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Spending so much time in Hollows, it's easy to forget that Billy can be harmed by things that aren't Ethereals.
Badly harmed.
Nekomata hadn't been a member of the Cunning Hares' for long, hardly long enough to be allowed into the tightly knit circle shared between the two Demara's and the android, but it's almost like that didn't matter. Especially not to Billy.
Even before she was a member, it was like he had already decided she deserved his kindness. It was a sort of bright-eyed, literally, brand of naivete that infuriated her. How dare he be so nice to her? How dare he show such kindness to the thiren that was leading them to their deaths.
How dare he make her feel so guilty, when he- when the Hares'-
Except it wasn't really the Hares' that had killed Miguel in the end, was it?
It was PubSec. And every drop of guilt Nekomata had felt was well deserved.
"Nekomata-!"
Back in the present, nowhere near a Hollow this time, she remembers being bodily shoved aside. Remembers clearly the choked down sound of pain and the crunch of metal that happened all in the blink of an eye.
Billy stood tall in front of Nekomata, stance squared as the jaws of this- yellow mutilated construction vehicle clamped around his left arm. It shook with the effort of keeping the thing from throwing him around like a chew toy- but he didn't falter.
"Kitty- you okay?" the android calls over his shoulder, his voice tight with strain and worry, "I didn't push you too hard, did I?"
"M-Me? What about you-?"
At worst her palms were a bit scraped up from hitting the asphalt, but that was more a result of the thiren's instinctual flailing than his protective insert. And he was the one in the jaws of the beast! Literally!
Care about yourself first, dummy-! Nekomata thinks venomously, shooting up to her paws as the mechanical thingamajig nearly throws her new teammate to the ground. She doesn't know what she was planning on doing, exactly, but Billy takes the decision out of her hands anyway.
He lines up a shot, somewhere between the thing's shoulder and the armpit, and fires!
The bullet pierces the joint in a clean arc, and removes the limb with a sharp 'ting!' and a 'thud!' as it hits the concrete! It's jaws- is it the jaws? It looks more like a hand now that Nekomata isn't fearing for her life- they don't release Billy's arm until he's been nearly dragged to the floor with it.
Foolishly, the thiren had been hoping that the crunch of metal she heard was the teeth breaking on the android's build.
It wasn't.
It most definitely wasn't.
The plates of the android's arm tear like butter under the drag- ripping his red sleeve to ribbons and causing sparks to fly in firework-esque bursts. Billy brings his other hand up to one of the deeply bit teeth and tries to wrench it out without causing more damage.
Nekomata leaps to help, finally shaken out of her stupor by a startled mip of pain that Billy looses when one of the clamps catches on some wiring.
"Wait- Nekomata, your hands-"
Ah- right, the maybe scrapes. She'd honestly forgotten about them, her gloves had absorbed most of the damage, after all- even if they'd been torn to shreds in the process.
The android tries to gently guide her hands away by the wrists, but Nekomata bullies her way closer with a hiss.
A familiar rush of anger clouds her head. His damn- friendliness. Why couldn't he just be mean?
"Billy, your arm," the thiren snaps back, tails lashing to better show her infuriation, "What're you worrying about me for, huh!? Look at you!"
"Wh- huh? But I'm fine," he exclaims, like a liar, "This can be fixed no problem! You can't!"
"That's not the point, dummy!"
Seriously! Not! The! Point! Nekomata punctuates each thought with a bap to his fluffy hair. How dare he! How. Dare. He! How dare he imply his injuries mattered any less! The nerve!
...huh. His hair was surprisingly soft.
Before she even realizes what she's doing, her hand simply- ruffles it from side to side. The android sputters in confusion under her ministrations.
"Nekomata!?"
"Shut up!"
Billy shuts up.
The two stay there in silence for a few more minutes, and eventually the thiren moves back to help him free what's left of his arm. He doesn't push her away this time, even though he's clearly not happy with the agitation of her scrapes.
He could be missing a limb- and he's worried about her. Her, who hasn't even been a member of the Hares' a full three months!
Stupid, big hearted, stupid android.
"You know," Nekomata starts, even though she doesn't really know where she's going with this, she just wants him to get it already, "it doesn't matter that you can be put together again. It still happened."
Billy stills under her hands with a surprised little noise, but she just tightens her grip and barrels on.
"You'll still remember it happened."
The last clamp finally gets pulled free, but it snips right through a wire on it's way out, and the android bites back a yelp as he stumbles forward. Nekomata is quick to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hold tight- half to keep him upright and half to keep him close.
"So please," she begs, burying her face into his jacket collar, "Please don't pretend that it didn't."
She can feel him jolt in her impromptu hug, and for a terrifying moment she's scared he might pull away and brush it all off again, the thiren couldn't really stop him if he truly wanted to- but Billy just brings his arm up to hug Nekomata back.
His grip is so unbelievably soft- feeble.
"...okay." he says, not a promise but an acknowledgement, "okay."