Power, To You [Coolmon&Rinji] (Construction Project)

When the gigantic, loping form of Antylamon appeared on the horizon, Rinji suddenly felt very exposed. As far as he knew, he had no idea who it was. Was it a wanderer... or...

"Coolmon?"

A tall, chocolate and lilac bunny with a tan scarf? It just had to be.

"Or would it be Antylamon, now?" She had evolved, so did that mean she had a different name?

The centipede fidgeted. "So..., well, I know this kind of looks like a hole in the ground, but there is a city in progress down there. Uh, here. We've been working on a Power Station and a reservoir. Um..."

He stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Do you like tea?"

Then he realised something.

"Oh, let me let you in." He was hogging the hole, so to speak. With that, Rinji backed up into the hole, so that the Antylamon could drop herself in again.

"You've changed a lot," he stated. Coolmon was a lot more mature in this form. Wise, too. Rinji almost couldn't believe it was still her. Would he have to get to know her all over again?

As he allowed the rabbit to get her bearings and for her vision to adjust, he decided to introduce her to his temporary home.

"Well, Coolmon. This is the reservoir." He turned his head dramatically, out towards the glistening lake. About ten yards away, black water lapped at the shores. Lamps on tripod stands illuminated the waves with white ripples. Around the lake, concrete warehouses and crates punctuated the land in neat, ordered rows.

Yet gradually, the lake was receding, becoming shallower and shallower.

"The lake is being drained," he explained. "When it reaches halfway, the DexDorugamon will stop it and begin construction. They're going to build a dam and a generator. Are you familiar with the principles of hydroelectricity?"

It was at this moment he realised something.

That was a horrible way to start a date.

He also realised that he would have never said anything like that in his rookie form. The Mukademon frowned.

"Um, nevermind. It's not a very interesting topic. Would you like to follow me?"

With that, Rinji lead the way forward around the lake. Around the lake and towards its waterfall, where all the water exited to the rest of the cavern. Of course, a waterfall that was now reduced to a trickle, but it was still a neat spot overall.

Next to the now exposed rock, would be an unnecessarily large chequered blanket. Next to it, a crate full of teabags, a basket of sandwiches and a traditional ceramic kettle. It was, for all intents and purposes, a picnic site.

So, Coolmon was interested in hearing about electricity.

The centipede's face practically lit up like a light bulb. As if her sole comment was a starting gun to a race, he started rattling off all the basics of converting gravity into the momentum required to turn a magnetised rotor.

"...so then, instead of boiling water to produce steam, hydroelectricity uses the natural power produced by gravity acting on falling water to move the rotor. The movement of the magnets against each other in the rotor creates a changing magnetic field, which then induces a current in the copper wire. Then the whole city gets power."

Even as they arrived at the designated picnic site, Rinji didn't seem to notice that it was time to, well, shut up.

"And then we can always alter the amount of water we let through the dam to precisely meet the needs of the city. That lake has at least 180 trillion kilolitres of water, so it should generate far more megawatts of energy than we'll ever need. Probably close to one and a half-thousand."

He paused.

"Oh."

They'd arrived.

"We still have to make the tea. I wasn't sure how you like yours." As Rinji knew, making tea was an art. And everyone had their own way of making art. With that, he emptied the tea bag crate and boxes of tea branded 'Yorkshire Tea' came tumbling out.

A blue cooler, which he knew was filled with a mega-sized carton of milk, fell out too. Thankfully, it was sealed.

With everything in place, he filled the kettle with water, lit a small patch of bare ground on fire with a laser shot and placed the kettle on top.

"Now we wait for it to boil," he declared and took up his spot next to Coolmon on the blanket. Swiftly, he turned around and pulled two gigantic teacups out of a crate and placed them on the blanket with them.

"Do you want the honours?" He asked and presented a box of Yorkshire Tea to the Antylamon. Considering their size, they'd probably need a box of bags each just to make enough that was worth drinking. 

Discovering Coolmon's interest in electricity left Rinji's heart aflutter. "I learned about the theory from books in the Luminas Library," he explained further after Coolmon's question. "When I saw the title mentioned electricity... I had to read it. It was only when we discovered this lake that I decided to study it and suggested the project." Of course, it was complicated. There was a building in the complex somewhere that was filled to the brim with calculators and diagrams.

"Sugar? It's back here." He craned his body and opted to pick up the entire crate that was behind him. He pushed off the lid and presented it to Coolmon by placing it next to the picnic site. Inside was a big bag of sugar and a giant teaspoon. "I guess I should have figured you had a sweet tooth," he said playfully. It was just like Coolmon.

"You can place as many teabags as how strong you like your tea. But usually about one box would be right. I mean, we're not really human sized at the moment. I guess the tea company didn't expect their customers to be Digimon." Thinking about it, he could've just bought a Digimon brand, but there was something about Earth's tea that he preferred (and secretly hoped Coolmon would be impressed by.)

He continued. "You can pour the water too if you want. It depends on how much milk you want, or it might taste a bit dry." It was probably better if she did, in case he poured too much or too little. The last thing he wanted was to ruin his esteemed guest's tea.

After Coolmon opened her box, Rinji took his own. "How do I like my tea?" He repeated while he scored open the container. "I admit I tend to add more milk and sugar than most people," he admitted. "I suppose we both have a sweet tooth."

Just as Rinji dumped his box worth's of tea into his cup, the kettle started whistling. He looked to Antylamon expectantly, intent that she, as his lady, be the first to pour the water.

Coolmon's comment on the amount of sugar she used in her tea drew a pleasant laugh from Rinji.

"Yep, we can wait a few minutes now," he said chirpily in reply to her query. While they waited, he decided to continue the conversation.

"I'm sure that having too much sugar isn't as detrimental to us as it is to humans," he said plainly. "At least, I've never heard of it having any effects." He paused, as if trying to remember if there ever was any case of a digimon with a diet-related disease.

It was an odd thing to talk about, but it reminded him how nice it was to be in the company of another digimon again. Being with humans wasn't bad, but there were some topics that he just couldn't talk to them about.

"So..." he started, wanting to use the time they had together to catch up. "What have you been up to lately? I never knew you could evolve into an Antylamon."

Rinji's antennae remained perked in interest as Coolmon recounted her adventures, and like the tea that was brewing before them, his surprise steeped greater and greater at every word. 

First of all: she'd gotten a job, and although he'd gone and done practically the same thing, it was a shock to hear that Coolmon, of all mons, was employed. He could only stare at her piercingly. Not out of disdain. He just didn't know any other way of keeping the surprise off his face.

He knew Coolmon, and Coolmon was an adventurer. An explorer and a wanderer. A free spirit. What kind of duty could keep her tethered to one place? Perhaps she'd just gotten fed up of wandering? Or was her line of work more... unusual than what he'd initially assumed?

And she had a D-Terminal now. His mind raced at the implications, and he suddenly realised how much of her life he'd missed, being in a signal-less wasteland. He hadn't even realised that Coolmon's phone had ever broken.

He could only subtly tilt his head at the Biyomon comment. Still, he couldn't suppress an amused grin. Antylamon or not, long distance relationship or not, she was still Coolmon.

And of course, he didn't mind what she was or how she looked like. But still...

"Well..." He said quietly, eyes flitting over her form while acting as if he were inspecting her. "I'm not sure... but for some reason, I think I've always liked rabbits. And you look like a rabbit.

"And," he continued further, "I always thought scarves and graceful digimon were quite fetching, and Antylamon is a graceful form - "

Rinji wanted to keep going, but found that well, he couldn't stop the smile plastering itself on his face, and the light-hearted evaluation petered out. He cleared his throat.

"So, um..." He blushed. "I guess neither of us live where we used to." He referenced the vast underground cavern that acted as his base camp. And he found himself briefly long for Server Forest again.

"Where did you move to?" He asked. "Is it to do with your job? Or the D-Terminal? A tamer? A Biyomon isn't the reason you moved, is it?" The questions were quick-fire, but Coolmon mentioned so many things at once that Rinji couldn't help but try and link them all together in some way.

After all, catching up with Coolmon was exciting.