(no subject)

[angry_friendship_wolf]

[OOM: Look, we're both stuck in this place. I'll use lasers to inscribe a line down the centre of Odaiba, and one half will be where you live, and I'll live in the other half.]

Yamato's not sulking, you're sulking.

Gabumon's not with him today, because he's too busy finishing off Yamato's half of a pizza, which Yamato left mostly untouched in favour of wandering into Milliways with a notepad covered in various scribbled notes on everything he's learned today regarding that whole Infected Digimon problem.

(All of which feels particularly pointless without their glorious leader.)

When he slumps down at - wait, are those heart decorations above the bar? Is it Valentine's Day? Somehow that just makes everything seem worse. Bar does handily provide a milkshake, though. It's bright pink and decorated with a grapefruit slice shaped like a heart.

"Thanks," he says glumly, and prods at the bottom of the milkshake with the straw.

[Open until it scrolls, feel free to millitime threads before or after the beginning of handcuffs plot, as suits.]

Comments

[hot_water]

Tahno sashays up to the bar for a shot of firewhiskey, but turns to Yamato as soon as he notices him. "Where's ya lizard friend, kid?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Eating pizza," Yamato says, jabbing a thumb at the door. "He didn't want to leave it. You know, in case someone else ate it instead."

[hot_water]

"Yeah, that's a good call," Tahno drawls, chuckling. "So what's got yer goat? Why so glum?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm not glum," Yamato lies, stirring his milkshake with great vim.

[hot_water]

Tahno chuckles, his voice deep and smooth. "Sure, kiddo," he drawls pleasantly, waggling his fingers at his whiskey shot to make the alcohol jump up and wind around his fingers in little globules. "So what have ya been up ta since I last saw ya? Still tryin' ta save the world?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Some of us are," Yamato mutters, ignoring his milkshake for a moment in favour of scribbling another note on the notepad. It's a quick, jagged note about something Koushiro said regarding space-time ages ago which isn't really relevant to anything. "What about you? Still tossing water at people for fun and profit?"

[hot_water]

"Hell, yeah, that's me," Tahno drawls, popping a whiskey globule in his mouth. "What's the notebook fer?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"We learned a lot of important information today and yesterday. Someone has to keep track of it, and our usual well-organised member is busy with exams," Yamato says. "And probably will be for the remainder of his natural life. So, I'm keeping track of it all."

Although really, a lot of these notes could be replaced with the words 'Mr. Yamato Yagami' angrily scribbled out with a few broken hearts dotted around them, and they'd still serve more or less the same purpose as far as Yamato's concerned.

[hot_water]

"Who's we?" Tahno drawls, raising a brow. "Ya and yer friends? And what'd ya learn this time?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Me and the rest of the Chosen," Yamato says. "Or most of us, at least. We can't get a hold of some of our younger members, and Jyou's busy, and - other people are having problems of their own."

He jots another note down. "That space-time is becoming distorted; Digimon are getting infected with some kind of disease that makes them insane and lets them materialise in the Analog World without a gate; our main contact in the Digital World would apparently rather talk to a really shady government group than us - things like that. Nothing good. Still worth remembering."

[hot_water]

"This Chosen group sounds huge," Tahno drawls, freezing his whiskey into a cane to suck on. "Last time space was distorted it was that what's-his-name's fault, right? Could he be back and messin' things up again, or is the trouble from someone different this time?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"There's only twelve of us. Don't know if you'd call that huge or not," Yamato says. "He could be back. God knows enough of his servants survived in some form or another. Or it could be someone else."

He taps the notepad. "It's this disease that's worrying. We've never seen Digimon get sick before. I don't even know how that happens."

[hot_water]

"A dozen is a decent number, yeah," Tahno drawls, wrapping his mouth around his frozen liquor. "Can they catch it from bein' around each other? And there's no cure yet, right?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Alone today?" Ysalwen asks, coming up on Yamato with Liranan trotting at her heels.

"Is it -- do you mind if I ask if you find it strange?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I don't mind," Yamato says, stirring his milkshake. "It's not that strange for me. Even when we're not cut off from each other, Gabumon and I aren't always together. I, er, can't exactly take him to school, he'd draw attention."

Beat.

"Besides, he's busy finishing off some pizza."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Ah, well," Ysalwen says, smiling faintly. "If it's pizza, then."

A pause.

"Would you mind some company for a little while, do you think?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Not at all. I can order food for us, if you'd like," Yamato says. "How've you and Liranan been?"

As he speaks, he reaches out a hand, a little absently, to ruffle Liranan's ears.

[freedom_is_grey]

"If you wouldn't mind, I'm sure Liranan would say yes."

She smiles a little less faintly, even as she takes a seat.

Liranan, meanwhile, is very intrigued by this ear-ruffling and would like Yamato to continue it into infinity. Or for a couple more minutes.

"We've been -- busy? I found where my friend had been -- the one I was mapping rumors about last time we spoke. And now I have some interesting elven language puzzles to study. Isn't it lovely when people write things in code?"

Dry as bone, Ysalwen is, just now.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Oh, I love it when people write in code. Codes, riddles, ciphers, it's all loads of fun," Yamato says dryly. "How did finding where your friend is lead to that, then? If they're related at all."

Liranan, he suspects, is an easy one to feed, so he orders a steak and some chicken in a dog bowl and sets it down on the floor.

"Do you want anything?" He asks Ysalwen. Yamato isn't so much hungry himself, but it occurs to him that he's barely eaten all day.

[freedom_is_grey]

"Bread and cheese? It's something of a staple where I'm from. Filling, too."

Hooray!

"As for, well. I can't tell if she left it so I'd research what she's looking for and find her, or if she was just careless. I -- suspect the former."

Because: Morrigan.

"She neither believes in being straightforward nor in friendship, so. Tests abound."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato orders some bread and cheese, and while he only asks for one plate of it, Bar (somewhat pointedly) provides two. Yamato looks a bit put out at that, but he doesn't try to argue.

"That sounds incredibly frustrating," he says. "If she wants you to find her, bothering with puzzles seems - pretty unnecessary."

Yamato's not great with lack-of-straightforwardness.

[freedom_is_grey]

"I admit that I do like that she trusts me to be clever enough to figure it out. Insofar as that goes."

Her smile is wry.

"In the past I think she would have left no sign at all."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"That's - progress, I suppose," Yamato says, splitting off a piece of his bread and dropping it down into Liranan's bowl without looking. "How long have you known her?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"About -- huh. About a year before she vanished?"

Ran away is the term that Ysalwen refuses to use even in her head. It seems -- a bad idea to give it a chance to ever come out of her mouth.

"Why?"

Ysalwen picks up a piece of cheese and sets it on top of the bread. Then she takes a bite.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"No particular reason," Yamato says, shrugging. "It just seemed worth asking, especially since it sounds like it, er, probably took a while to befriend her."