Bird and Rabbit [Taya]

It had been some time since Birdie met her partner, but the memory of the small human was stuck in her mind. The girl had cried like a Fresh level Digimon, but she had warmed up to Birdie so quickly, even going so far as to call her pretty and to give her gifts in the form of a notebook and a half-empty lunchbox. The young girl had also left behind her sunhat, which Birdie eagerly took with her back to Old Terminus. So, when Birdie finally made it to Old Terminus, she placed the hat on her head, grabbed the notebook with one talon, and grabbed the lunchbox with the other. With a few flaps of her wings, she was airborne.

In a matter of seconds, she flew into a shattered window and was inside her home. Her home, which was more of a half-collapsed room on the fourth floor of a towering building, housed a handful of random nicknacks which, to the everyday Digimon, appeared to be nothing more than trash. Various posters, an array of wrappers, and some silver utensils littered the ground and made the already cramped space feel even tighter. Carefully, Birdie kicked some of the fliers and utensils aside before organizing her new treasures around the small room. The hat would look cute with the Varodurumon feather in it, Birdie thought, so she stuck the quill of the feather into the straw and adjusted it for a few seconds before cocking her head and admiring her work. It was good enough. She returned to the window and was about to grab the notebook when she noticed something familiar on the ground four floors below.

It was Long-Ears, that pesky Cutemon who had been willing to fight Birdie to protect Unica. Curious to see what the rabbit was doing here, Birdie stood on the window sill and peered down, eyes sharp and keen, carefully watching the rabbit's every movement. It didn't seem like Long-Ears really had a plan, she just appeared to be wandering around aimlessly, perhaps lost in thought. Birdie could have stayed where she was and continued to watch Coolmon walk up and down the abandoned streets, but that was no fun. Alternatively, she could have left the rabbit alone and continued organizing her things, but she really wanted to do something to that Coolmon. It was too tempting.

With that, Birdie swooped down from her perch and headed straight for the unaware Digimon. "Hey, Long-Ears!" she cawed as she dipped down and grazed Coolmon's erect ears with her bared talons. As she passed, she let out a carefree laugh, which sounded more manic than she was going for. The distance grew between the two Digimon as Birdie continued flying, flapping her wings to gain height. Once she was at an optimal altitude, Birdie flapped her wings rapidly before making a Immelmann turn in mid-air. Once she was headed back toward Coolmon, Birdie once again bared her talons and clipped the rabbit's ears.

Once she felt like she had teased the Cutemon enough, Birdie slowed her speed, landed on a nearby street sign, and faced Coolmon with a smug smirk. It was clear that she wasn't looking for a fight and was only trying to taunt her acquaintance. "So, what brings ya here?" she asked. "I thought you were taking Little Miss Annoyance home," she added before fluffing her feathers and dragging her beak along the top of her right wing, cleaning off the dirt that had started to collect on her feathers. Part of Birdie didn't really care why Coolmon was in Old Terminus, since she didn't really care about anyone but herself. And yet, it came a surprise to see Coolmon wandering the old city's streets alone. Long-Ears didn't seem to be the type to live in such a run-down place, so if she, in fact, didn't live in Old Terminus then exactly what was she doing?

When the Cutemon admitted that she wanted to be left alone, Birdie made a point to show that she wasn't going anywhere soon. She faced the pink rabbit, pressed her wings against her sides, hunkered further into the sitting position, and dug her talons into the sign. Perhaps it was a rude display of behavior, but Birdie wasn't about to let Long-Ears off that easily. It was too easy to mess with this lone Digimon, and Birdie was going to make sure that the Cutemon knew who was superior in this instance.

Whether or not Coolmon noticed Birdie's act of defiance, it didn't seem to matter. She explained that she did bring Unica home; she even went so far as to mention that the young girl had asked she to check in on Birdie. The feathered Digimon felt her heart flutter upon hearing these words, but she hid her shift in emotion well. A stiff, albeit smug, expression remained plastered across her face, but something about the young, helpless, human feeling concerned for Birdie made her feel vulnerable in a way. Why did the girl care so much anyway? They hardly knew each other and Birdie hadn't even been that friendly to begin with. Was this what having a tamer was all about?

Coolmon's next words helped snap Birdie out of whatever mental state she had slipped into. Long-Ears mentioned that she didn't know Birdie lived in the area and that their reunion was a complete surprise. It made the Biyomon feel somewhat proud. It truly was a coinscidence that the two rival Digimon were brought together so soon after they first met. One was Unica's fake partner but longed to have a companion of her own, and the other was Unica's real partner but didn't care for the well-being of humans. It was a cruel twist of fate, and Birdie would've been foolish not to realize the bittersweet reality of the thing.

Then came something truly surprising--an apology! It wasn't the typical kind of apology with "I'm sorry" and "Will you forgive me?" No, it was a roundabout way of apologizing, with Coolmon saying that she felt bad for the way she had behaved around Birdie when they first met. The whole thing seemed like it was painful for Long-Ears to say aloud, but Birdie wasn't about to have it. "Well, I don't," the self-assured Biyomon scoffed. "You deserved every bit of it and, if it was up to me, you'd be Digidata right about now," she went on, feeling really confident in herself. And yet, the way she was positioned on the signpost made it obvious that she was all talk and no bite, at least at the moment. She wanted to make herself sound tough, but neither seemed to be in any real mood to fight.

It was about then that Birdie glanced around, confusion apparent on her face. "Wait. You wanted to be alone and you came here?" Her blue eyes fell on the wayward rabbit. "What, do you a death wish or something?" Birdie had a point. Even though Old Terminus was a good place for lost or homeless Digimon, it was filled to the brim with roguish punks looking for a fight, which was perhaps the primary reason why Birdie chose to reside here: she never had to search for a fight, they always found her first.

Now that did come as a surprise. Coolmon? Living in a place like this? She had to be messing with Birdie, but her eyes told the whole story: she was telling the truth. The fluffy pink rabbit did live in Old Terminus, and she actually felt confident in her ability to take care of herself. There was no doubting the latter part, of course, since Birdie had seen Coolmon's spunky head-strong attitude up close. Even though the Biyomon believed, without a doubt, that she could beat up the Cutemon if push came to shove, she was becoming increasingly aware of just how strong Coolmon was. To survive in the ruins of a city, festering with criminals and outlaws, took some real guts and a strong sense of self-presevation.

Birdie was impressed, and this fact became apparent on her face in an instant. "Seriously?" the bird Digimon chirped, eyes wide and mouth open slightly in mild surprise. "Maybe I underestimated you," she added, her expression suddenly replaced with a cocked eyebrow and a half-smile. She scanned Coolmon up and down before standing up, flapping her wings, and gliding to the rabbit's side. The Cutemon was a little smaller than Birdie remembered, but she kept her mouth shut about it. "Alright, show me where you live," the pink bird said, skepticism dripping from every word she spoke.

The two walked on for a while longer, Coolmon maintaining her casual stroll and Birdie following close behind. Of course, the sight of two bright pink, fluffy, rookie Digimon wandering through the middle of the abandoned city streets would have attracted attention, and it did. A few Bakumon and Scumon, along with a handful of other notorious Digimon peered out of windows, doorways, and alleys, watching the strangers pass by--never moving, never attacking, just watching. 

After some time, Coolmon and Birdie made it to a tall building located roughly a block away from Birdie's own home. It was a skyscraper of sorts, just like the building Birdie lived in. Of course, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, since most of the buildings in Old Terminus were skyscrapers, but it was homely nevertheless. It was refreshing, in a way, to see that the two lived similar lives.

There was one major distinction between the way the two lived, however: Coolmon resided on the first floor of her building while Birdie lived on the fourth floor of her's. Having a home so much higher off the ground meant that Birdie had an excellent vantage point, and she received way more sunlight than if she were on ground level. Coolmon's home, on the other hand, wasn't easily defended and was hidden in the shadows, with only a few holes and broken windows allowing a few stray beams of light to shine through. It was glum, to say the least.

Birdie was even about to comment on it, possibly even mock Coolmon for how much worse off she was, but something stopped the Biyomon and she held her tongue. She continued looking around the first floor of the tower, her pupils contracting as she tried to focus on some of the darker corners. The silence was agonizing, but she continued to keep her mouth shut. It was then that Coolmon spoke up, saying that she lived near the back of the building but that it wasn't anything special.

It was sad, somehow, seeing such a good, pure-hearted Digimon living in such a place. Birdie knew she, herself, was angry and got in trouble with the law and had a tendency to pick fights. She wasn't "good" and she wouldn't claim to be. Old Terminus was a place for her. It seemed to be made for her. But Coolmon? It was akin to finding Unica living in such a sorry state. The setting didn't match the individual. Birdie knew she needed to say something, but she couldn't think of what. When she opened her mouth, the words, "This sucks," tumbled out. Immediately, her gaze settled on Coolmon and her eyes widened a little, as though she was surprised by her comment. And yet, she didn't apologize or even try to backpedal.

Instead, she followed up with, "No joke, this is a real crapper." She tore her eyes from Coolmon and wandered across the first floor, getting a closer looking at things and hoping to find some kind of nest or stash of goods or anything to help her learn more about the pink rabbit. Aside from some scattered papers, though, it didn't look like Coolmon owned anything--or, if she did, she had a good hiding spot for them. "Where's all your stuff?" Birdie asked as she turned back to look at her companion, a hit of aggression in her voice as she did.

While Coolmon escorted Birdie down one of the branching hallways, she explained how she actually enjoyed living where she did because strangers tended to leave her alone, which helped when she wanted to be by herself. With that, Birdie felt herself taken off guard once again. She really had underestimated the little bunny, hadn't she? For some reason, she had it stuck in her head that Coolmon would have been the ideal partner for Unica: cheery, passionate, happy-go-lucky. And yet, the longer Birdie spent time with the other Digimon, the more she came to know that her previous assumptions were far from accurate. Coolmon was one depressed bunny.

In response to Coolmon's comment about her getting stronger since she came to live here, Birdie couldn't help but let a little smirk slip across her beak. "That's true. It's a better place to get stronger than any stupid training grounds," she commented with a pensive look on her face. "Probably because our lives are on the line here. No one will come to your rescue and no one will alert the police. It's an eat-or-be-eaten world in Old Terminus," she added, her bright blue eyes shifting suddenly to look at Coolmon's backside as they continued walking down the hall. It would have been so easy for Birdie to make a move and take her acquaintance out right there, once and for all. Just as the thought began to take root, Coolmon stopped walking and opened up one of the doors with a tiny key.

A brief flicker of... jealousy, perhaps... surged through the Biyomon as she wondered how Coolmon managed to get a room with a lock. The best Birdie had managed to do was find a room high enough to avoid unwanted confrontations with non-flying Digimon or flying Digimon who were far too large to fit into her little home. Only rookie Digimon with the ability to jump, float, or fly four stories would have been able to get to her. Regardless, it would have been nice to have a lock on her window or something. She felt gypped, and she voiced what was on her mind. "How the heck did you manage to get a room with a lock?" she asked, an accusatory tone dripping from each word. Even still, it was more of a rhetorical question, not intended to be answered. This fact was obvious from the way she looked around the room, her gaze never falling on Coolmon in expectation for an answer, though she wouldn't have minded if the pink rabbit answered.

Then a light flickered on, illuminating the room better than the window could. The sudden change in atmosphere caused Birdie to whirl around, shoulders raised and wings extended a little to either side, as if poised to attack or fight, the purple eye-shaped markings on the underside of her feathers barely visible in the lamp light. In a matter of seconds, she recognized that she was not in danger, and her wings fell to her sides again. Instead of showing hostility or relief at Coolmon's generous gift of a chocolate bar, Birdie looked confused, maybe even a little offended. "What is that?" she asked while gingerly taking the candy between her talons. She examined it closely before looking back at Coolmon. It smelled like the brown smudged that had been on the front of Unica's shirt, but Birdie had never actually tasted chocolate for herself, so Coolmon's kindness was meant with puzzlement.

When Coolmon mentioned that the front door was not an original installment and said that it was a long story, Birdie rolled her eyes. Yes, she was jealous of Coolmon, but the idea of sitting through a boring story about how a rabbit obtained a new door with a lock wasn’t exactly what she would’ve considered a good time. And yet, when Coolmon mentioned that she wouldn’t say anything else on the matter because she assumed her acquaintance wasn’t the type of person who liked long stories, Birdie took some offense. The pink rabbit was right in her deduction, but the fact that Coolmon was making assumptions about her was a little irritating, not that she let it show, however. The two were being pleasant to one another and Birdie wasn’t about to spoil that with some rash comment about how Coolmon was right but how it was still rude to jump to conclusions about people.

There were bigger fish to fry, such as the matter of Coolmon’s gift. She called the candy bar “chocolate,” which was a word Birdie had heard before, but she had never tried such a treat for herself. Chocolate was one of those things that the digital world hadn’t produced normally but started to carry in great quantities once humans began to populate the area. Birdie, for one, tended to feed off of meat scraps and berries found in the wilds. Her nest had a small, ripped basket filled with some fist-sized fruit that she ate whenever she was feeling weak. Food products sold in stores or brought in from the human world were foreign to Birdie, too strange and too new for the Biyomon to ever go out of her way to try. Chocolate was one such item. Even though Coolmon said that she liked it herself, she admitted that she wasn’t sure if her companion would.

Hesitantly, Birdie tore back the wrapper and snapped off a corner with her beak, not entirely sure if she was eating it properly. It began melting instantly as it touched her tongue, leaving behind a creamy, sweet, and milky flavor. It was okay, Birdie thought. If she was dying and needed something urgently then she would eat it, but otherwise it was far too sweet for her palate. “Hmm, thanks,” she croaked before bending the top of the wrapper to cover the rest of the exposed chocolate. She would keep it for later and find a place to store it once she got back to her nest. Without another word, Birdie began making herself at home, strolling around the little apartment and seeing what she could see.

Trash. Snacks. Wrappers. Scarves. Rubbish. Birdie was underwhelmed with what Coolmon had in her apartment, but it helped shed light on the rabbit's living situation and what she valued in the grand scheme of things: fashion and food. Then again, calling it "fashion" may have been a stretch, considering the fact that the only clothes Coolmon seemed to own were scarves, all of which were literal carbon copies to the one she currently wore around her neck. Perhaps Birdie had it all wrong; perhaps the rabbit actually hated fashion and that was the reason why she had duplicates of the same scarf, so she wouldn't have to worry about how she looked. If minimum energy was put toward deciding what to wear then more time could be spent doing what she loved... whatever that was. Finding helpless human children, probably.

When Coolmon asked if her companion wanted something else to eat, Birdie shook her head and waved dismissively over her shoulder. She was scrounging around the apartment and was seeing first-hand what kind of foodstuffs the rabbit owned, but nothing looked particularly appetizing. If she got hungry enough, she'd leave and go hunting for something by herself. She didn't need charity, especially not from some long-eared rival. They fell quiet for a long moment while Birdie continued to snoop around the complex. Trying desperately to strike up some pleasant conversation, Coolmon asked how Birdie had been since they last saw each other, roughly an hour or two prior. Birdie lifted one of the tawny scarves to see if she could spot anything underneath. "I'm fine," the Biyomon responded, curt in her reply.

It was then that something caught Birdie's attention. "Hmm? What's this?" she mused while pulling a phone from the drawer. It was an advanced looking thing in comparison to the rest of the apartment, making Birdie reevaluate just how well off the rabbit was. Without even asking permission, the Biyomon began fiddling with it, her crimson claws clicking buttons and scratching the screen as she did. "Looks expensive. How much didja pay for it?" Birdie asked as she turned the phone around in her hands, admiring the handiwork. She bit back the urge to steal it and sell it on the black market, knowing she wouldn't get far before Coolmon tried stopping her. Even though both were rookies and Birdie was confident that she could get away, causing a needless ruckus in Old Terminus probably wasn't the best idea. It may have encouraged other Digimon to interfere.