A wide-eyed stare. Inquisitive? Disbelieving? Surprised?
Whatever the look, you prefer it to the sheer rage and anguish you saw of Byakuren in her nightmare. She’s mentioned her past to you before but in sage and regretful tones. Her explanations never conveyed the raw emotions you felt here.
You know she had a rough time, a very long rough time, following her brother’s death. You know she sought out power unattainable through religious means. She’s jokingly mentioned her pestering of an almighty demon and the eventual training she received, all ludicrously dangerous.
You wonder what this counted as. Was this part of her training? A horrid byproduct of her shattered mental state? How much of what you saw was truth and how much a delusion, time and emotion warping her memory of the events?
The cold and objective part of your mind assesses the kind of power Byakuren can wield. Was the display in the cavern her at her best, or did she gain further power still? Has it degraded with time? Could her magic compete with that alien arrow of death you faced?
With a sigh, you hug Byakuren tighter against you. Her eyes close as she leans more into you. There’s isn’t a single syllable out of her mouth to you.
You get the feeling that won’t change. Whatever thought processes are going through her mind, voicing them isn’t in her plans.
That’s fine.
“Hey Byakuren?” you murmur.
The girl rolls her shoulders and turns her head, her cheek flattening against your chest.
“My feelings for you haven't changed. I'll stand by your side however long it takes. We can face down our nightmares together.”
She barely moves from her comfortable position, yet you can feel the faint quiver that runs through her body.
You also feel the disbelief from your sister, the almost-disgust at your choice of lines. Luckily, her thoughts on your ‘cheesy’ words have no place in this dream.
You exert your will, taking grasp of your mindscape and twisting it to your whims. White background is painted in dark hues, a city rising up around you.
The two of you sit under a flickering light, the shoddy alleyway piece meant to cover the backdoor and muddy green dumpster next to it. The cold bricks on either side of the alley are covered in graffiti, competing for coverage just like that gangs who sprayed them.
Above you the buildings loom ever higher, ragged apartments above the storefronts reaching into the sky. Clothes lines and antennae are nearly invisible against the black of the night.
“Really, here?” your sister’s words are whispered into your ear.
Why not here? This alley is so like many others you’ve visited and yet nothing like the others at all. It’s distinct, a solid edifice in your memories. It’s a locale you’ve revisited too many times to count.
“Because you torture yourself every night.”
Torture? Hardly. Just vivid reminders of what drive you. A nightmare loses its terror over time.
“That’s why your heart skips a beat every time you see me sprawled on the floor, right?”
Regardless, you chose this memory for a reason. Your sister already took Byakuren on the grand tour of seeing naked baby you running around the neighborhood during the nun’s first visit to your mind.
This is more relevant.
You feel Byakuren shift. Her eyes are open and she is craning her neck around, curiously taking in the sight you’ve painted.
You nudge her with your shoulder and point to where the streetlights’ coverage ends.
The two of you watch as a figure stumbles into the alley, hand against the wall. They’re hunched over and barely make it three steps in before falling to their knees.
Ever so slowly they shuffle forward, hands groping along the wall and ground before they reach the dumpster. They crawl around it and collapse with their back against the green metal, only an arm’s reach away from where you sit on the step of the door.
The kid looks like absolute shit. His grey long-sleeve shirt is fraying and coated in dirt. His jeans and his windbreaker are in equally shit condition.
“No big deal,” you hear him mutter. “They’ll never miss it. ‘s fine.”
With shaking hands the kid reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out gleaming diamond ring. The jewelry shines in the shoddy alley lighting, completely out of place.
The kid turns the ring over and over in one hand, as if checking to make sure he really has it. He holds his other hand out in front of him and glares at it. Gradually, a sickly green cloud seems to seep out of his fingertips.
“Y-yeah, they’ll never know. Won’t find me. J-just need…some mint. And a few teeth. Yeah. That’ll be easy. So easy- SHUT UP!”
The ring falls from kid’s grasp as he shouts and slams his hands against his ears.
“It’ll work it’ll work this will- It worked! It obviously worked so- I didn’t kill you! I didn’t! It worked and you’re fine and I’ll be fine and this, this will work and- fuck, the ring, I need the diamond, the diamond-”
The kid scrambles to his knees and frantically slams his hands against the dumpster. Despite the dull echo it doesn’t budge, forcing the kid to desperately reach under it. He pumps his hand shaking hand in victory when he manages to pull the grime-coated ring out.
“Just need, need, half a day. E-Easy.” The kid grins as he watches the curls of magic wrap around his fingertips. “Real power. Won’t be a problem. Cops’ll never find me before I can finish it and then we’ll be fine, fine fi-”
The kid jolts to his feet when the creaky metal door swings through your body and slams against the wall. A slacks-covered leg juts through your chest.
“What the fuck is going on out here?” the burly man shouts.
He fully steps through you and into the alley. The broad-shouldered man only needs a second to look to his left and find the kid that is staring at him.
“Another one of you little fuckers, eh?” the man growls. “I’ve warned you rats to quit going through my trash and leaving a fucking mess!”
The kid quickly looks down at his hand before clenching it shut and stuffing it in his pocket.
The quick movement draws the man’s eyes. “What’s that you got there? Steal something like the little thief you are?”
The man’s voice goes deeper and louder as he takes a step towards the kid, hand outstretched. “Tryn’a ruin it for honest folk eh? C’mon here you brat. The police can sort you out and take you back to whatever hole you ran-”
The man’s meaty hand wraps around the wrist that is sticking out of the kid’s pocket. The contact jolts the kid out of his shock. “Let me go!” he shouts, throwing a sharp kick into the man’s shin.
Given the size and age difference, it’s no surprise the man ignores the feeble attack. “Damn runaways,” the man bites out as he tugs on the kid’s arm.
“Let me go! They can’t find me they can’t I need to go I need to prepare I need to-” the kid uselessly tugs on his arm as he’s dragged into the building. The underfed and poorly rested kid doesn’t have the strength to resist. Yet, he’s the kind of brat that does everything possible to defy expectations.
He bites the man’s exposed forearm.
“Ouch!” the man grunts and quickly turns, slapping the kid silly and sending him sprawling to the ground. “Fucking animal.”
The kid stays on the ground, staring at his twitching fingers. “I can’t- have to-”
“Alright you little thief. Let’s go-” the man stops dead, his second grab for the kid interrupted.
The kid yanks his arm back, blood running down his arm. Bits of skin and flesh dangle from his fingernails.
Half of the man’s lungs hit the ground with a wet splorch.
The man himself follows.
The hole through his chest isn’t clean. It’s a jagged tear from where magic coated fingers slid in and writhed around. Bones were shattered and shoved around, organs cut through and left to tumble like meat in a dryer.
The kid’s gaze doesn’t waver, his mouth set in a light grin.
“See?” he says, “I can do it. N-not a problem.”
He stares at the body on the ground for a cool minute before slowly kneeling down. “He said he collaborated with that fraud Joseph for that ritual,” the kid mutters. “If that one worked, and the next doesn’t then- then I should look to Joseph’s stuff, right? I- I- shouldn’t dismiss it so easily. Not when he was
right.
“It’s just- a backup. It’ll work, but if it doesn’t, I should- Yeah, I can gather the materials and- and try it right after. Yeah. It’s simple enough.
“The materials are so simple. So elegant. Yeah, it would probably work. Don’t doubt me. Don’t. I can do it. I have magic now. It was real. I can do it. It’s easy. I just- I just need- hair, pure water, ashes, heart-”
You look away from the harvest and back to Byakuren. She watches the scene with a tiny frown but otherwise little emotion.
“Sometimes I wonder,” you whisper, “how sane I really am. Over the years, taking a rest in some graveyard or another in the dead of night, having a conversation with a voice in my head; maybe my delusions only grew more complex instead of being fixed.”
You can feel your sister’s displeasure radiate. She always gets pissy when you consider the idea. ‘I didn’t recover from death in record time to let my little brother think he’s still crazy,’ she has so often griped.
“Everybody has at least a few unpleasant memories,” you say. “Some of us just have it a little worse than most, I guess?”
As the kid stumbles away, pockets full and bloody, you wave your hand and banish the memory. In its place, a bright vista forms. Below you, calming white clouds stretch out to the horizon. Mountain peaks dominate, the snow-covered rocks standing indomitable over all.
One of the many gorgeous sights you’ve seen in your travels. Those cloistered monks in the Himalayas were totally not worth the visit.
A quick glance shows Byakuren as silent as ever. Still, the frown from before has shifted into the slightest of smiles. You can feel how she relaxes to the scenery in your mind.
“There were a few things I wanted to tell you about. About those monsters in the forest and what’s been going on with me and your loveable tiger companion, to name a few of them. I hope you don’t mind.”
No spoken response, but you think you can feel the interest from her.
So you talk. In the crisp mountain air, far warmer in your dreams than it was in real-life, you tell Byakuren about everything that comes to mind. From how your rescue of the acting youkai twins during the festival went to how the temple disciples somehow fixed the floor perfectly overnight.
You talk slowly and steadily, talking until-
You wake up.
Your eyelids flutter open as you blink away the vestigial visions your brain thinks it sees.
There’s a weight on your lap. You’re almost tempted to believe it a psychosomatic aftereffect of the magic as well.
Of course, it isn’t.
Looking down, you confirm that Byakuren is resting partly on top of where you sit. While she was asleep she rolled and squirmed, dragging her futon all over your carefully designed ritual. Frankly, you’re glad she didn’t catch on fire due to the candles.
Isn’t that why you used the barely lit stubs? Still.
Byakuren is out from under her covers, resting her head against your lap and draping an arm over your knees.
You sigh.
The slight movement that vibrates through your body seems to be enough to encourage Byakuren to fully awaken.
She squirms around on top of you. You can’t see much other than the voluminous mass of her hair but you can imagine her blearily looking around.
She cycles her legs, kicking away her blanket covering and rolling slowly to her knees. Even a minute after awakening, after a long day and night of work, she manages a respectable seiza with little hint of any exhaustion.
“Good morning,” you greet her with a smile.
“Good morning,” Byakuren returns. Her own smile is pleasant and warm.
Byakuren has given you plenty of smiles before. Absolute elation after the play. Self-disgust as she reminisced. Regret when she responded to you feelings. Seduction while you two had some fun.
This smile? It’s the kind free of any extraneous thoughts. Maybe the best kind? You like to think it’s the kind of smile where you woke up to your favorite person in the world and know that everything is all right.
Probably too hopeful.
Aw, that’s cute Bro. You open your mouth to tease-
“GOOD MORNING!”
Your mouth opens in shock.
No, not at the little turquoise cannonball that barrels between you and Byakuren. Not at her antics which, almost guaranteed, are entirely your fault. You aren’t shocked at how the mood suddenly careens around like a rollercoaster.
You’re shocked that Byakuren squeals.
A more forgiving person might call Byakuren’s utterance a higher-pitched gasp. It certainly wasn’t a long, drawn out sound. Perhaps an audio engineer could analyze the frequency of her voice and discover it was on the borderline. Opinions are murky; perhaps defining the noise is the next great problem of the world.
You grin at Byakuren.
And she reddens, ever so much.
You laugh. Kogasa joins you, exuberant in her success. Yoshika also giggles along, always in a cheerful mood.
After a few seconds of death glares that couldn’t touch you right now, Byakuren laughs too.
“I might have forgotten to mention her,” you eventually apologize to Byakuren. Kogasa grins as she rocks in place. Both she and her umbrella look like they’re on the top of the world.
“It is quite alright.” Byakuren waves away the incident like it’s nothing. “Kogasa Tatara, correct? I understand you have been frequenting our cemetery.”
“Yeah, that’s where I met him!” Kogasa cheers and points.
Byakuren’s welcoming smile doesn’t leave her lips but you see the way she eyes you. “Oh, and what is he to you? Someone special?”
You frown at the line of questioning and Yoshika starts growling from your side. You reach over and pull the jiang-shi’s hat over her eyes. Like a bird, it’s enough to make her think its nap time and throw her weight against you.
“Hmm,” Kogasa ponders. The turquoise-haired youkai looks you up and down; her heterochromatic eyes squinted in thought.
“A special kind of umbrella?” she offers.
“What?”
“You keep the zombie from falling on me and eating me!”
Byakuren starts laughing as you shake your head.
“As pleasant as this meeting has been,” Byakuren continues, quickly putting herself under control. “I’m afraid it must be cut short. My…rest was longer than I expected and what you have told me should only hasten my action.”
The nun stands and walks over to her closet. She opens the door with one hand and lifts her nightdress with the other, pulling it over her- hey!
“Master bad!” Yoshika shouts, her cool hands clapped over your eyes.
“Yoshika, quit it! I-”
“No!”
You struggle in vain to throw the massively stronger undead off you. She has everything, including leverage, wrapped around you like a straitjacket as she is.
You’d swear you hear giggling but you can’t tell because- “No! No!” Yoshika insists on screaming in your ear.
Maybe because you keep screaming at her. Not helping!
Eventually, reinforcements arrive. You feel Yoshika lifted away from you. Byakuren stands above, holding Yoshika like a cat.
She’s fully dressed in her favorite clothes. She must have spares in her wardrobe.
“Thank you, Yoshika,” the nun sets the jiang-shi back on her feet. Yoshika smiles and cheerfully accepts the complimentary head pats.
“You’re really pretty,” Kogasa innocently comments from where she stands next to Byakuren.
“Why thank you. You are quite cute yourself, Kogasa,” Byakuren pats her on the head too, “remember you must be aware of the lusting of others, for their desires and cravings could sweep you away into addictive hedonism.”
You clamp down on the embarrassment washing over you from the look that Byakuren sends your way.
“I don’t get it,” Kogasa grumbles.
“That is quite all right. There are many other lessons to learn first. Unfortunately I haven’t the time to teach, at the moment. Perhaps later we might cover what you need to know?” Byakuren walks towards the door with a zombie on her arm and an umbrella trailing after her.
…
So this is what abandonment feels like.
At least you still have your sister.
…
Daughter of a bitch she left with Yoshika didn’t she?
After a moment of stewing in your own helplessness you rise to your feet and follow the girls out into the temple. They didn’t get very far at all as they stand almost immediately outside of Byakuren’s room.
They’ve stopped next to another little girl, a youkai with teal hair and fluffy ears. She has her hands cupped to her- Oh crap.
You weave emergency magic around your head, just in time.
“COURTYARD MEETING!”
Kyouko’s shout rings out, echoing down the hall and all around the temple.
“Courtyard meeting!”
Whew. That girl has a set of lungs on her.
“
Courtyard meeting!”
“Thank you Kyouko.” Byakuren says, giving the youkai a quick bow.
The Buddhist-in-training gives the head nun a snappy salute before picking her mop and bucket back up and continuing with her chores.
Byakuren immediately sets off down the hall, forcing you to follow in her wake like a punished puppy. How frustrating.
By the time the four of you reach the temple’s courtyard, many disciples are already waiting. At a glance you’d say a fourth of the temple residents have gathered. You quickly pick out the more important temple members.
You’ve only seen a couple of temple meetings before and never suddenly summoned like this. Usually only the members with some manner of responsible show, letting information and news filter down through the ranks if it’s necessary.
Byakuren moves to stand in the center, her hanger-on’s not leaving her side.
Fine. You can go sit with your other friends.
Uh.
The courtyard isn’t big, but there are more and more people filtering in. Where are- Ah hah!
You spot the gaggle of dead people loitering in the shadows and make your way over.
Minamitsu floats in the air at shoulder height, seated on her ghostly anchor. A couple of your jiang-shi stand next to her. The three of them chatting, Rea voicing questions while Dio answers them and Minamitsu snarks.
“But surely it must be something important?” Rea wonders.
“Who knows. Maybe she wants to announce that she’s retiring to go get married to this scallywag here,” Minamitsu comments as she kicks her foot at you.
“Is that true Master?” the two jiang-shi immediately turn on you. Those are some surprisingly intense looks.
“Not at all,” you sigh.
Everybody has time to be disappointed in that fact before Byakuren begins speaking. All the chatter elsewhere in the courtyard immediately ends when the head nun raises her hand.
“That should be good enough. I shall get straight to the point. I understand that the Bon Festival ended only just a couple of days ago however I must ask that we all continue to work hard without respite. I fear we may have to contend with an incident.”
The courtyard explodes in activity. It feels like everyone that heard Byakuren immediately turned to their neighbor and began talking. You hear shouts of surprise and of anger. You see the worried expressions and the suddenly nervous stances of your peers.
“That’s a lot of noise,” you comment, not sure what to make of what just happened.
“Ya think?” Minamitsu glowers. “Did you know about this?”
“That Byakuren was going to announce this? Not a clue.”
“But you know what she’s talking about?”
“I think I have a good guess.” You understand the potential danger that Eirin and her experiments pose. It worries you, probably a lot more than anybody else given what you know yet… “It might be worrying, but I don’t see why everybody is fussing.”
“You don’t-” Minamitsu growls and lands on her feet. “Do you even know what an incident is?”
“Like the Scarlet Mist incident or the Eternal Night incident?” Damningly also caused by Eirin, you note.
“Yeah. How can you not- Where did you learn about all our incidents?”
“Byakuren gave me a crash course but Marisa and Reimu told me the most about them.” From what you understand, every time someone gets out of line or tries to unleash something catastrophic, Reimu or someone else is there to beat them up and end the threat.
Given how absurd Reimu is, or the raw power Marisa was capable of putting out, it sets your heart at ease. You already alerted Reimu to the possibility and she said she’d watch the issue. She wouldn’t immediately intercede in Eirin’s worrisome experiments, but you have no doubt she’d put a stop to it if Eirin tried to reach too far.
“That’s-” Minamitsu freezes. The sailor girl grunts and readjusts her hat. “Yeah, okay. Listen to me.”
Minamitsu floats a bit so she can stare you right in the face.
“The colors don’t have the right perspective. They fly around doing whatever the hell they want, something inconveniences them, then they go and flex their power before shipping back to no-fucks-given land.
“The rest of us? Think about what those incidents means for everybody else, both in the village and this temple. Someone blocks out the sun? All the crops die and we all starve. Someone makes it permanently night? All the crops die and we all starve. Someone sets off a nuclear catastrophe? All the crops die and so do we!
“I’m dead and I understand those kinds of basic consequences. Incidents in the recent past might have been resolved in a few days, before any permanent damage happened, but that’s always the question isn’t it? What if it takes more than a few days?
“And I’m not as good a word on this, but Gensokyo has a long history. There’s a reason youkai like us are still hated by many of the villagers. Things were so much worse in the past, it’s no surprise that plenty of people think recent incidents are more flukes than anything.”
Minamitsu ends her speech with a finger flick to your forehead. “Me and you might be exotic outsiders in the grand scheme of Gensokyo, but most of the disciples? They made sure Byakuren understood their fears right away.”
While Minamitsu helped educate you, Byakuren had quieted the crowd and started speaking again.
“-potential danger for us all. Hikaru is still hospitalized at Eientei for his injuries from the night of the play. As a matter of fact, I will be visiting to escort him home later. Remember, while the creatures have only been seen in the bamboo forest, you should always remain vigilant.”
She left out anything about the source of the monsters, or ramifications, or any extraneous details. Byakuren simply lined out the clear and present danger to everybody. It seems more than enough to motivate her disciples.
Byakuren continues by delegating tasks to the different leaders and groups of the temple, all in order to help prepare for a potential catastrophe. Obviously, everybody hopes it won’t come to that. Everybody prays that the extra supplies and preparations can just be used for a big party later on.
You wonder how likely that is yourself.
[ ] Help Shou train. You and Yoshika are the ones with the most experienced fighting Eirin’s monsters at the temple. Maybe Shou will appreciate your genuine desire to help.
[ ] Visit Nazrin with Minamitsu. Who knows how much more Nazrin has been working on her reports and what she has uncovered.
[ ] Go to the village with Ichirin. Some villagers hate you but others love you. There’s bound to be a few minds that would be swayed towards preparation by your unique negotiating prowess.
[ ] Visit homes in the forests with Byakuren. You’d probably just slow Byakuren down if a fight breaks out, but at least you can gain more perspective on this potential ‘incident.’
[ ] Help out around the temple. Everybody will be busy running errands and readying supplies. Another pair of hands won’t hurt.
[ ] Make your own preparations. You and your jiang-shi need to be in top form. Further, if Tewi actually manages to get you the Necronomicon it’s not like you’d be able to just open it and start casting. Careful study requires careful plans.
[ ] <Write-in>
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Oh god. You get sick and then you get behind then you start prioritizing and it all comes tumbling down.
>>187186 >Sorry No, I’M sorry. Everybody still voting on this molasses-slow ride, especially those that are giving me the time for write-ins, deserve more than my nitpicky little gripes. A lot more. Like, a lot more updates.
