There should be an Effulgence thread

[atheistcanuck]

kappa you made me tear up over a creepy kidnapping serial killer.

Again.

[Kappa]

:D :D :D

*provides basket of poofs and boxes of tissues*

[DanielH]

I’m still trying to figure out the bending. It’s obvious that Spider is a Stephen. I trust Jun to know whether the firebender on the news was related to a Jokerdad, and that it was not him. I even trust Jun to tell the truth in this case.

I haven’t seen Korra, but what little I know about it implies it might be possible for a non-Avatar to have multiple types of bending. It’s also possible that there are multiple Jokers in the world, but that seems unlikely.

Do any of my assumptions seem potentially wrong? Any other possibilities I’m missing?

[Bluelantern]

I’m still trying to figure out the bending. It’s obvious that Spider is a Stephen. I trust Jun to know whether the firebender on the news was related to a Jokerdad, and that it was not him. I even trust Jun to tell the truth in this case.

I haven’t seen Korra, but what little I know about it implies it might be possible for a non-Avatar to have multiple types of bending. It’s also possible that there are multiple Jokers in the world, but that seems unlikely.

Do any of my assumptions seem potentially wrong? Any other possibilities I’m missing?

They are TWINS!!!! *dramatic music*

[Kappa]

Relevant Facts:

Spider is Jun's younger brother in particular.
Spider did receive cross-practice training in firebending forms from his dad.
Spider is a waterbender, not a firebender. (While dual bending might be possible in theory, we haven't explored it as a serious option so far; I know I haven't seen any Korra, so I wouldn't even know which parts of canon suggest it, and I think Alicorn's only seen a little Korra and might not have run across whatever you're referring to.)
Spider is working alone as heavily implied in his thread with Dao.

The Answer:

The Answer

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Spider faked firebending with cleverly concealed flamethrowers because he's paranoid and doesn't want anyone guessing that the serial killer is a bloodbender.

It only worked because he has the cross-practice training in firebending forms and because he over-planned and over-prepared to a ridiculous degree. Most people, even if they somehow managed to acquire extensive firebending training without being a firebender, would consider faking it to be way too much effort for the dubious reward of 'if you did everything perfectly and were lucky enough not to have to do more or more kinds of firebending than your equipment was capable of, people will think you're a firebender until that luck runs out or you make a mistake'.

The reason why he burned out a liquor store in particular is because he was using alcohol as his accelerant of choice. Yes, this does imply that he picked his kidnapping location so that just in case he got caught, his primary escape route would be somewhere he could use his fake firebending. I did say he over-prepared. But if he hadn't, a forensic examination of the fire would've revealed that it wasn't started by a bender.

[DanielH]

To what Bluelantern said: I was assuming twins would be different templates. I suppose that isn’t necessarily the case.

Then I looked at the spreadsheet and saw some of the spoilered stuff kappa wrote

Then I read kappa’s post

Now:

Comment about what kappa said

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Aha, that makes sense.

Some famous magician – I can’t find the quote right now – once said that the secret of magic was to spend more effort preparing than any sane person would think possible.

(from http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/03/th ... physicist/)

I guess that’s also the secret to magic you don’t have

As for what I said about Korra, it’s from half-remembered Wikipedia reading about the series. Apparently they explore the concept of spirit-bending more in that series than was done in the last episode of AtLA. I don’t know if dual-bending is actually possible from that or not

[Paradox]

To what Bluelantern said: I was assuming twins would be different templates. I suppose that isn’t necessarily the case.

Then I looked at the spreadsheet and saw some of the spoilered stuff kappa wrote

Then I read kappa’s post

Now:

Comment about what kappa said

---

Aha, that makes sense.

Some famous magician – I can’t find the quote right now – once said that the secret of magic was to spend more effort preparing than any sane person would think possible.

(from http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/03/th ... physicist/)

I guess that’s also the secret to magic you don’t have

As for what I said about Korra, it’s from half-remembered Wikipedia reading about the series. Apparently they explore the concept of spirit-bending more in that series than was done in the last episode of AtLA. I don’t know if dual-bending is actually possible from that or not

reply to Danielh

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I think this is the quote he was referencing:

You will be fooled by a trick if it involves more time, money and practice than you (or any other sane onlooker) would be willing to invest. My partner, Penn, and I once produced 500 live cockroaches from a top hat on the desk of talk-show host David Letterman. To prepare this took weeks. We hired an entomologist who provided slow-moving, camera-friendly cockroaches (the kind from under your stove don’t hang around for close-ups) and taught us to pick the bugs up without screaming like preadolescent girls. Then we built a secret compartment out of foam-core (one of the few materials cockroaches can’t cling to) and worked out a devious routine for sneaking the compartment into the hat. More trouble than the trick was worth? To you, probably. But not to magicians.

[BlueSkySprite]

Butterflymice!~ Eeeeeee!

[anthusiasm]

Beila's like "OMG this serial killer stole my cinnamon roll."

[futurevision]

That whole thread was extremely upsetting!!!

spoiler

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Here I was, thinking that finally we can have a semi-happy Joker and Stephen bromance thing, and conveniently forgetting how much our dear authors enjoy BREAKING HEARTS.<//////////////3 So broken. Please tell me that when Beila gets pealed Sora can come back and everyone can be happy again? Lie to me if you have to.