[BITPR²] Kyuukyoku Gaiden: The Beachdown Apocalypse

[Frozen_Feet]

"We have cases like yours coming in from time to time. You ought to understand that there's no practical reason to separate you two unless we find evidence of wrongdoing from your part, Miss Svetlana" , the comissioner explains. "Neither of you having papers just stresses the fact. We can't exactly send her to her parents if we can't tell who they are. Which reminds me - do you have last names?"

[Rater202]

"We have cases like yours coming in from time to time. You ought to understand that there's no practical reason to separate you two unless we find evidence of wrongdoing from your part, Miss Svetlana" , the comissioner explains. "Neither of you having papers just stresses the fact. We can't exactly send her to her parents if we can't tell who they are. Which reminds me - do you have last names?"

"Smith."

"Svetellegavanette. And no, I have no idea the nationality it's from, but I suspect that alliteration played a part in why my given name is what it is."

(I leave the pronunciation of the name I just made up off the top of my head to your imagination.)

[Frozen_Feet]

"Svetel-... could you please write that down for me?" The comissioner offers pen and paper to Svetlana.

[Rater202]

Svetlana does so.

[Kuroimaken]

"Well, I'm glad you won't have to listen to me telling you it's dangerous to be on your own anymore." That is now Svetlana's headache to deal with.

[Frozen_Feet]

The comissioner nods as he takes the paper back from Svetlana. "Thank you." He looks over the name, then types it on his computer. "You should know that none of you can be deported before we have ascertained your identities and countries of origin. In the mean time, you are free to request asylum from the bureau of immigration and pension from the social insurance institution. Office hours are about done, but I suppose we still have to make temporary identity cards for the ladies. And figure a place for them to stay for the night. "

[Rater202]

"That would be helpful, yes."

[Frozen_Feet]

The comissioner looks appraisingly at Svetlana and Sarah. "How old are you two again?"

[Rater202]

The comissioner looks appraisingly at Svetlana and Sarah. "How old are you two again?"

About 14.

32.

Svetlana atually looks a biy younger than that, but not enough that anyone would be able to catch her in a lie.

[Frozen_Feet]

The comissioner crosses his hands thoughtfully and leans his elbows on his desk. "There's a safehouse nearby. Usually meant for victims of domestic abuse and immigrant minors who arrive without an adult supervisor. But I'm sure they'll be understanding of your situation. After we're done with paperwork, we can take you there by car. And take Mister Ishinomori back to Sillankorva after. Sound like a deal? "

[Kuroimaken]

"You won't be hearing any complaints from me. Er, could you write down the address for Sillankorva for them? In case they want to contact me later."

[Rater202]

"...Yeah, that'd be nice. All of it."

"That's settled then, a ride to a place that might take us in, or at least let us wait out the rain, would be nice and I thank you for the offer.."

Honestly, Sarah and Svetlana can probably track Koutarou down by his energy signature if they have to, he's basically the only one with spirtual power in the city so once the rain clears up.

[Kuroimaken]

They're not too keen on the whole "give the mundies an excuse to think they know where to find you", are they?

[Frozen_Feet]

The comissioner nods to Koutarou. "Can do." He scribbles the address down, standing up as he hands it to Svetlana. "One last thing before we leave. Miss Svetel... Miss Svetlana. Do you have keys to the van you mentioned? We'd like to take those in as evidence."

[Rater202]

Svetlana hands the keys over.

Sarah starts standing up, ready to go.

[Frozen_Feet]

The comissioner takes the keys, puts them in a small plastic bag and the bag into one of his desk drawers. "All right. Let's go." He leads the way out of the office and through the lobby. The man with shades is still there, sitting arms crossed between the constables. He makes no motion to acknowledge Koutarou, Sarah and Svetlana as they pass by. Another police man waits just outside and accompanies them when they leave the building.

Soon, the three find themselves on board a police car and driving through the rain. They drop off Koutarou at Sillankorva first and then take Svetlana and Sarah to their shelter.

Koutarou is shown back to his spartan room. Meanwhile, the comissioner explains Sarah's and Svetlana's case to the shelter staff, and they hurry to find a free room for them. At least, they'll get to sleep in a bed for change.

[Rater202]

Once Sarah and Svetlana have some privacy, Sarah tries to fullbring the water out of hers and Svetlana's clothing

(Short time skip as discussed?)

[Frozen_Feet]

The rainwater cares as little for her and her powers as before. However, she manages to call upon the fabric of their clothes to shake off the water. The process makes her much more aware of them being hand-me-downs than before. It's less like she succeeded because of her own power, and more like she succeeded because of lingering goodwill of some stranger.

Maybe she's taken it too much for granted that inanimate things have souls, without asking where those souls come from.

At the end of the day, it would've taken less energy to hang their clothes to dry and go sleep under the blankets.

Sarah does notice something she couldn't see before when Svetlana takes off her shirt: there's a tattoo on her left shoulder blade. A snake biting its own tail. Hmmm.

---

It would be wrong to call the next few days uneventfull. The social workers have asked Sarah and Svetlana all sorts of additional questions to help get their paperwork done. Svetlana now has a bank account and a small pension to resource herself and Sarah. They're coaching her to seek a job and maybe an apartment for rent.

As for Sarah, there's been talk of gauging her level of education so she can continue school in the right age group. The possibility of psychological counselling for both of them is also open, to get them over the trauma of their situation.

Koutarou has been going through a similar process on his part. The police have checked on him twice and urged him to get himself a phone at first opportunity, but so far they've had nothing new to add. He's just been set on a track to start some semblance of an ordinary life and maybe find a more permant place of living.

No new paranormal phenomena have occurred. No sign of the man in shades, nor of the girl in black. They've been here for almost a week now (slightly less for Svetlana, as far as she recalls) with no indication of something happening to take them back to the place and time they were before.

Sarah and Svetlana might notice that, while not exactly becoming weaker, their spiritual powers are recuperating much more slowly than before. This place is a far cry from Hueco Mundo; they're no longer taking in Reishi infused with the oppressive pressure of that place with every breath. For Svetlana, there's even more to get accustomed to, as being within a human body means she's also sensing the world and feeling things like a human would - including hunger. Is this the first time, since she died?

At least the weather got sunnier.

[Kuroimaken]

The good news about faking amnesia is that they can't really be annoyed by testing skills you don't have. The bad news is you're not certified to do anything.

It turns out Koutarou is ludicrously efficient at clerical work and information processing, which would be no surprise if they knew the man's been at it for at least 200 years. He seems to have a knack for optimizing command structures and delivery mechanisms, basically anything that has to do with people. He would be a great asset at anything to do with human resources.

Perhaps ironic, the one ability he has the least confidence in - his leadership - also easily shines in most situations.

[Rater202]

Sarah seems resistant to the idea of starting school... The truth is that it's because she hasn't had any formal education since she ran away from her foster parents, though she's pretty adamant that it's because she doesn't speak the local language. In fact, she has literally asked "how do you say 'I don't speak Finnish. I learned this phonetically' in Finnish."

Svetlana... Honestly, her skill set is mostly physical. She's not stupid, she's actually rather intelligent, speaking multiple languages even without whatever magic is letting her understand the locals, but honestly, a solider/law enforcer in the city of Hollows doesn't translate to the same in the mortal world.

If anywhere is looking for security work, Svetlana is more than qualified.

Unfortunately, Sarah's preference of "magic tricks" for tips and petty theft from people who looked like they could afford to lose a Jackson or two isn't an option. Partially because fullbring isn't as reliable in this world as i is in their home, what with the fact that most things don't have souls(which still freaks Sarah out, she's been able to feel the souls of every bit of dirt beneath her shoes for years now.) And also because, well, they're gonna be some scrutiny with them for the time being, or at least Sarah suspects.

Privately, the woman and her ward have discussed the viability of approaching the shinigami about going halfsies on an apartment on the logic that there's safety in numbers.

[Frozen_Feet]

Koutarou's skillset is noted and supports his hasty cover as a former soldier, but as he already surmised, there aren't a whole lot of leadership jobs available to someone without formal credentials, much less someone without ascertained identity. He has to start with something smaller. Or apply for some kind of examination to get those credentials.

For Sarah, they are quick to tell her that there are class groups and schools where basic education is held in English, though she and and Svetlana might have to move to Helsinki for that. Also, that she should not be afraid to use English when talking to people, most locals are at least passingly familiar with it. If Svetlana could find a tutor or peer group for her, she could take remedial courses during summer and then start the next school year with other kids her age come autumn...

Svetlana finds out that security in Finland is tightly regulated. She'll need a police issued license to serve as security. The good news is that the course to earn one is only a week long. The bad news is that the course is pretty expensive and the earliest one is held in Helsinki. On the other hand, the social insurance institution might cover her expenses for it as it's done for employment reasons. If she and Sarah team up with Koutarou, they might even afford a motel or something if no free apartments are on rent.

[Kuroimaken]

To the best of his ability, Koutarou displays quite the willingness to take on any aptitude tests. One might even think he's amused by the concept. If nothing else, the breadth of seemingly pieced-together knowledge he displays is quite an interesting subject in and of itself, though he seems slightly less familiar with certain subjects he probably should be more familiar with, such as 20th and 21st century political theory. In this regard, he comes across as quite outdated, although if confronted about it he might be surprised to learn of such things as racism and sexism in general.

He would in fact prove quite an interesting case for any form of psychological study.

For the time being, he mostly focuses on collecting his thoughts and considering what Mikhail told him on that cold, rainy day. His feelings don't factor as heavily into it as he expected past the initial shock. But his position on this situation notwithstanding, he still has to consider exactly what he'll do about it.

[Rater202]

Sarah reluctantly agrees to whatever schoolwise: With any luck, they'll be back in the proper, not freakishly unnatural soulless universe well before August and if not, they can always skip town and hobo their way back to a country where noone would care.

Svetlana agrees to look into those classes.

Now, they're trying to find and get into contact with Koutarou.

[Kuroimaken]

Unless they completely failed to meet up every single time by now, Koutarou has gotten himself a simple cell phone they can reach him at. Really, who else is he gonna add to the contact list?

[Rater202]

I suppose that Sarah and Svetlana would have gotten a phone at some point and at least briefly met with the shinigami to exchange contact information.

They call and try to arrange a meeting somewhere.

[Kuroimaken]

Koutarou suggests a quaint little coffee shop he's found.

As it turns out, he's dressed a little differently now. A loose white shirt, trousers and proper leather shoes. Add a tie and a blazer and he could pass for a corporate drone.

"Ladies."

[Rater202]

Sarah is still in the quasi-miko's outfit and leather jacket, though at least it seems as though it ws laundered at some point.

She nods at Koutarou's greeting. Awkwardly.

Svetlana is in just casual women's clothing. they sit with him.

"Would you mind if we got straight to business."

[Kuroimaken]

"No, let's spend four and a half hours in pointless chitchat instead." He replies, deadpan.

Mmmmm. Tea. He still can't believe he found green tea in Finland.

[Rater202]

Sarah blinks, looks around quickly to make sure no-one's eavesdropping, then whisper's "First, did you-know-who ever say anything about our situation more useful than 'kill yourself?' Background details? Explain the fact that nothing most things barely have a soul if that? Anything."

It's quite obvious that the girl is still highly unnerved by the lack of spiritual presence or souls in the weather or most objects. She's been able to sense the souls of each grain of sand beneath her heals for years now and grew up in village of mediums: Every thing about this is pointing to bad, bad Juju.

[Kuroimaken]

"Your caution is understandable, but pointless. We should assume that privacy in this construct is limited to the scopes of our minds." Meaning: the walls have ears, the ground has ears, the freaking coffee table has ears.

"His name is Mikhail. According to him, the reason everything here feels so spiritually dead is because of a ruthlessly effective proactivity towards keeping anything with spiritual powers strictly in the spirit world. The reason he holds any interest in us at all is because we are an anomaly as far as this situation is concerned, a potentially imbalancing factor if you will." Which in and of itself is a bit odd, considering Mikhail's version of 'balance' has everything 'real' on one side and everything 'spiritual' on the other, and they probably do not share the same weight. "Assuming our deaths do not, in fact, eject us from this construct, the most likely conclusion is that we would end up on the spirit world side of this place. Which poses an interesting question all its own, since I don't think there would be a Hueco Mundo for Svetlana-san here to be sent to."