video;

[punshots]

[ Cue the video feed, which begins with a way-too-close-up of Prompto's face. What can be seen of his face, which is mostly just his eyes and freckled nose, looks excited as hell. This is sort of an impromptu broadcast, but he can't not share this. This is a big, big moment for him.

Everything is about to freakin' change. ]

Heyaz! It's ya boy, Prompto. [ ......... ] Uh, so, y'know that special magic chalk you can get from the Ware Wolf guy? Oh, shit, is that supposed to be on the DL? A-anyway. I got some of that biz, aaaaand now — well, I'll just let it speak for itself.

[ The video then turns away from Prompto's face and to a chalk drawing on the ground: a near-complete rendering of a chocobo inside of circle. That's it. It's literally just a poorly-drawn chocobo inside of a circle, with a bit of its tail missing. It'd been near completion when he decided to share this monumental moment with everyone he possibly could, and he still holds a piece of the chalk in his hand, ready to finish off the last of the drawing. Let's all beseech the summoning gods to not bring forth a chocobo as disfigured as the one that Prompto drew, but its shape is at least recognizable to those who are familiar with the species. ]

Bam. Check it! If this actually works, I'm gonna be the proud papa of a brand new chocobo! One that's alllll my own! But I'll let you guys ride it, if you ask nicely.

[ Anyway, enough chit-chat, it's time for action!!! As he squats down near the drawing again, the feed catches him drawing the last bit of the chocobo's tail. For a moment that stretches into eons, nothing happens, but then —

There's a flash of light that temporarily blocks out anything from come through on the video, but as it begins to fade, there is the distinct, unmistakable sound of a kweh.

In the center of the crudely-drawn-but-apparently-effective summoning circle stands a majestic, bright yellow chocobo. ]

Holyyyyyyy shit! It actually — a-are you guys seeing this? It actually worked! Holy shit, he — she?? She's beautiful, have you ever seen a more fluffy, sweet, perfect animal in the whole wide multiverse?! C'mere — wait, what am I gonna name it? I gotta name it —

[ ...The chocobo turns and starts to trot away. Bye! ]

— aaaand it's leaving. Okay, uhhhh, leave me some name suggestions, look forward to my 24-hour livestream of chocobo life coming at'chu soon! Crap—

[ And the video feed cuts off as he breaks into a run to catch his wayward son or daughter. ]

Comments

[liberaltus]

A double life? I suppose as a nonmaterial dreamer you could, until the moment you wake up.
Most people don't remember their experiences in the fade. Mages have a greater connection to the fade because that's where our magic comes from, but we experience it only in a nonmaterial way when we are sleeping or when our guard is down.
Dreamers and Fadewalkers certainly have a more tangible experience, but they are quite rare.

Ah, that is an excellent question.
So things like demons and spirits predominately inhabit the fade and there are a few ways they are able to get out.
The fade is separated from the material world by an invisible veil, that veil can be weakened in places where there is a lot of death.
Spirits and demons tend to congregate in places where there is a great deal of death because the veil is so weak making it possible for them to rip through it.
And, as you rightly surmised, mages are quite capable of bringing demons and spirits through whether intentionally by summoning them or unintentionally due to an inability to control magic. Demons and spirits are naturally drawn to mages because of our magic and our strong connection to the fade.
It's why we're feared and in some places, it is why we are rounded up and imprisoned in towers called Circles of Magi.

[punshots]

for real?
i mean it sounds like one of those "with great power comes great responsibility" things but it's pretty unfair of them to treat you like a criminal before you've done anything wrong
fear is a pretty powerful thing tho
are the demons and spirits always bad?
or can you like
idk
earn their loyalty somehow and make them do good?
like familiars?

[liberaltus]

certainly something like that
mages are born with magic and in that, they have no control and ought not to be rounded up and imprisoned in places where they're completely stripped of many rights and individuality
of course, there's corruption amongst mages, we're not entirely innocent, but that could be said of anyone really not that it helps when it comes to stoking fear
you can contract a demon, but you can never expect a demon to remain within your control and some of them are cunning and powerful mages who end up in situations where they fear for their lives will often contract a demon and risk either losing control of that demon or becoming possessed by it
spirits are generally benign creatures, not at all bad until they become corrupted against their purpose either by force or by a desire to become part of the material world
Some spirits, however, one can befriend and they can offer their strength without being corrupted, it's not impossible

[punshots]

see? so they're not all bad!
but i guess sometimes people just get scared of what they can't understand
doesn't really make it any better though
at least people here seem pretty chill about
well about everything i think
idk if there's any spirits or anything around but i bet even if there were people would be chill with those too!
maybe you could try bringing one here with the chalk?

[liberaltus]

bring a spirit here from the fade?
well, a wisp perhaps.
an intelligent spirit of virtue could be disastrous if it was corrupted against its purpose.

[punshots]

what if it wasn't though?
what kinds of things can it be corrupted by?
like maybe lunatia is a safe enough place one would be okay here?
but man even a wisp sounds cool dude!

[liberaltus]

I confess, I do admire your curiosity and the layers to your questions.
There are a number of things that can corrupt a spirit.
Ripping a spirit out of the fade and forcing it to act against its nature is one way.
So, for example, you were to pull a spirit of Justice from the fade and force it to hurt people out of malice and spite can cause the spirit to transform into a demon of Vengence.
Allowing a spirit to possess you can also have the same effect, though a spirit might share a vessel with a mortal host and not be corrupted as there is evidence for this, but if the host is not mild in there temperament this can create a conflict within the spirit that is difficult to reconcile.
Spirits tend to have short-lived memories so they do not have to reconcile with situations that run counterintuitive with their nature, but if that spirit is attached to a person and their virtues or lack thereof do not align with the spirit then it becomes problematic.
So returning to our previous example, if a spirit of Justice shares a body with a mortal vessel...and to be clear these vessels are mages more often than not due to a mage's strong connection to the fade...and if that mortal vessel is filled with anger and a lust for revenge then that spirit can become a demon of Vengence.
It's even more dangerous in the case of a spirit becoming a demon while inhabiting a mage because at that point you get the potential for an Abomination.
Abominations are mages that are possessed by demons, there are variations, of course, if the demon possession is happening from the fade then the mage can be free of the possession because it's less of a possession and more puppeteering.
A physical possession can end in one of two ways--weaker demons are often overwhelmed by the real world and driven mad turning the mage into a rampaging monstrosity.
The more dangerous demons are able to adapt and even take on the form of their host, these Abominations can ravage countrysides and haunt villages for years undetected.
Other ways a spirit can become a demon is if a spirit who longs for the real world touches the sleeping minds of mortals who are morally bankrupt or pressing up against weak spots in the veil where there was death exposing the spirits to the death and violence that happened in that place.

So...it's a very delicate balancing act honestly.