[PP-Pt-F11] finché morte non ci separi <<Saying Vows>>

[Mari 1]

Continuation of <<Making Vows>>
 

Mari stepped through the gate key; her hand gripping Lancasters wrist tightly, pulling him forward through the portal and close to her. It wasn’t like when she held Raidou’s hand. That time it felt like naught but a rush of wind. This time it felt like she was barrelling forward, like a carnival ride her entire form was heaved to and fro in a dizzying feeling but her destination was clear in her mind and they both arrived safely on the other side.

 It was the first time she had attempted to use it - and a part of her was worried that it wouldn’t work. But it had… it had worked.. A swell of pride welled within Mari and she was tempted to message the red wanderer right then and there to tell him - but it was quickly replaced with a wave of nausea. Mari stumbled forward a few steps as the gate closed behind them. With her hands on her knees she dry heaved. The teardrop necklace falling forward - its blue lustre dulled. Looks like they’d be walking home. The man said it’d be good for about three uses, but this was her first attempt at it. A million col down the drain…damn

“I… Uh….” Mari took a moment to steady herself. With a few deep breaths Mari straightened her back, looking upon the field they had their first physical tryst. The two stood in the center of a circle of blackened soil. Fresh grass poked through, new life growing where it had been razed by their passions before. The place was surrounded by red maple trees - their fiery coloured leaves rustling with a warm and gentle breeze. “I hope this was the place you were thinking of.” Mari finally said as she turned to glance at him. “Else we’ll be in for a long walk, my magic tricks have all but run out.”

Now away from the panic of the first floor, Mari was able to think a little clearer. She was able to go through the events of the day…she had gotten home incredibly late and passed out next to Lancaster - woke up to him saying they should get married. Today. They burned a path through the town of beginnings - threatened a quest NPC and portaled 10 floors higher.

Marriage…

Was this happening too quickly? Were they being completely and utterly foolish? The woman’s perception of what marriage should be was warped - it had only ever been used as an act of convenience. To save face. What if that is what this was?

Mari’s heart burned - she loved him. Maybe that’s all that this was, two people terribly afraid they’d lose the other. Maybe this marriage was just simple, and pure. Her the kindling and he the fire, her the breath of air breathing life into his dying embers. Truly, that’s all that Mari wanted. To be by his side, to show this small limited world of Aincrad that she would stay steady and steadfast, true to his side. Let them remain together in their foolish dreams.

She didn’t know his favourite meal.

She didn’t know his favourite colour.

And she didn’t know his favourite ice cream flavour.

But she did know, that her life would be incredibly dark and cold without him.

Edited 15 hours ago by Mari

[Lancaster 1]

Through the gateway with Mari at the lead, Lancaster stands tall amongst the slightly kindled backdrop that raged in serenity. The ash burn mark still lingered here, as if the cardinal system wanted to provide its symbolism and not wash it clean. "Quite the magic trick." Lancaster remarked with his own version long since dead, without the resources to renew it with his severing of the guild. Moreover his wasn't so direct to a space, causing him to stir with questions. But looking down at Mari with her stomach in knots, he'd gently rub her back to help it pass. "It was, strange to imagine..." Lancaster paused as he'd stare off through the trees, recounting the tavern he'd burned down just beyond them. "Is by pure chance, coincidence. But now my life has been changed...altered, per sempre. per migliorare." Feeling her eyes upon him, the man would turn to lock with them. An utter raging crimson to a tempering cerulean, as if he was capable of being an entirely different being in her stead.

A smile peaks itself from the corner of his lips, lifting the black book by its spine and giving it a wiggle. "Now, lets see..." Lancaster remarks as he flips it open, licking his thumb and starting to ruffle through the pages. "We are gathered here today to bear witness to the union between Vincenzo Lionetti and Amari..." Lancaster offers pause finding this fact to have slipped through the cracks, but powers through regardless. "Olfsden." Dragging his finger across the page as he does. "To honor and acknowledge their relationship, and the start of the next chapter in their lives together..." The man would tilt the book, using his finger as a bookmark and turn it around. His head swarmed to a enlightened buzzing, and his choice of sharing everything with her. This road they were on was not strolled on alone, and in this physical gesture Lancaster wanted to acknowledge it. Make it real and known that it were only she that he would give for. That she was free to her own choices, her own side of this decision.

His hands extend, to give her the next passage to read aloud.

Quest Objective | Roleplay the wedding ceremony.

---

<<Assist System Engaged: Lancaster>>
Level: 34
Paragon: 0
Tier: 4
True Tier: 4

Final EXP reward: +5%

---

Lancaster | HP: 680/680 | EN: 106/106 | DMG: 21 | MIT:56 | ACC:4 | BRN-IM  | FL.AURA: 16 | FL.THORNS: 16/32 | BH:34 | BLI: 32/-20  | BRN: 56

Spoiler

Name: Lancaster, The Emberheart
True Tier: 4
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 0
Tier: 4
HP: 680/680
EN: 106/106

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 56
Accuracy: 4
Battle Healing: 34
Stealth Rating: -3
BRN-IM
FL.AURA: 16
FL.THORNS: 16/32
BLI: 32/-20 
BRN: 56

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - All Consuming Pyre - Hades [T4/Demonic/Throwing/200384n] | BRN 2, BLI 2
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Hydra Hide Jacket - Erebus [T4/Demonic/Heavy Armor] Flame Aura 2, Flame Thorns 2
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Inset Etching Tongue Piercing - Cerberus [Tierless/Demonic/Trinket] Accuracy 3, Fireproof

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:
  - Battle Healing R5
  - Energist
  - Heavy Armor R3
  - Thrown Weaponry R5

Extra Skills:

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:
  - Focus
  - Precision
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Impetus

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

[Mari 1]

His soothing hand on her back...Mari wasn't used to teleportation. Be it through regular means, cold voids, or gates. She had so long forgone such easy methods of transportation. A curse of her orange crystal. Her beloved would comment, quite the magic trick.  It was. Mari couldn't help but laugh. "A magician can't spill her secrets, unfortunately...but I'll see if I can make you one." She would have to ask Raidou first. Mari trusted Lancaster wholeheartedly, but it wasn't right to just make him something so powerful without first running it by the cautious man. If he denied her, she'd just have to ensure her own always remained charged in case of emergency.  Mari knew Lancaster would understand. It was funny...he'd say they were from two different worlds initially, that they were cut from different cloths - only for him to change his tune the closer he became to her. The two were from the same cloth, walked the same circles. They just had never known.

The man would call it strange. Mari reached out to brush crimson strands from his face. "I don't believe in fate." If she did, then it'd just be far too cruel. Fate would have thrown her hell, but equally, it would have thrown her Lancaster. Mari didn't like the idea of some unseen force controlling her. "I'd like to think I found you, and snatched you up. All on my own. It was by chance we met, but my own desires and obsessions that made you mine." Ruby red eyes, flames that warmed her frozen core. Melted away the walls of frigid ice that Mari had built around her heart after countless betrayals and lies. 

Lancaster held up the pastors book, gaze reading over the words - a pause as he translated them in his mind. They were doing this...they were doing this right now! Marriage? Mari stepped closer to him as he started reading from the passage.

 "We are gathered here today to bear witness to the union between Vincenzo Lionetti and Amari...Olfsden."

Mari panicked. As he talked she quickly opened up her HUD - she had something for this. Kinda. It was the same dress she wore to the gala that was held so long ago. A night of strawberry riddled chaos. Her form flashed and she was suddenly in a tight orange dress. Feeling a little more self aware of herself - Mari wasn't used to showing this much skin, nor was she used to wearing something so intricate. Mari would stand closer to Lancaster now. The dress smelt of oranges, charcoal, and sandalwood. The more acidic scents of her concoctions gone. Her hair tickled her neck as she stepped right next to Lancaster.
 

 "To honor and acknowledge their relationship, and the start of the next chapter in their lives together..."

Lancaster paused to look up at the field around them, then at her. His eyes softened - his smile grew, and with it Mari's heart. She accepted the extended book with a hand. How was he so brave? How was he not crumbling under this? Mari cleared her throat. She read through the passage, and didn't quite like the wording, so did her best to ad-lib some of it.

"True marriage begins before the wedding. The efforts of love continue well beyond the ceremony. This moment is but a brief moment in time, with the stroke of a pen and the promise between the two who stand here today is all it takes to be married b-but..." She had gone so far off script already, but she was already here. She kept going. "The two who stand here today, may t-their flame burn bright, may it burn through adversaries and doubt. May they each light up the others life with an everlasting warmth." was it getting hotter? or was it her? Mari's cheeks felt like they were on fire. This was so very different to what she had experienced in the past. Mari felt Lancasters hand wrap around her own, steadying the hold she had on the book. Her eyes glanced over the next line.

Today you declare your commitment to each other before family and friends.

Oops.

"Today, you declare your commitment to each other - in spite of family and friends, To spite a bitter world."

Mari would glance up at Lancaster with a quirked grin. 

[Lancaster 1]

Reciprocating her smile with his own, finding his headspace a little drunk on her attire and silently kicking himself for not having the means for something to match. But in the end, what mattered more was the truth of it. The raw emotion and desire, more then the imagery and formalities. "Neither do I..." Pecking her forehead given he knew that it was decidedly bad luck if done on the lips. "I welcome your obsessions. Allow me the same. To share them." The scent of orange and a hint of strawberry tickles his nose. His nerves screaming desperately for release in the shape of a lit cigarette but denied. Gently clasping her shoulders, leaning over her right. The man would embrace the book with his arms around her, so he could read it as well. Share that perspective.

The warmth of her skin was denied by his jacket, a fact he was actively almost painfully aware of. The man would step back and cast it off to his side, adjusting his collar. Into his pocket he retrieves a comb, sliding it above his ear and raking his hair back. Removing his defenses, choosing her warmth over them. Fixing his appearance, to be better suited for the role. The symbiology for him was so drastically important. Mari made him want to be better, do better then he had. A glorious treasure to which he coveted, a perfection to which he knew no equal. To be worthy to claim her heart, and in its place leave his own. "Better, back to it..." The man again folds his arms around her beneath her own allowing his chest to press into her back, offering the heavy tomb support from beneath and scanning the words with a trail of his eyes.

"With this wisdom, and passion...Do you, Amari Olfsden accept Vincenzo Lionetti to be you're lawfully..." hanging on that word in a pause, finding the consideration of Aincrad being a government a little droll and outlandish. "wedded husband, your cherished friend and partner, in sickness or in health. Till death do you part?" The ringing in his ears as that passage was all the more real given their circumstances. 

[Mari 1]

The action was not lost on Mari. For him to cast off his jacket, was to leave him exposed - and the very world itself may be against him. Raidou had promised he was safe, but Lancaster didn't know that, hell, Mari didn't know how far that truly extended. All it could take was an errant member, a finger, a frontliner, or a zealous PK Hunter to catch him off guard. Mari would tilt her head up to kiss the underside of his chin. Acknowledging him. Accepting him for all that he was. Past transgressions and all. He was steeped in sins, but so was she. "My handsome Vincent~" She would whisper before he continued with their intimate ceremony.

"I do."

Mari would step in closer to him now, wrestling the book from his hands. She needed something to hold fully. 

"With this wisdom, and passion...Do you, Vincenzo Lionetti accept Mari Olfsden to be your lawfully wedded wife. Your cherished friend and partner, in sickness or in health. Till death do you part. lest the world burns." Even holding the book one could tell how nervous Mari was. This was supposed to be a happy moment right? So why was her heart beating so fast? Why did she still feel uneasy? As though someone would burst through the treeline to steal him away from her. Blue eyes flickered to the horizon - daring someone to try...

But nothing came.

All that was before her was Lancaster. The consuming tyrant. Former 1st finger of the 1st hand of laughing coffin. Vincenzo Lionetti, Vincent...Her Vincent, her soulmate, her amina gemella. Mari closed her eyes and took a long deep breath and held it. Focusing on the image of his warm smile, the brilliant shine in his eyes when he became excited. The way he'd accentuate his talking with his hands, always pointing...the scent of smoke ingrained in her mind, of gasoline and kerosine and all sorts of acrid chemicals. The underlining scents of his cologne. Everything that was him, was here with her now. Had promised himself to her in this world, and the world outside their digital prison.

 

[Lancaster 1]

The world stood still, as time seemed to stop. Two words were all it took to bring every little trial, hang up, and problem crumbling down to its knees. A welling of his heartstrings as his ribcage threatened to burst open, Mari would no doubt feel the drum being pounded heavily in his chest. Gaining tempo the moment those two words fell. So simple, and yet the pronounced effect carried with it long past them in solitude. The book leaving his hands snaps reality back into motion, but his blood pumped in a frenetic fever all the same. Her hands were shaking, wobbling in a tremble under the weight. There was a time that it was solely would have been hers to bear, and to that fact Lancaster was no stranger. Instead of taking it from her, choosing its conclusion his own way like many would have tried. He was wiser then that. Mari, the frazzled yet inquisitive woman. A passionate and strong woman capable enough, didn't need it. Lancaster would be what she was to him.

Underneath her arms, he'd prop her elbows just enough to stabilize them but not enough to ease the burden. Honor that choice, and support it.

"I do. riprovare"

The man spoke resolutely, with a surprising moxie and determination. To remain stable and to spite the chains that threatened to bind them and drag them apart. A decree to all of Aincrad, like a threat or warning. The most important part remained to be said:

The Vow

"Amari Olfsden, met only in passing and yet from that very moment you've captured my heart. Yet now it will forever be yours to keep. La mia vita è vostra. I take you as mi anima gemalla, mia fiamma. mi amore. My promise is this. From this day and all to come in our dream, I will do my best to see past my own short comings, my own sins and my temper. I will be there for you to keep you warm at night, to admire your smiles. To appreciate your brilliance, to dry your tears. When the world comes knocking, I will be right by your side. There will be no hesitation. Through rainfall or sleet, sadness or anger I will share it all. Share your tears, your sorrow, your anger. My faith burns only for you, and my trust is yours alone to hold. Non c'è nessuno come te, sei il centro del mondo per me. Ti amo"

[Mari 1]

She'd press her forehead to his. Nerves not washing away, but being alleviated at least as she felt his arms trail beneath her own, letting her arms rest against his as his hands found their way to interlink behind her back. Holding her firmly in place. Usually when he held her, there was this tightness, this fear that came with it but this felt different. He held her with care, and without fear. As though with this very day, this very ceremony his fears were being alleviated. His vow was heartwarming and Mari knew hers would never quite live up to his.

"Very Touching...but, you got one thing wrong..." She paused and grinned. "It's Amari Lionetti now." It felt so right to say that. Casting off the shackles of all she had been in the outside world. A weak woman scorned by mistakes,  waking and breathing each day but never truly living. Nothing more than a vagabond coasting from place to place. Amari Olfsden died a long, long time ago but now...she was able to truly shed that part of her. Completely severing it with two simple words. I do. 

Vows...

It was her turn now.

"Vincent Lionetti... In the heat of your...our loving embrace...may we weld the sparks -" Mari paused, allowing the book to drop to the floor between them. They didn't need it anymore A flash of her inventory and a snap of her fingers - came the spark to a glass orb that she allowed to fall to the ground and with a light kick of a glimmering golden shoe it would roll well enough away from them before erupting into a fiery blaze that encircled them. Fitting. An oh so fitting end to their intimate ceremony. "That continue to light our path ahead. I am forever yours, my precious soul mate, my anima gemella. From the moment we met all senses but my heart told me to stay away - I could not deny myself all that you are. Your passions, your mind, your smile. You've imprisoned my heart and in turn given me your own, and I would never quell its flame. I will do my best to give you the world and more. To rise above my own shortcomings, my fear, my nerves, my temper...take me for all the bad and the good, and in turn I shall heal all that is you. Through anger, sadness, regret...happiness and tears...it is ours to share. No matter what path, or what world we walk. I am forever yours...you and you alone have my heart. I love you."  

The fire grew around them, catching light to the trees. Trailing up the dried back and catching the maple leaves alight. 

"My word is my bond, my oath that burns for eternity, for you. For us."  

And with that Mari would press her lips to his. Finalizing their ceremony.

 

                            

[Lancaster 1]

Thread Closure:
Lancaster | [Word Count: 3265/5 = 653] * [True Tier: 4] * [Group Factor: 1]* [Final Exp Modifier: 1.05] = 2743 EXP
Mari | [Word Count: 3265/5 = 653] * [True Tier: 13] * [Group Factor: 1]* [Final Exp Modifier: 1.05] = 8913 EXP, Laurel Wreath: 1336 col

Quest Rewards:
300 x 1.05 = 315 Experience Points
Wedding Rings (Active)

Final Rewards:
Mari:
9228 EXP
1*Mon
Wedding Ring (Active) | Strong Will

Lancaster:
3058 EXP
1*Mon
Wedding Ring (Active) | Strong Will