this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
Aiden nods. “That’s better than trying to juggle different enchantments.” He said, trying to roll up his stiff sleeves before remembering a tailored coat wasn’t exactly the best thing to shove past his elbows. The material wasn’t as soft or flexible as his sweatshirts. He dropped his hands to his side after realizing this. He feels himself stiffen as he notes Charani’s even closer than before, keenly aware of where he was. He adds this to his list of reasons as to why he hated this house. He never usually felt self-conscious around his friend, but now he was starting to get nervous. He would be glad to be out of here and somewhere else, so they could relax…and talk. They needed to talk. About that. That dream that had started this storm of rumors between them in his own estate. But he blinks and banishes the thoughts that continue to pester him.
“To be honest, I think you’d be better at purging. I feel like I might remove the enchantment by accident…” And he couldn’t really afford fuck ups when it came to family heirlooms either. There’s something about how Charani stares back at him so intently that makes his ears feel hot and he forces his eyes on the artifact, taking a small breath to calm down and focus. He really needed to focus. He perks up looking over the magnifying glass once more. “I think it’s meant to highlight inconsistencies in mana to help purify them. Or like, find blind spots in enchantments so you can more easily snap through them.” He said, moving once more to lean over the glass case and look over the description plaques. After a moment of skimming he nodded. “I think it may also help as a tool to channel purification magic by showing the blights in the spell, but I’ve never actually used it myself.” He said with a shrug.
He holds up his hands, putting one on each side of the magnifying glass. He activates Clear Sight, eyes changing color as he focuses on the mana woven throughout the magnifying glass. There a strange web of neatly locked in place spells and enchantments, and among them there’s that pesky hex, interwoven between each spell. It almost looked like instead of cloaking the object, someone had interwoven a curse between the spells. Aiden stares down, hands glowing as he begins to carefully Negate each carefully placed enchantment. He counts to himself, lips parting slightly as he whispers numbers. His fingers twitch as he checks off each spell and watches the mana dull in front of him. He sees the curse shift slightly as the spells anchoring it seem to dull and weaken.
"Okay. I am happy to help. I'm purification ready." He gave the other boy a quick salute as he spoke. It was time to start the process of purification. Because this was an enchanted item purging would take probably a couple of minutes to fully dissipate the mana.
Aiden let the object come in between his two hands floating in air probably with his telekinesis. HIs eyes changed color and he could feel the mana start to pulse around the boy. He was doing his best to suppress the existing effect of the glasses. So cute.
"Now. Lets try this out." His green eyes would narrow on the object the other boy was attempting to suppress. He would raise his hands and a large amount of mana and pressure would ooze out of his hands.
There was a strange energy to the magic. Like some form of jenga like image as he tried to pull away all the excess mana and spellwork that Aiden wasnt currently attempting to negate. Hopefully a few minutes of pouring his mana into this would work..
Aiden can only hum in acknowledgement, tending to the magnifying glass with care. He can push the enchantment too dull or they might weaken and break. He feels himself moving slightly as he tries to strike balance where it’s just weak enough that his friend can get to work. He notices vaguely that the curse is moving, slowly being pried out between the woven enchantments. It’s lodged in there but Charani seems to make it work, steadily prying out the hurtful mana and he smiles knowing he has made the right choice in asking for his help.
His hands are close enough to Charani’s magic to feel a pressure but it’s not intimidating or crushing. In fact, it’s even a little comforting as it reminds him, even if he can’t look at the brunette, that he’s here. After all that’s what friends did right? He vaguely makes a note to buy Charani lunch in return for the favor of…coming here and doing something this tedious with him. As they work he loses track of time unsure how its passing, too engrossed in their work. Every so often he’ll note a tug in the mana and adjust his negation a little more just to give a bit more leeway, all the while tracking the life of the enchantments. Progress is steady, and the work is quiet if a bit cathartic. After finding a rhythm its really just a waiting game.
Finally, he lets out a sigh as his friend plucks the final bit and he relaxes his grasp on the artifact, letting it float down to the case before dropping the negation. As the enchantments on the item spring back to life, he takes a moment to observe that they are all still intact. “Nothing out of the ordinary right? OR are my eyes tired and I’m missing something huge?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands.
There was a slow drain of his mana pool as he pulled away bits of the cursed objects interwoven mana. Moments passed slowly and his arms felt an ache as he kept strained to work his magic. Given a few minutes and he felt it was done. At least as done as he could possibly do.Given they didnt know what the other enchantment did there wasnt a one hundred percent guarantee this would work. On the plus side it hadnt exploded.
He sighed and let his arm fall down once he felt it was done. He gave the other boy a quick salute and an agreeing hum. Yes it was done. The other boy rubbed his eyes looking exhausted from using up his mana with the negation spell.
"I think we are all good. Now I'm thinking we earned extra cheese on our pizza!" His green eyes would turn to slits as he turned away from the magnifying glass to stare at the red haired boy.
There was a warn feeling echoing from the brunette. He was excited and his eyes seemed to wander down to the other boys lips every time Aiden spoke. Begging. Desire. Just because it hurts... doesnt mean it isnt worth it. Its just a temporary thing.
"Lets go before it gets to late." He would give the other boy a peck on the cheek... or at least attempt too. With that he would turn his back to the other boy and start to walk out. Time for pizza. They should tell someone that the purging was complete on the way out though. Not that they werent watching them in the vault. They were watching the entire thing.
He doesn’t feel an ache in his body, but he does feel momentarily drained. It was like a blood draw, it bothered him for a bit but it faded throughout the day and after some orange juice and cookies. Aide took a moment to blink the spots out of his tired eyes before cooking back at his friend. “That was already a given. I’m really craving comfort food.” He returned with an easy smile. “We could get milkshakes while we’re at it.” He added as he turned his attention from his friend and back to the artifact. He couldn’t see anything wrong with the item, and if Charani didn’t either they were probably fine. Maybe he’d seek out more items to purify, if only to get more comfortable with it.
He picked up the magnifying glass with his hands, pausing in case some strange curse really did activate. When nothing happened, he let out the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding, slid open the panel and carefully put it back. He picked up his key once more to lock it, jumping as he felt lips on his cheek. Thankfully, he didn’t manage to drop the key, although his face felt exponentially hotter now. “R-..Right. We’ve wasted enough time on this chore.” He said, eyes on the display case as he finished up and regathered his composure. Making sure that everything was back in its place, he followed Charani out, jogging to cut the distance between them.
Aiden reached out, tugging at his friend’s hands as the vault door behind him whirred to life, locking itself back up as they left. “Thanks…again. Let me treat you today.” The witch asked as he began to lead the seer back out. Though it was less of a question and more of a soft demand as he picked up a brisk pace, eager to leave. He’d let anyone know, but he wasn’t about to report back to his grandmother. He’d done what she wanted, he owed her nothing more. What’s worse is his grandfather might show up if they stuck around too long. One of them was enough for a day, he couldn’t put Charani through both…at the same time.
"Oh? So manly~." He said with a small snort at his offering to pay. Like a man on a date paying for his girl. You know that 1950s mentality that was sometimes still a thing when it didnt need to be. Why am I like this? Why am I.
Aiden caught up with him quickly as before they quickly exited the area. The things from before seemed to flash forward almost like a blur. It was like time just went super sonic or something.
"Did you... want to sleep over? Since it will be late after we get pizza?"
They would be out of the basement area by then... making their way towards the main hall and into the main area of the house. What would the other boy say. He knew what he desired him to say. Or did he? Butterfly wings.
He waited for Aiden before theyd leave the house and eventually the grounds. Pizza sounded good right now. Pizza with a nice boy who treated him well. A living boy with warmth and a future. A boy he could touch. A boy who could touch him. Red hair that looked like spiders silk and skin like ivory.
Aiden let out a small huff at Charani. “It’s the least I can do after making you show up here again.” He rebuffed as they made their way back out. He could feel a sense of ease grow the closer they managed to get to the exit. He doesn’t realize he’s still tugging around his friend by the hand, too focused on the task at hand. Only as he finally spots the doors again does he snap to attention and look back at him. “Oh? Uh? If you don’t mind I can stay.” Not that he had a problem going back to his own room. And. Until incredibly recently, he hadn’t really felt embarrassed about sleeping in the same bed as Charani. Or well he had before, then gotten over it, and now it was back to haunt him again.
He paused as they left, shouting out a message to a passing butler before quickly ushering his friend and himself out of the manor with a slam behind him. He had everything he needed in his pouch anyway. The farther they got form the door, the firmer his grip was before he eventually intertwined his fingers with the brunette and let out a sigh of relief. The pressure of the Emerson household melting away as they hit the streets together. He looked more or less oblivious, staring straight ahead instead of meeting his friend’s eyes. There were some things he needed to ask but not right now. Somewhere private, after they made up for a semi-terrible afternoon. “As long as you get me out of here, I don’t really mind what we do later.” He added.
"Its all good. You know Im there for you no matter what... except vomit. Youre on your own with that." He said with a small gagging noise. He was not a fan of vomit. The smell made him gag and want to throw up himself. It was not a good look at all.
Aiden shouted something about the task being complete to one of the nearby butlers who looked... well like a butler. You know just even in normal clothes you would think 'that man is a butler for some rich people' or something like that.
"I'd like it if you would~ I always sleep better with you there."
This was objectively true. That was more because he wound his entire body all around the poor boy being way to affectionate in his sleep and... well to be honest even when awake now. Lately though he probably would have noticed it getting more and more... extra? That is a good way of putting it. Now though was not the time. The time would occur a few weeks away. Alone. Soon enough the route would open and there was little they could do to stop what has been growing. They could of course change the route. If it was desired. Which ending would they choose.
Next time on running away from gay feels... a talk.