[PT-PP-F04] - ꞨħȺȾȾɆꞦɆĐ HOME -

[Lancaster 1]

As Mari would begin to crumble, some pang in his heart would sheer off layers that were long scarred and hardened. "There isn't any magic tricks left, mi amore." The man could only tighten his hand to clasp hers. "I have left Laughing Coffin, done the unthinkable. In front of the Faceless Lord no less." He pulled hard at the cigarette, as if to keep the strength he needed to follow through the explanations required of him by the pair listening on. "It gave me little choice, demanding that I settle the sheer mess that our love had caused." Lancaster leans forward, pressing his forehead against hers, enjoying her scent as if it would be the last time. "The lord was fishing, aiming to force me to do something drastic. It wasn't made fully clear what it had wanted, but I had my guesses." A lean to scan over her hair, locking eyes with the man of the hour. Freyd. "The motive seemed to have me kill you. I declined." Popping off a coy grin, to hide the pain of gravity crushing him. "When Mari told me that she'd defend you from me, it was made clear amico that you were.... off limits. When I had to choose between Mari's wishes and the Lord's...." His left fingers ran through her hair, trying so desperately to enjoy it. "Is obvious. Color me a romantic, a hopeless one."

"Let’s cut to the chase: you need me.”

"Mari... if he's left them.  There may not be much time."

The man would clutch at the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, using it like tool to gesture with more moxie. "Fare centro, exactly why I am here. Is why I am late." The man would pause and lean forward, pulling the woman close to his chest to bury her into it and deliberately covering her ears. The less she dove headfirst into this grave the safer she'd be. Freyd was already in the thick of it, from the look of things. Lancaster guessed that he wouldn't be changing much. "If you are hoping for more then rumor, tangible? verifiable? Your fighting a losing battle friend. Usable? Your only way of reaching the Faceless Lord is through necessity. Is and was my exact plan to take its place to begin with. The lord comes when a finger operates out of turn, and the others cannot deal with the problem. There in lies the weak point. They will come for me amico. That much is certain. But I will not go down without hell to pay. It would be too risky to send more then one against me. But it would be the only way to reach me. Unless..."

Pulling Mari tighter, as if trying to squeeze out her panic and fear. "I... suspect that the big cheese will be forced to deal with me personally, else risk an entire hand in a communion. You may not need what I can offer, but I would bet this is your only shot of ever getting the chance at an attempt at all. Am the bait to your little trap, amico. Mari is the only thing I give a damn about." Another huff of smoke from the jimmy stuck in his teeth. "You want to protect her, I do as well. This Lord wants you, and now it wants me. It knows Mari to be our chain or leash, and will not be afraid to use it. capiche? Am not asking to protect me." The expression would convey his intention as he'd match the mans intensity on equals, his tired eyes breathing realism on the almost weak retelling of consequences. "Just a truce, and defend her. As a friend, and if we happen to kill similar people. Is a win win."

[Mari 1]

♪ ♫ ♬

Mari saw that look on Freyds face. The tightening of his jaw. The way his cerulean eyes bore into her as if to say ‘this is not over’ a look that screamed silently at her. 

 It felt like something deep within her chest snapped at the sheer weight of that look. 

Memories of her Gemini telling her that Freyd was sick of her bullshit. Was Akir right? Was this it? It wasn’t just anger behind his eyes. It was disappointment, frustration, curiosity. Questioning. Was she worth it? And was she? It tore at her more than any blade could. It hurt.  It hurt Mari’s heart to see someone she cared for so irrevocably look at her that way. All Mari could do was offer him a pleading look - one that would not sate his concerns. No amount of silent glances would allow her the grace without some sort of explanation. One she could never give him.

Mari wanted to apologize to him, she wanted to tell him something, no, everything - but she made a promise. She couldn’t break it. It would shatter more than just trust between her and Raidou. It terrified her.

The tight feeling around her chest grew.

Mari struggled to breathe. Tiny flecks of white ghosted across her vision. Mari’s brows furrowed as she blinked a few times to try and clear it but the edges of her world were still frayed. 

 Every human being had a finite processing capacity, a capacity. Every soul a threshold to keep everything in check. A barrier to stop the sheer pressure that life threw at you at bay and Mari had passed hers long ago. 

Mari straightened and took a step back from Lancaster, shaking blue eyes on Freyd. It felt like there was a fog setting into her mind, Mari prayed her laboured breaths weren’t noticeable. She just had to get through this. Get through the dizziness. Push past the crushing pain. Push past the numbness that tickled at her fingers and threatened to throw her to the floor with unrelenting pressure.

Breathe Mari….
Breathe Mari….
Breathe Mari….

She was hyperventilating. 

"Mari... if he's left them.  There may not be much time."

Her world spun, and if it wasn't for the sudden rush of warmth she would have collapsed entirely. Mari felt Lancasters trembling fingers trawl their way through her hair. It calmed her. Grounded her. Right…these two didn’t know. Mari’s eyes fluttered shut as she  wrapped her arms around Lancaster, soaking in his warmth. The erratic thunder of her heartbeat slowly began to sync with the steady languid rhythm of his own. In that moment, it was enough.

Lancaster was still talking to Freyd- but if Mari were being honest - she barely heard it. It felt like white noise. A comforting static in her unravelling world.

He’d hold her together. Arms surrounding her like a shield. It wasn’t till that moment - until the heat of someone she loved wrapped around her completely - that Mari realized what had nearly happened.She was on the verge of a panic attack.

 Lancaster would move to cover her ears with his hands. A strangely sweet and childish gesture and Mari couldn’t help but choke out a laugh. A feeble attempt to stop her from hearing him. Mari lifted her head up to kiss the underside of his chin. 

Words broke through the haze of her panic. 

They will come for me amico
Am the bait to your little trap, amico
Am not asking to protect me

The way he desperately clung to her as though she was slipping through his fingers. How he would bury his face into her hair and inhale between words. It felt like this was a goodbye. Mari wouldn’t let it be.

With a weak, yet newfound resolve Mari took a step back. He didn’t believe her. That was fine. “G-Give me a moment…” She said, barely able to hold her breath steady as she stepped away from the two. “I almost….” She breathed, it was difficult to admit such a weakness. “I think I almost had a panic attack, I think. I just need some fresh air.”

Mari would give Lancasters hand a squeeze, followed by another kiss. Pausing to breathe in his cologne, the scent of ash, of gasoline, and everything else that was undeniabaly irrevocably him.

She headed to the front door, and closed it behind her. Now outside Mari opened up her messenger.

 

Spoiler

To: @Raidou
From: Mari
Subject: Help.
hesout
Please help.
wat di i nede to do?
Don respnd, Im delntin shi fom my mesage history.

The message was so hastily typed and sent away that it was riddled with errors. Mari removed it from her sent history, in case anyone would try to check then with a deep breath trudged out to the snow to collect her lost slippers. Tears fell from her face.

She would not lose him.
She would not lose Freyd.

Mari would become hell itself to protect those she loved.

She blinked when she got a reply from him almost instantly... hadn't she told him not to respond?

Quote

"Where, is he with you?"

Mari sighed. This wasn't going to be easy, was it? Then again. Nothing worth fighting for ever was.

 

Quote

With me, and Fryf.d.  

Another response from Raidou, quick.

Quote

Coordinates?

Mari sent him the coordinates before going through and removing everything from her inbox. Something she had done often anyway, so to those who knew her, it'd be no surprise to see nothing there. Mari picked up one slipper. It was soaked. Where was the other? Her entire body trembled, and it wasn't just because she foolishly ran out into the snow barefoot.

Was she doing the right thing?

It didn't matter.

What mattered was Lancaster.

What mattered was Freyd.

And their survival.

 

"I'll be the monster if it means you both live."

Edited Tuesday at 08:25 PM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

  ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ 

Mari made quick exit, emotions overwhelming her.  Freyd suspected trouble imminent.  She would never leave these two alone without some other exacting scheme to set the cindered world alight anew.

“You really love her, don’t you?” 

Words rang out as conflicted as their speaker, they pained him just to voice aloud.  Freyd hated this man, for reasons more than two lifetimes’ memories could validate. Knowing every facet of his callous monstrous nature, this was the first and only moment he’d ever glimpsed even a modicum of decency in the bastard conqueror’s heart.  

So many friends lost to a Lancaster’s flames, effigies seared indelibly into the very definition of who and what Freyd was. Every part of him wanted nothing more than to give in to those instincts and rip the cocky bastard’s heart out with his bare hands, spraying shattered sprinkles across the freshly stained hardwood with the same gleeful disregard reserved for spilling the guts of a slaughtered overstuffed pinata.  Behind blue eyes, girded with dispassion, Freyd seethed for nothing short of brutal, violent, righteous murder. Only one thing held his finger from pulling back that trigger. Ever under the rigorous and demanding auspices of his own machine mind, he’d already parsed all the angles and considered every conceivable variable within a fathom’s reach.  None in the main viable subset of options were especially appealing.

One version would do Lancaster’s bidding and play out some scandalous farce of a battle between him and himself in a vain attempt to spare two reckless lovebirds from the maelstrom of consequences their own foolish lusts had set into motion.  They'd fed the beast till it threatened to consume them and all others in a sizably calamitous splash zone.  Too improbable and prone to propagating a problem already swollen beyond its breeches.  A non-starter.

He could literally do nothing, ironically giving Mari the very thing she thought she wanted by keeping out of her business, leaving her to suffer to the collapse of a world she seemed incapable of keeping from perpetually imminent doom. It would break her, and so many others by rippling proxy.

He could kill Lancaster, drawing forth a rapturous momentary bliss at the cost of Mari’s forever rightful wrath.  Oh, how he wanted this, every muscle coiled and ready to deliver.  But that would sacrifice the last iota of what kept him from becoming the very thing he hated.  That line was already so very, very thin. A thought spared for the mirror, Freyd’s eyes never parting from his quarry. Could he ever look at it again with that choice?

Every path led to the same inescapable conclusion, leaving him truly and forever Faceless, in all its ignobly oppressive solitude.

Unless...

“There might be a way,” spoken in quick and quiet conspiracy, the urgent privacy of their discussion clear. It stung just to think the thought, though Freyd clung to it like his only fraying strand of hope.  

“We only have a moment. I see that you’re willing to die for her.” Rhetorical, the crux of the other's insane plan being some absurd blaze of glory that might get many others killed, including the beloved he purported to spare.  The choice: an oubliette instead of death.  Stasis.  A risk of madness at the sheer stale boredom of it.  But it could stem the storm.

“Do you have the courage to live for her? How much would you actually endure for Mari's sake?” A rolled sheaf manifesting in his hand, unfurled as Freyd’s wrist pivoted to reveal a random dungeon map. 

“I can’t guarantee her safety if you die or if you remain free.  But I can offer you safe harbor here while the storm passes,” eyes pointing at the map.  

“Stay in the vestibule. You’ll be safe. When the Faceless Lord is dead, all will be forgotten and you can have your ever after.  But those stay here,” Freyd gestured to the pile of rings on the table, all visually counted against the sneaking of a shiv.  If kept, Lancaster's hot head would eventually fight the mobs and unleash chaos again, lest given motivation enough to soothe his ego and passion alike.  

Convince him he's the hero he thinks himself to be. Give the burning and drowning man something to cling to and scent it with the romance he so craves. 

Mari’s frantic agitation was visible through the glass. They were all about to be hit by the mother of all stormfronts, enough to make a category five hurricane feel like kitten cuddles.  

“I’ll hold the key,” the map shaken for effect, “until it's done.  And, keep her safe. You have my word.” Counteroffer delivered.  No better deal was possible. It was more mercy than he thought himself able to manage. Harshness faded but a tad, true pity beyond the plausible, some fragment of it granted here only for Mari’s sake.  Lancaster would know it.

"You know it’s the only way, or we wouldn’t be here. All other roads lead her to tragedy. Please.  For Mari's sake. Go. Now!”

A threshold opened. Rings swallowed by a Whisper's hand. A fateful choice in need of making. How rare to be granted the opportunity to choose one's destiny, especially at the hand of an enemy?

All that remained was to witness what mattered more to the lion: pride or love? 

Edited Wednesday at 02:15 AM by Freyd

[Lancaster 1]

Mari had since left her own home, finding herself suffocated by the gravity. The situation had taken such a dramatic downturn and it was one Lancaster had rightfully expected. The moment he chose to bite the hand that called him to action, there would be a reckoning. His last ditch to turn the table in his favor. Lancaster nursed that cigarette, where 16 remained in such a brief conversation to convey his stress in triplicate. The trail of smoke from tired eyes as they sized the man up, his gambit and attempts to salvage this stretched thin and ethereal like it. Listening rather intently which was a strange one for him, given those that knew him knew that he hardly checked in. Playing the silent audience and wrapping the plan through his head, as the maestro would lay it all out. 

♫

“You really love her, don’t you?”

Pressing his hands into his knees, he'd stand and move for the fire pushing the stoker through it to breathe it to life. The flames flicker. "I do, as much as I tried to ignore it. Avoid it, it dug under my skin. Amari stole my heart, and has gave me hers in return." Turning the iron bar, its slid over an awaiting hook. A dancing pyre causes the shadow to pool on his brow, like a grave foretelling of what was to come. Freyd would present a map, but it wasn't the sort that presented a landscape. No this one, a portal key to a pocket where only a select few could enter. The tips of his finger and thumb grab at the filter near his lips, reading the situation and the mans absent body language. 

“I can’t guarantee her safety if you die or if you remain free.  But I can offer you safe harbor here while the storm passes”

His wording didn't inspire any confidence, nor did the suggestion. It was rather common place for these little pockets to be used by other members of the guild he'd left. Laughing Coffin used these quite often when they wanted to contain a player. Rosaria and her little minion training program, Hiroshi and his mountaintop keep. Even Tybalt and his little shows, all took place in these locations. Lancaster didn't spite the mans lack of inner working knowledge of the guild, but the notion didn't sit right with Lancaster. "I see." He'd offer, choosing to hear it all before making any real decisions. Even more alien to him, was the fact that somehow his containment was going to somehow strengthen Mari's defense. Although Lancaster understood that proximity to her would offer the chances of collateral damage, proximity could be changed rather simply. Aincrad was a big place, and it was no secret that most members of the guild held untraceable for this exact reason. Lancaster could no longer use guild warp gates if he wanted to remain undetected, but there were ways to get around without them. To be locked in a specific place, hoping for the best seemed utterly foolish. brash.

“Stay in the vestibule. You’ll be safe. When the Faceless Lord is dead, all will be forgotten and you can have your ever after.  But those stay here”

“I’ll hold the key”

Retaining his focus on Freyd, as the rings he'd set aside were swiped from the table. The sign of good faith long gone, and yet it would have been unnoticed that his most important one was cursed. If there was any level of trust, then perhaps Lancaster could agree to this very risky gamble. Moral was, there wasn't any and the guy wanted him to sit in a lead box where he couldn't escape. Where only he held the key, and his guard dogs were more then just a rumor. Disarmed? It was obviously a trap, yet the strength of which Vincent hardly knew. To accept would be so wholly stupid, given he would be a fish in a barrel ready to get shot. The posture that Freyd had conveyed, Mari's pleading toward him confirming how ready to pounce he was.

"You know it’s the only way, or we wouldn’t be here. All other roads lead her to tragedy. Please.  For Mari's sake. Go. Now!”

And the final nail in the proverbial coffin, the call to action to instill a sense of urgency. To force a quick decision when the level of agency did not match it. To dive off the deep end without thinking, and let emotion guide choices instead of any sort of logic or rationality. Lancaster did not obtain his station by making choices so carelessly, and despite that station being forfeit the fact remained. Lancaster would turn toward the door. "Counter offer, I will keep my distance as necessary and disappear under the radar. You have my name, feel free to ring. But pardon my gut, this doesn't add up. Too risky, and removing your bullets from the chamber doesn't strike me as the best way to defend someone amico." A couple steps toward it would snap the length required for his cursed ring to rip itself out of Freyd's attempt and find itself squarely back on his finger, the system forbidding it from leaving him for too long. "Good luck hunting, Fratello. I will protect her in the ways I know how. Will not become a mouse trapped in a cage waiting for someone to slit my throat."

[Raidou 1]

A flash of blue out of the blue, in response to Mari's midafternoon message. Raidou's hands covered in soil with a roll of his right shoulder. A bag slung precariously over it, he'd turn and toss the thing into the snow causing it to get stuck as it caves in. "Sorry I'm late. Is he inside?" The man scans her surroundings looking for Freyd as well. Confirming that they were both likely within, a flash of green draws a sweeping sonar over the environment confirming the total lack of hostiles under that concrete perception. "Mari, If you would." He'd adjust his robe around his collar tightening it and making sure it was affixed well. "I need a vial of your truth serum."

A shocked look on her face would provide a sense of confusion, showing that she couldn't piece together how he knew what he did. After a harsh swallow, she'd slide through her inventory then produce the requested syringe. "Thank you." Raidou comments pulling his glasses off his face and folding them away into his robe pocket. "Please come inside, but try to relax. I wont kill him, however this will not be pretty." Turning the door handle, finding a very familiar frame faced away from him. "Good morning gentleman." Raidou presses his hand into Lancasters back and a wave of black coils rip around him like self tying rope, causing the cigarette to bounce limply on the floor. A wave of sudden heat discharges causing the door to turn to ash, half of Raidou's skin is scorched clean off his jaw showing his teeth before it immediately reforms. Juiblex rips the remaining rings from his fingers, having them dangle limply on thin ebony wire.

The flame snuffed out, Raidou looks to the purple ring confirming its removal. A handful of red hair, and a jam of that syringe into his neck. "Let's not be too hot headed. Take a seat." A whip of his hand, sends the man in a wave of ink into a chair that sticks to it with a sticky slap causing windows to break. Raidou leans down and plucks the cigarette off the floor, wandering toward the table and snuffing it out in a glass that appears to him like lemonade. It hisses and goes out just like Lancaster's flame, as Juiblex opens a hole where his mouth would be allowing him to gasp for air. The nomad begins to place out tools of all sorts on the table next to what used to be a meal, as broken chairs and wood litter the floor.

"Who the fuck, figlio di puttana." A bit of flame begins to spark up, and Raidou tosses a small jar of white paste toward Juiblex who gobbles it up. The man begins to smoke, the heat no longer able to build up.

"Another friend of Mari's. But introductions would be irrelevant. Wouldn't they Vincenzo Lionetti?" Tossing a honey bun to Freyd as the red head sat in total shock, before pulling over one of the last working chairs and throwing his feet up on top of the table he'd take a bite of his own. Waiting for the truth serum to take full effect.

Phase 1 complete

---

Guild Rank : +5% Final EXP
Specialization: 
Resolute (3)

Actual Block | Raidou | HP: 1180/1180 | EN: 156/156 | DMG: 11 | MIT:142 | ACC:2 | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA:4 | BH:65 | VAMP-D: 130 | VAMP-O: 195 | REC: 8 | BLI: 32/-20  | LD:6                                                                                                                            
Narrative Block | Raidou | HP: 1416/1416 | EN: 156/156 | DMG: 1 | MIT:450 | ACC:4 | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA:7 | BH:78 | VAMP-D: 156 | VAMP-O: 234 | REC: 8 | BLI: 32/-20 | LD:6 | DOTE: 3/3 | PROB:36 | CAIN: 50 | BRN-IMM

Spoiler

Name: Raidou, The Red Wanderer
True Tier: 17
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 129
HP: 1180/1180
EN: 156/156

Stats:
Damage: 11
Mitigation: 142
Accuracy: 2
Evasion: 4
Battle Healing: 65
Loot Die: 6
TAUNT VAMP-D: 130 VAMP-O: 195
REC: 8
BLI: 32/-20 

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Ebon Star - Vanguard Revenant [T4/Demonic/Straight Sword]: V.O 2, Taunt, Blight 1
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Red Wanderer's Resolve - Sympathy [T1/Demonic/Cloth] 2 Evasion, 2 Vampiric Defensive
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Vision of Wisdom - Whisper [T4/Demonic/Trinket] Evasion 1, Recovery 2, Accuracy 1

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Mitigation R3

Combat Shift:
  - TECH Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - Ill Omen in Red

Skills:
  - Battle Healing R5
  - Charge
  - Cloth Armor R5
  - Energist
  - Fighting Spirit
  - Howl
  - Quick Change
  - Searching R5
  - Straight Sword R5

Extra Skills:
  - Survival
  - Parry
  - Forgotten King's Authority
  - Concentration
  - 
  - 
  - 

Inactive Extra Skills:
PhotosynthesizeBrawlerFrozen Hide
Addons:
  - Ferocity
  - Focused Howl
  - Nimble
  - Precision
  - Reveal
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Athletics
  - Detect
  - Justified Riposte
  - Tracking
  - Vengeful Riposte

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
  - Crippling Composition - Lullaby [Tierless/Rare/Debuff/Instant] Hypnosis 2 | [224055] x1
  - Teleport Crystal x1
  - Vocal Augmentation - Resonation [Tierless/Perfect/Support/Instant] +15% HP [160898][161641][161642][162018][162529] x1

Housing Buffs:
  - 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 (Storage): +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
  - 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.
  - Master Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
  - Master Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Greenhouse: +2 Gathering EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to gathering 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:
  - Trading Hall: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ 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 +2 crafting/identification attempts per day.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild Totem:
  - Tanos
Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

 

[Mari 1]

Being outside helped calm herself down. Focusing on a simple task like collecting lost slippers. Having messaged Raidou and knowing he’d be mere minutes, if not seconds away.

Mari tilted her head watching the two people she cared about most in this world through a frosted window. The tension in the room was thick, palpable, a miasmatic maelstrom she could feel even from out where she was, ankle deep in the snow. A shaking hand gripped a soaked and dying froggy slipper. It wasn't the cold. It was still that fear. Watching as their movements shifted. Freyd drawing closer, tighter - sharper movements.

Something seemed to be crumpled up in his hand. Not a weapon. Was it a plan? A threat? It looked a little bit like a map? She wasn’t sure but at least they were talking. That counted for something…surely. It just had to. 

With a quiet sigh Mari turned away from her home. She bent down to retrieve her other slipper, half buried in the snow. Mari shook it off. There may be no way to salvage these. Shame…Mari kinda liked how goofy looking they were, it reminded her of stonks.

Honestly…she should have gone back in already. She should be in there to act as a sort of human meat shield between Lancasters wild desperation to protect a modicum of their happiness, and Freyds unbridled rage and distrust in the former Laughing Coffin member. She saw it in how he looked at her. It almost caused her to spiral.

“You've been heard, Mari.  It's your life.  I'm here to deliberately not to get in the way or appear to be making any choices on your behalf.  They are yours.

Right…

Mari had to trust him.

Freyd had always told her to be honest with him. He could read her half-truths like pages in a book—always pulling at loose threads until the truth spilled out. And she let him. Because despite everything, Mari trusted Freyd. She trusted that after all these years, after every mistake and every silence, he still had her best interests at heart. He already promised her. He wouldn’t go back on it. He wouldn’t go behind her back. Not after all this time. Not after all they had been through. So whatever it is they were doing, Mari truly believed it’d be okay.

She had to believe that.

Because if he of all people would lie to her… then there was no hope left in the world at all.
 

Mari was not the best person in her past. She was doing better now…far better than she ever had. Yes she slipped, but she had far more control over herself. Her emotions. The run-in with her gemini showed her that. All Mari could do was hope that Freyd could put his trust in her, just as she had for him. That he could see just how much she changed… because sometimes, Mari felt like Freyd didn’t see it when he looked at her.

Okay… she had to go back now. Raidou still wasn’t here so -

"Sorry I'm late. Is he inside?" 

Mari jumped, literally - as she almost fell back in the snow. “Jesus f-fucking christ!” She hadn’t heard him, he just appeared silently. He was already walking toward her home.

"I need a vial of your truth serum."

“W-What? How did you?” Mari sighed as she opened up her inventory and handed him a metal case, within it he’d find several vials and three needles within it. It was Raidou. That’s how. Not that Mari ever intended to keep it a secret from him. She just hadn’t had a chance to show him the things she had been working on. “Things are pretty tense in there I don’t know if its a good idea to-” Her words fell on deaf ears.

Mari pushed past Raidou, being the first back inside. She almost bumped straight into Lancaster. Catching the last of his words.

Good luck hunting, Fratello. I will protect her in the ways I know how. Will not become a mouse trapped in a cage waiting for someone to slit my throat."

 Why had Lancaster said those words? Trapped? Her eyes shifted from her lover, to Freyd who held what was clearly a dungeon map in his hands. Dots connected, an effective method to keep someone contained. One that had been used on her. Granted, hers was willingly. Will not become a mouse trapped in a cage.  Did Freyd try to offer him some sort of deal when she was out of earshot. Another glance to Lancasters fingers. His rings were still gone. So he’d be trapped, with no way to defend himself?  That didn’t sit right with Mari but she didn’t have time to question anything.

Then it all happened so quickly, Raidou had wrapped shadows around Lancaster, and disarmed him. The man was burned - but quickly reformed. Mari was immediately at Lancasters side, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Praying he wouldn’t hate her for this. Then - the syringe was jammed into Lancasters neck.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Mari spat at Raidou, frustrated. She trusted him. She trusted Freyd. Why was this maelstrom happening now? In her home? It was supposed to be a neutral zone.

try to relax

How was she supposed to relax? The three people she trusted most were now in this room. Two of them seemingly with their ires aimed at Lancaster. “You could have asked him first!” Mari said, this time with a little more control in her tone. “Not just fucking jam it in his-”

Another friend of Mari's. But introductions would be irrelevant. Wouldn't they Vincenzo Lionetti?

That shut Mari up. Of Course Raidou would know who he was. He was the initial Faceless Lord. But what would Lancasters reaction be? Mari watched as his eyes blinked slowly. It’d already taken effect. “It’s not fair for him to be the only one drugged and bound like this.” Mari said softly. “It’s funny, you two are supposed to be the protectors - and yet…” Mari’s hands balled into fists. Shaking from rage. She had to bite her tongue. Spitting vitriol at her friends would not help the situation. She stormed over to Lancaster, who was practically bound to the chair, his breath coming in short and angered successions. With a Yank Mari ripped his rings away from Jubilex. “Give them to me.” The creature yielded- the rings falling into the palm of Mari’s hand. Green, antivenom - and his ever present little firestarter. The others? She wasn't sure where they were. Not important right now.

But the creature had allowed her to take them. That meant something…right? Mari turned her back on both Freyd and Raidou, placing the rings on her own thumbs for safe keeping. Mari attempted to Shoo Jubliex away from Lancasters lap. “Please…include me in it if you have to. I just want to sit.” She asked. Unsure if the creature even had its own capacity to listen or if it was purely an extension of Raidou’s thoughts.The black ichor of the creature rumbled and shifted just enough for Mari to sit. Mari sat, wrapping one arm around Lancasters shoulder. The black binds quickly wrapped back around him, and her - trapping them both to the chair in its rope like binds. If this were any other situation Mari would have coy comments, but not now. She was practically using herself to shield him. “I need explanations.” Mari began. Her eyes shifted first to Freyd then to Raidou. They both had some serious explaining to do.

First...was Raidou. She was pissed. She had trusted him. Him telling her to 'try and relax' after throwing Lancaster into a fucking chair and gagging him like this was some sort of adult animated series was not on the list of things that was okay to do. Nor was destroying her home. Granted the door was Lancasters fault. "Raidou what the fuck?" She started off angry, practically spitting the words at him as he casually ate. No...no she had to calm herself down. Mari turned her head into Lancasters neck and took a deep breath. His scent calming her.

"Raidou." Mari began, her voice more even now. "You tell me to relax. You come into my home. You fucking ram some shit into MY Lancasters throat. You bind him, you blow up my windows and my furniture...coming in here like a goddamn whirlwind... And you tell me to relax?" She paused, her voice lowering. "You could have asked. I'm sure he would have accepted it if you only fucking asked." Mari turned to Lancaster to run a hand through his hair, as best s she could with herself being half bound to him, and to the chair. It wasn't the first time he had experienced her serum. "He's willingly used it before."  Was her gambit wrong?

“Freyd…?” Mari asked. It was her brothers turn now. Her voice cracked, broken and small as it questioned him. Why had Lancaster said those words earlier? Trapped? Her eyes shifted from her lover, to Freyd who held what was clearly a dungeon map in his hands. Had he…had he tried going behind her back? Tried sending Lancaster away without even giving her a chance to say goodbye? A chance to have her own input - did he put that little stock in her gambit - as wild as it may be? Or in her as a person??

No. NO. Mari wouldn’t do this to him again. She wouldn’t assume things, she wouldn’t take a glance at the situation and make her own conclusions. “I also have my own questions about that dungeon map..." Mari said with an even tone. She impressed herself with how much control she had right now. Feet wet and red from the snow, hands shaking from the cold, and the sheer adrenaline pumping through her, yet she kept a level head, an even temper. Emotions running wild now would not help. Its why she took a step back earlier. "I don't want to do what I've done in the past..and just assume things."

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Mari