Salva Nos Apocrypha
00: Spinning Yarns
by Ajora Fravashi
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Note: This is a collection of completely non-canon side-stories for the universe of Salva Nos. Nothing written here is actually a part of Salva Nos itself. Nothing here reflects any sort of end-game for the fic. This is just me entertaining myself with complete nonsense and what-if shipfic. Anyone getting into this Apocrypha is encouraged to read SN first. The Apocrypha can and will involve the following: heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, gender nonconformity, monogamy, polyandry, and more. I am likely to lose all my followers for this, but please keep in mind that this is just for fun. I'm releasing this now because the upcoming chapter (20) is going to be very, very dark.
Daisuke didn't really care what anyone did on their off-time, so long as it was something. Everyone should have a thing they did that wasn't part of their daily work tasks. Takeru played world conquest games with Ken when he wasn't writing in his notebook, Patamon raced with Piyomon, V-mon had a group in the Digimon Room that he played with, Jun guided newcomers around and helped them settle in, Sora spent her time alone to decompress and experiment with traditional arts, Jianliang disappeared somewhere and reappeared hours later with helmet hair and sometimes taught t'ai chi and kung fu in the gym when Iori wasn't teaching kendo, Wormmon turned out to be surprisingly good at knitting and sometimes played with Iori's Armadimon. Daisuke himself flitted between several social groups depending on their availability: the poker group Senri hosted, Manami's boxing class, the culinary club, the soccer club, and whatever else was open at the time.
And, sometimes, he just liked to watch people. He sat up on the catwalk suspended over the hydroponics part of the enormous chamber that also housed the cafeteria, legs dangling over the edge just above the support trellis for some climbing plants. Behind him were the hot lamps that provided light to the garden. At this time of day, the lamps were out and the only light came from the cafeteria part of the area. Senri's poker game wouldn't start for another couple of hours yet, all the sporting clubs closed at sunset, and he'd already eaten supper. He had a flask of sake in his pocket, but he was not yet in the mood to indulge.
Roughly thirty minutes into his people-watching venture, he heard tiny feet on the metal causeway and the slap of long, prehensile ears on balusters. While he couldn't say that he expected to see Terriermon here, he also wasn't very surprised. Gliding digimon occasionally used the catwalks to stay in practice, though that was usually done in the Digimon Room. "Jen know you're up here breaking rules," Daisuke asked lightly once Terriermon arrived on the catwalk. No one was supposed to be jumping off catwalks, but people generally turned a blind eye to those digimon who did.
Terriermon stuck out his tongue and settled next to him. "He's busy being a butt."
"No, really?" Daisuke couldn't help but laugh. How the hell Li Jianliang ended up with a digimon who seemed to be his exact opposite, Daisuke had no idea. "What's he being a butt about?"
"Let's see…" Terriermon stuck out one stubby hand and started ticking off a list on his fingers. "Ken, Ryo, Osamu, Shaochung, Lianjie. And a bunch of boring details about his job, but those are the main ones. And a lot of angst." The digimon paused and flexed his fingers before draping his ears over his feet. "Entire boatloads of angst. He prefers being alone for that."
Daisuke let the silence last for a few minutes. Whatever Jianliang's demons were, he probably didn't even share them with his digimon. But there was something he was curious about. "I… kindasorta overheard him talking to some guy in one of those remote hallways no one's supposed to use. All I heard was a list, though. Gibson meteorite, iolite, petrified wood, and palladium. Jianliang didn't sound too happy about it. And there was something about wanting Jianliang there for the ceremony."
"Oh!" Terriermon laughed lightly. "That's what he meant. There's a couple he has a crush on, but never got up the spine to tell either of them. They're getting married at some point."
His eyebrows rose at that. He'd never considered being with more than one person; just one relationship was a lot of work. But two? Wow. "Someone's greedy."
"Jen's never happy with anything simple." Terriermon's dark eyes danced in amusement. Then he switched gears, which was unsurprising. Terriermon might poke fun at his partner, but never to much of an extent. "Whatcha doing up here?"
"I got bored and wanted to watch people." He considered his company. Terriermon was a blast, moreso because human stories were the kind Daisuke loved. Everyone had a story, and Terriermon collected them much like Daisuke did. Whether they were true or not was entirely irrelevant. "Why don't we swap stories?"
With a tone of pure glee, Terriermon began.