Open Threads

Rei tilted his head. Undeniably, Heatman had a point. Could his navi really have gotten swapped out at some point - and in a way where he wouldn't remember? In a way where his memories went along with it, too? It sounded outlandish, and yet, the more Heatman spoke the more he felt his doubts affirmed. "It's true, my memories are oddly hazy today. And you acted so unfamiliar with our routine, too..." he sighed. He closed his eyes to consider his options. He didn't want to believe it. If Heatman hadn't been his Navi for the last year, then who..? It was then that Rei got an idea for how to test Heatmans theory. He reached for the Battle Chips in his pocket to skim through his deck. Glaring through them was damning: ElecBlade, DarkSword, Barrier100, Anubis... none were chips optimized for a fire element Navi. After some hesitation, Rei chose to believe Heatmans words. It felt wrong to, but he couldn't shake off how tilted things felt. Something wasn't adding up, and Heatmans claims were his only clue. "I fear you may be on to something. Choosing to believe you, for now that is, mayhaps we should start with the basics. Like introductions! My name is Rei Tao. I hope my PET provides a pleasant hotel until things are corrected!" +++ Celestras suggestion was immediately shot down by Lan. Perhaps fearing a syndicate like Nebula, these people were either cautious, or otherwise protective of the boy. Still, she wanted to understand more of the situation she'd been whisked into. She had to know more about the Lan she now served to know where his weaknesses laid. And there was no easier test than danger. When Lan opened the bedroom door, Celestra was eager to see more clues to his living situation. She peeked from the PETs corner, curious ears perked up as she tried to take a good look. Multiple people she didn't recognize, idly wasting their time. None of them looked related. Celestra carefully considered Lans words and enthusiasm to help, trying to deem what would be the best course of action next. "It's true anyone could be in danger if Dr. Regals soldiers are in the vicinity..... and exactly because of it you're just sitting ducks if you all stay here", she contemplated, "are you sure none of them would join you? You just need to get one person to agree to come with you, that's all. Your friends understand the importance of prevention, right?" She was merely hazarding a guess. She didn't know anything of this instance, or this Lan, or of how dangerous Nebula was here. Relying on one of the boys friends being more reckless or heroic like him was but an assumption. All she could do was gamble on the fickle human heart.

Yeah, she still had no idea where she was. That didn’t matter! It would be difficult to figure out where was a good place to jack in, given that she didn’t have any visuals on her PET screen, but there had to be some place nearby that… would, uh… work… definitely… certainly… As Triese wandered the park and continuously pressed the jack-in button, hoping she’d randomly come across a comp that’d let Lurerre access a monitor other than her PET screen, she slowly realized that there were no jack-in points around her. Which was very weird! Given how modern everything around her looked…! She blinked. If there was nowhere to jack in, then… but… no, that made no sense, she’d know if this was Reg’s world, wouldn’t she?! This place didn’t look like where Reg was from! But without being able to see the chatroom - or use her PET in general - she would have to do some serious prowling around to figure out what was going on here, and that would mean she would get seen and possibly cause a big mess and then the time police would finally get her and-! Too late. Someone had already approached her. She was in the middle of a public park, after all. When the stranger greeted her, she composed herself as quickly as possible, attempting to channel some of the Big Liar energy that she’d used at the DART gala - but he immediately made that way harder by dropping a proper noun she’d never heard before. “N-Noi-“ She stopped herself just in time, realizing how telling it was that he had said device and not PET. Unfortunately for her, he’d already seen it - so she’d just have to play along. “U-um! Yeah! It seems like there’s, uh, a problem with the display,” she nervously explained. Was it safe to say her Navi was in there? If this still could be like Reg’s world, it was better safe than sorry. “I’ve never had anything like this happen before, so, y’know, I’m, uh, pretty confused!” Blink. “I guess you do tech stuff…? If you’re, uh, asking!” She kept the device pretty close to her chest, like she wasn’t going to give it up even though she was literally accepting his offer for help. The disorientation from being throttled here with no warning was beginning to set in - she wasn’t able to hide her distress nearly as well as she did in Reg’s world. There, she knew what she was getting into.

Enzan hadn't noticed how thirsty he truly was. But now, he couldn't seem to swallow right. His vision narrowed just to that small glass, just to the woman's perfect nails against it. "None," Enzan repeats, because it's the only way he'll be able to make the right choice. He tries to blink, focus on the wheel before them. This place should have made him feel tense, but her words seemed to rake over his mind, keeping his breathing steady and slow. "Certainly bold to be trying to sell to me before I've won anything," he tried to smile, summon that cocky demeanor he was always working with. "Just-- put me down on green. I've been waiting long enough." Enzan rubs his eyes. Why did he say no? He did want it. He was thirsty, and tired. Just one sip would bring the strength back into his lethargic limbs, he was sure.

The moment Cometman entered Rockman's cyberspace, he scanned the room and then did a visible double take as his eyes landed on Rockman who was a head shorter than he expected. He knew these Megaman types were a bit on the shorter side but he remembered him seeming taller for some reason. He chuckled good-naturedly at Rockman's apology. "It's good to see you again, glad you're doing ok," he gave the blue guy a smirk and a flippant hand wave, "Eh, it wasn't that bad. We all made it out alive, didn't we?" He caught himself. He needed to be more gentle, more! "I'm really glad that we had friends that were able to help get us out of all that," his expression softened, "I was able to reach Ellen just in time and that's what's important." He nodded to himself, then felt as though he'd been too vulnerable. "But yeah! It all worked out in the end!" he gave his best, cheesiest grin, "We beat a baddy, learned a couple of things, and we got a rare chip out of it! Not bad, I'd say." He ended with a satisfied smirk. He was getting better at this whole conversation thing. Usually he'd rely on Ellen to carry the momentum, but as this was his first time talking to a Navi by himself, well, at least he thought he was doing alright, all things considered.

Roll was momentarily stunned by the sheer amount of personal information being divulged to her. Listening to Meiru listen to her friends was one thing, but there were only two people in the world who talked to Roll like this, one-on-one. (Well, one person and one Navi.) For a moment, she had no idea what to say. “Should I talk to him?” Rockman asked. “He knows I’m here, and all.” “Maybe? But…” Netto had said it all to her. That meant something, didn’t it? While she was pondering the enormity of the messages in front of her, Rockman wrote, [MSG: ] I don’t think my Netto-kun thinks of you as a ‘good soldier’, exactly… [MSG: ] After you two met up in your apartment, I don’t think I ever heard anything like that from him. (If anything, Netto-kun was the one who was too much of a 'good soldier', or who at least pretended to be. It felt strange to see Netto-san refer to himself that way.) That brought to Rockman’s mind the strangeness with Rockman-san in the computer, and how rapidly things had fallen apart afterward. They’d talked to Rockman-san after that, but they’d never set the record straight with Netto-san. It felt like a major oversight, now. In the meantime, though, Roll was carefully feeling a message of her own out. [MSG: ] It… isn’t the tournament that Meiru-chan feels she can’t talk to you over, really. This started a long time ago, now. Though it certainly hadn’t helped his case any. But Netto was clearly remorseful about it all, even when Roll was fairly certain half of that ‘crazy’ behavior hadn’t entirely been his fault. And if he'd just been preoccupied the times before, that explained a lot... So she continued, [MSG: ] But at the same time, that was all a long time ago, right? [MSG: ] Meiru-chan’s making her own path toward moving on and setting things right, after what happened because of the rescue mission. So maybe we shouldn’t feel all awkward around you anymore, either. [MSG: ] You seem really different from our Netto, but that’s not a problem for Meiru-chan with Netto-chan or Netto-ko. So it shouldn’t be a problem with Meiru-chan and you! Really, the things that felt strangest to Roll were nothing to do with her and Meiru personally any longer—the way he’d made Mel feel, the way Netto-chan didn’t want anything to do with him. [MSG: ] …Though, a lot of our friends seem ill-at-ease around you, too. So I wonder if she just feels as if she’s picked a side, by being friends with Netto-chan and Mel-chan… She was still typing, this time about Netto’s opening line, when she noticed that the piano music had stopped. Meiru was probably getting herself a cup of tea, getting ready to settle in for the evening… [MSG: ] Wanna see if Meiru-chan wants to talk about it? She just finished her piano practice for the night. ( ܸ.ˬ.ܸ) (Roll figured it was better for Netto to ask than for Meiru to walk back in and discover she’d gone and messaged him on a whim. That was kinda weird.)