With Georgia:

More of the local monks had trickled in and out over the past few hours, mostly the younger men that the old fellow called 'samenera.' When I asked him what marinara sauce had to do with being a monk he said that it was the name of a rank, basically novices.

"Anyone under the age of twenty has to be ordained as samenera initially, after a year of study, or when they reach the age of twenty, they may be considered for upasampadān to become a bhikkhu, a monk, such as I." The man shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Many defer being ordained for most of their lives, mostly due to the lack of higher ordination halls or simple life choices. I had to go all the way to Burma for mine!"

he chuckled lightly as he sat down next to me, crossing his legs as I polished off another bowl of sticky rice, stacking it next to the veritable mountain of plates next to me. I'd still been quite hungry, and while the sacrificial rice balls were tiny, it was still free food. Though I'm fairly certain by now I was proving my inhumanity by the sheer amount of rice and water I'd packed away.

"You must have had a truly unfortunate death to be as hungry as you are, may I ask about it?" I slowed my chewing, thinking back.

"I don't remember much of my old life, really, I remember going to high school, college even! Having friends and family, but I can't quite recall what they looked like. I remember a lot of random facts and references from when I was alive, but... Well, the first true memories I had in this life was waking up off the coast of Taiwan, I was underwater, when I surfaced, there were blasted and destroyed ships everywhere... There were a lot of dead sailors in the water around me, some were starting to get eaten by sharks." The old man gained a sad expression, wincing slightly as I described my Awakening.

"You very likely died there, alone and left un-venerated, its no small thing, to die far from home. Even more so to die in such an unfortunate manner. Tell me, do you remember your name?" I shook my head.

"I took on a new name a bit after I met Chitose, a Kanmusu from Japan. We found out my body was that of an Ohio submarine, named Georgia, that's what I've gone by since... But that's not really my name, and not who I was. It never really comes up, because I don't think it really matters in the long run. No matter who I was, well, I'm Georgia now, just Georgia, last name kinda pending." The man nodded, seeming to come to a realization.

"I thought it was odd for a Praet to show itself to us, you are an 'Abyssal' as the spirit vessels would call you, yes?" I nodded. "Odd, from what I had heard, Abyssals are far more violent than you have been." I shrugged.

"Most are either near mindless monsters or like children, they remember nothing, being New Constructs, and from what I gather are taught how to behave by their mothers, who as a general rule are kinda dicks. The mothers, Himes or Princess's, to use their word, are basically like evil Kanmusu." I shrugged at the man's quirked eyebrow. "I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that's the vibe I got from the few I've met, fairly certain the only reason I'm not a murder death machine is because I remember vaguely what it's like to be human, and my first contact was Chitose.

The old man sat and thought about what I'd said for a while, as I scooped another handful of riceballs into my mouth, eating alongside him in silence as the kaminera-shabinera-whatever guys gathered nearby for some ritual or another, they were burning incense at the shrine I'd been at, and as a tendril of smoke passed by I sneezed violently. Shocking some of the younger initiates into looking my way. The monk next to me looked on thoughtfully, before slowly getting to his feet.

"If you are willing, may I try something? There are a few rituals designed for cleansing, or appeasing spirits, and I doubt one will be as blatant as you for a while, most hide from us you see, leaving before the dawn." I nodded carefully, it was only polite to agree after I'd eaten a literal mound of their food.

"Alright, but if I tell you to stop, you stop, or I'll give you a good wallop, got it?" I shook my fist at him. "I don't wanna get exorcised by accident and leave my girls behind." The monk paused at that, before nodding his bald head.

"I wouldn't dream of purposefully harming a spirit with unattended business, simply state when to stop, and it will stop. Now excuse me, I have a few students to gather."

...

The Search party:

Georgia?! GEORGIA! Hakone yelled out loudly, to the annoyance of passers-by. There were less Vietnamese up and about today, most having set themselves up in the local stadium in a tent city. the local Cambodians, as a rule, avoided the group, less because of the fact they were abyssals, (Most seemed to think they were just oddly colored women or Kanmusu) but more due to their military uniforms and foreign looks. Lao and Chitose largely received the same cold-shoulder as the two abyssal ships, Lao for her matching (if fetishized) military uniform and caucasian looks and Chitose for being obviously Japanese.

It was annoying, and the only reason they hadn't had the cops stopping them was apparently due to Lao warning the police chief that they would be going out ahead of time, apparently his station been called three times already by 'concerned citizens.'

"Stop it Hakone, you're causing a scene!" Chitose chastised as Hakone shouted Georgia's name again, the Cruiser quieted down, simply scanning the streets now as Lao came out of the tattoo parlor with Ha Si.

"He said that he saw her pass by about an hour after you all left together, she was cackling to herself and running down the street towards the pagoda. I guess we can ask the monks there if they saw anything, just..." Lao made a pleading expression to Hakone and Anne; "PLEASE don't let on that you're demon-ghost-boats? I don't need a religious-inspired riot on top of everything else." They nodded, before Hakone perked up, curious.

"Wouldn't they already be dealing with Georgia though, if she was actually there?" Lao lifted her finger as she made to speak, then paused as Hakone's words filtered into her brain, dropping her finger as a look of horror came over her and Chitose's faces.

"...Lao? Chitose? Are you two oka-" The two Kanmusu sprinted for all they were worth towards the temple, leaving the two abyssals and pair of humans to stare dumbly after them. Hakone looked over at Giang, pointing after the charging ships. "Should we...?" The boy nodded. they started jogging after the Kanmusu, Anne and Ha Si taking up the rear at a more sedate pace.

...

With Pham Ngu Lao:

I sprinted through the large pagoda doors, Chitose hot on my heels as we passed surprised supplicants. We needed to find the abyssal submarine before she was discovered and something terrible happened! I skidded to a stop in front of a bemused monk, taking a moment to give a small bow that was promptly returned.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but have you seen anything... out of the ordinary, around here? Specifically, a young girl in a PAVN uniform? White hair and pale skin? One eye? About this high?" I said in my limited grasp of Khmer, putting my hand up about on-par with my breast, the young man smiled as Chitose caught up to me, shortly followed by the rest of the group.

"Yes actually." I sighed in relief. "She was found sleeping on our Buddha statue this morning, eating the offerings left at the shrine there." Ohgodno.

I bowed again, lower this time, I'd have practically prostrated myself in apology but my skirt was far too short for that.

"I am so, SO sorry... I-If you can tell me which way she went, I can track her down and make sure she's properly punished!" Oh God, now I'd have to confront and potentially piss off the submarine that eats Battleships what's wrong with my liiiiiife.

The man raised his eyebrows, "You misunderstand, she is still here. She is currently in the lecture hall with elder Chanvatey and his students." Oh. I turned to Chitose.

"Well, that could have gone a lot worse, he said she's here in the lecture hall, with the head monk and his students," I translated to her in English. I turned back to the monk, "Thank you, could you take us to her? She's currently my responsibility, and we've been searching for her.

The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait, they are attempting a complicated ritual spirit-cleansing technique on her right now, and if you interrupt it could upset their concentration." Ah, I relayed the information to the others as I turned to ask the mo-

"Cleansing! Georgia!" Chitose streaked past, followed by the abyssal ships as I was frozen in shock. I bowed apologetically to the surprised monk, before speeding after them, Ha Si and Giang wisely staying behind at the gate.

"Chitose! wait! You don't even know where the lecture hall even is!"

...

Once again with Georgia:

I would have looked at the slip of paper planted on my forehead with my eyes crossed, but my left eye was still gammy, so...half-crossed? The paper was covered in written Kimmerese, as the baker's dozen kamisutra-saranera guys chanted some kind of song, it was pretty catchy, even though I couldn't understand a word of it. The old guy lit the small brazier at my feet, colorful paper curling up as it caught fire. He put his hands together and began to recite something- what was that sizzling?

"OWOWOWOFF NOW!" I tore off the offending paper, which was now smoking gently, as the monks were startled out of their chanting. I tossed it away as the old guy looked to me in concern, I rubbed my forehead irritatedly, my hand came away with soot.

"THE HELL WAS THAT!? Since when does a cleansing ritual set you the heck on fire?!" It had BURNED too, it had actually felt like it was singing my human skin, rather than the abyssal steel I knew my hull actually was. He handed me a cloth to wipe the soot off of my forehead with, looking absolutely mortified.

"That was a ritual merely designed to purify an area, expelling the bad Qi within it, the tab was to focus the effect and the Joss paper was a sacrificial offering... It should not have burned you like that. I apologize, I did not mean to bring any harm upon you." He bowed low, practically kneeling. Aw man, he's totally guilt-tripping me!

"Come on get up! I forgive you OK? I agreed to it after all... Come on, you're embarrassing me!" I helped the old man up, well, attempted to, as I was really too short to pull him to his feet, but he made do easily eno-

"GEORGIA!" A Japanese cruise missile impacted me.

Thankfully it turned out it was just Chitose.

...Who I'd probably left drunk at the bar last night when the cops showed up. Her grip tightened on me.

...Oh god its Chitose.