Chance Encounters [Iki]

"Well you seem a bit ignorant of things like common sense so I thought I might make myself clear!" Roger stopped walking, straightening up as high as he could draw himself to 'stare' at Iki. The lightning bolt symbols on his face seemed to contract and expand. Well things had certainly gotten interesting quick! "You keep referring to us a 'Kunemon' and 'Fanbeemon', are you too stupid to remember names? Or maybe you think our names aren't worth remembering? Pretty dumb of you either way!"

"Um, I haven't actually seen any of the Harry Potter movies!" Hiroyo faltered as she walked, throwing glance over her shoulder at the Kunemon who had stopped. She continued walking regardless, her mouth twisting a bit. She didn't get why Roger was so angry, but she didn't want to get in the middle of whatever this was! Too bad she didn't have a choice. "Could you two like, not fight? Look, the other entrance is right up ahead! Is that someone out front? I can't quite tell." She hoped her distraction would be enough.

A light breeze began to circle Morgan, a faint presence that wouldn't extend to the others in the party. His eyes were hard as he watch Iki carefully. "You should, perhaps, learn to to speak more kindly to those you have just met. It is a habit that will serve you well in both worlds."

"Don't deserve names? Seriously? Because what, I didn't fawn all over you when you first show up like she did? You'll have to forgive me for not falling down to play nice with some stranger with a bad attitude!" Roger spat, his antenna held stiff and straight behind him.Electricity was beginning to crackle across his ski, the first obvious signs of the storm that was his building rage. The markings on his head continued to pulse, the black contracting and expanding in time with his heartbeat. "You seem pretty proud for someone borrowing a Digimon's power! Why don't you get over here and see how weak you r-"

"Hey, hey! Knock it off you two! No fighting!" Hiroyo was quick to loudly interrupt. She moved between Iki and the bug twins with her hands out and facing each one of them as if to hold them back. She could feel sweat beginning to gather at the base of her hairline. Somehow the red head knew she had to stop this situation from deteriorating any further. Peacekeeper wasn't really a role that suited her well, especially when she was feeling so conflicted.

"Look - Iki, I know the bugs can be jerks but not even dignifying them with their names is a bit much! That's the kind of disrespect that might get you attacked by other mons." She tried to reason with the Spirit User. Sure he had started off rudely himself, but he'd apologized! She really didn't want this to escalate.

"Roger, Morgan, I know you think he's being rude to you but you haven't been exactly welcoming either! Especially you, Roger. You've been behaving worse than a whiny child! Trying to fight everyone we meet verbally or physically is only going to cause trouble as well!!" She shook her finger at him as if scolding a naughty dog. Hiroyo had never expected that inviting someone to travel with them would lead to this kind of drama! She really was embaressed by the bug's behavior which is why she scolded him much more harshly. 

"Denying someone their name denies them their personhood. Neither my brother nor myself have done anything that would deserve such treatment." Morgan hissed, his voice edged with an angry buzz. The Fanbeemon let himself drop to the ground next to Roger. He moved stiffly, and the anger in his voice was mirrored by that in his eyes. It was clear that Hiroyo's attempt at calming the situation had only made things worse as well! "The sooner we part the better, once we are inside the gates we shall separate, with or without you, Hiroyo."

The redhead winced and ran a hand under the front of her hat, her stress clear on her face.

Hiroyo stared after Iki as he walked away, her expression one of hurt and concern. She glanced between the twins who stared back at her stubbornly. The comment about betrayal stung, because she couldn't beyond a shadow of a doubt say it would never happen. Her relationship with the twins only existed out of necessity rather than because they actually liked each other.

"Go on, then." Morgan snapped. Roger hissed and curled in on himself in the grass, clearly intending to let Iki get far ahead before he started moving again. "We'll meet at the gate."

Hiroyo bit her lower lip then nodded. She jogged up to Iki's side, slowing once she was within speaking range. "I'm sorry for that." She began, her voice quiet and subdued. "I'm sorry that Digimon ruined your life, but I don't think they're all that awful. May I ask what happened?"

Hiroyo's mouth clicked shut on whatever she was going to say at first at Iki spoke. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she listened to Iki talk. His experience witht he Digital World was so counter to her own experiences that her initial thought was to offer rebuttal until he started talkinga bout his parents.

She met his words with stunned speechless for a moment.

How did she help someone who had been dealt such a terrible hand through no fault of his own? The only things she could think to say sounded hollow to hear ears, useless even to herself. Still, she was determined to try to sap a little of the hatred from his voice. "I have been hunted by a Digimon in the Real World. A spirit user, whom I had never met before, saved Roger, Morgan, and myself. I have met solo Digimon, unpaired to any human, who helped take down the Dark Spire. Painting with too broad a brush ruins the canvas."

She sighed a little then, her shoulders sagging. The red head hoped her words reached although she herself thought they rang hollow. "I cannot understand your pain or hurt, but for all the dark things I've seen in this world I have seen others step up against it. Don't, don't give up okay? You'll find the 'mon who caused that explosion if its not already dead, I'm sure of it. And if, if you need aid at that time let me know."

Hiroyo frowned. This conversation wasn't going the way she wanted it to at all. She felt her lip curl as he disparaged Kan. Sure she felt obligated to Kan for rescuing her, but she had offered repayment in the form of helping him purify the rest of his spirits. She had freely and willingly offered help, it hadn't been requested. "Y-you're wrong! It's not like that at all! I offered to help him, he would do something like that for a reason like that!"

She had to fall silent as Iki faced her and began speaking of his family. Anger burned in her chest and it withered away the overwhelming pity she would have otherwise felt for him. Still, she listened until the end of his speech. Hearing about his sister put Hiroyo's first rebuttal on ice.

The comments about the twins hit close to thoughts that had occurred to her in the early mornings when her shifts at work ended and loneliness was an ache in her chest. "What do you expect me to do then, ditch them? Guns aren't legal, and that's the only thing I could think of that would out a dent in some of the things we've seen! I can't, I can't turn my back on this world. I have things I want to find too!" She find her defiantly, her breath coming shorter after her little yelling spree.

It hurt to think Iki might be right.

"How? Have you seen some of the Digimon that exist? Man-shaped but made of metal and flesh! Giant dinosaurs with horns! You yourself said one blew up a building, what am I to do? Find a spirit of my own?" Hiroyo replied, her words bleeding with frustration and annoyance. It was a tempting thought! From the few spirit users she'd met it seemed the better deal for sure! The twins didn't need mind control to hurt her. Roger had proven that on the beach.

How much worse would that have been if their wills weren't aligned?

She continued to walk after them, a quick glance over her shoulder left her with the knowledge that the bugs were following about twenty feet back. Her face crumpled for a moment, then she squared her shoulders and looked straight ahead again.

"You know I'm not the one you should be apologizing too, right? Even coming from me it'll be empty words." She told him.

"I..suppose that's a good point. Can't say I've ever been good at using my head in the heat of the moment though." Hiroyo said thoughtfully. She was being truthful too! She was very aware of the fact that she was a person of instinct and passion.

The red head's smile when Iki called the bugs by name was blinding.

Morgan and Roger had paused at first when they realized that the humans were waiting for them; Roger with an angry hiss and Morgan with a suspicious glare. The two continued coming closer, the Fanbeemon's expression turning from hostile to something more neutral as Iki called out to them.

"Why would w-"

"It would be welcome after our travels." Morgan cut in quickly, ignoring the pointed 'stare' the Kunemon sent his way. Morgan ignored him, his eyes glancing once at Hiroyo's hopeful expression and then at the can in Iki's hand. He didn't particularly care about changing Iki's mind, but if Hiroyo was determined to travel with him then at least he might act more tolerably now.