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toptierteaser · 9 months

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The Wishing Swell: Chapter 1

Synopsis: Joey Sanchez is shopping at the mall with his friend when an unwitting wish in the coin well has some unexpected and humiliating results...

Joey looked down at the water, which shimmered brilliantly, the wishes of a million mall-goers reflecting the light in nickel and copper. He glanced from the contents of the flickering, bubbling fountain to his own hand. It had been years since he did this; since he was a kid, believing in wishes, emptying his pockets in a desperate, faithful bid to bring them into reality. Of course, he knew how fantastical his thinking had been then, as it was now, but he was desperate. Having to crane his neck a bit to see over his stomach, he frowned at the penny resting atop his plump fist. Yes, he was desperate. Desperate to lose some of this weight, to be able to fit comfortably into his clothes again, to no longer need to crane his neck to be able to see past his big belly. The diets had failed. The personal trainer, the appetite suppressants, the workout routine…they had all failed. Maybe his thinking was fallible, fantastical, but he wasn't going to risk missing out on an opportunity to help shed at least some of his pudge.He closed his eyes, breathed deeply into his belly (causing the waistband of his stretch shorts to strain), and thought I wish I could lose this…

“Dang, Joey! You made your wish yet or what?” he opened his eyes as he felt the familiar clasp of his shoulder. He gasped, nearly losing his balance from Danny’s “friendly” shove. The extra hundred-and-twenty-four pounds Joey had accumulated onto his frame in the years since college always caught him off guard. Even the slightest attempt to reach down and tie his shoes could send him rolling over into a big, fat mess on the floor. He rubbed his shoulder, clamping the penny in his hand and turned to his friend.

“Jesus, Danny!” said an indigent Joey. “You almost made me fall into the water!”

“Eh!” Danny, ever the evader of interpersonal accountability, waved him off. He looked Joey up and down. “You’re buoyant, man! You can float!” Joey couldn't help but smile. Danny Ono, his friend since high school, never failed to cheer him up, which in part made up for the fact that he wasn’t remotely reliable and was about the least patient person Joey had ever known. “Anyway, go on. Make your wish! I want us to get some snacks and hit up a few stores before the movie!”

“Alright, alright!” said Joey, turning towards the fountain. “Just, let me do this in peace, and we’ll be out of here in a second.” He was about to close his eyes and return to his wishing when another sight caught his gazer. It was a man, about his age, in his mid-to-late twenties, sauntering by. A bit scruffy, tall, muscular, dressed casually but well, he brought up the rear of his friend group, but he didn't engage with the gaggle of men. His eyes were fixated on Joey, who instantly blushed. The man gave Joey a half-smile and the flickering raise of an eyebrow before he turned his attention back on his friends and walked off.

Damn, thought Joey. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

“Oh, come on, man!” Danny gave Joey a sharp elbow in the ribs–or rather in the pudgy rolls above his love handle. Joey gave a surprised whimper as he was broken of his trance and without thinking, dropped the penny.

“My lucky penny!” Joey gasped. He watched as the copper coin hit the water, flipped and shimmered before it landed deftly on the fountain’s floor.

“Well, it looks like you made your wish!” said Danny, oblivious. Joey looked at his friend, but already, the fit manchild was starting to walk away. “Come on!” he said, smiling. “Let’s go get a snack!”

…If the fat fuck can waddle for long enough. God, the only way for me to get him to do anything is to tempt him with food! Alright, let’s waddle a little faster, fat boy!

Joey blinked at his friend, freezing midstep. Though somehow, Danny’s lips were not moving, Joey could hear his voice, clear and plain as day. “What the fuck did you say to me, Ono?!”

Danny froze, turning towards his friend. “I…I said let’s go get a snack…the–the movie starts in an hour…” His friend looked perplexed.

So, suddenly, piggy boy’s hearing things?

No, Joey wasn’t mistaken. Danny’s mouth hadn’t moved, when he said the second thing. Still, that didn’t stop him from hearing the insults.

“What did you call me?!” Over the years, Danny had directed his fair share of teasing towards Joey, had fat shamed him, especially when they were kids, before Joey had gotten fit and staved off the extra chub for a few blissful years during college. But this was different!

“I-I didn’t call you anything, Sanchez!” Danny said, evidently confused. God, did I say that out loud? There’s no way!

“You called me, ‘piggy boy.’” said Joey. Danny’s light golden skin took on a sickly white coloring.

“Oh…oh man…man, I’m sorry. I guess it was the slip of a tongue. I didn’t even realize I was talking. Dude, I’m sorry.”

Joey looked back at him. This was weird. Really weird. Impossible even. And then he realized. My wish! He thought. My…my wish came…it came true!

Joey thought on his feet, shaking his head. He needed to act naturally. “You know what, don’t worry about it, Dan. Let’s just get to the movie…

Joey started walking past a dumbfounded Danny, in the direction of the food court.

God, that was weird. Like he could read my mind or something. Bizarre…hehe, wow, look at that fat fuck waddle! Haha, his ass has blubbed up like a juicy, round balloon! If I wasn’t straight…anyway, better get him to the food court. I have to keep him stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey, so he doesn’t look more handsome than me! Get all the girl’s attention like in college.

It had come true! Joey’s wish. He had wished that he could hear that guy’s thoughts…and here it had come true. Only instead of just that one man’s inner voices, he could hear Danny’s. He looked around the mall, where hundreds of people were busy, their noses buried in their phones or chatting with their friends. Could he read their thoughts too? He would have to test it out.

On the walk to the food court, the realization of his wish coming true was all-consuming. And it stressed him out. And true to form, that stress made Joey hungry. He needed a proper snack and the two twenty-seven-year-olds found themselves in the line to the soft-pretzel stand. It was a favorite of Joey’s, had always been, and he smiled as he stood in line, the tantalizing scent of butter and sugar washing over him along with Danny’s profuse apologies.

“Look, I’m really, really sorry, man! I didn’t mean what I said, honest!” Danny seemed incapable of even temporary silence. Perhaps he really was sorry. Or perhaps he, like Joey, was somehow putting two-and-two together, despite the impossibility of the scenario. And if that was the case, then his friend had no doubt concluded that the best way to keep Joey from reading his thoughts was to just keep blathering.

“Alright, dude,” said Joey, smiling. He placed a hand onto his friend’s shoulder. “I get it. Really, it’s okay.”

“Okay, dude…I mean, here, I’ll buy you whatever you want!”

Joeys’ smile turned into a knowing smirk. “To keep me fat, right? So I don’t start looking more handsome than you?” The befuddled look on Danny’s face was priceless and Joey grinned as he turned to the worker. The employee was a young guy, maybe twenty, twenty-one, his mop of hair crammed beneath his folded paper hat.

“What can I get for you?” asked the young man in a bored voice. Honestly, this fatty just needs a good couple jogs around the mall. Seriously, I swear these porkers get tubbier every summer! It’s a shame too…he’s really handsome. Too bad fatboy couldn’t keep his hand out of the pretzel bag!

Despite knowing that the latter assessment of his physique was all in the employee’s mind, Joey couldn't stop himself from blushing, his jaw dropping agape, his plump body squirming in embarrassment as he resisted the urge to cover up his stomach.

“Is…there…anything…I…can…get…you?” said the employee more forcefully. Thicc-boy’s head is filled with so much sugar he doesn’t even understand what I’m saying!

Joey shook his head, but it was Danny who came to the rescue.

“We’ll take three large pretzel bites; one cinnamon-sugar, one salt, and one plain…a cream cheese dipping sauce and two jalapeno cheeses, and two extra-large lemonades!”

There, maybe he’ll forgive me, now! Thought Danny. God, unless he thinks I’m trying to fatten him up! I was only joking!

Oh Christ, I knew it! He’s one of those gainers! And the skinny guy’s gotta be a feeder! Haha, what a couple of weirdos! “That’ll be twenty-seven, seventy-four,” said the pretzel boy. As Danny forked over the money, Joey tried to calm his breathing. He looked around. The chatter of the mall was making it difficult to discern who was talking and who was thinking. He looked around. Yes, a few eyes flickered away from his extra-large ass and his chubby love handles, but he couldn’t really make out what they were all thinking.

“Come on, man!” said Danny, pulling him to the other side of the pretzel stand. Joey waddled along with his friend. He glanced at the little cluster of people waiting for their pretzels. All fitter than him. Now, he could hear their thoughts a little louder.

Aw, what a cute couple. I hope I can find someone who loves me that much…

Haha look at the way his stomach jiggles! Fatboy has got to get a better-fitting shirt! Looks like he ate himself right out of this one! You can see his gut and his tits through it!

Bwompa bwompa bwompa bwompa!

Wubba wubba wubba wubba!

Jiggle jiggle jiggle jiggle!

The last thoughts belonged to a trio of young men at the end of the cluster who watched Joey’s steps, timing their internal insults to each fall of his heaving legs, his thick rubbing thighs, his jiggling ass. It was not so much that they narrated the specificities of their fixations, but that he could feel them…

“Dude, what is going on?” asked Danny, as he grabbed Joey by the arm. God, I didn’t realize how thick his arms were getting! It’s probably mostly fat though!

Joey turned to his friend, looked him in the wide, frightened eye, and said in a distant, disbelieving voice, “Danny, I think I can read minds.”

#gaining weight #teaser #bhm weight gain #chubby #fatass #fatty #feedee encouragement #fat belly #fat bhm #fatboy #magic story #teasing #weight gain story #wg story

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sylvan-librarian · 8 months

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Nissa's Pilgrimage Part I: Worldwaker

Preface:

Hi there! My name is Steven; I recently wrapped up a master’s degree in library science and am doing my best to segue careers. Since my terminally long job hunt has left me with more down time than I ever wanted to have, I decided to put my English degree to good(?🤷) use by writing a bunch of personal essays on Magic the Gathering, as it is a topic I have been obsessed with for around a decade now. I didn’t intend to share these ramblings at first, and I began this whole project for my own edification, to keep my brain active, and to prevent myself going insane from boredom. However, I thought it couldn’t hurt to throw these online and see what comes of it.

This particular piece is part 1 of ???. I have a lot of notes in my drafts and even more thoughts in my head, so it may just go on indefinitely until someone (finally) gives me a dang job.

TLDR: I’m a deranged MTG Vorthos and former English major with a lot of thoughts and even more time on my hands, so I began a handful of English major-y essays on my pet topics. I’m posting them here for now.

Introduction:

Almost every Magic player who began learning the game after the planeswalker card type was introduced in the Lorwyn expansion in October, 2007 can tell you a story about the first planeswalker card they fell in love with. It might have been because the mechanics on the card melded perfectly with their preferred strategy of play, it might have been because they kept up with the story and were invested in the represented character’s journey, or it might have simply been because they thought the art looked cool.

For whatever reason under Mirrodin’s five suns a Magic player first became attached to a planeswalker and their cards, the character often become symbolic for our love of the game itself. These symbols grow beyond simple loyalty abilities on a piece of cardboard and become inexorably intertwined with our own personal Magic experience.

For me, this planeswalker was Nissa Revane.

You see, in March of 2014, I started working at The Game Closet in Waco, Texas. I had just finished getting a master’s degree in English, so of course, my first job out in the real world was to become a clerk at my local game store (really putting my humanities education to work). Having grown up in a small Louisiana town, I never had a chance to play Magic. I entered the tabletop gaming world through my obsession with Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun, and sundry other RPG’s.

Nevertheless, as Magic players made up the majority of the store’s customer base, I took it upon myself to learn the game. The Theros block was wrapping up at the time with its third set, Journey into Nyx, and a bunch of friendly players were more than happy to unload all of their bulk commons and uncommons to me (Journey into Nyx was famously underpowered, after all), so I tried to make a standard deck out of all this draft chaff and run it at Friday Night Magic.

It didn’t go too well.

However, I was happy with the overall direction of the deck, and I immediately discovered that I loved green decks, specifically green ramp strategies.

I was enthralled with the idea of accelerating mana so that you can play flashy, intimidating creatures and cool, game warping spells far earlier than you have any right to, so I continued to tweak the deck until I made a functioning version of the Theros Standard Mono Green Devotion deck. Even though I wasn’t good enough at the game in my early days to consistently win (even at the local level), I had a lot of fun with it! It was fast and explosive, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was missing something.

However, not a few months later, the Magic 2015 Core Set gets released, and the chase mythic rare in the set’s early days was exactly the kind of card I was looking for: Nissa, Worldwaker. I had no idea who this Nissa character was supposed to be — though I did think the art looked pretty cool — but I was in awe of the card’s abilities! It was precisely the kind of fuel I felt my standard deck needed at the time, and it turns out I was right! My Magic the Gathering “competitive” “career” begins and ends with a handful of first place rankings at my local game store’s standard FNM events, but as small a victory as those are, nearly all of these top rankings were due to Nissa, Worldwaker.

Needless to say, I became devoted to the character overnight.

Exploration:

But who is Nissa, really? Let’s start with the basics. Nissa is an elf planeswalker from the plane of Zendikar, a largely untamed wilderness where the land itself has a will of its own, causing unforeseeable (un)natural disasters called “the roil” by Zendikari locals. According to the recently-released Magic The Gathering: The Visual Guide by Jay Annelli, Nissa is in her 60s and she is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, making her the smallest of the original four members of the Gatewatch (five if you count Liliana). Nissa has a mystical connection to the land and can sense a plane’s leylines, giving her a measure of control over the ground she walks on; this allows her to animate the very land itself to fight her enemies, a narrative element that has been expressed mechanically time and time again on Nissa’s cards throughout the years.

Ostracized from the elven clan she was born in, the Joraga, for the crime of having this connection to the land (a rare brand of sorcery called “animism” in the lore of Magic), Nissa spent large stretches of years alone with only the spirits of the natural world as companions. This has made her socially awkward to a fault, and the issues she has in communicating with her friends (and later, lovers) has been a fairly consistent plot point throughout all of the (canon) story arcs she has played a part in.

In a fictional universe that contains ageless elder dragons, a man-eating toad, a sentient robot who literally created a planet from scratch, and a wizard who once phased an entire continent out of the time stream, Nissa Revane’s eternal struggle to express simple feelings to people she shares a bond with always seemed to me the most human element in the Magic canon. Additionally (big surprise), that’s something I have in common with her. While other Vorthoses have made the argument that Nissa is on the autism spectrum, that is something I have neither the personal experience with nor the education of to speak about. That is certainly a valid lens to view this character through, however, so if that interests you, I’d encourage you to search up these pieces on your own.

What I can speak on with a certain level of expertise, however, is the personal struggle of being a shy, withdrawn introvert in an extroverted world. As a lifelong wallflower with a vivid imagination and a rich inner world, I can deeply relate to a character who doesn’t know how to put her intense feelings to words. For example, in the final story of the Kaladesh arc, Renewal, Nissa tries to express to her companion Chandra just how deeply she wants to be “friends” with her:

Nissa swallowed past the desert in her throat. "I don't speak often. I lived alone for...decades. Zendikar was my companion. We understood each other at a level deeper than words. I...I don't know how to talk to you. I'm trying to learn." Chandra looked up, eyes wide and startled. "You don't know how to talk to me?" "I will make mistakes," Nissa said. "Pick the wrong words. Misunderstand yours. I'll act strange and won't know that I am. But if you can be patient with me, I would like to be..." Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. "...your friend." Chandra's hands leapt out to enfold hers, warm as a bird's nest. "I dunno," she sniffled, one corner of her mouth quivering upward. "I think you're pretty good at picking words." "It took all afternoon to decide how to say this."

While this section of Renewal is a cornerstone of Nissa’s and Chandra’s future romantic relationship, that is a topic big enough to warrant its own essay in order to do it justice. For now, though, let’s focus on this bit: “‘I would like to be…’ Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. ‘...your friend.’” Nissa’s never ending struggle to use words grand enough to communicate the intensity of the feelings in her heart has stuck with me since Renewal was posted on Magic’s website in 2017. I doubt I’m the only one, either.

Heroic Intervention

Nissa was already the character I was most invested in back in 2017, but observing her deep well of emotions she didn’t know to express and her entire lifetime's worth of interests and experiences she didn’t know how to talk about helped me, I think, come to terms the previous two-and-a-half decades of my own life that I spent cowering in corners at parties, being as unobtrusive as possible in the lives of my friends and family, and holding myself back because I didn’t think anyone would ever want me around - as a friend, as a lover, or even as a coworker. This section, from later on in Renewal, really gutted me at the time:

What would she do, if she had the time again? If she didn't flinch at light, noise, and touch, or speak in gestures and movements strange and off-putting to others? How could she tell this new life to laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure; to be brave, and kind, and trusting, and... ...like Chandra. The aetherborn waited, flickering. But why would anyone find her thoughts on the matter of value, anyway? Don't be afraid to follow your heart, Nissa told them. ...Why would that be scary? Halfway across Ghirapur, her body exhaled a laugh into the deepening twilight. May it ever puzzle you.

It wasn’t too long after this story was published that I began my own journey from hiding in the shadows to living my life in a way I was proud of. I moved away with the woman I was dating at the time, and even though that relationship ended up not working out, I spent five long, fun, life-altering years learning to

laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure.

I wonder to this day if the courage Nissa displayed during her own pilgrimage helped nurture in me the courage I needed in my own…

Conclusion

If you made this far, thanks! I’m not sure who, if any, will be interested in these endless ramblings, but if you're here, I hope you found something in it to enjoy!

Further entries in this little series will cover who Nissa is as a character, how she has been treated by various writers in Magic's various seasons, and why that matters (to me at least). The next longform piece I post will go over Nissa’s dual origins, why she was retconned from an incompetent xenophobe into the cinnamon roll with baggage we know today, and what both the Magic Story Team and its fans have made of this shift over the years.

References

Annelli, J. Magic The Gathering The Visual Guide. DK Publishing

Li, M., Digges, K., Luhrs, A., Beyer D., & L'Etoile, C. (2017). Renewal

#magic the gathering #nissa revane #vorthos #magic story #mtg story #essay #chandra nalaar

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