isleofavalon | Fifth: Brewing and Questing (Mar Catchall)

🧙 WHO: Caster and OPEN
⚔️️ WHAT: Making alcohol, building pretty figurines, collecting suspicious crystals and being harassed by baby dragons
🕒 WHEN: Throughout March
🗺️ WHERE: Various
⚠️ WARNINGS: Alcohol use, mind-altering magic, violence

1) Brewery
tw: alcohol use

As soon as the opportunity came up for Caster to learn how to make her own alcohol using magic, she was eager to get involved. After all, nowhere did decent Georgian wine, and she was going to do her best to learn.

"Hm...it's not too dissimilar to potion brewing."

She was carefully, carefully watching her preparation. Would she really be able to tell when the right time was...? Well, hopefully between her and her partner, they'd figure it out!

Her skeletal dragon familiar, meanwhile, was wandering around seeing what other teams were up to. And possibly getting a little too close and trying to stick it's nose into the drinks they were preparing. Helpful.

2) Diorama

As the weather was getting a little warmer, Caster was using the time to sit outside on her lunch breaks from work at the library. It was nice to get a little fresh air, after all.

It also gave her the chance to work on some personal projects to pass the time- even she couldn't spent every free moment practicing her magic, after all. So, she could be found sitting on a bench near the library, looking overly suspicious with her long dark cloak and a knife in hand... Except, rather than plotting murder, she seemed to be working on making some sort of figurine- carefully working the detail out of a snake-like head.

3) Baby Dragons!

"So we need to pick flowers that will appeal to the baby dragons, hm... I can't say this is my area of expertise."

Flower language wasn't much of a thing during Caster's lifetime. She'd picked up a little, from what knowledge the Holy Grail had given her on her summoning in the modern day, but the flowers here weren't the same as the ones in Japan, and she was quite sure the meaning would be different as well.

So it was that she picked up a red carnation - Alas for my poor heart, my heart aches - and turned it in her hand. Perhaps it should have been a warning sign that her skeletal dragon familiar started pawing at her robe in concern.

4) Crystal Magic 🛡️
tw: drugs/mind-altering magic abuse

That full moon night, Caster snuck out her room at the Red Springs Inn, using her dark magic to conceal herself in the shadows as she headed down to the water- the moonlight made this more of a challenge, but hopefully she could avoid being sighted...

Either way, once she got to the springs themselves, she took off her outer cloak and placed it by the water's edge. Now, how to get to the crystals at the bottom?

If she's come here with someone else, she'll ask for their input on the matter-

"I think I can see something glittering down there...I hope that is what we're looking for, rather than someone's loose change."

If someone's snuck up on her at the lake, she'll try and find out if they're here for the same reason she is-

"A little late for a bath, isn't it? It's nearly midnight."

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! If we've plotted something out already feel free to kick us off, or give me a shout and I'll start up in a comment.]

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"Of course, thank you..."

Where to start... She fiddled with the snake head a moment, running her thumb over what she'd done of its scales so far.

"I mentioned when we first met that I was summoned as a spirit to fight in a war, didn't I? That War between Magi was called the Holy Grail War.

Seven Magi in the Modern era, known as 'Masters', use rituals to call upon powerful Heroic Spirits- 'Servants'. The Servants were all beings who had made their mark in history or legend, for better or for worse, and were bound to their Masters through the summoning ritual. Based on their abilities in life, the Servants fell into one of seven different classes.

Saber, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Assassin...and Caster."

She'd get to what the Holy Grail was in a moment, but she'd let that sink in first. Caster hadn't been using her real name since the beginning, for a start.

Indeed, that definitely threw Maribelle off, making her blink rapidly. "Wait... Caster isn't your real name?" Sure, she had thought it was an odd name, but then again, they were all from different realms - one's weird could be another's normal.

But why did Caster think she had to hide her identity in a place where no one knew anyone else?

"No, it's not. 'Caster' is my Servant Class, nothing more." Caster thumbed the model again as she thought how to explain...

"Back in the Grail War, we usually used our Class names to identify ourselves- after all, if we revealed our true names it would be easy for one of our enemies to look up our legends. Then they'd learn our abilities, histories and weaknesses, which would give them a significant advantage...

There's a few other Servants here- The Saber and Archer from my War, and the Lancer from another. But I seem to be the only one who can't let go of that mindset so easily. The Lancer even introduced herself to me by her true name when we first met, and the other two admitted theirs without much resistance."

Saber getting Caster to admit her true name in the Fisher King quest had been a painful process indeed.

Edited 2021-03-31 19:07 (UTC)

"I see..." Maribelle frowned as she thought this over. She can't say she liked it - but. This wasn't for her to decide, now was it? She didn't know the others very well, but she did know Caster, and even if it had been a short time, there was a bond of trust.

With an affirmative nod, more to herself than anyone else, she straightened up.

"In that case... You do not need to reveal it to me. I'd never force it out of you. Names have their own power and comfort in every realm... and our histories are one of the few things we have control over in this wretched place. What you choose to tell me, and what you choose to keep to yourself, are your matters and yours alone. If you wish to remain 'Caster' to me, then only 'Caster' shall ever leave my lips."

Caster paused as she took in Maribelle's words, watching her with an expression of utter bewilderment.

"You...actually trust me."

Perhaps that should have been obvious to anyone else by now- but Caster had spent so long being treated as evil, as the infamous 'Witch of Betrayal' in her lifetime, that the idea of her friend trusting her despite her secrecy and suspicion was a strange, welcome surprise.

Which begged the question of what to do from here. Maribelle had said she was happy to keep to calling her 'Caster', so put that choice firmly in her hands. It wasn't like when Saber had to practically force her name out of her by deducing it first, or she'd spitefully revealed it to Minato to prove a point about how awful she was.

Whether to reveal her name or not, here and now, was entirely with her.

The fact that her roommate was from a different world meant that her true name wouldn't hold the same weight as one who knew her legend, but the fact she could look it up if she chose still remained. Or spread the name she'd heard to others. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been betrayed in her life, and Caster was certain it wouldn't be the last.

...But Caster, in many ways, was like a mirror. When people respected and trusted her- when they treated her with compassion- she was inclined to respond in kind unless she had a more pressing goal to achieve. Her weakness, after all, was people who treated her with genuine kindness.

"It's- My name is Medea. If you'd like to call me that, I... I wouldn't mind it."

Perhaps it was a little surprising to have a bond of trust between them, given they'd known each other for perhaps a month. But, as far as Maribelle was concerned, what good would deception and backstabbing be here? Especially in a place where everyone needed to get along if only for the sake of their world's survival?

But when she hears the name, she couldn't help but feel a little happy that her trust was returned. She smiled, pure and genuine. "It's a lovely name." She had no idea the tale behind it, and for now, had no intention of learning it unless it came from the owner herself.

She placed a hand on her heart. "I give you my most solemn vow - I will never tell anyone your name, nor speak it to you unless we are guaranteed complete privacy... Medea." Another little smile.

"Ah...thank you." A small smile came into her face- both at the compliment, and the promise Maribelle gave her. "I appreciate the secrecy as well. I certainly don't want to come out publicly to most in Avalon. It's as you say, our history is all we control, here."

It was nice- freeing, even, being referred to by something other than her class. For all the history that name held, it reminded Medea that she was more than just a Servant tightly bound into the turnings of fate that the Holy Grail War brought.

Not to mention... she already didn't bother to wear that heavy cloak of her's around the house unless there were guests over or the day was particularly cold. It was slowly becoming a place she could just exist as herself.

"...Certainly when we're at home, I'd like that."

More smiles were exchanged - but then Maribelle sighed with a little task, though through no fault of Caster - Medea's. "I admit, I do feel rather guilty... you've given me such secrets to hold, but I can't offer you the same. Not because I don't trust you, but because I simply don't have any."

She knew it sounded silly - everyone has secrets! - but really, her life was an open book should anyone ask. She was proud of her family, of her homeland, of her allies, why shouldn't she be honest about them?

"Aside from being a complete snob at times, there's really little I hold back." And she barely held that back, to be honest. She even tried to think of actual secrets she could have, but struggled. "... The closest I can think of is when my father was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit - but even that ended happily, as the truth was revealed before any serious lasting damage could be done."

"Come now, everyone has secrets, don't they?"

But that was one of the things Medea liked about Maribelle, she was straightforward and open- the complete opposite to her. It was refreshing.

"...You're welcome to tell me about your father and the story behind that if you'd like- but do not feel you have to share just because I did."

Fifth: Brewing and Questing (Mar Catchall)

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Caster you need to work through those trust issues of yours

i mean she's got a right to them

True! She just misplaces them a lot of the time

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