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It's Ellie and Savannah's birthday.

6/21/2022

So, I was trying to write a recap for The Mansion's Twins. Like, trying really hard. And it was just impossibly difficult until... Well, I might have written a rap recap. So... Only because today is a special day for my twins, I'm gonna share this ridiculous thing. I mean, if you really want to read it. Ready to get weird?

Seriously, clicking ahead is entering into a contract to deal with me. Are you willing to accept those terms?

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Gift Focus of the Month: Transformation

6/10/2022

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We’re taking a close look at the twelve gifts, starting with the twins’ gifts, and then making our way through the poem:

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model maker

The gift of the month for June is… Transformation. Let’s see what Rose wrote about this gift.

One of the rarer gifts. It includes both transformation of objects and creating disguises.

The high level of this gift is self-transformation that actually lasts, which is widely thought to be a myth. Even temporary self-transformation is difficult, as it requires you to constantly maintain the magic in order to keep the disguise.

People with the transformation gift are often very smart and crafty. People think those with the gift join June’s army because they make good spies, but trying to do that is actually very dangerous and rarely succeeds because it’s so difficult to maintain the magic. People with the gift join June’s army because they have sharp minds, and can help make plans. They can also improve and duplicate weapons.

Like inner-vision, there are some negative stereotypes about people with this gift. Many people don’t think the gifted are trustworthy, not only because of exaggerated ideas about the gift's high-level potential, but just because of the gifted can be perceived as flakey. I mean, if you were gifted, wouldn’t you change up your room every day? Change your hair? Your clothes? The experimental nature of the gifted, and their inconsistencies, can put people off. However, their far more likely to just be fun, outgoing, and adventurous than deceptive. But those who do abuse the gift can cause a lot of damage, so the negative stereotypes persist.

I usually like to feature a character with my "gift of the month" with a picture of them, but yikes, I just don't have a single good picture of Jerome. Like, he's impossible to draw. I can't even draw women all that well, and men are way more difficult. SO, because clay is sometimes used to symbolize transformation, I thought I'd share this lovely picture of my faceless clay figures. Jerome and family. THIS is why those with transformation get a bad reputation.

The high level of this gift is self-transformation that lasts, which is widely thought to be a myth. Sure, you can change your hair, but those types of alterations hardly ever last more than a day. Transforming yourself into a completely different person typically wouldn’t last more than a few minutes, at best. In order to truly trick someone, the gifted would need to be exceptional.

As for a flipside, this is an odd one. It’s fixing things. Not “fix” as in repair, but as in make permanent. This could be used for things like finishing the work of inexperienced model makers—a strong model maker could make their work “stick” by themselves, but the finishing touch of someone with transformation could always make the end product stronger.

Transformation is most closely connected to outer-vision and healing, and it’s often symbolized by a butterfly.

Fun fact about the twelve gifts

A wedding in the magical world is called a “Gifts of Gifts” ceremony. The couple will ask twelve of their friends and family to represent each gift. Each of the gifted (or stand-ins for the gifted) present the couple with a symbol of each gift, and recite a blessing to match. For example, “For dancing, I present these slippers. May these currents keep you moving.” And, “For transformation, I present this clay. May these currents help you grow with each other.” There are traditional presents for each gift, but many families choose to personalize. Marriage in the magical world isn’t very common—perhaps because a full Gifts of Gifts ceremony is a bit complicated to put together. It’s considered bad luck to do a Gifts of Gifts ceremony without all twelve gifts represented. They say it leads to unbalanced magic in your relationship, and we all know how dangerous that is.

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It's Ellie and Savannah's birthday.

Gift Focus of the Month: Transformation

Fun fact about the twelve gifts

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