undergrounds | you don't have to let it go away

{ A - Closed to Faust }

She's not sure she's ever felt so defeated before. Yes, she's physically hurt more than she has been in a while, but her emotional state is even worse. All she can think of is how her weakness directly led to someone's death, how her lack of experience had cost an innocent boy's life. And as for Akane... well, Maera can't think of her without immediately becoming enraged, so she's trying not to let the Seelie fae cross her mind. Her rage doesn't allow her to think clearly - it makes everything into a haze, makes her more likely to make mistakes and lash out at those who don't deserve it.

Simply put, she's not feeling good. Broken, tired, and more than a little humiliated, she makes her way to Faust's clinic first, not wanting to go home just yet. After all, that would require explaining to her mother the nature of her injuries, and she's definitely not ready to relive the experience. She doesn't think she ever will be. Entering the clinic, she sighs as she sees the several people gathered in the waiting room, but sits down in a chair anyway. To pass the time until she's called for, she takes a clinical stock of her injuries, checking the time every few minutes in anticipation of being treated.

{ B - Closed to Kenzi }

Thank goodness she doesn't get seasick.

After a couple hours of bobbing up and down in the Thames, Maera's anger has worn out. The glass around her shows no sign of the barrage she'd doled out in her rage, and she's come to a sort of acceptance that she's stuck here for the time being. Stuck in a knee-high pool of alcohol that smells terrible enough to make her want to retch. She's been trying to make a list of all the good things about her situation, and despite the list being only one item long, she's already starting to feel calmer.

That is, until the bottle knocks against the riverbank. She groans as she's thrown against the side of the bottle, her already-injured body protesting and the beer sloshing around up to her waist. But after she picks herself up, she realizes that she can see feet traipsing by the river, which must mean that she's close to people. There's hope for her.

"Help me!" she cries out, rocking up onto her tiptoes to see outside the glass as much as she can. After a moment, she slaps her hand over her mouth, realizing the dilemma she's in. She definitely needs help, but she'll get into loads much trouble with the Night Council if a random mortal picks her up.

After one more bump of the bottle agains the side of the river, she's made her decision. After getting to her feet again and (unsuccessfully) trying to squeeze the beer out of her hair, she yells out, "can anyone hear me? I'm in the bottle down here!"

{ C - Open to All }

It's been a terrible month, to say the least. To make up for the time she spent in that accursed bottle, she's taking on a lot more work than usual, and she's hard-pressed to find time in her day for a break. On top of that, her injuries still haven't healed properly, and her pride is even more severely damaged. Put it all together, and Maera is moodier than ever as the month comes to its close.

Oddly enough, when she does get some spare time, she doesn't frequent her usual cafes and bookstores. Instead, she pays visits to Redbright Institute, watching the kids in summer camp run around outdoors during their time for sports. She wanders through clothing stores to look for new fashion for the winter season. She can even be found in Bromley and Bexley, finding secluded places to work on her magic. She's moodier than usual, but will try to put on a nice enough face when running into someone. "--oh. Hi. How are you?"

{ D - Wildcard }

ooc; leave me a prompt and i'll respond!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kenzi is sitting at a bench on the edge of the Thames nursing a hangover behind a pair of truly oversize sunglasses with a huge coffee. She's somewhere between passing out and complaining about behind alive when she spots the bottle floating down the river and thinks to herself: fucking litterbugs, when she sees a little someone inside the bottle pounding against the glass.

...That is what she's seeing. Right?

"I'm so not drunk enough for this," she complains, as if chastizing whatever hallucination she is seeing. Because tiny people in bottles floating down the Thames is not a thing.

Kenzi stands, coffee still in hand and walks closer to the edge while keeping up with the flow of the river itself.

Yep. That's definitely a tiny person in a bottle.

"Uh...," how exactly is she supposed to rescue her? Kenzi doesn't want to go swimming!

They see her. They've got to be seeing her. There's no other reason for one pair of feet to be following her slow movement down the river. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

After a moment of consideration, she jams her shoulder hard into the side of the bottle. Despite the pain, her bottle does change direction slightly, heading towards some steps that lead straight into the river. For now, the current isn't pulling her too quickly, so whoever it is can easily lean over and pick her up. Hopefully.

"Oh ewewewewieew."

Kenzi chants it as she traipses down the steps and plucks the bottle from the water. She pinches the lip of it between two fingers and holds it at arms length.

And then really gets a good look at the little person inside and her eyes immediately dart to the kids sitting on the stares looking at her like she has a second head.

"Save the planet, don't litter!" She shouts it before tucking the bottle in her jacket and running away.

"Ugh I'm totally burning this outfit." Everyone in the world knew how nasty this river was. And she just rubbed it all over her clothes. Once she was tucked into a little alley meant for a dumpster, Kenzi took out the bottle.

"Dude how did you even?"

Obviously she means 'how did you get into the bottle' but leave it to Kenzi to not extrapolate.

Running is an altogether unpleasant experience, Maera decides. Luckily, it doesn't last long before she's taken out of the pocket and held up to a woman's face, someone she vaguely remembers from Lammas. Good - hopefully she's not any random mortal, then.

"I got cursed," she says, trying to sound more informative than angry. If she blows her fuse now, she won't be any use, and she needs to focus on helping herself get out of here. "I need someone to un-curse me. If- if you could help me, that'd be really nice." After a pause, she adds on, "I'm sorry about the grossness." Because she's seen a little too close-up how disgusting the river is.

"Worry about it later. I... I can't do anything for you here. It's too public."

Kenzi frowns, sympathy written all over her face as she says it because this is a really shitty curse. But a badass one too; she's going to try to ask who did it so she can get some tips.

"Would you hate me if I hid you in my jacket on the Tube? I need to go to Enfield."

It's where her coven's workshop is and Kenzi thinks she might need some help on this one.

She rolls her eyes, even though that's rude, and slumps against the side of the bottle. "No, it's fine. I mean- you can do whatever you'd like as long as you think it'll help."

Not that she can do much to stop her. Maera's never really been this vulnerable before, and she decides then and there that she doesn't like it at all. "What's in Enfield? Or- who?"

"My uh....office?"

Kenzi sounds as if that's the first time she's actually said that and she's testing it out. She doesn't want to take Maera to her personal workshop, but she can't work this curse unless she has some supplies.

Even if she doesn't like the hesitance with which Kenzi says the world, she doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter. "Sounds good enough to me," she decides with a nod. "Let's go. Please."

Kenzi holds Maera inside her jacket and smuggles her onto the tube and towards Enfield. She'll be taking Maera to the Seven Sisters where she and the other Midnight witches are fronting as people working in a psychic shop. It's a little on the nose, as far as Kenzi is concerned, but it's almost so stupid it's brilliant. Almost.

Kenzi takes her into her own little corner of the workshop in the back on the groundfloor and gently places her on a table. Hopefully the ride wasn't too awful.

"Okay! Let's see what we're working with."

Kenzi studies the bottle Maera is trapped in with her chin against the table and her nose mere inches from the bottle. It's not a flattering angle, but then she isn't interested in looking pretty right now. Kenzi enjoys puzzles and this is one that she's eager to crack.

"Do you think you could fit out of the neck? Or maybe I should break it?"

you don't have to let it go away

B

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