Renascence of Blasted Starlight

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"That's weird.  Just the fact this land is so peaceful sets off alarm bells in my head."

>"Right, so the world is at war.  I don't have all my memory so I'm missing quite a bit, but it was bad enough peace makes my skin crawl.  That village looks pretty old.  It seems more believable that fairies form from human hair than luddites formed a secret paradise unaffected by the war."

>"A-Ah... I see..." the woman blinks, "Well, Gensokyo's been around for a while and usually we don't hear much about the outside world except from the outsiders that occasionally come in, but... A-Are things really that bad out there?"
>_

[Philosopher]

>Think about the specifics of the war?
->Were bioweapons, nuclear, or chemical used?

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Think about the specifics of the war?
->Were bioweapons, nuclear, or chemical used?

>You try to think about the war...
>Bioweapons you aren't sure of, but there were definitely lots of energy weapons and explosive ordinance... And then you have things like the Ultimate Weapons and World Cracker--
>Crimson skies.
>Laughter.
>Blonde hair and green eyes, begging for the fight to stop...
>Burn everything!
>P a i n .
>A surge of vivid but heavily fragmented memories floods your mind in an instant. You're not sure what happened but you suddenly find the woman's grip on you a bit tighter and that you seem to be hyperventilating.
>...What was that!?

>"H-Hey... Hey..." the woman asks, a concerned edge to her voice as she tries her best to calm you without hurting you, "A-Are you okay?"
>_

[Philosopher]

>"Give - give me a moment.  I was remembering. "

>Take a moment to steady ourself
->"It was worse. So much worse. Please don't ask, I don't want to recall more."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Give - give me a moment.  I was remembering. "

>Take a moment to steady ourself
->"It was worse. So much worse. Please don't ask, I don't want to recall more."

>You take a moment to calm down. Perhaps... perhaps that's enough remembering for now...

>"I understand..." the woman grimaces, "Look, i-if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here... I'm not claiming to understand all of what you're going through, but I've had my fair experience of war myself, so..."
>_

[Philosopher]

>"Do - do you have to. . ."
->Anything could trigger those memories.
-->"What should I do? The memories are buried, but anything could trigger them and I'm scared of what I saw."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Do - do you have to. . ."
->Anything could trigger those memories.
-->"What should I do? The memories are buried, but anything could trigger them and I'm scared of what I saw."

>"Master could probably make a medicine that could suppress it but that really wouldn't defeat the root of the problem... I don't think Gensokyo really has anyone specializing in therapy either... Perhaps a satori, but dealing with them would probably do more harm then good, even if they do want to help..."
>She fidgets,
>"A-Anyway, I'd recommend trying to avoid any obvious triggers if you can... That might help a bit. Otherwise... just talking can help as well..."
>_

[Philosopher]

>"That should be easy in a land this peaceful."

>"You said outside world. How did a land full of fantasy. .  ."
->Cackle
-->"Oh that's a cruel joke."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"That should be easy in a land this peaceful."

>"You said outside world. How did a land full of fantasy. .  ."
->Cackle
-->"Oh that's a cruel joke."

>You let out a loud cackle, drawing the attention of several bystanders and causing the medicine peddler to regard you with concern.
>"Eh...? What do you mean?" she blinks.
>_

[Philosopher]

>"Peace in a fairytale land."
->Wipe the tears from our eyes
-->"Because peace was a fantasy.  No matter what we did to get it peace was only a pipe dream."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Peace in a fairytale land."
->Wipe the tears from our eyes
-->"Because peace was a fantasy.  No matter what we did to get it peace was only a pipe dream."

>"I-I see..." she frowns, before giving you a reassuring pat, "W-Well... at least you're no longer in the war now, right?"
>_

[Philosopher]

>"Oh, no complaints about that."
->"Did the outsiders really never mentioning anything about the ultimate weapons or missiles?  Or maybe their own augmentations came up."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Oh, no complaints about that."
->"Did the outsiders really never mentioning anything about the ultimate weapons or missiles?  Or maybe their own augmentations came up."

>"Not as far as I know..." she shakes her head, "...augmentations?"

>You appear to be heading towards another village gate.
>_

[Philosopher]

>"A thing added to a person. For example my internal levitation engine."
->"Oh."

>The internal levitation engine, could it harm us if it is damaged?

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"A thing added to a person. For example my internal levitation engine."
->"Oh."

>"Your what...?"

>The internal levitation engine, could it harm us if it is damaged?

>No, but it would prevent you from flying... Though something capable of damaging that would've probably caused heavy internal damage.
>...Wait you can fly???
>_

[Philosopher]

>"I can fly?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"I can fly?"

>"I mean... many outsiders can't but flight is actually common in Gensokyo." she shrugs, "I guess since your... augmentation... is called a levitation engine it might imply that you can... You probably shouldn't try testing it in your current state, though."

>You pass through the gate and are once again greeted to the sight of the plains surrounding the village. The road your on seems to fork after a few miles, with one path leading towards some kind of dense wall of green in the distance.
>_

[Philosopher]

>"How did you find your way to Gensokyo?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"How did you find your way to Gensokyo?"

>"That's a bit of a long story..." the woman replies, "The short of it is that I fled from my home during a rather unpleasant time and ended up finding refuge with a couple of fellow exiles, one of which is my master."
>_

[Philosopher]

>"Are you better off?"
->"Did you and your Master purposely find this place or was it by happenstance?

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Are you better off?"
->"Did you and your Master purposely find this place or was it by happenstance?

>"Definitely." she nods, "As for your other question, my master was here for some time, and it was only chance that I found her and the princess..."
>_

[Philosopher]

>What do we see?

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>What do we see?

>In the sky you see a few more groups of those "fairies", as well as several humans tending their crops on the ground, but otherwise nothing much of note aside from the dense wall of green one side of the fork ahead seems to veer off into.
>The other side of the fork seems to go into the mountains farther out.
>_

[Philosopher]

>"It is quite beautiful."
->Take in the scenic view.

>"Do you have any advice for living here like faux pas to avoid?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"It is quite beautiful."
->Take in the scenic view.

>"Do you have any advice for living here like faux pas to avoid?"

>"It really is." the peddler nods as you take in the view in front of you.
>Uncomfortable peace or not it is really pretty. Maybe it would be prettier on fire...

>"Well, most outsiders just integrate into the human village if they survive being eaten by Youkai. After that they're generally safe for the most part." she explains, "There are also the Spellcard Laws, but those really only apply to those that have access to magic or who are otherwise capable of making danmaku, which most outsiders don't. Those are a form of duel meant to give humans and weak youkai a fair chance against stronger youkai and gods. Unlike a regular duel, a Spellcard duel has more focus being more on beauty and evasion than raw power, and more importantly, is non-lethal."
>_

[Philosopher]

>"So there aren't  any tools to make this danmaku?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"So there aren't  any tools to make this danmaku?"

>"Well there's a reason most outsiders or normal humans can't use it." the peddler explains, "But I think if you had a magical item that can generate it you could make some without necessarily having magic yourself... Plus anything can technically count as danmaku as long as it's specified as such in a spellcard, but again that requires at least some magic or divine potential to utilize."
>_

[Philosopher]

>"I see.  What could I expect if I run into a youkai without any spellcards to my name?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"I see.  What could I expect if I run into a youkai without any spellcards to my name?"

>"Well without any spellcards you would automatically lose a spellcard duel, unless you were capable of simple danmaku but even then that would put you at a disadvantage... Most non-combatants in the village usually leave with a spellcard-capable escort if they need to go far. Staying in the village is relatively safe, as the few youkai that do live there mostly just prank humans at most." the peddler explains.
>_

[Neovereign]

> "Anything counts if it's in a spellcard, huh..."
> Consider confronting our memories and worries while trying not to lose ourselves to them. Wouldn't conquering them be better than staying in fear of them?