Wither, Whither [AU] [Private, Join-Requests Allowed]

Ib nodded again, and Mary turned to Anya with a melancholy expression, "I guess that means we're leaving, now?"

Anya straightened, turning to Mary. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Ib needs her rest, and I need to get you situated in your new home. If you two want to take a minute to talk though, that's fine. Just remember that it's not 'goodbye', okay? You two will see each other again soon."

Ib, however, was already asleep, rabbit still clutched in her hands, Anya's gentleness and the familiar surroundings having lulled her to sleep. Mary's expression was imperturbable, but something about her body language seemed even more melancholy than before when she realized she was about to be separated from Ib, again.

Anya noted Mary's declining mood, and knelt down before gently pulling Mary into a hug, holding her close. "Mary, it's alright. I know it's scary, and trust me, I know how it feels to be lonely... and I know that you are probably scared that if you let Ib out of your sight, you'll never see her again. But that will not happen, I won't let it. You need to know though, this is the real world, and you won't always be able to see Ib, or Garry, all the time. You will both have lives to live. Places to go, things to do, people to meet. You'll have more friends than ever, and maybe even a family. You'll have new experiences, and every day will be a new adventure for you. You will never be alone again, not if I can help it."

"Yeah..." Mary said, acknowledging Anya's words but still staring at Ib's sleeping form with a truly unreadable face, "What's it like? To sleep? Maybe dream? She looks so... calm. Like nothing can hurt her..."

Anya blinked at that, pulling back from the hug to look at her closely. "Mary, are you not able to sleep?"

The blonde girl shook her head, "No. I'm still just a painting. Maybe if I'd traded with Garry, but... Ib would be sad, right?" It was spoken simply, without any further elaboration, for it was the empty, naked truth. She was just a painting - a lonely painting that no one had ever even seen, until others started getting trapped inside the painted world.

Anya paused, thinking about that. It was true that she wasn't exactly sure what was going on with Mary's body. She now knew that she couldn't sleep, something she would need to correct, but what else? What else was there for her to deal with? "...I see. Alright Mary, it seems I still have more to do to help you, but that's alright. I'm determined to help you find happiness, so I will. First, let's get you to your new home, alright?"

Unsure of how to react to Anya's kindness, the girl just nodded, "Okay."

It was a simple trip through yet another white door, that brought them to the lobby of a large building. First thing Mary would notice, is that there were childish drawings and stuffed animals everywhere. Most notable, were two giant stuffed cartoonish dragons next to each other, and a phoenix and owl nearby. It seemed the orphanage was closed to visitors at the moment, the children all in bed, but the light was on in the main office. A moment later, a beautiful woman with long silver hair with streaks of blue in it, came out of the office, approaching with a curious expression. "Oho, now this is interesting... so what brings the ever elusive Anya and such a cute little girl here at this time of night, hm?"

Hearing this new woman's voice brought Mary out of her curious examination of this new location. 'Anya?' Who was Anya? Was that the woman with her? It would have to be. Which... now that she thought about it, even though the woman knew her name, she'd never given her own. Wasn't that bad? Didn't she read in her book that that was against the rules, when it came to making friends? Thoroughly distracted from her previous melancholy, Mary turned to Anya with a petulant expression. "You... never gave me your name!" She accused, "That's against the rules! You're supposed to give your name first when you're making a new friend - but you already knew mine and never gave your own! It's cheating! Cheating!"

Anya was about to respond to the question, when Mary suddenly turned to her. The expression caught her off guard, but what she said was even more startling. The fact that she was being chastised by a child was strange enough, but the fact said child was completely right in doing so made it far worse. By the end of Mary's small rant, Anya actually was looking down at the floor, a sheepish expression on her face as she toyed with one of the stray locks of hair framing her face; she seemed more like a scolded child in this moment than a goddess that had created the multiverse.

"...I... well I didn't want to force you or anything... I won't always be around, so I didn't think... I mean, I didn't think you'd really even want to know my name..."

"As amusing as it is to watch you being lectured by a child, and believe me it's hilarious, perhaps we should continue on? Mary, was it? You'll have to forgive Anya. She's an odd duck, she somehow thought that introducing herself would be like trying to force you to try and get to know her. It's stupid and annoying, and we've all accepted that."

"H-hey..."

"Now, why don't we fix this silly little issue, and we can get to why you two are here, hm? I'll start. Hi, my name is Tiara. It's very nice to meet you." She smiled kindly, then glanced at Anya, who was blushing rather deeply.

"..Um, my name is Anya... I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I just-"

"Ah ah ah, no excuses, little miss weirdo."

"Nyah...." At this, Tiara smirked at Anya before looking to Mary.

"See? Told you she was odd. Anyway, now it's your turn to introduce yourself, sweety."

Mary smiled brightly in response, having listened to the dialogue between the two with a strange sort of intensity, "I'm Mary! It's nice to meet you two - do you want to be friends?"

Tiara grinned brightly at that. "Why, I'd love to be your friend, Mary! You can never have too many friends, after all."

"Yes, I want to be your friend..." Anya was still rather embarrassed by her mistake, as well as Tiara's teasing, but at least Mary was smiling again.

"Excellent! Now that that is taken care of, time to get to the point. Since Anya's clearly flustered... Mary, why don't you tell me why you and Anya are here?"

The girl hmm'd in thought, "Anya said it would be... my new home? Like the gallery was." A shiver of fear shot down her spine for a moment, unbidden - though perhaps not quite unjustified. "Not like the gallery. Not like the gallery, right? Right? Please?" The tremor of her voice made it clear she was terrified of the thought.

Tiara blinked a bit, and knelt down in front of Mary, looking her in the eye. "Well, I don't know what this gallery was like. But here, you'll be taken care of, treated like family, and you'll have kids your age to make friends with. We will never ignore you, and we will always be there when you need us. Does that sound good, Mary?"

Mary wasn't particularly good at reading people. This has been said and is now said again. So she couldn't tell whether or not Tiara was being sincere by her body language or tone of voice. But Anya had said the same thing before. And she wanted it to be true, so she nodded, "Yes..."

Tiara smiled, and held out her hand. "Well then, Mary, welcome to Second Chances. It's a pleasure to have you."

Mary glanced at the hand in confusion before she remembered a page she'd read in her 'Making Friends' book and her eyes lit up in understanding. Taking the hand, she nodded, "Yeah!" Then paused, "It's... a pleasure?... to be here! I think." She hoped.

Tiara chuckled, before standing up. "Alright, well, let's get you situated in your new room, shall we? Follow me please!" She practically skipped out of the room, and toward a hallway ending with seven doors, with each being a different color; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. "Alrighty... pick a color, Mary. Whichever you like most."

Hm'ing, Mary glanced at all the doors, passing over them all. Violet? Indigo? Blue? Garry entered her mind, quietly laughing to himself for no reason she could tell. That had upset Ib, so it upset her too. Maybe Green, like her dress? An image of the vines that refused to move and an echo of the Gallery's harsh words entered her mind, and she suppressed a shudder, moving on. Yellow, orange, or red? Yellow was the color of her rose - her fake rose - and she liked it on its own. Orange reminded of fire. But red... She'd always liked red. Especially that red. Ib's red.

"This one!" She declared at last, pointing at the red door.

Tiara nodded at that. "Alright. Now, you need a password. A word or phrase that you use so that only you, myself, and people you give permission to, can enter your room. So, what would you like yours to be?"

Password? The unfamiliar concept left Mary thinking for several moments. It had to be special, right? It couldn't just be anything. Special words to keep her new home safe. Special words to keep her safe. Words that feel safe... what made her feel safe?


"A pretty red rose." She declared solemnly. Maybe it wasn't the best password. She didn't know anything about them. But these words felt safe. Ib made her feel safe. So she chose those words, that made her think of Ib, so that she could feel safe.

Tiara seemed a little surprised, but Anya just smiled. "That's a wonderful password, Mary." Tiara glanced at Anya, sure there was a story there, but left it be.

"Alright then Mary, place your hand on the door, and say 'My Password is, A pretty red rose.' You'll feel a slight tingle. Don't take your hand off the door after, there's just a bit more to do after that."

A bit confused, but wanting to trust Tiara, Mary followed her instructions and placed her hand on the door, "My password is: 'A pretty red rose.'" There was a weird feeling in her hand - Mary guessed this was what Tiara meant by 'tingle' though she didn't really have anything to compare it to. It was unique enough for her to want to remove her hand and examine it closer, but she followed instructions instead, not wanting to let her new friend down. She craned her head to look at Tiara, "What do I do now?"