Old Ones Return (VII)

Taiyo goes to find Euryale, Renamon not far behind her in the event Euryale needs to be restrained again.

*Kylie wakes up, most of her seeming to stand on end. Lunamon tries to roll over and go back to sleep, however Kylie eventually forces her up*

*Presuming this is the middle of the night, following Greymon's tracks eventually leads to Euryale, apparently standing in the middle of the stream. Facing away from the camp, she has her arms crossed tight over her chest & is either shivering, trying not to cry, or both.*
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*Back at camp, BanchoLeomon approaches Azuma.*

BL<Nearly 2/3 of the night has passed. You do intend to sleep, do you not? You will need energy to survive the upcoming battles.>

*Since it is apparently still night time, everyone is asleep*

Taiyo slowly wades in after her, Renamon standing on the bank. This won't end well for anyone.

Taiyo: "Euryale?"

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Hideki: "Who says we survived the last battles? You because our bodies are in tact? What about the rest?"

BL<As long as there is life, there is hope. As long as there is hope, there is possibility of healing. I would not call it "survival" if you were to have emerged unscathed. But though the night may be cold and plagued by beasts, the dawn will not come unless the world keeps moving.>
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*Euryale scampers away & it becomes apparent that she is not wearing pants.*

E"Go away! It's worse than I thought! I--I'm not just dead weight, I'm a time bomb!"

Taiyo: "That's not true. We made it this far because of you."

She wades further in and eventually swims up to Euryale, putting her arms around her when she emerges.

Taiyo: "I'll be with you no matter what happens."

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Hideki: "There is no hope. Haven't you seen what's been happening?"

*The contact only increases Euryale's convulsions, though she can't do anything about it, partly out of fear of breaking Taiyo like old china & partly because Taiyo has her arms pinned.*

E"Why don't you understand?! You almost died, & not for lack of trying! I saw--thought you were Senthose--thought he had killed you, & all I could think was how much I wanted to see him die--but he was you...."

*She looks down at the water.*

E"I--I can't tell friend from foe. I forgot Senthose died--even now, I can't really believe it. I don't even know what's real anymore...."
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BL<Yes. I see a girl who has lost her partner, but still looks after her surviving friends. I see another, stricken with madness, who still fights to protect you all. Her lover, who stays with her no matter what. And I see your partners, ready to defend you until the end. I see the Digimon who have chosen to protect strange creatures from another world, because they still have faith in you. And I see you humans, putting your own lives on the line, rather than submit to the evil of this "Kurata" man. No matter where I look, I see those who have lost much, refusing to let go of what they still have, or allow others to suffer as they do. So I repeat: Only without life is there no hope.>

*Lyra sits up suddenly*

<If you want to give up, fine. But don't think Kurata will let you live after all the trouble you've caused him. So, fight or surrender, the outcome is the same. Might as well fight, then.>

Taiyo holds her tighter.

Taiyo: "I'm real. You're real. Greymon, Renamon, and the others are all real too. They're all real and they're all here for you."

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Having wandered off into the woods, Hideki is now quite alarmed by Lyra having apparently been lying in the bushes or something. She's definitely not winning any points with that one.

Hideki: "If there's no difference in what we do, why do either of those? Why not a third option?"

OOC: Because as Lyra said, free will doesn't exist and Neon isn't keen on my No Gods, No Masters suggestion.

*Euryale's shivering finally starts to subside when Agumon comes running back up, holding fleece clothes resembling Euryale's prior look above his head.*

A<I got clothes! ...What'd I miss?>
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BL<I fail to see an alternative.>

*Actually, Lyra's in the camp, same as BanchoLeomon. She crosses her arms*

Lyra:<Do you really care so little about what we've been fighting for that those options seem even slightly similar to you? And if you have a third option, please enlighten us.>

Renamon holds a hand out to stop Agumon from running into the lake, drowning, and ruining the moment. Although now Taiyo needs dry clothes.

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OOC: "The outcome is the same."

Hideki: "We surrender, we lose. We fight, we lose. The outcome is the same, you said it yourself."

He turns away from them and their warmongering ways.

Hideki: "You're so gung-ho on continuing the cycle of violence, you don't think anything else is possible."

*Agumon, who is not running, looks at Renamon like the crazy bitch that she is.*

A<...You're gonna tell me to get more, aren't you?>

E"...But what do I do now? I'm still too dangerous to be around...."
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BL<...I appreciate that you are frightened & upset, but blaming the Digimon for defending themselves from deletion is most inappropriate.>

*Lyra stands up and stalks over to Hideki, then gets right up in his face*

Lyra:<The outcome is only the same if we lose. I'm sorry if trying to stop a madman from committing genocide again sentient creatures is "continuing the cycle of violence." Why don't you tell Kurata not to be so violent? Or, I don't know, tell us about this mythical third option that makes it sunshine and rainbows for everyone? But you don't actually have an option. You're just bitching because you can. It doesn't matter if it makes a lick of sense, does it?>

Taiyo: "Just hold on. We'll get you the help you need."

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Hideki: "You refuse to believe a third option exists because your idea of diplomacy is torturing old men long after they've surrendered. Being on the opposing end of their attacks doesn't make you any different than they are."

*Bancho Leomon just leaves because he knows when reasoning with someone is a lost cause.*
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E"But who could possibly help me now?"

Lyra:<You know what I'm not doing? Committing genocide. If you see no difference between committing and stopping genocide, you're more fucked up than I thought. You're basically blaming Jews for violently resisting the Holocaust...>

*She waves her arms around at the army surrounding them*

<In a room full of armed and dangerous Jews! You're lucky that none of the digimon other than BanchoLeomon have heard you, because I'm sure some of them would tear you apart. You're basically angry at the Allies for fighting back against the Axis. We tried diplomacy. Kurata sent the biohybrids to kill us and held our parents hostage. So, if you want to go ahead and suggest your non-existent third option to Kurata, do it. Just don't expect the rest of us to go killed with you.>

*She laughs*

<But, of course, you won't. If you really believed what you're saying, you would be trying to convince Kurata of it, not us.>

Taiyo: "There's plenty of people in our world that can help you. And I'll be with you every step of the way."

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OOC: The word diplomacy wasn't dropped for nothing, but someone invoking Godwin's Law unironically isn't exactly one for paying attention.

As the rules state, once Godwin's Law has been invoked all discussion comes to a close, turns to walk away.

Hideki: "Justify it all you want, you're a murderer same as any of us."

He walks away, there never being any hope of two being a thing regardless of his own obliviousness and now their conflicting antiquated moral views. If any of them had a brain in their head, they'd realize morality is only hindering them as they've both demonstrated.

E"But...that's an entire world away. We can't wait that long. Not after what happened just now."

*Meanwhile, Agumon waddles off, grumbling about having to get more clothes.*

Taiyo: "We'll just have to do our best while we're here."

Lyra:<Tell that to Thiera tomorrow morning.>

*Lyra, regretting ever having liked Hideki's hypocritical ass, goes back to bed*

*Euryale remains silent for a long time. Eventually, Agumon returns with plain black shorts & a pink long sleeved crop top, both made out of fleece.*

Taiyo just holds on to Euryale. Of all the times the Sirenmon chose to shut up, this is the least appropriate time.

I hope they get bronchitis.

*Presumably they change & eventually drag a reluctant Euryale back to bed, wherupon they find that the bedding has also been changed. Afraid to go back to sleep, Euryale lies awake until the night abruptly changes to day.*