open / witty title goes here

[battlebound]

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! )

Comments

[battlebound]

( dammit, that smoke is going to prove a problem in trying to handle Red Wine. he would be difficult enough to take down on Tierra, but the extra escape option means Steak will just have to go harder.

there's no need, nor ability, to think more strategically about this, and perhaps that is the most like himself Steak is right now, as he immediately charges into Red Wine's space, too silent, too focused on Red Wine to respond to what he's saying. what answer could he give, anyway? he's doing his job, his duty, as dictated by...

who, precisely? he shakes his head, as though trying to clear his mind of fog, of a cloud that won't go away or let him grasp at anything but the order to fight off the intruders. no matter their names, faces, or arguments. )

[judgementor]

[This isn't right. It doesn't take him even a moment to realise that. Steak wouldn't attack him like this, in a situation like this one, and he just--

This isn't Steak. Nothing about this is. But he has to be in there - he has to still be in there, somewhere.]

Steak, you don't want to fight me.

[He doesn't let the witch get close, dodging him again as he tries to shorten the gap between them. Fighting defensively isn't his usual forte, and it chafes somewhat to do it despite its necessity.]

What are you going to do, kill me? And what then?!

[battlebound]

( he always wants to fight Red Wine, that's an undeniable truth. it's how they operate. they fight, they become better, and when the chips are down, they come together and work as a flawless unit.

so why aren't they doing that now? )

Then fight with me.

( this isn't right. even as Steak tries to push forward, he knows this isn't right. what has tricked Red Wine so that he believes he needs to destroy this evening? )

We have a duty to protect this place!

( and that is, perhaps, why it was so easy to twist Steak's mind. all this magic needed was to repurpose his ever standing belief that he exists to protect for the cult's own benefit. )

[judgementor]

[Damn, he's in deep. Red Wine realises quite abruptly that this isn't going to stop until one of them harms the other, and Red Wine has never been a Food Soul who is made for defence. He would hate to admit it but when it comes to simple brute force, Steak is always going to outmatch him.]

We have a duty to protect our people!

[He's never truly thought of himself as one of them before until those words come out of his mouth. After spending months mentally holding himself apart from the other Mirrorbound through his sheer hatred of being here, it bursts out of him like a wild thing, his voice pitching up and cracking.]

Our people, Steak! The people these monsters have been torturing! [He grits his teeth and his grip goes white-knuckled on his sword.] You're better than this. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. And you'll thank me for it later.

[battlebound]

( and Steak knows that, even brought under by this enchantment. he knows to press the advantage, to keep attacking as Red Wine steps back, his attacks becoming bolder and more reckless. )

This isn't Tierra, Red Wine!

( these are people, but they aren't their people. and what of the other side of it all? don't these people deserve to be protected, too? doesn't progress deserve to be protected? given a chance?

they both know well that their existences hinged on the humans of Tierra and their progress, and that progress wasn't done without many terrible things.

what could be done here that would be blocked if they stop this night? )

[judgementor]

That is abundantly obvious. [Red Wine snarls.

Because Steak would never attack him like this on Tierra. Their values would never have been so dramatically far apart. They would have stood against the cult together and maybe that's why so much about this stings.

It stings, but he's angry, and the anger is what pushes his next act.

Rather than continuing to retreat backwards, Red Wine suddenly rushes forwards. Just as he's within striking distance of Steak he vanishes, moving over him as a dark cloud and reforming behind him, the hilt of his sword raised.

He doesn't want to hurt Steak. That much was true, but he doesn't want him to hurt anybody else either. He brings the pommel of his sword down hard on the back of Steak's skull.]

[battlebound]

( goddamn that mist, it's such a pain, a problem he doesn't have an answer for yet.

and it becomes an even bigger problem when Red Wine rematerialises, slamming the hilt of his sword against the back of Steak's skull, vision swimming, going black as he falls to his knees

and then to the floor. )

[judgementor]

[There's a silent praise uttered to the God of Beginnings as Steak goes down, and despite the way they had been fighting Red Wine does not let the blacked out witch fall face-first into the ground. He grabs Steak's shoulder before he can topple entirely and lightly rolls him so he hits the floor on his side instead.

His own shoulder aches, sending needles of pain down his entire arm, and he'd be out of breath if he needed to breathe.]

Idiot. [He mutters, closing his eyes for a moment. The hit had been enough, to be sure, but it wouldn't keep him down for long. Just long enough for Red Wine to get far away from him.

So he leaves.]