Hi everyone, this is Anonymous Girl Gamer! This is my first fanfic, and I'm pretty excited about it! Strictly speaking, the characters are OOC, but as it's implied in the summary, they are actors and actresses. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Nintendo's characters or games. Without Nintendo, this fanfic wouldn't have been possible.
"Yet another Mario game," thought Johnny Hillis, better known as the famous Super Mario. "When will I ever do something different?"
For years, Johnny had been acting in the same game franchise. Unlike a lot of the others, he was one of the only actors they had used from the start for Mario's part. The only other examples he could think of were Waluigi, Peach, Luigi and Rosalina.
Now, he had been informed that they were filming cutscenes for the games Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros and Mario vs Donkey Kong - Tipping Stars. It was common for different games to be filmed at the same time.
As expected, himself, Pauline and Donkey Kong would be the main characters in the latter game. Tears formed in his eyes as he remembered Pauline. Not the Pauline of nowadays with her glossy dark hair and curvy body. The original Pauline. The blonde Pauline. His Pauline. Of course, that wasn't her real name. She was called Martha Byrd in real life, Martha Hillis after they had wed. He called her Pauline, because all of the actors and actresses for the Mario series had a habit of referring to each other by their stage names.
It had been his first time in the filming business. He had been young, silly, optimistic, a far cry from the way he was now. The game was called Donkey Kong; he still had a copy tucked away in a drawer. That was when he had met Martha. She had a beautiful face and a personality to match. They had gotten married not long after they had finished filming.
They had been together for four blissful years, until a tragic car accident took her life. Johnny (nicknamed Mario) still missed her to that day. Whenever he left the house, he always kissed her photo beforehand, which he placed at the very centre of his mantelpiece.
He had been sent scripts to learn off. "What script?" he thought bitterly. "I barely get any speaking lines."
It was true. He may have been the main character, but he rarely said anything apart from "Mamma mia!", "Let's-a go!" and "Wahoo!". How ironic that Luigi, the underdog, had so much more lines, and was also the funniest of the two. And no, they were not brothers in real life. He was tired of being asked by fans if they were. Once they ripped off the moustaches and bushy eyebrows and removed the prosthetic noses, they looked nothing alike.
And no, he also was not fat. That was just clever padding around the stomach. And no, he was not Italian. He was American born and bred, as were Luigi, Wario and Waluigi.
He was tired of people seeing him as a cheerful hero when he felt the exact opposite. Then again, he had been doing the same job for so long that he often found himself using Mario's expressions in conversation. It was starting to scare him, the way he was slowly but surely losing his identity to a fictional plumber.
"Hey bro, cheer up!" said "Luigi" happily, the minute Mario entered the studio. "Isn't this great? We're in another game!"
"For the fiftieth time Luigi, don't call me bro," said Mario, irritated. Luigi was annoyingly cheerful off set. He liked the stage Luigi a lot more. He suited Mario's gloomy nature better. "And where's the joy of being in another game? It's just one more lineless part I have to play."
Luigi didn't like pessimism much, so he went off to join the others. He was extremely friendly, and was evreyone's best friend. There were only two actresses he didn't get along with, and they were "Peach" and her daughter in real life, "Rosalina".
Like himself, the actress for Peach had never changed, and how he wished she'd be replaced! She was unrecognisable from the red haired teenager he had known years ago. Her hair was dyed an unnatural shade of blonde, her lips were considerably fuller and her face looked suspiciously young for her age. She denied having any surgery done, but everyone else knew better.
As for Rosalina, she was a carbon copy of her horrible mother. She frequently tormented "Daisy" in particular, mocking her for being just a spin-off character, and laughed because they had given Peach a Daisy costume instead of including the Princess of Sarasaland herself in Super Smash Bros.
Other than those two women, he was fine with his job, even if it got monotonous sometimes.
"Daisy" sat in a corner of the studio, watching everyone else having fun. Well, everyone except Peach and Rosalina, who were gossiping as usual.
The world knew her as Princess Daisy, the tomboy, the sassiest of the lot. The actors, however, knew her as Daisy in the corner, Daisy who rarely spoke.
She loved her job, even with her shyness. She loved it so much, she would go to the studio even when she wasn't needed, like now, just to see how everything was going. It gave her a chance to be someone she wasn't, someone she had always wanted to be.
She wasn't the first Daisy. The previous actress had been fired for being too sweet for the part. The current Daisy had watched the cutscenes where the old Daisy had acted in, and it was obvious that she hadn't the same flair for acting as herself. She acted like a Peach knockoff. Daisy hated to brag, even to herself, but it was true, and even she, with her confidence issues, could see that.
It took a lot for her to be nice to Peach on screen. They hated each other, and Peach would always find a way to humiliate her.
She wished that Waluigi was her love interest in the games instead of Luigi. Luigi was nice off screen, but it was Waluigi she found the most attractive. He looked comically ugly with his hideous mask, but when it came off, he was actually quite cute, if a little too thin. Too bad they barely got any screen time together, and when they did, she was supposed to hate him.
She wished she wasn't so shy. Waluigi might notice her then. But she couldn't, just couldn't bring herself to talk to him. Every time she even saw him, she blushed beet red and avoided eye contact. There was simply no hope.
Another problem for her was Rosalina. Peach was nowhere near as mean to her, and that was saying something. Rosalina jeered at her at every opportunity, and made her life a misery, especially since she had been chosen over Daisy in both Super Smash Bros and Super Mario 3D World.
It felt like a slap in the face. To think they had given Peach her costume and a wig, when Daisy had been waiting for a place in Smash for years. To think that Rosalina, her rival, had been included.
At this rate, she was going to lose her job. It seemed as if no one wanted the orange princess anymore.
"Bowser" was the newbie and the youngest actor. He was only eighteen years old, and the fourth person to act as Bowser. Not that gamers could tell the difference, since he was hidden underneath a costume.
He had to admit, he hated it there. Apparently the other Bowsers had quit as they couldn't endure the heat or the weight of the monstrous disguise. If he hadn't been so desperate for a job, he would have done the same.
Honestly, could the director not change the plot a little? Why did Bowser always have to kidnap Peach? Who would want to put up with her ditzy personality for more than ten minutes? Why couldn't she get better security? And also, why did she have such a high pitched voice? He had played Super Mario 64, where Peach had spoken in her normal voice, and in his opinion it sounded much better.
If she was bad on screen, she was worse behind the scenes. He couldn't stand her bullying ways, especially towards poor Daisy, the nicest person there. The same went for the jealous Rosalina, who had an obvious crush on him. He stuck up for Daisy whenever he could, much to their disgust.
"Look, hottie, defend your little girlfriend all you want, who's so out of your league, by the way. I don't care. Besides, I'm not bullying the little mouse, I'm just pointing out her many flaws. It's for her own good."
He didn't believe in leagues, he never had. All the girls seemed to fawn over his dark eyes, his shaggy red hair, his flawless pale skin. But he liked shyer girls, girls like Daisy. It didn't matter that she wasn't the most popular, or the most stereotypically pretty. He often tried to get her attention by winking or staring or saying hi to her, but to no avail. She looked down more than up, and it was hard to believe that she was the same person on screen, with her hands on her hips and annoyingly loud voice.
Somehow, he was going to conquer her. She was a challenge, no doubt about that. He wasn't used to being ignored by a girl he liked, and he wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Waluigi" was sick of it. Again, he had not been a playable character in Super Smash Bros. He wouldn't have minded that much, but why on earth were there non Nintendo characters in the game?
Usually, he would have just stayed at home when he wasn't wanted, but that day, he decided to make the best of a bad day and socialise with his fellow actors.
He chatted with his friends once he arrived. As he was laughing at a joke, he noticed Daisy, sitting on her own as always. He felt guilty for not speaking to her before. She must be a bit lonely.
He slipped away discretely and sat next to her.
"Hi," he said.
Daisy went bright red and said nothing.
"Wow, she really is shy," thought Waluigi. Then, out loud, "So... how's things?"
Daisy shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the ground. It was tough to start a conversation with her.
"Anything wrong? You look a bit down."
She finally made eye contact with Waluigi. "No..."
"You sure?"
After a moment's hesitation, "Actually... yeah."
"Care to tell me about it?"
She puffed out her cheeks before saying, "Well... no, it's stupid. I'll bore you."
"That's okay." He looked as if he was about to leave, but Daisy didn't want that. It took every last ounce of her courage for her to say, "Actually... I'd like to talk."
Waluigi sat down again, listening.
"Do you feel... do you ever feel... how will I put this... overshadowed? Unimportant? That no matter how much you try to be a success, there is someone much better than you who will eventually replace you and you know you'll probably lose your job because of it?
Daisy's voice had gotten higher and higher until she was practically shouting. Years of pain and rejection finally took their toll on her as she sobbed.
Waluigi put his arm around her and replied, "Yes. I know exactly what you mean. But don't worry. One day, we'll be the best. Our fans will want us in more games. And they won't be able to ignore them for much longer, not unless they want to lose out."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
Waluigi was glad that someone finally felt the same as himself. This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Sorry if it was a bit depressing, and to all Peach and Rosalina fans, I'm sorry for making them jerks in this story. I actually love those two characters in real life. Please review!