SoulCoil

Vera made it a point of herself to get more fresh air. Well, it was more or less her friends begging her to take a walk or something. It had been a few weeks since she went to the movies – which also happened to be that time when Morty mysteriously disappeared and made that deal behind her back. Which actually did more good than anything.

So after browsing the local shopping center for a little while, Vera plopped down on the bench near the bus stop downtown. She practically sank in it, and then slowly but surely relaxed. Mortimus hopped atop the bus stop shelter and got somewhat comfortable. He appeared to be keeping watch of their surroundings.

While it might've been a bad choice to bring the Revenant along with her (especially when it was so late at night), she honestly felt a lot more safe when he was around than otherwise. At least she could have a better chance of surviving if there was some sort of ambush.

....But she was pretty good at swinging her cool, shiny rapier. Speaking of which, she was currently carrying around. It leaned on the side of the bench she sat upon. The teen felt like a real badass with the thing. Boasting and bragging that it wasn't a prop. Sure, it was a good way to get herself arrested, but who cares? As long as no one provoked her, no one would get sliced.

For now, Vera simply waited for the bus to come along.

A hooded, blue haired elf walked down the sidewalk, with a white cat following her. She seemed nervous, shaking badly, though the cat seemed confident. After a while, she stopped next to Vera. "U-Uh... C-C-Can we thit here...?" The girl had a shakey voice with a thick Welsh accent and a lisp, making it hard to hear her.

Vera's eyes trailed over to the other girl, and she gave a small smile. Even through the lisp, oddly enough, the teen could understand what exactly she was saying. "Sure thing. Knock yourself out." Her smile had quickly disappeared as soon as her gaze moved towards the white cat next to the hooded girl.

She instantly averted her gaze to the ground after a half second. Then she glanced up to Mortimus. The Revenant's head tipped down and acknowledged Vera's look.

The green haired teen elected to stay silent after that.

Juliet looked up to see where the girl was looking, before falling out of her seat in shock. The cat following her laughed. "I swear! I told ya there was a Revenant nearby! Ha!"

Biting her lip, Vera scratched her head, looking a bit troubled. "Ah, geez."

Now she really regretted bringing Morty along today. She was going to have to deal with these two. Though... They didn't seem to want to kill her yet. That fact alone alleviated some of her suspicion, but she was still a bit on edge. She thought something over for a few moments, glancing up at Mortimus once more before looking back to the hooded girl.

"Uh... I like your ghostie. She seems cool." That was Vera's feeble attempt at smalltalk.

The girl scrambled to collect herself, as the cat jumped onto her shoulder. "Uh... Th-th-that thing ithn't going to k-kill uth, right...?" She pointed to the Revenant above the bus stop.

A small smirk crossed her face. She looked back up to the Revenant. "Him? Pfft. You're kidding. He couldn't even hurt a fly." Vera shrugged a bit.

Mortimus scooted over to the side of the bus stop, his claws hanging over the edge. He cocked his head as he inspected the strangers. "...Her statement is correct. Both of you have not made any advances, therefore I will not make advances towards you."

"Yep, there you have it." Vera scratched her head.

The girl stood. "Oh, w-well, that'th good to hear..." She took her hands from her pocket and held it out to Vera. "I-I'm Juliet... And, thith ith Ruby." She motioned towards the cat.

"Howdy!" The cat leaped from Juliet and on top of the bus stop, looking at Morty. "You're a big fella' aren't ya!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Vera. Vera Crawfield. Like crawfish, but with a 'field' at the end." Vera grasped Juliet's hand and shook firmly, offering her a small smile.

Mortimus watched as Ruby hopped up beside him. His tail slowly swayed back and forth. "And you are rather... minute." He observed.

"Don't mess with me." Ruby batted a paw at Morty, not really as a threat, but more of a playful gesture.

"Uh... Tho... You're not exactly interethted in getting your with, right...? I mean, you're not telling that thing up there to maul Ruby, tho..." She grabbed the back of her neck and looked down.

"...I will refrain from doing so in the future." There was a vague hint of amusement in Mortimus' tone.

Vera blinked. "Oh, yeah. I mean, screw the damn wish. I ain't killin' no one for that. I'm guessing you feel the same way? Since, you know, your cat's not trying to scratch my face off or anything like that."

From what she had seen so far, there were a good number of people who had little to no interest in really participating in this game.

"Well... I'd love to uthe the wish, but... I don't have the heart to get it, you know...?" The girl pushed her hood back, revealing two pointy ears. "What would you use it for if you got it...?"

All she did was stay silent for a long while, staring in wonder at Juliet's ears. Eventually she blinked and snapped back to reality. Vera shrugged halfheartedly at the question. "Uh, well... I'm not sure. I don't exactly need anything. Maybe I'd just wish for world peace. I'm honestly surprised no one's ever wished for that. Either that or... They did, and everyone just ended up fightin' again." She paused.

"What about you? What would you wish for?"

"Uh... Don't judge me... But... I have thith weird idea that the world may end at any point, and... I'd with that the world would never end... That, thothiety could jutht keep growing and prothpering forever and alwayth." Juliet put her hands in her pockets.

Ruby started grooming Morty, stroking his fur. "Ya gotta clean this stuff. It's messy."

"...Whoa. You know, I never thought about the possibility of the world ending. Well, not seriously, at least. You must care 'bout the world a lot, huh?" Vera smiled slightly.

Mortimus let out a small hum. "You have not been the first to inform me of that. ...My own personal hygienic habits escape me most days."

"No... Well, yeth, but... It'th complicated... I'm jutht paranoid all the time that the world could end at any moment..." She scratched the back of her head. "It'th weird... And, I've never been able to get patht it."

"Oh. Well, we've all gone through a phase one way or another. Maybe you're just scared of your future generation never existing or some shit like that, like some sort of hidden meaning deep inside your subconscious." Vera paused for a moment, then shrugged.

"I dunno, you gotta figure it out for yourself." She concluded.

"Yeah... I've been trying to..." She looked down, before smiling and looking to Ruby. "Hey, Ruby, come down." Ruby followed the order, landing on Juliet's shoulder. "How did you find that thing up there, by the way?"

"...Well, this is the abridged version," she began.

"It was my birthday, and I went on a camping trip with some friends. We went to sleep for the night and I woke up later cause there was this voice calling me. I went out to the forest, almost got mauled by wolves, but I was saved by this ol' lump." Vera finished, gesturing to Mortimus.

"Huh, I jutht found Ruby here in my apartment one day." She started petting the cat. "I flew 'n through the winder!" The cat piped up. "It's so hard to do that! Never recommend it!"