Real Hero Action! (Haru/Talia/John)

Being stuck in the apartment all afternoon on her day off with what Talia had come to call "the two little monsters" meant that she couldn't get a single bit of work done which with a project phase deadline coming up was a complete no no. The solution? Shove the gremlins into a duffel bag and migrate to a coffee shop where she could hopefully, possibly, maybe get a bit of peace and quiet while a part of her secretly hoped maybe the twins would drive one another nuts being stuck in a such tight little vacuum and maim one another; hmm or maybe a thief would swipe the bag thinking there was something of value inside. "Don't wiggle so much, it looks weird," she'd said to them as they entered the coffeehouse, pushing the bag in an attempt to get them to settle down. "Come on, if you be quiet, I'll buy you both snacks! I said quiet!" Unfortunately, the idea of desserts had sent them in a positive uproar.

After ordering a boba milk tea for herself and several treats for the little monsters, the girl set about in trying to find a seat but the place was oddly crowded, then again it was a weekend and most people were off of school or work. The only seat was across from a dark haired girl on a laptop who seemed friendly enough, enough that Talia didn't feel any qualms about asking for a seat. "Excuse me, sorry to annoy you but is this seat taken?" Meanwhile inside the duffel bag, Koromon and Moonmon were happily enjoying their taiyaki, red bean filled pastries shaped like fish, well Moonmon was - Koromon had managed to swallow his in one gulp. "You should share that with me? Pleaseeee pleaseee sissy?" Ignoring her brother, the purple bulb shaped digimon continued to nibble on her dessert like a dainty little lady. "No! Get your own." Unfortunately, Koromon had an impulse control of about zero percent - there were other snacks in the bag, but something about snatching food from his twin was oddly thrilling.

If someone had ever told John that he could have a career that allowed him to have opportunities to relax while working on the job, the man would have asked what fantasy world they were living in. And yet here he was, walking down the street in his black converse shoes to get a cup of coffee much like how a police officer would while walking a beat. Except, John didn't have a job that involved a lot of stress or quotas.The dirty blonde was instead a member of the organization known as Artificial Extradimensional Guarding and Investigation Squad. Or in simpler terms, AEIGIS. As a person who was partnered with a Digimon, it was an excellent choice for a line of work.

Striding alongside the man was a Shikoku dog marked by a black collar. A rather normal happenstance in Tokyo that people rarely questioned, if ever. Little did passerby realize that the canine was in reality a disguised Agumon named Casimeir. There were occasions, however, when the pair have been stopped by pedestrians who wanted to pet Casimeir and ask about him. The two were smart in hindsight for choosing the form of the holosuit.

It was not a choice that the partners rushed into. They made sure to research the local culture and discuss what disguise would work best aside from outright taking a human form. It certainly paid off in the long run with so many stores having policies that allowed pets, in the conventional sense at least.

The coffee shop's electronic bell chimed when John and Casimeir walked through the door. A strong smell of ground coffee beans hit them like a wall, but it was a pleasant scent that always managed to bring warmth to their cores. Now waiting in line behind a woman with a duffle bag, John hummed to himself with thoughts of what to order tumbling around in his head. But something grabbed his attention from the menu (which thankfully had an English translation).

The girl ahead of him, who John presumed was a young adult, was acting in a way all too familiar to him. Hushed voice, talking to a bag; the latter of which currently squirming around. One of two possibilities was reality, John thought. The girl was either carrying around a puppy or kitten, or, she was a new partnered human; a Tamer as some commonly called.

The man glanced down toward Casimeir to meet his gaze and tapped his nose lightly with his finger. A nonverbal cue to inquire if Casimeir picked up the scent of a Digimon. A single nod was the dog's response. "Well," John whispered as he picked up his order, "time to go to work."

Scanning the coffee shop revealed that it was a tad crowded. That would make for a good excuse to approach the girl who was now getting acquainted with another wearing a helmet and goggles. One of John's duties involved helping new partnered humans learn the ropes of Digimon and assist them with an easy transition. So John would do just that, as he enjoyed helping people anyway.

With a warm smile, John and Casimeir approached the table with a warm cappuccino in hand. "Hello," he greeted. "Hope you don't mind if I sit with you both. The place is a bit full and you two seem nice enough."

Haru had only respect for the woman, if just because their profession was not an easy one. She respected people who were willing and able to pursue after careers that perhaps the normal person (namely her) would be unable to achieve without great perseverance. That and Haru had somewhat accepted she is not the smartest tack in the toolbox. “No, really? I can barely wrap my head around that stuff. They say it’s like learning another language, but with more numbers, brackets and equal signs... I can’t wrap my head around it.”

It wasn’t long before they were joined by another stranger… a blonde man with a shikoku actually. Haru could not help but internally squee at the sight of the animal as she responded to his question. “I don’t mind. Just didn’t think I’d get a chance to spend some time with strangers.” she spoke. Stranger or not, a stranger only stayed a stranger if you didn’t bother meeting them. Plus this guy had a dog, that made him way more interesting too! “Awww, how cute! Is he trained? I’ve always wanted a dog, but my mum is allergic to them.” she gushed over the man’s shikoku, her eyes practically lighting up at the canine(?).

Haru did not pay much mind to her fellow gal’s comment about delicates... She had no reason to honestly. “Oh I get it, I understand. Laptop or somethin'? Boy, I can say for a fact that those things are fragile if you are not careful. My last one I stepped on accidentally.” she happily chirped, fairly oblivous to some of the other circumstances going on around her.

The red and white device that had seemingly come with the twins the night of their first meeting appeared dead or broken to the point where Talia stopped paying attention to it altogether, and yet held a mysterious instinct to keep it safe. And when the polite stranger pulled out a similar device, the blonde girl wasn't sure whether to panic or start asking a bunch of questions. "I sense another digimon!" The low, barely detectable voice came from inside Talias sort of suspicious- looking-would-get-stopped-by-TSA duffel bag as Moonmon genuinely attempted to silence her twins big mouth with little success. "You must be quiet Koromon! Don't forget we're in a public place where humans can hear and see us!" Unfortunately confined spaces were a vice for someone as ADHD as Koromon, who was starting to get a bit restless in the bag, having pretty much consumed all the confectionaries already. "Lets go find more of those sweets!" 

The blonde chuckled. "Its definitely a lot of learning curves, studying, and trial and error. Plus teaching yourself the material if your Professor stinks." One of the lessons Talia learned as a smol college freshman was that half the professors on a traditional college campus were there to do research and only 'taught' as part of the job requirement. Either that or they were a spoiled smartypants that lectured as obnoxiously as humanely possible. "What a cute puppy, hi boy!" She'd always wanted a pet but after her parents divorce that was out of the question - her father had bought the kids a parrot once, mostly to seem like a favorite parent slash infuriate their mother, but then her sister turned out to be allergic and the bird was promptly given away. And as their partner fussed over the dog, the twins were green with envy inside the bag, the two of them growling. "Hmmph, I'm definitely cuter than a canine." See when it came to general manners, Moonmon was mature as could be but easily jealous and a bit vain if anything. "I'm Talia, nice to meet ya!" She glanced at the digivice again, debating on saying anything. "Huh, is that what they are? My company was giving out something similar as PR to employees recently." 

Now events were beginning to take a turn in John's day. Not only did the man find one suspected partnered human, but there was yet another. At the same table of all places. John's expression transitioned into one of wonder. Now was the question of how to go about revealing who he was to the others in a venue that had other patrons that could potentially be listening in. This would require finesse.

John's blue eyes shifted between his new acquaintances. "You both have one too, huh?" His eyes momentarily locked with Talia's. "I think we can all agree that these devices weren't given away for some promotion." His voice was low, not quite a whisper. There was a growing need to have a little fun with the two to cut the thick tension hanging in the air. "I haven't been entirely honest with you. The truth is, I'm a member of the Government."

There was a pause while John let that statement sink in so that he could see their reactions. Then, an innocent smile returned to contrast the mood. "Nah, I'm just kidding!" The man chuckled to himself which warranted an apathetic glare from Casimeir. John quickly cleared his throat. "In all seriousness, though. Your secrets are safe with me. I'm just like you. But it might be safer to take this somewhere away from any prying eyes."

"Awww man, you had me there for a moment." Haru immediately responded in disappointment, a bit saddened that John WASN'T actually from the government. He could have been on some top-secret government business... Though it was more his following statement about "their secrets being safe with him" that seemed to bother her.

Did she HAVE a secret?

This moment was however trumped as Talia was not the only one to notice the displacement of her bag, a rather perplexed look on her face at seeing the thing somewhat move on it's own. She somewhat viewed the display in visible confusion, remaining silent until Talia returned. "Err... sorry, uh... your bag's not gonna run off again is it?" she asked the young woman. Whatever was in there, it was far more mobile than most possessions people would keep in their bags. Even someone like Haru noticed something was up in that regard. She realized Talia was using the sugar thing as an excuse to get up... but for what?

Talia ended up showcasing her own copy of the weird little device, Haru staring at it with a look of intrigue. "Yup, that's definitely it... Man, I wish I had mine on hand, I been just using it to decorate my bookshelf." she commented, a bit more assured in the validity of her theory though. They said it was like a music player... right? That WAS what it was supposed to be, right? "I'm still just a bit confused though, mainly just how they work. I've tried pulling mine apart to replace the batteries, but its like made of super plastic or something."

At this point, Haru was a bit more suspicious of things... if only cause some of this stuff just didn't seem to really add up. The devices... the moving bag... She didn't know WHAT was up though or why it seemed like Talia and John were being a bit secretive. "I... may not have the full picture here." she ended up commenting, her confusion apparent.

"Oh definitely not! I'm uhh...borrowing one of those iRobot roombas from someone, you know those fancy self moving robot vacuums. I didn't want to invest in one for eight hundred bucks so I built one myself uhhh I mean I borrowed it!" Back in college she was actually in the robotics club, aka that group of dorks that built machines just for the purpose of having them be destroyed or destroy others in a tournament - it was pretty fun though to see who could build the stronger and sturdiest machine! "The on switch must have rubbed against something and turned on, machines just kinda...have a mind of their own sometimes I guess!" 

And despite what John said, Talia continued to act if what she'd said earlier about the contents of bag was true, laughing it off as if it was a joke despite how incredibly uncomfortable she was, heck she wasn't even sure about going outside with this guy. "Fine but you're not gonna take my wallet or shove us girls into a getaway van are you?" Again, Talia had seen probably far too many movies for her own good. "But anyway I'm ready if you guys are?"