[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

[sayonaradumbass]

[god don't tell him that he might freak out and start accusing animal planet of shit

He squints
hard]

Whats a Patamon, another cat? This ain't makin' any sense but...I've seen worse. The guys here won't let her evolve to this thing?

[givesalittlewhistle]

No, Patamon's a... [batpig] ...well, he's a little smaller than Tailmon, but not much, and he's orange and has wings so he can fly. He's just another kind of digimon.

[At the mentioning of why Tailmon couldn't evolve, however, Hikari gave a small frown.]

I don't know, actually.

She's done it before. Maybe it's because she hasn't needed to? I told you she was strong. She's already an Adult level.

[sayonaradumbass]

Wings. A digimon with wings.

[how is this

and they can all talk too huh]

How come you haven't taken her on a like, show or something? You'd make a hell of a lot of cash. [Sideeyes Tailmon] Sure acts like an adult.

[givesalittlewhistle]

Lots of digimon have wings. It's not that uncommon.

[And of course Tailmon was an adult. You couldn't tell just by looking at her attitude?]

...I would never try to make money off of her or the others. It would be wrong.

[Besides that, the Chosen were all just kids. For all they knew, mean grownups would try to take their digimon away from them!]

[sayonaradumbass]

[alright, alright, just wing it, Kaneda. Get it? Wi--

he sighs a little]

I'm not sayin' exploit 'em or anything. If anything I mean exploit dumbasses who would go to shows like that.

[givesalittlewhistle]

I don't want to exploit anybody.

[Yeah...this is not a battle he's going to win.]

[sayonaradumbass]

[he sighs a lot]

You're killing me, kid.

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Her whole expression falls even more.]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.

[sayonaradumbass]

[ah fuck, way to go, Kaneda]

Ah, hey, I didn't mean it like literally-- you're pretty powerful but I doubt your powers would work that way. Don't worry about that, kay?

[givesalittlewhistle]

...I know you didn't meant it literally.

[She was eight. Not four.]

But you still look a little upset, and I'm sorry about that.

[sayonaradumbass]

You can never tell with you wide-eyed types.

[whatever the fuck that means]

Not upset, nah! And it ain't on account of you, either.

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Wide-eyed types? Does he mean...kids?]

Are you sure?

[sayonaradumbass]

Positive! You worry too much, anyone ever tell you that? [but instead of being an asshole, his tone is amused]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[...actually?]

I just...don't want any more people to feel sad because of me.

[sayonaradumbass]

It's bigger than you, kid. There's a hell of a lot of stuff for people to be sad about, way bigger than you. You're just a kid-- it ain't that heavy. If someone gets sad over kid stuff then they need to chill out.

[givesalittlewhistle]

[He...had a point. A really good one, actually. But then, that brought up a new question for her. One that...might have seemed a little personal, but the worst he could do was not answer or tell her to mind her own business.]

[She asked anyway:]

Then what is it that's making you so sad?

[sayonaradumbass]

What makes you think I'm sad? This could just be the way my face is stuck after a lotta worrying.

[kids are sensitive to this kinda thing, huh. He cocks an eyebrow instead.]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Kids in general were often sensitive enough. Hikari...tended to be more so than many of her peers. She wasn't omniscient by any means, of course, and there were times when her interpretations were wrong. She could only know what was right in front of her. And what the people she talked to inadvertently (or unintentionally) gave away.]

So there is something you worry about a lot.

[Like that.]

[sayonaradumbass]

[it startles him a little-- the rawness of it, how stark she is about it. kids do this, but still this is-- this is something else.

one shoulder rolls.]

I wouldn't be human if I didn't. But it ain't an existential crisis or anything. You gonna be a counselor when you grow up?

[givesalittlewhistle]

I don't know. I haven't thought much about that yet.

[Although, being a teacher sounded kind of nice. Maybe...maybe kindergarten...]

Even if it's not something that big, if it's bothering you...you can talk about it, if you want.

Sometimes, that helps.

[Says the child who never talks much about her own feelings.]

[sayonaradumbass]

[looks at her. really looks at her]

It ain't your problem to worry about, you know. Being nosy don't help-- it'll get you into trouble, complicated kinda trouble. You could get hurt.

[not that he'd care but you know]

[givesalittlewhistle]

[But she just smiled softly and shook her head.]

I'm not worried about that.

My friends will protect me, just like they always do.

[sayonaradumbass]

Kids, the same age as you with these little digimons?

[he ruffles his own hair]

You're stubborn. But not being alone for that is better than nothing.

[givesalittlewhistle]

[Of course she was stubborn. She was her brother's sister.]

Only Takeru-kun's my age. [...but don't rule him out.] Our big brothers are older than us, though. They're eleven.

[sayonaradumbass]

They're elev-- like I said, you guys are kids. [kids can't...do a lot but then again most people are surprised] You make your own way.