uisgeannan | (no subject)

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Here's something no one in Paradisa would ever expect to see: Euri, grinning from ear to ear, on the verge of skipping down the sidewalk in City Royale. It's a bizarre sight, made even stranger by the fact that she seems to be bleeding a bit from the side of her head, and there's a nasty red mark on her arm that's threatening to turn into a bruise.

Yup, it's as if she doesn't even notice.

She pauses at a corner and looks around - checking to see if she can spot a specific person - and when she doesn't see him she continues on, not even the least bit annoyed. Very un-Euri-like, but in her mind she has every right to be utterly ecstatic.

Because today, on this perfectly average summer day, she managed to cast her first curse.

It's a big deal to Witches, and especially so to her, as virtually all of them are able to do as around thirteen. Five years late is a long time, but she isn't thinking about that right now. All that's on her mind is that she isn't a complete failure as a Witch, and therefore, still has a chance of fitting in.

It's the best feeling in the world, and it's one she wants to share with more than just Dog. Unfortunately, there are few people in Paradisa she can even discuss this with, and even fewer who would approve of curse casting. So she's hunting down probably the only person who would be okay with it, even if he's sometimes not the easiest person to find. She's starting to debate summoning Dog, so he can do his whole bloodhound tracker thing....

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It's a perfectly average day in his world, as well (in so much as any day he goes through can be considered average). He's oddly dressed for the warm weather, wearing long sleeves and gloves as usual. Like most of his trips, he's just wandering around from shop to shop, mostly looking at clothes and books and the occasional antique store. He's not particularly inclined to buy anything, since he could just wish it all up in the castle... but he needs ideas to do that, and the town is usually a pretty good place to get those.

He's trying to remember where he swears he saw a music shop (maybe around the main square--no, the arts district, somewhere...) when he's distracted by a familiar sight moving his way through thin crowd of wandering people. It's Euri, no mistaking it, but she looks... happy.

Really happy. He's not sure whether or not he should be concerned, and simply continues to stand in front of the shop window, waiting for her to inevitably notice him.

It takes her no time at all to spot him, and when she does she immediately makes her way through the crowd, darting around people to get to him. She's practically giddy. It's so creepy.

"Robin!!" She comes to a stop in front of him, grinning widely, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. "Guess what!"

Of course, she doesn't actually give him any time to guess. She doesn't even give herself time to determine the best way to tactfully explain her happiness without freaking out any people within earshot. She just blurts it out.

"I cursed someone! An actual, honest-to-god curse! And I didn't even have to recite anything!" There's a fleeting moment of common sense when she realizes he has no way of comprehending the importance of it all. So, being the nice person she is, she continues on, not letting him get a word in edgewise. "Sometimes you have to, for curses. They're a lot more complicated than hexes, so I've never been able to cast one before. But I did it today! I just - I don't know, I was really mad, and I was thinking a Witch would have cast one already, and then there was this rush and before I knew it I was casting one~!"

Robin does try to get a word in, a small interjection here and there where he thinks she might have ended her sentence. She just keeps going on, however, so he merely stands there, staring at her, trying to keep up with her explanation.

"Wait, so you..." When she's finally done, he works at catching up. "So you put a curse on--who?" She's obviously thrilled, but he needs a moment.

"Cian!" Her answer comes immediately.

... And then she starts babbling again. "Who else? Well - I guess Michael - but we were talking about this before, on the roof! About what Cian and Adel did...."

Euri almost looks as if her happiness is going to fade, but she quickly shakes her head. "I confronted him without Dog and everything! He had a sword, but those are pretty much useless against magic. He didn't stand a chance! ... Huh, I wonder if this means I can curse Michael, too...."

Aha. With Cian's name now part of the conversation, things make more sense.

"Whoa, hey, hey." He finally pipes up, putting his hands on her shoulders (if only to keep her from bouncing around so much), "Slow down." He laughs, though, "No cursing Michael, all right? Let one victory sink in before you go too crazy."

He's paying attention to the strange looks they're getting, but only out of habit. He vaguely wonders if they should be talking about this sort of thing somewhere where people won't be concerned, but... that's shoved to the back burner and replaced with a sense of smugness. Pride, maybe. He can't help it--he's starting to invest a lot in her. It helps to know that she's got even more potential than he'd originally thought.

"It really just came to mind like that? Amazing." Another laugh, honestly smiling now. "I feel like there's an I told you in here somewhere."

She settles down a little, at least. She isn't bouncing anymore, but she's still clearly very giddy. On top of that, she's incredibly happy that Robin is pleased as well. She knows that reaction is rare - virtually impossible - from non-Witches and Warlocks.

"Well... I think I can manage a 'thank you'. I'm not sure I would have confronted Cian if we hadn't talked about it." Which is true. Before their conversation she didn't even want to think about any of that mess.

She's standing here thinking about the possibilities of cursing a second person thanks to that conversation. That thought just makes her happier, though her rational side agrees with him. She should take it easy before she tries another one.

"So, thanks! This is a huge accomplishment for me!"

"Aha, well..." This is a new one. He's never really been thanked for helping make someone else's life miserable before... at least, not this enthusiastically. "You're welcome, I guess."

After all, he's just doing his job. Euri may be ecstatic (which he likes besides), but that means someone else is miserable, and the more he can push that along here and there, the better. It makes him feel useful.

"What exactly did you do to the guy, anyway?" He asks, playfully ruffling her hair a little--but he notices that her hair sticks oddly to the side. There's a little blood, both dried and fresh. He pulls his hand back, barely able to see it against the dark fabric of his gloves.

"You're bleeding." He sounds more surprised than anything, albeit mildly so. Maybe he's just so used to seeing blood that he hadn't thought it strange before.

Oh, she practically lights up at his question as she realizes how amusing he's going to find it. Of course, he'd find any kind of curse related to blood interesting, but the fact that she used one... well, it's ironic.

She ducks her head a little, and makes a mental note to fix her ponytail later. "It was a - huh?"

His next comment stops her. Euri blinks, reaches up to gingerly touch the side of her head, and doesn't look all that shocked when she sees blood on her fingertips. "Oh. I guess it's from the fight. He, uh... got a few good hits in."

More than a few. Now that she sees that blood the painful aches in her arm and her side and her stomach are coming to the forefront, even though she wants to just ignore them and revel in her success. "... It's nothing. I can take care of it later."

If there were only bruises involved, he might have agreed to just leave it and let her go on with the story. Something about her blood, though, sparks something at the back of his mind. Maybe it's just him wanting a reason to use the abilities he's forced to pretend he doesn't have (or maybe his vision flickers back to the dying bird, the corpse torn in half, the--)

"No, I'll fix it," he insists, gingerly touching the wound again, "Better than you skipping around, bleeding from your head. People will think you've hit your head and lost your senses."

Just not here. His blood magic is a dark and terrible secret back home, where magic is at least something people are known to have sometimes. In a place like this, with residents who seem to be little more than normal humans? He'd just rather not take his chances. He looks around, trying to think of where he might be able to snag a quick room.

"Let's get out of sight, though." He takes her wrist and gently pulls her along, hoping she'll follow of her own free will. "Tell me about what kind of a curse it was in the meantime."

Euri touches the side of her head again, wondering how bad the injury must be if Robin's offering to fix it. She doesn't want it to be anything serious, but her rational side is telling her to let Robin deal with it right now instead of letting it develop into something worse later.

"Okay." So she'll follow, trying to not let it be too much of a downer to her otherwise very accomplished day.

Besides, he still wants to know about the curse itself. "It was a blood boiling curse!" she says in a chipper tone, though she keeps her voice a bit quieter. "Well, I don't think mine actually boiled his blood, since it was my first time casting it. But it raises the temperature of the person's blood really fast. They can't do anything aside from waiting for it to go down on its own. That can take a while."

He's initially split between paying attention to the road and paying attention to what Euri is saying. He takes them through an alley (they're still bright and clean around this part of town) as a shortcut, since he thinks he has an idea of where to go.

"Really," he emphasizes, momentarily spinning around and walking backwards. His attention shifts almost entirely to her (which is all right, because he seems to be a little too good at walking backwards), "That's some serious stuff. I can't say I've ever thought of that..."

A blood boiling curse? He can't help but wonder if he's rubbed off on her. Ahaha, probably not...

He wonders if he could do that, too. He probably could. That'd be a terrible way to die, so he's got to hand it to her; she must be more vindictive than he thought.

"Good choice. Or good instinct, as it sounds." He looks pretty amused, "That means you can do more now, right?"

Euri's first instinct is to lean a little, gaze directed past Robin. Because really, walking like that down an alley is just asking for an accident. She sees nothing obstructing his path, so she focuses back on him.

She's happy he's impressed, and she puffs her chest out a bit. Oh yes, she's definitely a badass Witch. "I think so! I mean, probably. I can't really give you any details, but Dog was pleased when I told him. He said I'm going to have to start practicing a lot more, so I'm taking that as a good sign."

She squeezes his hand. "There are lots of different types of curses I can try to learn, so the sky's the limit." Having all that potential is exciting - she feels even more excited than when she learned her first hex. On top of being more powerful, curses have an even wider range than hexes.

"... Hey, if you keep walking like that you're going to trip over something."

"I'll be fine," he says, though he does eventually turn back around and walk normally again. He kind of has to look at where he's going once they're out, avoiding people again.

"At least you'll have something to keep you busy. That's good." He chooses not to question her 'not being able to tell him' this time. He just can't bring himself to drag her mood down too much (maybe he's happy for her, but that's a hard feeling for him to recognize).

He stops in front of a place that looks to be, at first glance, some kind of a flower shop or a cafe, save for it being three stories high. The whole thing is well-tended and beautifully presented, from the style of the low iron gate to the ivy crawling up the walls. He tugs her towards the door, amused by the fact that they've settled into a habit of holding hands.

"This place is nice," he says, "I'll snag a room for a little while. We can get drinks after, or something..." He glances distractedly at a menu for a moment, honestly compelled to get some cocoa or something. He loves that stuff.

But the task at hand is more important, so he lets go of her hand to head to the front desk and ask for a room. He can't help but think that maybe then, if they're alone, she'd be a little more inclined to tell him these mysterious details of hers.

Euri nods enthusiastically. There’s another plus – being unable to do any proper bounty hunting in this place frees her up to focus completely on curses (and maybe a few more hexes). In fact, if she wanted to, she has the time to spend all day on curses. The extra free time will definitely help her catch up to other full-blooded Witches her age.

She’s momentarily distracted by the building they’ve arrived at. It looks… cozy, almost quaint in a simplistic, elegant kind of way. Did Robin know about this place beforehand…? To her it doesn’t match his taste at all, but she likes the ivy and willingly follows him inside. “Okay,” she replies, eyes darting around to take in the interior of the place.

The charm even continues inside, to the point where Euri decides that she’ll have to get the proper address later. As amazing as a wish-fulfilling castle is, it could be fun occasionally spending a night or two in town. Money certainly isn’t an issue, and the idea reminds her of the traveling she and Dog did back home.

While Robin’s at the front desk Euri wanders around aimlessly, taking a look at the menu he was eyeing when they came in and just generally basking in how wonderful this day has been.

There are a few rooms open, so that's easy enough. Once he's got the keys, he wastes no time in coming up behind her and sneaking his arms around her shoulders. "Hi," he says cheerily, to bring her back to the present, "Got it. Let's go upstairs."

As soon as he's said that, his friendliness becomes more reserved and he merely takes her hand again, guiding her back towards the stairs and up to the third floor. Theirs is room 304, and the door opens easily into a spacious, well-furnished room. There's a small kitchen-like area to the side and everything. Only one bed, but it's not as though he's expecting them to stay there for long.

"All right," he says, shutting the door. He locks it too, just in case. "Go sit down and I'll do what I can."

Euri jumps at the contact, shoots Robin a look. Ha ha, very funny. But that’s forgotten soon enough as they ascend the stairs; the adrenaline is starting to wear off, and each step up is making the aching throughout her body more pronounced. She’s grateful when they reach the room.

“Okay.”

She hops onto the bed and cringes. Oh, right, that stupid Yacor had managed to get some other hits in. And not just a few - the pain tearing through her body, especially her midsection, is a reminder that, even though she was successful in cursing Cian he was the actual winner of their fight.

She keeps a hand on her stomach as if that will dull the pain, and removes her ponytail holder. She’ll have to wash the blood out of her hair (unless Robin can take care of that), and it’ll be easier to accomplish without having to work around her ponytail.

He looks around first, checking in the various doors and cabinets and making sure the windows close correctly (again, a force of habit). Once he's sure that things seem to be in place, he makes his way over to the bed, his earlier joking mannerisms already forgotten.

He can sense her pain when he sits down, emanating off of her like a scent. Physical pain has a different feel to it. He doesn't like one over the other, but physical has always struck him as more... interesting. It's heavier, but often quicker. The hand at her abdomen is a dead giveaway, and he can see bruises starting to form on her arm as well. He almost regrets offering to fix it; the idea of basking in the feeling a little longer is... appealing.

But he hums a note and peels one of his gloves off. His fingers are chilled by the open air, the cold settles into his knuckles and bones and after quickly flexing his fingers, he reaches out to brush his thumb against the wound again. He can feel a small crackle of energy pass between them, as per usual. The wound itself isn't that bad--the white of her hair must have made it look worse than it is.

"This one will sting a little." But that's the only warning he gives before he runs his thumb along the cut, dragging the blood with it. He pulls a little of it forward, mixing and breaking up what's dried. The sting comes when he focuses on the blood just underneath, urging it forward and using it to break away dying cells, scab over the opened skin, and stitch itself up, good as new. He uses his still-gloved hand to pull away the old blood, cleaning it off her entirely and collapsing it into a small, congealed shape in his palm. He can't think of what else to do with it.

There's a shiver running down her spine, a brief moment of deja vu. Why is that slight spark when he touches her so familiar...?

Though she nods at his warning, her mind is still on the spark. She jumps again at the stinging sensation, though it's not that bad, and the answer comes to her: that afternoon, when she was working on Adel's 'medicine'. When he touched her face she felt that same weird spark.

Maybe it's simply a coincidence, but she still has the urge to ask about it. After he's finished, when she won't break his concentration. She'll ask then.

As the stinging feeling gradually dies, Euri glances up at his gloved hand. When she sees what's in his hand, she makes a face. "That was in my hair?" She asks, sticking her tongue out. "Gross. Is it all out?"

"Yeah, it looks like it."

A quick brush through her hair assures that it isn't sticking anymore, at least. The lump in his hand turns into something akin to a crystal or a needle, and he unceremoniously flicks the floating object behind him. It cracks against the wall, harmless and already out of his memory.

He leans back, looking pleased enough with his handiwork. It wasn't that hard. "It'll be a little tender for a while, I think. But not bad."

He touches her arm next, fingers tracing over her skin. "Where else does it hurt?"

That's convenient. Euri's eyes follow the dried blood until it hits the wall, then focuses back on Robin. His power is certainly unnerving, but she isn't worried.

She holds our her arm in front of him, so he can get a better look at her forearm. It's already red where Cian's sheathed sword hit her, and looks like it'll bruise if it's left alone. "Here."

"Mm..." He looks it over for a moment, "That's pretty easy."

He does much the same thing he did before, tracing his fingers in a spontaneous pattern over her skin. It will feel strange, the blood rushing up and clearing things out; getting rid of the bad blood. It's a strange cold, a little like the feeling of blood rushing back into a numbed limb.

But when he's finished, it looks better already. He leans his head forward, oddly, as if he was perhaps going to press his lips to her skin--but he must have changed his mind, because he lets go of her arm and looks back at her patiently, just the same as last time.

"Bruises are the easiest. There's nothing to stitch up, really."

It's one thing for him to be touching her with his fingers - he offered to help, after all - but his leaning forward is making her freeze up. That small movement is what is finally making her hesitate.

"Good... thing he didn't use his sword properly, then," she says, after a moment. She meant for her comment to come out more sarcastically, but she's still a bit shocked so it's falling flat and sounding awkward. Because, well....

She lowers her arm, then grabs the hem of her shirt with both hands and tugs it up. Cian did a number on her abdomen, there's more skin about to bruise all along her stomach and up her side. The contrast between her injuries and her normal pale skin tone is stark. In addition, in an intricate circle around her navel, are the black runes signifying her contract with Cerberus.

"... He knocked me down a few times," is the only explanation she can come up with without making it sound like he kicked her ass.

"Ah," is his only immediate reply, looking down at the exposed, reddening skin with mild surprise. He hadn't thought his previous action all that strange, considering it's him, but now her own response makes a little more sense.

He hums a stray note, figuring he'll just have to keep his hands to himself. Well--his hands aren't the problem, but it's the same idea (he can't help that her skin's such a pretty color and she smells nice and... well...).

"I dunno," he leans in a little, "I'm kind of impressed you haven't been wincing until now. Not bad." He means it as a compliment, honestly, as he reaches forward to brush his fingers along that bizarre black pattern. He can't tell if the skin is warm because of the marks or because of how the skin is inflamed... but he aims to fix that soon.

Just the same as before, he moves over the marks, as if tracing invisible lines that only he can see. He works his way up, energy shifting between the two of them and letting out some of the tension stored up in his fingers, muscles, bones. He stops at her side, pressing his palm lightly against her lower ribs, waiting patiently for the marks to disappear.

"What can I say? I'm tough." There's the slightest shake to her voice, and Euri suddenly finds the wall to be very, very interesting.

Right, she hadn't quite thought this through all the way. Every so often her muscles reflexively twitch under Robin's touch, though she's working to suppress that as best she can. But it's hard ignoring his fingers, especially when they're so nice and cool and leaving more tingling sensations in their wake as her blood vessels heal.

Speaking of... he seems to be doing fine in the concentration department, plus this is her last injury. It couldn't hurt to ask about that now.

"How... how come I keep feeling - it's almost like a spark, or something - um, whenever you touch me? Not just when you're using magic, it's... whenever you don't have gloves on."

Oh god, that sounded so lame.

He draws his eyes away from her skin (the red marks being leeched away by flesh blood) to glance up at her face, hoping for some sort of clue in her expression--does she like it? Does she hate it, think it strange? Most people do. It's one of the many reasons he keeps to himself when he can. This place, and all the magic in it, is the only reason he's been so careless with who he touches.

He has half the mind to make a crack at her obvious attraction towards him, but decides against it. He does seem to be on a kind streak, after all. "It's... something that happens, with me. It's kind of hard to explain."

Now it's his turn to look back down, focusing on his hand at her side. "It's like... my body is a container, but it's constantly producing more magic, and more energy. Eventually the container becomes so full that when I touch people, it leaks out into them and back out into the world. It's not harmful or anything--" He assures her, quickly, "It should just go right through you. And the feeling will disappear in a minute or so, once it all levels out."

... He's happy to use that as the excuse for why his hand is still resting at her side, long after it really had to be there.