[God Quest] I’ll be better in the morning

i tried to start caring like you and like them
when you said that i was killing myself

It’s been a long few weeks of very little sleep. And while the bags under his eyes were dark and the twitchiness of his movements and bones were a clear indicator of how much this had been challenging, all in all the butcher thinks he’s done quite wonderfully.

So he chooses to return to the shrine in the Climb, if only because it was the premium opportunity to collect the charm and put it to use — a practice briefly before he was able to show it to Danta.

He’s dressed back into his impeccable style, putting himself together enough to look the part for when he did truly feel better. So he arrives with the feathers collected from Danta, working diligently to organize the feathers on the edge of the bowl and with all the other tasks completed under the Climb’s skies and Dygra’s eye, he reaches into the bowl in the center to prick his finger and let his blood drip freely. “Darling Dygra, I have completed the requirements from our previous conversation.” Inclining his head, his dark gaze scans the feathers before he closes his eyes in a silent and reverent additional prayer.

---

Turning in his quest for the crow charm, received in every you, every me ! :3

• Satisfy his bloodlust (hunting, killing, eating) on a gore crow.
  ― we're close to the end
  
• Peacefully encounter one or more gore crows and collect their feathers.
  ― and your heart, love, has such darkness
  
• Successfully complete a training thread in the presence of a murder of crows (gore or otherwise).
  ― [Training] the deepest of convictions
  
• Spend a night at the place of his trauma. (i.e. out in the open in The Climb)
  ― the way we work is masochistic
  

Astaroth

healed everything but my shame

Dygra

"You certainly have, sweet butcher."

The droplet of blood barely hits the obsidian bowl before bouncing back into the air, suspended like a tiny ruby between them. Warping and vibrating with each word Dygra speaks, Asta will simultaneously feel his goddess's presence wrap all around him, beckoning him closer as the feathers he has placed at the bowl begin to quiver and shift.

"Leave here with your head held high," Dygra purrs. Both blood and feathers drop into the obsidian, and in a brief spark of flame, they morph into something entirely new. Braided black leather, downy feathers, and a sheen of crimson in the right light, the item is unmistakeably touched by the dark lady herself.

"You are a careful one, but I advise caution all the same with this. Do not let it break, and do not let it be taken from you. Follow these directions, and you may walk out from beneath the shadow of your old fears."

---

Asta has completed his quest and has received the following!

Crow Charm Bracelet | A braided leather bracelet decorated with the feathers of a gore crow. It contains all of the emotional trauma sustained as a result of Astaroth's interactions with corvids. If the bracelet is broken or removed, all of the emotional consequences and damage will return to Astaroth instantly.

Table coding by Sky <3

i tried to start caring like you and like them
when you said that i was killing myself

The droplet rises almost instantly, and the warmth from his goddess floods through his bones, sating each and every bone that has grown cold in the weeks past. She always makes him feel whole, complete and seen, and it’s precisely how he harbors so much love for his goddess, his savior.

Such that when she speaks, his smile is easier and brighter, relieved. He holds his head a touch higher, chin lifting imperceptibly, even as he watches the droplet and the feathers all begin to mold into something beautiful, something with so much within its binding that he’d tear apart whomever dared to tear it from his wrist.

Nodding, hearing the warning and committing to ensuring it wouldn’t happen, the butcher’s smile is easier as he reaches forth to take the bracelet, sliding it into his wrist and tightening it, taking a deep breath as he forces himself to think about everything that brought him fear and panic, finding it sluff off of him immediately as if he was covered in snow.

He’s brighter now, lighter, his smile easy as he exhales out everything that had come before now, feeling the exhaustion as it weighs heavily onto his shoulders instead of the fear. Dipping his head with eternal gratefulness, the butcher beams to his goddess. “Thank you, Dygra. You are magnificent as always.” His voice weighs with his exhaustion and his excitement, gratitude underlining each word, tail wagging similarly to the fyrhund shift beneath his skin. “I appreciate this.” And you.

- FIN

Astaroth

healed everything but my shame