### -> [[Plan]] "Toby, are you alright?" Mako was rubbing Toby's arm, which appears to be put in a cast. You couldn't tell, but it *was* his robotic arm, the one he could freely transform into whatever tool he needed. "Look, it's- it's fine, don't worry about it." He dotted his eyes around the alleyway. It was grungy, with the sandstone being the only floor to stand on. They were in between two buildings, though with enough room to breathe and be a group, without being uncomfortable. "It's just to hide... you know." Ika understood. "I get it. Anyways - what did Velvet give you guys?" Edgie handed over a briefcase. "They instructed us to give you a few items - a purse, some disguises, and some forged documents." Ika took it into her hands and opened it. Inside was as expected - two outfits, one labelled for her, and one for her partner. Underneath her own was a purse - nothing terribly fancy, but nothing bad either. She was more interested in the documents underneath Mako's disguise - particularly the IDs. "Vel makes fake IDs?" Toby interrupted. "They know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a robot with malformed morals." "Uhuh." Ika handed the briefcase over to Mako. "Maks, your outfit might be a tad... uh... showy." Mako seemed a bit happy at the idea. "Ooh, I like showy." "Right. You just might need to shave before we do this, or something." Mako tilted her head. "You need to shave?" "You don't? My hair grows everywhere, it's annoying." Edgie chimed in. "I believe Toby has a term for this... it is a 'Skill Issue', of some sort." Toby flustered a bit. "Edgie, that's- that's a figure of speech." "Ah. My sincerest apologies, Ika." Ika crossed her arms. "You and I are learning the same thing. But that does remind me..." She turned to face the man in blue hair. "Toby, when we were checking out things back at base, you seemed to recognize something I said. You know what a Video Game is. Those don't exist, it's a false memory of mine. Do you know anything about that?" Mako interrupted before Toby could say anything. "You sure he said that? I don't think he did, Ika." "I'm positive, Maks. Besides, if he doesn't know anything, I don't really want to push it anyways. There's a little too much on my mind." Toby nodded, sweating just a tad. "Uh y-yeah, I don't know anything about it. I just, wanted to be part of the joke, you know?" Ika peered into his eyes. You could describe them as orbs, but that would be weird. They started to dart around again, nervously, as if trying to hide something. I mean, he *literally* was - he's not supposed to be inside the borders of The City, as per local regulations - but there wasn't anyone in the alleyway that would be against him, right? Ika figured he just needed some support, maybe something about the stresses of life was getting to him. Without a word, she walked over to him and gave him a hug, holding tight over his back. "It's alright, Toby, it's alright, nobody's going to hurt you..." Toby seemed to calm at first, but his panic grew worse - he could feel his teeth tingling, his arms starting to numb, his head starting to scatter, his mind starting to race, he pulled away from Ika's vice of a grip, backing away into the corner. "G-get away from me! Don't touch me, Ika, I-" He gripped his side in anguish, collapsing to the ground, but still sitting up. Ika staggered back a bit herself, turning to Edgie. "What's going on, is he alright?" "I have no idea. This does not seem usual." Mako called out, holding out a hand. "Toby, it's alright, we're here! We all care about you! There's no reason to be afraid." Toby removed his arm from his side, before putting it on his cast - the one covering his only evidence of not being human. "It's the arm, the arm! It needs to go, it *needs* to! You don't get it!-" Ika acted fast, rushing over, pulling his free arm away from the cast. "Hey, don't hurt yourself! It's alright!" "No, it's not alright! I'm a freak, a monster!" "You're not a *monster*! M-Mako, a little help??" Mako ran over as well, grabbing his cast, knowing it wouldn't hurt all too much. Toby was now stuck between the two, unable to move his arms. Defeated, he slumped down. "I don't understand it. I don't understand!" Ika looked over to Mako, who looked over to Edgie, who looked back at Ika. She wasn't the best at consoling people, but she could try. "Toby, why were you trying to tear your arm off? Is something wrong with it?" Toby laughed, almost manically. "Of course you wouldn't get it. You're not incomplete, Ika. You never understand everything. You have a loving girlfriend, you have a wonderful life, you have *everything* and I have *nothing*." "That's not entirely true, Toby... I don't like my life." "Pft. Why not? You get to go on adventures while I'm stuck working a dead-end museum job." Ika thought for a bit. "Edgie, could you hold his arm? I want to show him something." "You can drop them, I'm not going to do anything." "I don't trust you enough for that. Edgie, please?" The mage nodded, replacing Ika's position in holding his hand with both of their own. Ika walked over to Toby's front and sat down in front of him. "Are you squeamish any?" "I can't handle nothin'. Show it to me." "You were warned." Ika drew a breath, before rolling up her left sleeve, revealing a series of cuts and scars, dotted along the front of her forearm. They were particularly clustered near the wrist. "I promised Mako I wouldn't do this anymore, but before then, I did this a lot." "Wh-why? You have no reason to hurt yourself. You don't deserve this." Ika turned to Mako. "Have you told him...?" Mako shook her head. "This is all you, sweetie." Ika returned to look into Toby's eyes. "Toby, I'm not like any of you three. I awoke in a forest with no idea who I was. I'm lucky I have Mako, she took me in and homed me while I recovered. But, the memories started to flood back... and the first one I ever had? Was me cutting someone's head off. There's a file on me back at base, they say I've killed seventeen people. Would I do that again? No, but you can see how that would wreck someone's mental state." Ika pulled her sleeve back down. "You're not alone in your suffering. We're all, on some level, incomplete. It's alright. There's nothing to be ashamed of." Toby hung his head. "I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Tears started to well up in his eyes, before splattering onto the ground. "I had no idea..." Ika once again went in for the hug, motioning for the other two to drop his arms. "It's alright, it's okay... Just don't try and rip your arm off, Toby. It means more than you know." Mako chimed in. "Yeah, she's right, Toby. You're not alone. That's what we're doing here - we're *fighting* for you, for us..." Toby just accepted Ika's hug. He smiled, the same way Ika would - something soft, but still noticeable.