Mariam Petrosyan

"Those who can live without losing faith in miracles will find them."

Mariam comes from a rich family and was taught to be a perfectly refined and skilled housewife for her future husband. She would rather become an artist and read or make up stories in her head, but there was no chance of this happening. The need to adhere to responsibilities made her more reclusive, that's when she started developing her ability.

She was set up with numerous marriage candidates on separate dates, after one of them her date got missing. His parents set up underworld spies to follow Mariam, and she disintegrated one of them and confused and escaped the others. For this she was ambushed and questioned and was afterwards brought into their organization to compensate for the trouble by working for them.

After that, she was recruited into the Rats in the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Mari's wish is for everyone in the world to be released from their cage and live the life they wish for, and she aids them in that, but can't do it alone.

Her ability, "The House, In Which…" or simply the House, manifests a dream dimension that looks like a house, which Mariam can go into by willing her mind. It has multiple floors and rooms, each behind a door, each door with a small window. The rooms contain nothing but empty gray walls and floors. Mari can go into a room herself or bring another person or multiple people into the House. She previously did this unconsciously through touch or a thought, but is now capable of activating the ability intentionally when she stands close to her target. The proximity must be within arm's reach.

Mariam can wish to live through any story she imagines, become anything and exist anywhere, and it will be granted by the room she's in. Her own appearance and the room will change by her wishes and look like anything she wants, limited only by her imagination. This is similar to a normal dream, but feels completely vivid and real, like she lives a different life. A dream can often make no sense, and this is not the case here. While Mariam navigates and changes the room consciously, the other visitors of the House don't. They are immediately put in a comfortable chair provided by their room, where they sit and are given a dream of living the best life they wish for themselves. The room itself doesn't change, but by exiting it and looking through the window on the door, Mariam can see a movie of what the person is experiencing. While her own fantasies are based on what she knows and has seen, other people's fantasies are based on their knowledge, thus the rooms adapt to their user.

Time passes differently inside the House and in the real world. Hours or days in the room equal to minutes outside. All this time the bodies of people in the House or Mariam remain outside and appear alive but sleeping. Mariam can be awake and outside while the visitors are inside. She transfers their consciousness into her House and it is then given a physical form, instead of taking them into the dimension entirely.

The maximum time in a room is an hour of real time, after which Mariam is shaken awake out of this dimension and brought back after she has experienced a year or two of her different life. The limit is an hour a day until the next day (until she sleeps and wakes up), but she usually doesn't stay that long or would at least jump through different stories at different times of day in smaller sittings, as the feeling of living years as one thing and being brought back to another is difficult for her to process. Other visitors of the House experience it differently. After an hour of real time passes, if they are really enjoying this different life, they can never return to their physical body and cease existing. Both their form in the room as well as their real body disappear into thin air and can never be found. Either they have vanished entirely, or their body has entered Mariam's House fully and is stored unconscious in one of the rooms. The real reason is unknown even to Mariam.

However, the visitors can decide that they don't really wish for this dream life and are content with the one they have, and are then returned to the real world. They must force themselves to remember their real life, as this one feels not only desirable but also very real to them. After waking up they will remember this experience as simply having a dream and won't remember or feel anything occurring to their body while they were out of it. They can't be physically shaken awake and are very vulnerable in this state. Either they decide to abandon their dream or Mariam wills them away from the House, or Dazai touches either of them, etc. Mariam can be shaken awake and returns from the House by a single touch to her body from anyone. She can only have a certain but a considerable amount of people in the House at a time, and she must be in close proximity to their bodies for it to hold. If she gets far enough, they are released from the rooms and awaken wherever they fell asleep.

Additionally, Mariam can bring inanimate objects into the House and keep them there. They can stay without a time limit and are able to impact the house dimension permanently. For example, thanks to Mariam being inspired by a certain friend, the house walls are now slowly getting covered in crayon drawings and messages which no other person but her can see. However, these objects aren't physically real and can't be brought from the House into the real world, it's only the opposite. By taking any real object, Mariam can create its image in her House and use it there. The actual object will still stay in the real world, it only gets copied into Mariam's house dimension. She can make it disappear when she has no need for it there anymore.

With time, Mariam discovers another way to use her ability: to see into people's dreams while they sleep. In this case, different rules apply to visitors of the House. If they were already sleeping by the time Mariam brings them into her House, they will appear in a room lying in bed instead of sitting in a chair. Their dream will stay the same and won't be influenced by the House. It can only provide Mariam the ability to watch their dream through the usual door window. It's only possible for an hour of real time, after which the sleeping person will disappear from the House but remain unharmed and asleep in the real world. They won't have any recollection of being taken into the House. Though all of this is possible for Mariam, she prefers to not use it much, or at least not for long, because it feels too invading for her. Despite her curiosity and love for stories, she's not a big fan of spying on people's dreams.

• Mariam was taught to play the piano from a young age. She plays really well, but has become a bit rusty, since she could only play at home and hasn't been there for years. She loves to play covers of her favorite songs, especially melancholic ones, and anything emotional in general. Her voice is capable of singing clear notes, but it's very weak, soft and quiet.
• Mari is good at various handicrafts such as sewing and knitting. She can make basic clothes or other items, and she changes up her existing clothes to her liking. Mariam likes to give her creations an interesting inside fabric, which can look more textured and colorful in comparison. She usually wears black or dark outfits outside, but can wear something more colorful at home. It's less about having a goth style and more about modesty. She's pretty conservative about clothes and prefers feminine outfits.
• By her curated reading plan, she was taught to be intelligent enough to be able to partake in mature conversations, but not too intelligent to outsmart her future husband.
• She can speak and read Armenian and Russian perfectly and has good English skills. She is also receptive to learning Japanese.
• She writes poetry in addition to fairytales. Some of it is personal and some is fiction. She can potentially write song lyrics, but has never tried it.
• Mari smokes sometimes, it helps to clear her head. It’s a bad habit learned from her colleagues, along with wearing nail polish and makeup. She did no such thing at home around her conservative family.
• She has a sense of self and can protect her wishes and needs, but still respects the rules and can be persuaded quite easily. The point above is an example of this.
• She wears multiple small mirrors as her accessory, which she uses to look at people instead of looking them in the eyes. She also has a small razor blade under her black nails, but you'll never know which nail exactly.
• She isn’t too much of a softie and can be strict sometimes if the rules are broken. She will still be polite about this.
• She is very good with kids and loves spending time with them.
• Under her long dark clothes she hides gorgeous long legs and a bit sickly thin frame. Nobody ever gets to see it though. Her skin is very pale from staying inside constantly.
• Her hair is very soft and has the look and feel of a cloud. Her eyes are so black, you only see your reflection in them instead of the iris. She usually has a dreamy and absent-minded look, like she isn't completely there.
• If allowed to discover anime, she would invest so much free time into this.
• After one of her missions in Yokohama, Mariam has discovered a working piano at an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. She comes here sometimes to play her favorite songs and meditate.
• Mariam's presence and vibes are melancholic, it's what she carries and creates. She likes sad songs and unhappy endings just as much as happy ones, but feels more drawn to the beauty of sorrow. This doesn't make her less happy or optimistic as a person. She knows well how to smile and laugh, and friends know her to be warm and supportive.
• She isn't really concerned with being good or evil, because she can see both good and evil in everything. In any case, she believes her duty of freeing people from sorrows of their life to be important and worthwhile.
• She is fascinated by mysterious and unfamiliar things, even if they frighten her.
• She isn’t reasonable enough to lead a normal life. Thankfully she has a good skill set for sustaining her body and surroundings in this world and thus appears mostly normal. Mariam spends enough time in the real world to learn more about it, she needs to feed her fantasies somehow.
• Despite this, she usually doesn't keep up with news about the world. She doesn't watch TV much, and even then it would only be movies and documentaries. It's more likely for her to hear news from the radio.
• She prefers to be an observer or helper instead of a hero of her own story.
• Despite her detached presence, she is rather perceptive and curious about other people. She can easily sympathize with their troubles and offer to help, or at least to listen. She is good at sensing what hurts them and what they need the most. Her experience is based on various stories, conflicts and personalities she has seen, both fictional and real. If you get through her wall of shyness, she will actually become a good and caring friend.
• Perhaps the only thing still keeping her in this world is her perceived duty of being a savior to humankind. At the same time, she doesn't rescue everyone she sees from their ongoing life. She would rather offer than persuade people into it, and she doesn't push on them if they are unsure or decline. Consent and open choices are important for her. She might also be unconsciously unwilling to take everyone's lives and sees such actions as dangerous and unforgivable.
• It would be pretty hard to completely convince her to change her ways and views of the world. It would require making real life seem desirable and worth the struggle, when the argument and the possibility of not struggling is right here. She can be a dangerous influence, but she can also be intrigued by possible reasons for living in the real life. For now, she just respects the reasons of people who chose to stay and still hasn't found her own. Or maybe she has, but isn't capable of admitting them yet.

Mariam Petrosyan comes from a wealthy family, her parents owned a profitable business and her grandfather was a well-known artist. She loved her grandfather and gladly spent time with him, he taught her how to paint and how differently an artist can see the world. She was always surrounded by lots of books in the house, out of which she preferred fairytales and fantasy stories to more down-to-earth books which could prepare her for her future life. When she was still a kid, her parents let her be and read children's books for the moment. They prepared her for her future role on their own, and raised her from a young age as a refined and humble lady who stays at home, doing the housework and caring for children. Mariam was an obedient child and could be easily persuaded.

She was to be wed into a similarly rich family in the future, with candidates picked by her family (they would still allow her to choose between them). As she was supposed to be a beautiful pure flower, her parents discouraged her from being too friendly with boys. She would attend the events and soirees her father coordinated with his business partners, though she didn't really like going there. Mariam didn't mind the housekeeping role she was growing into, as she liked staying at home and keeping her surroundings nice and tidy. She liked to imagine cooking as preparing potions and other magical meals, and she loved to make family happy with her cooking. Most of all she loved to spend time in her thoughts and with herself. However, it really clashed with responsibilities she was going to overtake and was starting to feel as she grew older. She wanted to become an artist like her grandfather, but it was out of the question, and she didn't care for her father's company at all. She was kind of interested in meeting a handsome prince and forming a bond of love, but she wanted time for herself more than that. With years this possibility grew smaller. The clothes she would wear and books she would read were picked for her, she needed to close the door in her head and start living the real life. The rules she was faithfully adhering to started pushing away her dreams, which was very upsetting to her. The dream of becoming an artist grew smaller, but another dream emerged instead: the possibility to abandon her responsibilities, her physical form in this world, to move into her dream world where she could decide everything herself and spend time as she wishes. It was the beginning of her ability blossoming inside.

It wouldn't be long until she would find herself in a different dimension resembling a house with several floors and many doors. The rooms were empty and contained nothing, until Mariam wished something to be there, and there it was. She could wish herself to become a butterfly, and that's who she became. She could wish for the room to change into a forest, and she would be a tiny butterfly floating around and sitting on flowers, feeling the gentle wind on her wings. She could almost forget who she was during that time, and she could feel days and weeks go by in this space. Until she would be touched by the shoulders and awaken to the real world, where 5 minutes passed at most. At first she thought she was just accidentally falling asleep and seeing this in her dreams, as her usual imaginary sceneries weren't that vivid unless she was sleeping. With time she was forced to accept that this was really happening to her. She assumed that her soul was leaving the body to experience a different life in a different world. However, she could ask the room to play a scene from her memories, and that would be her own life. She could still wish that something in her surroundings be different, like having a nonexistent sibling, or being a boy herself. She would see and feel the changes and experience them as very real. She could only wish for something she herself imagines at least a bit: a nonexistent animal would be a compilation of traits of other animals known to her, and the faces of people she sees would be the faces she's already seen. So this is like a lucid dream with an added level of perceived reality. She could only spend time in this world for an hour of real time, after that she would be thrown back into reality. She could enter the house again, but the rooms wouldn't do anything for the rest of the day until the next one, meaning: until she sleeps and awakens. During that hour a day she could have gone through a year or two of imaginary events, and it was quite a lot to process after coming back. She usually wouldn't stay that long in there, instead she could choose different stories or come there multiple times a day in smaller sittings.

Her family noticed how dreamy and absent her eyes are getting and thought that she must be getting bored, so they started presenting her with marriage candidates. She was forced back to reality during that time, as there was a lot she should do and say, and she couldn't live in her dreams and do anything with her body at the same time. Mariam was presented with numerous young men brought to one of her father's business meetings and quickly became overwhelmed, so she asked her parents to arrange the meetings with one person at a time, and in private. It wasn't too difficult, so they agreed.

Mari was then presented with the first candidate the next day, they were sitting together in a calm restaurant atmosphere, allowing for a conversation. The man told Mariam about his and his family's accomplishments, and what a great husband he would be to her, sparing her the need to work or think. As he reached out to hold her hand, she asked him, what his dream is. When he heard this, he suddenly collapsed, dropping his head on the table and just sitting there like he had fallen asleep. Mariam was surprised to see this, tried gently shaking him or speaking to him, but he wouldn't hear her. She felt the need to call a doctor, but the man was breathing and seemed alive in general, just asleep. She quickly went into her dream house and she felt him there, she felt his presence in one of the rooms. That's when she first noticed that the doors had small windows on them, and she came to look through it at the man's room. But then she thought it would be weird for both of them to space out for long, so she returned back and decided to call the taxi. She pretended that the man had too much to drink or was just too exhausted and sound asleep. Thankfully it was almost nighttime and it was alright to sleep. She was even more grateful that his residence was far enough from here. While they were driving there, she pretended to catch sleepiness and succumb to a nap herself. That's when she went into the house and could properly look inside the room. It was like watching a movie for her: she didn't see the man, only the pictures he himself was seeing. Through watching it she understood that he wanted to be filthy rich and live without ever having to work, all his needs taken care of by his servants and his wife, who would give him multiple children to have a fun time with. The man was living this life now, in places and with people Mariam had never seen, but assumed that he has. He was very pleased and didn't seem to regret anything. Mariam didn't know how his family would react to him being asleep in the real world, so she decided to get him out of here and went into the room. There was still nothing in the room but one single chair with the sleeping man. She shook him and it did nothing. Then she willed him out of the room and the house by thought, and he disappeared, leaving only a chair behind, which vanished soon after. She then hurried back herself. The driver was pleased with both of the youths waking up, and the man was very ashamed of himself. He promised Mariam a different meeting where he wouldn't drink so much and went home for now. She was taken home too, and during the ride she was thinking about everything that happened that day.

She asked her parents for the next meeting to take place in a park, and it was granted. She searched for a spot where no one would see and disturb them, where they could stay for a long time. When her new marriage candidate came, she repeated the process from the last time and went to look at his dreams inside the house. This time she wasn't in a hurry and could properly watch everything. However it didn't take long before the movie ended on its own, and the man disappeared from the room, Mariam immediately went back too. When she awoke, he apologized for suddenly falling asleep but wasn't feeling too guilty, seeing as she did too. He described seeing an interesting dream, but he was very down-to-earth and knew when to shut off dreaming and return to reality, and there surely was no time for sleeping now. Mariam interpreted this as a refusal to live in his head and to watch a different life. He willed himself back as he was too focused and dedicated to his existing life. They talked nicely during the rest of their meeting.

She met with a different man next time at the same spot, and he wasn't that dedicated. Instead he really liked living a different life and stayed there for so long, Mariam was getting a bit bored. She stopped watching his dream movie at some point and went back, got her sketchbook out and started drawing. At some point she noticed that the man sleeping before her was gone. She didn't see or hear him leaving, and she didn't find him in her house, the room was completely empty. She was starting to get anxious, as she didn't know how to explain this and where to search for him. He really just vanished into thin air with everything he had on him. There wasn't anything she could say about this, other than "he just suddenly stood up and went somewhere and I didn't see him again today". At first his family was just waiting for him to come back but very soon started searching for him, of course nothing could be done. Mariam has interpreted the situation as him being so unsatisfied with his current life that he would rather live his dream, so he went on to live it forever and his physical body was no longer needed. And it happened at about an hour of real time, so he spent a long time there. That was exactly Mari's dream, and sadly it could not be transferred onto her, because she couldn't spend an hour at a time in there herself. Even after being there she would still be tied to her human body. Still, she was kind of glad that the man found something he loved more than anything and lived in it.

There was nothing to prove she did something to him and none of his belongings were found anywhere else. His family was anxiously searching, while Mari's family soon resumed the meetings. She was a bit afraid of what would happen if such a thing happened again, so she allowed the future candidates to live their dreams like they wanted and would then get them back if they didn't go themselves. She found out a lot about them during this time, but the movies were more interesting to her than the final decision and the proceedings of marriage. Everyone's families slowly started getting suspicious about one or both of the future newlyweds falling asleep at every meeting. The family that lost their child would demand searching Mariam for poisons, sleeping pills or similar devices, but nothing was found. The mystery was starting to get a little scandalous, and Mari's family didn't like that, they didn't want a blow to their reputation. They asked her to stop doing whatever she's doing and just pick a husband like a normal woman.

As she was stalling, the missing man's family became desperate from not getting anything from the police and asked their ties to the underworld to find their son and investigate Mariam, for a heavy sum of money of course. One man was sent to spy on her during her next date. When he saw both youths falling asleep for unknown reasons, he approached them to investigate their bodies. As he touched Mariam, she was brought back to reality and immediately threw the spy into the house. She didn't go with him as she was very afraid and just sat there observing his unconscious body. She moved it away from her and the road in front of them, placing him like he fell asleep under a tree. It was still close to her, as she didn't know if he would stay asleep if she were too far away from him. But not too close to be easily noticed. She then willed her date awake, this time without going into the house herself. She told him that she isn't feeling well and would rather do their date on a better day. She assured him that she would rather stay here for a while and will then be picked up by her family, but he would be best off going home, she can't please him with conversations today. He reluctantly agreed and went home. Mariam stayed behind and observed the man, searched him to try and find out who he was and why he was spying on her, as he didn't seem like a regular passersby to her. She couldn't determine who exactly this is, but was certain that there was no good about him. With time she gathered courage and went to look at his dream movie. It didn't tell her who he was, but she understood that he was far more pleased with another life than his own. She let him be, watched him for a while and then went back, and just sat with him peacefully for an hour until he disappeared. Only after that she got up and prepared to go home, not forgetting to appear sickly according to her story.

The next time she was on a date, she only played being asleep and paid attention to several people who were surrounding her, talking to each other, touching the sleeping bodies and searching them. She could only see them through half-closed eyes, but she really freaked out when she saw that they had weapons and silently muttered the magic words asking them about their dreams to put all of them into the house. She didn't know how long they would stay here individually and decided to get the hell away from here. She woke her date up pretending to be asleep herself and letting him see all these people sleeping on the ground around them. When he shook Mariam in fear, she appeared just waking up and then being confused and terrified by the situation, and she asked him to take her away from here. He complied, so they ran. She didn't know the fate of these people after they left. Both of the youths told their parents about this, and the blame shifted from Mariam to the shady people who ambushed them. The investigation moved to them, and their organization didn't enjoy being brought to light, so they retreated.

Everyone dispatched during that day returned on their own safely to their bodies after Mariam was far enough, so there were no losses. All of them shared the memory of the girl muttering some words or touching someone, and then everyone was asleep with their own different dreams. They exchanged information, which went further to gossip and rumors. After some time, Mariam was captured by an unknown organization, with her hands and mouth tied. She was being interrogated by the process of asking questions and demanding that she nod in response. Someone who knows about abilities was there, and they knew what the girl is capable of. They expected to find out everything from her, demand a huge sum of money from her parents for the rescue and maybe accidentally kill her in the process, in return for trouble she has caused and the two souls she disintegrated. However, there was a better proposition from the ability user. They arranged for Mariam to stay and work for them, to use her ability for their cause and make up for the lost souls herself. In return she wouldn't be forced to do her rich girl responsibilities and marry, she could stay in her head however long she wishes (unless there is work) and she would provide more people with the life they wished for. Her parents received a letter and a call about her being alive and well, she was just scouted for her unusual magical ability (which can't be disclosed) and will be brought to a place where she can develop it, like a magic school. She loves them and wishes them well and would meet them someday again, hugs and kisses etc. This was done so that the organization wouldn't be pursued for the girl's death. Truhfully, she wasn't looking forward to going back to her old life that much, so she wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.

This has given her an opportunity to give more people a better life, to free them from their shell, and she was really loving it. Although the people who made her work weren't thinking about this in such colors, they had completely different motives. So she couldn't connect with them, as they didn't connect with her. Some were afraid of her, some wanted to take advantage of her, and it didn't help that she was a beautiful young lady. So she learned to protect herself and didn't expect her surroundings to be kind. Her colleagues didn't usually wait for the visitors of the house to make their choice of coming back or disappearing and could shoot them as soon as they were immobilized. Mariam could only find solace in the fact that these visitors most probably didn't feel pain and were surrounded by their beloved dreams in their final moments. She got used to death and didn't think of it as something horrible, to her it was a release from the cage and a way into a better world. She only wished for everyone to be free from the unloving hell they all live in, but she couldn't release everyone herself at once. And she didn't wish for her own salvation until she had served her duty for humanity to the utmost. Thus she lived on, and has one day become very excited about the idea of the existence of a certain book.

OLGA GROMYKO
[FRIEND]

Mariam and Olga met after both were recruited by Fyodor Dostoevsky to join the Rats in the House of the Dead during their own different circumstances. Due to her extroverted nature, Olga quickly made contact with Mariam and was interested in befriending her. Mariam wasn't entirely opposed to it, but her shyness made it difficult for her to speak freely. Olga figured out that Mariam wasn't much of a talker and took this role herself, luckily she was a natural here. She didn't expect too much of Mariam and didn't hurry or press her in any way, just kept her company sometimes, maybe asking something about her and going on a monologue afterwards, accompanied by gestures and skillful voice acting. She allowed Mariam to exist around her at her own pace. Olga noticed how genuinely interested Mariam was in Olga's experiences, so she held onto this.

After spending some time together, Olga was convinced that Mariam was a beautiful fragile princess, too unlucky to end up in such a dangerous place without a knight to protect her. She appointed herself to be Mari's knight and keep her out of trouble. Not like Mariam really needed this, but she didn't stop Olga from her antics. It was awkward for Mariam to be a witness to this, but also somewhat amusing. She allowed herself to open up ever so slowly to Olga because she sensed no threat from this fun and supportive woman.

Olga is fine with initiating conversations and usually finds out more about Mariam by being curious about her interests. Olga herself shares only the safe parts of her life, not disclosing too much about her but somehow always finding a topic to talk about. Mariam can sense a number of locks Olga keeps on her heart, and she doesn't want to push or pry into it. She still remains curious about them and slightly feels like they bring Olga great discomfort.

Mariam has a feeling that, were she to invite Olga into her House, she wouldn't be quick to leave it, and for some reason it saddens her. Olga ignores all trip-ups during personal talk and holds a positive persona over her true self, and Mariam would really like to help her out of this cage someday. They are making some progress at this, with Olga gradually discovering what an unprocessed traumatic experience does to a person and feeling safe around Mariam during this time. There will still be a long way to go before she can really open up to anyone, especially to herself. But Mariam is eager to help her in any way and be as understanding and supportive as Olga is to her.

Additionally, Mariam feels like Olga holds a part of the key to Mari's own understanding of real life and the need to live it. She is really interested in finding out more, and she hopes to one day discover the mysteries behind Olga's locks. At her own pace, of course.

DMITRI YEMETS
[FRIEND]

They are not familiar with each other as of yet. There is a potential of great friendship here, because of their shared interests and introverted personalities, capable of interacting more comfortably. They could be book buddies, exchanging recommendations and experiences about their favorite stories. Dmitri would love to explain to her some in-depth details of magical or governmental systems in their shared fantasy titles, or something that she didn't understand, and Mariam would love to listen and find out more by having all her questions answered. She could be the one to help him with arranging music with her superior music theory knowledge, and they could also play together. They are both dreamers and notice things other people don't think about. They both understand what hurts other people emotionally and how to avoid it, and would appreciate the attentiveness about each other.

However, Mariam being on Fyodor's side is a big drawback for Dmitri, because he can't condone partaking in terrorism. If he won't make an effort to see past Mariam's affiliation with the Rats, her absent eyes and the mysterious air about her, he won't find out how kind and warm she is as a person. It's less dramatic for Mariam, because she is more neutral in her views and sees good and evil in everything equally. She thinks Dmitri to be a fool to not see the hypocrisy with crimes and corruption caused by his own agency. She probably won't admit it to his face, because it would not be polite.

SERGEI YESENIN
[FRIEND]

Sergei is a flirt and loves beautiful ladies, and Mariam is absolutely his type. Not only is she a beauty, he can also see how kind and thoughtful she is. He also relates to her fear of the horrors of being here and her generally anxious personality. Very honest and open about his crush, he tries to get closer to her despite Olga’s protectiveness of Mari and protests about it. Mariam isn't interested in a relationship with Sergei, but she is a lot kinder to him than Olga or anyone else and likes him as a friend. She is naive and can easily sympathize with people, which is why she isn’t as scared as she could be around him. It helps that he is nice and polite with her, because he feels safe with Mariam. They share many values, can both connect in some emotional and vulnerable aspects and are curious about each other’s interests. They're both romantics who think and feel deeply. They like to spend time together, and though Sergei still has feelings for her, he can see that she isn’t interested and doesn’t push it too much. He treasures this friend who likes his company despite everything. Mariam likes both of her friends, she wants them to be happy, get along and fight less. She is kind to both of them and tries to bring them opposite of where their darkness calls them.