Mari

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

The coughing subsided and allowed Mari a moment of reprieve. She had moments like this every so often in prison, but it had never been this bad. Mari tried to find rhyme or reason behind her fits - the now very clear attempts of whatever decrepit form of gemini lie within her to escape. But there was no logic behind it. They came during peace, during happy moments, they came when she was tired and stressed, when she was focused… as though there were no meticulous plan, and that it would just periodically knock on that proverbial door to burst free. It just so happens to be happening more

QUESTS Red= Incomplete Orange= WIP Green = Complete [F01] <<The First Few Lessons are Free>> (Beginner Quest) [F01] <<The Second Lesson, is Also Free>> (Beginner Quest) [F01] <<The Third Leson, is Just as Free>> (Beginner Quest) [F01] <<The Forth Lesson, Is Actually Free>> (Beginner Quest) [F01] <<Earning a Living>> [F01] <<Secret Medicine of the Forest>> [F01/11/21] <<Nature's Treasure>> [F01] <<Redemption>> [F01] <<The Emerald Hatchling-Dragon Hunter Anthology>

“-except knot tying. That's stuff's just impossible." Mari laughed softly at his remark as she picked up the metal case and put it to the side, she could explain that one later. Somehow, Freyd had always managed to do this, say something innocuous that made her feel better. “Don’t have daughters.” Mari said with a faint smile. “They’ll want all manner of braids. No amount of YouTube videos could ever prepare me for that.” It was bittersweet. Mari rarely got to mention her daughter, and it pained her to…but the memory was sweet. Trying to match a video at 6 am in the morning, only to fail

The man was clearly hesitant, Mari couldn’t blame him. She had accidentally encroached too far into his personal space. Too curious for her own good. What would Freyd call it? Heh Obsessive. “Mmm…..” A noise of thought. She had already apologized, and had calmed down enough from the previous encounter. The field was covered in debris. In smashed vegetables, and the two fiery Pkers were covered in dirt. She accepted the bottle, and took three long drawn out gulps from it. Hoping to get that pleasant buzz back. She paused when she felt his fingers brush against her skin- pulling a strand of

"Thank you..." Those quiet whispered words flooded Mari with relief. Things weren’t beyond repair. Things would be okay. This wasn’t the end of the world, this was just a little bump in the road. Maybe Mari could find a friend in Elora…that’d be nice. Mari needed more female friends. With the two now sitting at the table, both looking equally dejected, Mari couldn’t help but sigh. The words slipped from her mouth without her even realizing. “Gods…you two really love each other huh? Its so obvious…” She felt a little envious. It must be nice to have someone like tha

"Sometimes? This has been happening more often?" Mari nodded as she picked up the small sphere of wasps. Turning it to and fro in her hands. “Yeh..twice today, once yesterday on the first floor, and once after leaving your place that day I met Elora. I get these dizzy spells, like the world is spinning. Sometimes I can feel myself passing out, so I do my best to get to a semi safe location. She was being truthful with him. There was no reason to lie. Not to Freyd. "And what is that smell?!" “A repellant. It helps keep monsters at bay. Stinks to high hell though. Sorry about

She watched as yet again, a life was taken before her very eyes. A part of her…a very small part of her was glad it happened. The man was a prick. He clearly enojoyed doing what he was doing. He instigated and caused all this chaos and for what? For why? Mari never was one to judge someone for messing up or messing with NPCs. She couldn’t give a rats ass about them, but this clearly involved more than that. Other players? Targeting a food source? Mari shifted her gaze over the farmstead - with the main instigator now gone, the attacking farmers were few and far between, most gave chase to

Mari tried to protest as she felt herself being lifted up off the ground. She wanted to fight and squirm but her body wouldn’t allow it. It was cold. She was cold, and her limbs felt heavy as though they were carrying the weight of the world. “F-Freyd…” Mari managed, her voice a groaned whisper. “I’ll be okay in a minute.” She believed those words. The door to her home slammed open with a fierce kick. The place smelled musty, and dust motes floated in the air. It was clear she wasn’t here often. Or hadn’t been here for a long…long time. She was placed on the floor in front of her firepla

A small giggle bubbled forth from Mari’s lips as the salt and peppered man approached, skidding down next to her in the snow. The womans form was partially hidden, covered by the powered ice. “You can’t stop this.” The voice was cold, low and almost melodious. It would have almost been enchanting with the way it practically sang the words, if they weren’t laced with an underlining vitterol. More black bile bubbled up over Mari’s lips. The voices rose in Mari’s unconscious mind, drowning out the sound of Freyd’s frantic shouting. You’re free, you’re so free right now - you c

Mari almost went to rub Acanthus on the back, but as soon as she lifted her hand, she was reminded of moments before, the awkwardness the two had only just endured. Despite being a closed off person, Mari’s love language was touch, being in close proximity to the person. It showed how she cared. But not everyone was comfortable with that. Instead Mari just snorted softly into her empty cup. “Yeh.” She said, almost amused. “I suppose I can’t just drop a bomb like ‘aht without explainin’ a few things, eh?” Mari was about to explain things, but then the brunette laughed, her speech slur

Mari pursed her lips. "I can't hold judgement. Till I have all the information. Even so...this isn't my place." And it was true. She wouldn't condemn him for looking after his own men, and if one of his own men had caused this much chaos...there would have been an underlining reason why. She felt a little better now, knowing that she wasn't being lead into a trap. If the players were his men. Mari wouldn't interfere. It'd be like him interfering in her own business. She'd be right pissed off at it. Mari let him step forward - taking on the first wave of farmer NPCs, several old men, all

"Yeah." Mari said quietly. Tersely. Her guard up. She knew him, very well. It seemed Lancaster did too, at least to some extent. He reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Mari's taught muscles relaxed. He wasn't Oikawas enemy. Although Mari had an inclination that he misinterpreted their relationship, feeling a warm hand on her bare shoulder, rings hard against her flesh. "We weren't like that." Mari clarified. Oikawa did confess to her, but she hadn't reciprocated his feelings. He was a very close and dear friend. "He was - is - a good friend. I miss him." A pause. "If y