The Magicians and Magik
Author's note: The last chapter and this chapter are still Season 2 based stories, but his does hint at last week's episode involvement Margo. The last episode in Season Three has Alice admitting just what a monster she believes herself to be due to her actions as a niffin (likely something for me to play with next chapter). This chapter is about Margo.
I like the character of Margo, she's a high-spirited magician whose specialty is gossip, competition, drama, and sometimes getting her bitch on. Although at first sight she seems superficial, Margo is a keen observer and has depth. Margo appears to be the most rational of the group during stressful situations, but that is often mistaken for being cruel and bitter. She tends to be pragmatic, focusing on what needs to be done instead of her emotions. She has a strategic approach to solving problems, and is very skilled at it, being characterized by Eliot as a "quick-thinking" individual, but she tends to be focused on the short term to the determent of the long term.
Despite her party animal reputation, Margo is a proficient student magician in her own right even thought Margo's discipline has not yet been shown on the show. Margo is able to perform different kinds of magic and spells to varying degrees of success. As she has been grouped with the Physical Kids, her discipline must deal with matter and energy. She was able to charm the entirety of the Castle Whitespire staff to perform 'One Day More' from Les Misersbles, as well as adequately performing rudimentary Battle magic (as stated before, Illyana is rather dismissive of the bias against battle magic at Brakebills as she considers it idiotic).
Margo is portrayed as both deeply insecure (which she hides) and surprisingly strong. She is outspoken and sometimes causes controversy, but is fiercely loyal, especially to Eliot.
Apologies for any crudity, but I do try to write in character, and we are talking Margo here.
Part 10a: Morning laziness (It's good to be the high queen)
The warm morning light that streamed though the windows reveled that Margo was sleeping in, a prerogative of being the high queen. She lazily shifted in her bed beneath the sheets and clutched a pillow to her naked body (Margo like to sleep naked when it was warm). Mmmmmm so comfy, Fillory feather beds are just the best was her relaxed musing half asleep thought. Need to set one up in my room back at earth was her last thought as she rolled over to return to snooze land and a really nice dream about something manly, well equipped and skilled in the use of his mouth for things other then talking.
Well, so much for that. A voice spoke in the room and Margo's eyes snapped open. She knew that voice. Hells, everybody at Brakebills knew that voice if you'd ever interacted with her, even once. The voice was partial humorous but also sounded mildly exasperated.
"Margo the Destroyer. I must remind Elliot that names can have power and crowning one with a name is not to be taken lightly."
Margo rolled over and sat up while clutching the covers to her breasts. She spied the author of the voice and yep, it was Professor Magik, but not in her human form. Professor Magik was mostly she appeared the first time she came to Brakebills, as described by Elliot (back in chapter 1b).
Sitting at a desk chair (Margo's private desk) was a tall and leggy blond female demon. She had long horns, a devil's tail, goat hooves, electric blue eyes, and a chain mail bikini that showed that she was well equipped, and very female. But this time there was small and infrequently tiny blue electric sparks about her form, just like Alice had in her niffin form. Professor Magik's tail then lifted up a tea cup, from the desk, for Professor Magik to take a sip.
Was Margo concerned? You bet!
Was she intimidated? Yep, but this was Margo so just steely eyed look from her.
"There are rules about knocking." Was Margo's opening statement.
"I know, I tend to ignore them." Was Professor Magik's casual reply. "Congratulations Margo, I've officially added you to my tutoring roster."
The typical reaction at Brakebills to such promotion was usually a panic attack. Professor Magik has only a few students that she tutored, and her lessons always very tailored to the student. Kudos that Margo appeared calm.
Margo replied with her usual tone of slight condescension. "So now I qualify? Before I was only good enough to dance with. What was the thing that got me on the Magik cat walk?"
Professor Magik was blunt as she replied with a frown. "Mistakes."
"Oh." Okay, not a good response. Best to ask a question that might change the subject. "Is the niffin look deliberate or just an attempt to intimidate?"
Professor Magik shrugged. "Side affect of what I am here when I express myself this way. To be honest I find it rather annoying. One idiot actually tried to box me at a demon conference I attended in Europe."
"What happened?"
"I made him eat the box."
Okay… now what? Margo had just depleted her reserve of small talk for such situations. She made another inquiry. "Um… when do you want to start? I suppose I could pencil you in for…"
"Now." Was Professor Magik's reply as she interrupted Margo.
There was a flash of light and both were gone.
Part 10b: Lesson one
Margo's momentary panic about being naked in class having forgotten to study for a big test (a reoccurring stress nightmare of hers only known by Penny) was put at ease for a second as she found herself clothed in her normal attire. That ease then vanished as she found herself in what she would later describe as hell (it was Limbo).
Burning orange sky.
Hot dry wind.
A tall broken flinty cliff behind her.
The smell of sulfur and blood.
Some grey ash was falling as if it were scattered snowflakes.
Broken rocky ground beneath her feet.
And the sound of screaming mixed with the clash of combat.
Professor Magik always seamed to know how to pick a physical location that was appropriate to the student.
The two of them were standing on the ground looking in to a small depression where demons were fighting. Professor Magik was standing next to her on Margo's left side. Professor Magik stated. "Welcome to my home, well… at least one of my homes."
Professor Magic then put her right arm around Margo and began to walk along the rim of the small valley, causing Margo to walk as well. "I'd give you a tour but… maybe next time. Margo, Margo, Margo. Really liked that musical spell involving Les Misersbles. And a definite A+ on using the gun to shoot the attacker who was about to kill Elliot. But the mistakes you've been making has prompted me to take you under my wing."
"What kind of mistakes?" Asked Margo. Notice she did not fess up, a simple rule when caught is don't confess to what they don't know about; no need to get yourself in more trouble. She would have liked to have shrugged off Professor Magi's arm, but wisely choose to be polite (the talons on the end of Professor Magik's fingers might have had something to do with that).
"Declaring war in a rush." Was Professor Magik's first response.
Margo did have to admit that she'd been hasty in that. She breathed a silent sigh of relieve that the bigger mistakes were apparently unknown to Professor Magik.
"Not treating with the Fairy ambassador in a rational manner."
Opps… might need to take back that sigh.
"And making the deal that you made with the Fairies. Well… no skin off my tush but that was very poorly done. Having Elliot's wife make a promise without knowing the details… well that is so uncool as it were."
What deal was that you ask (assuming that you don't watch the show)? Well…to turn back on the source of magic, and save Eliot's life (or so she thought), Margo had promised the first born child of Elliot, and his wife, to the fairies.
Margo started to explain, in a rush, only to be shushed by Professor Magik. "The consequences are upon you and yours. But deals with the Fay always go sour if you are in a position of weakness. And they lie continually while always telling the truth. Remember that."
"Okay…" Was Margo's slow reply.
"You're a queen now Margo. Crowned the Destroyer. You need to focus on thinking things through for diplomatic situations when you have a weak hand. The art of war is critical, and as of now that book is assigned reading for you. Appear weak where you are strong, appear strong where you are weak. Also, you need to read The Prince by Machiavelli. Some really good advice in there."
Crap, this was degrading into a lame pep talk and book assignments?
Professor Magik stopped walking and turned, with Margo, back to the depression and the fighting demons. "And now to the task at hand. Below us are two small tribes of demons. They hate each other and are always fighting. You assignment is to make them stop."
Margo looked over the fighting demons with something akin to panic.
Professor Magik then gave Margo a little bit of extra incentive. "And you are condemned to remain here until you do. Try not to die on your first lesson, I always find it mildly off-putting when a junior apprentice dies. Do try to survive."
Another flash of light and it was just Margo and the fighting demons (which sounds like a great name for a band now that I think about it).
Part 10c: Well Fuc….
Margo has a saying. If the universe is deep dicking you, lay back and try to enjoy it. Rather crude. One supposes it was her version of making lemonade out of lemons, but much more graphic.
Now what? Something about Machiavelli was pecking in the back of Margo's mind, but nothing was activity registering. Margo decided to hid behind a rock and observe for a bit.
The fighting demons came in all sizes and humanoid shapes. The biggest ones looked to be about four hundred pounds while the smallest rang in at fifty or so. It was hard to discern which belonged to which group as they were all intermingled and apparently evenly matched as the fight just went on and on an on (so much for the plan on just waiting it out). Looked like there was about thirty or forty per group.
As she watched and observed she came up with and discarded many a plan over the next hour.
Banish them? To where? Likely any demon banishing would just have them come right here. And she'd need to go research such spells anyway as she didn't have the need to know such specialized magic. And the noticeable lack of a handy library put paid to that idea.
Run? Good idea, but run where? Discretion is the better part of valor, but a destination is a good idea. Best to keep the whole let's run thing in reserve.
Kill them? With what? Brakebill's went out of their way to not teach battle magic, although Margo was realizing that most magic could be used for battle purposes. But these were demons and she couldn't recall any spells of sufficient power (and was rather sure a few magic missiles were not going to solve the problem). Although she could try that slicing spell, but the number of demons to slice would likely result in them ganging up on her and killing her before she got done with the whole demonic dicing thing. Which of course made Margo wish she had that magic sword that Professor Magik had shown up with when she first came to Brakebills.
Kill one group? Rather a slightly simpler version of the kill them all idea. Same problems and no guarantee that the surviving side would not then off her. Plus she had no idea who belonged to what group.
Make them turn on her instead? That would stop the fight, and Magik didn't say how long the fighting had to stop. But trust her life to a technicality? Yeah right. Next plan.
Gods damn it! She needed them to stop fighting and there was no reason at all that they would obey her. This wasn't Fillory, she wasn't High Queen here. This wasn't Brakebills and these weren't junior students that she could push around because they were afraid of her.
That glint of a thought in the back of her mind went ping over something. That was it…
Fear.
And that's when the comment about Machiavelli made sense. Better to be feared then loved, if you cannot have both.
But how to make them fear her? The only mass charm she had was the one to… Make everybody sing and dance! But what song? Margo thought furiously, it had to be one that would…
She came up with a plan, rehearsed it a few times, and then climbed to the top of the rock she was hiding behind. She observed the fighting demons, who continued to pay her no mind. She used a little spell to amplify her voice as she assumed her most dominant queen of the bitches persona.
"Listen up Bitches! I'm tired of all this dicking around. From now on you do what I say."
She cast the spell and really really hoped she hadn't just signed her death certificate.
For a few seconds nothing happened, then the fighting paused and the demons all looked confused. Then one of the demons began to strut his stuff (meaning he started to perform disco dance moves) and started to sing. The other demons all looked aghast, but their feet were tapping out the beat as well.
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk
Music loud and women warm, I've been kicked around
Since I was born
And now it's all right, it's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
It was the Bee Gees song Staying Alive.
All the demons sang the chorus, while tapping their feet and starting to dance in place.
[Chorus]
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive!
Another demon now started to dance with the first demon. The second demon sings...
Well now, I get low and I get high
And if I can't get either, I really try
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes
I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose
You know it's all right, it's okay
I'll live to see another day
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
All the demons now pair off with another demon and a truly hellacious disco dance breaks out while they all sing…
[Chorus]
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive
Another demon now sings, he's a small demon who's dancing on top of the sholders of a large demon.
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah, I'm stayin' alive
His partner now sings back…
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk
Music loud and women warm
I've been kicked around since I was born
And now it's all right, it's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
[Chorus]
Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive
Now half of the demons all sing…
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
I'm stayin' alive
The other half sing back…
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
I'm stayin' alive
They all sing while making dramatic dance moves, high kicks, sliding between the legs of other daemons, being thrown high like a cheerleader, or being twirled about, and other such dramatic dance moves.
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
I'm stayin' alive
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
I'm stayin' alive!
The dance ends and they all look confused at each other and then at Margo.
"Name's Margo! High Queen of Fillory and new apprentice to Magik! So I say stop fighting or…!"
She cast the next spell, the illusion spell that she and Eliot had crafted for one of the physical house parties.
Next to Margo's rock a purple dinosaur appears, about size feet tall, think Barney the Dinosaur, but this Barney is leering and is very very male (aroused male whose dic… um.. male appendage is let's say… rather horse sized). He also has a five gallon drum of bubble gum scented lube under one arm (very prominently written on the drum). He's also singing and… um… fondling himself with the hand on the other arm.
"I love you… You'll be loved by me… for eternity!"
Margo finished. "So your choice is to be his butt slave for all eternity or stop fighting!"
The other demons looked at each other. Disturbingly they appeared to be thinking it over. But then a grin from Barney sealed the deal (that and what Magik had done to the last set of demons who attacked one of her apprentices, but Margo didn't know about that little fact.)
The two demon groups dispersed and Margo breathed a huge internal sigh of relief. Then she heard a slow clap behind her. She turned and yeah, it was Professor Magik, but now no longer looking like a sexy demon, she was human again and dressed in that tight black getup she likes to wear.
"Well done Margo. What did you learn?"
"Fear?"
"Yep, but also remember this one thing. Threats only go so far. Fear works best when those you threaten believe it. Can't have people thinking your threat means nothing. To use a cliché, walk softly and carry a big sword."
"I don't think that's how the saying goes." Was Margo's reply.
Which prompted Illyana to manifest her soul sword. The blaze of power astonished Margo.
"Ok… I stand corrected." Was Margo's grudging reply. "Um… what would you have done to make them stop?"
"I'd have told them to stop."
"And they would have?"
"Don't know. What I do know, and they know, is that the consequences would have been worse then obeying my commands."
Hmmm, words to think about.
Part 10d: A few tidbits from Margo's book assignments
So… did Margo learn anything from her book assignments? That remains to be seen, but here are some highlights.
She who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
Politics have no relation to morals.
If an injury has been done to a person, it should be so severe that their vengeance need never be feared.
There is not other way to guard yourself against flattery then by making your advisers understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.
Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.
Appear weak where you are strong, appear strong where you are weak.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
And a note from Professor Magik tucked into one of the books. Almost a tee shirt idea.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For I, Margo, am the meanest bitch in this here valley.