[Pt-PP-F11] Black Bile

[Mari 1]

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 funny… just a few days ago…Mari didn’t have a ‘happy place’ Now, she did - in a way? It wasn’t exactly a happy place, but one she looked on favourably. Just over a day ago it was where she had her last encounter with Lancaster. Lancaster… an interesting character to be sure. Someone she kept finding herself drawn to, someone who did nothing but shower her in cfompliments - who despite all the warnings, and knowledge that they shouldn’t even be around each other couldn’t help but be drawn. Like moths to a flame.

                                                                  Anima gemella

So…

Mari picked here. A small clearing on the 11th floor, a half hour walk from Taft, just off the beaten path. There was once a circle of flowers, but they were gone. Replaced with charred earth. In typical Aincrad fashion new life was already growing. It was pretty.. Little green blades of grass and flower buds pushing up from the darkened earth. Mari sat, surprisingly calmly on a large, flat rock that hung over the field. Clearly a spot designed to sit and view the once vibrant flowers. There Mari sat, one leg up to her chest, the other splayed out straight. She was wearing the plague jacket, but not completely. It hung loosely on her shoulders. Smelling of sulfur and acrid chemical, a scent she was used to but knew Freyd wasn’t. 

Freyd…

Mari opened up her messaging system.
 

Quote

To: Freyd
From: Mari
Subject (None)
Here are the coordinates to a place I have fond memories of XXYYZZ,
I’m here now.

 

Once the message was sent Mari drew in a deep breath. She felt…oddly peaceful despite what was inevitably going to happen. She thrummed her fingers against her knee. The nerves were beginning to kick in…would it be as bad as last time?

Would she pass out? Would her gemini try to hurt Freyd?
Maybe this was a bad idea…

No…No she had to do this. She had to do this before things got out of control. Redemption was something Mari wanted to do. But she knew her chances of survival were slim to none. Especially with whatever sickness was stirring within her. This would be different. This time she had friends she could rely on and reach out to. This time Freyd would be there. They had a plan. All Mari had to do was wait.


Vanity tag: @Lancaster HURHRUR
 

Mari | HP: 960/960 | EN: 130/130 | DMG: 21 | MIT:44 | ACC:5 | AA | EVA:4 | BH:53 | BLI: 32/-20 | ENV-O: 32 | PARA-V | LD:1

 

Spoiler

 

 

Name: Mari True Tier: 10 Level: 34 Paragon Level: 63 HP: 960/960 EN: 130/130 Stats: Damage: 21 Mitigation: 44 Accuracy: 5 Evasion: 4 Battle Healing: 53 Loot Die: 1 Stealth Rating: 5 AA BLI: 32/-20 ENV-O: 32 PARA-V Equipped Gear: Weapon/Armor/Trinket: - Paralytic Contagion | T4 | Absolute ACC I | Paralytic Venom I | Envenom OFF I | Blight I Armor/Trinket: - Infernal Shadow-Redemption | T4 | EVA III | MIT I Shield/Armor/Trinket: - Glasses | T1 | ACC III Combat Mastery: - Combat Mastery: Damage R3 Combat Shift: - AOE Shift Familiar Skill: - Rending Familiar Custom Skill: - Skills: - Battle Healing R5 - Charge - Cloth Armor R5 - Energist - Polearm R5 Extra Skills: - Survival - Hiding R5 - First Aid R3 Inactive Extra Skills: Addons: - Focus - Nimble - Precision - Resolve - Stamina Mods: - Athletics - Night Vision - Surpise Attack: Trickster - Untraceable - Vanish Inactive Mods: Battle Ready Inventory: Housing Buffs: - Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. Guild Hall Buffs: Scents of the Wild Totem: Wedding Ring: Crafting Profession: - Alchemist[exp] R10 Gathering Profession:

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 08:41 PM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

Pantry restocked, dust bunnies hunted to extinction, dried wood and kindling freshly chopped and stacked, Freyd was surprised by how much effort such a small house required after so long an absence. Devoting his uniquely obsessive resolve to housekeeping ensured the results were beyond meticulous.  He'd even left a stash of Hollandaise and honey buns in a basket on the counter and a note under her sheltered mirror that read: 'It's here when you're ready.'

Time spent with Elora had taught him to value the simpler pleasures of domestic life and how the littlest touches could hold power beyond imagination.  Every bit of linen had been laundered, freshly folded or spread - no mean feat on a frozen floor that never thawed.  There was even a sprig of fresh daffodils left on her pillow for whenever she next returned, the flowers first to bloom and mark Winter's segway into Spring.  This was Mari's home and should bring her the warmth and happiness which she'd been denied, by choice and circumstance alike.  An air of renewal was overdue.

Locking up from inside, Freyd stepped through shadow to leave her home as secured as possible.  It had taken him a whole morning just to repair the lock he'd busted open with a swift kick fueled by flaring desperation.  Barely finished reprovisioning in Urbus, the Whisper was about to head home himself.  Three days was a long time to be away from reams of regular activities best kept beyond the realms of  public awareness and scrutiny.  So much in play at all times.  So much secret scheming and maneuvering.  So many pieces in play across a thousand, thousand boards.  It had been nice to set it all aside, even for the briefest of sojourns through the valley of normalcy.

Another message, instantly flagged by filter settings set to monitor for a certain sender.  

"Hrm.  Sooner than expected, but probably best not to leave things to linger longer."  Groceries would keep in his inventory.  Staring with sudden longing at the comforting wisps of lazily drifting smoke from his distant home in the misty valley below.  Freyd sent word to Elora.  He'd be a short while longer, but promised to make it up to her with dinner when he returned.  The raid looming.  She would understand.

"That woman is too good for me."

Denying himself her succor, Freyd turned back the way he came.  Storm clouds were brewing on the horizon, crackling with pending precipitous anger. Staring at them a second, blue eyes searching for meaning where none was to be found, a flick of resolve from his wrist snapped his cowl back into place.  He'd take the long way to Taft, heading for the portal plaza and forsaking the void for a change.  Facing Mari's demons also meant facing his own, again.  Not something to be relished or rushed into with all the skeletons still cluttering his layered closet full of closets.

*Sigh*

"It's going to be one of those days, Montjoy.  I can feel it in my bones."

It didn't take long for him to find her, Mari sitting oddly at odd with her surrounding in her plague suit.  At least she'd kept it on.  Solemn as he stared in silence a moment, he wasn't looking forward to this, despite knowing it was the only option.

"Nice place.  I can see why you like it. It's... quaint."

***

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  If any other player objects to these, please state in first post and it will be considered inactive.

GUILD RANK 5 (+5% col, +5% EXP)

Freyd | HP: 1360/1360 | EN: 168/168 | DMG: 21 | MIT:152 | ACC:4 | AA  | F-SPIRIT | EVA:2 | BH:75 | VAMP-D: 75 | HLY: 16 | FRZ: 64 | LD:5

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, Bara no kuro kishi
True Tier: 20
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 159
HP: 1360/1360
EN: 168/168

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 152
Accuracy: 4
Evasion: 2
Battle Healing: 75
Loot Die: 4
Stealth Rating: -5
AA VAMP-D: 75 HLY: 16 FRZ: 64
Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Memento Mori | T4 | AA | FREEZE | HOLY II
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Negare Omnia | T4 HA | MIT III | VD I
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Night Shades | T3 Trinket | ACC III | EVA I

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - Grappling Familiar

Custom Skill:
  - Shades of the Gemini (CS)
  - Beckon the Void (CSA)

Skills:
  - Battle Healing R5
  - Charge
  - Energist
  - Extended Mod Limit
  - Extended Weight Limit
  - Fighting Spirit
  - Heavy Armor R5
  - Howl
  - Katana R5
  - Quick Change
  - Searching R4

Extra Skills:
  - Disguise
  - Survival
  - First Aid R5

Inactive Extra Skills:
  - Meditation
  - Forgotten King's Authority
  - Lady Luck
  - Photosynthesize
  - Brawler
  - Assault Mode
  - Frozen Hide
  - Hiding R2

Addons:
  - Field Medic
  - Focus
  - Focused Howl
  - Hyperactive
  - Iron Skin
  - Precision
  - Reveal
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Barrier
  - Detect
  - Emergency Recovery
  - Impetus
  - Night Vision
  - Purify
  - Tracking

Inactive Mods:
  - Untraceable

Battle Ready Inventory:
  - Bear Trap (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Bear Trap (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Crystal of Divine Light (Reusable 1/thread) x1
  - Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+10% HP) x7
  - Meathook (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Ordsea Crystal-B (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Ordsea Crystal-B (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Teleport Crystals x7
  - Tue Light Lantern (+1 ACC, +1 LD to party) x1
  - Veritas | T4 Katana) | AA, PVO I, VO I, Taunt x1

Housing Buffs:

  - Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
  - Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Storage Closet: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Basement: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
  - Guest Room: Players can have one «Amenity» in a «Guest Room» and the «Amenity» cannot be recovered. Players are allowed to change which «Amenity» is in the «Guest Room». Multiple instances of the same «Amenity» do not stack. This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Ornate Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.
  - Dining Hall: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed. Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs: [Firm Anima] 

  - Guild Hall II: Allows a Guild the ability to create up to two Guild Quests. Narratively, it also allows players to teleport back to the Guild Territory when using Teleport Crystals.  
  - Storage Vault: Allows a guild to create a Storage Vault in their Guild Page. Members can use this thread to store and withdraw items. Any items that have trading restrictions cannot be moved to a Storage Vault.
  - Trading Hall III: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (9+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +5 crafting/identification attempts per day. Appraisers gain an initial additional reroll per identified item at no cost.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.
  - Laboratory I: Once per charge, when receiving single-use consumables from Quest Rewards, if a Guild Treasurer were to receive additional tokens, one guild member may claim 1 x (Additional Token / 2) copies of the consumable.
  - Bureau II: Once per charge, if two or more Guild members are present in a thread, allow two dungeons to be spawned/explored in that thread, regardless of Dungeon-searching cooldowns. This buff may only apply once per thread.
  - Library I: Once per charge, if a Storyteller is eligible to claim a Guild Token, their character gains +10% bonus EXP at the end of the thread. This buff may only apply once per thread.
- Armory II: Once per charge, players may submit a Skill Refund evaluation regardless of the 30 day cooldown window. In addition to Armory buffs, when submitting a Skill Refund evaluation, guild members have the option to pay an additional Token to refund up to 30 additional SP.
- Menagerie III: Guild members undertaking <<Feeding Your Enemy>> gain +1 LD to familiar searching rolls and +1 to familiar taming rolls. In addition to Menagerie II buffs, the maximum number of familiars guild members can tame narratively is five (5). Guild officials may also appoint a familiar mascot, shared between their guild members to accompany them narratively in their threads.

Scents of the Wild Totem:
  - Tanos
Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:
 - Appraising[3478exp] R5
Gathering Profession:
 - Fishing[576exp] R5
 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:04 AM by Freyd

[Mari 1]

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 just as hard for him. They were essentially repeating the thing that practically destroyed their friendship the first time.

He was calling on the void he had become so close and intimate with to do things he didn’t want to. Mari knew that feeling all too well, being forced to take action for the better because there was no other choice.

Mari offered him a faint reassuring smile. Her cheeks were rosey, hair slightly tousled. It had only been a few days but she seemed a little stronger, a little more sure of herself. She almost had a certain glow about her - “There’s something really nice about this.” Mari said. Turning her cerulean gaze to the charred remains of the flower patch. “A fire ravaged this area and yet - life persists. Flames bring so much pain and destruction but so much life and warmth. Funny that, eh?”

Mari stood and stretched, the action causing her jacket to slide off her shoulders. It was evident now her left hand was bandaged. Mari bent down to pick up her jacket and then slid off the rock. Approaching Freyd. Mari thread her arms through the jackets sleeves, and by the time she was just two feet away from her dearest friend - she had buttoned up the front.

“I’m probably really stinky now, huh?” Another joke, another attempt to try and keep the mood light despite the thick tense feeling in the air.

Both knew there was no turning back once this started.

[Freyd 0]

“Freyd…”

He snorted. 

“Can’t be.  Freyd would be way less clunky and loud than someone wearing all this ridiculous hockey paraphernalia.  Although, I dunno… maybe I should have it chromed, since the subtle look seems to be out this season.”

Even in the dourest of moments, and delivered deadpan, he couldn’t quite help himself.

Hair tussles, features flushed and the surroundings more than slightly singed, Freyd raised an eyebrow as if to beg the inevitable question. A vague explanation given that did nothing to explain how this was some old favorite haunt, unless… the memories were recent.  A charred sapling’s trunk crumpled under its own weight, disintegrating into ash and dust before it hit the ground.

Very recent.

A bandaged hand. The certain drawling gestures speaking to nerve endings still in recovery mode. She was wholly covered in soot.  It didn’t take a spymaster to put this one together, Montjoy taunting his overqualification in true Far Side fashion, nattering at him from the back of his mind and being justifiably ignored.

“I’m probably really stinky now, huh?”

Concerned, confused and possibly consternated, the fire made a nagging absence of sense.  As nice as it was just to see her happy, mysterious virology-related blackouts, resurgent black soul blobs and the mysterious scorching of her happy place warranted some explanation.

“Uh… yes.  Maybe?  Who…  or what... exactly happened here?”

The prospect of starting the pending proceedings under such circumstances clearly wasn’t sitting well.

[Mari 1]

“Can’t be.  Freyd would be way less clunky and loud than someone wearing all this ridiculous hockey paraphernalia.  Although, I dunno… maybe I should have it chromed, since the subtle look seems to be out this season.”

“Pfft…” Mari laughed, shaking her head. Even his poorly executed joke couldn’t quite shake this small feeling bubbling up in her; she was..happy. Which made today all the worse. Or maybe, it was better she felt this way beforehand? Mari wasn’t exactly well educated when it came to the goopification of your darkest feelings all bottled up over several years. She tilted her head, shifting her eyes to the side in thought. “Mmm…goopinomics?” She asked herself aloud. “You’re the expert, what would you call it?” Then realizing he hadn’t been privy to her inner monologue Mari explained. “You know…” She rolled her bandaged hand. “Being knowledgeable in this.” She rose it to rest on her heart, taking a deep and long breath. Holding it. The thickness in the air…it wasn’t very nice. But somehow… somehow this moment was.

Freyd, the ever analytical man that he was… Mari knew exactly what he was doing as his eyes shifted over the area, pausing on her bandaged hand then shifting to the nearby remnants of a tree. Mari blinked, oh. “The bandage wasn’t last night.” It was true, she had hurt herself two nights prior.

“Uh… yes.  Maybe?  Who…  or what... exactly happened here?”

There it was.

He had to ask.

Of course he did. Mari pursed her lips, how do you explain to your best friend you kinda, accidentally banged someone in the middle of a raging fire that was kept to this small area? Was there a way to explain it? What even was it? A one night stand? Two kindred spirits?

“Oh…that’s…” She felt her cheeks redden and tried to cover at least one of them with one hand, a natural gesture to hide the embarrassment clearly evident on her face. “Freyd…Takeshi” Mari breathed as she exhaled. “I love you.” An admission she hadn’t even realized she made. “But I think…even my dearest friend - its …” She shook her head and scrunched her face up, offering him a cheeky tongue.

“I don’t really want to kiss and tell, when whatever the night was - may not happen again. But, lets just say it did really help my mood.”

 

Edited yesterday at 03:01 AM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

“I prefer Gooplinetics.”  

Eyes scanning her as she pulled the tatters of her shambliness together.  Freyd knew full well what had transpired here.  What concerned him was with whom, and whether she'd tell.  Since he’d known her, Mari had consistently displayed colossally poor judgment.  It had driven a wedge between them before, with a chaser of ChaseR as accelerant.  To have found her knocked out and experimenting with virulent disease like it was a fresh tin of Playdough, after stumbling alone on the twenty ninth floor, had hardly settled his concerns.  Darker tides in his brain threatened to filibuster his own common sense if he kept ignoring the glaring warning signs of an impending cliff and catastrophe  - a la Thelma and Louise.

What the fuck do I do now?

Freyd had always looked up to her.  Strong.  Capable.  Smart.  Powerful, yet also burdened and vulnerable with a heavy self-inflicted toll of responsibility.  It was all admirable, especially to his younger more impressionable self.  She was someone he could follow and emulate.  A leader.  A flame to his own mothy beginnings, fostered through the foggy recollections of a nonsensical fever dream. But, he was no longer that boy.  And, while pain and error, sprinkled with his own ledger of moral larceny, had taught him some valuable lessons, it had also hardened him. Wisdom was an annealing agent.  Things were not adding up.  Not in a good way, at least.  Crunching the data in his head, Freyd listened as Mari predictably dissembled and avoided.  He was happy she was happy. And that meant something. But where did their current road lead?

Bending low, he sifted a few shards of broken glass from the ashen soil, a certain familiar scent having drawn his attention.  Carmelized sugar?  No. More like burnt peat.  A larger shard emerged, much of the label still intact: Sullivan’s Cove.  Whiskey.  Burnt whiskey.

Sniffing the air… a hint of garlic?  Matches?  Sulfur.  The fire explained itself.  Too much ash for a bottle of this size.  Another accelerant or catalyst. A firebug. An unpleasant name came to mind, always at the top of that particularly infamous list.  Freyd failed to suppress his groaning disapproval, but said nothing more.  

Staring off into the distance and away from Mari, he hid his features as if pondering the scene. A choice was mulling over, like a wine aging to the verge of vinegar.  Mari would have one chance at Redemption, but she seemed hell-bent on destroying herself with recklessly whimsical passions. The surging strength of her Gemini proved the rub.  

So she’s damned if I don’t help her, and may damn herself even if I do…

Old Freyd would have walked away then and there without a second’s hesitation.  Bad investment.  No business case.  Or worse.

“Freyd…Takeshi” Mari breathed as she exhaled. “I love you.” An admission she hadn’t even realized she made. “But I think…even my dearest friend - its …”

Ouch.  Right in the damnable, fledgling feels.  His armor rattled like he’d just taken a punch to the gut as he stumbled a step forward before regaining his balance.  Jaw clenched and muscles locking tight to keep from showing anything more.

Doesn't she deserve happiness?  Wasn’t that the whole point? Hadn’t she earned that after all her efforts?
     Then why does she keep stepping headlong into the same unforced goddamn errors?!
          You have a choice to make. She has hers. What kind of person are you going to be?

“I don’t really want to kiss and tell, when whatever the night was - may not happen again. But, lets just say it did really help my mood.”

A very pregnant pause.

“I’m glad, Amari.”  Sincerity won out, head turning serenely to face her with a tired smile.  The choice was made, for better or for worse.  “And thanks for trusting me with this.  It means a lot.” Montjoy gawked, stunned, not that anyone but Freyd could possibly tell.

No part of him knew how to respond to the L word in this context, and the use seemed much  like casual parlance.  Maybe?  Just leaving it be as such?  His insides were too conflicted about her wellbeing in the pending trial and perilous quest to follow to ponder any other meaning. On her present course, fears were real that she'd get herself killed - or worse, fuck up her one and only chance within 3.2 seconds of achieving it.  But the choice was hers to make, just as she would bear the consequences. Life worked like that. Right now, more than anything, she needed a reliable friend, and he could do that.

“This is a good spot," he added, clearing his throat, the weight of the moment and internal debate still clenching his innards.  "There are few shadows, easily blocked.  Was there anything else you wanted or needed to do before we begin?”

Their bodies would be shielded, but no barrier could protect their emotions from the maelstrom they were about to endure.

[Mari 1]

I prefer Gooplinetics.”  

Mari wanted to laugh, but was distracted. Freyd was still analyzing the area. His lips pressed into a thin line. Too smart for his own damn good. “Freyd.” He hadn’t responded, as though he didn’t hear her. Lost in his thoughts. From when she first met him, he was an absolute maelstrom of chaotic energy funnelled into a scary concise precision. It was almost deadly. In the past, the ends mattered, the means did not. That’s why they were here, his past actions caused a ripple that continued - even after years of silence.

He had made so many mistakes, and learned from them - he grew. Mari was in that process. Albeit a little slower, she still stumbled sometimes. Still made mistakes. But she was human. The steeled man before her, sometimes, acted as though he wasn’t. He bent down quietly, picking up part of the broken whiskey bottle. The gift Lancaster had given her. Right, it would have exploded after their romp. He groaned, his eyes shifting away from her. Lost in thought.

Mari reached out, clasping a hand around his upper arm. “Freyd.” His eyes shifted to her, a brow raising. Concern and judgement etched equally in that gaze. Mari could see it in how his body tensed, how his jaw clenched. Somehow, without saying anything - He seemed to have figured it out. That the person she had been with last night was Lancaster. Mari knew little of him, but it was clear the two had history, and that it wasn’t exactly pleasant. “Freyd.” Mari said his name a third time, trying to reassure him. A deep sigh. “You’re too analytical and smart sometimes.” A compliment, in an underhanded kind of way. But it was genuine.

“Please. It was one night. I don’t know what the future holds with all, uh, that. I’m okay. I know you’re worried. I know my past decisions haven’t shown the best…track record with things. But I’m serious about all of this.” She sighed and squeezed his arm, partly for his comfort, and partly for her own. Freyd was arguably one of - if not the most important person in her life. She didn’t want to upset him, or cause him more concern. It seemed her actions of late had done nothing but that.

“Please.” She wasn’t even sure what she was asking him. Please trust her?  Please allow her to make her own decisions? Let her make mistakes? To stop judging her? Analyzing everything and compiling it to nothing more than sheer data and number and fact? “If things progress. I promise. You’ll know."  Why was he able to make so many mistakes of his own and yet she was condemned for seemingly breathing the wrong way?

That hurt.

Mari let go of his arm, shifting her eyes away from him as she crossed her arms. She knew he meant well. She knew he had wanted nothing more than for her to be safe, and to be happy. But sometimes…it was a little much. Hearing the disapproving tones, the sighs. The groans. He said he trusted her, but did he?

“This is a good spot, there are few shadows, easily blocked.  Was there anything else you wanted or needed to do before we begin?”

Mari shook her head. She tightened her arms. “No.” She said quietly. It hurt.
“I just…hope this goes well, and I guess I don’t have to say this but - she’s not me. I’d never want to hurt you.”

Mari turned her eyes back to him. Despite everything. She completely trusted him. Its probably why they but heads so much. Why his small words and disappointed looks upset her so easily, because she trusted him, and valued his opinion practically above all else. He somehow had managed to become such an integral part of who she was and who she is today. "Of course I trust you." Mari said as though it were the simplest thing in the world. "You're Freyd. Takeshi. My closest friend. I wouldn't have it any other way."

“I’m ready.” Quiet muted words of resolution. No matter what. She had this.

Edited 20 hours ago by Mari