[[PP-F22] <<Training your Friend>> As Coy as a Koi

[Mari 1]

He actually followed her, a few hours of non stop walking and he had followed her straight to the 22nd floor. Was this man insane? A stalker? Or just that goddam bored

Mari, who begrudgingly had Mephisto in tow, had made it to the 22nd floor; this floor was dominated by lakes and forests. Picturesque landscapes, forests lining rolling hills. It was a floor Mari hadn’t had the chance to explore all too much, the last time she had come here she had a run in with Hikoru, and that...didn’t exactly turn out how she expected.

Still, the walk here had dried her off, and Mari had already returned Mephisto’s coat to him. She didn’t want to remain indebted to the curious and tall snakelike man.

“Well, we’re here now.” Mari commented as she glanced over her shoulder to look up at him. Mephisto just grinned, his wide smile splitting his face. Did he have to look so damn  creepy when he smiled? “So...yanno…” Mari gave him a dismissive wave. “You’ve done your duty.”

Mari took a few steps forward and knelt down to pick up a stone. She tossed it and caught it a few times in her hand, testing its weight. “I gotta train up Kohaku now.”

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

I tilted my head to one side and blinked at the redhead who was trying, and failing, to ignore my presence. It was kind of amusing - I didn't even have to say anything and she was weirded out by me. And, a little insulting, but then again I had cultivated an unnerving appearance and presence. I gave her another smile and wandered over to a fallen log, perching on top of it as I watched her heft a rock in her hand. 

 

"Don't worry, I won't stop you. What kind of path are you planning on taking Kohaku down?" Again there was that naggling sense of familiarity with the name of her familiar, like I knew it for some reason. I was ignoring it though, because if I tried to chase that sensation the memory would leave me entirely. 

 

Instead I brought one leg up, shifting to sit against the heel and rested my elbow on it, propping my chin in that hand. "And who knows maybe I can help." I chuckled softly. 

 

Sticking around was my plan - I wanted Peaches used to me being around her. But if she actively, vehemently tried to get me to leave… I might. Maybe. 

 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

Mari watched as Mephisto headed to a fallen log, sitting on it and leaning back comfortably. It was clear he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Mari sighed softly as she closed her eyes, she couldn’t, no… wouldn’t tell him to just f**k off. “Why are you hanging around?” Mari asked as she opened her eyes and took a few steps toward him. It didn’t make sense to her, at every step, every turn - she had tried to push him away. She was rude to him, brash. And yet he stayed.

“Do you not have a teleport crystal?” Mari asked, genuine concern in her voice. “You know the mobs here would probably kill you in a single hit.”

"Oh, I've got one and could get away if need be - and it's not the first time I've wandered up here, I'm not scared."

Hmm. So it wasn’t that. “So then why?” Mari asked as she crouched in front of him. “You have nothing to gain from being here, right?” Kohaku, her familiar began to loop not only around her, but her and Mephisto, was it because of how close they were to each other? Curious.

“I want Kohaku to deal damage, I’m a glass cannon after all.”

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

Honest concern from her, or so it seemed. That was a good step - and for more reasons than she might think. If I could demonstrate to other people that she was truly worried for someone she barely knew, and seemed to dislike, then convincing them of her change of heart was more likely to succeed. Which meant my little self-appointed project was more likely to be a triumph, which pleased me. 

 

"I have companionship from someone who isn't a mouth-breathing nitwit to gain, Peaches. Ah, hello." Her fish flitted by my head, scales reflecting light across my face as it circled my head for a moment before drifting back away towards Mari. I wasn't sure why her familiar seemed to be at ease around me, most of the animals I'd met kept a healthy distance even in this world. 

 

"Ah, so you're going to play to your strength instead of masking a weakness, I see." I rubbed my chin as I sat back, my silver eyes flicking between Mari and Kohaku. "Makes sense, kill them before they get a chance to strike at you in the first place." I chuckled softly and let my eyes drift mostly closed, watching Mari through the cracks. 

 

 

[Mari 1]

“You really shouldn’t keep calling everyone nitwits.” Mari chidded as she stood straight. The ashen haired man snorted softly and gave a half shrug. “You prattle on about me being nice, but what about you?”
 

"The number of people I'm even remotely nice to is quite limited and restricted to people that show that they aren't bottom-feeding idiots, Peaches. It's not a hard bar to pass, but somehow few do."

Mari turned to her familiar. She...had to train it to deal damage, right? But how exactly did one do that? She tossed the rock up in the air a few times before catching it. Kohaku seemed to follow. A sneaky grin broke Mari’s lips. She knew how.

“Hey, snake, you may just be useful after all.” Mari hurled the rock at Mephisto - and Kohaku came charging right after it. Mephisto blinked once as Mari spoke, then his eyes widened as he saw her arm come up. He rolled backwards, falling off the back of the log as the rock - and the fish following it  - shot over his head. 

"Why, oh why, couldn't you be training a defensive familiar." The ashen haired man grumbled as he pulled himself back up.

“You weren’t supposed to duck!” Mari said exasperated, “It’s not gonna hurt. Sheesh.” She grinned. “Want me to throw the rocks at a tree instead or something?”

ID# 135836  CD:1 -FAIL
(CD 7+ Reqiured)

Edited February 16, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I do have at least some self preservation instincts, when something comes at me with just about no warning of course I'm going to try getting out of the way." I stood up and brushed myself off, and then folded my arms over my chest as Kohaku came drifting lazily through the air past me, heading back towards his trainer. As he went by his tail brushed against my ear and then he hurried onwards. 

 

"And no. Once you can get his interest in the rock again," because right now the shimmering koi fish showed no desire chasing them again, "go ahead and feel free to toss another one my way. Just not the face, alright?" I raised one eyebrow as I finished speaking. 

 

“Here I thought you liked unexpected stuff like that, was I wrong?” She asked with a tilt of her head to the side.

 

"It depends. Things that would hurt me, not so much. I tend to prefer being on the dealing side personally." I smirked for a moment before letting my arms drop back to my sides, my hands disappearing into my sleeves as the fabric came down. 

 

[Mari 1]

Mari turned to Kohaku and let her fingers gently run along its scales. “Is that so…” She said quietly. “If you’re so willing to hurt others...you should be willing to be hurt yourself. Something like cosmic karma comes to mind. Her eyes lowered to the ground. “It’s like, I can’t fault whats dealt my way, because I’ve dealt sh*it out in spades.”

Mari paused to bend over and pick up another rock. She tossed it up in the air a few times testing its weight. It seemed cruel to constantly hurl them at Mephisto, but if he was ok with things, then she’d use that. It was better to utilize a moving target than a tree or rock anyway. She was trying to jest with the man, but she supposed her jokes fell flat. She wasn’t very good at talking at the best of times, and right now - whilst she appreciated him being there - even if he was like a fly. She wasn’t sure how to continue conversations with him.

“Want to go back to our question game?” Mari asked as she glanced over her shoulder back at him.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

"Sure, I don't mind." I pulled my eyes back up and hummed in thought. I'd already figured that Peaches had trouble with small talk, so engaging in a little back and forth would probably be easier for her to focus on, especially as distracted as she was currently with training her new companion. 

 

"And it's only unexpectedly that I have issues with being dealt pain. I've had my share of karma both ways." I chuckled and shook my head. "Besides, Peaches - if you're looking at a karmic balance, you've been getting 'brownie' points for a while trying to help people and do the right thing. Now, for a question, unless you want to go first? Got something on your mind?" One corner of my mouth turned upwards. 

She shook her head in response."Alright then. So, Peaches." I hummed and tilted my head to one side. "You don't need to tell me who they are or how many, but, you have those you call friend, right?" 

 

[Mari 1]

Of course his question had to be something like that. Mari clenched her fist, the rock pressed into the skin of her palm. Friends? Hell. Did she really have any? “Don’t know…” She said quietly. Mari wanted to consider Alkor a friend, but since he admitted that he was playing the part, and that he didn’t really love her - he had been quiet. Mari was hoping to preserve their friendship but was terrified of pushing him further away.

Then there was Macradon, who was helping her….she considered him a friend but did he consider her one?

“I Guess, there are maybe two people I consider a friend, but I don’t think they reciprocate.” Mari gave him a faint smile. “I’m okay with that though. These sort of things, especially for someone like me...take time.”

Mari felt a heavy weight in her chest. She wanted it to dissipate, to go away - but with her past luck, it’d probably linger. So, distractions. “What about you? Do you have any friends here?” She tossed the rock up into the air and Kohaku followed it. She supposed she could toss it at Mephisto again, but she wasn't sure she had the heart.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

 

"You're the closest thing to a friend I've got to be honest." Not that I particularly cared. I had never really had or cared for friends - before my darling brother I'd not been able to even comprehend the thought. After him, well, I'd not needed anyone else. Everyone else just got in the way. And when I'd been trapped in here - well. My rage had taken a while to subside. "So I suppose if you want you can add me to the list. I know it may not seem like it but I enjoy your company and I know you aren't going to try murdering my face." I chuckled as I watched her contemplate a rock, her gaze shifting between it and Kohaku a few times. Right - this was actually a good time! 

 

"Ok, Peaches, spill. Why is Kohaku so blasted familiar to me? I swear I know the name but I don't know why."

 

[Mari 1]

Mari frowned at his admission. It….sounds lonely. “That….seems awfully sad. I know a lot of people are content with their solitude.” She turned on her heel so she was facing him fully. “Heck, I’m one of those people, but that just seems kinda...sad.” He shrugged in response one shoulder rising and falling. 

Mari knelt down on the ground, placing an elbow on a bare thigh as she placed her head in her hand. She gave him a forced cheeky smile to try and alleviate the heavy air that hung between the two of them. “You picked a heck of a stupid person to have as someone to even remotely consider a friend.” Mari said, implying that he shouldn’t consider her one. She guessed, they had that much in common.

Mari half-heartedly chucked the rock at Mephisto, but without the gusto or effort, she missed. So Kohaku trailed effortlessly past the lithe man, picked up the rock and bought it back to Mari. She blinked. Well, at least she taught it out to play fetch?

“As for his name, honestly I’m terrible with names - its literally the name of the breed of Koi fish. I guess it’s also the name of a character in a animated movie, but yeh. Nothing fancy here. It’s just the Koi’s breed.”

It was her turn to ask a question.  “So you’d have a mongoose as a familiar. What would you train it in?”

@Mephisto

ID# 135837 CD: 5 - FAIL
CD 7+ Required to succeed.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

"Mm, that's my decision though. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all." And use and skill were strong motivators in a game where death walked side by side with everyone here. "And sorry but it won't change, you'll just have to put up with me." I folded my arms over my chest, slipping my hands into the opposite sleeves as I watched Kohaku slide by me. This time the rock hadn't even come close to me. 

 

"I would probably choose accuracy myself. I prefer surety in landing my strikes." And I already knew I wasn't the kind of person who could deal massive quantities of damage myself. No, my damage if I ever really focused on it, would rely on long term status effects. 

 

"Now then, my turn hmm?" I twitched my lips in thought. "What's a song you miss? Like, have you had any of those times where a song you haven't heard in a while just gets stuck in your head, and you need to listen to it but can't?" 

 

[Mari 1]

Mari pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure an Accuracy familiar was a thing. “I’m..pretty sure the three types are defence, attack and loot - but to be honest - I haven’t looked too much into it.

"I wanted evasion, a familiar to distract and disorient. Sadly that isn't a thing - but helping my strike true would be. Thankfully."

“Most of my damage is from long term effects like bleeding.” Mari tilted her head, still resting in the palm of her hand as she threw the rock. Blue eyes watching as Kohaku swam through the air to pick it up and bring it back to her.  “There was a time where I wanted to do that, all status damage. Bleeding, fire damage, frost damage...compiling it all on over and over and it works - to an extent, but if I wanna use Sword Arts more effectively, I need to invest in a higher damage output, which my dagger just doesn’t do on its own.

Mephisto asked if she had any songs she missed. “Mmm…” Her head tilted up to the sky. “I guess whatever my Grandpa used to play on the piano. I’d always accompany it with my violin, it’s a time I really remember fondly.” She missed him, and her grandma, but both had long since departed from the world. “I….didn’t exactly have a bad family, but my grandpa, he really was somethin’ else.”

Mari shifted her eyes to Mephisto; she knew the question was probably a little personal, but she was feeling nostalgic. “Do you have any family like that? Or is it just you and your brother?”

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

"It's just us." My voice was quiet, not quite curt. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She probably wanted more than that. "It's been just the two of us for a long time now. My parents passed when I was a teen and he was a couple years old at most, and their families were - non-existent in our lives. And good riddance I say, both sides raised drug addicts." I spat to the side at the memory of those two failures. I sat back down on my log, drawing my legs up and balancing as I watched her. 

 

If she was feeling comfortable enough to ask me that, I was making progress. She was maybe not actively liking me but feeling used to me, comfortable around me to a degree. That was a good sign, now I just had to keep it up. Or test the bounds - since hearing about her grandfather had made an odd tug in my chest, I kind of craved more. 

 

"So you play violin? I'll have to see about finding you one - but for my question… What was your family like? A big one?" 

 

[Mari 1]

Mari released her knees from her chest and threw the rock so Kohaku would give chase, it was a good exercise in keeping him interested in the shiny pebble. She briefly wondered what on earth Macradon would say to her having a familiar now. Not only that, but a fish that played bloody fetch.

She leaned back, doe-eyed gaze watching the clouds roll over both her and Mephisto high in the sky. “Sorry.” She said. “That seems like a tough subject for you. My ex was an addict, and used a corrupt system to screw me over. So I hate anything to do with narcotics. It just rubs me the wrong way.” Mari rolled her shoulders.

“I actually already have a violin. I often retreat to the 4th floor to play it, around where we met. As for my family? I dunno. Normal I guess? My dad died when I was around 20 due to emphysema and my mum remarried. But he was a good guy. Walked me down the aisle on my wedding day, although he hated my ex.” Mari scoffed. “Now I know why.”

She glanced to the side as Kohaku dropped the pebble at her hand then nudged her shoulder. Was...the fish enjoying this? Mari quirked her lip as she shifted to a more seated position. “This is kinda nice... “ Mari admitted. “I admit, I’m kinda on guard...but it’s nice having aimless conversations like this.”

 

Mari picked up the pebble. Tossing and catching it in the air. “Mmmm…” What to ask him. She didn’t want to bother him about his family, since it was a touchy subject.  “Do you have any hobbies or anything like that?” She asked. That seemed like a relatively safe question to ask.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

"I don't, not really." Never had time for them if I was honest with myself. There was always something that needed to be done to keep my brother and I safe - strings to be pulled, schemes to be enacted. I had clawed my way to a good life, and a better one for my sweet innocent brother. Hobbies were for people who had better lives than I got the chance to. I gave her a slight chuckle. 

 

"I'm honestly not even that into games. I'm in here because my brother wanted to play it and I wanted to make sure it was safe before I let him. Glad I did." It was one of the few things that had kept me from the kind of depression I'd seen in others - as bad as this was, for me, it could have been worse. I rubbed my chin with one hand as I contemplated. 

 

"I suppose I like to listen to music? Mostly instrumentals, strings and woodwinds. Not a fan of percussion for the most part. So - Peaches." I spread my arms wide and gave her a smirk. "Stop trying to hit me, and hit me." I wondered if she'd catch the reference like she did last time I quoted something. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Mephisto

[Mari 1]

No hobbies? Hell, even Mari had her hobbies and she was fairly flippant when it came to doing things like that. Rather, she didn’t have a few hobbies but just dabbled in whatever took her fancy at the time. Mari snorted at his comment.  “Wow, you're so interesting Mephisto.” Mari scoffed. “I'ts a wonder you don't have any friends with all your skills."

He mentioned his brother, again. Mari noticed that - he bought up his brother quite a lot, and whenever he did it was always about how sweet, innocent, or angelic the boy was. No young child was that sweet and angelic, but she supposed that was the way Mephisto saw him - and could she blame him? Especially if his brother was all he had.

At least he had something he liked - instrumental music. Something was better than nothing. Which was what this snake of a man felt like he had. Nothing. No interests, no relationships, no skills. Zip. Nadda. Zilch. 

Just as he prompted her, Mari shrugged and aimed the pebble directly at his forehead. It hit him, bang! Dead on, and Kohaku followed suit, crashing into him and causing him to fall over as Kohaku grabbed the small rock and dropped it back into Mari’s open palm.

“Hit you like that?” Mari asked with a tilt of her head. “You’re a bit of an odd one, aren’t you?”

ID#135838 CD:11 -SUCCESS
CD 7+ Required to succeed.
1/3 Times Trained.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

 

"I just got slapped by a fish. You weren't even holding the fish in the process." I stood up and rubbed my forehead, the spot where the stone had hit me stinging slightly. Being hit by Kohaku, at least this time had been more of a shock than an actual painful hit. The koi didn't quite know what it was doing, yet. Yet. I straightened my jacket and gave her a deadpan stare through slitted eyes. 

 

"Yes. Yes I am an odd one. Always have been. Probably a bit damaged in the head if I'm honest, but hey, most people are in some way I suppose. And this death game just makes it worse. Well. For most." I cracked my neck and hummed for a moment, watching Kohaku flit back and forth. 

 

"Other than music, I suppose the nearest thing to a hobby is movie watching with my brother. I absorb them more vicariously than for myself, but hey." I gave a half-shrug. "We do things we normally wouldn't for those we love."

Edited February 22, 2020 by Mephisto

[Mari 1]

Mari held back a laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand. She ha to admit, she felt some form of satisfaction from seeing him being knocked down a peg. He always seemed to be looking down his nose at everyone. Like he felt he was superior to others. That sort of arrogance annoyed Mari.

“I think you are.” Mari said, offering him a grin. “If I’m being honest.” She added with a small wink. As he continued to talk she turned her attention to Kohaku, she carefully ran her fingers along its side. Do fish like being patted? She wasn’t sure - she doubted it but this was Aincrad and her fish was swimming in bloody air. So, who knew? Maybe it did like the pats.

“You know…” Mari started quietly, her tone shifting from the jovial lightnes before to a slightly more serious one. “I’ve noticed something. Whenever you mention your brother your facial features soften. You actually seem like a decent human in those moments. If you showed other people that vulnerability, maybe you’d make some actual friends in this game.”

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

I blinked once, then tilted my head to one aide, then the other, studying the redhead. She wasn't wrong - if I relaxed around other people that was probably exactly what would happen. Someone would decide that being friends with me was a worthwhile endeavor. Or - someone would decide that the poor stupid schmuck who let down his guard made easy picks and took him, me in this case, down a peg or two. I'd seen it happen often enough though the backstab schemes like that didn't suit my own personal tastes. 

 

"I relax around those I feel comfortable around, Mari." My voice was quiet. "You know why I feel comfortable around you? I know you aren't a killer. You've been forced into it but - like I said before. Out there, you would never have gone to those lengths. Or been put in a situation where you had to. I've seen those situations. Trust is hard to come by." I gave her a slight shrug of one shoulder.

 

" So I prefer to be brash, crass, rude, and conniving. Keep unnecessary connections at a minimum. I will say though…" I hummed in thought for a moment before opening one eye more fully to look at her. "If it means that much to you I might try seeing about figuring out a looser definition of a 'necessary connection'." 

 

@Mari