Seeing Doubles in the Snow [Hunter/Kotone]

[Hunter Gaul]

3:35 - The Alpine Steppe

Hunter was more than a little happy that he always wore a jacket and a hat, what with the almost instant change in weather and climate he had just experienced. Him and Alecto had just crossed from the Eastern sector into the North, and the two immediately began to feel chilled by the sudden onset of snow. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, as the white, fluffy flakes made the hills and forests they were passing through look very lovely. Eventually, they somewhat got used to the frosty weather, with Alecto's head and wings peeking out from Hunter's zipped up jacket, her wings stretching past either side of his face. Sure, he no longer had any peripheral vision because of this, but, as long as his partner was happy, he was happy.

Eventually, after trekking for some time, they stopped on top of a snow-covered hill to take a short rest. The reason for their journey up north was to catch a view of the scenery and see what was happening in this particular, far-flung region of the Digital World. From their spot on the hill, they had a very good view of the Sigma Mountain range, and knew that Borealis City was nestled somewhere within the large expanse of rock and ice.

Alecto, having felt the need to stretch her legs and wings some after hiding in her Tamer's jacket, promptly wiggled her way out of Hunter's jacket and took a short fly around the hill. She was quite enjoying the scenery so far, as she had never been to the North before, and had only heard about snow. Whilst flying around, she could see how far away they were from the mountains, and made a note to inform Hunter. She was almost certain her and her Tamer could find something interesting up to do in Borealis City. Maybe they'd stop by the infamous card shop there and "talk" him into a "free sample" pack. Circling back to Hunter, she promptly landed on his left shoulder and turned her head to look at his face before speaking, "If we keep at the pace we're going, and we don't get stopped by say, a blizzard or a pack of angry Frigimon, then we should be pretty well into the mountains by tomorrow, I think."

At that, Hunter reached up and patted Alecto on the head. He knew that she liked to be appreciated, even if she would never admit to it. "Thank you, Alecto. Please don't jinx us though. I get the feeling that, now that you've said that, we should be mindful of sudden blizzards and pissing off a Frigimon. I'd knock on wood, if we had any."

He heard Alecto let out a sound similar to an appreciative purr at being patted, but felt her brush away his hand with her right wing, the one with the white ribbon he had given her when they first met. Looking up at her Tamer, she rolled her eyes in a exaggerated way. "Oh please, you and your human superstitions. We've nothing to fear just because I brought up a possibility. Besides, any silly ice Digimon that comes near you will feel my full fury. I will make them wish they had never hatched." Hunter could only roll his own eyes in response to the Virus Digimon. She always acted a little too big for her britches. 

Taking another look around, the young, white-haired man saw other Digimon making their way up north, the occasional human in tow. No doubt they were all heading to Borealis City, as he figured most didn't come out this way just to explore or live on the glacier or something. It was at this point he believed he heard crunching of feet coming up the hill, but he wasn't quite certain, and began scratching behind Alecto's ears until he was proven right or wrong in what he was hearing.

[CLAIRE LYON]

As reckless as we are

“Are we dreaming now?”

Hunter Gaul

Kotone was a little new to the whole Digimon thing.

She was used to being alone most of the time, not having some little creature following her around everywhere she went. Despite naming it after a dog and trying to think of the- what was it- "Tsukaimon" as a pet, she was still finding all of this a bit difficult to comprehend... especially when the little thing kept speaking to her.

"This way to the city, master!"

Still so weird. She pinched the bridge of her sniffling nose and rubbed her hand on her cheek, hoping to bring some warmth back to it. It was at this point that Tosa landed on her shoulder, causing Kotone to jump and push her off, frowning. She hated being touched unexpectedly, to be quite honest, and little animals and / or digimon weren't exempt from that.

"Don't- don't do that."

Tosa grunted with effort began to fly again, straining her wings against the winds, which were picking up. For someone that insisted on being combatitive and aggressive to most people they came across, the Tsukaimon seemed to be happy to obey Kotone without question, even when it was inconvenient for her, like flying up a cold, snowy hill.

Luckily, Tosa had told her to bring her jacket before heading into another world. She hadn't believed she would need it at first- it was still summer in Tokyo- but now she was glad she'd listened. She pulled it closer around her and tugged her hat down more with the futile hope that it would cover her ears- she'd never liked extreme temperatures in any way, and she felt her ears stinging in protest.

With a sigh of irritation, she kept trekking up the hill. At least she knew that new device she had was her ticket out of here, if she ever got tired of this crap and wanted to go home- which might be soon, if they didn't reach this city fast enough. She hoped Tosa knew what she was talking about.

Ah- another person.

Probably a good time to take a second to breathe and ask for directions- to be quite honest, she wasn't so sure about her so-called "partner" just yet. She paused to catch her breath- which had become somewhat embarrassingly heavier over the last few minutes- before speaking. "Hey, you there- is the city close by? We've been walking for a while now."

Wait, wasn't that her-

No, her partner was flapping beside her. It seems this young man had a Tsukaimon partner as well... How about that. Beside her, Tosa made a soft, undefined noise through her nose, watching the strange pair carefully.

---

gosh i hope this is okay, I haven't rped in literal years so please forgive me if i'm a little rusty lol

MADE BY ★MEULK

[Hunter Gaul]

[googlefont="Pathway Gothic One"]

TAG CLAIRE LYON RP TIME 3:37 WORDS 684 NOTES Sassy Alecto

S

uffice to say, Hunter wasn't too surprised to see someone coming over the crest of the hill. It wasn't that he was expecting it, but the sound of crunching footsteps was fairly easy to identify in the good few inches of snow that covered the ground in this area. At first, he couldn't 100% tell if the person who walked up to him and Alecto was a man or a woman, but, as they got closer, he was able to see it was a woman. The white-haired young man had always had a keen eye for facial structure and body, so while this girl dressed in a somewhat boyish manner and kept her hair short and under a hat similar to his own, he could ascertain her phyiscal gender without much real difficulty.

After taking in the new arrival's appearance, noticing that she too was having to take some time to adapt to this chilly climate, Hunter listened to her question. He took note of her somewhat labored breathing and tone and ascertained she was at least somewhat tired. Taking his hand away from Alecto's ear, who too had turned her attention to the new arrival, the duo then both noticed the Tsukaimon flapping beside her. The Tamer and Partner shared a look between them. What were the chances they'd run into another Tamer and Tsukaimon pair, espcially after so little time had passed since their own meeting?

"Well, according to what info we have, the city is nestled up a little ways into the mountain range over there." Hunter wasn't quite certain how much he should divulge to her. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, and he should learn to lighten up and not think everyone should be kept at arms length at first... That was certainly something to consider for later, but he was at least willing to divulge his and Alecto's names. The aforementioned little bundle of evil took off from her Tamer's shoulders and began to circle the girl and her Partner. Hunter himself, just to satisfy his own curiousity retrieved his D-3 Digivice, as he had learned it was called at a town back in The East, and activated it's scanner function. He had fiddled with this function just to see how it worked, and realized it showed all Digimon in the nearby, including their name, attribute, type, etc. Turning it on, and seeing it show that there were in fact two Tsukaimon near him, and nothing like some kind of shapeshifting Digimon made him feel much less paranoid.

Alecto was looking over this girl and her Tsukaimon, and she could see how her and this other of her species could be confused, but she had slightly longer ears and her lovely white ribbon. As far as she could see, this Tsukaimon had no discerning characteristics from the norm. Giving a haughty little grunt, she could see no obvious signs that they were inherently dangerous and returned to Hunter's shoulder. Levelling a somewhat predatory gaze at the two across from them, Alecto's personality made itself apparent in her next statements. "So, a little girl and her Partner are lost in the big, bad North. Why, that's just a tragedy. If my Tamer listened to half of what I told him, there'd be no doubt you two'd have your pockets turned out in a heartbeat and you'd be running for home. But no such luck there."

Turning to his partner and giving her a look that said 'keep talking like that, and no more hiding in my jacket', Hunter sighed before looking back towards the girl and her Partner. "Look, ignore her, she's got this megalomaniac thing going on and I don't think people we just met are going to want to hear that. Let's start over, I'm Hunter, and this is Alecto, my partner, apparently." He turning his gaze slightly back to the Sigma Mountains, and wondered aloud, "So, why are you headed to Borealis City? Matters not to me, but I'm just curious."

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY

[CLAIRE LYON]

As reckless as we are

“Are we dreaming now?”

Hunter Gaul

"I could've told you that, master."

The older boy's answer took Kotone half by surprise, but at the same time, all she could think was 'of course'. In the mountain range? Good lord- hopefully that wasn't as far as it sounded, because Kotone wasn't interested in hiking for much longer. She had more than a sneaking suspicion that she was about to give up the trip entirely- there had to be a better way to get there, a train, lift, something? With her luck, it was probably something Tosa conveniently forgot to tell her. "Thank you. Just a moment and then we'll be on our way. " She straightened up, her breathing beginning to ease somewhat. Once she was fully rested, she planned to get on her way- there was no need to linger for too long.

Tosa remained silent so far, but the way the other Tsukaimon was circling them like a scavenger was putting her on edge. She bristled, preparing for a fight or any sort of sudden attack, green eyes focused on the doppelganger. Kotone too, didn't like it, perhaps even more so than her Digimon. Maybe this had been a foolish idea- approaching a stranger in a strange world with strange monsters wandering about? This wasn't Tokyo, this wasn't even America- who knows what kind of people lurked in this land? It was probably much worse than back home.

Just when she was starting to think they really did have a problem on their hands, however, the little creature flew back and without warning began to spurt mild insults and empty threats at them. Kotone raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, eyeing the two with more irritation than suspicion now. Typical- people were the same everywhere she went and apparently Digimon weren't much better.

Tosa on the other hand, bared her tiny teeth at the Tsukaimon in a way that frankly reminded Kotone of a little terrier. She clenched her toes, temper flaring immediately as she spat out a retort. "Please! Look at his scrawny ass."" She gestured dismissively at Hunter, wrinkling her muzzle. "My master could take him with her eyes closed, and I could handle the likes of you blindfolded. Come on Kotone, let's show-"

Kotone gave a heavy sigh. "Stop it. Sit down in the snow if you're gonna be like that again."

"But we could-"

"You're really one to talk, aren't you?" she snapped, anger clear in her voice. "When you've never even fought before." Still boiling, Tosa sat, plopping down into the snow and glaring at Alecto with as much malice as she could muster. If only Kotone wished it, she'd show her what happens when someone threatened her tamer.

Kotone was grateful that at least the human seemed to be willing to make small talk. "Hm." With a partner like that though, she wasn't confident about the pale boy just yet. He might not be all that well-built, as Tosa had so rudely said, but she'd never been exactly spectacular at physical endeavors, and if he decided to mug her for what little cash she had or whatever else, it would be difficult to stop him- at this point, she had little faith in Tosa's ability, despite her constant big talk. Assuming the worst again? Perhaps, but you could never be too careful. "I'm Kotone," she introduced with caution, "and this is Tosa."

"Temperature. The weather's becoming a bit overbearing back home, and Tosa said she knew a place to cool off- to be quite honest, I thought she was crazy when she said to bring a jacket." She paused, watching the boy for any sudden moves. "... Why, what are you doing out here? Do you find hanging out on hillside particularly fun, or?"

MADE BY ★MEULK

[Hunter Gaul]

[googlefont="Pathway Gothic One"]

TAG CLAIRE LYON RP TIME 3:40 WORDS 707 NOTES Peace Offering

H

unter could only let out a sigh as the girl's partner began its rebuttal to Alecto's choice words. It was only fair that the other Tsukaimon got in a few verbal jabs ath them after his Partner insulted and threatened them so. This revealed to him that the girl's Tsukaimon had a similar temper to Alecto, said Digimon rearing her ear wings back and began snarling from her position on his shoulder. How dare they insult her Tamer?! Before she could open her mouth however, Hunter placed his hand over his Partner's mouth, earning him a incredulous look from the Virus type. He looked down at her with what appeared to be a impassive face, but his voice conveyed how serious he actually was, "Alecto. I hate to have to stifle you, but pissing off people we just met isn't a healthy habit. You have far too little combat experience to go around insulting everyone. So, keep quiet for a minute, or I'll have you walk the rest of the way to Borealis City." 

Hunter turned his attention back to the girl, who revealed herself as Kotone and her Partner as Tosa, after she had just given a similar talk to the other Tsukaimon as he had just done to Alecto. It would appear that both of their partners were somewhat troublesome. The genuine anger that crossed the girl's face made him wonder whether she liked Tosa at all, but that was nothing for him to butt his nose in. Alecto, in the meantime, was matching her doppleganger's glare with as much anger and malice as she could muster, aiming to outdo Tosa.

Merely shaking his head at the two Tsukaimon glaring holes into the other, the young man listened to Kotone's explanation as to why she and Tosa were heading up north,  and could only nod in response. Things were getting fairly warm in New York as well, so he could understand why she would seek a bit of a chill refuge up North. Although, he figured that maybe a beach area would have been better for cooling off and not risking the chance of frostbite. When she turned to him suspiciously and asked his reasons for being here, he let the corners of his mouth tug up slightly for a moment in a grin, but he quickly responded with his usual straightface, "No, no, nothing so strange. We're sightseeing. And also looking for things to do. Alecto told me what she had heard about the North, and I thought maybe seeing some digital Northern Lights would be nice. That's why we're heading to Borealis City."

Hunter wondered why he was even divulging this much information. It's not like he knew this girl. But he did so hate misunderstandings. Unless if that was his goal and tricking someone involved a convenient misunderstanding. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved his run-of-the-mill pocket knife, and, before anyone could react, he tossed it into the snow at Kotone's feet. "Look, I know you probably think I'm some thug out here waiting for people like you to just mug, but I'm really not. I've only been in the Digital World for a short time, and I'd not do something like that unless if absolutely necessary. As a sign of good faith, hold onto my knife while you're around. I'm much less threatening or dangerous without it."

Alecto stared dumbfounded at ther Tamer. What in the Digital World was he thinking?! He didn't know this girl, and here he was, throwing away his only form of self-defense besides her at Kotone's feet! She normally got onto him for being too paranoid, but here he was, being reckless! "Honey, what do you think you are doing?! You don't know these two! You can't trust them as far as a Greymon could throw them! What kind of game are you playing, throwing away a emergency trump card like that?!" Hunter did not respond, and merely watched Kotone and Tosa very carefully, to see what they would do. If she so much as flipped the knife open, then he would give Alecto the signal to prepare to attack.

ISHY of THQ & ADOXOGRAPHY