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Type:Text
Sender ID: astudyinviolet (Sherlock Holmes)
To: public
Subject: Magic: deciding, gaining, learning
Warnings: none atm

[ Perhaps this was inevitable given recent events and Sherlock's insecurities about his worth and ability to have purpose in this world. ]

I have a small series of questions to ask those who have gone from not having magic to having magic. Of particular interest are those who have only gained magic from this world, but I will not turn away answers from others either.

The reason I ask these questions is I come from a world where magic is usually a trick using sleight of hand and obfuscation. I inherited my brother's notebooks covering magical theories of this world, but they do not go into the more practical applications or personal aspects of magic. Surely the tattoo is only a single step among many.

How did you decide on what magic to learn?
How did you learn to control that magic?
Do you feel who you are fundamentally has changed? How so?
Have you created any contingency plans in case something goes wrong with your magic or yourself?

[ He... really hopes no one reads too deeply into that last one, but it is a worry Sherlock has given family history and having others within his head before.

And because he learned from Alhaitham's survey... ]

I understand that such a topic might be very personal. Respond anonymously if you desire and only what you are comfortable with sharing. If you'd rather meet in person, I can arrange that as well.

S.H.

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How the tattoos function here is fairly different from how Visions work,
will that help?

Some of these I can also answer from when I initially received my vision at home.

I didn't learn magic solely here but I wasn't born knowing magic either. I attended the a magic school a year ago.

Honestly it's more like it decided for me. Magic was a lot of fun to study and I got the hang of it sort of easy? Particularly weather magic! I've got a couple of spells I like a lot too. I was just sort of naturally drawn to them?

Fingerglow. Supposedly the better you get with magic the less you need your fingerglow to know when to use it. It's all about concentrating your strong emotions into magical will ... or something like that. I'm not that good without my fingerglow still.

... I think I've changed a lot, yeah. I would say I was just growing up but that seems a little too easy of an explanation, you know?

Uh. Not really. I was too worried about something going wrong with Sophie's magic. Sorry, she's a friend from home -- used to be a friend anyhow.

I hope that helps a little. Sorry it wasn't only about magic here. I thought since I had to learn magic before it still counted though.

- Agatha

I could not say. It might. It might also be information not applicable to my case. I still welcome what information you can offer.

[ He's spent enough time with people from Teyvat that, by now, he's had to pick up on a Vision being something received and having to do with what Sherlock would call magic. ]

I've always had abilities that people here would consider magic, but I know people who gained abilities later in life and it changed them pretty drastically.

I received my vision a couple years ago, so I still remember it pretty clearly. There is some intuitive sense on how to use them, but it's not comprehensive, and no two Visions work the same. I suppose it would be blasphemous for a gift from the heavens to come with an instruction manual.

It's less that the Vision fundamentally changed me, and more because I changed, I was granted the Vision.

As far as the magic here...I can channel it through my Vision to an extent, but there's a heightened sense of the energy inherent to this world, which is what the tattoos seem to draw on. So controlling hasn't been difficult, but it does feel strange, and is far more tiring.

Anyway, I decided on plant magic because I come from a jungle nation, and I wasn't quite sure what to pick. While my vision was active, I couldn't use it until I got the tattoo.

And of course I have plans. I did back home, too--I don't use my Vision primarily for combat.

The existence of a school of magic would easily answer a number of questions. While not applicable to my case, it still does provide something to consider.

Was attending the school your choice?

How did they change? Was it some kind of physical transformation or mental?

Oh definitely not! All I wanted to do was get Sophie out of there! Imagine a set of schools dedicated just to good and evil. No one is strictly good or evil!

Physical, mostly. Some people end up not looking human anymore.

It can be mental though, if you gain a power that affects your senses or intelligence.

If such things came with instructions, I would not be asking these questions. Control through intuition does not inspire me with confidence as it is unscientific.

I have some related questions. Do you feel satisfied with choosing plant magic?

And if you do not use your Vision for combat, then what plans do you refer to?

[ Sherlock's concern is very much focused on hurting others rather than something like livelihood. ]

It's hard to describe. Originally...because the Vision responds to something intrinsic within the bearer, it's probably closer to learning the proper form for running than anything more methodical. Your body already mostly knows how to do this, but the finer details aren't clear.

If you want a more scientific approach to magic, you might want to ask Gale Dekarios. He's a scholar of it, and he'd be more than happy to talk about it, I'm sure.

Rather than saying I'm satisfied, I think I'd probably have similar complaints to any other type of magic I'd picked. It suits me fine, so I have no reason to look into if it can be changed.

My Vision is what powers Mehrak, and she's primarily used for surveying, data collection and item storage. That she can function to help in combat wasn't why I made her. But I CAN wield a claymore without her, you know.

I see. In that sense, you learned magic with a goal in mind: to save your friend.

What is good or evil is subjective and far more complex of a topic. Although, this is more a question about your world rather than what I am trying to understand, but if the knowledge of such evil schools is available, has there been no attempt to close them? Does public perception not come into play?

Did those people consciously choose to obtain those powers knowing they would change, or was it unexpected?

... I guess that's right, yeah.

[Never mind it ended with her taking her own classes and Sophie's so she could boost her up to a top student. She had started out doing it for Sophie.]

Not really. It was hard for the adults to stop the Schoolmaster from kidnapping kids to add to the schools. And I mean the schools are in a whole different realm beyond the Woods so ...

You just had to hope not to be picked and Sophie was dead set on going to the School for Good so that didn't work out.

Then once you get there the only way out of them if through your own fairy tale. It's all a pretty big hassle.

Actually, I decided against learning magic. It just seemed like a cheat to me. Magic is abundant on my world but I couldn't learn it so I might be biased.

Depends on the person, I think. For some of them I'm not sure how much choice was involved.

Put in that perspective, the idea of magic being intrinsic is easier to understand. As is your views on plant magic compared to others.

I wasn't questioning your ability to wield a claymore.

[Another survey. One that's more tolerable the last few. Ranma won't have to be so hush-hush about this one.]

Magic in my world's both parlor tricks people put on, for ordinary people, and also supernatural stuff and artifacts that do all sort of things. I didn't have magic before coming here. [unless magical curses fit that quota]

My strength and speed was cut in half when I landed, and I couldn't utilize any of my ki until I got a tattoo. Light just felt like the right element to use to attune my energy again. I'm a quick learner, and I've mostly been doing what I normally use, so it wasn't that difficult. Hadn't really experimented with it outside of that. I don't feel any different as I did before I got brought here.

What do you mean by the last part anyway? You mean if someone decided to turn the octopus guy into calamari?

You decided not to yet also couldn't learn magic?

[ Is this an example of not being able to and then claiming it was his choice as a point of pride? Or something else? ]

That is horrific and upsetting.

[ It's not entirely applicable to Sherlock, but it is something to think about. ]

Oh I think I worded that badly. Back home I couldn't learn magic. On my world people have something called "elemental affinity" which links them to one of the four mana types. You're tested early to see your aptitude. My brother and I had no elemental affinity which usually means we can't draw out any mana. And since schools will only enroll people who can learn magic, we weren't allowed to go to school.

When I saw the tattoos here, I considered getting one but it just felt like was cheating.

You think that's bad? Some people can end up in lifelong debt over this. Slaves to the system, forever.

Edited 2024-08-02 01:00 (UTC)

[ He tried to do better than a certain other survey at least. ]

Your use of ki sounds like a type of magic to me, but I digress. It follows that you would chose your element based on the abilities you already knew.

There have been instances in this world where outside forces influenced people's minds. A person with magic would be a greater danger.

[ Sherlock also chastises himself for not considering the angle of what might happen should the tattooist fall either. He's really slipping. ]

[ He doesn't like anything he reads about that place or its Schoolmaster, but there's also nothing that can be done about it here. ]

That you have found some measure of joy in such circumstances should be commended.

Ah, I understand now. You spoke of two different instances, back home and here.

[ Schools aren't the best thing ever. Sherlock was constantly bullied, thought of as a nuisance, and couldn't study what he wanted to. ]

What made you feel gaining magic here was cheating?

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