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.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
Saturnalia was a day of history and to remember the past. It was all part of what was to follow. To remember the past and use it towards the future. A future she needed to a strong grasp of. Today was the day of the bonfire. She had some time before the actual part of the event so it was time to start with the weakest familial link.
The plus side was she already knew where he was and how much he needed some help with his power. She had seen that little display with saskia burovski before earlier in the day and it was... well to put it her way... weaker than something a four year old could muster up. That was saying something. In her festive attire she was attempt to track down her cousin and drag him away from the main part of the festivities to a more secluded area. Still some people around but much less... mostly surrounded by carnival games and the like with little kids. A perfect audience as they were probably as skilled as he was with starcalling.
"Hello there dear sweat cousin~ Mind if we have a little chat?" She hummed as soon as she spotted the young man in a crowd. It didnt seem like he ventured very far from where he was talking with the girl and he seemed to still have that dog with him. She was not very fond of pets to be honest but put up with it because it was family by extension of being the better version of its master maddox rothscus ✨ as it at least obeyed commands and had all its limbs.
The teenage girl would try to grab his arm that was free of the leash like she was going to prom and force the pair towards her destination. If he tried to get away she would probably apply some force to his arm... not enough to break of course. He would be needing these arms for now. He would however probably not find it pleasant or... well it still would probably leave some bruises if he didnt comply quickly.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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The light meet-up with Saskia had left him giddy, almost too much. But he was wandering again and Goosely was happy about that. He couldn’t get over how nice it felt to be remembered, especially by someone important. He had underestimated the impact of his first impression but after all that, it seemed like it’d been a good one at least. Goosely had also seemed appeased, with constant gestures of affection directed at her as well as people being very attentive as she tried to book at them. Both were content. This walk was going smoothly. It was almost time to take a break. “Let’s find somewhere to eat Goose.” He said while the dog gave a few pants before sniffing upwards trying to find something enticing.
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As she tried her best to catch whiff of something particularly delicious, Corvus heard the sickly-sweet words of his younger cousin chilling his blood and raising the hairs on his neck. “Uh- Siobhan?” was all he managed as she began tugging him, and by extension Goose, towards a certain direction. He doesn’t like that she’s pulling him away from the crowd. While, he fully expected Siobhan to utterly destroy him in them idle of a crowd, it was a little more nerve wracking when he knew not many would be watching if she tried to show him in an alley and break his legs. He dug his heels in the ground trying to get her to slow down. “Where are we going?? Did you-” he stopped short, wincing as she began to add pressure to his arm only to rush forward to fall in step with her to keep it from stinging.
[break][break]
“Madds did it! Please let go.” He whined trying to tug his arm free, frowning at his cousin. Goosely trotted next to the pair, easily keeping track and not minding being led for once. For now, anyway. He looked around noting the increase in carnival rip offs- sorry, games. “Did you want me to win you something from here??” the boy continued, pressing his mysterious cousin for answers. It was always something with her.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
With a little bit of prodding... okay a little bit of pressure really... she got her larger cousin to follow along with her down her intended path. He seemed to be pretty much having a panic attack as she lead him along without giving him any indication of intent. If he feared for his life he should have screamed. Cried. Maybe she would have taken pity on him like when she left one of Mads warms unbroken so he could eat without help when they were kids. Or was that a dream she had? She forgets.
"Maddeline did it huh? I highly doubt that." She hummed as he tried to wriggle his grip free from the small girl. It wouldnt work. She was stronger then him... not just with magic either just... well in general. Physically though she had a huge edge thanks to her natural strength and strength enhancing magic being what she excelled in. That with large amounts of battle experience gave her an edge usually.
The teenage girl would keep his arm in hers as she stopped. She looked up at her cousin as the pair stopped at the stupid carnival games with cheap plastic prizes. She didnt want those and it was kind of funny that he thought that was why she brought him. Then again getting boys to spend money instead of her was always a bonus.
"Not at all dear cousin. So are you going to stick with your defense? Maddeline did it?." She didnt ellaborate on what she was seemingly a little mad about. She projected that innocent aura around her with that fake smile she always had when pissed but trying to hide it. Something she picked up from their aunt. He would know it well. She wouldnt let his arm go yet. How would he respond? This would be a good chance to come clean... then again about what? Haha.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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He would’ve thought the older he got, the easier it would’ve been to get out of his cousin’s grasp, but it seemed to be quite the opposite for him. He was older now, slightly better at magic then he was when he’d joined the circus, but she still had him in a vice grip without even trying. It was kind of pathetic, not to mention irritating. If he could’ve run off, he wouldn’t have to comply with her demands. Demands which she hadn’t declared yet, but he knew it was coming. “He totally did.” The witch assured the other, nodding at his assertion. He was more than eager to pass on the blame to someone who was probably more capable of taking Siobhan’s punishments than him.
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“Yeah- Whatever it was: Maddox did it!” Corvus repeated, nodding quickly at his younger cousin. He would apologize to the older man later. Right now, all that really mattered is that Siobhan left him with the ability to walk so he could enjoy Saturnalia in…peace. Despite still attached to her, he shrank away from her ominous smile, a shivering rattling his spine and is spiked downwards. “The missing cookies? Madds. The stain on your cashmere? Madds.” Nevermind he’d done those….on accident, but might as well try to get out of it now. Hopefully this would appease her and wouldn’t hospitalize his older cousin for a month.
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“I’ve told you everything I know can you let go now?” he added, annoyance leaking into his words as he tugged his arm from her trying to escape. Goosely sniffed around, looking at the different booths and staring over at young children playing with wooden tops. This wasn’t the food section. In fact, she didn’t see a speck of piping hot food anywhere here. Could the leave yet? She looked over with doleful eyes at the pair of witches, impatient.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
So he was sticking to is flimsy excuse. Okay. Well she wasnt going to get any information out of him like this. She just needed to press harder. Make him tell her his albino. Alibi? Something like that. She only really paid attention to the chase and fight scenes in those cops shows after all not the rest of that boring stuff. That was more her brothers area trying to be all genius investigation. Him and that weak ass ice punk he had as his minion. heath ambroise she thinks his name was?
"You're only hurting yourself by lying ya know?" She grasped him arm and used her leg to sweep at his own trying to trip and flip him to the ground. Assuming this was successful she would have let go of him as he hit the ground. Nothing super damaging his bottom would probably just hurt from falling in surprise. Not the kind of surprise that maddox rothscus ✨ got that made his butt hurt but you know things happen.
The teenage girl would move towards the dog and go to pet the top of its head as she stared at her cousin letting go of him regardless of if the fall worked or not. You know she had to get to the bottom of this shit. It was disgraceful. A tragedy how terrible he was. She shouldnt be surprised.
"Nope not those. Though I will have to remember to smack you for those later... no... I'm asking who is responsible for that piss poor magic you used earlier with that red headed girl?" It was a disgrace to starcalling and that type of mana was very easy to tell apart from light magic and fire magic. She knew he couldnt use light magic and his fire looked nothing like that. It wasnt an illusion. He wasnt that good at illusions either but like she couldnt help that she was no an illusionist. You know? She could help this though.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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“I’m not lyIIIING!” he would begin before shouting as he felt his feet shift against his will. Unable to brace for the sweep and feet slide easily on the dirt ground and as he ends up on the tip of his heels he is vaguely aware of falling. He knew how to fall right at least. It’s not the most graceful and he can’t execute the maneuver fully already too close to the ground, but the witch managed to slap his palms roughly on the ground to catch himself, body arched as his feet slid until stable. Fearing a gut punch, he dropped to his butt, gently and sat up, throwing a glare Siobhan’s way but unable to come up with anything super clever to snap at her.
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Her leash seemed to slacken but Goosely was plenty satisfied and not to mention distracted with the girl’s head pats. Leaning into them, her big tail would begin to wag happily ad he would open her jaw to let her tongue loll out before attempting to lick Siobhan’s hand a few times. “Me? Madds did it!” Corvus complained, sticking to his blame story. To back down now was to admit defeat and incur double the wrath.
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Oh- OH fuck she’d seen him with Saskia. He played dumb. He was good at being dumb, hopefully he could play it just as well. “I use a lot of magic around Saskia. I don’t get what you mean.” He explained as he began to get up off the ground. The last thing he wanted was tutoring from his younger cousin. He got enough abuse any literally any other time they were together. He wasn’t about to let her add on even more hours.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
Break a finger later. That should suffice for the lying. She would have to think of another punishment for the actual crimes later but that would do for now. She had all the time in the world to get creative with her punishments. Sure pain was always easy to fall back on but whatever.
"All kinds of magic huh? Cause I dont remember you being able to do this~" With this phrase she held out her hand not currently petting the slobbery mutt and used her magic to gather stardust to float all glowy in the palm of her hand. "Youve been up to something little cousin havent you? Caus I know I didnt teach you that." With a flick of her wrist turning her hand down the stardust floated away on the wind like sand.
The teenage girl was obviously not pleased that Corvus had failed to tell her of this new magic. Especially because she was probably one of.. if not the strongest starcaller he had easy access to learn from. It was her primary affinity after all and one she had used on him plenty of times before. It was annoying to see it replicated so poorly.
"Now where did you learn such a knock off magic from?" It was not meant in the literal sense. She knew it wasnt the illusion of starcalling or something like that. It was very unpracticed and borederline badly put together. It was something that needed to be trained and honed through training. Who better to teach then the best starcaller ever. Well at least he best in their makeshift family.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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Aw shit. She’d caught him practicing starcalling. That’s why she was so on his case. Well, anything to avoid ‘training’ with her. He’d had enough after being rag dolled by a giant wolf on their sheep herding mission together. The mana and stardust swirled with ease in her palm and Goosely didn’t her best to try to chomp on the floating star before it vanished. She let out a whine looking around to see where it’d gone.
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Corvus paled as Siobhan revealed she had him cornered. Unwilling to explain that he’d watched his siblings and her perform this kind of magic thousands of times as a kid, he simply shrugged. “It’s not knock off. Just…uh, kinda there.” He explained though it probably didn’t help his case even if it was true. After all, illusion had been his breakthrough in magic as far as he was concerned. He’d thought he’d been born without magic for the longest time until that happened. “I don’t get why you’re so mad it’s not like it’s been like this for long anyway.” Obviously. All he knew was how to make a quarter sized star that was about it.
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He, for one, was not incredibly excited to give Siobhan yet another thing to lord over him because it was very clear she was better at it than him. “A-anyway. You’re always pretty busy. Didn’t want to interrupt your personal projects.” He added waving the girl off as he propped himself to his feet and took a couple of cautious steps back from his cousin.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
"Who says I'm mad? Now why would you think that?" Well it was pretty obvious that she was unhappy with this development. Mostly because she found out by herself instead of him telling her about this new ability. She thought she had instilled more respect for her in him than that by now. A little more fear maybe should have been applied? No time to figure this out now.
The teenage girl moved her hand away from the pup and moved like she was squaring up to her cousin. She would try to place her hand on his shoulder with less pressure than she had applied to him earlier. Of course there was still a little bit because... well this was just kind of how she was in every interaction. You get used to it.
"Corvy corvy corvy. What makes you think I wouldnt have time for family~ As your new sensei I will make it my mission to make you... well probably not great but less trash." A lot less trash. Like golden trash bags instead of you know... flaming hot garbage that he appeared to be from her viewing his earlier spell. It needed lots of work. He needed lots of work.
She had all but ignored the dog from this point on. It was not her primary objective. She needed to get him to agree to her demonic deal. Intimidate him into it. He was related to her and his bad magic would reflect on all of them. Even the weakest of them must be strong... at least by normal standards. It was the family way. Strength above all else.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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Corvus wheezed before replying. “You…just seemed mad??” he said with a weak shrug. Would it have been better to tell her? Probably. Would she have been pleased with how shitty it was? No. In fact he doubted it would’ve been any different. It took a lot of self-restraint not to immediately bolt as she closed the distance between them, with Goosely looking up as Siobhan moved away and trotting closer to the two. Were they going to keep walking now? She panted loudly hoping they were.
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“Uh… well you know…you had to do your adept exam and I didn’t wanna bother you…and I figured you might be busier on more dangerous missions and uh…stuff.” Corvus returned trying to spin a convincing enough excuse. “Really it’s fine. I uh…I’ll figure it out myself. Or find someone who’s less busy to tutor me.” He added quickly as she called herself ‘sensei’. No- Nope. No thank you. Family or not, the last thing he wanted to do was give Siobhan more of an excuse to inflict bodily harm on him. She was already rough enough as it was. Going under the younger girl’s tutelage would probably only increase the pain tenfold.
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Maybe there was still time to learn something different. Maybe the star thing had been just a momentary fluke thanks to his bloodline. Right? He could learn a lot of other things like- spellsinging! That was cool right? Or- Or aetheneum like his cousins??? Transfiguration or alchemy from Ninos??? Ninos at least wouldn’t break his legs if he tutored him…right? “I should uh, really focus on illusion anyway- and I’ve already got someone from my coven covering that, haha-” the witch lied. He hadn’t spoken to Kasimir in a while either, but he was sure if he managed to grab him in the halls of their coven he’d definitely convince him to give him more pointers on illusion. Or something. Honestly, anything to get out of Starcalling Boot Camp with Drill Instructor Siobhan.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
"Corvy are you insinuating you dont want me to be your teacher?" Well it was pretty obvious that he didnt want her to teach him. That just wouldnt do though. She gave a quick crack of her knuckles at the thought. How annoying. He was lucky to have someone like her help him.
The teenage girl moved her fingers upwards towards her cousins mouth as he blathered on with excuses that she cared very little about. Illusion magic and all these other things that didnt matter. She was going to teach him and he had no say in the matter. It was to late to change her mind. Shhh.
Now since it was the festival day of remembrance and the past it was probably a good time to start with the basics of stardust. The idea of starcalling even... at least as she understood it. She was never one for studying to hard and mostly just went with what worked and learned from her mistakes. It was just something that they did.
"It's settled then. Now lets get started. How much do you know about stardust?" A lot less trash. Like golden trash bags instead of you know... flaming hot garbage that he appeared to be from her viewing his earlier spell. It needed lots of work. He needed lots of work.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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If he could have avoided it, he would’ve. His mistake here was thinking Siobhan would’ve left him off the hook after finding out they had an affinity in common. He let out a little yelp when he heard knuckles crack only to relax when he realized it was just Siobhan’s knuckles and not…one of his body parts and the shock and pain hadn’t yet settled in. It seemed the girl had made her mind up and the negotiations, as one sided as they had been, were finally over. He was a starcalling student now, and there was no backing out unless he wanted to be in a wheelchair for the next 6 months. He pursed his lips at the thought of starcalling as a whole once more. He’d tried learning a lot of prep work as a child but that was all in the past. He’d been just that, a child. Children couldn’t retain magical theory in their heads for very long and it seemed like every time his mother knocked him around she knocked information on starcalling loose to be lost to the ether.
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No, he didn’t know much having purged most of those memories from his mind. He knew the bare minimum. Magic was always the strongest at noon and midnight. Starettes were the most basic of spells you could cast. If you could do that, you had at least some knack for starcalling. Unfortunately for Corvus he’d both been caught practicing and unable to practice starcalling, earning himself wrath for both. How irritating. “N-nothing really…like I said, it was probably just an accident Siobhan.” He asserted still hoping she’d let him off the hook. "I'm pretty sure it couldn't happen again if I tried." At this, Philippe snorted loudly into his mind, but said nothing as he went back to his broody indecision. Corvus more or less felt the same. Starcalling had never been there when it counted, how could he trust it to ever be consistent in the future. [break][break]
Corvus paled as she mentioned starting and looked over at Goosely who had bent down to lick something off her paw distractedly. “Can’t we hold off the lessons anyway? It’s Saturnalia, go enjoy it. I have to take Goosely back home since we’re almost done with her afternoon walk.” The with said, watching at the word walk caused the mastiff to stand up after a moment or two, wagging her large bushy tail as she grew eager to move along again. That’s right, he still had Goosely. He could still make it out of this alive and procrastinate starcalling bootcamp.
I want to be strong. I want to be powerful. I want to be feared.
"You will meet me here after just outside the city at exactly midnight. This is not negotiable Corvus." She stood with her back straight, eyes forward with a conviction in her posture that she rarely had. Normally she was all loose and looked ready to scrap at any point. This was different. Chilling even.
"Accidents are just opportunities waiting to be seized. You are going to learn." Illusion magic and all these other things that didnt matter right now. He was a starcaller. That kind of thing didnt just accidentally conjure themselves. He was full of it. He was not a good liar. Or maybe she just knew him well enough to know he was full of shit. She was going to teach him and he had no say in the matter. It was to late to change her mind.
The girl turned away from the older boy to grab some jerky from her purse; throwing it at the canine for it to snatch out of the air. The snack she had purchased earlier to distract the dog when she was eavesdropping on her cousin and the red haired vixen.
"Any questions dear cousin? I didnt think so." She didnt give him really much chance to answer. She was going to force him to train. She was doing her good deed for the day... week... year. For his lifetime. Sure he would hurt and probably be spiteful through it all but he would learn. He would learn or he would fall. Weak or strong? What would he be.
[attr="class","s1lyrics1"]constellation of tears on your lashes
[attr="class","s1lyrics2"]burn everythign you love then burn the ashes
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Corvus knitted his eyebrows together, jaw slack as he began to protest once more. Couldn’t this wait until after their 10-day holiday?! He hardly felt it was this important of a revelation to focus on. “But- But what about the Nightinga-” he began to sputter before cutting himself short as Siobhan effectively changed her posture, her presence even more stifling than it usually was. He shrank away from it, ready to run from the augmenter even if that wouldn’t go well at all. He didn’t like how she snapped his own name at him, almost preferring it when she used the lose nickname of hers. Now she was getting serious and he didn’t like it at all. Then again, he didn’t like this process period.
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His inhaled sharply as she continued speaking, unable to really retort. He hadn’t even been sure he wanted to pursue Starcalling a second time, but here she was, his aggressive and brash cousin asserting him that he would do it. It was less inspirational and more of an order really. He would do it because the alternatively was to break under Siobhan’s pressure and that wouldn’t have been pretty for anyone.
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Goosely who had been paying attention closely at the mention of a walk immediately snapped to attention as Siobhan opened her purse, the smell of meat form earlier wafting out of it with ease. She waited, patting the ground with her front paws in preparation before large jaws raised up and snapped the beef jerky out of the air and she began to munch on it quickly, tail wagging happily behind her. And with that, his cousin seemingly dismissed him, closing her purse back up and directing her last words at him. There’s no room left for debate or to even breath and she made her leave, back to enjoy the rest of the festival. Goosely padded after her for a moment before returning to Corvus when he didn’t move, watching the girl’s back as she left, utterly horrified. “Midnight.” He echoed came out with such finality.
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He’d have until midnight get up his nerve for this. The witch gently tugged the mastiff who moved towards him without hesitation. “C’mon Goosely. Let’s go home and get you some water.” He said, absently, barely a smile on his face and honey eyes dull and empty, already tired.
