sweetdevil | 56th ♫ | distorted lights spinning around in my head

56th ♫ | distorted lights spinning around in my head – my logic's been consumed by fear

CMO POST
(it stands for 'contact my OCs')

Anika Quinn, as normal a teenage girl as they come. She's sixteen years old, goes to high school, gets okay grades – oh, and she's also a princess from a parallel magical world. But who's asking? As she eventually finds out from her new group of comrades, Anika is actually Regalia Eupheme, magical warrior and princess of the kingdom of Eupheme that fell when she was just a baby. Anika was sent to Earth with the kingdom's greatest treasure, the Regalia of Eupheme, to safeguard both it and her. And now it's time for her to take on the duty given to her and fight as Regalia Eupheme to protect her new home... just as soon as she actually figures out how this whole princess thing works, of course. She's a good-natured girl who struggles with anxiety and feelings of inadequecy that she does her best to mask by wearing a cheerful and friendly face more or less 24/7.
Briar, a self-aware fictional character from a world called Libretto that serves as a sanctuary for characters who have been abandoned by their authors and narratives. Once upon a time, Briar was the firey, happy-go-lucky teen protagonist of a turn-based JRPG whose story spanned an entire continent. After fighting to the end of that adventure, however, Briar realized that the role of the hero who fights and slays monsters was one that made her deeply unhappy and and upon finding her way to Libretto, decided that she wanted to spend her time in Libretto creating things rather than destroying them and set about learning the craft of storytelling. She is currently the apprentice to the Imaginieer, the one responsible for guiding the story of Libretto and keeping it under control and is travelling on a quest to protect the world of stories in an effort to prove herself worthy. An introverted, bookish girl who's a bit too quick to trust and get attached to people. She has a strong, principled core and won't hesitant to stand up for what she believes in, despite the odds.
Bryn Pendragon. a traveling warrior with as many braincells as she has functioning eyes (which is to say, one). Once a princess from a war-mongering country, she was offered by her parents to a dragon who razed her home country in response and raised Bryn as part of his horde, suppressing the memories of her history and identity until the dragon was the only guardian she had ever known. Years later, when a princes from a foreign country slayed her dragon, Bryn took on what was left of his powers and set out on a quest across Seidrfold to avenge him... and maybe get a little distracted along the way. High-energy and flighty, she's a cheerful social oddball who's seeing the world for the first time and loving every moment of it. Can't be trusted with her own braincell, but that's not going to stop her!!
Camellia, a self-aware fictional character who lived between the pages of an untitled story, penned by an author who dreamed of going on fantastical adventures with a beautiful woman by his side. Camellia was that woman – beautiful, kind, motherly and playful, she was written to be nothing more or less than the author's dream woman. But the author died before he could complete his story and Camellia was displaced from it, left alone to wander stories like hers that had been left abandoned until she finally found her way to the world beyond stories – Libretto, the sanctuary for creations displaced from their stories. Occupants of Libretto are free to live life as they choose and will, eventually, leave the world behind to become muses and inspire the creators of new stories. After years spent there, Camellia has been granted the esteemed title of Imaginier, the one responsible for guiding the story of Libretto and keeping it under control. She is in the process of protecting Libretto from a devastating outside threat while her apprentice, Briar, quests to solve the problem at its root. A kind, motherly woman who radiates those Oneesan Vibes. Under her soft, unthreatening exterior, she has oceans of cold patience and tendencies towards controlling, smothering behaviour that her years in Libretto have only brought closer and closer to the surface.
Clarity Skylark, a genius detective stymied somewhat by the fact that she only really has one braincell to speak of. Somehow, despite all the odds working completely against her, she manages to be extremely good at her job when the chips are actually down. Her energy and good-natured desire to meddle in everything can get her most of the way, but her wacked priorities and her love of a good hearty adventure often trip her up, even when she has the best of intentions in mind. Eliminate everything else and what's left will surely be the truth! ... or a gold-plated reasonable facsimile of the truth, anyway.
Elle Branwen, the resident shady-ass bard, big witch hat owner and guildmaster of the Blackest Night Guild, a once legendary adventuring guild that slowly slid into obscurity and general not-doing-much-of-anything-ness when the original party members disappeared after a titanic battle. Tiny fifteen years old Elle all by herself (well, she had a friend, but The Drama) to run Blackest Night in their absence, waiting for their return. Ten years later and Elle is now catty, bitter and mostly unmotivated to do much of anything until the guild receives a shutdown notice and she springs into action, refusing to let Blackest Night shut down without a fight. She has a good heart, it's just covered in a near-impenetrable layer of cynicism and depression grime.
Erina Estival, your typical Light Novel Superpowered Teenager. She is a type of human known as a 'Synchronic', which grants her special abilities, chief of which is the power to bond ('Sync') with a sentient weapon known as a Key. Erina's key is a zweihander called, uh, Zwei. Her special ability is to hear the thoughts and voices of Keys she herself is not Synced with. Sort of sassy and snarky and comes across like she's trying a bit too hard to be a standoffish edgelord. She's actually very energetic and passionate under the surface. Gay for two things: haunted swords and women.
Garnet Bellerose, a user of what her world calls Void Magic – the ability to suppress and nullify the magic in her vicinity. Garnet takes up life as a nomadic adventurer, travelling from place to place to keep her magic from causing too much trouble. She eventually finds herself at the center of an apparent prophecy regarding a great magical calamity with Void Magic able to stand between the calamity and everyone else. Entranced by the idea that her magic that has only ever caused problems could finally be of some use, and that there is finally something only she can do, Garnet sets out on a journey to follow the prophecy's instructions to the bitter end without truly considering how bitter the ending might be. A kind, gentle, empathetic woman who actively makes the choice to be all those things and not always for the healthiest of reasons. She's conflict-averse and a lifetime of having it ingrained in her that her very presence causes trouble has left her with a deep-seated desire for approval and a bone deep terror of rejection and abandonment, so she handles that by repressing the shit out of it and Not handling it.
Sophie Summerhelm, ex-sickly anime waif, certified Good Girl. She's the student of one of the original six heroes, Amelie the Legendary Alchemist. In Hexapath Travellers, she journeys Adelheld on a self-imposed quest to prove herself and her mastery of alchemy. After getting mixed up with the party, they overthrow a conspiracy, summon a god, right wrongs and triumph over evil, all that good stuff. In Hexapath Future she has now replaced the disgraced Amelie as the Royal Alchemist but instead of sticking to one place, she continues to travel Adelheld as she feels continuing to spread happiness with her alchemy is her true calling.
Stella Roselaid is a high-energy, happy go lucky girl who has dreamed of one thing her entire life and that's becoming one of the seven magical idol singers who make up the Prism Maidens. There's just one problem – only girls with a Perfect Pure Voice, whose magic perfectly represents one of the seven colours of the rainbow, can hope to become a Prism Maiden and despite all her hopes, Stella's colour is pink, not red! However, a chance encounter ends with Stella being granted a Vertex Stone, a colourful crystal that marks her as one of the seven Prism Maidens! It might seem like all of her dreams are coming true, but Stella soon discovers that magic or not, being an idol isn't all it's cracked up to be and if she really wants to chase her dreams, she's going to have to work hard to prove she's got it in her to reach them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ for someone as world-weary as figaro, exploring a whole new world can be rather exciting, even if it brought its own slew of problems. for example, assisting a beautiful young witch(?) in her journey for self-actualization can be a boon in and of itself, but her special abilities are another story. he can't deny how powerful garnet can be at the right situations, but getting into a pincer attack by a couple of high-leveled monsters in the middle of their foray into the woods might be a little too much, and the inability to use magic while she's in the vicinity is just the cherry on top of this troublesome sundae.

they'd managed to get out of there in the end, though. figaro doesn't look so hot with his own injuries, but garnet's probably had it worse. ]

Hah, looks like we're almost there. [ to their camp, that is. ] Are you sure you don't want me to carry you, Garnet? No need to be so shy, it's just me.

[ haha, it's joke. but seriously. ]

[ Garnet still isn't used to travelling with a companion, not really. She's had allies and she's escorted and been escorted by adventurers on trips here and there but -- permanent company? If she can even assume Figaro plans to stay with her for that length of time... it's taking some getting used to. It's far from unpleasant to have the company, of course, but still.

At times like this, though, Garnet couldn't be more grateful for it. Her construction magic can only get her so far in a fight and even though she knows what a nuisance she must be, they can at least keep each other reasonably safe.

She's wincing with every step – she'd fumbled a dodge and rolled over on her ankle – and cradling her arm to her chest in a way that implies she isn't able to fully use it right now. And that isn't even touching on the number of cuts and scratches littering her skin, with a particularly nasty one raked across her cheek. But she's quick to give him a smile, strained as it might be. ]

I think I can manage. I just need to rest a little and then I'll be fine.

[ Sure, Jan.

But there's no way to miss the concern with which she's eyeing him. He looks like he's taken a battering, but at the same time, if Figaro can trot out a line like that then he's probably fine. Then again, Garnet wouldn't put it past him to be rolling out one-liners on his death bed, so maybe that's not the best litmus test. ]

How are you managing...?

I've certainly gotten worse, I'd tell you that much.

[ brightly as always. he's gotten some nicks and scratches on his arms, and he might be walking with a little limp along the way, but that's nothing his healing magic couldn't handle. it's just that in order to pull it off, he'd have to make a certain amount of distance from garnet's vicinity in order for his magic to be functional again...

but enough about him. his sharp eyes can tell that the girl's arm has taken quite the beating, and with the signs of rain starting to brew up in the sky once the camp is within reach, his doctor's sense can't help but kick in. he's going to scoop up garnet in his arms princess-style and make a run for it. ]

Sorry, but the faster we get back the better. Hang on tight!

[ Better for worse, Garnet's not exactly difficult to manhandle at the best of times, even when she's not nursing an injured arm. So when Figaro goes and scoops her up, Garnet reacts more or less like a slightly perturbed scruffed kitten and just sort of. freezes. Admittedly, it's a little less strain on her arm if she can actually rest it against her chest, and taking the weight off her ankle is certainly an improvement but– ]

F–Figaro...! [ Her protest comes out a little higher pitched than she would've liked it. ] I can walk the rest of the way!

[ It's not exactly proper to be carried like this, is it? ]

This is faster, isn't it?

[ he laughs, despite the physical pain they're both experiencing. this is nothing compared to the horrendous things he'd gone through anyway, so carrying garnet like she weighs next to nothing should be no problem.

thanks to his quick feet, they manage to reach their camp in record time, right before the drizzle has turned into a rather nasty downpour. figaro settles her down before getting a fire going (and maybe reheat some leftover soup from last night while they're at it), before tending to her wounds. they still have some gauze and bandages left, but it's evident in the knit between figaro's brows as he patches garnet up that healing magic would've been more effective than this. ]

...There we go, good as new. [ he lets out a sigh as he starts administering some minor first aid on himself, his smile weary. ] You should be go to go tomorrow, so long as you don't force yourself to move around too much, all right? Doctor's orders.

[ It's good that Figaro knows what he's doing – that he's trained enough to not need to rely on magic to patch themselves up in situations like this. After all, relying too much on magic could always lead to problems down the road and while it's inconvenient, Garnet's sure that it's better to let their bodies heal up naturally if they can afford it.

That's what she tells herself, anyway, but it doesn't do anything to quell the swirls of guilt eddying around in her stomach. She got them into this situation and now she's the one preventing them for taking the easy way out.

Her dismay is evident, both in her meek response and her creased brow. ]

... Yes. I'll be sure to be careful tonight. [ She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she should say anything else at all, but her traitor mouth runs away with itself before she can stop it. ] And I'm... sorry to have gotten us into this mess.

Now, now, it wasn't completely your fault. You needed to get some training in anyway. I have a student back in my world who wanted to get into the action as soon as possible, so it's not the first time I had to rush in for help like that.

[ so yeah, he's used to it. don't mind his wistful gaze as he stares into the flame in front of them, stirring the pot of soup every now and then. ]

It's hard, bearing that kind of power. But whether you want to use that power for good or evil is up to you. Either way, you'll need to control it first. Now, if you could hold out your hand...

[ because he's going to hold hers in his in an attempt to create magic sugar, closing his eyes in deep concentration. this may or may not be the first time he's done this in her presence, but he won't stop trying until he can create just one (1) magical sugar crystal... to little success. ]

[ She's sure he doesn't mean it unkindly, but something about the way he says that makes her insides feel like they're crumpling up. It's one thing for a student to still be making mistakes like this, but Garnet's a grown woman. Shouldn't she be able to control this by now?

It'd certainly solve quite a lot of problems if she could.

But there's no point in dwelling on that now. No amount of fretting and angsting over it will do any good if she can't put in the effort to actually make some sort of difference. So instead of saying anything at all, she pulls in a breath and offers Figaro her hand.

She tries her best to pull back some of her magic to give him an easier time, but all that really happens is that her hand starts to feel cold and numb. ]

We've been making progress with this, at least...

[ Kind of. Sort of. They're making progress in the sense that it's not such a spectacular failure anymore, but Garnet will take her victories where she can get them. ]

[ he usually didn't mean it like that... usually. to be fair, figaro's lived for so long that he can't help but view everyone around him as young, even someone like garnet. either way, they all have to start somewhere. it's normal.

at the very least she's improving in this department bit by bit. figaro closes his eyes and utters his spell, and lo and behold - while he manages to create three magic sugar crystals this time, garnet still ends up holding a pocketful of plain-ass sugar despite their combined efforts. RIP. ]

Ah, would you look at that.

[ he's pleased, but her cold hands are another story. he picks up the sugar crystals with his free hand and closes garnet's poor hands in the other in an attempt to warm them up a little. ]

Here, have some magical sugar while you're at it. There's no better remedy than Dr. Figaro's sugar, you know. Plus, you'll look even more beautiful than you are now.

[ he jests, almost. not that garnet needs it anyway since she's pretty just the way she is, but wizard's sugar does have some restorative properties, so it'll help garnet heal up faster. ]

[ The feeling of Figaro's magic piling up on her hand makes a feeling like pins and needles shoot all the way up her hand and she can't suppress an unpleasant shudder. The fact that she's feeling anything at all instead of just dead, empty magic should probably be taken as progress but if it always feels as unpleasant as this, then she's not fully sure if she wants to progress any further.

But... Figaro's hands are warm when they close over hers and as she relaxes her hold on her magic, that deadened sensation gradually relents as well and she manages a smile. ]

I'm certain your sugar can do a lot of things, but I think that's going a little far, don't you?

[ She's not vain enough to pretend she's anything but bedraggled in a state like this – but with Figaro's magic, maybe she can at least look presentable. She pops the sugar cube into her mouth and while her tongue cringes at the sweetness, she lets it melt on her tongue for a second before swallowing. Like Figaro's hands, it's warm. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

56th ♫ | distorted lights spinning around in my head – my logic's been consumed by fear

plops this down and runs

pelts after you

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