minato.

[nonbelligerent]

Comments

[compendiem]

[ If he lifts the coffee cup he might spill it, but there's less of a danger if he soaks it up like a sponge. ]

Delivery... For- what? Who?

[ Time does not exist in a casino and everything feels 203985358 years ago. ]

[nonbelligerent]

Miki.

[er.]

Are you all right, Minato? Do you remember anything from this week?

[compendiem]

Miki...

[ It takes him a couple of seconds, under the pretense of chewing his soggy bread, but then his eyes light up. ]

Right, the headband. Thanks for that. I gave it to you yesterday?

[ He vaguely recalls falling asleep just the once between then and right now, so it must have been yesterday. ]

[nonbelligerent]

Yes.

As well as that, do you remember hearing about anything like this—a person who can look after others and see their true intentions?

[compendiem]

[ He tilts his head, trying to think— trying to get his brain to start working again, actually— but nothing concrete is coming to mind. ]

I don't think so... but it makes sense, I think. Sort of. I can understand looking after others. True intentions can be hard, though.

[nonbelligerent]

Yes, it's difficult to know what someone is really thinking.

[...]

I'm guessing you still haven't gotten your jeep yet?

[the presumably nonexistent jeep, but.]

[compendiem]

[ That's the truth. Even when Minato thinks his own thinking is simple and straightforward, nobody else seems to understand him the same way.

He turns back to the slot machine, and shakes his head. ]

Not yet. I must've hit almost every other combination already, so it must be about time... [ He switches the bread to his other hand, so he can let the other relax. ]

If anything, I have patience. Persistence. So I'll keep trying for it.

[nonbelligerent]

[he doesn't think that's how slots work, but okay.]

We may be hit with the forced sleep again tonight. Do you intend to stay here until that happens?

[compendiem]

[ The thought honestly never crossed Minato's mind. Largely because he has no idea what day it is, or that it's a Thursday and not Tuesday. He's not actually sure whether it's day or night at the moment, actually. ]

Do you think it'll happen again...? I was going to just play through until I had something to show for all my time here.

[nonbelligerent]

I certainly hope it won't, but there's no indication it won't happen again. If anyone's cleared the corruption in this area, I haven't heard about it.

[compendiem]

Just the casino area, or do you mean the entire building as a whole?

[ Actually- ]

Has anything been cleansed? What are we don't here...

[nonbelligerent]

If anything's been cleansed, no one's deigned to say anything to the others, so I'm not sure.

[compendiem]

[ If something that major has happened, he's sure there'd be people running up and down the halls about it. Minato might've been out of it for the past 82 hours, but he's almost sure he would have heard something. ]

...Maybe winning the slots will cleanse this place...?

[ He doesn't sound very hopeful, but there's still some hope. He eats some more coffee bread. ]

Gambling... greed... sin... darkness... It sort of ties together?

[nonbelligerent]

It sounds more like we'd have to destroy the casino, in that case.

[compendiem]

Oh... Can we wait until I win? [ he's been here for so long!!!!!! if he doesn't win anything after all this time he might cry ] After that, I can let you borrow my nailbat.

[nonbelligerent]

I'm not actually suggesting we destroy the casino.

[compendiem]

...Oh.

[ Don't get his hopes up, Shess ): ]

How else would you exorcise the casino?

[nonbelligerent]

That depends on if the casino even needs exorcising to begin with.

[compendiem]

Hypothetically... assuming it does... Would there be a way to exorcise it without a nailbat, before whenever nighttime is tonight?

[ So he doesn't die and/or become a murderer. The clock's ticking. ]

[nonbelligerent]

I'm not really an expert on exorcism, I'm afraid.

[compendiem]

I wonder who is...

[ ...he supposes that should be him, defeating monsters and cleaning buildings, that's sort of what he does, right? but that involves having something to fight with a nailbat, and there's nothing like that here. ]

...If the darkness were here, it should've gone and possessed me, right? Plenty of opportunity for it. Would you be able to tell?

[nonbelligerent]

I'm not sure. It wasn't obvious for Mary until she was outed.

[and, you know. started ranting.]

[compendiem]

[ That makes it hard. It would have been easy if he'd been an actual silent protag (which makes him wonder what Darkness will do if it ever took over Shess or Feral... probably leave no survivors) because he never used to talk this much to begin with, bot unless there's nobody else to fill the silence.

Thinking, thinking... ]

Maybe the water from the shrine is holy water? We could go around splashing people.

[nonbelligerent]

[okay, he's a little amused.]

That's an interesting theory.

[compendiem]

[ Interesting is a good enough reason to try anything. Minato shoves some more bread into his mouth, and gestures to the variety of empty coffee cups scattered around. They've got the materials to do it right here. Minato would help, but he's busy eating and gambling. ]