A/N: Written for the Tale in Fragments Challenge, 10 prompts List 1, prompt #06 – colour, and for the Female Character Appreciation Competition (with Ruki), both on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's in my profile).
Enjoy. :D
Picnic Day
6. Colour
Friday was when Ruki started her first menstrual cycle, so waking up Sunday morning was more uncomfortable than she'd expected. Lucky, she was only a little nauseous, not laden in pain like she'd expected. Saturday hadn't been too bad either; she'd taken precautionary tablets
Apparently, she hasn't inherited her mother's monster. Or it hasn't gotten to that stage yet. Either way, that's good to know, because she's taking her mother to the Digital World today and she doesn't want anything to stop that.
Rumiko makes sure Ruki has spare painkillers, pads and even a spare set of underwear too. Just in case. Ruki's grandmother wasn't coming along; the journey to the Digital World wasn't one that could be made with a walking stick, though she looked like she wanted to see it. Rumiko was taking her camera as an intermediate measure; photos and short video clips weren't as good as the real thing, but they were close.
The others are going as well. Some have piggy-backed off her idea and are bringing their parents along, but everyone's going their separate way and the market was a big place. Full of colour and things that even Renamon, who'd grown up in the Digital World, has never seen before. Things that Rumiko, having never even seen the Digital World, could only marvel at in amazement.
The market is full of colour and noise and life. It was nothing like the peaceful picnic they'd been having a fortnight ago, but Ruki found herself smitten nonetheless. Maybe because it is something she's chosen, come to of her own free will rather than dragged to by her mother – and maybe because her mother is enjoying it without being the one to choose their destination, swivelling on the spot and checking out all the stalls on tiptoe and picking out the more interesting ones.
Ruki has to admit her mother had good taste when she passes right past an Ogremon's stall without a second glance. He isn't worth stopping for, unless you happen to be Hirokazu, Ruki notes with a roll of her eyes in the general direction. Hirokazu and Guardramon are standing there like the idiots they are. At least Kenta has enough sense to abandon them; instead, he and MarineAngemon are talking to a Kudamon selling little rings.
Rumiko does note that one, though her first agenda is to see everything the fair has to offer before visiting specific stalls. And what it has to offer is a plenitude of colour and light and creatures she'd never in her wildest dreams imagined. All of it was beautiful, like the setting on a stage for a play or a photo shoot, and Rumiko almost wished she'd worn something more formal, like a kimono. But Digimon don't wear much in the clothes department and all the humans she can see (mostly children like Ruki, but she can see a few other adults) are in casual garb.
And the atmosphere is remarkably relaxed, better than even a crowded supermarket mall.
'Is shopping in the Digital World always like this?' she asks.
Ruki shrugs. 'Beats me,' she says. 'My first time to something like this.'
She looks at Renamon, who nods. 'It's a relatively new thing,' the digimon explains. 'We digimon were rather primitive: fighting endlessly so only the strong survived and grew and that was our only purpose in life. Now we are changing: changing towards humans and digimon working together, and becoming more organised and sustainable like the human world.'
Ruki doesn't quite understand why the fair was necessary, but Rumiko is nodding so Ruki assumes it's an adult thing. Though she has her doubts when they get to the procession and her mother lets out a girlish squeal and whips her camera out.