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

[morganknight]

He saaaaw that, Caster. You almost smiled legitimately!

"I'm ready if you are. Oh, uh, 'I am yours to command, O master,'" he intoned, adopting a vacant look.

[colchismagecraft]

Nope, not admitting anything you didn't see anything, nothing happened, it's all in your imagination.

That comment gave her a chuckle. "And here Saber's insisting we can leave the roles of masters and servants behind us..." Not that she would explain that comment at all, for the time being.

But now was the time to focus. She stood up, shifting her stance to ready herself. "...We need to move in sync with each other, from what I recall. Ready yourself."

[morganknight]

Morgan stood up in turn, reflexively glancing above him to check his clearance. Being a tall guy had its disadvantages sometimes.

"All right. I'm ready."

[colchismagecraft]

It simply wasn't fair he was so much taller than her!

Now, from what she could recall, they had to clear their minds and open them up to one another. That would allow one to form a connection, let their mana flow in, and...

Tentatively, Caster offered him her hands to take, taking a deep breath as she tried to focus. The palms of her hands were a little clammy, though. Despite it all, the only one she'd been able to forge a bond like that with was her Master, and...well. This was a little like forming a pact, wasn't it?

She tried to hold his gaze with her own.

Did she trust him?

[morganknight]

Morgan met her gaze easily, green eyes bright and without hesitation. Of course he trusted her. When had she ever given him a reason not to?

Taking her hands, Morgan somehow refrained from flirting. Miracles could happen.

[colchismagecraft]

He really was foolish.

Or, maybe she was misreading the trust in his eyes- right now, she couldn't quite tell. Still, she tried to push those doubts back as she began the dance.

In the Grail War, it was a simple matter of reaching out with thin tendrils of her mana, binding her target and forcing them to move according to her whims like a puppet.

But this ritual was different- it was just like forming a pact. She ran over it in her mind again. She needed to clear her mind, connect to his magic circuits and link their power together. That was all. She'd done rituals this before, so-

Caster's grip tightened on his hands, to what was probably uncomfortable levels...This shouldn't be so difficult!

[morganknight]

Morgan relaxed his grip, rolled his head, then lifted and dropped his shoulders. Just little rhythmic things, balance and relaxation, like getting ready for a fight. Everything is martial arts, after all, including magic.

But though he reached out, trying to use the symbols and the touch to break down the boundaries that divided the two of them... he felt more like he was slamming into a wall. That actually made him wince with the aftershock of it.

[colchismagecraft]

Yeah- she felt that aftershock, and immediately brought up her defences despite herself, instinctively slipping her hands out of his grip and pulling them close to her chest.

And it was then the atmosphere in the tent changed- the backlash of magic bursting out and forming something of a barrier to line the entirety of the tent interior in a shadowy aura.

"What just...?" Caster reached out to investigate, only to find the magic seemed to repel her hand. "What is this?"

[morganknight]

"...Huh." Morgan reached to one side in turn, prodding at the magic -- and when it didn't give, striking it three times in the span of a heartbeat. Ineffectively, of course, so he relaxed out of a fighting stance just as quickly as he'd dropped into it.

"I mean, I can think of worse fates than being trapped with a pretty girl, but I'm not certain this is supposed to be a good thing."

[colchismagecraft]

"Honestly, you get more forward by the minute..." A pause, before she held up her left hand a moment to show the ring on her ring-finger, visible now she'd taken her gloves off. "...I don't mind it, but you should know I have no intention of betraying Souichirou-sama."

That wasn't something she was going to dwell on for too long, though, lest she get lost in pining for her precious Master.

First, the tent problem. Those moves of his may have been impressive, but it didn't seem that it made any difference at all. Caster herself tried to command her shadows to pull the magic away- but that only reinforced it, much to her annoyance.

"...This wasn't supposed to happen."

[morganknight]

"I am holding way, way back, Caster." He grinned her way, though on the inside? Boy was he surprised she was married. That just didn't fit with what he knew of her and how she acted. "But I'd never, ever poach, so this is one more instance in which you should not take me seriously."

There were a great deal of those, since Morgan generally didn't take himself too seriously.

"And as for us being stuck, how much you want to bet this is a metaphor? Walls inside, walls outside."

[colchismagecraft]

He'd probably be even more surprised by how she acted when she was around her fiancé. But really, the relationship had taken Caster by surprise as well. That little, fragile happiness that appeared when one stranger treated her with kindness at a moment she thought herself near death.

Well, she gave a nod at his first comment - at least he didn't have any intention of trying to take her from him, that was a relief.

Air cleared, she inwardly groaned at his assessment of the room. "...That sounds exactly like what happened. I thought I felt something when the spell backfired."

That would have been all of your defences, Caster.

[morganknight]

Please. Caster being married was a shock, but if her marriage was happy and welcome, she'd fight him to the death to maintain it. He knew that much about her. And honestly, this helped him out a little too.

"Yeah. It doesn't seem at all like we were able to connect with each other properly. Guess I probably owe you a big secret..."

Because yeah, he blamed himself, too. Caster had defenses for sure, but he hadn't exactly volunteered the biggest piece of information that would help her understand so much of why he wanted to help her.

[colchismagecraft]

She would do- and had done all manner of awful things to maintain it. Still, right now the situation they were currently in was more of a priority.

"If you think sharing secrets will help...then please, go ahead."

She owed him more of an explanation for what she'd said on the beach, but it sounded like he was volunteering some information of his own, first. Either way, Caster took a seat again, gesturing for him to join her.

[morganknight]

"Have I told you," he began, dropping down to sit opposite her, "about alternate universes?"

[colchismagecraft]

"I don't believe you have...but it would not surprise me if such a thing were possible."

She came from a world where multiple timelines existed, after all. Not that she knew this herself.

[morganknight]

"Oh, it absolutely is. I've met alternate mes. It usually ends up very, very weird." From his perspective, anyway. To the others, he was the weird one!

[colchismagecraft]

"That is...yes, meeting another version of yourself must be very disconcerting."

Sometimes she had wondered what would happen if she were to be able to give a message to her past self, to warn her about what would come to pass and try to prevent it- but that was only a flight of fantasy. And given she didn't know the truth about some of the other Servants in her War, it was all a bit of an odd concept.

[morganknight]

"Right. Well. Then there was Stormborn. Someone who was..." Morgan looked up at her, not hesitating because he didn't want to admit this, but just because he wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"Nine armies belonging to nine servitors of a profound evil conquered the world. He was one. A servitor, and an army."

[colchismagecraft]

Caster grew quiet, meeting his eyes as he spoke to make sure she could take in his words- after all, there was no reason he would bring this up unless an important point was to follow.

What he said, though, certainly gave her pause.

"That version of you was army in himself?" Caster took a breath. "...And an evil one, at that. I didn't think you had it in you."

[morganknight]

"I do."

Some people -- okay, most people, if not everyone who knew him, told him that he, himself, personally, no longer did. That the Morgan Knight he was had grown and matured past the point where he would ever do such a thing.

Morgan didn't believe them. Believing that would be the surest way to travel down that path, doing dark things because he believed himself incapable of doing dark things.

"I don't know if you really think you're evil, Caster. I don't know all the things you've done. But because of Stormborn, I know that it's nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to what evil I am capable of."

[colchismagecraft]

"You still believe that you're capable of becoming that, don't you?"

She definitely got the undercurrent in his words from the way he answered her- that he still saw this Stormborn as a very real possibility for him.

When the comments turned to her own nature, though, she hesitated.

"...There's a difference, surely, between being capable of evil and committing the act itself?

But you're right, despite how much the people of my era wished to accuse me of being responsible for the world's evils, despite how much I became the evil witch they saw me to be, I can't say I was ever a conqueror for evil."

[morganknight]

"Mm. Yes and no. Back home I had a friend who promised to kill me if I ever went down that path, so I wouldn't get very far going about it." A friend who had lived on that conquered world, no less.

"I'd rather get splashed with a bucket of water than live right next to a dam that's likely to break." Morgan shrugged. "Anyway, that should at least tell you enough about me to make it a little easier for us to open up. I won't feel like I'm hiding the truth, at the very least."

[colchismagecraft]

"You have someone on your side then...good.

I appreciate your honesty, all the same. For all your comments about being 'a prong' I didn't really think you'd ever had to concern yourself with being considered evil, at least not beyond careless comments or misunderstandings with those other factions."

Caster was observing him as they spoke, trying to get a read on his body language. He seemed calm enough, for the time being.

[morganknight]

Very calm. Aikido, his foundational martial art, focused on inner calm no matter the outer chaos. After two decades or so, he'd managed to figure out that applied to more than combat.

"So yeah, there you go." He cracked a grin, already ready to put heavy matters behind him. They weighed on him, sure, but Caster had enough going on without dealing with his concerns too. "Witness the face of true evil, and tremble!"