[[PP-F24]] Bring me to the Place you Rest

[Mari 1]

Don’t lose your way in your mind
We have to be as one
Don’t be afraid my sweetheart
This is the way to be more strong
 

Mari had yet to properly talk to either Macradon or Baldur - her return had been a whirlwind of emotion and as such…she wasn’t fully able to take a moment to breathe, and to explain everything to them…fully. Mari wanted to get the chance to talk to each of them. Individually, or together. It didn’t matter to her, what did matter..was that they were owed answers. Two years…was a very long time. To be gone from friends, from those who needed her - from what little life they all had in this wretched digital prison. Still…Mari had no regrets. She would have crumbled, and broken completely if she hadn’t.

Mari sat, wearing a thick towel wrapped around her torso in a hot spring. The day had shifted to evening - and the sun shone through falling red maple leaves, its rays sparkling across the dancing waters. Now having fully washed - she was no longer covered in grime, and her hair no longer a tousled mess of twigs and debris. Mari’s face was shiny, clean, although her eyes were still tired. Puffy. How much had she sat here? Crying alone in the onsen? Letting her tears trickle down her face? Enough for there to be no more sorrow. She had her reprieve to be her vulnerable self - to relish in the pain and relief of freedom.

Oh how Mari missed this; her lips parted as she exhaled. Thankful for being able to stay in Baldur's estate; even if it were just to use the shared hot springs. Were…these even part of his estate? She wasn’t sure. Frankly - Mari didn’t care. She was clean, she was warm. She shut her eyes. Relishing in the warmth of the water - steam rising as the gentle ebb of the current seeped away at the weariness in her muscles.

The warmth of the setting sun - the gentle coolness of the breeze as it tickled her exposed skin.

“I needed this…” She whispered to herself.




@Macradon

Edited Monday at 07:41 AM by Mari

[Macradon 0]

A good shower really freshened up the knight’s mood, really cleared out his mind, really set him up for glory once again. It wasn’t much, but with his digital physical body as a clean slate again, Macradon was ready for what he was good at … or at least one of the things he was good at, sowing chaos into everything. There’s nothing that needed to go steady, nothing needed to be stale, it all had to keep moving.

The legendary bathrobe, the one he used with the gang back in the days, back when their shenanigans were at the top, it was time to relive his glory days. Like the idiot he was back then, Macradon climbed up the walls of the hot springs, trying to find a vantage point from where he could jump down into the water in a magnificent fashion.

He climbed to the peak of an ornate rock formation and took his stance. An endearing and not really intimidating power stance, outlooking the entire hot spring from his perch.

The trill of aztec dubstep filled his mind as he stood atop the pillar, being the man he was, but when he saw how calm Mari was, how relaxed she looked, he hesitated. This wasn’t his moment, this wasn’t about him, he didn’t need this, Mari did. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down again, it wasn’t his right to disturb the peace his friend needed after all that time away … in prison of all places. She might’ve had a lot of alone time, a lot of silence, but this was different, this bliss was different, he was sure of it.

She deserved to get some proper relaxation.

Standing upon his perch like an eagle making its way down the mountain top, Macradon chose to sit down and take in the steam around him. The intermittent barrier of the steam and the cold air mingling around him, the transfer of heat covering his body in swirls of interactions.

Now wasn’t time for his shenanigans, despite how well fitting the scenario, the scenery, or the attire was. He sighed and began climbing down the pillar and got down to the steaming hot waters. A toe in first, then a foot, then a full step into it. It was hot, warm. Took a bit of time to get used to, but he eventually submerged his body and held his head above the water, getting warmer and warmer like a boiled potato.

Stats:

Level: 33(67)
«Macradon» 980/980 HP| 130/130 EN | 23 DMG | 114 MIT | 2 ACC | 0 EVA | 8 REC | 52 BH | 107 VMP | 16(8) FRT | 16 FRS | 16 Holy | Phase

Custom Skill <<Aerial Ace>> is active unless objected to

Spoiler

Macradon The Imperial Topaz	Level: 33(67) «Macradon» 980/980 HP| 130/130 EN | 23 DMG | 114 MIT | 2 ACC | 0 EVA | 8 REC | 52 BH | 107 VMP | 16(8) FRT | 16 FRS | 16 Holy | Phase
Stats	HP: 980 EN: 130 ACC: 2 EVA: 0 DMG: 23 MIT: 114 REC: 8 FRT: 16(8) FRS: 16(2 turns) VMP: 107
Equipped Items	- Blade of the Bloody Dictator // +16 Holy Damage, Phase, 10%+Survival(107) Vampiric Offensive - Silverlight ................ // +64 Mitigation, +16(8) Frost Thorns, +16 Frost Damage - Templar's Necklace ......... // +8 Recovery, +2 Accuracy
Battle Ready Inventory	- Empty inventory slot ....... // - Empty inventory slot ....... // - Empty inventory slot ....... // - Empty inventory slot ....... // - Empty inventory slot ....... // - Dimensional backpack - - Empty inventory slot ..... //
Buffs	- Rested ..................... // -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat. - Filling .................... // Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by                                   +1 T1 slots. - Relaxed .................... // Increase Out of Combat HP regen by 5*Tier+Survival(22) HP and decrease full energy regen                                   to 2 Out of Combat posts. - Col Deposit ................ // +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests. - Paragon Level 67 ........... // +260 HP, +26 EN. - Buff name .................. // Buff effect.
Skills & Mods	- 2H Straight Sword ............ || Rank 5: +7 Damage. - - Ferocity .................... // +2 Damage. - - Stamina ..................... // Decrease Energy Cost by 2. - Battle Healing ............... || Rank 5: Heal 5%+Survival(50) each post In-Battle. - Charge ....................... || +5 Damage -1 Accuracy on first hit. - Combat Mastery: Damage ....... || +1*Tier*Rank(12) - Energist ..................... || Add 5*Tier(20) Energy to your max pool. - Fighting Spirit .............. || +1 Hate generation. - Heavy Armor .................. || Rank 5: +35 Damage Mitigation. - - Impetus ..................... // +1 Damage. - - Iron Skin ................... // +15 Mitigation, +15*Tier(60) HP. - Searching .................... || Rank 5: +5 Loot Die, +5 Stealth Detection. - - Reveal ..................... || +2 LD when searching for Sub-Dungeons or Labyrinths. You may also search for a                                    sub-dungeon or labyrinth once every 10 posts (instead of 15). Reduces the                                    personal post cooldown when searching for a labyrinth to 3 posts (instead of 5). - Quick Change ................. || Allows the user to instantly equip, unequip, or swap any equipment in their                                   battle-ready inventory. - Aerial Ace ................... || Increase damage at the cost of ACC, EVA, & MIT while in Aerial stance.   - Disguise ..................... || +1 EVA for one turn, lesser critical doesn't autohit. - Meditation ................... || Recover 4*Tier(16) energy with post action. - Parry ........................ || Reduce incoming damage by 50%(rounded down). - Survival ..................... || Increase all Healing from all sources by 10%. Immune to environmental damage.

[Mari 1]

Mari opened her eyes; and right before her - atop a tall rock formation stood Macradon. She couldn’t help but snort - it was so typical of him. Has he noticed her yet? Mari wasn’t sure, she watched him flex - then flap his arms as though he was a bird. She couldn’t help it, a small snort came from her - followed by a laugh. “He…He can’t be serious…” she muttered to herself. But she already knew that he was. She was waiting for it - waiting for him to jump. Waiting for the splash - but their eyes met - and he hesitated. Instead - Macradon sat down, taking a breather. Why didn’t he jump? Mari gave him a curious look, one he no doubt could not see from so far away. That wasn’t like him. He was the kind of person to just dive in.

It took her a few minutes to realize it was because of her he was being…considerate. Mari waved at him, she was about to coax him to jump - but he was already on his way down.

“Macradon!” Mari said with a warm smile, it was so nice to see him again like this. “You should have jumped.” Mari shifted in the onsen - getting closer to him so they could talk a little easier. “I missed your antics.” She admitted. Glancing down. “But-” She turned back to him. “I get what you were doing - thank you for being considerate.”

There was a small silence between the two of them, one Mari didn’t like - there was a sense of awkwardness in the air. She wanted things to go back to how they usually were with them. “So…” She began, leaning back. “You probably have a lot of questions, huh? Go ahead - shoot.”

[Macradon 0]

“Heh, yeah maybe I should’ve, but you looked so calm, I didn’t want to disturb your, especially when you’re finally back again, I reckon you haven’t had the pleasure to properly relax in this conditions, but that’s just a guess on my end” he said and swirled around in the warm water, currently only having his face above the surface, keeping his entire body boiling underneath like the good sausage he was.

“You’re welcome” he said calmly with a smile “It’s the least I can do right now, no need to splash all the water away just yet … yet!” he said excitedly in anticipation of a good opportunity to just make a mess.

Despite the warmth of the hot springs, the air got colder, the temperature somewhat lukewarm. Questions … “Question .. right … questions … I have those … right?” he thought to himself, pondering upon what he had to ask her right here, right now. “You know … I haven’t really had a time to think of questions, other than … where you’ve been, but I guess that’s been answered already.” he said and sighed heavily, slowly emerging from the depth of this stock pot and find a place to lean up against.

“Why?” he asked “Why’d you go to jail? What happened that got you … caught?” he asked with a somewhat confused and inquisitive tone “You’ve been free for so long, did something new happen that you had to be taken in? Was it your own choice? Did someone coax you into it?” he bombarded her with questions, he hadn’t thought of them beforehand, but now they were flowing out like a river.

[Mari 1]

Mari shook her head, "Not just a guess." She chided. "Again, I was in prison." Mari reached out, pointing from one side of the onsen to the other - "I think my cell was probably a little smaller than this area? I think if I were to walk from end to end - it'd take me 5 steps. Not a lot of space. But not like, a lil' closet either." She wasn't sure if her casually talking about her incarceration would be a mood killer or not - so in an attempt to keep the atmosphere lighthearted she kept her voice airy. Mari reached out and placed a single hand on Macradon's head, ruffling his hair. "You're gonna turn into a lil potato if you keep yourself submerged like that." 

"Why?" Mari could give him a million different reasons, excuses, deflections. She was good at that. But that would do neither of them any good. "Why..." Mari repeated pensively. "You know...at first - I was just looking for...Oikawa, and Beat. Having Pillars of Jacobs ladder disappear...it was worrying. I may have been a little tunnel visioned there. I kept checking different floors - then the monument. Making sure their names didn't appear there. That they were still...somewhere."

Mari made a mental note to check the monument of life after this. To ensure those names were still absent.

"The APD were hunting me. Many people were. I was worried it'd affect those around me. People like you." Mari glanced to the side at him and gave him a wry grin. The last she wanted was for something to happen to the few people she had truly cared about. "Raidou -" Mari sighed. "You know, I can barely stand that guy sometimes. But he's pragmatic. And - so he was perfect." Saying it like that - made Mari feel a little guilty. She could have trusted Macradon, or Baldur, or even Shield - but because of how much she cared about them...she couldn't. 

"I allowed myself to be taken to that place. So in a sense - I guess it was self admitted. That part - I don't mind people knowing. But..." Mari reached up and tugged on her hair, averting her gaze from his. How do you voice all those small things? Everything that built up to two fucking years  in prison? 

"Mac...you know...how hard I struggled, right?" He did. He was one of the few who truly did. "I was struggling. The guilt of walking around. What Bahr said... you know..." She shook her head again and  cupped her hands together, before splashing her face with water. "I was barely holding myself together - and yet somehow. I was some beacon for people. Oikawa...Beat...Yuki...Crozeph...Chaser...Hidden..." Mari started rattling off names. "Hikoru...Cordelia...Zandra...god that little boy..." The names continued, before Mari sighed. "Every single time someone wanted something from me, I'd tear more and more of myself in part. I had...I had little for me. The few times I reached out for help. You know what I was fuckin' told?" Mari asked.

"To suck it up. That I was a pillar. I had to deal with these things because people looked up to me. ME a killer." Mari took a deep breath, allowing herself to calm down. "I never - I still don't understand why. But...it made me hate myself. Made me think I was worthless. I even jumped into that endless pit on the 10th floor. I was - I was not in a good place. If I didn't lock myself away. I don't think I'd have survived." Mari didn't elaborate on that. She'd allow Macradon to come to his own conclusion on what she meant, hoping he got the cues.

"The thing...I don't want you, or Baldur - because he will know this too to tell anyone is..." Mari scooched closer, letting her head rest on Macradons shoulder. There was a long moment of silence.

"I could have left any time."

Another pause.

"Raidou would come, once a week, and offer rations - and sit and read to me. Poor sod. I barely said a word to him. And every single time, he'd ask if I wanted to leave. But I never gave him an answer. Truth be told... I needed it. I needed to be locked away for my crimes. I needed time away from everything - and that place...it was so cold and isolating. Listening to that dragons screams, the shuffling of monsters in the night... never knowing if it was day or not. It was hard. But it was deserved." her voice fell quiet. "I had a lot of time to think. Reflect. As I said, it was bad. But it wasn't terrible, and...in a sort of weird and twisted way... I think it helped me."

Mari chanced reaching out and squeezing Macradons hand. "I didn't tell you. Or anyone. Because I know you. You'd have tried to find a way to break me out. Baldur would have tried to tell me that I'd do better out on the frontlines to atone. I wanted to message you, so many times - but in that place...all communication was blocked off. I couldn't. I'm sorry." She said with a final squeeze of his hand before letting go.

"On...the plus side, I don't really hate myself anymore." She added with a laugh. "And - I'm ready." 

Mari lifted her head form his shoulder. "I want to do Redemption."

Those five words; words that held so much weight. Mari was always so adamant about never doing it. About keeping her Pker status because she deserved  it. Because why should SHE of all people walk free. Why should she be able to wash herself of her past and mingle with those who hadn't taken a life? Mari had hated herself so much she denied herself the basic necessities and joys of life. A safe place to live, a bed - even now she had yet to ever sleep in one since she took her first life.  

But.

Bit by bit. She was going to live again.

For herself.

@Macradon

Edited 11 hours ago by Mari

[Macradon 0]

He listened carefully to Mari’s explanation of her jail cell up until she ruffled his hair “Heh, it’s raisin time” he muffled out in a chortle, waiting for his body to wrinkle up from being submerged for so long. He kept his boiled potato composure and kept on listening, taking in all that Mari wanted to tell him now, it was imperative that he understood her reasoning, understood her words, and actually understood what had been going on. His mind wanted to wander, but his focus kept pulling it back, locked in, on his friend’s word dump.

The feelings in her voice were loud and clear, his eyes would flicker at her mentioning of the 10th, it wasn’t just like one of his shenanigans, his antics of jumping from high places for the thrill, this one was different, much more personal … much more … careless. He understood, he looked worried, but also somewhat relieved that she was still here with him, that she didn’t just … pixelate into nothing. “The horrors of our life persist, but so do we.” he said somewhat snarky “I’m happy you’re still here, despite everything that has happened, I’m happy you’ve had time to think and reflect. You’re still you, in essence, but you’ve become a better you, at least I think so.” he said and leaned his head upon hers, just for the closeness.

The moment of bliss between the friends was nice, not something they had back in the days, it was usually just antics, combat, throwing Macradon at monsters, literally and figuratively. Some slowness in a hot spring feels nice for a change, a few more relaxing days could be great in between their onslaughts of digital enemies. “Yeah, more days like these” he said, remembering what he did earlier, absolutely nothing on his couch, but now he’s doing something while relaxing, actively doing something.

He looked over at Mari with a twinkle in his eyes, “Redemption” she said, a quest to take away the orange cursor. Macradon stood up from the water and splashed everywhere in excitement as he looked over at her “Yes! Let’s do it! I’m ready when you are!” he said while tippy toeing around the water, making a little happy dance in celebration.

Mari had always loathed herself for her choices, her being a PK’er was important for her self-atonement, at least she thought so, but now that she felt ready to write a new chapter, to turn a new page, Macradon couldn’t be more excited to support his friend in any way she needed. “This needs a celebratory dunk!” he said and began walking up towards the pillar once again. He began his slippery steamy climb up the rocks, jumping from one footing to the other, careless to how dangerous his movements were, he just needed to get back up onto the top to get the best leaping spot. His aerial movements easily helped him up to his perch once again, and as the roosting eagle, Macradon would scout out a good place to jump to. A quick glance over the cloudy steamy water didn’t help him choose a deep enough spot, so he just went with it.

A quick stretch as he stood up.

A quick bow towards his amazing audience.

A quick deep breath as he prepared himself.

"Geronimo!"

He jumped with magnificent grace, his body throwing itself through the air like he was gliding over the steam clouds emanating from the hot water. He did a spin, a realignment, and then prepared for water impact. The epic splash he accomplished would make a wave crash around him, making a watersport of anything within his vicinity, pushing the water over the edges of the pool and onto the rocky paths lining out the outskirts of the pool.

“Arrhhgg!” he exclaimed as he landed, the water wasn’t deep, he knew that, but where he landed, it really wasn’t deep. “fuck” he muffled trying not to die laughing from his mishap, his canonball was impeccable, but he did not stick the landing.