#gnm asks

Your world building is so interesting, and I wanted to ask, how exactly di-mages work? From your series Ginger and mint, I understood they cast spells by eating, but it would be nice to have more throughout informations about them. The concept of different mages is so interesting and it would be great to know more about them.

And I love when there are scenes with Ryder being stuffed, he's so cute.

thank you so much anon! <3 I am delighted to hear some love for stuffed Ryder, he's one of my favorites to fill up with treats hehe

Di-mages indeed cast spells by eating! The type of spell cast is determined by the amounts of different foods they eat, and in what order. The amount of food required is usually high (because... you know ;)....) although with practice, a mage can get better at casting with smaller amounts.

Because each spell requires such a big effort, di-mage spells are usually slower but more powerful than those cast by other types of mages

like there's always something with them. and it's awesome

I'm glad to hear it! :D It's a short scene and in fact nearly done, so it will probably be posted by the end of the month

love the moment when a cold asshole character opens up and it turns out that he's just unhappy, and now you want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from all the troubles 🤲🏼

thank you! it always warms my heart to know that people are ready to jump back on this story when I update it! <3

gosh your thoughts here have really gotten my brain buzzing! unhappiness is definitely part of what's going on with Elliott, it's true. but it's not the only thing, because Elliott as he is now could not bear to let himself be wrapped in blankets or protected. in fact, he would verbally eviscerate anybody who tried, with cruelty they don't deserve -- and nobody can change that part of his suffering (not to mention the suffering of those he treats poorly) until he takes that power into his own hands.

there are a lot of stories out there about how love and friendship can save people from their misery. and there's certainly an element of that to my story too. but this really got me thinking about how there's a certain agency that I want to make sure Elliott keeps. like -- unhappy or not, he has been a cold asshole and people have been hurt because of it. and there's agency in taking responsibility for that.

Oooh thank you so much for this juicy juicy question! ♡

I haven't thought a whole lot about how other schools of magic would function in a combat situation, so I'm reserving the right to change this in the future -- but here are my top-of-the-head answers! C:

Sign-mages use quick gestures and don't really cast sustained spells, so stopping one is as easy as interrupting / preventing their hand movements. There are no ill effects on the mage (unless you stopped them by injuring their hands of course)

For scribe magic, destroying a completed sigil would neutralize the spell. The mage would never even know what happened. However, if you interrupted a scribe-mage in the middle of casting, it would be kinda unpleasant for them. Scribe-mages slowly build up magical power as they draw and release the power into the sigil upon completion -- so if you stopped one before they could complete the sigil, all the power they'd built up would have no defined outlet. (Sort of like the "magical reflux" that can happen to di-mages, but less dangerous because the power isn't stuck inside their tummy. ^^') It would begin to leak out of them in an uncontrolled way -- uncomfortable but not dangerous!

Song-mages spells are typically active as long as the caster is singing. So yeah, all you have to do is stop the singing to stop the spell. No ill effects!

OOOH this is a really great question! :D it's super cool that you noticed this, anon! I have a big fat answer for you [cracks knuckles]

I'm planning to have some more exposition on this exact thing in the next chapter, but briefly -- there are two ways to cast long-term spells. As you noted, one method requires you to actively maintain the effects, the way Grayson is learning to do with the invisibility spell. Mages start out with this technique because it's easier.

The other method allows you to cast the spell and just let it do its thing for a given length of time. It's more a challenging technique, but it means you can go focus on other things and let your spell just run its course. It doesn't last forever though -- if you wanted to keep something invisible indefinitely, you'd have to come back every so often and redo the magic.

I know Elliot drinks (a lot—I wanna hug this poor boy so bad) outside of school, but are there spells where alcohol is a necessary food component? And what would happen if a di mage had a few drinks and then tried to eat and cast. Would it change anything? Or would it just reduce their stomach capacity and make it more difficult to cast?

I don't think I've covered these questions before! C:

No, alcohol is never a necessary food component.