fandomhigh | Library [1/28]

"Edo it is." Scully tilted her head as she flipped through the pages, and asked, "You're not sure you want to pass the tests you took?"

"Well, I don't want to fail?" She sank back into her seat. "But the National Exams mean university, and I have no idea what I want to study. And joining the Police Academy means I become a police woman."

Scully opened up the page to Edo, and then frowned. "Wait, so they don't ask you to get a college degree to go into the police academy? And you do know that most people figure out what they want to major in once they get to college."

"You can test in, too. There's levels you can get in at if you have a degree, I think," Momoko replied. "Or they take less time to graduate or something. If I go to University, I'll definitely have to take time to figure out what I want to do."

"What year is considered the beginning of the Edo period?" Scully asked, then propped her chin on her hand. "It sounds like you want to go to the police academy, college or not."

"Ieyasu won the battle of... Sekigahara! in 1600 but he didn't get made shogun until 1603," Momoko answered. "Police Academy seems to match more what I want to be? But I don't want to be a traffic officer or stuck in a precinct fetching coffee for the real detectives just because I'm a girl."

"Correct. And what?" Scully just stared at her, stunned into WTF? territory.

Momoko blinked back. "What what? Oh, the 'because I'm a girl' thing?" Momoko tended to forget other people weren't from her world. "I don't mean that's all they'll let me do! It's just that's sort of where a lot of female officers end up."

"I... see." Well. Possibly Momoko's Japan was less egalitarian than their own. She paused and asked, "How long did the Edo period last?... and if you want to be more than a traffic cop, then a college degree is probably a good idea." She raised her eyebrows. "Or do you not want to go to college at all, full stop?"

"Uhm... until the Meiji period started?" Momoko tried. "I want to be a Hero of Justice. But that's not a full-time job."

"That's right, and how many centuries is that?" Scully paused, totally non-plussed. Hero of Justice. "...well, no. As I understand it, that doesn't usually pay very well."

"Three centuries?" Momoko hedged. "I get paid for it now. By the Mayor's office. But I totally don't think it will be forever."

"Close to two and a half. 1603 to 1867," Scully told her, then conscientiously added, "At least in the view of the writers of this book. Why were the Meiji restored to power? ... Wait, you get paid to do the fighting you do here?" Scully frowned. "But you don't think they'll keep doing that in the future. Why not?"

"I get paid to be on-call for back home, not here." Momoko shook her head. "But the monsters don't attack all the time, so even if I'm getting paid I won't be fighting all the time. But I totally doubt they'd keep paying me for times when I wouldn't be working. To restore power to the Emperor and remove it from the shoguns."

Scully had a moment of cognitive dissonance of wondering if Momoko was going to restore the Emperor, and then blinked and said, "So, what do you want to do? That would earn a salary? ... I mean, police work sounds good. Just not the making coffee part. Why not go to college for that?" After a second, she said, "And see, you do know this. What were some of the pressures conspiring to make that attractive to people?"

Speaking of dissonance... "You have to go to college to make coffee in your world?!" That totally explained the problems she'd had with that part of Professor Gibbs' class!

Scully stared at her, hard. Trying to see if... "Are you messing with me?"

Momoko raised her hands. "What? You said 'why not go to college for the coffee making part' didn't you? I totally heard you!"

"I said why not go to college for the detective work," Scully said slowly, abandoning Japanese history to its fate. Maybe it was a leftover language barrier. "Since that's what you want to do. Work in justice, help people, get paid for it."

"... You totally didn't say that." Momoko rolled her eyes. "But I could? I don't know that I really want to be a private detective. But that's probably what I would start with? At least, if I can get into a university with a criminal justice program."

Scully was thinking they were on completely different pages here.

"Momoko. Could you please explain how someone becomes a police detective? Because that's what I was talking about. Not becoming a private detective." She paused, then clarified, "As different and distinct from a police officer, traffic officer, or anyone who would be stuck just making coffee for those considered police."

"You become a police officer, then work your way up the ranks? I think maybe there are tests you have to take, too." Momoko looked at Scully, confused. "Isn't that how it works for you? I mean, like I said, you can start out at different levels if you have different educations or if you know the right people, but that's just some people."

"For us, you can start out as a detective in training in some places if you have a college degree in criminal justice," Scully explained. "You start out in patrol, yes. Work your way up. I'm... confused about why you think that's all you'd do. It sounded like the police academy had no connection to college or criminal justice at all, the way you phrased it. Or the way I heard it." She paused. "And I'm really not sure where the coffee making for detectives comes in. That's an administrative assistant's job, if then. God knows Holly never made any for Skinner."

"The few people I've met from the police force back home totally didn't think I could do 'real' police work. One even said I wouldn't have to worry about forensics and 'all the hard stuff' when I joined the force." Momoko made a sour face at the memory. "And all because I'm a girl. He totally got upset when I won that shooting game after he missed all his shots. Claimed it was rigged."

She sighed. "The Police Academy I applied to is in Tokyo City, for Tokyo City police, and it's really almost like a college on its own. But if you have a degree, you still have to go to the Academy. But if you have a degree, you get to skip stuff."

Edited 2011-01-29 07:26 (UTC)

"Oh, those kind." Scully had met plenty of them. Now she was on surer ground, and much less confused. "Ignore them. If they can't handle you beating them at a shooting game, they're not worth listening to." She gave Momoko a steely look. "My aunt works for the FBI here as a forensic pathologist. She's called in to consult on every kind of crime imaginable. Forensics is difficult, but not as difficult as conducting an autopsy, and she says that it's usually the guys who faint during the first demonstration."

Truth. Most female recruits were too afraid to eat before hand, so they didn't pass out.

"So. Whether you go to college or not, it sounds like you do know what you want to do. College might help, as you say, and you'd get to skip stuff. If you want to do police work as soon as possible, though, and don't mind paying your dues, then I suppose it wouldn't be too bad to go straight to the Academy?"

Library [1/28]

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