A Long Due Visit [Amelie]

Hearing the sound of the car pull up, Syre's ear gave a flick, a smile growing on her face as she turned to that direction. Nervous as she might have been, it had been a while since she'd seen Amelie proper - and heck, she was glad to see her!

As the car pulled to a stop, Syre came up to the side of the vehicle, nodding right back towards the driver. "Hey, Auntie!" She chuckled, ear flicking at the positive energy Amelie put into her words. "I've been doing... well, alright enough. Been getting a bit more into the Knight work, but yeah, its fine for me to have you along."

Syre looked over her shoulder towards the woods. "Though it does feel a bit weird to drag you along for something like this... but I guess its not the first time? If nothing else, you might be able to get a decent article or two out of it." Was Amelie still doing journalism? Heck, maybe talking about that would be a nice way to lighten up the mood!

... That would be nice. But there was definitely a lot on Syre's mind. She took a low breath out, leveling herself out. "As for what we're doing here... well, part of its just to make it known that the Knights are keeping watch over the place, but there is something we're looking for in particular." The cat would reach to a bag at her side, and pull out a picture for Amelie's reference.

That of a black, fibrous mushroom, photographed in the Eastern Timberlands.

"Nocturne Whitecap - apparently it glows in the dark or the shade, but more importantly, its not native here. Someone planted it to try and sell it for money and then it spread out a bit when it got out of control. Its a 'bit' toxic to virus types and extremely dangerous to insect types, so we need to make sure that its not on our path - if you see leaves turning purple or red or brownish grass, that usually means there's a strain of it growing nearby. Other than that..."

The cat would offer the picture to Amelie for reference. "... This amounts to a 'good walk spoiled', really. Just keep your eyes open for wild Digimon and we should be fine out here - we'll have lots of time to talk!"

Sheesh, wasn't that a heavy lead! Though she could tell Amy was kidding, Syre couldn't help but give a nervous chuckle. "Eheh... don't take it that way, auntie... I was just saying it'd be alright that I have you around for a work shift!"

But yes, it was fun to have her around! Letting Amelie wave that 'weird feeling' off, it didn't take long for Syre to explain the primary reason that they were here. But not before Syre's ear flicked at an interesting point. 'Boyfriend'? The flick of the ear was met with a knowing smirk, one that would let Amelie know that the BlackGatomon was going to ask her all about that little detail.

Later, though - they had glorified mushroom hunting to do! "Oh, right, good question. Here..." Syre would hand a spare bag to Amelie - a small, tough burlap sack, really, one that could be worn or tossed over the shoulder. "I'll be dropping them off later to get their strain tested, or... something like that, I'm not big on the science details. They did tell me not to try attacking them directly because it would cast the spores everywhere, but they are safe enough to pick. Dig em up by the root if we find any."

Simple enough! Syre would lead the way off into the woods, slipping onto all fours as they started what would hopefully be a long, uneventful walk. How were the Knights? Honestly, that question alone was enough to make the cat give a sigh out, shaking her head. "Overall, we're just trying to keep along with these patrols and all. Unfortunately its been a bit disorganized since..." She paused, glancing over her shoulder.

"... Well. Have you heard about it?"

Yeah, that was perhaps not how Amelie intended to start the conservation, but in retrospect it was easy to forget that K was leader of the Knights! As her aunt crouched down to her level, Syre came to a stop, giving a blink before she was promptly scooped up.

And Syre wrapped her arms right around Amelie's shoulders, as best as she could.

"... No... no, its fine, Amy." Syre's voice seemed calm, even relatively composed, as she caught her breath around that lump in her throat. "Honestly, I should have been talking to you about this a little sooner. And I'll admit," the cat pulled back, letting herself be put down, "its been a bit rough for me. We had a week, but even that didn't really feel like enough time. Not like any amount would have been enough."

She bit her lip. There weren't tears, but it was clear that Syre was definitely still sad about it. The cat took a moment to sit back against a tree, resting her hands on her knees as she mulled it over. "Things have been sort of a rush since then. Re-organizing the Knights, finishing the move out to Snowpoint, keeping up with the Guild... and I've been trying to keep myself together, best as I can. Can't say I've had the best of it throughout - I almost took Mae's head off once when I snapped," the cat shook her head at that.

"Did you know mom all that well?" Syre asked, that thought coming to mind. "I mean, at first, it was just you, the club, me, and dad. I... honestly don't know if you've even met her."

"Auntie... Amy, you've always been there for me. There's nothing you need to apologize for."

Syre gave a smile, despite everything else, genuinely glad to be spending time with her aunt - even if it meant having this talk. There was definitely a lot to air out, and as the cat would soon hear, it wouldn't just be her own grief. Her ear flicked, hearing just how early that Amelie knew her mom.

"Heh... she really got to know a lot of people, didn't she?" Syre shook her head, rubbing the back of her eyes against her glove as she kept a smile on her face. "I mean, its enough for me to know that she was your friend, Amy. I'm glad that you two had each-other's backs, and... hm?"

As they walked, the cat blinked, swearing under her breath. Red grass, a purple tinge of the leaves - she pulled a branch up, revealing two black mushrooms. With an annoyed sigh, the cat dug her claws into the dirt, revealing a stark white base, plucking both right into her bag. "Didn't think we'd find any this far out." The cat's attention briefly turned to the surrounding area, wanting to at least be thorough, and not just assume that these were two stragglers.

"... Anyway, thank you, Amy. I mean, considering everything, you're about as dear to me as Mom and Dad are. I just... don't know how I want to handle everything right now."

"And that's fine, right?"

It didn't take long for Amelie to find a second pair of mushrooms - and Syre, just by flicking her eyes off to the left, spotted a third next to a rotted log. At this point, the BlackGatomon bit her lip to consider the situation at hand. They would have to scour as much of the forest as they could?

"It's a pretty big forest, Auntie." Syre returned a nervous chuckle, standing up as she gave a small sigh. "I guess its what happens when you introduce a 'rare' mushroom to a place where it can actually thrive and grow. Dad looked into a few things on 'invasive species' from your side, and he says its playing out here about the same."

Ugh, but what were they going to do about it? "We'll just have to do what we can, for now. Maybe we can work with Rosewood to get an awareness campaign going in the next few days?" That might be a better way to solve it.

But for now, the two would at least find themselves occupied as they talked.

"Heh, well, thank you anyway!" She chuckled, giving a smile as that hand slipped against her back. The cat returned a brief nuzzle against her auntie's wrist. "And yeah... all I can really ask for is someone I can just call and talk to about it. And she was important to you, right? I'll keep an ear open."

It was about all they could do - just two pals riding down this crazy log raft called life. Tossing about the sixth mushroom into her bag, Syre shook her head. "Ugh... the spores of these things slip under the 'armor' of bug Digimon and take root in them. Dad didn't think they'd slip out this far... I wonder if the infected bugs are dragging them around?"

Syre paused, in that line of thought.

"... In which case we should probably be ready to run into a crazed bug or two..."

If nothing else, Amelie was being optimistic about the whole thing! This did go off-track from a simple patrol of the forest, but honestly, the cat didn't see anything wrong with Amelie's logic. "Well, if we manage to fill our bags just with the area around here, it'll at least demonstrate how bad its gotten. It might at least kick one of the cities to act on this a bit faster."

With Wisemon and the Demon Lords having taken the world's attention, Syre wasn't entirely surprised that a problem like this managed to crop up in the meantime - and, as per usual, it didn't really get anyone's attention until it was near a crisis. The Knights might have been capable, but they were only a unit of ten or so people, and that alone wasn't going to be enough to solve the problem. "I don't think it'll be hard to convince Rosewood to act..." Circling around a tree, finding no hints of the fungus, Syre moved a bit further down the trail. "Terminus might be a good idea. I'd say its 50-50, but it should be fine if we frame it right."

Yes, it was a lot less tense. Syre and Amy were thinking practically about the situation at hand - and depressing as it was to say, it helped Syre to do so. Her ear flicked as Amy brought up a question - what would they do in the case of a 'crazed bug'? "Well, I guess it would depend how far gone they are. As far as dad explained it, they sort of act like 'husks' or 'zombies', just acting on instinct - oh, hell."

Syre's casual swear slipped out as they turned a corner down the path. They didn't find a 'monster', per se, but they found hints of one: jagged slashes run through a few trees, kicked up mud and broken branches as if something had torn off into the distance. The only thing that wasn't clear was how old these marks were, as Syre carefully examined one of the notches.

"Hm... Amy, your Digivice have anything on a bug Digimon that uses sickles or blades, or whatnot? This looks like too 'smooth' of a cut for a claw..." She stepped back, gritting her teeth - her form soon wrapped with light, the cat soon replaced with a Sistermon.

Seemed like she didn't want to take any chances.