first bullet :: video (spoilers!)
[When Mami opens her eyes to find herself upon a bed of flowers instead of inside the belly of a monster, it's impossible for her to think much of it at first.
After all, she had just died.
She realized it in her final moments, before everything went dark, and the memories flooding back now as she fully wakes up are still vivid enough to be nightmarish. Obviously she's dead, so just as obviously she must be in the afterlife. With that in mind, Mami doesn't really question being able to breathe again, to see and hear and feel. Still, she certainly wasn't prepared for anything quite like this- where are the clouds, the angels and their harps? She arises, collects her things, reads the scroll provided by the cat all in a confused daze, her body moving automatically- mechanically. Then, simply because it seems like the only logical thing to do first in such an illogical situation, Mami decides to try her luck with the "Vine"; eventually, after several tries, the leafy plant obliges her request to communicate by curling around a sudden and strange mirror.
The smile on her face hasn't faltered during any of this. She doesn't even know it's there. It's both her mask and who she is, the lonely blankness cultivated to look like calmness.]
...I have to say, I wasn't expecting the other side to resemble a garden. It's very beautiful, of course- I'm not trying to complain. But I still can't help but be curious when nearly everything I've heard turns out to be wrong, you know?
If anyone is out there, I'd like an explanation, please. [a pause as she glances down to rifle through her recovered belongings; the smile she can't feel grows bigger. Too many small things are starting to pick holes, cause doubt, invite feelings of disquiet: ah- she still has her Soul Gem....?] ....The cute cat that gave me a scroll already left, otherwise I would have tried to ask him, or her.
At the very least, it can't be a dream. Maybe we were wrong about what the final utopia would be like, but it's obviously impossible for the dead to dream. [She says that last part quietly, almost bitterly. It's sinking in more and more with each passing minute.]
After all, she had just died.
She realized it in her final moments, before everything went dark, and the memories flooding back now as she fully wakes up are still vivid enough to be nightmarish. Obviously she's dead, so just as obviously she must be in the afterlife. With that in mind, Mami doesn't really question being able to breathe again, to see and hear and feel. Still, she certainly wasn't prepared for anything quite like this- where are the clouds, the angels and their harps? She arises, collects her things, reads the scroll provided by the cat all in a confused daze, her body moving automatically- mechanically. Then, simply because it seems like the only logical thing to do first in such an illogical situation, Mami decides to try her luck with the "Vine"; eventually, after several tries, the leafy plant obliges her request to communicate by curling around a sudden and strange mirror.
The smile on her face hasn't faltered during any of this. She doesn't even know it's there. It's both her mask and who she is, the lonely blankness cultivated to look like calmness.]
...I have to say, I wasn't expecting the other side to resemble a garden. It's very beautiful, of course- I'm not trying to complain. But I still can't help but be curious when nearly everything I've heard turns out to be wrong, you know?
If anyone is out there, I'd like an explanation, please. [a pause as she glances down to rifle through her recovered belongings; the smile she can't feel grows bigger. Too many small things are starting to pick holes, cause doubt, invite feelings of disquiet: ah- she still has her Soul Gem....?] ....The cute cat that gave me a scroll already left, otherwise I would have tried to ask him, or her.
At the very least, it can't be a dream. Maybe we were wrong about what the final utopia would be like, but it's obviously impossible for the dead to dream. [She says that last part quietly, almost bitterly. It's sinking in more and more with each passing minute.]