Jordan froze and looked at Ben. How awkward would that be taking the other half of the sleeping bag! Ben had to, he absolutely had to take the offer. He would hold his glance directly with Ben until he said he would, yes, that's what he would do. That was unless Ben had some ambition to share half of the other girl's bed roll... Casey! Casey, that's what her name was.

Frimon looked between the two boys trying to work out what was so difficult about the question that caused his partner to choke down a knot in his throat.

"Do you want me to make breakfast with Lunamon tomorrow morning or do you got it, Mel? I think technically it's my turn." Casey said, yawning and unrolling her sleeping bag which did indeed have enough room for another person to sleep upon it.

Jordan's eyes jumped back to Ben's, silently requesting that he make the decision so he wouldn't have to feel like a creep taking the spot beside the other boy's twin sister- he'd really like to not make any more faux pas if he could help it.

"Yeah, I guess the other one of you could sleep here, but I'm pretty greedy with the sheet." Casey admitted and laid back, giving another yawn. "Imagine if there is a shop up there in that floating city, Mel... some place we can get these two some actual gear and then we can really start showing them the ropes. It might be a good idea to show them that Biyomon village we ran into as well. You know... so they can see what digimon are typically like."

Ben could see the terror on the other guy's face at the thought of sharing sleeping space with Melody, and he shrugged. It wasn't as if he hadn't spent most of his life sharing with Melody, so he didn't care. He looked around for Coronamon, about to tell the digimon to move over with him, and found the rookie sound asleep by the fire. He blinked and looked at his sister.

"What?" Melody asked when she noticed. Ben pointed at Coronamon and Melody nodded a bit.

"Yeah, I thought that might happen," she said.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"Well, the Moonmon line is nocturnal," Melody reasoned. "I figured the Sunmon line, being the opposite of the Moonmon line, would be diurnal. Ergo, Coronamon probably konked out at dusk." Toeing off her shoes, she settled back onto her improvised sleeping mat and rolled to look at Casey. "You can make breakfast if you want," she said. "I'm not going to argue with that. And I was just thinking earlier that we should look for a store in the floating city; we can't keep four pairs going on two sets of gear for very long."

"That's for sure." Dorimon murmured, looking much more like Dodomon with her legs tucked below her.

"You know..." Casey mused with a grin "It might be less awkward for the boys if you and I shared a bed roll and they took mine for the night, Melody. I think Jordan will appreciate not having to worry if Ben is the protective brother type that way."

Jordan cleared his throat "I just didn't want to upset anyone."

"Oh, we got that one. Here, you two get some sleep and make sure to wake up in the morning and be ready to do some walking." She separated two blankets and carried one over to Melody's bed roll. "We'll have to get some sleeping bags for them if we do find a store."

Frimon bounced over to the empty sleeping bag and waited for Jordan to join him.

Melody shrugged.

"Doesn't matter much to me," she said. She grinned. "I grew up with a brother, I'm used to sharing." She moved over to make some space. Ben grumbled a bit under his breath at having to move around so many times, but went to settle on the other blanket, being careful of Frimon. Whether or not Jordan settled in, too, was up to him.

"Night, everyone," Melody said once the others were settled.

Casey yawned and stroked Dorimon's fur as she slowly drifted off to sleep beside her friend.

Frimon kept off of the sleeping bag so the boys and Coronamon would have plenty of room to sleep. They seemed like they needed it a bit more than he did right now. When Jordan's eyes finally closed he made his way over to Lunamon to sit up and watch out for danger with her but so many questions were wheeling around in his mind. The urgency of them overtook his will power to remain silent and he stammered a few nervous attempts to start a conversation with the rookie digimon. "Mel-Melody seems nice. I bet you've been on lots of great adventures. Were you always good friends?"

Jordan might have closed his eyes but he was far from asleep. A new world... monsters- monsters that could and would GLADLY flatten him into a pancake- magic also seemed to be at foot here. That went hand-in-hand with monsters, right? But there was so many 'digi-this', 'digi-that' things about it couldn't actually be magic. Not really. Maybe he passed out and would wake up soon. He should get to sleep so it would happen quicker. But it didn't work the last time I fell asleep. I'm... here. I'm actually in this place with these things. he thought to himself for what had to be the hundredth time that night. Everyone was taking it so well... The girls have experience here, I guess they would, but Ben too. Am I just being a wuss or something? I think it's definitely something to be bothered by, right?

Still there was a kind of fond familiarity of the place that he couldn't put his finger on. It was that and the diminishing of the adrenaline from his system that kept his eyes closed and slowed his breathing. While his mind spun questions around and around they were slowly breaking apart into the foundations of dreams yet to come.

Lunamon was quiet for a moment before she answered.

"Melody was frightened, at first," she said. "Our world is frightening for humans, after all, and it didn't help matters that I tend to sleep through the day. I think it helped that she and Casey arrived at the same time, and could look after each other." She was quiet again for a moment. "She got used to it slowly. I think it helped when we visited Primary Village. Baby digimon aren't frightening, after all. And we stayed in a few digimon villages the first week, before she went home." Lunamon glanced at Frimon. "She was gone for a while after the first visit. She told me later it was only a week, in the real world, but it felt like forever."

"Shellmon is pretty scary..." Frimon added in Lunamon's pause.

Lunamon made plenty of sense to him. She was a very intelligent digimon, that was for sure. Frimon guessed that going to primary village was her idea- somehow Dorimon didn't seem quite the type to suggest that sort of adventure. "Do you think it would be possible for us to visit primary village or something like that soon so Jordan can not be afraid of me as much? I mean... I don't think he's a scared-y cat or anything but I want him to like it here. I want him to stay." He heaved a sigh and watched the low crackling fire sink lower and lower into the remains of its burnt wooden frame. "What if he doesn't come back after this week?"

Jordan peeked open an eye and watched the backs of two digimon as they spoke quietly to one another. After the girls explained digi-portals he had it set in his mind that he would never again return to the digital world. It was dangerous, strange and full of too many unknowns... but Frimon sounded so hurt as he spoke about him not coming back. He had just met the little fur-ball, why- WHY did it have to be so attached to him? And why was it making him more sad than annoyed that he was? Jordan shifted, redoubling his efforts to forget the entire dilemma and accidentally nudged Ben with his foot.

"Give him some time to get used to the idea," Lunamon replied. "Some digidestined need time. I'm sure he'll return, though... All digidestined do, and you'll be waiting for him when he does." She paused again. "It was bad luck that we stumbled upon a Shellmon. They're holy terrors, even if they are just champion-level. And," she added, a bit embarrassed, "I might have drawn more energy from Melody that I really meant to, when I digivolved. I just grabbed for it, there wasn't much time to be careful."

Ben didn't react to being nudged accidentally, because he wasn't asleep yet either. He was just laying there, listening to the soft talking. He knew his sister was asleep; he would know the even cadence of her breathing anywhere. And he figured the other girl was asleep, too, since her breathing sounded pretty even as well. He was exhausted, but he just couldn't sleep yet. There was way too much going through his head. But he did know one thing for dead certain: he did want to come back and explore more. Now that he knew he wasn't dreaming or anything, and that he could badger his sister for information, he definitely wanted to learn more.

"So what does that mean for you two? Will you have to revert back to Moonmon?" Frimon looked up at her. "You were really awesome fighting earlier. I don't think anyone will blame you if you took too much...As- as long as it doesn't hurt anything. It won't, right?"

His little golden eyes were becoming harder to keep open in the comfort of the cave, the fire... his companions. He didn't want to be rude to Lunamon so he struggled with keeping them open but it was a losing battle. He waited for her answer before excusing himself to sleep beside Jordan's side.

Casey would be up early, ready to cook up something for their travels into the forest.

"When Melody goes home again, I'll go back to being Moonmon," Lunamon said. "For now, I can hold this form." She looked at Frimon. "Try to get some sleep. I know not everyone is up all night like I am, so I'm sorry if I kept you awake." She watched Frimon go and settle in, and then went over to settle in, herself. She wouldn't sleep, but snuggling in with Melody sounded good for a little while.

It took Ben a while to fall asleep, and morning seemed to come entirely too soon, for his taste. That, and Coronamon was poking him in the side.

"Ben... Beeeeeeen... Come on, get up, sun's up, time to be awake!"

Casey giggled, albeit a little groggily, at Coronamon and Ben. Breakfast would be forest berries and dry cereal Casey had packed for her and Melody so they could eat it like a trail mix, but it would have to do for now. "Who needs an alarm clock when you have a Coronamon for a friend, right?"

Dorimon flattened down her ears and did her best to ignore the chipper sounds of Coronamon trying to rouse Ben. Frimon and Jordan were still sound asleep... how she envied them. Casey and Dorimon weren't exactly morning people, but if they put their minds to it, they could wake up early. It was quite a nice trick, but neither would really rely on it without some kind of back up. "Let's have some peace for at least ten more minutes, Coronamon." She muttered, straining to get at least a little more sleep.

"He's right. It's better to get up and get going than to sleep in... no matter how amazing it feels." Casey admitted, eyeing the cave entrance. "Maybe you could join me out in the woods so we can get some berries to fill out breakfast?"

Coronamon just looked at everyone, a bit confused.

"I don't get it," he said. "The sun is up. That means everyone else should be awake, right?" He paused. "Well, except for Lunamon, but she sleeps all day." Turning around again, he nudged his digidestined. "Come on, Ben~!"

"Coronamon..." Melody grumbled as she sat up and rubbed her eyes a bit. "It's early. Not everyone gets up as soon as light clears the horizon." She flopped back over, and absently felt around for her digivice to check the time. "Yeah, too early." She yawned widely and snuggled back in, curling around Lunamon, who was sound asleep.

Coronamon made a face and sat down with a thump. Well, if they wouldn't get up yet, he would just have to wait until they did.

"Coming or what?" Casey said, shuffling out of the cave, "Let's get some berries together, Coronamon. If we see anything dangerous we can come back here and get the others to help us... besides, if we stay here we'll only be bothering folks." She offered another smile before leaving the dimness of the cave behind in exchange for the slightly less dim forest.

Dorimon half opened her eyes and looked anxious. She really wanted to be right at Casey's side, but the bed was soft and warm... perhaps it would be alright to mimic Lunamon just a little bit more before she dedicated herself to being active for the rest of the day. Frimon was at a similar state of readiness, snuggled up against Jordan's hip. Neither he nor Jordan hadn't even been roused by the talking the cave and chances were they wouldn't have gotten up just yet even if they had.

Casey took a deep breath of the outside air and enjoyed the dewiness of the morning forest. For a moment she checked on the cave entrance behind her to see if she would have a shadow.

Coronamon looked between his sleeping digidestined and Casey before scrambling to his feet to follow her. At least he could be useful while he waited for Ben to wake up. He hurried to catch up to Casey, following her out of the cave and into the forest. It was still early, and the sun hadn't had time to really rise yet, so it was still dim under the trees. Luckily, he still had a flame on his forehead and the end of his tail, so he was able to cast a bit of light.

Back in the cave, Melody was starting to wake up. She was sort of used to early mornings in the Digital World (since they slept in the open half the time and there was no way to control sunrise) so she was able to wake up and stay that way. Glancing around, she made note of who was sleeping and who wasn't there, and quietly started to rummage through her bag for the granola bars she'd packed. They would work well with whatever fruit she figured Casey might find.

Casey and Coronamon walked silently for a few paces. The girl was rather happy to have company this time of morning, and was certain that Coronamon was feeling somewhat the same, though obviously he would have preferred it if Ben were up now instead of her. "So are you excited?" She finally asked, nodding toward some promising looking bushes. "You and Ben get to run around the digiworld, beating up bad guys and defending everyone from evil... It's pretty exciting!"

There were a few berries, but not really enough to bring back for a suitable breakfast for eight. They would clearly have to continue to forage. "Dorimon did her best to run in circles around me the first morning I was here... you're staying awfully calm compared to her." She added with a wink.

Back in the cave, Jordan was stirring. He wasn't nearly ready to concede to waking up, but there were funny noises... funny smells... this wasn't his room! He opened his eyes quickly- sleep fled in the face of his memories as they returned. It was that funny cave in that funny world with the funny--

"Ah!" He recoiled from Frimon, suddenly aware that the little creature was touching him. It took a minute before he was breathing evenly again, looking apologetic to the rest of the dim cave's inhabitants. Frimon didn't even notice. he was a much deeper sleeper than to be bothered by Jordan shifting away and for that Jordan was grateful.

"Dorimon like to run," Coronamon replied, shrugging. "I thought everyone knew that. They like to run, and they're good at it." He grinned. "But I bet me and Ben are going to have a lot of adventures! We're going to go all over the Digital World and see everything there is to see, I just know it." He grinned again, brightly.

Ben jumped and yelped when Jordan yelled. The shout had startled him awake, and he sat up and looked around frantically. Melody barely reacted, just glancing at the two.

"Awake now?" she asked as she pulled out the granola from her bag. She threw one at her brother, and handed another to Jordan. "I think Casey and Coronamon went out to see what they could find for breakfast. We should get everything packed up so we can eat and go when they get back."

"What's the rush?" Ben asked cautiously as he raised an arm to deflect the flying cereal bar. "We're not going to get stuck here, are we?" His eyes widened a bit.

"No," Melody replied. "We have plenty of time before the portal circles back around to our part of the world. But it'll take a day or so to get back to the cliff where it generally appears, so we're going to want to get going. We have a couple days' cushion, but we don't want to waste time." She grinned. "I want to spend that cushion exploring the floating city."

"They do... and I bet you will too. He seems nice and I know he will be if he's anything like his sister." Casey smiled and worked at collecting berries. "Is he anything like you imagined him to be like? I was always curious how you all recognize your partners so quickly." She was prepared with enough questions to keep the conversation going until they returned to the cave with their haul of berries. Breakfast would definitely be flavorful.

Jordan gulped and took the granola bar graciously. That was embarrassing... in a little bit of a choked voice he managed to work out a "That'll be good, yeah..." before filling his mouth with food before he could stick his foot into it. When Ben asked about being trapped in the digital world Jordan spun toward Melody with wide eyes. How relieving that they would be safe from being trapped in this strange place.

Stranger still it seemed to almost be growing on him. Not in a way of fondness, of course, but more in the sense that he was less afraid of it all. Nothing had killed him in the time he had arrived- though that Shellmon did give it a good try- and there were at least two people who knew what they were doing and could guide him out of it. Perhaps he could avoid feeling guilty by just taking Frimon to the real world with him and there would be no more of this potential death-by-monsters business that kept flying around the back of his mind.

"How..." Jordan tried to sputter between bites, but was forced to take a moment to swallow down the last of the tickling granola before continuing "how is it floating? Is it on a big raft in the water or something?"

"It's floating in the -air-." quipped Dorimon from behind a lump in Melody's bed roll.

"We just know, I guess," Coronamon said. "As soon as we're born, we know we have a human partner. Some line in our data, I guess." He shrugged. "And there's this thing, when a digivice activates, it kind of pings against that bit of data and we just know." He looked at Casey. "How do humans know to come here to find us?"

Melody grinned at them.

"Oh no, when I say floating city, I mean floating city. It's right off of the mountain range, just off a cliff face, just floating there in the air. And it seems like it should be a real city, there are buildings and stuff on it. Casey and I are going to go explore it."

"What about us?" Ben asked warily. Melody shrugged.

"Either you go home or you come with us," she said. "We're going to explore it with or without you."

Casey placed more berries into the pouch she created and smiled "It's kind of a surprise to us. Melody might know a little more about it but from what I remember the digivice shows up and the moment we touch it BAM! We arrive in the digiworld. That's why Ben was so freaked out when you two met." She giggled a bit, remembering the awkward moments following her arrival in the digiworld. "And as if that isn't mind-blowing enough there's this little guy that knows your name as soon as you get here! Ben seems as comfortable as I imagine Melody was. I'm sure you two will be thick as thieves in a blink of the eye."

She stood up and dusted off her knees. The pouch of berries looked full enough to please the crowd. "Let's head back so we can get onto that early start."

"But..." Jordan said, looking over at Ben for a confirmation of interest "I thought you said we couldn't go home until the portal opens up. We can go home immediately? How?" Once more he looked at Melody, brimming with hope. Maybe he could really, actually do this- just leave this crazy place behind and take his own personal pocket of excitement - that being Frimon - back home. That would be fine, right? "I mean sure a city that's floating sounds... interesting, but I'd really much rather sleep in my own bed, thanks..."

Dorimon huffed and rolled over onto her side. "Are you two really that chicken? What's so scary about a floating city that has you afraid to go there?"

Jordan frowned at the tiny blue-violet ball of fur just visible over the bump in Melody's bed roll. "It's not scary, I'd just rather be at home than getting chased by Shellmon or whatever."

"Shellmon only live at the beach or in the water."

" 'Or whatever'." He replied, dryly.

Dorimon opened an eye and peered over at him for a moment then shut it. As far as she considered him, he was just a big chicken and would slow them down while whining about wanting to go home or getting a rock in his shoe. There would always be something. "Doesn't change the fact that you're a chicken."

Little golden eyes were opening up beside Jordan, and the fur ball started to move. It was only enough to pull his tail over his eyes, but it was a clear enough sign that Frimon was actually awake. The conversation had once again gone completely beyond his notice in desire of more sleep.

Coronamon nodded and hurried to follow Casey. He wanted to get back to Ben now, and breakfast sounded like a really good idea. He was starving.

"I think there's a bit of miscommunication here," Melody said, holding up a hand. "You can't go home till the portal opens, yes. It'll swing back around in a few days. It opens between here and our part of Earth every Earth-minute or so. After that, we're heading into the city, whether you two decide to hang around or not." She grinned. "I still have a hell of a lot of time before anyone will notice I'm not back home." She paused and glanced at her brother. "Well, not counting you, now. And don't you dare rat me out to mom and dad, alright?"

"Alright..." Ben said uncertainly. He looked like he was thinking about something, weighing his options. "How long do you have?"

"Years," Melody replied, grinning. "It was, what, nine or ten in the morning when I left? And mom and dad both get home around five? So I want to be home right around four-thirty, so about six and a half hours back home, translating to three hundred and sixty-five weeks here." Ben looked briefly confused before he had the proverbial lightbulb moment.

"And you said a minute back home is a week here," he said. Melody nodded.

"Right."

Ben gaped.

"And you do this all the time?" he asked.

"Whenever I can," Melody replied.

"How are you not, I don't know, so much older by now? Or dead?"

"Some complicated thing with the digitization process, it remembers me the way I came in and keeps my data static so I don't age in here, and spits me out back home exactly the way I was when I came in," Melody replied.

Ben just stared.

"Oh..." Jordan looked a little defeated and lowered his gaze. He knew that thought was too good to be true... she had said how this worked so many times now but at the same time it was hard to accept it with how strange everything was. He looked between Ben and Melody while they worked out their agreement.

Dorimon looked smug and wagged her short tail. She was certain that this guy would keep his distance from her soon enough now that he knew for certain she was above and beyond his level. Melody was still pandering to him which was confusing... why bother with this guy? He wasn't a part of the 'fab four'. He wouldn't ever be... I mean sure MAYBE Melody's brother could join them, but Jordan? Seriously?

When Ben brought up the age issue Jordan also gaped at Melody "So... it would be the perfect place to study for exams, wouldn't it? I mean you'd get a few weeks to review something if you needed it?" The idea was almost too good to be true- he could definitely balance his social and scholarly life this way and accomplish everything he might have wanted. So it was a blessing in disguise after all!

"But who would want to study here when you could explore?" Casey said, sliding into the cave with a pouch of berries "Who is ready for the good part of breakfast?" She winked at Melody and set the pouch on the floor of the cave.

"Me!" Shouted Dorimon, who was basically on top of the pile before it was set down.

Casey laughed "Alright, cool it, cool it. You'll get your share."

((Sorry it took me so long to get a post in. I had to get ready for my family to visit for a week long stay this coming week on top of other things.))

Melody snickered and nodded.

"I've done that," she said. "I've brought textbooks with me before and just spent a week studying. Or, well, sort of studying. In between exploring." She grinned. "Or I'll take half an hour or so at lunch, spend a couple weeks or so here, and go back in plenty of time for whatever else needed to be done."

Ben just gaped at her.

"How...?"

"Data moves really fast," Melody replied. "And right now, that's all we are is data." She turned when Casey came back in. "Welcome back. What did you find?"

As soon as they were back in the cave, Coronamon bounced over to Ben.

"Ben! You're awake! Finally!" the digimon chirped. Ben just nodded.

"Yeah, I'm awake," he said, still sounding a bit dazed.

"A little bit of everything. It's not great foraging around here, but there's a good mix where it shows up." Casey was particularly interested in the plump red berries she and Dorimon typically always came back with to garnish breakfasts. "And some of your favorites, of course." With a grand gesture she indicated some other berries somewhat covered by the pile and part of Dorimon who was being pulled back some.

Dorimon pouted and gulped down the berries she had already in her mouth and cuddled up beside Casey for some affection.

Frimon eyed the pile and made a face. He was never big on fruit but if he had to eat something it was much better than being hungry. "May I have some, Jordan?"

"Of course... I think they're for everyone."

"Which are good?"

Jordan eyed them. They didn't all look exactly like things from the supermarket, but he was sure that they were all edible. Melody and Casey seemed to be plenty happy to eat them. "Um... I don't know, Frimon. The best thing to do is to try one of each I suppose."

For a primarily carnivorous digimon, that wasn't exactly the thing Frimon wanted to hear but he didn't want to seem ungrateful to Coronamon or Casey for bringing food back for them.

Melody noticed Frimon's hesitance even as she grabbed some berries for herself. Where Dorimon and Lunamon were omnivores and she was fairly sure Coronamon was as well, she wasn't so certain about Frimon.

"I have some jerky if you want some," she found herself offering to the digimon. She dug into her bag and pulled out the dried meat strips. With her other hand, she grabbed some berries to set aside for Lunamon later. Then she popped a berry into her mouth.

Ben, on the other hand, was cautiously tasting some berries. Coronamon was inhaling a handful, but Ben wasn't so comfortable with it. He only tried berries he saw his sister eat.

Frimon nodded vigorously at Melody, doing his best to choke down the few berries he still had in his mouth. "Please? Pretty please??" Anything to take that horrible taste away would be merciful! He tore into the pieces she gave him and happily munched until they were but a distant memory.

"So you're really like a cat, huh?" Jordan said, eyeing the little critter. Frimon smiled a bit, still chewing his last piece of jerky but it was clear he wasn't at all certain what Jordan meant by that. The boy shook his head, and pat Frimon's head which elicited a purr from the golden ball of fluff.

Casey squealed a bit "Ohhh! That's so cute! He is like a little kitty!"

Frimon and Jordan blinked at her girlish reaction, both somewhat worried what would come next but fortunately for them she calmed herself down quickly. She and Dorimon were quickly finished with their ration of berries and were both up stretching in order to get ready for the hike ahead of them.

"I bet you could take those with you and eat them on the way if you want, Ben." Jordan offered, trying to be helpful. "It wasn't a huge breakfast but it was kinda filling. I find it hard to eat just straight berries."

"Me too." Frimon said, making a face while Dorimon tried and failed at not snickering.