fallen_star | 01 -- Video/Commentlog

[Oh no, Keep! According to what you're seeing in your journal, an entire room has been set ablaze! That, or the journal is simply on fire. Neither of these options are very pleasant, but luckily Calcifer is smart enough not to eat any, apparently magical, books without first knowing what they do! So rest easy. No harm shall come to your precious literature just yet.

Like a spooky spirit, a disembodied voice chimes in with quite some sass to his tone.]

I have to say, I've heard of wizards trying to con people or trick them into some cruel contracts. But trying to tell us the entire universe was unmade? That's some thick wool you're trying to pull over everyone's eyes, Deior.

[A faint crackle, like burning wood, is present in this voice; now giving a tired yet accepting sigh.]

Still, the book is an okay gift. You must have been following Howl 'n I to know my name, so maybe you're just a fan. It looks like there are other people here, according to this thing. Can anyone hear this? How long has this kidnapping thing been going on?

[Anyone hanging around the third floor of the barracks might just turn a corner and see a ball of fire hovering straight towards them! Once Calcifer manages to make it out of his room, he'll be roaming the halls, pausing to stare at one of the torches or some of the furniture occasionally.]

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Well yeah, contracts can be broken just like anything else. It's not easy to do, though. At all. I almost gave up on ever being able to explore and be free, but look at me now!

[With that, Calcifer backs away from the journal to show a hovering little ball of fire with a big smile. He does a quick float around the room before focusing back in on the book.]

And sure! It wouldn't be the first time I've gotten myself out of the hands of some trouble-maker. This Deior guy's still human like any other wizard, I'd wager.

[He's seeming to forget how he would have been smothered out without Howl and Sophie.]

It's... a contract? That's all it is? I... thought it was something, y'know, a lot more binding and permanent. Not until death shall you part, kind of thing.

[Maybe not even then. She doesn't know. Hell, she doesn't even know her elemental's name.]

If he's even here at all. Most people think he's not.

Not really a contract, like a paper contract. They're usually way more binding than that. I was actually pretty sure it would never have been broken until Sophie walked in the door. I mean, when Howl caught me he gave me his heart to keep me alive. That's a pretty heavy thing.

[It almost feels unusual, finally being able to say this and everything. Before, he couldn't talk about any of this because of the deal.]

He'd bound to be here... Somewhere. I'm sure.

His... heart?

As in, ripped out of his chest in a fountain of juicy gore? Or metaphoric, here take my heart and soul, sort of deal?

A little of both? Or, most of both actually. Not quite so much blood as you'd think, but I definitely held his literal heart inside of my core while I was bound to the hearth of his castle.

[There's a sly smile. Maybe because he does enjoy the occasional reaction he gets from telling regular people this.]

In exchange, I shared my power with him and helped him be the great, according to him, wizard he is today.

That... I've never heard of anything like that. Ever.

I mean... even the elementals don't... do that.

You haven't? Maybe we're not talkin' about the same elementals er demons? I've heard of other demons takin' other things in exchange for power, maybe.

What are they like where you're from?

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