My brain: hey what about a modern au but with spellcasting and like, vampire elements

Me: ...OK fine au notes let's go.

Worldbuilding

People have varying amounts of innate magical talent.

Magic is everywhere.

There are all sorts of magic types and spells. Spells are usually incantation-based.

Everyone is human, at least mostly.

The university is not on Motunui but on a larger island which is part of a chain or cluster, close to the mainland. There are ferries available, however.

Moana is a college student. She's a political science major, as she stands to inherit Motunui's chiefdom, and is on the rowing team. She shares a freshman physics lab with Loto.

Loto is also a college student, but is already an accomplished engineer and model boat builder. She works part-time maintaining, repairing, and designing boats at the local marina three days a week, and fulfills model boat commissions another three days. She's known locally for keeping to herself in her standalone studio apartment and befriending a flock of crows that follows her around.

Maui is a popular influence, world-class athlete, and minor celebrity, but will drop everything for his adopted sisters. He drives a minivan for no apparent reason, at least when he's around.

Moni is a storyteller and children's librarian.

Kele is still a farmer, and still as grumpy as ever.

Tui is the hardworking matai of Motunui. His main concerns are preserving his people's way of life in the face of modernization and the wellbeing of his family.

Sina, while not officially employed in the local government, often supports and aids her husband, taking on whatever minutiae she can while raising Simea. Fortunately,

Gramma Tala is alive! Modern medicine amirite? She is a storyteller, a prominent advocate for maintaining the old ways while allowing for change, Moana's confidante and Simea's favorite minder. She has a driver's license.

Matangi is a research scientist and occasional performer. She has two cars thanks to an out-of-court settlement with Nalo, a chic violet sports car and a jeep that always smells faintly of guano. Moana calls her when she requires transportation and utmost discretion.

Tamatoa is an expert appraiser and collector turned influencer. There's a popular theory that he and Maui are exes, even though Maui keeps showing up to pride in aroace blue and orange.

Nalo is in prison and considerably poorer. Matangi really went after him for all he was worth without even stepping foot in a courtroom.

Te Fiti is an environmental scientist and conservationist.

Plot Part One

Loto is getting by. She works and studies and goes to the GP and checks in with the social worker and avoids going out when she can, but it's a new semester and she has to attend her physics lab in person. Also in that lab section is Moana, someone she knows of from the boat shop as an unusually friendly canoe racer.

Moana could've sworn that Loto from the boat shop was like, high school age, but here she is in freshman physics. Moana knows her as shy and secretive, but Loto accidentally started infodumping to her one time and Moana was intrigued. She's gonna sit with her and try to befriend her.

First group project and Moana basically calls dibs on Loto, who has no idea how to refuse and kind of doesn't want to? But she shouldn't she shouldn't she shouldn't

From there Moana figures out just how alone Loto is and worms her way into her life. Loto doesn't really know how to stop it, and she swings between trying anyways and letting it happen. Moana remains determined, even past the end of the semester.

They get closer, and closer, and closer, and “like” turns to “love platonically.”

Loto wakes up one day with a killer migraine.

Moana watched a particularly bold crow land on Loto's arm to get to the peanuts ahead of its flock. Loto cawed back at it scoldingly, shaking it off its perch.

“You know,” Moana called, “I bet there's a spell to understand crows out there-”

“No!” Loto jerked, spilling too many peanuts into the tray feeder. The nearest crows took off in surprise. Hastily, she corrected herself, “I mean- no, thank you. No thank you. No spells on me. I'm good.”

Moana blinked.

“Okay then.”

I love this part, read it please 🙏

Magic is a form of energy. It is, however, a uniquely flexible form of energy.

Everything has some amount of magic. Humans are particularly adept at manipulating theirs.

Magic flows through “channels”. These channels have a limit, which increases with maturity and use but later declines with age.

If these channels are overloaded, it can cause anywhere from small, star-like overflow scars to a full rupture. This sort of damage can compromise a person’s ability to channel magic, especially when it occurs along a frequently-used channel like in the arms.

This sort of damage can be caused by attempting to increase magical flow rate above what the spellcaster can tolerate, engaging with a spell above a caster's tolerance, or by a focused spell being cast on someone whose channels can't withstand it.

Magic, like all energy, can be drained from an organism, but can also be renewed with time.

Spells are cast via incantations. These don't have to be in any particular language or use any particular words; they only must convey the desired results.

Intent matters. It carries along with the magic put into a spell.

Spells can be cast with varying levels of complexity. The simplest spells are cast with concise language. The more rambling or vague an incantation, the more complex the structure of the spell will be.

The most complex spells come from a very determined caster or a very powerful caster. A determined caster will be able to create a complex incantation. A powerful caster with be able to put enough magic into a vague spell that it can mutate into whatever clauses will fulfill the spell.

For example, the curse “Everyone will know what a parasite you are”, cast with enough power, may achieve anything from causing a convoluted chain of events to reveal the instances a person has taken without giving back, or it may turn them into a giant flea.

Enduring spells cast with small amounts of magic tend to fade. Enduring spells cast with large amounts of magic tend to weave themselves into the magical nature of whatever they're cast upon.

Long-term spells tend to be influenced by their environment and mutate over time. This is especially true of spells with vague terms, spells which alter a subject's nature, or spells which remain dormant for a time before activating. For example, if the curse from above was cast on a person who spends a lot of time in water, they're far more likely to find themselves turning a leech than someone who keeps pet crickets.

Long-term spells become more quickly entwined with their subject if they are dormant, designed to alter the subject's nature, or if the caster and subject are related. Dormant spells are also more likely to go unnoticed and become more entwined that way.

Dormant spells often “burrow” in their subject's nature, making it more difficult to remove them or determine their future effects.

The more entwined a spell is with its subject, the more likely it is to mutate to benefit the subject. As a spell becomes more entwined with its subject, the more it behaves like an innate part of a subject's magical nature. This is also often what causes hereditary spells.

Entwined spells are generally not removed unless absolutely necessary. The procedure for such is removing a person's magic entirely, which is a very long, involved process to avoid causing a magical rupture partway through. The weaker a person's magical channels are, the less eligible they are for such a procedure.

No-contact spells are cast generally over a subject. Contact spells will be cast generally on a subject with a simple magical structure (such as a rock) and sometimes on more complex subjects, but may be focused onto a particular location of a complex subject's magical structure. Focused spells are more likely to cause damage to a subject's magical channels.

Magic can be viewed and examined through use of spells. Many physicians have at least one pair of goggles or glasses, or a visor enchanted with this spell.

Cursing people is illegal. In many cases it's more of a “technically illegal” thing, as most modern-day non-hereditary curses are kid spells cast on accident. Someone popping up with a brand-new non-hereditary transformative curse is a cause for getting the police involved, if they weren't already.

(They were.)

If they're ooc it doesn't matter if it's inconsistent it doesn't matter if it's weird or doesn't matter this is silly low-effort au to generate feelings of accomplishment while I plan bigger things

Moana now knows what it feels like when someone leant against you snaps straight from relaxation to horror. For the record, it’s not fun, especially when you know it’s not your fault or her fault and she really didn’t have a choice and also you’re losing blood, which makes everything feel worse.

Loto now knows what it feels like to wake up sucking blood from a person and like it. Not by choice or anything, but after so many years, the curse is wrapped all into her until it’s inextricable, and the vampire bat instincts that come with the curse have thoroughly, thoroughly assimilated.

She’s groggy at first, like waking up from a sun-warmed nap under a favorite blanket. She can hear soft breathing, and the air smells lovely and alive. Her mouth is filled with the taste of salt, and she likes it more than she remembers. She’s sated with a few final laps, and lets herself twist and turn against a warm shoulder with a contented sigh. She yawns, and she huffs when Moana shifts her arm to bandage her bloody hand.

Wait, her what?

Loto snaps into awareness, sort of. She’s sitting on her bed, leaning against her only friend, head starting to ache, with blood in her mouth and teeth marks on Moana’s hand.

The curse. A hand reflexively finds its place in front of her mouth. She- she-

She doesn’t feel guilty.

She hurt her friend. She hurt her friend and she liked it, and she doesn’t feel a shred of remorse for it. She can’t summon up any scrap of guilt, any half-illogical blame that will stick.

These are not her emotions.

Moana’s hands are full, so she leans her head against Loto’s and murmurs, “It’s okay. I’m fine,” even as her heart rate picks up.

“You’re bleeding,” Loto snaps back. “You’re bleeding and I drank it.” And I can't regret it, she doesn't say.

Yes. She did. Moana knows that. Moana also knows that she can’t be sorting out her own feelings about that matter in front of Loto, especially not now, so she just nods.

“Are you being calm about this?!??”

Moana shrugs as she tapes down the bandage.

“I’ve had time to get used to it. BY WHICH,” she adds quickly tooloud, “I mean I found your general practitioner’s number and called her, and she said I’d activated a curse on you and it looked like a targeted vampirism curse, which I have a few questions about but they can probably wait, unless you’re in witness protection from some at-large criminal-” “what” “-in which case I do need to know if my family could be endangered by association.” “No???” “In that case all my questions can wait and I’m gonna go get you a banana and a drink.”

Loto stares after her. Moana opens the humming fridge. Okay then.

Loto swallows back the bile and runs her tongue curiously over her sore teeth, wincing when she cuts herself.

So we see here that Moana opted for “throw unexpected information at someone with such a casual demeanor that they’re forced to puzzle over your inanity instead of thinking about the Problems.” This is because she also has no idea what the heck to do, because this situation is Weird.

I wonder how that banana is.

Loto has a killer migraine. It feels like it's driving nails into her jaws. She calls Moana to ask her to relay this to her physics 2 professor, as she can't look at a screen at the moment.

Moana confirms she will and promises to come over with soup or something to check on Loto later. Loto mumbles out what may or may not have been a verbal reply and buries her face back in the pillow.

Moana swings by and lets herself in. She sits on the edge of the bed as she gently rests her hand against Loto's unconscious face to check her temperature, and feels a low hum of magic.

Loto responds to the contact and nuzzles into it. Moana pauses because did she just lick me and Loto, not really conscious, weakly bites her hand.

Moana stares. Loto gnaws and sucks.

Moana searches Loto's things for a doctor's contact - handily, she has an appointment card next to her calendar. Moana calls the GP to ask for advice. The GP asks her to describe Loto's symptoms, and oddly asks about their friendship. By now Moana has found a warm compress, heated it, and given to Loto so she'll have something other than her own hand to chew. The GP informs her that Loto has a previously inactive curse on her and the GP will be right over.

The GP arrives with quite a few things: physical examination kit, magical examination kit, bandages, disinfectant, a blood bag, numbing cream, some sort of heavy-duty hard plastic(?) hot water bottle, gauze, and an information packet on vampirism curses and the onset thereof. She looks over Loto, asks Moana a bunch of questions, and attempts to swap the compress for the water bottle, explaining that Loto’s in a trance state and trying to dislodge her front teeth to make room for new ones. Moana's given the water bottle to swap out, and she asks if she can know what's going on. While normally she wouldn't, Loto just accepted the hot water bottle now that Moana's handled it, which indicates to the GP that it's an individually-targeted vampirism curse and Moana is entitled to some information. GP explains Loto is cursed with a conditional curse, linked to her receiving platonic or romantic love. (?!) Loto had avoided activating the curse by isolating herself - “which still isn't healthy” - until Moana refused to get out of her life. GP applies the numbing cream to relieve the teething pains and explains there's not much to do but take care of Loto until the curse has finished activating and she's recovered. Moana nods and accepts responsibility, fully understanding the implications. The GP tells her to come in with Loto as soon as they both can, hands her iron supplements (“for the blood loss”), then leaves.

that's right triple update today. I'm awesome.

Moana nudges her. “I can hang around if you want-” “No, I'll be fine.”

Moana debates whether to tell Loto she can tell when she's lying (she's kind of bad at it), but Loto puts on a sudden burst of speed to get in her house, so she probably already knows that.

Moana chooses to interpret Loto peering out the window as a display of faith in Moana's tendency to stick around. (Not technically wrong I suppose?)

Moana walks up and knocks on the door.

“I left my stuff here.” …Loto lets her back in. A crow sneaks in on Moana's heels.

Moana gathers her things, hoping she didn't forget anything but telling Loto to call her if she found anything.

“Also when you need to, uh,” she waves her bandaged hand, “again.”

“Right,” Loto responds flatly. She's been waiting by the open door, ready to close it.

…Moana heads back to the dorms.

Loto doesn't even bother moving. She lies down next to the closed door and puts her arms over her face.

…phone call. She needs to make a phone call. She f***ing hates phones. She calls her social worker anyway.

They pick up immediately and skip pleasantries in favor of questioning Loto about the curse and her health and how involved Moana is and how Loto is holding up. They keep their questions short-answer and direct and the call brief, which Loto appreciates.

Before hanging up, they add that the police are probably going to reopen the case. Loto hums. She already knew that. People didn't have to keep telling her.

After the call, she tosses the phone across the room and opts for a floor nap.

Moana returns to school. She says hi to her roommate (“what happened to your hand?” “none of your business.”) and puts her things away, then flops on her bed and sighs deeply.

It's been a week.

She lasts maybe fifteen minutes before deciding, f*** it, I'm going sailing.

She changes quickly, grabs her wallet and phone and water bottle and an energy bar, and heads down to the marina.

She doesn't have her own boat there, but the marina has several traditional outrigger canoes available to rent, and Moana has a membership card.

She grabs her favorite - the Restorer, the one with the spiral sail - and sets out onto the sea. It's a lovely windy day - not that the ocean is ever not windy - and the Restorer responds to Moana like a well-trained collie, and she knows that this is where she belongs.

But your people need you-

The Restorer crests a particularly large wave, and Moana shouts with joy.

Loto will concede that floor napping was a bad idea. Her joints crackle as she sits up, and she has a crick in her neck. At least she's less tired.

She's hungry now, though, and flavors are weird, and looking in her fridge, she's not sure she was anything that won't be affected.

…coconut wouldn't betray her, right?

Wrong. F***ing bat taste bud deficiencies.

The remaining flavor isn't horrible, at least. And the crow that's cawing at her like it doesn't know how to open the window itself appreciates her sharing.

Her phone buzzes from the floor. She picks it up and checks the notification.

Moana: does the curse need blood again?

Loto swallows back saliva and texts back no.

Moana: ok. Lemme know when that changes.

Moana: oh yeah now that we've already established it in the weirdest way possible

Moana: i love you <333

✔️ Seen 6:23 pm.

For the record yes i love ending things like that. I hope it hurt <3