A Positive Reflection [MPC #38 - All the Me I Could Be]
Mar 19, 2017 15:20:32 GMT
Post by Rinji on Mar 19, 2017 15:20:32 GMT
It was another day in Server Woods. The wind blew gently, rustling the growing foliage. Moist mosses and hard lichen clung to the bark of trees. Sunbeams shone down on their branches, and the local lake’s waters lapped at the pebbly shore.
It was rare to see a Scolomon during a day like this, but today, one could be seen by said shore. Rinji had woken up during midday, and found himself needing a drink. His head bent down, he sipped at the much-needed water.
The water in Server Woods was always fresh and clean, purified by the variety of plants that grew in their depths. Small minnows flitted just below the surface of the water, and Rinji reeled his head back to watch them lazily. The water was so clean, in fact, that he could also see his own reflection.
It stared back at him, a perfect replica. Every curve, colour, and texture was captured without flaw. He marvelled at it briefly, but not vainly. It upset him, even. His insecurities, hardship, and troubles were completely erased by this image.
Why couldn’t he be happy and confident? The image the waters reflected showed him no reason to be shy or upset, but he found himself unable to fulfil its expectations of him.
This was why he slept during the day. The light was all too much, as revealing and true as it was, it would only project shallow truths. What someone looked like could be illuminated by it, but not what someone was like.
This… reflection, it showed no scars. He could stare at it all day, make it out to be whoever he wanted. It could be the strongest digimon in the world, the smartest digimon, the most loved digimon, the most confident digimon. He sighed; he would never be any of those things, let alone all of them.
It was taunting him, almost. If only he could jump into that reflection, and enter a parallel world where he was all those things. Where he could be that perfect replica of himself.
“But then it wouldn’t be you,” a voice quietly sounded next to him. Huh!?
He twisted around in shock. How could he let someone sneak up on him like that? A small white digimon with large ears stood next to him innocently, his stubby arm rested on his mouth in a philosophical manner.
“Oh! I was just thinking, if you had a clone, it wouldn’t be you – would it?” The mysterious digimon explained. It was also staring at the reflections in the water, but then looked up at Rinji. “Hey, I was passing through and saw you out here, so I thought I’d say hello! So, hello! I’m Calumon!” The Calumon giggled at himself, carefree in every way.
“Hi…” said Rinji, still in a daze at the Calumon’s sudden appearance. They sat there for a minute, a silence broken only by the rustle of the wind in the trees. Then, Rinji gathered the courage to ask, “so… what did you mean by ‘it wouldn’t be you’?” His curiosity had won out, and he wondered at what the Calumon had thought.
“Hmmm… I mean that if you suddenly had a clone, they wouldn’t really be you at all. Because, ummm, since everyone is the result of their own experiences, right? So, a clone wouldn’t have the same experiences.” Calumon spoke carefully, trying to formulate his words. “I guess I’m not making much sense, huh?” He poked at the Scolomon, seeing his confusion.
No, Calumon did have a good point. If you were to suddenly become perfect, it would have to be because you had those experiences that made you perfect. “I think I understand.” Rinji replied.
Calumon simply grinned at him; he was such a happy-go-lucky little guy. “You know, about that – how come you were staring at yourself anyway?” He innocently asked, genuinely intrigued by the other digimon.
Rinji panicked a little at this question, and said the first thing that came to mind, “I was just relaxing.”
“Are you sure? You looked kinda troubled.” Calumon pressed. He was perceptive for such a seemingly childish digimon.
“I, ummm, I guess I was just thinking about how it would be if I was a little more confident…” he admitted. The Calumon didn’t seem like the type to laugh or poke fun for the sake of it.
“Ooooh! I thought you were upset about your appearance of something –“
“Maybe that too…” he added in quietly.
Calumon looked at him, his own eyes bright. He seemed to study him closely, leaning into the Scolomon. “Well, you don’t look ugly to me! And about not being confident… umm, well I guess maybe you’ll grow out of it?”
Well, that would be nice, Rinji thought. “But about my appearance… do I look scary?” He almost whispered, seemingly ashamed to be asking.
“Huh? I never thought about it. You don’t look any scarier than a Wormmon to be honest… even if you’re huge! I guess maybe you’d look creepy if you were scared of bugs.” He admitted.
Rinji listened closely to Calumon. At least Calumon didn’t think he looked scary.
They sat once again in silence, thinking. It was a peaceful silence, aided by the sunny laziness of the weather. The type of weather that digimon took naps in, or went out for picnics with their friends.
Rinji supposed, even if he was ugly or scary, there wasn’t much he could do about his appearance. And Calumon had said that perhaps he’d grow out of his bashfulness. Calumon seemed to be quite wise, maybe he knew more about growing up than him.
“Do you think… maybe when I digivolve then?” Asked Rinji, genuinely curious.
“I know a lot about digivolution!” Calumon exclaimed, suddenly excited again, “yep! Some digimon go through complete makeovers when they digivolve! Sometimes their personality might change too.”
He knew quite a bit, then. But this brought up another worry for Rinji. What if his personality changed for the worse? What if he became more shy? Or even evil, like a Devimon?
“Hmmm, don’t look at me like that! I bet you’re worried again, right? Because you shouldn’t be! I’ve never seen a digivolution make a digimon worse. It’s meant to improve you!” He cheered on, trying to pep up the upset Rinji.
“So I’ll definitely get better, then?” He was still unsure about all this.
“Well, that’s why they call one of the digivolution stages ‘perfect’, so yep! But you still have to work for it. What’s worth having is worth working for, that’s what a human told me once, and kind of why you couldn’t have a version of you that was perfect while still being you.” Calumon paused a little, before asking, “so you’d like to digivolve?”
“I think so. How do I work towards digivolving though? The only times I’ve done it is by accident.” Rinji confessed, he knew digimon evolved with age and experience, but his life in Server Woods hadn’t really done much for him, he felt.
“I guess you could fight other digimon? But that’s not very nice… maybe you could get a job or try exploring the Digital World? That would be fun! Some digimon spend all their lives wandering and looking for adventure.” Calumon had briefly reminded Rinji of Nyaromon, or whatever she had likely digivolved to by now. She was probably doing exactly that, he thought.
“I suppose I could. Thanks, Calumon.” Rinji was genuinely grateful that Calumon had appeared when he did. Otherwise, he’d likely have gone to bed still unsatisfied with himself, daydreaming about being his own perfect self, and with no idea of what to do to achieve anything like it. Then, he remembered, “oh! My name’s Rinji, by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier.”
“Alright then, Rinji, nice to meet you!” Calumon laughed light-heartedly, happy to have made a new friend. The pair sat there on the shore for a few moments, admiring the view, before Calumon spoke up again. “Hey Rinji, I don’t have much to do these days, so would you mind if we just relaxed here a little longer? It’s been so long since I’ve been somewhere as pretty as here.”
Well, Rinji supposed he wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was going to be missing out on much either, and the Calumon had helped him feel a little better about himself.
So there they sat, in peace, watching the lake.
Things were pretty perfect, after all.
It was rare to see a Scolomon during a day like this, but today, one could be seen by said shore. Rinji had woken up during midday, and found himself needing a drink. His head bent down, he sipped at the much-needed water.
The water in Server Woods was always fresh and clean, purified by the variety of plants that grew in their depths. Small minnows flitted just below the surface of the water, and Rinji reeled his head back to watch them lazily. The water was so clean, in fact, that he could also see his own reflection.
It stared back at him, a perfect replica. Every curve, colour, and texture was captured without flaw. He marvelled at it briefly, but not vainly. It upset him, even. His insecurities, hardship, and troubles were completely erased by this image.
Why couldn’t he be happy and confident? The image the waters reflected showed him no reason to be shy or upset, but he found himself unable to fulfil its expectations of him.
This was why he slept during the day. The light was all too much, as revealing and true as it was, it would only project shallow truths. What someone looked like could be illuminated by it, but not what someone was like.
This… reflection, it showed no scars. He could stare at it all day, make it out to be whoever he wanted. It could be the strongest digimon in the world, the smartest digimon, the most loved digimon, the most confident digimon. He sighed; he would never be any of those things, let alone all of them.
It was taunting him, almost. If only he could jump into that reflection, and enter a parallel world where he was all those things. Where he could be that perfect replica of himself.
“But then it wouldn’t be you,” a voice quietly sounded next to him. Huh!?
He twisted around in shock. How could he let someone sneak up on him like that? A small white digimon with large ears stood next to him innocently, his stubby arm rested on his mouth in a philosophical manner.
“Oh! I was just thinking, if you had a clone, it wouldn’t be you – would it?” The mysterious digimon explained. It was also staring at the reflections in the water, but then looked up at Rinji. “Hey, I was passing through and saw you out here, so I thought I’d say hello! So, hello! I’m Calumon!” The Calumon giggled at himself, carefree in every way.
“Hi…” said Rinji, still in a daze at the Calumon’s sudden appearance. They sat there for a minute, a silence broken only by the rustle of the wind in the trees. Then, Rinji gathered the courage to ask, “so… what did you mean by ‘it wouldn’t be you’?” His curiosity had won out, and he wondered at what the Calumon had thought.
“Hmmm… I mean that if you suddenly had a clone, they wouldn’t really be you at all. Because, ummm, since everyone is the result of their own experiences, right? So, a clone wouldn’t have the same experiences.” Calumon spoke carefully, trying to formulate his words. “I guess I’m not making much sense, huh?” He poked at the Scolomon, seeing his confusion.
No, Calumon did have a good point. If you were to suddenly become perfect, it would have to be because you had those experiences that made you perfect. “I think I understand.” Rinji replied.
Calumon simply grinned at him; he was such a happy-go-lucky little guy. “You know, about that – how come you were staring at yourself anyway?” He innocently asked, genuinely intrigued by the other digimon.
Rinji panicked a little at this question, and said the first thing that came to mind, “I was just relaxing.”
“Are you sure? You looked kinda troubled.” Calumon pressed. He was perceptive for such a seemingly childish digimon.
“I, ummm, I guess I was just thinking about how it would be if I was a little more confident…” he admitted. The Calumon didn’t seem like the type to laugh or poke fun for the sake of it.
“Ooooh! I thought you were upset about your appearance of something –“
“Maybe that too…” he added in quietly.
Calumon looked at him, his own eyes bright. He seemed to study him closely, leaning into the Scolomon. “Well, you don’t look ugly to me! And about not being confident… umm, well I guess maybe you’ll grow out of it?”
Well, that would be nice, Rinji thought. “But about my appearance… do I look scary?” He almost whispered, seemingly ashamed to be asking.
“Huh? I never thought about it. You don’t look any scarier than a Wormmon to be honest… even if you’re huge! I guess maybe you’d look creepy if you were scared of bugs.” He admitted.
Rinji listened closely to Calumon. At least Calumon didn’t think he looked scary.
They sat once again in silence, thinking. It was a peaceful silence, aided by the sunny laziness of the weather. The type of weather that digimon took naps in, or went out for picnics with their friends.
Rinji supposed, even if he was ugly or scary, there wasn’t much he could do about his appearance. And Calumon had said that perhaps he’d grow out of his bashfulness. Calumon seemed to be quite wise, maybe he knew more about growing up than him.
“Do you think… maybe when I digivolve then?” Asked Rinji, genuinely curious.
“I know a lot about digivolution!” Calumon exclaimed, suddenly excited again, “yep! Some digimon go through complete makeovers when they digivolve! Sometimes their personality might change too.”
He knew quite a bit, then. But this brought up another worry for Rinji. What if his personality changed for the worse? What if he became more shy? Or even evil, like a Devimon?
“Hmmm, don’t look at me like that! I bet you’re worried again, right? Because you shouldn’t be! I’ve never seen a digivolution make a digimon worse. It’s meant to improve you!” He cheered on, trying to pep up the upset Rinji.
“So I’ll definitely get better, then?” He was still unsure about all this.
“Well, that’s why they call one of the digivolution stages ‘perfect’, so yep! But you still have to work for it. What’s worth having is worth working for, that’s what a human told me once, and kind of why you couldn’t have a version of you that was perfect while still being you.” Calumon paused a little, before asking, “so you’d like to digivolve?”
“I think so. How do I work towards digivolving though? The only times I’ve done it is by accident.” Rinji confessed, he knew digimon evolved with age and experience, but his life in Server Woods hadn’t really done much for him, he felt.
“I guess you could fight other digimon? But that’s not very nice… maybe you could get a job or try exploring the Digital World? That would be fun! Some digimon spend all their lives wandering and looking for adventure.” Calumon had briefly reminded Rinji of Nyaromon, or whatever she had likely digivolved to by now. She was probably doing exactly that, he thought.
“I suppose I could. Thanks, Calumon.” Rinji was genuinely grateful that Calumon had appeared when he did. Otherwise, he’d likely have gone to bed still unsatisfied with himself, daydreaming about being his own perfect self, and with no idea of what to do to achieve anything like it. Then, he remembered, “oh! My name’s Rinji, by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier.”
“Alright then, Rinji, nice to meet you!” Calumon laughed light-heartedly, happy to have made a new friend. The pair sat there on the shore for a few moments, admiring the view, before Calumon spoke up again. “Hey Rinji, I don’t have much to do these days, so would you mind if we just relaxed here a little longer? It’s been so long since I’ve been somewhere as pretty as here.”
Well, Rinji supposed he wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was going to be missing out on much either, and the Calumon had helped him feel a little better about himself.
So there they sat, in peace, watching the lake.
Things were pretty perfect, after all.
