Subject: Lost in the city [Acrasia] 217 views

[homme]

bronze tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

Homme was never quite sure what to do in the city. To be fair, he never really did much of anything. Any time he entered it, the kudamon scurried up his side to rest on his shoulder much like a ferret would, and then he was left to wander. Cities were familiar to him - cities were his home. He'd grown up in the cities of France, and as much as the locales of the digital world were beautiful and interesting, it was the cities that made him think of home.

The cities here were not like cities at home, though. The cities here were smaller - there were no skyscrapers, no human refuse littering the ground. There were people and NPCs littered about, but everyone had a place or a purpose. People weren't there simply for the sake of being there. Homme was, though - he was in the city simply because it was the closest he'd had to home in ages, and even if he didn't understand a word of the conversation, his digimon certainly did. He wandered for hours at a time, and it was only when he was done that he scooted into a side street, the kind with nothing but the occasionally used questgiver at the end, and took a seat, letting himself relax. No one had harassed him today - which, as far as he was concerned, made it a good day in the end.

[acrasia]

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Racing in the shadows, the pounding of the feet While the old men get to praying and the children try to sleep Just another promise, they don't really care

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[atrb=border,0,true] The day had been rather quiet, and that of course put the VIGILANTE on edge. She had only run into two bad situations, and while both had been easy enough to take care of the lack of activity since had made her wonder if perhaps people were avoiding her. Perhaps she would have to buy a ninja costume and start working by night. A small chuckle came from her throat; wouldn't that be just dandy? But no, that idea had been quickly shoved to the side as she made her way down the streets of city. It wasn't often she came beyond the outskirts of populated zones, but the fire of her conviction had slowly begun to evolve into something more like impatience. There was no way the server was completely hunky-dory right now. There was never a perfectly tranquil moment in the online world. So, into the city she had come, harboring a hunch that perhaps people kept their real world habits and were hanging out in alleyways somewhere. Leormon, picking up on her distress, was quick to interrupt her fast pace. He padded up in front of her and gestured toward the narrow side street where the taller building on one side was casting a perfectly sinister shadow on the other. Nodding, she patted her partner on the head before picking out the singular form of a player and setting a new course. Of course, there was a problem. He was alone. Very few people committed indecencies alone. With a sigh and a slowing of the pace, she walked up beside him on the bench and, abandoning a select few reservations, plopped down beside him. "Hi." Without looking at him. In fact, purposely looking away. "'Sup."

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[homme]

bronze tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

Homme was hoping to be left alone - but then, he was almost always hoping that. Alone was what protected him. People had a tendency to be cruel to strangers when there was anonymity between them. It was worse online, and in a lot of ways, DO had diffused that. Being able to see someone's face made it harder to be casually mean. It took a cold heart to be mean when you could see that someone was upset, could see that they were about to cry. It took a proper sadist to be really mean, and Homme fancied that he'd gotten pretty good at noticing those types. It had practically been part of his job to do so, all things considered.

It was a girl who sat down - saying something he didn't understand, but that sounded a bit like a greeting. Even if it sounded like a greeting - short and sweet and appropriate, he was almost immediately second guessing himself. She wasn't looking at him as she said it - what if it was something else? It was worth a try just the same.

"Hi." He parroted - not pronouncing it entirely correctly, but more or less simply copying what she'd said.

The kudamon perked up. Had his human just tried to talk? He didn't normally even try. The little ferret raised his head, scooting over to sit on the shoulder closer to the girl. "Hey there! Don't mind him, he doesn't talk much." It chirped, voice fairly firmly gender neutral - neither masculine nor feminine.

[acrasia]

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Racing in the shadows, the pounding of the feet While the old men get to praying and the children try to sleep Just another promise, they don't really care

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[atrb=border,0,true] VIGILANTE had decided that her shoelaces would prove an excellent distraction from looking the man in the face, but her ears - well-acquainted with all the nuances of listening - picked up on his slight accent almost immediately. There wasn't anything strange about that really. People hacked their way into the Japanese servers all the time. The issue she faced instead was whether or not to report him to the admins. She sat up slowly, turning her head to face him, more confident now that she had something of a trump card on the man. She tried to catch his eye, but the sudden approach of his partner Digimon intercepted the move. Leormon, more prone to bestial behaviors than civilized speech, hopped immediately from its place at her feet and set its front paws upon the bench seat, nostrils flaring. A low growl had kicked up in the creature's chest but a stern look from VIGILANTE silenced it. The Digimon chuffed in recognition, but kept its posture and gaze firmly focused on the intruder. "That's a shame," she said simply, face impassive. "Are you his messenger then?" It was a tactic she'd run into a couple times before - the Digimon would claim that its partner was mute and speak, or rather extract information, instead. If the two deemed their company safe, the tamer would reveal his voice and all was well. If not, then he would of course stay silent until his partner could form a decent excuse to get away. VIGILANTE had yet to decide which she preferred; the ones who recognized the wrong and tried to hide it or the ones who disregarded it altogether. It didn't really anger her in either case; she just was torn by her desire to fulfill the law and the recognition that some people just wanted a different environment to play their games in. For now she would hold judgment, despite any lingering desire to do something productive.

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[homme]

bronze tamer • crest of purity • kudamon

In utter truth, Homme had no idea he was actually breaking the rules. He hadn't done the signing up, hadn't read the entirely-japanese TOS. He had no real experience with games, let alone MMOs, and was only vaguely aware, from experience, that Japanese players tended not to like foreign players. There was, proverbially, a huge gap in his knowledge - unaware of so many things about the game that other people took for granted. There was no manual he had access to, no explanation at all - only what other players told him.

The kudamon was a talkative sort either way, and having a human who was almost mute he was so quiet meant that he got to do a whole lot of talking. "Yep! He just lets me do all the talking, and I'm fine with that. He talks sometimes, but only when people do that funny talking thing." While the kudamon was hardly clear with what he was talking about, he could hardly be blamed for that. As far as he could tell, humans talking English might as well be talking in code. It didn't make a bit of sense to him.

The digimon peeked down at the growling leormon, a little frown on his face. "And what's that for? It's rude to growl at strangers, you know!" Who knew - maybe the girl's digimon was like his partner, and didn't talk very much.

The kudamon went right back to perking up when Homme reached out, giving the ferret-digimon a scratch between the ears. "We could go out training. He seems to like that!" Homme did like training - more or less. It was a good distraction, and people tended to bother him less.

[acrasia]

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[style=width: 250px; border-bottom: 1px dotted #000000; font-family: arial narrow; font-size: 28px; text-align: center;]VIGILANTE

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Racing in the shadows, the pounding of the feet While the old men get to praying and the children try to sleep Just another promise, they don't really care

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[atrb=border,0,true] If she was honest with herself, Vigilante really didn't like hearing another Digimon scold her own. If she was beyond honest, she had to recognize that Leormon's behavior was a bit more hostile than it needed to be - though she appreciated the creature's attitude. A brief rub behind the ears and her partner settled down into silence and brought all four paws onto the ground before the bench. Its gaze remained unwavering, though. The girl paused to consider the offer, and to wonder if the Digimon could really take charge of its owner like that. Admittedly, she herself wouldn't ever deny her partner's instincts, but she had always separated her own thoughts from the rest of society. It was a bit strange to see someone else with so trusting a bond. That brought her full circle; it would be interesting to see how someone with (possibly) something in common with her would battle. Plus she still had some energy to burn. "All right," she said, standing again, "where shall we go?" Leormon, accepting the decision, moved to stand at her side, eyes still trained on the other Digimon - though with noticeably less hostility. Being the righteous sort, Leormon could appreciate a good duel and saw it as a mark of mutual respect and honor to go into non-threatening combat. Vigilante admired that about her partner. ooc: sorry about the late response. got bogged down with school lol.

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[homme]

[atrb=border,0,bTable] crest of purity • kudamon The kudamon seemed pleased when the leormon settled right down, and gave it a little smile before settling back on it's haunches. Homme had never thought of it as the Kudamon taking charge. For him, the game was like a guided tour. He had minimal interest in battling, and no way to differentiate moves. Even if he could tell the moves apart, all he could do was say them - he couldn't give any more direction than that. At the very least the AI in his digimon seemed to be pretty good. It was fully capable of battling on his own, and while he wasn't the best, he seemed to avoid taking too many chances. The kudamon took a moment to consider. "Well, we can go to the park if you want to fight the NPCs, or we can duel. There's a PVP area that-a-way." If lifted one paw to point down the street. Homme wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it seemed everyone was getting ready to go, so he opted to stand up, brushing himself off carefully. Just because he was silent didn't mean he didn't have any manners, and he gave the girl a polite little nod as he got ready to follow his digimon. (( Not a problem! ))

[acrasia]

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[style=width: 250px; border-bottom: 1px dotted #000000; font-family: arial narrow; font-size: 28px; text-align: center;]VIGILANTE

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Racing in the shadows, the pounding of the feet While the old men get to praying and the children try to sleep Just another promise, they don't really care

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[atrb=border,0,true] Vigilante much preferred the idea of a duel over mere NPC-battering. While the AI in the Digital world was certainly nothing to scoff at, there just wasn't as much satisfaction as in defeating (or being defeated by) another real person. Of course, Vigilante preferred not to examine the deeper connotations of such satisfaction. Her competitive side wasn't always in line with the moral code she had strictly followed these last few years. Not one for beating around the bush, she said simply "Duel." A soft growl kicked up again in young Leormon's throat, but it had a far less threatening ring, instead displaying its love for a good battle. The Digimon was up and ready to go before Vigilante herself to get to her feet, but didn't make any other move before the girl. Faithful to the end, he was devoted to follow her commands. The incessant tug of action had her moving a step or two before she realized that this man's name was still unknown to her. She paused and turned around, and, deciding to humor the man's mute act, pointed to herself saying "Vigilante." She pointed then at the stranger (purposely avoiding the gaze of his Digimon partner) and asked "You?" Considering the connotations of her own name, Vigilante couldn't help but inwardly smile at the thought that this poor foreigner didn't have a clue as to her intentions with him. Or probably, anyway. Perhaps he did know enough of the language to understand. But then why would he still be hanging around her?

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[homme]

[atrb=border,0,bTable] crest of purity • kudamon A duel? The Kudamon was alright with that, and he gave a little nod, heading along towards the dueling area. "Alright, a duel to the almost-defeat! Wouldn't want one of us getting defeated and having to respawn." The kudamon encouraged, entirely alright with the whole thing. Pain wasn't that much of a concern - maybe he could beat the little Leormon. Maybe. He wasn't exactly confident in his ability to win, but he was certainly willing to give it a good try. Maybe fifty fifty odds? Homme was actually hanging around her for a reason that might seem odd to most people - he simply enjoyed having other people around. Even if he didn't speak a word of Japanese, simply having someone there and knowing they were a real person was enough for him. It was encouraging. He'd been alone for quite a while, with minimal human contact. The gesturing caught him a bit off guard, but it was largely unmistakable. Almost anyone would recognize the gesture. Point at yourself, say your name, point at someone, ask theirs. Which meant 'vigilante' was her name. Foreign and Japanese, and he had not a clue the deeper meaning, but he was quick enough to pick up that yes, it was her name. Or handle, he supposed - few people would use their real name. He glanced at her, the kudamon pausing to look up at him. The kudamon didn't know itself - and it was fairly curious to hear his human's answer. "Homme." He answered. A single word, quick and easy. Homme - 'man'. Obviously not Japanese, but that was hardly a big deal. Lots of people used foreign words as handles.