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Post by darkblade on Apr 3, 2016 17:57:03 GMT
Isaac's concern was real.
That much was clear, when he stepped away from Elliot, and started talking in whispers, specifically to the wolf. It was clear, at least in some way, that Iko's words had struck home with this younger human, a truly sensitive soul hidden somewhere behind that tough, protective exterior. But it was more than that: the words that ran from Isaac, were ones that rang heavy in Iko's own heart, at least at some point. He would wait for him to finish, to get all of his questions out, just to get a full picture of what he was truly looking for.
And then came that last part.
'How can I beat the darkness?'
A pause. The entire hall seemed to fall silent, Iko looking at Isaac out of the corner of his eye. It took several moments, before the wolf would finally answer:
"You don't."
Another moment of silence, the wolf's voice barely over Isaac's whisper. "That 'Darkness' you speak of, is your other you. Your anger, your fear, even your pride. But to defeat it as you say is to deny it, and to deny it is to deny yourself. Both in power, and honesty."
Would that stick? Iko could only hope. "Very few want to fight, to pick up a sword, or to stain their claws. But there are things we don't like that we have to do. Things more important and above ourselves, things we can't possibly do alone. But to fight, and for the right reasons? You don't defeat that other self. You learn it, accept it, work with it... until you can shape it in your own image."
"And besides," Iko continued, with a grin. Holding out his palm and pointing it upwards, a small black flame appeared in the center of his hand. "By itself, darkness cannot hurt anyone. It is as natural as a shadow." The Digimon of Darkness, Ankomon, gave a short laugh, clenching his fist to extinguish the flame. "You'll figure it out. You have the right head about it, anyway."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 3, 2016 18:29:11 GMT
The idea of embracing everything he hated about himself, and trying to shape it, was an interesting one to Isaac. However, it also sat very badly with him for the time being. As much as he hated to admit it, there were a lot of times he found himself nursing thoughts he later came to loathe. There were times when he hated being scared, or hated being bitter, or hated being so weak. Really, if he had the chance, how much about himself would he end up changing? Maybe if he could do that, he'd end up a far better person in the end. Yet here he was, himself.
It wasn't something he considered often, surely. Even now, as he considered his flaws for the first time in months, he realized it was often hard to pick out what he wanted to keep and what he'd want to abandon. Maybe that was what the wolf of the shadows meant.
Still, there was no harm in asking further. "What if there's stuff I want to deny?" Isaac asked. "What if I want to end up changing myself for the better? There's gotta at least be some way to turn it aside, right?" Sometimes he envied Elliot, far more the kinder and more merciful of the two. Other times he thought it was mere naivete, which would end up getting his brother killed some day without the protection of his watchful eye. Some days he simply thought it wasn't fair. He was building up enough negativity, suspicion, and caution for two, while Elliot was merrily keeping his head in the clouds. Whenever reality came crashing in, it was always on Isaac to pick up the pieces. If he did it well enough, sometimes Elliot didn't even notice.
Did Isaac resent him for that, or did he want to keep protecting his brother's innocence? Days like this, he honestly wasn't sure.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 4, 2016 3:21:27 GMT
"What do I look like to you... someone with all the answers?"
For all of Iko's helpfulness, this change of heart at the end might come as a bit of a shock to Isaac. He said it, however, with a small smile on his face, reaching a hand to give the boy a pat on his shoulder. "I can't answer those... nor can Luke, or your brother. Its between you and your own heart." With an air of finality, the wolf stood up, cracking his back. "Anyway, go get some shut-eye, kid. And think of something to invent telling your mother tonight."
Regardless of if Isaac had another question, Iko 'cut him off', entering and closing the door to his room, Luke following a moment behind. And behind the door, Luke simply asked: "What was that about? Its rare to see you so... caring."
"Just call it a good mood. Or maybe I'm just very tired." A yawn indicating the latter, crashing on a nearby couch, Iko already had his eyes closed. Rolling his own, Luke pocketed his hands, looking around the room. Iko had it right: oversized furniture for larger monsters, but otherwise a normal-looking hotel room.
"Yeah, well be careful." Talking to Iko, who didn't seem to be listening, Luke went on: "Last thing we need is them attached to our hip."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 4, 2016 14:46:18 GMT
Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Nobody had the answers to the hard questions in life. That's what made them such hard questions. Still, that didn't stop Isaac from wishing they were a little bit easier to deal with. He just knew with them weighing on his mind, sleep would be far more difficult. Then again, it wasn't like rest ever came easy for him. Some people were so forgetful that they'd miss their own funerals. Isaac was so restless that he'd likely bail in the middle of his to wrap up any unfinished business.
"Yeah. Had a feeling that was the answer. Still, thank you," he said, a small smile on his face as he began heading back to the hotel roomm. Elliot was already sleeping like a stone in one of the beds, forcing Isaac to move with catlike quietness as he prepared to sleep. With how light of a sleeper Elliot was, one wrong move would have him awoken and complaining about how loud Isaac was. The boy took the other bed and slowly tried to drift off to sleep.
In the morning, he found that Elliot had beaten him to the punch when it came to waking up. He stared out the window, the massive lines at the Trailmon Terminal only now starting to decongest. "How long have you even been up for?" Isaac asked, a little in disbelief.
"Few hours now. It got really loud. One of the Trailmon had a bit too much punch and started ranting at the rest of them. He had to take the day off."
Isaac started to wonder if sentient trains were really that good of a form of transportation.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 5, 2016 23:27:21 GMT
Fortunately, Luke's fear was somewhat unfounded. At least through the duration of the night, neither Elliot nor Isaac came knocking on their door, making for a rather uneventful night. Which was fine by them: tired as they were with all the mess with the trains, both managed to fall asleep rather quickly, dead through the riots and the screams of the train whistles outside.
Because, let's be honest: college got just about as crazy as some of those nights, and Iko had dealt with worse.
"Ugh... felt like I overslept..." Turning out of bed, Luke rubbed his eyes, only to find that Iko was already up. Or... at least in a different position than before. He was sitting on the couch, eyes closed, as if something had stirred him some hours ago. "You okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah." Yawning, the wolf seemed somehow more tired than before. Still, he crawled up onto his feet, stretching out his back. "Think we need to worry about the kids? Surely they can get back by themselves-"
"At the very least, we have to pay for their room, still. What happened to all that social-ness you had yesterday?"
"... Just shut up." Gritting his teeth, he nonetheless understood where Luke was coming from. It wouldn't take long to go through their abridged morning routine, and stepping out in the hall, they would give a knock at the kids' room.
"Mornin', guys. Line outside looks a bit better, you good to roll?"
//If this is at all confusing, I'm likely tying this post to an MPC I'll be writing up for Iko. ^^
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 7, 2016 4:59:52 GMT
Elliot politely hobbled over to open the door, smiling brightly at Luke and Iko. "Of course! We are feeling way better now, too."
Isaac raised an eyebrow, noticing that Elliot's voice was maybe a little bit too cheery. How could it not be? After that horrifying delve into the Dark Realm, the burden of being unable to go home, and the fact that they nearly ended up fighting to their deaths, how could he be fully okay? Isaac knew his brother was resilient, but there was no way he'd bounce back that quickly. He made a mental note to confront Elliot about it later on the train. It couldn't have just been the noise outside waking him, could it have?
"We really owe you big time for this one," Isaac added. Just having security and peace of mind, instead of being forced to sleep on a hard bench in the middle of the terminal, came as a huge relief to the boy. "What about you guys? Where are you headed next?"
Elliot, who was previously about to make a bolt for the door, suddenly stopped and waited. He had to admit, these strangers were really curious. He wanted to hear their answers to this one too!
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Post by darkblade on Apr 9, 2016 1:36:54 GMT
"Good to hear!" Ah, nothing to worry about after all! Outside, the day was calmer and the lines were moving, and inside, these two were energetic, probably more worried about how their mom was going to chew them out than anything else today. And considering this world of magic and monsters, that was a relatively small thing to be worried about. It was enough to bring a smirk to Luke's face... even if Iko stood a bit behind, giving a loud, full yawn.
"Hmph... don't worry 'bout it, kid." Rubbing his eye, he gave a glance at Isaac, before giving a 'tsk', turning to face some stock painting on the wall to kill time. Luke sighed: it wasn't out of the ordinary. His partner was always just a bit fickle. Maybe he'd grill him about it later, maybe not, but the tamer took the moment to pull the conversation back into friendly territory.
"What, us? We might stick around for a little bit longer. Close to the weekend and all, we can probably get away with it... though I guess that makes me a pretty poor role model, doesn't it?"
"A bit." Iko gave a dry chuckle, stretching his back. "If we do stay, it'll probably be to go back to Whitewater again. A bit of a trip, but... well, stuff to do. City work, boring stuff."
"Hm. Well, we should at least check out. And be careful out there... a lot of people and 'mons are going to be impatient, after being holed up last night. Just don't try and mess with anyone bigger than you. Trust me, that helps quite a lot in this world."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 9, 2016 6:27:37 GMT
That answer made enough sense to the boys. Their two new friends probably weren't stuck with a curfew like they were. Sure, it wasn't really a formalized curfew, but not showing up safely at home that night was completely unacceptable. Frankly, they were surprised that they even somewhat got away with it. Of course, pairing that up with jobs that they had to do made it sound like a lot less fun. They were stuck with adult stuff and responsibilities even here in the Digital World? Lame! Being heroes was so much more exciting, even if it also got stupidly dangerous at times.
"Thank you for the advice. We will be sure to keep careful."
"No need to worry. I am not gonna let anyone hurt my bro." The two brothers geared up to start leaving, still smiling appreciatively at their new friends.
"Any way we can repay you?" Isaac asked, somewhat unsure. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of just sleeping and running, and while he and Elliot didn't have too many bits to offer it was always better to ask than to take generosity for granted. It'd just be wrong of them, especially when Iko and Luke went out of their way to help.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 9, 2016 23:02:25 GMT
Ah, there was something to be said about the thankfulness of these two younger kids. It was something that was lost on older teens - something that they might lose in a matter of years, actually - but it was, for the moment, a nice healthy reminder of just what a simple offer could be worth.
"Oh, don't worry about it. Maybe we'll meet up somewhere a little more exciting next time." Luke gave a hopeful smile, to which Iko gave a scoff. "Boring is safe. Just remember that."
"... What's gotten into him, lately?" Shaking his head, Luke let it slide. It wasn't typical of the wolf to act like that. Heck, Luke knew that Iko enjoyed fighting, at least to some extent. What was with this rut? Bah, it was a thought for another time. "Anyway, we'll handle the check-out, you guys can head out whenever." They had no intention of staying with these kids for too long, and Elliot, at least, seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry.
"... Take care."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 10, 2016 4:49:05 GMT
At some point, Iko seemed a bit more reserved than he did before. Something about his cockier demeanor at night and more reserved one this morning seemed like a strange about face in opinion. Still, Isaac didn't want to push the issue too much. It was clear that the wolf had seen a lot, and he didn't want to trouble him by asking a ton of incessant, irritating questions. Besides, he knew he sympathized, always hating the idea of Elliot ending up in danger even if it meant a bit of excitement. Yesterday was a bridge too far. From now on, he wasn't sure if he'd be letting Elliot in on every little adventure they went on. "Yeah, I will keep that in mind," Isaac said.
"Aww, you guys do not need to do that!" Elliot said happily. He was grateful that he and Isaac didn't need to spend anything, and that these strangers did so much to make sure that they were okay. Really, them appearing was a total stroke of luck, and Elliot wished he could thank them more for their help. However, it seemed like the time for them to go was approaching fast. Digimon were beginning to congregate at the Trailmon Terminal again, and they really didn't want to get caught in the morning rush.
"Goodbye!"
"Take care!"
With a cheerful wave and a warm smile, the two brothers left the building. Of course, they had left the frying pan just in time to enter the fire. Their mom was sure to have noticed their absence by now, and not even the best cover stories they had planned would excuse two teenagers being missing from home for an entire day. They steeled themselves, getting ready for the lecture of a lifetime.
At least the long ride home would be the perfect time to come up with excuses.
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