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A Wonderful Time of the Year (Closed)
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Dec 21, 2021 4:10:40 GMT
Kaya, Hawkeye, Yuji and Kazuo all just sweatdropped as they watched the "talk" scene between Zack, Mandrake and Marigold occur. Zack was very clear that he wanted to go by human-year ages before giving Marigold the talk about human puberty apparently, even though that wouldn't help in the slightest. "Almost nothing about how our 'talk' works applies to Digimon anyways," Kaya said. "We'd just be grossing her out for nothing."
"As someone who was in Kaya's Digivice when she received the talk... I agree, Marigold is best not finding out ever," Hawkeye responded.
Meanwhile, Mandrake would show Yuji and Kazuo pictures of Kshin, both in holosuit form and in Digimon form just in case. "Yeah, that's the Kshin we met alright," Yuji said with a nod. "And you were right, he was there with a Grace as well."
"He was friends with the Vorvomon Yuyu brought up!"
And with that all mostly wrapped up, it was time to split up into individual groups! Group A was Kaya, Kazuo, Lothar, Lilly and Marigold. Lothar was simply tagging along behind Kaya and Kazuo as the two of them talked about whatever, with the little baby Digimon in Lothar's bag. "Alright, so I need to get gifts for certain people... I think I know where I can find everything. Lothar, do you have any particular places you need to stop at?"
"I wanna get Yuyu something special this year, with it being our first Christmas," Kazuo said. "Maybe something that would remind him of his mom... or something nerdy... which one sounds more genuine?"
"Hm... I don't think he seems to be the type to care about what his gift is, just as long as it's genuine... if that makes sense. Any thoughts, Lothar?" Group B was Yuji, Hawkeye, Zack and Mandrake. The tension was high between Yuji and Hawkeye, as it seemed like there was just something that one didn't like about the other and vice versa. The vibe would definitely be noticeable to Zack and Mandrake, but would they do anything about it? Was there some sort of event that was making the two of them act this way?
Zack suggested stopping by the fabric store first, wanting to knock out a large chunk of Marigold's list first. "As long as we're quick, since I don't have anything that I need from there," Yuji said.
"Agreed," Hawkeye responded. He and Yuji would then glance at each other before both their faces scrunched up and they looked away. It was a clear sign that they REALLY didn't like each other all that much.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Dec 21, 2021 5:56:14 GMT
"Fair enough, Kaya. Yet in this age of information strange knowledge is easily accessible. Chances are Marigold will learn the information on her own through either internet or biology books in a library." Mandrake said shaking his head at how strange humans were in that regard compared to digimon.
Then when Yuji and Kazuo confirmed that they recognized his son through the pictures he showed them he put them away before he said "It's good to hear that Kshin is doing so well since he left on his own. Makes me wonder how he is doing regarding learning new magic tricks."
"I'm wondering if he or Grace have digivolved to their champion forms yet but seeing how young they are they might not be ready to do so yet." Lothar said not paying much attention as the pictures were returned to his bag as Mandrake stepped closer to him before he left with Yuji, Hawkeye, and Zack.
Mandrake glanced at Zack with his mischievous smirk not fading at the look he received from the superhero. "Relax Zack I was just teasing you. Seeing as you have done the same for me I figured turn a bout was fair play. How do you humans say it? I think it went something like Don't dish it out if you can't take it." Mandrake said as he noticed how awkward things still were with both Yuji and Hawkeye. Deciding to say something regarding this, he asked "Yuji. Hawkeye. By any chance do you two happen to dislike each other? You two have been walking with each other with this uncomfortable air about you."
Zack mentioned having to go to the fabric store seeming to be trying to mess with Mandrake once again but the crafty magician wouldn't easily rise to the bait as he chuckled before he said "Knitting is not one of the talents I have picked up in my travels but it wouldn't hurt to have a quick look around. I might find something."
It seemed Hawkeye was in agreement but Mandrake noticed the look the two of them were giving each other making him wonder why but the trick was how to ask them what happened without coming off as intrusive.
Lothar listened to Kaya and Kazuo as they talked about where to go and what to get before he said "I was thinking since Kshin is trying to be a stage magician to get him things for that interest but as for Grace, that is where I feel lost. I know she loves photography but she already has her own camera. Maybe one of you might have some ideas."
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Post by supesman on Dec 21, 2021 14:43:34 GMT
"Yea, seems like you two need to talk about something. It not good to let bad blood simmer. You...never know how much time you have left to bury that hatchet, you know?" Zack said, a flicker of darkness across his facial expression as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He couldn't let Psych keep haunting him, not that way at any rate. If he let it bring him down at this wonderful time of year then the only outcome was the memory becoming an anchor tied around his throat. He took a deep breath, putting on the same smile as always, faking it for a moment before it settled back into its familiar groove. "Sometimes whatever is making you so upset can be solved just by putting it out in the open. It'd probably work better than you two glaring at one another like middle school girls."
"We need to go to a bookstore or a comic shop." Marigold said, her voice coming, sweet, high and only slightly muffled from the inside of the bag as she walked with Lothar and the rest of the crew. "My dad is a simple man, well, yknow, simple enough that I know what he wants. Some big, hardcover comic collection like all the other ones he has." She said. Lothar, the only one in the group who was familiar with Zack's strange extracurricular activities would be able to instantly understand how far outward Zack's love of cape and costume characters had grown. His love for them was like most other thing with Zack, worn openly and on his sleeve. The man didn't know how to hide much of anything about himself.
"Eh, she has to find out sometime. I just prefer that she be at an age where a human child would be ready. I know it might be strange to you Mandrake or most other folks but I do my best to treat her like a normal child. We read together, we watch TV together. I go through a lot of the hoops of a first time parent, god only knows I do with how many pictures I take whenever she so much as sneezes in my general direction. He said, chuckling and rubbing his face knowing that he was hopelessly held by the trappings of parenting. Even with such a strange child and an even stranger parent such as he he couldn't escape the emotional and literal mundanities that came with being a parent, whether she was a glistening golden bee monster or a flesh and blood human girl there was no doubt he would treat her the same way.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Jan 7, 2022 19:41:00 GMT
"I have a feeling that Zack enabled the 'children's mode' on every single device he has," Hawkeye said, responding to Mandrake's take on Marigold just finding out that info on her own through the internet.
As Group A walked and decided on where to go, Lothar mentioned how he wanted to get a stage magician set for Kshin, and that Grace loved photography but had her own camera already. "Hm... how about things like a tri-pod, or a flash drive to store pictures? We could check one of the tech stores for that stuff!"
And then Marigold said that she wanted to go to a bookstore or a comic book shop, as her "father" was a simple man. "Oh yeah, I can get Yuji some manga he wants for Christmas. The bookstore sounds good!" Kazuo concluded. He was curious about getting closer with the one inside Lothar's bag, the little bug Digimon known as Marigold. She definitely sounded adorable just based off of her voice.
"As for myself, I was thinking of getting Hawkeye a book of dessert recipes... sounds like we can stop at the bookstore first!" Kaya said with a smile. "I even know the way there. Follow me, everyone!" And if everyone was in agreement, the bookstore is where the group would head first during their part of their Christmas shopping trip.
Meanwhile, Mandrake and Zack would both realize that Yuji and Hawkeye really weren't getting along all that well. Mandrake simply went for it and just asked if they disliked each other. Yuji responded with, "Kind of hard to like someone who won't even give your partner the time of day."
"He has you for that, Yuji. The less I have to interact with that brainless bug, the better."
"Oh, screw off, you flying rat," Yuji snapped back. The two would then glare at each other even more, looking like those angry pupil-less characters you'd see in anime in the process. It was clear that conflicting thoughts towards Kazuo was the source of their hostility towards each other. Eventually Yuji would stop glaring at Hawkeye to focus more on Zack. "So, fabric store first, I suppose? One place I definitely need to stop at is the video store."
"The candle store for myself... Kaya's been wanting scented candles as of late."
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Jan 8, 2022 1:14:43 GMT
Mandrake began to softly chuckle at the thought of Zack enabling children's mode on all of his electronic devices though Mandrake didn't think such was necessary as Marigold seemed to come off as an intelligent child. Perhaps the thought of the digimon equivalent of the talk scared Zack more than disturbed him. Sure it was less messed up than the human equivalent, which made Mandrake shudder at the thought of it, but it was no big deal to a digimon in the grand scheme of things.
As for the uncomfortable tension between Yuji and Hawkeye it was getting pretty bad before the two started insulting each other. Deciding he had enough of the childish behavior he stepped in between human and digimon and, in a stern parental tone, said "Stop this nonsense right now. You two are acting more immature than some human children. I don't care what issues you two may have but surely you two can tolerate one another for the sake of your partners." Now how would the group respond to Mandrake putting his foot down? Other than the issues the group had a plan on where to go. Maybe Mandrake could find gifts for LJ and Lilly while in those stores.
Meanwhile in Group A, Lothar listened as Kaya suggested things for cameras like a tri-pod or a flash drive and Lothar said "As much as Grace loves photography a flash drive would allow her to store more photos so she would be happy with that." Lothar continued to follow the group more chatty than what he started sure but still only speaking up when needed.
Meanwhile Lilly was snuggling with the iguana plushie while in the bag with Marigold seemingly oblivious to the discussion regarding places to go for gifts but who knew just what baby digimon were aware of even as young as she was.
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Post by supesman on Jan 8, 2022 15:41:50 GMT
"Manga's cool. My dad's a true blue, died in the wool, four color funny book lover though. Avengers, Justice League, X-Men. Everyone knows the type by reputation if not directly." Marigold said, peaking her head out from where she was perched inside the bag, only looking out with one eye and one of her tiny antennae sticking out. Neither her nor her father were embarrassed by his interest. They had plenty else to feel embarrassed by in their shared actions, might as well pick something that mattered.
"Parental controls? Even if I did use those she'd get around them if I left her alone with the computer for ten seconds. It's hard when your kid is smarter then you, is my point." He said, stopping in his tracks as Mandrake laid down the law. Zack also paused, crossing his arms and looking toward the bickering pair, tapping his foot to one side. Dad solidarity as they both gave the pair "I'm not mad, just disappointed" glares, something that they both would have gotten good at by now. Two different beams of frowning dad energy being pointed at the arguing pair until they wised up.
Very few things could handle that much concentrated dad in one place so once the pair had decided that they would be civil for the moment and either leave the bickering for another day or at least keep it under the surface while they were in public the pair continued on toward the fabric store.
"I won't be long. I'm not exactly good with fabrics but I have her list to Santamon." He said, producing a little hand written note from his pocket and examining it closely. He had altered the story of Saint Nick for Marigold's benefit it seemed, allowing her to believe in a digimon Santa Claus rather than the less representative human figure he had grown up with.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Feb 7, 2022 4:36:18 GMT
Group A Alright, so Lothar agreed with Kaya's flash drive suggestion. It made the young teen feel good knowing that one of her suggestions was helpful! "Perfecto! Like I said, we can just check out one of the technology stores around here after hitting the bookstore, and you can pick one of those up for Grace. Never knew a Digimon who was interested in photography, actually..."
"Not many Digimon are into manga and anime like me," Kazuo said. "Yuyu and I get along so well because we have the same interests. I never really clicked with anyone as well as him... but you're cool too, Kaya." The talk about manga had Marigold bring up how her dad was true-blue superhero fan. "Superheroes? Like the Super Sentais or Kamen Rider? I like them! They transform like Digimon do into cool outfits! Do you like them too, Marigold?"
"My friend Adrian likes superheroes," Kaya said. "I dressed up as Harley Quinn for Halloween one year as a kid. The year after that first Suicide Squad movie came out... before I met Hawkeye, of course. I don't know how he would've reacted to seeing me in that costume."
It wouldn't take much longer after that for Group A to reach the bookstore. It was fairly typical of what one would expect from a mall bookstore, nothing too special. Now it was up for the others to search for the kind of books they were looking for! Group B Things weren't going much better for Group B, courtesy of Yuji and Hawkeye revealing that the two of them had some pretty intense issues with each other. Both Zack and Mandrake had to step in with their angry dad auras, with the latter scolding the two of them for being so immature. Of course, that didn't exactly work out the way they were hoping.
"Playing nice with him?" Yuji asked, referring to Hawkeye as if he were some sort of gross stain or a disease. "Maybe once he starts treating Kazuo with at least a little bit of decency then I would think about it."
"You clearly don't know what he was like when he was living with us," Hawkeye snapped back at Yuji. "Thank goodness he found a partner who could actually tolerate him."
"Why does Kaya adore you so much, again? You're nothing but a pain in the ass."
When the group arrived at the fabric store, Yuji and Hawkeye both choose to wait outside while Zack did his own shopping. While the two of them weren't bickering, they definitely weren't giving each other any eye contact either. In fact, they both looked like they were trying their hardest to ignore that the other was even there.
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 7, 2022 6:35:28 GMT
Things in group A seemed to be going well as Lilly softly giggled from within Lothar's bag enjoying the happy feelings she could feel coming not just off the group but everyone else near them. Lothar smiled as he said "It isn't uncommon for digimon to be into similar hobbies as humans. Though to be honest, Grace is the first digimon I've met that has been into photography. Maybe it isn't a common hobby in the Digital World."Lothar didn't really know much about manga and anime like Kazuo did nor did he know all that much about superheroes but he listened to the animated conversation not knowing how to contribute. Human fiction seemed quite intriguing making him consider looking into possibly getting maybe a comic book for Kshin.
Upon reaching the bookstore Lothar began looking at the various shelves mostly in curiosity before casually browsing some superhero comics. There sure were many which he supposed made sense.
Meanwhile with group B Mandrake had resorted to taking a deep breath to stay calm as dealing with Yuji and Hawkeye was beginning to get frustrating. Upon reaching the fabric store at least the bickering ceased which was a relief as the last thing Mandrake wanted was a migraine. Deciding to browse himself Mandrake entered the fabric store looking at some of the different fabrics with some smaller pieces similar to his scarf catching his attention so he began looking at them wondering if Lilly would like such a thing since the things she's liked the most at that point was her iguana plush and the flowers that shared her namesake.
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Post by supesman on Feb 7, 2022 14:48:41 GMT
"Mmm that one...and that one...and that one. And that's the BIG one this year." She said, Marigold's eyes skimming over the comic shelves one time each, she didn't need to double check what her father wanted because she already knew. Three trade paperbacks of storylines her father had wanted to checkout and one big, fat reference book with profiles and condensed histories of an entire staple of heroes. "Oh yea! Henshin heroes are the best! Especially Kamen Rider. I mean, they're badass bug people I'm a badass bug person. I wouldn't say I'm a Kamen Rider per se...Oh, if you're interested Lothar, try that one." She said, pointing out a trade of classic Mandrake the Magician stories, grinning half sarcastically and half genuinely. Sure it was a "joke" but she A. already knew that Lothar liked Mandrake the Magician, in a sense and B. she just was always excited to be able to share her hobbies with people who weren't her equally enthusiastic father.
"Hmm, would buying the two stooges out there friendship bracelets make the situation better or worse?" Zack idly asked marigold, a reusable bag already full to the brim with enough sewing supplies to last Marigold...about a month in his estimation. but the look on her face would be worth the cost. he was browsing the small batch of woven friendship bracelets. There were no specialized names on the bands, just little kanji jotted platitudes about love and friendship, in other words, exactly the kind of brightly colored and cheesy accessory that Zack liked. He was keeping on eye on the duo, a fist fight in the mall this close to the holidays wasn't uncommon, he just didn't want to be the party involved.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Feb 9, 2022 3:57:44 GMT
Group A "I know Hawkeye is into reading, archery and baking," Kaya said, since the topic of Digimon with hobbies had been brought up. "He really hasn't been able to bake much since my family is usually always home, and they don't exactly... know about him yet. And I don't know if telling them would make it better or worse."
"Yuyu has that same problem too," Kazuo responded. "It doesn't help that his dad is really scary..." The Tentomon would then be distracted from that by his conversation with Marigold about Henshin heroes. "I become a badass bug person sometimes... I mean, I'm always a bug, but sometimes I can become a cool action hero guy, too! It only happens when bad guys are around, though..."
Now that they were at the bookstore, the group could split off and search for their desired items. Kazuo was scanning the manga shelves rather than the comic book shelves, grabbing a couple that he knew Yuji wanted and resisting the urge to grab ones that he himself was interested in. Look at the little anime buggo, being all responsible!
Kaya, meanwhile, was skimming through the cookbooks. She wanted to get one focus solely on desserts, since that's what Hawkeye liked baking the most. The bird knew how to cook actual food too, but he didn't enjoy it as much as he enjoyed making baked sweets. "Ah, here's a good one," she said to herself, grabbing a Japanese dessert cookbook. "Hm... maybe I can search through fiction really quick, too." Group B It was clear that Zack and Mandrake were getting really tired of Yuji and Hawkeye's bickering, as both decided to enter the fabric store than stay with, as Zack seemed to dub them, "the two stooges." Thankfully neither of them heard Zack say that, as both would take great offense to the nickname.
For now, though, the two of them were just silently waiting outside for Zack and Mandrake to be finished. If Zack were to buy those friendship bracelets, then it was going to take a lot of luck and effort to put them both on Yuji and Hawkeye!
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 9, 2022 7:33:40 GMT
Group A-
While everyone was looking around the bookstore talking about various interests Marigold pointed out a comic that made Lothar chuckle. Apparently there was a superhero called Mandrake the Magician so he planned on telling Mandrake about it later. Shaking his head he continued looking around seeing other comics about magicians as well one in particular catching his attention and he picked it up. It was one about a magician named Zatanna. Maybe Kshin would like this comic. It didn't hurt to give it a shot after all.
Group B-
Mandrake continued looking at the scarves with their various patterns when Zack mentioned the friendship bracelets. Not looking in Zack's direction Mandrake said "It appears those two have their own issues without the possibility of such a gift, well meaning joke or not, adding more fuel to the fire. Maybe they'll work things out with each other in their own time." Then Mandrake spotted some scarves with several kinds of lilies embroidered on them. The fabric itself came in several colors too.
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Post by supesman on Feb 9, 2022 14:36:49 GMT
Marigold really tilted her head at the idea of the other digimon living in houses with their parents' parents and families...without them knowing about it somehow? it didn't seem to be the logistics of keeping them hidden that bothered her though.
"Why would you not want your grandparents to know about you?" She said, speaking from the unique perspective that Zack's "all in" nature on being her father had granted her. Not only did his parents KNOW about her, they adored her. "My grammie lives all the way across the world. if I could live with her I would want to make the most of that every day." She was being naïve obviously. it was more complicated than that but she was striking on the fact that it wasn't good to keep those kinds of secrets from the people you love and who love you. "And oh yea, Lothar, Zatanna's totally awesome. That series was written by Paul Dini. Total legend and he LOVES writing Zatanna. he's married to a real life stage magician so he has a vested interest in making Zatanna look good. Eh? Eh?" She said, making a pantomiming gesture with her arm of elbowing him in the ribs, the grin on her face as she made the intentionally cheesy attempt at humor. --- "Hmpm...you should know me enough by now Mandrake to know it's not in my nature to leave well enough alone." he said, walking up to the counter with the boatload of sewing supplies under his arms and also the pair of colorful friendship bracelets. He walked out with a beg in each hand, setting them down and tossing one bracelet to Yuji and the other to Hawkeye. "Alright boys, enough is enough. It appears you two need to have the nature of the beast laid out for you. So why don't you tell us what the HELL your problems are?" he said, very much putting his fatherly foot down as he crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot slightly toward the two.
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Post by Kaya Matsui and Hawkeye on Mar 7, 2022 4:44:07 GMT
Group A When asked why Kaya and Kazuo didn't want the Digimon to be discovered by their families, both had pretty good reasons for why they don't. "I'm afraid of how they'll react to Hawkeye, to be honest. I want him to live with me, and I feel like my parents would make me get rid of him out of fear. Besides, we have a system that works perfectly fine, and I don't wanna ruin it."
"Yuyu's dad is really scary and I don't like him. If he doesn't know I'm there, I won't be yelled at by him."
Kazuo's interest was piqued when he heard Marigold say she wanted to show Lothar something. With curiosity momentarily taking over the bug's mind, he decided to wander over and see what Marigold was referring to. It was a comic book called Mandrake the Magician. "I didn't know Mandrake was a superhero," Kazuo said with a gasp. "Yuyu and I know a wizard, his name's Weston. He has a buncha books that turn people into statues or punch them in the face. Have you ever met him, Marigold?"
Meanwhile, Kaya was still browsing the fiction section, looking for a book that Hawkeye could find interesting. "Hm... what kinda story would he be interested in... no, not that... definitely not that... okay, not even a grump like Hawkeye would like that..." Man, this is kind of tough! Group B It wouldn't take much longer for Zack to be done inside of the fabric store, though it seemed like Mandrake would still be shopping around for a bit longer. However, Zack had a bit of a nasty surprise for Yuji and Hawkeye when he came back out: a pair of matching friendship bracelets, one for each of them to wear.
"...you are kidding, correct?" Hawkeye asked, holding up his own bracelet in a confused manner.
It only got worse from there. Zack decided that now was the time to place his foot down, demanding that both Yuji and Hawkeye explain what their problems were. The answer to that should have been clear to Zack by this point: it all came down to Kazuo, and their conflicting stances on the little bug that were causing this divide between the two.
"Yeah, I'm not doing this," Yuji said, handing his bracelet back to Zack. "Stop trying to act like you're our father, alright? How we feel about each other is none of your business."
"Perhaps I should tell Kaya to reconsider next time she decided to put me in a group with you," Hawkeye said, glaring at Yuji. "It would prevent unnecessary headaches such as this. Now... video store or candle store next, hm?"
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Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Mar 7, 2022 5:48:27 GMT
Group A-
Lothar listened as the discussion regarding why some digimon hid themselves from the family of their partners with casual interest especially paying attention to Marigold's words as the naive little bee mentioned Zack's mother and knew that the woman saw her as her granddaughter. "Marigold, not all humans see their partners as their children nor are all humans so accepting of what is different from them." Lothar said well aware of how cruel both the Digital and Human Worlds could be in that regard.
Then Marigold talked about Zatanna and Lothar said "I think I'll get this and if Kshin likes it he can always come to buy more issues."
Kazuo had begun talking about how Yuji's dad was scary for him as well as the fact that Kaya seemed afraid of how her family would react to Hawkeye so he left well enough alone as this was not his place. Some humans just wouldn't react well to learning of sentient monsters around them and there wasn't much that could be done in that regard.
When Kazuo mentioned a wizard named Weston and the fact that he had books that could punch people and turn them into statues, Lothar shrugged before he said "This Weston guy reminds me of Mandrake's father, Theron. I wouldn't be surprised if he also had books like that among his magical artifacts seeing he is ancient."
While Kaya was browsing the fiction section Lothar went to pay for the comic he was holding and stood patiently in line his tall figure near impossible to lose even in a crowd.
Group B-
Meanwhile Mandrake had just finished paying for the scarves he was looking at and saw Zack coming at Yuji and Hawkeye with matching friendship bracelets and Mandrake couldn't help but facepalm at the sight as he didn't encourage Zack to do this. Walking up to Zack, Mandrake said "I knew such a thing would be a bad idea."
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Post by supesman on Mar 7, 2022 14:41:39 GMT
Marigold was more than a little crestfallen at the idea of the other digimon having to hide from the humans in their lives. Her chest tightened at the idea of having to hide from her grandmother when she was always so eager to see her. She only got to see her very rarely when Zack could make the time to fly back home.
"People are good if you give them a chance." Marigold said. One of those optimistic, perhaps naïve superhero-isms that anybody that knew the pair would know she got directly from Zack, pithy turns of phrase could be defined as his superpower. "I'm sure if you gave them a change, they'd love you just as much as your partners do. It's christmas after all. Shouldn't everybody be together on Christmas?" She said. Trying not to get misty eyed. She couldn't get the image of having to hide from her grandmother out of her mind and it was breaking her heart.
---
"Well evidently SOMEBODY needs to start acting like your fathers because you two are acting like brats. Bickering at one another all the time, what are you middle schoolers?" Zack said, not reaching out his hand to take the bracelet back and not backing down from the two as they tried to brush him off. "It's christmas. Kindness, charity and good will toward men, ever heard of it? So, you two can spend the rest of your lives boiling at one another which doesn't lose or gain me anything save for a few more grey hairs. OR you can give the people who care about you a wonderful present that costs nothing by quashing whatever thing this is between the two of you. Your choice." He said. He was a parent, a teacher in training and a superhero so he knew how to at least make his best attempt at empathetic authority most of the time.
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