Rumia Quest - Another

[Neovereign]

> You are Rumia, Youkai of the Dusk, or Youkai of the Twilight.
> ...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.

> You've been waiting in silence for an update from Shingyoku on the situation inside the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. They have yet to say anything of note...

> "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..."
> "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..."

> A voice within you catches your attention, but by the time you properly notice it, it's already gone.
> With it's absence, you feel quite a lot weaker... Not like being sealed, but like you've exhausted yourself fighting until you couldn't. And much hungrier too...
> "It seems like they've done it." Shingyoku finally speaks, standing upright. "They'll be back shortly."
> "Huh? Nice. And Daiyousei didn't die either, from what I can tell." Mokou glances to her side, getting up as well.
> "You hungry again?" You'd hope Marisa would say in consideration for you, but it seems she hasn't come back even now. Maybe she's with Aya visiting Reimu? Or Sanae too.

> The area around the village of cats seems to be devoid of anyone else. At least for a long while...
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

> You are Rumia, Youkai of the Dusk, or Youkai of the Twilight.
> ...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.

//oh my

> "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..."
> "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..."

>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.

[Neovereign]

//oh my
>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.

> You don't think it was your shadow... You're not sure who. Maybe you said it?
> You're out of fish...
> "With the problem resolved, I'll get going. I have to tell that Hakurei child that this was finished, then I'll need to join my other self for something..." Shingyoku starts off, likely towards the Hakurei Shrine.
> "Guess we wait for them to come back then." Mokou speaks.
> As if on cue, you start to see the two returning from within the forest.

> You try to make sure you remember this place, and fly up in hopes of spotting a body of water...
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>("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)

[Neovereign]

Prime:
>("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)

> "Yeah. I promise it wasn't me, either." Your shadow replies.
> "Dai'll fill you in. I got something I've been itchin to do for a while now." Shingyoku, well, the female one, rushes on past you, towards the rest of Misty Lake... Maybe she saw a large fish?
> "Ah. Geez... She's so in a rush... Maybe she's disappointed she didn't get to fight?" Daiyousei sighs as the stops. "We sorta came into Sakuya and some others that were in a time loop. Which, I think is things repeating over and over? We didn't repeat, thankfully, and managed to break it. The two fairies we were with vanished, but Kaguya was still there. Since Shingyoku was in a hurry and it's safer than dragging her with us, we left Sakuya in Kaguya's care."

> You keep your eyes peeled, despite how far this place is from everywhere else...
>_

[Philosopher]

>What time is it?

>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?"

[Neovereign]

>What time is it?

>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?"

> It's the afternoon. Well, late in it compared to before you started waiting... The sun won't be here for long.

> No.

> You know of someone in the human village who reincarnates and can remember everything. Bothering her too much would be a quick way to get yourself exterminated.
> Maybe that's how you were sealed in the first place... But you don't recall crossing any of them badly before.

> "A few days, maybe? Things look a lot similar and tight in there, and it took long to even get to Sakuya..." Daiyousei answers. "Maybe it was only a day..."
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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.

[Philosopher]

Prime:
>"What was causing the loops?"

[Neovereign]

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:
>"What was causing the loops?"

> "I didn't get much of it either. Sorry..." Your shadow replies.

> "Probably." Mokou answers.
> "It was probably Sakuya? Shingyoku broke the barrier after we couldn't manage anything and none of them knew." Dai speaks.

> You continue searching. Maybe you're still good? It's almost like others have cleaned out the areas before you, though.
> Very hungry... Annoyingly so.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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?

[Philosopher]

>Naz

>Do we know of anyone that was recording details of yokai that we can dig details of our past from?

[Neovereign]

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

>Do we know of anyone that was recording details of yokai that we can dig details of our past from?

> You don't know anyone who records youkai much.

> Your shadow doesn't respond...
> You aren't aware of any. Well, your shadow has been doing things on it's own recently, like when it was gone when you first woke after being unsealed. But you don't think there were such occasions before that.

> Not that far. You hope.
> "Er..." Daiyousei doesn't answer.
> Mokou shrugs.

> You believe you could.

> It smells like there should be other animals nearby. But it's like the smells you do catch vanish.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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.

[Philosopher]

>Do we know of a way to test if it is a fox's illusion

>Where is Marisa?

[Neovereign]

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

>Where is Marisa?

> Yes.
> "Good luck."
> "Don't eat the mermaid..." Daiyousei advises.

> You'd hope not.
> You do such when you smell something, and quickly try to get towards it.
> Alongside the smell, the darkness you were using vanishes as well, worsening that hunger.

> You don't know where Marisa is right now. She left a while ago.
> You're not too familiar with fox tricks.
>_

[Philosopher]

Prime:
>"A mermaid, huh?"
>Start sinking in the ground as shadow
>"You learn something.  . ."
>Finish sinking into the ground

>Head to Misty lake.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>("...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.

[Neovereign]

Prime:
>"A mermaid, huh?"
>Start sinking in the ground as shadow
>"You learn something.  . ."
>Finish sinking into the ground

>Head to Misty lake.

Prime:
>("...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.

> "Have you considered that it could be Yakumo herself?"

> "Yes." Daiyousei answers... not specifying more.
> You head underground and start for Misty Lake.
> You can hear something in the distance further in Misty Lake as you head towards it.

> You pursue the last disappearance.
> SMACK
> You don't believe what you've just felt until you open your eyes after recoiling.
> No way in hell. You swear there wasn't anything in the way, nor even near enough to do this.
> Despite such a fact... Despite being unsealed...
> You've slammed headfirst into a tree. A tree that absolutely came out of nowhere, without a shadow of a doubt.
> "Slow. Inefficient. Naïve." You hear the voice you heard inside you, this time, from the tree. "This is how you recover now?"
> No, wait, it can't be the tree itself. It's likely just behind it. Yeah...
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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?

[Philosopher]

Contingency:
>Do the following after Naz
->"But who are you and what is the name of your master?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Contingency:
>Do the following after Naz
->"But who are you and what is the name of your master?"

>Hold

//I wanted to see how they responded first before speaking further.

[Neovereign]

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:
>Do the following after Naz
->"But who are you and what is the name of your master?"

> "Ah. That makes it easier."
> It doesn't sound like Yukari's. Though it sounds familiar still.

> No.

> "Yes. I made sure to leave yours alone." The voice follows as darkness pours out from the tree, revealing... yourself, with a hand still on the tree.
> The tree is swallowed up entirely by darkness, and vanishes as said darkness returns to the other Rumia. Kinda similar to what you tried with the butterfly, and eating things?
> "I only took my darkness. In fact, I even left you a lot more than you would've been stuck with. Neither you nor my own shadow could tell which was your darkness and which was mine I've saved up in the past, but she did good enough for me to finish it. Think of it as... the 'Original' Rumia was sealed, and as was her abilities and darkness. The 'Sealed Rumia' didn't have access to what was sealed, but the original shadow was still with her. 'Unsealed Rumia' is the same as the sealed one. The shadow has always been the same, while the Original Rumia stands before you now."
> "Don't worry." She raises her hands. "I won't absorb you nor see you as an enemy. You're different enough and not in my way. I'll even help you out. Just, keep the small fry look, I don't want anyone confusing us."
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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."

[Neovereign]

Prime:
>No to both?

> From what you can tell, yes, no to both.

[Philosopher]

Contingency:
>"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?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

//Edit to contingency section of prior post.

[Neovereign]

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:
>"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?"

> "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."
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>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.

[Neovereign]

Prime:
>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.

> It might be further ahead of your course.
> "Huh... Okay."
> The shadow you know has always been there. Given she isn't as in control by you as before you were sealed, one could say she's older than you.

> "I haven't left all of my shadow. I left a bit for myself to recover it, just while leaving you with one too. It'll be like healing from an injury." The other Rumia says.
> "If we were going by that logic, you'd be equivalent to a husk. Something fragile that was just used to hold the core until it matured. I said I wouldn't just eat you, but if you won't treat me with respect, not just showing me respect at that, then don't expect me to play nice, help, or even share."
> The other Rumia thinks for a moment.
> "I'd call myself Pure Rumia, while you could be Tainted. But most view tainted as something negative and poor to the original. Sometimes tainted things are outright better, since you can be tainted with emotions if you were something emotionless before, for example. You probably don't want to be called Light Rumia, and me, Dark, either. That'd be insulting..."
>_