#gnm asks

[ginger-and-mint]

I wanted to tell you, that ypur work is amazing and I'm so happy I found your ao3 account, you're so good at writing and describing things.

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

thank you for the question! C: if there's anything you're still wondering, please feel free to ask!

[ginger-and-mint]

i've been following ginger and mint for a while now and i want you to know that grayson and elliott are like friends i worry about

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

hahahaha thank you so much <3 I can assure you that Kara is right there with you watching the disaster that is those two unfold with great concern.

[ginger-and-mint]

I am very much looking forward to hearing what Ryder actually said to Elliot!

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

I have decided that when I add it to the Ginger and Mint work on AO3, I'm also going to add in the Train Ride bonus scene that I had previously only posted on this blog. The other bonus scenes I've written are mainly for fun, but I feel like this one and the upcoming one are important to the story and deserve to be in the work proper

[ginger-and-mint]

OH MY GOD NEW CHAPTER HELLO!! I never stopped thinking about this story 🥹

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.

I think what I'm writing, mainly, is a story about deciding to get better in spite of everything. and how getting better can be the toughest battle of your life.

[ginger-and-mint]

Now that we know how di-magic is neutralized: do the other schools have equally unpleasant spell cancelations? Or is it more like "just stop singing" or "erase the sigils"?

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!

Thought magic is the only school that requires equally unpleasant methods to stop. Like with digestive magic, thought magic relies on an internal process that can't really be interrupted without counterspells. A thought-mage hit with a counterspell would experience a really bad headache and/or temporary psychosis that would force them to release the spell. Not Fun At All.

[ginger-and-mint]

Okay. So. Question about magic and long-term spell effects. With the muffling spell, Elliott had to actively maintain the effects (greatly to his own detriment.) Did the cloaking spell the librarian cast on the yearbooks also require active maintenance? Or did he just vanish them once and call it a day?

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.

HOWEVER -- everything I just wrote applies to digestive magic specifically. And the librarian is actually a sign-mage! (it's not really explicitly stated, just hinted at with Agent Smythe referring to the sigils he used when they're discussing the yearbooks.) Sign magic is kind of like a form of enchanting and can produce permanent effects. So the librarian vanished them once and called it a day.

[ginger-and-mint]

You may have already covered this so I'm sorry if so, but I'm curious about how alcohol affects di mages

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.

Drinking alcohol before casting wouldn't affect the spell at all from a technical standpoint. But you're right that it would take up precious stomach space and possibly dull the mage's mental focus, making it harder to cast.

[ginger-and-mint]

inquiring minds wish to know...will jo ever get to meet ryder???

I'm sure she will, although I don't currently have a plan to write about it in the ordinary Ginger and Mint storyline! c: However, maybe someday a side story or something could come of it.