Lucky Lulu

"You make 'residents' sound terribly shady. And you did just admit to being an interdimensional thief. After breaking into my home, no less." Not that any of this seemed to particularly concern her, at this point. Masako waved her hand dismissively. "Well, it hardly matters. Come downstairs whenever you're ready and I'll have a drink for you." And with that, the tengu walked back and flew off down to the lower floor. Her voice rose back to the two upstairs as she poured out another cup and settled herself at the table. "Oh, and Low-san. The climbing was admittedly very impressive, but could you fly down this time? It looks like you knocked a few things off the walls, and I'd rather not have to pick more of it up."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." There was another long pause. "Fine." Masako uncoiled, hucking the tetsubo back to the opening between floors. Given how relaxed she was as she wiped her hands of it after while they listened to the sound of the heavy, spiked iron bar slamming into the floor--mere centimeters from clocking Osada right atop the head, and fewer from crushing his foot--there was the distinct impression that she might not have really intended to use the thing from the start. The question of whether that impression was true, of course, would likely go unanswered. "Sake?" she asked her new guest, as casually as if the threat of bludgeoning hadn't been hanging over the latter's head mere moments before. "We were already having some downstairs, and even if I wasn't planning to open up a bottle or two more, you humans are always terribly light drinkers."

There was a long, silent pause. "...I'm not going to kill her," said the tengu, reproachfully. Her body was currently coiled like a baseball player about to smash one out of the park. How trustworthy those words were might have been doubtful, particularly given what she followed it up with. "Just break a bone or two. And give her a moderate concussion. She'll be fine, probably. If hopefully a bit more aware of the social and physical consequences of dimension hopping into someone's home uninvited while they're entertaining guests. And of being Marisa, I guess."

"Oh, no need. You're clearly an alien, alternative universe counterpart of Kirisame Marisa who has been transported through mysterious magical means to this one for some purpose, likely related to the ongoing conflict against the things they keep calling trespassers. Charmed, I'm sure." Masako lifts the tetsubo. "But I do feel l have some obligation to inform you that one black-white witch thief is probably enough on a per-gensokyo basis. I didn't build this collection of mostly-stolen junk just to have a bunch of the same someone rob it. So, in that regard... please hold still." The tengu started winding up for what promised to be a very, very heavy thwumping. "Still, you do have a moment to correct any misconceptions. It takes me a bit to swing this thing."

"We'll wait for her down here." Masako returned to the room, carrying a large ceramic bottle and a precariously balanced set of masu. These latter she set out on the table before her guests, filling each in turn to the rim with a warm, clear sake from the bottle, then setting it upon the table with an ease suggesting a form of well-worn ritual. Pulling the boxes close, even the humans could tell that the liquor within was both high quality, and perhaps unreasonably strong--more than enough to set one's eyes to watering, if they were unprepared, and doubly so given the sheer volume she'd opted to pour out for each of them. While they handled that in whatever way they saw fit, their host walked over to a corner of the room, rifling through what was, depending on who you asked, either a pile of old junk or a collection of nigh priceless artifacts. "When she arrives, anyway. That isn't her." "In any case, when she does get here, I'm sure there won't be any trouble. So long as you don't attack her, at any rate. She always seems rather exasperated when- Ah! Here we are." From a half-concealed rack against the wall, Masako lifted what appeared to be a large, iron, and viciously spiked tetsubo. The tengu herself had to use her wings just to have a chance of lifting it, though this didn't seem to concern her overmuch. There was the distinct impression that, excessively heavy or not, she was perfectly capable of using it somehow. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll be back shortly." And with that, Masako took the tetsubo and flew off to the room above.

"Oh, not terribly. I've made sure to put a bit away ever since the war, and even with the additions this merited less than a century's work--though I suppose I did call in a favor or two for some of those." Masako landed before the entry to her home, kicking off her getas and tossing them off to the side as soon as she slid open the door. Without so much as a gesture to the others, she headed on in--though at the very least, her voice called back from inside as they approached. "As for who I'm expecting, I don't expect that you'd know her. But she's an old friend of mine, so I'm quite sure you'll get along, probably." Following Masako to the door, anyone who peeked inside would see it was... surprisingly rather simple. A few tasteful decorations, certainly--a scroll on the wall here, a flower there, a low table and a few comfortable cushions near the center--but nothing excessive. It actually seemed rather pleasant and open. Of course, this ended roughly as soon as the tengu opened the next door into what looked like the workroom of a particularly industrious antiquarian, but, you know. Presumably one had to keep their selections of scrolls and books, their swords and spears and elegant armor, and their emaki and other illustrations which looked like someone might have plucked them from the palace or tomb of a long-dead warlord, most of which featured depictions of tengu according to the traditional style and others which seemed much more akin to the strange girl in front of the group. One of these she brushed aside--a rather elaborate work featuring some human warrior climbing a mountain as one of these tengu sat on a sacred stone above them, presumably a design of human make--and pulled a bottle out from the wall before turning back to the others. "Oh, back to the other room. Sit down. I'll warm something up to drink while we wait."

Admittedly, the odd looks were not unmerited. Humans weren't exactly common guests on the youkai mountain, outside the Moriya Shrine--they certainly weren't regular sights in the lands where the tengu made their home. Even for someone as famously eccentric as Masako, bringing them here was rather strange. Not that Masako seemed overly worried about it, if she cared about the staring at all. She seemed content just to wave at a few familiar faces as the unusual group walked or flew on by, while she lead them to... Well, who knew where? It was probably becoming increasingly clear, by now, that the tengu settlement was a bit more complicated than it seemed from the outside. She seemed to know where she was going, anyway. And for now, it seemed to be somewhere further up the side of the mountain, crossing several steep roads and more than a few bridges to reach and doing little to lessen the likely impression that the settlement planning didn't really have typical human sensibilities in mind. Still, long as the climb up the winding path might have been, it did have a few perks. Amongst them, the view of the small but bustling youkai town layered along and built into cliffs surrounding but a few of the many waterfalls for which the Youkai Mountain was known. It was a curious mix of nature and artifice, traditional architecture interspersed with electrical lighting and more modern--if unusual--structures and contrivances worked in throughout the trees. The denizens walked or flew to and fro about their business, several moving from small shop to printing house to shop in what appeared to be a market somewhere below, or stopping by one larger building or another that may have been either an office, a meeting hall, or a sake house depending on your best guess. To all of this, Masako paid no particular heed. Indeed, it wasn't terribly long after the last bridge that she stopped, gesturing to a stairway carved into the side of the cliff. "Well? Do hurry up. My house is just up here, and I'm sure I'll have someone stopping by soon."

"Oh. You shouldn't. I assume, anyway. It's mostly only the defense force that picks fights, after all, and they're not who we're here to meet. Speaking of, as for you-" Masako flew up to the guard without any concern for the others watching the group. Landing before the weary-looking wolf, she gave him a Look that would send fear through the heart of any sane tengu. Or even most insane people, human or youkai, provided they had interacted with Masako before. "They are my guests. I should think that more than merits ignoring the order, shouldn't you? Certainly it's more than enough reason not to bother us about it. Besides-" The crow leaned over, looking into the eyes of the wolf. Then she reached a hand out. Then she flicked his nose. "They have information that might be relevant to the boss, and I can hardly be bothered to explain it all myself." Nor was she likely able to. Brilliant detective or not, it wasn't as if she had all the information on the trespassers that the others did. "So go ahead and let us in, before I tell Inubashiri you were sleeping on the job. Cute or not, I doubt she'll take kindly to it."

"It's a mystery," Masako said, mysteriously. Despite refusing to explain anything, she at least seemed rather pleased by Sanae's reaction as the miko took the poster. "I'm sure it won't go too terribly. Or, if it does, I won't be the one blamed for it." "Anyway-" Masako stretched her wings a bit, glancing further up and off the mountain path. "Inubashiri appears to be gone, so yes, we'll head back home. Do be sure to pick up the pace some; she seemed a bit serious about me stopping in to report, this time. More than usual, at least. And I do still need to drag Yayachan into meeting you, or she'll be upset I left her out of things." The tengu tilted her head, glancing over at the newly-arrived swordsman. "...You can come too, I suppose. Do you know how to fly, yet? If not, I suppose so long as you're a decent mountain climber, you might be able to make it anyway. And I'm sure someone can find a use or two for you until I have a new case." Then, without so much as waiting for a response, Masako continued on her merry way along the mountain to her home.

Ignoring the (admittedly entirely true) comment from Momiji, in complete and uncharacteristic silence, Masako reached one hand into her jacket. From this she extracted a large, rolled up bundle of some sort of paper, unknown within Gensokyo proper. The world seemed to hush as she gripped it in both hands, carefully unfurling it for the miko to view it and the image so elegantly crafted within. An image depicting a man wearing green power armor with a yellow-gold visor, backlit by an alien sunrise. "Here," said Masako, handing it over. "You like this sort of stuff, right?"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh..." Masako continued making a vague, noncommital sound for some time, before finally relenting. She instead watched the newcomer spar with her fellow tengu. It WAS fairly unusual to see someone other than Konpaku using two swords at once. Particularly, specifically, something of the Niten Ichi-Ryu school according to the original interpretation. "I suppose we should, before they pick a fight with someone who will actually hurt them. It isn't terribly important, but if someone wants to drop more people near me to help solve my cases, I guess I'll take it. Even if I can complain about the lack of forewarning." "Well, whatever." Masako shrugged, turning back to Sanae. "If you're free, can you head down to the Hakurei shrine and help out there for a while? I had to beat her back to her senses, earlier, and I may have gone a slight bit overboard. At the very least, she still seemed rather bitter about it all, so I think she would appreciate a break." The tengu paused for a moment, tapping her chin. "...If you keep quiet about me being the one who sent you down there, in return, I think I have something here to give you that you might like."

Masako gave Momiji a Look. Then, with the Look still fixed on the white wolf tengu, she reached into her coat and pulled out the notebook in which she, indeed, wrote down everything. This she waved around vaguely. ...To be fair, it was a pretty silly question. Of *course* she took notes on them. She always did. Whether she'd share them without getting repeatedly bothered about it was an entirely different question, and to which the answer was generally "no, but bothering does work, so whatever." Tucking the notebook away, Masako gave Osada a glance, then shrugged and turned to Sanae. "Speaking of, Kochiya. Are you free?"

"Who, the gap hag?" Masako ignored the glare she received from Momiji, apparently unconcerned about Yukari taking offense. And unconcerned about being called a weirdo, for that matter, though perhaps even Masako realized that was a debate she couldn't win. "No, no, I don't believe it has anything to do with whatever film noir is. It's not as though she's omniscient, particularly when it comes to Incidents, so there are plenty of reasons for someone like her to retain a detective. And it isn't as though she could resort to her usual contacts, given they were all driven mad with bloodlust. Still..." "I suppose one might wonder if part of her reason for dragging me into the mess was because she was annoyed with me involving her in another case." Masako rested her cheek against her hand, considering the matter. It was rather plausible, when one thought about it. Albeit entirely (mostly?) untrue here. "But even if she were, Inubashiri, it's hardly a reason to think anything much will come of it. I've already told you, several times, that I am almost entirely innocent of the events which lead to that particular incident, so there's no cause to keep bringing it up around me. Nor is there any cause to be so paranoid; it's not as though Yakumo is capable of listening in on what everyone's saying at all times, even if she could be bothered to do so." The crow studiously ignored an eye in the tiny gap behind the wolf's head as it attempted to give her what appeared to be a wink, just before the gap itself appeared to zip up and vanish. No doubt another one was hiding around elsewhere, somewhere, but that was hardly the tengu's problem.

"Hai, Inubashiri, it's me. I ran into a bit of an issue with the gap witch." She said so as if she expected anyone listening to just accept it, as if it explained everything without elaboration. Which, for most residents of Gensokyo, it probably would. At the very least, Masako found no particular reason to explain herself before she had the chance to land and dust off the last of the residual brimstone dust still clinging to her clothes. "Honestly, she never ceases to be difficult." Masako folded her wings behind her, straightening up a little as she spoke to her fellow tengu. "I can understand wanting to bring me on to resolve a case, especially if it's big enough to get the Hakurei miko in over her head. But that hardly entitles her to hurl me from one dimension to the next before offering the job; there's no need to be so roundabout. She could really stand to be more direct when dealing with people." "Anyway, the human that smells like soup is Isobel Somethingorother." She stepped aside slightly, gesturing vaguely at the two following her by way of introduction. "And the oversized fairy is Empi Idunno. They were willing enough to help as my assistants with resolving this recent Incident after Yakumo dragged us in, along with a bunch of other outsider types. I'm letting them stay at my place, for the time being, so there shouldn't be an issue unless they wander off into town." Glancing back at the two, she gestured again, this time at Momiji. "Somethingororther, Idunno, this is Inubashiri Momiji, one of my distant fellows amongst the hakurou tengu and alarmingly good dai shogi player. She's one of the people in charge of security for the mountain, so normally she'd beat you senseless for trespassing on our territory. Fortunately, you're with me. Although..." "It does look like someone else slipped by." Masako tilted her head, looking past Momiji up the path. Her eyes settled first on Sanae--not a problem, given the agreements between the tengu and the Moriya shrine--before turning to the man beside her. For a moment, she seemed almost intent on examining him. But after a moment more, she seemed to lose interest, turning again to the blue-white miko when they finally approached. "Well, that's fortuitous. I was hoping to speak with you, Kochiya. Assuming you haven't been brainwashed, anyway, though it doesn't look like that's a problem."

Masako chose to ignore the obvious hesitation in Isobel's tone, just giving the two of them a prim nod. "Well, do try to keep up, then. If you're going to walk, there will be a lot of climbing on the way--the Moriya shrine is up near the top, after all." That saying, she turned back around and started flying off for the youkai mountain.