#castraeda

[justkeepwalkingnothinghere]

The Story of Castor Windchime!

I know no one is going to care about this, but I finally got Castor’s backstory done! From his childhood at Hexside, to the morning of A Lying Witch and a Warden! I’m gonna start outlining a full longfic after I get done with chapter 3 of my Raeda fic (which I should also outline, now that I think about it). The fic itself will carry off from this which I’m thinking of turning into a prologue chapter. Then maybe I’ll make a prologue spin off, who knows?

Have fun!

Paragraphs: 15 and a half.

Word count: 2619.

Our story begins at Hexside, many years ago…

Meet Castor Windchime! A student in the Illusions track, he is best friends with Eda, Lilith, and later, Raine. Castor always had a love and knack for storytelling since he was little, retelling to his parents the little adventures he would make up in his head. But to him, just telling a story wasn’t enough, which is why he found an interest in illusions and a curiosity for bard magic, both types of magic giving him the ability to get people immersed in his tales. Now Castor wouldn’t really call his life all too interesting, having a pretty standard life. Studying at home, getting good grades, even going to a couple after school writing clubs. But that doesn’t mean everything was good, Castor didn’t have much of a social life, only really having a few acquaintances in class and a burning hatred for Odalia, not unlike most students. Most days, he and a bunch of other people in the Illusions track were all looked down and picked on for their choice of magic. If anything, the distaste of illusion magic was worse in these days compared to Gus’s time. Most of the time though, Castor was alone. That is, until he met the Clawthornes.

Castor and Eda met one day when he was randomly picked to be her assistant in a prank. Much like everyone else in school, Castor commonly experienced and witnessed the pranks and schemes of this troublemaker who had made one hell of a name for herself. There were a lot of times he would see ginger hair and a yellow school uniform pass by somewhere in a blur. Eda’s latest idea required some illusions in order to work and judging by his light blue uniform, Eda felt Castor would be perfect for the job. He accepted, albeit reluctantly, not entirely sure if this was a good idea or if it would be worth it. Long story short, he had some of the most fun he ever had in his life while also getting along really well with Eda. The wild witch called him to action again a week later, introduced him to Lilith, and soon set the standard for how things would be for these three from here on out. Fast forward a month and suddenly they were all sitting at the same table during lunch, hanging out after school, and being study buddies in some cases. Castor finally had great people he could call friends. He could get used to this.

A few years later, around 7 months before the curse, the trio had been best friends for a long while, Castor and Eda having teamed up for over 300 pranks by now, oftentimes info dumping on each other about thing likes Grudgby or wild magic. Castor and Lilith were also really close, being a pair of history nerds who would commonly study together, with Castor always cheering on the sisters during Grudgby games. This is what normally happened each day, a fun time for all, until after Eda almost got expelled. Castor was the first to hear of Eda’s day at HECK and thus the first person to hear about her new friend, Raine Whispers. With a want to learn bard magic, Castor was ecstatic when he was told of Raine’s bard status, hoping to get some tips on the magic he’d been practicing and was really excited to meet them sometime. But what neither of them expected was for Raine to appear at their lunch table the very next day.

It wasn’t long before Castor and Lilith began to notice some sparks flying between the bard and wild witch. Lilith didn’t think much of it at first, but after a bit of convincing from Castor, she had to admit, they were quite cute together. Castor thought it was adorable, wanting nothing but happiness for the two if they did one day get together, but it did hurt quite a bit, too. You see, Castor had been holding onto some feelings of his own for the last couple of years. He started crushing on Eda only a few months into their relationship, but never let anyone else know that out of fear of making it weird, if he got rejected that is. From his point of view, that was more than likely. He wasn’t jealous per se of her and Raine being close, but rather kind of mad at himself for not telling her sooner. Nonetheless, he and Lilith would sometimes talk about Raeda’s pining (ship name coined by Lilith herself), with Darius often joining in. Eda and Raine’s crush on each other wasn’t lost on anyone but them, which led to Darius commonly getting annoyed by their pining.

In terms of their friendship, Castor and Raine were like two peas in a pod, not unlike him, Eda, and Lilith. The two had a lot of experience working together during Eda’s pranks when they got a bit more complex than before, and Castor’s skills in bard magic were getting better with Raine's teaching and guidance. Overall, Castor thought they were a sweet, cool kid. He could relate to them as well, what with both of them getting looked down upon for their choice of magic. He loved hanging out with them and Eda, he was as happy as can be. He thought nothing could mess this up. But then he started getting an all too familiar feeling. He was…crushing on someone else? To his surprise, he was. And it wasn’t just anyone, it was Raine. Yet, he was still crushing on Eda. Crap, he had a crush on both of them. This was not good. He found that his heart would flutter when around either of them. No no no, he couldn’t be crushing on two of his best friends!

Castor panicked for weeks over this, even ranting to Lilith in their hideout about not wanting to ruin the friendship. He felt that if he got rejected by either of them, especially now that Raeda was finally together (much to his joy), then hanging out with them would feel too weird for comfort, which is exactly what he wanted to avoid. When he eventually came to terms with it, the situation sounded much worse out loud. Unfortunately, he would forget one day that he would be taking a couple more lessons with Raine who would be bringing Eda along with, which led to all of his feelings being overheard by the two as Castor vented to Lilith again. As much as he didn’t want to do it, it was too late, and he awkwardly confessed to them right then and there. Just as he feared, things got a bit weird between the trio for a couple weeks afterward, but he didn’t outright get rejected, thankfully, they all just needed some time to figure out their feelings for each other.

Then one day, they all met up at the hideout, ready to talk. Eda went first, revealing that she too had a crush on Castor, said crush only coming back after his confession. Raine went next, their feelings for him having begun only weeks after meeting him, a full 2 months before Castor said a word. The illusionist himself went last, revealing the details of his feelings, before getting out a much better confession, silently praying to the Titan he wouldn’t get rejected, at least not badly. He awaited an answer, getting caught completely by surprise when the two witches standing before him grabbed both of his hands and gave him a warm, but awkward smile, a silent declaration that yes, they accept and are all willing to give the relationship a shot. Admittedly, Castor really couldn’t stop the dorky smile that appeared on his face at that moment.

Fast forward 2 and a half to three months later, things couldn’t be better. Castraeda (also coined by Lilith) are hopelessly in love with each other (already past the wonderful first kiss!), Faust had retired and made Bump the principal, Raine was top student in their bard classes, and tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven were just a week away. Oh right…Coven Tryouts. Eda’s curse was really taking a toll on her since that day. The day everything went wrong. Everyone was there for her. Her parents, Raine and Castor, even Darius and Bump. Raine and Castor were there at tryouts when it first happened, Castor having to hold Raine back from rushing in to save Eda before they got hurt by everything being thrown by the audience. Everyone did their part in helping Eda through it the first couple of months before she dropped out.

When she did, the whole school heard about it in no time, mostly due to the lack of pranks, traps, and her usual chaos. Some were thrilled, others missed her, others thought they’d be happy about it only for school to feel too quiet or calm without the air being accompanied by her chaotic laughing. Darius missed her, but would never actually admit it. Her lovers, on the other hand, were heartbroken. Sure, they’d see her after school and hang out, provided the curse wasn’t acting up, but school days just didn’t feel the same. They tried to come up with their own chaos, but it proved difficult without Eda, who was always the mastermind behind their plans. Both Clawthorne sisters were gone, with Lilith going through rigorous training and was probably a scout by now, and that left only Spellcastor and his darling Songbird. Even his palisman Munchkin, an orange mouse that he carved with Eda and Del a couple years before, was missing their talks with Owlbert.

Because of it all, Castraeda made the best of the following summer, having a blast to make up for some lost time. It even led to the discovery of their hill when Eda saw it in the distance once. They kept going back up there, marking it as the trio’s signature spot for dates and days on the town. Even years later, the three could remember the beauty of that hilltop almost exactly. The field of snapdragon flowers, the calm, crisp breeze, the wonderful view of town, the music they made echoing through the air and being carried by the wind. Sometimes, Castor swears he could hear the music, when there was nothing there. They even spent Eda’s birthday up there, giving her the mandolin that she would play for years to come, Raine already giving her lessons. Multiple escapes to the human realm took place, too, after Eda told them both about the portal.

Castor, Raine, Darius, and their acquaintances spent a few more years at Hexside before graduating, in which a few split up to pursue their dreams. Darius went into the Abomination Coven, Perry went on to become the BI’s top reporter, and Alador and Odalia formed Blight Industries. The polycule on the other hand didn’t really have any plans to jump into their futures just yet, instead opting to take things slow. Eda eventually began to restore her father’s old tower and move into the Owl House, Raine started picking up a few gigs around the isles and making a name for themself, and Castor took up making a few short stories that became fairly popular, but nothing too big to make him a household name. He stopped after a few years. They set off to do what they wanted to do, but weren’t in the market to do anything major for the time being.

Some years passed, about 11 or 12 years after they started dating, and Eda was beginning to act a bit strange. Castraeda’s love for one another kept growing by the day, but now Eda was growing distant. Skipping over some of the more painful bits (you know exactly what’s coming), things got rocky and Raine knew they had to end it with Eda. Castor on the other hand, was not willing to go through with it, loving them and Eda way too much to do it. Castor stayed behind at his home, not ready for it to end, as their favorite spot became plagued by the memory of the day Raine broke it off with Eda and joined the Bard Coven. Castor and Raine tried to make it work together, but with Raine joining the Coven, it was difficult to do so. Sadly, they both knew it was inevitable and split, leaving only Castor and Eda.

After Raine and Castor bid their adieu’s, Castor rushed over to the Owl House to comfort Eda, even staying there for over a week to keep her company and help around the house. It reminded them both of the many times the trio would help take care of each other when one of them was sick. You should know how this ends. As much as neither of them wanted to do it, with their futures in being wild witches entirely uncertain, it was time they separated as well, especially with both of them needing time and space to themselves to recover from losing Raine. Their goodbyes were long and hard, but they did make one promise to each other: That they were going to stay friends and keep in contact, making sure to call or say hi whenever either of them needed. Castor was determined to keep this promise, but a small part of him knew it wasn’t going to last long, as the trio officially went their separate ways.

10 years went by. And in that time, everyone’s lives changed. Raine was climbing up the ranks of the Bard Coven, Eda became the famous Owl Lady and public enemy number 1, and Castor became a well known supplier of potions and ingredients, delivering them all around the isles with the help of Munchkin. As you can imagine though, things weren’t all fine and dandy. The Emperor’s Coven was onto him, slowly figuring out his wild ways. Before long, his home was attacked and raided while he was out making deliveries. He made quick work of salvaging what he could, packing whatever he had left, and booked it for the Owl House, the one place he knew he could hide, at least for a while. That night was…weird, to say the least. Hooty was happy to see him again, Eda was overjoyed, but what really caught Castor’s attention was whatever the heck was napping on Eda’s couch.

Eda told him the whole story, apparently she adopted this King of Demons when she found him abandoned on an island a few years ago, and called him her roommate. King was weird around him at first, but gradually got used to his presence as Castor tried to work out what to do. It was actually Eda who suggested he move in, finding it pointless that he had already spent two weeks there and was still attempting to find a place to stay. He had all he needed right there at the Owl House. Plus, she could use some extra hands with King. Within a couple days, Castor set up his own space in the one extra room and was declared as Eda’s second roommate. Were things going to get weird with their romantic past? Absolutely. Were they ever going to address it? Nope. They were gonna stay strictly friends until they felt the time was right.

5 years passed, things were largely the same. King had gotten bigger, Lilith kept pestering Eda about joining the EC, Eda and Castor worked the human collectibles stand, and things were well. That is, until…

“And this…this’ll make good kindling.” “Excuse me, sorry, that’s mine, thank you!” Was that…a human?

(End ridiculously long backstory)

[justkeepwalkingnothinghere]

Okay, it’s been about 2 weeks since this poll ended. I should’ve done this sooner, but life got away from me. And I know there is a small chance of me regretting what I’m about to say, but I’m willing to take that chance.

After some thinking, I’ve ultimately decided to go back on this poll. I just can’t get anything out of the post-Eda’s Reqiuem route. I want their relationship to mean something and I can’t get it with that one since they don’t end up together until after all the Collector stuff is dealt with. With the Hexside route, they actually get plenty of romantic history with each other and all have distant memories and feelings that they long to recapture. And with everything I have planned for it, it makes me wonder why I even bothered doing a poll in the first place.

So yeah, this poll means nothing now and I am sorry. In the meantime, I’m gonna skip on designing him for now. I suck at drawing people and this is all going to be a fic anyway, so I figure I can get to his design later. Might draw his palisman though.

[justkeepwalkingnothinghere]

(I recently reblogged my most recent poll and dropped a bunch of Castor lore in said reblog. Decided to make it it’s own post instead of being buried under a bunch of other stuff. The poll in question was asking when Castor should confess his crush to Raeda, either at Hexside when they were kids or after Eda’s Requiem roughly 30 years later)

Figured I should do a little bit of lore dumping for this instead of leaving you all in the dark. This isn’t to manipulate the votes in any way and is merely to give you all some insight on where the story will go depending on the results. Also my brain was nagging me to tell you some parts of the story, so. A few details may be subject to change.

WARNING: VERY LONG!! IT IS VERY DETAILED!! (I meant to summarize it but I ended up dumping almost the entire plot. This has been in my drafts for the last 72+ hours. Here you go!)

At Hexside: This route is fairly simple and self explanatory. After Castor’s crush on them is pointed out to him by Darius (who doesn’t want a repeat of all the pining he had to endure with Raeda), he spends some time coming to terms with it, worried that his feelings will disrupt the close best friend circle that had formed between him, Raine, and the Clawthornes. During this time, he and Lilith snuck away to Eda’s hideout in the detention room a few times as his feelings developed. Unfortunately, one day during lunch Castor forgot about a prank he was doing with Eda and Raine during that time and they overheard his and Lily’s conversation, making for a very awkward and ill-timed confession that he wasn’t quite ready for.

After a couple weeks of the three silently evaluating how they all felt about each other, they slowly starting dating. And a month and a half in, it was safe to say the trio were head over heels for each other. But things changed a lot once Eda’s curse came into the picture. Castor, Raine, Lilith, even Darius, were all there for her through the first couple of months before she eventually dropped out. Things at Hexside weren’t the same afterward. Well, at least until Eda started sneaking in and spending most of her time in her hideout. Raine, Castor, or both would bring her lunch everyday she was there and sometimes stay for a bit to hang out and talk. But Eda hiding out stopped after a while. Faust had no idea, but even decades later, it’s still up for debate whether or not Bump knew about it. He probably did. (I’m not gonna mention Lilith much after this point since I’m not entirely sure what happens after coven tryouts)

Everyone spent four more years at Hexside before graduating, in which they tried to stay in contact. Castraeda (official ship name) stayed together for years, with Raine teaching Castor the mandolin and Eda teaching him how to play Raine’s Rhapsody. Unfortunately, the curse got worse during this time and Eda quickly began to push the two away. The Raeda breakup occurred while Castor was away, with him soon hearing about it from Lilith. It was a shock to him, but he too was starting to take notice of Eda’s recent behavior. Castor and Raine tried to make it work (with Raine quickly regretting their breakup with Eda) but, as much as it hurt them, ultimately decided to break it off as well and wish each other luck in their endeavors as Raine joined the Bard Coven.

Castor went to comfort Eda soon after, not intending to separate. He stayed at the Clawthorne house with her and Gwen for a few days (Gwen adores him) before they reached a mental understanding that it was time for them to split as well, both unsure about their futures. They made sure to stay friends no matter what happened, but despite everyone’s best efforts to do so, all three of them went their separate ways and mostly went silent for the time being. Raine spent years rising through the ranks of the Bard Coven, Eda went on to become the Owl Lady, and Castor spent a few years undercover as a scout at the EC to gather as much info on Belos as he could as he started to get suspicious of the emperor’s practices. He later switched to a quiet life as a merchant at the market, always taking note of Eda’s many wanted posters, and occasionally talking to Lily when she had the chance.

Later on, a few years after Eda found King, Castor unofficially moved into the Owl House when his home was attacked by Emperor’s Coven scouts who found out he was a wild witch. He figured who else to go to than the most famous wild witch in the isles? King was a bit weird around him and the new change, but warmed up to him as time went on. They never really talked about getting back together, thinking it too soon after reuniting to do so and neither of them brought it up. They were going to stay strictly friends until they felt the time was right, which was never. Surprisingly, this never got difficult when Luz decided to stick around, but as soon as Raine was announced as the new head Bard, Castor knew things were about to get awkward.

And he was sort of right. Later that same day, he and Eda joined the BATs and began helping the group free wild witches. That day, he had never been more relieved to see Raine and Eda together. His feelings for both of them returned with full force and he started pining for those wonderful days again, where it was just the three of them. Not to mention he kicked himself for days for not getting back together with Eda sooner, having already thought about it ever since her near petrification gave him a wake up call. Raine’s presence was all it took for the trio to fall back into a familiar rhythm of sorts. A couple hours into the night, one teary eyed confession from Castor and one wonderful embrace later, they were the happiest they’d been in a long while.

But it would all have to be put on hold, as Eda and Castor’s hearts were shattered when Raine got captured. They were both distraught and had a little bit of trouble sleeping that night, despite the immense joy about King becoming a Clawthorne. And the Coven Day Parade didn’t help things. Castor was ecstatic when Eda managed to find them, only to be met with a version of Raine completely unrecognizable to him, one clearly being controlled by Terra Snapdragon. He watched and heard Eda and Raine’s fight from the nearby rooftops, his heart breaking more with every word out of Raine’s mouth. He and Eda couldn’t believe what had happened for a while after.

Now, due to Castor’s spur of the moment confession of still having feelings for them both, Eda and Castor slowly started to get a bit more affectionate. They were slowly but surely falling back into old ways. This lasted for weeks and became stronger in the days leading up to the DOU, when they needed comfort most. They were both more than a little pissed with Raine when they found out about the pretend brainwashing shortly after being rescued. But they were relived Raine was okay more than anything. Eventually, all was forgiven, especially after Raine met Luz for the first time. Which Castor thought was adorable.

It was that night when everyone else was asleep at the CATTs base that they were able to talk about their feelings a lot more than they were able to in Eda’s Requiem. Deep down, they all wanted to give things another go once all the chaos was over. And that was exactly what they were gonna do, never having stopped loving each other, which was obvious to everyone but them. Admittedly, Castor couldn’t hold in much of his enthusiasm and excitement over the next 24 hours. But as you could guess, things did not go well, starting with Castor being asked to accompany the Hexsquad in rescuing Amity, with him being the only adult in the group not directly involved with stopping the Draining Spell. Not a problem at first, but a heartbreaking fact later on.

From rescuing Luz, to feeling broken seeing the plan fail with Eda and Raine caught right in the middle, to fighting off Belos and ending up in the Human Realm, everything was a blur until he was truly able to process it all and catch his bearings that same night. He and Camila stayed up late, Castor sharing stories with her over coffee and ensuring her that he’d be there for any difficulties that they’d run into in the time everyone would be there. They formed a close friendship in the months staying with her, never moving past that point but putting quite a bit of trust in each other. It felt nice having someone to lean on when the anxiety of the situation became too much.

Castor kept thinking about the BI. Especially Raeda, fearing that the were gone without ever being able to say a proper goodbye or spend their last minutes with them. But he kept his hopes up that he’d see them again. He never let up in attempting to get the portal working. Despite the little bit of trauma from seeing Hunter get possessed, Castor helped Camila get an understanding of her surroundings, regaling her with even more tales of the wonder that was the Demon Realm. (Everything after this point is pure speculation since they haven’t reunited with Eda and King yet)

Words could not describe how happy he was to see Eda, safe and sound. He couldn’t help but cry as they embraced, having missed her and Raine beyond belief. They even shared a quick dance, completely caught in the moment. Just Eda and her sweet Spellcastor. Let’s let them have this moment for a bit longer. Because Titan knows how it’s gonna be once they find out their precious Rainestorm/Songbird is possessed by Belos.

(I did not mean to go this deep into detail, but my brain would not stop. Oh well)

After Eda’s Requiem: Almost everything above, except Castor held onto his feelings for roughly 30 or so years before finally letting it out before the DOU because he figured if things go south, he’d much rather go out knowing that Eda and Raine knew about it after all this time. He still hears about the Raeda breakup through a crow call from Lilith and ends up in the Human Realm with the kids, the reunion with Eda being a bit awkward, with neither knowing how to go about their feelings during the end of the world. He’s still going to be upset at finding out about Belos/Puppet!Raine.

Like I said, details are subject to change. Enjoy the lore everyone! Hexside TL;DR below.

Hexside TL;DR: The three get together at Hexside, break up years later in young adulthood, spend 15-20 years going about their lives, Castor moves in with Eda a few years after King comes into her life, the three reunite in Eda’s Requiem with Castor admitting he still has feelings, E and C’s hearts break with Raine being “brainwashed”, all three really discuss their feelings 24 hours before the DOU, Castor ends up in the HR with the kids, cries when he reunites with Eda months later (At this point they still don’t know about Belos!Raine).

Now let’s see how everything plays out.

Original poll.