I've added a little to this but it is still a 100% work in progress! A bazillion thanks go out to Son Rhandi, who is responsible for pretty much all the good ideas in here.
Please enjoy my wonderful lack of plot :) Oh, and I don't know enough about casual Japanese stuff to even try to make the setting read as Japanese to anybody who vaguely knows what they're talking about. For this I apologize, but, you know, what the hey.
if you steal a selkie's true skin, it will stay with you in human form- but it will always long for the sea


He was sitting alone in the park again that winter evening, half in and half out of the pool of light cast by one of the old ironwrought lamps. Like he wanted to hide, fade out of sight, but was afraid of being swallowed up in darkness. His proportions were quite odd, his posture made him seem dejected, lonely. He was wearing that same blue suit, and he was hiding in that, too; she couldn't see his face at all. Just like the other times she had seen him. And always alone.
Alice didn't usually make it her business to bother complete strangers, but the man had really piqued her curiosity. She'd been visiting this park practically every day for years, to run around and play with her weimeraner, Selkie. About a year and a half ago, she'd first noticed the unusual visitor dressed in blue, contemplating to himself. Since then, she'd seen him maybe.. ten, fifteen times. She wasn't actually counting, but he always stuck in her mind. She was curious, so curious...
She'd been unconsciously watching him again, out of the corner of her eye, and when he moved she looked up from her game with Selkie. He had raised his huge, gloved hands and seemed to be staring at them, and then he shivered a little and hugged himself, hunkering down against the cold. This was just too much. She had to talk to him, at least once. At least she could offer to bring him some hot tea or something. She approached casually, letting Selkie trot ahead. The dog had always been a great judge of character, so if she was comfortable with the stranger, he was probably okay. And in a pinch, she was viciously protective of her alpha.
Selkie was fine with the idea of meeting the strange man, even guessing her alpha's intentions so far as to sit attentively by his feet. He noticed Selkie's approach and seemed to know she was friendly, reaching down carefully to let her approve his palm, and then petting her a little. Then he noticed Alice closing in and withdrew his hand, stiffening with unease.
"It's okay," Alice said conversationally, "She's friendly. Her name's Selkie."
He looked up at her for a moment, and even through the deep shadows she could see there was something terribly wrong with his face. The single eye met hers for less than a second, but it was enough to recognise the quiet sadness there.
Looking away, Mummymon shivered, but it wasn't really from the cold. His 'human' form couldn't really pass for human at close range, and he wasn't supposed to let himself be found out. At best, he'd be grounded again, not allowed to leave without orders. At worst... Well, if he did anything that might compromise the plan, he wasn't even sure that he wasn't expendable.
Alice gave her plan a quick rethink. Up close, she could see that the man's clothes looked brand-new, even though they had to be at least a year old. Even his shoes. And the gold... decorations on his suit and hat gleamed with the rich color of real gold, not brass. The guy was obviously hurting for something, but it didn't look like it was money. What the hell, she decided at last.
"I'm Alice," she said, and held out her hand.
Mummymon stared at it before cautiously accepting the handshake. He hated how huge his hands were, compared to the human's. Why couldn't he look more human, like... like she did? And how could he reply to this creature? He could hardly say his name was "Mummymon." His first instinct was to use the name "Yukio," but he realized that could very easily lead to trouble. Anyway, Alice was an english name, so maybe he should use one too. It might make her more comfortable.
"James," he replied.
She sat down on the concrete ledge next to him and he shivered again. "I've been meaning to introduce myself for a while," she was saying. "I've seen you here a couple times before. Do you live near here, too?"
"...Not really," he answered, absently petting Selkie again. "I just like to visit sometimes."
Alice liked his voice. He was much younger than she'd thought. "Listen, would you like something to drink? I'll go get us something warm, if you don't mind sitting around talking to me."
He was surprised enough to look at her again, and she got a better look at him. His skin was actually grey... a deep grey, wrinkled but not old, like the skin of a bird. His eye, a left eye, was huge and cat-yellow. The space where his other eye should be was simply blank. But his mouth... It didn't look like anything that she could imagine happening naturally or by accident. It looked like he had shark's teeth....
Suddenly he crouched back into the depths of the shadows. Alice cursed herself for staring like that. Talk about inconsiderate... She wondered how she could make him comfortable about talking to her. "I'm sorry," she said. "But don't say no just because I'm rude and presumptuous."
He chuckled a little at that, in the darkness, and she smiled.
"So what do you want? In the way of tea?" she said, and Selkie stood up, ready for a little more walking.
"It doesn't matter," he said, and his mood seemed to have lightened, "as long as it's sweet."
Alice smiled winningly and trotted off with Selkie. Mummymon sat in the shadows, watching the stars come out. He wondered if he'd get in trouble for talking to this human. Maybe he'd get away with it. He had dropped his guard and she hadn't said anything. As long as he didn't end up attracting unwanted attention from the humans in general, he should be okay.
If he did get caught... Maybe it would be worth it. He liked the humans, and he longed for the chance to talk to someone. Arukenimon sort of listened to him, although she pretended not to care, but Oikawa didn't even try anymore.
Alice returned. She handed him a large cup and he smiled his wide smile, breathing in the sweet steam. "Thank you," he said, and sipped at it.
She watched him drink and grin, and she smiled back, sipping her own tea. He wasn't hiding his face from her anymore, now that she'd gotten a good look anyway. God, she didn't want to be rude, but she was so curious why he looked that way! But how do you ask a question like that? She'd finally worked up the nerve to go talk to him and she couldn't think of anything to say.
Mummymon tipped his head back, looking at the stars shining against the dark blue sky. "It's a beautiful night," he said, then looked down at Selkie. "Cold, though. Come on up here."
Alice watched in amazement as Selkie jumped happily up onto the ledge and sat between her and the stranger. He draped an arm across the dog's shoulders and hugged her a little closer. "Wow," Alice said, "she really likes you."
He looked at her searchingly. He wanted to talk to her... Really talk to her, spill his guts, not just tell her he liked winter stars. "You were curious about me because I looked strange," he guessed, and tugged the collar of his coat down a little so she could see him more clearly, "but you didn't expect me to look this strange."
Now she really was embarassed. Sure she was curious, but she didn't want to hurt the guy's feelings. "You're right," she said, "but just because somebody has a story, it doesn't mean they're obligated to tell it to every yahoo who comes along. Anyway, I didn't really mean to intrude-"
"I'm not a human," Mummymon interrupted, and waited to see what would happen.
Alice stopped short. "Oh." She wasn't at all sure he was kidding.
"I know, it's kind of a conversation-killer." He started petting Selkie again. "Actually, I was wondering if you could give me some advice... Some, ah... girl advice..."
"Um..."
"You see, I'm hopelessly in love with someone, but every time I try to tell her how I feel she just gets annoyed with me. Is there anything I can do, do you think?"
"Is she human?"
"Oh, no. She can take a human form though. And it's so beautiful... Not like mine. This is as close as I get," he said sadly, raising his arms in a little hopless gesture.
"What do you really look like?" she wondered.
Mummymon glanced around quickly. There was nobody else in this corner of the park. "I'll show you if you want."
"...Ok."
"Don't scream," he said, and then shifted into his full Digimon form for just a few seconds.
Alice was convinced. "I'll be happy to offer you some female insights," she said, "if you'll tell me... uh... alien stuff."
"Ah," Mummymon said tenatively, "I'm not quite an alien like that. I'm more from a parallel world, you see." He looked up at the sky wistfully. "I'm afraid I don't really know anything about the stars." He looked back at her. "I'll talk to you all you want about my world, though. It's a beautiful place."
Selkie yawned with a squeak and gave her alpha an imploring look. Alice couldn't say no to that face. "Selkie's getting cold," she said, picking up her tea. "We'd better head home."
"Oh..." Mummymon said, his face falling.
"Would you like to come over and talk for a while?"


"It's not as though I get stupid around her though. I'm muddled most of the time anyway."
Alice's place was a lovely little apartment, just barely big enough to allow Selkie to trot around jauntily. The place was packed with shelves and shelves of stuff.. all sorts of different things. Trinkets and colletibles. Guns. Bones. Photographs. The bones particularly drew him, once he'd realized what they were. Digimon didn't leave bones behind. The fact that most life of Earth automatically left a kind of memorial to itself made him feel a strange longing. He needed more stablility, anything to make him feel more firmly rooted in the world. In any world.
He waited to be asked to sit. "Thank you for inviting me," he said.
Alice was fascinated, watching his mind wander. "You're welcome. Any friend of Selkie's is a friend of mine." He reached for a raccoon skull and stopped himself, put his hands in his pockets, and she smiled. "You can touch it. It's okay."
He looked over at her guiltily, like he'd been caught in the act, then gave her a brilliant, bashful, grateful grin and took the skull from the shelf. He turned it in his hands, delicately, looking into its empty eye sockets. "What happened to it?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, not sure on what scale he was asking the question.
"How did it... How did it die?"
"Oh," she said, stumped for a moment. "I don't really know. I imagine it was shot."
He looked imploringly into its bone face. He understood that most animals here were not considered sentient. Mostly on the grounds that they couldn't speak, apparantly. Some of the lesser creatures of the Digital World had motives no higher than many Earthly animals, but they could talk and as far as he could tell that was the only difference, the only reason why Digimon were not exploited by their peers so ruthlessly as the animals of Earth were. That said, he had stared into the empty eyes of some of the animals here and wondered if they really were little more than machines.
He looked over at Selkie for contrast. Intelligence gleamed behind her canine eyes. He smiled, returning the skull to its place, and bent down to ruffle her fur. The dog really liked him, and he was grateful for it. Her easy acceptance and trust made him feel.. special? Worthy. He chuckled, realizing how low he must have been feeling, without really knowing it, if the approval of a dog made him that happy.
"Would you like some more tea?" Alice asked from the kitchen area, rooting around in the fridge.
"No, no... I'm fine," he replied, beginning to feel a little stilted.
She came back with a large mug of it for herself, and settled into one of her huge armchairs. "Please, sit down," she said suddenly, realising he'd been waiting.
Mummymon sank gratefully into another chair, finding it marvelously comfortable. Selkie was instantly at his feet, her head on his knee. He smiled, petting her.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "And you said you had trouble with women," she demurred.
Mummymon stopped cold for a moment, looked up at his host with a smile. "No, not women. Just one woman. Though I can't say I'm not glad that you two seem to like me well enough so far."
"Tell me about her," she suggested.
"She..." he trailed off, trying to choose his words, and at last just shook his head. "She's amazing. Beautiful, with long white hair, and amazing eyes. She never shows her eyes anymore, and I'm afraid it might be because I loved to look at them so much... We're partners, you understand, or she wouldn't be with me at all. We work together."
"That's alright," she prodded, "Now tell me about her."
And so he did.


"We came to this world together, to work for a mutual aquaintance- I immediately felt this powerful connection to her- even before the first time I saw her, I think; it was that strong. She was never so taken with me, though. But we must be connected. Whenever we're apart, I feel it... I miss her... And I swear she misses me too, even if she tries to hide it from me."

Alice sat thinking, chewing over his tale. "I don't think your chances with her are as bad as you think they are, James," she reassured him, though he didn't look encouraged. "I think they're more like you hope they are. You're not wrong about her missing you. It's possible she just doesn't want to let her connection with you develop in any way. She may be afraid of changing her emotional status quo."
"What?"
"She doesn't like change. You have to convince her that the risk is woth taking. That she'd find it rewarding to let you a little closer to her."
"How do I do that?"
"Well.. How have you expressed your feelings to her in the past?"
He thought for a moment. "Mostly I just flirt... Tell her she's beautiful... I've tried to kiss her before, but.." he shrugged.
Alice smiled. "Try something different, something that will stay in her mind and make her think of you. She won't let you take her out, so you could bring her something instead."
"I've given her presents before," He replied unhopefully.
"Such as?"
"I don't know... Things that reminded me of her."
"Have you tried jewelry yet?"
He sighed. "She didn't like what I bought her. She said it was ugly. I suppose she was right, I don't know anything abou-"
"Let's go," she said, jumping to her feet, holding a hand out to her guest. Selkie barked and ran to the door, where her lead was hanging.
Mummymon stood uncertainly. "Where are we going?"
"To pick out something for your lady friend, of course."


Alice knew there had been trouble when she saw her new friend at the park again the very next day, rocking despondently on a swing.
"Hey," she called softly, walking up, and settled into the next swing over. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
"I wasted your time last night," he sighed.
"I was going to waste it anyway. Don't tell me she didn't like it at all?"
He shook his head slowly.
"Didn't even crack a smile?"
"She told me..." he got a look on his face like he was trying to remember the words right, even though they hurt. "She said she refused to wear anything that would allow me to pretend that she belonged to me. I said I didn't mean that at all, that I'd never think that way, and she said that was just because I was such an idiot..." He sighed, long and heavy, not noticing Alice wince at his words.
She was amazed that anyone could respond so venomously. "James," she began, and for a moment Mummymon didn't respond, having forgotten it was his name. "It's not your fault, you know. Even if it was the choice of gift it wasn't your fault, that was my idea." She leaned the swing a little closer to him. "I don't think it was the necklace. I think it was Amanda."
He looked up at her, confused, a little reproachful.
"Girls only feel that way about presents from real jerks. Bad guys. Nobody with a level head would react like that to a present from a sweet guy like you. I think she's just insecure- she wouldn't say something like that if she wasn't afraid."
"Afraid? Not of me...?"
"No... Afraid of letting you get close. She wants to keep her world the way it is. Or maybe she thinks, on the inside, that her own personality might not be strong enough for people to think of her as her instead of as an accessory to someone else."
Mummymon thought about that for a few minutes, miserably. "So she'll always hate me, just so nobody will think of me when they think of her?"
Alice suddenly felt horrible for starting this. She hadn't realised that putting Amanda down would hurt him so much, or that he would take her words so seriously. She shouldn't have been so casual. "Maybe something like that. I'm only guessing. I've never met her."
Mummymon went back to staring at the dirt.
"It doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't like you," Alice suggested.
Mummymon didn't believe that right now, but he liked to hear it, so he didn't stop her.
"If she didn't like you, she would have just said no, and refused to take it. Told you not to buy her anything anymore. Maybe she would have been mean about it, but she certainly wouldn't have been so... personal." Alice smiled, watching Mummymon's face soften a bit. "She's definitely close to you. She could even like you already, but she can't admit it, maybe not even to herself."
"I love her," he said quietly, earnestly. "That's not hard for me to say. How could it be so hard for her?"
Alice's eyes got wet and she blinked hard. "It's hard for a lot of people- for most people, even. You're one in a million."
"One of a kind," he returned dejectedly, not knowing how close to the truth he was.
"God, no," she protested. "Don't feel that way. Everyone is unique. It doesn't mean you have to be alone."
"I don't want to be alone..."
"You're not." Alice reached across the space between them and cuffed him on the shoulder. He looked over at her, and she gave him a winning smile. "At the very least, you've got me."
His jagged smile was worth more than any gift, and Alice pitied the woman he loved- How blind she must be, to not see that.

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