⚒ sixth - [ video - open to action ]

[deathsought]

[ Zeref appears to be in the middle of Fayren City; a very bad place for him to see something that angered him, or at least severely embarrassed him. He's glaring, but his eyes are barely visible; they're not quite red and glowing yet, though. ]

Who in their right mind would think this was a good idea? [ Zeref holds up a flier for the beauty pageant. The camera is centered on his name, in the list of male contestants. ] Whoever you are, do you realize what could happen if I participated in something like this!?

[ Ignoring the fact that he'd sooner volunteer one of the Books of Zeref to be reviewed in the Genessia Tribune, if his magic activated in the middle of something like that... ]

I can't participate in this. I'm sorry.

[ And with that, the feed ends. Attempts to convince him otherwise, go. Spoiler alert, they'll ultimately work. ]

Comments

[deathsought]

None exist. None that are acceptable, anyway.

[ifbymyhands]

Sorry. Magic is hard to deal with, huh?

[deathsought]

Some more than others, but yes.

[ifbymyhands]

It seems to be trouble for a lot of people, even if it's useful.

[deathsought]

It takes years to learn any form of magic, and it's extremely taxing on the mind and body. Few people ever bother to learn more than one form of magic at a time. There are a few forms of magic that are considered inherently evil, and are useful only to destroy. We call those 'Black Arts.'

[ And he quite literally wrote the book on those. ]

[ifbymyhands]

Your world confirmed for unfair.

[deathsought]

Power that great doesn't come without a cost. Those who seek it never quite understand just how great that cost is until they're dealing with it.

[ifbymyhands]

Maybe that part's always true.

[deathsought]

'Maybe?'

[ifbymyhands]

Different worlds, different magic. You know?

[deathsought]

Does magic exist in your world?

[ifbymyhands]

Sort of. Yes, but people don't really use it anymore.

[deathsought]

[ Zeref hears that, and is actually rather surprised. He can't even imagine a scenario when people in his world would stop using magic, unless it was forcibly taken from them. It was so ingrained in Earth Land's culture and society for almost every use and purpose that it was unthinkable. ]

Why is that?

[ifbymyhands]

I wasn't there, but it was kind of bred out of the population over the past thousand years and some. Most people don't even know it exists for real now.

[deathsought]

I see. [ The population of Earth-Land that can use magic are definitely a minority, but they're far from an endangered species. He honestly hadn't even considered the that magic can be bred out of humans. ]

That's unthinkable, in my world.

[ifbymyhands]

Didn't mean to shock you. It's just how things turned out.

[deathsought]

No, it's quite alright. I'm just trying to imagine such a thing happening in Earth Land.

[ifbymyhands]

What is your world like?

[deathsought]

To be honest, I don't know anymore. A lot can - and has - changed over the centuries. The only thing that hasn't changed is human nature.

[ A beat. ]

Fairy Tail would be a better choice to answer that question for you.

[ifbymyhands]

You mean that guild? I wasn't sure what they actually do.

[deathsought]

They're a Magic Guild. Licensed Guilds like Fairy Tail are private groups take jobs for money. More often than not, they're jobs that require fighting.

[ifbymyhands]

And beauty pageants are bad for it?

[deathsought]

Actually, from what I've been reading... several members of Fairy Tail have been covered in something called 'Sorcerer's Magazine.' They likely take beauty pageants seriously.

[ The guy who designed certain demons doesn't have much room to criticize, though he'd be the first to say that the age-old "I just read it for the articles" excuse would never apply to that magazine. He got bored quickly. ]

[ifbymyhands]

...Okay then.

[deathsought]

I wouldn't know how to begin to explain it. I don't see the appeal.