MPC-50 1+X - We've Lived Through Many Lives

Haru may not have been the only one sitting at the bus stop currently. Sure, she looked like the only one there so far, but especially in this post-Digimon world nothing was ever quite as it seems.

For example, perhaps her good friend and life coach could have been hiding in plain sight the entire time. Isaac, currently camouflaged in his Devidramon form, had coiled entirely around the bus stop. He was wrapped up just loosely enough to have made his entrance unnoticed. Or, rather, was it Haru who had made her entrance? Perhaps Isaac had been waiting here the whole time, just itching for the chance to prank his friend.

After all, today was a seriously important day. Not only was it the anniversary of the great Digimon secret being broken, but it was also a day of rebirth for the girl sitting on the bench right now. She had been away for her family for how long now? Isaac had already lived that life, and frankly he already knew how much it sucked. He was lucky enough to get closure, and Haru wasn't. At least, until now.

When someone like Haru was left with that kind of burden on her shoulders, even Isaac was fine with waking up early for a day.

The air around Haru shimmered and displaced, and he appeared practically face-to-face with her. "Gotcha!" he called out as he emerged, the familiar Isaac-esque tones of his voice giving up the ghost of who his identity was. He made sure to keep the grin on his maw as goofy as possible, hopefully leaving her shocked but not too intimidated. This was supposed to be a nice ice-breaker of a surprise, not cause for an actual breakdown or anything.

Isaac laughed merrily as Haru shrieked and stomped around. Calling him a buttface was practically the biggest sign of approval that he could've gotten. "Oh man, Ru," he said, wiping a tear away from each of his four eyes. "You gotta see the look on your face right now. God, I wish this form could hold my phone . . ." It would've been a great selfie opportunity, but a lack of opposable thumbs kind of put a halt to that. Oh well. Next time, he'd be sure to have Yasyamon go for the jumpscare instead.

How long was he here? Isaac shrugged. "I dunno," he admitted. "Three hours? Maybe four? Not gonna lie, kinda thought you'd be the fashionably early type, so I came prepared." Frankly, it was an astounding act of patience on Isaac's part. Being in the form of an ambush predator was probably the only thing making it tolerable. Had it been NeoDevimon or MetalGreymon at the wheel right now, he probably would've stomped off in boredom long ago.

It was funny how after all of that, Haru was asking Isaac if he was the okay one. " 'Course I'm alright. What, did you still think I was sleeping off the Bubonic Plague?" he asked, trying not to laugh at his own horrendous excuse. That was seriously how he tried to excuse dropping off of Haru's radar for the past month, and Elliot could barely breathe from how hard he laughed when he heard that fact. Once he was done chortling Isaac let himself relax, tail peacefully swishing back and forth and a proud grin on his face. " 'Sides, no chance I was gonna skip out on this. Today's huge for you, after all, and I'm not leaving you hanging in the meantime."

He was quite surprised by the boop that followed Haru's words. His four eyes sort of crossed inwards to look at Haru's finger, the confusion in them matched by the bit of warmth creeping into his smile. "Don't worry. I won't let you down," he restated, voice gentle.

With that, the bus rolled up. No sense trying to squeeze onto it in a form literally not meant for vehicle travel. He reverted back to human form, making his way onto the doors and scoping out choice seats for him and Haru. "Well. Next stop, La Casa del Toriya. Nervous?" he said. "Figure if you're really worried, we could probably roleplay out the meeting some, you know? Oh! Or maybe I could tell you how that little experiment I took on panned out." Decisions, decisions! What will our brave Telltale Games protagonist choose?

"Aw, using your future vision just to snoop on little ol' me?" Isaac asked, snickering a little at Haru's snark. "I'm honored. And here I thought my pranks were falling on deaf ears." Everything about this plan had been completely worth it. Even Haru's incredulous follow-up got a few more snickers out of Isaac. "Eh. I've already got my Maimai. What would I need to look at other girls for?" he asked. Isaac was many things, but disloyal sure as hell wasn't one of them.

His teasing grin shifted to a more warm one was Haru admitted her gratitude, although he leaned back as if trying to keep it casual. "Hey, it's nothing," he said. "Although not gonna lie, I'm not sure what I'm bringing to the table here. I mean, I'm some weird-looking stranger they've never met before talking about spirits and how your life's been changed forever. They're gonna think you ran off and joined a commune or something. 'Hi? Mr. and Mrs. Toriya? I'm Haru's new yoga instructor.'" Isaac had to abort the bit after that point. He was too busy snickering at how dumb it sounded.

That said, Isaac let himself be more serious when he got that out of his system. "Still, I'm glad I can be there for you," he said. "I know this would've been really hard to do alone. And I'm hoping whatever weird questions I end up throwing in get made up for by you feeling even more ready to tackle this."

Speaking of weird questions, Haru was curious what Isaac had been up to. "Oh, nothing," he said, his casual voice being undermined by his trademark grin of terrible ideas. "Just spent the last month in a bunch of different Digimon forms. Figured it'd be good to read the atmosphere in the room so you'd know how your grand return to the public eye goes, you know? And let me tell you, you'd be surprised by some of the stuff I learned."

This may have been the part where Haru expected this to be another Isaac prank, but he wasn't saying another word. Either he had a really good poker face, or that was the end of the story right there.

Isaac reclined back casually, seemingly much less troubled by his plan than Haru was. "Trust me, it was no sweat," Isaac said. "I mean, I'm a spirit user, remember? I already spend like half of any given day in Digimon form, so what harm's a few more hours gonna be? Besides, can't lie. When I don't have the pressure of not being able to turn back, it's actually kinda fun." That was a luxury Haru didn't get, so Isaac figured it was only fair he put the burden on himself for a bit.

"Well, let's see," Isaac said. "First thing I found out: kids are not scared of us. Like, at all. And I don't just mean my cute forms like Impmon, even if I almost got snatched right off the street by a grabby kid one time. I mean, like, waking up from a nap to find kids playing jump rope with Devidramon's tail. They used DexDorugoramon's tail globe as a jungle gym, for crying out loud. Dex-freaking-Dorugoramon!

You're not gonna have trouble finding a date, either. I mean, it depends on the form, of course, but I did not expect people to keep trying to give Yasyamon their number. I mean, I know Asher's Kinkakumon spirit dug him, but I kinda figured that was a Digimon thing, you know? Not a lonely housewife thing. So, clearly some people are taking to this whole worlds colliding thing way better than others.

Keep any nervous forms clear, too. First time NeoDevimon had a turn, he took one look at the Shibuya skyline and ran for the safety of the forest. You ever have to coax yourself to uncurl out of a ball and go back to the rest of society? It's not as easy as you'd think.

There's definitely some grumpy people. Although they're usually older people, so hopefully you're not gonna have to deal with them as much. People our age are a bit nervous at first, but they get into it really quick. Especially if you're in a form good at partying. Considering all of yours are, like, a 24/7 detox? You'll probably win them over real quick.

Let's see, anything else . . . you're not gonna have much space to do stuff in your bigger forms, so I'd keep to the smaller ones most of the time. Although you've got your holosuit, so you don't really have to worry about that unless you want to. I will say, humans haven't really caught onto all the stuff Digimon can do yet, so if you want to play the slots with Rasielmon now's your chance.

Alright! That should be everything." It seemed like Isaac had really put his backbone into it, which considering his usual study ethic was a major surprise. That said, Haru had an additional wrinkle on top of the usual Digimon problems. Her personality had also settled somewhat into a mix of Haru's and Tawna's, and that was also something the Toriya's would have to deal with. "Everyone has to grow up sometime," Isaac said, shrugging. "We all change on our parents at some point. You just did a bit more literally, too. But they're your parents. So I know they'll show you that same love and respect even if they're caught off guard at first."

That just left the question of forms. "Meicoomon's cute, and probably the least straining to hold onto, but I could see looking totally like a cat throwing them off," Isaac said, letting out a slight hum as he pondered. "Rasielmon's most human like, so I think that'll set them at ease. Although if we're gonna be inside for this, Meicrackmon's probably the least likely knock everything over.
So I'd say Meicrackmon indoors, Rasielmon outside."

Wait, was Haru seriously bringing up Ordinemon? Immediately Isaac found himself laughing at the idea. "God, could you imagine? Not even I'd offer advice like that!" he said. "What, would you show up as the tiny one, or make yourself bigger than their house just to really get the point across?

Oh, do they know about Ayumi? Might be good to lead in with that, too. Parents love hearing about SOs, and it'll save me a lot of awkward questions, too."

"There were a bunch of older women hanging off of some MagnaAngemon's arms, so maybe that's where they were all at," Isaac said. Then he froze up, eyes widening. He slapped himself on the forehead as realization hit him like a brick. "Oh, god damnit Elliot," he muttered. And he thought he had it stressful enough as Yasyamon! An actual hunk like MagnaAngemon must've been practically buried alive in the ladies. But why did that hunk have to be his brother?

At least Haru caught onto that. "See? That's the spirit!" Isaac said. "Focus on the good parts of all this. Sure, you can't fit through most doors, but plenty of people'd move heaven and earth to let you in anyway." That was probably a metaphor for something, at least! Who said Isaac couldn't be a font of wisdom when he wanted to be? "I mean, heck. Think about how this is gonna change the job market. I bet I could make a killing between gigs delivering pizzas at Devidramon speeds."

What would she be spending with the possible DigiMoney to be made? Clearly not drinks. Isaac found it hard not to start laughing at what Haru had to say. "Wait, you actually drink bleach?" he asked, amazed at how far Haru was willing to push the limits of her poison immunity. "Holy shit, you're crazy. And all this time I thought you were messing around about all that." At least judging by the grin on his face, he wasn't actually worried. He seemed to trust Haru to know what she was doing, even when it was something crazy like this.

Haru's work ideas were way better than Isaac's. Slowly, the amused grin on his face shifted to one of pride. "I knew you had it in you," he said. "Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to school. But trying to get more into acting means I really don't have time for it. Guess that'll just have to be a could've been, you know?"

Meicrackmon seemed like the most in-between option in Haru's mind. Isaac wasn't too sure he agreed, though. "I mean, right size. But wrong shape," he said. "Or right shape, wrong face? I mean, you'll still look like a cat. That might throw them off a bit, although I guess that's kinda the point. I still think Rasielmon's got the best shot of easing them into it, but that might just be human bias talking.

Oh, and god. Yeah, definitely save the Tawna surprise for a bit. No offense to either of you two, but I think them finding out about how you . . . change is gonna throw them for way more of a loop than how you look," he added. He didn't want to sound offensive, but it was true. "I know when my mom learned Elliot and I could fuse, she damn near fainted."

The Ayumi news was definitely the easiest. "Maybe bridge it?" he asked. "It's like a compliment sandwich. Crazy thing, sweet thing, crazy thing. And come on, if they can roll with you being an extradimensional being, I'm sure they can handle a bit of love between girls."