Skip Navigation
The Reveal... (Adrian + Leith)
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 3:19:49 GMT
As soon as he made his final Tamernet post, Adrian sighed heavily.
"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Shoutmon asked his partner, trying to at least be a good friend in Adrian's time of need. "I don't have to live here, exactly. I could just... sleep on the roof, or in an alleyway."
"No, it's fine," Adrian says, though his confidence definitely wasn't there. "You're my buddy. Wherever you go, I want to be as well. Besides... Leith and Veemon will be there."
"And the other Shoutmo-"
"And the other Shoutmon," Adrian says, interrupting Shoutmon as he rolled his eyes. "We just gotta wait for him to arrive. Then, when the time is right... you come walking down the stairs. And be your mischievous, non-scary self. I know that side of you exists, because you show it off everyday. You ready?"
Shoutmon was silent for a while, and didn't get a chance to respond before the doorbell rang. It was already 5 PM.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 3:28:12 GMT
"What do you know? Apparently he's close," Veemon remarked from his spot inside the black and blue digivice on Leith's wrist. As Leith almost rang the doorbell, Veemon's speaking up reminded Leith that he should perhaps take it off, so he did.
"Alright, guys... I am super nervous about this for no reason, but that's not where I wanted to go... so I don't know why I said it. Anyway, just... follow Adrian's lead, OK? This is his show."
"Of course!"
"No offense, Veemon, but that wasn't really for you."
Shoutmon waved a hand dismissively, but also aloofly agreed, "Yeah, yeah, I got it."
Boy, was that a relief. At that point, the young, darkly dressed man stuck his D-3 inside his jeans' back pocket to keep it out of sight, since he didn't know what the Borikers already knew and didn't want to give away anything that Adrian didn't volunteer first. On that note, Leith swallowed hard and rung the doorbell. "Come to think of it... I think this is the first time I've ever been to someone else's house since I moved here," he mumbled to himself.
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 3:34:01 GMT
From the outside, Leith could hear footsteps coming from inside the house, getting louder as they came closer to the door. He also heard some mumbling, definitely Adrian's voice... then a bunch of tumbling and banging noises, followed by a rather loud "owww..." Clearly, Adrian had fallen down the stairs.
Quickly recovering, Adrian got up and went to answer the door. Sure enough, there was Leith. "Oh, good... you made it." He tried to hide the fact that he had fallen down the stairs.
"Oh, is this a friend of yours?" A short, plump-looking woman asked from behind Adrian. She looked kind enough, but she also looked like she'd be scary to be in a fight with.
"Yeah, Mom. He just moved here from America. His name's Leith. Leith, this is my mother."
"Hi there. I'm Maaya. It's great to meet you." Alright, it looks like she's easily accepting, at least...
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 3:44:39 GMT
Leith thought while he was waiting that hopefully Adrian's folks hadn't forgotten their English. When speaking to the other Tamer's mother, though, it seemed she hadn't. That was a real relief because Veemon wasn't available to interpret at the moment, which would have left the young man hanging out to dry. Despite the warm welcome, Leith was still a little taken aback and probably showed it through leaning back a little and seeming surprised. This wasn't the sort of first impression Leith was used to receiving from his friend's parents given his rather unconventional appearance. Of course, he also had reason to be nervous because of the reason he had come in the first place, not to mention that the task ahead of him was bringing up some unpleasant and unpleasantly recent memories.
But Leith was a good boy who knew his manners, so when greeted he smiled warmly and responded, "Good to meet you, too, Boriker-san," along with a little bow. These were customs he'd only recently learned but right now was glad he had. "May I come in?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 3:51:09 GMT
The way Leith looked didn't really bother Maaya at all. Hell, Adrian's brother Aaron used to look a lot like that himself back when he was a teenager. Nonetheless, Maaya stepped to the left to let Leith walk in, before she pulled Adrian aside.
"Adrian, jikai wa tomodachi ga iru toki ni keikoku shite kuremasu ka?" Maaya asked Adrian in Japanese, basically asking him to give warning next time a friend of his was going to come over.
Adrian nodded. "Gomen'nasai. Sore wa totsuzen no kotodeshita."
After that, both of them would look back at Leith. "Why don't you guys go upstairs for a while while I cook dinner? My husband should be home soon... and I hope he just isn't an ass today." She said that last part under her breath.
"Come on," Adrian tells Leith, heading upstairs. "We can let our little friends out up in my room."
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 4:04:04 GMT
These few months in Japan had taught Leith a little at least, so he was able to pick up a word or two from that conversation. For example, he recognized when Adrian was apologizing to his mother. He couldn't tell why from the words alone, but with context, situational, and body language cues Leith was able to piece together that it was something to do with him. Oh... I wasn't expected. Well, to avoid exacerbating the situation, Leith agreed to follow Adrian with, "Sounds good. Sorry if I got you in trouble."
Leith allowed Adrian to enter before he did and shut the door behind himself after that. It was then he withdrew his digivice, clipped it back onto his wrist, and told it, "Alright, guys, I think's the all-clear. But keep the volume down. Realize!" When Leith pointed the digivice away from himself, two three-and-a-half feet tall digimon appeared side-by-side from out of it.
"Good to see you again!" Veemon amicably greeted with a hand extended toward Adrian to shake.
Shoutmon went another direction. He crossed his arms and asked, "Hey, dude. Where's the guy who thinks he's a better singer than me?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 4:11:20 GMT
"Hey, Vee," Adrian tells the little blue Digimon, accepting his handshake. "It's great to see you again. And you..." Adrian looked back at Leith's Shoutmon. "...yeah, hi." It was clear that Adrian wasn't too fond of this other Shoutmon.
"I don't think I'm a better singer; I AM a better singer," Shoutmon says, sitting on Adrian's bed. "Plus I'm able to type words that are easy to read. I swear, I thought you typed "pants" at one point, not "parents," and I was really confused."
"Okay, not now," Adrian says, trying to defuse the situation between the two red dragons. "You guys know why you're here. I'm telling my mom and dad about Shoutmon and Digimon, before dinner starts. And I need a LOT of backup."
"If this works, I won't have to hide myself anymore! And Adrian's parents won't have to wonder where Adrian's putting all that food!"
"Instead they'll wonder where YOU'RE putting it," Adrian jokes. "Does your Shoutmon eat as much as mine does, Leith?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 4:25:28 GMT
That might have seemed like an innocent enough question but only because Adrian didn't know exactly how Leith's parents found out about the digimon: Shoutmon's digiegg had hatched during the night while both Veemon and Leith slept, and instead of waking them he went to grab a snack. Leith's family discovered him before even the Tamer himself could. This still-fresh wound was the reason why nobody answered right away. In fact, it even prevented Leith's red digimon from retorting against Adrian. When someone did speak, it was Leith. "I don't know how much your man eats, but something tells me mine is at least that much."
"Do you already know how you want to do this?" Veemon curiously asked as he took a seat beside Adrian's Shoutmon. "You should be careful. If you get it wrong, well-"
"-Let's worry about Adrian and Shoutmon first and us later."
"Eh?"
"Not you. Kinda should've known that, actually. But, yeah, we know this is your show. How do you wanna play this?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 20:12:59 GMT
Adrian noticed the way the Twin Tamer group reacted to his question. He decided not to go further into that, as something there signified that some wounds were still healing.
"I honestly don't know how I'm going to do this," Adrian admits, sighing and putting his face into his hands. "But it has to be done. Shoutmon can't be hid anymore. Besides, it would be great if he and my parents got along."
"If I was human maybe," Shoutmon says. "But I'm not human, and I don't want to look human. I want to be me."
"...okay, how about this," Adrian says, a plan forming in his brain. "During dinner, we'll talk about our 'friends' AKA all the Digimon here, and basically list their best qualities. Which means Leith can't mention his Shoutmon at all. We see if they approve or not, then we ask if their opinion would change if they weren't white or Japanese, because my father can be a little bit racist. After that... well..."
"Ta-da, we appear?"
"Right..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 20:30:19 GMT
"You wanna fucking go?" Shoutmon challenged Adrian when he was insulted. He was serious, too; after issuing his challenge, Shoutmon summoned his mic stand, and it was clear he didn't intend to use for a singing contest.
"Whoa, whoa, OK!" Leith was quick, though, leaping forward and getting two hands on it before his digimon could swing it, "Adrian's a teaser, dude, like you. You can't take him too seriously." Shoutmon appeared to calm down given that, though it was excruciatingly slow. When the young man thought it was safe, he took his hands back warily. However, this was premature; when he was free, Shoutmon swung for Adrian's stomach. He was aiming more to deter than to do serious harm, but that was still gonna hurt, it looked like! But whether Adrian took the hit or not, Shoutmon had gotten his point across then, so he banished his mic right after. "Jesus, dude!"
"Watch your mouth," Shoutmon punctuated to Adrian.
Well... what was done was done. "So I'm staying for dinner? OK. Your, uh- your dad isn't gonna give me shit for being white, is he? 'Cause I might pull a Shoutmon if he does." Leith's Shoutmon looked angry at first, but then Leith pointed out, "That's a compliment. Just means I ain't takin' any shit." This seemed to satisfy the organic Shoutmon. "I think they need a little more prep than that, though. Let them know exactly what they'll see before they see it. I'd compare it to coming out of the closet, honestly."
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 20:50:09 GMT
"Watch that potty mouth of yours, you," Adrian joked with the organic Shoutmon. However, that did not go as planned as Adrian got a stomach-full of microphone when Leith's Shoutmon struck him with it. Groaning, Adrian would kneel down to the ground, clutching his gut in pain. "So that's what that feels like..."
"What the hell is your problem?!" Shoutmon asked the organic one, pushing him as hard as he could.
"THAT'S ENOUGH, both of you! Keep up the fighting and I swear to god, I will make you live in the park! Understand?!" After a bit of silence, Shoutmon stood down and backed away. "Alright, good."
"No, he won't, Leith," Adrian says in response to Leith's question. "He just has... very opinionated beliefs about illegal immigrants. One of the many reasons why I've lost respect for him over the years."
Leith made a very good point about making his parents more prepared for what they were about to see, but... what could he say? They were gonna laugh or think he was insane if he mentions that they're monsters, and when they come out... well, Adrian's just trying to make as few freakouts as possible.
Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. "Boys, dinner's ready! Come down when you can."
As soon as Maaya walked away, Shoutmon's stomach took that time to emit a loud rumble. "I'm starving... I hope this goes down smoothly so we can eat."
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 21:04:53 GMT
"What he said," Leith's Shoutmon agreed with Adrian's.
"We're coming!" Leith assured the other side of the door before lowering his voice. "Alright, I got something." Leith turned on his human-digimon comm function, then. "Adrian, flip your comm on. It'll let the guys hear what we say without being there. I don't know if they can hear your parents, but we can make sure they have context clues to follow the conversation well enough. Plus we can call you guys down without, you know, yelling at the top of our lungs. Cool?"
"That sounds smart," Veemon agreed.
Shoutmon folded his arms and growled, "Man, I hate being treated like someone's dirty little secret! When's it gonna end already?"
"In a few minutes, if this works," Veemon pointed out, "Maybe we should pay attention here. It could help us figure out how to approach the Crowthers later."
"That..." At first Shoutmon seemed like he wanted to protest, but eventually settled back down. "...is actually kinda a good point. OK."
"Well, then," Leith suggested as he looked to Adrian, "let's eat."
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 21:13:49 GMT
"That's a good idea," Adrian says, turning the comm. on his D-Terminal before stuffing it in his pocket. "I'm sure my parents will be able to be picked up by it. You guys, just stay up here until we give the signal. Okay?"
"Alright... hey, will our voices be picked up on your end, too? Because that might cause some problems if it does."
"That's a good question. No, I think it'll act more like a baby monitor: you can hear us, be we *thankfully* won't be able to hear you. Alright, Leith, let's head downstairs."
In the dining room, it smelled like pure heaven. Tonight's dinner would be Takoyaki and sushi rolls, a typical but effective meal for Japan. Sitting at the table would be Maaya and Adrian's father, Rokuro, who was very, VERY tall.
"Oh, hey," Rokuro greets Leith, not knowing that he was here. "No one told me that Adrian brought a friend home."
"That's what I was trying to tell you, Rokuro," Maaya says with a little passive-aggresive tone. It seemed as if these two were having issues...
|
|
|
|
Post by Leith, Veemon, and Shoutmon on Sept 10, 2018 21:33:11 GMT
Well, I can already see where this is going. This was a pattern of behavior Leith had seen enough in his own parents to recognize it almost before mother Boriker could open her mouth. At least Mom and Dad have the decency to keep that stuff down when non-family is around. Leith instantly felt much more awkward taking a seat at a table at which it was clear he wasn't fully welcome. Nonetheless, he maintained his manners as he introduced himself in English, "Sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't expected. I'm Leith Crowther, sir," with the same bow he'd given Adrian's mother.
But there was another awkward problem: the food. Yes, it was all food Leith had seen before, and some of it was even food he'd found he could tolerate, but none of it was food he actually knew well and enjoyed. Hopefully it raised no red flags that, when the young man sat down, he didn't immediately reach for some chopsticks.
|
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Boriker on Sept 10, 2018 21:47:00 GMT
"Oh don't apologize, I love meeting Adrian's friends," Rokuro told Leith with a smile. "My favorite friend of his was that one that went to the theme park with us. What was his name again?"
"His name was Daiji," Adrian says before putting a piece of takoyaki in his mouth. Shoutmon would love this food, I bet...
Adrian noticed that Leith wasn't immediately trying to eat the food. Did he not like it or something? He always found his mother's takoyaki to be some of the best he'd ever had. Nonetheless, he didn't say anything about it. Besides... there were far more important things to talk about.
"So, Mom... Dad..." Adrian began. This was a lot harder than he had anticipated. "Leith and I have made a couple of... friends, recently. I was wondering if you would... like to meet them?"
"Didn't we tell you you'd make friends here in Shibuya?" Maaya laughed, happy that her son was making loads of new friends after the move. "It'd be great to meet them! Are they coming tonight? What are they like?"
"Well... the thing is... erm..."
|
|
|
