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Washed Up on the Beach... Resort [Completed]
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Oct 30, 2019 18:17:25 GMT
Yuko clarified that what Katsura was asking about was Unica's friend, Birdie -- her partner, her guardian angel. The teen elaborated by explaining that a guardian angel ought to be with the person they guarding, implying it was a little strange that Birdie wasn't here at the beach with Unica, looking after the one she claimed to be the guardian of. "Oh!" Unica chimed, suddenly understanding. Before she could explain, however, Katsura asked if Birdie was actually a bird. The young tamer glanced back at the red-eyed girl who was at eye level with her and nodded gently in response.
Katsura went on, claiming that she wanted to name Nyao "Fluffball," but she didn't because the kitty already had a name. "That's a silly name," Unica giggled before pausing in consideration. She wondered if Birdie had a real name, a name other than the one Unica had given her. She glanced skyward in thought, trying to recall whether or not Birdie had introduced herself by another name. The only name or label she could recall was when Birdie called herself a "guardian angel," but surely that wasn't an actual name, was it? After a long moment of silence, Unica finally said, "Her name's Birdie, and she's a pretty birdie."
"But she's away. In a big city with scary monsters," the young tamer explained. There were plenty of big cities with scary monsters in the digital world, but the one Unica was specifically talking about was Terminus City. Without waiting for a response, she went on, "I wanted to go home, and she wanted to stay, and the Lady..." Unica paused and briefly looked up at Yuko, "...there was another Lady, and she looked like mommy but wasn't mommy... and she wanted to go, and I said bye-bye and gave Birdie my coloring book." There were some details lost in Unica's story, but at least she managed to get the basic information across.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Oct 30, 2019 20:23:55 GMT
Yuko did chuckle when Katsura compared this hellish Dark Area that Jokermon described to the human world. “Hah. That was a good one.” Perhaps this girl wasn’t so bad. She had a dark sense of humor that would probably make her fun to hang around with, if one could get over her social awkwardness. The multicolor-haired teen figured she at least deserved a chance, even if some aspects of her were still kinda creepy. Speaking of. “You don’t have to smile all the time, you know. Just be you. That’s what I do, at least.” Yuko advised her.
Unica soon explained that her partner ‘Birdie’ was supposedly in some kind of big city. The pierce-faced delinquent frowned slightly at that. “Oh, so NOW you know where Birdie is! And who was that lady that looked like your mommy? Did she tell you her name?” She asked the much younger Tamer, before turning to her own partner. “Hey, Jokah. Do you have any idea what city she could be talking about?”
Unfortunately, even the Demon King in his bottomless wisdom couldn’t know the answer to that. “Every major sector of the Digital World has at least one big city, and a lot of them ARE filled with monsters that one could describe as ‘scary’. Really, she could be anywhere.” The clown replied, shrugging.
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Post by Katsura Ise on Oct 31, 2019 18:46:13 GMT
Nyao sent Katsura a knowing look when Unica called the name "Fluffball" silly. This made Katsura sigh, was she really that bad at naming things? As Unica-tan was taking a break, Katsura could continue talking with Yuko and her Jokermon, Katsura was funny? Katsura giggled along so she would fit in with Jokermon, speaking of which Yuko was advising her to just be herself.
"I can't." Katsura answered Yuko still just as cheerful as before. When she didn't put up this happy mask Unica was scared, so just being cheerful felt like the best idea. And suddenly Unica spoke again. Katsura flinched at the idea that Unica-tan wasn't with her digimon.
"Bu-ut you're... You're here aaaa-and she's..." Katsura shifted her stare between Unica and anywhere else. This was a fact that really didn't make any sense to Katsura at all. It looks like Yuko got her wish alright: Katsura was now acting like herself and had shredded the happy facade. "Katsura!"
"What!?"
Calm down, this is Miyu all over again." "But she's so little ugh... Sorry." Katsura took a deep breath forcing herself to calm down.
It sounded like nobody here had any idea where Birdy could be, so it was up to Katsura to give her two cents.
"Yes... There are many cities in the digital world. There's Terminus, Heaven Place and Whitewater... Hmm it should be called Bluewater or Sea Place." "Umm that's just 3 cities." "Yes, many. Hmm I think Forest got a town too. I can open a portal if you like anywhere."
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 1, 2019 19:51:59 GMT
Unica took a step away from Yuko and slightly closer to Jokah-sama when the teen frowned and huffed about how the young girl now suddenly knew where her partner was. The idea of being in trouble made her want to distance herself from the colorful teen. "No, I don't know!" Unica snapped back, sticking out her bottom lip and furrowing her knitting together. She looked sad... or angry... or perhaps a little of both. She wasn't sure how to explain that she didn't know exactly where Birdie was, only that the city was the last place she'd seen her partner. And nevermind the fact that when Yuko had asked previously, Unica was far more distracted with swimming than answering boring questions.
When the teen asked who the other lady was, Unica stepped closer to Jokah-sama once more. She didn't want to get in trouble again for not knowing the answer, so she took the initiative to widen the gap between her and Yuko before speaking. "I dunno. She had a kitty-doggy and we ate chocolate and she gave me a hat because it was sooo hot." Unica reached up and patted the top of her head, as though to confirm that she wasn't wearing the hat. She made a face of confusion while she tried to think of where it was. Did she lose it somewhere? Suddenly, she remembered something that caused a smile to erupt across her face. She giggled, "Oh, oh! And there was a pink bunny! She's my pretend partner, but Birdie doesn't like that."
They weren't getting much helpful information out of Unica, so Yuko resorted to asking Jokah-sama if he knew which city she was talking about. He said he wasn't sure because multiple places fit the description they'd been given. Katsura suggested that it may be Terminus, Heaven Place, or Whitewater, none of which sounded too familiar to Unica. Even if one of them was the right city -- and one of them was, in fact -- she was too unfamiliar with the names of things in this world to confirm or deny anything. She'd have to see the place with her own two eyes to know which one was the right one.
Unica shrugged and sighed, not just out of uncertainty but also out of boredom. She looked up at Jokah-sama and took another step closer as her eyes locked onto the ice pop. Katsura offered to open a portal to anywhere the young tamer wanted, but the problem was that Unica didn't want to go anywhere. She was perfectly content staying here at the beach. Afterwards, she planned on going home via her own portal and taking a shower. But for now, she was here to have fun. If they wanted to leave to look for Birdie, that was their own prerogative, but she'd stay here. "I want the ice cream," she huffed, holding out her right hand for Jokah-sama to give her the treat. "Please?"
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Post by Yuko Himura on Nov 1, 2019 20:37:08 GMT
Katsura seemed to be as shocked to find out that Unica had misplaced her partner as Yuko was when she first had heard it. “I know, right? Her partner has no business being that far away from her, especially when she’s too small to defend herself. I mean, without this Birdie to protect her, what’s stopping a hungry Digimon out there from eating her?” The Japanese delinquent stated rather bluntly. Granted, she was still new to the whole Tamer business, so she didn’t know if all Digimon were meant to latch unto their humans almost like pests. That was just the general impression she’d gotten from how her friends’ partners acted.
The petite Black Gatomon owner offered to open a portal to anywhere Unica liked, but the stubborn little tyke wasn’t ready to go anywhere just yet. “Trust me, she doesn’t wanna leave this place. I’ve tried everything.” Yuko informed Katsura. At the child’s puppy-eyed request for ice cream, Jokermon finally caved in and gave her the alluring frozen treat. “Alright, you’ve convinced me! You can have it, but no more swimming for the day. Aquatic Digimon come out to hunt at this hour, and their noses are very sensitive to the scent of small children with full stomachs.” The conniving jester deliberately warned her, using some of the fear mongering techniques he had mastered as a self-proclaimed Demon King.
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Post by Katsura Ise on Nov 3, 2019 10:00:57 GMT
Unbeknownst to Yuko, Katsura had her own order of priorities.
"Forget about that all digimon are nice and friendly, but poor Birdy is away from her best friend for life... I can't imagine not being with Nyao all the time. We do everything together... Poor Birdy must be upset." from Katsura's rapidly deteriorating mental state, it sounded more like Katsura was the one who couldn't handle the idea.
"Not to mention partnered digimon can't access stronger forms alone." "Oh right... The bond of a digimon and human..." Katsura heard that Yuko apparently had tried everything to get Unica to get home.
"Everything? Hmm?" Katsura raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Yuko, it shouldn't be that hard.
"Katsura?" "No."
"Wha?"
"No eyes." Whatever that coded language meant, it left Nyao pouting to have her idea be shot down so brutally. Katsura observed how Jokermon interacted with Unica about the ice cream. Katsura kneeled on the sand and suddenly looked calm and cheerful.
"Birdy sounds so nice and cute! I would so love to meet her! You know who loves ice cream? Birds!" Suddenly Katsura closed her eyes for a moment, all happiness disappeared and she looked like she could cry any moment now.
"Oh right... I forgot... She's all alone in a big scary town, without anyone, not even her partner she can't protect herself... Well I hope she survives out there all by herself... If only there was something I could do. Oh well... She's just a little bird" Katsura looked like she was already mourning the death of Birdy as she opened her eyes and stared right into Unica's soul.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 5, 2019 19:44:30 GMT
Unica's pout immediately transformed into a massive grin when Jokah-sama gave in and agreed to hand over the ice pop. She repeatedly extended her fingers, balled her hands into fists, and extended her fingers again in a typical "gimme-gimme" fashion. She paused in consideration when he said that he'd hand it over on on the condition that she was done swimming. With sigh and another pout, Unica lowered her arms. She was back at square one: to swim or not to swim, that was the question. Just as she was about to cross her arms over her chest and throw a proper tantrum, Jokah-sama explained that the reason he didn't want her swimming was because scary water monsters would smell the sweet treat in her belly and might attack her.
Whether he was speaking the truth or merely making up stories to scare Unica didn't seem to matter, for it worked. The pout once again vanished and was replaced by a look of shock. If there were dangerous creatures in the water right now, she wasn't sure she wanted to go back in the water even if she hadn't eaten. "No more swimming today," she promised, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she stared up at the ice cream. When Jokah-sama held out the treat for her, Unica giggled and grabbed it from him. "Thank you!" she chimed before hurriedly bringing the ice pop to her mouth and licking the sides before it could melt any more.
Unica shifted her attention as Katsura knelt down beside her. The petite teen was fairly short anyway and it hadn't taken much for her to meet Unica's gaze by leaning down, but upon kneeling in the sand, she slipped below the young tamer's eye line, forcing the young girl to look down somewhat to keep her eyes on the strange woman. Katsura gushed about Birdie, claiming that she sounded "nice and cute." Unica nodded before clarifying, "She's grumpy and really pretty." She'd only briefly met Birdie once before, but that encounter had been enough to give Unica a pretty clear idea what her partner was like.
The correction seemed to have no bearing on what Katsura wanted to say, for she went on to explain that birds loved ice cream. A faint smile dusted Unica's lips as she pulled the ice pop away from her mouth and stared at it as she considered what she was hearing. Would Birdie like some ice cream? Probably! Everyone loved ice cream! And Unica's friends wanted to meet her partner, so visiting Birdie would be like killing two birds with one stone (pun unintended)! The young tamer was about to suggest that they all try to find Birdie by searching the cities across the digital world, but the entire mood shifted when Katsura suddenly looked depressed.
Unica's eager smile vanished in a split second and her eyes widened with surprise. What was happening? Had she done something to make the red-eyed girl sad? It seemed as though she had. Katsura reiterated that Birdie was all by herself in a big scary city, unable to even protect herself without Unica being there with her. There was no subtlety to the girl's cruel words. She was shaming Unica for leaving her Digimon partner alone, and she was blaming the seven-year-old for the potential death that might befall the Biyomon. Needless to say, Unica began sobbing. Loudly. She dropped her ice cream into the sand and cried into her palms.
There was something blatantly untrue about the claim that Birdie couldn't take care of herself. For one, she had survived this long on her own, and she had decided to stay in the city by herself, seemingly comfortable in that decision. Another untruth came from Katsura's accusation that Unica left Birdie behind, a claim that made it sound as if the separation was an intentional decision on Unica's part as opposed to something largely out of her control. The guilt was placed on the young tamer's shoulders and it was too much for her to handle.
Had she taken the time to argue her opposing points, she would've realized that the red-eyed teen was merely being manipulative. But Katsura was older than her and, as a result, must have known more. What she said must have been the truth. So if she alluded to Unica being a horrible partner and being the reason for Birdie's death, that felt like the truth. And Katsura's truth hurt. It was an authoritative fallacy, but Unica was far too young to understand the psychology behind that. She sobbed into her hands, her body shaking violently as she wailed on. Disjointed words and unintelligible phrases were uttered through gasps and hiccups, but she repeatedly spoke the words "sorry" and "bad."
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Post by Yuko Himura on Nov 5, 2019 21:33:35 GMT
Yuko smiled warmly as Unica took the ice cream pop, being all too eager to devour her frozen treat. It remind her that she also had an ice cream in her hand that she needed to finish before it melted, so she tended to it, while quietly listening to Katsura throwing a pity party on Birdie’s behalf. The punk girl thought this was weird at first, but the more dramatic and depressed the petite goth got, she realized that she was doing the one thing she hadn’t tried: Guilt-tripping!
It was a dirty tactic, but it worked well… A little too well, in fact, since the poor child started sobbing uncontrollably at the implication that she might have unwittingly hurt her partner through her neglect. “Oh no… oh shit…” Yuko cursed under her breath. Crying child, that was a code red right there! She kneeled on the sand as well and gave Unica a big, comforting hug. “Shhhh… It’s okay, you’re not bad. People make mistakes all the time…” She whispered in the little girl’s ear, gently rubbing her back.
“I’ll tell you what. Why not follow this nice girl to that portal she offered earlier? She can help you find Birdie, and then you can take her home so that you’ll never have to worry about her getting hurt. I’m sure Katsura-san will help you if you ask nicely, won’t she?” The delinquent said, looking towards Katsura at that last statement. She hated passing Unica off to her, but out of the two she was clearly the best equipped to handle a search and rescue mission.
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Post by Katsura Ise on Nov 6, 2019 22:01:15 GMT
Emotions, what exactly are they good for? Katsura may not know the answer but what she does know is how to use them. Unica-tan had reacted exactly according to the plan, first being very excited and then struck with guilt. I still got it, Katsura thought. For just a moment while Unica was looking away, Katsura returned to looking at Yuko with an indifferent wink. Little to nothing about the tearjerker Katsura just pulled off was actually sincere. Technically though she was worried... For the safety of Unica-tan.
Now it was time for Katsura to close the deal before Unica-tan got the chance to think straight. Katsura waited patiently for Yuko to comfort Unica and then when she was mentioned, Katsura stood up and from her pocket she took her own digidevice.
Unusual for a digidevice, hers had an addon that allowed her to input coordinates for both the digital world and the human world; when Katsura said anywhere she meant it literally.
"So Unica-tan, where would you like us to go now? I'm sure there are ice cream somewhere in Terminus."
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 11, 2019 16:40:05 GMT
Unica wasn't a bad person. Yuko said as much. But she had made a mistake by leaving Birdie and going home. That's what both teenagers were expressing to her. Perhaps Yuu, the friendly woman Unica had met in the desert and the same person who help her reunite with her mommy, was also in the wrong for encouraging the young tamer to leave her Digimon so soon after the two first met one another. Such a notion felt strange and wrong to Unica. Someone wasn't obligated to spend every waking moment with a new friend they met, were they? It was okay that she wanted to return to a place of comfort, right?
Before Unica could really question what she was being told, Yuko encouraged her to go with Katsura in order to find Birdie and, as if on cue, the red-eyed girl whipped out her black-and-red digivice. Unica's bottom lip quivered as she looked back up at the colorful delinquent. She didn't want to go yet. She was having so much fun at the beach with her new friends. And now she felt awful. Deep down, she just wanted to go home to avoid the peer pressure altogether, but she'd been told that leaving Birdie to go home was a bad thing, so she had no other choice. She had to do what her new friends were telling her. If she didn't then that really would make her a terrible person, wouldn't it?
Too confused and upset to argue, Unica nodded solemnly and pulled away from Yuko's grasp, feeling somewhat betrayed. She looked up at Jokah-sama and briefly considered giving him a goodbye hug, but decided. She didn't want any more hugs, except maybe from her parents. They were always good at making her feel better. With a snivel and a loose tear streaking down the side of her cheek, Unica stepped closer to Katsura and glanced over her shoulders one last time, silently pleading for Yuko or the funny jester to object. When they didn't, she looked back at the strange girl in front of her. Katsura asked when she'd like to go and Unica simply shrugged, her entire body appearing somewhat deflated as she did. She perked up a bit at the mention of ice cream, but she remained silent.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Nov 11, 2019 18:00:28 GMT
Technically, Yuko should be madder at Katsura for intentionally making Unica cry. Sure, she only knew the girl for about an hour, but anyone who dared make that pretty face tear up was scum in her eyes. On the other hand, she had accomplished what they couldn’t, and had done so in record time. That is, convincing Unica to finally prioritize looking for her partner Birdie.
Looking at the fellow Tamer’s black and red Digivice, the pierce-faced teenager nodded, and broke the hug, letting the girl walk over to her new babysitter. “Take care, kid. Oh, and it’s easy to get lost in big cities, so make sure you stick to Katsura’s side at all times, okay?” She patted the American girl’s head one last time, before sending her off. “And if you do lose your way, the best thing to do is flail your arms and scream at the top of your lungs.” Jokermon happily added, offering some unconventional advice of his own. “It won’t help you with your lack of direction, but you will get people to notice you!”
Yuko stood back up, dusting off… well, her skin. For all intents and purposes, she had spent the entire day in her swimsuit, even now that it was getting late and the air was starting to get kinda chilly. She walked up to Katsura, tapping her shoulder. “Welp! She’s all yours now. Sorry for getting you involved in this mess. By the way, can you make sure she gets a shower at some point? Her parents might get suspicious if she comes back home smelling like seawater.” She requested.
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Post by Katsura Ise on Nov 13, 2019 14:16:52 GMT
It was completely intentional for Katsura to not only mention that Terminus had ice cream but also fail to acknowledge that Unica had other options like staying here or going home. In reality Katsura had rubbed Unica of the ability to make any meaningful decision in the matter. For that reason, Katsura had input Terminus in advance which was why she just had to press enter for a portal to create. Katsura pointed her digidevice over her shoulder to hit behind her, where she pointed a large hole in the fabric of space appeared revealing a thriving city of digimon and tamers alike. As she watched Unica-tan saying goodbye, there was a small but slightly more genuine smile on her face as she listened to Jokermon's farewell. Then she listened to Yuko bidding Katsura goodbye.
"It's okay Yoko-chan... I'm used to stuff like that... Seawater? Oh right sorry I forgot... My umm caretaker knows this stuff, not so used to have to hide it anymore. Hmmmm might tell them it's from Alee Beach." "The café?"
"How can it be a café? It has beach in the name." "Umm, just give her a bath." "Sigh fiiiiine... Have it the hard way."
And with those annoyed words Katsura bowed before Yuko and Jokermon.
"It was a honor to meet you. I'll take care of Unica-tan for now. Goodbye Yuko-chan and Pied-oh-I-Mean-Jokah-san"
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 13, 2019 18:23:53 GMT
Unica avoided looking back at Yuko, too upset to meet her friend's gaze, but she did give a slow nod in response to the request that she stay by Katsura's side. She'd been to big cities before. Shibuya, for one, and the mysterious unnamed Digimon city. She knew how easy it would be to get lost in such hectic places. She didn't need a warning, but the sentiment was still appreciated. It showed that Yuko really did care, even if she had upset Unica by encouraging her to go with this stranger.
Jokah-sama, on the other hand, either didn't read the room or chose to remain playful in an attempt to raise everyone's spirits. Either way, his tone felt out of place in comparison to how dreary the atmosphere of the conversation had become. He suggested that if Unica did get lost or was otherwise in trouble, she should flail her arms and scream at the top of her lungs. Curious and a bit confused, the young tamer glanced back at the jester, clearly unsure how such outlandish behavior would help. It was then that he admitted it wouldn't help with directions but would get people to notice her. A faint smile crept over Unica's face as she fought back the urge to giggle at this. He did have a point, that would make strangers stop and stare.
When Yuko approached the departing girls, Unica turned her attention toward both of them, even though she had told herself she was finished with goodbyes and wouldn't look back at the friends she was leaving behind. It was then that Yuko asked Katsura to make sure Unica took a shower before returning home, commenting on how the young girl smelled like seawater. Such a remark appeared to confuse the red-eyed girl, but Unica's smile transformed into a small, genuine one as she said, "Stinky adult." It was a throwback to the last time Yuko had attempted to get her to bathe, a moment the young girl was fond of remembering.
Unica's nose and cheeks were still red, and her eyes were still puffy, but she tried to stay strong as she waved a small goodbye to both of her friends. The smile on her face once again disappearing in favor of a subtle pout at the prospect of leaving, and without another word, she turned her attention to the glistening, inter-dimensional portal before her. It was almost identical to the one she had used to reach Whitewater City roughly an hour prior. With a sigh and a heavy heart, the young tamer followed her new companions through.
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Post by Yuko Himura on Nov 13, 2019 20:26:34 GMT
“Alee Beach…?” Yuko-chan tilted her head in confusion. Was that the name of a cafe according to Nyao? The delinquent had been in Shibuya almost 3 years, but she hadn’t heard of that place before. Perhaps she should look it up on the internet… if she actually had a device capable of connecting to the internet, that was. She didn’t suppose her Digivice has such a feature.
Nor did it have the feature to open interdimensional portals yet. That was pretty wild! The young Tamer waved back at Katsura, Nyao and Unica, still impressed by the portal that was floating in midair. “Goodbye, you three! We’ll see each other around… hopefully.” Jokermon also waved at them, chuckling at Kat’s little tongue slip. “Ohoho! No spoilers please~”
Once they were gone, the multicolor-haired teen turned back to her equally colorful partner. “I really hope they find Birdie. Thanks, by the way… I don’t think I would’ve been able to babysit her for that long without you.” “Oh, I hardly did anything of note!” Jokah-sama feigned humility, but his blushing cheeks said otherwise. “Let’s look for Mika now. I bet he’s found a hotel room for us by now. I could really use an actual shower with soap and shit.” Yuko said, slowly walking away from her beach. She would also need to find some actual clothes, so that she didn’t walk around town in a wet bikini. Ah, the woes of being a newbie Tamer in an unfamiliar world…
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