Voice Test

[andthisgunifound]

Character info here.

Some possible thread prompts:

1. Fight VS Mercy. Early-canon Mari is the type to pull a gun on a defeated enemy and just shoot them. Maybe you don't like that! Let's have a confrontation about it. Alternately: Post-canon Mari is the reverse! If you want to gun down unarmed foes in cold blood, trust me, SHE GETS IT, but is also here to stop it.

2. Life on Earth-2. Life here is happier and safer, but that doesn't mean she's used to it. Sometimes that means she's stalking rooftops at night. Sometimes it means she's just pacing around anxiously like she's forgotten something but doesn't know what. Sometimes, mid-canon, it means waking up at 2AM and grabbing her gun in self-defense against some imagined threat. It's not like she LIKES being like this, but trauma is hard to deprogram.

3. Dumb Texting Threads. There can never be enough dumb texting threads.

4. Jamjar? Jamjar. There's a nice pile of prompts over here.

5. Use your imagination. If you use your imagination, you can go anywhere, even faster than a rocketship!!

Comments

[decksgongiveittoya]

ALL YOU MAGICAL GIRLS LISTEN UP TO THE GREAT ME!!!!

[ The text arrives at Mari's phone right after school-actually, it arrives at everyone's phone. All the text alerts going off at the same time as people leave is a bit strange. ]

I've got a NEW and BETTER plan than ever before to cripple your fighting skills-and it's been in your pocket this whole time!


That's right, the GREAT ME, Decker, has found out that you use this phone-system to talk to each other and call in reinforcements! So now I'm gonna make it totally useless to you!

[ It might actually be a somewhat cleaver plan-flood them with texts until they stop using them. But he's not got their phone number so... ]

You puny girls are gonna have to give up your phones now, because the GREAT ME is gonna send messages to the entire town until you do! My new monster is perfect for this, and we're gonna do it all day and night until you give in!!!@

ignore the @ it was a mistake.

[andthisgunifound]

[ This again? You're lucky this is AFTER Mari accepted that murder isn't the answer. ]

What a good idea. Tell me your location so I can come and congratulate you in person.

[decksgongiveittoya]

[ He's very lucky, but also, uh, he's flooded with texts right now. please wait warmly while he responds to all those other texts. directly to your phone.

but then-]

And that is why you should always eat your natto!

Also, I'm not telling you where you can find the GREAT ME, because that would just let the Magical Girls find me and fight my monster! Which would be funny, but that's not the point, the GREAT ME wants to not fight them and laugh at their misfortune!!!

[andthisgunifound]

Decker, shying away from a fight? That doesn't sound like you at all.
Why even have a monster if you aren't going to let it fight us?

[decksgongiveittoya]

[ If you guessed Decker would respond to that in less than 200 texts, you'd be wrong-but finally- ]

YOU WILL TASTE MY GREAT FIST but also I have a question about why the great boss of monsters that is I won't let magical girls fight my new monster!

This is because the GREAT ME can understand when one of my gang is a weenie, and that is okay! Not everyone is granted the ability to fight just because they're over 100 meters tall! If all you can do is what your boss asked you to do, then your boss should protect you!

AND I AM AN AMAZING BOSS!!!!!!! THE ABSOLUTE BEST!

[andthisgunifound]

Then how about you fight me instead? One on one, and if you lose, you take your monster and go crawling back home.

[decksgongiveittoya]

Fighting you before you destroy your phone out of sheer despair at ever getting any messages from anyone but THE GREAT ME is against the spirit of the plan, but you can always fight me down by the river!

[ He just sent that to everyone in town. ]

[andthisgunifound]

[Ah... well, I guess this means everyone else will show up. That's fine.]

I'll meet you at the river, then. Try not to get defeated by everyone else you just texted before I get there.

[decksgongiveittoya]

[ By the time she gets there, he's already laid out a couple of loudmouths and tough guys who thought they could thrown down with a Dark General. His minions, dozens of fools, hang from the nearby cell phone tower that...has a giant pompadour on it. And is leaning towards the river in a way that makes no sense at all if it's still just a cell phone tower. ]

2

[sameenergy]

[Mari is probably used to other magical girls having parent problems. Like "a rival magical girl doxxed me and killed my parents for revenge over kill-stealing a monster." Or "my parents noticed I was out all night and coming home injured, assumed something, and threw me out." Or... well, when Ena complained that she was having "parent problems," Mari probably didn't expect to see her just groaning and shaking her head at a harmless text with a bunch of happy emoji.]

They're so embarrassing. They bring this huge banner to every game and fill an entire row of bleachers with all our relatives and some of the neighbours. "Energy-chaaaaaan!" I just try and tell the girls it's a dumb nickname they're trying to get to catch on. And playoffs are coming up! What are they gonna do next, paint themselves in the school colours?

[andthisgunifound]

[Mari had been bracing herself to hear what had happened all the way here. And then... what?

She stares at Ena like she's from another planet. Which, in a manner of speaking, she is.]

I don't understand. You said there was a problem, right?

[sameenergy]

Yeah, the problem is I'm going to die of embarrassment. [sigh] Like, I know it could be worse. At least they support me. Some of the other girls, their parents don't even go to the games, or say they should quit sports and focus on whatever they want their kid to do instead. But they're a little too supportive, Mari-san, and they go at their own pace. Like, one time Mom went on autopilot, threw the supper in the garbage, and put the bag of scraps that was going to the garbage into the oven. We had takeout for two weeks after that.

[She sighs, runs her hands through her hair, and finally notices Mari's expression.]

...uh, are you feeling okay?

[andthisgunifound]

[Mari exhales, finally letting herself relax a little. Once again, she had assumed the worst, and the worst hadn't come true.]

Ena, I thought you meant your parents had been attacked, or they were trying to kill someone, or... [Or one had left when she was a baby, and the other had been killed by a Fabrikant, leaving her to fend for herself for two years.]

Look, they love you. They're still here. That's important, right?

[sameenergy]

[Ena breathes in audibly and bites her lip. Slowly, she nods and looks away.]

...Yeah. Sorry. I know you must've gone through a lot before you transferred here.

[She'd initially been wary of Mari, worried that her seniors were going to get hurt hanging around this clearly dangerous person, but she sucked it up and tried to be friendly too, and it had all worked out. Mostly, anyway.]

So I guess my problems are kind of dumb. I didn't mean to freak you out or anything.

[andthisgunifound]

...Sorry. I shouldn't make light of someone else's problems.

[It's hard to put herself in Ena's shoes. She honestly doesn't know the girl very well. But, she tries.]

I... don't have any family left. I wish I could see this like you do and understand, but it's hard for me. I've spent a long time trying not to get too close to anyone. I don't really know what it's like to be smothered like that. [Like a man dying of thirst trying to imagine drowning.]

[sameenergy]

No, it's my fault. I don't wanna dump this stuff on you guys too much. I can't even imagine what it's like for you, either. Or even someone like Tomi-senpai, whose family's there and normal, but they want her to be someone she's not. I guess I need to chill out. ...Even if I kinda just want to go into hiding every time a teacher can't pronounce my name with the random kanji my parents threw on it and they dig out the form to check the furigana.

[andthisgunifound]

I guess... I'm the one who's weird. The life I had wasn't normal. I'm basically an alien here.

Everything about the way you people live is strange to me. You all treat fighting like a game, where both sides can act like friends when they aren't on the battlefield. Then, when you go home... everyone's lives are normal. It's completely separate, like you've never known battle.

...Actually, is that why you have code names? To keep your personal life and your life as a magical girl separate. That would kind of make sense.

[sameenergy]

I guess so! I mean, we wouldn't want people to find out who we were. I mean, a lot of people get lectures about not standing out... not me, but other people. If you're not allowed to try and be an idol, something weird like a magical girl is right out, you know? And it also shows that we're a team, since we all have something in common.

[andthisgunifound]

[Mari is quietly thoughtful for a long moment at that.]

...Am I part of that team? Or am I still an outsider?

[sameenergy]

...Look. Mari-san, I used to be freaked out by you. I'll admit that. But Tetsu-senpai and everyone else, we've all welcomed you. We always do. Maybe you don't look quite the same as us, and your powers come from something else, and maybe you're not used to fighting the same way. But you don't have to be the same as us to be one of us.

[andthisgunifound]

[She nods quietly. Ena is honest and straightforwards to a fault, but Mari finds it refreshing. It's not hard to figure out where you stand with her.]

Thanks. I guess I must seem pretty scary, compared to how people act in your world.

[sameenergy]

[She gives a wide smile and laughs a little.] Most people here haven't even seen a gun outside of, like, movies. I gotta say, I didn't even know what to make of all this stuff. But... I'm happy you came here. We all are.

Tetsu Time

[andthisgunifound]

[It's been a while since Mari came to this world. She's learned, struggled, hit rock bottom, fought her friends, and grown as a person. And, at long last, is starting to let herself care about the friends she's made here. To believe that they won't be taken away from her.

Her low point - succumbing to despair, transforming, and fighting against her own new team - came and went a few days ago. She's been afraid of being hated by the others in the aftermath, but that didn't happen either. She's always ready to be let down, but it keeps not happening.

Tonight, Mari is spending the night at Tetsu's house. No special reason for it, Tetsu just offered, and she accepted. They spent a lot of the evening talking and watching youtube videos and generally doing normal things, but Mari's been on edge for most of it. Not for the normal reasons she's on edge, but because there's something on her mind. Something she can't stop thinking about. Someone she can't stop thinking about.

The words come out without her having put much thought into what she's saying.]

...You're blinding.