical name “Fireblood,” but would not stop being Aaron, as well. His friends would likely continue to call him Aaron outside of ritual and magick. Yet, he might sign is grimoire with “Fireblood. He might also refer to himself as that within spellcraft, ritual, and similar contexts.

Sometimes, people do change their legal names to reflect their magical identities. This isn’t too common, but it does happen! I’ve only know two people who’ve done this. 

Talking about magical names in general is a bit tricky, because a lot of it depends on the person’s tradition. Certain witchcraft, magical, and religious traditions have particular ways of viewing magical names. 

In almost all the ones I’ve encountered, the practitioner themselves chooses the name. In some cases, another person might give, or choose, the name. If you’re part of a specific tradition, it may be worth looking into how it views magical names

Another thing to keep in mind: not everyone wants, needs, or has a magical name! Plenty of people use their legal name for all purposes, magical or otherwise. 

In the past, a lot of witches and magicians would choose a magical name to obscure their identity. This was so that they wouldn't become known as a witch or magician among the public.

 It was particularly common in the Victorian era. Members the Golden Dawn would often go to great lengths to keep their secrets. This was often a very pressing issue, and it can still be today. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a magical name for this purpose!

Magical Name Misconceptions

Some folks, especially starting out, get weird ideas about this, though. There’s a lot of misconceptions about magical names! Much of them come from fiction.

One idea that gets passed around a lot is the notion that a magical name must be secret. In many novels and movies, witches and wizards have a “true name” that, when known, gives a person power over them. 

We see this in Cate Tiernan’s “Sweep” series, and also Jim Butcher’s “The Dresden Files.” In both stories, the witches must keep their magical “true names” a secret, or risk manipulation.

In reality, some traditions do follow the practice of keeping magical names secret. This is for a variety of reasons, but none resemble what you see in fiction. 

It’s true that a name alone can act as a taglock for someone wanting to cast a spell on you. Still, it’s a far weaker taglock than most. In that scenario, a given name (i.e., “John Smith,”) would work just as well for a taglock!

So, don’t worry about this! You can use your magical name in public if you want. Nobody’s going to be able to force you to your knees by knowing it.

Some witches will even write books or blogs under their magical name. Conversely, if you feel drawn to keeping your magical name secret from others, you always can! It isn’t a rule, though, unless your specific tradition mandates it for a reason. 

Another idea that some folks have is that everyone is born with a magical name, rather than choosing one. This is a more complicated issue, and perhaps not a misconception.

Some witches do believe in concepts like destiny. They may believe that destiny predetermines certain aspects of us. Some believe magical names fall into that category. 

For example, a witch might be destined for the name “Snowfall,” and use that all her life. I personally don’t believe such notions. I think magical names are definitely something you choose. 

I believe free will supersedes destiny in this. Still, depending on what you believe about reality, you might agree with the “destiny” idea. If that’s the case, you might feel that you “discovered” rather than “chose” your magical name.

Choosing Magical Names

Choosing (or finding, discovering, etc.) a magical name is very personal. It's different for everyone, though there are some common trends.

It is typical for witches to choose a name based on animals, colors or natural phenomena. Hence you see names like “Blue Soul” or “Onyx Snow." 

Most ceremonial magicians choose names from ancient languages. The most common are Latin and Attic Greek. The latter are sometimes also known as “magical mottos,” but they’re still a form of magical name! Regardless of whether you consider yourself a witch, or a magician, you’re free to choose a name as you see fit. Witches are free to choose ancient mottos. Ceremonialists aren’t disallowed from using animal or natural names. 

True, you might stick out a bit if you’re a witch named “Gnothi seauton” (Greek for “Know Thyself,”). Likewise for a ceremonial magician called “Crow’s Feather,” but there’s no real problem with it!

Author Amber K has this to say about her magical name:

Many people need to meditate and read a lot before the perfect name comes to light. I must have considered hundreds of possibilities before I chose “Amber,” because it looks like sunlight and seems a combination of Earth (the life-blood of a tree) and Fire (the sunlight which gave the tree energy to live). This happened before “Amber” became a popular name; and a few months after I chose it I was shocked to learn that there was another Witch named Amber who lived nearby. So I chose “K” as a surname, because I liked that letter and wanted my name to be unique. Later it occurred to me that my “K” was the K in magick . . . and the difference between magic and magick is the difference between illusion and transformation.

K, Amber. True Magick: A Beginner's Guide (pp. 24-25). Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.. Kindle Edition. 

In Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart writes about magical names in his tradition. He notes that your average wizard will have several at various stages of life. These draw from different experiences and significance:

The name you receive upon this Rite of Passage is your first magickal name, or, as it is sometimes called, your circle name. It is the name by which you will be known among other magickal folk, but not among Mundanes. If it is given to you ritually by a mage, it may also be your soul-name or true name. Usually around the same time you will also acquire a use-name, or nickname, by which you will be known to your friends. Later, as you go forward through life on a magickal path, you will acquire other names among other circles of people. If you receive Initiation into various magickal Orders, Circles, or Traditions, you may be given a new circle name each time, to be used only among those people. Since most people in the magickal community also move in the mundane world (going to school, having jobs, etc.), many have a common magickal use-name that serves them in both communities— such as Star, Dragon, or Wolf.

Zell-Ravenheart, Oberon. Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard (p. 10). Career Press - A. Kindle Edition. 

I myself have had several magical names over the years. I'm not part of Ravenheart's tradition, but I do believe in changing my magical name on occasion. I only change mine when I reach a turning point in my life, and I usually use only one magical name at a time. 

While I’m fine with folks knowing my current magical name (it’s Small Claws), I rarely (if ever) tell people my past ones. This is because their energy (so to speak) has passed. It isn’t much of an issue, though. While I use magical names in ritual and spellcraft, I don’t use them outside of that in most cases. 

My very first magical name was a simple English word that stemmed from Greek roots. I chose it because I felt like it underscored my personal project at that stage in my life. Later, when that stage of my life ended, I chose a new one, this time in Latin, and that was my name for many years. 

My current magical name is, I admit, stolen from a creature I’m fond of - the Asian small-clawed otter. I chose it because I want to embody the nature of that species. 

An OTO sister of mine did something similar. She named herself after a type of lizard. That lizard often shed its skin, and she chose the name as a symbol of rebirth. 

We're all free to use any name we want! My personal recommendation will always be to choose symbolic names. Your name could include a color, animal name, gemstone, or any other word. These can be symbols for both your inner nature and what you desire to become in the future. 

In my own tradition (Thelema) the latter is heavily emphasized. Neophytes are warned against taking names that imply hardship or difficulties. Some see that setting yourself up for troubles. So, we try to choose more positive names.

Here's an example of this. “Ad Astra” would be appropriate. It’s Latin and means “To the Stars.” But, “Per Aspera Ad Astra,” meaning “Through difficulty to the stars,” merits caution. That phrase invokes the concept of difficulty where it needn’t be.

I myself can more or less understand this sentiment. Magical names that express aspiration can be quite beautiful. It's a fine route to go in choosing a name! 

You can sit down and consider the person you want to be in (for example) five years time. Think of symbols that would resonate with that person, and craft those into a magical name. This approach won’t suit everyone, but it is, by far, my favorite way of choosing a magical name.

I hope this article was interesting. I hope it provided some food for thought in choosing a magical name. My askbox is always open if you’d like to discuss anything or have a question. I try to answer most asks I get (if I can), but some do slip through the cracks, and I feel bad about that, but it happens. I want to note that since I was sick last week, I’ve got a backlog of asks unanswered. I’ll be trying to get to those over the next few days.

[umichenginabroad]

Weekend Vibes

Back to my studies tomorrow, but for now I’m soaking in the last few hours of my brief break. Inevitably the weekend comes to an end, and I’m steeling myself for the coming week of the European Innovation Academy. Last week saw my chief mentor (the wonderful Alina Adams) and marketing mentor (the incredible Kerstin Raitl) heading home. While I’m saddened that they are leaving, I’m incredibly grateful for the mentorship, friendship, and life advice that they shared with me these past weeks. Kerstin and Alina, thank you :). Next week comes the final sprint for the finish line, beginning with IP protection and ending in the grand pitch. Naturally, I’ve hoping beyond hope that my team becomes one of the ten finalists that have the opportunity to participate in the Grand Pitch Finale on Friday. Knock on wood.

My mentor Kerstin and I, and my mentor Alina and I, respectively.

I’m going to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my start-up, Aegis Systems. We are designing wearable IoT vital sensors to provide protection to police, firefighters, and workers by monitoring vital signs and alerting supervisors and the authorities to any signs of duress or harm. In order to progress to the investor pitches, we need 500 people to show interest in our start-up, so if this sounds like something that is interesting or cool, please visit our website, scroll to the bottom, and sign your name and email! Website: https://katshuadventures.github.io/AegisSystems/.

The notion of being in Portugal is sometimes incredibly hard to grasp, and then other times the differences hit like a truck barreling down the freeway. Tasks like waking up in my dorm room, eating a hasty breakfast, and walking to class all seem so mundane. Interspersed within my daily routine, however, I’ll see an intricate trellised garden, or a beautiful fountain, sometimes even flocks of seagulls swooping through the morning sky and it’ll strike me that I’m standing in a foreign country, among history thousands of years old. This entire weekend has felt that way, almost like wandering through a dreamscape.

Visiting Lagos, in particular, this past weekend was an experience unlike any other I’d had before. After waking up in the wee hours of the morning, navigating the labyrinth of the train station, and napping through a four hour train ride, we finally reached Lagos. First impression? Very underwhelming - the buildings were small, the streets cobbled, all in all, just a miniature Lisboa. Frankly, I was wrong. The train station, nestled in the center of the city, hid the ocean from view, which is what makes Lagos a true beauty. We took a two and a half hour guided kayak tour along the coastline, traveling through stunning arches of sandstone and secret caves. Then, stopping at a beach accessible only by kayak, we went snorkeling alongside the other groups of kayakers. After spending the rest of the day perusing through tented souvenir shops, visiting churches and monuments, we departed by bus back to Lisboa. 

The famed sandstone arches of Lagos, Portugal.

Pictures from the kayakers beach.

The Lagos Crest, located along the beachside.

Sunset on the bus ride (only ten people booked the bus!) back to Lisboa.

A short aside dedicated a prominent feature I’ve noticed throughout Portugal: graffiti. From crude drawings (of the sort I’m sure you can imagine), to intricate works of art, every bit of concrete in Portugal seems to be tagged with graffiti. How important this is, I am unsure, but I thought it was worth noting.

A few of the many graffiti artworks in Lagos.

Sunday (today for me!), was a day chock full of activity and wonder. The Palácio de Monserrate in Sintra was our first stop, and we set off in an Uber ready to tackle the day. Thirty minutes into what should have been a twenty minute ride, we were on edge. Forty minutes in, and we began to ply our Uber with questions as to the problem. Fifty minutes in, and we were officially lost. Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue, and by the end of the hour, we finally pulled out in front of the lawns of the Palácio de Monserrate. For almost two hours, we wandered through the vast gardens planted centuries ago, moving from the Mexican Garden to the Rose Garden to hidden waterfalls, to a ruined chapel. The grounds of the estate were immense, and every inch was filled with flora bewilderingly beautiful, with bees, butterflies, and lizards aplenty. Choosing, of the two thousand photos I took, which to post here may have been the hardest decision I’ve made on this trip.

The gardens of the Palácio de Monserrate in Sintra, Portugal.

The University of Michigan students conquering the ruined chapel.

Then, after hours of wandering, the Palace came into view beyond rolling green fields. It was magnificent. The outside influences on the palace were obvious, from Roman busts to tiled walls. In words, I’ve no clue how to convey the sense of glory of the palace, so I hope that pictures are sufficient. Also, to the couple whose wedding was taking place in the palace - congratulations! I cannot imagine a more magically location to tie the knot.

Photos of the Palácio de Monserrate.

Next, to finish off the day our group split, and two friends and I traveled to Quinta da Regaleira (a UNESCO World Heritage Site!!). The estate is settled right alongside Sintra, bordered by busy streets and cars. However, the minute we stepped through the gates, the sounds of the city faded, hidden by the towering walls surrounding the property. We first made a beeline for the Inverted Well, one of the gems of the property- a “well” that snaked floors under the ground that was used by the Knights Templar as the location for their initiation rituals. Then, we explored the grottoes, fountains, exquisite constructions, towering spires, teeming vegetation, and, of course, the palace and chapel. In my opinion I loved the gothic towers, mysterious green moats, and crumbling dark wells and tunnels a bit more than the beautiful and graceful Palácio de Monserrate. While the Palácio de Monserrate estates could have been a fairy castle, the Quinta da Regaleira estates stepped straight out of a fantasy book - a dark villain’s haunting grounds and looming towers. My favorite place on the estate? The path of the gods - the path leading to the palace lined with marble busts of the Roman gods. 10000/10 would recommend.

The Initiation Well of the Knights Templar at the Quinta da Regaleira.

The Palace at the Quinta da Regaleira.

More from the Quinta da Regaleira.

Onwards and upwards, as they say! 

Kevin Wang

Computer Engineering

European Innovation Academy in Cascais, Portugal

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Auradon Improvement Initiative Explained! (Part 2): “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Beep Boop”: Magitech in Auradon

From a writer’s standpoint, Auradon’s Magic Ban is incredibly lazy and stupid.

Majority of the states of Auradon have heavily relied on magic, both for the incredible circumstances that led to their nobility taking power, and as an important everyday part of their lives, a means for improving and sustaining their standard of living.

Banning such a powerful tool is the stuff of dictatorships or abusive totalitarian states, akin to China’s completely shutting down the Internet to try and quell the unrest happening within its citizens.

It also feels dangerously hypocritical, as royals like Aladdin only managed to rise up to power with Genie’s magic, and to suddenly ban that and prevent anyone from ever benefiting from the thing that permanently changed his (and all of Agarbah’s) lives for the better for the sake of “fairness” is awful.

It is in essence the “I’ve got mine, now fuck off!” philosophy I hate so much.

This would be a good move if Auradon was meant to be portrayed and understood as the incredible sunny, smiling dystopia it is, but unfortunately, the canon and the intention of the writers is to portray it as someplace you’d actually want to live in, than a cautionary tale about the abuse of power and deifying your government officials, and why the people need to be checks on their leaders than blind followers.

“But it’s dangerous!” you might say, and they were right to ban it because it caused incredible amounts of suffering alongside the benefits.

But so do cars.

The National Safety councils estimates 38,300 people killed and 4.4 million injured on U.S. roads in 2015, but that didn’t spur movements to completely ban cars and never use them again, it just prompted awareness campaigns for safe driving, anti-drunk/distracted driving programs, and of course, pressure on the manafacturers and the government to make cars SAFER than to ban them altogether.

True, cars haven’t almost brought about the end of the world or a country as we know it, but magic has also brought kingdoms to the levels of prosperity and happiness they currently enjoy, alongside being the basis of Auradon itself.

Can you imagine a world where cars were suddenly banned? Wouldn’t so many industries just grind to a halt, and life would become so much harder, and unnecessarily so? That you’d wonder why someone banned something so useful and literally life changing just because someone could and eventually would get hurt or killed by it?

It’s the same thing with the magic ban, especially with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, who are shown to be not too happy with it in the Isle of the Lost novel. (I’d imagine that Fairy Godmother isn’t as vocal because she’s just that polite.)

So how would I improve upon the magic ban?

Simple: remove it altogether.

Make it so that, instead of technology being ushered in as a replacement to magic, fuse them together. Even if London was the only state with modern technology, you’ve got literal magicians from dozens of other realm, many of which have massive, formal institutions dedicated to research and the advancement of their knowledge of the arcane arts, and immortal masters who have made it their purpose in life to train and help initiates and the odd mortal, such as Merlin and Yen Sid.

Make it so that these eggheads from across the cosmos banded together, and created an entirely new system of magic and technology for their brand new world, something that would both democratize access to this power and remove the arcane aristocracy, while still retaining the incredible potential and power of magic.

Make it so that they birthed… MAGITECH!

(There were many, many, many other potential names, but the various mages, scientists, and techno-arcanists couldn’t reach a consensus with any of them. Eventually they just settled for “magitech” until they could “eventually think of something better,” but as of now, the name’s stuck.)

It’s the perfect explanation as to why everyone has smartphones, cars, and access to the internet—it’s not London-era technology given 20 years to advance, it’s the same spirit familiars, crystal balls, and bubbling cauldrons everyone’s been using reborn as 4-5 inch devices of plastic and glass, with highly complex interiors.

It’d be a wonderful chance for iconic set-pieces, be they CG or a modified landmark.

Make giant, sprawling towers with glowing tops like beacons, the power lines for their world collecting and spreading out raw mana to their devices and their people like Nikola Tesla’s dream for free energy.

Open up the lid of a car and make a joke about the fire sprites inside banging their mugs and demanding that they get their “guzzoline” fix before they get the motors running again.

Have the cuteness of Queen Elena having her spirit familiars talking to her through her smartphone, so other people can finally see and hear them.

And of course, have the amusing dissonance of a group of techno-arcanists in modern labcoats and pointy hats using a tablet to design, then conjure themselves up a scientifically and magically delicious sandwich.

It’d fit so much better with this world, while still allowing them to keep the various magics that made the original universes so iconic.

Would Frozen be the same without Elsa’s powers? Would Beauty and the Beast been as powerful if Beast was just a human recluse and his servants weren’t magically trapped there as inanimate objects? Would the Sword in the Stone been as good if Merlin were just a cooky old man who knows a lot of magic tricks with mundane explanations?

Nay, I say! Nay!

It also opens up all sorts of new, and interesting plot points and world building for the universe:

Make Magitech so wildly successful that it’s now making actual magicians obsolete. Mirror the societal issues of today in Auradon, though instead of coal miners getting put out of work because of the green revolution and advances in alternative sources of energy, make it so that powerful, ancient wizards are stuck doing parlor tricks and parties to get by, and the Wild Fae are worrying about their place in the world as they’re no longer needed to take care of and preserve their homes.

Have a recurring subplot of a blackmarket for magitech, make issues with the problems of regulating something that is essential for daily living but could also threaten the very fabric of reality as we know it, have mentions of a group of rogue “hackers” who they fear might be trying to undermine Auradon through misinformation, magical DDOS attacks to make bring their systems to their knees, and show to the people that their kings and queens are helpless against a hacker with the right backdoors.

Have Mal and Carlos team-up, with the two of them combining their knowledge and learning how to use and abuse the various systems of Auradon.

Make it so that Carlos needs to and bonds with his friends by teaching them how to code, hack into systems, and deal with the magitech that acts as both security systems and necessary parts of daily living, such as submitting their homework or working on group projects.

Have scenes where Mal literally sticks her finger into a light-socket to try and hack into the system, manipulate the flow of magic in the crystal resonators using her natural, half-Faerie talents—possibly even show her using herself as a computer to hack into systems, or powering numerous objects by using herself as a battery.

Make it so that Evie and Carlos tinker and works with her magic mirror all throughout the movie, showing their intellectual sides when they graft memory cards and speakers to be able to turn it into a music player, and that’s where they get their kickass “Rotten to the Core” instrumentals from.

You would still be able to keep all the magical mischief from the original movie, too.

Make it so that the Better Hair Spell is Mal undercutting the expense of going to a parlor and getting your hair magically done.

(It is possible with Auradon’s magitech, of course, but you’d need a Quintel w73 processor, a Neuvidia MTX 9890 weaver card, and a cutting-edge runeboard compatible with their architecture, alongside numerous other incredibly expensive parts—not to mention finding an outlet with the right power-rating, a rarity in Auradon Prep to keep the students from making incredibly dangerous pet projects.)

Evie could still use her magic mirror to get information, though it’s akin to her using a homemade smartphone that’s capable of discretely connecting to the Leylines of Auradon, which is why her teachers don’t realize she’s cheating—the gadget detectors weren’t calibrated to detect her mirror.

And the love cookie could still be a love cookie, explicitly mention that it and its ilk were the few forms of object truly banned rather than regulated, for obvious reasons.

It’d be a better hook for the setting, too—instead of “Disney Child OCs go to a modern high school AU” it’s “Disney Child OCs in an interesting magitech run universe.”

Also, I AM 500% GAME FOR ELSA ESSENTIALLY BECOMING A MAGICAL ROBOTICIST, USING HER MAGIC TO CREATE MORE SNOW GOLEMS BEFORE USING COMPUTER CHIPS TO PROGRAM AND GIVE THEM MUCH MORE ADVANCED INTELLIGENCE.

[jinareads]

LET’S TALK: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

I've finally finished Lord of Shadows, the second book in The Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and hilarious, and I don't think I've felt that empty (in the best way possible) since I finished Clockwork Princess.

Trust me, you DO NOT want to read this if you haven't read all of the Shadowhunter books by Cassandra Clare.

Summary:

Lord of Shadows continues after Malcolm Fade's death, which has given rise to a bunch of Teuthida demons in Los Angeles. Jace and Clary visit the Los Angeles Institute, and since they can't stay because of a top-secret Clave mission to Faerie, a group of Centurions (graduates of Scholomance, an elite Shadowhunter school) arrive to lead the search for Malcolm's body and stop the sea demons. We're then introduced to Perfect Diego's friends, who are definitely less than friendly--and Diego doesn't look so perfect now, either. His recently rekindled romance with Cristina comes to a screeching halt when we find out that he's engaged--and with the heavily prejudiced Zara Dearborn, who wants to take the Los Angeles Institute for herself and for the Cohort (an anti-Downworlder hate faction of the Clave). And in the middle of all this, Emma, Julian, Cristina, and Mark go on a very illegal rescue mission to the Unseelie Court to save Kieran, who has been sentenced to death for the death of Iarlath (this is the Faerie who whipped Emma, nearly to death). And so they save Kieran, and are unexpectedly rescued themselves by a member of the Seelie Court and Mark's aunt, Nene. Here, the Seelie Queen shows Julian what's going on in Los Angeles: Arthur Blackthorn, in his last lucid moments, has decided to sacrifice himself to Malcolm, and a successfully revived Annabel awakes to kill Malcolm and take the Black Volume of the Dead. The Seelie Queen then offers the team her soldiers to help defeat the Unseelie King alongside the Clave--but more importantly to Julian, she says that she knows a way to break the parabatai bond--in exchange for the Black Volume. And so Julian and Emma go to Malcolm's cottage, while Ty, Livvy, and Kit venture off to Blackthorn Manor in hopes of discovering more about Annabel. An ancient and deadly group called the Riders, as ordered by the Unseelie King, are now tracking the Blackthorns to bring back the Black Volume to the king, and at the end of a battle that nearly kills all of our main characters, Annabel appears. Julian persuades Annabel to testify in front of the Clave and turn over the Black Volume in exchange for Blackthorn Manor and reinstatement of her honor, and everyone travels to Alicante via a portal that Magnus Bane opens up (with great difficulty, since his powers have been used thus far to help heal and protect the Blackthorns). So the Blackthorns, Emma, Kieran (who will also testify against the Unseelie King), Annabel, Alec, and Magnus are all in Alicante, awaiting the trial that will determine the fate of the Los Angeles Institute. Following Magnus's suggestion, Emma and Julian go to Robert Lightwood (the Inquisitor), asking that he send Emma into exile to deaden the parabatai bond. Robert agrees, and shortly after, the trial is underway. This is where everything falls apart: Annabel is unexpectedly questioned under the Mortal Sword, Magnus collapses due to his hidden sickness, Annabel kills Robert with the Mortal Sword, Annabel kills Livvy, and Emma shatters the Mortal Sword with Cortana. The book ends, with Julian clutching yet another member of his family lost to him.

Okay, so it's really hard to summarize what happens in Lord of Shadows because it is a MASSIVE book--both in terms of page number and plot content. So much happens in this book, and I want to discuss some of the finer details a little bit further.

favorites:

Emma's humor.

“‘You’re my mother’s sister?’ [Mark] said incredulously. ‘I think they usually call that your aunt,’ said Emma. Mark gave her a dark look.”

“‘I am Sabnock of Thule. How dare you stand before me, ugly human?’ ‘How personal,’ [Emma] said. ‘I’m hurt.’“

“‘In all our lives there has only been one thing we have sought and not found.’ ‘A sense of humor?’ Emma suggested.”

Kit's mundane knowledge. Things like cancer and autism aren't talked about in the Shadowhunter community, and it’s so interesting to see Kit react to their dangerously traditional way of rejecting mundane medicine and treatment.

Diana's history. Cassie did such a beautiful job in allowing the reader into Diana's past, and we finally learn her secret: Diana is a transgender woman. Since mundane medicine is forbidden by the Clave, she was living in mundane society until the war, and is now living as her dead sister, Aria. I love that we got to understand why Diana refused to become the Head of the Institute, despite her absolute love for the Blackthorns and Emma. 

Gwyn ap Nudd. I was 100% intimidated by Gwyn until he started making his moves on Diana, and their interactions turned into some of my favorite moments. Especially when he casually quotes Shakespeare.

Some idiot put “Will H.” on all the rare first editions in the library.

Cristina. I can’t believe I almost forgot about Cristina!! I was really into the whole Mark-Cristina-Kieran thing going on in the book and how Cristina and Kieran were very patient with Mark figuring out what he wanted. Also, I loved how irrelevant Diego was to Cristina after she found out about Zara (ok I know he had good intentions with the whole thing but whatever)

what the fuck:

Clary’s (impending) death. CASSIE CAN’T DO THIS TO US I THOUGHT WE WERE SAFE AFTER CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE

Sidenote: Ok, Jace technically died during TMI--we can totally bring her back nbd

Cortana. Cortana cuts through a lot of stuff that normal weapons shouldn’t be able to cut through--exhibit: the death of one of the seven riders (which was actually thought to be impossible). Also, I didn’t even consider that one of the Mortal Instruments could be destroyed. Does this mean Cortana can now compel people to tell the truth???

Theory: Can Cortana somehow cut the parabatai bond, since it can apparently cut through everything?

Annabel’s murderous rampage at the end. I 100% did not expect her to kill everyone at the end???

Tessa and Magnus. WHAT IS WRONG WITH TESSA AND MAGNUS??? The whole time Magnus was working his magic, I was getting worried because while he’s one of the most powerful warlocks we know, HE HAS LIMITS. And they kept. pushing. him.

tears:

Livvy’s death. I HATED that this happened to the Blackthorns, especially since they’ve already lost so much and they only had each other left. At the same time, I kind of saw it coming, especially with Kit entering the picture. I’m really glad that Kit and Ty have formed a relationship so that Ty will have someone to support him through this in the next book.

Robert’s death. I finished the story with Robert and Michael in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy after I finished LoS, and it was SO MUCH MORE DEVASTATING that he died. Not only did Emma and Julian lose the one person who could’ve helped them through the whole being in love with your parabatai thing, but just THINK OF ROBERT AS HE HEARD THEIR STORY. Robert can’t go back in time and make it up to Michael, but he could’ve helped another pair of parabatai

Jon’s death. I really didn’t mind this until the last couple stories from TFTSA, but it def hit me when I thought of him and Marisol, and how little time they had together.

Arthur’s death. I ALMOST FORGOT THIS HAPPENED. Arthur has such a twisted history, with his imprisonment in Faerie while his brother fell in love (please read TFTSA). I honestly felt so sad that Julian had to take on the responsibility of being a father and Institute head at such a young age, but I’m so glad that Arthur had a final moment of awareness--I hate that he sacrificed himself, but it was beautiful that during his moment of clarity, his mind focused on saving the people he loved the most.

things that I don’t know how to feel about yet:

Jaime. I’m still really not into him or Diego yet, despite all their talk of good intentions. His interactions with Dru made me think of the Nate-Jessamine relationship for some reason??

Sebastian + Seelie Queen child. I’ve seen this theory around the internet so many times, and I am worried. I am worried because of Dru’s little trip to Faerie involved a BOY WITH WHITE-BLOND HAIR AND GREEN EYES--aka Ash. And he asks about his mother; could it be that the Seelie Queen is hiding him away from everyone else, trying to keep him a secret? Or maybe he’s been kidnapped by the Unseelie King?

And it’s mentioned that he’s around 13, but let’s not forget that a day in the human world was 7 years for Andrew and Arthur when they were trapped in Faerie.

[njawaidofficial]

If You’re Not Watching “The Magicians” At This Point, You’re Missing Out On Something Great

https://styleveryday.com/2018/04/03/if-youre-not-watching-the-magicians-at-this-point-youre-missing-out-on-something-great/

If You’re Not Watching “The Magicians” At This Point, You’re Missing Out On Something Great

Hale Appleman as Eliot, embracing Summer Bishil as Margo in The Magicians.

Syfy

When it comes to the shows that hog all the attention in our era of peak TV, The Magicians is nowhere near the top of the list. Mainstream conversations about fantasy TV are often limited to the wild success of Game of Thrones, and The Magicians is nestled into an underrated corner of TV on the Syfy network. It’s easy for any series to get a little buried when there are 500+ shows and the Stark family around. But if we’re judging on ambition and inventiveness, The Magicians is one of the most notable shows on television — and its third season, which wraps up this week, proved that point over and over again. It’s a show that plays with story convention so consistently it blows up any boundaries that might hold it back.

Technically, The Magicians is built on the familiar. Based on Lev Grossman’s book series of the same name, the show began in 2015 as a sort of advanced-age Harry Potter meets Chronicles of Narnia. Unlike Hogwarts, the Magicians’ magic school — Brakebills — serves grad school students instead of children. When the characters discover and eventually become kings and queens of Fillory, their own version of Narnia, the escapist world operates as a Technicolor meditation on what it means to embrace adult responsibility. The series is also a direct descendant of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: It follows a group of ragtag young people as they repeatedly try to save the world. The characters fight through depression, sexual assault, addiction, and the general sense that things may never get easier. That’s all classic, well-trod territory. Which makes it all the more impressive that The Magicians inspires the feeling that it’s doing it all for the first time.

Here are just a few of the elements that make it stand out.

It’s one of the best ensemble shows about a group of twentysomethings.

From left: Stella Maeve as Julia, Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice, Appleman as Eliot, Bishil as Margo, Jason Ralph as Quentin, and Arjun Gupta as Penny in a promotional shot for The Magicians.

Syfy

The Magicians has always had a stellar cast of characters on its side — a group of friends brought together via Brakebills and overlapping heroes’ journeys. They’ve fought moth-faced villains and conquered gods, each character an integral part of a larger and pretty magnificent whole. Eliot (Hale Appleman) has a palpable regality in both his look and his soul; Margo (Summer Bishil) has blossomed as a brazen queen; Quentin (Jason Ralph) is steadfast and earnest, buoyed by Ralph’s deep pleasantness, an energy that’s completely transformed the character from what he was in the books. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg — Julia (Stella Maeve), Penny (Arjun Gupta), Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), Kady (Jade Tailor), and Josh (Trevor Einhorn) are all worthy of their own odes. In a strange way, through them, The Magicians sits right alongside Insecure, New Girl, and Girls — it’s a sexy ensemble show about a twentysomething friend group. They muse on responsibility and the big life decisions you’re forced to make as you become a true grownup. They just do so while having hoversex, battling literal manifestations of their depression, and trying to run a kingdom or two.

And it has the kind of diversity that so many of the shows it riffs on lacked.

Candis Cayne as the Fairy Queen and Bishil as Margo in The Magicians.

Syfy

Beloved as Buffy may have been, it was also notoriously white. The Magicians, on the other hand, very much lives in a socially conscious 2018. A significant portion of its main cast is made up of people of color. Not only that, but every single one of them — from Maeve’s Julia, to Gupta’s Penny, to Bishil’s Margo — is the kind of complex, specific character you won’t find anywhere else on television.

Bishil as Margo in The Magicians.

Syfy

A sizable portion of the characters also appears to be sexually fluid. Quentin, who on most shows would be the straightest white man on the planet, has a threesome with a man and a woman. He hooks up again with that same man in a later episode. There are no coming-out storylines, no hemming and hawing about labels — intimacies just happen to manifest in all types of ways on this show. On the one hand, there are always downsides to a lack of labels, including perpetuating the erasure of orientations like bisexuality. On the other, it’s kind of freeing to watch a show where it’s genuinely possible that anyone could sleep with anyone else and everyone treats that pretty casually. It goes well with part of what makes The Magicians so fun to watch: It actually does feel like anything could happen. The story options are wide open when everyone’s at least a little bit queer.

The Magicians’ third season has also heavily featured Candis Cayne, a trans actor who previously broke ground with her role on Dirty Sexy Money — the first time a trans actor had a recurring role playing a trans character on primetime television. Here, she plays the Fairy Queen, an intimidating force and a standout of the season. Another standout: Marlee Matlin’s Harriet — a deaf actor playing a deaf character who gets a beautiful moment in the spotlight with Season 3’s “Six Short Stories About Magic.”

What’s more, most of the show’s inclusivity goes unremarked upon on the show itself. Race, gender, and disability aren’t invisible to any of the core characters, but neither are they the focus. Characters will call out white supremacy and sexism without the show bragging about having a queen (and king!) of a magical realm be played by an actor of Mexican, Indian, and European heritage. Or a black man as the king of their neighboring kingdom. Or a mixed Native American woman on the path to becoming a goddess. And so on. Which is not to say The Magicians shouldn’t brag — if they want to spend all of Season 4 bragging about their magnificent ensemble, that would work too.

The show has a true sense of playfulness.

Appleman as Eliot and Bishil as Margo singing “One Day More” in The Magicians.

Syfy

When Buffy aired its iconic musical episode in 2001, it had a ripple effect. Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Psych, That ’70s Show, and even 7th Heaven all turned themselves into musicals for an episode. The Magicians, for its part, has been following in those same footsteps since its first season. Only instead of just one designated episode, they’ve peppered musical numbers into every season so far. In Season 1, Quentin sang Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” while trying to break out of a spell that had him trapped in a psychiatric hospital. “One Day More” from Les Misérables made a magnificent appearance in Season 2, as Eliot prepared for a duel to save his kingdom. (That one resembled what Game of Thrones might look like if Game of Thrones liked to party.) And this season, The Magicians did finally designate a full episode to several numbers. It culminated in the show’s main ensemble joining together in a rousing rendition of “Under Pressure.”

Integrated throughout the show, these moments stand as a declaration: This is just what The Magicians is, at its core. These scenes aren’t just an aside, a whim to break through the mundanity for a single episode — though The Magicians is also very good at that. With this show, narrative is twisted like a rubber band and then flung across the room. This is a series where talking sloths serve as top political advisers, party gods get banned from Instagram for posting too many shots of nipples, and messenger rabbits say things like “eat my ass.” It’s a blast.

And the fun they have with the story will also punch you in the heart (in a good way).

Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez as Rupert, Kylee Bush as Arielle, Ralph as Quentin, and Appleman as Eliot in the episode “A Life in the Day.”

Syfy

Wrapped up in all of its magical elements, The Magicians also happens to be wildly convoluted. Here, though, it’s at least in a way the show seems to truly delight in. As things grew more complex in Season 3, every week felt like the writers were taking the series’ classic fantasy tropes and conducting science experiments on them. Sometimes the effect is that aforementioned playfulness. But their characters are still on a variety of heroes’ journeys — which means this show is also willing to rip your heart out and tap dance all over it. Honestly? It feels great.

Eliot comforting Quentin and Rupert in “A Life in the Day.”

Syfy / Via whitefluffyyeti.tumblr.com

If there was one shining highlight of the season — and the show overall — it was the Feb. 7 episode, “A Life in the Day.” In it, Quentin and Eliot are tasked with completing a mosaic puzzle as part of a season-long quest to bring magic back to their world. To do so, they have to travel to a past version of Fillory. But unable to leave until they complete their mission, they wind up staying in the immediate vicinity of that puzzle for…well, the entire rest of their lives. The show plays this out in an extended montage. The two grow restless. They fight, they bond. They hook up. Quentin meets a local girl, settles down, has a son. When she’s gone, Quentin and Eliot spend the rest of their lives raising the kid and growing old together. Like the opening montage of Up, it’s the kind of sequence that really hits you with everything that it means to be human. It stays with you.

By the end of the episode, Quentin and Eliot had completed the puzzle and found their way back to their youths and their usual timeline. But the show made sure the impact of their time together was felt. These two characters had lived out an entire life as loving partners, side by side. It was an emotional beat that packed a hell of a wallop, and payoff has been sprinkled through the episodes that have followed. Sometimes it’s in small asides between the two characters; sometimes it’s just in knowing the way they look at each other. It’s hardly the first time characters in a genre show have lived out their entire lives in a separate timeline. But “A Life in the Day” was indicative of what The Magicians does best: It uses its magical setting and all-star cast to mold itself into different forms. Sometimes, like in that episode, it knocks you off your feet in the process.

In another episode, called “Six Short Stories About Magic,” the narrative is split into six vignettes sorted by character. The final one is centered on Harriet, a freedom of information activist and magician who runs a BuzzFeed spoof called FuzzBeat (hi, guys!). As Harriet is deaf, 10 minutes of the episode take place in silence. The segment includes some long-awaited exposition into Harriet’s backstory, which we get through her perspective before the series explodes back into sound in its final moments. The effect is stirring.

Gupta as an ailing Penny in The Magicians.

Syfy

In “Be the Penny,” we get another play on perspective as Penny finds himself separated from his body with his friends believing him dead. We spend the episode with his astral self, watching people react to his death as he tries desperately to contact them. In both of these, the show plays with form to reveal depth. Penny doesn’t get a normal death, so it follows that the episode focusing on that would be just as off-kilter as the story itself — and just as sad. Penny watches his friends grieve, though not always to his satisfaction, and he can’t reach them to tell them that he’s still there.

This kind of experimentation is not new to fantasy. Supernatural, in its seemingly 500th year on television, has employed practically every genre and meta twist there is. Most recently, the characters crossed over with Scooby Doo and literally became animated. And Buffy was groundbreaking in this field before that, not only for the aforementioned musical episode but also for forays into silent filmmaking with “Hush” and character experiments like “Tabula Rasa.” One of the joys of sci-fi and fantasy is that it gives you a built-in excuse to fuck with convention. The Magicians has reveled in that from day one — and from the ground up. And with this third season, it took itself to a whole new and thrilling level.

Appleman and Ralph behind the scenes on the episode “A Life in the Day.”

Hale Appleman / Via instagram.com