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Birds of a Feather 2: Electric Boogaloo (Unica & Birdie)
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Nov 12, 2020 19:01:12 GMT
So far Hawkeye's opinion of Unica was very positive. She is much younger than any human I've encountered before, but she has a good heart. And she's able to tolerate someone like Birdie. Truly makes me wonder how she'll end up once she is a bit older.
Once Kaya had returned after purchasing her items, she and Hawkeye discussed what they were going to do about getting food while also keeping an eye on the rather un-synced human and Digimon duo. "We could invite them to come along with us?"
"I would prefer not to have lunch with someone like Birdie, at least not yet."
"Well I'm scared for Unica, so it's either try to invite them to lunch or we stay here and not get anything. Your choice." In response Hawkeye's stomach growled again, prompting a slight laugh from Kaya. Blushing greatly, the Hawkmon lowered his head and sighed, as if giving in to Kaya's request. "Don't worry, it'll work out, I'm sure of it!"
The pre-teen Tamer then focused her attention on Unica and Birdie, the latter of which had finally fit the digivice cradle onto the former. "Oh, a Digivice Cradle for Unica too, huh? Good idea! Hawkeye and I were gonna go get lunch, do you two wanna come with? It'll be my treat!"
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 18, 2020 18:34:42 GMT
While Birdie fitted the bracelet on Unica's wrist, Kaya and Hawkeye spoke quietly among themselves about whether or not they would want company for lunch. After finally coming to a decision, they turned back to the group and Kaya asked if the duo wanted to go with them to the food court. Without answering, Birdie unclasped the cradle from the young girl's wrist and cocked her head to better examine the quality of the accessory. Unica, instead, was the one to speak up. "Okay!" she replied with a smile and nod, clearly eager to spend more time with her new acquaintances. With an abruptness, Unica turned her attention to her avian partner. "I want strawberry ice cream!"
Birdie tore her gaze from the bracelet in her claws to look up at her tamer. "Yeah, well. We'll see what they have." In a strange way, she sounded calm and complacent. Had Hawkeye's words reached her in some way? Was she more acutely aware of what she said and how it affected others? Or perhaps she was just hungry too and liked the idea of getting lunch. Either way, it didn't seem to matter. She was being fairly pleasant, but it was like walking on thin ice. One wrong move and Birdie might lose her temper again. But for now, they all appeared to be in agreement about getting lunch together.
"Let me buy this then we can get goin'," the Biyomon explained while lifting up the cradle to display it to the group. Without another word, she waddled over to the checkout counter with Unica close behind. Birdie placed the cream-colored bracelet on the table and began to pull out the necessary Bits; as she did, Unica remembered the cute little charm that she still had in her hand. In silence, she stole a glance down at the chibi bird, considered putting it back like she had been instructed to do, then heard the Hagurumon ask if that was everything. Birdie nodded, but Unica contradicted her partner by hurriedly putting the charm on the counter beside the cradle.
There was a pause as both Birdie and the employee looked at the young girl with confusion. "No," the avian said.
"Birdie..." Unica whined.
"No," Birdie repeated, a little sterner this time.
"But it's not fair!" Unica pouted, "You're getting a toy!"
Birdie's eyes narrowed and there was a new sharpness in her voice. "It's not a toy, and it's not for me. It's for you 'cause you keep losing the digivice."
"Pleeease!" Unica begged with her hands clasped together into a prayer position.
"Ugh, fine! Whatever!" Birdie caved, turning back to the Hagurumon to pay for the two items. She normally would've made a big scene about it and stood her ground in defiance, but she had stepped down this time. Why, though? Was it because of the promise she had made to behave herself? Was it the heart-to-heart with Hawkeye? Something else? There was no knowing.
Feeling proud of herself, Unica grinned and bounced on the balls of her feet before snatching the charm off the counter and eagerly attaching it to the lavender digivice.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Nov 19, 2020 22:42:37 GMT
Kaya and Hawkeye both had to admit, they were pretty surprised to see Birdie calmly accept the offer to go get lunch with them. You have to consider that despite how calm both parties are being towards each other, they have a very bad past. It must've taken something considerably effective to not even have Birdie stop for a long amount to time to even consider going with them.
Was it because of what I said to her earlier...? Hawkeye wondered, not knowing the full specifics on how the Biyomon's mind operated. She couldn't have been easily converted into being a nice Digimon out of the blue because of a speech. Maybe she was simply thinking it over? They may never know.
For now though, something else was on Hawkeye's mind. "Strawberry parfait..." Hawkeye muttered quietly when Unica had mentioned wanting strawberry ice cream. That REALLY did sound good right about now.
"I wanna try the Digital World's take on ramen," Kaya suggested.
Hawkeye nodded in response "Hm, that sounds good to me as well."
The duo's thrilling food conversation was cut short when they overheard Unica's complaints over not being able to buy the Biyomon key chain thanks to Birdie's refusal. If the key chain were expensive Kaya may have understood, but it costed the equivalent of 100 yen, so other than it being a cutesy version of a Biyomon, what reason would Birdie have to say no? "Birdie, it costs close to nothing... it shouldn't hurt to buy it for her, will it?"
Eventually Birdie did give in and buy the charm for Unica, who was thrilled about that decision. Hopefully there'd be less arguing at the food court. Once Unica and Birdie were finished, Kaya and Hawkeye would leave to go to the food court that was on the second floor of the mall, allowing the other Tamer and Digimon pair to follow.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 22, 2020 18:30:03 GMT
Any frustration the pink avian had toward Kaya was only amplified when the elder tamer sided with Unica regarding the tiny Biyomon charm. If Birdie had been in the mood to argue, she would have insulted the girl for "being stupid" and assuming that they had enough money to spend on such unnecessary items, even if such insults were unfounded. Birdie was frugal in the most extreme sense, oftentimes scrounging around in garbage cans or hunting the surrounding wild areas for edible berries, but she actually had the Bits to spend -- this time, at least.
The paychecks she received for being part of The Last Chapter organization were incredible and had pulled her out of poverty. Heck, she still hadn't spent any of the money she had earned from her very first paycheck because she wanted to save it for emergencies only. She was no longer as destitute as she once was, but the frugal mindset continued to stick, even when she finally did have the money to spend. Ultimately, the same soberness have overcome the otherwise feisty Biyomon, causing her to cave under the two tamer's pleads for her to buy the charm for Unica. The glare remained all the same, however, as a clear indication that although Birdie wasn't arguing or causing a scene, she was still frustrated at the situation. At the humans.
Once the purchase was complete, Kaya and Hawkeye led the way out of the store. The food court was on the second floor of the mall, which unfortunately gave Unica more than enough time to get distracted along the way. "Look, Birdie!" she hollered after walking for only about thirty seconds. The young girl raced over to a poster of an Etemon singing dramatically into a microphone with two Lunamon behind him, appearing to dance in sync with one another.
Birdie eyed the poster briefly, only long enough to realize that it was a flyer promoting Etemon's upcoming concert, before huffing and continuing to walk. "C'mon, Unica."
"What a funny monkey," Unica giggled as she raced back to her partner's side. Moments later, she wandered off again with yet another exclamation for Birdie to look at something. The something in question was a mannequin set up inside the display window of a store -- there were two mannequins, in fact. The first was of an Agumon, and it sported a set of custom-fitted goggles and some red belt gloves. The second was a taller figure, an Angewomon, and the outfit she wore was similar to the classic promiscuous unitard but was different in two main ways: it covered more skin and was light blue instead of white.
"Hurry up or I'll leave ya behind," Birdie threatened, sighing heavily at her tamer's inability to stay still for more than a minute.
"But Birdie--"
"No buts."
"--You're naked!" Unica explained loudly as she returned to her partner's side.
Birdie's face grew red as she looked at the young girl. "I'm a Digimon, Digimon don't need clothes! That place's just trying to con people outta their money," she replied quickly, having seemingly taken offense to whatever the girl might have been implying.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Nov 22, 2020 19:24:49 GMT
The thirteen year old could definitely tell that Birdie was frustrated with how she decided to side with Unica on the topic of the Biyomon charm. If money was an issue, Kaya would've happily bought it for her. She was getting fed up with the pink bird's passive aggressiveness, the image of her nearly killing Kaya still present in the girl's mind. Whatever, she wasn't arguing anymore and she bought the charm, maybe lunch would make things better.
Although it became clear that going straight to the food court may be easier than it sounded, because Unica channeled her inner young child and began running off to random things and stores, not sticking as close to the group as Birdie probably wanted. With all of Unica's running around, Kaya felt like she had to suggest at least something to keep her in check? "Hey Birdie, why don't you try holding her hand? My mother did that with me and my sister when we were younger so we didn't run off like Unica is doing."
One of the stores that Unica ran off to was a clothing store, with two mannequins out front showing off various styles of clothing. Kaya had to admit, when she noticed the store she too was curious about the kinds of clothing that would be available to buy there. Birdie, of course, threatened that she'd leave Unica behind, causing the young girl to run back up and claim that Birdie was naked.
Kaya and Hawkeye were just as stunned as Birdie when Unica said that. Kaya's and Hawkeye's faces would turn blue from the nose upwards and their eyes would be white circles if this were an anime, just based on what Unica had said alone. Not only that, she ANNOUNES it for anyone else to hear, as well!
Birdie of course got angry as usual, stating that Digimon didn't need clothes and that the store was just trying to scam people. "Digimon may not need clothes," Hawkeye added, "but I have seen quite a few that wear them just for fun."
"It would be fun to see what kind of clothing styles are popular in the Digital World," Kaya mused, considering taking a quick stop at that store.
"Erm, perhaps we can do that after lunch? I am starving," Hawkeye suggested, fearing when his stomach would growl next.
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Nov 25, 2020 20:09:00 GMT
Birdie didn't so much as acknowledge Kaya's suggestion for her to hold Unica's hand in order to prevent her from running off again. Had the young tamer been around to hear the proposition, she might have jumped on the chance to hold her partner's hand. Then again, the only other time the two had made physical contact with one another was when Birdie was shoving her to the ground or when she was trying to stop Birdie from attacking someone. Neither of them could remember there ever being a time in which they touched each other with fondness or compassion. This was perhaps the key reason why Birdie dismissed Kaya's idea without a second thought. If it wasn't an act of aggression then there was no reason to touch the girl.
Tempers grew as Hawkeye chimed in to contradict Birdie's statement that Digimon didn't need to wear clothes -- well, not contradict, exactly, but to undermine. It was as if Hawkeye and Kaya were only there to talk back, discredit everything the Biyomon had to say, and distract them from doing what they had come to the mall to do in the first place. "Fun," Birdie spat, half under her breath. "Hey, birdbrain, if you want to go shopping, don't let us stop you," the pink and blue avian snarled, her eyes locked onto Hawkeye who had seemingly defended the idea of shopping for clothes. "C'mon, Unica," she huffed before she continued through the mall, leaving the others behind to window-shop.
The young tamer paused, clearly torn about who she wanted to stay with. Ultimately, they were all going to the same place, but fear of possibly losing Birdie again caused her to chase after the Biyomon who was already disappearing in the crowd. "Birdie, wait!" Unica cried out, sounding a little hysteric as she went. Though the avian didn't stop to let her tamer catch up, she did slow down and cast a glance back to see how far away the girl was.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Nov 29, 2020 19:11:37 GMT
Unsurprisingly, Birdie once again ignored Kaya when all she was trying to do was suggest something to make the Biyomon's life a little bit easier. "You could just disagree with my idea instead of ignoring me, you know." The more time she spent with Birdie the more she questioned just what exactly Unica saw in her to stay by her side like she was doing in spirit right now. Hawkeye wasn't the nicest Digimon either but at least he was pleasant to be around despite of his flaws.
Now this is where things got a bit confusing. All Hawkeye was saying was that he's seen Digimon wearing clothes before. He didn't want to stop and shop at a clothing store himself, so he was confused when Birdie snarled at him, saying not to let her and Unica stop him if he wanted to go shopping. "I'm sorry, what?" Hawkeye asked in a state of pure confusion when Birdie took off once again with Unica.
I've never been called a birdbrain by a fellow bird before...
"Come on..." Kaya groaned as she facepalmed. "We gotta catch up with those two."
So Kaya and Hawkeye would follow Unica and Birdie the rest of the way but both of them would definitely be keeping their distance. Just what was Birdie upset about THIS time? It seemed like she was just getting mad for the sake of getting mad... but why? Did she need to see a therapist or something?
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Dec 16, 2020 18:09:38 GMT
∞ooc Sorry about the long wait, but thank you for your patience! The holiday season has kept me pretty busy. I hope to be more active after Christmas~
A therapist probably would have helped, but the first step of recovery was to acknowledge that one have a problem -- something that Birdie wouldn't do. Not now, not ever. She was always in the right. If someone did something or said something that frustrated her then that was their problem, not hers. The reason Birdie couldn't get stronger was because of Unica, for she held that power captive inside the digivice; the reason Birdie was wanted in the Eastern Timberlands was because of Dinohumon, not because she had killed someone out of malice; and the reason she was so irritable right now was because Unica kept getting distracted and the other tamer-Digimon pair were encouraging her, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was hungry. A less narcissistic individual would realize that all the issues stemmed from Birdie herself, but she had yet to develop the skills necessary to see that.
The group walked on in silence with Birdie leading the way, Unica racing to keep up, and Kaya and Hawkeye a few feet behind. There was a palpable tension in the air, something that no one dared question or disrupt for fear of inciting Birdie's wrath. At least she's not hurting anyone, Unica assured herself as she jogged a little in an attempt to catch up with her partner. As they passed by a coin-operated rocking horse, the young girl stared longing at it before turning her attention back to the Biyomon. "Birdie," she muttered while stepping beside the avian, "Can I ride the horses?" ...Silence. "I wanna ride the horses," she said, her tone a bit more stern.
Birdie eyed the child without turning her head. "Too bad," she huffed.
"Birdie!" Unica scolded, now glaring at the Biyomon.
This ruffled some feathers, but with a heavy sigh, Birdie was able to compose herself. "One thing at a time, alright? Food first."
Unica fell silent as she considered what she was being told. "Food first then horses!" she chimed, seemingly excited by this new plan.
"Sure, whatever," Birdie huffed.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Dec 27, 2020 0:56:57 GMT
It was lucky for the group that the food court would be fairly close by at this time. The delicious (and not so delicious) smells wafted through the air towards the group, which only got stronger the closer they got to the actual area. On the walk there, Unica started asking Birdie to ride the nearby rocking horse-like Digimon ride they had walked by. Kaya and Hawkeye tensed up, thinking that it was going to be another argument. Thankfully it was solved quickly, with Birdie reminding Unica that the group needed to eat.
Kaya couldn't help but smile at how well Birdie kept her cool there. She walked up to the Biyomon and whispered, "You handled that really well." She knew it wasn't gonna help, but it wouldn't hurt to compliment her, would it?
Finally, the food court. A section of the mall dedicated to food stands and restaurants, some Digital World-specific chains were present (if any existed, of course) but most were completely original restaurants. Digimon of all kinds were sitting, eating, chatting and walking around as well. It was a miracle how none were trying to fight each other over something stupid quite yet.
Now even Kaya could feel her own stomach start to rumble a bit, she didn't realize how hungry she was until now. So many options, she couldn't decide where to go! Maybe something like a simple ramen bowl would be good right now? There was a ramen bar just a bit farther down after all, run by a Veemon. There was also a Burgamon shop in the area as well, and way too many to name at this moment.
"Just as overwhelming as the last time I was here," Hawkmon commented. "I'm too famished to think too hard about what to get... shall we just get ramen, Kaya?"
"Ramen sounds good! What about you two, Unica and Birdie?"
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Post by Unica & Birdie on Jan 2, 2021 19:47:01 GMT
The smell of cooking meats and berries wafted in the air, drifting through the wide halls of the mall like a river flowing through a ravine. Even though the group could not yet see the food court, the scent alone proved they were headed in the right direction. The low rumble in Birdie's gut made her ever more irritable, and so when Unica asked about riding on the rocking horse, she had no patience. Fortunately, the conversation was brought to a quick end as they agreed to play after they got something to eat for lunch. Birdie had no intention of keeping up her end of the promise, however, for she was willing to say almost anything if it meant they could get food faster. It wasn't everyday someone was willing to pay for her to eat a fresh, hot meal!
Much to Birdie's surprise, Kaya stepped up to walk beside her and mused about how well she had handled the situation. After getting over the initial surprise of being snuck up on, Birdie shrugged and huffed. "Yeah, okay. Whatever," she grumbled, turning her attention to the food court which came into view as they walked up some steps. Though Birdie acted as if Kaya's compliment was nothing of import, and she seemed to shrug it off with little to no consideration, she actually took it to heart. What did she care what a human thought of her behavior?! She shouldn't have cared...
But she did.
Her heart fluttered a little at the recognition and her cheeks had grown a little warm. If she hadn't turned away from Kaya, the young tamer likely would have noticed that Birdie was blushing ever so slightly at the compliment. It was such a small, silly thing to get so proud about, but the Biyomon couldn't help the way it made her feel inside. She wasn't being ridiculed. She didn't need to defend herself with cruel words and violence. And yet, she was confused and skeptical of the way the compliment made her feel, which only served to raise her defenses and mentally prepare for the other shoe to drop.
Had hunger not been on the forefront of her mind, Birdie likely would have acted out in a negative way by accusing Kaya of trying to manipulate her with kindness. What a concept! Years of loneliness and sin had certainly taken its toll on Birdie and on the way she perceived the world. Hostility was an act of aggressive, and so too was kindness. Confuse the enemy with compliments, lower their defenses with promises of "friendship," then take advantage of the situation. Fortunately for everyone in the vicinity, Birdie opted not to tackle her conflicting emotions and chose instead to focus on filling her belly.
Kaya and Hawkeye decided to go for ramen, but the other young tamer had something else in mind. "Pretzels and ice cream!" Unica exclaimed, having made up her mind on the matter long before they had even arrived at the food court. Any responsible adult would have informed the young girl that she needed to have more than junk food for lunch, but it seemed Birdie was no such individual, for she ignored what her tamer said and instead silently looked around at all the available booth stalls. There was a lot of Japanese cuisine and meat-based products for sale, none of which really jumped out to Birdie as too terribly appetizing. She wasn't big on meat; to her, a perfect meal was something entirely vegetarian.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she was in no position to be picky. Free food was free food, after all. "Yeah, ramen sounds good," Birdie said, talking over Unica's complaints that she wanted pretzels instead.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Jan 14, 2021 21:28:16 GMT
Despite what Birdie wanted others to think at that moment, Kaya knew that her compliment to Birdie got through to her. If it didn't, the Biyomon would probably have just snapped at her like she did all those other times. The human watched as Birdie walked up the steps to the food court, a small smile on her face. It wouldn't be long before Hawkeye walked up to her, standing beside his partner.
"Birdie is a complex character," Hawkeye said. "It's easy for others to think of her as a villain, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but maybe she isn't all that bad," Kaya suggested, not looking away from Birdie as she faded from view. "You weren't exactly the nicest Digimon either when we met. It took you almost a year to even tell me about Eizo, after all. Maybe she just has something that she hasn't shared with others yet."
The Hawkmon couldn't help but smile at that statement. "Just try not to force it out of her," Hawkeye reminded his partner as he too walked up the stairs. Despite no one seeing her, Kaya nodded and followed him.
Joining up with Unica and Birdie, Kaya and Hawkeye weren't too keen on Unica's idea of getting pretzels and ice cream for lunch. Both were good snacks, but not exactly healthy... or even filling. Birdie was more reasonable in this scenario, agreeing with the notion of going for ramen, and sparking more complaints from Unica in the process. Looking over at the Veemon who was running the ramen bar, Kaya had an idea. She kneeled down to Unica's level and spoke to her. "Wouldn't you rather be served food by that cute blue dragon over there? I'm sure he'd be happy to talk as we ate!"
Hopefully that worked, otherwise Unica was gonna have to be dragged over to the ramen bar. Kaya and Hawkeye would seat themselves at the counter where the Veemon was working, who was wearing a white button-down shirt and a black apron. He smiled at the group as they walked in. "Welcome welcome, my dear friends! What can I getcha hungry Digimon- and humans- today?"
"I will take a bowl of shio ramen, please."
"And miso ramen for me!"
"One miso and one shio, alrighty," the energetic Veemon said as he wrote down the orders on his notebook. He looked over at Unica and Birdie next. "And for you two ladies today?"
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