Mari

Mari liked him, it wasn’t something like love that would be ridiculous. But she confirmed it wasn’t just lust either… confirmed in quite possibly the best way. Even if it did cost Aincrad a flower field. So what was it exactly…? Emotions were hard to package, you couldn’t wrap them up with a neat bow and call it a day. You couldn’t whack a label on it. The two shouldn’t be together. That much was obvious - and yet they kept running into each other. Not by chance or destiny but because in a way, they kept seeking the other out. At some point, if their intangible tango were to continue - they’d

In all honesty...Mari expected him to pull away. A small joke, a comment, compliment - then with a forlorn expression she expected him to leave her. Go back to his business. His world. There was a long silence as his eyes were set to the sky above, moving only to take long drags of his cigarette. Ever present. Then finally, he spoke, telling her how her hips cast magic. Shifting his head to lock into her eyes. His burning ember laden eyes burning with the cooled ferocity of a dying campfire. "-Everything a man could want, but could never steal." Lancaster turned away from her

Mari closed her eyes. It was…oddly peaceful. The scents were different. Fresh loamy earth - charred trees. The hints of smoke. She could hear the approach of someone, and knew it could only be one person. The one other person would have loudly announced his presence. “Freyd…” Mari said quietly, eyes still closed in perhaps the last moment of peace she’d have for a while. She sounded oddly calm with everything. Especially with what was about to transpire. Mari lifted a head from her knee and finally turned to look at him. He had a solemn and grim look on his features. Right…this would be j

It had been around three days since she last spoke to Freyd. The first day he followed her around, constantly checking in on her and making sure she was okay. She only had the one coughing fit - it seemed their nights spent talking and planning helped curb some of her gemini’s attempts to escape. Freyd finally let her have her space - with the promise that Mari would track every single coughing fit, even if no bile came from it. He needed to spend time with Elora. And Mari, being a solitary creature, needed time to think on her own without a doting friend following her around. It was fun

He bore down on her, and Mari was all too willing to accept, practically melting and melding around him and to his touch. A murmur here, a moan there - responding to the more ravenous actions with fervor. He left welts, and marks along her skin and in turn she had done the same - marks against his back, his neck, his collarbone. Greedy and insatiable touches and bites to claim him. Fingers would drag across his back and she'd press harder into him. "Hold this mia fammia, so you don't melt completely. Best not give you any new burns." A ring, he had pressed to her lips, and

It was difficult to put into words...small voices screamed at Mari. This was dangerous. This was wrong. She didn't know him. And yet there was so much unspoken, already the two were so entwined with past connections, people like her dearest friend Oikawa...His voice lowered, a rumbled whisper as he agreed to her offer of a concert, a performance - just for him. She felt her heart ache at that. Was it a good pain? Or a bad? She couldn't tell. "Pain and pleasure. It is shared amore mia dolce. Like your hand." Without realizing it, Mari found her hand wrapped in his own, his rough callo

"Pain is life, as is warmth. Embrace it." "I wish more people thought that way. Instead of constant platitudes of black and white. Sides, some of the most fun things can be painful." She wouldn't elaborate. They were both adults, and she didn't need to. If he caught her implication, great, if he didn't. who cares? If their meeting this time would end anything like it did last time, then she doubted she'd see him anytime soon. Then again...Mari lifted her gaze to meet his crimson. Searching them for something, there was an intensity behind her eyes that coaxed his own into her radiance,

Business. That meant please don't ask what I was doing. Mari simply nodded in response. She wouldn't pry. Not right now. They didn't know each other well enough for that. "I was here to experiment." Mari admitted. The grass around here usually had an extra layer of moisture to it, so any fires she started would be contained. The damage kept to a minimum. The last thing she needed was to piss off a bunch of NPCs and be running, or to accidentally hurt an actual person. And quite the flame you've nursed mi amore. I see you've been bitten Mari glanced down at her bandaged hand.

" Somehow, I doubt this is a surprise." A "You do have a habit of pissing people off." Mari said, feeling amusement returning to her voice. The longer she sat like this, the better she felt. It was like the warmth, and his presence kept everything away. Maybe she should visit Oscar tonight - if warmth kept this thing at bay. But she doubted that would work, that was....a distinctly different kind of warmth. "If closing off the void kept it at bay, I wonder if I could similarly coax it out at a time of our choosing. It.. wouldn't be pleasant, but..." Mari's lips turn

"The flame is dirty, piromane. Should use biofuels." "Oh?" Mari wasn't expecting him to be anywhere near here. It was off the beaten path. A tiny clearing nestled in a dense and wet forest. It didn't seem like the place he'd like to tread and yet...this was the second time she had seen him on this floor. "La fafala...like a moth to the flame you are." Mari slid herself off the large overhanging rock so she wasn't towering over him. "Not many people wander around like you." Mari commented , shifting her gaze to watch the last of the flowers, and the flames fizzle out. Biofuels...yes, Mari

A light and bubbly laughter came from the man as he reached out to her and pulled her close against him, enough so that she could feel his heartbeat- erratic. He really had been worried. She felt his calloused thumb run gently under her eyes. Wiping away first her tears then the black sludge from her chin. He smiled at her, softly, gently - a kind of smile that made you feel like things would be okay, even in the most turbulent of storms. "I'm happy to hear you want to live," It was a relieved whisper that tickled the skin of her ear. He was being...very close...but it wasn't uncomf

He was being oddly comforting in the moments that followed. Hushed whispers…the tickle of warm breath against the hairs on the back of her neck. Even his ever present gauntlet attire gave way to slacks, and loose fitted clothing. Calloused fingers ran up and down her arms in an attempt to soothe her. Mari leaned back into him, shivering lips turning into his chest. Leeching the warmth he emitted. “N-No wonder you survive that place so easily.” Mari said, a bit of bite and energy slowly returning to her voice. “Yer a fuckin’ heater.” An attempt at a joke - to lighten their situation. This isn’t

Mari sat somewhere on the 11th floor, further off the path than last time. She had found a clearing and was sitting on a flat rock that hung over a small field of flowers. It would have been pretty…if it didn’t stink to high hell like cheap perfume. Mari was wearing her usual attire - short shorts, fishnets…tattered scarf. But there was one addition to her small frame. A single cigarette sat wedged between her two fingers. Mari didn’t care about smoking. She could go as far as to say she didn’t exactly find the smell very pleasant, but right now it was keeping her stress levels low. A fai

Stare too long at the void and the void stares back… Mari wasn’t sure where she was. She felt like she was floating in a thick sludge, almost like mud. But she was ice cold. She could feel a weight press heavily on her chest. Every time she breathed in it felt like fire and every time she exhaled it felt like ice. She couldn’t feel her fingers, but she knew they twitched. She couldn’t move her body. Where am I? Mari tried shifting her head, it was hard…but possible, nothing. She was surrounded by nothing but inky blackness. The last thing she could recall was a sharp pain as

She had been to the estate only twice before, and both times had been with Cordelia. It was late, and her foosteps echoed on the stone pathway that lead to the large home. If truth be told...Mari wanted to see the woman. It had been far too long since she had. And she missed the others company. Still, it was a gamble if her or Oscar would be here. What did the chisled man call the place again? Oscar Meyer Mansion? The woman snorted, amused. It was so very typically him. The Oscar of her memories, the one who would come crashing down from nowhere screaming about his wares and weiners. That se