#coco and qifrey are on the same path but they both provide each other something that allows them to progress and move forward

[readymades2002]

witch hat spoilers and also its incoherent and i didnt realize while i was writing it that a lot of it is actually addressed in the chapters im reading and i thought i was connecting it on my own like a silly goose but its okay

qifrey and coco's relationship makes me feel unwell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! qifrey unquestionably cares about her and wants to protect her, but he only allowed her to keep her memory because of her connection to the brimhats! if there was a way to save her mother without forbidden magic and no connection, then i feel pretty certain he would have done it. just like his search ended at the tower of books, he is probably sure hers will, too. taking her into his atelier allows her to keep her connection, and gives her more time. time to see what the brimhats do, but also time to allow her to believe she can fix it without forbidden magic. it serves qifrey's own ends as well as allowing him to believe he's protecting her (like beldarut says). i have no doubt he wants to protect her! he doesn't believe in magic the way she does. many of the trials faced by his atelier so far have been problems that seem insurmountable until they figure out a solution they can carry out! tetia has a whole moment where she proclaims that magic allows you to do what you couldn't do otherwise, and as long as you can practice it, you can find a way to help. and many times you don't have to turn to forbidden magic! coco has seen a lot of things become possible through thought and time. qifrey doesn't believe there's another option but to give up rather than touch that magic, but if the future of witches can believe in another way, then who's to say it's not possible?

coco is getting closer to forbidden magic in the current moment, of course, and there is a lot telling her that she may have no choice but to use it eventually. when orugio dismissed the idea of her becoming a brimhat while watching her work on qifrey's cold pack, i think he missed that it is because she is so thoughtful and kind that she could use forbidden magic. she doesn't have the same upbringing as witches, and she desperately wants her mom back. she has only the best intentions, and she doesn't have that grown knowledge of what is or isn't possible. if her search stops at the tower of books, she will find another solution, whatever magic she has to use to do it.

and of course, under qifrey's care, his desire for revenge on the people who destroyed him, who waited for him to find contentment before trying to destroy it once again, with coco under his wing is what places her so close to forbidden magic!!! he is doing so much to protect magic for her. showing her that there is so much kind magic that exists simply to make people happy was for this reason! but she is going to have to face it eventually all the same, and he is bringing her closer to it because of his own pain. they are walking the same path now. there's no safe way off of it. there never was. with the secret and knowledge of magic hidden, leaving her with no way to know what she was doing, and with forbidden magic being so thoughtfully offered up to her (giving her the phrase "magic is a miracle that can color the world", something that is driving her forward and inspiring her all the time even as it came from the mouth of iguin!!!), how could she have walked away from this?

(if one of the reasons forbidden magic is, well, forbidden, is because you are not meant to interfere with the course of fate, then what does it mean for someone whose fate was enacted on them like this? what does fate mean in a story that begins with the question, "is an athlete born an athlete? an astronaut, an idol, are they born as these things? what about witches?", when a combination of the maintenance of the lie about witches and forces bigger than her choosing her as a vessel for unravelling that lie put her in a position she cannot see but has no way of escaping? what is interfering with fate supposed to mean when forbidden magic is a category entirely invented, and when fate is already being decided by witches, like someone hearing a prophecy foretelling their destruction and bringing it to pass with the very measures they take to prevent it?)