dear_mun | Voicetesting. (However, mun's VCR gave out so canon review is difficult.)

Clearly, your mun's implusive. To take you on so soon, I mean.

[Mari's kinda frowning about that.] Mine has gotten like that, with some of my friends.

Impulsive, though well-meaning. It is very soon.

(Marie looks over at it, showing a concerned expression.) With your friends? What do you mean?

Edited 2015-01-11 02:44 (UTC)

[She gives the lady a small smile.] Both my mun and I remember that she picked my pal Balthier long before she finished canon reviewing for him.

Which is kind of understandable. I don't really blame her for that. He's awesome, and I'm glad I met him all the same. [She hasn't seen him around in quite a while... I'm sure he's fine!]

He's a sky pirate, with a good heart--and his own flying airship. [She'll explain a bit into that.] Which is sort of like a plane, only shaped very differently, and fancy lookin'.

A sky pirate? (Marie has never heard of such a thing, outside of fiction. She looks a little confused by this, a bit unbelieving.) Airship? You mean an airplane, do you not?

I have not met anyone else from over here yet. She says there a lot of people, even an alien...well, a Time Lord, whatever that is.

[Mari's reality is quite...complicated. The line between what's supposed to be real and what's not supposed to be is often blurry, as she chuckles good-naturedly.] As I said, it's a fancy kind of airplane. I have a picture of the Strahl if you'd like to see.

[Her brown eyes seem to light up some when this confused woman mentions Time Lord] The Doctor! I've met him a couple of times. A Time Lord is someone who travels anywhere in a very complex travelling device that looks like, uh, one of those old blue police booth things.

A picture? I think I would like to see it. (She nods, more than a little interested now.)

(A blue police booth? She makes it a point to ask her mun about this.) The Doctor? You've met him then? A complex traveling device, well, she did mention it was "bigger on the inside" to me.

Sure! I got a pic of that and Balthy on my phone. [She reaches into her jeans pocket and gets her small maroon phone out. It has a touch tone screen, and it takes her a minute to show her the picture of the Strahl first.] This would be the bottom part of his airship.

Yeah, I met him, and the TARDIS is very impressive. You'd just have to see it to believe it yourself.

It is certainly different. (Marie leans in closer to get a better look. She nods after a moment. This felt a bit like a "Well, I'll be damned" moment, though it does not exactly show on her face as much. She struggles to not start exclaiming how interesting she finds it in German but manages to not.)

My mun says that there are different appearances he takes. The one she has here wears a bowtie and has an obsession with fezzes...he stands out.

[Mari seems a little amused at her reaction.] The inside of it's really cool too. [She snickers a bit.] Although I never thought to take any pictures inside it. [Next, she shows the lady her favorite picture of Balthier, the Strahl's pilot.]

[Mari nods.] Yeah, I've seen that version of him once or twice. The first time I ever met The Doctor was when he wore the blue pin striped suit. [She's smiling a little, for that's a fond memory.] We've shared about a handful of stories. It was both cool, fun, and very interesting.

He seems...not much like a pirate, but maybe my mind is going to what people tend to think of when they hear it. (Ah, a shame there were not any pictures of the inside. She would have liked to see it.) But, he does seem nice.

A blue pin striped suit? I suppose that is more normal. He must have a few stories that were interesting?

[Mari can tell she's just an ordinary and harmless person. She's rather good at reading people. She learned mostly by herself, with some tips every now and then from her friend Dean Winchester.]

Sure, he may not have a bandana on his head, or a captain's hat, but he really is a pirate. Back in his world, Ivalice, he's used the Strahl to get to one treasure site to the next, alongside his partner, Fran. It had been his way to live freely, without the hassles of being tied down to a duty he never particularly liked.

Ivalice, from what he's told me, is different than the kind of Earth world we both would know most about.

[She nods.] Yeah, he had a bunch! So did I, which was why we had so much to talk about... [Mari hesitates and breaks it down a piece.] Neither the Doctor or myself have exactly normal lives.

[Well, what she says is actually 99% true, about herself that is.] I don't know all there is to know about him, although I do know and remember a lot of what I've been through...

Or a broadsword for that matter. (A slight joke.) Wait, Ivalice? I've never heard of it before. A different world? How is that possible? I know the scientist have theories that there are multiple universes, but...

(She feels the urge to comment on what Mari says after that, but she holds it back. She knows that she must to that to be herself safe and someone else too.)

Neither of you have normal lives? (She frowns slightly, she would understand that. Her life has been far from normal for sometime now. Not as abnormal as theirs but hearing that makes her think it is very close. A thought of "How funny is that" enters her head.)

(Of course she is harmless and ordinary. Minus living out of her car for a while and once having the habit of being flighty and unable to stick around in one place for too long before wanting to move on again, she is as boring as any other person is supposed to be.)

Oh he does have some swords. And some old-fashioned looking pistols too.

[Mari knows this is the time to start breaking things down into itty bitty pieces so the lady doesn't get so overwhelmed with information overload.] A really long time ago, I used to be normal. Almost boringly ordinary, until one day some really odd and unbelievable things started happening.

Parts of a most intense week and a half I've lived through were awesome. The rest, not so much.

Edited 2015-01-12 06:54 (UTC)

I was only joking. He actually does?

(She listens to Mari's explanation. She can tell that it was being broken down, but she listens.) A week and a half, huh? It's funny how much things can change in such a short amount of time.

I wasn't that ordinary, but compared to now... (She understands without saying she does.)

[She'll nod.] Yep! He's just not like the pirates from most stories and movies we know.

[Mari exhales, wearing an expression that would say, Oh you have no idea. It's something beyond words.] Too true, and it's like it can never go back to the way it was...

I'm one of the lucky people to have survived the ordeal. Then, a year later, Nexus happened. [She doesn't feel like talking about Kuja Tribal, Diclonii, what getting hit by Ultima's like, or her first time ever in meeting Sephiroth in person.

She doesn't wish to mention her friend Crystal either, not that she's really thinking about that friend she holds so close to her heart, even though she was so upset it hurt...]

Well, I suppose that only makes sense. People do assume or think of one thing, when it's really another entirely. Funny how that is, right?

(Marie raises an eyebrow when she sees Mari's expression. She frowns and sighs, shaking her head.) No, it never can. Though, knowing what you know now...would you want it to? Could you handle going back without a problem? I don't think I could. Somethings change a person to the point, who they were before...you can't believe that was you.

(She pauses.) Nexus?

[She makes a really good point there, and she can't help but think a little back to the mistakes she's made, a few days after she had first met Squall, Zell, and (regrettably) Kuja.]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I know I hadn't chosen to become more selfless until after getting so upset at this crazy guy I could not really reason with... [Her expression and tone of voice go a bit dark as she adds;] That almost got me killed.

[She nods, and sighs.] It's been my home world for the past decade now. Nexus is a very powerful one at that, with a sentience. I was plucked from my old home... and it kinda sucked that I had to meet some awesome people all over again. Long story.

[Cloud, Tifa, and Zack. Although she's never really met them in person, she's still had to make a couple of phone calls to talk to Cloud and Tifa. Cloud especially, for very important reasons. Sephiroth had been at her house twice, with one of the remnant guys he had met.

Way back when, Sephiroth used to be scary. Now she just finds him to be mostly irritating. (Although, she won't allow herself to feel any intimidation when it comes to the subject of her boyfriend, Genesis. Sephiroth and Genesis used to be together, after all...)]

Edited 2015-01-15 20:21 (UTC)

Hadn't chosen to become more selfless? I suppose in my case, it was being...well, decisive? I think decisive is the word. (She taps her chin.) I used to be called "flighty" by everyone and anyone who knew me. But, I was forced to make a choice and stick with it when everything changed.

A world that is sentient? How is that possible? That shouldn't be, right? (Now is a good time to be worried, right?)

What happened with you, if you don't mind my asking?

I had a bit of a selfishness that got too much under a few people's skins after I let something terrible get to me so bad... That would be putting the incident lightly. So, I decided to focus more on other people's problems, to not cause drama like I had before again too. [Mari's smile is tiny from here as she further explains.] In the long run, making this decision has helped both my friends and me. For the more current issues going on...

The impossible is possible over there, but I know I'm not the only one who has experienced the great big impact it leaves. Though, it's not entirely bad. I mean, I got to see people I first met in the beginning, when things got to be a little too much...

[Allow her to explain a bit more.] Nexus may have been incredibly weird and nerve grinding, but, if I hadn't lived there, I wouldn't have met Genesis. [God, she misses Gen so much. She wants to tell him she loves him.] He fell in love with me first, and I didn't think anyone would've been able to keep up with me, and how abnormal my life's been--but hey, he's had his share of abnormal crap too. And he's sweet, caring...and, he's been very patient with me.

What happened to me? I basically was a drifter, I suppose. There wasn't anything really exciting about it. I just made a ton of mistakes, went places, made more mistakes. (She decides to keep her history vague. Until she knows she can trust this woman in front of her.)

Genesis? (She smiles sadly. A lover, huh? That only reminds her that she is missing her own and she glances down for a moment.) I think in my case the roles were reversed...(She realizes she's speaking and then stops herself. No, she has to keep that to herself no matter how she feels or what she wants to say.)

This "Nexus" place? You said the impossible is possible there. So, there's more to it than it having it's own mind?

[Mari listens, and kind of understands what she’s on about. Being vaguely honest, just like me, she observes, using her people reading skills. Which was fine. She won’t pry really, and keep some curious questions to herself.

Mari caught the sad smile and looked back in worry for a brief moment. Oh no, she’s been separated from her boyfriend too? That’s terrible! She empathized.]

When you met your boyfriend, I guess that’s when you found a sense of belonging, right? [Well, at least that makes sense to her.]

[She nods in reply to her question.] I’ve had a home there for a really long time, and have seen various kinds of weird stuff happen. [Laughing softly to herself, she adds;] It can be overwhelming, and I’ve learned to just deal with it, instead of freaking out over every little thing that doesn’t make sense... It’s not like I’ve never been alone over there either. I have these friends who are like family to me. They’re awesome.

[Mari prefers not to speak of the crazy people, insanity goddesses, or the fact that the Nexus has changed completely from a town surrounded by forests and mountains to an island.]

A sense of belonging? (It never came to her as being like that, well, she never had found the right words to describe the feeling she had towards him. Before, she drifted from place to place on her own. Meeting people, getting hurt by them or causing the hurt herself. There were people who tried to do the right thing, others who only did what was right by themselves, others who did not give one damn about anything. It was easy to become cynical, her release was out of knowing she would not be tied down to a single thing, if she did not want to be. But meeting him? She was okay with whatever came next, she was okay with having to move constantly, as long as she was wandering with him. Though, if anyone ever asked her about that and she felt comfortable enough to answer? She would not be sure just how she could explain those feelings.)

I suppose I did. Though now...since he's not here... (She did feel lost now and it shows in her eyes.)

Hm, my mun apparently put me there. So, thank you for explaining a few things to me. Just dealing with things as they come, huh? That's something I've had to get good at doing. (Marie smiles a little more at Mari talking about her friends from there. She does not expect to get close to anyone where she is there, but it makes her feel a little at ease.)

[Mari noticed the feeling of loss in her eyes.] Believe me, I know how unfair it is to be apart from your special someone...

[When the lady mentions her being at Nexus, she blinks in surprise.] Really? Well, damn... You should be all right. Hopefully one of my friends found you by now, right?

It...it beats being dead, right? I was sure I was going to die in my world, so sure that it was the end. Even if I'm without him, it's still better...

Being there has to be better, right? (Marie only needs to know that, but to answer Mari's other question? She nods quietly for a moment before finding the words she needed in English to answer.) Yes, someone did find me. A Kazuma Yagami? He is one of your friends, yes?

You almost died? [How strange that Mari also had this in common with her.] Jeez, I've had a near-death experience too, so long ago. This was way before I met my guy...

[She nods] Yeah, being at Nexus is somewhat better than being dead, yeah... and Kazuma is indeed a friend. Quite a powerful one at that. He's a wind magic user.

Yeah, I came close. I know he tried to save me, but...I'm not so sure what happened after that, I blacked out quickly... (Marie looks down.) It was...well, I'm not really sure how long it go it was. Especially since I just remember blackness then waking up in the water.

(She seems uneasy over having said so much now and as soon as she heard "wind magic user", she gives Mari an incredulous look.)

He really is one. [She smiles.] Don't worry, he uses his powers for good, and they really are awesome.

That's a relief. I was worried for a moment that it would turn out he wasn't. (That makes her feel a lot better now. She gives a little smile.)

He actually started showing them to me, it...it's kind of ...awesome...

I'm Mari Broderick, by the way. Currently not in Nexus, but I do hope to be back soon. I'm with friends at this other world tight now.

[Another smile.] You'll be safe with Kaz. He won't let anything bad happen to ya.

Oh, I'm Marie. (Pardon her for now Mari, she will give her full name when she gets to know you a little better.)

Another world? Is it...trying to keep numbers in check?

(Marie nods and makes a note that she could trust Kazuma.)

[There's a bit of a snicker.] How about that. Even our names are very similar. Minus the E for mine, of course.

[She nods.] I'm still trying to figure out why I got sent to this other world. Maybe Home Nexus knew Nathan's carnival was in danger. [Her eyes lower in thought.] ...Maybe it knew about Elsa, and her problems with her powers.

[Sigh.] I try not to think about this too much, or else I'd just get a headache.

(It takes Marie a second then she laughs softly.) You're right. Our names are similar.

A carnival? (Marie frowns. Her head hurts a bit now. It just keeps getting more and more complicated.) Elsa? Powers? (She shakes her head.) I wouldn't think too deeply about answers yet, not until you have a clue or two. Something that connects...

[Mari's been through so much, and all the knowledge of other worlds and the people she met is sure a lot to keep track of, yet she somehow manages to do it. But being sent to another world that hasn't been her old home world--that's been very much a completely new experience to endure.]

Yeah, I'll be patient on that. [A bit of her smile returns.] I just met up with one of my other friends after not seeing him in a month. He's been like a little brother I've never had.

A little brother, like one you never had? (She had one those herself, though a real half-brother, someone she barely ever saw and barely knew. She did once have a friend who she saw as a "brother figure" but they had lost since stopped being friends and went their own ways.)

I'm a little envious, I had to turn my back on everything I had or could have had. I only had one person to rely on, though, that was still one more than I had before.

Yeah! Cloud's awesome... Caring, brave, strong, and easy to talk to. That, and more.

[She calms down and smiles empathetically.] I can relate to that a bit too. I mean, with the unwilling separation from other loved ones.

[A silent pang of sadness is in her heart, but she doesn't dare let that show.]

Cloud? (She nods, making a note that if they ever meet, she will at least speak to him a little.)

No, it wasn't exactly unwilling in my case. I chose to despite knowing what I would be doing. (She tries to hide a shy tiny smile.)

[Okay, so her situation's probably very different from Mari's.]

Oh... You couldn't handle what you had anymore? I suppose your old life wasn't as great as the one I used to have.

Only, my previous life feels older than that. I've been through a helluva lot, so my average life is more likely ancient. [She'd be partially poking fun over that.]

I had three lives. One when I was growing up. The one I had when I drifted. Now this one. (She keeps the differences vague.) The first one, I'm the most glad to have shed. The second one I do miss sometimes, but only sometimes. During that one I could go back to the first for short periods of time if I wanted to do so. But this one? I feel I like belong, isn't that how you described meeting your boyfriend?

(She looks Mari in the eyes.) ...I belonged somewhere for once. I was happy considering all the difficulty. (Marie feels a little annoyance about everything that had happened.)

Though, I worry my life has ended so I will have to start another one. (That actually frightens her a little bit. Though, it only shows a little in her eyes.)

Three? Wow, that's one more than me. [She smiles a bit, but it doesn't last as her expression

Mari reaches out and touches Marie's shoulder. She almost wants to give her a hug, but she knows she won't be up for that.]

We'll see our loved ones again, no matter what. We've got to believe that.

In the meantime, you will be looked after. Kazuma and the rest who are still there won't let anything happen to you. [Mari looks back in her eyes, her words calm, comforting, and encouraging.] There may be weird and even scary things going on, but you will never be alone. We've never let anyone leave our temple base all by themselves.

[Then she remembers about her handsome looking sky pirate friend they talked about earlier.] It's not all bad. I mean, maybe you'll get to meet Balthier, and take a ride in the Strahl sometime. You'll get to see that awesomeness for yourself one day. [She smiles.]

Well, what can I say...I'm a complicated woman. (She tries to smile, though it does not reach her eyes. She pauses as Mari touches her shoulder, at first unsure of how to react but does not pull away.)

We will...see them again? (She repeats this again after speaking it the first time. It still seems impossible to her, but she will keep those words in her mind to see if they come true.)

They won't? I want to believe that, but my experience tells me that very, very rarely does anyone do the "right" thing. I can try to trust them, but I will be always be on guard...

(Marie looks like she cheers up a little bit at the idea of getting to meet Balthier and seeing the Strahl.)

[She laughs softly.] Ditto. Me too. [Sometimes, Mari knows she's extremely complicated. Her own personal problems, the nano-bots inside her...]

Yeah, I'm sure we will! I know Genesis. He'll fight for me, always. I'm sure your guy would do the same, right?

[Mari nods] I can understand that, somewhat. I've got my trust issues too, but it's for rather selfless reasons. [She smiles.] I guess I'm a little clingy over my friends. I tend to get protective over them...

[Great, Mari's glad that Marie's starting to feel a little better now.]

I think so. (She knows deep down that he would, but she can't bring herself to believe in such things, yet alone say it out loud. The idea of her hopes being crushed again, well, it hurt.)

Hm. I don't see that as being a particularly bad thing. Being overprotective. Mine isn't because of something like that. It's more selfish. (She knew she had been trying to protect herself for years, she was tired of letting others in and them using and throwing her away. She grew bored with seeing the signs, it always was the same.)

(She would really like to have that experience at some point. She can let herself dream a little for that one.)

[She smiles and nods.] I don't mind that I can't help it. Without having my awesome family being around, I would have gone insane. [Really, anyone would if they found themselves all alone in the most absurd sort of world ever.]

[Mari hopes her mun will get back to Balthy soon, at some point. And 'Hassee too. Even though he's kinda nuts, he's not so bad. It's cute that his favorite snack is the Twinkie.]

Would have gone insane? (She frowns. So, she can't tough it out on her own even if she had wanted to. She supposes she is going to try to make friends while she's there and besides, Kazuma seemed nice enough.)

Yeah. Because for one Nexus at times can get overwhelming.

Also, there are some really nasty individuals. It's definitely not a good idea to really be alone over there.

[It's a good idea to always have someone to watch your back in that world. Mari just seems to have many. She's even friends with a large and old dragon.]

Overwhelming? So far, it is...I can't imagine it getting worse, but...if you're saying that, then it must be possible.

Nasty individuals? Are there any in particular I should keep my eyes out for and then avoid? (She frowns. That would be good to know.)

Anything is possible. Don't worry about it too much. My friends will have your back. I most definitely will, whenever the hell I'll be able to get back...

[Mari's expression goes grim as she nods.] I know Xargin is someone you should never approach. The guy's nuts. He's so delusional, and believes it's his mission and God's will to purge the world we came from--or maybe a world just like it--of all humans, and the cyborg drones and he will rebuild the world.

[Resentment can be heard through her voice as she talks about him.] There are two insanity goddesses you should also avoid; Vertigo and Xel'lotath. They are both monsters in every sense of the word. Stay away Hannah, Vertigo's sorceress, and Pious who is Xelly's Liche emissary.

Voicetesting. (However, mun's VCR gave out so canon review is difficult.)

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