Conviction [Carlos]

In Carlos' relatively short time living and exploring through the Digital World, he had learned to respect and avoid the Dark Area if he could help it, and frankly his few forays into the lightless region of the world had done little to make him think otherwise. So there was understandably a somewhat bizarre and weird feeling coursing through his body knowing the place he was staying at was not only in the middle of said Dark Area, but literally underneath it.

Even more bizarre was that he felt rather safe there, though that was probably due to being sitting in a rather comfy chair inside the Deephold, a place that could only be described as a massive fortified skyscraper. And what was he doing there? Why having some coffee with a friend, of course.

"No kidding. How long has it been now? Like two months?" He said as he smiled back at Amelie, his arm reaching forward for the coffee filled mug on his side of the table. The Deeplane leader's words were casual and friendly, even despite the fact they had indeed not seen or heard from eachother all that much for a while now, but said amiability was always what made Amelie so much more approachable, perhaps that was why Carlos liked to think of her as a very close acquaintance, if not a friend, which is why her next statement threw him for a loop for a short moment.

"Why would I say no to an invitation from you though?" He asked quirking an eyebrow before he took a sip from his own mug, though it was clear from his tone it was only half an honest question, as he did usually have good reasons to avoid such reunions so far from home. The biggest one was also the most obvious one, it required him to either bring his partners along and have to spend all their visit paying only half of his attention to Amelie while he made sure neither Gio nor Dio broke anything expensive (or worse), or he left them to their own devices back home. Unsupervised.

Yet surprisingly, that one had been as easily solved as sending them to train to Ys for the day, something that the twins said yes to without a second of hesitation. Well...Gio did, his smaller brother didn't have time to reply before he was dragged along by the black guilmon through the digiportal.

But that was neither here nor there right now!

"Eh, can't really complain, the health benefits of being with the club outweight the negatives. At the very least it's nice to have someone that can fix you up regardless of if you twisted an ankle or got shot in the stomach." He laughed somewhat bittersweetly as if to say "yes, that did happen", before shaking his head.

"How about you?" He asked, carefully placing his mug back on the table as he looked to the side, glancing for a moment at the window overlooking the enormous underground city. "Building a city is hard work but I think you guys are doing just fine for now.

"Three months, three weeks, whatever the case it still felt a bit too long for my taste." He shrugged, though he had to admit he was partly to blame for the lack of comunication between the two of them too. Friendship is a two way street, after all. "We should at least text eachother more!"

An eyebrow was raised somewhat amusingly in the man's features at her retort. She did have a point, getting an invitation to a place in the middle of the Dark Area wasn't exactly the most common of occurences, even if it came from someone he still relatively trusted.

Then again...

"Amy please, I've already accepted enough jobs in the Dark Area to last me a lifetime, what's a simple invitation for tea compared to that?" Indeed, suspicious or not an invitation was always more tantalizing than a "simple" job offer, even if it was to one of the darker, scarier places in both realities.

"Oh yeah, Gio. He's...a bit more than a handful really, but he's a good kid, and Dio mostly took well to him, so it's not terribly tiring." He smiled, almost sounding proud at the fact, though he couldn't help but feel just a bit surprised how quickly news spread. It almost felt like the guilmon had entered his life yesterday (though it was obviously longer than that), and yet everyone already seemed to know. He had to wonder if Talia was somehow responsible for that. "Having a break from being a "big bro" is a welcomed change, though." He added after a moment of silence, clearly sounding relieved and relaxed.

He couldn't help to shake his head at Amy's mention of him being "unwilling to tread down memory lane".  Things couldn't be father from the truth!

"Nah, that's not it, just figured I shouldn't just dump everything on you at the drop of a hat, is all. To make long stories short I've been mostly fighting against many of those threats you mentioned, at least as much as a normal guy can actually hope to fight against such things through two digital monsters I guess." He'd stretch his arms for a moment, before raising his hand close to his face, after which he would start to raise his fingers as he started counting some of his escapades in the past months.

"In no particular order we fought a D-reaper infected cat in the dark area, took down a corrupt monarch, also in the Dark Area, fought off some deranged Wisemon and his brainwashed goons in the North, and in the near future we might be travelling up North again unless I can somehow talk Dio out of joining the expedition against one of them Demon Lords."

He then sighed as he let himself sink somewhat into his seat, sighing whilst looking somewhat...deflated?

"Guess I have reasons to feel accomplished?" He said with a somewhat insincere smile, emptying the remaining liquid from his mug. Even now as he looked back at all of the battles fought and won, it somehow didn't feel quite right with him.

But why? Perhaps to avoid thinking on the answer, he'd shoot back a question in a similar vein at the French girl. "What about you? I'm sure the founder of the Council has had her own share of adventures building this city."

“After such a betrayal I don’t think I’ll ever feel joy again. But sure, you’re forgiven.” He replied, his tone equally if not more loaded with sarcasm than her “apology”, followed by a silly smirk of self amusement. If nothing else, it seemed that all that paper work hadn’t taken her sense of humor away, which was a good thing, people without a sense of humor made for awkward talks, at least in his opinion.

“Seamlessly is being a bit generous, sometimes it feels like trying to raise a great dane in a small apartment and all that entails, both good and bad. But…I’m sure he’d love to meet you too.” He then replied with a smile, though deep down he didn’t think it was prudent to bring his rather ditzy partner into such a place so nonchalantly. He would probably end up breaking some expensive furniture or making the wrong member of the staff angry.

However, the rather light subject matter of the conversation quickly shifted, as Amelie (perhaps unknowingly) dropped quite the bombshell of a question to the man, asking him what he thought of the rather reckless escapades he took all too often in the name of missions.
“Risky is underselling it slightly. To be blunt it’s…scary. Fucking scary. It was scary the first time, it was still scary the fourth time, and I’m sure it will continue being scary the fifth and all the following times.” He sighed, sounding rather tired as he did. It was clear he meant every word, but before he could say much else yet another, bigger bombshell was asked.

Why was he doing it? Why risk his life so much and so often?

He didn't really seem to have a good answer.

“I…” He said, but quickly stopped himself, clearly deep in thought. He’d stay like that for a good while with nothing but a blank expression on his face. After a while however, he’d glance back at the girl, his smile turning into a rather pensive frown.

“Frankly I don’t quite know. It’s scary, yes, yet I still come back to it time and time again. I like to think of me as a selfless dude, but there’s only so much self sacrificing I can take, and I’m not sure “doing the right thing” is all there is to it. And…well I don’t think profit is good enough a reason to getting shot in the stomach by a witch…sorry, bit too graphic for tea time.” He quickly said, apologetically. He then paused for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose whilst he shook his head. “I guess on some level I must…enjoy it? I mean what else could it be?”

He took a deep breath, followed by a long and drawn out sip from his cup. It only then hit him just how much he had opened up out of nowhere. While content he had got most of it out of his system, there was a bit of a concern of what Amelie would say about it.

“No, don’t worry, you’re fine. It’s a valid question, one I ask myself a bunch too.” He said, waving his hand dismissively, trying to seem nonchalant. Hell, truth be told he was this close to thanking her, being able to be this sincere felt liberating, if nothing else. He tried to switch topics in an attempt to salvage the conversation from veering too much into what he felt might be a pit of awkwardness, instead focusing on her own efforts to build the city. And how humble (or falsely humble, it was hard to say) she seemed to be about it.

“Aw come on, you say that like running a functioning city was no big deal. Me and the twins? We’re kinda just glorified mercenaries if you think about it, hired muscle. We offer the fire power for what seem to be a good cause and call it a day. You and your group on the other hand actually put effort to actively improve other’s livelihood.” With that he waved his hand around a bit, as if to try and point at the rather fancy, cozy room they were sitting in. Not the sort of place you’d find in a lawless hellhole, really. “And succeeding at that, if this city is anything to go by.”

Of course, this being the Dark Area, none of it had come easy, as evidenced by Amelie’s quick recounting of past events. Carlos didn’t react too strongly, simply giving her a quiet nod with his head. Clearly she had been keeping herself busy, and not just with politics and bureaucracy as he initially thought.

“See? Even you had your own share of interesting adventures just trying to build a city.” He said with a short chuckle, before adding with a somewhat sly look. “You guys clearly are quite capable, so I guess you won’t need our services.” Of course this was also said partially in jest…though if the day ever came where Amelie was hiring, he would probably at least consider it.

…as long as he didn’t have to share a team with Sasha, that is. It would have been far to awkward for the two of them to work properly anyhow. Now that he thought about it, he was almost tempted to ask Amy if the Russian had ever spoken to her about him and their thing in the past…but that was probably something that was best to leave buried, so he simply focused his mind on something else.

Namely, the faint sound of a knocking on the door that Amelie didn’t seem to be paying attention to…or perhaps wasn’t hearing at all. Leaning forward a bit, the man whispered in a hushed tone to the French so that whoever was on the other side couldn’t hear.
“Um…want me to get that or do we ignore it?”

While the idea of using adjectives like “noble” to describe Gio felt amusingly off mark, he had to agree with her, it was very much something worth living, or at the very least something he was grateful of getting to experience. That said the idea of introducing the klutzy reptile to the rest of the Council seemed just a bit…too preemptive, to say it in the mildest way possible.

“You sure? Maybe I’ll bring him along to visit one day, just uh…don’t let him play hide and seek in a place with fragile furniture. Or walls for that matter, trust me on this one.” He said in a knowing tone, the bleeding wound Gio had inflicted on his wallet to pay for repairs on the apartment still palpable. On a less amusing note he was glad, if somewhat unsurprised that Amy shared his thoughts regarding his concern over the dangers of adventuring and fighting on the digital world as a mere flesh and blood man. She even elaborated further, pointing out the questionable mental state of other humans that at least on some point didn’t seem to share their concern over their mortality against such odds.

"I suppose. My guess is that some people just feel compelled to try and be as fearless as a lot of digimon seem to be, perhaps it's their way of appearing stronger than they actually are, like those animals that try to seem bigger to scare off predators." He pondered, scratching his chin a bit, before clarifying with a shrug, "The more mentally sound ones, that is, can't really speak for the rest. Maybe they really think they’re invincible."

As for her ensuing questions, at first there was no real answer coming from him, just a quiet nod as he took in every one of her points, as well as a slightly stronger, more agreeing nod at her summary of his previous answer, before finally letting out a bit of a tired sounding chuckle.

“Ha, you’re asking me that as if got every aspect of this world. Honestly, after all this time I still don’t think I know this place well enough to know what I want it to be over what it is now.” He shook his head, quietly refilling his mug once more before continuing. “Truth be told, I just want it to be a place worth living, if that makes sense? At the very least with significantly less people trying to forcibly change it for their own ends…or whatever it is the D-Reaper or Demon Lords truly want. I feel you summarized it perfectly: I hope and want to make things better, even if I’m not exactly sure how to get there, so I guess that’s what I envision. Something better.”

Saying it out loud like that made it sound admittedly way more idealistic, perhaps even more childish than what Carlos was hoping for. Then again, he knew full well that things were never as black and white as “good versus bad”, but if he started questioning every single fight he took and their possible repercussions for the world at large he’d probably be worse off, at least mentally speaking. With that in mind, it came as a small relief that Amelie shifted subjects once again.

“No offense but somehow I figured a primarily female team like yours wouldn’t be too interested in someone like me, if you pick up what I’m putting down.” Was it a bit stereotypical to assume such a thing from a group comprised only of members of the opposite sex? Probably, but hopefully she wouldn’t take the jokey comment too seriously. "It’s funny you mentioned that though, cause I guess Dio either already mellowed out or the edgy teen schtick worked out for him, because he kind of already got lucky. Remember Miyu and her partner Bloom? Let's just say they hit it off far better than what I initially gave them credit for. And as for Gio...well I'm not quite sure how that works with digimon but he seems a bit, let's say “mentally young” to really be interested in such things like a partner. He has his mind set on other things like finding out what we're gonna have for dinner, or where to find the cookie jar this time."

There was a slight and visible delay in a response from the man as his brain seemed to still be processing the new information. After a moment of rather shocked silence, he finally found the capacity to utter words again.

"D...daughter?" He said, his eyes widening and a rather surprised smile appearing on his face. "W-wow, I…had no idea. Congrats Amy!" Just like that he seemed to switch gears once again, going from elated to slightly cautious as he followed it up with a question, "May I ask when did...you know, it happened?"

Curiosity and intrigue flooded his mind, pushing any semblance of more reasonable and "adult" thought aside and replacing it with almost a childlike wonder about what might be waiting behind the door. Even if the conversation was a relatively serious one, they had agreed on meeting that day with the express purpose of catching up, so of course he’d want to know all about this new member of the French girl’s family.

“Well, if you don’t mind…I guess it won’t hurt to say hi, right?” With that and if left to his own devices he’d carefully, almost cautiously would walk to the door, never the less ready to open up and greet whoever was waiting on the other side…if being found out didn’t make them go away, obviously.

“Alright, alright. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He said, with a slight chuckle. Frankly he was a bit curious how Gio would deal with such a situation like this, even if he still was a bit apprehensive about the idea of letting him “loose” just like that, even with Amy’s reassurance. “Well, it won’t be boring, if that’s what you mean.”

As for the discussion regarding the thrill seeking tamers and other such individuals? There wasn’t really much left for him to add, as he pretty much agreed with her own points. They were a bit on the brutally honest side, yes, but they remained truth nonetheless. At least to him.

“Well, I’ll certainly try to. If not I’m sure you’ll find out sooner rather than later.” He shrugged with a sarcastic smile. A bit of a grim takeaway perhaps, but didn’t change the facts. Speaking of facts, Amelie’s reaction to his comment about the DLC’s…let’s call it dominant gender was enough to elicit a rather awkward chuckle from the man. Clearly he had noticed a bit too late how one could interpret his comment in a rather unflattering light.

“R-right, I believe that. I wasn’t implying you guys wouldn’t it’s just…you know, kind of the first thing that came to mind.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Look, I’m just one man, stupid shit just comes out of my mouth without thinking sometimes.” Thankfully for him they wouldn’t dwell on that for long, as she was soon to be rather blindsided by the most startling revelation of all.

Dio was already taken. By Bloom of all people.

“I know right?” He nodded, clearly amused yet very understanding off Amelie’s sheer and honest surprise at Dio’s choice for a partner. After all, not even Carlos was completely convinced it was for real. “It’s actually not as wild as you’d think. The short version is that she basically came to visit him when he was rather sick, and helped him get better. After which they just started seeing eachother more often and something must have clicked because…it just kind of happened. That’s really about the extend of it, I’m not as privy to every juicy details as you’d expect. Those two are more tight and close knit than you’d think at first glance.”

There was indeed more to it but getting into the nitty gritty of it would probably take far too long to explain, and besides there were more pressing matters, like learning more about Amy’s new daughter!

“An…egg. Gotcha.” He quietly nodded, somewhat not entirely convinced about how straightforward of an explanation it was, but figured it was probably not the best moment to ask for more details. “You know I kinda assumed…” He paused, thinking about it for a moment. Did he really assume something much different than this? After all he’d probably had heard from someone else if the French girl had been pregnant, right? Then again, this daughters’ existence was just being revealed to him so… “...actually never mind that.”

Needless to say what he found behind the door was both completely expected yet something he didn’t expect. Really the only proper way his brain could describe the small brunette girl that was now throwing herself into his arms was something along the lines of “disarmingly adorable”, probably thanks in no small part to the whole “uncle Carlos” part. As such it was somewhat understandable that the man would be rendered momentarily speechless, his eyes going momentarily from the small girl back to her “mother”, an amusingly meek and surprised look visible on the man’s eyes as if asking “what now”.

Luckily it didn’t last too long, and he soon found himself looking back at smaller brunette, a warm smile on his face.

“H-Hi!” He finally replied, still somewhat taken aback by the sudden influx of energy the kid had brought into the room. “Aw, did she now? I think your mom might have oversold your uncle just a tiny bit.”

“So, what is uncle Carlos supposed to call his niece? And please don’t tell me it’s Amy Junior.” He soon added in a somewhat self deprecating tone, giving the girl (if she would allow it, obviously) a gentle and soft pat on the head, ruffling her hair ever so slightly.

There was, admitedly, a hint of blushing in his expression when he found himself verbally backpedalling a bit after his...slightly unfortunate remark about Amy's team, but luckily it subsided as quickly as she "forgave" him.
"I'll have to make some space on my schedule but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Next time I could even bring the twins too."

It however came back with a vengeance as his initial assumption regarding Loire was met by the French woman's rather loud (and unexpected) bout of laughter. So much so he didn't even seem to try to offer a clever comeback, just giving a quiet and understanding nod. Pregnancy was actually one of the top reasons he was more than happy with being a man, it certainly didn't seem like a particularly fun time, even if the end result was worth it.

At any rate, once the first impressions were established, it luckily didn't take long for him to learn the young girl's name. Though he couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her sincere and pouty remark, however, though he found himself agreeing with the other two. Loire was a good name. And a lot better than Amelie Junior too.

"It is a cute name. Fits you like a glove." He said with a nod, before picking the little brunette up in his arms and giving her a tight (but not too tight) hug, before setting her back down once more. Now that the initial surprise of the first meeting was done, the man found it hard not to quickly warm up to the little niece. While initially a bit odd to meet someone that thought so highly of him right out of the gate, he would be lying if he said it didn't warm his heart on some level.

"I'd be happy to, I think we have to catch you up to speed one of these days. Truth be told if we went out on an adventure chances are you would have to save me at some point, knowing my luck. You should probably listen to your mom though, she knows a thing or two about adventuring too." Wouldn't be Carlos without a bit of self deprecation, though it made him wonder if and how he would have to circumvent with his narration some of the...slightly more graphic situations he had found himself in his adventures (he had nearly lost his stomach once, for crying out loud!).

Though after that he'd lean a bit closer, and say in a hushed, vaguely mischievous whisper,

"I'm sure if you ask nicely enough she'll say yes, though." Was he already being a bad influence? It was hard to say, it was like as if the little Loire radiated with an aura of young and adorable innocense, the one even the most hardened minds had trouble saying no to. Amelie seemed to feel similarly, or maybe didn't even think the idea was half bad, as she was soon to voice her approval. Well, somewhat, said approval came with the caviat that Carlos had to go with and look after the little girl. She didn't quite said it like that, yet it was all but silently stated those were the only terms in which Loire would be allowed to go adventuring.

Maybe. It was also likely she was just saying that to quiet down Loire's begging for the time being, something Carlos was more than happy to oblige with.
"You really have to ask? I'd love to." He replied to both of them almost without a second thought, a downright eager smile on his face. "Heck, you can even meet your other...I guess they would be your cousins? Uncles?" He paused, turning for a moment to Amelie as if asking for her opinion on the subject, though regardless he would soon give a simple shrug. "Whatever. They're a bit of a handful but I'm sure they'll love you when you meet them."

That thought gave him a slight pause however, while he knew for a fact the twins would most likely be really happy to meet Loire (despite Dio most likely saying otherwise and acting as his usual aloof and uncaring self), there was always the slight possibility that Loire well...had a different plan in mind. After all she was just a kid, and those weren't always too keen in sharing...well, anything with other kids. Specially family figures they looked up to.

"Of course, if you rather just be the two of us on an adventure I won't say no. Wouldn't want to overwhelm my sobrinita on our first outing."

"He sure is. I know I wouldn't have come up with something nearly as good, at the very least." He replied, nodding. In the end what mattered was that Loire was happy with the name she was given, he knew what having an illfitting name could do to someone so young, like that one kid back in primary school unlucky enough to have the last name usually associated in Spanish with a very specific kind of smokes (the kind of dubious legality in most of the world).

What was also clear was how energetic and full of spirit the little one was, it was any wonder how she managed to stay put while having such a busy mother.

"I can imagine, keeping everything running as smoothly and under wraps as it looks can't be easy." He gave a somewhat knowing nod. In truth, he too had heard one or two hushed rumours that, if true, we're probably the reason Amy was both this busy and...visibly concerned. Obviously, nothing that really changed things between the two, and most importantly nothing little Loire needed to be worried with. At least not now. "Well uh...in the meantime I could look after her, maybe take her somewhere cool, not like I'm terribly busy. And safe obviously. Don't worry, I'll leave the fun and dangerous places for you two to see at your own pace."

Though...Dio being a fun guy? That was...certainly one way of putting it.

"Ha! Yeah, you could say that about him." He couldn't stifle a small chuckle. Either Amelie liked to embezzle her words from time to time, or she had a bit of an idealized image of Dio on her memory. That or simply she focused only on his good side which, admitedly, wasn't nearly as insignificant as him or Carlos liked to make it seem most of the time. She was partly right though, he was anything but boring. "For real though, I'm sure he'll be delighted to meet you too. He may not admit it but he has a way with kids."

He was, for lack of a better term, a big softie. That aside however, Amy once again brought up a good point: Loire had kind of interrupted their earlier talk. And while it was a welcome respite from what could be a more deep discussion, truth be told that was the reason he had come for a talk, after all. But...well, he simply didn't have the heart to send Loire away after just having met her.

"Well...I'd be lying if I said I know what I really want at the moment." He shrugged, turning to look at the small brunette again. "So niece. what would you want to do?