Five Floors Away [MPC#57B+57X] [Maia]

Reward Request: Posts x2 please! (Total of fifty posts)

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    How many times would she hear a sigh heaving from her fellow inmate? Staring at the ceiling, the blonde attempted to pretend that she didn't hear him. At least, until he was actually talking to her. "Eventually," she stated, slowly. If Mai had to destroy the elevator with Kuu, just to get out, she would. The only detail here was that Kuu needed to actually be near the elevator. And as far as she knew? He wasn't.

    He was probably playing with this guy's dog or something, and being absolutely unproductive!

    If looks could kill, though, they would. Amber eyes bore into Yuuya's face, unblinking. "I've already been in this elevator with a group of adults. I suspect my weight isn't what needs to be considered. What about yours?" Straight to the point. There was no reason to play the subtlety of asking about his own diet. She knew what he was on about!

    Lips pressed tightly together, as she hurried over to the buttons on the elevator. Pressing her thumb against one that was clearly labelled for assistance, she waited.

    And waited.

    And...

    "❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ 👍︎☟︎☼︎✋︎💧︎❄︎💣︎✌︎💧︎ 🏱✌︎☼︎❄︎✡︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ ✌︎ 👌︎✌︎👎︎ ✋︎👎︎☜︎✌︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✋︎ 💧︎☟︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎👎︎ ☞︎⚐︎☼︎☝︎☜︎❄︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 🕈︎☟︎⚐︎☹︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎📬︎ 👌︎🕆︎❄︎ 🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ✌︎💣︎ ✋︎ ☝︎⚐︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ❄︎⚐︎ 👎︎⚐︎ 🕈︎✋︎❄︎☟︎ ✌︎☹︎☹︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ☜︎☝︎☝︎☠︎⚐︎☝︎✍︎"

    The semi-familiar garble that fell out of the speaker made the blonde's eyes go wide, before she uttered a very stern, "nope!" Within seconds, she was on the opposing corner of the, admittedly small, elevator. She was not pressing that button again. If she could go through the rest of her life without ever seeing or hearing any of that garbage again, she would be happy!

    Instead, she'd try to find a distraction. Granted, there weren't many. "Do you think your dog will be okay without you?" Of course. Maia would pick dogs for the topic.

    This was why stairs were always a better answer than elevators.

---

    Of course Emma's family loved the chance to visit their relatives, and the baby! Maia's mother seemed utterly attached to the tiny child, spending any moment she was permitted, hovering over the baby and playing with her. This was no surprise to Tahlia's own daughter, who was well aware of her mom's fondness of children.

    But, Maia still wasn't entirely sure how to handle children, and opted to sitting to the side and keeping Kuu entertained. After all, he was enough of a child for her! Every so often, she'd set her phone down in front of him, with some sort of new app installed that was clearly designed to entertain cats with fish or treats floating across the screen. While it could be hard to tell if Kuu was just entertaining those who watched, or legitimately interested in the game, he would let out a happy squeal and begin batting at the screen with his front (only) paws to make the items 'pop' or be caught!

    They had to admit that they were lucky to be part of a family that was strangely alright with a ferret creature joining them for dinner. Sure, Kuu could have used his holosuit, but nobody wanted to try to explain the strange addition to the family. Or his enthusiasm about having thumbs!

    Nobody really liked when Kuu would exercise his 'thumb usage' policy. It usually involved something breaking. Or him screaming at doorknobs.

    With the bell ringing, and hearing her name, the teen looked up from her phone. Before she could say anything, her mother chimed in with, "that sounds like a great idea! Mai, will you go greet them?"

    Everyone knows when a mother 'asks' something like that, it's not really a question. "Oh. Uh. Sure," the amber-eyed girl stated, while standing up. Seeing that Kuu was still batting vigorously at her phone, she decided to leave him be. It wasn't every day that she could leave him alone and expect him to be distracted enough to stay there!

---

    Once she had made her way down to the door, the blonde opened it, only to squeak as a dog hurried past her and up the stairs. See? He knew that stairs were always the best option. Smart dog.

    "You're welcome?" Maia countered. She could have just left him outside! While initially, she had wondered if it was a joke, it was slowly becoming obvious that it wasn't, due to lack of smile or laughing. Hopefully, she was just misreading the situation.

    Especially when he wasn't even sure that it was nice to meet her. "Nice to meet you also. Yuuya, I guess?" He certainly didn't look like a Yurina! Though, it was tempting to 'accidentally' call him it! Ah well, maybe another time. For now, she had to be nice! At least once they made it back to the proper floor, she'd be able to go back to playing with Kuu.

    It was a sad day when Kuu was the best option for someone to talk to.

    Walking to the elevator, the girl pressed the call button, and waited for the doors to open. Once they would, she'd let Yuuya enter first. And then, the 'ascent' would begin.

    By now, Mai really should have learned that stairs were the best life choice when it came to traversing places. If technology could fail, it would. It wasn't like this was the first time it had happened to her! But, who would have expected these things to happen in the Human World?

    So much for this world being a safer place. Or maybe just this building.

    "My accent isn't that bad," the blonde stated, to focus on the more annoying part of her day. "You're the first person to complain about it." Was that entirely true? Well, maybe when she had first moved here, it had been a more prominent thing! But, over the past few months, nobody had ever had any problem hearing her!

    Maybe Yuuya needed hearing aids. Maybe, Mai should suggest them.

    Maybe she should try to be nice to her 'younger' cousin.

    For now.

    Though, without knowing the boy, it was little surprise to her that he was relieved his mom wasn't in this situation with them! "Moms are good at worrying too much," she stated, with a small shrug. Her mother was a perfect example. Would she start to panic upon realizing that Maia wasn't returning to the party any time soon? It was hard to say. Then again, maybe Yuuya's mother was claustrophobic. That would surely make situations worse, if she were here!

    Then again, even a panicking adult was probably better than dealing with Yuuya, once they were stuck in this elevator, and he was insulting her non-existent weight problems. While she could only hope that she wouldn't have to deal with him outside of holidays, the teen should really have known better. Kuu was destined to become great companions with this idiot's 'pet.' After all, Kuu had to be 'best friends' with almost everyone he met!

    Once a certain canine stopped trying to see if he squeaked when chewed on.

    Before she could be further insulted by the problems her 'weight' was causing, the suggestion of killing Yuu had come up. It was almost tempting, at this point! But, instead of acting on dumb impulse? "You're not worth going to prison for," she stated, without missing a beat. How friendly! Was Maia always this nice to her family? "Also, corpses smell bad after a while," she added, almost matching the enthusiastic tone that her cousin constantly carried.

    On the bright side, his response to the garbled language was almost worth hitting the button! For half of a second, the teen debated doing it again. But, she really couldn't stand it either! "At least this is legal; murder isn't," she commented, a smirk beginning to slip onto her lips. Oh, come on! She wasn't that mean, right? Yuuya must just be bringing the worst out of his cousin!

    As far as the dog's reaction to sniffing a playmate? There could only be one 'person' that would have caught his attention! "If it's anyone I know, your pet might be the one who's not okay." Purely out of annoyance, though! Kuu was [mostly] harmless! The only true danger he posed was to himself! And, to Maia's sanity. It wasn't like he could digivolve with his tamer so far away, anyway. "The only 'playmate' I know of in the building is pretty obnoxious. Maybe you two would get along," she added, as a joke. Yuu and Kuu probably would not get along. Kuu and Labramon, though?

    They were probably a better pair than Maia and her boyfriend, at the moment! Since someone wasn't present at the family gathering! Looking up at the ceiling on the elevator, the blonde gave a shrug. How was she supposed to explain the situation to a stranger? This was exactly why the teen didn't talk to many regular people anymore! It was impossible to even explain her relationships without some sort of awkwardness!

    "Uh," the first sign of hesitation! "He wasn't able to come today," she stated, honestly. Definitely not! How would she be able to explain an imp to her relatives? A weird talking ferret-pet was one thing! An imp being introduced as her boyfriend? Totally different. "He's not in the country right now," she added, as the proper excuse. It was still honesty! The Digital World was most definitely not within this country!

    It didn't even support their cell phone use! Which, frankly, made this relationship thing even harder! But, she wasn't going to dwell on that! "What about you? No girlfriend?" Boyfriend? Uh. She probably shouldn't have been so presumptuous. Ah well. The teen wasn't going to amend her question now! If it needed to be, Yuuya would surely correct her! It wasn't like he'd hesitated to be blunt thus far! Unless relationships would be his weak point.

    After all, hadn't he seemed a little interested, if he was asking about her relationship currently? Or, was he just finding a new subject to try to frustrate her on?

---

[Word Count Total: 1648]

    Amber eyes bore into Yuuya's statement about Japanese people being too nice. Some, most definitely, were not nice. Prime example was right in front of her! "Have you ever talked with Aunt Em?" Mai started, with a curt smile. "You're going to have a really hard time understanding half of the family, if you struggle with me." In exception to Kentaro and her dad! It made literally half the company a struggle for Yuu! Her mother was the least experienced in the language. Though it wasn't a huge deal, when just about everyone in the room could also speak English if they needed.

    Would Yuuya be able to keep up with any transitions in language?

    One way to test it. Dropping the Japanese, the teen started up in her first language, "how good is your English, by the way?" Most people in the area seemed capable of speaking English pretty well! But, she had encountered a couple of people who didn't know any of it. Where would Yuuya fall? Did he pay attention in English class, or bypass it entirely?

    But, he certainly wasn't wrong about a strange amount of foreigners taking up residency here! As if it were the epicenter of something. As if it were the only place Digimon drew out their partners, or hosts, vessels, whatever they were considering the humans they bonded with. Was it something to do with that? No. Couldn't be. "Shibuya is a pretty well-known place. And with games and anime coming from Japan, it's like everyone's dream place," she rationalized. After all, a lot of people from America seemed to have a dream of at least visiting Japan! It couldn't have to do with Digimon in the slightest! That would be weird.

    What was also weird was how Yuuya sympathized with mothers more than anything else. "Are you going to hug yours?" Put simply, Mai wasn't going to hug her mom. But, that didn't really mean she had a choice. With someone as protective as her mom, it was almost inevitable that she was going to be trapped in a hug, regardless of if she wanted one!

    Was her next statement truly her being genuine, though? It was a weird feeling, to hear such a comment. While she almost wanted to tell him that he wasn't worthless, something stopped her from the nice gesture. Perhaps, still lingering on that 'genuine' statement? Instead, she gave a shrug, and focused on the continuation of tormenting him. It was true that listening to Wingdings was definitely not worth causing someone else temporary distress. Especially when it would surely haunt her more than him at the end of the day! "Shame I left my phone upstairs. I'm sure I could find plenty of things to bother you, on the internet." That's what the internet was perfect for! Instead, Kuu was probably stuck with it, trying to figure out how to charge the device. Surely, he couldn't still be playing that game on it. The battery would be dead!

    And, on the topic of Kuu. Yuuya was definitely accurate on him not being a typical pet! "He's definitely exotic," she started, with the most obvious aspect. "He's something like a ferret," she explained, trying to go with her usual attempt at rationalizing what he was. It was a little harder to rationalize once he opened his mouth. And, it wasn't quite accurate. He was almost exactly how mythological pipe-foxes were depicted! Except, a lot less regal, or fancy. The ones in stories probably didn't get their head stuck in toilets.

    But, at this point, Mai had to wonder if something was just wrong with the way Yuuya processed things. Nobody could be this dense, right? Or this rude! 'Lied to'? Who was lying to her? It wasn't like Isaac could really lie about his circumstances! She had seen the effects with her own eyes!

    But that had also been a long time ago.

    "I don't think I want to have him sharing this experience," she pointed out, in a half-joking tone. One, because Yuuya was pretty unpleasant and she didn't want to subject him to it. Two, because at this point, there might have been a fight from how dumb her cousin could be.

    Then again, Isaac could put up with Kuu. He could probably tolerate someone like Yuuya, too.

    It was undeniably disappointing that Isaac was unable to even be found to bring to this event, though. Maia couldn't try to mask that, even if she had wanted to. Not that she had much time to dwell on it, since Yuuya was following up with his 'romance' situations. Immediately, the girl covered her mouth to try to hide the involuntary snicker. There was no surprise that he was better at being slapped, than at having a date with a girl! "Have you considered being nicer to girls? Like, not calling them overweight?" That would be a good start to not getting slapped! If this wasn't her cousin, Maia probably would have already hit him! And, not just a slap, either! But, what was meant by her 'genuine' side looking nice in comparison? What even was her genuine side? Did Yuuya really believe that she was naturally a mean person?

    She already couldn't tell if she should be offended. But, she was starting to get used to it. It seemed that being trapped in an elevator with someone for an ungodly amount of hours would build her tolerance for the boy! It was either that, or go to prison for murder, after all.

    How long had they been in this elevator now, anyway? Without her phone, she was completely lost as to the time. Maybe, they really would be stuck here forever!

---

[[Total Word Count: 2603]]

    At least Yuuya was prepared for a rough time understanding his family! Though, maybe he should just work on his English more, rather than employing a translator. Knowing Mai's luck, Kuu would volunteer. As a particularly strange Digimon, it felt almost like he didn't really have an accent of his own, simply adopting whatever suited the language he spoke. Maybe, it was something to do with being a heap of data glued together to look like a fox spirit. Or, maybe Kuu was just really good at his extra languages. Maia never bothered to ask, considering she knew that she'd never receive a concise response.

    But, was her inquiry on Yuuya's English really out of concern? Or, was it out of a desire for a reason to tease him? "Oh, I never said I was concerned," she smiled, albeit in a manner that likely wouldn't equate with innocence. Was she hoping for a reason to tease him? "I wanted to know if anyone would understand you." Oh no. Maia was mean with her family, wasn't she? "It'll probably be okay." Probably. Maybe. Until she convinced Kuu that he needed to shout 'WHAT' every time Yuuya used English. How many cookies would she have to bribe the Kudamon with?

    Probably not very many. Kuu liked excuses to be obnoxious.

    It was a shame that her fantasies of the torment she could induce with internet would come to a halt. Just like the elevator initially had. She supposed it made sense that there would be no reception, otherwise Yuuya would have contacted someone to get them out of here, right? Granted, she couldn't really rely on the intelligence of her cousin. He seemed a little off when it came to priorities. "I'm sure I could have found something." It seemed that the blonde wasn't going to give away whatever memes she knew of that might make Yuu squirm! It was definitely a strange incident, that there was no way to communicate to the outside. Instead, their only lifeline was a garble of wingdings that the tamer never wanted to deal with again.

    But, was Yuuya really the one with better priorities on relationships? Surely, he didn't understand hers. And she wasn't about to shine light upon it! "We've shared a--" there was a short pause, as if assessing her words, "--lot of struggles." Unfortunately, at this point, she couldn't even find her boyfriend to share any struggles with. But, she wasn't going to say that! it would be a terrible downer for the Christmas spirit!

    "Wanting them to like you for who you are is one thing. Being called fat is another," she pointed out, rather quickly, to her cousin's statement. While he wasn't wrong, she couldn't say that she was either! "It's just unpleasant." Just like Yuuya could be! But, it felt almost like Maia might have begun to reach an understanding-of-sorts to the teen's personality. Was he really so bad?

    Probably. But, she was willing to give him another chance.

    A chance that could be taken once finally among their family. The elevator had begun again, and within moments, was at their destination. What felt like hours -- or maybe even days -- was suddenly appearing as though it had been mere minutes. Nobody rushed to the elevator to greet them, no maintenance or rescue crews seeking to assist. It was as if they were right on time. A happy dog barked behind a familiar door, and was quickly met with a squeal of enthusiasm from someone that Maia could easily identify as Kuu. Ferrets didn't bark. This was probably the closest he could get, to match Labramon's enthusiasm.

    With Yuuya's first 'gentleman-esque' gesture -- on letting her leave the elevator first -- the blonde breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe second chances were actually going to be worth it. He didn't seem like an entirely lost cause. And, considering Kuu's reaction to Labramon's barks, the blonde could only assume that the two had already decided upon their own sort of friendship while awaiting their humans.

    But, before reaching the door, she heard Yuuya's hesitance. Pausing, the teen looked over to him, and then followed his gaze upward. Perhaps, to a fate worse than the Wingdings. "Oh." Mai stated the single syllable in a far more casual manner than her cousin. But, seeing the awkward tension, the blonde couldn't resist a moment of entertainment. Playful smile graced the girl's face, as she quickly leaned over and pressed her lips to the dark-haired boy's cheek, not giving him a chance to react before she had stepped away. Within a few seconds, she was already at the door to the apartment, fingers on the handle, and waiting. What had been verging on a mischievous expression was now one of innocence, as if she hadn't done a single thing in her life that could have made her cousin feel uncomfortable with his surroundings.

    "Come on, Yuu. It's time to join everyone."

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[End Thread]