count your blessings early

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

Astaroth does have his own space for such – typically the inside of his forearm, away from his wrist where he might apply some amount of a scent to try and block out any lingering tinges of iron (the pipe he smokes also gives way for destroying any remaining scent, adding to the whole of him as well). So as she explains, the butcher listens, nodding because he absolutely understood what that was like. “Perhaps if you did wish to wear them again, you might curate a rotation of them so you don’t lose interest?” He muses, despite very much not doing the same thing. He smelled the same each and every time – though how heavy one scent overwhelmed the others varied day by day.

As it stands, though, he has the tea cup delicately balanced through the handle on his finger, watching with glee as Charlie prods at it and it swings merrily along his fingertip, swaying this way and that. Of course, distraction comes in the scent of iron that he immediately picks up on, dark eyes leaving her to see the smattering of little droplets from her tail, which provide him with a curious thought regarding his new magic. “I would like to try something.” He hums, stepping away for a moment to set the cup on the flat surface of the shrine, angling himself just so he can lean over it and cast a shadow close enough to it that it might be able to do what he has in mind. “This is a new little magic I found.” He explains, figuring that she’d understand it’s like the dart, which were new abilities that they hadn’t harbored before.

Gesturing for her to come closer to watch, his shadow thins out around his arms – making him appear far spindlier and spidery, before the arm lifts from the shrine and smacks down at the cup at precisely the right angle to either smash it entirely, or unbalance it enough that it could tumble to the ground and shatter against the exposed earth.

---

SHMACK

Magic: Peter Pan | Can control their own shadow. Shadows are 2D, have a strength of 5 and can weakly effect physical objects around them (within the natural range of the shadow, shadows are flat so they can hit things, but not grab them).
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

Charlie

You know I talk too much
honey, come put your lips on mine & shut me up

Though Asta's cleverness didn't surprise the little ancient in the least, to constantly be exposed to the workings of his mind brought her no small amount of delight. Twitching her tail, Charlie nods her head, the smile on her lips blooming so wide that her cheeks looked as though they might burst they'd grown so round. "Would you help me?" Scent was an undeniably personal thing, but Charlie was quite certain that the butcher would pair together different combinations that the priestess otherwise would never even have considered, not unlike with the tea.

"Oh?" Charlie's blue eyes sparkle with intrigue and no shortage of mischief as she bobs her head eagerly. Stepping back if only to give him all the room required for his little test, it's only then that the priestess becomes aware of the stinging wound at the end of her tail. Reaching for the spade, she wipes distractedly at the blood—the pain from the cut was nothing more than an itch at the back of her mind—before dart!ing to Asta's side as he beckons. Watching his shadow seeming to thicken before lashing out, Charlie flinches at it thwacks! the cup, the subsequent sound of the ceramic breaking sending shivers of delight down her spine.

"That was amazing!" Nearly on her toes with delight, Charlie releases her tail, the cut forgotten about in lieu of Asta's ability. "Do it again!"

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

Returning her inquiry with a knowing, sharp grin, the butcher nods. “Of course I would, darling. Simply tell me when and where and I shall be there.” Meaning every inch of the words he says, he puts them on pause for the moment if only so he might reveal to her the new excitement of his new magic. As she darts closer and his shadows warp and wiggle when he starts to utilize it, he focuses the best he can away from the blood from her tail even after she’d somewhat tended to it.

It's like a predator, the shadow as it coils up and darkens, before it’s slamming down against the cup. And the butcher watches with absolute glee as it shatters into a bunch of different pieces, hands having not moved out of the way prior, now lift to start to brush some of the ceramic dust off as his chuckle deepens. “Thank you.” He says, turning toward her and offering a small little bow – all good showmanship, of course.

Ah, but then she wants him to do it again and he flashes her that same sharp smile. “Of course.” Happy to oblige, unless Charlie produces more things for him to shatter, the butcher fully intends on utilizing his magic once more to slam down on the remaining pieces that had shattered earlier, hoping to result in even more heaps of pale dust.

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight

Charlie

You know I talk too much
honey, come put your lips on mine & shut me up

Delighted as always by the butcher's wealth of knowledge, the blonde grins fiendishly up at him, her blue eyes filled with raw delight. "It's a date."' Tail flicking just above the floor so that she wasn't at risk of injuring herself any more than she already had, she mentally penned SCENT SMELLING/LEARNING DAY W/ ASTA into her mental calendar at the first available opportunity.

Quite content for Asta to choose the next target himself, this time the priestess doesn't flinch as darkness sweeps together into something that almost looks tangible before it swipes out like an ill-mannered cat toward a bit of partially broken glass. The sound is utterly decadent, and Charlie only wishes she'd known about this new ability of his sooner that she might have worked it into the machinery of their worship. Another time, perhaps. "Ugh, I LOVE it." She gushes, wondering if she say with her own shadow long enough if she'd be able to one day make it move the way the butcher could.

"Well!" Tilting her chin up toward him and wrinkling her nose affectionately, Charlie gestures to the mess that they've made. "I've got some cleaning to do, and no, before you offer, I'm happy to do it."

Astaroth

i think i'm the devil in disguise, here's my state of mind

Humming a soft laugh at the comment, Astaroth is fairly positive that Charlie doesn’t mean a true date as it had been when he’d gone on dates with Flora – that this would be more his style of shopping and offering input wherever needed and simply enjoying the day with a friend. And with it, he too is eager to get it set up, wondering what kind of cologne mixes he might toss into his typical rotation just to throw Danta off for a few days out of the week.

Either way, he uses his magic and watches as the shadow poises like a predator hunting, lashing out to strike as the shadow grows more and more thick, shattering another little piece of the tea cup into a variety of shards that spread out over the shrine as well as the floor. He flashes her a grin as he brushes off the dust from his clothes, nearly gushing along with her at the excitement of such a new magic (imagining that’s how she and Danta had felt when they’d discovered their dart magic).

But, alas, she looks up at him and wrinkles her nose and Astaroth’s already lining up the excuses on his tongue for reasons to help her clean up when she promptly shuts him down and he nods, letting them vanish from the tip of his tongue. “If you insist, my dear.” The butcher hums, flashing her another shark toothed smile before reaching out toward her to affectionately cup her cheek before he starts to straighten up. “I look forward to the scent venture.” He hums instead of trying to push reasons to stay, dropping his hand from her to straighten his posture before he starts his departure, leaving her to clean up the shrine area from the shards of glass and hopefully tend to her tail lest she get some kind of infection in the spaded tip.

- FIN

give me destruction, tell me i'm scrumptious
i'm a fucking delight