[closed]

[messianic]

WHO: Joshua and Minato
WHERE: The Town, but the edge of the woods where Joshua is being Sketch.
WHEN: April 28th, sure
WHAT: There's never a bad time to add new skills to your knowledge. Probably even these skills.
WARNINGS: Joshua is just really sketchy.

[Wanderings in the early evening around the fringes of the forest is probably really none-too-wise, but Minato's had a lot on his mind lately. The shadow situation had been pretty nasty before it had faded into nothingness, and while Minato still caught himself twitchily looking towards his shadow when he thought it moved inappropriately...

So far, everything's been fine.

Still, pacing and wandering is a better way to get his mind in order than to remain cooped up in the house he's staying in, especially with Vriska still a statue (horrifically so).

That's why he's out there, for better or for worse--but at the very least, spying Joshua is a good distraction. Probably. So he'll naturally approach, lifting a hand from his pocket to wave.]

Joshua-san...?

Comments

[messianic]

[BECAUSE IT IS BAD.]

If you say so... I think I should probably let her know then.

[how's them apples, Joshua.]

[whereabout]

Has anyone ever told you you're completely ruthless?

[messianic]

[A peaceful, innocent blink.]

No.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[THAT ALL ASIDE--]

If you don't want to talk to Estelle-san about it, will you talk to me about it?

[whereabout]

[ Bullshit, Minato!

...but he knows protag determination well enough to know that he's not getting out of this now. ]

It's complicated.

[ Which is not a refusal, so much as a "let me figure out how to explain myself." ]

[messianic]

That's okay, I have time.

[Minato says that much peacefully, humming.]

Maybe I can help you find what you're looking for in the meantime.

[It's not like he's going to stop Joshua from doing what he's doing if he's safe and careful about it--he just wants Joshua to not keep it all pent up inside, too.]

[whereabout]

Another set of eyes never hurts. Are you familiar with kava at all?

[messianic]

Not at all. What does it look like?

[He'll!! Do his best!!]

[whereabout]

Heart-shaped leaves. Usually a few renge...er, around this size.

[ He indicates the size with his fingers. Nobody knows his bullshit fantasy metric system why. ]

[messianic]

Hm... okay, I'll look.

[And he crouches near to the ground where all of the plants fringe the edge of the woods, obediently! Time to find what he can while Joshua is thinking through how to talk about what's bothering him.]

[whereabout]

[ Well, he should probably start with - ]

...so I never told you exactly what my group found in the forest.

[messianic]

... No. You didn't.

[Minato shakes his head, but otherwise he'll be quiet, waiting for Joshua to continue. He knows that what Josh experienced out there was...Bad for him, in a lot of ways. Now he just has to wait and see exactly what happened.]

[whereabout]

[ "Bad" is such a gentle word for it. ]

It was a group of banshees. Everyone came to their senses before it was too late, but...

[ He's quiet for a moment, considering how to go from "this specific monster" to "my wide-encompassing mental issues." ]

It's not exactly something I can come up with hard numerical evidence for or anything, but I...have good reason to think that I'm more susceptible than the average person to mind control. Until we got here, I only had a sample size of one, so it wasn't something I put a lot of thought into - well, not beyond that one situation, I should say. But now...

[ Well, now it's become clear that 1) there's more than just Weissmann here to worry about getting into his head, and 2) there's a good chance that when Weissmann built the back door into his brain, that he didn't bother locking anyone else out, either.

It is a problem. ]

[messianic]

[.... Oh.

That's... that's grimmer than he was expecting. He knew it was something rough, but... that's brutal. Of course, now he understands exactly what Joshua meant by asking him to stop him if he was ever not himself.]

... The banshees did that to you? They... [Mind control...?] ...I didn't realize there were things like that out there.

[A slow breath in, and:]

Is that what you're afraid of? That... someone will control you like that?

[whereabout]

It's been on my mind a bit, yes.

[ Vicious understatement, that. How he can undersell things so much with a straight face (or with...that smile, sometimes) is anyone's guess. ]

I'd hoped it wouldn't be a problem here.

[ Because, you know, the final boss isn't here! But Weissmann ruins everything even without being physically present in the same dimension. ]

[messianic]

[... It's a problem, honestly, that this is something that bothers Joshua so much--that this is something the woods picked at, just like that, without hesitation.

Minato sits up, meeting Joshua's eyes, and:]

I think you have two options...with a situation like this.

[whereabout]

[ He doesn't say anything, just waits.

Go on? ]

[messianic]

[... Joshua's probably not going to like it, but:]

You tell Estelle-san everything, so you can rely on her through all of this. So that, if it ever happens, she'll know what's going on.

Or... you tell more people what's going on, instead of Estelle-san, so that we can all band together to help you as best we can.

[HE KNOWS WHICH HE PREFERS, hint: it's option A, which is way healthier.]

[whereabout]

...she knows. That it's happened here.

[ And while he hasn't given her his full theory on why it's got such a high chance of happening again...well, she knows about it from before, too, so he figures odds are good she's already put two and two together. She can be oblivious about some things, but she's good at reading him that way.

(Better than he reads himself, honestly.) ]

[messianic]

[He believes that, honestly; he believes that Estelle is good at reading him, which helps. If Joshua has Estelle, Minato is certain he'll be fine.

That all said...]

If she knows that, why are you hiding something like this from her?

[The entire...drugged to go to sleep thing. Minato would think if anyone, Estelle would understand why Joshua is bothered.]

[whereabout]

I guess because there's not much more she can do that she hasn't already.

[ She's listened, she's been supportive, she's snuggling with him every night, and if that's not doing it, he doesn't want her to get worried about the fact that it isn't. ]

[messianic]

[Hmm...]

So you're still really worried, even though Estelle-san knows.

[Contemplatively:]

It still worries you even beyond that?

[whereabout]

It should.

[ He's very matter-of-fact about this. Not thinking of himself as a puppet still takes a concentrated effort. Why would he not worry about who all might make a grab for his strings? ]

[messianic]

[...]

Because you think it'll happen again, right?

[whereabout]

There's little chance it won't.

[ There's something a little tense about the way he crosses his arms as he says that. Especially the left one.

You know, that one. ]

[messianic]

[... Yeah. Hm.]

So what do you want to do about it?