Subject: Burn My Dread [open] 283 views

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

Homme wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. The little bullet was nestled in his pocked, the kudamon sprawled on his lap. He'd taken up a spot beneath a nice tree, and was still trying to get over the fact that it wasn't real. None of it was real. The world wasn't, the tree wasn't, the little white and purple beast that was using him as a pillow wasn't real. None of it was.

It was all an illusion, and now he was part of it. The outfit he'd picked out was nice enough - Grey pants, red boots, a white belt, and then a red jacket with white shoulders. It even had a thin white undershirt, which seemed downright odd to him. Why bother to have an undershirt when it wasn't visible? His own comfort, he supposed.

As it was, he had no goal, no purpose for playing - he was simply lying back and enjoying it, letting himself soak it all in.

[harp]

The sun on her face wasn't all that unpleasant as she initially thought, granted it still make her eyes burn and skin unfavorably tingle when prolonged to its rays. Beams of light which were actually streams of data. She wondered if one could acquire sunburn from an alternate unreal reality. She had made no effort to move forward since her arrival which could be called impressive given the coxing for attention from the clam at her heel. It was endearing at first how appreciative it seemed to be of her but after four hours of nearly tripping her with its nuzzling she was secretly wishing for it to stop.

As of yet it did nothing but cutely gurgle at her. The surrounding tamer's and Digimon alike spoke in gender-heavy words. She was sure there was an exception to this but she doubted without a shred of anything opposing that her mollusk was not an it. An it after all would only be all too convenient because generally speaking ambiguous beings were without an exceeding amount of pitch or baritone. Of course there was always the chipmunk voice which she herself had a hard time identifying as male or female unless she was watching the show, frivolous nonsense that it was.

It felt all too silly for her to be standing around doing nothing but losing herself in thought, in the very least she should admire her bearings. Sitting would be lovely to do so with but the choice tree she had eyed a few log outs ago was now supporting a gentleman and his worm-fox. It probably had to do something with Japanese culture if its markings were any indication but as things were she was not yet familiar with her new homestead. It wasn't even a fraction of a second really that she had glanced at the man yet the clam winked at her regardless and hopped on over to the pair. Was she obliged to follow? She supposed so because a pet without its owner would be uncivilized.

She didn't like to hover so room was given to the boy if he so chose to stand up to give them a proper greeting, her's already thrown into the air as a "salutations". Her partner, well she honestly couldn't say what sort of greeting it was offering with the way it animatedly danced around the five, that included the tree, with no obvious purpose other than to amuse itself.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

Even years down the road, Lucien was good at hearing people coming. It had been a mandatory skill for most of his life, and even if he no longer needed it, it still got a decent amount of use. Of course, it was usually his caretaker's arrival he was hearing now, but it was still in use, and the digital world was no different. Footsteps on the grass had his eyes flickering open - not all the way, but enough for his eyes to slide over, watching a pair of boots approaching. Boots with a lot of straps - so, either a man with an interest in fashion, or a woman.

Her digimon - because it had to be that, and he was putting his bets on a 'her' - was, of all things, a clam. A clam with some sort of absurd decal on it's front. It seemed to circle around them and the tree, and Homme was fairly sure that they were actually going to - yes, there it was, a greeting that he didn't understand a word of. Hopefully it was a greeting, anyway - it wasn't the ones he knew, but it sounded like it from tone alone.

Pressing a hand against the tree, he pushed himself upright - the kudamon wiggling it's way down, the bullet falling out of Homme's pocket as the kudamon pulled it along behind him, like a bell on the end of his tail. Even if Homme didn't speak a word of japanese, the Kudamon certainly did, scurrying to the girl's feet and looking up at her. "Hello there! Greetings to you too!"

All gibberish to him - so Homme stayed silent for a while. Eventually the Kudamon would tell them that he didn't talk, and off they'd go, just like the rest.

[harp]

She nodded to the ferret-like creature while her own partner hopped into the stranger's lap. "Hello there honey". The clam spoke vibrantly without a clue. Meanwhile Luckbell was almost surprised at herself offering her hellos so fluidly in Japanese as of late but there was no surprise to it at all when one studied as hard as she did. So the mollusk was female huh? Its Cajun drawl suited it just fine she decided. It was a tad perplexing that all that anxious energy vanished from the bundle of gooey adorableness but she was not one to complain, out loud anyway.

Luckbell didn't linger long on it either way because who knew, perhaps it really was that wonderful of an experience meeting its tamer for the first time. The first few days online she admittedly loitered in the lounge uninterested in afraid of which Digimon she would get. She wasn't a huge fan of ocean-life, rather she preferred the scenery. Still she couldn't bring herself to imagine what if it was something else.

Locking eyes with the Kudamon the dark girl put her arm down and out, palm up. It was rude to look down at someone, or thing, while holding a conversation. It could freely scurry up her arm if it wished and if not at least she had been considerate enough to demonstrate that she cared for appearances.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

There was a clam in his lap. As realistic as the game was, he could safely say that in the real world, he'd never have a talking clam sitting in his lap, chirping at him in feminine-sounding Japanese. He was pretty sure it was female, anyway - he had to struggle to tell, unused to the accent. At the very least it seemed nice, although he wasn't putting his fingers anywhere near it. He'd rather not lose a digital-finger to the shell snapping shut.

The kudamon shot right up her arm the moment it was offered, crawling across her shoulders and sprawling there. It seemed to enjoy the position, pleased by the attention it was getting. "He doesn't talk." The digimon confided. "Or when he does, he talks funny."

Homme wasn't sure what the digimon was saying, but he had a good idea what it was talking about. Him, probably. It seemed to do that with everyone - a warning that he didn't talk, maybe.

"I don't speak Japanese." He finally declared in french-laced English. English was more common - if a Japanese person was going to know a phrase in English, it would probably be that one. Tourists probably said it all the time.

[harp]

Luckbell enjoyed the heat the fluff ball of data radiated onto her neck and shoulders, not that she would voice so unless directly asked. It probably made the gaming experience smoother when your partner could walk rather than teeter-hop. There was always evolution but that hurdle seemed to be well out of their reach. The word funny escaped her but otherwise she could gather what was said into her ear. "I'm still learning myself"

Gazing at the man, down at the man because he had yet to get up with her clam being the likely excuse, she inwardly sighed in relief at being granted an opportunity to speak in her native tongue. "How far are you into your studies?" She meant of the Japanese because obviously only a fool would not bother to learn. Say if there were danger or an emergency the young man might be royally doomed.

The mollusk felt a bit put out by the man's lack of friendly gestures, but fair enough since he hadn't shoved her off, yet. Allowing as much of the green muscle that was her face to ooze out she strained to reach outward just shy of her shell. It was disappointing that she couldn't speak with him, maybe she should ask Luckbell about this English someday.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

The kudamon thoght the whole thing was rather silly. How could a human not talk? Nevermind how much harder it was to help him, when the Kudamon had to quite literally lead him around by the hand. The digimon couldn't just say 'don't go there, it's dangerous', but instead had to stop them, then wave his hands around until the human caught on. Everything was far more difficult then it had to be when you had a human who couldn't speak.

Only he did speak - just not the right words. Even the kudamon got that much. The girl was talking just fine, and all of a sudden she was talking in that other-thing - the garbled mess that no digimon on Asuka could understand.

Homme perked up at the sound of English. He'd have preferred French, but beggars couldn't be choosers. English was far better than another mess of incomprehensible Japanese. "I'm only just starting."

[/i] Which was a polite way of saying that he knew not a single word of Japanese. His eyes flicked around, half expecting to see a familiar face nearby, but no - they were alone, and he let his eyes sink down to the friendly clam-thing. "This is your digimon?"[/i] Far better a white ferret then a clam, in his opinion.
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[harp]

Just starting out? She supposed that was one way of putting it. It must have been a relief to freely speak, she herself knew all too well that sometimes she didn't always catch onto what was being said. Fast words or yelling usually threw her off. It would be rather awkward if the thing in his lap wasn't her Digimon yet all the same it was still awkward that it was. She softly nodded not wanting to strain her voice on what mannerisms could convey just fine. She did however say something other than a curt yes "you may want to invest in a learning program." She couldn't outright say should since that would be all too demanding and unlady like of her, even if the urge to do so was staggering.

Craning her neck to peer at the ferret she continued in the tongue not so foreign to beast "you could aid in teaching your tamer" it was a harmless enough suggestion though it felt bitter in her mouth, it was odd giving an animal as much consideration as a human. Not that she disliked the talking creatures but in her world they had no need or care for courtesy and few were offended. Cats. Cats she remembered as being quite finicky.

Syakomon x pouted as she begrudgingly slid the rest of the way back into her clam. It wouldn't kill the young man to give her a pat. Not that she could really feel it all around, after all the shell wasn't her actual body though it was a part of. Examining his pants for just a moment she allowed her eyes to become dozy looking, a nap was a fine old idea.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

A learning program. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Only if he was going to get a learning program, he'd be getting one for Cantonese - and he didn't even get an option for that. No, he wouldn't be getting any learning program. Anything he did learn, he'd have to learn the old fashioned way - listening to what they said and paying attention to the context of what was being said. Greetings he could pick up that way, and maybe someone would teach him to say things - if he felt up to it. At the moment he was simply happy to get to speak to anyone at all.

The kudamon paused, staying still as it considered the suggestion. It supposed that it could do that - teach him the very, very utter basics. There was only so much they could do without a shared language. "I suppose I could teach him." It finally declared, voice neither masculine, nor feminine. Just firmly in between. Not that Homme knew any better.

Homme was trying to be polite - watching her, while at the same time trying not to ignore the clam. The fact that the clam seemed to be dozing let things up, now didn't it?

"That would be helpful, yes. Are you not Japanese yourself?" There was no way to tell with avatars. She could be foreign like him, or she could just know English in general.

[harp]

The girl grimaced, but only a hush so, at her Digimon's actions. One did not simply fall asleep in a stranger's lap. Apologizing was nasty business though so she would wait for a complaint if she were to bring up the elephant in the room at all. She was pleased when what should have been a statement came out as a question, that meant she was improving if only by a slight margin, in any case she was further along than he was.

"I hail from England". The Kudamon seemed less opposed to the idea of breaching the young man into the new language but neither could be called on as being excited over it. It was a fascination of hers just how everyone was partnered up. Was it truly based on the players or was it just some randomized computer mambo jumbo? Hooey, there were far too many questions racing through her noggin today and not enough answers.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

She was far, far ahead of him. A million times ahead, and he doubted he'd improve much during his time in the game. He was fairly old to be learning a language - the older you got, the harder it was. He already knew two, and then the occasional bits and pieces in others. He could do basic greetings in German, for example, but didn't know much beyond that. Japanese would inevitably become the same - basic greetings, and then the overly important 'I don't speak Japanese'. Even those would be difficult with no outside resources. It wasn't like a romance language where he could simply read it and get a fairly accurate understanding. Even if he read the forums, accessible from the game, it was a mess of characters with no relation to what was being said to him.

The kudamon settled down on her shoulders, seemingly content to nap. It could help it's human, but it wasn't quite sure it wanted to. He didn't seem particularly interested in learning, after all. He hadn't really even tried to communicate - he'd just expected the kudamon to follow, and the kudamon had. He knew the humans name, at least - Homme - because he'd repeated it enough while gesturing at himself that it became clear.

England. Homme had a little smirk - he couldn't help it. So close, yet so far away. "France. But English is the language of business." He wasn't concerned about telling too much about that. 'Homme' was one of the most common words in France. Homme wouldn't lead anyone to anything. He didn't look like he had when he lived in France. There was no connection to be made there.

"Did you only just start playing?" Was she new to it? Or an old player?

[harp]

"Fairly, yes. It was a bit baffling to be honest. She was new in the respect that she had made little progress and yet she wasn't fresh into the server. The exact dates were fuzzy, the one thing she hated about this game was how obscure it made time feel to her. Not that she wouldn't logically find a calendar in the real world for good measure once she logged. Why she always expected there to be a difference that wasn't there she wasn't sure, rather the lack of difference unnerved her. It meant that she was literally wasting this much of her precious youth away. For a waste of time though it was prime in that there were far worse venues of entertainment.

the x-antibody infected Syakomon would have answered differently of course. That answer though would probably be spewed out at some other chance meeting with another partnered pair because currently she was too busy sleeping to bother with being subject to their status as new or not. That is what Anora assumed anyway. She could only hope to speculate in an even vaguer sense what was going through the white ferret's mind. A calm sort from first impressions she assumed nothing so foolish as what was going through or going to come out of her clam.

[homme]

normal tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

The kudamon kept right on dozing, largely uninterested. The humans kept talking the funny-talk, and since he couldn't understand a word of it, there was very little he could contribute. Humans were just so very odd, weren't they? They always had funny ways of doing things. Funny ways of talking, funny ways of spending their time. The Kudamon would much rather be training then standing around chatting, wasting time on pleasantries - or what it assumed were pleasantries.

Homme paused, hesitantly reaching out to rest a hand on top of the shell. He wasn't sure he wouldn't get bitten, but it seemed like the right thing to do - like resting a hand on a cat in your lap, only significantly more intelligent (in theory), and significantly less furry. It wasn't so bad, he supposed - it could have been prickly, rather than simply shelled.

"I've only just started this week - it's all a bit odd, isn't it? Hard to get used to. I keep thinking I'm really here, and then I have to remind myself I'm in a pod." He continued. He hadn't gotten to discuss it with anyone, really. Most people didn't speak anything but Japanese, and those that did always had other things to do. A casual conversation was a rarity for him, and he was eager to enjoy it.