BlazingBark
Snowdrops
BrokenPromise
rabidbacon
Tlaloc
Chronic
Lildear18
Lugubrious
Mae
Mixtape Ghost NWhile the whole confrontation was being delt with, the others got their plushies.
Like Eliza, Valerie facepalmed as she watched Maura and Sam exit the building. "I knew this was too good to be true..." she shook her head in unamusement. Atleast her boss made a good call it seems, but the android quietly hoped they could talk it out. They did not.
"Doesn't seem like they affected the mood too bad, we should still be fine!" Amanda reassured her, taking a sip of hot cocoa. When Mariette approached them, they were given a seal and a kitsune plush, respectively. Amanda chuckled. "Cute little foxes, aren't they? But they're quite mischevous. I tend to find one or two running amok in my dimension." She'd explain to Marriete as she looked over the plushie, then look to her with a warm smile. "You've captured their energy quite well!"
"I guess you can say it has her..."
When Amanda looked back to Valerie, the cyborg had placed her seal perfectly on top of her head. It even wore her santa hat for her. "Seal of approval." she'd finish with a deadpan expression.
Amanda blinked, appalled by the pun. Then grabbed Valerie's hat and threw it at her face, earning a chuckle from the other girl. "I apologize for that. Anyways, thank you for the gifts, Miss Mariette." She looked back to Mariette with a nod.
"Just trying to lighten the mood, seally."
"Val. Please."
Amanda's reaction only egged Valerie on. "Don't give me the cold shoulder, I'm only having a whale of a good time."
"Okay now you're sealliously annoying-" The dream magician paused at the sudden pun. Valerie bursted out laughing at her reaction.
"Guess that sealed the deal?"
"I disown you." Amanda quickly walked away from Valerie to find anyone else to talk to.
"Alright! Seal you later!"
"I WANT A DIVOR- BWEH?!"
Before Amanda could escape the onslaught of puns, she found herself tackle-hugged by MDP. "Dreamy!" she exclaimed with a genuine grin, bear-hugging her back. Once released, the magician was presented a, well, present. Her eyes lit up, "Oh my goodness, you shouldn't have! Thank you, Drea-" once again she was interrupted when MDP noticed the snowball fight outside. And was promptly dragged away.
Meanwhile, the witch trio was talking among eachother, occasionally watching the others in the party. From Mariette, Maribel was given a purple dragon plush, Lauren a lion, and Rowena an owl.
"Thank you kindly, dear~!" Maribel smiled at the portal witch. While Lauren nodded, and Rowena quietly thanking her. Then Viva boldly approached them.
"Hm?" The nightmare witch turned back to look at Viva with a smile. "My my, brave enough to approach the wicked witches I see~" She chuckled at the nurse's offer.
Lauren calmly bumped her lion plush against Maribel's face. Emitting a half-assed "Roar."
The nightmare witch's expression went blank for the moment. "Uh, you bored, Lauren?"
The younger girl would flop over the back of the couch. "No shit. I could probably play lion tamer now, but that'd be out of place here."
"Oooh..." Maribel patted Lauren's head. The latter would look up at Viva.
"You could probably hang with us for awhile. We're Maribel, Lauren, and Rowena." She'd introduce themselves to her, pointing to the respective witches. "Got a name yourself, toots?"
While the other two chatted with Viva, Rowena was distracted by some of the party-goers confronting someone. Someone familiar... Her eyes widened when she realized who it was.
"Maura...?"
She looked between her sisters, tempted to go approach her. But Rowena didn't want the other two to notice. Not yet anyways. Besides, Maura had already left the room for the moment.
And that was when the horror came in.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lauren screeched as the Lord of Change made his appearance. Though, his tiny santa had earned a chuckle from Maribel, who was completely unfazed. The horror explained his reason for joining the party, a game apparently. Probably Bingo, if the cage spinner was a hint. Then everyone got a text message. Despite the witches not even having phones.
"W-Wait, this is-!?"
"Our coven sisters..." Maribel finished Lauren's exclamation, their shocked expressions mirroring each other. The witch of Order quickly ran up to the Lord of Change. "How do we know this isn't an illusion, Horror? You claim to plunge us back into despair afterwards, so how true are you to your word?" truthfully, she had no ill intent. Her expression showed more curiosity than skepticism.
Meanwhile Valerie and Amanda spat out their drinks in surprise when Cereza and Cerise texted them each. The android quickly ran back to the magician. "One of the twins just sent me a message." She held up her phone to show Amanda.
"I know, I know! Look!!" Amanda took her turn to show Valerie her message.
They'd look down at the phones, then back to each other.
"We have to play that game."
"Agreed!"
Rowena could've been worried about whatever the Lord of Change had in mind, but she was waiting on Maura to come back inside. So when Samantha returned alone, she decided to check on her. "...Excuse me." she quietly said, standing up from her seat and bowing slightly to Maribel and Viva before leaving.
The witch of life stepped out of the lodge and looked around. "...Where are you?" she uttered to herself. Maura couldn't have gotten far, could she? She slipped the jacket she had on and walked around, looking down to the snow for any footsteps. Rowena saw the ongoing snowball fight nearby, and stopped a short moment to watch. When was the last time she and her sisters had a snowball fight of their own, she wondered.
Eventually she'd spot Maura by one of the buildings, she was looking at the decorations in wonder. The witch of death would pet a passing snowbun with a smile, as Rowena walked up next to her. Surprisingly, Maura didn't react strongly to her presence. It could be that she knew it was inevitable one of her sisters would find her, or that the ordeal about Justine made her too tired to care. But she appreciated the company, nonetheless.
After all, Maura knew her blood relative wouldn't hurt her.
There was a comforting silence between them, then Rowena spoke up. "...It's almost nostalgic being here. Even though we haven't been here before. Weird, right?" She looked at Maura with a smile, who nodded in reply. Seeing as she wasn't talking, the witch of life asked a different question. "Something troubling you?"
Maura sighed. "I allowed someone to live and ended up pissing off the people I care about. It's stupid." she explain.
"Hmm..." Rowena perched her owl plush on her shoulder. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"
"What are you-"
Maura went silent when she realized what her sister meant. The day she broke her oath. The day she fled her coven's wrath and became a patron. The day she killed...
Her face contorted in fear, tightly hugging the ghost plush in her arms. "...It all went wrong..." she whispered, repeating the same words she said to Veronica once she told the truth. Rowena took notice of this, and pulled her into a side hug.
"That day, I saw how afraid you were when Reverie died. How furious Maribel was. I didn't know what to do when you ran away." Rowena frowned at the memory. "We ended up separating from each other, if you're wondering where the others are. Some felt you had the right idea, that standing by and doing nothing wouldn't help preserve order. Others had conflicting interests,"
"And you three?"
Rowena shrugged. "We had different reasons, but it was mostly to find you. she turned to face Maura. "Don't get me wrong, Mari and Lauren have understandable reasons, but I didn't want them to hurt you."
"Wait." Maura furrowed her brows. "I get Maribel's contempt, but what's Lauren got to do with this?"
Rowena shrugged again, looking unamused. "She's the Witch of Order, what else did you expect."
"Good point."
The two began to walk around as they talked, occasionally stopping to look through the windows of buildings. "Well, I guess my next question is: Why aren't you at the party? Things got alot more interesting back there." Rowena tilted her head.
Maura sighed. "Other than avoiding a second lynching from our sisters, I don't want to ruin the party for my agents any more than I already have." she'd glance at the lodge, and back to Rowena with a comical look. "Besides if a bar fight breaks out, I don't wanna deal with that shit."
The taller girl chuckled. "Understandable, but are you sure you'd want to skip out?
"I'll be fine, Rowena. I've spent Christmas alone before and it never bothered me."
Rowena crossed her arms. "You were always too busy gathering souls to join us."
Maura smiled. "And you'd always save my presents for me to get later. Not to mention a slice of cake."
"You were always fond of red velvet.
The both of them giggled at the memory. "I missed you, y'know?"
"Yeah, I missed you too." Maura checked her phone for any new messages. Her smile faded when she looked back at the most recent one. Why did she have to text her now of all times?
"Oh, the Lord of Change dragged you into it too?" Rowena asked, having looked over to see what she was bothered by.
The Witch of Death rose a brow. "Dragged into what?"
"Some sort of game. Whoever wins gets reunited with old friends even if they're dead."
Maura's eyes widened. If that were true, Cereza and Cerise could come back, even if for a day. Or even the past Witch of Dreams! But that'd only be if they messaged someone. Then again, they might not be so lucky. "Who messaged you?"
"One of our old coven members, all three of us. Guess yours is a friend?" Rowena explained.
Maura looked back down at the phone. "....I don't know."
They stopped walking then and there. "Well, if you don't want to be a part of the party, you could atleast try and get your friend here. Right?"
The smaller girl's eyes widened. She violently shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no! Who says she isn't as mad as the others?!"
Rowena thought for a moment, before grinning. "Who says she will be angry? Besides, there's the chance that you won't be one of the winners. So why not risk it? You've always trusted your instincts, what do they say?"
Maura went silent in thought. She looked back to the lodge, and began running back. Until she saw Betty. "Fuck." Maybe her second lynching was quicker than she expected. Maybe she can still walk the other way if she hurried.
This is a collab now. Broken as Betty, of course.
“Is that how the new cradle mother greets her body guard?” Betty practically growled the words through her teeth. She didn’t stop advancing towards Maura. “I take it things went well between you and Silhouette? It looked like you were getting ready to return.”
Maura slowly turned to face Betty, her brows furrowed. She really didn't want to go through this again. Once was enough. "Why should I? Don't want to ruin your Christmas even more." It was tempting to snap at her, but what good would that do? It was probably obvious things didn't went well. At all. "I was only going back to play that Horror's game. That's all."
Rowena carefully walked up next to her as soon as she saw Betty. "..." she looked between the two, before waving at the bodyguard. Looks like she went back to being silent for the moment.
She didn’t even react to Rowena’s appearance, focusing squarely on her lady. “The horror’s game, huh?” Betty shoved her hands into her pockets. “Well go on, I’m not going to stop you.” She took a deep breath and walked past Maura, not doing as much as glancing at her as she walked by.
The cradle mother's expression cracked into a frown once Betty was unable to see it. Regardless, she'd continue walking back to the lodge, Rowena following next to her. Her sister would gently pat her back, looking over to Betty once.
Betty continued to walk until she arrived at one of the many Christmas trees around Dan’s islands. She reached out with one of her mitten clad hands and placed it on the base of the tree, rubbing some of the snow off of it. She looked over her shoulder to make sure there was no one in sight. Once she confirmed she was alone, Betty broke down and cried. The gentle howl of the winter islands masking her sobs.
Rowena frowned, and whispered to Maura. "Say something to her..."
"And what, make things worse..!?" Maura whisper-yelled back. "You saw what happened back there..!" she took a tired breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm gonna participate in the Lord's game. Then I'm leaving..." there was a hint of remorse in her voice. Before she stepped inside, she tried to see what Betty was thinking.
Veronica’s magicom network allowed for wordless communication between agents, but like any microphone, it could also be used to listen in on thoughts. At least if you were Maura. It wasn’t exactly a tool to diagnose people’s emotions or see the emotional well being of agents. It was more a tool for communication during operations and a way of keeping tabs on spies that might try to under mind her operation.
It did let Maura tap into her agents senses, run through their photographic memory, and listen to their inner voice. It was hard to tell what Betty was looking at because her vision had been distorted with tears. However, she was repeating something in her head like a mantra.
I failed.
I failed her, and she has left. Not even a goodbye. My only friends have left with her, and there hasn’t been a post on cradle net for days. We are being replaced. She has replaced Veronica, and I have been replaced by Justine. I do not know why a snake like her is replacing me. They spend all their time together, they came to the party without Silhouette and I, and she dotes over her.
Justine is weak and feeble. Without Father, she is nothing. How could Maura be blind to this? I cannot even have a proper catharsis with such a meek individual. She did so many horrible things to everyone, to me. I have no idea what the Mint made me do, what was done to me. Does Maura think this is forgivable?
I cannot even talk to her. She avoids me to play games with horrors. We have been replaced. I am nothing. Because I failed.
Enough.
As Maura listen to Betty's inner thoughts, her grip on the doorknob trembled. Rowena asked if she was alright, but she couldn't hear her. Or it was cause it didn't matter.
Enough.
Maura gritted her teeth in an attempt to stay calm. She walked away from the door, and began following after Betty. She started off walking normally, then broke off running, sprinting even.
Enough.
Betty could hear her approaching. Before the bodyguard could turn her direction, Maura would tackle her into a hug. No matter the type of reaction, she'd notice something unexpected.
Maura was crying.
What’s going on?!?!?
Betty was blinded by her own tears, so her entire body trembled when she was surprise tackled by Maura. She was practically rolled through the snow. She raised one of her hands and found Maura’s torso, at which point she returned the hug. Betty didn’t rise from her knees, and the two continued to cry together.
"N-Never think that you're a failure, got it?! N-None of you are failures!!" Maura sniffled. "It's my fault for being so stupid! I-I don't deserve to be concidered your leader, I didn't even ask for it!" For once, her deep breaths proved useless. How long had it been since she cried? She burried her face into Betty's shoulder. "Damn that Horror, I don't even deserve to face Veronica after this!!"
Meanwhile Rowena would stay out of it. She'd stand by, just in case, but she knew it was a personal matter.
Eventually, Betty got in control of her breathing again. ”Maura?” Her voice cracked. ”I don’t really understand what’s going on. But it’s nice to know I’m not worthless.” She wiped her eyes. ”Sorry for making you feel bad. That’s not something a body guard should do.”
"I-It's alright." Once she was calmed down enough, Maura rubbed the remaining tears out of her eyes. "The last thing I want is any of you to feel like you're nothing." She sighed. "I still have to make up with Samantha later. Well, if I can." Maura hugged her knees, and looked back up to Betty.
"Your feelings are all understandable, truely. I won't force you guys to work with Justine. Just...give her time to atone. She may be meek now, but I'm confident she'll be a good agent eventually." Maura explained, ending with a tired chuckle. "Some patron I am, huh? Acting on intuition rather than reasoning." she shook her head. "Not to mention I'm a bloody hypocrite."
”Maura.” Betty was still holding onto her shoulders. ”You don’t have to put yourself down to make everyone around you feel okay. You don’t have to ask people to punch you or stay out of our way. I’m suppose to protect you. If you’re worthless, I’m worthless.” She sighed. ”Just-” She cleared her throat. ”Involve us in what you’re doing. You don’t have to be as amazing as Veronica. Just, just use us. Don’t leave us to rot. I don’t know why Veronica handed Cradle to you, but she must have seen something that made her think it was a good idea.”
Maura managed to get her smile back. "Don't worry. I wont leave you all behind."
”Alright.” Betty stood back up and helped Maura to her feet. ”That’s part of your coven, right?” She drew one of her katanas, which was a candy cane now thanks to Dan’s magic. ”I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”
"...Oh now you notice me?" Rowena gave Betty an unamused pout.
"Heyeyey, this one's harmless! She just came out to check on me! Besides it's kinda hard for me to avoid all three of them while we're here!" Once Maura had quickly explained, she motioned for the other witch to come over. "Betty, this is Rowena. The Witch of Life, and my actual sister." The taller girl would bow politely as she was introduced.
”Sorry about earlier! I had a lot on my mind. I’m Betty Barton, but my friends just call me Betty, or Betty Biohazard if they’re feeling spicy.” Betty did a curtsy. ”My lady says you’re okay.” She waved her candy cane around. ”But I’ve got my eye on your sisters.”
"Understandable, Miss Barton." Rowena smirked, a hand in her jacket pocket. "Maribel can be unpredictable if unchecked. Anyways, you can't keep your friends waiting any longer, can you? I'll catch up later." she winked.
Betty took Maura by the hand and walked towards the lodge. ”I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.” Betty had switched over to magicoms. ”I doubt I’ll ever trust Justine. But I’m going to believe that you’re going to work closer with us moving forward.”
"Understood."
Soon as the two went back to the lodge, Rowena would linger outside for awhile longer. Using her wood magic to gather some flowers before heading back herself.
Like Eliza, Valerie facepalmed as she watched Maura and Sam exit the building. "I knew this was too good to be true..." she shook her head in unamusement. Atleast her boss made a good call it seems, but the android quietly hoped they could talk it out. They did not.
"Doesn't seem like they affected the mood too bad, we should still be fine!" Amanda reassured her, taking a sip of hot cocoa. When Mariette approached them, they were given a seal and a kitsune plush, respectively. Amanda chuckled. "Cute little foxes, aren't they? But they're quite mischevous. I tend to find one or two running amok in my dimension." She'd explain to Marriete as she looked over the plushie, then look to her with a warm smile. "You've captured their energy quite well!"
"I guess you can say it has her..."
When Amanda looked back to Valerie, the cyborg had placed her seal perfectly on top of her head. It even wore her santa hat for her. "Seal of approval." she'd finish with a deadpan expression.
Amanda blinked, appalled by the pun. Then grabbed Valerie's hat and threw it at her face, earning a chuckle from the other girl. "I apologize for that. Anyways, thank you for the gifts, Miss Mariette." She looked back to Mariette with a nod.
"Just trying to lighten the mood, seally."
"Val. Please."
Amanda's reaction only egged Valerie on. "Don't give me the cold shoulder, I'm only having a whale of a good time."
"Okay now you're sealliously annoying-" The dream magician paused at the sudden pun. Valerie bursted out laughing at her reaction.
"Guess that sealed the deal?"
"I disown you." Amanda quickly walked away from Valerie to find anyone else to talk to.
"Alright! Seal you later!"
"I WANT A DIVOR- BWEH?!"
Before Amanda could escape the onslaught of puns, she found herself tackle-hugged by MDP. "Dreamy!" she exclaimed with a genuine grin, bear-hugging her back. Once released, the magician was presented a, well, present. Her eyes lit up, "Oh my goodness, you shouldn't have! Thank you, Drea-" once again she was interrupted when MDP noticed the snowball fight outside. And was promptly dragged away.
Meanwhile, the witch trio was talking among eachother, occasionally watching the others in the party. From Mariette, Maribel was given a purple dragon plush, Lauren a lion, and Rowena an owl.
"Thank you kindly, dear~!" Maribel smiled at the portal witch. While Lauren nodded, and Rowena quietly thanking her. Then Viva boldly approached them.
"Hm?" The nightmare witch turned back to look at Viva with a smile. "My my, brave enough to approach the wicked witches I see~" She chuckled at the nurse's offer.
Lauren calmly bumped her lion plush against Maribel's face. Emitting a half-assed "Roar."
The nightmare witch's expression went blank for the moment. "Uh, you bored, Lauren?"
The younger girl would flop over the back of the couch. "No shit. I could probably play lion tamer now, but that'd be out of place here."
"Oooh..." Maribel patted Lauren's head. The latter would look up at Viva.
"You could probably hang with us for awhile. We're Maribel, Lauren, and Rowena." She'd introduce themselves to her, pointing to the respective witches. "Got a name yourself, toots?"
While the other two chatted with Viva, Rowena was distracted by some of the party-goers confronting someone. Someone familiar... Her eyes widened when she realized who it was.
"Maura...?"
She looked between her sisters, tempted to go approach her. But Rowena didn't want the other two to notice. Not yet anyways. Besides, Maura had already left the room for the moment.
And that was when the horror came in.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lauren screeched as the Lord of Change made his appearance. Though, his tiny santa had earned a chuckle from Maribel, who was completely unfazed. The horror explained his reason for joining the party, a game apparently. Probably Bingo, if the cage spinner was a hint. Then everyone got a text message. Despite the witches not even having phones.
"W-Wait, this is-!?"
"Our coven sisters..." Maribel finished Lauren's exclamation, their shocked expressions mirroring each other. The witch of Order quickly ran up to the Lord of Change. "How do we know this isn't an illusion, Horror? You claim to plunge us back into despair afterwards, so how true are you to your word?" truthfully, she had no ill intent. Her expression showed more curiosity than skepticism.
Meanwhile Valerie and Amanda spat out their drinks in surprise when Cereza and Cerise texted them each. The android quickly ran back to the magician. "One of the twins just sent me a message." She held up her phone to show Amanda.
Valerie got a text from Cereza"Is everyone still okay?""I know, I know! Look!!" Amanda took her turn to show Valerie her message.
Amanda got a text from Cerise"Merry Christmas! Forgive us for not being there with you guys!!"They'd look down at the phones, then back to each other.
"We have to play that game."
"Agreed!"
Rowena could've been worried about whatever the Lord of Change had in mind, but she was waiting on Maura to come back inside. So when Samantha returned alone, she decided to check on her. "...Excuse me." she quietly said, standing up from her seat and bowing slightly to Maribel and Viva before leaving.
The witch of life stepped out of the lodge and looked around. "...Where are you?" she uttered to herself. Maura couldn't have gotten far, could she? She slipped the jacket she had on and walked around, looking down to the snow for any footsteps. Rowena saw the ongoing snowball fight nearby, and stopped a short moment to watch. When was the last time she and her sisters had a snowball fight of their own, she wondered.
Eventually she'd spot Maura by one of the buildings, she was looking at the decorations in wonder. The witch of death would pet a passing snowbun with a smile, as Rowena walked up next to her. Surprisingly, Maura didn't react strongly to her presence. It could be that she knew it was inevitable one of her sisters would find her, or that the ordeal about Justine made her too tired to care. But she appreciated the company, nonetheless.
After all, Maura knew her blood relative wouldn't hurt her.
There was a comforting silence between them, then Rowena spoke up. "...It's almost nostalgic being here. Even though we haven't been here before. Weird, right?" She looked at Maura with a smile, who nodded in reply. Seeing as she wasn't talking, the witch of life asked a different question. "Something troubling you?"
Maura sighed. "I allowed someone to live and ended up pissing off the people I care about. It's stupid." she explain.
"Hmm..." Rowena perched her owl plush on her shoulder. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"
"What are you-"
Maura went silent when she realized what her sister meant. The day she broke her oath. The day she fled her coven's wrath and became a patron. The day she killed...
Her face contorted in fear, tightly hugging the ghost plush in her arms. "...It all went wrong..." she whispered, repeating the same words she said to Veronica once she told the truth. Rowena took notice of this, and pulled her into a side hug.
"That day, I saw how afraid you were when Reverie died. How furious Maribel was. I didn't know what to do when you ran away." Rowena frowned at the memory. "We ended up separating from each other, if you're wondering where the others are. Some felt you had the right idea, that standing by and doing nothing wouldn't help preserve order. Others had conflicting interests,"
"And you three?"
Rowena shrugged. "We had different reasons, but it was mostly to find you. she turned to face Maura. "Don't get me wrong, Mari and Lauren have understandable reasons, but I didn't want them to hurt you."
"Wait." Maura furrowed her brows. "I get Maribel's contempt, but what's Lauren got to do with this?"
Rowena shrugged again, looking unamused. "She's the Witch of Order, what else did you expect."
"Good point."
The two began to walk around as they talked, occasionally stopping to look through the windows of buildings. "Well, I guess my next question is: Why aren't you at the party? Things got alot more interesting back there." Rowena tilted her head.
Maura sighed. "Other than avoiding a second lynching from our sisters, I don't want to ruin the party for my agents any more than I already have." she'd glance at the lodge, and back to Rowena with a comical look. "Besides if a bar fight breaks out, I don't wanna deal with that shit."
The taller girl chuckled. "Understandable, but are you sure you'd want to skip out?
"I'll be fine, Rowena. I've spent Christmas alone before and it never bothered me."
Rowena crossed her arms. "You were always too busy gathering souls to join us."
Maura smiled. "And you'd always save my presents for me to get later. Not to mention a slice of cake."
"You were always fond of red velvet.
The both of them giggled at the memory. "I missed you, y'know?"
"Yeah, I missed you too." Maura checked her phone for any new messages. Her smile faded when she looked back at the most recent one. Why did she have to text her now of all times?
"Oh, the Lord of Change dragged you into it too?" Rowena asked, having looked over to see what she was bothered by.
The Witch of Death rose a brow. "Dragged into what?"
"Some sort of game. Whoever wins gets reunited with old friends even if they're dead."
Maura's eyes widened. If that were true, Cereza and Cerise could come back, even if for a day. Or even the past Witch of Dreams! But that'd only be if they messaged someone. Then again, they might not be so lucky. "Who messaged you?"
"One of our old coven members, all three of us. Guess yours is a friend?" Rowena explained.
Maura looked back down at the phone. "....I don't know."
They stopped walking then and there. "Well, if you don't want to be a part of the party, you could atleast try and get your friend here. Right?"
The smaller girl's eyes widened. She violently shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no! Who says she isn't as mad as the others?!"
Rowena thought for a moment, before grinning. "Who says she will be angry? Besides, there's the chance that you won't be one of the winners. So why not risk it? You've always trusted your instincts, what do they say?"
Maura went silent in thought. She looked back to the lodge, and began running back. Until she saw Betty. "Fuck." Maybe her second lynching was quicker than she expected. Maybe she can still walk the other way if she hurried.
This is a collab now. Broken as Betty, of course.
“Is that how the new cradle mother greets her body guard?” Betty practically growled the words through her teeth. She didn’t stop advancing towards Maura. “I take it things went well between you and Silhouette? It looked like you were getting ready to return.”
Maura slowly turned to face Betty, her brows furrowed. She really didn't want to go through this again. Once was enough. "Why should I? Don't want to ruin your Christmas even more." It was tempting to snap at her, but what good would that do? It was probably obvious things didn't went well. At all. "I was only going back to play that Horror's game. That's all."
Rowena carefully walked up next to her as soon as she saw Betty. "..." she looked between the two, before waving at the bodyguard. Looks like she went back to being silent for the moment.
She didn’t even react to Rowena’s appearance, focusing squarely on her lady. “The horror’s game, huh?” Betty shoved her hands into her pockets. “Well go on, I’m not going to stop you.” She took a deep breath and walked past Maura, not doing as much as glancing at her as she walked by.
The cradle mother's expression cracked into a frown once Betty was unable to see it. Regardless, she'd continue walking back to the lodge, Rowena following next to her. Her sister would gently pat her back, looking over to Betty once.
Betty continued to walk until she arrived at one of the many Christmas trees around Dan’s islands. She reached out with one of her mitten clad hands and placed it on the base of the tree, rubbing some of the snow off of it. She looked over her shoulder to make sure there was no one in sight. Once she confirmed she was alone, Betty broke down and cried. The gentle howl of the winter islands masking her sobs.
Rowena frowned, and whispered to Maura. "Say something to her..."
"And what, make things worse..!?" Maura whisper-yelled back. "You saw what happened back there..!" she took a tired breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm gonna participate in the Lord's game. Then I'm leaving..." there was a hint of remorse in her voice. Before she stepped inside, she tried to see what Betty was thinking.
Veronica’s magicom network allowed for wordless communication between agents, but like any microphone, it could also be used to listen in on thoughts. At least if you were Maura. It wasn’t exactly a tool to diagnose people’s emotions or see the emotional well being of agents. It was more a tool for communication during operations and a way of keeping tabs on spies that might try to under mind her operation.
It did let Maura tap into her agents senses, run through their photographic memory, and listen to their inner voice. It was hard to tell what Betty was looking at because her vision had been distorted with tears. However, she was repeating something in her head like a mantra.
I failed.
I failed her, and she has left. Not even a goodbye. My only friends have left with her, and there hasn’t been a post on cradle net for days. We are being replaced. She has replaced Veronica, and I have been replaced by Justine. I do not know why a snake like her is replacing me. They spend all their time together, they came to the party without Silhouette and I, and she dotes over her.
Justine is weak and feeble. Without Father, she is nothing. How could Maura be blind to this? I cannot even have a proper catharsis with such a meek individual. She did so many horrible things to everyone, to me. I have no idea what the Mint made me do, what was done to me. Does Maura think this is forgivable?
I cannot even talk to her. She avoids me to play games with horrors. We have been replaced. I am nothing. Because I failed.
Enough.
As Maura listen to Betty's inner thoughts, her grip on the doorknob trembled. Rowena asked if she was alright, but she couldn't hear her. Or it was cause it didn't matter.
Enough.
Maura gritted her teeth in an attempt to stay calm. She walked away from the door, and began following after Betty. She started off walking normally, then broke off running, sprinting even.
Enough.
Betty could hear her approaching. Before the bodyguard could turn her direction, Maura would tackle her into a hug. No matter the type of reaction, she'd notice something unexpected.
Maura was crying.
What’s going on?!?!?
Betty was blinded by her own tears, so her entire body trembled when she was surprise tackled by Maura. She was practically rolled through the snow. She raised one of her hands and found Maura’s torso, at which point she returned the hug. Betty didn’t rise from her knees, and the two continued to cry together.
"N-Never think that you're a failure, got it?! N-None of you are failures!!" Maura sniffled. "It's my fault for being so stupid! I-I don't deserve to be concidered your leader, I didn't even ask for it!" For once, her deep breaths proved useless. How long had it been since she cried? She burried her face into Betty's shoulder. "Damn that Horror, I don't even deserve to face Veronica after this!!"
Meanwhile Rowena would stay out of it. She'd stand by, just in case, but she knew it was a personal matter.
Eventually, Betty got in control of her breathing again. ”Maura?” Her voice cracked. ”I don’t really understand what’s going on. But it’s nice to know I’m not worthless.” She wiped her eyes. ”Sorry for making you feel bad. That’s not something a body guard should do.”
"I-It's alright." Once she was calmed down enough, Maura rubbed the remaining tears out of her eyes. "The last thing I want is any of you to feel like you're nothing." She sighed. "I still have to make up with Samantha later. Well, if I can." Maura hugged her knees, and looked back up to Betty.
"Your feelings are all understandable, truely. I won't force you guys to work with Justine. Just...give her time to atone. She may be meek now, but I'm confident she'll be a good agent eventually." Maura explained, ending with a tired chuckle. "Some patron I am, huh? Acting on intuition rather than reasoning." she shook her head. "Not to mention I'm a bloody hypocrite."
”Maura.” Betty was still holding onto her shoulders. ”You don’t have to put yourself down to make everyone around you feel okay. You don’t have to ask people to punch you or stay out of our way. I’m suppose to protect you. If you’re worthless, I’m worthless.” She sighed. ”Just-” She cleared her throat. ”Involve us in what you’re doing. You don’t have to be as amazing as Veronica. Just, just use us. Don’t leave us to rot. I don’t know why Veronica handed Cradle to you, but she must have seen something that made her think it was a good idea.”
Maura managed to get her smile back. "Don't worry. I wont leave you all behind."
”Alright.” Betty stood back up and helped Maura to her feet. ”That’s part of your coven, right?” She drew one of her katanas, which was a candy cane now thanks to Dan’s magic. ”I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”
"...Oh now you notice me?" Rowena gave Betty an unamused pout.
"Heyeyey, this one's harmless! She just came out to check on me! Besides it's kinda hard for me to avoid all three of them while we're here!" Once Maura had quickly explained, she motioned for the other witch to come over. "Betty, this is Rowena. The Witch of Life, and my actual sister." The taller girl would bow politely as she was introduced.
”Sorry about earlier! I had a lot on my mind. I’m Betty Barton, but my friends just call me Betty, or Betty Biohazard if they’re feeling spicy.” Betty did a curtsy. ”My lady says you’re okay.” She waved her candy cane around. ”But I’ve got my eye on your sisters.”
"Understandable, Miss Barton." Rowena smirked, a hand in her jacket pocket. "Maribel can be unpredictable if unchecked. Anyways, you can't keep your friends waiting any longer, can you? I'll catch up later." she winked.
Betty took Maura by the hand and walked towards the lodge. ”I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.” Betty had switched over to magicoms. ”I doubt I’ll ever trust Justine. But I’m going to believe that you’re going to work closer with us moving forward.”
"Understood."
Soon as the two went back to the lodge, Rowena would linger outside for awhile longer. Using her wood magic to gather some flowers before heading back herself.
