Daichi: This takes place sometime in the early game.
Verity: We don't own any of this.
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It had been a long time since Paper Luigi went on a proper adventure. Getting into the swing of things wasn't that easy, especially when things weren't even in their proper dimensions. The fact that he had a total of two previous adventures to his name, and that neither of them had been all that great, didn't help.
He had taken a bit of time to properly adjust, to figure out this new world, but there were things he couldn't quite understand. He quickly realized that there were more differences than he'd previously thought. That realization was never far away, in the form of his counterpart.
Slight differences, like how Mario was more talkative, he could understand. But his counterpart was so different from himself it was impossible to reconcile the adventurer he was traveling with and himself as being any form of the same person.
'I see a similarity. You're both idiots.' Ignoring Mr. L, he sat down at the edge of the campsite, watching the fire that Mario had lit as it flickered. 'Honestly, you're fine with them having powers you don't, but suddenly, someone turns out to have a lick of courage and it's impossible to think about. How does that make any sense?'
If he thought logically? It didn't, not really. But he wasn't about to admit that the voice was right.
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It had been a long time since Luigi last turned down an adventure. It was a familiar rhythm that he fell into, with Mario just ahead and Starlow's assistance and the princess inevitably getting kidnapped along the way. It felt right.
There was a difference to the adventure this time around. Another adventurer. His counterpart was so much like him, in so many ways, that it would have been surreal to someone who hadn't experienced the same thing, or something similar, so many times before.
Paper Luigi didn't have the same electric essence that he did, or the instincts that came about with years of experience. Still, the line differentiating the two was thin, even if it seemed wider at first glance.
Part of what helped the distinction was time. There were still his detractors, but these days, even if a number couldn't remember his name, they couldn't remember his failings as easily as they had before. The passage of time had dulled those memories, and maybe, with more time, they might start taking note of his accomplishments.
He hadn't forgotten, though. He'd learned to put his fears out of the way, to take caution without letting on that he was afraid. It was a sort of mask, and he wore it well, but he still understood fear. Luigi could tell that Paper Luigi was afraid, if not for himself, than for the missing Paper Mario.
It might have been more accurate to compare Paper Luigi to himself about three years in the past, but some feelings were impossible to forget. Nobody knew where Paper Mario was, and Paper Luigi was scared of something happening to him. Luigi could sympathize.
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They were like two sides of a mirror, but the reflection wasn't perfect. Still, neither would voice that thought, simply waiting for the dawn to come.
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Daichi: Of the main characters, I think that these two are the most different, but at the same time, they have more in common than one might think. They just developed in opposite directions.