Subject: [o] compass 825 views

[grimm]

shoutmon grinned, and nodded. "you too, renamon." it extended a hand to the fox digimon, the grin still on its face. it didn't hurt to make a friend.

"heh." grimm glanced away. didn't stand a chance, huh ... probably for the better. dying in the middle of the desert was never on his to-do list, not even when he was misled by his own digimon. he swore he'd walk out of it, alive.

"wha'bout you? iunhave much to do, so if you don'have staff jobs to do ..." he shrugged, turning back to lupo. "whatcha gon'do next?"

[lupo]

renamon extended a paw and grasped shoutmon's hand and shook. her own fox-like grin was upon her features, even if ruki wasn't keen on making friends, renamon didn't mind it one bit. games were much more fun with a friend than being alone.

glancing towards north, ruki narrowed those eyes of hers. every one spoke of going north if one got lost, but was she looking at north, or a place she thought was north? easy solved by using a gate card or perhaps even sending an email off but no, she wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of helping her.

a lone wolf at heart, people helping her often did so for a price.

"you're not going to exit the game after the battle?" ruki was surprised. she'd met a few players who quit after a battle to rest up. "i'm pretty free for the moment. i don't really have anything planned." ruki responded. not like she planned for anything after the battle.

"why don't we head out and grab some lunch?" renamon suggested, standing near shoutmon still. digimon ate a lot, and she was getting rather hungry. and tired of all the sand still stuck within her fur but she dared not complain about that.

"we need to head out first. and that can be difficult. still, be nice to get out of this sandy wasteland." ruki murmured, allowing grimm and shoutmon to have a say before anything was decided.

[grimm]

"nah." grimm glanced at lupo. funny how she assumed him to quit the game after a battle. it was because he won that he simply had to continue on. it was simple, simple logic in grimm's mind ... yet somehow didn't quite register in the staff member's mind. despite finding it amusing, he kept his laughter to himself.

"trainin'?" grimm said, but renamon's suggestion he found better than his own. food, awyeah. that was good. he could almost feel his stomach rumbling -- what he'd do for some nice curry rice, or omurice. never anything as good as a warm plate of rice. "amazing suggestion, renamon," smirked the tamer.

"genbu is nearest, na?"

grimm's gaze was once again on lupo. "once we get outta here firs'," the tamer turned to his digimon. "oi, keep up naa." the tamer started walking in the general direction of a tower in the distance.

what happened to treasure-hunting, the tinny voice in the back of his head asked him quietly. grimm had no idea. the fact that someone was willing to go along with his plans seemed more interesting than looking for treasure, even though that was on his to-do list -- permanently.

"curry rice, lupo. buy ya some soon as we getta genbu."

[lupo]

ruki pondered, deciding against replying to his response about quitting the game. win or lose, she didn't quit: only when she was tired and needed sleep did so log out, regretfully whenever it came to. real life, was not her favorite place to be.

"we could always train after we eat. we'll be at our full strength so we'd do better." training on a full stomach was always better than training on an empty one. besides, she was always up for some training or battling. more experience meant she was closer to her ultimate goal.

"i've never been." ruki loathed to admit such things, naturally. for her it was a weakness not to know something, and one thing ruki hated was weakness. while she had spoken, renamon gave the other tamer a smirk in return.

giving her digimon a nod, she began walking,sunglasses remained upon her features to help keep the sand and dust from her eyes. "people say to head north when getting lost-" ruki paused mid sentence as she eyed grimm: buy her lunch? she had enough to buy her own lunch, so what was he wanting in return? suspicion was felt as she watched for any sign of incoming trouble, finding none, and unsure whether to be relieved, or insulted that her own feelings had been wrong.

"why would you buy me lunch?" ah yes. she was never quite subtle, asking questions outright rather than dancing about.

hopefully they were heading in the right direction, which meant getting food wouldn't take too much longer, and getting out of this dreaded heat seemed like a wonderful idea.

"how long have you been playing?" renamon asked both shoutmon and grimm: ruki could ask her questions, renamon could ask her own. no harm came from that.

[grimm]

"i like you."

the words came easily to grimm as easily as he trudged through the sands. the pair of boots he wore had an easy grip on the sand. grimm easily trumped shoutmon in ease of walking; the digimon was having some trouble navigating the flowing sands. the tamer glanced over his shoulder at his digimon, who was struggling to keep up.

"ya'be at your full strength after ya'eat, just like what lupo said," he smirked at shoutmon. just to spite it, grimm quickened his pace, the tail of his long jacket billowing in the desert wind. the smell of the desert and faint traces of an oasis tickled his olfactory senses; it was enticing yet so far away.

he was pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden comment that was tinted with what sounded suspiciously like doubt. grimm stopped walking, and exhaled. "why can't i?" he asked, letting the question hang as shoutmon finally caught up to him.

the digimon panted from the exertion, but it was evident that they still had quite a distance to walk. "no idea, renamon," shoutmon answered, wiping off some sweat off its brow. how long indeed. it didn't remember. certainly grimm wouldn't ... ?

"sou na. i don't remember either."

grimm did, but he said nothing else about the topic. his beginnings in the game were riddled with too many things he couldn't be arsed to figure out even in hindsight. too troublesome, too prickly. he preferred the now.

[lupo]

three words ruki hardly expected to hear was spoken, causing the tamer to freeze in place as her mind continued to repeat those words over and over. "you like me? why?" ruki asked, torn between narrowing her eyes and widening them, both rather appropriate.

"there isn't much to like." she spoke after a moment, averting those eyes of hers. her mother often called her a spoiled brat, her grandmother was the one giving ruki encouragement, taking her father's place in that role. but most times, no-one ever said they liked her. her shoe made a trail in the sand as she made patterns.

renamon remained silent; it was not her place to offer comfort, alone maybe, but not around strangers. ruki would only push her away.

"hmm.' ruki had no answer to his question aimed back at her regarding buying lunch, folding her arms across her chest and tried to look, well, like her usual self. "alright but i owe you one.' no debts went unanswered from her, if he would buy her lunch, she would do something for him in return.

nothing sick of course. there were limits.

both tamer and digimon were in shock. how could they not remember? ruki remembered her first day well, something to always remember. remaining silent, ruki knew that each step took them closer to where they wanted to go, and out of this heated desert the better.

easy to see how awkward she was around others. sure her bravado act was often there but really, she wasn't good at dealing with other people. for some it came so easily. picking up the pace again, not wanting to be left behind, renamon watched close for any signs. of what she didn't know.

[grimm]

"eh, not a big deal," grimm muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he trudged on. liking someone didn't take a lot of effort on his part. he did draw a clear line between dislike and like, though. "that your way of showin' embarrassment, naa?"

grimm had to fight back a laugh. his boots crushed the sand underfoot as he scaled a sand dune. shoutmon had fallen on all fours, using its limbs to pull itself upwards. the tamer ended up turning back and giving the digimon a hand. "da na, but it was because you know your priorities. that's cool." he smiled at lupo, gave her a nod, then continued walking once shoutmon tumbled on before him.

"she owes you one da yo," shoutmon said, "because you bought her lunch."

"shut up and pipe down. n'one asked for ya'opinion."

grimm walked on, taking the silence in stride. he did not wish for lupo to prod further into his beginnings in the game, and needless to say, he did not want to think about it either.

[lupo]

for her, this was a big deal. maybe not to grimm, but for her, it truly was. there wasn't much to like about the sulky, pineapple haired girl who preferred card games and digimon online, becoming the best of the best, over things such as fashion and making friends. yes, making friends. people heard correctly. friends were more difficult for her to make due to her attitude and her penchance for simply blowing them off.

ruki merely gave a nod, as if speaking would only betray her. the only thing she did do was glare at shoutmon when he spoke, anger flaring at the insignificant pile of data, only to have regret at her thoughts soon after. why though? this isn't normal. i am mean. i am not one people like. so why am i so nice? ruki thought: either the game was teaching her things and she was growing up, or, this was a game where she could be anyone, so being nicer than her true self could be accomplished.

"no one has said that before. usually it's "lighten up" or things like that." ruki spoke softly, knowing that she was talking about her mother and feeling another fresh surge of anger. all her mother was about was fashion. didn't understand digimon, the cards nor the online game.

"you been anywhere else in the game yet?"

that question seemed like a good one to keep conversation going before they reached their destination.

notes: sorry its late!

[grimm]

lighten up, or things like that. it sounded like other people alright, but grimm wasn't going to question it. he rarely questioned, unless it involved himself -- right now, it didn't. he kept his distance from the topic, and shrugged when prompted with another question.

"na'many places. just here an'there but we good, na."

shoutmon flashed lupo a thumbs up. "we good," it echoed its tamers words. it didn't matter if they were places or nowhere, to be rather honest -- they were after things more elusive, better than titles. they were after material gain, things that weren't just words.

because for all that they knew, words could mean nothing and yet, everything.

[lupo]

"i see." ruki nodded. seemed like the other two weren't ones for conversation, or, at least, both ruki and renamon hadn't gotten onto any topic that was worth committing more than a sentence towards. that was fine. ruki normally didn't talk much, finding other people beneath her. mostly because said people were from her mother's work, or other students at her school. and they never understood her, thought she was weird, strange, what have you. that was fine.

ruki didn't need them anyway.

all too soon ruki saw their destination and her stomach grumbled in appreciation. they had been going in the right direction, and ruki was pleased to not have gotten lost. last thing she needed was to get lost in this hell. worst came to worst she could use her gate card to escape, but she was saving that for a time when she actually needed it.

close to genbu and both digimon and tamer picked up the pace, glancing over to make sure grimm and shoutmon were following. last thing she needed also was to get split from the other tamer. she was not wanting to look for someone lost in the desert, new friend or not. "here we are. seems like it took forever to get here." ruki admitted, mainly because of the desert heat and the thought of food on her mind.

"let's get in so we can eat. get those energy levels back up."

[grimm]

they neared genbu.

seeing their destination mere miles away, yet within their line of sight, lit a spring in both shoutmon and grimm's steps. they hastened their pace, keeping alongside renamon and lupo as they walked towards the city. food, food, more food -- then training. their plan seemed to be as flawless as it could possibly be.

"forever jus'a word, na," grimm responded good-naturedly. despite the cold, unforgiving metallic exterior the city sported, it was perfectly warm and inhabitable within. "yea, le'go."

shoutmon cheered silently, a fist thrust into the air to show its exuberance. together, they headed into the city.

notes i'll start the next thread in genbu :u

[lupo]

as the heat began to die down, the further north they got to reach genbu, ruki welcomed the change of temperature. even more so for renamon who was covered in fur, the desert was quite rough for those unprepared, bundled up in furs or other warm clothing and things. but now it was getting cooler, and both tamer and digimon felt relieved.

"just a word." ruki repeated, the words tumbling from her tongue as easy as any sort of snarky comment. if only she could believe the words, believe grimm. but she knew better. forever was not just a word, not to her at least.

the city was a welcome respite from her thoughts however as she held her head up high, allowing her features to remain in a neutral expression. no-one would know the true extent of her feelings.

notes: thread complete! now they're in genbu :3