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[ The feed flickers on. ]
[ MARINN is sitting patiently in his chair. Notably, his puppet is absent, having been left back in his room. ]
[ BRONTË peers at him, writing down things already. ]
[BRONTË]: Sorry to disturb you, Marinn. I just wanted to ask you a bit about your… vacation.
[MARINN]: Oh, this is… about that?
[BRONTË]: Well, also just a general… wellness check, in a way.
[MARINN]: Right…
[ He shuffles a bit. ]
[MARINN]: Well, my uh, vacation was… fine, honestly. It started off a little weird, what with the… being placed in a graveyard thing…
[ BRONTË shook her head, a little annoyed but not surprised that a graveyard was a vacation location. ]
[MARINN]: But- even, despite that, I thought it was still nice. I hung out by the graveyard back in the game, too…
[MARINN]: Not intentionally… but, it was adjacent to the sculpture garden…
[BRONTË]: I'm... suprised by that honestly. I would think you'd want to not think of that at all while you're in the game.
[MARINN]: I mean, death isn’t… nice to think about in almost all cases. But…
[MARINN]: A graveyard shouldn’t be scary.
[MARINN]: It’s… the only place where the dead are guaranteed to live on, through memory.
[MARINN]: …
[ He looks down at his hands. He'd usually be fidgeting with the controls of his puppet in a moment like this, but now he's simply pressing his fingers together in odd ways. ]
[MARINN]: On nights in the game… when I was… um… worrying, alone, in my dorm…
[MARINN]: Thinking of everything that could go wrong… someone trying to break in… or catching me off guard...
[MARINN]: Even if I… hardly had any friends. Even if no one knew me. At least if… the worst came to pass… they’d… put my name on a stone, and remember me that way.
[MARINN]: …not as the puppeteer. Or… as a friend. But at least as... the latest victim.
[ His voice shakes as he gets to that last bit, clearly having a bit of doubt in how much he'd want to be remembered that way. ]
[BRONTË]: …Do you still think that? That being remembered for that is better than being forgotten?
[ THe puppeteer takes a moment. Briefly thinking it over. ]
[MARINN]: …When I get back. I… I wouldn’t let that be how I’m remembered. I’d… let people know who I am. More people.
[MARINN]: I don’t wanna just… sit and wait and hope it all gets better.
[MARINN]: Maybe… I need to make a change myself.
[ BRONTË seems a little surprised, content with what she's discovered. ]
[BRONTË]: Well, thank you for the insight, Marinn. You’re free to go.
[ He stands to leave, but- before he does, he turns to her. ]
[MARINN]: …Doctor Brontë. I don’t- you might not be able to, or want to, but…
[MARINN]: When the next… person… appears in a match. Can it be… one of the students?
[MARINN]: Or if it has to be someone from the cult… maybe Katou… or Cyrus, if he counts…
[MARINN]: Even the TV one… I forget their name…
[MARINN]: I just… seeing Cali and Deile get a friend… I’d want to find one too.
[ BRONTE thinks for a moment before responding. ]
[BRONTË]: I’ll see what I can do.