In the second half of the fourteenth chapter of Games Wizards Play, Nita learns something new about a friend, and then Kit messes up REAL BAD. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Young Wizards.
Lissa
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS WE HAVE A CANONICAL ACE CHARACTER WITHIN THE YOUNG WIZARDS UNIVERSE. Now, since I’m not ace, I’ll let ace folks speak more on what this representation feels like to them. I just wanted to speak briefly about something I am much more qualified to talk about: not being ace and saying shit that makes ace people potentially uncomfortable and hurt. While Nita recovers from it, she does make a common mistake here: she assumes sex is an inevitability for all people. Thus, she just assumes that Lissa isn’t having sex yet, but that it will eventually happen; then, the assumption is that she’s celibate, which makes it sound like Lissa’s asexuality is just a choice and nothing more.
These are the kind of assumptions that those of us who aren’t ace have to start checking. And in a more general sense, it’s why it’s important to avoid universalities. It is not universal that everyone enjoys sex, wants to have it, or experiences sexual attraction within a single narrative. There are so many factors aside from sexuality that could affect a person’s sexual drive, attraction, or affection, but I don’t want to distract from the point here. Nita made an assumption that many of us have made before, and this provides a chance for other readers to see why it’s a dangerous assumption to make.
You Have Something I Need
I don’t know if this is the act that will lead into the climax of Games Wizards Play, but HOLY SHIT, THIS WAS UNEXPECTED. Well, unexpected in the sense that I just assumed Kit would always keep his cool around Penn, that he never saw Penn as a sign of competition. I even dismissed it in the last section, y’all. I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS BELIEVABLE.
I clearly misread the dynamic at hand here. After Penn had spent the majority of his time on the page insulting or dismissing Nita, he shocked the hell out of EVERYONE by claiming that Kit doesn’t deserve her. And look, I found it perplexing that he reasoned that Kit hadn’t made a move yet. Like… yes??? He did? THEY WERE LITERALLY IN A RELATIONSHIP, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
Penn was being crude about it, though. (Surprise, everyone. Penn was crude.) He wasn’t referring to a relationship; Penn spoke of Nita as if she was someone to own or someone to claim. And given that Nita felt a brief flash of Kit’s magic, I assumed that Kit had just fired a warning shot once Penn escalated matters too far.
NOPE. N O P E.
What follows is a visceral, frightening, and utterly DUDE-FILLED EXAGGERATION. It is perhaps the DUDE-LIEST THING IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. It’s just two guys fighting over who gets to “keep†Nita, which… spoiler alert, Kit and Penn: IT’S NO ONE. NEITHER OF YOU GET TO. Yet they don’t understand that most women—and people, for that matter—aren’t really going to be impressed by a violent fight. Seriously, who does that? Who finds that attractive or tender or loving? I might have understood if this was just a fight that got out of hand, but a wizard’s duel??? There were about a thousand opportunities for either of these characters to re-think their actions, and yet, here we are! Kit nearly CRUSHES Penn, Irina is so pissed at them that Penn is suspended from the competition, and Nita wants nothing to do with either of them until after they speak with Irina.
GOOD JOB. Y’ALL DID A REAL GOOD JOB.
Also: what the hell does Nita have that Penn needs?????
https://youtu.be/7cdp1GwQrbw
Mark Links Stuff
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