Mari can only blame herself for assuming that just because this looks like a normal website, the people on here would also be normal, but either way she’s glad that someone is willing to help. Besides, it's not like she’s ever done a particularly good job of fitting in with the people around her, so she has no grounds to complain about someone who writes like they came out of a Victorian romance novel.

 

She promptly types up a response that answers LadyEleanor57’s questions, and addresses something the witch had mentioned at the start of her message:

 

CrimsonDusk: I’m not really a witch or anything, kinda just learning what I need to know to get by here, but thanks for getting back to me.

 

I haven’t really looked into converting people, and I’m not sure I want to, so both dolls were made from scratch. I’m not sure how I’d tell but don’t think there was anything unusual about how I made them, I followed instructions from this spellbook I got from a witch I know, as well as advice from Dolly.

 

Hopefully that answers both your questions.

 

It doesn’t take long for another reply to come in, although it’s not from the witch Mari was expecting to hear from.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: hey are u fucked up or something?

 

“…What the fuck?”

 

Mari isn’t sure what to think about this message, or what this DollMaster is on about. Does even a site that only witches can access have trolls? She sits there for a few minutes wondering if there are mods she can talk to about this, but the conversation continues before she can act on the thought.

 

LadyEleanor57: Dear CrimsonDusk, thank you for your prompt reply.

 

I must profusely apologise for the behaviour of my fellow forum-goer. Mr. DollMaster has always displayed a complete disregard for proper decorum, even in the face of a new member such as yourself.

 

What he is trying to do is ask whether or not you may be dealing with any personal issues that could potentially be related to the behaviours your two dolls are exhibiting. I do not wish to pry into your personal life, and I pray with all my heart that Mr. DollMaster doesn’t either, but your answer to that question will help us figure out if there’s anything we can offer to help you escape your predicament.

 

I wish you well, and hope to hear back from you soon.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: yea pretty much lol

 

“Huh, guess he’s not a troll then? Or at least not entirely.”

 

With that concern alleviated, even if only partially, that just leaves the question they’ve asked her, but Mari’s not sure she’s got a great answer. Sure, those nightmares have started coming back recently, and it’s not like there aren’t a few other issues outside of that, but she can’t think of anything that she could directly connect to her doll’s emotional issues, or their obsessions with stickers and cats.

 

CrimsonDusk: Not gonna say things are perfect but I can’t think of anything specific that I can point to as a reason the dolls are like this. If it’s unrelated to any personal stuff, what would be the next thing to check?

 

It doesn’t take long for the replies to start coming in, and it’s not exactly good news.

 

LadyEleanor57: Dear CrimsonDusk, I’m afraid that may complicate things quite a bit.

 

If those aspects of your dolls’ personalities aren’t coming from you, then their true origin must be elsewhere, and it will be up to you to determine exactly where they came from. I apologise for this, but it’s unlikely anyone here will be of much help to you in your search unless you could provide us with much more information about yourself than I imagine you would be comfortable sharing.

 

It may be worth taking some time for self-reflection, there could still be something within you that could shine light on the issue, but otherwise I wish you well in your search.

 

Deepest regards.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: yea so the cool thing about making a doll from a person is that when u make the core ur just like taking their soul and cutting off all the stinky bits you dont want. means some of their old personality will still be in the doll, so like if I converted that bitch from the pancake commercial itd probably still love pancakes as a doll.

 

vegan dolls are different tho. u don’t make them from a person, but that personality’s gotta come from fukin somewhere right? sometimes thats u, sometimes its who fucking knows where. could be something u were thinkin about when making it, one time I made a doll after marathoning the matrix movies and it refuses to work if its not wearing black shades. its fucking sick.

 

anyway tl;dr, maybe talk to a therapist otherwise idk lmao

 

Mari feels like she’s going to get whiplash if she keeps reading posts from these two, but regardless of how they write, the content of their messages is concerning.

 

CrimsonDusk: Is there really nothing that anyone here could do to help? There isn’t like a spell that would make them behave, a way to stop myself from feeling their emotions, or some advice on how to avoid the problem when I make new dolls?

 

LadyEleanor57: Dear CrimsonDusk,

 

Once again I apologise for Mr. DollMaster’s behaviour, but despite his demeanour I can assure you that his advice can be trusted when it comes to the topic of dollmaking. I doubt there’s a witch on this website that’s better versed in the topic than him, which is likely one of the major reasons he’s been able to avoid any disciplinary action for his utterly deplorable conduct.

 

While I would love nothing more than to tell you exactly how to remedy the issue, it all comes back to the simple problem of not knowing exactly what is causing the issue in the first place. Until that conundrum is resolved, there’s very little any of us here could do to help.

 

You mentioned you followed instructions from a spellbook of some description you received from another witch, and I fear that may have given you an erroneous impression of how witchcraft works. It’s not like the sciences or mathematics where most things can be deduced via a consistent formula, a witch is an individual with the ability to quite literally impose their will onto the world around them, and as such the specifics of how one carries that out can vary wildly between individuals. 

 

Even on these very forums, discussions on witchcraft have less to do with teaching others how to perform certain feats, but instead focus on the methods that various users have employed to perform them in hopes that some of these techniques prove useful to those who’s magic manifests in a similar fashion. Not to say that there aren’t rules and limits to how witchcraft works, and by extension what can be done with it, but no two witches are likely to work within those boundaries in the same manner.

 

In essence, that book will likely be of great assistance when it comes to learning the basics of the craft, but when it comes to more advanced topics, and issues like the one you find yourself faced with now, I doubt there’s anything of note in there that could help. I have already recommended looking within yourself for answers, but it’s also equally likely that the solution you seek lies on the road towards your mastery of witchcraft.

 

As for the matter of sensing the strong emotions coming from your dolls, there may be little you can do to stop that in the short term. That is a skill that some witches have been known to develop, and it sounds like you’ve unintentionally discovered how to sense those emotions without additionally learning how to stop sensing them. I believe there are a few users on this forum who may be able to provide further guidance in this field, but my suggestion would be to persevere with it, and focus on this ability when you get the chance, as furthering your understanding of it should in turn allow you to shut out the feelings you do not wish to experience on another’s behalf.

 

If you run into any further problems in the future, or new information arises that you feel the need to inform us about, do not hesitate to reach out.

 

I hope you are able to resolve your issues in due time.

 

This news only serves to dishearten Mari, even if it is nice to have at least found some amount of guidance. The fact that she might still be able to get help with shutting out her dolls’ emotions is at least something, but that’s only one small part of the larger problem. She probably would have found those tidbits about the nature of witchcraft to be quite interesting if it hadn’t come alongside the fact that she’s essentially stuck sorting this out on her own. She sighs, figuring there’s not much to do about it. She’s pretty used to solving problems with little in the way of support at this point anyway.

 

She’s not feeling particularly excited about the prospect of doing any soul searching right now, but furthering her study of witchcraft doesn't sound too bad. She’d already been planning on studying the book a bit more today, so these revelations just mean she has more reason than ever to jump right into that.

 

Once more this morning, Mari goes to open up the book, but yet again she gets interrupted by a ping coming from the computer. It seems the conversation isn’t over yet.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: o yea speaking of that book whod u have to kill to get your hands on something like that? u have no clue the things i wouldve done for that shit when i was a babby witch

 

CrimsonDusk: Nothing special. She just gave it to me when she said I could have the place she was moving out of.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: wait wtf

 

ur telling me u got a witch house for free nd r livin in it now?

 

CrimsonDusk: Yeah, that’s why I started making the dolls, keeping this place clean is a huge pain lmao.

 

What follows over the next few minutes is a flurry of messages that Mari hadn’t expected at all.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: gfdljshsk

 

UrbanArcane: No way

 

TheFinder: She’s gotta be lying right?

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: ur cracking me up girl. ur sayin ur not really a witch or whatevs when u got a witch house and a spellbook for free? tf u on lmao

 

LunarHarmony: *a gif of a scene from an old sitcom where a man falls down the stairs with the text “MY BRAIN CANNOT” superimposed across the bottom*

 

LadyEleanor57: My word, CrimsonDusk,

 

That is indeed quite extraordinary, you must have exemplary luck to have been met with such fortune.

 

Regards.

 

xX_TheDollMaster_Xx: im findin out where u live and stealing ur house

 

It appears Mari might not be doing the greatest job of fitting in here either.