> You are Rumia, Youkai of the Dusk, or Youkai of the Twilight.//oh my
> ...am Rumia, Darkness Incarnate. Both the darkness itself... lurks within.
> Well, you've already introduced yourself before. So there's no need to repeat yourself.
> The one out there has changed tremen... so have I. I won't... same mistakes as in the past.
> ...But you have managed your greatest wish! To simply, rid yourself of the seal and get back to your former freedom.
> "Hm... Watch her from a distance. Inside doesn't seem like it'll work, as you can check... get her into your favor without being submissive to what she... may well be tenacious, but ... easy to dupe. Ah, that gives me a bit of deja vu...">Was this our shadow speaking? If not, who? Is this the voice we noticed? Do we recognize it at all?
> "I have to leave. The Rumia out there should be noticing how much of her, no, my stored darkness I've used to return. And if not, then being sealed has taken it's toll on her mentality too. Ah, I mean that we've used, of course. You've always been there, my greatest ally. My S..."
//oh my> You don't think it was your shadow... You're not sure who. Maybe you said it?
>Was this our shadow speaking? If not, who? Is this the voice we noticed? Do we recognize it at all?
Prime:
>Do we have any fish remaining?
>If we still have active darkness from our attempts at probing the forest barrier, withdraw it.
>"Huh, neat."
Contingency:
>Mentally remember where the cat village is so we can return to it around the same time tomorrow. That human girl was interesting.
>Fly about, looking for some kind of stream or lake.
Prime:> "Yeah. I promise it wasn't me, either." Your shadow replies.
>("Did you hear that voice, shadow?")
>Wait for the duo to get closer.
>"...So how did it go?"
Contingency:
>Keep searching.
>If we spot any game animals during our search, stop searching for water and begin stalking said animal(s)
>What time is it?> It's the afternoon. Well, late in it compared to before you started waiting... The sun won't be here for long.
>Are we well known to the humans of the human village?
>What do we know of Akyuu or her previous incarnations?
Prime:
>"How long were you there?"
Prime:
>("I wasn't implying it was you anyway. Out of curiosity were you able to pick up anything or did only you catch the tail end of what they were saying like I did?")
>"Sakuya? ...That's the person that was missing from the mansion, right?"
Contingency:
>Keep at it.
>Idly wonder how much our hunting abilities have decayed since we were sealed.
>Hunger level.
Prime:> "I didn't get much of it either. Sorry..." Your shadow replies.
>"What was causing the loops?"
Prime:
>("That's fine, though what I did catch seems a bit troubling. Something about 'watching her from a distance', 'getting her into your favor' and being 'easy to dupe' ")
>Glance about for potential observers.
>("Not sure if the 'her' they were referring to was me or you, but I'm not ruling out that they're implying one or both of us. There was something about 'The Rumia out there noticing how much of her darkness they used to return' and then having the gall to imply it was their darkness... Not to mention the annoying onset of hunger as soon as they stopped talking. If whoever this is actually stole my darkness we will be having words when I find them... ")
>("A small part of me also wonders if the voice is a portion of my darkness somehow deciding to become a separate entity, which I honestly hope isn't the case because what it implies and the potential fallout it may cause is a migraine in the making... Ugh, a problem to look into later, I suppose. Satisfying my sudden hunger is more important at the moment...")
>Are we aware of any past instances of a part of our darkness seeking its own agenda, or of any darkness-related entities we may have absorbed that could potentially "return" as the voice implied?
>Compared to the previous hunger where we started lapsing into "subconsciously eat the nearest human", how far are we from that level?
>"So it might've been her but she didn't know? Gee, that kinda sucks if you think about it, not knowing you're even the cause of an incident."
>"Also, off topic, but... Neither of you would happen to know an area with plenty of wildlife, ideally game animals, would you? I used up more of my energy than I expected probing the loop-barrier-thingy and it's made me a little hungry..."
>Do we need to breathe when we turn into pure darkness or merge with darkness. If not, could we feasibly move underwater using the darkness in the murky depths of, say, a lake?
Contingency:
>Any luck yet?
>Naz> You don't know anyone who records youkai much.
>Do we know of anyone that was recording details of yokai that we can dig details of our past from?
Prime:
>...Is our shadow still present?
>Muse aloud to ourselves: "Hmm... Guess I could try fishing the bottom of Misty Lake using my darkness as a net or web or something..."
Contingency:
>Frown. Is somebody messing with us?
>Continue our search but hovering just above the ground. As soon as we smell potential prey land and send a tendril of darkness from our feet through the ground in that direction. Note anything we encounter as we do this.
>Do we know of a way to test if it is a fox's illusion> Yes.
>Where is Marisa?
Prime:
>"A mermaid, huh?"
>Start sinking in the ground as shadow
>"You learn something. . ."
>Finish sinking into the ground
>Head to Misty lake.
Prime:> "Have you considered that it could be Yakumo herself?"
>("...Something just took a portion of my darkness, and whatever it is is hunting all of the wildlife near Yakumo's territory. Think it might be our unknown voice?")
>"There's a mermaid?"
>Allow Dai to respond before sinking into the ground.
>Abort sinking if a reply from us is expected.
Contingency:
>...How dare they!
>Start flying in that direction. Try to catch a glimpse of our foe.
Contingency:>Hold
>Do the following after Naz
->"But who are you and what is the name of your master?"
Prime:
>("I mean it's possible, though I doubt it unless she's either developed a habit of binge eating or is really hell-bent on antagonizing me without provocation. Besides, the culprit seems to be our mystery voice anyway. They're speaking to my other body.")
>Just to be sure the voice didn't sound like Yakumo's right?
>>Or anybody else we know for that matter?
>Is the noise along our path to the lake or seemingly from within the lake itself?
Contingency:
>Fake gasp while pointing.
>"Aha! I knew trees were the spawn of evil! It makes sense that the mysterious voice was one of you!"
>Beat
>"In all seriousness, though, it seems like I've found you. You know, I caught the tail end of what your were saying before you 'left'. I have to say, the implications that you stole a portion of my darkness aren't the best way to make a first impression. Although, you did say that it was also your darkness, didn't you?"
>Slightly curious head tilt.
>Do we sense anything from this"tree spirit"presence?
Contingency:> "Ah. That makes it easier."
>Do the following after Naz
->"But who are you and what is the name of your master?"
Prime:> From what you can tell, yes, no to both.
>No to both?
Prime:
>No to both?
Contingency:
>"Huh, I guess that proves one of my theories."
>Stay somewhat guarded but relax a little and allow more curiosity to show.
>"So when we were still one Rumia, I assume you heard and/or experienced everything I did? Because Gensokyo has changed since our glory days so if you've already learned the new laws through our shared experience then it would be much more convenient than having to explain it."
>"Anyway, this is a bit of a curious situation. Does this make us twin sisters in a way? Come to think of it, did our shadow split too or do we pretty much share custody of her?"
>"Also can't we compromise on the small fry thing? Don't get me wrong I understand the reasoning but I'd still like to stretch out every once in a while. I could change my 'default height's' hair style or maybe it's height by a few inches perhaps? Or maybe you could?"
>"I draw the line at my proportions though."
Contingency:> "As far as anyone else is concerned, you're still the original Rumia, too. Your experiences and interactions since being sealed, however, make you different compared to me. I'm sure my case would be the same as taking the Rumia before she got sealed in the past, sending her to the future, then explaining everything that happened inbetween to her. You're not actually a different Rumia. You just... grew differently."
>"If I understand correctly, I was your body that you were sealed away in and developed into a separate entity."
>"That is a relief to hear though I am still in the dark as to who and why we, you. . ."
>Rub head and grumble
>"The sealing happened."
>"Do you actually care that I look like a child or do you just care that my form is distinct from yours?"
Prime:> It might be further ahead of your course.
>How much would we have to deviate from our current course to investigate?
>("So apparently I have a clone or sister now. I don't mean like a secondary body, she has a separate personality and everything. Also you're probably going to get one too since she said she's going to make her own shadow.")
>Wait if our shadow is developed by ourselves does that technically make us her mom in a way?
Contingency:
>"You say that, but you seemed to be going after animals as well. As well as a portion of my darkness I sent to see what was going on."
>"Speaking of that still wasn't very nice. Though I suppose you had your reasons."
>"How about you call me RumiA and you can be RumiB"
>"I wouldn't mind being called sis if you're fine with me calling you that in turn."
>"Though more formally I guess... hmm... maybe you can be Echo? Considering you're sorta like an echo of our past self that became its own entity? Of course if you don't like that we could brainstorm a better one."
//Feel free to chip in with name ideas Phil.
Contingency:>Objection.
>"I'll take Umbra."
>"It doesn't feel appropriate, but I'll grow into it."
> "As far as anyone else is concerned, you're still the original Rumia, too. Your experiences and interactions since being sealed, however, make you different compared to me. I'm sure my case would be the same as taking the Rumia before she got sealed in the past, sending her to the future, then explaining everything that happened inbetween to her. You're not actually a different Rumia. You just... grew differently."
> "I still don't know who sealed us, but I doubt they'll do so again. I'm not going to go around eating humans as much with the new rules around. And you can keep the shadow. I'll redevelop my own."
> "Right. You're still me, you must miss being tall. You just keep your hair short, and I'll keep mine long. With your skills, you'll only hinder yourself more with longer hair anyways. Speaking of, going after animals like that is foolish, as I said earlier. You'll piss off other youkai and they're not worth eating anyways. There's better ways. I can tutor you on such, but I'm in the middle of watching something neat, and unlike you, I don't want to waste so much energy having multiple bodies around like this. I'll catch you after they finish, but before I go, what are we sticking to in terms of names? You don't seem like a prime or true to me. But I doubt you want to be called something like Little Me or Twomia."
>_
// Let's try to see if she wants a clear ( "Rumia the Elder " Rumia the Younger ") or unclear ( "Umbra" or "Ombra") relation by names with "Rumia",first//>Wait on this.
> " For distinctive names,and considering everyone knows or has got used to know myself as just "Rumia", do you prefer something hiding our "relation" like ... one " Rumia" and the other "Umbra" or " Ombra " ...or highlighting it like ... one " Rumia the Elder" and other " Rumia the Younger ".
> "Mh...also...would you also like share,or to at least hint to, who you are watching and what are they doing so neatly?"
Prime:
>We could probably investigate it after fishing if it's still there, then.
>Continue.
Contingency:
>"Apologies. I meant no offense or disrespect with the echo thing, was just trying to think of a name that would be fitting and rolls off the tongue well."
>"While I see the logic with the Pure Rumia and Tainted Rumia labels, that's kinda a mouthful to say. Besides, as you said, Tainted is usually seen negatively, so it kinda makes it sound like I'm defective or an evil counterpart. It almost has the same connotations as 'Dark Rumia', though without the redundancy. While I acknowledge that I'm currently inferior to you in some respects, I'd still like to go by something that sounds a bit less demeaning."
>"How about..."
>Open a debate with other players to come up with name ideas.
//I'll let Phil make the first suggestions, because I can't think of anything at the moment but would still rather not have the Tainted label applied to us.
Contingency:
>"I'll take Umbra."
>"It doesn't feel appropriate, but I'll grow into it."
//I feel like she is more Rumia than us.
//We should probably fuse back together since the major danger has passed and everyone that is dangerous can find our ne
>Objection.
//As far as I'm concerned and from an in character perspective, we're Rumia. It doesn't feel right to completely change that.
//Do you think "onee-chan" could be persuaded to accept Umbra though?
//Plus everyone who knows us in this small form already knows us as Rumia. Suddenly changing to a non Rumia name would be odd.
// Let's try to see if she wants a clear ( "Rumia the Elder " Rumia the Younger " or " Origins..." and " Reborn...") or unclear ( "Umbra" or "Ombra") relation by names with "Rumia",first//
> " For distinctive names,and considering everyone knows or has got used to know myself as just "Rumia", do you prefer something hiding our "relation" like,just for a basis ... one " Rumia" and the other "Umbra" or " Ombra " ...or highlighting it like ... one " Rumia the Elder" or " Origins Rumia" and the other " Rumia the Younger " or " Reborn Rumia ".
> "Mh...also...would you also like share,or to at least hint to, who you are watching and what are they doing so neatly?"
>Wait on this.> You arrive at the lake.
Contingency:
>Do not parse without approval:
>>"...Hmm... Well maybe one of us could change their name to Umbra? But then again since you're me then you'd probably not want to give up our name completely. I know I wouldn't... Plus if we did that then that brings up the issue of most people that we've met in modern Gensokyo knowing my 'small fry' look as 'Rumia'."
>"Maybe you could be Elder Rumia? Considering you appear to have retained more of our prior experiences and are therefore wiser? But then again that would make you sound old, so I don't know if you'd want that. Not to mention we'd probably need to shorten it, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't approve of being called Elder or E-chan."
//This is mostly just a demonstration of how we'd explain our thought process to big rumia, so don't approve it unless you actually want to go with these.
//...call her Rumia-senpai?
//(I'm joking of course. Hmm... this is tricky.)
Prime:
>Enter the darkness within the lake's depths and merge into it.
>Experimentally attempt to absorb a small fragment of the lake's natural darkness into our own. If we succeed, do we feel any less hungry for doing so?
Contingency:
>"As long as you're okay with that, sis, then I wouldn't mind referring to you as X or EX Rumia."
>"Actually should I ask Shadow to see if she has any input? Or would that be unnecessary?"
>"Also you really ate the tree? I can't imagine that tasting very good..."
//Any objections?
> "As far as anyone else is concerned, you're still the original Rumia, too. Your experiences and interactions since being sealed, however, make you different compared to me. I'm sure my case would be the same as taking the Rumia before she got sealed in the past, sending her to the future, then explaining everything that happened inbetween to her. You're not actually a different Rumia. You just... grew differently."
> "I still don't know who sealed us, but I doubt they'll do so again. I'm not going to go around eating humans as much with the new rules around. And you can keep the shadow. I'll redevelop my own."
> "Right. You're still me, you must miss being tall. You just keep your hair short, and I'll keep mine long. With your skills, you'll only hinder yourself more with longer hair anyways. Speaking of, going after animals like that is foolish, as I said earlier. You'll piss off other youkai and they're not worth eating anyways. There's better ways. I can tutor you on such, but I'm in the middle of watching something neat, and unlike you, I don't want to waste so much energy having multiple bodies around like this. I'll catch you after they finish, but before I go, what are we sticking to in terms of names? You don't seem like a prime or true to me. But I doubt you want to be called something like Little Me or Twomia."
>_
Prime:
>Enter the darkness within the lake's depths and merge into it.
>Experimentally attempt to absorb a small fragment of the lake's natural darkness into our own. If we succeed, do we feel any less hungry for doing so?
Contingency:
>"As long as you're okay with that, sis, then I wouldn't mind referring to you as X or EX Rumia."
>"Actually should I ask Shadow to see if she has any input? Or would that be unnecessary?"
>"Also you really ate the tree? I can't imagine that tasting very good..."
//Any objections?
// I feel ,though," Neo Rumia" and "Origins Rumia" are more indicative and meaningful and would not incur in others asking and pondering "What does the 'X' (or 'EX') stand for" ,but let's ask the "ultimate" preferral //> You head into the lake, going deeper, and starting to take a bit of the darkness in.
> "A Sound reasoning and so the naming-deal is done with...which would you feel more meaningful amongst "Neo Rumia" ,"X Rumia" or "EX Rumia" for yourself while "Origins Rumia" is myself?
> Also ask "Shadow" about this.
> " Mh...Do you have any memories of someone,or someones, who was most the most conflicting and tenacious against you while human-hunting ?"
> " And thanks,,I look forward to your tutoring whenever you become available again"
> ...by the way...would you also like to share,or to at least hint to, who you are watching and what are they doing so neatly?"
Prime:> Doesn't taste like much. Which is better than tasting bad...
>Take a bit more.
>Does it taste like anything, or is more just sating our hunger and nothing else?
>Do we feel any fish around us?
Contingency:
>"Fair point. I suppose just Rumia for me and EX or X Rumia for you, then? Or would you prefer that I had a formal prefix too?"
>"The male half or the female half? I'm guessing the female, considering her attitude?"
Contingency//Why material?
>"Perhaps something similar to Material because of my origins."
Prime:
>Create a blob of darkness
>Dismiss the darkness
>Does it feel like it came back to us or EX?
Contingency
>"Perhaps something similar to Material because of my origins."
Prime:> You absorb some darkness, and it does seem to brighten things just a tiny bit.
>Absorb some more ambient lake darkness.
>Does it seem to affect the surrounding environment at all?
//Why material?
Contingency:
>"Guess we could also go back to your suggestions, though Proto-Rumia sounds more like what we would call a precursor to even our pre-sealed selves, so Original Rumia would be better out of both even if it might not be entirely accurate given how the seal had changed both of our personalities compared to the true original."
Prime:> You're not in the deepest parts. Just deep enough to see things getting dark. It's not getting very bright anyways.
>Even if there's no way for it to be possible for light to reach this far down?
>Hunger level?
Contingency:
>"Guess it's settled then."
>"So you said you moved the animals I was tracking? Didn't think it was safe to move living things through my--er, our darkness after whatever happened to that butterfly I tested it on."
Prime:> You head deeper, finally getting to advanc- pitch black darkness.
>Go deeper for science.
>Is it pitch black at the bottom of the lake? If not go into the ground beneath.
>Absorb some darkness once we're in pitch blackness, note the resulting effects on the environment. (If forced below ground, keep a tendril poking through the surface to observe the effects, unless we can actually "see" when we're within an opaque object like the earth.)
Contingency:
>"I suppose I should find a willing test subject at some point then. Perhaps on an outsider so I won't get in trouble if I accidentally eat them during the attempt..."
Prime:> You continue... soon no longer feeling as hungry.
>Absorb some more until we see a noticeable change in the ambient darkness or we are sated, whichever comes first.
Contingency:
>"Well the original idea behind it was to see if I could take anybody with me whenever I travel a long distance using darkness. It would be convenient if I needed to take somebody somewhere quickly."
Contingency:
>"If the opportunity presents itself while I am indebted to the Hakurei miko."
>Give a shrug
>"Or they are interesting."
Prime:> A few seem really large. Almost person sized.
>How big are the fish down here, from what we can feel?
>Ponder if Reimu likes fish.
Contingency:
>"Really it's moreso a curiosity and a convenient skill to have. That and traveling through darkness is much faster than flying."
Prime:
>Use our darkness to ensnare a few decent sized ones, nothing huge or too small. Aim for fish around the size of those we had earlier.
>Take them into ourselves like when we transported the sticks and stuff earlier, but don't absorb/digest them.
>Travel back to the Hakurei Shrine via darkness and materialize on the path at the top of the stairs, releasing our captured fish into our arms.
Contingency:
>"Okay, sis. I guess this is where we part ways for now, then?"
>"Ah, before what was it you eat beside flesh?"> You snag a few fish quite easily, saving them for later.
>Give a depressed expression
>"It is shadows, isn't it."
Prime:> You've only now reached it.
>Is Reimu out? If not, knock politely on the shrine door.
Contingency:
>"Alright, catch you later then. Feel free to seek me out if you're up for some sisterly bonding or just want to catch up. Where are you going to be staying, anyway? Are you just going to wander Gensokyo?"
>Ponder.
>"Actually, what should we do if we needed to get into contact with one another for whatever reason?"
Prime:> "Ah. Took you long enough." Marisa speaks.
>"Hello everyone!"
>Wave as we approach.
>Make sure we don't drop the fish as we do this.
Contingency:
>"Hmm... Well I can try to see if I can sense it right now."
>Attempt to sense the bit of darkness EX took from us within her, without physically touching her.
Prime:
>Shrug
>"Fishing takes time."
>"Ehh, but I brought food."
>Turn Shingyoku
>"If you're departing then may we meet again under better circumstances."
Contingency:
>"That's a fair point."
>"Do you know a way to 'teleport' through the shadows?"
Prime:> "Hardly much time since I left and you already need to eat more, huh?" Marisa questions.
>"Plus it was kinda urgent. I didn't want to report here on an empty stomach, which would've been a bad idea."
Contingency:
>"I really only intend to operate this extra body in the long term anyway. Just in case something bad happens to the other one."
Prime:
>"I probably spent more energy than I expected trying to probe that thing covering the forest. It's kind of embarrassing now that I think about it."
>Can we sense the distinct fragment of darkness that is X's within us?
Contingency:
>"Well it was worth asking."
>Can we sense the location of our main body from here?
>Naz> You can tell something a bit off about your darkness. But not much, nor which part of it specifically.
Prime:
>"So... I guess you guys filled in Miss Reimu already?"
>Concentrate on that feeling of offness. Try to isolate it. (With our senses of course, don't physically try to isolate it with our darkness. Don't want to give sis the wrong impression.)
Contingency:
>Can we sense the safe feeling of offness in X's direction? Without having to physically touch her with our own darkness?
Prime:> "We have."
>"Do you want to cook or preserve this fish?"
>Heft the fish up for emphasis
>Do we know of the area of Gensokyo that outsiders tend to appear?
->If so send a blob of shadow in that direction
>Can we feel X's location?
Prime:> "I don't have any ways." Reimu admits.
>"So how do you normally preserve food?"
>What ways do we know to preserve meat?
Contingency:
>"Before I go, how do we find each other again?"
Prime:> You eat, but don't actually eat, the fish.
>"Well, time to experiment and see if my darkness can do so. I can always grab some fresh ones for us later if it doesn't work out."
>Absorb the fish into our "internal storage" but don't actually consume them.
>How big of a loss was it?
>Was the part that vanished the part that felt odd?
>Can we still feel shadow's presence?
Contingency:
>Send our global pain reaction to be expressed by this body alone rather than having Prime show any indication of being hurt.
>"Ow... Well, if you're still listening, then good luck with your own agenda, sis."
>Absorb some of the darkness within the ground immediately below our feet to compensate for the loss, do so only after Prime reports whether or not the feeling of oddness is still there.
Prime:
>Well hopefully we didn't outwardly express noticeable pain on our end.
>What direction do we sense Shadow in? The Mountain again?
>Can we communicate with her at a distance or only when she's attached to us.
>"Now to see if that works. Anyway, while I'm here do you have anything you want me to do, Miss Reimu?"
Contingency:
>Was our loss roughly equivalent to that which X took from us to get our attention? It might've been her completing the separation if so.
>Take some more then.
>Think about the consequences of stealing part of a person's shadow minus the extermination.> Yes. Though a bit in the Scarlet Devil Mansion too.
Contingency:
>Sink into the ground
>Eat some darkness
>("Shadow, what is happening and happened?")
>Do we think we could make a duplicate or minion out of someone's shadow?
>Is Contingency consuming very much energy?
>"OK then. If you need anything just ask."
>"Take care then."
>Head towards the human village
>Was the loss greater or less than what X took then?> Your shadow does not seem to respond.
Prime:
>Don't head to the human village just yet.
>"I'll pop back later if you need me. Or I can leave a tiny body here if you want if you need me earlier. Which would you prefer? If you don't want the pocket-sized body, then is there any time that will be convenient for you?"
>Is it our darkness that feels like it's being sealed or is it our connection to Shadow? Neither?
//We might need to go to the SDM or the Mountain depending on what's happening.
//Also we can probably get away with leaving a pocket/chibi Rumia behind considering we can sustain off of ambient darkness and because it won't have much upkeep because its small. Plus it would be temporary.
Contingency:
>Leave the ground once we've had our fill.
Prime:
>("...Shadow?")
>Feel worried for our shadow's safety.
>"Eh? Why do you ask?"
Contingency:
>Does the portion of our shadow in the SDM or the mountain seem larger (factoring in the alleged seal if we can, or based on knowledge prior to the seal otherwise.)? One might be X's given what she said about generating her own shadow.
>Can we tell if the mountain presence of the shadow was near Sanae's Shrine or not?
Prime:> Still no response.
>"No."
>Raise our pointer finger
>"Wait, there was Chen."
>" Why do you ask?"
Contingency:
>Pop underground
>Head to the nearest location of our shadow
>Consume darkness on our way
> Your shadow doesn't seem larger.>Larger, as in the context of: We sensed our shadow in two places, was one of those sensations "larger"/stronger/etc. than the other at the time? (Factoring in the alleged seal, or, if not possible, what we felt in the moment prior to the dulling.)
Prime:
>Raise an eyebrow
>"Cursed? Why do you think I'm cursed?"
>Larger, as in the context of: We sensed our shadow in two places, was one of those sensations "larger"/stronger/etc. than the other at the time? (Factoring in the alleged seal, or, if not possible, what we felt in the moment prior to the dulling.)> You can't tell the difference between the two.
----------
Prime:
>Frown.
>"How so?"
Contingency:
>Belay that order and head to Sanae's Shrine through the darkness within the ground instead.
>Pop up somewhere out of the way where we won't be seen -- ideally on or near the shrine path -- and calmly head for the front of the shrine.
>Make sure we're in our small form when we do so.
//We started feeling the feeling from the Mountain presence first. The problem likely originated from there.
Prime:
>Shingyoku already left, right?
>"I'm wondering that too..."
Contingency:
>"Huh. I had a feeling one of the sensations might've been your piece of Shadow. Anyway, I'm well aware of the potential risks: If something bad happened to this body that it couldn't escape from, then I'll just dissolve it."
>"Also she's my shadow, so it's only fair that I come to her aid if she's in trouble. If you don't think I can handle it on my own, then at least let me help you, sis. She still technically belongs to both of us at the moment, after all."
Prime:> Yes, he had.
>"Is that so?"
>Frown
>"Cheat technique?"
>Wait, where is our ribbon
->Get the ribbon and examine it
Prime:
>"Oh, her."
>Give a small shake of our head
>"No, not really. She's been exploring Gensokyo on her own."
Prime:> "Uh huh..."
>Blink.
>"Wait, you know about my Shadow? Well, since you asked, yes and no... She's my shadow, and she listens to me, but she's also sorta a separate entity. I've been letting her 'stretch her legs' and reacquaint herself with Gensokyo as long as she behaves. Something is happening with her right now, though. Not sure what, but I'm having another body investigate as we speak."
Contingency:
>"Thank you, sis. Though we can still go together if you want."
Prime:
>"...so was that curse thing you were sensing about my shadow, or was it something else about me that I'm not aware of?"
Contingency:
>"Well... I don't know if you're still here, listening, but the offer's still open if you change your mind."
>Continue heading towards our shadow, but don't pop up next to her, instead, choose somewhere a fair distance away, out of sight from anyone who might be at our shadow's location, and assess the situation.
>If our shadow is in or near Sanae's shrine for whatever reason, pop up somewhere out of the way where we won't be seen -- ideally on or near the shrine path -- and calmly head for the front of the shrine.
>Make sure we're in our small form when we do so in either case.
Prime:> "Probably the former."
>"I'm telling the truth."
>beat
Contingency:>Don't do this.
>Scream in panic, "I challenge you to a spellcard duel!"
Contingency:>Only do so if previously mentioned conditions (Unable to get rid of effect or Prime sensation loss at 25% or more) are satisfied.
>Dissolve this body
//Retreating via the Earth from a Earth goddess is a bad idea
Contingency:
>We don't need senses to act!
>Retreat into the ground (by remembering, based on our orientation, where down was, counting backwards from the time it takes us to emerge. Add an extra second or two for good measure.)
>If our senses do not return, travel, based on our orientation prior to sensory failure, in the direction we remember Sanae's shrine is from our location at top speed.
>If we're already too close to said shrine to get a reasonable distance away, head for where we remember the rough halfway point up the mountain is.
Prime:
>If Contingency is unable to get out of the effect, or once our senses are dulled by around 25%, dissolve Contingency to prevent further contamination.
>Regardless of above:
>>Partition a chibi body off our ourselves inside the ground below our feet and send it off in the direction of youkai mountain.
>>Absorb some of the darkness below our feet to replenish the loss.
Chibi:
>Travel towards Youkai Mountain through the below-ground darkness at top speed.
>Absorb darkness as we travel to both pay for our upkeep and to gain enough mass to shift into small form.
>Emerge, in small form, in front of Sanae's shrine.
>>If that is too close to be a reasonable distance away, then emerge twice as far as where Contingency was.
Contingency:
>Scream in panic, "I challenge you to a spellcard duel!"
>Don't do this.
//seems like too panicky of a reaction. Plus they aren't even playing by the rules right now anyway.
Contingency:
>Dissolve this body
//Retreating via the Earth from a Earth goddess is a bad idea
>Only do so if previously mentioned conditions (Unable to get rid of effect or Prime sensation loss at 25% or more) are satisfied.> You submerge and try to head away from the area, but still can't feel anything.
//Getting rid of the body without making any attempt to shake off the effect could be interpreted as cowardice by X, since it's still possible she may be watching our efforts.
Prime:>Don't curse shadow's name aloud. We don't even know if it's her fault.
>"Damn you shadow!"
//Well fuk.
Prime:
>Absorb a bunch of fresh darkness from the ground beneath our feet to dilute the contamination.
>Imagine our new sister giving us a smug 'I told you so' look. Use that as motivation to resist this! We're not going to give her that satisfaction so easily!
>"White serpents on Youkai Mountain. Did something to other body and shadow."
Prime:
>"Damn you shadow!"
>While absorbing darkness make a network of roots to increase the amount of darkness we can absorb
//I just know that Suwanko cursed Shadow and through Shadow us
>Don't curse shadow's name aloud. We don't even know if it's her fault.> You absorb more darkness, though are still unable to tell if it does anything.
>Do we have any other bodies active?
>Reflexively check for the presence of a burning ribbon.
>>Exhale in relief if we find none.
>Are Reimu and/or Marisa here?
>Give a weak smile
>"Hey."
>Take a breath and let go of what remains of our pride and ego
>Turn our head to we aren't making direct eye contact
>"You were right."
>Take a breath then turn towards them
>"Thanks, sis."
//My ego and pride got shredded :(
//Wasn't going to speak until my actions were parsed but okay then...> You do not.
>"...I guess this is the part where you say 'I told you so'?"
>Is Shadow present and accounted for?
>Blink and turn to our sister.
>"Wait. You took Miss Sanae hostage? Sis, I respect you, but may I ask why that was necessary? She did nothing but help us the last time we met her."
>lick our lips> "Uh, sorry...the Sanae thing is my fault. I'm working on making it right." You hear your shadow.
>"Wha . . .What did. . ."
>Take a gulp of air
> "I do?"
>Was shadow speaking aloud or in our head?> The latter
>("Care to tell me exactly what happened?")
>("...")
>("...I'm sorry as well, by the way. I tried to come to your aid, but I failed...")
>Smile slightly.
>"You know I'm a bit jealous hearing that, but I'm just going to use that as motivation to improve. Hopefully in time I can be your equal, sis. Or at the very least a close second."
>"...So exactly what happened here? I'm asking my shadow for her side of the story, but I'd like to hear things from your perspective as well. How long was I out by the way? For that matter, how did I get here? My last body was at the Hakurei Shrine when I lost awareness."
>Try to imagine what kind of danmaku Sis used> "I'd rather not. It wasn't my proudest moment. And don't worry about it." Your shadow responds.
>("Hmm... I won't pry this time. But please try to keep yourself out of trouble in the future. If something like this happens again, we may need to have a serious discussion regarding your privileges...")
>("Also, you're grounded.")
>"Ah. I assume you introduced yourself to Miss Reimu, then? Or did you just drag me through the ground in front of them?"
>Look to the women.
>"Also for whatever my shadow did, I sincerely apologize. She has been warned."
>Naz> Your shadow doesn't respond.
>"It's the best I can offer given the circumstances, unfortunately. I honestly didn't even know anything was going on until I felt my shadow getting attacked."
>Glance at X.
>"So Miss Sanae is okay, right?"
>"Are you Sanae's family?"> "Yeah, she's fine.
>("Are you hurt at all, by the way? Sorry, I probably should've asked that first...")> "I'm fine." Your shadow speaks up.
>"Its nice to meet you then, though shame it wasn't under better circumstances."
>"I'm Rumia, though you probably already knew that from my twin."> "Uh, shadow? Wait, that was only your shadow most of the time?" Sanae blinks.
>"Hi, Miss Sanae. Sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances. Are you okay? Also as I said to your family, I'm sorry for whatever my shadow did."
>Give Sanae a nod
>"Whoever sealed us would have a conniption over their part in this," Say to X.
>"Yeah, even though she's connected to me, my shadow is a separate person, think of it kinda like symbiosis in a way. I, personally, haven't seen you since you sent me off to Miss Reimu's shrine. Thank you so much for that, by the way."
>Speaking of which, recreate Contingency out of sight within the ground beneath us. Absorb darkness from the ground to refill any hunger this consumes.
Contingency:
>Head towards the Hakurei Shrine.
>Don't recreate Contingency> "I'd like to see them try." X Rumia smirks a bit. I'm getting a surprise ready for them, in case they ever try again.
>Instead eat the darkness surrounding us
>Have our darkness reach underground and eat the darkness there
//We get bad fuel consumption with another body.
//We might try shadow spikes that continously feed
>"I was actually considering dropping by to say hi before this whole fiasco happened..."
>"So how have you been?"
>Use the darkness we ate to recreate Contingency below us.
Contingency:
>Head to the Hakurei Shrine.
//We were fine with two bodies. Besides, always helps to have a fallback body in case something goes horribly wrong.
>Does Contingency use a lot of energy in shadow form?> It does seem to. Even being sealed didn't get hungry as quickly as you have been getting recently.
>"Ah yeah, if you're talking about the darkness covering the Hakurei Shrine earlier today then sis pretty much explained it. "
>"W-Wait, what?! Almost dying!?"
Contingency:
>Head to the Hakurei Shrine path and emerge at the top of the steps.
>Look around.
>"If you are talking about the darkness covering the other shrine. . ."> "Yeah. Sanae almost died." Suwako speaks, unhappily.
>"I was also asleep for most of it."
Contingency:
>Consume darkness while we're going to the shrine.
> "I'd rather not. It wasn't my proudest moment. And don't worry about it." Your shadow responds.
> "You already know a bit of feeling darkness. You'll get back to it." X Rumia says. "And I brought you. Let's just say, your shadow's done worse than me just holding Sanae for the opportunity to duel them."
> It appears to be nighttime...
> You'd guess she used the spellcards you know already...
>_
Prime:
>"I'm sending a portion of my mass back to the Hakurei Shrine. Since I assume when sis moved me here I was still directly in front of Miss Reimu and Miss Marisa so I should probably let at least one of them know I'm okay, as well as apologizing for effectively ditching them."
>"Also I don't know why she thought I was moving on from this, I can multitask..."
>Pout a bit, before giving Sanae a concerned look.
>"Anyway, are you okay? I didn't realize that whatever happened was that serious..."
>("I stand by what I said earlier in that I wasn't going to pry for details, by the way. However, that is my decision. I cannot control whether or not they end up disclosing what happened on their on volition. Please understand.")
>("Anyway you're still not in trouble, regardless of what happens.")
Contingency:
>Head down the shrine path.
>Knock politely on the door if we don't see either of them on the way.
> ( If you were here...did you sense a bit of the same painful sensation from here in the direction of the Mansion as well ,and,more importantly is it all "cured" now?)>Don't say this.
Prime:
>"I'm sending a portion of my mass back to the Hakurei Shrine. Since I assume when sis moved me here I was still directly in front of Miss Reimu and Miss Marisa so I should probably let at least one of them know I'm okay, as well as apologizing for effectively ditching them."
>"Also I don't know why she thought I was moving on from this, I can multitask..."
>Pout a bit, before giving Sanae a concerned look.
>"Anyway, are you okay? I didn't realize that whatever happened was that serious..."
>("I stand by what I said earlier in that I wasn't going to pry for details, by the way. However, that is my decision. I cannot control whether or not they end up disclosing what happened on their on volition. Please understand.")
>("Anyway you're still not in trouble, regardless of what happens.")
Contingency:
>Head down the shrine path.
>Knock politely on the door if we don't see either of them on the way.
>Naz
> ( If you were here...did you sense a bit of the same painful sensation from here in the direction of the Mansion as well ,and,more importantly is it all "cured" now?)
> Could we re-locate or remember exactly where that "bit of the same painful sensation" had been "echoing" from around the Mansion ?
> Is X Rumia heading for the Hakurei Shrine,or already arrived at,as well or instead somewhere else?Can we "familiarize"with each other "shadow-travel corridors or courses or pathways"?
// X Rumia reassured she has already taking care of that but virtuous caution would not hurt,on the contrary... //
> Bow head and shoulders in a humble display of forgiveness and sigh with genuine remorse.
>Don't say this.> "Whatever happens, happens." You imagine your shadow shrugs.
// We did not recieve any information about what direction the pain came from.
Prime:
>Wince.
>"Whatever my shadow did really soured their opinion of me, didn't it...? Anyway, seriously, are you okay? You told me you almost died!"
>Did pre-seal self have any plans for dealing with potential attacks from angry gods?
Contingency:
>Walk around the shrine looking for one or both of them. Do not enter the interior.
>Have we ever had a first meeting like this where we were hated for something we didn't do or didn't know we did?> You don't recall. Ah, there were a couple of people believing you made the scarlet mist incident with your darkness. Not many though, which feels a bit like an insult...
Prime:> "I did almost die, but it was because of an unintended accident." Sanae explains.
>"I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't giving this all of my attention. Being a sorta-hivemind is kinda a new thing for me... As for the other thing I genuinely didn't know it was a life-or-death matter until you said so. Sis stopped Miss Suwako from saying something earlier, plus Shadow would prefer not to talk about what happened so I honestly don't know all the details. But yeah, sorry if I seemed disrespectful in anyway."
Contingency:
>Wait patiently on the shrine porch.
>"Uh, before any more surprises, I thought it important Marisa and Reimu knew I was ok.">Proposing a rephrase to:
>"I'm not sure how Sis brought me here."
Prime:
>"...So you mean my Shadow didn't hurt you, or...?"
>"Oh, and, hi... um... Kogasa, right?"
>"Kogasa!?"
>"Uh, before any more surprises, I thought it important Marisa and Reimu knew I was ok."
>"I'm not sure how Sis brought me here."
>Proposing a rephrase to:> "Not intentionally. I don't think they'll... not want anything to do with you. But if they were deciding to base their first impressions of you on how you took this, I'd say uh... You did just as badly as was possible... No offense." Sanae explains.
>"Anyway, the reason I sent some of me out was to let Miss Reimu and Miss Marisa know I was okay. I tried to tell them that I was being attacked by those white serpent things before I passed out. I don't know how my sister brought me here, and she tends to be efficient and direct from what I've seen. So if she just yanked me through the ground with no explanation and my message actually got passed on, I have no idea how they would've reacted... I just didn't want to make things more complicated by having them potentially show up midway through and interrupt us. But I guess that's kinda moot now since it looks like your goddesses no longer want anything to do with me..."
>>Parse if Phil doesn't object.
>Wince
>"Ouch, that bad."
>What do we remember about how to respect gods?
Prime:> "I know it was just your shadow, at least." Kogasa replies.
>"Guess I really screwed this up, then..."
>Fidget.
>"...If you want me to leave, I won't blame you. It was kind of indirectly my fault this whole mess started to begin with, and it seems that everything I'm doing is just doing more damage... Plus you did almost die from whatever my shadow was up to, so I can't imagine you having the highest opinion of me right now... Only if you want me to leave, though... I don't wish to give off any more wrong impressions, so the decision is yours..."
Prime:> Sanae sighs. "I guess I won't question what clearing your mind was further... I'm tired from this day anyways."
>Listen to the conversation unfold as we await a yes or no regarding whether or not Sanae wants us to leave.
Contingency:
>Any sign of either of them yet? Or otherwise interesting activity?
Prime:
>"Er... Goodbye, then? Thanks again for the help the other day, Miss Sanae. And again, I'm sorry for what happened."
Prime:> "Oh. Right. Sorry for all of this. Goodnight, and sleep well." Sanae rubs her eyes.
>Scratch awardly at of our head
>Glance between the two of them
Contingency:
>Float up
>Do we see anyone in the distance?
Prime:
>Hesitate for a few moments before slowly sinking into the ground.
>If we are not interrupted during the process, head to near where Contingency sees the fire, emerge far enough away that anybody near the fire won't notice us.
>Note what we see.
Contingency:
>Once Prime is in position go back to waiting at the porch.
Prime:> You wait a bit... before heading into the ground, and to the Shrine.
>Also look for their shadows
>Ruukoto lookalike?
//I'm betting Mima> You can't hear if they're saying anything from here.
>Watch
>Are we getting a bad feeling?
Contingency:
>Any sign of Reimu/Marisa yet?
>Examine the scene in front of us> No.
->Does it look like a BBQ or a cult meeting?
Prime:>In a non-threatening manner of course.
>No BBQ
>And they don't look like a cult
->No solemn choir or matching
>Then all green haired people we've met have been nice
>Approach the duo
> You wait a bit... before heading into the ground, and to the Shrine.
> You emerge far but still in view of the fire from your perspective.
> The fire seems to be from a torch, held by a fairy in a strange getup. Alongside some other people with the fairy is one you recall: that Ruukoto look-alike.
>_
Prime:
>No BBQ
>And they don't look like a cult
->No solemn choir or matching
>Then all green haired people we've met have been nice
>Approach the duo
>In a non-threatening manner of course.
Prime:
>No BBQ
>And they don't look like a cult
->No solemn choir or matching
>Then all green haired people we've met have been nice
>Approach the duo
>In a non-threatening manner of course.
> You approach the two non-threateningly, while also trying to steer your attention away from the torch. Something else to think of...
//(This has True
//
//(Well this is also for the present but especially for the eventually higher-requirement future about " Rumia1+1+1 ,in the generally Advice+Apply basis) -> the only ones visible and in-range really seem the ones of greater note BUT MAYBE truthfully there are possible ones of some note or increasing note : nearly-neighbour/hid-away/hard-spot/home-comer/visitor/observer/interest ;
1st Appearance by Clownpiece with "her own(Lampad) Torch of Madness in both Full-and-Restricted Night-Display' "...2nd by Mima ,who is on the "look-out list" by Shingyoku(s) and likely by the Sendai/Previous Hakurei Miko a bit too ...Other Greater Fairy/ies("visitors/hid-away/observer"?),in addition to "Clownpy",such At Least 1 or 1 Pair between Luna,Star and Sunny -"The 3 ("Mischievous") Fairies of Light ( and of " The Nearly-Neighbouring Hid-Away !")")...Aunn ("home-comer/observer"?)...? Shinmyonmaru ( "Visitor/hard-spot"?)...Suika("visitor/observer/interest"?)...? Aya,more rarely Hatate or another Crow Information-Gatherer Tengu ("hid-away/visitor/hard-spot/interest?")"...?//
> For First-Time Chance and Effect,for Safety and Valor and Association :No Focus on the Torch, Close Interaction or Alike Closer Ones... a Torch-Bearer Fairy , and not a fire one, especially in "Fairy and Extra" group , at night , within the Hakurei Shrine's bounds....?
> Also approach gradually AND recognisably by staying in-view by the Torch-Light,and possibly the Moon-Light,demarcation...
> ...is it just this new duo all along or are there a few other people( so a grouplet with the Torch-Bearing Fairy and the "Ruukoto-look-alike" being the Closest&Most-In-Range)at the beginning or is the number is reducing somehow ...?
>Open your mouth to retort that they have answers and we've just slept too long.
>Close it, it's been a long day no reason to potentially make it worse.
>Give a Shrug
>"I was merely curious as to what was occurring."
->"It doesn't appear to be a cult meeting."
>"I'm not hungry. I merely saw the light and was curious about what was going on."> "A cult. Hah, we're what a cult would look up to."
>The ruukoto lookalike is the ghost lady from earlier, right? Or is it literally a carbon copy of Ruukoto?
>Head tilt.
>"So you're like some kind of Super Cult? Wouldn't you have more members if that's the case?"
>Gesture to the one who said we don't know about it.
>"And she has a fair point. Can't really join a cult or super cult if I don't know what they're all about. Again, was more curious about what was happening here, anyway."
>If the lookalike is the ghost lady:
>>Turn to her, "Hello again, by the way. I do believe we briefly met before? Sorry for the mistaken identity and misunderstanding earlier."
>Is shadow still with either of our bodies?
>mumble, "Religion? No. Super Cult? Is that even a thing?"> "No no. We mean that if a cult is a group praising something, we'd be the ones they praise."
>Have our darkness spread underground towards the group members except the ghost lady> You spread your darkness through the ground and grab onto each of the group on cue.
>"Well, if you are certain you want me to."
>Have our darkness grab their shadows, except the ghost lady's, when we say certain
>Physical description of 'miss try again'?
>Have our darkness holding the shadow of the one that told us to try again form a copy of our head and shoulders and have it emerge from said person's shadow, don't make it a separate body but instead keep it connected to us by a tendril.
>If additional mass is needed, absorb darkness from below ground. Not from the shadows directly.
>Once our secondary head is complete, have it speak:
>>"Is this more to your liking?"
>Wait for approval from another player.
>Physical description of 'miss try again'?
>Have our darkness holding the shadow of the one that told us to try again form a copy of our head and shoulders and have it emerge from said person's shadow, don't make it a separate body but instead keep it connected to us by a tendril.
>If additional mass is needed, absorb darkness from below ground. Not from the shadows directly.
>Once our secondary head is complete, have it speak:
>>"Is this more to your liking?"
>Wait for approval from another player.
>Physical description of 'miss try again'?
>Have our darkness holding the shadow of the one that told us to try again form a copy of our head and shoulders and have it emerge from said person's shadow, don't make it a separate body but instead keep it connected to us by a tendril.
>If additional mass is needed, absorb darkness from below ground. Not from the shadows directly.
>Once our secondary head is complete, have it speak:
>>"Is this more to your liking?"
>Wait for approval from another player.
>Give the torch bearer a sad look
>"Ouch. There goes the mood setter."
>"Oh well, on with performance."
>Do following with player approval
->Have black wolves with red eyes crawl of our darkness near people's shadows but keep the wolves connected to us, have most wolves as living shadows with a few physical ones
->Have our darkness flow through the torch bearer's body and into her mouth
-->Using the fairy's voice say from her mouth, "Is this to your liking?"
--->Eat darkness as needed to fuel the show
//I don't know why I try to have Rumia come off as a performer.
// I humbly do not have anything to constructively object/add/modify to those inputs //> Miss "Try again" is definitely, from your observations, not, not Ruukoto, the ghost person. Maybe you aren't very hungry, but you aren't too eager to try and eat her yet.
> Still keep every and each possible visuals off The Torch as a precaution.
> Miss "Try again" is definitely, from your observations, not, not Ruukoto, the ghost person. Maybe you aren't very hungry, but you aren't too eager to try and eat her yet.>This only makes things more confusing as all this is telling us is that it's one of the people who isn't the fairy or the ghost person, rather than a description of what they look like.
>This only makes things more confusing as all this is telling us is that it's one of the people who isn't the fairy or the ghost person, rather than a description of what they look like.> You look harder, trying to get a better description.
>Description of the appearance of everyone here.
>Look at the fairy.
>"I mean I'm willing to try since fairies respawn and all, but only if you consent to it. I'd rather not be needlessly cruel or garner a bad reputation after all."
>"I could eat a few of the trees instead if you'd all rather have me devour something... I could also bring a bit of Misty Lake here if you're interested."
Contingency:
>If there is no sign of Reimu or Marisa, sink into the ground and use our top speed to head to our fishing location under Misty Lake.
>Look at the fairy.//Did these go through?
>"I mean I'm willing to try since fairies respawn and all, but only if you consent to it. I'd rather not be needlessly cruel or garner a bad reputation after all."
>"I could eat a few of the trees instead if you'd all rather have me devour something... I could also bring a bit of Misty Lake here if you're interested."
//Did these go through?//Yes.
//Then, why, may I ask, did we not see the results of this? The physical description thing should've been based on what the character was currently seeing and therefore should not have necessitated "looking harder" and putting us into a hyper focused state.//There have been no punishments for any of the actions taken by the players in this encounter as of yet. I shouldn't have to reveal such, but if it's necessary to get rid of the paralyzing paranoia here, I can bite the bullet. I hope I don't have to start saying "This character will do this next" and lay out an entire map of reactions to the players before actions are even taken...
//If we keep getting actively punished for something as simple as asking for more information (There have been a few other instances of such throughout the "Hime" quest series so far), I'm going to take issue with this.
I hope I don't have to start saying "This character will do this next" and lay out an entire map of reactions to the players before actions are even taken...//Dude, you don't have to go to that extreme.
>"Wow, tough crowd.">Don't do this.
>"OK, for my next trick I'll make this fairy dissappear."
>Have our darkness pour out of the fairy's skin until she is covered
->Send her to the shadow realm! (Leave that blasted torch behind though)
>Create a hand with eyes in the shadow realm
>"Any place in particular you want the fairy let out?"
>"Wow, tough crowd."> You have your darkness emerge from the fairy, covering her and "eating" her. Though not actually eating her. You're sure she isn't very appetizing.
>"OK, for my next trick I'll make this fairy dissappear."
>Have our darkness pour out of the fairy's skin until she is covered
->Send her to the shadow realm! (Leave that blasted torch behind though)
>Create a hand with eyes in the shadow realm
>"Any place in particular you want the fairy let out?"
//Fine. You're the QM. Let's just forget this and move on.> "Of course it does." The ghost replies. "That fairy's torch messes with you. Especially if you look straight at it, which you at least seemed to avoid."
Prime:
>"Huh, my mind feels clearer for some reason."
Contingency:
>Head back to the shrine. Through the ground as darkness of course.
Shadow Realm:
>Can we see our fish floating in here with the fairy?
>Attempt to project our voice into this space:
>>"Er... Testing? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"
Prime:
>"Huh. So what was actually going on here, then? Was that fairy trying to get you guys to do something?"
>"Oh, and she's not dead, by the way. Talking to her now as we speak actually."
Shadow Realm:
>"No. If I actually ate you, you would be dead, or on your way to respawning in your case. Your body would be converted into more darkness to add to my mass."
>"This is more like an internal storage. You're actually the first person I've tried taking into this place, so I'd like to ask you a few questions. Namely if it hurts at all. I kinda want to use this to transport people eventually, so I'd want to make sure it's safe."
>"Also sorry for bringing you in without your consent. That torch of yours was kinda messing with my head for a bit..."
Shadow Realm:> "No, she's just used to that."
>"I'm actually trying different names for this place. I'm going with the Shadow Realm for now."
>"Do you feel cold, hot, or any weird sensations?"
//Oh, a meeting of some of the most powerful people in Gensokyo. Yukari, Hecati, Mima. . . Sis where are you?//Actually pretty sure the blonde might be Junko. Mima is guaranteed while Hecatia is likely though.
Prime:
>"Not sure exactly where it is, but I assume it's within me somewhere. It's some kind of pocket storage inside of my darkness, and I'm projecting my voice into it to speak with her. I'm calling it my 'Shadow Realm' for now until I can think of something better."
Shadow Realm:
>Do the fish appear to have rotted at all since however long ago they've been in here?
>"Okay, that's good to hear. Anything else that can't be attributed to discomfort from being in the dark?"
>"Oh, and where are my manners, my name is Rumia. What's yours?"
Prime:> "So you took her to a storage of yours..." The ghost recaps.
>"I. . .actually don't know where where she is is."
>"It's dark, it serves as a good storage, and I'm calling it the Shadow Realm for now."
Shadow Realm:
>Beat
>"The ghost lady told me the same thing."
>Say in a contemplating voice, "It does something to the mind."
>"Oh, your torch is back here. Not here, Gensokyo."
//Oh, a meeting of some of the most powerful people in Gensokyo. Yukari, Hecati, Mima. . . Sis where are you?
Prime:
>Raise an eyebrow in interest.
>"The best fairy in Gensokyo, eh? Seems like an interesting title. Though the best at what? Overall? Strength? Wit?"
>"Oh, and I should probably introduce myself. My name is Rumia."
Shadow Realm:
>Do we feel any discomfort from actually having things in here?
>Make our head appear on our eldritch-eye-hand-thingy.
>Smile
>"Well it's nice to meet you. Hmm... Yeah, it is a bit bland in here, but then again it's not really meant as a long term storage for people. Though I wonder..."
>Concentrate.
>Attempt to form a small chair out of the darkness here.
>Do we know any fairies besides Cirno who would want that title?> You've only met Cirno, Daiyousei, and Clownpiece, so that's about all you'd guess would want the title.
Shadow Realm:
>Try to put a sphere if darkness with enough thickness to swim around the fish
Prime:
>"It's nice to meet all of you."
>"Oh, Mima, before you go. I'm not sure if you know this or not, but some two-in-one youkai known as Shingyoku apparently detected a powerful spirit near the Hakurei Shrine. I'm not sure if it's you, but I thought I should give you a heads up, since they did try to convince Miss Reimu to deal with said spirit earlier."
>Turn to Hecatia, " 'My Clownpiece'? "
Shadow Realm:
>"Huh, so this place does have gravity. Good to know."
>"Well if you want to sit down, there's a chair now I guess. ...Also I'm kinda surprised those fish are alive. I thought they died when I plucked them from the lake... Do you want one when I send you back? Evidently, It'll be fresh."
//I am curious what those fish will turn into the longer they stay in the Shadow Realm.> "Yeah yeah, I'm watching out for them. Reimu doesn't scare me though."
//We could leave one out for preservation
Shadow Realm:>Don't do this yet.
>"Oh, heh heh. I almost missed that."
>"Sure."
>Pull Clownpiece out of the shadow realm and out next to her torch
Prime:
>"They apparently want to test me or wanted to."
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh, heh heh. I almost missed that."
>"Sure."
>Pull Clownpiece out of the shadow realm and out next to her torch
>Pull one of the fish out of the tank and leave it on the floor
Prime:> "Well they aren't going on a spree to exterminate everyone they can at least."
>"Huh, thankfully the priest seems to be the more reasonable of the two based on what I've seen of them. My concerns actually lie with the female half, she seems rather impulsive and violent. Though I'll keep your advice in mind."
>"Though I would caution against being sealed if you can help it. From my personal experience, it's a rather unpleasant feeling, having most of your mind and power locked away."
>Shudder in revulsion.
>Turn to Hecatia
>"A follower? Does that make you a goddess, then, or at least somebody very powerful?"
>"Oh, and also I'm going to try bringing Clownpiece back now."
>Have some of our darkness shift over to our side and expand to roughly the size of a door.
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh, sure."
>Form a roughly door-sized mass near clownpiece the same size as the other mass outside of the realm.
>Attempt to connect it to the other "door"
>"Try leaving through that. I want to see if I can make a door here. If it doesn't work, then I'm just going to dump you out, okay?"
>Don't do this yet.
//I want to see if we can make a door first.
Prime:
>"Hmm, in that case."
>Bow respectfully.
>"Apologies for not greeting you with proper respect, as if you are a goddess I had both no idea of knowing and am admittedly not well versed in the etiquette of interacting with deities. Well, there's also that torch to consider, but still."
>Is Shadow still with us?
>"Also she'll be out in a moment, was trying to see if I could make a door to my Shadow Realm that she could just walk through and kinda forgot that not everyone can see in the dark... Ehe..."
>>We're not blushing. We're not.
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh... You can't actually see in here, can you? Huh, guess I'm already taking the ability to actually see in the dark for granted, even though I only just got it back recently. Well, guess that's one flaw about this place."
>"Anyway, it's on your..." (Verbally direct her to the door, and get rid of the chair before she trips over it.)
Contingency:
>Anyone there yet?
Shadow Realm> You bow.
>Form an arm
>"Here let me help."
>Have the arm tug the arm of Clownpiece's shirt towards the door
Prime:
>("Shadow, are you noticing these fluctuations?")
>Keep an eye on our darkness levels, replenish with darkness from below if it starts decreasing below the current average.
>"Hmm, so a door isn't feasible, oh well."
>Turn the door mass sideways and lift it off the ground.
Shadow Realm:
>"Aw, doesn't look like the door worked, alright, brace yourself, I'm going to drop you through the floor."
>Expel Clownpiece out of our realm through the floor, using the door mass in the clearing as the exit point.
>Naz> "They might be me. I'm doing some work with others." Your shadow responds.
Prime:
>("Shadow, are you noticing these fluctuations?")
>Keep an eye on our darkness levels, replenish with darkness from below if it starts decreasing below the current average.
>"Hmm, so a door isn't feasible, oh well."
>Turn the door mass sideways and lift it off the ground.
Shadow Realm:
>"Aw, doesn't look like the door worked, alright, brace yourself, I'm going to drop you through the floor."
>Expel Clownpiece out of our realm through the floor, using the door mass in the clearing as the exit point.
Prime:
> Try to actually have a Shadow Arm pass through a Shadow Fold within the Shadow Realm and connected to the Outer Shadow Door in Gensokyo...
.>... and, if success, give a thumbs-up and the a wave to the group as if complimenting the. safe return of Clownpiece
> " Others? Are you maybe trying a some sort of Darkness Regulatiing or Building. up of a Darkness-Based,or Shadow -Compatible, group-effort or team-project with. someonenes. we. know. or. someone's. new?? "
Prime:
>("Alright. Do be careful, though.")
>Turn to Clownpiece
>"How did it feel like leaving, by the way?"
Prime:> "A different project with different people, and the work's done anyway." Your shadow responds. "By the way, you've been with a Daiyousei recently, right?"
>"Welcome back to the world of light."
Prime:> "I didn't. I overheard the guard fairies at the vampire manor say something about overhearing someone else say your Daiyousei said the non-fairies in the manor need to follow a fairy as a leader. I doubt that actually happened, but the guard fairies basically just told the main gate guard she needs to fall in line...Well, less 'told' and more 'timidly and politely asked', but you get the idea."
>("I have. She seemed pretty nice. The woman she was with, Mokou I think it was, was interesting as well.")
>("If you've revealed yourself to them, tell them I said hi. If not then try not to let anything bad happen to them while you go about your business.")
>Retract arm and reabsorb the door mass.
>"Might be your eyes readjusting to the light, then."
>Tilt head.
>"So I heard from your friends here that you plan on becoming the best fairy in Gensokyo?"
Shadow Realm:
>Get rid of all darkness-made constructs except what's needed for the aquarium. This includes our eyehand thing.
Contingency:
>Any change?
Prime:> "Cirno? Oh, someone must've told her about this too I bet. I didn't even think of that." Clownpiece replies.
>"I'm guessing Cirno challenged you."
Prime:> "I don't know. I guess they probably just mean best in general."
>"I'm a bit curious. Exactly what kind of best are you aiming for? Overall? Sheer power? Wit?"
Prime:> Not going anywhere, no.
>Are we walking?
>("That sounds like it was quite the sight. Still, there is usually a kernel of truth to rumours.")
>What do we know about the Fairies of Light and their goals.
> Not going anywhere, no.
> You aren't sure if there are fairies with light abilities, but they probably exist.
>_
Prime:> "They didn't mention anything about a contest that i heard." Your shadow replies.
> " What are the standards to win This contest? Particular Achievements to be reached?"
> ("Does the mention of Daiyousei imply any involvement in a certain "Fairy Contest?")
> "They didn't mention anything about a contest that i heard." Your shadow replies.
> "Hm? I guess just be the best fairy? Maybe beat all of the others?" Clownpiece considers.
>_
> ("But you did met Daiyousei ,or someone close to her,did you not?")
> Is there a precise time and place where it is going to take place or is it based on encounters until there is a general acknowledegment ?
>"Please, lead the way."> "I just overheard some guard fairies at the mansion talking about it. Sounded like none of them had heard it directly from her, either." Your shadow responds.
>Follow Clownpiece
> "I just overheard some guard fairies at the mansion talking about it. Sounded like none of them had heard it directly from her, either." Your shadow responds.
> "I don't know. And lead the way? Where? Are you choosing me as your fairy to follow?" Clownpiece questions.
> "I think it's fine for her to join us." Hecatia adds.
>_
>Nod
>"Yes. I want to root for you during your challenges to prove your the best fairy."
// Feel free to point out any disagreements and countermand //
Prime :
> ( "Well,if you are interested, I am choosing a ' fairy to follow ' right now ,who is already alongside a few others, and I could mediate for you to them...")
> " Thanks for your consideration,and yes,I would like that if you let me "
Prime:> "I'm good for now, thanks. The offer is appreciated, though." Your shadow responds.
>Shrug.
>"What can I say, you interest me."
Contingency:
>Contact?
> "I'm good for now, thanks. The offer is appreciated, though." Your shadow responds.
> "Huh. Alright then. Good choice." Clownpiece smiles. "No switching sides midway or anything either!"
> Nothing. You can see Mima passing by here in the distance, but otherwise, there's nothing happening at the shrine.
>_
Prime:
>Smile as well.
>"Of course. It would be poor form if I did that anyway."
>"So, where do we start?"
Contingency:
>Wave at Mima.
// We should tell them about "Shadow" and " X Rumia" as to no fall unto misunderstandings,right?//
Prime:
> (Are you going to watch over that new project alongside with your new friends for a while,then?)
//Oh yeah, I actually did want to bring up X at least. Thx for reminding me.> "No, that project's done. I'm off to do other things now." Your shadow replies.
Prime:
>In addition to previous actions:
>>"Oh, by the way, I think you should know something if I'm going to be helping you out."
Prime:> "A... twin? Okay..."
>"I have a twin sister. I don't know if she'll be interested in the fairy contest, but just in case she is I thought it would be a good idea to let you know, just so that you don't mistake her for me if we bump into her. She usually looks like me, but more mature and with long hair."
>"Just wanted to give you a heads up."
Contingency:
>"I owe a debt to Miss Reimu that I intend to pay off, plus there was a bit of an incident earlier where as far as I know I abruptly vanished in front of her, so I thought it would be best to wait here in case she comes back. ...Or comes out if she's inside sleeping."
>"My nature lets me be in two places at once anyway, so it's not like I'm wasting time doing this while my primary body does other things."
>"Plus it's not like I actually have any place to go, either."
Prime:
>"Well if you want to be technical she's more like a separate personality that became her own entity but I consider her a sister regardless."
>Turn to Hecatia.
>"But yeah, hopefully she won't."
Contingency:
>"So if you don't mind me asking... What's your relation to Miss Reimu? I remember you were trying to help her and wake her up earlier, so I'm just curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Prime> "Well, either way, we have you on our side now. If there's a different you, then we'll be fine since you know you, you know?"
>"Or I'm a shell that developed into a separate being."
>"Long story, I don't remember the details of, short, someone sealed the youkai of darkness and now there is my sister and me."
>Head over to the trees in front of the shrine>Don't do this if maintaining said hammock has a noticeable affect on our hunger upkeep.
->Use our darkness to make a hammock and rest in it
Prime
>Nod
>"Yes."
Contingency
>So, private
>Head over to the trees in front of the shrine
->Use our darkness to make a hammock and rest in it
>Don't do this if maintaining said hammock has a noticeable affect on our hunger upkeep.> "Good."
Prime:
>"So now what?"
>Muse on the nature of darkness> "We can look for more followers. Or beat other fairies. Since beating others will surely make me the best... I think."
>It isn't the absence of light or we could control light
>Our darkness isn't destroyed by light
->Does the light hide darkness?
Contingency:
>Try using our magical darkness to push the regular darkness
>Then try pushing the regular darkness together at a point in space
>Form an eye inside the shadow realm to investigate> You form an eye within your shadow realm and tune in more.
Prime:
>Glance at Clownpiece expectantly.
Shadow Realm:> "Probably not, but today has been full of surprises." Your shadow speaks. "If she really wants to leave, I'll let her out. I just don't think it's a good idea yet...Hmm, maybe I should have changed to look like her instead?"
>Don't say a word.
>Keep watching, but prepare to intervene if necessary.
Prime:
>"So we're just going with the flow then, I take it?"
Shadow Realm:
>Do any of the unconscious Tengu appear to be seriously injured at all?
Prime:
>We do have our spellcards, yes?
Shadow Realm:> You have your spellcards, yes.
>How are our fish?
>Are they all bird tengu
Shadow Realm:> You start to manifest another eye near the Tengu, however, they suddenly return back to the rest of the group.
>Continue observing the conversation.
>Manifest another eye near the fleeing tengu and use it to tail them.
Prime:
>"I mean considering spellcard laws exist, duels have the potential to go either way."
>"So do you have a base of operations yet, Clownpiece? Or would that not be necessary for the purposes of the contest?"
Shadow Realm:> From your observations, the former. You can't tell if it's just scratches or worse, however.
>Are the unconscious tengu bleeding, or are the injuries consistent with spellcard combat?
>Continue to observe.
Contingency:
>Recline on hammock and gaze upon the stars.
Prime:
>"True."
Shadow Realm:
>Do we have any medical knowledge from before we were sealed?
>Has past us ever treated injuries with darkness?
>Are they bat wings, fairy wings, or feathered wings? Blob of darkness wings?
>Do we remember if our shadow has taken on this appearance before? If so is it her "default form"?
Prime:
>"Yeah, aside from me there's nobody outside at the shrine right now."
Prime:> You do not.
>"The fairies that would want the title, we could visit their homes."
>"Another idea is throw danmaku in the air and see if that draws anyone to us.
Shadow Realm:
>If there is any blood on the 'floor' try a taste of it.
Prime:
>"Ice fairy.... That's Cirno, isn't it? I've heard of her. Don't know anything about the other three though."
Shadow Realm:
>Wait what? Since when do we have buildings in here?
>Send a couple eyes to scout out the "edges" of the shadow realm.
//Do you think we involve ourselves in our Shadow's business at this point?
//If you think we should then I'll probably politely interrupt their conversation.
>Where do we feel Shadow is?> "I think they call themselves the Fairies of Light. A light controlling one, a sound controlling one, and I think a night controlling one. No wait, the sound one was stronger at night. I don't remember about the third, then." Clownpiece explains.
>Would it reflect badly on the shrine if we're seen doing nothing for the tengu or watch the chaos?
//I'd say we should politely ask if Shadow needs any help with her project.
//It kinda sounds like fairies are overrunning tengu buildings. Tempted to go there and watch the show
Shadow Realm:
>Continue to observe.
>Speak with Shadow over our link: ("Pardon the interruption, but would you like any help with your little personal project?")
Prime:
>"A light controlling fairy, huh... I wonder if my darkness would take precedence if we had to deal with her... Unless you plan on recruiting them."
>Naz> "If you have any ideas for how to deal with super-powered fairies that can outrace tengu and sink into the ground, I wouldn't say no." Shadow replies to you, then speaks aloud. "Well, you gotta get your homes back somehow. What other options are there?"
>("I feel like I'm missing a lot of context here. What's this about superpowered fairies now? And I assume those tengu you're keeping in the Shadow Realm are your friends?")> "Not exactly. But we aren't enemies. I dont understand what's up with this Tengu Fairy situation, but I'm working on it." Your shadow informs you.
Shadow Realm:
>Continue to observe.
Prime:
>"Well I'd be more than happy to give more demonstrations if you need them."
Contingency:
>Any activity?
>Do we know any constellations? If so do we see any in the sky right now?
>("The fairy I'm with could help with infighting. I am curious, when you tried to enter the fairies did they immediately notice you?")
>Examine the portal from a distance! Try to feel what X is doing that we didn't!
>Feel where shadow is? Can we tell where X is?
>("Should I introduce myself to your guests?")> ("I snuck up on them, but fell off the one I tried to absorb and bring here. Once they noticed me they were able to keep track of me even while I was underground.") Your shadow replies.
>("Also I will probably have to introduce you to Clownpiece and her group if you want me to bring them in on it. Would that be okay?")
Prime:
>"Well, alright. Anything in particular you want to see? I can darken an area, turn into darkness, make secondary bodies, shapeshift, and move extremely fast through darkness among other things."
Contingency:
>A spire? Does it correspond to any natural landmarks we know?
>"Hey sis. I like the disguise, by the way. Makes you look mysterious. Why is the inside of your realm red, though?"
>("Well I'm pretty sure I'd unintentionally spook them in some capacity due to having to either manifest in there or speak as a disembodied voice but I'll try to minimize the damage.")
Shadow Realm:
>Manifest a body out of the tengus' collective line of sight.
>Audibly clear our throat once there's a pause in the conversation. Try not to startle any of them.
Prime:
>What do we remember of our limits, pre-seal?
>>If we can remember, would the Hakurei Shrine darkness bubble from earlier be our maximum range? Or can we go past that?
Contingency:
>"I assume that spire of darkness over there has something to do with it as well?"
>If she implies or confirms its her doing.
>>Concerned frown, "You know that's going to attract attention once people start noticing it, sis."
Contingency:> "I'm doing what I can. We're getting close." Your shadow responds to the Tengu.
>"OK, so we're not dealing with a regular incident like Reimu and Marisa solve.
>"I didn't realize."
>"Who are you trying to attract?"
>"And any hints for how to link places?"
Shadow Realm:
>"Ah, my mistake."
>Try to "clear up" the area immediately around our Shadow Realm body.
>"Anyway, pardon the interruption. I noticed that my shadow had brought home some guests and I couldn't help but pick up some snippets of your conversation. I'd like to lend some help if you'll allow it."
Prime:
>"Well that darkness around the Hakurei Shrine earlier was my doing, if you know about that. I could probably completely cover a larger area than that, but it would be limited by how much ambient darkness I have available to draw upon."
>"Otherwise my darkness can be anywhere from a slight amount of shade to absolute, pitch darkness. I can also physically touch things with it as well."
>Are we capable of making danmaku out of darkness? Both lethal and spellcard compliant?
Contingency:
>Wince a bit at the ignoring advice part.
>Re: Specialization: "We are? How so?"
//Gonna broach the topic of the superfairies to Clownpiece and introduce them to shadow only if the Tengu agree to let us cooperate. So please don't try to do that just yet if any of you are planning on it.
Prime:> You try, though it doesn't really get any less dark to you.
>"And poking a human's shadow gives them the heebie-jeebies."
>"I don't understand why, yet."
//OK, I do want to send contingency to the village to get info on our past. They might have fairies there with their treatment of fairies.
Shadow Realm:
>Attempt to will ourselves to have greater contrast against the background darkness.
>Are our manifestations in the Shadow Realm in color?
>"Alright. So is there any more context regarding the situation? All I heard was something about super powered fairies and that they were attacking your homes. My Shadow already told me some of the details but the more I know about the situation and what we're up against, the more I'd be able to help."
Prime:
>"...Huh."
>"So, this may be a bit sudden, I just got some information that might interest you."
>("Gonna introduce you to the others, just a heads up.")
>"Oh, and I should probably introduce you to my informant first. You guys were probably going to meet her eventually anyway since we're allies and all, so might as well get that out of the way."
>Gesture to our shadow.
>"I'd like you to meet my shadow. Despite being connected to me, she has a separate mind of her own and can act on her own will. Shadow, this is Clownpiece, Hecatia, and Junko. Feel free to introduce yourself."
>Repeat the "Shadow, this is..." and onward at the same time directly to Shadow through our mental link if she is unable to hear us speaking aloud.
>Allow her to make introductions.
>"Anyway, there's a situation that my shadow is involved in that I'd like to assist her with. Not sure if you would be interested, but apparently it involves tengu being attacked by 'super-powered fairies', so helping out with whatever's going on could potentially help you with your goal of becoming the Best Fairy in Gensokyo."
Contingency:
>"I'll look forward to her words if she feels the need to tell me, then."
>If nobody else has anything to say to X:
>>"Alright sis. Take care."
Shadow Realm:> You try, and manage.
>Attempt to pull the darkness away from us if the contrast fails
Prime:> Shadow places a hand on the Tengu.
>"I don't she is. I haven't seen or heard of any other fairies except the 'super-powered fairies."
Contingency:
>Sink into the ground and head to the human village
>We can control shadow if we really wanted to, right?> You should be able to. You haven't tried to see if it could oppose you yet. It could have gotten stronger than you though, if it's business it's been leaving to was for such... Given she heard of this fairy business from the vampire mansion, you suspect she would be against you harming it's residents.
Shadow Realm:
>"Well I heard about an alleged competition to be the best fairy in Gensokyo, but I'm not sure if it's related to the events at the mountain and manor. Do you think the two groups are part of the same faction?"
Prime:
>"Well she isn't with the other fairies. She's actually against them."
>"You're not under any power like she described, nor are you attempting to forcibly subjugate any of the non-fairy races like the others, so she doesn't really have a reason to be against you. Or me for that matter since I'm allied with you."
>Only if the answer to the control question is yes:
>>"Plus if it came down to it, she's both a being of pure darkness and mentally connected to me. Meaning if it really came down to it I could 'tighten the leash' to keep her in line, but I'd really prefer not to do that to her unless it was absolutely necessary. She only recently got freedom again after all, and I'd hate to take that away from her. Besides, she's usually cooperative and reasonable anyway so there really isn't a reason to do that."
Contingency:
>Stop and turn around.
//Why are you going there?
> You should be able to. You haven't tried to see if it could oppose you yet. It could have gotten stronger than you though, if it's business it's been leaving to was for such... Given she heard of this fairy business from the vampire mansion, you suspect she would be against you harming it's residents.
> Given the other things said so far and your recent visit, you wonder if the darkness spire was from a fight between her and X Rumia. Though X did say she shouldn't worry about it and "her business shouldn't be bothered by this". But that still gives other suspicions about what business it was...
> "Looks like your friends are being forced to choose now, by the way. They're pretty badly outnumbered...I could try to cause chaos, or try to rescue them, whichever you think is better. Need to choose now, though." Shadow explains to the Tengu.
> "Uh... I'm no hero." The tengu answers.
> "Yeah, me neither. I don't want to make a choice that could end up worsening the situation, even if it could also save them. They'll know what to do." The other reasons.
> "Also, if I agree to help, that's no guarantee that you won't ask me to go against someone I care about, so we'd be putting some amount of trust in one another, rather than having it go in one direction." Shadow explains.
> "If she has someone following a fairy, or fairies themselves that don't end up following Clownpiece or staying out of her way, then she's a problem." Junko responds.
> "I'm not just going to watch another group get better than me. If others are trying to be the best, you have to beat them at it. And doing that directly is easier than leaving them be."
> "It's not impossible to leave others alone, I'd think. But if they end up being better... Hm, we don't even know what the merits or issues with winning or losing would be, do we?" Hecatia questions.
> You stop.
>_
Prime:
>"Would you keeping the ones you care about out of any possible fights with Clownpiece and otherwise not directly interfering with Clownpiece be reasonable?"
Contingency:
>Growl
>Leave a spike of darkness to warp back to
>Try Warp through Shadow to the Tengu
->If that failed absorb the spike and continue on to human village
>Not sure if it was meant to be a command but just in case don't do this.
(Tell the group of Tengu that among the Gensokyo's Fairies there is a "Best Fairy Contest" going on but that it simply involves proving to be better than the other fairies like beating them in Danmaku Duels and having a Greater and Willing Following)
Contingency:>Let shadow know we're attempting this first.
>Growl
>Leave a spike of darkness to warp back to
>Try Warp through Shadow to the Tengu
->If that failed absorb the spike and continue on to human village
Prime:
>"Would you keeping the ones you care about out of any possible fights with Clownpiece and otherwise not directly interfering with Clownpiece be reasonable?"
Contingency:
>Growl
>Leave a spike of darkness to warp back to
>Try Warp through Shadow to the Tengu
->If that failed absorb the spike and continue on to human village
Prime:
(Tell the group of Tengu that among the Gensokyo's Fairies there is a "Best Fairy Contest" going on but that it simply involves proving to be better than the other fairies like beating them in Danmaku Duels and having a Greater and Willing Following)
> Ask Shadow :" It would be no issue to help out .though,if there was no involvement in going against someone you care about or at least ,if a case like that happens,to maintain neutrality ,right?"
> "To avoid misunderstandings and turn-abouts...who are those you care about and unwilling to duel out or generally oppose and are they actively involved in this Best Fairy Contest?"
> To Clownpiece,Hecatia,Junko: " On another hand,there seems to be a current issue of "Super-Powered Fairies" are in straight-out attacking in droves the Tengu on Youkai Mountain, start occupying their homes and forcing terms upon them'"
Contingency:
> Do not growl or make any noise as to not give out any alert
>Not sure if it was meant to be a command but just in case don't do this.> "Um, that sounds reasonable off the top of my head. I can't really focus enough right now on details." Your shadow explains.
//Literally just stated to them that we don't know if they're connected.
>Let shadow know we're attempting this first.
>If she objects or otherwise says its a bad idea, don't follow through.
Shadow Realm:
>Change our hair to black
>Make ourselves look to be in our midteens.
>("If you need help just toss my body in the Shadow Realm out with your body on the mountain.")
Contingency:
>Go under the wall
>Listen for screams or other noises that indicate trouble
> ( Are you able to hear what terms are being imposed on the Tengu?)> "Uh, the fairies are going full-on assault now. They're heading back down the mountain using tengu bodies as shields. I'm going to try to cause disruptions as best I can." Shadow explains.
> ( And,if the "Super-Powered" Fairies are that focused on rounding up the Tengu and occupying their homes,then openings might be found to intervene and rescue them like,perhaps,simulating the arrival of a relief force from an unguarded position and baiting them there giving the Tengu enough time to take shelter...)
Shadow Realm> ("Bit busy right now.") Your shadow replies.
>"That's actually a good thing."
>Tap our face in thought
>"How confident are the. . ."
>("Err, you can go into people too, right.")
Contingency:
>Look for a deserted alley
->With the appearance of our Shadow Realm self with outsider looking clothes, (jeans, T-shirt, tennis shoes) step out of the shadows in the alley
>Examine our surroundings
Prime:
>"So do you want in on helping to stop them, Clownpiece? Showing the other fairies you're better aside, it could also be a chance to get some of the non-fairy factions to acknowledge you depending on how you choose to pull it off."
>"Plus if you wanted to, assuming if it's safe and not dangerous to you, we could probably find out if whether or not whatever's making those fairies stronger can be applied to you. Of course, I understand if you'd rather be the Best Fairy without having to resort to strange superpowers, and I'd even respect that if that's your decision."
>"Anyway, I'll also understand if you'd rather stay out of it too. It's not really your business after all. Either way I'm not going to abandon your cause so no need to worry about that."
Shadow Realm:> "Sure. But would we even make it there before things end?"
>"It means that the fairies are practically handing over your friend's and they think they are protected."
Contingency:
>Call out to one of the nearby people
>"Hey, can I have a moment!"
>What does Rumia know of Akyuu?
Prime:> "Not that strong, i don't think so." Clownpiece says.
>"That is weird. Fairies aren't supposed to be like that, right?"
>"If we save them I bet they'd join Clownpiece."
Contingency:
>Smile
>"Thank you. I was supposed to go to this person's home who chronicles youkai and who reincarnates. Do you know where I can find the person?"
>Start towards the manor and wave at the person//Are you going to the SDM or the Heida residence?
>Head to the manor
Prime:
>"As long as two places are connected by darkness, including as the darkness within opaque objects such as the ground, we can move between them rather quickly and once there we can teleport others using the shadow realm."
>Turn to shadow
>"Speaking of, should we bring them into the shadow realm? It'll let them talk to the tengu you rescued and let us brief everyone in one place."
>Turn to the others
>"Assuming the rest of you are okay with that as well."
>... do not join them yet though.//I'd like to point out that we already have a presence in the shadow realm, so we'd be joining them either way.
//I'd like to point out that we already have a presence in the shadow realm, so we'd be joining them either way.
Prime:
>"As long as two places are connected by darkness, including as the darkness within opaque objects such as the ground, we can move between them rather quickly and once there we can teleport others using the shadow realm."
>Turn to shadow
>"Speaking of, should we bring them into the shadow realm? It'll let them talk to the tengu you rescued and let us brief everyone in one place."
>Turn to the others
>"Assuming the rest of you are okay with that as well."
Contingency:
>"That's unfortunate. Thanks for the info."
>Start towards the manor and wave at the person
>"Wish me luck!"
>Head to the manor
// Junko's "Power to Purify" could be a key i,n a group&strategy effort of course, to "Exorcise" these " Violent Super-Powered Fairies"//> "Huh. Sounds useful."
// We should focus on resolving the Fairy-Tengu Situation on Youkai Mountain and The Hindering the Mastermind Behind ,yes, but BEFORE that it is also advisable to not delay a "Shadowy Stealthy Just On The Borders" check&know of the Vampire Manor/Scarlet Mansion and The Maid/Sakuya ,and THEN also give warnings&briefings about the 1st and 2nd Issues to ,at the Hakurei Shrine but possibly Linked Areas,Reimu,ShinGyoku and Marisa //
// If the others are in need of any support,or we are or both, we can always travel,and make other allies or involved ones of course, travel to or through the "Shadow Realm"//
> If they agree teleport them,Clownpiece+Hecatia+Junko,to the " Shadow Realm"to let them be briefed and consult with Shadow,the Rescued tengu and still stay in conact with all of them ...
>... do not join them yet though.
> "Huh. Sounds useful."
> "No, I don't think it's worth it now." Shadow responds. "What I'm learning suggests this situation is bigger than tengu society. Clownpiece, was it? If you still want my support, you've got it. I'm in."
> "Even if we end up having to go against people you don't want us to?" Clownpiece questions.
> "I'm willing to take that risk."
> "Then..." Clownpiece thinks. "Welcome to the team."
> "Sorry, I'm working on that. What's that yellow thing you have, by the way?" Shadow asks in the Shadow Realm.
> "...Nothing you need to worry about. It's just my business." The new Tengu replies. "How long have those three been out?"
> "A few minutes now." The other Tengu respond.
> "Well, it's not like we need them awake right now."
> "W-Wait, what are you heading there for?" The person questions as you head off.
>_
Contingency:>Don't say this.
>"I saw something weird and told to tell her."
>Give a conspiratorial glance around
>"There are winged flying girls."
//I don't know for the questions.//I mean if we actually looked like an outsider not knowing of her would be excusable.
//It also seemed like it be suspicious for a human to not know of Akyuu.
// Hatate's Thoughtography Phone-Camera?//
> Are we ble to manifest a " perceiving and imperceptible shadow eye " to observe what is the "Tengu's yellow thing"?
> Proceed if so,but dissolve it if it ever becomes perceptible by the Tengu.
> " Then...how about we move as a group ,the 4 of us not originally Youkai Mountain,with me being the stealthiest and most forward scout,to investigate from a distance what is happening at the Scarlet Mansion and cross-check it with the actual happenings and observations at the Youkai Mountain?"
Contingency:
>"I saw something weird and told to tell her."
>Give a conspiratorial glance around
>"There are winged flying girls."
//I am hoping to learn our history and warn about the fairies
>Don't say this.> "So...based on what I'm hearing, you should already be way stronger than you were, say, yesterday. Do you feel that way? Sorry if this has been discussed already, I have a lot of pots boiling right now." Shadow speaks to Clownpiece.
//This person's going to see through that immediately. Fairies are common knowledge in Gensokyo.
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask, are those three okay?"
> "So...based on what I'm hearing, you should already be way stronger than you were, say, yesterday. Do you feel that way? Sorry if this has been discussed already, I have a lot of pots boiling right now." Shadow speaks to Clownpiece.
> "I suppose I feel pretty good. I don't know if that's actually a boost though. We could try something.
> You are not. It's hidden on her.
> "They're fine. We'd have been telling you to get some help for them if they weren't long ago." The awake Tengu speak.
> "Urgh, things are constantly changing..." Shadow updates. "So, uh, it looks like the kappa have allied themselves with a different group of fairies than the ones trying to conscript you all. Your folks haven't committed to anything yet, but I just aligned myself with another fairy separate from what's going down on the mountain, which means I might end up clashing with any tengu that commit to the fairies that invaded your homes. In the interest of fairness, I'm willing and happy to return you to your kind, if you would rather ally with them in the event they ally with those fairies. Because, if you stick with me, you might end up going against them as well."
> "We don't really have much to use against them... I guess I'd rather be with the rest of the Tengu than against them."
> "Yeah I need to get with the rest too. There's still someone I'm looking for." The Tengu hiding something speaks.
> You decide not to answer the person.
> "Hey!" They speak again.
>_
//That's much better than my idea.
> " What exactly has changed and feels different for Fairies compared to a rather short amount of days ago?"> "Hm. I'm not sure what else." Clownpiece shrugs.
> To Shadow,but not exclusively:" How is the situation evolving at the Scarlet Mansion?Should we be moving closer to there so you are not overwhelmed by the quite busy situation at Youkai Mountain"?
> Tell the Tengu who is looking for someone that we might be helping her in that,if she wants and
// Is the next one alright like this?//
Contingency:
> Turn and reply :" Oh sorry,I was a bit lost in thought,and I had been thinking about which History Topics I need to look about for and the eventual assistance i could ask for that while at the same time not imposing on people's goodwill and time".
Prime:> "Maybe a duel?"
>"What would be a good way to test?"
>Turn to Hecatia and Junko, "Actually, was there anything abnormal about her torch aside from what we experienced. You've known her longer than me, so if her torch's effect is stronger than normal you two would probably know it, right?"
Contingency:
>Extremely confused look.
>"When did I ever imply that I'd go after youkai?"
Contingency:
>"Oh."
>Have our mouth open in surprise
>"I think youkai would effect the village's history."
>Put a finger to chin
>"Knowing where not to go and how to survive is important."
>List of available spellcards.> "I guess so...?" Clownpiece seems unsure. "But I hear there are some unfair points in them too."
>>Which of these are our "bombs"
>Meta: Rundown on in-quest spellcard duel mechanics.
Prime:
>"Don't spellcard duels enforce an upper limit of power to make sure all combatants have a fair chance of winning and prevent fatal injuries though? Not to mention the cards themselves enforcing a specific pattern... If that's the case then I'm not sure we'd be able to gain any insight from a spellcard duel alone..."
>Do not say the following if it implies that we accept a duel, as we are merely considering the idea at this point.
>>Contemplative: "But then again, nothing's stopping us from trying..."
//Considering indulging Clownpiece in a duel due to:
A. It being low risk. (Nothing is really at stake for us if we do it.)
B. Rumia being out of practice and not having a proper duel since being unsealed. From a player perspective, it would give us some exposure to spellcard combat in this quest since we haven't been in any duels yet.
C. Potentially gaining some insight. Though the answer to Prime's question might affect whether this is possible.
//That being said, I'm not outright challenging her unless other players are on board with it. (Plus would like to see if point C would be invalidated by whatever answer we receive first.)
> "I guess so...?" Clownpiece seems unsure. "But I hear there are some unfair points in them too."
> "Yes, no reason not to try, right? Well, aside from time." Hecatia says.
> "Nothing elsewhere is really our business yet though, so..." Junko speaks.
> "Come to think of it, it's probably pretty hard to get to talk with Akyuu as well... The history teacher likely has knowledge or books on youkai too anyways."
> You still recall your patterns for Moon Sign ⌠Moonlight Ray⌡, Night Sign ⌠Night Bird⌡, and Darkness Sign ⌠Demarcation⌡.> Participants must tell each other of how many spell cards they plan to use in the duel, even if they don't manage to use all of them.> You wonder if you'll even be able to use the spell card rules with those fairies...
> One wins a normal Spell Card Duel when their opponent is unable to continue, not necessarily when the opponent has used up all of their spell cards. Though danmaku isn't necessarily strong most of the time, hits give a unique feeling of lethargy / loss of will, further bringing those who fail to dodge closer to being unable to continue. Though this doesn't affect their dodging or attacking, consecutive hits will only increase this until the victim is unable to continue, regardless of how incredible or poor their stamina is.
> Declaring a Spell Card puts the user in a Spell Card Trance if no one is in one yet. A trance allows one to use more of their abilities and greatly endure more punishment at the expense of lessening their freedom, such as dodging as freely as outside of a trance and being stuck to the pattern of their spell card. There is a limit to how long a Spell Card can last, and enough punishment can break a user out of their trance. Being in a Spell Card Trance prevents the user from feeling the demeaning effects of being hit by danmaku unless they are broken out of it, meaning it's always better to have entered a Spell Card Trance than not.
> If one uses a Spell Card while the opponent is already in a trance, their spell card will instead become a bomb, which is more focused at the expense of being much shorter. Bombs actively clear enemy danmaku past their declaration and keep you safe from danmaku in their short duration.
> A Spell Card used in a trance can't be repeated, but it can be used as a bomb. Spell Cards used as Bombs are allowed to repeat, however, bombs are limited to 3 usages.
> One must always be vulnerable outside of Spell Cards that require otherwise. Intangibility and deflection of danmaku, for example, are counted as invulnerabilities.
> More lenient or different versions of Spell Card Duels exist, usually agreed upon by the participants of such. Certain cases allow direct combat outside of danmaku, or permit invulnerabilities.
>_
> Think that as a rehearsal+testing+gauging for Spellcard Duels,Rules, Patterning could be useful for both us,Clownpiece and the"Clownpiece's team"...of course with eventual applications, training ,discoveries,etc. even outside Spellcard Duels ,or at least going from a Spell Card Duel to a Duel or viceversa...
> Accept A Testing Spellcard Duel vs Clownpiece then.
> Ask the tengu with concern if , in the case they choose returning to the Tengu Village or near,they have a backup plan,or better yet a backup plan and a refuge,to avoid getting rushed directly or besieged by the Strange Super Powered Fairies...
> To the villager : " Oh,I see,then could you tell me how to find this "history teacher" ,though I am still try to meeting Akyuu first but in the eventuality it is a no-go...
//Well it seems Branneg is on board.> "We... We'll manage. It'll be worse to stick here and do nothing." The tengu speak.
//Any objections Phil?
Prime:
>"Fair enough."
>Stretch and crack our knuckles.
>"It's been a while since I last had a spellcard duel anyway. Does three cards each sound good or would you prefer less than that? I only have three available right now unfortunately."
>Would our Shadow count as Danmaku if we made a spellcard involving her, since she's technically part of us, or would she considered a separate entity for the purpose of spellcard duels?
>What difficulty variant are our three cards?
Shadow Realm:> You try, but can't quite get them to rise from under the Tengu right...
>"Well if these three are staying, they might as well rest somewhere more comfy than the floor..."
>Attempt to conjure a few darkness-made "beds" beneath each of the tengu, created such that they rise out of the floor below them and support their bodies as they do so.
>Abort if they start passing through the darkness to the point that it would obscure their mouths and noses, suffocating guests would be bad.
>Create a fourth bed next to our manifestation. Sit on it to test its softness. We want them to be comfy, after all. Make adjustments as necessary and apply it to the other beds.
>Also abort if the beds cost a noticeably large amount of upkeep to maintain.
Prime:
>Raise an eyebrow at the newcomers.
>"Who are you guys anyway?"
>Have our darkness crawl under the Earth towards the trio of fairies>Adjust this to accommodate the actual number of fairies. (Excluding allied fairies such as Clownpiece, of course.)
Prime:
>"Oh no, not again."
>Have our darkness crawl under the Earth towards the trio of fairies
>"Well, I'm Rumia youkai of twilight."
>Have our darkness poke their shadows
>When Clownpiece introduces herself repeat the pokes
Contingency:
>"Thanks!"
>Head to Akyuu's estate
>Adjust this to accommodate the actual number of fairies. (Excluding allied fairies such as Clownpiece, of course.)> You have gotten rid of your darkness for the beds already.
//I don't think it was confirmed that there were three. All that was stated was it was a small group.
Shadow Realm:
>Dispel the darkness from the bed attempt if we haven't already. (Assuming dispelling it was implicit when aborting, but just in case)
>Close in on the Tengu, attempt to diagnose their condition to the best that our limited medical experience allows
Prime:>Hold on this.
>"Wait, weren't you three at the test of courage?"
>Smack the bottom of our fist against our palm
>"You're the ghost girls!"
//It is a reference to the test of courage in the comics.//Two things though:
Prime:
>"Wait, weren't you three at the test of courage?"
>Smack the bottom of our fist against our palm
>"You're the ghost girls!"
>Do this if the test of courage is cannon.//Did she interact with the fairies of light at the event, though?
//Rumia was there. She chased Youmu and danced with the ghost half.
//I'm just waiting for an excuse to start calling Clownpiece "Madam President" as her Best Fairy title.
Prime:
>Which one said our name sounded familiar?
>"Ah, so these are those fairies you mentioned. How curious..."
>Absorb more ambient darkness into our tendrils in an attempt to probe deeper into the force keeping us at bay. Do we gain any distance?
>"Anyway, this is your operation, so it's your choice whether or not to tell them."
Shadow Realm:
>Check on the fish. Are they still healthy?
>Do we seem to be gaining darkness from anything in here?
>>If so, and it's from the tengu, put a clamp on that immediately.
>"Shadow, does anything about the condition of these tengu seem familiar at all?"
Prime:
>"Wait, weren't you three at the test of courage?"
>Smack the bottom of our fist against our palm
>"You're the ghost girls!"
Contingency:
>"Hello! I'm here to see miss Akyuu."
>"I have information that may be important."
>Hold on this.
//What test of courage? I don't recall such a thing happening in this quest.
//Unless your intention is to lie to them in order to confuse them.
//Either way I would like a bit of clarification.
>Do this if the test of courage is cannon.> You don't recall these three. And they don't seem to recall you either. Aside from Star, who claimed you(r name) sounded familiar.
//Rumia was there. She chased Youmu and danced with the ghost half.
Prime:
>Curious.
>Have our underground tendrils snake around them so that the tips of them roughly surround them in a circle.
>Have them maintain their current radius from them, though.
Shadow Realm:
>"Not to mention a certain pair of goddesses that might make approaching that spot a bit more difficult than normal anyway..."
Contingency:
>Feel a bit satisfied at the recognition.
><insert Phil actions here.>
//I was not expecting them to recognize us> You keep your distance, but go around a bit...
Prime:
>How many fairies are there
Shadow Realm:
>"It would probably be better to find information about the culprit before we move against them."
>"Are the fairies with the kappa fighting against the ones invading the tengu?"
Contingency:
>"I actually came for two reasons. I had hope to read Akyuu's notes about myself."
>"The other was to give a warning about an incident, non danmaku."
>Let out a sigh as we prepare to talk about the incident
>"Fairies have invaded the homes of tengu. They've been able to overwhelm the tengu with power and were seen using tengu as body shields."
>"I'm not sure if it is more wide spread."
Prime:
>Raise an eyebrow at the light ball.
>Absorb more ambient darkness and attempt to push back.
>Have one tendril target the fairy that commented on it being annoyingly dark specifically and give their shadow a harmless but noticeable poke before retracting that tendril back to the original "standby distance."
Shadow Realm:
>Tengu condition.
>Make a bed off to the side, test it for softness and tangibility.
Contingency:
>Parse if Phil doesn't object:
>>Shrug.
>>"I mean, yeah, I'm not much as far as youkai go, but I would still like to know bit more about myself. I have a rather poor recollection of my own past, you see, so I was wondering if there might be any records of me or any youkai like me."
Contingency:> You try to make a bed of darkness again, sitting on it and... feeling that it doesn't really feel like a bed.
>"I thought it useful for the village to be aware in case it is more widespread."
Prime:
>Take in more and try to probe deeper into the fairy exclusion zone.
>"Hmm... if I could make reliable furnishings and was certain about the effects of a non-darkness based entity staying in there for a prolonged period I'd offer my Shadow Realm but unfortunately I'm still experimenting with both of those at the moment..."
>Doubletake
>"Wait, you live at the shrine?"
Shadow Realm:
>Attempt to change the consistency of the darkness of the "mattress" such that it feels softer and we sink in slightly.
Contingency:
>Only parse with Phil's approval:
>>"Normally, yes, they'd be weak. But not these ones. Apparently something or someone seems to be powering them up according to my sources."
>Naz
>Consider how difficult it would be to make a house for everyone for the night
Contingency:
>"That's ashame. I'd hope Akyuu would have answers."
>"Do you think the school might have books that could help?"
> Ask Shadow if she was able to discern where the "2 shadow-absorbing fairy groups" of Youkai mountain,those which came together for an agreement,where correspondent to the Top of the Mountain...> "The groups of fairies weren't absorbing shadows." Shadow corrects. "Whoever absorbed my darkness there is another party...quite possibly a fairy version of you. Anyway, the kappa fairies and the tengu fairies were about halfway between the two villages when I got got. I have no idea what they took and what they left behind."
>...did they leave any shadow behind?
> ...the Moriya Shrine, is rather close near the top,but there is still a ways to go to reach it...right?
Prime:> You try again with more, shaping your darkness a bit.
>Absorb even more darkness and attempt to probe even further!
>Sharpen the ends of the tendrils to assist with piercing the light.
>Muse aloud: "Huh... Perhaps our meeting was destined, then..."
>Turn our attention to Sunny, visually study the light ball. No need to get closer at this time.
Shadow Realm:
>Frown in irritation.
>Reset the mattress (after moving out of the way so it doesn't clip us) and try again, but using a quarter of what we just did.
>Check on the guests.
Prime:
>"It sounds they are going to anger Cirno by recruiting Cirno's friend. Seems like an opportunity, commander Clownpiece."
>Have our darkness spread out and consume darkness.
>Start making a home, stop if it starts taking too much out of us.
Contingency:
>"Has Akyuu sold any notes from the time of the previous shrine maiden?"
Prime:> "Opportunity for what? We can't just stay on the move. We need a home so we can sleep first, don't we?" Clownpiece questions.
>Send a scout tendril in their direction to reestablish visual contact if we can't see them anymore.
>Retract/dispel/reabsorb the other tendrils. (But leave one remaining regardless of whether or not the above applies.)
>"Want me to spy on them for a bit with my darkness?"
Shadow Realm:
>Does it feel comfortable or like a bed, at least...?
>Try laying on it.
Prime:
>"Information mostly, such as their plans if they decide to discuss them out loud -- like they just did regarding their plans for Cirno's friend -- as well as an estimate of their forces assuming the fairies that were with them weren't all of it. Stuff like that."
>"As for the opportunity thing, I don't mean it's something that should be done right now. Just something to keep in mind until after we've rested and/or established a base of operations."
>Shrug.
>"On that note, I unfortunately can't help much with the home thing... Though I guess I could try to make a temporary camp or something out of darkness... There won't be any guarantees on comfort, though. Not to mention that I'm not sure how costly such a thing would be to maintain."
>"If worse comes to worse, I'm no stranger to sleeping in the wilderness either. Never really had a place to call home myself anyway, so I'm used to it..."
>Mutter to ourself: "I really should get around to building that cabin..."
Shadow Realm:
>Get up, reset the experiment again.
>Do the same thing, but this time try to layer a "solid" layer of darkness (such as that of our first attempt) inside the "soft" darkness from our previous attempt, a centimeter or so below the surface of the "soft darkness".
>Do the sit and lay tests for comfort.
>"So a fairy version of me, huh? That's an interesting thought..."
>"If a fairy like that really exists, think we should adopt her into our unique little 'Family'? Oh, maybe we should get X in on it too... Hmm... Actually on second thought she might not care... But then again she never objected to me calling her sis, so she could be open to the idea even if she wouldn't admit it out loud..."
Prime:> You make a large mostly cube shape of darkness with some holes in it, in an attempt to make a house.
>Make a simple box shaped home with a slightly slanted roof and enough windows so people inside cam see
Contingency:
>"Thanks you've been a great help."
>"Please tell Akyuu about the incident. It may be nothing or it could be very serious."
Prime:
>"Hmm... That Star fairy must have some kind of sensory ability. She seems to be aware of my tendril's position despite it being underground."
>Chuckle.
>"Guess that means I'll have to get creative..."
>"Anyway it doesn't seem like this little hut I made is costing much to maintain... So maybe it'll work? It'll unfortunately be quite bare bones, though... My attempts to make beds haven't been going well..."
>We don't necessarily need to sleep, correct?
>Do we remember (from what pre-seal memories we have) if darkness constructs go away when we lose consciousness (such as during sleep)?
>Ponder if the sound masking is an area affect like the light.
>Are we capable of lipreading? If so, do that while performing below actions:
>Shunt a full 5% of our current darkness into the spy tendril and have it travel towards the tip. (Assuming all prior attempts took a fraction of a percent.)
>>Have Prime absorb some underground darkness to compensate if this action causes hunger.
>Have the tendril's tip expand to cover the entire area under the fairies house (while remaining unseen, of course.)
>Dedicate 20% of the "spy blanket"s mass (which would be equivalent to 1% of Prime's darkness) into attempting to get closer to the trio from all sides at once. Dub this arrangement the "penetration circle".
>>Have the entire hidden plane of darkness spin counterclockwise as this is happening, such that the "penetration circle" is spiraling inwards as its radius decreases.
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh yeah, now that you mention it I hope that she's careful when she does make her move... Well, I expect her to be, but still..."
>Curses!
>Reset the experiment again.
>Look jokingly at our Shadow.
>"...I'm missing something simple and you're going to laugh when I finally realize what it is, aren't you?"
>Do we need to sleep?> "Oh. I think she can know where things are. It's impossible to beat her in hide and seek when she's the seeker." Clownpiece explains.
Shadow Realm:
>Create a solid cube of darkness
>Keep a hand pressed down on it
>Slowly pull darkness out of the center
>At any point does it feel soft?
//I'm not sure what to do with contingency
Prime:>Not yet.
>If the penetration circle fails try have a portion of blanket form a drill and try to drill our way in.
Prime:
>Have the spy blanket dedicate an additional 20% of its allocated darkness to the penetration circle. (Such that the penetration circle is now using 2% of Prime's darkness.)
>"Hmm.. that's something to keep in mind then. By the way, it seems like that light creating fairy is capable of keeping my darkness away in a radius around herself. However, it seems like I can overpower it if I dedicate enough of my mass to the task. Not sure the exact amount yet, but probing her defenses -- even if shes unaware that I'm doing it -- is the most fun I've had in a while... She's Interesting, to say the least."
>"Do you plan on subjugating or recruiting those three if we beat them? If so, may I formally request that I personally keep watch on the light fairy?"
>Dispel the house since it seems like we won't need it anymore...
Shadow Realm:
>"I'm trying to make a bed, though my attempts so far haven't felt comfortable at all. Currently I'm trying to soften the darkness a bit so it actually feels like a bed when you lay on it."
>"Mainly doing it to give our guests a better place to rest than the floor and to experiment with darkness crafting a bit."
Contingency:
>if Phil approves:
>>Depart for now.
>>Casually walk around the village. Stay away from areas that would likely out us as a youkai if we were seen in them at this hour.
Prime:> You put more darkness into the experiment, though fail to get any further despite such...
>If the penetration circle fails try have a portion of blanket form a drill and try to drill our way in.
Shadow Realm
>Try eating a bit of darkness from one of the fish in the Shadow tank
->Replace the darkness we ate with our own
-->Stop if the fish seems to be in pain
Contingency
>Naz
//We should put a dome with holes around their home while they are sleeping so they think it is still dark in the morning
Prime:
>"Sounds like a plan for the future then. Ah, I look forward to having them join our ranks in that case."
>Start following, but maintain connection to the spy blanket. This seems like a good opportunity to test our tendril's effective range.
>Speaking of, shunt an additional 2% of Prime's mass down the tendril to the blanket. Allocate this new mass entirely to the penetration circle.
>Double the speed of rotation of the entire assembly.
>Ponder the fact that we have three rivals now: Our true rival/frenemy Sendai, Our sisterly rival in X, and now a natural rival in Sunny.
Shadow Realm:
>"I don't think sleeping while standing is going to be much more comfortable than the floor... Besides, being able to create a functional bed could be advantageous if I ever need to create a camp for others or have people in here for a prolonged period... Plus I could potentially apply the techniques used to other applications of darkness as well..."
>Continue with the fish experiment> "They're not lying on the ground anymore, though." Shadow explains.
>Send a tendril to follow the circle up and down
>Try to manipulate the fish's body with the inner darkness
Prime:> You try to move the fish, succeeding a bit in such with the darkness inside of it.
>Success!
>Continue to close in the penetration circle with the goal of establishing visual contact with the fairies while remaining visually undetected. (Star doesn't count.) See if we can get past whatever muting effect is happening.
Shadow Realm:
>"Well yeah, but that's not the point. If anything sleeping while standing is worse than lying down. Really the difference was more of getting them to lie on a soft, comfortable surface than a rigid, hard one. Not to mention that they're injured, so it's better that they're laying down anyway."
>Attempt to make the bed again, this time when we lay on it have the solid darkness conform to the curves and contours of our body.
>Does it feel more or less comfy than previous attempts?
Contingency:
>Look around as we walk. Any interesting sights?
Shadow Realm:> You get up and try again, trying to shape it into something like Sanae's bed...
>Get up and reset the experiment.
>Ponder if we could replicate something more easily if we had an actual example to work with.
>When we remake the bed, concentrate on how Sanae's bed felt when shaping it.
>Does this make any difference when we test it?
Prime:
>Penetration Circle: Keep going. Pick up the pace if necessary.
>"So... since we're going to be working together for the foreseeable future, maybe we can get to know each other more?"// I'm bad at small talk lol
Shadow Realm:> "I was heading to the mountain to explore when I came across the three of them already out cold. Two of the three conscious ones from earlier were with them. I never gave them a name, since there was no reason to." Shadow explains herself.
>Stifle a laugh upon seeing the Tengu.
>"Okay now that's adorable."
>"So you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I'm curious how you came to know these people. On a related note, did you give them a name when you introduced yourself? If my dear shadow has decided to take on a name of her own I'd be very interesting in hearing it, after all."
Prime:
>Close the penetration circle completely, leaving just a complete plane of espionage darkness.
>Leave the spy blanket there to monitor any activity during the night.
>"I was referring to everyone here in general anyway. Anyway, sleep well, Commander."
Contingency:
>Anything interesting yet?
Prime:> You're not sure how to replicate a sky filled with stars in the day without the stars themselves...
>Make a dome pinholes over the tree
->Try to make so in the day the fairies will think the dome is the night sky filled with stars
>"How did the three of you meet?"
Contingency:
>How does this feeling compare to when Yukari spies on people?
>Are we alone in the street?
Prime:> You cover the rest of the tree's outer area with darkness, forming a dome, and making a tiny few holes in it.
>Replicate the stars by putting numerous small holes in the dome so the sunlight comes through and looks like stars
>"Here's hoping to not facing Mega UltraChickenfairies this soon."
>"Shadow mentioned trouble at the mansion. I think we'll get a taste of what empowered fairies can do."
Shadow Real:
>Look through the fish's brain
->Make a copy of some neurons and attach it to the fish's
Contingency:
>Listen for the sound of flying fairies
Prime:> "So we have no reason to worry against the fairies."
>"So uh... you're a goddess?"
>Bow respectfully.
>"Apologies if I didn't show proper respect earlier."
Shadow Realm:
>"I see..."
Contingency:
>Continue walking along and start making our way discreetly to the exit of the village.
> You're not sure how to replicate a sky filled with stars in the day without the stars themselves...
> "It's a long story. I won't bore you with it. More importantly, it seems like we might run into an issue." Hecatia gestures ahead.
> Though you're still far from the lake, it looks to be active over there... You're not sure if it's fairies or what.
> You don't recall such a feeling enough. But you think she would only do it from one direction...
> Yes.
>_
// Clownpiece's tiredness could delay to starting to close distance to the Misty Lake,but with the help of a " Rumia's shadow scout probe" before the C.Team as a stealthy investigative relay...//> "We still have a bit to go, so sure." Hecatia says.
Prime :
> Observe the Misty Lake and say :" Issues indeed have chosen this time springing up around the Misty Lake ,so I suggest we start moving over there to not lose any discovery of important elements ,but before that...
>...it is best to send 1 of my " underground shadow probe" before us to reach the Lake area's borders to watch over that situation from over there and then,if possible and useful,close-in the watch-over ."
> If agreed, send an "underground scouting shadow probe" in the manner we explained,
> If agreed,start moving over to the Misty Lake following the wake of the " underground scouting shadow probe "
Prime->Lake Spy Tendril:> You think they have a purple dress, but don't appear to be Yukari. They're heading away from Misty Lake though.
>Can we see any specifics about that someone from here?
Prime->Fairies of Light Spy Blanket:
>Status of tree occupants?
Prime:
>"Well there's definitely a gathering of fairies there. They appear to be following somebody."
Contingency:
>Are we still being watched?
>Are we out of the village yet?
Shadow Realm:
>"Hmm... any suggestions on how to make this feel more like an actual bed?"
Shadow Realm:> You recreate the bed, and try testing it again.
>Remake the bed. This time have the mattress, while having a solid exterior, be full of tiny hollows within, like a sponge.
>Do the sit and lay tests. Does this change anything?
Prime->Lake
>...Is it Mary, then? Or is the hair and hat all wrong?
Prime:
>"Hmm, seems like they're actually moving away from the lake..."
Contingency:
>Can we make out any details at this distance?
>X also seems like the kind of person that would be equally likely to dismiss our intentions as impractical rather than help anyway...> Long and of a darker shade.
Prime->Lake
>What is the hair/hat like anyway?
>Do we see Dai among the procession?
Prime:
>"I think she wanted to see if Cirno's friend was there if I recall correctly?"
Contingency:
>Continue until we can see more details of the mystery person.
>Do we see Cirno anywhere?
Shadow Realm:> You're not sure... You haven't seen her in a while...
>"Seems making it porous did not have any effect on the rigidity..."
>Reset the experiment.
>"Let's see... I tried making the darkness less solid, tried layering hard darkness within the less solid darkness, tried to imagine Sanae's bed while creating it, tried to make it porous... Any ideas on what to try next?"
>"Or you could give it a try, if you want. I'm aware that you're developing your own abilities independently, so maybe you picked up something I haven't or can't remember."
Prime:
>Is the leader a fairy or no?
>"Seems like some fairies from another faction showed up... They seem to be preparing to fight the group leaving the lake."
>>If the answer to the first question is no: "The leader of the group that's leaving doesn't appear to be a fairy either."
Prime->Fairies of Light
>Have a tendril shoot off of the main spy blanket to check on the Hakurei Shrine exterior.
>If everything seems in order and Reimu isn't out, retract and re-merge the tendril with the main disc.
Contingency:
>Continue leaving the village.
>Anything specific about the structure that we notice?
Shadow Realm:> Not much...
>Are we aware of how springs work?
Prime:
>Have the others reacted to our intel at all?
Prime->Lake:
>Continue to observe.
Shadow Realm:> You remake the bed, but make it like your clothes are made.
>Recreate the bed, this time try to give the mattress the same properties as the darkness making up our clothes.
>Test this new bed.
Prime:
>"Okay they're fighting now, we should start seeing it in a moment if we keep on our current heading."
>"Haven't seen Cirno or her alleged friend in either group yet."
Prime->Lake:
>Can we pick out anything or either of the target fairies (Cirno and Dai) in the chaos?
Prime->Lake:>Abort this if it ends up causing a massive increase in hunger.
>If our connection is ok
->Send two blobs to find a fairy from each faction
-->Try to enter fairies near nothing we can go into them without anyone noticing
Shadow Realm:
>But does it feels softer, though?
Prime:
>Double check our connection, we should be having visual of the back end of the fairies, right?
Contingency:
>Can we make out what either of them are?
Prime->Lake:
>If our connection is ok
->Send two blobs to find a fairy from each faction
-->Try to enter fairies near nothing we can go into them without anyone noticing
>Abort this if it ends up causing a massive increase in hunger.> You think? You're not sure how it would feel for someone that doesn't use darkness for clothing all the time...
>>Have Prime and Contingency absorb darkness from the ground below to replenish what was lost if this occurs
//Just in case, because these are separate blobs and not tendrils.
>Have the two blobs try to discreetly enter fairies from opposing sides> You have your two make an attempt. You're able to get onto one from the first group and into them, but the fairy from the other group seems to react violently to your approach, firing at your position instead of the other fairies.
Shadow Realm:> You make a screen of darkness. Though it doesn't seem to portray anything from the fight...
>"Hmm... I'll get back to this later, I just got another idea..."
>Summon a rectangle of darkness in the air in front of us and try to have the visual feed from the blob fighting the fairy show up on the side facing us.
Prime:
>"So now what? Do we just set up camp away from the fighting and wait for Clownpiece to wake up, or...?"
>Have that blob engage in evasive maneuvers. Have it dive back into the ground if necessary.
Prime->Lake>Do not offer any aid to either side. We are here to observe.
>Have the free blob dive under the ground
->Eat Darkness and spread under the fairies that cannot attack us
-->Try to give the fairies from the lake an advantage
//I want to try and weaken the fairies that can sense us so we can abduct one.//Maybe if that one fairy is still after the blob we can use the blob to kite it away from the fight before nomming it? It was at the edge of the group anyway was it not?
Shadow Realm:
>Try to have the darkness on the side facing us vary in shade according to the colors in the blob's vision to produce a moving (albeit dark) monochrome image of what the blob is seeing.
Prime:
>"Very well then."
>Make a throne of darkness andslouchsit on it.
Prime->Lake
>Have the free blob dive under the ground
->Eat Darkness and spread under the fairies that cannot attack us
-->Try to give the fairies from the lake an advantage
>Do not offer any aid to either side. We are here to observe.> You try, and basically... create a drawing. You don't think you're fast enough to make it animated...
//Why are we aiding the lake fairies? We're aligned with Clownpiece, remember?
>["Shadow, I think I found a super fairy. I plan to try and capture it. What can you tell me about them?"]
Prime:> "The fairy you plan to capture, or in general?" Shadow questions.
>Glance off in the direction of the battle as we continue to observe through our blobs and tendril.
Contingency:
>Status report.
Shadow Realm:> "Well, they were fast enough and strong enough to match the Tengu. I don't know if these are the same or not."
>"In general. I mean, given how many there are and how most of the ones you've encountered have been on the mountain it would be a stretch to assume you knew about this one in particular. Forgive me if I'm wrong, though."
>Prepare a spherical holding chamber a good distance away from the fishtank and tengu cuddleball.
>...We are so teasing them about that when they wake up and we introduce ourselves to them.
Contingency:
>Continue on our path.
>Note anything new the develops regarding the structure as we get closer/pass it. (Assuming it's on the same road.)
Prime->Lake> Towards which fairy?
>Have our darkness pop out a very rough humanoid shape
->Have our darkness blow a raspberry at the fairy and make an L with our hand on its head
>Yes, towards the fairy> You taunt the fairies. The retreating ones seem to completely ignore it, while most of the lake fairies seem more wary of the retreating ones than of your gestures.
Prime:> You have the taunters retreat as well, before the lake fairies begin firing upon them instead. Though only a few are.
>Keep watch over the conflict but also be wary of any potential threats approaching the main body in case they're able to track our blob's origin
>Have the taunters move out of sight
>(If nobody objects since I'm bad at small talk):
>>"So uh... what's it like being a goddess of hell?"
Contingency:
>Do we recognize this fairy at all?
Prime:> "Does being a goddess of something mean you must always watch over it?" Junko questions.
>Keep listening.
>"Huh, interesting. So who's watching hell while she's here?"
Contingency:>Grab her with a giant hand of darkness and drag her to the shadow realm!
>Slowly begin approaching. Do we sense anything off?
Prime:> You believe they can be in many places at once? More efficiently than you, at least. And they're worshipped, too.
>"I. . .I don't know. No?"
>fidget
>Try to remember what we knew of gods.
Shadow Realm:> You approach, not waking the fairy yet...
>Frown at the missed opportunity.
Contingency:
>Get closer.
>Try not to wake Lily up on accident.
Prime:> You're not sure. It doesn't look like they've come back to the lake, so probably.
> Has the Mystery Person already retreated deep in the forest?
> While the Retreating Fairies are in the Forest,send another "spy-scouting shadow probe" camouflaged among their shadows and those of the plant-life to trail her them and her.
> Take note of their itinerary and any comments about.
Contingency :
> Lily White is active in the open during Spring,correct?
> Are there particular traces of any activities or gatherings around,then,either close or further than this structure?
Contingency:> No.
>Any signs of other fairies around?
>What's the current season for that matter?
Prime->Fairies of Light Spy Blanket:
>Anything to report?
Shadow Realm:
>What do we think would happen if our other bodies in Gensokyo were destroyed
>Imagine the darkness at the Hakurei shrine forming a portal linking to the Shadow Realm, feel the ambient magic in the darkness shifting until it is like yours
->Try to create the portals and test them
Contingency:> You're not sure. Youkai are more spiritual beings than physical, so maybe you'd be fine.
>Sink into the ground and enter a state similar to the spy blanket at the fairy tree.
>Keep an eye on Lily and the surroundings.
>Do we sense anything within the structure?
> You're not sure. Youkai are more spiritual beings than physical, so maybe you'd be fine.
> You try to imagine the darkness at the Hakurei Shrine. Though... you have a very poor grasp of how it even is right now with not even being there. And that's just the first of the issues here...
> You head into the underground darkness.
> No. Nothing but darkness as far as you can tell. Maybe there could be something in there that's stealthy, but again, if there is something in there, you don't notice it.
>_
Prime:
> Try to form either a visualization or corridor or connection or bond,as if we were "shadow travelling between here and there", with the most familiar Feature of the Hakurei's Shrine...
>... particularly Key-Point(s),or Layer(s) or both depending upon the Increase of Success, we are most familiar while" in shadow-travelling,stealthing and emerging".
Contingency:
> "Careful sampling" ,without being distracted away from Lily White,especially if waking up and deserving of an just explanation :only Darkness/Shadows ,whereas no Light nor any Demarcation in-between to be found or tested&sensed around ?
> Not even "Other Kinds of Luminescence" and "Heat&Friction Trails",or any remnants ?
> Have ever tried "sampling" the "out-sourced shadows" we are in contact or we employ or even absorb
Prime:
>Keep a lookout on our surroundings.
>How are the others faring, is Junko still up?
>Have we ever noticed a difference between a person's shadow, the darkness in them, or the regular darkness.> Nothing comes to mind...
>Are we able to partially sleep? As in have some bodies sleep while others remain functional?> You don't know. You don't believe you've tried before.
Contingency:>Be as harmless and least invasive about this as possible. If we have doubts about how harmless it is, hide it in the darkness under her hat instead.
>Have a bit of our darkness enter Lilly
>["Can you warp things and yourself to any location filled with darkness?"]
Contingency:
>Have a bit of our darkness enter Lilly
>Be as harmless and least invasive about this as possible. If we have doubts about how harmless it is, hide it in the darkness under her hat instead.> "No. I'm your shadow, not Gensokyo's." Your shadow replies.
// At this rate the only viable choice is going to be to wake Lily up at some point and question her...////Nah let her sleep. I want us to leave a good first impression and interrupting sleep is a good way not to do so.
// At this rate the only viable choice is going to be to wake Lily up at some point and question her...//> Through following the fairies, you arrive at a duo of houses within the forest, surrounded by a lot more of those fairies.
Prime:
> Through the " Forest Scouting Shadow-Probe": Situation Report on the Retreating Fairies and the Mysterious Person.
Contingency:
> Create "Structure Scouting Shadow-Probe" and send it to explore the Structure more deeply.
>Who do we suspect?> Yourself. Though it doesn't sound like hearing yourself speak. Far too different, but also more similar than someone else. Reminds you a little of X, or your shadow but it's a feeling of being close to your own voice. Feels weird to feel a voice more than hear it. Makes you feel sure of it despite likely being wrong.
Prime:> You look up at the night sky. Hopefully, you don't crash when morning comes...
>Gaze up at the stars.
Contingency:
>Retreat the portion of our spy blanket from within the building.
>Have the portion of our spy blanket that's still outside look for the source of the voice.
>Have a portion of it separate and form our body near Lily. Remain connected to the main mass via underground tendril.
>Have some darkness pool (hidden) beneath Lily to prime a last resort. If this isn't X, we may need to spirit Lily away to safety.
//So there's potentially a fairy version of us and she's a chunni. lol> You're not sure. You feel tired, and have slept a lot before. But you don't remember sleeping as much before being sealed as you did after.
Prime:
>We don't necessarily need to sleep, though, do we?
Shadow Realm:
>"Oh my god..."
Contingency:
>"You're the night huh?"
>What does this fairy look like?
>Can we sense whether or not she's an actual fairy vs a youkai?
>Have some of our underground darkness seep up as an ominous dark fog roughly shin height.
>Smirk, "Well I happen to be the Youkai of Darkness!"
>"Though, just to be sure you're not my sister in disguise right? Because if you are I'd have to commend you on the prank. If not, then I would be very interested in talking to you, it's not every day that you run into the fairy equivalent of yourself after all."
Contingency:>don't say this.
>"I have amnesia, so you double win."
Shadow Realm:
>"Good morning, lovebird. Are you alright? Did you sleep well?"
>Turn to our Shadow.
>"Oh, by the way, remember how we talked about a fairy version of me earlier? I think I literally just found one. Doesn't seem to be related to the ones on the mountain though from what I can tell."
>"It's actually kind of adorable."
Contingency:
>"You misunderstand. I do not intend to harm either of you, I just saw your friend here sleeping all alone and was taking precautions to secure the area. Fairies are forming factions everywhere around Gensokyo, and I wouldn't want her to be snatched up by one of the bad ones."
>Does she resemble us in any way? Hair or face structure wise?
>Return the fog underground and retract our darkness blanket to the area under our feet as a gesture of good faith. Do keep the area under Lily for now though.
>Have the darkness within Lily discreetly exit her and join the darkness below.
>"Besides, I find you interesting. I honestly wasn't expecting to find a fairy version of myself tonight. Besides, I have no motive for taking your darkness anyway. If I was in need of some there's plenty of ambient darkness to go around, isn't there?"
>"May I know your name? I'll give you mine, in turn."
Contingency:
>"I have amnesia, so you double win."
>"What brings you here?"
>don't say this.> "Watch yourself! I think that's the darkness fairy! Try not to feed her any darkness!" Your shadow warns.
//I don't see why this is necessary to bring up, at least in this manner.
//I get it if you're trying to stroke her ego, but admitting that she's better than us without even seeing her capabilities feels wrong.
//Besides, if she's going to press her superiority I intend on challenging her to a darkness manipulation contest. If we somehow lose that, assuming it happens, then I'd be fine with pulling the amnesia card.
Shadow Realm:> "Patchouli's fine now, by the way. She's back in action." Your shadow adds, before you have time to worry.
>"I haven't. Also X is there, surprisingly, and she seems to have the fairy on a leash from what I can tell."
>Glance at the explosion, are the other two injured?
Contingency:
>Before committing to any of the below:
>>Can we sense that this is actually our sister and not the fairy trying something?
>>If it is her, proceed, if not, give the fairy a skeptical look.
>"Oh hey sis."
>Withdraw all of our darkness back into our body. (All in this instance referring to that which is allocated to Contingency, not all of our darkness from everywhere.)
>"For the record I wasn't intending on bothering them. I was content to just let them sleep and talk to them in the morning, but it seems I didn't need to worry seeing as you're here already."
>"Anyway, sorry for disturbing you, but then again it's not like I knew they were with you. Can't really stay out of your business if I don't know about it..."
>"Also aw, I wanted to adopt her... But being an aunt is fine too! You really found an interesting fairy, sis."
Prime:
>Muse to ourselves.
>"Hmm... Interesting..."
Shadow Realm:
>"Who is this Patchouli anyway...?"
>Smile at the remaining tengu, "Excuse me for a moment while I defuse this. You three are still recovering and having you further injure yourselves while you are guests here is something I cannot allow."
>Throw up a wall between both tengu. Shift/extend the wall if one tries to go around it.
>Make our manifestation large and imposing.
>"Alright, lovebirds, that's enough of that! There will be no killing each other while you are guests here. Now, why don't we sit down and talk about our problems like civilized people?"
>>If one or both decides to make us a target and shoots instead of talking, then throw up another wall to defend us and engulf the party responsible in a sphere (if both, then two separate spheres.)
Contingency:
>"For the record, it would hurt, or at the very least give me an annoying pang of hunger. Though if you wish to duel me I'd like to point out that it would create far more light and noise than we're doing right now and it would be much more likely to interrupt your friends' sleep."
>"Perhaps if our groups ever were to clash then I'd duel you one on one, though that really depends on how invested my sister is in getting involved beyond what she's currently doing."
>"Besides, it's not like I'm going to leave her with the satisfaction of dismissing me as a threat anyway. Once my team is stronger, if a conflict between our groups ever happens then I'd look forward to it."
>"I wouldn't be opposed to scheduling a private one on one spellcard duel at a more appropriate time and place, either."
>"Anyway before anything else, could I at least know the name of my new niece~?"
>"Do you know anything about fairies with tengu speed?"> "Huh...I guess that fairy isn't the one from the mountain, the one we really can't afford to see any darkness. Still, at this point, I would suggest not underestimating anybody. Who knows how strong anyone is anymore?" Shadow advises. "And she's a magician from the vampire manor."
>"Shadow talked about them and it has been making me paranoid something fierce. I thought Lilly could have been one."
Prime:
>Is Junko asleep?
Shadow Realm:
>("I mean, X implied it was... She also seems to consider the fairy to be a candidate for her own shadow. Still, I'm not going to underestimate her in either case.")
>Drop the walls and return to our normal size. Be prepared to throw up a new one if they resume fighting, though.
>"Look, if you wanted out, you could've simply talked to me or my shadow before shooting. You're guests, not prisoners. Nor are we barbarians..."
>Glance to the most hurt one: "Are you alright, by the way?"
>"What do you plan on doing once you leave anyway? I know the others that were here would rather have been fighting with the rest of the tengu and possibly join the fairies rather than go against them in the event the fairies won... Speaking of which, Shadow, do you know if the rest of the tengu surrendered to the fairies or not while these three were out?"
Contingency:
>"Huh, really, you can make someone your shadow?"
>Is that how our shadow was born?
>>If so: "Oh, wait, I think I remember now."
>>Wait would that mean that we adopted our shadow?
>"Hmm... So the incident makes you appear stronger if you're aligned with a fairy, then? Interesting."
Contingency:> No, she's still awake.
>"Huh, I was way off in my guess."
>"Have you seen Marisa or Reimu?"
>Pull our shadow out of the other fairy from the lake>Change "shadow" to "blob" in this sentence, since we didn't have Shadow perform that task.
Prime:
>"Shadow, you could've warned me before dropping them here. Or at least waited until I was done speaking with them."
>Mutter this out loud, but not so loud that it would wake the others.
>If shadow isn't physically present here, broadcast it to her as we speak as well.
Fairies of Light blanket:
>Any change?
Shadow Realm:
>Raise an eyebrow. "Well that was rather abrupt. Why is she still here though?"
>"And by that I don't mean eject her immediately, I would like to hear your reasoning..."
Contingency:
>"As I said the intention was to survey the area for threats and not cause any harm. If Lily was unclaimed I wouldn't want any of the more barbaric factions to snatch her in her sleep."
>"Plus if she keeps tabs on Reimu then she may already be aware that I am currently in an agreement with Reimu as well. I still need to repay her for unsealing us, after all."
>"Besides, wasn't really intending to return to the shrine until morning or near morning anyway and even then I don't intend to enter it without Reimu's permission."
>"By the way do you have any plans for the fairies of light? I have a vested interest in them, so it would be nice to know if we'd have a potential conflict there. Wouldn't want to unintentionally step on each other's toes, as it were."
Contingency:
>Shake our head
>"I was concerned about their safety with how crazy everything has been."
>Pull our shadow out of the other fairy from the lake
>Change "shadow" to "blob" in this sentence, since we didn't have Shadow perform that task.> "Sorry. And she hasn't objected to being here or anything." Shadow explains.
>Do so as harmlessly and discreet as possible.
Prime:> She seems to have, but isn't interested?
>Has Junko noticed?
Shadow Realm:
>"Ah. Let me talk to her then."
>("Please don't eject her without asking first.")
>Glance at the Tengu.
>"So, what about you? Surely you don't intend to stay here until the incident blows over, do you? Oh, and where are my manners: I am Rumia, Youkai of Twilight, you've probably already met my Shadow. Who might you be?"
Contingency:
>"So you have no intentions involving them at this time?"
Prime:> The Tengu shrugs silently.
>Shrug and return to slouching.
Shadow Realm:>"Ah, a pleasure to meet you, Miss No."
>Pout.
>"...Not going to introduce yourself? Fine then..."
>Straighten.
>"So do you intend to join the other Tengu and fight alongside the fairies that conscripted them, or do you intend to take them on in an attempt to liberate them? Do you intend to do so alone if you're going with option 2?"
Contingency:
>Smile.
>"Alright then."
>If nobody else has any questions/statements:
>>"I suppose I'll take my leave then. Bye sis, and good luck with the shadow candidate/kid!"
>>Start walking away along the road.
//inb4 this tengu is an expy of Neopolitan or Silent Bob.
Prime:
>Stand up.
>Low enough so that Junko can hear but we don't wake the others: "I'm going fishing. I'll be back in a moment. Would you like me to bring back any for the rest of you?"
Shadow Realm:
>Physical description of this tengu.
>>(Shouldn't have to add this, but given the precedent:) This does not necessitate staring or oogling or anything otherwise weird, suspicious, and/or creepy in any way, but should be based on what we can logically witness in the moment as well as when we've looked at her in the past.
>"...You're not much of a speaker, are you?"
Contingency:
>Continue along the road. Keep an eye out for anything interesting.
>Create a spellcard based on surrounding our opponent in darkness then throwing lasers like judgement from the gods while the danmaku bullets complement each other> "They can't eat it while they're asleep now, can they?" Junko questions.
> Junko does not respond.//Inb4 actually Koishi somehow.
Prime:
>Shrug.
>"Well, you're still awake. Plus I can keep fish alive in my pocket dimension for a while, so preserving some until morning for the others isn't out of the question."
Shadow Realm:
>Manifest another eye near the fish that was left outside of the "water". Is it still alive?
>Are the swimming fish also still alive?
>Dismiss this eye after determining the answer.
>Consider the merits of turning a portion our realm into a fish farm.
>"Also I noticed that I can't seem to make out any specific features about you other than that you seem to be a tengu. Is that your ability?"
>"Your clothing looks nice by the way."
>("Are you noticing this as well, not the clothes part, I mean the thing about specific features.")
Contingency:
>Once we're sufficiently far from our sister's territory, pull off the road and find a tree to rest near.
>Don't fall asleep. We're simply remaining still to conserve energy.
Prime:
>"...I'll grab some extra just in case. Been wondering if I could start farming fish in there as a renewable food source anyway."
>If there are no objections from Junko, sink into the ground and make for our previous fishing spot, turning ourselves into a "net" of darkness like before.
>Eat fish that swim through us until satisfied as before, in accordance to standard predator etiquette, don't go for anything too small or too large, prioritize ones that seem old or weak, etc. Wouldn't want to ruin the lake's ecosystem for everyone or accidentally eat a mermaid after all.
>When we are done capture some more fish, preferably healthy ones of the same species, 3-6 to feed the others along with with an extra 10-15 or so for breeding stock and deposit them into our Shadow Realm's habitat.
>>Grab a few stones, detritus, and aquatic plants as well if we can put them in the habitat without harming the fish. Might as well give them some feel of their natural habitat.
>Return to our throne once we are finished.
Shadow Realm:
>"Sorta, huh. So anyway, from what I understand you're not sure what you want to do right now? Also would you like a chair?"
>Expand the fish tank such that the floor space is the size of what would be considered a small house while maintaining the current "water depth" to accommodate the influx of fish.
>Return our control fish to its brethren. It's flopped around for hours now and it's served its purpose for the experiment at this point.
>Actually can we make out details about the fish or is it just the tengu that's hard to perceive?
Contingency:> You head back to the lake.
>Take a tree near us and add it to the shadow realm.
Shadow Realm:
>Examine the fish for any mutations
Prime:
>Have we eaten our fill?
Shadow Realm:
>"Do you desire to liberate the tengu from their conscription?"
>("Do remember what happened if I ate a person's shadow or if we tried to copy a person using their shadow?")> "Eating a person's shadow weakens them tremendously, but do be careful, as it can't easily be undone. You may not even be able to find their shadow's darkness after eating it." Your Shadow advises
Shadow Realm:> No.
>Is there anything in particular in the direction she gestured in?
>("Hmm. Do you know if a fairy would recover from it on their own?")
Shadow Realm:> The tengu shakes her head, then gestures outwards.
>"...You want to explore the Shadow Realm with me...?"
>("Do remember what happened if I ate a person's shadow or if we tried to copy a person using their shadow?")
> "Eating a person's shadow weakens them tremendously, but do be careful, as it can't easily be undone. You may not even be able to find their shadow's darkness after eating it." Your Shadow advises
> You haven't even started yet. You're not that fast.
> The Tengu replies with a shrug that seems more annoyed than the previous ones.
> She gestures out into the distance of your void, then to herself, then you.
>_
> The tengu shakes her head, then gestures outwards.
> ("We don't know the most about fairies, but I'll say yes.")
>_
Shadow Realm:>Don't do this.
> To "Speechless Tengu ": Alright then ,do forgive me for going from a right amount of "tactically safe and sound,wrapping-head and understanding, charitable cautiousness" to some and fault .... and so to send you,and thus everyone, back outside in Gensokyo and all its Lights,Shadows and demarcation... please do Confirm or Deny or Gesture-Detail where exactly
>...to the Youkai Mountain,alongside your 2 Tengu companions since they have have nimbly arrived from the Misty Lake and are fly-climbing up there ...
> ... or to distance away from them but still on the Youkai mountain...
> ... or to any other place of your choosing .
> Let her out of her Temporary Shelter by her choosing.
// One-Two-Three...Forth-Further-BackTrack-...Observe and Testing ,Testing and Observing , Right Applicability and Finality Testing-Proving-Seeking-Cooperating... //
Shadow Realm:
> To "Speechless Tengu ": Alright then ,do forgive me for going from a right amount of "tactically safe and sound,wrapping-head and understanding, charitable cautiousness" to some and fault .... and so to send you,and thus everyone, back outside in Gensokyo and all its Lights,Shadows and demarcation... please do Confirm or Deny or Gesture-Detail where exactly
>...to the Youkai Mountain,alongside your 2 Tengu companions since they have have nimbly arrived from the Misty Lake and are fly-climbing up there ...
> ... or to distance away from them but still on the Youkai mountain...
> ... or to any other place of your choosing .
> Let her out of her Temporary Shelter by her choosing.
> ( Duly noted and Duly Trying to Remember&Apply&Not-Apply about Shadow Eating or,even Consumption, much obliged and content for your judicious warning ,expertise and counseling,Shadow;now it is all start coming back for scaling+gradingmore highlighted and applicability,rehearsal and expansion
> Try to Remember about ,based and starting-off other work-outs shadow and shadows or shadow-darkness and theirs : Birthing&Augmenting&Boosting" ; "Copy&Camouflage&Mimic" ; "Heal&IncreaseDefense" ; "Particulary Adjustments&Tweaking".
> This One Current Attempt&Applicative: Share and discuss and Narrate it to show this and this with rumia/Our Shadow as well
> On the " Potential Foraging Shadow-Side" :try slowly eating a moderate part of the whole Tree'sShadow we , sense the energy-vitality and hunger-sleep improvement
> Observe the testing,and tasting, effects and after-effects.
> Try to,from its shadow and the either "heal" or "recover" or "adjust tweak" or " beneficial increase and strenghten its shadow"...
>... If stunted or more ineffective,try a precise compensation and melding the Tree Shadow together a bit of the Shadow Sorroundings ,granting priority to Regenerating the Tree shadow as necessary...
> .... If harmfully failing or turning more uselessly than not, start giving back shadow parts to the Tree...
Prime :
> Besides Fish Meat, is there nothing else edible to regarding forage,gather,pick out,conserve,and eventual sharing,eventual sharing if accepted...
// Reminder : Rumia is able and has demonstrated .from inside the Shadows Dimensions and to outside but proven impossible viceversa, "Shadow Realm and Aligned Shadows&Darkness manifestaion of edges and portions and outreaches,thus potentials ,with herself inside-actively or outside-remotely her Shadow Real (arms and hands ,accesses and exits,shadow and darkness) .... though "ONLY " partly-practiced and experienced-gained, //
>Don't do this.> The Tengu considers, though shakes her head in the end.
>Instead:
>"So do you intend to join the rest of the tengu under the mountain fairies, or do you plan on throwing in your lot with a different fairy or group of fairies? Things are strange in Gensokyo right now, and not being associated with a fairy might put you at a disadvantage until this whole incident reaches its conclusion."
>"If you're considering the latter, then might I recommend the fairy that we're currently associating with? She's quite reasonable compared to the more extreme fairy groups like that of the mountain, and has the backing of a goddess in addition to us."
>"Plus as our numbers grow we're probably going to have to face the mountain group at some point, especially since my dear shadow seems to have a vested interest in your people. So if you join up with us you'll likely end up being a part of the effort to free the other Tengu from the fairies that conscripted them."
>"Of course, if you'd rather not join us, or would prefer to stay out of the conflict entirely I'd understand as well. I'm not going to force you into it if it's not something you want to be a part of. In fact, I'm perfectly willing to send you on your way in the event you refuse, though I may need to ask you some questions regarding where you want to be dropped off in that case."
>"So what do you say? Interested in joining our little merry band?"
//If anybody would like to add anything to this recruitment pitch feel free to do so.
>Try changing a fish's shadow so it is like us without eating it>Isolate this fish from the others/put it in its own separate small tank before attempting this experiment.
Shadow Realm:
>"Alright then. Though the offer's still on the table if you ever change your mind and we happen to run into each other again."
>Smile.
>"So where would you like to be dropped off?"
>"Near Youkai Mountain? At the shore of Misty Lake? Anywhere? Some place I haven't mentioned?"
>"Hold up 1, 2, 3, or 4 fingers respectively to answer."
Prime:
>Progress?
Contingency:
>Look around.
>Try changing a fish's shadow so it is like us without eating it
>Isolate this fish from the others/put it in its own separate small tank before attempting this experiment.> The Tengu holds up her hand.
>>Try not to make it the same fish we did the suffocation experiment with. Poor guy (girl?) has been through enough.
Prime:
>Less efficient, as in we're not catching as much as last time? Or less efficient as if our ability to eat/digest them has been reduced/tampered with somehow?
Shadow Realm:
>("...You wouldn't happen to be able to tell how many fingers that is, can you?")
>If Shadow cannot:
>>"Hmm... Think you can turn down your ability a little? I can't make out how many fingers that is... Or I could touch your hand and feel how many there are, provided you're okay with that."
>Try making the fish's shadow magical like our darkness> The former. You aren't catching much.
Shadow Realm:
>From what we remember from being in Marisa make a copy as close as possible to the original
>Give it a shadow
Prime:> > You expand your area, but don't seem to be netting more...
>Continue the current plan but expand to cover twice the area, both horizontally and vertically, centered on our original coverage.
>Are we catching more?
Shadow Realm:
>Allow her to approach.
>Is the inside human like Marisa?
>Take a smidgen of the fish's shadow and add it to the silhouette
Prime:> No.
>Move ourselves closer to the top of the water column while maintaining area and matching ambient darkness. It's possible that fish migrated up during the night.
>>If this doesn't improve our efficiency, then do the opposite: Sink through the water column until the bottom of our area is touching the lakebed and our darkness is in every nook and cranny.
Contingency:
>Prepare a spot of darkness nearby to receive incoming ejection.
Shadow Realm:
>"Anywhere, then?"
>If she nods to confirm:
>>"Then I wish you well. I'm going to drop you off near my secondary body. Stay safe out there."
>>Gently remove her from the Shadow Realm, ejecting her through the darkness Contingency set.
>"Hey Shadow, can you tell if the Marisa silhouette fused with the fish's shadow?"
>"I thought I might be able to create doppelgangers from people's shadows."
Contingency:> "It doesn't look like it is from here." Your shadow responds.
>Wave goodbye at the tengu as she departs.
Prime:
>Double our area of coverage if we can do so without losing integrity.
Prime:
>We are merged with the natural murk so it's probably coincidental.
>Extend to the entire water column, blending into the natural murk/nighttime darkness at each depth. Once we do this have the darkness towards the center of our dispersed self travel towards the outer edge until we have a ring/tube of dispersed, murk merged darkness a few feet thick.
>Start expanding our ring/tube-like formation, maintaining edge thickness if possible. Consume fish in accordance to our criteria that pass through us as the ring travels towards the lake edge.
>Check what's going on at the surface with the parts of our darkness that end up at the top of the water column.
>>Stop when hunger is sated and we've gathered enough for our breeding experiment.
>>Also stop any of the above steps if it feels like this body will stop existing if our darkness is stretched/dispersed any further
>If the danmaku gets close, dodge it by opening up holes in the "ring" ahead of the shots so that our darkness can flow around them. Close the holes again once the shots pass.
>Attempt to 'weave' the Marisa and fish darkness together.> You try to weave parts of the fish shadow you had into the Marisa silhouete.
>Is the Marisa solid darkness?
Prime:> You continue expanding.
>Continue
>Can we see if anything is in the water orb from here?
>Start shaping the Marisa silhouette so that has organs, veins, and bones
Prime:
>While maintaining its camouflage while dispersed in the ambient water darkness, shift the ring so that it's centered on the orb but the edge is far enough out that it won't be immediately obvious that we're using it as bait.
>Continue eating according to prior parameters during and after the move until satisfied and specimen collection is complete.
>>While moving, since intersecting the path the fish are taking to the orb is inevitable, concentrate on fish farther away from the orb when this happens so as not to tip off whoever's maintaining it that there's something amiss, just in case they're intentionally collecting fish for whatever reason.
>>Do insert a small blob of ourselves harmlessly into one of the fish going into the orb as we pass, though. (If doing so wouldn't cost significant hunger) Might as well see what's up inside.
>Start shaping the Marisa silhouette so that has organs, veins, and bones> You start making more details to the darkness you made. It's not like they actually work like the original things, however...
>Absorb some water from the lake
->Put the water in our Marisa duplicate and use the heart to pump the water through the veins
>If a human got injured what do we think we could replace to keep them alive? (Like make a shadow heart or lung)
Prime:> "Probably not..."
>Listen to the song as the ring continues its work.
Prime->Orb Blob:
>What's it like in here?
Shadow Realm:
>"...You don't think this will become sentient if I do it right, will it?"
>We can see Junko from here?
Prime:
>Resist the pull.
Prime->Orb blob:
>Embrace the pull and accelerate towards the mermaid. Enter her harmlessly. Discreetly if we can. Try to dilute/spread ourselves through the air as we travel until we're barely visible if we can manage it without poofing the blob to make infiltration easier.
>Travel to her inner ears.
>Whisper: "You have a nice voice."
Shadow Realm:> You make the shadow Marisa "solid".
>Glance at shadow then look away in embarrassment
>Try to lift up the water like shadow lifted the tengu earlier
->Solidify the Marisa
>Mumble "Jumped before I can walk."
->"You remember what we could do in our heyday, right. Shadow, could we make doppelgangers or learn a person's history from their shadow?"
>Fall back and let our darkness form a simple chair to hold us."
>"Or is this it, travel through the darkness, make an area dark, and make silly hats?"
>Let out a sigh
>"Maybe I'm over thinking. Heh, gods know how long it's been since I could. My ego has been bruised, being blinded by the Moriya God, not being able to pierce that barrier, how far I've fallen since being sealed, and X's fairy talking like I'm a dog treat."
>Swing around to face Shadow.
>"Thanks for listening. So, besides protecting the people who interest you, what do you want out of life?"
> No.
> Junko stands up, starting for the lake.//How can we possibly know this then??? Prime was the only body with Junko and she's committed to the lake.
Prime:>Don't do this as it would be redundant with above actions. Plus Prime isn't even in body mode anyway.
>Try blocking our ears with darkness
->If that doesn't work shift our form so this body is death.
Prime->Orb blob:>Only do this if both of the following are true:
>Try to remove the blob's ability to hear
Shadow Realm:
>"That's a good point. I think you're right."
>"I'd forgotten that even before our sealing we primarily used our muscle."
Prime:
>Try blocking our ears with darkness
->If that doesn't work shift our form so this body is death.
Prime->Orb blob:
>Try to remove the blob's ability to hear
//How can we possibly know this then??? Prime was the only body with Junko and she's committed to the lake.> You don't feel any from in your void. Nor does Contingency.
---------------------------
Contingency:
>Are we being affected at all?
Shadow Realm:
>Are we experiencing any compulsions?
Prime:>We obviously need to counter their singing with our own!
>"We're no strangers to love! You know the rules, and so do I!"
>Try to switch off our main mass's sense of hearing. (Leave the mermaid blob be.)
>Attempt to conceptually darken our mass's sense of hearing if that doesn't work. (Do not darken that of the mermaid blob).
>>If either of the above works, have our main mass retreat back into the water.
>>If it doesn't, have tiny parts of our darkness turn into rigid, grooved masses, and have them rapidly rub against each other to generate white noise within ourselves. Do not do this with the mermaid blob.
>>>If this reduces the effect, have our main mass retreat.
Prime->Mermaid:
>Physically anchor ourselves inside the mermaid's ear canal if this blob is starting to be drawn out of her. Try not to hurt the mermaid or cause discomfort when we do so.
>Whisper. "Oh, I'm not in your mind, just projecting my voice in a manner of speaking. Who was that by the way? Are they listening to your beautiful voice too? Also are you really going to let that fairy upstage you? Your voice is way better than hers. I liked it better when it was just you drawing me in anyway."
>>(If we're forced to anchor and end up accidentally hurting the mermaid as a result) "Also sorry if that hurt at all. Had to anchor myself so I could keep talking to you."
>"Speaking of fairies, she's not forcing you to sing for you is she? Because that might actually be bad if you're not okay with it. Fairies are forming factions and recruiting people all around Gensokyo and not all of them have been playing nice."
>"Also sorry that I have to resort to this method of talking to you. This is a rather strange situation from my end..."
>(If the main mass is unable to retreat in any capacity) "By the way do you know if your fairy companions have hostile intentions? I'd rather keep things peaceful but if that fairy intends to cause me harm by luring me to her I will have no choice but to open fire. I'll make an effort to miss you though if you're not with them or serving them against your will."
>Don't do this as it would be redundant with above actions. Plus Prime isn't even in body mode anyway.
//Prime is literally a dark mist dispersed through air and water right now, there's no physical ears to block or shift.
>Only do this if both of the following are true:
>>We are forced to anchor.
>>We are being drawn out despite being anchored.
>If we end up doing this. Turn it on when we speak to hear the mermaid's responses before switching it off again. Reposition if necessary.
Prime:> There are no fairies singing. The only person to sing recently was the mermaid, and even though she's stopped to address you, the music still seems to be coming from a fairy instead of the mermaid.
>Send spores of darkness towards the singer
>If the singing doesn't count as danmaku
->"Could ask them to stop? I'd happily play a game of damnaku, and it is safer for everyone."
>Above, as in the water orb?> No.
Prime:>Change to: In a tired voice: "So, what exactly is going on here? And what was allegedly perpetrated that you felt the need to draw in everything in the area indiscriminately?"
>In a tired voice, "What am I being accused of?"
Prime:
>In a tired voice, "What am I being accused of?"
>Change to: In a tired voice: "So, what exactly is going on here? And what was allegedly perpetrated that you felt the need to draw in everything in the area indiscriminately?"> The music appears to be coming from someone with a musical instrument. A violin, you're pretty sure that is.
//Decided to sorta merge yours with mine but remove the mention of us specifically being the accused, since it's clear now that this is indiscriminate.
Prime:
>"Also sorry I didn't speak to you all in general before. Before I realized that you were targeting everyone, I thought I was being singled out for some reason, so forgive me for being cautious."
>Look towards the source of the music.
>Do our allies seem unharmed?
Prime->Mermaid:
>"Oh, so the song was indiscriminately targeting everyone, guess that's better than me specifically."
>"Anyway, yeah I know about the fairies. Even have one of my own too. Are these ones yours? Are you with them by choice?"
>"You can whisper if you'd rather not let them hear. I'm close enough to hear. Or at least this fragment of me is."
Prime:
>Directly whisper to the voice but keep the mermaid in earshot.
>"Correction: I'm with a single fairy -- willingly, mind you -- and certainly not whichever ones may have caused you trouble since we just got here relatively recently. I know there are a few factions around this area, though, so more likely than not it was one of them. Though before I jump to any conclusions I'll ask the violinist what's going on... Oh, my name is Rumia by the way, may I know the two of yours?"
>"Excuse me, miss violinist? As much as I like your music, is there a reason you've gathered up everyone around the lake? "
>Be prepared to fight if Clownpiece's torch ends up causing a fight before negotiations end.
>Send a small portion of ourselves near Clownpiece's ear, try not to look at the torch as we approach.
>Whisper: "Nice to see you awake, Commander, though it's a shame your sleep was interrupted by whatever this violinist was up to. Don't be alarmed, I'm kinda dispersed across the area at the moment. Anyway, I see you're already planning something?"
>Naz> You feel too sluggish to get all the way over to Clownpiece. It's too much work.
Shadow Realm:> You don't believe you have.
>"Have we ever tried to darken something on a conceptual level? Like, for instance, 'darkening' a sound so that it's inaudible?"
Prime:
>"Can we at least know the nature of this so called attack? My group literally just got to the lake tonight, not to mention half of us were asleep, so we couldn't have been responsible, plus you can't really witness much from the shoreline with all the mist either, especially considering it's the middle of the night."
> You don't believe you have.
//It was a question directed at Shadow.//edited
>Start spreading underground/underwater so we can wrap around everyone if they don't want to play danmaku>Change underground to "dispersed into the air", since we're partially spread through it already.
>Have the dark spores duplicate then spread through the fairy>Make sure the spore blobs are small/dispersed in the air enough not to be easily seen and approach the violinist from behind.
->Have the duplicates head to the violinist
>Send a small blob that looks like a spirit out, "I'd prefer danmaku.">Don't do this.
>Start spreading underground/underwater so we can wrap around everyone if they don't want to play danmaku
>Have the dark spores duplicate then spread through the fairy
->Have the duplicates head to the violinist
>Is the moon out and casting shadows
>Send a small blob that looks like a spirit out, "I'd prefer danmaku."
Shadow Realm:> You begin spreading darkness further to move through.
>Shrug.
>"Not sure, but still would have interesting implications if conceptually darkening something actually works."
Prime:
>"Honestly considering how late it is, I'm all for a peaceful resolution if one is possible. Besides, not every fairy faction is that barbaric from what I understand. I, for one, would be perfectly willing to abide by danmaku rules if it came down to it, but that would hinge on whether or not my opponents are honorable enough to do the same."
>"Besides, my associates have a point. You broke the rules first, after all, so most of us would actually be justified in retaliating without danmaku if it came to it."
>"I personally hope it doesn't come to that, so why don't you just tell us what you do know about this alleged attack and the party responsible and see if anyone here knows anything about them from your description and can point you in the right direction."
>Does everyone that doesn't seem to be associated with the violinist and mermaid collectively outnumber those that seem to be?
//Since I was ninja'd:>Change underground to "dispersed into the air", since we're partially spread through it already.
>Stop when/if it feels like it might compromise our ability to maintain this body.
>Make sure the spore blobs are small/dispersed in the air enough not to be easily seen and approach the violinist from behind.
>Have a few enter the violin itself, merge into a larger one, and hide in the ambient darkness inside the instrument.
>Don't do this.
//I don't want to give them a target to shoot at unless they actually decide to indulge in danmaku. Still hoping for peaceful negotiation.
>Pull the instruments into the Shadow Realm//I'd like you to be more specific with this action please. There are ways this can be misinterpreted, with it being under two actions instead of one and with Rumia only having one darkness realm.
>Pull Meiling, the mermaid, and all the fairies that don't belong with musicians except Clownpiece into our realm
>Pull the instruments into the Shadow Realm>Please do not do this.
>Pull Meiling, the mermaid, and all the fairies that don't belong with musicians except Clownpiece into our realm
>"You wander in my domain, my flesh and you threaten those under my protection. Nay, but I will have tribute for your passage and this gross insult!"
>Eat the fairies shadows except for Clownpiece and steal the phantoms' shadows if they have them.
>Pull the instruments into the Shadow Realm
>Pull Meiling, the mermaid, and all the fairies that don't belong with musicians except Clownpiece into our realm
>"You wander in my domain, my flesh and you threaten those under my protection. Nay, but I will have tribute for your passage and this gross insult!"
>Eat the fairies shadows except for Clownpiece and steal the phantoms' shadows if they have them.
Shadow Realm:
>"Can we create darkness solid enough to prevent sound from passing through in one direction? I may need to bring some idiots that can influence your mind with music here if the current situation I'm in escalates. If it comes to it, then you do not have to be present if you don't want to."
>If shadow answers yes to the soundproofing question, create a hollow sphere with such properties (allowing sound to pass from out to in but not the other way) capable of holding three stooges if it came to it.
>If not: "Fine then. I'll/We'll have to deal with them without protection... "
>Prepare a table with enough chairs for each of the stooges and their associates, as well as a throne at one end of the table for ourselves, and another next to it for Shadow if she wishes to remain here.
>Create a pool of darkness water for the mermaid. We like her and want her to remain comfortable for her potential visit.
>"...we really should buy a tea set for this place."
Prime:
>"Well excuse me for being cautious against a potential threat that lured us here with music and blatantly stated that they would be willing to violate the spellcard rules. This is your last chance to settle things, either peacefully or through the spellcard rules, otherwise I will have no choice but to put you and your associates into timeout for a bit so that everyone else can go back to sleep. Consider yourselves lucky that I'm giving you this chance despite the fact that you threatened my fairy, and so I heavily advise you take it."
>Send spores into the dark spaces of the other instruments as well, if we can (staying out of the trio's line of sight when we infiltrate.)
>Direct some of our dispersed darkness into air around the trio and their associates such that we can increase our density, engulf them, and send them to the Shadow Realm at a moment's notice.
>If our threat is ignored AND if without the below actions being here the parser won't give us a chance to react before they start playing the instruments:
>>Send the aforementioned individuals and their associates to the Shadow Realm if they ignore our threat and decide not to engage in danmaku/reopen negotiations and start playing.
>>Have the darkness in the violin solidify and fill the chamber within in order to disable the instrument without breaking it. Cut the strings with a sharpened tendril if this fails and we don't think we can send them to the realm before being affected by the music.
>>Have the darkness in the other instruments solidify as well to block air passage through the trumpet and to paralyze whatever moving parts the other thing has. Don't do anything to damage these instruments if that fails, though.
>>Drop the mermaid into the 'water' we prepared for her. Have everyone else land near a chair. Drop the stooges in the soundproof orb if we were able to create it.
>Please do not do this.
//I mean, I do intend to send them to the shadow realm if they continue to escalate but this seems way more extreme than what I think is appropriate.
//We can discuss what to do with their shadows if and when we actually send them in there, AND things break down further.
//Also Meiling has nothing to do with this, so she shouldn't be brought in.
>Naz> "We can prevent light from passing through our darkness. So sound shouldn't be impossible... right?" Shadow thinks hopefully.
//I do wish we got to taste fairy shadow.
//Oh, I see the misunderstanding. We said send the individuals and didn't include their instruments.//Even if we didn't specify it's 1. A logical assumption to take the instruments with them and 2. the instruments were in close enough proximity to them that we should've engulfed them anyway.
>Hold everything.//Edited to include such despite the actions never specifying bringing the instruments, as well as the insistence on making sure they could be contained "at a moment's notice".
>Retroactively make it so that we brought the trio's instrument's with them. Since the last parse literally just happened and it's very weird that we didn't do so as part of bringing the trio in.
>Allow time to edit our current queued actions if this is applicable and allowable.
//Phil can you back me up on this? because for all intents and purposes the action shouldn't have separated them.
Shadow Realm:
>"I did say I'd prefer a danmaku duel and this was plan B, A was much worse."
>"Oh, wait no, this is Plan C. Plan A was danmaku."
>"Anyway this is the Shadow Realm."
>"Oh, uh would like a chair or something miss?"
Prime:
>"I'm more of nature's music or lute kind of gal."
Prime:> You are in range. Thus, you send the new trio and their instruments into your shadow realm as well.
>Are we in range to grab the new trio/get close enough to send them (and their instruments) to the shadow realm in the same manner at a moment's notice?
>If so, grab them too and send them (and their instruments) to the soundproof ball.
>If not move into position as we speak. Do not speak from the part that's moving.
>"Don't worry, none of the people who were just sent to time-out will be harmed. I'll bring them back once everything calms down and we've talked things over. The rest of you can go back to your business."
>Have the dispersed parts of us near Junko, Hecatia, and Clownpiece whisper: "Would you like to sit in on the negotiations, my companions, or would you prefer to go back to sleep? Also even though I say they won't be harmed, I'm still not letting the one that threatened Clownpiece get away unpunished."
>>If we can't yoink the new trio (and their instruments) immediately, "Also for the record I have nothing against music or instruments. I was merely responding to a threat against a friend."
Shadow Realm:
>Have our darkness in the mermaid's ear disperse into near invisible mist and come back to us.
>"Sorry about the rough landing, Miss Mermaid. I tried to make it comfortable for you."
>"Anyway, I brought these three and their associates here so we can talk things out peacefully and to prevent this little misunderstanding from escalating any further. None of you will be harmed while you're here, and you will be returned to Gensokyo at the end of this, though I will be putting barriers around you if you start getting violent."
>Turn to the stooges:
>"Apologies about the barrier, but it did seem like you were going to weaponize your instruments so I had to take precautions. I'll let you out if you promise to keep things civil. Also it's soundproofed one-way so a simple nod will suffice."
>"Also those other three who I assume are with you will be here shortly."
>Extend the table and prepare three new chairs.
>"I hope the accommodations are appropriate too, I'd serve some tea but I unfortunately don't own a tea set..."
Shadow Realm:>Don't do this. (Sorry that I keep making these kinds of posts btw...)
>Every hostile that isn't a poltergeist, cover their eyes with darkness
>"And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great"
Prime:
>To our companions: "Alright. Be warned that the one with the drum is about to try something. She's inside a soundproof barrier, but there's no telling if she has an ability that can bypass it."
>Send Clownpiece, Junko, and Hecatia to the shadow realm if they're fine with that. Deposit them near our end of the table. Make thrones for them as well, have the one intended for Clownpiece be the biggest one there. Make Hecatia's bigger than ours as well.
Shadow Realm:
>("...Could we have made that impervious to phantoms? If not then that's definitely something to research later.")
>"Look, I'm sorry about infiltrating and jamming up your instruments, but you were threatening us with non-spellcard combat and I needed to take appropriate precautions... I intend to release my hold on them, provided everyone intends to keep things civil."
>>If we didn't have to cut the violin's strings: "Besides, it's not like I actually damaged them. I may have been trying to stop you but I'm not the kind of jerk that would just intentionally break a musician's instrument. All I want is a peaceful conversation..."
>>If we did have to resort to that: "Besides, I tried not to damage them as much as possible. Even going for the part that can be most easily repaired on the violin. I may have been trying to stop you, but I'm not the kind of person who would just permanently break a musician's instrument... All I want is a peaceful conversation..."
>Wait to see if Phil has anything to add/change.
>Where are and what are the fairies associated with the musicians doing?
Prime:
>"How much was the music affecting everyone?"
Shadow Realm:
>Every hostile that isn't a poltergeist, cover their eyes with darkness
>"And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great"
>Don't do this. (Sorry that I keep making these kinds of posts btw...)
//Trying not to be too aggressive here. Plus I think blinding everyone won't give much points in our favor...
Prime:> "Oh we're fine now. Don't worry about us." Junko says.
>Look to Meiling and the other fairies
->"How are you guys doing?"
>Are the fish head bobbing
->If so say, "Look, the fish are dancing!"
>Send a tendril of darkness along the ground and look for the drummer's shadow.
>"What are your wishes commander?"
Prime:> "None of us did..." Meiling looks between her fairies.
>"Yeah, sorry if it seemed creepy, but I needed to send them somewhere where they would have no choice but to sit down and talk. Really hope things didn't have to come to that, though. But to be fair I did warn them..."
>"So... For those of you still sticking around, does anyone have any ideas about who allegedly attacked the lake and started this little misunderstanding?"
Shadow Realm:
>"I only escalated because you did, and because you were threatening not only us, but everyone you called together, and to be fair I did warn you before I brought you here."
>"And no, this isn't all I can do. It's just that I'd rather not hurt anybody here unnecessarily."
>"Also neat rhythm power. Shame I don't trust that any music you guys play won't influence our minds right now or I'd let the others play along. Maybe get the mermaid's beautiful voice in on it too..."
>"Anyway, we're going to get nowhere if we keep fighting. Wouldn't it be nice just to calm down, have a nice talk, and perhaps reach a mutual understanding?"
>Let's not ask Clownpiece for direction yet, unless she spontaneously decides she wants to order us around. We seem to be handling things well so far.
>Why send a tendril from ourselves when we can just manifest one from the floor directly? This is our realm after all. Do that instead.
>Form a solid shadow over the stick when can we move so the drummer cannot pull it back
->Then wrap the drummer's hand in place so she cannot move it
>Are our bodies outside the realm being affected?> Your bodies outside are being affected.
Prime:
>"Where it used to be...?"
Shadow Realm:
>At the next tap form a rigid disk of darkness between the drumstick with the faster rhythm and its drum.
>>If we can manage it, form ones over the other drums as well except for the one that is linked to everyone's movement.
>>If there are cymbals form spheres around them.
>"Can't we all just get along? I really don't want to start hurting people."
>To mermaid: "Also yeah, I'm trying to see if I can start a breeding population in here... Since if I keep having to take from the lake I'm sure someone will get upset eventually... If you have any pointers I'd love to hear them after this is over. Also sorry if my fishing scared or worried you at all in either of the two times I've done it..."
//Hmm... not sure if your method or mine is better, Phil. I'm trying to force it so that the drum tied to us is the only one she can hit, and I'm not sure if immobilizing her would leave everyone paralyzed or not.
//What do you think?
>Wait for Phil's response since it may lead to an edit to prevent deadlock/nonaction in a critical moment like this.
Shadow Realm:>Please do not do this.
>Eject just the drums near Contingency
>Pull the drummer's shadow off of them
>Eject the phantoms' instruments near Contingency
->Steal the phantoms' shadows
>"Now please stop. If I lose concentration that could be permanent.">Proposed change of the first line to this:
>Let out a sigh
->"She was right, again. Where would be a good place to get more fish for my breeding project. Oh, how many need to be returned?"
//X seemed to be talking about over hunting/fishing//No, I distinctly remember her criticizing our sloppy hunting skills prior to relearning we can sustain off ambient darkness.
>Steal the shadows like planned if we can reattach them>Only if the act alone is mostly painless and they are still insistent on escalating after all other actions.
Shadow Realm:
>Eject just the drums near Contingency
>Pull the drummer's shadow off of them
>Eject the phantoms' instruments near Contingency
->Steal the phantoms' shadows
>"Now please stop. If I lose concentration that could be permanent."
>Let out a sigh
->"She was right, again. Where would be a good place to get more fish for my breeding project. Oh, how many need to be returned?"
Contingency:
>Cover the drums in shadow
Prime:
>"Yikes. What happened?"
Shadow Realm:
>("Shadow, any ideas of what's happening to the realm? Do you think drummer girl is attempting to take control of it?")
>("Think you can assist in subduing that one harmlessly and nonlethally if it came down to it?")
>"Am I? Because unless simple fishing somehow counts as attacking the lake, then I doubt I'm who you guys are looking for. Especially since I never attacked anybody either time I was there. Really I was only there for fish... When exactly did this alleged attack happen anyway?"
>"Also I'm well aware that taking too many would be bad for the lake's ecosystem and those that depend on it in the long run, which is why I tried to eat only the ones that were least likely to survive -- either due to age or disease -- and is also part of why I was hoping to start a population in here, so that I could leave the lake's population alone."
>"Of course, I'm open to the ideas of alternative, sustainable forms of meat as well if you'd rather I didn't keep some fish here. Though if you're going to suggest insects, I'll have to decline. Already tried with those and it's not nearly as nourishing as something with actual flesh..."
----------------------------
>Please do not do this.
//Dude we're trying not to cripple or kill people. Also stealing the instruments will just piss them off even more. (Also on an OOC note, stealing the drums would probably hurt Raiko since she's a tsukumogami, or give her a way out of the realm entirely.)
>Proposed change of the first line to this:
>>Glance at the drummer.
>>"Also I'd advise against tampering with my realm... Do something wrong and you may cause something bad for all of us... Look, all I ask is just to have a simple conversation and a peaceful resolution to this whole misunderstanding. I'd rather not have to resort to drastic measures, and I think some of your associates would prefer a nonviolent resolution as well... Besides, have I ever tried to hurt you since this whole thing started?"
//What do you think of this, Phil? Also again sorry that I keep doing things like this...
>the "sigh + she was right again" is unnecessary, as X's criticisms of our hunting methods was directed at us hunting game, not fish. Besides, it's not like we weren't following her advice before the current urge took over either.
//The youkai in our Shadow Realm think they are stronger than us and can do what they want. They are going to keep escalating unless we shut them down hard. We've also tried repeatedly to talk negotiate.> You cover the drums in shadow. Though it does not stop their tapping.
//I thought we'd weaken not cripple as long as we don't eat the shadows.
//X seemed to be talking about over hunting/fishing
>Steal the shadows like planned if we can reattach them
//Honestly, I rely on your countermands to keep me in check> You return the groups to where they were before you took them into your shadow realm.
//We just keep getting wrong place wrong people
//Nothing Wrong with being nice and friendly. We should avoid extremes.
Shadow Realm:
>Pinch the bridge our nose in frustration
>Return the mermaid, her companion, and the the musicians and their instruments to their original positions outside the Shadow Realm
>Send the other group's fairies back on the chairs in front of the lake
>"I'm really sorry that happened."
>Return our group to the lake
Prime:
>"I think my sister mentioned a Patchouli. Does that name ring any bells?"
in the upcoming centuries//Aren't you exaggerating a bit?
//And the conga line of failure continues... It's almost a meme how much Rumia has been a loser in this quest since being unsealed. tbh I think the only major conflict where we've had a true victory under our own power where we walked away with a net positive result was against Sendai. Every other time we've either failed and/or had to have someone else step in either to save us or to solve the problem themselves.
//You know what. I'm not going to stop any of your actions today, Phil. In fact, for today you can take the reins entirely. Go nuts. It's becoming clear to me that perhaps a more peaceful and friend-making Rumia isn't the way to go with the current trend, and I kinda feel like an ass for constantly countermanding your posts. (I'm sure the parser would appreciate it if I stopped doing that for a bit as well.)
//Who knows, perhaps going "hostile fey lord" as you put it might make things interesting.
//Also I'm a bit worried that our lack of success might be all because of me, so stepping back for a day will let me see whether or not I've been nothing but a negative influence on this quest.
//So yeah, have fun today. I may pop in for some commentary, but don't expect any commands on my end for the next 24 hours.
//Honestly, I rely on your countermands to keep me in check:meiling:
//We just keep getting wrong place wrong people
//Nothing Wrong with being nice and friendly. We should avoid extremes. " //
Shadow Realm:
>Pinch the bridge our nose in frustration
>Return the mermaid, her companion, and the the musicians and their instruments to their original positions outside the Shadow Realm
>Send the other group's fairies back on the chairs in front of the lake
>"I'm really sorry that happened."
>Return our group to the lake
Prime:
>"I think my sister mentioned a Patchouli. Does that name ring any bells?"
//Aren't you exaggerating a bit?I'm not sure how long we can go if we get the fish hatchery up and running.
>Pull our dark out of the instruments> You take the darkness out from the instruments and address the mermaid before she gets out of view.
>Before the mermaid disappears
->"I shouldn't need anymore in the upcoming centuries as long as my project pans out."
>"The mansion should be safe. Was Patchouli harmed when you last saw her?"
>Pull our dark out of the instruments
>Before the mermaid disappears
->"I shouldn't need anymore in the upcoming centuries as long as my project pans out."
>"The mansion should be safe. Was Patchouli harmed when you last saw her?"
//Aren't you exaggerating a bit?
Shadow Realm:
>Reconstruct our aquarium
->Check on our fish
>Examine our tree
Prime:
>"What are you doing now or plan to do?"
->Glance from Meiling to the maid fairies
Prime> The mermaid is already gone.
// Returning Neutral and Eventual Positive requires honest and insightful explanation, and so I am both trying for that and avoiding over-explaining //
> To Wakasagihime,before she dives underwater, : "Be reassured that they are lasting for a relatively long time and,more importantly, I am both willing and able to return what surplus number of healthy fishes to this very Lake ,as soon as there is a more or less stable surplus ; in fact you have witnessed first-hand how I favour that most fishes are to be poured in new waters,then preserved to thrive"
> Explain to "all musical instruments phantoms and musical instrument youkai girls" : the return to in Gensokyo proper and unjamming their Important Instruments is,indeed as the small person has said a bit ago, a return to neutral and hopefully positive grounds , as the "Small Person" advocated justly a bit ago ; the stress ,misunderstandings and overblowing is due to " The Recent Best Fairy Contest being mostly manipulated and abused,except for the Fairies and Groups who are actively shielding against .
> When that part is accepted : politely present ourselves as " Rumia, the Original and Returning Youkai of Shadows and Twilights" ...
> ...kindly ask the same , and for the sake of the ditto "returning neutral and positive grounds..." , to Clownpiece,Hecatia and Junko for both themselves and " Team Clownpiece " as they are deeming fit...
> ...ditto to unknown ones to present themselves ,again as they are deeming fit.
// Please Note that for the the next resumed context of actions referenced, since during that one Rumia's Shadow started to willingly&actively assisting and aligning with us , the actions of "Both (Prime!/Proto!/Original!/Returning!) Rumia and Rumia's Shadow " are referred together to "(we players)Rumia" and only "X Rumia" is differentiated //
> ( Tell Shadow we are resumedly narrating "her Scarlet Mansion Observance&Discoveriy" as if they were ours or the sake of not creating confusion with a 3rd Rumia and avoiding her own likely forced reveal to a larger group before she herself agrees to a reveal.)
> Recount and perform a fact-checking to Meiling : X Rumia , a sort-of sister to us , was also concealed but present in helping Patchouli's Recover from a Seeming Near Death,then a bit after narrated it to us in ....
>... this corresponds with both she and us ,through a scanning of Gensokyo Shadows, " managing to sense and pinpoint a feeling of odd dread in 2 of Gensoukyo's Locations" ; 1 which was closer to us and around the Top of Youkai Mountain, and an harder to investigate Issue has taken place there ,and another 1 followed fairly soon... the one at Scarlet Devil Mansion,more distant but also more approachable , where we managed observing more closely and where X Rumia intervened for Patchouli afterwards, ...
>...once we come in observing range outside the Mansion, we Shadow-Noticed Trouble Starting and Subsiding with a Conflict Issue centered on "Sakuya the head-maid" coming , then the Mansion Disappeared and soon followed the " Odd Severe Afflicted Patchouli needing Double Recovery Needed to Be Healthy Again " ...
// Remembering and piecing together those events,this is severely hinting to a "Non-Rumia " starting a "Greater Shadow Consumption" on Patchouli ...//
// ...another reason to attempt specialization in "Lesser Degrees of Shadow Consumption" and "Shadow Recoveryand Boosting" "
Prime:
>To Meiling:
>"Oh, that's my sister."
Shadow Realm:
>Is our group still here or did we let them out with the others?
Prime:> You let them out with the others.
>"After that, it might be a little bit before anyone can go to sleep."
>Turn to our group, "Does anyone feel like they can sleep?"
Shadow Realm:
>Retrieve the fish shadow we sew to our Marisa
->Try reattaching it back to the fish
>Whisper to Clownpiece, "Do you want to see if Meiling and the fairies with her want to join us before heading back to bed?"Prime:
Shadow Realm
>Search the area the Marisa darkness structure was for the fish shadow
Prime:
>Whisper to Clownpiece, "Do you want to see if Meiling and the fairies with her want to join us before heading back to bed?"
Prime:> The fish shadow still seems to be present.
>Add on: "Also, what is my punishment, Commander?"
//I feel like one may be owed to us since, if the other group is to be believed, we are allegedly the whole reason everything happened. Plus we never got back at them for threatening Clownpiece, so our group definitely has reason to do so. If anything submitting for potential punishment would be a good way to stay in the group in case our position is now in jeopardy because of this.
>"W-Well uh, assuming there was no other group to be blamed for 'attacking the lake' then apparently me just trying to eat is the reason those people started this whole situation in the first place... Also I never really got to properly punish the one that threatened you either... Plus there's the possibility that the others in our group might think I deserve one for those same reasons..."
>Grab the fish shadow and try and reattach it to the one it came from> You try to reattach the fish's shadow to the rest of it, seemingly succeeding?
Prime:> "What happened to the people that did give you food in return? They don't do that anymore?" Clownpiece asks.
>"I don't necessarily need to eat humans. Other food -- preferably meat -- works just as well in sufficient quantities. In fact, back when Gensokyo's rules regarding which humans to target were less restrictive, I'd usually accept other forms of food from my prey in return for sparing them. Unless of course they were very rude or were vile enough of a person that they didn't deserve such mercy..."
>"I can sustain myself off of ambient darkness for a time as well, though it eventually gets to the point where it actually feels tiring to do so, which is actually why I needed to go on a fishing trip tonight..."
>Sweatdrop.
Shadow Realm:
>So now that things are settling down, did we ever grab any new fish from the lake for our breeding stock before those people interrupted us with their luring song? Or do we still have the same number as before we went on our fishing trip?
>"Do remember how we through the barrier to the outside world?">Don't say this.
>Ask Shadow the question if we remember leaving the barrier>Try to remember ourselves first, then ask Shadow if we cannot for whatever reason.
//I think it was said early on we forgot how we got to the outside
Shadow Realm:
>Does it feel like our body in the Shadow Realm is taking energy to maintain?
>"Do remember how we through the barrier to the outside world?"
Contingency:
>Sink sixty feet into the Earth
->Take the shape of a diamond and get as small as possible while maintaining body integrity
-->Siphon off any darkness not needed to keep the body stable
>Does Contingency feel like it takes as much energy to maintain
Prime:
>What did we ever do with those that gave us food as an alternative to eating them? Did we make repeat visits or did we just leave them alone?
>Are there any that could plausibly still around, or would they all be dead of old age at this point?
>Don't say this.
//It was never implied that we've ever gone through the barrier or attempted to.
>Ask Shadow the question if we remember leaving the barrier> You think you tried to leave them alone.
//I think it was said early on we forgot how we got to the outside
>Did we ever get any flak from Yukari, shrine maidens, or sages for passing the barrier back then, or was the barrier back then not as "solid"?> No. You weren't someone stupid who took a noticeable amount of humans. In fact, you think Yukari isn't innocent of such herself. At least, bringing them to Gensokyo. You're not sure if she actually killed them or anything...
Prime:
>"Generally I'd leave the ones who gave me food alone after that. Partly because I was honoring my word, and partly because I never really felt the need to hunt the same human twice. While I could see if any are still around, I'm pretty sure they're probably all dead of old age or other causes at this point."
>"And it's a different kind of tiredness than general fatigue, even if I'm starting to feel that too, though in that case I think I can manage. I'm used to being active at night anyway."
>By 'it' is Junko referring to sleeping or 'hunting' the same human more than once?> You believe she's referring to your hunting.
Prime:
>"Honestly, the only real thing keeping me from hunting humans in this day and age is that outsiders don't wander in often. I could probably see if I could get around the barrier and find some unprotected humans directly, though I'd have to be careful to not end up on Yakumo's bad side if I tried that."
>"Besides, as I stated I don't necessarily need to eat them either..."
>Is Meiling still present?
>"Shadow, do you remember how we got pass the barrier to the outside world?"> Meiling is still present.
//Thankfully children are scared of the dark
>Form a blob of darkness from the darkness dome around the three fairies' tree and have it go to the barrier>Commit Contingency to the task instead
>Form a blob of darkness from the darkness dome around the three fairies' tree and have it go to the barrier
Prime:
>"That's . . .kinda pathetic. Does a sizeable number of humans actually do it or just the ones that are insecure about them?"
>Give a small Smirk
>"Or overcompensating for something?"
>Commit Contingency to the task instead> "I don't know. We're in a vampire's mansion, so no way they go after us." One of the fairies answers. "Probably hard to find any trying it with this going on."
//Mostly because I'm not sure how we would be affected if we sent a portion of something tethered to our main body (which is still interacting with other things at the same time) through as opposed to a separate body. Plus that body's not doing anything right now anyway.
Prime:>Don't say this as we already mentioned that we might be able to get around the barrier and that this isn't a guarantee.
>"I may have found a source of food."
Prime:
>"I may have found a source of food."
Contingency:
>When we get to the barrier take our shadow form and try to pass
>Don't say this as we already mentioned that we might be able to get around the barrier and that this isn't a guarantee.> The fairies of light are still asleep.
Prime:
>Status of the fairies of light? Still asleep?
>"So, Miss Meiling, what do you and your fairies plan on doing?"
Prime:
>"Would you and your fairies be interested in joining up with us, or at least forming an alliance between our groups until the incident has blown over or the mansion comes back? Some of the fairy factions are pretty radical in their methods, so wouldn't it be nice for us more reasonable groups to stick together through this? Besides, if we have larger numbers or at least the support of one another we'd have a better chance of beating the other groups."
>Allow the other group members to make their own recruitment pitches if they decide to chime in.
Contingency:
>Try using the underground darkness to bypass it?
>What’s left in a place when we eat the darkness from it?> Usually darkness, since it fills the parts you ate.
Prime:> You don't think you ever needed to go that deep. Nor did you do so.
>"So loyalty to your employers. Okay, I can totally respect that. However, even if you don't join us, a simple alliance wouldn't mean you'd need to leave the area. It would just mean that our groups would have the mutual support of each other whenever we're nearby, and with the range of my darkness you could perhaps even call on us if needed. Assuming Clownpiece is okay with such an arrangement, would you be at least open to that idea? It would be better to have friends more than enemies, after all, especially considering that some of the fairy factions I know of are much less willing to take no for an answer when they're recruiting..."
>Look to Clownpiece to see what she thinks.
Contingency:
>Head about a mile underground and try again.
>How deep have we ever gone, for that matter, according to what we can remember?
Prime:
>"Alright then, if you say so. Though the offer is still open should circumstances change. In any case I wish you guys luck during this incident and with defending your turf."
>"Looks like Clownpiece needs more rest, so should we make our way back to where we were?"
Contingency:
>Does the barrier seem stronger than it was back then?
>Try again at a depth of an additional mile.
//I'm actually starting to get curious about how close we can get to earth's core before the glow of magma stops our advance. Probably won't act on it though. Still the thought of Rumia invading America by passing through the center of the earth is a funny thought.//Rumia: "Look Clownpiece I brought some souvenirs. It's like you have a land full of fans over there."
Contingency:> "We should." Hecatia nods.
>If that fails try traveling by the darkness
>What separates us from regular darkness
Prime:> You suppose being a youkai separates you from regular darkness, maybe? If you had to say anything, at least. That or being elsewhere too, but you doubt it's that.
>Nod.
>"Well, I guess we should get going then. Take care, Miss Meiling, and your fairies too."
>Start making our way back with the rest of the group.
Contingency
>Send a tendril straight down, keep moving it until we either: 1. Encounter the barrier, 2. encounter something that blocks our advance, or 3. Feel like we've reached the limit of our range.
//Partially to see if the barrier is spherical rather than a hemisphere and partly to see what our maximum range might be, assuming we don't hit the mantle first.
>Is the barrier down here?
Prime:> You haven't tried to pass it down here yet.
>Follow our group.
Shadow Realm:
>Can we feel the fish through the "water?"
>If so do any seem to be carrying external parasites?
Contingency:> You try again with your new spot, but still don't make it anywhere new past that.
>Try passing through the barrier
> You haven't tried to pass it down here yet.
> You follow your group out of Misty Lake's area.
> Yes.
> You don't think so? That's not really something you can tell...
>_> You suppose being a youkai separates you from regular darkness, maybe? If you had to say anything, at least. That or being elsewhere too, but you doubt it's that.
> Meiling waves your group off.
> You have some darkness continue heading down in our stead.
> After a while, you seem to finally reach somewhere different, and not just surrounded by ground.
>_> You try again with your new spot, but still don't make it anywhere new past that.
>_
> By Shadows, "Measure the Barrier" to determine its span,shape, its depths...>Don't do this. Probing the entire barrier on this scale will surely attract Yakumo's attention. Even if we don't mean anything ill towards the barrier, it would help not to annoy her too much.
"
// :point: :smallcherry: [As an humble hopeful succor for fathomable reflections &... ] "... All is a
( relatively important , and it/they purely&honestly has/have to be worthy of it)
quoting inside another
(more important ,and it/they purely&honestly has/ have to be even more worthy of it/them) quoting " ... :time: :dream: //
Shadow Realm
> By using "shadows" try and perform a "health check" on the "water" encircling the fish ...then get to it to its outer body... then "a true health check" in its innards.
> Attempt to "sample" health,fitness,purity,qualities,characteristic...by"sampling",or the equivalent its shadows.
> How are the fish and its "sustaining waters" ,is that it ,reacting?
Contingency:
> Take altitude by flying and oversee ,though not conspicuously: what exactly is " new in the new spot and not just sorrounded y the ground"
> By Shadows, "Measure the Barrier" to determine its span,shape, its depths...
"
> During the undergoing processes: are we coming across any other living being shadow? Any "New Spots? Is any shadow being or perceived "altered somehow?" ? Does "the Barrier" cast its own shadow or repel them or encapsulequotations of posts :meiling:them or act as a divide from one front to the other ?
>Don't do this. Probing the entire barrier on this scale will surely attract Yakumo's attention. Even if we don't mean anything ill towards the barrier, it would help not to annoy her too much.> You don't notice anything wrong with the shadows you're using as "water" for the fish.
Prime:
>Have we arrived?/Has any of our group attempted to open conversation?
Shadow Realm:> You've already racked your memory, nothing new comes across with getting past it...
>Try to remember our exact method of crossing the barrier.
Prime:
>"We could use my Shadow Realm as a shortcut if you want, though I'd need to send a tendril of myself or a secondary body towards our destination first. Unless you guys want to be near the barrier or the fairies of light for whatever reason, since I already have a body and a tendril there respectively, though I personally think that would be a bit too far from the lake."
Prime:
>Nod.
>"Alright then."
>Pick up the pace a little, as much as a group with a tired Clownpiece will allow.
>Actually is anybody carrying Clownpiece right now?
Contingency:> No.
>Keep going down
Contingency:
>Go back up to the surface where we were while keeping the tendril where it is.
>What does the tendril see?
//Isn't it a bit redundant to go down there when we already have eyes down there?
Prime:
>Don't outpace the others.
>Do we believe we can carry Clownpiece under our own power (that is, without having to make a chair or platform out of darkness to carry her. etc.)
Contingency:> You could easily carry Clownpiece physically. You are a youkai, after all, and she's just a fairy.
>Have the tendril see if the barrier extends down this far
>Have our tendril go deeper
>Do we recall anything being under gensokyo?
Contingency:
>Does the cavern appear to extend under the barrier?
>Have our tendril stick within opaque darkness of the cavern wall if possible.
Prime:
>"Would you like me to carry you, Clownpiece. I could also make a floating chair or platform of darkness instead if you'd like."
Shadow Realm:> No.
>Start making a diarama of Gensokyo out of shadow
>Put little figures of people we know are at
Prime:> You lift up the fairy and continue away from the lake.
>Full on princess carry!
>Carry Clownpiece respectfully if she lets us.
Contingency:
>Move the tendril towards the barrier, maintaining contact with the cavern wall.
>Past as in the open air or past as in within the rock?> The latter.
Contingency:> You try to get through the barrier with the tendril, getting the same results as last time...
>Try having the tendril pass through
>No helping it, go down even further> You descend ever further down in the open area, while your other body has made it a fair distance away from the lake, with nothing new happening.
Prime://Is this directed at Hecatia or Junko? because we've heard her refer to Hecatia as master several times.
>"What is Clownpiece's relationship with you Miss? Teacher and student, Master and servant, or something else?"
Prime:
>"What is Clownpiece's relationship with you Miss? Teacher and student, Master and servant, or something else?"
Contingency:
>Wrap the darkness around us like we did when were sealed.
->Does the barrier block the darkness?
//Got it.> "She's like my follower, you could say." Hecatia answers.
Contingency
>Have the tendril follow the wall and go even deeper.
> "She's like my follower, you could say." Hecatia answers.
> You wrap some darkness around yourself.
> It does not look like the darkness gets past it.
> You have your tendril continue further down...
>_
>Contemplate what separates our darkness from regular darkness
Contingency:
>Keep sending it further down.
Prime:
>Look around as we travel.
>Contemplate what separates our darkness from regular darkness
Contingency:
>Keep sending it further down.
Prime:
>Look around as we travel.
> Looking at Hecatia then at Junko and finally at Clownpiece : " True,a quite affectionate.devoted, loyal and fitting-in Great Fairy follower,so to consider ".> Your darkness is usually magically. You probably have a whole realm full of it, after all.
// In the "eventual" modus and objective(s) of " Eventual Advancements ", not remotely or inconsistently//
> In useful "eventualities" or "eventual advancements" ,slow down and adapt the " shadow tendril" into shapes to better measure+sense underground alongside the cave wall and further around the Terrain ,both away from the Cave Wall and alongside it ; do not touch touch or brush the Great Hakurei Barrier though .
Prime:
>"It looks like we avoided some trouble."
Contingency:
>Try to control the non magical darkness
->Try to cast our senses through the regular darkness
Contingency:> "Well, some more, given we got into some earlier..." Junko responds.
>Have our tendril try probing the barrier again now that we're at this depth.
Prime:> "Did they now? I didn't see them with any fairies helping them..." Junko questions.
>"That's true. Speaking of that, the musicians mentioned their abilities improved by making pacts with fairies. I don't know if it has affected me like that. Have either of you notice any improvements?"
Shadow Realm:
>"Ha, that would make us a better matched fit. This bumbling around has given a possible boon."
>Wave our hand at the diarama and have it form the cavern we've found
>"It seems like a good place for a home. Saturated in our element, hard to get to, and few landmarks."
>Scowl at the aquarium
->"After Red's performance a place where meticulous work can be stored would be useful."
>Put our knuckle to our mouth
->"That light down there is worrisome, but I don't plan to stick my nose where it can be bitten again, at least today."
Contingency:
>Make a door with the natural shadow on the other side of the barrier
>Make a door on our side of the barrier and link the two
->Step through the door on our side of the barrier
Prime:> You try to just form yourself in the other darkness, yet such attempt still doesn't quite work...
>Try forming our body in the other darkness
Prime:
>"That's true. Speaking of that, the musicians mentioned their abilities improved by making pacts with fairies. I don't know if it has affected me like that. Have either of you notice any improvements?"> "Did they now? I didn't see them with any fairies helping them..." Junko questions....
> "None of those fairies looked like they were helping them. Even the ones you took in didn't seem too helpful." Hecatia adds.
> You muse about your shadow realm and add more details to your display. You might need to see the rest of the cavern before you can properly display how large it is, but it shouldn't be too large to display for now.
> You mess with the darkness on both sides of the barrier and try to go through.
> As before, you never make it through to the other side.
> "Ahh. I remember now! Surely X Rumia realized this as well." Shadow speaks. "You don't pass the barrier by trying to get through an explicit location. Common sense would ask for you to get to the edges of this world and try to move into the next that way, but this is Gensokyo, after all. Anywhere can work. Focusing your efforts on an edge likely gets you less results. You'd be better off doing it anywhere, Hakurei Shrine, the mountain, underground, above ground, skies... But how to get out... Well, we can already tell how the darkness outside of the barrier is? If so, maybe just trying to get from 'this darkness to that darkness' would work more than 'trying to pass the barrier'?"
>_
> Your darkness is usually magically. You probably have a whole realm full of it, after all.
> You continue down, away from the barrier.
> And reach the bottom of this open underground area.
> You've already gotten away from the lake. There's some trees nearby, as you are near the forest the other fairy group split off to. There appears to be some commotion going on at the lake area you left further behind.
>_
...
> Did the Poltergeists Musicians mention that or were they referring to others?
> If it is the 1st instance, answer to Junko and Hecatia they were not helped by fairies but rather have made some sort of pact which through the fairies strengthen them .
> If it is the 2nd one , clarify you were half-mistaken as they were referring knowing to others with whom the fairies made some sort-of pact with them,or rather through them,to be strengthened.
> ...in any instance , point out if any of us is feeling added power or other beneficial improvement since agreeing to help Clownpiece ... but also clarify none of us have made any sort-of pacts through her,which is still is all unbeknownst to here ,and in addition i,f there are any boosts for us , they are likely to come forth while under greater effort,
> Redirect , but send a new 1 instead if this 1 has to be used for active exploration or other direct activities , " the shadow probe discoverer of this open underground area fairly close to the Great Barrier " to prudently watch out over " the commotion brewing at the Misty Lake " .
Contingency:
>Close our eyes and try to get to the shadow that we are manipulating beyond the barrier
->Open our eyes and check if that worked
Prime:> You don't think the musicians actually mentioned being with any fairies. None seemed to be aiding them, at least.
>Status report.
Prime:> Following along.
>What do Hecatia and Junko appear to be doing?
Contingency:
>(If you really think so then sure, but it is important that I either remember or relearn how to pass it sooner than later.)
>Have our surface body seek out bugs like crickets to send to the shadow realm, presumably all of the same species. Send some leaf litter/plant matter as well to feed them.
Shadow Realm:
>Make a new container to receive the bugs and bug food that Contingency brings. Might as well start a bug breeding project so we can feed the fish.
Prime:> You do a few tests with your abilities, affirming that you can't feel much through the natural darkness, but can push and pull it.
>Pull your darkness back from the lake
>Try feeling the natural darkness to see if we can feel things through it
->Try pushing and pulling the darkness
Shadow:
>"That's true. Worse case scenario we can ask X."
>"Do you know if things in here need to eat or drink?"
>Try changing the darkness in front of us red
Shadow Realm:> The former. Pretty unceremonious...
>"Hmm, good thing I decided to try starting a population of insects then. Here's hoping they thrive and give us a steady supply of fish food."
Prime:
>Is Clownpiece limply sleeping in our arms or is she holding on to us in her sleep?
Prime:>Don't do this. We already tried making a soft surface with the bed earlier and it didn't work, and a hammock would be making something completely different anyway. Additionally we're probably going to set down soon so we'll be able to make something less awkward.
>Shift our body shape so that Clownpiece is sleeping in a hammock like appendage with a pillow that has a soft fleshy feel.
Shadow Realm:
>"I didn't mean I'd bother her now. I meant after this weird incident is resolved."
Prime:
>Shift our body shape so that Clownpiece is sleeping in a hammock like appendage with a pillow that has a soft fleshy feel.
>Do we know of a place that would make a good campsite nearby?
>Don't do this. We already tried making a soft surface with the bed earlier and it didn't work, and a hammock would be making something completely different anyway. Additionally we're probably going to set down soon so we'll be able to make something less awkward.> You don't. Your best bet is to probably just set up where you are. Or heading into the forest.
> You don't. Your best bet is to probably just set up where you are. Or heading into the forest.
>_
Prime:
>"I think we're far enough from the lake. I can make furniture though I can't get the textures right."
Contingency:
>Sink into the ground
// Sooner or later we should be doing " some.sort of mediating intervention " between the "confronters" at the Misty Lake since 2 out of 3 of them already reckon us at least a well-disposed neutral party, and.... //> "This is fine. We can stop here." Junko answers.
>//... it really seems, though pending confirmation, another misunderstanding by "The Musicians" being impulsive in discerning between " Dangerous/Troublemaking Fairy & Allies Groups" and " Innocuous Fairy & Allies Groups " then provocations back and forth erupted in the current escalation which is being surpassed by another bigger escalation right next to it... //
//... although... it has to be evaluated if the " Unknown 3rd Group versus the Musicians ", and the eventual other unknown and involved ones, is really Innocuous like Meiling's or if it a Troublemaking/Dangerous 1 which we should be pointing out to Meiling Group that and lend some help in subduing it //
.
Misty Lake Shadow Probe:
> Who is the additional group? Who can we recognise from the 3 involved parties,. besides the Musicians, Meiling and her Fairies? What other activity is mounting up in. addition to their confrontation?
Prime:
> Ask Hecatia and Junko if this feels like a proper place to set down for a rest to them as well.
// The difference is that this would be" a single Mass of shadow particularly tuned not to reconstruct a pillow but to be pillow-like... //
// ... and course a " Brief Product-Testing " comes first, either by Hecatia or Junko, before setting the sleeping Clownpiece on it //
> What is our expertise, or at least estimate, about making ".Imitating Simple Shadow Artifacts " like ... a comfortably soft pillow-like shadow Mass?
>Can we make out any details of the strange object?> No.
Prime:> You make a few beds out of darkness, but in a similar way to how you make your body.
>Make a couple of beds with skin texture
>"I can adjust the textures to a degree or change the beds to fit your tastes."
> You make a few beds out of darkness, but in a similar way to how you make your body.
> Or, you've tried to... They don't seem to be different, nor do they feel like skin. At least, the darkness is somewhat soft...
> It's hard to tell if Junko simply doesn't care, or has no input on it...
>_
// Perhaps the "big object coming down "is the Scarlet Devil Mansion or something similar...? //
Prime
> Apply a " layer of softened shadow on top of the closest shadow mattress... "
>. .. test with 1 one hand if it has a more comfortable feeling...
>... and apply it to the other ones if it is so.
Shadow Probe
> Observe the Silhouette of the Big Object: it is becoming bigger and bigger, closer and closer directly on top, or very close, to the "duelists"... right?
> If that the is the case... we should promptly warn them all.
Prime:> You repeat the body technique you used for the beds and just make a bit of darkness over the bed.
>Lay Clownpiece on one of the beds
>Take one of the beds for ourself
>Feel for where X and the fairy are
Shadow Realm:> The fish seem fine, while the critters... You're no expert on them. You have no idea if they're better or worse than outside.
>Check on our "Realm Guests"
Shadow Realm:>Try to remember ourselves first, only ask this if we cannot do so.
>"Were you born with me or were you turned into my shadow?"
Prime:
>Look around.
Shadow Realm:
>Do they appear to be feeding on the leaf litter at least?
Contingency:
>Status
Shadow Probe:
>Watch the spellcard and look for weaknesses
Shadow Realm:
>"Were you born with me or were you turned into my shadow?"
>Try to remember ourselves first, only ask this if we cannot do so.> Your scenery hasn't changed. The "Beds" you made are still here. No one new has arrived, and nothing new has turned up that wasn't here when you got here.
...
> The big object seems like its planned to land on the fight... Thus, you consider warning the group...
...
> Your scenery hasn't changed. The "Beds" you made are still here. No one new has arrived, and nothing new has turned up that wasn't here when you got here.
> Yes.
> You are still in the ground.
> The drum girl appears to be... dropping drums towards the vampire... they nearly cover the entirety of the vampire's firing angles, possibly acting as barriers.
> You're pretty sure your shadow was with you since the start.
>_
// Are we agreeing "this particular elicits" The Charity of at least a convincing warning , if not more to intervene ( :fullpower: Sapient ideas always very welcome ) in discovering its true nature , affiliation or unaffilation , purpose and of course "cooperate in safely (and neutrally ) fending off any and all low blows //> It is still-
> It is still heading right into the fight while others all the others are unaware...?
// Ditto as above //
> From which angle and altitude the" Very Large Object" is coming down ? Are we able to find an area fit to draw at least most of duelists the away and clearly point at the "Very Big ominous Silhouette incoming"?
//X has a vested interest in at least some of the mansion inhabitants so I don't think we should interfere.> Yes.
Prime:
>Does Clownpiece appear to be sleeping well?
>Where are we, roughly?
>If no player objects
->Go to sleep
>Do not sleep.> You decide not to sleep. You have an important task, after all.
//We're still spread out with no guarantee the rest of our bodies/tendrils won't fall asleep with the main one. Nor do we have any guarantee that our darkness constructs and tendrils won't vanish when their source body sleeps. If either case is true then the setup we have re: the fairies of light would be pointless and I have a vested interest in making contact with them when they wake up. Sleeping would also risk missing this window of opportunity as well due to the possibility of sleeping past it. Especially with how long Rumia's been up already.
// So do we want to wait until sunrise?
> It is still-
> Ah. It's slowed to a stop - hovering up there. Though you still can't quite tell what it is this far away...
> You're not sure if it's too large to get out of range from, or if it is smaller. At least, it's stopped now...
> "I was kinda hoping you'd have some ideas." The gate guard responds to the maid. "I suppose we just do our best to not disappoint the mistress."
> "I don't get why you guys are behind a fairy. People like you could've been helping stop this whole thing." The red pianist speaks.
> "We'll be fine without your help, you two. We coordinate better when it's us three. Though your music isn't too bad, either." The violinist speaks, as the trio all appear to go into a spell card trance.
> The one in black begins the pattern, while the other two seem to refrain from firing yet...
> The vampire seems to be doing alright against the drummer, though she isn't landing any hits at this rate either.
>_
// Likely that we wait like that , at least until we found a way that immediately alert and wake us up when a development is detected in the vicinity //> You do not know how to assemble such a thing.
Shadow Probe
> Are we able to " assemble from the shadows " some kind of "shadow telescope or binoculars which is able to focus and refract some of the light in the vicinity in a manner that amplifies vision " in order to and use it to better see the now stopped Giant Silhouette ?
> If we are unable,can we " build from the shadows " a " raising shadow tunnel hidden among the rising shadows " in such a manner and direction in order to try and use it to get us closer and closer while as unnoticed as possible to the now stopped Giant Silhouette ?
> That mention of "I don't get why you guys are behind a fairy..."...are we able to recognize who is that " Best-Performing Fairy " fighting alongside the Mansion Group and who is not a Fairy Maid ?
Contingency:> You have your tendril continue through the cavern, now starting to explore it rather than simply diving deeper down...
>Head towards the light in the underground cavern, but stay out of sight of anything sentient
>Would it be considered rude to interrupt the gatekeepers duel?> You don't know why they're fighting in the first place. But that maid joined in before focusing on the others, so maybe it wouldn't be rude?
>Use our ability to control darkness to write in front of Meiling, "WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HELP? SAY ALOUD YES OR NO">Do not do this.
> You have your tendril continue through the cavern, now starting to explore it rather than simply diving deeper down...
> "Sorry I'm late." You hear another person, as a similar figure to the vampire's rushes to her side, though with much weirder wings. "Where's Patchouli?"
> "Not here. Probably asleep or dealing with her own issues, if I had to guess." The vampire replies, forming a spear above her, before launching it at the drummer.
> The projectile pierces through the drums in the way, though the target grazes it just barely.
> Only for it to explode behind her and break the spell card.
> "You should go help Meiling and Sakuya." The vampire speaks. "I have this."
> "You clearly missed though! I had to help out." The weird winged one chimes. "I live at our mansion too, so I'll also help against them."
> "They seem to just be tools and ghosts. It won't be that bad if you end up breaking them."
> "...More disrespectful creatures." The drummer starts to prepare another spell card, this time forming two drums that immediately begin shooting danmaku and lasers from both ends, while also beginning to rotate.
> The red and white of the trio of musicians are supporting the violinist's attacks, which seems like it might be too much for the gatekeeper.
> The maid, meanwhile, appears to have beaten one of the other duo, but faced a loss against the other.
>_//It seems like a plot hook
//Or does Neo not dangle hooks for players to follow?
//I was planning to harass by having the darkness take the shape of a pack of wolves and occasionally give them our darkness to shoot danmaku//X has a vested interest in the mansion and Meiling already refused alliance. Wouldn't want to step on X's toes nor dishonor previous agreements.
//OK
>Wait until Clownpiece wakes or the fairies of light interact with us or come out of their home
->Stop waiting if something interacts with us
>Try feeling for X's darkness
>Use our ability to control darkness to write in front of Meiling, "WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HELP? SAY ALOUD YES OR NO"
>Do not do this.
//I see no reason to get involved beyond observing.
> You try, and feel a bit of familiar darkness nearby for a moment, before you cant tell anymore.
> Make a good point of remembering that on 1 hand Patchouli had been importantly helped out with "invested " interest during her and the Mansion's earlier struggles ,according to by relayed reports by Rumia X . On another hand her absence in this 2- side Tag-Team Groups Dueling . On the final other hand the the Fairly Vague + Unworried Question ( by the ""Remilia-Related & WeirdWings 2nd Vampire" )"Where's Patchouli?" and the Fairly Vague + Unworried Answer ( by "Remilia the 1st Vampire )"Not here. Probably asleep or dealing with her own issues, if I had to guess."...
> Look over how the 2 defeated ones are supporting themselves without glossing over any Fairy Maids defeated or close to ; the Head-maid Sakuya ,especially her who is more well-disposed and in the known with us and without an immediate pair-up, and the Paired-Up Instrument Girl are faring ... .
> Rather recently We were already //( Philosopher 's commands )// looking out for particulars or particularities sorrounding Rumia X's Darkness : are there no theme s or patterns of Darkness by Rumia X' or , potentially , by her "Darkness Fairy Pupil-Protegè" or ,even, another Youkai-Like Unnatural Darkness ?
> Concentrate in " locating & assessing Clearer Angles & Take-off Spaces alongside the Outer Line Dueling Encirclement" , at the same time detracting the just needed from "observing & overseeing the Scarlet Mansion The Big Teams Danmaku Duels " , for truly considering a discreet & closely precise inspect about " Giant Floating Building or Building-Linked Silhouette " ... since it has to be a Building or Building-linked...
> ... all the while in this or eventual similar search & research : no notice or traces or leftover traces of (other) Observers , Spectators , Curious Ones around in the ,as overviewable, Greater Misty Lake Area ?
> You try, and feel a bit of familiar darkness nearby for a moment, before you cant tell anymore.
> The musical duo and the maid are catching their breaths.
> "We had more fight in us than last time, didn't we? Wish we had the chance for a fairer fight." One of the two speaks.
> "Im used to working at night. There's nothing to blame but my lack of growth for falling now." The maid replies.
> "Are you sure? You seem more tired than a battle would do to someone."
> Something appears to be on the side of the object. Or perhaps its someone, as before they can leave it fully, they stop, and return to it.
> There doesn't appear to be any other observers at the lake apart from the two dueling groups. Though there are a few of the fairies from the forest you saw fighting the lake ones before starting to be visible near the lake area. There might be more behind them, but you're too far to notice.
>_
// Perphaps, if.more Fairies (mostly and likes those are of the group together with the"Mysterious Purple Woman who had passer and battled before through Misty Lake before alongside and against Fairies ")are gathering, soon we shall have to move our focus on the Forested Border Area of the Lake and the Tree Lines behind of it... //
> Have we found a "reserved" angle or space that permit us to have a closer look to the object and the "someone" moving?
> If so begin a closer look-over and identification, and note their silhouette, behaviour and movements even if we are unable to get closer.
> Keep observing the Duels and the Approaching. Fairies.
>Bran
>Branneg
>Create a spellcard> You have not found a better angle yet.
->Name: Twilight Sign: Shadows of the past
->A card that focuses on using shadow manipulations to create facsimiles of dead warriors with those mounted flying in the sky after our foes
Contingency:>Make sure we're not underground for this, as well as in a spacious and remote enough location to avoid attracting/hitting unwanted attention.
>Try out our idea for a spellcard
>Continue observing.
Prime:
>Check on our party.
Contingency:
>Try out our idea for a spellcard
>Have the Tendrils of Shadow creep into the stone and hollow out a room
Shadow Realm:
>Take the stone shape it to look like a diorama of Gensokyo.
"Shadow, who are we on good terms with prior to the sealing that would freely tell us our history?"
>Make sure we're not underground for this, as well as in a spacious and remote enough location to avoid attracting/hitting unwanted attention.> "Yes. A group of individuals hard to best outside of danmaku. Though they don't seem intent on winning this competition as much as the others. They are gathering forces, still. Hm, why don't you lot join?" The vampire questions.
Prime:> "I don't need to." Junko replies. "Are you?"
>"Are you having a hard time getting to sleep?"
Contingency:
>Look around for any peeping Tom's
>Try again, but this time focus on our soldiers.
Shadow Realm
>"That's a surprise. I'd have thought we had more connections."
>How hard is it for us to maintain mental clarity with all these bodies?
>"We were a trinity! So, that must mean you're the ghost."> "No you fool, im the other part of you. Your instincts, suppressed Because you don't want to eat as much. When you were asleep after being unsealed - those sightings of you people like Marisa claim - was me. But you seem less incompetent than you lead on. So, ill cut the joking, Softy. I guess you can call me the ghost, since im only the original energy and memories of the old you. I was gonna joke around about being evil you, since youre the softest of the bunch, but let's cut to the tips. You already pretty much rememeber how to get to the outside world."
->"Right, so would you please wake me up when the fairies realize that I covered their tree and it is actually morning?"
>Raise an eyebrow.> "I was going to say I was, as a joke to scare you. I am in control, though. But I'm just having you rest since you arent eating enough to stay energized and focused 24/7 with your energy usage."
>"...So you just wanted to give me advice? Not hijack our body in my sleep or anything like that?"
>"Heh, yeah, after getting the seal off I've been trying too much and stretching myself too thin."
>Yawn
-> If no one objects then sleep
>Don't sleep yet.> "I have my reasons. Don't worry about them."
>"Well as long as my current investments and constructs aren't negated due to having to rest and you aren't using our body for some malicious purpose I suppose I'm fine with that..."
>"Though if you can wrest control from me like that, then I have to ask: Why give me advice at all, and why wait all this time? Surely if you're the old me, or what's left of her, I'd imagine you'd probably want to be the one in control, or at least get rid of me. Especially since my 'softer' approach to things has gotten us few positive results..."
>Sis is weary of you, why?
->Spirit must see myself as much easier to manipulate than X.
>Give an easygoing smile
>"Well, ok."
>(Well that doesn't sound ominous at all...)> "Im no enemy. Just someone not wanting to have what we started to forget going to waste. And Neo is cautious in general. Starting to remind me of Yukari. Im bothering her like this too - which im sure she must be upset with considering what i pulled her out of in the middle of."
>Can we feel our connection to shadow like this?
>"Do you know if the curse the Moriya God used on me affected Neo?"> " Doesn't feel like we're still cursed."
>Stroke our chin
->"That's a shame. I'd have preferred the both of us to differentiate more from the sealed us."
>Grin while shrugging our shoulders
->"It is no use dwelling on what is already done."
>"Perhaps you could teach me what I have forgotten in my dreams when I slumber."
>"Seems easy enough to understand. You said that I was also on the right track to remembering how to pass the barrier too, right?"> "Yes. But for once, I can't really support your multitasking methods. Unless you're better than we were before, you won't be able to get through with your focus split so much."
>"So what you're saying is that to pass the barrier is basically an 'all or nothing' situation with regards to committing my--er, our--mass to the task?"> "Pretty much."
>"Gee that's a bit of a bummer, then..."> "Cry about it then. Or maybe stay in Gensokyo. Neo doesn't have any issue with this. In fact, she isn't even interested in the outside world as much compared to the other ones."
>Sleep
>Do not.> "So... impatience?"
//We technically are already anyway.
>"To be fair the only reason I'm interested in going out there right now is so that I don't have to wait for an outsider to randomly wander in anyway."
>"Moreso that humans are seemingly the best satisfaction for hunger needs, and for obvious reasons preying on the villagers is out of the question."> "And you think the outside world is easier pickings? Humans that wander into Gensokyo are almost always lost, so you could immediately converge on them. Meanwhile, in the outside world, you need to wait. And plan. And get lucky. People are almost never alone nor in the dark. And usually, soon after someone goes missing, others go on alert and places start becoming off limits and much less frequented. Or you could attack someone in broad daylight, and see how well that does you."
>"I didn't know what to expect except more humans."
>Give a small Shrug
>"I thought they likely still had homeless and undesirables who no one would miss."
>"What? Do you expect me to hunt so recklessly if I went to the outside world? I may lack some of our prior knowledge, but I'm not stupid."> "Those that are are usually routed by that Gap Youkai. She's seemingly got no problems whatsoever moving between Gensokyo and the Outside world, and is the reason for more outsiders in Gensokyo than normal. There's likely a reason not more of them are, however, and you're sure to be noticed should you take an interest in finding out."
> "Those that are are usually routed by that Gap Youkai. She's seemingly got no problems whatsoever moving between Gensokyo and the Outside world, and is the reason for more outsiders in Gensokyo than normal. There's likely a reason not more of them are, however, and you're sure to be noticed should you take an interest in finding out."
> "But you are the darkness youkai. If you think you should have your own free reign of the outside world and its humans too, go ahead and see what her answer is."
>_
> " We already have a more than good good amount of "interesting and involving"business, people,"rehabilitation" and issues in Gensokyo to help out,be helped out and sort out before turning an eventual interested eye to the Outside World,though...".> "If you can't attain a good enough supply of energy, then you simply need to be using less energy. That's not hard to understand, is it? Perhaps you could stalk some food stalls or farms and snatch food away while no one's looking, if you can't possibly live without multitasking."
> " Regarding our past and its applications to the present...indeed at recurring points in time humans ought to had become too scarce or defended..."
> "...what had been the alternate solution to that,then ? Partial but not enough "harvest " has been procured in the present by the through " environmental shadows " ,so...maybe "harvesting&feeding" on carefully limited parts,and thus greater in "harvested constantly available quantities", of other living beings' shadows? "
> " Regarding our past and its applications to the present...indeed at recurring points in time humans ought to had become too scarce or defended..."
> "...were there any prove or unproven alternate "Harvest&Feed"solutions to that,then ? "Environmental Shadow Harvesting&Feeding " has been already been tested in the present with insufficient yeld,so a Greater Amount of that... or.. maybe "Shadow Harvesting&Feeding" on carefully limited parts,and thus greater in "nutrition quality&quantity&availability", of other living beings' shadows? "
> "If you can't attain a good enough supply of energy, then you simply need to be using less energy. That's not hard to understand, is it? Perhaps you could stalk some food stalls or farms and snatch food away while no one's looking, if you can't possibly live without multitasking."
>_
>"Mmm, tempting. I'll stop multitasking so much."
>Sleep
>"I don't intent to multitask all the time, it's just that it's more convenient for me to do so at the moment."
>Aren't we already technically asleep?
> " A very valid practical advice, thank you, but at the same time please also clarify if you are glossing over " Shadow Harvesting" either because we have never attempted it before and thus the benefits are uncertain and experimental either you already know its maximum usefulness is just bits of nourishment or for other reasons I cannot fathom... ".> You aren't sure if you're asleep or not. All you have is this Rumia for confirmation.
> You aren't sure if you're asleep or not. All you have is this Rumia for confirmation.
> "Well, if you find a way to make it more efficient to multitask than not, feel free to go for that. You might even find a way before Neo does in her rate multitasking. And for the shadow thing, I say keep trying if you want to see if it's better or not."
>_
> " So Neo, Rumia or X Rumia, is developing her own multitasking defined as "Rate Multitasking"... a specific multitasking by specific degree or something deeper could be early-deduced? "
>... moreover and by the way, are we.going to be able to "Special Sleep Communicate."like This, granted we are both open and available"?
>"Hmm, are you an actual separate entity or a mental representation of my subconscious?"> "My mistake. I meant to say low rate. Or I suppose you could call it rare. She's trying to use it as little as possible."
>Try racking our brain for where our memories have holes
>"Fair enough."> "Hm... I suppose I should remind you that you are still a strong youkai. Darkness definitely wasn't your only strength - you have literal strength too."
>"Is there anything I should know or would help me that I'm not asking about?"
> "Hm... I suppose I should remind you that you are still a strong youkai. Darkness definitely wasn't your only strength - you have literal strength too."
>_
> " Perks,boosts,strengths,talents and such which complement or support ,or potentially could , are within those 2 same spheres ,right ?"> "I mean raw strength. Not like I'll tell you if you knew how to whistle or anything."
>"Heh, well it is easy to overlook the obvious."> "Of course I do. But for you to know is useless. You can't beat them the way you are now. None of us can."
>Give her a serious look, "Do you know or have any clue as to who or what sealed us?"
>"Well that certainly doesn't sound ominous at all..."
>"And would it not be better to know so that we may avoid them, at least for the moment, rather than try to beat them? If they're still around I'd highly doubt that they'd take our newfound freedom well..."
>"I was under no delusion that I could defeat them. Especially with how I'm a shadow of my former self."> "I believe it was someone upset that our darkness only grew stronger against Amaterasu's light. They should've known darkness will always exist." She scoffs. "Was it that god herself though? I cant recall if we ever found out."
>"Likely a god or a priest and still around in one shape or form."> " Probably."
//Do you guys have anything you want to say?
>"Likely a god or a priest and still around in one shape or form."
//Do you guys have anything you want to say?
> " Probably."
>_
> " Do you recall any other defining feature or trait or habit or relations linked to them ? ".> "They weren't really that memorable. I'd say pretty dull."
> " Oh,besides that, do you have any clue about why X and her crew are gathering forces together with a growing numbers of others ,as we were seeing such before "falling asleep" when she was opening a portal ?"
> "They weren't really that memorable. I'd say pretty dull."
> "She wants to make it through this whole situation. Well, it's not like either of you couldn't make it through alone, but it seems like she's taking others along for the ride."
>_
> "About this whole situation...I think it is best we have not to underestimate what shadow had Discovered on the top of Youkai Mountain: that Darkness-Absorbing person which really seems to have appeared and become active at the same time the Fairies became Strangely Empowered and have been participating in their own "Best fairy Contest",moreover since the only group of Fairies on Youkai Mountain had been acting quite forcefully in their raiding and conscription of most of the Tengu..."> "Actually, from what I can tell, That's part of your previous thought. That darkness was a fairy who i believe has abilities with darkness? They are like aspects of nature, so it would make the most sense... The situation with your darkness there only made things better for her, but it looks like she'll stick to X now. As for the rest of the mountain, X had enlisted the Moriya Shrine Maiden not too long ago for something with Sakuya. It shouldn't be your business, but isn't Reimu better at things with other gods? X, or at least Sakuya, might be in your debt if you can help them with it. but its up to you. They'll probably get it in time, maybe. I don't know what's up with the maid completely either, though."
> "...a peculiar coincidence would you not agree,though neither I nor Shadow nor Shadow are no still updated about the current state of the Upper Youkai Mountain..."
> "Actually, from what I can tell, That's part of your previous thought. That darkness was a fairy who i believe has abilities with darkness? They are like aspects of nature, so it would make the most sense... The situation with your darkness there only made things better for her, but it looks like she'll stick to X now. As for the rest of the mountain, X had enlisted the Moriya Shrine Maiden not too long ago for something with Sakuya. It shouldn't be your business, but isn't Reimu better at things with other gods? X, or at least Sakuya, might be in your debt if you can help them with it. but its up to you. They'll probably get it in time, maybe. I don't know what's up with the maid completely either, though."
> " I could certainly recommend Sakuya's Issue to Reimu, and with it also cooperating with X helping with it... "> "I'm not sure if there's others that could help that sort of situation..."
> "... however, since Reimu would still need to know more about it to assist, do you know something else until i can find and ask insights about to Sakuya or X or Sanae or others related ? "
> "Actually, from what I can tell, That's part of your previous thought. That darkness was a fairy who i believe has abilities with darkness? They are like aspects of nature, so it would make the most sense... The situation with your darkness there only made things better for her, but it looks like she'll stick to X now. As for the rest of the mountain, X had enlisted the Moriya Shrine Maiden not too long ago for something with Sakuya. It shouldn't be your business, but isn't Reimu better at things with other gods? X, or at least Sakuya, might be in your debt if you can help them with it. but its up to you. They'll probably get it in time, maybe. I don't know what's up with the maid completely either, though."
> "I'm not sure if there's others that could help that sort of situation..."
>_
> "Recently,there has been a Lesser Incident originating from within the Eientei mansion and extending to nearly all the Bamboo Forest of the Lost... on a bedt of gratitude to Reimu for my unsealing,I took part in the participation of resolving it on her behalf ...up to the point I could be of assistance...> "Perhaps." She answers simply.
>...Is Sakuya's Issue perhaps related to that,to her Deeper Involvement in the Resolution there within the Eientei grounds... ?
>... If I recall correctly... among the only ones among us and with us who were able to venture there to assist...there were Daiyousei and the Female Shingyouku...there they found Sakuya already hard at work ...even straining herself in "the last phase" of Resolving The Incident which was Trapping herself,the whole Eientei alongside the Forest...
> "Perhaps." She answers simply.
>_
// Anything else to ask/discuss/insight about before Rumia's wake up?//> "No, not really."
> " Any other observations or advices or alike before I...woke up"
> "No, not really."
>_
> " Would it be wise to reveal I have received ,and I might be receiving in the future, 'communications by you ' " ?> "Does it matter whether you tell anyone or not? It'd just be a sort of... self realization. Or something like meditating. Others do that, I'm sure."
> "Does it matter whether you tell anyone or not? It'd just be a sort of... self realization. Or something like meditating. Others do that, I'm sure."
>_
> " Before I wake up , may I ask if you know where X and the others where headed for their gathering,or at least the most likely choices ?"> "Gathering?"
> "Gathering?"> " I mean the one X and her Allies,or is theirw not a Gathering of sort "
>_
> " I mean the one X and her Allies,or is theirw not a Gathering of sort "> "Ah. It's likely going to be in her own void. That's most likely."
> "Ah. It's likely going to be in her own void. That's most likely."
>_
// (!)... (!)//> "No. Just a sort of dream, like this."
> " Have you "visited", together with X at her own privacy and dkscretion,at Her Own Void of Her Own Shade as well,then?"
> " Had It at that time turned " different and... a ...sort-of Pervading Essence...Otherwordly Peculiar of a Crimson Scarlet Hue already?"
> "No. Just a sort of dream, like this."
>_
// This is also mean to the end to prolong the space for partecipation,for eventual team-uncovering Q&A as well for any players , or player-counselours , to try AND discern discover which is usefully good to learn plus which is not .> "This place as just a dream. X has hers, but its not like it had an actual place anywhere. I could just tell her what you know and vice versa for you. I'm not too sure about the voids though. She put some other things in hers that you won't see in yours, but they could still be tied together somehow. I don't know."
ALL together with trying the best at not bogging down time-focus-Impotance-Spirit (especially those :extend: Quite :extend: patient and perseverant Parser Neovereign ),but not the point waste time or focus:
is it in this or Another(s'?) "Dream-Scape like Void " this ( possibly temporary description ) " Original Inner RUMIA'S SPIRIT" lives & & thrives? OR in a Dwelling closer to Senkai ( Supernatural Hermit or Sage Nearly Hidden and Retreated Pocket World sustained by Supernatural Hermit-Sage Arts) ? Nearer to Bona-Fide Dream World(s) OR Adjacent to the Kaian/Dreamscape Passage(s) ? Akin to another Other World ? ....//
> :point: Shadow :point: of a bening smile+ glint in eyes :
" Kindly Forgive me if I could be or slip into being curious and curiouser ...
The important or just useful characteristics of this dream-like Void ,for the nice purpose of truly advancing and taking eventual others and neighbours to understand ...such are they sort-of Void in a Dream World ? Dream-Corridor ? Set Apart for us 2Rumia-Only,Accesible+Existing Only when you set-up a welcoming meet Only when I Sleep ...
for I am " on real attention rather than dream-like one ..."
> " ... or do those and others bear BOTH Similarities and Differences ?
This is to Rightly realize which Good Graces may be Involved with,and which Bad Defects to Abstain from. "
> "This place as just a dream. X has hers, but its not like it had an actual place anywhere. I could just tell her what you know and vice versa for you. I'm not too sure about the voids though. She put some other things in hers that you won't see in yours, but they could still be tied together somehow. I don't know."
>_
> Turn around to better observe and see the characteristics " Our Dream-like Shadow Void"....> You receive a confirming nod in response.
> ... then say :" since you could tell what I know to X and viceversa,does it mean that , as Long as at least 1 is Asleep and you are willing to Relay Messages&Counsels , we could be able to use them as " An Indirectly Relay-Linked No-Distance Resereved Communication Channel ? "
> You receive a confirming nod in response.
>_
// What can we ask , which doubt or ignorance is lingering ? //> You think you've already asked most of what you didn't know that came to mind...
> Contemplate : for relaying , have we any message,any unclear point needing enlightening,any counsel to be asked to receive or to make,anything submerged by the doubt ?
> You think you've already asked most of what you didn't know that came to mind...
>_