Audience: Mineo Enomoto

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

That's because you are one.

I'm not going to get... gloomy. [they say this, vaguely annoyed. and then they mutter something about envy.]

[sengokus]

[but pride DOES keep to themselves]

Ah - I think you're fine the way you are, for the record. Kinda stabby but so is everyone else here.

[he's adapted,,]

But I have a backbone when it matters!

[probe]

[wow don't call them out]

When does it matter? [... they sound genuinely curious, at least.]

[sengokus]

When someone's going to get seriously hurt, or if someone's spouting shit about something they don't know anything about.

[(mineo voice) say "justice" one more time]

And I just can't stand hearing people talk badly about others that I care about. That matters too.

[it just seems like his own ego rarely factors into it]

[probe]

I assume you only get angry when it's others. You seemed fine with boiling your own blood to prove evidence, if I recall correctly.

[they sound slightly amused at this.]

[sengokus]

[LOOKING AWAY]

I'm - sturdy?!

[WHY DOES HE SOUND LESS CONVINCED SUDDENLY]

[probe]

I.

[they just give him such a look.]

Sturdy. Yes, that will help when your blood boils.

[sengokus]

[wow he can't perceive bc of the hood!]

There's the medbay... it's fine... I didn't know if it was literal....

I wouldn't have died probably! [SO IT'S ALL GOOD,]

[probe]

[they sound very exasperated:]

What do you think boiling blood -- never mind. [sigh.] Sturdy.

[sengokus]

You know... when you're so mad at someone your blood boils? Thought maybe it just put someone into a blind rage or something. Metaphors and stuff.

[he's not smart enough to explain]

Well, it's gone now. You're probably right that I don't really take much offense when it comes to me, Pride-san... but I think I only recently became someone who had anything worth taking offense over.

[probe]

Hmph. [it occurs to them that mineo probably doesn't have magic in his world, so they won't argue.]

Only recently?

[sengokus]

[nodding..... though he looks a little less eager to talk about it]

... I was a pretty useless guy before I got here. That's all.

[he'll just show the back of his hand - the sloth tattoo. he always felt like it was too fitting, way too apt of a judgment]

But I won't talk about it if it'll just bore you.

[probe]

[they tilt their head slightly.]

If you don't want to talk about it, don't. [but they don't seem bored, at least.]

[sengokus]

[ . . . hmmm. well! mineo will pause for a second before nodding.]

... I don't mind. I just don't wanna talk about me too much - I wanna know about you too, you know?

Uh... Well - the reason I'm here is because I don't want to die. Before I came here... there's a case that's really important to me. A friend of mine - a guy who pretty much embodied what the idea of justice was to me - he got killed by a terrorist organization. But I... I wasn't making progress on the case, even after months. I used to solve a lot of cases - I used to be good at my job... but I think I got so -

[ . . . he shrugs.]

So rattled that I just - didn't.

Then... the same criminals who killed him killed me too. [he lets his free hand rest over his sloth tattoo, tracing the lines] .... I wasn't really a guy who was worth much before I got here - just dead weight.

I've been trying to be different here. [somebody worth something] That's all.

[probe]

[they listen, for what it's worth.

they hadn't bothered looking anybody up except for the other prides, so they can't help but be a little curious.]

Well. At least you don't want to be dead. [grumble.]

[sengokus]

.... I guess there are probably some people out there who do.

[in a broader sense - ]

But are you talking about someone here, Pride-san?

[probe]

[...]

I'm not particularly a fan of Trafalgar Law just giving up. [:T]

[sengokus]

Ah... You did seem close.

[and mineo frowns a bit at that]

... yeah. He made his decision but... it's a little confusing - at least, to me. I don't even know why he came here... but I guess his priorities might've - shifted?

[probe]

He had a good reason, and he threw it away for the unknown. [pride sound irritated, though it's not at mineo.]

We weren't - close. We weren't friends. But he and I had some things in common, and it is ridiculous to me to think that he'd just throw his life and goals away for something unrealistic.

[sengokus]

[ . . . . ]

What was the unrealistic thing? Revenge for Starphase-san?

[probe]

He told me he figured he'd see Starphase in the afterlife. [they fold their arms.] There is no afterlife. The dead are dead, the past is the past, and the chance to get his desire is gone.

[sengokus]

[ . . . . oh. mineo blinks at that before tilting his head]

Yeah? White was told that the souls of the people who die here are at least kept somewhere... And I know that Molly has been trying to get Beauregard-san back...

Is there really nothing we can do for them?

[probe]

[big scowl energy.]

Not unless you manage to indulge enough to get your desires. And even then I don't know if it'll be enough. I don't know the exact end result. [...] For them, it's over. They're dead.

The rest of you are alive. If I were in your shoes, I would focus on staying alive.

[sengokus]

Well - I'm kind of in the in-between. [as someone who died before he arrived, but he's living here.] I guess I was just thinking about it as... well, a back-up plan. Like if something were to happen to me, could someone get me back?

That sort of thing. [a beat] I wouldn't want to make anyone sacrifice their wish for me, though. But... I do like living.

[it's why he's here at all, after all]

[probe]

[they look away, thinking.]

I don't know. [which they clearly hate admitting.] I don't know how it'll work. It's hypothetically possible.