[audio]

[deathof4thwall]

The message starts with a sharp squeal of static, as if the COMP is a badly tuned radio or something, before it dies down a little and a cheerful voice starts babbling.

"Hiii~! So I was wondering something, and I thought I'd just throw it out on the network like this to get an answer and all."

There's the sound of fabric rustling, as if whoever's on the other side of the transmission is shifting nervously.

"So I noticed a bunch of people have, like, clean clothing, and I was just wondering what's up with that? I mean, how does it happen? My clothes are still covered in scorpion goo, and I don't have any spares or nothing, so it'd be super nice if someone could tell me how all you other folks are getting clean things."

There's a slight pause before the voice lowers to a whisper and hisses out,

"is it witchcraft?!"

With that, the message ends.

Comments

Re: [action]

[deathof4thwall]

"Okay!"

His smile doesn't flicker even once as he commences pulling off all of his arm hair, strip by strip.

1/2

[greatseal]

It's about as bad as she'd feared. At this rate, she's going to have to dump him in a tub full of disinfectant...

Re: [action]

[demifemme]

Shura has to look away after not even half an arm. She felt too much sympathetic pain, between the sight and the noise of the tape ripping out.

Once Minato was done, she finally let go of a breath. "Ready to go do laundry now?"

Re: [action]

[deathof4thwall]

BEAMING.

"Sure thing!"

[greatseal]

She takes his arm gingerly and pulls him toward the bathroom, leaving the door open once she steps inside. "Come on...."

Re: [action]

[demifemme]

"Grab your clothes and your money then, we're gonna go to the laundry room." With that said, she headed out for the laundry room at the end of the hall, where she waited for Minato.

[deathof4thwall]

He looks down at where your hand is holding his arm and grins to himself in a way that is totally unlike previous grins - a little sad, with a certain far-off dreaminess.

"You know, I can't remember anything from before I came to Port Island?"

His tone of voice is cheerfully conversational as he relates this.

[action]

[deathof4thwall]

When he follows you out, he's not actually carrying anything.

[greatseal]

No, she didn't know, and the casual way he's saying it only adds to her concern.

"You mean you have amnesia?"

Re: [action]

[demifemme]

Oh right, he only has the clothes on his back, but... "No money? No soap?"

[deathof4thwall]

"Huh? Nah. I just lost track of it after a while."

Nodding very seriously to himself.

"Not sure when it really happened, though. By the time I noticed, it'd been a while."

Re: [action]

[deathof4thwall]

"Uhh...no?"

This is unexplored territory for him, sorry.

[greatseal]

"You mentioned something about that before..." Loops of time, or something like that. "But we can talk about it after you've washed, all right? You'll feel better then."

She tugs him over to the shower head and then rummages around in the bag she's carrying. She then pulls out several things - a bottle of shampoo, a bar of soap, and a set of clean clothes that may or may not have been acquired with the actual consent of her brother. But this way, she knows they fit.

[demifemme]

"Okay." Good thing there is a laundry soap dispenser on the wall.

"Put your dark clothes in this machine, and your light clothes in that machine," she said as she opened two washing machines for him. Luckily, no one else was using them at the time.

[deathof4thwall]

His eyes go wide as he views the hygiene products.

"Wow! Those look neat!"

[deathof4thwall]

Okay, first he strips off his jacket and pants and shoves them into the first machine, and then the rest of his clothes go in the other.

He pauses, looks down at his body, and picks up his pants to go through the pockets, eventually pulling out what looks like a Speedo, which he pulls on.

His exposed chest is covered in various scars of all kinds - claw and sword marks, a few puckered craters that look something like bullet holes, burns...it seems he's been through the wringer at some point, but all the scars have the look of things that have been with him for a long time.

[greatseal]

This is really not the reaction she wanted. But, pressing on. "I'm not going to stand in here while you shower so pay attention. This is how you turn on the water..." She demonstrates it briefly, making sure they're both actually clear of the spray. "Left is hotter water, right is colder. When I go outside, you'll need to undress and scrub all of that gunk off of you. The shampoo is for your hair and the soap is for everywhere else. Just use a little shampoo, not the whole bottle. After you've scrubbed with the soap, rinse it all off with the water. Then dry off with this towel and change into the clean clothes. Does that make sense?"

She sincerely hopes it does, because really the last thing she wants is to need to monitor his bath.

[demifemme]

She is rather thankful he has a speedo to cover himself. She can't help but stare at his chest for a bit, though. "Saving the world is hard, uh."

[deathof4thwall]

He looks down at the patchwork of scars and blinks in surprise.

"Wow, I had no idea those were there!"

He sounds cheerful about that.

[deathof4thwall]

He adopts the most serious look he has as he considers.

"I think so!"

A smile as he looks at you.

"Thanks! I still have some candied scorpions left if you want some - just check the paper sack near the sink, 'kay?"

[greatseal]

"Candied...." Um... maybe she doesn't want to ask. "Okay, I'll check. I'll be right outside."

And she steps out and shuts the door behind her. The mention of food... or well, something that might be food? has lead her to want to investigate the kitchen area and answer the question she had earlier about what he's eating... If there is anything edible, she wants to prepare some lunch.

[demifemme]

Shura looks at him in utter confusion before shuddering and deciding to focus on the laundry. It would be safer.

"A-anyway... each little bag of soap is ¥20. You put the coins in the slot here and you turn the handle to the left..." One tiny pouch of laundry soap fell into her hand, then she repeated the operation for a second one. "You put one bag in each machine without opening the bag, all right?"

[deathof4thwall]

The sound of running water comes from behind the closed door as you head for the kitchen.

There really is a paper sack next to sink, and a quick check inside will reveal a few wooden skewers, each of which has three scorpions impaled on it. The light gleams off of some kind of coating, so they probably are candied. Inside the fridge, there's a bag of carrots and some canned meat.

Distantly, you might be able to hear him start singing snatches of some wordless melody.

[deathof4thwall]

A salute and he throws the bags in.

"Now what, oh captain, my captain?"

Seems you're the captain now.

[greatseal]

Well if there's bread, she could make a sandwich at least. Otherwise they'll have to visit a store... Speaking of that she sends a quick text to her brother, asking him to add some food to the shopping list she'd given him while visiting his room earlier.

...She glances at the candied scorpions and decides to leave them alone.