where bike race hobby cannot properly apply, at least you can be an asshole on the internet

[discarding]

Name: Midousuji Akira
Date: 2/16
Format: text; UN: HOTARU☆KUN

---

hello.

So I’m a witch. Apparently.

[what a shitty cold open.

Midousuji still feels unconvinced that this is real. in fact, this feels stupid, but he’s not about to let his mind become idle if he can help it, so he may as well throw his entire will into...something. failing that, he’ll just lay on his side until he wastes away, and maybe he’ll find out about that old saying that you can’t die in dreams. it’s lovely to have options.]

I’m an athlete back home, but I’m pretty sure my specialty isn’t possible in this place.

So for now, I’ve been studying since I got here about all this magic nonsense, and I don’t particularly desire interacting with the people at the Coven face to face more than I have to. It gives me a gross feeling. I felt like it would in some ways be more strategic to talk to other Mirrorbound, at this stage. And I’m sure these kinds of posts pop up here all the time, but I don’t care

So: practicing Mirrorbound witches, what are your magic specialties? What was your experience with learning magic?

Considering that we all have a late start, how long does it take a novice with up to at least a decade in handicap to achieve mastery?

And monsters, if you care to share: are the transformations horrible? Do you feel less human? Do you feel ugly? Do your instincts at times go against your perilous polite society ethics or whatever? What’s all that like?

Comments

un: tdfsh

[prettyrocks]

I wouldn't say we all have a late start. I've had magic my whole life.
no offense to all the witches who are getting magic for the first time, but I'm different.

[discarding]

[huh. right. Midousuji squints at the little screen, wanting to be annoyed—and he is, but there's...some useful information in here, he guesses.]

So magic happens to be exactly the same in your world??? Gross. Bully for you

[prettyrocks]

not exactly the same.
it's similar, but they changed the kind of spellcaster I am.
witches here are like wizards back home, and I was a sorcerer.
there's a difference.

un: lalli

[nau]

Why would I feel ugly?

[discarding]

[USELESS. Midousuji hisses low in the back of his throat, throwing his head back at an honestly alarming speed as he rolls his eyes, then flops his head right back into place, hunched over the little watch thing he's trying to get accustomed to.]

why wouldnt u

[nau]

I still look mostly like myself.

[Lalli’s never really thought about himself on a scale of handsome or ugly... That stuff is stupid and unimportant.]

un: galdorleod

[galdorleod]

Neither did I have a late start. You should be mindful not only of how different this world is from your own, but how different other Mirrorbounds' worlds can be.

[prettyrocks]

heck yeah!

o/*\o

that's us high fiving.

[galdorleod]

Oh, I've seen this. The device's type symbols are used to create a picture instead. But what is the star between our hands? Are we casting a spell?

[discarding]

Wow you think so huh?? I guess I should have asked every possible extraneous question I could possibly ever need to know about this stupid creepy horror circus instead of the two currently most pressing to my own situation, thanks

[except, of course, it is useful to know that, and Midousuji will mind it—he's only irritated because this has already been brought to light by some other haughty magic user.]

Is your world's magic the same or what?

[galdorleod]

You're welcome. [ love to be a help! ]

No. There are a handful of similarities, but Aefenglom's magic is surprisingly different from what I'm used to. But, it has not been so hard to acclimate to it.

text | un: qingsman

[bingyun]

you're wise to seek advice from mirrorbound first.

i resisted for as long as possible. it's only recently that i've been actively practicing it more.

[discarding]

[wow. duh. thank god. someone with the decency to reply with something useful at the jump. but ew. Midousuji doesn't like to think of it as seeking advice, but he knows that the ...Gingsman is right. horrible. Midousuji decides to just not acknowledge that.]

Resisted learning magic? How long have you been here?

[bingyun]

a few months now.

i preferred relying on my own skills, not their magic that i did not ask for. but there was danger in that. whether or not i choose to use it, i should at least know how to control it.

un: username; text

[fuelingfire]

Can't help on the witch problems. But remember, knowledge is power and all power worth having corrupts. Study hard, become evil.

The transformations are indeed horrible, though I never felt human to begin with. Polite society and I have a casual relationship at best but I'm under the impression that the city guard wouldn't take kindly to it if I indulged the endless desire to incinerate the countryside, terrorize small villages, and kidnap and eat maidens.

It is in fact terrible. Possibly only because I am forbidden from indulging.

Your achievement at becoming a witch is the better option.

[discarding]

[Midousuji blinks at the first line of advice, then looks at the person's username, and decides that he's finally found someone with the right idea. Midousuji is all about corruption, especially through power.

Midousuji is actually so unsettled by the next words he reads that he's actually startled, his body rolling up in tension—because, with a horrifying roll of goosebumps, he finds he relates to the words he reads... until it gets to burning entire countrysides, terrorizing villages, and stealing and eating women. Midousuji's posture (almost) relaxes.

right. monster stuff. even though this is all fake and not real.]

Maybe. That depends on how useful it ends up being for me. But I'm glad to keep my body, anyway.

Also, did you never feel human before because society at large being arbitrarily confining (acknowledging I can't speak for other "worlds" or whatever), or because you weren't human before you got here in the first place?

un: taru | text

[seemstressed]

I cannot say I have a specific specialty, as I've been doing my best to learn what I can here but back home I was studying to be an Arcanist. My experience learning magic here has been far more rewarding than on Eorzea.

_{[Mostly because she fucks up less.]}

What sort of athlete were you?

[discarding]

Hmmmmm.... Why's that?

[Midousuji pauses. he suspects his specialty is so niche that were he to reveal it off network, it would clock him immediately. if he fucks up too bad on the network, he wants to keep those things separate.]

A type of racing unique to my world.

[okay. half lie.]

text; un: Linden Tailor

[hearthebell]

[Someone's bored and laid up and recovering from a particularly brutal time at Alder's party. In cases like these where he's too depleted to study and too restless to actually sleep, he's checking out the network, and judging the shitty cold opens of athlete witches.]

Why isn't your athletic specialty possible here? Did you just happen to lose your legs after stepping outside the mirror house?

[Where there's a will, there's a way, and even he's found a way to play tennis.]

[discarding]

[when Midousuji sees this response, his eyes roll up too far in his head as it swings back, and as Midousuji lunges back forward with abrupt force, he slams his forehead against the floor of his room provided at the Coven. then, he raises his head, forehead all ruddy from impact, eyes wide as he responds as if nothing just happened.]

So listen idiot #5 while i appreciate every useless response before this one in equal measure: this is a useless response

I have my legs, the thing I use to do my sport isn't available in this primitive fantasy RPG premise.

voice; un: mshivana

[faithlikeaseed]

[Someone ELSE is also laid up with more time on his hands than usual to listen to the network.

The content of the message isn't unusual, (oh, we've got another new one, Myr thinks) but the tone is oddly engaging.

In a come-out-swinging sort of way.

He's fairly sure of the response he's going to get if he makes his response aloud and decides, after a half-second of thought, he cares less about that than he does about having to dictate a novel to this stupid device if an argument takes off.]

For Witches without any magic at all, I'd say you might be proficient in a single school in six months with ordinary study. Three to four if it's all you do; a year if you do it casually.

The transformation's exactly as horrible as you let it be. Losing my ears was the worst part because I wasn't ever human to begin with. [Hm. Calculated exposure of a vulnerability there?] I'm deferring on the question about ugliness as a poor judge, and yes, my instincts don't mesh well with my upbringing but I've gotten used to juggling them.

That said, [wryly,] it's not as awful as I feared it would be at the start.

text infinity (not intending to reveal his voice etc)

[discarding]

[Midousuji blinks, taken aback. he recognizes this username. how fortuitous that this guy is trying again, proper channel, proper designation, and still giving him (USEFUL!) information despite Midousuji's impish ribbing. he even gives Midousuji an answer on transformation.

well.]

That feels like a long time. Which I guess is a relative thing to say, in the first place... I could deal with 3-4 months, if nothing better shows up for me to occupy my time with.

Dare I ask: how long have the more tenured Mirrorbound been here?

As for transformation stuff: interesting! What kind of monster are you?

Un: Alex

[sing_for_me]

I hope your stay here hasn’t been to unpleasant. Some of the changes were painful, others not as bad. The instincts do take over sometimes and I’ve done things I normally wouldn’t...having a bond really helps in that respect.

I know witches have their own dangers so I hope you’re able to find one soon.

1/2

[discarding]

huhhhhh????? what do you mean this is almost the most unpleasant thing that's ever happened to me in my LIFE

[discarding]

As for a Bond, I'm putting it off as long as I possibly can. I know that it's gonna be hard around the coming New Moon or whatever, so I might cave before then so I don't accidentally blow myself up playing with this stupid stuff.

what kind of monster are you