"Yeah, I guess the tournament would give that impression." Mill chuckled. "But it's not, really. Anyis just really likes to fight, and situations keep forcing me to indulge her. What I like to do is work with electronics. Computers, appliances, wiring, things like that. Most of my work right now is repair jobs, which is giving me plenty of opportunities to do so. I've been using that experience and some spare parts from the store to build this PET I'm using, actually." he said, pointing at his PET on the table. Had he actually bothered to look at the screen, which was stupidly face-down the table, he'd have seen multiple warning messages about Anyis forcibly activating MeleeCross and that it was distorting her AI in several areas. Oops.
Well, on the bright side, at least Mill wasn't claiming to be a good Operator. "Yeah, though, I really know what you mean. Net life has just been pulling me away from one thing after another this year. It's the same with you?" asked Mill, continuing the conversation in total neglect of his Navi and SP.
Rania and Mill's Scilab Meeting
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Rania wasn't watching her PET still, despite the fact that some serious business was going down. Blissfully unaware, Rania tried to enumerate the many, many activities that she might refer to as hobbies. "Well, my navi likes sponging up as much of my time as he can get. I used to do... hrm... well, I started with kendou as a kid. Then I went on to archery, then soccer, then softball, then tennis, then basketball, then gymnastics, a brief period of lacrosse, some fencing, back to kendou, and now I guess I'm into boxing," she finished up, omitting cheer-leading and wrestling, which her friend Amelie had somehow muscled her into before. "Besides that there's volunteer work and exercise. I want to do more exercising, but my navi makes it hard to find the time."
She leaned on both hands now, looking wistfully into the distance and thinking that she didn't have the energy she used to back when she'd had so many activities to compete with her time. Despite that fact, she wondered if she was really less happy. Perhaps the lack of energy was a good thing, as she used to be ungodly impatient all the time as well. "Maybe I was over extending myself, in hindsight. Do you have any interest in exercising?" she asked, raising her eyebrows so intently that it revealed a little bit more of her anticipation than she'd have preferred. Her plan was still growing and stretching with new life. If Mill could be dragged into her nutty exercise routine, then she'd have as much time to build her relationship as she needed.
Before Mill could answer, however, Rania was distracted by her PET. It was hard to keep up with everything she was saying, but it sounded like Rania was divulging some information that she wouldn't have wanted to if she'd been in her right senses. Something had gravely agitated her and she was now involved with furiously plugging away at her PET's buttons, ostensibly customizing a .GMO...
She leaned on both hands now, looking wistfully into the distance and thinking that she didn't have the energy she used to back when she'd had so many activities to compete with her time. Despite that fact, she wondered if she was really less happy. Perhaps the lack of energy was a good thing, as she used to be ungodly impatient all the time as well. "Maybe I was over extending myself, in hindsight. Do you have any interest in exercising?" she asked, raising her eyebrows so intently that it revealed a little bit more of her anticipation than she'd have preferred. Her plan was still growing and stretching with new life. If Mill could be dragged into her nutty exercise routine, then she'd have as much time to build her relationship as she needed.
Before Mill could answer, however, Rania was distracted by her PET. It was hard to keep up with everything she was saying, but it sounded like Rania was divulging some information that she wouldn't have wanted to if she'd been in her right senses. Something had gravely agitated her and she was now involved with furiously plugging away at her PET's buttons, ostensibly customizing a .GMO...
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Exercise... Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. Mill really, really was not the exercising type. Even if he tried exercising, his scrawny body would refuse to accept any long-term improvement. Both he and his sister largely inherited traits from their fragile mother, which ended up pretty obvious in comparison as neither were 6 foot and inches giants like their father. How the heck was he supposed to answer a question like that? Just saying no would make things really awkward, and saying yes would book Mill a ticket for months of pain. Mill's eyes darted around the area, looking for something, anything, to provide a distraction through divine intervention...
*beep beep beep*
Oh thank god. Mill's PET went off, altering him to some minor issue, which he opted to address immediately. A dull and somewhat nerdy silence ensued as the only noise from either Operator was the clicking sound of buttons being hit as both Mill and Rania fiddled away at their PETs. Ulterior motives were abound, though, as within his mind Mill was counting every second, judging when it was safe to consider Rania's previous question a dead topic. Once a sufficient amount of time had elapsed, Mill engaged in diversionary tactics so he'd never have to bring up his inability to exercise. "So... How did you end up with MeleeMan, exactly? You two don't really strike me as an average Operator/Navi." asked Mill, inwardly acknowledging the hypocrisy of that last line.
*beep beep beep*
Oh thank god. Mill's PET went off, altering him to some minor issue, which he opted to address immediately. A dull and somewhat nerdy silence ensued as the only noise from either Operator was the clicking sound of buttons being hit as both Mill and Rania fiddled away at their PETs. Ulterior motives were abound, though, as within his mind Mill was counting every second, judging when it was safe to consider Rania's previous question a dead topic. Once a sufficient amount of time had elapsed, Mill engaged in diversionary tactics so he'd never have to bring up his inability to exercise. "So... How did you end up with MeleeMan, exactly? You two don't really strike me as an average Operator/Navi." asked Mill, inwardly acknowledging the hypocrisy of that last line.
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Rania looked back up wearily. Luckily, she'd forgotten the exercise offer herself after watching her navi and SP get into all sorts of antics. Now MeleeMan had gotten into a fight with some sort of three headed serpent in the middle of the desert. How? She didn't know, but she was certain it was his fault.
With all of this, about the last thing she wanted to do was recount the happy days where she thought she was getting her perfect boxing navi. Resting her chin on her arms, which she folded across the table in front of herself, she moped quietly about her days of optimism. "Well, truth be told, I had never done netbattling or virus busting before. MeleeMan was my first navi, that is. My friend Amelie had gotten this awesome navi off of a generator; his name is GladiatorMan and she still uses him. I thought it would be a good idea to use the same generator and see how mine turned out," she answered, closing her eyes thoughtfully.
Suddenly, she reopened her bright eyes, arching her eyebrows and smiling at Mill with surprising cynicism. "Well, you've seen him. What kind of indicators do you think I put in? Chauvinistic? Meatheaded? No, the parameters were more like displaying masculinity, uses boxing mixed with martial arts, possessing fiery spirit... I thought I was going to get some kind of superhero and ended up with him. I'm still convinced to this day that whoever programmed the thing was making some kind of practical joke generator," she finished, flopping her head back down into the sleeves of her gray sweatshirt.
"Does that mean GladiatorMan has some kind of awful flaw as well? I should ask Amelie some time," she suddenly thought, raising one eyebrow quizzically.
Having finished her pity-party, Rania turned a smiling face back to Mill. "Well, how about Anyis?" she asked. She giggled inwardly at the idea that Mill might have created a figure like her for the same reason she'd made MeleeMan: to have a sort of heroic, romantic figure to traverse across the net and fight battles for his/her master.
With all of this, about the last thing she wanted to do was recount the happy days where she thought she was getting her perfect boxing navi. Resting her chin on her arms, which she folded across the table in front of herself, she moped quietly about her days of optimism. "Well, truth be told, I had never done netbattling or virus busting before. MeleeMan was my first navi, that is. My friend Amelie had gotten this awesome navi off of a generator; his name is GladiatorMan and she still uses him. I thought it would be a good idea to use the same generator and see how mine turned out," she answered, closing her eyes thoughtfully.
Suddenly, she reopened her bright eyes, arching her eyebrows and smiling at Mill with surprising cynicism. "Well, you've seen him. What kind of indicators do you think I put in? Chauvinistic? Meatheaded? No, the parameters were more like displaying masculinity, uses boxing mixed with martial arts, possessing fiery spirit... I thought I was going to get some kind of superhero and ended up with him. I'm still convinced to this day that whoever programmed the thing was making some kind of practical joke generator," she finished, flopping her head back down into the sleeves of her gray sweatshirt.
"Does that mean GladiatorMan has some kind of awful flaw as well? I should ask Amelie some time," she suddenly thought, raising one eyebrow quizzically.
Having finished her pity-party, Rania turned a smiling face back to Mill. "Well, how about Anyis?" she asked. She giggled inwardly at the idea that Mill might have created a figure like her for the same reason she'd made MeleeMan: to have a sort of heroic, romantic figure to traverse across the net and fight battles for his/her master.
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Mill thought for a moment, then realized how backwards his entire history with Navis was. "Well, I, uh... didn't make Anyis. Magna's the only Navi I've made myself. I only found Anyis a few months ago, damaged and without an Operator. She hasn't really explained what the circumstances were with that." Mill then stared down at his PET for a moment to collect his thoughts. "I picked her up and began repairing her with Magna's spare resources, but now that I look back on it... taking a random Navi off the Net I knew nothing about was a pretty bad lapse in judgment on my part. Mm..." As he explained, Mill's mind only collected more thoughts as he came to terms with how many problems were the direct result of him taking in Anyis. Aside from the whole "Magna dying" thing, Anyis was just far too combative as a person for him to Operate effectively. And, along with the problems he had already experienced, there were many things he still didn't even know about her. Ugh...
"Honestly, I could probably answer more questions about Magna than I could Anyis." Mill admitted to Rania. "All she's told me so far is that she's been around for a long time and has had several Operators. I can only guess that her mish-mashed fighting style is a result of design changes from multiple people. I can't even imagine someone desiging a Navi like her from the get-go." Mill cracked a smile at this, with it dawning on him on just how bizarre a ghost-channeling, fist-fighting, ice-summoning Navi was.
"... Oh, and apparently Anyis has siblings." added Mill as a recent event crawled up from the dark recesses of his brain. "I've only met her younger brother, who through some cruel twist of fate is my father's Navi." It wasn't really necessary information, but this extra connection between him and his father was just something that he needed to vent when possible.
"Honestly, I could probably answer more questions about Magna than I could Anyis." Mill admitted to Rania. "All she's told me so far is that she's been around for a long time and has had several Operators. I can only guess that her mish-mashed fighting style is a result of design changes from multiple people. I can't even imagine someone desiging a Navi like her from the get-go." Mill cracked a smile at this, with it dawning on him on just how bizarre a ghost-channeling, fist-fighting, ice-summoning Navi was.
"... Oh, and apparently Anyis has siblings." added Mill as a recent event crawled up from the dark recesses of his brain. "I've only met her younger brother, who through some cruel twist of fate is my father's Navi." It wasn't really necessary information, but this extra connection between him and his father was just something that he needed to vent when possible.
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"Wow, that's an interesting history. I guess it's sort of like a benefit to adopting a navi, huh? Getting a sweet backstory like that, I mean," she laughed, enjoying the recount of Anyis' past. To her, it all sounded pretty neat- the idea of a navi with an unknown past and mysterious acquaintances, like something out of a novel. "That's pretty complicated. In addition to all of this... If I hear right earlier, you made Magna, but now he's your SP? That's a little odd."
Rania paused momentarily to settle some trades on her PET, then continued.
Lifting up her head to rest her chin on her palm, Rania thought over her recent development of receiving Damascus as an SP. "You know, my SP was originally a navi too. A really powerful one. She belonged to my grandfather and was his navi forty years ago or so," she continued. She thought about throwing in a disclaimer that warned Mill against being interested in the navi because of her age, but decided against it. Too cheesy. "Anyways, I tried to stop him from erasing all of her abilities to make her an SP, but he didn't let me. I think she's barely got a tenth of her former abilities now," she sighed, losing her energy and dropping her head back down onto the table.
Looking to the side with her red hair hanging over one side of her face, she raised an eyebrow to Mill. "So, what's the story about Magna? Got time to tell me yet?" she asked curiously.
Rania paused momentarily to settle some trades on her PET, then continued.
Lifting up her head to rest her chin on her palm, Rania thought over her recent development of receiving Damascus as an SP. "You know, my SP was originally a navi too. A really powerful one. She belonged to my grandfather and was his navi forty years ago or so," she continued. She thought about throwing in a disclaimer that warned Mill against being interested in the navi because of her age, but decided against it. Too cheesy. "Anyways, I tried to stop him from erasing all of her abilities to make her an SP, but he didn't let me. I think she's barely got a tenth of her former abilities now," she sighed, losing her energy and dropping her head back down onto the table.
Looking to the side with her red hair hanging over one side of her face, she raised an eyebrow to Mill. "So, what's the story about Magna? Got time to tell me yet?" she asked curiously.
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Mill looked down at his PET to see Anyis combating giant worm-like creatures in a scene right out of a mythical epic. Yep... Eh, he had time to talk more. "Well, honestly, I'm a pretty lousy programmer. Magna was trial and error for over a year as I made him, and there were still some bugs to work out even after he went online. His AI is just a generic one I downloaded, so what you see of Magna now is almost entirely what his AI has developed over time. He used to just follow my orders without much thought to it, but I really have no idea where he developed some of his weird habits..." muttered Mill as he thought to Magna's compulsive need to refer to others by title, his odd sense of kinship with the golem-like Cragger viruses, his total disregard for the damage he incurs... Really, there were too many to list.
"Anyway," said Mill, returning from his thoughts to the conversation at hand, "you're probably more interested in why Magna's just an SP now. "Lessee... I already mentioned finding Anyis damaged and that I started repairing her, but I guess it's important to say how. Magna's big, but his simplistic design actually gives him a good amount of spare memory, so I installed him with a repair system that converted the excess data kicked up in virus battles to material to fix Anyis with, bit by bit." Mill paused here, taking a moment to think. "... Err, that probably sounds more impressive than it really was. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but there's a good chance that shoddy repair program I made is part of why Anyis is my Navi and Magna her SP. I got a weird e-mail about near when Anyis was nearing full restoration, and... well, somehow, it made Magna go haywire. I had to get help from my boss's Navi to track down Magna, but he ended up disappearing, and I don't know what happened from there. Next thing I saw, Anyis was awake, and Magna was being deleted."
... After a few seconds, it clicked in Mill's mind how terrible that sounded. "Wait, wait. Magna was already hopelessly messed up at the beginning of all that, so it wasn't Anyis's fault. Heck, she recovered Magna's core data so I could eventually rebuild him as an SP. Though... I think Anyis still knows more about that whole situation than she's telling me. Magna doesn't seem to have any issue with Anyis, though, so I guess it's nothing to worry about." Mill let out a heavy sigh, having come to the end of his confusing tale. "Sorry if that didn't make much sense. I still don't know everything about what happened between Anyis and Magna that day."
"Anyway," said Mill, returning from his thoughts to the conversation at hand, "you're probably more interested in why Magna's just an SP now. "Lessee... I already mentioned finding Anyis damaged and that I started repairing her, but I guess it's important to say how. Magna's big, but his simplistic design actually gives him a good amount of spare memory, so I installed him with a repair system that converted the excess data kicked up in virus battles to material to fix Anyis with, bit by bit." Mill paused here, taking a moment to think. "... Err, that probably sounds more impressive than it really was. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but there's a good chance that shoddy repair program I made is part of why Anyis is my Navi and Magna her SP. I got a weird e-mail about near when Anyis was nearing full restoration, and... well, somehow, it made Magna go haywire. I had to get help from my boss's Navi to track down Magna, but he ended up disappearing, and I don't know what happened from there. Next thing I saw, Anyis was awake, and Magna was being deleted."
... After a few seconds, it clicked in Mill's mind how terrible that sounded. "Wait, wait. Magna was already hopelessly messed up at the beginning of all that, so it wasn't Anyis's fault. Heck, she recovered Magna's core data so I could eventually rebuild him as an SP. Though... I think Anyis still knows more about that whole situation than she's telling me. Magna doesn't seem to have any issue with Anyis, though, so I guess it's nothing to worry about." Mill let out a heavy sigh, having come to the end of his confusing tale. "Sorry if that didn't make much sense. I still don't know everything about what happened between Anyis and Magna that day."
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Rania had been surprised by everything she'd learned about Anyis during her chat with Mill. The navi's history was pretty rich and interesting; she hoped that eventually she'd have stories like that to tell about MeleeMan...
Sighing, Rania withdrew her PET and looked back at Mill with unintentional puppy dog eyes. She couldn't figure out how to break off the meeting in a way that resulted in further future meetings as a certainty. Time for some small talk. "Well, I can certainly see now how you placed so highly in the tournament! You have a very impressive navi and she performs very well," she laughed, gathering up her things quickly. As her small talk ran out, however, she felt helpless again.
Turning her head back to him with shining eyes, she gave a small smile and tried to think of how to act maturely. The look had the opposite impact, making her look cute, but undeniably childish. She went for the simplest approach she could. "If you need a busting partner some time, just call me up. I'm free a lot of the time... I mean, I can make time... for busting," she managed sheepishly. She'd lied a bit; Rania's lifestyle was extremely busy and she really wasn't free very often. But she was not lying when she said she would make time, as she was still quite fixated on building her relationship with Mill. "And I know there won't be any objections from MeleeMan, of course. He likes having someone to fight with," she giggled.
"Sure, sure," MeleeMan sighed, more for appearances than actual displeasure.
"Okie dokie, bye Mill," she finished, tightening up her shoe laces on the bench. Waving back, she was all smile and cheer as she ran off to the metroline headed for her home in Electown.
((Leaving for Electopia))
Sighing, Rania withdrew her PET and looked back at Mill with unintentional puppy dog eyes. She couldn't figure out how to break off the meeting in a way that resulted in further future meetings as a certainty. Time for some small talk. "Well, I can certainly see now how you placed so highly in the tournament! You have a very impressive navi and she performs very well," she laughed, gathering up her things quickly. As her small talk ran out, however, she felt helpless again.
Turning her head back to him with shining eyes, she gave a small smile and tried to think of how to act maturely. The look had the opposite impact, making her look cute, but undeniably childish. She went for the simplest approach she could. "If you need a busting partner some time, just call me up. I'm free a lot of the time... I mean, I can make time... for busting," she managed sheepishly. She'd lied a bit; Rania's lifestyle was extremely busy and she really wasn't free very often. But she was not lying when she said she would make time, as she was still quite fixated on building her relationship with Mill. "And I know there won't be any objections from MeleeMan, of course. He likes having someone to fight with," she giggled.
"Sure, sure," MeleeMan sighed, more for appearances than actual displeasure.
"Okie dokie, bye Mill," she finished, tightening up her shoe laces on the bench. Waving back, she was all smile and cheer as she ran off to the metroline headed for her home in Electown.
((Leaving for Electopia))
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"Well, she's certainly memorable..." Mill reluctantly admitted of his Navi. As far as he was concerned, there was at least one headache to go with everything that was good about Anyis.
"But yeah, we should definitely bust together again sometime. We had some pretty good teamwork, and Anyis and MeleeMan have some things in common. I'll make sure to send an e-mail next time I send Anyis out." Mill said this to be nice, but really, his problem was the polar opposite of Rania's. His schedule was written as it happened usually, and his busting runs typically happened in response to unexpected circumstances. Getting locked out of his apartment, finding his sister's lost Navi, repairing broken appliances... Mill rarely got the feeling of wanting to bust, since virus busting kept wanting to come to him. As such, it was awfully hard to buzz a friend while something was exploding in his face.
Still, having a Netbattling friend or two he could count on was never a bad thing. Mill waved off Rania as she left, leaving Mill to wonder what he could do next. He had accrued a fair amount of upgrade funds along the way with Rania, so maybe he should go shopping. "Hey Anyis, what time is it? I was thinking I should be some upgrades for you if it's not too lately."
Anyis was currently in nothing but her bodysuit, trying to neutralize the poison smell on both her clothes and herself. Being very focused on that, Anyis only gave a blunt response: "Early enough that you could just walk across the street."
Mill looked up, and yep, Suitachi's Navi shop was on the other side of this park. Preferring to cling to whatever dignity he had left after that stupid question, Mill wordlessly got up and walked over to the store.
(Moving to Navi Shop)
"But yeah, we should definitely bust together again sometime. We had some pretty good teamwork, and Anyis and MeleeMan have some things in common. I'll make sure to send an e-mail next time I send Anyis out." Mill said this to be nice, but really, his problem was the polar opposite of Rania's. His schedule was written as it happened usually, and his busting runs typically happened in response to unexpected circumstances. Getting locked out of his apartment, finding his sister's lost Navi, repairing broken appliances... Mill rarely got the feeling of wanting to bust, since virus busting kept wanting to come to him. As such, it was awfully hard to buzz a friend while something was exploding in his face.
Still, having a Netbattling friend or two he could count on was never a bad thing. Mill waved off Rania as she left, leaving Mill to wonder what he could do next. He had accrued a fair amount of upgrade funds along the way with Rania, so maybe he should go shopping. "Hey Anyis, what time is it? I was thinking I should be some upgrades for you if it's not too lately."
Anyis was currently in nothing but her bodysuit, trying to neutralize the poison smell on both her clothes and herself. Being very focused on that, Anyis only gave a blunt response: "Early enough that you could just walk across the street."
Mill looked up, and yep, Suitachi's Navi shop was on the other side of this park. Preferring to cling to whatever dignity he had left after that stupid question, Mill wordlessly got up and walked over to the store.
(Moving to Navi Shop)