Wandering Nowhere

[[open to all]]

Rhea stepped into the Netsquare-- she never imagined having to stop here and explore this area, but perhaps it was best to leave Camillia napping while she did her own exploration. Wandering, the navigator in purple proceeded to look at the random happenings in the area. The vicinity was virus-free, just as the authorities promised it; but now that she was here, she wasn't sure what she should be doing next.

So she sat on the floor somewhere, hugging her own knees as she watched data refresh itself every few minutes in the NetSquare. It was totally all right if she wasn't given attention to at all-- Rhea, of all people, should be used to it by now. Camillia wasn't one of those kind that could handle battles well, though it was something that could be picked up over time.

So Rhea opted to just stare blankly at nothing as time slowly trickled past her.
[IMPLICITY GMO STILL ACTIVE]

A gleaming yellow portal stood by itself all alone in the NetSquare. Not many people were coming in at this hour, and if it had a consciousness, it would probably be very lonely. Fortunately, its color turned blue, signifying its use by another visitor to the NetSquare. Then, a beam of light flashed up from it, taking on the shape of its user, which turned out to be the Navi, Eternalis.EXE.

His entrance was somewhat of a strange occurrence, though, as he was materialized not standing up as the other normal people had, but bent towards a side, as if someone was pulling him towards somewhere. As fate had it, his point of destination (wherever that may be) was collinear with the position of one Rhea.EXE sitting on the floor all by her lonesome. In other words, Eternalis was heading straight for an unknowing swordswoman.

Whoooaaaah, Aurora, stop- Eternalis managed to say before tripping over the person in his way. He flew through the air for a few inches, then fell dead center on his forehead. Fortunately, the mechanics of Net physics slowed down the fall enough to not cause him any injury. It was, however, enough to give him a major headache as he sat back up to rub his aching head. His eyes were scrunched up in pain, but he did know that he tripped over someone. His other unused hand was immediately lifted up in apology as he said, Sorry, sorry! My fault! As he did so, his eyes slowly began to open to see who he managed to trip over.
All was processing well for Rhea, who was just waiting for her NetOp to retrieve her by waiting with a near-infinity pool of patience when she was suddenly stepped on and collided with a moving object. The said object lost contact with the ground for a second there, before landing-- and Rhea was rolled to a side like a statue, her sitting position was still intact. Rhea waited for a few moments, registering the situation before composing herself and setting herself upright once more.

So was she in the way of someone else, now? Rhea swore she tried to avoid the most common route used by residents of the NetSquare to avoid impact. Well, it could possibly only mean that she was being a disturbance everywhere she went, even when she was sitting down somewhere waiting for time to pass...

She was not programmed to think too much about such things, however.

Rhea pulled her usual poker face as she observed the other Navi busy apologizing, a hand raised, and she raised an eyebrow. "...Do you require assistance?" she said bluntly, standing now and offering a hand. She used her free hand to brush all her hair so that it didn't dangle down in front of her-- and proceeded to do idle dusting from the impact, all the while waiting for the man-- dressed up like a human-- to accept her hand. Of course, it was up to the discretion of the man to make that choice, not hers.
As Eternalis regained his bearings, he turned his head up to see who he had collided with. Then, a voice inquired flatly, "Do you require assistance?"

Standing over his sitting position, a purple-armored female Navi offered him a hand in getting up, brushing away silvery hair from her face with her free hand. He looked up with a blank expression for a few seconds, propped up by his hands, before he figured out that he was supposed to take the hand in courtesy. Hastily doing so, he hoisted himself up to find that he stood a good foot and some above his trip-up. More awkwardness now that he had to look down to actually have a talk.

He felt kind of red now that he was placed in his operator's shoes (well, kind of).

Hmm, maybe some small talk'll do. Let's see, what to say, what to say... Ah, right. Introductions. Uh, sorry about that trip. Didn't see you there. Er, my name's Eternalis. What's yours? For some reason, he felt a lot like talking to some child, like he was comforting a crying girl for wasting her ice-cream. A look towards the female Navi's placid, almost emotionless face shot that feeling down, and now he felt like he was being belittled for something.

Great. Just great.
Rhea had not noticed about the height the other possessed when he was sitting on the ground, but she could easily be overshadowed by this Navi and disappear without a trace if she stood behind him. He was that tall.

... But most Navis were taller than the petite, anyway.

There was an unreadable silence hanging before them, and Rhea just tilted her head, a finger wandering to twirl and toy with some hair. When the taller Navi finally spoke, she had to lift her head to stare at him in the eye. "It is alright, sir. Are you alright?" she started politely, more of a formality than anything else... "... I do not see the need of an introduction, but... I am Rhea," the purple Navi just greeted back, ending quickly her introduction.

"Um, I would attempt to heal whatever injuries you have, but my Operator is not with me at the moment," Rhea added quickly, as if to show that she was being responsible for the incident. Or was trying to. On another hand, Rhea was inwardly satisfied that she was doing well without her Operator in socializing. It was a big step for her, but it was also an awkward one.
Hmm... Rhea, huh. Looking at the petite Navi, he assumed that she was built with graceful movements in mind, as he hadn't seen any sort of bulky armored parts on her. She could be a speed-aligned Navi or something of the sort, he thought. Then, she spoke once again, something about his injuries?

"Um, I would attempt to heal whatever injuries you have, but my Operator is not with me at the moment," she had said.

Oh, right, injuries. He looked himself up and down for anything worthy of checking out, any major crash. There were some rips in his clothes, and some of his fluids were leaking out. With the GMO active, it looked like his flesh was flowing out freely from the tears. Fortunately, his signature healing programs kicked in instantly, and the immediate effects were clear. The rips quickly repaired themselves, and the fluids dried up in an instant, any traces of injury vanishing along with his recovery processes.

Uh, that's fine, er, Rhea. I can heal myself with my recovery processes, he replied. Then, shortly after, in hindsight, he felt like that was a bit too pompous. Conscious of himself, Eternalis toned it down a bit as he continued, Um, hey, Rhea. You seem like a strong Navi. How's about we bust together?
Rhea shrugged, not knowing what to reply. Her natural love for battling was strong, but it was also obvious that she could not do anything without Camillia. And if anything, she wanted her operator to take the full amount of rest she needed-- her health wasn't the same since the accident, and even though she did not exist in Camillia's life before that, she knew enough from her behaviour that the incident took most of Camillia's life and threw it out the window.

She wanted to portray Camillia was more than an Operator, but she could not. She could not see how she, a navigator, a programme, could be related to a human in any other relationship than the one they currently held. Rhea's thoughts swayed for a moment, and she was caught looking at her feet with a 'deep-in-thought' face.

Rhea wasn't entirely sure how that face looked like, though. Or whether she was capable of doing any kind of facial expression.

The purple Navi blinked suddenly and raised her head to look at the towering figure, realizing that most probably the Eternalis person was waiting for her reply. "... I-I would not mind," Rhea started, unsure about busting without the prior permission of Camillia. After all, the last time she accepted a mission without notifying her, Camillia looked like she was ready to throw her PET. "That is, if you do not mind me being without an Operator."

Wait. What happened to agreeing to bust only with Camillia's permission? Out of Rhea's simplistic brain, apparently.
Okay, his companion seemed kind of in a dilemma whether to accept his offer. Her face was slightly contorted into something indicating a deep-thought mode. Should he intervene? Or maybe just leave it be? Perhaps- "... I-I would not mind," the purple Navi suddenly accepted. Having received his confirmation, Eternalis immediately dismissed his earlier line of thought. However, she did have one more tidbit to continue on with, "That is, if you do not mind me being without an Operator."

Crap. Was he going to bust with a handicapped partner? He never liked it when people held back for any reason, whether it was intentional or otherwise. Rhea was one of two things. Either she was an unoperated Navi that just happened to come by the NetSquare for some quiet time (which he rudely interrupted), or her operator was temporarily out of communication for some reason. Oh well, it'd do him good to bust differently, at least. Which reminded him of his own operator, who had been mysteriously silent all the while. Opening up the communication link, he talked into it.

Harke, you there?

No response. Another trial, still no response. Until his third try, there was nothing but some background talk. Then, when he was about to close the link, a message appeared on his part of the visual. His human-form face was drained white when he saw what was written on the short type.

Eternalis, Harke's been knocked unconscious, so I'll be operating in his stead for a bit. Request any chips by direct link and I'll make sure they get to you as soon as possible. You're on your own in terms of strategy until I can get Harke to Beach Hospital, though, so be on your guard. Sorry for all the trouble,

Reverus.


So, okay, he was, at the moment, also without an operator. But at least he had chips. Time to address the matter. Well, looks like we're in the same situation. Almost, at least, as I'll have a substitute operator for the time being. In the meantime, I think we'll go for now, he said, motioning for her towards a certain portal leading to the circular NetSquare area.

Anyway, how does the NetVegas network sound to you, Rhea? From what I've heard, it's quite a challenge, he asked Rhea, seeking her approval to go on.
Seeing how Eternalis paled at what seemed to be a failure to communicate with his Operator, Rhea was about to ask him if everything was well when he suddenly just said that they were in a similar situation. She contemplated for a moment. "I apologize for the inconvenience, sir. You are free to bust on your own if you feel that I may be of an obsturction," Rhea said, not wanting to be a disadvantagous factor for any potential allies.

"... But I will do my best," the petite Navi said, frowning slightly in determination, stretching and beginning to walk towards the portal Eternalis motioned her to. "I have no prior experiences in NetVegas, so it will be a first for me, as well. So yes... A challenge sounds like a good time killer." If anything, she sounded like she was ready to break virii's bones more than anything else.
A warm smile crossed Eternalis' humanized face as Rhea apologized for what was essentially a small issue. He looked down and patted her on the shoulder as they walked as he reassured her, It's fine, Rhea. I don't mind busting with an unoperated partner. If anything, it'll give me a new experience, at least, along with the viruses we'll be getting to bust! He pumped his fist into the air in a show of manlitude and general awesome. Oh, and Rhea? You don't have to call me sir or anything formal. It does makes you sound a bit stiff.

And with that, he broke into a quick sprint towards their destination. When he was within reach of the portal, he leapt into the air, and performed a straight dive into the shining yellow portal. It activated its transfer sequences, turning Eternalis into nothing more than gleaming yellow data packets, transported across miles of real-world distance, into a new world. His entire body disappeared even before it hit the actual ground, but it probably would on the other side.

[VEGAS, BABY]
Rhea merely shrugged at the comment, before proceeding to follow suit in Eternalis' antics in portal hopping. One foot used for propulsion, she threw herself into the portal, rolling into a ball-like position before disappearing into the glow of yellow.

[To NetVegas-- link above]
[Bumping for FXP Evaluation]
[Eternalis GET: 8 FXP with Rhea]
[Rhea GET: 8 FXP with Eternalis]