The Clothes Make the Man [Card Convention/Open to 2]

Steady pace, gracious stride, inconspicuous maneuvering. Resuming her fine duty as an unassuming, discrete peacekeeper of this convention, Ikou remained in the shadows above and beyond the happenings of this whimsical, ditsy place. Thankfully, with the vast amounts of booth rooftops, neon lights and frenetic heads blocking sight, staying out of the center of attention was quite trivial. The scents of cheap snacks and beverages, as well as the cacophony of moistly hot body odors, continued to linger, displeasing the accidentally yet fortunately regal sentinel. Ultimately, the sensory overstimulation and resulting headaches were a tolerable sacrifice she made.

As she often did, the BlackSalamon came to an abrupt halt as she reached a decent vantage point. Like an actual cat beholding its kingdom, her golden eyes, gleaming faintly amidst the mayhem of colored lusters, focused on the events beneath her. Uncountable people who proceed to indulge themselves in their hobbies. Many of them were children, more however were adults - not that concepts such as biological maturity truly mattered to a digimon. Still, in spite of the chaos, she was intrigued to realize the unity their shared preferences brought. Healthy competition, excellent trade, serenity. Curious...

Unfortunately, three rather special individuals were lost among the crowd, blending in as if they were bees inside an hive. Not that she knew them, but it was obvious that encountering specific persons was difficult within this disorder. Neither was she here to initiate chit-chat, but at times she had to admit that independence begot reclusion. At least she found solace in tonight's concord and her purpose to preserve it. It was another footfall on her seemingly unending path, ergo refusal was a counterproductive option to take lest she unintentionally alienate her bountiful providers.

Did he say he had sharp eyes? As it turned out, T found he had some pretty sharp ears too! Even in the cramping quarters, a high voice drifted through the air, nothing much, a child's voice and nothing more. Yet T wasn't seeing the source, but he did see one guy talking seemingly to himself...and then the high pitched voice again! Ooh, the humans were thinking to hide their Digimon! Neat creature! These were the type of people they wanted to be in Hypnos, correct? Was that human an adult? Ah, neither of those things mattered, did it? He just had to try, right?

He sped up his pace to attempt to overtake his target, laughing and just saying a card caught his eye when some humans turned a confused eye on him. Something had caught his eye, so it wasn't entirely untrue. Finally, he made it to where Yūjin walked, and started to increase his pace to almost overtake him as he attempted to push them away from the crowd without being too...pushy...you know? He was a nice guy.

"Hey, buddy." He hissed out of the side of his mouth, jerking a thumb towards the satchel, "You got a...um...friend in that bag, right?" A smile, but an air that whatever he was going to ask, there was no "no" for an answer. "You mind if we talk about that?"

T felt like this was going to go so well, unaware of the identity of who he was talking to, and the eyes in the sky watching.

Ikou @yūjin

For a moment, serenity lingered as the events of this unappealing convention continued without disturbance. However, amidst the crowd Ikou spotted two individuals that rather suddenly changed their behavior, almost as if something had startled them. They were male humans; one of them wearing workaday clothes while the other carried a common suit. For a minute, as it was her responsibility, she calmly observed them just in case anything suspect was tied to them. Upon witnessing the appearance of a cute Tokomon inside the younger lad's backpack, she was immediately on high alert. The chances of mayhem occurring had instantly increased exponentially.

Although wondering why they were so easy to leave the masses of people, her task was far more important to her than their impetus. It was with seldom seen elegance and agility that the BlackSalamon traversed the shadows, leaping from booth rooftops to window sills and eventually cold balustrades with the precision of a typical cat. Silence and stealth were her maxims as she followed the equivocal trio from several floors above them, avoiding the sight of any snoopy third party who had temporarily lost interest in the card game that was celebrated the coming days.

Ultimately her targets came to a halt within a dank, empty alley. Complying with their respite the dark feline made it herself quietly comfortable on the metal railing of a banister. Ikou's ears peaked to perceive the words uttered as her golden eyes remained on the persons diagonally beneath her. Apparently, at least for the moment, they were blissfully unaware of her presence while the youthful lad revealed his secrets to the businessman. So he was a digidestined - as to be expected. Learning of most their names, she also realized that they were not acquainted with one another, nor did they share the mutual desire to change this status quo.

Would a conflict arise from this curious situation? Since it was a conceivable possibility, she stayed to fulfill her fine duty she considered an obligation as to recompense her cherished providers. If the royals desired this event to proceed peacefully regardless of ambitions and ethics then she gladly committed to this reasonable cause.

T started to wave back at the little cutie, the voice was a kind of grating but he much preferred having a cooperative chat than having to drag this out of them, when a hand seized his arm and started to pull him away. "Geez, don't be so dramatic." He grumbled as he obediently let the human guide him away, waving away attention like this was a regular thing, "I'm not gonna hurt ya."

Given the Digimon was friendly, he didn't quite expect to be kept back by the human of all things, and beamed down at the Digivice, letting out a shrill whistle. "Wow. That's a neat function!" Nevermind the fact that it was really damn threatening and kind of pissed him off to be written off as a threat so quickly, it really was cool...and the little Digimon...Abel?...was talking again. "Abel and Yūjin." He tested the names briefly, and nodded to himself, "My turn then, you can call me T. He's right, full Virus standing right in front of you, pretty great friend you got!" Despite the fact his disguise was figured out, he didn't drop it, "Pretty amazing how a little change of data can make me human enough to trick ya, huh?"

What do you want?

It was time to quit the small talk, huh? T's smile faded slightly, more of a natural smirk than anything else. "Hypnos, clever guys, smart, would like some smart guys in the ranks and, lucky you, I saw you. Nice job hiding Abel, by the way." Without thinking too hard, he tried to raise a hand in an offered handshake, "We keep you humans safe from crazy bastards! Ain't that nice? Didn't know you humans tried to protect yourselves like this!" Assumptions were a necessary evil with recruitments, and T right now was assuming he was talking to some unaligned human, hidden Digimon and all.

By Yggdrasil... though it was accidental, it appeared that she had struck gold. It was with utmost inquisitiveness that Ikou observed and listened to the dialogue beneath her. Within a few moments, she learned vast amounts of valuable intel that might actually be of use to her chummy caretakers. Nodding several times, the dark cat calmly absorbed the information that was generously bestowed upon her by the unaware strangers, trying to do her best to memorize as many details as possible. Obviously, she had no desire for being accused of insufficiency.

That the businessman was an unwound digimon in disguise was honestly quite surprising to the BlackSalamon. That humans, or only the organization Hypnos, already possessed the technology to change the appearance of digimons to that of men or women was fascinating if a bit worrisome. Had plenty of her kind that supported strict division access to these advanced gizmos, or was T merely a sole outlier? He seemed equanimous if not jocular for someone who likely preferred immediate segregation. A bizarre individual - not that she expected much from her taxon; or anything at all rather.

Uncertain if the disguised virus' compliments and statements were biting sarcasm, narrow-minded irony or neither, Ikou kept her vigilance but shifted her focus to the young lad and his coltish partner. Clearly not safe from those who were, as the agent described it, crazy, it was the relaxed Tokomon who displayed and voiced his naive confidence. Good guys - the secret police? Oh... that was both precious and sad. If this was not an undertaking that required stealth then the astute feline would have chuckled with amusement.

Thankfully, emerging souls quickly internalized experiences and knowledge, hence there was a decent chance he'd attain a different opinion in the near future. Besides, it looked as if Yūjin, in spite of the accepted handshake, was not truly buying it either. A free thinker, excellent. Now, what was that about this cataclysm from 10 years ago? Unfortunately, upon hearing and witnessing Abel perceiving her scent, her concentration briefly broke apart. Golden eyes lingered as she crouched down, hoping the rusty railing sufficed to maintain her cover. Just a bit longer...

If only Abel didn't have this human around him. As impressive as it was that this human still kept tight lips on everything, it made it really hard to get around to talking about anything truly important. The Virus 10 years ago, yup, that was apparently part of the reason Hypnos wanted to regulate everything. T thought he should have been around to know about it, but data was lost sometimes on a cycle. Maybe he just didn't have those memories right now...great, now he was really hoping to talk to someone who had been around to see it.

Nonetheless, he still took the handshake happily. Whatever way this went, even if this human walked away without truly wanting to join Hypnos, T was certain this could be seen as a sort of victory. He didn't manage to make Hypnos an enemy with his actions, and hopefully made them seem like reasonable people, and he was honestly winging this whole thing. Maybe they should have given him a script or something. Heh, don't worry about it. Frankly, if ya didn't pull me away I would have grabbed ya and...I'm guessing this chat of ours would have been a lot messier. Probably wouldn't be having this handshake!" He would have definitely been seen as an enemy then.

Protect themselves? T didn't doubt that. Even if the Digimon opened its mouth like that regularly, the fact that the duo seemed fine and healthy must be because they had some kind of talent. Now, in T's mind, it was talent he could get on his side to make this job faster, so he opened his big mouth and started, "See, that's why I'm here." His smile was parted slightly, it looked as if it belonged on a less human face, "Its great that ya can protect yourselves, but I've been looking for people who want ta protect everbo-"

He cut off suddenly, smile falling off completely as he stared at the sniffing Abel. Hastily, she straightened out and sniffed the air himself, head jerking back and forth. No. He couldn't have screwed this up that badly. Could he? "Shit." He cursed under his breath, "Little bastard...not you two." He added towards Abel and Yūjin, even as an ugly frown darkened his face, followed by him calling out into the darkness, "Oh that's real nice, just fantastic, listening in on this nice chat we were having!" He barked into the void, hoping to scare some kind of movement out of his adversary, "Takes a brave soul to eavesdrop like that, even braver to own up! Get out here!"

Run away. Attack me. Do something.

As his snarl echoed through the area, his thoughts whirled. Even if he failed to capture the eavesdropper, he needed to see their face, he needed to know his enemy, if only to know who had just gotten dirt on him and this human...and through it all, all he could do was kick himself. He was such an idiot! How could he let information leak!?

Alas the fortune she had found in her talents had ceased for this moment. To Ikou's dismay the disguised agent of Hypnos had taken notice of the Tokomon's sniffing, causing him to react accordingly. Well... sort of. The way the camouflaged digimon carried himself was filled with unbecoming spite and hostility, although his words were also fueled by panic if not self-doubt. A simple mission such as stealthily recruiting new members to their organization and he had already goofed quite badly. Depending on who else she could have been in this situation, that might have had serious consequences. Thankfully, she was but an inquisitive learner who fulfilled her duty.

Evaluating her choices, the BlackSalamon eventually decided to simply play along, knowing the safe vantage point she was at. They posed as much danger to her as she did to them - if things remained cordial. However, it was upon the trio beneath her to locate her presence, or not, on top of a nearby banister's railing. She was actually surprised that the faint gleam of her golden eyes in this dark alley had not given away her position thus far. Then again, neither of the strangers appeared to be trained agents. A boy, an In-Training and a dressed up Rookie at best she figured.

"My thanks for your certainly sincere credit, but It's not my fault. I was here first." The young, female voice asserted calmly as she kept on sitting. Technically speaking, this statement was not a lie; at least if the entirety of this convention was taken into consideration, which she did. With the ability to keeping her emotions to herself, conveying the near-veracity of this claim was easy. "If anything, I should have accused you of perturbing my tranquility. Don't worry though. I am not easily angered." She added with an unwound, slightly playful tone to her speech. Again, this argument was essentially correct. She would have preferred several days of peace instead of chasing after potential troublemakers.

Taking in a deep breath, the swart kitten stretched herself and lay down on the balustrade's edge. Not comfortable, but it sufficed to let one of her paws dangle to signal absolute peaceableness and composure if they happened to spot her. "I know you aren't, but thank you for easing the tension." Ikou voiced her genuine appreciation to Yūjin, hoping that T would compose himself lest he'd inevitably cause havoc on this fine evening of games and joy. None here desired this regrettable conclusion now did they? Well, unless additional feral digimons arrived to unleash a violent ruckus.

Quietly, the BlackSalamon observed the movement of the apparently anguished soul that was the sole human present during this strange encounter. His posture and cracking voice were obvious signs that something perturbed the demure lad. Scratching her chin, the feline guardian wondered if there was a thing she could do to see that frown turn into a smile. Elation was a maxim of the royals, hence she felt obliged to adhere to it. Besides, she did not like good people being cheerless. They did not deserve woes.

"I'd invite you to some ice cream if you want." Ikou offered kindly yet calmly. It was difficult for her to grasp concepts such as poverty and the effects it had on individuals, being undeservedly blessed with unrivaled felicity, but she recognized when someone was feeling lost. If this little invitation was enough to excite their spirits then clearly her benevolent benefactors did not mind a few Yen spent.

At Yūjin's request, T did halt for a few seconds, and proceeded to groan in exasperation as the human proceeded to make himself look like a weakling. "Don't placate them!" He echoed, a hand flying up to cover his eyes. Amazing, now he looked like the only one amount the three as an actual threat, "They eavesdropped on us! If they wanted some peace, they could have left!" Amazingly, T's tone didn't seem irritated at Yūjin still, and his fingers continued to dig into his forehead as he tried to salvage his mistake. Should have secured the perimeter. At least have tried to smell another Digimon. I'm not a human, I shouldn't make this kind of screw up.

The movement of the Digimon catches his attention, and he grits his teeth at its seemingly relaxment. He prayed it wasn't a human hater, but even if it wasn't, that didn't change the fact that it now had information that would be quite valuable to anything that wanted to keep the worlds open and chaotic.

The offer to get ice cream should have eased some tension, but it didn't, at least not for T. The cat was going to steal these two away from him! "Hmph." The jagged smile started to drift onto his face once more, "You got to hear our conversation, pretty sure you owe us a whole lot more than ice cream. Don't you think?" He looked out of the corner of his eye at Yūjin to try and get as response, and tilted his head in confusion, "You alright kid?" This day couldn't get any worse, could it? Now he was going to need to figure out a human response to all this. He really should have gotten instructions...