#but I don't want them to be a powerful magician who can do all sort of things

[arabian-batboy]

It always perplexed me how in over 80 years, DC never tried to give us a magical in-universe reason to why Batman and other human vigilantes in Gotham can recover from their injuries so fast?

Like yeah its just fictional characters in a comic books, but every other story one of them has to get slashed/stabbed or break a bone and those things take months to heal and at one point it just comes off as extremely unrealistic to claim that the characters simply healed their injuries during a mini-timeskip that happened off-panel every single time (especially since if you stacked all the months of healing they had, it will probably take years away from their life)

I don’t know about you, but I personally wouldn’t mind if Batman recruited a new “healer” character as an associate to the Batfamily who can heal their injuries with their powers (with some limitation of course, you still need some type of suspense/stakes when someone is attacked)

Basically this character would be taking the role of Dr. Leslie in Batman comics, except its instead of an overworked old lady, its some type of non-combatant meta person with supernatural healing powers.

[theminecraftbee]

> check social links

(Which Social Link should I check on...?)

0 FOOL School Rescue Committee Should this really be an official school club? The group of Persona-users that I'm in now, whether I like it or not. At least I'm helping people by doing all this weird magic nonsense...

I MAGICIAN Scar A fellow Persona-user a year below me, although my senior in fighting Shadows. He's dragged me into his scam crystal-selling operation, which is actually weirdly fun.

II PRIESTESS Beef Pretty large and muscular for a priestess, but sure, I'll bite. A volunteer EMT who is trying to decide whether to follow his family's wishes for university.

III EMPRESS Gem A fellow Persona-user in my year. She wants me to help her study for entrance exams, apparently. Not sure why she's asking me, I missed an entire semester? But it's good enough study for me as well.

IV EMPEROR Impulse A fellow Persona-user in my year. He has a single-minded devotion to overworking himself, despite the fact he seems to be trying to prove it's fine for some reason.

V HIEROPHANT Xisuma An older man who hangs out in the local tea shop. Keeps trying to parent me for some reason, although it seems like his relationship with his actual family's a bit less good, so maybe that's why.

VI LOVERS Etho My lab partner. The whole school's obsessed with him for some reason. My only solace is that he seems to be just as disconcerted by that fact as I am.

VII CHARIOT Skizzleman A fellow Persona-user in my year, and my first friend in this town. I'm helping him find a part-time job. He's sort of ridiculously cheerful, but I know he understands me better than most people.

VIII JUSTICE Grian A fellow Persona-user a year below me, although my senior in fighting Shadows. Keeps dragging me into his pranks, although for such a gregarious guy, he's weirdly isolated.

IX HERMIT Joe Hills One of my teachers, and the head of the School Rescue Committee. He's, frankly, the most bizarre guy I know, and I don't know what to make of any of the "wisdom" he tries to impart on us.

X FORTUNE Tango Apparently, he's a bit of a prodigy in the robotics club, but he first came to me to confess he's considering quitting. I have no idea why this is my problem, but Impulse frowned at me about it, so here I am.

XI STRENGTH False A local martial artist who's been decorated with a number of titles. I just wanted her to teach me how to fight better, but apparently, she's starting to doubt her own fighting ability as well.

XII HANGED MAN Jimmy Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room. He's a bit of an idiot, but he's also my idiot. Mostly wants to request I escort him to places in the human world, although he wants specific fusions sometimes too.

XIII DEATH Cleo A "florist" in town who can source us weapons and fence goods from Altered Space. I'm pretty sure she's actually Yakuza, or at least criminal. She and Joe know each other, although strangely, she doesn't seem to remember from where.

XIV TEMPERANCE Iskall and Stress Two priests at the local shrine. I work for them occasionally to help them with odd jobs around town. They share some common past they don't like to talk about.

XV DEVIL Ren The student council president. He's bizarrely mad with power on a good day, which is weird, because he's also bizarrely kickable on a good day. Keeps on trying to rope me into the Student Council.

XVI TOWER Doc An inventor trying to invent a safe new clean energy source. According to rumors, his last try exploded, killing his lab partner, which constantly makes me question why I'm here.

XVII STAR Zedaph Proprietor of the famous local "Mystery Stir Fry Extravaganza". Frankly, his creations terrify me more than Doc's do. I have no idea why this is Impulse's favorite restaurant.

XVIII MOON Mumbo A fellow Persona-user in the year below me. Apparently, he still gets bullied a lot, but he has a scheme to, and I quote, 'learn to be something scary, like a horse.' Good luck with that, mate.

XIX SUN Pearl An artist that I've always admired. Recently, she was in a terrible car accident, and her hands now constantly shake because of it. I still think she can draw organic shapes better than me, though.

XX JUDGEMENT Soul Reappearance Committee Judgement. Hah. I guess you'd call this Judgement Day, sure.

XXI THE WORLD ... It's me.

[intuitively-her]

Why are people scared of you?

Pile 1-(The Hermit, 7 of swords, The Lovers rx, 8 of cups, The Devil, Temperance, 4 of cups rx, 4 of wands rx, 8 of pentacles rx, The Magician, 8 of wands) *angel number confirmation: 888

It's easy for you to detach from situations that don't serve you. You may prefer to be alone often. Sometimes you may even have more fun by yourself than when you're with others. People wish they could be like that. You're very much grounded and comfortable in your own skin. You are your own happiness! This really gets under people's skin. Mad ass bitches.🤣 You're very secretive and many wonder what you're hiding. People feel like they can't keep up with you. This could even be people that try to keep up with you to be all up in your business. But they're still blocked from knowing anyways. You're a powerful creator. You've built your creations from the ground up and made it to the top without the help of anyone else. You really had to get it out the mud BY YOURSELF. Lastly, many believe that you're a heart breaker. It's something about the way you look. You're a temptress.

*channeled song: way 2 sexy by drake

Pile 2-(5 of wands, 10 of swords, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Star, The Magician, Queen of swords, Ace of swords, Justice)

You're not afraid of confrontation and being the bad guy when it's needed. I keep hearing "don't poke the bear". So you could actually be quiet and keep to yourself, but you'll flip the switch at any moment. That's really f*cking scary lmao. There's this strong aura of confidence around you. You walk with your head held high. Something about you makes people want to surrender. They feel super defeated against you. People would rather be with you than against you. You may have some sort of fame or following on a platform. For some of you, you run a business that contributes to this. People wish they could do it like you. Lastly, people are scared of you because you always get to the bottom of the truth. You always receive justice and come out on top in situations.

*channeled song: blow the whistle by too short

Pile 3-(6 of cups rx, The Hierophant rx, The World, Death, The Hermit, The Emperor, King of swords rx, 2 of pentacles rx, 10 wands rx, 6 of wands)

You're growing up and leaving behind dead weight. You've truly been evolving into a new person. Like a snake shedding it's skin. You're releasing a lot of your past burdens. Some people feel like you're gonna leave them behind. This could be family. These are people that were never supposed to join you on your journey anyway. You've been handling things on your own more and keeping your business to yourself. I'm getting a "f*ck it, ill just do it myself" type of energy from this pile. You're becoming your own savior. You've been taking a lot more risks as well. I keep getting something about "risk and reward". So maybe that has meaning to you.

*channeled song: rise up by andra day

Pile 4-(Queen of cups rx, 3 of swords, Queen of pentacles, Queen of wands rx, 4 of swords, Ace of cups, King of cups, Judgement, The High Priestess)

You can be very spiteful towards those that have done you wrong. People are often scared to go against you because they're afraid of what you might do in retaliation. You're very selfish with your time and you take your self-care seriously. You hold a lot of knowledge about many different subjects. I heard "old soul". You know exactly what you want and you demand it. That's actually very attractive to others. You seem to have a good judgement towards others, so you know who to associate yourself with and who not to. You can be a social butterfly at the same time tho. You know many people from many different crowds. You also have many people that come to your defense in situations, some unbeknownst to you.

*channeled song: no more (baby ima do right) by 3LW

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: In Which Chilchuck Begrudgingly Has Feelings for his Coworkers, and Kabru Has...Something. He Sure Has Something Going On Over There.

Before we continue, I feel I should clarify 2 things:

I've been trying, ish, to avoid spoilers for this comic, but I've watched through the Golden Country episode and more importantly I'm so bad at not reading spoiler-y but interesting- and insightful-looking analysis. So, much of this commentary isn't wholly original and any particularly genius theories of future events are likely made with actual foreknowledge.

When I said on the first post that I was starting the comic because "I need to know what happens", what I specifically meant was "I need to know how the Laios-Kabru dynamic ends up, and the general geopolitical situation, so I can accurately daydream what sort of tariffs they'll set in the kingdom of which Laios is definitely not going to be the one managing the political, economic, or social minutia." Tariffs are going to be important, okay. They're a key way a nation-state interacts with other nation-states, especially one with rare materials to trade, powerful neighbors who want them, and the natural barrier of an ocean. Truly, every fantasy series ever should be required to have an epilogue or many an additional book/season/etc of a The West Wing-style depiction of day-to-day governance of whatever resulted from the story's climactic finale.

Okay, back to the liveblog.

.

Inch resting. The manga characters, having met the Mad Mage, keep using she/her pronouns for them, where in the anime they used he/him. I assume one of these is just, like, wrong - some translation choice was made before truth was revealed later in the course of publication?

But it makes SENSE that the characters wouldn't necessarily know, at this point! The Mage's appearance is pretty gender-neutral, especially as an elf, an notably gender-ambiguous race. So the characters in the manga picked one guess and stuck with it, and the characters is the very slightly alternate timeline of the anime picked another and stuck with that!

Now: having used they/them throughout this musing and previously he/him because a) the show and b) that's what I saw in fandom, I think I'll switch to referring to the Mage with she/her pronouns now. Because A) that's how the thing I'm reading apparently will be doing it, and B) they still call her "Lord of the Dungeon", which is obviously the greatest gender option of all.

...however, the manga does keep saying "lunatic magician" rather than "Mad Mage" (caps mine), which is a TOTAL failing in drama. Always alliterate, preferably archaically.

.

Orc woman: Ugh, this halffoot sucks. I'll tolerate his company only as a favor to the vegetable guy.

Orc woman after listening to Chilchuck complain about his coworkers for an hour: Nvm, this halffoot is a worthy and loyal friend of the vegetable seller, and I guess those other guys too. He's just emotionally constipated about it.

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Laios just has these soft little fond smiles sometimes and I? want to hug him?

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MY MAN IS BACK!! Kabru wink count: 1 this chapter, 4 total [updated as I read]

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Corpse Retriever: If you don't report us for trying to get you guys killed so we could collect a retrieval fee, we'll let you kill those two of our guys who are already unconscious and collect that fee yourselves. We'll just take 30% of it, for not telling on you.

Kabru, internally: Hm. Well, I'm not king of this dungeon yet, but nonetheless I feel comfortable passing and executing a just judgement upon you for your many known, presumed and planned crimes. Emphasis on 'executing.'

Kabru aloud: I accept!

Kabru: [starts killing them with a classic faint, wide-eyed smile]

What a guy. He's even holding that knife so well. Look, next he's analyzing social trends and acting ruthlessly to adjust them toward the direction of the greater good!

What a guy. Truly this is a "so my type that it's embarrassing" situation.

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I can't efficiently crop panels to show all this, but favorite parallels in these chapters full of parallels:

Kabru's breakdown of the Touden party is like Laios eagerly explaining and analyzing the behavior and anatomy of monsters (including, though we don't know it yet, calculations for killing them - though we DO see him saying that humans are easy to kill because he knows all the physical weak points!)

The references throughout these two chapters, by Kabru and his party, to the interconnected socioeconomic dynamics of the island and dungeon - the corrupted system fails to check corpse retrievers, the Island Lord as an annoying but necessary bulwark against the Elves, the dungeon growing hungrier as fewer adventurers go down because there's less money and more risk - are so so so like Senshi and Laiois discussing the dungeon biome's ecosystem and food pyramid.

The whole vibe of the party re: their respective weirdo tallman leaders. We watched Team Laios develop this, recently crowned with Chilchuck's near-tearful argument to turn back for a rest, which means we can recognize it when we're dropped into it with Team Kabru: that "this guy is SUCH a goddamn weirdo, but I already followed him into some level of hell, so I'm obviously not turning back now." Kabru's party does think he's weird - "You remember so much about other people that it's creepy." "Why are you enjoying this?" But they're also pitching in on the speculation like Team Touden all hel cook monsters. Compare:

Also!! Something something predisposed beliefs and presumptions of others... This party is so eager to assume the worst of our party, even though our party objectively saved them from perma-death twice, once from ghosts and once from being eaten by fishmen. Chichuck is greedy and bossy, Senshi smells so...notably...that he's judged to be sketchy af... Kabru is trying his best with what info he has, he knows it's not enough to pass a judgement and he wants more, but it's very...uncomfortable? To see this sort of discussion of people we know are great, when we're so used to watching monsters be killed with exquisite understanding and respect.

...I'll chew on that angle of theme more later. Man, you know how, say, what makes the musical Hamilton so good is at its heart it's just like 5-10 leitmotifs that interweave to create every single song? Dungeon Meshi is like that. Hmm a Dungeon Meshical...

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"Yeah, yeah, we've all heard your weekly lecture about how someone responsible and sociopolitically conscious needs to take the dungeon and the throne or everyone in this region is doomed. None of us can wait to see you flip off the Island Lord to his face. Eat your rations, buddy."

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JUST THE CUTEST, INNOCENTEST, POLITEST, HELPFULEST (WITH NO ULTERIOR MOTIVATIONS WHATSOEVER) YOUNG MAN!! LOOK AT HIS BIG BLUE EYES AND EAGER LITTLE SMILE!

[3 seconds earlier:

I'm obsessed. In the spirit of this comic: I want to eat him with a spoon. I want to take small divots out of him and lick each one carefully off the spoon, luxuriously exploring and enjoying the complex texture and flavor. Like he's a really good pudding. And then I want to see if, if he and Laios kiss, do they both explode in antimatter.

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

So Jesse only has half of his TP right? So I read when he wants to use his element in only works sometime or half? Has there been situation off screen where it didn't work? When would Jesse's next mission with the Ninjas be or are you more focused on the Ninja and Lloyd right now? Is there gonna be a moment in a fight where his powers suddenly wouldn't work? In the storie I hasn't really happened yet that his powers didn't work or something else happened right? Since Jesse had a bit training for fighting how is his stealth level? How on par would he be with the ninja pre training right now to after? Would he be on par with Nya? Would Jesse be scared to one day surprisingly lose his element? How would Jesse use his magician show without his powers? If Harumi and Miranda don't assists him anymore does he search for a new assistant or do it on his own?

*throws back drink*

So Jesse only has half of his TP right? So I read when he wants to use his element in only works sometime or half? - Well, its not exactly a perfect 'half', it's moreso just not a complete (or full) potential. The crux of this is the fact that he hasn't been in NRG Mode -> hasn't gained his NRG Ability, which is the thing that would allow his powers to always work (with caveat). On top of that, he initially started with only half his Effects, having to earn them as time goes on (such as Hovering/Warp -he didn't have those prior to Miranda's accident- Aftershock, his Metal Effect, etc) unlike the ninja who just sort of knew what their powers/abilities were jfhdhfgd (another perk of Surprise i guess)

Has there been situation off screen where it didn't work? In the storie I hasn't really happened yet that his powers didn't work or something else happened right?-

I can give you TWO in-story examples off the top of my head:

“O-Okay, okay. You’re gonna have to trust me. Keep your eyes closed, don’t say anything, and don’t think—“ "Are you going to fly out the window?" …Jesse takes a deep breath of his own before giving Miranda a very hard look. "…you know this isn't going to work if you anticipate what I'm going to do—" "All I'm anticipating right now is to die!” Miranda wails. “Defy those expectations, then!" "Gaaaah, why can't anything ever be easy?!" Jesse rolls his eyes, tightening his hold as he makes his way to the window anyway. “Just close your eyes and stop talking so I can actually make my powers work and we don’t get crushed or worse, okay?!”

AAAAAAND-

“Hmph.” Cole gives Jesse a gentle squeeze; a silent thank you for helping to ground him. “That’s nice and all, but what are we supposed to do if I can’t move mountains now? I’m the lynchpin of this plan…and more importantly, I’d never hear the end of it from Kai if I couldn’t manage to make a rock.” Jesse looks thoughtful for a moment, tapping his free hand to his chin. “…Actually, there might be something I can try…” Cole sends Jesse a slightly skeptical look. "I thought your tricks stopped working against the Devourer?” "Only the ones I’ve already used consistently. But my dear, sweet Cole—I'm a magician, remember?” Jesse smirks, readying his sparkles at the tips of his fingers. "We've always got at least one more secret trick up our sleeves. …All I need you to do is try to make the prison again." “…All right.” Cole gives Jesse’s hand one last squeeze before assuming position again. “I’m counting on you, Jess.”

...aaaaand the next time this more-blatantly happens is in Bh3Ch15, but that's spoilers! Woo!

When would Jesse's next mission with the Ninjas be or are you more focused on the Ninja and Lloyd right now? - We're primarily focused on Lloyd + the Ninja, but he gets entangled in the clone shenanigans (and has an awesome team up with Nya), sooooo

Is there gonna be a moment in a fight where his powers suddenly wouldn't work? - Yeeeeeees

Since Jesse had a bit training for fighting how is his stealth level? - Given his Inverse Anticipation ability, he's either incredibly stealthy by default or gets the script flipped on him, but with more training he'll be able to keep the odds more in his favor!

How on par would he be with the ninja pre training right now to after? Would he be on par with Nya?- By the end of Book 3 I'd definitely put him on par with at least Nya

Would Jesse be scared to one day surprisingly lose his element? - Yeeeees

How would Jesse use his magician show without his powers?- he's still a good magician even beyond the powers (and had his interest in magic even before the powers); the powers just accentuate his non-power tricks

If Harumi and Miranda don't assists him anymore does he search for a new assistant or do it on his own? - He runs a solo career but sometimes performs alongside a colleague named Rory :3

[lasi-nariyoyoreads]

Hello, it's me... A Twice stan hahaha

I wanted to ask for a reading for Sana's personality. If this is okay~~

I hope you're doing well. Wishing you well :)

Sana's personality according to tarots

Hi! I'm okay, how are you? Are you enjoying the comeback?

Disclaimer:

My readings are made for fun and you should read them for fun too. So don't take them seriously.

Core aspect of her personality:

strength

This card in the tarots is usually represented as a woman who pets a lion, so it doesn’t refer to brutal power, but to courage, determination, patience.

Sana might be a “strong” person, someone who is always positive even while facing hardships.

She might be someone that fights for what she wants, but also someone able to bring a positive influence to others, encourage them, even guide them.

She is good at relating with people, who look up to her and respect her a lot.

What does she think about herself?

rev magician , rev the world, 8 of swords

She might think she’s greedy or someone able to manipulate others. We know it’s easy for her to befriend others, so she might consider this as some sort of tool she can use when necessary?

She feels lacking. 

If it’s from a professional point of view, there might be a lot of things she wants to try or she isn’t satisfied with her current level of success/skills, so she wants “more”.

If it’s from a private point of view, she might feel something lacks in her relationships, either a real important union, or simply she feels she doesn’t have enough time to take care properly of her loved ones.

She might feel trapped in her current position, she would like to try new things maybe or she would like to express herself more freely.

Linking all these cards together, it feels as if she believes she should be happy and satisfied, but she isn’t and she considers this dissatisfaction as something negative, as “greed”.

What do they think about her?

ace of cups, rev ace of swords, rev lovers

Ace of cups is a very romantic card, so it can imply people might actually have romantic feelings for her or they generally have a soft spot for her or they might see her as a source of love and affection.

However, others consider her as someone who lacks ideas and originality, like “she’s always doing the same thing”, as if there’s no evolution or no clear plans about her future.

Others might think there’s an imbalance in her life, like her emotions might be a bit all over the place or they consider her as someone who lacks organization.

Positive traits:

rev 2 of swords, 8 of swords, 10 of swords

She’s cautious, even in the most stressful situations, you can trust her to not lose her mind.

She is someone who keeps looking for answers, solutions etc. She doesn’t give up.

You could say she’s a positive person, not just in a “yay I’m happy!” way, but above all in a “I believe it can go well”, an attitude that might be a good influence for the people around her.

Resilience is the right word to describe it. No matter what people say or think, no matter how bad the situation is, she has the type of mindset that doesn’t give up.

I think she also makes for a good friend that gives good advice. If a friend sees no ways out, she might probably be able to either find a solution or to give them hope.

Negative traits:

rev king of swords, rev page of pentacles, rev the sun

She might have a hard time to follow a routine and keep a regular schedule.

She might be the type who loses her sh1t when she’s angry, she might get very emotional.

She can be immature and childish, lazy, she might lack a real goal or miss opportunities.

She might have mood swings like feeling very enthusiastic about something or very negative about something else, or in general she might have very strong opinions and it's hard to make her change her mind. If you gave her a negative impression, it's hard for her to see you in a different light.

In general, I’d say she has a certain chaotic energy because she’s an emotional person.

[zatna]

i know i know, i'll give my first chapter review of z:bdth!! personals leave me alone i do NOT fuck with u.

review: its good. 10/10 (no one expected anything less).

now my silly little thoughts:

it opens with with zatanna being ridiculed for messing up a ball-disappearing trick, then promptly going to her father for some advice on real magic. zatanna's backstory has never been heavily consistent, even in her early origin days, so to see an actual scene where she's younger and doing her own actions.. it's different than the regular flashbacks we've been getting with her that just exist as a sort of "here's how magic works" to the general audience.

this page above is SOO GOOD i'll be thinking about it for the rest of my life. the colors, the shapes, the poses for both young zee & her father.. i'm glad they're bringing attention to their relationship prior to magic teaching, because it creates a distance between them that we don't see a lot, but i consider all the time. zatanna's most remarkable teacher was her father, yes, but zatanna had way more years of self-teaching than being a mentee to someone else. giovanni had never wanted to teach her anything beyond a few simple spells, and for a man who spent his life fighting supernatural horrors and threats i don't blame the fact he didn't want his daughter going into the world-- even though it's apparent they're both consumed by it already. the magical tomes, books, the obscure objects (floating or not), typical assistant bunnies. smthn smthn a visual clash of the two types of magicians we see in the room. giovanni's face is shadowed in, he's mysterious and direct, if not somewhat dismissive: "you said you'd teach me magic..." "did i?"

this could be read as not dismissive as well, since in the next scene she does use magic. so maybe he indulged her. but the spell was definitely not what she asked for and looks way more like a strong desire that developed into a spellcast out of emotion alone. maybe she grabbed one of his books when he wasn't looking, or we can go a different route and assume giovanni did teach her that spell, a backwards lesson of the difference between parlor tricks and real magic. he's always written as very coddling of zatanna, so to see him even demand her to "speak up." when she's got her head down was a bit of a surprise in itself, i don't know what he might've done..

i will never get tired of overpowered children having to deal with the fact they're overpowered children. this is the second time, that i can remember at least, where a younger zatanna had used her powers in a scenario where she thought they were justified, only to deal with the cruel consequences after the damage is done. how zee wielded magic in her youth, intentional or not, drastically impedes how she views it in her adult life. she's scared of it, this immeasurable power that responds to her slightest command. its a type of power that grown men yearn for, but giving it to a critical, impulsive child that's still learning the world around them, the people around them, and it'll just end up as a disaster and they'll grow to fear it.

nothing is important here besides the first signs of something is wrong, with her bunnies being cowered as far from her as they can while one bites in retaliation. ok there's like, smthn big going on but just look at the fact zatanna wears boxers... shes so hot. also transfem. thanks.

also omg little notes is the magic poster of herself being a wall for the rest of the kitchen. identical top hats on shelves. the drawn out man on the wall with knives sticking out of it jksgjkds. you can't see it exactly in this crop but there's just a bucket of chains and cuffs... she's such a weirdo... get another hobby im begging u. also mattress-on-the-floor zatanna is real and she is out to get you.

just a casual shadow of a creature following your shadow, no big deal. idk if the book will go this route, i think it's just another *team-up with someone who won't ever appear again in any continuity, but i like to think this is a canonical example of the consequences of zatanna under-using her magic. enter me forcing my headcanons and portrayal onto panels that definitely represent something else. anyway i'd like to think her magical presence becomes so dense when there's no "output" on her magic, and it's the equivalent of dangling a steak in front of a carnivore... or a carnivore's shadow. it's a mirror to when magic wielders overdo their own magical output, leaving them drained and instead an itty bitty fish in front of a carnivore. foods still food. i'm done with these metaphors i hope everyone caught the gist already..

pretending to hypnotize someone is so silly of her. but even more importantly there's a justice league mention oh wow!! and she turned them down :( zatanna's passion of the stage was very much outweighing the possibility of being a hero. this, as far as i'm concerned, has always been a fact. zatanna desired stardom and was perfectly content to sticking on stage, it was her fathers disappearance that had her jumping through mystical hurdles.

at this point on i'm not gonna post anymore panels because im lazy and this is getting so ridiculously long and also you should read it yourself. but i'm happy they're incorporating the fact zatanna doesn't use real magic on stage. outside of the premise of this series, where she has a present fear of it, zatanna in the past was of the stern belief that she shouldn't need to, and so she didn't. these lines kinda got blurred, and then discarded completely, and then now her main act is using illusionary magic and leaving it up to the audience to decide if it was real or not. i like both interpretations, personally, but it's nice to see the former again.

a bit of a disappointment that this is yet another zatara-led storyline.. or maybe this is just where it starts? you'd think they've run out of "cleaning up my fathers messes" plotlines but you'd be wrong!

*team-up wise smells like yuri... even better it smells like doomed yuri so i'm here for it for as long as it'll stick around.

[river-in-the-woods]

greetings! i'm new to buddhism and i would be curious to know if you have any tips for westerners regarding the practice. i see a lot of people online aggravated by western attitudes at times and as new convert, i would like to avoid contributing to that. thank you!

Hi there :)

I suppose one of the greater issues is that there is a mindset of... shall we say, pioneering and innovation that can be unhelpful when approaching Asian traditions.

Western practitioners like to experiment, change the rules, "fuck around and find out" as they so often say. This works out well enough for them – in fact I think Western practitioners often thrive on their enthusiasm to explore, when it is balanced by discernment – but it is not an attitude that will get them far if they decide to train properly in an Asian tradition.

What we have in Asia that is lacking in Western traditions, are culture, history and esoteric lineages spanning thousands of years, and techniques that have been refined through trial and error with each passing generation. European traditions don't have this kind of unbroken lineage, which creates some distinct differences in mindset.

A Western practitioner might consider themself 'advanced' after 5-10 years of practice. But to become a Buddhist monk, guru/lama or Daoist method master, in that time you might only have just completed basic training (depending on tradition; I'm making broad generalisations here).

There is such a thing as spiritual authority, and Westerners sometimes don't like to hear this. After all, for many, becoming a witch/sorcerer/magician/spiritualist is all about taking fate into your own hands, claiming the universe's power, the church be damned, etc. Asian witchcraft and malefica does exist, however it is not treated as the path of self-liberation and sovereignty as it is in the West, so please do not mistake it as such.

(Diasporic Asians like to claim titles such as 'witch', and this is fine, but just bear in mind this has a decidedly negative connotation when you visit countries in East Asia).

The line between laypeople and ordained monks and priests is very clearly defined, and one is expected to show deference. This does not mean any sort of self-deprecation, rather, to understand one's own limits and keep an open and curious mind. Just as a layperson would not presume to know better than a trained doctor or surgeon.

Therefore, having ample patience will serve you well. You should expect to repeat the same basic practices 100s and 1000s of times, because cultivation is grueling and the path to Buddhahood, Immortality, or what have you, is something that takes lifetimes to achieve.

Now, that may not be your goal. You might simply want to live well in this life, and that is fine. The above message is more for those who aspire for mastery, importance or greatness, but do not yet understand what the journey requires. (I don't claim to understand it myself either).

This might be obvious, but in case it is not... be discerning about who you trust to guide you. There are genuine European/white practitioners who have entered their respective traditions the correct way, and there are Asian frauds and charlatans who have no qualms about using their cultural traditions to con people out of their money. You should respect what people have to say about their cultures and experiences, naturally, but don't use someone's ethnic background as a validation of their skill or character.

Most of all, maintain humility. Humility is the virtue that supports all other virtues. One that I think all of humanity struggles with the most, perhaps because we don’t understand it very well, and our survival has so often required its opposite.

Beyond that, I advise you not to place too much emphasis on seeking knowledge in books or written texts. The main reason for this: published texts on Buddhist practices come from oral traditions that may require empowerment and transmission. The people who publish these texts might not understand this, or they are relying on the good faith of spiritual seekers. One does themself a great disservice if they believe they can bypass the guidance of a teacher from a long-standing lineage.

The other reason is that the wisdom, capacity and personal growth one gains through cultivation is experiential. It can only be gained through consistent practice. A skillful teacher can guide you on the path, but ultimately, the real thing cannot be taught, and all words fail to capture its true majesty.

I hope this helps, and doesn't come across as too intimidating. Take it slow, let the path unfold before you, and enjoy each day as it comes. Keep a green bough in your heart, and the singing bird will come 💚

[gryphonlover]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite magician characters? And what do you like about them?

They can be of any class or variety of magic-user (wizard, witch, sorcerer, warlock, healer, druid, etc.), of any race or species, so long as using magic is *primarily* their thing in the story. Not just something they do occasionally, but something that is a major element of their role and their identity.

I'm not exactly sure where Hyrule (Linked Universe) fits into that definition, so I'm taking this as an opportunity to talk about one of my favorite webcomics.

Castoff by Star Prichard is all about magic! So far, the main cast really only has one person who doesn't use magic. The story starts out with Vector and Arianna, who both use magic. Arianna is a real mage, and Vector sort of just has weird magic abilities that are insanely powerful and kick things off. After that, they meet some more people who also have weird magic abilities that shouldn't be possible, and stuff like that.

I don't want to spoil things, so I'm not sure what else to say other than that it's got some good queer representation in it and I like it very much.

[rattlebear25]

Headcanon Timeline Past SPM (31/12/23 UPDATE)

• So my Headcanon version of Dimentio was the son of the Phanto King and Queen in Unknown Realm. Him and his Sister Dimania had a more arrogant and dictatorship behaviour unlike their parents. Dimentio was really affectionate to his mother while the Dimania was really connected to her father. Suddenly, Bonechill appeared trying to conquer the Overthere, hurting Dimentio and his mother. The mother was deeply injured and died while Dimentio was slighty damaged. Dimania went ill after her mommy's death and her father did everything to bring her back. He saved her and Dimentio thanks to his magician powers but his sons were mentally destroyed by the tragic event, developing a sort of PTS Disorder. All of these events happen simultaneously at Ancient's leadership on the whole universe. Phantos are normally the ones who control and own the keys of the doors that separate the Normal Life Realm from the Afterlife one (the Underwhere, Overthere.) When Dimentio and Dimania became adult and their father died, Dimi ruled as the King of Phantos while his sister like a Deputy Chief. They wanted more power so they discovered from an old dark book (the Dark Prognosticus) the existence of the Chaos Heart that can be brought alive by a forced union bewteen a monster and a princess. This Heart function is like a Big Crunch and the Chaos Heart's owner can redesign the Universe from zero. So Dimania and her brother team up to get the Chaos Heart but first they have to destroy the Pure Hearts, that can destroy the Chaos Heart forever. So Dimentio created a fake identity for himself called Dimen and tried to woo Merlumina, one of the Ancients who own the Pure Hearts. So he marriaged her and can have access to Secret Chambers to destroy the Pure Hearts. But Dimania betrayed her brother to get the power and the leadership of the universe just for herself. So he tried to manipulate her showing that the Ancients' creations (Pixls) can make her more stronger than the Chaos Heart. Dimania abused of the Pixls' powers becoming the Pixl Queen but the Ancients killed her in time and her ambitious goal failed. Her rests became Shadoo. Dimentio was exiled by the Ancient Church after the leader Merloo discovered his plans.

• The Tribe Ancients old generation died and the descendants splitted in two different bloodlines. The Pure one took the Light Prognosticus wrote by Merloo while the Dark Bloodline, commanded by a young Nolrem (Noirebert's father and Blumiere's grandpa) took the Dark Prognosticus (the dark book readed by Dimentio). Since this the story goes like Canon Super Paper Mario.

I was inspired by the Carson's stories in the game but i don't think they are completely canon. They are theories, nothing confirmed about them.

Maybe i will do short comics of this stuff of 3 shots for each page idk bye

[laststandx3]

That idea the anon talked about sounds like The Wizard of Oz. If the movie WISH had revealed that King Magnifico was just a magician who hoarded magic items, yet had no real magic of his own, would you want him to work alone, or would he have an assistant or two like Mysterio?

confession time i didn't see far from home.

but for what i get from the movie mysterio and co were trying to have a sort of revenge on stark who didn't appreciate them enough. it's not a bad set up but i don't see something like that fitting for Magnifico's character.

first because magnifico is already in a position of power, he's not trying to have revenge or get more famous. he's already a the top. second because if we want to keep enough of Magnifico's original characterization having a team is the opposite of him, at least not a team he can trust on. If i have to parallel Magnifico to another villain who uses magic and has an assistant it would be Tzekel-Kan from the road to el dorado.

if magnifico didn't have his powers seems also likely that he would send others to do the hard work for him (collecting magical items...). he doesn't seem like the character who puts a lot of effort when he can delegate. Magnifico would use his assistant/assistants as pawns and/or as ingredients when needed.

i don't think the magic items hoarder set up works well with an assistant(s) who knows magnifico isn't all-powerful and helps him fool the people of rosa. mostly because such character would've no motivation to help magnifico like that. the assistant could be the queen, she helps him to maintain the status quo and keep herself in power.

but if you want an assistant(s) who isn't the queen you have to give them a pretty strong motivation to have them lie to the kingdom AND to not betray magnifico (if the magic comes from external source there's no reason they couldn't be king themselves). and the motivation could be love, or devotion or fear but still needs to be a strong one.

personally for how i see magnifico's character (who lied even to his wife) it seems more fitting that if he has an assistant(s) he would lie and manipulate them. tell them the magic items he owns he actually keeps them to protect the kingdom etc. they follow and obey the king because they think it's the right thing to do. also in canon magnifico is paranoid about facing a stronger magic and he HAS magic. he wouldn't risk to have his secret out. (nevermind he spilled everything about the wishes to Asha the moment he met her, but that was just bad writing imo, an excuse to set the movie in motion as fast as possible)

[sailforvalinor]

I saw you post on seasons 1 through 4 of Dr. Who and I wanted to know more about your accidentally Christian pile. What are some other works do think unintentionally emphasized Christian doctrines or morals?

Ooooooh, really good question!!

So the first thing that comes to mind here is Marvel’s Agents of Shield--each season has it's own story arc and themes, so it's hard to pin down just one thing here, so I'll just talk about a few. I'll talk about the obvious one first: Season 3 in particular has a lot of Christian imagery (though in this case, it's definitely on purpose). You see a flash-forward of a cross necklace at the beginning of the season floating in a spaceship in space right before it blows up, and then you watch as that necklace get passed around from person to person, knowing that whoever ends up with it at the end of the season is going to die. I won't spoil anything more, other than to say that it results in quite a bit of Christ/crucifixion imagery and themes.

Other than this, there's a lot about the redemptive power of love (Fitzsimmons my beloved), individual guilt and how to handle it, how to let go of shame, the inevitable defeat of evil--I know there's more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. (AOS girlies/gents, feel free to chime in!) Additionally, one of the main characters explicitly a Christian, and while he's not portrayed perfectly, he's never ridiculed for it by the other characters or the narrative, which is a breath of fresh air. There are of course some things I don't approve of (prepare to have your skip button ready once or twice in the earlier seasons), but it's still a fantastic show, and by far the best show Marvel has ever come out with.

Harry Potter’s a pretty obvious one—Harry has to sacrifice himself and be fully willing to die to kill Voldemort, the fight with the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets has some Biblical parallels—but I’m fairly certain that these themes were deliberate, so I suppose they don’t really count. But they do to me, so 😂

Star Wars is another big one for me—of course, a la George Lucas’s original vision, SW is much more directly influenced by Buddhism, but I find that it often can’t help dipping into Christian themes. I find this is especially true with anything that has Dave Filoni’s name attached, likely because he in turn is pretty influenced by Tolkien and Lewis (Ahsoka is meant to parallel Gandalf, the World Between Worlds in Rebels was inspired by The Magician’s Nephew’s Wood Between Worlds, etc). Mandalorian season 3 in particular blew me away—baptism! Redemption! Rebirth! Mandalorian denominations/sects! Seriously, I was expecting them to come down hard on the strange rules that sect holds themselves to and for Mando to completely reject them—but they didn’t?? It was SO fascinating.

Kingdom Hearts is probably one of my favorite demonstrations of John 15:13: “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Otherwise, I can’t really think of any super prevalent Christian themes I noticed, but that one is just so strong and so important to the themes of the series, I couldn’t not mention it.

Final Fantasy XV has something similar going for it—although what I’m going to say has MAJOR spoilers, so if don’t want to be spoiled, go ahead and skip this (and play the game because it’s great—but Noctis having to willingly sacrifice himself by sitting on a throne in order to purify his kingdom is as blatant as you get. For crying out loud, he’s called the One True King. However this only holds true for the base game—the dlc’s (except for Episode Prompto, but that’s just because it doesn’t really apply to that plotline, also it’s incredible) and the novel in my opinion kind of ruin it.

Legend of Zelda is an interesting one, because it is of course heavily inspired by Shinto, but a few Christian themes sort of snuck their way in there. In Skyward Sword (oh and spoilers for Skyward Sword). Hylia, though certainly not meant to be a direct Christ figure, chooses to be reborn as a Hylian (basically a human) in order to save her people. The difference here is that Zelda does not know that she’s Hylia, and she never regains her goddess status (at least presumably until she dies of old age), but it’s an interesting parallel nonetheless. Also, there’s a famously creepy cutscene in Twilight Princess where we get the story of how the Twili were banished from Hyrule for dabbling in dark magic, and the sequence has always reminded me of the Fall.

Those were just a few that I thought of off the top of my head—I’m sure there are more, but that’s all that’s coming to me at the moment 😂

[froshele]

does anybody have any theories on how religion actually works in the secret histories universe?

obviously my ocs that touch this sort of thing are either secular magicians (because i don't know enough about other people's religions to hourify them) or strange hasidic types (because i do know the one i was raised with, quite well actually, and i can ruin some 1930s khaverte's life in a maximally heartrending way if you just give me some time to reread whatever the hell was happening in georgia in the exile dlc) so for them it literally doesn't matter

but I kind of assumed based on CS (one of your occultist friends is a Catholic priest who seems to only talk about his Hour stuff to you) that for the most part the Hours had nothing to do with the canons of religions in this History, and their additions are all suppressed heresies? I just found a Vatican-approved text about Hours and a bunch of churches and naves and things in Hush House, though

I did some worldbuilding around Jewish astrology and my little fool rabbis' personal beliefs ("Ah! You are a Scorpion of the Sixth Hour? And I am a Fish born in the hour of the Unconquered Sun! : )") for Fanfictional Purposes but I had generally speaking assumed that they had to be extremely isolated and somewhat fringe-believing people who aired their fucked up minhagim and insane metaphysics only in specific company

BUT NO? the laity knows about hours? there are churches in universe where the laity worship hours, which apparently so much doesn't conflict with this universe's Christian doctrine that the VATICAN is A HUB FOR ONE OF THEM? Catholic orthodoxy in this universe INCLUDES THE HOURS? IN WHAT WAY PRAY TELL. IN WHAT WAY. I THOUGHT THE SUPPRESSION BUREAU WANTED NO ONE TO KNOW ANY OF THIS BUT APPARENTLY THE AVERAGE CITIZEN IS FREE TO KNOW AN EXPURGATED VERSION OF THE TRUTH ?

i think probably based on the Tigrines and so on Judaism in this universe recognizes them in some capacity but just doesn't view the Hours as divine (there is canon precedent for the idea), like they're in the same emotional realm as planets and stars in being heavenly but subordinate to a greater all encompassing power, which I guess is why we kind of got kinassigned Rose by the narrative

BUT HELLO WHAT IS EVERYONE ELSE DOING. WHAT IS UP WITH THE STAINED GLASS MADRUGAD???? WHY DOES THE CHURCH RECTOR OUR FRIEND THE PERFECTLY NORMAL CHURCH RECTOR KNOW ABOUT THE PRINCIPLE ILLUMINANT. what are your thoughts about all this tumblr i slaver and hunger to know

[sylvarantii]

The title is a bit deceptive, and while clever, it still doesn't improve things all that much.

I'm not sure if there's going to be much I can say about Detective Conan Movie 18: Dimensional Sniper (or as some title it "Sniper from Another Dimension")

It's fine. The story's fine and I am really pleased to finally have a movie with Sera in it (as well as Subaru, but his parts were smaller, so I don't feel like I can say much about it).

Anyway, was definitely expecting something more. I'll give credit where credits due and say though that the sniping scenes definitely had this weight of danger to them. I think in media, it's very common to see shoot outs with just hand guns and over all people being killed at closer range.

Or that's my case anyway.

To see scenes of people being shot down by a rifle gun is so brutal in another way. It feels so powerful and like the power of the bullets just does so much more damage. And then of course, the horror of being completely oblivious to it all. Just going about your own business and then it suddenly happen? I don't know, I just very much feel like the movie and animators conveyed how terrifying this sort of thing is.

I overall try to avoid heavy spoilers in case anyone wants to watch the movie for themself, but I do want to make one spoilery comment, so if you'd rather watch the movie first, I'm just going to comment enter in my thoughts in the space below and indicate when I'm done with the same cut off lines.

___

I was a bit touched by the relationship between Hunter and Yoshino. Yoshino clearly cared a lot for Hunter and even when Hunter had second doubts about their plan, Yoshino insisted because he wanted to help him get revenge. It's sort of a bittersweet moment, but it was exchange I liked, personally. It was a little touching, in a way.

___

Kudos to the guy who voiced Waltz by the way. I'm not trying to rag too hard on the voice casting for this series or the movies, but a lot of times they do hire vas that really do not speak English all of that well and it's very easy to tell. Even in this movie, a lot of English speakers were a little stilted and their performance sort of suffers because they're just not accustom to the language.

But damn, the va for Waltz? He at least has the pronunciation down. I could very easily understand what he was saying and I have to at least give him a bit of praise. Being a native Japanese person and having to do a performance where you need to be a foreigner and speak English through a good majority in your role can't be easy. He did a really good job.

Anyway, onto the ratings list, I suppose.

1.) The Raven Chaser (13th Movie)

2.) The Fourteenth Target (2nd Movie)

3.) The Lost Ship in the Sky (14th Movie)

4.) The Time Bombed Skyscraper (1st Movie)

5.) Magician of the Silver Sky (8th Movie)

6.) Captured in Her Eyes (4th Movie)

7.) Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (7th Movie)/Lupin the III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie

8.) Quarter of Silence (15th Movie)

9.) The Phantom of Baker Street (6th Movie)

10.) Countdown to Heaven (5th Movie)

11.) Strategy Above the Depths (9th Movie)

12.) The Private Eyes' Requiem (10th Movie)

13.) Full Score of Fear (12th Movie)

14.) The Eleventh Striker (16th Movie)

15.) The Wizard of the Last Century (3rd Movie)

16.) Dimensional Sniper (18th Movie)

17.) Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (11th Movie)

18.) Private Eye in the Distant Sea (17th Movie)

Yeah, I have to say, a pretty unimpressive movie overall. I really did try to like it and of course, it has its good moments. But man, just like some of the other movies, the build up and pay off is a little too slow and small for my liking.

Still a pretty good watch though. Especially if you enjoy anything with not only Sera and Subaru, but the FBI Agents.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s14e7 unhuman nature (w. eugenie ross-leming, brad buckner)

finally getting back to nick bashing someone's skull in i gather

sam the only one that apparently knows how to interact with a healthcare establishment. are they going to try to make me cry? because i really don't want to deal with that today

thought this diner looked familiar and like something in x-files, well. this super cool site has shows and episodes with pictures from things that filmed there! the magicians, the x-files and i, robot - relevant to my viewing history. need to get spn listed in there too. and i got to that info because the wiki has the also super cool maps with locations for every episode

SAM I mean, this place, we tried, but they've never seen anything like Jack, and we can't exactly tell them what he is. DEAN Then let's get him out of here. Let's bring him home. Let's do what we do. Let's find a way. Hell, I was even thinkin' maybe Rowena… SAM Already called her.

sammy's on the ball. there's always one parent who's best at dealing with the medical stuff

SAM Somebody is sick, all right, but… Listen, I-I don't know how well you got to know our friend Jack with everything that was going on when you were here, but we've sort of been taking care of him, and, uh, he's, um… Lucifer's son. ROWENA Goodbye. SAM No, no, no. Stop, stop. He's a great kid. His mother was a fantastic human being, a-a-and he wanted nothing to do with Lucifer, w-who is dead, as you know. ROWENA I hope he's rotting.

i'm not on board with her characterization flip flop but i can appreciate this dynamic she has with sam now

ROWENA It's as I suspected. A Nephilim, for all its power, is an unnatural presence. Part human, part angel… It -- It doesn't quite fit. It's delicate. Its grace is what holds it in balance, and when Jack's grace was taken from him, his being fell into chaos. The -- The cells are gobbling each other up.

reminds me of what i mentioned in recap of 12x19

if the kid is half grace wouldn’t you end up with a half a kid :p

variation on the theme. supernatural or mental illness: panic attack edition

i thought i was gonna get through this without it pushing on my dead parents buttons but no such luck. i've been on the receiving end of that conversation with a doctor that their bodies are shutting down. and all told that was 28 and 12 years ago respectively but it can still reduce me to a sobbing wreck pretty damned fast with the right prompts.

being a good dad with this driving lesson. i am not looking forward to those days, it's gonna stress me the fuck out and you gotta play it cool so you don't stress them the fuck out. double whammy

SAM Yo, Cass, wait. Are you sure you wanna handle this alone? CASS I, uh… I feel the need to do something. And I think Dean's right. We can't afford to overlook any possibility. He seems to be taking this particularly hard. SAM Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he -- he, uh, was pretty rough on Jack at the beginning, and...I don't think he's forgotten. And I know he hasn't forgiven himself. You know, he's lost people, we've all lost people, but, um… CASS This feels different. Losing, um...a son...feels different.

like sam can't even look at him after that. almost want sam to go with him just so that neither one is alone.

i'm reminded of 11x23 where they pushed hard on this dean going to sacrifice himself and saying goodbye at their parents graves and all and. how i knew, we knew, this was going to be walked back. that he wasn't actually dying. now i don't know how long alexander calvert is in the show, how many more episodes, etc. but i do have a very vague idea of where jack is at the end of the series. and i don't want them to kill him off and not have his actor back, but i also really don't want an episode that's making me break down sobbing when it's gonna be magically fixed at the last minute or whatever either. i'm trying to just push through the episode so i don't drag this out another day. not to mention i'm sure i'm going to have a fucking awful headache tomorrow

JACK You once told me you and your father did the exact same thing. It was your happiest memory of him. DEAN I didn't say that. JACK It was how you said it. I could tell. I guess my point is that… if I don't make it… The stuff I'd miss -- it wouldn't be things like Tahiti. Or the Taj Mahal. I'd miss more time with you. I'm getting that life isn't all these big, amazing moments. It's time together that matters. Like this. DEAN Well, who'd have thought hanging out with me would make you sentimental? JACK I've had a good life, Dean.

dean deflecting, per usual. but yeah. full-on "you're gonna cry" mode.

look at that. rando man we've never heard of happens to have some of gabriel's grace and a special spell. sure. at least it didn't work, i guess. not going for that cheap of an out

s14e7 / terminator 2: judgement day

pellegrino always delivers but i am so tired of lucifer. the effects were pretty okay until they decided to do this lucifer-empty!terminator skull situation. they gonna end up getting jack-via-lucifer's grace back this way?

[whumpster-fire]

Yet Another Amulet of Samarkand thought:

Did Jabor get back out of the Tower of London via pure "If brute force isn't effective, you aren't using enough of it?" Or was Lovelace sitting somewhere next to a pentacle staring at a (fancy, storebought, from Pinn's Accoutrements) scrying glass, waiting to yoink either one of his servants out of there if his spies (the ones who tailed Bartimaeus to Underwood's house) spotted only two ravens leaving the tower?

I mean I don't think he'd do it out of any sort of care for them but if either Faquarl or Jabor got captured alive he'd be fucked. Especially Jabor since Faquarl might have expected some sort of contingency plan if he spilled the beans and come up with some elaborate bullshit story about him and Bartimaeus working for the same organization that would take time to investigate whereas Jabor under interrogation would look something like:

"Who is your master? Who sent you to break into this place?"

"I WILL TELL YOU NOTHING."

"All right, then why did you break into this place just to get some djinni who attacked Scholto Pinn out of jail? Are you friends of his or something?"

"WHAT? FUCK YOU, I HATE BARTIMAEUS! HE BROKE INTO MY MASTER'S HOUSE AND STOLE THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND. I WANTED TO KILL HIM, BUT NOOO, FAQUARL SAID -"

"I see. Does your master have some sort of vendetta against Scholto Pinn then?"

"NO. WHY WOULD HE WANT TO ATTACK SCHOLTO? THEY'RE GOOD FRIENDS?"

"They are? Interesting. What about Simon Lovelace? The rogue djinni was masquerading as one of Lovelace's messenger imps."

"WHAT? THAT'S RIDICULOUS. WHY WOULD HE SEND A MESSENGER, HE MET HIM FOR LUNCH JUST THAT DAY. THAT'S WHAT I HATE ABOUT BARTIMAEUS, ALL HE DOES IS LIE AND RUN AWAY. DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING HE TOLD YOU, HE WAS PROBABLY TRYING TO FRAME... OH, GOD DAMNIT."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Jabor. We'll be dealing with your master shortly. Also, several dozen positions for 'Tower of London guard djinni' just opened up earlier today."

"FUCK. BARTIMAEUS, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, I SWEAR -"

And also I bet Lovelace expected Bartimaeus's master to be a more powerful and competent magician than Underwood and therefore expected burning the motherfucker's house down to be a more difficult operation.

Offscreen he must've been at least as shocked to "discover" that Underwood was the culprit as he was to find out that it was actually Nathaniel. Imagine him going "since when can Underwood summon a djinni? Has he been hiding his true power this whole time? Did the guy whose job it is to deal with artifact thefts find me out? Is this some sort of trap? Is Whitwell in on this?" the entire drive over, and then when he found out that actually Mr. Underwood was just as clueless and incompetent as ever and Nathaniel did it he was like: "Ohhhh it was the 12 year old with an impressive knowledge of magical and absolutely no decision making skills. That makes so much more sense than Underwood suddenly growing a spine. Thank fuck, my worldview was seriously shaken," and being so relieved it was just some dumbass kid that he was in a good enough mood to deliver an entire pre-arson lecture.

Enter Jabor, who was in a very bad mood because Faquarl told him he could burn down a building to get him to cooperate with the "Rescue Bartimaeus" mission, only for him to find that the Tower of London was made of stone, and only manage to cause moderate structural damage before he was summoned back out.