isleofavalon | Eleventh: Loch Manor, Lilies and Living (Sept Catch-All)

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Eleventh: Loch Manor, Lilies and Living (Sept Catch-All)

🧙 WHO: Caster and OPEN!
⚔️️ WHAT: Caster hiding out in Loch Manor, getting turned into her teenage self, getting involved in branding rituals and shearing sheep.
🕒 WHEN: Throughout September
🗺️ WHERE: Various
⚠️ WARNINGS: Branding in the TDM thread, potential discussion of unhealthy age-gap relationships in the Lily prompts, will update as needed

1) Late Aug/Early Sept: Loch Manor

Caster knew that, after royally angering the Gods, she had to find somewhere to get away where they couldn't easily track her down- and in her panic, her memories drifted back to her conversation with Yuber after her breakdown. How 'no one would find her' at Loch Manor…

Despite her better judgement, she found herself at the entrance to the creepy Manor, and retreated inside.

And for at least a few days, she could be found testing out some of her potions in quiet corners, muttering to herself:

"If I can get this right…then I won't need to sleep. That way I'll be spared his wrath."

2) Early Sept: Medea Lily

After an…unfortunate incident involving one of Claude's potions, Caster had been dowsed with something that had turned her from her usual, creepy witch self into a wide-eyed, disorientated 14-year-old girl.

And, well, the poor thing had no idea what was going on in this strange new world!

a) Unlike her adult self, she had few qualms about trusting strangers, so went up to whoever she could find to ask their advice.

"Um, excuse me? Where is this place… and- have you seen a man by the name of Jason? We've been separated."

b) Later on, she can be found in the training grounds, looking more than a little perturbed as she tries to heal a graze on her arm- or perhaps as she's trying to take care of someone else's injuries- chanting a small spell under her breath as she does so.

"Pain, pain, go away~"

...Of course, what came out her outstretched hand was only the curling shadows of dark magic, much to the girl's alarm.

3) Pain 'Tolerant' Badass

Once Caster returned to her usual self- thankfully, that transformation only lasted for a few days- she decided to get back into another of the world's rituals. Academic curiosity, as it always was with her, but also an attempt to forget that ever happened.

She certainly wasn't going to be letting a random person control her, though.

And that... meant she found herself lying on her stomach on one of the slabs, cloak off to one side, and the back of her dress undone to expose her back.

...Her pain tolerance was awful, and she'd already tensed herself up in preparation for what would happen.

"...Let’s just get this over with, shall we?"

4) Shire Determination

"Hm...I can't say I'm confident that they won't start breathing fire when we begin shearing them."

Caster was eyeing the sheep with suspicion, entirely unconvinced that they wouldn't get immediately set on fire for their trouble. Well, at least she had something prepared for this eventuality.

Untucking a couple of small bottles containing a shimmery, silver-coloured potion, she offered one to her partner- if they took it, they'd find the bottle was strangely cold to the touch. Surely there was nothing wrong with accepting a suspicious potion from a suspicious witch, right?

"This should help."

5) Hot Knights for

morns

"Haha...do you really think we should rescue them? It's far more amusing watching them suffer, isn't it?"

Caster was in one of her sadistic moods. Or maybe this was her baseline misandry, who knows. Still...there was something a little odd about how she was dressed today- the cloak seemed to be fitting a little differently, like she was wearing a frillier skirt than usual underneath it.

Perhaps Kate had encouraged her to wear something appropriate before they set out, perhaps this was Caster's own idea. But right now, she was more interested in laughing at the expense of the people trapped here.

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"Of course!" Klaudia answers quickly, grinning and deeply relieved. What a good child, not even questioning that incredibly flimsy story. Clapping her hands together, she tosses a shower of small sparkling lights into the air around them, letting them flutter down to the ground like glitter.

"I am proficient in so much magic. It's basically my life~"

A magic friend! There was a sutible 'Oohh...' sound as Klaudia tossed the sparkling lights in the air.

"Oh! Me too- let me just..." she took a step back and held out her hands in front of her, aiming to show off her healing magic. "May it become a world where no one gets hurt or hurts others-"

However, instead of a warm glow, curses of dark magic started swarming around her hands instead- much to the girl's alarm.

"What- what in Hecate's name-"

"Ah! No, no--" Klaudia isn't quick enough to stop the girl from starting to cast her spell, so her hands hover uncertainly. Like she wants to grab the girl's hands to stop the magic, but also she's not touching that. She might be dumb sometimes, but she's not that dumb.

"You can't do that. Our normal magic doesn't work here."

The small girl was staring in horror as the curses weaved their way easily around her fingers. That wasn't the healing magic she was used to...!

"How...how did my magic...why is it so twisted here? It's- it's a little scary."

Oh... Oh no. Klaudia's expression shifts a little, edging towards concern. That wasn't the sort of reaction she expected, and not one she's immediately prepared to deal with. It's a weird feeling for her, worrying about someone else--someone younger than her.

"It's not scary. It's just magic, and magic is just what you make of it, right?" She continues to hover uncertainly, but finally circles behind the girl and places a hand on either shoulder.

"Don't worry. Your magic is safe and sound. It's being used to keep this place running. This is like-- borrowed magic, but it's still yours. You can control it just the same."

"Mm...yes, it's still... My magic is meant to heal people- to help them, and to stop them hurting." She looked up at Klaudia as she moved behind her, wide-eyed and innocent, before looking back down to the magic in her hands. "This looks like it could do no such thing."

Her hands trembled a moment, before she tried to steel herself, taking a deep breath as she let the wisps of darkness dematerialise safely into the air.

"Well, not directly, no." It was true that curses couldn't really help people like healing magic could, but Klaudia sounds undeterred by that.

"But I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Magic is just a tool; it isn't meant to do anything. It all depends on the person that's using it. You can have all the healing magic in the world, but if you heal the wrong people and they go on to hurt other people, then what was that healing magic even worth? Did it help people? Or did it hurt them?"

Edited 2021-09-22 21:27 (UTC)

She seemed to think on that for quite a while, before something seemed to click into place.

"I think...I think it's most important to make sure your Magic can help those you care about. I suppose if someone tried to hurt them- maybe- if someone tried to hurt my beloved Jason, I could use it to stop them from hurting him."

She would do anything to make sure his quest succeeded, after all.

It's fortunate that Klaudia is standing behind the girl because otherwise, she might see the way the tiefling rolls her eyes. Instead, Klaudia gives her a pat on the shoulder.

"Or anyone else that you might want to protect, sure! You could also use curses to stop someone from doing something that might result in them getting hurt. Minor ones. Like-- I don't actually know if you can curse someone into being dizzy, but that's bound to stop them from doing anything stupid if their legs don't work."

"That's true...well, I'll try my hardest. Um. Thank you."

At least she'd calmed down- and that enchanted affection had faded as well. Still, she was glad that Klaudia was willing to help her.

"...Um, Klaudia? Can I ask you something?"

What an equally strange feeling to have someone thanking her for this. Not that she's never heard a thank you before, but the situation is already so bizarre that it further invites more strangeness. She doesn't know how to feel about someone taking her words so genuinely to heart and thanking her for it.

So hearing that Medea has a question, Klaudia is all but ready to focus on that, rather than examine her own feelings too much.

"Sure. You can ask me anything."

A small, firmer nod. Well, if Klaudia said she could ask her anything, then it should be okay, right...?

"I wanted to ask where you were from, originally? Are you from this world or did you get transported here like I was? I've only recently left my homeland and I've not... encountered anyone else like you before."

There was no malice or judgement in Medea's tone. Certainly, the thought of her new friend being a 'demon' never crossed her mind- Klaudia was different from anyone she'd met before, certainly, but she had no illusions of the fact she was a very sheltered girl. There were a great many types of people she'd never seen before.

Klaudia blinks at that question. Where she was from? That's... complicated, but she's not sure that it's a kind of complicated that Medea would understand--whether she was a child or not.

"I'm from Toril, not here." General and utterly meaningless; but it's the answer to the question that was asked, right? "I got dumped into the bay when I arrived, just like everyone else, so I don't think this place has anything to do with my world."

"Toril...I can't say I've ever heard of a land by that name." But Klaudia's answer only raised more questions. "It must be an interesting place- are there many Magi there? Does everyone in Toril appear the way you do?"

So many questions...!

"Also...I don't remember falling into the bay. The first thing I remember here was running into a strange man who'd dropped a supply of potions all across the street. It was quite the mess."

A strange man with potions? Huh... Was that the reason why Medea looked like this instead of what she should look like? That's actually a little bit of a relief for Klaudia. If it was a potion that did this, then it should wear off after a while. In the meantime, she'll just have to make sure that her friend stays safe.

"Everyone that came here from another plane gets dumped into that Bay, too. I'm sure you just don't remember it--probably because of the potions, but I'm sure it'll come back to you. You don't have to worry about it."

Klaudia hopes that that's reassuring to the girl because she doesn't have a better way of explaining it. But she does at least have answers to the girl's other questions, which are by no means a lot for her standards (as a cursorial questions predator).

"I would say that the world that I came from is pretty interesting, though--yeah. Not everyone looks like me, in fact most people don't. There's humans and dwarves and elves and gnomes and goblins and all manner of things... And Magi, yes, sure! We call them mages or sorcerers or wizards, or clerics if they're magic comes from a divine source. Or other names if it comes from other places... We have whole schools and organizations, even whole cities dedicated to magic."

"Of course...yes, those potions must have muddled my memories a little bit- I hope it comes back properly in time."

Certainly, she was still very worried. After all, the idea she was missing part of her memories was troublesome. Wouldn't that be something that worried anyone? As an adult, she'd comment that her memories had also been jumped by Aphrodite's meddling- but her younger self didn't seem to realise what was wrong.

For now, though, she seemed more intrigued by what else she said.

"Hm...I wonder if I would be considered a cleric in your world in that case? I was taught by the Goddess of Magic, after all." But humans and dwarfs and elves- so many different sorts of people- Klaudia didn't look like how she imagined a dwarf and she wasn't human, so maybe...? "Would that make you an elf, in that case??"

There's a moment of silence while Klaudia processes that... and then she lets out a laugh. Her? An elf?? Oh gods, that's funny. Did she really hear that right? What a thing to say...

"I think I would pay to have an elf nearby when you said that. The indignity!" She can just imagine their face. The horror of some elf thinking that a tiefling looked like them... The outrage! Undignified sputtering, she could even hope! Her laughter dies down to snickers, and she shakes her head. "No, definitely not an elf! But wow, what a compliment. I think." Most people think elves are pretty, so it's not a bad thing to be compared to one... Just factually incorrect. By a lot.

"I'm a tiefling. Elves don't have horns or red skin or tails. We're, umm... different."

Medea blinked as Klaudia started laughing, a flicker of embarrassment crossing her face as her cheeks reddened. Had she said something wrong?? But the laugh was infectious, and she gave a nervous little giggle.

"Hehe- A Tiefling...I see. I've never met one before." And certainly, she didn't have any sort of associations with the word, from the way she said it. There did seem to be something off with the way Klaudia described them as 'different', though, but how to ask...

"You say 'different' as if it were bad, somehow?"

Edited 2021-10-08 20:49 (UTC)

"It's not bad--" Klaudia's instinctive response is defensive, but guilty. A rebuttal in the face of what she already knows in an indefensible position. It is bad, isn't it? That's the verdict she's always heard whispered in places that others thought she couldn't hear... or worse, in places where they knew she could. There's no use struggling against facts--but this girl doesn't know any better, and Klaudia doesn't have any intention of making a full correction if she can help it.

"It's just different. Elves are pretty--otherworldly and sophisticated. They live a really long time, so they're always--" She gestures with her hand, words escaping her for a moment. Then she straightens, lifting her chin and looking down her nose at Medea with an affectation to her voice. "You call that magic? I've practiced the Arts for three millennia, you absolute child. Now stand in awe as I sculpt the intricate likeness of a satyr out of this living wood with the sheer power of my mind."

She drops the affectation with a self-amused snort and rolls her eyes. "Like that. But tieflings are more like humans, really. We're just out here living our lives and having a good time, you know? We just look different, that's all."

So strange... there was definitely an emotion or history she couldn't quite place in that reaction, but the first thing she did was something very rude. Instead of listening to what she said fully, she quietly interjected, right in that little falter where she described that Elves were pretty-

"But you're-" Oh. Oh no. As soon as the words came out she put her hands over her mouth. No, let the other person finish speaking first, Medea! Especially when Klaudia had in fact intended to follow up with a completely different meaning than she'd first thought.

That impression made her giggle though. "Oh dear, they sound a little pretentious." She said. Despite, as an adult, holding almost the exact same opinion of all the modern Magi who did not have access the ancient Magecraft that she did. Oh well, the younger one had no idea how hypocritical she was being.

Still, look a little different, though, hm? Sure, she'd never seen anyone with eyes like that or horns and red skin, but perhaps it would be alright if she said what was on her mind? "If I may, I do think you are pretty, also."

"Pretentious, yes! That's exactly what I meant." Klaudia is so glad that her impression got across the right energy. She's also equally glad that Medea liked it, grinning back at the girl as she is. Well, at least until that compliment comes her way.

Her expression falters, embarrassment creeping in. She quite simply doesn't know what to say to that, her gaze skipping downwards as she finds it difficult to hold eye contact. It's weird, isn't it? That someone finds her pretty and not scary or strange. Weird that she's saying it so earnestly and sincerely. It takes her a few seconds to recover from that, at which point she lifts her chin in mock pride.

"Of course I'm pretty. I'm absolutely adorable," she finally responds, trying her best to sound both off-the-cuff and flippant about it. Never let it be said that facetiousness doesn't make for a good shield. "You're also very cute yourself."

Leaning on that deflection, Klaudia extends a hand to the girl, expecting her to take it. "Are you hungry? Cute girls deserve whatever they want for lunch, and I have plenty of money to burn; so you can pick, okay?"

"T-thank you-!" A flutter of pink crossed into her face, as well. Sure, she'd received her share of compliments as a King's Daughter, but this was certainly not the sort of socially expected compliment she'd become used to.

Perhaps, if she were not under the affects of Aphrodite's influence, she's realise then that even Jason rarely said such things to her.

Instead, her thoughts were occupied by a more immediate concern. As soon as she took Klaudia's hand and 'lunch' was mentioned, Medea's stomach made a rather obvious growl. She'd been so busy trying to work out what was going on that she'd evidently forgotten to eat.

The "Oh- excuse me!" that followed came out as a squeak of embarrassment.

Compliment successfully reflected! She's a pro at this. She doesn't have to field any nice things that this alarmingly sweet girl says, just so long as she can fire them back at her. This is very good knowledge that she certainly won't abuse in any way.

That growl on the other hand... that's a telling sign. Klaudia can't help but give her an impish little grin. "So you are hungry. Don't apologize! That's good. We'll get you something to eat, okay? What sort of foods do you like? I know a bunch of places, so there's bound to be one that fits."

It's fine, all Klaudia had to do was use this entire exchange once Medea returned to normal, and she'd probably embarrass the woman half to death.

"Oh, um...I'm afraid I have yet to try a great variety of foods. I'm only just starting to get accustomed to Greek cooking, after all, and I doubt a strange land like this would serve dishes I am used to." Medea glanced around her, in the hope that would give some inspiration. "...Chakapuli or Khachapuri for instance. Jason suggested I try Dolmas once, but it was a little bitter, I think- I do hope not all foods in Greece are like that."

Klaudia's smile was a little infectious, and she couldn't help a small smile in turn. "What kinds of food do you like, Klaudia? Is anything here similar to what you're used to from home?"

Klaudia really has no idea what those foods are, but she does remember the sort of thing that Caster had her try back at the masquerade. They were some kind of meat dumplings, she thinks... That shouldn't be hard to find. And then the girl mentions that she doesn't like bitter things, and Klaudia nods along to that, too.

"I like spicy food. Curries and meats... and cheese is really good! Food should be somethings that has a lot of flavor--otherwise, what's the point of eating it?" Other than to stay alive. Obviously.

"I know a place that makes dumplings--I think you'll like those. You know what things I mean, right?" Hand in hand, she'll start leading Medea off towards a restaurant, unless there's any protest from her friend.

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Eleventh: Loch Manor, Lilies and Living (Sept Catch-All)

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She's a dork there's no saving her

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slowly emerges from hiatus

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