Chapter 13: Social(ly Awkward) Media

Miserable. That was how Barista currently felt. After the encounter with that orca, she had awoken to find herself back in Carbon's cave, wrapped in his robe and shivering uncontrollably. Once again, she could do little more than sit there as the white-furred bandicoot fed her vegetable soup to warm her up from the inside out. Once again, she was weak and damn near helpless, with someone else needing to look after her and pick up the slack.

"I… I'm useless," she mumbled woefully in between mouthfuls of tomato broth and diced greenery. She then sniffed sadly, a single, half-frozen tear running down her furry cheek.

'Nonsense,' Carbon told her. 'You saved us both out there, Barista. There's no way I could've wrangled that killer whale without you there to bring it down first. Your quick thinking was inspired and heroic. You are a credit to your species.'

"I almost d-d-drowned," Barista said, her teeth chattering. "I w-was almost eaten. I wet m-myself, C-Carbon. I w-wet myself out of t-t-terror, and when it was a-all over, I f-f-fainted. How is th-that inspiring OR heroic?"

'Hey,' Carbon said seriously, putting a hand on Barista's shoulder as he knelt there before her, spoon in his other hand, 'There is no shame in feeling fear, alright? That's one of the first things Aku Aku and his lot tried to drill into my head way back when, and it's one of the few things they preached that I actually agree on.'

Barista let out a choked sob, screwing her eyes shut as she sat there. "I c-can't keep relying on others t-t-to bail me out, C-C-Carbon," she wailed. "I left Evil P-Public School to try and f-find a p-place where my fellow B-Brat Girls c-can all live in p-peace. How am I s-supposed to help them when I c-c-can't even look after m-m-myself?" she concluded, her eyes a watery, tear-filled mess.

Carbon sighed, averting his gaze, 'It's true that your survival skills are… underdeveloped,' he mused quietly after a long moment of silence (save for the bat girl's sniffling and sobbing), 'You're certainly not equipped to last long in this frigid climate. Not by yourself, at any rate, and I can't look after you forever. I've got my own problems to worry about.'

"See? Even y-you can see how p-p-pathetic I am!" Barista wailed.

'You are NOT pathetic!' Carbon told her firmly. 'Inexperienced, perhaps, but not pathetic! The fact that you're out here at all and not sitting back at that school twiddling your thumbs is proof enough of your courage and determination! You've already lasted longer out here than a lot of Brat Girls I've seen! You see those crates back there?' he asked, gesturing to the wooden boxes on the far side of the fire pit. 'They're full of Evil Public School uniforms that I stripped from the bodies of many a Brat Girl who couldn't handle the harsh environments of this region! I collected them, along with anything else those poor fools had on them that might prove useful… and then I pushed their naked bodies into the water to feed creatures like that orca! I would've done the same to you, Barista, had you not been alive when I found you! The fact that you were still alive amazed me, and I think it was sheer willpower that allowed you to hold on, to hang in there just long enough for me to come along and use a bit of Mojo magic to jumpstart your fading life force! I may have brought you back from the brink, Barista - twice in the last few days, but the fact that you've survived at all is down to you, down to something deep inside of you, and I…' He bit his lip and looked away. 'I think you have potential. More so than you realise. Potential to accomplish your goals, as well as…' He trailed off.

Barista's sobbing had lessened throughout Carbon's lengthy speech, though her eyes had widened in shock upon hearing what he did to wayward Brat Girls. She wiped her eyes and looked up at the white-furred bandicoot, looking him directly in the eyes. "You mean…" she started slowly.

Carbon nodded, lifting his hand from the bat girl's shoulder and turning his palm upward, a glowing blue orb of Mojo magic appearing above his furry appendage. 'I wasn't sure at first, but given how much you've managed to endure in the last few days alone…' He nodded, seeming to be confirming it to himself as well as Barista. 'I think your Mojo is awakening, and if so, that comes down to your conviction to your goals, to your courage in the face of turmoil. The way you screeched at that Orca yesterday… I've never seen a Brat Girl unleash sound waves like that.' He then chuckled somewhat uncomfortably. 'You nearly peeled the fur clean off my body with that little cry of yours!' he declared, grinning. 'Not just any Brat Girl could pull off a cry like that, megaphone or no.'

"So… Y-You're saying that I m-might have…?" Barista's blue eyes widened. "You're saying that I have M-Mojo magic? L-Like you?"

'It's a high possibility, yes,' Carbon confirmed. 'It is not a power that should be taken lightly, however. In the wrong hands, the power of the Mojo can cause devastation, and that supersonic screech of yours… something about it was… off.'

"Off?"

Carbon nodded solemnly. 'I can't explain it, but something about that screech was just… Well, I joked before that it almost tore my fur off, but… I think there might me more to it than that. If you do indeed have the power of the Mojo at your beck and call, Barista, then you need to be careful, especially where that screech of yours is concerned. Something about it is… Well, just be careful, alright?'

"The p-power of the Mojo…" Barista mused, her eyes now alight with incredulousness. "Mojo magic…" She then gasped. "W-Wait a sec! Carbon, you… You c-can use your Mojo m-magic to command the will of T-Titans and such, y-yeah? D'you think you c-could teach me how t-to do that? I mean, it would certainly h-help me to survive in the w-wilderness, knowing that I could literally t-tame said wilderness as needed!"

Carbon didn't answer immediately, getting slowly to his feet and glancing down the path that lead out to the cave's entrance. 'You may be right. It would certainly give you a leg up, but…' He then shook his head. 'Like I said before, this is not something to be taken lightly…" He turned his head to look at Barista. 'In any case, I am no teacher.'

"C-Carbon, p-please! Is there nothing you can t-teach me?" Barista begged. "I would n-never abuse this power. I know p-people that w-would, but I'm n-not like them. I refuse to b-be like them! That's why I'm even here, in this c-cave! I'm here b-b-because I turned my back on those who w-would use a power like M-Mojo for control, for c-conquest! I'm n-not Neo Cortex! I'm not even his m-minion! N-Not anymore! Not now, n-not ever!"

Carbon turned his head slightly, glancing in Barista's direction. He could see the sincerity, the conviction, the hope in her eyes. After a long moment, the white-furred bandicoot allowed himself the faintest of smiles.

'One would do well to be in good physical condition before attempting to learn any combat art, Mojo-fuelled or otherwise,' he said at last, causing Barista's eyes to light up. 'For now, you must rest and allow yourself time to recover.'

"So you'll t-teach me once I'm b-better?!" Barista asked excitedly, looking like she might wet herself again, this time out of eager excitement. Carbon chuckled softly, kneeling down before the bat girl again and gently placing his palm against her forehead, his Mojo tattoo glowing. Barista began to feel that familiar sense of pleasant lightheadedness, her eyes already rolling back into her head.

'I will teach you a little. Just a little,' he said, his tone firm, but his expression warm. 'Until then… rest.'

Barista was asleep by the time the white-furred bandicoot had finished speaking, the bat girl sliding gently down onto the cave floor, wrapped snugly in that mahogany robe of Carbon's. He smirked knowingly, that smirk becoming a softer, decidedly tender smile as he sat down beside his friend, gently stroking her forehead, his tattoo still glowing as he magically weaved a dreamscape of pleasant imagery into Barista's subconscious, filling her mind with fantasies of winged unicorns prancing across fluffy pink clouds. Sure, it was silly and completely cliché, but pleasant and welcome all the same, if the serene smile on the sleeping bat's visage was anything to go by.

'Dang it, Barista, I think I'm developing a soft spot for you,' Carbon thought to himself, barely holding back the urge to burst out laughing.

Neon City, The SNaXX Dimension, 3023

Megumi adjusted the screen of her laptop, tilting it up a little, then down a little. She waved her hand in a lax, casual manner in front of the screen, the device's built-in camera picking up her movements, the on-screen image mimicking them perfectly. Satisfied, she smiled at the screen, sitting down at her desk in the apartment's living room, pulling the wireless microphone she had set up closer, lowering her head to softly speak into it.

"Testing, testing. Call you all hear me, my friends?" she asked, her voce barely above a whisper. She watched the chat feed on one side of the screen, comments rapidly pouring in, saying things like 'Loud and clear, Meggy' or 'All good on my end' or 'YES! SHE'S BACK!', the latter comment causing her to chuckle lightly. "Yes, I am back, MegumiSimp69. Once again, I am very much appreciating your enthusiasm, and that is true for everyone who is tuning in right now." The azure-haired bandicoot briefly closed her eyes, tilting her head and smiling cutely. "I have returned from the Hypnotherapist's Convention just in time for the monthly ASMR hypnotherapy livestream on my channel, Mindfulness With Megumi. If you would like to be seeing some highlights of my time at the convention, click the link in the description to be taken to my humble corner of the Official Hypnotherapy Association Blog, where I have just recently uploaded some pictures of myself at the event. And now…"

Garnet watched from the kitchen as Megumi brought her hands together in front of herself, the professional hypnotherapist inhaling deeply as she did so. Megumi then moved her hands apart once more as she exhaled. The bat girl couldn't help but smirk to herself as she returned her attention to the cup of coffee she was making; Megumi's performance struck her as being just a little bit hammy.

Then again, she hardly expected herself to be any better in front of a camera, especially knowing that potential thousands of people would be watching her, ready to call her out the moment she said or did anything stupid. She shuddered at the thought. Nah, best to leave the so-called 'streaming' to the social media experts. If nothing else, Megumi certainly knew more than Garnet did in that regard…

"I would like you all to get as comfortable as possible, my friends," Megumi said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "If it is needed, pause the video and take a few moments to realign yourself in your chair, on your mattress or wherever you are listening from. Please do not be listening to this while driving or while operating machinery that is heavy. You should only be listening when it is being safe for you to do so. Headphones, earbuds or other such sound-directing equipment are not being required, but they are recommended as a means of enhancing your hypnotic experience."

Garnet felt a small knot tighten in her stomach at the mention of the word 'hypnotic'. She was more than happy to stay out of the way for the duration of Megumi's livestream as it was, but the idea of being hypnotised in any sense was still one that far from appealed to her. She didn't understand it, and after what she'd seen back in her own timeline, she didn't want to understand it, for she had seen what could happen when mind manipulation was taken to the extreme with something like the NV, and while she wasn't expecting Megumi to go anywhere near that far, the sheer possibilities of what hypnotism could do terrified her, quite frankly. Garnet liked to think that she respected Megumi's chosen profession, but the bat girl did so at what she deemed as a safe distance.

Speaking of distance, Garnet halted in her tracks as she made to enter the living room with the coffee she had just prepared for Megumi in hand, hesitating to walk in and ruin the immersion for the bandicoot woman's online audience. Megumi noticed her roommate standing there and gestured for her to come closer with a wave of her arm and an encouraging smile.

"Come on, don't be shy," the hypnotherapist said softly, and Garnet walked over, setting the coffee down on the edge of the desk and glancing at the screen rather awkwardly out of the corner of her eye, seeing herself standing there, looking like a guilty child who had just gotten caught and reprimanded for raiding the jelly bean jar. Megumi chucked knowingly and reached over, firmly but gently pulling the bat girl fully into frame. "My friends, before we begin, I would like to take just a moment to introduce my roommate. Say hello, Garnet."

"H-Hello, Garnet," Garnet mumbled awkwardly, her words timid. She gave a feeble little wave, her cheeks visibly flushed with a deep red hue underneath her light brown facial fur. She felt stupid, and some of the comments appearing on one side of the screen certainly weren't helping matters:

She's a cute one!

Aww, she's like a precious little cream wafer!

Camera shy! Priceless!

If she your GF, Megumi?

"No, no, not my GF," Megumi said, waggling a finger at the screen lightly, "Though she is indeed very cute and sweet," she went on before turning her head and lightly kissing Garnet on the right cheek, which only made the bat girl blush all the harder.

"Aw, c'mon, Megumi," Garnet pleaded, now far past embarrassed. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the screen anymore, which was probably for the best, given that the comment section was now being spammed with variations of the phrase 'Kiss her again!', some in all-caps and many of which featuring some very lewd language.

"Settle down, my friends, settle down," Megumi told her fans, her good-natured, cheerful demeanour now sounding ever-so-slightly forced, suggesting that she was just as uncomfortable with some of the comments as Garnet rightfully was, albeit much better at hiding that discomfort. "Oh, alright, one more kiss," she then said, giving in and planting another kiss on a bewildered Garnet's cheek, this time keeping her lips pressed against the bat girl's face for nearly three whole seconds.

Garnet's entire visage flushed a deep, deep red, her face burning hot in response to the lip contact. Her entire body tensed up, her eyes widening, pupils shrinking, and after a moment of standing there, stiff as a board, she slowly, comically fell backwards to land on the floor in a dead faint with a distinct thud.

"Oh, goodness!" Megumi murmured quietly, looking down at her roommate's unconscious form and tutting knowingly. "Perhaps we took it too far, my friends. Poor little Garnet…" The bandicoot woman got out of her seat and proceeded to scoop Garnet up in her arms and carry her over to the couch, leaving the former minion of Cortex resting upon it as she made her way back over to the laptop. "She will be okay, I am sure. Now, where was I? Ah, yes…"

Heh, heh. Poor little Garnet indeed…

Yeah, just a short chapter this time. Short and sweet, as they say. Well, short, sweet and goofy, as is befitting of my little coffee bat.

Speaking of whom, quick shout-out to Clok-Roo on DeviantArt for their awesome, AWESOME fan art of Barista! Love it!