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Ziggy Played Guitar [Dylan]
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Oct 10, 2021 1:27:43 GMT
Dylan had already halted his playing by the time Luke wisely had as well. The boy gawked at the wall through which sound was flowing with suspicion. The other singer was the last of all four people in the apartment to take the hint and cut. How- how on Earth is it possible for anyone, unamplified, from another room, to be able to belt over basically a full band? That thought made the boy's jaw drop a little.
When Dylan realized he hadn't answered the question quickly enough, he stalled with, "What'd you say?" while anxiously combing his hair back with one hand. "Sorry, that's, uh- that's my little brother." It didn't occur to Dylan that he never mentioned a brother while discussing siblings earlier. "I love him, really, but he doesn't always understand when I'm a bit busy right now." The slight raise of Dylan's voice at the end was the best he could do to communicate subtly with the person on the other side of the wall.
"Don't listen to him, guys. Hang on, I'm comin'."
"Shou-!" It wouldn't have been a good idea to say the digimon's exotic name out loud, so Dylan believed. "-Sean!" he then switched to cover his mistake. It didn't help. That preserved the illusion, if it was even still running, for no more than ten further seconds. That was the point when the music room door threw itself open. All eyes probably fell on the meter-high Shoutmon standing in the doorway with one hand on his hip, one hand grasping a chocolate brownie, and an indignant expression on his face. His jaw was also currently masticating, and the aforementioned brownie was only three-quarters remaining.
"Y'know, I'm offended," Shoutmon mused before taking another sizeable bite out of the brownie. "Truly insulted. That hurts, man. Words can hurt. Mmf, OK, that's really sweet." While the digimon went on about how awful he thought he was being treated, he did it through a full mouth with no apparent remorse. It was tasty enough to elicit some, "Mmm," and, "Aah," from Shoutmon even as he unconvincingly continued the narrative of feeling mistreated. "Any friend of Dylan's is a friend of... oh, yeah, that's the stuff." In the end, the sweet treat turned out to be much more compelling than any prior grudge.
"OK, OK, I can explain this," Dylan hastily interjected, "OK? Yes, there's a giant talking lizard in my apartment. Yes, he has sharp horns and walks on two legs. But here's the thing..." Dylan would blink rapidly and pause dramatically before finally improvising an explanation. He waved one of his hands in a mystical sort of way and explained to the brothers James that, "...This is all a dream."
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on Oct 10, 2021 7:56:07 GMT
So it seemed the other person singing was Dylan’s little brother Sean. “Ah, okay.” Colin nodded with understanding at Dylan’s discomfort. He had learned a while ago that his elder sister Sophie got very annoyed when he interrupted her time with her friends, and supposed that this was a similar situation.
Then the door opened, and a Shoutmon appeared at the door. Colin, Luke and Bellamy blinked and paused for a little while as they looked at him. The Shoutmon casually walked over to the brownies and helped himself to them.
Dylan seemed to be very distressed by all this. His excuse that this was all a dream almost made Colin want to humour that blatant lie. But he knew it probably wouldn’t be for the best. Instead, Colin decided the best route would be a gentle exchange of understanding. He gave stern looks at Luke and Bellamy to indicate for them to follow his lead, then he made his reaction to the situation.
“Ohey, cool, you have a digimon partner.” Colin said, smiling, as though this wasn’t such an immensely big deal, reacting as though Dylan had nothing more than a rare pokemon card. “It’s okay, you don’t have to worry, I’m familiar with digimon too, I know that this is something you’d try to keep discreet.”
With those words, Luke and Bellamy knew they’d better play along. “Yeah, we are too.” Bellamy added, then turned to Shoutmon. “Heya, nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, it is.” Luke added. “So you were singing, right? I just wanted to say you sounded pretty good.”
Colin turned to Dylan, hoping that them reacting with pleasant surprise would be enough to get him out of panic mode. There was little left to do but see how he reacted to this exchange. Colin didn’t want Luke and Bellamy to reveal themselves as digimon just yet, he hoped for Dylan to relax a little before that.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Oct 10, 2021 23:30:31 GMT
"Someone who recognizes talent. I like you already." To Dylan, Shoutmon turned and addressed, "Relax, man. This is another part of the experience like I was telling you. The secret gets out eventually. The secret always gets out." He shrugged. "Just figured we'd skip to it this time, y'know? Oh! That reminds me. D'you know when your parents'll be home?"
"Dude!" Dylan whined at the suggestion. For as much as that thought irked him, Dylan could at least calm down about the people who were in the room getting wise. These guys were even already in on the secret. "Right, well, I'll skip the spiel begging for you to keep a secret, I guess," Dylan was able to say in a more even tone than the moment prior. "Startin' to feel like I was the last sucker to find out at this rate. Shoutmon, he's Bellamy, he's Luke, and that's Colin, some guys from school. Guys, that's Shoutmon, my friend from... where'd you say you're from again?"
"Don't think I said."
"Oh, yeah, that's right. So, I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" That was when Dylan reached into his back pocket and produced a palm-sized electronic device, which he held out in a flat hand for all the James brothers to see.
"Don't go judging me for it, by the way. I've seen this show before; the guy with the black McGuffin in those shows always goes evil."
While Dylan calmed himself, Shoutmon watched everyone in the room intently. He knew what Dylan didn't: he wasn't the only digital life form in this room. And he couldn't help but notice they didn't come right out with it either. Hmm, he silently considered, eyes flitting between the three of them. Accusing any of them yielded a 2/3 chance of being right. And yet on the other hand Shoutmon, as a digimon himself, understood why digimon wouldn't always be eager to introduce their real selves. That Tamer didn't mention anything about this. Shoutmon had originally barged in because he thought they knew and that Dylan knew. This complicated matters. In the end, he chose to preserve their privacy, at least for now.
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on Oct 17, 2021 11:03:32 GMT
Colin, Luke and Bellamy waited awkwardly for the best moment to join in this very uncomfortable sitaution. However, Colin thought the best way would be for Dylan and Shoutmon to figure out what their most comfortable stance at this time would be, so he decided to wait until they had finished their initial argument.
It passed quickly, and the trio looked back when Dylan revealed his digivice. Colin gave a nod and a smile, recognizing that it’d probably mean a lot if he revealed his own digivice in return, and he pulled it out of his pocket – his D-Arc, colored purple, red and white, just like his partners.
Dylan mentioned that he suspected that black meant evil, but Colin thought that given that they were both in on this digimon thing that he should say something helpful and supportive. “Actually, I think it’s different to the usual evil trope.” he said. “Black can mean mystery, power, elegance. That could be the key to your digivice.”
Given that they had both shown each others’ status as tamers, Colin thought he’d best be honest with his new friend as to which of them were digimon here. “Luke, Bells, might be appropriate to switch off your holosuits here.” he said.
Luke and Bellamy agreed. They put down their musical instruments first, then powered down their holosuits, revealing their true forms as an Elecmon and Impmon.
“Heya… don’t think we can make this any less awkward, so just giving a greeting…” Luke said, waving a paw hesitantly.
Given that Bellamy was only in on all this to attend school to protect Colin, rather than go through all the hoops to live a life in the human world, he was less chalant about keeping up the pretense. “So yeah, looks like we’re all digimon and partners here.” he summarized. “Key question though, what do we make of it?”
“For the moment, I’m happy to agree that we say nothing to anyone else and hold this moment to talk about how both of us can go about this with most privacy and safety.” Colin admitted.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Nov 4, 2021 2:25:02 GMT
"OK, hang on. Hold the phone," Dylan began to interject. "I thought they were-" His eyes flashed in the twins' direction. "-and you were-" That was directed at Colin. Ultimately, instead of explaining himself, Dylan just found himself breaking out into an anxious chuckle and combing through his hair with the fingers on one of his hand. He had to admit to himself, for all the surprises and the awkwardness, the irony was a little funny. "Uh, y'know what? Nevermind. What'd you say?"
"'Privacy and safety,'" Shoutmon helpfully reminded.
"Yeah, that thing. Not really seeing a safety issue here, unless this was all a ruse to rob the place," the boy segued with a little dark humor, it helping calm himself if no one else. "Right, so-" He clapped his hands once. "I get why you did what you did. You get why I did what I did, I'm sure. I still got this feeling of, like, being deceived about the whole thing, y'know? I mean, I know- I know it's not like you're trying to pull one over on me or anything. Right? Digimon gotta do what they gotta do. So do their humans. I'm rambling." Dylan disengaged eye contact to let himself take a breath.
"I'm assuming we're all here because we really just wanted to play music without thinking about all this digimon stuff, so-"
"Uuuuuuuugh, you're so over-complicating this." Shoutmon made himself the center of attention by setting a chair into the middle of the room and standing himself upon it. "He's not telling anyone." Shoutmon gestured at Dylan. "-They're not telling anyone." The red digimon gestured at the all James. "So everyone can just go back to being friends. Cool?"
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on Nov 30, 2021 9:23:50 GMT
There was a small silence as Colin, Luke and Bellamy blinked at the fact that Dylan thought Colin was the digimon, and that Luke and Bellamy were the humans. Eventually Bellamy snorted with mirth and Luke giggled. Colin blushed and chuckled.
“Oh man! That shows how good we are at bein’ humans, eh, Colin?” Bellamy said through his laughter.
“Heh, well, what can I say? You two had to put the effort in.” Colin shrugged. He wasn’t really offended by this, he could see how it was funny.
They listened as Dylan and Shoutmon reasoned with what to do next. Luke spoke up first in agreement. “Yeah, we’re just a group of guys and digimon, and we do actually want to learn how to play music together. So I’m all in for that agreement.”
“Yeah, same… obviously we can’t show ourselves at school, but, after school I’m happy to hang out with another chosen who happens to be in our class.” Bellamy added.
“Well, that’s out of the way… do you feel like continuing, Dylan? If not, I’m happy to fill you in on what’s going on so far with people like us getting digimon… from what we know.” Colin offered.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Dec 8, 2021 14:44:21 GMT
"Uh, one last thing first," Dylan had to hammer down, "Hopefully it goes without saying there's gonna be a 'don't get caught by my parents and neighbors' rule here- great job at that, by the way." That last facetious compliment was for Shoutmon, who nevertheless bowed with pride. "Not an insult to your disguises or anything! It's just if I get black bagged and disappeared, I'd rather it be his fault."
"You know it!" Shoutmon reached out with a fist, and since he hadn't come down from the chair he on which he was stood, it was at a much more convenient height for Dylan to bump it. This made Shoutmon flash a wide, sharp-tooth grin, at least until he put together what Dylan had just said about him. "...Wait a sec-"
"So, I know some things. But there are gaps." Dylan couldn't well sit with Shoutmon perching on his chair, but he could lean back on a wall. "I know you're all over, hiding in plain sight like Transformers or body snatchers." "You" was probably "digimon" in this case, since Dylan was looking at Bellamy during that sentence. "I know about the superpowers and the shapeshifting, some of it from Shoutmon and some of it from others. I know some special connection, wired through those little machines, is at the crux of it. What I don't have is any hows or whys."
Seeming to sense the mood and for once responding to it, Shoutmon let the energy fall as he slowly plopped himself down in the seat he stole. "That's always been the big mystery, hasn't it?" The giant lizard shrugged.
"I know sometimes crazy, dangerous stuff happens in this town 'cause of it all, and we're probably gonna get wrapped up in it again, but there's still no how or why there."
"Hey, no worries!" Shoutmon leaned over to push off Dylan's arm. "That's where I come in. Any more crazy slugs come at you, they gotta go through me."
This did cause Dylan to crack a small smile. "Look, I'm not- I get it. Sometimes life is crazy. It's weird, but I feel, like- ready for it, y'know? Seems kinda arrogant, but it's true. Took some thinking, but I am. It's just-" Dylan's expression at that point turned pleading. "You know any more than that? 'Cause like I said, what I'd really, really love is some hows and whys."
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on Dec 14, 2021 9:14:45 GMT
Colin, Luke and Bellamy accepted those terms of not getting caught by Dylan’s family. “Sure, that’s fine with us.” Colin answered. “And if it helps, my family’s pretty tolerant of digimon, so you’d be welcome to show up at our place as normal.” He paused and then added “Well, inside our apartment at least.”, realizing his neighbors might not be so willing to dismiss Shoutmon walking along the corridor to their front door.
Dylan then mentioned that he didn’t know the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of digimon, and Colin got the impression that he’d rather like to know any information they had. He pondered his answer to this, thanking that Luke and Bellamy remained silent for him to reply. Eventually he came up with an answer.
“Well, I’ve got no idea on the ‘why’ of it so far…” he began. “But I’ve got some theories on the ‘how’ of it. From what I know, digimon and the digital world are linked to our world through digital energy. In the past 30 years or so when the internet was created and made mainstream, and the world adjusted towards it, it’s increased exponentially. So it’s gotten to the point where these guys can show up in our world and become partners to some of us. I don’t know for what purpose though.”
The three of them were at least glad to see that Dylan and Shoutmon seemed to have something of a positive relationship. Even if Shoutmon had to remain hidden from his family, they seemed to be quite comfortable with each other to speak like this in front of them.
“Say, have you guys been to the digital world yet?” Colin asked, feeling a sudden whim. “It’s pretty easy to get there if you know how.”
If they had, it would be surprising to him. But if not, Colin felt like it might be a nice thing to do if he introduced Dylan to the world on the other side, show him some nice, minimally dangerous places such as Rosewood, Whitewater and Snowflake. Luke and Bellamy looked eager at the prospect too.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Apr 28, 2022 2:12:44 GMT
Dylan modestly smiled. He was glad and honored for the invitation to Colin's place some time, even if it was a little unspecific and informal. The boy was just relieved he was continuing to make a good enough impression. Heck, even better: the place was digimon-friendly.
Better still, this other boy had answers. Not coherent answers, no, nor even answers for the most pressing of Dylan's questions. But Colin conveyed a sort of knowledge and experience, at least compared to Dylan, that the latter found reassuring. Dylan leaned forward his seat and listened intently, making no disguise of hanging on every word.
So, had these guys been to the digital world like that?
"Sure!"
"No."
"It's only home for digimon, isn't it?" Shoutmon was visibly amused by what he sensed as naivete in the question. Oh, those silly humans. "I've been around a bit. Did that whole 'see the world' thing. Came here when I was done. Don't know what I was expecting, really, but y'know what?" Shoutmon rose to his feet and pat his human upon the back. "My main man Dylan's in it, and I think that makes it pretty sweet."
The young man took the praise humbly, showing some teeth but also lowering his gaze a little. "Thanks, man. Yeah, this guy keeps trying to get me in there, too, but it's like..." Dylan scoffed a little at the absurdity of the concept he was now trying to honestly articulate. "...you guys make it sound as easy as popping to Shinjuku and back. Like, I'm not gonna lie, I'm curious, and it sounds really cool. It's just every time one of you talks about the digital world, it's like- like I'm still waiting to hear the catch. Does that make sense?"
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on May 3, 2022 11:28:56 GMT
An interesting response. Shoutmon was familiar with the digital world, but Dylan wasn’t. It seemed that the red digimon had come to Earth afterward. And it sometimes happened. Colin knew others that had similar experiences. His sister’s partner Lantis had worked as a security guard in Terminus City for about 10 years before bonding with her and coming to the human world. And his own partners had hatched in the Village of Beginnings and had travelled to meet him upon his first arrival in the other world.
“Yeah, there’s things to like about both worlds.” Luke added. “Personally I like the human world a bit better, just it’s so… enriching, you know? I wake up in the morning, spend all my day learning about new things about this world and go to bed realizing I’ve barely scratched a layer of the surface of everything else there is to learn. Like music for instance.” he indicated the instruments around them. “I learn a new song and then I feel like wanting to learn a dozen more.”
“Heh, that’s a way of puttin’ it.” Bellamy said. “Eh, Luke likes learnin’, while I like livin’. And while I personally prefer doing that in the digital world, eh, I wouldn’t trade the ability to travel between both of ‘em for anything.”
Dylan then explained that yeah, he got that the digital world was a place to go, but he just didn’t get the catch to go there. And Colin could understand. He could hardly sell it about excitement and adventure, given how dangerous and possibly traumatic that could be. So he pondered his reply, practicing some chords he had learned beforehand on the guitar before settling on an answer, putting down the instrument.
“The digital world… it’s civilization, but with the limits of this world removed.” he began. “Like, we’re both American-born senior students in Japan. There’s only so much that we can achieve here – do well in school, graduate, do college or something and settle down into a job. But in the digital world, well, the opportunities open up massively. Most digimon respect humans and our abilities. We can teach them how to enrich their lives with knowledge and arts, help them achieve justice where there’s chaos, just do so much more than what we’re limited to here.”
Some of it wasn’t fun at all for Colin, some even downright traumatic, but over the years of being a Chosen, with Luke and Bellamy at his side, he had done so much to help the good people of the digital world to thrive that he wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Although, I understand how daunting it probably is… you know, going to a whole new world and such, just strolling through the closet to Narnia.” Colin continued. “Tell you what. If you feel like it, we can take a train to the digital world sometime and we can see its capital city. It’s honestly not much different to Tokyo, only, you know, with mostly these guys instead of humans.” he indicated Shoutmon, Luke and Bellamy. “Only if you want to of course. I’ll keep it an open offer.”
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on May 8, 2022 2:18:45 GMT
Dylan's mind immediately seized on an idea similar to that he'd just expressed, that of the digimon brothers expressing their opinions of the different dimensions they can visit as if it were real and possible to do that. Yes, the boy understood that it was real and possible, but he wasn't quite used to that fact. Apart from that, particularly interesting to him was that the brothers had different opinions from what Dylan would've expected as well as from each other. "I don't see why living and learning would be exclusive," was the only meaningful thing he had to add to that conversation. "Look - Colin," Dylan began, "Guys. I mean, that all sounds great. No lie. It sounds like a dream-come-true for some moron with a fantasy complex and delusions of being made for greater things than graduating and working nine-to-five for a living. The kind of person who thought a sense of purpose and the power of rock and roll were enough to make the world better." The young man trailed off and lowered his eyes enough that some of his hair draped over his face. As negative as he had sounded at first, the charade broke he used a hand to return that rogue section of hair back to its proper place. It gave away Dylan's mischievous half-grin and the quiet chuckle underneath it. "...eh, who are we kidding?" Though the question was asked with an air of resignation, it was also optimistic - the tone of someone who seemed to be just about to let themselves indulge in a guilty pleasure. "I am that moron."
At some point while Dylan was talking, Shoutmon had set himself up being the mic stand. As opposed to adjusting it for his own height, the red digimon seemed content to instead shimmy up it like a monkey instead. Just after Dylan had finished, he unabashedly boomed his voice through the room. "I - I HAVE BECOME, AND WHEN I'VE WON, WHEN I HAVE CONQUERED TIME AND SPACE, I WILL LIVE ON, AND YOU WILL REMEMBER, WHAT I'VE DONE!"
"Jesus!" Dylan recoiled from the volume jump. As the poor boy futilely massaged one ear, he nevertheless conceded, "What he said, I guess. Agh, man."
Even though Shoutmon did say, "Whoops. Sorry," his toothy smirk didn't look very apologetic.
"Yeah. Well," Dylan moved on to address the James brothers, "I'll take you up on that. You can't all just promise me a world where adventures are meaningful and dreams come true without showing it to me, now, can you?"
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on May 26, 2022 13:08:10 GMT
Colin, Luke and Bellamy paid attention to what Dylan had to say. At first he seemed sceptical, but then chuckled and pretty much said that he wanted in on their promise of adventure in the other world.
The trio were a bit startled when Shoutmon started singing, but they understood his lyrics to confirm what his partner had just agreed to.
“Yeah! That’s the spirit!” Bellamy cheered, “In this world you’re just one in seven billion. In the digital world though, you’re one of a chosen few.”
Following that, Dylan seemed to accept Colin’s offer of introduction to the digital world. The black-haired teen felt excited at this, to play the part of the person that had first introduced him to the digital world – Yuu and her partner Kyo. However, he forced himself to reign it in a little so he wouldn’t scare Dylan and Shoutmon off.
“Of course, I gotta prove something after saying all that, and I think I can.” Colin answered. He looked at his watch, it was probably getting a little late for a Wednesday, so he probably wouldn’t be able to make it tonight. But, there were only two days until the weekend after all. “Not tonight though, we have to be home in time for dinner soon. But, the weekend’s getting close, so, how about we make it then? Friday at 5, we could meet at Scramble Crossing, then we’ll show you how to get to the digital world and we’ll give you an introductory tour.”
He hoped such an arrangement would be fine with Dylan. Honestly, after saying what he had said so far, it’d be just downright cruel to not invite him on such a venture. And if they agreed to meet at Scramble Crossing, that’d hopefully be an acceptable neutral meeting place. At times it seemed like a tenth of Tokyo was there, and it should be fairly easy for Dylan to find them there.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Aug 8, 2022 22:26:14 GMT
"Shoot, man, I dunno if there's time to go and tour an entire world in one go," Dylan scoffed, "But sure, I can do the city on Friday. Doubt Mom and Dad would care long as I'm back before they go to bed. Probably won't need an excuse, I think; they'd just be happy to see me go out for once."
"Now you're talking." Shoutmon heartily approved. "It's Terminus, dude!" he enthusiastically proclaimed, as if that summed up the city's whole character. "It's in the name! The be-all-end-all spot that's got it all. You're a city kid. You'll be fine."
"I mean, the name sounds more like-" Dylan decided not to finish the thought this time. "Ah, nevermind. Dumb joke. Point is, sounds fun." In his head, Dylan was already making a mental list of questions such as, Do humans have to bring our own food? and, What's the protocol for spontaneous attacks from hordes of slime monsters? Tactfully, the boy decided these questions and more were more appropriate in a future text message. Having seen Colin check his watch a moment ago prompted Dylan to glance at his own, then frown. "I'm sorry guys. This whole thing kinda cut into your lesson time, didn't it?"
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Post by Colin, Luke & Bellamy on Aug 18, 2022 14:42:54 GMT
Colin listened as Dylan voiced his issues with the plan. But in the end he seemed interested and willing. And there was a crucial detail that he did not yet know. Luke was happy to fill him in on that.
“Another thing, time moves differently when you’re in the digital world.” he said. “One hour of the human world moves about the same speed as 7 hours in the digital world, so you could go to the digital world at like 6pm, spend 7 hours there, and when you return here it’d be only 7pm. It’s a very convenient phenomenon.”
After that, they let Dylan and Shoutmon discuss the details of their plan without interruption for a bit. Then after Colin looked at his watch, it seemed Dylan noticed. Colin at first wanted to make it not such a fuss, but supposed that it would be best to acknowledge that their time for their initial purpose was running out.
“Ah, that’s okay, it’s a pretty big conversation we had just now so I don’t mind.” Colin assured him. But of course he was keen on his initial purpose here, to learn how to play music. “Could you please drill me through the chords for the guitar?” Colin asked, returning the guitar into position. “It’s just I really struggle with changing a few of them, so I’d be grateful if we could go through them so I can practice better for next time.”
“We could jam along with you if you need to keep up a beat.” Bellamy said, remembering in his own musical training that it was great to play alongside others to get the hang of an instrument.
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Post by Dylan Loon and Shoutmon on Aug 19, 2022 21:37:47 GMT
Ah, great. Time travel. Yeah, that clears it all up. Dylan didn't dare let himself dwell on that; he just shook his head at the end of Luke's explanation. Heck, maybe I was wrong. A day might actually be enough to circumnavigate an entire world.
The ask to get back to a run-of-the-mill guitar lesson forced the boy to briefly laugh. It wasn't an absurdity on its own, but compared to the absurd circumstances around them a moment of mundanity stood out to him. Nevertheless, he agreed, "Yeah, sure. Basic chords coming up. Just warning you now: barre chords are gonna really, really suck until they don't." Having left off from the power chord, Dylan went onto true chords, how to play them, and the reason a power chord, in fact wasn't a chord. "So a major chord's 1-3-5 in the major scale. Make it minor, flat the 3 - one fret lower." Dylan had previously made the effort to print out a sheet of tab - shorthand notation for guitar - which charted out all the major and minor chord shapes.
Not to leave his brothers out, Dylan occasionally asked Colin to play chord progressions made of the chords he picked up quickest. Those would serve as the foundations off which the rest of some short jam sessions were built. Colin got to practice the progressions, and his brothers got to play with him. Everybody won. At some point Shoutmon plugged in a bass guitar, not to be left out himself. The instrument was far too big for a creature his size, so he got creative; he stood the body of the instrument on the floor and held its neck straight, playing the bass guitar as if it were an upright bass.
He could never resist inserting a bass solo wherever he could cram it in.
"I'm hoping you guys can help Colin with all this stuff when I'm not around," Dylan bade the other boys, "It's a lot, and if I tried to be totally self-taught, I would've given up and done anything else instead." Any time Dylan spoke to the digimon like they were just people, buds, he betrayed himself with a small tell of incredulity; all prior times he'd knowingly spoken with a digimon, there was immediate danger or an urgent objective. Now it felt a little fantastical that he could just shoot the breeze with them. One day I'll be able to talk to digimon like they're just normal people, Dylan determinedly decided, But I don't think I'll ever feel completely normal around them.
The feeling wasn't bad, however. Just strange, and on some level good. How many people out there even saw these creatures and knew it? How many of those same people saw one undisguised? Of that rare few, how many had the privelege to sit down and have a meaningful conversation of one? Out of that subset, how many got to experience an interdimensional jam session with some? Narrower still, were any of those people bonded through fate and circumstance to one of their own? I see what they mean already, Dylan concluded, One of a very special few. Maybe even one of a kind. Then he remembered Colin was in the room. Oh, right. At least two. Dylan resolved just then one day he'd have that true one-of-a-kind experience some day.
By the end of the lesson it was easy to tell Dylan had gotten a bit lost in his own head. His attention was divided, and one hand would frequently grope at his back pocket. "So... how's that?" he asked no one in particular, "Feel like you learned something?"
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