“…”
“Maybe the bar got popular at some middle school?”
One time this restaurant near my primary school got popular among kids and they just started taking their sugar and honey packets for free. I still have no idea why they did that.
“That would be a hassle.”
“Oh gods, maybe Alma was right.”
Sidenote: why does Jill say “oh gods” like she’s a character in a bad, pulpy fantasy series?
“Right about what?”
“Well, the other day I was asking her opinion on the whole Alice_Rabbit thing.”
“Before the whole massive transmission hack thing.”
“And at some point she talked about hacking becoming a fad and said:”
“”Imagine if, suddenly, a group of tweens broke into this bar and started asking for drinks.””
“And today, there have been two kids already.”
“…”
“Eeeeeh…”
“How would bartending become a fad?”
“Maybe a cartoon?”
There’s probably an anime about bartending, at least.
“Kids’ cartoons don’t show any alcohol.”
“True.”
“…”
“Um…”
“Excuse me, Miss…”
“…”
“This is no place for kids, so you should…”
“…”
“Um…”
“Gil, she’s staring too much. And she’s saying nothing.”
”She’s just standing there…menacingly!”
“She’s not ordering anything, she’s not causing trouble and there’s nothing inappropriate here.”
“I mean, nothing inappropriate aside from alcohol. But alcohol is everywhere anyways.”
Considering the clientele, I think there are plenty more inappropriate things.
“So what do you suggest?”
“Let her be? Maybe she’s just curious about the bar.”
“She’s saying nothing.”
“Maybe she’s curious AND shy.”
“Also, it’s rude to speak about people you have in front of you like they can’t hear you.”
”That’s what the brackets are for, Jill.”
“Yeah…”
“…”
“…”
A riveting conversation.
“…”
“Jill.”
“BWAH!”
“How the hell did I startle you?”
“What do you want?”
“Can you help me out here with a Beer?”
“R-Right…”
“Thanks. And lower your guard a bit, please.”
“Oh yeah, before I forget.”
“The disposal unit comes on Sunday. Do you have any expired ingredients on your side?”
“Oh right. Yeah.”
“There’s a bottle of Karmotrine that’s like a month past expiration.”
Expiration rates can be pretty unreliable at times though.
“Put it by the sink so I remember to dispose of it.”
“Thanks.”
“…!”
“Y-Yes?”
“Are you happy?”
She works at Valhalla. What do you think?
“Am I happy? Well…that’s a weird question.”
“I’m not sad, I guess. I’m not jubilant, but…”
“No, I mean, are you happy with your life? With your choices?”
“Deep question…”
“I mean, I might have one or two regrets but I guess it could be worse.”
“Regrets?”
“Yeah, I mean…don’t we all?”
“I see…”
Is this girl just Nega-Jill or something?
“…”
“Um…”
“…”
“…”
Yeah, this update is kind of a lot of pointless filler.
“Hey Jill.”
“BWAH!”
“…again? Aren’t you a bit on edge?”
“Maybe. What did you want?”
“Didn’t you borrow the screwdriver the other day?”
“I did, why?”
“I forgot to take the coins from the arcades in the corner last week.”
“So I need it to take them out.”
“Oh, let’s see…”
“Here.”
“It’s not like they see much action these days anyways.”
I know it’d be extremely impractical and unprofitable but arcade machines should make a comeback.
“Chump change is still money. Pocket change has saved my ass many times.”
“What? Did you throw it in someone’s face while escaping?”
“That only happened once and the old lady started it!”
“…right.”
“Why does an arcade still use coins nowadays? Or physical money, when you get down to it.”
“For the reason arcades still exist. Nostalgia.”
“Maybe.”
“…”
Like I said before, a LOT of pointless filler.
“E-Eh? Yeah?”
“Do you recognize me?”
“Recognize you?”
“…I want to say I do, but…eh…”
“Sorry.”
“Sister? Sorry, but I don’t have any sis-…”
“…sister?”
Jeez, Jill, you’re worse than a Metal Gear protagonist.
“Not even a “sister in law”?”
“…”
“…no way. Gaby? Is that really you?”
“God, I’m so sorry, but you’ve just grown so much since I last saw you.”
“How long has it been?”
“…three years.”
“R-Right.”
“So you know her?”
“Yeah. She’s actually my girlfr-…my ex’s sister.”
“Um…so, how have you been doing?”
Master of small talk.
“I actually had to transfer schools, and I managed to skip a grade thanks to the admission tests.”
“I’ll be out of middle school next year.”
Is middle school a thing anywhere besides America? Genuinely curious.
“You’ve always been a smart one, so it’s no surprise._
“Have you thought about what you want to study in college? You always said you wanted to be a scientist?”
“I don’t know yet. I guess I still have a couple of years to think about that.”
“Well, don’t feel pressured about that. Maybe you’ll need a sabbatical year?”
“S-So…how’s Lenore?”
“Wait, who’s Lenore?”
“Her sister, she’s…um…she was my girlfriend.”
Okay, to be honest, I kinda like the signs that Jill isn’t really over her ex. It’s cute.
“So you actually had a relationship with something that’s not a cat? Color me surprised!”
“Hey…don’t talk shit about my baby.”
“ahem”
“So, how’s Lenore doing?”
And now we finally get to the actual meat of this day’s plot. And it’s kind of a lot and I’m actually not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, killing off gay characters is an ancient cliche by this point, but I also think the way this game portrays people dealing grief in a…fairly realistic manner.
“…”
“Sorry, I don’t think I heard right.”
“My sister is dead, Jill. She died last Saturday. I came all the way to tell you the news.”
“Come on Gaby, stop fooling arou-…”
“My sister was left to suffer her disease alone while you were all merry here, mixing drinks and chatting!”
“Wait, Lenore was sick? Of what? Since when?”
“Localized Nanomachine Rejection. It gave her a heart attack.”
“She started complaining about chest pains not long after you left.”
“Was all the talk about getting your freedom worth it, Jill?”
“Why are you lashing out at me like that?! Did I infect her with the disease that killed her?”
“No, but. It’s too much of a coincidence that she started getting worse and worse right after you left!”
“She got visibly sick after your fight. It’d be no surprise if that fight played a key role in killing her!”
“But that’s just speculation, you can’t expect-…”
“And all of that because you wanted “freedom”?!”
“What kind of freedom is so enticing that it makes you hurt a nice three-year-old relationship?!”
“Was this freedom so important you cut all contact with us?!”
“Was this freedom so good you left everything behind?!”
“Was this freedom worth the life of my-…”
“SHUT UP!”
“I didn’t kill your sister, for fuck’s sake! It’s not like I infected her with that Nanomachine Rejection!”
“Hell, this is the first time I’ve even heard she was sick!”
“…”
“And do you really know what kind of fear drove me to have that argument with your sister?!”
“Do you even understand the fear of feeling your youth slip through your fingers?!”
“Do you think it was all easy for me?! I was scared! I’m still scared! But I needed to grab a hold of my life!”
“But it has nothing to do with your sister!”
“I-I loved her… Do you think that fight didn’t hurt me too?”
“I…”
“…”
I’m tempted to sympathize with Jill here, but like, kids have a fucking hard time dealing with loss and they’re gonna do shitty things. I might just be reading a bit too much into the bad video game, though.
“…”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“…”
“I… I…”
“I’ll make sure that girl gets to wherever she wants to go safely.”
“Come on, Jill. Let’s take you home.”
“…”
“…”
“Hey Jill, you wanna grab something to eat?”
“…”
“…I’m not hungry.”
“Want me to come in? Keep you company?”
“…I-I’m fine, I just…sniff I just need to be alone for a bit.”
“Jill…”
“You can tell me what you’re feeling, it’s okay.”
“IT’S NOT OKAY!!”
“It’s…it’s not…”
“…”
“Come here Jill, come here.”
“sniff I-It’s just…I feel like part of me is crumbling right now. “
“M-My old girlfriend was sick and I didn’t know anything about it!”
“Her sister came to deliver the news, and she held nothing but animosity for me…”
“And not only that, but I lashed out at her too! History fucking repeats itself.”
“Maybe if I hadn’t cowered back then and apologized…”
“Maybe if I wasn’t such a selfish little shit…”
“Maybe…”
“…m-maybe…”
“sniff”
“…”
“Thanks, Boss. I really needed this.”
“Do you want me to stay with you today?”
“Thanks, but I actually need some time for myself.”
“Some me time to put my thoughts in order.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
“But don’t do anything funny, you hear me?”
“If any weird thoughts come to you, or if you feel too anxious, call me.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“Hey Fore! She’s in your care, you hear?”
“Meow.”
“Remember to call me. I’ll call you later to check on you nonetheless.”
“…”
And there we have it, one of the rare actually good parts of the game, at least in my opinion. They’ll probably ruin it with boob jokes and whatnot in the next update, so let’s savor this.