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

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

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.

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"I need a reason?" It had all the incredulity of a teenager full of attitude being asked why he was loitering. Which would not be an entirely wrong assessment of what was happening here, aside from the part where he wasn't a teenager. He just more or less considered all trees to be his.

"Most people have a reason for doing the things they do."

Most.

Her words carried a weight of certainty not often heard in an eight-year-old. But also a small opening in which she could honestly claim she wasn't insisting he had to have one. Just that...it was common enough that her assumption was reasonable.

(Also, she was used to incredulous teenagers full of attitude. Well...pre-teens. Ten and Eleven-Year-Olds, mostly, but with enough responsibility on their respective shoulders that they earned a couple added years.)

She was sure of herself for a child, he'd give her that. He shrugged at the further comment.

"Trees are comfortable." Being a bird Greeed, that was just a natural place for him to sit, but he didn't seem to feel like elaborating any further. It didn't seem like she had anything to say beyond wondering why he was up in the tree, so he decided it was time to go back to reading things on his cerevice.

Sure of herself, yes, but still a child. And most children, by nature, were curious. Hikari was no exception.

Trees are comfortable. That was his reason? Sparing a glance with Tailmon, Hikari...couldn't be sure; judging from the shrug she gave, Tailmon wasn't so sure, either. She was always catnapping up on the thicker branches, sure, but she was also a cat.

"...what are you watching?"

Her voice rang out once more. Taking note of how interested he seemed in his CereVice. Was there an interesting video that had been broadcast? Should she and Tailmon take out their devices and watch too?

He briefly glanced down at her, but didn't bother to answer the question. Really, he had to go pick the tree with the curious kid under it, didn't he? She was much less annoying when she was asleep.

No answer. He glanced at her, which meant he had definitely heard the question, and yet...

In her mind, she weighed her options. Soon choosing to kneel back down and pull out her own CereVice. Just in case. Tailmon seemed to take that as her cue to do the same, pulling out a nearly identical communicator from a small pack on her back. The partners then crouched down, and began idly flipping through their settings, getting a good look at some of the more recent Network broadcasts.

There was a...picture. Of someone they didn't recognize. Then, a question about spiritual energy--Hikari lingered a little longer on that one, and even scanned some of the recorded replies--on top of mentioning of singing and...and dying.

She visibly frowned at that, little brows furrowing beneath her long bangs.

Oh, she decided to get quiet. Good for her.

Of course, he was doing the same thing she was, scanning the recent network posts, and lingering on a few. It wasn't any one thing that caught his attention, but there was just a lot there all of a sudden. Over the first few days he'd been there, it hadn't seemed like people used the network to talk about anything important, but now... Now there was plenty to keep his interest.

He looked down at the girl again after a moment, catching sight of enough of her screen to recognise the same thing he'd been looking at a minute ago, namely the one about spiritual energy. She seemed engrossed in that subject, and it was confirmation of what had drawn him over here in the first place. There was something about her. Not like a strong desire, but... something. It made him a little curious.

"Does that mean something to you?"

She didn't respond right away, and there was a reason for that; so engrossed in her viewing, she'd initially assumed that he was talking to somebody else over his device. Only after a few seconds of silence did she realize:

"...were you asking me?"

"There's no one else here." Device aside, but he hadn't really used it to talk to people much, anyway.

"Tailmon's still here too."

She wasn't necessarily arguing. Just making a point. Even as she spoke, though, her eyes had already drifted back down to her device. Could...he see her screen from all the way up there? Did that mean he knew which broadcast she'd been watching at the moment?

"A lot of people are always asking questions." Perhaps not the answer he was looking for at the moment, but her answer nevertheless. Somewhat. "I wonder...how many of them get the answers they're looking for."

Tailmon... He supposed that was the name of the cat. It didn't hold up well as a counterpoint considering the animal hadn't responded, either. The answer wasn't one he expected, and it sounded strangely philosophical coming from a little girl. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who knows." People certainly got answers, but he couldn't say how many were helpful or trustworthy. Not many, in most cases, he would guess, but that was why he didn't bother posting anything on networks like that himself. When other people seemed so willing to volunteer information, it was easy to just absorb it all without letting anyone know he was even paying attention, and decide for himself what seemed like it might be useful.

"But I meant the one you were looking at." And this, sweet child, was why you shouldn't hold your device at an angle where someone partly made from the essence of a hawk could see your screen.

Hikari had used the Network a handful of times herself. For questions. Subjects that were important to her. Each time, she'd found...if not the answer she was looking for, than at least an answer.

Ironically, the broadcast she had been looking at--(it never dawned on her to hide her screen, even now)--had brought about more questions. Who the person was asking. Why they were asking. Why so many people seemed upset the last couple of days. More than usual. Even the ones that kept trying to smile...Hikari could tell. She could always tell. Just not understand why.

"Do you know the answer to her question?"

Hikari looked up at him once more. Honestly curious.

He gave that a bit of an incredulous look. "Wasn't she just asking what everyone else thinks?" In which case, there wasn't any single answer.

And while he certainly had some thoughts on the subject, being what he was, he wasn't so inclined to volunteer them.

"People who asks questions are usually looking for one answer in particular. Even if they don't know what that answer is."

"Hm." The thought about philosophical wasn't wrong. It also struck him as an astoundingly true statement. But he didn't have any idea what the woman on the network was looking for specifically, and he had had his own reasons for bringing it up in the first place.

"What's your answer to it, then?"

A pause, then: "...I don't have one."

If she had, she might have been tempted to speak up. Hoping that her answer was the one the woman sought. Even if it wasn't, she could have said she tried. Gave people something new to ponder.

Interesting. He had hoped for some clue as to what it was he'd sensed from her, but apparently she wasn't going to offer it. Maybe whatever it was wasn't something she thought was relevant.

He made some vague sound of acknowledgement, then turned his gaze back to his device.

To be fair, it wasn't really something she had ever spoken much about to anyone. Not to her best friend. Not to her big brother. Not even to her digimon partner.

(In fact, even now, Tailmon was watching the younger girl closely. Just as curious, but with a more personal attachment to that curiosity.)

"What about...?" Tailmon began, but hesitated. Not just because of their company, but also because she didn't know how to ask. If it would be upsetting to bring up the situation, or if Hikari even remembered it. "...do you remember a voice talking to you, Hikari? Back in the Digital World?"

Her voice was deliberately lower now. Just barely discernible to those around them.

"Hmm? What do you mean, Tailmon? What voice?"

He wasn't expecting that to go anywhere else, but it seemed he had gotten the cat's attention with it. For now, he continued to look interested in his device, listening discreetly.

Tailmon opened her mouth to comment, but then remembered that they weren't alone. And while most of their adventures in the digital world were no longer confidential among the Chosen only, this was something...far more personal.

"...never mind." She seemed nervous now, which caused Hikari to continue looking on in a mixture of concern and confusion. "I'll tell you later. When we're alone."

Ankh just kept poking at his phone, apparently unconcerned with anything else going on around him. He didn't learn anything specific, but that was fine. It at least confirmed there was something behind whatever he had picked up, maybe something Hikari herself didn't really understand. For now, he didn't care enough to be interested beyond that.

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

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