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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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.

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!"

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.)

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.

"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.

"Why are you sitting up in a tree?"

Specifically, why was he sitting up in a tree that she'd been sleeping under...but Hikari wasn't quite forward enough to make such accusations. (Yet)

"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.

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.

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!"

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?

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!"

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?"

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?"

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!"

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.

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?"

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.

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

"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?"

"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.

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

I have no idea where this will go but hi

hi~

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