[o] - Waiting Game

[Yu Jie Xianlao]

Yu Jie's eyes traced over Lucemon's wings slowly. Twitch. Twitch twitch. Narrowing his glance, Yu Jie could see just below what was causing the young digimon's excitement. A fish. Not just any fish of course, but a rare large martian fish. Shaking his head, Yu Jie sat back against the bench and looked elsewhere for something of interest. The city of Venice was a new experience for the man, but he wasn't enthralled by frivolous things like his partner. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Yu Jie only sent a short passing glance as he asked his question, but what he saw seemed answer enough on it's own.

Lucemon, who during last look was only admiring the fish, was now half draped over the waters with only a small portion of his legs still on the streets and his wings were beating furiously to keep him from tumbling in. The angel's eyes widened and he retracted his hands, which were about to shoot into the water, presumably to catch the fish that had his attention in the first place. "Nothing," Lucemon finally answered slowly, returning himself to a sitting position at the edge of the street. Twiddling his thumbs innocently, Lucemon seemed to retract into himself until he was small enough not to be seen. Bitterly, Yu Jie thought about how easy it was usually not to see the little pest.

"You're such a... a child, Lucemon," Yu Jie pressed his glasses up on his nose and swiftly pushed some of his hair back into his cap. "You never seem to understand that we have important things to do. Important meaning you probably shouldn't even be out right now. We may be on a 'back street' but someone could see you and then what kind of a situation do you think I'd be in?" His voice was as cold as ever, angry about things that the digimon could never fully understand.

"I was just trying to have a little fun... It's not like... not like I get to come out and play in the human world much anyway," Lucemon's voice was shaking slightly and he looked as if he were about to start crying. Bringing his fists up to his eyes, the digimon tried to wipe away any tears that could possibly come before Yu Jie had to see them. If he cried it would only make things even worse for him and he knew it.

Surprisingly out of character, Yu Jie just gazed out to the waters and let the issue drop there. Normally he would pursue Lucemon's emotion until the little thing really was in a state of disrepair, but today it just didn't feel like the best option. "You look ridiculous when you're about to cry like that," Strangely enough, though it could have sounded offensive to anyone else, that statement was to Lucemon what a hug would be to a child. When the digimon looked back up he had the slightest of smiles on his face, knowing that Yu Jie was at least in a better mood than usual.

[antidigioflite]

A tall, blond bartender was strolling the streets of Little Venice a little too casually. For that matter, the bartender was probably a little too casual when he was on the job. His semi-short blond hair was unruly, left to its own vices instead of slicked back or spiked. The bartender was wearing sunglasses, a bow tie and tux, and he was discarding a cigarette. The tux was the closest he got to in-bar professionalism.

The bartender was with a person of average height who donned a yellow rain coat. His companion had gone to great lengths to protect themselves from not just rain, but light. The person in the rain coat didn't expose an inch of skin. Their sleeves, like the rain coat itself, were too long, and they were wearing oversized rain boots. Suffice to say that as a pair, the rain coat enigma and the bartender looked even shadier than they would've on their own.

The two didn't seem to be headed anywhere in particular. Maybe they were just hanging out, "Did your boss say it was okay to leave work like that, Ross?" The question emerged from the hood of the rain coat, more curious than concerned, "Fuck approval, I didn't ask 'em, Red." The bartender, Ross, snorted in reply. The hooded figure, Red, giggled like an elementary schooler would, at the f-word… But they-- Or he, was a bit too tall and perhaps bulky to be a child.

Red's voice was a hint masculine, "Your boss wouldn't believe you if you told him you were going to meet up with a date offline, huh?" It was impossible to tell whether or not Red was serious, but Ross wasn't unattractive, so he had to be joking, "Whoa, whoa, whoa…! It's not--!" The bartender began to protest and stopped himself, "Yeah, that's what's up…" Ross' scowl said otherwise.

It wasn't immediately obvious, but Ross and Red were slowly leaving the regularly commuted streets. In an alley, Red spoke again, "I smell a Digimon, we're going the right way." Ross shot him a skeptical look, "Are you serious or are you trying to lead me down some intricate, back street path to a place with food again? The latter is not gonna fly this time…"

He continued to chide Red with, "And today you nearly blew our cover twice." Ross crossed his arms, "I'm serious, Ross! And you weren't complaining while you were munching on takoyaki last time!" Red pouted verbally, "Fine, if there is a digimon, then lead the way…" Ross huffed, "But you can't eat data, either." He had to get back at Red somehow, "Especially if it's with a human and not attacking them." That was how it was supposed to be, anyway.

"It's called downloading." Red felt smart when he said that, "On second thought, you can defeat the digimon and download it or whatever, if it's not tame. Just don't bust up any buildings in the process." Red nodded and took off down an alleyway. When he didn't stop running and Ross kept following, he realized he was being lead to the backmost backstreets.

'Shit, I hope I'm not about to witness a Digimon mugging.' The good intent he was focusing on meeting up with a Chosen Child who hadn't allied themselves with the Digi|Destined yet, was lost in that thought briefly. He was also the concerned that a Digimon might've shown up in Little Venice where he agreed to meet up with a potential Anti Digi|Destined recruit, ironically. Their plan to meet seemed spontaneous in case they were being spied on.

Ross told the guy, who went by Less Than Empathetic in Chatroom, that all he had to do was stay hidden, bring his Digimon, and he would find him one way or another. Ross had been searching for survivors of the Children's Plague. His method of searching was simple, but the search itself was extensive. From the internet to casual chats, traveling around in realtime, he asked people who weren't ridiculously far from his age what they experienced during the Plague.

Usually he presented the topic of the Plague dark humorously… The past was the past, after all. If they caught it and they were still alive, then they were like him, a Chosen Child with a Digimon partner and a Digivice that resembled a card. That or they were bullshitting for whatever reason, but Ross hadn't met anyone like that yet. With some luck LTE wouldn't be the first, even though that guy really didn't come across as the lying type online.

Suddenly the maze of narrow passageways between buildings ended and Ross saw one of Little Venice's many canals. What set this canal apart from the others was that he couldn't see a street on the other side of it. They were standing on the edge of Mars' civilization and he was reminded of the island, where his house, or the Anti Digi|Destined's base was located.

Scientists melted a glacier long ago and it flooded Little Venice enough to make it an archipelago, there was water as far as the eye could see on the artificial island. This street was probably sinking slowly year by year, supported by stilts, unlike the island-- "Look, Ross, look, I found the guys we were supposed to meet up with!" Red called, pointing a claw at Yu Jie and Lucemon.

Ross turned toward the other Chosen Child and his digimon, he waved at them and cracked a grin to make up for his inattention, "Hey, Less Than Empathetic…" Ross greeted Yu Jie by his username, which was much more creative than his own, I Have Questions, "I'm I Have Questions and my real name's Ross Meyer, nice to meet you 'cause you actually have a Digimon." He nodded at Lucemon in confirmation, "This is BlackGuilmon, but you can call him Red." Ross motioned to him. Red let his hood fall, revealing his reptilian Digimon features.

"So, now that introductions are out of the way, what would suit you two best? Going back to base and discussing my cause for gathering people with Digimon or discussing it here before you're involved any further?" Ross asked, this whole situation reminded him of the games children played with their imagination's… Except the monsters, digimon, were real and so was his base and the villains, the Digi|Destined, whom he opposed.

[Yu Jie Xianlao]

Lucemon returned himself to sitting at the edge of the street. He wanted to catch a fish, just to ask it some questions, but he knew better after how nice Yu Jie had been. Tempting fate was never the best idea. The digimon tilted his head slightly, staring at his reflection on the waters. Clearly thoughts were running through the angel's mind, but he didn't put voice to any of them. Most curious of all was the touch of sadness he seemed to suddenly be feeling by the look of himself in the waters. Yu Jie was always frustrated when he saw Lucemon though because the legend of Lucemon in digimon lore painted him as a powerful being, ruling heavens or hells with his power, but this Lucemon seemed to have fallen from glory. This Lucemon, the only one Yu Jie had ever seen, was a cowardly fool with hopes and dreams that would never be realized. For a moment, Yu Jie wondered if Lucemon felt the shame of being such a weak digimon when he was suppose to be something so much greater.

After a few moments of silence, each present party wrapped up in their own concerns, Lucemon's wings suddenly twitched and his gaze perked up. "Someone is coming. And they have a digimon with them I think."The digimon's eyes narrowed considerably as the figures came into sight. "That's them," Lucemon whispered to Yu Jie so the two approaching couldn't hear him. Yu jie waited, though he didn't have to wait long, for the man to speak. Taking in the other man by appearance, Yu Jie was somewhat surprised to come to the conclusion that the man was most likely older than himself. Based upon the way that they communicated before, Yu Jie had assumed he was at least a year or two older, though he always was such a stern figure in comparison to others.

"Ross," Yu Jie started, just after the other man introduced himself. Sending his gaze elsewhere, over the waters, Yu Jie spoke once more, "I am Yu Jie Yuan Xianlao. Most people just refer to me as Yu Jie or Yu. You may use either." His tone was very flat and almost disinterested, but he did hold a lot of interest in the situation. "And Red. This is Lucemon." The young man made a short hand-gesture to his angelic little partner, who looked up at his tamer with a confused interest. Cautiously, Lucemon returned his gaze to the two newcomers and muttered, "Usually he calls me annoying. Or well, angel. But I don't really care what you call me." The creature smiled with an innocence that caused Yu Jie to roll his eyes.

Yu Jie fell silent, causing Lucemon to fall silent with his look, so that Ross could continue speaking. 'Right to business I see. That works for me,' Yu Jie thought with a skeptical look. He made sure not to answer too quickly, but Yu Jie already had an idea of what he'd like to do and what would probably be best for the moment. "For now, I'd like to stay here. Once we get into some more delicate issues, if I'm sold, we can begin for the base. Why rush matters such as these?" His voice was somewhat cold and he always kept it even. To others, Yu Jie would seem like an entirely disinterested man. This was the price he payed for being so cautious and collected. Yu Jie despised getting into things with his heart rather than his head.

While he spoke, Lucemon apparently decided that the matter didn't truly concern him for the moment and he returned to his interests. Leaning over the water, the little digimon looked rather sad at his reflection once more. Yu Jie didn't like seeing his partner like that, but he wasn't exactly sure what to do to make him stop moping. Smirking slightly, the tamer came up with just the cure. "If it's so interesting, why not take a closer look?" Yu Jie said such just as he tapped the digimon in the back with his shoe. The reaction he received was just what he expected: a startled flailing that sent Lucemon head-first into the waters. Wide-eyed, the digimon returned to the surface and turned his eyes on Yu Jie. After a few slightly tense moments of the digimon began laughing slightly and he uttered softly, "A fish just tickled my foot."

'Crisis averted I guess,' Yu Jie felt a smile try to tug it's way onto his face, but he denied it. "So... where were we? Ah, no I remember. We should converse where we go from here in terms of our allies. What would you wish of me, should I chose to give you my... loyalty." The word was one that Yu Jie used, but never truly meant. Loyalty meant nothing. There was no such thing as a pure intention in this cruel world.