[IC] TotMV:G2: Throne Hall (Travel Phase)

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi's expression shifted slightly; on anyone else, it was a grimace. Perhaps she had misjudged how far removed the situation was from her familiarity. "I know what it's like to be abandoned. Humans can be. . . fickle, but they are not so bad overall. I hope you can forgive the ignominy inflicted upon you." She bowed her head slightly at Iowa. "I am known as Saigai Mitsurugi. A goddess of natural calamities. . . once, anyway." Her head moved to one side slightly, before returning to look at Iowa straight on. "Do you know why you are here?"

[DragonRage]

"There is only one reason for an American battleship to be anywhere," Iowa asserts, "To defend her countrymen.  I... don't know that I wish to take orders from my nation's navy anymore, but I will defend her people and her allies to my last breath.  If I didn't feel that way, I think I would have come back differently.  Wrong.  The only thing I can remember between sinking and being here is a sense of standing on the edge of a blade, with rage and acceptance on either side.  I could have easily fallen either way, Ms. Mitsurugi."

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi nodded. "I see. It's good to hear that I've no need to convince you, then. It is not always that a tsukumogami feels that way towards its creators. Though, I will amend one thing for you; the purpose that draws us all her reaches far further than defending one individual country. We have been called to defend the entire multiverse from ravening beasts that would make a meal of each and every reality that constitutes it." She looked down for a moment, taking a deepened breath to compose herself. "Some have already been lost."

[DragonRage]

"I've been put into a Jules Verne novel," Iowa decides.  It makes as much sense as any other explanation.  "I've not heard of a 'multiverse' before.  Is that like a universe but larger?  Well, if that were destroyed, I'd presume the United States and her allies would go with it.  Therefore, it is my duty to preserve it.  On a more personal note, it would be unbecoming of an officer and a lady to leave innocent civilians in peril when I am able to act.

 

"What is a Tsukumogomi?  I am unfamiliar with the term.  It doesn't seem to be in any of the dictionaries I have aboard, and my telegraph officer doesn't recognize it."

[Chevaleresse]

"A tsukumogami is a kind of spirit born from things left behind; they are born when the one inherent to all objects grows powerful or restless enough to move about on its own. While I cannot say I have ever heard of one resulting from a wrecked ship, your case seems close enough for comparison. Most are. . . unfriendly, to humans." She had destroyed her fair share of them, ones that could not be brought around to the side of humanity, or at least convinced to find less lethal ways of attacking humans. "The multiverse is the container that holds all universes. If a country is a universe, then the multiverse would be the earth itself." She appreciated this Iowa's attitude. Mitsurugi felt much the same way, even if it was about different groups of people.

[Lucky Lulu]

Chichimura Masako

 

The tengu was lost.  Hopelessly lost.

 

Though, as being lost typically required that you had a destination in mind, perhaps she wasn't lost at all.  Beyond the whole being lost in time and space... thing.  Though as that was well outside her power to resolve as of yet, and was hardly her fault in the first place, she hardly gave THAT notion of personal misplacement any mind.  

 

Regardless, she wasn't where she'd IMPLIED she was going, when departing the barracks, though she recalled passing those suites on her way through the halls.  She'd long since left the small band of strange strangers behind to try to hit up one of the locals for a meal.  Barring any strange twists in space, she could always find her way to them again, if she wanted.  For now, well.  There was more of a castle to explore.  And better places to start hunting for puzzle-pieces than any dirt filled room.  The few that she'd been given so far hadn't let her construct more than a single corner.

 

This, she thought, would be more fruitful.  The antechamber alone bore tons of things worth examining further, once she had a good base of information.  But if you wanted to start exploring from the core of a mystery in a castle, you didn't start in an ANTECHAMBER.  You started in the throne room itself.  And the throne room, if she guessed correctly, was right before her.  There was only one problem.

 

This door was really, stupidly heavy.

Shake... shake...

The ship and the goddess heard the noise at the edge of their hearing.  As though a toddler a block down were shaking its rattle with all the force its tiny arms could muster.

Rattle... rattle...

 

Thump.

 

The toddler rounded the corner, still shaking its rattle.  Being a clumsy sort, it fell flat on its face.  Being a quiet and lucky sort, it flumped into the grass and lay motionless.

 

THUMP.

 

The toddler, upset, threw its stuffed animal against your door.  The recorder inside said 'ow.'

 

There was a pause.  And then-

CRASH thump.

Your neighborhood rival, spotting a patsy and a chance to ruin your entry for nicest house of the month, hurled a brick through your front window and kicked down your front door.  And they, being a terrible person, proceeded to release a particularly confused and mildly battered crow into your living room.  There it was, lying at your feet, dazed but, somehow, still alive.

Masako looked up at the goddess and the boat through somewhat bleary eyes, glasses askew.  She gave a few blinks and pushed them back up her nose, peering at the two women above her.  First, briefly, at the goddess.  Then at the anthropomorphic ship.  After a few more confused blinks, she opened her mouth.

"Hello.  This may seem like a strange question, but have you just acquired a body?"

Edited November 24, 2018 by Lucky Lulu

[DragonRage]

"Yes, I have," Iowa fishes around in her purse for a cigarette and lights it up by striking the match against her palm.  The cancer stick produces a thin trail of gritty, black smoke that looks basically nothing like burning tobacco or pot.  "Is it really that obvious?  Wait, are you alright?  That looked painful.  I-  Wait.  Did you just call yourself a goddess, Ms. Mitsurugi?   ...That's rather presumptuous, don't you think?  At least a bit tacky as well."

[ElfCollaborator]

"Heeeeey, did I hear someone doubting my girl Mitsurugi over here? I can one-hundred-freaking-percent confirm without a doubt that she's a goddess!"

Empi suddenly flutters through the doorway into the throne room, phone in hand.   And then suddenly, she notices Iowa and Masako, 

 

The very scantily clad fairy blinks for a moment. She looks over at Mitsu, the only person she definitely knows in the room.

".......okay, did I miss something, or did you do some goddess summoning ritual bullshit? These two weren't here before. Unless you were all hiding them in the castle this whole time. Still can't find any signal in here; you'd think a castle that, apparently, flies between dimensions would have cell reception, but nooooooo!"

[Chevaleresse]

A tengu. Not something new, but certainly something unexpected - and one that seemed all too similar to the ones from her homeworld. Unless she was merely a superficially similar being, but she had the aura of a youkai like those she'd felt many times before. Before she could reply, though, another arrival, similarly familiar but perhaps less unexpected, appeared. "I believe Iowa and our tengu friend have both been recently called in the same way many people here have been. I did not summon them - such an act is outside my domain." Her mind kept returning to the tengu, but she had a question to answer. "And yes, I am a goddess - or, at least, that is what my fundamental nature continues to be." Even if I may be unworthy of the title. She leaned down slightly, reaching a hand toward the woman on the floor. "And you are a tengu?"

[DragonRage]

Iowa considers and discards several potential courses of action as unwise or unhelpful, including a suspicious glance at her cigarette, as she manages to look everywhere in the room but Empi's legs.  "...Why are there so many people with wings?  Is that...  common?  Are people usually part bird or part bug around here?  Um...  Bug person?  I think you might have, er, forgotten half your clothes."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi looks as if Iowa just slapped her in the face. And insulted her mother. At the same time. While pissing on her dog.

"B-bug person?! How many bugs do you see with breasts?! I'm a fairy! Y'know, like Tinker Bell? Or those weird cartoons about fairy high school? Or are you from some world where the concept of fairies doesn't exist? In hindsight, I should've probably asked THAT first, but come on, a bug person?!"

[Lucky Lulu]

Masako rolled over a little.  Enough to fix her eyes on the new arrival.  A fairy?  Yes, she said as much.  "I wouldn't worry about it.  Some of them are just like that.  Not many, mind, but still.  Though I've seen plenty involving both bugs and breasts, so I don't really know what she's complaining about..."

She blinked, shook her head, and twisted again, peering at the first of the three she'd seen.  "You...  Yes, she's definitely a goddess.  One of... natural disasters, if I'm any judge.  Albeit one without many worshipers."

 

"But..." The girl accepted the hand of the goddess, leaning on her slightly as she rose to still-slightly-unsteady feet.  "To answer your question..." She gave her wings a couple of flaps.  Enough to let her rise to her feet and give herself a few shakes, clearing her mind and brushing the dust off her coat.  She'd really need to get the thing cleaned again, after this mess.  "-Naturally.  And a crow tengu, for that matter, though I only CONTRACT with our nimble information corps nowadays."

She gave a dramatic little bow.  "Chichimura Masako.  Best consulting detective in all of Gensokyo!  At your service.  I'd offer you a card, but I think they spilled over the floor back there when I tried to bust down the door-"

Edited November 24, 2018 by Lucky Lulu

[Chevaleresse]

"Gensokyo. . ." It was strange. The name held so much power for her, though most of her existence had been before the youkai preserve was founded. She shook her head slightly. "I see. To answer your question, Iowa, no; most of the group's number are humans." The tengu was from Gensokyo? That was impossible. "My name is Saigai Mitsurugi, to formally introduce myself once more." She frowned as she looked back to the tengu. "Masako, I must ask; how is it that you survived the destruction? I thought I was the only one who had managed to persist through that."

[Lucky Lulu]

"Oh?  You're from Gensokyo, too?"  She seemed rather pleased.  Someone from her own place could probably give her more details on this one.  Maybe even tell her how to get back home.  And ideally without relying on the whims of some people.  "Excellent.  I thought there might be someone else, given my means of arrival.  I was wondering- 

Blink.

"Wait."

Blink blink. 

"Destruction?  That's silly.  I know there have been a lot of weird incidents lately, but it's not like they went and dropped the barrier or anything." 

The tengu straightened herself up, giving the goddess a quizzical look.  A wing nudged her eyewear and tokin back into their proper place, freeing her hand to serve as a suitable rest for her chin as she examined the woman before her.  Certainly SHE recognized the NAME of Gensokyo, and with enough familiarity to peg her as a resident.   But even if it didn't really mean much, Masako sure didn't recognize her.  And Gensokyo wasn't exactly destroyed.  Messy, sure, but not destroyed.  "Hmm...  Head trauma, maybe?  You don't act like it.  Mind wiping?  No, no, I'd notice..."

She tapped a finger upon her lips, then nodded to herself, apparently coming to some sort of conclusion.  "Oh, I see.  No, the gap witch was probably just messing with you, if she told you something crazy like that before tossing you in here.  Gensokyo's fine."

[Chevaleresse]

"The gap witch? No, I do not know what became of her, but she did not tell me anything before the world went dark." Her face shifted, almost pinched. "Gensokyo was destroyed by the Trespassers. They took the Hakurei maiden by surprise, and everything else collapsed after her." The goddess took a deep breath. "Not only Gensokyo, but the entire world was devoured. I see it when I close my eyes." She shook her head once again. "You must be from a different place. A different Gensokyo, not the one I called my home." Another deep breath, this one more ragged. 

[Lucky Lulu]

"Are you sure?  I don't really know what these trespasser things you people keep talking about are, but I doubt that shrine maiden would be..."

The tengu trailed off.  It sounded absurd.  But the goddess didn't sound like she was lying.  Or look like she was making anything up.  If anything, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.  Did she actually, really see something like that?  It seemed impossible.  Then again...

"Er..."  She shifted a little.  Even if she hadn't, Saigai Mitsurugi remembered seeing... that.  And the tengu hadn't the faintest idea how to react.  "It's... possible.  I've never heard of anything like that; everything was relatively calm before I was thrown here, other than the usual stuff.  I think people were getting ready for a firework festival."  Shuffle, shuffle.  "Are you okay?"

[Chevaleresse]

"I will be fine." She made no statements of when that state of being would actually come to pass, but it was technically not a lie. "As I said, it must be a similar, but different world." Not a tengu from the Gensokyo she loved, the one she failed to protect. She took another deep breath. It would not be befitting of a goddess to break down in tears in front of others. "These Trespassers," the emphasis on the word was tangible, "are beasts that feast on reality itself. They can take control of beings, as well, though how is beyond my knowledge." 

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi pauses for a moment, then snaps her fingers.

"Aaaah. No. You're definitely not from the same place. If that makes sense. She's from....Gensokyo? And you're also from Gensokyo, but it's not the same Gensokyo. Multiverse bullshit at its finest, am I right? Aaaaah.....anyway, um....it's kind of a sensitive subject, so....unless she lets you, don't pry too hard. We're working on it."

[DragonRage]

Iowa gives Empi a long, hard stare that does not stray below the face more than a few times.  "You are not a faerie,"  She declares, "Faeries do not have many commonalities, but they always have a quick wit and a silver tongue.  They don't make up words to try to sound impressive.  And they certainly don't waltz into a room with this much cold iron in it without a plan.  There's a lot of Irishmen among my crew.  They know what faeries are like."  'Subtle' chastisement delivered, Iowa heads for Mitsu, fishing around in her purse.  She comes up with an unmarked flask made of brushed steel, which she uncaps and offers to Mitsu.  Hints of the scent of paint thinner and molasses waft from the open container.  "This may not help forever, but...  You really look like you could use a drink, Ms. Mitsurugi."

[Lucky Lulu]

"I mean, the Gensokyo from five minutes ago isn't the Gensokyo from now, and this seems like one of those weird 'timelines' things you hear some people talk about, so they might be different in a technical sense.   But since she obviously recognized some of the people I mentioned one has to assume that it's not THAT different.  Heck, maybe the only real difference before this stuff with these 'trespasser' things is something weird like blue being green, or Saigai being there, since I don't remember someone like her being from mine that'd be able to get away from something that could-"  Masako realized, a moment too late, that this probably wasn't helping.  So she shut her mouth and pressed the tip of her wing to it, forcing her to pause and consider.  It PROBABLY wasn't a good idea to try arguing with some weird fairy and a depressed goddess over what does and doesn't make a different Gensokyo.  It wasn't like she even knew how Gensokyo 2 (as she would call Mitsu's Gensokyo) related to Gensokyo Prime (as she would call HER Gensokyo).  Maybe it was the future!  And maybe the goddess was normally just too minor for even a well-informed tengu to recognize.  Or maybe something had come up way earlier that led to Gensokyo 2 getting eaten.  She sure didn't know.  Yet.  Though...

Well.  Either way, she shouldn't TALK about it right now.    "Um..."

Besides, the conversation had moved on, giving her reason to pull her eyes from the weird fairy and give Iowa a funny look.  "R-right.  Well, ah.  I dunno who these Irishmen of yours are, but they've obviously not met many fairies.  Given they make stuff up all the time and there's not exactly many that can be described to have quick wits OR silver tongues."

She paused again.  In which time she had ample opportunity to remember Empi was right there.  Whoops.  "Well.  Some exceptions, obviously.  But the rule still holds."

Edited November 28, 2018 by Lucky Lulu

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi's nose crinkled slightly at the odor. Western alcohol, much coarser stuff than sake, and this seemed to be coarse by even those standards. Still, it would be rude to refuse the drink. . . and, if she was being honest with herself, it would provide a welcome distraction from the tengu's line of questioning, and Empi's rather humiliating statements to her "benefit." She gave a slight bow of thanks to Iowa, then took the flask, somewhat regretting not having a dish or anything similar. She took a slight sip of the liquor, and judging by the sensation of the stuff on the tongue, decided it was of a variety best not tasted at all as it went down. "I must admit to being more familiar with a duller sort of fairy. Though it seems that even many of the more intelligent ones are less tactful than they might think."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi returns the flat look Iowa gives her with one of disbelieving puzzlement, before understanding.

".....the hell are you from, the 1800s? Actually, that would make way too much sense, thinking about it. You still believe in that fairy cold iron bul....stuff, which people stopped seriously believing like a century ago in my world, you think 'multiverse' is a made-up word, I'm assuming you don't know what cellphone reception or a cartoon is either, and also you think Irish people still believe in fairies. 

 

I'm guessing.....you're from around the early 1900s, based on what you're wearing. Effective when I left home and ended up with these people, it was the year......2017.  An entire century's difference, if I'm right. We're also obviously from different worlds, considering I've never seen anyone look like you except people in period dramas and plays, and considering where I'm standing, that dress -cute, by the way- looks real authentic, and you've obviously never heard of fairies who don't run screeching away from iron like Superman runs from kryptonite.

 

Well, looks like you were born a little too early to see rock and roll, penicilin and the Internet. At least you'll be glad to know Irish people still make great whiskey."

[DragonRage]

Iowa responds by reaching into her purse, rummaging around, and coming up with an enormous book titled Webster's New International Dictionary 1909.  Paging through it to a place near the middle, she triumphantly holds it up for Empi to view.  "Behold the lack of 'internet'."  She flips further along, to display where 'kryptonite' and 'penicilin' are also not displayed where they ought to be, and then snaps it shut smugly.  Then the rest of what Empi said catches up to her. 

 

"Did you say twenty-seventeen?  That's...  a very long time.  I've gone and made a right ass of myself, I think.  I'm probably going to need to update my dictionary, aren't I?  Is Webster still printing those in the future?  I do hope men who live on the moon and own flying cars still have use for books.  Even if they almost assuredly don't for battleships..."

[ElfCollaborator]

".....yeaaaaah. Still got books. Man, you really ARE behind. It's going to be a treat to catch you up."

[Lucky Lulu]

"Oh, I wouldn't necessarily say that," Masako mused, rather glad to have the topic changed.  For now, anyway.  She'd definitely have to do a bit of prying later.  "They seem like they'd probably still use battleships, if the issue ever came up.  Probably not YOU, of course- I think they still hate Americans after that whole thing about them landing their warriors on the surface and invading the Lunar Capital, though I'm still trying to figure out how they managed to do that. Still, the Moriya shrine maiden was pretty insistent that it happened, and she'd know.  Guess that Armstrong guy was pretty tough."

Edited November 29, 2018 by Lucky Lulu