AN: Heyy, so I guess I'm gonna go with monthlyish updates. I think that's about what I did with Curiosity. Anyway. My birthday was just last week, and I'm finally signed up for driving classes starting on Monday...I've been busy, I will be busy, essentially. But, regardless of my real life, I put in some more world building bits in this chapter. I kind of love world building; it's one of my favorite things to do. Hopefully my work for this story is up to par with...idk really, everyone's standards? Yeah. Oh, and sorry about how short this is. It was just a good place to end the chapter... Okay, enjoy, leave me kind and constructive feedback please!
The Citizenship Offices of the Underneath were housed in a tall and dark building, as most buildings in the Underneath were; the façade was of rust-colored brick and dark gray stone accents, with stories upon stories of shadowy, glass-paned windows. The etched letters of the inlaid stone sign next to the glass and gold revolving door that denoted the building's address were full of bone dust, another common feature of anything in the Underneath. Bone dust and tall, stone buildings: two of the characteristic quirks of the city, besides the prominent lack of any humans.
When Dr. Awojobi released Caterine from the hospital, the vampire took up residence with her old fairy friend, the fairy who stored most of Cat's belongings for her. Still resolute in her decision, she went out on a visit to the Citizenship Offices as soon as she could. With determination and a little nervousness in her metaphorical gut (her stomach was unable to feel really upset and fluttery as it could during her previous life), Cat pushed through the revolving door and walked across the polished stone floor towards an available skeleton at the desk, swerving around two dwarves and a wizard on her way.
"Excuse me," she said, causing the skeleton to turn its eye sockets in her direction, "I'm interested in renouncing my citizenship."
The skeleton looked blankly at her for a moment before clacking his jaw and sliding open a filing cabinet drawer behind the desk. "Well now," he said, "that's not something we hear very often around here. I'll have to look up the protocol for renouncing citizenship...you know, the last time anyone wanted to stop being a citizen of the Underneath was about a century ago, I think. Ah, here we go." The skeleton lifted a large binder out of the drawer and set it on the desk in front of himself with a low and dusty thud. "Let's just...see here..." he muttered, flipping the binder open and running a finger bone down colored plastic tabs. "Hah, that's it!" The skeleton, Horace, according to the name tag fastened to one of his ribs, flipped a large chunk of the binder to reveal a page titled "How to Renounce Citizenship."
"So...what do I need to do?" Cat asked, leaning forward on the counter.
Horace spun the binder so she could read it. "You'll need to fill out a few forms, meet with a Congressperson, remove all of your property from any residences or storage spaces in the Underneath, and dissolve your citizenship ring in the abyss. Not too difficult," he summarized as Cat scanned the page herself. "Let me just get you those forms, and then we can schedule a meeting with a Congressperson. The Congressperson will take care of the abyss thing with you as I understand it." He bent again to search through a few more filing cabinet drawers. Horace straightened back up with about fifteen sheets of paper held between his finger bones and handed them over with one of the toothy grins skeletons everywhere are known for.
"Thank you so much," Cat said, sliding the binder back to the skeleton.
"My pleasure," he answered, dropping the binder into its metal drawer with a bang. "Now, about that appointment..." He looked down at the large desk calendar that Cat hadn't even realized was there. "Do you think," here he flipped a few pages forward, "that two Wednesdays from now is enough time for you to collect all of your belongings and arrange for their transfer to the Above?"
"It should be."
"Very well, I'll schedule an appointment for you with Congresself Loxariad. He's an elementi; very nice man."
"Alright. I'll come here?"
"That's right."
Caterine nodded. "Perfect. Thank you for your help, Horace."
"My pleasure, Madam. Have a good day!"
She had already turned to leave, and returned his sentiments over her shoulder as she exited the Citizenship Offices. With sure steps, Cat strode down the street, wary of the death stench coming from every zombie she passed, and found her way out of the Congress district and into the residential district. Many people tipped hats or waved or said a brief greeting as they passed her; a greater vampire is nothing to sneeze at, and she was one of very few known greater vampires. Cat waved back or nodded to each person she noticed, but stayed away from any sort of conversation. The forms in her trusty leather bag weighed heavily on her mind, and she preferred to fill them out as soon as possible.
In almost no time at all, Caterine reached the tall and slightly crooked-looking apartment building her friend lived in. Up five flights of stairs, down the hall, second door on the left. The vampire knocked politely, and the resident fairy opened the door with a creak.
"Caterine, you're back!" she said, opening the door wider for her friend. "You know, most government business takes a lot longer than half an hour, but I'm glad you got everything sorted!"
"Thank you, Laurel, but I have to return in about two weeks for an appointment with a Congresself. I've got a whole stack of forms to fill out in the meantime."
Laurel nodded, iridescent wings fluttering slightly. "That explains it, then. I suppose you'll have to move out, too? All your stuff, I mean."
"It all has to get to the Above before my appointment," Cat confirmed. "Which reminds me: I have to figure out where I'll send my stuff, where I'll go, who I'll stay with..."
Laurel shut the apartment door and flitted to the table. "Let's have a look at these forms, first," she said, sitting in one of the wooden kitchen chairs.
Caterine nodded, joined her friend, produced the forms, and took the proffered pen Laurel suddenly had in her hand. About half of the forms were similar to the sort she always received after a reawakening, some others were about her property, a few more dealt with any debt or bills she might have to pay, and one crucial form actually talked about Cat's main goal, renouncing her citizenship. Laurel helped as much as she could, but by the end of the day, Cat had only finished filling out seven of the sixteen forms required. She hadn't even begun to think about where she would go, either.
