[I'm making up hijinks, if no one cares. Feel free to add your own]

Simon was awake.

He had been awake for around five days now. His coma had carried him through the first two--he'd used Download too much in the course of too little time, and hacking a Digivice had terrible consequences even when he attempted it at full power. Not that it hadn't worked: Agare had Leader had been practicing, and now both could sustain their Ultimates for a bit of time.

Not a bad day's work, really.

He grinned and relaxed in his chair. "Umira," he began, feeling quite relaxed. "You mind pouring me another drink?"

He had joined the owner at the top of the hotel, on her very fine balcony. At nights it could get rather cold up here--a fact she never seemed to mind, but Simon supposed that was par for the course--but during the day it was fantastic.

Especially now. The whole ocean had turned golden, for no reason Simon understood, and the sight was quite a bit more beautiful than any he'd seen.

"Any time," she said laughingly, making him another with her unique 'Alcohol Magi'. Simon wasn't sure she was joking when she'd used the phrase: he'd talked to her assistant, a somewhat sarcastic Betamon by the name of Rodney, and heard she'd had a battle with some sort of hacker and that had been the result.

Well, whatever.

He took a sip and grinned, enjoying the height, the smooth drink in his throat and stomach, the day.

It had been a good week, all told. They'd eaten out, shopped, fought (in the course of things Leader had become obsessed with luring Ancient into a swordfight, something the samurai proudly abstained from). Caster and Chaos had eaten a few meals in the restaurant, the former usually joking that there would hopefully be neither personal revelations nor random kidnappings this time around. Agare had taken several long, luxurious baths.

Simon had had little interaction with the others. He'd see Daniel and Chaos, occasionally: he and Suri never did much talking, usually nodding towards each other and then ignoring one another. He had managed to lure Nova into a quick drink earlier that weak, but for someone so coarse the warrior had seemed surprisingly uncomfortable.

Ah well.

He took another sip of his drink and leaned back in his chair, enjoying himself.

It had been a short week, they usually where when you spent the entire week enjoying yourself. The longest days of course where the days immediately after the fight with Doomdramon, their bodies were wrecked and the aches and pains weren't exactly exciting. Nova and his group were in the bed most of the first day sleeping, the day after Nova was up and about. Interacting with the rest of the tamers and the digimon.

There was even one day he had managed to get into a playful duel with Ancient, and accidently shocked him with a little to much electricity. Needless to say the Fox tamer was paralyzed the next thirty minutes. Which was fine, Nova spent those thirty minutes dueling with Leader, the Plant was pretty damn strong. But Nova could get to him to go on the defensive with his impressive use of Accel.

Frost did the same, and found his own way of playing jokes on his allies throughout the week. One of the funniest is when he froze Simon's drink when he wasn't looking, a damn impressive feat considering Alcohol did not freeze easily, and when the tamer tried to take a sip of it he found his lip had gotten stuck on the cup. Boy was he pissed.

Another trick the SnowVeemon learned during the week was using his ice channeling to form a surfboard of sorts and us it it to surf the small waves of the Bay of Silence. Something he really enjoyed, especially at night when the water was nice and cold for him.

Enix during the week was usually seen sitting around mediating near the water when he wasn't up to anything important. He had engaged in conversation with mostly everyone from time to time. Except for with Surimon, the Wolf didn't seem to like dragons at all, which was fine with Enix. He didn't really have much love for digimon that were always grouchy either. Still even though he didn't like the Wolf, he the respect to at least acknowledge him when he walked past him.

One experience the Wyrm did particularly like was his encounter with Kaidis. He spoke with the dragon about maintaining his Mega form with less effort. He told him the trick was to let his instincts take over, relax, and try not to push the body to it limits right away. Had to let the body adjust to the influx of power and after a little while it would become second nature. It had after all taken his a little while to get used to Tyrantdramon, mostly because it was so different than his other forms on so many levels.

Another event they all enjoyed was the Victory Banquet on the sixth night. Nova had sat by Simon and Ancient, and Simon had managed to Drink them both under the table. Enix had managed to get seated beside Agare and Wingman, he had regressed down to Suukoudramon to take up less space, their interaction was very peaceful considering all three of them were pretty calm individuals. Frost had manage to get seated beside Surimon and Hiroshi. Hiroshi and Frost were pretty much on thin ice the entire night, because whenever Frost made a interesting comment the Wolf would look at him like he wanted to eat him.

On the Morning of the Seventh day however Nova had a killer headache, He reminded himself to never ever Drink with the tamer again. But today was the day, they would all had to resume their own adventures. Still they would all have to say their goodbyes.

Karma : 6
Post : 1

[ ...why is there an assumption that Suri would want to eat somebody for talking? If he isn't being bothered he'll just ignore you...
EXPOSITION ON SOME STUFF IN ATL K GAIZ ]


Suriumon had wandered around for most of the week. It was relaxing the first couple of days, recovering from the surge of power and the extended stay in Another World; it had been a very long time since he had used his Mega form at all, and to have gone to that level twice in as many days, especially to have pushed himself so far and so long against Doomdramon, had left him deeply exhausted.

But he had shortly become restless. However nice the rest was, he could not stand to sit here for too long. He had many things eating at him and worrying him and all of them had to be addressed as soon as possible, but despite his best attempts he could not get them taken care of. By the fourth day he was ready to leave and head north, but he had hit a snag almost immediately.

He could not find Chaos.

She was still there. She returned to the suite every night and they had the briefest of discussions and then she would disappear into her room and the next day she would either get up before he did and vanish somewhere into the bowels of the bathhouse, or else she might have been waiting long enough for him to leave before she wandered out on her own.

On the sixth day, he realized that she was probably just porting out elsewhere with the Green Tear and avoiding him entirely.

He halfway understood why, but he had assumed that she would also share in his concern and join him immediately. He had been frustrated in his attempts, however, and wound up spending those days wandering around the bathhouse trying to find where she was. He had seen -- or at least thought he had seen -- flashes of green, which suggested evasive teleportation, but he assumed he was just paranoid; the sheer number of Geckomon wandering around often frustrated his attempts to root her out.

He never brought it up, and he didn't bother asking any of the others if they had seen her. He had a feeling that they hadn't. Even if the two of them had a disagreement, Chaos rarely went so far out of her way to avoid him, and usually stood her ground if there was something she had no desire to do. No matter how hard it might be, she at least had the sense to confront Suriumon directly.

Caster had apparently seen her a few times, had conversations during the interim at that restaurant there, but he suspected this was more the wizard's fortune of having found her. He didn't know what happened in the restaurant before and he couldn't appreciate some of the irony in their going there, but he had a strong feeling that it was not her idea and that it would have been rude -- perhaps suspicious -- to turn down an invitation.

The only time he saw her before lights-out, before the seventh day, was the victory feast, and she had been decidedly reticent and seemed rather tired. Fortunately the rest of the group seemed to have been rather distracted, and she put up enough of a show before the alcohol came out that it went largely unnoticed. She took off early, too, but he suspected that was to avoid anything that happened in the wake of other tamers getting drunk than trying to avoid him.

Entirely true; Chaos had no desire to stay when the festivities devolved to a drinking competition, and excused herself before she had to see the others make fools of themselves.

She disappeared quite quickly after that. The wolf had gone to search for her as soon as he extricated himself from the room -- easy enough, he had a tendency to be moody and nobody decided to go out of their way to catch him as he left -- but his quick search turned up nothing until he returned to the suite and heard movement from her room.

He approached her door.

"Chaos?"

The faint noise stopped. There was silence for a few seconds, and then, very quietly, "What?"

"What's wrong?"

Silence again, and this time it went on for much longer. For a moment the wolf thought that she had disappeared entirely again, but then he heard movement, saw her shadow beneath the door.

"Can't say," she said finally.

No shock there. Still...

He sat down just outside her door and looked up to roughly where here eye level would be. "Look, kid," he said slowly. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. And everybody else is, too, doesn't need to be me." He smiled faintly. "Although I'd appreciate it if it was." The smile dissipated. "Still, you know... we're breaking tomorrow. If you wanted to talk to any of us..."

"S'fine, Suri."

She wasn't going to speak to him. Fine. He sighed.

"All right," he said. No use prodding. He stood up and turned away, but stopped himself before he walked over to his place on the couch. He looked over his shoulder. "Chaos..."

"Don't need it, wolf."

He turned and walked.

- -

Chaos had been ecstatic on the second and third days there. She had no real opportunity to enjoy herself on the first; she had been in a torpor, a state of half-sleep that left her exhausted, and every movement had been painful. She had bathed, several times, trying to work the pain out of her limbs and the blood out of her fur, and she had actually felt significantly better on the next couple of days. A celebratory mood had struck her, and she had gone about her business in high spirits.

A little ways into the third day, though, a bit of sullenness had taken her. She betrayed nothing; it was just a niggling in the back of her head, nothing really certain, just a little malaise, a little nausea, a little feeling that something was amiss inside of her. She had slept on it, hoping that it would disappear, but come the next day it had not.

In fact, come the next day, she recognized what it was.

She disappeared from the halls, or at least actively avoided seeing the others, lost herself in a sea of random Digimon and the Geckomon going past. It was hard to notice, probably; she had not been going out of her way to find people before then, although up until this point she had not been going out of her way to avoid them. She saw fewer people and took longer, more pointless walks; found herself drifting from one end of a floor to the other without really knowing what she had done between the times.

She still ran into people -- none of them had a schedule, so it was a given that she would find then eventually -- but the conversations were brief, and she smiled and laughed accordingly and then moved on and the fake joy washed off again.

She was sick with herself.

Once the swell of joy and the rapture of victory had passed, and she had opportunity to think, she realized two things. First of all was that, for all she had been here to help Daniel cast away the BOSCH virus and restore him to himself, and all for espousal of not wanting other people to suffer... she hated him.

Not him, not who he was. She would not call them good friends, despite everything, but allies? Yes. Would she fight alongside him again? Of course. She would answer a call for help if he needed it. No, she did not hate him, who he was, but she could not stand what he represented.

He was normal again. She was not. He had this path paved for him, he knew exactly how to fix the issue. She had no clues, she had no suggestions, just pity and apologies and a turning away at the door. His enemy was gone now-- what's more, he had been united with his lost partner. She still had never found hers to begin with.

Not his fault. And he had suffered for years under his affliction, she had no right to complain. But... but still...

She was happy for him, no doubt. Still...

But a little jealousy was not why she had begun avoiding people. She just did not want to look at them; proximity made something in her stomach squirm, and she just needed to get away from them as soon as possible.

There was no way for them to know why, if they ever caught on. There was simply no way. Daniel might have understood, maybe, but for all their time together she had never seen him lose control.

No. Poor words. She had not lost control. At no point in time had she lost control.

Which was why she stayed away from them. She was ashamed.

Back in that battle, it had been her choice. She had felt the virus screaming to get out as she had never felt it before, but she could have suppressed it until it became too much to bear. She could have held it down, she could have fought it. She had allowed herself to step back, though. It had been her choice to let it run wild.

And she had been aware of everything. She knew its presence was rising against her and knew that there was a point of no return, that she could allow the virus to run for a certain amount of time and keep it under her reigns and she could tell when the moment approached. And arrived. And passed. And she had allowed it.

She hadn't known if there was a way to go back. She knew the consequences of allowing it to take over past the end of the battle. She knew what would happen. She knew what she was doing.

She had done it anyway.

She hadn't even thought of this until just then, that moment, when it took hold of her all at once and she realized immediately that she could not confront any of them. However she had joked about it immediately after being released, it had scared her. Not the power of the virus, itself; it was the fact that she had control, she had awareness, and she had just allowed it without a second thought.

Had it been her? She had been in the Otherside, so she assumed that the virus' powers had been augmented, that maybe it encroached on her mind and made her crazy and planted suggestions and blocked sensibility, but that was little comfort. Because if that was the case, then it had defeated her surreptitiously, without a suggestion of its power, overwhelmed her and she had thought the entire time that it was her own will to give in to the power.

So how much of herself had been consumed like that already? Had it all faded by coming back to Mirage? She couldn't even tell anymore.

So she had avoided them. She was afraid, somehow, that they would know, and horrified that they might discover if she talked to them too long. But more than that, she just could not face them, any of them, knowing what she had done, or allowed, or acquiesced to, she was ashamed of herself.

They would be parting soon. She had gotten through the week, anyhow.

And it had been, physically at least, quite refreshing.

But she never really got a break mentally. Nothing much different.

She banged her head into a wall at that thought.

It was amazing how fast seven simple days in the Digital World flew. When he and his team first stepped into the place, the first thing they did was sleep. Then again, that was what just about everyone did when they walked in. There was a bit of arguing over who got a bed and who slept on the furniture, but things eventually settled down. As Ancient fell asleep, all he could think about was ways of how to get his body to stop hurting

From there, it was pretty much recover and relax. Through the second and third day, Ancient grew irritated with Leader constantly challenging him, and him constantly saying no. He was still letting his body recover from the events that had happened on the Otherside, he had taken a pretty fair beating both physically and mentally, and there was no way in heck that he was going to fight the plant digimon any time soon.

Other then that, things ran pretty smooth. Haruhi relaxed on sand and got a few rays, Wingman relaxed in the house, and Josh took care of lunch and dinner...though he did literally burn dinner on the third night. No one was happy wit it, but they made due.

On the fourth day, everyone ate out...and it was GOOD. Ancient savored the first bite. Never had he tasted anything that good in a LONG time, and he also never thought that anything tasted good in the Digital World. Of course, he very rarely ate out in the Digital World in general, so maybe that had to do with it.

On the fifth day, it was drinks central. Umira was handing out drinks to everyone, but very few were taking them...Ancient included. Very rarely did he consume alcoholic drinks...even back on his home world. True be told, he had had one when they started to flow out, but that was it. After all, he didn't want to get drunk, do something absolutely stupid...or potentially dangerous...and then have wake up with no idea where he was and have no memory of the event. Of course, when Frost froze Simon's lips to the cup, he couldn't help but laugh.

Still, as he leaned on the balcony railing, he could sense that something was off. What it was, he could tell, but something deep inside told him that something wasn't right.

And then it clicked: Chaos. She wasn't herself. She was avoiding everyone a bit more then normal, though as to why he couldn't tell. He wanted to go up to her and ask her was was wrong, but then something told him that what she was going through was a private matter, and that it wasn't his place to step in.

And that something, which was probably Strabi, was probably right.

The fifth night was fairly relaxing. Well, not exactly. Ancient was in the middle of dueling Nova, which was fairly normal since the two were good with their swords, when Nova put a little too much into one of his attacks and shocked him like heck. He fell to the floor for a few seconds before getting the feeling back in his limbs and getting back up. Ancient then asked Nova to never do that again before the two continued their fight.

The sixth day, Ancient spent most of the day leaning on the railing looking out into the bay and taking in the relaxing sounds. The natives were having fun, and it even looked like Haruhi had called in a portion of his 'family' over. They didn't partake in the celebration, though, they just hung out and relaxed on the beach...and how they even got to the bay was a mystery to him. Haruhi, meanwhile, was relaxing on the back porch, and Wingman was sitting on the steps. Josh, on the other hand, was still a little uneasy that everyone would be parting ways soon. It seemed like they had been together forever, but all things did have to come to an end.

And then there was the sixth night, which had been named 'the Victory Banquet', where everyone had one last few rounds of drinks and a few things to eat...though Chaos split after watching everyone have a few drinks. As Ancient took his first drink, Simon had taken three. By the end of the night, Ancient had only had three drinks, while Simon had put down...he had honestly lost count. Wingman, meanwhile, watched with interest as Hiroshi and Frost spoke about interesting things. It honestly looked like Surimon was going to fall asleep, though; he really dodn't show any interest in the conversation. Wingman merely stayed back and watched everyone have fun.

Haruhi, meanwhile, looked out towards the bay. He seemed concerned, like he was uneasy with something. This caught Ancient's attention, and the anthro fox slowly made his way over to the green Wyrm while trying to make sure he didn't fall flat on his face. Haruhi looked to his right as he watched Ancient sit down next to him and join looking out at the bay.

"Beautiful night for this kind of celebration, isn't it?"

"Yea," Ancient said with a slightly of nod, "it sure is."

"To think that this will be the last day that all of us will be together. Who knows when any of us will cross paths again."

"Come on, Haruhi, we're all bound to run into each other again someday."

"I know, but it's...strange. I mean, you've been a part of Daniel's cursade from the beginning...which was...what...four, maybe five, months ago? Doesn't it feel wierd that when you wake up the day after tomorrow it will just be you, myself, Wingman, Josh and Strabi?"

Ancient nodded a bit more straight, the effects of the alcohol starting to ware off, "It is going to be wierd, but that's how life works. We were all meant to come together to help Daniel overcome this beast that tampered with his life. Now that this beast has been destroyed, there's...really no point for all of us to stay together."

"Maybe, but it is doing to be wierd with just the five of us."

"We'll figure out a way to make due."

Haruhi nodded before helping Ancient get to his feet. Both took a look back at everyone else, who appeared ready to clock in for the night. Looking at each other and nodding, Haruhi helped Ancient get to the couch that he had chosen to sleep on for the last week.

As Ancient plopped himself down, all he could think about was what had happened during this journey. To think it all started with a simple meeting in Native Forest, and then it transformed into a fight against the virus that had caused Daniel pain for four years. There were minor battles, but the battles against the five creators, the battle to take back the Manner, and the battles on the Otherside would always remain in his head. A living nightmare brought to an end, and a lost friendship potentially restored. It all seemed too good to be true, and yet it was true. As Ancient closed his eyes, he smiled. He was glad to know that he had helped win this war.

When the morning of the seventh day arrived, Ancient awoke with a headache, but it was a good headache...though in all honesty he had to remember not to take on Simon in a drinking fight ever again. Three drinks was probably as far as he was going to go. Still...

Sevend days of celebration. Seven days of passion and joy. Seven days of rejoicing, knowing that a battle against darkness had hed been won.

And yet, something told him this would only be the tip of the iceberg...and that his life would soon be turned upside-down.
-------------------
words-1316
posts-1 (Most likely the only one in this thing)
karma-14 (0+(1+13))

(And so...B.O.S.C.H. comes to a close. It feels incredible that the first RP that I ever jumped into on DCD turned into this, and that I was a part of it. This RP will definitely be one to remember.

BTW, someone may want to lock all the B.O.S.C.H. posts in the RP board...just because...

It's an archive board. Even I can't post there.)

This post has been edited by unknown on Dec 12 2009, 11:55 AM

During the first two days of their stay, Daniel had lost the will to move. He was all aches and pains not only because of the many battles they had fought, but bcause it had finally dawned on him that he was now human again. His body was taking some time to adjust though the Tamer could not help but wonder what wierd and wonderful side effects his four years of torment would have but at that stage he didn't care.

After resting for a number of hours, Kaidis had returned to his Ultimate form which he found the most comfortable. He enjoyed speaking with Enix despite the fact that the BlackCyberdramon was his usual gruff self. He felt that he and Enix had a lot in common but this was the first time they had actually spoken and made sure to at least express those facts.

Hiroshi had savoured every minute of his time relaxing despite spending most of it with the Digi-Egg. All the hen jokes that had been made could have been told a thousand times and they still would have been amusing. On the third day, Daniel and company made their way to the beach to mourn the loss of the Tamers that had died nearby. That was a day that would always scar him. Though Caster had been determined to put them out of theirr misery from the start, he and Ancient thought back. Ultimatey however, it was Kaidis who decided to go for it. And whether Daniel like it or not, both he and Caster had been right. He did not know what Raidon was doing now but the fact was he was still out. Daniel hated him. He would never forgive him.

Though the antics of his allies did cheer him, he had a feeling that Chaos was avoiding him. Not that he blamed her. After all, he was human again while her virus had only gotten worse. Though he did feel guilty, Hiroshi had maneged to convince that there was nothing he could do to change that.

The next few days were spent either relaxing or walking. The latter only applying to Daniel seeing as his partners always took the oppotunity to stretch their wings. The little egg always went with them wherever they went.

And then their was the Banquet to celebrate their victroy, including lots of alcohol. Despite Daniels protests that he was underage, his allies convinced him to have at least one glass. He roared with laughter at the drunken antics of Nova and Simon. Kaidis's face was a picture when one of them got dangerously close to his feet. Hiroshi spoke with Frost about various things. Including the rush of Digivolving to Champion for the first time. Suriumon looked like he was wishing for them to shut up. Maybe they were being a little loud but not as much so as thw two carrying on under the table.

On the seventh day, Kaidis caught up with Daniel. The Tamer was staring at the egg in his arms.
"It's been seven days..." The Tamer said slowly. "You'd think this would have hatched by now..."
"It'll pull thorugh." Kaidis said in a gentle tone that even surprised himself. He sucked at comforting.
"It moves every now and again. Daniel continued. "But... Mayber you're right. It could be the fact that Rex was so badly corrupte. If it's even still him..."
Kaidis frowned. Their was no way of knowing this for certain until it hatched but if it was Rex then would that really e a good thing?

"Their's something I wanna mention while I'm here." Kaidis said changing the subject. It concerns our comrades."
Daniel turned to face the dragon.
"I know... After this we part ways, right? Possibly never to see each other again... People and their partners who have given their all... Risked their lives even. All to give me back my humanity. For that, I will never forget them..."
"But you'll still have us. Came a voice from behind Kaidis. They both turned to see Hiroshi flutter into the room and land on Kaidis's shoulder. The black dragon had gotten used to this so it no longer bothered him. Daniel nodded with a small smile.
"I know... Me... You... And good old Kaidis! And Rex too...!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[And, what has to be the longest running saga of this site comes to a close. I still can't believe it. But I'd like to thank those who have stuck by it until the end. Thanks a million!]

(It was an honor, Dragon-of-Flame, to have been a part of it.)

[It has been great. I was just reading over the old 'On the Coast' posts. Good stuff.']

Simon looked off moodily.

Tomorrow. Last day. Tomorrow.

His mouth twitched into a frown.

He was not nearly so affected as his comrades thought he was by the enormous quantity of alcohol he had imbibed. He become a fair drinker in the course of his wars with the Naokokami, taking great care never to be drunk when he'd been very nearly killed following one escapade (he had, he recalled with a grimace, a scar on his arm to remind him of this fact). Following the deployment of the Masks and Raidon's alterations, Simon had become very nearly immune to it.

Too bad, that. He was feeling pretty damnably content, but he would have felt better if he could have gotten his head a bit cloudier.

"You have a good time, Simon?" Caster asked. Simon turned his head. The Wizardmon was standing on the balcony of their suite and looking out upon the night surf. Simon found the view of a Digital Ocean eerily beautiful. It was not like the black oceans of earth: it seethed with light, flowered with it. In the midst of that light the shadowy figures of still moving Digimon could be seen, some violent, some peaceful, but all bound together in the brilliant illumination.

Beautiful.

"You look happy," Caster observed. "That doesn't happen very often."

"I am always a bright and chipper person," Simon replied. Caster cracked a weak smile and Simon shrugged, scratching the back of his head. He still hurt from the effort he'd exerted beneath that mountain, his mind still groaned beneath the weight of all that he had experienced in the past month, but...

"Well, why shouldn't I?" he asked. "I mean, we've done great things. We saved Daniel, we beat all those viruses, we fought Raidon to a draw--twice." He grinned, looked out into the darkness. "And at the end there, we...well."

"I was there," Caster smiled, looking out. "Even if it was Abadon's will, it was my power. I was there."

"Yeah." They stood side by side, Simon standing close to a foot higher than his partner but both feeling confident.

"I'm not," he began suddenly. "Gonna be able to fight for awhile."

They looked at each other, and Caster shrugged. "I figured," Caster replied. "My plan was to take us back to the Manor, get our house in order. We can keep an eye on things for awhile, help Haku out. He seemed pretty keen on getting our help last time."

Simon nodded. It was a good plan: he was a bit too weak to continue on. The battles had taken their toll. For all they'd accomplished, they had paid a cost. The fighting with Phoenix. The Abominations beneath the mountain. His torture on Angel Island.

Still ached from that, come to think of it.

And...

The complex. The complex beneath the bay.

He looked out into the ocean with sudden intensity, remembered.

"I gotta go," he said suddenly, turning to leave.

"Not going to sleep?" Caster called to his departing back.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"You'll never die!"

"Then I guess I'm doomed to be one tired bastard for the rest of time." He turned back briefly and flashed his partner a grin.

"You keep using Download, you will," Caster said shrewdly. Simon cocked an eyebrow and Caster, smiling, added, "Wish her a good night on my behalf. Tell her I wish her well." They looked at each other, and as an afterthought Caster concluded, "She won't accept. But if she does, I'll gladly go with."

Simon and Caster regarded each other, than nodded, smiling, and turned to their separate pursuits.

Simon stepped out into the hall and withdrew two rocks from his pocket, focusing upon them. He shouldn't be doing this, really: it was a terrible, terrible idea, his lips still hurt from Frost icing over his drink (clever little bastard), his body still ached from the ordeals it had been forced through, and using Download after such exertions was...

Well, foolhardy. But he'd rather do it than not.

The rocks disintegrated, a spike of pain hit Simon's temples, and he held two glass cokes in his hand.

He slid down the hall quietly, keeping his eyes out for the others--he'd never seen Daniel more at ease than he was now, and he was really beginning to enjoy Nova and Ancient's company--but he found no one else. So without much ado he knocked upon Chaos' door.

He could part ways with the others, he had realized, tomorrow. But he'd like to talk to Chaos now. His commander. A woman he'd strongly considered killing a few weeks before. A woman, he'd been told, sorely put upon during their battle beneath the mountain.

More than him? He wondered.

"It's me," he called quietly. "Got a pair of cokes, if you'd like to share something less intoxicating for a bit."

There was a silence from the opposite side of the door.

And then it opened, and Chaos leaned out.

"Coke?" she asked, a faint smiling playing at her lips. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Behind the joking question, though, it was actually a question. Why did that sound familiar? They had shared a coke before. It had been a rather intense conversation, but they had several of those over time and she was having difficulty placing which particular talk this had been. Then again, had it been one of the important ones? It must've been, or she wouldn't be remembering...

Trying to remember...

Why does this sound so familiar?

She betrayed nothing. She was good at lying and good at acting and rested enough that she could take advantage of it.

She accepted one of the proffered bottles.

"Admittedly," she said, "I'm more of a Pepsi person, myself, but I won't turn down a Coke." She looked down and popped the top off of the soda bottle. "Especially one in one of these snazzy glass bottles. So classy."

She looked up, looked past him, looked for anybody that might have inexplicably been with him, but she knew he was alone. The only thing she saw behind him was Suriumon, looking up from the couch and glowering across the room at her.

She smiled.

"C'mon in."

"Oh, what!" the wolf yelled. "You turn me away from the door and you just let him saunter in?"

"You," she said flatly, "did not bring soft drinks."

And she closed the door behind them.

Shut inside the room now, she half turned away from him and regarded the open bottle of soda for several seconds, not really registering anything and not really bothering to speak or listen. She still could not place why this felt so familiar, and normally she would not have been so hung up on it, but this seemed like something she would remember, should remember, had remembered...

She gave up and took a gulp from the bottle. It was cold and pleasant and crisp and far, far better than it could have possibly tasted in reality; too long deprived of taste, something so simple as a soda could be so fantastic.

That was why the meals in the restaurant had been beyond understanding. Too long deprived. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

That doesn't work. Wrong phrase.

"So," she said pleasantly, looking over her shoulder to Simon. "Pleasant week?"

"I am nothing but classy," Simon countered, following her in. He flashed Suri an apologetic look before the door closed but then was in the room. Chaos had managed to keep her place in order, unlike Simon--for all his discipline, it had been a nice, relaxing week, and as a result

"Not too bad," Simon admitted, when Chaos asked him how his week had been. He tapped the side of his temple, smiling faintly. "For all that I had tonight, I'm only a trifle tipsy, more's the pity." He sighed, his mouth twisting to one side. "I suppose that makes me an alcoholic, mm? That's supposed to be one of the signs."

He twisted the cap of his coke off with his teeth and took a sip. Damn refreshing, he admitted: there was something in the bubbling taste of coke that was positively invigorating. Was it a result of childhood? Was it perhaps simply the feeling of caffeine in his veins after months of being deprived of it?

Ah well. It was a good taste.

"Better than last time, anyways," Simon continued thoughtfully. "Last time we were here I believe I was one battered wreck and you were unconscious." He grinned. "It's amazing what a bit of consciousness can do for a place, eh?"

He pushed his glasses back onto his nose with the rim of his Coke bottle. "And yours?" he asked. "I've been pretty noisy, personally, but you've kept quiet. Not that I'm surprised." He took another sip. "You tend to stay pretty quiet, usually." He gestured with his head out to the hotel. "Not like them, eh? They tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves."

Chaos chuckled. "That's right," she said quietly. "And look at this. A whole week gone by, nobody kidnapped and nothing destroyed. Nothing large, anyway. Good record for us, I'm impressed."

She took another sip from the coke bottle, not as long as the lost, she wanted to conserve this now.

"Mm, they're very loud," she admitted. "Not much for loudness, myself, when I'm trying to relax. Had more than enough of that for the past... while." How long had it been since she had dropped in on them in the Flare Crater? She hadn't bothered keeping track of time, she had long since stopped bothering, and on her entrance she had not fancied it would take that long.

How wrong, how wrong.

"Tend to find staying quiet is the best way to keep the hell away from Rie and Umira. You may find this strange," and she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial stage whisper, "but I don't like them very much."

She took another sip and let herself go quiet. She didn't really have any idea what to say, to be honest; conversation seemed dried up in her mind, and it was odd to talk nonchalantly about anything. For all the time they as a group had spent together she knew, in retrospect, surprisingly little about any of them beyond what they had shared as experience and told as anecdote, and there had been very little swapping of stories. Now that conversation no longer needed to focus on stratagem and survival and general crazy confusion, she had no idea what to talk about.

Let him lead, she thought. He had appeared at her door bearing gifts, perhaps he had something in mind. She simply did not.

Her mind had been a bit sluggish of late.

"Rie can be a bit of a pain," Simon conceded, grinning a bit at Chaos' sarcasm. "But I rather like Umira. She's got a certain energy."

He relaxed back into the seat he'd occupied, risked a glance to his right. The pulsing radiance of the Bay of Silence--"The Illumination of Souls", Caster had called it--was easily visible, and he took a moment of comfort in its observation. Fortunately for sleeping patrons, the windows all darkened on command--Umira really spared no expense for her lavish resort.

He shrugged and added, looking somewhat thoughtful, "Also, I think she's rather fond of me. Not sure why."

None of this was what he wanted to say, of course, but he felt pensive about it. This was his leader, strange a thought as that was. His commander. This woman he'd so recently considered killing, this strange creature. Still Infected. How did she feel about that? Simon couldn't even begin to guess. He didn't even know what an Infection felt like.

Well. Had to start somewhere.

"I, uh," he began, broke off, swallowed. He didn't have conviction anymore, was the problem. It was so easy to talk to her when it was clear-cut: she was his potential enemy, he her potential killer. They were on the edge of a confrontation.

This wasn't a confrontation. Which, Simon thought with annoyance, actually made it harder.

"I wanted to...to thank you," he finally managed. He kept his eyes fixed on the ocean. "I..." He cleared his throat. "I was kind of losin' it for awhile, there. Felt strange. But you." He turned his eyes back to her. "You didn't turn on me. On us." He gestured. "And I know he offered you...I know how persuasive Raidon can be." He grimaced and closed his eyes. Thought for a moment.

"You had everything to gain and nothin' to lose, and you stuck with us anyways. That means a lot." He shrugged, flashed a lopsided smile. "To me, at any rate. It means a lot."

Another sip of coke.

Before she could speak he continued, a little more quickly, "Since he did offer you a wish and you did refuse him, I kind of...well." He felt a little more confident now. "I was wonderin' if you wanted help with your issues." You partner, he didn't say. Your infection. A sheepish expression crossed his face. "I've already talked to Caster and Agare, and Leader'll go anywhere s'long as there's a chance for fightin. And, y'know...you weren't involved in this. You didn't have any reason to help." He set his coke down and shrugged again. "Figured I owed you for that, if nothin' else."

"I, uh..."

Hesitation. That had been rare so far, but perhaps he had the same rationale that she did. There was no mission, there was no strategy to plot, they were free to think whatever they liked and do whatever they pleased for the moment. It was astonishing that such freedom crippled them so from conversation.

She looked away.

"Don't thank me for that," she said. "He targeted me because I was the most likely to go along with him. What could he offer to anybody else? Ancient... I can imagine something, but would be petty, and he's too hard-headed" -- she did not use the word 'loyal', and in retrospect she was not sure why -- "and Daniel... we were already helping him with his problem."

Really, it was just testament to her own indecision. She had said yes, and then she had said no, and then she had tried to say yes again, and then she just gave up after that. That was nothing to be proud of. That was nothing to be thanked for.

She was quiet for a moment, took another sip from the coke bottle, considered. But...

"Thanks for the offer," she said, flashing him a smile to say that she was genuinely happy to hear it. "But I'm afraid I've been around people far too long. Need some time off."

She reached into her pocket and withdrew her digivice, flipping it into the air once before catching it, and the smile returned for a moment. "Still, I know who I can call if I ever need something."

She stopped for a moment and looked at the digivice. It had been a while since she had run a scan, come to think, not since Factorial Town...

But what was the point?

She pocketed it again and took another draw from the coke bottle.

She appreciated the offer, she really did, but she couldn't be around people for a while. She had to just... not be. Not until she knew for certain what...

And probably not after that, either. She just needed to be away for a while.

[Next series of posts should have us sayin' goodbye, I guess?]

Simon nodded. "I kinda figured," Simon answered, shrugging with a rather peculiar smile playing about his lips. "Since you've been hidin' out and all. Guess I kind of understand."

He paused, looked thoughtfully back out to the Bay. "I dunno, maybe it's just me," he said after a moment. "But I don't particularly like bein' alone. Somethin' about it makes me feel so god damn...pensive." He got to his feet and finished off his coke in one quick pull.

"Well," he said, grinning. "Thanks for sharin' a coke with me." He tossed the bottle into the air and focused upon it. In mid-fall it disintegrated and when he reached out to catch it, it had become a pack of cigarettes.

It hurt, a bit. But eh, he didn't have any plans for the next week.

He moved to the door, tossing the pack between his hands, and then glanced back at her. "Y'know, it's been fun," he said. "In a twisted, strange kind of way." He stuck a cigarette between his lips and pulled out a lighter. "You ever need a hand, Chaos, call. I'll be more than glad to help."

He stepped out into the hall, closed the door softly behind him. He felt restless again: his feet itched, his hands twitched. He needed to be out of the building.

He moved down through the resort, took one of the soft and speedy elevators down to the ground floor, stepped onto the beach. It was a bit chilly, but he found he didn't mind too much. Seeing the bright light of the beach made it feel all too worth it.

He was not, he saw, alone.

She swam gracefully through the ocean, twitched here and there. No longer was she restrained by the familiar strictures of human form: sharing a sort of scaly-helmet of the same make worn by Angewomon, she was now covered in scales. Two wing-like fins protrduced from her shoulder blades and a blue tail emerged from where her legs were on land.

She was riding atop the surface of the water, moving waves according to her will, using her streamlined body to coast upon them. Caster was nearby, still in Wizardmon form, but focused. He was skating across the surface of the water as though it were ice, but Simon could see from its fluctuations that Caster was simply moving himself as though it were so. He spun about near the mermaid, with nothing like her mastery but with a grace all his own.

"Enjoying the night!" she called at him, sending herself up on a waterspout of her own making. Caster followed, creating a spiral ramp of sorts around the spout which he used to pursue her.

Simon grinned and lit his cigarette at last, taking a long drag and breathing smoke out into the air. "Why, yes," he commmented, with a smile. "I think I am."

He watched them coast upon the surface of a bay so alight that it appeared to be naught but brightness given liquid form, and felt--for the first time in a long time--satisfied.

He would be on the beach when the others came out to say their farewells.

KARMA COUNT COMPLETE: 12/13/09

"Glad t'hear it," she said.

Chaos was inclined to add a 'Stop smoking, those things'll kill you', but decided that so long as they weren't near her, she'd be fine.

He left. The door shut behind him. Chaos watched it for a moment, thinking of nothing and thinking of everything, and then downed the last of the soda. She placed it on the nearby bureau and turned away, toward the windows.

Oceanside view.

She had ridiculously mixed feelings about just heading outside, so she settled them by opening the sliding glass door and stepping out onto the balcony. The wind up here was chilly and crisp and had a bit of a bite to it; she needed that, her fur was well-insulated and left her much warmer than she preferred to be under normal circumstances.

The sun was almost gone. The edge of the ocean was still gold on the distant horizon, the rest of it turned dark in the disappearing sunlight, flashed with iridescence as creatures moved in inscrutable patterns beneath the surface. Deep blue, deep purple, deep green. Beautiful.

She didn't much like it.

She had lived close to the beach most of her life, one way or another. She knew what the beach looked like on earth, and she didn't really like it. Not the beach. People were always there, people ruined it, and sand-- not a fan of sand.

But water. The ocean. The expanse of nothingness but water and sky... she knew that, too. She knew what it was like to lose yourself in the deep of the ocean, almost alone, to sit there in the dead of night and see nothing except what you could see from the moonlight, from the starlight, from the reflection off the water and against the clouds, from the flashes of heat lightning in the sky.

Absolute, natural night, when the water went mirror black and you could see nothing and it just moved out into the endless horizon and the world disappeared around you and it was just you, on the water, with the faintest of movement under your feet and the knowledge that there was nothing else.

The Digital World was teeming with life, sapient life, life that was aware and that could discuss and watch and understand. Even out there, when you should have been alone with nothing but the sky and the sea and your own thoughts, there was intelligence everywhere; you were never alone.

She left the door open and walked back into the room, allowing the breeze to flow through and cool it down. She looked over at the bottle rather irritably; the taste of soda had ignited a memory, she wanted more of it.

She wanted a way to zone out, too. She wanted to be alone but she needed to stop thinking so she needed some distraction that was not herself which required another person. Catch-22.

She gave up and opened the door.

"Wolf," she called. "C'mon in, let's talk."

Wingman sat upon the window sill, staring out at the Bay. Despite the mental connection with Ancient, the effects of the alcohol had little effect on the angelic saurian. The bay had become aglow, showing the actions of all the digimon under the water. Some were in the middle of fights, while others were minding their own business. One thing that slightly bothered him, though, were the dragons that were part of Haruhi's kind. A few more had joined the group that had arrived a few days prior. Were they moving into the area or something?

It was then that Wingman looked to his right to see Haruhi sitting next to him. He was also looking at the dragons that were lying on the beach. Confused, Ancient temporarily turned his attention elsewhere and caught Simon and Chaos talking. What they were talking about, though, he wouldn't tell since the sound of the waves was messing with his hearing. Deciding to leave the two to their own, Wingman turned his attention to Haruhi.

"So, I take it that’s your family along the Bay?"

"That’s correct. A fair number have flown from Darkengard here to the bay. My brother said that Darkengard was too rough for them. The funny thing is…that we actually have a water-based evolution.”

“I take it that would probably be the equivalent of your armor evolution?”

“Indeed, so it appears that moving to the Bay isn’t such a bad idea.”

“So long as you guys don’t disrupt the natural flow here. Introduce a new predator and the ecosystem changes.”

“It doesn’t take much to keep us content. Most of the time we just spar with ourselves.”

The two saurian remained silent for a few moments, listening to the waves do their thing before they saw Simon step onto the beach and approach the water. One of the AncientWyvernmon raised its head to see who was coming in their direction, but then didn’t deem Simon as a threat and put its head back down. That could have been a close one.

As Wingman and Haruhi kept their eye on Simon, they took notice of an angelic figure of sorts gliding through the water. She almost ran into one of the water evolutions of Haruhi’s kind, Physagnathusmon as Haruhi called it, but the water-dragon digimon quickly dived and allowed the angelic one to swim over where it initially had been. Both saurian gave a sigh of relief before turning their attention Caster, who Simon was now talking to. It was probably best to let what they say remain personal.

And so, the two dragon digimon turned their attention to each other again; the realization of the celebration officially setting in: All their groups would be going their separate ways. It would certainly be weird not having Nova and Simon around, and even weirder not having Chaos and Daniel around, but all things did have to come to an end.

“Hard to believe its over, isn’t it Haruhi?”

“I know. I mean, I may have come in a little late in the game, but I still feel a connection to this whole ordeal. I wonder what Daniel’s life is now going to be like without that virus plaguing him?”

“Well, it will probably be better then it was before-”

Wingman was cut off by a loud sound. Both saurian turned their heads into the room to see that it was coming from Ancient. He was snoring up a storm.

“Man, he can really snore can’t he, Haruhi?”

“He’s a humanoid fox, Wingman, what did you expect?”

“Some earplugs if he was going to do this.”
-------------------
words-616
posts-2
karma-21 (14+(1+6))


[ Simon and Chaos were talking in Chaos' bedroom. There's no way you'd be seeing them out on the beach. ]