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Pep Talk from the Fierce Cat [Eli]
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Post by karin on Jun 12, 2017 1:32:50 GMT
That day, Karin has recently learned something new. Apparently the Sunderland brothers studied in the same campus as she does. And what's worse, Eli in the other class. As a repeat student, Karin felt a bit vexed at that, but at the same time, what can she say? Anyway, at any case, she had no idea if the brothers have D-Terminal. She never seen any Spirit users with that before, so instead she asked phone number. She quickly sent e-mail to them hoping that one of them would see it.
Hey, this is Karin.
Yanno, it's just once that we met and talked, and I think there's no harm in trying to catch up. If you like, can you meet me later today during the break at the rooftop? Or on the field training ground at the school's end, whichever you want honestly. Just reply if you got this message. Oh right, we're on the same campus in case that's not obvious enough. Anyway, I'm really bad at messaging someone, so let's just talk directly.
And so, right now, she's eating her meal at the rooftop. It's usually an off limit place, but of course she got duplicate key for it. Of course she had told him first that she'll be there. The girl just whistled lightly as she continued to eat her bento, hoping that the brothers would pick lunch for their meeting time. If not, well, so be it. Jeanne meanwhile is not quite around, but she's definitely there, sleeping in Karin's bag in her Puttimon form.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jun 12, 2017 4:52:49 GMT
Frankly, Elliot hadn't responded to any email sent his way in the past few days. After the D-Reaper incident, he had just been too tired to spent a lot of time around people. That went doubly so for people associated with a life that was no longer his to enjoy. He knew how it'd go every time. 'What happened?' 'Where's Isaac?' 'Why don't you come back?' The same exhausting questions, the same hideous memories being dragged up, the same stress pouring down on an already bleak day. He tried his best to put on a happy face when backed into a corner, but it was a situation he wanted nothing more than to run from.
That was why seeing an e-mail from Karin was like seeing a ghost, Elliot paled at the mere sight of it, immediately scrolling his mouse to the delete button. Did he really have the heart to do it, though? As he prepared to click, all he could do was think about how horribly rude he was being. Karin hadn't seen either of the brothers in a while, and probably just missed them. Deleting her email would be like slamming the door on her face, and for absolutely no reason too.
At the same time, could he really face her? Elliot just didn't think he was strong enough. He looked down at his keyboard, wondering just what to say. He wrote and deleted at least ten different messages. Hesitant agreements, flaky refusals, and apologies were all erased just as quickly as they were made, leaving Elliot staring at the everpresent blinking cursor on his screen.
The guilt was too much for him. He finally typed up something about seeing her at lunch, then shut his computer off to try and get a fleeting amount of sleep.
When lunch began he lingered near the entrance to the roof, awkwardly looking down at his feet. He didn't quite want to be here, but he'd feel too awful flaking for his own comfort. For a while he just occupied himself fiddling with his pockets, occasionally shooting glances at his watch to check how much lunch time was left in the day. After a few minutes of standing around, however, he hesitantly knocked on the rooftop door.
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Post by karin on Jun 12, 2017 7:15:28 GMT
Knock? Who knocked? She seriously had no idea what's the need for knocking. The girl thought that it was rather cute though... He thinks that Isaac cannot be the one who knocked, so maybe it's Elliot afterall? She left her seat to open the door, revealing her figure to the one downstairs.
"...Thought so that it's you," Karin remarked, amusement obvious in her voice. "Next time don't knock, just open. If it's locked then it's locked, simple as that. Straight A student aren't you?" She gestured him to get to it. "C'mon, we got a while to talk. There's one hour break in Japan afterall for lunches!"
Peppy, slightly different Karin, but regardless it's still the sharp tongued girl. The only difference is probably her hair that looked much shorter than what she got back then when they last met and the cat earphone on top of her head. Other than that, she's wearing the school's uniform with sweater vest on the top and skirt.
"...Oh by the way, are you alone? Is your brother busy?" she asked. Obviously she meant no harm with that, but well, who is she to know what happened with them?
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jun 13, 2017 3:47:18 GMT
Karin seemed to have changed up her image lately. It wasn't too apparent in her school uniform, but the new haircut and headphones were certainly eye-catching. Although, did she wear those everywhere? If her ears were covered up during class, Elliot had a feeling her teachers would have gotten really grumpy at her!
There was a light tone to her voice, and it seemed like she expected him to be the one knocking. Wait, didn't that go without saying? She invited him here. Of course it was going to be him! Confusion aside, he listened to her advice on how to handle the door. "I wasn't sure if it was open, and I didn't have a key," Elliot said. "So I figured I'd try and make sure instead of disturbing anybody." Maybe not quite a straight A student, but at least he'd do great in his etiquette class.
It seemed like Karin was expecting a long day. Elliot paled slightly at the reminder that Japanese lunch breaks were so long. Why didn't he just split the difference and show up with half of his break left, or something like that? Nevertheless, he headed towards whichever seats were left free.
At least, he did until the first expected question came up. Elliot froze up despite having long saw this coming. "I . . . " he started, looking down at his feet. The put-on cheerfulness in his voice faded away near immediately, leaving Elliot with exactly the mood that he feared he would have been in. "He . . . he's gone."
He cringed slightly, as if waiting for the part where he had to explain everything.
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Post by karin on Jun 13, 2017 8:34:09 GMT
"If you knock, that gonna give away the fact that you are expecting someone in here, which mean that someone have double key. My key going to get confiscated you know? That's why just open it. At worst people just gonna thought that you're hoping the rooftop is open and you can eat there."
Karin's slightly cheerful expression immediately dropped the moment Eli told her the answer. She blinked, at first she looked confused, then for a split second she was wondering the worst if Eli was abandoned, but then she know that it doesn't make sense. If that's happened, then he's going to be a lot sadder. Karin's expression may stay serious, but the cat ear headphone on her head changes along with her mood. At first it slowly perked up, then it's pointing sideways, then inquisitively turns sideways, then plopped again. It's rather amusing to watch if only one would understand cat's gestures.
"..............................Gone, is it?" she repeated finally. Having dreaded that the boy need to explain this over and over again to people does not help. The cat eared girl immediately pat the boy's shoulder and inches closer. "...Then why are you here?"
Her voice was questioning rather sharply, but... the next sentence probably tossed it off. "You don't need school, your brother is gone, and you must be damn stressed and depressed. Come with me, we'll blow your valve and let out some steam, THEN we can talk."
The girl grabbed her bag and immediately tossed her bento box inside. "Come with me, you're not allowed to protest, boya."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jun 15, 2017 5:55:14 GMT
Oh. Right, that could've gotten Karin in trouble. Then again, seeing a student loitering by or fiddling with the door that they weren't supposed to open would've been suspicious too. It probably wouldn't be nearly as obvious as Elliot's knocking, though, so he was probably in the wrong here still. "Oh. I'm sorry," he said, hoping that in the future he'd be a bit more aware. "Wait, how did you get this, anyway?"
He watched Karin's headphones start drooping and swiveling, as if trying to express emotions. How did they even do that? How much money did Karin spend on these things? Alternatively, she was just fiddling with some dial to make them move. That thought gave Elliot a tiny bit of joy, but it didn't do much to help with the horrible thoughts and worries over Isaac currently running through his head.
"Yeah," Elliot said. What else could he say? Isaac was gone. Capital G, gone. At least he had a hope of returning eventually, but after this long with no word? Elliot was starting to lose some hope. He cringed slightly as Karin patted his shoulder, recoiling innately from the touch. Anything that quick and immediate had the poor boy on edge. "I'm here because I have classes. I still have to make sure my future is good, right?" he asked, not wanting to throw his whole life away just because something horrid happened to Isaac.
Karin hit the nail right on the head, though. Elliot had a lot to blow off, and his stress and depression levels were currently sky high. Would her solution work, though? He turned around as soon as Karin started walking off, shaking his head immediately in shock. "Wait, wait, what?" he asked. "I still have class! I can't just go wandering off like that."
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Post by karin on Jun 16, 2017 20:53:58 GMT
"That's a trade secret," Karin answered, smirking slightly. "It's not that I think that it's illegal that you don't want to know, but it's more to it's quite normal."
Still, once again Karin showed herself to be quite attentive to detail, especially to Eli's slight cringe. No touching, huh? This means that something happened afterall? And it's something that quite extreme that the boy flinched even at being touched? ...Or is it because a certain fia-- No, Karin, don't think of that. Karin, you should not think of that sort of thing. Thinks of another thoughts... Little did she knew, for a moment, she was blushing and her ears perked up. However, she quickly ejected those thoughts and once again stared at Eli straight on the eyes.
"...Well, then, my question still stands. You think you're doing yourself a favor by bottling it up? Nope. that won't quite do. Trust me, I've been in your position--or maybe not that exactly, but you know what I mean. Anyway, no protesting, tut tut, if anyone ask just say that the crazy cat lady pulled you around. Anyway... let's get your goody two shoes some little 'How to play a truant a bit' shall we~? Meet me on the shoes locker, otherwise I'll pull your ass to the street myself if I need to. We'll stop a bit in my apartment."
Karin once again got ahead of the younger boy, fetching her guitar from the clubroom and then waited on the shoes locker.
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jun 19, 2017 5:28:10 GMT
"Probably not," Elliot admitted, matter-of-factly. No, this wasn't healthy. No, this wasn't doing him any favors. And yet . . .
"I just really wanted time to myself," he said. "Until it all stops feeling so-" He paused, trying to think just what the hell he could do to vocalize his feelings. "So . . . so like this, you know?" Karin probably didn't know. Maybe if Elliot was actually capable of voicing his thoughts, she would, but he just really couldn't muster up the proper nerve for this.
At least Karin seemed to understand. Sure, she was about to ignore his wishes and drag him somewhere, but she knew where he was coming from. Maybe that was part of why Elliot really wasn't as upset as he could have been. He looked around nervously as she basically warned him that he had no say in the manner, wondering if there was at least some way that he could politely wiggle out of this.
"Could I at least finish my classes before we go, please?" he asked, a touch of worry in his voice. "I can't keep slipping behind like this. It's not going to be good for me."
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Post by karin on Jun 23, 2017 0:02:17 GMT
The boy does indeed gave a reasonable answer, but Karin really had no idea that this boy could be this hardheaded. He's really hardheaded in the wrong thing altogether. If the girl have a tail attached to her behind, it'd be probably swinging about, showing her irritation. The girl instead opted to calm herself down and sat on the floor again, near the boy.
"....Lookie kiddo, you're being stubborn in wrong thing altogether. I don't know what happened, but at least I can guess. I was there in that sort of spot last year. My boyfriend just left out of sudden after something wrong happened and all he told me is to not worry. You know what? That's what exactly happened. My grade is slipping, I lose sleep, I become so irritated that I leash out at everyone, no matter who they are. I don't feel like I want to pour my worry to anyone, I kept it to myself. People asked me what happened but I kept silent. That's why, I'll be asking you once again.
...Don't you think that being here is futile? Listen to your heart, Eli. You don't want to be here, not when your'e that stressed. You'll just damage yourself further and further. You'll see that your grade is dropping and it made you feel 'why can't I do better?' then you'll get more depressed. You lose your sleep and hell, you have that 'good pillow' that you offered to me. It sounds like you're having trouble sleeping already and with this event going on it almost sounds like you're not getting any proper sleep for a while now. Don't be stubborn and just come with me. Excuse can be made, but first of all, you need to blew that steam out and have fun."
Karin stood up and pat Eli's head. "I can't speak for your brother, so I'll just say this. I want you to have fun! So are you still going to go back to your class and plunge yourself deeper to that hole of depression? Because if you do, I'm so going to evolve Jeanne right here and now and kidnap you so you can have some fun."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jun 24, 2017 6:42:15 GMT
It was as if Karin was running down a checklist of everything Elliot was currently feeling. Grades slipping? Check. Irritation with others? Check, to the point of avoidance whenever possible. Keeping silent and bottling up his worries? Hoo boy, check check check! Lack of sleep? Okay, that one was unfair. Elliot never slept well. Nevertheless, Karin's assessment was so accurate that Elliot almost wondered if Karin was reading his mind. He let out a small sigh of frustration, his cheeks puffed out.
The cycle she slowly started to unravel didn't help, either. Elliot was frustrated at his failures. He was frustrated at his inability to push through his other successes. Hell, he was frustration as his frustration! He knew the more he pushed it, the worse it would get. Yet this tiny part of him hoped against hope that if he pushed hard enough he could push through his every limit. He knew he could do it if he just kept trying. Why wasn't he? Why wasn't he good enough?
Or was that exactly the kind of thinking that Karin was warning him against? "I guess it is," he said, looking down at his feet. "I really don't want it to be. But if I keep thinking like this, it kind of is by definition, right?"
He tried not to fight Karin's head pat. He still froze up a little as she touched him, but at least he wasn't ducking away this time. "Thank you," he said, voice so tiny that it was probably a good thing she currently has two pairs of ears aimed his way. "I really feel bad about skipping class, but if you really think it'll help . . .
Where should we go?"
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Post by karin on Jun 27, 2017 1:08:34 GMT
"By doing that it sounds like you admitting most if not all my points are right?" Karin asked again. "Yes, you can't hope that something would goes right by itself when it's been wrong in all this time. Tough luck, but I have about two... maybe more years experience than you when it comes to you-know-what interfering with real life related stress, so I can say that with a certainty. I'm still dealing with my stress, so we're on the same page. "
Karin just chuckled at how hardheaded he's still being, or at least, she perceived it so. "Well, here's the thing, Eli. We're not skipping. We're making excuse. Come with me to the teacher's office. I'll handle it from there. Just leave it to this ex-actress whose skill even made Asher unable to act, hmmm~? As where should we go, we'll talk about that later." Karin commented, grinning slyly.
The trip to the office was uneventful for the girl. She might looks like a girl delinquent for many, and probably that's why they tend to just scurries away from her. Not their fault. She know that she's been quite the negative one last year, at least until her appearance in the stage in a school festival that made some think that she's cool... one among that person is this teacher that she's going to meet.
"It's rare that you came here, Takamiya-kun. What's wrong?" a man wearing lab coat came out from the teacher room. He looks rather young for a teacher, being just in his early to mid twenties. Quite popular among the girl for his good looks, this guy is the school's biology teacher Shibe-sensei. He was previously Karin's club adviser.
"I need to talk something with you, Sensei, but let's wait for the guy to turn up."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jul 16, 2017 2:39:16 GMT
It was hard to argue with Karin when she so plainly knew what Elliot was going through. She said it herself, she had grappled with these same feelings for two years. Elliot had only started handling them about ten days ago. If anything, him insisting that she didn't know what she was talking about would've just been disrespectful to all of her experience. He sighed, relenting with one last nod.
That said, he wasn't entirely sold on how she was going to do this. "I'm pretty sure that's still skipping," he said, wondering just what kind of experience Karin would be able to come up with. Nobody had really seen her and Elliot together, after all, and she didn't really have a sense of his schedule. As for Elliot, he was way too soft and innocent to improv up an excuse like that! This was going to take a lot of finesse from all parties involved, Elliot feared.
Elliot looked around somewhat worriedly as people sped out of his and Karin's way. She definitely had an intimidating aura around her, even if Elliot knew firsthand that she was actually really sweet. It was still weird seeing people making a point of avoiding the duo, though. Maybe that would be helpful in the long run for getting out of class without incident. If there was any pressure put on Elliot to return at this stage, he probably would've folded and went right back to the classroom. Taking a stand wasn't one of his stronger suits, especially with how burnt out he currently was.
Thankfully, he wouldn't take for too long to show up. Karin was waiting for him by a young-looking teacher who Elliot didn't quite recognize. Nevertheless, he bowed in a respectful greeting, even if his stance was the slightest bit shaky at the moment. "Hello, Sensei," he said, desperately hoping that everything was going to be okay.
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Post by karin on Jul 16, 2017 9:08:39 GMT
"Nuh-uh, this one is a bit different," Karin answered. "...Actually, I just knew several days ago..."
Indeed, that guy is this teacher. He just smiled kindly seeing Elliot. He waved at him in friendly manner. For a split second, he looked thoughtful of who this was before homing it in on a guess that sounds rather freakingly accurate... "Ah, this is... um, the younger Sunderland, perhaps?"
"Perceptive as always," Karin commented. "Then again there are lot of expats in this school, I'm impressed that you could remember everyone, Teach."
Shibe just laughed and waved his hand in denial. "Anyway, I think I understand what you want to talk about. Ummm... Sunderland, let's go to my lab room. We can talk better there."
Karin made a sign that he should follow him with her. The moment they arrived in the biology lab... a strange sight... was there. It looked like a robot, a green robot with circular thing behind its back. It just completely smelled Digimon. Its red eyes homes in on Elliot, then Karin, then Shibe.
"Oh, we got a guest? Sorry, I shouldn't have sat on the table then... but honestly being some mascot is already as hard as it is... Go ahead and rest, kids. Nobody going to hear you over here."
Biomon... this one got power equal to an Ultimate stage DIgimon.
"Ah, sorry, that was... slightly wrong, but I can't really control my partner... that one is Hakase. He's a Biomon.... yeah, I guess you can say I'm a partnered human? So, anyway, back to the topic, Sunderland, please have a seat and relax. I'll explain about myself a bit."
Shibe-sensei pulled a chair and wait for Hakase the Biomon to pour teas on the cup of his guests.
"First and foremost, a disclaimer. I'm here as a teacher, a counselor, specifically, special for kids that have digital duties... or digital attuned, whatever you call it... I'm a government agent placed in this school. As a government agent, I have the duty to ensure students like you guys to have the proper balance between real world and digital world. The Board of Education dictates so. That's why I have the entire database of digital attuned students in this school. However, while I can tell what type are you, I don't get the details so no worries, your important information is secure.
Returning to the topic... Sunderland... I want you to know, that I will not pry for anything, unless you want to tell me. However, I'm here to help you. Whatever you do in Digital World is honestly none of my business and if you don't want to tell me,I will not pry about it. However, I can help you, anything related to school and school life, I as the government agent teacher will help you to form any excuses and will ensure you graduate with the grade you desired. That is our duty.
I can see that you seemed to have some problem... and the fact that Takamiya bring you to me must be related to the other world... So tell me, without beating around the bushes... if you don't want to tell me what happened, do you want some day offs?"
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Jul 29, 2017 4:29:33 GMT
Huh, Elliot had never had that teacher before. Did he seriously not only recognize him, but also his brother? "Y-yes, that's me," Elliot said, a little bit caught off guard. "I'm sorry that Isaac hasn't been able to make it lately. Things have been . . . complicated." He figured it'd be safe to at least say that much, even if he wasn't comfortable dwelling on subjects besides.
Some of that discomfort melted away when Elliot stepped into the room and noticed the Digimon inside, at least. Elliot hopped back a little in shock, wondering how the heck a Digimon got clearance in the human world like that. "Wait, you're a-?" he asked, figuring he should quickly hush up so that he didn't end up drawing any attention from the rest of the school's denizens. No wonder Karin felt comfortable confiding in this teacher, when he was in on it the whole time! At the offer to rest, Elliot nodded and quickly moved for a seat. "Of course. Thank you," he said.
Apparently the government, even after DATS' disbanding, didn't entirely wash their hands of the whole Digital World matter. Considering that the majority of Digital World denizens seemed to be some variety of school age, Elliot wasn't quite surprised that there was a counselor of the subject on the unified school campus. Heck, if anything, the fact that Digimon apparently took down the original high school in the first place made that all the more pressing of a concern. Elliot let out a sigh of relief knowing that he was in good company here.
"I . . ." he started, trying to think of how he was going to voice all of his concerns. "It isn't me I'm concerned about. At least, not yet. It's Isaac. He's . . . well, he's stuck, you see. We've tried everything possible, but there's no way to get him out of the Digital World and back as a human just yet. And I'm worried about what that might mean for his grades. It's only been, like, a week so far, but do you think you'd be able to do something to make sure nobody raises too many eyebrows about his disappearance? I'll keep trying to help him come back, but until then it'd really take a lot of stress off of my shoulders.
Me? I don't want too many breaks, but a few days off might be nice," he added, rather modestly. "Thank you so much for this. It really means a lot."
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Post by karin on Aug 19, 2017 8:24:52 GMT
"Oh, complicated is it? Don't worry, we'll sort it out," the teacher said, smiling reassuringly.
True enough, looks like the sight of Hakase was enough to make the boy open up. "Glad you understand now. Alright, regarding the matter about your brother... I'll contact the rest of his teacher. Leave it to me. The made up excuse for you two will be, hmmmm... the older Sunderland happened to be drafted into a training camp that leads him unable to go home for some time... Let's say it's twelve hours away by train, so you can go to Digital World without worrying about worrying your parents. Do you happened to know what's his talent? Maybe we can use that as an excuse."
He crossed his legs and begin to write some excuse. "Meanwhile as for your absence, we'll just say that you need a bit breather while at the same time you'll be often called to the camp to act as intermediary between your brother and the family. Unfortunately family member cannot come during the duration. That assured, we'll help you faking this out, considering how urgent the matter sounds... Hakase, is Dougamon and Recomon available?"
"They are," the Biomon answered. "Do you need them?"
"Yeah, for video message and editing... also to record Sunderland-kun... uh, the younger one's voice and then edit it to resembles his brother's. So if the parents asked we can send fake video."
"...That's quite through, Shibe-sensei," Karin commented.
"Au contrarie, there bound to be some loopholes," Shibe-sensei commented, uncrossing his legs and tore off the letter, then put it in envelope.
"Give this one to your parents, whichever. I'll handle the rest here. For now, go have fun, blast away your stress, you'll need it. I'll send your homework on e-mail along the study material. Just finish them before the semester ends. Goodluck, Sunderland."
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