Mari

Mari was careful with her steps, slow and steady - as heeled feet clicked against the paved floors. The night had gotten later, and a soft wind picked up with the slightest of chill to the air - not enough to warrant a coat or shawl, but enough to cause tiny goosebumps to rise on the exposed skin of Mari's back. She wasn't used to wearing such silken things with all the various draping of a old ladys lounge room. A small hand reached up to fiddle with the choker that had been adorned around her neck. A tiny orange pendant in the shape of a flame. "When is that auction going to start..." Mari said to herself. Whilst it was nice to be on the outlier of things, it did feel a little ...disassociating. It felt surreal - like she was watching some sort of tv drama. "Oi! Konbanwa! -" Konban....Mari raised an eyebrow. Ah. This new person was Japanese right? Mari tilted her head. A woman had approached her with a small frame, and a deep hue of purple to her eyes. Her long hair, which was braided down one side was a soft pastel pink, Mari inwardly winced. It reminded her of her past self -and it was the very same hair colour she used to don - but Mari used a potion to change it to her natural ginger locks, since no doubt the soft pink would have long since grown out in the real world. Mari lifted the hand that was playing with her necklace and gave the stranger a wave. "Erm, Konbanwa - Ogenki desu ka?" Her Japanese....was not the greatest, Mari could hold small conversations, but her dialect was slurred. Mari lowered her head, bowing in response. "I'm...Mari." Mari straightened herself. This one was chatty. Wasn't she? ' Man that singer needs to take a note from my book, because I don't even have milkshakes and all these ladies are comin' to my yard. Mari thought to herself. She had no idea why people kept approaching her at the event, she wasn't entirely opposed to it, but....orange crystal??? Normally people avoided that sort of thing. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, I guess but uh..." Mari's head shifted to and fro, as she glanced around. "Why do you wanna be my friend? I'm not exactly good company." @Zajcica

Mari was....glad that she had stepped away from things when she did, sure - at the begining of the event she had taken a bunch of strawberries. Heck, she still had a plate of them in her hand now. Mari was able to go to a fancy, ritzy gala - you could be damn well sure she was going to consume as much of the food as possible, before going back to 'ok where the heck am I going to get my next meal from?' But this? Cat-fights, more dragons. 'Seriously who keeps bringing all these familiars to events?" Mari thought to herself as she picked up another strawberry and plopped it into her mouth. She warily watched the dragons as they chattered among themselves up in the higher sections of the tent. Well, as long as they were up there, and out the way - Mari saw no problem with them. If they both were up there in the first place, there wouldn't have been a problem. Speaking of... Mari shifted her gaze over to Quinn, keeping an eye on the girl from Afar. Quinn still seemed nervous; but overall she looked like she was doing ok. Astralin seemed like a nice enough girl. They were probably closer in age too - and would hopefully get along. It wasn't really Mari's place to mother Quinn, the girl needed to learn to do things on her own. Heck, Mari barely even knew her. As Mari's eyes shifted back across the tent she swore she saw another ginger haired girl smiling at her. Mari blinked and looked around, there was no one behind her. Is she...smiling at me? Mari gave the other one a small wave back. @Azhoda That would do, right? It looked like her other friend wouldn't be coming. It may be for the best though; things had gotten a little..hectic. But things always seemed to work out that way at events like this. Put a bunch of highly strung people into a communal space, things were bound to happen. Granted, not to this extent. But at least everything was finally pittering out now. Mari paused at the entrance to the tent; she gave a tentative glance to Lady Pembroke then peeked out to see if anyone was coming down the path. Nope. No one. Mari sighed as she plopped another strawberry into her mouth and continued on her path around the tent. It was nice to just people watch sometimes.

Mari winced when Quinn said she had seen her name on the monument, right... it was foolish of Mari to think that the young kid hadn't visited the monument, most people had. What Mari wasn't expecting though...was for Quinn to call her a friend, they had only met once before at a very hectic gala. "Outbursts..." Mari muttered, "Ah..yeh, I have a bit of a short fuse. I'm trying to keep it in check these days , but being blasted in the face with cold air, f**k I'm only human, right?" Mari tried to say with a smile. Mari diverted her attention to the reeds that lined the lake. She picked one up, and it had turned into a material. "Ok, that's me done then." Mari said as she leaned back. Mari wasn't expecting the thing that had happened next. The tiny girl wrapped her arms around Mari, thin arms squeezing the woman tight. Warmth soaked into Mari's form, and Mari was...at a loss for words. Instinctively, she wanted to push the other one off of her, not having good experiences with people closing in on her personal space. She didn't like it when it was sudden and unexpected like this. IT was easy to push someone like Gall...whatever, off of her - but someone so small and frail? That was a little bit different. Her voice squeaked with some sort of unbridled glee that Mari didn't understand, but it was a rare thing in this world and Mari - despite how uncomfortable she felt, couldn't just take that away. Mari reached up and gave Quinn a pat on the shoulder. "Uhm..it's okay." She said softly. "I didn't really do much of anything, yanno? I just threw a Swan, and stole some strawberries that's all." Speaking of, Mac still needed to give her the ones he had liberated from the event. Mari cleared her throat as she gave Quinn another gentle pat on her back. Mari...wasn't good with words in moments like these, she just hoped that the lackluster gesture wasn't lost on Quinn. "You said, you like musicals, right? Do you like the Violin? I could play if you like?" That'd be something she could do...yeh? Baldur said she should share her music, right? Not in those exact words but...still... @Quinn ID#136148 LD:12 = Success 5/5 Materials collected

Mari stood, abandoning the useless sludge pile in front of her. She pulled her scarf forward and dried her hands on it, wrapping them up to bring warmth back to them. "Mannnn, I live on a bloody desert of a continent - you're either on the shore, or in the desert - there ain't really an in-between. Luckily, where I am, it doesn't get too humid though. Just dry heat." A White Christmas. "To experience something like a White Christmas, I guess I got to do that here. So I could technically cross it off my bucket list, but I'd hope for one that was...nicer, emotionally I mean." Mari wasn't going to go into detail on what happened, but it wasn't uncommon for people to not exactly have the best of time during the seasonal holidays in Aincrad "Yeh... I have a short fuse, I have a lotta respect for teachers - gods know I wouldn't be able to handle a bunch of rude kids who refuse to listen." Macradon talked about apprentices, Mari had...a couple herself, Lowenthal - and Esther - neither one had good endings. But now was not her time to mention that, now was his time to talk about his experiences and ideas. "You know...." Mari began as she walked over to him. "We can't control what other people do, and we can't constantly blame ourselves for the bad things that happen to others. The what ifs, the 'I could have done better' those thoughts?" Mari paused and closed her eyes with a sigh. "They...destroy us." She wrapped her arms around her torso. "They eat away at us, so much so till we start believing in them. And when we give into them, we aren't really of much help to anyone." Mari wasn't quite sure if her words helped, but that sort of thing, it was something she lived with - and had a wealth of experience with. It was easier said than done though. Mari smiled at Macradon. "Sounds like you have a lot of footwork to do, let me know if I can help in some way, yeh?" @Macradon

"It doesn't snow where I come from." Mari said. "So it definitely took some time getting used to the cold." She said with a grin. "But I was enamored with it. I fell in love with it." She lifted her eyes to the horizon. "Maybe, when I get out of here - I'll go to a place that has actual snowfall." She watched as he formed a snowball, and snorted as she tried to hold back a laugh. It reminded her of how she threatened to throw yellow snow at Baldur. "I liked easygoing movies." Mari said. "Everything and everyone around me was all pressure, pressure, pressure. And I guess having a small child, you kinda get used to the bright colours an the like." The conversation put Mari more and more at ease, and she began to feel a little silly for her earlier feeling of dread, thinking that they weren't friends. She had to learn to trust him better, and trust the voices in her head less. She watched him play some form of catch with his three-headed dog. One of the heads caught the snowball and crunched it in its big maw, chewing the ice quite happily. The scene was nice, pleasant. "For the record, I have no problem with how you act. It's refreshing, really." Mari said as she knelt down and started to pack together her own snowball, it made her feel a tad melonchony, reminding her of Christmas Eve, and how Alkor had told her he never really loved her, and whilst they would remain friends, she hadn't heard from him since. It hurt, but she knew he needed his distance, and he needed the time. Her snowball wasn't exactly round, it was more of a blob as she rolled it between her hands. "A fencing school, huh?" Mari thought aloud. "So you'd need like a Master of each weapon type, and perhaps the martial arts one too?" She asked. "If you want people frontline ready, classes in uhm...battle inventory and what things to enhance could also work - but that's not really just a fencing school anymore, is it?" @Macradon

(because I didn't realize I needed this to be evaluated I sorry X___X) Name: Kohaku ID: 134815 Roll: CD: 9 = SUCCESS Rank: Untrained Enhancements: TBD Description: A seemingly gentle Koi fish that floats gently in the air around its user, as though it were swimming in a soft current. It is of the 'Kohaku' variation ,where it gets its namesake and has white and orange colouration. Link: Feeding the Enemy, of Fishes and Snakes

"Is it?" Mari asked as Macradon seemed to be quite shocked at how many levels she'd gained. Mari bought up her HUD, glancing over her stats. "Maybe? Honestly...I was hoping to get some more done, but It's a little harder to do quests at night time, ain't it?" She closed her menu and gave him a sheepish smile. "I really don't have anything else to do with my time, Mac. It's not like I can sit back and relax someplace warm. Well, not till earlier today anyway." Mari kicked at the snow as she exhaled, steam forming from her lips. She thought he'd be proud of her, but he seemed...startled? Maybe? Maybe it was too much. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to come out today. Mari shifted her gaze away from Macradon. Ahh, maybe she had come on too hard, sure they were friends but perhaps she forgot her place? Got too chummy too soon. "I'm used to this sort of weather. I spend my free time on this floor." Mari rubbed her arm, not out of being cold, but concern - so worried that she had already messed her friendship up with him. But she couldn't let those voices in her head get too far, else she'd walk away now. Mari cleared her throat, furrowing her brow. At least Baldur seemed to like the choice of familiar. "Don't judge him, some fish can be quite dangerous! Haven't you ever seen the Bobbit Worm? The Oscar? Piranha?" Her brows loosened as she gave Macradon a smile, feeling a little more at ease as he joked. She had to remember to breathe, and that just because he was bewildered, it didn't mean he disliked her. "Thanks Mac - I was hoping to surprise you with the extra damage boost but I kinda got distracted." She mumbled as she glanced away, scratching her cheek. She had planned to level up Kohaku today, but instead - she had ran into Baldur - it...was a nice and much needed distraction but still. Mari cleared her throat as she quickly put Kohaku away. "I guess you could say its positive." She said with reddened cheeks. Mari was thankful the subject shifted from her to him, as he started talking about sketches for a school. Between that, he had called for his three headed dog, a great big slobbering machine that thing was.As long as it didn't slobber on her, that was fine. "What kind of school?" Mari asked, genuinely curious. The dragon can wait, tell me more about your school thing!" @Macradon

Having heard nothing of real interest from the newcomer Mari inwardly grimaced. She didn't want to be babysitting a bunch of younger people tonight. With one final glance down at Quinn Mari offered the blonde a small smile. "Try talkin' to others - like..." Mari paused, crap, the other girl just introduced herself and Mari had already forgotten it, she wasn't the best with names - and quite frankly she had been more than inundated with new people lately. "Like Astralus here." That was her name right? If not it was close enough. She had enough of new faces tonight, way more than necessary. All she wanted was to eat some food and chat to Macradon and Baldur; but as expected, Mac had gone off with his fiance. Mari didn't blame him for that. She did however blame him for the puddle of strawberry punch that had been streaked across the floor. Speaking of which... Mari watched as the kid with the stupid dragon slipped on the floor. she scoffed. "Serves you right for not chaining that damn thing up..." She muttered under her breath before shifting her attention back to Quinn. "You're feeling better now, right?" Mari offered her a small smile. "I'm feelin' a little overwhelmed myself, so chat to the girl here, and maybe you'll make a new friend. But for now I should probably go." Mari gave Quinn one last squeeze on her shoulder then turned to Astralus, Astralia? Astra? She turned to the other blonde girl and offered her a wry smile. "You have fun too." She said with a wave. Mari picked up a small plate and grabbed a handful of strawberries, yes more strawberries and plopped them onto it before shifting away from the table, heading toward the outier of the tent. Slowly walking around the large room, every so often plopping a strawberry into her mouth. @Quinn @Astralin

Mari grinned when Quinn found another Material. "Yeh, see? Sometimes its not you. So don't be so hard on yourself. Mostly, its just a bad spawning area. I don't do it much, but back in the day I used to go hunting for materials all the time. Now I don't even bother with my crafts, let alone hunting for ingredients." The ginger haired woman plunged her hand down into the water and wrapped her fingers around some reeds before pulling them up, shaking the water from them. "After this, I got one more to go. Once I have all five I may as well give them to you." Mari shrugged her shoulders. "I can't do the second part of the quest, since it involves me going into town..." Mari trailed off, watching Quinn. She missed the towns, she missed the hustle and bustle of people. Mari used to hate mundane things like that, but now, she found it was those small, bothersome things...that she missed most. As much as she wanted to jump on in and face Redemption she felt she was not ready. Nor was the world. She couldn't just wash herself free of the colour that stained the crystal above her head. "I need to ask, you seem quite timid - and I ain't got no issue with that, but you know what an orange crystal means right?" Mari asked. She was genuinely unsure if Quinn knew of the status. "It means I'm a criminal. You okay with that?" @Quinn ID# 136125 LD:19 =Success 4/5 Materials collected

What in the? Mari tilted her head with a brow raised in confused curiosity. Did he take her jest seriously? Mari may not have been good at social interactions, but she thought she had made it fairly clear she was joking. He kept flip flopping between answers which made Mari suspicious. Why couldn't this guy keep his story straight? Did he want to fight the boss? OR did he want to collect materials? Now it sounded like he was after the same item she was. Right after she mentioned it. When he had no mention of it before. She inwardly grumbled. This whole 'being nice to others' thing was becoming a bit of a pain. She wanted to try, and she wanted to give the benefit of the doubt but it was shady. Mari didn't trust him. "Mmm...." Mari thought, did she really want him around? She could easily do this on her own - but having two people would be quicker. She didn't trust that he'd just give her the item - not after that whole spiel of wanting it for himself to settle deals and bonds or what have you. "If you want." Mari said finally. She wouldn't tell him to go away. "I don't get how calling someone sweetheart is poking fun." Mari said earnestly. "To me, its a term of either endearment or condescension. I can't tell you how many times I was called 'sweetheart' in the office by men below their and my pay-grade because I was a woman." Mari said as they began to walk, wanting to explain why she didn't like the term. As he told her to lead the way, Mari stepped past him, following the map. "It's really not too far, once we hit the wastelands at the forests edge - we'll be able to see it." she turned to glance at Gladiator and offered him a wry smile. "I doubt either of us would miss a giant f**k off skull like that." @Gladiator

Mari was waiting just outside the main settlement. She hadn't exactly dressed warmly, but she did have her long scarf, albeit a little torn. Mari was used to the chill that the floor bought. She spent most of her free time here, and now her home was on the floor. If she needed, she had a warm, thick white coat she could throw on, but she preferred to move without it. Mari caught sight of Macradon as he was leaving the main settlement. She waved him over. "Hiii Mac~" "I've kinnda been busy." Mari said with a grin. "Check it out! Level 53 now!" She gave him a nudge with her elbow. "Give me another few days and I'll be level 60 - just you watch." Mari gestured to Kohaku, her Koi fish familiar. "Oh, and this is Kohaku. After today - I'll be training him to deal damage. I thought about what you said, and decided I wanted to stay with my dagger. But I wanted to increase my damage output sooo - yeh." Mari blinked, almost forgetting - "Oh! I uh..." She scratched her cheek as she kicked at the ground. "I uhm...kinda got a house too. I could only get the one room and don't have the Col to expand...so I don't even have a bedroom yet, hahah...but Baldur kinda convinced me to get it - oh I met him too." Mari said with a sheepish grin. It had only been two days but she had been through so very much. It felt like she hadn't stopped. "My house is on this floor actually, that's how I made it here so quick." Mari left out the part where she still hadn't slept in her house just yet. "So, What kind of dragon are we fighting today? How have you been?" It seemed like the one other thing Mari forgot to mention was the change in her appearance, her attire was no longer limited to a single black v-neck shirt and jean shorts. Instead she wore an orange outfit with black shorts, boots - and red rope around her forearms. It felt...more fitting for someone who would be returning to the frontlines. She couldn't exactly go there in her pj's or something, right? RIght? Note to self; ask Macradon if it would be possible to fight on the frontlines in PJs. @Macradon

Mari sighed as she tore through another Boar Pup, it gave a feeble and slobbery cry before erupting into a flurry of data. Leaving behind absolutely nothing. "Haven't been very lucky with these last few boars..." Mari mumbled. "Yanno there are items to increase your loot drop chances? Maybe I should have picked up one of them - we still have two bloody quests after this!" Mari kicked at the ground. "Man, forcing lower level players through this gauntlet is torture." She turned to Kendre who... was carrying the Boar Pup. "Omg you....shouldn't you put that down and...." Mari face palmed. He had gone and named it...bloody Kevin Bacon of all things. Jeez. "Fine, keep it, whatever- but it's gonna keep attackin' you ya know." She chastized. "There's a quest for you to find and tame familiars - you could find a different pig doing that." She doubted he'd listen, but hey. At least the information was out there now. Kendre then went into a small speech about how she wasn't really a bad person. Mari shrunk into herself. She wanted to scream at him, tell him to f**k off because he had no idea who the hell she was and what she had done. Instead she offered Kendre a sheepish grin. "I guess I'm slowly workin on trying to get out of my own head. It's a little hard though." She tapped her temple. "The me in there seems to be stuck, know of any ways to get the little voices inside your head out your ears?" She tried to joke. His speech made her feel a little better - and she knew she had to stop hating herself. But that'd take time. @Kendre MARI LV 51 | HP 1050 | ENERGY 102 DAM: 11 | EVA 3 | MIT 25 | ACC 4 | ID#136032 BD: 5+ 4 = SUCCESS LD: 2 = fail BOAR PUP | HP: 5/5 | Drops Tusks on LD 11+

(just bumpin' this along) Basuke, (or was it BAh-soo-keh?) Mari wasn't sure, but either way - the kid was definitely Korean. Mari inwardly flinched at her inability to understand. To be able to be fluent in every language That'd be amazing. But, that was a fantasy and this was the real world - or as close to it as they could be right now. Then there was that Tanoshi kid. ....Damn, they were all kids weren't they? Just enjoying a night out under the stars. To be so carefree....Mari missed that. A rueful smile broke her freckled face as blue coloured eyes shifted to the ground. She appreciated the sentiment some of them shared. They were apprehensive, yet willing to let her join. "I do appreciate it, I really do." Mari said. "But I don't really have anything aside from a few stories to add to your little camp out." Tanoshi?" Basuke repeated, trying to commit the name to memory as he put a hand to his face. So he was Japanese, then? The name sounded familiar enough. "Tanoshi, nice to meet you!" She wasn't one for sweets, at least not in the form of marshmallows. "Yanno, I am hungry." Mari said with a little more energy as she took a step toward the fire. She shifted her gaze to @Basuke "But I'm not really one for sweets. So don't worry, I'm not gonna steal your marshmallows or whatever." She shifted her eyes up to the sky. "I used to.... go camping that is." She had gone a few times with her bastard of an ex husband, of course....back then it was all smiles and smoked meats. Mari couldn't help but smile at @Andromeda as she walked around the fire and sat down - clearly excited for the sickly sweet treats to come. "Alright. How about this..." Mari proposed - still keeping enough distance from the fire an the others, to give them space. "If some of you help provide me with a savoury meal, I'll let each of you ask me a question. Anything. I've been around a while - and am a returning frontliner. Information is very, very useful in this world. More so than some scraps of food. Right?" @HoaxDemon @Tanoshi

REWARDS Mari + Macradon +2 SP (1 Quest, 1 page) Mari + Macradon 425 Col Each (Quest rewards + Page rewards divided by players) Mari + Macradon - <Ghidorah’s Opal> [Vanity Quest Item] : 1 of 9

"Well, let's just say we were both insufferable pricks back then, eh?" Mari said with a bemused smile. She didn't want to make light of what happened in the past, but being able to talk to someone about it, like this. It helped. It helped put things into perspective, and make her realize not everything was her fault. She had two of her closest friends betray her, she had an entire guild out for her head ; even going as far as to ban all its members from the frontline battle - just in hopes that Mari, and any who followed her would die and fail...despite clearing and finding the boss room after that, she was threatened - that if she were to ever show her face again she'd be killed. So many things. So very many, very terrible things had happened. But things...felt a little brighter. A little lighter, Macradon wasn't exactly the brightest person around - but hey, neither was she. He certainly had been the most friendliest. Mari gave him a wry grin. "Maybe we should get some MAC and cheese - with little crunched chips on top." Mari said with a sprinkling motion of her hands. "Yanno, potato chips? Sea salt potato chips are the best. IT gives the pasta a salty crunch." Her smile faded slightly as he posed the question of finding a place for her to eat. "Ahh... I suppose such a venture should wait till I am able to complete redemption aye?" Mari shifted her eyes to the sun, it was getting late, but they had made a lot of progress. Three dragons in one day? That was nothing to poke a stick at. "Hey, I know you gotta be running off, but message me soon so we can complete the quest, yeh?" Mari said with a small wave. "I'll see you soon." @Macradon