Merry Christmas, Chosen...

[terminalmegas]

Who: Venusmon, everyone
What: The giving of the D-Streams
Where: Terminal City, Roaming Park
When: December 25th, 2013, morning

At the stroke of midnight on December 25th, every Chosen and their partners fall asleep wherever they are, with nothing able to wake them. They won't stay there all night, however. Bright and early, as if turned on by a switch, the Chosen will awaken in their beds to find their Digivices missing. The individual Digimon -- those without rooms, brought in like the Chosen -- similarly fall into slumber or stasis, waking where the stand in the morning in the morning.

They will all wake up with a note in their rooms, written in beautiful script. "Come to Roaming Park," it says. There's some kind of noise outside. Something drawing everyone out. Noticeable first is the fall of snow, so far absent from Terminal Tokyo. It covers, among everything else, Roaming Park, where on a bench there sits a Venusmon, with a very large sack. Around her are tables full of all sorts of food, and Digimon there both partaking in it and setting up more. It's a whole feast, not spoiled by the weather, but enhanced by it.

[ooc: Below there will be a thread to interact with Venusmon, where she will answer some questions and give out the D-Streams. Every non-canon Digimon character will receive a D-Stream, whether they see her or not. At the end of the day, they will appear in the Chosen's hands. This can also be used to generally mingle with each other and enjoy the snow.]

Comments

[thescaronhisface]

Standing off in a corner of the park are Strabimon and Lopmon. Notably absent, however, is their partner. There isn't a hide nor hair of Kovu's to be seen in the entire park. Strabimon, for his part, seems somewhat agitated, his fur bristling now and then in the cold. Lopmon doesn't appear to be so out of sorts, but he fidgets a bit every couple minutes.

Strabimon closes his eyes for a moment. "Guess we should find the people we're s'posed to give these to already." He pushes himself forward, starting to make his way toward the crowd at last.

Lopmon has to take a running start to catch up. "You think they're gonna like the stuff he got?"

The taller Digimon sneers in agitation. "Who cares? Let's just get it over with."

Lopmon aims his sight at the snow-covered ground, then at the gifts he's holding, and shakes his head. "I think they all do."

[strengthinkindness]

Usually, Fluttershy is the one to spot someone, eager to give the gifts she has for them. But with Kovu's absence, it's Choco who sees the Digimon first, bouncing over excitedly.

"Hey guys!" he greeted cheerily. "Merry Christmas!"

[thescaronhisface]

"Tch. Merry my- Hey!" Strabimon's cut off by Lopmon thwapping him with an ear.

Before Choco can get in hearing range, the rabbit Digimon whispers to his partner, "You're not making it any better. Just shut up for a while. Kovu told us not to make anyone worry, remember?" Then he waves to Choco using his other ear. "Merry Christmas Choco!"

Strabimon folds his arms, scowls, and scoffs. The last thing he wants to do right now is go around talking to whoever happens to wander up to them. Why were they leaving Kovu alone at a time like this?

[strengthinkindness]

Choco grins, waiting for Fluttershy and Floramon to catch up to them.

"Merry Christmas," Fluttershy says. She pauses, a small frown on her face. "Where's Kovu?"

[thescaronhisface]

"He's-"

"Not feeling good," Lopmon interrupts, before Strabimon can even get the word all the way out. That earns him a glare, but he keeps talking anyway. "He told us to come and say hi to everyone for him."

Strabimon rolls his eyes. Whatever. He still doesn't get why they should be covering for Kovu, but if Lopmon's just going to keep doing this it's not worth the bother. He doesn't have any problem with standing here silent.

[strengthinkindness]

"Oh goodness...Is he doing all right? Does he need anything?"

[brain_behind_purple]

[Donnie and Arte had been wondering around, looking for where Paolo ran off too. when they saw the two Digimon. Donnie recognized at least the Lopmon as Kovu's Digimon]

Those are Kovu's Digimon...

That boy who's really a lion?

Yeah. Come on. [He walks over] Lopmon? That you?

[thescaronhisface]

"Hey Donnie!" By now, Lopmon is pretty sure he knows who got messed up by the virus and who didn't. If Kovu could forgive him for being some part of the virus itself, then he could forgive Donnie for the stuff that happened while it was going on. That's what Kovu was trying to do when he was talking to Fluttershy's friend, right?

Strabimon hasn't met these guys before, he only saw the guy on Kovu's D-Terminal. Kovu was tight-lipped about him as he is about everything else, so the wolfish Digimon just keeps himself off to the side, letting Lopmon deal with him.

[brain_behind_purple]

Hey it's nice to see you. Haven't seen you in perosn for a good while. How's it been going for you guys?

[thescaronhisface]

Kovu's partners share a look, and Lopmon swallows a lump in his throat. He uses an ear to rub at the back of his neck a little. "We're fine, but Kovu's feeling pretty bad. He gave us all the stuff he wanted to give out and stayed home."

[brain_behind_purple]

"Really? Sorry to hear that. Wellt hat explains why it's onlky you guys are out here. I hope he feels better soon then."

[hot_nunchaku_fury]

Leader noticed the pair as they moved and pointed them out to Mikey, the teen wanting to make sure his gifts get to everyone they were meant to go to.

"Hey you two, you're Kovu's partners, right?" The Starabimon didn't look familiar, but he knew Kovu had a Lopmon, sadly many of them were indiscernible from each other. Still he figured that it was a good idea to ask if they were the ones he wanted. He had a gift in hand that was for Kovu.

[thescaronhisface]

Strabimon's eyes stray toward the voice, narrowing slightly. "Yeah, we are." He scrutinizes the boy, taking note of a few features, before suddenly he just...relaxes. Lopmon even looks surprised at how rapidly the tension's released from Strabimon's shoulders, especially after the last few days. "You're Mikey, right? Donnie's l'il bro?"

Lopmon casts a sidelong glance at his partner in crime. He's been so uptight tonight, so what is it about Mikey that has the wolfish Digimon so at ease?

[hot_nunchaku_fury]

When Strabimon relaxed Mikey felt the muscles along his own back relax, the response had geared him to be ready for anything, including being attacked, but it looked like he didn't need to worry about that. "Yeah, that's me! I... uh, was hoping you could take Kovu's gift back with you. I'm guessing he's not here because he won't be... and that's okay. I just want to make sure he gets his gift and I don't forget."

He held the awkwardly shaped present out. It was actually well wrapped, just clearly not in a box of any sort. When grabbed it was soft and somewhat squishy.

[thescaronhisface]

"Yeah, we'll get it to him," Strabimon answers. He rolls his neck from side to side, finally loosening some of the muscles he's been holding tight the whole time. This poor kid's been through a lot, from everything Kovu's said, and what's more the kid's way too nice for his own good. So there's nothing to worry about with him.

Lopmon's still staring at his partner like he's gone crazy, not sharing any part of that thought process. He exaggerates a roll of his eyes and picks through the gifts to find Mikey's, which looks about a thousand times worse than the one the turtle's handing to them. Lopmon holds it out anyway, haphazard tape and scraps of wrapping paper and all. "Kovu got something for you, too."

[hot_nunchaku_fury]

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you guys get taken care for me." Mikey hands the wrapped gift over to the two of them without hesitation.

Seeing his own gift, and the wrapping on it, he couldn't help but smile. "Creative wrapping job there." He gave a soft laugh, nothing in kind to whoever had wrapped the gift. With the smile still on his face he accept the gift, turning it over in his hands for a moment before finding somewhere easy to slip a fingertip under to carefully unwrapped the gift to see what was inside.

[notmyprophecy]

Eventually, Hollyleaf approaches the two Digimon. Her own partners trail behind her, quiet. They're all some form of somber, ranging from serious to slightly annoyed. The last is Bearmon.

Hollyleaf runs a hand past the side of her head with her scar. "Kovu's not coming."

It's not a question.

[thescaronhisface]

Even seeing Hollyleaf makes Strabimon wince. He takes a deep breath, and lets it out with a sigh. "...Figured," he answers softly, purposefully not looking at Bearmon. "There are only a couple left, now." He pushes the gifts in his arms up, only two or three of them now.

"Is he gonna be okay by himself?" Lopmon was always a bit worried about Kovu, but it was only ever a little, before. He never could tell just how deep those scars ran, until there was one on the surface to show them to everyone.

[notmyprophecy]

"I don't know," Hollyleaf replies. "I was hoping, by now, he'd be with you..." She sighs. "I don't know what I was hoping. He hasn't been out of his room since it happened, has he?"

[thescaronhisface]

A scowl flashes over Strabimon's features as he clenches a fist. A dark, brooding look is left, every muscle tense. "No, he hasn't. He probably wouldn't even eat if we didn't bring him food." How were they gonna get him out of this?

"I don't think he wants to let anyone see him like this." Lopmon's eyes fall to look at his hands as he wrings them against each other. After a moment, he's doing the same with his ears too. "All he would tell me is that he looks like Scar now."

Strabimon starts to pinch the bridge of his nose, but instead rakes his claws through the fur over the back his head. The sting of the sharp nails makes him hiss, and he leans his head to the other side as the burning subsides, breathing slowly. "He won't even say why that's so bad. Everything we know is what he said to everyone else."

[notmyprophecy]

A grim look passes over Hollyleaf's face. She remembers the memory she'd seen. She remembers his mother, the name "Scar," she remembers... Well, she sighs and looks down, closing her eyes as she does. "It matters a lot to Kovu, and talking about it... I don't think that's something he can easily do."

Swiftleaf, in the moment after, suggests, "Maybe he needs a visitor."

"Swiftleaf, there's no way he would even let me inside," Hollyleaf reminds her.

[lionhearted_destiny]

There is no human to give gifts this time. There is only a Leomon, one with an envelope almost comically small in his large paws.

"You are Kovu's partners, right?"

[thescaronhisface]

Both Digimon slowly nod, not sure who this Leomon is. Lopmon thinks he sounds kind of familiar, but he's definitely not the Leomon he met with Kovu on File Island.

"Yeah. Who're you?" Strabimon doesn't mince the venom. After that encounter with Liamon he's got a bit of a sore spot for lion Digimon.

[lionhearted_destiny]

"My name is Leomon." He addresses Lopmon. "When we met, I was a Leormon, so that's probably why you don't recognize me. My partner is Juri Katou."

[thescaronhisface]

"I remember you," Lopmon answers, stepping in front of Strabimon and forcing the taller Digimon to take a step back. "Whaddya want?"