#my magic closet meta

[faraige]

ok so my two cents on what I'd like to see/my theories for Além do Guarda-Roupa (My Magic Closet/A Través del Espejo) season 2 in case it happens:

First of all, Carol explains the whole Fever Kiss Mistake asap and Kyung believes her (after the ending I don't think it would make sense for him not to). She wanted to fix that mess before they closed the portal and with her progress after they did I don't think she'd chicken out this time around.

Chul and Dieguinho’s relationship!! Dieguinho’s father grumpily learning to accept his son and Chul being a part of it as his boyfriend!! His father being hard on Chul at first until he sees how strong, fit and agile he is and ending up bonding over sports and how much they care about Dieguinho!!

Mok and Nayara being the absolutely amazing team they have proven to be before and just being the absolute MVPs in their job of helping the rest of the team in whatever the hell they do.

Onto more Plot Heavy things: Everyone gets an Emergency Meeting so Luisa doesn't sell tickets to Carol's room to pay for her mother's treatment. This could lead to an ultimatum to get her the money or else she's doing whatever it takes to save her mother. Here they could do parallel plans:

seeing how the guys can't simply send the money to Carol or Luisa directly without getting A LOT of eyes on them, maybe Mok and Chul work with Nayara to rally the fans somehow (make the cafeteria an event point for something without the band having to break the k-pop history of not going to Brazil? Idk enough about k-pop to know what could be believable, tbh).

Carol goes find her father to ask for the famed money. The way they wrapped up that storyline in the ending felt complete to me, seeing how she could let go of the guilt about what happened to her mother after her own father wrote to her that it wasn't her fault, nor the accident nor him leaving, and it could be closure enough for her. Still, they left the door open for her to go find him if she wanted or needed to, which could be a great way for her to reconnect with her South Korean heritage, visit Seoul and spending time with Kyung as her guide. Seeing that journey could also open the wound Kyung carries from his childhood about his mother abandoning him and start to heal it, although I don't feel that's necessary, even if it could be interesting. Plus, both Carol and Kyung being lovey-dovey around Seoul could stir some drama the same way sightings of ACT in Brazil did in S1.

Carol uses the money she wins on the competition, which should be for her to be able to dance without a worry in the world, but we know that’s not how this kind of stories usually go. She could get in a lot of trouble if she gave that money to Luisa, so either she gives her the money and has to make it back before the wrong people notice, but at least her aunt gets more time, or it’s a last resort plan that they save in case of it being necessary. Not very sure how this could thing could go because I don’t know anything about ballet or its world aside from it looking pretty, but I feel Carol’s dream when it comes to ballet mixing with the harsh reality paralleling the idols' carrer struggles could be very interesting. (Maybe the group “hires” her as a collaboration with the ballet institution that did the competition and ImpACTades? Idk!).

The Whole Dae Ho Thing. There's a lot to unpack there, because if the show had a villain at all (aside from the company that created ACT and their manager), Aunt Rebeca was it for most of the time, seeing how she was the Evil Stepmother in this Cinderella story, even if at times it felt like Dae Ho could toe the line if he wanted to, but firmly staying a "white swan". Still, by the end of the last episode one could argue that he did end up crossing that line, stealing Kyung's credit and following every single agency order, even if apparently he felt bad about it.

The same way Carol's arc in S1 followed themes of letting go and accepting and embracing herself fully through her friends, Dae Ho doesn't have that through the season at all. It's almost the contrary, almost accepting himself as a tool to others and losing himself in the process, so S2 could explore how broken and barely holding on he is and how he needs to break down the pieces to rebuild himself better and more loyal to himself and those he loves in a harsh, injust world.

Honestly, there's A LOT that could be said about Dae Ho and his development through the season and what it could mean for him going forward, but because the group has to stay together and working successfully in order for them not to get evicted and losing the portal, they have to resolve it internally and quietly (their manager is probably gonna make things incredibly more difficult). Therefore, I expect and lot of Mok and Chul hijinks to cover up whatever's going on.

Kyung doesn't care about being the leader or about recognition (his credit is his tho, even if he doesn't care as much as he would have once), but Dae Ho lost his trust even after they both closed the portal together. I'm very, very interested in seeing how they decide to explore their life-long friendship and their possible reconciliation.

I hope there's a conversation about how Chul and Mok weren't told about the closing of the portal, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ok! I honestly have a lot more thoughts that I initially believed, but I needed to get them out of my system!

[ambeauty]

Thoughts on Magic

As I’m sure many of my fellow Bearitos have pointed out one of the main themes this season was Legerdemain/Sleight of Hand/Magic Tricks.

Rewatching legacy made me think of how this show is a magic trick in and of itself. With all the discourse about whether or not the bear is a comedy. I realized that the bear as a television show is a magic trick. Although it was premiered to the world as a comedy. It has shown to be so much more. I still consider it comedic to an extent and in certain instances but I thought that was a pretty interesting idea. That’s not what this is about.

Then I looked up what The Prestige means. Being the Nolan girlie that I am I remember that being the final act of the magic trick. I need the prestige for the bear to be the final reveal that it was a love story all along.

There’s a quote in 309 about telling the viewer you have deceived them up front. So since the beginning cast and crew has told us no romance, no romance no romance. That’s the blatant deception because as we continue to watch we see romance EVERYWHERE. Back to my googling of the prestige. I came across an article about the 3 steps of magic:

Here’s what I think the steps of magic of the bear are. Think of Sydney as the dove and also as the symbol of a love interest. That’s not diminishing her but that’s just what she is especially for this essay lmao. This is great because doves symbolize peace and all that. Show starts with the dove being introduced (classic meet cute). Sydney’s introduction and even the final scene of s1 where she comes back makes her The Pledge.

The Turn: Sydney does something extraordinary. She practically builds the entire restaurant by herself in s2 while Carmy disappears. This also takes us into s3, where Sydney starts to disappear as well. This is not what we expected from her or him at this point. Some of us thought we were at the prestige. But this is when the show became a lot more blatantly romantic. There were definitive love interests introduced, but to me Claire is like the closet(or fridge) the magician puts the dove inside of. To hide the trick!!!!

I hope this shit is making sense 😭

Now we don’t know whether s4 is the final season or not. I’m going to go with the notion that it’s not. However we are nearing the time for The Prestige. I believe at some point in the final act it will be revealed that this show was centered around the building of the romantic relationship of Sydney and Carmy the entire time. There’s lot of meta and evidence for this. And it’s not an unusual occurrence in modern media at all to be deceived by productions all the time.

So I say all of this to say just sit back and relax, enjoy the magic of this television show and wait for the prestige 🤭

[g0lightly]

(image credits)

the hounds of harrenhal is a slow-burn brienne x sansa romance within a whimsical adventure with a good mix of found family + re-found blood family fluff. don’t get it twisted, this is still pretty plot heavy. since this is a rather expansive work, there are plenty of other eventual pairings such as gendry/arya and jon/satin (i hc jon snow as the most clueless bisexual to ever live and i love him) in addition to some surprises for later.

can you spot the jenny of oldstones and prince duncan of dragonflies reference(s) in the collage? in addition to rhyming with past asoiaf-verse love stories (dunk x rohanne, jenny x duncan, elissa farman x queen rhaena, lyanna x rhaegar), THOH draws on the persephone/hades abduction myth to subvert both the hound's offer to escape with sansa during the blackwater and littlefinger's "rescue" of sansa from king's landing.

for the purposes of the fic (curse you, abandoned five year gap), sansa's been aged up to robb's twin and two years have passed in-universe.

brienne becomes the newest wearer of the hound's helm after lem when jaime sacrifices himself to lady stoneheart following an escape plan gone very wrong. as the hound, brienne enters a tourney at the eyrie as a mystery knight to win some much needed coin to help the brotherhood without banners through winter. there, lady alayne arryn begs for help escaping a doomed marriage; brienne temporarily sets aside jaime's honor-saving mission for sansa to help her. petyr baelish announces that the hound has abducted sansa stark from the eyrie and advertises a large reward for her safe return. meanwhile, tyrion is trying to use his previous marriage to sansa to claim the vale for the mountain clans and daenerys. sansa hides out in the riverlands’ magical hollow hill with brienne and the brotherhood, falling in love as tensions within the realm build up to a second dance of the dragons amid a years-long winter. when love is the death of duty, what happens when your duty is to the one you love? this work will ultimately take place over the course of several years, weaving in new allies and foes for our star-crossed lovers as the realm moves from crisis to crisis. for generations to come, all of westeros will sing of harrenhal’s hounds and its witch queen. but life is not a song; in this story, it is far sweeter.

meta thoughts below the cut on why a future briensa is objectively one of the best ASOIAF ships in terms of thematic potential.

briensa has the best elements of the far more popular s*ns*n and br*ime ships except they're both teenagers and, crucially, brienne has never held sansa at knifepoint 🩵 no shade to either ship though bc the themes those relationships explore have sent brienne and sansa on journeys that have made them kind of perfect for each other; ie, the subversion of brienne being a protector to sansa rather than a threat is especially relevant if brienne is the next hound after lem!!! alexa play god bless the broken road

brienne is the hero sansa prayed for!!! sansa has learned to put more trust in disfigured people than "beautiful" people which means she can see brienne's beauty in a way she cannot!!! thematically it would be well supported yet subversive for sansa’s true knight and true love to be a jonquil darke type rather than a florian type 🥹 thematically i think the surest route to true love for sansa is a naerys + aemon situation so why not make it like alysanne and jonquil if they ✂️? it's not my fault grrm accidentally (?) wrote sansa as a closeted femme4butch!!!!

[troius]

on the note of attaining bankai (and hopefully my bleach knowledge isn’t too shotty..): i think this is one of the things that irked me about bleach. we spend time hyping up ichigo for his feat of “attaining” this power in what? 3 days? (even if we’re talking true bankai…still not in that 10yr range by a long shot)…and all of the captains attaining such a special power over a longer period of time….and then we get even more ppl added to the list of having bankai (ikkaku, renji, rukia, etc)….zaraki bankai being added really adds the cherry on top to the dumbing down of or at least un-uniqueness of the power…i really would’ve been content with him only having shikai

Yeah, just posted a meta on this, but I agree with this as well. It probably irks me the most out of all the other bankai. Like yes, it would make more sense for Ikkaku to get it after he stops rigidly adhering to the Squad 11 code and metaphorically comes out of the closet, but we kind of needed the bankai for the closet metaphor in the first place, so I'll forgive that. Renji actually makes complete sense to me, like yeah he hasn't been a vice captain for 10 years, but he has had "beat Byakuya Kuchiki in a fight" as his life goal for at least that long, so I can see him having spent something close to the requisite time on it, and it dovetails very nicely with his character development.

Rukia...well, she's been a soul reaper as long as Renji has? She spent several weeks with a magic wishing ball inside of her and with a tremendously powerful guy who wanted his friends to be safe? I dunno, that's the only mechanical explanation I can think of as to why she got it so quickly. But at least it works on an emotional level, it means a lot to us, the reader, who cares about Rukia, to see her attain that level of power. And it's symbolic of her transformation from the sort of directionless, depressed, lonely person she was at the start of the story to the trusted lieutenant, confident fighter, and beloved sister that she is now.

And yeah, maybe all of those have mechanical issues at least as bad as Zaraki's. But the thing that grinds my gears (as I mentioned in the post below) is the narrative angle. The Ikkaku, Renji, and Rukia bankais all have emotional punch and make narrative sense, they further each character's arc, and you feel different about them afterwards.

Do you feel different about Zaraki now that he has reached bankai?

[mooniety]

i know a lot of people prefer the idea that meta's dimensional cape is also his wings & magical in nature, but i'm more in favor of the idea that meta hides his wings in his cape via his own use of dimensional magic, as concealment & masquerade has always been a big theme for me when regarding meta

this kind of leaks into some of my own gijinka stuff where his wings are oddly not there/have no volume in the outfit - i like to imagine that he's mastered dimensional magic so well that he knows how to separate his wings from the cloth & not his entire back (or else he'd sink into his outfit or even funnier, something comes out of his outfit)

this means that there's a possibility that someone traveling in the same dimension meta is hiding his wings in may randomly see a pair of wings connected to nothing flexing itself as if they are still alive

he probably just hides them in a random closet in his room though, that'd make more sense

this leads to my very own headcanon that he has a large affinity towards dimensional magic in general - that it was maybe the first form of magic he learned before everything else he knows currently, so it's the only magic he doesn't mind using as much outside of swordplay, kind of like a guilty pleasure

in contrast to this, i have a headcanon in which susie has an immense fear of dimensional magic as after all, it's what caused her life to suddenly go upside down with the whole space-time transport program via star dream

this doesn't help that the sphere doomers - which have the ability of dimensional magic - may have tried to attack her as well, making it most likely difficult for her to escape or protect herself while stuck in the another dimension as a child

after returning back to her father, she's managed to seemingly suppress this fear pretty well, but i imagine it still does greatly affect her mentally when she sees dimensional magic in action (but more than just hiding parts of your body in your clothing, i don't think she or anyone would be even aware that meta did that unless he actually told them)

so i'd like to imagine that when she learns about meta's affinity for dimensional magic, she'd be a little bit fearful of him but also deeply admire him for dabbling in it like it's nothing, especially since she sees it as something that can completely ruin your life

& to add a bit of metasusie into the mix, what if there's a scenario in which meta helps susie get over her inherent fear of dimensional magic? i feel like it'd be really interesting to see not only susie being very vulnerable, but meta being vulnerable as well as he tries to empathize with her on a subject he adores

sorry for the long post, meta being secretly a wizard seems so interesting to me, especially when tying it with susie

[firendgold]

Pk now I want to hear tour rant about how Harrydore is bettter than Grindeldore. Bring it 🤣❤️

ohhh, this one's easy. I've been in this fandom on and off since 2006, and seen how Harry, Albus and Gellert were written pre- and post-'Dumbledore closet interview'. cracks knuckles

got to hit you with that readmore though. and it's going to be in two parts. I rambled again. ^^

🗲

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(...'rambled' is perhaps an understatement.)

🗲

grindeldore vs harrydore

grindeldore

the tl;dr of the below is the following sentences, and then I'll get into it. My philosophy on gr*ndeld*re extends to all other ships in all other fandoms, especially HP: if it's not an AU and you have to excessively mischaracterize Character A to get them to 'fit' with Character B, then it's not a good ship, canon or not. Albus Dumbledore is quite often mischaracterized in order to 'fit' or 'keep' him with Gellert Grindelwald.

here's my problems with how gr*ndeld*re is most often portrayed:

Inconsistency within canon. JKR is partly mostly to blame for this (because she has contradicted her original 2007 statement in the present day with more interviews in the 2010s and with the Fantastic Beasts movies), but the first problem is: gr*ndeld*re was originally an unrequited ship. The original statement was that Albus was dazzled by Gellert's power, his presence, their similarities, their shared ideals... but That Woman wasn't explicit on whether Gellert ever returned his feelings. But based on her quotes where she says "falling in love can blind you to an extent" and that [Dumbledore] was "terribly, terribly let down" by the result of that whirlwind relationship, I think it's safe to assume that her original idea of Gellert cared far more for seeing his grander plans realized than for the needs and feelings of his 'equal'. And yet... in fandom, they are most often portrayed instead as star-crossed lovers torn apart by 'conflicting ideals'.

The second problem is that in the avalanche of fics and art that have come from The Reveal, the original lesson (/moral...?) behind the reveal of gr*ndeld*re, and how it shaped Albus as an adult, leader, and progressive, just... got lost. Completely lost. The whole point of it was to show that even Albus (supposed 'paragon of goodness' until book 7 showed the fandom that he is a regular human being) can make 'relatable' mistakes like... you know... being friends with a fascist. Being in love with a fascist, even. Thanks to said retcon interviews and the new movies (and even before that tbh) the fandom has since: overexaggerated Albus' new clay feet to the point of bashing him, idolized Grindelwald's red flag traits and ideals to the point where he has become the new "Tom Riddle was just misunderstood!" guy, and twisted that lesson/moral/whatever to mean that actually Albus and Gellert were tragically kept away from each other by an itsy bitsy little difference of opinion. A minor little fight. Casual death of your sick sister. Haven't we all been there?

The fandom diminishing the real reasons why Albus and Gellert eventually clashed, were destined to clash, is bad enough. What's worse is the opposite end. Some Dumbledore-bashing fans go the other way and paint present-day Dumbledore with the same brush as Grindelwald, even going so far as to say he still supports The Greater Good even though his entire character is literally built on being the opposite of the pro-magic, anti-Muggle philosophy. Albus has also been painted in some fics and even meta discussions as someone who 'regrets' his past not because his sister died and his brother is estranged from him, but just because his ex-boyfriend is in prison and he maybe kind of regrets not going full fascist with him. Like... bruh. NO. There are people who ship gr*ndeld*re just because they feel like Grindelwald, the worst dark wizard in the world, the reason why Voldemort is only a minor league little lord in comparison, is an appropriate "punishment" for the character they already dislike and thus misinterpret. (Side note: I'm not sure if I'm in a worse hell watching Albus' character get whitewashed for fascism or demonized so he can be a miserable lonely gay.)

Albus diminishes himself to meet Gellert's needs. An in-universe problem this time instead of a meta/RL one: Albus and Gellert were lovers, yes, but in order to be so, Albus had to actively start neglecting his siblings (since in Aberforth's words he was 'doing all right' taking care of them before Gellert showed up) and leaning more into anti-Muggle sentiment. He put all his energy into what for most of the magical world was a wild goose chase after some fairy-tale items. (Remember, most wixen don't give a shit about the Deathly Hallows, or think they're even real.) He became the person Gellert needed/desired most. Albus became a version of himself that he despised later in his life and after his death.

Relationships often include the members changing, and it's easy for even the most devoted partners to fall out of love if they change and are now too different from one another, or one person changes and the other... doesn't. After Ariana died, Albus chose to become a different person and champion the same people he and his family once despised. He chose to stay away from Gellert, whether he called it cowardice or principles or whatever else. And his choice put him in conflict with Gellert, who at sixteen refused to change course or rethink his ideals even when his choices led to the death of a magical person (the type of person he supposedly prizes above all others). His magical boyfriend's magical sister, even. And we see no sign that Gellert changed, repented, or considered Albus until decades later, at the very end of his life—far too late.

Healthy relationships require give-and-take, sacrificing for your partner in things big and small. For high-stakes relationships like Albus and Gellert's (queer in the 1800s, sweet Merlin), that is even more true. During that steamy summer of 1899, it was Albus who did all the sacrifcing/giving and Gellert who did all the taking. Gellert may have entertained the idea of bringing Ariana along on his quest with Albus (we don't know), but Aberforth was right to say that it would have been torture for her—and no alternate idea was brought up that would prioritize the wellbeing of Albus' siblings while he was away. And in the moment of required reciprocity when Albus was at his lowest, Gellert left him behind and went off to go rule the world. Not even the most diehard shipper can argue against the fact that when Ariana died, Grindelwald left.

This problem is even more personal/biased than the other ones. Albus and Gellert parted ways in 1899. They didn't see each other again until the duel in 1945 (because fuck Fantastic Beasts, the scripts don't even make fucking sense). Albus defeated Gellert, put him in prison, and then went on living for another fifty-two years. And That Woman expects me to believe that Albus never had a relationship with anyone before Gellert, and never even looked at another wizard afterward? In 52 years, he was one-and-done? He never once fell in love with other people, whether or not he fully trusted them/let them in? Be serious. Pull the other one. It's not realistic, and it doesn't speak to the kind of man Albus Dumbledore is. He may not have found a man to check the same boxes Gellert did, but he wouldn't arguably be looking for someone too similar to his old flame. He might not trust them unconditionally or be the Perfect Partner for them (bc whew traumaaa), but there would be other people for Albus in a realistic Magical Britain (even discounting time travel shenanigans). Before the reveal, the most popular people to ship Albus with were Minerva, Alastor, and Elphias Doge; these options are still arguably more valid. Albus Dumbledore loves love, he champions love, and he doesn't think he deserves it after his sins, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't go looking. It's mind-boggling to me that with all the well-deserved disavowing of JKR following her anti-trans hate (and her shameless pandering to the same people calling her a witch poisoning their children's minds decades ago), that some people still treat her words about Albus and Gellert's relationship and its effects on Albus in particular as gospel. I sure don't. (Especially because she said he became "asexual" after His One Gay Experience when like. That's not. What asexuality is??? And ace gay people exist???) Whether you count the FB movies or not, there are still decades of Albus' life that are a mystery, and I refuse to believe he closed his heart and caged his dick for all of them.

IMPORTANT END NOTE: These observations obviously do not apply to all gr*ndeld*re shippers. Some people genuinely do like both characters, characterize them correctly, and still want to see them together for reasons. I'm not going to judge them. I ship a frigging time travel age gap ship, how the fuck could I. And I'm also aware that a lot of fics/art are made to color in between the lines of what we don't know in the fandom, bringing Albus and Gellert together during the mystery years, or making one wizard better for the other to address all the ship baggage. I just can't join them because of how rarely that occurs (and, admittedly, how much I personally can't see it). You would not believe how many fics and discussions I've seen that lionize Grindelwald and treat Dumbledore like an accessory, or completely mischaracterize Albus' motivations, intentions, and actions, and then put him with "the other Big Bad". UGH.

Most of the time, I see gr*ndeld*re the ship hurting Albus the individual. It's very rare to find an iteration where Albus is not bearing the consequences of Gellert's choices, Gellert's actions, Gellert's mistakes and harm done. I think Albus deserves better than to be Gellert's accessory just because he loved him deeply long ago.

okay. whew. that was a lot.

a character limit prevents me from continuing here, so the second half of this versus will go elsewhere, sorry!

[fractualized]

Honestly the start of this year sucks for me, but this comic was an excellent distraction as usual.

Spoilers for The Man Who Stopped Laughing #4 below, as well as, if you can believe it, mpreg!

Joker's escape from the hospital is aborted when the cops arrive to respond to the bomb threat that was only meant to get him medical care. Whoopsie! He retreats back inside and finds a room to hide in.

Joker's already killed the doctor who helped him, so I’m not gonna lie, I’m a tad concerned about where this is going.

But let's take a brief moment for Jason deciding this cop car will make the ideal distraction.

I really need to read more with Jason.

Anyway, my concerns about the kids soften when Joker is just disturbingly endearing toward them:

The kids, who all have terminal illnesses, are all too young to recognize Joker, or maybe it's more that the adults around them are unlikely to bring him up.

Their reaction to his humor is, uh, mixed.

But he does good shadow puppets!

And then there's a wallbreak moment, where Joker references the different backer stories that we've seen so far (including this issue's).

Except that's not what the kids are reading.

Makes me wonder if this is just getting back to classic Joker breaking the fourth wall, or if the backer stories all come from Joker’s mind...

Anyway, the kids like him enough that they don't snitch when a cop shows up.

And unlike the poor doctor last issue, Joker leaves the kids as safe as he found them, with bonus advice!

I mean, he kills a cop soon after for a disguise, but it's more interesting when Joker isn't, you know, indiscriminately murdering absolutely everyone he comes across, because he's just that cRaZy to think murder’s all jokes, oh ho ho.

Anyway, finally, Joker can escape!

This made me lol

Joker does the "put down your gun or I'll kill the hostages" thing so he can lock everyone in a closet, during which he establishes that he believes he's the original Joker (BUT IS HE, ROSENBERG?).

And calls Jason out for stealing his old moniker. lol But once again, Joker does not kill people he could easily kill.

I'm not going to linger on if Joker actually has a plan for Jason. I'm going to linger on what happens right before Joker escapes. He ducks into the room of an old woman.

And he keeps talking to her like this for a few more panels. You're waiting for some kind of joke. Then the police break in and we see:

She's dead, but there's an unexpected implication that before he escaped, Joker helped her pass on, even giving her the photo of her and her late husband. There's a lot to unpack there!

And then we have the B-story. You know. So far in this run I feel like I get what the B-stories are getting at. This one... less so!

Joker is in a confrontation with Zatanna, another setup where he's trying to woo the female lead and she is just not having it.

This made me laugh because I know how I interpret "rail" for Joker. Heyooooo

I enjoyed the third palindrome here too.

Zatanna is not interested in a family, and puts this spell on Joker.

"No one else will ever have your baby!"

And since this is the wacky story, the magic interprets that as Joker being the only one to have his baby.

Joker finally sees a DC doctor, Doctor Phosphorus, and there's another gag about distinguishing between DC characters when we find that Joker apparently swallowed way too much mud during the fight.

Joker asks for someone to kill the mudbaby. I'm not sure if it's supposed to actually be Clayface or just like Clayface, but again I think the main story meta moment is referring to this.

But then he changes his mind when the mudbaby turns into a little clone of himself, which he then brings back to Zatanna.

(This is giving me flashbacks to a terrifying Stephen Colbert magazine picture.)

And so... yeah, I am not sure how to interpret this one, especially given how Joker even in this story itself is not fond of clones, though we did just see him as kind of kid-neutral in the main story. He's always been narcissistic, though, and that follows through here. Hmmm... Maybe future stories will shed more light on this one for me.

[alexanderlightweight]

warlock sh: lumines meta abyss

part of it deleted so triyng again.

continuation of sh headcanons:

okay so I also have half a dozen asks about warlock culture or exploring both warlock and nephilim culture and rituals and so far i've been sticking to the nephilim

that's because for me, the culture and rituals of nephilim fluctuate based on what headcanon's and eldritch paths i'm going with them in that particular verse.

warlock culture and rituals are much more consistent across my universes and i have several asks about them. i'm working on a meta post where i can basically share the magical flora/fauna i've created with descriptions and also talk about the council of elders i went with and a bunch of other stuff involving warlock rituals and cultures and why magnus and ragnor are considered old when both are less than a thousand.

so it's not that i'm not excited to answer those asks or that i don't have stuff for warlock culture

it's that i have too many things that i headcanon and unlike nephilim culture, i don't mix and match so much. so i want to get it a bit more laid out so i can share it and it makes sense and then write out the fics with a reference base.

especially because i have a really big headcanon about the consorts/lovers/companions of powerful warlocks etc

and also magnus/ragnor/cat have consistently fucked with a lot of things and i want to be able to talk about that. cause they don't fuck around and find out. team immortal fucks around and other people find out.

like i have magical plumbing meta

and pocket dimension meta

and magnus' magical closet meta and i have meta about magic innately intrinsic based on heritage and personality

i have familiar meta and virgin shadowhunter energy meta and the power of spells and oaths and magical vows and oh yeah

i also have meta about shadowhunters being able to use blood magic (its just rare and risky) and that's across my universes but it comes up because i have meta about magnus being able to learn angelic blood magic

and meta about part of magnus' power being in edom chaining his father and that's why sometimes his power fluctuates in canon

and yeah okay wow i started rambling

i have thread and hair magic meta too okay. last sentence! there are rituals with plants and animals and islands that the warlocks and seelie and unseelie have sealed away and pockets of magical territory that has been turned into special preserves that only magical beings with tokens can go to

with seelies and unseelies and nature inclined warlocks all acting as guardians of these pockets.

there is magical husbandry and while magnus collects the abyssal moths himself, its a lucrative and dangerou business. there are night markets and shadow markets and pleasure houses and magical sex workers who are respected (as they should be in the mundane world but aren't) and baths and spas and etc

there's underground dimension markets that never shut down. that are dark and busy and filled with noise and business and there is no sun or moon there. only fairylights and magic and glowing rocks.

there's music halls and pubs and tailors and magical restaurants etc

i have meta about the little misunderstandings between warlock and nephilim culture

aka magnus opening doors for alec out of chivalry and because he wants to admire alec's back and ass

alec: omg he hates me, he hates me. (because he thinks magnus doesn't trust him enough to turn his back to him)

-

how important jewelry is for warlocks and how platinum is as important to them as adamas

how mithril is coveted for sex rituals and toys and different magical rocks can conduit different things

how the dominion magic of saeth's world interacts with this one

and i'm going to pop this into the bottom of an ask answer because it was getting too long.

and i am very tired now (but this was super fun!) and going to go pat nightshade and get something to drink before i fill any fics lol

[dokidokitsuna]

I love the gone au so much!! If I may ask though- since we’ve seen Gooey, what happens to Kirby, Meta, and Dedede? (And also, where’s Galacta Knight in all of this? Is he Morpho’s body/host or is he still trapped?)

Oho, somebody finally asked~

Back in the beginning, I actually considered keeping one of these guys around for the Master Crown to take its anger out on. Like, I feel like that's the only purpose they might serve in its present-day story; to give it a moment like "ugh, everything's going wrong and I feel bad about myself...oh look; it's one of those 'heroes' from before who's supposed to be dead! Maybe if I go over and red-mist them it'll cheer me up~"

^Which was a fun thought, admittedly. ^^ But it'd be a little mean, even for me, and later on I came up with the more unique concept of having Gooey be the 'torch-bearer' for that whole character set, and I liked that better. Verdict: Dream Land's heroes are all long dead.

Dedede, MK: Brutally murdered; possibly tortured beforehand. I think the MC would notice the power hierarchy between these two and Kirby pretty early on, and decide to use the easier opponents' suffering to wear down the tougher opponent. ...Of course, I think trying something like this with Kirby would backfire pretty hard. ^^; Nevertheless, we know who came out the winner in the end, so...

Bandana Dee: I'm throwing him in as an honorable mention because he's technically one of the four protagonists, and I wanted to make it clear that no (relatively...) horrific fate befell Bestest Boy in particular. ◡_◡ I've decided that the other three bought time for him to escape the final fight before things got really bad, and he just ended up in the normal soul-draining mind-prison with all the other minor characters.

Kirby: ...I'm not entirely sure. He's definitely not alive anymore...but is he actually dead...? I feel like...it would make sense for the Master Crown to turn him into something. ^^ Like a sort of magic energy source, or 'appliance', for lack of a better word. Although he was defeated, the special Kirb-power that he holds continues to flow from his remains, like a dead body that never stops bleeding... Of course this begs the question, what would the MC do with this strange unlimited power source? Something disrespectful, I think. ^^; Like it'd shove it in the back of its evil dimension wizard closet and only bring it out when one of its evil dimension wizard remotes runs out of battery power; something like that. XD

Although, deep down, maybe in the far reaches of its subconscious where Magolor's old feelings reside, I think it would want to keep 'Unknown Kirby Remnant' around as a memento. Because I've always felt that Kirb and Mago have a special friendship, which I'm sure must transcend time and space. ❤

Galacta Knight: Because RtDL predates the point where Morpho absorbed him, anything could have happened. Maybe the Master Crown's victory created a butterfly effect (heh) that completely changed GK's fate...

...My suggestion is that he ended up in Star Dream's custody. ^^ I mean, SD's already able to summon him in Robobot, so it feels right to me. Maybe during its expanded conquest it gained the necessary skills to contain him successfully this time around, and even to use him as a research subject. Picture this: Mecha-lacta Knight! Or...Giga-lacta Knight? Whatever; you get it~

[flourandgrow]

Got my first order from closet child in the mail!

It’s Meta’s Magical Stone JSK in sax, I need to lower the straps by a bit so that the bust actually hits correctly on my body. I paired it with a purple blouse that I am going to cut up and add a Peter Pan collar to.

I also got a pink Q-pot chocolate themed small wallet but don’t have any pictures of it.

I now have at least one dress that fits me and so I need to work on getting or making a petticoat, making a blouse I like, and purchased accessories like shoes, OTKs or tights, and extras like a KC and jewelry.

So far I have no events coming up with my local comm, I’m sadly missing the swap meet they are holding next month but hopefully soon something will be planned.

[feybeasts]

OKAY SO LENA

This is mostly gonna be an aimless ramble about Ideas I Have because I’m fulla those dang things most days, and hey y’all seem to like when I ramble about my OCs so I’m gonna Do That More

so y’know. If you wanna learn what my whole idea for yon’ silley foxtaur is, read on

THIS FREAKIN NERD started life as an ooooold OC- the grey, wolfy version is the classic Lena from back in the day (courtesy of absolutely wonderful character design by one of my best friends, this was before I was doing art again) and she was an OC who was always near and dear to my heart. At the time I didn’t put two and two together and go “oh b/c she’s my fursona and aspirational as hell, you closeted trans fool” but hey, I got there

anywho.

I realize that, y’know, ‘sonas don’t need to have lore or be characters, but I like making characters! So Lena does, in fact, have lore. She was, at one point, a regular ol’ person, a human being who pretty much existed on gig work and odd jobs because even in my fantasies, the real world is a gig economy nightmare. The work paid the bills, but it didn’t do much else- one of the most common jobs was delivery, think like, somehow a crappier version of being an amazon courier or somesuch.

Well, on one such delivery job, our gal ended up getting lost- like painfully lost. Instead of her destination, she ended up in literally the feywild, a fact that, despite the very obviously ancient buildings and overgrown mess, she was wholly unaware of. Upon “delivering” the package to the closest thing to an intact structure, she was enticed by fresh food just kinda… left out, we’re talking like a plate of pastries or something, something you could reasonably assume was a “take one” sorta affair.

It wasn’t… that, but bless her, Lena didn’t know that. So she took one… and then another, and another, and another. It’s the classic “oh whups you’re eating the fey’s food, bad idea”, but once she proverbially popped, she couldn’t stop. Which, of course, cursed her all to hell and back- it’s kinda what happens. She was changed top to bottom, and yes, I do mean in the transes-your-gender way but also the bottom became y’know, a fox. And the top was a fox but humanoid- it’s yon form you see above.

It also kinda… made her forget everything about herself. Her name, her age, where she was born- she knew she was human, short term memory was intact, but the rest slipped away… because it didn’t belong to her anymore. Classic fey stuff, eh? Turn you into something, take something intangible because you broke “the rules”.

Well, the new owner of those little details- and by extension, our gal’s fate, was a powerful fey being who was, turns out, the Lord of Debts and Desires, and one of the stinkiest Capital F Fey you could imagine. We’re talking constantly smug, always speaking in half-truths and pregnant pauses, a real piece of work straight outta a fairytale (which, y’know, tracks, considering)

And while this fella was nonplussed about an offering to him- and all the magic with it- being hoovered up by a delivery driver, he had a new lackey out of the deal. And that, friends, is what Lena is- a lackey.

She’s technically a cursed human, but her name is one she picked (it sounded nice, almost like a meta thing I guess) and her history is a bit of a blur past the basic facts. The fey she works for pretty much bound her to a contract: work for him until he considers the debt settled, and she’ll be right back to the old self lickety split.

I’ll let you guess as to how long that is, or whether yon fey actually thinks she’ll want to go back. Because truth be told, part of Lena… doesn’t want to. A big part.

She didn’t expect to be this way, but she’s come to embrace and even… like it more than the old her. It’s confusing, sometimes frustrating, but it feels more like her than she’s ever felt.

…wonder what THAT is a metaphor for? 🏳️‍⚧️

Anywho, there’s another big wrinkle- and that is that Lena isn’t fully a fey being… yet. I say she’s technically human because there’s that little bit of her that feels like she needs to hold onto the old idea of herself- not desperation, just… momentum, I guess. But as her fingers slip from that, she becomes more and more fey and less and less human… well

I wonder what the outcome will be?

[cherry-blossom-qf]

What are ur sexuality hcs for the skylanders and kirby characters

I don't have headcanons for all of them, but here's what I got.

Kirby Characters

Kirby and Bandanna Dee are He/They Nonbinarys and Acesexuals

King Dedede is Bisexual (cuz all of my comfort characters get the bi-pass lol) and Asexual

Meta Knight is gay and asexual

Marx is Pansexual, demiromantic, asexual

Magolor is a gay trans man (cuz I saw on his wiki page that he was first designed to be a girl so I was like "huh, an actual trans egg, lol") and asexual

In short: Everyone in the Kirby franchise is Asexual. Because I REFUSE to believe they have genitalia!!! They all just reproduce through wishes, magic, shooting stars, and other dreamy space shit!!! DATS IT!!

Skylander Characters

Enigma is asexual and pansexual (i like to think that concept of gender isn't practiced from where he's from)

Star Strike is an asexual lesbian

Pop Fizz and Trigger Happy are BOTH pansexual genderfluids! (maybe they do drag together on the side~?)

Spyro is demisexual

Stealth Elf, Whirlwind, Chill, and Hex are THE FULL DEFINITION OF A LESBIAN!!

Drobot is trans.

Ignitor is gay (and dating Chop Chop)

Boomer is a very confused ally that has no knowledge about the LGBTQ+, but tries his best to be supportive

Slam Bam is also a very confused ally!

Gill Grunt is a closeted bisexual. (another comfort character getting the bi-pass~) He's has definitely "messed around on both sides" during his time in the gillman army, but he thinks that it doesn't count cuz of some dumb reason. Everyone knows he's bi except for himself.

And Master Eon is definitely some form of queer, just doesn't know what labels to use.

I might have to make a tier list to figure out the rest of the Skylanders, CUZ THERE IS A LOT OF THEM!!!

[stewardofningishzida]

Stephen Strange Meta-Fic Sequel Chapter 6: On Novices and Damage Control

Time for some proper magic lessons!~

TRIGGER WARNING: Language and a broken bone. It gets magically healed, though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*When we wake up in our respective rooms, it’s surreal at first.  My mind hasn’t fully synced with the fact that we’re in an entirely different universe and actually at Kamar-Taj.  I know it, of course, but it takes a while for my mind to fully accept it.  After a few seconds of confusion, I get dressed just so I can be presentable when I exit my room.  We all have apparently been issued some sets of novice robes.  They fit well and permit free movement.  I look at myself in the mirror curiously before going into the hallway right outside of our rooms to wait for when my friends come out.*

Tear: *I come out of my room with a big stretch, still feeling a little sleepy, but I smile when I see Steward* Morning. I was wondering if you all got new robes in your closets too. It’s a bit uncanny how nice they fit. *I rub the palms of my hands against the soft fabric of the pants, absolutely in love with the outfits*

Me:  I suppose it’s safe to assume that they’re enchanted to fit well.  They really do feel good.  *I stretch a bit, still stiff from waking up.*

*PrettyWitch and Trix wake up next and meet us in the hallway.*

Me:  I suppose we should head to the mess hall.  With everything, we need to recover and hit the ground running, so to speak.  How are you feeling after last evening, Trix?

Trix: *she is still groggy but gives a weak thumbs up* I’m running at 65% but that’s better than the -20% last night.

Tear: That’s still lower than we’d like… Make sure you keep track of how you’re feeling throughout the day and don’t overexcert yourself, okay?

PrettyWitch: Let’s go eat. I’m starving!

*We go to have some breakfast and Wong finds us in the mess hall.  He rounds us up and we begin the first phase of our training.  Since we’re recovering, he teaches us Sanskrit, Sumerian, and a few other languages throughout the week to ensure we know how to read the spellbooks.  There are several reading assignments and we have daily exercise sessions for both fitness and to begin our mastery of the gestures necessary for spellcasting.  Though with Trix, she ends up being taught private lessons with Wong to gain better control over her abilities so she can use it more carefully to avoid migraines and loss of consciousness.  PrettyWitch and I are taken aside and whenever Stephen rotates with Wong between universes, he begins to train us so we can start to refine our own abilities as well.*

*A few days into the start of our basic training, Wong works with Trix to help her get her abilities under control so she can avoid blacking out and getting migraines.*

Wong:  First, you need to know how to detect when your abilities are and are not active.  Understanding that part of your abilities will be the key to learning how to control them.  

Trix: Well right now I can’t really tell if something is triggering my abilities unless it’s a headache. Before, it used to creep up on me but now it just wipes me out immediately.

*He listens intently.*

Wong:  Okay.  Sit down on your mat.  That way, should you lose consciousness, you will not injure yourself.  

Trix: *she sits on the mat and looks at Wong expectantly*

Wong:  Now, close your eyes and begin to meditate.  I will start to switch languages as I speak with you and I want you to tell me how you feel.  Every detail.  Keep your mind calm, clear, and still so that you only pay attention to your response to the shifting languages.  Understood?

Trix: Got it. *she closes her eyes and after a minute or so, her face begins to relax followed by the rest of her body*

Wong:  Good.  Breathe in slowly through your nose and 通過嘴呼氣。(Breathe out through your mouth.)  你感覺怎麼樣？(What do you feel?)

Trix: *she winces but doesn’t open her eyes* Did you just do it?

Wong:  Yes.  Please describe what you felt to me.

Trix: *she frowns* It almost feels like tinnitus does. But sorta selective? Then there’s pain in the front of my head, kinda between my eyes. I could still understand you, like you were speaking English, but now that I’m focusing on it it’s slightly…off. Like a subtle accent?

*He grunts as he listens.*

Wong:  Is your pain tolerable at the moment?  *He’s checking on you to make sure you don’t get incapacitated.*

Trix: *her eyes are still closed but she makes a face* I’m still good. After the fact it’s almost like…pins and needles? Like an early warning of a panic attack but without the panic.

Wong:  Very well.  We will continue, but I will stop the training session if it becomes too strenuous.  Again.  Meditate and tell me when I begin to transition.  I will not warn you 這陣子.  (-this time around.)

Trix: There. At the end.

Wong:  Good.  Continue to 探測 (detect) the difference.  This way, you know 每當 (whenever) your abilities are active or inactive.  Which words did I switch?

Trix: *she frowns* I couldn’t tell exactly what word in the second sentence was but there was one there. The second one was ‘whenever’?

Wong:  *Nods*  It is subtle, but with practice, you will figure it out more precisely.  We shall continue for a few more rounds and then you may rest.  

*After a few more practice rounds so Trix can detect when her abilities are active, Wong lets her rest to avoid causing a full-on migraine.  Over time, Trix can tell when she’s translating.  The next steps will be learning how to tolerate it better and after that, turning it on and off voluntarily.  For now, she had a decent session.*

*While the Avengers are working on sorting out our home universe, the heroes rotate in and out periodically to be more efficient and occasionally recharge so they aren’t too exhausted to keep going.  Wong ends up going to our home universe for a few days while Stephen comes back to his own universe to both check on us and recharge himself while helping us train.  It’s my turn for lessons and he needs to gauge exactly what’s going on with my abilities.*

Stephen (checking on us):  How are all of you holding up?  Wong hasn’t been too hard on you, right?

Trix: I haven’t been knocked out in days! *she smiles*

Me:  He’s making sure we’re up to scratch, so to speak.  A good teacher.  *I give a small smile.*

PrettyWitch: Yeah. He’s really patient with us, which I actually think is helping with my anxiety; I’ve barely had any intrusive thoughts since he started having us meditate daily.  

Tear: Physical training is still as hard as ever though *I chuckle as I rub my stiff arm muscles*

Stephen (raising an eyebrow at Trix):  How many times have you lost consciousness in the past week, kid?

Trix: Not too many but we found out the first night that books are now bad for my health. Otherwise it’s been better. No complete losses of consciousness other than the first big one!

Stephen (grim):  Wong told me about that one.  How’s progress on your lessons?

Trix: Doing good, I can figure out when he switches it up on me for languages even if I still hear it the same. I’m still kinda keeping to our group though or in my rooms to prevent any migraines on accident.

Stephen:  Okay.  Smart idea.  Wong will make sure you figure out how to control it better over time.  

Me:  How are things back at our universe?

Stephen:  Rough.  Stark almost got eaten by a kraken while checking the damage on the underwater cables.  Murdock’s been making some progress with various legal departments, but it’s slow.  He needs more resources to smooth things over with your various governments.  Cap has gotten some mixed reactions from people, but overall, he’s managing to calm most of them down.  Most of his work has been evacuating people from disaster areas and keeping mass hysteria from bubbling over.  There are some riots going on, but it looks like your families are all okay, at the very least.

Me (slight relief):  At least our folks are okay…Though it definitely sounds like the chaos is escalating.  You guys sure you’re okay?  *I look concerned for him and the other Avengers.*

Stephen:  We’ll be fine as long as we rotate and call for backup.  The X-Men are coming through to assist us.

Trix: We have krakens now?! *she looks delighted*

*He nods at Trix.*

Stephen:  Enormous and aggressive krakens, yes.  Stark had one hell of a time shaking off the one that got a hold of him.  Also, we’re pretty sure that the megalodons consider them a primary food source.  After Stark blasted the one that grabbed him, two megalodons showed up and started tearing it apart and eating it.

Me:  Holy crap…A whole new food chain’s forming!

Tear: I just hope Tony is okay after all that…

Trix: *a bolt of realization appears on her face* The Internet is absolutely going to suck with all of the conspiracy nuts going wild because they’re being proven ‘right.’

PrettyWitch: (I facepalm.) Dammit! Why did you have to say that!?

Stephen: It will once Stark manages to get it up again.  Your various governments aren’t too thrilled with a group of “invaders” coming into their universe and it’s slowing things down.  We need to gain their trust and the proper authorization to intervene with your technology.

*I groan*

Me:  Good luck.  Sorry it’s this complicated.  Unfortunately, I don’t know much about legal stuff besides the basic laws we all have to follow, what was recently in our political news, and our three branches of government.  That’s about it.

Trix: *shrugs* I know politics but considering at least half of our national government is either crazy or publicly supporting the crazies, it’s been an entirely different ballgame.

Stephen:  We see what you mean now.  Steve is furious, but he’s being his usual polite self out in public.  It’s been…tense.

Tear: *I run a hand down my face, disappointed* Talk about a good first impression as a planet to a literal group of superheroes. Can I deny I come from that Earth?

Trix: Please for the love of god I hope I get to see Steve punch Neo-Nazis. I’ve been dreaming of this happening ever since they started showing their stupid faces.

PrettyWitch: (I hum, happily.) That’d be fun to see.

Me:  If he does, film it.  Please?  We’re so tired of them…We used to be more chill, but after all of the horrible things they’ve been doing and saying to people, enough is enough.

*He looks at us with concern.*

Stephen:  For now, girls, just focus on your magic.  We’ll keep working with what we’ve got and when you four have refined your skills, we’ll let you back in to help us.  Deal?

Trix: *mutters under her breath* at least watching the footage would help our spiritual side of things… *regular tone* Okayyyy.

Me:  *Smirking at Trix in silent agreement*  Got it, Stephen.  We’re doing our best.

Tear: Might take us a bit longer than it did for you, though *I twitch my nose, joking*

PrettyWitch: What they said.

Stephen:  All right.  Now, Steward, come with me.  I’m going to see what you can do.  *He gestures for me to come along and I go to follow him.  He looks at my friends.*  Keep up the good work.  *He gives them a small smile.*

*I walk with him to a secluded area of the courtyard.*

Stephen:  I see your “friend” is still there.  So, the first thing I’ll be teaching you is how to shield yourself from spectral entities.  That way, it’s more difficult for the more malicious spirits to hurt and attempt to possess you.  

*The ghost flips him off.*

*Stephen ignores him and looks at me.*

Stephen:  Okay.  First of all, you need to be more in-tune with the difference between the mortal plane and the spiritual planes.  I’ll help you discern them.  Sit down on the mat.

*I sit down and look at him.*

Stephen:  Now, I’m going to push your astral form out of your body.  I want you to relax and try to sense the presence of your physical body and the presence of the ghost.  Feel how different they are.  It’ll be easier on the Astral Plane at first, but as you get used to it, you’ll start to be able to discern them while in your physical body normally.  Understand?

Ghost:  Yeah, bitch.  Listen to Dr. Hippie over there!  I’m sure he’ll totally help you.  It’s not like you’re a neurotic dumpster fire or anything!  *He grins maliciously, knowing that he’s getting on my nerves.*

Me (scowling as I try to ignore the ghost):  Okay…I’ll do my best.  

*Stephen gets close to me and then strikes my chest, pushing out my astral form.  I’m disoriented at first and float just behind my body, drifting around slightly.*

Me (astral form):  Guh…This feels weird…

Ghost (grinning):  Perfect.  *He goes to try and enter my now-empty body to my astral form’s horror, but Stephen repels him with a disgusted look.*

Stephen (stern):  No.

Ghost:  Fuck you, I was just gonna have some fun.

*Stephen gives him a death glare.  The ghost backs off, seemingly realizing that he can’t actually do anything to me while Stephen’s holding him off.  I’m relieved.*

Stephen:  Try to relax, Steward.  Then, when your mind is calm, sense your body and the ghost.  Try to tell the difference in energy.

Me (astral form):  O-Okay…

*I do my best to meditate while in the astral plane and attempt to detect the different energies emanating from my physical body and the ghost.  What I notice is that physical forms emit a more powerful energy than a ghost does, like the solid feeling of a tree versus the sensation of gauze fabric.  A shout versus a whisper  Everything resonates with energy around all of us and AS us.  However, everything seems to have its own frequency.  It’s a bit overwhelming.  Stephen notices the look on my face.*

Stephen:  Focus, Steward.  You were in concert band, right?  Remember how you had to “listen down” to focus on a specific instrument playing in a piece of music so you could hear their role?  Think about doing that, but with homing in on the energies vibrating around you.  What do YOU feel like?  Your physical body.  What does HE feel like?  That ghost.  Focus.

*The metaphor helps me and I eventually tune in more properly.*

Me:  I…I think I’ve got it.

Stephen:  Good…Now home in on the energy of your physical body and return to it.  Feel what happens as you do.

*I do so.  When I go back into my body, I involuntarily shudder.*

Stephen:  Now, meditate and try to sense what you did in the Astral Plane.  You should feel some resistance.  That’s what we’re looking for.  

*It takes me a while, but I eventually figure it out.*

Me:  Okay…Now what?

Stephen:  That resistance you feel is the boundary between the physical plane and the spiritual planes.  In your mind, feel that boundary and visualize it as a wall between you and the ghost.  There is a door there and only you have the key to open and close it as you wish.  Mentally, you’re tuning into the energy of the boundary between planes and concentrating on it to make an energy barrier around yourself.  

*I sit there quietly and work on this visualization, taking in the concepts that Stephen is teaching me.  Meanwhile, the ghost is trolling me and currently saying anything he can to try and distract me.  Stephen lets him this time because he wants me to focus and actually make this new technique work.  After several attempts, I notice that I no longer see or hear the irritating spirit.*

Me (confused and relieved):  Did it work or did he leave?  *I’m hopeful.  It has been weeks since I had any semblance of peace and quiet.  At the same time, I’m exhausted from all of the work.*

Stephen (small smile):  Yes.  *He gets serious again*  However, you have to consciously keep it up.  Otherwise, you’ll be vulnerable again.  When you’ve gotten used to this technique, I’ll teach you how to refine it and cast a spell that shields yourself so you don’t have to constantly focus on it.  

Me (tired, but determined):  Okay…Thanks, Stephen.  Heh…Any chance you can teach me how to astral project myself so you don’t have to push me out of my body?

Stephen:  In your current state, we’ll put a pin in that for when your endurance for magic is better.  The Mystic Arts are highly taxing on those who practice them.  You’ll get there with time and dedication.  

Me:  All right.  

Stephen:  We’ll call it a lesson for now.  Go recover.  

*I thank him one more time and then get up to head to the mess hall so I can eat and then go rest for a while.  Stephen then goes to find PrettyWitch for her training.*

Stephen:  PrettyWitch, it’s your turn.  Come with me, please.

Prettywitch: Yes! Lead the way.

*He takes PrettyWitch to a private study room with various implements.  It’s small, but comfortable.  The lighting can be adjusted as needed.  There is a scrying basin, a crystal ball, a mirror, a deck of cards, and a collection of various relics that she isn’t quite familiar with yet.  Also, there are some incense sticks near a window waiting to be lit.*

Stephen:  Practicing foresight is a very finicky and personalized field of magic.  It was easier with the Time Stone, but with that gone, we had to resort to more primitive methods.  They aren’t always as precise as we would like, but we can still gain a fairly decent understanding of potential outcomes and figure out which scenario is the most likely to play out.  I brought a few different tools for you to use.  We’ll have you work with each of them to see which one is best suited for you.  Understand?

Prettywitch: Of course. *Picks up the card deck* I’ll start with tarot since I’m familiar with it. 

Stephen:  All right.  Do you need any adjustments to the environment or can you concentrate the way it is now?

Prettywitch: I’m good here. *She smirks.* This ain’t my first time at the rodeo. Just need to figure out a question I can ask the universe.

Stephen:  Very well.  I’ll let you be.  *He steps back to watch.*

*She begins shuffling the deck, doing her best to keep her eyes from looking at the cards. She thinks to herself, “Will my universe be okay?”, five times. Then she pulls out the cards that “speak” to her, forming the five card spread.*

*Stephen watches quietly, letting her concentrate.*

*She flips the first card; The Emperor. Second card; The Tower. Third Card; The Wheel of Fortune Fourth Card; Two of Cups. Fifth card; Death. She cringes seeing the Tower in the spread.*

Prettywitch: Shit!

Stephen:  Since this was your first encounter with this deck, you should have cleansed it first.  Cleanse it and do another reading when it is better attuned to your own energy and not whoever used it before you.  Cleanse it and then try again.  *He’s gentle, but makes sure to help her become more in-tune with the tools she works with.*  

Prettywitch: *Nods* Okay. *She does as Stephen said, gives the deck another two shuffles; one to cleanse it, and one to ask the universe the same question as before. Just like before, she shuffles the deck and thinks of the question five times, then pulls the cards that “speak” to her and creates a new, five card spread.*

*First card; Ace of Swords (Reversed) Second card; Strength Third card; Ace of Wands Fourth card; The Wheel of Fortune Fifth card; Death*

*She’s more relieved seeing this spread.*

Prettywitch: *Looks at Stephen.* Well?

Stephen:  All right.  Let me try.  If our cards coincide, then your reading was of a decent quality.

*He cleanses the deck and then performs his own reading. The cards seem to agree with PrettyWitch’s reading.*

Stephen:  Okay.  Then it seems your reading is sound.  Time will tell whether or not it was accurate.  *He gives her a knowing smirk.*

Prettywitch: *She smiles.* Well, now that the Tower’s no longer in the spread, let’s hope so.

Stephen:  I’ll introduce you to other scrying methods as the lessons continue so that you can be versatile.  However, for now, we’ll rejoin your friends.  Wong wants to make sure you can all fend for yourselves.  So, the afternoon is booked for combat training.

Prettywitch: Well, that’ll be fun. I haven’t sparred in ages. *Sees Stephen looking at her, befuddled.* I, uh…used to take karate classes, so…

Stephen:  We’ll test each of you to see where you stand.  Then, we’ll work on it from there.  How are you feeling?  Do you need more energy or are you okay?

Prettywitch: I think I'm okay. I certainly don’t feel drowsy.

Stephen:  Very well.  Let’s find your friends.  *He magically sends the scrying implements away and then opens the door to let her out of the room.  They go to find everyone so we can go to combat training.  We get rounded up and head to the courtyard.  Wong is waiting for us.*

Wong:  Regardless of your position, you still need to know how to defend yourselves both through magical and non-magical means.  Do any of you have any experience with sparring or any previous fights?

Trix: I slapped someone once.

Tear: None whatsoever. I only ever practiced fancy moves with replica lightsabers. *I give a little shrug*

Me:  I’ve learned some basic military tactics and advanced-level fencing.  Also, a bit of judo and karate.  Been in one actual fight where it got physical, but that’s it.  

PrettyWitch: I’m a first degree purple belt in karate, but it’s been years since I’ve practiced.

Wong (listening):  Very well.  Pick a partner and we shall direct you as needed.

Trix: Who’s the weakest person you have? I’m not much of a fighter or even just yoga *she chuckles awkwardly as she rubs the back of her head*

*We each get paired with another novice.*

*It turns out that I’m fast and precise, but the moment I face someone bigger and stronger than me, I can’t keep it up any longer and get overpowered quickly.  Trix is a bit hesitant and unsteady.  So, she needs a bit of work.  PrettyWitch is rusty, but quite capable.  Tear is just beginning.  So, she needs a bit of guidance and has to learn the correct defensive stances.  The two sorcerers watch us, quietly assessing our skills.  They have us try it out with a few other opponents to see how we react.  As we spar, I attempt to maneuver myself to throw my opponent.  Unfortunately, I put a fair amount of extra force behind my attack and as my larger opponent moves to defend themselves, I accidentally get launched and hit a column rather hard.  There’s a dull crunching noise as my collarbone gets fractured due to the awkward angle of impact.  I gasp for air when I feel the pain begin to radiate.*

Me (garbled):  Ow…

*Stephen goes to check my injuries.*

Stephen (now in doctor mode):  Fractured clavicle, non-comminuted.  Some bruising to the soft tissue…She should be fine in 6 to 8 weeks by non-magical means.

Wong:  …I suppose now is the time for you all to start learning some basic healing spells.  Come here and I will show you.  *He directs the group to observe his demonstration.*  To heal minor to moderate injuries, the spell and gestures are as follows.  *He shows the group.*  However, for severe injuries, you use this one.  *He demonstrates.  He uses the first spell to start healing my broken collarbone.  I can’t help but flinch as the bone fragments start to move back together.  It’ll take a few sessions to fully be healed.  So, he lets everyone have a turn.*

Trix: *she begins to attempt it but it doesn’t have nearly as much power as Wong had. More like a flickering candle than a campfire*

PrettyWitch: *Is a bit nervous she’ll fuck it up but goes for it anyway. The result is a small, fluorescent ball floating above her hand. She smiles and slowly moves her hand above Steward’s collarbone in small, circular motions, like she was manipulating energy or something. 

Tear: *I perform the motions for the spell, slightly worried I’m going to mess it up. So far, I’ve been slow on the uptake of the spells we’ve learned in comparison to the others, who are wide open to different energies by now. The healing spell feels warm in my hands, and its working method simply makes sense in my mind. I concentrate on Steward’s clavicle and will the spell to heal it, sharing that same warmth and care I feel resonating in my chest.*

Wong:  Hmm.  Keep focusing, Tear.  It seems you almost have it done already.  *He’s curious to see what happens next for some reason.*

Tear: *I push at the spell with a bit more strain at Wong’s encouragement, but a zing of pain seems to shoot back from the connection and straight to my own collarbone. I flinch but the pain dulls to a mere throb as quickly as it came, so I finish casting the spell and dismiss it once the energy grows colder around my hands* I… I hope that helped, even if only a little bit… *I can’t help but notice my spell didn’t last as long as the others’ did, so I sheepishly stand back to let Trix attempt the spell again while I discreetly rub at my collarbone*

Wong (holding up a hand to stop Trix):  Wait.  

*Oddly, I don’t seem to be in any more pain.  I’m calmer.  Though now Tear is cringing a bit.  Wong checks on Tear while Stephen carefully feels my collarbone.  It has completely healed.  Both sorcerers seem surprised.  Of the three women practicing the spell, it seems that Tear learned it the fastest.  I gingerly move my arm and it moves smoothly without any lingering pain.  I’m surprised.  Stephen and Wong look at Tear and then each other.*

Wong:  I think we figured out Tear’s natural proclivity.

*Stephen nods.*

Trix: That’s awesome!

Tear: Eh? *I blink, completely taken off guard* N-No, I just…I just did as you told us to do. You got the spell performed on you four times, of course it was going to work. *I chuckle, dismissing the idea with a quick wave of the hand*

PrettyWitch: Yeah but you learned it pretty quickly, love. You gotta admit.

Me:  Well, your following directions certainly worked.  *I grin at Tear and then gratefully look at the others.*  Thanks, guys.  I really appreciate it.  Also, congrats, Tear!  *I look genuinely happy for her.*

Wong:  Tear, you healed a fractured bone in one session.  That is not a novice-level achievement for a healer.  *He’s blunt, but subtly proud of her.*  You will begin your private lessons with me to refine your techniques starting tomorrow.

Tear: I-It isn’t? Eh!? *My brain seems to be struggling to catch up with the information. The spell certainly hadn’t felt so otherworldly*

Wong:  Now that this is settled, we should learn a few more basic healing spells for various ailments in addition to reviewing the basics of self-defense to reduce the incidence of injuries during training.

Trix: Gotcha!

Me:  All right.  Let’s do this!

Tear: This is so wild… *I mumble under my breath, a bit worried over the nonchalance with which Wong mentioned getting injured during training. I’m still confused about what happened with the previous spell, and I wrap my arms around my belly as it churns with nervousness*

PrettyWitch: *She looks over at Tear worried, though simultaneously envious her friend got such a cool power.*

*Wong drills us on the spells, even taking us to Kamar-Taj’s hospital wing for us to practice on some of the patients.  He watches us carefully to make sure we don’t botch the spells and accidentally hurt anyone.  Then, Stephen steps in to review the basics of self-defense with us.  After a couple more hours, the training session ends and we’re dismissed to go about our own business.  It was a very taxing day for everyone involved.  Also, now Tear has had to use a larger amount of magical energy for the first time and it shows.  Her healing spells were consistently effective and powerful but have taken their toll on her.  So, we help her to the mess hall for her first interdimensional meal.*

Trix: Welcome to the worst part of being magic now. Just close your eyes and pretend it’s sushi.

Me:  If you don’t think about or look at it too much, you can get it down quickly.

PrettyWitch: Yup! *She swallows her portion whole and chews on it, all the while pretending it’s grilled chicken as it slithers down her throat.*

Tear: We should at least be allowed to grill this on a barbeque or something… *I stare down at the wiggling stuff in my bowl* Well…I guess it cannot be worse than eating grasshoppers?

*We all end up eating some of the various interdimensional abominations since we all had to do spellwork today.  I wash my serving down with some tea.*

Me:  Ack…So, do we wanna study together or just call it a night this evening?

Trix: Honestly, we’ve been so focused on training and studying that I’m a bit burnt out. I know it’s absolutely needed but my brain is begging to rest and it’s not just because of the google translate feature. *she has snagged one of the tubs of ice cream from the kitchen to try and forget their multidimensional meal for tonight*

Tear: I’m still feeling oddly sick, so I think I’m gonna try to sleep it off… *The viscous texture of our meal was certainly a challenge to swallow. It’s now an entirely new challenge to keep everything in my stomach*

PrettyWitch: I honestly feel like grabbing a Stella and soaking in a bath with epsom salts.

Me:  Makes sense…Admittedly, I lowkey wanna learn astral projection so I can rest AND study, but it’s probably best that I don’t know yet.  We should all rest, I think.  I’m just happy to still have a functioning clavicle after all of that.  *I’m blinking slowly, half-asleep already, but trying to fight it.*

Trix: I’m guessing that astral projection is just gonna double your portion sizes. *she’s trying not to fall face first into her dessert from exhaustion*

Tear: Can’t believe I’m saying this, but seeing how I don’t have Stephen’s memory, I’ll take the extra servings of chopped alien if it means I can at least use astral projection to speed up our studies a bit.

PrettyWitch: I’d rather wait for Wong or Stephen to show us, personally.

Me:  Eugh…*I pull a face at Trix’s remark.*  Yeah…Let’s just go to bed.

*We head to the dormitories to rest for the night.  The remainder of the week goes fairly smoothly as we begin to learn the basics of magic.  During that time, Tear begins her private lessons with Wong to refine her healing abilities further.  However, the weekend comes with a whole different surprise in store.  At breakfast on Sunday, Stephen comes to find us with a tense look on his face.*

***To be continued***

[r-rook-studio]

Roseville Beach Reads in July

So July didn't have as many total titles as May or June, but including Delany's dense, surrealistic 900-page magnum opus alongside an often forgotten best-selling fantasy series and two classics of gothic and suspense literature made it a great month.

First the fantasy trilogy!

I kicked off the month of July binging Katherine Kurtz's debut series (and the first trilogy in her long Deryni series). Kurtz is a historical fantasy writer, bishop of a breakaway feminist Catholic Church, and founder of an interfaith "third order" semi-monastic group called The Order of St. Michael. Her books might have been published today as YA fantasy. They're fun to read (if thematically heavy-handed) and foreground personal relationships and negotiating loyalties to family, community, friends, faith, and state. Set in a quasi-historical setting in a fictional area of medieval Europe, her approach to psi and magic feels on point for much of what we'll see in fantasy fiction in the 1970s, and the way she presents the marginalization that Deryni face during this first trilogy will seem familiar to queer readers (and I don't know enough of Kurtz's biography to know if that was intentional at the time of publication), including King Wincet, who's invading from a neighboring kingdom, as a bad Deryni/bad gay.

I'd dipped my toes into the Deryni-verse at one point, but had started in the series internal order, picking up the second trilogy first. I don't remember much about it now, but it was good to come back to the series again, if only because it was once so influential and now so often forgotten.

Finishing Kurtz, I wanted something more gothic, so I returned to reread Jackson's classic about the remnant members of the Blackwood family: Merrikat, Constance, and poor Uncle Julian. I'll need a full blog post, but I know I first read this when I was young, repressed, and deeply closeted, and my brain hadn't fully processed the disturbing queer subtexts then, and I definitely was not nearly as familiar with the gothic then.

After re-reading it this time, I think I called it the best introduction to the gothic novel.

I may need a couple of blog posts and a little big of post-book therapy to process everything that went on here. It's an SF novel (you know because it was sold in the SF section); it's post-apocalyptic (though outside the city, the world's still running perfectly fine); it's a meta-narrative that never forgets it's also a narrative (though you'll forget at times whether it's narrative or meta-narrative that you're reading); it's Delany's bestselling novel (which should fuck with all the data-free assertions that you have decide whether you're writing literary fiction or commercial fiction). Delany never lets you get comfortable with the city, the characters, the action, or the sex. When I started re-reading other Delany novels for this series, @aaronmfking was right to steer me back to this one. I'd picked up several times over the past 20 years, and this time I didn't bounce off.

Finally, the novel that put horror back on the best-seller lists (the last gothic or horror novel to make it the Publisher's Weekly list had been Rebecca). I'd not read this (or any Levin) before, and am only 1/3 of the way through, but it's a short book, so I'm expecting to finish today or tomorrow before heading to Gen Con.

In August, it's on to The Exorcist.

[safyresky]

Crystal Springs Chapter 16: Now on ao3!

HERE IT IS!

Chapter 16: It's Dinner Time!

Dinner time arrives and with it, a lore drop. Autumn gets to the bottom of Winter and Jack's disconnect.

This is one of my FAVOURITE chapters. I hope you all enjoy it too! It was v hard to pick a snippet to share, so I decided to go meta (this chapter has about 3 moments of self-awareness/fourth wall breaking, if you squint. It REEKS of author bias, lmao)

Jack turned back to his aunts. Summer had leaned in closer—an astonishing feat since she was already right beside him. Autumn watched, head on her linked hands, elbows on the table. Spring still sat with one leg over the other, arms crossed, glaring at Jack...but her eyebrow gave a little twitch. Interesting, Jack thought over a spoonful of mash. "Anyway, it didn't last, of course. Santa managed to come back and reverse trick me. We got back to the proper timeline, and I was almost immediately apprehended by the Elfficers for...other things, funnily enough." "Not the overthrowing thing?" Summer asked. "He froze a couple of people and locked them in a closet with their not-frozen kid," Jacqueline offered. "Shut. Up!" Summer exclaimed. Thanks Jacqueline. "Did you not know that, Summer?" Spring asked, a little too innocently. Sorry, were you not going to say that bit? "No! I didn't! Oh my gosh…then what happened?" Summer asked, shifting in her seat so that she now sat cross-legged, her chin in her hand as she leaned on the table, fully enraptured with Jack's tale. I was going to sugar coat it. You know Spring would've come back with the salt, Jack. Jack had to take a quick sip of his own drink to hide his laughter. "Well," he said, "Now we get to the good part. So, there I was! Two little elf men on either side, shoving me into the Workshop, and they bring me right before Santa. Bernard's temp had discovered Lucy and her parents in the closet, the parents frozen solid courtesy of yours truly. He and Lucy tell the big guy, who already knows all about the whole stealing Christmas thing, of course, as we were SURROUNDED by the Council, so the odds were already stacked against me!" "I can't believe I'm rooting for you right now," Autumn said. "I get that a lot," Jack joked. Autumn and Summer laughed; Jacqueline rolled her eyes, smiling, nonetheless. "Maybe you're rooting for him because you know how it ends, Aunt Autumn," Jacqueline mused, pulling her hair over her shoulder thoughtfully. "REDEMPTION ARC!" Fiera shouted down the table. Even Spring let a little smile escape, very briefly. She seemed to have loosened up a little bit, though she still sat rigid, watching Jack as intently as Winter watched her. "Spoilers, Fiera! Please!" "Sorry!" "Yeah Fiera, spoilers," Fino said, flinging more mashed potatoes at her. She dodged it in time, the potatoes beelining for Blaise. Lightning fast, Blaise smacked his spoon on the table, sending it up in the air; it deflected the mash and the pile fell with a plop onto the candle in front of them, extinguishing the flame. "You were saying?" Autumn asked, as the candle hissed. "Yeah, keep going!" Summer added.

Want to see how Jack wins over his aunts? Check out Chapter 16: Dinner Time, right HERE on ao3!

Want to take Crystal Springs from the top? Catch the Prologue, "An Encounter", HERE on ao3 and HERE on fanfiction dot net! Summary below the cut, as per the ush:

It's been almost a year since Jack Frost thawed and things are looking...well, not so great. Jack's powers are seemingly gone. Without them, the Dome that keeps the North Pole safe from the cold and its magic controlled is melting, putting everything and everyone magical at risk. Unable to hide his power shortage any longer, Jack is forced to admit the truth. Thankfully, there is a solution: enacting the Legate Law, bringing Jack and the sister that he hurt so many centuries ago back together again. But when Jacqueline starts experiencing destructive blackouts, the pair are forced to head back home to Crystal Springs, bringing Jack face to face with the rest of the family. Needless to say, between getting his powers back, helping his sister figure out what in the FROST those blackouts even were, reconciling with his parents, meeting the two even younger siblings he didn't even KNOW he had, NOT TO MENTION the ancient threat that's had it out for the ENTIRE Frost family finally making a move? Saving Christmas (regrettably) is looking to be a little bit...complicated.

And yes, if you're wondering, I did name this chapter with The Emperor's New Groove in mind. So it's best you read the chapter title exactly the way Yzma delivers THIS banger of a line (beware flashy gif):

DUH DUH DUH DAHHHHH

Next chapter will be up next week! We'll finally finally FINALLY get that sweet, sweet, Jack and Winter reunion. I think. Lemme go check smth real quick.

SORRY CHAPTER AFTER THAT. But next week: Some BADASS Frosty Sibs games, AND a good Blaise and Jack moment, AND some fun Winter moments! THEN WE GO TO THE MARKET AFTER THAT! YEAH YEAH YEAH! WOOO! (explodes)

[whumpbby]

I posted 3,346 times in 2022

48 posts created (1%)

3,298 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

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I tagged 55 of my posts in 2022

#headcanon - 34 posts

#dc - 7 posts

#dc headcanon - 4 posts

#omega!jay - 4 posts

#lol - 3 posts

#xd - 3 posts

#murder!au - 3 posts

#jason todd - 3 posts

#heandcanon - 2 posts

#jason todd is magic - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 97 characters

#and can't seem to remember the creators who made it happen forgot about it as soon as it happened

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Listen, I want for Damian and Tim to keep trying to kill each other, but in, like, the Addams Family style. 

I want fondness in their murder attempts.

I want them to keep it up as they age, getting more and more ridiculous, just because it keeps the other entertained! 

And then one day they just beat up a major villain, stand there gloating when Damian suddenly and quote offhandedly stabs Tim in the shoulder. 

They look at the wound. The villain looks at them. A moment passes. 

Damian: Oh, gods! Fuck, don’t move, Drake. 

Tim: What the fuck?! Why would you do that?!

Damian: I don’t know! Habit, I guess! Once more for old times’s sake!? Stop moving, I will secure the blade!

Tim: If I get tetanus I will murder your turkey, I swear! 

57 notes - Posted May 30, 2022

#4

Come on, DC, why won't you lean away from "Jason the Dead Robin" and lean into "Jason the Resurrected Guy"??

He died and that was an important event, sure.

But not half as important as the fact HE CAME BACK VIA SPONTANEOUS RESURRECTION??

Like, it would be so much more fun and engaging if they leaned into him being not only a crime lord - but a magical crime lord! ✨✨✨

Make him an outright villain (I mean, Bruce's man on the inside of the crime) with his shtick being that he has magic and what are they fucking going to do? Like, the Penguin can order his assassination, but once a paid killer saw a guy pull a sword out of his chest and trap the soul inside of it the price will go up considerably.

Come on, DC, make him fun.

65 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

#3

Listen, I know that the idea of Lazarus PIT leaving Jsson angry is an old shoes, but listen.

It took him a ling while to learn how to control that endless rage. It took him a long while to re-learn his emotions, to trace new neural pathways in the destroyed and suddenly revived parts of his brain.

It takes little to anger Jason, but it takes a lot to make him lose it. Because he knows what awaits on the other side and how hard it is to get back from there - his brain is a work in progress, he has to keep managing it. He will quip and deflect until he's blue in the face, because he doesn't want to go back there.

But listen.

The Scarecrow.

Crane discovering the hard way that Red Hood doesn't react to his Fear Toxin like everyone else. Because under all the morals and intelligence and inhibitions - in this one, there's no fear. Not anymore. The only thing left is anger, stifled and pushed down, and repressed like a skeleton in the closet.

And the Toxin just unlocked the door.

150 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

#2

I love the idea of Steph treating Bruce not like a father figure, but a whacky uncle figure.

Oh sure, Dick and Jason and Duke and Damian are her annoying brothers. Alfred is her doting grandpa.

But Bruce is the uncle she always wanted to have.

And being so used to being the dad, Bruce has no idea how to react to being the uncle. He was never an uncle. What do uncles even do???

187 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I find it an excellent idea for Jason to be the magical Bat.

They already have an assassin. A gymnast. A smart-guy. The fighting master. A meta.

They only need a magic-specialist to complete the

195 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

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