SPOILER Did Mara just lie in monologue?

[Reimu Hakurei x3]

When you find a random pool table where Mara notices people left in a hurry, she makes a comment that her "first" boyfriend taught her how to play pool until she started beating him at it. The odd thing about that comment is that she's already a minor during the game, not to mention it's implied that she spent much of her time in a hospital due to her strange infection until she was able to escape. During the events before the game, she would have been even younger judging by the dates in lore, you can even see a picture of her frolicking around the park earlier, young kids that age rarely play pool or have multiple relationships, such games also tend to be in bars or are too high up for them to reach and play properly, a young kid that age would have been running around themeparks as she was before the events, then having become sick and hospitalized with a mysterious terminal illness. So unless a little hospitalized girl had a pool playing boyfriend at that age, then thoroughly proceeded to destroy him at the game, I'm guessing she made it up for some reason. Throughout the game she says very random and hilarious things when interacting with objects, so maybe this is one of those.

[Jay T Maximus]

I don't know about these days, but the idea of a 13 year old having a case of puppy love and being "boyfriend and girlfriend" and hanging out outside of school, hopefully with parental supervision of course, was not unheard of back then. And people have pool tables in homes sometimes. Pool could easily be something a dad and son would have played together if they had a table, so the boyfriend could have learned at home. So put these things together, a situation where the boyfriend played pool and taught her to play wouldn't have been unrealistic back then. Now, like I said, I don't know about these days. But the game takes place in 1990, so if things have changed by now they hadn't then.

Even besides all that, if it was her fifteenth birthday, in July, that means she had already spent a full year in High School. Most kids start High School at age 14 in the USA. So she'd probably just finished her freshman year a month or two before being hospitalized. I'm almost sure even kids these days often have boyfriends and girlfriends in High School, and a school year feels like an eternity at those ages: Time to have a first boyfriend for a few months, which feels long at that age, and perhaps have had another one for at least a short while by the time she was attacked.

So I don't think she was necessarily making it up.

[Reimu Hakurei x3]

Originally posted by Jay T Maximus:

I don't know about these days, but the idea of a 13 year old having a case of puppy love and being "boyfriend and girlfriend" and hanging out outside of school, hopefully with parental supervision of course, was not unheard of back then. And people have pool tables in homes sometimes. Pool could easily be something a dad and son would have played together if they had a table, so the boyfriend could have learned at home. So put these things together, a situation where the boyfriend played pool and taught her to play wouldn't have been unrealistic back then. Now, like I said, I don't know about these days. But the game takes place in 1990, so if things have changed by now they hadn't then.

Even besides all that, if it was her fifteenth birthday, in July, that means she had already spent a full year in High School. Most kids start High School at age 14 in the USA. So she'd probably just finished her freshman year a month or two before being hospitalized. I'm almost sure even kids these days often have boyfriends and girlfriends in High School, and a school year feels like an eternity at those ages: Time to have a first boyfriend for a few months, which feels long at that age, and perhaps have had another one for at least a short while by the time she was attacked.

So I don't think she was necessarily making it up.

It also depends how bad the infection was, maybe she was out of the hospital after a while and lived relatively fine with regular checkups since the infection gets progressively worse, so maybe it wasn't so bad during the early stages that she would be hospitalized 24/7.

[Gandrake]

Originally posted by Jay T Maximus:

I don't know about these days, but the idea of a 13 year old having a case of puppy love and being "boyfriend and girlfriend"

As someone with a niece, I can tell you that it's much worse today. She was acting and dressing like a teenager when she was twelve, boyfriend, dates, drama, fighting, swearing, and sadly, she's not a fringe case.

Children are growing up with the internet now, and many parents don't restrict their access nearly as much as they should. How many young children these days have smart phones and social media? Too many.

I know I sound like an old timer, but children being exposed to a lot of the garbage on the internet 24/7 and coming to believe all the drama and life styles portrayed by their favorite influencers are normal and trying to imitate it is causing kids to act far more mature than they are.

So ironically, Mara having multiple boyfriends in the late 80's early 90's is less believable than it would be in a more modern setting, but at least not completely unbelievable.

[Reimu Hakurei x3]

Originally posted by Gandrake:

Originally posted by Jay T Maximus:

I don't know about these days, but the idea of a 13 year old having a case of puppy love and being "boyfriend and girlfriend"

As someone with a niece, I can tell you that it's much worse today. She was acting and dressing like a teenager when she was twelve, boyfriend, dates, drama, fighting, swearing, and sadly, she's not a fringe case.

Children are growing up with the internet now, and many parents don't restrict their access nearly as much as they should. How many young children these days have smart phones and social media? Too many.

I know I sound like an old timer, but children being exposed to a lot of the garbage on the internet 24/7 and coming to believe all the drama and life styles portrayed by their favorite influencers are normal and trying to imitate it is causing kids to act far more mature than they are.

So ironically, Mara having multiple boyfriends in the late 80's early 90's is less believable than it would be in a more modern setting, but at least not completely unbelievable.

Depressing but true, also good points, I guess the game is made in modern time so it kinda can have modern influences affect the story even though the game takes place in the 90's. Mara stating she has had multiple boyfriends was rather odd once I knew the context after my first play through since I lived my childhood during the same era in the 90s, such a thing would have been pretty rare and certainly not the norm, but as you both stated still possible.

[Eve]

Originally posted by Reimu Hakurei x3:

When you find a random pool table where Mara notices people left in a hurry, she makes a comment that her "first" boyfriend taught her how to play pool until she started beating him at it. The odd thing about that comment is that she's already a minor during the game, not to mention it's implied that she spent much of her time in a hospital due to her strange infection until she was able to escape. During the events before the game, she would have been even younger judging by the dates in lore, you can even see a picture of her frolicking around the park earlier, young kids that age rarely play pool or have multiple relationships, such games also tend to be in bars or are too high up for them to reach and play properly, a young kid that age would have been running around themeparks as she was before the events, then having become sick and hospitalized with a mysterious terminal illness. So unless a little hospitalized girl had a pool playing boyfriend at that age, then thoroughly proceeded to destroy him at the game, I'm guessing she made it up for some reason. Throughout the game she says very random and hilarious things when interacting with objects, so maybe this is one of those.

I had my first girlfriend at 13 I don't know what it was like in the 90's but considering shes about 17 at the time of the game its definitely not impossible to have had multiple romantic partners at her age. also can say from knowing people like this having a potentially life threatening disease has a tendency to alter how people can behave as well.

[matty]

well it was the late 80s/early 90s, kids had to find something to do before the internet and smartphones were invented, you know? i had a full pool table in the home i grew up in at least lol

and bear in mind, we are also lead to believe someone her age also handles a pistol like Dirty Harry mowing down creatures so... yea. hey, maybe mara had a lot of hobbies!

[Veruca, Luckiest Girl in Town!]

She's 19.

[Reimu Hakurei x3]

Originally posted by Veruca, Rogue Replicant:

She's 19.

Since this is a spoiler thread I'll just put it out there her ID is fake and shes a minor during the events of the game.

[Azure Nova]

Originally posted by Veruca, Rogue Replicant:

She's 19.

When asked if she's 18 yet, she replies "not quite"

[William Shamspeare]

Originally posted by Azure Nova:

Originally posted by Veruca, Rogue Replicant:

She's 19.

When asked if she's 18 yet, she replies "not quite"

That means Not Yet. She's 17 if you actually do the math right

[Pulowski]

"SHE SAID SHE WAS 25 OFFICER! SHE HAD A COP ID AND EVERYTHING!"
"tell it to the judge you sick freak"
lmao

[4thQueen]

I don't understand what's so controversial about a 14 year old being in a relationship and playing pool.

[Reimu Hakurei x3]

Originally posted by 4thQueen:

I don't understand what's so controversial about a 14 year old being in a relationship and playing pool.

Controversial? As in....

con·tro·ver·sial
/ˌkäntrəˈvərsēəl,ˌkäntrəˈvərSH(ə)l/
adjective
giving rise or likely to give rise to public disagreement.

^That controversial definition? Me either since here is no controversy here.

[Pulowski]

Originally posted by 4thQueen:

I don't understand what's so controversial about a 14 year old being in a relationship and playing pool.

hell i messed around with a pool table when when i was younger than that between 2009-2015.

[MrGrudge]

Originally posted by matty:

and bear in mind, we are also lead to believe someone her age also handles a pistol like Dirty Harry mowing down creatures so... yea. hey, maybe mara had a lot of hobbies!

My father bought my first rifle and taught me to use it at 8, I used shotguns in the boyscouts and by 16 already had experience with my dad's 9mm pistol and .357 magnum revolver. It was not unusual at all back in the 90s.

Anyhow first hint about her age is when you click on a cigarette machine and she says that she isn't allowed to smoke.