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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 2:48:10 GMT

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Mei wasn't the sort to give up easily, but every day she failed to find freya morningstar brought her closer to an abyss she'd stubbornly refused to look into lest she find something truly ugly there.[break][break]
It hadn't been particularly difficult to find the name and address of the hotel the Councilwoman was supposedly living out of: actually catching her at home had been the real issue. After the first few failed attempts of pounding on the door, hollering for Freya to please let her in, Mei had seduced the concierge into giving her a keycard. Finding the place empty quelled the anger in her heart at the prospect of being ignored, but it did not comfort her, either.[break][break]
No, it didn't comfort her in the least.[break][break]
After a few hours with the girl in the morning so King could sleep in (Delta darling, sweet like sunshine), Mei found herself back in Ever Grande. One last time, she'd told herself, but she knew it was a lie. Was she as obstinate as the woman she was seeking? The thought brought a wry smile to her lips.[break][break]
She barged right in unceremoniously, expecting the vacant disappointment that always greeted her.[break][break]
But, to her shock (and her horror, oh Freya, oh Freya) the hotel room wasn't empty. Not this time.
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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sootopolis

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 3:12:05 GMT

she doesn't stand a chance against the painkillers. it was in the hospital that she'd slept longer than 4 hours in a single stretch in gods know how long. and after that, in between flashes of people checking on her - she barely remembers, strung up on morphine as she was - with prescription bottles and a a stubbornness finally beaten out of her by pain, well, she's home.

she's not at her office. she's not running across the region, looking for any reason to keep her boots on the ground. she's stuck in her hotel. and ana fell is busy. she can't babysit her 24/7.

but right now she's in a rare moment of lucidity, stretched out along the couch with some shitty romcom playing on the tv.

her lip is split and her skin is mottled all over, flaking patches of grey. whatever Isaac Merlo had done had worked; she was no longer cursed. but like a bad sunburn, her body's working to rid itself of the dead skin.

she can only imagine what she looks like when mei bursts through the door, startling her to the point where she seizes, and her hands scrabble against her hip as pain spears her through.

her breath comes in staccato pants, lips trying to form words, but she just ends up sucking in air. brows furrowing, eyes flashing, she asks what the hell? without saying anything at all.
Mei Liu

☉

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Soteria; Deliverance

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Celadon City, Kanto

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5'5" / 165 cm height

It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 3:57:56 GMT

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Mei had seen (and caused) enough injury in her life to shake off the shock of Freya's sorry state relatively quickly. She let the door slam decisively shut behind her, then took one step forward, heels clicking against the floor, staring down at the affronted, confused expression on Freya's face with a genuinely concerned one of her own.[break][break]
An awkward silence hung between the two women as the TV babbled: some half-assed sex scene moaning its mediocre plot debut.[break][break]
"They gave me a key," she managed to say, finally. It wasn't so much that she felt guilty for the intrusion; it was more that she now found herself in a situation she realized she had not properly prepared for. Freya, drunk. Freya, lonely. Freya, working. Freya, training. There were many scenarios she'd expected to walk in on, but Freya dying wasn't one of them.[break][break]
It should have been one of them, she knew. And she had known. Dragons didn't stay away from danger without going stir crazy.
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 4:05:26 GMT

mei is a lot of things but awkward isn't one of them. so color freya surprised when the vixen stalks right up to her, blocks her view from the tv, and wordlessly stares down at her. and then, informs her of all things, that she has a key.

"between you and ana, i should probably complain about the security here."

there is a weight to her stare that makes freya uncomfortable. she reaches past her, to the coffee table, wincing as she does, and grabs the remote to flick the tv off. the silence is deafening.

freya blinks and then, as something hits her, hurries out - "is everything okay? king? delta?"
Mei Liu

☉

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Soteria; Deliverance

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It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 4:36:16 GMT

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It ought to hurt less to be a messenger, so it was frustrating to find that she hated the way the other woman had bypassed even so much as a "hello, Mei."[break][break]
She laughed, and it was only a little bit callous.[break][break]
"Worried about them, are you?" She mused, cocking her head. A hint of bitterness. That was for King, she supposed. For the way he'd nearly shattered a glass with his bare hands.[break][break]
She crouched down by the couch, took the remote right out of Freya's trembling fingers, then held that hand in her own and marveled at the fragility of it. She'd always thought that Freya must have such strong hands, the calloused fingertips of an archer, but she'd never really taken the opportunity to find out for certain. Now she found only weary bones and not enough nourishment.[break][break]
The callouses were there, though, and that was something of a comfort.[break][break]
"They aren't in any danger, if that's what you're asking. I was just with Delta. She got maple syrup on my dress." Her tone was affectionate, though the dress would need to be promptly dry cleaned. "I took her for pancakes."
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 4:50:43 GMT

oh.

with her free hand, she rubs at one of her eyes, trying and failing to clear away the brain fog she's had since that first pleasurable vein of morphine had chugged its way through her arm. the other hand, though - she curls her fingers reflexively around mei's, suddenly starved. touch is a scant, horrid little thing.

"maybe i don't need to be anymore," she says with a sigh, clearly relaxing when mei assures her nothing's wrong. fernando has worse things on his plate than to worry about who freya's sleeping with. and now it's been long enough that...

her lashes flutter.

jealousy surges through her. she can hide the flash of it in her eyes by closing them, but her mouth still puckers in the slightest.

i'm too dangerous to be around her, but she can get pancakes with an assassin, she thinks bitterly.

"why...are you here?" she asks wearily. "if it's to keep me company, i'm okay. fine, really. the painkillers help."
Mei Liu

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 5:11:46 GMT

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A woman versed in the arts of the pleasure industry didn't miss jealousy when it flashed across a person's face, but Mei allowed Freya the grace of thinking she'd hidden it beneath her weariness. Mei squeezed her hand, recognizing the way physical touch - her native tongue - was soothing to Freya, and she thought, she'll take what King won't. And maybe there was some type of irony to that.[break][break]
"I'm here because I care about you," Mei said simply. A truth, but not the whole truth. "I've been here something like twenty times in the last month, and I haven't been able to find you." Her turn to purse her lips. "I thought perhaps you were glad to be rid of me, but I see now you were...busy." An understatement.[break][break]
She glanced at the window, as if trying to decide whether or not it should be opened or remain closed.[break][break]
"I'm also here because I care about King, Freya."
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 5:35:04 GMT

she softens, just a smidge. mei has never had any reason to lie to her. they've danced around secrets, knowing full whether the other must report to different parties. it only hits her now, that she lost her too when she took on the council position. consorting with, as the public might say, people like her would be nothing as she had been - but now?

mei doesn't move and neither does freya, afraid if she pulls her hand away, she may very well disappear.

"i stay at the office." she looks around the hotel room, of which has been clearly lived in for some time now. "it's been hard to...shut down." at the mention of king though, freya withdraws. she tugs back her hand and fists it under her blanket, withering beneath it right then and there.

"are you asking for my blessing then?" she snaps, knowing she's being cruel.
Mei Liu

☉

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It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 5:48:21 GMT

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For a precious handful of seconds, Freya let her guard down, and beneath the drugged exhaustion there was a captivating, forlorn tenderness. Mei let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, heart aching as they held one another. She wanted to say something like - Freya, you have no idea how incredible you are - but the words didn't come, trapped in the back of her throat as she tried to clear it.[break][break]
Then it ended, and Mei blinked as the dragon spit acid. Freya pulled her hand back like she'd touched a hot stove, retreating to the fortress of her blanket with an ornery glare.[break][break]
Blessing? It made no sense.[break][break]
Until it did.[break][break]
Mei laughed. Laughed because it was anything but that. Laughed because it was just so incredibly sad how much Freya discredited herself.[break][break]
"Freya, you idiot. I'm not sleeping with King. I'm babysitting his daughter from time to time because he's a fucking wreck without you."
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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twenty-nine

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 16:07:14 GMT

the laughter makes her eyes crack open. makes her stare upward at the ceiling and tell herself, as she counts backwards from three, that she deserves this. and on two, the mouth in her mind wobbling, open like a fish around one, mei tells her everything she wants to hear.

and somehow that's worse.

"and i'm a wreck without him, but it doesn't matter, mei. i can't change what i did. i can't change who i am."

her body shudders. when her gaze rounds back on mei, her eyes are brimming with pain. "delta got hurt. because of me." and he can't ever forgive her for that.
Mei Liu

☉

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Soteria; Deliverance

She/Her

July 17

Celadon City, Kanto

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It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 16:31:36 GMT

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"Bullshit!" Mei snapped.[break][break]
What was patience if not survival? She'd endured the myriad of ways people liked to use a warm body for their own selfish comforts - sometimes it was good, and sometimes it was awful, and sometimes it was nothing more than going through the motions. Kanto had made her so very good at sufferance, but Hoenn was revealing the one thing she could not, would not suffer: the blind refusal to see things for what they really were.[break][break]
"Delta got hurt because the world is a horrifically dangerous place and KING WAYLAND - who's idea of parenting is a pathetic excuse for martyrdom - took her into an active warzone and expected a different outcome other than trauma."[break][break]
And now she wasn't the sultry seductress or the caring caretaker or the tempered advice-giver. Now she was the woman Kanto had hammered her into: a finely wrought shield, embedded with gems to look pretty but still hard as hell.[break][break]
"And you, Freya, you are an insufferable fool for thinking yourself solely responsible for all of the pain and suffering the people you love most endure, and this causes you to actually hurt them by not being there when they need you."
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 17, 2023 23:13:29 GMT

in the moment, she hadn't given it more thought. she'd just been terrified - horrified as he towered over her and told her just what she'd done. she hadn't considered that he would have put delta in that situation. that he took her to sootopolis. her breath hitches, face twisting in gnarled anger, but mei does not relent.

a dragon is quick to anger. a dragon is quick to rise to the occasion and meet its foe blow for blow, shredding all in its path before it can rest. but none of that fire lives in freya now - even as anger and resentment pricks her sides. all it does is make her shiver.

"i can't be there for him if he doesn't want me there," she says tiredly instead. she blinks, cursing the water leaking out of the corner of her eye.

"i know what he needs. he needs to start over, with or without me. and i'm still going to give him that choice to get out. to leave behind all the past so he can have a future with her." she'll play her cards right. she'll get him a way into the amnesty program. she won't force his hand.

and if he doesn't take the olive branch, then she's done all she can. with time, maybe, the love he still feels will fade, and the hurt will too.

"but i had to do what i did. and i don't think he'll ever understand that."
Mei Liu

☉

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Soteria; Deliverance

She/Her

July 17

Celadon City, Kanto

Pansexual

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It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 19, 2023 5:05:36 GMT

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I'm still going to give him that choice to get out.[break][break]
Mei knew what she meant, of course. Amnesty wasn't something a common whore from Kanto (who'd been promised freedom from abuse if only she would slit the throats of Rocket's enemies from time to time, the beauty that killed beasts) would ever be afforded, but King? He would be just fine. Delta would grow up to have a better life than the little girl who'd been snatched off some back alley in Celadon City and dumped in the first seedy brothel willing to pay a few bucks for her.[break][break]
Mei sighed, pulling back slightly, letting up on the chokehold she'd pinned Freya down with. She brought a hand to Freya's cheek instead, and thumbed away the tears there - gentle so as not to seem overly intimate: a simple gesture of affection, if anything.[break][break]
"He does want you there," Mei murmured. Unrelenting, but softer. "Trust me on this."
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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TAG WITH @freya

POSTED ON Nov 19, 2023 21:40:50 GMT

i am a danger.

i am a horribleness.

neither does she say aloud, but the pain is in her eyes as mei wipes away a tear. to trust her doesn't matter. even if he does want her, he cannot take her. she knows the way he looks at her - he looked at her the same damn way for nearly two decades.

hate is so close to love, alex, don't you think?

"but not as i am. not as i have to be." she shifts and grimaces, tucks her legs awkwardly to the side and looks down at the other end of the couch.

"sit with me a while, will you? it's lonely here." she looks at the darkened tv screen and admits, "we used to watch a lot of romcoms together. him and me and delta."
Mei Liu

☉

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Soteria; Deliverance

She/Her

July 17

Celadon City, Kanto

Pansexual

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Grunt (Assassin)

5'5" / 165 cm height

It was beauty killed the beast

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TAG WITH @mei

POSTED ON Nov 22, 2023 16:42:12 GMT

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So cryptic, so prophetic.[break][break]
Mei wanted to ask - but WHAT do you have to be, Freya? Are you not a dragon, and do dragons really bend so easily to fate's demands? - but she kept her mouth shut. It was not her place to pry into the details of Freya's work as a Councilwoman, for if she did that, she would be forced to confront the fact that they were supposed to be enemies. Why Freya didn't have Mei arrested for her involvement in Rocket was a thing Mei did not entirely understand, but likely had King to thank for. How messy, how human, these complications of the heart.[break][break]
Him and me and Delta.[break][break]
A pang of loneliness, echoing Freya's spoken sentiment. Mei rose, and joined the other woman on the couch as requested. There was not enough room to sit without touching, so she draped her arm over Freya's legs and leaned into the closeness. It struck her, then, that this too was a service - a job to be performed. She ought not feel disquieted by that: she knew better. Her only purpose in life was to serve the whims and needs of others, and she was so very, very good at it, especially when she cared.[break][break]
"They are your family, Freya," she said, fingers dragging over ragged skin with a tenderness all the more heartbreaking because it was genuine. "And more often than not, families hurt one another." She paused. "It would not be love without the risk of pain."[break][break]
A heartbeat, then another. And another.[break][break]
"I'll watch one with you. I even promise I won't make fun of the sex scenes too much."[break][break]
A small smile.
[break][break][break]

TAGS – freya morningstar[break]
NOTES – Takes place after SIREN'S GAMBIT[break][break]

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