Session Start: Sat Oct 29 15:32:55 2005 [Thursday, March 24, 2004 - 740 local time] [Minami's home, early in the morning] [mini start] * Minami sits at the kitchen table poring over the forms the doctor gave her, while waiting for the water to boil. The forms are twisty and confusing, all seemingly alike. * Minami grimaces and rubs her forehead. The big issue seems to be that they assume that the head of household has a normal job, has typical references, or is on public assistance already. None of the above quite apply here. Also not helping is that she still hasn't seen her father. * Minami grumbles and mutters. "Occupation: Card-playing drunk. Primary source of income: Poker winnings of daughter. Ha!" The front door bangs open as the teakettle begins to whistle. * Minami starts at the sounds and takes the kettle off the stove, looking behind her. "Father?" * Father looks non-inebriated this morning, and is carrying a dufflebag. He looks simultaneously happy and worried. * Minami frowns as she gets out the cups. "Where've you been?" Making money, for a change. * Minami brightens a little, pouring. "Oh? How so?" * Father tosses the duffle on the counter, and unzips it. There are rolls of bills inside, though not of large denominations. * Minami stares. "If you answer with 'robbing banks,' I think I'll cry." That's a couple year's back taxes, I think. ....how? It was one helluva poker table, and I wasn't completely drunk for a change, and... *shrug*. You know me. Oh, lovely! * Minami runs over and hugs her father. * Father tousles her hair, lifts her up, and drops her into a chair. * Minami laughs. No, not lovely. * Minami frowns. "What?" * Father ducks into the kitchen and emerges with a Yebisu. * Father chugs 80% of the bottle before going on. "The reason I wasn't drunk was because there was this guy there who was asking about me." * Minami gets serious again, wafting her tea. "Oh?" The bartender told me when I walked in, and I... restrained myself. Eventually, the guy sat down at the table, and chatted me up. He asked... well, not about you, per se, but he tried to draw me out about my family. * Minami frowns. "Did we get any info about him?" Later, with about four or five beers in him, he started making snide comments about Ladies. At which point I got really paranoid. * Minami mutters under her breath. "Crap." Info...? Not really. Just this guy. Really clean-shaven, good physical condition. Given that you already seem to have friends in uniform, I might even guess military. * Minami snorts. "Given what you're saying about what he asked, I sorta doubt he's a friend. Military, eh....?" He had... oh, man. He had the best poker face ever, when he was sober at least. * Minami smirks. "Still no match for you though, right, da?" Mmm. We were even before he started playing looser. Anyway, I got on a roll, and was at that table about thirty hours. I'm still feeling hyped, but I knew I was losing focus, so I finally left. * Minami nods, her smirk proud and slightly wolfish. The guy left about four in the morning yesterday. I got the sense he hadn't found what he was looking for, but had stayed around that long just because he was having fun. * Minami nods, the smirk leaving her face, looking thoughtful and absently tapping the forms. So... do you think you're in more trouble? * Minami snorts. "We're always in trouble." She frowns. "But with this, and that nurse yesterday..." I'll be passing this on to...our office. This was really the day before yesterday. * Minami nods absent-mindedly. But do that - I'd hate for you to get blown up, Mina-pu. Me too, da. * Minami looks up. "Have you visited mother? * Father stretches, and goes to toss the bottle in the recycling bin. " Yest- no, two days ago. Spent most of the evening there before heading on. * Minami sighs and looks down. "She had another seizure yesterday morning. They had to operate. * Father blinks. Is she... how is she? * Minami looks away. "She's...stable, now. For now. They want to move her up the transplant list." How... we can't... even if... * Father sits back down. * Minami gulps down the cup of tea and waves over at the forms. "Yeah, I know. That's what I said. They gave us some forms, which look like insanity would, distilled into paper form." * Father thinks for a few moments. Your, uh... organization is already paying for this hospitalization... hell, if she's seized again, she might not have survived if they hadn't helped. Do you think...? * Minami rubs her temples. "I know...but I don't know if they could...it's a really steep price, father, much more so than the cost of the stay bills..." I can try. It isn't as if...well. I can try, I suppose.... But I don't know if...well, they're... * Minami continues muttering. I know. I guess it's too much to hope for. * Minami shrugs, more hunched in now. "Can't hurt to try...can't hurt to try these stupid forms, either." She shakes her head. I should freshen up, go see her... she is awake? * Minami nods. "Was, yesterday." Okay. * Father stands, then looks back at his daughter again. "Are you going to do anything about this guy? Should I do something about it?" * Minami scratches her chin. "Well, if we don't have any more information on him, I don't know if we can do anything unless he shows up again." She looks up. "Be careful, father, if they figure something out, or think they have, they might...well, I don't know." Do you think the guys at t he bar would know about him? Not really - no more than they told me already. Hmmm. * Minami remembers something. "Oh, and...well, watch the people around mama when you're there. There was a nurse...she may have heard mother talk about my being a Lady. She seemed a little...I'm not sure." * Minami chuckles ruefully. "I may just be getting paranoid." Maybe a little paranoia would be healthy for both of us. * Father ducks into the shower. * Minami nods and drinks her father's cup of tea. [end mini]