[x] "We'll go with you, but... Rumia looks human, right? She should be ok for now." Go with them.
Rumia is Rumia. She's always all right in the end. So, why does everyone seem to be so worried?
“She'll be ok for now, right?” You ask, before turning your gaze back to the humans. “We'll go with you.”
“You guys can go,” Wriggle says, “I'll look for her.”
Again, you don't get it. “But she's always doing that, so it's ok...”
“Look, I'll catch up to you later,” Wriggle says, sighing. “If I don't find you by tomorrow night, meet me back here.”
Mystia gives her a nod. “Don't get into any trouble, ok?”
Wriggle laughs. “I can handle myself.”
That wailing keeps getting louder, while Renko just looks more nervous. Mary doesn't seem to be too bothered, but even she's showing a little.
Renko moves towards your group, causing Wriggle to tense up a bit.
Wriggle... takes it, looking rather confused and still mildly irritated.
“Ask someone to help you get to that address,” She adds. Address? “My cell's on it, too, so I guess you could call that.”
Ah... there's some blue and red flashing going on, now. Between two of those huge grey towers, off in the distance. It's in the same direction as that noise.
“Shit,” Renko mutters under her breath, “No more talking. We need to leave. Follow me!”
You wonder what's got her so scared? You're not even doing anything.
Mary, who's been creeping closer this whole time, nods. She doesn't seem as tense as Renko, for whatever reason. Since you're leaving, you won't get to see whatever it is, so that's kind of disappointed. You'll have to ask later.
Renko... runs. She's not too slow, for a human. You could run faster, but then you wouldn't know where you're going. Mary follows, a bit more slow and clumsy. It's almost funny to watch. Mystia's right beside you, looking worried. Why is everyone so worried? This is exciting. Running from some unknown beast, with blinky lights and a horrible wail. At least, that's what you think you're running from. It certainly sounds like something that you should run from.
You're kind of sad that you'll all be split up for now, so you wave goodbye to Wriggle as you leave. She gives you a wave back. And then you have to turn around because it's hard to see where you're going otherwise. You're running through some sort of crazy gray maze, after all, with things lying around. It'd be easy to run into something.
“I wasn't expecting this,” Mystia moans, taking off her bigger clothes as she runs. It must be warm enough here that she doesn't need it. “Really wasn't expecting this.”
“Me either~”
This is a very strange place to run. Lots of rocks and things to jump over. It'd be even better if you weren't following slow people. They're climbing things that you could jump on, and going around things you could climb.
...and, they're getting really tired. You can hear them breathing, so hard.
“Just a little... ha, further,” Renko says, without bothering to turn around. “There's an... alley over here.”
Quite suddenly, the gray forest stops. The dirt turns to some sort of rock that seems to be covering everything. There's a wall, and passing that leads you into... light. Orange light, with... whoa!
“What's that?” You can't help but ask as you see a box... a car? Moving? “No, it's a car, right? That's cool! Kourin would love this place!”
Mystia lets out a little laugh, breaking her frown for the moment. “Haha, he would. I can even see his face.”
You almost can, too. It would look almost the same, but... there'd be a tiny bit of a smile in one corner. You try to make the face, and a voice to go with it, “Ah... how wonderful.”
You're not sure if the humans are trying to laugh or not, but they might be. It's hard to tell. It doesn't sound like they'll be able to get much further.
This path doesn't keep you next to the flat space for long. You all follow the brown wall until it stops, right before running into one of those huge pillars. And then you go into that space. It's a lot darker here; nicer, you think. You don't really like that orange. But there's a few bits of orange as you run. And run. And then, by a big green box... Mary stops.
“Haa... h-hold on... I can't...”
Not quite stops completely, but stops running. She moves over to the wall, close to the green box, and leans on it.
You've already stopped, but it takes Renko a little bit to cease moving.
“Oh... ha... sorry,” She pants, walking slowly back. She doesn't look much better. “Want me to... ha... carry you?”
Mary makes a very, very bad attempt at a laugh. “Can... rest a bit...?”
Renko gives a very sloppy nod. She's really tired, too. Easy prey if you were playing the youkai game. “Y...yeah. I won't... feel good until we're home, but... ha... this is probably safe enough.”
Lots of panting, no talking. Both humans take a seat on the hard rock. You turn to Mystia, who's still frowning a little (but then smiles a little when she notices you, although it's not a good one), and then back.
“Hey... Phobe,” Mystia finally asks, causing you to turn around again. Spinny. “You can't... fly, right?”
You shake your head. “Nope~”
“Oh, so it's not just me...”
“Fly?” Renko asks between pants. You think there's a little laugh in there, too. This seems to startle Mystia a bit. “That'd be handy, wouldn't it?”
Mystia gives a rather quick nod. “I don't like being stuck on the ground.”
Hearing your name... reminds you of something.
“Oh, that's right. I'm Phobe,” You say, introducing yourself to the humans.
Mystia, too, seems to have forgotten. “A-ah. I'm Mystia.”
Renko gives a nod. Mary seems too busy resting to pay much attention.
“I'd say those are... crazy names, but I don't want to get eaten or something.”
You laugh. No, she really doesn't. It's pretty obvious. She's a normal human who fears youkai, so maybe you should tell her.
“I'm not being a youkai right now,” You say, “So don't worry~”
Mystia shakes her head. “Ah, and there's no grill, either,” She says, “So how would we cook you?”
“A shame,” Renko says, “Say, Mary. Was this really a good idea?”
Mary opens her eyes, looking up at you both from her sitting position down at the base of the wall. “I don't think... you can fly out here,” She says, answering a question from a long time ago. Or maybe she's just trying to ignore Renko. “I think that's something... to do with Gensokyo.”
Mystia sighs, “I feel like I almost can, but... it's like I'm not doing it right.”
Renko lets out a harsh laugh. “Try flapping your wings. We'll have to do something about those, by the way--- whoa. Hey, I wasn't serious!”
You hear a little swishing noise, and turn to Mystia. But she's not there. She's on top of the green box... no, over it. By some square cut out of the gray pillar.
“Haha!” She laughs, “I'm so stupid sometimes~”
You watch as she flutters back down to the ground. “I mostly do that for show. I didn't even think to use them.”
Mary claps as she lands, seemingly having regained some energy.. “Ah, that's so cool! Don't you wish you had wings, Renko?”
Renko shakes her head. “No way. I'd never be able to find clothes that fit. And besides, what would people say?”
Mary stands up, a little weakly. “If we're not running, I think I'll be fine now. Thanks for waiting.”
Renko nods, and gets back up. It's like how you get up, really; shoving yourself off the ground really hard, and then moving your legs into a better position. “Any time, Mary,” She says, “Come on, let's get home. I'd rather rest there than in a stinky alley.”
Mary laughs a little, and nods. “Me, too. And it's a better place to do an interview!”
Renko looks towards you and Mystia. “I hope you guys don't sleep much.”
You don't get it. “Why?”
“She's going to be asking you questions until your ears fall of,” Renko continues, laughing. “And then she'll teach you sign language.”
Mary's face goes a little red. “But... it's not every day that this kind of thing happens,” She says, “It'd be a huge waste if I didn't.”
“At least you're honest,” Renko laughs, motioning for you all to follow. “You didn't even try to deny it.”
“Don't try to act like you're not interested, Renko,” Mary prods, “Think of the science. This shouldn't be possible, right?”
“Tch,” Renko says, “Am I really that transparent?”
Mystia speaks up, “Ah... you are still going to help us get back, right?”
Renko laughs. “Yeah. You have my word.”
“So,” Mary says, fiddling with some sort of silver thing that she's pulled out of a pocket. “Can we start now? How'd you get here? What happened?”
Renko gives both you and Mystia a sort of sly grin before turning back around. Mary's slowing down, getting closer to you both.
[ ] Maybe you can answer her ears off.
[ ] Can you trade questions, instead?
[ ] Answering questions is kind of boring. You want to ask them.
==============================================
There will be more Wriggle later. You may even get to be more Wriggle later. Also feel free to write in specific questions here, if you want. I may or may not use them.
>>20594 I like her both ways~
