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Looking toward the Future [OPEN]
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Post by yuuki on Jan 1, 2020 7:43:20 GMT
Ys, the blue city inside a crater of a mountain. The blue city of countless wonders, decorated with crystals and sea elements. This city is usually far more serene and calm, with air of home. But today, the serene and calm look was instead traded with sight of a festival. The entire corner of the city is decorated with new year decorations: Flags of many colors fluttering, bamboo decorations here and there, also various hawker stalls selling foods. It also accepting more tourists for the day, probably because it's new year. This, added with scattering flower petals definitely sets the mood of festival.
The biggest attraction for the day is when the king returned from the first sunrise of the day, where he invited his people to look at the rising sun with him, outside of Ys. The shining sea's first dawn of the year was simply breathtaking. The golden light touching the crystals, refracting into several different colors that just flowed around... It probably will be some tradition.
At any rate, soon the King returned to Sanctuarium Unionis. After an hour later, he came out to the balcony, where the cameras are ready to capture his image. Hikaru is wearing an elaborate clothing, his family obviously wearing the same. Of course attendance aren't necessary, but KIZNA higher ups that attended are encouraged to stand with the king and his family in this event.
"Beloved people of Ys and friends from both Digital World and Real World alike, we present you... King Hikaru, the first of his name, King of Ys, protector of his realm, ally of his people, leader of KIZNA!" the royal announcer called out.
With that formality, Hikaru stepped forward to the podium, most likely walking paw on paw with Owen. Finally, it's the time huh.. He checked the mic first before starting his Royal Message
"My beloved people, friends from digital world and real world alike, without delaying it further... I, my husband, and my family, would like to wish you happy new year," the king curtsies slightly "May this year brings you great fortunes, and may your resolution came true. This is Ys' first Royal Message, and I have to say... I'm proud of what this city has became. It haven't been even a year since the city's rebuilding project in real world. It might have been years in this world, but even so, this was incredibly fast growth.
My beloved people, this however is not work of just one of us. It's not just the work of our royal family, nor it's just the work of KIZNA. This is all thanks to all us! And for your hard work, for your trust in us, and unshaken belief that we can create a home where we can belong and to push it to realization to this point, we thank you! We're very grateful to be blessed with your presence here, people who strives to make this city as welcoming as possible! That's why, to our friends from outside of Ys, welcome! Welcome and please see our beloved, prided city in all its glory!
However, my dear people... Do not be satisfied with just this. Ys still have a lot of potential that's waiting to be unearthed! Have trust in better future where we can build more bridges between us, bridges between cities, and even between world. It's not an easy task, and I'm sure it's very intimidating, but do not falter! Your king is here, KIZNA is here, but most and foremost, we need your trust, your faith, your participation as usual. For our homeland, let's build a city that we all can come home to!"
There was loud cheers coming from the city. With that, Hikaru steps down from the podium, and pats Yuuki's back. The youth is in different sort of uniform today. Far more regal, befitting for the partner of the king.
"Presenting Itou Yuuki, high commander and leader of KIZNA!"
"Glory to all of us. Today we from KIZNA would like to wish you happy new year. Last year, we founded this city... we recovered it, with your help. With your participation, we gathered the necessary manpower, funds and technology to rebuild this city to something we're proud of. Without your support, none of this could have happened and without your faith, KIZNA won't be such a major organization in Digital World. We thank you, sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts.
Us, KIZNA, has gained many allies over the course of past year. Our current project at the moment involves reaching out to secluded tribes, solving their problems, issues such as hygiene, food shortages, water shortages, lack of trade routes, and more. We also started projects that aims to develop survival skills and general knowledge, also secondary interest for our people. The building of Education Sector is how we decided to realize it. We have also launched a fossil mining project on the southern area, and study of Sunken Elysium. We hope that by doing so we'll gain deeper understanding of Digital World's history.
However, not all of them was great news. During the previous year, there are so many events. Last year, DATS was reinstated, and was met with strong opposition during the Golden Week. Last year, demon lords started to move and caused significant damage to Digital World. Last year also there are anomalies appearing out of sudden... It might caused quite a great deal of unrest among you all... but KIZNA would like to remind you one thing:
Our motto is to not act simply from prejudice. We're scientists, we're explorers, we're people with tendency toward peace. Do not point your blade at something just because they're different from us. We can avoid clashes if we understand one another... We would like you to keep this to heart. KIZNA will always seek for the truth of a matter, we always will. We'd like to request you to have faith in us, in KIZNA, that we will strive the best to build bridges, not destroying it or burning it down.
However for now, it's not the time to work. It's time to relax and sit back. Please enjoy the festival, all of you. When the holiday is done, let's get to work then! Let's create a better future, for all of us!"
After that address, and the cameras turned off, Yuuki looked at Hikaru who grinned.
"Not bad for your first public speech."
"I was shaking, you idiot..." Yuuki muttered. Honestly, he felt his legs and hands colder than usual from stage fright. But at any rate... "...KIZNA, you're all dismissed. Have fun for the day, and just enjoy everything really. I'm heading out myself."
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Jan 1, 2020 9:07:44 GMT
If there were any words to describe Kenny's first full year in Japan (and subsequently, his partnership with Skadi), it would be very eventful, full with a lot of amazing ups, and plenty of demoralising downs. But would he trade it for anything in the world? No. Ever since he met Skadi, and learnt about the existence of Digimon, Kenny had grown from an antisocial loner with painful trust issues to a more confident and outgoing man. Together, they conquered many challenges, made plenty of new friends, and actually managed to join KIZNA after a certain chance meeting at the Spartan Training Grounds.
And now, at the dawn of the new decade, they were at their secondary home of Ys, clad in warm clothing (yes, including Persephone's scarves), and from inside, both of them were watching Hikaru and then Yuuki give their speeches, and upon hearing Hikaru being called out, you could bet she was quite vocal, flat out applauding like crazy, and cheering loudly. For someone so small, she had a lot of energy inside of her.
Kenny was quick to shush her in time.
But still, as they listened to the speeches, the dynamic duo could feels a lot of butterflies form in the stomach, a sense of both pride and uncertainty coming across them. Who knew a couple of misfits who came right out of left field would end up contributing to one of the biggest cities the Digital World had to offer, and helping to save the day more than once?
Still, there were still a lot of things they had to learn; who knew what the new year could bring to the table? Maybe this would be the year they would help to actually bring down a Demon Lord, or change the Digital World for the better? It was all so exciting, and whereas old Kenny would have been worried, a new Kenny was all too ready to embrace the future, hand-in-hand with his loyal Valaismon partner, Skadi, by his side.
With the speeches out of the way, and Yuuki dismissing the rest of KIZNA, Kenny gave an affirmative nod. But Skadi? Well, she was waving happily, as she cried out, "Bye Yuuki! Bye Papa! I'll see you guys later!" as they left.
After letting out a content chuckle, a small smile lined Kenny's face, "Man, it really has been nearly a whole year, hasn't it?" He recalled, "Didn't think we'd actually get this far, if I'm being honest with you."
"Honestly, Kenny, I never doubted us, for a second." Skadi grinned at her tamer, her arms akimbo, "I mean, look how far we've come during the past year! We managed to save the Entertainment District, for one. And without you, I don't think we'd end up joining KIZNA, of all things, too. We made Yuuki and Hikaru proud with what we did so far, and that was just in our first year alone. And it's all because I just so happened to meet one of the greatest tamers in the world, right here!" She happily gestured to him. Right there. In front of the others.
Hearing Skadi point all this out of him made a small blush form on the flustered tamer's face, and he leaned down to his partner's level, before pulling his partner into his arms for a hug, which his partner happily reciprocated as he stroked her hair. "Thank you, Skadi. And you're the greatest Digimon partner a tamer could ever ask for."
After pulling away from his dear partner and himself back up, Kenny turned to address the other teammates who were still there, stuffing his hands into his pockets to keep warm, "Hey, uh, you guys wanna hang out with us today? Maybe catch up on a few things for a while? We might be heading out to the market first to grab some breakfast, I'm kinda peckish." Hopefully, he and Skadi would get a few takers.
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Post by Nik & Brad on Jan 1, 2020 11:42:40 GMT
Nik Henare and his partner Brad the Grizzmon awoke from their usual resting place within Ys - a nice old building renovated into a dormitory located in a position between the palace and the centre of the city. They prepared and ate a quick breakfast of cereal together, then quickly donned their KIZNA uniform to take their positions for the King's Speech. While Nik and Brad honestly thought Hikaru was too much of a fun figure to be seen as a true King, he was still one of the leaders of their group, so they would be happy to show him deference and respect for this event - his speech for the new year.
The two of them looked up to him on the balcony. There the Dorumon was, with his Gaomon husband Owen, and many of his children present. Also there was Sten the WereGarurumon, Owen's father.
As Hikaru made his message, Owen clasped his paw as he approached the podium for his speech, then the blue and white canine digimon took a step back to allow his husband to deliver his full speech.
Nik and Brad watched and smiled as they took in these words. They had achieved much in Ys, converting this from a lost, forgotten city of the hidden "Shining Sea" to a hub of activity in the Northern Prominence. They joined in the applause, then awaited the words of Hikaru's partner Yuuki. So far as he knew, these words were true. Tales such as that of Hikaru's husband Owen educating young digimon in constructive skills, as well as that of survival. And friends such as the young chef prodigy Max aiming to teach digimon how to bring out the best in their food.
The smiles soon faded when Yuuki reminded them that DATS was still active in the human world, and the Demon Lords active in the digital world and most likely in pursuit of goals that could hurt them.
But Yuuki's words of aiming to build bridges rather than oppose, that was something that Nik and Brad could agree on. Eventually, the speech ended, and once the cameras were off, Owen stepped forward and embraced his husband.
"You were brilliant, my love." he said, sincerely satisfied with the Dorumon's performance.
As for Yuuki's speech, both him and Bezil agreed that it was a good one. "Don't worry, you've kept it real, mate, that's the thing we need this day and age." Owen assurred Yuuki.
Meanwhile, as the speech ended, Nik and Brad would then look around the courtyard for their intended companions for the day. After all, Nik thought of Alan as his boyfriend, and, he was a little ashamed about how little time they had spent together this year. And, by a turn of good luck, it turned out that Alan and Levi were also now part of KIZNA, hopefully giving them a lot more opportunities for hanging out.
Brad was in his 10ft tall Grizzmon form, and Nik in his also relatively tall 6'2" human form, they'd probably be difficult to miss in the general mingling that would happen in an event such as this.
The two of them heard Kenny's invitation, then grinned. "We'd be glad to, but, not for the whole day? I'd like to spend some time with Alan."
Emerging, hovering from Nik's back, Bixby the Gomamon appeared, giving a neutral smile.
"If Nik and his boyfriend get overindulged with each other, I'm glad to hang out with you guys." he said. By now, Bixby had become accustomed to Ys and respected the rules of KIZNA as well as the history this place held.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Jan 2, 2020 4:32:31 GMT
2020... Adrian never thought that this year would come soon, if at all. As a kid he would always think of that year as a year where everyone would have flying cars and jetpacks, or would travel to various buildings via tubes. Well, right now the very idea of just having a car hover seems completely impossible, unless you happened to be in the know about the Digital World and its various vehicle upgrades.
Still, it was pretty crazy to actually get to this year now. Adrian was going to turn twenty this summer, and the thought of it just scared him. He was still a teenager when entering the Digital World for the first time, and now he'll be a proper adult and not classified as a teenager anymore. Just as he was contemplating his own existence, he noticed that he got a new Tamernet message just recently.
Huh, wonder what this is about...?
Opening up his D-Terminal that he grabbed from atop of his bed, he found that the message was from a good friend of him and Shoutmon, Bezil the Gumdramon. He was apparently inviting the two of them to a festival in the city of Ys. Adrian looked at Shoutmon, who was sitting in his office chair. "Do you know where Ys is?"
"Ys? I think it's somewhere in the Northern Prominence. Why?"
"Bezil just invited us to a New Year's festival over there."
"Wait, really?! Well are we gonna go?"
"As long as you don't turn into Omni and try to kill everyone there," Adrian joked. Poorly.
"Ugh, I just wanna put that all behind me... Last year's beginning sucked."
So a hop, a skip, and a Digiport away later, Adrian and Shoutmon found themselves in the city of Ys before sunrise, which neither of them knew was actually inside of a mountain. The two of them took in the sights of the Digimon either talking or setting up various festival activities for later. The decorations looked fantastic as well. It surely was quite a sight, as Adrian and Shoutmon both had big grins on their faces as they walked about.
They weren't the only ones to hear about this festival, either. In another part of Ys was a twelve year old human by the name of Kaya, wandering around the festival with her archer Hawkmon partner, Hawkeye. Of course Kaya would be walking around with a big stick of cotton candy in her hand. "This city is beautiful!"
"Agreed," Hawkeye would say, a rare but prominent smile on his beak, "the look and feel of this city is marvelous! For once I am glad you dragged me here, Kaya. I wonder when the sun shall dawn upon us..."
Eventually the "main" event would soon begin. The king had invited all of Ys to watch the first sunrise of the new year. Seeing the sun shimmer onto the various crystals and watching many different colors flowing around the area... well, it was like magic. More magic than any other actual magic they've seen before.
Afterwards the king and the leader of the group KIZNA would make a couple of speeches. First of all, the king was a Dorumon, but he was more... fancy and different than any Dorumon that could be found in the Digital World. He definitely had a certain vibe coming from him. He would go on to thank the citizens and KIZNA for Ys' construction, which impressed Adrian quite a bit to hear that it took at least a year to build a city like this.
Next up to speak was Itou Yuuki, the leader of KIZNA. His speech addressed various projects that KIZNA had done to benefit the Digital World, and how most of it was going great. However, he did mention the elephants in the room, mainly DATS' reinstatement that resulted in the Golden Week fiasco, and the Demon Lords that are threatening to conquer the Digital World. Both of these threats were things Adrian and Shoutmon had dealt with before, and just hearing both of them nearly brought the mood down for them.
But Yuuki was able to save it by saying to never "point your blade" at someone purely because they're different, to avoid clashes with others, and asked for confidence in KIZNA to build bridges, not burn them. It was an inspiring speech for sure, and the audience attending did indeed clap for them when the speeches were over.
"He has a good point... It's definitely better to make friends than enemies. Hopefully one day both humans and Digimon get along."
"Yeah, I agree. KIZNA seems pretty chill, if you ask me... hey, should we go look for Bezil?"
"Why not? Maybe Owen is here too, haven't seen him in a while either."
While those two went to go look for their friend, Kaya and Hawkeye were also having their own reactions to the speech. "DATS... Those are the guys who don't want Digimon in Tokyo, right? Why can't they just let us get along?"
"Some humans and some Digimon do not wish to connect with the other, Kaya. I felt the same way myself for a while, before I met you."
"Yeah, but that should be a choice... what DATS is doing is pretty much segregation. And the Demon Lords... their name sounds scary as is!"
"I have confidence the Demon Lords will be taken care of. This is out of character for myself, but you are still young and we should be having fun, no?"
"Yeah, you're right... it's hard not to think about it though. Where should we go first?"
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Post by Alan Pantell on Jan 2, 2020 15:21:28 GMT
Amongst the crowd gathered below the king's balcony, a human boy stared upwards, his mind focusing not on the words the king spoke, but the emotions those words carried. In short, he was not paying attention. There was a lot for him to think about, and with all of those thoughts vying for his attention, none of them managed to come to the forefront. In lieu of a coherent thought process to pursue, Alan decided to rely on muscle memory to tell him what to do, and his muscle memory, raised a hand to gently stroke the head of the DemiVeemon riding in the hood of his black sweatshirt, currently worn backwards. The baby dragon jerked strongly at his touch, seemingly having been reminded not to fall asleep. Soon enough, the digimon's tiny head lulled slowly to the side once more. Alan chuckled and decided to leave his little partner be for now.
The light jacket served another purpose: it partially concealed a mint-condition, neatly-ironed uniform, recognizable to all in the immediate vicinity. The young man pulled down at the edges of his sweatshirt to straighten them. What should he do, if someone were to mistake him for anything but a KIZNA initiate of a week or less?
In reality? He would likely tell them he was new, receive a warm welcome and encouragement, and spend the next few hours with a resonant warmth in his chest. Alas, shy tendency won out over reason, Alan resigned himself to the company of the baby dragon Levi, at least until the speech was over, and a more familiar face presented itself.
After everyone was dismissed, such a familiar face did appear, and one he was specifically scanning for: his boyfriend, Nik, whom he had met on a relatively blind date in Snowflake Village. Alan's entire facial expression would brighten a few tones upon spotting him, and he would start jogging over to where he was waiting.
"Nyah!" A cute yelp issued from Alan's hood, Levi having been woken once more by the sudden movement.
"Oh, sorry, Levi!" said the tamer, with a bit of genuine guilt. "A-anyway, hey, Nik!" He put both his arms around the other tamer for a short time, clearly very happy to see him. "All this... sure is something, huh? Not really sure what to say...!" Next, he would notice the towering presence of Brad, and give the grizzly a few pets on the head, even if he possibly had to jump or stretch to do so. "Oh, and hey, Kenny, hey, Skadi! I wouldn't mind going to get something to eat. And, uh, we hadn't seen each other in a while before the past few days, but I don't think you have to worry about us 'indulging' in each other that much."
Levi used a stubby arm to rapidly scratch at a spot on his cheek, much like you would imagine a small, furry animal to do. "Just remember, if you two kiss, I got a front row seat for it next to your collar like this. No comment on whether I'd mind!"
Alan blushed lightly at this comment. "I didn't plan on it in front of all these people, but great motivation not to, Levi."
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Post by yuuki on Jan 9, 2020 14:11:18 GMT
Hikaru smiled proudly as his husband approached him and hugged back, and of course gave him a lick on the cheek.
"I'm glad that you find the speech to be good, love~ Well, I guess this is the first thing for me, but I'm glad that I don't flub it and all that... But I guess enough of this! What's your plan, love? My plan so far is just to go walk around the city, seeing the sight of the city that we have built...
I might actually do a bit of an inspection to be honest... like... what new projects we can make around here."
"You guys probably do that, I and Jill are going ahead to relax somewhere in the therapy section of the Ys onsen area, really," Yuuki commented.
While that sounded suggestive, those who knows the two, which are practically just like an uncle (or older brother) and niece (or little sister), would immediately understand that these two worked really hard for the city. Today being new year mean they're free to take a break as they pleased. Either way, with their destination set, the party pretty much separated and go their own way.
Hikaru took it easy by slowly walking to the city, while Yuuki and Jill seem to decide to take air taxi just to arrive faster. Ys is a huge city after all. The King seem to think of something as he looked around the city. The city have several method of transporation... the air taxi, the tram, the boats, and many other thing... but he wonder if there's a need for a more casual transporation like buses. He probably will think about it more.
Before he noticed it, Hikaru is already on the center of the city... he might have rode the tram without him noticed it.
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Post by Kenny O'Hara and Skadi on Jan 24, 2020 10:29:54 GMT
At first, Kenny blinked a little in surprise as Bixby mentioned that Alan was Nik's boyfriend. He honestly wasn't expecting that to happen, but soon, a genuine smile arose on his face as he and Skadi followed the boys out, "Yeah, I'd be happy to. Honestly, I'm just happy that you found someone who'd make you happy. Alan's a good kid, honestly. Helped us out to help fight the Demon Lords and all. Just hoping Skadi doesn't accidentally knock him onto the ground when we meet up again. She's very affectionate."
Skadi started to pout a little, folding her arms and blushing a little, "Oh come on, Kenny. I'm not that rough." Kenny couldn't help but chuckle, giving another ruffle to the Valaismon's hair, as per usual.
"Ah, I'm just teasing you, you dag." He gave a wink to his pouting partner. It felt so good to be the one on the sending end of the teasing sometimes. Especially when Skadi was usually the one teasing him. It just felt cathartic, really. Shame that Yuuki wouldn't be joining them today, but hey, they had to do what they had to do. No harm, no foul.
As they walked out to meet Alan however, Kenny kept one eye out on Skadi as he waved to Alan, jogging over to them, as Skadi started to outstretch her arms. Any chances of Alan becoming a victim of Skadi's now-infamous tackle hugs (almost an unofficial rite of initiation for new members of KIZNA) were quickly quashed by Levi's yelp, revealing him to be camping inside his hood. That was enough to stop the Valaismon in her place (or at least, slow her to a crawl), lest she accidentally knock Levi's fragile head onto the floor.
Smiling as Levi's impromptu intervention stopped the Valaismon in her tracks, he turned his attention to Alan instead, as the Valaismon opted to wave to them instead, like Kenny (and a little giggling after hearing Levi's smarmy commentary and Alan's reaction), "Hey Alan! Congrats on finding your special someone there. Don't worry, he already told me."
"How you guy's been doing? Thing's been well between you's two?" Skadi piped in, walking up to nuzzle Alan's leg briefly, before quickly being dragged away by Kenny. Poor kid had already had to deal with Levi's embarrassing commentary. He didn't need this, either.
"Sorry about that. Skadi's... pretty affectionate with her close friends. Me included." Kenny remarked to Alan. Hopefully Alan would understand. It was pretty hard at times to keep the Valaismon under control in more lighthearted moments like these.
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