#disappearing as a magician

[tofixtheshadows]

Sorry but Kabru is so fascinating to me as a character, in a pure mechanical sense, because of what Ryoko Kui does with him. Everything about him is a red herring. He's deliberately introduced as some kind of rival for Laios, a party leader who is hopeless against monsters but absolutely brilliant with people both in and out of combat, and who has good reason to oppose him.

By the end of chapter 31, you might even think Kabru's going to end up as some sort of anti-villain, an antagonist with the best of intentions who nevertheless tries to foil our hero's plans. He wants to defeat the Mad Mage himself, he suspects Laios of being too irresponsible to be trusted with control of the dungeon, and his crew even thinks that Laios's party stole from them (and they're kind of right!). All signs point towards an inevitable showdown.

And then ... none of that happens.

Confrontation over the stolen treasure? Kabru is literally too smart to fall for the classic miscommunication trope and correctly decides it's not worth making a big deal of.

Kabru's deadly PVP skills? Aside from trying to take down Falin, he never fights another human again.

Wanting to be the one who defeats the dungeon? Turns out he was only doing that because he didn't think any other adventurer would have people's best interests at heart, and he's more than willing to play a support role in the whole affair.

Thinking Laios is up to no good? He really did just want to get to know the guy more. He has his misgivings, but ultimately ends up trusting Laios with his life.

Is Kabru going to get some sort of comeuppance for hating monsters and not appreciating their ecosystem? Well no, he has good reasons for hating monsters. He ends up wanting to learn about them through Laios's eyes, but he's never forced into any "Wow, guess I was wrong about them!" revelation.

Hell, even his implied ladykiller ways, which might lead you to think he'll end up being the stock "chivalrous lech" type of character, don't really manifest. He has a lot of opportunities to act flirtatiously around women, but doesn't. He's just a guy whose natural charisma makes him into human catnip.

And that's all hysterical to me, to pull it off. It's a fascinating way to tell a story. To introduce a character explicitly as a rival, potentially even a villain, and instead make them a deuteragonist. It's like a magician making a coin disappear, then slowing down their trick to show you the misdirection. "Did you see what I did there?" they ask with a wink. "The coin was in my other hand the entire time."

#Dungeon Meshi #Kabru #Dungeon Meshi spoilers #I will say that for the people who come out of the manga still thinking that Kabru hates Laios or that he's a bad guy in any way: #you were so busy staring at the hand where the coin disappeared that you ignored the magician explaining the trick #and yes I do think that Kabru and Marcille are the deuteragonists to Laios's protagonist #we see more of Kabru's interiority than anyone else. if you don't think he's a main character? idk. see me after class. #musings with Dea

[red-moon-at-night]

I find it so SO interesting that as soon as Kazui's breaking their marriage vows and revealing his true feelings (literally tearing apart the dove), the wife is already falling off the balcony

Her hair is fluttering in the wind. The apple fucking splatters on the ground this whole sequence is so visceral I'm spinning it around in my mind. Kazui views his truth telling as a violent act, the killing blow.

#milgram #capri talks #kazui mukuhara #Cat #I made a gif for this are you happy (I love this part way too much I would've made it anyway) #I have... thoughts about this which Scare me but. For now... I am going to assume in good faith that this must be taken figuratively and #symbolically because that's the most obvious interpretation right. right guys??? *one fear* #*looks at the voice drama which starts with how he's never gone up against a woman as strong as him until kotoko* #*looks at the line 'it’s generally the heavier person who ends up winning.'* #*looks at that one frame in Cat at 2:33 where he's holding her back* #DONT MIND ME IM JUST DELIBERATING I want him to be innocent I want things to be simple but I'm so worried of being hoodwinked-- #--when the guy literally emphasises sleight of hand tricks and magicians and disappearing acts in his MV :'D #when he literally has a 'son of man' painting reference (man w/apple in front of face) #I am going to stop talking or else I shall combust into a million pieces #analysis #described

[pocket-watcher]

“Would you like to see a card trick?”

I looked over to where the voice came from, confused on how something so softly spoken was heard so clearly in the loud casino.

He was tall, dressed in the uniform of the other workers at each table, holding a deck of cards.

I put down my glass.

“Sure. I need a little magic in my life.” I said, jokingly.

“Well…”

He leant towards me, hand on the table behind me and I felt myself shiver at the sudden closeness. His fingers expertly glided as he shuffled the cards in front of me with one hand.

“Most people think card tricks are magic, but it’s pretty simple really.” His fingers twisted as he pulled cards out of the deck and placed them back in. It was impressive, really, that he was doing it all one-handed.

I wonder what else those fingers could do.

I shook that thought from my head.

“You see,” my eyes met his, “all you have to do is keep your eyes on the cards.”

He offered for me to pick one. I pulled it out of the deck. He made a big scene of covering his eyes so he couldn’t see what card I’d picked.

Jack of Hearts.

I slid it back into his deck, and he uncovered his eyes and began shuffling again.

“See if you can figure out how the trick works.” He said smugly.

“I thought magicians weren’t supposed to reveal their secrets.” I chuckled, watching the cards move up and down.

Front to back.

“You don’t really believe in magic. Do you?” He asked, watching me as I watched his hand.

His skilled fingers still working the cards, fanning them out occasionally before drawing them right back in to a neat deck.

“I’d like to believe in magic. But I’ve been told I’m too logical for that.”

“Ah, well. I could tell that just by looking at you. You’re here in Vegas, but your mind is a million miles away!”

I laughed, guilty as charged.

“Clear your mind. That always helps me think.” He offered.

In and out the cards fanned.

“See, the trick is that I’ve kept your eye on the cards.”

Up and down as he shuffled them.

“Most magicians want to divert your attention. They don’t want you focusing on something that could reveal how it’s is done.”

Back to front and front to back.

“So, someone as logical as yourself should realise that if I’m telling you to focus on the cards…”

Fingers curling around the cards as they shuffled round and round.

“…I’m hiding the real trick from you elsewhere.”

The words sank in, but I couldn’t look away. The pattern on the back of the cards almost seemed to dance as he shuffled them.

“But you don’t care about that anymore, do you?” I could hear the smirk in his voice.

For a second I realised my shoulders were slumping. My neck craning forward to look closer at the cards.

“You don’t care that I’ve been sending you round and round. In fact, I think you’re finding it rather enjoyable, aren’t you?”

My eyes felt heavy. A pleasant fog was settling over my mind. It felt like I was sinking into the floor.

“You’re happy to just a it. And to listen. And to watch.”

I caught glimpses of the cards. 9… 8… 7… twisting, turning, constantly flitting from one finger to another.

“So what was the real magic? Come on… I’m sure if you focus you’ll figure it out. Just focus on my voice.”

His face was so close to mine, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away to look at him.

Finally, his dizzying hands stopped. My eyes slowly moved up to meet his. He tenderly pulled out a card from the deck. The Jack of Hearts.

“Is this your card?”

#we love a magician #next time he’ll show off his pocket watch and make your mind ✨disappear✨ #hypnok1nk #hypnosis #mind control #fantasy

[st-santana]

wanna see a magic trick?!?!1 bend over backwards!!! 

*gets arrested. gets arrested. gets arrested*

#omggg he got arrested!!!! #IN JAIL!! FOR SCHEMES!!! #his disappearing magician trick didnt fool lawmen #i love him so dearly #josiah trelawny #rdr2 #my art #this man wears eyeliner...... #JAIL!!!

[taylortruther]

this is imo one of taylor's most underrated metaphors

#she's a magician's assistant getting sawed in half because she wants him so bad #he's a magician that can make everyone disappear #what's not clicking!!! #so it goes

[bonx2macaron]

Me: sex? I want to wait until marriage.

"but you said you don't wanna get married..?"

Me: yea lmao

#aroace #asexual #aromantic #im a magician the way I can disappeare #miku for president 2024 #cattos #fuck capitalism #embrace the ace agenda #AAA #AroAceAnarchist

[queer-and-nerdy]

i just want someone to love me in a sleep token way is that too much to ask for

#aaron shitpost #lexapro withdrawals while listening to tpwbyt just hits diff what can i say #someone looking at me and deciding i’m worth loving?? #impossible #just understanding sleep token is such a turn on for me tbh #disappearing for months dropping this shit then disappearing again #call me an emotionally stunted magician #sleep token band #sleep token #vessel #sleep token ii #sleep token iii #sleep token iv #this place will become your tomb #queer-and-nerdy

[im-goin-mad]

i could [very long beep] him so good he would forget how to pronounce his own name

#gob bluth #asshole men with terrible hairlines #unrelated but #michael bluth #is a MUNCH #anyway #he could make my clothes disappear #magician joke ayyyyy #will arnett #arrested development #cinephile

[alasarys]

Horsing around in Texas

#it's like the start of the most chaotic magic show ever #i'm assuming daniel is the magician and lando is his glamorous assistant #who sometimes disappears when he isn't meant to and reappears unexpectedly #and sometimes you know where he is just because he can't stop laughing #not gonna lie i'd 100% watch that magic show #lando norris #daniel ricciardo #dando #cota 2022 #no brakes #texas #2022

[givehimthemedicine]

I think narratively El has to say I love you to Max. she's been hanging everything on hearing those words and I think she has to realize saying it is important too, that she's not the only one who needs to hear it.

there's been so much in 4 (actually kinda in 3 too) about El finding the importance of other kinds of love than romantic, and we didn't spend as much time processing this part, but the end of 4 also gave us a lot to chew on about the importance of giving her own love, and not just waiting around hoping to receive it. she spent all this time waiting to find power in love from Mike but actually found it in her own love for Max. maybe the "I love you" she's waiting to hear is in her own voice.

#i dont mean this in a romantic way but #elmax #it would be meaningful for el to tell literally every one of her friends that she loves them #and hopper and joyce #but I say max specifically because of the huge focus in s4 #I also need max to know that her friends love her #actually i really need to see someone tell max to her face that they love her just to see how weird she would be about it #she'd panic and throw a smoke bomb and disappear like a magician but then think about it like 🥺 for literally the rest of her life #mine #character analysis

[creature-competition]

Creature Competition: Round 3

#creature competition #polls #tournament poll #twig #twig hilda #hilda netflix #hilda #axolotl #minecraft axolotl #minecraft #Creature-Competition is a normal tournament with a normal schedule that has not taken 4 months to reach its third round #I was never gone. I am incapable of disappearing. It made magician school very hard

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Peppino being a little magician makes me go :)

#chattin #making characters have silly little talents is so fun #this is of course bc i suffer from Love of WorldBuilding disease and i do this with all of my ocs (bc its very fun) #anyway the reason i thought of it was bc i DO really enjoy him being good with knives and being a knife juggler #bc its one of those obscure things u have to like fall into; but its also REALLY fun to know how to do this #its a good icebreaker! esp if ur like. anxious and scared of everything by default #‘U-UH….i can . juggle…knives.?’ ‘what the fuck? forreal???’ #so like #doing sleight of hand tricks seems pretty adjacent to that #card tricks and disappearing/reappearing acts #but unlike MOST magicians who keep their knowledge a secret #peppino literally doesnt have the capacity to sit in a convo longer than he wants to be #like the back n forth of ‘what? nooo u gotta show us’ ‘nope! teehee!’ like thats just annoying #so he takes the time to show how he does it bc often times even with a visual guide people cant recreate it #ANYWAY #i am saying this bc i thought of the noise throwing a Live Grenade at peppino #and peppino is like oh my GOD oh my god and hes jumping and panicking and the noise is like >:3!!! #and then he takes deep breaths and the grenade in his hand just disappears #and the noise is like wtf. what. where did it fucking go? walks up to peppino to look #peppino makes the ‘shhh’ motion and holds both of the noises hands in his own #and when he flips them palm up; the grenade is in the noises hand #like theyre on some looney tunes level shit #funny to think about #well i guess since i wrote it out i might as well draw it dhdjdndkdmdk

[blooming-cecilia]

mrmrghrmrgh,,,, magic man,,,,,

#tulip draws #lyney #lyney the magician #ITS GAME OVER #IM DOWN HORRENDOUS AND NOW IVE DRAWN HIM #and my god hes beautiful #also ok lowkey having fun doodling his fit #thought i was going to struggle but hey its not so bad #i also quite like the ruffle #im afraid i will be away from the usual venti posting #until he decides to do a disappearing act from my mind

[asofterhibou]

not a new insight because I'm sure I've seen it mentioned before, but the ghost children from The Writing Room, trapped in their loops and reliving their grisly fate over and over again as foreshadowing for the time loops and our beleaguered grad students suffering their own various grisly fates over and over again... very I see dead people. and they don't know they're dead.

#if someone dies and you create a new timeline where they're still alive #is that a resurrection? #julia and quentin in the underworld 39 times already #did those julias and quentins stay or disappear after the loop restarted #the magicians #horror #the magicians season one

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Why must a twitter post make me choose who has the worst parnets between Horrid Henry, Doofenshmirtz, Priya from Total Drama Island and Sora from Lego Ninjago??? They all got shit parents in different ways, there's no contest between them.

#doof's parents wont even there for BIRTH #let alone treated him like shit in comparison to his brother #to the point of neglect basically and shit #while priya was literally born to go onto total drama to the point while still attached to her cord after being born #she had to do bungee jumping #and her parents just spent her whole life preparing her for the show #sora's parents support a holy shit kingdom while not caring for her or her hobby unless they could have her use it to support the holy shit #kingdom and when she didnt want to they actively took away her hobby saying to get another if she won't use first one to support #the holy shit kingdom #and they actively shit even when in present with her #she literally ran away to get away from them and as she put it shes found a better family with the ninja #horrid henry basically can breath and his mom will be like 'DONT BE HORRID HENRY-' and send him to his room #to the point apparently in newer eps he just misses breakfast cause he was sent to his room instantly #like more then once should add #like they had second kid and that was it first kid became the kid that gets all the shit from parents #mainly the mom as the dad sometimes is chill #but the mom really does seem to wish she didnt have henry #since she applauded henry being made disappear by a birthday magician #which got even henry's arch rival giving her a wtf look #like they all equally bad parents here dammit

[milesdadworth]

one of the things i genuinely didn't like about trucy was that she was always 100% a magician, even after all that trauma, and like. the more i think about her the more i am Not Sure it makes sense. like yes phoenix supports her obviously and yes she's got the rights to the gramarye stuff and whatnot but. i just can't see it! what has magic ever been for her except a source of Trauma!

however. you know what i do think makes sense for trucy and i would like your input on?

prosecutor trucy. she learned a lil too much from miles and franziska and now the autopsy report has its own disappearing act.

what do you think? :O

huh that's interesting! I suppose that makes sense, it's never really been something I've had an issue with! I think I've always seen it as like yeah it's something that's caused her so much grief in her life but she's still so passionate about it that it doesn't let that stand in the way of her enjoying the thing she loves

I think if it really was upsetting her and burdening her constantly with the trauma she's faced, she would have dropped the magician thing a few years into her living with Phoenix. At first I think she would have kept it up to assure Phoenix that she was fine, but slowly taper off as she grew up and blame it on 'oh yeah that was just a phase, now I'm going to immerse myself in (x)' to distance herself from the magic

I think there's a lot of narratives out there of kids who don't want to follow their family's legacy (AA being one of them with the Feys, which is great and I really love the hot mess that family is, but that's another essay of thoughts) so it kinda makes me happy to see this kid who has this legacy family and even though it's kinda fucked her over more than anything she still manages to find happiness and joy in it instead of feeling like it's always a negative reminder of everything she's lost

and the fact that Phoenix encourages her (even though he's had a peek at how fucked up this family is) to keep doing what she loves and stay connected with her biological family legacy is really cool! I also don't think there's many narratives about adopted kids where their adopted family is like 'hell yeah let me support you to keep your biological family's legacy alive' I think--especially when bio family has left you with trauma--there's always an emphasis on 'you don't have to stick with that name that family that legacy and you're just part of this family now and that's what matters' so there's a cool balance there!

idk I just think she's a fun parallel to Maya who is very burdened by the tragic legacy of her family and keeps up happy appearances to reassure those around her and then Trucy who ALSO does that but but is...empowered by her family's legacy even tho it was traumatic?

and not to say that the way Trucy handles it is Correct™ and the way Maya does is Incorrect™ but the dichotomy is wonderful and I love these girls very much

there's also something to be said about Pearl and her part in the Fey family legacy and all the trauma she's endured and I think it'd be interesting for her to have both Maya and Trucy to look to on how they each handle that burden

#I HAVE LOTS OF THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS APPARENTLY #rambling #I DO VERY MUCH LIKE THE IDEA OF MAGICIAN TRUCY PROSECUTOR #AND THE AUTOPSY DISAPPEARING ACT LOL #sorry i didn't really talk about that bc i guess i don't have much thoughts on that #i just always see her as a magician and it's never occurred to me that she should be anything else