BoM/TWS Message Forum

--> "To me it's a pretty limiting question a bit like the last one."

Yes, it is very limited. In making up these QotWs, I'm going very slowly through the Libra Personae, a spell at a time. Think of it as a test of ingenuity and imagination. At first you can make a mask, and that is all. What do you do with it?

This week's question is probably best thought of as a question about yourself. How do you see yourself? How would you like to be? How far out of your zone of reality are you willing to risk venturing, and in what direction would you venture?

--> "That's to say nothing of the fact you'd have no identity or forms of ID"

The question doesn't say that you don't have them. It only asks you to limit yourself to two magical implements. Whatever else you need to make your plan work, go ahead and assume you've got or could get them. If this means assuming that you can fake ID and even a home, assume away.

So here's my answer. Yes, it's one that assumes I can fake my way into high school.

I start with the fact that I'm quite risk-averse, so I'm not going to test myself far beyond my own abilities. (Once mind bands become available in these scenarios, though—watch out!) I'm very introverted too. For these reasons, I definitely wouldn't do a TG transformation. It would take me too far out of my comfort zone, and I have the impression that it's easier for guys to be introverted than for girls to be. I also don't have any sports talent, so there's no reason to go for a physical build suited for sports like basketball or football.

I also don't want to return to middle school, and it's too easy for an introvert to vanish into college. High school would be a good compromise. If BoM had a better set of developed characters in the lower grades I might be tempted to aim for a freshman or sophomore look, but I'll draw from the senior classes since there are more (and more established) characters there.

Being an introvert, though, doesn't mean I'd want to be so plain as to be invisible. I would want my new body to be a good-looking one, well-built, with a degree of visibility. I would be hoping to construct a look that would give me maximum flexibility: a look that doesn't force me toward any kind of stereotype (positive or negative) and that would let me look at home with any sort of group or niche that I find myself attracted to. Given my own personality and interests, I would likely wind up friends with people like Will and Caleb; Carson and James and Jenny; the kids who role-play; the guys with the YouTube channel; maybe with people in the band and orchestra.

Basically, I would want a look that would give me a chance for a certain degree of social popularity and mobility while giving me the option of choosing where to exercise it. So here is what I would go for:

* Start with a basic body type with a reasonable set of attributes: good-looking, mature, healthy, well-shaped without being shaped for any sport in particular. For reasons I'll get to, they would need to be a dark-haired brunette. There are probably any number of body types answering to that description, but I'll choose Geoff Mansfield, as I think BoM is on record in a couple of places in describing him with the wanted attributes.

* Into this basic layer I would merge a complementary athlete. A strong body but not a weightlifter and not a natural giant. The most likely place to find such would be on the swimming team, or on the baseball or soccer teams. Some of the smaller and more agile football players would probably work. Hair and facial features would have to match Mansfield's so that nothing really funky would result from their merger. Unfortunately, there aren't any characters who are on record as having this kind of look and build, so I can't put a name here.

* The last choice is where I make a bold move: someone from East Asia. So Gary Chen, Jack Li, or Mokichi Saito. (This is why I want to start with brunettes above—so there's a smooth merger of the hair.) Throwing someone like this in would, I hope, give my new body a mixed-race look, giving it the visibility that I say I want for social flexibility and mobility.

So that's my answer, and the considerations that would go into it. You don't have to be as thorough in your answer as I've been. You only have to be as ingenious as you feel like being.