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

[worldcleansing]

Most of the people I know are witches.

[ There are a few monsters here and there, but a lot of his time is spent studying magic. Light is just more likely to meet other witches than he would monsters. That only makes it more bothersome that he doesn't recognize the symbol. ]

Protection usually falls under abjuration, which is a different study of magic. Does it list the spell?

[ The shimmer quickly draws Light's eye as well. ]