Silver Umbrellas

Thirty-Two-- History

RECAP:

"Is it Christmas Eve already?" Tyson asked incredulously. "Huh. How time flies! Alright, I'll allow you a pledge of safety. All guns away, including you two. Step in, and come out of the rain."

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Cautiously, Tino went in first, ducking a little bit to keep his glass umbrella from striking the concrete ceiling. Once under cover of the building, there was more room for him to stand up straighter, which he did. Lili was only a pace behind him.

"There, now let's all be friends this time and try to get along," Tyson suggested, but Tino could only scoff. Something about this man made the Finnish man angry beyond reasoning, and he made no attempt to hide his contempt.

Three of the armed men moved to block the way they had come in, and the other four decided to take up various positions around the open area. An officeworker's desk sat near the middle of the garage level-- yes, the faded lines painted on the ground said it was indeed a parking garage. As odd as the desk looked in such an out-of-place setting, Tyson didn't have a problem with it as he set the umbrella down reverently on the surface and stood behind it, facing Tino and Lili as they approached.

"I've come to terms with the outlandish idea that what I saw in my room was not, in fact, a hallucination," he began sternly, and looked between the two nations. "Now, please, tell me what I saw. If you tell the truth then I won't have to do anything drastic. And painful."

"Threatening us really doesn't make us vant to help you," Lili pointed out as Tino stepped forward and picked up the umbrella. Only a slight twitch of Tyson's lower eyelid indicated his discomfort with another person handling his precious "discovery."

'What the hell. I might as well tell the truth' Tino thought, and popped open the umbrella. "This umbrella is not just any ordinary umbrella. The magic of a little girl is imbued within it, and two ancient ghosts are trapped inside." He turned his eyes up to look into the canopy. "Alice, Yao? How are you two holding up in there?"

"Eh, can't complain," Alice's dismebodied voice began calmly before rising in pitch and anger, "except for the fact that this dickwad's slimy hands went all over the umbrella about a hundred times! Eugh!"

Suddenly the two ghosts were materialized, one on either side of Tino. Alice's missing right arm had been replaced with her uncovered prosthetic this time, perhaps because she wanted to look more intimidating, and Yao's hands were on his hips unhappily. He said something that did not sound nice in Mandarin Chinese, and Alice couldn't hide her mean giggle even if she wanted to.

"Thanks for running off with us, ya dick," Alice spat. "That could be considered kidnapping, you know."

"Amazing..." Tyson only breathed, staring at the two ghosts with wide eyes. "I can't even explain how this is possible..."

"Come on, Alice," Yao sighed. "Let's just go back in and ignore him, aru."

"No, no, wait!" Tyson said quickly, and held his arms out in a placating gesture. "I'm sorry I stole you earlier. I just want to study how this works, and how you're even here. I can see right through you, oh my God!"

Mr. Tyson immediately started to circle around Tino and the two ghosts. To the living nation, he inquired, "How are you able to do this? I tried for hours and couldn't make anything happen."

"They need me to make it possible," Tino explained. "It's called magic, which is actually real."

"I have a hard time believing that, but I'll play along," the scientist mused as he finished his circling and stood in front of Finland again. "You said they were ancient ghosts. How old, exactly? Your clothing styles are very modern."