The worst part is, even if you overcome the evil mirror of self-reflection and learn sorcery, it's not "cozy".
That sends 3 out of 4 back to normal life once they understand what sorcery really is. We lose them from here all the time. Not a word. They just vanish.
I guess you have to get there to understand what that means. Why isn't it "cozy"?
But imagine there's a beautiful mountain where you live.
Near the town of "Big Gulps", a place inhabited entirely by grotesquely overweight human beings.
The town isn't very big, but all of the businesses are fast food.
It's along the freeway.
So you have a McDonald's, then a Der Wienerschnitzel, then a Taco Bell, then a Greek Gyro joint, an Asian pastry shop, a "French Fry Depot", and on and on. It's endless fattening food down the entire stretch of main street.
With soft drinks so large, they're illegal in N.Y.
The hobby there is to sit around on the tables outside the fast food places, and eat. Consume. Enjoy! They've developed a social system based on sharing food together. They even stuff hot dogs into each other's mouths, to show how much they care.
If someone isn't eating as much as the others, they all gather around that person to ask what's wrong?
You run into an old man whos just passing through town.
You figure he might have been up that mountain, and ask him. He tells you, the climb is rough and there's no luxuries up there, and it's a little cold, but if you make it to the top it'll transform you.
As he leaves he warns you: But never again will you see the town in the same way. The magic of the mountain will make the town seem very sad, and somehow pointless.
You ask everyone you know what they think. They all assure you, it's not magical. There's rattle snakes up there, disgusting possums, and even a dangerous mountain lion.
It's not a nice place to visit.
It's steep, you'll be out of breath, the rocks are sharp, pebbles get into your shoes, and if you don't keep moving it's too cold. Besides, what are you going to eat up there?
But you go anyway. Slowly you lose the weight, which causes you to be disliked by the others in your town. They grow suspicious of what you are "up to". You take to wearing pillows under your clothes, to fit in more.
But when you finally make it to the top of the mountain, you're in heaven. You make friends with the animals up there, beautiful vistas are everywhere to see, and you even have a friendly Cougar visiting you once in a while. He seems to know why you are there.
Except no one below believes any of it, and they grow more suspicious of you each day you spend up there. Rumors start.
He's lost it. He's depressed. His head just isn't right.
Then one day you're sitting on top of the mountain, and you miss your favorite TV show.
You used to love to snuggle into bed with 2 big gulps, and sip away while you watched reruns for hours, a bag of hot fries by your side.
You realize there's a movie you wanted to see tonight, and Helga has invited you to her house to watch together.
Helga may be gigantic, but she's sort of fun when she gets drunk. And she always has spicy onion rings and pepperoni.
If only you had company on the mountain.
It's so beautiful, you'd like to share what you've learned with someone.
But they're all down at the bottom, visiting with each other, while wallowing in food.
[-]
u/Gnos_Yidari
2 points2021-06-02 02:18
Moderators made the OP remove the illustration because they didn't credit the artist. Here is the original post, directly from the illustrator u/SimonTrip / Steve Ogden
3 Comments
The worst part is, even if you overcome the evil mirror of self-reflection and learn sorcery, it's not "cozy".
That sends 3 out of 4 back to normal life once they understand what sorcery really is. We lose them from here all the time. Not a word. They just vanish.
I guess you have to get there to understand what that means. Why isn't it "cozy"?
But imagine there's a beautiful mountain where you live.
Near the town of "Big Gulps", a place inhabited entirely by grotesquely overweight human beings.
The town isn't very big, but all of the businesses are fast food.
It's along the freeway.
So you have a McDonald's, then a Der Wienerschnitzel, then a Taco Bell, then a Greek Gyro joint, an Asian pastry shop, a "French Fry Depot", and on and on. It's endless fattening food down the entire stretch of main street.
With soft drinks so large, they're illegal in N.Y.
The hobby there is to sit around on the tables outside the fast food places, and eat. Consume. Enjoy! They've developed a social system based on sharing food together. They even stuff hot dogs into each other's mouths, to show how much they care.
If someone isn't eating as much as the others, they all gather around that person to ask what's wrong?
You run into an old man whos just passing through town.
You figure he might have been up that mountain, and ask him. He tells you, the climb is rough and there's no luxuries up there, and it's a little cold, but if you make it to the top it'll transform you.
As he leaves he warns you: But never again will you see the town in the same way. The magic of the mountain will make the town seem very sad, and somehow pointless.
You ask everyone you know what they think. They all assure you, it's not magical. There's rattle snakes up there, disgusting possums, and even a dangerous mountain lion.
It's not a nice place to visit.
It's steep, you'll be out of breath, the rocks are sharp, pebbles get into your shoes, and if you don't keep moving it's too cold. Besides, what are you going to eat up there?
But you go anyway. Slowly you lose the weight, which causes you to be disliked by the others in your town. They grow suspicious of what you are "up to". You take to wearing pillows under your clothes, to fit in more.
But when you finally make it to the top of the mountain, you're in heaven. You make friends with the animals up there, beautiful vistas are everywhere to see, and you even have a friendly Cougar visiting you once in a while. He seems to know why you are there.
Except no one below believes any of it, and they grow more suspicious of you each day you spend up there. Rumors start.
He's lost it. He's depressed. His head just isn't right.
Then one day you're sitting on top of the mountain, and you miss your favorite TV show.
You used to love to snuggle into bed with 2 big gulps, and sip away while you watched reruns for hours, a bag of hot fries by your side.
You realize there's a movie you wanted to see tonight, and Helga has invited you to her house to watch together.
Helga may be gigantic, but she's sort of fun when she gets drunk. And she always has spicy onion rings and pepperoni.
If only you had company on the mountain.
It's so beautiful, you'd like to share what you've learned with someone.
But they're all down at the bottom, visiting with each other, while wallowing in food.
Moderators made the OP remove the illustration because they didn't credit the artist. Here is the original post, directly from the illustrator u/SimonTrip / Steve Ogden
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/aw6w2v/discouraging_oc/
OC Illustration:
https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/aw6w2v/discouraging_oc/