Klaymen !i/OHE/sPZ6 2009/02/18 (Wed) 21:24 No. 12355 "I want to play," You say, grinning at the prospect of learning how humans play. "But how can you play with a youkai?"
She laughs. "You've never heard of danmaku?"
You shake your head.
"What, were you born yesterday or something?"
You nod, and her grin fades a bit. It's true, you think, that you only started to exist yesterday. So that would be right.
"Oh, ah... haha, right then," She says, looking a little uncomfortable. "Anyway, do you have a name?"
"Phobe," You say, slightly irritated that this question keeps coming up. She's only talking to you, so why does it matter?
"Right, then. How to explain this..."
Marisa moves her hand to cover her mouth and looks down, making 'hmm'ing noises. You wait a bit, but she keeps doing this. Just as you decide to ask her what she's doing, she quickly brings her head up and snaps her fingers.
"Aha! Yeah, this should make sense," She says, looking at you. "You've got a power, right?"
"A power...?"
"Sure, something you're good at." She says, waving her hand at you. "It's what your danmaku is made up of."
"Oh, like Rumia's darkness?" You ask, recalling last night. Rumia could make it dark, but you could never do that.
Marisa raises an eyebrow. "So, you've met Rumia, eh? Yeah, like that."
"I don't know what I can do." You say, honestly. "I can hide really good, but... that's not a power, is it?"
Marisa sighs. "You seriously don't know? You really were born yesterday, weren't you? Well, maybe it'll make more sense if I show you." She reaches into her dress and pulls out something small and brown. It's got bits of black on it that show where the edges are. "Now, I'm a magician, so I'm good at magic. That makes sense, right?"
You nod. You don't really know exactly what both words mean, but you know they're related ?Right."
"So, that means my danmaku is made of magic," She says. "Danmaku is made from your power."
"I don't understand..."
"Right." She says, grinning. "That's 'cause I haven't showed you what it looks like. Now, pay attention. You don't get to see this every day."
She holds the brown thing in one hand, her arm stretched out towards you. She turns, pointing her arm off towards the side, and...
"Master Spark!"
You're blind! ...no, it's just really bright, you realize, when you turn to look behind you. There's a really big thing of light shooting out of Marisa's outstretched arm, a long circular thing. There's heat coming off of it, too, and it's changing the smell of the air. Sound, too; it sounds like a really strong wind.
"Magic is all about power!" Marisa yells. Still, you can hardly hear her; that thing is really loud. "So my danmaku is all about power, too!"
You just stare in awe. You're glad she's not pointing that at you; it would really hurt. You wonder if she can change the direction, or if it's stuck shooting one way.
Eventually, the light shrinks, it's edges getting smaller until it disappears completely.
"So, you get it now?" She asks, turning back to you. "That's danmaku."
"I don't..."You say, your voice coming out a little meek after that display. She's a human, but it's clear that she could crush you like you did to that firefly last night. You would put up more of a fight, but you don't think you could ever win. "How do you play? It was only you doing something. Unless you play by yourself?"
Marisa grins. "No. When you play, you shoot your danmaku at the other person while they shoot at you. You both try not to get hit."
"Oh." You say, sighing. "So I can't play if I can't shoot danmaku."
"You can, but it's boring if you can't shoot back," Marisa says. She pauses again. "Practice, ok? I can beat you some other time."
You nod. If a human can do it, you can do it. Playing a hard game like this without any practice would only make you lose, but if you can get good at it, you're sure that you'll win.
"I'll win when we play, though." You add. "You're just a human."
Her grin flickers for a moment, turning to something dangerous for only a split second. Then it snaps back to normal. "Ha! Right. Say that after I blast you outta the sky!"
She laughs for a bit, and you join her, though you're not sure why. You're glad you flew up here; she's pretty fun. You wonder if Mystia or Wriggle could teach you how to make danmaku. The two of you laugh for a bit, before eventually quieting down.
"Well, I'm gonna jet," Marisa says, stuffing the brown object in her hand back into her dress. ?'S been fun."
You wave, and she leaves just as fast as she arrived; fast. She's soon far enough away that you can no longer make out her features, leaving you wondering what to do now. You can see everything; for exploring, it's really convenient to fly up this high. Although, you could practice. It makes you sad that you couldn't play the game, and you want to do it as soon as possible.
[ ] Explore the (mountain in the distance/large clearing with buildings/forest)
[ ] Try to find (that man from before/the store Rumia mentioned)
[ ] Go see if Mystia is awake yet.
[ ] Practice this danmaku thing.
[ ] Something else..."