[OPEN] There, by the Waterside

[givesalittlewhistle]

Who: givesalittlewhistle & OPEN
When: Mid-June IC/Beginning of April OOC
Where: Around the City
What: Part One: Hikari has her new Camera and wants to try it out | Part Two: weapons training (sort of)
Rating/Warning: (possible talks of fighting involving children)


I.

[If there was one positive thing about that last ViViD game she'd entered...it was that, combined with her school allowance and other savings, it put her at more than enough credits to buy the camera she wanted.]

[It was small. Easy enough to hold in her young hands, and light enough to carry around her neck on a string. Right next to her whistle, and atop the crest of light she kept beneath her shirt. It was also stylish, with a silver casing and even a little view screen in the back so that she could see the image she'd just captured without having to print it out first. Even better, thanks to the small card she was able to insert to add memory, she could take hundreds of pictures before having to delete any and make room for new ones!]

[It also meant she had plenty of leeway to experiment! Which is precisely why, for most of that particular morning, anyone might come across the eight-year-old girl wandering aimlessly around the city looking for things to shoot. She took pictures of the trees. The school. The shrine. The shops.]

[But...what she found she enjoyed most were taking pictures of the people. Especially when they barely had time to pose.]

Smile!

[Click]


II.

[The camera wasn't her only purchase, though this one had been a little more...spontaneous.]

[A glimpse in a window that inspired something she'd been wondering in the back of her mind for some time. Ever since that awful fighting game. She had come away from it mostly unscathed, yes, in no small part due to the fact that she'd reached for a weapon. Not a sword or bow and arrow or anything she could have hurt herself with, though. No, Hikari had reached for a long staff. And wielded it quite well for a novice.]

[Which was to say, she didn't smack herself in the face with it once. Success?]

[So, when she found a rubber training version of the same weapon with foam ends, it was like a sign. It didn't cost much, and when she first held it in her hands, it was even lighter than she remembered the wooden version being.]

[She took it to the park. Tailmon hovered as always, although this time on the ground. More than once, she swatted a little at the staff edges as they came near her, and it was only because of how soft they felt compared to most weapons that she wasn't more concerned. In fact, if anything, the little digimon looked proud of her partner for wanting to better defend herself though slight put out she hadn't opted for the bow and arrow.]

I just wish I knew more so that I could teach you myself.

[Hikari was currently practicing spinning it in her hands, getting used to the way the weight shifted and the center of balance followed its movement. She didn't dare turn her head until it stopped, and called out to Tailmon without taking her eyes away from her current task.]

It's okay. I can...probably...figure this out...by myself...

[Or until somebody else came along to help her.]

Comments

photobooom, I mean, 1.

[iseaghosts]

[ Sirena is no Lorna McNessie, so she isn't obsessed with appearing in other people's pictures. She does think about how Lorna would totally have snuck into this one if she could've.

She giggles. ]

Cheese!

[ Aren't you supposed to say that before the picture is taken? ]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Before, after.]

[Not expecting a different face than the one she had originally aimed at, Hikari gave a small jump as the flash went off, capturing the new image before her.]

Oh! Umm...hello?

[iseaghosts]

Hi!

[ Sirena floats up to her and shifts her body to float on her stomach to get a peek at the image. ]

Did it turn out ghoul?

II

[cresthopes]

[Once school was over, Takeru made sure to make his way toward the garden. Ever since he met with Neji and told him that he should train outside, he took his advice! As he started aiming his arrow toward a tree, he had to make sure that no one was around! (And he definitely didn't want to accidentally hurt someone again!)

While his arm was in slight pain from having to hold the bow for such a long period of time, he still pressured himself on! As he let go, he managed to hit the tree but just barely. As he mumbled a bit, that's when heard a familiar voice nearby?]

Hikari-chan? [He questioned before looking what he was holding!] Um...what are you doing?

[givesalittlewhistle]

[She had to wait for the staff to stop spinning before she could turn to look at him.]

Oh, Takeru-kun! I was just...

[Training, was what she was going to say. Until she noticed the item in his hands.]

What's that for?

[cresthopes]

Oh, you mean this?

[He said before pointing the bow and arrow in his hand]

It's my bow and arrow! I was training after Neiji-san told me to go out and train!

[Hey...wait a minute here!] You're weren't training too, were you?

I

[gentlestep]

[Hinata was on her way home from the park, having spent some time just enjoying the warmth. It was June and the weather was nice, so it made sense to enjoy it, right? Having a surprise picture being taken of her was startling, but it didn't upset her. She might not believe so, but it probably captured a very nice candid moment of her as she thought to herself of Naruto and what he might be doing if he was there. It had taken some time but she was finally coming out of the lingering sadness she had felt with his departure. He wouldn't want her to be sad forever and so she was trying to be upbeat, even if the worry still lingered.]

Ah-!! Hikari-chan.

[The camera flash had gotten her attention almost immediately, leaving her confused until she realized who was holding the camera. Having something like that suited her, she thought. What pictures had she already taken today? Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask?]

Are you practicing taking pictures?

[givesalittlewhistle]

[It had been a few days, at least, since she'd last seen Hinata. Much to Hikari's delight, she seemed to be in better spirits. She wasn't smiling in the picture, no, but Hikari much preferred the genuine surprise over forced happiness.]

Mmhmm! [And, in the spirit of fairness, she flipped the camera around so that Hinata could see the picture. In Hikari's opinion, it was really cute. A moment between having looked up at the sound of the younger girl's voice and the confusion at what was happening. Aware, but passively so. Almost serene.] Do you like it?

[gentlestep]

[Oh. Hikari was rather good at taking pictures! It was a bit embarrassing to be caught unware, though. She was a ninja, after all. Seeing the moment captured in such a way was definitely embarrassing and touching.]

I- well, if you do I'm glad! It's a nice picture... [She had an eye for photography, that much was clear.]

Have you been taking pictures all morning?

2

[sayonaradumbass]

[There aren't any cute girls to pick up here, not by the looks of it, but he's found something more interesting.

The longer he watches, the more he's certain the girl isn't going to hit herself in the head. There are also bigger things to worry about:]

Your cat just fucking talked!

[givesalittlewhistle]

[She wasn't in any danger of getting hurt, no, but she definitely dropped the entire staff on the ground at the sound of the shouting. Letting out a soft gasp, she turned so quickly around that she nearly joined it.]

[Tailmon's ears perked up, visibly frowning at the language, but she didn't stand. Yet.]

I...uh...

[Once her heart rate slowed a little, she remembered. Oh. Right. It didn't have to be a secret.]

...she's not a cat. Not a regular one. She's a digimon. They can talk.

[sayonaradumbass]

.....What's a digimon? She looks pretty stylish for..whatever it is these things are. Is that all she does?

[a little closer now, he kneels on his haunches to peer at Tailmon




please feel free to destroy him]

I (also I'M SORRY HINA)

[fingerbanged]

[See, Yusuke COULD be a decent person and give a nice smile when this small child winds up approaching him for an impromptu picture...

... or he can just be horrifying.

Yeah, let's go with horrifying.]

BLEEEEGHHH!

[Kids like dumb faces though, right????]

I (DON'T LIE YOU'RE NOT SORRY AT ALL LUNA)

[givesalittlewhistle]

[...]

[...okay, she giggled.]

You look funny!

[It wasn't an insult, though, since--she assumed--he meant to be funny. With a face like that.]

(YOU CAUGHT ME I REGRET ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THIS)

[fingerbanged]

[Oh good, she was laughing over it! Nice to know he still had the chops to make THAT happen.

He couldn't resist teasing her a little, though.]

Whaaaat? But this is my best smile!

[And he's going to tug his cheeks out further for more effect.]

i

[topscores]

H-Hey!!

[He totally was making a dumb face when she takes that picture, and now he just looks vaguely irritated.]

You didn't even get my good side!

[Does he have a good side--]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[...oops?]

[Hikari didn't really mean to irritate anybody. At the same time, she thought the picture came out great! A candid moment in which someone was caught off guard enough to show hints of their genuine self.]

I can take another one, if you like...?

I

[nostatus]

[ It's only been a little while since Shinpachi arrived here (again), but he's managed to settle in again.. more or less. It still all feels a little weird, but on the other hand, it doesn't feel like there's as much of a gap in time in his memory as there apparently was in this place, so he's doing relatively okay.

He's even tried picking up his work at the car shop again - the door is always open there, and he likes working out front in the fresh air, so it's easy enough for the girl to spot him and to take a picture.

It's not that Shinpachi doesn't hear the smile, but.. well, it's more just that he hears it while he's hanging half under a car, and the surprise startles him enough to make him move up too quickly..

.. and bump his head straight into the car hanging over him. ]

Ouch--!

[ Yeah, that photo probably turned out.. interesting.. ]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[It had seemed like such a cool picture, too! Somebody working on a car in the garage. She had bent down low enough that she could just barely make out the guy's face, lying beneath. From that angle, she had figured...he would probably just turn his head, and she would be able to catch him mid-surprise.]

[Except...]

Oh, dear! [A hand rose to her mouth, and to her credit, she looked genuinely upset that the poor man had gotten hurt.] ...are you okay?

ii!!

[bheidh]

( Staffs aren't Leliana's weapon of choice but when she sees the girl practicing with one it catches her eye. Her movements are choppy - uncertain - but there's a determination to what she's doing. The girl's trying to learn, even if she doesn't quite know how to )

Have you used this weapon before?

[givesalittlewhistle]

Yes.

[...granted, it was just the one time, but it wasn't a lie.]

There was a ViViD game where everybody had to fight. They had a whole bunch of weapons. I used a staff.

[She even hit a few monsters with it. Go, her!]

II

[encourageous]

[Taichi stopped by the park at some point during a regular brotherly sweep of his sister's most frequented areas. Agumon wasn't with him at the time, and he raised an eyebrow at the display he witnessed.]

Hikari? Tailmon? What's going on? [Are they playing around with that staff?]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Only mostly.]

I'm training!

[Which she demonstrated by...very slowly spinning her staff around and around until her grip on it slipped and she dropped it. Whoops.]

[From where she sat on the side, Tailmon sighed and looked up at Taichi.]

She's determined. The problem is, it's not a weapon I can teach her, so she's trying to learn on her own.

ii

[anarchos]

[Children with weapons is, sadly, not too strange a sight, though Bellamy is used to them being much older with actual weapons. Foam makes for good practice, honestly, it'd just never been a luxury.]

[He doesn't know what to make of the talking cat; it's just fortunate the Drabwurld prepared him better for that sort of thing. His threshold for weird just keeps raising.]

[He should mind his own business, but that thought's only fleeting before he decides to call out to her. She's just so young, it's hard not to step in, in some capacity.]

You should probably find something to hit with it too.

[Tell her to stop?? No, of course not!]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[The sound of an unfamiliar voice startled her. Enough that she nearly dropped her staff right there and then. Fortunately, though the subsequent stumble was quite visibly awkward, she managed to save both her dignity and her grip before slowly turning back.]

[An older boy. One whose face she didn't immediately recognize, either--which was why she noticed Tailmon on alert before sending a small shake of her head the little digimon's way. Tailmon settled back down again, but continued to watch the exchange closely. Protective as ever of her partner.]

I did. Earlier.

Oniichan came by and offered to practice with me...though it was hard to try and hit him. Even though I knew it wouldn't hurt as much.

[Her first big obstacle? Not...entirely; she'd used a real staff to hit monsters before. People--especially people close to her--on the other hand, were a whole different story.]