Third: Light and Darkness (feb catchall)

[colchismagecraft]

🧙 WHO: Caster and OPEN
⚔️️ WHAT: Trying to be best waifu, followed by doing a 180 right into evil territory
🕒 WHEN: Throughout February
🗺️ WHERE: Various
⚠️ WARNINGS: Overly Clingy Waifu/mentions of emotion-hijacking (Cupid Arrows), NPC Death/Torture/Forced Marriage (Selkie Quest)


1) Cupid Arrows
(tw emotion manipulation/clingy waifu)



Caster was yet another victim of Archer's trolling attempts, and as such, she had found herself awash with a flood of fuzzy emotions. Any traces of horror that her feelings were once again being twisted by magic - the way Aphrodite did all that time ago - were soon replaced by overwhelming warmth and affection.

She could be found either wandering around town looking at cookery books, fretting on how she could best prepare a meal for her precious Archer, or outright going up to people she knows asking them to teach her.

"You. Do you know anything about cooking?? I need your help."

Of course, there's every chance that the arrow's magic would make her fall for someone else around and about Avalon - at which point, they will have Caster rushing over to go bother them. It's very likely she'll try to latch into their arm, practically radiating happy sparkles in a way that might be unnerving to anyone's who already met her.

"Ah- it's so good to see you~"

[ooc: Please specify whether you want to put up with her gushing about Archer or whether you want her gushing over your character (platonically/romantically).]




2) Save a Beast, Kill a Man 🗡️
(tw forced marriage/NPC death/probable magic torture)



"I don't intend to accept payment, but I won't stop you if you do...I have my own reasons for involving myself in this task," Caster had made her way down to the beach to handle the quest when she explained that much to her partner for the mission ahead. Although she tried to keep her tone level, she knew that barely contained rage was leaking into every single word she said.

She knew she was too invested in this particular quest. This was, for her, something she needed to do. Something that hit far too close to home.

No woman - Selkie, human or otherwise - deserved to be treated like that. And she would make sure that man suffered dearly for what he'd done.

If she's working with someone she knows, she'll add:

"...If you want to continue believing I'm anything other than an evil, vindictive witch, I suggest you let me deal with this by myself."




3) Not Quite Honeyed Wine



After the weeks she's just had, as well as the constant reminders that Valentine's Day was a thing and her actual partner was so far away... Caster desperately needed a breather. There was only so much she could do with the brain-fog all of this brought on, after all.

Towards the middle of the month, she found herself wandering in to sample the various offerings the cafes in town had to offer. The honeyed drinks were a little too sweet for her taste, though. If she ran into anyone she knew, she'd probably greet them with something resembling spite of 'I told you I wasn't a good person' - as if she took pride in proving them wrong.

See? It was pointless believing in someone like her.

If she were honest, though, she could probably use the company.




4) Sync or Swim



Once she'd had the chance to rest up, the opportunity to learn new magic was a welcome one. Caster was enthusiastic to try out the techniques and get more of an understanding of the dark power the world had granted her, and one that seemed closely aligned to the magic she'd used in the Grail War as well.

However, although the dark magic concepts were familiar to her, trusting other people was... difficult.

For now, she was sat in one of the tents, her usual heavy cloak folded in her lap so that her face and pointed tips ears were actually exposed. Certainly, Caster was far from an unattractive woman. She was listening to the soothing background sound of people quietly talking. Not loud enough for the words themselves to be heard or the language to be recognised, but it sounded like the comings and goings of a peaceful city.




5) Wildcard

[ooc: As always, feel free to PM me or ping me on Discord @ ArchangelAmy#4540 if there's something special you'd like to do with her!]

Comments

2;

[foeyay]

Despite their beachside location, Kamui is dressed in heavy layers. On top of a thick cloak and the bandages wrapped tightly around his arms, he sports a traditional Chinese parasol to shade his exposed face. His familiar, a nue as large and bulky as a tiger, keeps watch for him while he turns his grin on Caster.

"Of course, I'm asking for payment," her would-be partner shamelessly lays bare. Where Caster is tense and brooding when faced with their dark task, Kamui is loose and anticipatory. "I'm aiming for double! I've got a lot of mouths to feed, y'know."

He eyes his familiar at that, smirking as both of the nue's mouths scoff derisively at him.

Perfect demonstration on how to get her angry in 0.005 seconds (tw death threats)

[colchismagecraft]

At that casual comment, Caster snapped in a reply that was filled with ice and malice.

"If you dare try such a thing, I will paralyse you with my curses and toss you into the bay to drown- or maybe I should feed you to that kraken," she hissed, a twisted smirk coming into her face. "After making you watch me skin your familiar alive for good measure."

Caster's own familiar - a house cat size skeletal dragon, trotted along at her side. It seemed to respond to the anger, pawing anxiously at her robe to try and calm her down.

hahasob, yeah, that's about the right reaction to kamui

[foeyay]

A single salmon brow rises when Caster comes right out with the threats. It's refreshing more than anything else, to find someone who foregoes all pleasantries and gets straight to the good stuff. Kamui happily basks in her ire.

Which. Probably is not the reaction Caster is looking for.

"Hey, this selkie is the one who offered double if we save the kraken. Getting angry at me for accepting won't change anything," he counters coolly. His familiar isn't quite so unaffected, however, and takes one very purposeful stride in between the quarreling partners. Kamui pays him no mind, prattling on. "I'm not interested in dying, but I would like to see one of your curses in action. I haven't witnessed any being cast just yet."

pfft I'm sorry Caster's an ass

[colchismagecraft]

That definitely was not the reaction she was looking for, and that smirk soon turned into a scowl. "And I hold that we shouldn't be charging the poor woman at all for this," she said, taking a step aside as the Nue barged its way between them.

"I have been studying curses that can cause pain without any visible injury...how would you like to be the test for that?"

it's a double assfire in here; no one ass is to blame

[foeyay]

"So you give her your share, and I'll give her a kraken," he chimes, as if that cheeky comeback is some kind of perfect solution to both of their problems. In his mind, it is. Because it's a solution to his problem, and his problems are the only ones that matter.

Honestly. She should be thanking him for not challenging the kraken himself.

He reaches out a bandaged hand and curls his fingers affectionately in the nue's mane. The next time he looks up to meet Caster eye to eye, there is a considerable amount of bloodlust hidden in the sharp angles of his expression. "How about this, then? After we catch him, if you can make that man give you the pelt without my help, I'll let you test any curse you'd like on me."

3

[troubadamsel]

Continuously on her own quest for the perfect tea blends, Maribelle has also taken to visiting the local cafes to see what they have to offer. Spotting Caster, Maribelle doesn't hesitate to approach - after all, she was of like mind! A true noble soul!

However, Caster's face appears to be... less than pleased. Oh dear. Frowning with concern, Maribelle goes from a friendly greeting to outright concern. "Pardon me... Caster? Are you all right?"

lemme know if there's anything you wouldn't want her to bring up about the events of the month

[colchismagecraft]

"Oh...Maribelle." Caster glanced up as the healer came to join her. Well, she could only imagine what she would think if she told her everything that had been going on, they were polar opposites, after all. She doubted that she'd be remotely happy with, well, anything. "...I've had a busy few weeks."

"You're welcome to join me if you want, but I can't say you'll like what you'll hear if you want the rest of that story. But what of you? Have you been keeping yourself occupied?"

it's all good!

[troubadamsel]

Boy, didn't that just raise a handful of questions? "Well, I must say, that's hardly going to prevent me from inquiring about your state of mind... if anything, I feel I must press on."

She lightly touched Caster's arm, ready to pull away if unwanted. "Forget about me. Can I get you anything to drink, anything to eat...?"

cool!

[colchismagecraft]

The touch was...unexpected, certainly, but also not unwelcome. Caster watched her hand a moment, before finally giving a resigned sigh: "You're right, I...do need to eat now, don't I? Sometimes I forget."

2 (Lucy)

[scarredhorns]

To be honest, Lucy did take the quest because she wanted the gold, but also because she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty if need be. Her want of payment is not saying she voices aloud, though. The woman with her is trying to keep her voice even, but Lucy knows boiling rage beneath the surface when she hears it, because she'd heard it in her own voice before quite a few times.

She lets silence hang in the air for a few moments, before asking, "So, did you have anything in mind on how to get the husband to return the pelt? I don't know about you, but I'm not opposed to what some may call brutal methods."

Sure, she couldn't go through with poisoning the old man for Morganna, but that was because he'd done nothing to harm or insult her. Plus, she was genuinely trying to move away from a life of killing innocent people, for the sake of Nyuu and the future she wanted. However, Lucy had no qualms when it came to dealing with enemies, or people who she thought deserved it, and the husband sounded like he fit in with the latter.

[colchismagecraft]

Caster wouldn't drag on the issue about money - she expected her partner would take pay as planned, regardless of whether Caster accepted her share or not. But that could be taken care of after the mission itself.

At Lucy's mention of 'brutal methods', what could be seen of her expression shifted into a twisted smirk. "I was just going to have a little talk with him...and persuade him into returning it." That might have sounded innocent enough, if dark magic wasn't already starting to curl its way around her fingers as she spoke.

"My magic can lower his tolerance to pain, and cause hurt without a trace of injury being left on body. I'm sure that will go a fair way in our 'negotiation' with him... What magic has this world given you?"

[scarredhorns]

Persuasion to Lucy meant, at least on the top of her head, another word for intimidation, or even torture. Of course, the dark magic curling around her partner's fingers helps Lucy read between the lines, too. A small smirk curls on her own lips. Yes, she's trying to be good for Nyuu, but a part of her mind still found amusement in making her enemies suffer. It was a vice she had yet to shake off completely.

"Your magic can lower tolerance to pain? Interesting." If only Noiz had known this person earlier, but at least he'd finally found a solution to heal his dull senses.

"Animal magic. However, I only arrived about a month ago, so I can't turn into the bigger animals just yet. Still, I could turn into a snake and wrap around his throat." Just squeeze, then let go, and repeat as necessary. Now that Lucy's tested the waters around her partner, she feels she can speak of torture a little more openly.

[colchismagecraft]

Ah- she spotted that little smirk. Good. It sounded like they were on the same page. In Caster's case, it wasn't so much that she enjoyed the violence and bloodshed- but she had convinced herself that the Selkie wanted a brutal, bloody vengeance to be executed. After all, it was what she had wanted when her ex-partner had treated her much the same way.

"Mm, that would work well. I can make his body feel heavier, so he'll think he's going to die sooner...I want to make sure that he suffers dearly for everything he's done to that poor woman."

2

[morganknight]

"You've been in a hurry to convince me, so I'm a little curious," Morgan said, walking next to her with his arms folded behind his back. "Not that I don't believe what you've been saying, but I want to understand. This seems... pretty personal for you."

Not directly asking if this hit way too close to home, but Morgan did want to elicit her inner thoughts.

[colchismagecraft]

"...Well, don't say I didn't warn you," she glanced back at him, before focusing her attention back on the route ahead. Morgan really did seem laid back, despite her comments of revealing her true, vindictive nature. She was going to prove that she was an awful person, mostly out of spite.

At the question though, she paused for thought. Had she really been that obvious, with how she felt?

"If that Selkie cannot unleash bloody vengeance on her own, then I intend to act in her place. That is all. No woman deserves to be treated that way."

Not an answer to his comment, no, but there was an underlying anger rippling through her voice as she spoke. One that truly matched the image of a dark witch.

[morganknight]

"I absolutely agree. No woman deserves to be treated that way." That was unequivocal and without question, a sentiment he would never disagree with. After all, he was here, wasn't he? And it wasn't just to watch Caster handle things.

After a moment, though, he spoke again. "What do you want to accomplish, though?"

[colchismagecraft]

"...I want to make that man suffer, as much is in my power to do." Dark magic had already begun working its way around her hand as she spoke. "Retrieve the pelt, of course, but I will use every magic I have to make him regret harming her in such a way."

She'd already conjured up an image of the offending man in her head. A smug, obnoxious hero sort. Honestly, she was...imagining him as being a carbon copy of the man who'd done much the same to her.

It was good, at least, that Morgan agreed with her on the first point. Had he not, she probably would have turned that scalding anger on him next. As it was, Caster appreciated the company of someone more level-headed about this entire mess.

And also 4, shamelessly

[morganknight]

Seeing Caster without her hood up is a privilege, and one Morgan fully intended to enjoy. She really was pretty, and if she wanted to throw things at him for openly appreciating that, she'd be very justified!

"If you manage to sync and control my body, you could make me poke myself in the eye or something, y'know."

He would like to think he'd given her cause to trust him enough to be in charge of the spell. After everything, he strongly suspected that anyone acting to move her body would be asking for trouble of the highest sort.

scandalous!

[colchismagecraft]

"I may have to, if you keep staring."

It was the first time she'd let Morgan see her like this - and as he may have picked up from how she moved back in the cellar, Caster certainly wasn't hiding her appearance because she saw herself as unattractive. Still... being exposed like this was not entirely comfortable for her.

"So. I suppose you consider seeing my face for the first time a victory for you."

[morganknight]

"I consider it a privilege and an honor." He lifted a hand to his heart and bowed despite his seated position. It was ALSO a victory, but he didn't have to just go and outright say it.

[colchismagecraft]

"You really are a dangerous one, using words like that," she muttered. Caster couldn't be sure whether that bow was a tease or not, but she knew that around someone like Morgan, she couldn't afford to let her guard down too much. "And looking so smug whilst saying them."

1

[intrapid]

[ Karma is nobody that she knows, but on the flip side, he's been watching her go around the store looking through books and stopping people once in a while to ask about cooking and looking like she's getting nowhere.

Pushing himself away from the shelves he's lingering by, he shoves the book he'd been flipping through in the middle of a stack of others, regardless of whether that's where he'd gotten it, and strolls up to Caster to see what sort of cookbook she's mulling over now. ]

You really don't know how to cook? Haha, even a little kid like me can!

[colchismagecraft]

What-

[Oh, who was this child? Well that didn't matter, at the insult, she still found herself pouting all the same. In one hand, she was holding a book of Georgian and Greek recipes, in the other one on Japanese recipes - apparently she was dithering over the two.]

I never had to learn until I came here...oh, how will I make a nice meal for Archer-sama now?? I don't even know what cuisine he would like best...!

[intrapid]

[ What's with this sassy lost child, is a good question, but he doesn't speak up unless he has some knowledge of the conversation at hand. Romance and food. He's got this. ]

So you wanted to cook something for your boyfriend. Heh, what a lucky guy!

[ "Archer" doesn't sound like a particularly Japanese name, but Karma points to the book with Japanese recipes, somewhat curious as to why a book like that is here in a European-seeming place like this. ]

You'd better think of it the other way around. If you haven't cooked much before, then don't go with something he likes and is familiar with, or he's just gonna be comparing your food to higher standards.

[colchismagecraft]

W-well, he's not my boyfriend yet but I still want to impress him! It's going to be Valentine's Day soon, after all!

[The compliment about Archer being lucky made her smile though. She didn't think she deserved happiness, not really, but she wanted to do her best for him regardless! Hopefully he would appreciate her efforts.]

...Oh, that's a good point. I'm not entirely sure of his legend but... hm...

[Eyeing the books again. He'd pointed to the strangely out of place Japanese cooking one, but from what she knew of Archer's true name, there was a fairly high chance he was Japanese.]

Do...you cook often? Perhaps you could show me??