.> Return to the mountain after consulting ??? as to whether or not we should explore anything else and it's take on this place.

.> Return to the mountain after consulting ??? as to whether or not we should explore anything else and its take on this place.
.>learn Synthesis
.>help Magic Mastery

.>help synthesis

.>learn Synthesis

Synthesis has been increased to level 1. You can now synthesize objects. Cost: 2 ability points and 10 mana per item. Limited to small items.

Current ability points: 2

.>help Magic Mastery

Magic Mastery is an ability that increases the subject's ability to learn and use magic. This ability generally doesn't seem to directly teach the subject magic, but instead acts as a helping hand by greatly increasing their base mana ("greatly" is relative - the base amount it adds is several times more than someone just starting out with magic would have, but is a very small fraction of what someone highly proficient would command) and increasing the subject's ability to comprehend magic that they are learning. However, the subject will still need to learn spells (or abilities) on their own in order to take advantage of this ability's effects.

Strictly speaking, most subjects can learn magic without Magic Mastery, but most do not, and those that do receive tutoring from someone already highly-proficient in magic.

Magic Mastery also acts as a prerequisite for a number of abilities. Additionally, most high-level abilities rely on magic for their more advanced operations, so this ability is necessary in order to use these advanced operations unless the subject has sufficient mana already.

This ability is generic. Most worlds have their own unique magic which works on their own principles, but this ability helps the subject when learning magic in any of them.

.>help Synthesis

Synthesis is a magic ability that enables the subject to convert absorbed essence into objects. Unfortunately, as it uses both magic and essence, it isn't a very efficient method for acquiring more objects to absorb for essence, as it always seems to take more essence to synthesize an object than one would get from absorbing it.

The size of objects that may be absorbed seems to be correlated with the size at the equivalent Advanced Dispose level.

---

Hey.

(What.)

Should we explore anything else?

(How am I supposed to know?)

Well, you seem to know more than you do...

Okay, so waht do you think about this place, then?

(It's pretty dark.)

...

(What?)

Nothing else? No insights?

(Well, I do think that you should choose a door and go through it. There really isn't anything to do here.)

Alright, then.

Might as well go somewhere you're already familiar with.

You make your way to the first door, step through the portal, and prepare to right yourself as you fall.

Well, you landed on your feet without needing to adjust yourself. You did end up at a different position on the mountain, but you can clearly tell that it's the same place.

Once again you've landed on a path. If you follow it downward, you'll head right into the forest; following it upward will obviously take you towards the top.

.>input

>>51660
.> Head back to Nitori's place. Tell her the recent series of events that have occurred.

.> Make a note to ask Nitori for some earplugs, that might help us avoid teleportation.

Well, best get moving. It isn't night yet, but it does look like a decent time gap occurred somewhere between being teleported back to that dungeon and making your way back here. It looks like there's about 30 degrees of sun left before sundown.

So, you begin walking.

After a while of walking, you arrive back at the cave opening. You enter, and start heading up towards the house.

Reaching the top of the staircase, you swing open the trapdoor and climb out.

What you find is quite disturbing.

Instead of a house, there are ruins of a house. It appears as though Nitori's house has just up and collapsed.

Well, there's certainly a pretty big problem if support beams are going to start disappearing too.

(No, that's not what happened.)

What did happen, then?

(I'm not sure.)

What do you mean?

(All I know is that that's not what happened. It doesn't magically mean I know what DID happen.)

Well okay then.

You're a little concerned, though. Hopefully Nitori wasn't inside when it collapsed.

(I don't think she was.)

Oh?

(She was probably out looking for you, or visiting that person that they mentioned.)

Person?

(The one whose name nearly killed you.)

Ah. Well, you're not sure about it almost killing you. It sure felt that way, but...

(In any case, she probably isn't here.)

Well, that's good.

It's about the only good thing about this though.

.>input

.> We don't know the way to anywhere else and wandering about would be foolish. Go through the rubble and see if there's anything you can save. Engage stealth mode just in case.

Well, this is entirely unfortunate.

(That's true.)

The only thing you can really do is see if there's anything you can salvage while you wait for Nitori to come back.

...You say that, but digging through the rubble of a collapsed house isn't really that easy. it's not like it's a flimsy hut made of twigs and hay; it's an actual house made out of brick and mortar. The interior walls appear to have been made out of drywall and lumber after all, but that's still pretty heavy for one person to lift.

It isn't really like you have any other options, for what to do, though. You could sit and wait, yes, but you don't know how long it's going to be until Nitori comes back. You have a feeling that if you just sat and waited, you'd end up getting so bored that you'd end up doing this anyway.

So, you do your best to start clearing it out. To start with, you begin carrying what you can out into the...well, you're not really sure you'd call it a yard, but outside.

Of course, the part that ended up at the top was pieces from the roof. This house really does appear to have quite a modern design, and the roof is made up of sheets of plywood with tar paper and shingles nailed down. In other words, it's heavy.

But, you do your best to drag it out of the way.

Thankfully the second sheet appears to have deeply cracked when the roof collapsed. You're able to break it roughly in half, making the job a bit easier.

After throwing the second of these two halves on the pile, you walk back towards the rubble, trying to come up with ideas for how to make this go more smoothly.

You hear the sound of someone's feet softly touching the ground behind you.

(Fuck.)

.>input

>>51750
.>Turn around and raise your hands in surrender, whilst saying "So it has come to this?"

.> Just turn around and see who it is, no need to say anything stupid. Or incriminating.

If it's Nitori, tell her that we're trying to save the remnants of her belongings. If she accuses us of demolishing the house, remind her that we're an outsider and that such a feat would be well beyond our abilities.

If it's not Nitori and the newcomer hasn't actually seen us yet, don't say anything. Just remain hidden. If he/she has seen us, wait for him/her to make the first move.

What's wrong?

(You're going to need to do your best to keep cool here.)

Huh?

(Just turn around and act normal. Do NOT say anything stupid.)

Okay...

Slowly, you turn around.
You find a girl who looks to be in her late teens, with long green hair, wearing a dress that almost makes you think of a shrinemaiden uniform. Rather, if that's what it's supposed to be, it's been incredibly heavily modified.

She quickly examines the destruction behind you.

"Wow." She speaks. "This is pretty impressive."

She turns her gaze to you.
"So you're the person who did this, then."

Her eyes match yours and you feel a heavy...pressure.
That's really the best way to describe it. It's making you feel incredibly uneasy.

She starts slowly walking towards you.

(Calm down.)

"I heard a loud noise down here from clear at the top of the mountain." As she speaks, a breeze slowly starts to kick up, as if the world its self wants this to be dramatic.

(No, that's not it. Just remain calm.)

"I thought Nitori made a mistake again and blew something up, so I came down to lecture her, but instead I find a strange youkai rummaging through her stuff."

She's right in your face now.

She's a decent amount shorter than you, but this is the most intimidated you've been in your entire life.

(Calm down.)

She shoves her face right up next to yours, examining you closely.

SHIT

(Calm the fuck down.)

"You don't really look like a youkai, do you?"

.>input

.>Kiss her
.>Introduce yourself in dramatic fashion

Such a situation can only be resolved in one of two ways.


...I don't think punching Sanae is a good idea.

>>51933

What? No! Don't kiss her, why would you even..

.> Just... Just tell her that you're a human from "outside". You get any strange urges, you ignore them right now.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

(No stop what the fuck are you thinking)

There's only one thing you can do to solve this situation

(No, if you do this and she doesn't kill you I will)

It's simple.

You move your face forward, until your lips touch hers.

It's perhaps the most pleasant sensation you've ever felt. Her soft lips, the sweet smell of her fragrance, the warm blood seeping out of your stomach...

You reach out your hands, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her close as your fingers start to feel numb. A feeling like static electricity spreads through your whole body as you're sent flying, broken, onto the ground.

The last thing you remember is her furious expression as she walks closer, seething, to stomp on your face.

...

(Why the fuck would you even do that?)

---

Transferring data...

---

Why the fuck would you even do that indeed.

(What?)

Yeah, that's a terrible idea.

(What are you talking about?)

Nothing.

Instead of acting on that bittersweet (just like antifreeze) idea, you decide to calmly give her an answer.

"I'm not."

"Oh?" She asks emotionlessly.

"I'm a human. From 'outside.'" You explain.

She takes a step back.

"I see. That explains it. I'll have to go take you to see-"

Pain, intense pain oh god fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

"-sort this right out." She says with a sweet smile.

"...As if!" Before you can even get your bearings from that sudden burst of pain, you're sent flying backwards, landing on your back and sliding a few feet on the ground. Your vision flashes white as the pain hits you, this time from a purely physical source.

"Did you really expect me to believe that an outsider could do this?" You hear her footsteps drawing nearer. You struggle to pull yourself up, but only manage to flail a bit until she reaches out and picks you up by your shirt collar.

"Did you think I was stupid or something?"

You find yourself flying through the air again in a blur.

"What, you aren't going to fight back?" She starts walking towards you once more.

.>input

>>51939
.> State that you did not do this. Sanae merely found you here, which is not indicative of your guilt. Furthermore, state that you have been consensually lodging with Nitori, and she would corroborate your story if she makes it before we die.

.> Curl up into a ball, weep.

[x] Look at her in disgust.
[x] "You think I would do this to my friend?"
[x] Threaten to 'dipose' of at least 3 cm of her chest.

Fight back? You can barely move. How the hell are you supposed to fight back?

Using what feels like all of your strength, you push yourself up into a sitting position. Without any strength left, the only thing you can do is flash the girl a look of disgust.

"Do you really think I would do this to my friend?" you speak, though it's just barely over a mumble.

"Your friend?" her face twists into an insane smile. "You're trying to say that Nitori is your friend?"

She starts laughing.

(Something's wrong.)

The laughing stops.

You feel the wind start to kick up a bit more.

"You know, it would have been so much easier if you'd just admitted it from the start." As she speaks, she raises what looks like a stick with a piece of paper attached to the end and points it at you.

"But you had to make it difficult." A magic circle appears in the air in front of her.

It almost feels like you're in a hurricane.

"In the end, though, even if you won't cooperate, I can just force-"

She's cut off by a massive beam of light that slams into her from the side, sending her flying. You hear another pair of feet land on the ground in the direction the beam came from, and find a familliar magician standing there, pointing some sort of octagon-shaped box at the girl.

"Maaa-riiiii-saaaaaa", the girl slowly speaks as she stands back up.

"Oh, you're still moving? Guess I held back a little too much."

You hear another set of feet land directly behind you, and feel yourself being dragged. Startled, you look up to see who it is, but you can't see anyone.

"Shhh", a voice whispers, "keep quiet or she'll notice."

You nod.

As you're being dragged towards towards the trapdoor, you hear shouting and various other noises and notice flashes of green and pink light coming from the direction of Marisa and the other girl. To be honest, you're in too much pain to pay attention to what's going on, so you just close your eyes.

After a few moments that seem to pass at the same speed as waiting for novocaine to kick in and stop the pain from a completely broken tooth, you feel yourself carefully carried a short distance down the stairs, and hear the trapdoor swing shut, snuffing out the sun's light with it.

Taking this as your cue, you open your eyes.

"Are you okay?" Nitori asks, with an expression of...

Wait, you still can't see her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are you?"

"Ah-" she switches off whatever it is she's using to be invisible, and sorta fades into being visible. "Sorry about that."

A moment passes, and you hear the sound of conflict outside escalating. It's a little worrying.

"What...exactly happened?" She asks.

.>input

>>51993
.> Tell her what happened.

.> "Your friend said something which caused me to teleport again. When I got back to your house I saw that it had collapsed."

"Then that girl showed up, called me a youkai, accused me of destroying the house and started tossing me about like a ragdoll. I think that about covers it."

By the way, we might want to take another point of Advanced Dispose next level up and see if we can use it to remove an attacker's weapon. Might come in handy.

"Sigh."

That's pretty much your answer. It basically sums up everything.

But, of course, it isn't very descriptive.

"Sigh."

(Sighing too much is bad for you.)

Shut up.

"Well," you say, trying to think up a way to explain it, "we were flying, and I asked Marisa about something, and when she tried to answer I just kinda

appeared somewhere else."

"...Appeared?" She sounds confused. Which is fine, you're still pretty confused about it as well, even though if you've gotten to a point where you don't think about it too much anymore.

"Yeah. I was suddenly inside of some sort of cellar or dungeon or something. Dark, gloomy, et cetera." You explain.

"Did...did something happen?" She asks, sounding worried.

"No, not really. I had actually been there before, just before finding your place. It's just a few empty, booring rooms. A couple of them have sort of...tears in space that act like portals. Before I first found your place, I went through one of them, so, to get back I just went through it again."

"I see..."

"After that, I decided to head back up to your house, found it in ruins, decided to try to save anything I could, and then that girl attacked me. That's pretty much it."

"I understand." She sighs. "At least you're okay, but we still don't really know what happened."

The sounds of magicical combat outside have stopped.

.>input

.> Quickly check over your wounds.

>>52098
Ask Nitori if she is alright before checking your own wounds and investigating the outcome of Marisa's battle.

WOO FINALS YAY
TWO WEEKS OF HEAVEN

---

You quickly check yourself over.

There's certainly going to be bruises, and you've got some nasty scrapes, but thankfully it doesn't seem too bad. Somehow she managed to throw you around without breaking any of your bones, which you find to be incredibly fortunate.

Wait.

"Nitori, are you okay?" You ask.

"Yeah."

You wait a few moments, but there's still no more sounds from outside.

"Do you think they're done?" You ask.

"Maybe." She replies. "Or maybe they flew off somewhere else. Only one way to check."

She pushes the trapdoor open a crack and looks outside. She then opens it all the way and steps out.

Well, if Nitori thinks it's safe, it's probably safe. You follow her.

On the surface, you find Marisa, clothes seemingly pristine, pulling the girl, clothes scuffed and covered in dirt, towards the two of you.

When she gets closer, she pushes the girl towards you.

"Say it." She commands.

The girl immediately faces towards you and bows apologetically.

"I'm sorry for all of this. I'm sorry for attacking you, I'm sorry for calling you a youkai, and I'm sorry for blaming the house being destroyed on you."

.>input

.> "Why did you think I was a youkai?"

[x] "Youkai??" Do I look like the tiny little girl?"

Wait a second.

"Why did you even think I was a youkai in the first place?"

You're curious. Apart from your unusual circumstances, you're pretty much as normal a human as they get.

You think.

(Don't worry, you're pretty normal.)

That's what you thought.

Then why.."

"Well, I heard an explosion from around here, and when I got here I found the house repaired and your rummaging through the wreckage, and...I guess I jumped to conclusions." She explains.

.>input

>>52814
Ask her who she is and what gives her the right to arbitrarily accost and potentially murder random people?

[x] "If I had your ability to jump to conclusions as a superpower, I'd be..."
[x] ...
[x] ...
[x] ...
[x] "I'd be pretty much qualified to handle incidents and stuff. Forgot where I was for a sec."

God damn it.

(Stop.)

You're a little frustrated now.

(A little?)

"If I had your ability to jump to conclusions as a superpower, I'd be..."

Wait.

(Yes, waiting is good. You should do that more often.)

...

("..."?)

Uh.

"...I'd be pretty much qualified to handle incidents and stuff. Forgot where I was for a sec."

Nitori and Marisa shoot you concerned looks. You shoot them confused looks as well as you fall to the ground and pass out due to an overwhelming amount of pain.

(What the hell?)

---

(Hey.)

Nnnngh.

(You're awake.)

There's no way you're awake.

(...)

You should just keep sleeping. Sleep is the most peaceful thing in the world.

(You're awake. Open your eyes.)

Eh? But you're still asleep, there's no way you can open your eyes.

(If you won't open your eyes yourself, I'll open them for you. Don't blame me if the light hurts your eyes.)

No, don't do that. You're still asleep.

(That's it.)

(Wait, hold on, I can't do it like this.)

What are you talking about?

(What was that thing again..? )

?

(Oh, right.)

(???.setCommunicationLevel(1);)

--

Communication level has been set to 1. Currently available levels are (0,1,2). Use the ???.setCommunicationLevel( int level ) method to change to a different level.

---

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

(You can't take control of yourself properly if you aren't yourself. Rather, you can, but it takes quite a bit more effort, since you would be controlling someone who isn't you. That usually takes more effort than just controlling yourself.)

Okay, now you're making absolutely no sense.

(You're making plenty of sense. You have no idea how you couldn't understand such a simple explanation.)

Now you're just making it worse.

(You open your eyes.)

What

Wait, shit. You warned yourself about the light hurting your eyes-

You almost immediately realize that bracing yourself for pain was a silly idea. It doesn't hurt, but your eyes are open now.

Wait.

What was that thing you said earlier?

(What thing?)

Something about setting communication level.

("???.setCommunicationLevel(1);"?)

---

Communication level has been left unchanged at 1. Currently available levels are (0,1,2). Use the ???.setCommunicationLevel( int level ) method to change to a different level.

---

Yeah, that.

(What about it?)

Let's see...
???.setCommunicationLevel(2);

---

Communication level has been set to 2. Currently available levels are (0,1,2). Use the ???.setCommunicationLevel( int level ) method to change to a different level.

---

(Goddamnit, why did you do that? This is annoying. I don't like it.)

You like it quite well, though.

(Why are you wasting time on something useless like that, though? Your eyes are open. I can see what you can see, and this isn't something we've seen before.)

Oh?

Oh, you're right. This is a completely different building from Nitori's.

(No, really? It isn't like Nitori's house was demolished or anything like that.)

Oh, right.

...Then where is this?

You take a quick look around.

The room you're in is very Japanese-styled. Paper walls, tatami mat floors, and very minimalistic furnishings.

(Are you sure that last part is Japanese? And for that matter, can you call "absolutely nothing besides the futon" minimalistic?)

God, you're annoying right now.

Well, you're awake, and you have no idea what happened.

(You remembered something and subsequently passed out. It gave me quite a shock, as it wasn't provoked by anything particular. It just surfaced all of a sudden.)

Okay then. You're awake, and you have an idea of what happened.

.>input

.> Investigate your immediate surroundings.

.> Check your inventory, too.

Well, the first thing to do is get your bearings.

You examine the immediate surroundings. The ceiling has a very simplistic fluorescent light to illuminate the room. Definitely a Japanese design, it's one of the ones with concentric circles which provide pseudo-dimming by enabling you to choose how many of the actual rings are lit up. Of course, as the sun is still out, it isn't lit up, the light streaming in through the windows sufficient to light up the room.

Other than that, though, your immediate surroundings are literally just paper walls, tatami floors, and two paper sliding doors: one connecting to the inside of the building, and one that opens up to the outside.

Well, now that you know what your surroundings contain, you should check whether you have all of your stuff.

(Wait, I got this.)

What?

(.>inventory)

---

INVENTORY
1. Zippo
2. Knife
3. Longer length of rope
4. Fancy pen
5. Screwdriver
6. Marble
0. Lantern

---

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

(Looks like everything's here.)

What are you talking about? I haven't even reached my hand into my pockets yet.

(What, you can't see it?)

See what?

(Uh...Nevermind.)

Okay...

You decide to check your inventory to make sure. After pulling everything out of your pockets, everything seems to check out.

(What, you don't trust me?)

Normally, yes, but after going on about something that doesn't make sense, that's starting to slip.

(Well that's rude.)

What happened to you just sitting in the background and being silent most of the time?

(...)

.>input

.> Briefly investigate the door that leads outside, before going through the inside of the facility. Engage in stealth because we ought to practice it as well as happen upon chances to eavesdrop/discover secret things.

Well, you might as well investigate those doors. Or, rather, it's the only thing you can really do other than wait for someone to come find you.

Rather than immediately going for the door that leads inside, you figure to check the door leading outside, figuring that at the very least it may give you an idea of where you are.

Sliding it open, you take a look outside and find that you are at the top of a mountain. You figure that it isn't too big of a stretch to assume that it's the same mountain you've been at, but it appears you're much, much higher up.

You aren't really in a mountain climbing mood, though, so you slide the door closed and instead look through the other one.

The other door opens up into a short cooridor. There's three other rooms besides the one you're in. There's also another door at each end of the hallway.

.>input

>>52882
Go to the nearest door and knock to see if you can come in.

You go up to the nearest door and knock.

No response.

.>input

.> Investigate room via stealth

You decide to try and investigate the room using your stealth.

Reaching your hand up to the handle, you start to slide it forward,

and you are stopped by an overwhelming sense of dread.

You shouldn't open this door.

(Really? I'm not feeling anything like that.)

If you open this door, you will suffer divine punishment, you just know it.

(You really shouldn't be opening doors anyway, but I'm really not noticing anything like that.)

.>input

.> Enter anyways.

.> Slide the door open -just- a crack and take a peek. using stealth.

Despite the fact that you know you're going to die,

(You're probably not going to die.)

You still have a significant urge to peek inside.

So, being as sneaky as you can, you slide the door open just a tiny crack, only enough to look in.

And then you look in.

Right into an eye staring at you from the other side.

You reflexively slam the door shut out of fright.

Yeah. That wasn't really a good idea.

(And yet you did it anyway.)

.>input

.>genuflect and offer a prayer. Iä! Iä! Suwako ftagn!
.>Try not to think about the whatever-it-was that hopefully won't bring terrible divine retribution down upon you and investigate the next door.

.>Try not to think about the whatever-it-was that hopefully won't bring terrible divine retribution down upon you and investigate the next door.

Okay. That door's no good. It's time to move on to the one across the hall.

(Really?)

Well, it isn't like you really have anything else to do.

Just like with the other door, you knock.

Just like with the other door, there is no response.

Just like the other door, you reach up your hand to open it, however unlike the other door you don't get a feeling of dread.

Still, just like the other door, you use stealth to open the door as carefully and slowly as you can.

After you've determined that there is no one inside, you open the door the rest of the way, revealing the room inside.

You find a rather normal-looking bedroom that appears to belong to a teenage girl.

.>input

.>Close the door and peruse the next one.

You close the door and once again repeat the process with the final door.

This turns out to be an even more normal bedroom. It appears to belong to an adult, as it is furnished and decorated quite modestly, but still appears to be used.

You're about to close the door and move on when you hear an unfamilliar voice from behind you.

"Looking for something?"

.>input

>>53827
.>Introduce ourselves and tell her we are looking for someone to tell us where we are.

"Yes, actually. I was looking for someone to tell me where I am."

(Nice save.)

"I see. You're currently located at the Moriya Shrine. Might I ask who you are? I've never seen you before."

.>input

>>53964
We're (whatever our name was), and we're from outside the border. We've been lodging with Nitori until recent events have landed us here. We admittedly don't know much about why we're here either.

>>54558
FINE OKAY GEEZ

---
"I'm John." You explain. "I'm from outside of the" flash of pain "border. I've been lodging with Nitori for a few days until recent events kinda landed me here. I really don't remember much about why I'm here either, all I remember is blacking out and waking up in this room." You point to the room that is now across the hallway from you.

She sighs.
"Probably that damn gap youkai playing around again." Mentioning this person produces a very mild pain. "Geez, that girl needs to get a life. Gensokyo's supposed to be peaceful between incidents, but Yu-" the pain intensifies a little "-ka-" And it explodes into an intense migraine.

She seems to notice your flinching.

"-uh, are you okay?" She asks.

You are saved.

After a second or two the pain goes away, and you respond.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just, uh, be careful when using names. Or proper nouns in general, I guess. For some reason, remembering things about them hurts. A lot."

(Well, it's a pretty important distinction to make internally that it's from remembering them, but it would have been just fine to just explain it as names causing pain.)

Well, that might cause some sort of misunderstanding. If possible, you'd prefer to not have to re-explain it if there's some way she can help.

(That's true enough. Still, at least you're not being tracked down and tortured.)

Huh?

(You're conveniently in the exact right place for that, too.)

What the hell are you talking about?

(Nothing, don't mind me.)

...
Okay.

Her look of irritation returns.
"Yeah, that sounds like something she'd do. I'm gonna have to give her a pretty good talking to soon."

(But wait, this whole situation is backwards!)

Shut the hell up.

(Okay, fine.)

"Well, in any case, welcome to the Mo-" She pauses, giving you a questioning look, as if to ask you if it's okay to say.
Considering that the first syllable didn't cause any pain at all, it's probably fine, so you give her a nod.
"Moriya Shrine." She finishes. "I'd also like to apologize for Sanae's behavior. She gets a little over-enthusiastic sometimes."

"I noticed." You have bruises in several places to prove it.

"Well, in any case, feel free to make yourself feel at home here for the time being. Just don't go looking through the bedrooms without permission. It's fine that you're a healthy young man and all, but this is a shrine, after all."

You don't really like what she's implying, but she doesn't give you a chance to retort. Before you can say anything, she's turned around and left, waving behind herself at you.

Sigh.

.>input

.> See if you can find the living room.

You decide to find the living room.

Thinking about it, the door on the far end of the hallway must lead outside, going by what you saw when you went through the external door in the room you were in. Which leaves the door at the closer end.

Turning around, you open the door and find yourself looking into the living room.

Well that was easy.

.>input

>>54600
.> Investigate immediate surroundings.
.> Look for disposable objects.

You decide to look around the room a bit, partially out of curiousity, partially out of boredom, and partially so that you will know if stuff starts disappearing.

It's a fairly modest living room. There's a table in the center which looks like it can be converted into a kotasu in the winter. There's also a small television, and some a couch-loveseat combo, the most western-styled thing in the room. The room is lit by one of the same type of fluorescent light as the room you woke up in. The room opens up to the right into what looks like an entryway, with the floor dipping down just before the door. The spot where you're supposed to take off your shoes. You are now distinctly aware that your shoes are missing, and you have a good idea where they are.

As you're gazing, a tear in space much like the ones back in whatever that place is opens up in front of you, depositing a very confused-looking young girl with blonde hair with a ribbon tied on hte side, red eyes, and wearing a black and white dress.

Your eyes meet.

.>input

>>54628
.> Introduce yourself and ask politely that she not eat you.

[x] See, this is what happens when you start trying to pay attention to stuff disappearing - people start appearing instead.
[x] Do youkai eat other youkai? Maybe you should prractive vour vampirre accent.

.> Dispose of ribbon.

>>54636
You fool, never touch a Touhou's head ornament. That way (more) madness lies!

.>dispose ribbon

Error: Item cannot be disposed.

---

"Hello, I'm John." You introduce yourself to the girl.

(You need to be careful here.)

What? Why?

(You were just looking at her eyes.)

Yes, and-

Oh.

They were red.

So...she's a youkai then?

(Most likely.)

Well shit.

(Don't panic. You should play this off as cool as you can.)

Got it.

"I know this may come as a bother, but could you possibly hold off on eating me for now?"

She tilts her head to the side and takes a step towards you.

"Why?"

.>input

.> We can't be eaten yet, we're on a mission from God.
.> If our bluff check doesn't work, just say we can get her more food in the long-term than if we were eaten now.

[x] The shrine residents would probably exterminate you, or put you into a creepy underground room. (They may or may not be friends with me, but they do have a reputation to uphold.)

>>54670

But but but it was only supposed to be an April Fools joke!

---

"Well, the shrine residents would probably exterminate you, or put you into a creepy underground room."

"Is that so~ Wait, shrine?" She takes a look around.

A look of fear comes across her face.

"I-I'm just gonna go now."

.>input

[x] Yes, yes. Shrine. (Shrine, shrine everywhere a shrine. Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind. Do this don't do that can't you see the shriiinnne.)

Wait, one of the residents is going to walk in on this and assume something stupid, aren't they? They're going to think we've smuggled this youkai in somehow. No, I'm not having that.

.> Raise the alarm, there's a youkai in the shrine!

>>54683
One word explains everything. "Yukari".
Noo reason to worry too much.

>>54674
.> Before she departs, ask her name.

"Hey, before you leave, what's your name?" you ask.

She looks at you with a surprised expression. "You want to know my name? You're pretty strange, you know. I'm Rumia."

"It's John," you reply.

"Nice to meet you. I'll see you later. And if you see me before I see you, RUN~!" She flashes a sinister smile before departing.

Well that was interesting.

(You should probably follow her advice.)

Yeah.

.>input

.> Is that gap still there? Try talking into it.

You decide to try and speak into the gap, but it seems to have already disappeared.

(Gap..?)

The tear in space.

(Right. That closed right as soon as the girl fell out. I can understand how you were too distracted to notice, though )

Oh well.

.>input

>>54700
.> Watch some TV

Without any real idea of what to do, you decide to try watching television.

The television turns on just fine, but it doesn't seem like it's getting a signal. You start to wonder why it's even hooked up at all when you notice the DVD player connected to it.

You decide to turn the television off for now.

After you take a seat on the couch, you hear a commotion from outside. You can't make out what it is.

.>input

.> Check the dvd player to see if there is anything to watch inside before going to check out the commotion.

[x] I motion to come check out the commotion.

You decide to see what's going on outside.

Sliding the door open, you find Nitori and Marisa, along with a few people you don't recognize. There's a woman dressed in black and white with a camera around her neck trying to ask Nitori questions (and mostly being ignored); a girl wearing bunny ears, a white button-down shirt with a tie, and a blue skirt; and a woman with a very strange clothing consisting of quadrants of alternating red and blue with what looks like constellations, and on top of that, what looks like a nurse's cap, only blue with more constellations.

"Who is your first suspect?" The girl taking notes attempts to ask Marisa. "And why did you bring Miss Yagokoro here? Are you going to be looking into this as an incident?"

The witch ignores her.

Meanwhile, the strangely-dressed woman talks with Nitori.
"Yes, that is quite strange. I don't think I've ever heard of anything like that before."

"Yeah." Nitori responds. "From what I hear, the rest of it isn't that stange if we assume that it's Yukari-"

Everything turns white.
It takes a moment for the pain to sink in. When it does, the only way to describe it is pure and intense.

But it isn't just pain.
It's ironically easy to forget, perhaps because of the pain, but the pain isn't just sudden pain upon hearing a name. The pain comes from remembering something. It's like the memories are sealed deep inside. You could imagine that they were stored in a heavy steel vault. For them to suddenly be torn out without first unsealing the vault, it would need to be very violently pulled through the solid metal walls. While you're absolutely certain that this isn't how memory works at all, your intuition tells you that it's a pretty good model for what's going on.

...You're trying to force yourself to analyze this to distract yourself from the absolutely terrible pain that you're feeling. It helps a little bit, but it requires a lot of concentration. By this point, not only are you in pain, but the effort has left you mentally exhausted.

When your vision manages to blurily return, you find yourself on your hands and knees where you were previously standing.

(Well, that's a good sign.)

How the hell is that a good sign? It hurt like fucking hell.

(Yes, but you seemed to have recovered from it pretty well. It seems like the more it happens, the less painful it gets. Your analogy might be more accurate than you thought. If you pull objects through the solid wall of a vault forcefully, wouldn't that make it easier to get the next few objects through by pulling them through the same hole? Of course, they won't fit perfectly through the hole, but it'll still be easier.)

Honestly, you don't want to think about anything, especially pain, at the moment.

"-okay?" You feel a hand on your shoulder as your hearing starts to fade back in. The voice sounds like it's coming from that very oddly dressed nurse. "Nitori, I think I should take him back to Eientei with me."

"No, I don't think that would work. Last time we tried that, he disappeared into thin air."

You take a deep breath.
Your body feels shaky, but you slowly feel control return to your body.

So, you do the obvious thing and lay down, rolling onto your back.

From this perspective, you can see everyone looking at you worriedly. Except the reporter, who appears to be writing something down in her notebook.

The nausea slowly fades, and your senses return to normal. You feel exhausted, but thankfully you no longer feel half dead.

"Are you okay, John?" The nurse asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." You slowly respond.

A look of relief appears on Nitori's face.

"I'm sorry, John. I didn't know you were there, or I wouldn't have said her name."

"It's fine, Nitori." You reassure her.

"Do you think you can stand?" The nurse asks.

"Probably."

"Alright, let's get you up on your feet then. We should at least move inside so we can talk while sitting down." She holds a hand out. Grabbing it, you pull yourself into a standing position with her help.

You still feel just a little shaky, but you feel fine walking. It still seems to be getting better, at least.

"Let's head inside, then."

So you move inside and take a seat on a couch. The nurse is sitting in front of you in a chair.

"Well, before anything, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Yagokoro Eirin, Gensokyo's premier pharmacist. And you're John, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'd like to try and figure out what's causing you to pass out. First, I would like you to describe as best you can what you know about what's been happening. Oh, but first, would you prefer to do this in private?"

.>input

If there's an actual lack of interest in this story, I would have no problem officially dropping it.

On the other hand, if there is interest, I would have no problem continuing it.

Just throwing that out there.

.>“No, this is fine.”

>>55755

Oh yeah, this story. Been a while.

Well, I'd rather you do continue it. It might not have many voters, but it's fun. As long as you're happy enough with this audience, let's go for it.

As for the vote:

.>"No, this is fine."

"No, this is fine."

"Alright. Let's see... First question. When did this first start happening?"

"Uh." You think about it.

The first time you passed out...
Was because of that purple smoke.

...Is that even related?
Well, it's related in some way, but is it the cause?

Well, Eirin's the doctor. It's probably better to let her decide for herself.

"Well, the first time I passed out was in my apartment. My computer started giving off a lot of this weird purple smoke. When I opened it up, it seemed to be coming from some sort of tear in spacetime or something. I guess I ended up breathing some of it in, and then I was out."

"A tear in space-time, you say? That certainly sounds like Yu-"

"Stop!"

Several people hurriedly shout, interrupting the doctor.

"Wh-Oh, yes. Hmm..."

She ponders for a moment.

"...But that doesn't really explain why hearing certain names would cause such a reaction. If it were a random reaction, that would make sense, but if it just keeps only happening when you hear certain names, then..."

She turns her gaze towards you.

"John, have you experienced anything else that was strange since you appeared in Gensokyo?"

.>input

.> Flying kappa and witches aren't exactly everyday sights for an outsider. Apart from that though, you've noticed small objects go missing around you, including a doorknob from one of Nitori's doors and several padlocks from doors in a cellar you woke up in, you get teleported to a certain area of the mountain whenever someone tells you you're from outside the border, and you seem to have a voice in your head.

.> Perhaps it would be best not to mention Nitori's doorknob.

.>help setcommunicationlevel
.>chdir John://memories/
.>search odd,gensokyo

[x] [strikeout]I get to actually talk to gi-[/strikeout]
[x] Err, go with >>55789 >>55790 instead.

>>55796

Damnit. I probably shouldn't post after taking two types of sleep medication?

>that feeling when you have to repost an update 4 times because of errors

---

.>help setcommmunicationlevel

Change in framework requires a recompile of the help database. Please wait...

Namespace: Jerl
Assembly: ??"

Syntax
public int CommunicationLevel { get; set; }

No further information is available, as this ability has not been documented by a subject with the Document ability.

.>chdir John://memories
Command 'chdir' not found.

.>search odd,gensokyo

Searching for "odd"

Error: Cannot implicitly convert type "Adjective" to "ProperNoun". An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)

Searching for "gensokyo"

Help file found. Downloading contents...

The sealed world known as Gensokyo is a frequently repeated world pattern seen across many multiverses. While specific details vary greatly between instances, most have several traits in common: Gensokyo is a sealed world contained within a larger world by the Hakurei Border; there is a system in place to facilitate magical combat known as the "spellcard system" (though specific implementation of this is one of the most widely varying traits of each instance; in some worlds, the actual spell card is just a named attack where the card is simply a formality present to keep combat in check, while in some worlds the card its self is the spell, often providing magical attack power much greater than that of the user); and many of the same important personas reside in each instance.

There exists a true, original Gensokyo instance, but as of yet no person connected to the Interface has been there, so the only information available from these worlds comes from a series of media which seem to pervade not only many worlds containing instances of Gensokyo, but a wide majority of worlds which do not. Unfortunately, this information has dubious reliability, as most of it is in the form of third-party accounts.

It is possible to form a kind of meta-temporality between these worlds using the important personas one may meet as a base. Often, each subsequent medium in aforementioned series of media introduce a number of additional important personas. Most instances of Gensokyo and their important personas seem to line up with which important personas have been revealed at a specific medium in the series. Using this, one can from an external perspective approximate their current location in the meta-temporality by observing which important personas they come across. Another important bit of related information is that the first five media in the series seem to be completely excluded from many instances of Gensokyo; that is to say, none of the important personas, locations, or events from these media appear to be present at all. Additionally, many media seem to progressively move forward in this temporality via some mechanism, with additional characters seemingly showing up out of nowhere, but properly filling a niche as if they had always been there. Be aware that this can be entirely unreliable; many personas don't appear in Gensokyo until a specific in-world time, and it's entirely impossible to completely miss important personas from many areas simply due to their inacessibility, so one is urged to only use this as a rough estimate.

Further information is currently unavailable, as instances of Gensokyo tend to vary greatly enough that any other information one could attempt to provide would be unreliable. There is one bit of information that seems to be applicable in nearly every instance, however:

"GOD DAMN IT YUKARI!"

---

"Well, uh..." You try to word this carefully. "Gensokyo in its self is extremely strange, so there's that. Apart from that, though, objects seem to disappear entirely around me. And I have a..."

How do you describe you?

(Why?)

Well, you've never had to explain you to anyone else before. Hell, you can't even properly rever to you without pointer errors.

(Why are you thinking in third person, anyway? That's really silly.)

What?

(You're thinking in third person. That's your problem.)

And who's the one who wanted to have absolutely nothing to distinguish our thoughts from each other?

(I am.)

You even just thought it! In first person!

(So if you can recognize that I'm thinking in first person, how are you having difficult recognizing that you are thinking in third person? I have to say, thinking in third person really is quite strange.)

What does that even have to do with anything? Look, I just need to explain you to her.

(I'm afraid that there's no way you can really do that without sounding completely nuts. This woman knows a lot about medicine. I can guarantee she's going to start you on some sort of medication that isn't going to help at all because this isn't a medical condition, and you will be forced to endure the side effects. Do you want that?)

What you want is to go home, or at least to know what the hell is going on. You think you're willing to take a little risk here.

(Well, fine. Don't come crying to me when she 'diagnoses' you with schizophrenia, disassociative personality disorder, disassociative fugue, or any combination of them.)

Are you going to help or not?

(Just call me a voice in your head. I'm not really a voice, since I'm you, but that's the closest approximation. Oh, it might do to let her know that I provide insights on things you really shouldn't have any way to know. It might make your story more plausible.)

Got it.

"...Well, a voice in my head. Sorta."

"A what?" Eirin turns to look at you with complete seriousness.

"A voice. In my head. But not really. They're-"

(No, don't say that. That's just going to make it look more like you're crazy than like there's something else entirely going on here.)

"...Well, at first I could only tell that they were different from me because they knew things I shouldn't possibly know, but over time, it started becoming more and clear and distinct from my own thoughts."

"That's...Interesting."

(You might want to stop while you're ahead. Unless you can come up with an explanation that doesn't make you look like a complete nut.)

.>input

>>55803
I guess I could request a search on Eirin and hopefully come out with some info on her that no one would know, like having Reisen II visit or having been responsible for the Imperishable Night incident. Preferably the latter, as it's more likely to have happened given that the different versions of Gensokyos are spread out through narrative time. But I've already fucked around with computer codes today and don't want to be too annoying with it. Plus I'm not sure if revealing some secret is even a wise course of action.

How we respond to the immediate question aside, we should see if she'll first aid us while we try and work through our name allergy. That's kinda annoying and also possibly lethal if it comes into play at the wrong time, so we probably should suck it up and remember. When we do, a doctor would probably be a good thing to have while we lie on the ground writhing in pain.

'you' is second person

>>55810
damnit, I KNEW there was still something I missed

.> Just leave it at that, for now. See if you can persuade her to give you some small item to dispose to prove that you're telling the truth about the disappearing objects.

"Hmm..." Eirin closes her eyesand thinks deeply.

"Sorry it took so long." The sliding door slides open, revealing the girl who attempted to murder you earlier.

(Don't flinch.)

Too late.

She's carrying a small tray with several cups and a pot of tea. Setting them down on the table, she proceeds to pour a cup for each of you.

"Ah, thank you." Eirin picks up her cup, blows on it, and takes a sip.

You do the same, and find that this is some pretty good tea.

Both of you set your cups back down on the table.

"Well, my hypothesis is-"

Eirin begins to speak.

(Hmm.)
(.>dispose eirin's tea cup)

What?

---

.>dispose teacups[Eirin]
'Teacup' consumed. Experience +3 (+1 Advanced Dispose bonus)

Level has increased to 6.

Ability Point +1
Current ability points: 3

Current abilities:

??? - Level 3 . Increases negative mental effect negation to level 3.

Advanced Dispose - Level 1. You can use the DISPOSE command on items without taking them into your inventory first. Limited to items you can fit in your pocket. Experience per item +1.

Stealth - Level 1. You can sneak around to avoid being noticed.

Magic Mastery - Level 1. Enables the use of magic. Base mana: 10. Enables conversion of Ability Points to mana. Mana can be recovered by sleeping.

Synthesis - Level 1. The opposite of Dispose. Using magic, you can reform items which you have absorbed in the past. Costs 2 Ability Points and 10 mana per item.

Available abilities:

Pyromania - to Level 1 (cost: 1 Ability Point). You can start fires more easily, and they burn for longer. Chance of mental corruption.

Advanced Dispose - to level 2 (cost: 3 Ability Points). You can use DISPOSE on larger items. Experience per item +2.

Stealth - to level 2 (cost: 3 Ability Points). Increases the effectiveness of the Stealth skill.

Use .>learn to learn an ability.

Current experience: 31
Next level at: 35

---

There is quite suddenly a decent amount of tea spilled on the table.

Eirin blinks.

You look down, and Eirin's teacup seems to have disappeared.

What.

(It worked. Interesting.)

So that's been you this whole time?!

(No.)

Then what the hell just happened?

(No clue.)

...

"Hold on, let me clean this up..." Eirin reaches into her pocket to pull out a handkerchief.

...
Let me try it.

.>dispose spilled tea

---

.>dispose spilled tea
'Spilled tea' consumed. Experience +3 (+1 Advanced Dispose bonus)

Level has increased to 7.

Ability Point +1
Current ability points: 4

Abilities available. use .>learn to learn an ability.

Current experience: 35
Next level at: 40

---

And the tea which was there has now disappeared.

"...Yeah. There you go. Objects just completely vanishing."

Eirin blinks again.

"I...See. That truly is very interesting."

She closes her eyes in contemplation once again.

After a moment, she opens them back up and looks towards you.

"Has anything else been happening?"

.>input

before anything, let's:

.>Level advanced dispose to 2.

as for the question:

.>"Well, apart from almost getting murdered, no."

.> Belay that, instead learn ??? to level 4
.> “A youkai calling herself Rumia appeared out of a gap in front of me, and I teleport to a certain area of the mountain when someone tells me I'm from outside the border.”
.> help document
.> synthesize doorknob

.>help Document

The Document ability is one of the most important abilities that subjects may posess. It gives them the ability to document abilities which have never been documented before, as well as the ability to append and modify the entries on those that have. It is unknown what criteria must be met before the ability becomes accessible, nor what percentage of subjects gain access.

Users without access to the skill can access a rudimentary API documentation for their own abilities, but this generally only provides a syntax for calling the ability as a command to send to their subjects, with little or no insight on what the method does or how it works.

For more information on the relationship between users and subjects, use .>help "Users and Subjects".

---

Feel free to continue voting. I may update on my next break if there is no tie.

>>55829
Maybe we should think about building a house there. You know, so we don't pop up in the middle of nowhere.

So has somebody else been fucking around with dispose?
.>help "Users and Subjects".
.>about

.>help "Users and subjects"

Individuals connected to the interface fall into two groups: users, those who observe, and subjects, those who do.

An instance of the interface will always have exactly one subject, and at least one, but usually many, users. Most instances of the interface use a form of media, usually observed in the universe it exists in as fiction, to transport data from the subject to the users. A common medium used is written text, but virtually all forms of media which are capable of dynamically changing in response to user input can be used.

The interface grants the subject certain abilities beyond what they would normally have. The scope of these abilities varies greatly from instance to instance.

In return, users are granted a certain level of probabilistic control over the subject, being given access not only to a direct input stream into their mind, but also an API to use when accessing the subject's abilities. The users are responsible for determining how the subject's abilities develop over time. Otherwise, the users are not given any abilities by the interface, in order to ensure compatibility even with universes in which such abilities would be impossible.

Subjects are not blindly controlled, however; the direct stream into their mind is quite noticeable, as the underlying API calls involved with user-side management of the interface are also dumped directly into the user's mind.

All known subjects have been instantly aware of the interface, its purpose and function, and the users on the other side from the very moment a connection is made.

---

I didn't have enough time to write any more than this. I will still accept votes until I get home from work, but I will start writing again as soon as I can.

>>55829
??? Level 4 requires 5 ability points.

>>55826
>>55829
Learning Advanced Dispose Level 2 and Synthesizing a doorknob are mutually exclusive right now. Advanced Dispose Level 2 requires 3 ability points, and Synthesis requires 2 ability points per Synthesized object.

---

.>about

The Interface
Version 2.0

Release notes:
0.1 Pre-release:
- Fixed issue that caused subjects to spontaneously combust when using the Night Vision ability.
- Communication is now fixed - no more random disconnects leaving subjects stranded without their abilities

0.2 Pre-release:
- Fixed security issues that enabled users to directly control subjects without their knowledge

1.0 Release:
- Initial release. All known bugs and security issues have been resolved.
- Reset metatemporal position. Any instances of the interface which may have existed using a previous version of the interface no longer exist at any point in metaspacetime.

2.0 Release:
- Simplified command syntax.
+- Dropped getter and setter methods for properties.
+- Methods and properties now use PascalCase naming instead of camelCase.
+- Improved ability to resolve unspecific pointers to objects.
- Removed information on how to acquire the Document ability. They keep re-adding it...

---

"Well, apart from-"

(No, stop. Making a big deal out of it right now isn't gonna help.)

...Well, yeah, you're right.

Okay.

"-the obvious?" you ask rhetorically. "Well, a youkai calling herself Rumia appeared out of a tear in space in front of me. I also teleport to a certain area of the mountain whenever someone tells me that Im' from outside the bor-"

Everything suddenly gets brighter

"der."

And gets dark again as you fall flat on the ground.

Well, that was kinda shitty.

(Kinda saw that one coming.)

What? Then why didn't you say anything?

(I figured a demonstration would be a good idea.)

You still could have told me.

(But then you wouldn't have landed so gracefully.)

Okay, yeah, you're just going to ignore you now. Later, mister voice in your head.

...You might as well just set up a house here. Getting home every night would be extremely easy, after all.

.>input

.> Head for the Moriya Shrine. Nitori said it was at the summit.

>>55862 This and...

.>Learn advanced dispose level 2

>>55844
Hahaha, it did happen. I figured it must not happen when we said it or else anons who actually knew the specifics wouldn't say it so directly.

.>Learn advanced dispose level 2
.>locate trees
.>attempt to render tree into planks via disposal of unwanted tree parts.
.> Head for the Moriya Shrine. Nitori said it was at the summit.

.>synthesize housebuilding manual, hammer, bag of nails
Forgot that synthesize takes ability points rather than experience points and only makes things we previously absorbed. If the plank thing works, I suppose we could try making tools out of wood, stone, or scrap metal, but with synthesize's current restrictions, we should probably head back after trying to make planks.

.>learn Advanced Dispose

Advanced Dispose has been increased to level 2. You can now Dispose larger objects. Experience per item +1 (+2 total)

Current ability points: 1.

---

Inspiration strikes.

(Not gonna work.)

It's worth a try.

(If you say so.)

.>dispose unwanted tree parts

---

.>dispose tree

Error: item too large. Try separating it into smaller parts for disposal.

---

(Told you.)

Damnit.

Well, I guess that means your next course of action should be to head up to the shrine.

...

And after walking for a good 15 minutes, not only does the summit not look any closer, but you have become thoroughly lost.

Sitting down to take a break, you decide to take a moment to observe your surroundings.

This is a beautiful landscape. Too bad you're here under these circumstances, else this would be really enjoyable.

(It's not like you can't still enjoy it.)

That's true.

And then you find yourself once again sent flying. Your ribs must be made of steel, because it feels like someone smashed you in the side with a sledgehammer.

"Who are you, and why are you here on this mountain?"

There's a girl with brown hair staring down at you.
Brown hair and...brown furry ears?

What.

(Welp, we're screwed. Later.)

What?!

.>input

.> “I'm from outside the border.”

How do you get lost on your way UP a mountain?

.>introduce self, state destination. Who is she?
.>if conflict imminent: "also, I'm from outside the border."

>>55883
It's a really, really big mountain. And steep. If you don't know the trails, it's very easy to get lost.

---

"I'm John. I was on my way to the Moriya Shrine. By the way, who are you?"

She points a sword oh god that's a huge sword at you.
"Who I am doesn't matter. Coming to visit the shrine at a time like this is beyond suspicious."

"I don't know what to say. I'm headed there on legitimate business."

(Oh god you're fucking this up so bad)

"I'll be the judge of that. You're coming with me."

Well, that didn't go as planned.

Should I do it?

(Not seeing any other options at this point, unless you want to get caught up in tengu bureaucracy.)

Well, it's decided then.

"By the way, I'm from outside the border."

"Wh-"
You barely manage to catch a glimpse of her shocked expression before finding yourself in familiar surroundings.

.>input

.> Go to Nitori's house, try to make some kind of shelter from the rubble, wait for Marisa/Nitori/Sanae to find you.

>>55884
Welp.

.> Go to Nitori's house, try to make some kind of shelter from the rubble, wait for somebody to find you.
.> Continue salvaging items from wreckage.
.> dispose of some unimportant pieces of rubble, too.

I'd say to engage stealth, but since the person we currently need to be hiding from is a bloody watchperson, our single rank in stealth probably won't do us any good and will just make us look even more suspicious.

Hmm, I have an idea. Hopefully I can do it right. The previous version had info on the document ability, according to the 2.0 notes. If there's some sort of rollback command and we can find enough info on the last version's syntax to be able to find the info we want and then patch back to the current version, we might be able to get said info.

Search rollback,patch
DeprecatedCommands(search,help,patch)

.>search rollback,patch

Searching for "rollback"

Error: Cannot implicitly convert type "Verb" to "ProperNoun". An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)

Searching for "patch"

Two search results found:

1. Help document "Patchy". Nickname of an important persona in Gensokyo. Use .>help Patchouli Knowledge for more information.

2. Help document "Interface Patch Updates". Use .>help "Interface Patch Updates" for more information.

.>DepreciatedCommands( "search", "help", "patch" )
No overload for method 'DepreciatedCommands' takes 3 arguments

---

Feel free to continue voting if you have anything you wish to add to the votes already cast. I've already used up all of my writing impetus on GOD DAMN IT, YUKARI, and I've already started on my Sunday beer, so it's unlikely that I will post any more story updates tonight; however, I may get drunk enough to update anyway. If I do, I apologize in advance.

I will continue to post non-story updates if you wish to continue trying user commands, however.

>>55900
Thanks for your hard work.

.>search (Noun)(Word)Rollback
.>help "Interface Patch Updates"
.>DeprecatedCommands(Search)

Let's try this for now and see what happens.

Accidentally put ProperNoun instead of Noun.

.>search (Noun)(Word)Rollback

Error: Cannot implicitly convert type "Noun" to "ProperNoun". An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)

.>help "Interface Patch Updates"

Periodically, patches are released for the Interface. Patches are automatically applied to all instances of the interface at once. One can use their interface version as a way to determine their metatemporal location in regards to other instances of the interface. By doing this, one can determine a pseudo-temporal congruity with another instance of the interface. Be aware that while this can be useful for certain spells or for comparing information about the interface between instances, separate universes have separate timelines, and it is impossible to directly connect a time in one universe with a time in another.

Some users have attempted to roll back to a previous version of the interface. There are no known instances where this has been successful. It is theorized that the ones that have been successful have been wiped from metatimespace completely, interface instance, subject, and users all at once.

.>DepreciatedCommands("Search")
No overloaded for method 'DepreciatedCommands' takes 1 argument.

>>55908
Oh, we probably shouldn't mess with the version then.

Still, hate to leave a ...puzzle? unsolved.
.>search (ProperNoun)(Word)rollback
.>DeprecatedCommands()

>>55914
Er, just the proper syntax for those commands. Not actually learning how to change versions, because that'd be dumb.

Unless the bit about not existing anymore is just a ruse while an actual fix is worked on, but according to the 1.0 patch notes, all previous versions were erased from existence, so a quick "2.01: forgot to erase version 1.0" is more probable. Or perhaps it's just a holdover from v1.0 where the prior versions WERE erased, and 1.0 hasn't been erased yet. Checking the about page to see if there's a new version and, if so, what it's notes say would help eliminate some options. But I've done too much computer things for now.

>>55925
There is no such thing as too much computer things.

---

.>search (ProperNoun)(Word) rollback

Exception in thread 'search': failed to convert from 'Word' to 'ProperNoun'.

.>DepreciatedCommands()

string DepreciatedCommands( string input1, string input2, string input3)
string DepreciatedCommands( string input )
Removed in version 2.0 for redundancy.

void Rollback( double versionNumber )
Removed in version 1.0 to prevent abuse.

>>55926
True, but I'm pretty sure nobody else would have any fun reading the thread if I filled the whole thing with programming shenanigans.

.>CurrentVer()
.>If (CurrentVer()>2.0) then about
.>credits
.>help "Basic Commands"

This should check the current version, then if it is a new version and the first command only returned a number then it'll display patch notes. If the first command does return patch notes, then the second one should throw an exception and thus save page space. Credits is hopefully self-explanatory, and I'm curious to see if we have any other commands like dispose, which we had from the beginning (or possibly unlocked by getting our pockets full, now that I think about it). Hopefully we don't get a list of commands such as breathe or walk.

.>CurrentVersion()

2.1

.>if (CurrentVersion() > 2.0)
About(2.0);

The Interface
Version 2.1

Release notes:

2.1 Release:
- Removed information on how to acquire the Document ability.
- Added new method: string About( double versionNumber )
+- You can use this to only see release notes after a given version number.

.>credits

Command "credits" not found.

.>help "Basic Commands"

The Interface provides a number of user commands for all instances. These commands are intended to facilitate the use of the Interface. The list of currently known basic commands is as follows:

about, help, learn, abilities, use, take, drop, say

There are many more commands than this, but these are the only ones which are guaranteed to be accessible to all instances of the interface. More will be added to the list as they are discovered.

---

Well, all you have left is heading back up to the remains of Nitori's house and hoping someone comes by to find you.

...

And

This place is just as big of a mess as it was before.

Upon inspection, the majority of what's left is more or less unusable. It's hard to build something with bricks which have been reduced to rock chips, not to mention completely ruined wooden interior support beams. And...broken drywall is pretty much garbage.

(Well, might as well get to work clearing it out of here.)

What are you talking about? You already tried doing that earlier, and you're sure that at least a little bit of the soreness in your muscles came from that.

(No, I'm going to try something. Hold on.)

Hmm?

(.>foreach (DrywallSheet sheet in debris)
Dispose(sheet);)

...What?

(Wander over to that pile of debris over there.)

Okay.

You wander over to the pile, and...
Broken sheets of drywall start disappearing.

Wow, that's pretty convenient.

(Unfortunately it seems to insist on taking the whole sheet at once, so you can't boost your experience gain by breaking it up more.)

...What?

---

(5 objects) consumed. Experience +25 (+2 Advanced Dispose bonus per item)

Current experience: 35
Next level at: 40

Available abilities:

??? - to Level 4 (cost: 5 Ability Points). Further simplifies communication with ???. Speeds up communication with ???. Increases negative mental effect negation to level 4.

Pyromania - to Level 1 (cost: 1 Ability Point). You can start fires more easily, and they burn for longer. Chance of mental corruption.

Stealth - to level 2 (cost: 3 Ability Points). Increases the effectiveness of the Stealth skill.

Magic Mastery - to level 2 (cost: 3 Ability Points). Enables the use of magic. Base mana 20.

Magical Reinforcement - to level 1 (cost: 5 Ability Points). Active ability which slightly increaseases your physical strength and defense for a short period of time. Uses 10 mana per activation.

For a full list of unlocked and available abilities at any time, use .>abilities. To review the description of a specific ability, use .>abilities abilityname.

---

After a short bit of time, the pile has noticeably shrunk. There's still quite a bit of debris left, and quite a bit of drywall for that matter, however.

(Like I said, it seems to be picky. Those are probably partial sheets. You'll need to dig them out of the wreckage to dispose them.)

Yeah, no. That's not happening any time soon.

...

After standing around for a while, you decide to just head down the trapdoor to the underground labratory and wait it out there.

Meanwhile, there is no one else here. Inside of Nitori's labratory full of awesome and probably very dangerous toysequipment.

.>input

>>55945
Er, I'm pretty sure we were at 35/40 with the tea.

Other than that, I can't think of anything to do besides sleeping or deliberately exposing ourselves to the horrible, painful memories. Either way, it'll help to have someplace warm and soft. Oh, I guess we could also exercise or read a book or something. We might unlock new abilities such as strength or science! If we knew what Marisa said to us we could go back to the beginning dungeon and put more things in gaps. But we don't.

.>create bed
.>exercise
.>read book
.>think about what you can remember. You were playing a video game, you remember that much. Which one, you don't remember, but seeing as you seem to recall everything else, it's probably important somehow. You'll call it the illusionary game for now.

.> About (Double.NegativeInfinity)
.> About (0.0)
.> learn ??? to level 4
.> help experience
.> help Patchouli Knowledge
.> help learn
.> abilities Document
.> search (ProperNoun) rollback
.> search (ProperNoun)(Noun)(Word) rollback
.> create bed
.> exercise
.> read book
.> think about what you can remember. You were playing a video game, you remember that much.

>>55969
Woah. That's what I was talking about trying to stay away from above.
... I mean that in an explanatory sense.

Anyway, any particular reason to look up Learn, Experience, Patchouli, and Document? The first two seem fairly straightforward, the third isn't really relevant at all, and we already looked at the fourth. Though I guess the description may have changed between versions and there's always the chance something doesn't actually work the way we think it does.

>>55946
So it was. I had thought there was something wrong there.

...Looks like I also forgot to paste in your current level and ability point counts.

---
.>status
Level: 12
Current experience: 60
Ability points: 6
Mana: 10
No status effects.

.>About( Double.NegativeInfinity );

Error: Version number must be greater than zero.

.>About( 0.0 );

Error: Version number must be greater than zero.

.>learn ??"

This operation will lower your current ability points below the minimum required to use the active ability 'Synthesis'. Are you sure you wish to do this? (y/n)

.>help experience

Experience is a numerical abstraction provided by the interface for how much one has used the abilities provided to them by the interface. A subject's level is calculated by applying the greatest integer function to the subject's total experience divided by 5. Each time a user gains a level, they also gain an ability point, which can be spent to learn or use an ability.

.>help Patchouli Knowledge

Patchouli Knowledge is an important persona in most instances of Gensokyo. In the vast majority of cases, she is a powerful and very knowledgeable magician, and serves as a sort of live-in librarian for the Viole located in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Specific information beyond this is unreliable due to vast variations between instances of Gensokyo.

.>help learn

What? Why are you even reading this page? I just Documented this page as a test for my new Document ability, but...Seriously? Just read the Basic Commands page. There really isn't much to this command...

^ Why are you even Documenting if you're just going to be a smartass about it? I figured that the reason why there weren't more subjects with the Document ability was because the ability was limited to those with a certain level of intelligence, but I'm starting to rethink that. --(metainformation redacted)

^ Hey, screw you. I'll Document what I want. --(metainformation redacted)

Okay you two let's stop this pointless bickering --(metainformation redacted) (moderator)

Document was locked by (metainformation redacted) (moderator).

.>abilities Document

"Document" was not found in your list of available or learned abilities.

.>search (ProperNoun) rollback

Exception in thread 'search': failed to convert from 'Verb' to 'ProperNoun'.

.> search (ProperNoun)(Noun)(Word) rollback

Exception in thread 'search': failed to convert from 'Word' to 'Noun'.

---

Well, you've got a few ideas for what you can do. You could sleep, exercise, or read a book.

(Oh, hey, guess what.)

What?

(Right now would be a good time to try and remember something.)

What, so I can start bleeding from my eyes with no one here to help? No thank you.

(It might seem painful, but the consequences of not remembering are probably much, much more painful than that.)

Well, I'll keep it in mind, but that'll be my last choice.

(Fair enough.)

The easiest thing would be to read a book, so you take a look around.

It becomes painfully obvious that you are left with two choices in reading material: high-level science and enginnering, or books written in Japanese.

Well, okay then. Exercise.

It becomes painfully obvious that your muscles are damn near worn out after all of the running around you've been doing, so that's out the window. Er. Trapdoor.

So, sleep it is.

You find yourself digging around piles, trying to find something soft to lie on. After managing to dig out several large stuffed animals, you lay them out like a bed.

You're just about to lie down when you are interrupted.

"Uh, John...What are you doing?" Nitori asks from directly behind you, causing you to jump.

.>input

.> learn ??"
.> y
.> About(0.1)
.> help metainformation
.> “I was tired and wasn't sure when you'd find me, so I thought I'd make a bed out of some toys and go to sleep.”

>>55984

Seconding this, except for the bit about learning "???". We don't even have any abilities with negative mental effects yet. I'd rather get our stealth up. Pyromania, too, so we can actually benefit from the "???" skill.

.> N
.> Learn stealth to level 2
.> Learn pyromania.

.>about 0.1

0.2 Pre-release:
- Fixed security issues that enabled users to directly control subjects without their knowledge

1.0 Release:
- Initial release. All known bugs and security issues have been resolved.
- Reset metatemporal position. Any instances of the interface which may have existed using a previous version of the interface no longer exist at any point in metaspacetime.

2.0 Release:
- Simplified command syntax.
+- Dropped getter and setter methods for properties.
+- Methods and properties now use PascalCase naming instead of camelCase.
+- Improved ability to resolve unspecific pointers to objects.
- Removed information on how to acquire the Document ability. They keep re-adding it...

2.1 Release:
- Removed information on how to acquire the Document ability.
- Added new method: string About( double versionNumber )
+- You can use this to only see release notes after a given version number.

.>help metainformation



Metainformation is any sort of information that can be used to identify a specific instance of something in metaspacetime, separating it from all other instances in all other worlds. The Interface uses a proprietary indexing system internally for location and identification of users and subjects.

Unfortunately, it seems that the interface will not display metainformation, with all instances of such, such as signatures left in help files, being automatically redacted. The system does keep this information in its records, however. It is unknown whether this restriction applies to help document moderators; none have left any indication either way. It is theorized that this redaction is primarily done for safety purposes, to protect users and subjects from being attacked by subjects from other instances, or indeed from subjects attacking their own users.

---

Feel free to continue voting.

>>55984
Why would you use about, we already had all the patch notes.

.> N
.> Learn stealth level 2
.> Learn pyromania.
.> “I was tired and wasn't sure when you'd find me, so I thought I'd make a bed out of something and go to sleep.”
.> "sorry for making you dash all over the place."

.>learn stealth

Stealth has been increased to level 2. Skill effectiveness increased.

.>learn pyromania

Pyromania has been increased to level 1. You can start fires more easily, and they burn for longer. Mental corruption level +1 (-2 total).

---

"Well, I was tired and I wasn't sure when you'd find me, so I thought I'd make a bed out of something and go to sleep."

"I see..."

"Sorry for making you dash all over the place."

"No, that's fine. By the way, Eirin left. She said to call her if anything happens again, and that she'd like to see you again after we've gotten everything sorted out with my house."

"Ah, okay."

"By the way, where did you go? When I went to where you normally end up at, you were gone."

"Yeah, there's a bit of a story behind that...I decided to try and walk up to the shrine myself, and...well, I kinda ran into a bit of trouble."

"Hmm?" She tilts her head to the site.

"Well, this girl with a really big sword stopped me."

"Ahh..." she covers her face with her hand, "That's going to be annoying."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. We're just going to need to go explain to the tengu what's going on now, is all. I'm not really looking forward to that."

(Hey.)

What?

(Something changed again.)

Care to be more specific?

(It seems that you now have an easier time sneaking around and starting fires.)

Okay...That particular combination sounds rather dangerous.

(Doesn't it?)

Well, uh, I guess I'll keep that in mind.

"Well, for now," Nitori continues, "I'm guessing that you're probably pretty hungry. Anything in particular you'd like to eat?"

.>input

.>"Anything is fine as long as it doesn't take too long to make."
.>about subject
.>about user
.>about metaspacetime

.>"Anything is fine as long as it doesn't take too long to make."
.> help abilities
.> help functions

>>56000
See >>55837. Also, the command you want is help.

.>help metaspacetime
.>Nitori
.>"Anything is fine as long as it doesn't take too long to make."

.>help abilities

In the context of the Interface, Abilities are abilities which are granted to subjects by the Interface, and generally managed by the users.

Abilities can range from completely mundane (sewing, cooking) to supernatural (flight, sealing barriers) to absolutely absurd. In general, Abilities tend to start off fairly weak (being able to fix a button, fry an egg, or simply break a fall) and get progressively better over time (knitting various types of clothing, producing designer clothing by hand with a needle, thread, and fabric, weaving fine silk by hand). The progression of a subject's Abilities is controlled by their users, and dependant on how many ability points the subject acquires over time. In general, using an ability provides experience, which in turn provides ability points.

Most skills start off fairly cheap, but the cost per rank starts to increase rapidly after the first few ranks. This also seems to depend on how powerful the ability is, as well as a random factor which so far has yet to be identified.

.>help functions

Functions are the abilities and commands that the Interface enables users and subjects to use. For more information, please view the help documents on Abilities and Basic Commands.

There are also many internal functions which are generally inaccessible to most users and subjects, though sometimes they show through the cracks in exception messages or when the Interface runs into issues.

.>help metaspacetime

Metaspacetime is to the metaverse like spacetime is to any given universe.

To be honest, no one really knows much about what the metaverse is. It contains all of the universes that exist in all multiverses, as well as all things that exist and all abstract concepts.

You can think of metaspacetime as all dimensions of space and all dimensions of time in all universes that exist, have existed, or ever will exist, as well as the space between these universes in which really crazy stuff resides.

Yeah, it's just as confusing as it sounds. But really, your guess is as good as anyone's when it comes to this.

---

"Anything is fine as long as it doesn't take too long to make."

"Right! Cucumber salad it is!"

...Cucumber salad? Cucumbers go in salad pretty frequently, so the idea of calling a salad a "cucumber salad" is somewhat worrying.

You're forseeing a gigantic bowl of cucumbers with a few carrots and strips of lettuce mixed in and topped with rance dressing.

...Actually, that wouldn't really be so bad.

So you wait.

...

...

...

It's been about 30 minutes. Nitori sure is taking her time.

.>input

.> help subject
.> help user
.> look for Nitori

>>56065
Seriously, subjects and users have already been covered. Are you thinking their individual help pages will be more specific or something?

It's possible the situation is such that we will want to avoid notice. Better to take the precaution now.

.>help "Unlocking Abilities"
.>Engage stealth
.>Look for nitori

>>56077

We'll get some use out of that skill one of these days.

.>Engage stealth
.>Look for nitori

.>help subject

See "Users and Subjects"

.>help user

See "Users and Subjects"

.>help Unlocking Abilities

Unfortunately there isn't much any of us Documenters can do to help you with unlocking abilities. If we know how to unlock them, it's mentioned on their individual help page, but if not, your guess is as good as ours.

---

There's no real reason why making a cucumber salad should take this much time.

Well, she might just be out grabbing ingredients. After all, her house did collapse. You'd be surprised if there was anything edible there.

She might be out grabbing ingredients, or...

She might be...

Trying to pull a prank on you.

(Uh.)

No, that won't do at all. Now that you've seen through her plan, there's no way you can let yourself be the one pranked. No, you need to launch a pre-emptive strike.

(Is that really how you're going to react in this situation?)

Let's see...What do we need. Ah yes, a couple of these stuffed animals will do well.

It's time to get moving.

Stepping forward, you-

Wait.

(Have you realized how-)

Better be sneaky.

(If I had a palm it would be slamming into my face right now.)

Let's see, how do we do this again?

(.>stealth on)

---

.>stealth on

Stealth mode has been activated.

---

Thank you. Let's get moving.

(Sigh.)

...

And so you clear the top of the long set of stairs which lead to the trapdoor which leads to the plateau where the remains of Nitori's house can be found.

Pushing the door open wide, you're greeted by a starry night sky.

Odd, doesn't seem like that much time has passed.

(It hasn't.)

Oh well.

Stepping out from the top, you-

you're in a forest?

(That's how it appears.)

And the trapdoor?
...Significantly shorter set of stairs. What.

Wait, you think you recognize those stairs.

FUCK.

You hear movement in the bushes or trees or you don't even really fucking know because it's so dark.

.>input

.> “I'm from outside the border.”

"I'm from outside the border."

Nothing happens.

Fuck.

The rustling moves closer.

>>56091
I did notice we got the whole phrase in with the tengu, as opposed to getting cut off halfway through border with Eirin.

.>help Rumia
.>if (john.lightlevel != 0) then light lantern, dispose rustling flora.
.>else enter trapdoor, insert pen

.>help Rumia

Rumia is a semi-important persona in most instances of Gensokyo. While she isn't generally a particularly important figure in Gensokyo's politics, her nature and abilities as a youkai of darkness tend to make her extremely dangerous for normal humans as well as subjects who do not have a certain level of combat capability.

As with all personas who appear in many instances of the same world, one can only roughly estimate how dangerous she is by using other personas from the same world as a reference point. Different instances of any world might produce personas with wildly different levels of strength, so even if you've dealt with a Rumia in another instance before, it is recommended to be very cautious when encountering her.

In most instances of Gensokyo, Rumia is a youkai of darkness, with the ability to project a sphere of pure darkness around herself. How big this sphere can be projected out to varies from instance to instance. Usually, this sphere completely nullifies all sources of light inside, rendering light sources useless. Because of this, Rumia is often far more dangerous than her actual level of strength would normally suggest. The plus side is that she usually seems to be just as blinded by the lack of light as anyone else inside of this sphere.
This can also be helpful in determining whether you're being approached by Rumia or Mystia Lorelei. For more information, see the help document on Mystia Lorelei.

In most instances, Rumia tends to be quite a heavy eater. It is sometimes possible to avoid a potentially dangerous fight with this youkai by using this fact, and in fact in many worlds it is even possible to befriend her to some degree, at least until she gets hungry again.

.>if (LightLevel != 0) { Zippo.Light(Lantern); Dispose( NearbyObjects.Parse("rustling flora") ); }
else { Command.Parse("enter trapdoor"); Command.Parse("insert pen"); }

Command parsed successfully.

---

It's really fucking dark.

You look up at the sky for a moment, and still see the stars

wait, no, there they go

fuck this

You quickly climb inside the trapdoor and shut it behind you.

Okay.

You are now in a familliar hallway.

This is in a way a good thing, since you can get back to where you were.

On the other hand, while you were planning on walking down the hallway to insert the pen into the other tear in space, you're hearing what sounds like chains clinking together in the room you started here in.

.> Quietly tip toe past the room with the sound of chains and move into the room with the tear in space.
.> insert pen.

Well, stealth is still active, isn't it?

(Yeah.)

Should be pretty simple to just sneak past. The door's closed after all. You just need to avoid making any noise.

So, you quietly tip-toe past the room with the sound of chains-

"Is someone there?"

It's Nitori's voice, coming from inside the room.

.>input

Oh, damnit.

.> Say "Nitori, is that you?" but don't open the door yet.

.> >>56113
If it is Nitori, she just detected level 2 stealth through a closed door. Or is just randomly calling for help, I guess.

>>56127
No, I think calling out is the right option. It's plausible enough that it's Nitori that just leaving it would probably be dumb. Just meant it's good to be cautious and not throw open the door immediately.

>>56124 here.
Should probably remove the reference in my vote.

.> Say "Nitori, is that you?" but don't open the door yet.

Alright, changing vote, again. to this. >>56113

I've deleted the newer one, too.

"Nitori, is that you?" You call out.

"John!" How did you get here!" Wait, nevermind that, just get me out of these things!"

.>

.> enter the room the voice is coming from
.> examine the chains and the person in them

>>56145
.>help "unexplained teleportation"
.>enter room and get Nitori out of those things, barring the discovery of something suspicious that suggests we shouldn't.

>>56145
.>Dispose chains

.>help "unexplained teleportation"

Unexplained teleportation is a phenomenon with innumerable causes, and there are also many phenomenon which it can be mistaken for and which can be mistaken for it.

However, regardless of the cause, there are several things you should do if you find that you have been moved from one place to another without explanation:

1. Examine your surroundings. If your teleportation was intentional on the part of some other person, you may have been dropped in a trap or an otherwise dangerous situation. If your teleportation was unintentional, or you were teleported to a random location, it's possible that you were dropped in a bad location. Due to the nature of the Interface as a medium-enhancing tool, this is unfortunately more likely than one would think based on statistics.

2. Try to find a familiar location or landmark. Becoming lost and wandering aimlessly is the primary danger of unexplained teleportation once your surroundings have been determined to be safe. If you are unable to find a familiar location or landmark, find a location or landmark to make familiar, so that you have a point of reference for your movements in this new location.

3. Try to find out what time it is. It is possible that you've not only been teleported through space, but time as well. If you have been moved to a place in time prior to where you were moved from, you will need to determine the best way to handle causality. You may also need to prepare to handle threats which have already been eliminated by the time you were moved from. If you have been moved to a place in time later than where you were moved from, you should try to determine exactly how far ahead you've been moved. You must also be alert for any events which may have happened during the time you were missing.

4. Finally, try to determine whether you were teleported, or ended up where you are by some other means. It's possible that your memory was simply erased, or your body was put under external control during the time you were out. The first indication of this may be that you seem to have been moved to a place in time later where from where you were moved from, though this alone is not sufficient information for an assessment. Ideally, it is best to get an eyewitness report of either your arrival at your current location or your departure from your previous location.
It's also possible that, instead of teleportation, the world around you its self has been changed or distorted. If you feel that this may be the case, be extremely careful, as such situations are extremely dangerous. If this is the case, you cannot predict anything about your surroundings, even based on memory. If possible, try to escape the situation you are in. Intentionally induced teleportation is the most effecive method, as it is possible for the world to be warped around you to preven you from leaving. However, if you cannot intentionally induce teleportation, you may still be able to get away if you can move quickly enough or in a way that cannot be predicted by whoever or whatever is controlling the distortion.

All of these steps apply whether you have been teleported or have experienced some other phenomenon. Once you have determined the cause of your displacement and gotten yourself to a safe place, you can begin to find a solution based on your specific circumstances.

---

Cautiously, you enter the room, and find it to be predictably pitch black.

Your Zippo provides enough light to confirm that it is, in fact, Nitori begging you for help.

Alright then, you can deal with this.

.>dispose chains

---

.>dispose chains

"Chains" consumed. Experience +3 (+2 Advanced Dispose bonus)

Level has increased to 13.

Ability Point +1
Current ability points: 3

Abilities available. Use .>learn to learn an ability.

Current experience: 65
Next level at: 70

---

Freed, Nitori immediately jumps up and wraps her arms around you.

"Thank you. I've been locked up down here for hours. I don't know what I'd have done if you didn't show up."

What.

She can't have been gone for more than 20 minutes.

(Well, it was unnaturally dark outside.)

.>input

>>56284
That has got to be the best guide I've ever seen on involuntary teleportation. Also the only one, but you know what I mean. Can't remember much details of the mysterious gap room so a summary of what's in there would be cool. As far as I can remember, there's the trapdoor in, the gap you put stuff into, and a bunch of rooms we disposed the locks on, two of which contain active gaps, one that brought us to youkai mountain the single time we used it and one which we currently don't know the destination of at all. But I feel like I might be missing something. Also, not sure if we should go back to youkai mountain or not. We don't really know how to trigger a teleport back here and presumably the other gaps are there for a reason.

.>learn magic mastery
.>"It's just been about half an hour for me. It's really dark outside, so your version of time is probably correct. Are stars supposed to disappear in Gensokyo, by the way?"
.>ask what happened to her
.>explain experiences as necessary
.>insert pen in gap
.>examine mysterious underground room
.>point out previously used portal

We should probably save up for stealth level 3, that'll make us more athletic. We haven't actually found a use for magic control yet.

>>56297
Well, you have, but...

---

.>learn Magic Mastery

This operation will lower your current ability points below the minimum required to use the active ability 'Synthesis'. Are you sure you wish to do this? (y/n)

---

...Leveling magic mastery right now would make it impossible for you to use it.

We should probably look into learning some spells at some point. Synthesis is rather costly to use.

.>map

Accessing subject "John"'s memory to generate map of known surroundings. Please wait...

Map generated.

ERROR: Automatic whitespace trimming detected. Generated maps will not display correctly. Attempting to find solution...

Static image support in medium detected.
Medium type: Futaba-style imageboard

Inserting image...

Please click on the attached image above to view the map.

---

"Are you sure you've been locked up down here for hours?"

"...Yes? Why?"

"Well, only about half an hour has passed for me. Then again, it's really dark outside, so maybe something weird just happened to my perception of time or something. Wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen to me."

"I see."

"By the way, are stars supposed to disappear from the sky in Gensokyo?"

"No, not unless... John, you must be really lucky to have avoided Rumia like that."

"Rumia?"

"Darkness youkai. She projects a sphere of total darkness around her, making it impossible to see anything. It even kills the light from torches and stuff."

"I see."

There's a momentary pause.

"So, uh...What happened to you, Nitori?"

"No idea. I was walking up the stairs, and the next thing I know I'm chained up in this room."

A slight wave of relief washes over you. You were worried that she'd been hurt or something. Of course, being locked up for hours isn't good either, but at least that's all that's happened to her.

"That's more or less the same thing that happened to me, only when I went to see what was up after you'd been gone for about 15 minutes, I found myself in the woods outside this dungeon thing."

"For some reason I get a feeling that you've seen this place before." Nitori states.

"Yeah. This is where I first ended up when I found myself in Gensokyo. In a rather similar situation to yours, by the way, only I was tied up with rope rather than chains."

"Mind showing me around, then? Not like we really have anything better to do."

"Sure."

So you take a couple minutes to show her around the dark cave, making sure to relight all of the torches that have gone out on your way through.

Once you're done, you each find a seat on the floor in the desk room.

"Well, this is definitely her doing." Nitori states flatly. "No one else would be able to pull this off, unless maybe all of the kappa on the mountain were in on it."

"I see. I'm guessing you're talking about the person whose name puts me in agonizing pain, then?"

"Yep."

Another moment of silence passes.

"Well, do you have any ideas? You're the one that's been here before." Nitori asks.

(The pen.)

Oh, right.

"Well, I do have one idea."

"oh?"

And so you lead her to the first room.

"That first door opened up for me when I stuck a memory device in this gap. There's also instructions implying I should insert a pen and an eyeball toy. I've already inserted the memory device, which opened the door to the room with the tear in space leading to Youkai Mountain, and the eyeball toy, which opened the door to the next room after it."

"Gaps." Nitori states.

"Huh?" You ask.

"They're called gaps. And that's the other reason why I'm certain that this is her doing. These look exactly like her gaps."

"I see."

"And...Wait." Nitori stares at you. "Did you say that gap leads to Youkai Mountain? Why didn't you just take me through there from the beginning?!" She asks angrily.

"Well, your house got flattened, and we ended up teleported to the middle of nowhere. I figured it might be a bit unsafe."

"Well...I guess I can see where you're coming from. But I've been here for hours. I want to go home."

"I know what you mean, but I'd like to know what exactly the hell is going on first."

"...Well, if you say so. But if we don't start making progress, I'm gonna jump through that gap with you or without you."

"Understood."

"So what was your idea, then?"

"This."

Pulling out the pen, you toss it into the gap.

Predictably, another door loudly blows open down the hallway. It isn't really too surprising for you, but Nitori has hit the ground and is now covering her head.

"W-what was that?!" She asks, eyes squinted closed.

"Relax. Another door just opened. It...Should be safe."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"...Okay."

She slowly and cautiously stands back up.

.>input

.> check out the new room

.>n
.>help "Nitori Kawashiro"
.>help ??"
.>check out the new room

Whoops, I guess I should have put pointing out the previously used portal before inserting the pen. Well, Nitori decided to hang with us so that's cool. Expected her to go through the gap, meant more whether we should follow. Turned out well enough though.

.>n
.>help "Nitori Kawashiro"
.>help ??"
.>check out the new room

Man, I can't believe it's been a whole year already. Time sure flies.
---
.>help "Nitori Kawashiro"

Kawashiro Nitori is a kappa who appears in most instances of Gensokyo. There is very little consistent information to base a description on, since as a kappa it's fairly rare for Subjects to encounter her (and even rarer for Users). The only reliable information that can be given about her is that she is generally quite mechanically inclined, often building gadgets and contraptions. Unfortunately, how good she is at this is also varies widely from instance to instance, so you should be careful when using anything built by her.

.>help ??"

Error: This ability does not appear to have been Documented yet.

You examine the new room, and...

Underwhelmingly, it's pretty much the same thing as the rest of the rooms. There's pretty much just a gap in the middle of the room and nothing else of note.

.>input

>>58325
Cool, this is back. Hopefully it's not just an April Fool's joke.

Man, I can barely remember what we were doing. I don't think there was anything at the moment, so we may as well enter the new portal.

.>Enter new portal
.>Get bearings.

Speaking of getting bearings, we probably should take note of where the portal hall is, but it's the middle of the night and Rumia is about.

>>58361

Don't forget that we have Nitori with us, and she wants to go home. I was trying to figure out what to do with her myself but came up with nothing. Do you think we should send her through the Youkai mountain portal by herself, take her with us despite her complaints or what?

>>58325
.> Ask Nitori if she wants to follow us into the new portal or just to head home.
.> Depending on the answer, we take her with us into the portal, or head alone.
.> Gather bearings.

This probably counts as significant progress.

Still, it's probably better to leave it up to Nitori whether she comes with us.

(Us?)

Stop, just stop. You're not going to argue with yourself over this.

(Now you're just making it even more confusing.)

Shut up.

(Hold on, you didn't even explain why it is that we're actually going through the gap instead of just going back to the mountain.)

Well, Nitori's house has been smashed. There isn't really much for us to go back to on the mountain, but there might be some sort of answers waiting for us on the other side of this gap.

(Fair enough.)

"Nitori, I'm going through this portal. Will you come with me? I'll understand if you just want to go back to the mountain after being locked up here for hours."

"To be honest, it's not so much that I want to go home as much as I just want to go someplace that isn't here," she explains. "While I'd like to go home, It's currently in ruins, and there's a chance we might find out why if we go through the gap."

"Fair enough. Let's go, then."

After quickly checking yourself once again to make sure you have all of your things, you step into the portal.

Bright sunlight nearly blinds you as you find your eyes pointed straight up at the blue sky.

(What.)

A lurching feeling immediately tells you that you've started to fall. Thankfully, Nitori grabs your wrist before you make it too far down towards the ground.

You take a moment to get over the adrenaline rush before looking around.

Below you is..a forest. More or less unrecognizable.

"Great, we're in the middle of the forest." You remark. "Shall we choose a random direction to travel in?"

"Nah, I know where we are. The human village is pretty close over there," She points with her free arm, "and the mountain is over there." She points towards a mountain that does actually look a bit familiar now that you've looked at it.

(Well, what now?)

Nitori's the one who's currently carrying us, so let's just leave it up to her.

(Alright.)

"Well, what now?" you ask.

"There isn't really anything interesting out here, so I guess we'll just have to fly back home and see if something changed. It does appear to be a different time than it was on the other side of the gap."

"Works for me."

So, you leave toward the mountain. Unfortuately, you don't get very far before

blue sky
feeling of falling
Nitori grabbing your wrist.

Nitori lets out a deep sigh.
"The next time I see her, I'm going to... Heh."

So I take it Nitori's stuck with us now.
(Seems that way. When this happened before, it was just you that got teleported.)

Well that's just wonderful...at least you'll have some company on your journey.

.>input

.> Try to approach the human village. We haven't actually been there before.

.> Try to approach the human village. We haven't actually been there before.

Man, we might have to start taking down information on when each portal takes us, as well as where.

.>getLocalDateTime()
.>help flight
.>head straight down first, the portal leading to above a particular location seems likely. Even if not, marking the location could come in handy.
.>dispose small plants
.>go human village

This portal totally leads to the sky directly above the trapdoor, calling it now. Disposal may or may not be too broad, but it can't hurt to try.

>>58365 here

changing vote to >>58367