Do you know just how much you're worth?

Private & Selective Indie RP blog for Issac Riley of Kendall Fletcher's book Sparks. Tracking: .MasterIssac Mobile/Dash header template by @goodvibesrph

[masterissac]

I’m Riley! I’m 26 years old. I’ve had one RP blog before this- a Sans Undertale blog who’s URL will not be mentioned because cringe- but now I’ve read a book by @lostximagination and fell in love with their characters. Scratch that reverse that. I loved their characters before reading the book lol.

ANYWAY my point is that I got SUCH high muse for the main character of said book that I really wanted to RP as him. I got Kendall’s go ahead so here we are. 

I try to be easy going but here are some rules and guidelines for interacting with this blog

I prefer long form para roleplay or novella. One liners and script format aren’t my thing unless it’s just for silly funsies. Jokes yanno?

I tag obvious triggers (self harm and suicidal thoughts/tendencies WILL crop up for Issac) but I’m not a mind reader. If you need something tagged just tell me. (I don’t have anything that needs tagged for me)

don’t take my stuff? Like should be obvi. Don’t steal stuff.

Personals don’t reblog from me. You WILL be blocked. Like if you want but No Reblogs.

CUT YOUR POSTS. That’s my only formatting request. Do w/e you want aside from that. Just. Please. Cut your posts.

Try to have proper grammar and spelling? Like you don’t have to be perfect and typos happen and English might not be your first language. Just try. That’s all I request.

And that’s it! I’m low maintenance, promise! :)

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor laughed. "Oh yes. Uncommon not only to the point that most people think they're extinct but also to the point that they're considered legends. As far as I'm aware, Belos is the only one making them anymore."

A hum of thought. "I didn't even know I was one until I left the coven. Flicker, my sibling, they knew from the start because they had me and the people who'd taken us in around to tell them. And thank the titan they didn't have any preconceived notions about them because of that. A lot of legends depict grimwalkers in a negative light, because what we are is more or less clones of someone that's already died. Hence, well, the name." Grimwalker. "So there's a lot of stories of them acting similar to zombies and such, and making them is widely considered to be necromancy."

His gaze softened. "But there's some good ones scattered about here and there, too. One assisting a traveler on a quest by taking them across the sea. A fishing town full of magenta-eyed witches and demons." Issac couldn't see his own right now, as he was wearing the blue contacts he always wore when out and about, but that was something he didn't really think of.

"Really we're just people like anyone else," he concluded with a shrug. "Just with the same genes as some guy, a few animals, and a plant."

Valor let out a slow breath. "That's good. It's a start. From there . . . Well, we'll see where things go from there." For now, it was something to worry about when they actually came to it. They didn't know how things had changed since he'd last been there.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Wow," Issac says, unable to keep the awe from his voice. "Just, the ability to create fully functional and sentient people is incredible."

Concern flickers across his face as Valor goes on to say that legends depict Grimwalkers in a negative light.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Looking like a dead person isn't the same thing as being a dead person. I'm sorry to hear that Grimwalkers are treated that way."

The nicer stories make Issac smile though. At least not everything is bad.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"It's a start," he quickly agrees. It's important to stay hopeful about your ability to do something, because if you don't have hope, there is no motivation to even try.

He’s quiet for a long moment.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I should be transparent that there is a full witch in the area as well, and then his daughters as two more half witches. He came through with my dad. We, uh, fell out a bit after my father passed. But he also very much wants to return home.”

[masterissac]

Wow wow wow I haven't drawn in forever but the owl house style feels familiar-ish after some time in the SVTFOE Fandom so have a (half) witch issac

[goldenbeastkeeper]

He chuckled as she directly called him out on his passion. "Ah . . . Animals in general, really. It's actually insects that I like the most, but all types of animals fascinate me." The praying mantis on his shoulder chirped. She was an insect! "I specialize in beastkeeping magic, if that's any indication." Even if she didn't know or get much of magic, he figured the name would at least be enough.

"Ah. Alright." He understood that. He was a light sleeper himself. Helpful when it came to the rare instance of intruders in the house or when sleeping outside on missions. Not so much for anything else.

He chuckled. "So, expect many questions, then." And perhaps even some requests to teach, if this Issac really did learn everything he could about magic and would want to know more. He knew all sorts of magic types, after all.

The last thing she said had him hesitating, trying to figure out whether he should ask or not, considering the fact that he hardly knew these people. But if the worse ways had anything to do with their interaction with other people, he'd like to be warned and prepared for it ahead of time. ". . . Is it anything I should be concerned about?" There. A simple yes or no, so if it was too personal to explain then she didn't have to.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Beastkeeping Magic? Oh, Steven will be thrilled. He didn't know much of that one. He knows Bard and Illusion magic the best, and a hodgepodge of whatever else he could pick up..."

She doesn't know much about what any of that means. Steven is always so reticent to talk about his home, and Godfrey doesn't ever make an attempt to simplify anything for her to understand as a complete outsider. So the gist she has is that there are different kinds of magic in Covens where the two of them are from. But she really only knows of a few of those kinds of magic, and as for details she knows nothing.

Mary blinks startled several times at Valor's concern, before she ducks her head and chuckles tiredly.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Goodness, no. They're both some of the nicest people you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting; you don't need to worry. I just worry about them because the both of them have some shared unhealthy habits. Like not sleeping enough."

She fiddles with the staff in her lap, quiet for a long moment. It's a lot more than insomnia that Issac has seemingly inherited from his dad, but given how reluctant Steven was to tell her about the history of depression in his family, she's not going to share that with a complete stranger.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"The only reason I climbed out into the tree to find you on the roof is because Steven only got to bed an hour or so ago, and I wasn't willing to wake him up, because I knew that if he woke up- especially after knowing that you're a witch- he wouldn't be getting back to sleep tonight."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

There was a hesitance, as there always was when he was about to tell someone about being a grimwalker, but most people he'd already told didn't have any bad reactions towards it and, well, Issac wanted to know about the Isles, and grimwalkers were a part of that. A small part of it, but still a part of it.

So, after a few seconds, he said, "Flicker and I are made creatures. Grimwalkers, is what we're called. And most of our ingredients come from things that either live in or can stand against extremely hot temperatures. Scales of a creature that lives in the boiling sea itself, lungs of a creature that lived in a far hotter climate than we currently have, and . . ." He pointed at their two palismen. "Palistrom wood. Which stands up against the boiling rains pretty well."

"The problem will be convincing them," Valor pointed out. "To them, we're just a couple random people. I could pull out the fact that I used to be the Golden Guard, but that's, again, something they'd only be able to take on my word alone. I don't exactly have much evidence of it anymore."

He let out a breath. ". . . Though maybe we can start with people connected to us. You with your family, me with mine. They'd be more likely to listen, and the people they know would be more likely to listen to them as well." And things could spread by word of mouth from there.

Titan he really didn't want it getting attributed to whatever poor grimwalker was currently under Belos, though. He knew that would be a death sentence for them. He could prevent that by claiming it himself, but the thought of Belos knowing that it was him, knowing he was alive terrified him.

He wished it didn't. He wished he could sacrifice that to save everyone else. It was important. But he didn't know if he'd be able to.

[masterissac]

Issac listens in fascination as Valor explains that he and his sibling are created creatures.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Amazing! I didn't know that was a thing! Are Grimwalkers uncommon?"

Being made partially from Palistrom wood makes sense, Issac thinks while gently rubbing Aria's head with one finger. He already knew it could become animated living things, after all.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Well, as I said, my grandparents are supposedly wealthy and well connected. They should be able to help. And... I'd like to hope they would listen to me, at least. And then they could use their connections to spread the information from there. We'd have to try. With what you said, that's a planned genocide. It needs to be stopped."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Something that luckily hadn't been noticed by Valor as he'd been looking around at the time. Though it wasn't as if it'd been an uncommon occurrence for him. He'd gotten enough questions about it that he'd started giving different stories every time on how he'd gotten it, most of which were extremely obvious in how untrue they were.

He returned her smile, his own excitement shining through. "Yes! It was a barred owl. I got to see it fly to a different branch, even. It was beautiful. I'd keep an ear out for it tonight. Their call sounds like-" He imitated the classic who-cooks-for-you call startlingly well, especially considering the fact that he was keeping quiet for the sleeping members of the household.

Oh right, introductions. "Ah, sorry, yes. Valor Firemantle. It's nice to meet you."

His ears twitched at the sound of another voice. Ah. He had woken someone else up. Whoops. He stayed put as Mary told him to wait, but tried to overhear as much of the conversation as he could, curious about what seemed to be one of the kids, based off what was being said.

A small wince when she returned. "My fault for waking him, though. God, I hope I didn't wake everyone over chasing an owl on a roof." Something he was embarrassed over, but otherwise couldn't really complain about, because it meant meeting another witch and his family.

He wasn't going to be sleeping anymore tonight for certain. While this had been an incredibly thorough distraction from the nightmare, he was now far too excited to get back to sleep anyway.

Besides, he never tended to sleep well in new places with people he didn't already know well around anyway.

"Which one was that?" She'd only given the name of one previously, but she'd said there were three kids.

[masterissac]

Mary can help but laugh slightly at his quiet excitement and birdcall as he recounts the owl out in one of their trees. She's used to excitement in talking about things that go right over her head. If she didn't find it charming, she'd never have fallen for Steven.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"You must really like birds, then?" she says smiling, "the passion is practically radiating off you," she pauses, "It's nice to meet you too, Valor."

When she comes back from talking to Issac, she waves down his apology.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"He's a very light sleeper. The wind can wake him up some nights. You don't need to feel bad about it."

At least Ethan isn't this bad. Not all her boys are so bad at taking care of themselves.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"That was Issac, my eldest. He's sixteen," she shakes her head, "I'm sure he'll want to talk to you as much as Steven, come morning. I did mention that he learned everything he could about magic; he's an endlessly curious kind of person."

She sighs.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Very much like his father, in that way," and then in an undertone, "... and other worse ways...."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor paused, then shrugged. "Fair enough I suppose." She didn't know his skill in fighting, but even if she did, taking on that many at once . . .

It was a good thing he had no intention on doing anything then.

He was maybe a little jealous that the kids did have magic in the first place, though. To be derided for his lack of magic, but then the actual half witches he was being compared to did have their own magic? It felt unfair.

Not any of their faults, though.

Once she'd left, he swooped down off the roof and looped around to the front. By the time she'd met him there he'd pulled the bandana down, and when he stepped inside he flipped his hood off as well, revealing that he did indeed have the same pointy ears of a witch. As well as a nasty looking scar on his face that was mostly covered up when he readjusted his hair.

He looked around curiously as he was guided to the living room and sat down wherever indicated. The question caught him off guard and he responded, "Oh! Uh, yes, there was an owl in there actually. I'd heard it while flying above and came down to get a better look." He looked away, rubbing at his neck in embarrassment. "I, ah, wasn't exactly thinking of the residents of the house when I did. I do apologize for that."

[masterissac]

Mary can't help but stare for a second at the sight of the scar on his face, but she quickly tears her eyes away. It's rude to stare.

She mentally files it away though, as another piece of evidence that her husband's home might not be as amazing as Godfrey is prone to painting it as in the face of Steven's silence on the matter.

She doesn't know for sure that he got that in the Boiling Isles, but it looks like an old scar.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"An owl?" she repeats, a smile on her face and a repressed laugh evident in her voice, "Did you at least actually see it? Would hate for you to have woken me for nothing."

She sits down on the couch a few seats from him, sitting the staff across her lap and folding her hands on top of it.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Perhaps we should actually introduce ourselves, yes? My name is Mary, Mary Riley."

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Mom?" a voice calls from the stairs, and Mary sighs, and stands up, holding up a hand for a moment to tell Valor to wait.

Issac meets her at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing tiredly at his eyes.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"What's going on? I heard something on the roof, and then you talking to someone-"

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Just go back to bed sweetheart; you have school in the morning," she says, trying to turn him around. If Issac finds out there's another witch in the living room, there's not a chance in hell she's getting the boy back to bed. The curiosity would eat him alive.

Issac, for his part sighs in frustration and dodges her trying to turn him.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. Please, don't try to baby me. Who are you talking to down here?"

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"You'll find out in the morning," she says emphatically, "you need to sleep for school."

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"So do you," he mutters, "besides I wasn't really completely asleep before. And falling asleep is hard..."

This kid is going to kill her. He's as bad as his father about this. Steven seemingly can't get to sleep unless he works himself to exhaustion. Can't shut his mind off, and Issac is just the same in ways that terrify her. But getting real, proper sleep should help him feel better.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Go to your dad," she settles on, putting her hands on his shoulders, "try not to wake him, but I know you sleep better when you're not alone. And I'll explain first thing in the morning, alright?"

Issac is silent for a long moment, violet eyes searching over her shoulder like whoever she's talking to is going to appear in what of the mudroom he can see through the doorframe.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... fine," he assents softly, "but you should sleep too, Mom."

He heads back up the stairs, and Mary watches the stairs a moment even as he leaves sight before she goes back to their guest.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I'm sorry about that," she says, sitting back down on the couch, "teenagers can be... difficult."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

"I'll live somewhere consistently warm and wear long sleeves," Valor declared with a smile. A declaration which was emphasized by Swift pausing in her play to nod with a chirp. "I already wear long sleeves in general. But that's just a thing with me and my sibling. We run warm. We're not like most witches." He waved his hand vaguely. "As I said before: immune to the boiling rains. Fire, too. It makes winter suck, though." Being particularly sensitive to the cold.

It made for a bad first experience of the human realm, getting stuck here at the end of winter. For the week before they were taken in by Will, they more or less lived in a hole in the ground that Valor had dug for temperature regulation. And even still it only did so much. Absolutely miserable. He was glad he didn't have to deal with that anymore.

. . . But winters still sucked.

Valor made a face. "Of course he's changed the name of it now . . ." Emperor's Coven. Oh he hated that. Gross. "Yeah, don't touch that thing with a ten foot pole." Any coven, really, since joining a coven meant getting branded with a sigil, but especially not that one.

". . . I wish I could help," he said softly when Issac suggesting doing something about all that. "He's the whole reason I'm here. I ran into him again about a year after leaving and just . . . panicked and fled. Happened again after I recovered but just from a poster that called him emperor. I just . . . saw green trees and knew it'd be the farthest away I could get from him. And then I was stuck." Two panic attacks in the span of . . . he didn't even know. An hour? Half an hour? One that sent him through a time pool and another that sent him to the human realm.

He crossed his arms on the table, one hand pulling at his sleeve. "I'm . . . better now. Therapy has helped. But I still don't know how I'd react if I came face to face with him again. I'd like to think I could stand my ground and fight back, but . . ." He shrugged.

Swift had slowly stopped playing now, watching her witch in case he needed her for any emotional support.

For now, though, he just continued, "And it definitely doesn't help that he's an extremely powerful magic-user on his own, though he uses a staff with artificial magic rather than a palisman." Valor winced. "Don't- don't let any palismen near him either, actually. He eats them."

He sighed. "The best I can guarantee doing is spreading the word, but even then I have to be careful. People shouldn't know that. And if his current right hand is just another kid raised by him like I was, they might take the blame for the leaked information, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that would be a death sentence for them. And if he doesn't have one at the time . . . Well, anyone found spreading the word would be killed in an instant. And most people probably wouldn't even believe he's a witch hunter bent on eradicating all denizens of the Isles anyway. He's built up a very good image of himself. Most would consider that crazy talk."

". . . But yes, despite all this, something does have to be done about it, if we can make it back."

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"That's curious," Issac says slowly, "that you and your sibling are different. Why is that? Because I didn't know that was a... thing? Variance in temperature resistance to such extremes is... odd."

He had zero intention of touching any coven with a ten foot pole, and especially not after what Valor has told him, but he nods to affirm that.

The idea of someone eating palismans gets Issac to shudder, and he pulls Aria closer protectively on instinct.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"If we could find a way there," something he was already hoping to do, "then spreading the word would be vital."

He looks up, violet gaze fixed firmly on Valor, his expression serious.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟIf people knew that he was ultimately planning on killing them- if everyone knew that, then they would turn against him! Even the most powerful person in the world shouldn't be able to stop everyone. If someone could convince them, he'd be stopped in his tracks."

He sighs, and looks away.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"For what it's worth, I do know that my grandparents are wealthy and well connected people; Dad made that much clear. They would probably be able to help."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Another witch. There was another witch here, presumably who Aria was bonded to. Her husband.

. . . Someone who'd been here long enough to get married to a human. They . . . probably didn't have a way back, then.

Still. He wasn't going to pass up the chance to meet another witch, way back or not. They'd never met anyone who had even known of the Boiling Isles before, much less one who came from there.

Yet somehow her offer of going inside still surprised him. He knew he was a witch, but . . . He looked down at himself, completely covered in dark clothes with face mostly hidden, then back at her. "You're just inviting the strange person on your roof inside?" He'd have at least asked the reason the stranger was up there first. Properly vetted them before doing such a thing.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I have my husband, and my three kids, all with magic in the building, and all I'd have to do is scream and they'd be there in a second," she says lightly, already making her way back to the tree, "Issac especially is a light sleeper, and has learned everything he possibly could of magic."

She wouldn't be surprised at all if he was already awake from the commotion above, if it woke her up. She hopes not, or that if it did, he just went back to sleep.

He gets just as little sleep as his father most nights lately. She worries so much about him...

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"And I do also have Aria with me. So I think I'll be fine. So, why don't you meet me at the front door?"

She slips back into the window, pausing only a moment to watch Steven restlessly turn over in his sleep, his hand falling onto her empty side of the bed.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"You'll be so happy come morning, Steven," she says softly.

She hurries out the room and down the stairs, opening the front door for their surprise visitor.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Well, do come in," she says quietly, "just try to keep your voice down," she motions him the room the the right of the entrance- the living room, "you can save anything magic related you might want to say for Steven- I'm afraid it all goes over my head. I'm just a normal Kindergarten teacher."

A kindergarten teacher who's out here climbing on roofs and swinging magic staffs around just to make sure her husband gets some sleep, but still.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I am curious what you were doing up there though? Looking at something in one of the trees from what I saw?"

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Instinct was definitely the reason he responded so quick to her attack when he heard her coming up to him, so much so that not only did he not process the implications of the bird fluttering between them, but also that when she stopped, he didn't. The only thing that stopped him from knocking her legs out from under her so he could flee was the fact that his staff dissolved on him mid-swing, and there was now a mantis flying between the two as well.

This was not appreciated by her partner, who, muffled by the bandana still over his face, hissed out a "Swift!" What was she doing? He could have been long gone by now! "What- Yes, I know that's a palisma-" He stopped. Realization crossing his face as he slowly adjusted his gaze, bright magenta eyes glowing softly in the night, to look at the bird, and then the human. ". . . That's a palisman. You have a palisman."

She had a palisman. She'd used the staff, she knew its name, and she said I don't know what you're saying which meant she was borrowing a palisman that was bonded to someone else. Was there another witch here? Or had this Aria come through on her own and bonded with a different human?

Did they have a way back to the Boiling Isles?

[masterissac]

The appearance of another palisman is a surprise, and Mary shakes off the last of sleep that was hanging over her as the implication of that hits.

He's not just a guy with a staff, he's a guy with a palisman.

Steven would want-

She looks up the sky, still dark with night. Steven can be told in the morning. She's not waking him up.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I'm borrowing it from my husband," she says softly, "he's only just gotten to bed and I didn't want to wake him," she holds out a hand and Aria lands on it, "I wasn't expecting to see another witch though. He'd be thrilled, if you stuck around until morning."

She takes a careful step back- trying to be quiet as she can lest the sound of her up here wake Steven or the kids.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Maybe we should talk inside though, and not on the roof? I'd like to avoid waking my family up with the sound of us up here."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor chuckled. "Trust me, every winter I consider it. But it'd require more or less upending my whole life again, and that's not something I really want to do. I've found good people back in Connecticut, and I'd like things to stay that way."

"I can handle a week of cold rain," he said with a snort. Ignoring the fact that if Will was here he'd absolutely mention how much he and Flicker had complained about the rain. "There's plenty of fun things to see around here." A moment, before admitting, "I don't think I'd want to live here, though."

"Smart man, your dad. Even if he probably didn't know the extent to which they were bad." He took a breath, contemplating where to start. "Well the first thing you need to keep in mind is I'm about 20 years out of date so things might have changed since then - and god do I hope they have. But I'll tell you what I know."

"The coven system was developed and implemented by a man named Belos as part of a pseudoreligion - I'll get to that later. While there are hundreds of smaller covens, there are nine main ones, based off the nine main forms of magic: Abomination, Bard, Beastkeeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant, and Potions. These main forms of magic are what the sigils correspond to, and they govern what kind of magic you're able to do. That is, anyone has the potential to do any kind of magic, but a sigil will lock away any type of magic that does not match the type of sigil it is."

"What Belos tells the public about it, and what the whole religion he spreads is about, is that wild magic angers the titan we live on, and the categorizing and control of it is the titan's will, makes it happy, will save their souls from corruption, so on and so forth. One of the ways he convinces people of this is by staging 'wild witch' attacks on himself, saying that wild witches cause danger and destruction, but by my time enough people had been inducted that he hardly had to do that anymore between word of mouth and the advantages that joining a coven might bring." His ears flattened as he rolled his eyes. "And of cooouurrrrrssssse he claims to be the only one that can talk to the titan."

Valor paused a moment to take a breath, before diving into the worst of it. "I mentioned working directly under the leader of a horrible coven? That was his. The Lord's Coven, run by Lord Belos himself, and the only coven in which you're allowed to do all types of magic. He raised me, and after years of intense training I became his right hand. That's the only reason why I know any of what the public doesn't, because I was often the one to carry things out until I couldn't handle doing it anymore and left." Couldn't handle doing it anymore and left was an understatement. It was more like broaching the topic of possibly not murdering the entirety of the Boiling Isles and then fleeing because he was very nearly killed for it. He would have been killed for it had Nova not found him unconscious and bleeding out on the ground not far from the titan skull and saved his life.

"Those things they don't know about? Other than the fact the wild witch attacks were staged, there's also the fact that getting a sigil is a death sentence. Belos is a witch hunter from the human realm and he's been playing the long game with the residents of the Isles for ages. One day, when he gets sigils on as many people as he possibly can, he plans on activating a huge spell to kill everyone all at once." He could only hope that that hadn't already happened.

He frowned. ". . . From the glimpse I got just before getting to the human realm, he succeeded in his plan to become emperor. He's probably made it illegal to be a wild witch." He'd talked about that before. How wonderful it'd be to be able to send others out to seize wild witches, arrest them, and force sigils on them. Valor had listened enraptured then. Now it made him shudder.

His excitement towards fire bees tempered by what he'd just shared, the smile he returned towards Issac was small as he said, "I'll tell you about them after all this then." It'd be something nice to get the bad taste of Belos out of his mouth when they were done talking about him.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I've never lived anywhere else," Issac says with a laugh, "I feel I would hate being anywhere else long term."

The only time he ever in his life considered living anywhere other than the state of Washington was in Middle School and briefly daydreamed of being a Broadway Star and living in New York. That dream didn't last long.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I'm a long sleeves kind of person though," he says, pulling on the cuff of his cardigan, "I think I'd just die if I lived somewhere consistently warm."

Summer is rough enough. An island in a literal boiling sea and with literal boiling rain would be unbearable. It's definitely just a visit that he intends to do, should he manage to find a way there. Meet his grandparents, and then just go.

Especially with what Valor says next.

Sigils locking away all but one kind of magic explains a lot about his dad's distaste for the coven system- he was a life long scholar and was never satisfied with only learning one thing. He was best at bardic magic from his own education, and illusion from everything he could get from Harris. But he really tried his best to know as much of every kind of magic as he could.

But that being a death sentence was probably not his dad knew.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Classic cult leader BS, only I can talk to god, and what not," Issac mutters, "and I had heard passing mention of an emperors coven."

From Harris, not his father, but still. He does wonder how much of that his father might have known or suspected, with how reluctant he always was to talk about his home.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... Something needs to be done about that, if we can get there. All those people can't be left to die."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

@masterissac

Nightmares didn't come as frequently as they used to, but every now and then they did still come, and when he couldn't get back to sleep Valor still followed his usual procedure: go out and fly around a bit to calm his head.

And of course one had to hit while they were on vacation of all things. So, as always, he put on the darkest clothes he had - including a hoodie to hide his ears and light hair and a bandana to cover his face - and took to the skies.

It was while he was on this flight that an owl's call caught his attention, and he dipped lower in his flight to try and find it. What was that, a barred owl? He was pretty sure it was, anyway. Now where . . . Aha! The next call helped him identify the tree it was in, and too sleep deprived and focused on the owl to think of those below him, he landed on the roof of a house to try to get a better look at it through the branches.

The way he spotted it was its own movement as it spread its wings to glide down to a different branch, and he darted across the roof after it. Once it had landed, he settled where he was, staring at it in fascination. How lucky he was to have found this tonight.

[masterissac]

Mary Riley is woken by a loud noise on the roof, and she sits up quickly. Green eyes immediately searched the bed next to her to see if it's Steven out for a late night flight but-

No, of course not. It was only an hour or so ago that she was briefly roused by him finally getting into bed, and if he hasn't woken now from the noises above, she's not about to wake him. He gets scarce enough sleep at is.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I swear to god, Godfrey," she grumbles as she grabs her husband's staff from where it was leaning against the bed post, "If this is you, come to wake Steven so soon, I'm going to kill you..."

She opens up the back window in their bedroom, pausing for just a second to consider what she's doing.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Aria," she whispers to the currently-inanimate bird, "Catch me if I start to fall. I'm doing this so Steven can sleep."

She carefully clambers out the window- she's getting too old for this- onto a tree branch, and then up a little higher in that tree to get up onto the roof.

First thought: Goddamnit it Godfrey, as she sees that there is a person there, with a staff in hand.

Second thought, as she's already moving towards him across the slant of the roof: He's not built like Godfrey- That's not Godfrey.

If anything, that thought encourages the already started swing of the staff, as she's ready to knock whatever crazy person is standing on their roof into the trees.

What she didn't expect was for the swing of the staff to be met by his own, clearly on instinct.

And then Aria leaps off the end of the staff, twittering frantically while flying between the two.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I don't know what you're saying, Aria," she says tiredly, but she lowers the staff, getting the idea that the palisman doesn't want her to hit this stranger on their roof.

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor chuckled. "Oh, it's definitely magic. Though how it works would require going into a deeper explanation of how magic works in general, which . . . Well, it's been more than two decades since I learned it at this point. I don't think I'd be able to explain it well enough to get a good understanding of it across."

He watched as Swift attempted to playfully catch the bird in her claws. "Most people would probably prefer the human realm's rain, but I honestly miss the boiling rains a lot. The rain is a lot colder here, and I'm one of the few that can actually handle boiling temperatures."

"The covens . . . Aside from the one I grew up in, the concept of forming groups where you all practice a similar form of magic in a community together isn't bad on it's own, it's just . . . the way it's carried out that's honestly pretty horrible. If you ever somehow manage to make it there, don't let anyone coerce you into getting a coven sigil." He hummed contemplatively and looked Issac over. "You wanted to know about the Isles, and there's both good and bad to it. How much of the bad do you really want to know?" He could get deep into the worst of it, because it was his entire experience for the formative years of his life.

Valor blinked, then laughed. "Yeah, okay, you got me. I dabbled in a bit of all kinds of magic but my specialty has always been Beastkeeping. I've always had better luck with animals than people, anyway." All throughout the lord's coven and even after.

"God, I could go on about just fire bees on their own."

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Darn," Issac says, "Well that curiosity is going to sit with me forever then, I suppose."

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"If you prefer warm rain, you should go somewhere tropical and swampy like Florida," he laughs, "New England is just as chilly as Seattle; colder even, because Seattle is kept more temperate by how much water is around. Though if you don't like cold rain, why come to Seattle? We get a lot of that around here."

There's plenty of cool things to see and do in Seattle so that's not a serious question, but it is funny that he's on vacation here and prefers boiling rain.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... My dad wouldn't talk about them much," Issac says softly, "but I know he didn't like Covens. Please, tell me both the good and bad things. I would much rather have a complete idea of the Boiling Isles than a romanticized version of it."

Valor's passion for creatures is neat though, and Issac smiles at him.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Well, maybe not right this second, but in general I'd love to hear about all the creatures too. So you could go on about fire bees on their own, if you wanted."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor chuckled at the comment about the boiling being literal. "That's certainly true enough. Between both the Boiling Sea that it sits in and the boiling rain that it gets. It's a beautiful place, though. But not for the faint of heart," he warned, though with a joking tone. "At least not for those that grew up in the human realm. The Boiling Isles is quite literally built on the bones of a gigantic long-extinct creature known as a titan. Life evolved on it, and our magic originates from it. I mentioned titan's blood? That's pretty much the most magically powerful thing you can get, the lifeforce of the titan itself, and at this point it's exceedingly difficult to find. But we do technically live on a dead body."

Hmmmm what else . . . "I only really know so much about the culture, unfortunately. Most of my life there was spent isolated from others, whether forced or self-imposed." Belos not wanting him to interact with others versus staying in hiding. "And when it was forced it was with a very . . . uncommon internal culture, in a detrimental way. Suffice it to say the coven I grew up in was built on fear of displeasing the leader - who I worked directly under - and members only got one day off work per year. And the leader wouldn't shy from killing people that he thought were too disruptive to his plans. So . . . yeah, it was bad."

He shook his head. "Most places weren't like that, though. As far as I'm aware, anyway. I've never been in any other covens, but there are tons of them, so I assume there's some variety in how they're run, and most aren't run by someone who wants to hurt everyone that's in it."

He raised his hands. "Anyway, I digress. You weren't asking about my personal traumas. A lot of the magical creatures you hear of here come from when creatures cross over through natural portals between realms. Obviously you know of witches already, and how the stories about them aren't quite accurate. That's what it's like with a lot of them. But other creatures you hear about that come from the Isles are things like griffins, fairies, unicorns, dragons, manticores, things like that. Likewise, possums are considered a cryptid in the demon realm." He paused. "Giraffes are actually a subspecies of demon that lives entirely in the human realm now."

"There tends to be a lot more variety in the placement and number of different types of body parts on the creatures of the Isles, too. Like . . . there's one species of bird with a hand for a head and an eye on their chest, for example."

[masterissac]

Boiling rain leads Issac to laugh slightly, leaning into his hand. He was referring to the sea boiling, that Harris had told him about, but,

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"That doesn't make any sense. How did they condense into clouds to rain from in the first place, if still hot enough to be boiling as it falls? Is it a magic effect? It would have to be; something about the isles causing the water to heat dramatically as it falls? It it something about the titan that makes it hot? When I was told the Sea was boiling, I assumed it much be in a very large volcanic caldera, but... that doesn't sound likely now."

He's very much used to rain, having grown up here in Seattle, but that rain in generally pretty cold. As rain on earth usually tends to be.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"It sounds like your coven was really bad. I haven't heard much about the Covens, but nothing I've heard is even close to as bad as your just implied."

The closest to real negativity about covens he ever heard was from his father, and he never elaborated. Just assuring him that it wasn't something that he'd ever have to worry about.

As Valor goes on, it's immediately clear that he knows a lot about the creatures, and Issac grins as he talks. He always loves hearing others talking about their passions, even if it's something he's not interested in.

And he is interested in this. The fact that Giraffes are apparently demons is fascinating, as it everything else.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I get the sense," he says slowly, "that you like animals."

[masterissac]

HEY hey I get back from a short vacation and tumblr looks like twitter now??????? what the actual fuck

[goldenbeastkeeper]

Valor's ears perked up. "Oh! That's good to know." It was always a breath of fresh air to have more people that he didn't have to pretend around. Though, noting the chair being pulled up, he asked, "Does the door not lock?"

"Yeah it's a ways away. We still live there, actually. We only came here on vacation." It was really lucky that they'd run into each other today. Seattle was so far away that if they ever came back it wouldn't be for a long time, so it was very good that Issac's palisman had found him and insisted they didn't just walk away from each other.

Swift was immediately going to initiate play with this bird. This was the first other palisman she'd seen in ages and oh how she missed playing with the other palismen in her family.

Valor let out a breath. ". . . Yeah. I understand that a lot, honestly. I miss my old family a lot, but I also have an established life here. Most of the reason I want to go back now is just to see them again. But I've spent much longer here than I have there at this point." It'd be dangerous for him to go back, anyway, if it was still anything like how it was when he left. If there was still Belos to worry about. "If I could get back I'd like to visit, and often, but I think I'd still live here."

"I don't, no," he said, ears drooping some. "I spent months nonstop combing over the same spot of forest trying to find the one that we came through - almost died from exposure doing that since we first got here at the end of winter - but it was long since gone. It just took me that long to accept the fact that it had disappeared. And you need titan's blood to make a portal and the human realm doesn't have that, so I gave up on ever finding a way back. I admire your dad's efforts for still trying."

His gaze softened, and he said, "Of course. What are the things you do already know?" Just to figure out his base knowledge before starting to describe things. Surely his dad must have told him some things.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"No," Issac shakes his head, "there usually wouldn't be need for a room like this to lock. It's just meant as a quiet reading room away from the shelves."

He looks at Valor in surprise when he says he lives in Connecticut. It really was an incredible stroke of luck that Aria found him.

If she hadn't, they would probably have never known each other.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... I'd like to see it, just once, even giving my grandparents closure aside..."

Something isn't adding up about what Valor said though. He's spent much longer here than in the Boiling Isles? Based on what was said before, it should have been the exact same amount of time?

... Maybe the 18 here just feels longer, because he obviously doesn't remember being a baby. ... Yeah, that's probably it.

'Don't be so high strung, Issac,' he mentally admonishes himself, 'He has no reason to be lying to you about something like that.'

The confirmation that Valor has no way home is not at all a surprise, and Issac refrains from further comment on his fathers attempts to find one. It's what got him killed, after all.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... Very, very little. I know a little bit about St. Epiderm, and I know... that there's... covens for different kinds of magic? Also that Boiling in the name is apparently literal. And... that's about it. I mean," he reaches out to stroke Aria's head- whilst she's hopping around and playing with the other palisman- "I know a bit more about how Palisman work, and how to do some magic- uh, bardic and illusion, mostly- but that's not really knowledge about the place..."

[goldenbeastkeeper]

"Ah . . ." She must be incredibly special to him then. Not only his own palismen, but also a reminder of his dad . . .

He let it end there, though, not pursuing the topic of conversation any longer.

Valor looked around curiously when they entered the library. It seemed like a nice place. Cozy, almost. He said nothing to the person Issac spoke to, but did nod his head back to her in thanks.

Once the door to the research room was closed, and with no windows to worry about, Valor took his hat off and rubbed at his - definitely pointy - ears, then flicked them up and down a few times. They'd been out sightseeing all day and pinning them down for so long often made them sore.

"Seems like, yeah," he said, grabbing a chair to sit in. "I don't know where your dad came through, but our portal was all the way back in Connecticut and closed pretty quickly afterwards." They never were able to find it again, despite how quickly they began searching.

Since they were in a private space with little opportunity of anyone interrupting, he reached inside his jacket and took out a brightly colored sculpture of a praying mantis, which came to life in his hands and chirped a greeting.

[masterissac]

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Ms. Powel knows about witches," Issac says slowly, pulling one of the chairs in front of the door, just in case any library patrons try to enter before Ms. Power could stop them, "so you don't need to worry about her. She was a friend of my parents."

Really, she's a friend of his Gran, but she's such a kind woman, and she- upon realizing that Mary's new boyfriend had zero adults in his life- offered her home to him and his friend.

So, she's family in all but blood.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"Connecticut?" he sighs, shaking his head, "No wonder this is the first I've heard of any other portals, if it was on the other side of the country."

He manages a small smile as Valor pulls out his own Palisman, and Aria flutters over to the mantis, chirping back her own greeting.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... Dad never stopped looking for a way back home. By the time I was old enough to actually remember, he didn't want to give up the life he built here, but... he at least wanted to talk to his parents once more, so they would know what happened..."

Valor's portal closed quickly, which... implies that he doesn't have a way back either.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"I hope to accomplish that for him, even if he... can't anymore. But I suppose you don't have a way there either then."

He's trying very hard not to be disappointed. Someone other than Harris from the Boiling Isles is still more than he had before. And maybe Valor can tell him more about the Boiling Isles than his dad ever did.

His dad was always so... reticent to talk about home. He made it very clear he just wanted to give closure for his parents- his mom specifically, really. He had no desire to ever return for any significant time. Even his school, St. Epiderm, Issac was told by Harris.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ"... I'd love to just... know more about it though, if you would be willing... I... I really don't know much at all, about the Boiling Isles."