Suns Go Dim. [Kite, Devil, & Jinx]

[lane]

i a m d r e a m i n g . . .

. . . t h i s i s a d r e a m . . .

. . . t h i s i s n o t r e a l .

^{"Sensei. . . "}

What was this pain?

In all his days of lucid dreaming, he never once felt actual pain. Usually any inflicted injury only consisted of a tingly feeling, but nothing further than that. It was...uncomfortable to say the least. A sprained ankle... his back bent backwards... his neck twisted a tad too gallingly to the left. He recognized these types of aches, he hadn't been attacked.

He had fallen.

Lane kept his eyes closed, not prepared to take the risk of losing this dream by taking in any images yet. He felt the earth beneath his palms while gently digging his fingertips into the moist soil. The boy stirred after feeling an odd sensation on his cheek. Something warm and wet was tapping against his face. Lightly... over and over... It shared the consistency of damp sandpaper. Then there was that voice again, cooing softly in his ear in attempt to bring him to consciousness.

"Please wake up. . ."

I know that voice. . .

Yes, it had been the voice he heard ever since he could dream. Just before he woke up each time, he heard that same faint feminine voice call out to him. The entire reason he wanted to lucid dream in the first place was to find out who that voice belonged to. Why did someone in his dreams care about him more than anyone on reality? It was the only way.

"No. . . I can't. . . I don't want to. . . "

That was odd. Once he spoke he felt his breath brush past his lips, a sensation he never once experienced when dreaming. This was beginning to feel all too real for his comfort. Then there was that tapping again on the side of his cheek. It almost felt like... a tongue? The warmth moved from his cheek back to his ear, and he could feel the shivering warm puffs of air emit from whatever it was.

"Please, Lane. . . I want to meet you."

Lane wasn't sure why he felt so moved by the voice's plea. It was enough to get him to roll to his side, facing the source of the voice while he slowly began to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was light, bright light coming from every direction. There was that... then... trees? The strong scent of fresh foliage infiltrated his sense of smell. Everything was so vivid... and slowly becoming clearer and clearer until he spotted something round and blue in his vision.

Lane was suddenly faced with what appeared to be a dismembered raccoon head in a metal helmet. While most probably would have ran from the mere sight of it, he was met with those large red eyes of it. Though red eyes were probably the most frightening feature of any animal, he didn't feel afraid. He saw small tears forming in those big eyes, and the muzzle of the creature gently grew into a smile. Once she winced, the tears that had welled in her eyes rolled down her blue cheeks.

"Sensei. . ."

And with that, she leapt forward, nuzzling and licking the bridge of Lane's nose over and over. The only response he could muster was a widening of the eyes. So he had been waiting to meet this strange creature this whole time...? This was the strangest dream he had yet. What had been even stranger were the peculiar digital device and necklace sitting not too far from where the little thing leapt from. His gaze was fixated mostly on those items rather than the thing drowning him with affection.

[BlackGuilmon]

...There was someone nearby.

He could hear them... voices.

It was day and the world was bright, so these voice were clearly not the malevolent whispers that twisted their way through his mind whenever this world was cursed with darkness. Besides, these voices were definitely not dark in nature and he knew dark nature rather well.... Unfortunately. That wasn't important at the moment really, not as important as the fact that these voices had somehow dragged him from his deepest thought processes. For the first time in ages he felt a long since forgotten sense of curiosity suddenly flare up, something that kept him from just staying in his patch of sunlight with his eyes vacantly staring off into nothing.

For once, BlackGuilmon was actually going to go investigate something... How terribly exciting and out of the ordinary for him that was. Really after an existence spent ignoring the world around him, a world that really didn't seem to care if he existed or not, a world that would go on just fine without him... The very idea, the very notion that he gave a damn about anything going on near him might have been quite enough to turn the world on its side and send them all sliding off into oblivion. But now really was not the time for an endless strand of thoughts, now was the time to go investigate who was here besides him. For all he knew they could be a threat, one that could sneak right up on him and take him down.

He knew even in the brightness of day this world held its own dangers, and he needed to be aware of them if he was to survive he supposed. So with that final thought he finally uncurled from his spot in the dirt and got up, sharp claws gently brushing over scaled skin to clear off any accumulated dust. He sniffed the air to gauge the distance, took an experimental step to ensure he wouldn't be heard too quickly... And once deciding his footsteps were muffled enough by the forest floor he went on ahead. He was already making up plans on what to do if he did in fact find the voices belonged to threats, body consciously ready to turn and flee on a moment's notice.

...But nowhere in his mind was what to do if what he found was not a threat, if what he found was friendly. He had no idea what to do if that was the case, given his oh so sadly limited social interactions and lack of skills with which to do social things. He'd always sat off to the side, was always the quiet one... How to interact properly with another was not something he could think through and plan. That was where everything fell apart, where everything could no longer be mapped out or predicted.

This made him nervous but he couldn't let it get through to him, lest it sabotage his clear mind and rob him of his rational thought. He had to pay attention, focus... He was getting closer now, not too far just a bit more and he'd see who the speakers were. Body still prepared to flee he dared to continue, trying to not even breath too loudly as his steps suddenly seemed like the loudest thunder claps. Anxiety was creeping through him like a cancer and suspense had him in a stranglehold as he got closer and closer...

Only for everything to just cease as through the leaves he saw a human and an in-training Digimon... A Kapurimon he thought.

He suddenly felt rather daft for getting so worked up over this, for getting so worried... But there was still the notion in him that they might not be as harmless as they seemed. He could be taken for a threat as well, and quite frankly he couldn't blame them for jumping to such a conclusion no matter how untrue it may be. He was already backing away even, aiming to get away before he was sensed so any awkward or dangerous situation could be avoided. However he was careless, stepping on a branch which seemed to snap so loudly.

_"...Bugger."

If they somehow hadn't heard the branch snap then they probably would have heard him mutter, causing him to pointlessly freeze up... Pointlessly because what good was it going to do for him to stand here like a statue? He knew that the answer was absolutely none but even so he still did not move a single fraction of an inch. Perhaps for once in his existence he wanted to be noticed, to be acknowledged. Though the other option was that he was simply too scared to move, the preparedness to run lost in his panic.

So much for all that planning.

[lane]

And the rodent kisses continued while Lane stared at the strange objects behind her. His eyes barely widened as if being struck with a sudden familiarity, but the cold air that had hit his nose finally woke him from his trance and tore him from his thoughts. The boy finally acknowledged the creature who had jumped back, giggling softly while brushing the tears from her cheeks with her raccoon-like tail.

"F. . .forgive me, Sensei . . . I was just beginning to think that this day would never come."

Sensei, sensei, sensei. She knew his name, she had spoke it earlier. Why sensei of all things she could have called him? Lane finally found the strength to push himself off the ground and sit up. As he stared down at the creature blankly, it was becoming obvious that 'whatever it was' had begun to feel nervous around the boy. He hadn't said anything to her yet. Did she do something wrong? Did she insult him somehow? The creature dipped its maw in submission, red eyes flicking to the ground. "I. . . I forgot to introduce myself. . . f-forgive me. . ."

For some reason, seeing the little monster shrink from him struck a nerve. He'd seen that weakness within himself before, and the fact that he was making someone...er..something feel the same way bothered him. So close to shutting down... so close to giving up. He wouldn't allow it. Lane's expression sunk into a frown and he growled to her gently. "Don't apologize to me."

The scolding was enough to cause her to look back up at Lane again, at first in surprise.. but then she managed a smile. She bowed to him again, trying to relax in his presence. "Understood. I am Kapurimon, your digimon partner." She said with a soft pride before briefly nodding to the objects behind her. "That is your crest tag and digivice. You will use those to help me become stronger in order to save both our worlds."

Well, that was more like it. At least she wasn't blubbering anymore. If anything, Lane was pleasantly surprised how quickly she changed her demeanor due a simple command. Instead of focusing on the what the hell the digital world was or why their worlds were in danger, he began to examine Kapurimon now. Yes, she was familiar, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on where he had seen something like her before. The digimon had stopped talking once she noticed he was staring at her. In attempt to break the awkward silence, she offered him a little smile. Once Lane realized how quiet he had gotten he shook himself from his thoughts once again. "Kapurimon?"

KkCK!

"Bugger . . ."

Both human and digimon slowly turned their gazes to what appeared to be a large black lizard nearby. While Kapurimon's fur bristled at the sight of strange digimon, Lane just sat there with a rather absent gaze. Ever the cautious digimon, Kapurimon leapt in front of her tamer, hissing towards the BlackGuilmon softly while the hairs on her tail stood like needles. "State your business."

[[ ooc; since Devil wants to post next I think we finally has a posting order O: it'll go Me > Devil > Kite > Jinx. SOUND GEWD? ]]

[margaret]

.....grass? Why was there grass? She lived under a freeway, in her tent. She should be feeling the floor of her tent under her cheek, or concrete, but never grass. Unless she was dreaming, but her dreams were always fleeting and colorful and unreal. This felt real.

So it became real. She accepted the fact that the grass was real, that the surprisingly fresh air was real, and that whatever she saw when she opened her eyes would be real. But she wouldn't open them just yet, just in case she'd just land back on the concrete. Speaking of landing.... she felt bruised. Had one of the kids beat her up? No, she was on grass, not concrete, and her glasses were still perched snugly on her nose.

"Margarine! Maaaaargarine!! Wake up already!"

What in the world....? Well now she simply had to open her eyes. She believed what she saw--a small orange puffball with legs and a tail and an insanely happy smile on its face--not only because this was real, but because she'd seen this puffball for most of her life. This puffball was the thing she'd had to train her eyes to see, and why she started seeing all the other little monsters, too. "Why are you talking about butter?"

"Butter? What's butter? Is it like Butterflymon?"

"..like a...... butterfly? No, not at all. Butter is fat from a cow, and us humans spread it on food and stuff to make it taste better. Margarine is fake butter."

"Why would you be named after fat?"

...oh. Now she understood. The puffball was calling for her, and it felt more right than anything she'd even heard or felt. "My name is Margaret, silly!"

...oh. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How did she manage to get her name wrong? The name she'd been calling from the beginning, and she had said it wrong at the crucial moment. Animal fat. How would Margarine--Margaret--ever be friends with her? This first meeting wasn't going very well at all. "Oh... sorry Margaret.... I'm Viximon. I'm your very own Digimon partner! And your digivice and crest tag are right behind me. Want me to get them? I'll get them."

The little creature scurried off and came back with a thing and a necklace in its--her--mouth, then deposited them both at Margaret's feet. She picked up the necklace and slipped it over her head, only a little surprised to see that her normally faded clothes had been restored to their vibrant glory. She picked up the 'digivice' and watched as it came alive in her hand, displaying two red dots on the screen and beeping. "...a game! Hot n' cold!! Come on, Viximon, let's play!"

"Sure, Margaret!" This was better. They seemed to be getting off on the right paw now, almost as if they knew each other. She scurried in little circles around Margaret, the happiest she'd been in, well, forever.

She ran towards the blinking dot at the edge of the screen, watching in delight as it moved closer and closer to her own red dot. "Almost there!!" She sped up, not stopping as she broke through the treeline, not even slowing down until she was a few dozen feet away from the blinking dot--another person, a man. She finally came to a halt, breathing hard, a few yards away from the man and his own little puffball.

She was right there with her partner, even her breathing similarly strained.

"....HI YOU GUYS!!"

[nicodemus]

Not far from the newly-arrived digidestined and their partners, a lone figure sat halfway curled against a moss-covered tree.

The small shape shifted only slightly, dark eyes focused on something in front of him. It captured his attention completely, but that was a stretch to admit - there was hardly any attention to be caught. The boy - for that's what he was - stared ahead with distant and uncaring eyes. The air where he watched seemed to flutter, turning alive with literally solid blocks of oxygen. The blocks flickered through transparency, adopting a bright green glow as a twisting, twining plant curled up in the path they made. The blocks looked, to all appearances, like pixels.

Synthetic and literal building blocks of life. Life? Was this place technically alive?

All too soon the light show ended, and it left the boy breathing heavier. His hand dropped into the dust at his side, away from a keyboard that sat strung about the neck. A tiny plant still remained, grown by nothing but his energy and hacking skill.

He lifted his head at the sound of engagement. Distant but there. It wasn't a rare occurrence - friendly wild digimon would converse with each other when they crossed paths. With him, sometimes, even. In fact, the few digimon he'd spoken to were the only friends he counted on this sparse and dangerous world. They tolerated him, and a few perhaps even liked him. At these instances of friendship the boy would have a hard time on the inside. He regarded the Yokomon - the.. cute?... pink little things that had welcomed him into their village not long after his arrival here - as meaningless creatures. This was because they were so numerous and so similar.. isn't that the way humans treated populations like that? Like insects? But the digimon that travelled alone, or didn't have enormous, local families.. they seemed more individualized. It was in this sense that Nicodemus settled on a blatant confusion with these creatures that didn't exist but did exist. He'd come to accept them as just there.

In all essence this was a dream. Or, maybe more likely, a game. Why else would his modifications work? Just like the monsters that wandered around him, Nicodemus saw the entire world as something that was simply there. He would lapse into constant silence - which was often, considering how seldom he had anyone to speak to - and just think. How could he get out? How could he wake up? Was there a way? What if.. what if he were to die?

He knew how. He knew how he could get out. But it wasn't possible. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack. That digimon he'd been told he should've gotten.. if he could find it--

--...maybe he could leave. But did he really want to leave? Sure this place was dangerous and lonely, but it was almost completely similar to the real world. His real world.

The dark whirring in his head didn't help. It never helped. But it was there, and after a while he stopped questioning it. It was, admittedly, a kind of sadistic feeling of satisfaction to wonder about it. He liked it. Or told himself that he liked it. It was normal. There was no real explanation. But it told him that no, your place is here.

forever and ever and ever

and ever and

Half-closed eyes blinked once, as a shout sounded in the not-so-far distance. Someone new had joined the previous engagement. He figured it was just some wild digimon. Though.. most of the time they were quieter, unless they were fighting. It took a great deal of time to stand, but once he did, he strode purposefully and near-silently in their direction. He had nothing better to do, anyway.

The boy slowed to a barely-interested stop amid trees and brush, on the side of the clearing opposite where the dark-colored Guilmon had made known its presence. He didn't notice anything beyond those four in the clearing, though. Nicodemus stared at the two humans, even here barely registering that they had two tiny digimon at their sides.

Humans.
Right? Though he didn't let himself become too visibly interested. He'd heard of digimon - though he hadn't met one, yet - that resembled people. It could be a cruel trick.

He made no effort to hide himself, though he hadn't stepped out of the foliage yet. The curiosity he felt was dulled down only because of the whirr whirr whirr whi--

[BlackGuilmon]

"State your business."

Well... This really wasn't starting out too well now was it? He couldn't help but take note of the fact Kapurimon seemed ready to rend him limb from limb if needed... Not that she could but BlackGuilmon was focused on her intentions and whatnot, not her capabilities. He took a moment to glance over at Lane, noticing he didn't seem nearly as on edge as the little metalheaded puffball in front of him. He felt a sudden sense of intrigue, wondering why exactly they were here... Both in purpose and just simply why they had to end up here.

However he could think of that later, when he wasn't being labeled as a threat and was off alone somewhere again. He had to think of how exactly he could manage to disarm the situation, for by all rights he knew that he looked dangerous. Not just because of the claws of course as most Digimon had them and it was common enough but... His coloring mostly... But enough about all that, he needed to make himself seem nonthreatening. Walking out where he could be seen with his paws up in a 'don't shoot' fashion would most likely work, the in-training before him seemed level-headed enough for it to after all.

_{"....HI YOU GUYS!!"}

It took him a moment to fully register that he had jumped some at the other human's rather sudden and loud arrival, now sort of hunched down and staring in Margaret's direction as he tried to get over the little anxiety attack her entrance had incurred... Okay it wasn't quite that bad, but still he was pretty startled. Though maybe this could work in his favor some to prove he wasn't a threat, he didn't know how exactly but he figured it could. He knew he should probably still go out there though, so everyone could see he was there and then decide he was nothing to be afraid of... At least he hoped things would go in that direction. So he sort of cautiously crept out from the shadows of the trees to just inside the clearing, closing his eyes a bit due to the sunlight.

"I assure you I mean no harm. I merely came because I was curious about the voices." He assured the Kapurimon, before he went silent again. He looked over at Margaret again, gaze flicking to the Viximon at her side for a short moment. He didn't seem entirely sure if he should greet her for whatever reason, lest that cause her to yell again... He really didn't want anymore yelling. Then again it might be rude to not give any indication he had heard her greeting... Despite the fact there was no possible way he couldn't have... And in the end just sort of ended up giving them a nod of acknowledgment.

A moment after this however he seemed to become aware of something, another presence near here that signaled the arrival of yet another individual... The forest was quite popular today wasn't it? He looked straight across the clearing from where he had come in, yellow eyes becoming fixed on the human standing there... He couldn't help but notice this one didn't seem to be accompanied by a Digimon. This was rather perplexing, as he figured any human in this world would be accompanied by one. A human in the Digital World meant they were a Digidestined, he had heard certain things that confirmed that... So why didn't this human have one?

He supposed this was one thing he'd never know.