[IC] TotMV:G^2: Touhou: Twilight of Paradise Butterfly

[kj1225]

Rory shakes her head at Masako. "Isn't a favor enough? ... Stupid question of course it wouldn't be. Hey, we're probably going to have to fight at least some of them. That means we have every right to take whatever they have on them. And if they typically solve incidents that require this level of assistance they're bound to have some good loot on them." Rory's eyes light up at the possibilities. Admittedly it wouldn't be as fun as carving her own loot off the bodies of her foes, but the loot itself should be more than worth it.

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi looks over at Ritsu, lifting an eyebrow. She was a robot before, Empi was pretty sure.

"I get paid to hook people up, Matchmaking, being a wingwoman, coaching people on how not to fuck up talking to people they want to spend more than five seconds talking to and maybe possibly bed them. Which, so far, I've done all of five minutes of because my boss decided that branching out into multiverse jobs and sending me out without a GPS to at LEAST find where I'm going was a great idea. 

 

So instead of hooking up a nerdy shopkeeper with his voluptuous, nubile but innocent and virginal neighbor, I'm fighting what would happen if Giger had a bad trip on some peyote."

[Zetaark]

"I see. That must be hard to deal with, though I get the feeling that if things went this far off, there may not be much compensation pay I'm afraid," Ritsu remarks, wondering how a matchmaker got roped into this in the first place. Though thinking about it, there are some strange occurrences that tend to happen in these worlds, so maybe the skillset will come in handy somewhere. 

 

"Well, at the very least, given the nature of the multiverse, you're bound to find one place where you can more properly do work in your own field. Probably," 

[ElfCollaborator]

"I'm guessing robot maids aren't exactly in high demand for the Guardians of the Multiverse or whatever this carnival of jokers calls itself?"

[Zetaark]

"I couldn't say. I had a few duties at the manor in which I worked, and a fair amount of the duties I performed might be in demand. That being said, this excursion has been useful in developing a few different skillsets, so perhaps I can leverage that for a raise should I return home," Ritsu chuckles, thinking about how the others would react to her development.

[Chevaleresse]

"Don't worry, there are plenty of people in Gensokyo that could use your help, miss Emphala. For now, though, this is slightly more important." She stepped backwards into a gap, reappearing behind her desk in a seated position once more. Yukari glanced at Hikari before continuing. "You will be exiting my home near Muenzuka. It can be. . . treacherous, and it wouldn't do for you to slip and join the phantoms. The Forest of Magic nearby is home to one of the miko's acquaintances; Chen and the map should do well enough to guide you from there." 

 

Seemingly ignoring Masako, she turned to Rory and raised an eyebrow. She seemed about to speak, but ceased with a slight, yet mischievous grin. Rory would probably learn the hard way if the faunus decided to loot Marisa, of all people. "Speaking of." The sound of footfalls, a measured set already recognizable as Ran's stride alongside a lighter, faster, and slightly more irregular gait moved towards the group from the hallway behind. Soon enough, the kitsune appeared in the doorway, though the owner of the other pair of feet was yet to be seen - until a green hat and a pair of cat ears poked out from behind Ran, followed by a glimpse of dark eyes. This set of features quickly vanished from sight once more. 

 

"Chen, now, don't be shy. These strangers need your help." Ran attempted to step sideways, to reveal only a rustle of cloth and a brief flicker of two white-tipped tails. A muted look of frustration crossed her face once more. 

 

"But they're all so weird!" The voice was notably higher than Yukari's refined tones or the somewhat more rigid ones of Ran's voice; in fact, it seemed to belong to a child. 

 

"Yes, they are, but you need to do what I tell you or you won't grow up to be a big, strong youkai."

 

"But Raaaaan-!"

 

"Chen." Ran's voice, though her inflection seemingly didn't change much, became much firmer. Rather than protesting again, the mysterious Chen finally revealed themselves; a girl in a red dress that could have been confused for a human child if not for the ears and tails seen earlier. She moved in front of Ran and waved slightly awkwardly at the party. "As you may have gathered, this is Chen. I already gave her the instructions on where to guide you. Keep her safe for me." 

[kj1225]

Rory raises an eyebrow at the reveal of their guide. More specifically, at their apparent age. She covers her mouth for a moment in thought before speaking. "Forgive me if this seems obvious but... she looks... young. Are you, uh, sure she can handle this?" Rory looks at the little girl's guardians for a moment before shaking her head and turning to Chen. "I'm asking the wrong people. Are you sure you can handle this? If you turn tail and run because you aren't prepared you're going to be worse than useless you know."

[Lucky Lulu]

"Oh, she'll be fine.  It's not like anyone's in danger of dying or anything.  Even if we do have to beat them up to solve this case."  Masako, for her part, didn't seem particularly concerned.  Though it helped that Chen was adorable and would make a way better sidekick than any of this bunch. 

 

"Besides, it doesn't take a detective to know she can kick your butt.  Though I can deduce how one-sided you going up against a Yakumo shikigami would be, if you want to know-"

[kj1225]

Rory raises an eyebrow at the Tengu's claims. "What do you mean, we're not in danger of dying? Are you saying they're just going to not try to kill us? Because if so our mysterious contractor has chosen kind of poorly for non-lethal options on my end at least. I mean, My Wrmystake Launcher is rated to penetrate any Grimm hide at range, let alone up close where I actually fight. As for the kid kicking my ass... That means nothing to me, and I would welcome the attempt if she wanted to try it." Rory by all accounts sounds completely genuine. Cocky Bitch.

[Chevaleresse]

"I just might, you big meanie!" Chen stamped her foot, tails fluffing up angrily, while Ran shot an annoyed look at Rory with a less-obvious twitch of hers. The kitsune couldn't muster up too much irritation, given she'd expressed more or less the same concern already, but she couldn't help being slightly offended. "I wouldn't even need orders from Ran-sama to beat you up!" Well, it seemed it was over her initial shyness, at least. 

 

"Chen, quiet down now." The bakeneko seemed slightly startled to be receiving a direct command from Yukari, and she followed it immediately. "To answer your question, I've already taken the time to codify your abilities as spell cards. They're a way of preventing things from getting, shall we say, out of hand. It puts a bit more emphasis on grace and skill, and a bit less on one's ability to rend a foe into their constituent atoms." She leaned back slightly. "They're simply a translation of your natural abilities and learned techniques into danmaku. Using them should come as if there was no difference at all." She was quiet for a moment, but still not dismissing them; though her gaze continued to rest on the group in general, it seemed that, on closer inspection, she was thinking. "The system should isolate you from any permanent harm." 

 

"I must say that this is a time-sensitive issue, though. Chen or Miss Masako should be able to answer any other questions you have; I have other things to attend to, as well." She gestured out the door with her fan. It took a look from her and another significant glance at the door to spur Chen into motion once more; the bakeneko skittered to the front of the party and started leading them back out of the building, down. . . well, it should have been the same hall, but the decor seemed to be different, down to the wood paneling on the walls being in a different style. There was a lack of certain styles of art, though the oddly modern pieces still remained, including several depicting an angry-looking white-haired man in a red coat. Or several angry men; it was difficult to tell. It was also lacking certain other, more "exotic" flavors of art. Still, Chen seemed to be taking her mission fairly seriously, as she did her best power-walk out of the building. 

 

"Ran-sama said to take you to the Forest of Magic, so we have to go to Muenzuka first. Watch out for all the ghosts and stuff. Lady Yukari said they wouldn't, but I heard some of the forest youkai say there's a pink one that might eat you right there!" She sounded as if she believed the latter, and not the former. The bakeneko even shivered dramatically for effect as she walked. The path she chose didn't follow the main one that seemed to be laid out, but a smaller one that seemed to veer off to the side slightly. In a slight reversal of their path inward, the orderly nature of the garden faded out over the course of their travel as one might expect. However, rather than becoming that formless, eye-filled space, it seemed to fade to a more unkempt sort of nature, the trees starting to appear haphazardly rather than arranged in neat rows and undergrowth starting to spring up around the party. The path itself turned into a simple dirt trail, closer to one shaped by game than one manmade. The most notable thing seemed to be the patches of red lilies. "Be careful around the flowers too, by the way. I mean, it'd be a little weird if you ate flowers, but even if you do, you should probably leave them alone. They'll make you really sick." 

 

There was a slight sensation of slipping, and then. . . Not much, really. If anyone was to look backward, they'd find that the mansion and gardens they'd left behind had vanished entirely, though it didn't seem that they'd walked so far as to have them cross the horizon - the ground was rather flat up to this point, after all. "Okay! Oh, also, don't mess with the trees either. Some of them are cranky youkai trees. They might, I dunno, eat you or something. This isn't really a safe place for humans. Or youkai. . ." She seemed to falter slightly, realizing just where they were. Among the cherry trees - these ones not blooming - not far from the road they stood on, was a graveyard, consisting of small, densely packed graves that looked mostly-overgrown surrounded by a fence in a similar, but slightly better-maintained state.

 

 

[Zetaark]

"Is that right?" Ritsu asks Chen in a somewhat curious tone as she looks around. Seeing that the mansion had vanished and hearing about the beings that existed around here, Ritsu became more and more reminded of home. Though clearly there were some differences given how her body changed upon coming here, there were enough similarities to make her feel almost comfortable.

 

"The more I see here, the more this place reminds me of home a bit. It's almost relaxing, though," Ritsu remarks, her own cat ears twitching a bit as she observes the area. "A graveyard hmm? Seems to be an odd place to have one given how the area is supposed to be dangerous. Though I guess it makes sense in a way," Ritsu says with a hum, before taking a quick scan of the graves to try and find anything interesting.

 

Ritsu scans the graveyard area for any hidden objects. Magitech Scanners grant a+2 bonus 

 

[Powder Miner]

Upon hearing the squabbling between Chen and Rory, the talk about danger in the forest, and Yukaro's threat, the incensed fairy in Isobel's pocket put her palms to her face (wow, a facepalm, LOTUS had always wanted to try that) and came to a conclusion: "We're all going to die." Or, at least, that was the conclusion that LOTUS reached before a smirking Isobel promptly began petting her head again. "H-hey! Is this just what you're going to do every time?"

 

Isobel (who had had to resist a coquettish smile when Yukari had made that flirt, seeing as she currently had someone else in mind), for a moment, had a shit-eating grin. "Ehe. Ehehe. Maybe." Her expression quickly grew serious, however, especially as the party walked into the forest and the graveyard became apparent. "LOTUS, I'm absolutely willing to do my best here, but now that we're getting into real danger, you really need to calm down. It has to be difficult, but you're here for a reason, because you're good at tactics, and now you need to take that role back up."

 

The fairy exhaled with a sigh, and looked down. "...right. Okay." She looked up at Chen, short white hair bobbing with the movement. "Yukari said that all of our abilities have been converted into "danmaku"-- but it was never specified just what danmaku are, and I'm not familiar with it myself. What is danmaku, precisely?"

[kj1225]

Rory pulled her shield and lance from off her back, her tongue flicking out and wiggling in the air as she did a visual scan of the area for hostiles. "Hey, if anything does attack, get behind me. I'm not going to let anything get past me again."

[Chevaleresse]

Ritsu doesn't note much in the graveyard itself. The graves themselves are small and marked with either names only or nothing at all, and not well-maintained besides, though it does seem that it's at least kept clear of debris - which unfortunately means that she isn't able to find much of interest in it. The most notable thing she's able to find is a set of positively ancient newspapers, with headlines plastered across them such as "A DECLARATION FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and similar things, something about colonies declaring independence from another power.

 

"You don't know what danmaku is?" Chen seemed to think that this was rather unusual, to say the least. "It's like, fighting with big spreads of bullets and stuff! You need to be pretty and graceful to do it right, like Lady Yukari. Though she doesn't actually fight much. Or. . . do much." The catgirl shrugged, before starting to wander towards the road. She turned as if to walk backward while answering the other question, but then remembered her nervousness and stopped where she was. "Well, Muenzuka's close to the Netherworld which is where all the ghosts and stuff live. That's why it's dangerous, but it's also why people put all the humans that don't have families here when they die. So, um, not all the ghosts are that nice."

[Lucky Lulu]

"I'm sure you'll all figure it out eventually," Masako absently replied, peering down at the map in her hand.  "Especially if we do this investigation by the book.  It's really quite easy, so long as you're fast enough to dodge bullets and creative enough to express intricate and thematic patterns consisting of hundreds to thousands of bullets in any number of variants.  Knowing how to fly is a good idea, too.  Even fairies can manage it.  Not that many are all that impressive in spellcard duels, what with the easy blind spots, but..."

There were a few seconds before she paused, looking up at the tiny thing pocketed by Isobel.  And then at Empi.  There was a long silence, coupled by an increasingly awkward expression on the tengu's part.

 

Somehow, she powered through it.

 

"Regardless, this area is perfectly safe.  So long as you don't touch anything, eat anything, look at anything funny, or ever go there, you will probably be fine."  Nevermind that they were already there.  Not that she seemed all that concerned regardless.  There was a mystery on her mind.  "More importantly, Chen, did the gap h-  Oh, no, it was Ran.  Did she say why she thought we should start in the Forest of Magic?"

Edited December 25, 2018 by Lucky Lulu

[kj1225]

Rory starts to scoff at the idea of ghosts. But stops herself last minute. Given the last little bit ghosts really aren't that strange. Also it's not like magic is that unthinkable in general, he has a semblance after all. This shouldn't be that strange. Finally she nods at Masako's question. "Yeah, assuming we don't run into trouble here, not something I'd bet on but it's still an option, it would be nice to know what the first threat we'll be facing is. Is there lightning sand? Fire spouts? Ooh, maybe rodents of usual size? I hope it's that last one, I like that one."

[Twinwolf]

Hikari blinked. All their abilities were now... waves of bullets. Because that's how that worked here. "Does this... danmaku thing include my healing abilities? Do I have to aim that at allies or something?"

[ElfCollaborator]

"Wait, the hell did you say? Dodging bullets and spellcards? What do you think I look like, some maverick elf cop? Man, I'm really not getting paid to do this shit enough. Also.....what do you mean by even fairies? Are the fairies around here dumbasses or something?"

Empi isn't particularly amused by this at all. Fairy she might have been, but she wasn't that kind of fairy. She was even less amused by the idea that fairies were idiots around here; Empi had earned that doctorate- and the right to call herself Doctor Emphala Powderbelle-, thank you very much, and she wasn't going to have her intelligence impugned by some detective chick.

 

Back home, the real idiots were the actual gremlins. The pixies in IT really weren't paid enough to deal with the bastards. Stuff like her phone were gremlin-proofed, but it wasn't easy to do that.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond & Lambda

 

For the most part, Walmond had remained utterly silent as the group discussed the situation. It was simple enough for Walmond to understand, and he didn't have any further questions, at the time, nor the will to ask. Though, the talk of this 'danmaku' caused him (her?) to narrow their eyes, mostly in concern. Hundreds to thousands of projectiles needing to be avoided, all while fighting back with your own projectiles. 

 

Lambda would be having to be working even harder than she normally did.

 

"This world is strange..." Walmond muttered to themselves, bringing a hand to their forehead and closing their eyes, which prevented them from seeing Lambda nod in agreement.

 

[Zetaark]

Ritsu took note of the newspapers and noted the date, though she got the feeling that not much of the information would be of use. Rather, she was more surprised that they even were legible and not just dust going by their appearance. Regardless, she moved on from that to hear about this danmaku.

 

"That certainly sounds interesting, but perhaps it might also be a bit of fun," Ritsu remarks before considering something. After focusing for a moment, Ritsu's ears and tail seem to become even more catlike and exaggerated, and her hands almost begin to look like paws of a cat than human hands. "Hmm, so this is how it is here. A bit strange, but I suppose it works," Ritsu mutters as she looks over herself in her transformed state.

[Chevaleresse]

"Ran-sama told me that Lady Yukari said to take you to Muenzuka 'cause it was close. She said some stuff about, umm, something being thin? I didn't really get it." Seeing that everyone seemed to be some degree of ready to move on, she started walking, ears still laid slightly back in her nervousness. "The Forest of Magic is just close to here, and that black and white girl is there a lot, right? Oh, and she likes to shoot a bunch of stars and lasers in her danmaku, if that was what you were wondering." For a brief moment, Rory could have sworn there was a pair of eyes looking at him (her?), but turning around to check revealed no unusually large rodents for the moment. 

 

She looked rather unhappy with the way Empi spoke to her. "Hey! Ran-sama said those words aren't allowed! Of course you're dodging bullets, stupid fairy. At least you don't have to get beat up by that red and white miko." Chen huffed and picked up her pace, not that it meant much for her rather short legs in comparison with the rest of the party. "Oh, and I dunno if your healing is danmaku. You could probably make it into danmaku though? People make umbrellas and stuff into danmaku." It didn't take long before the cherry trees faded to rather more mundane greenery, with Chen relaxing accordingly. Indeed, the Forest felt at least slightly more welcoming than Muenzuka, even if it wasn't quite as pretty. The underbrush was denser, and it didn't take a trained eye to notice the huge variety of mushrooms that seemed to be growing virtually everywhere - especially given some of them grew to unnaturally large sizes, and it almost seemed like some of them reacted to being approached. Or perhaps that was simply a side effect of the spores they were giving off. . . 

 

Still, they weren't given much chance to worry about the health effects of breathing a miasma of probably hallucinogenic and possibly toxic mushroom spores, as a spray of glowing projectiles impacted the ground in front of Chen. The shikigami leapt into the air a solid ten feet. . . and stayed there, floating and looking startled for a moment before her expression turned into one a bit more excited. "The fairies are attacking us with danmaku! That means we have to be close to something! Oh, and don't worry about them, they don't die when they're killed. Ran-sama said you might not know that." She floated up into the air in the general direction of where the bullets had come from, looking expectantly at the party. "Are you guys coming or what? I don't wanna beat up all these fairies by myself."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi felt a vein throb in her temple. Did that funsized female Tom wannabe just call her stupid? She wasn't going to take that from a client questioning her methods. Or anyone who wasn't her boss. Four-hundred years of dealing with human idiots had made Empi very impatient with people who were skeptical about her; the fuckers asked the same questions, over and over again. She wasn't about to deal with this from some random reject from Looney Tunes, client or not.

"Dumb fairy? You think I'm one of the dumb broads you call fairies around here? Why didn't you get some of those broads to fix your problem then? Stupid fairy my ass! I didn't get a damn doctorate and refresher courses and survive the bastard children of a Xenomorph and the Thing for this bull-"

 

Then danmaku happens. Empi looks even more irritated as she stares at the danmaku and starts flying towards a safe position.

"Alright, now I'm pissed off. Those are your fairies, right? Let me at them, I'll show you dumb fairy!"

[Lucky Lulu]

"Well, there's no need to be offended.  I don't know what you got it for either."  Masako mentally added a tick to the probability of the group descending into a danmaku free-for-all before the mystery was solved.  Not that this was necessarily uncommon for investigations.  "Not that I know what it is, exactly, either.  You make it sound like they didn't even teach you to beat things up properly, which is plainly absurd.  That should be part of any legitimate degree path.  Everything involves it, sooner or later.  Investigations especially."

 

Fortunately, Masako was already flying, and had no particular need to jump further into the air.  Nor did she seem all that concerned about the bullets flying towards them.  It was only the first stage, after all, so it wasn't like the patterns would be difficult.  "Still!  If none of you know about this stuff, this is a good introduction.  Just jump up, start flying, and let your brains take over.  We can worry about whether you'll get beat up by the red-white miko or not later."

 

Since, if she was behaving oddly, that was probably gonna be another lesson whatever Chen said.  Masako would probably be sure to hide behind someone for that one.

[kj1225]

Rory glared at the crow girl for a second at that suggestion. Yes, she'll just jump straight up with her huge metal gun lance.... Oh wait, she'd have to thank Masako since that gave her an idea. She'll just jump straight up with her huge metal gun lance! Rory plants the blade of her weapon firmly in the ground before hopping onto the handle, the weapon extending out, bringing her off the ground some. Then she pulls the trigger, lighting off the dust in the chambers and launching into the air with a cheer. And after her ascension she stayed there, busying herself with reloading the spent ammo. Not like she didn't have a landing strategy.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond & Lambda

 

While Walmond didn't notice the stream of new projectiles coming at them, Lambda did, immediately pulling herself back and lifting her other arm protectively over Walmond, despite the fact that he was not the target of the projectiles. Clearly, to him, there was quite a lot of hostility in the air, considering their own resident fairy was quite pissed off, for lack of a better term, and now they were getting attack by other fairies as well. Or maybe the world just made fairies extremely agitated, who knows. 

 

"Lambda, up" Walmond ordered bluntly, feeling Lambda levitate off of the ground to join the others in the air. He couldn't fly, so he'd have to rely on Lambda to get him around, but he had faith in Lambda's ability to split her focus.

 

Fighting, at this point, was something the two were getting used to.