I Never Worked So Fast On A Drawing Man - Blog Posts

So what are you saying is that THIS could be canon in the AU???

Pssst Stanley is also a magic user but completely differently. Depending on how funny it is, he might not realize it’s magic. Of if he does and we’re going sad route, he does not equate it to what his brother could do. Ignoring how he could have been just as good as his brother if he had the same supports.

Oh no, you've activated my "Yap Card" you're gonna regret this.

Magic is about intention. That's the underlying, real power source of it all. Willpower is another factor, sure, and you can't do proper spells without actually learning them, but the driving force behind the magic isn't something you're born with or something you learn, it's something you already have the start to, and can cultivate.

Ford's been working with magic for years by the time the AU takes place. He's a pretty confident magic user (I say magic user, but I think the most accurate term is witch, as He's relatively self taught) and has learned, most importantly, how to have INTENTION when doing magic.

The more you can visualize something, the more you can imagine the thing already happening or being done or being THERE, the more powerful the magic is.

(Its part of the reason that VIOLENT magic just. Doesn't work much for Ford. He'd have to not only DEEPLY WANT that violence to happen, He'd have to visualize every part of it, not just the spell casting but the effects on the victim.)

Basically, self confidence and visualization is the key here.

Stan. Isn't. All that good at that.

He's got PLENTY of willpower. He's a stubborn bastard, and he's got a great imagination, but he straight up Doesn't Believe stuff will actually work, which is kind of the most important part.

With spells you don't just imagine the casting itself, you imagine the spell already HAPPENING, who it effects and how, how the spell dies down, etc etc. You have to visualize it ALREADY working, with such confidence that its less like "please work" and more like "its already working"

Stan has trouble with that, because he can't imagine a situation where everything goes right for him.

He's trying to levitate a bowl? I mean, knowing his luck, it'll rise up a foot and then fall to the ground, shattering.

And then it does, because that's what Stan visualized.

There is a work around for this, and that's what im calling the Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better Complex, where if Stan sees Ford do some crazy magic shit, he goes "oh well I can totally do that" and DOES.

Spells by himself? Difficult, with mixed results. Spells to one up Ford? Stan is already casting it.

(For Ford, this is utterly infuriating. He learns through massive amounts of research and reading, but all he has to do is explain the spell and tell Stan the incantation (if there is one) and suddenly Stan can do it too?? Is Stan more POWERFUL than him?? How is this occurring WHAT)

Keeping all this in mind though, FORD is the magic user in this AU really. Stan likes magic sure, when it cooks his bacon for him and does the laundry without him touching it, but when it comes down to it, he's always been more aggressive than Ford, and he's always been able to see himself more as the protector, the one who goes out and fights, rather than the one using magic. And you see, it's all about how you see yourself, and what you see yourself as capable of.

Ford sees that Stan is capable of magic, and is excited to share it, but Stan thinks so lowly of himself as to fully, wholeheartedly believe that there's no situation where he would be better, even on par, with Ford's intelligence or abilities.

(Unless of course, in extreme circumstances, where what Stan thinks of himself doesn't matter, when the intention to do something, to save, to heal, to protect, is so strong it overpowers it.)