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

[Mari 1]

He said he only relaxed, and only showed those sort of vulnerable moments around those he felt comfortable around. Mari… could in a way relate. She was always so very guarded with everything. She was so very untrusting of everyone around her. She trusted Macradon, and to a further extent Alkor - even after everything…

But others? Anyone else? It was a little hard to say she could. Maybe she was being hypocritical with her words, or maybe it was because she was opening up more to others that she felt the need to say anything at all.

“I.... do find it hard to trust people. Hell, I trust you about as far as I can throw you.” Mari gave him a wry smile. “And judging by your size, I wouldn’t even be able to lift you, let alone throw you.”

Mari felt her heart ache when he said she wasn’t a killer - she wished those words were true, gods she wished they were.. A pained look briefly crossed her face before she forced a more neutral smile. “Far be it from me to tell you not to be a crass asshole, Mephisto.” Mari said as she turned and threw the rock. Blue eyes watching as Kohaku ‘swam’ through the air after it to catch it.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

A sore subject - life, death. It usually was. I wasn't going to belabor my point though - while Mari had killed, she didn't have that vicious instinct, that drive or the revelry of ending a life. But her time in this place was twisting her - twisting most everyone in some way or another. Instead of yammering on about that, which I doubted she'd appreciate, I looked down at myself for a moment before back up. 

"Hey now. I'm tall, yes, but thin. These clothes are purposefully obscuring." I snorted and let my eye drift back to its normal state as Kohaku swirled around us, carrying its prize in its mouth. It was a little bizarre to see a fish carrying a rock around if I was honest, but far from the weirdest thing to exist in this death game. 

"And few people can tolerate crass assholes for long. It usually takes another. Or an uncommonly nice and good person." I chuckled.

 

@Mari

 

[Mari 1]

Mari held out her hand and Kohaku dropped the pebble in it. Mari tightened her hold on the small rock. It was an odd way to get stronger, and she was sure if she picked any other familiar, a wolf - a lion, a mimic...hell even a Bobbit worm - it’d be easier to train it in something like damage. But Mari wasn’t really the kind of person who did things ‘the easy way’ 

She shifted her eyes to Mephisto and thought about throwing the rock at him again. She was petty, but not that petty. Instead Mari turned her back on Mephisto and threw the rock at a nearby tree. Kohaku  followed the rock, but instead of headbutting the tree like it was meant to, the Koi just gently swam over and picked up the rock, bringing it back to her. 

Mari sighed. "Man...this is taking longer than I thought." She turned to glance at Mephisto. She glanced at his outlandish attire. "Yeeh....I just thought you were like a peacock or something, yanno - dressing up super fancy." Mari turned to fully face him. "So Mephisto, which one do you think I am, a crass asshole - or a nice and good person?"

@Mephisto

ID#146424   CD: 5
CD 7+ Required to succeed.
1/3 Times Trained.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

I straightened up when she called me a 'peacock' and squared my shoulders for a moment, then relaxed as I smirked. "I like dressing well. Not my fault if other people have differing tastes, I wear what I like." I kept the fact that this outfit had plenty of places to hide a blade if I needed to, to myself though. Instead I rubbed my chin, watching the glittering fish swim lazily through the air. It nudged at Mari's hand - if nothing else, it was enjoying the game of fetch so that was something, right? 

 

"Sweet Peach, you are a crass person. But just being crass or kind of an ass doesn't make you a bad person. You seem to want to help others, and truly want to change and be better. You aren't being forced to by anyone, no one is threatening your life - well, I mean more than any other orange player is normally threatened - nor is someone making you work with others to change yourself. You're trying to improve yourself, of your own volition. A bad person wouldn't care about this whole 'redemption' thing you are striving for."

I certainly knew I wouldn't most of the time. 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

Mari sighed as she took the pebble from Kohaku and gave it an awkward pat on the head, not knowing where exactly a fish liked to be pet. If at all. It seemed like Mephisto had stopped with the question and answer game they were playing, again. Since it was the second time he stopped it, Mari decided not to bring it up. She figured and assumed that he didn't want to engage in that any more, and well - that was more than fine with Mari. The less he knew about her the better.

Dressing well? Mari shifted her eyes to his attire. Well  that was definitely a loose term to use, not exactly one she'd use. Gaudy, perhaps? "I guess some people may consider that well dressed." Mari jested. She didn't show it, but she was a little frustrated, she was hoping her familiar would have been trained by now but she did pick a fish of all things to train in damage so what did she expect?

"Gee..." Mari said quietly as her blue eyes met his crimson. "I'd almost think you were trying to make me feel better about myself with words like that."

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

 

I let one eyebrow drift upwards for a moment, then shrugged a shoulder. I suppose I was, unintentionally - my words had been honest. If, or knowing my issues and personality, when, I got that little orange marker above my head, I wouldn't be all too perturbed about it. I wouldn't be straining myself trying to redeem myself in others' eyes like Mari was. 

 

"I speak simply the truth, Peaches. 'Bad' people wouldn't really care about it. Unless they had a reason to." Because I had just thought of a reason to care - having an orange crystal would make blending in and beguiling the morons a lot harder. 

 

"But you? You're doing it because you want people to know that - the orange marker isn't who you are. You are more than it. And you want other people to know that while you may have had to kill, you are not a killer. Now." I drummed my fingers against my cheek as I ran recent conversation through my head. 

 

"I got a bit distracted, didn't I. Was it my turn to ask, or yours…. Hmhmm. Ah, right, you asked me about my hobbies and found that I am an eminently boring person." I chuckled at the self-disparagation before continuing. "So, then, Peaches. Other than Kohaku there, have you ever had any pets?"

 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

"I guess you and I have that in common then..." Mari said to Mephisto when he said he spoke only the truth. "Although..." She added as she tilted her head to the side, staring at the strange man before her. "I feel like we've had this exact same conversation, just a few floors down." And it was true, they had talked about how neither one of them lied. Mari turned her back on him. Maybe he was just repeating himself because he ran out of things to say. Or maybe he truly hadn't realized what he was doing.

Mari bent down to pick up the pebble that Kohaku was quickly beginning to claim as his own. "You say that, but in laymans terms I am. There is very little reason to beat around the bush." Mari said when Mephisto mentioned she wasn't a killer. She knew what he meant, she didn't have the killer instinct or whatever. Daeron had told her that before. 

"Not really, I used to have a cat." Mari said as she slowly walked toward the silver haired man. "But she died before I came into the game." Mari walked past Mephisto. "I'm shifting to move slowly around the lake, you can join me if you want. Or you can continue to sit there and look pretty."

@Mephisto

 

[Mephisto 0]

I shook myself once and chuckled. "Why, thank you for the compliment. I'll come with you though." This might be a relatively safe location, but that didn't mean I was stupid enough to forget that this was a floor where anything that looked at me could kill me with a blink. Mari might be tiring of my company, but until this little venture was over I wasn't going to just vanish on her. 

 

"And yes, we did. But my comment there was less a rehashing of what I had said before, and more that I was reinforcing my statement. Have you not heard people use it before like that?" I studied Mari from the corner of my eye as Kohaku swirled around her, glittering colors. The display was scintillating, and almost enough to make me reconsider what I wanted my partner to be - something with iridescent scales would be handy for distracting and disorienting others. 

 

But that was a concern for later, even if a part of my mind was now thinking about how I could maybe use that for subtle hypnosis things. But I didn't know how the system would translate that - hell, it might not even be possible at all, the system might interfere too much to accurately allow for something like hypnosis. Ah well. 

 

"And I could see you with a cat. Probably was a little hellion, but you adored it." I wasn't going to bother with false sympathy or pity - I'd not had a pet and couldn't form any kind of sorrow over her loss. Besides, the redhead had had years to come to terms with it. 

 

@Mari

 

 

[Mari 1]

At this point, Mari expected Mephisto to follow her; and he did. Like a large puppy following its owner. He had stood up and began to slowly walk a few paces behind her in a languid fashion, hands in his pockets and small red eyes boring into the back of her head. "Smart Move." Mari commented. It was a dangerous floor for him. Whilst the path back to the city should be free of mobs, it didn't mean that it was. 

"I don't have any questions for you." Mari admitted, he mentioned the game, and how it had started up again - but he was difficult to read, and when she did ask him anything he gave her very little to work with. Mari felt like she was pulling teeth - and she wasn't going to continue to feel that way with the man. If he didn't want to share, that was fine with her. "I've had people try to tell me things like that." Mari mused as she paused in her stead, her eyes shifting to a nearby rock jutting out of the ground. It was tall and grand - twice the size of her. "But honestly, without sentiment - without drive, it just falls on deaf ears. Your words mean very little to me, because I don't know what drives you to say them."

She hurled the pebble at the larger rock - and Kohaku followed suit, headbutting the target. The large rock came crashing down to the earth and Mari felt a swell of pride within her chest seeing her fish pull off such an incredible feat. 

Mari turned to look at Mephisto. "And I'm going to rehash some words of my own, I just...find it hard to trust others - you pulled me out of the ice back there...and I'm grateful to that, but I can't help but feel you got ulterior motives."

ID#137032  CD: 9
CD 7+ Required to succeed.
2/3 Times Trained.

@Mephisto

Edited March 2, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

I hummed softly and shrugged my shoulders, not taking my hands from my pockets as I watched the girl and the fish pla-train. She wasn't wrong - I was hard to read. On purpose, I didn't like others seeing my motives. At least she was keen enough to tell that and not just accept things at face value. It might work for some - not with me. 

"What drives me, hmm?" That was a good point. I only had one real 'goal' and it was the same thing everyone else in here had.

Get. Out.

I couldn't be like those who figured out ways to cope and settle here - I had seen groups of people who were accepting their new life here, wanting to stay. This place might be more accepting of ruthlessness, but at the same time - well. The system couldn't be gamed. If I gave in to the surges of anger like I had before, or had to deal with something, then without fail my little crystal would change. Which would make dealing with anyone much harder. 

I realized that Mari was staring at me with what I figured was suspicion. I ended up shrugging again. "Not really, there. I figured the ice was too thin and prepared to help you. I've taken at least a bit of a liking to you so watching you freeze or drown would have irked me." It was honestly just selfish - I didn't want someone who entertained me, and could be useful, to die when I could intervene in it. 

" As for a drive - I suppose I haven't found one yet. For why I want to help you?" I tilted my head and cracked one eye open, studying her. "I want to. It pleases me." It pleases me to have someone like Peaches on my side instead of against me. My eye slid back to barely cracked open as Kohaku swirled through the air, nudging against my shoulder before swimming back to Mari. Odd little fish. 

 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

"So watching me die would upset you?" Mari asked. "You'd...probably be the only one to feel that way then." Mari said quietly, it wasn't intended to be melancholy, nor sad. It was just...fact to her - she strongly doubted anyone would particularly care if she dies. Even if it were for his own gain, or his own reasons - it was...sorta nice to hear a near stranger say he'd be perturbed at her death. 

Mari continued walking forward - toward Kohaku who was swimming in loops over the fallen rock. "You did good." Mari said to Kohaku as she ran a hand along the shimmering white and golden scales. "Considering a floating fish can take down a giant rock...I don't think I need to train him much more..." Mari mused more to herself than to Mephisto.

Mari glanced over at Mephisto as he spoke. "It pleases you?" Mari snorted. "I unno Mephisto - I don't think many people would want me by their side - quite the opposite actually. I mean, yu saw what happened on the first floor. " Mari turned on her foot and crossed her arms, giving Mephisto a wry grin. "Whoever said I was on your side, eh?"

@Mephisto

 

[Mephisto 0]

"Watching you die would definitely upset me." It would be such a terrible waste. I gave a rolling shrug of my shoulders. "And while I don't care what other people think, at least what most other people think, I do believe there would be others who would mourn your loss." A smirk split my lips and I chuckled. "Maybe I need to find them and start the 'Peaches Support Group'. Maybe nickname it the Orchard." Eh. I was teasing her there because that sad look on her face didn't suit her properly. An ornery one or a happy one fit her better. 

"And as for whether or not I'd want you on my side you're right, I should look at what happened back on the first floor. One person faced off against what was essentially a mob and handled it with aplomb. Hell, you didn't even actively hurt anyone. And hey now. Even if you don't want to be on my side, I'll be on yours." At least for now, unless she flat out told me to leave and wanted nothing more to do with me. Or, if she randomly attacked me. More than for the fish's training. 

 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

Mari's hand ran along Kohaku's back. Surely...there must be other ways for it to attack. She'd seen it. Familiars becoming almost incorporeal. "Please don't find people who like me and call it an orchard - that'd be embarrassing as f**k."  He talked about the first floor again. 

"I didn't actively hurt anyone, but...I still kinda did hurt people." Mari said as she tugged on her hair absently. "I...I don't know what I would have done if any of them had actually died...I'd have been...terribly upset - sure it would have been due to their own actions but as you said before..." Mari inhaled then exhaled. "I..I shouldn't have been there in the first place. Despite my reasons."

Maybe it would have been better if I never left the tenth floor

"You'd be on my side?" Mari gave him a questioning look, shimmering blue eyes wide. How could she believe that, this stranger who showed very little care to or for others, she gave him the smallest of smiles, filled with a melonchonic rue. "That'd be nice...if it were true." 

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

"No, people hurt themselves. Look, Mari." I resisted the urge to rub my face with one hand. I really wanted to pinch my nose right now to massage the incipient headache I could feel forming. "You're still thinking of it like out there, but not - not for other people, only for yourself." I started to pace, my strides agitated. 

"You think of yourself as a monster, but you aren't. What you are, is a person who got thrown into a game that has forced people back into truly barbaric medieval mindsets - and it has dragged life and death to everyone's doorstep. Yes, you've killed. I won't deny that, and I won't pretty it up. No, it wouldn't have happened outside. But you know what else wouldn't have happened?" I turned and stared at her, my eyes open as I watched her intently. 

 

"A mob like that one that attacked you would not have happened. Stop holding people to different standards - if, out there, a mob had formed and attacked someone, no matter how justified, then THEY would be getting punished just as much as the person they attacked. What they did was wrong Mari, and you should never punish and hate yourself for others suffering their actions. You didn't antagonize them, you didn't broadcast your location, you didn't threaten them - hell you would have been perfectly fine being left alone if they had never come to you. So why the ever loving **** are you degrading yourself for what other people did?" My shoulders sagged and I ran one hand through my hair, turning away slightly as my vehemence left me... Drained. I was silent for a few seconds. 

"Sorry. I.. Sorry." I shook my head once. Now she probably would want me to actually leave, and after that tirade I wouldn't blame her. 

[Mari 1]

Mari turned to glance at Mephisto - he looked...annoyed? Yeh. He looked outright pissed at her, and could Mari really blame him? She wasn't exactly being hospitable, but she was trying...right? Its why she thanked him..its why she proposed that silly question and answer game - she was just trying to open up a little more - trying to extend that olive branch - but she guessed her own distrust was her downfall.

Her hand and eyes lowered to the floor as he tore into her. What did he know? "Right..." Mari mumbled. In a way, a crude and painful way...he was right. "I...still don't want to hurt them though. I don't want to hurt others - I want to be able to believe there is another way again." She shifted her teary blue eyes, an ocean of bottled up frustrations and pain, memories and isolation - all threatening to bubble over. But when she blinked, no more than a few tears streaked down her face as Mari did what she did best.

She bottled it up.

"I've been hunted and hated...because I didn't find other ways...I don't want to repeat those same mistakes from the past. Everyone has always held me to  a different standard. Pkers were adored and loved but those? Those were the ones who revelled in killing others - who openly admitted they enjoyed it. BUt were they banished? NO." Her voice rose in agitation. "Were they hated? NO! It's always been that way, standards are f**ked Mephisto."

@Mephisto

ID#137686  CD: 6  FAIL
CD 7+ Required to succeed.
2/3 Times Trained

Edited March 13, 2020 by Mari

[Mephisto 0]

"Yes. Yes they are. Life itself is pretty damn f*****." I hadn't heard about this apparent popularity of player killers who were boastful and self aggrandizing - but then again, until recently I had pretty well been trapped in my own cycle of anger and rage. I folded my arms over my chest and continued to watch her intently. I thought I had seen a flicker of something - emotions she didn't let out - and knew that what I was saying was getting to her. I sighed softly. 

 

"I won't say some trite bullshit like 'there is always another way' because sometimes there just isn't. Sometimes life gives you a losing hand and then kicks you over and over while you're down." Born to druggie parents, reviled by everyone you knew growing up, jaded as all get out.

 

"You want another way?" I narrowed my eyes and took a step closer, bringing one of my hands up in a clenched fist. "Then make it. You hate the killing, but the non violence doesn't work because they don't believe you. So get strong enough to make your own option - idiots like that? Knock them out." I rapped my fist against my other palm emphatically. 

 

"And find yourself allies, friends who don't care what others think of that because I assure you the people who are willing to befriend you when you've got that orange crystal, who will see the fact that you're good and believe in you despite it - they're the ones you want around you, not the sniveling masses that automatically assign blame." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She didn't like me degrading people out of hand but damn it idiots just weren't worth the air they breathed. 

 

I folded my arms back over my chest, tucking my hands into the sleeves of my coat. I wasn't the best for pep talks - my brother was the inspirer, the one who made you believe you could be better than you were. I was the schemer, the mongoose that waited and plotted to make things happen. 

 

[Mari 1]

"You got that right." Mari said under her breath as Mephisto agreed with her sentiment on life. It had been pretty messed up in the past; but now - things were slowly looking up again. She had someone she could more or less call her friend, and whilst that didn't sound like a lot - to her, it was. Mari doubted Macradon knew how much she valued his friendship. Even if she did doubt it constantly. She knew it was her own hangups and reservations, and that Macradon probably didn't want anything more than a friendly smile once in a while.  She'd fought the first two dragons with him - perhaps he'd be willing to continue the quest line with her.

Mari met Mephisto's approach with a glare, her hand instinctively went to her side - where her dagger hung - but Mari caught herself in the action and stopped herself. "Can't knock people unconscious here genius." Mari said to him. "That's still, yanno - violence. Also I'm plenty strong. You saw what happened back there - once I net myself battle healing, and I will after  I trained up Kohaku, I'd heal just as much damage as they shill out." Mari bit her tongue, she knew she was being aggressive - but she couldn't exactly help it. She turned her face away from him.

"My god do you ever shut up about this sh*t?" She hissed. She was sick of it. Sick of hearing his advice - sick of him being all high and mighty. The false claims, the insincere pep talks...she hated all of it.

Mari shook her head as she walked over to where her familiar was.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

I held my hands up in a placating gesture as I took a step away from Mari, watching as she strode away from me with angry steps. She had a lot of emotions bottled up inside of her and it was.. Difficult to get a gauge on how she'd react to something. Still - I hadn't known you couldn't actually render people unconscious here. Maybe just catatonic from pain? That would be something I'd have to test later, away from the woman who would probably flip [censored] if she found me systematically beating someone to find their breaking point. 

"Easy, easy." I knew when my words were not wanted. To be honest it was becoming clear that overall the redhead didn't like my presence too much and I couldn't blame her. I was a a difficult person to get along with in the best of times, and it had been a long, long while since I was in that kind of mood. I gave a shrug and ran the fingers of one hand through my hair.

I needed a new topic, one that wouldn't make her bite my head off for now. I knew family was a sore subject. Her new familiar? "So - damage type pets. Other than physically beating on your target, they get any other nifty tricks?" 

 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

Mephisto took a few steps back throwing his hands up in defence, and it was in that moment Mari realized she probably went a little too far. She didn't mean to, but it just...infuriated her. "I just...why are you focusing so much on me?" Mari asked him. "Don't you have anything to say about yourself? Or are you just going to constantly deflect? Is the only thing about you your brother?"

Mari shook her head, "Its...I guess its why I'm so suspicious of you, you want so much for me, of me, but what do you offer in return?"

Mari looked over to Kohaku. "Yeh..." She said quietly. "They can do a lot - I'll have to show you in a moment." Mari said as she turned to Mephisto and gave him a empty smile, the smile was all false - it held no sentiments behind it, no emotion. She smiled simply for the sake of smiling, for that was what one did in such a situation. "That is, if you want me to, after all of that?" She had torn into him, and it was clear he probably didn't like her too much - Mari couldn't blame him, she was...difficult to get along with, and it didn't help that the conversation was so  heavily focused on her, she didn't do too well in the spotlight.

@Mephisto

[Mephisto 0]

"So.. Wait." I blinked once, then chuckled. That was honestly probably wise, not trusting me since she couldn't figure out what my angle was. I wasn't some goody two shoes who was doing this just to be nice to someone I'd met only a few hours ago. And she was keen enough to have picked up on that with ease - but I had been a bit blunt and more open with my disdain for the idiotic masses than I normally would be. I shook my head with a bemused smirk on my lips. 

"You want to know what I get out of it, beyond amusement?" I drummed the fingers of one hand on the opposite bicep and tilted my head for a moment. "Well, aside from the fact that I do tend to get a bit focused on things and this is the first remotely interesting thing I've seen in weeks - there will come a day, Peaches, when other people realize that you're honest and sincere. That you do want to do good." I let my lips slide into a smile, one that was.. sharp. 

"And when they realize that, they're going to do mental contortions and try to structure themselves into how to align themselves still as 'good people' when they've been heaping abuse on a good person. They'll have their hypocrisy shoved in their faces. And that fascinates me, people having their nature put on display." I sighed softly and hummed slightly. I held up a hand with two fingers. 

"Second.. While I'm not the brightest, kindest person in existence, I'm not a completely uncaring, hollow a**." I chewed my lip for a moment as I tried to figure out how to put the sentiment into words. My love for my brother kept me from that, and I knew it. I sighed softly.

"My brother would have wanted to help you. Or for me to help you. He is the kind of guy who would help you just because he sees the best in people. And while I can't get home to him.. Hmm. How to put it. I suppose I think I could try doing some things he would at least be happy with. In my own way, though, since I wouldn't be the kind to get up in people's faces about how misunderstood you are while fighting anyone who bad mouthed you." I shrugged and let my eyes close. He would do that - he tried to do it for me until I sat him down and told him to chill. I think he still did behind my back. 

"So. Fish  powers?" 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Mephisto