"Yikes. . ."
Norman and Ike were staying the night, watching the rain full and the wind picking up a little.
"Mhm."
"Think it's just rain, or a storm?"
"Just rain."
They looked at Robert, who sat in the armchair shuffling a deck of cards.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Solitaire."
Robert began to set it up,"You can watch to learn.", they sat around the coffee table and Robert sat with them.

~

"Hey, Mr Peterson?"
"Mhm."
Norman looked at him as he flipped another card, placing it in one column,"When you said you play the long game, why do you do so?", Robert paused, and thought about it for a moment before he smiled at them.
"Have you ever met someone that talks a lot, especially when trying to get out of trouble but only dig their own grave."
"My brother."
Robert cracked a smile, Theodore holding back a smile and Norman couldn't help but giggle, but did jab Ike a bit while apologising a little.
"Well: Sometimes in life, you're unfortunately going to meet people that are gonna be awful but sometimes, if you wanna deal with it; You play the long game."
Robert flipped a card, making a face and putting it aside.
"Let's say, you have a real bad boss that's two faced; What you do, is feed into that ego all while collecting as much evidence as possible, you endure it to stop it from continuing."
Robert smiled, at peace as they watched him play and listened.
"And sometimes, let's say you're a cop; Sometimes you play the long in interrogation to get information out of them, and sometimes you play dumb."
Ike smiled,"Like a cartoon Villain Monologue?", "Yes, revealing their whole plot though, you might not get as lucky as cartoon characters."
Norman nods, Robert smiled at him,"You want to be a Journalist or Investigator?", Norman nods,"I'm not sure which to be, but. . . Even then, I'm not sure with my health.", Robert nods, Ike looking at him sadly.
"Then you make sure you own your illness, and it doesn't own you."
They looked at him,"If you let something or someone control you, you won't get too far: This goes for people, hobbies, relations and or anything really.", Robert then reached behind Norman, and simply pulled out an ace card from thin air.
"Woah!"
Robert smiled.

=

That night, Robert went down to the basement for some final work before heading to bed.
Adelle looking for the keys, kids in bed and Franklin making much better progress, able to speak a bit more clear and holding down food better.
He grabbed his microscope, placing a single hair under it.
During that magic trick, he managed to pull a hair from Norman, wanting to know more about Norman's illness.
Surprisingly, his hair was healthy despite the fact it was obvious that he doesn't really take care of it.
But there was something odd, from he could tell. . . Norman had consumed something, something that really effected his health; But it didn't look be anything was familiar with.