Extremely tempted to reference a now outdated meme, but I won’t.
“Back.”
“I still feel like kicking myself, make no mistake.”
Internalizing it is the first step to…something, I guess?
“…but I guess I cooled down a bit.”
“Sei helped a lot with that one, though. I just can’t stay mad when I see her.”
“Speaking of which, where is she?”
“The way you are right now, it feels like I should be protecting you.”
“Hey! The only thing hindering me is the broken arm. I’ve gone into burning buildings with a 2cm deep cut.”
“Yeah, I remember that one. 1mm more and you would’ve lost the motor function in your arm.”
“Welcome.”
“What’s this about protecting who?”
“Yeah, um… I’m sort of like Stella’s unofficial bodyguard. But I’m not really fit for such duties right now.”
“My father insists I go everywhere with protection. So most of the time I only ask Sei if she feels like going out.”
“She’s trained to deal with the kind of things that bodyguards deal with anyway.”
“And she’s more fun to hang around with too.”
Honestly they should’ve just made a game about these two instead.
“So I’m assuming that gorilla outside is a bodyguard?”
“That’s Buster. Pretty cool guy. He played football professionally until he lost his leg in a demolition derby.”
“We’ve offered him an implant surgery for all his years of service, but he rejects it every time.”
“Well, he got used to the replacement he’s using, so maybe it’s for the best.”
“It’s a thick oak branch on a metal bowl tied to his stump.”
Honestly, that kinda kicks ass.
“And yet he can still run faster than me with it.”
“True.”
“Do you want something?”
“I’m fine right now.”
“A Brandtini. A big one. I’m in a good mood.”
“After all these years, I still don’t get why the finest and most expensive things come in small packages.”
“Ever tried to go to a restaurant only for them to serve you a really small portion of some fine food?”
A few times. And it always feels like a ripoff tbh.
“Sometimes you just want to…stuff yourself with really cheap food.”
“…”
“Sei, let’s go for some hamburgers later. I’m not taking a no for an answer.”
“I know what you mean when you say ‘some’, you know?”
“You might as well call the place and tell them to prepare everything in advance.”
“Can I ask you two something?”
“Sure!”
“I guess.”
“How did you two meet?”
“Stella showed up in the park I used to play at when I was a kid.”
“We played a couple of times. She started showing up more and more and that was it.”
“ahem My father told me that, when I was 5, I kept insisting on going to a ‘real kid’s park.’”
“We drove for some time, and the park I liked was the one Sei happened to be at.”
“Have you ever seen a girl in a dress go to a muddy park?”
“She learned her lesson and started showing up with more fitting clothes.”
“But man, that’s a scene I can’t forget.”
“…”
“So you two have known each other for most of your lives?”
“I’ve known her longer than I’ve known my own father.”
“Why the question?”
“No reason. You two just look so comfortable with each other. Any other person could’ve sworn you were an item.”
Unfortunately, this game has already met its quota of lesbian couples, so we’ll settle with being really coy about it instead.
“A-An item? What kind of item?”
“…a couple, Sei.”
“Oh! Ite-…yeah, I get it now.”
“It’s funny because we actually earned a mock prize of sorts for “best couple” at Stella’s high school.”
“…Three years in a row.”
“So you two didn’t go to the same high school?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t you have any childhood friends, Jill?”
“Childhood friends…can’t think of any. My grandpa, I guess.”
“What kind of man was he?”
“Gruff. The kind to eat raw Bronson roots every morning.”
I wonder, are those a reference to Charles Bronson or is that just a lucky coincidence?
“brrrrrr”
“But around me he, was…different.”
Not a typo, and I don’t know why this sentence is formatted like that.
“I have memories of him barking orders to my dad, only to turn around and play with me gently.”
“It’s interesting though. He was my mom’s dad. But after my mom and dad separated, he stayed with my dad.”
“But yeah, he’s the one that comes to mind when I think about childhood friends.”
“Ooooooh.”
“Hey Jill, what’s this…Bloom Light?”
“A spicy drink. Tastes nice the first time but it gets same-y after a while. It’s also brown for some reason.”
Pretty sure they’re just serving curry in a glass here. Not sure if I’d want that…
“Gimme one of those, please.”
“I’ll have one too.”
“On it.”
“I don’t know. I kinda like it.”
“Yeah. but after the third one, it starts tasting like sand.”
And you know what they say about sand…I’ll just take my leave.
“Spicy sand. But sand nonetheless.”
What is it with girls falling asleep at this bar???
“Zzzzzz…”
“Well, that, and that she must still be tired.”
“From the whole bank thing?”
“She told me about everything that happened in there. To be honest, I don’t think I would’ve made it in her place.”
“I guess I should be thankful for the nanomachine treatment she went through as a White Knight.”
“Treatment?”
Surprised they didn’t have her say nanomachines instead, considering this game loves its Metal Gear references.
“Trauma suppressors.”
“Basically, it helps with the healing process of PTSD.”
“It’s mandatory for every White Knight, regardless of division.”
“Oh.”
“Still, healing can only do so much.”
“For three days, that bank was hell. And poor Sei is still paying for it.”
“The disbanding of the White Knights and the subsequent persecution of those who were identified as former members…”
I get that the White Knights are supposed to be the bad guys but the way the game portrays the protestors seems to paint them in a pretty bad light. I don’t even know if that’s supposed to be intentional or not.
“It’s unfair, you know? Among all the people using the White Knights to further their own goals…”
“Sei was one of the few that actually believed in what they were supposed to do.”
“It paid off though.”
“The doctor who treated her wounds was the same one she’s always assisted with accidents and emergencies.”
“He treated her at no cost whatsoever.”
“Well, good karma and all that.”
“She’s earned the gods’ favor, I think.”
“…but you know. All of that made me realize I might be a bad person.”
“How?”
I’m gonna assume it’s all the massive piles of money she has.
“When I saw Sei, wounded, asking for help; a part of me was happy.”
“After all this time needing her, she finally needed ME.”
“I felt truly useful to her for the first time.”
“sigh How sad is that?”
“Sometimes the best help one can provide is to stay alive.”
“Who knows? Maybe it was the idea of coming back to you that helped her.”
“And I guess you wouldn’t be human without thoughts like those once in a while.”
“Maybe.”
“Can I get you anything else?”
“I’m good. I should be leaving actually.”
“Come, Sei. Let’s get hamburgers and go home.”
“mumble Yeah…”
“Thank you. Please come again.”
“No, I just don’t reek of rage.”
“But I still feel like a piece of shit.”
“Hello?”
The original unconscious girl in a bar returns.
“Ah, Kim. Welcome.”
“What can I get you?”
“I’ll have a Sunshine Cloud, please.”
“Sure.”
“Thanks!”
“So, how’s work on the webpaper?”
“Oh, I quit.”
“…what?”
“Yup! I went to the office of that chauvinistic horseblower and told him I quit!”
Good for you!
“Why did you do that?”
Why not? Donovan is literally the least likable character in the game. That’s saying something.
“I arrived early to my meeting and got some assignment.”
“I spent hours doing it, only for the other bitches to come and ruin it.”
“After that, I didn’t have time left so my supervisor scolded me.”
“So I snapped and quit on a whim.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t you have any second thoughts? Regret anything?”
“I guess you’ll always have second thoughts. Even if you do what you want, you’ll still think ‘what if’.”
“Even so, I was getting physically sick there. I dreaded the arrival of every morning. I even almost…”
“…”
“What I’m saying is: I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’s certainly better than being there.”
“I feel…free.”
(“Free.”)
It’s almost like this is an intentional parallel…
“It’s a wonderful feeling, you know? I feel like now I can find something I care about.”
“I won’t return to The Augmented Eye, but I could still pursue journalism with another outlet.”
”I can finally work at Buzzfeed!”
“I haven’t felt like this in…well…never!”
“…”
“ahem”
“What about your family?”
“They weren’t happy, that’s for sure…”
“My dad took it better, but my mom freaked out, to put it mildly.”
“‘What are you gonna do?!’ and all that.”
“sigh But I’m not here about that. Give me a big drink, please.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know…bubbly or something.”
“If detergent commercials are to be believed, this will clean out my insides.”
Like how Coca Cola can remove rust?
“It’ll also kill things inside you.”
So just like Coca Cola.
“I gotta ask though. How did you end up working there?”
“No deep reason. That’s what I did when I got out of high school.”
“Taking a year off was out of the question so I went for the first thing I thought about.”
“…but I couldn’t get into the robotics course, so I settled for journalism.”
“…to be honest, I got tired of the job midway through it, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave.”
“sigh Too much pressure from my family.”
“It’s a really common tale, I guess.”
A tale as old as time…
“Did you have troubles like those?”
“Same story as you. I just…went through the motions.”
“From high school to college, I never stopped to think about what I was doing.”
“And then, at some point, I just felt like my life slipped through my fingers.”
“Suddenly all I wanted was freedom, a little pause. To stop and take a breather.”
“…and my life went through hell for that fucking breather.”
“…”
“Ehhh…um…g-give me a…err…SOMETHING!”
“‘Something’?”
“S-Sorry. I just have a dry mouth. Anything will do.”
“Alright…”
Same tactic as always here. Get the most expensive drink, even though at this point you really shouldn’t be worrying about money.
“Thanks.”
“…”
“I feel like I asked something I shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t fret about it. I’m just in a…rough spot right now.”
“What are you gonna do now?”
“Honestly… I don’t know.”
“I do feel liberated, however.”
“Like… I can do whatever I want. Study whatever I like, work wherever I want.”
“I know it’s not that way and I know it won’t be easy…but I feel a lot more confident than when I was out of high school.”
“I honestly don’t get why they put young people who barely know how society works through that one.”
“Well, I wish you the best of luck.”
“Your mental health should be your priority and all that.”
”Stay hydrated or whatever the fuck.”
“Thanks. I really needed the encouragement.”
“Come back if you need more encouragement.”
“I wouldn’t dare leave someone alone when it comes to this sort of thing.”
“Please come again.”
“sigh”
“You should take some of that advice for yourself.”
Haven’t you heard of “Do as I say, not as I do?”, Gillian?
“I know, I know…”
You know the drill.
“Hoooooneeeeeeeeeeeey~”
The tilde is probably the horniest of all the symbols.
“I know. I came for you!”
“For me?”
“W-Why are you hugging me?”
Pretty sure that Dana is secretly some sort of entity from Hell.
“All. Night. Long.”
“…”
“Come again?”
“To put it simply: Dorothy will go home with you and she won’t leave your side.”
“What do you hope to accomplish with that?”
”Make your life a living hell.”
“Well, at first it was to calm that rage you had earlier.”
“It was either hugs or a cold bucket…and I don’t promise there’ll be any water in it.”
…just what is she implying…
“You calmed down a bit. But honestly, I know better than to leave you alone for another night.”
And she couldn’t have just called Alma because…? Because the writer really fucking loves Dorothy and you have to know that, I assume.
“At the very least, all the cuddling will give you an epiphany or something.”
“That’s some alien reasoning right there.”
“It’s not. You need hugs. Many.”
“You need some human…err…humanoid contact right now.”
“You had your alone time. Now, we’re playing by my rules.”
“Please take care of me.”
”Fuck no.”
“…”
