The plain plains

[shivdeeviant]

Yang was the first of the babies to finish his food.

BURP!

Yang leaned back and closed his eyes in satisfaction.

Shiv sighed and picked up his partner. The little guy was fast asleep. Funny, he looked so peaceful when he was asleep.

"Yin," said Shiv softly, "He'll be in no shape to fight for a while. I need you to help me keep him safe."

"Silence human." growled Yin, "I would have done that hadn't you asked. Don't think you can order me around. Nothing has changed between us. I do this for him, and no one else."

Shiv sighed, but acknowledged Yin's resolve. If only Shiv had someone as dear to him as that. He looked down on his partner, snoozing in his arms. If only...

He looked up at the others.

"Well," said Shiv, "Now what? Where do we go from here?"

[Usachan]

Nohemon gave Dante an armful of veggies. "Y'all going to go? Please, fill your packs with some veggies to sustain yourselves and your partners." he gestured to the growing pile of harvest crops.

[Inori]

Inori fidgeted nervously. "I, uhm...don't have a backpack."

"Don't worry about it. I have unusually large pockets." Wizardmon offered. Alchemon snorted in an annoyed sort of way.

"Like bags of holding, or hammer-space?" Inori grinned suddenly.

"W-what? Why would I have space for hammers?" Wizardmon sounded completely perplexed by this.

"Never mind." Inori laughed as Wizardmon gathered some food, and stored it in his crazy pockets.

[Dante]

Dante had to react quickly, or Nyaromon would have been crushed by an incoming armload of vegetables. He reached back and deposited her in the duffel bag slung across his back. He didn't remember opening it, but so much the better that it was open. That left room in his arms for the pile of vegetables Nohemon handed him.

"Thank you," he said awkwardly as he caught the load of veggies.

He knelt, put the vegetables down, pulled his bag around, then resituated everything so the vegetables were in his bag, followed by a few more, so the free space in his bag was taken up by useful things like food. Nyaromon was back in his arms, and Dante had one of the odd vegetables in his other hand for her to eat. She was working on it a bit, happy to put something down, but still in a tremendous amount of pain, what with having a gigantic rock dropped on her and all.

"Thanks for letting us take some of your crops," he said, composed at last. He paused before continuing, as though mustering the will to continue, "Sorry for what I said before."

He wondered if he was sincerely sorry for what he'd said and done, but he was sorry at how it ended up, and regretted somewhat the misunderstanding. More to the point, he was thankful for the help they had been given, and felt the way between them needed cleansing. So there it was. He scraped together the strength in him to say he was sorry, whether or not he truly meant it in every dimension of the phrase he used.

[Usachan]

Nohemon waved it away. "I probably deserved most of it." he said with a smile. "And y'all need the food, and I have plenty to share. It would be plain wrong not to share with you guys." He said.

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv allowed the fruit handed him to fall on the ground rather than disturb Yang in his arms. Yin gave Shiv a curious look before he went to the ground himself and ate a blue apple.

Such happenings lately! Thought Shiv. A good fight, Yang gets hurt because of a silly error in timing, and Yin is as mad at me as e ever was. Shiv sighed, such great happenings.

One thing was for sure though. He needed to get these others to practice their moves, to train together a little before they got into a real fight. This fight was a fluke, or at least seemed to be. What would happen when they fought a Digimon that genuinely wanted to hurt them? What would happen when there wasn't some black shard controlling an otherwise peaceful creature? Shiv's head spun with these questions, and he suddenly felt very tired.

Shiv checked the placement of the sun in the sky, it hung low to the horizon. Soon twilight and the subsequent night would be on them. On the bright side, they didn't have to worry about food for a while to come.

"The night is coming," said Shiv, fumbling over his words slightly, "Perhaps we should make camp?"

[Inori]

Wizardmon nodded in agreement at Shiv's statement. "Likely a good idea. I do not think many things will bother us out here either...short of for attention..." He glanced idly towards the baby digimon...while trying to ignore Alchemon's presence in hopes that perhaps he would just go away.

Alchemon tugged his scarf up to cover his mouth to cover his grin. So far, nobody had even really questioned his sticking around...much to his amusement. Of course he had reasons if they asked, but the fact that he didn't made it much easier. The only one who seemed to possess any objections to his presence, was Wizardmon...which perhaps was to be expected.

Inori tapped her chin in a thoughtful manner. "We should probably have someone keep watch again...in shifts. Since there are more of us we can get more sleep this time too!"

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv nodded.

"Good idea," He said quickly, "Dibs on first watch!"

Yin shook his head.

"Dibs?" He said, incredulous, "What is 'dibs'?"

"Sounds tasty..." mumbled Yang before letting out another snore.

Shiv chuckled a little.

"It just means I lay claim to going first."

Yin nodded gruffly, "A sound decision."

Shiv began pulling up grass and laying in a pile, intending to start a campfire.

[Usachan]

Nohemon nodded. "My house is big enough to fit you all, since one of you is taking watch, we have room for you inside. Follow me." He goes into a spacious cottage with baskets everywhere with bedding in them. The small digimon all hop into their beds. Nohemon gestures to what looks like a crude form of bed rolls.

[Dante]

Dante had to admit that it felt a little odd to be ushered into some random digimon's house, particularly considering that same digimon was not two moments ago trying to hurt them. He would definitely be sleeping uneasily this night. He put his bag down next to one of the bedrolls and set Nyaromon down gently before turning to the other two.

"I'm taking second watch," he said quietly, trying to be heard by only them, "I'll be lucky if I get much sleep around this guy anyway..."

He tried to make no secret of how much he expected to be knifed in the back every time he turned it, but even he had to admit that he generally came across as a nice enough guy until he was put in situations like this. He didn't trust Nohemon before, and especially didn't now that he was being so nice. The digimon could very well be just a kind farmer trying to make up for causing trouble for the group, but it was just as possible that he was planning further shenanigans, and Dante wasn't one to be caught off guard if he tried something else.

[Inori]

"I...actually think I would like to sleep outside tonight if you don't mind. It wasn't too bad last time, and I kind of like being outside." Inori smiled awkwardly, glancing to Nohemon briefly, then Wizardmon, Shiv and Dante.

"I do not mind." Wizardmon smiled behind his cloak. Inori did not trust this situation..much like Dante. "Whatever you prefer."

"I'll be on the third watch then..." She paused to peer at Alchemon. "What about you?"

"..." Alchemon said nothing for a long moment before shrugging. "I will wait with you..." He was sorely tempted to add: to protect you as your partner seems unable to, but...the jab would cause unnecessary complications to his plans at the moment.

[shivdeeviant]

Shiv was unsure of the situation, but he would be drawn and quartered if he spent the night in this scarecrow's house. This wasn't saying that the guy wasn't nice enough, far from it. It was just that they didn't know exactly what kind of place this was, and that crow just gave Shiv the serious heebies.

"I agree with Inori," said Shiv, "Outside is nice, and the night sky is beautiful. Though, Nohemon, I would not turn down the generous offer of the bedroll if it is still offered."

Yin sneered but recognized the soundness of Shiv's plan. This Champion was unstable, his power had hurt the one person on this world who was more dear to Yin than Yin's own life. He floated around to the door side of Shiv.

"Let us leave here, human," Said Yin very softly into Shiv's ear, "I do not trust this place, and Yang is still in no shape to fight. For that matter, neither is the unstable one's partner. We need to be in a place where we know the danger might come from. Besides, something about that crow gives me pause."

Shiv nodded almost imperceptibly and turned for the door.

[Dante]

Dante shared Shiv's heebies. He had the whole time, having never observed the impetus behind Nohemon's two transformations. So far as Dante was concerned, Nohemon was a dangerous being, mercurial at best. Its mood swings seemed to be greatly to be concerned about. He took a step almost unconsciously to stand between Nohemon and the bedroll where his partner was resting. If the other two pissed him off again, Dante wanted to make sure Nyaromon wasn't hurt more. To that end, he said nothing, not much wanting to provoke the farmer any further. He had been the first one in line to do so before, but that was before. He knew more now than he had then. He knew that this wasn't any simple farmer, but a powerful foe capable of inflicting great harm on their group. If it hadn't been for whatever it was that had caused Nohemon to change again, he didn't know what would have happened. As such, he maintained a certain level of awareness around the digimon, knowing that he could flip out again at any moment.

You two better know what you're doing, he thought to himself, his thoughts tainted somewhat by imagery of what he would do to them both if they got Nyaromon hurt again.

[Usachan]

Nohemon smiled. "Well, y'all have a good night's rest. If I'm not here when you wake up, I'm in the field. Y'all will probably be headed where those other, what are y'all called again, humans?, went off to. The manor that is a couple days walk from here. Don't know why they headed there, nothing but ruins there. Anyway, night all!" he said and promptly fell asleep.

[Inori]

Inori did not miss the note about other humans, but said nothing aloud on the matter. Instead she lowered her head respectfully, then returned to the outside, with her two digimon following.

"How is your leg?" Wizardmon asked once they stepped outside, earning a quick smile from Inori.

"Fine, thanks. Are you okay? You actually got hit worse then I did." She fidgeted. "Sorry, I...you got hurt because of me."

"It's fine. Nothing a night's rest will not cure." Wizardmon said. "You couldn't have known he was going to do that..."

"Yes but..."

"Why are you apologizing when he says he does not need or want one?" Alchemon asked idly.

"H-habit!" Inori defended, glancing to the alchemist digimon.

"Not a good one..." Alchemon added lazily.

"Leave her alone." Wizardmon intervened, frowning at Alchemon...who shrugged in responce. Inori kept her attention on the ground for the moment, uncertain of what to say. Instead, she settled for finding a good place to sit..and later sleep.