and it's simply irrational weather
-
Her Rockman? Netto debated the merits, for a moment, on whether or not that possessive was in the world-defining way or the romantic way. He supposed it could have been, and he was almost certain that was the case, but he had no proof. Maybe he was about to gain it?
[MSG:
] I'm ok. Out of the hospital
[MSG:] I'm sorry I haven't reached out to you and your operator. Are you all okay? You did good work against Serpentine.(His fingertips twitched– just typing the name felt like incantation, like he would summon her with just those letters.) He quickly added:
[MSG:
] It was nice to chat with your Rock.
[MSG:] He's sweet.He felt a sudden urge then to add again:
[MSG:
] Is he alright? He was in a bad way when I saw him.
[MSG:] I mean, he was okay. Just stressed. I know he had an encounter with, um, my navi.He was clearly a somewhat anxious texter— it wasn't that he was afraid of Roll, he just had a lot to say. He kept double-texting, mindless of the annoyance.
[MSG:
] Who is extremely sorry for the whole thing, by the way. Um. And so am I, for the— netbattle. You did beat my ass, though.
[MSG:] Sorry, lol, I've got too much to say. -
Roll’s smile gained a few cringe-like characteristics for a moment, at Netto’s first question. Their performance hadn’t won them very many points from Enzan and their Netto, and that was because they were their Enzan and Netto, but they’d still had to sit there through some pretty uncomfortable conversations…!
[MSG:
] Well, it gave Meiru-chan’s friends at home a scare… but other than that, we’re doing great!And just like that, another message was batted across the divide, one with a far more enjoyable subject…
[MSG:
] °ʚ(´꒳`)ɞ° Isn’t he?…And a more worrisome one, though it dovetailed with what Rockman had shared earlier.
[MSG:
] He’s doing great today, thanks to you. But…
[MSG: ] An encounter?Roll turned to the Navi in question. “What does he—?”
Rockman was mercifully spared from explaining the aftermath of the Hanged Man by Netto’s final volley of texts.
[MSG:
] Nono, you’re good! ^_^
[MSG: ] If we blamed ourselves for the stuff we did under somebody else’s control, that wouldn’t be too fair, would it?
[MSG: ] So of course I wouldn't do that to someone else!Roll looked across to her window out to Meiru’s room, noticing Rockman follow suit out of the corner of her eye. She was only about halfway through her usual piano exercises, picking up speed as she usually did now that she was warmed up. Maybe Meiru expected the Netto who had seemed to hardly have time for her during the rescue, or at the sleepover; maybe she expected to get read the riot act like she had with her own Enzan, or have to deal with another Netto being as cross as hers had been. But that certainly wasn’t the impression she was getting now…
-
Netto cradled his PET, mulling over each response as they came in. It was pulling him from his funk, to talk to someone who seemed so damn normal in the face of it all. At least, it was a good distraction. Something to turn his energy to.
[MSG
] I'm not really sure yet why it...called such a...random group together. Sorry you had to get involved. And that it scared your folks[MSG
] I owe your operator an apology, especially. I'm sure Enzan was a dick to herThere was a long enough pause to indicate he was debating how to say my Enzan, not yours, I don't really know yours that well, all things considered but he got distracted too quickly by Roll's lack of knowledge about that weird virus.
[MSG
] My Rock told me he'd had a...accident, when a hangout turned sour. He didn't have an operator during a tough fight and had to rely on some...old tricks? And it got out of hand.[MSG
] Between you, me, and your Rockman, he's been kinda mopey about it for a while. So- I mean, he's sorry. He's working on it. You know? We all got things we're working on.He grimaced typing it all out- he really did talk too much.
[MSG
] Were you- reaching out, for any particular reason? Just to say hi? -
It didn’t seem to Roll that Enzan was being ‘a dick’, just that he had probably expected more out of them as his partners in the Net Saviors. (It didn’t even occur to her that Netto would be referring to the one from his world, who’d been nothing but courteous both times they’d been in contact.) But this time she was the one distracted by Netto’s explanation of Rockman’s ‘encounter’ while she was still typing her reply.
Abandoning the conversation for a moment, she whirled around to face him. “Wait, what does he mean ‘out of hand’?”
“Well, uh, yeah,” Rockman explained. “It’s like Netto-san says. Rockman-san has… been through a lot.”
Roll made a face; she could tell Rockman was trying to cover for something.
“He lost control of Beast Out,” Rockman finally told her, and her face relaxed. “I hope he knows that I’m not… upset, or offended, or anything.” Of course it had been something like that. “Talking to Netto-san really helped me get it a little better.”
[MSG:
] Rockman says to tell him “apology accepted!” And he said talking to you about it really helped!And then things circled back around to why they were having this chat in the first place. Roll was a bit lost as to what to do. “I think you ought to be honest with him, Roll-chan,” Rockman advised her.
[MSG:
] Well, the truth is, I just wanted to get to know you a little better! ^_^
[MSG: ] You and my Operator didn’t seem to click, and the same goes for some of the other people she’s gotten to know from the chatroom. But you were so kind to Rockman.
[MSG: ] So, I started wondering, maybe you all just started off on the wrong foot?
[MSG: ] And I kinda, well, decided to say hi for myself and see.
[MSG: ] I know it’s weird, but
[MSG: ] I dunno! (,,>﹏<,,) -
Netto blew out an unexpected held breath. He would have to forward the apology, once Rockman was - well. Whenever he would be done hanging out with Blues. And Roll was right on the nose- which mirrored their own, honestly. Meiru and Roll had always been so damn smart, and Netto was too dense to realize that until long after they lived far away.
[MSG
] I think you're probably right
[MSG] I mean, like. Not to defend myself too much here
[MSG] But everyone met me under a really bad circumstance, lolNetto ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out his next words. What was too much? She was a navi, and she wasn't necessarily a friend. But that also meant he had very little to lose by saying "too much".
[MSG
] You can only be so well adjusted under stress when your brother and your friends get chewed up and spit out, you know?
[MSG] And all of that happening when I got on leave for the first time in years. Basically I mean, like, you're right, I think. I'd like to think you're right.He shuffled, sighed, wishing this conversation was not happening over a text message. He was a bad texter- Laika and Enzan had a lighthearted hatred of their groupchat, because Netto constantly left cryptic messages in it. He just wasn't very good at texting!
[MSG
] And I think the other-mes think I'm like- perfect.
[MSG ] I'm what they should have turned into. A good son, a good friend, a good soldier.Yeah, maybe this was too much. But now he was going and he really suddenly couldn't stop, just like when he was talking to that Rockman.
[MSG
] But like- there's a lot they don't even know. They just assumed that from duress and the way I look. I get it, I don't begrudge them, but- it's not my fault? I guess? It's not my fault all of that awfulness from my world spilled out into everyone else. It's not my fault anyone got infected with my awfulness or whatever.There was a longer pause between messages. Netto had gotten up, despite his body's protest, to lean against the windows overlooking the view he'd been so obsessed with when he got the place. Felt like he barely looked out of them anymore. Then, in rapid fire:
[MSG
] And like, your poor operator had to see me going fucking crazy.
[MSG] Pardon the language.
[MSG] I just think it's apt.
[MSG] Like I said. I didn't mean for all that to - infect everyone else. It's not my fault. But I guess- I guess, with all the people in that chat and all, we've all seen all this shit. I must look like an enemy anyway. And I don't do myself any favors, with my stupid little outbursts.Netto tapped his foot, and ran a hand through his hair again.
[MSG
] It's hard to reach out when you're already on the back-foot. So, I guess- um. I appreciate you reaching out ahead of me. -
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.)
-
Netto had to think for a really long time about the messages volleyed back to him. He stared up at the ceiling, trying to mull over the missing pieces he didn't have. Something aside from the whole mess with Alpha was bothering Meiru? Why? What could it even be???
Was it really just that- he got the short straw? No, that was pessimistic. Much more suited to his navi. He'd made some fuck ups, and didn't get along with everyone, but that was just how things went. Try as he might, he couldn't be close to everyone. Even if that stung.
But then Roll offered to connect him to Meiru, and that sounded...well, nice. At least he could shoot his shot, make it known he wasn't actually crazy, and if they weren't friends, then that was that.
[MSG:
] If she wants to, lol. its not really me who has stuff to talk about - i mean, not anymore lol
[MSG:] no pressure, but im still a sack on my couch. shes gonna have to come here for an in person convo
[MSG:] which is a good idea because im a bad texterWhy did he dump all that stuff to Roll? What a strange thing to do. Getting physically thrown around like a ragdoll was doing a number on his sanity. Oh well.
-
Roll and Rockman waited for Netto’s reply in awkward, nervous silence. Had they all wound up sharing too much honesty…?
By the time Netto replied, Meiru had come back up the stairs with her mug of tea, settling in front of the sliding door to look out at the city lights and unwind. At least she hadn’t already changed into her pajamas…
Rockman looked from Roll’s message box to Meiru. “How do we…?”
“I’ll just ask!” Roll decided, before turning back to Rockman. “Though I know what you’re thinking.”
“That… it’ll be obvious you were the one who started all this?” wondered Rockman a bit haplessly.
“Mhm, mhm. But, no worries! If I phrase it just right…” With that, Roll appeared next to Meiru. “Meiru-chan, I got a message from the Netto-san who we helped at Via Iracunda!”
Meiru looked over, immediately concerned.
“He just says he’d like to talk in person! Not about anything in particular, it sounds like, just to clear the air.”
It didn’t surprise Roll that Meiru needed a moment to think about it. “Well… He is the one who reached out.” Thankfully, Meiru didn’t look up to see the alarm that had turned Roll’s smile into a comical, wide-eyed mockery of itself. “If he’s really going to talk to me, then… I should hear him out.” More decisively, she said, “It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it.”
Her face schooled back into its usual expression, Roll explained, “He says he’s still recovering. So you’ll have to head over to his place."
“Oh…" Meiru frowned into her tea mug. "Should we bring him anything, or…? This is so sudden…”
“Er, I can ask!” said Roll, and dashed out a couple more messages.
[MSG:
] Meiru-chan wants to know when we should head over!
[MSG: ] And if there’s anything you’d like her to bring to you, since you can’t go anywhere. -
Netto groaned as he forced himself to get up for a brief moment. There was way too much trash around the couch to justify someone coming over right now, and he could envision Rockman's snipping at him...
He scooped up at least three juice boxes, and two takeout containers, and another container from dinner half finished. He ambled towards the kitchen and dropped them off, catching a glint of himself in the reflection of his fridge. Ugh, he still looked like a mess, but he supposed Meiru saw all of his beating. Hopefully that didn't hurt his impressions too deeply.
[MSG:
] any timeHe plopped back down on the couch, grumbling about his sore sides.
[MSG:
] I've got plentyy of folks looking out for me. Don't worry about that -
“He says, ‘any time’, and he doesn’t want anything!” Roll brightly reported. “So, now!”
“N-now?!” wondered Meiru, looking back at Roll with a deer-in-headlights expression.
Next to Roll, Rockman raised a hand to his chin. “Guess I should go back home, then…”
“No, it’s okay! I bet we’ll be fine hanging out in the PET. We’ll just mute it, so we don’t bother Meiru-chan and Netto-san.” With that squared away, Roll turned to Meiru. “When you finish your tea, you can always just set the mug down in your room. It’s pretty easy for me to open these portals at this point, y’know?” (Fiddling with the app to create an arm-sized portal was a fun mental image to Roll, anyway.)
“It’s really been that long, hasn’t it?” marveled Meiru. “It feels like it wasn’t long ago we were finding the portal feature for the first time!”
“Now, enough beating around the bush,” Roll said, dashing off a quick
[MSG:
] Here we come!to Netto before urging Meiru, “Get up! Let’s go!”
As Meiru got to her feet, Roll opened up the portal, the Navis returning to Meiru’s wrist before she stepped through.
Meiru was entirely unprepared for the chaos on the other side, that made it seem like Netto hadn’t been expecting to invite her over at all; but it was probably just as obvious that she’d been caught off-guard by the invitation, with her sock feet and tea mug clutched in her hands. Perhaps this was just as spur-of-the-moment for him as it was for her? “Um… hi!”
