avalononline | Tenth: Golden Fleece (Accidental Video : un; Caster)

[The video starts with a rather blurry picture. What looked to be...fangs, bone and purple fire? Was Caster doing another ominous ritual??

But no- soon enough, her skeletal dragon familiar pulled back from the camera, tilting it's head at it before looking very satisfied with itself! It made the phone do the thing! Don't mind it rushing offscreen and making adorable baby crocodile noises.

At which point, Caster's own voice could be heard: ]

Little One...we've been over this. I am not comfortable addressing the entire Network so soon after-

[More insistent crocodile noises! Before another shot of the inside of the bone dragon's mouth as it tried to drag the phone over to her, dropping it on the sofa at her side. And well, look, there was Caster! Without her hooded cloak on, the shot was able to reveal her pointed ears and curled, golden ram-like horns either side of her head. She seemed to be focusing on studying a bottle of Counter-curse potion.]

No. I am not apologising for what happened in June, and I can figure out this ridiculous curse on my own without asking their advice-...hm?

Wait, that light on the screen means- Little One. Did you manage to turn it on by yourself??

[Ergh. She quickly grabbed the phone and- yes, that was definitely recording.

Well, with a sigh of resignation, she decided to just go along with it. She had to save her own pride somehow- even if it was lacking the usual confidence her broadcasts had in the past.]

Good evening, Avalon. I- for those new here, I am known as 'Caster'.

I gather I'm not the only one affected by the current situation. Whoever's responsible for this has a terrible sense of humour.

...Aside from trying to work out how to make my wardrobe accommodate this mess- [A gesture to her horns and currently ill-fitting skirt] -there's been another matter on my mind recently.

What motivations do you all have for trying to save the worlds? You don't have to be specific if you're concerned I'll use the information against you, but...it's something I've been trying to figure out for myself recently.

...

[An awkward silence as she tried to work out if there was anything else to say, before she ended the broadcast.]

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...Considering your username, that look is rather fitting for you.

[A smirk- it's her chance to get him back for teasing her about her walk of shame!]

But you really don't care if they're just exploiting you for your magic like that?

[It's a little embarrassing! Even though wolves are badass! Just being called out on it . . . at least his wolf ears can't blush, but his human ears do, just a tiny bit.]

It's the meaning of my name. Zemlupus. So I'm not shocked it ended up like this if it was gonna happen to me. . . . But that aside, they're the ones who gave me the magic I've got here in the first place. I can't get that worked up about it. I wouldn't even say it's an "if"—they're absolutely exploiting us all for our magic. It just doesn't do anyone here any good not to play along that I can see. If I thought there was any potential benefit at all to refusing, I'd take it into consideration.

Ah, I didn't know your ears went red when you got embarrassed~ How cute.

[Sorry Kadoc, your psuedoservant is here to troll.

But she did pause to think on the rest of what he said.]

You have a point... other than not giving Arthur and his people the satisfaction of knowing they used us, I suppose.

[That makes them go redder, Caster! He can feel it happening, and chooses to just not comment on it to give her more ammo, but it's very obvious, and the wolf ears twitch too.]

Anyway, pride's useless when it comes to this. If Arthur actually is looking down on us, he's got plenty of ammo anyway, and we're still stuck here under his power.

[There's a small chuckle there- slightly pointed, just to make sure he knew she could see his ears getting obviously redder. What a sadistic witch!]

I suppose so... especially with our original powers blocked as well.

So you intend to help them for lack of any other options? There's an argument to be made for sabotaging the King's plans.

I'd be willing to hear that argument at least. I haven't yet. It's not like I've never thought about it, but I've got no idea what benefit could come of it, and it's not something to take lightly. Pulling something like that just to be contrary without having a solid plan for what comes next could screw over a lot more than just some people's pride.

Of course, and I don't intend to stab him in the back for the sake of it.

[Or, if she was, she wouldn't air that thought on a public forum.]

But I think some people here follow the whims of the people in charge without so much as questioning it.

Of course they do. If anything, I'm just relieved it's not everyone who approaches it that way. If this whole thing were a setup all along, and they had more control over it than they're pretending to, they could've easily cherrypicked a group of "offworlders" who were likely to conform and avoid questioning things. So the fact that it happens at all gives me a little more confidence.

. . . You gone to see the Calamity yet?

[Caster grew quiet at the question. She agreed with his sentiment about the morality of the offworlders- although part of her wondered if they were just to by made into villains to prove a point.

Finally, with something of a resignation in her voice, she replied: ]

...I have. Have you?

Yeah. . . . It's not like it convinced me that everything that's going on here is on the level, but it at least did something to convince me there's a real threat hanging over our heads. Literally.

Yes...it is at least a threat to our own lives.

Truth be told I struggle to care about the fate of the other worlds, but I don't want to die.

[What reason was there to go home? What reason did she have to care about a world where the one person she cared for there was gone?

At the very least...she felt comfortable in admitting that to Kadoc. Of all people he wasn't likely to judge her for feeling that way.]

[It brings a little wry smile to his face, actually. Is it heroic, or charitable? No. Is it relatable? Definitely.]

Yeah. I can't go doing that. You know why. So existing here, whether it's actively helping me get home or not—I'm fine with going along with it. I'm living a life here, and maybe it'll help me get back to the one I left behind, however long that'll last. Or maybe it won't, and this is just what I get now. It wouldn't be the first time something that twisted happened to the course of my existence.

. . . It's good to hear it. That you want it too.

I do.

[Know why, that is.]

...and I'm glad to hear you want to go on living, too. I would drag you back to curse you if you got yourself killed needlessly.

[In other words, Medea cares. In her own special way.]

But yes... whether or not we'll be able to return, and whether or not we choose to if we can is another question.

Tenth: Golden Fleece (Accidental Video : un; Caster)

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