MMBN RP - don't run away, it's only me! (LAN PARTY)

And so, the prepared-for moment had arrived. Playing cards, Uno cards, and one Clue game had arrived in the Sakurai house; a crudité tray, various salty snacks, and a sandwich platter had been strategically placed to the side of the open area they'd cleared in the center of the living room; and Netto had been herded in the direction of the Sakurai house. It made more sense to test the Fossa Tracker there, after all, since it was away from his parents. Convincing Netto to bring along his sleep clothes and his Squishjelly ‘for after’ had been considerably more difficult, but eventually he had relented. (Thank goodness for Enzan’s poker face.) But it was all coming together. Netto was situated on the living room floor, his laptop open on one side, the spherical Fossa Tracker sitting on a tripod to his other side, and the Squishjelly leaning against his back. “Connected,” he mumbled to himself, as if reciting to an invisible voice recorder. “Signal normal…” Now, it was time for Meiru to surreptitiously plug Roll into the house network via the smart TV before retreating into the kitchen, Enzan in tow. They had that new hemisphere mold to try out, after all, and far be it from them to get in the way of science.

1:20 AM

⭐

⭐ Netto didn’t quite understand the appeal of the hemisphere mold; cooking was natural, but baking was so fussy. How did one make a perfectly round cake to put in it, anyway? He supposed it didn’t really matter, so long as he could eat whatever came out of it. It didn’t occur to him to just look it up, since he was occupied enough with the Fossa Tracker as of late. It was fully spun up and ready for action, its sensors detecting no loose extradimensional particles. (It wasn’t sensitive enough to react to his presence anymore, which was good in itself; it’d be fairly useless if it did, since he did in fact belong here and he had not traveled elsewhere in years.) “When’s our first volunteer coming in?” Netto asked Rockman with a habitual ease. He knew Meiru and Rockman had picked their guests, so he was fairly sure he wasn’t going to be seeing that other version of his father stepping through. He couldn’t imagine much worse, other than some perfect other-Netto. “In less than a minute,” Rockman reported. “Mm.” Netto glanced over at the Fossa Tracker—still lit up from inside—then to his laptop readout. After a momentary silence, he said, “You know when they’re arriving, right? So you’re supposed to count down for me.” “What for?” Rockman asked, puzzled. “We’re not recording anything, remember?” That, too, was habitual. “Oh, right.” “Any time now, Netto-kun!” Rockman said instead. Netto sighed, keeping his eyes on the laptop. So unprofessional.

1:21 AM

@snoruntpyro

Lan was way more nervous than she should be following up on this invite. She knew that she could trust this other Megaman - probably. But casually opening up a portal to another world just for an invite she had just gotten was setting off three different alarms in her brain. "Hey, you've got me in case it's a trap," Rock added ever-so-helpfully. That much was true - Lan knew that Triese had left Lurerre behind when she was kidnapped, but at least she'd have her PET with her to begin with. That'd be enough to call for help in case she needed it. Rock gave her operator a light smirk. "If anyone tries to lay a finger on you, I'd kick their ass, anyways," she boasted. "And if I can't touch 'em, I bet you can just kick their ass instead." (Maybe she could bludgeon people with her backpack and sleeping bag should things come down to it.) Lan could hardly describe herself as a tech person, but it wasn't too difficult to figure out how to use the chatroom to open the requested portal, anyways. With one more deep breath and a double-checking of her things, she stepped on through and found herself inside... another house. (Riveting.) She had intruded on someone's living room - she blinked, and quickly spotted another person her height situated in the middle of the floor wearing a blue hoodie. Next to him was a hologram of Megaman- oh, so this was...?! "Ah- um, hi...?" Lan stuttered, standing totally and completely still as she stared downward, her eyes wide open.

Netto sagged against the Squishjelly as the readout from the Fossa Tracker spiked and flashed red, successfully detecting the Fossa Ambience that had opened in front of it. "Thank fuck, it works." And then he heard the voice, smoother than his own but still recognizable. He was almost afraid to look. She was a girl—he'd been that tan once—crap, he wasn't supposed to curse like that around kids this young—her arms were covered, too, was that for a reason?—her bandanna didn't have the Hikari emblem but it was whole, unbloodied, still on her head, and her eyes were both there— "Hi," Netto managed. His voice was a bit raspy, but it was still close enough to hers. Cheerfully, as if nothing odd was happening, Rockman introduced, "Netto-chan, this is Netto-kun, my Operator!"

Lan's eyes widened - she could definitely tell that this other Lan's anxiety spiked for just a moment. But she realized - if this other Megaman was the one who invited her, and Megaman was right there, then this, presumably, was the frilled-star Lan from the chatroom - the one who'd been kidnapped. She hadn't really talked to him besides that - but his Megaman was very kind to her, so that was that, at least. "Um. Yeah, hi," she responded nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm. Lan. I guess you knew that already..." Suddenly, her PET lit up, prompting her to unclip it from her backpack and hold it for the other Lan to see. "Oh, so this is just the guy who invited you..." a half-distracted Rock muttered out loud, surveying the other Lan up and down. "Yeah, 'k. I think they were chill. We're good." Lan blinked and shook the PET, serving as a reminder for her Navi to be a little more polite. Rock coughed and turned to face the two, giving them a full view of this so-called "mystery Navi". A humanoid Navi, similar in build to Megaman, with red armor adorned with light purple highlights. She wore a helmet with spiked prongs and hollowed-out sawblades on her arms, almost like bracelets. Orange hair tied into a ponytail was fastened to the back of her helmet. "...Right. Yo. I'm Rock. Lan's bodyguard," she said, flippantly waving her arm. "So, you're running some experiment?" Lan rubbed her arm nervosuly. "Yeah. Something about... alerting for portals?" she said. "It sounds helpful. It'll... stop stuff like... Triese's kidnapping. I hope." @Owens

"Lan, I really don't think you should do this," HeatMan said. Lan dug through his drawer, haphazardly shoving clothes into his bag. Occasionally, he looked over his shoulder, making sure he wasn't being watched. "I think it'll be okay," he responded. "This is the person who helped me out when I was upset, I trust him. Plus, I told them before that I would help out with their tracker thing, I can't back out now!" "Nothing about that chatroom is safe," said HeatMan. "You've just seen two separate people pretending to be someone else, who says this isn't the same thing?" "That's just a risk I'll have to take. I'm going." "You could at least tell the others before you leave!" "They would try to stop me, just like you are! I'll be fine, I've gotten myself out of worse." HeatMan sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to talk Lan out of it. Once he had his mind set on something, there was no convincing him otherwise. Lan pushed down on his bag, struggling to fit everything inside. Once he finally got it shut, he placed the bag over his waist and turned his attention to his PET. He opened the chatroom and, trying to ignore the chat history, pressed an inconspicuous-looking button. In front of him, a large, swirling portal opened. With a deep breath, he stepped through, landing in a completely ordinary-looking living room. Good, nothing out of the ordinary about that. What was out of the ordinary was the people in the room. Lan could hazard a guess as to who these people were. He recognized Rockman, of course -- that was a given. It was reassuring to know that he wasn't being tricked, but at the same time, his presence served as a grim reminder. Presumably, the man next to him was one of the other Nettos. Lan hadn't expected him to be older. And the other person was even stranger. It was him, but a girl? Honestly, it was much easier to take in behind a screen. Before now, it hadn't really registered that he was, indeed, speaking to alternate versions of himself. It was slightly disorienting, but surely he would get used to it. He had experienced weirder. "Uh... hello!" Lan said finally, forcing a smile despite his apprehension. "I'm Lan! You called me here to test something?" @scenegraph (edited)

Rockman, for his part, was quite surprised to see the mystery revealed! Between the color palette and the spiky weapons, Rock seemed almost more like—“Punk!” he ‘whispered’ excitedly to only the Navis. “Come out, you’ve got to meet her!” Meanwhile, Netto-chan had given Netto exactly the out he desperately needed—a request for a status report. To an observer, his face would seem to abruptly relax while he sat straighter, suddenly the picture of composure; his eyes were distant, like his mind was somewhere else, and his fingers were laced tightly together in his lap. “This is the Fossa Tracker,” Netto explained, indicating the spherical object next to him with a tilt of the head. “In my world, these portals are a known phenomenon, called Fossa Ambiences. The radiation they produce is particular to them, and remains in the air for some time even after they close. So—“ The Fossa Tracker’s color deepened to red again, all the warning Netto got before a multicolored burst of light opened behind Netto-chan, admitting a ghost. A bandage over his eye, his skin not yet sapped of its color by the sublevels, still an exceptionally repellent child. A perfect other-Netto would’ve been less terrifying to face than this. And then the ghost smiled and he spoke. Netto remembered when he’d only had the bandage, when he’d been thrown into isolation to think about his behavior. He’d been too in shock, too weak, to do either of those things. He didn’t think he was breathing. Suddenly, like a hallucination from that awful room, Rockman was in front of him. “It’s on the wrong side,” he said, calm and level. “He’s from a different world, Netto-kun. It’s worrying it happened to someone else, but it doesn’t have to turn out this way for him.”

1:55 PM

Now a second, rust-red Navi with orange ‘hair’ of his own styled into a mohawk appeared next to Rockman, all spikes and fury. “How is that reassurin’?!” He turned to glare at the younger Nettos. “Is this what you an’ th’ redhead were talkin’ about?! Playin’ some trick on Netto?!” “It wasn’t meant to be a trick!” Rockman explained, alarmed. “We just wanted everyone to get to know each other better, is all!” @snoruntpyro

Lan nodded along with her other self's explanation totally absent-mindedly, meaning she was caught just as off guard by their new arrival. She was immediately taken aback - the bandage was striking to her as well, though apparently not as much as it was to her other mirror, given how he locked up. Yet another mirror of herself - she thought about it for a brief moment, and then she realized that this had to have been

️ - the mirror that... she had fought with the other day. (Well, it was a virus imitating her, but that didn't stop her from feeling horribly guilty over it. And now that she saw the mirror in person, that pit in her stomach only grew.) "Ah- um. Hi," she stammered, taking a few steps back. It was probably better for her to camp out against the wall than in the middle of the living room. "Uh. Sorry," she apologized, to no one in particular. Then, she blinked. First, she overheard Megaman's reassurance - what happened to him...? - and then, his defense of his choice of guests. "Wait. It's- three of us, does that mean you..."

It took Lan a moment to realize why the other two were staring at him. His hand grazed the bandages on his face, and his smile faded. Ah, that was odd, wasn't it? He held his breath, both due to feeling self-conscious and because he was reminded of that event. Looking at the man in blue, he also seemed to be reminded of some grave circumstance. Actually, his eyes were a bit strange as well, one blue and one brown. Had something happened to him as well? Lan really, really hoped that wasn't the case. Nobody else deserved to suffer. Unfortunately, his Rockman's words only seemed to confirm this story. And then his attention turned to the other Lan, the girl, who was apologizing for some reason? Oh, he knew who this was. They had that incident not that long prior. That was also depressing to think about, moreso for her sake than for his. "Oh, hi," he responded. There was more he tried to say, but the words refused to come out of his mouth. Well, maybe they could talk about it later. Or just pretend it never happened. That would also work. Lan took one more look around the room, inspecting his surroundings. Wow, it really was just a normal living room. It wasn't destroyed, or decaying from lack of care, it was lived in. Was-- was everything in this world like that?

Netto is not a very good listener. When asked to bring sleepwear he does no such thing- because he isn't 100% certain he can really, really trust what he's been given. But on the off chance it is an enemy on the other side, he wants a piece of them. He tucks his switchblade into his right pocket, PET and charger in the other, Rockman in tow. "I don't think this is a good idea," Rockman says, "I know you trust another me- but there's plenty of reason not to." "Well, if my hubris gets to me, then so be it." Netto checks the silicone strips on his cuts- attempting to minimize the look of scars on his cheeks. He has no idea if it'll take. Enzan just told him to do it, and he learned long ago to pick his battles with Ijuuins. There's still fresh stitches (that had to get replaced at least twice, because Netto couldn't stop fucking with them) on the back of his head, and the light brace for his collarbone fits under his clothes. He's uncomfortable and still sore, but he's been out of the hospital for a week- he can tolerate this. -✨-

4:43 PM

When Netto arrives, he seems unbelievably tense, hand on his pocket the entire time. He doesn't really expect a living room, or the smell of cooking, or how nice and homey this feels and- Two other hims. And a her (that, for better or for worse, he does recognize). As soon as he comes to the realization that he could easily take on everyone in this room, and probably pick them up like sacks of flour, and that two of them are children, he visibly relaxes. "Oh, wow. You weren't kidding. You were inviting a lot of people." He flashes a signature Hikari Grin and rubs the back of his neck- ow. Stitches. "Evening, everyone-?" He suddenly feels like he's totally interrupting something. (Are two of them missing eyes? Or does the one just have weird ones? Blue doesn't run in the family and neither does bandages, but who knows, maybe it's in style. Green didn't run in the family either. Netto can't help but give everyone extremely obvious up-and-downs, because he's only met one of them in real life and she got covered in his blood. So they were pretty fresh, he supposed. Was he the oldest? He certainly was the tallest, it seemed, even though one of them was on the carpet. That's the other adult, he figures, because he has the signature Tired Hikari look, and that only started when he got old. How old are they? What happened to them? What hasn't happened to them yet?) (Shit, I did not bring my meds.) Well now he feels over dressed and a bit silly.

“I… We did,” Rockman admitted. “I was hoping all you Nettos could have a nice night away from the chatroom. You all seem to be so similar at heart, so I thought you’d like to get to know each other in a safe place.” “There’s such a thing as bein’ too similar, Rockhead,” Punk snapped, and then immediately turned back to his Operator. “S’ok. You ain’t any worse than them. If anything, you’re probably twice’s clever as these softies.” In the house network, her sleepover party fantasy in shambles, Roll wondered if it was time to call in Meiru. If nothing else, they could send everyone home with a share of the snacks. Netto was overwhelmed enough already, but Punk’s pep talk was working. Slowly, he remembered to breathe, dizzy from how tense he’d gotten. But then another Fossa Ambience opened, and out came the perfect Netto. (Nobody who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the Fossa Tracker was doing so, but it was working! That was a good thing!) That, standing there, was what Netto was supposed to be like. He was tall because he’d always had enough to eat, and personable because he’d never gotten told when to shut up, and his eyes were warm and brown because he’d never pushed someone so far that they’d lost their patience with him, and someone had always been there to tend to his wounds so his face wasn’t fucked up, and it wasn’t fair it wasn’t fair he didn’t get to have that— That was okay, that he didn’t get to have that. It was fine. This wasn’t happening. He just needed to go away for a little while, and then it would all be gone like a nightmare. “Now he’s gone again,” he heard Punk say somewhere. “I hope you’re fuckin’ happy.” “Please come back,” Rockman said, small and scared in the distance. “He’s not really you…” Watching from the house network, Roll blanched. This had been a disaster. It was definitely time to go get Meiru. (edited)

The true meaning of Megaman's words had settled in as Lan made herself comfortable in the corner she'd claimed. "Wait. Does- that mean..." Her voice trailed off as the third portal opened, and through it came the absolute last person she wanted to see right that second. Of course he was here. Her other older mirror self, the one who had made such a mess out of the rescue mission. The one who got blood on her jacket, the one who couldn't control himself. Lan coughed and sunk downward, her expression immediately being filled with contempt. "Wh-?! You..." Her voice trailed off when she realized she didn't have anything to say - and her attention was also split watching the other older Lan... lock up like that. What was going on? They must have had some history like she did with him- of course he'd react like that, he was so... so... Megaman and that other Navi's reactions only added to her frustration. Why did he think this was a good idea? Of COURSE he's just going to make a mess of things, that's what Officials do- (She really couldn't let those words come out of her mouth.) Hoping she could just wait this mess out, she slithered down the wall and curled up, her attention swapping between her PET (with a rather befuddled-looking Rock on it) and glaring fiercely at the older Lan, without a single word. She had nothing to say to him, not after everything.

Lan turned his head to the latest arrival. Another version of himself, tall with visible injuries. None of them looked permanent, thankfully, but it was concerning nonetheless. He had been through something, and recently. Connected to that event, possibly? Or maybe some other sort of horrors? Maybe, if it wasn't too intrusive, he would ask later. He seemed nice enough, but a seed of doubt was placed in Lan's head when he saw the other two react to his presence. They seemed to know him, and more importantly, were bothered by him somehow. Why was that? What did he do? Was he... a bad person, somehow? But weren't they all invited here? Why would they invite someone who couldn't be trusted? Unless... Lan's face went pale at the thought. With no one paying attention to him, he stepped to the edge of the room, hands gripping his PET just in case. Surely he didn't make the wrong choice in coming here. They were all normal, right? This world was normal? It wasn't all a trick, right? "Lan, are you okay?" asked HeatMan. Lan didn't respond. He merely stood in his corner and watched the situation unfold, preparing himself for trouble.

Good lord. Everyone in this room immediately reacted like Netto had sucked the life out of them. He had half a mind to leave, but... That felt kind of cowardly. He could help here, and failing that, maybe leaving would be the best choice. But it was wrong to not at least try. He knew he had a lot of work to do after his screw-ups, and now was the time to put in that work. (It wasn't the first time.) Netto slowly moved forward and crouched down to meet the version of himself who was currently checked out. He took off his glasses, hanging them off the collar of his jacket (he had to make sure his glasses didn't reflect them, didn't act like mirrors- in his experience, the mirrors caused things to get worse, because there were monsters in those reflections). "Hi," he said, keeping his distance and giving a little wave. "Um, sorry, I think I startled you. Your friend invited me to come over." Netto was, well...he wasn't sure how to take that Lan's look at him. He'd seen a glare like that before. (The difference between then, and now- that glare had eyes. His did not at the time.) He gestured at them both, with a small and slow movement. Everything he did was very telegraphed- he didn't want to surprise anyone. "This is your place, right? Or your friend's?" It wasn't anything like a Hikari household he knew, so he was just making guesses in the dark. "Um- Sorry for startling you. Both of you, it looks like." He directs his statement to the two Nettos who look like at any moment, they could puke. He isn't sure what to say to the girl, so he just offers her a bit of an awkward look, before looking back at the center of his attention. "Thank you for inviting me," he says, with a soft Hikari smile. His brown eyes are soft, they are gentle, but it's clear that he isn't perfect. "Do you need some space?" (If this was Rockman, he wouldn't have dared ask a question like that- but none of them were him. It was an effort to remind himself of this.)

The voice was… gentle? It wasn’t saying any of those things he’d always imagined he’d say to himself, if he could see what had become of him. It was gentle, patient, like his Papa’s, like Rockman who was floating beside him. “I invited you,” Rockman told the other Netto, contrite. “I’m really sorry that I involved you in this.” For his part, Netto had no way to say that he didn’t need some space, that he desperately needed an anchor back into reality. At this distance, the scar under his blue eye was probably obvious, reminiscent of the bottom end of a knife slash downward, as was the way it seemed to shine with a faint inner light of its own. But then another presence, familiar and gentle, slowly moved beside him, taking his hand in both of her own. There was Meiru. “You’re here,” she told him softly. He sagged against her, feeling the Squishjelly brush against him in the process—it was still behind him. “You’re safe. C’mon, deep breaths…” After a long moment he was back, and then he was properly back, aware again of brave Netto-chan and handsome Netto-san, who had both just seen how pathetic he truly was. But he didn’t have time to panic about it; there, in the corner of the room, was the child who had suffered like him. Whose (insufferable, said the General in his mind) inner fire had abruptly snuffed itself out; who had stepped out of line, and was bracing himself for the punishment. “H— help him,” Netto managed to choke out. His limbs shaking, he tried to struggle to his feet.

Oh- wow, that's Meiru. He didn't really internalize that it was really, truly her at the rescue, but here she was. And she was- woah. That was a lot to unpack. Later, later. The other Netto was right and there was definitely something way, way more important to focus on. "Don't be sorry," Netto said, flashing a grin at the not-his-own-Rockman. "You remind me of someone I know, and I think that just means you had the best interest at heart." He felt his PET buzz in his pocket in assent, and maybe a bit of bashfulness. Rockman was electing to stay in his silence for now. Netto shared a look with the Meiru who seemed to have it under control, and turned his attention to the child who wasn't trying to kill him with her eyes. "Hey," He says, a lot like he'd spoken previously. He crouches over so he can be at eye-level with Lan, keeping a good amount of distance between them. He was very practiced in the rules of engagement, that was clear. "Sorry- I think you got scared, too?" He didn't think he was frightening, but there had to be something that set him off...How to make it better... (There's bandages on his head. Presumably, he's lost an eye, and its recent enough to still need bandages, or he just didn't get medical care. But he was so young, and- it's at this moment that Netto sees the pendant around his neck, the familiarity of MagnoMetal that really never leaves you. There's gears working in his head, but he can't follow the thread completely, not yet. Assumptions made an ass of him more than a few times, and he had to tread so, so damn carefully in this moment.) "I think your navi is trying to get your attention," Netto points out, decides to start there. Someone hopefully safe (though, that isn't the voice of Rockman he hears, and for that it does make him...worry, is a word for it). "Maybe you should set them at ease?"

Lan blinked rapidly as he was approached by the tall Netto. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he failed to notice anything until he was right in front of him. A pit formed in his stomach, and he grabbed his amulet for comfort -- an accessory which this Netto was clearly eyeing. "I'm... I'm fine," he muttered, primarily to appease HeatMan. His eyes narrowed in uncertainty. This man was being nice, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, but there were too many loose ends for Lan to trust him. He still wasn't sure why the others reacted to so negatively, but he trusted the rest of them well enough (for now). The curiosity over his bandaged eye was reasonable enough, but to most people, his amulet was normal and innocuous. For someone to look at it like this, they would have to know what it was. And if they knew that, then they couldn't be trusted. "Um... have we met?" Lan asked. "Have you been in the chatroom at all?"

Lan inhaled sharply with all of the sudden, awkward movement. There was obviously something she was missing - the way this other girl was talking to one of her mirrors (that hair style and color looked familiar, for some reason) told her that something was... so wrong with whatever was going on. And then- the Lan her age looked shaken as well, and she didn't even know what to say, and... (Is this what it looked like to Rock when she clammed up? There were times when she remembered things, and thought about things that she didn't really want to, and she knew from looking in the mirror during these times that her expression got so glassy, like she had seen something she wasn't supposed to. It was either that, or how it looked while she was hallucinating. ...Oh.) As the older Lan went to comfort the Lan with the bandage on his eye, she saw an excuse to get some distance between them. And the longer she sat in the corner, the worse she felt about doing nothing to help the mirrors that were suffering in front of her. She- she wanted to help. She shuffled on the carpet over to the other older Lan, the one that- she was noticing now had two different eye colors- was that a good or a bad sign? It didn't matter. "Um- are you okay?" she asked quietly. The tracker next to him was beeping quietly. "Do- you need water or something?" Rock watched each of the Lans intently, ready to scream and gnash her teeth if any of them made the wrong move.

Netto couldn’t quite get to his feet, but Meiru reassured him, “It’s okay, he’s got it.” She looked over at Netto-chan with the same warm smile. “Thank you, too, Netto-chan! There’s water in the cooler next to the snacks. And help yourself to those, too! We got them for you to enjoy.” Netto looked away, embarrassed. It felt terrible that he wasn’t helping the little Netto with the missing eye; now he was noticing the casual clothes he was wearing. They’d made sure the wound didn’t get infected when he was trapped in Solitary, but if this Netto wasn’t there, if he was just surviving on the streets, it needed looking after. He had to go and check, but— “Get your feet back under yerself first, an’ then y’can worry about everyone else,” Punk said, not unreasonably. He simply gave Rockman a disapproving look before turning his attention back to Netto, who honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about this latest bit of trickery. It’d been done with the best of intentions, but it also had put more of himself on display than he was comfortable with anyone seeing. …Of course Netto-san had handled things that way at the rescue. He was charming, he could help. Netto hugged his Squishjelly to himself and hid his mouth and nose behind it, so that all that was visible were his eyes. Roll appeared next to Rockman and Punk. “Enzan’s making sure the house doesn’t burn down, he said to take your time,” she reported to Meiru first. Then, she went to give Rockman her support. “You really did have the best intentions, and I wasn’t helping any with the whole party thing,” she admitted, looping an arm around his shoulders. “We’re gonna set this right and get everyone home safe, okay?” “At least y’admit it,” Punk nodded along. “…Is the Fossa Tracker supposed to be beeping like that?” Roll asked. Netto mumbled, “It might be all the Beyondard particles in the room right now.”

Lan gave a polite nod and the strongest smile she could muster (which, admittedly, wasn't much). At least damage control was successful - the atmosphere of the room was a little less unbearable. She walked over to the water cooler and poured herself a cup, then one for the Lan in the blue hoodie... She glanced at the bandaged Lan - he was her age, and just as skittish as she typically was (especially before she met Megaman), but he was injured, and and obviously specifically nervous, in the same way that the other Lan was... Rock raised an eyebrow as Lan poured one more cup of water - and then, she paused, let out a "tch," and poured a fourth. It was only polite, after all. She walked across the room and left two cups of water on the table nearby for the other two Lans, who were having some sort of conversation - the older Lan was staring at the bandaged Lan's amulet, for some reason. Then, she walked back, sat down on the floor a comfortable distance away from the hoodie Lan, and laid down his cup of water in front of him. She shuffled around and scrunched her shoulders together. There, she was being useful, at least. Rock was a little put off by Lan's sudden change of heart, but she supposed she was feeling too awkward to be petty right now. This was supposedly a sleepover, not a life-or-death-mission, so she guessed this was just the norm. "...Um, that jelly is really cute," Lan mumbled. It made her think of Triese, the way she clinged to her own pillows and plushies as she... suffered. (Why was she the one trying to start a conversation? Whatever.)

@puppy_parade

Oh, excellent. She was going to check in with the other guy, that worked out. (They were going to need a way to differentiate everyone and fast, because this was going to get really confusing. Over half of them ((presumably,)) used the same pronouns, this was already messy--) Netto was fucking staring at the pendant. Wow, that wasn't weird or suspicious at all. He forced his attention back with mild difficulty. "Um- I don't know if we've talked. I was the-" he makes a shape with his fingers- "the game controller icon?" Rockman finally appears, perched on Netto's shoulder. "We spoke, I think." He gives an encouraging smile and a soft wave. "It's nice to meet you." Rockman was more...tired looking. But he was trying his best to look kind and comforting too- that look this Netto gave them, it was...guarded. (And missing an eye.) "I trust his judgement," Netto grinned, gesturing to the little hologram on his shoulder. "He's got a good head on those shoulders."

Lan had to think for a moment. Had he ever seen the controller? Maybe in the backlog, but he didn't think they had ever spoken. Rockman, on the other hand, he definitely remembered. There were multiple of them, and one was the person who invited him. Was this the... dog emoji? Ah. Rockman. Thinking too much about him drove a stake through Lan's heart. This was a sleepover, it was supposed to be fun, why was he letting everything bother him? He just-- he was thinking too much. If someone here wanted to hurt him, they would have done so already, right? It was safe here. The concept of a place being safe was terrifying. "Hey Lan," HeatMan interrupted, "you gonna say somethin'?" Lan blushed, just now realizing that he had been zoning out this entire time. "Oh, sorry!" He forced a smile. "It's nice to meet you, too! Sorry about that, I, uh, haven't been to a sleepover in a long time." What a terrible excuse.

“It’s childish,” Netto said, burying his head in it. “She wasn’t judging you for it,” Meiru said pointedly. She was still next to him, being used as a second pillow that could hug back. “And she’s right, too. It really suits you.” The Squishjelly’s bell was made with a galaxy-print minky in splotches of teal and purple, and it wore a pair of cobalt blue headphones, rendered in the same soft minky fabric. Ready to cuddle up in bed and listen to some chill tunes, just like its owner. “…Thanks.” He needed a little more time to come out of hiding behind it, reminding himself that Netto-chan wasn’t judging him, either. She wasn’t. It was going to be okay. He’d never wanted to meet another version of himself, after everything, but this was going… not as badly as he’d imagined. It was still really unnerving to see more of that repulsive child everywhere, especially the one who looked like they were supposed to, but none of them seemed repulsed by him, either. …And Netto-chan was never going to look like that Netto-san, anyway, because she was a girl. If anything, the little Netto was going to end up looking somewhat like he did. Did that make him more correct than Netto-san? Was there no such thing as a ‘correct’ Netto? This was an awful lot to think about. “It was Netto-kun’s birthday present,” Rockman explained cheerfully, returning Netto’s attention to reality. “They had a lot of them at the aquarium, but this was the only one like this!” Roll was looking on with interest, but Punk seemed about ready to retreat back into the PET. Shooting the breeze like this wasn’t really his style. .

9:34 PM

“They’re really popular here,” Meiru explained. “Sometimes you find these rare ones that are more unique, like this one! I have one, too, but it’s upstairs.” Now that Meiru had conversing under control, Netto felt less like all attention was on him, enough that he could slip a hand out to take the water cup. He nodded his thanks to Netto-chan. “Do you have Squishjellies where you’re from?”

9:35 PM

@snoruntpyro

"Oh. Um, I don't... think so?" Lan responded, shrugging mildly. Admittedly, she wasn't exactly on top of trends, so for all she knew, they could be everywhere. "At least, I've never heard of them..." It was very cute. She could pretty easily imagine something like it lying around in Triese's room - though, maybe she was just thinking that because she had been spending all her time in Triese's room lately. "I have a friend that'd like those," she continued. "She really likes... um, fish. And stuff." The mirror was finally relaxing a bit - good. Having a conversation partner that wasn't locked up was a good first step to... sinking into whatever this party was. There were more people around than she was used to, but... for now, she'd just be polite and go through the motions. That was her usual strategy. Her PET was laying on her lap, such that the mirror's Navi... Navis? had a clear view of Rock, lounging around on Lan's home screen. She was hardly much for small talk - she was just here to keep an eye on things. Though, there was that other Navi on her shoulder, the one who wasn't Megaman. Was Punk his name? She vibed with his style, at least. Almost felt like kindred spirits, in a way. Rock crossed her arms and side-eyed Punk, giving him a wave and a silent smirk.

"I haven't been to one in a long time either!" And that was true. All of his friends were off in their lives, and so was he. Netto laughed sheepishly again and noticed the water cups, left for the two of them- he grabbed one, drank it, and then held out the second to the other Lan. "Here- probably would do you some good, yeah?" He drank his a bit obviously, trying to show that it was safe. This Netto was clearly struggling a lot, a little skittish- and yeah, it reminded him of Rockman. The other two seemed content, working with each other, so he kept his focus on this Netto.

Lan grabbed the water cup and eyed it. The water was cold, and clear. After watching the other Netto take a sip, he put it up to his mouth and tried it for himself. Wow, when was the last time he had water this clean? It was getting harder and harder to find in his world as old resources grew slim. He couldn't help himself -- he downed the whole glass in one go, not realizing how odd this may have looked until it was too late. "Oh, um..." His eyes darted between the empty cup and the man in front of him. "Sorry." He gulped. Guess there was no hiding that there was something off about him. The other two seemed occupied enough not to notice, but there was still the Netto right in front of him, the one he trusted the least. Although there were no obvious signs that this Netto was evil, there was still that sliver of doubt. Why did he know about that? As much as Lan wished he could avoid the topic, just in case it really was dangerous, he knew it would eat away at him until he asked. "By the way... why were you looking at my amulet?" He grabbed onto it once more, self-consciously. "Is my face not weird enough?"

“Aw, neat! This guy had a great time at the aquarium, too,” Meiru said cheerfully, indicating Netto with a glance and a wink. Punk had no idea what to do except return the wave, so that’s what he did. He didn’t have a mouth, so he could just kinda… narrow his eyes. Netto sipped the water, looking across the room to where Netto-san and the smallest Netto were. The latter still looked frightened. Little wonder—he wouldn’t have believed it all either when he was fresh out of the sublevels. “Go do your thing,” he told Meiru. “Then come with me,” Meiru replied immediately. “It’s your party.” “Mine…?” Netto asked, surprised. “Yeah!” Rockman agreed. “We should all go introduce ourselves to Netto-ko properly. You, too, Netto-chan!” Netto sighed... and then whirled on Rockman's hologram, his face finally appearing over the Squishjelly. “…He’s Netto-ko?”

Rock almost laughed at Punk's reaction. They'd have to talk later - with a look that tough, and a Lan as skittish as her own, she couldn't help but assume that he was also some kind of bodyguard. (Finally, I get a counterpart...!) "Oh. Y-yeah, we should," the other Lan stuttered. She was a little put off by... the honorific confusion. Anything other than chan just felt... wrong. But she supposed they had to differentiate themselves somehow - it was better than getting called "girl-me", she supposed. She glanced over to catch sight of the other Lan absolutely downing that cup of water. Maybe it was a good idea to pass him a refill. Lan poured another cup of water and scootched over to the other two mirrors, leaving the refill on the table. She decided it was better to keep her distance from the older Lan, but for the one her age, she wanted to be friendly. Especially after what had happened between them in the chatroom. "Hi," she greeted, waving politely.

Ah, man. This Lan was not...well. Netto couldn't remember the last time he chugged water like that, like he'd hadn't any in a long time. He waved his hand, dismissing the sorry, but Netto had been asked about that amulet. Ah, oh...oh... Netto couldn't help the sad expression that crossed his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." And it was extremely genuine. He felt bad for making the younger Netto feel the need to say something like that. "I recognize the material. My grandpa gave me something like that, a long time ago. It came in handy when I needed it." Rockman glanced between the two Nettos, and he shared a look with his operator. "But, um, people don't wear that where we're from. We don't need to. The- the thing it protects from, it's not around here." That was probably the best way to explain it, without assuming and admitting too much. When Lan...chan approached, Netto could sense she wasn't that keen on being close. And that did make him sad, but he could cope. It wasn't about him, and he would have to live with the fact that the mirror of his sibling was, well, a mirror. Reflecting similar feelings. So he made a bit of room for her, and let her say hello, making sure to not get in her way or impose in any way. (edited)

The explanation swam through Lan's head, and he was unsure of how to feel about it. This whole time, he had come to the wrong conclusion. If these people knew what the material was, and what it protected against, then they had encountered SoulNet before. They weren't evil at all, they were victims. That key bit of information eliminated all the mistrust he had, and left him feeling guilty for thinking that way in the first place. But no, they couldn't have gone through what he's going through. They were too happy for that -- the Netto was, at least. And he had both of his eyes still, big and brown and normal, no scars to be seen (other injuries nonwithstanding). He had Rockman, too, and that navi didn't despise him, didn't try to destroy him on sight. This should have made Lan happy, to see that everything worked out for an alternate version of himself despite everything, but it only served to make him more upset. Lan wanted to leave. He was ready to retreat, when he realized that the rest of the group was approaching him. The other guy with the weird eye, the nervous-looking girl, and-- was that Meiru? He hadn't even seen her arrive. Another friend who survived in a world without consequence. Despite the depression eating away at his soul, Lan forced himself to smile once more. No one needed to know about his petty emotions. He was here, and it was a party, and he was going to have fun. "Hello," he responded to the Lan his age, with similar politeness. He accepted the new glass of water, but didn't drink any yet. Might as well give himself some time before he outs himself as a weirdo again. Glancing at everyone, he realized that all eyes were on him, and he had no idea what to say next. "Um... is everyone having fun so far?"

“Of course not, you all got tossed in here with no clue what was happening,” Meiru sighed. ‘Black’ and his far less natural-looking lens had been a regular fixture of her life for almost two years; she had no reaction to the missing eye other than a momentary look of pity, and noticing it was on the wrong side. “I’m Sakurai Meiru, and you’re in my house,” she explained after another moment, realizing that maybe some of the assembled Nettos didn’t know her at all, and thus were wary because they didn’t know where they were. They were, after all, wildly different, despite feeling so similar to her. “I don’t want you to fake it,” Netto told the youngest Netto bluntly, too tired after his panic attack for much other than the truth. “This is real, okay. It’s safe here. We can get stuff if you need to clean your wound.” He looked over at Netto-san, then to ‘Netto-ko’ (he would have hated that at that age! He hated it now!), and added, “I know, it’s not fair.” He tapped the side of his head next to his blue eye—the one with the notch under it, whose lashes caught the light in a more synthetic manner up close. “This one’s just convincing ‘cause I know a guy.” He then turned to Netto-chan. “She’s cool, though.”

Lan wasn't quite processing the words of the people around her. Their party host looked vaguely familiar to her, but the more distracting subject was that of the injury of the Lan her age. Did he really believe this wasn't... real? She could only imagine the feeling. Then, the hoodie Lan's words processed in her mind, and she turned to him, giving him a single blink. "W-what? You think I'm... cool?" she asked, utterly befuddled. Had anyone called her cool before? (Well, Triese did, but she called everything cool.) Oh, yeah. That eye was a different color. She was baffled how she didn't notice it before - it wasn't like heterochromia was unheard of, and... well, her eyes had changed color once, so anything could happen. But that eye had a subtle shimmer, a glossy effect to it - as "convincing" as it was. Was it a cybernetic eye? (Okay, that was pretty cool.) "'Course he does. I think you're cool," Rock added proudly. "Well- I guess he doesn't know the first thing about you. Maybe you're just finally building that kind of aura."

Netto gave "Ko" a sympathetic smile, nodded, then said a quick- "excuse me for a second", and promptly exited the room to the closest place he could find. He pulled out his PET, and gave Rockman the most distressed look. Rockman looked back with a similar sympathetic smile. "Ohh my god. I can't believe I was invited to this," he whispered, harshly. "They all look like they're either going to puke at the sight of me, or that they'll kill me in my sleep!" "I don't think she's going to kill you in your sleep." Rockman offered back, "She's...she's a lot different than you are." "They all are! We're all essentially different people!" Netto ran a hand through his hair, a stressed out gesture. "And that- it's not a bad thing, it's just! I feel like I just caused world war three in there!" "You didn't do anything, Netto, it's- they're just-" "AND I THINK HE'S DATING MEIRU!" Netto whisper-shouted. "MEIRU! The lesbian, Meiru!!! The girl I was a real-then-fake relationship for?!" Rockman sighed, relenting a little bit to say: "I guess that is a bit weird." Netto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just don't know why someone like me gets invited to shit like this. I just cause issues like this. Scaring the shit out of kids, making clearly traumatized people freak out--" "You're hardly to blame for this. I don't know how another me thought this was a good idea." But the answer to that hung in the air between them: because that Rockman certainly had not gone through what they had. Netto groaned again. He ran a hand again through his hair. "I'm not used to this whole, not being liked thing." "Net..." For a brief moment, Netto looks a bit like the other ones- tired, a bit sad, maybe even guarded. "I couldn't control the circumstances just like they couldn't. And now it's really biting me." ...they had no idea someone else was in this kitchen.

Lan could do nothing but blink, once again surprised by the turn of events. The man with the different colored eyes was trying to reassure him, clearly -- why couldn't his attempts at appearing happy work for once? -- but it only served to make him feel worse. This guy was far too confident in what he was saying, he had obviously been through something similar. And the girl, the broken heart from the chatroom, he was still thinking about their conversation from before, and how she also came from a broken world. Somehow, every person here had experience with suffering in some form. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't Lan carry the burden, so nobody else had to? Even worse, the friendly Netto had suddenly decided to leave. Lan was sure he was the cause of it. He was ruining the party because he couldn't get over his own feelings. What a terrible person he must be. Not knowing what to say, he took a sip of water, using it as an excuse to avoid eye contact. He kept his face in the cup even when the liquid stopped going down his throat. This was going disastrously. With no other choice, HeatMan decided to save the day, speaking to the rest of the group from Lan's PET. "Don't worry about Lan's eye, we can clean it at home. Sorry, everyone, this ain't a normal experience for us. I told him not to come in the first place, but he insisted. Uh... we'll leave if that's the best option."

Enzan, for his part, was staying well clear of whatever Rockman and Meiru’s plan in the living room was. It was more accurate to say that until Meiru had been called away from the kitchen, he’d put it out of his head entirely. He didn’t truly know any of the people involved, even if they all presumably looked like Netto. It’d be disconcerting to run into someone with the face of someone so important to him, but with none of the traits that made him that way. The bottom layer of cake was in the oven, and the chocolate they’d lined the hemisphere molds with was setting in the freezer. They’d been planning to make pastry cream to fill the rest of the hemisphere with, since neither of them had attempted it before. Enzan was fairly certain he understood how it was going to work now—the heat denatured the yolks’ protein and caused the cornstarch to gelatinize, both thickening the cream. At the same time, the milk, starch, and sugar diluted the mixture enough to keep the egg from scrambling, so long as it was constantly whisked and wasn’t left to overcook. A delicate balance of temperature and timing. Baking was full of interesting details like this, structures that could be followed and explained and troubleshot. He found the process of it incredibly satisfying. However, not only was Meiru not there to participate when this had been a together activity, Enzan also had no idea if he would wind up being called away for damage control as well. It was probably not a great idea to start on it until she returned. On the other hand, they’d already measured everything out and separated the eggs… …And then there was suddenly someone totally unfamiliar in his—her—their kitchen. Thank goodness he hadn’t started on making that pastry cream. Enzan stayed still and silent as this new person immediately burst into conversation with his Navi, a gracefully-spindly figure half-folded over the bowl of egg yolks in the corner of the room.

9:55 PM

This guy, who was probably as tall as he was, was a Netto? Was this the unreliable one? He did seem to be around Enzan’s age, just like Meiru had described. At least he seemed fairly self-aware about how different he first appeared from the Netto that Enzan cared so much about. (He wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of Netto or Meiru being with someone else. Couldn’t the three of them just stay like this? It was comfortable this way. …Was it too comfortable?) Enzan was quite possibly the least adept at having heart-to-hearts out of anyone he knew. He didn’t know nearly enough about what was going on to feel confident offering any helpful advice to Long Netto over there. But he did know how to give him a fright. “Which is it, then?” he asked as easily as if nothing was wrong, straightening to his full height. “Is she a lesbian, or are they dating? I can’t believe I’m the last to know.”

“Well, yeah,” Netto said to Netto-chan. “You recovered pretty quick.” Before anyone could say anything more, Netto-san was gone. Admittedly, that was a little bit relieving, though Meiru said, “Oh, wait—“ next to him. But Netto-ko still looked completely miserable. And Netto-san, who had been working the room for them all, was gone. Well, then. Heatman told them it was fine, though it certainly didn’t seem fine, if there was nothing to cover it but bandages. But it seemed awful to send him back to wherever in this sort of state… “…Clue,” Roll realized next to him. “What. Where,” Netto said. “It’s a board game,” Rockman explained. “Netto-ko said it was his favorite in chat, so we got it for him.” Netto squeezed his eyes shut a couple of times, trying to unlock years-old memories. “…I don’t think I remember… anything about it.” “Well, that’s okay. We’ve got the experts here, don’t we?” Meiru pointed out.

10:25 PM

@snoruntpyro

Lan curled her lip, her eyes darting back and forth. "I- uh, I mean, there wasn't that much to... recover from?" she said. Underselling herself as usual. She was so glad that the older mirror had left the room, though she didn't want to express it. Rock could tell, though, because she de-tensed ever so slightly. The Lan her age was still an absolute mess, though - and his Navi could only do so much to assure him, she assumed. (Now that she thought about it, his Navi wasn't any Navi she recognized, either.) The idea of board games... confused her. She'd hardly consider herself a fan of them, mostly because she didn't go to parties... ever. But she figured that going with the flow was her best bet - that way she wouldn't become the center of attention, at least. "Um- I haven't played it," she mumbled, awkwardly adjusting her position on the carpet. "I'm not an expert on, um. Any games. Really." @puppy_parade (edited)

Netto nearly jumped a whole foot in the air when Enzan spoke- he looked at him like he was a deer in headlights. "YOU'RE here too?!" He balked, immediately recognizing this Enzan as the one that belonged here. (Couldn't be his own- he was missing extra grey-white hairs and a scar on his neck and was, decidedly, baking in a kitchen. Enzan could never.) "Jesus- how much of that did you listen to???" "All of it, I assume?" Rockman chimed, a bit embarrassed himself. He was more embarrassed by Netto's reaction to this, though. He was acting like a cartoon character. "Do- do you-?" Netto stared at Enzan longer, looking him up-and-down, then to the work being done in the kitchen, and- "Do you live here??? Are you- baking???"

Clue. Lan perked up at the word. Slowly, he moved the cup of water away from his face, and looked at the others once more. "Haha, so this is the party you were talking about in the chatroom, huh?" He smiled weakly, still too distraught to fake a real one. These people were nice, and they were trying so hard to cheer him up for no reason. They bought a board game specifically for him. The least he could do was stick around and play for a little bit. "It's okay if you don't know how to play," he said, turning to the Lan his age. "I can teach you." "Lan, you don't need to push yourself if you're not feelin' well," said HeatMan. "I'll be fine. If I leave, then they won't have enough people to play!" With a defeated chuckle, HeatMan relented. "Whatever you say, kid."

…Yeah, this may not be his Netto but it sure is a Netto, with that reaction. Pretty funny. “What else would I be doing?” Enzan asked coolly. “And yes, I’m Meiru’s roommate. Apparently, I’m going through a phase.” Something about Netto's reaction felt odd to him, though; did he just never leave IPC and his father’s control in the other worlds? Never walked away from the life that had been laid out for him, never did the things he hadn’t had time or permission to? To Enzan, content where he was, that scarcely bore thinking about. What was more important was the present situation, anyway. “It hasn’t been that long since you all got here. I don’t know what you think you’ve done, but it can’t be as much as you’re assuming.”

️

“I’ll get it!” And with that, Meiru was off to nab the game from the cupboard—though she stopped to grab her favorite snacks on her way back, the cheese balls and the popcorn, as well as plates for everyone. She balanced it all on top of the game, then popped one of the mini sandwiches half in her mouth for transportation. Netto was thinking over the smallest Netto’s behavior. Thinking of his own, as well, tilting his head to one side and sagging over with it as he considered. “If I deserve to be here, then you deserve to be here,” he told Netto-ko, rebalancing himself. “We want you to be here. Er, at least, I do.” With a wry smile, Netto admitted, “I don’t like parties, either, but we’ll get through it. Together.” Rockman stood a bit straighter himself, recognizing the spirit of the words. It felt good to know that Netto had taken his own reassurances to heart. “This isn’t supposed to be a scary sort of party, anyway.” “We’ve got Netto-chan here, too, and she’ll help us, I’m sure. She’s cool, like I said.” (edited)

"I- don't understand where you're... getting this from?" Lan mumbled, blinked slowly - the same compliment twice in a row was short-circuiting her brain. "But- um. Thanks?" Now the responsibility had landed on her shoulders, somehow, to help the mirrors that thought they deserved nothing. Weren't they invited here, like she was? Again, she couldn't help but think she was missing something. "Oh, the kid'll help you, I'm sure," Rock added, with a playful tone. "Dangle that word in front of her and she'll jump at ya. Even if she doesn't know how to play boardgames." "Rock," Lan sneered, her attention darting between the other two mirrors. "Um- it's fine. So... how... do you play...?"

"Roommate?" Netto paused, looked at Rockman, who shrugged back at him. "I mean, maybe...?" Netto couldn't help it- unmedicated and totally stressed, he blurted out, "but aren't you gay???" Roommates = dating to him, clearly. He flushes a bright red, shakes his head, wheezes out an apology and covers his face. Good lord is he failing the social interaction tonight. Rockman finally appears on Netto's shoulder, looking apologetic. "Sorry. We're just a little surprised. No one told us this was a...meeting of Nettos. The others seem a little, um...frightened, of us?" Rockman is also really weirded out by the concept of any of them dating either each other, or just Meiru, but hey. He can keep that an inside thought.

At first, Enzan was taken aback. Had this Netto been reading the tabloids, to come out with a guess like this? No, of course not, he wasn’t from this world and he wouldn’t have been surprised to find Enzan here at all if he had. What did being someone’s roommate have to do with being gay? Why did everyone want to know his sexuality, anyway? He didn’t know! He didn’t really care enough to figure it out! Then Rockman chimed in, bringing Enzan’s mind back to reality. If he was shocked, his Netto must’ve been mortified. He was always catching Netto calling himself a ‘bad person’ or ‘ugly’ at the slightest provocation, and here was a much more conventionally attractive person, to put a shape to all those thoughts. (His own Netto was so self-conscious about being short, when he was really very cute.) It was very obvious to Enzan what must have happened; the Fossa Tracker hadn’t given his Netto enough warning on Long Netto’s arrival, and the shock had been too much. It’d probably been even worse than he was imagining, if this Netto had appeared last. …Much as he wanted to know what was going on out there and felt unnerved by where the conversation had already gone, if all the other Nettos were frightened, perhaps he was providing a vital sleepover-salvaging service by diverting Long Netto’s attention. With that in mind, Enzan affixed his best charming-party-guest easy smile onto his face, his jaw gently closing. “Don’t worry about it. It takes a little time for Netto—er, the Netto from this world to open up to people in the best of circumstances. He was probably just startled.” Holding a long conversation, rule one: get them talking about themselves. “What do you do in your world?” (edited)

9:27 PM

️

“Well, you just seem to have things a little more together than I do,” Netto explained to Netto-chan, a bit sheepish. “And you’re only, like, twelve or something.” “Th’ bar is that low…” sighed Punk. “An’ yet, Girl Netto’s the only one who’s cleared it.” “Punk!” Rockman scolded. Fortunately, Meiru returned. She set down the snacks, pointedly opening both the popcorn bag and the cheese ball plastic barrel, and then scarfed down the sandwich before setting the Clue box down in the middle of the group. “All right, let’s see what we’ve got.” On top of the box was a board, depicting the inside of a house; and various game pieces, some wooden and some pewter. There, too, was a rulebook. Meiru read out the introductory spiel:

This game is unlike any other. All of the characters are fictitious—even the "victim" is imagined. It is like a stage play. The scene opens in Mr. Boddy's palatial mansion. Mr. Boddy is the victim of foul play and is found in one of the rooms...

(edited)

Lan's eyelids lowered as she decided not to say anything out loud, but Punk's words absolutely prompted a response in her brain. (Yeah, maybe that is kind of a low bar.) "So, it's... like a crime-solving game?" she wondered aloud, staring pensively at the game board. There were nine different rooms that they were tasked with finding evidence inside, to be able to accuse whoever killed Mr. Boddy. Each card was shuffled and dealt, giving the Lans six cards each; this experience now made Lan realize that a lead pipe was a possible, sufficient murder weapon. (She'd have to keep this in mind.) ===== It didn't take very long for Lan to get a little too into the goings-on. She and Rock collectively agreed to each other that they should head for the Library first, because the Library was "the most suspicious room". "That's where they put all the secret passages in movies," was what Rock insisted. "Y'know, pull a bright red book and then it reveals a whole secret torture dungeon, or some shit like that." Lan ended up last in the turn order, and listened intently for each suggestion. In order to win, she had to logic out what the crime was, obviously. Therefore, she must follow the trail of who was the most suspicious. This is how solving crimes worked - this is how you catch people. It was only obvious! She noted down thus - that one of the possible murder weapons was a Knife, and one of the spare pieces was Colonel Mustard, a retired officer. She immediately felt contempt for such a man. (I mean, a military guy would have the knowledge to kill someone, and he'd probably have the motivation to do it. Like, maybe Mr. Body was onto something, suspecting him for committing a crime, and he had to dispose of him to protect his secrets! Yeah!) Rock could only nod along and agree. Everything made sense to her; and Lan had caught criminals in the act in the past, so she was basically an expert. Lan allowed for a grand total of two full rounds to pass before she was confident in her line of logic. She hadn't received any information to change her mind, and Rock was only feeding her assumptions, so she had the conclusion she needed. She'd win, she'd expose the murderer! "I'm- I'm making an accusation!" she exclaimed, unnecessarily slamming the game board. "I think Colonel Mustard used the knife and did it in the library!" (As soon as the accusation left Lan's mouth, Rock.EXE pondered their actions for a moment, and recoiled in horror as she realized that Lan Hikari was not playing Clue correctly.)

With his favorite board game to distract him, Lan's nerves had loosened considerably. He was still a little down, but managed to suppress that as he dedicated as much concentration as he could to the game. He sat with his knees to his chest, notes sitting on top where no one could see. To his side, he had a half-eaten pile of cheese balls sitting on a place. (It had been too long since he last eaten proper snacks.) On the opposite side was his PET, where HeatMan was relieved to see him having fun. Surprisingly, it didn't take long for someone to make a guess. Lan listened as she spoke with confidence, referencing his own sheet as she went on. He frowned as he came to the realization that she was just making stuff up. It was so off, he wondered if she even knew what she was doing. Maybe he should have helped her a bit more. "Uh, no, I don't think that's right." Looking at his card once more, however, combined with what the other Lan said, an epiphany struck. His eyes darted across the board, then to his card one more time, before he spoke up. "I have it!" Lan yelled, a bit too loudly for a fun sleepover activity. "It's Professor Plum with the candlestick in the lounge!"

Netto kept giving him an up and down, inspecting all of the ways this Enzan differed from his own Enzan. And then he saw that smile. Netto popped his hip and placed a hand on it, frowning back at him. He knew that practiced smile like the back of his hand- and truly, he considered it an insult to his intelligence. "Oh, don't you try that party trick on me. I'm literally your best man and have been to at least four wedding rehearsals. I've seen you do that smile a thousand times." Pause. "The other you. My you." He then folded his arms. "Don't try and turn this around on me. What do YOU do here, huh?"

Enzan didn’t know what to say. He literally could not speak. Why were they talking about weddings?! Why was he having a wedding?! He didn’t want to get married! He didn’t want to produce an heir, or use and throw away women the way he’d seen so many men do at those business parties, or have to rehearse for a fucking wedding! He’d quit being a businessman! He no longer lived on his father’s property! He didn’t have to do that shit anymore! He was fairly sure he was fucking blushing, ears and all! Fuck! “Enzan-sama, the yolks should keep in the refrigerator until the morning,” Blues told him, discreet and professional as ever. Without a word, Enzan busied himself tidying up the kitchen, still blushing furiously. This Netto truly was the worst creature he had ever met, as nosy as a gossip reporter with an uncanny Netto-but-not-cute face, and he needed a moment to recompose himself. His Netto had been right all along. Parties were awful. He hated parties, just as much as Netto did.

️ Netto was having a very nice time now at the party. He reflexively hid a chuckle at how into it little-Netto had gotten in his hand. It was almost disappointing the game was over; he’d been having a nice time ‘wandering’ around the board, imagining the rooms of the manor. He’d have loved this game in the Nova base. He took a cheese ball and put it into his mouth to slowly melt into a flavorless mush, like the ten before it, before resting his head contentedly against his Squishjelly. Meiru watched them all play, smiling; she’d gone upstairs to retrieve as many pillows as she could, as well as a few of her own Squishjellies. She was lounging on top of a huge one that was wearing a flower crown, relieved the group had settled in.

Lan couldn't believe that she had been showed up. She thought she had it, everything had made so sense in her head- "Kid, uh, I think... this game's just random," Rock chimed in, as Lan was surveying the board and looking for clues she'd overlooked. "It's like, a logic game. Not actual... like, real life logic." She blinked, looked at the cards in her hand, then looked at the younger Lan, and the older one submerged in his jelly plush, and then back at the board. Oh. Duh. She really thought she would've gotten this game right away, given her experience. Maybe she was looking for a different game. Oh well. "Uh... right," she said, trying to brush off her mistakes as the younger Lan looked at her with confusion. "Y... yeah. Um, okay. What now...?" "If we play another game, I'll warn you if it's random or not in advance," Rock added in consolation. "...Um. No, uh, it's fine."

Netto and Rockman's eyebrows raised at Enzan, surprised by the reaction, truly. That was, well, not like their Enzan. Their Enzan probably would have bit back with a fuck you, Hikari, hiding a smile behind his bite. But instead, this one was getting really damn stressed about the prospect of marriage. Netto wondered for a moment if it would help to mention that he was getting married to Laika, but given this whole situation, um...maybe it was better to keep his mouth zipped. He sighed, feeling a bit stupid. He did this all the time. "I'm sorry," he said, genuinely. "I didn't- I should have been nicer. I don't know you, and I shouldn't-" He ran a hand through his hair again, tapping a foot slowly, showing his apparent anxiety with the situation. Shyly, he answered, "I'm- I'm an Official netbattler. I manage navi teams overseas, usually. I'm the top of my division."

Tall Netto was being a bit unlike Enzan’s Netto here, too. Netto would’ve demanded to know what made Enzan clam up like that. He was one of the few people still close enough to Netto to receive that kind of treatment. But this Netto was being so nice. Giving him the out. Safe conversations about Netbattling. He didn’t have to know. Enzan took a few breaths, calming himself. He saw Blues appear in the corner of his eye, could hear what his Navi wanted to say in the back of his mind just by looking into his face: He’s another person. Knowing won’t change how your father would’ve reacted. Do you really want to carry the answer with you? He wasn’t sure if he did, and the timer buzzed on the oven while he was still thinking it over. He moved fluidly, seemingly back to normal. “You said that the version of me in your world was gay, and that he was getting married.” He put one oven mitt on and slid the layer of cake out of the oven. “You were also surprised that I was here. Presumably, that other me still works for my father, at IPC.” He didn’t want to know after all. It wouldn’t change anything, and he was too vulnerable like this; even though from the outside, neither his voice nor the pan he placed on the cooling rack shook. This wasn’t Netto, not really. But it was too late now. “Was I permitted to marry a man? Or was I given the ultimatum?” His hair brushed against his cheeks, along the back of his neck, as he stared down at the cake, having put the mistake into the world. The hair he’d been so heavily dissuaded from growing out.

Netto blinked a few times, looking at Enzan with that surprised look all over again. He didn't expect this part, and- well, there was only vague knowledge there. Enzan and Laika were getting married. Shuuseki did not like Laika (Shuuseki hated everyone; he hated Netto, and he hated Laika, but he hated Laika with a different kind of ferocity). Netto said it slowly, carefully. "Enzan does work at IPC- he's...He still works for the Officials, but not like he used to." Then, even more carefully, but with a stern confidence: "...I don't know if Shuuseki said yes or no. But Enzan is getting married to Laika no matter what. Even if Shuuseki says no." (edited)

“Well, that certainly is different,” Enzan laughed weakly, shaking his head. “I’d be out of a job.” He was out of a job, though not for that exact reason. Another moment, and then— “I—that Enzan managed to marry Laika? He seems… enchanted by someone else.” That someone else was, he realized as he said it, also a woman. Most people seemed to have more rigid preferences than he… didn’t? Hadn’t figured out yet? (It had always been set in stone, he supposed, and so he’d always dreaded it.)

"Enzan might be out of a job, too, someday." Netto sighed. "His dad is the biggest raging asshole I know." And Netto felt free and comfortable to say such things, because it was the truth. If he had the chance, he would have said it to the man's face. "But he's an old idiot, and he probably will kick the bucket soon. So, in a way, it's kinda his best interest to leave things alone." Netto leaned against the counter, watching Enzan work. It was kind of nice to see it- his own Enzan never made things like this. It was interesting to see the differences. "Laika- mm...He and Enzan, they're in like, super-love. I've never seen two people care that much about each other before. Maybe aside from my parents, ha." Netto played with his hair again. It was a clear nervous gesture, something he did to soothe his need to fidget. "And- I'm lucky to be their friend. And to get to be a part of their special day," he said, this time smiling very softly. He did feel lucky.

It was a little shocking to hear this Netto say it aloud, still, even though his Netto and especially his Meiru fully agreed and he knew it. His father’s public image was second to none. (And it still hurt sometimes to remember that he had just been another tool in Shuuseki’s box instead of a protege worth listening to, no matter how many years he’d worked under him. Even if he would never admit it.) “I’m fairly certain Father will live forever,” Enzan said off-handedly when Netto brought up his age, only half-joking. “He’s got the best doctors in the region, and he certainly isn’t eating anything like this. He’ll still be President of IPC when he’s ninety.” Slowly, gradually, the refrigerated items disappeared off the countertops and into their unnatural habitat as Enzan listened. “That sounds…” He couldn’t picture it for himself. He’d been in such constant motion, between IPC and the scrutiny on the Net Savior program, throughout his teenage years. Keeping Netto and Meiru company, with all the open-endedness and lack of fuss it entailed, really was the closest thing to happiness he could imagine. “…wonderful. Congratulations, to all of you.” Even so, he truly meant it.

For a moment, Netto sounded a bit...off when he said, "oh, he'd like to think he'll live that long. But he knows better." ...but that was official business. It was brief, but Netto was back to focusing on what was actually important here. "Thank you! I'm happy for them too. I think the most exciting part will be shoving Enzan's face in the cake- though, don't tell him I said that. He'll get all huffy about it." Wow, that was quite a change. "And he deserves it, you know? This happiness. Been through enough, that's for sure. Both of them." He glanced at the doorway, and then back at Enzan, thoughtful. "Well, if you're happy here, that's good, then. Even if it's so different from where I am, you three seem like a good fit."

The way Netto said that with such certainty stole the breath from Enzan’s lungs, but only for a moment. …If it removed the obstacle from that Enzan, if he got to both have his happiness and reform the company to his standard without Shuuseki there, he couldn’t find it in him to discourage whatever Netto was thinking. He just wanted to leave his own version of it all behind, but he could see a mirror of himself being perfectly happy after a few years. Wondering who had done it, but never able to find out. Who would suspect Netto, anyway? Especially this one? “I don’t know how I would, so your secret’s safe,” Enzan said, not bothering to clarify whether he wasn’t telling his other self about Shuuseki’s impending demise or about getting his makeup and suit ruined in front of the entire planet via cake. Another reason not to get married: he could definitely imagine Netto doing the same damn thing, and it'd be so annoying. He’d probably spend a whole hour ahead of finally committing to doing it glancing around nervously, too, darting away before Enzan could tell him not to do it until later when there were fewer cameras around. Extremely premeditated, yet inevitable. Netto probably didn’t even know how gross mascara tasted— Three? And they’d just been talking about… Enzan managed to choke out, “Netto and Meiru are my partners. It isn’t…” But the other Enzan and his Laika weren’t frivolous or disposable, either, it wasn’t the sort of marriage he always thought of when he heard the word. …How were they talking about this again?!

"Your partners, huh?" Netto hummed, but this time he suppressed the urge to have a small meltdown at the idea. "In my world- to clarify, um. Meiru is in Choina, getting her PhD. She's a very accomplished pianist. Her PhD is in research- um, her thesis is on music's impact on NetNavi emotional growth and how it can be used to stimulate early navis to have better outcomes in-" "She's very smart," Rockman supplied. "Very, very smart. But we don't see her as much. So seeing you three together was, surprising." "Yeah, what he said." Netto fidgeted, his fingertips brushing the stitches on the back of his head. He heard the sound of an exclamation outside the room, and glanced behind him. Was that- Clue???

“…I see. And you were still here, all that time. So instead of Meiru being the one who was there…” Well, Tall Netto was nice enough to specify where the missing member of their group was in his world. So Enzan took a breath to gather the story together into something approaching short and explained. “A few weeks before his thirteenth birthday, Netto disappeared. They made it look like he’d died, along with many, many other people. In the wake of the 'accident', they wanted to end the Net Savior program—our equivalent of the Officials. There were advances in substantiation tech that had been allowing Net terrorists to cause widespread damage to Densan City in particular. And it had looked bad enough to send two kids in to do combat, much less one alone. “So I had to make it look easy. And, well, Meiru’s charming, and she could defend herself, even if she wasn’t an international-level force. We made a photogenic pair, the sort that would stop people from asking questions.” Enzan smiled, thinking back on all the memories that had followed. “But she wasn’t happy just being my partner for show. She worked as hard as I did. It really surprised me, at the time, but we became as close as I’d been with—well, with my Netto. She really is brilliant.” Enzan mulled over his next words carefully, his expression darkening, before explaining, “Netto had been stolen from us to be—an asset, in a Dimensional War. He doesn’t value himself like he ought to any longer. So he probably saw you, and how different you were, and he compared himself unfavorably to you. So don’t take it personally. It’s not you, not at all.”

Netto was surprised, again to be getting the full context. And truly it made him...sad. It was sad to hear this history, sad to hear that all of these terrible things had happened. It explained a lot, but it didn't make him feel any better about the fright he'd given. "Ah...That...makes sense, yeah." Netto said softly, a little sad. "I'm sorry to hear that- ah, though, I'm sure my sympathy probably feels hollow." He ended up looking at the floor. He could see a future in which he became like this Netto, he supposed- if Regal had taken him, if Regal had turned his attention to one sibling instead of the other. Maybe he would have turned into this- insecure and quiet and small, much like Rockman was. Did he need to trade stories? Was this a moment to share back? He didn't really want to say I wasn't there for my best friends and they got stabbed and drugged and burned alive and I'm just me, still here, still alive, untouched- "I've been away for a while, so...I'm lucky that I was let back into their lives." And he left it at that. "I'll- well, I won't expect friendship out of them, I guess." He glanced back at the door, talking about the other Lans. "I...hope they'll let me, help, anyway. At least offer some kindness. They deserve it if they've been through such terrible stuff. It's the...least I can do, if I've turned out this way." He heard another exclamation about Clue. "I should probably get back to it, then. Um- thanks for talking to me. Sorry about- being weird." (edited)

“No, I understand. I wish there was more I could do for Netto every day,” Enzan admitted. There was a detail he’d left out, as well—the link between the Dimensional War and what had happened to make Enzan walk away from IPC. Netto had suffered; IPC had profited. And Enzan had been left in the dark for far too long to stop it. “It never feels like enough, but I try for kindness and patience, at least.” Enzan, too, was surprised to hear the exclamation… mostly because he had no idea what Clue was. Why did it sound like they were accusing Professor Plum of murder? If only Meiru were there to non-judgmentally explain. But this was a Netto who had never been separated from these things, which meant he would probably just point and laugh like Meijin did. So Enzan nodded along as if this was totally normal. “I don’t think we’re going to be making any more progress on this front,” Enzan said, with a glance toward the cake pan. “I need to pass through to get upstairs, anyway, so I might as well join you.” After crossing to the doorway back to the party, he added, "Don't worry about it." (edited)

In the wake of the game’s completion, the quiet had become so much more companionable. It really had been the right thing to do. “Thanks, Roll,” Meiru told her Navi softly, getting a thumbs-up from the little hologram next to her in response. Maybe now they’d even make some progress on destroying these snacks, other than just her eating them all. She peered over her shoulder as Enzan walked in from the kitchen, the Netto from the rescue close behind him. At least the tallest Netto didn’t seem too distressed about this any longer? This seemed to be coming together after all. (And if it wasn’t, there was plenty of ammo around for a pillow fight now.) She gave them both a wave, slowly picking herself up off the giant Squishjelly. “I’m getting more snacks,” she declared, drawing attention toward her side of the room—and Netto and Enzan in the doorway. (Netto, still quite mentally satiated from the game, remained where he was with his head on his Squishjelly; Rockman, in turn, was happy to see it.)

Lan was still pouting from losing the Clue game, though the promise of more snacks was a consolation. She was sufficiently broken in by now, and Rock could tell - the company was a little more familiar now, instead of causing her to tense up. Her mirrors were relaxed, now, which helped the mood - this might as well have been a normal party now. (Just with versions of yourself with different wounds. Normal things.) Her mood was soured slightly, however, when the Lan from the rescue walked back in, accompanied by a man that - huh?? Chaud?? Their party host was someone she didn't recognize, and her own mirror was still her height, so it caught Lan off-guard when she locked eyes with an obviously older counterpart of someone she had just met a month ago. (She supposed the Lan she hated counted, but she wished that was a different person than who it represented, so it didn't count to her.) His hair was longer, but there was no mistaking that color pattern. -With that being said, though, she still wasn't happy to see the other Lan. Though she couldn't bring herself to give that same venomous look as before - more of a look that someone would have after letting out a long sigh, minus the sighing part. She turned toward the Lan in the hoodie, and kind of wished she could bury her own head in the Squishjelly right about now, too. "Yo. What's up?" Rock greeted absentmindedly to their new guests. "We just learned how to play Clue the hard way."

The doorbell rang, surprising all three of the hosts. “I’ve got it,” Enzan said, being the only one standing up. In the entry, he flicked on the security camera—and saw Hikari Haruka smiling right back at him, waving into the camera from the other side of the gate into the courtyard. She was holding a pair of trays stacked on top of each other, as well as a smaller container atop those. “I just wanted to drop off some food, since you’ve all been over there for a while. May I come in?” “My apologies, Hikari-san, now isn’t a very good time,” Enzan said. Something about Hikari-san threw him off his game every single time. “Aww, really? But I’ve got a slice of your favorite strawberry champagne cake here…” It really was an excellent cake. Enzan hated to lose out on it, but there was absolutely no way he was letting Hikari-san know that there were four of Netto in the living room right now. “I, um—“ “It’s okay—I have the gate code,” Hikari-san explained, peeking in from behind the now-open front door. “Meiru-chan’s parents hardly ever seem to change it…” Enzan made a mental note to add actually updating the gate code to his list of chores. “Ooh, I smell cake,” Hikari-san noticed. For his part, Enzan noticed the smell of curry coming from one of those larger trays. “You haven’t had dinner already, have you?” she asked, inexorably drifting in the direction of the open area past the entry. “No, we just bought a lot of snack foods,” Enzan explained, trying to block her path but unable to muster any force against Hikari-san’s mysterious, warm aura. Then, realizing this was an unusual bit of splurging for them, he added, “For the three of us. As a treat.” He forced himself to stop backing away once he’d hit the ridge on the floor dividing the entry from the living room, but Hikari-san simply ducked under his arm, breezing in with little effort.

12:12 AM

“Oh, look at you two!” giggled Hikari-san, her gaze traveling to each Netto with equal amounts of non-judgmental benevolence. “Papa noticed you were interested in the Fossa Ambiences again, so we thought this might’ve been what was going on. But you’re just adorable together! And I’ve brought curry and rice for everyone, too!” (edited)

Lan's victory cheer was interrupted when he noticed more people entering the room. Ah. Ah. Another friend, older, different, and most importantly, unharmed. Was he supposed to feel happy about this? Upset at the fate of his own friends? He wasn't sure. But he was finally starting to have fun, and he wouldn't let anything else ruin that. But as soon as the arrival entered the room, he went to answer the doorbell. Everyone else appeared occupied, so Lan turned to his PET. He briefly opened the chatroom just to check in -- nope, not engaging with that -- only to close it right afterwards. HeatMan was about to say something when they heard a new voice from the front door. Lan didn't look up. He recognized this voice. His body froze, and his breathing stopped. No. It couldn't be. Next thing he knew, he was face-down against the Clue board, tears streaming down his face.

Oh fuck! Netto doesn't even think about the fact there's a Haruka here, he immediately jumps into action. Maybe he makes the wrong move, but clearly this kid CANNOT be in the same room. He dodges disrupting the clue board anymore in favor of helping "ko" up, quickly dragging him and his PET into the same, now empty kitchen. "Hey- hey," He whispers, grabbing a paper towel off the counter to offer to the younger Lan to dab away his tears. "Hey, it's okay. What's the matter, kid?" His voice is so soft and gentle, but it does swell with some concern. Those tears are so, so hard to see. Netto stays eye-level with the younger mirror. "Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want to go home?"

All of it happens too fast for Lan to process, but- suddenly there's a guest at the door, and the younger Lan is being rushed out of the room in tears, and her mom is there and what? What is going on- The reflection of Haruka had only noticed her and the Lan in the hoodie, it seemed - the other two had acted too quickly for her to notice. But that put her on the spot - and if just seeing his mother was enough to send him into tears, it was probably best to play the distraction game, keeping her away from such a fragile mirror. "U-um! Hi," Lan greeted on reflex. She had plenty of experience with placating her mother, so... taking charge, for lack of a better term, was familiar territory for her. "Hi, um, yeah, I... I'm helping test, uh. This thing. That other-me is working on." Rock scoffed at the hesistance, but it was better than letting everything go to shit. She knew Lan and her mother got along well enough, but things weren't always as good as they were. This Haruka seemed... a little less worn down, and she'd certainly never drop in on a party like this. She was too busy for that.

The tears continued to fall like a heavy rain, never letting up regardless of what happened around him. He accepted the paper towel, but couldn't bring himself to actually wipe his face. Instead, the paper towel ended up as a matted ball in his hand, torn and crumbled absentmindedly, a victim of Lan's suffering. The older Netto wasn't the only one trying to placate him. HeatMan was there as well, and this was clearly not his first time dealing with such a situation. He spoke up, clearly and softly. "Lan, it'll be okay. She's not here to hurt you. Is it okay if I explain everything to our friend here so he can help you out?" Though Lan was not in the condition to speak, he nodded. "Alright, um, it's kinda a lot," HeatMan said, turning his attention to the other Netto. "Our world is... destroyed. Someone named Dr. Regal has-- well, to put it simply, he's turned everyone evil except for us and our friends. Lan here in particular got it real bad. His dad and brother both work for Regal, and they both seem to like hurting him a whole lot. We haven't been able to find his mom yet, but..." HeatMan lowered his voice, so that his operator couldn't hear. "She didn't survive. She's either dead or she's one of them. And I don't know which would kill Lan more." Lan sniffed, and used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. More quickly replaced them. "I'm sorry," he muttered in between sobs. "It's-- I know she's not my mom but--"

Netto felt his heart strain with each new tidbit of information. It was one thing to learn about the other Netto, with all his partners, and another to learn about this poor child. Both he and Rockman shared this sentiment- there was a very good chance the world that Lan was going through was infinitely harder than what they had been through. And they had been through a lot. Netto grabbed more paper towels, offering them up. Even if he just crushed them, at least it was something to keep his hands busy. "Hey, it's okay. No sorries needed." Netto wasn't sure if this kid wanted to be touched, after being shoved into this kitchen, but he also really looked like he could use a hug. God, even the thought of a Haruka that wasn't his own turning to rot over Regal made him feel sick, and suddenly homesick. He felt privileged to have a mom he could call. Grateful for a dad who was not batshit insane. (Rockman could not stop thinking about his dad and brother both work for Regal, and there is a future he sees in his mind where this was the case, and then this all happened anyway. To Rockman, the life they live is an inevitability, and he aches for the fact that this is not the only future that Lan will fight through. One day, Lan will become just like this, and one day his brother will be doomed to the life of Cain.) (Rockman isn't sure what hurts more; the sting of fatalism, or the truth that they would one day be saved.) "There's no amount of sorries that I can say that'll fix the kind of pain you're in," Netto says, with a soft and practiced sort of gentleness. "But you should know that, given what you're going through, it's only natural to be upset." He understood the importance of that amulet, now. It was the only thing tying Lan's mind to reality, and his only tether to the future, no matter how rough it may have been. "You can let it out, kid. I'll listen. I know how much of a bastard Regal can be, first-hand."

Netto was upright as soon as he registered what he was hearing, but the taller Netto was out the door with the youngest before he could react further. Then his Mama was in the room, as unflappable as ever, and he knew exactly what his role here would be: pretending that nothing was wrong. He’d had to do that an awful lot, over the years, though never to keep someone away from dinner. “Aw, don’t be afraid! I’m just another version of your Mama,” Haruka explained to Netto-chan. “It’s so much fun to meet another one of you!” As his Mama cooed over them, Netto focused on what he could hear from the kitchen. Just murmurs and echoes, even with the implants stuffed behind his ears. But he did hear that the youngest Netto’s world was destroyed. And that, for all his bravado in the chatroom, he was still enough of an innocent to cry. One of the sobs was a bit louder, loud enough for regular speakers and ears to pick up on. Netto was careful not to react. “Rockman?” he heard Mama ask over his head. Of course he would see no reason to hide the younger Netto and his situation from someone who would love and listen to him as unconditionally as if he were her own son; just like he hadn’t understood why Netto had wanted to stay away from his family. “He must be hearing the fridge, or something,” Netto said, quietly but insistently. “There’s no one else here.” “Look, she’s even got ‘er own me,” Punk diverted. Thank goodness, someone wasn’t totally naive. “She’s a girl, too! Her name’s Rock,” Rockman added. At least he was getting better at putting on an act, even if it took him a second. Meiru and Enzan exchanged glances; one of them ought to slip away. “Meiru-chan, Enzan-kun, Nettos, let’s eat!” cheered Haruka. "You can introduce your Navi to me over dinner." (edited)

Afraid. Lan wasn't really afraid so much as hesitant - she'd probably be the same way to most people, though this being her own mother made her resolve twitch ever so slightly. The lack of reaction from her mirror told her that this would be the game they'd have to play, and soon she was swept up in the lie, too, even as she just barely heard those sobs and felt her heart sting. A conversation about herself was a sufficient distraction, as much as she loathed to admit it. "U-um. Yeah, it's... weird, but kinda cool," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. That was mostly the truth - she was definitely benefitting from this not being her first experience with another self. If this was, she'd probably be shriveling up like a raisin right about now. Rock smirked at Punk's comment. "Yup. I was worried I'd be feelin' left out, but I guess I've got other-mes, too," she said. "And it's your lucky day, because I love talking about myself." "Ah- yeah, just... let's be polite," Lan stammered. She hoped Rock wouldn't say too much, both to spare herself the embarassment and not trip over any conversational landmines. "We... we can have dinner. Yeah."

Lan actually used the paper towels to dry his eyes this time. He was still sobbing, but it was beginning to slow down, and he could speak now. "I... shouldn't have shown up," he said quietly. "I wanted to see if the people in the chatroom were actually normal, or if it was all an elaborate trick. I don't meet people who are nice that often outside of my friends..." He held his face in his hands. "Sorry for ruining the fun. I didn't expect to see my mom walk in, a-and I thought... I thought I would handle seeing her better. But now I don't know." "You're doing the best you can, Lan," said HeatMan. "Like he said, it's okay to be upset. You can't help that." Lan didn't respond, allowing himself a bit more catharsis with the tears. After a few more seconds of crying, he looked up. "You, um... you've dealt with Dr. Regal before? Did he... do something like this to you too?"

"Sleepovers are a lot of things, and fun is one of them-" Netto made sure he had a steady supply of tissues- "but sometimes they're also about being vulnerable. You didn't ruin anything, I won't hear any more of that." Netto gave him a soft, sympathetic smile. He was trying to be encouraging, to help him feel more comfortable. He'd spent plenty of sleepovers in his teenage years crying to his friends, and his friends crying back- this felt no different to him. (Well, sure, it was really bad what Lan was going through, much worse than what he'd been through and more than enough to make anyone cry at a sleepover full of people doing marginally better than you, but, still.) "Listen- I can't tell you if showing up here was good for you or not. But what I do know is, I'm glad you're here. I'm lucky to get to know so many versions of me, you know? Fresh perspectives." (Even if one of them was definitely plotting to kill him in his sleep.) "I have dealt with Regal, yeah." Netto sighed, softly. "He really- he hurt my best friends, and my navi." (They'd said brother before, but Netto knew better than to assume; Saito could have very well lived in this world and HeatMan was just, somehow Lan's navi.) "He...definitely rocked my world, I suppose. But- we're making it through. My friends are going to get married soon. And I get to spend a lot of time with my navi, now. Things get better, even when they're so bleak."

“It’s nice to meet you, Rock!” Haruka smiled. “Thank you for looking after Netto. Your version of me must be glad to know that you’re looking after her, too.” (No Rockman. Several suspicions arise, each quickly dismissed, her smile never wavering. It’s rude to assume.) Punk seemed to recognize the way it was phrased rather fondly. “I can’t believe you guys guessed what was going on just from that,” Meiru sighed, using one of the two serving spoons resting in the curry to help herself to it. “You know what they say—two heads are better than one!” giggled Haruka. “And this is good, isn’t it? You can have more of these together a lot faster, with your Papa’s resources.” The Fossa Tracker was squarely back to its normal, no-new-portals idling. “It’s always so cute when things are in round cases like this.” “It’s for keeping track of visitors from other dimensions,” Enzan explained. “Like Netto here.” He indicated Netto-chan. “Ah, just to make sure nobody’s confused! That certainly is useful.” For his part, the Netto from this universe had already made up a plateful of curry and was quietly but steadily making his way through it. There was something intangibly different about it from any other, something that might have been market-fresh vegetables or a homemade spice blend and might simply have been love.

"You bet she is. Ms. Hikari's a busy woman," Rock boasted, puffing her fist to her chest with an overconfident look on her face. "So it falls on me to look after the kid. She's been through a lot, y'know." Lan's face immediately went red with embarrassment. It took her a moment to defend herself, given that food was still in her mouth. "H-hey," she stammered the moment she swallowed. "I can look after myself! But- uh, it's better to have a Navi." She gazed back at Haruka and Chaud. Better to keep the conversation topic as innocent as possible. Don't mention Triese. "Uh. Yeah, it's helpful," she continued in response to Haruka, averting her eyes. "If someone, uh... gets lost, or trapped in a place they shouldn't be, then it should be... faster to find them. And other stuff, too." (It was relevant enough, she supposed. It would have probably assisted Megaman back when he was with her. But still - don't mention Triese. Don't mention the danger, don't make her fret over you.)

"That's... that's good to hear. I'm glad you're all doing okay now." Lan sighed, his tears slowing to a stop. He had been so focused on how all these other Lans also had miserable lives, he hadn't stopped to think about the aspects that were going well. That was the difference between them, wasn't it? Despite the pain and suffering, good things happened to all the others. Perhaps, one day, they would happen to him as well. "Thanks for helping me," Lan said. His hands played with the rest of the paper towels, twirling them into a long, thick strip. "I think... I'd like to have some fun before I leave. Or at least try to. I don't get to leave my apartment that often, and when I do it's for something dangerous..." Truthfully, he still wasn't feeling better. There was very little anyone could do about that at this point. Like every other time, all he could do was push on and pretend to that things had improved.

"We can try to have some fun," Netto offered with a smile. "It might not make you feel completely better, but I still think it's worth it. Any time spent out of the fire is good for you." He could definitely tell that he was still upset. Rockman would do the same thing, trying to put on a brave face in the wake of his bad memories and bad feelings. But he could meet this Lan in the same way he tried to meet Rockman- in the middle, carefully, gently. "Though, I imagine you probably don't want to go back out there? If she's there." That meant Netto had to find something fun for them to do here...He could always show Lan games on his PET. He was a Tractor Valley expert.

“Oh, how impressive!" A bit bashfully, Haruka told Netto-chan, "I can’t say I’m busy with anything outside the usual, per se. Your Mama must have a lot of spirit!” “The moment a Fossa Ambience opens up within a mile of this thing, you’ll know,” Netto confirmed to his counterpart. “We can isolate repeat signatures within the readouts, too. But with any luck, we won’t have many of those.” With the Fossa Tracker working, of course, Netto would be prepared either way—but it was still worrying what might happen in other worlds. Enzan, with nothing useful to add, merely sighed. ‘With any luck’ never seemed to get them very far. “What’re you thinking, Enzan-kun?” Haruka asked lightly. “Oh, I’ve got nothing to do with this chatroom situation,” Enzan deflected. “I don’t really participate in social media-type apps to begin with." With the group in the living room appearing to be nicely situated, Meiru got to her feet, just so happening to have made up a pair of plates to balance over her own. “I just wanna go check in on something in the kitchen!” she told them before making her way to the doorway Netto-san and Netto-ko were hiding behind.

"Y-yeah," was all Lan could really muster to the other Haruka. Spirit wasn't really a word she'd apply to her mother - it was more of a dogged determination at best, and exhaustion at worst. The Fossa Tracker's stability was reassuring to her, though it wouldn't help detect things in her world; she had half a mind to ask for a copy for herself, just for peace of mind, but that didn't feel like a very appropriate dinner topic to her. (Plus, a request like that'd just raise suspicion, anyway.) Lan blinked. "Um. I'm... not much of a chatroom person, either," she continued, responding to the older mirror of Chaud. "I- wasn't really interested. But I... uh, sort of got dragged into it. And I might as well stay, now. There's nice people." As was typical of her, she was setting new records of lying by omission. "Awful people, too," Rock added, in a joking tone. Lan glared at her PET, silently chastising her Navi for bringing up something she was avoiding. But- she needed the information. As long as people like Regal still existed, she couldn't let the chatroom slip under her radar.

Lan thought the offer over for a moment. Despite still being upset, he felt as if he could try confronting his mom. At least, he desperately hoped he could. After dealing with evil versions of the rest of his family, surely it would be easier to handle meeting someone who wasn't out to kill him or destroy his mental fortitude. But at this point he was so adjusted to that happening that he couldn't imagine it going any other way. As much as he wanted to go back out there, maybe it wasn't the smartest choice. And then another person walked in, and Lan's heart skipped a beat. That older Meiru from earlier. Admittedly, not someone he was looking forward to talking to. It was the same situation as his mother -- a kind face of someone who would break his heart back in his world. At least in this case, she was older and visibly different, so the impact wasn't as bad. The complex emotions filling his heart still managed to paralyze him, though. He tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Great, he couldn't even pretend like nothing was wrong. She even brought food! His favorite food! At this point he felt rude. And hungry. Once again, HeatMan came to the rescue. "Hey there! You uh... chose a bad time to come in, I think. But that's okay! Old Netto here has been doing a great job keepin' things under control."

Of course Haruka noticed Netto-chan’s reaction; prodding too deeply wasn’t her style, though. A simple “Hmm?” was her only response. “You’re getting one too, of course,” Netto said, noticing the look on Netto-chan’s face. “On second though, I’m guessing I should send you three of ‘em. We do like to travel in threes.” “Er, I think Netto-kun’s assuming you also have two close friends to share them with,” Rockman clarified. Enzan raised an eyebrow at the claim of ‘nice people’. He wasn’t going to open that can of worms until Haruka was on her way. “I don’t think you know how to post, anyway,” Netto sighed. “Of course I don’t,” Enzan said, calmly refusing to be baited. “I had people to do that for me.” ❤️❤️ The girl who knew that the best of anyone there was in the other room, setting the uneaten plates of curry on the countertop so only hers was in her hand. Meiru cringed at the non-response from the youngest Netto, and Heatman's explanation didn't help. “It’s ‘cause I punched your dad in the face, isn’t it,” she mumbled, slumping sideways in the face of a unsalvageable situation. She couldn’t even say she was sorry, because that would still be a lie. He’d started it, and so he had deserved it. She straightened, recomposing herself. “I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay. I don’t have to stay long.” (edited)

Netto cringed at how strong Meiru was coming on. Lan was way too young to be managing the emotion of someone who was arguably an adult, let alone after- well, everything. He waved his hands and tried to play it off, straightening up at the sight of her. "No, we got everything smoothed over, don't sweat it." He rushed to say. "Just needed a minute to breathe, that's all. It's good to see you're alright, after everything." And dating a man, somehow. Netto did not elect to have this conversation a second time. He offered his hand to Lan to hold, if he wanted to. "We weren't sure about heading back out yet. How long to you think M- Haruka is going to stay?"

Lan visibly relaxed upon the affirmation that she'd get a Tracker of her own - and was a little embarrassed at having the size of her friend group pinned. "Oh. Yeah. Thanks," she spat out, shuffling around in her seat. "Y-yeah. Three would be nice." "You hit the nail on the head," Rock commented. "It's in the nature of weirdos like Lan to cluster around each other." She paused. "Like, the good kind of weirdo. Not the bad kind." The elaboration did not save her from another glare from Lan, who knew just as well that her Navi was also one of those said weirdos. Rock resisted the urge to blow a raspberry at the dinner table (not that there was any risk of saliva popping out of the PET, anyway). Then, she blinked; a certain set of words finally settled in. "...You had people post for you??"

Just like that, Lan snapped out of his paralysis, and all the words came pouring out. "N-No, it's not that at all! I know you were doing the right thing! You don't have to leave, I'm not upset with you. I'm not upset with anyone, really, it's just- I guess I'm a little nervous. But I'm doing better now, I swear! Don't worry about me!" Rambling done, Lan let out a deep sigh, deflating. He hadn't expected so many words to come out at once. A bit embarrassed, he played with the button on his bag as he continued. "Um. You guys don't need to hide in here with me." Compared to the ramble a few seconds prior, Lan spoke much more quietly. "I- I think I'm ready to go back out there now."

Yup, definitely not staying long, judging from that look on older-Netto’s face. It was unnerving to be so out of step from the start with someone who was almost-but-not-quite a person she was so close to, to be completely unable to be honest and receive honesty in return—but, then, that was the foundational mistake of this entire sleepover. There was nothing saying either of these Nettos knew their version of her well at all. “Glad to see you’re okay, too,” she said to older-Netto, the very image of a politely cheerful party host. She wasn’t sure what niceties she could possibly say to the younger Netto; he was so obviously ill-at-ease, and he just as obviously didn’t want to tell anyone why. It was strange and sad to realize that Rockman had been wrong in his assumptions with this Netto; that providing him with a comfortable respite wouldn’t allow him to relax, that there truly was nothing that could be done to ease the pain of someone else who seemed far too young to be bearing such a weight. Meiru opened her mouth to apologize… …And then the truth came out, and Meiru was blindsided again. It had taken several more steps to get there, but if that end result wasn’t the spitting image of her own Netto! “I can see that now!” she laughed into her sleeve, kneeling next to him. “But don’t worry about a thing. Y’know, Rockman and I messed up by jumping to conclusions about all of you, too, and I really am sorry for that.” Now she was much more at ease herself, so long as she pretended it was just the two of them in the room; her tone was as gently, honestly friendly as it would’ve been with one of her own juniors. “How about we eat first? The Netto out there always feels better about things with some food in him, and it’ll give Hikari-san time to, uh, stop being all Hikari-san over Netto-chan out there, since she'll probably go when they're done eating. I feel like you’ve been through more than enough tonight without getting mom’d on.” ❤️ ❤️ (edited)

2:16 AM

“I knew it,” Netto said confidently. “You never even had a Flutter account when I was a kid.” “Y’were too stuck up to even post?” Punk marveled. Usually he would’ve kept it to himself, but Rock’s presence was bolstering his confidence that it wasn’t just him who thought this was insanely weird. “Most public figures don’t,” Enzan explained dismissively. “We had a social media specialist at IPC, Fuwanaka-san. She ran my accounts for me.” “Meiru tried to message Enzan about something she wanted to go to with him once, and Fuwanaka-san blocked her using that Enzan account,” Rockman explained gravely to Netto-chan and Rock. “She was really, really upset about it until she found out why…” “Does this mean you don’t have any access to it at all, now that you’ve left IPC?” Haruka asked, concerned. “It hasn’t updated since I left, so it’s fine,” Enzan said levelly. “I just need to keep laying low until this all dies down.” “And because you have no posting instinct whatsoever,” Netto concluded. His tone of voice seemed level enough, but the mirth was sparkling in his eyes, barely beneath the surface. “He won’t stand a chance in there, Netto-chan!”

Lan felt a little in over her head in this conversation; she remembered the Chaud she met mentioning his father’s company, but only now was that knowledge starting to feel tangible. It… kind of scared her - the idea of that many eyes being on you at such a young age. (Well, this Chaud wasn’t that “young”, but the one she knew was her age.) Worse still was the mention of something “dying down” - whatever that meant was probably something she wasn’t getting an immediate answer for. Rock, on the other hand, was even more befuddled at the idea. She couldn’t help but smirk at the comment her operator’s mirror made. “God, true,” she snorted. “If he’s too scared to post on a normal website, he’ll get eaten alive in a place unhinged as that.” “It’s not- that unhinged,” Lan insisted, half because she believed it and half to get Haruka off her case. She glanced at her mirror, now sharing in Rock’s confusion. “Does he… do anything online…?” she questioned in a hush voice, trying to imagine how deep the rabbit hole went. “I don’t understand how he could live without… I dunno, at least looking at other posts…”

Before Lan could even say anything, his stomach growled, betraying any potential words. "Now there's a suggestion!" HeatMan said cheerfully. "Lan would never turn down a meal!" "H-Hey! At least let me answer!" Lan's face burned pink. "Well... yeah. I am getting hungry. I guess we can eat first." The allure of food wasn't enough to fully distract Lan from his despair, but it did take his mind off of it a little. He was thinking less of how odd and soul-crushing the situation was, and instead taking in the delectable scent of curry. A good meal truly was the heart's biggest healer.

“I don’t think he does, no. And it’s not like he was outright separated from the outside world, he was just… famous,” Netto replied, marveling a bit himself; he’d never really stopped to consider it. “He does normal Internet-type things, of course, but nothing on social sites…” “It’s better not to carry around the things a bunch of strangers who think they know you think of you,” Enzan shrugged. “So, no, I don’t.” “But that’s the freedom of it,” Netto pointed out, smiling. “If nobody knows you, there’s no consequence to anything you say.” Which… they didn’t have in the chatroom, either, because if they did he wouldn’t have needed to make the Fossa Trackers. “If nobody knows your name or location, you mean.” Netto slumped against Enzan’s side, defeated but not wanting to elaborate in front of Mama. His first impression of the chatroom had been more carefree. But now using it reminded him more of navigating the Citadel, since he had to be so guarded unless he was trying to redirect attention away from someone even more powerless than he was. If he hadn’t needed to monitor it, he doubted he would ever look in on it at all. “But if nobody had used the chatroom, we wouldn’t have met Netto-chan and Rock-chan! And that would’ve been a real shame. You both are just lovely,” Haruka remarked. After a second, she realized, “If the chatroom’s Internet isn’t connected with our regular Internet, Enzan-kun, Netto and Netto-chan could show you how to post! Posting is mostly about confidence, isn’t it?” “Yeah!” agreed Netto, before turning his head to hide his giggles in Enzan’s hoodie. The concepts of teaching Enzan to post and Enzan posting were just too much. The insinuation that this was a skill issue instead of the product of a sensible decision was slowly beginning to activate the competitive lizard-brain instinct in Enzan’s mind. But he’d been a grown-ass adult at least since he was fourteen. He could ignore it. Really. Honestly.

Meiru’s curry was still warm, so probably the two plates of it she’d just made up were at the perfect temperature. She couldn’t help but smile at Netto-ko’s focus on his food; some things just didn’t change between Nettos. Or maybe, more accurately, between this one and her own. She stole a glance at the oldest Netto, wondering if she’d imagined that face he’d pulled, but he wasn’t saying much of anything. That was, she supposed, just fine for now; getting the youngest one more at ease was more important. So Meiru settled in to finish her own food, content with how things were going so long as the silence stayed companionable and the youngest Netto didn't end up facedown in his plate of curry. …And then Roll appeared in front of their small dinner group, holding… that odd Marumoko piñata she’d picked up from Internet City in preparation for tonight. It was rainbow-colored, made of strips of ‘paper’, and its expression was a bit too wild-eyed for a Marumoko. “Heatman, Rockman,” Roll eagerly called to the other two’s PETs. “Have you ever broken a piñata before?! I was looking into these sorts of games, and it’ll really feel like a party if we try it!”

Lan took the compliment in stride, though her warmth was hidden under the lingering confusion and apprehension from the rest of the conversation. The only reason... any of this happened is because Triese said too much, didn't she? But it probably wasn't right to linger on something like that. But what her (not-)mother said was true - she wouldn't have met this mirror, or any of the others that had helped Triese, without it. "Man, teaching someone how to post?" Rock commented, her expression reeling from such vivid imagery. "That'd be a riot." "It's- well, if there's ever a problem, you might want to know how," Lan added nervously - she was back to shrinking in her seat. "But it's up to you. I guess." Rock could tell that Lan was getting into one of those moods - that kind of mood that screamed, "okay, I'm done with this conversation". No wonder - not only were they hiding plenty of details, but the idea of grilling this so-called famous person without the supervision of an adult was too funny to her - she could only hope that was on Lan's mind, too.

Netto relented- whether or not he was successful in supporting the younger Lan, he could only hope. (And he really did. Tears like that were really, really damn hard to see. And if he was going to be half of the cause of all this drama, then the least he could do is be useful and help.) He strayed a bit back and waved the others along, just watching as they partook in food. He wasn't hungry. The pain medication he'd been taking was really shooting his appetite. Rockman piped up when he was called for, though. He blinked at Roll- a navi he'd also not seen in a long time- his own little hologram spying at her. "We're going to break a pinata...?" Netto shot him a look. If I have to survive this, so do you. Rock huffed. "Is- is there a computer to...log into?"

Lan scarfed the curry down ferociously, as if he hadn't eaten in days. After a night of almost constant crying and emotional strain, he was in desperate need of energy. That, and it gave him a chance to get his mind cleared. If he closed his eyes and focused on the taste and texture of the curry, he could pretend that he was back home, eating his mom's cooking after a boring day at school. Perhaps this was the closest he would ever get to his old life. Lan wasn't paying attention to anything else around him, but HeatMan was, and he was surprised to see Roll pull out the pinata. This entire time he had assumed it was a party solely for the operators, and had resigned himself to the role of Lan's much-needed emotional support. But it appeared that the hosts had other plans. He looked to Lan, checking on him once more. Luckily, he seemed too focused on eating to be upset -- at least for now. HeatMan shrugged, and figured that he might as well whack a Moloko around a little bit. "Sure, I wouldn't mind partying a little!" HeatMan grinned. "But I agree with Rockman, you're gonna have to show us a computer. I can't do that hologram thing that you can."

And just as Netto-chan was beginning to fade out, with almost supernaturally excellent timing, Haruka finished her plate. “You kids make sure to call me if you need anything, okay? Make sure to put the leftovers away once it’s cooled!” She ruffled Netto-chan’s hair, open to a hug if she wanted one. “Take good care of Enzan-kun for me! Show him everything there is to know about posting!” (Within seconds, Enzan was sporting one of those ears-and-all blushes again.) “Netto, do you want anything else from home?” Haruka next asked her own Netto, pulling him into a hug. “Toiletries, bandages? Your old sleeping bag’s probably too small, but Papa has one he never uses…” “No—um, well, maybe the scar cream,” Netto decided. “And, uh, a toothbrush and stuff.” “Even if you just set it by the front door, it’ll be fine,” Rockman explained to Haruka. “We’ll check outside in a little bit.” “I’ll bring over breakfast in the morning, too!” Haruka decided. “With everyone’s favorites!” “Thanks, Hikari-san,” Enzan faintly managed. And with that, Haruka was out the door for the evening. “I’ll give th’ kitchen team th’ all-clear,” Punk said… …and materialized in on Roll and that… weird-ass piñata. With no enthusiasm, he told them, “Netto’s ma’s gone. Y’all can, uh, do that on th’ big screen in th’ livin’ room. I guess.” “Oh, honestly!” sighed Roll. “At least Heatman’s being a good sport.” “The coast is clear, so we may as well head back out when we’re ready,” Meiru decided. “But only when we’re all ready, so take your time.” She wasn’t completely sure if mini-Netto could hear her over the obvious need for curry. (And tall-Netto wasn’t eating… at all? Something was wrong. It was pretty concerning, whether she knew this Netto or not.)

It was an... odd feeling to have her mother ruffle her around like that, and the resulting hug she gave was very... hesitant. But it wasn't bad - the comfort was familiar enough that she was able to sink into it ever so slightly. That kind of physical love was... scarce, for her. For too long. It didn't take long before the group was scurried back to the living room - and while Lan wasn't happy to see the mirror from the rescue mission's return, she was able to suck it up. The atmosphere of the party was more tolerable now that she was settled in - at least she had one... friend (?) here, and Rock was certainly making herself comfortable as well. She was a little incredulous at the sight of the Moloko piñata as soon as Lan jacked her in - it was so stupid-looking, but she was pretty sure that a piñata was made to be smashed. And that was good enough in her book. Rock decided to hang back and let the others hit the pinata for now - she was already planning how she'd show them up later. Once she had found a corner sufficient enough to stake out from, she sat down and crossed her arms. "You all go first," she said out loud, putting her plan in motion. "I gotta evaluate the competition." Lan raised an eyebrow, but chose to say nothing. Of course Rock was taking a childish-looking party novelty as a challenge.

With food in his system, Lan had calmed down significantly. The depression in his heart was now at a sufficiently ignorable level, provided nothing else set him off. He walked gingerly back into the living room, and looked around. Okay, it looked safe. ("Safe".) No surprise visitors. Satisfied with this conclusion, he sat down on the floor in the corner of the room, where he could see the screen. Even if he was sure no one was there to hurt him, he still didn't feel comfortable getting too close. The fewer chances of getting hurt again, the better. From this spot, Lan wirelessly jacked HeatMan in. Unlike his operator, the navi was peppy and sociable, standing close to the other navis. Maybe this could help Lan feel more at ease among everyone else. He inspected the pinata, taking note of its oddities, then looked at the other navis. Was it reassuring that not all of them were MegaMan? Or the opposite? He wasn't sure, but he could think about that later. For now, he was going to have fun in Lan's stead. "You seem like you're dedicated to winning," HeatMan said to Rock, extending a wave to her. "I think you have some tough competition!"

Apprehensively, Rockman also logged into the screen. Did he really have to be visible in front of everyone...? And how often did they really go logging into other worlds Nets, and- There was that nausea, again. He forced it down as he gave Rock a small, friendly wave. He forced himself to look over at the others- he regretted it instantly. There was another him, close to Roll of all people. He felt so...nervous. They could tell he was weird, couldn't they. They could totally tell he was fucked up and nervous and weird. "I don't know if it's fair if I go first," Rockman says, trying to play it off. "I'll- I'll watch." Best not embarrass himself.

“Okay,” Roll announced. In the Sakurai house network, resplendent in pinks and piano motifs, she had set the piñata up for its imminent destruction. “So the way this works is, everyone lines up. We put a blindfold on the Navi whose turn it is and spin ‘em around, and then they try to hit the piñata with this stick!” She produced it out of the network’s inventory, much like the furniture carefully placed to decorate the space had been; a rather simply-rendered cylinder appeared in Roll’s hands in a flurry of incoming data. Of course, for Navis of Roll and Rockman’s caliber, ‘dizziness’ and even the loss of vision was not as big of a problem as it would be for a similarly-sized human. It was obvious from what little Rockman had gleaned while everyone returned to the living room and the Navis touched down in the house network that the real goal was to make as big of a show of it as possible. Distracting an upset human and making her smile was Roll’s expertise; or, at least, distracting Meiru when she’d been younger had been. Rockman could see just as easily that the usual culprit (plus one new face that he nonetheless already considered Punk’s counterpart, and thus also the usual culprit) was about to throw the game, and made a beeline to Rock and Punk’s corner. “The point is to put on an act for Netto-ko—er, the youngest Netto, with the bandages,” Rockman explained, hopefully quietly enough for Netto-ko himself not to hear. “We’ll whiff at it the first go around, and then we can actually start landing hits on it. Just like Roll-chan’s gonna do.” (edited)

3:08 AM

(Heatman seemed to actually understand why they were there, and the other Rockman was another Rockman, so he assumed he didn’t need to give them the same explanation.) “So it’s not really a game,” Punk muttered. He’d retreated to the corner simply to stay out of the way, but he was content to scope out the group with Rock as if he was actually planning to get into it. “No, doing this is definitely a game in itself. You’ll see!” And with that, Rockman rejoined Roll at the front of the group, next to the piñata. Roll handed him the cylinder, then blindfolded herself. "Okay, now I spin around a few times!” She did one turn, two— “You’re still spotting your turns,” Rockman whispered to Roll. “Oh, oops,” Roll murmured back. She finished spinning, then reached a hand out to Rockman holding the pole… with a bit too much accuracy for what she was about to do. “And now I try to swing at it!” Roll twirled and leapt around the network, weaving and ‘stumbling’ cartoonishly but never actually losing her balance. It was a bit like watching a silent film. When she returned to the front of the piñata, she wound up exaggeratedly, then swung underneath it, fully spinning round from the momentum of her swing. Roll removed the blindfold from her eyes, then giggled sheepishly. “Whoops, I missed!” (edited)

Rock blinked, taking a solid few seconds to process her newfound orders. "Oh, oohhh. I see," she eventually said, her expression shifting as the change of plan settled in. She could still show off- she'd just have to do it a different way. That kid looks like they need some entertainment, anyways, she thought. She just had to ensure she didn't make a total fool out of herself. The example Roll set was useful enough. A little too cutesy for her tastes, but enough for her to mentally complete her choreography. She snatched the blindfold and the bat from Roll - a bat wasn't really her style, but she'd deal - and aligned herself with the piñata before putting said blindfold on. "Alright. Check this combo out!" she exclaimed, flashing a sly grin in the direction she guessed the other Lan would be looking. Bizarrely, she threw the cylinder straight into the air as she brandished her sawblades. With an exaggerated motion, she threw both of the sawblades towards the ground, letting them roll towards the piñata. On approach, they circled around it, their blades digging into the ground and leaving a burning trail in the ground. Said trails began to spew sparks, some of them leaping and bouncing off the piñata to little effect. The saws then reeled back, spiraling towards Rock's initial position - only for her to leap into the air and catch the bat as it fell. Her jump, of course, gained some extra flourishes from the unnecessary spinning that she was doing. The duo of sawblades closed in and rolled along the ground next to each other as their blades retracted - and it became increasingly clear that Rock had timed their pathing out, the blades approaching her as she fell. She then landed on the rolling blades as they passed underneath her, pushing herself away and launching herself forward into a slightly clumsy-looking frantic run for the piñata. Rock grasped the cylinder tightly, over-dramatically winding up her swing... only to drift to the right and run straight past the piñata, swinging the bat a second too late in empty air. When the lack of contact finally settled in, she sighed a little too loudly, throwing off the blindfold and side-eyeing the piñata. "Damn. Missed," she said, trying so hard to play off her trick as cooly as possible. "Oh, well. Better luck next time."

HeatMan smiled. Everyone was working so hard to cheer up his operator, it warmed his already burning heart. It had been so long since he last saw a group of strangers help someone for no benefit of their own. Lan may not have been having a great time, but HeatMan really hoped that he would continue talking to these people after the party. It would be good for him. Ah, it was his turn. Everyone else was putting on a show of missing, he figured he would do the same. He took the blindfold and bat from Rock, then stepped up to the piñata. As he tied the blindfold over his eyes, he planned out how he was going to show off. Entertainment wasn't his area of expertise, but he would try anything to make Lan happy. Making sure that no one else was standing nearby, HeatMan began spinning. A flurry of flames enveloped him as he did so, expanding into a tornado of fire the longer he spun. After a few turns, he stopped, lunged in the opposite direction of the piñata, and swung. "Aw man, I missed," he said slyly as he removed the blindfold. "Um, HeatMan," said Lan, "you might want to look again." HeatMan snapped hid attention back to the piñata, which was now caught in a burning blaze. "Oh, shit!" He ran to the piñata in a panic. Everyone was trying to so hard to make Lan happy, and he ruined it! A few of them hadn't even gotten turns yet! As much as he wished he could do something to fix the problem, a fire navi was built to create fires, not extinguish them. Within a few seconds, the piñata exploded into digital confetti, leaving a pile of candy-looking data on the floor. With a sigh, HeatMan turned to Lan. He really couldn't believe that he ruined this whole gambit for him. But when he looked over, Lan was laughing. "Good job!" Lan cheered. "That looked fun!"

Rockman jolted at the flames, instinctively stepping back a bit from HeatMan's fury. When he looked again, he balked at the pinata in flames. Well that solved the issue of not really wanting to hit the thing in front of everyone. And hey, they succeeded in making the youngest laugh. Rockman tentatively stepped forward and held out a water-shooter (a program he'd had for a really long time), putting out the little bits of flaming confetti. "Well, congrats, HeatMan," Rock said a little sheepishly. "You got it."

Roll was taken aback by how quickly the piñata went up in flames, scurrying about to make sure her carefully-curated collection of furniture didn’t join it. But she realized afterward that even though their piñata time had been cut short, they’d succeeded anyway—Netto-ko was so happy out there. “…There’s something left over,” Rockman realized next to her. The candy data clearly had not been intended to be set on fire; it was flickering, almost ominously. “How strange. It’s just one object.” “It looks like it’s a container program,” Roll realized as both she and Rockman moved closer to investigate. “Hmm…” Rockman prodded at the container with his hands. “It looks like it was supposed to use a Battlechip, but it's too damaged,” he said, then produced a twinkling diamond of data from within. “A Tsunami that leaves behind a sticky residue… ’SugarTsunami’?” Roll blinked down at it, surprised, then turned back to the other Navis. “It's a prize, just like a real piñata! Who wants a copy?” she announced brightly. In the living room, Netto, Meiru, and Enzan glanced at one another. “Roll, where did you say you bought this?” Enzan asked skeptically. “That's kinda cool," Netto said, smiling. “I guess you don’t have to care anymore if it’s a hack," Meiru told Enzan, shrugging. “Anyway, you guys were amazing!” she told the Navis, beaming. “Nice one!”

The piñata's incineration happened way too quickly for Rock to react - and then it was over, leaving nothing but dust and a chip. That lighter Navi just went in and blew the whole game up- and she didn't even get to dent the piñata. She was totally robbed of her victory! What the hell?! "Tch," she scoffed, retreating to her corner and whirling her sawblade cuffs. She didn't want to admit her annoyance out loud. But she was annoyed, and was doing a terrible job of hiding it. Lan, meanwhile, was surveying the chaos from the living room TV, seated comfortably on the floor. "It's... a chip?" she mumbled out loud. "Oh, it's like Mud Wave...? Uh. Sure?" It felt odd to be accepting random gifts, but it seemed innocent enough. Hopefully it wouldn't set her couch on fire if she brought it back home.

"Thanks, Rockman!" HeatMan grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Though I, uh, didn't do it on purpose." Admittedly, he was a bit embarrassed. He really wanted to play along with their game for a little longer. The feeling was frivolous, however; it all worked out, and nobody was upset over what happened. ...Nobody except the navi with the sawblades, that was. She seemed pretty bothered. HeatMan made his way over to the corner, attempting conversation with Rock once more. "Hey, sorry 'bout stealin' your win. If it helps, I thought your trick looked really cool." Lan saw a unique chip and instantly perked up. "Hey, I want one!" he shouted from across the room. His navi won the piñata game, and he got a fun chip out of it? The party was finally starting to look up.

At least it felt like the peace was mostly kept. Rockman glanced a bit worriedly at Rock- truthfully, how was he supposed to know whether or not she was 3 steps away from blowing up?- but he tried to focus on the positives. The little Lan was happy. ...that was all he got. He didn't like seeing the other Rockman, he was a bit afraid of Rock, and well- Roll and Heatman were just Roll and Heatman. He shuffled back after most of the fire was out, and tried to stay out of the larger group. Really, he wanted to go back to his PET- but Netto was eyeing him, and he knew that meant you better go have fun or else.

Roll was quite pleased by the responses she was getting, both the muted-but-positive one from Netto-chan and the exuberant one from Netto-ko. She copied the data over four times, one for each Netto. First, one for Rock. “Those were some really cool moves!” Roll complimented her, handing over the SugarTsunami chip data. “Thanks for helping us out!” Roll then moved to Punk, standing nearby. “And I’m giving you and Rockman one, too! For intending to participate." “I never said I was intendin’ t’ do anything,” Punk said flatly. Roll’s eyes narrowed; sometimes, it was a little too easy to remember that they’d been enemies not even half a year ago. “I’ll just give it to Rockman, then,” she told him. Then, she moved on to the next closest Navi, handing him the next copy of the chip data. “Heatman, this is for you and your Netto! I’m so happy you two are having fun!” “I think Punk’s just being trouble to be trouble,” Rockman explained to Roll when she reached him. “At least he didn’t stick his nose up at it while we were doing it. And that was super helpful, too,” Roll considered as she handed Rockman his copy of SugarTsunami. “And that leaves…” She looked over at the taller Rockman, far away from the group. “Maybe there’s someone else we need to help settle in…” xoxo In the human world, with the Battlechips distributed and the piñata burnt away, Meiru found the party once again between things to do. “Now what?” wondered Netto. “You could all watch a movie, or something,” Enzan pointed out. “I think I’ve done more than enough crashing of this party, considering it's for Nettos and not Enzans. See you tomorrow.” “Nooooo!” protested Meiru and Netto in unison as Enzan got to his feet. “What if Blues wants to party, too?” Netto quickly cast out, then recoiled back as he realized how ridiculous that sounded. Enzan merely raised an eyebrow at him.

Rock beamed at being complimented. At least she snagged one victory out of all of this hoopla. "No problem. Glad you have good taste," she boasted, pressing her thumb to her chest. She happily accepted the chip data and stored it for later - though she wasn't sure if it fit her style, maybe it would, for some reason, come in handy one day. Lan, meanwhile, was content to slither off into a corner, much like Rock did before. A movie sounded nice right about now - her energy was a little low, and Rock had taken note of it. I guess getting owned at Clue sapped her life force. "I'd watch a movie," Lan decided to vocalize, scooching over to the nearest couch and lazily leaning against it, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "But, uh, what would we watch...?" She did not want to be the one that chose the movie, that's for sure. Rock couldn't help but laugh at the idea of Protoman joining them. She'd never met the Navi in person, but from what she had been told, he didn't exactly sound like a partygoer. She silently raised an eyebrow with a smirk on her face.

HeatMan nodded in gratitude as he accepted the chip. It seemed more like a novelty than something useful, but Lan appeared excited by it. Even with so little left, Lan was still enthusiastic to collect battlechips, and HeatMan didn't want to extinguish that flame. Lan was also a bit tired after everything that happened, but eating and watching the navis play a game had revitalized his spirit, and he wasn't ready to sleep just yet. A movie was the perfect compromise -- engaging, but not exhausting. "A movie sounds like fun," Lan said. "I don't really care what we watch, but um, maybe not something too dark." Life was already dark enough, he wanted something he could escape into for a few hours. Just like he did at home.

Netto looked on the group, electing to stay a bit quiet. More people here seemed unnerved by his presence than not, so if he could just remain mellow and not freak out about the prospect of wrangling his attention for a movie for a few hours, that would be good. Probably. He decided to camp out as far from the Lan-trying-to-kill-him-with-her-mind as he could get, sitting nearby the younger Lan he'd comforted in the kitchen. He offered him an encouraging smile. -- Blues? Man, he wished Blues came with them, now. At least he'd have someone to hang off of their arm and hide behind...Oh, he missed him. Seeing the other Roll and Rockman... He blinked and returned to himself when he noticed Roll was staring at him. He looked a little concerned, a little weirded out, and eventually shuffled forward. "The pinata was good," he said, a little lamely. "T-Thanks for that." Nope, he was so normal! He didn't need help settling, totally not. Yup. (edited)

“…We could watch Howl’s Moving Castle!” Meiru suggested first. “It’s Enzan’s favorite kids’ movie.” “Good night,” Enzan said firmly in response. (Someone better stop him! He’s going upstairs!! And taking Blues with him!!! Oh no!!!!) “We could watch… um…” It had been at least six years since Netto had last thought about a Ghibli movie. No titles were coming to mind. “We could watch Ponyo!” Meiru shouted. Netto and Enzan both turned to stare at her. “Which one is that?” Netto wondered, baffled. “I’m glad you asked,” Meiru said, far more smugly than the situation called for. To Enzan, she added, “You’re watching too, because you obviously don’t know what it is. This is important anti-Meijin-san knowledge.” “Everything is anti-Meijin-san knowledge,” Enzan pointed out. “He hasn’t referenced it around me yet, and it’s been how long?” Instead of coming up with a rebuttal, Netto grabbed Enzan by the arm and pulled him back to the couch to sit next to him, Meiru, and their Squishjellies. (Safe!) A small thing that looked like a green cartoon cat appeared in the stairwell before Enzan could even begin to harden his heart enough to disentangle himself, climbing into Enzan’s lap and promptly settling. (Even safer!) xoxo “No problem! Thank you for coming along,” Roll said cheerfully. “Did you want a copy of the chip, too?” There was nothing wrong with it, no virus or Dark Energy laced into its data. It was just a normal Tsunami with a tweaked animation and an additional status effect on top. Punk looked around at the assembled group of Navis. “Well, now what?” “I guess we could watch along,” Rockman said, “but chances are Roll’ll want to go through more of her party games. She did have an itinerary and everything.”

Lan was willing to go along with anything, so she simply nodded at the movie suggestion, made herself comfortable, and watched in amusement as Chaud was pulled onto the couch. A captive audience for whatever she was getting herself into- wait what is that cat?? "Is- is that a real cat?" Lan asked in disbelief, the moment the couchgoers were situated. It definitely did not look like a real cat- it looked like it might as well have jumped out of the TV, or the Net, or something like that. "Or- is it like, a robot? Or something?" --- "Well, I'm always down for more games," Rock continued to boast, interjecting herself into the conversation. "You didn't even get to see me break anything. I could show off for way longer." It was obvious from her expression that even with Roll's compliment, her pride was slightly wounded by not actually being able to hit the piñata. That- that was her whole thing! The sawblades are for cutting! And tearing! And really- she just didn't want to be bored. Watching Lan watch things was fine- she did that all the time- but there were a ton of other Navis here, there was no way she was just going to stand around and do nothing.

Lan returned the smile to the Netto who chose to sit next to him, though there was a hint of worry in his eyes. Wow, this guy was really insistent on being friendly to him. He had separated himself so he wouldn't have to burden others with issues, but surprisingly, they wouldn't leave him alone. Was he coming across as that upset? And then he realized, this is exactly what he did when he saw others in need. Reach out, act like a friend, be there to support them in their time of need. They really were the same person, weren't they? It was just odd being on the receiving end for once. So they were going to watch Ponyo. Lan had never seen that movie before, but if the others were excited, it must be good. Might as well get comfortable. He dug through his bag and pulled out a blanket -- brought mainly so that he would be able to sleep if he got stranded somewhere dangerous -- then wrapped himself up. It's cozy time. --- "What kinda game are you thinking of?" HeatMan asked. Now that Lan was focused on something else, HeatMan wasn't sure how to feel about playing games. He wasn't exactly a navi created for leisure. This was out of his element, but he knew it would be rude to leave. So instead, he sighed and resigned himself to it.

"Um, that's okay- I don't need one." He wasn't even sure what he'd do with that anymore. It wasn't like he was much of a netbattler anymore. He glanced at the image of Netto, sitting next to the younger one, offering him some kind of kindness- and his heart ached for a brief moment. Ugh, he was really weird. He turned to the group and shrugged non-committaly, not really keen on games per-se. Despite totally being built for this, he was in the same realm as Heatman- woefully out of his element. And he kept giving the other Rockman weird looks. Because it was weird to see the version of you that hadn't yet become you. "What's...on the itinerary, yeah. What did she have planned?"

“Oh, okay.” Roll followed Rockman’s glance from himself to her Rockman a couple of times with her own eyes, gradually piecing it together. “Ah, is this your first time meeting another you? I’ve never run into an alternate version of me, either. I get how it’d be weird!” Everyone was actually curious about the games now, though, and that was really nice to hear! Roll had given up hope of actually playing them. …And this poor Rockman was so weirded out by the situation that he addressed her as if she wasn’t right in front of him. Rather than needle him over it, Roll explained, “Well, there’s ‘never have I ever’, and ‘truth or dare’…” But those were rather sedentary games, unless someone got really creative with their dares, and both Rock and Heatman seemed to be itching for something with a lot more action. “And I found a Twister game, and we have stuff for an egg race!” After a moment, she added, “And if anyone has suggestions that sound interesting, we could play those games, too!” On the far side of the crowd, Punk pointed out, “Looks like most’a your ‘guests’ would rather do anything else, Pinky.” Roll stuck her tongue out at him. “Well, the floor’s open!” Rockman brightly cut in. “What’s everyone thinking?”

Admittedly, Rock wanted a little more excitement - but then again, she needed to keep an eye on Lan. If she was gonna sit down and watch a movie, it was her responsibility to make sure no one was bothering her. Especially with that older mirror in the room. (Plus, if they didn't do anything action-y, there'd be no chance anyone would show her up twice in one night. She couldn't afford to embarrass herself twice, not with so many people watching. Oh god, what if she sucked ass at Twister? She couldn't risk that.) "I'm down for anything," Rock stated rather aloofly, completely omitting the entire internal monologue she just had. "Even if it's something chill and talky. Gotta save some energy for keeping an eye on Lan. And looking cool."

Several options for games, yet none of them were really HeatMan's idea of a good time. Twister was out of the question, as that required more limbs than he had access to and a closer proximity to the others than he could safely handle. An egg race was theoretically possible, but again, floating is not ideal for races. That only left the games involving chatter. His team back at home was no stranger to passing the time with similar games, but Truth or Dare seemed like such a teenager game, as did Never Have I Ever. His current operator was a child, but he sure wasn't. And yet, he had no better ideas for how to pass the time, and with Lan feeling better, he didn't have an excuse to leave. Luckily, he wasn't alone in his apprehension. Most of the others looked similarly unenthusiastic to play these games, but saying that with no better options would surely break the pink navi's heart. He couldn't do that to such nice hosts after everything they did for Lan. So, with another sigh, he too agreed to the game night. "I'm also up for whatever, long as it's something I can do. It's up to you guys."

"It's not my first time," Rockman mumbled, forcing himself to stop staring at the other Rockman. Its not weird. It's horrifying. "I don't think some of us are physically capable of twister," Rockman commented quietly, joining the changed subject. He did not come to a sleepover to get singed by HeatMan, that's for sure. And he wasn't sure he felt up to something like an egg race. Geez, those two didn't seem that much younger than him, but he sure felt old in the presence of...everyone. Oh god, was he the oldest here? He didn't want to think about that one. But he did sense no one was making any decisions, so against his better judgement, he said, "truth or dare seems fine."

Rockman, toward the front of the group, looked around at the lack of enthusiasm… and the other Rockman, forcing his glance away. Was he in a similar position, with doubts and fears like the ones Rockman himself had at his lowest points, and that was why he was so visibly uncomfortable? Was he not enough to protect his family, too? Roll was a little surprised to hear the taller Rockman’s response, with how ill-at-ease he seemed. “Ah, I see.” After a moment, she added, “It’ll be okay. That other Rockman over there’s not as scary as he looks, honest!” (Rockman, of course, was small and blue, and not scary-looking in the slightest.) With that, she returned to the front of the room. Everyone seemed reluctant, but they just needed to get talking. And truth or dare would do just that. “Okay, truth or dare it is! Rock!” Roll whirled to face her, eyes gleaming. “Truth or dare!” When Rock chose to tell the truth, Roll asked, "What's the worst thing you'd do if you knew you'd get away with it?" (edited)

Rock was sure that she'd accept a dare, or two, or ten, when the bell tolled, but if she just jumped into showing off right away then it wouldn't have the impact she wanted. So a truth it was - and it was one hell of a question to start off with, as the Navis huddled around each other. She realized after the question settled in that she hadn't thought about questions like this particularly often - a consequence of only existing for around a month. As a Navi, she was just here to protect Lan - be a companion, be what a Navi was supposed to be. Rock was a bodyguard, meant to take out anything that was a threat to Lan. She needed the protection, and that alone was a valiant purpose. But she couldn't deny that there was a satisfaction to beating things into the ground - she was quite fond of virus busting, after all. "Hmm. Good question," she eventually responded, tapping her fingers. She thought on it for a second, and the couple trips she'd made to the Undernet came to mind. People that'd look at her funny, or insinuate some stupid shit about her, and it took a lot of restraint to not do anything because she had better things to do. "Think I'd murk a guy who pissed me off," Rock stated confidently. "Not anyone in particular. But if I could get away with it, yeah, I'd show 'em who they're fucking with." (Was that really how their truth or dare game was going to start...?) After Heatman gave her his answer of truth (was he looking at her weird...?), she wasted no time in figuring out what she'd pull out of her own hat. "When's the last time you were scared of something, but never wanted to admit it?!" (It'd be so easy to play his answer off, all, "psch, I would've dealt with it". Easy points. Though, she had no idea how she'd answer the same question, given she had only existed for a month.)

HeatMan paused before answering. It wasn't that he had to think of a good answer; he immediately knew what to say. There was just a moment of doubt as to whether or not he could really trust everyone here. They had proven themselves to have no ill intent, but he had learned early on to trust no one. A habit like that was difficult to break. Lan, however, had already laid his heart bare, so he might as well do the same. "Oh, I'm scared all the time!" HeatMan's tone was light and playful, even if the words themselves weren't. "Every day I wonder if we're going to survive. Y'know how hard it is to leave the house when the entire world is out to kill you? But I can't show it, if only to keep Lan's spirits up. Gotta stay hopeful, right?" Quickly, so his admission wouldn't ruin the fun, he turned to Rockman and continued the game. This wasn't the time to talk about his problems. Dare. He had to think of a dare. Asking questions was easy, but he would have to put more thought into this one. This Rockman looked a bit uncomfortable, like he wasn't having much fun. HeatMan could relate; while also wasn't eager to be playing this game, he figured he would make the best of this situation. Maybe he could brighten Rockman's day as well. "Okay, Rockman. I dare you to make everyone laugh."

Jesus Christ on the proverbial Cross. Rockman looked at Rock and HeatMan with a wide-eyed expression, completely floored by their honesty. Did they just. Not have filters? At all? Why would they Not keep that to themselves and make up some lie? Not like they were gonna find out it was a lie. (Then again, they were programs, and Rockman- well...) Then he said dare, because he also didn't want to get grilled, and now he had possibly the worst dare he could have gotten. What did he mean make everyone laugh. At what given time was Rockman even remotely good at intentional humor. He kept looking at everyone, extremely panicked, blinking a few times. He was sending a message to Netto. [YOU HAVE TO HELP ME THEY WANT ME TO TELL A JOKE I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO?????] [bet] In a few seconds, Rockman's eyes flashed, and then- he was really, really tiny. He squeaked in shock, just as confused as everyone else would be, and turned to try and shout at Netto- but to the navis, he was so small, it was too hard to hear him beyond the squeak of his higher tones. (Netto, on the other hand, muted the PET very smugly.)

Roll nodded along at Rock’s reply. Perhaps she should’ve been more discouraging of that sort of vengeance, but after the summer she’d had, she could completely understand having some people that needed to be blasted off the face of the planet for the sheer amount of things they’d done. HeatMan’s response was, despite his tone of voice, sobering to Roll. Even when their enemies had felt almost clairvoyant in their ability to move and strike undetected, nothing had ever felt as dangerous or as widespread as what he was describing. Even the Citadel was just one place, and neither Meiru nor Enzan had ever seen the Dimensional War its weapons had been developed for in person. It was quite brave of him to speak so candidly over a party game. Roll knew Netto had never breathed a word of what he’d seen to anyone apart from his Navis. Roll was busy processing all of this, next to all the other awful things that had happened to her friends, and so she hopped backward in surprise as the taller Rockman suddenly shrank in front of her like they were in an Ameroupian cartoon. “Rockman?!” She ran to kneel next to him, offering her hands as a platform if he wanted a ride. “Are you all right?!” “What happened?!” Rockman asked next to her, stunned. Punk, of course, thought it was hilarious, both the other Rockman’s obvious surprise at what was happening and his predicament. He didn’t even try to hide how hard he was guffawing. (edited)

Rock, too, was sobered by Heatman's response - he was so straightforward about it. She was just expecting for him to say he was afraid of some random virus he saw on the Net or something, not that he felt fear every day of his life. How the fuck did he live? (I guess he must be pretty hardcore, then.) Those thoughts were completely interrupted when one of the Megamans, the sad one from the rescue, shrunk on the spot. The hell happened? She wasn't paying attention, but- it was so sudden, she couldn't help but lose it. Was he that terrified of having to tell a joke, or was he just making himself into a joke? No matter what, it was really stupid. "Oh my god," she let out, practically cackling at the ridiculous sight. "Can you just do that?!"

Well, that was one way of making them laugh. HeatMan immediately recognized the press program at work, but he had to admit, it was funny-looking out of context. Surprisingly, no one else seemed to recognize it -- were their networks not set up with such inconveniences? Still, he couldn't help but regret his dare a little. He was just trying to lighten things up a little, but it was clear now that he was a bit too insensitive. Fun wasn't something that could be forced, and seeing Rockman's dejected reaction sucked a bit of life out of him. "I think he'll be alright," HeatMan said. "It's just a program. We use it all the time to fit in tight crevices on the net."

"ᶦᵗ'ˢ ᴘʀᴇss!" Rockman squeaks, using his full voice to make sure everyone can hear him. His face is pretty much entirely red, and in a few moments, he -pops!- back into full-size. He stumbles to straighten up, and huffs. "W-Well I got some of you to laugh," he says, all embarrassed. He focuses on the other Rockman now, wishing he was NOT going to have to think of a dare for this guy. "Um. Dare you to hold these ice cubes? Without your gloves on." Rockman activates an ice data and holds out a container with ice cubes. Normal.

Rockman blinks at his other self, bewildered. “You can take them off?” “Maybe there’s a Fashion Chip that’d help you…?” wondered Roll. “Netto doesn’t carry crap like that around,” Punk pointed out flatly. “Anyway, it shouldn’t really matter. Th’ intent’s t’ bring up your sensitivity levels, ain’t it?” “Okay…” It was easy enough to do on the fly; there was an internal command that adjusted things like that. Mostly for use by Chips and other outside programs that needed to cause an effect, but Rockman knew his way around his functions a bit better than most Navis in his world did. “More’an that.” Punk had no mouth, but he was clearly smirking. Wincing in anticipation, Rockman brought his sensitivity levels all the way up. “Now try it.” Even the ground felt tingly at this level. Rockman shuffled over to the proffered ice bucket and grabbed a fistful of ice in each hand. For a millisecond, it was fine. Then the sheer cold really hit him. He made a noise similar to a whistling tea kettle and scrunched his face up, but didn’t drop the ice cubes. As he hopped around, he heard Punk guffawing once again. Once the ice was melted, Rockman allowed what was left of the water to disintegrate and set his sensitivity levels back to normal. He would honestly feel a little bad asking Roll, even if she was up to it—he knew her truths, and he wouldn’t want to give her anything too bad as a dare. Punk shot him a look that said don’t you even think about it. So Rockman turned to the next best thing. “Rock! Truth or dare!” Rock chose a dare. Rockman thought for a moment, then settled on something Roll would happily do… but he wasn’t sure about Rock. He called up the audio player embedded into the area and issued his challenge. “I dare you to do a silly dance to this song!" (edited)

Rock was having a hard time grasping why in the world you would need to shrink down to cross tiny passages - fly through the air 'cuz the paths were so shit, sure, but shrinking? Small enough to get squashed by viruses? Totally ridiculous. As was this dare about melting ice cubes. She decided to go for a dare this time - no way that she'd let these jokers be the bravest people in the room when she'd show 'em up without a second thought. Rock awaited this Megaman's dare with bated breath - surely he'd seen a lot of stuff in his time, so he'd be willing to go super far, right?! Would she have to do ten backflips in a row? Ride a motorcycle through a ring of fire? Infiltrate a maximum-security business HQ-?! ... She had to dance. To that? What the FUCK????? Somehow, she hadn't expected to be asked to do something so- embarrassing. She paused for a second, coughing in lieu of a verbal response as Megaman started the music. Why the hell would she need to dance. Did she even know how to dance? -but if she didn't take on the dare, then everyone would think she was a fucking coward! She- she had to improvise, or hell would be wrought on her reputation. Holy shit, this was an absolutely demonic dare. She had to respect that, at least. The beginning of Rock's dance was slow, pained, and so, so unbelievably forced. She only had basic knowledge of what a dance was supposed to be, so she just sort of... awkwardly kicked her feet forward and swung from side to side. Her expression as she did this was completely desolate. For the next minute, Rock was dancing about as well as a middle schooler at a school dance would. The longer she kept it up, the redder her face got. It was truly a pathetic display of shimmying. The second the music stopped, she sharply inhaled. "Heatman. Truth or dare," she blurted, trying to divert attention away from herself. If she was lucky, everyone would forget what they just saw. Dare. Whatever. Man, she couldn't even secure her victory in the "has embarrassed herself the most" competition if people kept picking dares. Well, she'd just need to make this simple. "I dare you to... uhhh, I don't fuckin' know, prank call someone. You got any numbers on hand?"

Nobody backed down from their dares, as painful or demeaning as they might be. They were all surprisingly good sports, especially considering how few of them actually wanted to play this game. (On that note, HeatMan certainly couldn't imagine doing either of these dares. Rock had a miserable time, and the ice cubes surely would have melted on contact. Props to them.) Now it was his turn, and he would have to prank call someone. Easy. God, what numbers did he have on hand? All of the contacts he could think of were from Mr. Match's PET, and Lan certainly hasn't called anyone in the time they've been together. "Uh, gimme a second." He pulled up Lan's contact list and began scrolling through it. Wow, this kid had a lot of friends. The majority were people HeatMan didn't recognize, with the occasional name he knew only as an enemy. None of them were friends anymore, were they? Besides their teammates, that is. Their teammates seemed like the best option, but he couldn't call them. They were probably worried sick about Lan's disappearance, and he didn't have the time to explain everything. There was one other number he could call -- not one in Lan's contact list, but one he had stored in his PET's images just in case. HeatMan dialed the number, the other line coming through loud and clear for the others to hear through the network's audio system. "Nebula crisis line," came an annoyed voice from the other end. "Uh, yeah, I have an enemy of Nebula I'd like to report to Dr. Regal." HeatMan's voice wavered. He couldn't believe he was doing this. "Name?" "A Mr. Robin Banks." A long pause followed before the person on the other end spoke again. "Now listen here you little--" With that over, HeatMan sighed and hung up. God, that joke was bad. He was cringing just thinking about it. At least it was over, and he didn't have to do anything too challenging. "Your turn, Rockman. Truth or dare?" Truth. No problem. HeatMan still felt a little bad about earlier, so he figured he would try something easier this time around. "When's a time you did something you regretted?"

The game felt like such a whirlwind. First he had to find out that the other Rockman couldn't remove his gloves, then the dancing and the phone call-- okay, the phone call was hilarious. He did giggle at that. (Regal...) "Um...Regretted...?" Rockman sat himself down in the half-circle the group had put together. Jeez, what was with these people and their knack for being so nosy? Couldn't they have asked something that didn't make Rockman want to jump out of his skin? (Was the other Rockman just, skin, then? Was all of that his skin? What the fuck?) "I...um..." Shit! He really wanted to lie! Because there were a lot of regrets- couldn't he pick something small-time? "Um...One time there was a tournament that I told Netto he shouldn't go to, because he had a test around the same time...when he was doing his entrance stuff for the officials...and, um, I think we should have gone. Because we would have totally wiped the floor with the competition." ...That was good enough, right? He turns to the other Rockman extremely impulsively, "You can't take your gloves off? Why???" (edited)

Rockman and Roll turned to stare at one another. Finally, Punk pointed out, “It’s a frame, ain’t it? We ain’t people or anythin’.” In an undertone, he added, “They’d have’t treat us better if we were.” “We have Fashion Chips…?” Roll pointed out. “Those go over our frames, for the most part, save for the bits that’d make it look funny…” Quickly, she added, “It’s not like we’re naked or anything! It’s just… um…” “This is really weird to think about,” Rockman said nervously. Suddenly, he was a bit self-conscious of how featureless his bodysuit was. “Nonono!” Roll hurriedly cut in before Rockman could shrink back any further. “The frame is what holds our internal programs together, yes, but it’s also our first line of defense! It’s like clothing and skin at the same time!” “…Well, this sorta counts as a ‘truth’,” Punk observed as the smaller Navis flailed around for a satisfying answer.

Rock blinked, her mind grinding to about as much of a halt as the truth or dare game was for this question to be answered. She... hadn't even really thought about clothes before...? Well, she had her jacket, but she knew what a jacket was and that was how she looked and she didn't really take it off like Lan did with her clothes and... She sort of self consciously tugged on the edge of her jacket. It sure did dangle there and didn't magically come off for some absurd reason. "Hhhhhuh. I've never thought about... removing this stuff, uh..." Roll's explanation was making her head spin. "This- why are we even thinking about skin? This is fucking weird," was all she could muster as a response. Best not to dwell on it, lest she lose her mind, and slash or try to rip her jacket off to miserable results. It- was technically supposed to be her turn, right...? But... well, technically it was still Megaman's turn... or Roll's, or... ugh, but she was still feeling so slimy about that weird dance and did she even want to have an answer in the first place? She had decidedly not won either Truth or Dare, so she just sat there awkwardly, her eyes darting back and forth. "Sssooooo, are we...?" The room went cold.

Wait-- why was everyone so concerned with removing their armor all of a sudden? The thought had never once crossed HeatMan's mind. Then again, he resembled a human a lot less than the other navis here, so he had never expected to have humanlike capabilities. What would even be underneath his armor? A black void? More fire? Now that was an existential crisis in the making. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room became a lot more awkward. Were they still playing Truth or Dare? Did anyone want to continue, even? After making that phone call, he wasn't sure if he wanted to do any more dares. (Hopefully Regal wouldn't be able to figure out who made that call. That could be bad.) "Uh..." HeatMan scratched his head. "I think I'm all gamed out for now."

"No- No, it's not the point like- it's not about being naked! It's that it's not really armor if it's just- there, right? You- it's not covering anything!" Rockman was extremely focused on this. He wasn't even thinking about the truth or dare (though this was a good excuse to not be playing that terrible, awkward game). "It's not-" Rockman took off his gloves. The bodysuit stopped at his elbows, and there was clearly synthetic skin over his hands and arms- he even had nails! "What do you MEAN you can't take it off? You're humanoid!" He glanced at HeatMan. "S-Sorry. No offense."

Punk was too busy being incredibly weirded out by Taller Rockman’s disturbingly detailed hands to point out that he would’ve done a terrible job passing for human as well despite his more humanoid shape, being a half-sphere on top of a sphere with arms and legs sticking out. For that matter, Rockman and Roll were also quite taken aback by something so alien to their particular virtual world being so easily presented to them. “But, it is covering something,” Roll managed to say, though it had no feeling behind it. “Our core programs and everything else we use to function are under our frames. We’d be formless without them.” Rockman couldn’t stop staring at the fingernails. This was making his head spin. He needed to sit down. He staggered toward one of the beanbag chairs Roll had artfully arranged in the network, collapsing backward with a, "Hwaa."

Well, it was obvious enough that the truth-or-dare game had grinded to a halt in favor of whatever the hell this conversation was. Rock didn't want to think about whatever her core programming was like underneath it all- that whole idea was just straight ew to her, forcing that burning feeling in her heart to churn around like dirty laundry was being tumbled around. Watching that Megaman collapse into a beanbag chair was inordinately attractive after both this physical quandary and the embarrassment she'd suffered. So much that she decided to help herself to the same luxury. She walked over to the nearest chair and- wait, she had to make sure her spikes didn't puncture the damn thing- she carefully sat down and made herself comfortable. "So- we got any better ideas?" she asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "Talk about things that aren't skin, maybe? Things on the outside of our bodies?" She clicked her tongue, and then finally realized a subject she know she could wring out to make herself sound cool. "Oh. I know," she continued, snapping her fingers. "You guys got cool weapons? That's a decidedly not-skin thing. You all saw how cool my blades are."

They were still on this? HeatMan really couldn't care less whether other navis were capable of removing their armor or not. It was a neat feature, he guessed, but there was no practicality to it. Perhaps it was a little unnerving, but he saw worse things all the time. It really wasn't a big deal. So when Rock decided to change topics, he was relieved. Weapons were a topic much more familiar to him as a navi, and one he could actually engage in without getting glossed over as an exception. (And yeah, Rock's blades were cool.) "Does fire count as a weapon?" HeatMan asked. "I've got plenty of fire." For emphasis, he expanded his flames, showing off with a flashy fire show.

"But- your weapons are your skin, if that's..." Rockman sighed, and finally gave up on the whole 'what the fuck is wrong with you people' argument. He slipped his gloves back on, and watched HeatMan flare up. He wasn't sharing weapons. Anything he could do on his own was not for people like them to see. He looked pointedly at the other Rockman, flopped in the beanbag chair. "Yeah. What weapons do you have?" Might as well test where this one was. It wasn't mean, or leading- he did sound curious, honestly. (edited)

Rockman was honestly really glad that the other Rockman was just curious. It made it much easier to share. “Well… I just have my Rockbuster,” he explained. “I had a lot of things I could do by the time Netto-kun was almost thirteen, but… we lost them all.” He sighed. “I’ve spent a long time just helping Papa out, as his Navi, and we didn’t Netbattle at all. I don’t really know how much I can do anymore.” “He’s ridiculous with ‘is buster,” Punk pointed out, obviously not about to let Rockman get away with this self-effacing schtick. “He don’t really need much else than it t’ win against most Navis.” He was more practiced spinning his shoulderplates on his mace arm—it had been his only option for most of his life—so he morphed his left arm into a mace arm and popped off the corresponding shoulderplate to twirl. “Well, y’can see my weapons, an’ they’re also more than enough for most Navis t’ handle.” With a well-practiced movement, he tossed the shoulderplate back into position; after a moment, he changed his mace arm back into a more normal-looking arm. “I have cute weapons,” Roll explained lightly, “but I taught myself how to tell fortunes with one of them! So that’s pretty cool, maybe?” (edited)

Good answers, good answers. Rock was getting the appreciation she wanted, and a nice light show out of it. Though, that other Megaman's answer was a little... sad. She had seen what a Megaman was capable of, and it was hard to grasp the idea of him just... losing it all. Losing their purpose for multiple years, when she was just... well, maybe she shouldn't be getting this existential. Now, Punk's weapons were way more her style. The shoulderpads were a pretty neat trick - the best she could do with her own shoulders was very awkward impaling - and Punk, in general, just screamed that in-your-face punchy, speedy style that she favored. They were basically counterparts at that point. "So cool," she mumbled out loud, feeling the need to show off again to play off of Punk. "Right, I've got other tricks, too. Check these out." Rock flicked her wrist and summoned a pair of brass knuckles attached to both of her hands, made of reddish metal with an obvious sheen effect. They definitely looked tough - though at the moment, Rock was showing them off more like they were jewelry rather than the brutalizers they were intended to be. Then, she did a slight double-take. "You... huh? How do you do that with a weapon?" she asked to Roll. Weapons were for damage (and acrobatics, on occasion), right?? That'd be like... using her sawblades as a dinner plate, or something like that.

This kid sure was a riot. She reminded Punk a lot of himself, when he’d been freshly booted up. “Oh, they’re so shiny!” Roll cheered as Rock showed off her brass knuckles. “And here, I'll show you! I’ll tell your fortune right now! Get ready…!” Rockman settled back in his beanbag chair. He’d helped Roll iron out the kinks in this trick years ago, so the way it worked was very familiar to him; but it was still very pretty, and Roll had a good sense of showmanship. Roll blew a kiss, setting up a large heart, but then clasped it to her chest using both hands. “Rainbow of the Heart, answer our call!” She launched into a triple pirouette, then seamlessly set her foot down into the start of a pas de bourree turn. Leaping about, she entreated, “Travel the skies to reach us! Reflect across the moon! Un, deux, trois! Kirarirariiiin~!” (The dance and the incantation were to fill the time that Roll needed to manually add a hex code over the top of each Heart Slash particle to be the proper colors, so it was less noticeable what she was doing.) “Lovely Heart Fortune~!” And with the ritual complete, Roll released a glittering rainbow of hearts into the air. They drifted gently but quickly around on invisible currents of air, mixing and fluttering about. “Now, reach up and discover your fate on your fingertips!” Roll instructed Rock. "But before you do—is there anything in particular you wanted to ask after?" (edited)

Okay- she was caught pretty off guard by the pivot to a fortune, but the light show was pretty impressive. It was hard to see how this corresponded with a weapon, per se, but Rock had to assume that Roll just had really weird weapons. She wasn't judging- and there was definitely some acrobatic talent in there, too. Rock was firmly bemused and dazzled- though now, she was put on the spot. The hell did she want to ask? She was just trying not to get existential a second ago - and she wasn't exactly the romantic type, either. But she wanted to humor Roll, at least. Not wanting to be put on the spot, her thoughts jumped back and forth, hoping she'd grab something that she actually cared about, and... well. Maybe this was a little too genuine, but it was better than nothing. "Hm. My operator. Things'll be looking up for her, right?" she asked, a pensive look on her face. "Things've been rough, but I've got a good feeling that with me around, people'll be going after her less. What's your read on that?"

Mysteriously, Roll said, “Let’s see what the hearts have to say…” What floated down onto Rock’s hand was… “Purple Heart! I see, I see…” Roll mulled over the omen for a moment. “The most important meaning of the Purple Heart is finesse! So as that relates to your Operator... you may find yourself in a tricky situation, where you need your cool techniques to help your Operator out. But apply them with style and wit, and you’ll win by a landslide!” Back to her usual, bubbly persona, Roll finished, “…And, that’s your fortune.” The remaining hearts continued to flurry around them before finally beginning to dissolve, one by one. “That was really cool, Roll-chan!” cheered Rockman from his seat. Roll giggled. “Aw, thanks, Rockman!”

Rock was satisfied with the outcome - something that was plainly visible in her expression. It was a good omen, and it made her sound awesome. She was really winning now! Though- well, it still made her feel a bit raw to ask that kind of question. It was true, that’s what she cared about, and she was happy with her answer, but… they were here to have fun first and foremost, and… Her mind wandered, her feelings getting confused as she thought over the night. Rock averted her eyes, but inadvertently caught sight of Heatman while doing so- which just reminded her of how awkward the night had started. The tension between all four of them. They were lucky the games were working as distractions. “Uh, hey. Lighter guy,” Rock muttered, trying her best to sound candid. “That goes for you, too. Hope your operator, uh… can find some strength. That make sense?” She paused, realizing how awkward that sounded. “Well- I mean, that goes for everyone,” she hastily added. “I just- y’know, was thinkin’. About my own question. Yeah.”

"Good job, Roll!" HeatMan cheered. Wow, what a show. Who knew fortune telling was possible with a weapon, much less that it would look this flashy? This girl had skills. He was so invested in the show that it took him a second to realize that Rock was talking to him. "Oh, uh, thank you!" HeatMan replied, jumping slightly. Man, they really got off on the wrong foot at this party, didn't they? He supposed it was fair that everyone was worrying about them considering what they had shared about their life circumstances, but it was still a bit odd. Empathy was all but a foreign sentiment to them when everyone they knew were too invested in their own suffering. "You don't have to worry about us, really. Lan's a resilient kid, he'll make it through this. I hope everything turns out well for your operator, too!" He gave Rock a grin and a thumbs up. Everyone had problems, but with enough strength and hope they could be overcome.

Rockman stayed quiet during their whole show. Though, as things moved on, he really didn't want to stay in this convo. God forbid Roll asks to do his fortune. "Um. I have a weapon trick, I guess." He pipes up. He gets back to his feet, walking across the netscape. With sufficient room, Rockman closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. He never thought he'd be using this as a party trick. His arm turns to a basic sword, and his eyes flash open- in a blink, he strikes at nothing in a triangle-formation. For a brief moment his eyes shine blue as he does it. He shakes his head as if to clear it, and then awkwardly bows. "I- I can do DeltaRay without the chip."

Roll was happy to see Rock so pleased. Another satisfied customer! She exchanged a glance with Rockman as the conversation turned toward Heatman’s Netto. Rockman squeezed his eyes shut as Heatman waved away Rock’s concern, and Roll gravitated back in his direction to help reassure him. His Netto had been ‘resilient’ and ‘strong’, too, and she could tell what he had to be thinking—that it was very easy to say something like that until it was suddenly no longer true. It didn’t sit right with Punk, either; his own Operator had very nearly not ‘made it through this’, and he was much older than the young Netto appeared to be. Before he could outright say anything to turn the discomfort into an outright argument, though, the other Rockman stepped up to the plate and… did a flashy sword move? Punk shrugged, “Well, I’ve got no idea what a Delta Ray is, but it looks like somethin’ you’d do. Thanks for sharin'?”

Rock was considerably more impressed by the other Megaman's triangle lightshow than her compatriots- while it had nothing on Roll's roulette, she was always down for some sword trickery. She didn't have a damn clue what a DeltaRay was, but it sounded sick, at least. Having a backup plan in case of a lack of chips was always a good thing. ...Heatman was taking things well, at least, and it didn't seem like any of the other party guests were pitying her, so her mood perked up to its usual unbothered level. "Good to hear. And... thanks," she responded, sounding as genuine as she could. "You'll both be fine, I'm sure. You've got the bite to fight back." (That was how Lan had made it through her trials, and what she needed to live up to, after all.) Rock paused for a moment, and the whirlwind of the past few hours finally started to catch up to her. She sunk deeper into her beanbag (-wait, still can't tear this up by accident-) and sighed out loud, clearly signifying exhaustion to everyone else. "What now?" she mumbled. "Guess I exhausted my favorite subject."

"Of course!" HeatMan raised a flaming fist in the air. "Fighting back is all we can do!" Like the others, HeatMan had no idea what DeltaRay was. If it was a chip, it was possible Lan knew about it. That kid loved talking about obscure netbattle trivia. What he did know, however, was that it looked really cool, even without the proper context. "That's really impressive, Rockman," HeatMan said. "You must have a lot of skill if you can do something like that with a simple sword chip." And just like that, they were back to having no aim for their conversation. Another awkward pause suffocated the room, interrupted only by Rock's sigh. "I, uh, kinda want to check up on Lan. It's been fun, but I want to make sure he's having fun, too." Had it actually been fun? Yes and no. Weird was maybe a more apt word for how HeatMan felt about the night, but not necessarily in a negative way. Even if he was apprehensive about the silly party games, he was glad to spend the night with some fresh, friendly faces. Lan was in good hands here.

Outside of the house network, the movie had ended. Netto was well on his way to nodding off; with Meiru, Enzan, Tango, and the Squishjelly arranged around his corner of the sofa in a vaguely nest-like configuration. Meiru was perfectly cozy, obviously used to being in this cuddle pile. Enzan looked more like he had no idea how to get all these people and creatures off of him without disturbing them, and didn’t have the heart to. He glanced up at the ended movie, then at Netto and Tango pinning him down, then at Meiru next to him, then mildly exasperatedly back to the TV screen: now what? Rockman and Roll shared a smile, not wanting to disturb the relaxed Net Savior team. Both of them then whirled around to pin Punk down with their eyes before he could say anything. The red Navi merely gestured at the outside for Rock, other-Rockman, and Heatman’s benefit: look at how absurd they are, can you believe this?

Rock's attention returned to her operator just as the movie had ended, and- oh, yup, she had cried a little. It was obvious enough that she tried to hide it given how vigilantly she was wiping them off, but those streaks were still plainly visible. She couldn't help but smile- Lan was happy, and her operator's own exhaustion was finally settling in as well. Lan lazily leaned up against the couch, her eyes a bit droopy. She really enjoyed the movie- and she knew herself well enough to know that any story about running away from home (and running away from... fathers) would get her badly. But- well, she thought she did a good enough job of hiding her reaction, so hopefully the rest of the... other hers wouldn't be giving her too many weird looks. She let out a hearty yawn and looked back toward the couch- wow, that was one hell of a pileup that'd occur. Lan was thankful, for a moment, that she chose to sit on the floor rather than be subsumed into the nest. (She still didn't have a good answer as to what that cat was, as an aside.) "What time is it...?" she wondered out loud, leaning back on the sofa cushions. "I'm... pretty tired. Uh- and, thanks for the movie."

HeatMan returned to his PET to find that Lan had dozed off. He breathed a sigh of relief; if he was comfortable enough to sleep, that meant that nothing else had gone wrong. Lan was okay. It seemed that Lan hadn't been asleep for too long, however, as the slight buzz of HeatMan entering the PET was enough to stir him awake once more. His eyes fluttered open, and he squinted to check the time on his PET. Seeing that it was late and everyone else looked to be asleep or close to it, he shut his eyes once more... ...Only to bolt upright a few seconds later. "Oh no!" Lan yelled, far too loud for that hour. "What? What's wrong, Lan?" HeatMan was on full alert, panicked and prepared for the worst. "I missed the end of the movie!!" "...Oh." HeatMan sighed in relief once again. And here he thought it was something serious. "It's okay, we can try to find it sometime later. You're going to wake everyone up yelling like that." "Oh..." Lan turned to look at the others in the room. "Sorry, everyone!"

Netto stirred, not quite asleep but not really paying attention either. He was jolted a bit by the youngest's shout, but he softened over it soon enough. "That's alright. You can always watch a movie again." (He'd seen this movie a few times, and it was so damn hard to focus without any medication, and Rockman's gentle redirection. He spent the entire movie zoning out, thinking about the navis, thinking about the operators, and thinking about that...girl.) He elected to not point out the girl's tears- he supposed she may have been crying for the same reasons Rockman cried when he watched this movie for the first time. It was wild how much he was sharing the other Enzan's thoughts tonight. Yeah...what the hell do we do now?

A loud sound in the middle of the night, when his guard was down. Netto was startled to full alertness, looking around wildly for the cause— “Ow,” mumbled Meiru. Enzan spat out a thick strand of Netto’s hair, glaring at the empty air in front of him. Tango set a paw on Netto’s arm, gently but insistently urging him to stop this nonsense and go back to sleep. His mind settled enough for him to remember the sleepover, and Netto slumped backward against—oh, right. “Sorry,” he told his friends-turned-pillows. “I, uh, forgot.” “We noticed,” Enzan said. “Guess I should…” Meiru yawned. “…put the movie away, I guess…” “I’ve got it,” Roll cheerfully said, hopping into the entertainment center. Meiru sleepily grinned when Netto-chan thanked them. “I’m glad you enjoyed it so much!” Netto peered at the rest of the Nettos, realizing that he was maybe a little too comfortable considering there were all these others around. “Is… is everyone okay?” He squeezed his eyes shut; that was a dumb question. “Sorry. I mean… maybe we should just figure out where everyone wants to sleep?”

Lan jumped a little at the youngest's exclamation- but she deflated when she realized it was just about the movie. Well- of course it was, they weren't in any danger, this was just a sleepover...? She yawned again- yeah, it was stupidly late, and basically everyone was exhausted, even their host. "I'm fine," Lan reported drowsily. "Um- oh. I can sleep wherever... if there's a good spot on the floor, or... I don't really have a preference..." Her sleepiness made it hard to put up any sort of front- she was clearly tripping over her words and back to her natural nervous state. It made Rock feel a little bad- she'd stayed the night with her friends before and handled it fine, but she was clearly a bit jittery over the actual point of this whole ordeal encroaching on her. Rock knew Lan well enough that she was perfectly fine with throwing herself to the wolves and sleeping in a corner. "Well... just make sure you're comfortable," Rock protested, her voice a little more soothing. "It's way past your bedtime, kid. So at least pick a good spot before you doze off." The fire in Lan's heart returned for a brief moment at such a declarative statement. "Sh-shush," she stammered, keeping her voice low in hopes that no one would overhear her. "I'm- old enough to decide when I go to bed."

Lan frowned, feeling guilty for scaring everyone over something silly. The Netto with the different colored eyes seemed particularly bothered -- what was the deal with that? Was this something he should even know about? Frankly, he was a little concerned, but he was too tired to have a conversation like that at the moment. "Oh, I don't mind sleeping right here," Lan said, already resting his head once more. At this point, he was used to sleeping just about anywhere. He regularly went on several-day-long trips for supplies, and when he wasn't do that he lived in an apartment with six other people. Space was as scarce a resource as everything else; sleeping on the floor was no issue. And honestly, he was too tired to move. Lan pulled his blanket over himself once more, getting into a comfortable sleeping position before anyone could tell him otherwise. He was a few seconds away from entering critical sleep mode.

Netto was probably going to suffer in trying to sleep. He didn't have any medication, and none of his Sleeping Items, but hell- he'd try anyway. This was enough of an exhausting experience. "I'll also coast here. Can I have a blanket?" Netto asked softly, taking his glasses off. He hung them off the collar of his jacket. "Um. Maybe a pillow. This floor is pretty hard."

“Sure thing,” Meiru called back to the tallest Netto. “Everything’s already in here, anyway.” After a moment, Netto realized that he needed to stand up so that Meiru could get loose. “I apologize,” he mumbled, too tired for anything but the usual to slip out. “Yeah, you are definitely tired,” Meiru said with a sad smile, getting to her feet. “S’ok, remember?” With that, she gathered a couple of pillows and the largest blanket, then gave them to tall Netto. He seemed as tired as anyone else there—with that in mind, she also handed out a pillow to each of the other two Nettos before starting to gather everything left over into a space behind the couch. Enzan was still sat on the couch with Tango in his lap. It seemed there was no way he was going to be sleeping, accustomed as he was to at least being able to lie down. “Let’s set up something down here,” Meiru suggested, which caused Netto to remember—the things Mama had brought for him! Jolted awake by the reminder, he wordlessly ran to the door. Sure enough, a laundry basket sat on the front stoop. Filling the basket were the usual toiletries, the scar cream (just nice to have on, especially when sleeping), his pillow, and a big and comfortable-looking sleeping bag. Netto retrieved it and returned, already starting to feel sleepier. “Wow,” Meiru said upon seeing what had been added to their sleep pile. She fully unzipped it to form more of a square, and then she called, “Enzan, we’re sleeping down here. I think you’re gonna have to pick up Tango.” Enzan examined Tango’s position as if he was attempting to perform neurosurgery, then started to lift Tango up. “Mrow?” squeaked Tango, surprised and confused. With a “mrrp,” he scrambled up onto Enzan’s shoulder for the journey to the significantly more comfortable sleeping arrangement on the floor.

It seemed virtually everyone present was content with collapsing on the spot in the living room, so much to Rock's chagrin, Lan was well on her way to sandwiching herself between the couch and the nearest wall, huddling up in that enclosed space like it was her personal fortress. She had packed relatively light, so it wasn't long before she'd laid claim to her territory and excused herself to change into her pajamas. Lan's mood was a mixture of apprehension and being way too tired to care- which resulted in her getting ready for the night as fast as humanly possible (she always felt like she was intruding whenever she was a guest) and ducking back into her sleeping bag the moment she was done, taking her PET straight with her into her cocoon. Once she got comfortable, she popped out a little bit to let out a hearty yawn and try to form some coherent words before she conked out. "Um! Thank you, for everything," she directed toward Mayl, the lack of energy evident in her voice. "It was- fun." "Same from me," Rock added, her voice half-muffled by the PET being subsumed by the sleeping bag. "Was a little weird, but you guys are cool." Lan smiled, both toward Mayl and in the direction of the other Lans, who looked even more tired than she was. Ah- and that cat was on the floor now. She could only muster a confused glare before she flopped back down on her back.

and they all went eepy deepy. the end.