>After joking about it with your American friends you have moved to USA & have your Green card. You have triple-checked the laws to make sure there are no obstacles preventing you from owning firearms & you decide to get your first gun. You go to a pawn shop/gun store near your place to see what they have, there are few 91/30s, couple ARs, couple AKs, that kind of selection.
>As you think about what you want someone brings in an M39 Mosin-Nagant, you get a bit closer to hear the exchange between the owner and an employee. The owner has hit some rough times & has decided to sell one of his three M39s to pay some overdue bills. What the employee is offering him isn't what he expected, what he needs.
"Excuse me, can I take a look?" you ask as you approach, the owner looks you over with suspicion, but hands the rifle over. You ask the owner & the employee if it's OK to check the bolt and the trigger, and since the store is otherwise empty they give a go ahead as long as you remember muzzle- and trigger discipline.
>The bolt slides smoothly, and just as you are about to test the trigger out of nowhere someone appears right next to you, it's a young-ish woman wearing the summer uniform M36 of the Finnish Army.
"Tauno!" she exclaims, but upon seeing your face she gets confused, then suspicious.
>You are stunned, not by the fact that a waffengeist appeared, you have heard of them before, nor the fact that this one is wearing a WWII -era uniform, that's to be expected. It's the name she exclaimed that caught your attention.
"I take it you speak Finnish?" you ask, trying your best to mimic your grandparents' Karelian accent.
"Well of course I do!" she replies with very obvious, very natural North-Karelian accent, she continues
"You are not Tauno"
"No I'm not, but what's your name?" you ask, thinking "she can't be, the chances of that are astronomical."
"Hilja, that's what Tauno called me, why do you ask, who are you?" she asks, getting worked up.
>You say nothing, instead you glance at the stamps on the rifle, a VKT made in 1940. It fits perfectly.
"I'm Anon, Tauno was my great-grandfather's name, Hilja was his wife" you reply.
"Your great-grand-" she starts repeating what you said before going silent as the reality hits.
"He's dead, isn't he?" she asks.
"Sortavala, late August 1941, sound familiar?" you ask, feeling bad for what the effect of what you just said is going to be.
"...I was hoping that was just a dream" she finally mutters. Bingo, no doubt about it any more.
"Afraid not" you say sympathetically, even though it's challenging to imagine what she's going through, in all likelihood for her what happened was like yesterday while to you it was almost 50 years before you were even born.
"...Did he suffer?" she asks. That's right, from what you heard Tauno was being carried to dressing station, she wouldn't have been with him at the end. You try to decide whether or not to tell her the truth. In the end you decide you have to.
"One bullet to the chest, tore his lungs, he died en route to the dressing station, I hear he was conscious on the way there" you say.
"Are you my new owner?" She asks, you look at the owner.
"How much?" you ask in English.
"$300" the owner says, more than he initially wanted from the pawn shop, but then again after that exchange it was obvious that as far as you are concerned the value went through the roof during your conversation with Hilja.
"Deal" you say as you start digging for your wallet. The pawn shop employee isn't amused, but there's nothing he can do at this point, the sale is going to happen regardless of whether he throws you out or allows you to finish the transaction inside the store.
>You turn back to Hilja and say:
"I am now."
>She looks at you with confusion and suspicion plastered all over her face, you realize you said that last thing in English, she's now looking around her, seeing English writing everywhere.
"...Where are we?" she asks.
"America, I moved here recently" you explain as you finish the paperwork the owner insisted you fill and start walking out with Hilja, he was a bit suspicious about the fact that you are a Green-carder.
"...how did the war end?" she asks as you exit the store.
"All went well for the rest of the year, Viipuri was quickly retaken & in the east Finnish Army advanced all the way to Karhumäki, Petroskoi and across Syväri, the lines remained stagnant until June 1944" you recount the major events. Hilja is amazed with the success, but it seems she notices the significance of the word "until."
"After that it all went to Hell, Soviets launched a massive offensive at the Isthmus on June 10th and by 15th the fighting had reached the hastily manned & prepared Viipuri-Kuparsaari-Taipale -line, Viipuri was lost on 20th" you recount the events before continuing:
"By 24th the morale was at all times low when code breakers intercepted what amounted to a Gift from Heaven; Soviet plans for a breakthrough with to-the-minute -timetable for the attack, the countermeasures were put together, artillery supplied with extra ammo & the air force mobilized in full to bomb the enemy concentrations right before the attack started" you continue while Hilja looks at you with wide eyes.
"The opening salvo of the Finnish artillery had over 250 guns and mortars pounding the living shit out of the Soviets, the battle raged from 25th until July 9th when it ended in a Finnish defensive victory. That was just the beginning of a long string of defensive victories during a retreat to the 1940 border, until September 4th at 07:00 the cease fire came to effect, the war ended officially in Paris in 1947, 1940 borders minus Petsamo, plus outrageous war reparations."
"...1940 borders you say?" she asks, you can guess what she's thinking.
"Yes, Tauno's farm remained on the Finnish side of the border, it's still owned by the family" you say & Hilja lets out a sigh of relief.
"Did you ever manifest yourself to Tauno?" you ask, curious about what kind of relationship they might have had.
"No, practically every "Pystykorva" had a waffengeist by the time the war started, but we had a silent agreement not to show ourselves, for the fear of how the Army would react."
"Wait, you mean that *all* Finnish Mosin-Nagants have waffengeist?" you ask, astonished.
"Well maybe not literally every single one, but most, why?"
>yfw all those bubba'd Finn-Mosins have waffengeists
"...I'll explain later, right now I need to sit down" you say as you try to collect yourself.
"Oot sie ihan kunnossa?" ("Are you alright?") she asks as you light a cigarette.
"Yes, I'm fine, it's just the mental image of an American buying an M28-30 or an M39 thinking it's just another $50 Mosin-Nagant among countless millions of standard war-time Soviet-made 91/30s that flood the market in USA & treating her as such, unaware of not only the fact that the rifle they bought is far from being your average 91/30, but also of the fact that said rifle contains a spirit that can feel everything you do to the rifle" you say as you smoke the cigarette.
"...oot sie ihan tosissas?" ("are you being serious?") she asks
"Of course I am serious, Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants are rare compared to the Soviet-made rifles, not to mention the difference in quality of the rifles each country produced, I always thought it was a crime to take an M27, M28 or M39 etc. and treat them like your average 91/30, sawing-off most of the stock and the barrel to make it a 'pistol', or doing some other stupid shit. Now that I know that most of the Finnish Mosin-Nagants have spirits I could decapitate each and every "bubba" who has done such things to Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants" you say as you finish smoking the cigarette and light another, you are so pissed that you simply can't calm down with just one cigarette, in fact you feel like even one pack might not be enough.
"...You certainly aren't Tauno, but at the same time I can see that you really are his descendant", Hilja says.
"...Considering the third-hand stories my grandfather told me about Tauno I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended" you say as you observe her expression, is she making fun of you? You are half-Karelian yet you have trouble understanding the people who are supposed to be of your "tribe."
"What I'm getting at is that you aren't as rough around the edges, but at the same time, deep down you have the same instinct of talking with your fists with very little warning when someone crosses a line only you can see", she explains.
"...Sounds familiar alright, never saw my old man nor grandfather being like that" you reply.
"But enough of that, let's go home" you say as you stand up.
>You arrived on foot & didn't bring a rifle case with you, so you grab her rifle-form by the sling and hang her on your right shoulder.
>This is an open carry -state, but you are still nervous about OC'ing as you have read plenty of stories (many of them no doubt fake-) about people losing their shit over people OC'ing & things getting complicated, you consider asking Hilja to make her rifle-form disappear, but that idea becomes pointless as a patrol car passes you & pulls over ahead of you & two officers step out of the car.
"Good afternoon sir" says the senior of them, a corporal.
"Good afternoon corporal" you decide to address him as a corporal rather than just "officer" because you already saw his chevrons.
"Do you mind showing your ID?" the corporal asks, these cops look chill you think as you reply:
"Not at all, my ID is in my wallet, one second..."
>You show them your Green card, a bit nervous about how they are going to react.
"You aren't a citizen?" the corporal asks.
"No, corporal, I'm not" you respond truthfully and as briefly as possible, like all those YouTube videos about how to deal with American cops told you to do to avoid trouble.
"Is there a reason you are carrying a rifle out in the open?" he asks as he checks you from head to toes.
"I bought this just minutes ago, I hadn't planned on buying rifle today so I didn't prepare a rifle case, and since I live nearby I came on foot, so after buying this I had no choice but to OC on my way home" you explain.
"You just bought it?" the corporal asks as he looks to the direction you came from & seeing the pawn shop.
"I bought it from a customer at the pawn shop who tried to sell it at the store but couldn't agree on the price he was offered, I filled the paperwork though & have his contact information if you'd like to check" you explain the situation, hoping you didn't fuck up by volunteering information you didn't need to share.
"That's not necessary at this time, I'll just write down your name & the description of the rifle, is that a Mosin-Nagant?" he asks.
>Before you can reply, the corporal adds:
"I mean, a Finnish-made version, an M39 right?"
"Yes" you reply, slightly surprised.
>The corporal writes down your name and the description before asking:
"Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for it?"
"$300"
>"$300? The pawn shop wouldn't pay that for an M39? Did they think the waffengeist would cause trouble or something?" the corporal asks, astonished.
"The pawn shop offered $150 when the owner wanted $200, when I asked to see the rifle the waffengeist appeared & the owner asked for $300" you say, deciding you are already in the clear & are just making small talk.
"He must have been desperate for the money, in any case you are free to go, have a nice day" the corporal says before returning to the patrol car with his partner and driving away.
