[BITPR²] Kyuukyoku Gaiden: The Beachdown Apocalypse

[Rater202]

Sarah ran away from her foster family for a reason.

She doesn't follow the man.

[Kuroimaken]

Although the majority of his answers are "unknown", "not applicable" (how does he explain he was born sometime in the summer of 1678?), Koutarou collaborates to the best of his ability, with one caveat. "I was told at Sillankorva I could only stay last night and not a day longer." Obviously because of his otherwise shady situation.

"Is there another shelter in town I could ask for support?" He asks just in case.

[Frozen_Feet]

The answer to "how would he explain when he was born?" would be "lying".

In any case, it's not something the service person gets hung up on. "Is that so. We'll give them a call and explain your situation. They're meant to be just a first response shelter, that's true, but they'll have to do before you find another place of lodging. You can go to the library and search the web for any apartments to rent."

Which will certainly pose its own problems before he gets any money, and for that he needs to contact the Social Insurance Institution (Kela), visit a bank, so on and so forth... he can almost feel his schedule filling itself.

If he takes his leave after getting to know this, Sarah will have had to wait only for two hours.

[Rater202]

Sarah has nothing better to do but wit.

This guy is her only lead.

[Kuroimaken]

It's going to be such a disappointment to her when it turns out to be a dead end.

After leaving the police station, Koutarou starts walking again. Then he turns a corner and...

"As I thought. A child medium."

Boy, he can move fast, can't he?

[Rater202]

It's going to be such a disappointment to her when it turns out to be a dead end.

After leaving the police station, Koutarou starts walking again. Then he turns a corner and...

"As I thought. A child medium."

Boy, he can move fast, can't he?

"Fullbringer," Sarah corrects. The child is roughly five feet, with short silver hair. Her arm and torso are covered by a blanket, but he can probably make out the bottoms of a grey two piece. Her bare legs and feet are paler that her face and what he can make out of her neck and hands, implying that she spends a lot of time outside but is normally much, much more conservativly dressed.

"A medium is a little differant. Now, uh... Look, I woke up on a beach a good while away that way," Sarah points off in the direction of the city or town the beach was attached to. "You are literally the only person with any spiritual power for hundreds of miles--the spirit scene around here is dead... Pun not intended. If you have any idea how I ended up here, could you please share that info?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Trying to figure that out myself, I'm afraid. I seem to remember being surrounded by colleagues and friends, all of which have a large degree of spiritual power, and that makes this scenario that much more unlikely." Koutarou considers for a moment.

"It's like a beach party gone incredibly wrong, in retrospect. All of a sudden it was snowing, it didn't make a lick of sense.

Anyway, I don't know much more about the current situation than you do, young Fullbringer. We seem to be in Finland of all places. I was just at the station trying to figure out some more lasting arrangements as far as room and board are concerned, since it doesn't look like I can leave this body with that much ease, so I may be stuck here a while. You should probably do the same."

[Rater202]

"Trying to figure that out myself, I'm afraid. I seem to remember being surrounded by colleagues and friends, all of which have a large degree of spiritual power, and that makes this scenario that much more unlikely." Koutarou considers for a moment.

"It's like a beach party gone incredibly wrong, in retrospect. All of a sudden it was snowing, it didn't make a lick of sense.

Anyway, I don't know much more about the current situation than you do, young Fullbringer. We seem to be in Finland of all places. I was just at the station trying to figure out some more lasting arrangements as far as room and board are concerned, since it doesn't look like I can leave this body with that much ease, so I may be stuck here a while. You should probably do the same."

Sarah blinks.I'm fourteen and only speak English. If I go to a police station... Okay, some good Samaritan said the police spoke English, but the best case scenario is that I get put in the system, and what exactly am I supposed to tell them? 'High, I was in a city of soul-eating ghosts that gave themselves the powers of death gods but now I'm in Finland in a bikini with no idea how I got here."

"Best case scenario, I get put in a loony bin for observation while they try to figure out if I'm mentally ill or if I got trafficked here and that was the drugs talking."

Sarah sighs. "Stuck in a body? You're a Death God then, er, Shinigami... Actually, why is the Afterlife Japanese? Nevermind. Death God stuck in a meat body and I can't use my Fullbring and my fine control is shot."

Sarah looks around to make sure there's nobody in the street. As much as I absolutely hate suggesting this, unless my g-guardian turns out around here somewhere you're my best bet of figuring out what happened or how to get... back. Is there anything else you know? Something to watch out for? A church with a donation bin I can raid for clothes?

[Kuroimaken]

Mild paranoia aside, she kind of had a point.

"I can't think of one, but right now I'm staying at a shelter. They might have clothes there. Failing that, I'm going to apply for some support money, so I could buy you some. In both cases you're going to have to explain or make up a story about where your parents went." Which he assumes she can't speak the truth about. "The only way you could conceivably avoid that is to have someone act as your legal guardian. And no one is going to believe you and I are related."

[Rater202]

Mild paranoia aside, she kind of had a point.

"I can't think of one, but right now I'm staying at a shelter. They might have clothes there. Failing that, I'm going to apply for some support money, so I could buy you some. In both cases you're going to have to explain or make up a story about where your parents went." Which he assumes she can't speak the truth about. "The only way you could conceivably avoid that is to have someone act as your legal guardian. And no one is going to believe you and I are related."

"No one would belive that my current guardian and I are related either." Sarah's current "legal guardian" being a vaugly middle eastern or mediterinian woman with a hole the size of a golf ball in her throat and the name of an Eastern European woman."...Okay, I suppose there's like a one in a billion chance that she ate the hollow that ate my parents or something, but I'm pretty sure where' not related."

Living in Las Noches has somehow softened Sarah up, that's not something she would have let slip before she ended up in Hueco Mundo.

"But unless she turns up in the next day or so, you're going to have to do, because if I could come up with a good explanation for where my birth parents were or what happened to them, I wouldn't have had to run away from my foster 'parents.' " Koutarou might hear her muttering something about anti-psychotics.

"Is there anything else at all strange about this place or this situation, stuff that can't be explained by 'it's Finland?' Becuase completly honest, until a few months ago my knowledge of the Spirit World began and ended with 'hollows are a thing.' and the differance between mediums and Fullbrigers."

[Kuroimaken]

Koutarou is generally a people person. He has an unusual knack for detecting who's had it hard in life and who hasn't. Fooling him in THAT regard is rather unlikely, even if he's a bit too trusting for some people's tastes otherwise.

Sarah is a clear-cut case of someone that doesn't open up easily, if at all. Surprisingly, that makes her easier to deal with than she looks.

"Right. I'm guessing you almost never ran into Shinigami or had much contact with other people with spiritual powers either. Even then, I'm assuming you've run into spirits before aside from Hollows, right?"

Regardless of her response (it's very unlikely she'd say no anyways) his point is the same.

"It is cosmologically impossible for any given populated area of this size to not have spirits wandering about at all, whether it's a human or animal spirit. That's because it's impossible for every spirit to enter the afterlife normally, whether it's because they have actual attachments to this world, or simply because they don't even realize they've died, as is the case with sudden deaths and accidents.

The only way for that to happen would be if said spirits were preemptively taken away right after or right before they left their mortal shell. The kind of power it would take to predict this is... well, it's on a scale I can safely say no Shinigami has ever encountered. I mean, on average one person dies every minute, possibly more. And yet, I've met at least one person claiming not only to be a Shinigami, but also claiming this is the way it has always worked.

Also, in case you haven't looked at any newspapers lately... we're five years into the past, per our recognition."

[Rater202]

Koutarou is generally a people person. He has an unusual knack for detecting who's had it hard in life and who hasn't. Fooling him in THAT regard is rather unlikely, even if he's a bit too trusting for some people's tastes otherwise.

Sarah is a clear-cut case of someone that doesn't open up easily, if at all. Surprisingly, that makes her easier to deal with than she looks.

"Right. I'm guessing you almost never ran into Shinigami or had much contact with other people with spiritual powers either. Even then, I'm assuming you've run into spirits before aside from Hollows, right?"

Sarah's expression takes a turn for the bitter.

"It is cosmologically impossible for any given populated area of this size to not have spirits wandering about at all, whether it's a human or animal spirit. That's because it's impossible for every spirit to enter the afterlife normally, whether it's because they have actual attachments to this world, or simply because they don't even realize they've died, as is the case with sudden deaths and accidents.

The only way for that to happen would be if said spirits were preemptively taken away right after or right before they left their mortal shell. The kind of power it would take to predict this is... well, it's on a scale I can safely say no Shinigami has ever encountered. I mean, on average one person dies every minute, possibly more. And yet, I've met at least one person claiming not only to be a Shinigami, but also claiming this is the way it has always worked.

Also, in case you haven't looked at any newspapers lately... we're five years into the past, per our recognition."

...So... Either we're in the matrix or we've stumbled into somkind of radically differant parrelel reality?

...Are we going to haveto murder a tyranical God-King? Please tell me that we are, because I've had the weirdest urge to murder an overpowred jackass on an ego trip for a while now.

[Kuroimaken]

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume there's an overpowered jackass behind this. Or that if there is, that we can win.

I also have no idea what this "Matrix" you refer to is."

[Rater202]

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume there's an overpowered jackass behind this. Or that if there is, that we can win.

I also have no idea what this "Matrix" you refer to is."

Huh. Apparently, Japanese Death Gods aren't familiar with Western Pop culture. Who knew?

"...A shared dream of a false reality controlled by a person on the outside," Sarah explained, which can be recognized by things that don't make sense. Like seeing a dozen identical snow flakes.

"...Though I'm not sure why, exactly, someone would do that and only do it with a Death God and the only Human in all of Hueco Mundo... Look, we should probably give names or something, I'm Sarah."

[Kuroimaken]

"Koutarou. I'm supposed to be the Commander-General of Gotei, but apparently not for another five years." Koutarou replies.

See guys, it's not that hard to get her to drop her name.

[Rater202]

"Koutarou. I'm supposed to be the Commander-General of Gotei, but apparently not for another five years." Koutarou replies.

See guys, it's not that hard to get her to drop her name.

And the fact that she's spent an indeterminate amount of time with her guard slightly lowered around the first person to earn her trust since her mentor betrayed her probably has nothing to do with it.

Well, it makes sense why someone would want you... Assuming that this isn't some kind of fluke. Okay, and the reason I'm not dead is because I'm apparently somehow useful, so if somebody found out about that... By why a beach in Finland?

The girl puts a hand to her forehead, apparently not realizing that it's making the blanket slip from her shoulder.

Unless Koutarou is the most perfect gentleman ever, he'll notice what looks like a tattoo on her belly and uncovered torso extending down her arms. Except tattos don't gleam with the sheen of polished silver. It resembles spiraling, circling, and zig-zagging lines--no, chains, like a necklace or bracelet, with a stylized skull where her clavicles meet her sternum, just where a shirt's collar would cover.

After a moment she noticed and recovers herself, blushing slightly, though whether at him having seen her markings or because she would never willingly wear a two piece, even a modest one, is indeterminate.

[Kuroimaken]

While he IS a gentleman, he did notice the intricate pattern of her tattoos. He just pretends he didn't. It would be impolite to ask.

"You might be a little too eager to jump to conclusions there. By any metric there's all manners of useful people in Soul Society they could have also kept around here. It might be less that we are useful and more that we have somehow subconsciously slipped their grasp. Either circumstance is fairly unlikely.

If we are in fact isolated in some sort of dream world, then anyone we know might have been scattered elsewhere. It's not like we have the ability to sense or communicate with each other over too great a distance - we have an actual communications network and devices in place for that."

[Rater202]

So basically, our only option is what, retrace our steps?

[Kuroimaken]

"That's one option, but I don't think it's gonna do us any good." Koutarou ponders.

"I think our best bet is to track down the Shinigami I told you about. We need more information. But first things first. You need something that won't make you look like you're about to model in a fashion magazine." The Shinigami rummages through his pockets for whatever cash he still had on him from the previous display of generosity... if he had any.

[Rater202]

I can't exactly buy clothes if I can't speak the language... And you buying clothes for a teenage girl alone or with an under dresses girl is going to raise questions.

[Kuroimaken]

"We are probably going to raise questions either way. Not much that can be done about that." Koutarou quips. "I mean, even if you could speak the language, you'd still be an underdressed girl going in to buy clothes while obviously wearing clothes with no pockets. Someone would end up asking you where you got the money. At least if you're around with me, I can live with the brunt of the skewed looks. I draw enough attention as it is."

[Rater202]

I was just going to see if I could find a store that looked like it could afford to lose some inventory and then steal something after dark.

Like, you know, if I couldn't find a church with a donation bin since that stuff goes to the homeless anyway.

[Frozen_Feet]

Sadly, Koutarou finds no cash in his pockets. But if he goes through all the papers he was handed, he would find a place or two where they hand out old clothes. Also, food.

[Kuroimaken]

"Well, buying you clothes is a no-go, but I did just remember they gave me addresses for goodwill sites. Shall we go?"

[Rater202]

"Well, buying you clothes is a no-go, but I did just remember they gave me addresses for goodwill sites. Shall we go?"

"I suppose. Just hope I don't end up having to wear a skirt."

She's totally gonna end up having to wear a skirt.

[Kuroimaken]

Mostly because her having to wear a skirt is hilarious.

TO THE DONATIONS BIN!

[Frozen_Feet]

In what can be best called an ironic turn, what Koutarou actually finds once they get to the right place would probably register as red hakama to him. That is, it's actually trousers, but (probably) looks like a skirt to Sarah's sensibilities or when viewed from a distance.

There's also a white, long-sleeved shirt with red stripes on the arms which is apparently part of the same set. Looks familiar for some reason. There's also a black men's working jacket that's at least two sizes large for Sarah and probably overkill if the sunny weather continues. But hey, he's getting it for free and Sarah will probably appreciate it anyway after prancing about in snow in a swimsuit. If they look closely, they'll notice there's bits and pieces of white color on the back, like there was a circular design there that got scraped off.

There's also a bunch of socks, wool caps and gloves. The hard part is shoes and underwear. The former because it's hard to pick a pair of fitting footgear unless Sarah is there to try them on. The latter because they can't hand out used underwear for hygiene reasons. (On the plus side, for the same reason, the socks are brand new, if of cheap quality.) So Sarah might have to live with her swimsuit as underwear for now.

If the donated clothes are sufficient for Sarah to get before other people, they can work on getting fed first. The foodline doesn't ask anyone for papers, but Sarah does need to be in the queu herself to get her rations. Salvation Army is serving peasoup, rye bread with cheese, and two desiliter cartons of milk. Or they can get a grocery bag full of white bread, sausages and other foodstuffs with "best before" date of today.

[Rater202]

...Sarah has concerns about how practical puffy skirt looking pants are, but having feared being made to wear a mini-skirt or something, that's not nearly as bad.

As she still has her pilfered apples, she's not so concerned about food and will duck aside to change as soon as she has the clothes.

...And yeah, as awkward as it was, she was probably present to try on footwear because she can't keep pulling the ground to not **** up her bare feet forever.

(I was going to go with Sarah having to go with a skirt and t-shirt and have her be a little uncomfortable for a while, but what I'm assuming is a variation on a Miko uniform works.Though unless Finland has very similar outfits for some reason, I'm a bit confused as to how it got here.)

[Rater202]

After a period of time, Sarah makes her way back to Koutarou, having changed into the salvaged clothing.

The hakama looks like it could do with some adjustments--she clearly figured out how to put it on via trial and error.

Okay, uh... What's next?

Meanwhile, a way outside the city, a woman driving a van that she's... not so sure how she got...is heading in that direction, as her intuation is telling her that she'll find answers there and she felt the enrgy of her charge.

(I apologize abut Double Posting, but it's been a few days... I can remove the Svetlana part of it's not appropriate to add her just yet.)

[Kuroimaken]

(That's fine.)

"Yeah, um... I'm gonna teach you how to properly put that on later." Koutarou advises, slightly embarrassed for Sarah.

She does kinda look like a 'modernized' miko. That might be rubbing Koutarou the wrong way for a different reason than he realizes.