Mary Sue

“Temporary peace lets me get my work done, that’s what it does.” Lemons? Grapefruit? “Here, on the shoulder part, see that seam? Flip it up like the hood of a car. Hold down the button underneath for five seconds, that’ll reboot it.”

“No can do, darlin’, that’s no demon in there. Just a whole lotta code that thinks it knows better’n me.” Tyra stood up and unlocked the cage, grabbing the arm and jamming it into the socket adhered to her shoulder without flinching. “Although I can show you how to do a factory reset, that’ll shut it up for a good half-hour.”

There’s a cage that says “naughty gesture jail”, and in that cage is a mechanical arm that’s… trying to pick the lock.

“It’s’n timeout,” says Tyra, watching it with a bored expression on her face. Now she’s leaning on her left arm, since the right one is in the cage. “Made me flip someone off in public.”

She flicks the mechanical arm, letting out a soft ‘ow’ as her past live’s pain receptors reacted. “Its not... alive?” Not in the genuine sense. Artificial Intelligence. Sentience. Programming. It’s- “Complicated.” A nod. She turns toward Tyra, gesturing at the appendage. 

Ensign Sue was somewhere, probably, but nowhere within Lo’s realm of influence or awareness. Executive Meddling, no doubt.

Still, Lorelei smiled from ear to ear. She was glad to see Mary so excited, and they’d only teleported once! It was something close to stability.

(Where did Mary go, when she wasn’t in front of Lorelei? Did she have a home?)

“Thank you,” she said, looking down at her cup. “I still have a lot of work to do, but it’s been a lot of big steps.” She’s not telling a teenager that she’s working on getting therapy, that’s too much for Mary to deal with. But she had, in fact, gotten herself to somewhere better than she was. “Void Beasts are still just the worst, though. One tried to eat the Eiffel Tower last month! The nerve.”

  It’s what the network wants. Why bother to complain? 

      “Any kinds of steps are super memorable, tee-bee-aich. It’s-” As she referred to the general, and unspoken ‘its’, the walls of the room did shiver ever so slightly. If the customers noticed, they didn’t say much about it. “-important to keep an eye on the horizon. Even if you stop moving, so long as you’re going forward.”

  She smiled. Maybe she never stopped smiling? She just was a big smile piloting a girl’s body around, more than likely. Oh, but then the smile fades. VOID BEASTS? An enemy from the past. Not her past specifically, just- the past in general. They weren’t from the future, is what she’s getting at.

There are two things Loki is not used to—well, a few more than two, but two specifically in play at the moment. The first one is being hugged by a stranger, especially another feminine-shaped one, and the second is being in the presence of something vastly, vastly, vastly more powerful than her.

Maybe three things. The girl’s crying, and Loki isn’t the sort anyone comes to for comfort, but considering once more that the goddess doesn’t even feel this waned out of the picture when she’s next to Eternity, she doesn’t have much of a choice but to set a tentative and very, very reluctant hand on her back.

Loki’s mouth opens, and then closes again. What the fuck can she say to this?

Sob. SOB. She’s very sorry about how messy this is. She’s supposed to be a big girl these days, crying into people’s clothes is for children, she’s a big girl now. Aren’t you, Mary? S-o-o-o-o-b~ 

She’s very sorry. I suppose I can handle things for a bit while she composes herself. See, when it comes to ‘new people’, Mary tends to educate herself so as not to step on anyone’s toes, trigger any triggers, do the wrong thing. Y’know? So, as a means of being friendly, and trying not to ruin things, she went and read your backstory, and-

Eris is going to just siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip that comet martini and watch through the vestibule window as detached as can be, and see JUST how long this is going to take. Eh, better give her another few minutes…

“Yeah…there’s a lot of squatters on the grounds…I can handle the headbangers, they’re always amusing…I intend to use my wiles to get them to do my bidding. Won’t be hard. The Spider is SO my kind of people. Not too disappointed in the paranormal dork, she causes enough damge to the point I can’t tell what’s intentional and what’s an actual accident. So, I can appreciate her chaotic energy. Even if it’s neutral-good. 

But the amount of do-gooders and apple polishers here is TOTALLY cramping my style. Especially that over-achieving teen and her obnoxious manner of back-flpping over the furniture to get out for the day. She can stuff it.”

Oh yeah right. The door. But Eris creates her own physical reality wherever she goes so~

“Just phase through the ‘gaping hole of terror’— —The one that looks like a black star that tarred itself and imploded on Celine Dion’s crypt-keeper neckline.”

      “LET ME IIIIIIIN!” Shaking, rattling and rolling against the barrier of salt, water, and varied animal bits! Quoting her favorite meme of the 19th century and wondering just why in the world she wasn’t already inside. You’re not inside because you haven’t gone inside yet, Mary. Just- Just go inside. “I- can’t.” And she does sob, ever-so-lightly, as despair washes over her. Not unlike the salty water washing over you? “N- Not unlike at all, that’s apt.”

  Apt. Okay. I’m gonna leave you to that, Mary, let’s- Let’s go see what- Oh, you’re up here too, huh?  Or maybe Mary and I are just perceptive enough to see you on this plane, now? Maybe the added visitors have changed things? This is beyond chicken and egg, you were here first, we’re just-

      “-just locked out, still! Stop talking to her and tell her to let me in!” That would include talking to her, right? “I-” That’s steam coming out of her ears. She’s had it up to there with these shenanigans.

  Right. She says just come inside, Mary.             “Just?” Come inside. “Really?” Yu-

Holy shit, I- Okay A, I’m very sorry, because this has been sitting here since October 17th? Mary and I were on vacation in Nurnheim, trying to figure out just why it is that fools fall in love. That said, and- Okay, I’m gonna apologize again cause- y’know, my bad, but THAT said, i’m gonna do my best to try and help you here, here we go:

Firstly, you’ve got a very good basis for this character and how she reacts to the world around her. Based on the physics of the 3rd dimension (as understood by 3rd dimensional beings anyway) someone small and agile would lack a lot of physical power, and would have to rely on being a quick™ to win conflicts. What you’ve got going here is a ‘rogue’ as defined by RPG standards across the world, but what you’re lacking is a ‘why’ as defined by me.

Why are they small and quick? Were they malnourished as a kid? Did they get trapped in a secret experiment or laboratory that only let them do speed training instead of strength training? Perhaps they were genetically engineered by their parents (who are also super scientists) to be part of a full set of warriors who would encompass all the feats and tricks necessary for a full force combat unit? 

If you can put a reason behind why she’s good with knives and is also quick and agile, then there’s no way she can be a mary sue, because you’ve given her ample reason to be as she is! as long as the logic is consistent to the universe and the other players then it works just fine. For example, look at the titular One Punch Man. A character touted as strong enough to one shot anything in universe without much effort. Could be construed as a mary sue, but the logic and physics of the universe not only support the character’s ability and prowess, but provide a benchmark for other characters to actually aspire toward and feasibly reach one day (See Garou or even Genos). And you know who calls OPM a Mary Sue? No one, because of ingrained sexism and misogyny, but also because of the other things i said about consistency.