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

[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.