[ mikey bursts out into a fit of laughter, and honestly, it's a little infectious -- sha-ming looks a tad dumbfounded at first before easing into a smile of his own, watching mikey in silence.

"loved as fuck", huh? good he has that for himself. ]

Can't relate, honestly. Been alone for most of my life, it's probably gonna stay that way. [ a shrug of the shoulders. ] But lovin' and bein' loved...yeah, there's no shame in that. Good for you.

[ a raise of the brow. ]

It was like...two weeks ago, but yeah, they took ya out for a long ass time so...it happens! Time is real funky up where I live anyways. [ ... ] It's...uh, good. That Minato's got people like you lookin' out for him. I know if anyone fucks with him, you'll pull up, so...

Yeah. He's a good guy. He deserves that.

[ and then sha-ming's smashing back his own drink, beckoning the barkeep for another, and that last bit threatens to make him laugh too. ]

I'm real tired of these asshats messin' with us. First the fake memory bullshit, now the rest of this... Don't want a damn part in their experiment. I think Jerry's just their little spokesperson, the guy at the bottom of the chain... we gotta go higher than that, ya feel?