(collab with
@Bright_Ops )
Maria continued to all but walk as the others sped ahead, her eyes critically washing over each and every one of her "teammates" (
teammates. Haha. Very funny.) as they went. Kaneda was using his powers, not that Maria cared, though it was interesting seeing them being put into action. He was irritating, though. All that bullshit he talked about becoming a team and working together and everything. He was
such a pretentious little goody-goody, very much like the captain himself. Belasy and Zhanna were the second-fastest, out of all the men, which made Maria smile slightly. She was sure some of those fragile masculine egos were collapsing under the very thought of it;
women being more capable then them? What would they
ever do?
Of course, Maria had no way of telling if that was what they were truly thinking, since everyone was so much ahead of her, but that's the reaction she got whenever one of her girls bested one of her father's gangsters at anything, really. It was quite amusing that they should think that women were not just as, or even
more, capable of killing.
Maria's relative solitude and her title as the single slowest person was broken when the religious doctor, Johnathan something-or-the-other, drew up alongside her. Maria had never tried to get to know any of the others, least of all Johnathan. As a general rule, she was extremely opposed to organized religion-something about women being regarded as "less" than men didn't sit right with her. But, nevertheless, she wasn't going to purposefully antagonize anybody. Perhaps they would be useful later on.
"I can't help but feel that you're not taking this whole exercise seriously. Something on your mind?" he asked, and Maria spared him a glance, trying to decide how to reply.
I could be scathingly sarcastic, though I feel that strategy would only serve to make him redouble his efforts rather than scare him off. I could act like he was a client, but he's not important enough for that kind of effort. What a dilemma.In the end, Maria decided that maybe, just this once, she would tell him the truth-partially.
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Sweating is unattractive," Maria stated simply, turning slightly to face him and tilting her head to the side. She arched an eyebrow, daring him to contradict her. She didn't mention
why she was so concerned about being 'unattractive'-let him think she was shallow, for all she cared. Maria didn't
want to tell him her life story.
If he was perfectly honest with himself, Johnathan hadn't actually been expecting an answer like that... Truthfully he didn't actually know what he was expecting her to say, but at least she was willing to talk to him which was a start. "I see... I take it that you were drafted into this project then rather then volunteered?"
Maria pursed her lips slightly. "You could say that," she answered, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. She wrinkled her nose as she caught sight of a couple split ends.
Wonderful. Just wonderful, she thought sourly, before coolly glancing back up at Johnathan.
It was clear that she was willing to talk... at least in the sense that she would answer questions with as little fuss as possible, but it was clear she wasn't interested in a dialog. Even as the two of them walked, Johnathan quickly decided to try a new topic. "Forgive me for not knowing, but I'm curious... how exactly does your power work? I don't think I've ever heard you explain it before."
Maria debated whether or not she should tell Johnathan for a moment, then decided that really, he would find out later anyway, so there was no point in delaying if he was truly so interested. "I...how do I explain? Like this," she answered, reaching out and touching his bare hand, waiting for a minute before releasing him-just enough time for him to start feeling the intoxicating effects of the strange poison secreted through her skin, but not long enough to do him any lasting damage. "With my lips, too, though more deadly," she told him blandly.
As she had reached out to take his hand, Johnathan had been slightly confused but had allowed it, trusting that she merely wanted to show him what she could do. It was... weird. It wasn't something you would normally notice at first, but as the seconds wore on he found his head growing... heavy. Very heavy. His eyelids grew heavy as well, barely able to stay open as his footsteps grew more... difficult.
Despite how fuzzy the world had gotten, as he turned to look at Maria his heart skipped a beat; He had known that she had been a beautiful woman but how could he have been so blind to her?! She was... She was...
As she let go of his hand, his brain seemed to freeze up, unsure of what was going on as he started to feel a brisk chill run through his veins; Or at least it felt that way after the comforting warmth that had been pumping through them moments before. Bringing his hand to cover his eyes to shake his head, he opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again as he fought to get his brain back in order.
Maria watched his reaction with a mild, detached sort of interest. It had been a while since she'd used her powers on someone as...morally righteous, and, ah,
inexperienced, as Johnathan.
Those aren't the type of people that Alessandro normally wanted dead, she mused idly to herself. She turned back to face the path in front of them once more, seeing no need to continue the conversation if Johnathan had nothing to say.
Looking down at himself as his brain started to clear, Johnathan got a reading he hadn't been expecting to see; Some kind of substance that shouldn't have been there was running through his body, through from the looks of it his system was already breaking it down to the point were it wouldn't be a threat to him and so he could filter it out naturally without having to worry about any outside imput on his behalf.
She had poisoned him, pure and simple.
Once he felt confident enough that it had been broken down enough for him to start moving again, he quickly caught back up to her on slightly unsteady feet as he simply muttered "That... is a dangerous curse you have. When did you recieve it?"
Maria pressed her lips together. She didn't view it as a curse, but she didn't particularly care what others wanted to call her ability. "As long as satin gloves remain in fashion, there's no need to worry, though the United States Armed Forces does not seem to be terribly concerned," she told him archly. "Besides,
that won't kill you." Maria considered the next part of his question and tried to remember. "When I was around ten or so, I believe," she said guardedly, narrowing her eyes slightly. "And I believe it is your turn to volunteer some information now, Mr. Harker, is it not? It's only fair."
Nodding his head a little, he had to concede that she had a fair point. They were after all part of a team so it was only fair that he answered her questions about him in kind. There was however a small voice of concern in the back of his mind, considering what exactly this invasion of his body by her dangerous ability would actually be considered in the eyes of the lord; After all, while he -had- accepted it willingly he hadn't know its true nature...
He would have to pray on the matter later. Maybe ask a priest after the Sunday service if he could...
"Only fair. We'll take it in turns with you starting with your question?" He offered politely.
Maria nodded. "Fine. What is your special ability?" she asked. It was the only thing she cared about, really, but if having a prolonged conversation about their pasts was what Johnathan wanted, Maria didn't care. So long as certain cans of worms remained firmly shut.
A decent question to ask, since he had never really had the chance to show off the more flashy aspect of it to anyone. Offering a small smile he looked her over, he made a small 'hmm' noise before nodding his head. "Well for starters you're in perfect health, so whatever is producing the poison isn't also killing you so at least that's working in your favor."
Giving her a moment to absorb this, he quickly got to the point. "I have the ability to look at a person and... well, see what's wrong with them and I get... well, a strong complusion on how to properly treat them. What injuries they have, what illnesses they are stricken by... even as it turns out what poisons they have running through their body, through it doesn't show up when I look at you..." Shaking his head a little, he shrugged as he suggested "Maybe because it's natural to you and isn't actually harmful?"
"I see," responded Maria carefully.
That makes sense, she thought in regards to Johnathan's evaluation of her poison.
Ma always said that we were immune to all poisons, natural or man-made. It would make sense that we're immune to our own, too. Maria waited for him to continue, unwilling to volunteer more about herself.
"There is... another part of it, but I can't really demonstrate it here." Taking a moment to think of how to say it, he just came out with it. "God gave me the gift to heal people." Letting that hang in the air for a moment, he glanced at her face to try and read what she thought of his claim.
Maria gave Johnathan an inscrutable look. "Indeed," she answered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at "God".
Oh, dear. I think I will fairly go crazy if I have to deal with religious nonsense this entire time. As if coerced physical activity wasn't already enough!Maria waited a moment before going on. "Do you heal injuries, or diseases? Or both?" she questioned, curious in spite of herself, if only for information-gathering purposes.
Well, if nothing else she was polite enough to keep her disbelief to herself...
Her follow up question actually got him thinking through. "Just injuries to my knowledge. I used to work beside my father at his clinic to help with some of the patients and occasionally we practiced it on someone. Tried it on the sick a few times but it just never seemed to get a reaction."
Clearing his throat, he decided to ask an interesting question. "So... how did you end up here?" While he asked said question, he started to speed up his walking stride just a little bit.
Interesting. So he wouldn't be able to cancel out the effects of my poison, then. Good. Johnathan's next question caught Maria slightly off guard, though she was expecting it to pop up at
some point. Still. She didn't really want to give him a concrete answer, and she wasn't concerned with finding more about Johnathan, now that he'd told her his ability.
"Oh, you know. Government heard about what I could do, basically forced me to join the group. Not much else to it," she answered him offhandedly. Maria watched Johnathan continue to walk, and she swore she saw him speeding up just a
little bit, and mentally scoffed.
Nice try. I am not
going to start running this early up the mountain.It seemed that Maria had a good eye for detail, being able to spot his attempt to speed up their pass slightly and denying it. Was worth a shot at any rate. "You kind of sound like you would be better suited elsewhere then in a military unit like this."
Maria laughed mirthlessly at Johnathan's remark. "I agree. Unfortunately, the United States Armed Forces does not." Oh, good grief.
That was the single thing Maria found most irritating about the entire arrangement, if she was perfectly honest with herself-the pure uselessness of putting her in a team that was being trained to go out in the battlefield.
Nodding his head a little, Johnathan could agree a little that Maria's ability didn't exactly lead itself well to picking up a gun and shooting at someone from a distance away. "I'm curious... how do you believe you talents would be better used?"
Maria sighed under her breath. Johnathan sure was intent on drawing this conversation out, that was certain. "Anything
other than what they expect the unit to do. Infiltrate Germany, kill Hitler, rob a museum in Paris, fine. Going out into the battlefield, though? What good am I going to be
there?"
She made a solid point; Her skills seemed much better suited as an infiltrater and assassin then that of a battlefield combatant... however, there was one question that needed to be answered before he could know that for certain. "Kannst du Deutsch sprechen?" He asked, somewhat clumsy with it but still saying it relatively well for someone still learning.
Maria shrugged nonchalantly. "Not really, but I haven't had a need to learn the language so far, seeing as they apparently want me with you guys, shooting at the Nazis. Italian is fine, though."
"Well, maybe if you showed an interest in learning the languages, you would have a stronger case for being assasigned an information gathering role instead of a combat one. Through there isn't any harm in knowing how to use a weapon through."
"I'll learn the language if it is necessary," was Maria's reply. She smiled sweetly at his next remark, though her eyes were hard. "And who said that I didn't know how to use a weapon?"
Maria then decided that they were done talking about her. If Johnathan must talk, fine. He could talk about himself instead. "And as for you, Mr. Harker? Where are you from?"
The answer easily left his mouth as he replied "Salt Lake City. Lived there all my life. What about you?"
"Grew up in New York City, then moved to Chicago." Maria fell silent as they continued to walk at a marginally faster pace than before. They continued up the Currahee like this, Johnathan stubbornly staying by Maria's side-though Maria did not deign to strike up another conversation with him-and they finished long, long after the others.
Maria parted ways with Johnathan, then, going back to the barracks and frowning at her reflection in the small mirror that she had left on top of her pillow. She changed and freshened up the best she could, then headed out for spaghetti. She would have preferred anything
but spaghetti, but it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter anyway.
Infinite Cosmos
Altered Tundra