WITH BLLK??? - Blog Posts
the runecaster diaries - potential suitors
❀ inspired by the apothecary diaries ❀ [various! blue lock x fem! reader. royalty & magic au.]
By some twist of misfortune, you find yourself in the position of servant girl in Emperor Noa’s grand palace. Through a series of even more unfortunate events, you find yourself to be the general runecaster on the palace grounds, at the beck and call of all the potential heirs to cast whatever spells their hearts desire.
(you can read the full introductory piece to this series here.)
Emperor Noa's Court
❥ Lord Loki is the kind, benevolent overseer of the Gold Pavilion, where you currently reside. He’d interacted with you a few times during your time serving as an attendant in Snuffy’s residence, though he’d already developed a good impression of you thanks to Snuffy and Charles speaking highly of you. He often drops in on your training sessions with Charles (something the boy loves to repeatedly tell you he didn’t do in the past) and can be a bit prickly when the other heirs come into the Gold Pavilion requesting your services.
❥ Lord Itoshi— Sae, that is— is the overseer of the Jade Pavilion, and his cold, disinterested demeanor draws in suitors like moths to a flame until they are eventually met with his arrogant and condescending nature. It’s not often that you find yourself in the Jade Pavilion, but when you do, the task that he has requested your assistance with has less to do with casting and more to do with interrogation and piecing together parts of a mystery. During your debriefs following an investigation, it almost feels as though Lord Itoshi knows more than he lets on but withholds his knowledge for whatever reason, causing you to overexplain yourself and extend your stay.
❥ Lord Kaiser, the overseer of the Cerulean Pavilion, is equal parts adored and loathed by those residing in the palace, as well as the kingdom at large. His arrogance, like Lord Itoshi’s, is well-deserved, and his masterful mask carved from charisma has suitors throwing themselves at the doorway of his villa. Those within the palace know him for the cold, cruel individual that he is, though, and not even saving his life has earned you his respect. He begrudgingly allows his personal attendant and caster to request your help with certain spells, and insists that his lingering when you’re in the Cerulean Pavilion is just to ensure you don’t mess anything up. The more you’re requested to report to the Cerulean Pavilion, though, the more you realize that the tasks you’re assigned are ones that Alexis could handle just fine by himself— which always leaves you wondering why Lord Kaiser has assigned this to you in the first place.
❥ Knight Alexis is Lord Kaiser’s brilliant personal attendant, and the most skilled runecaster in the entire palace excluding those who are assigned to Emperor Noa. You’ve always admired his work from afar, keeping your dwindling skills sharp by trying to figure out what materials and casting methods he used in his spells during your time as an attendant. Working with him makes him even more impressive, though, and he often grows flustered when you watch him cast with wide eyes filled with admiration. You’d been warned by Grim in the past that Alexis tends to get territorial where his work and his lord are concerned, and though you’d gotten that impression at first, it’s hardly there anymore. He doesn’t mind working with you at all— if anything, he seems to perk up at the sight of you crossing into the Cerulean Pavilion, and loves to present his other projects to you for you to give feedback on (and, hopefully, to praise).
Emperor Ego's Court
❥ Lord Isagi is the shining hope of Emperor Ego’s heirs, the poster child of what every successor should strive to be. Polite, charming, skilled, and above all else, genuine, Isagi Yoichi is definitely your top pick for the throne, and you don’t even live in his kingdom. And just when you think he can’t get any better, you catch him heatedly arguing with Lord Kaiser in the Cerulean Courtyard— and winning. Lord Isagi spends a lot of time in the Gold and Ruby Pavilions, so it’s not uncommon for him to seek you out and ask to be trained in casting, since it’s his weakest point. You don’t think he’s giving himself enough credit, though; he’s a very quick learner and performs new spells almost as if he knows exactly what he’s doing, but checks with you to make sure he’s doing it right, just in case.
❥ Lord Itoshi— Rin, that is— is a picture-perfect snapshot of elegance, grace, and beauty, up until the point where he opens his mouth and proves to everybody in the palace that the condescension runs in the family. His behavior is incredibly similar to his brother’s, though he seems to be a bit more openly competitive and aggressive than Sae— at least, that’s the impression you develop of him when you run into him while carrying out an investigation for Sae that he insists he can perform and solve for his brother quicker than you can. Against your will, it ends up becoming a recurring thing, and at this point, you can’t tell if he’s seriously trying to solve the case faster than you, or if he’s actually trying to work with you. It’s not like you can ask him— you like him better when he’s being cooperative and would rather not piss him off, thank you very much.
❥ Lord Reo— Mikage, really, but he insists against being called that— is charismatic, sociable, and was raised to be royalty from the moment he was born. However, you hear from the servants of Ego’s other heirs that he’s a deeply jealous individual, which can sometimes be as inhibiting to him as it is encouraging. You bear witness to this when he’s prickly with you during your first meeting, obviously upset that his personal caster is cooking up the stupidest spells known to mankind with you rather than tending to his young master. However, things seem to smooth over after that, as he comes to be impressed with the work you get accomplished with Nagi, and even the work that you accomplish for him on your own— which he seems to be requesting you do more these days. Nagi often whines that you’re gonna replace him, which you think is a joke, until Lord Reo insists that two personal casters are better than one. Well, if he’s serious, he’ll have to take it up with Noa, you suppose.
❥ Lord Chigiri possesses the kind of beauty men start wars over, and his confidence in his skills and appearance only draws others in more. To your delight (and surprise— the prettiest heir around these parts is also the prickliest), he’s also rather friendly and loves gossiping, often bribing information about Noa’s heirs out of the palace attendants. You’re no exception to this, and the first time he requests your assistance, a spell that should only take a single morning to execute ends up taking the whole day because you’re too busy complaining to him about all the arrogant heirs and relaying to him your most dismal encounters with them. Your gossip sessions end up becoming a weekly meeting, disguised as “tune-ups” if the other heirs ask. Lord Reo ends up attending them at some point, and after overhearing a conversation between the two while actually working through a spell, you suspect that the two are scheming to convince Ego to try and get Noa to release you to their palace.
❥ Knight Bachira is a bundle of energy that you believe would fuel a million spells if he could be harnessed. Eccentric and cheerful, he somehow both contrasts and compliments Lord Isagi perfectly as his personal attendant. One day, when Lord Isagi approaches you with a private request, you’re surprised to learn that Bachira’s power doesn’t come from runecasting, but rather, from a curse— he was born with a demon latched onto his spirit, which had caused him and his mother to be exiled from their village. Bachira ends up becoming interested in you when start teaching Isagi spells meant to help Bachira control and coexist with the beast rather than suppress it. He can be a bit much to handle when you’re trying to carefully brew a spell, but you can’t bring yourself to be upset when his laughter never fails to brighten up your workshop.
❥ Knight Nagi is just as brilliant of a runecaster as Alexis is, though he has one fatal flaw: he’s lazier than a dog. Your first few assignments from Lord Reo are agonizing, as he doesn’t help you at all and you have to do the work of two casters all on your own. It’s not until he catches you crouching behind some bushes in the Gold Pavilion, cackling to yourself as you put together a new spell to be used in your and Charles’s escalating prank war, that you finally catch Nagi’s interest. After that, Nagi can often be spotted with you crouched over a brewing station, the overgrown man draped over you as you two bicker over which combination of ingredients would yield the most sinister effects.
all posts for this series will be tagged with #ceru.runecaster
my requests and comments are open if you want to let me know who'd you like to see an interaction with! if you'd like to be added to a tag list, please feel free to comment on this post! :>