#jessicawesker83

[pianokantzart]

Do you think Mario and Bowser are gonna have more interactions in the sequel? Cause they’ve only interacted with each other a few times in the final battle. First it was when Mario was full blown terrified of the Koopa that he ended up fleeing for his life, causing him to hide in Punch-Out Pizzeria. Then Bowser starts taunting the poor plumber, making all that confidence shrink as Mario started to feel helpless. Lastly, it was when Mario tells Bowser to leave DK alone, making Bowser say “You just don’t know when to quit!” and Mario replies, “Yeah, I’ve been told that before.” Rebuilding that confidence again after seeing his commercial. So, do you think Mario’s gonna have more interactions with Bowser in the future? Do you think there will be more confrontation scenes in the sequels?

I mean, there's got to be, right? Mario and Bowser in the videogame universe have been archnemeses for so long that, in some cases, they've almost come completely around to being frenemies. Now, I don't see the "frenemies" route happening in the cinematic universe given what an unhinged maniac Movie Bowser is, but I also don't think Bowser has interacted with Mario enough to make them archnemeses yet.

Right now, Mario and Luigi probably think that defeating Bowser was a one-and-done deal and they never have to deal with him again. On the flip side, Bowser probably considers Mario nothing more than a nuisance who got very lucky. With the super star used up, Bowser likely believes that the effects of the mini-mushroom is the only thing keeping him from easily snuffing out the plumbers and getting back to life as he knew it.

That's one of the main things I'm excited about seeing in the sequel: Mario and Luigi establishing themselves as an actual force to be reckoned with, super star or no super star.

[possum-quesadilla]

The first chapter of Lonely Remnants, the fic about my CorpseJuice AU, is up! It’s called “Your body may be gone, I'm gonna carry you in, In my head, in my heart, in my soul”.

CorpseJuice is an AU where Lydia’s mother dies in a car accident, and her adopted brother, Lawrence, goes missing and is presumed dead. A year later, she stumbles upon a demon puppeteering his corpse! She and the demon work together to find out what happened the night of the wreck, and who her brother really was.

Please read the warnings attached to the start of the chapter before continuing, this fic is a doozy!

Here are the extras for chapter one!

- The lyrics for this first chapter are from “Ocean Breathes Salty” by Modest Mouse! It is very literal for Lydia and her lost family members. I wonder if it’ll come back later?

- “Lawrence Graham” - Since his last name can’t be Shoggoth, I decided to pick a last name that has relevance to the plot! But I can’t tell you what sort of relevance yet. Because spoilers.

- “He could look at someone and know in an instant just what to do to scare the absolute shit out of them.” - This is a sort of joking reference to Beetlejuice’s line in “That Beautiful Sound”, about “clean white shorts turning brown”!

- “Talking Heads and MCR” - I listen to one of these. The other my best friend listens to and says he thinks Beetlejuice would be really into.

- “the ‘TinyTimes Hardware store’” - Thank you @jessicawesker83 for this whimsical suggestion. I love it!

- “Barbara Butterfield” - thank you @bjfinn and @ten-chocolate-sundaes for helping me figure out a good maiden name for Barbara!

- “Lydia remembered her mother cheering for Lawrence when he’d finally asked them to “hang out” with him, seeing some sort of cheesy horror comedy flick with them.” - IT’S MY FIC AND I GET TO PICK THE ANACHRONISTIC MOVIE THEY SEE IN THEATERS!! They saw “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” because I said so

- “One moment, Lydia and her mother were laughing and singing along to ‘Jump in the line’ by Harry Belafonte.” - This is, of course, a reference to the line in the musical where Lydia says that this was one of Emily’s favorite songs.

- “Only a portion of his left arm, and six liters of his blood were found in his stupid, beat-up old green 2001 Volkswagen Beetle.” - the most blood a human can lose and still survive is two liters. Also, get it? A Volkswagen Beetle? A green buggy?

- “Charles refused to pay for a cemetery plot, and certainly not one next to Emily.” - What an ass! I wonder why this is.

- “Jumping off the old bridge at the edge of town, into frigid waters, letting them carry her to wherever her home was now.” - This is a reference to Barbara and Adam’s death, and how Lydia planned to kill herself in the original film. It is also a reference to how she often called her mom “home” in the musical.

- “They sat huddled together and watched his favorite movies. ‘Zombieland’, ‘Groundhog Day’, ‘The Mask’.” - Haha, “Zombieland”. ‘Cause he’s a zombie now. Also yeah “Groundhog Day” is a sort of reference to LoopJuice, sue me. Notice how Lawrence only really likes comedies! He was actually pretty squeamish with blood and gore that wasn’t for the haunted house.

- “Barbara and Adam helped Lydia find a counselor that same day. Her name was Kerry, and although she was resistant at first, she’d helped Lydia tremendously.” - The name ‘Kerry’ is, of course, a reference to Barbara’s actor in the musical, Kerry Butler! I just think she’d have such a calming presence, and that she’d listen to you so well.

- “They both wore a necklace each; a simple chain with a ring attached. They got them shortly after the accident. Lydia had never gotten a good look at them, but she could take a guess as to what they were. (In June, she got her hands on the police report. A box with identical engagement rings had been found in Lawrence’s glovebox, and were handed off to “next of kin”.) Barbara and Adam never took the necklaces off.” - Ouchie. Are we connecting the dots here? Because I don’t like the image they’re makin’.

- Bellflowers mean everlasting love, forget-me-nots are pretty self explanatory. Also, bellflowers are purple! Lawrence loved purple and green.

- Sunflowers obviously represent happiness, which is a little ironic, but Lydia chose them more because they were her mother’s favorite.

- “A dirty, stained, shredded grey trench coat, the arms caked in dark splotches she could only hope was just mud. (They were black and russet brown, so probably not.) The left sleeve of his trench coat was tied off, most of that arm obviously missing. His hair was wild, stained green from what seemed to be moss growing on what little she could see of his face, as well as on his clothing and down his neck. A… somewhat familiar red button-up underneath, patterned with beetles, and tattered black slacks- ” - Yeah, he is dressed like Beetlejuice’s cemetery appearance in the movie! But he is not a KeatonJuice. The button-up and pants were what Lawrence was wearing when the crash happened, and the trench coat… let’s say the demon stole it.

- “C’mon, Scarecrow, don’t be so glum. I’ll be back before you know it.” - This was the last thing Lawrence ever said to Lydia before leaving for his “family emergency”.

- “Lars!” - Lydia’s own nickname for Lawrence.

- “Like he’d gargled a bowl of nails every day for the past century without any milk.” - Sorry not sorry for the SpongeBob reference.

- “His skin was a sickly sort of green, with moss patches growing on his face, and various sickly bruises dotting all of his visible skin.” … “His movements were stiff and robotic..” - Sorry, I studied forensic science for a few years, so there is a lot of gross dead body stuff in this fic that I will do my best to tone down. The “bruising” is livor mortis, or discoloration of the skin after death. The weird, stiff movements is from the demon being a freak as well as rigor mortis, or the stiffening of the joints/limbs after death.

- “Number 88, to be specific. We’re part of a big collective, see? A big ol’… mishmash of primordial goop.” - The demon’s true form is goo. The black stains on Lawrence’s face is it leaking out. This Beetlejuice is more Lovecraft than Dante’s Inferno. Also, #88 is a reference to the year the original film came out!

- “Let me take the driver’s seat!” - This is a reference to the song Alex Brightman sings in “Dead End: Paranormal Park” as his characters Pugsley and Temeluchus. The similarities were an accident.

- “Shuddering twitches wracked through it’s body, moving up from it’s legs, to it’s torso, to it’s shoulders, then it’s head, but it didn’t seem to care.” - The twitches and shakes are from both the demon being a weirdo (and AuDHD but we don’t have time to unpack that) and from algor mortis, or the body cooling after death.

- “Whatever-the-fuck. The.. it’s a chemical only found in brains. Gotta eat it or risk total rejection from the host.” - Yeah I kinda stole the idea from “Venom”. Yes there will be more things I stole from “Venom”. Let a creature (me) have fun and borrow things from their favorite rom-com!

[ask-the-koopa-family]

Bowser, you do need to gain weight. @jessicawesker83 has an invalid point. You’re so thin, you thumb out like a sore stick. (I’m just being honest okay, don’t get mad)

[pianokantzart]

in the Mario Movie, how do you think the final battle would’ve gone if Mario encountered Bowser earlier in the film? Think about it, he was fearless when he punched the Bowser cutout during the training montage, but at the climax, he was full blown terrified of the real deal.

I think it would've gone similarly, if not worse. Let's be real, that cardboard cutout in no way prepared him for the size and sturdiness of the real thing.

There's at least a four foot discrepancy between the two.

[pianokantzart]

How delusional do you think Bowser is in the Mario Movie? He genuinely thought Mario was in love with Peach the moment they met but in reality, they’re just friends. He thought Peach found Mario attractive, even though they only knew each other for a few days. Hell, he even thought it was okay to straight up massacre all his prisoners as a “wedding gift” for Peach and assume it was fine. He genuinely thought she’d be cool with murder and a forced wedding despite knowing that she hates him. Bowser thought that Peach cared a little bit about him, but not at all. So what’s your opinion on Bowser’s delusions? You think Mario would be able to smack some sense into the lizard’s tiny brain?

I think he's semi-delusional. He's delusional to the extent that he lets his emotions and pride cloud his thoughts and judgement, but he's not completely off his rocker. From an outsider's perspective, Bowser did have reason to worry about Mario winning Peach's affections. For the longest time she was one of (if not the) only one of her kind in that dimension. Then, suddenly, out of the blue comes a human guy around her same age that she immediately takes under her tutelage? Given the little Bowser knows, feeling defensive and jealous isn't all that irrational.

What is irrational is how jealous Bowser got. He sent his most respected and powerful general to kill Mario, and when that general straight up killed himself up to complete his mission all Bowser could do was celebrate that Mario was... as far as he knew... out of the picture.

Then there was the way Bowser made Mario the scapegoat for his wedding's failure despite the fact that Peach's defiance had wrecked the ceremony long before Mario crashed it.

Speaking of the wedding...

I don't think Bowser believed Peach would be okay with the sacrifices. In fact, the entire thing seems to be out of spite for his bride-to-be's earlier attempts to foil him, but his mistake was thinking that he had already won. Bowser had The Mushroom Kingdom under siege and had captured the princess' allies, so now he felt free to do whatever he wanted without pushback or consequence, forgetting just how determined and resourceful the princess was.

Bowser's feelings for Peach are complicated. He knows that she hates him, and part of him likes that she hates him and enjoys their feud, but I think the part of him that craves romantic affection believes that if he chips away at her long enough she'll eventually come around and love him for his "true self."

That's never going to happen of course, not while his "true self" is the way that it is, but beyond knowing she is a beautiful and capable fighter Bowser doesn't really seem to know Peach at all despite being so smitten.

And his delusions are nuanced and based in enough reality that no beatdown in the world is going to set him straight.

[pianokantzart]

hey, sorry if my ask was a bit too long. I was getting ahead of myself.

No worries! I actually quite enjoy long asks I'm not good at answering everything, but it's nice to read other people's thoughts.