Mary Kozakura | The Box | App
Nov. 6th, 2013 02:56 pmPlayer Information
Player name: Jeni
Contact: jenioctavia
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
keepsthefire | Rin Okumura
Character Information
Character Name: Mary Kozakura
Canon: Kagerou Project
Canon Point:
Is your character Dead, Undead or Alive: Has died once but was resurrected and has no memory of her death.
History: Itty bitty wiki entry
Once upon a time in a little forest, there was a little house, and in that house there lived a little girl, all alone and cut off from the rest of the world...
But it would almost be misleading to start there, because Mary's story is as much hers as it is so many other people's. So let's take some steps back first, shall we?
Once upon a time, a long, long, long time ago a Medusa came in to the world. This Medusa, with snakes of power in her hair, watched the world of humans come in to existence and thought to herself "they're such dull creatures, and they die so easily". Because of this, the Medusa named Azami in her itty bitty Medusa body decided she wanted nothing to do with humans. They feared what they did not understand and as such they feared her as well, and she was fine with that.
But it was quite lonely, to live so long without anyone by her side.
One day, however, she met a young soldier from a village who was also an outcast like her. His pale hair, skin and eyes made him "different" from the dark haired and dark eyed villagers. As such they treated him much the same way Azami was treated - as a monster. Though she warned him not to come near her because she was a monster, he merely laughed and said that being alone was a sad thing, and if they were both monsters then they should spend their lives together.
And so a human fell in love with a Medusa, and they had a daughter. For a time they were happy, but when the villagers thought Azami had bewitched the young soldier they attacked their home in the forest. This, along with the realization that her husband continued to grow old while she and her daughter remained young saddened her. She feared ending up alone again, and because of that she went to start a never ending world with the power of her snakes, intending to bring her child and husband in to this world to live together forever.
But Azami lingered too long in this world, waiting at the door for her husband and daughter to enter the Haze, and eventually realized that her husband had already passed on while waiting for his wife to return. Her daughter, Shion, had moved on to make her own life after waiting for so long for Azami to return and she, too, had fallen in love with a human man. Alone, abandoned by the cruel hand of time and chance, Azami left in to the Kagerou Daze alone...
Shion gave birth to her daughter, Azami's granddaughter, Mary and like her mother before her raised Mary in the safety and comfort of the house in the forest. when Mary frightened several people away because of how her hair seemed to move on it's own whenever she was happy, Shion taught her daughter of their heritage, telling her that she must never look normal people in the eyes or they'll turn to stone. And it was for this reason that they feared her and her kind. Shion selfishly longed to keep her daughter hidden from the world forever, though she knew some day Mary would become curious about places outside the forest and would want to live her own life as she saw fit.
But they were happy together, and that was all Shion really wanted and needed. She doted on her daughter and loved her husband until he, too, passed away from old age. But unlike Azami, Shion continued to live on with Mary without hatred for how short human lives were. She loved every day, grateful for the life she still had and for the daughter that she loved so much.
That all ended one day when Mary, oblivious and naive, was playing in the garden in front of their forest house, making a flower crown for herself. Two young boys stumbled upon the location and, thinking it would be fun to kidnap a "freak" like Mary they attempted to tie her up with rope and drag her away. She screamed, which got Shion's attention inside the house. She ran outside and hurled a stone at one boy, knocking him down hard and allowing her the chance to grab Mary's hand and try to pull her inside the house where she hoped they would be safe.
But the boy that had been struck grabbed the bottom of Shion's dress, and the other came after her with a piece of wood. Fearing for their lives, Shion turned her power on to the boy and froze him in place as stone. The sheer exertion of using her power that much made her heart weaken, and she collapsed, leaving Mary alone with the still injured but alive boy.
Mary and Shion both died on August 15th, bludgeoned to death by the remaining boy. Their death pulled them both in to the Kagerou Days where they were reunited with Azami. Unable to bare watching such terrible things happen to her family, she offered her daughter the chance to live again with the power of the "Combining Eyes" snake. Shion rejected it, and told her to give it to Mary instead, which Azami agreed to. Mary's life was restored with no memory of her death or of the Daze, though Shion lost her life completely, leaving Mary alone. With the Combining Eyes snake no longer in her possession, Azami lost the ability to control who entered the Daze, and from then on anyone who died on August 15th were brought in with a chance to return to life with one of her snakes.
But these were all things Mary had no knowledge of. To her she had simply watched her mother die from the exertion of her power, and that was it. She continued to live on alone in the forest, wondering about the outside world with some guilt but never stepping beyond the forest. She lived this way, in complete isolation, for over a hundred years, convincing herself that the location of the house is the reason no one comes to visit...
And it was this way until a boy named Seto Kousuke
Seto fled in to the forest one day, being chased by bullies who lost track of him shortly after he came across the house. Curious about it, he knocked on the door (a sound Mary had never heard before in her entire life) and called out, frightening Mary so bad she tripped and fell trying to find some place to hide.
He opened the door, surprised to see a white haired girl sitting on the floor, trembling all over and rambling in a panic to not look at her eyes. "If I look you in the eye... turn to stone..." she muttered with her hands over her eyes, refusing to let this boy become like the one her mother had defended her against all those years ago.
But there was one thing her mother had never told her - she could control her power. And unlike Shion, her power wasn't as strong, not nearly enough to actually turn people to stone. But not knowing these things, Mary assumed the worse while Seto looked on in confusion.
Not understanding her warning, he told her he had been afraid of living for a long time, too, and that he thought the world would be so much better without that fear. Patting her on the head, he brought back memories of her mother doing the same when she was young, and tears immediately starting pouring down her cheeks. Startled and not wanting to see her cry, Seto took out a device and placed something in her ear.
All at once, beautiful music burst forth from the device in to her ears, sparking her long since dormant imagination and curiosity about the world outside. She looked up and to her surprise, Seto did not turn to stone. Her hair tendrils wiggled in curious excitement, which just made him smile rather than be afraid of her.
As a gift, he removed his white hoodie and put it over her, offering to be her friend. Mary could hardly believe what she was being told, but happily she agreed, and Seto became her first friend in 140 years.
He continued to visit her for a time, and some years later he encouraged her to leave her house and her forest for the first time ever. He returned with other friends of his, and with a nervously beating heart the timid Medusa-human ventured out in to the world with them.
It was through Seto that she met the rest of the Mekakushi Dan, and came to live with them in their hideout in the city. She took to making and selling fake flowers from her room as a part time job, too shy and weak to get any sort of real work.
It was alos through the Mekakushi Dan that Momo Kisaragi came in to her life, and shortly after Momo's brother Shintaro and his odd AI companion Ene. Momo, an reluctant yet famous young idol, wound up hiding out with the other Mekakushi Dan through Kido Tsubomi (the leader) and Kano Shuuya to get away from her rampaging fans. Momo, like many others of the Dan, had a snake ability as well that drew people's attention to her and caused for even more fuss than would have been given to an normal idol.
Upon meeting Momo, Mary attempted to serve her tea and promptly dropped an entire tray's worth on top of the girl, breaking several glasses in the process. This prompted a trip to the local super store in order to purchase new ones for the hideout. Mary and Momo both were dragged along, and by nothing more than completely random happenstance the entire group and Momo's normally shut-in older brother who had been there buying a new computer (thanks to Ene accidentally ruining his) were dragged in to a terrorist plot.
The Dan along with Shintaro and Ene were able to use their eye powers to save the day, though, just narrowly escaping being questioned by the police about their involvement thanks to Kido's "Concealing Eyes" ability.
In the spirit of celebration they decided to visit the amusement park that was on top of the super store later, and though Mary was frightened to be around so many people, she was comforted by the presence of friends both new and old, she was able to enjoy herself with them, finding things to not be nearly as scary as she had previously thought them to be.
Personality:
In spite of her chronological age, Mary is still physically and mentally equivalent to a 14 year old girl. Not only that, but she has also lived a very sheltered life, away from the advancements and social changes of the world. These things have come together to shape the personality of a very timid, shy and easily frightened young girl.
Mary's entire life experience up until meeting Seto was what she read in books. Because of this she isn't very worldly at all. Technology more than often confuses her (though she does try to learn for the sake of learning and not wanting to be unhelpful to her friends) and the every day workings of city life are still somewhat of a mystery to her. But her love of reading lends to a love of learning new things, so she does try to understand what she can. She's not against asking questions so she can learn, even if they're not always the most intelligent of questions. She's not dumb, just terribly naive.
Because of things that happened in her past, including the death of her mother by people that attacked them and tried to kidnap her, Mary is often afraid of and completely shy around new people that come in to her life. Large crowds are absolutely terrifying to her, and she'll cling to the nearest person she actually knows until she finally feels the fear pass enough to not hang on for dear life.
She does eventually warm up to people. It takes a bit of time, though often times a warm smile and an assurance that the person she's talking to is actually a nice person does the trick. Being around the Dan, Seto especially, has made her far more trusting of people than she used to be, and more than anything she just wants to make friends.
Which brings us to two key points: one, she is not a pushover. She's capable of getting angry or irritated and showing it, and has not been against freezing people (like Kano) in place when they've pushed her buttons too much.
And two, her friends are everything to her. To lose them is nothing short of a tragedy to her, and it causes her physical and emotional distress to even think of it. Nightmares where they're gone (or have been killed) result in her waking up in fearful fits of tears, wanting nothing more than to be reassured that they are still there with her. Her friends have become the surrogate family she's been missing for decades and to lose that again would destroy her.
All together, Mary is a mentally young girl who has lived for a long time in isolation, finally being allowed to be out in the world and learning what it means to be not only human but to be a good friend.
Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses:
Eye Contact : Because Mary is 1/4th medusa she has the ability to temporarily stop or "freeze" the movements of people and other living things. She grew up convinced that the power was constantly on and that if she were to meet the gaze of another human she would instantly turn them to stone, but since coming in contact with Seto and becoming a part of the Dan she has realized she has far more control over it than she knew. As such she can look people in the eyes and not freeze them unless she's actively using her power. Her normally pink eyes will flash red when that happens, and the freezing is temporary, lasting little more than 20 minutes at a time.
Combining Eyes : A power given to her by her grandmother Azami when she died. Not much is known about this power, just that it has the ability to "combine" with the other eyes (snakes) that belong to the Dan members. It's power is possibly shown in Outer Science (PV) and hinted that it has something to do with either resetting the world or creating a new one entirely. Due to the lack of information and the implication that it has to do with rewriting time/worlds it will be essentially unusable in the Box. Mary also has no idea she has this power.
Immortality : Mary is, by the definition of reduced/slowed aging and her medusa heritage, immortal. She is 140 years old, but physically and mentally 14. However she is not invincible, and she can be (and has been) killed. However she does not need to eat and needs very little sleep in order to survive.
Hikkikomori lifestyle : She has lived her entire life in a forest, cut off from people. her physical stamina is incredibly low for this reason, and she often winds up winded when walking or running for long periods.
Snake hair : Her hair will sometimes move and wiggle like snakes when she's happy or excited. Unfortunately because her hair kind of is made of snakes in a way and there's a great deal of it, it's also a bit sensitive to touch.
Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample:
Mary @ musebox
Prose Log Sample:
Foodland was probably one of the least scary places in the two towns, often visited by many of the poor souls stuck there and apparently restocked on a somewhat regular basis. Kano had told Mary about it a few times, and mentioned that it was a place food was sometimes found, but she had never been to it. Both him and Kido had told her she needed to stay close to them in order to be safe, but now they were sick, and they were running out of food. She didn't need to eat the way they did, but she also the only one capable of getting food for them, too.
Bundling both of them up in whatever blankets she could find, she quietly borrowed Kano's hoodie (which she was pretty much swimming in due to size) with a muttered apology and headed out with a flashlight, a hand drawn map and a worn shoulder bag.
Luckily she didn't get lost, but it was when she arrived she came to a terrible, depressing realization:
She had no idea how to deal with going to a grocery store.
Kano had said that there was no need to pay for scavenging but then joked that if anyone bothered her about taking things when looking for food and whatnot she could just disarm them with her cuteness. Kido countered that the only disarming Mary would be doing would be with her eyes.
Mary just stood there in blank confusion during that entire conversation.
Remembering it just made her all the more determined to get what she needed to help her friends. They were depending on her! Granted she was absolutely terrified of all this and her knees had been shaking from the second she walked out the door alone, but she was going to do her best in spite of that.
Taking a breath, puffing her cheeks out as if that would make her look even remotely intimidating, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder and forced one foot in front of the other.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay..."
Player name: Jeni
Contact: jenioctavia
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already:
keepsthefire | Rin OkumuraCharacter Information
Character Name: Mary Kozakura
Canon: Kagerou Project
Canon Point:
Is your character Dead, Undead or Alive: Has died once but was resurrected and has no memory of her death.
History: Itty bitty wiki entry
Once upon a time in a little forest, there was a little house, and in that house there lived a little girl, all alone and cut off from the rest of the world...
But it would almost be misleading to start there, because Mary's story is as much hers as it is so many other people's. So let's take some steps back first, shall we?
Once upon a time, a long, long, long time ago a Medusa came in to the world. This Medusa, with snakes of power in her hair, watched the world of humans come in to existence and thought to herself "they're such dull creatures, and they die so easily". Because of this, the Medusa named Azami in her itty bitty Medusa body decided she wanted nothing to do with humans. They feared what they did not understand and as such they feared her as well, and she was fine with that.
But it was quite lonely, to live so long without anyone by her side.
One day, however, she met a young soldier from a village who was also an outcast like her. His pale hair, skin and eyes made him "different" from the dark haired and dark eyed villagers. As such they treated him much the same way Azami was treated - as a monster. Though she warned him not to come near her because she was a monster, he merely laughed and said that being alone was a sad thing, and if they were both monsters then they should spend their lives together.
And so a human fell in love with a Medusa, and they had a daughter. For a time they were happy, but when the villagers thought Azami had bewitched the young soldier they attacked their home in the forest. This, along with the realization that her husband continued to grow old while she and her daughter remained young saddened her. She feared ending up alone again, and because of that she went to start a never ending world with the power of her snakes, intending to bring her child and husband in to this world to live together forever.
But Azami lingered too long in this world, waiting at the door for her husband and daughter to enter the Haze, and eventually realized that her husband had already passed on while waiting for his wife to return. Her daughter, Shion, had moved on to make her own life after waiting for so long for Azami to return and she, too, had fallen in love with a human man. Alone, abandoned by the cruel hand of time and chance, Azami left in to the Kagerou Daze alone...
Shion gave birth to her daughter, Azami's granddaughter, Mary and like her mother before her raised Mary in the safety and comfort of the house in the forest. when Mary frightened several people away because of how her hair seemed to move on it's own whenever she was happy, Shion taught her daughter of their heritage, telling her that she must never look normal people in the eyes or they'll turn to stone. And it was for this reason that they feared her and her kind. Shion selfishly longed to keep her daughter hidden from the world forever, though she knew some day Mary would become curious about places outside the forest and would want to live her own life as she saw fit.
But they were happy together, and that was all Shion really wanted and needed. She doted on her daughter and loved her husband until he, too, passed away from old age. But unlike Azami, Shion continued to live on with Mary without hatred for how short human lives were. She loved every day, grateful for the life she still had and for the daughter that she loved so much.
That all ended one day when Mary, oblivious and naive, was playing in the garden in front of their forest house, making a flower crown for herself. Two young boys stumbled upon the location and, thinking it would be fun to kidnap a "freak" like Mary they attempted to tie her up with rope and drag her away. She screamed, which got Shion's attention inside the house. She ran outside and hurled a stone at one boy, knocking him down hard and allowing her the chance to grab Mary's hand and try to pull her inside the house where she hoped they would be safe.
But the boy that had been struck grabbed the bottom of Shion's dress, and the other came after her with a piece of wood. Fearing for their lives, Shion turned her power on to the boy and froze him in place as stone. The sheer exertion of using her power that much made her heart weaken, and she collapsed, leaving Mary alone with the still injured but alive boy.
Mary and Shion both died on August 15th, bludgeoned to death by the remaining boy. Their death pulled them both in to the Kagerou Days where they were reunited with Azami. Unable to bare watching such terrible things happen to her family, she offered her daughter the chance to live again with the power of the "Combining Eyes" snake. Shion rejected it, and told her to give it to Mary instead, which Azami agreed to. Mary's life was restored with no memory of her death or of the Daze, though Shion lost her life completely, leaving Mary alone. With the Combining Eyes snake no longer in her possession, Azami lost the ability to control who entered the Daze, and from then on anyone who died on August 15th were brought in with a chance to return to life with one of her snakes.
But these were all things Mary had no knowledge of. To her she had simply watched her mother die from the exertion of her power, and that was it. She continued to live on alone in the forest, wondering about the outside world with some guilt but never stepping beyond the forest. She lived this way, in complete isolation, for over a hundred years, convincing herself that the location of the house is the reason no one comes to visit...
And it was this way until a boy named Seto Kousuke
Seto fled in to the forest one day, being chased by bullies who lost track of him shortly after he came across the house. Curious about it, he knocked on the door (a sound Mary had never heard before in her entire life) and called out, frightening Mary so bad she tripped and fell trying to find some place to hide.
He opened the door, surprised to see a white haired girl sitting on the floor, trembling all over and rambling in a panic to not look at her eyes. "If I look you in the eye... turn to stone..." she muttered with her hands over her eyes, refusing to let this boy become like the one her mother had defended her against all those years ago.
But there was one thing her mother had never told her - she could control her power. And unlike Shion, her power wasn't as strong, not nearly enough to actually turn people to stone. But not knowing these things, Mary assumed the worse while Seto looked on in confusion.
Not understanding her warning, he told her he had been afraid of living for a long time, too, and that he thought the world would be so much better without that fear. Patting her on the head, he brought back memories of her mother doing the same when she was young, and tears immediately starting pouring down her cheeks. Startled and not wanting to see her cry, Seto took out a device and placed something in her ear.
All at once, beautiful music burst forth from the device in to her ears, sparking her long since dormant imagination and curiosity about the world outside. She looked up and to her surprise, Seto did not turn to stone. Her hair tendrils wiggled in curious excitement, which just made him smile rather than be afraid of her.
As a gift, he removed his white hoodie and put it over her, offering to be her friend. Mary could hardly believe what she was being told, but happily she agreed, and Seto became her first friend in 140 years.
He continued to visit her for a time, and some years later he encouraged her to leave her house and her forest for the first time ever. He returned with other friends of his, and with a nervously beating heart the timid Medusa-human ventured out in to the world with them.
It was through Seto that she met the rest of the Mekakushi Dan, and came to live with them in their hideout in the city. She took to making and selling fake flowers from her room as a part time job, too shy and weak to get any sort of real work.
It was alos through the Mekakushi Dan that Momo Kisaragi came in to her life, and shortly after Momo's brother Shintaro and his odd AI companion Ene. Momo, an reluctant yet famous young idol, wound up hiding out with the other Mekakushi Dan through Kido Tsubomi (the leader) and Kano Shuuya to get away from her rampaging fans. Momo, like many others of the Dan, had a snake ability as well that drew people's attention to her and caused for even more fuss than would have been given to an normal idol.
Upon meeting Momo, Mary attempted to serve her tea and promptly dropped an entire tray's worth on top of the girl, breaking several glasses in the process. This prompted a trip to the local super store in order to purchase new ones for the hideout. Mary and Momo both were dragged along, and by nothing more than completely random happenstance the entire group and Momo's normally shut-in older brother who had been there buying a new computer (thanks to Ene accidentally ruining his) were dragged in to a terrorist plot.
The Dan along with Shintaro and Ene were able to use their eye powers to save the day, though, just narrowly escaping being questioned by the police about their involvement thanks to Kido's "Concealing Eyes" ability.
In the spirit of celebration they decided to visit the amusement park that was on top of the super store later, and though Mary was frightened to be around so many people, she was comforted by the presence of friends both new and old, she was able to enjoy herself with them, finding things to not be nearly as scary as she had previously thought them to be.
Personality:
In spite of her chronological age, Mary is still physically and mentally equivalent to a 14 year old girl. Not only that, but she has also lived a very sheltered life, away from the advancements and social changes of the world. These things have come together to shape the personality of a very timid, shy and easily frightened young girl.
Mary's entire life experience up until meeting Seto was what she read in books. Because of this she isn't very worldly at all. Technology more than often confuses her (though she does try to learn for the sake of learning and not wanting to be unhelpful to her friends) and the every day workings of city life are still somewhat of a mystery to her. But her love of reading lends to a love of learning new things, so she does try to understand what she can. She's not against asking questions so she can learn, even if they're not always the most intelligent of questions. She's not dumb, just terribly naive.
Because of things that happened in her past, including the death of her mother by people that attacked them and tried to kidnap her, Mary is often afraid of and completely shy around new people that come in to her life. Large crowds are absolutely terrifying to her, and she'll cling to the nearest person she actually knows until she finally feels the fear pass enough to not hang on for dear life.
She does eventually warm up to people. It takes a bit of time, though often times a warm smile and an assurance that the person she's talking to is actually a nice person does the trick. Being around the Dan, Seto especially, has made her far more trusting of people than she used to be, and more than anything she just wants to make friends.
Which brings us to two key points: one, she is not a pushover. She's capable of getting angry or irritated and showing it, and has not been against freezing people (like Kano) in place when they've pushed her buttons too much.
And two, her friends are everything to her. To lose them is nothing short of a tragedy to her, and it causes her physical and emotional distress to even think of it. Nightmares where they're gone (or have been killed) result in her waking up in fearful fits of tears, wanting nothing more than to be reassured that they are still there with her. Her friends have become the surrogate family she's been missing for decades and to lose that again would destroy her.
All together, Mary is a mentally young girl who has lived for a long time in isolation, finally being allowed to be out in the world and learning what it means to be not only human but to be a good friend.
Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses:
Eye Contact : Because Mary is 1/4th medusa she has the ability to temporarily stop or "freeze" the movements of people and other living things. She grew up convinced that the power was constantly on and that if she were to meet the gaze of another human she would instantly turn them to stone, but since coming in contact with Seto and becoming a part of the Dan she has realized she has far more control over it than she knew. As such she can look people in the eyes and not freeze them unless she's actively using her power. Her normally pink eyes will flash red when that happens, and the freezing is temporary, lasting little more than 20 minutes at a time.
Combining Eyes : A power given to her by her grandmother Azami when she died. Not much is known about this power, just that it has the ability to "combine" with the other eyes (snakes) that belong to the Dan members. It's power is possibly shown in Outer Science (PV) and hinted that it has something to do with either resetting the world or creating a new one entirely. Due to the lack of information and the implication that it has to do with rewriting time/worlds it will be essentially unusable in the Box. Mary also has no idea she has this power.
Immortality : Mary is, by the definition of reduced/slowed aging and her medusa heritage, immortal. She is 140 years old, but physically and mentally 14. However she is not invincible, and she can be (and has been) killed. However she does not need to eat and needs very little sleep in order to survive.
Hikkikomori lifestyle : She has lived her entire life in a forest, cut off from people. her physical stamina is incredibly low for this reason, and she often winds up winded when walking or running for long periods.
Snake hair : Her hair will sometimes move and wiggle like snakes when she's happy or excited. Unfortunately because her hair kind of is made of snakes in a way and there's a great deal of it, it's also a bit sensitive to touch.
Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample:
Mary @ musebox
Prose Log Sample:
Foodland was probably one of the least scary places in the two towns, often visited by many of the poor souls stuck there and apparently restocked on a somewhat regular basis. Kano had told Mary about it a few times, and mentioned that it was a place food was sometimes found, but she had never been to it. Both him and Kido had told her she needed to stay close to them in order to be safe, but now they were sick, and they were running out of food. She didn't need to eat the way they did, but she also the only one capable of getting food for them, too.
Bundling both of them up in whatever blankets she could find, she quietly borrowed Kano's hoodie (which she was pretty much swimming in due to size) with a muttered apology and headed out with a flashlight, a hand drawn map and a worn shoulder bag.
Luckily she didn't get lost, but it was when she arrived she came to a terrible, depressing realization:
She had no idea how to deal with going to a grocery store.
Kano had said that there was no need to pay for scavenging but then joked that if anyone bothered her about taking things when looking for food and whatnot she could just disarm them with her cuteness. Kido countered that the only disarming Mary would be doing would be with her eyes.
Mary just stood there in blank confusion during that entire conversation.
Remembering it just made her all the more determined to get what she needed to help her friends. They were depending on her! Granted she was absolutely terrified of all this and her knees had been shaking from the second she walked out the door alone, but she was going to do her best in spite of that.
Taking a breath, puffing her cheeks out as if that would make her look even remotely intimidating, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder and forced one foot in front of the other.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay..."
