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Enigmatic Book of Mystery-Chapter 2(Armor Hunt)(OPEN)
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Apr 28, 2022 14:29:20 GMT
"See, Procopius. It's just like I told you. A secret is neat in principle but the best part of a mystery is finding out the trick." Ollie said, winking at Kshin. He didn't have a magician's heart, not in the technical sense anyway, he had no stomach for keeping secrets from his crowd. His drug was knowledge, understanding was his game of choice and he wanted to share as much knowledge as he had collected with as many people as possible, staring with his partner.
"Misdirection huh? So the trick of it is that he's making someone look at something that isn't important while his other hand is doing it, or he's just making his move while no one's paying attention to the moving parts." Procopius said, wondering out loud and talking his mind through the concept as he internalized it, putting Ollie's philosophies into action. He almost physically felt his brain expand as he finally wrapped his mind around at least the broad concept of prestidigitation, the tricks of the hands and the eye.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on Apr 28, 2022 22:27:28 GMT
"There is also one thing magicians in the Digital World tend to share with you, Ollie, and that would be the quest for more knowledge. I may not be the most interested in studying but I've picked up various things from being raised by a magician and the son of a pair of traveling merchants. If there is one way I'm like Mandrake and Lothar is that I like traveling around seeing different things. I also get the feeling you are the same in that regard." Kshin said with a smile after Ollie winked at him.
"Yeah and more experienced magician's are hard to suspect a thing, Procopius, since they have been doing magic longer and tend to be sneakier about it." Grace said her head throbbing again as she winced and softly rubbed it. She had a feeling she would have monstrous migraines all night and was glad she was able to brace herself for them.
"One issue I have been running into with some of my tricks is presentation. You know, keeping up a good act? As a result I have been bungling a few more complicated tricks. It could be stage fright or something else but I will figure it out eventually."
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Apr 29, 2022 13:51:30 GMT
"Knowledge is the best weapon we've ever been given to make our world a better place." Ollie said, smiling for a moment before having a moment of realization come across it that made him giggle a bit out loud. "Suppose I should amend that to "worlds" shouldn't I? My point still stands though. Ignorance is the root of hate, greed and apathy, by killing that ignorance, by spreading that knowledge as much as we can, uncovering as many things as might have been hidden from us before, we make a better world for those that come after." He said, running the fingers of one hand across the back of the notebook he was still scratching in. He also wanted to just leave something with his name on it behind but he didn't want to talk about that.
"Let me tell ya something about public speaking, kid. Don't think about it as public speaking. If you gotta talk to a big crowd, then focus on your point and you can almost imagine that the crowd isn't there at all." Procopius advised. it was some of the more mundane knowledge he had picked up as a neighborhood "head" where he had to get people on the same page more often than not.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on Apr 29, 2022 22:43:59 GMT
"That is true." Kshin said before he continued "Usually this lesson has to be taught by someones' parents or guardians but in your case, Ollie, you seemed to learn this lesson on your own. Humans and digimon that are fueled by such ignorance, greed, and apathy are ones I feel sad for but at least both you and I can help with younger digimon by sharing our knowledge, Ollie."
"Wow, Ollie. Kshin. Both of you are so smart for being so young. I mean I'm no dummy but to be outdone by those only slightly younger than me is impressive." Grace said with a giggle her throbbing head starting to calm again before she reached over towards Kshin's bag rooting around pulling out a first aid kit before digging in it finding her prize in the form of ground up pain relieving herbs. These were perfectly edible but bitter as was noticed by the face she was making while chewing it up while putting the first aid kit back.
"Fair enough. Just it isn't always as easy as some people make it look. I wonder if this is how all performers started." Kshin said with a chuckle as he tried to imagine a younger version of Mandrake trying master his magic.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on Apr 30, 2022 14:09:04 GMT
"That's how everyone started everything, Kshin. Nobody is born with the skills and talents that make them great, we have to work, we have to learn, it's part of who we are, part of what we are." Ollie said, still speaking in that way that showed he was thinking of Humans and Digimon of...of a single mind at the very least, even if there were differences in their "human condition" every Digimon he'd met so far that hadn't tried to eat him was human enough for it to apply.
"You're telling me, Grace. I'll tell you what, a roughneck like me having to follow around a brainiac like this. It's like putting down a candle in broad daylight, what the hell am I gonna do to compete with this?" Procopius said as he pointed softly to Ollie, gesturing to how outstripped he felt about the boy's intelligence. It was ironic that only seconds before he had shown exactly how he could "compete with that" because his advice about public speaking showed a level of knowledge and understanding that Ollie had never had: Social and emotional intelligence. It was hard for the little clawed beastie to see from his perspective though, the way Ollie seemed to suck up the facts and figures of everything around him as if he wasn't even working at it.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on May 1, 2022 0:34:53 GMT
"So true." Kshin said before he continued "Though, for example, even if a digimon inherits abilities from a parent they have to still practice them to master them." Kshin then began to think of some of Mandrake's inherited traits before he said "Sorta how Mandrake inherited the ability to see a few hours into the future from his mom if I remember right."
"Yeah but Ollie has book smarts. I don't see you as stupid at all, Procopius, since you have what humans call street smarts. That means you are a pretty smart roughneck. So the two of you balance each other out well in theory." Grace said before another thought came to mind as she then said "You also seem less socially awkward than Ollie though he is a nice guy."
"I get studying isn't for everyone. I'm an example of such but if it's a subject you love to learn about it comes a lot easier. I was decent in history which made sense given my birth family's jobs as treasure hunters. I just don't have the knack for ancient digimon languages that Mandrake does. Guess he was just real good with that subject as a kid." Kshin said ending with a shrug as he only knew like maybe two ancient languages and none of them fluently.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 1, 2022 14:36:54 GMT
"Yea...you have to learn from the people around you, I guess." Ollie said, looking away from the group for a moment and into the distance. He didn't want to discourage Kshin from talking about his parents, the last thing he would ever want to do was close off avenues of questioning because Kshin knew it would make him upset. He just couldn't help the pangs from inside of his heart when he saw other people with such rich family lives knowing that he had never had one like it and probably never would.
"Street smarts? Yea. Yea I guess so. Suppose there's worse things to be when you're following around the egghead than the guide right?" Tsumemon said with a smile reaching his one broad, orange eye as he rubbed his head up against Ollie's leg and brought the young man out of his own head, making him reach down and pat the little hand-claw digimon on the Head.
"One of your parents can see the future? That's...how does it work? Can he change what he sees depending upon action or is it a self fulfilling prophecy?" Ollie said, his mind instantly grasped by the idea of Mandrake being able to glance into the future a little bit at a time, the nature of observing the future being one of the great human thought experiments.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on May 1, 2022 22:55:19 GMT
Kshin noticed how Ollie was looking into the distance and Kshin felt like a jerk before looking at the ground. In his excitement he forgot that Ollie didn't have the benefit of parents to raise him which made the young Gumdramon detest Ollie's parents more for causing their son such pain. Looking up he faced Ollie before he said "Look, Ollie. I'm sorry if I made you upset. That was never my intention."
"Street smarts is quite a handy thing especially with a partner like Ollie who goes about following his curiosity. Sounds like he can be a handful." Grace said with a smile as Procopius seemed to silently request attention and found the behavior pretty cute.
"I'm not fully sure how that ability of Mandrake's works but I know that he can see a few hours into the future and never gets visions in battle. The visions he gets are rare though but maybe he can change what he sees. I don't know since I never asked. All I know is that he hasn't really had that many visions." Kshin said scratching his head feeling lost on how to explain such an ability of Mandrake's sure he could explain many of Mandrake's other abilities better but the Precognitive Vision was an anomaly all on its own.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 2, 2022 13:45:22 GMT
"Being able to see into the future isn't really Ollie's bag. He can run circles around anybody on the planet when it comes to seeing into the past though." Procopius said with no small amount of pride in his partner, even without the kind of academic frame of reference that would allow him to say something like that for certain, something in his gut told him that Ollie's academic dreams were something special.
"...thank you, Procopius." Ollie said, his guard totally dropped by that one little amount of support from his digimon partner. Very few people in his life were willing to just rase him up that way and he had to hold back a tear. he wiped his face and smiled at Kshin. "Don't apologize...appreciate. I don't want you to feel bad on my behalf just because you got lucky and I didn't If I could ask one thing of you, anything at all just...appreciate the luck that you have and the parents that you were granted, you know?" He said, asking Kshin more to count his blessings than anything else. It was often seeing someone who had to live without something you took for granted that caused people to stop taking that thing for granted in the first place. Ollie supposed that was worth the momentary pain.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on May 2, 2022 23:27:33 GMT
"The past can teach us a lot including what mistakes not to make in the future." Grace said as she looked in deep thought before she said "I think humans have a saying about if one does not learn from the mistakes of the past they are doomed to repeat it or something to that effect. I'm not exactly sure how the saying goes but I fully understand the gist of what it means."
"I know I should appreciate my luck but when I think that there are people who have it rougher than I it makes me sad. You are lucky in one big way, Ollie, and that is that you have a friend like Procopius who has your back which allows the both of you to explore the Digital World and learn a bunch. I can see why my birth family spent their time exploring and learning what they could even after I was born." Kshin said.
"You wanna know something cool? Kshin also knows a bit about sailing as his grandpa used to own a boat and taught him a bit about sailing. Cool, huh?" Grace said with her smile still spread across her face.
"Shame I don't own a boat though but if there is some treasure that needs a boat to reach I suppose I can rent one in the future."
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 3, 2022 14:52:37 GMT
"Lord knows we all have mistakes in our own pasts that we'd rather not repeat." Procopius said and shook his head. He had lived a rough life, done plenty of things that he wasn't proud of and now, even for all the headache it had given him he was considering still what to do with his fresh start. "Yea, I'm working up to taking Ollie here down to the coast. I tell him any of the stories I've heard about those spots and he'll be pulling on the scuba gear before I can stop him." Procopius warned. He had to be very judicious about which stories he chose to tell Ollie and when, the boy was very flighty and often took off toward new knowledge without thinking.
"Yes it's...I've been given a new lease of life, I suppose. Something to do that I really believe in. I've seen more wonderful things in my short time knowing Procopius than I probably would have during an entire earthbound lifetime." Ollie said, placing his hand on top of Procopius' head and rubbing it a little, scratching between the two ribbon thin antennae that the small hand-claw digimon has, which seemed to bring comfort to both human and digimon in turn. They were worlds apart and yet they complimented one another perfectly, a classical pairing of brain and brawn.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on May 3, 2022 22:05:21 GMT
"Procopius, that is a truer statement for some more than others. I know that all too well." Grace said her memories of killing a Dokugumon. Sure it was self defense but that didn't make it better given Kshin didn't enjoy the thought of killing others no matter how they wronged him. In some ways Kshin was stronger than she was and Grace admired her friend for his convictions. Then when hearing about Procopius planning to take Ollie down the coast Grace said "Ooo, the Southern Tropics are very pretty and the weather there tends to be nice. Not only that Whitewater is a city filled with lots of shops especially restaurants to eat at."
"In that way you are lucky, Ollie. Not many people human or digimon pick up a cause they believe in at an age as young as yours. At least you are more than willing to brave the dangers to document the history of the Digital World. Fortunately you have Procopius to help you out as well." Kshin said with a smile as history of the Digital World had always been a challenge to document especially because of the time differential between both the Human and Digital Worlds.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 4, 2022 14:36:01 GMT
"Yea, don't encourage him Kshin, next thing you know he's gonna get the bee in his bonnet that he wants to climb the tallest mountain in the land and talk to Yggdrasil personally. No. Seriously. I had to dissuade him from actually knocking on god's front door and asking him to fill out a census form." Procopius grouched. Evidently he had had to have a lot of...interesting conversations with Ollie in order to try and convince him to take it slow.
"I just think it would be perfectly polite to go and ask this Yggdrasil some basic questions." Ollie said, really showing how much he knew about the Digital World or rather how little he knew. many digimon didn't even believe Yggdrasil still existed let alone where to find "him" or how to ask the creator of the Digital World anything.
"And I told you that if anybody in the Digital World had a good way to ask Yggdrasil questions then there would be a line around the planet waiting to ask him." Procopius said, silently regretting the fact of the Digital World's "god's" existence having slipped out of him without thinking. He was being much more guarded with what he revealed now that he knew his partner better.
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Post by ricochet8-Kshin on May 4, 2022 23:16:40 GMT
Procopius' words made both Kshin and Grace snort before bursting out with laughter at the image of Ollie knocking on Yggdrasil's front door to interview the said god. Though the image was funny there were various reasons why this was a bad, bad idea. Soon Kshin and Grace calmed down before Kshin said "Yeah on so many levels knocking on the door of a reclusive god that can effortlessly smite not just you but the entire Digital World if annoyed enough is a bad idea no matter how funny the image of it is."
"Yeah. It probably is for the best that there is no practical way for the Digital World to bug the super computer that created the digimon. Though I wouldn't mind a small suggestion box if I were Yggdrasil. How bout you guys?" Grace said looking at the group.
"Okay now the idea of a suggestion box is also pretty funny but I wouldn't mind having one of those if I were a reclusive "god"." Kshin said trying to contain his snickers that were threatening to come out again. Though both Kshin and Grace could reach champion level they were both in fact still children and they didn't exactly conceal that.
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 5, 2022 13:58:16 GMT
"If there was a way to talk to Yggdrasil, even indirectly, everybody would be doing it all the god forsaken time." Procopius said, rolling his eyes at the idea of a suggestion box for the supercomputer that commanded the digital world.
"Well Procopius, humans pop things in the "suggestion box" for their gods all the time. It's called prayer." Ollie said and Procopius raised one of his finger claws to speak, taking in a breath and then...pausing for a long moment, furrowing his brow.
"Yea but that's different that's...I mean...I...hmm. Is that what humans do when they do that praying thing?" Procopius asked genuinely. Prayer was one of those human behaviors that he had observed but never really fully understood or questioned, like a lot of digimon did for a lot of things that humans seemed to take for granted.
"I mean calling it a "suggestion box" is a bit glib but functionally, yes. You ask whatever god you believe in for something good to happen or even just reassuring your belief and faith in them. There's lots of ways to do it but one of the ways is literally just to pray, get down on your knees, or sit down or fold your hands or whatever and talk to what looks like nobody in particular." Ollie said, silently delighting at the sparkle in Procopius' eye as he took it all in, new knowledge planted deep in the roots of his mind.
"Huh...well I guess I learned a thing today." Procopius said, while missing the fireworks display that seemed to come up behind Ollie's eyes and across his cheeks at the knowledge being shared.
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