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

[kj1225]

Rory perked up a bit at the mention of a miko. She sounded pretty important after all. Still, it would be kind of rude to just ask about her even if Rory didn't really care about a random maid's employment status. "I'm not much for advice one dealing with one's employer but... maybe you guys should have a proper talk about it? I 'dunno, get some tea or whatever you drink to relax, maybe some people to act as mediators or guards to reassure this Remillia chick? Or at the very least, you could talk to Ms. Yukari. she could clear this up better than us since she seems to know a lot about the artifacts." Hopefully the guard would say no, and Rory could lead into the question more pertinent to the job at hand.

[ElfCollaborator]

 

Empi looks....fairly confused. Names were being thrown around, none of them she knew. Except Reimu. Reimu sounded like that chick who worked in Troubleshooting; pretty hot, but was a cheapskate who only ate cheap ramen and lived in an unheated apartment because radiators were expensive and looked like she never got any sleep because of the damn repo gremlins.

Probably not the same Reimu.
"Uh, can we have a LITTLE bit of context as to what's going on here? Who's this Flandre chick, what's a Remilia and.....why should we be worried if whoever Flandre is gets out? The redhead's face here looked like she got told she got put on septic tank duty when you said something about Flandre getting out."

[AzyWng]

The gynoid put away the maid outfit in one of its storage compartments, then turned to Meiling.

 

“In addition to the requests my colleagues are making, may we know exactly what happened? I’m afraid I was not present when the events you described occurred. You said Sakuya attempted to stab your employer?”

[Lucky Lulu]

"To answer the fairy's questions-" The tengu had been flying up to do a bit of what might be called aerial reconnaissance investigation after growing bored listening to Rory's panicking over the weird maid robot meat metal(?)-shield.  Though, given the usual conditions around the lake, it hadn't really accomplished much.  So with things turning back to the proper investigation (and local gossip, she'd come zooming right back. "-a vampire, a vampire, and because she breaks everything.  And is a vampire.  Mostly because she breaks everything, though."

 

"In any case..."  The tengu landed, peering at the (still, somehow) perfectly elegant maid.  She had a feeling she knew how this was ACTUALLY gonna go.  But hey, on the off chance she was wrong (rare), she might as well roll with it.  "Fired for trying to stab the so-called Scarlet Devil?  I would've thought she'd be used to that by now-  Still, it hardly matters.  You should think of this as an opportunity!  After all..."

Masako adjusted her glasses, her expression perfectly smug.  "I have been considering getting a new intern, and Iyazoi is already well-known for her skill in staking things out.  How about it?  Obviously I can't let you in my office except to clean stuff and I wouldn't pay you anything, but it'd be a really good experience for a human like you, working for the finest detective in gensokyo-"

Edited August 14, 2019 by Lucky Lulu

[Powder Miner]

Isobel stood up carefully as the maid did... and sighed slightly as the others spoke. "Please ignore Masako... we are not a detective agency. Please let me give you a little bit more thorough... and accurate... explanation of what is going on. We come from outside of this place... in fact, we come from another world entirely. I'm afraid I don't know enough about this place to know whether or not that would be unbelievable, but if you're going to be with us it should become fairly apparent, even with the transformations we seem to have undergone on this world. We were sent here in order to deal with a threat also from outside of this world, called the Trespassers, which... trespass on other worlds, corrupt them, and destroy them."

 

Meanwhile, LOTUS' attention was on... other things, as the fairy flew up out of Isobel's pocket (well, flew out and then fell onto the ground, and took a couple of other starts before then actually managing to fly up) and over to Rory, Instructor Prototype, and Empi. "You two are ridiculous. If I have to deal with another idiotic divide about "oh, it's a robot, oh no, oh noooo, oh noooooo, it must be out to get me" I'm going to lose my mind. I've dealt with more than enough of these same roundabout, waste-of-time scenarios, and it almost always goes one of two ways. Either somebody gets hysterical and starts going on about "machines" or "fleshbags" and a lot of people kill each other for no reason, or it's some predictable tale of "wow, I guess you AI aren't so bad after all" which only comes after some ridiculous waste of everybody's effort. Get over yourselves. Especially you, Empi, you've actually seen me in my AI form, why are you acting up now? We all appeared out of nowhere. I understand caution, but to loudly assume interdimensional assassins at every opportunity is priming yourself to make bad decisions."

[kj1225]

Rory patiently sits through the tirade. When it's finished the faunus is silent for a time, to compose their thoughts, before finally settling on the perfect response. "Fuck off."

[ElfCollaborator]

"Why the hell would I be worried about you? One, I know you, two, you're literally the size of my palm either way. Also, in case you haven't noticed, because apparently you've been stuck in her pocket for the entire time we've been here, where apparently shooting each other is a hobby, we've been attacked by fairies, the local plants, more fairies, a witch possessed by an eldritch monster from Lovecraft's wet dreams or something and more fairies, and we're currently in front of a mansion with two bloodthirsty vampires that may or may not have escaped from which said robot chick just came from, from which both guards of said mansion are apparently either fired or slacking!

 

I may be covered by free insurance -thanks, boss- but my insurance doesn't cover any of the bullshit I just mentioned, so you'll excuse me if I'm a little suspicious of anybody we pick up here. You can also cut the AI rights activism while you're at it; I've seen those movies too and it's an overdone trope."

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS' response to Rory was just a drippingly sarcastic: "Did that one take you all day?"

 

The response to Empi was, at least, a little more involved. "Most of the worlds we've been on have been violent disasters -- this place, and most definitely the world of House Asterlux. The only exception of the worlds I've been to here is the Rio of Overwatch, and even that place wasn't fantastic. If you want to show caution, then forming a little cabal with Rory here of all people isn't the way to do it, just let the group as a whole show some general caution. If this robot maid WAS out to get us, then do you really think just the two of you would make much of a difference? You can barely fight at all, and surely any saboteur would be more and powerful enough to fight Rory on their own. What would you do if something actually did happen?

 

...also if it's overdone for you, and you've just seen movies about it, I'm not sure you can even imagine how tired I am of the whole shtick by now. I've lived it, many, many, many, many times. This is setting up for some stupid moment down the line from one of you two, I've seen it happen, and it's best to shut it down now before it escalates."

[kj1225]

Rory rolled his eyes. "I can't speak for her, but I couldn't give less of a shit about AIs or whatever rights they want. Actually, scratch that, I'd support AIs fighting for their rights, if only because I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't. But what I don't trust are robots from megacorps, especially not ones that just scream "I'm here to trample your rights and put an end to your peaceful protest at gun point". Maybe get off your high horse and consider that some people have actual reasons for what they think, and not just assume they're a bad trope in every sci-fi movie."

[AzyWng]

This new turn the conversation took caused Instructor’s frown to deepen once again.

 

“While the concerns of me trampling upon people’s rights”, the gynoid said, gesturing to Rory, “Are not valid, I’m afraid Empi’s fears of hostile robotic units is. My own world is attempting to bring down a large force of such units even as we speak. That was the only reason I was reactivated - I was an outdated unit placed in storage and was therefore not compromised.

 

”I... may have revealed more about the issue than is necessary at the moment. Suffice it to say, at this moment, that in light of all the information I currently know, and considering your current attitudes towards me... I will be relinquishing my weapons.”

 

Still frowning, the gynoid removed a gun and then a pair of tomahawks from storage compartments, placing them on the ground. She then pulled her shield off of her back (How the maid outfit was stretched over that without being damaged is a mystery for the ages), and placed it on the ground too, before stepping away from her weapons.

[ElfCollaborator]

"Alright, LOTUS, you raise a fair point, but still, calm your tits. Me happening to question the new person at the same time as some person I barely know isn't a cabal. I've had my fair share of human idiots too. Presumably if she WAS, in fact, some Terminator wannabe, it wouldn't exactly just be me and Rory here fighting her, unless you're saying you'd flat out ditch us to fight a hypothetical killer robot on our own. In any case, I got no problem with robots, but I do have a problem with being shot. Wasn't exactly in the job description. Then again, going here wasn't exactly on my job description either."
Empi turns to the new person.
"This is a misunderstanding. Keep your shit on, Arcee. I'm still not quite sure about you, but if you drop your stuff now and this Flandre chick comes sailing out like a bat out of hell, you're still better than nothing."

[AzyWng]

Instructor nodded and retrieved her weapons, though her frown remained and her response seemed a good deal more curt this time.

“Of course. I will defend you in the event that we enter combat. I’m sorry that I can’t earn your trust just yet. If the need arises, I am willing, if rather reluctant, to leave the group.”

Edited August 16, 2019 by AzyWng

[Chevaleresse]

"You know, 'bat out of hell' isn't the worst way to describe Lady Flandre. . . at her worst, anyway. She's really not so bad." She sighed again at the requests for information. "Let's just start from the top, I guess. I don't really have anything else to do for a few hours. Since you're Outsiders, you wouldn't know, but this is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Remilia Scarlet, the Young Descendant of Tepes, is the lady of the house, and has been for a few centuries. Flandre is her younger sister, and she isn't allowed to leave the house. She's nice enough, but she doesn't quite understand certain things."

 

"Like what happens when she 'plays with' a human," Sakuya interrupts. 

 

"Sakuya, you know these people are strangers, right? They don't need to know everything about the place, especially not Flan's. . . you know, quirks." 

 

"Leaving bloody smears instead of humans isn't a 'quirk,' and they need to know if I'm not going to be around to help contain her."

 

"And whose fault is that?" Meiling asked accusatorily. "You're the one who went nuts again and attacked Remilia."

 

"I barely remember anything after finding that artifact. Which I correctly guessed was dangerous, but tried to remove at your insistence that it wasn't going to be so bad." Meiling looked down guiltily at this. Sakuya took the opportunity to turn her attention to the party. "Normally I wouldn't ask a group including strange humans to even come into the mansion, much less talk to my employer, but I don't seem to have much recourse elsewise. Since you're already dealing with this incident, you're the best equipped to explain what exactly happened." 

 

"You're telling me that you expect me to let a huge group of heavily armed strangers into the mansion?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Give me a break. . ." She wearily put her hand to her head for a moment, before turning towards the building. "Fine. It'd get boring around here without you anyway," she said quietly. Meiling waved at the group. "Come on, then, I guess you get an impromptu tour. Just don't break anything, and please don't wander off."

[AzyWng]

Instructor nodded at this offer.

“Very well. If I may ask, what should we know about Flandre, and what exactly is this incident that is occurring?”

[kj1225]

Rory sighed. Well, at least it'd be interesting to enter a rich person's house as a guest for once. "We'll be on our best behavior.... But the bot has the start of a good question, do you guys know anything else about that evil rock thing?"

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

Well, a tour wasn't something Walmond was expecting. But the offer was there, and it would at least make her feel better about herself by ensuring that someone's job was intact. As Rory and Instructor asked their questions, Walmond instinctively opened her mouth to speak, only to close it shortly afterwards. She couldn't entirely be sure if they knew more than they did about the artifact, considering their recent reactions to the other turning mad, but if they did, she had no place to interrupt. If they didn't, well, that would simply be a good time for her to give them a much needed breakdown on the 'incident'.

 

As far as she was aware of, at the very least.

[Chevaleresse]

Sakuya shook her head. "The incident is the appearance of these rocks, of course. If you want to call them that. I recommend taking them to Patchouli on your way out, assuming you can get conversation out of her. As for Lady Flandre," Sakuya began, prompting Meiling to give the group an anxious glance-over, "she never learned to attack humans properly. She has the ability to destroy anything she chooses to, so I recommend that you avoid her if you think she's lurking, or do your best to entertain her if you can't." The gate guard gave the maid an unreadable look, but seemed satisfied when Sakuya stopped there. Meiling led the party into the main entrance hall of the mansion - an impressive, aged structure, with fine stained glass windows and a strong Gothic feel to the whole thing - and then through a large set of doors into an equally impressive library. It almost seemed like the library stretched on forever, though a closer examination revealed this to just be a trick of the decor (though it was still quite large.) The shelving was quite tall, towering over the group and packed to the brim with tomes of ancient knowledge. . . and the occasional manga series?

 

"This is Voile, the Magic Library. I wouldn't touch anything if I were you; just because the black-and-white girl gets away with 'borrowing' books doesn't mean you will, not to mention this place is still pretty hazardous for most humans. Magic tomes can be, uh, touchy, at times." As if on cue, one large book on a nearby shelf barked at the group as they passed. Strangely enough it seemed to be the bark of a small dog, simply amplified to be as loud as a large mastiff's or similar. The occasional fairy flitted across the shelving, and every now and again a girl with red hair and bat wings on both her back and head was visible moving between them. "Ah, and there's the little devil. It looks like she's busy, though she probably already let Patchouli know that there are 'intruders' around." Both mansion employees were quiet for a few moments as they simply walked through the library, the footsteps of the group audible as they echoed through the shelves. 

 

Just as it seemed like they would be walking through the place for ages, they came to another set of doors, alongside a purple-haired girl in a pink dress vaguely reminiscent of pajamas. "You brought strangers into my library," she stated quietly, glancing between Meiling and the group. She held yet another old tome in her hands, the corners of its pages worn and dog-eared. 

 

 "Yes, Patchouli, I did, you know how things go when there's an incident going on." This didn't seem to placate the girl much, if at all, so Meiling continued. "And before you say anything about me doing my job, that job happens to be keeping everyone here safe, and in this case it means getting Sakuya her job back. Which you could totally help with, by the way," she added, somewhat irritably.

 

"I'm Remilia's friend, not her employee. And I don't like watching people attack my friends." A pair of tomes floated up from nearby, and seemed to somehow point themselves ominously at Sakuya. 

 

"I have no intention of making an attempt on Lady Remilia's life, Patchouli." The mage's response was simply a dubious look and snapping her book closed, though her seriousness was somewhat spoiled when the ensuing puff of dust sent her into a wheezing coughing fit. Sakuya's expression shifted slightly as it went on, softening slightly before returning to her normal icy countenance. She waited patiently for the fit to subside before continuing. "If you don't believe me, take a look at the artifact I had earlier." She gestured at Walmond, the current holder of the thing, and Patchouli's response was simply an expectant glance at her while the mage tried to recover her breath.

 

 

 

 

[ElfCollaborator]

Descendant of Tepes. As in Vlad Tepes. As in Vlad the Impaler. As in Vlad "Casually create forests of impaled Turks as a warning to infidels and invaders" Tepes. That wasn't comforting.

The more Empi went around in this grotesque freakshow, the less she liked it. She was used to crazy people, but at least the most dangerous people back in her office were the repo gremlins or the particularly rowdy succubi. Not a vampire who would probably play Operation with her organs. Then again, back home, it wouldn't be her who dealt with this kind of thing. It'd be people like that robot chick who showed up right now who dealt with the crazies.

Empi remains silent as the group enters the mansion. True, it wasn't like she could do anything if this Remilia chick showed up, but it was nice and comforting to think she could.

"Whoa, lady. You need an inhaler or something? Also....why, exactly, do you keep books that'll blow you to kingdom come if you read them in a library? Are vampires immune to that kind of stuff or do you people just have some technique for reading deadly books of death?"

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

To say Walmond was amazed at the size of the library (or rather, Voile, as it was named) was an extreme understatement. She was already fairly impressed by the size and general build of the mansion itself, she could attribute that to one of her old colleagues getting her interested in architecture, but none of it compared to the scale of Voile. While her expression didn't do much to convey just how excited she was to be walking amidst such a large collection of knowledge, her continuous scanning of the bookshelves did. Even the barking book did nothing to deter her, nor did the warnings that a lot of these books were 'touchy'. Lambda, however, was a different story, practically jumping once the book-dog let out its bark, almost reflexively bringing out her shields, as if she was being attacked. Thankfully, she didn't take any hostile actions, merely choosing to keep a closer eye on the library in case of an attack, no matter how unlikely it would be.

 

Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to dwell on the wonder of the library for much longer, as the group was stopped by the librarian, Patchouli. It was a bit harder to believe that such a small girl who clearly had health issues could run an entire library like this, but as this world had shown her so far, looks could be deceiving. Regardless, upon Sakuya gesturing to her, Walmond quickly shuffled around her belongings, before holding the artifact out of her cloak, taking a few steps towards Patchouli in order for her to take it/inspect it, Lambda following closely behind, still fairly jumpy from the earlier bark, "Don't worry about any corruption factors from the artifact anymore. It's properly sealed, so it shouldn't have any influence from someone merely touching it" Walmond informed. She was still concerned about the coughing fit, but she had no reason to pursue it right now.

 

... The other thing she had to pursue was learning more about the contents in this library, but that could wait.

[AzyWng]

Instructor retained a slight frown as the group proceeded.

 

"Attack humans 'properly'? Forgive me for my ignorance, but would Flandre not be *more* dangerous if she learned how to properly fight? Or does learning how to attack 'properly' involve training in some nonlethal method of combat that this world possesses?"

 

Instructor gaped a little bit at seeing the enormous library, and her visible expression of interest only deepened when one of the books barked at the group.

 

"Even explosives can be fairly safe as long as they are kept in the proper conditions and disarmed so that they cannot go off in the event of an accident. I'd imagine that similar precautions are taken here."

Instructor moved a bit closer to Patchouli, examining her a bit more closely, but stopped once Walmond asked her questions and revealed the artifact.

Edited August 27, 2019 by AzyWng

[kj1225]

Rory didn't look all that impressed with the explanation of this "Flandre" person, nor did she care for the mansion. They always seemed like a waste unless you liked throwing away your money. Still, the library got an impressed look from the previously male Faunus. They still thought that it was something of a waste, since most of these books, especially the manga, could have been bought digitally; but there had to be at least a few that weren't available that way. And since they seemed to have a problem with a thief maybe he'd have to bring that up to the librarian. It was definitely something to say she'd remember and then completely forget about later.

[Powder Miner]

As they moved through the mansion and were informed of its various dangers, LOTUS let out a wary "Sounds like we have a fairly large chance of getting murdered in here. We're going to have to keep on our guard, people. I suppose it might be a little rude, but even our erstwhile guard is telling us all of this, after all."

 

LOTUS' demeanor took on a more analytical set as the group entered the library and met a very pink and evidently very magical girl, named Patchouli, apparently. Walmond's explanation of the artifact had been fairly minimal, and considering that Patchouli seemed to be expecting a lot, LOTUS took it on herself to provide a fuller recollection: "We were in the forest, and encountered who is probably the 'miss black-and-white' that was just referred to a short time ago -- a blonde thief, so far as I can tell, in a black-and-white witch's outfit. She was immediately hostile, exhibiting likely signs of some sort of corruption, and we engaged her in a fight. After beating her, we discovered that her behavior had indeed been altered by an object that she had been in contact with, which twisted her to be hostile and violent. After removal she was whiny and indignant, but not malicious. It sounds like Sakuya here had a similar incident in which a similar object caused similar corruption -- at the time of contact with the artifact Sakuya has been referring to, had her appearance and voice been altered in addition to her behavior?

 

It's also worth noting that we have encountered similar corruption in a previous place. Though the corruption there was mostly permanent and based off of singular contact with a larger artifact, similar aggression and hostility towards the inhabitants of the location we were in was present, and this turned out in that case to be the work of outside beings known as "Trespassers" that our group fights. Their modus operandi would appear to be entering locations and corrupting its inhabitants to lay waste to these locations, and judging by the artifacts we have seen here, I would bet that a similar case is ongoing here. In this case, your opponent would not be Sakuya, nor us, but the source of these artifacts, the Trespassers."

 

"Hmm," Isobel mused on the side, "we don't know all that much about 'miss black-and-white', do we? I don't believe that I ever actually caught her name."

[Chevaleresse]

"An. . . inhaler?" She coughed once. "Is that some kind of breathing apparatus?" Without delaying for an answer, Patchouli leaned forward and peered at the artifact for a few moments, eventually picking it up and turning it over in her hands a few times. "That's. . . concerning. . . that would certainly be. . ." The magician trails off into mumbling as she walks off a bit, before sweeping a number of books off a table (which promptly took off flying on their own around the library.) Some sort of magical circle was inscribed on it, and Patchouli placed the artifact in the center, at which point the table lit up in five different colors, before shifting once more to an eerie-looking set of washed-out hues. 

 

While Patchouli did. . . whatever she was doing with the artifact, Meiling continued her explanation. "Flandre, like Remilia, is a vampire. For her to properly feed, there has to be something left of the human to feed off of. That would be what Sakuya meant." The maid nodded. "And yeah, that sounds a lot like what happened earlier. According to Lady Remilia, she did act like that once upon a time, but I've never seen it." Sakuya looked away for a moment, remembering an old shame. "Hopefully she accepts that explanation, she seemed pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal. . ." The gatekeeper trailed off, concern evident in her voice.

 

"You're thinking of Marisa Kirisame. She has been a bit of a nuisance around here. Ever since the mist incident, she's been inviting herself in and 'borrowing' tomes, as she describes it. A far cry from the issues I expected to have with a strange human in the library." Sakuya glanced in Patchouli's direction; the lightshow seemed to have ceased, and the anemic magus was headed back towards the group. She glanced at the maid, who gave her a meaningful glance back. After this exchange, she turned towards Walmond to deliver her expectation

 

"This artifact is meant to be used as part of a set, as far as I can tell. Three, or maybe four pieces should exist. It grants the bearer a significant amount of magical power, and warps their form. I believe this is to help the body contain the magical power, though it's a rather crude method." Her tone turned somewhat derogatory for a moment, before she continued normally. "However, if the bearer is not of the proper bloodline, then it will warp their mind alongside their form. I cannot tell if this is a deliberate feature or simply a result of it only being made for a particular kind of being. However. . . I did get a brief impression of some sort of fish-headed man?" She mulled over the thought for a moment longer. "Perhaps it only works properly if the wearer is aquatic in nature. . ."

 

 

[kj1225]

Rory for her part is looking interested in the conversation, but that's about it. The moment she realized she didn't really understand or care about the specifics behind some evil magic artifact she got lost in her own thoughts. I wonder what everyone else is going back home.... Do they think I'm dead? Probably not yet, it's only been a little while. Probably long enough for Tea to steal my fucking snack bars again, the bastard. I'm gonna punch him in the stomach when I get back... I wonder what this Sakuya chick'll do if she doesn't get her job back? Maybe I should offer to bring her back home with me to try out hunting, she has the look of someone that could make a name for themself doing it...

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

While Lotus’ explanation was directed towards the librarian, it was also something that was extremely useful for Walmond. Since she had been dropped into this mission, she didn’t entirely know much about the Trespassers, much less what the more experienced members had come across so far. So, being able to actually know what they did was a huge plus for her, for many reasons.  Granted, she could’ve been more clear on what she had said beforehand with her own experience. That was a mistake she was willing to admit.

 

“Thank you Lotus, and thank you, Miss Patchouli, for the insight and clarification” Walmond replied before pausing as she processed some of the information, “Though… Fish-headed man? That’s rather odd…” she continued, turning to the side as she continued thinking about it. She wasn’t sure that Trespassers took the forms of fish-headed men, and from the way the artifacts were described, they sounded less Trespasser like and more of something originating from this world. At least, the fact that they weren’t permanent effects like Lotus said, and apparently were part of a set,

 

“Hm… Perhaps the ‘Trespassers’ are choosing to be slightly more ‘subtle’ than normal by infecting these artifacts. Regardless, with two of these artifacts down, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to acquire the other two.”