RP:Magik The Mediator
Part 1 of 3 of Karasu's initiation to the Syndicate of Shadows.
Summary: After Karasu returns to Cenril to find Kanna and Quintessa gone, she puts two and two together and marches out to House Dragana to confront the changeling. What she finds out in the Dark Forest is instead a fellow guildmate with some wisdom on her temper and a task with an alarming deadline.
Dark Twisted Path
This path leads through the forest's haunting and constricting trees. The smell here is nauseating, almost like something has died and rotted away in the night. Along the ground are more spiders webs, and you see various cocoon like objects hanging from the tree branches. For some reason you feel you are being hunted, and should probably move on. You feel that you have been here before, and wonder what's going on.
Karasu has become a hurricane in her own right. Between a botched expedition to Southern Xalious and walking on foot all the way back to Cenril only to find out that her sister had been intercepted by Quintessa, the spell blade was unbelievably less than enthused. The halfling stops in front of the dark mansion, and shakes the gates. "QuinTESSA!" Karasu shouts at the house, not knowing that it was currently empty of those she was looking for. "You goddamn snake, get out here and FIGHT ME!"
Magik just happened to be exiting the Dragana estate as Karasu arrived on scene. He deeply sighs as his fellow guildmate's voice echoed throughout the forest. Shutting the door behind him, he walks towards the battle between the gate and Karasu. The gate is obviously winning, "She's not here," the Lyastri states from his side of the barrier. "I'm assuming our mutual friend, Tessa, hasn't reached out yet?"
Karasu stops her assault on the horrible contraption as the Lyastri walks up to her. She huffs a few times and steps onto a decorative spiral in the metalwork to raise herself up enough to almost be eye-level with him. For all intents and purposes, she looks like hell. There's leaves and spiderwebs stuck in her hair from trying to find this place in the Dark Forest, and her face is pink from yelling. "Not my friend. Did you see another girl in there? The one that uh, attacked you that one time? And why the hell would Tessa reach out to me?"
Magik simply slides this particular gate open, giving Karasu a blank stare afterwards. He folds his arms as he steps in front of her, speaking to her at eye level, "No. Kanna isn't in there, that I was aware of... Did you not read my note?" He speaks quietly to himself, "Am I just talking to walls lately? Good god, man..." He's at a loss for words. Such anger and hostility right now. Where was Kanna's flower thing to pull all this negative energy out of the air? Or, however that thing worked. Magic, am I right? The more important Magik picks a few things out of the stray-kitty look-a-like’s hair whether she likes it or not, "Once again... Stop. This whole running through the woods, screaming, hiding spiders in your hair," he picks and flicks one to the side, "has got to stop. You and Tessa need to talk this out. And, which I'm not fully condoning, but I understand, maybe need to throw some fisticuffs and end this, this nonsense with literally everything going on between you two." Magik was obviously not impressed by this scene that has rapidly unfolded in front of him. All he wanted to do was take a walk through the Dark Forest to perhaps enjoy a drink with a friend. Now..This.
Karasu gives a low meow in annoyance as she swings with the unlocked gate. She steps down off the perch and furrows her brows for a moment before a light seems to turn on in her mind. “The note… That note was from you?” She flinches just slightly as his hand reaches out, a reaction that her guildmate ignores as he picks stowaways out of her curls. The show of kindness seems to be enough to calm the woman down, though, and she huffs, crossing her arms. “It's complicated, Magik. Whatever -he- was doing, he had Quintessa involved in it too. She’s a traitor, and now she has my sister, and I don’t know if she’s safe and…” Her mind trails back to the gruesome details mentioned in the contingency plan ‘should Quintessa betray’ him. “...and I don’t know how safe Quintessa will be once he gets his hands on Kanna.” She finally admits with a long sigh. “Fine, I won’t kick her ass today. What was she supposed to reach out to me about?”
Magik's eyes light up only the slightest bit at the mentioning of Kanna, "And just like that, you obviously care about her. She cares about you." Okay enough of this emotional talk, "All I'm going to say, again, is that things aren't as they seem through your eyes." He also adds, "And Kanna is fine as long as she doesn't try to eat me again. We accidentally ran into each other for the, what, third time?" Those dark fiery eyes study Karasu for a moment, "Give yourself a second here. Take a deep breath and collect your thoughts." Magik's stance did not change although he shifted his focus on Kara's eyes to her entire face.
Karasu squints slightly as he mentions the encounter, but lets the subject drop. “Hm.” She nods at his instruction and unfolds her arms, letting them rest on her hips. “Yes, sir, mister meditation master.” The feline mumbles with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. Karasu sighs and thinks back on the events. This was really the first time she had stopped moving or trying to forge ahead in the last week. There was a shout from Quintessa from behind their crossed blades that she was the one using Kaaname, not the other way around. The fact that she had begged Krice to save Karasu from the fire before the Cenrilian authorities captured the unconscious feline. The fact that Quintessa waited until Karasu was out of the area to approach Kanna to avoid another fight. There was credence to Magik’s scolding, much as she disliked to admit it. Her shoulders drop and her expression relaxes as the last of her residual anger subsides. Karasu opens her eyes and looks back up at her guildmate. “Okay. I… could have stood to have… talked a little more before I threw my sword at her.” Karasu admits, her cheeks reddening a bit in embarrassment as she averts her eyes.
Magik smirks slightly as he relaxes his form just a tad,"Sometimes stopping for a literal few seconds is all it takes, yeah?" He tilts his head a tad to the side, "You look like you could go for a nice walk to reflect just a bit more. The calmer you two are when you enter the same room, the more you can accomplish." Reaching to his pocket, he pulls out a small piece of parchment with a drawing on it. He looks the paper up and down before flipping it to show Karasu, "A few months ago, I lost this bow at the lake in northern Frostmaw during an experiment between me, Mahri, and Tessa. Mahri and I were trying to discover what the cause of my illness is. It was a successful mission, but was rudely interrupted by a roving gang of frost giants. A skirmish broke out, resulting in three giants killed by our hands." The Lyastri chuckles to himself, "As happy as we were about both victories, I misplaced by favorite bow." Finally taking his eyes off of Karasu, he looks around to check for any prying eyes and ears. "Now, I 'could' go get it myself. Or. I can send someone else. Why someone else? Retrieve the bow and you'll be in my little circle of trust. Reliable information tells me that the bow is in one of their huts along the frozen lake. The hut is rarely vacated. They almost have some weird rotation schedule when they are fishing or whatever their business is up there. Anyhow. The bow is in the hut." With that, he folds up the paper and returns it to his pocket while adding, "Do NOT grab the bow or attempt to use it. It will literally burn your hand clean off. If you can, remain unseen. Can I trust you to do this favor for me?"
Karasu blinks at the shift in topic. Ah, so this is what she was being reached out to for! She quirks a brow as he relays the information, matching the tilt of his head. A potentially dangerous mission in the Frostmaw wilds to elaborate what being 'marked' meant seemed like quite the unfair deal but... wait a minute, was this some kind of test? "I suppose if there is safety with Quintessa keeping Kanna here--" She pauses for a hair of a second and her eyes flicker up to his face with a suspicious pout before continuing. "--then I suppose I could take a detour out to the hunting grounds. Getting spotted isn't exactly a problem for me." The spell-blade motions to the jaguar pelt that still covers her frame. "If I can't touch the bow, then how am I supposed to take it out of there, though?"
Magik clears his throat, "I wasn't done." His gaze turns into a glare as he provides her with more instruction. "You have twenty-four hours to bring the bow to me. Then we'll talk some more."
Karasu falters under his glare. "But-- but Frostmaw is like a week away by foot." Seeing that he wasn't going to budge on this, she scoffs. "But I'll figure something out." The feline dusts the remaining webs off her cloak, seeming to get ready to depart immediately.
Magik begins his departure as his form starts turning into his familiar black smoke, "Remember. Do not touch it." He doesn't wish her good luck. He has complete faith in her though. As he turns away from her sight, he smirks. The black smoke thickens as he makes for a quick departure back to Kelay.
Karasu rolls her eyes and clasps her hands in front of her in focus, murmuring an enchantment. A blue light envelops her, and she shrinks down until she has to fall forward onto two deep violet paws. A leopard cat emerges from the light, and with a last glance at Magik, she rushes out into the woods to meet the ridiculous deadline.