#▐ .｡*ﾟ━ V. THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE: CRIME SORCIÈRE.

[killrate]

“a lot of people are too afraid to approach me at this hour. what are you doing up so late?”

♡ @midmare

Mary can't help but to giggle in response. It's practically a reflex.

"No offense, but you don't look very approachable at any hour. This makes little difference, ya' know~? Whaddya think I'm scared of you or something?" But back to his main question. "Anyway... Ugh, I don't know. I know I'm tired, but I can't sleep. You know... The usual." She huffs, boosting herself up to sit on top one of the many boulders in the area. Predictably, her feet dangle just a few inches. "I should learn a sleep charm or something. I'm gonna have dark circles in the morning, I just know it. I'll look awful... and puffy-eyed..." She mumbles, mostly to herself. It's certainly not the most private meltdown...

[killrate]

“In my experience, any time somebody asks, ‘is that blood?’ it’s almost always blood.”

♡ @caelitus

Jellal seems nice enough so far, but logically, Mary is still partially walking on eggshells around him, and partially avoiding him altogether. If there's anything she's learned in the world of dark guilds, it's that ' nice enough ' is often a misdirection.

She blurted out the question, and to Jellal’s credit, she had worded it poorly. He does have a point. 

Mary imagines he’s trying to give her a laugh, but she still feels tense; so his efforts may have gone to waste, if that was indeed the intention.  “Yes, but… Um, is it yours? Or someone else’s?” She attempts to clarify, too politely for her own liking.  “Since you’re being funny, I’ll assume it isn’t yours. And if that’s the case, I’ll also assume that there’s no need to worry?” She sasses him this time for good measure, arms folding over her chest.

[killrate]

“Mind if I borrow your knife a moment. I’ll clean it after.” Jellal asked holding up a shiny red apple, a gentle smiling smirk forming on his lips. He’d move her knife earlier from it’s pocket to another spot on her person using his telekinesis. Now it was just waiting for her to realize when she tried to get it. // - caelitus >:3

♡ @caelitus

It's a perfectly innocent request.

Mary would never deny giving Jellal the ease of peeling and slicing himself an apple, even on her worst days!

So she nods. "Of course! Don't use a ton of pressure though! They're all sharp as hell. And I don't suppose you trust me to stitch you back up." Although Mary is actually quite decent at it!

She reaches for the pouch-compartment of her belt, only to feel around and find... Nothing that was switchblade-shaped.

"Huh?"

She pats down on the pockets of her skirt - though she knows she'd never put any of her knives in there. That's far too careless!

"H-hang on, I know I have it just... Give me a minute."

Next she pats down on her left thigh, where her empty knife garter was securely strapped.

As a last resort, she checks the last place she would ever think to store them. Both hands come up together to cup her own breasts. To check properly, she gives them a very light squeeze.

Nothing out of the norm there.

"... We may have a problem. I can't find my knife. You didn't happen to see me requip it, right?"

[killrate]

i’m an awful person.

♡ @cuelebres

As soon as he says it, Mary rolls her eyes, with no attempt to hide it in the slightest.

❝You don’t actually believe that, do you?❞ Her tone is quiet, but if the tales about a Dragon Slayer’s heightened senses are true, then he heard her crystal-clear.

He’s here because he wants to do better, isn’t he? Aren’t they all here because they want to turn their lives around?

Mary cannot agree with his claim, but she does understand where he’s coming from. At times she questions who she is. 

At times, she remembers swearing her loyalty to the other side, and she feels guilty; hypocritical.

Then again, when she swore her loyalty, she wasn’t counting on the possibility of her changing her views. Even so, once in a while, that feeling creeps up on her, and she feels like an impostor. Like a stranger.

She wonders if Erik feels that way, too. If he, too, had been expected to act a certain way for so long, that this feels unnatural. Mary is familiar with that feeling, but they make it better. She isn’t sure she’d have much faith in herself without them all being on the same boat.

❝... I get what you mean, and you're allowed to feel what you feel, but so am I, so I'm going to tell you that I feel you're wrong. Of all the terrible fucking people I've been around, you're one of the kindest.❞ And that's not the case with many of them. ❝... 'Kay, maybe not at first or even third glance, but there's a heart in there, Erik. You didn't make those mistakes 'cause you woke up one day n' decided to do all that.❞ She's rambling now, and she should let him talk, but she can't help it! He needs to be reminded of this before he says anything ridiculous.

❝... You’re trying, right? It’s not perfect... I don’t think we’ll ever be perfect at it. You’ve done bad things. All of us here have... And─look, what I wanna know is if you really think that’s true, or if you’ve just been told that enough times to believe it. So, which is it?❞

Soon after, her gaze softens, and she sighs quietly as she scoots closer to him, hand resting gently on top of his; so gently, in the event that he’d prefer to pull away from her touch.

❝And listen─if you decided to disappear one day, and go live in Stella’s fucking country-side, I’m positive that no one would ever suspect that you’ve been in jai─no, wait. You definitely look like you’ve been in jail. But for something stupid! Like grand theft auto. You’d totally just look like that really hot, weird guy with the resting-bitch-face, and an eye-scar that screams ‘ I got hurt at an alleged bar-fight ‘. Mmkay?❞ The witch pats his hand twice. ❝So stop talking that way about my best friend. Or I’m gonna hurt you.❞ Her words are spoken ever-gently to soften the very false threat.

She’s not asking politely.

self loathing sentence starters. / no longer accepting.

[killrate]

“  if i sigh loudly enough,  will all my problems go away?  ” -sorano

♡ @seraphias

❝Sorano,❞ she starts, not bothering to conceal a smirk. ❝I've screamed my lungs out into the woods, till every last bird was out of those trees...❞

Or something like that. A whole lot of birds did ditch the forest that day, though - or else she's unsure of what that rustle in the trees had been back then.

❝... And all that did was startle this poor old lady that was living there. And she wasn't all there either, but... She definitely thought that I was worse off than she was. So, I mean - no.❞

spring cleaning the inbox, don’t mind me !

[killrate]

❛  hey, sometimes you gotta kill a guy.  ❜

♡ @seraphias

Mary grins as a guilty criminal might, and leans to rest her chin atop her closed fist. Of all the dramatic things to say... She understands this one. Mary can relate.

It's good to know that at least one person will be behind her in the event that one does have to ' kill a guy '.

Some things cross the line, even by their standards. They, who are all monsters. Anyone who can horrify them probably deserves to die, and Mary would not be apologetic in regards to that, either. Just as Sorano doesn't seem to be. The fugitive was invited to join Crime Sorciere under one condition; the same that applied to all: that she truly wants to change her ways. 

And she does. But some people deserve to die, and she will not pretend that she's above thinking so. Justice and violence have been intimate many times before. Mary would get no pleasure out of it. Only peace of mind. That's comfort enough.

❝Aw, you almost make it sound like I'd judge you! I'd stand right behind you, Sora... So make sure you do the same for me if I ever cross someone I find irredeemable, mmkay? Pinkie promise.❞

And so she does raise her hand, pinky upraised. ❝Or if this is too childish for you, we can always spit-shake on it. A blood oath would hurt too much, don't you think?❞

[killrate]

“ … do you want to do something stupid with me ? “ -sorano!

♡ @seraphias

❝Sure!❞ She's so quick to respond; and she isn't sure that she even thought about the question for a whole second.

❝But, define ' stupid '. Because my stupid and your stupid... Probably don't necessarily line up... If you know what I mean. I'm still up for it, though. I'm just curious.~❞

Mary tilts her head down a bit, still kneeling in front of Sorano. ❝Does it require moving, though? Sorano, does it require moving, and you waited for me to sit down to ask me?❞

spring cleaning the inbox, don’t mind me !

[killrate]

“i just don’t feel anything anymore.”

♡ @seraphias​

Her golden gaze stays low, fixed on the spots of grass between them. It’s not as though she doesn't know that feeling; so steady and calm, but also so wrong. Like every bottled-up thing that was ever sealed away is crashing against a hill─threatening to spill over. The cascade comes crashing down any minute, now. It’s nearing its climax, and one is ever ready for it.

❝Feels awful, doesn’t it?❞ She asks, quietly. Her head is turned towards Sorano, but her stare - zoned out somewhere past her. ❝Doesn’t it feel like you’re a little… Shell? Like you don’t even have a pulse anymore?❞

Indeed, she’d spent a lot of time feeling hollow. Since… Shortly after her arrest, actually. If anything, circumstances throwing her into the fray are what got her out of that state; forced her to claw her way through. To survive.

And she feels alive. Guilty, and confused, and so angry she could cry. She’s a stranger in her own skin, but she also feels alive.

❝… But it’s not forever, y’know?❞

right in the guts. angst sentences. / accepting.

[killrate]

>  oh man i’d fuck him so hard but id also throw him off a cliff / from sorano FKSKSJSNF

♡ @hearternal

── 🖤 Sora 🖤

8:45 PM. Ugh I know what you mean!!! I can name like 6 people I feel that way about.

8:46 PM. I think we can do both? Toss him so that no one can ever know you fucked him. The secret dies with you! 🖤

[killrate]

' we’re leaving in negative six minutes! ' -sora :)

♡ @hearternal

The woman’s pitch instantly brings Mary back from her light slumber - and tragically, she did not wake her soon enough, because there is an ache along the side of her neck.

But, who told Mary to fall asleep? And in particular: who told her to fall asleep using a boulder as support? To be fair, though, she’d not gotten very good sleep for the last few days, and she had been waiting on Miss we’re-leaving-in-negative-six-minutes.

And thus, as if willed by necromancy, Mary is on her feet again─maybe a little too quickly─only to hear a disturbing crack. Whether it came from her hip of her leg is uncertain.

❝Yes! Yes... I’m... Yeah let’s go─Sorano, I fell asleep waiting for you. You have some nerve...❞ 

[killrate]

What transpired had been humiliating on several levels.

It really should not have taken that much effort to take out a small group of dark mages. And technically, it wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the damned earth mage among them who had literally thrown them back. Erik had not had the time to retract his claws, or perhaps did not realize how close to him Mary was before they fell backwards. She knows he did not intend to hurt her. That’s the only thing that saved him from a chorus of curses, in any case.

He’d barely touched her, but his claws easily found their way through her flesh, and she cried out in agony when she felt their sting. Regardless, now they both look like dumbasses.

She would have rather cringed blindly at the hot & cold burn of the scratches, but she is not immune to his venom─and so she must look at her arm. And stars, they were ugly. They did not appear to be too deep, but that's difficult to judge—between the red of her wounds, and the crimson of his poison.

She tries not to whimper too loudly; she doesn’t want to be seen like a delicate little thing─but she does. It can’t be helped. It's excruciating─shooting all the way down her arm, up her shoulder─and she’s never been good with pain.

The witch reaches for her arm, and clasping her right hand over her left bicep, she produces a thick substance in the palm of her hand to seal the cuts - in a desperate attempt to numb the pain.

Her body had stopped reacting altogether to neurotoxin—when she was eight, maybe ten—because excessive usage will soon turn that resistance into immunity. She had never used a more intense form of neurotoxin on herself. Technically, she is risking full paralysis of her entire left arm, maybe more. As tears inevitably pool up in her eyes, she shuts them, and waits to see if her sloppy first-aid trick works.

And it it doesn’t, then it will still stop the bleeding, for now.

❝Erik,❞ she breathes, barely audibly enough. ❝This─this won’t kill me, right? I’m not dressed for my funeral.❞ And there would have been more humour attached to her tone, except she can’t exactly manage that.

♡ @cuelebres​

[killrate]

“What is a man but a miserable pile of pasta?”

♡ @timeshrouded

❝Hey, speak for yourself, Ultear...❞ She grins, resting her cheek against her closed fist - eyes focused on the much, much taller woman.

❝... I like pasta, you know. 'Like men, too.❞ The witch adds, tilting her head to the side a bit.

discord starters. / accepting.

[killrate]

They’d stopped a while ago to before the daylight completely left them, but they had also made quick work of it. She finds herself looking towards the light of the town nearby─barely visible behind the trees─and turns to glance back at Sorano.

She’d been meaning to talk to her for a while...

Not that she knows how to go about it in a way that would be soft enough ( or at least she worried it wouldn’t be ) - and she doesn’t imagine that the other will be thrilled to talk about matters of the past─let alone family. It’s a delicate subject for most of them.

However, Mary does also feel that she is the best person to have this particular talk with.

❝Sora?❞ The witch walks up from behind the taller girl, gently patting her on the small of her back. 

❝Will you come with me to town? I’d love to talk with you on the way there. You in the mood for it?❞ She asks, smiling up at her.

♡ @hearternal​

[killrate]

❛ delete your search history. ❜

♡ @cuelebres

Moments after receiving back her cellular lacrima, she has to do a double take when Erik offers his advice.

She narrows her eyes, almost as if shooting daggers his way, but she clears her throat and straightens up. ❝’Kay, Erik, when I say you can use it, that doesn’t mean you get to look through my history too, you... Caveman!❞ And while she’s lecturing him, she’s between frantically going through her history, and struggling to maintain eye-contact.

Oh. So that’s what it was. Right there. The last thing she searched, a couple of hours before lending him her device.

❝Okay, listen there was a rumour, and I needed to know if those pictures DID exist. Are you going to really stand there and act like you wouldn’t try to see those if they got leaked?❞

No one with a working brain would pass up seeing Hibiki Lates’s junk. Alas, it was indeed, just a rumour.

She drops her device into her bag, and raises an eyebrow at the other, unable to contain a wicked grin. ❝That’s all you saw? Like, you didn’t see the pegging stuff, right?❞ 

[killrate]

‘when i said scars are kinda sexy, i didn’t mean you should get one right away…’ / ;)

♡ @cuelebres

The tiny, worn-out mirror ( which had CLEARLY been marketed towards pre-teen girls as it was glued to what appeared to be a miniature purse the size of her palm ) is tilted upwards, in her hand.

She guides it around, trying to get a good glimpse of the cut on her lower-back, left now as a thick, still-healing scab; still more or less recent.

Because she had bitched absolutely everyone out when they’d suggested it might require at least a couple of stitches. It’d healed mostly fine...

Mary pouts, praying to any entity that may hear her that it doesn’t scar. 

These situations are really beginning to put her pristine, untouched reputation at stake, damn it!

She glances at Erik, and rolls her eyes - though her smile is restored. ❝Erik! Please read the room, I’m grieving! Don’t hit on me right now!❞ She whines, sarcastically.

And then she’s pouting again, touching around the scab delicately. ❝You don’t actually think it’s gonna scar, do ya? I have good skin! So...❞ The witch trails off, quietly - glancing down at the mirror again.

Sure, they look good - on other people. But she doesn’t like to have them!

[killrate]

‘ i may not believe in fate , but i believe in you ’

♡ @cuelebres

❝Yeah... I don’t believe in that shit, either...❞ She mutters, tossing a stone & watching it skip three pathetic times over the water.

She sits back down next to him, and groans loudly - almost in a cringe. ❝Ewww, no, don’t say that! That’s so corny, Erik!❞ She cries out, though her laughter cannot be held back. 

She leans back on her hands. ❝I’m kidding.❞ She adds, head tilted up. ❝... No I’m not, that was really so freakin’ corny, I almost choked. Didn’t think I’d ever hear that from you.❞

Mary looks at him, still grinning wickedly moments after bullying him - and nods. ❝Me too, though. I believe in you, too. You’ve come so far, look at you!❞ She gestures half-vaguely, half-excitedly at him. ❝There’s no way there’s some force out there deciding how our lives end up. The gods are dead, anyway. They have to be.❞ She adds, finally standing up.

Though instead of walking off, she kneels behind the Dragon Slayer & drapes her arms over his shoulders, embracing him firmly.

Which he probably would not really like - Erik did not appear to be the type for affection, but Mary isn’t always so honest with her words, so this is a better way of expressing herself. She always seems to tone things down. It’s easier that way, than to feel that she’s too attached in comparison to her loved ones.

❝You’re a good friend. Don’t care what anyone else says about you. Or what you’ve done.❞ She mumbles against his shoulder. Mary gets on her feet again, and bends down once more to kiss the top of Erik’s head, before she starts walking back towards their campsite.