The boys are back in town [Colin/Closed]

Luckily for Dio’s quickly waning patience, he trio didn’t too much longer to arrive, the small imp rising to his feet and perking up immediately once he heard a familiar voice calling out his name. With a rather cheerful smile he waved at the approaching trio…for a all of five seconds, before going back to his usual overly dignified persona.

“Hmph, took you long enough, furry peasant.” Dio greeted Bellamy in his own way, tough his rather amiable tone of voice clearly suggested he didn’t thought how that nickname could be considered an insult. “I’ve been well all things considered. Hope it’s the same for you and Luke, but we can get into more details once were inside.”

And boy did they sure had a lot of catching up to do, Dio could easily spend the entire night narrating to the others about his and Carlos’ many misadventures they had ever since they last saw each other.

“Oh, and good to see you three are still sticking to the matching shirts shtick. It suits you.” He added with a smirk, somewhat joking in tone as he reminisced to himself how they had been dressed rather similarly the first time they met. Dio particularly didn’t understand what made shirts so appealing to the other two digimon, he had always found that amount of clothing too confining and overly warm.

“Hey Colin.” Carlos waved back at the teen with a smile. “That it is. Life treating you guys well?” He would ask as he too got up from the ground. As much as he wanted to properly start catching up with him however, he was quickly interrupted by Dio chiming in.

“Well, we've waited long enough. It’s about time now, shall we go in?” The imp impatiently asked both Bellamy and the rest of the group, cocking his head to the club’s entrance, eager to leave the cold street (well, as cold as Whitewater could ever get at least, which wasn’t saying much) and into the warm building, ready for the long anticipated night out to properly begin.

Frankly, the Dark Lord had a hard time wrapping his head around why would anyone wear clothing other than to protect themselves from the cold or something, but he wasn’t about to judge the other two for their preference. “Hah, who needs pockets when you can ask your personal Carlos to carry stuff for you?” Dio joked, as they made their way into the club, Carlos chuckling a bit over Colin’s little joke.

The rather laid back and calm atmosphere of the club was a nice change of pace of the sort of night clubs the man was used to visit back on earth. Much less noisy, and more welcoming to people and digimon alike looking to have a more chill night with drinks instead of partying till morning came. The duo sat on the opposite side of the berth, facing the other three. Just as they all began to get comfortable, Luke proposed the good idea of getting something to drink first and foremost.

Carlos began thinking on what to order, before a small doubt appeared on his mind: Would they even have human cocktails in here, or would they have to take a gamble with the local delicacies? Though it seemed Dio already had his mind set on something, as he quickly replied to Luke.

“I’ll have...er…” Dio scratched his chin, as if trying to find the right word, before proclaiming “…I’ll have that one cocktail named after a flower!”

“You mean a…margarita? Really? I didn’t take you for the drinking type.” Carlos said, quirking an eyebrow, somewhat surprised at Dio's choice. Frankly, his partner didn’t even seem mature enough to be allowed inside the establishment, much less to be consuming alcohol. But he supposed those rules worked differently for digimon. In a way, they were all adults there…well except for Colin of course, but that was besides the point.

“Hmph! don’t underestimate me human, I might look small but I’m positive I’ve lived longer and therefore drank more liquids than you.” Dio replied back, sounding slightly offended. Carlos shrugged a bit, but didn’t talk back. That was as good an answer as any, he supposed, plus they hadn’t come here to argue, just have a good time.

“No argument there. That’ll be two margaritas for us, then.” He nodded to the Elecmon. As they waited for their drinks, the man turned to the group. Where to start indeed. After thinking for a moment, Carlos decided it was probably better start from the beginning. A lot had happened since they last met, and almost everything was just as important.

“Well, for starters we followed your advice and went south to Whitewater. Pretty nice place, though the real good part about it wasn’t the beach, exactly.” Carlos said, nudging at Dio’s shoulder slightly. The imp rolled his eyes a bit, but caught the “subtle” hint that he should be the one sharing that part of the story.

“We met this Shutmon named K and she uh….offered to train me a bit.” Dio quickly summarized, a faint smile appearing as he said so. Even if he left out how fond he had grown of said digimon during that time, it was clear he felt rather…glad about meeting her, to say the least. “It was…fun.”

Even if he still had some odd, yet unidentified mixed feelings towards that wise teacher...though of course nobody needed to know about that. His smile disappeared however, when Carlos chimed in again.

“That she did…after giving you a good beating. You should learn to pick your battles better.” The tamer teased, chuckling a bit. Dio’s expression turned a bit darker, his face blushing slightly as well.

“Why thanks Carlos, I had almost forgotten about that.” Was all the imp sarcastically replied, glaring at the human in a visibly annoyed fashion. Did everyone really needed to know the details of his rather pathetic attempt at fighting with K? “Anyways, how about you guys?” He asked, trying to change the subject.

“Heh, better that way, you’re not really missing out. Plus you’ll have plenty of time to ruin your liver when you’re older.” Carlos chuckled, patting Colin in the back a bit. Sure, it might have come off as hypocritical from him considering he had taken some beers when he was around sixteen once, but he was a bit wiser now to encourage underage drinking.

When Luke arrived with the Margaritas the imp did not waste any time, taking a rather long drink from his glass, downing at least half of the cocktail in about three seconds, letting out a small satisfied burp once he stopped drinking for a moment.

“Hey, easy there Dio, that’s not juice.” Carlos warned him, not wanting his partner to get wasted just yet (or at all, if possible).

“Relax already Carlos, I told you the Dark Lord knows how to drink!” The small megalomaniac reassured him, giving him a thumbs up and a grin. Well, he certainly seemed content at least, he wasn’t going to take that away from him. It’s not like he had any reason to doubt him, for all he knew Dio could be one of those guys that could drink double his weight in booze and barely feel tipsy.

Only time would tell.

After they finished sharing a snipped of their adventures it was the boys turn. Apparently they had been hard at work too, exploring the relatively recent area that was the Backup Bayou (how a place like that could just now have been discovered was a complete enigma for Carlos)

“The Bayou? We heard, but your Dark Lord has had enough of humid and murky places for a time, thanks.” Dio said with a shrug, taking another long sip. According to them, it was clear poor Luke had been through some bad times during that outing.

“Must have been rough…but at least you’re all still in one piece.” Carlos reasoned, trying to sound cheerful. He would have asked for more specifics, but couldn’t tell how comfortable Luke was with that subject, so he didn’t press further.

“Well I almost got lynched by a mob on Luminas.” Dio shared, almost sounding as he was trying to break the ice further. Hey, they both had their share of small personal tragedies to share. “We did get a Digimental out of it so it wasn’t all that bad.”

“Yeah…” Carlos scratched his head a bit, worrying the awkward near death stories would be the norm that night. He chimed in again, trying to steer the topic into something more comfortable. “So uh, we joined a Club! The Digital Field Club, kind of a science thing. Pretty nice bunch, we went on an expedition to the Sunken Elysium the other day.”

“Yeah, I know how that is, don’t think I have a single relative that didn’t drink. Or smoke. Or both.” Carlos shrugged a bit, understanding. Sure, neither of his relatives had gone “off the deep end” (at least not because of booze) but still, you didn’t needed to be directly affected by something like that to share the sentiment, right?

Dio, not wanting to be left behind on the drinking (especially since he was the one that started it), was quick to follow after Bellamy’s example, downing the whole drink in one last swipe, his head swaying a bit as he did so. Carlos surprisingly didn’t notice, too busy paying attention to the conversation.

The angels forcing Bellamy to wear leash? Talk about demeaning, it seemed Carlos and Dio had gotten off lightly all things considered…well besides the attempted lynching of course. Before he could comment on it however he was interrupted by the rather rude sound of a stifled laugh…coming from Dio of all people.

“Pfeheh, apologies Bell, it’s just…the mental image of you wearing a leash its…both kind of amusing and adorable. After all, you already look a bit like a kitten!” He snickered some more, covering his mouth with one hand in a vain attempt at muffling the sound. “But yeah, bunch of pricks, the whole lot of em!”

Carlos squinted a bit at that whole outburst. There was something odd about Dio’s demeanor, he seemed more jovial and jokey than usual. Could the drinks be having this quick of an effect on him? Still, he decided to ignore it for the time being, focusing instead on what Colin was saying. The possibility of new regions popping up seemed as promising as it was likely. Maybe he should inform the club about this possibility later.

“Well I mean, the guys…or rather girls at the club don’t mind having others tagging along on expeditions, so maybe next time something pops up you three could come and help out if you have the time.” He offered as he took a small sip from his own drink. The more the merrier right? Besides it wouldn’t be the first (or last) time they had an “unofficial club member” accompanying them.

“Yeah, that’d be nice, add a bit of much needed manliness and testosterone to that club…not that being surrounded by nice girls bothers me in the slightest.” Dio added with a rather sly smirk.

Ok, there was definetly something up with the imp. He would have never used the word manliness or testosterone otherwise. And since when he admitted out loud liking having the girls’ attention? Something didn’t add up.

“Er, Dio, you ok there? You seem a bit...not yourself.” Carlos questioned his partner, quirking an eyebrow.

“Moi? Of course I’m fine you ddddork! Now, be a partner and bring me another Margarita, pretty please?” The imp said, shaking the empty cup in front of the tamer’s face. While his tone still seemed mostly sober, it was clear by his silly smile, the rosy tone his cheeks were taking and the slightly slurred pronunciation of his words that he was, at the very least tipsy, if not almost drunk.

Ah well, there was nothing to be done. Carlos was positive if he refused to serve more drinks to the Dark Lord he would make a scene. And since making a digimon with fire powers get angry enough to make a scene was…probably not a good idea, Carlos decided to humor his partner for the time being. While the man got up in search of for more Margaritas (asking the other three if they also needed a refill), Dio simply turned back to Bellamy, a hint of a smile in his face as his friend asked him if he knew how the twins had earned their digimentals.

“I don’t think you have. Enlighten me, my friendly peasant.”

Well then, it seemed that, drunken or not Bellamy was certainly very open and forthright about his personal life and its…intricacies, that much was clear. Had he been drinking anything at that moment he would have probably reacted somewhat similarly to Luke, perhaps even a bit more subtly. This was not the case however, but he visibly stopped for a moment doing a bit of a double take, as if his brain had to take a moment to make sure that he wasn’t imagining what that Impmon had just said. Still, he wisely avoided making any comment, or even verbally acknowledging Bellamy’s comment as he silently sipped his own drink, instead focusing on Colin’s own answer to his other proposition.

“An airship? Damn that’s…impressive. Do you know how to pilot that thing?” He asked, curious. That alone gave him so many questions, like where he had bought it, and where this kid had even gotten enough money to afford such a thing. Maybe things on the Digital World were incredibly cheap.

Dio meanwhile chuckled slightly, shaking his head a bit. Clearly he didn’t fully grasp the…implications of that statement (or he was too drunk to care), else he would have probably reacted a bit differently. He was however; sober enough to understand part of what it meant.

“So the fluffy peasant found someone else to look after him, eh? How are they? Are they cute?” Come to think of it, didn’t Bellamy mention something about being engaged and having kids back when they first met? “But yeah, it’s not so bad in there. You get used to it after a while I suppose. Especially when Miyu scratches me behind the ears, that shit’s hard to do on that lousy holosuit.” He added, scratching the back of his head out of reflex.

“The hell’s a ka-ra-o-ke?” The dark lord asked Luke, pronouncing every syllable of that weird word separately, clearly not understanding the meaning. He’d then turn around, feeling Carlos tapping at his shoulder. Once he got his attention, the man would point to a small stage on the side of the establishment, a lone microphone and console rested undisturbed in there.

“You basically get up there, pick a song you like, and sing along in front of everyone.” Carlos summarized, being as direct as he could so Dio would be able to understand despite the amount of alcohol on him.

“That sounds so idiotic.” He replied simply, looking at the man with a dumbfounded expression…before quickly turning to the other three, a smile on his face as he added. “I like it, let’s go there later!”

The duo listened intently to Bellamy sharing his digimental story, Carlos staying silent while Dio merely snickered or made some “witty” comments at certain parts of the story, like Bellamy’s offhand mention of a Hotstuff Coronamon, or more glaringly, how the digimental made him turn into a BlackGatomon.

“Heh, told you you were a kitty!” He proclaimed with a smile once he was finished. He really wasn’t in any place to brag, considering he also technically digivolved into an (admittedly way bigger) cat as well. Which only made Luke asking him for his own digimentals rather fitting.

“Why I’m glad you asked, Luke.” With a smile he leaned back on his chair. “So this all happened on that last visit to Luminas, right? As you probably know, those winged imbeciles look down on anything besides their own reflection, but especially Viruses. So we walked around, following some weird “blips” and “bloops” on Carlos’ digivice, just minding our own business while everyone and their granny either giving us the cold shoulder or the stink eye. Thank the sovereigns those idiots didn’t found out I was from the Dark Area, else I’m sure I wouldn’t be here telling you this now.” He added, his grin disappearing for a moment as his tone turned grimmer.

Knowing what he now knew about his heritage, he was even more surprised they had managed to come out of that unscathed. If those angels somehow found out about that whole Dark Area business or, god forbid, the Demon Lord part, well…somehow he suspected deletion would be preferable to whatever those folk at Luminas would do.

Regardless, he was quick to forget about such dark thoughts, focusing again on his story.

“Anyways! We walked for a bit, until we eventually came across this abandoned chapel…thing. The blips came from inside, so we went inside, and found this digimental thingamajig. I think it was relating to Pride? Whatever…but then!” He suddenly got up and stood on top of his chair, seemingly to add some more “dramatic flair” to his narration, no doubt. “Before we can do anything about it, this white robed buffoon of a Sorcerimon comes in out of freaking nowhere with his little gang of fanatics, raving and ranting about light this, and holiness that, you know the drill. Frankly it was just a pain to listen to them…until they got a bit more rowdy, then it actually hurt.” As he said this last part he rubbed the side of his face a bit, still remembering the pain from that attack. Turns out being hit by a digimon from a higher level really hurt.

“It all seemed lost for the Dark Lord…until…” The small imp then wrapped one tiny arm around Carlos’ neck. Carlos shot him a rather surprised look, but Dio ignored him, too focused on finishing his tale. “…this big oaf of a man stands in front of em, protecting me and gives this beautiful speech about how I’m his partner, how awesome I am, how proud he is of me, and how big of a douche everyone in Luminas is. Super touching I tell ya.”

“Heh, yeah, got caught up in the heat of the moment I guess.” Carlos chuckled a bit awkwardly, to which Dio simply patted the man’s head.

“Such a humble human. Anyways! So after he says this, the digimental starts going all crazy and glowy…and the next thing you know I’m a giant kickass panther! Needless to say mister zealot mon didn’t feel so hot after that and called it quits. Suck it, Luminas!” He said, triumphantly as he cackled evilly, downing whatever was left on his cup, his head swaying ever so slightly after that.

“Heh….I like you Carlos, you’re a neat dude.” He said with a content grin as he sat back on his seat, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Carlos meanwhile, either slightly affected by the alcohol too, or maybe just touched by such open sincerity from his usually cranky partner, could simply nod with a smile.

“The feeling’s mutual, Dio.”

“So yeah, that’s our story. Anything else ya want to share Bellz? Lukz? Colz?”

The mental image of a giant mechanical dragon creature taking Colin and the twins everywhere was, quite frankly, a fairly impressive one. At least to Carlos it was, since having a dragon as a means of transportation and more sounded like a dream come true. "That...sounds honestly badass as all hell." He said with a nod and an impressed whistle. Maybe he could ask them for a ride one of these days? Surely this Daedalus wouldn't mind the extra weight. 

"Not as badass as the Imp-Wagon though."  What the imp was reffering to was a "large armored vehicle" the two of them had recently acquired from a rather talkative and weird Hagurumon on Rustport a couple days ago. Granted they had yet to see said vehicle in working condition, but if that odd floating gear was to be trusted they would have a proper way of travelling long distances in a week, tops. And...apparently Dio had his mind set on naming it.

"Imp-Wagon, seriously? Since when did we settle on that name?" Carlos wondered, shooting a puzzled look at his partner, who simply ignored him, too busy paying attention to Bellamy describing his significant other. Dio didn't say much as the other impmon continued listing the many, many things he liked about that coronamon, the megalomaniac simply nodding every so often, an amused smirk etched on his face all the while. It felt...oddly pleasant hearing his friend sounding so...happy. It was actually kind of contagious.

"Heh, d'aww, sounds like a good match you two. Fire with fire." He commented once he was finished. With a couple of stumbly, trembling steps he stood on top of the table, rising his glass with a bit too much conviction, some of its contents spilling to the side. With a grin he looked down on the direction of Bellamy, and raised his voice. "A toast! For friends and lovers alike, for those are who give color to our lives! May yours be a long and happy journey, Bellamy." The imp's loud celebration might have been enough to make some of the patrons on the Caritas turn their heads in their direction, and while Dio couldn't care less this made Carlos pinch the bridge of his nose,  sighing a bit. Was he going to make another scene already?

Regardless of it all, Dio began drinking his cocktail after the toast was finished (regardless of if Bellamy decided to add his own spin to the celebratory toast or not). It didn't took long before the colored liquor ran out however, much to the imp's annoyance."Feh, fiddlesticks." 

"Yeah, maybe you should slow down a bit too, Dio. You never had this much to drink before." Carlos said, carefully carrying and placing the imp back on his seat. Unfortunately, Dio was having none of that. 

"Slow is for the weak willed! I crave more! Alcohol for the Dark Lord! Drinks for the drinking throne!" He snapped back, demanding. Carlos sighed once again, regretting how he allowed his partner to have a drink without knowing what effect it would have on him beforehand. This could get out of hand quickly unless he thought fast. Luckily, Bellamy (wheter by accident or not) derailed the subject enough to make Dio momentarily forget about booze.

Specifically, when the furry impmon mentioned those control spires, Dio scratched his ear a bit, as if trying to recall where he had heard that word before.

"Know them? Of course I do, been hearing about them for a while now...and we fought one...I think."

"Actually yeah we did!" Carlos chimed in quickly, wanting to keep Dio's as distracted as possible, as long as it meant not having to deal with him asking for more to drink. "A couple days ago or so, us, K, a girl from the club and someone else fought against this Flame Wizard guy on the desert...it was harsh but hey, at least we weren't alone for that. What about you guys? What did you have to deal with when you faced one?"