[OPEN] These dreams go on when I close my eyes

[givesalittlewhistle]

Who: Hikari Yagami & OPEN
When: IC: (late July) /OOC: (early June)
Where: Gardens
What: As a Child of Light Water, Hikari's been having some...interesting Dreams the last few days. The kind that are keeping her up at night, leaving her exhausted during the day.
Rating/Warning: Some potentially Dark themes involving children. Mentioning of Death. Basically, if you've ever seen the season 02 episode, His Master's Voice, it's a little like that.

---

"Hikari? ...Hikari?"

The eight year old girl in question's eyelashes fluttered softly, face scrunching up as she was lightly shaken, before slowly opening. It took a few seconds for her vision to readjust before she sat up. Glancing around at her surroundings and...trying to remember where she was.

"Tailmon?" Voice heavy with sleep, she glanced down at her digimon companion, who was looking up at her in concern. "What...?"

"You fell asleep. Again."

There was little surprise at the news. Because she knew it was true. And why.

Straightening, Hikari glanced around at the park they were currently in. The ground was soft, a pleasant breeze blowing across her cheeks from beneath the shade of a large tree. Any other time, and it would have been no wonder she'd fallen asleep. The little sketchbook she'd purchased some time back was still in her lap. The camera she'd been using to take pictures for inspiration, at her side.

Except...the dark shadows beneath her eyes told of a slightly more troubling story.

"I'm sorry," she offered in the middle of stiffening a deep yawn. Rubbing at one eye that stung a little in the morning light.

Tailmon's ears dropped at the apology. Worried not only for Hikari's health, but saddened that she felt she needed to apologize at all. "...you had that dream again last night, didn't you?"

Not knowing what else to say, Hikari nodded. Her gaze drifted over to where there was a small pond. The waters still, save for the occasional little ripple. An increasingly familiar sight to her these days, though not for the reasons one might think.

Comments

I have no idea where this will go but hi

[notsogreedy]

What she may not immediately notice is that the tree whose shade she was borrowing was also occupied. It had been for a while, though the man sitting up there didn't seem to have any particular interest in her. He glanced down briefly when he overheared the conversation, but otherwise he seemed engrossed in poking around his cerevice, catching up on whatever was on the network that he hadn't read yet.

hi~

[givesalittlewhistle]

It was Tailmon who first sensed the presence above.

Her whiskers twitched, ears straightening as a soft rustling carried over to them on the wind. Discreetly, she glanced upward. Hoping it was just a familiar presence, and...more disappointed than immediately concerned when she saw a face she didn't recognize.

"...Tailmon?" Hikari asked after a moment. "Is something wrong?"

"There's somebody watching us. In the tree."

"Huh?" The girl asked sleepily before finally realizing. And looked upward. "Ah!"

[notsogreedy]

Meanwhile, Ankh wasn't so much watching them as discovering something on the network that said 'free ice cream' and thus at least briefly had far more of his attention. He did hear them talking, and the surprised sound when the girl looked up at him, which prompted him to look back down at her. "Huh?" The sound was less surprise at being noticed and more 'what do you want?'

(ooc: Ability permissions, by the way.)

[givesalittlewhistle]

She stood up, her legs slightly wobbling from residual weariness. Tailmon even stepped forward, placing a paw on her partner's legs. Ready in case Hikari did fall.

"You..." Tilting her head back from that angle would have caused her to fall, so she had to turn around in order to look up without risking what was left of her balance. "...what are you doing up there?"

The person didn't seem all that affected by their presence. Either hers or Tailmon's. Not that the little digimon was much of a secret anymore, but...most people in Cerealia who reacted so casually had either met one of the other digimon before, or had yet to hear Tailmon speak.

[notsogreedy]

"Sitting." What did it look like? He raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like there was some rule about only one person making use of a tree at any given time. As for the creature with her, he didn't recall meeting anything similar before, but in a place where the zoo kept robots and drinking smoothies could make you see someone's else's memories, a talking cat didn't strike him as that strange.

[findpeace]

A lot has happened since he came back to Cerealia. Between the future kid, Sasuke, problems from home and all of his jobs he hasn't had enough time to seek out the friends he'd made here just yet. Naruto has every intention of changing that soon but he doesn't quite expect to run across a familiar face in the park. Or a couple of them actually.

He lifted his bandaged right hand to wave at Hikari and Tailmon before changing his direction to heads towards the pair.

"Hey, Hikari!"

Naruto looked older but she looked just the same. A testament to the time difference between Cerealia and his world - or something like that. He's trying to not think about it honestly because it gave him a headache.

[givesalittlewhistle]

That voice...

Hikari lifted her head. Turned towards the sound. Her lips parted in surprise. Different hair--she made sure to rub her eyes just in case lingering traces of sleep were affecting her vision--and he definitely seemed...older. Just like Hinata. But there was little doubt in her mind.

"Naruto-san! You're back!"

[findpeace]

With ease he flopped down next to her on the bench, grinning at both her and Tailmon. It felt like it's been forever since he's seen her but it's only been two years. He's attempting to not feel guilty about the fact that he forgot both of them when he was back home. That wasn't his fault but he can't help how he feels about it. Naruto should remember the friends he's made here and the promises made to those people

Especially his promises.

"Yep! Got back not too long ago. I was gonna call you when I had a minute to check up on you." Hikari can take care of herself and Tailmon can help but that doesn't mean he can't see how she's doing. "How have you been?"

[givesalittlewhistle]

Though her exhaustion, she managed a bright smile. Though it didn't last long, fading within a few seconds of its initial appearance.

"I'm..." Okay wasn't entirely accurate, but she didn't want to worry him, either. "There's been a lot that happened while you were gone. Some of it was bad, but...some of it was good, too."

[cresthopes]

As Takeru happened to be wandering around, Hikari wasn't the only who had seemed rather off these days. Ever since people started coming back, the blond was starting to see things. In the corner of his eyes, he could have sworn he saw someone but they always seem to disappear shortly afterwards.

Of course, Patamon was starting to wonder if Takeru was going to be okay. However, the boy could only give a pout in response. He wasn't sure if Cerealia was playing tricks on him again but if they were? It was a dirty trick to play on him. It wasn't fair, he just wanted to see his mother again.

Although, when he saw Hikari nearby, he just smiled as she ran over to her. "Hikari-chan? Hikari-chan, over here!"

[givesalittlewhistle]

She blinked twice. A tired, but honest smile appearing at the sight of her best friend approaching.

"Hello, Takeru-kun." She waved him over. "What are you doing here?"

[cresthopes]

What a loaded question indeed. Just what was he doing here. At first, he thought he saw his mother but now?

"Because I wanted a walk! I was feeling a little tired so I thought maybe this would wake me up!"

[givesalittlewhistle]

Him, too?

A thought that Tailmon seemed to share, because in the next moment, it was her voice that spoke up: "How come you're so tired? Did you not get enough sleep last night, either?"

...it was the 'either' that earned the feline digimon an unusually sharp (though tinged with uncertainty) look from her partner.

[encourageous]

It's not long before Taichi and Agumon spot Hikari, and they approach her.

"Hey, Hikari! I should have known you'd be here..." He smiles, while Agumon also greets her.

[givesalittlewhistle]

"Oniichan!"

Hikari's head immediately darted towards the sound of her older brother's voice, smile appearing even though her exhaustion. She then looked downward at his ever faithful companion and offered a light wave.

"And Agumon. Were you looking for me?"

[encourageous]

Taichi was troubled by something he saw earlier, and he wondered if Hikari saw her too. But he doesn't want to bring it up if not... it would only worry her.

So he smiles and nods at her question. "Yep! It felt like it was time to check up on my favorite sister!" But his smile does falter a little, as he gets a better look at her sister. "You look sleepy."

[givesalittlewhistle]

Hikari was...seeing a lot of things lately. Moreso in the last few days, but there were times when, out of the corner of her eye--

"A little," she admitted. Not wanting to let him know just how tired she really was, or the reason why, but unable to lie. "I must've stayed up too late last night."

[sunnymerc]

Being from a world without technology, Soleil found herself needing to get away from all the plastic and metal surrounding her to something more natural. Trees and grass and flowers were things she realized she took for granted. But her walk through the garden was distracted by something much different than a flower or a fountain.

Was that...a cat? Wearing gloves?

As stealthily as possible, Soleil sneaked up, intending to get as close to the cat as possible without scaring it.

[givesalittlewhistle]

Hikari was too distracted to notice. Tailmon was not.

The little digimon's ears twitched, glancing behind her. She did not yet sense a threat, but she remained on alert. Enough that, eventually, Hikari realized that her partner's attention was no longer on her.

"Tailmon? What is it?"

"There's someone approaching. But I don't know who. Or what they want."

[sunnymerc]

Soleil was too far away still to hear anything, so she had no reason to assume yet that she had been noticed. Instead, she continued to tip-toe closer even after noticing that a little girl was with the cat. She had every intention of getting a closer look at the kitty, especially now that she was close enough to confirm that she had not been seeing things and the cat was, in fact, wearing gloves.

"Hehehe."

The cat was too cute to ignore, but she didn't want to have it run off. So, sneaking was the only solution...even if she wasn't aware she had already failed.

[givesalittlewhistle]

That, even Hikari heard. Together, they turned towards the sound. Hikari was curious. Tailmon looked...slightly put out.

"Whoever you are, you can come out now. We can hear you."

[notsosolo]

The kids like the park, that's no surprise. Han often comes across them here when going about his day.

What is a surprise is the waking up part. "Hikari? Are you okay?"

She doesn't look okay when assessed with Dad Eyes.

[givesalittlewhistle]

"I'm..."

She looked up at Han, and had to pause to blink her vision back into focus. Much as she wanted to insist that she was fine--because, really, she was!--she also didn't want to lie.

"...a little sleepy."

But not sick. She reached up to brush some of the bangs from her forehead, getting a good feel for the temperature. A little warm, but not feverish.

[notsosolo]

He also checks her forehead, just in case. There's been a lot of strange things happening lately, he should keep an eye on the kids' health.

Feels normal though. "Have you been having trouble sleeping at night?"

[givesalittlewhistle]

Hesitation. Followed by a shallow nod.

"I've been trying, but...every time I close my eyes, I have...bad dreams."