That Park, Those Benches

"Thanks." said Mill as he took back his screwdriver and slipped into his pocket. "I couldn't even imagine splicing together all that data... You must be pretty good with software to manage all that. Anyis won't let me anywhere near her main coding."

"I don't want to get turned into a blob of pudding, thanks." informed Anyis, giving a vote of extreme suspicion to Mill's programming prowess.

"Hey, it wouldn't be that bad... Maybe..." Okay, so Mill wasn't very confident about that either. "I managed those initial repairs fine when I found you, right?"

"Anyone could run an auto-repair over a span of 6 months." explained Anyis, disarming Mill's defense entirely.

"Oh whatever, hardware's my specialty anyway." sighed Mill, giving up on that matter entirely.

"If I'd been better with software, I probably wouldn't have to clean up after myself every few months," Andrew said. "I've made a business of sorts out of similar restoration projects since then once I really figured out what I was doing and I've never had the same problem, but Eidolon? Never been able to fix her completely. Although she hasn't exactly been helping matters herself-"

"Do not start on that again," Eidolon interrupted.

Andrew sighed. "If you would stop being so careless in how you fight I wouldn't have to start on that again."

He turned back to Mill. "That said, unless you really don't know a thing about coding I doubt you'd have actually turned her into pudding." Under his breath he added "Although the ways you would be likely to screw up aren't much better."

"I guess so. Anyis's coding is just a little... unique, so I think that even experienced programmers might do something that can't be undone with her." explained Mill hesitantly, having to choose his words carefully regarding Anyis's strange situation.

"Which is why my core coding is off limits." added Anyis to make a point.

"Yes, yes, we've got that..." sighed Mill, before listening to Andrew berate his Navi for her recklessness. Oh how familiar that sounded...

"... Ah! I got it!" exclaimed Anyis suddenly. "Eidolon! Fight me!"

Reckless, was it? Yep. "... Wait wait wait. Why are you suddenly at that?!" questioned Mill hastily.

"I can't get a rematch against Pianissimo now, so Eidolon has to serve as a proxy since she has his data!" elaborated Anyis. Whether that elaboration was any good or not... eh.

"Hold on, hold on! You don't even know anything past her name! Isn't it just a little rude to challenge her to a fight out of the blue?!" groaned Mill, wishing he could retroactively mute his PET.

That was sudden. Or not, Andrew didn't know Mill's navi enough to know if demanding fights out of navis she had just met was normal or not, and for that matter didn't know anything about her except that she was, in Eidolon's words, 'shouty'. Dead navi or not though, it was still sudden to Andrew. "Ah ha ha...well...I guess if it's okay with Eidolon-"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No."

As far as to the point answers went, that was...well, to the point. Andrew had known Eidolon to be very curt in her responses and extremely blunt, so it wasn't surprising. Just...well, also sudden. "I guess that's that, then. She doesn't want to."

"Well of course she doesn't want to..." responded Mill, his attention initially on Andrew before, "when you just act like that all of a sudden!" turning back to Anyis and giving her quite a glare.

"Argh...! Then... Then...! Viruses! Yeah, viruses! We'll fight viruses. I need to compete with you, somehow!" suggested Anyis, grasping out at anything, anything at all that'd suffice.

Mill was just at a loss for how desperate his Navi could be for this impossible rematch. She wasn't like this at all when she lost to... when she lost to... wait, seriously? Pianissimo's the only one Mill had ever seen her lose to? Damn... This almost made sense now. Almost.

"Fine."

Equally blunt.

Andrew scratched his head. "I...uhh...I'm still not quite sure what's going on here, but if Eidolon's okay with it then I am." Fighting viruses seemed like a ridiculous way to compete, not to mention one that was likely to drive Eidolon to damage herself again, whether she treated it like an actual competition or not.

Not that fighting viruses on her own was usually any different.

"Good, follow me then!" exclaimed Anyis. "... Mill, jack me in." Glad this was planned out thoroughly.

"Jack you in where?" questioned Mill, with fair reason.

"Just wherever! The Netsquare! We'll go somewhere from there." answered Anyis frustratedly.

"Alright, alright..." sighed Mill. This park had an abundance of jack-in ports for whatever reason, so Mill didn't even have to get up off his seat to send Anyis off onto the Net. "Uh, I'm... really sorry about all this." added Mill, speaking to Andrew. Judging from Eidolon's cold attitude thus far, Mill could imagine Andrew's relation with her wasn't all that different from his own with Anyis. That alone merited sympathy, but Mill apologized for his Navi's actions anyway since he hardly saw his interactions with Anyis as a happy, normal Operator/Navi dynamic.

(Jack In, Netopia Rogue Net)

"No harm done," Andrew answered. Yet, at least. There was still plenty of time for harm to be done on the net. That wasn't something he was going to hold against Mill or Anyis, though. At the same time, he really had to wonder what he had just gotten himself into.

He shrugged it off, jacking Eidolon in as well. At any rate he was probably about to find out.

Mill just stared at his PET, seeing both Anyis and Magna arrive back in it without giving him much of a say in the matter. "Well... I guess Anyis had her fill of all that." sighed Mill. "Sorry for the trouble, Andrew."

"Don't make me sound like some kind of nuisance." snapped Anyis quickly.

Mill... bit his lip. There was really no safe way to respond to that. "Aaanyway, I ought to get going. Here's my e-mail if you want to contact me." announced Mill, who got up off the bench and pointed his own PET at Andrew's to transfer the information.

"By the formal definition of 'nuisance', the Mother Unit would have to be-"

"Yes, thanks Magna, that won't be necessary." interjected Mill quickly by stuffing his PET in his jacket pocket and leaving.

(Going home)

"It's fine," Andrew answered. "And same to you." He sent his own contact information in response to Mill's, adding "You need any programs restored, just let me know. I've had a lot of experience since this," he held up Eidolon's PET, "So I can actually do a proper job now."

Once Mill left, Andrew looked between his PET and the navi shop outside the park. Sure, they had practically just left it, but he had also earned a decent amount of money since then from the viruses Eidolon and Anyis had torn apart. Not to mention that Icaro could still use a bit more work to be a competent healer. Shrugging, Andrew pushed himself off of the bench and made his way back.