middaeg | open / witty title goes here

Who: Steak & Open!
When: Throughout the month
Where: Aefenglom
What: Quest type things (The Sordid Shield; Bejeweled, Bedeviled), Steak looking for alternative ways to learn magic, and other shenanigans to be added throughout the month
Warnings: Just for the Bejeweled, Bedeviled quest, in case things get NSFW.

— the sordid shield.

( working as a bouncer is slightly different for Steak. in the past, those kinds of duties had been bundled up in the unspoken part of the agreement made when hiring a food soul to work in your bar or restaurant. a look which lingers too long and means "and you'll take care of any trouble, too." it's something he'd come to expect.

but standing outside, dedicating all his energy to making sure no one causes trouble, isn't exactly a difficult job. even in the winter cold, with his usual, midriff exposing outfit on, it isn't difficult. he instead spends the first few hours greeting people and letting them through, with no regard for whether they're monster or witch, and is brighter still at the sight of mirrorbound and familiar faces, greeting anyone he recognises with a wave and a grin.

sure, Aefenglom isn't ideal, and he's still not thrilled to know that he has to regularly use magic, waste time learning how to cast spells (or, worse, spend extra time in the coven), but it isn't that different to Tierra, really. there's still things to be slain and friends to spend time with. what's so bad about that? )

— personal investigations.

( so. he needs to learn magic. that's a fact which has been yelled into his head by one too many people he knows, and — admittedly — once the excess magic had burnt off through spell assisting and battles, Steak really realised just how bad he'd been feeling beforehand. but, even more than his bruised pride at being given magic he never asked for (he can fight perfectly fine without it, thank you), a dislike of the Coven stands between himself and traditional magic learning. and maybe the Coven isn't so bad, but it doesn't change the fact that he can't bring himself to trust them the same way one could trust the Chef's Guild on Tierra.

he will, after all, always be an outsider to this place. someone who can be dumped in his world and dragged back into Aefenglom anew at a whim. it's better to rely on himself and his own strength.

which is why he can, for once, be found in a book store, skimming a finger along the spines of books and stopping on anything that looks interesting. Introduction to Magic, Abjuration and You, How To Make Swords and Cause Fires. a pile which slowly grows in his arms, but it isn't until he pulls down a copy of Evoking the Evocation that he notices something different:

a little doodle in the corner of the first page. something which could be easily overlooked, or dismissed as a bored kid drawing in a book without realising they shouldn't.

except, it's an odd little thing. a sun surrounded by an intricate border, too detailed for its size, and so, when Steak sees someone nearby, he asks — )

Do you recognise this?

— bejeweled, bedeviled.

( Steak isn't looking for the shop, and yet, the shop finds him. it pops up in the midst of him wandering the city, holding a piece of paper with a rendition of a sun surrounded by an intricate border and searching for its twin.

it's bothering him, and he intends to find out why.

but first, a detour, courtesy of a shopkeeper who's standing outside his shop door, waving at Steak and whoever is near him. )

Come on in! It's our opening sale!

( ... huh. )

Want to check it out?

— wildcard.

( hit me with whatever you want. or message me at isanghae / isanghae#8071 to talk something out. he's also doing out of the city and wilders training if you want to do something with those! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Steak-

[ Something hurt flashes behind her eyes, but she levels her sword all the same. ]

Why are you doing this? Why can't you let me help?

[ She doesn't attack. Not yet. But she's poised to. ]

( something deep inside him, muffled and buried by the fever of the night, doesn't want to do this. it wants to be fighting alongside her, rather than against her, but he has his duty to this evening. to making sure everything goes off without a hitch.

(but why is that so important? the reason seems gone from his mind, too.)

and because that is his duty, he no longer wishes to speak, but instead propels himself forward, swords swinging at her. what becomes of him no longer matters, whether she manages to injure him or worse, as long as it's enough to keep her from ruining this night. )

[ So, it's a fight. She grits her teeth and raises her blade, coming to meet him halfway. There's a clash of steel on steel and she parries the first blow, moving in a tightly controlled fashion as she tries to find an opening to counter him. She doesn't want to hurt him. She doesn't want to kill him.

She has a feeling she might have to, though.

She retreats a step and then whips her blade around, trying to force him away. She needs to find a way to disable him - hopefully without bloodshed. ]

Steak, this isn't you-!

( of course it is. he's bound by duty, and this is now his duty. it may not be as likeable, as palatable as other previous jobs, but it is something that needs doing. he wouldn't kill the cultists when they tried to kidnap people, and he won't have them killed for some bloodthirsty idea of justice.

perhaps their answers to whatever questions are being asked this way are even the right ones. he doesn't know and it isn't his place to know, only to keep pushing against her, thrusting his swords at her once more to shove her away from the cage he was guarding. )

Ngh— ( she's tough, but he's known that for a long time. that's why he likes her, why it hurts to turn his swords against her.

but duty comes first. )

[ This hurts her; to fight against someone she considered a friend. More than that, truly, considering what they'd been up to together. She grits her teeth and levels her blade as she takes a little step back to get some space. Then she comes at him again, point leveled to try and thrust past his guard.

She doesn't like this. Despises it.

But she'll do what she needs to do. ]

( it hurts him too, in a muted way. like the television barely audible from the next room. he knows he should feel something, that something indefinable is wrong about this whole thing, but the what is sand through his fingers while the order to protect this evening rests in his hand like his swords. real and true.

he swings his blade as she approaches, trying to catch her strike and use the momentum to send her off balance, to give himself that opening to make his own attack with his other sword.

for the sake of this order, whoever might be giving it. )

Steak!

[ She yells again as he deflects her sword aside and she has to duck to avoid the sweep of his other blade. It just misses clipping something important and then she's back onto her feet and instead of trying to use her sword she simply bodycheck him back against the bars of the cage. Inside his guard where he can't try to run her through. ]

Listen to me - this isn't who you are!

( he hits the cage with a grunt, his swords useless at this closeness, the scent of her familiar, warm, nice. like home to some forgotten, closed part of his mind.

something inside him rattles the same way the cage rattled against the back of his ribs, a sense of self that the enchantments try to suppress. it stirs under the pressure of her body, surrounded by all that is her. )

Saber—

( his voice is strained, uncertainty creeping into the fringes. he has a job. she is...

she's...

the enemy? but why? )

[ There's something familiar about this, but it's all wrong. The warmth and solidity of his body and the familiar scent that fills her nose now - but instead of something close and intimate, it's combat. Fighting for their lives. She grips his wrist and tries to force his blades away as she stares up at him. ]

You're a warrior, but you don't fight to keep people in cages! Not as long as I've known you! And - I would not favor you if you were!

( when he was a chimera, the two sides of his brain were at war frequently. the aggressive ox, which wanted to face things head on, and the more clever squid who wanted to find another solution.

it feels the same now, with part of his mind demanding that he fight her, that he keep protecting this place, and the other wanting to pull her close and inhale her until it remembers what it's like to feel grounded. and instead, he's left frozen, red eyes flickering from dull to lively and back again as he stares at her, the words striking a chord somewhere deep within, something magic immediately tries to fight and quash.

he holds tight to his blades, but doesn't tear his wrist away from her hand. it's a familiar sensation, a pleasant one.

but the pieces just keep missing each other, not quite falling into place. )

[ Her grip tightens and she presses herself into him, face to face. The warrior in her knows she ought to cut him down - but she's had enough of that in her past. She's had enough of killing the people she once called companions. Not this time; not here. ]

Steak - come back out of this!

[ Come back to her, she doesn't say aloud. ]

( come back

she smells—

(traitors, traitors all of them.
protect us)

—so familiar.

Steak's eyes fly open, too-bright red glassy, a blur of noise and meaning mixed up inside him and his grip loosens on his sword.

a clatter of steel muted by the noise all around them. )

... What...

( he blinks, staring beyond her, to the mess of bodies around them. clashes of battle, screaming and hiding, people running.

protect us. )

What's going on?

Steak-!

[ She feels tears prick at the corners of her eyes and she forces them down. Instead she wraps her arms around him and tugs him close. It's the middle of a battle, it's true, but she wants to make sure he's back. ]

Steak. You were - something has gotten into you. They're trying to control you, I think-

( she's not wrong, but it seems that Saber has her own kind of power over him too. he makes a noise as her embrace knocks the air out of his lungs, his heart thudding against his ribs in a way that surely could only be because of the shock of returning to his own mind. )

I- Thank you, Saber.

( he's alright, and the tender way his lips brush her shoulder as he bows his head towards her is a proof all of its own. )

You're back.

[ She says it softly. And then she has to pull back, a more determined look settling on her face. ]

I - we don't have time to talk just now, do we?

( judging by the state of things... )

No.

( let him just... grab that sword, because there's work to be done. )

Let's go!

( it's time to put an end to these traitors! )

open / witty title goes here

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