Audience: Mineo Enomoto

[probe]

Comments

week 0, monday

[probe]

[mineo gets a message back that reads:]

ok! the star room! um, planetarium!

[inside the planetarium, sloth will be floating as if they're sitting. the hood and horn is back, so they must be looking up at the stars. but then they turn to mineo.]

Hey, you made it!

[sengokus]

I did make it! How's the view from up there? The one from down here's pretty good.

[easygoing idiot please stop]

[probe]

Haha! That's a good one! The view is the same no matter where you're looking!

[they twist around and start dumping that cloudy material out of their sleeves. a puff here, a puff there, making a couple of steps in front of mineo. it's not floating exactly, but mineo can walk up them to be level with sloth.]

See?

[sengokus]

[is. is it??? it sounds so philosophical to him but he's IMMEDIATELY DISTRACTED and not just walking, but running up those steps]

Whoa whoa whoa! I see now! Is this what Mahito-san was talking about that you can just conjure whatever you want?

[probe]

[WOW BE CAREFUL, YOU DINGUS]

Whoa! [sloth rushes to, like, make sure there's enough cloud for mineo to not fall down. even though they aren't really high up or anything.] There's some limitations.

But yeah! You bet!

[sengokus]

[absolutely fucking not.

but he's just laughing once he makes it to the top of the steps, RECKLESS.]

What're the limitations? Can you make like - a samurai sword?

[please shut the fuck up]

[probe]

[stop being RECKLESS]

...a what?

[sengokus]

[no.]

Like a...

[he's just going to make a gesture to approximate the width and size]

Sword! Katana! Do you not have 'em where you're from? I guess even technically we don't really have them in Shinjuku anymore...

[probe]

Oh! A sword! Well, why didn't you say so!

[he literally did, fool.]

We have swords, sure! Plenty of people have swords! And spears! And shields, too!

[they reach into their sleeves and pull out--a foam sword. it's a broadsword, though. sorry.]

[sengokus]

[unfortunately he still thinks it's super cool

so he's just going to grab it, even if it's made out of foam, and make a delighted noise]

Cool, cool, cool...!!

Are you from an older era too then, Sloth-san?

[probe]

[OH. WELL THEN. if mineo is happy, they are happy?? a little bit of feathers puff out. it looks like this but foam.]

You bet! I was born way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, waaaay back.

[sengokus]

[oh wow neat - mineo gives his own form sword a few experimental swings. his form's bad but it's fine he's never trained in this before

but also he pauses]

Oh.

That's a lot of way's.

[probe]

A lot! Before the dawn of mortals.

[hmmm. they secretly kind of shove some more clouds down so mineo doesn't go flying off into space.]

Do you know how to use them? [the swords] Someone from home could teach you all about it, but I just don't know a thing!

[sengokus]

[let mineo go flying into space?]

Ah... no, I don't - but Leclerc-san apparently does! Do you think you could actually conjure a real sword for him maybe? He was looking for one, and it seems like other people have ways to defend himself but he doesn't.

[mineo's trying to help..........]

Actually, Sloth-san, I was gonna ask how much you knew about all of us.

[probe]

Missing swords, huh? That's got to be real tough! He should probably talk to the Avatar he's aligned with! I'm sure they'll help out!

[mineo is a good bean even if he's stupid]

Oh, sure! We got a chance to learn all about you before you showed up. We need to know a little about you to help you, right?

[sengokus]

[ . . . . he's very stupid but there's the slight shift in his demeanor when he hears that. suddenly the foam sword in his hand feels very much like a child's play thing.]

... then you know I'm kind of...

[ . . . ]

That I'm not in a rush to die.

[probe]

Still have a lot of things to do, huh? I hear plenty of those stories all the time! Life sure is short for you mortals, isn't it? It's tough. Meanwhile, I have all the time in the world! It's terrible!

Say, if you don't want to die so bad, why don't you just... live, you know? Don't fall into holes, don't get into battles, don't stand in lava, don't let large vermin eat you alive! Don't do any of the stuff that will make you dead!

[sengokus]

[ . . . . it's terrible? he didn't think about that - but he supposes that until now he's never had to.

he pauses, and looks back over to sloth.]

Because accidents happen, and no one really gets to control when they die - I get that. But... I think I know why I might be dead, and I—

[don't want to regret my sad excuse for a life.]

... you're immortal, Sloth-san? Do you not like it?

[probe]

[sloth looks back, shrugging slightly.]

I dunno. I really haven't ever been not immortal! I guess you could say it's hard when you don't do much of anything else but your job!

I have my brother! Um, well... I had my brother. But he's pretty busy now all the time. I hardly see him around. Eternity really isn't all it's cut out to be when you don't have anyone to spend it with!

[sengokus]

[ . . . ]

To be honest... I was gonna ask if it was lonely next.

[it sounds like it. could mineo live a life like that? he frowns and glances off to the side.]

... do you not get to talk to people that much? Is that why you were waving at everybody...? To try to get their attention?

[probe]

[hmmm. they are shockingly quiet for a long moment.]

Well... haha, funny thing! When you have a front door job, you see a lot of people! Like, a LOT! But there are so many... well, you don't get to talk to them for very long! They have to go right on through, day after day, all hours.

You just don't get many friends that way.

[1/2]

[sengokus]

[ . . . . front door job. so you see everybody who - dies? and they come and go, and they don't get to linger around for very long. in a way, mineo's glad that there's theoretically something after death. even if it doesn't quite soothe him enough to give up on living.

so he straightens up a little bit more before he just - takes a few steps back on the new stairs and bows suddenly at the waist posture ramrod straight]

Sloth-san!

Enomoto Mineo, Former Field Operations Team 2! Age 23, Blood Type A, and I really want to win this indulgence race to get back to living and meeting Date Masamune might be really cool too...!!

[sengokus]

[ . . . and then he straightens up, lifting his head and holding out his hand this time rather than only offering out a fist.]

I'm in your care - for as long as we're here.

So please look after me, as an avatar and as a friend.

[probe]

[this startles the heck out of sloth. they visible jump, and quickly raise their hands to wave them back and forth dismissively. but they don't interrupt mineo's speech.

slowly, the hands lower in surprise. they're looking at mineo's extended one!]

I... I don't know what to say! Wow... I... You really... want to be my friend?

[sengokus]

I do.

[and he looks very serious about this]

I don't think we're always gonna agree, because our backgrounds are really different. I can't just wave off death happening super easily, even if I know it'll happen to everybody. The point is that I wanna keep people alive as long as possible, especially if they're important to me.

But I don't think you're bad at your core - so I wanna get along.