awashlogs | [closed]

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...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[... Yeah. Hm.]

So what do you want to do about it?

[ ...good question.

There's a long pause. ]

... We can help you, Joshua-san. We all want to, because we're your friends.

But...

[After hearing all of that--]

I don't think you'll feel like you're in control of things unless you can find a way to resolve it with your own hands.

[Not...relying on someone else, which is just giving up control again.]

...you're right, I probably won't.

[ Which presents something of a problem. He'd apparently figured out something, with Kevin's help, although Estelle hadn't explained how they'd done it. But even if he figures out how to do whatever it is on his own, here - ]

I won't be satisfied until I can look Weissmann in the eye without anything happening.

[ Which basically means - not until they get out of here, unless the next group of arrivals is really awful. ]

... Do you think that's something you can work on here?

I know that... he's not here.

[Weissmann, the man who clearly ruined so much of Joshua's life. But...]

Your problems with being controlled or brainwashed... if you work on them here, won't you be even more ready to face him?

Maybe. I don't know.

[ He frowns. ]

Estelle said I'd gotten free of it...somehow, with help from one of our comrades. I don't remember that. But she was completely shocked to see it back. [ Because you can totally see a mind-control weakness by looking at someone and all - right, he hasn't explained that. He glances at the tattoo on his arm. ] That, I mean.

But Kevin...has good reasons to know a lot about how stigmata work. I don't know enough about it to get rid of it myself.

[ Which leaves him at a bit of a loss as to how he can make progress here. ]

... It's not just you here though, Joshua-san.

[Minato meets Joshua's eyes firmly, and:]

I don't know anything about stigmata. But I do know... that there are a lot of people here with a lot of amazing skillsets, who have experienced a lot.

I think you can find a way. I think you can find a way to get rid of it--you just might need a little bit of help to get there.

[ ...ah.

It's not at all unlike Estelle, he realizes. The conviction that he can and will get past anything, as long as he has the support of the people around him. Which is an amusing thought, because they're so different on the surface. Estelle exudes sunshine just by existing and needs to always be doing something, while Minato is quiet and relaxed and seems like he's eternally on the verge of taking a nap.

But if two people who seem so different can agree on that much, that...makes it easier to believe, maybe. ]

...thanks.

[Minato just flashes Joshua a quiet smile at that; it seems like it's something Joshua's at least thinking about, and that's really all he can ask.

So instead, he turns his attention back to the plants he was looking for, and--]

Is this is, Joshua-san...? The plant you're looking for?

[ Thinking is never the problem for Joshua - if anything, overthinking is. It's too easy for him to get stuck on something and brood until it's firmly beaten into the ground.

But he's trying.

He steps closer and crouches to get a look at the one Minato's found. ]

I think so.

[ He breaks a bit off, and...smells it? It smells like exactly nothing, as he predicted. ]

I wonder if it'll still work, like this.

I wonder too...

[Minato just shakes his head after a moment, tilting his head at Joshua.]

I guess all you can do is try.

[There's no harm in that.]

Worst case scenario, it doesn't work, I keep running on a few hours a night.

[ He says this like it's no big deal, because it's not, as far as he's concerned. He'd rather get good sleep, but he learned to stay functional on not much at all, once upon a time. He can manage.

Instead of breaking some more off, after a pause, he starts digging to just uproot the plant. Maybe he can get a totally non-shady and perfectly innocent garden going. ]

And, best case scenario...?

[What's Joshua's ideal case here, he has to know... as he watches Joshua just start to dig up that plant, reaching out to help dig up the other side. You do you, Josh.]

A good night's sleep, I guess.

[ He's not really thinking about the ideal case of all possible cases, so much as he's thinking about whether this particular thing is going to work. Not that Minato hasn't made some good points about what might be possible, but...

...that ideal case still feels like a lot to hope for, for someone who's lived so long thinking that hope is for other people. Not people like him. ]

[... Well, for now? He'll take that. He doesn't intend on preaching at Joshua when he's sure he's already made his own point. So quietly, he nods, dusting his hands of dirt.]

Well, for now I hope that helps you get that rest.

[For now for Minato:]

I'll be off then, I think.

[ Maybe that's one of the things that makes Minato so effective. He knows exactly how far to press the point without getting too much pushback. ]

I'll see you later, then. And...

Thanks.

[closed]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject