[[PP-F4]] <<Feeding the Enemy>> Of Fishes and Snakes

[Mari 1]

Mari at cross legged on a tree stump just on the inner ring of the unguarded safe zone called ‘The Starglades’ Just a mere few hundred metres from the ‘Snowfrost’ settlement. Gods above she would give anything to wander around in there, to be able to enjoy the scenic cottages, covered in snow. She heard stories about the quaint taverns within, but she had never been.

One day…. Mari thought. One day soon

At least she was able to enjoy places like this, The Starglades were quite pretty, really. They were aptly named. A glade in the middle of the dense forrest that surrounded Snowforst. There were no monsters here, nor was there the danger of being mobbed again. It was...peaceful. This was her favourite floor. Mari never got the chance to experience the cold like this. Never got to see snow, or even build a snowman.

Build a snowman….

Yeh...she never got the chance to with Alkor did she?

“Mmm…” Mari played with the necklace that hung around her neck. A small circular pendant with a pink triangle in the middle; it had been made by NIGHT and Mari guessed the pink triangle was homage to her past. Mari wore her typical fitted black shirt with the leather harness which kept her upper body remarkably warm. Dark jean shorts were replaced with baggy and thick black pants, for comfort. Mari had long since decided she’d rather be comfortable than appear fashionable, or formidable.

“Where the f**k is he?” Mari mumbled as she pulled out her spyglass. Tapping it on her knee. He should 

have been here a few minutes ago by her calculation.

“Late ass f**ker.”

@Mephisto
-Spyglass in effect can search for Familiar Post 10- 

[Mephisto 0]

One eye was twitching furiously, the only outward indication I gave that my temper was fraying at a rapid pace. These ingrates were keeping me from keeping my word. My fingers flicked out, rapidly pressing buttons and sending a message on its way as I rolled my neck. 

 

Quote

 

To: Mari

 

Message:

I'll be a few minutes late. I've been unexpectedly detained by someone who realized I didn't leave the little party earlier with the rest of them.

 

 

"Oi! You need to tell us what you were doing out there you jerk! We know you didn't come back with the rest of us, what were you doing out there?" One of them was pointing a shaking finger at me, almost foaming at the mouth. I took a step back as spit flew from him. I was disgustedly impressed - I didn't know avatars even could foam at the mouth until now. 

 

"Unlike the rest of you, I calmed down and thought." Oh, got a couple flinches there. "She actively tried to help the first person who got hurt, I saw her pull out a healing potion. The game color codes those, only an idiot would have mistaken it for poison." Direct hit - the man who was accusing me fell back. Ah, almost satisfying. I pressed on. 

 

" So I stopped and tried talking to her. You know, like an intelligent, rational person." 

 

"HOW COULD YOU?" Someone shrieked. I lifted my hand up and poked my pinky into my ear, mocking them. 

 

"Easily, with words." I snorted. "Really. She didn't obliterate the lot of the face of Aincrad." I was distracted from my diatribe by a flashing message incoming. Huh. I'd actually gotten a response from her? 

 

 

To: Mephisto

Message

That’s what you get for being an arrogant a**hole.

I wonder if arrogant aholes deserve cool rapiers.

 

I snorted. It wasn't arrogance if it was deserved. I tucked the message away, to respond to later, and refocused on the ignoramuses in front of me. "Really. She was trying to keep you lot alive. You help no one, and honor no one, by dying like flies. She's trying to change and get better, to help all of us get out of here. And she's worth at least twice what the lot of you are, if that's the level of intellect you have. Now, good day - unless you want to become orange?" My pointed glare made them melt out of my way, muttering behind my back as I left the crowd. 

 

Once the collective IQ around me raised - as in, I got far away from the moron group, I headed to the portal system, up to the fourth floor. The meeting spot was a short distance away, but didn't take too long to reach. 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Mephisto

[Mari 1]

 

"You're late." Mari said as she sighed, pushing herself off the tree stump. She had received warning, but it didn't put her in any better of a mood. Maybe she was wrong to try and help him. After all, unlike her he didn't exactly seem...sad  If anything he was a little too carefree. Her fingers drummed along the length of the spyglass she held as she watched him approach.

"My apologies, a lot of morons decided to accuse me of....I am not sure they actually had a thought between the lot of them." He gave her a short bow as he grumbled.

"Err…." Why the f**k was he bowing? Mari didn't question it, she didn't remark on it. The last thing this guy needed was someone to egg him on with his foolish theatrics. Yeh… this was probably a mistake. He didn't really need her. Mari shouldn't have tried to reach out to him. What was she thinking? Still… Mari was stubborn, and a woman of her word. So she'd stick it out.

 

"The familiar I want is beneath a frozen lake that thaws around this time each year." Mari said without delay, no time for foolish theatrics. She flipped open her menu and pulled out the rapier. It had been a drop from Frosty the Warlord. An old and long forgotten boss. She hefted it at Mephisto and it clattered to the ground in front of him. "Happy birthday. Let's go." Mari said as she turned to walk toward their destination. 

@Mephisto

 

Black Ice 

A weapon that looks as black as the night sky, but feels as cold as Frosty's heart... probably. A drop from the Frosty the Warlord Event. 

T1 Rapier | +1 Damage +2 Freeze

[Mephisto 0]

Oh, goodness. I held the weapon in my dominant hand and gave it a few swishes, testing it. This was an impressive weapon, and as I looked at the modifications present on it I felt my eyes widen slightly. Oh, goodness indeed. This was a stellar gift. I carefully placed the weapon into my inventory, taking care not to stab myself with it even a little - I didn't need to freeze myself. 

 

Blast. Now I owed her. The little comment about her trying to change was nowhere near enough for this. "This is…. An astounding gift, Mari." I wasn't going to diminish this by using my nickname for her. 

 

She stopped and turned to look at me. "I can't use it. You can, isn't that what friends do?" She asked.

 

"It.. Is. I just didn't realize you thought of me like that yet. Well - I'll have to do my best to match this, won't I?" 

 

"I don't." Ouch. I snorted. 

 

"Yet, cute little Peaches. So - frozen lake, right?" 

 

Her brows furrowed at my compliment and she quickly turned her head away in a literal huff. "Mmm yeh. It won't take us long to get there. Then it's just a waiting game."

 

"Well - time to plot how to take over the world, right?" I winked at her. "Or, more likely, how to go about working on improving your image with normal people."

 

[Mari 1]

"That again?" Mari muttered she wasn't in the mood to hear this. Mephisto was beginning to remind her of Raidou. A little too pushy for her liking. "I'm in no rush. You can't just force people to like someone." Mari said as she stepped over a fallen log, they were out of the safe zone now and headed into the thicket of the forest.
 

"Mmm, true enough. Gives me time to think on it instead. So then - how about a quid pro quo, Peaches? You ask a question, and I do? Or something else if you're interested."
 

Mari was truthful when she said she didnt consider him a friend. She was just parroting the words Macradon had told her. Still… his little tit for tat held her mild interest. And at least he hadn't kept pressing on about her image thing again.
 

"Fine." Mari said, "Why the hell do you care what people think? Weren't you oh so Enthralled with the idea of a massacre? Why invest in a stranger's Redemption?
 

"Mmm, I'll give you that as one instead of four, Peaches." He smirked as he somehow gracefully slid over a log that was a bit too large to just step over. "And it's simple. Either you succeed - and oh, there will be those furious at that - and I get to watch one of the most interesting things around. Or you fail because some idiot pushed you to far." He gave a slight shrug. "And, I suppose, it's because you have a daughter waiting for you out there. You're the only caregiver - I know what that's like."

 

So it was more out of self interst and amusement than anything else. At least he was honest. "My daughter is dead." Well f**K that really put a damper on things didn't it? Mari didn't comment further on it.

"Ah. I'm.. For what it's worth, I'm sorry." He had stopped to study her for a moment before resuming his trek after her.
 

"Don't." Came her tired reply. If he knew the rumors he was just being cruel at this point. She didn't want any false sympathies.

[Mephisto 0]

Ah, a sore subject. Well, that was alright. I wasn't too interested in her sadness, beyond the fact that it could be another way of getting inside her head. I hummed in thought for a moment. Ah, that was probably safe enough if she wasn't too keen on my presence. 

"So, Peaches, why ask me? I mean, I'm not exactly someone to be cowering at your reputation, and I'm not about to give you a pity party for your infamy or your attempts to recover from it. H**l, I know I'm an a**."

"You remind me of myself. I used to act similar, but inside I was so hurt. I felt a crushing loneliness and just wanted one person to show me an iota of kindness. So I reached out to you. But now I'm just thinking you're a flamboyant, exaggerated lunatic." That was almost touching. If I was another person she might have been right with the first. But I had my brother. I didn't need other people. I learned that one the hard way. 

"For what it's worth - you're right a bit about both sides of that equation." She wasn't the one, but hey. "I have been a bit lonely - you're the first truly intelligent person that wasn't a mouth breathing idiot that I've spoken to in months upon months. But I am a flamboyant nutcase." I smirked slightly. 

She stopped walking and turned to stare at me with that striking gaze of hers.

I paused and shifted slightly, shoulders rolling inside my coat. For some reason I felt like she was trying to look through me. "What? I didn't want you to think I'm just a loon." 

 

[Mari 1]

So...he was lonely? That's what she garnered from his words. Mari couldn't pick him. Couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not. She was ever suspicious of others. "Nothing." Mari said. As she turned to face him fully. "Just trying to work out things in my mind."
 

One step toward him, "If you weren't so..*Ahem* that." She gestured toward Mephisto, gaudy outfit and all. "You may find others to talk to."
 

"Oh, yes." He deadpanned, his eyes slitted as he tilted his head to one side. "Others who can't look past bright attire. Useless. If they can't look past the exterior, they aren't worth anyone's time, Peaches. So few people are what you see at first glance."
 

True…
 

"True." Mari said as she took another step toward him. She had a theory to test. But it was a delicate one. Mari was used to dealing with Alkor, someone who disliked human interaction and touch. Maybe Mephisto was the same. She had to be sure. She didn't want a repeat of mistakes from the past. She reached out as if to grasp his arm. Although she never actually would. No, she wouldn't repeat those mistakes. She wouldn't try to seek out warmth or comfort from another. Nor did she want to from this man.
 

"Does human touch bother you?" 

[Mephisto 0]

Well that came from nowhere. I blinked and looked at the outstretched hand. I held up one finger, my mouth opening, then closing as I processed. I scratched my chin with that finger. 

"That's a tricky one, Peaches. It both does, and doesn't. I dislike unexpected contact with someone I don't know or don't trust. With someone I do know, or with warning - the warmth of another person is.. Something that is pleasant." I'd wanted my parents' affection, once. But I contented myself with his. No one else wanted to try, or mattered. 

" And on top of that, I grew up in a place where someone was more likely to grab you to hurt you, than out of any benevolent expression. So it's..a case by case scenario." Then I gave her a saucy wink. "But for a cute Peach I might consider it."

She pulled her hand away and rubbed it. "Yeh...warmth…" she averted her gaze and shifted to turn away from me. My comment didn't hit like it usually would.  Hmm. Seems like there was more going on behind that cute freckled gaze than I'd thought. Then again - she'd been hurt, by someone putting down her appearance. This might be tied to that. 

"What about you, Peaches? You into the touchy touchy Feely feely?" I wiggled my fingers at her to drag her out of her contemplation. That morose expression didn't fit her quite right.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Mephisto

[Mari 1]

"I…." Mari had started to walk forward again, she could see the lake through the trees. "Really, really?" She asked again. Did he have to say it like that? It sounded so…
 

Nasty. Gods if it were put that way no wonder others wouldn't want to be near people
 

"If I like someone. I enjoy the warmth of that person." Mari said. That...was a safe answer, right? She missed it really, the warmth of another and the comforts that came with it. She never really had that chance with Alkor when he came back and she was doing her best in getting over him. To move beyond the need of that warmth, and of others.
 

"Mmm. Good. Everyone needs someone like that, I think. A good hug is important." Mephisto said with a firm nod.
 

"No." Came her next reply. "It can be terribly painful. I'd rather…" Mari paused to pull some overhanging  foliage away. "I'd rather never have felt such things, even if they comforted me at the time. Because all it did was hurt when I found out it was unrequited." There was a pause.
 

"I won't make that mistake again." Mari said as she stepped into a small clearing with a large, frozen lake.

[Mephisto 0]

"That, Mari, sounds awfully lonely." I commented quietly. I had been right. "And it's also life. Life if painful, miserable, and cold. Cruel so often." I stepped passed her, turning around and walking backwards so I could stare at her face. 

"Which is why - before you invest, you see if you're compatible. It's why I hate lies, people who disguise their emotions. My parents should never have been together, but they both did that same thing." I spat to one side. "So if I ever did want to get close to someone, they'd have to be as honest as I am about that. But hey - I have my brother, even if I can't see him. I have my memories of him." Ah, damn it I was ranting. I ran one hand through my hair and turned away. 

"Sorry. Got a bit carried away." 

She seemed distracted. Her bare arms wrapped around herself. Had something I said hit home? She didn't meet my gaze. I slowed and studied her for a long moment, silently. 

"Honesty with feelings is important, isn't it?" It was one of the few places I didn't obfuscate. If I started, I might hurt my darling brother, so I never let myself. And after seeing my parents I would rather stay alone as an asshole, than get with someone by hiding behind a mask. 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Mephisto

[Mari 1]

"Yeh…" came her half hearted response. He was right. It still hurts. Mari hadn't had a chance to let any of it out. A shaky hand rose up to wipe a tear from her eyes before it could fall down her cheek. She rubbed both her eyes. With shivering hands. No. Not here. Not with him.
 

Breathe in. Hold it. Exhale.
 

She pushed past him and headed to the lake. Yes. Focus on the mission at hand. Get your familiar.
 

"This is where we need to be." Mari said as she approached the lake and knelt down beside it. She ran her fingers along its surface. She could see the shadows of the Koi fish swimming beneath the sheet of ice.

 

I was gonna take him here. I wanted to show him that amongst the still air, and the most frozen and barren of areas...that there was life.
 

No. Don't think about that. Don't keep thinking about him.
Inhale.
 

 

Forget about that.
 

Exhale.

"Any moment now..." Mari said with an assured tone. It was almost like clockwork. Cracks began to form in the ice, it broke away to reveal several large koi of various colours and sizes swimming around. It bought a sad smile to her lips. "See. Beneath a frozen surface...there is life."
 

"Ahh…" she had forgotten about their question game. "If you had a familiar what would it be?'

ID #134774 LOOT: 20
SUCCESS

Edited January 22, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

I watched the woman staring at the fish quietly. She was watching them, seemingly entranced. She didn’t say whether or not she’d found the one she wanted, so I couldn’t compliment her on that, not that I would have in the first place. I shrugged one shoulder, folding my hands together and letting them disappear into my sleeves. 

“Probably a mongoose.” Small, useful, ambitious - and merciless killers when faced with their prey.

"You know they eat snakes right?" Ah. She regained some of her composure then. I  waved one hand dismissively as I walked over to her, peering over her shoulder at the ice beneath her. 

“They do. And to do so, they have to be just as cunning and vicious as any serpent is. But they’re also loving mammals.” Family creatures when they could be. As I was. “Ah, that is a bit of a dazzling array of fish down there.”I took a chance and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning over to 'inspect' the fish. She didn't flinch or shy away. Ah, was she that starved for human contact? Seemed I had another line to worm my way in.

“You shouldn’t choose that loneliness again, Peaches. Going around putting up a front as cold as this ice is not going to help you.”  My voice was calm, measured.

"I know." She said as she reached out to place a hand over mine. It lingered. Her hand was surprisingly warm against mine, for someone who had just been touching the ice. She gave it a squeeze before she removed my hand from her shoulder, slowly.

"But if I'm being honest. I'm just afraid of all those lines and betrayal happening again."

“That… is understandable. Trust is hard to come by. Especially for those who’ve been hurt.”

[Mari 1]

He spoke about trust, And Mari was conflicted, she wanted it; yet she barely ever gave it. "But I don't have a right. I'm a murderer yanno. Out there I would be considered a serial killer. I'm trying to move past it. But it is hard when people like today .." Mari sighed as she trailed off. She didn't want to bring up the incident with the group of players. Guilt weighed heavily in her stomach. She should have ran away, she shouldn't have tried reasoning with them.

She opened up her HUD and pulled out the familiar food - it had been sitting in there for such a long time. Now, she was finally going to use it. Mari opened the bag and dipped her hand in, she pulled out a hand of what looked like dried algae, a strange reedlike consistency that had been pressed and dehydrated so they were now hard pellets. Mari initially just tried to sprinkle them near the edge of the lake, but she got no bites. Meanwhile, Mephisto had began to talk.
 

“So?” His voice was deadpan. “Out there, you never would have killed anyone. Don’t compare yourself in here, to being out there, Peaches. This isn’t like the normal world - life and death are much closer to each other. Being hung up when every day for everyone who isn’t cowering in the Town of Beginning gambles with their life is only going to tie you down.”
 

It… Was the first time someone explained it that way to her. Mari turned her gaze upwards to meet his cool and calcuating icy gaze.  Sh*t. "ahh f**K I took you for an idiot but that's … pretty solid advice."  Mari said with a slight smile. Mephisto was right.
 

"I keep saying I'm gonna turn myself in when we leave here. But truth be told. I know nothing would come of it."
 

“Nope. Hell. We’ve been trapped in here for two years, Mari. At this point, we’ve probably all been written off as dead. Don’t punish yourself over that. Do what you can here and now.”
 

"I kinda like it when you use my actual name...err well my actual game name, I guess." It was another rare moment where Mari actually smiled. It helped talking this through.
 

Maybe Raidou wasn't entirely wrong with his thought process after all. He just went about it the wrong way.

 

ID# 134775   CD: 4   FAIL
3 attempts remain

Edited January 22, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

She was just a murderer in here, of people who’d been written off. We all had. Me? I was a murderer out there. Not that I was gonna bring up the whole thing of that situation. I doubted she’d understand that I had to kill my own parents to keep my brother safe. I gave her a slight smile, and a bow of my head. “Names have impact, Mari. Using them carries weight, connection. I very, very rarely use anyone’s real name. Or, as real as we know things get in here.”

She leaned back, her head resting against my leg. "So I should go back to calling you an albino snake?" She said with a wry grin, head tilted up toward me.

“You can call me whatever you want, Peaches.” I reached down and tapped her forehead with two fingers. “I know how I view names is different than most people.” I chuckled as her eyes went crossed, trying to look at the spot I had just poked. 

"I'll think of something good." I gave a soft snort. 

“You aren’t wrong with that nickname, Peaches. I am pretty white, and I am a snake. Conniving, an asshole as you’ve noted vociferously, and I don’t think much of the common moronic masses. Sounds pretty snakelike to me.” 

"Snakes are cuter, you're more rugged handsome?" She said with a shrug. "They have those cute little noses you want to poke and I love how they coil around you. Honestly I was planning on getting an albino snake before I settled on this." That… was unexpected. I blinked once, then twice as I processed that comment.

“Oh, come now Peaches, how am I supposed to not call you cute if you’re calling me ruggedly handsome?” I laughed and pushed her head. Deflect, deflect. “I think a beautiful colourful Koi suits you better, anyway. You’ve got too much to you - I’m the washed out whitey here, not you miss emberhead.”

[Mari 1]

“W-what!?” Mari exclaimed as she shot up, staring at the man. What the hell did he say about her? She said what about him? “N-no!” She retorted. “Don’t put words in my f**king mouth.” She spat at him. The nerve of some people. Mari grit her teeth as she turned her attention to the task at hand, she didn’t need him trying to set her off. That’s all he was doing, just being a nuisance.  Why the hell did I invite him here anyway? She thought to herself.

He laughed and waved his hands, taking a step back with those damn slitted eyes and that ever present smirk still on his lips.  She failed to see the humour.

Mari realized the food pellets were too close to the waters edge, if she wanted to catch one of these koi she should have chanced going out further. Her blue eyes shifted, following the edges of the lake, as she did - she crawled on her knees till she found parts of the lake that hadn’t fully defrosted yet.

Carefully ...slowly… she began to crawl out onto the ice. If she moved slow enough - it wouldn’t break beneath her. Besides, she was light enough. “C’mon you gorgeous bastards….” Mari said as she grabbed a handful of the pellets and dipped it into the water.

Her eyes lit up when a fish came closer to her hand, but it turned away just before taking a bite. “For f**ks sake…” Mari sighed as she leaned out further, trying to catch the attention of the large sea life.

 

ID# 134814   CD:8    FAIL
2 attempts remain

Edited January 23, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

I blinked once and tilted my head to one side as the redhead began to crawl across the ice. Oh, dear. I didn't see this going well at all. I suppressed a snort in one sleeve - I wasn't rude enough to actively try sabotaging her attempts at finding a familiar. 

I glanced around and spotted a large branch a short distance away. As Mari crawled along the ice, I moved over and picked the branch up, hefting it. Good, not rotted and would be sturdy enough in case my suspicion proved correct. I wasn't going to call out to her - I kind of wanted to see what happened. 

My fingers drummed along the wooden surface of the branch as I paced along the edge of the ice, keeping a short distance from her. I wasn't about to go adding my weight onto that thin ice. While Mari looked light enough that anything but sudden movements shouldn't cause any problems, tossing another hundred plus pounds didn't seem like a brilliant idea. 

 

[Mari 1]

"Just... a bit...more"  Mari said as she threw some of the pellets into the water. Finally...finally a large Koi came up, and began to eat them - following the trail of them till its nose bumped her hand. Mari rested a hand on her arm, smiling gently. "Ahh..Hello..." She said softly as she let it swim under then around her hand. The water was freezing...absolutely freezing but she didn't dare move her hand away. "You're gonna come with me - help me rid this place of all sorts of things."  

A message flashed across her screen, saying she had successfully tamed the fish. She grinned and sat up -ignoring the request to input the name for the time being. "Hey! Mephisto! I did it!"  She shifted up to move. 

'Crack'

Oh... 

'Crrrackk'

The ice beneath her gave way and Mari disappeared from Mephisto's view, as she was plunged into cold. She panicked, and tried to kick and swim around - her familiar, yet to be named, danced around her in a rhythmic loop. She'd find it mesmerizing if it weren't for the fear of drowning could she? Was that a thing in Aincrad? Mari didn't want to find out.

@Mephisto

 

ID# 134 815  CD: 9 SUCCESS
1 attempts remain

Edited January 27, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

"Seventh son of a forgotten daughter - " l bit off the curse as my suspicion was proven correct. The ice was far too thin where she was. As soon as Peaches had moved quickly, sitting up in her excitement, a spiderweb of cracks formed beneath her. She had time to start to turn to me and I saw the look of shocked surprise on her face as the ice beneath her shattered. 

 

I had a few seconds to decide what to do. Walk away and pretend I was never here, leaving Mari to whatever fate she had in store. I discarded this out of hand - if she didn't survive, I lost one of the few things that had made me feel something other than anger or apathy. If she did survive, and remembered me leaving her here - well. Just because she was trying to be good again didn't mean she wouldn't kill, and that seemed like a good way to get put on anyone's bad side. 

 

Which left - trying to help her. Thankfully it looks like the thin ice had all collapsed into the frigid waters below, leaving thicker stuff behind. My branch was just barely wide enough to span the gap. "Peaches you better be worth this." I muttered under my breath as I sprinted onto the ice. 

 

I had covered about half of the distance before one of my feet shot out from under me on the slick surface. "Fu-" My rear hit the ice and I slid the rest of the distance, plunging into the hole Mari had inadvertently made. One hand clutched onto the branch, and I reached out blindly below me, towards where I thought I had seen movement. 

 

[Mari 1]

 

Swoosh

The feeling of being swallowed by an icy chill was not exactly a foreign concept to Mari, but it had always been a metaphorical one - she had never physically experienced it. The world around her disappeared, and was replaced with a hollow coldness that wrapped her tight, Mari gasped in shock as a flurry of bubbles floated up to the surface. She felt as though the darkness around her was tightly embracing her - begging her to stay here. Where it was calm, quiet. Solitary. Her familiar, the Koi fish danced around her as she floated there soundlessly.

What happened?

She turned her head to and fro, right… she must have fallen into the lake. Her fish, her dear, sweet, familiar danced up under her hand, its scales caressing her hand. Would...it be so bad to stay here like this? It was cold, unbearably so, but she couldn’t deny the strange sense of peace that came with it. Mari shut her eyes. What if she were to stay here till the system just...removed her existence, would that be so bad?

To have the final moments of a turbulent and hateful world be like this?

Mari glanced up when she felt the warmth of a strangers hand breeze across her fingers. It snapped her from her cold thoughts and her fingers splayed out in an attempt to reach up and grab the hand that offered the life, warmth, and hope that she had plunged away from. She caught hold of them and gripped tightly. There was a brief and slight pause before the fingers locked back around hers, gripping painfully tight. Then she was pulled on, drifting upwards with her Koi swimming around her feet.

Mari drew in a sharp breath as her head broke the surface, she coughed as she caught gulps of air. "W-what Hap-pened?" She asked with steeled breath as she glanced up at Mephisto between wet bangs of gold. Did he save her?

Why?

[Mephisto 0]

"Ice broke." I bit out between clenched teeth as I held onto the girl and the tree branch. Blast - the wood was bowing, beginning to crack. "Brace yourself Peaches." Never had I been more glad that I at least tried to take care of myself, as my arms began to strain. I twisted around, hauling the shaking girl, and shoved her up, back onto stable ice just in time - the wooden branch slipped, and I dipped under the water for a moment. 

I'd been expecting it though, and kicked back up and grabbed onto the edge of the ice. I saw my health tick downwards slightly as brief flashes of not-pain flared in my palms - the jagged edges of the ice cutting into my skin. But I held on, and dragged myself up and put of the water, then finished helping Mari onto safe ice. We sat there, shivering in the cold for a moment as we fought to regain our breaths. 

“T-t-thanks.” Came her response, teeth chattering from the cold. I waved one hand at her. 

"You're welcome. You don't get to go dying on me, Peaches." I slumped back, staring upwards. "Please, tell me it worked." 

“Yeh…” Came her weary response. “N-now I j-just got-t-ta train it.” She said with a wry laugh. I watched as she crawled up closer to me as she sighed. “Quest done...if y-you need to leave y-you can.” I snorted and dragged my coat out of my inventory and off of me, and threw it over her shoulders. Her tiny hands reached out and tightly grasped the coat. Wrapping it around her, she gave me a confused look.

"No dice, Peaches. You ain't fit to be left alone right now."