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Donors Tour (Rae/Private)
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on May 31, 2021 0:36:59 GMT
Hamish was all for contributing charity funds to the arts and sciences, but most of the time writing checks or sending receipts to the accounting department was the extent of what he'd do for charity. The thing was that with these places, they usually (out of an innocent gratefulness) offered things like special events and special perks to their highest donors. Those said donors were expected to attend the events of course. At the bequest of his public relations team (and threat of his assistant), Hamish had cleared a few hours in his schedule to attend this so called special viewing of the big aquarium in Tokyo and for some disturbing reason, eat cheap sushi in front of other fish.
Honestly it wasn't even the tour itself that bothered them, it was fact that most of the other donors were the starter wives of other businessmen with nothing else to do. Listening to them talk was enough to make anyone's brain rot. And of course they ogled him like some prime piece of meat. "Excuse me, are you the Hamish Quinlan of the Quinlan Company?"
He had been dawdling off in his own world he had hardly hear some of the women talking to his attention and when he heard his name it flashed him back to the days of Hollywood attempting to avoid groups of squealing girls. Shit. He instinctively pulled down the Ray Ban Wayfarers that had been sitting atop his head for most of the tour. "Aahh...unfortunately Mr. Quinlan wasn't able to make it today, I'm his assistant who came in his stead."
The tour goer look a bit surprised by that take and turned back to the lecture, mumbling about how it was a shame and that he was probably a very busy man and whatever else housewives gossip about, maybe throwing in a comment with a suspicious tone about how assistants usually couldn't afford the Gucci belt he was wearing. Good save Hamish, good save.
At the right moment when no one was watching, the businessman slipped away. He came here for a tour, there was nothing about sticking to that tour right? This wasn't the third grade school trip! Nothing like Hamish to take matters into his own hands.
The fact no one was around indicated him that the aquarium had not yet actually opened to the public, so it would probably look strange for someone not staff to be wandering around alone, particularly a man in opaque sunglasses & a collared shirt, slacks and leather loafers.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2021 15:06:09 GMT
It had been around a week and a half since the ‘odd round ball of shark’. Also known as a Digimon or Digital Monster appeared in the Human World. While it was an extremely odd feeling to be the partner and guardian of this little monster, Miu had taken it mostly in stride.
Fortunately, the shape and size of the creature, as well as undeniable cuteness, made it easy to disguise as a plush toy. Just as long as it didn’t talk in the presence of anyone except herself, especially at work. Which would be between upwards of hundreds of visitors, daily, to the aquarium.
Although, this may prove… difficult. Since today, there was some kind of guest. But not just your regular guest. This one might prove to be the most important that Tokyo Tides had ever seen. The Great White Shark of guests as it were. Or that was how it was being explained to Miu. Although, he had not yet explained who this guest actually was.
Miu tilted her head ever so slightly to the left as her boss. In her arms, the little shark lay lifeless and blank; acting as if she was a doll. Mr. Kobayashi, a round-bodied, large and rather beefy man with a large mustache spoke over his desk.
“Right, Miu. Today is big. The biggest, perhaps. We gotta make this visit go perfectly. No mistakes, no problems. Nothing. Just be...” Mr. Kobayashi paused and turned to look out of the window at the back of his office. Almost like he was pausing for impact.
“Just be yourself and we shall be fine. But, also no funny business. Probably don’t joke or ask questions. Or point our any mistakes… or...”
This went on for another ten minutes as Mr Kobayashi, his oversize mustache moving up and down as he gesticulated every word, explained everything that she should and shouldn’t do. Only, a knock on the door was enough to bring him to a stop.
“Enter!” He commanded in a deafening boom. One of the receptionist's entered the room, looking flustered and worried.
“Mr. Kobayashi, sir. Mr. Quinlan as arrived, but there is a pro–”
“Ah excellent.” Mr. Kobayashi said, cutting the receptionist off. “I shall go and greet him. Now, Miu. Please try to remember everything I said. Won’t you?”
“B–but” the receptionist stammered as the beefy man gently pushed past Miu and exited through the door.
This left Miu, head tilted and looking blank faced. While, the receptionist stood next to her, still stammering incoherently. With a look of panic at Miu, she rushed out of the door herself and attempted to follow the boss. Miu tilted her head again.
“Right, I’ll remember. I think…”
“Miu boss, funny” Now the room was clear, Levi could once again speak freely. So the little shark looked up at Miu with large yellow eyes. "Yeah... funny."
Smiling, Miu left the office and took a left. Moving down a corridor of nothing much of interest, other than the fact that lay behind the tanks and everything on the ‘aquarium floor.
“So, Levi. This is apparently... big,” she whispered, so only Levi would hear her.
“You gotta be quiet, okay? No-one can know you’re a real… uh… that you’re a Digimon. Okay? Especially not today.”
“Levi promise! Be the shush! Same-same!” Levi said, her voice, slowly quieting to nothing more than a whisper.
With this said, Miu pushed through a fire escape and found herself back inside the main aquarium.
“Uh, okay. I guess, I’ll just do my normal routine and hopefully Mr. Kobayashi will be keeping the guest busy… whoever it is.”
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on Jun 4, 2021 6:14:55 GMT
While sneaking away from the tour group, Hamish was distracted by the tank in front of him that held a particularly massive creature that resembled a shark with white speckles on its back. It seemed to be swimming so slowly yet its huge body obviously propelled it forward. It had a bizarre, extraterrestrial-shaped mouth that made Hamish guess it was some kind of filter or microscopic feeder. He didn’t know much about biology or marine life but had seen plenty of discovery channel segments on the tv behind the bar back in his busboy days at the club to remember random facts. “Remarkably ironic, such a large formidable beast, and yet you feed on that which cannot even be seen by the naked eye.”
He wondered what it would have been like to dive with these fellows out in the wild. It was how he would prefer to have interacted with them anyway, as he was not a huge fan of keeping animals in captivity. However, his public relations manager had pushed him to get the company to support this place, going on and on about how “people liked philanthropists and someone who was a friend to the animals”. At the time he just hadn’t been in the mood to argue that he could do that in other ways. Plus it wasn’t like this place was Sea World.
Suddenly he swore he could hear voices and didn’t know whether hiding or being out in the open was a better choice. Perhaps piggybacking off his action hero actor days, he went into a covered section with several small enclosures directly across from the tank. This way he could avoid being seen by whoever it was. Unfortunately for him it happened to be a place where mollusks and hermit crabs and such were kept, aka some of the ocean’s more skeevy inhabitants. “Couldn’t have been cute fish, had to be things with multiple legs…” If Levi and Miu were nearby, he would have probably heard them talking and semi peeked out, wondering where the second voice was coming from if that thing she had was truly a ‘stuffed animal’. Perhaps this wouldn’t be such a dull experience after all! He would have slid his sunglasses slightly down his face, glancing at the two in utter bewilderment.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2021 14:46:57 GMT
“Oh! Not again!”
Across the floor lay a scattering of brightly colored pamphlets tipped from one of the wall mounted containers. Some of them looked the worse for wear. Ripped and forlorn. The images that emblazoned the covers hidden by what appeared to be, a footprint.
“Just sit here, for a minute. Okay?” Miu said, placing the little shark monster down on one of the bright red stools, which stood a short distance back from the nearest and seemingly empty tank.
Miu began to bustle around, picking up the less damaged pamphlets and replacing them with one hand and scooping up the trash with the other. This has happened a few times, recently. Parents not keeping their eyes on their children and letting them run wild.
The little shark watched Miu with large yellow eyes. Head slightly tilted. Doing her best to follow the instructions that she had been given. After a few minutes, a sound like a car engine rumbled through the room.
“I’m hung-ary, same-same!” Levi moaned, mouth wide open displaying rows of sharp white teeth.
“Oh that was your stomach. Digimon, sure… are… uh…” Miu began but cut herself off, not quite sure how to finish that sentence. “Okay, let’s go find something to eat. Then I’ll have to get back to work.”
Miu picked Levi back up and held her, carefully in her arms, as if she was a doll.
“Now you mention it, though. I’m still not entirely sure what you ea–“ Miu muttered, but once again cut herself off. As she almost crashed into someone who was peeking around the doorway. A very… fancy someone. This was clear by the fancy and shiny suit, shoes and sunglasses which had slid slightly down his face. Both Levi and Miu tilted their heads but in opposite directions. She had never seen anyone as flamboyant and fancy as the man who stood before her, in a place like this.
After a moment of awkward silence. Miu forced a smile on her face.
“Um, hello there! Welcome to Tokyo Tides. I hope you have a swimmingly good time,” Miu said, not quite, meeting the man's eyes. Her voice sounding a little less than its usual peppy self.
“I-Is there anything I can help you with today?” |
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on Jun 19, 2021 5:50:14 GMT
While hiding, Hamish noticed a young employee cleaning up some of the area and had to seriously hold back from going over to help her. Feh, plebeians and their knack for leaving messes. Granted he had seen rich people do the same thing if not worse, particularly when it came to tipping servers. Once he’d been at a Korean barbecue establishment in New York City for a business dinner and watched in amusement as the 5 foot tall manager with glasses the size of magnifiers proceeded to heckle a family with a hefty bill for leaving 4 dollars and pocket change.
The weird noise of something grumbling distracted him from the memory. At first he assumed it was the malfunction of a past due. Hmph, all this fuss for substantial funding and they couldn’t get their air conditioning properly functioning? Oddly, he could have swore he heard a voice that didn’t seem to belong to the human.
He had intended to sneak away while the woman had her back turned, however as he tried, there proved to be a big problem. Right there, as in literally adjacent, watching him with multiple eyes and prickly legs. Well maybe not literally big but to Hamish it was connected to one of the biggest phobias in his life. Right next to his head, on some glass, was a large hairy eight legged freak, practically staring with direct eye contact at him. “You did this on purpose didn’t you? You and your creepy friends can sense when someone fears you. Well know this insect, I may be disgusted by you, but I fear nothing! And if I saw you in my bathroom, I’d douse you in windex till you shriveled like day old avocados!” He glanced over at an empty cage, with a labeling in kanji saying ‘goliath birdeater tarantula’. Great, it had to be the granddaddy of these things.
He found he was unable to move, carrying an irrational fear that dreaded thing would jump on his face. That was until he felt someone bump into him. “Excellent timing! Wait - shhhh, no sudden moves, it might attack.” He moved behind the girl slightly, as if intending to use her as a meat shield but in reality he was terrified. “You! You’re trained to handle wild dangerous creatures, yes? Please, put that..thing back inside its pen.” He slowly pointed to the furry arachnid on the wall, terrified of what could happen if he moved too fast.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 14:16:05 GMT
It wasn’t until Miu drew closer to the man, that, she saw the look on his face. It was pale with a look of anger across it. As Miu drew, ever closer – the man began to shout at something she couldn’t quite see.
“Are you okay, sir?” Miu asked, tilting her head slightly from one side to the other. A look of perplexed confusion, dancing across her face.
“What is the...”
Miu paused as she caught sight of the tarantula pressed against the glass. Long hairy legs flat and pincers bared. Newfound understanding blazed in Miu's mind.
“Ooooh, I see. You’re afraid of...”
Her words were cut short as the man jumped behind her.
“It’s not going to hurt you, don’t worry. I think it’s part of a new exhibit, not sure if it’s aquarium or museum property, though,” she mused, pressing a hand to her chin thoughtfully.
“Oh, sorry.” Miu said, looking back to the man who was now pointing at the creature that seemed to be causing him the highest levels of terror.
“I’ll get rid of it for you.”
With some slight hesitation, although, she had definitely dealt with worse. One-handed, as she was still carrying Levi. Miu picked up the carrier box and used the edge to gently and very carefully lure the very large tarantula into it. It darted under some undergrowth, branches and soil so only the back end could be seen.
“Okay doke,” the girl said, trying to insert some calmness into the proceedings. She gently laid the box back down and making sure it was secure this time.
“I think it’ll be okay now. But, uh, are you doing to be okay? Sir.”
All this time, Levi had remained quite silent and dutifully acting as the plush doll that she was supposed to be. Only blinking confusedly up at the pair. Her partner and this very strange but very well dressed man.
Before Miu had a chance to stop her. The little shark opened her mouth and said in a carrying voice.
“Levi, hungwy!” |
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on Jun 25, 2021 8:13:25 GMT
“Preposterous! I fear nothing, I -'' He flinched a bit as the thing rose up its front legs a bit. “Do I LOOK LIKE I have any crickets for you Fuzzylegs?!” This thing was definitely out to get him and only one of them would come out on top. “He better not since my checkbook pays for his heat lamps to run...I mean my boss’s, right, because I’m here for him, I’m not him at all.” Hamish had come in here fully intending to keep a low profile but seemed to be doing a really bad job at it apparently.
“Hm? Me? Worry not, I’ve been through much worse.” In fact those boomer starter wives might just be the thing scarier than that spider. Because besides looking at him like meat, they were often the ones that tried to introduce him to their daughters in the hope of hooking in on a wealthy son in law. Sadly for them, he wasn’t really the marrying type nor was he the type to be pushed into doing so. It wasn’t that he was opposed to the idea of commitment itself, it was just that he liked his freedom too much to willingly give it up. Plus his job was too intense to ever make him be a good partner to someone.
He slid his ray bans down slightly to look a bit less intense, as if studying the girl for a second before inquiring about her persona. “And who might you be?” He presumed based on her nonchalance in putting away the bug was that she worked here as some kind of animal care attendant. She was far too reserved to be a tour guide, those were usually the overly loud types, often accompanied by a slew of terrible dad jokes. He remembered going to apply for that job in college, as in to give campus tours for prospective students, only to realize halfway through that he wasn’t obnoxious enough to fit the role.
“Hm?” That voice again, from earlier, it was coming from that thing on her hand! Some kind of marketing animatronic perhaps? He stuck his head closer to examine it. “Fascinating! Your public relations team here must have really brainstormed to develop a mascot like this! I take it that it is one of those robot kits that are customizable?” He reached out to poke it, too dense to ever assume that Levi wasn’t exactly inanimate.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2021 15:18:23 GMT
Miu stood watching the scene that was unrolling before her, like it was some kind of very strange stage play. Was the game up? As it were?
Levi had just spoken, very loudly and clearly. Right before this… rather eccentric and slightly weird, but well-dressed stranger.
The girl could feel panic bubbling up inside her. Miu watched the man’s mouth opening, as if in slow-motion. Was he about to say, what she thought he was about to say?
Miu tilted her head, half-bemused, half-confused.
“Mascot? A robot kit?” She muttered, more to herself than to the man who stood before her.
“I don’t… I mean, yes. It’s… uh… a robot, yes. I mean, I’m not really sure how it works yet. It’s the first day...”
But before Miu could stumble over her words, any more. The man reached out a hand and poked the shark that was clutched in her arms, right in the snout.
Before Miu could stop her. The little shark dropped from her arms to Miu’s feet, landing cat-like on all fours. The long shark tail, swiping left and right. The yellow eyes had turned large but sharp. A thin black line cutting down the center of the iris.
“Levi, no like,” Levi growled. Her fangs now bared. “Levi no fren! Levi fight?! Like home!!”
Dropping all pretense, Levi fell to her knees and scooped up the little shark into her arms, once more. In the short time, that Miu had seen and known her little shark partner. She had never seen the little shark act with such hostility. Since the very first day they had met.
On that occasion, Levi had been calmed down by candy, given by Jackie. Although, she was unsure, if it would work for a second time. The little shark was wriggling like crazy in Miu’s arms. Trying to break free of her clutching hugging grip.
“Levi, you gotta stop. You can’t do this,” Miu said, holding tightly to the shark. Completely forgetting that the man was watching her every move.
“You gotta be a good shark.”
The shark stopped moving and fell limply into her arms. Her eyes had returned to their former, blank staring yellow. Head slightly tilted, Levi looked up at Miu.
“Levi hungwy Miu”
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on Jun 30, 2021 17:39:01 GMT
Truthfully, Hamish had no intention of triggering such behavior in Levi. The idiot would have never believed in a million years that the thing before him had the ability to even be remotely real. Things like this...they didn’t exist, right? Only in the pages of fairy tales and stories brought on from the imagination of those who dreamed they could be. Was this actually happening or was it only a dream? Hamish suddenly felt a surrealness come over him as if something in him had not fully processed the scene that was unfolding.
Then the questions started flowing to his mind, even as he backed in fear, sensing that the fish creature had the potential to be a very real threat. He thought back to his training in Hokkaido about what to do if a bear came at you. No running away, don’t turn your back, stay very still. You were supposed to make lots of noise to scare them away but he had a feeling that would just make things worse in this situation.
He had crouched to the ground on one knee, finally pulling off his sunglasses to reveal a set of eyes that practically screamed disbelief and shock, making direct eye contact with the angry creature. He had an urge to reach out and stroke it but knew doing so would probably not end well so he resisted.
What was it? Where had it come from? Was it a new undiscovered species? A visitor from outer space? Regardless, he knew the first thing that he had to do was show them that he was a friend and not a foe. There was only one way to do that with an angry beast.
Before anything else could happen, the human who had been holding it grabbed the creature, who ferociously thrashed in her arms before simply ceasing to move. In that time of distraction, Hamish had managed to grab, open, and offer out the bento that he’d purchased from a combini earlier that day. It contained a few rice balls, greens, fruit, and some fatty tuna sushi. “I’m not going to eat this if you’d like some. Have as much or as little as you want.” He’d suddenly gone from being so confident and haughty to feeling so...nervous and a bit embarrassed for causing such trouble. Hopefully, some fish and rice could make up for his ignorance.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 15:01:28 GMT
Partly annoyed, partly glad. Miu sighed to herself, resigned to the fact that she now had to find a way to explain all of this to this man. It seemed right.
For a second, she pressed a finger to her lip as she decided best to go ahead. As she looked away, Levi spoke once more. “Levi hungwy! Miu! Miu!”
The little shark monster still held tight by the girl, but no longer thrashing wildly. Simply looked up with wide yellow eyes.
“Hungwy?”
Miu didn’t seem to hear her, still stuck in deep thought. Levi turned her eyes onto the fancy dressed man and sniffed. Sniff. Sniff.
A delicious smell filled the aquarium floor. Levi’s strong nose picking up the smell of fish, among other things that she had tried with Miu but didn’t know the name of. Strange human inventions. The man had pulled out a bento box, full to the brim with delicious snacks.
Levi’s large yellow eyes scanned them and without any hesitation at all, reached out and took some of the rice balls in her flipper-like hands. Threw them up into the air and caught them in her open mouth. In one swallow, the rice balls had vanished.
“You should thank the man, Levi,” Miu said, coming out of her revelry to survey the scene, once again.
“He gave you food, remember… like I taught you?”
Levi stopped taking food and thought, in a way that make it appear difficult. She pressed a fin against her mouth and hummed.
“Tank chu, not Miu fren,” Levi said, bowing her head with some difficulty.
“That’s a good girl, uh, good shark!” Miu said, patting the shark upon her head who began to shiver almost like a cat would, when given a good stroke.
“This might be hard to explain. But..” Miu paused as she questioned her next words.
“Well, I guess, to put it simply. There is a race that live alongside ours, called the Digimon. Uh, like this one. I’m not really 100% on the details myself, but they choose you.”
“But they’re secret, please don’t tell anyone. I’d hate to get into trouble over my little shark friend. Nor do I want anyone to take her from me.”
Levi cut in at this point and looked up at Miu once again.
“Levi have to go? Bye bye?” The shark tail drooped and fell limply.
“Uh… I don’t… well...” Miu said, looking from the shark to the man who stood before her. |
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Post by Hamish Quinlan on Jul 6, 2021 6:45:17 GMT
Hamish had not said a word in the space between now and Levi munching on the snack, too sucked up in his own head in a desperate attempt to process what was unfolding before him. See, he had never been one to believe in fantasy matters because everything that had happened to him in life was enough of a blessing. Being taken in by his adoptive fathers, his career in television, being able to use that fortune to create a business afterward, those were the realistic tangible fairytales he would always cherish. Why believe in magic when the magic already happened to you?
“Anytime…” He said in a kind of low voice, glancing at the shark. “May I..stroke you? This time less invasively of course.” Hamish was so enthralled and frightened by the sight before him that he was dying to just make physical contact as if to convince himself that it was actually real and someone in his office wasn’t just attempting to prank him with the latest prototype from the development department. “Choose you? As in, there is someone who chooses them to be your companion?”
Miu really had no reason to worry about that because even if Hamish wanted to tell someone (and he definitely didn’t) he would never because of the fact no one would believe him and potentially label him as insane or a conspiracy theorist. The thing with his lifestyle, did it come with many perks? Of course, but it also came with being practically watched all the time by the media, with people ready to jump at the opportunity to capitalize off anything he said or did that could be labeled as bad or unforgivable. “Well that won’t happen under my watch.” He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “If any human ever tries to do that, call this number and tell me.”
He was a buisnessman first and foremost but a negotiator above all else. If there was anyone who could schmooze with the higher ups in government, it was him. The fact many of them were fans of his show may or may not have been a factor in some of said connections also. Heh, what could he say? Japanese people loved western action television and in turn loved him.
“Where are they from? Outer space? A new species?” Perhaps a newly discovered cousin of the dinosaur that was found to have survived mass extinction. He peered at the clock on the wall. 8:15. They had about an hour and forty five minutes until the building opened to the public, aka the place would be instantly covered in obnoxious tourists and school groups. He wondered if discussing this would be better in the back of his limo outside with tinted windows where it would be harder for them to be seen. The question was, would Miu and Levi trust him enough to get in the car? It probably was too sudden so he opted out of that and instead pulled back the curtain that had been separating them earlier. “Sorry, just taking precautions. Would you perhaps be open to my driver circling us around the block? That way we can discuss things a bit more securely.”
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