Meeting Room [Curls|E&E]

    After much fuss in the home of the twins, varying from 'do we wear casual clothes? Fancy? In-between?' to 'should I bake a cake? Does she like cake?' the twins had finally settled their uncertainties, in order to head over to their friend's home! They had decided, more or less, to dress more casually, and yes, that Amy must like cake. If they got there and found out she didn't? (Or found out that she already had a cake!) That would just be too bad, and Amy would have to settle for liking cake on her birthday!

    ...Not really. If Amelie didn't like cake, the twins would just eat more of it than originally planned.

    Though, the entire day leading up to Amy's apartment seemed to be eventful for the duo! Especially when, without even knocking on the apartment door, Evie would promptly open it, allowing her sibling to hurry into the room! "Hello! Pardon the lack of knocking!" the prim-and-proper blonde would chime, perhaps a little too cheerfully, as Amy's only form of warning as the twins let themselves in.

    Elsie, on the other hand, seemed more distressed than cheerful, as she balanced a cake, covered by a carrying tray, in one hand, and began trying to remove a shoe with the other -- all while ensuring her sister closed the door as quickly as possible! "There was a bee in the elevator." Elsie explained, struggling with the same shoe until Evie could collect the cake from her. Once she had, the shoe-removal process was much quicker!

    "It was actually a hornet. And, it's in the hallway now." Bees. Hornets. Same thing, as far as the red-eyed sibling was concerned! Vibrating doom machine with wings! "Elsie was afraid of waiting outside the door for you to answer, in case it tried to land on her." Funny how they could spend their days in an alternate world, fighting giant beasts, and still be alarmed by a single, regular hornet!

    Once both of them had discarded their shoes -- and any risk of being attacked by flying 'monsters' -- the twins would chime, "happy birthday!"

    Which, hopefully so far, it was! "Elsie made you a cake. We weren't sure if you already had one." If she did, there was going to be so much cake tonight. Not that there was really a problem with that! Then, a pause, "do you like chocolate cakes?"

    Did she? Did the twins even actually bring a chocolate cake, or was there something completely different under the lid of this container? Maybe, the duo had just spent the past three hours arguing about whether or not Amy liked chocolate cakes. Who really knew, with these two? Either way! They had at least announced cake was involved!

    And bees, apparently. Luckily, not combined.

    As soon as the door was knocked for the first time, Amelie decided to snap off her reverie. The small metallic container that she had decided to twirl to kill time returned to its resting place alongside its peers; it had felt a bit weird to even think about trying one of those out, but for now, that was just relegated as a mere curiosity.

    There was no reason for that, after all. Letting go of those thoughts, she stood up and walked towards the door to greet the first visitor.

---

    Thus far, things had gone rather smoothly; as always, Katherine and Jazz were very good company. The brunette enjoyed sharing her experiences with her, and was glad that the act was reciprocal. That was what friendship was about, right?

    She had brewed some, and for now, that was mostly what was being shared by the three girls currently sitting around a small coffee table. "I'm glad you think it's good; there are few things as satisfying as preparing a blend that everyone can enjoy; especially considering that the process has... a very peculiar taste, to say the least!"

    It had been a learning experience... that had made the brunette gag repeatedly, but that was not something fitting to say at the moment. Instead, she focused on the gift that Jazz and Katherine had prepared; a wide smile took over her features in an instant at the mere sight of the wrapping paper.

    "Thank you very much!" If it weren't for the fact that the three were sitting at the moment, both the digimon and the human would've received a rather tight hug in response. Considering how curious the girl was, it was no surprise that she tore the paper as soon as she had been given permission, what would the gift be?

    Despite that eagerness, the request for something to present the snacks in a less messy way was heard. Yet, after Amy stood up but before she could fetch the requested items, another pair of visits decided to enter the apartment! None other than the twins, who brought a pretty big cake alongside them!

    For now, Amelie seemed to be pretty happy at the blondes' entrance. Or maybe she had just looked for an opening to tease her friends. "Sounds like a pretty rocky journey. Japanese hornets can be really mean, you know? There's a video on Youtube about how thirty or so hornets wipe out an entire bee colony in record time, and then feast on their young. Pretty savage, if you ask me."

    Interesting bit of trivia aside, it wasn't like Amy was excited about getting stung either, even if her distaste for flying stingers didn't quite reach Kath's level.

    That didn't matter at the moment, though. What mattered was the delicious bunch of sweetness in front of her. "But yeah, don't worry! Any cake's fine, but a cake made by a close friend is even better!" A pretty wide smile was directed at Elsie right afterward. "Thank you very much for going through the effort of baking it for me. I really appreciate it!"

    After some moments, item itself was now resting on the dining room's table, and that could only make her wonder. "Would you prefer to eat Katherine's snacks first, or maybe Elsie and Evie's cake? I can't quite decide." Not really a painful quandary, but still! "What do you feel like eating? Or maybe do you want to eat proper food before moving to stuff that'll spoil our appetite?"

    Night was falling, and the fact that most, if not all of the girls didn't have dinner yet was pretty obvious. What would they do? In any case, the fact stood that the sisters were still standing up. "Make yourselves comfortable! Considering how you didn't even have to knock, I guess that saying that my home's your home is a bit of an understatement."

    Once everyone had taken their seats and the eating arrangements have been decided, the young woman would proceed to do the same. "So, what you all have been up to? Maybe it's just me, but it feels like things have been pretty busy as of late. Or maybe it's just the age getting to me." A purposefully exaggerated shrug punctuated the sentence. Truth was that, while she considered the four girls close friends, they didn't have the opportunity to hang out as much in the recent times.

    Maybe they had been working on interesting stuff! Or maybe not, who knows.

Seeing Amelie show that smile just made Katherine and Jazz’s heart feel a bit warmer, honestly. Even if she quite didn’t know what it was yet, it seemed like she appreciated the gesture, and that's what was important. If that zeal would remain or vanish as she opened the package remained to be seen.

Originally, Saboro would find a piece of thick cloth. It was a sweater! It was of a light purple color, the design of white flowers engraved around it. It was a cute, simple design, but charming enough. However, the Frenchwoman would quickly notice there was something solid beneath that. The sweater was actually wrapped around something! Upon unfolding the first part of her gift, she would notice the fabric was extremely soft.

“I found that in a shop around Whitewater and thought it would look adorable on you, Shisei. So I convinced Jasso to buy it.” Jazz noted while she looked at her friend unfold the sweater. “I picked it a couple of sizes above mine, so it should fit well enough.” Katherine added to that.

However, there was a second part to that gift.

“We thought that would be enough for your birthday but... we recently were at a place where I found something that made me think of as soon as I saw it.”

And that was what lied beneath the sweater. It was… a book. It had a very thick, solid red velvet cover. It had a lock on its right side. The key to that lock was also wrapped around the sweater. It was a small, black key.

“When I met you, I remember you told me…” Katherine reminisced, placing her index finger on her lower lip.

"So I guess that I've been doing stuff in here for a year or so, more or less. I'm just too lazy to keep a diary or something, as handful as that would be."

The curly-haired girl stood up to properly show her friend what this was about. Jazz stood up right after, too. She just needed to see the look on her face when the Spaniard explained how it worked.

“This is a diary… of some sort. It’s actually called a Trip Journal.” The teenager rephrased. “You just need to turn it on and…” The green-eyed pushed a little green switch placed in the lower part of the book. Then, once Amy unlocked the journal, it will reveal…

A very small, holographic digimon with a scarf, a coat, and a giant backpack, standing on top of the first page. He was… writing.

What, exactly? Well...

“Day 1: It is my birthday. The journal was opened, I stared at the Tripmon writing on it along with Katherine and Jazz…”

He was actually documenting what Amelie was doing!

Once the journal was closed, Katherine would keep explaining.

“You can talk to him and tell him about you so the experience is personalized. He will save the names of your friends and people you know. I already told him the journal was for you and told him some of the names of your friends, including Jazz and myself. I also told him it was your birthday." She was trying to give as many details as possible, so Amy could understand how the thing worked. "Tripmon is constantly scanning what is happening around you and writing, even if the journal is closed. This means he will document everything happening around you.”

Katherine explained, honestly feeling a bit proud of her gift.

Jazz was no different. “When you can’t remember what happened or at what time it happened, you can just roughly describe the situation to him and he will look for that entry in the journal. It’s super useful!” A smile accompanied the end of that sentence.

“I found it in Bastian’s warehouse. I think there aren’t many like those in the Digital World. At least I haven’t seen anything like it. I think it'll be useful for you since you are someone very busy, so it will help you keep track of everything you do. Since you write these articles about the things you do, this can help you remember exactly what happened, so the article is more precise.” At this point, it should be obvious Katherine was almost boasting from having come up with this birthday gift, even if it was also a matter of luck. It felt very special for her. After all, it was something not many people had, if any.

They could talk more about that gift later, though. Evie and Elsie had arrived.

After cringing at the idea of hornets eating bees (which in her head were just bugs eating more bugs) Katherine took a sit back on the floor, around the coffee table again. “I definitely wouldn’t want to see that.” even when her curiosity was not up for debate, she knew better than watching things on the internet that would make her feel uncomfortable. Well, most of the times she did, at least.

Even when she didn’t like the premise of smelly food, Katherine had tasted this potential cake ingredient the twins were debating on. “I remember eating Sauerkraut in a short trip my parents and I did to Lublin some years ago.” However, she seemed to be musing about the dish. It was not like the idea of putting that in a cake sounded completely appalling for her, but it was a bit... uncouth. “I remember eating it with pork, though. Never thought it could be used in a cake…” She directed a tilt of her head at Elsie. “I sure would like to try it, though!” She finished with a smirk.

Other than that, the red-eyed girl's idea on what they should eat first sounded kind of… gastronomically chaotic, to say the least. Not like it was too different from how she had proved to be. And that was fine, ultimately. Katherine let out a giggle. “I mean; I know Jazz would love eating a little bit of everything at once so… it’s just a matter of seeing if Amelie thinks that’s okay.”

    It was kind of a shame that the twins had missed the reveal of Amy's birthday gift from Katherine! Surely, they both would have taken interest in the talking journal. For completely different reasons, of course. But, since they weren't, neither were any wiser to the presents prior to the presentation of the cake!

    Neither twin would comment on the idea of friendly wasps. If wasps weren't friendly in this world, why would they be any different in the Digital one? Surely, it would take some time to prove them wrong. But, who knew? Amy could be right! Or, they could all be mauled by angry wasp monsters. It was a mystery!

    Though, Evie would find it a mystery that just about everyone in the room was interested in the concept of sauerkraut cake. Gross. These people had no taste! Cola cake, Evie could live with. Sauerkraut cake? Not so much!

    "There's a market not far from our house that sells sauerkraut, actually!" Elsie informed, a little too excitedly. And then, a less excited addition of, "Evie would never let me make sauerkraut in the house. I'm pretty sure she'd sabotage it, or somethin'." To this, the prim and proper twin gave a small nod. Yes. Yes, she would definitely ruin any chance of sauerkraut entering their household.

    "It's more normal when it's served with pork or sausage, but some people think it adds moisture and a nice flavor to cakes. I can't say that I agree." After all, sauerkraut was still sauerkraut. Evie didn't really want a cake full of it!

    Even though Evie found it a little odd to put out all the food choices at once, she wasn't going to argue with the majority. At least that meant she could pick whatever she wanted from the options without seeming like a fussy eater! Almost immediately, the green eyed twin would move to help Amelie set up all the food choices. And, to analyse which options looked the most interesting, while assisting!

    But, soon enough, the food would all be placed and everyone would be able to sit again and get comfortable! Though, neither twin was entirely certain what drink to select, so Evie just avoided looking toward the beverages entirely, while Elsie leaned to look at her options. What were the options, exactly? Apparently, beer was a pretty obvious one, considering what Amelie had! But, likely not a candidate for the twins. Especially since Evie didn't seem the beer-drinking type.

    Hearing that they had missed the question earlier, Elsie paled, but continued to debate her beverage options, allowing for the more polite twin to answer. "We haven't been up to much! Elsie recently joined me in the student council, at school. So, I suppose, it's mostly just been getting her, and the new club members, acclimated. We haven't done much in the Digital World, lately. Though we probably should soon." That didn't sound very exciting, overall! Ah well. Maybe the twins weren't overly exciting people!

    But, what about Jazz and Katherine? They had to be up to some far more exciting stuff! Right?

    The fact that sauerkraut could be readily acquired in Japan was among the biggest reveals the girl had gotten that day. Those were wonderful news! "You definitely have to point me towards that market. If there's other classical German stuff, I'd love to get my hands on some of it!"

    It was a pity that the twin with cooking aspirations couldn't let them bloom in their full potential, but there wasn't a lot she could say about the whole deal. Evie seemed like a pretty tough customer when it came to foods! That was probably a good thing, as it meant that Elsie standards must've been fairly high as a result. Or maybe not, who knew! In any case...

    "I agree with you though. It's probably better with meat than as a dessert, but I can't say I oppose the idea of trying new things when the situation arises. Sides, even if it ends up being horrible, at least it'll be a funny anecdote to tell in the future! A person never has enough of those, at least in my opinion."

    Curiosity kills the cat, as they say. But a life without possibly catastrophic situations was probably a very boring one, wasn't it? Amelie took notice of Katherine's sudden change of demeanor, and couldn't but wonder what was the reason? What could be wrong? A somewhat pensive expression crossed her face before she got around actually asking.

    "Is everything alright, Curls? Not liking the food, or something? I can get something else if you want. Should've just asked for it!"

    The lives of both pairs seemed decently interesting. For a second, the brunette had pretty much forgotten than the three girls were still high-schoolers. Was it okay for her to hang out with them when they were so young? Considering that she had been offering the lot of them alcohol probably meant she wasn't the best influence...

    But that topic was something not as important at the moment. What mattered right now was enjoying themselves! As long as it wasn't highly illegal, they'd be fine. "I'm glad to hear you're all doing very well." Once again, Amy took the opportunity to pour herself another glass, all the while eyeing Evie's mild indecisiveness. Was she searching for anything in particular? Chances were that she'd find most mainstream drinks in somewhat disorderly fashion on the table. It was just a matter of looking!

    "I remember my high school years. They were pretty entertaining, even though I didn't have the chance of joining any clubs and the like. Perks of being constantly on the move, I guess; how's the council? By the sound of it, it seems like you have a pretty important role there, Evie. President even, maybe?"

    She purposefully avoided talking about the Digital World, at least for that day. The reason? Affairs there were about to get messy, and that was to say the least! Definitely, something she wanted to keep her mind off for the time being.

    The girl remained silent for several seconds, silently agreeing with Jazz just before a bit of a sly smile made its way over her face. It was almost like the disguised digimon could read her mind! "You know, about that..."

    From the back pocket of her jeans, she produced what looked like one fancy ticket. "Ooi thought it'd be a good birthday present. It's basically a free ticket to enter some very exclusive hot springs that aren't that far from here. They're open the whole day, so we could get there if you really want!"

    And, before any of them said it. Even if they probably wouldn't. "She told me to either go on my own or with others, because she doesn't fancy getting naked and wet in semi-public places, but I guess that each to their own! So, what do you all say? We can probably finish our dinner and go there if you're game."

Upon being addressed by Amelie, Katherine's eyes just shifted towards her friend, the palm of her hand still resting under her chin. Showing a very serious expression, she shook her head. Had someone died? Her face could very much be the reflection of something like that. "I'm okay."

How in the world could Amelie not know? She was pretty smart! Was she really that oblivious about her friend's feelings? Or did she just not care? Ugh!

Even if there was a trace of anger in her eyes when she 'answered' Amy's inquiry, Katherine managed to show plain seriousness to Evie. She was not mad at her, and it would be kind of unfair to give her the cold shoulder because of what Amy did. It was not, by any means, her fault. Still, that did not mean she could just show a smile out of nowhere in a moment like this.

"I was thinking about electric blue. Although Jazz suggested lilac and... I've been thinking about that, too." Slowly, she started moving her whole body to face Elsie. "If I tried those types of colors, maybe I would like something a bit darker like..." After a pause, Katherine made a sound Elsie would probably not quite pick up. "... añil."

Immediately, she placed three fingers over her lips. "S-Sorry. I meant..." Another pause, this time, she seemed to be thinking. Looking for a word, even. "... I really don't know the name of that color in Japanese, English or German." So many languages, yet not a word to describe the color she was talking about. "Some name it 'indigo' but... that's not quite it. I guess I could..." Katherine took her cellphone out of her pocket. Did she feel happy now? Not quite! But it definitely seemed like this conversation was helping her keep her mind away from... you know. While she browsed the internet for an image of the color she wanted to show Elsie, you could tell she was pretty invested in their little talk.

"That sounds so cool!" Meanwhile, Jazz was having her own share of fun listening to Evie talk about school. Actually, Katherine was one of those who thought school was fun, even if she had never met anyone in there. But she was mostly aware that was her fault. "I can't wait until I can go to school with Jasso, then!" Those would be fun days.

Anything was funnier than fighting for your life against an evil army of digital creatures and being sad at your friend's birthday because she did not care about the best gift you had ever give to anyone, really.

It was Amy's suggestion what brought both conversations to be interrupted. The girl and the bunny, who were still talking to one of the twins each, would turn their heads to see the blue-eyed.

Jazz, of course, was the first to say anything, once Evie and Elsie had chipped in with her own opinion. "B-But... Jasso said I couldn't get naked when there are other people around. Trust me, I tried." Her index finger tipping her lower lip, the brunette stated.

"If it's in a hot spring, it's okay for you to be naked in front of people who are not me." Katherine explained after letting out a sigh. "I know it's a part of Japanese culture but..." Well there was a reason why she had not ever taken Jazz to one. Jasso had not ever gone to a hot spring herself!

Was she going to be wet and naked in front of Elsie and Evie? Oh god. Well, time to take something from the culture of the country where she had been living for a couple of years for once, right? "... I guess it's okay." She had heard those were pretty relaxing, after all.

"I'm ready!" And, of course, Jazz had started undressing already. While she tried to slide that pink blouse over her head, her tamer had to stop her immediately.

"Wait until we get there!"

WELL! It was a chance for her to not wear something as uncomfortable as clothes. Who could blame her?

Probably many people.

"What about all of these things? Are taking them with us, or are we going to have food and drinks there too?" Jazz inquired, staring idly at all of the consumables that were in Amy's living room.

Once they were ready to go, Katherine and Jazz would follow suit.

    Even Elsie noticed the response that Kath gave to Amy felt a little off! While her sister continued on with fully ignoring the conversation, Elsie scrunched her nose a little. Should she say something? Since Evie didn't want to acknowledge the existence of the conversation at all, Elsie decided to try to follow suit. For the time being, at least!

    Especially since Katherine was so willing to participate in hair dye topics, instead! "Hmm," the teen hummed, "indigo could work! It's kinda like... a dark mix of blue and lilac, y'know?" Sort of. If Lilac was actually dark purple, it would work better. But, still! As Katherine went through her phone for images, the red-eyed teen leaned over to be near Kath's shoulder, peeking at the images that might pop up. And, entirely oblivious to the concept of personal space!

    Which, meant that everyone else could discuss school without Elsie's negative inputs!

    "If Katherine won't take you, you can always come with us!" Would Katherine permit such a thing? Probably not. Did Evie know that? Most definitely. Kath seemed a bit on the strict side. So, why not try to shake things up a little bit? Though, would that check any of the student council president boxes? 'Tries to bring digimon dressed up like people to school without their tamer's permission'? Eh, sure. Why not?

    Giving a thoughtful hum, the twin ignored that expression that was directed at Elsie being part of the student council. She had her reasons for putting her there! Just like everyone else, in a way! And, Evie wasn't too keen on giving out all her secrets! So, this one would remain a mystery for the brunette. "Fireworks or museums," she mused, "I can bring up both options to the council, and see what they like best."

    "Fireworks," the other blonde chimed, obviously, while still paying primary attention to Katherine. Of course she was going to have an ear on the conversation! She didn't want Amy trying to put them in some sort of ultra boring place like a museum! What kind of school trip was that? Learning? Ugh.

    But, with the topics shifting, Elsie would also shift to give Katherine some probably much-needed personal space, and took another sip of her drink. "Don't worry, Jazz. Evie doesn't let me get naked in public, either." This was said so casually that anyone that heard it had to wonder if there was actually a story there, or if the teen was just saying it to be funny. To add onto it, the prim-and-proper twin just gave a small nod and shrug to the comment.

    Maybe, Germans were just a bit more... liberal with showing off their bodies.

    Maybe, it was just Elsie.

    But, how about being liberal when it came to drinking? Did that count? But, before she could answer, Elsie provided her own statement. "She's just a beer snob, and doesn't like having any fun." Well, that was one way to put it.

    "I wouldn't say that's true," the green eyed girl huffed, puffing her cheeks a little.

    Either way, it seemed that Amelie wasn't going to get a proper response for why Evie wasn't drinking! Especially since, now that she was given a glass of alcohol, she had begun consuming it. Perhaps, at a slightly too rapid rate. But, nobody could say she wasn't drinking now!

    "She's also really annoying when she's drunk. Head's up."

    "You're annoying when you're drunk. I'm factual." Evie couldn't imagine getting drunk on a beer, of all things, though. So, there was no real concern there! She'd rather see everyone else drinking a bit too much, though! So much fun could be had, in that scenario!

    Another good question was... What type of drunk would Jazz be? Elsie was so tempted to try to test it, but suspected that it would put Katherine in more of a sour mood, so she decided to refrain. After all, she was trying to cheer the curly haired girl up! Not the opposite!

    Soon enough, there would be more drinking and eating, and all those other 'boring narrations' that led to getting into Amy's car. And, then... truth or dare? In a car? How could anyone do anything hilarious?

    They'd probably find out soon enough.

    "We're in!" Elsie volunteered for both twins, but wasn't sure where to start on questions-and-dares! So, first, she'd wait and see if the others in the car would join in. "What about you guys? You up for it?"

    ...Did Jazz even know how to play Truth or Dare?