Chapter 1: Maricraft
"Mari, Mari! No, you just killed me!" Whined Sohinki, guest-starring on this weeks edition of Mari-craft.
"It was an accident!" Mari yelled back, laughing, as a mob of cuddly cats ran around where Sohinki had just been standing a few moments ago.
"Stop spawning your stupid-ass cats," Sohinki grumbled, now on a mission to kill Mari in revenge. Seeing this, Mari ran away quickly.
"No, it was an accident! I can't help that they hate you!" But he quickly caught her and killed her. "UGH, Sohinki I f*cking hate you!" She attempted to kill him, breaking through houses and ruining their surroundings to get to him.
"Shut up you two," Lasercorn yelled, "you're ruining Lasercornia, get out!" He ran after them trying to shoot them with his bow and arrow.
"Oops, really?" Mari teased, casually lighting a few of the buildings on fire-Sohinki, seeing this, stopped fighting Mari and joined in.
"NO!" Lasercorn yelled, successfully killing the two and putting out the fire.
"Awh, you're no fun Lasercorn," Mari whined, laughing still.
"Wait, Mari-guess what I found." Sohinki said, sounding very mischievous but completely stoked.
"Oh god," sighed Wes, fearful.
"What?" Mari asked, curious.
"Joven's castle." Replied Sohinki, smugly, sounding almost evil.
"Hahahahah, oh no. Well, Joven's done for." Laughed Wes, "Where is it Sohinki?"
"I'll send you the coordinates."
"Me too!" said Mari.
"And to me as well!" Yelled Lasercorn, eager to burn down someone else's home for once.
"Well, as much as I'd love to burn the castle to the ground," laughed Sohinki, "we're gonna have to wait until the next episode for that!"
The gang finished shooting and turned off the cameras, sighing and stretching after a few long hours of being hunched over at their desks. They got up and grabbed all of their stuff, planning to go out to eat at a nearby Chinese place down the street, since they'd been shooting a later night Maricraft. As they were walking out the door, Lasercorn stopped to answer his phone.
"Hello?...Oh...No, it's okay, I'll be home soon, okay?...Yeah. No don't worry about it. Are you okay? ...Okay, I'll be home in a few." He hung up and looked at his phone worriedly for a moment.
"Is everything alright?" Mari asked, concerned.
"Yeah..." Lasercorn said, "I...uh...well, there's sort of a problem at home, Brina doesn't want me to talk about it a lot but I really need to get home fast..." he started to walk out and stopped short, "Sh*t, she drove me today cause my car's at the shop..."
"It's okay, I can drive you," Wes volunteered.
"Are you sure?" Lasercorn asked gratefully.
"Yeah!" Wes said, trying to be supportive.
"Me and Sohinki can come too," Mari offered, wanting to be encouraging.
"No, guys, thanks...it'd really be best if it was just me and not a crowd. Brina really just needs to talk to me... seriously go eat. Wes can catch up with you after maybe." Lasercorn said, sounding melancholic and giving Wes an apologetic look.
"Don't worry about it Lasercorn, but let's get you home." Wes said, smiling. "Bye Mari, bye Sohinki, I'll call to give you an update."
"Okay...thanks Wes." Mari said, "We're here for you Lasercorn." She hugged him quickly.
"I hope everything's alright, man." Sohinki said, touching Lasercorn's shoulder. Lasercorn thanked them and said goodbye and with that, he and Wes left. Mari and Sohinki stood around for a moment, unsure what to do before Sohinki snapped out of it.
"Let's go Mari, it won't do us any good to just sit around here, and plus Wes might wanna meet up again soon," He said, trying to convince himself.
"I just hope everything is okay," Mari said, looking doubtful. Sohinki put a comforting arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently to his side as they walked out.
"It will be, I'm completely sure of it," he responded, not sounding completely sure, but still his words helped Mari a little. She put her arm around his waist and they walked out to his car before separating. They were just extremely close, and physical contact was normal for them, especially when trying to reassure each other. It was weird for them to see their friend so frazzled and worried about something when he was usually always goofy and joking around...it scared them. But they got into the car and Sohinki tried to take their minds off of it by asking Mari to choose the music. She was too distracted though, and eventually just put on some random radio station and sat silently staring out the windshield. He left the parking garage and started driving to their beloved restaurant, and they were almost there before Mari broke the silence.
"Hey Sohinki?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna know what's weird?"
"What's that?" he asked, smiling, because he was sure she was going to say something silly or cute, or funny, because she was Mari and those were like her three settings.
"Lasercorn is freaking married. Like what? And like yeah I'm in a serious relationship but he's freaking married." Sohinki blinked, completely not expecting that answer.
"Well..yeah," he replied, unsure what the issue was. "He has been for a while now."
"But like, that's so much responsibility. How does he know he wants to be with her for the rest of his life? Like how can he tell that it's right? It's f**king terrifying! Marriage is a huge-ass deal!" Mari almost yelled, exasperated, and slumped down in her seat, looking out the window. Sohinki pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked the car. There was a long moment of silence where Sohinki was digesting what she had just said.
"Mari..." he said, looking at her as she still pouted, silently staring at the sky. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Besides the fact that one of our best friends is having some family emergency that we know nothing about." She snapped, sounding horribly bitter. Sohinki looked at her for another moment, knowing that something else had to be bothering her when he noticed an eyelash on her cheek.
"Mari, look at me." He said softly.
"Why?"
"Just 'cause."
"Hm." She didn't move.
"Mari. Come on." He said, in more of a pleading voice. She groaned and turned towards him.
"What?" she asked, impatiently.
"You have an eyelash on your cheek," he answered, gently picking it up and holding it out. When she just sat there staring at him he laughed softly and explained, "You gotta blow it away and make a wish." He smiled at her, waiting for her to do so and he looked so genuinely enthusiastic about it that she did without a complaint. They sat together in silence for a minute, Sohinki's hand falling down to pat the back of her's a couple times-somewhat awkwardly but still endearingly. There was another long silence in which Mari looked up at him and smiled briefly before turning back to her window. "What else is bothering you, Mari?" he asked, very concerned for her. She sighed and sat up, turning to face him, but looking down at her hands.
"It's just...I'm not ready for things like marriage. I'm just not-I don't know if I ever will be. It scares me so much and I don't think...I just don't know if it's the right..." She trailed off, looking away from him. He noticed that her eyes became watery and he looked away out of respect-not wanting her to feel embarrassed. He did however, reach into a compartment where he had tissues and handed one to her. She laughed a little, sniffled, and thanked him.
"Mari," he said, wanting to make her feel better, "you don't have to tell me anything, but if you need to talk, I'm always here for you, okay?" She nodded and looked down, scratching the back of her head before attempting to smile, eyes still somewhat teary.
"Thanks Sohinki. I think...I think I do need to talk. I've been hiding something from everyone...And I've been avoiding it completely...It's getting almost unhealthy...It's just um...Well, I went out with Peter the other night and uh...he took me to this really nice restaurant and I think he's so amazing and wonderful and everything but uh..." She trailed off again, looking down in embarrassment.
"It's okay Mari, I won't judge you for anything. But if he hurt you, I might have to kill him."
"No, no, it's nothing like that," she laughed, gently whacking him on the shoulder, "And I could beat him up myself thank you very much." They both laughed at the thought and joked around for a few moments before Mari returned to her somewhat gloomy mood. She cleared her throat and blew her nose and they sat in silence again before Mari continued. "So basically...um what happened is uh...he proposed to me." That caught Sohinki completely by surprise-he felt his stomach drop to the floor. He knew he should've seen it coming, but holy f*ck, this soon? What? He didn't know how to react.
"Oh." he said lamely, his voice cracking slightly, causing Mari to look up. "That's um...wow." He finished, unable to complete a coherent thought.
"Yeah," she agreed, "Right?" She laughed a little at herself and at him, but quickly slumped back into her melancholic gloom.
"Well uh..." Sohinki prompted, "What'd you say?" Completely defeated, Mari dropped her head in her hands.
"I didn't...ugh...I sat there saying nothing like a complete doofus," She looked up at Sohinki, "it was so awful. He looked so happy and sincere and kind and I just sat there with my mouth hanging open for about five minutes. And then he awkwardly got up from his stupid knee and sat back down and I apologized like a million times and told him I just needed to think."
"Holy sh*t." Sohinki said without thinking, scratching his head.
"Yeah, I know...It was so bad. How the f*ck did Lasercorn get married? I don't get it. How do you know? Like I f*cking love Peter, but seriously, marriage? How the h*ll am I supposed to know that I'll love him forever, like what the actual f*ck?"
"Jesus Christ, I don't know, Mari...I'm sorry." He touched her shoulder and she sighed and looked away.
"It's okay," she answered, trying to smile, "I'm just scared to go home. It was a couple weeks ago...and things have been so bad since, I haven't wanted to be around him...especially the past few days... I got away with spending last night with my family but tonight that won't work..." She looked up at him, almost pleading.
"Mari... I know it seems impossible, but you need to go home and face him. Talk things out." Everything inside Sohinki screamed at him to just invite Mari over for the night, but the better half of him knew it wasn't what was best for her. She sighed heavily, turning away from him and a long beat of silence followed.
"Sohinki...I think I'm gonna leave him." She said softly, looking at him for support. He looked back at her in shock, unsure of what to do.
"Mari...Are you sure? You guys have been together for so long-"
"Yeah, we have," she snapped, cutting him off, "and it's the same thing day after day. I f*cking love him-but this can't be all there is. I can't spend my life like this, not with him. It just doesn't feel right...it feels forced, like...I feel like I should love him more but in reality...I don't think I really and truly do..." She let her head fall into her hands and started to cry-her shoulders shaking. She felt so hopeless and confused, she didn't want to hurt Peter but she didn't know what to do. Sohinki hugged her to him-somewhat awkwardly because they were still in the car, but it worked in calming her down. He handed her a few more tissues, still hugging her and gently stroking her hair. Finally she sat up and looked at him, attempting to smile.
"You can stay with me for a little while," He said comfortingly, "for as long as you need. But I'm not gonna let you just run away forever Mari, you gotta face him eventually," a look of worry consumed her and Sohinki quickly added, "but tonight isn't that time." She nodded gratefully, wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks.
"If we stop by my place now, he shouldn't be home from work yet and I can grab some clothes and leave him a note." Mari said and Sohinki nodded, and started to drive away, towards Mari's. He was overjoyed that his best friend would be crashing at his house, but his heart ached for her pain and even a little for Peter. Not to mention he was still consumed with worry for Lasercorn. All in all, tonight wasn't the most peaceful night for the Smosh Gamers, but hopefully it'd end soon enough, and Sohinki and Mari were in desperate need of some food.