by Kayla Bashe
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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The spaceport is kind of located in the middle of nowhere. So you trek through the woods, marveling at how fantastic everything is, the moss and the fallen leaves and the little twigs and the sound your steps make, the light that filters through the green canopy.
You get to the cabin, but there’s a note on the door.
Hey! We’re out dealing with a river that flooded recently—the locals need help repairing a bridge and a barn that were damaged. The doors are locked because wildlife will get in otherwise—sorry about that. While you’re waiting for us, why not drop off your things and check out a local attraction?
-Testimony, Aletris, & Haven
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Go to town
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Go to a spa
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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next morning
meet the person
do exciting things!
train!
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train two
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
The spaceport is kind of located in the middle of nowhere. So you trek through the woods, marveling at how fantastic everything is, the moss and the fallen leaves and the little twigs and the sound your steps make, the light that filters through the green canopy.
You get to the cabin, but there’s a note on the door.
Hey! We’re out dealing with a river that flooded recently—the locals need help repairing a bridge and a barn that were damaged. The doors are locked because wildlife will get in otherwise—sorry about that. While you’re waiting for us, why not drop off your things and check out a local attraction?
-Testimony, Aletris, & Haven
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Go to town
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Go to a spa
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Please turn back a page
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Please turn forward a page
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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Tonight’s show is called Shira, Princess of Sparta. The set is like a crystal cave, with low platforms and white columns that can be moved from scene to scene. The lead actress is as cute and darling as an animated princess brought to life, and an aura of innocence surrounds her as Shira travels from kingdom to kingdom. When shipwrecked, she wins a jousting tournament and earns her fortune; when taken prisoner by pirates, she exposes an underground ring of sex-slave trading kidnappers. After praying to an oracle of Athena, she’s delighted to discover that the babe she’s been carrying is not a stranger’s, but her lover’s, conceived before she left home. She returns home to much acclaim just in time to be delivered of a healthy boy, and all is well.
Okay, maybe it’s not the playwright’s best work, but it’s fun, and that’s what matters.
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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A magnificent brown-skinned nonbinary performer with regal cheekbones, whose stage name is the Goddex Diane, dances a passionate modern solo about the death of a sacred heron to the sound of a high voice singing ritual chants over a violin’s strains.
You feel each sweep of their arms, even in stillness exquisite, and vow to cultivate such grace yourself.
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>>
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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ReLOVEution is made up of two women who call themselves “The Queen” and “Right Hand Doll.”
They cultivate the personae of two performative revolutionary leaders whose fierce love helps them lead a movement to destroy a fascist tyrant.
They spit words like fire, dance as perfectly as androids, and all of their songs have at least one line that you love so much you want to scrawl it across everything you own. You and your friends exit whooping and energized. The pink glitter that rained down from the ceiling to symbolize the blood of reLOVEution’s enemies clings to your skin and hair and clothes, and you catch yourselves sparkling in every window.
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>>
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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As the weeks pass, your training gets more strenuous, and you have less and less time to keep up with your studies. But that’s okay, because you’re training to protect the universe—it won’t matter if you can’t do calculus, right? Right!
Running on the sand makes your legs stronger, and you cool down afterwards by eating chocolate ices—there’s a man who comes around to the beach with a little cart and rings a bell to let everyone know he’s there so he can give out cold desserts.
You learn how to travel underwater by creating air-bubbles like helmets around your heads. Breathing surrounded by seawater is an almost mystically strange experience, but it teaches you that water can’t drown you unless you let it in, that nothing can harm you unless you let it. You wrestle illusory jellyfish, and you train far under the ocean,
Malou waterproofs her knives against rust. Shani begins developing gills when she transforms. Char learns that there are certain types of gas-fires that can burn underwater, blue and yellow and strangely luminous, just like the eyeshadow she paints on each morning.
And you discover that, underwater, swimming is a lot like flying, and the currents of water can move like those of wind. One’s willpower, not the elements in which one finds oneself…that’s what matters.
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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The town’s main exports seem to be maple syrup and small apples—tart green ones and sweet yellow ones. They’re so little, you can hold three in your palm!
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>>
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Please turn back a page
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Please turn forward a page
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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Hot stone massages are the most relaxing thing ever. You can feel all the tension melting out of your shoulders.
Your nails are buffed until they shine. A pine-scented hair mask makes your scalp sting a bit, but after another worker washes it out with a showerhead, your hair is so shiny and clean that it practically squeaks between your fingers.
After a good long soak in a tub, everyone is well-scrubbed and pink and smelling of lemongrass. You feel really well-rested and prepared for anything.
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>>
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Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
Tonight’s show is called Shira, Princess of Sparta. The set is like a crystal cave, with low platforms and white columns that can be moved from scene to scene. The lead actress is as cute and darling as an animated princess brought to life, and an aura of innocence surrounds her as Shira travels from kingdom to kingdom. When shipwrecked, she wins a jousting tournament and earns her fortune; when taken prisoner by pirates, she exposes an underground ring of sex-slave trading kidnappers. After praying to an oracle of Athena, she’s delighted to discover that the babe she’s been carrying is not a stranger’s, but her lover’s, conceived before she left home. She returns home to much acclaim just in time to be delivered of a healthy boy, and all is well.
Okay, maybe it’s not the playwright’s best work, but it’s fun, and that’s what matters.
* * *
>>
* * *
* * *
* * *
Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
A magnificent brown-skinned nonbinary performer with regal cheekbones, whose stage name is the Goddex Diane, dances a passionate modern solo about the death of a sacred heron to the sound of a high voice singing ritual chants over a violin’s strains.
You feel each sweep of their arms, even in stillness exquisite, and vow to cultivate such grace yourself.
* * *
>>
* * *
* * *
* * *
Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
ReLOVEution is made up of two women who call themselves “The Queen” and “Right Hand Doll.”
They cultivate the personae of two performative revolutionary leaders whose fierce love helps them lead a movement to destroy a fascist tyrant.
They spit words like fire, dance as perfectly as androids, and all of their songs have at least one line that you love so much you want to scrawl it across everything you own. You and your friends exit whooping and energized. The pink glitter that rained down from the ceiling to symbolize the blood of reLOVEution’s enemies clings to your skin and hair and clothes, and you catch yourselves sparkling in every window.
* * *
>>
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Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
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Although you grew up by the ocean, that ocean wasn’t the sort of sea you could swim in. It was too stormy, too rocky, too rough. In comparison, the waves here—though they seem big to Malou—are gentle. You learn tricks for holding your breath longer, how to free yourself if you’re trapped underwater, and how to surround your eyes with captured wind so you can keep them open while swimming.
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thing one
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Please turn back a page
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Please turn forward a page
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Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
The town’s main exports seem to be maple syrup and small apples—tart green ones and sweet yellow ones. They’re so little, you can hold three in your palm!
* * *
>>
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* * *
* * *
Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
Hot stone massages are the most relaxing thing ever. You can feel all the tension melting out of your shoulders.
Your nails are buffed until they shine. A pine-scented hair mask makes your scalp sting a bit, but after another worker washes it out with a showerhead, your hair is so shiny and clean that it practically squeaks between your fingers.
After a good long soak in a tub, everyone is well-scrubbed and pink and smelling of lemongrass. You feel really well-rested and prepared for anything.
* * *
>>
* * *
* * *
* * *
Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
Although you grew up by the ocean, that ocean wasn’t the sort of sea you could swim in. It was too stormy, too rocky, too rough. In comparison, the waves here—though they seem big to Malou—are gentle. You learn tricks for holding your breath longer, how to free yourself if you’re trapped underwater, and how to surround your eyes with captured wind so you can keep them open while swimming.
* * *
thing one
* * *
* * *
* * *
Please turn back a page
* * *
* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
The town’s main exports seem to be maple syrup and small apples—tart green ones and sweet yellow ones. They’re so little, you can hold three in your palm!
* * *
>>
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