#(also me with magic mechanics is often just: how much symbolism can i possibly fit in this-)

[theaterism]

“good news: i puzzled out how to vanish a bit longer. bad news: i forgot how freezing it gets.”

#|☆| open #|☽| foxtrot ( clever fox ) #|☆| ic #(!! he’s having a Time agdgdg) #(also me with magic mechanics is often just: how much symbolism can i possibly fit in this-)

[cat-with-a-tie]

A DenNor analysis of sorts

Hello, sweet chirping crickets! I’ve been shipping this ship for literal years now but have never plucked up the courage to actually interact with anyone or anything, so I’ve no idea why I’m doing it now, in the year of our Lord 2019, but hey, it’s never too late to get dragged back into aph hell.

I plan on posting a series of long ass rants that absolutely no one asked for in which I attempt to discuss the dynamics of DenNor and the Nordic characters in general, drawing mainly on Himaruya’s portrayal, historical facts, and my own headcanons, so welcome to the first installation of Stuff Nobody Really Cares About that I Wrote in a Fit of Boredom and Self-indulgence!

Before we start, if anyone’s reading this at all then please bear in mind that this is mostly just IMHO. And since there’s no correct way to ship a pairing (this cannot be stressed enough), my interpretation is just that—my personal interpretation, and it is by no means impartial because there’s definitely a healthy dose of my own preferences in there. Actually, I haven’t got any mutuals to talk to at the moment, so if my interpretation’s terrible, by all means go on and yell at me, I will love you to death for it.

In this post I’m going to rant about Norway’s personality (or his lack of it, thereof; don’t worry I’ll get to it later), with just a tiny segment on Denmark thrown in the mix, because hey, I do need to sleep.

“Anko” and its implications for Norway’s character

So, as most people probably already know, in the Japanese version Norway calls Denmark “anko”. In the Northeastern dialect he speaks, this is something like a diminutive form of “big brother” or “boss” (yes, Norway calls Denmark big brother!). In East Asian cultures, it is commonplace for younger men to address older ones (related or not) by honorifics ranging from super courteous to super casual, such as “aniki” in Japanese, “hyung” in Korean, and “da-ge” or “ge” in Mandarin. “Anko” also falls under this category, although it is still more casual than the more ubiquitous “aniki”. I struggle to convey its exact denotations in English, but all you need to know is that this is an affectionate way of addressing a man older than you.

But here’s a funny thing: Himaruya once stated that Denmark and Norway are “like classmates” （同級生）. Now, the Japanese term actually has a somewhat different meaning from the English one; “doukyuusei” does not strictly refer to people who are/were in the same class, but to people who belong in the same school year and therefore, in most cases, share the same age. This actually makes sense, because if we consider history, up until the 14th century or so the three Scandinavian kingdoms developed at much the same pace, so it would be reasonable to assume (despite Himaruya’s being abominably vague on nation mechanism) that the characters are of similar ages as well.

Why, then, does Himaruya have Norway refer to Denmark, who should be about the same age as he is, as “anko”? The thing is, aside from denoting age difference, this sort of honorific can also denote a difference in status. Even if someone is not significantly older than you, you may still refer to them with an honorific if you feel their status is above you or wish to pay them respect in an affectionate way.

So, consider this: Norway does not disrespect or look down on Denmark at all, in fact, he respects him enough to call him something akin to “boss” or “older brother”. Bear in mind that this is Norway we’re talking about, Norway of the onii-chan obsession! There’s no doubt that he sees a great deal of significance in this sort of thing, otherwise he wouldn’t be so bent on having Iceland address him as such. And he calls Denmark “big brother”. Just… just take a minute to let that sink in, will ya.

So this brings us to the main subject of my essay, and that is that Norway, for all his sass, is a bit of a doormat.

Now, before anyone starts yelling at me about how his people are perhaps the most fiercely patriotic out of all the Nordic countries, please let me finish my theory. You don’t get independence after centuries of being a glorified trophy bride and not feel the need to vent all that pent up frustration, after all.

First, if you look at strips such as the Denmark vs. Sweden frozen lake fiasco, you’ll see that Norway basically goes along with anything Denmark does, even when he’s actions are outright harebrained (and, to be fair, they often were). He might nag, and he might throw in a word or two of complaints, but at the end of the day Denmark calls the shots, and Norway seems pretty content to let him do so, even when sometime it’s him who has to bear the consequences of Denmark’s brashness (historically, during the many conflicts between Denmark and Sweden, many of which Denmark initiated, Sweden would often bypass Denmark and invade Norway instead, since its lack of military prowess meant that Norway could be used as leverage to force Denmark into accepting all sorts of outrageous conditions; meanwhile, any sort of military action Denmark engaged in was exceptionally taxing—no pun intended—on Norway due to its small population and frequent food shortages). 

Also keep in mind that compared to the strips set in modern times, Norway’s treatment of Denmark was considerably milder in the medieval era. My theory is that his attitude towards Denmark only soured after the chain of events that eventually lead to his independence in the 19th century, buuut that’s an essay for another time! Right now I’d like to discuss a personality trait of Norway’s that fascinates me a lot and directly ties into his tendency to be pushed around: his standoffishness.

This is a character inclined to keep on the sidelines and just watch things unfold, even when said events concern his very own person. He doesn’t seem to give a fig when Denmark and Sweden are fighting to the death—hell, not even when they are fighting over him, something that happened a lot in history.

Now, I can think of two main reasons for this passiveness, the first being that Norway, unlike Denmark, probably knows his own limitations to a degree that I believe must have been painful for him at times (not that he shows it, anyway). Although of course being able to see and communicate with magical creatures could result in one being a little less interested in the mortal realm, I find it unlikely that he was always this disengaged. He was once a Viking, after all, and up until the 13th century his kingdom was arguably the most powerful and expansive in all of Scandinavia.

But then, of course, came the Black Death. Norway’s decline in the late Middle Ages was in fact facilitated by a myriad of factors including civil war, incompetent politicians, and either a shortage or a surplus of kings, but having three quarters of its population decimated by the plague was perhaps the heaviest blow of all, and by the time the Kalmar Union took place the prospects of competing with Denmark or Sweden were pretty bleak.

From there on was what 19th century Norwegian nationalist poet Wergeland dubbed the “four hundred years of night”. Although most modern historians agree that Norway was far from destitute under Danish rule and may even have benefitted considerably from it, in terms of Norway’s development as a character, I reckon it could be said that he was, in fact, shrouded in night. The night in question, however, as opposed to being a symbol of Danish tyranny as Wergeland probably intended it to be, would be more of a metaphor for Norway’s own willingness to “fall asleep”, thereby shutting out a world in which he knew he has no say. In this way, he turned a blind eye on Denmark’s ill-fated endeavors, on Sweden’s budding ambition, on the animosity brewing between his two friends, and probably even on Denmark’s mistreatment of him.

During the Kalmar Union, he must have known that he was the weakest of the three kingdoms, and that it was better to just let things take their course instead of joining the fight for hegemony along with Sweden and Denmark. During the union with Denmark, he knew too that life would be far easier if he just went along with things; after all, he knew Denmark, he knew he was stubborn and that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He also knew that Denmark meant well and that, despite everything, he cared a great deal for his family, as shown in the tax raise strip where Norway tells Denmark that “[it’s OK] because you’re trying your best”. 

It’s possible that Norway also derived some degree of consolation from Denmark’s affection, in that even though as nations they stood on uneven ground, as friends and as people he could still trust Denmark to have his best interests at heart. Also, by telling himself that he and Denmark were “in this boat together”, Norway could avoid the sense of relative deprivation that arose from being a nation in an unequal union, and subsequently avoid feeling resentment towards Denmark, whom he’s always cared for and perhaps even looked up to despite everything. His referring to Denmark as “anko” despite being roughly the same age as him can perhaps be interpreted as a sign of this (arguably unwarranted) trust.

So in short, a prolonged sense of powerlessness led Norway to become emotionally detached as a form of defense mechanism, while affection for his childhood friend made him reluctant to put his foot down when Denmark’s arrogance and blind optimism threatened to get out of hand. All this serves to expedite the standoffishness I mentioned earlier that is typical of his character.

Thus, if we accept the theory (note the italics) of Denmark once upon a time being abusive, I personally find it plenty believable that Norway would just, well, lie back and take it. In part because he cares deeply for Denmark and is dependent on him in a bit of an unhealthy way (there’s already a wonderfully insightful post right here on tumblr addressing Norway’s shyness and how his trust in Denmark sometimes manifests as crassness, so I’m not gonna go into that here), and in part because he knows being submissive is the path of least resistance. Taking whatever Denmark the person inflicts on him would still be far more ideal than going to war with or losing the support of Denmark the nation. So yeah, lie back and think of yourself, I guess.

In this regard Norway’s mentality is drastically different from that of Denmark and Sweden’s, which is that one should always fight a losing battle if the alternative is being trod on. He acts more according to strategy, while the other two act more according to pride and passion. The upside is that, being more pragmatic and knowing his limits, he knows better where and how to deploy his strengths; the downside is that he can at times come off as a bit of a pushover.

Incidentally, this is why I find WWII history to be so damn interesting in terms of the Nordic’s characterisations, because we get to see the Viking Trio seemingly go against everything that had until then defined their personalities. To be fair, this is way after all that fucked up shit with the treaties of Fredrikshamn and Kiel, which I consider a major turning point (or mental growth spur, if you will) for all five Nordics, so I reckon it all still kind of makes sense because of the wonderful mechanics of character development? But then again, that’s an essay for another time!

A bit on Denmark

I like to think of Denmark’s behaviour during his youth as the result of a misguided desire to “play house”—out of love for his family (arguably for Norway in particular) he wishes to keep them safe, and what better way to do that than keeping them all under his wing? Sure, I’m ready to believe at least some part of him was fueled by bloodlust and a thirst for power, as is often the case with nations, but in general he simply didn’t know better.

In the mean time, Norway’s docile compliance did nothing to curb this misconception; worst case scenario, it only served to fuel it, make Denmark feel like he really was the leader and that it was his obligation to be in charge for the sake of them both. I consider their relationship in this time period to be quite toxic, even though related strips show them to be closer than ever.

For me, a significant part of Denmark’s character development is him realising that the happiness of his loved ones should not have to depend on him, and that one can be loved without being needed (in terms of DenNor, it’s him learning to love Norway as an equal and not just someone to be protected/coddled).

For Norway it’s the opposite—he learns to regain control over his own life, to stand up for himself and to love Denmark without taking any bullshit from him.

#dennor #aph #hetalia #aph nordics #aph norway #aph denmark #rant

[hypexion]

A Pile of Fanwalkers (Part 2)

Part two of me posting a bunch of “OCs“, since actually working out a better way to organise and present is this information is clearly too much effort. Despite the fact I’m putting what could be charitably described as an amount of work into these posts.

The basic format for each planeswalker will be a Name/Colour Identity/Pre-Ignition Typeline/Homeplane blob of information, a quickish description of them and some “fun“ facts, and then some hits and misses for extra flavour. Also, I’m going to split this into three posts - “Heroic“, “Okay“ and “Villians“, for I believe I have the moral authority to judge my creations.

Also some of these are going to be from fanplanes, which will go undescribed beyond whatever tidbits come out the character flavour. Others will just have a ?, representing a lack of knowledge and/or sufficent worldbuilding. With that out of the way, let’s go!

Okay

Not everyone is actively Heroic, and that’s okay. Generally, this lot might not want to help you out, but they’re unlikely to ruin your day just for the sake of it. Of course, some might offer to help if their skills are a match for the situation, or if they stand to benefit. And some of them might be a little rude, but they generally won’t murder you.

Ferroxi - BGU, Faerie Artificer, ? - While other fae are luring you around in circles, trapping you in an eternal sleep, or stealing your name, Ferroxi is probably rummaging through your recycling looking for useful stuff. Born on a plane piled with interplanar scrap, she learned at a young age the value in taking things apart and occationally putting them back together again. Ferroxi sees the wastefulness of other planes as her gain, and is always on the look out for anything that can be fixed up, melted down or repurposed. This doesn’t stop at the physical, either. With a bit of work, she’s managed to keep a few Infinite Consortium cells spinning, as a way to provided access to resources she’d otherwise have trouble obtaining. Ultimately, Ferroxi brings her finds back to her clan, where she is considered a peerless salvager, able to seemingly conjure resources from nothing.

Ferroxi has hair she self-describes as “rust coloured“ and brown skin. Being a Faerie, she’s just over a foot tall. But don’t underestimate her. Just because her weapon of choice looks like a sewing needle, it doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you. Of course, she also has access to all the various fae tricks, so getting into a fight with her is generally going to end her favour. Just let Ferroxi have your old lightbulbs, okay? When she planeswalkers, she disappears into a puff of rust dust. Don’t breath that! (Generally you shouldn’t breath planeswalking auras, but the metal oxides to be especially avoided.)

Hits: Recycling, Izzet technology, Moxen, white and gold bordered cards. Misses: Izzet security, large animals, things that can’t be repaired or reused.

Mazamat - UB, Human Wizard, Akkyria - For Mazamat, death is merely a setback. After each defeat she rises again, a new body forged from mana in her ziggurat. As a mortal scholar, her fame was not enough to enjoy the immortality Akkyria offered it’s most renowned. So through careful research, she discovered an alternative, a way to tie her life force to the leylines that shaped her world. She divised a ritual, and performed it to perfection. And in seeking eternal life, she found something far greater. For Mazamat was born long before The Mending. Her ignition gave her powers beyond bound. Even with a fractional of her strength sequestered as an anchor for her soul, Mazamat was a force to be reckoned with. She mastered lifetimes of magics, slew gods, and accidentally created a few highly dangerous artifacts. Unfortunately, even without meeting Urza, Mazamat was affect by his ruinous influence. The Mending weakened her. Enough that it was now the majority of her strength that anchored her to Akkyria. This made planewalking fatal. But for Mazamat, death is merely a setback. No Lich forgets their Phylactery, and Mazamat did not forget the mechanics of her undeath. While the first sucessful test walk only worked because of the Interplanar Beacon, it provided Mazamat all she needed to write a new ritual, and continue her endless study.

Often, Mazamat isn’t hard to miss. It’s difficult to ignore the walking corpse with glowing purple eyes, even you’d prefer to. She could put more effort into looking presentable, given her wide magical knowledge, but generally considers it optional. When she does wish to tidy up her appearance, she tends to appear as she did in the middle of her mortal life. In this case, she has brown skin and grey-black hair, which she ties back into a bun to get it out of the way. She also dampens the eye-glow effect, although they still take on a purple hue. Mazamat tends to dress in the classical “Robed Wizard“ look, ardorned with various magical symbols. Mazamat’s planeswalking effet is a pulse of pale blue light, occationally leaving behind short-lived inscriptions on nearby surfaces.

Hits: Mastering skills, advising adventurers (who bring the appropriate tribute), a kind of savory cake served with honey and dried fruits. Misses: Dying (it’s still not fun, even if you come back), Nicol Bolas, Urza, whoever started the rumor that flying snakes could be found near her ziggurat, because now she can’t get rid of the things, being stuck on a plane.

Pyrolas - R, Dragon, Ithmorne - Many planeswalkers are subtle. Many are careful. Pyrolas is neither, because Pyrolas is a red dragon. When presented with a problem, they consider fire and fury to be an acceptable solution. As dragons go, Pyrolas is considered implusive and quick to act. This is good for the non-dragons living with their domain, as it means Pyrolas tends to deal with problems such as bandits within a week. Meaning you might actually have a home to go back to. Pyrolas is also less than interested in the ever-shifting politics of the Draconic Confedracy, prefering to get their excitement from visting other planes, or comissioning sweet new artworks. Like many dragons on their homeplane, Pyrolas graciously allows non-dragons to use the singular they when referring to them. This is nice, because in Ithmorne Draconic, pronouns are also honorifics, and using the wrong one can range from “slightly rude“ to “mortal insult“ (it’s also nice because some of them are very hard to pronounce if you aren’t a dragon).

Dragons on Ithmorne tend towards being more slender, and Pyrolas is no exception. However, unlike a certain dragon whose name has been misplaced, they all still look dragony. Pyrolas has red scales, except on the underside of their wings, where they are a more goldish colour. Since they’re a dragon, they don’t carry weapons. Rather, Pyrolas is the weapon, capable of spewing flame, clawing rocks to pieces and able to crush puny humanoids in their grasp. Thankfully, Pyrolas is a kind of “take it easy“ dragon, so you need to try pretty hard to provoke them. When they planeswalk, flames pour from their mouth and engulf them, followed by Pyrolas disappearing. This takes a little while, so they tend to do it while flying out of the way of danger.

Hits: Flying around, treasure, the fine arts, hosting tournements. Misses: Really cold places, dragon slayers, missing out on the chance to claw Bolas in his stupid dumb face, that time they went to Ixalan.

Tanzor - GUR, Shapeshifter, ? - Do you ever wonder how the multiverse fits together? Tanzor does, and they've embarked on the most ambitious planar cartography projection in the multiverse to work it out. Of course, along the way, they’ve picked up a number of other projects. These include subjects such as planar topology, monitoring aether currents, and tracking planes that have been inflicted by Phyrexians (thanks, Karn). Most recently, Tanzor has been investigating the aftershocks from the deaths of Kozilek and Ulamog, and the appearance of temporal anomalies around Tarkir. And with the possibility of more Planar Bridges being constructed, they could soon have a whole new set of issues on their hands. Or claws. Or tentacles. When you’re a changeling, it’s sometimes hard to keep track. When in doubt, check what the person you’re reflexively copying has. (When in a group of three or more people, Tanzor generally exerts concious control over their shapeshifting, as not to freak people out).

Describing Tanzor’s physical appearance is difficult, since as a changeling, it tends to shift around a lot. When changing form, it appears that their underlying changeling colour is dark blue, however. For simplicity, let’s just say they’re friend-shaped. When Tanzor planeswalkers, their form dissippates, and they appear to collapse into a single point.

Hits: Being able to be anything, wings/fins/toxins on demand, high vantage points, advanced eyeball techniques. Misses: Being asked why they can’t shapeshift into a form that isn’t injured, Phyrexians, whoever was the latest one to screw up the multiverse (currently: Bolas, previously: Gatewatch, Ugin/Sarkhan, and others).

Xand - BR, Human Rogue, Ravnica - Xand likes to introduce himself as a cultist of wealth and taste. Which is not entirely inaccurate. He’s a member of the Cult of Rakdos, he’s got money to burn, and he’s very concerned about food. But don’t mistake Xand for some regular glutton, looking to gorge on endless plates of substandard junk. Xand has standards. Out of a dozen recipes, even after days of refinement, only a few will make it to the menu of his bar - which is an unusually “classy“ environment for a Rakdos run business. Sure, you won’t find any Azorius, Selesnya or Ozhov patrons there, and higher ranked guild members tend to avoid the it, but it’s a decent place to grab a meal or a drink. And for the fancier members of Ravnican society, there’s always Café Xand, which features table cloths, a wine list and a krasis of the day. And with the countless flavours of the multiverse available to him, Xand is always looking to expand the menu.

Xand has pale brown skin and shoulder-length black hair. Like any self-respecting Rakdos cultist, he dresses in loud, colourful robes, often patched together from previous robes that didn’t survive whatever manic Rakdos event Xand was last at. He also has a surprisingly well kept set of chef’s clothing, as likes to ensure only the right ingredients get used when he’s cooking. For personal defense (and offense), Xand carries knives. Lots of knives. Too many knives, perhaps, even when you factor in his excuse that “you never know when you might need to cut a cake, or dice some vegetables”.  He’s also pretty good at using Rakdos “hype magic” to disorient his foes, since it turns out that feeling a bunch of conflicting emotions at once is really distracting. When he planewalks, Xand disappears in a burst of dark flame, which leaves a pleasant, yet unidentifiable scent.

Hits: Good food, fine wine, various parties, visiting Valor’s Reach. Misses: Canibbalism, bar fights in his bar, Orzhov insurance rates, not being able to get the right spices, people calling him Alexander.

Look at all these nice...ish people. None of them would be into Gatewatching, but they’re also not making things worse. Tanzor might be willing to help out if they’re in the right place, and if you can appeal to her self-interest, Mazamat might teach you something useful. But with the others, their self-interest is probably going to overcome their altruism most of the time. Of course, the multiverse also has some rather more... antagonistic planewalkers, but that’s for next time.

#fanwalker #magic the gathering #fan character february

[icarusatmidnight]

Novel Prep Tag!

I was tagged by @indecentpause to do this, so thank you! I get a bit distracted yesterday watching a certain music video and looking for pictures, hence why it’s a little late~ :D

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

Three twentysomething year old insomniacs attend an informal late night support group to deal with their magical trauma, or maybe become gods? The wording is pretty unclear.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

I'm still not honestly sure. When I think about it, I always personally break it into Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 but I'm still not sure if those will be just acts with a single book or something more. o:

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Modern magic, mundane magic, runes and signals littered as graffiti in subways, redcap blood drives on the weekend in the park, friendships are rad, failure as a positive, that good old city night life, curling up in diner booths at 3am because why the heck not, found families and getting better

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, definitely! I had this hazy vibe and the character for Icarus before reading those books but seeing how ...matter of fact and mundane magic was described in the books just clicked something in my head. I ended up tossing out the old half-plot it had, and by the end of month, I had this new one and much much happier with it. :D

Also, the Serenity Rose comic book series. I have a thing for near-god characters that still have really relatable issues and just want to live their mundane life. It's one of favorite ...tropes, I guess, and that series does it great. It also deals with growing past your trauma (working through your negativity, so to speak~) so, yeah! It's free online too and I'd highly recommend it. Fair warning though, second book is a fair bit bloody at times. 

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

I will always love this gif and the whole scene in MIKA’s Make You Happy video (the whole video really) but the playful vibes of dipshit friends is like, Icarus’s core to me. ( ´͈ ◡ `͈ )

Also, just... a lot of Hydrae’s art especially her old Teen Wolf fanart (like the bottom left picture). Fun fact! I first created the concepts of Oleander and Daed when I was watching the first season of Teen Wolf, so seems pretty fitting I still draw inspiration from one of my favorite artists from that time. Her DnD art is amazing too! :D

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

Oleander Thistle is the main-main protagonist~.

7. Who is their closest ally?

While he dearly loves Kingcup and Thyme, his closest ally is Daed and he will always be. They're known each other the longest at this point and Daed does have Oleander's best interest at heart and can look out for him without overstepping his boundaries either.

8. Who is their enemy?

I want to say Lund because it's Lund. But he doesn't really feature in the story outside of mentions and flashbacks, so it's probably easiest to say shitty societal stigmas and shitty coping mechanisms on a whole?? 

9. What do they want more than anything?

Oleander ...wants to know more about himself and his past especially how he survived losing his heart back when he was like six. He has some theories that make sense, but he's lacking some good hard facts about that. Not knowing actually causes him a fair amount of internal conflict that he can’t seem to rationalize away like he can with most other things.

10. Why can’t they have it?

The easiest to swallow answer is he simply lacks any way of knowing or finding out. Both of his parents are gone and Lund wouldn't know so unless someone has a time machine, his hands are pretty much tied.

The harder one is that Oleander is honestly terrified of finding out that he's not who or even what he thinks he is, so he doesn't try and lets his fears fester inside of him. Like, what even is he? Who can honestly survive having their heart ripped out of their chest still beating and live on without it being much of an issue? It's fucking weird. One of the ideas that refuses to leave him alone is that he's nothing more than a confused spirit possessing the corpse of a dead six year old, and what if that's true? He spent years trying to get his life back. What was all that for if he's even not himself?

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

That he's not him, but that's less wrongly believed and more his worst fear, you know?? Wrongly believed is honestly more Kingcup and Thyme's areas, and that's part of why they like Oleander. The kid is pretty matter of fact and reasonable with his opinions especially about himself (or so it seems on the outside, and even then it’s the what ifs that drag him down). He's like their unflappable little rock! :D

Until, of course, he isn't. :’D

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

I really love doodling Olly so thank you. ^o^! Fun fact, his natural hair is like a dark auburn brown. His original plan was to screw around with his hair for funsies for a bit while he was traveling with Daed, only for someone to tell him blonde was a really bad look for him one day in a grocery store. He’s spitefully kept it blonde ever since because fuck you too, lady.

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

Outside of his ‘what am I’ conundrum which is his main internal conflict, he’s also figuring out how to better navigate the bitter raging sea of anger inside of him. He may want to know more about himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely a-okay with the years he spent under Lund’s control. The trauma is still real.

14. What is the external conflict?

They've all been burned and traumatized by magic, and instead of doing the more rational approach to healing like talk to a therapist, they ...do other things that are less helpful. There's also a massive social stigma to having been burned by magic so it's not like they actually have a lot of options at hand. :/ Starting Icarus is actually helpful in that regard because at the minimum, it builds a nice little support system.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

Oleander is screaming the worst already happened, what could be worse than his past?! But off the top of my head, losing his heart again would been such a devastation to him. Or, just giving up completely.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

That's a good question. o:

17. Do you know how it ends?

There's plenty of bits and pieces that I know happen, but it's not absolute yet.

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?

Mistakes don’t have to define you. Recovery isn't a straight line, but it's possible. Found families are neat.

19. What is a reoccurring symbol?

We will see. I’m sure they’ll pop up at times. xD

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description)

Most of the story takes places in a small port city named Dead Leaves. Less of it takes place in the Inbetween and The Romneya Backwoods too, but Dead Leaves is the main spot. Like I said, it's smaller city but still thriving and lively. The Icarus verse has a slight solarpunky vibe to it so despite the name, it's very green with lots of parks and trees and plants. It's common to see ivy climbing up old buildings and rooftops to have their own little gardens. There's plenty to do with an ton of shops and venues and museums and old historical spots too. Its home to the ever famous Clove Archives that's a massive tourist spot for all to visit, and because of that, there's a few universities and colleges within the city too.

I definitely write it with Boston in mind too, so yes~ c:

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

I'm a super visual person so, oh god yes! Do I ever! So many scenes! One of my favorites involves Kingcup punching a wall and Oleander throwing up a wall. :D

22. What excited you about this story?

I just really like these characters, this concepts and the story I have so far. It honestly feels me with joy when I doodle and write about them and it's one of the first stories I've worked on that doesn’t really ever frustrate me either. I also just want to write a story about queer kids finding friendships, falling in love, dealing with the shit and learning from the lesser mistakes you make in your youth. Failure isn’t a death sentence, you know?

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

I beat my ADHD down every so often and just write write write until it regains its strength? o: I’m gonna look into seeing a specialist this year to learn a better way because it doesn’t work well enough anymore. :l

Tagging: Mhmm. It said lots of people so @elliot-orion @loopyhoopydrabbles @mirror-of-too-many-books If y’all don’t want too, that’s totally cool too! :D And anyone else who would like to do it, please do it! I loved to see it! <3

#long post #dear god it's long #but this was fun! #thanks indecentpause~ :D #icarus at midnight

[thehopeymage]

Classes: Mage and Seer, Heir and Page

Alright, here we go again! I feel that this one is a harder sell then the last, so I've put a lot of thought into why i feel this is the most likely connection! That being said, get ready for a looooooooooong post 0u0. Also, if you want to read my post on the Thief, Rogue, Knight, and Maid classes, here’s a link!! 

The Knowing Classes, Mage and Seer!

This pairing is probably the most popular theory for where Mages belong, and since we know very little about Mages, we don’t have much to go on!! 

Here we can see Sollux, Mage of Doom, claim that in order for him to be a true Prophet of Doom, he must lose his sense of sight. This suggests, supported by  Meulin, Mage of Heart, who is deaf, that part of a Mages journey is losing a sense, but it ALSO suggests that Mages are prophets, much like the abilities we see Seers like Rose, Seer of Light, have! Along with all this and the fact that we see both Mages and Seers act as authorities of knowledge when it comes to their aspect, I think they are a perfect fit! Additionally, only Mages and Seers have been able to vividly hear Exiles and separate the exiles words from their own thoughts!

Mages, being the Active class, have/gain a lot of knowledge about their Aspect! Mages are known to be incredibly accurate when they make predictions about their Aspect! Although we only hear of this through Aranea, Meulin is told to have incredibly accurate ships! Additionally, we actually can see Sollux’s predictive abilities in the pester log I linked earlier! Strange how we only HEAR about Meulins abilities and actually SEE Solluxs... It’s hard to say what kind of abilities Mages gain with their classpect but the abilities the cannon Mages show suggest that they may gain some insight as to how their aspect works, or how their aspect may effect them/their group. Mages use their knowledge, in a best case scenario, to take the best course of action!

Seers, being the Passive class, gain knowledge of the future! Specifically futures that have to do with their Aspect. Rose, Seer of Light, gained knowledge of futures with fortuitous outcomes, as she explained on the meteor and explicitly stated, HERE, “My powers let me see fortuitous outcomes...”. End-quote. Terezi, Seer of Mind, gained the ability to see the future outcomes of specific choices! Although it’s a little difficult to decipher what exactly happened in [S] Terezi: Remem8er. but it could be interpreted as her gaining sight into a timeline where she made different choices! In Kankri, the Seer of Blood, we can see his post-scratch version see a timeline with a lot more interconnection in his races society! Doc Scratch said HERE, “But if I was a Seer, such [timeline ]offshoots would be fully within my domain. And if I was a Seer of Mind in particular, synaptic causality would be my specialty.” Synaptic Causality translating in layman's terms to the effects of peoples brains, or, more appropriately in this context, the effects of peoples choices! Although this is a less sound theory, its possible that Seers also see futures WITH their Aspect, Roses magic cue-ball acting as a representation of clarity. I personally am not quite sure about that one, but it’s a possibility! Seers have been known to often send people on quests as well, as seen with Rose devising the plan for their sessions scratch, and Terezi sending John to retcon the Timeline! Seers use their knowledge, in the best case scenario, to give advice and direct others through the best course of action!

With The Knowing Classes, we can see in both the characters and their abilities, that they care more about the metaphorical side of their Aspect then the Flashy Powers. Seers and Mages are ingrained in the deeper meanings of their Aspect! Their powers are knowledge based, and they dont really get sick flashy powers like everyone else does! Rose never cared about being lucky, but cared instead about Lights themes like Clarity and Fortune(fortune as in good stuff, not luck)! In order to find their opposites, we need to find a pair of classes that don’t care nearly as much about the deeper meanings, and more about the flashy powers and the raw feelings and surface level meanings of their Aspects! 

The Utilization/Embodiment Classes, Heir and Page!

I reaaaaally tried to settle on one name, but I just couldn’t, they fit in different ways.

Just like Knights and Maids, this is a good group to compare!! Except this time we have TWO pairs with the same Aspect, as well as an Inversion!! Once again, i’m sure this seems like an odd pair, but please hear me out! 

Heirs, being the Active class, gain, and even become their aspect! We can see this best with our Protagonist John, Heir of Breath! I call these the Utilization classes because you can see John use wind and manipulate it! BUT, I call them the Embodiment Classes because upon ascending to God Tier, John eventually gains the ability to literally become air! These names will make sense for Pages too when I get to them 0u0. You can see John gain more and more freedom throughout his adventure, starting with the ability to enter his dads room, then hold just about as many items as he wants, then hold as BIG of items as he wants, literally inheriting his wallet from his father, and then gaining freedom from the timeline itself!! John doing the retcon shenanigans could even be seen as him totally embodying the concept of Freedom! Equius, Heir of Void, gained irrelevance as he was killed and used as half of Arquius and then one fourth of Doc Scratch/Lord English, only being a source of strength for them. You could also see Equius’s blood being used to hide information about Gamzee and Lord English as him literally becoming the obscuring of information!  Additionally, although we know vary little about Mituna, Heir of Doom, and his story, you could say he gained a lot of death, even becoming, in an informal sense, brain dead before actually dying. And then staying that way even after death.

Pages, being the Passive class, gain, then exude massive amounts of their Aspect! Pages are told to have hypothetically infinite amounts of potential when it comes to their Aspect. Along with this being told to Jake, Page of Hope by Aranea and Ghost Brain Dirk many times, it was even hinted at by Aradia in reference to Tavros, Page of Breath, and his Flarp class, Boy Skylark. She says HERE, “n0ne 0f the really useful c0mbat abilities c0me int0 play until y0u reach a very high level. but i supp0se it will be rewarding when y0u get there.” We don’t have very much information about Horuss, Page of Void, but he did use to have a deficit of Void, having many useful skills, yet ended up, in a sense, gaining irrelevance. Aranea said it best during Openbound, “The Page of Void was a self taught master of mechanics, an avid patron of the fine arts, a passionate 8ody 8uilder, archer, am8rosia collector and steamwright. A poet, a scholar, a warrior, a lover, he was all that his caste demanded and more. A true troll Renaissance man. Yet in spite of all he worked to make something of himself, he amounted to very little. Responsi8le for neither great feats of heroism nor acts of villainy, he was just another game piece to 8e moved a8out the 8oard.” The only time we get to see the abilities of a Page is when Aranea takes over Jake's mind and releases his potential. During this, he LITERALLY exudes a massive ball of hope energy out of his body, causing mass destruction! I feel like I should say, when I say “exudes Aspect” I do not mean other people gain their Aspect from them just being around. I mean it in a less literal sense, as pages, after realization, have a lot of their Aspect, and by a lot, I mean a LOT!

If you want to understand Jake's lack of hope, then eventual growth into becoming a (literal) Hope God, I highly suggest checking out @punkcandy s Analysis of Jake's Arc. It specifically about his Sexual Objectification, but I think the whole thing, especially the last two paragraphs, do a fantastic job of summarizing his arc as a Page of Hope!! Go ahead and read it HERE!! Also, follow punkcandy wile you’re at it because they’re dope.

Now the big part...

Why these Pairs?

As I said, we have two examples of a Page and Heir of the same Aspect. These are John and Tavros, Heir and Page of Breath, and Equius and Horuss, Heir and Page of Void. First, Breath. We can see John and Tavros have massive amounts of their Aspect by the end of their journey. John has it in the form of pure unrestrained freedom, but Tavros does in a different sense. The Breath Aspect (as well as the Blood Aspect in a different way) represents leadership abilities, specifically being able to drive people to a goal! Tavros definitely has this ability (and a lot of it) as he gathers the BILLIONS of ghosts for his army through friendship alone! Now, Void. Now, we know VERY little about Void. This is no surprise because an entire part of Void is the obscuring of information, but in addition to this, the first and ONLY Void player to delve into the concepts of Void or what it represents is Roxy! Equius and Horuss never gave much thought as to their Aspects deeper symbolic meanings. The only other players who have never been shown to give any real thought into what their Aspects mean include John, Mituna, Tavros, and Jake. The Heirs and Pages. Although we don’t know much about Mituna, John never really thought much about what breath represents or anything like that, he just followed his quest and became a badass hero! Tavros and Jake's Aspects are very important to their quests, so they do talk about their Aspects, but never to a degree more in depth then “Hope is when you believe in something” and “Gosh I wish I could get around without my wheelchair.” Although they care about their Aspects, they only really cared about the literal stuff about it, Like believing and flying. They didn't grow by thinking deeply about their Aspect and what it means to them, they grew by USING IT (Hey, that’s why I used the word Utilization) to kick ass. Although their personal growth had to do with their Aspects, they never gave it more thought then, “I have a rad life now instead of feeling sorry for myself” and “Look at my badass army (Suck it Vriska)”

THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF HOW SEERS AND MAGES ARE.

To quote myself from earlier in this post, “Their powers are knowledge based, and they dont really get sick flashy powers like everyone else does! Rose never cared about being lucky, but cared instead about Lights themes like Clarity and Fortune(fortune as in good stuff, not luck)! “ 

Additionally, we can see the inversions in cannon!! John inverts to one who knows bonds when he acts as the lead authority of Friendship to Karkat! Rose inverts to one who embodies the Void when she goes Grimdark! Sollux inverts to one who utilizes Life when he uses his many dreamselves to keep himself active, as well as his half ghost! Horuss even inverts to one who gains a lot of Knowledge before his entering, being a well educated “Renaissance Troll”.

Although this post is made to give my reasons for why I think my theory is correct, not fight off other possibilities, I feel it is important to say this. Thematically, Rose and Jade inverting to each others classes makes a lot of sense. But with how the Classes actually work, it doesn't as much. It’s an entirely valid theory, and I dont think points towards it are necessarily wrong. I will be going into what exactly I think of Witch's in my next post, which will probably take longer to write then my other two combined.

Mage inverts with Page

Seer inverts with Heir

Again, feel free to message me about any of this!! I’m always down to discuss!!

#Homestuck #classpect #Class #Seer Class #Mage Class #Rose Lalonde #Terezi #Terezi Pyrope #Kankri #Kankri Vantas #Sollux #Sollux Captor #Meulin #Meulin Leijon #Heir class #Heir #Seer #john egbert #Equius #Equius Zahhak #Page Class #Page #Mage #Tavros #Tavros Nitram #Horuss #Horuss Zahhak #Mituna #Mituna Captor

[nataliehegert]

February 21, 2020. The call starts with small talk. Wu Hung is in Princeton, NJ. Orianna Cacchione is in Chicago, IL. Natalie Hegert is in Lubbock, TX. It is a sunny day for all three of us. There are flowers starting to bloom in Princeton. We are hoping for spring to finally arrive.

On that day, just 34 people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the United States. Passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were disembarking. And a top economic adviser for the Trump administration said there was “barely any impact” on the US economy.  

One month later, following the stay-at-home order from Governor Pritzker in Illinois, on March 21, the Smart Museum and Wrightwood 659 closed their doors. The Allure of Matter, an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art over five years in the making, is now closed from public view.

Of course, the museum closures and postponements and cancellations are sad. Sad to think we cannot now go out to experience this exhibition in person, which, in its scale and scope, must have been magnificent to see. One of the images that will always stay with me from this exhibition is a photograph of He Xiangyu’s splattered and stained kitchen, where he worked alone for six months to boil down his first ton of Coca-Cola (A Barrel of Dregs of Coca-Cola, 2009). In a video that is included on the exhibition’s website, the artist says that in that act he was “reminded of the powerlessness of the individual in China.” When faced with vast quantities of anything, that which is beyond human comprehension—the number of stars in the sky, the enormity of a mountain, the global supply and demand of Coca-Cola, the spread of a pandemic—you will inevitably feel small in comparison. “I wanted to repeat this powerlessness,” He says, which he did, with a small team of workers and 127 tons of Coca-Cola. In He’s action, we find a literal and symbolic alchemy: a transformation of a commodity and brand into a unrecognizable substance, a different kind of material that then becomes art. He shows us that when you boil it all down, the powerlessness you feel can be transformed into something else.  

When I spoke with the curators that day in February—in preparation for the printing of this piece for THE SEEN Issue 10, which would also be postponed due to the virus—we did not yet know the scale and scope of the threat of COVID-19. We talked about the particular challenges of installing an exhibition where none of the artists could travel and be on site. But our conversation also highlighted the possibilities of remote cooperation: with the curators, artists, art handlers, and technicians talking via WeChat and transmitting photographs halfway across the world; and also for us, in Princeton, Chicago, and Lubbock, to come together via conference call to discuss an exhibition that the interviewer had only experienced online, through the extraordinary compilation of text, images, artist interviews, and videos available on The Allure of Matter website. With so much uncertainly, one thing remains clear: in this crisis, we are learning what we can accomplish—together, in isolation, and in virtual space.

Natalie Hegert: I wanted to start with the seed for this curatorial endeavor—did the exhibition stem mostly from your research?

Wu Hung: Actually, the inspiration came from a number of directions. One came from my research, another came from the museum. About five years ago, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago was approached with the idea of organizing a large-scale exhibition on contemporary Chinese art. The Smart had the resources to organize and promote such an exhibition, and deeply understands this work—beginning in the 1990s, the museum organized a series of contemporary Chinese exhibitions.  While I am primarily a Professor in the Department of Art History, I also act as an Adjunct Curator at the Smart, and the museum asked me if I had any ideas for this exhibition.

I had been looking at these artists in my research, in contemporary Chinese art and contemporary art in general, for quite a long time. I have always been thinking about a new angle, a new concept, and trying to discover some new themes. The opportunity of an exhibition and my research together allowed me to come up with this concept of ‘material art.’

Orianna Cacchione: I want to underscore that Wu Hung, and the Smart by extension, have truly been leaders in the field of exhibiting contemporary Chinese art—testing the limits of how it is exhibited in the United States. This dates back now twenty-one years to Wu Hung’s first exhibition at the museum, Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, in 1999. Nonetheless, what I think is really important about The Allure of Matter is that it radically proposes new ways of exhibiting contemporary Chinese art—namely, a thematic drive. In this way, thinking of contemporary Chinese art through the lens of materiality becomes very innovative.

NH: As opposed to exhibitions that are just generally contemporary Chinese art?

OC: Right, such as historical surveys.

WH: We have seen quite a few of these surveys at institutions across the US. Sometimes they emphasize historical or political themes. China is always, insistently taken as an “other space.” Of course, in China there’s a different history, both politically and artistically. There is nothing wrong with survey exhibitions, but I do not feel that there is only one way to approach non-Western art. We can find new ways to see it. In The Allure of Matter, for example, we wanted to present these artists in a way that is relatable to an American audience. Through the works included in the exhibition, viewers can discover the artists, their lives, their inspiration, their materials, and how their experiences are different. From there, if viewers want to understand the social experience in China, that is totally fine. But we want the artworks to primarily speak for themselves. So in this exhibition, we try to eliminate restrictions for interpretations. Everyone can see that these works are clearly a part of contemporary art in general, and are not of a niche style exclusive to China. The works presented across the galleries are very diverse; these artists looked to an array of inspirations and represent multiple generations, having grown up in the 1980s, ‘90s, or later.

OC: The exhibition attempts to foreground the art, not the artists’ Chinese identity. This is a very unique aspect of the exhibition, which makes it different from other [Western] exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art.

NH: So, looking at some of the images of the installation, it looks like there is some kind of magic involved in installing some of these huge works—let alone packing and traveling them from institution to institution as the exhibition was originally intended to move. I am looking at Xu Bing’s 1st Class (2011), in which thousands of cigarettes are arranged to look like a tiger skin rug. Do you have any anecdotes about installing these works? Are any of these that look really complex, surprisingly easy to install, or vice versa?

OC: If they look difficult to install, that is because they were. Even some of the works that seem the simplest to install were quite demanding. The sheer scale of many of the works becomes a challenge for American museums and exhibition spaces. I frequently debate the size and scales of artworks that can be shown at the Smart with artists and galleries in China. Often I find myself saying, “It’s just too big, we cannot even fit it in the galleries!” Trying to deal with the differences in scale between the gallery spaces in China, where many of the works in the show were originally made, and spaces in Chicago and throughout the US has been interesting to say the least. But it has been fascinating to see the sheer amount of labor that has gone into the installation across the two venues, and the ways that each of the different installation teams came together.

WH: Right, labor is quite meaningful for several of the works – the idea of collective workmanship. For example, Zhang Huan uses ashes to make his paintings and sculptures. The artist collects ashes from incense burnt in Buddhist temples, where the ash was left by thousands of worshippers. This becomes a meaningful part of the work. For other works, many people have to participate in the labor of making the work, for example Zhu Jinshi’s Wave of Material, the big work made of paper that is on view at Wrightwood 659. For these artists, these collective activities were a very important aspect.

Another thing that made installing these works especially challenging is the fragility of some of these materials, like silk or paper. The artists in The Allure of Matter really emphasize the qualities of the physical materials.

OC: Process plays an important role in all of these artworks. In addition to the collective labor that goes into making these works, their materials undergo significant transformations.

NH: I am reminded of the paper installation by Zhu Jinshi, Wave of Materials (2007/2020), where each piece of paper had to be folded individually. It seems like it is very tedious and repetitious, this kind of process.

OC: Instead of tedious, repetitious—I would say meditative.

WH: The paper itself, it is very soft, fragile. It wrinkles. Each of the 8,000 sheets of paper that makes up Wave of Materials was crumpled by hand according to Zhu Jinshi’s specifications. The process becomes spiritual—it is not just a mechanical folding of paper. There is human touch, and even human body’s temperature changes these materials. It is no longer raw material. The process becomes part of the product.

NH: I find the different qualities of materials, between each of the artists and their practices and what those types of materials point to, interesting—in the sense that some of the artists deal with materials that have a long-standing traditions of use in China, such as silk and xuan paper. But then on the other hand there are artists like He Xiangyu, who is boiling tons of Coca-Cola (A Barrel of Dregs of Coca-Cola, 2009), which is just amazing. He’s use of that particular material touches on industry, commerce, trade, the image of a brand. There is so much that is contained in that one material; it has a critique embedded within it.

WH: That note on globalization and commercialization is more recent to Chinese history, say after the 1990s. He Xiangyu is a younger artist, and he is more open to this kind of phenomena. Other materials across the exhibition have a different direction—they can be very personal, very intimate. There is a beautiful work by Lin Tianmiao, Day-Dreamer (2000), where she uses cotton strings to create an image that is entirely based on her memory of the past. Through this great range of materials—from pure paper to hard cement, concrete, plastic, etc.—one thing we hope to emphasize is that there is not just one kind of material that carries broad applications for these artists, but many kinds.

OC: Exactly—each artist is selecting each material very deliberately. The material choice is both significant and intentional.

WH: There are quite a few artists who have spent many years working with their chosen material(s). They have developed a significant personal relationship with the material. We hope to touch upon the very different contexts in which the artists engage, from practices like urban renewal to connotations of gunpowder and hair.

NH: Why do you think so many artists tended to deal with mass quantities of material?

WH: It is interesting—we just talked about these ideas of collective workmanship. For example, with Xu Bing’s 1st Class and Tobacco Project (2011), when this work was first installed at the Shanghai Gallery of Art, I was the curator of that show as well. We hired a whole team of workers to spend a week exclusively installing this piece. Cigarettes are produced in massive quantities, and there they were in the hands of the workers; it was almost like a performance.

The space that an artist is given to work with becomes an important factor. Yet, while some works are quite huge, like Gu Wenda’s hair temple, others are small and personal. Chen Zhen’s Crystal Landscape of Inner Body (2000) is about his own life. Again, I feel there are two different approaches to space at play in this exhibition; one artist will occupy a lot of space but another will have a small, personal work.

NH: One of the works that is really interesting is Gu Dexin’s plastic installation, Untitled (1989), which he started working on while he was working at a factory. The exhibition guide says he was one of the first artists to use unconventional materials in China. I was going to mention that this work was also in the very famous show, Les Magiciens de la Terre, in 1989 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This work has a very interesting history, and is on loan from the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; so then it had to be shipped from Lyon to Chicago. What was it like to work with this installation? Is it the earliest work in the show?

OC: Yes—it is the earliest work in the show, though it is not the earliest example of material art. Gu Dexin was working with plastic throughout the 1980s; Cai Guo-Qiang’s earliest experiments with gunpowder happened in the late 1980s; and Huang Yong Ping’s book washing happened in the mid 1980s. Installing Untitled has been quite interesting because Gu Dexin has since left the artworld—he rejected working within the confines of the art market and the gallery-commodified art system. In 2008 he stopped working, and now he refuses to talk about his artworks. Trying to understand how to install that piece became a problem to solve. We worked with Sara Moy, a conservator in Chicago to study installation images of the work and develop our own method to install it in the absence of any instructions from the artist. It was like a puzzle, trying to have our installation match the original exhibited at the Magiciens de la Terre exhibition.

WH: Personally, I am so happy that we can bring this work to Chicago, to the US, because this work was not well known. Gu Dexin is quite a famous artist despite the fact that his major works have almost all disappeared due to the ephemeral types of materials he used. Initially we did not know a lot about this piece, but through an early Chinese critic, we learned that this piece may have been in France. Orianna did a lot of work reaching out to rediscover Untitled. So now we are able to install it and bring it to many, many people, which is something I am very proud of.

OC: I think this is a pivotal piece in Gu Dexin’s practice because it marked his transition from working on a very small, intimate scale to thinking about the possibility of plastic for installations. Almost all of his plastic pieces in the 1990s, many of which were shown in exhibitions throughout Europe, grew in scale and now have been lost or destroyed.

WH: There was a big show organized at the Guggenheim in 2018, Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, where they also presented plastic works by Gu Dexin. But at that time they could not find some of the bigger works, so the work they showed was relatively small—the installation took up much less space than this one.

NH: Another interesting work that probably has an interesting history is Civilization Pillar (2001/2019) by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, which was originally produced in 2001 and commissioned again by the Smart Museum. What led you to commission a new version of this work, and were there any issues that arose with redoing this?

OC: This work is, for me, one of the most important examples of material art in the exhibition. The radical transformation of human fat, purifying and solidifying it with wax, acids, and vaseline is quite fantastic. The resulting work is aesthetically beautiful and striking, but also so minimalist. The material defines both the meaning and the significance of the work; for the artists, fat embodies the excesses of contemporary civilization. Civilization Pillar (2001/2019) was one of the pieces that, when I started working on the exhibition, I immediately thought of how crucial this artwork is to broadly conceptualizing the themes of the exhibition.

NH: Finally, I did want to ask about the unfortunate outbreak of the coronavirus, and how this may have affected the installation and traveling possibilities of the artists. Did this negatively affect the show? How did you deal with that?

OC: It did; it impacted the exhibition quite a lot, in the sense that we were unable to bring any of the artists that we had invited for the opening to Chicago. Three artists who were meant to come and oversee the installation of their works were also unable to join us.

NH: So how did you work around that, with the artists being unable to oversee the installation?

OC: A lot of conversations and photographic exchanges via WeChat, really. It was a lot of sending images and getting an enthusiastic thumbs-up or images of drawings and suggestions. It was not an ideal situation, but we worked around it. As far as I know all of the artists are very happy with how their works look.

WH: We remain hopeful that before the show ends in Chicago they can come here, maybe we can organize a panel or conversation. I do not see a major negative impact on the show, [despite] thinking about a terrible situation. Because all of the pieces were realized and we have been in constant communication with the artists—with the help of digital communication and the internet. They can literally watch the work being installed and make suggestions. That makes things a bit easier, although they could not physically be here.

While Allure of Matter is currently closed to the public, aspects of the exhibition, including installation images and interviews with the artists may be found at https://theallureofmatter.org.

Interview Posted on 4/20/2020

#interview #Highlights

[jackfallows]

What’s a Cryptogram Puzzle Post? An Autobiographical Essay on Comics, Symbolism, Magic & Game Mechanics

Back in March this year, I began probably my most ambitious self-publishing project to date – Cryptogram Puzzle Post. The main barrier I’ve faced in terms of marketing so far is that it isn’t easily summed up in a sentence but this is also what I find most infectious about it from a creative perspective. For now, I’ve been describing it as ‘a monthly bundle of interlinking puzzles, codes, spells and illusions inspired by witchcraft and alchemy’. If you want to know more about what that looks like in real terms or how you can support it, there’s lots of information over on the website.

But I wanted to get into the guts of it here because although it may seem as though it’s sprung out of left field, it’s actually been a natural, even inevitable, distillation of all the things I find fascinating in life. And I want to define the links and interplay between those things because deconstructing everything is also a favourite pastime of mine, and kind of the umbrella under which the whole project could be placed.

So let’s start with comics - the love of my life and the medium and community that has served as the well from which I’ve drawn the majority of my craft. First off, let me just say that I think the comics industry is as problematic as any other kind of mass media industry. For starters, it’s unfairly pigeon-holed when represented in more mainstream media like television, so that our cultural understanding still tends to follow two very tired assumptions; either they’re about superheroes and therefore for straight, white, twenty-something men with poor social skills, or they’re sub-literature designed to bridge the gap into ‘proper’ literature for young people (and as such are silly and should be ‘grown out of’ by a certain age). I think these stereotypes exist for a reason but of course, I don’t subscribe to either of them and it’s been very encouraging within my lifetime to observe a significant shift in not only attitudes towards comics but also a diversification of their content, audiences and creators.

However, in no way is this to say that the industry isn’t still rife with abuse, misogyny, bigotry, and fascism in certain pockets; from Frank Miller’s steady decline into a paranoid right-wing fantasist to the endless list of creators who have been called out for sexually aggressive and/or abusive behaviour to little or no repercussions; not to mention the almost weekly onslaught of covers objectifying women’s bodies so barely-acknowledged at this point that it’s almost become its own tradition. And the list goes on, of course. In other words, there have been countless reasons to bow out of comics over the years, and where that urge has avoided me then at the very least I’ve felt a tangible level of trepidation when meeting people for the first time and telling them I’m a cartoonist, or work in a comic shop, or collect comics.

But the thing that keeps me coming back is the medium itself, the mechanics, the symbolism, the process, the untapped potential and the infinite possibilities not yet explored (impeded, even, by the cultural assumptions discussed above). People like Scott McCloud, Lynda Barry and Chris Ware have explored these ideas in ways far smarter than I could or would presume to here, so if you want a more thorough exploration than the one I’m about to offer, I recommend seeking out their work, writing, interviews and talks on the subject. But here’s how I think a life in comics has given way to this project, and why I think fans of comics have responded supportively to it so far:

Comics are a language of symbols. When a cartoonist draws a character, object or background, they’re rarely trying to recreate the way we engage with those things in real life, and if they’re the kind of cartoonist I get excited about, they’re also not trying to recreate the way we engage with those things in any other medium either. That’s why ‘wide-screen’ comics, photorealistic artwork and other such tropes tend to turn me off – trying to force Hollywood in there where it simply isn’t needed, overlooking the tools at your disposal, borrowing too heavily from more socially accepted mediums, following the money etc. all just leave a weird taste in my mouth. On the other hand, the cartoonists I admire concern themselves with trying to distil characters, objects and backgrounds into a form that will convey the idea or feeling they wish to communicate most efficiently. This is why when I run comic book workshops, the first thing I try to establish with participants is that being a skilled illustrator is not a prerequisite for making a successful comic book.

If it was possible to just smash that idea, we would not only kill part of an unhelpful culture surrounding comics that sees it being graded unfairly against other mediums in what we perceive as its “ballpark” – i.e. in terms of what TV shows or illustrations have that they don’t (slick production values or soundtracks for example), but we also see something like the recent groundswell in indie comics publishing where suddenly hundreds of unique voices are not only speaking loudly, they’re being heard for the first time and are being the first things heard by a new generation of fans.

The comic artists I most enjoy have an understanding of clarity, flow and immediacy, and they can bend those skills to fit a multitude of purposes, art styles, lengths and formats. From a creative perspective, that immediacy is also one of the most soul-crushing aspects of the medium as a creator too; often the hours of tedious monotony and forwards planning and experimentation is concerned with subtraction – it’s about streamlining the work to a point where the images and text become so consistent to the reader that they almost go actively unnoticed, only registering on a subliminal level. The potential hours that can be put into creating a panel may very well be to achieve the aim that it is only ‘read’ for a fraction of a second between other panels. Conversely, drawings and compositions can be utilised to make you linger, they can offer modes of engagement that are intrinsically linked to the story, or that act as a set-up for a contrasting pay-off later on. They are a medium; a language of symbols that it is discouraging to see so many people learn only to the extent you might learn the conversational basics of a foreign language at school. There’s a lot to be said beyond asking the time and ordering drinks.

And this habit of reducing things into symbols is manifest in so much of human endeavour for as far back as we are able to catalogue and observe; whether it’s the language systems we’ve developed to communicate with each other, the records we’ve kept as cave paintings, hieroglyphs, tapestries and books, the short-hands we use in our study of chemistry, mathematics, engineering and so on, down to the instant-recognisability we aspire to with logos and branding. And this last arena is a true testament to the power of symbolism, as it has given way to one of the most competitive industries on the planet. Capitalist and consumer culture relies on our almost primal relationship with symbols in order to thrive – what is McDonalds without the golden arches? What is Coca Cola without swirly white lettering against a red background? Symbols permeate everything we do, from the red, amber and green lights on our roads to the WiFi symbol stuck to the coffee shop window.

But our understanding of these symbols is a learned one; there is often no inherent link between the signifier and the thing it signifies, except a common (but not necessary) visual clue. Even words themselves are meaningless sounds and shapes until we actively build those connections between them and our lived experiences; which is to say there is nothing inherent in the word ‘orange’ that has anything to do with the fruit or the colour; if I wanted to (and I don’t) I could teach my child when he’s born that ‘orange’ is the word we use for chairs and he could go on reclining on oranges without any confusion about what that word meant on his part. In other words, a symbol out of context is devoid of content. And the meaning of symbols is not fixed or immune to personal, cultural or historical forces either.

So where does witchcraft and alchemy come in? Well that part is probably less surprising to people who know me or my work but there were slightly more considered reasons than pure aesthetic preference (although it’s still not certain which reasons had most bearing on the decision). I’ve been fascinated with witchcraft for a long time but have only properly started researching over the last year or two. To begin with, I was gearing up to make a long-form comic about a present-day coven that would act as a vehicle to explore the survival and recovery of abused people and their associated mental health issues.

The more documented history I’ve devoured, the more distinctly I recognise an evil that has survived the ages, as rampant now as ever before but appearing very differently – namely, man’s hatred of (powerful) women. Not only that but I recognise a culture of deafening silence surrounding abuse and/or the mistreatment of people suffering with mental health difficulties. There is so much parallel to be drawn between the dangerous and hysterical witch-hunts carried out by hateful, bigoted and above all terrified men in Salem during the 1690’s and their counterparts on Twitter, 2017. But I’m not about to draw those parallels because, like with the mechanics of comic books, far more qualified and interesting people have already taken the time to do this for us. As a survivor, a queer and a person who suffers from mental health issues, there is enough in there for me to identify somewhat with that history while also being so foreign to it that there is always more to learn.

This is especially true where actual practiced magic is concerned, as opposed to baseless prosecutions against hated women who weren’t witches. For example, actual witches frequently used (and still use) symbolism in their craft, science and medicine. Alchemy was considered magic until science caught up and now we shorten ‘alchemist’ to ‘chemist’ when we pop into Boots for our prescription. These were people breaking ground based on experimentation and intuition, understanding the flow and symmetry in the world and using that to redirect things when they got out of whack. Lots of it probably didn’t work, or worked as a placebo, lots of it did but not yet very efficiently, lots was deliberate superstition but all was carried out with conviction that there was more beyond what we can currently name and observe in the world, and there is good reason to explore it.

As part of my own recovery process over the last year or so I’ve gotten into meditation again and although there’s a bit of a gross cult surrounding ‘mindfulness’ at the moment, a lot of the basic ideas in there are ones I can get behind. Being in open, green spaces and just spending a bit of time taking things in and giving my attention to them does great things for my brain, and its encouraged by mindfulness – slowing down enough to be present and observe. I think the reason this works for me is because, subconsciously or otherwise, I begin to recognise the balance of things, not unlike a witch in a meditative state (or ‘trance’ or ‘possession’ as it was often misdiagnosed). Nature has its affairs in order – it knows roughly where the earth is on its axis and orbit around the sun, there are cycles of give and take on each level that allow everything its fair chance; again, I probably can’t tell you as much about this as David Attenborough but it does make perfect sense to me. If you have suffered trauma or live with mental health issues, you are used to being dominated by the fear of everything that is out of your control and the universe can really throw you a bone by convincing you there are some cogs in the machine still turning as intended, a few basic rules that all things must follow and a way to pretty accurately predict possible outcomes.

Which brings me nicely to games. I’ve had a lifelong relationship with tabletop games that is as passionate as it is strange to lots of people. My favourite thing about buying a new game is unboxing it, looking at all the pieces and above all else reading the rules; I like to play the game too, of course, but only to see the rules come to life. I’m not competitive, I’m not a very good strategist and I’m more likely to try and create a game when I’m bored than I am to play one I already own. A good rule system has the same effect on my brain as observing nature in action. I find the symmetry and the variables and the interplay between theme, aesthetics and interactivity completely spellbinding. Games are a rich and diverse medium, that allows creators to build worlds, tell stories and engage the ‘readers’ of that story in a way unlike any other. I have had gaming sessions where just as effectively as any novel or comic or movie, the mechanics have been able to immerse me in fully-realised fantasy universes, make clear and nuanced political points or elicit strong emotive responses.

In short, I’ve been spoiled, and as such there are two things within this medium that I think it’s wasteful to overlook. Firstly, a tabletop game is a kind of ritual and whether it’s played alone, with friends, partners or strangers there are people present and the ritual cannot be completed without them. Factoring human beings and all their associated quirks and abstractions into your game mechanics is a way to instantly give ownership and investment to players and to potentially increase the replayability of the game itself to an infinite degree. Like a coven of witches chanting in a circle, if one of them disengages because they have nothing to do or nothing of bearing to observe until it’s their turn again, the spell can quickly be broken and the ritual made a failure. People should be at the centre of the game play, rather than being the robots procedurally facilitating it.

Secondly, there should always be an element of choice for any action a player carries out; even if there is only one obvious choice in terms of achieving a given goal, the ability to wilfully sabotage that goal for no reason other than exercising the right should be built in; even if the choices given involve rolling dice and leaving the outcome in the hands of fate; even if the choices given are all stinkers and none of them appeal. Players should be given agency otherwise they cease to be players at all. We need the freedom to explore and learn through action if we hope to fully understand the universe created by the game designer. What kind of witch would create a spell for something that will happen inevitably anyway? The worlds we build in games should have balance and symmetry but should in no way be prescriptive or unable to be influenced by the players, otherwise the magic will die.

These considerations become interesting when transposing them onto puzzles, of course. With a puzzle, the experience you attempt to create for the gamer is one of unravelling a mystery with a single, concrete answer. So player choice lies in how to interpret the symbolism on each page and building in red herrings, or dichotomies, or even multiple paths to reach the same conclusion. And human-centred play lies in recognising the format of the game play; it’s printed onto paper and will be picked up and handled, it’s usually a solitary experience and therefore will slow down and speed up, placing more importance on maintaining a consistent atmosphere and making the puzzles reflective of the story and vice versa. In essence, I’m trying to provide the tools necessary to carry out a ritual that will transport you to and engage you in a fictional world. And like many of the comics and games that I enjoy, this wouldn’t be possible without tapping into that primal relationship we have with symbolism or that naturally meditative state we achieve when attempting to find the balance and order in the world around us (be it fictional or otherwise).

I don’t think I would class Cryptogram Puzzle Post as magic or comics or even as a game in the strictest sense but it definitely couldn’t exist without everything those mediums have taught me. And I’m excited to find out how much more there is to learn.

[faemoria-arch]

             @cyrusdreamseeker​​ ; A super long time ago on my previous incarnation of this blog, I wrote just like... a long bullet point list of headcanon’d behaviors and quirks for Tooth. It spanned through things like fidgeting habits to the idea that she will stand at the approach of someone she considers higher authority or more often around someone she’s comfortable enough with, and your question is somewhat relevant to all of that and also you asked for ramblings so here they are. A train-of-thought on all that comes to mind for how Toothiana behaves differently between flying and walking.

            Though to start with, admittedly when I am writing threads I probably have Tooth walk more often than my own headcanon says she should, because the way a person walks can tell a lot about how they’re feeling, as opposed to hovering in the air which, while having its own unique behavioral quirks to work with, like a small drop in elevation from surprise ( or honestly this which is one of the few things i really appreciate for tooth from the movie because it’s the most adorable thing ever fight me ), also has its limitations from lack of placing weight . And also it’s easier to give my writing partners something to actually respond if to if necessary when it’s ‘she begins walking away/walks towards them/walks over’ as opposed to ‘she darts off because once tooth has decided to fly somewhere else she’s already gone buh-bye now’.

                                                        (         makin’ my way downtown. )

           So barring writer’s prerogative, it probably goes without saying that Tooth spends most of her time in the air as a preference. It’s where she’s most comfortable, safest, and it just feels natural to her. Because it’s where she is most of her time even while idle, and also because ‘she’s friends with the wind’ and of course in the rotgoc universe there is literally no reason it can’t be assumed that she is literally friends with the wind . But most importantly because she is half Sister of Flight which I’ll get to shortly.         The authority aspect is pretty straight-forward I think: Tooth hovers at around eye level or just a few feet above it when talking to most people she has any affinity towards , but Tooth stands to place herself at a lower position, also sacrificing one of the advantages she has in combat and self defense and some level of comfort, than someone she considers to have some claim to her right to live anyways . I.e. Mother Nature and MiM. When Toothiana is standing or sitting she will often fidget from subconsciously quelling the impulse for her wings to be moving, but it’s like 20x worse in their company and so she’s far more stiff from the more intentional effort to not tap her fingers or press at her lips or what have you.

        There’s really no one else that receives that response so mechanically, every time. She sometimes stands and walks around people she is intimately closer to; That’s out of trust or... at least something like trust. But also if Tooth is entering like... another kingdom, or some other faecreature’s dwellings, or the home of someone she especially wants to be on good terms with but hasn’t really made an in-person impression on yet, she’ll probably walk in her initial approach as a sign of respect.

        Granted, it’s a symbolic gesture of that respect & surrender & a lack of desire to harm. And it doesn’t mean that if she hovers around someone she doesn’t respect them      again, hovering at or slightly above their eye level is the default. It’s a simple traditional manner of ‘authority sits on high, while everyone else crawls around on the ground’. I’m not going to say that when Toothiana is walking, she’s actually surrendering that much or really assuring someone she has no desire to harm them, because naturally she can always just go back to flying in a fraction of a second, and even if she can’t, one can’t just clip her wings and expect her to suddenly wilt away uselessly. ( or at least not on this blog. movie canon says that’s exactly what you do, but book canon says that Tooth lost the use of one of her wings and her response to learning about Pitch right at the same time was, ‘Sweet story. I’m gonna go fight him.’ and then she like, falls over and if that ain’t the story of this blog I       I’m getting off track, anyways... )       In fact, any thread I have where Tooth is practice sparring against someone else has her on the ground to level the playing field literally. And neither I nor my partners have ever come to the conclusion that it would be enough of a hinderance to make her anything less than       let’s be honest, an OP supernatural entity that doesn’t need swords to kill you so why would you think she needs to be able to fly to do it either.

                                              ( spoilers: she super does not )

        There’s a reason Toothiana tends to perch on things as often as she does; It’s a good midground between the two. A willingness to engage without any real submission, or a sign that she’s being rather aloof. I always feel like if Toothiana is holding a conversation with someone and stays hovering much higher in the air than them, it’s giving the impression that she’s ready to/wants to leave or at least feels it necessary to keep the option as open as possible.        But in any case being grounded does take something very... definitive away from her. Like Toothiana should manage to be a pretty elegant and graceful creature whether she’s darting through the clouds or stalking within the trees or rolling in the dirt ( she makes it work ), but there is something different about how she embodies that grace in the air, and how it’s just a trait she has on the ground. It’s the Sister of Flight thing I mentioned earlier, hovering and flying in the air is natural to her       it’s where ( half of ) Toothiana was born to be . Actually this is something reflected well in her difficulty dancing with others.         Toothiana can fight just fine on the ground because Toothiana feels comfortable fighting anyways. And also some corner of her mind probably thinks it’s fun, even if it’s overpowered by her survival instinct flashing red sirens . ( Because... y’know. ) She can look like she’s dancing when she is fighting         well, we’re ignoring the rare and situational berserker mode tooth who will just wail on you with a sword like a club until your shield and the arm holding it is broken         because of how instinctively it comes to her, but she has difficulty actually dancing because she handles that very clinically. 

       Tooth never really dances with others outside of when she’s been expected to ( i.e. where it’s part of the package of being a Queen and also a representative of MiM; Frivolous parties hosted by other spirits and the like because I always imagine at least some portion of immortals do a lot just to stay entertained and engage in petty snooty status-based social climates )  so it’s not something that’s ever been fun for her. There’s more thought put into where her feet are supposed to go because she’s memorized exactly that, than any sort of impulse. So just like how she looks comparably stiff when standing in front of Seraphina or Manny due to how conscious the effort being made is, she looks stiff while she dances and can handle no improvisation.        Incidentally, when she’s dancing with someone where everything secretly and not-so-secretly is a fight because ‘what are feelings we only know power struggles not naming any names’ she’s actually way better. On the nicer end of things, if Jack were to dance with her, she’d be better at learning to dance too because he would obviously bring out the...well, fun of it all. But I digress, dancing is just one of the first examples that came to mind, there are other things this applies to as well, like how well you can expect Toothiana to swim, or moving to catch something while on foot, and so on. She can do it, but it will seem far less effortless than its counterpart, and it is less instinctive so... you probably wouldn’t see Toothiana move to catch something by foot unless her wings are broken.

       Which brings me to the other element of this whole subject which is the emotional connection Toothiana has to being able to fly. I’ve already covered the portion of Toothiana’s life where she hated everything about what she had turned into, and her wings and feathers were a particular insult added to injury because her own frustration with them would, in turn, cause them to flare and etc. etc. But one of the first things Toothiana did when she changed, was take an absolute child-fitting joy in the ability to do so, particularly for what it allowed her to do for others. Eventually that changed, and she instead embraced them as 1. An aspect of freedom/autonomy/safety and 2. Her starkest connection to the Sister of Flight. To quote this headcanon post:

Undoubtedly the most fragile thing about Toothiana’s body are her wings. They are also unquestionably the most ‘unnatural’ part of her, truly symbolizing the magic that makes up being a fae, more than most of her other physical attributes.

       ‘Fae’ here also referring more specifically to her heritage, the ability to fly is simply a defining feature of being a Sister of Flight. Toothiana’s wings can break and take time to regrow and so on, but they will come back . In fact, if necessary she can make them grow back very quickly with a bit of time, concentration, and energy to spare . So she doesn’t feel a sudden loss of identity when they aren’t functional or anything.        But she will be absolutely pissed if you make the effort to break them, on principle.

                                         ( and yet... honestly fuck these two, they ruin everything. )          Not only is it a quick determination of how her opponent views her       that her wings are a deciding factor of whether she will overpower them which is probably insulting       but it usually feels like a disrespect for the Sisters of Flight and her place as one of them , even if they have no way of knowing that . Actually she’ll probably find it to be even worse and more aggravating if they don’t, because they don’t know the memories and feelings associated to those wings, they just see them as any other body part to be injured for an advantage. Which is a good way to make Toothiana less practical in how she decides to ruin your day.

               Can I tldr this? I can try. TLDR ; By default Tooth is more at ease in the air than she is on her feet , it’s not such a big difference that she’s clumsy or disoriented when grounded, but her actions tend not to look and feel as effortless. Tooth could probably still kill a man while wingless, blindfolded, with both arms tied behind her back and make it home in time for breakfast.         She will walk around people she considers a higher authority than herself as a gesture of respect, and go between low hovering and walking when around friends/acquaintances/partners/whatever. She perches on high objects/seats in more neutral/observatory situations, and remains hovering higher in the air in the company of those she means to get away from at a moment’s notice.         Her wings are fancy magical wings and she will be angry if you purposefully break them.         She is mediocre at dancing.         I definitely forgot the original question I was meaning to answer about 1/7th of the way through. Why would you ever ask for this? 

#cyrusdreamseeker #» โลกีย์ ; Out of Character #» ทั่วไป ; Headcanon #[ i guESS. i mean i should probably give it a little bit of actual structure before i put it in that tag #but i know who i am and i never will. #so anyways i hope this is what you were expecting but i honestly feel bad either way. ]

[quowreadspact]

Damages 2.5

The swordswoman wasted no time, stepping forward.  Bare foot on snow-crusted pavement.  I backed away; to do otherwise would mean standing still while the point of that giant sword would simply slide into my heart.

How does a twelve foot sword work anyways? Like physically it seems it’d b really awkward to move around. Some shenanigans with it. 

The Other didn’t budge.  Instead, she made a face, and then quickly came to a decision.  She drew her hand back, ready to plunge the weapon through Ms. Lewis’ chest.

Ms. Lewis didn’t move.

She has some balls, or she doesn’t care about her own life, or is very certain in this Other’s actions. Probably the latter, combined with the former. 

The knob was rattling, internal mechanisms moving with excruciating slowness.

“I’d hoped for something quicker and more effective.  You’re weak, and that is going to hold us back, Blake Thorburn,” Ms. Lewis told me.  “Tell me, can you identify the Other we just saw?”

And now his lies will bite him in the ass. Good to know how to unlock stuff as well. 

I was busy scribbling down another symbol.  I looked up to ask, “Is that something we can use?”

What symbol? The only one I can remember is the one he saw Laird doing. 

When we were inside, I removed the paper from the one side, closed the door, locked it, and then stuck the other sticky note to the inside.  Again, I smeared it with a thumbprint of blood.

“Protection?” Ms. Lewis asked.

“I figured it might help,” I said.

“It might,” Ms. Lewis said.  “This way.”

Maybe? Doubt it. Also really shouldn’t use too much blood. Using yourself as a power source seems dangerous.

“Probably,” Ms. Lewis said.  “It also expended power.  A small drop of blood, but there’s a larger share of personal power invested in that than you might think.  Doing that too often is dangerous.”

I felt a sting of annoyance.  “Then tell me that.”

“It doesn’t really matter, and I want you to be confident more than I want you to be entirely accurate and efficient in what you’re doing.  You’ll be safer if you familiarize yourself with the tools at your disposal and act with conviction.”

Seems like it mattered to me. That Faerie seemed scary and he is already weak, he needs all the advantages he can get. 

“Wait one moment.  This is about symbolism and effect.  A great deal of what any practitioner does is draw on the power of Others.  Connections, pacts, bonds, borrowed power.  You can be dull and methodical about it, but that’s only going to impress a specific kind of Other.  If you use presentation, however, timing, flair, showmanship…”

“It matters?”

“You do have an audience, after all.  It’s marginal as benefits go, but if I’m going to teach you, I’m going to teach you to do it right.  Gesture and statement can go along with power.  Saying the right thing, doing the right thing, they can add a modicum of power to anything you do, for very little cost.  Understand?”

It makes sense to me. Magic is getting someone else to do something for you in this world after all. 

“You’re wrong,” she said.  “The things they conjure up are there.  They’re fabricated, and it’s this affinity for things that have been crafted that helps the Faerie avoid being touched so easily by fabricated things.  With glamour, the Faerie might create an image of a flower.  It’s an image.  But as they put power into it, it gains substance.  As people see it and recognize it, they feed power into it.  Plant that flower in a garden, leave it be, and it will grow as any flower might.  It becomes a part of the garden, and the garden adapts.  It adapts to the viewers, becoming what they want and expect to see.  A two way street. Given opportunity, it becomes as much of a part of things as if it was always there.”

So what glamor is the Faerie using right now? The sword maybe. It seems super unrealistic. Unfortunately Blake’s fear of it makes it more real. 

The Faerie manipulate things to distract, to addle your senses so you aren’t paying attention to the fact that it doesn’t fit with reality.  You’re more afraid for your life than you are concerned with the ridiculous length of her blade, and the fact that she couldn’t possibly be strong enough to hold it.”

Well there you go. 

Ms. Lewis used the tools to finish the hatchet.  “It’s a very serious sort of play, when you get down to it.  Dress it up in the glamour of possible true death, using a rapier can kill even Faerie.  Build up stories of an unbeatable duelist, fights for pride, fights for the idea of romance.  See what ideas and adventures emerge.  Something as brutal, violent and sudden as this is far more dramatic and interesting when the ‘death’ of one individual in a duel might throw two hundred plots into disarray.  A Faerie cannot afford not to watch.”

This doesn’t happen to be a crude iron hatchet right? Probably not. At least he has something I guess. Maybe there’s some iron in this workshop. 

“She’s most likely clinging to the last few scraps available to her.  It’s hard to say where this leads.  Some lose their minds, others throw away their minds, carving away their personalities and memories so they might start fresh..  Some defy the court and try to change the game in another way, trying to bring about a larger change, and they get banished when they fail.  The question is, why is this information important to you?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“That was an awfully fast answer,” she said, sounding a touch annoyed.  She handed me the hatchet, handle first.  “I explained a great deal.  Surely one of you two can pull something out of it.”

C’mon Blake you gotta win this using your wits not your strength so think! Shes in a bad place, her sword is glamour, you got this. 

“Isolated places are almost always better for a practitioner.  Places where people don’t tread, where delicate things like ghosts and vestiges aren’t torn apart by passing people and their perceptions, and where you can bend rules and there are less people to see and challenge it.”

“But we’ve cornered ourselves,” I said, repeating myself for emphasis.

“If it comes down to it, I will give you a name, and you can call it.”

“A name that I wouldn’t regret calling?” I asked.

“I would take on the cost,” she said.  “I swore to keep you as safe as you allow me to.  Subjective as ‘safe’ might be, I would take the cost.”

So he has a way out as sketchy as it is. Anyways that makes sense, he can’t expose his magic to the public so best be somewhere no one can see you. 

I looked to the trash can.  Filled with debris and broken things, yet to be hauled away and thrown out.  I started to reach into it, and saw how my hand was caked in the blood that had welled out from the wound.

Probably giving myself tetanus.

I reached inside, tried to find something, and came up with a handful of bent, rusty nails, rocks and splinters.

Rust means iron right? 

“Are you reluctant because you’re scared of me?” I asked. Direct attacks, I thought.  “I think you’re a coward.”

Hopefully Blake really thinks that, or another lie and even less power for him...

“So sayeth the liar,” I said.  I slapped the upper half of the hatchet’s handle into my other palm.  My heart was pounding, but that hardly mattered.  “I think you’re all just a bunch of idiot practitioners who started deluding yourselves so you could lie despite the rules.”

Ok that has to be a lie. Be careful Blake. 

“Too late.  I accept.  For my prize, I will have your obedience, for one year, one month, one week and one day,” the Faerie said.  She smiled.  “I am sworn to Mademoiselle Duchamp, but I would still like to keep you in a place just outside this world, and with my spare moments, I could amuse myself with you.  Perhaps I could make the first day you spend with me worse than any day you’ve experienced.  I could challenge myself to see if I could do the same each day thereafter.”

“I think,” I said, “I might take some of your power.”

Really really really don’t wanna lose this one Blake. I think hes obligated to let her do that if she wins. 

“Yes,” she said.  “Ornias.  He once placed stars in the firmament, but he now calls them down to earth.  Say his name seven times.”

“Perfect.  Ornias,” I said.

“Jesus penis fuck, Blake, no,” Rose said.

I saw the Faerie’s eyes go wide.

When a fucking Other who had lived and breathed deception for thousands of years was still provoked into giving away a tell, I knew I’d struck home.

“Ornias,” I said again.

She dashed towards me.

Trying to stop me before I finished.

I clenched my fist.  I still held the nails, rocks and splinters I’d grabbed from the barrel.

Words and gestures had power, right?

“Take this!” I shouted, hurling the fistful at her as if I were throwing a baseball.  A left-handed throw, but still.

I like that. Jesus penis fuck. 

Anyways I guess he is gonna say his name 6 times so he is ready at a moments notice to say it the seventh time. 

The nails probably won’t do much but oh well. It is something. 

Was that expenditure of power why I staggered a little, as I released them from my hand?

Probably that, previous blood magic, lying, and summoning Ornias.

My focus, however, was on grabbing the longest bit of pipe that I’d kicked out into the hallway.  Moving towards her, bending low to grab it.

The thing was so rusty and grimy that the actual pipe itself was hard to make out.

The hatchet couldn’t be my weapon.  Ghost inside it or no.

Could this?

Will probably be just as effective. Maybe more if the rust means it is raw iron.

I didn’t even think.  I ducked low, scraping the back of my bloody, gritty hand against the concrete floor.  Blocking the connection.

I immediately regretted it.  Would it matter, when we were this close?  Would it help obscure her perception of me?  I had to climb to my feet-

I staggered, dropping onto all fours instead.

Dizzy.  Drained.  I’d given too much of myself, for too little.

Dammit too much blood magic Blake. 

“Stupid, fucking, impractical sword!”  I hit the weapon instead.  As she leaped back, she couldn’t  move it out of the doorframe.  One downward swing, and the pipe struck the blade.

It broke in four different places along the length.

Nevermind, I thought, that it had withstood worse impacts over the course of this skirmish alone.

Because it is! And he called her bluff about her sword. Good. He should have done that sooner. 

I did it a few more times for good measure.  Hitting her sword-hand, head, shoulder, leg.  Meaty sounds.

“-nament,” I finished.  “Ornament.”

No fucking way was I ever saying that name a seventh time.

Well another thing he must avoid. Don’t say Ornias. Hopefully Rose knows its beset for her not to say it either because others suck at differentiating between them. Also holy fuck he won in a very gruesome way. 

“I think I see why she might have picked you,” Ms. Lewis said.

“Blake was picked, then?”  Rose asked.  “It’s not just him being the second heir?”

“I already said too much.  Take your prize, Blake.”

So then why was Molly first? This is an interesting thread of events. I mean, she did have to make Rose in order for Blake to be chosen. 

“She already did,” Rose said.  “So… if I declare it’s my turn… can I take a prize?”

“That’s sketchy,” I said, “And it feels like it’s begging for heaps of bad karma.”

“Some,” Ms. Lewis said.  “But you reaped some as well.  The question would be whether you could defeat someone who is already defeated.”

“Oh,” Rose said.  “Right.”

“I’m not saying it’s impossible.  It’s very doable, actually, but it requires time, and it requires you to come up with other ways of defeating her than physical.”

“I don’t understand,” Rose said.

I ran my hand through my hair.  “She’s talking about torture, Rose.  Torture the Other I just bashed until you beat her on some mental or emotional level, then claim a prize.”

They don’t have time, even though it may be smart. 

“I’m thinking we give her back.  Is it doable?”

“It is.  Invoke the duel, make an argument, give off the right impression, a degree of fear…”

“Maybe,” I said.  “If it’s alright, can I use you to scare them?  I’m kind of done with that for right now.”

“As you wish.”

I nodded.  I reached down and cut away a lock of hair, then jammed it into my back pocket.  I tossed the piece of broken sword aside.

“Hey, Faerie.  If you’re paying any attention, turn into a bird, and I’ll see about giving you back.”

Yes intimidate the 13 year old from the crazy family. Also I wonder what the lock of hair can do. 

I could see the fear in her expression.  Her hands clutched a golden plate that had been sitting in her lap.

No.  A small shield?  What did you call a shield like that?  Her implement.

She’d barely hit puberty, and she already had an implement and a familiar?

You’re so behind Blake. So behind. Use the faeries power and make something! Either your implement or familiar. 

“It felt bad,” she said.  Her eyes didn’t leave Letita.

“I’m telling you right now.  I had no intention of saying the name the seventh time.  I so swear.  I only needed to push Letita to act, use her impatience against her.”

The two nodded.

“The second thing I want you to know, is that we had every right to challenge her two more times and take two more prizes.  We didn’t.  We fought, I won, and I took what I’d earned.  Now, if you’ll allow me…” I said.  I very slowly approached.  I extended my hand, the little bird inside.  “…I’m giving her back.”

Why tell them that? Make them fear you. They already do. 

“We were told to stop you,” the little girl said.  “You’re dangerous.  You don’t even realize how dangerous you all are.  We’re supposed to do anything and everything we can.”

“Hush, Joanna,” the older girl said.

“Well?” I asked.

“I should give my life to stop you,” the girl said.  “Joanna doesn’t know everything, but she’s essentially right.”

This seems like it goes deeper than the Barber. Poor Blake. This story cannot end well. 

“Mom!  Fine!  Stop- stop and listen, don’t call it a favor, then.  Call it a repayment of the favor you owe me for taking Jo to her six-in-the-damn-morning dance lessons for the last half a year.”

I could hear her mother’s voice this time, faintly emerging from the phone, three paces away from me.

“Yes mom, I know that means I can’t whine about having to take her anymore.”

“I need to get back home before Ms. Lewis’ break ends,” I said.

“No, I don’t think that hell on earth is balanced out by six months of early morning car trips and boring waits in the gym.  But maybe ask me in half an hour.  Unless you want to take her today?  Since you already happen to be up?”

Very typical mom/ten convo. Also... Blake could cause hell on earth? Uh oh... what did you do granny. 

I left Jo and Penelope behind as I went to go deliver the letter, Ms. Lewis one step behind me.

Back to business. 

#text #damages 2.5 #2.5