Keeping the Peace
-
“No no it’s fine, really!” Aon simulated a deep inhale to try and hold things down. Smooth out the shaking. How could they have fumbled this frame one? If they could sweat it’d be coming in bullets; thankfully that was one less tell to worry about. If a mundane meeting without a cyber coffee could slip this fast how were they going to be able to keep this up?
“Please don’t apologize, It’s really nothing.” They iterated again, hands back up on the table now with more rigid and deliberate movement.
“I guess I can’t attest to it being close to the real thing, but just about? I suppose it’s hard to explain how something is meant to taste or not when-”
The blood“-you don’t have a frame of reference, but it feels nice to have.“As for the addictive properties I doubt that is effectively simulated. I feel like it’s probably more the routine. The thought of having the nice treat after you do something stressful, or before. Just a lot happening lately. You know how it is.” Or maybe they didn’t. Roll certainly didn’t
(Serpentine’s comments on her maturity came to mind), and they weren’t about to make any judgements about Meiru.“That sounds like a lot of fuss just for one little outing.” They cocked their head to the side and pulled a practiced grin. “I’m sure I’ll loosen up as we talk.”
-
Meiru and Roll exchanged concerned glances, even as Aon tried to backpedal; it sure didn’t look fine. Meiru wasn’t entirely convinced that withholding a placebo could produce such a pronounced effect in someone as coolly certain of himself as Aon had seemed in their previous encounters.
But Roll steered them back on track anyway. “Yeah, that’s so true! When some new responsibility comes up, it’s really comforting to be able to return to what you know afterward. All of us here had a tough time adjusting, when the chatroom first reached us. And when Meiru-chan and I first became Net Saviors, too...” Roll smiled fondly. “I guess for me, it’s spending time with my boyfriend that’s the routine.”
Meiru supposed that moving on from the threat to involve anyone from the Ministry was for the best. They had a ways to go before they could press further, after all. “Well, we’ll just have to do our best to distract you, then,” she said with a mirthful smile. “Remind me… are they Net Officials or Net Saviors where you are? You must have been part of them for a while, to get a proper routine going like that.”
-
“Right, you have a boyfriend.” That had come up before…hadn’t it? It hadn’t been relevant at the time – that ‘useless blue thing’. They had context for that now, even if it was different iterations of the guy.
It was heartening that she had the time for that, but sickening at the same time. A thought Aon had to swallow and grimace through like bad heartburn.
“Must be a hard balance.”
More and more they wished for that stupid coffee to talk around.
“It’s still Officials in Kingland. They’re called Net Sheriffs on some parts on the mainland and I think if I had to call myself that I’d probably die.”
“I’ve always been one.” They answered in a blasé way to avoid stating their age.
“It’s pretty much baked in, though I more so meant things are more stressful lately what with our encounters with Alpha and the new viruses in the chatroom. It’s kind of uprooted my usual routine and well I don’t really want to mix that into my work life. Too much to explain.”
“That being said, yours are aware? How much do they know?”
-
“It is,” Roll said in honest agreement. “He’s got a job at the Ministry, too. But both of us feel we’re better off for making it work.”
(Meiru noticed the way Aon’s mouth curled at that, but said nothing and allowed herself no such outward reaction. Her polite smile remained unchanged.)
“Interesting! We know a version of Meiru-chan who’s a Net Sheriff and her Navi, too, but our world doesn’t have all these different names.” Knowing her own version of the Net Saviors, Roll had to assume something bad had happened to prompt such a widespread rebranding of the program in her world. She also had to wonder if there would even be very many people left around to gossip about it.
“Always?” wondered Meiru behind Roll’s head. Roll could tell from the tone of her Operator’s voice that she had more to say on that, but Aon moved on too quickly to give her time to answer.
“Oh, basically everything! It’s part of the Net Saviors’ job to monitor digital phenomena of all kinds! Even this one,” Roll easily replied to Aon's final question.
“After we found out how easy it is for people and Navis to travel between worlds using it, it became obvious to everyone that the chatroom needed more formal observation. So, the other more senior Net Saviors and I take turns keeping tabs on it,” Meiru explained. After a moment, she sheepishly added, “Though I’m guessing we’ve got a little more explaining to do about what our job entails, now that we’ve said all that. If yours wouldn’t want to know about it, I’d have to assume that your Officials don’t have quite as wide a scope…”
-
“I see.” Aon nodded along through most of the explanation until it landed back on the topic of the chatroom and theirs.
“Ah, I don’t think it’s for lack of wanting to know. Rather…” They started, “I just don’t think I can shoulder something like that just yet.” A far cry from all of their funny ideas about punitive justice.
“It’s more that I seem to be the only vector for the chatroom here. I don’t claim to know how this all works, but Miss Blaire can only access it through me as well, she doesn’t have access her own client. Which worries me as to why she keeps getting dragged into things.”
It was so easy for things like that MegaMan to come through…and for Blaire to have been involved in the past two Alpha encounters. They weren’t familiar enough with the people working on preventative measures in the chat to inquire.
“Maybe it’s selfish, but I don’t want the hands of every old man in the government prying me open to take a gander when I’m confident that I can keep tabs myself.
“But I guess I can feel at ease that your side has things under control! I am curious about what that looks like.”
-
Roll cast a quick glance at Meiru’s window at the mention of Blaire, but Meiru didn’t react. She listened to Aon’s recounting of things with a gently thoughtful expression as though it was another Net Savior case. The Αlpha Squad did count as another part of her work, in a sense…
“So there’s nobody you feel you can trust in your version of the Officials, huh…” Really, that explained a lot about Aon’s demeanor, when Meiru thought about it. Here she and Roll were, wondering why Aon didn’t seem to know the first thing about being a team player, when the answer was as straightforward as ‘they really didn’t know’. “That’s really sad. I’m sorry, Aon-san.”
Meiru decided to indulge Aon’s curiosity before continuing further down that particular train of thought. There was no reason to rush things, after all; they’d circle back round to it when they got there. “Well, Enzan and I split the watch over the chatroom right now, though Roll subs in oftentimes for both of us.”
“I don’t think you could get Blues to post to any sort of social media of his own free will,” giggled Roll. “I guess it wouldn’t be so funny to imagine, otherwise!”
“Kaita-kun and Netto are in there, too, but they're just there. They don’t really monitor things, y’know?” added Meiru. “We report anything of interest to our world, like the movements of some of the troublemakers in the chatroom, to Meijin-san. That’s our Chief,” Meiru explained. “And then if something comes up like the Arcana Viruses, he and the rest of the Ministry team can start researching them.”
-
Aon opened their mouth to deny but quickly shut it again. They hadn’t thought about it so deeply…but surely this had to be true, otherwise they could have felt safe enough to have asked for help.
“Ah…well I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case but…”
Accepting that, or a fault of their own ego were equally undesirable options. So they chose to let that topic die in awkward silence.
They blinked through all of the names listed off and just nodded along, recognizing none of them except ‘Netto’; knowing there were least a few of that guy in the chatroom and theirs wasn’t one they had met yet.
“Right, do we know if there’s any update on them?”
They glanced down past their visor at their restless hands while they debated sharing their own information. There really wouldn’t be any harm in telling a half truth…That that SoulNet Yuichiro reached out to them in direct messages inquiring about the Tower. But that could potentially lead to–
No, they couldn’t. Not yet.
“You don’t need to tell me. Just curious.”
-
Meiru watched Aon try to wriggle their way out of confirming her conclusion, indirectly confirming it anyway. They seemed nervous again as they asked after the Arcana Viruses… or maybe they’d meant to ask after the people who were likely to cause trouble…?
“Well… Our sample size is just two for now, so it’s slow going. Even so, Hikari-hakase can tell that they seem to be mutating over time. And we’ve got Netto working on a way to automatically recognize them, so we can know right away what we’re dealing with. Hopefully, pretty soon, we’ll also be able to learn something about where they're coming from.”
Having explained all of that, Meiru regarded Aon thoughtfully. Roll caught her eye, and Meiru gave her a nod; now seemed to be as good a time as any.
“But, y’know, Aon-san… I think you really hit on something important, earlier, saying you weren’t ready to handle all of that yet,” Roll ventured.
“Yeah,” Meiru agreed, calmly friendly. “I’m glad you felt like we were trustworthy enough to share that with.”
-
“Mutating over time…”
Aon took a moment to consider what that could possibly mean for theirs…and a mental note to keep a closer eye on her in the chatroom.
They were caught off guard by how nicely they had put what they could only assume they were really trying to say. The whole intent of the meeting was to solidify trust with the two, now it was backfiring in their face.
“What? N-no I meant dealing with the whole of the chatroom and having to deal with the government backend breathing down my neck if I were to disclose it not-”
Their control was slipping away. Bitter malaise rose in their throat that they had to fight to keep down, clenching their jaw. They propped their elbow up onto the table and put their chin in their hand in an attempt to ease it up.
“Are you saying you think I’m incompetent?”
-
“What? Of course not!” Roll immediately protested, genuinely taken aback. “We wouldn’t be here if we did!“
Meiru, too, was surprised at how quickly Aon had taken offense. But she rallied and explained, “Part of trusting a teammate is giving them the space to be vulnerable while still believing in their capabilities, Aon-san. Roll and I wanted to thank you for extending that trust to us, that’s all. Nothing else intended.”
“It’s just that—correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like you’re more used to working on your own,” Roll mused. She didn’t speculate on whether that was from preference or necessity; the latter could’ve shaped the former, from what they’d heard so far.
-
“Ah..” A weak noise creaked and died in the back of Aon’s throat while they tried to process their misstep. The hand cupping their chin moved upwards and under their visor to cradle their forehead.
“I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have assumed you would think that. My PR has been horrendous lately, so I…”
They could still turn this around! This kind of answer was what they wanted out of this after all, regardless of how unearned.
“Thank you for um. For that.”
Their hand retracted from their face and joined the other back on the table.
“I don’t think that’s entirely true. I think I get on just fine with my coworkers…” Very rarely did they take actual cases with them that weren’t more than small time operations or data collection. And then there was the marketing. It was peaceful times. They hadn’t really considered if maybe their standing within the system had gotten in the way of being approachable to their own coworkers. They never really cared either.
“Though I guess it’s not really the same as the kind of work we have been dealing with in the chatroom. I can’t say I’ve pulled off the type of coordination I have with you in battle with anyone else. So for the sake of this exercise let’s say that’s correct.”
-
Roll’s concern (were they sure they were okay?) warred with her temper (they could do with making a few less assumptions about their allies in general, couldn’t they?) in her core. But she could hear Meiru’s smooth smile in her response of, “Ah, you’re welcome! It’s what a teammate ought to do, isn’t it?” and followed her Operator’s example in letting the more acerbic thought go.
Roll nodded along with Aon’s other observation. “I see… It still sounds like for more dangerous cases, you really do kinda work on your own...” That level of coordination was, after all, what she and Blues pulled off every day at the minimum.
“You’re in the right place if you’d like some advice, though!” Meiru cheerfully said. “Not to toot our own horns, but Roll-chan and I are kind of great at public outreach! It's why we were first brought on board, after all.”
“People want their concerns to truly be heard, I think,” Roll mused. She’d had quite a few years to think on what worked and what didn’t, after all. “For what we’re doing to feel like it’s being done with both kindness and panache. ‘Like on a Sunday-morning superhero show’, I think Meijin-san said once…”
-
“That’s an excellent way of putting it, yes.” Aon nodded along, eager to keep this conversation back on the rails.
“I think I’m in very capable hands then.” They clasped their hands together and leaned back a bit in their chair.
If there was one thing they were good at, it was laying it on thick. And they had kept them on the line so far despite the outbursts. Their fingers pressed tighter together at the notion of having their concerns heard, as if theirs weren’t drowned out from the start in their mind. They kept that to themselves.
“I…think I see where you’re going.”
Of course it was something a police mascot could do. They just had to try a little harder at the kindness part. This would all come a bit easier once they were able to get their current state of being under control.
“I’ll take anything you can give me, if we’ve got the time.”
-
For someone who had struck Meiru as being so cold and inflexible in the past, Aon sure did seem like they were willing to change. It was still hard to figure out where to start, keeping what Meiru had managed to glean so far in mind. How did one explain the practical application of kindness to someone who seemed to receive so little of it?
(Roll, meanwhile, couldn’t help the suspicion that Aon thought they were getting one over on Meiru. But that was such an uncharitable thing to think! And she knew why they had to go with this approach; it was more important that Aon be inclined to consider what they were saying. Patience, patience…)
“Well… I think, fundamentally, it’s really important to extend that sort of trust that you just extended to me,” Meiru decided to begin with. “To assume the best both of the people you’re helping and the ones you’re working with.”
Roll beamed; Meiru was spot-on as ever. “It’s true!” she brightly agreed. “If you’re able to relax enough to be there for your allies, the best parts of your personality’ll shine through, and the rest will naturally follow!”
-
“Well, naturally I should think so.” Aon conceded, cocking their head slightly while they rehashed that answer.
Of course that read on paper, If they were any more self aware maybe it would have clicked into place a little easier. That they came off far colder than intended eighty percent of the time…especially more recently, but…
Instead they couldn’t help but feel like they were being talked around in circles…even if this was kind of what they asked for. Patience had been in high demand and low supply lately.
“Right…I’ll…try to be more relaxed.”
Relaxing at all, let alone around them– the others, was easier said than done. It did have to be done though, no matter the discomfort.
As if to emphasize their willingness, they laxed their posture slightly in their seat and crossed one leg over the other. Meanwhile the most disjointed little sneer cracked over their features.
-
Roll frowned disapprovingly; Aon didn’t get it, and she wasn’t even sure that they had ever really wanted to. She badly wanted to performatively droop her antennae to let off some frustration as they arranged themselves into their mockery of relaxation complete with a disdainful sneer. Instead, she just shut her eyes tightly and sighed.
“You’re, uh, pretty bad at acting,” came Meiru’s sheepish voice over her shoulder. “Part of what I mean by ‘trusting’ and ‘relaxing’ is just, well, awareness. Not only of your surroundings, like in a combat situation, but of what other people might be going through.”
“Right, right,” Roll weakly agreed, still trying to regain her bearings in the face of Aon’s disjointed attempt at bluffing.
“It takes a lot of patience, doesn’t it, Roll?” said Meiru, distinctly amused.
It did, but it also took a certain level of honesty. And that was what finally got Roll to ask, “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve seemed kinda on edge...”
-
Bad at acting. They scoffed under their breath before dropping their expression flat.
“I know what you meant.” Aon retorted. Their finger tapped against the table with decided impatience considering the nature of the conversation, but they were quick to start slipping. “I know you didn’t mean literally. I’m-I mean I should also do it literally- I mean-”
It really shouldn’t have annoyed them so much but…they really had underestimated these two, hadn’t they? Not to the level that Serpentine had and yet. Why did sitting need to feel like an interrogation? Why was this all so unnecessarily harder it needed to be?
They came here for help so why?
Why? WHY!?
“Where am I meant to start? Huh? Not with myself? Not trying to be so wound up doing something as simple as chatting at a cafe? I’m trying.” The last word barely escaped as a hiss as they caught themselves a little too short of escalating further.
They chanced a glance around at the other cafe-goers, half–concerned they were starting to garner attention to themselves, before slumping back in their seat and crossing their arms a little too tightly over their chest.
“What’s ’wrong’ is that apparently I’m too out of touch and nobody thought it was a problem until now.”
Either they were made that way, something was wrong with them, or in the fashion that everything else going wrong in their tenebrous little life was: both.
-
Aon would definitely get a couple of odd glances for their outburst, but from Meiru and Roll they just got looks of sympathy.
“Well… yes, is the thing,” Roll began. “It’s hard to figure out how to talk to you… it’s like you’ve always got this wall up.” (And when they weren’t noticeably roiling underneath it, they seemed uncaring and cold.)
“But it makes a lot of sense, if you’re unused to working with and trusting other people,” Meiru added. “And it’s not like we’ve never seen that before, believe me! It’s a learnable skill, like anything else. If you can trust in us enough to want to get better at it, you will, with time.”
“We just need to get to know each other better,” Roll added. “And that goes for everybody on the Alpha Squad, really!” It felt quite silly to fiddle with the frappe like it was drinkable after Aon’s disappointment earlier, but Roll had gotten nowhere by being self-conscious. So she picked her ‘drink’ up in one hand and held the straw with the other. “I can let you borrow one of mine, if you’d like! Just giving your hands something to do helps sometimes when you’re tense, I think.” To illustrate, she began moving the straw as if she was breaking up ice that had formed at the bottom, like Meiru sometimes did after abandoning a frozen drink for a while.
-
Of course they had a wall up they had something to hide now. But did they always come off that way? Was it not just the detached professionalism?
“I…” There really wasn’t anything else Aon could think to say other than to acquiesce.
“Yes…And you’ve been very patient with me so far so I’ve just got to keep…trusting that.”
Their gaze fell to Roll fidgeting with the gaudy imitation beverage before she could even mention it.
“Yeah…Yeah I think I would appreciate that. One of those…” It certainly wasn’t something they would normally be caught dead with, but they would be remiss to pass on the olive branch at this point. That, and it was something to keep them from running as much of a risk of getting ready to pry their own fingers off
“And you’re right. I don’t know much about any of you at all.” They thought back to the vision bursts, how they could do nothing but quietly observe with no context or personal connections to what they were witnessing.
“What we saw at the end back there, at the arena…I couldn’t connect to any of it. Ellen’s memory was the only one that was obvious by lack of presence alone.”
