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

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Osada

 

In response to Sanae's comment on 'spell card rules', the wandering swordsman blinked as he wrapped his head around it, "I've handled my fair share of dueling the unnatural, but I'm not familiar with a 'spell card' duel" he admitted, furrowing his brow as he tried to make sense of it. At least, until he simply shrugged, "Ah well, I'm sure it can't be too complicated. Facing a 'wolf tengu' in a duel is too good of a chance to waste. So," Osada continued with cheerful energy, his hand dropping from his chin and hanging by his side as he turned to look down the mountain path, "how far down do I need to travel before I meet this 'Momiji'? Unless you actually wish to come along for some fun."

[Chevaleresse]

Dani & Joan

 

There was a bit of . . . well, static might not have been the right term, but some kind of interference. A face that was definitely not Death's appeared for a moment - in fact, it looked irritable, green-haired, and quite familiar - before the mirror flickered again and the more-familiar cartoonish skull mask appeared onscreen. "Oh, hi, Daniel, Joan, did you two get there okay?" Komachi apparently caught a glimpse of Shikieiki's face as it appeared in the mirror earlier, and was currently wearing an expression that, in their home world, only came from exposure to one person. "Did you need something already? Eating well?" A plate of something was visible past Death, apparently why food was on his mind. 

 

Rory

 

"Yay~ I'm glad to hear that." She continued to move about almost haphazardly, alternating between looking ahead and meeting Rory's eyes. There was something empty in her gaze, something inexplicably but fundamentally missing. "I saw your group earlier I think and had a little bit of fun~" Genuine uncertainty was audible in her tone, but she didn't slow down. "Are you going to see my sister? You seem like a sister-y person. Do you like sisters? I don't know if I do." Once again, it sounded like the strange girl legitimately wasn't certain what she thought of her own sister. The eye-like thing that seemed to curl about her was more visible now; Rory could see that it was stitched shut haphazardly.

 

Osada

 

Sanae glanced back at the shrine proper, pondering the question. "I did miss out on all the fun earlier. . ." She abruptly clapped her hands in front of herself. "Okay! I'll take you down to where people usually run into her. Momiji likes to play games with the kappa in her free time, so she's usually over by the waterfall." The miko started to march forward towards the gates of the shrine. "And don't worry too much about the spell card thing. I'm sure you can figure out how to make magic bullets, right? Just, uh, imagine all your techniques as bullet patterns and do that."

[kj1225]

Dani and Joan

Dani looks very confused about the interference, mostly since that doesn't normally happen, but after smacking the mirror twice apparently solves the problem (it didn't) he sighs in relief at the familiar face. "Uh, it has quite been a first class trip but we're fine yeah. And haven't really had time to sample the local Cuisine, sir. Anyway, this is about a uh... Local Custom?" Dani looks to Joan who merely shrugs in response, not sure of how to address it either. "Anyway, our new friend here said to ask about arrangements for this spell card thing you may have made for us."

 

Rory

Rory furrows his brow at that the adjective attributed to him, but just takes it as a compliment with a shrug. This girl did seem genuinely concussed so he couldn't be to hard on her right? Kind of makes him feel bad for trying to impale her a second ago. "I mean, sisters are family right? Of course, I've known some people that hated their family rather a lot, but they weren't really paragons of virtue themselves... So yeah, I guess I like sisters. Oh yeah, anyway if she lives in the palace I was going to see her I guess."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Osada

 

With a brand new guide, Osada follows Sanae's lead, taking in the sight of the mountain pass as they went, "Hm... I'll take your advice then. I suppose I should ask what kind of 'incident' happened? From how you said it, I'm led to believe that it's a common occurrence for something go wrong" he asked, aiming to make some small talk while the two made their way to Momiji. He wouldn't be surprised if this 'incident' was related to another Phantasmal Beast. Which was odd in its own right, but oddness was never much of a concern to him.

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi was tempted to deflate the tengu's ego, but thought better of it. Less problems to deal with down the line.
"Sure, let's go with that, since you're the only local. For all I know, we'll end up in some murder-y sex dungeon if we wandered off around this place. And the last time I was in one of those, the fuckers didn't even have the politeness to give me a reach-around. Ugh."

[Chevaleresse]

Dani & Joan

 

"It's just how they settle things. Big, shiny bursts of magical shots instead of the other way. Although, sometimes they just beat each other up and throw in some of the magical shots and call it good." It was hard to tell given Death's general amorphousness, but the pair of meisters were fairly sure he shrugged. "So work on your ranged fighting if you can't avoid trouble! I'm sure you can handle it, though." Death held up a positively ancient-looking contract, which both were also fairly sure had not actually been present until their headmaster decided it was. "You're entered into the books already, so they won't try to eat you! Isn't that nice?"

 

Rory

 

"That's nice to hear~" The girl spun on one heel before coming to rest with her arms outstretched towards Rory, almost but not quite as if she were inviting the hunter to a hug. "You should look for her bird. Her bird is fun to play with, too. Even before all the stuff." The strange youkai's almost singsong intonation made it hard to tell, but it didn't sound like the "stuff" was pleasant. Abruptly, she pulled her arms back and leaned forward, placing her head almost as close as her hands had been. "Do you remember me?" 

 

Osada

 

"Well, I wouldn't say a capital-I Incident is that common. I think this thing probably qualified, though." She puffed her cheeks up in a display of mild frustration, before blowing out in a huff. "I even missed Marisa getting beat up by a bunch of randos. I mean, not that I WANTED her to get beat up, but. . . well, she can be kind of annoying sometimes." As Sanae led Osada down the mountain path, he noticed something: this place was positively humming with magic. It had been slightly less noticeable at the shrine, but the air felt almost as if there was constant spellcasting going on. That, or there was an enormous quantity of Phantasmal Beasts around - which didn't seem to concern his guide, of course.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Osada

 

"I can understand the feeling" Osada comments, nodding in agreement with Sanae's frustration on not being able to see someone annoying getting beat up, "Though I don't think that really answered the question of 'what' happened" he added shortly after, focusing on that question even as his attention was being dragged away from the massive amount of mana in the air, to the point where he could physically feel its hum through his magical circuitry with every breath. Even at his birthplace, a workshop built upon several leylines to support the construction of a Heroic Spirit vessel, there wasn't nearly as much mana present. He had been distracted before, but he was sure that there was the same feeling back at the Shrine, just more concentrated and unbelievable. He had gone through bounded fields before, and none of them had this level of concentrated mana, and if there was this much mana in one location then certainly he would've known about it before, bounded field or not.

 

... Something was off.

 

"... More important question, but you said earlier that I was from the 'Outside'. I figured that you meant it as a sort of... From the Mage's Association, and that this place is a cut off branch made to hide someone's workshop. But the more I hear from you the more I begin to doubt that it's that simple. What exactly is this place's nature? Is it an advanced form of a bounded field, like a Reality Marble?" Osada asked, waving his hand as he tried to offer his own theories. He likely sounded mad, trying to figure out how mage's choose to set up their magic fields and secret bases, but this mystery was starting to eat at him more than his excitement to fight another swordswomen.

[kj1225]

Dani and Joan
Dani nods, not looking that pleased that he's in a place where he's only off the menu by law rather than the fact that eating people is bad. "Yeah that's uh... great of them. I take it that hunting for Kishin Eggs is on hold then?"

Joan looks more focused as Dani's conversation turns to buisness.

 

Rory

Rory didn't really know what to do as the girl stuck her arms out at him. He wasn't the most physical guy when it came to strangers, but he supposed that he didn't know much about the local area and had started to go along with it when she leaned forward, causing him to stumble back a bit in surprised. After a few moments he shrugged at the question. "You seem familiar... If we have met I've forgotten your name though."

[Powder Miner]

Isobel

 

Isobel raised one eyebrow a little at Empi's talking about murder-sex dungeons, but kept her reaction to that somewhat muted. Still, though, when she spoke to Empi, she couldn't prevent a giggle from coming out in her voice. "Well, Empi, if you came expecting sanity and steadiness, I suspect that you may have not quite come to the right place." Isobel paused and her expression grew a little pensive. "Actually, I guess that could apply to me too, wouldn't it? But, ah well, I've got to know better than to expect things not to be at least a little crazy, if what we've experienced so far is any sort of indication. I'll just have to roll with it, huh? As long as it isn't, uh, Hell, or that awful warzone." She then turned to Masako. "Well, if I'm gonna be honest with you, I had actually kind of been meaning to go see Youmu's garden again, but I guess it might be kind of rude to leave and then come right back. And I have to admit that all of your... adventures have turned out well so far. So, against my better judgment... heheh, sure, I'll follow you."

 

LOTUS

 

LOTUS flapped over to IP, a process that... well, it took several seconds, as LOTUS was anything but a steady flier. Still, she did eventually make it over. "The first thing that we are going to want to do is figure out location. Obviously, this train, being that it will be our primary means of access to useful locations here, will be something of a limiter -- we are not going to want to set up so far away that accessing the train becomes an ordeal. But we may want to see if there's anything useful in our immediate area. If there is, we should endeavor to set up camp in an area that can access as many resources as possible easily. Otherwise, we'll probably just want to set up a little while off from the train. Then I believe we will want to make the base somewhat centralized, placing our buildings or tents or whatever we manage to create close to each other -- we want to make it easy to perform any operations down here, including working with whatever supplies we put down here. This would mean that if anyone hostile did come across this place, it would be a juicy target, but I think we could deal with most of that with a little bit of security, and by keeping most of our supplies in the castle -- for your reference, we also inhabit a dimension-traveling castle, which is uniquely secure because of what it is.

 

To summarize: scout a little, place the base in a good location for accessing whatever resources and tools there are, centralize it so we can access our resources and tools, divide up what we want to be putting here and why, and then attempt to create security as needed."

[AzyWng]

IP bowed. "Thank you for your advice, LOTUS. I will attempt to locate any nearby resources. If you like, you may sit on my shoulder." The android turned its right shoulder towards LOTUS, inviting her to hop on. Whether the tablet-turned fairy chose to do so or not, IP began to survey the area that they had been given - looking it over for threats and valuables.

[Chevaleresse]

Dani & Joan

 

Death shrugged again. "Collect them if you can, but this is more important. Consider it, er, extra credit. I'm sure you'll find some anyway." Death started to turn back to his meal, then stopped. "Oh, and this isn't the only world you'll visit. Have fun!" The connection promptly faded.

 

Rory

 

"Oh. Some people call me Komeiji Koishi. I'll try to remember you, Rory." The hunter blinked, and the girl was gone. The memory of her already felt a little fuzzy, a bit slippery, as if it were trying to escape his mind already. He got the feeling that something positive might come of the encounter, though.

 

Osada

 

"Oh, I suppose if you're new to Gensokyo, you wouldn't really know what it's about. I didn't think there were many magicians left Outside, though. Weird. Anyway, I have no idea what most of what you just said means, but Gensokyo is surrounded by a barrier that inverts common sense." The miko pitched her voice oddly, almost as if she were beginning to narrate a movie trailer. "Mysterious magics, lost arts, creatures forgotten by men and gods alike, all of them can be found in the strange land known as Gensokyo." She then returned to a normal conversational tone. "So basically, everything nobody believes in anymore exists here. Including a crapton of youkai."

 

IP 

 

Aside from the resources provided by the train itself, the area seemed relatively stable compared to the environment. One location nearby felt warm to the touch, as if magma lurked just below the surface of the rock. The possibility of ores was also present, though nothing about the place seemed to suggest a great wealth of such. 

 

As for threats, the village nearby was still an unknown factor. Evil spirits could be seen floating about, occasionally thrashing in midair or emitting an eerie howl. A further understanding would require more exploration, or finding someone with some knowledge of the area, however.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Osada

 

... Shit, he managed to cross into the Reverse Side of the World. Or at least a version of it. He had heard theories about its existence, but to have it proved real in front of him, by having him manage to end up there while trying to scale a mountain? Insanity, yet here he was, processing the fact that he was there, "That... Explains quite a bit. The magic in the air, the yokai... It's rather..." Osada trailed off for a moment, in deep thought before he suddenly nodded, all seriousness draining from his face as he sported a grin, "refreshing, in all honesty. Here I thought my day couldn't get any better after meeting an adorable young lady, and dueling a tengu. Speaking of, how far are we from where this Momiji lives?" he continued, his tone never changing as he glossed over what he said before. A world of lost arts and forgotten spirits... Without a doubt, there was bound to be plenty of chances to test and improve his blade. He could already feel the excitement just from thinking about it.

[kj1225]

Dani and Joan

Dani looks at the mirror for a few more moments, before shrugging and handing it back to Joan. With a shrug he gestures onwards to the two women. "Shall we continue or... do we just head this way or...?"

 

Rory

The hunter looked around rapidly at the sudden disappearance of the girl, but feeling like he ought to remember her, he quickly writes her name in the dirt and a (very) brief description of notable traits, before taking a picture. Hopefully, that'd be enough to do the job.

[AzyWng]

IP relayed the information it had received to its colleague, LOTUS, before noting, "Perhaps we should check the nearby village. Gauge whether or not the residents present a threat to any operations we might conduct in this area. Then there is the matter of the... spirits, for lack of a better term, surrounding the area, and whether or not they may disrupt our operations. I believe one of us should remain here to guard the area while the other checks the village. Would you prefer I remained here or that I went to check the village?"

[Lucky Lulu]

Masako chose to ignore the obvious hesitation in Isobel's tone, just giving the two of them a prim nod.  "Well, do try to keep up, then.  If you're going to walk, there will be a lot of climbing on the way--the Moriya shrine is up near the top, after all."

 

That saying, she turned back around and started flying off for the youkai mountain.

[Chevaleresse]

Dani & Joan

 

"Oh, yeah, it's not much further." Indeed, it seemed like they reached the riverside almost too quickly. "Behold, my proud vessel." She faux-dramatically gestured towards a positively ancient-looking dock with an even more ancient looking boat tied to it with rope. "It's normally one at a time, so be careful. Unless you want to kill yourself, I guess, but try not to get my kimono wet if you've gotta." The shinigami climbed into the front of the boat, leaning her scythe over the front and grabbing an oar in its place. "Shall we?"

 

Rory

 

The memory didn't seem to be in immediate danger of sliding further, but he captured a record of the strange youkai girl for later use regardless. 

 

Around the time he finished that task, he noticed a pinprick of pain that was still lingering in his back.

 

Osada, Masako, Isobel, & Empi

 

Sanae didn't verbally respond to the "adorable young lady" comment, but it wasn't difficult to tell she was appreciative. Especially given the appraising look she gave Osada once she thought he wasn't paying attention. "The waterfall's right over there. And. . . is that someone else coming up the path?"

 

Around that time, the veteran party noted a pair of figures descending the mountain, one of which Masako likely recognized and one which was totally unfamiliar. Both groups laid eyes on a white streak who sped out to meet the group lower on the mountain; said streak quickly resolved itself into a wolf-eared, white haired tengu with a sword and board. Said board was also white, and bearing a red maple leaf emblem. She slowed down as she approached, looking between the three with confusion. "Chichimura? Is that you? People have been wondering where you went. And you've got. . . one human with you? And a real big fairy."

 

"Huh. That's some interesting timing." Sanae shrugged, then continued. "That would be Momiji. I don't think we're going to see her kick someone's ass. Well, other than maybe yours, but you signed up for it." It wasn't long before they reached the same level as the rest, while the waterfall roared in the near distance.

[kj1225]

Dani and Joan

Joan looks dubious about the boat's ability to get them safely across the water, at least until Dani nudges her and holds out his hand. With a nod, Joan manifests herself into weapon form, spinning into the Meister's hand before he enters the boat. "Well, it's cozy at least right?" He chuckles slightly nervously despite himself.

 

Rory

Satisfied with his record taking, and confused by his back pain, the hunter reaches around to try and get a feel for what it is with his hands. Failing that, he uses his scroll to try and take a picture of the problem, hoping it was something that'd go away on it's own. He didn't have insurance after all.

[Lucky Lulu]

"Hai, Inubashiri, it's me.  I ran into a bit of an issue with the gap witch."  She said so as if she expected anyone listening to just accept it, as if it explained everything without elaboration.  Which, for most residents of Gensokyo, it probably would.  At the very least, Masako found no particular reason to explain herself before she had the chance to land and dust off the last of the residual brimstone dust still clinging to her clothes.

 

"Honestly, she never ceases to be difficult."  Masako folded her wings behind her, straightening up a little as she spoke to her fellow tengu.  "I can understand wanting to bring me on to resolve a case, especially if it's big enough to get the Hakurei miko in over her head.  But that hardly entitles her to hurl me from one dimension to the next before offering the job; there's no need to be so roundabout.  She could really stand to be more direct when dealing with people."

"Anyway, the human that smells like soup is Isobel Somethingorother."  She stepped aside slightly, gesturing vaguely at the two following her by way of introduction.  "And the oversized fairy is Empi Idunno.  They were willing enough to help as my assistants with resolving this recent Incident after Yakumo dragged us in, along with a bunch of other outsider types.  I'm letting them stay at my place, for the time being, so there shouldn't be an issue unless they wander off into town."  Glancing back at the two, she gestured again, this time at Momiji.  "Somethingororther, Idunno, this is Inubashiri Momiji, one of my distant fellows amongst the hakurou tengu and alarmingly good dai shogi player.  She's one of the people in charge of security for the mountain, so normally she'd beat you senseless for trespassing on our territory.  Fortunately, you're with me.  Although..."

"It does look like someone else slipped by." 

 

Masako tilted her head, looking past Momiji up the path.  Her eyes settled first on Sanae--not a problem, given the agreements between the tengu and the Moriya shrine--before turning to the man beside her.  For a moment, she seemed almost intent on examining him.  But after a moment more, she seemed to lose interest, turning again to the blue-white miko when they finally approached.  "Well, that's fortuitous.  I was hoping to speak with you, Kochiya.  Assuming you haven't been brainwashed, anyway, though it doesn't look like that's a problem."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Osada

 

"Yeah, that's a possibility I've come to accept" Osada replied with nothing more than a shrug, watching the wolf-eared tengu fly out from her resting place to meet some newcomers, seeming to be a Japanese woman in a detective's outfit with black wings (another tengu it seemed?), an girl with a blue apron, and a scantily dressed... Fairy? That's the conclusion Osada got from the wings. Certainly odd, but with the knowledge of what Gensokyo was, not too surprising. However, his focus wasn't entirely on the newcomers, instead focused on the one named Momiji, scanning the tengu's weaponry despite the distance.

 

A sword and board, a common combination for more defensive duelists. He fought a few fighters like that before, but none outright used magic or were inhuman to begin with. His experience against that style would only play a small factor in a duel with someone like that. Though, this was also not taking into account the "spell card" rules that he may have to abide, something he had no knowledge or experience in aside from "think of your techniques as magical bullet patterns". But even with that against him, Osada always considered himself a quick learner, putting faith with his talents that would hopefully close the gap, if there was one.

 

"Hm, seems like fate's making things up to you for making you miss out, Sanae" Osada commented as the two reached the others, offering a casual salute to them with his free hand, "one person walking in without any warning, and another outright looking to talk to you" he continued, leaving out the possibility of what will happen in short order.

[Chevaleresse]

Dani & Joan

 

"Cozy as death itself." Komachi laughed as she undid the rope and pushed off the dock, sending the boat lazily sliding into the river. The water was almost eerily silent; if it hadn't been for the shifting beneath the surface, it could have been confused for a placid lake. "I can't remember the last time I actually took someone this direction. . . still not really sure how you ended up in Higan, but that's life. Well, not usually life if you mean Higan, but you know what I mean."

 

Rory

 

That's definitely a stab wound. Not a deep one; it mostly looked like someone stabbed him just to say they did.

[ElfCollaborator]

"....I'm guessing fairies around here are supposed to be midgets? That's the first time anyone's ever called me larger than average, I'll give you that."

[Powder Miner]

Isobel

 

Isobel's eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly as they met with a very fast white blur of a youkai(?), and then one of those eyebrows raised higher at Masako's explanation. Of course, it wasn't actually that surprising at all that Masako had chosen to self-aggrandize (really, Isobel would've been surprised if she hadn't), but it did require some correcting. Isobel figured that this "Inubashiri" was likely to be well aware of Masako's particular quirks by now, but as Masako did seem to be her subordinate or coworker, some politeness was still probably a good idea. Isobel gave a little bit of a curtsy as she began speaking. "My name is Isobel Low, miss Inubashiri. The scent of soup, I'm afraid, is Masako's handiwork," okay, she couldn't resist pointing that out, "but I and a larger group of people have indeed been working with Masako. I imagine you would like a little more explanation for just who I am and who the people I'm referring to are, if you're in charge of security here."

 

She cleared her throat. "While I would in other circumstances maybe wonder about this sounding unbelievable, I think it won't sound too crazy here: I'm not really from this world. Not just not from Gensokyo, or the Earth, but from this whole... dimension, realm, universe altogether, my apologies if I'm not sure which word makes the most sense. We have been traveling between various of these dimensions as we've been fighting an outside enemy called the "Trespassers", who tend to corrupt and then devour worlds. We were brought here by one Yakumo Yukari to thwart an incursion, and Masako here was brought in as well to join our group. This incursion took the form of corrupted artifacts which took control of the people who came into contact with them, which we've dealt with -- I doubt miss Yakumo would give a solid answer if you asked her about this, but if you have questions about the veracity of all of this I could name some other people you could ask." That was quite formal for her normal standards, but Isobel felt that it was quite informative! Even LOTUS would be proud, she was sure.

 

LOTUS

"I'll come with you if you go down to the village, but I would caution you to be careful about this -- if they are hostile, then going down there with just you and I would be potentially hazardous. It would be a good idea to attempt elevated, indirect, or stealthy reconnaissance before entering the village proper, in my view. I could provide the latter of these, but my ability to perform the former would be quite shaky, and I am unsure entirely about indirect reconnaissance. In any event, however, I am willing to accompany you, as I am not greatly worried about my own physical safety due to what I am either in fairy form or tablet form." 

[AzyWng]

IP nodded. "I understand."

 

And with that, IP began heading towards the village, though it didn't go in just yet. Instead, keeping LOTUS's advice in mind, it tried to find an elevated location that overlooked the village, and also tried to search the area for any signs of life - wagon ruts, tracks, signs, etc.

[Chevaleresse]

Youkai Mountain

 

"Eh? Slipped by?" She glanced over her shoulder, then back at Masako, then whipped her head around to Osada. "How did you get there?" Momiji gave Sanae an accusatory glance. "A random outsider human somehow gets past all the patrols on Youkai Mountain without any of them noticing at all? Sounds like a miracle to me." 

"Hey, I'm just as confused as you are. He doesn't know how he got here, either. Maybe it was the gap h-"

"No no, don't call her that, not with me standing right here. Go fulfill your death wish somewhere else." She waggled a finger at Sanae for emphasis. "Speaking of, Chichimura, you better not have upset her somehow. Do you have any idea how long it took to clean up the last time she decided to express her displeasure with the tengu?" The wolf girl made a face. "I swear, I still smell it in my dreams."

"Aaaaanyway. . . so yeah, have you not seen the other fairies around? They're tiny." Both the shrine maiden and the guard looked at Empi strangely. "I know you're from Outside, but you haven't seen fairies anywhere yet? Especially if you've been with this weirdo and the bigger weirdo that sent her."

"What did you do to get her attention, anyway? I'd think Yakumo Yukari of all people wouldn't have much need for a detective, no offense."

"Maybe she's just a fan of film noir."

". . . What?"

 

Former Hell

 

The landscape had quite a bit of variation, and it seemed the village was located in the lower parts of the enormous cavern. It wasn't hard for the pair to get a view of the town. It seemed worn down, but not in a way that made it seem totally abandoned; nobody seemed to be out and about right now (or IP hadn't managed to get close enough to see,) but the paths seemed well-worn, and there were a few loose bottles that didn't look dusty or cracked left about. . . Actually, that's a lot of bottles. And barrels. And what looked like the occasional busted table. The surest sign that this was all fairly recent were the bits of food that had been left out, like there was a huge party here recently and nobody had gotten around to cleaning yet.

 

 

[kj1225]

Dani and Joan.

Dani chuckles a little at Komachi's comment, nodding a little bit. He takes a few moments to think about the question of how they did get there anyway, but in the end just shrugs. "Yeah, I'm clueless as well. I mean, usually we take business class, but I guess that wouldn't cut it. Maybe it was some weird death god thing..."

 

Rory
Rory looks confused at the newly opened hole in his back. Clearly it wasn't like, an actual attack, or else they'd have followed through right? But.... Maybe it was the girl... Yeah probably was. Still wasn't the worst acquaintance he's had though. With a shrug, and a new idea to ask for a bandage, Rory continues on to the palace.