MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Jul 25, 2022 13:46:53 GMT
That high, keening shriek still echoed in the air as Mab slammed the car door. She braced herself against the driver’s door, head hung slightly until it receded just enough for the sounds of the town square on a summer’s night to roll back in. Families strolling in that late dusk, kids still running around on the grassy centre of this town like there wasn’t a single worry in their tiny heads. People clustered on the sidewalks, basking in the last of the sun as they drank and ate. Happy people who didn’t feel like the slightest wrong move would shatter them like glass ornaments.
Mab forced her grip on that hot metal to loosen, her head coming up slowly. Green eyes swept the area, moving endlessly, like a radar beam seeking out an enemy aircraft on the horizon. If St John had any sense, and his breaking away from Tobi and Cassie at the first opportunity said he had, then he’d be a thousand miles away from here by now. Away from the bloody fate that had been hanging over him for 80 years.
Like a distance train whistle the ringing continued as she started towards Campbell’s. It had been ringing at the edges of her hearing every since Cassie and Tobi had tumbled back out to her, empty handed and with the first wails of the Augustine’s warning system screaming behind them. Those alarms had stuck with her this time, perhaps overlaid with her great-grandmother’s shrieks, not that she’d mustered up the courage to tell the old woman that she’d failed and St. John was free. The cowardice was eating through the pit of her stomach like an ulcer but Mab didn’t care. It was better she kept her mouth shut and kept breathing herself. It didn’t matter that her great-grandmother had passed her hundredth birthday a couple of decades ago, there was still power flowing through those brittle straw like veins, power and enough anger to wipe this whole town out.
Folks looked her way as she walked in. Friendly smiles and nods rolling through the crowd, leaving her stiffening. It had been this way in the neighbourhood back home once, in her great-grandmother’s heyday, although even then most respect was given out of fear. This was just … creepy … this endemic friendliness that should’ve been shaken out of all of them given the daily nightmares in this backwater.
Chin up, Mab forced herself to keep strolling to the bar. She hadn’t come here for idle chit chat and laughing through the sunset with people who had no clue who she was or what her family could do with them. It was just for the alcohol, at least that was what the conscious part of her mind was gripping on to with white knuckles and a hint of desperation. Normal wasn’t for people like her, no matter how much she’d once dreamed she could have it. Fate hated too hard for that.
Bellying up to the bar, not bothering with one of the stools, Mab propped her arms against the edge of the bar. The bartender, some young guy she didn’t recognise from her previous trips through the place, approached, another of those vacuous smiles on his face. ”Vodka, triple shot, a splash of coke. Thanks.” The last stung her throat, but no matter how much she wanted to scream out her frustration until she drive that shrill, mocking echo away, she had to keep up appearances here. Those appearances always came first, like slapping a ball gown and make up on a wild hog and calling it a debutante, it was no real sort of disguise and the folks who she’d gotten her claws into here had seen it.
The drink was set down on the bar. Coke bobbed up to the brim, the lower layer resisting its dark caramel colour. More than she’d asked for, but she supposed the staff were meant to stop their customers from drinking themselves into a stupor. Maybe the liquor store and the prison cell of her motel room would’ve been better.
Mab pushed a couple of bills across the bar and turned away, looking for a dark corner and finding that dark, bowed head instead. Great. Another kick to the teeth. Her eyes closed for a second as she took her first gulp of her drink. It burned, just like those flames that were going to roast her ass in the end – the other side or not, there was still some sort of karmic punishment for everything she’d done. If she was going to burn anyway, why the fuck not?
She crossed to the booth Mikey was in, ignored the empty bench seat to slide in next to him. No escape for either one of them, he’d be forced to give her that kick in the teeth her masochistic side suddenly craved, or she’d work out all that gut ache on him and get that pang of guilt all the same. ”All alone?” she crooned, lifting her knee to prop it on the edge of the table so he couldn’t slide past her. ”It’s a little … sad, dontcha think, Mikey? Especially on a night like this, makes you ache, just here, that you’re not a part of it.” Mab pressed her glass to the centre of her chest before she took another healthy swig. She was swinging in the dark, but she thought she’d figured out enough about him to know that no matter how hard he was trying, he hadn’t eased back into all of this. Like her he stood with his nose pressed to the window, wanting what they had but a million fucking miles from having it.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Aug 5, 2022 12:54:22 GMT
There was no unexpected knock on the door the days following his meet-up with Mab. He felt like a sitting duck in Chase’s apartment, just waiting for two people to turn up and arrest him. Take him back to where he belongs. It was the exact reason he still hadn’t been in touch with his parents despite being free for a year now. He didn’t want to break their heart all over again by ending up behind bars. He couldn’t bear the thought of upsetting them or Chase. If they were going to come hopefully it would be in the middle of the day whilst Chase was at work so he wouldn’t have to witness his older brother being taken away in handcuffs for a second time. Mikey hadn’t uttered a word to Chase about that evening either. He couldn’t. His brother wore a shiny badge and made a promise to stay on the right side of the law. He couldn’t put his brother in a situation where he was faced with a difficult decision to make. Turn Mikey in or risk his career. As soon as he got home that evening he went through his contacts and deleted Mab’s number before throwing his cell phone across the room in a rage. He watched as it bounced off the wall and hit the bed causing a tiny crack to split across the screen. Another harsh lesson learnt. Not to trust a beautiful brunette woman from New York, no matter how many times they promise you they’re telling the truth or maybe he shouldn’t trust witches. He’d heard the gang talk of witches and warlocks, but Mab was the first witch he’d met and it wasn’t exactly a good interaction either, leaving a sour taste on his tongue. Just thinking about her caused his heart rate to increase and a twitch in his jaw, even more so when he thought about the fact she gave him the option to go home and he turned it down. He never considered himself to be a naive person, but once again that theory had been tested and he failed. Mikey couldn’t understand why he was drawn to these dangerous and illegal situations over and over. The thrill died the same night the store owner and Georgie did. He was hit with the realisation what they were doing was no longer exciting, but people's lives were at stake. Innocent lives. By that point, he was in too deep to back out. Fresh start he told himself when he stepped off the bus in Mystic Falls, but maybe that was impossible. First Chase was beaten up by someone and despite his brother’s insisting it was a suspect Mikey still hadn’t let go of the idea the Agnellis’ were behind it. For weeks after that, he felt like a sitting duck again, waiting for trouble to come crashing through Chase’s front door. Then he found himself waist deep in whatever shit Mab was involved with. He knew he did the right thing by cutting off contact with her. Campbell’s bar had become a regular drinking spot for Mikey. It was the only place in town he could tolerate. The staff didn’t make small talk with him and there were barely any teenagers in the bar later in the evening. They had all peeled themselves off the floor to head to the nightclub nearby. He slipped into a booth, away from the crowd, to enjoy his drink in peace. Until Mab showed up. He didn’t realise it was her until she was bundling herself into the seat next to him. Mikey let out an audible sigh. He was trapped between the wall and her and he made sure to shuffle as close to the wall as possible. Away from her. “I enjoy my own company… maybe you should try the same.” He refused to even look over at her, keeping his eyes locked straight on the empty seats across from him. “What do you want?” He asked bluntly, before taking a gulp of his beer. Did she want some idiot to come and help her break into another building? MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Aug 11, 2022 21:43:01 GMT
Burn every bridge someone had and in the end they had no choice about where to go. Her great-grandmother had become an expert at it before she’d even hit womanhood. Learning at her father’s knee, excelling at slowly removing people’s options. By the time she’d trapped her grandson and great-granddaughter in that rotting pile it barely took her a moment’s thought. Kill your granddaughter-in-law with her child in her arms and your grandson wasn’t going to fight anymore. Slice the throat of your great-granddaughter’s last bridge and you wouldn’t even wring a whimper out of her, just silent obedience because that was going to be the only escape. Was supposed to be the only escape.
For hours after she’d screamed at Tobi and Cassie to get out of her sight she’d driven the streets of Mystic Falls, hoping for some sign of the vampire. He was her straw to clutch at, her key to get out of that house and get the life that had been there just beyond her reach. Mab knew that the chances of her great-grandmother keeping her word were close to non-existent, but that part of her that still believed in happy endings clutched at those last whisps. She’d get her bridge, even if she had to walk right over St. John’s grey corpse to get it. Chiara Meraviglia wasn’t the only one who would tread on those below her to get what she wanted.
It just bothered one of them more than the other to do it.
The matches hadn’t ever fit as comfortably in her hand as her great-grandmother’s. If they had Tobi and Cassie would’ve found themselves in flames after the vampire had gotten away from them and Mikey … well, the threats would’ve rolled out to remind him that the bridge back to jail – and she was sure there’d been a bout or two of that in his past – was going to be right there when every other one had up and disappeared on him. She’d let him go though, standing in that parking lot as he’d walked. Threatening him wasn’t gong to get her what she wanted and enough decent, trusting people had suffered for getting too close to her family as it was.
She should’ve turned in the other direction when she’d seen him sat in the booth at Campbell’s, given him the space to live his quiet, lawful little life in town. Should’ve. Maybe that part of her that had sought out something more than just stoic protection from Joseph – like he was nothing more than a tin soldier – couldn’t stand the thought of another day, let alone another month in this town, climbing the walls to find some sign of a man who’d evaded her family for decades. Mab didn’t bother trying to weigh it up. Mikey was there and even with the pang of guilt that stabbed deep under her ribs, she was striding across the floor towards him.
Mab propped her elbow on her thigh, her other hand toying with the wedge of lime shoved on the edge of the glass. She pulled it free, biting into the sour flesh of it. The juice gleamed on her lips as she chuckled at his ‘warm welcome’. ”That’s more polite than I was expecting. I guess ‘fuck you Mab’ sounds a lot sweeter when you repeat it that way.” She’d had enough of her own company, that stifling motel room, the no less airless confines of her car. At the rate she was going she’d claw her way through the walls trying to find some sort of escape from it. ”Can’t a girl pay a little visit to an old friend? Unless you don’t wanna be friends anymore. That’s … what’s the word for discriminating against witches? There’s gonna be one, Sabrina-ist?” Humming, she pursed her lips for a moment before she rolled her against the padded back of the booth to look at him, all squished up there in the corner. Staring straight ahead like a dog who thought if they couldn’t see you, you couldn’t see them.
Huffing out a breath, Mab lifted her glass for another gulp. Friends didn’t drag their parolee friends into B&E, did they? She mentally cursed, catching her upper lip between the tip of her tongue and her teeth for a moment. ”I meant what I said, I would’ve taken the blame if they’d caught up to us. I’m a witch, not a total bitch. How about I even say sorry and make good on that offer of a drink?” Seeing a waitress about to slide past, Mab reached out to catch her sleeve. The smile was syrupy sweet, the green eyes guileless. ”Hi, can we get another beer and a triple vodka and coke? Keep them coming if you can. Thanks.” The gratitude came easier this time, the alcohol already working the sharpest edges off of the sandpaper in her throat.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Aug 19, 2022 18:52:14 GMT
Drinking alone in a bar was a perfect way for Mikey to unwind. Some people aimed to surround themselves with people, to fight away the feeling of loneliness, but he was the opposite. He preferred being alone and if he had to spend time with anyone it would always be Chase. His probation officer tried to tell him that it was something he picked up from serving time, but he insisted it wasn’t. He’d always been like that as a kid. Sitting at the back of the classroom, away from the other students, barely making conversation with the person next to him. He had his circle of friends already so what was the point of expanding it? He lost that circle when he chose to start stealing cars and vandalizing buildings. Those people he had been friends with since he as a child started to fade away. They didn’t want to associate with him if he was going to take that route in life. At the time he didn’t care though. He had the gang and they would never turn his back on him, but regret had set in. Regret. Some days it felt like that was all he was able to feel. Again, his probation worker fed him some more shit about that, advising him to speak openly with his parents and his brother about the things he regretted. He lied to her face and told her he would, but there was no way he was reaching out to his parents for that conversation. As for Chase, there was no point dreading over old ground. He’d run out of sorry's for his brother by this point. In fact he probably reached his quota when they were kids. He’d had a brief conversation with Roxxi about it, but not through choice. He explained to her that he’d done some fucked up shit in his life, which he regretted and that was one of the reasons he turned into a kanima rather than a werewolf. He didn’t go into specifics with her, but there was no need. She had found the rest out on the internet and then tried to pretend she knew Mikey and Chase’s story, but she knew jack-shit. Everything had fallen radio silence on that leaving him with the impression Roxxi hadn’t told Chase the truth. Another thing balancing in favour for him winning the worst big brother award. Not only had he slept with Chase’s girlfriend, he was now hiding the truth from his brother. It was just another reason to peel himself away from the apartment to drink alone. He feared the truth would slip from his mouth, thus ruining his brother’s relationship with Roxxi. His brother seemed happy with her and Mikey couldn’t bear being the reason it all fell apart. The reason for his brother’s heartbreak. Roxxi as well, but she could easily close the door on the pair and head off home. Mab was like a sharp needle, popping his bubble of calmness and flooding him with irritation. They were never friends in the first place. Barely acquaintances. Just two people who met, went for a coffee, exchanged numbers then committed a crime. “We’re not friends… in fact I would consider that man over there a friend before I’d consider you a friend.” He raised his right hand, pointing at a random man at the bar. Eventually he glanced over at Mab, no emotion on his face before looking back at his beer. A laugh rolled out of him as she insisted she would have taken the blame if cop cars swamped the car park that evening. She was a witch and a bitch. He dragged his gaze away from the beer and back towards Mab as she flagged down a passing employee. “Do you think a few beers will make this all okay?” It was going to take a fucking miracle for him to forgive Mab, “Look. I’ve got enough shit going on in my life without being dragged into your shit.” She still hadn’t explained what the hell they were doing in that building in the first place, but it didn’t matter anymore because whatever came out of her mouth he would never believe. There would be more lies underneath her sweet innocent act. MAB CARMELLO  |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
|
Post by MAB CARMELLO on Aug 22, 2022 14:41:26 GMT
Most people dreaded becoming their mothers, for Mab it would always be her great-grandmother and not just because she’d been raised alone by the old witch. Before her son had been lost Chiara had ruled the family’s empire, but with his death everything sane, everything capable of feeling anything but rage and hatred had boiled away. Had there been a happy tear shed at the birth of the latest - and probably last - generation of Meraviglias? Probably not. There were no tears left in that dried up old crone, just a thick layer of salt that kept her trapped in that house like Lot’s wife.
There were moments where she’d look in the spotted mirror at the motel and Mab would see that same crust building up on her. Chiara had drained so much from her in those early years, but she wasn’t here now, was she? She held Joseph’s resurrection in her veiny old hands, the future she’d been so desperate for. Still, though, Chiara hadn’t been the one to push her to involve Mikey in the theft of IDs and uniforms, she hadn’t talked two kids into breaking in to get St. John out of that facility. If she had been Tobi and Cassie would’ve been dead. Blood would’ve been on her hands instead - just like it had likely been on Mikey’s.
Mab’s stomach twisted as the lime juice coated the back of her throat, almost bringing back up the few mouthfuls of liquor she’d managed. Her fingers tried to shake as she gripped the lime, the same way they had when that wall of power had closed around her at the college. Only this time it was something inside of her spilling out. If she did get Joseph back would the cost have been worth it? Would there be anything of her left that he recognised?
She squeezed her heel onto the edge of the bench seat, curling herself around it as though she was settling in instead of just trying to keep that bubble from expanding inside of her to the point where who she really was, who she wanted to be, was stretched so thin it was transparent. Everyday it seemed like there was just a little less of it. Although, Mab thought sourly, Mikey thought he saw her just fine.
Gritting her teeth, she dropped the lime back into her glass. What did it say about her that she’d take hatred rather than nothing at all? Another question she didn’t want to answer. Mab made a small sound as Mikey drew those neat little lines around who they were to one another - just to make sure she wasn’t under the wrong impression (like she hadn’t felt the distaste rolling off of him like cheap cologne the minute he’d seen her). Hazel eyes ticked to the guy at the bar, her head tilting as she hummed. ”I can see why. He’s got kind eyes, don’t you think? I doubt he’d ask you to steal from a college for him.” Her lips curved as Mikey finally glanced at her, a sharp edge to her smile that dulled when she saw how flat his expression was, and how little he could actually stand to look at her.
Mikey wasn’t impervious though. She’d gotten far enough under his skin before she’d ‘screwed him over’ that he couldn’t hold her out forever now, no matter how hard he tried. It didn’t mean he trusted her, in fact that laugh said it was the absolute opposite. Apologies and promises be damned. Mab kept up the smile until the waitress slipped away, then it settled into a poker face as flat as his own as she shrugged. ”I doubt it, but you can never tell what’ll get a little forgiveness coming your way.” Nothing that she could do or say, most likely.
The last of the vodka coke went down in a gulp. Mab licked her upper lip, frowning as she pushed the glass towards the centre of the table - all the better for the waitress to pick up on her way back with the fresh drinks. ”I didn’t lie to you, it was a one and done job,” she said flatly, no humour wrapped garland bright around her words. ”I wasn’t … looking to drag you into my shit. You saw what happened in there … I couldn’t go in myself and if I wanted to get out of my own shit, I needed that stuff. You want me to get on my knees for you Mikey? Beg for some forgiveness?” Mab’s voice rasped through the questions. Another expansion of that bubble inside, a little more of her great-grandmother emerging that she’d see when she forced herself to look at her reflection in the mirror later.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
|
Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Aug 25, 2022 19:34:31 GMT
Mab was a dangerous woman to be associated with. Maybe he should have seen that in her when he first met her, but Mikey’s eyes flicked past that danger. Instead he saw a woman who wanted his help with some heavy lifting. The list she handed to him had nothing heavy listed, in fact it was all things a small child could carry with ease. It was over and done with though. In a place in a city Mikey could have easily avoided Mab, but they were in a small town with a few bars and restaurants. Even if he went drinking in the Grill or that awful-looking nightclub there was a chance he would cross paths with her at some point. The ‘fuck you Mab’ he spat at her wasn’t enough either. He thought he’d made himself very clear when he left her in the parking lot, but apparently not. He had zero use to her now, so he couldn’t understand why she felt the need to slide into the seat next to him. Even if the man in the distance did have kind eyes, that didn’t mean anything. He may have been wearing a mask, just like Mab did. All sweet and nice until things fuck up, then their true colours come out. The same thing happened with the gang. At first they treated him like family, promising him to keep him and if he stuck with them he would have a very happy life, but once that gun was shot it was each man for themselves. “Y’know what I think is a little sad, Mab? You’re so lonely that you have to come and sit with me… a person who has made it very clear they don’t wanna speak to you again yet here you are.” He’d never been one to let sly remarks slip from his mouth. Most of the time his lips remained pressed together and he would keep silent, but she was purposely trying to get under his skin and what made it worse, he was letting her. If she had slipped into the seat and offered an apology within a few seconds there was a small chance he would have let the whole thing drop. She wouldn’t have earned herself a friendship badge, but he may have been willing to have a few drinks with her. She didn’t though. His family forgave him for everything that happened. Chase forgave him time and time again, even when each fuck up was as bad as the last. The sneaking out, the beatings, the shooting. His brother never turned his back on him. He glanced over at her, as the smile fell from her face once the employee disappeared. What Mab did to him wasn’t half as bad as the shit that happened with Chase. Guilt flooded his system as he thought about the past, as it always did when he thought about it. He cleared his throat, pushing it back down again, “Forgiving you will bring me nothing.” She wasn’t some family member who he needed to stick by his side or a brother that he looked forward to seeing during those weekly visits. She was a stranger. As soon as he spotted the waitress heading toward their table he finished his drink with one last gulp. He gave her a warm smile as she placed the drinks down, “Excuse me… can have another beer, a double rum and coke and… a shot of tequila without the lime and salt.” If Mab was paying for his drinks, then he was happy to run that bar tab up all night. He waited for the waitress to turn around before the smile dropped from his face as he looked at Mab, just like hers had done moments earlier. “I can’t tolerate this interaction whilst sober.” His face was void of emotion as he looked back at her with cold eyes. It was tempting to say yes so he could watch her get down on her knees, but it wasn’t worth the attention from the bar. All eyes on them kind of situation. “You told me everything was legal… that was a lie… just admit you lied to me about that.” There was strain in his voice as he spoke, trying to stay calm whilst speaking to her. MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Sept 1, 2022 20:03:43 GMT
Water might’ve rolled off a duck’s back, but it didn’t mean it didn’t feel every damn drop of it. She could sit there all night, that little smile playing across her lips, no sign on her face that any of the little jabs were landing. Mikey could leave her punch drunk with all the hate, but she’d still smile through it, and only let the reveal of the injuries he caused show when she allowed herself that brief glimpse in the mirror later. Her great-grandmother would’ve screamed at even that much. Never let them see, never allow them under your skin. As though it was that easy when you weren’t a wizened old bitch who could burn all that hurt away from her bones.
Sad. Oh, she could still feel that, although she tried to rub it away with the press of her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She could feel that stab of pain in her shin as she pressed it into the edge of the table, small bites of sensation to prove she wasn’t truly numb. Mab studied the man at the bar a moment to almost prove the same – although it was empathy she was trying to muster up then. She wouldn’t have felt much of that if Mikey hadn’t been here tonight and it was someone else she dragged out of the bar later to try and find some sort of catharsis in something that meant nothing.
Her voice dropped lower, a rasp born not just of the heavy coat of lime juice that was sour in her throat. A shake of her tail, proof it was all rolling away from her. ”And you sitting here on your own isn’t just as sad, Mikey? Here, the forest … always seems like you want to be lonely.” She didn’t want to be. She’d had a taste of the only company she’d wanted and that had been snatched away, leaving her right back where she’d been before, under Chiara’s claw like thumb. ”You want me to go and get him? Maybe he’d be up for a little talk.” A complete strange who’d probably squawk and fuss the moment Mikey told him to fuck off.
Mikey could tell her to go a dozen different ways, but not tonight. That part inside of her that could feel stung too much from the barbs, the pain creating that desperate need for more – bad or not she’d take feeling anything over nothing at all. If that made her a bitch, then so be it. ”I thought forgiveness was supposed to be cathartic,” Mab said honestly. Her eyes cut up to his, honestly appraising a concept she had zero faith in. Forgiveness was something Chiara would never earn from her. The old woman’s crimes would catch up to her eventually, even if it was only when she went downstairs to burn in hell finally. Pressing the glass to her chest, she hummed lightly. ”A little warmth right here.” Although while she sat alongside him the only thing Mikey seemed to radiate was that bitter cold.
He hadn’t been that way as he’d helped her out of Whitmore House. Mikey had been solid, warm, the shoulder she’d needed as things looked like they were spinning out of control again. Lies always caught up to you in the end though and he’d ripped that away, now, given the chance he’d likely kick any crutch out from under her – fuck forgiveness after all.
The alcohol lent a little warmth now, probably burning its way through her oesophagus. It was harder to swallow that last gulp, her body resisting it as she tried to force some sort of apology along with it. ”Oh, you’re really loving the company,” Mab purred as the waitress came back to deliver her drinks and Mikey ordered enough liquor to push him through that first five minutes with her on a wave of booze – not that it would have much effect on a kanima.
Plucking the vodka soda up, Mab studied him sideways as he waited patiently for the waitress to be out of earshot. That tail was packed away in the jeans that unintentionally (probably) clung to muscled thighs, the claws could come into play though, a little scratch beneath the table and she’d be too comatose to realise he’d slithered out under the table. She huffed out her amusement, settling back into the cheap vinyl of the booth before she raised her brows at him. ”And you think that’ll be enough?” She’d have added ‘not much of a lizard then’, but she wasn’t outing him here, no matter how hard he carried on swinging.
Her teeth raked over her top lip, that amusement boiling away as her gaze dropped away from his and that strain that seemed to have a leash on his voice. ”You want me to say it was theft? Fine. That part wasn’t legal. Are you happy now? I needed that stuff to try and fix a far bigger crime than just stealing a couple of IDs and forcing them to give the place a new paint job. Murder deserves a little justice, don’t you think?” Given that he’d spent time behind his own set of bars, he should’ve understood the concept of justice, even if it hadn’t come with a torrent of blood and a cheap pine coffin for him.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Sept 2, 2022 20:01:14 GMT
What part of Mab didn’t understand that Mikey wanted to be alone? She continued to sit there, talking to him. As if he hadn’t just spent the best part of twenty years alone, apart from the odd cellmate he would be paired up with for a few months. He was doing a long stretch, which usually earned you a solo cell, which meant he spent a large part of his day with his own thoughts. Sometimes he’d have a change of scenery though where he would be escorted to solitary confinement. It was just a different set of four walls, but all the same. He’d never been one of those men who covered their rooms in pictures of their family. He didn’t want the others to know his parent's or his brother's face, so his walls remained bare. Off cream paint with an empty drawing board pinned to the wall. But there was a difference between wanting to be alone and wanting to be lonely. If he chose to be alone, then it was his choice and he couldn’t feel lonely. At least that was the way he rationalised it. He had Chase, so who else did he need? No one. He didn’t need friends and he certainly didn’t need a significant other. Mikey had let his family down in the worst way possible, so why would he want to do that to other people? So no, he didn’t want to be lonely, but it was the only way he knew how to live. At first he hated it. An eighteen year old plagued with dark thoughts rattling around his head day and night but after a while he learned how to switch them off. Sometimes there was nothing rattling around his head. Emptiness. It was a skill. He had no interest in engaging in conversation with the man standing at the bar though. What the fuck would they have in common? All of Mikey’s interests and hobbies were practically ripped away from him when he was sent to jail where he was forced to just live. Mab was clawing away at him for forgiveness, insisting it would fill him with a warming feeling like he was some kind of oven. He meant it though. Forgiving her would bring him nothing. No happiness, no relief, no sadness. Nothing because she was just another liar that was floating through his life, looking to take advantage of him, which she had so far succeeded. “We’ll see.” He wasn’t promising her anything because part of him was hoping she would exit his life as quickly as she entered. Rewind twenty years he would tell her not to worry about it because breaking the law was no big deal, but she truly had no idea what was at stake for him. Maybe Mab’s company was better than nothing though. Otherwise he would have been sitting alone in the booth, watching everyone else go about their evening with their friends and loved ones. Couples whispering in each other's ears or friends roaring with laughter as they recall something funny about their day. It was just another cruel thing about his freedom. His friends from school, those who didn’t encourage him to break the law, had grown up with a family, not wanting to associate with an ex-criminal. As for the ones who pushed him onto his current path were either dead or behind bars. He had no one to share funny stories with or a woman to whisper into his ear. It wasn’t going to be enough, but it was better than nothing. “I’m sure if I finish a few bottles of hard spirits I’d feel something.” A warm feeling in the pit of his stomach or his muscle relaxing from all the tension built up by sitting next to Mab. Murder? Oh fuck no, he didn’t want to be involved in that, but curiosity peaked. “A little bit happier…” Though the expression on his face didn’t change much, but he was somewhat relishing in the fact she had admitted that she was lying. “What do you mean by murder? And don’t lie to me.” The waitress appeared at the end of their table with the drinks. As soon as they hit the table Mikey reached forward, knocking back the shot of tequila. MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Sept 13, 2022 18:27:19 GMT
Chiara had walked the halls of the house, pacing them like she was trapped behind those rotting walls. Her thin lips moving, talking of all the things she would do to the vampire when she had him, bony fingers working over a jet rosary, as black as her soul. The quiet click of the beads, the swish of the cross against her skirt as she moved, seeming just as loud as the creak of the floorboards and the clack of those needle point heels. If she had found any real salvation in religion then Mab hadn’t been able to see a single sign of it. Like everything else, it was merely a prop for the old bitch, something to clutch onto that would stop that seething pool of anger from lashing out like a deadly tsunami.
Somewhere in the mid-West – some shitty little town with about five rattrap houses strung out along a single dirt road – Mab had found herself creeping into a church, catholic (although the incense had almost choked her out of there), polished lovingly until the wood, including the confessional booth, shone. The priest had caught her eye as he’d headed to it, he must’ve felt her staring at him as he’d crossed to it, the sheep reacting to the wolf’s gaze. What would the old man have done if she’d told him she’d just stabbed a vampire through the heart three towns away? The body was likely in the morgue by then, cold and grey, maybe a century past when he should’ve died. Were there enough our fathers to make that all better? Not at this point.
Her eyes dropped to Mikey’s fingers, lingering as he danced around the idea of forgiveness. She could imagine him sitting in his cell, those same fingers tapping his forehead, his abdomen, each shoulder. Looking for some sort of forgiveness for whatever he’d done from a guy who wasn’t interested in offering up absolution. She’d walked from that empty church, not feeling an ounce of warmth from it. A God who gave two shits wouldn’t have let an evil old woman slaughter a good man, that wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen.
That same God wasn’t going to give her forgiveness anymore than Mikey would. Mab hummed lightly, rocking her head back and forth slowly as though she didn’t believe there was even a chance he was going to take her facetious comment and actually do something with it. Some things – some people – weren’t ever going to be worth it.
Mab felt the heat of the prison hardened body press against hers, even if Mikey was doing everything possible to avoid actually touching her. Like she was the snake here and a little bodily contact was going to get him bit. She made a low sound, almost a hum of agreement. ”Isn’t it usually the other way around? Drink enough of that stuff and you don’t have to feel anymore? It’s every lost soul’s lament … burn it all out.” And that had been what she was looking to do tonight. Fill her boots enough and all that aching, twisting misery inside would dull down, leaving nothing but the warmth of the liquor behind. Maybe if she was lucky it’d eat right through her gut. Mab raised her glass to her lips, talking a gulp before she pressed her lips together to hold in that roiling wave of heat.
She leaned in an inch – almost tempting him to press harder into the wall on the other side – feeling that heat just a little more, It was a sharp contrast to the coolness that had been in his tone, that icy flat wasteland that screamed ‘fuck off and leave me alone’, the one she’d endure like Scott of the freaking Antarctic.
Was that a thaw? Hazel eyes narrowed, studying those little twitches of muscle beneath the smooth tan skin. Maybe Mikey was a religious man after and he wasn’t interested in the Mother Theresa type after all, just someone willing to sit and admit all their sins. Someone who wanted some absolution – and not just for the one person who meant something to them either. ”Let’s see if it stays that way,” she rasped softly. Mab drew in a deep breath, wrapping her fingers around the glass. ”I’d say mine weren’t the hands that were red, but that would be a lie and I know you don’t want to hear that. All the blood is on mine, because I was stupid enough to believe that I had a way out.” Fuck.
Staring down at her drink instead of him, Mab let some of that stiffness work its way back into her, the big freeze from him starting to reach her bones. ”I guess it started before you were even a twinkle in your parents’ eye, maybe before they were even a twinkle in their’s. There was somebody at the school I needed to get to. To do that I had to do things I wasn’t proud of … I had to kill. Always people like him, things who had brought it on themselves, things that might lead me to him. The guy who killed my great uncle.”
She turned on the seat, propping her knee up on it between them so she could look at him fully. That stony profile, the jaw she imagined could crack walnuts if he gritted his teeth hard enough. ”I take him back to my great-grandmother and she gives me a way to make amends for the guy I was stupid enough to drag into it, hoping that there was some way out.” Joseph. He had trusted her, knowing more than Mikey had, he’d walked into that fire with her and when she’d inched out the other side and looked back, Chiara had made sure he was consumed by it. Mikey was smart to tell her to go fuck herself and steer clear of it. Maybe it meant Chiara wouldn’t use him as her next lesson.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Oct 1, 2022 16:47:47 GMT
There was a time when sinking a few drinks with the boys would help him to forget about the shit he had managed to get himself into, but now those memories were engraved into his mind and no amount of alcohol would wash them away. Some of the men on the inside turned to hard substances to help them to forget their trauma, but part of Mikey’s curse meant his tolerance to all that was through the roof. Sometimes he envied those men as they lay in their cells completely away with the fairies. Not a care in the world, living in another dimension. One that was probably a hell lot better than prison. A place where the food was warm and the beds felt like clouds. Mikey was left behind to live in a reality where everything was fucking shit. “Some people drink to feel something. To feel happy.” He had no idea why Mab was drinking that evening, nor did he really care so long as her presence didn’t cut into his evening too much. It was already cut in a bit too much. There was no saving him from Mab now though. Trapped between her and the wall, like he was prey to her. This was just another reason why he didn’t interact with strangers. One minute you’re having a coffee in town the next minute you’re breaking into some facility at Whitmore College. The woman somehow wormed her way into his life, convincing him to ignore that voice inside his head that was telling him to bolt the other way. The voice was getting tired by now though, after being dismissed by Mikey time and time again. It rattled around his head when he was a teenager. Every time he slipped out of his bedroom window to meet the gang, knowing that the evening could end up descending into destruction and that would be the last time he would be inside his house. As if he hadn’t spent almost his whole life feeling trapped anyway. The sensation was nothing new to him. As a teenager he was trapped by a group of people who were bound to ruin his life or end it then he spent two decades after that physically trapped inside a building until someone deemed him safe enough to be released into the public. He watched other men get their freedom date sooner than him, men who have committed far worse crimes. Men who were not safe to be released, yet it was always Mikey being told he wasn’t allowed to walk amongst the public in fear he would do something. It was the same exhausting conversation time and time again, with the added sorry and telling him he can try again in the future. There were times he would head back to his room, sit on the end of his bed and consider the notion that maybe he was a bad person but he just hadn’t realised it and that these people were right. He was a danger and needed to be kept behind bars forever. But he saved Mab with no hesitation, ensuring the pair got out of the building alive. There was something good buried deep down and now he was free he was starting to realise that. Seeing the potential his brother had seen him in all along. The tequila burned his throat as it travelled down, threatening to make an appearance when Mab admitted she had taken a lie. Mikey wiped traces of tequila off the top of his lip with the back of his hand, forcing the liquid down as he placed the glass down gently. He kept silent though, letting Mab continue with her story. “So why’re you in here drownin’ your sorrows? You got the man who killed your great-uncle?” Sounded like she had been forced to do something by her great-grandmother, just how Mikey was forced to rob the store otherwise Chase would have ended up dead. “I guess I can cut you a little slack, but don’t be doing that shit with me again.” He reached for his second drink, this one going down with ease this time without Mab’s revelation that she was a killer. Even if he did want to run away from her, he couldn’t since he was wedged against the wall. MAB CARMELLO |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Oct 9, 2022 15:49:19 GMT
What part of sinking a half dozen beers made someone happy? Mab winged a brow at Mikey, the sneer still playing around her lips, although it was fading as she huffed out a breath. The company? If that was true then Mikey was screwed for tonight. Happy didn’t exactly radiate off of her like some sort of Disney princess, despite the pet name her great-grandmother had cooed over her when she’d actually pleased the old bitch – principessa. The princess had her prince once, but the chances of having him again and getting that happy ever after had shrunk the moment Tobi and Cassie had screwed up. The moment she had. She didn’t happy now, not when what had made her happy was further out of reach than ever. ”I won’t have what they’re having then,” she murmured. Mab wanted the numb, even if she’d come to find it beside a man who had every reason for the hatred he tossed her way.
This was a weakness, one her great-grandmother would’ve pummelled out of her with those lessons that just felt like an excuse to toss her around the house like a rag doll, proving she was just as useful as one. Wanting company, a sharp contrast to the alcohol that have her, hopefully, feeling nothing by the time she was doing, except perhaps that tiny bite of twisted satisfaction at having pushed someone else to hate her just a little more. It was masochistic enough to have her feeling sick. Mab washed it down with a gulp of that anaesthetising alcohol.
Joseph was meant to be just another of the walls around her. An unspeaking, unfeeling bastion that would prevent him from being killed before her great-grandmother had just what she wanted. How could you remain that when you were stuck together in the tight confines of a car for days on end, or divided by just the thin wall of a cheap motel? Feelings burrowed through those non-existent barriers in the end. Was this her way of trying to get Mikey to do the same? Although it would be with the swipe of a kanima’s tail when it happened this time. Oh that was a numbness all of its own wasn’t it. A punishment that would leave her slumped on a floor, unmoving, unable to do just what she was asked. A punishment. Well, she might as well earn it.
Her crimes, the ones that would perhaps have Mikey truly turning against her at last, tripped off of her tongue. A harsh, rasping tone giving way to something softer in the end. Deaths, at Chiara’s hands, at the vampire’s, at hers. Admissions that painted an impressionistic picture of the corner she was trapped in. Mab watched as he swiped the alcohol off of his mouth with the back of his hand, his glass going down gentle instead of with the sharp thump she’d expected. ”You think I’d be sad if I finally got him? I’d be celebrating and I’m not, am I Mikey?” There was a bitterness there that stuck in her throat until she was washing it back with a shot of tequila. Not enough fire, not enough to burn this out of her.
Mab scooted a little closer, her gaze still on him, until his gracious offer to cut her a ‘little’ slack came – as though she deserved it. She chuckled throatily, the sound trailing off as her throat grew thick. ”So gracious of you,” she murmured, pressing in just an inch closer before she raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. The humour was gone from her face as Mab dipped head to get him to look at her, instead of the glass that maybe he hoped he’d find an escape with. ”Cross my heart and hope to die. No more doing that shit with you, Mikey.” She huffed out a breath, her sinuses burning faintly with something she didn’t want to consider. Mab picked up her next glass, her fingers tightening on it. ”It’s not like he’s there anymore. He’s the one that got away, and I’m the one stuck here until he turns up somewhere again. I guess that means you’re stuck with me, doesn’t it?” Maybe it was a threat, maybe a request, she honestly didn’t know. The only blessing in all of it was more time away from her great-grandmother, an escape through failure.
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MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 143
Age:
41
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Mab Carmello
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen Nov 12, 2024 16:41:49 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Nov 6, 2022 21:13:06 GMT
Had Mab ever experienced a moment of happiness in her life? It didn’t appear so. Always so cold in the way she spoke and held herself. As if she knew something about the world no one else. Maybe her world was filled with darkness and emptiness. Mikey could relate but at least he tried to come across as a happy person, although he failed most of the time. His mom would always yell at him when he was younger to smile more. Apparently if he smiled more he would have more friends, like he wanted more friends. He was happy with the small circle of friends he had at school until he deserted them to play wannabe gangster. “I’d rather drink to be happy than to numb the pain.” It was a double edge sword anyway. It was bullshit that the alcohol didn’t even do anything to him. Didn’t numb the pain nor did it bring a smile to his face. Nothing. Whatever Mab was trying to drink away he didn’t want a part of it. He’d already found himself knee-deep in shit because of her. He wanted to keep that door jammed shut, refusing to ask her why she felt the need to get drunk, but it slipped out without a second thought. Curiosity beat his desire to keep Mab at arm's length which was strange given he didn’t usually give a shit about personal problems nor was he one to be curious. If he did that shit in jail he would have had his ass handed to him. Some inmates didn’t like others prying into their outside life. Mikey was one of those men, who refused to give up any information about the life he had beyond the bars. “I didn’t know that, did I?” He bit back. He hadn’t exactly called Mab after the break in to check up on her and see how she was doing. He cut ties with her that evening, trying to forget she existed, which was going well until she slid into the seat next to him. Did she want forgiveness from Mikey or was she just looking to explain herself? Whatever. She promised him she wouldn’t be dragging him along to her criminal activities, again. He wanted to believe Mab, but she had yet to prove herself. Yet to earn his trust. “Good.” He muttered, his voice just about audible. He didn’t like the idea of being stuck with Mab. In fact he didn’t like the idea of being stuck with anyone, feeling trapped and claustrophobic. “Lucky me.” He glanced over to her, his tone full of sarcasm as he spoke. “I hope you find that man sooner rather than later.” He dropped the sarcasm from his tone, this time sounding genuine. One thing was for certain though, he wasn’t helping her to look for this escaped man. MAB CARMELLO - wrap up with yours? |
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 81
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on Nov 19, 2022 18:51:30 GMT
Lucky Mikey. Still finding some sort of joy at the bottom of a bottle. Mab wasn’t so sure she was capable of either now. Happiness had been something snuffed out like a birthday candle, the puff of air provided by wizened lips. Her great-grandmother had shrivelled down until she was fuelled by nothing but anger. Forget the grief, she suspected that by now even that bad boiled away and the woman didn’t give a damn about her son – just about the vampire. Was she going to end up the same? God, she fucking hoped not, but what could she still hold onto and wrap around herself like a towel, protecting her modesty and hiding what was beneath? What did Mikey have left? The answer was probably more than her, if he still had a little happy going on.
Mab tapped the toe of her boot in the air as she watched Mikey, feeling the harder press of her knee against the edge of the table with each bob. He hadn’t seen that bitterness the first time they’d met, the gloss had held, something warm enough in their small talk after she’d ventured out of the woods with sleeping beauty. What had happened at the college had revealed it full force though. The chill he probably felt coming off of her enough to leave him recoiling until she’d given him no choice. Her great-grandmother would’ve called it weak to try and steal a little bit of the warmth Mikey was still capable of, but fuck her. She wouldn’t have needed it if she’d been raised by a human being instead of bitterness personified.
Sighing, Mab tilted her head, looking away from him – probably to Mikey’s relief, nobody wanted to have those dead reptilian eyes on them, even if they were half snake themselves. ”Well, hey, now you do,” she rasped hoarsely. ”He got away and I’m still stuck here, hoping he’s gonna come crawling back out from under his rock again.” That need to have it all done had left her raging at Sabrina and her fashion obsessed buddy, when the person who really deserved an ass kicking over the failure was herself. Mikey would probably happily do it for her if she gave him the opportunity. She was the bitch he wanted nothing to do with after all.
She’d dragged him into the whole mess with breaking into the college, putting a little more red on hands she imagined had seen some before. The nugget of guilt in the pit of her stomach was proof that she regretted it, although there was no way she could tear that out and present it to him as proof. Mikey had her word alone and by the sarcasm that dripped from his mouth now, Mab could tell he didn’t believe she wasn’t going to drag him into trouble again – straight out of the bar and into the hands of the cops. She smiled sourly at him before she knocked the shot back. Lucky indeed.
Drawing in a breath through her nose, Mab pushed the empties back out of the way and straightened up. She shot Mikey a smile but there was something strained about it. ”You hope I’ll find him so I’ll get out of your hair? The good luck’s still appreciated.” He hadn’t been sarcastic over those good wishes though, had he? Mab swallowed, ignoring the heat that built in her throat from something other than the liquor. Dipping into her pocket, she pulled out a couple of bills and tossed them down on the table before she started to slither out. ”Enjoy drinking yourself happy, Mikey.” Reaching out, she clapped a hand on his shoulder before she backed up. Her expression was blank, but she had to press her lips together as she turned and walked away. If she did finally find St. John then Mikey would have one problem off his shoulders at least – no more unwelcome guest.
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