MegaMan can't help but feel that this is his fault. He should've done something to stop this from happening - but he didn't, and now ProtoMan is avoiding Trill like a virus avoids purging software, and poor Trill is absolutely terrified of Bass.
It's a good thing they're allowed to have the day off from school today, thanks to having to deal with that investigation last night. The twins didn't take part in it - because it was right next to the ocean, and they both hate water - so they go to school, without Lan for the first time since either of them were adopted.
That's a good thing, too. MegaMan's pretty sure that having to be in the same building as Trill wasn't doing ProtoMan any good, so hopefully being away from him for the duration of school will help him to calm down a little. And Bass goes with them, as he always does, so at least Trill won't have to constantly hide behind MegaMan out of fear of Bass showing up to blast him to the UnderNet like he threatened.
Trill is . . . uncharacteristically quiet, this morning. Which is understandable. Understandable, but still worrying.
"Hey, Trill?" MegaMan asks, crouching down beside the child-Navi he's sort of adopted as his little brother. "You wanna watch a movie?"
Trill doesn't seem to be able to look him in the eyes. "N-no thank you."
"You sure about that?" MegaMan reaches out to place a hand on Trill's head, and stops when Trill cringes like he's expecting to be beaten or something. It's something MegaMan has seen far too much of from ProtoMan, and from Mimic and Chaud, and it makes him sad to see Trill acting like this too. "It's okay, Trill. No one's mad at you."
Even as the words leave his mouth, MegaMan winces. That's definitely not the truth - Bass was glaring at Trill like he was trying to wield his power through his eyes before he left with the twins, and Arcadia was coldly polite when he greeted MegaMan earlier. ProtoMan actually hissed at Trill, but it was easy to tell that it was defensive anger born of fear rather than actual anger.
"The black and white Navis hate me," Trill mumbles, slumping where he's sitting. "Don't they? 'Cus I collected that virus . . ."
MegaMan winces again. "Trill . . . I told you, ProtoMan's not a virus."
"But . . ." Trill blinks up at him, tears in his eyes. "Y-you said he was. Last night, a-after the movie was over . . ."
MegaMan frowns and goes through his memories of last night. Right after the movie - that horror movie they had to watch while Dad was doing the scan on Trill. He remembers Trill asking why there was a virus with them, but he also remembers that he explained what ProtoMan is, so why-
Oh. Oh, no, wait a second.
He didn't, did he? He was about to explain what ProtoMan is, but he got interrupted when Manabe called them, so he never actually got to explain anything.
MegaMan sighs. He folds his arms across his knees and peers at Trill, who's waiting for a response, looking both worried and scared at the same time. Honestly, MegaMan doesn't blame him.
"I didn't get a chance to explain properly," he says. "ProtoMan's not a virus - he's something called a Virus Navi."
"Virus . . . Navi?" Trill repeats, tilting his head.
MegaMan nods. "That's right. It's what they all call themselves - it's a NetNavi who has virus data in them that can't be cured. ProtoMan's virus data is the cat virus, but he's still a NetNavi. He's just . . . a different kind of NetNavi."
"But . . . he feels like a virus," Trill murmurs.
That makes MegaMan frown. "Hey, Trill? Do you mind if I ask . . . how advanced are your scanners?"
"My scanners?" Trill looks confused. "What . . . what're those?"
Hm . . . that doesn't sound very promising. If Trill doesn't even know what scanners are, then . . .
MegaMan settles down beside him. "Scanners are something that most, if not all, NetNavis are created with," he explains. "They're a kind of . . . let's say ability, one that lets Navis detect viruses in nearby networks."
"Okay . . ." Trill seems to understand so far, at least. "But what's that gotta do with- with . . . a Virus Navi?"
"I said Virus Navis have virus data in them, right?" MegaMan waits until Trill nods before continuing. "Well, most Navis should be able to detect the virus data within a Virus Navi, but they're obviously still a NetNavi. It's enough to be a little confusing, I know, but usually you'd be able to detect that they're a NetNavi first, and only after actually scanning the Virus Navi will you detect their virus data."
"But he felt like one of the viruses from the ghost ship," Trill mumbles. "And I . . . I don't really know how to scan things, so . . ."
"That's . . . a little odd," MegaMan admits. "The fact that you could tell he has virus data means you do have some type of scanners, but maybe they're not advanced enough for you to be able to tell the difference between a Virus Navi and an actual virus."
Trill looks up at him, expression twisted with worry. "I-is that bad?"
"No, of course not," MegaMan says, reaching out to gently pat Trill's head. This time, the child-Navi doesn't cringe away, which is something at least. "You're just a bit different, that's all. You're special." And not just because he's the Synchroniser. "But listen, Trill . . . you can't go around collecting every single virus you see, or even things that just feel like viruses. It's not very nice, okay?"
"You said I could keep the viruses I collect," Trill murmurs.
"I did." There's no getting around that one - he did say that, of course he did. "But that only applies to viruses like the ones that attacked us in that ship's network, okay? If the virus isn't trying to hurt you, don't collect it. Not every virus is bad - some of them are actually created to do things, like help run networks, or maybe they're a NetNavi's pet or something. Or they might not even be a virus - they might be a Virus Navi."
Though admittedly, ProtoMan is the only Virus Navi who spends any amount of time outside the Secret Village. MegaMan's never been there himself, but from what ProtoMan and Arcadia have told him, it sounds like none of the Village Navis ever leave the place. To be fair to them, they were all rejected by society for one reason or another, so of course they wouldn't want to leave.
But the problem is that most regular NetNavis don't know a thing about Virus Navis. The term itself was created by the Virus Navis in the first place. ProtoMan didn't even have a name for what he is until he and Arcadia found the Secret Village.
"S-so . . . ProtoMan's not a virus," Trill says. "And . . . and I did a bad thing, when I collected him?"
"I know you didn't mean to," MegaMan says softly. "But . . . yes, it was a bad thing."
To be honest, the fact that ProtoMan was able to be collected by Trill is a little bit worrying. They already know that he's enough of a virus to set off anti-virus systems, and enough of one to make information terminals' defence systems activate.
Maybe they should consider making some Virus Navi-friendly systems? Though . . . MegaMan's not entirely sure if anyone would be willing to install those kind of things even if they could be created. There's only one Virus Navi who lives outside the Village, and it's highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to create an entirely new set of virus detection systems for the benefit of one NetNavi.
"So that's why those two Navis hate me." Trill's sad voice breaks MegaMan out of his thoughts.
"They don't . . . they don't hate you, exactly," MegaMan says, somewhat hesitantly. "They're just . . ." He sighs and tries to think of a way to explain so that Trill will understand. "You see, ProtoMan's had some really bad experiences with other NetNavis in the past. He's been bullied and hurt a lot, and it's made him really scared."
"Bullied?" Trill looks confused again.
"It means to . . . to hurt someone, just to be mean," MegaMan explains. "It makes the victim feel really scared, and really hurt. That's happened to ProtoMan a lot. Other NetNavis were really mean to him - they called him names and they hurt him. And because of that . . . Arcadia and Bass - those two Navis who were trying to make you let ProtoMan go last night - they're really protective of him. They don't want him to get hurt or scared, so they get angry to scare away whatever's making him scared. Do . . . do you understand, Trill?"
"The black Navi said he'd blast me into the UnderNet," Trill murmurs. "I-I don't really know what the UnderNet is, but . . . he was only saying that 'cus he was trying to protect ProtoMan?"
"That's right." MegaMan nods. It's an extremely over-simplified explanation, of course, but he doesn't know if Trill will understand if he makes it too complicated. "They don't hate you, they're just trying to protect ProtoMan."
"I bullied him, then?" Trill looks like he's about to cry at that.
"I don't think that qualifies as bullying," MegaMan says uncertainly. "You did hurt him, yes, but you didn't mean to, and you don't want to do it again, do you?"
"No!" Trill cries, shaking his head emphatically. "No, I don't . . . I-if I'd known he wasn't a virus, I wouldn't have collected him, honest!"
"Then it's not bullying, because you don't want to do it again, and you didn't mean to do it in the first place," MegaMan says decisively. "That's the difference between what you did and actual bullying - a bully would have done it on purpose, just to hurt ProtoMan. You see?"
"I . . . think so . . ." Trill purses his lips, thinking for a moment, and then he looks up at MegaMan. "I-I wanna say sorry to him. To ProtoMan, I mean. And Arcadia and Bass, too."
"That's a good start," MegaMan praises him, and for the first time since that whole incident last night, Trill smiles - it's a tiny smile, but still a smile. "Let me talk to ProtoMan and the others when they get back from school, okay? I'll tell them that you want to apologise. But listen, Trill, I need to warn you - ProtoMan might not want to see you right now."
"Why not?" Trill asks, dismayed. "I wanna say sorry . . . I-isn't that good?"
"It is, yes," MegaMan agrees. "But this isn't just about you wanting to apologise. It's also about ProtoMan, and how he feels. The worst thing you can do right now is force him to talk to you before he's ready. I can tell you this, though - knowing that you want to apologise and that you didn't mean to hurt him will help."
Trill blinks. "It will? Why?"
"You know I said he was bullied a lot? And how bullies hurt others just to be mean? Well, the Navis who bullied ProtoMan never apologised to him, and they always meant to hurt him. Right now he's probably thinking you're like them, but if he knows you want to apologise, he'll realise you're not. That's why it'll help."
That seems to make Trill feel a little better. Which is good, because MegaMan's more used to helping the victim rather than . . . well, Trill's definitely not a bully, they've already established that. The point is, he's not used to having to explain this, especially since most of the people around him have too often been on the wrong end of this kinda stuff.
He hopes he's not wrong about this. The truth is, he has no idea how ProtoMan will react to being told that Trill wants to apologise. He doesn't even know how Arcadia and Bass will react.
But they'll have to wait until the others come back from school, either way. He just hopes ProtoMan doesn't immediately bail the second he sees Trill, even if he agrees to let Trill talk to him.
It's . . . it's sad, really. They got along so well when Trill was a baby-Navi. And now this happens.
There's always something, isn't there?
It feels odd, going to school without MegaMan and Lan. Like there's a little piece of them missing.
Arcadia's not the only one who feels that way. His operators sometimes get confused, like they were about to say something and then forgot what it was they wanted to say - but it's more like they were gonna say something to Lan, and then they remembered he's not with them right now. ProtoMan and Bass feel the same way, even if ProtoMan's still on edge after being 'collected' by Trill, and even if Bass is still smouldering with rage.
There's a little piece of them missing, like he said. They've never been to school without MegaMan and Lan, and even though most of their usual group is still here, it's still . . . kinda lonely without them. It doesn't help that Roll and Maylu aren't here either, for the same reason that MegaMan and Lan aren't here.
Arcadia may be able to sense emotions, but that doesn't mean he understands them. So he doesn't really understand why their group feels off-kilter without MegaMan and Lan even though they're just two people.
"'Course it feels weird," Bass scoffs, when Arcadia brings it up. "They're always there, and now they're not. You'd feel weird if your fucking hand suddenly vanished."
"I'm not sure what a vanishing hand has to do with MegaMan and Lan not being here," Arcadia says uncertainly.
"Mimic would get it," Bass mutters under his breath.
Arcadia raises an eyebrow, not that anyone can see it under his hood. "Yeah, but I'm not Mimic, am I?"
Bass kind of freezes for a split second. That's enough for Arcadia to sense - literally - that he'd actually forgotten Arcadia can still hear him. His hearing isn't nearly as sensitive as ProtoMan's or either of their operators', but it's still sensitive enough to let him hear muttered comments like that.
"Fuck this," Bass declares, and he vanishes from Arcadia's side and reappears on Chaud's shoulder.
Arcadia chuckles quietly, shaking his head. Sometimes Bass is just . . . well. Sometimes he's just Bass.
He glances over at ProtoMan, and his smile vanishes as fast as Bass just did.
His brother doesn't look like he's doing too well. He doesn't feel like he's doing too well, either. Their operators technically haven't swapped PETs, but he's curled up on Mimic's desk instead of Chaud's, half-hidden behind the carton of milk that came with today's lunch. He's just staring blankly at the wall, chin on his hands, and Arcadia can sense an absolute mess of wretched emotions coming from him.
He's kinda been swinging between nervous energy and lethargic apathy all day. Seeing Trill after spending the entire night trying to calm down from being 'collected' certainly didn't help his mental state.
Arcadia suppresses a sigh. ProtoMan was doing so well last night, after they came back from Internet City. He'd been so happy, so energetic . . .
Maybe Arcadia can do something. Even if it's just sitting there quietly as silent moral support, he wants to do something to help his brother. Anything.
Arcadia heads over to Mimic's desk. He glances at her briefly, senses her own worry for ProtoMan - reflected by Chaud in the connection between their souls - before turning back to ProtoMan himself.
ProtoMan doesn't acknowledge him. Only Dark Shadow does, staring at Arcadia so intently that even though he can't hear its voice like ProtoMan can, he can almost feel its desperation. It wants him to help its host, that much is obvious.
So Arcadia takes in a deep breath, kneels beside his brother, and lays a hand on his shoulder.
The world immediately goes very, very small. He wants to run but he can't move, he wants to scream but he can't speak. The only thing he can do is think, and the only thing that lets him do is panic. Sharp, cold panic sending his mind spiralling into chaos, and he wants to scream or cry or do something, anything, but he can't. He can't-
LET ME GO!
Arcadia jerks back with a gasp, falling over onto his backside. He draws in a few short, terrified breaths, mind nearly blank with the lingering panic.
When he finally manages to calm his mind enough that he's not almost blinded by panic, he discovers that ProtoMan is watching him sadly. There's something else, too, a silent emotion that feels like an apology, ringing clear in ProtoMan's mind despite the wretched mess of emotions inside him.
"Don't apologise," Arcadia says, then winces because his voice is trembling so much he can hardly speak. "Y-you don't . . . you don't need to. That wasn't your f-fault."
Kind of his own fault, really. He knew he was risking that when he touched ProtoMan, but the need to comfort his big brother was too strong for him to resist. Still kind of is, though he's not exactly keen to repeat that experience.
Arcadia? Mimic's finger brushes against the back of one of his wings gently. You okay?
"I'm f-fine," Arcadia replies. A liar he is not, and Mimic can easily tell when people are lying. She's not fooled. "I just . . . I forgot that would happen, is all."
He senses that silent apology from ProtoMan again, and this time, it's Dark Shadow who responds, by nudging ProtoMan and then pressing its forehead against his when he looks up. Arcadia has no idea what Dark Shadow says, but apparently it's enough to make ProtoMan's mess of emotions quiet down for a little bit.
How're we gonna deal with Trill when we get back? Chaud wonders, watching ProtoMan curl into a tighter ball and Dark Shadow lay over him like a cold blanket.
Deal with Trill? Mimic repeats, glancing at him with an eyebrow raised. You mean like punish him?
No, not that. Chaud shakes his head. I meant, well . . . I don't really want to put ProtoMan anywhere near Trill right now, but . . . we probably don't have a choice, do we?
Arcadia senses what he means. Whatever comes next might not give them the luxury of keeping Trill away from ProtoMan until things have calmed down - until ProtoMan has calmed down.
Probably not, Mimic murmurs, glancing at ProtoMan. He barely reacts to the mental conversation, even though he can hear it just like Arcadia can.
"Hey, um, Mimic?" Arcadia asks, lowering his voice so he isn't risking being overheard by their classmates. "What was Trill like, in the anime?"
Mimic blinks at him. He can sense a faint trace of confusion from her - she's wondering why he's suddenly asking this.
"I just . . ." Arcadia purses his lips, thinking for a moment. "I just want to have some idea of how he might to react to-" He makes a vague gesture. "-all this. It might help if I understood his personality a little more."
For a moment, Mimic doesn't speak. Arcadia can sense her mind working, but he can't sense the thoughts that're running through it - so she's thinking of the anime, then. That's usually the case if she's thinking of something and he can't sense it like he normally can.
"He was . . ." Mimic glances at Bass, who's also listening. "He was kinda like a spoiled brat, I think. Kinda selfish, threw tantrums whenever he didn't get his way."
"Great, so we're gonna go home and have to deal with him screaming his head off," Bass says dryly. "Yeah, that's definitely gonna make the cat feel better."
"He got better near the end, but that was the end," Mimic sighs, leaning forward to put her elbows on her desk and rest her cheek on her knuckles. "We ain't there yet. I mean . . ." She winces, and Arcadia detects a slight sense of shame from her. "Don't get me wrong. He's a cute kid, and he was funny. I liked him. Like him. But . . ."
"Watching it on a computer screen and actually experiencing it for yourself are two entirely different things," Chaud finishes for her.
"Right," Mimic murmurs. "S'way different. Somethin' that's cute or funny to watch could turn out to be really annoyin' or really bad to actually experience y'self . . ."
Arcadia can understand that. Not just because he can sense it - but also because he actually knows what she means.
He's watched that Fairy Tail anime Mimic told him about, and he loves it. He loves a lot of the characters in it. They're funny, and the entire anime is awesome. But he knows that, if he were to meet some of those characters for himself, in person, and actually experience what they're like for real instead of just watching them on a screen . . .
Well, some of their funny character traits would very quickly become extremely annoying. So, yeah. He understands.
That little brat had better fucking hope he doesn't have to go near the cat again for a while. Otherwise, Bass might just make good on his threat - he knows where the UnderNet is, he's been there before (even if it wasn't exactly willingly), so he can blast Trill all the way there if he wants to.
MegaMan'd definitely have something to say if he did that, but pissing off MegaMan is a small price to pay for keeping ProtoMan safe from morons who think it's okay to hurt him for no fucking reason.
A small part of Bass is telling him that Trill didn't actually mean to hurt ProtoMan, but that part is very small indeed, and he'd much rather listen to the overprotective rage smouldering through his systems. No one hurts the cat like that and gets away with it - not if he has anything to say about it.
Which is why he's letting ProtoMan and Arcadia chill in his room - that little storage device Dr. Hikari modified for him - for a bit. There's less of a chance of running into Trill if they're in here, and Bass can boot out anyone he wants to.
He's also cut off sound from the outside, because the twins are getting a new bed - an actual bed - to replace their futon today, and the installing process is kinda loud. All that stuff happening, way too much excitement . . . Yeah, the cat's still pretty fucking tender, Bass isn't gonna risk it. He's an asshole, but he's not stupid.
"You found more bug frags?" Arcadia's incredulous voice distracts him from his thoughts.
Bass glances over at what he's dubbed the 'bug corner' and sees the owl sitting cross-legged next to his ever-growing pile of bug frags. Arcadia's holding up one of the smaller ones - a smooth, rounded piece that Bass is particularly proud of finding since most bug frags tend to be chunky and jagged, like stones or something, so that one has to be rare.
"What do you even do with these things?" Arcadia asks, turning the smooth bug frag over in his hands.
"Fuck if I know," Bass replies, shrugging, and then realises Arcadia's asking what he, specifically, does with bug frags. "I don't shit with 'em, really. I just collect the things because . . ." Shit, he can't explain it properly without sounding like an idiot.
"They're pretty," ProtoMan murmurs, reaching out to poke curiously at the pile. One of the tendrils of his shadows picks up a bug frag from the top and tosses it to him, and he taps a clawed fingertip against it, making a faint tick sound.
" . . . Yeah," Bass agrees. Fine, whatever, if anyone laughs at him for collecting bug frags just because he thinks they're pretty, he can just fucking blast their face off or something.
Arcadia's not laughing at him, though. He's smiling, yeah, but it's a nice smile, a genuine one, not a mean one.
"If you don't mind me saying this, I think it's nice that you're collecting them," the owl tells him. "Not enough NetNavis see bug frags as anything more than useless data, in my opinion."
I don't mind you saying it, Bass thinks. For some reason he's relieved that he's not being laughed at for collecting bug frags.
"I don't give a shit about your opinion," he says out loud, because even though the owl can definitely sense his relief, he has to save face somehow.
Arcadia's still smiling, but this time it's more of an amused smile. He knows exactly what Bass is thinking, of course he fucking does, and at one point that might have pissed him off, but he doesn't really mind anymore. He doesn't know why. Maybe it's the whole 'friends' thing, or whatever it's called. Maybe getting close to these fucking idiots has made him soft enough to not care that Arcadia can read his mind like a data file.
Whatever. It feels better than when he was on his own, at least. He can admit that freely.
He leaves the two of them looking through his pile of bug frags. He can trust them to put it all back when they're done - and if they don't, then whatever, it's not like he doesn't scatter the things himself sometimes anyway, he enjoys reorganising that pile every so often.
Bass heads over to the wardrobe program Dr. Hikari installed for him. He knows humans have different types of clothes in their wardrobes, but his just contains cloaks - hand-made and all more or less similar in size and appearance. He found a cloak soon after he first came online, discarded somewhere in a back alley on the edge of Internet City, and he remembers being interested in it, enough to put it on and decide he liked how it felt and looked. Figuring out how to make his own cloaks was as simple as tearing into the digital data of that discarded cloak and copying it, and even though he longer has the original, the copies are just as good, if not better.
He pulls one of the copy cloaks down from the wardrobe program. This one's a bit thicker than the rest. He likes the ones that closely resemble the original, but he's recently gotten into experimenting and trying different shit with the cloaks he makes. One of those experiments resulted in a cloak that's a bit thicker in material than the others, and has dirty-grey fur lining the bottom edges. For . . . some reason. He's actually not entirely sure how that happened.
He glances over at the two brothers, still looking through his bug frag collection. It's well and scattered now - and he nearly vibrates with anticipation at the thought of getting to put all that back into a pile. Maybe he should tell them to leave it all scattered like that.
They're too intent on the pile of bug frags to notice him coming back over. Or, the cat is, anyway. Arcadia glances up, spots him, and looks puzzled for all of two seconds before he inevitably senses Bass's intentions. He purses his lips, obviously hiding another smile, as he glances at ProtoMan, who . . . is licking one of the bug frags. Well, that's . . . eh, whatever. It's not like he's gonna corrupt the fucking things or anything.
"Hey, cat," Bass says.
ProtoMan looks up, blinking his mismatched eyes, and then squeaks when Bass throws the thick cloak over him. It's almost big enough to cover him entirely, and he shakes himself a little, poking his head out from under one of the fur-trimmed edges.
"It's cold, use that as a blanket or something," Bass tells him. "It's yours to fucking keep, so don't bother giving it back."
ProtoMan blinks again. "Um. Okay?"
Arcadia's covering his mouth with the back of his hand, shoulders shaking a little, so Bass gives him a flat glare.
"Stop fucking laughing, owl," he snaps.
"I'm not," Arcadia replies, in a delighted tone that pretty much says the exact opposite. "Really, I'm not."
"Fucker," Bass mutters.
He can't suppress a smile of his own when he sees the cat snuggling into the thick cloak, though. ProtoMan looks pretty content - which is exactly what he was going for. That thick cloak was mostly an accident, but he supposes it's a good thing he made it after all.
Then he hears the sound of a NetNavi streaming into his room, and his smile vanishes. The only Navis allowed in here are ProtoMan, Arcadia, and MegaMan - and since the first two are in here already, there's only one person this newcomer could be.
Bass turns around, ready with a scowl in case that Trill brat is with MegaMan, but to his surprise - and mild relief - the brat is nowhere to be seen. Even if that's what he wanted, he's still a little puzzled, because he's rarely seen MegaMan without Trill since they found the fucking brat.
"The fuck do you want?" Bass demands. Maybe he's projecting his anger at Trill onto MegaMan, and maybe it's kind of unfair, but he doesn't give a fuck. Until the cat doesn't freak out at the sight of that brat, he's not gonna play nice unless he absolutely has to.
"I want to talk to ProtoMan," MegaMan answers, giving him a steady look. "Mimic and Chaud said he's in here."
Bass's first reaction would be mild annoyance at how easily the twins gave up ProtoMan's location - or hiding spot, whatever - but he knows they probably have a good reason for doing that. They're just as protective over the cat as Bass and Arcadia are, if not more so.
So instead of immediately telling MegaMan to fuck off, Bass glances over his shoulder at ProtoMan. "You wanna talk to him?" he asks.
The cat crouches low to the floor. For several moments, he doesn't speak, and the only sign of movement from him are his shadows, drifting around in a seemingly-random pattern, but Bass knows enough about those tendrils to recognise that movement as 'calm but ready to defend if necessary'.
"Okay," ProtoMan eventually says.
Bass jerks his head in a nod and steps aside, letting MegaMan pass him. But he still keeps an eye out, just in case Trill shows up as well - he has no idea where the fuck that brat is and he's not gonna let his guard down in case Trill shows up and turns ProtoMan into a cube-thing again.
MegaMan stops a short distance away from ProtoMan, then crouches with his arms on his knees. "I'm just gonna come out and say this," he begins. "Trill wants to talk to you."
That makes the cat twitch, and retreat a little further under the thick cloak. Not enough to be hidden from sight, but enough to make it clear that he's thinking about it.
"What the hell does that brat want with him?" Bass snaps. "Is he gonna turn ProtoMan into a fucking cube again?"
"Let him talk, Bass," Arcadia says. His tone is calm, but there's a steely glint in his eyes, and it's almost enough to unnerve even Bass. The owl gets pretty scary when his brother is threatened.
"Trill wants to apologise," MegaMan explains, apparently unmoved by all the anger - hot or cold. "To all three of you, but mostly ProtoMan."
"Apologise?" ProtoMan repeats the word in a confused murmur, like he's never heard it before.
MegaMan nods. "Yeah. I . . . did tell him that you might not want to see him right now. I think he understands that, so neither of us will force you to talk to him. It's your choice entirely, ProtoMan."
"He wants to apologise," ProtoMan whispers, almost like he can't believe it.
Bass doesn't really blame him. All that shitty bullying from that asshole Proxy, and those bastards in Netopia's Internet City, and not one of those fuckers has ever bothered to apologise to him. They clearly don't - or didn't, in Proxy's case, since he's been deleted - want to apologise, not ever.
Arcadia glances at ProtoMan, then looks back at MegaMan. "Can you give us a minute?"
MegaMan nods again, and gets to his feet and backs off. He ends up next to Bass again, far enough away that the two brothers can murmur to each other without being overheard. Bass gets the feeling that whatever Arcadia wants to say to ProtoMan is completely private, so he doesn't try and join in, and instead stays where he is, keeping an eye out in case Trill shows up.
He and MegaMan say absolutely nothing to each other. It's kind of awkward, and Bass is still pissed off with him, so he's not gonna be the one to start the conversation. When the cat's not terrified or anything, maybe he will, but for now, he's fine with the awkward silence.
After almost a full minute, Arcadia draws back from ProtoMan, and looks at MegaMan once again. "Alright," he says. "As long as he doesn't come too close."
MegaMan looks intensely relieved. "Thank you," he says, almost breathlessly. "I'll- I'll go get him, okay?"
With that, he vanishes. Bass waits a second or two, just to make sure, and then steps over to ProtoMan and Arcadia. He leans against the wall, keeping the cat between himself and Arcadia, eyes fixed on the spot where MegaMan was a moment ago.
"You sure about this?" he murmurs, making both animal-Navis glance up at him.
"Can't avoid him forever," ProtoMan points out, though he looks like he'd rather do exactly that than let the brat talk to him, even if it is to apologise.
"You could fucking try," Bass retorts.
MegaMan comes back then, cutting off any further conversation. This time, he's got Trill with him, and Bass doesn't need to look at ProtoMan to know that he's tensing up already. The only thing that's keeping his hair flat is the thick cloak draped over him like a blanket.
"Remember, not too close," MegaMan tells Trill.
The brat nods, looking a little uncertain. Probably doesn't even know how close 'too close' even fucking is.
ProtoMan makes it easy to tell, though. Trill steps forward, but he only gets a few steps away from MegaMan before the cat lets out a faint hiss, pressing his back against the wall. That kind of display would probably look more threatening if he didn't have the thick cloak over him, but ProtoMan doesn't really need to look threatening to be threatening.
It's enough to make Trill stop, at least. The brat casts a glance over his shoulder at MegaMan, who gives him an encouraging nod, and then he turns back to ProtoMan and clasps his hands together.
ProtoMan flinches, and his faint hiss starts to sound more like a growl. Trill looks puzzled for a moment before he looks at his hands, and - evidently realising the problem - immediately tucks them out of sight behind his back. That only makes ProtoMan's growl turn back into a hiss, but it's something.
Then Trill surprises them all by bowing. It looks a bit ridiculous with his hands behind his back like that, which is probably why he tried to clasp them together a moment ago.
"I'm really sorry I hurt you," Trill says, and that's enough to make ProtoMan go totally silent. "If I'd known you weren't a virus I wouldn't have tried to collect you. And . . . and I know that's not an excuse anyway, 'cus it was still a mean thing to do, so I'm really sorry, and I promise I won't do it again." He looks up, still bent over from his bow, and glances at Bass and Arcadia. "And I'm sorry I made you mad by hurting ProtoMan. I know you just wanna protect him, s-so . . . so I know why you got mad at me. I . . . I wasn't being very nice, and I wasn't thinking." He lowers his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm really, really sorry, and if you don't wanna talk to me ever again 'cus I hurt ProtoMan, I-I get that. A-and . . . and that's f-fine."
It doesn't seem like it's fine. Clearly the brat wants them to talk to him again - he looks like he's gonna cry at the thought of that not happening.
ProtoMan stares at Trill for several moments, blinking slowly. Eventually, he glances at Arcadia, then Bass, like he's looking to them for direction, but neither of them offer any. Trill might have said he's apologising to all three of them, but this is obviously mainly for ProtoMan himself.
As the silence stretches on, the brat starts to look more and more upset. He's probably thinking that they're not gonna forgive him or even bother to accept his apology - and Bass is tempted, really, because he doesn't forgive this brat. But it's ProtoMan's decision, not his.
"You . . . know what I am, now?" ProtoMan eventually asks, warily.
Trill looks up and nods. "You're a Virus Navi. MegaMan told me. Um . . . h-he also said my scanners aren't very advanced, so I can't tell the difference between a Virus Navi and an actual virus."
"I think his scanners aren't very advanced, anyway," MegaMan adds, when ProtoMan glances at him. "He said you felt like one of the viruses from Onibi."
"And . . . that's why you . . . 'collected' me?" ProtoMan asks slowly, looking back at Trill. "'Cus you thought I was a virus?"
Trill nods again. "Mm-hm. But, um . . . I-I know you're not a virus, now. So I promise I won't collect you again."
ProtoMan goes silent again. This time it's a more thoughtful silence, rather than the hesitant one from before. Trill still looks worried, but he waits for ProtoMan to speak.
And, eventually, he does.
" . . . Okay," ProtoMan says. "I . . . I forgive you."
"Really!?" Trill exclaims, jumping upright and bringing his hands out from behind his back to clap them together happily.
That sudden movement - and the reappearance of Trill's hands - makes ProtoMan flinch, and Trill's eyes widen. He quickly puts his hands behind his back again.
"S-sorry," Trill says, swallowing. "I'll . . . um . . ." He glances at MegaMan, blinks, and then looks back at ProtoMan. "I don't wanna scare you, 'cus it's mean and MegaMan says that's called bullying. So I'll try not to, and . . . and I'm sorry if I mess up. I'll try, I promise."
"Alright," ProtoMan murmurs.
"In that case," Arcadia speaks up, "we forgive you too." He glances at Bass. "Right?"
Bass levels a flat look at Trill, not quite a glare but close enough that the sentiment is easy to recognise even for the brat. "As long as he keeps his f- . . . his word and doesn't . . . 'collect' ProtoMan again, fine."
MegaMan looks surprised, as if he hadn't expected Bass to restrain himself from swearing in front of the brat. Sure, he was cussing the brat out last night, but that's only because he stole ProtoMan. What, did MegaMan think Bass was incapable of censoring himself? Fucking idiot.
"I won't, I promise," Trill says. "I won't collect a virus unless it's a bad one. MegaMan told me that some viruses do stuff to help people, and some NetNavis keep them as pets, so . . . I won't collect random viruses anymore."
"MegaMan told you a lot of things, didn't he," Bass says flatly, glancing at MegaMan.
MegaMan looks back at him, raising an eyebrow, silently challenging Bass to complain.
Which isn't what he wanted to do. He was just commenting, is all. Someone's gotta explain shit to the brat, and if MegaMan is the only one Trill will listen to, then . . . yeah. It'll have to be him. It's certainly not gonna be Bass, anyway.
This shit gets way too complicated, sometimes. Whatever, as long as the cat's not hiding himself in a corner like he was before.
