Rumia Quest - Another

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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.

[Philosopher]

>Try changing a fish's shadow so it is like us without eating it

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>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.
>>Try not to make it the same fish we did the suffocation experiment with. Poor guy (girl?) has been through enough.

[Neovereign]

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.
>>Try not to make it the same fish we did the suffocation experiment with. Poor guy (girl?) has been through enough.

> The Tengu holds up her hand.
> ...
> You're not sure how many fingers that is. You hope you're just tired and not that she's incapable of telling even this sort of thing.
> You take out another fish and try to change it's shadow.
> You get it to look like a miniature shadow of your figure, but that doesn't seem to do anything else to the fish.

> Progressing. Well, hardly. You don't seem to be as efficient at it this time around. That, or the fish have changed something.

> Nothing in the scenery seems to have changed, aside from the tree you ate of course.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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."

[Philosopher]

>Try making the fish's shadow magical like our darkness

[Neovereign]

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.

> ("No, I can't.") Shadow answers.
> The Tengu looks at her hands, and looks dissapointed.
> She pauses, then starts to approach you.

> You're not sure how you would even go about turning a shadow magical without getting rid of it...
>_

[Philosopher]

Shadow Realm:
>From what we remember from being in Marisa make a copy as close as possible to the original
>Give it a shadow

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>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.

[Neovereign]

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:
>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.

> > You expand your area, but don't seem to be netting more...

> You make a silhouette of Marisa and put some darkness at it's foot.

> The Tengu grabs your hand, putting up three of your fingers.
>_

[Philosopher]

>Is the inside human like Marisa?
>Take a smidgen of the fish's shadow and add it to the silhouette

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>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.

[Neovereign]

>Is the inside human like Marisa?
>Take a smidgen of the fish's shadow and add it to the silhouette

Prime:
>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.

> No.
> You take part of the fish's shadow and try to get it to the silhouette.
> Without it moving, you're not sure if it's part of it or just darkness.

> The Tengu nods in affirmation, and you deposit her out into Gensokyo near your other body.

> You move higher, to no aid...
> Then lower, still not getting any more.
> There's definitely something up. Either the fish are gone, or they're somehow actively avoiding you.
>_

[Philosopher]

>"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."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Contingency:
>Wave goodbye at the tengu as she departs.

Prime:
>Double our area of coverage if we can do so without losing integrity.

[Neovereign]

>"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:
>Wave goodbye at the tengu as she departs.

Prime:
>Double our area of coverage if we can do so without losing integrity.

> "It doesn't look like it is from here." Your shadow responds.

> You increase your coverage area, still struggling to get more.
> Somethings beginning to fire danmaku in the lake towards you. Well, you aren't sure if its actually directed at you, or if the fairies above the lake are just fishing.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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.

[Philosopher]

>Attempt to 'weave' the Marisa and fish darkness together.

>Is the Marisa solid darkness?

[Neovereign]

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.

>Is the Marisa solid darkness?

> You try to weave parts of the fish shadow you had into the Marisa silhouete.
> It is.
> You... think it works? You're not sure.

> You start to expand even further, and check on the surface.
> As expected, there are fairies at the side of the lake. Though alongside them are some non-fairy creatures. One of such non-fairies you believe might be a mermaid, next to a large, growing orb of water that is connected to the lake.
> They're far from your main body, and due to the lake area's mist, you can't see any of them with that body.
> You can faintly hear some music from them. Or maybe, near them.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>Continue
>Can we see if anything is in the water orb from here?

[Neovereign]

Prime:
>Continue
>Can we see if anything is in the water orb from here?

> You continue expanding.
> You think there are fish inside. And more heading up into the orb, in fact...
> You suppose that answers if something is up or coincidence...
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

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.

[Philosopher]

>Start shaping the Marisa silhouette so that has organs, veins, and bones

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Start shaping the Marisa silhouette so that has organs, veins, and bones

//inb4 this works and the resulting doppelganger is sentient.

[Neovereign]

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...

> You continue, finally taking in a bit more fish, and tagging along one as it gets into the orb.
> The orb disconnects from the lake, and after a moment, the music changes, picking up in volume, while the mermaid begins to... sing.
>_

[Philosopher]

>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)

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Prime:
>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?"

[Neovereign]

>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:
>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?"

> "Probably not..."

> You take in some water and put it in the Marisa darkness.
> It... doesn't really work. The water just falls through.

> You definitely could not do much with your limited medical knowledge. You know how they taste, not as much about how they work...

> You listen further.
> It's a bunch of water and fish... Not much else really.
> You find yourself departing the orb, as well as starting to leave the water and head up to the surface. Both, getting you nearer to the mermaid.
> Junko stands up, starting for the lake.
>_

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>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."

[Philosopher]

Shadow Realm:
>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?"