My MacMini is responsive again, but still temperamental overall. I can't make any disk repairs, but I think it might be safe to say I can format it to see if that can overall fix everything (with a reinstallation of the OS of course). Seeing it's been at least half a year since it bricked, I don't think my sister will be missing anything leftover on it (I sent her a message anyway. Give her a heads-up that I might have to resort to formatting it, and that it's a mutual loss (had stuff of my own still on it too)). On a plus side for myself, I think she backed up all of my crap before she dominated my machine, so I think my data is essentially safe anyway. Just as well, I backed up some of my old crap onto a external hard drive before transfer as well, so I know half of my crap is still okay. It's the leftover stuff I had to leave behind I am worried about.
I suppose what I'm saying is, what makes me happy despite this bullcrap I have to deal with is, on the bright side, I think I can salvage my machine (from hardware upwards), and my sister can save several hundred bucks replacing it as well. Of course, at the expense of her previous data (mostly business; hopefully disposable/expendable documentation). My stuff should be safe, from base machine data (OS and such on one of her external HDs) to entertainment (games and such on one of mine).
Post-recovery, I'm now kinda stumped on what I can use it for. I've gone full-PC again, and can't really think up much to do with a Mac. So far, I've resorted to having it as an interactive external hard drive (since it is more primitive hardware-wise compared to my PC; and most of my tools are more powerful and up-to-date on the PC as well). If possible, I guess I can convert it into a server of sorts (Minecraft server possibly?). Just as well, Macs can load up Steam games, so I can also make a dedicated server out of it as well.
EDIT:
While I wait, I checked out the beach water. It's clear, it's pretty, and best of all, it's at a temperature I can actually swim in. YES! Finally, I have a better reason to go outside.
Plus, it took the water long enough to warm up. Might go jump in; especially since I finished up a bit of business all week, as well as tinkering/salvaging my old machine (I think it's now a 5 year old mac?).