[01:09] Maria Malibu exclaims, "!!!!!"
[01:09] Maria Malibu exclaims, "!!!!!!"
[01:09] Majora Malibu says, "Hey you."
[01:09] Maria Malibu smiles! Hugging her brother!
(Maria Malibu)


[01:10] Maria Malibu twirls, showing off her new look to Majora!
(Maria Malibu)


[01:10] Maria Malibu tilts her head, patting the top of it. It just needed a hat....
(Maria Malibu)


[01:11] Majora Malibu chuckles, returning the hug with a small smile. And even applauding the new outfit.
(Majora Malibu)


[01:11] If Majora would notice...she seemed to be mimicking Levius. And of course, was proud of it too.

She returns the hug to her brother, smiling gently.

Her eyes turn into a empathetic expression, however. She grabs his palm, doing the same gesture she did several days okay. 'Are you doing okay?' emanating from her expressions.
(Maria Malibu)


[01:17] Majora Malibu (boop
(Majora Malibu)


[01:23] Majora had noticed, though he was wordless about that part in particular. Seeing her like that, as.. adorable as it was.. He could see Levius with her, now. And while part of him was happy to see it.. for the other.. it stung. Especially considering the last conversation they'd had together.

But that much, he didn't show. Maintaining the small show of joy upon his visage while seeing his sister alive and well.

"I'm doing alright, Pumpkin. Kira came back, so I got to spend some time with her today. Pretty sure she adopted a child on the spot. Pretty sweet kid."

There wasn't very much to talk about from today. It was dry, boring, happy.

But most of all..

Peaceful.

For now.. he needed a bit of that.
(Majora Malibu)


[01:29] ["Aricles is back too yes? I just saw him out in the Wilds earlier."] Maria signs, pointing westward.

["He was doing okay. I made some new friends. One of them a cat. One of them a...very big lizard thing?"] She shakes her head, smiling at her brother.

Maria carried herself much like Levius. The bravado, the passion in her eyes, the hand always mere inches away from her revolver. She was...proud of herself. Able to form a new identity, and at the same time, make it just as true to herself as it was to her departed siblings.

Her own way of coping, it would seem.

Her own way of moving on.

A budding gunslinger.

An outlaw.

The path she walked was treacherous. Yet the adorable little Malibu was growing up. Maintaining her own ideals. Her own goals and purpose in life. Slowly, does it come together. Hidden amongst the grief.

Today was the same for Maria.

Boring, dry, peaceful.

...Yet a part of her wanted more.

["I was invited to work at the Frontier. I am unsure of taking the offer. But I am thinking about it. There is good people there."]

["What do you think?"]

(Maria Malibu)

[01:29] Mari Dominic says, "You. Fire-fist."
[01:29] Agni Pleetsky asks, "Huh..?"
[01:29] Mari Dominic loads her rifle.
(Mari Dominic)


[01:29] Agni Pleetsky looked over, visibly sweating his ass off.
(Agni Pleetsky)
[01:44] Maria tilts her head. She notices the small signs of exhaustion and sleepiness from her brother. So alas...

She decides it best to save the question for another day.

["Go to bed, silly."] she jests to her brother. Tapping him on the shoulder and pointing him south, toward home.

["I'll find you in the morning. Goodnight."] she signs to him. Letting him on his way!

He deserved some rest, after all he's been through.
(Maria Malibu)
01:45] Majora Malibu says, "Ah.."
[01:45] Majora Malibu says, "Right.."
[01:45] Maria Malibu giggles.
(Maria Malibu)


[01:46] Maria Malibu says, "<I will be okay. I promise.>"
[01:46] Majora Malibu plants a kiss atop his sister's forehead. as he starts to float off.
(Majora Malibu)


[01:46] Majora Malibu says, "I'll see you later.."
[01:46] Mari Dominic says, "Fufufu."
[01:46] Majora Malibu whispers to Maria Malibu: Love you.
[01:46] Maria Malibu waves!!!
(Maria Malibu)


[01:46] Maria Malibu nods. She felt the same, giving a heart sign to her brother.
(Maria Malibu)


[01:46] Freyja asks, ".........?"
[01:46] Yuki Akatsuki says, ". . ."
[01:46] Maria Malibu a platonic heart sign.
(Maria Malibu)


[01:46] Maria Malibu asks, "...?"
[01:46] Maria Malibu glances at the ship!
(Maria Malibu)


[01:46] Freyja exclaims, "Ouka, put that back where you got it from!!"
[01:46] Maria Malibu ponders, "What the fuck?"
[01:48] Agni Pleetsky exclaims, "Gah!.. Got swept up in it again!!"
[01:48] Maria Malibu says, "..."
[01:48] Freyja says, "PUT THE BOAT BACK IN THE SEA, OUKA."
[01:48] Mari Dominic stares.
(Mari Dominic)


[01:48] Agni Pleetsky grumbled for a moment before they smiled.
(Agni Pleetsky)


[01:48] Maria Malibu steps up to the plate, glaring at Mari...she also stares...
(Maria Malibu)


[01:48] Agni Pleetsky says, "Fairs fair."
[01:48] Mari Dominic cracks her neck as she recognizes Maria.
(Mari Dominic)


[01:49] Maria Malibu says, "Hmph."
[01:49] Agni Pleetsky exclaims, "I've got some more training to do it seems!"
[01:49] Agni Pleetsky exclaims, "Hey! Ouka!"
[01:49] Maria Malibu unholsters her revolver, glaring deeply at the Dominic who had established herself as a rival...
(Maria Malibu)


[01:49] Agni Pleetsky asks, "This your ship??"
[01:49] Mari Dominic loads her rifle, glaring similarly...
(Mari Dominic)


[01:50] Agni Pleetsky exclaims, "Sick!!"
[01:52] The girl slingers her revolver across herself, like a true, budding gunslinger. She marks a standoff against Mari, not even firing until the Dominic takes the first shot.

The air grows silent. Putrid with jealousy, as she looks at Mari with a growing hatred..

For what reason?

They shared a similar name.

And Maria of course, simply knew the laws of this world.

This town was not big enough for the two of us.

"..."

She glares at Mari, the mute tilting her head, awaiting the first shot before drawing her pistol. But once it rang through the air?

Mari would find a gunslinger worth their weight...
(Maria Malibu)
01:56] A clip of practice rounds is loaded in the rifle in Mari's hands.

She is similarly silent. Piercing red hues flick over Maria Malibu, the thief of her name (allegedly) as the last round clicks into place within the construction of mythril.

A gale blows through, wrapping about her- only visible by the dirt kicked up by its passage.

Sickly threads of ether trail in her wake like a cobweb, dark in their coloration. The rifle-holder gives a shrug, as the weapon is lifted against Maria-

CRACK!

A practice bullet flies to strike the Malibu- a shot of raw compressed wind, charged with the storm that rumbles overhead.

No telling when this would turn ugly, though.
(Mari Dominic)
[02:13] "..."

The glare of a canary hue rings through the battlefield. They mark the budding gunslinger's prey. A rivalry echoing from the shadows of their psyche. As petty as it was, the smile would never leave the Malibu's face.

Their families had history, did they not?

Maria knew well of the Dominics.

She knew the stories her mother told her. She heard bits and pieces of the tales. To have a rival to push her to her limits? To force her to be better?

She wanted nothing more.

"..."

And so that shot rings through the outskirts of Gloomlight. A roaring, desolate shot. And how would the Malibu react?

BANG!

Her pistol was as quick as her draw. She slings her pistol from it's holster, colliding the selfsame bullet with her own. And then another...

And another.

And another.

Rapidfire shotstoward the Dominic. The little gunslinger's combat style was rapid and based on maintaining distance. Unrefined, athletic, but filled with potential. The selfsame as the Dominic.

Maria fans the hammer, flipping over the barrage of precise bullets that are sent her way. Many hit her, and yet of course, they were practice rounds. The selfsame loaded into Levius's revolver. They would hurt, but wouldn't kill or cause injury.

A budding thief, versus a budding outlaw...

They were destined to fight. Destined to butt heads.

This was merely their first bout.

Sounds of gunfire echoes through the island. Maria using her tactics to gain the advantage. Multiple close calls are made, as Maria finds herself trading blows with the thief and her precisely made shots. Maria pulls out a knife filled with mana, using the speed of Light to maintain her distance and pull her in with tears in gravity and reality. Her magics are used an adept level. While Maria was a potent gunslinger, her skill with her magics needed work...

No.

Practice bullets would not do.

"!!!"

"Hhnghh!!"

The mute screams. Angrily, she finds herself at the cusp of defeat. Practice bullets they may be. But alas.

It was not enough.

The gunslinger wanted more.

To be pushed, more.

Like her siblings before her. Who felt the pain of defeat time and time again.

This would make her grow. This...would help her become as strong as she wanted to be.

Mari's psyche was right.

This would turn ugly.

A final shot finds itself against the young woman's chest. Maria stumbles, the victor and more precise shot made aware of their victory.

But no. This was not enough.

"..."

Maria rises. The grass that flung from her features, the dirt painted across her clothes.

She tilts her head at Mari. Smiling, as if to say.

'Is that all you got?'

Maria flicks her pistol. It's barrel is swiftly unloaded, the woman reaching into her packet, to load more aggressive bullets.

Again, does she tilt her head to the thief.

This wasn't over just yet.

The victor was not made quite yet.
(Maria Malibu)
[02:33] Dominics and Malibus did have history; a fairly amicable one at that.

Mari and Maria's interaction here would not be so. Their small, restrained scuffle is held with a tension just waiting to snap, and bullets fly at one another with intent to kill- though the natural inhibition of practice was upon them, and blows that would inflict wounds are otherwise numbed by the lack of effort truly put behind them.

The Dominic's tactics rumble the skies in protest, and lay down a trap of etheric strings which threaten to catch Maria in a trap she will not escape from. The tears in gravity and lightspeed capabilities are insufficient to the spider-like girl's prowess; for she had used these tactics against real foes before.

She is a domineering presence in a fight, even with their diminished, restrained mana reserves.

Mari lands a debilitating shot on Maria in the end, and that is it.

"Hmph," she says, turning away, as though to make way to leave. A distinct dis-interest was upon her now. She was ignoring Maria.

Surely, she believes to have proven herself enough.

The Malibu wouldn't accept that.

Something gives pause to the girl, and the godblooded turns around to give a skeptical look to her opponent- finding that the mute's gun is locked, loaded, and aimed at her once more.

Pressure billows outward in waves as fog wisps by. Entropic winds, carrying with them the chill of the grave, blow past, striking a cold deep into Maria.

"Are you going to shoot me?" She asks in a cloyingly sweet voice. "Are you mad? Oh, gosh. What a shame.."

Click, ka-chnk. The rifle is loaded again.

"Go on."

"Do it."

Mari waits patiently for the other's response.
(Mari Dominic)


[02:36] Ouka asks, "Do we sing Land shanties?"
[02:43] "Hah...hah..."

Her breathes were low. Tired. Exhausted. Filled with suffering from the events that led her here. To desire more. To desire naught but power. To prevent the pain that had happened to you...

She was mute. She was tired.

But she was not an idiot.

She was not weak...

"..."

Canary hues flick, a tilt of her head toward the Dominic. A simple rivalry, budding and growing, as the cruel thief poked at her heart. The blood on her face was still present. The pain that echoed through her body.

Nothing, compared to what she had been through.

'Would you understand? Would you ever understand? How it is to lose someone you love? To lose everything?'

'To not even be able to express those feelings? Your voice nothing but the expressions on your face?

'Would you?'

She glares, Staring at the Dominic. She was naught but a child, the same as herself. And yet she'd want nothing more to cause her pain.

A shadow, of her former self. The pain in her heart growing in each moment. It felt good, collapsing upon the light.

Dominics and Malibu's were amicable, at best. hey knew each other. Her mother spoke of their mother...

A petty rivalry over names, turned into something more, as the teenager shoots directly at the other's heart.

Ignoring her?

No.

She would not accept that.

Not at all.

She had been ignored for too long.

"..."

Do it?

Fire the first shot?

'I'd be glad too.'

Don't ignore me.

Like everyone else...

Do not...test me...

Do not...

"..."

She slings her gun, firing a bullet to tear reality asunder. To tear the Dominic, asunder.

To hurt.

To know...

The extents of her psyche. And of course, her limits.

Do it.

A shot fired straight to her heart. Filled with anger and jealousy...

Kids would be kids, right?
(Maria Malibu)


[02:44] Freyja pokes Ilathia. It's the normal thing to do at this point.
(Freyja)


[02:45] {Lost Aggressive RPB against Mari Dominic}
[02:45] Mari Dominic has inflicted an injury upon Maria Malibu. ("Temporary Injury", "Temporary Injury", "Temporary", "")
[03:03] If Mari was a mind-reader, she'd be able to answer those questions posed in the depths of Maria's mind. Prodding, poking, questioning if she understood pain, and loss, and expression.

What answers does the Dominic have for that?

Nothing to be said explicitly.

Their fight begins with steadiness. Bullets crack the air, whizzing so fast it is hard to tell from where they come from. Air-pressure swells as the breath is sucked from Maria's lungs, the suffocating presence of the Dominic weighing heavy on her chest.

It starts out so very civil; two gunslingers, and little more.

Yet as the girl encounters resistance in her would-be rival, frustration begins to twitch at the corners of her features. Slowly, Mari stops being a human child, and steadily by the minute, more and more, she resembles a demon.

Fury. Avarice. Sadism.

Sharp canine fangs flash in a smile as she darts nimbly aside Maria, spinning her web of darkly aspected ether past and through the teen. Threads of animosity which entangle in her limbs and stick to her hair.

A soft giggle, and the aeromancer darts backward to avoid her well-earnt reprisal.

It begs the question of what could turn a child of idyllic upbringing into such a being. Has Maria even seen either of the girl's parents recently?

Everything goes to shit when Mari then realizes she's run out of bullets.

Recklessness becomes Mari's game. Loading a rifle was more cumbersome than the swift action of the revolver's speed-loader, and Maria had a more practiced hand in that regard. She retreats backward, further into her networks of etheric threads and roiling eddies... and swiftly becomes desperate.

A bayonet is clutched in hand. Ignoring the spatial ripples which threatened to gore her, she rushes forth- bringing a knife to a gun fight, literally.

It hits the mark- and a rough kick, empowered by the tempestine force, sends Maria to the ground.

All things considered, this could have ended much, much worse.

"I wonder why you decided to do that," she murmurs coldly. "You knew you wouldn't win."

She turns around, scowling as she leaves the blade in the wound. A baleful glare is passed over the small audience to their scuffle.
(Mari Dominic)


[03:05] Ouka says, ". . . She looks strong."
[03:06] Abilis says, "... From speeding ticket to beating ticket..."
[03:06] Brynhildr W. Folhammar says, "Hm.."
[03:06] Brynhildr W. Folhammar ponders.
(Brynhildr W. Folhammar)


[03:23] 'I knew I wouldn't win.'

'But...I needed too...'

'I needed...

What?

To prove something?

To prove yourself?

As inexperienced as you are?

Of course, Mari wouldn't understand. Not many did, the thoughts in this young woman's mind. The grief. The pain and sorrow.

The desire to be something

It meant nothing, compared to the rain of bullets across the field.

Maria was a potent fighter, yet enough for the girl that was younger than her. Her gunslinging, her accuracy and precision? Second to none. But her magics? Lacking. Barely worth fighting against the majority of this island.

Just barely.

"...HAGGGH!"

She was an acrobatic fighter, she was a crack shot, yet she was not an experienced fighter. Yet pressure weighs, sucking the air from Maria's lungs. The very same needed to point and shoot. To exhale and mark your target, as fast as you were.

"H-...hh..." She finds the air drawn from her lungs. Her attempts to create cracks in this world, to pull in Mari and draw her in with the forces and gravity?

For naught.

"...h...-..gh...agh..." She clasps her throat, gasping for air.

Two gunslingers. Fighting for the world. For it's attention...

Mari, would be the victor, this bout.

But it would not be the last.

A demon clasping at the woman's Light. Tugging at her heart, wanting her to delve deeper and deeper into the dark. Into the sorrow that placed her heart as much as it yanked her breath.

There was more to this rivalry, then simple pettiness.

There was a clash of ideals. The justice and honor that Maria fought for, versus the sadism and fury of the other.

Webs cross against Maria, holding the gunslinger down, forcing her to take naught but the absolute brunt of the pain across her psyche and body. She screams, reaching for her pistol, the very same her brother gave to her.

It was not enough.

There was more to this.

"hngh...agh...ugh-..." Maria gasps, finding the breathes from her throat drawn from the deepest pits of her lungs. The webs attach to her, holding her tight and trapping her in naught but a plethora of demonic weaves.

Mari hits the mark, kicking the woman to the ground in her time of agony, a blade sent toward the pits of her shoulder. For the first time in forever, she feels the blood wane from her body, the pain, the stinging echo of a knife caressed through her gut.

But she was a magi.

Of course, she'd recover.

Of course, she'd fight again.

"...Hah...hah..." She glares at Mari. As the bayonet held deep in her shoulder blade, as the blood continued to drip onto the emerald grass below.

Two gunslinger's against the world.

She smiles

A bloody smile, as sanguine drips from her lips.

She can see...some pain, in Mari's eyes. Similar to her own. A draw to prove yourself. In a world that cared naught for you.

Perhaps they shared that sentiment.

A worthy rival. A worthy contender, for the world that cared naught for the both...

"Hmgh..ngmh...mgh...!"

The blade exits her shoulder, as the Malibu stumbles. She rises...

A hand placed against the wound, sanguine pouring from her mouth.

Her eyes glazed against the onlookers.

Kids would be kids...

"..."

She turns to Mari, as she walks away. A glare. Mari was the victor, today.

But alas.

She wouldn't be forever.

This was merely the first bout of many.

Maria grabs her shoulder, stumbling onto a nearby tree. Something lurks into her skin. A Hatred. An agony beyonf anything she'd ever seen.

A shadow of herself, toiling admist the light.

"AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!" she screams, huffing at the gunslinger who would take her leave. Ichor peels and bleeds from her wound, crossed beneath her skin like a spiderweb, marking it's prey.

She wouldn't give in. Not today...

Not ever...

"..."

With the last of her strength, she leaves.

Into the shadows of the night.
(Maria Malibu)

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Pub: 13 Sep 2024 09:27 UTC
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