“So what, this message board is for talking about witchcrafty things or whatever?” Mari asks, hovering her mouse around the hyperlink.

“From what this one knows, that’s the case, yes.” Dolly replies cheerfully. “This one isn’t allowed to go into that place, it’s only for witches after all, but you might be able to ask for help with your problem there!”

Mari hesitates for a moment. “...Will I have any trouble getting in?”

“What do you mean?” Dolly asks quizzically. “This one doesn’t understand.”

“It’s just that I’m not really like a proper witch or anything, I’ve just learnt a few spells that I needed to get by. Is there like a verification process I have to go through to make sure I’m a witch?”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about anything like that, silly!” The doll replies with a chuckle. “You already found this site, right? That’s proof you’re witch enough!”

“Huh, okay…” Mari hadn’t expected it to be so simple, is the little she knows about witchcraft really enough to qualify her as a witch? Is the fact that she learnt what she knows out of necessity as opposed to learning them to become a witch matter? Does she automatically get the title just for knowing anything at all? Is that even something she wants? She catches herself before she gets too caught up with these questions, she’s literally about to access a site where she’ll be able to find at least some of these answers, after all.

“Guess I’ll give it a look then, thanks again for your help Dolly.”

“All good! This one is glad to assist!”

Mari clicks on the image, and a new window containing the message board pops up and expands to fill her monitor, pushing Dolly offscreen in the process as the doll lets out a small ‘oof’. Mari scans the page, finding that it looks very much like a regular online forum, not unlike several she’s been a part of over the years. It sports the same retro web design look as the rest of the Witch Wide Web, and the list of currently online users at the bottom of the page suggests that this is far from the most active message board she’s ever browsed, but there are still a decent number of witches using the site.

The main page contains a list of sub-forums dedicated to what seem to be different categories of witchcraft. There are your standard general discussion and off-topic sections, but also areas to discuss spells, hexes, potions, and more. There's even a section specifically for dolls, giving Mari hope that even if she can’t solve her problem here, she can at least find a good lead.

She looks through the first few pages of the sub-forum to see if there are any topics related to her issue, but she doesn’t find anything of relevance. Most of the discussion seems to be directed more towards advanced methods for making dolls, or modifying the bodies of existing ones, as opposed to how the dolls actually behave. Mari supposes that makes sense, chances are everyone using this forum has been practising witchcraft for much longer than she has, so they wouldn’t need to talk about the basics all that often. That’s not a bad thing though, it means there’s a good chance that someone will be able to help if she asks, she just needs to make her own topic.

She clicks the new topic button, and is met with a popup that presents an obstacle that had slipped her mind up until now. She needs to enter a username in order to post. What could she pick though? Her default username is one she’s been using since she was a kid, but it doesn’t feel like it fits the vibe this place has, and the name she uses for her more professional email address has the opposite issue, it’s too dry, and includes a bit more of her real name than she’d like to divulge on a random website, even if it’s a magic one.

No, she needs something else, something magical, something mysterious, something witchy, something that feels like it would belong in this sort of space. Suddenly, she’s met with a stroke of inspiration, and thinks back to that one MMO she tried out for a few weeks in high school, the username she chose for that might work! She types something into the text box before hitting the confirm button, and a new message appears on the screen.

Welcome, CrimsonDusk.

…

It’s perfect.

With the hardest part now taken care of, Mari sets out to create a topic called ‘Emotional Issues in Dolls’, explaining how she’s new to witchcraft, going into detail about the troubles she’s been having with the two dolls she’s made so far, and how she’s sometimes able to sense their emotions, whether she wants to or not. Once she has everything written up, she hits the post button, and all that’s left now is to wait for someone to respond.

Considering the relatively low number of active users, there’s a good chance that no one will reply for quite a while, so Mari figures she can get up and do something else in the meantime. She’s been meaning to read through more of the witchcraft book to see if she can find some new spells that sound interesting, so she grabs it from the nearby desk, and by the time she’s sat back down there’s already a new post in her topic.

LadyEleanor57: Welcome, CrimsonDusk. I hope this message finds you well, it is always so nice to see a new witch around here.

There is nothing more I would like to do than assist you with your problem, however, there are a few pieces of information that would prove useful in guiding you in the right direction. I would like to ask that you send a reply to this post at your soonest convenience that contains information as to whether your dolls were converted from people or made from scratch, and if there were any particular details of their creation process that may have been abnormal or remarkable in any way. If you’re able to comply with this simple request, I would have a greater grasp on the situation and what exactly may be causing this most unusual behaviour in your dolls.

Much like the call of a young bird in the spring breeze, I hope to hear from you before long.

The message is capped off with the user’s forum signature, which seems to be an actual handwritten signature that they must have scanned in.

This is only the second witch that Mari’s ever interacted with, but she’s starting to suspect that most witches might just be a little eccentric.

SyntaxSpeedway

Sorry for the shorter chapter, a bunch of factors have meant that I haven’t had much time to write in the time since I posted the most recent Advice Doll chapter, and I’m going to be away for most of the rest of the week so I wanted to at least make sure I got something out before then. Things should be back to normal next week though so as long as nothing pops up to get in the way I’ll be back to my usual pace.

 

I also wanted to mention that for the sake of keeping the story readable, the forum posts will be formatted like chat messages, but in-universe they’re just like posts on any forum you’ve been on.

 

One other small thing, but a few days back I went and changed the ending of the previous chapter a bit. It’s nothing huge and it doesn’t affect the story in any way that would require you to go back and read it if you don’t want to, I just changed the small gag at the end to something that has a similar idea, but one that works a bit better than the original.