Inbox: Mask or Menace

[megabytes]

"You've reached the comms device of Megaman.EXE. I'm not available at the moment, so please leave a message and I will respond as soon as I am able! Thank you!"

Comments

[microbrobotics]

Just what?

[ He leans his head against Megaman's shoulder, gently. ]

[megabytes]

Y-you're gonna think about it now.

[microbrobotics]

Not that much.

[megabytes]

Doesn't matter. You're gonna think about it. [He lets out a shaky whimper.] I won't be normal anymore.

[microbrobotics]

Dude, you weren't normal to me to begin with. We don't really have anything like navis back home.

[megabytes]

But you thought I was normal for a navi.

[microbrobotics]

Why do you care so much about being normal? I'm not normal.

[megabytes]

[He buries his face in Hiro's shoulder as best as he can.]

'Cause I'm the only one that worked.

[microbrobotics]

... What do you mean?

[megabytes]

I told you before. I was the only navi from the project that worked. I was the only one whose DNA donor wasn't their operator. That's how dad figured out what happened, and he cancelled the project so it wouldn't happen to anybody else.

I'm the only one.

[microbrobotics]

...

It's hard feeling alone like that.

[megabytes]

I hate it. It feels like I'm always doing or saying something weird, there's always someone who has to say I'm strange or unique or creepy or too human or something.

[microbrobotics]

I don't think you're any of those things. Except unique, maybe, but that's not a bad thing?

I can't, really. There's nothing "normal" for me to compare you to. You and Magicman are just different.

[megabytes]

You don't need anything to compare me to now. You know I'm not normal.

[microbrobotics]

Then I guess we match, huh?

[megabytes]

I guess...

[No offense, Hiro, he's just looking at this from the perspective of "being a small lonely genius VS dying and then coming back to life as an AI" so. It's not really clicking with him where you're coming from just yet.]

[microbrobotics]

[ The scale is pretty damn different. But perhaps the isolation isn't so much. ]

Do you trust me?

[megabytes]

Of course I do!

[microbrobotics]

Then trust me. We're partners in this. I won't let you down.

[megabytes]

...okay. 'm gonna hold you to that.

[He leans into Hiro a bit. Honestly...it helps, hearing it like that.]

...Hiro? Could we stay here for a bit?

[microbrobotics]

'course. I don't mind.

[ He will fluff up some of the data so that they have a nice comfy place to sit in, though. ]

Teach me more of that data pinging while we're here.

[megabytes]

[He blinks in surprise at the fluffy data. This is probably something he's never going to get used to, since it's not something navis usually care about. The joys of living in a world where physics is more of a gentle suggestion than anything.]

Sure. Um, anything you want to start with?

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro is human, so he likes feeling comfortable. Even if it's all in his head. ]

... How do I say your name? Not just "navi." Like, your ID code or something.

[megabytes]

Oh, that's easy.

[Head's up, Hiro, because there is a lot of data coming your way. Megaman pings over his ID string, which is pretty much all of his "salient" personal data compressed into a single massive chain of code: his name and registry number, his registry class, Lan and his dad's government ID numbers tagged "operator" and "programmer," and a looooooooong sequence of security clearances and honorary registry classes. He's got an Undernet Rank buried in there somewhere, too, but good luck picking that out without knowing what to look for.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Whoa. That's a little too much to take in at once. He repeats the first part cautiously and then gets completely lost. ]

Dude, how much information do you have in there?