Where are you? ( mireil as npcmod )

[Observer]

It's been some time since Renee's last visit to the Numemon pub. She showed in that place every once in a while, whenever she managed to brign around some sort of supplies or equipment, or information. By that time she got familiarized with most of the people around that place, so nobody was tossing suspicious glances at her anymore whenever she showed up.

Renee wondered how wizardmon was doing though. Her last visit here ended up in a rather pointless conversation about whether he should or shouldn't go out risking himself for a weak chance of helping someone. Pointless it was called, because the renamon failed to convince the wizard to follow a more sensible course of action. And ever since she was ... worried.

She still failed to understand why said wizardmon, instead of keeping helping out people through reasonable course of action, decided to risk his life for something that was barely worth such risk. Was that gatomon's infuence so strong? It probably was, strong enough to cloud one's judgement. And this time Renee hoped to convince him otherwise again. With her she brought along a detailed map of the city. She scowered through archives and reports, unknown to other team members, and drew on it the places where digimon spawned more frequently, as well as routes of patrols, including her own route. If the wizardmon were to get this map, the chances of them encountering each other would be minimized... Renee didn't want to have to fight him. Outside the clone brotherhood, he was the only person whom she could have called a friend...

- A cup of tee, Num. No, make that two... - the renamon said and looked around. There were quite a lot of digimon here, as always, but she failed to spot the one she was looking for anywhere. She did not show worry, however, yet. Perhaps the wizardmon was out somewhere, probably busy. She thought it to be the best explanation, but something deep inside was telling her otherwise.

- Say, Num, where's Wizardmon? - she asked, trying to sound casual, but an untraceable worry was hidden in her voice...

[[NPC]admin]

It's been three days since the wizardmon disappeared and while everything seemed normal in the numemon bar, those who knew him were worried about his whereabouts. His map project was more important than he thought for the digimon community and it had a very important strategic value that would guarantee the safety of digimon who wandered into the city looking for goods needed for survival.

The bartender, a mustached numemon, diligently worked behind the corner attending to the needs of the clients and one of them was the silver renamon. As she started to bring supplies each time she arrived, she had free meals and drinks in exchange for her services and currently was one of their most important clients. That's how things worked in the numemon bar, you either paid offering your services or brought goods useful for the community.

"Tea for two .. right. Anything else?"

What the renamon requested next wasn't a meal but information, she inquired about the whereabouts of the missing wizardmon and the numemon couldn't lie to her. His slimy face showed a worried expression as he told her about the bad news.

"Truth be told, we are a bit worried. He disappeared three days ago and since then we haven't heard anything about him, it's as if he vanished from the map ...."

He tried to recall what the hard working wizard digimon said the last time he left the bar and decided to share the information with the silver renamon

"The last thing he said that night was that he was going to the northern side of the residential district to map the area and complete the custom map he was working in"

No one in the numemon bar knew about the terrible battle that took place there nor about the armed intervention that followed it, therefore all they knew was that something happened to him, something that somehow prevented his return

[Observer]

- Thank you for the tea... - the renamon said gratefully as she received her first cup of tea, and took a sip from it. The drink tasted good, as always, it had such a calming effect on her, something she needed much due to her line of job. And Numemon knew what flavor she liked the most. She expected to hear that he went on somewhere and will surely return in a moment or two. But when she saw Numemon's worried expression, her own worry sky-rocketed, and when she heard the answer to her inquiry ...

- Say ... what? - she gasped out, not even noticing she dropped the cup full of hot tee in her knees. She didn't feel any pain, however, being more preoccupied with processing the information she had just received. She knew it, she knew this wasn't going to end well, and she ended up being right, unfortunately. Then she looked at her knees and picked up the cup, now empty, and placed it back on the table.

- Sorry about that... - she muttered, trying to hide her worry, with little success though. It seemed that of all people, the news proved to have the most shocking effect on her. - Goddammit, I told him it was dangerous, why, why didn't he listen to me? - she sighed out, grabbing her head with both hands. The very thing she tried to avoid so hard just had to happen, despite her best efforts. She didn't even look at the second cup of tea Numemon brought her. The brain was thinking feverishly: What to do?

But then Numemon mentioned he went somewhere to the residential districts to map some more of the area. Renee suddenly froze, her glare meeting Numemon's. She heard recently there was much fighting just over there, and he just happened to go into the hotspot. The renamon facepalmed again. For what? For a map? Couldn't he wait a bit longer for her to steal the map instead of making it? She sighed out and shook her head in disagreement again. Everything went downhill.

- Did ... anyone go to look for him yet? - her voice sounded creepily empty, hollow, as she looked upon Numemon again with a pinning glare, which mixed both worry and wariness, because she kinda expected what the bartender would answer to her question...

[[NPC]admin]

The silver renamon's reaction was ... more intense than expected. The numemon knew that she seemed to be in good terms with the wizardmon, but to react the way she did? Probably she cared for the wizard even more than the numemon bar staff did.

"The twins ninjamon and kougamon went looking for him yesterday and the day before yesterday, but they had no luck finding him, so we canceled the search for him."

Two of the regulars of the numemon bar were a pair of ninjas hightly skilled in stealth tactics. Maybe the silver renamon never noticed it, but those two were guards of the bar as well as the nanimon that recovered from his illness and returned to his position as a tough guard (he was replaced by a kinda dumb numemon during the first time Renee arrived to the bar). In particular, the kougamon kept an eye on the silver renamon all the time the first time she arrived and like the wizardmon, felt that the renamon was a potentially dangerous digimon. He currently lowered his vigilance on the renamon on request from the wizardmon and for the past two days he went along his brother ninjamon looking for the wizardmon.

"If those two failed to find him, I think no one else can do it. We in the bar think he could've been killed by the armed humans or by a tamer and to tell the truth, we don't believe he's still alive"

It might sound cold hearted that they stopped trying to find him, but life continues and they had to keep up appearance to not cause panic within the rest of the digimon living in the abandoned hotel, after all many of them were just rookies and some of them still were immature children even for rookie standards that needed to be kept mentally healthy to prevent a tragedy

[Observer]

Renee listed to what the Numemon what to say silently. She used that time to get a better grip on herself, from such an outburst of emotions. To a degree, her efforts were successful. She took the second cup of tea Numemon left for her, and wanted to take a sip, but accidentally emptied the whole cup in one moment. Hmm, maybe wasn't so successful after all.

So they did send somebody to search for him... Perhaps the whole place deserved a better opinion about it from her after all. And not just somebody, but a pair of highly-skilled stealthy digimon. And they had failed to find him. This was ... distressing, the news killed off at least half of her will to carry on the search, however, the remaining half was still kicking.

- Yes, that is a possibility... - she replied dimly, while looking away somewhere, thinking. The assumption had a base under it - the northern part of the residential district was known as a spawn-pool for digimon, and military presence there was doubled. if not tripled. Even tamers weren't exactly shielded there from them...

The rational part of her brain right now was saying that it would be for the best to leave it be, forget about everything. That continuing on the search would be a pointless waste of time, and that there is no need to endanger herself with this vaunted quest. And the ... irrational part was convincing that there is still hope, and blah blah blah. The wrestling between both parts was shown on Renee's face, which kept changing from worried, to defeated, to stone-cold, to worried again. Finally, she came to a compromise - she would look for proof if the wizardmon is dead. That was reasonable enough for the first part, and hopeful enough for the second.

- Listen... - Renee said to Numemon quietly. - I have a favor to ask from you. You see, I made this map... - she added and took out the map, unfolding it on the table. It was quite different from wizardmon's, because it was clearly made by humans, aside from arrows and markings of the patrol moving. - I spent much time in the city, and observed movements of the patrols, and other military units, at night. I will contribute this map to you, if ... - the renamon made a pause, looking upon the bartender with a somewhat pleading glare. - If you make the ninja guys go look for the wizardmon for two more days. Or for anything that could serve as proof of his demise... I will follow myself in any case.

[[NPC]admin]

"We could try ... but we need of their services as stealthy guards. Don't tell this to the official nanimon guard, but he's just the weakest link in your defense link, if he were to someday fail in his duty those ninjas were always ready to finish anything he couldn't do"

And that was the pure truth, the nanimon (and his replacement numemon when he couldn't perform his duties) was only the public face of the guard forces, the real guards were the ninja twins. Not only they looked from hidden places of the hotel but always one of them was making rounds around the entire block where the hotel was located.

"For our wizardmon companion I'm going to arrange one and only one of the ninjas to continue the search, we still need of their skills to protect our home and be alert even more than before now that we are one wizardmon short here"

As he spoke one of the ninja twins appeared from the front door, carrying with him a small bird digimon who seemed to be dirty, exhausted, famished, dehydrated and ill. It was to be precise a young biyomon who hold a strong grip on some broken thing and seemed to be too scared to even make eye contact with any other digimon

"I found this little one while doing my daily rounds, it was looking for food inside a trash can within our block"

The ninja, revealed to be kougamon given his purple outfit quietly brought with him the young biyomon, it somehow managed to survive alone for three days and luck brought it to search for junk to eat in this block composed entirely of abandoned buildings. Within its arms, it hold the broken fragments of the wizardmon's wand

"Find that little biyomon a room and take it to the shower, we can talk later about what happened"

"Yes, master"

The Kougamon patted the quiet biyomon, who apparently was muted by the shock of seeing a digimon die to save its life, and looked at the corridor leading to some abandoned rooms. Unless the silver renamon noticed what the biyomon was carrying, the one clue that could lead her to discover about the wizardmon's fate might end up being lost forever.

[Observer]

Renee was going to agree to Numemon's conditions anyway, even one was better than none, and they had to try, for their friend's sake, until he is found, or evidence of his deletion. Either way, the renamon was determined to find out the truth, prepared to find out it would be a bitter one. It was at that moment when she was about to answer, one of the ninjas, Renee never saw difference between the two, brought someone else around.

It seemed to be a Biyomon, although badly battered one. The small bird obviously had some real hard time out there, looking like she was living in a trash heap for a week. The poor thing was scared, tired, dirty, and probably hungry. Renee mustered some pity for the poor digimon, it was something not very natural for her to do, old habits die hard. It was then when she noticed the broken wand in the digimon's hands. As Kougamon lead the bird to the rooms, the Biyomon dropped both parts of the wand unto the ground, passing forward, not noticing it. Renee's eyes widened when she saw those... she recognized them. Approaching closely, she picked both from the floor.

- Well here's our answer... Keep the map, I'd like to have a word with that little bird once all procedures are finished... - she whispered, looking at the both halves of the staff in her hands... - And I will find a way to repay you... - she added, folding the map and passing it to the numemon, turning away.

This Biyomon ... she probably knew the final answer. Renee assumed this digimon should know what happened, otherwise the broken staff wouldn't have ended up in her hands. Nobody would have carried something broken around with no meaning... And what if... No, Renee didn't want to think about this, but the idea kept coming... What if wizardmon decided to follow that gatomon into martyrdom? Renee grew to despise the deceased cat digimon who was leading others to death with her example. But for now, all she could do was wait for the bird's return...

[[NPC]admin]

"stay calm and don't worry, with this you will be as clean as you can be"

That one shell numemon that once served as Renee's waiter was now washing away all the filth out of the dirty biyomon in the shower room. He would usually attend the clients along his cousin and owner of the bar "mustached numemon", but now he was often found attending the rooms and giving them the cleaning they deserved so much. As for the kougamon, he simply vanished into the shadows after leaving the biyomon under the care of the gentle and helpful shell numemon.

"Done, now let's get dry and tidy"

The biyomon still refused to talk, but at least it let the shell numemon clean her and prepare a room to use as her new home. Also there were more rookie digimon in the hotel and surely she could make friends with a few of them.

Once she was in a decent shape, the shell numemon took her back to the "restaurant/bar" side of the hotel and got ready for her healthy and delicious food. As it was to be expected, the very hungry digimon devoured the food as if she hadn't eaten in days ... which was actually true, and almost choked herself for eating so fast.

"There, be a nice child and take it easy. Once you mature a bit more you can help us in the bar upkeep, but until then simply try to stay health"

The shell numemon stayed next to the biyomon to attend to any of her needs and looked at the silver renamon, she was for some reason interested in the young bird digimon and looked like she wanted to say something. Nevermind, the shell numemon's current main goal was to make sure the biyomon was well fed and teach her all that needs to be known about the human world now that the original information broker, the missing wizardmon, was no longer there.

[Observer]

Renee kept an eye on the little bird digimon ever since she reemerged from the dark doorway, which lead to the bathrooms - she managed to get washed there, and looked rather tidy compared to what she looked like before. A hot meal was waiting for the child, and the renamon never wanted to disturb her with questions until all more present matters are taken care of.

She looked at the wand again. It seemed to have been ... bitten in half, there were clear visible signs of big teeth on it. So ... it wasn't a human patrol who attacked the wizardmon. This was both a relief and a curse - human patrol would have never allowed the digimon to flee alive, yet the marks meant wizardmon hat to face and fight some really big, nasty digimon with huge fangs... Renee remembered her fight with angemon, she knew first-hand how it was like fighting a fight against something stronger...

When the biyomon finished eating, Renee decided it was time for her to go about with her inquiries. The Numemon seemed to be busy with something for a little bit, and the fox decided not to bother him anymore, figuring she could handle a child nice enough, at least for the time being. And after that ... Numemon will watch over her.

- Are you alright, child? - the fox asked with a bit of worry as she seated in front of the little bird. She sounded kindly, or at least tried to, and avoided eye contact, knowing full well that hers tended to scare people off rather than make them feel more comfortable. She managed to snatch a piece of candy from numemon's stands, another nasty habit, and gave it to the child to, perhaps, show that she was a friend.

- Can you talk? - the renamon asked once more with a bit of worry. From what she knew the small bird could have been still in the shock she was in when the ninja digimon brought her in, so she needed a confirmation that it was able to talk coherently and perhaps answer to her questions. She still held two parts of the staff in her hands...

[[NPC]admin]

With the stomach full and the thirst quenched, the biyomon finally showed hints of happiness and good health as it burped a little. Her previously pale face was now brimming with color and she felt like a reborn digimon

The biyomon was so happy for finally having a decent meal that she forgot about the tragic scene she witnessed three days ago and simply enjoyed the moment. So much was her happiness that she ignored what the renamon said and only talked after ignoring two times the renamon's words.

"That was tasty, thanks big brother numemon!"

She then looked at the renamon that seemed to have said something while she was regaining her usual cheerfulness and wondered what she said.

"Big sis, did you say something?"

The biyomon then proceed to drink more orange juice, she was feeling so great that she wanted to keep eating and drinking more to compensate for the terrible days she spent hardly finding anything to eat and escaping from those humans who shouted at her "monster!" the moment she was detected and tossed her rocks that hurts a lot