The Need to Belong [AU] [Private]

"See you tomorrow, kacho-san."⁽¹⁾ Gary called as he approached the shop's door.

"Ah, thanks for your hard work," the addressed man responded distractedly while wiping the counter.

Stepping outside and making his way home, Gary sighed. There went another morning.

It's not that he was unsatisfied. Contrary to that, Gary couldn't really ask for more. His uncle was paying for his education, full stop, bar things such as residence and food. And he wasn't below average in his classes (though he wasn't particularly above either) so there wasn't anything to complain about there.

No, he didn't really have anything to complain about. He was simply tired.

Which was why when he arrived at his apartment's doorstep, he was looking forward to some time to unwind a bit before getting started on today's class work.

Shutting and locking the door behind him, Gary stepped inside. It wasn't a big apartment by any means. It was an 8-tatami room with a futon spread out in the corner, flanked by a table on the opposite side. A truly diminutive 'kitchen' was hidden from view on the left, and the right wall housed a similarly diminutive closet with a sliding door. There was a washer stowed away between the kitchen and closet, but no dryer. The restroom lay behind a door on the right wall. The back wall consisted of a sliding glass door hidden behind a wave of blinds, which led out to a balcony where clothes would be placed to dry.

It wasn't a big residence at all, though it could've been worse. Well, he was fine with this much space. It was within the budget set by his uncle's funding, and that was all that really mattered to him. All he needed was room to sleep, eat, and work anyway.

Seating himself at his table, Gary flipped open his lap-top, start it up, and leaned back. It was quiet - all of his neighbors were either on their way to work or sleeping off the night shift. The perfect time for him to relax some.

Not that he particularly minded the noise they made. The silence would easily get under his skin if it went on for too long. But then, he was easily startled at the best of times.

Noting his lap-top had finally finished starting up, Gary entered his password and waited for the weathered machine to finish logging him in.

---

1: Kacho-san = One's manager at their place of employment. I didn't want to name him, lol.


I was going to post this at a time when the other poster in this thread was online, but there's no 'save draft' button for the initial post. So here we go.

Avril wasn't too sure about a After Life.

Even in a world where spirutual entities were known about(at least in many places) demons, angels and other beings it was hard to truly say what came after. To her knowledge it wasn't like anyone had ever fully crossed and came back, that she could remember.

But she was certain she'd go to hell, if there indeed was one once she died. Maybe it would be sterotypical brimstone, maybe there would be something else.

Except it didn't feel like any type of After Life or she was being punished. She could feel things, some shoes, clothes and..she wasn't even sure what it was. The darkness of the place faded away quickly as her sensors and everything came up and running.

I'm..in a closet?

The ex assassin android was baffled. From getting into scuffles with demons, other androids and all manner of things this was the one thing that threw her off.

But it didn't make any sense!

The other android had clearly, and thankfully stopped her before she could hurt that child and put her out of her misery and she honestly had been okay with that. A part of her still had wanted to die, but if there was a choice between death and not being control of one's own actions, she'd choose the former everytime.

It didn't matter, she guessed. She needed to figure out where she was and get some information.

Avril stepped out of the closet only to soon run into a young man.

He'd be startled.

He'd probably panic.

And she had no clue what to say or do this time. None of her training covered this, even when she had to blend in with others for period of time.

"Please don't panic, I didn't come here on purpose."

She cursed herself mentally the moment those words came out. It sounded so stupid but she wasn't working exactly on full tilt anyway right now and the situation caught her off balance.

As Gary opened up his web browser, he paused. The hairs on the back of his neck were suddenly standing on end. He might have passed it as cold air from his air conditioning, but he hadn't turned it on. And he was a naturally fearful person anyway.

Then he heard a 'thud' inside of his closet and whirled about to face it.

When the closet door started to slide open seemingly of its own accord, he was on his feet in an instant with a very unmanly elegant -

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeek!"

He took several steps backward in fright, only to fall over his table which was still behind him. Thankfully, he was tall enough that his legs caught it at the edge and he miraculously missed his laptop.

Not that his computer was on his mind as he crab-walked away from his closet... only to pause in utter confusion as a woman (a very attractive one at that) stepped out of it.

Then she spoke, asking him not to panic, and his face turned vermilion from embarrassment... which only stood out more due to how pale he was naturally (even without being given a fright.)

"Ah... ah..." He stammered, before quickly getting to his feet, "My apologies...?" 

This was just awkward even for her.

"It's..fine. I should be the one apologizing. My name is Avril, I'm not certain exactly how I got here but I'll be out of your hair soon. One question before I leave, where am I? This planet or city, where ever it is."

A little bit of information wouldn't hurt and more then likely she'd have to stay low and keep her head down. The young man was human from what her scans said but that didn't mean much since humans were scattered in so many different places.(Why exactly what was, she didn't know)

Avril didn't comment on Gary's squeak, but it was different.

Gary heard this, listening with surprising attentiveness despite having been scared out of his mind moments ago, before giving a simple answer, "Ah. This is Tokyo, Japan. On... Earth." His polite, matter-of-fact answer stalled somewhat as he processed the fact she'd asked what planet it was. ...Alien?

Hiii - No. Not right now. Not right now. No freaking out twice in a row.

"...it's the Kawajima ward, specifically." He finished lamely, suspecting that his answer was probably ultimately useless to the... alien girl that had just shown up in his closet.

When did he walk into a manga?

Kawajima?

Avril frowned slightly, closing her eyes for a moment.

She began doing a internal scan, trying to find out anything in her memory about such a place but not a single word came about it. Not even when she made a cross reference did anything come up and it was starting to truly worry her.

If Kawajima didn't exist, she could probably safely assume she wasn't on the earth she knew about or something was really out of sync. She did after all was suppose to have been turned to scrap after that fight; she still wasn't sure how exactly she was still here in the first place.

"I don't seem to be anywhere I'm familiar with.." Avril began slowly. "I know of Tokyo but I haven't heard of this Kawajima. If that's the case, I'm much farther home then I thought."

The bigger question was, now what? She'd have to rely on big three that had helped her survive this long.

Learn, adapt and improvise. Simple and to the point but it served her well.

"Ahaha..." Gary laughed nervously, not sure how to respond, before a thought came across his mind, "well, you could try using my lap top? It's a bit slow, but if you have access to the internet and G-map it might help you?"

What was he even saying? If she knew a Earth, then wouldn't that imply this is a different Earth? But then, Kawajima was only officially absorbed into Tokyo fairly recently; maybe her information was out of date?

It was a long shot, and he knew it, but he couldn't think of anything else he could say at the moment.

It was worth a try.

"Thank you, I apperciate it."

Avril went to sit down and look at the laptop and began her search. It was slow, even for a earth computer come to think about it but she pushed it aside and continued to work. As she searched, she was noticing a present and clear difference between what she knew and 'this' Tokyo.

For a quick test she typed in Nobus.

Nothing.

Frowning, she typed in 'Red Dragon'.

It just resulted in fictional results, nothing about culture or anything else.

Again and again many of the things she knew turned out to be false and while she knew about other worlds, to be in one that was so different was more then a bit disconcerting.

"This isn't right.." Avril mumbled as she stood back up. "It can't be. All the things I typed in don't exist." To the young man, she probably sounded rather insane. She had to, considering her first comment had implied different planets to a place that probably didn't have space farring travel.

"I'm sorry. I must sound really crazy right now, I can't really explain but.." Something occured to her. Maybe she could show him? On the other hand it may draw negative attention but without proof and her not cooperating he probably wouldn't have been believed anyway.

It was risky, and not something she'd normally do but she had to try.

"I can show you proof by some holograms of my earlier statement about other worlds, if you want. But this can't leave the room."

Gary neither said anything nor watched over her shoulder while Avril searched. Instead, he was awkwardly drumming his fingers (on his pants leg, so as not to bother Avril.) When she finished and stood once more, he tried for a reassuring smile, "Ah, no, no - it's fine. I believe you... I mean, you just appeared out of nowhere inside my closet. What's a rational explanation for that? I'm just sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

An insane thought crossed his mind. Well, not necessarily insane, but certainly reckless. Maybe anyone else would have dismissed such a thought, but Gary's niceness would not be suppressed - even by his healthy cowardice appreciation of dangerous things, "Well, you know... If you have nowhere to go... I..." He trailed off, feeling foolish for voicing the thought even though he'd felt obligated to offer. Who would accept a total stranger into their home? For that matter, who would accept the invitation of a total stranger? Besides, this wasn't the smallest apartment around, but it wasn't particularly big either - especially when considering it would be shared between a man and a woman.

Not that he'd ever even think of attempting to take advantage of the situation. Truthfully, the thought never crossed his mind - and hadn't still - beyond how inconvenient it would be for her to room with him.

Stay here? If Avril was a normal woman, scratch, person she'd be much more weary of staying with someone she knew next to nothing about. But she was far from it. A normal human on their own wasn't a threat to her what so ever, powerful enough weapons on them aside and being caught off guard but it wasn't like she needed to sleep. She could if she wanted to and often did, simply because be awake constantly with nothing to do was bad for one's mental health.

After mulling over it silently, Avril nodded. "..I'll stay. On the condition that I get a job or something to pull my weight. I refuse to be leech and not contribute anything while I stay. If you're really all right with it." Of course came the problem with a I.D. and such needed for work.

She technically didn't even exist here.

"Ahaha, I don't have any objections to that, of course," Gary stated, nodding agreeably, "but you really don't have to. And, well, this is Japan. And you don't have any identification..." He trailed off, because that was actually extremely concerning. How would they solve that?

Without knowing too much about this world, Avril was at a loss of how to proceed but she knew she needed to be careful and mind her time. "That'll be a problem. I could stay inside but that wouldn't be a good arrangement for me to do forever. For now, for a cover story we could say I'm a friend from college that's staying here temporary until I get on my feet. That's one idea, I'm open for suggestions but I doubt 'realm traveler' would go too well."

Gary held his chin in thought for a while, "Ah... this is a difficult problem." He sighed, "Well. You don't stand out too much at least, though it'd probably be best if we didn't go out together... Then again, I could 'escort' you out to get a visitor's pass... but there are no records of your arrival. And I doubt you have any valid identification either... For the time being, it doesn't look like there's much choice. If you go out as you are you probably won't be bothered, but doing anything that might warrant a check would be bad."

"It seems I don't have much of a choice." Avril sighed a bit. "Can I borrow your laptop again? I'm going to have to do this myself far as making a ID goes." She expected questions to pop up of how she was able to do it and why; there was only a few professions for such a thing either A. something akin to a crimminal or B. a spy or something related to it. The later was closer to the truth, but she wasn't comfortable going into detail of what she was and her origins.

It would be nice, for once, just to be herself without anything hanging over her head. She knew she'd have to explain in detail eventually since they deserve to know that much about someone offering them a place to stay.

And if she became hated for it, that was okay. She was used to being hated. It wouldn't be anymore then did herself.

Gary began to ask a question but considered that the woman across from him was some kind of extra-dimensional alien that landed in his closet and came to the conclusion that her being able to fabricate an identity for herself via the computer wasn't that surprising. And considering most if not all of her other options involved hiring some criminal to do it for her, he couldn't fault her for it either. Maybe the government wouldn't react as feared to someone with literally no history, but it was very probable they would, so in the end this was simply safer. Assuming she wasn't caught anyway.

"Sure," He said, gathering his thoughts. It wasn't like he could probably stop her if she wanted to force him to allow it, anyway, "But are you sure that-"

He was cut off by a knock at his apartment door. Who would be...? His landlord? But he'd paid his rent and minimized disturban... Well, there was the scream earlier... The knock sounded again, "Ah... I'll answer it. Um... just... stay here, I guess?" He murmured distractedly, striding to the door.

Checking through the door's peephole, he saw a close up of the face of a man in a business suit and flinched back. Oh boy... What was this, some sort of government agent caught on to the alien in his room? But that was preposterous. Then he saw the head of a little girl when the suit-man pulled back after knocking again and considered that probably wasn't the case... though it only made him more confused.

Pulling back the latch, he opened the door somewhat nervously, "Hello?"

The girl stared at the floor while the suit-man cleared his throat, "You're Gary, right? Weiss' personal project Gary?"

Gary flinched at that moniker. Oooh boy. This wasn't going to be good. "Ah... yes...? Can I ask what's this about?"

The man shifted somewhat uncomfortably, and Gary wasn't sure if that was relieving or more worrisome, "It would probably be best to talk about this inside..."


Oooooooh boy.

Gary glanced inside to Avril surreptitiously, almost seeking guidance, though he couldn't look back too long without being suspicious.

Once she got the laptop, Avril began to get to work, doing a quick mock run before she got to the real thing. As it turned out, while this earth was more advanced then she thought, it was still below places like Alus, and of course Eldar and the like. In reality it would take her a very short amount of time for her to piece things together, and while earth wasn't as advanced as some the thought of anyone able to do that so quickly was unsettling to some.

It begged the question of if she could do this, a complicated task so quickly why did it take them longer for other things?

Simply put, saptient androids at least more modern ones had a fail-safe not to literally 'think' themselves to death. If a normal person constantly shooting through different ideas and scenario's every milosecond, then just standing for a minute would be absolute torture and drive them absolutely insane. If it wasn't critical and mechanical in nature, then there was no need to be firing on all cyndilers as it were.

Avril closed off when she was done, not feeling exactly happy with herself since she wanted a fresh start but she had little options. Before she could comment further Gary was talking to someone which caught her attention.

The conversation sounded odd, but she wasn't sure what the context of it. She doubted it was anything bad, but if it was she'd protect Gary. Without a word, Avril nodded.

Seeing Avril's nod, Gary turned back to the suited man, "Well... it will be rather cramped." Still, he stepped back obligingly and led the odd pair into the house - both of which paused to swap into slippers before stepping onto the mats. The man gave Avril a curious glance before setting his gaze on Gary. The girl, however... rather than saying she followed him into the house, it would be more accurate to say the suited man led her. She looked around briefly, but soon set her own gaze quite deliberately at nothing in particular.

It made Gary more than a little uncomfortable. Children were not meant to be that subdued, and a horrible chill swept down his shoulders.

"I wasn't expect any company so I don't have much to offer, but I could fetch some water..." The girl didn't respond, and the man politely declined. Gary's face tightened nervously as he continued, "Then... would you mind if I ask what you're here for now?"

The man seemed to pause, trying to find the proper words, before he sighed and met Gary's eyes, "Weiss is dead." The girl flinched, "We were hoping you'd look after his daughter."


Gary's mouth fell open as he failed to find the proper words.

His uncle was dead. How did it happen? How long ago was it? Why wasn't he told?

And why was a man escorting his little cousin to his cheap, bachelor apartment?


And for that matter, why hadn't he heard anything about her either?

There were so many things he wanted to say, and wanted to know, but his voice simply failed him.

To say Avril didn't know what to do would have been a understatement. The situation was awkward all around and she didn't know how to process or handle the situation. It made her a bit uncomfortable but she more or less stayed silent.

The child was what really threw her off. Avril wasn't sure how to react around children, she just knew she tended to shy away from them due to being terrified of hurting them. But while she didn't know about children that well, she did know the little one here seemed a bit more subdued then normal but she wasn't sure why exactly.

Then the news hit and awkwardness got worse. Gary looked like a fish gasping for breath at the moment; she could only guess what he was thinking or going through. Loved ones passing was always incredibly painful, she knew that much from experience.

After a tense silence in the room, Avril decided to break it. "I'm sorry for speaking out of turn, my name is Avril; I'm a friend of Gary's. But was this the first choice? Taking care of a child is a lot of work and, we'll I know it'll be hard juggling that, school and work. It's..not my place to say though either way.."

The man opened his mouth to answer, only to pause, searching for words, "Well..." He sighed, "It's not that he's the last choice... He's the only choice. The others..." He glanced concernedly to Mary, who continued staring at an inconspicuous spot with determination, though her fists and mouth and both tightened, "...if Mary is to have a guardian related to her, it will be here."

Gary blinked in comprehension, eyes darting over to his cousin, before exhaling. Worry for the newly orphaned girl warred with fury at his various relatives for refusing her. It's not that he would refuse her - contrarily, he would appreciate the company. Howver, as Avril had already pointed out, he didn't know if he could. While he was away at work, where would she be but here by herself? Well, he could send her to school, but that was its own problem in a way.

He was taking what classes he could online, but he would still be required to go to the campus on occasion.

And would he be able to feed her? Clothe her? Keep her happy?

...could he allow her to pass out of the family and into the state's custody, to be forgotten?

She wasn't trembling. She was constantly coiling up into herself, as if bracing herself.

Gary sighed again, "How am I to afford this?" The girl flinched, and Gary winced. That must have sounded like another rejection, he thought, so he hastily continued, "I won't have much time to spare for her. Or money. Or space. I want to help her, but..."

The man cleared his throat again, "Ah, about that. There's a trust account set up for her care. It was in the will. Money, at least, won't be an issue."

The situation got increasingly awkward as time passed. Avril hid it relatively well as per her time practicing but it didn't change the fact it was there. The little girl seemed so withdrawn and sad that it conflicted with her usual fear of being around them. If Gary said no, which she doubted even from little she knew of him then she could only imagine what would happen to her.

It couldn't stand. Avril would push past her fear and misgivings on this one.

Though, given that Gary had literally met her five minutes ago she couldn't fault him for not trusting her with the young girl. Avril didn't quite trust herself, even if on a pure logically level she had nothing to worry about unless someone was actively controlling her again and made her a target.

"I could help." Avril said after a moment, feeling strangely self concious when the attention was turned towards her. That made less sense but she'd deal. "I want to earn my keep anyway so helping you take care of her while I'm here is something I could do." If it's all right with you' was the silent words that hung in the air.

She had never dealt with raising a child in her life. If it came down to it, she'd have to use what she had learned from watching others during her various missions.

Gary blinked, glancing to Avril, "Well. The help would be appreciated, but before that..." He glanced back to Mary and sighed rubbing his hair, "...it'd be a bit cramped. And her schooling. Schooling could be... Mary, can you understand what I'm saying right now?"


The man answered for her, "She seems to, but she hasn't said a word since Weiss..." The girl's hands tightened even more. The man noticed, and shrugged helplessly, "Language isn't a barrier, at least."

(Minor note, Aryll is the name of a characters of Avi's. A Demi Goddess)

______________________________________________________________


Avril wasn't sure what to do about Mary, she was so withdrawn and quite but it was understandable why she was here in the first place. She could only imagine what was going through the little girl's head at the moment.

"How old is Mary?" Avril finally asked quietly.

(Yeah. I was tired and misspelled Avril.)

---

"Eight." He said, simply, "At least, according to her birth certificate. Before you ask, her mother's anonymous."


Gary frowned internally. That didn't make any sense. Though her mother's anonymity could be explained by a falling-out with Weiss of some sort, his uncle didn't seem the type to keep such things secret. At least, he should have spoken of his daughter some. Maybe she was adopted? That would explain a fair bit, actually...

He sighed, having made his decision, "Well... in any case... if there's really no better option for her, she can stay here..."

For the first time, it seemed, the girl looked up. Her wide, surprised blue eyes stared at Gary as if she couldn't comprehend him. Well. Honestly, he couldn't comprehend himself sometimes. There was barely any room for her here. He'd have to start looking for a larger apartment.

The man escorting her was surprised too, "Just like that? I mean to say... you were our last bet, here, but... just like that?"

Gary shrugged, "I can't just abandon her-" the suited man flinched, "-you know? So... paperwork? What do we need to do to make this work?"

At this point, Avril took on a more observation role unless her input was needed. Paperwork, test or anything else she was pretty much clueless about. She didn't know this world's customs or how some of the other laws worked completely; it would be something she'd have to get the laptop back so she could process the information.

Before getting her made up I.D. she of course had to get basics down, but there was more things for her to get and get too.

The suited man and Gary talked for a fair bit of time then, finalizing what they could and discussing plans for the future. While he didn't seem amiable to taking care of himself, it seemed the man was dedicated to ensuring she would be taken care of. To that end, he had given Gary some advice regarding his inevitable relocation and the child's education.

"Alright... then, I'll leave Mary in your care. For tonight, at least. I'll be back tomorrow." It was as the man left that Gary realized several odd things regarding this situation, not the least of which was that he'd been planning this girl's future without even so much as learning her name. And, perhaps more importantly, it hadn't been asked:

"Mary... do you want to stay with me?"

It was a serious question, spoken with a solemn tone, with a peculiarly quivering nerve beneath it as if Gary was afraid the child would say no - despite her own predicament. In response, Mary blinked in surprise once more, drawn out of the stupor that she'd been resting in previously as the talk had worn on.

She gripped the hems of her dress and tilted her head thoughtfully before looking up and meeting his eyes: "...yes." It was a quiet declaration, and far from an enthusiastic acknowledgement, but considering the child's mood and situation it was unreasonable to expect anything else, particularly when Gary was a perfect stranger, despite the blood tie.

Gary sunk into himself as nervous tension faded from his shoulders, "Ah... that's a relief. Well, it'll be cramped for a while. And probably more than a little boring... so... bear with me until I can figure some better accommodations out, please." At that, he glanced to Avril, "Oh, and... sorry about this. I know it's probably a lot to ask of you, too."