"...I-It's expecting or believing that something will happen. U-Um, do you expect anything to happen right now?"
While she heard this, she made no real effort to actually respond. Her voice was as tired and low as ever.
"Honestly, at this point? Sky's the bloody limit. Ain't nothing gonna throw me for a loop." She absentmindedly kicked at a rock, which didn't quite feel like a rock - the weight of it was off and it went sailing as a result.
"Heyyy!"
The rock, unknowlingly, had struck true to a target. Chip, the little Terriermon, had gotten a rock to his back. It wasn't all that painful, but still enough to sting a little. Chip turned to see where the rock had come from. While he was certainly one to be all sunshine and sparkles, the rock did make him itch for a good fight. "Who threw the rock?"
"Shit."
Chip really didn't have to look around much. She was already by his side before the word fully left her lips, kneeling to be at eye level.
"You okay lil dude?"
"I'll be fine," said Chip, dusting off his shoulders and arms as if he had just gotten out of a scuffle. "But We'll have to see about yourself once I'm through with you!" He raised his arms to square up. Her eyebrows rose in response. "Chill the fuck out, didn't mean for that to hit no one, especially not a lil guy like you."
And with that, she stretched out her arm and patted Chip on the head, sticking her tongue out before chuckling.
"Jackass."
Carter was more than quick to figuratively step in to stop his Digimon.
"Alright, Chip," Carter knelt down as well. "Let's not get into any fights, not with our own group, anyways."
Turning around, he flashed a smile at the girl who had kicked the rock - she did not return it. This was the one he had overheard talking to her digimon before. Well, if friendship was his aspect or whatever, he might as well be friendly to someone else that thought this was a load of bull. "I'm Carter. You're... Neigh, right?I heard your digimon talking to you just a bit ago-" He was promptly cut off by an awestruck Dorotea.
"I'm who now?"
"Uh, Neigh?" Carter realized only now that it was possible that he might have misheard something, but it was far too late for him to take any of it back. He had to own up to it.
She sputtered for a moment, at a complete loss. And then she finally returned the smile.
"Know what? I'll give it to ya, that's the best bloody one yet."
Welp.
He was wrong.
He blinked in silence, his lips pursed tightly.
"That's her name, please wear it out!" Chip chirped, smiling and folding his arms. He knew that wasn't Dorotea's real name, but Carter was absolutely stumped and it was the funniest thing he could have ever imagined. And it seemed he wasn't alone in this sentiment - Dorotea clearly thought this was a riot.
He didn't even have a reply ready for this. Somehow the conversation had taken such a turn in his mind that he had no idea what to even say anymore, or how to get back on track to whatever he was going to say before he just called her something that apparently clearly wasn't a name or nickname. Thank God that she wasn't born with the name Neigh, though. That would have been tough in high school.
"So, uh," He looked around. "I'm Carter. You can just call me an Idiot. And you... are...?" His hands rolled over one another, begging for her to set him straight so he could forget this embarrassment. She seemed a bit younger than him, which was perfectly fine, but something about that look in her eyes made her seem a little older than one would think.
"Like hell I'm gonna call you an idiot, bloody fuckin' genius you are, holy shit-" she took a breath to stifle her giggles, "-Neigh, god, how has no one else thought of that? That's who I am to you from now on, army boy."
There was a rare light in her eyes, genuinely, childlishly bemused. Frankly, she wasn't expecting something like that coming out of Carter, but perhaps that's what made this trivial slip of tongue all the more humourous to her.
"Marines..." He muttered to himself. Even now he was still red in the face over getting it wrong, even moreso with her laughing and getting genuine enjoyment out of his mistake.
"Tomato, potato,"she said, shrugging. "Big fuckin' difference."
"...Yeah." He breathed out. Looking down, he could see Chip stifling a laugh or two as he hid behind his large ears. Though it didn't hurt, he did exhale a little more after being lightly punched in the shoulder by the younger girl.
"Oi. Lighten the fuck up, would ya? Things are doomy and gloomy and shit enough as is to be beating yourself up over your own genius." There was that old jaded look in her eyes, but the smile was there nonetheless. Teasing but well-meaning.
Carter shook his head and looked around once more to those around him, then to the device on his wrist. As he set eyes on Dorotea again, he raised his hands to his head. How could any of them be taking this so well? All of this was absolute nonsense. Monsters? Some sort of god? A Digiworld? What the fuck was a Digiworld?
"Look," He shook his head once more. "I can't be the only one who thinks this is crazy, right? We've all been abducted and were put on drugs, that's the only way it makes sense."
"Crazy ass drugs to be givin' us all the same hallucinations, of course none of this shit makes any fuckin' sense. My question is why you's acting as if it should at this point?"
She looked to Chip, Bud (still busy with their pep-talk it seemed), and then back to Carter. She then pointed with her thumb to the holy glowing angelic mess behind them, and raised a brow quizzically, as if to further the point of how absurd it all ways.
"Only ones here who don't think this is all batshit insane are the little bastards at our heels, and honestly, they seem all the more happier for it, don't they?"
His brows raised. She had a pretty valid point to all of this. All of the little monsters were as right as rain and perfectly fine with how things were.
"I mean, even if we were all kidnapped and drugged, we're all just stressing out for nothin' if we're just trippin' balls because that means none of this is real anyhow."
Real or not, she had a point. Carter was starting to lose himself pretty quickly to all the chaos and new developments happening. He needed a little grounding. "You're right," he smiled at her, which took her completely off guard. She snorted and mumbled under her breath.
"First time for everythin' I guess."