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

[Chevaleresse]

Remilia gave Masako a flat look, seemingly meaning something along the lines of "Listen here you little shit." Rather than explaining just how much useless crap Masako was going to have fall on her head, Remilia elected to take the high road and ignore the tengu for a moment to answer the other questions posed to her. "There's a road down to the human village that forks not far from here. Sakuya can show you if you absolutely cannot find it. And yes, before the barrier. The gap. . . youkai. . . set it up centuries ago. It allows youkai to contiinue to flourish even when the rest of the world has become. . . less friendly. The Hakurei Shrine is important for maintaining it, and usually for dealing with these sorts of things. You'll probably meet her in your investigation, probably at the end of a trail of bruised youkai." The vampire seemed to be remembering an incident for a moment, gazing off into nothing for the briefest second before snapping back and glancing at Empi again, this time with equal parts annoyance and confusion. Being a monster that used to run around the woods and eat people, she took a little offense at being called creepy. She might've been more insulted if she wasn''t too busy trying to figure out what Detroit and the Blair Witch Project were. The only witch she knew was the one that kept breaking into the library. ". . . Anyway. I think your visit is about over for the moment. Meiling?" 

 

There was a brief delay followed by a muffled thump. A bleary and pained-looking Meiling stood up from where she'd been leaning against the wall, while Sakuya looked as impassive as always.  "Uhh, sure. I mean, yes, Remilia." She waved at the group as she rubbed at her forehead, which upon closer inspection bore a single, small pinprick that wasn't there before. Patchouli suppressed a giggle before waving farewell to the group, remaining in the room with Remilia and watching Walmond as Meiling ushered them out and into the halls. Sakuya had already disappeared, presumably to clean up the mess left earlier - if she was, in fact, a maid. It wasn't really clear. The trip back through was uneventful save for the occasional maid fairy not knowing the fine art of not being tripped over by people ten times its size. Meiling showed them to the gate, bid them farewell, then made sure to pull it back shut as she retreated back inside. The massive wrought iron construction didn't seem to slow the gate guard down whatsoever.

 

Now, all that awaited them was a walk through the outskirts of the Forest of Magic and towards the Human Village, which seemed to have quite the surplus of signage pointing folks towards it despite the relative lack of detours on the road. Perhaps Gensokyo was difficult to navigate at times? Not that any trouble beyond boredom seemed to be presenting itself to the group - for once - beyond the lack of entertainment beyond sniffing the occasional mushroom waiting for them on the road.

[Powder Miner]

Isobel found herself musing as she walked upon the path towards the human village -- and, despite her contemplation, she managed to avoid tripping over even a single one of the fairies, deftly balancing on one foot or performing little hops seemingly without looking at the fairies she was dodging in order to gracefully wheel around them. As for what she was thinking about... "I can't help but wonder about how much progress we're actually making. We're making connections, and we're confirming that it is in fact the artifacts that are evidently making people go nuts, and, yeah, that's probably thanks to the Trespassers, but... that's all kind of surface level stuff, you know? Scarlet only really seemed to have a direction to point us in, and I kind of have to wonder if we're only going to get another direction from the village. I dunno... I just feel like we're only skimming the surface level here, you know?"

 

LOTUS, meanwhile, was actually not with Isobel -- instead she had been spending the last few minutes rounding up Instructor Prototype and UB-65 through lots of running, hops with frantic wingbeats that gave LOTUS a bit of air, and clinging onto the legs of moving people. Eventually, though, the formerly-largely-inanimate fairy managed to get the two put together, the green circuits on her face and hands pulsing bright green thanks to the exertion inherent in even such a simple task for a fairy who couldn't fly. She climbed up onto Instructor Prototype's shoulder and, with a huff, sat down and took a moment before finally speaking. "Hff. Alright. This new form does bring new difficulties, I must say. Anyway, I felt that there was a critical lack of information in the team that must be addressed, so I have elected to brief the two of you on exactly what is going on. Prototype, I am afraid that, adjusting to this form, which is not my usual, I do not remember how much you were told, so some of this may be repeats but it would be good to solidify your grasp of the situation nonetheless. As for you," and here she meant UB-65, "you're even newer, and I imagine that you know next to nothing about the entire situation. Do you both understand? I suppose that it would help if you both explained just what you do know."

[AzyWng]

IP's head tracked LOTUS's movement as the fairy flew onto her shoulder, face expressionless. IP lowered her head in thought before beginning to explain. "Trespassers are creatures that travel from various... 'worlds', for lack of a better term... intending to destroy... reality itself? I'm afraid I did could not fully process the information I received. Defeating these creatures took priority over my previous mission... Unfortunately, I am not aware of their specific capabilities, other than that they greatly exceed my own. What Rory said earlier suggests that you have successfully eliminated these creatures before. Beyond that, I do not have any other information about these Trespassers.

 

And, if I may interrupt... I have never seen a model of electronic sentience that resided in a body as compact as yours. What corporation manufactured you?"

[kj1225]

Rory turns to Isobel after briefly watching the fairy's struggle to get into a respectable speaking position. "That's a terrible way to look at it you know. You know, most of what I did when I was starting out as a hunter was running around looking for something to point me in the right direction. Of course, eventually I knew where the grimm tended to stay in a certain area after a while." He says something under his breath about a "damn jungle" before continuing, "But back to the point, what you should be looking at this as is hunting, it'll make you a lot happier. Or just don't complain about things we can't really change. It's really annoying."

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 walked over to the group still lost in thought from not just the fire hose of information that had just been given (of which she understood next to nothing other than they were now on an investigation) and the whisperings she had been hearing since she entered the room from her ghostly traveler. She jumped slightly when she was addressed by LOTUS. "All that I know is that I was pulled in here and that we are now on some sort of investigation to find these trespasser things. I can only assume that what IP said is true and they are much more powerful than we are. Other than that, I know next to nothing as to why I was pulled into this."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

"You can't expect to have all the answers given to you all at once" Walmond commented, barely looking up from her journal as she jotted some new notes down into its pages, all while ignoring Rory's statement that they should treat it like a 'hunt', "That, and we could be doing a lot worse. We could still be wandering around, trying to find out what the problem was, instead of what we know now. It may be only surface level, slow, and unsatisfactory, but it's progress." With that, Walmond lifted her head from her journal, scanning the road ahead of them, "... I wouldn't be totally surprised if we were pointed in another direction once we reach the village, however. Or perhaps they know more than our previous host. Miss Scarlet did seem out of the loop, so to speak."

[Lucky Lulu]

"That IS how it usually goes," Masako agreed, apparently unconcerned about the imminent risk of getting thumped in the head by something or another.  "Scarlet may not know what she's talking about in the slightest, but that doesn't mean she's not right.  So the goal, now, is just to beat up and/or interrogate whoever or whatever is running around the human village and then go off wherever the trail leads next.  It will all make perfect sense to the rest of you eventually."

 

The tengu paused, then shrugged.  "Well, I assume, anyway.  One can never tell.  I can use you to resolve the problem either way, once we get to the end."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi chimes in on UB-65's conversation with the others.
"You and me both, lady. I wasn't even supposed to be here, but apparently my boss thought sending me out to run interference for some guy too shy to 'fess up to having a crush on his total hottie of a neighbour -who, spoiler alert, has been waiting for him to pop the question and pin her down like a mule's tail at a half-blind kid's birthday party, I could tell from reading her file, it was a PRETTY open-and-shut case- without a map or a phone with good reception was a great idea. I've been trying to find me a good place where my phone will actually let me call my boss for a pickup from whatever the hell passes for Multiversal AA, but so far, no luck. So I've been tagging along ever since, hoping NOT to get a faceful of Trespasser wing-wong and end up with some baby Xenomorph-looking shitter using my chest as a nursery.

In hindsight, I knew I should've sprung for 9G instead of 8G on the phone plan."

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65's face coiled up in confusion at the words being thrown out by Empi. "Cell phone? AA? 9G? What do you have where you are from, because I have never once heard of these things. When we want to get in touch with someone, you either send a letter, a telegram, or have the operator connect you to them and pay a small fee if they're too far away." 

 

I may have to take note of these things for when I get back. It could help our communication issues we've had on the front.

[ElfCollaborator]

"Cell phones are.....uh....phones that you don't need to attach to landlines to call people on. Don't ask me to explain how it works. Human inventions aren't in my degree, I don't know how you mortals do, uh....things with your radio waves or whatever. Uh....the other things.....you're from 1910-ish, yes? Yeah, I'd have to take you through about the entire history of the twentieth and twenty-first century and I don't think that's a good idea. Culture shock's a bitch."

[kj1225]

Rory likewise looks at Empi curiously. "Oh, you mean like a scroll?" She kind of recognized the ideas being presented, but back home Rory had bigger problems than worrying about what plan he had.

[AzyWng]

IP turned to Dr. Powderbelle as she commented on the lack of a phone plan. "I believe the inability to call your employer may be due to a lack of transmitters. While I do not possess much knowledge about this region, what I have seen so far suggests a lack of infrastructure in general. The road we are currently traveling on is simply a dirt path. There are no signs of any radio antennas or similar structures, and there don't appear to be any tall buildings in general. We may be in a rural area at the moment."

Edited January 6, 2020 by AzyWng

[Chevaleresse]

"Actually, it's not just rural. Lady Yukari built the barrier a really really really long time ago, to keep all the weird stuff Outside." The emphasis was audible as Chen finally elected to chime in once again. "Lady Yukari also said not to say that, because she's um. . . I mean, right, she said to just say that Gensokyo has been cut off from Outside for a really long time, without mentioning that she was the one who did it that long ago.." A slight pause. "Gensokyo was cut off from Outside a really really really long time ago." The bakeneko seemed proud of following her instructions.

[kj1225]

Rory gave the cat a thumbs up at her... "helpful" addition. "I see... speaking of her, are you like, her daughter or something? Maybe adopted?" It'd admittedly be kind of weird to just keep a kid around in most circumstances unless they were related. Maybe it was the other lady's kid though.

[AzyWng]

IP just looked down at Chen's young form, seeming only now to notice her for the first time. IP's mouth curled into yet another serious frown.

 

"I do not believe it is safe for a child to accompany us on our investigation, even if you are the daughter of the woman who is assisting us. Why didn't she come with us personally if she was interested in helping?"

[Powder Miner]

Isobel shot the faunus a glare, hardly appreciative of being called "annoying" by Rory of all people, but her expression ultimately softened at Walmond's words. "I suppose you are right. I'm just worried about potentially missing out on something... and considering that it's, like, these singular objects that mind-control people I guess the idea of one going unseen is really worrying. You're right that there's really not much we can do but keep investigating, though." Even Masako's demeanor only drew a slight quirk of her lips. "Uh, sure, let's go with that. Hmm... you're from this place, right? I have to wonder... is this kind of just how things normally go around here, going from person to person to fight to fight? It seems odd but it doesn't really seem like anyone else thinks so either."

 

"If the others we have met so far are any indication, I would imagine that she is probably not actually a child." With that noted, however, LOTUS got to her original point. "Alright... allow me to provide a general summary of events. I imagine that this will be somewhat hard to swallow, so simply ask me any questions you may have and I will answer. The situation is this: As you have been seeing firsthand, the world that you are used to is not the only one that exists. Worlds, planes, dimensions, realms -- no matter which of these terms is the most comfortable for you, the gist of it is that there is more than just one universe -- we live in a multiverse, where there are many universes disconnected from each other.  UB-65... Imagine space, with all of its stars out to infinity... maybe replace those stars with individual universes with different rules, and you may be able to visualize it better. This isn't a completely accurate image, but I think it might help. IP, simply view this as similar to the idea of alternate dimensions, except that instead of branching possibilities it's more that there are many parallel dimensions except that they all operate on their own rules.

 

There are beings known as Trespassers that come from between these dimensions. Their goal is to devour everything --everything-- that exists, every person in every country in every world. As far as we know, the way that they do this is by going around to individual universes, corrupting the people within them, and then using them to destroy these universes in some manner. But what you need to understand then is that these are fairly implacable enemies that work through corrupting people, and find it difficult to enter beyond a level that they can be fought at. This means that they can be fought, and the reason that we are all here is that we have been called by something, though I admit I do not know quite what, to fight these creatures in order to defend all of our worlds from destruction. Our group travels through different worlds and fights the Trespassers off within them, from a base that is, well, a traveling castle. Masako has been misleading about this: she isn't a leader of the group, and in fact she's very new to it, all told. In reality we don't really have any permanent leaders; we have tended to appoint them on the spot for individual missions or simply cooperate on an equal level as needed. We don't have a hierarchy -- we are just all trying to accomplish the same goals and we coordinate flexibly accordingly." Of course, sharing the same goals was no guarantee of organizational success, LOTUS well knew that, but it was working so far.

 

"As for my chassis... my usual form is that of a tablet, and being... organic like I currently am is just the effects of this world in action. I was produced by the Echelon Artificial Intelligence Corporation, however."

[AzyWng]

IP nodded in understanding of LOTUS's explanation. "In that case, each one of us must have some degree of ability to fight off these Trespassers - which brings me to an issue I believe is very important. What are this team's capabilities? What weapons and equipment do they currently have, what are their skills, and do they possess any outstanding strengths or weaknesses? You seem to be a fairly observant individual, and the information would help us coordinate our actions when the time comes to fight those creatures."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi holds up a finger.

"Alright, firstly, fairy infrastructure's got towers that reaches between the human world and the supernatural world. Do you think some rich kid with T-Mobile's gonna reach between Alfheim and Los Angeles with some 5G-only phone? Not likely. Secondly, as I'm pretty sure this chick's from before, uh....space travel was a thing and I'm not sure she'll get half of that, LOTUS, lemme translate it into something a little less mid-twenty second century or wherever you're from again. You see all those stories about people getting taken to the fairy lands to do stuff like dance until they die and they don't come back until like a hundred years later where all their kids are dead? Yeah, think of those, except instead of fairies, you get, uh, people from the future. Or.....robots. Yes, wait, no. Automata. I forgot, you're from 1910, robot isn't a word that exists yet. Also instead of coming back a hundred years later, you can come back at any point. Also, Trespassers are like, uh, demons. That eat those worlds. Yes. I think....that's easier to understand. I don't know, human years get mixed up for me sometimes."

[Powder Miner]

"I somehow doubt that your explanation will make things crystal clear," LOTUS couldn't help but snark at the much larger fairy. "As for our capabilities, Prototype... well, there are many, many other members of the group that are simply not currently with us, and it would be fairly difficult and very much time-consuming to try to summarize for ALL of them. However, for the ones that came here... Isobel and I focus on medical support and tactical support respectively, Empi also provides... well, she provides support magic, although I still wonder why she's here, Rory seems to be a moderately powerful fighter but primarily very tough, while Masako seems fragile but capable of putting out a lot of hurt and even taking multiple foes out of the fight temporarily, which is something I've made a lot of use of. Walmond focuses on medical aid and Lambda also focuses on taking hits and drawing aggression like Rory. Hikari is also a healer and support-focused member of the team primarily, whereas Ritsu is primarily a fighter. Ultimately I can't point out any stunning individual weaknesses besides Hikari's vulnerability to lightning, but as a team we do suffer somewhat from a lack of firepower -- we have an overabundance of people like Isobel and I who are focused nearly entirely on supporting our allies."

[AzyWng]

IP nodded. "My own capabilities are also largely support-related - restoring the health of allies and improving their damage output - though I was able to acquire a firearm before I was transported here.

 

You said earlier that your chassis was usually a... tablet? That is an unusual design for an AI. What was your original purpose?"

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 stared blankly at Empi through her explanation, blinking emptily multiple times through the course of it. I'm more confused now than when we started talking...

 

She turned her attention to LOTUS, listening to the capabilities being listed out. She brought out her notebook and began writing quickly to see if she could get an accurate log as well. After she finished her notes, she looked up to LOTUS, "I primarily focus on scouting and strong single striking blows, but I can hold my own for some time in a gunfight if need be." UB-65 frowned, "The only probably being, if I go to hard or something messes with the air quality I get out of breath and will have to use this." She held out an old looking inhaler, "The doctor that gave it to me said that it shouldn't be an issue since I was on submarine ops. Not many face to face encounters in that line of work."

 

I probably shouldn't tell them about Richter just yet. They may try to hunt down a priest like that Blödmann Kapitän tried to before.

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi seems unbothered by LOTUS and UB-65 not getting her. She wasn't paid to explain this shit anyway.
"You're wondering why I'm here? Ask my bosses that. Please. And if you do, tell those clowns that if they want to put me in this kinda situation again, that I want a better life insurance policy!  Also, support magic is....well, I can do a little first aid, a little bit of pep-talk, a little pizazz, a little fairy magic here and there. When you're four-hundred years old and a veteran of Ishtar University, you can really learn some tricks or two to survive. But apparently workplace policy says carrying a can of mace or a taser or something opens us up to lawsuits and all sorts of insurance liability, so I can't help you out too much if you wanna make me beat someone's face in."

[Chevaleresse]

The peaceful trip through the woods was (somewhat predictably at this point) interrupted, this time by a rather spooked-looking man running down the path towards them. Or, judging by the looks he was casting backward, running away from the village for some reason. He began to yell something about a "ghost girl acting all crazy" and something involving a sword (presumably belonging to said ghost girl.) He then seemingly took in the party, with their myriad unfamiliar looks, froze, mouthed what was probably a prayer, then keeled over unconscious with no apparent damage.

[AzyWng]

IP walked over and knelt down at the unconscious man, trying to scan him for injuries. As she did so, she noted, "We will have to continue this conversation another time. Right now we need to hurry."

[kj1225]

Rory shrugs. "Well, the ghost thing is bullshit, but let's hurry up. Feels like we're close to the end of the hunt. He said, know that by saying that this would likely drag on longer." She finishes in a stage whisper.