[X] No
[X] Walk Together
I'm agreeing with Faraway here; Mary wants Amanda there. Intellectually, she wants to do this alone because she believes that she needs to do this alone. Emotionally, she knows she can't do this alone, and that Amanda will be there for her no matter what. For all of her intellect, Mary has always come across to me as a person very much in-tune with her emotions. They control her decisions just as much as her intellect, rather than her ascribing mostly to logic. Her determination to save humanity, to continue the work that Amanda began, even if unintentionally, and to live up to her father's legacy...that all is what pushes her to do what she does, as far as I can tell. It isn't just her intellect and her curiosity driving her - she does science for a purpose, and emotionally driven purpose. Just like Amanda, Mary is a paragon of humanity. She is an exemplar of what baseline humans can do, the evidence that Practice isn't needed to make a difference. That just with your mind alone, you can make a stand and change things. But she'd never have gotten that resolve without Amanda. Amanda is the centering force in Mary's life; romance or not, they're partners for life. They are more than best friends, closer than family in some ways, and more tightly bound than lovers. We haven't had much chance to see this because of the way the quest was run when Amanda was president. We're seeing it now though, and assuming that they haven't been this close all along is a folly I refuse to acknowledge.
Their relationship reminds me a lot of my own best friend, albeit with a lot more physical contact. I've been friends with this man since we were toddlers, and though we rarely see each other these days, every single fucking time we do, we just click like there's never been time apart. We both have explained this to people on numerous occasions and no one gets it. We're two halves of whole. We're platonic life partners, no matter the time or distance spent apart. We've both changed a lot, but we still get along like brothers - no, better than brothers, because we both have brothers and neither of us get along nearly as well with them as with each other.
Mary and Mandy remind me of that. And I know that he'd want me to be there in a situation like this, even if he told me not to. Same goes for me. And while me and him are nothing like Amanda and Mary, and our relationship is both so similar and yet so different, well, we're different people. Doesn't keep me from seeing the signs of the same type of connection between Amanda and Mary as between me and him.
At the same time, using Practice to heal those scars...I want Mary to heal naturally. As tempting as it can be, we really shouldn't just use Practice for fucking everything. It's a point we've debated over before, I believe, and it's something I'll stand by. Not only do we not understand practice nearly enough for this sort of shit, we shouldn't be fucking with someone's head with Practice when we don't know what we're doing. Especially not MARY'S HEAD. THE MOST IMPORTANT MIND IN THE FUCKING STAR SYSTEM. So yeah. We support Mary conventionally, the way we always have, not relying on Practice to solve her problems.
If the write-in is allowed, I will be switching to that, because it's the best of both options.
