Days of Bittersweet Familiarity {Haggar}

[tomonari]

So, he finally got to take a break for a couple days, most of which he took the time reading up on various things. By that, it meant Tomonari was trying to familiarize himself with this brand new world. Of course, it was a brand new world to him. It was a hard thing for the boy to do, as even though he wasn't at home, it seemed like he still was home. A strange concept, sure, but the whole deal with living in a big city made Tomonari want to find his old street where he lived, and see his godfather again. As much as he wasn't too fond of it, Tomonari even wanted to be jumped on by his father's fat, german shepherd (as that breed seemed to be called here), again. Then again, there was a point where that probably wasn't the best thing to think about right now.

Quite hesitant about it at first, Tomonari eventually decided to go outside for a bit. The park was always a nice suggestion. It was called Central Park, if he recalled correctly. Everything seemed nice so far, although the teenager didn't want to push his luck. For the most part he just followed the main path, as to not get lost. Thankfully, at least some of his knowledge from his own world still applied here. Nobody else seemed to have really noticed the boy either, as he looked like just about any other human that naturally lived here. Eventually, he came upon a simple, park bench, which was dry and not missing any sort of 'fresh paint' sign. That would have been bad if he sat on a freshly painted bench.

As such, the boy sat on this dry bench, watching other people that walked on by. His legs were tucked in, and his arms were wrapped around his legs. There wasn't anybody in particular he wished to see right now, aside from the obvious one. No matter what he thought about, Tomonari couldn't help but feel the bittersweet feeling that came from his surroundings.

[haggar]

Presidency, Mike Haggar worked his ass off in the world of politics to make it here. Mike being the former mayor of New York proved his bravery time and time again by saving the city from the Mad Gear gang and the zombie menace. It's only fair that they awarded him presidency for his troubles. Haggar was clad in his ever usual green suit with a brown tie. Haggar's massive frame often forcing him to have these suits custom made to fit his incredibly muscle mass. Mike strolled across the streets, catching glances from the happy citizens of New York. They saw the president as being one of them and a man of the people, which he was. Mike knew the hardships these people faced and he solved problems, namely crime. In much of New York crime had dropped quite a lot and generally it was much more peaceful.

"Heh, central park." Haggar said to himself quietly, standing at the gates and remembering the times he used to spend here during his youth and how he even brought his late wife here on their first date. Yeah, that was long ago, going back a good 30 years when he was just a young brawler and before he took up a life as a pro wrestler being dubbed 'Macho Mike'. Haggar honestly missed his days kicking ass in the ring and often reminised about them by phoning his old tag team partner 'The Red Cyclone' of Russia. Haggar walked through the gates and saw someone familiar to him perched on a park bench. In fact, it was a bench Haggar had quite a bit of history with.

Walking up to the young man Haggar sat next to him. "Hey, been a long time. Tomo." Haggar spoke out in his usual gruff voice, his body almost taking up the entirety of the bench that Tomo wasn't occupying. He patted the bench a bit, smiling as it was dedicated to Nancy Haggar and has been standing since her death. Not even Mad Gear, zombies or any other disasters have taken it down. "Heh, lotta memories with this here bench." Mike said to himself. Surprisingly, he had little to no security around. Haggar often frowned upon security due to the fact that he knew he could take any challenge that comes his way and was confident that he's powerful enough that nobody would attempt anything.

[tomonari]

At one point the boy ended up staring blankly at anyone that passed by, and quite frankly, wasn't thinking much about that. His focus had shifted towards thin air, as though he was about to go into a trance of sorts. Granted, it wouldn't be too difficult to get him out of it. The problem with this, however, was the lack of people that would actually do so. No more zombies seemed to be around, and Tomonari wasn't informed if any gang members were in the area, although quite frankly, he hadn't encountered any since he first came to this city. Then again, it wasn't as though he was familiar with the history of New York City to begin with. The teenager's thoughts soon ended completely, with him going into more or less a trance state. It was nothing more than him zoning out, however, so at least he didn't have to worry about any sort of power going nuts against his will.

Soon enough though, a voice all too familiar to him spoke up. Jumping in surprise, Tomonari looked around a bit before setting his gaze on Haggar. Slowly, his trance like state ended, although remained quiet for a bit. Then, the boy spoke up, "O-Oh, s-sorry. Hello, M-Mr. Haggar." Now this was a person he didn't expect to meet here in Central Park, although this was a big city, so anything was possible. As nice as the man was, the boy still wasn't entirely sure about Haggar. Granted, once more did he remind Tomonari of his own grandfather, what with the mustache and being a man mountain for the most part. Although that sort of thought brought him back to the fact that this wasn't his homeworld. The moment he calmed down and became at least slightly comfortable, something else came up to remind the boy of such.

It also became apparent that Tomonari would have to talk to Haggar at this point, but the problem was, what would he say? He looked away for a moment, and began to go into deep thought again. Numerous things went through his mind once more. There were a variety of questions to ask, although quite a few of them, the boy figured the man couldn't answer. At least, not completely. With his thoughts, Tomonari began to resort to his trance like state again. His thoughts didn't disappear this time, although they were building up inside of him. Eventually though, he came to the realization that he was zoning out again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Shaking his head, Tomonari didn't really put much thought into Haggar saying how there were a lot fo memories put into the bench they were sitting on.

Eventually, Tomonari gathered his thoughts, and wondered how crazy it was to ask the man his question. Thinking some more, he looked over at Haggar, "S-Sorry... i-if this is dumb to s-say, but, y-you know... I'm n-not from th-this city." Sighing, he lowered his tone, partially not wanting the man to hear this last part, "O-Or this p-planet, f-for that matter.." Tomonari became worried now, wondering if that was the best thing to mention now.

[haggar]

Haggar slowly removed his green blazer, putting it over the back of the bench and revealing a white dress shirt taut to his skin and stretched across his muscled body. Mike had gotten quite a few stares from various onlookers. After all, when you see THE FREAKING PRESIDENT in central park with no security guards simply enjoying himself you have to do a double take. Mike often liked to leave without hordes of security guards. Mike was still a man of the people and whether your a bum on the street of a rich tycoon he would always treat you fairly and just. When you're a man such as that you don't feel the additional help that the secret service gives is a good use of taxpayer money. That, and he had New York's most infamous vigilante on his side. Guy was well known in the criminal underworld for having brought some of the toughest crime lords to justice and when you have the best security money can offer, why bother with a couple of muscular goons in suits?

Tomonari at the very least still remembered Mike, calling him politely by "Mr Haggar" "Heh, kid's so damn formal. Good manners goes a long way." he thought to himself, folding his arms and smiling a little beneath that bushy moustache. Haggar really was a big softy at heart and loved to help any of those he could and really, this kid looked like he needed it. If it wasn't the way he jittered out his greeting it was his awkward posture that gave Mike the idea he was troubled. "Heh, you mean Mister President, don't you?" Haggar said, patting the kid on the back and chuckling. "Nah, I'm just messing with ya'" Mike said in his usual gruff but friendly manner to try and help lighten this kid's mood. It didn't seem to do much though, leaving Haggar to wonder just what was wrong with this kid.

Tomo then piped up again, mentioning he wasn't from this city. "You didn't need to tell me that. You're an outsider and it's fine with me. Nobody is gonna give ya' a hard time when you say you know good ol' Mike Hag-" "O-Or this p-planet, f-for that matter.." Haggar looked slightly confused at this revelation before nodding and taking a slightly quieter tone as to not tip off anyone else here about that fact. "Heh, livin' breathin' alien right here. Look, I'm gonna square with you here. I seen stuff that'll make your teeth curl... Demons chuckin' fireballs, green guys with electric powers, yoga warriors with flame breath... I ain't ever seen an alien. I suggest you don't tell too many people, it ain't a surprise to me because I seen too much other crazy junk in my years. Just keep the fact to those you can trust." Haggar spoke in a more concerned tone, not really wanting the kid to blurt that info out to the wrong people.

[tomonari]

Strangely enough, the first thing that came to to Tomonari's mind was: wasn't Haggar the alien? That would be rather rude to ask though, and the boy sighed. Things were difficult enough as it was, and he would probably only make things more difficult than they needed to be. Listening to the man speak, Tomonari was slightly confused for a moment, but something inside him sparked that whispered to the boy's mind. Specifically, it was the similarity between the things Haggar had seen over his years, and the monsters being considered 'normal' on Tomonari's homeworld. Although that also brought up something a little contradicting in the teenager's mind. A digimon called Vademon was, more or less, considered some kind of alien. But then again, the term 'alien' had more than one meaning.

From the tone of Haggar's voice, Tomonari became rather worried. For one, he felt as though saying that was the wrong thing to say, "I-I-I'm... s-sorry. That's probably s-something I-I shouldn't h-have said." The subject of keeping this matter only to people he could trust made the boy worry even more. Sure, he managed to talk to this man, at least a little bit, but did he really trust Haggar? Heck, who did Tomonari even really trust besides his godfather? All of his issues from his homeworld seemed to be following the boy, and wouldn't stop until something was done about them. However, that would take a long, hard, and perhaps painful time to solve these issues. This is especially considering the nature of Tomonari right now. He wasn't brave at all.

Tomonari shifted a little bit, since his current position on the bench was getting a bit uncomfortable. During this time though, he accidentally unzipped his satchel, causing something to fall out. At first the boy didn't notice it until he was finished. But when Tomonari did notice, his eyes widened, and he freaked out a bit. Catching what appeared to be a plushy of some kind, the boy grabbed it before the soft object fell off of the bench, and he quickly took a tight hold of it, as though someone were trying to take the thing away. No way was Tomonari going to lose his plushy of a Mr. Saturn, having more much significance to him than one would expect. Seriously, he was a teenage boy! People often don't see a teenage boy carrying around a plushy in public, at least, as far as Tomonari knew.

After a moment, he returned to his previous position on the bench, what with his legs tucked in, although was still holding the plushy. Keeping quiet for a moment longer, he said, "S-Sorry... I-I didn't w-want to l-lose this..."

[haggar]

Haggar chuckled a little when he talked about how it's something he shouldn't have said. "It's fine, kid. I don't mind where your from. I welcome any and all." he said in his usual gruff tone. Mike looked around at the various people strolling across the park. It was nice to see the people of New York safe and sound in their very city. Mike worked hard to keep New York safe and soon he hopes to keep all of America safe now he's gotten into the white house. Haggar often felt that the very citizens were the priority when in a position of power. He needed to make sure they were safe above all else and looking at just how peaceful this place has become, it looked like he succeeded in his goal.

Haggar looked up into the bright sky slightly, in a bit of a daze as this very park brought back so many good memories he'd had of even before he became a champion wrestler or a politician. It was back when he used to brawl with gangsters to defend himself and others where he met Nancy. It was this exact spot where he held off a gang of thugs and clobbered them with a pipe to save her and it was only 4 blocks away where his daughter Jessica was born. It held some really good memories for him and he couldn't help but reminisce about the good times.

Suddenly his daze was broken when Tomo seemingly shocked as a stuffed animal fell out of his bag and he clutched it, then apologizing right afterwards. "It's okay. We all got things that are important to us. Heh, I'll even show you mine." Haggar said in a reassuring tone as to not freak the kid out, putting a hand into one of his pockets and pulling out a brown wallet. Haggar dipped into it and pulled out an old weathered photo, showing him in his younger days holding his wife on his shoulder with an ambulance in the background. Haggar showed it to Tomo. "That was taken right over there, some punks needed a beat down and I was more than happy to bring it." he spoke in his usual tone, fondly remembering how he was a saviour to the people even back then.

[tomonari]

Now there was something he couldn't deny at this point. Tomonari wanted to just hold his plush doll tight, and attempt to act as though everything that occurred recently was just a dream in his head. But he just couldn't do that. Everything that happened so far was too real to act as though it was just an illusion. A rather small part of him, somewhere in his subconscious, made him think as though it really wasn't supposed to be this way. What sort of destiny was to be layed out for the boy? Was it to merely wander this strange world and meet new people, and experience new things? Or was that... how it would've been back home? It was still just too hard for Tomonari to overcome being forced into this scenario.

A matter of trust came back to the boy. Haggar didn't bother him when Tomonari had reacted as he did to his Mr. Saturn plushy falling out. What seemed a bit odd though, was the man's willingness to share his own things that were special to him. Maybe that was just Mike being braver than Tomonari, for all this kid knew. More thoughts started coming into the boy's mind. It wasn't really as much about his homeworld anymore, but the people he had met so far. Bao Yu wasn't exactly the friendliest kind of person, but in a way, she still showed at least a little bit of concern, in some way. She could've just left Tomonari out on the street, but gave the boy a place to stay. He couldn't deny these facts.

The conversation at hand was really the catalyst for his thoughts at this point. Perhaps the teenager failed to understand what others were doing for him, and were perfectly fine with helping him out. When it came down to it, this really was the situation at hand. Tomonari still felt uncomfortable talking with someone else like he has been, but for once, he began to not really think about being away from his godfather for such an extensive amount of time. Granted, the boy wasn't going to let loose his deepest, most precious secrets and memories, but at the same time, a small voice within Tomonari told him to open up a little. A metaphoric explanation, this much was true, but it was one that still retained value.

Finally he snapped out of his thoughts again. Slowly, he looked at the picture that Haggar showed him, and listent to him speak. Okay, so the whole 'beating some punks down' thing did scare Tomonari a bit, but that was just him not really understanding the man's speech patterns. He really should, considering that again, Tomonari lived in a city more or less like New York! Well, without the layout and what not. But that was something that had little to do with right now. Thinking for a moment, Haggar sure looked, aside from size, quite different than he did now. The teenager was too young to understand some things though, and quite frankly, it was probably rude to mention the age difference.

However, there was another question he was sort of certain would cause no real issue. At least, that's what Tomonari figured at least, since he was shown the picture, "H-Hey, Mr. Haggar? W-Who i-is that l-lady i-in the picture?" If Mike Haggar were to notice, Tomonari at this point was shaking a little, his eyes slightly watery.