This was created in an attempt to become more fluid in dialogue-heavy moments, and also as a way for Ash to attempt to express a scene which had been very obviously playing in his head. It is a piece for a very long digimon fanfic which he has essentially been writing in his head for many years.

“Me? How my life was growing up?”
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” Cassie reassured. “It was different for the rest of us, so you really don’t-“
“It’s fine.” Lychee nodded. “Alright, it’s time for life of Lychee. Well,” They cocked their head to the side as they considered a starting point. “Well, I think it’s always best to just begin with birth, right? So my parents were druggies, but I managed to escape the usual effects because I was conceived-slash-born during a sober period for my bio mom. My dad left when I was a baby, my bio mom was left to raise me but was more interested in drugs, the usual story for that type of deal. When I was 8, my bio mom OD’d, and I was put into the foster system. My first foster home was okay, second sucked, third was more busy than anything. Then, my mom adopted me. She was a very nice lady who always wanted children but didn’t want to give birth to them, so she found me. We were very happy, for a while. I felt like I finally had a mom for the first time in my life, and it was wonderful.” Lychee sighed. “But nothing gold can last, and when I was 13 she started dating a guy named Sam. I fucking hated Sam. He was nothing but an asshole to me, but Mom was so obsessed-slash-in love with him that she completely ignored it. He moved in about a year after they started dating, and I mostly just did everything in my power to avoid him. Mom would complain about how I never joined the family and all of that other bullshit, but I just didn’t want to be around Sam, and I’d told her that back when they’d first started dating, but all she did was tell me that I just had to get used to him.” A popping echoed from Lychee’s line as they ate a piece of candy. “But obviously I never did, and when I was 15 I got my first job. Mom was really proud of me, but Sam… I don’t know, hated the fact that I was alive and doing something with my life? So he made me ‘pay him rent’, like $80 a week-“
“Wait, hold up, $80 a week?! On part-time minimum wage?! What the fuck?!” Yuki interjected, eyes wide.
“I know, right? I basically had no money for myself, which was supposed to teach me a life lesson or something.” Lychee shrugged. “In reality it just made me hate him more. The straw that broke the camels back, though, was one evening I got home from work and- closed the door hard, I guess?- and he came out of their room and started screaming his ass off. So you know what I did?” Lychee smiled humorlessly. “I turned right around and walked off. Locked the door behind me and everything. Left his ass screaming in the fucking foyer. And it felt so fucking good.” They licked their lips and laughed quietly. “So I fucked off, went back to work and turned my badge in so they couldn’t find me there. Spent all of my pocket money on some new clothes and a hotel room for the night. In the morning I went to a shelter where they gave me some necessities, then I thought about my next move. I obviously wasn’t going back home or to school, but I also knew that people were probably already looking for me. So, where could a kid go and not be found unless they wanted to be found?”
“The digital world.” The three of them agreed.
“So there I went, and there I stayed. The days are much shorter in the digital world, you know, and I hardly noticed the passage of time. I didn’t even know I was 18 until Jay came and told me his birthdate and how old he was. You could kind of see it, I guess. I lost the last of my baby fat, grew a couple inches. I didn’t think it was a problem, being so isolated form other humans. Did I enjoy Jay’s company? Sure. Did I think I needed other company? Not particularly. So then he asked me to come back with him, to come back with him and meet his family because he liked me and he liked them and he wanted all of us to like each other, and I was like, no way! But then I remembered he was the first human friend I’d had in ages, and I should probably try to keep him. So I agreed to come back, and the rest is history.” Lychee gestured vaguely outwards.
“So, your mom never tried to contact you, after you left the digital world? I mean, you did use your legal name for stuff, so she would-“
“Yeah! That was shit! I was legally declared dead in the time I was gone!” Lychee exclaimed. “I had to go through a whole process to become un-dead. I’m a legal zombie!”
The three of them laughed at that, and Yuki eventually asked, “Have you heard from your mom since?”
Lychee shrugged. “Well, she’s definitely tried to make me hear of her. She’s sent me a lot of messages and such since I’ve been back, but I haven’t really responded. Not completely sure how much I want her to respond, anyway. It’s been over half my life since I last saw her, and she was a part of so little of it that I really shouldn’t even call her mom. Maybe like, person who raised me for a hot minute, or something. But, still, I guess emotionally she was-slash-is my mom, so that’s something. I haven’t spoken to her directly at all, but I did send her one of our Christmas cards, you know the ones Jay and I took with the babies, so I guess we’ll see if she sends any thing in return.”
Cassie half-smiled. “Well, I hope we do hear from her. I think you deserve it.” “Mmm.” Lychee made a noncommittal sound. “I have a wonderful partner who I know will stand by me through thick and thin, a lovely living space, and three adorable little babies. And, I mean, I have the Izumi family. They’re more like my family than she ever was, maybe. I love Miss Kari and Mister Izzy like I think I would love parents, and more than I did my mom… either of them.”