There is no honor among thieves.

Independent OC multiverse RP for Marian Cochran, easily-distracted criminal-for-hire and general lover of shiny objects! Muses and Mun are over 21. Please read Rules and About. Semi-selective, meaning she will usually talk to anybody at least once. Any NSFW (gore) /Triggers will be present and tagged as best as I can.

[thefailingthief]

Welcome!

First:  Mobile users can find my rules and stuff here!

Second:  I have a sideblog:  @thethiefslore.  

Let’s get this out there right now:  This blog is going nowhere.  I’ll continue to RP here.  

What that blog is for is that I want to practice straight-up writing a bit more.  While RP is definitely writing, it’s a different kind than, say, writing a prompt or short story.  So I will try to post something on that blog once or twice a week, usually centering around Mari.  It might be lore pieces, and it might be random plot bunnies.  Whatever I’m feeling.  

It’s separate so I don’t clog up the tags on this particular blog with my nonsense, and can get feedback (positive or negative; both are important for improving) on my writing in a place where it’s not going to bother those who just want to RP with Mari. 

Why I’m mentioning it here:  If you want to read lore about Mari, it’s going to be very slowly building up over there in one nice, neat place.  :)

Current projects: Finish about pages for NPCs and mass edit a tag onto my many memes. Using the meme tag below will take you to several I've already tagged. They only go back about a year, but that should be plenty to work with.

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica returns an anxious smile and nods.

"Let me know when you're ready to ask. No rush." She reassures her. She smiles more earnestly in an attempt to be encouraging.

Jessica was starting to feel hungry, and being surrounded by food she couldn't buy was difficult. The idea of stealing some crosses her mind but she knows there are likely cameras. She also feels like she might get caught from her lack of experience.

"I wish we could just take some of this food, you know?" She murmurs quietly.

[thefailingthief]

Marian nodded and drank some more water, listening to Jessica talk. She shook her head, glancing at the food on the shelves. "Not worth it. Not yet." It would be easier to steal from a Walmart or something than a convenience store. "We'll find somewhere, but this place is too small. Too easy to get caught." She would gladly snag some bags of jerky if she thought they could get away with it.

She took a breath again and nodded. "Let's go ask now, I guess. It's now or never."

[bloodsoakedfangs]

"Yeah... feels like the rememberin' kind." He says and gently reaches out for the rag as she heads back to him. Riley felt a bit confused more than anything. "Some dreams I remember, some I don't. I do remember bits and pieces of things but... not as much as I'd like."

[thefailingthief]

"Dreams are like that," Mari responded, shrugging. She tended to remember those in fragments, as well. Shifting her weight, she sat on the bed beside Riley and glanced at Jameson again to make sure he was still doing fine. "Need some medicine or something?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

He carefully takes the cloths.

"That makes sense... I don't know what it is or if it'll heal up normal or get worse. It's itchy. Usually means it's healin' right?" He presses them to the wound and then rethinks it.

"Could you actually wet one of these with warm water and wring it out for me, please?" He feels like he has an oncoming headache and rubs his forehead, closing his eyes. "Just for the sake of no secrets and nothin' hidden, my head is starting to hurt. Probably just a headache but just in case it's related, you know..."

[thefailingthief]

Or infected, possibly, but it was likely scabbing over. "I hope so." Mari shifted Jameson to her other arm and carefully took a cloth back. After a second, she turned around and set Jameson down in his crib for a bit and headed for the bathroom. "Like, a rememberin' headache?" She turned the sink faucet on, waiting for it to warm up before soaking a cloth. "Or do you think it's something else?"

She turned off the faucet after a second and wrung the cloth out, shaking off excess water droplets as she started back for Riley.

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica feels a bit bad for making Marian jump. She watches her drink and tilts her head a little, feeling sympathy for Marian.

"I'm sorry to put you in this position..." Jessica wished she had parents to call instead.

"Everything is going to work out somehow. No matter what. We could ask the cashier where the nearest library is if they do say no. We can make our way there and use the computer, phone, bathroom, water fountain, I'm assuming. And libraries always have like... resources. You know? Even if we needed like a food bank or shelter. Anything we do next will be temporary, but we will get right side up. I promise. I know we will."

Please let them say yes, Universe. Please let them say yes. Jessica thinks to herself.

[thefailingthief]

Marian shook her head when Jessica apologized. This reaction wasn't her fault. It was Marian's own for fucking things up so badly as a kid. She gave Jessica a nervous smile, breathing again. "I hope so. Library would probably be easier to convince them. And quieter." Fewer people would be coming inside willing to bother them.

[bloodsoakedfangs]

"Well, I'm... sure it could but... I feel like I just don't know. It's so jagged. And... I feel like I had a nightmare but I just don't really remember..." He breathes shallowly and seems to zone out a little. He puts his hand fully over the cut and starts remembering pieces.

"Uh, I feel like it was... somethin' about... like... I don't know how to explain it." He is having a hard time voicing the things in his mind.

"When I... crossed over to do what The Dark Master wanted me to way back when, it all felt like a... dream with no consequences. It didn't feel like it was actually real life. The dream I had felt kinda like that. It's hard to explain. It felt like this sense of like... impending doom and then... at some point I got yanked, like turned around and someone cut me. But I feel like it was me that cut me, a different version of me. And I saw this like... portal vortex. It was all blue. But it didn't feel real. Oh! And then..." He squints, trying to remember. "Something made me scared and I woke up and yelled I think. It's so hard to remember." He feels a bit of fear coiling in his body. "Makes me wanna say it was just a dream but maybe it wasn't and it just felt like it... or maybe my brain is making all of this up, I don't know... but it feels like that was what happened. But I could be wrong, I don't know."

He goes over and sits on the bed and holds his head, struggling to think, remember, and focus. He rubs his forehead kind of hard. Quietly frustrated.

[thefailingthief]

Mari had to go into the bathroom and get the few white washrags they had. Bringing them back out in a rush, she listened as Riley explained what little he could remember. Dreams were tricky things - she knew some were very real, but it was hard to tell.

And gods knew she knew about doppelgangers.

She offered the cloths to Riley, resisting the urge to press them against his side herself. "I mean, if it came out of nowhere...what other explanation is there but magic?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica walks over to talk to the cashier. She goes over and grabs two travel style disposable coffee cups and fills them with water, returning soon with them. She holds one out for Marian.

"He just said not to use the big cups... I was trying to remember the phone number for this lady I knew named Jennifer. She helped me and Riley out a lot growing up. But she lives kinda far from here and we haven't talked in years. She was a really sweet lady though. Really saved my ass a few times." Jessica's expression is a bit down, winged with regret and sadness. Remembering a difficult time.

"I don't even know if she's still alive though, actually." She takes a slow but long drink. She doesn't want to have to refill her water too soon. It's a relief to drink, cold and refreshing.

[thefailingthief]

Marian spun in a tight circle on her heel when Jessica went up front before leaning on the coffee counter and covering her face with trembling hands. Her face heated up, but she couldn't bring herself to care that this was happening in public. The last 24 hours had been trying as hell. She jumped and dropped her hands when Jessica spoke again, looking at the cup being offered for a long second before taking it.

Marian didn't drink anything slowly. She had half the cup gone before she said anything. Swallowing the water down, she forced a few slow breaths. The water was grounding. She shook her head, swallowing again. "No, no, I can do this." She closed her eyes again, head angled down while she bounced a leg. "The worst thing they can say is 'no', right?"

It wasn't, but she didn't want to go there.

[etxrnaleclipse]

Part of him wasn't sure about just letting her go, but at the same time, what other choice did he have? This was a difficult situation, and while she had broken into his apartment, had threatened him with a knife, she had not hurt him and she had not done anything that would be hard to come back from.

"I understand you probably don't believe me, but if you want to walk out that door right now, I won't follow you. Like I said, I don't want to get into any trouble here, and I'm sure you don't want any more than it seems you have already had this evening."

[thefailingthief]

Theo seemed to have misunderstood her. Mari wasn't too worried about him chasing her down the second she was out of the apartment...though now that she was thinking about that -

No, that was a spiral of anxiety she didn't need. She lowered the knife to her lap again, shaking her head. "No, like, what stops you from calling your cop friends? What stops you from causing problems for me later? It's not like I'd be here to stop you." She leaned forward. "What stops you from coming after me?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica stops and turns towards Marian. She listens and looks at her.

"Do you want me to try anyone I can first? Or I can just give you a minute. Whatever you want. No rush." She looks around.

"I bet we could get a free water cup."

[thefailingthief]

Marian knew exactly who would be on the other end of the phone if Jessica called somebody. That was motivation enough for her to go through with the call. She shook her head, swallowing with a dry mouth. "A minute." She let out a breath, sighing. "And...maybe some water, if we can swing it."

[bloodsoakedfangs]

His brows furrow.

"Deep gash?" He asks confused. He goes to the mirror and turns to try to look at it.

"Oh fuck... that's worse than I thought. Uh..." He tries to think. He shakes his head.

"I can't think of nothin." Seeing how bad it is somehow makes it hurt more. It didn't look so good. "This wasn't there last night."

[thefailingthief]

Mari hissed through her teeth. She regretted letting Salvi go to help Damien. He might have an answer here. "I don't know...could magic do something like that?" It made as much sense to her as anything else. She held Jameson tighter, looking around for some kind of cloth she could give Riley to help. "I can burn you, so maybe something else cuts?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica thinks to herself about old friends, acquaintances, parental figures outside of parents.

"Okay." She nods. "Try yours and if it goes bad... I'll call whoever I can think of if I gotta. I might be able to think of, I don't know... an old friend?" She says and rubs Marian's arm.

"We could always lie if we have to. If you're comfortable with that." Immediately, a roster of ideas run through her head. She starts walking towards the front.

"Want me to ask?"

[thefailingthief]

Marian shook her head. "No, no. Lying is...." She could do it, but she didn't think it would work. She'd talked so highly about Simon when they left. To come back broken and destitute wouldn't make sense unless something happened.

When Jessica started for the front, Marian was frozen on the spot. "I don't know," she admitted, running both hands through her hair again. She didn't want to make Jessica ask for her because she was scared, but she also couldn't make herself move at that moment. She watched Jessica, trembling. It was still too damn hot in that store. "Just...give me a minute, okay?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica notices Marian's hands shaking and instinctively assumes this all might be too physical on her, as Jessuca only has her own energy and strength for a reference. She didn't quite understand what it felt like to be in a strong and capable body anymore, and some part of her subconsciously thinks others feel that way too. She hands over the key, a bit worried. She hopes this small rest break helps.

Jessica takes the key and looks at Marian.

"Maybe, yeah. But who do we call?" She asks, unsure.

[thefailingthief]

Marian took a breath, mussing her hair as she mumbled. "Parents." Her hands shook harder, if possible. God, what would they say this time? They were probably going to have to make it work on their own. Hell, she shouldn't bother calling them, at all. She forced a smile again. "Probably not good odds there."

[bloodsoakedfangs]

When Riley heads to the back room and Mari joins him, he shuts the door. He untucks his shirt and unbuttons it enough to take it off.

Smeared blood surrounds the wounded area and there is a deep slice in his side. Not too long, about a solid three inches, and it looks darkened and angry. Not realizing how bad it is, he reaches to touch and scratch at it again.

"What does it look like? It feels sore." The scratch is not precise or exact like a scalpel or a careful blade, it is a bit jagged.

[thefailingthief]

Mari followed Riley past Florence, relieved when the door was closed. She balanced Jameson on one arm as Riley pulled his shirt off. When she finally laid eyes on the wound, she sucked in a breath and took several steps forward before stopping herself.

It took everything in Mari not to grab his hand when he reached for it. "Don't scratch it," Mari ordered, tensing. She swallowed, her thoughts racing. She couldn't heal him - it would make things worse. "It looks like a deep gash or something. Put pressure on it. You don't remember something happening?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

After a while of walking, a gas station was indeed in sight. Jessica walked faster, both from bathroom urgency and from finally having something to walk to.

And soon enough she hurries in, gets a bathroom key and goes in.

"I won't be long." She tells Marian and shuts the door. Jessica is profoundly relieved to have a bathroom, but chews on her inner lip with the anxious wondering of where they would go and what they would do next.

She finishes up and freshens up a bit and comes back out before long.

[thefailingthief]

Marian almost regretted finding the gas station. On one hand, they needed a place to clean up and use the bathroom. On the other hand, she had no money for anything. If she thought she could get away with begging for a coffee or something, she would. More than that, though, they had a phone. It was possible she could borrow it, but her stomach was twisting with each step forward.

Jessica went for the bathroom immediately. Marian was sure she had to go, too, but she couldn't focus on it. She swallowed, bracing herself for the phone call she knew was coming. When Jessica came back, Marian's hands were shaking. "Here, let me have the key next."

The trip to the bathroom gave Marian some time to think, at least. She splashed water on her face, breathing slowly. What was she going to say here? Could she convince Jessica to go to the next station with her? She didn't think that would work, though. Marian could walk all day - she had before - but she didn't think Jessica could. Not after everything yesterday. Breathing again, Marian closed her eyes.

The longer she waited, the worse it was going to get.

She was far too hot when she left the bathroom, tensing her arms to try and still her shaking hands. She didn't need to calm her panic; she just needed to sell it. Forcing a smile, she offered the key back to Jessica and swallowed again. "Think they'll let us use the phone?"

[bloodsoakedfangs]

Jessica nods and holds her hand. Walking now and sighing.

"I need a bathroom eventually. Fuck." She says, to herself, mostly. Walking helps to warm her up too. She feels like she is defrosting now. She squints to try to make out what is in the distance but she can't tell, not yet.

[thefailingthief]

Marian nearly suggested using a bush, but she didn't want to make Jessica more uncomfortable than the situation already had. She squeezed Jessica's hand, sighing herself. "There's probably a gas station around here somewhere. The road's off that way - " she gestured back towards the road - "so if we find one crossing it, there's probably something on the corners."

[bloodsoakedfangs]

He instinctively pulls back just slightly when she reaches and he nods. He heads out of there, holding the door open for her so they can head back to the room. He pulls out his room key and walks to the door, the door unlocks when he presses his card to it. He opens the door for her again.

Florence sees them and looks up at them from where she is laying in bed.

"Hey." She says quietly.

"Hey." Riley says and shuts the door behind Mari. He heads towards their separated room. The hounds perking up, Shaman is resting lightly. Taz meows at Mari, wanting attention.

[thefailingthief]

Mari followed Riley to their room, holding Jameson more tightly than necessary. The serious air around Riley was concerning. She didn't know what was about to happen, but a scratch shouldn't bother him that much. She glanced at Florence when she spoke, then looked at Riley with a raised eyebrow. She didn't know if he wanted to have this conversation in from of anybody.

[etxrnaleclipse]

"Well... I mean, you have a point. But right now, I'm not exactly in my professional capacity." Theo offered the counterpoint, because yes he was the cops, but right now, he was caught off guard in his own home, held at knifepoint. He wasn't going to act like he necessarily had the upper hand here.

"Ok, take your time..." He didn't want to drag this out, but Theo knew from his past work negotiating, that rushing someone like this would do no favours.

[thefailingthief]

Professional capacity hardly mattered, but she didn't want to argue with him. She glanced at the door as best she could before focusing on him. She didn't want to let him out of her sight, either. More as a gesture than to threaten, she pointed her knife at him. "What if I just... y'know, left? What stops you from coming after me?"