The Longing-ist Playthrough: Day 30 – 30/01/22 – 310 Days, 14 Hours, 17 Minutes and 21 Seconds to go…

As I put my part-baked theory to the test, there was little chance that I could look to achieve much on Day 30. It all hinged on whether Monty had become lonely enough to have become invisible to the darkness, but after just one night alone in the dark, I feared I was jumping the gun.

I awoke my Switch to find Monty waiting for me in the dark; nothing more than a pair of beaming yellow eyes piercing otherwise entirely black surroundings.

“Life is slow.”

Monty

While he didn’t sound pleased, there wasn’t anything immediately obvious suggesting that Monty had fallen into desperate loneliness. The only way I could be sure was to wander up to the [Eyes in the Dark] and hope we could sneak by… So off we went.

We slowly crept up the ramp way until those beady little eyes came into view – I took a breath and asked Monty to keep walking, but I had my doubts… This isn’t going to work, is it? I can just feel it…

Monty slowly approached, getting perhaps two arm-lengths away and then…

“I can see you.”

Eyes in the Dark

Drats. Knew it.

Monty woke up at home again and I felt a little bad that I kept putting him through whatever it was that happened to him when that thing rushed him in the dark. I had Monty leaf through the option on the drawing table again, hoping I might find some inspiration from a picture titled ‘Loneliness’ or something similar, but my search was fruitless. It looks like my only plan is to just… leave him again. 😥 Dammit, I hoped I wouldn’t have to do that…

With nothing left to try, I escorted Monty back up beyond the [tall ledge] and into the shadows again, only without a mushroom this time. (I had the location of [The Pit] and the ramp way in my saved locations, so I didn’t really need the light anymore.) As we walked through the darkness it seemed like I could make out more details than when we first came this way… Did that stay in the darkness improve your vision, Monty, or is it a sign that you’re “becoming the darkness?” (Or is it just a sign that I wasn’t paying close enough attention the first time? 😅)

Monty finally arrived near the ramp way and a thought crossed my mind… If I’m going to leave my friend alone up here, I might as well make a spectacle out of it... For no reason other than my own sense of the dramatic, I asked Monty to walk right to the edge of [The Pit] and then bid him farewell for a little while.

It was my hope that three days with no interaction would be enough for the loneliness to sink in, but I was still debating making it five or even a whole week. If I returned too soon then the ‘clock’ might reset, meaning my absence was for naught, but equally, I don’t want to stay away any longer than I had to… I was torn. I guess I’ll see how I feel in a few days.

Well, I’ll see you in a few days buddy – please don’t roll over in your sleep 😳

Continue reading: Day 31