Redo/Reimu
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/08 (Fri) 10:57
No. 205449
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Reimu was in pain. It wasn’t like a broken leg, or that she had a headache, she couldn’t even truly feel it, it was nothing but pure, raw pain, and nothing else.
What she could feel, truly feel… was nothing. Not heat or chill on her skin, not a breeze through her hair… not even the feeling of her fingers touching each other. All she had was pain.
She tried to reach out, to sense something, anything. Though she couldn’t feel, or see, she sensed presences - four others, barest ideas of anything.
She called out, silently, into the void.
What’s going on? Where am I?
There was a pause, before she heard - before she saw - before she sensed a reply. First one, then several.
Who was that?
What happened to me?! Where’s Lady Yuyuko?!
I can’t see?!
Reimu spoke up again. Can you hear me? It’s ____ Reimu. She paused, before trying again. ____ Reimu. ____. I-I can’t remember. The void in her own name gnawed at her, building her urge to panic.
Reimu, do you know what’s going on? She tried shaking her head, but couldn’t feel it. Nonetheless, she could sense the faint urge of worry from the other side. That’s… bad. I can’t feel either of my bodies.
Does that mean you’re… Youmu? Another fragmented something responded. Reimu got a sense of acknowledgement from the someone who’d spoken originally. Okay, that’s something. That means at least three incident resolvers here, da ze. There was a strained edge to the playfulness, but it was playful, nonetheless. Trust Marisa to keep a brave face, even like this.
I’m _____ Kosuzu. I-I can’t feel anything…
Hieda no Akyuu here. This voice was a little bit stronger than the rest. I don’t remember what happened. One moment I was just sipping tea at the shrine, and the next, we were like this. It paused, as if considering its words.
Reimu tried to move closer to the others, for whatever definition ‘closer’ was. Does anyone remember what happened?
Vague senses of negation floated back to her in response. The silence, the utter nothingness that crawled up her made her feel like panicking.
Feeling… heavy. Marisa’s ‘voice’ seemed weaker than it's initial cocky tone. I… I don’t feel right.
Reimu tried to get to Marisa. She wasn’t distant, but her presence was faint, even fainter than the rest. Marisa, stay with us!
The other presences gathered around, trying to reach Marisa, hold on to her fading being. Still, they didn't seem to be managing much - if anything the others began to dim as well. Kosuzu wasn’t faring much better than Marisa, and Reimu began to feel the exhaustion overtake her as well.
Then there was something else. A sixth presence. Where everyone else was little more than a wisp, this was like a bonfire in the distance, rapidly getting closer.
“Hey, anyone here?” The bonfire spoke - spoke, not just communicated, in a loud, booming voice as it got closer. Reimu turned her presence to the bonfire, trying to plead to it for help.
“Oh- shit- hang on-” A massive, unfathomable wall of flame surrounded them from the sides and below, and even in their weakened states, Reimu could feel the fear from all the others and herself. Then - then warmth, energy, and sensation returned.
The presence began to gain definition. Colour, texture, a bit of heat and the smell of sweat. Their confinement began to shape itself, a series of massive, interlocking fingers and two walls of flesh for palms. A cupped pair of hands, not trapping them. Protecting them, her and four small motes of light; yellow, purple, orange and white.
“Two, three, four… five? Really gotta hope Reimu or Marisa is in there with you.” Reimu looked up, up, up, to see a face she knew she should remember, long, white hair and a red ribbon.
“Okay, you’re… not gonna lie and say it’ll definitely all be okay. If anything, that’ll depend on you. But we can help you.”
They were swept up, their confinement beginning to move. “EVERYONE! OVER HERE!” Slowly, other presences began to approach. One more dim but still a blaze compared to the five, the other two similarly incandescent as their rescuer. “Pretty sure we’ve found some of them. Maybe all we’re gonna find, for that matter.”
One of the blazes leaned in, this one in Blue and Red, split in half across her clothes. “...Five. Good work, Mokou.” She turned to the dimmer blaze, who Reimu’s faltering memory couldn’t place. “Keine, are they going to work?”
The thing named Keine leaned in, her horns forcing the red-blue to lean back. The horns faded as they tapered away, until Reimu couldn’t see the tips. “...Yes, they’ll work. They have to.” She took a deep breath. “Can you all hear me? If so, tell me your names please.”
I’m… I’m Reimu. What remained of the Shrine Maiden responded. And these are Marisa, Kosuzu, Youmu and Akyuu.
At the last part, the fourth presence looked up. Kaguya, that was the name that came to Reimu. “The chronicler with perfect memory?” She said, hope tinging her voice. “If that’s the case, this whole plan just got a lot more viable.”
Keine gave a desperate grin. “Definitely. Listen, girls… we’ll tell you what we can. You’re our last hope.”
The little embers clustered together. Reimu had at some point ended up at the front, so she took the lead. What happened to us? Why are we like this?
The red-blue spoke up again. “...About a week ago, every ‘normal human’ in Gensokyo… had what’s happening to you now happen to them. Their bodies were obliterated, and something… began to destroy their very souls.”
Kaguya shuddered. “What followed was… utter panic and pandemonium. The youkai and the remaining humans fell into anarchy almost immediately, and one by one, everyone else began to vanish too.”
That’s terrible… Kosuzu clustered close to the others. How many people are left?
Keine gave a weak smile. “Four people, I believe, not counting myself. And I probably shouldn’t count. The only reason I’m in half the state I am now is because of Eirin.” She sighed. “And we don’t think Yukari would work either.”
Yakumo Yukari? Reimu didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing she could still remember that hag’s last name when she couldn’t remember her own. She’s still alive?
Eirin shrugged. “When the incident began to occur, the whole of your shrine was swallowed into a gap. And when we came up with our plan, it popped out not long after. She might not last much longer, or she might… already have passed. Regardless, it’s the only reason we were able to find you five. No doubt one of her many contingencies.”
Marisa moved in front of Reimu. How do we pound the culprit for this? They’re gonna pay, I promise you that!
Mokou chuckled. “Well, you’re clearly feeling much better. And I’m sure you will. But the problem is the timing. Any human that gets close just… vanishes. And while the youkai could hurt it, it’s grown in power to the point that no-one can fight it now… and doing so would be pointless, with everyone gone.”
Eirin looked over at her horned ally. “But Keine’s powers allow her to erase and create history. And with enough power… she should be able to send you back in time, and rebirth you, as something that can resist the enemy. As youkai.”
The shock rippled through the motes. W-we’re gonna be youkai…? Akyuu’s words came with a tone of shock. I-I never expected…
Reimu did her best to convey a bit of indignance. Why can’t you all do it?
Keine sighed, giving them all a sympathetic look. “The farther back we go, the more energy it takes. And I can’t unwind myself, not like this.” She looked up. “Even with Eirin and Kaguya’s power, I’d have to go past the point where I was just a normal human. And I’ve lost the threads of history for those who’ve already disappeared.”
Eirin nodded. “And the other problem is memory. Memories are just the history we remember - in most cases, we’d lose our memories of the world that was. But… Akyuu never forgets. She’ll keep her memories into the next world, and she’ll be able to stir all your memories, as well.”
Kaguya gave a small smile. “With that said… and I’m not promising anything with this, alright? But if we know what the cause of the incident is, we might be able excise the cause specifically. And if we knew can do that, we could do all this again. Make you human - if you want to go back, of course.” She chuckled.
I-I’m sorry. Youmu’s voice came out with a tone of complete bafflement. I… I think you’ve lost me.
Kosuzu lifted herself a bit. We can save everyone! She faltered. …But, only if we become youkai. And Akyuu finds us and gives us our memories back. And… and we find the culprit in time. She sagged. It’s… will this even work?
Marisa flared up. There’s no point asking if it will or it won’t! I want to give that bastard a pounding, and if you say this is the best way to do it, I’ll do it!
There was a moment of silence among the motes.
…I’ll do it too. Youmu lifted herself. I still don’t really understand… but if we can save everyone, we don’t have any other choice.
Akyuu was up next. I suppose I have to agree… nothing else will work if I don’t join these two meatheads. She gave a slight bit of nervous mirth. And hey, a youkai body will probably last a lot longer than mine will. Might end up staying that way.
Well, you’re not leaving me behind! Kosuzu was next to chirp up. Always wanted to step in and solve an incident for real - even if this is a roundabout way of doing it, I’m in.
There was a long pause as everyone’s attention turned to Reimu.
…
“Reimu?” Mokou’s voice was a little nervous. “Sorry to put this much pressure on you. I’m sure it’s a lot…”
You know, She spoke up at last. One of my duties is to exorcize any human who seeks to become a youkai. To agree to become one myself… I feel like I’m betraying my duty.
Everyone held their breath, if they still had the lungs to do it.
…But… to do anything else here would be far, far worse. She sighed. I guess… I’m in. Let’s become youkai.
Mokou smiled, sighing in relief. “Then, shall we get started? They’re all yours, Keine.”
The motes were released from Mokou’s warmth, and almost immediately, their lights began to falter, cold and alone. The feeling abated, slightly, when Keine’s hands enveloped them.
“Thank you girls… you are our last hope.” She looked down at them, the others beginning to draw around her. “Now… I can’t let you choose exactly what you’ll be reborn as. For most of you, you’ll reincarnate on the same day you were first born, so… not to put too fine a point on it, but who you’ll be able to become won’t be up to me.” She thought. “With that said… if you sense paths pulling you in different directions, you can try and head down a path of your choosing.”
The motes huddled close. Marisa spoke first. Akyuu, if you find something that gives you good coverage, pick that. Be a tengu or something.
I-I’ll try. What are you gonna be, Marisa?
Me? Marisa let out something like a chuckle, as a ball of light formed around them. I think I’m gonna be something big and powerful da ze. Like an oni. Or a dragon.
Maybe I’ll try to become a mermaid! Kosuzu piped up. …No, wait. Water would ruin my books. Um, not anything watery then… or fiery, either…
Youmu hummed. …As long as I can wield swords, I’ll work it out.
Reimu sighed. Did you all not hear that thing about not being able to choose-whoa- The orb they were in began to lift. The whole situation was absurd… the fate of Gensokyo rested into five little spirits, and they were small enough that they all fit in something that was probably no larger than a marble.
Keine plucked the orb from the air. “Well… now it’s time to go back. Good luck, girls, we’re all counting on you.”
She opened her mouth, and swallowed the orb whole.
Reimu had fingers again - real fingers. She stretched and flexed them, smiling in spite of it all.
The world around her swarmed in a storm of different colours. Images of her life flashed before her eyes - of fighting Zanmu, of passing through the Hell of Blood Pools, of running from Keiki. She looked down at her dress, watching it shift and change - from a paw-print pattern, to a floral one, then a more basic zig-zag with dots in the valleys.
She got the sense she was being pulled backwards - or maybe falling? And getting further and further away. Already, she seemed just a touch smaller and less developed than she had been.
She turned her eyes towards her past- her future- whatever it was. The tunnel of images she was in seemed to split four ways - one straight back, and three offshoots. She steadied herself, summoning up her courage, and began to move to…
[ ] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
[ ] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
[ ] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 11:44
No. 205450
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>[ ] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Tengu
>[ ] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Oni from Former Hell
>[ ] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Lights glittering deep within the earth = soul
So I'm guessing that's a ghost - my bet is on a vengeful spirit.
I want Reimu to keep being a shrine maiden. The only way to do that is go Tengu. So, we Tengu.
[x] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 11:52
No. 205451
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[ ] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
I choose this one because I don't know what the other option is.
( I am also doesn't know what this option lead to)
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/08 (Fri) 11:59
No. 205452
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>>205450
Only gonna say this, because your other guesses are at least where I'd expect people to go. The only way one could 'reincarnate' as a ghost would either be to be a half-phantom like Youmu, or be a stillborn mizuko like Ebisu Eika. And the youkai status of either is... debatable?
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 13:50
No. 205453
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Interesting. Very interesting.
> The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Agreed on Tengu. There's not much else that's even up in the sky to begin with. Unless the cold air is more important than it seems, but I seriously doubt it.
> The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Definitely something from Former Hell. Oni's most likely, but there's a chance it would be something more exotic like a Satori or Amanojaku, there are a lot of potentially hated youkai.
> The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
This one fascinates me just because I have absolutely no clue. Glistening gemstones? The torchlight of lampads? Almost certainly something in actual hell or somewhere like the animal realm, but I'm coming up blank on what specifically.
Regarding what to pick... Tengu has the benefit of starting on the surface immediately, while the other two are probably more isolated. However, it also means dealing with Tengu society, so it's not completely free. No wrong choices here.
[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 14:29
No. 205454
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[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
I'm feeling lucky.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 14:39
No. 205455
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>>205453
Third option could be Dwarves, but I doubt that putting dorfs in gensokyo would do it
furthermore, dorf reimu
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 15:19
No. 205456
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[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Mystery surprise option! Glitter, shimmer, shine and shiver.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 17:03
No. 205457
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> The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Could this be Makai? Hmm. Even if I am correct, I have no idea what types of Yokai lives there. But such a start could be interesting. It could also be somewhere in hell proper, like the Animal Realm, but I don't know what the lights could be referring to.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 17:42
No. 205458
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My gut says it might be Animal Realm.
All those lights could be the Light Pollution from the skyscrapers.
But I'm not entirely satisfied with that explanation, either.
I'm gonna go with the raucous streets: I like all the former hell crew, so anything we turn out to be will be fine.
Let's be hated! And have a restraining order against the topside!
[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 18:39
No. 205459
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[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
I'm tempted by the mystery option, but I'm also a big fan of the former hell crew, so let's do it.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 19:04
No. 205460
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[X] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 20:30
No. 205461
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[x] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Wolf Yakuza
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 21:16
No. 205462
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[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Hm...
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 21:28
No. 205463
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[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Onimiko
Anonymous 2024/03/08 (Fri) 22:38
No. 205464
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Another thing I am interested in is if the roles of our protagonists are going to be replaced by someone else, or if the originals will still be around. The Hakurei Miko is kinda important for Gensokyo, and with Reimu reincarnated into a youkai, will someone take her place? Will there be another Reimu running around? Heck, could she still be shoved into the role of the shrine maiden even as a Yokai?
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/09 (Sat) 01:26
No. 205465
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>>205455
Every reincarnation will be in some way related to an existing character. As entertaining as the idea of dwarf Reimu is.
>>205464
These are extremely good questions. Let’s hope that someone among the Hourai and Keine thought to ask them as well.
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 02:06
No. 205466
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>>205465
I do hope, at least, we can eventually learn what the options we didn't pick were so that we're not eternally tormented by the mystery, but who knows.
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 02:48
No. 205467
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>>205465
I'm sure the
Sages Management will have everything sorted perfectly.
Vote Onimiko today.
Rock and Stone!
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 04:13
No. 205468
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[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 05:09
No. 205469
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>[ ] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Could be Celestials too.
>[ ] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Most likely Oni but any kind of underground yokai is fair game too. A Tsuchigumo Reimu would be nice too, hilarious considering how often the shrine gets destroyed.
> [ ] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Just a wild guess, a mermaid. Other than that, it would be cool to play as an outsider Reimu
[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
I like to gamble, hopeful its better than my gacha luck.
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 06:53
No. 205470
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>>205467
Now that you mention it, having everyone be the same role would be very fun. Onimiko sounds great. Heck. Having Akyuu desperately trying to hide the fact that she reincarnated as a werewolf or something would be hilarious.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/09 (Sat) 21:48
No. 205471
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>>205470
Regarding that, some people will probably have an easier time of it than others. Both because of where they reincarnate and what their role actually was.
Eiki is going to be very concerned when the Child of Miare is suddenly not reincarnating where she’s supposed to.
>>205465
I’m happy to reveal it pretty much the moment the choice is locked in.
With that said, assuming I’ve counted right, we’re at 3 votes for cold crisp breeze above, 5 votes for the
very subtle raucous streets below, and 5 votes for the more mysterious option than I intended. but people seem to like the mystery aspect so I’ll say nothing more on that yet.
Anonymous 2024/03/09 (Sat) 22:24
No. 205472
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while its pretty likely not one of the options we're seeing for Reimu either way, I do wonder if fairies count as youkai for the purposes of this. It just feels amusing thinking about one of them showing up being a fairy.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 00:36
No. 205473
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You know what, random.
[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 03:56
No. 205474
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Eh, I would've preferred Former Hell, because I'm a big fan of the entire crew.
But I already voted, so mystery option it is.
I really hope this isn't dissappointing.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 04:20
No. 205475
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Embracing a gambling addiction is probably for the best for Reimu, even if it means she is probably going to be preoccupied for a long while in maybe new Hell?
[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/10 (Sun) 04:37
No. 205476
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>>205474
Oh, I didn't mean to imply the vote's over, yet. 205471 wasn't fishing for a tiebreaker.
I'm still working on an update for inquisitor Reimu, f irst.
I've also just copied it over to AO3, so if anyone from there comes in, the door's still open for a voat.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 05:50
No. 205477
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>>205476
Well, we'll just see how it goes.
If it does end up being the Animal Realm, then instead of Onimiko we can be Thugmiko.
Still on brand for Reimu.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 06:09
No. 205478
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[X] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
It might be a mermaid, but I think it's fun to imagine Reimu becoming an eldritch horror residing in the abyssal depths.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 07:03
No. 205479
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[x] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
Imagine trying to hit a Reimu flying at tengu speed
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 10:32
No. 205480
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[x] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
I'm placing my bets that this has something to do with the Animal Realm. A certain sculptor might have need some new recruits?
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 11:46
No. 205481
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[X] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 14:34
No. 205482
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[X] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
i really hope this is the option for a tengu not just because i have a soft spot for the tengu characters we have so far but also because i'd love to see reimu in their caste system. or even just see your take on it. maybe she might not even be a crow tengu, could be a wolf or a daitengu (the latter is unlikely, but hey, you never know). also the mental image of reimu hating aya on sight due to hazy memories of being extremely annoyed by her is hilarious to me.
Anonymous 2024/03/10 (Sun) 21:57
No. 205483
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[x] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
This sounds like the most interesting pick. No idea on what it could be tho.
Reimu, the Yakuza Princess.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/11 (Mon) 06:55
No. 205484
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[5] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
[6] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
[10] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.
To the best of her ability, Reimu tried to think it through. It wasn’t like she had a lot of time… for whatever sense that word was worth.
The high one made her feel like the… the tengu, maybe? And… no, no, that didn’t feel right. Sha, shamei… someone had always complained to her about how rigid the caste system was, and they were perpetual gossips. She’d just as likely be seen as some crazy wolf as someone actually worth listening to. And… and there were worse fates, to be fair, she’d always been a dog person, but she wasn’t suited to being some intelligence master. Leave that to Kosuzu or Akyuu, or even Marisa.
Then there was the raucous streets. Reimu couldn’t quite recall the name, but she did remember a place like that, with a lot of different youkai. And that town had the Komeiji living in it, didn’t it? Having mind-readers could be handy… but even if they could read her mind, would they really see her as someone to be taken seriously, or just as a delusional child? Not to mention, the underground had long been sealed… what if she couldn’t get where she needed to because of it?
For that matter, hadn’t there been a bunch of Buddhists there at the time? No, no, she was a Shinto Miko, she knew that much. Buddhism was a no go.
That left only one choice, and even though she couldn’t guess what it was, it seemed like the best choice. Maybe that was just the product of her negative mindset… but it was something she’d have to bank on.
Besides, her being unsure just meant she left it up to chance. And Reimu had a reputation for getting lucky.
She tried to move towards the glittering hole, with some difficulty, lacking any traction. Her ascot flickered back and forth between yellow and blue as she reached out, trying to grab onto something, anything -
Her hand caught something. A scaled green tail, ending in a tuft of fur.
She looked up, at the strange, blocky structures in the middle of the garden. They glittered and glistened with all kinds of lights, an almost hypnotic pattern. “Mama, what is that?”
Her mother reached down, gently picking up the young girl. She kept her hands on the tail she was holding, but Mama didn’t seem to mind.
“I… I have to admit, I’m not quite sure.” She narrowed her eyes. “Some new trick of the humans. And it’s growing fast.”
Reimu turned to her mother in shock. “You don’t know?! But you know everything, mama!”
Mama chuckled. “Not everything. Though I can’t blame you for seeing it like that with blockheads like Kurokoma and Toutetsu around.”
She kept looking out into the distance. “The humans are… unlike any other kind of beast. You can trust a bull to charge blindly, a dog to protect its pack, a kuda-gitsune to ply it's tricks. But humans are completely unpredictable, and change from moment to moment.” She sighed. “This could be difficult. Tell me, what do you think of that structure?”
Reimu looked over at the structures, idly playing with her mama’s tail. “...It looks pretty, in a way. Like stars on the ground. Did they actually capture stars to do that?”
Mama smiled. “I don’t believe so… but I think that’s a good point itself. Humans can do incredible, dangerous things like that.”
“Wow…”
“Still… we’re not like any other kind of beast, either.” Reimu turned to look at Mama, who’s smile had grown a bit… sharper. “Perhaps when we’ve shown the humans what for, we can keep just a little bit of their tricks and gadgets for ourselves.” She turned to look at Reimu. “Perhaps by the time your horns have grown out.”
Reimu leaned in, snuggling. “That’d be nice. The humans can do nice things, too. Like making nori senbei.”
“Nori senbei? Where did you hear of that?”
Reimu blinked, steadying her thoughts. “The- the Animal Realm!” Of course. She’d been thrown off by the direction, because getting there usually required going a long trip across rather than just down, but then she’d gotten to it from the Hell of Blood Pools before, so it must have been accessible from underground.
And the Animal Realm was perhaps the best place to be, if she could make it work. The haniwa and the sculptor goddess - they had to be able to do something to protect the humans, protect their souls. Reimu pushed herself forward, falling ever downwards towards the glittering lights. They expanded and surrounded her, a storm of different colours.
The Animal Realm she was stepping into now far dwarfed the one in her new memory - skyscrapers of every size and colour flew past her, unmaking themselves as she passed. Evidently the animals had failed to contain the humans, which made Reimu feel both a faint sense of pride and frustration, from intertwined hearts and heritages.
She was getting small now, very, very small. The skyscrapers loomed ever, ever higher, even though the number of stories decreased. Reimu found herself curling up her tail beneath her, for what good it did. Wait, her tail? She stared at the new appendage in confusion.
The skyscrapers had fallen back, into endless, lush plains, with a cresting sun in the distance. The light from the sun seemed to wipe everything away, and Reimu felt herself losing consciousness. Desperately, she tried to throw up a barrier - this one manifesting with a turtleshell pattern, instead of her usual square barriers - but with one last flash, her thoughts surrendered completely.
Reimu’s head bounced off the shag carpet, bringing a dull ache to it, only worsened by the alarm clock that had already been going off when she awoke. She groaned, slithering her body off the bed fully, and struggled to pull something that was keeping her head glued to the floor.
Slowly, her mind started to piece itself together. One by one, memories began to stir themselves. Of her past life. Of being a human. Of the apocalypse.
She looked around, with what she could manage of her vision, at the room she was in. It was… it was intimately familiar to her, and yet at the same time, it felt like she’d never seen it before. A lavishly decorated room, with a window drawn shut with exquisite curtains, and intricately carved mahogany furniture. The bedside table was the alarm clock’s perch, as it rang incessantly at her. Unable to reach it herself, she clumsily swatted at it with her tail, which knocked it to the floor and silenced the endless screeching.
…right, she had a tail now. That’d take some getting used to. Or… would it? She’d used it naturally enough just then. She didn’t have any extra limbs to get used to aside from that, either. Her eyes kept tracing the room, until she caught sight of a full-length mirror, which revealed the source of her trapped head. She carefully pulled back rather than straight up, freeing her small, stubby horns from the loops in the shag they had entangled themselves with.
Instinct set to +2.
She slowly stretched up, looking at herself in the mirror more closely. Her scales and shell were almost stark white, or, no - as she turned, only one side was white, the other was bright red, split with a wavy line down the middle of her back and tail. A couple of single scales were instead the colour of the counterpart side, giving her shell the impression of a yin-yang symbol. She found herself grinning smugly at that.
The next thing was the curtain. She walked over to it and threw it open, looking down at the animal realm below her. It was like all the lights in the night sky were now on the ground, arranged in square structures like they were being packed away. Reimu stared out in awe.
She eventually realised that she was looking down, which prompted a more careful examination of her more immediate surroundings. She was on a hilltop overlooking the city itself, in some kind of fancy house. Exotic plants dotted the fencing, and a pool just a little south of her position had a pond of some sort, with a couple of otter spirits slacking off in it.
Everything was in the hazy glow of nighttime street-lighting, which… why had her alarm gone off now? Searching her brain confused her, as part insisted it would always be this dark, and other parts that it should be lighter at some points. Eventually, a memory surfaced of a crow who became an underground sun; that must not have happened yet as of whatever time she was at now.
If she had to guess, by how old she looked - and assuming her new genetics hadn’t thrown her a curveball - this’d be, what, about the time of the Scarlet Mist Incident? Thereabouts, anyway.
She looked to see if there was anything else in the room. A not-so-small pile of plushies dominated the corner of her room, mostly otters but with a few wolves, eagles, and other things. The prize of the pile was definitely the turtle plushie, Genji. Reimu smiled as she remembered the name, the reawakened memories of her past life sourcing it at last.
Memories from her new life began to filter into her. Kicchou Reimu. Kicchou Yachie’s daughter, and the ‘princess’ of the Kiketsu Family. Which meant… which meant her mother was one of the animal gang-leaders who were fighting with Haniyasushin Keiki, over control of the human souls.
[ ] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice. (Sets Spirit to Youkai-2.)
[ ] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
[ ] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her mother did. (Sets Spirit to Human-2.)
In Redo/Reimu, all characters will share two stats: Instinct and Spirit. Instinct reflects how comfortable the reincarnated is physically with their body, and - when multiple reincarnated are together - will affect how the others act. The more human-like their new body is, the higher Instinct will start. A bird girl with high Instinct will be better at flying than one with low instinct, but she’ll also be quick to panic if trapped in a room with a nekomata.
Spirit determines how a character thinks. One can be human-aligned or youkai-aligned in Spirit. Human-aligned Spirit will lead the character to resist their instincts and be less happy in their new form. Youkai-aligned Spirit will lead characters to embrace their instincts and their new form alike. Both have advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation.
Some characters may have other stats as well. These will come up when appropriate.
For reference, Reimu’s other options were -
- To be a Daitengu’s Daughter (5 votes, 0 starting Instinct.)
- To have a Kurodani Yamama (6 votes, -2 starting Instinct.)
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 07:46
No. 205485
▼
[x] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice. (Sets Spirit to Youkai-2.)
One should seek balance in things and in a meta-gaming sense it's prooobably not the best idea to skew too much in the high instinct Yōkai spirit direction and yadda-yadda. But!
I want to see an openly prideful crime princess Reimu.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 09:05
No. 205486
▼
[X] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her mother did.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 09:15
No. 205487
▼
So, it was the animal realm as I expected.
The Kicchou matriach is the one I can expect the most to be a mom, but it's also the family I can see Reimu mesh the least with.
Reimu protected humans, but she was generally neutral in the whole thing.
But she was also very straightforward, so being part of the schemer gang can't feel too good.
[X] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her mother did.
Also.
>We will never have a Yamama now.
Why even live.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 10:12
No. 205488
▼
[x] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 10:15
No. 205489
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
I think we should try to balance instinct to benefit from more human-like behaviour and better control over our new youkai body.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 10:57
No. 205490
▼
hey wait, isn't akyuu supposed to give their memories back to their reincarnated selves? if reimu's got hers back now, that means akyuu must be nearby. wonder what she ended up becoming.
[X] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
she deserves to like her new environment a little bit. as a treat.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 11:19
No. 205491
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
Walking the road of no commitment does close avenues on both sides, but best to start off with a clean slate. Our actions will determine the balance between purpose and nature on their own, no need to tip the scales.
Besides, the best way to bring about reform for the humans is from the inside. Push for different policy, make the changes through the proper ways for mafia princess - don't just deny our current nature, but also don't be consumed by it.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 13:14
No. 205492
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 15:12
No. 205493
▼
[x] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. I think this could be more interesting in the long run.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 15:30
No. 205494
▼
>this’d be, what, about the time of the Scarlet Mist Incident? Thereabouts, anyway.
By the way, in this alternate reality do the incidents as we know them still happen? This will probably be answered later in the story, but there are multiple ways to answer this and I like the possibilities
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 15:47
No. 205495
▼
>>205487 here.
Thought about it some more.
It could be fun if Reimu grew up like her old Thug
miko self: ending up more like a Keiga (or maybe a Gouyoku) than a Kiketsu.
Imagine the headaches that'd give dear ol' mom.
Sounds like star-crossed plot waiting to happen!
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 16:13
No. 205496
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
She's in incident resolver mode. This is probably how she'd roll until she is given a real reason to feel shame or guilty pleasure.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 16:24
No. 205497
▼
>>205486 Here, changing my vote to:
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 17:12
No. 205498
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
A balanced approach between Human and Youkai is very thematic with her yin-yang theme.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 17:40
No. 205499
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
We will be able to recruit both Lawful and Chaotic youkai.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 18:31
No. 205500
▼
[X] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
I like the idea of Reimu actually enjoying being a youkai. Seems like it could result in some interesting character developments down the road.
Besides, considering Reimu is only slightly richer than Shion, I feel like she would enjoy it.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 19:13
No. 205501
▼
>>205498 has a good point :3
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 20:15
No. 205502
▼
[X] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
Anonymous 2024/03/11 (Mon) 20:18
No. 205503
▼
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
Reimu may enjoy being a youkai, but I bet she still preferred interacting with humans more if only because they created less work for her. Evened out, probably balance is the solution.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/11 (Mon) 22:21
No. 205504
▼
So far we're at 6 votes for Y-Reimu, 9 votes for N-Reimu and... 2 votes for H-Reimu. Votes still ongoing, I'm just doing this to keep count for myself.
>>205487
You'll have to pester Reavski for more Yamammaries lore. (Don't actually do that.)
>>205490
>>205494
>hey wait, isn't akyuu supposed to give their memories back to their reincarnated selves?
>By the way, in this alternate reality do the incidents as we know them still happen?
These are really good questions.
>>205495
>>205487
I feel like most people would associate her with the wolves, partially by colour and partially by personality. And Aunn, of course.
I wonder why she ended up a turtle-dragon instead. Pic
totally not related btw.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 00:37
No. 205505
▼
Shame? Reimu? the same miko that was all set to sell air tubes to the village when a comet caused worry? (and revive a rumor to drum up interest for thsoe air tubes)(Horned hermit.) or when mysterious writings appeared in the village used it as a opportunity to sell charms despite having no idea what the writing were... (Lotus Eaters) I don't think shame would quite be her reaction XD
[X] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
-[X]She felt slightly annoyed that they didn't come up with some sort of code phrase to identify each other in case (such as how it turned out.) Akyuu wasn't the only one to remember.
The Balanced Path
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/12 (Tue) 10:01
No. 205506
▼
File
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[6] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
[10] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice.
-[X]She felt slightly annoyed that they didn't come up with some sort of code phrase to identify each other in case (such as how it turned out.) Akyuu wasn't the only one to remember.
[5] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her now-mother did.
It was tempting.
It was really, really tempting.
She’d long accepted that solving incidents would be the death of her eventually. Arguably, it already had been, and still she was out to save the world. Normally, weren’t you supposed to get to retire at some point before your body crumbled to dust?
But… no. No, this wasn’t the time to rest on her laurels just yet. That she’d rolled the dice and gotten lucky shouldn’t be treated like a reward, she shouldn’t stop and try to savour the roses.
The only reason she got this second chance was because she failed to stop the incident last time.
…
She needed to do whatever she could to work against the incident, starting now. And that meant not jumping back into bed and enjoying the thread count of her sheets… however tempting it might be.
She took a deep breath, clapping her cheeks to steady her thoughts. The noise rang out, sharp and clear, and it helped Reimu push down the very tempting thoughts to enjoy being treated like a crime princess.
Spirit set to Neutral.
…Right, though that was a question. Up until now, she had just been a yakuza’s daughter, hadn’t she? She certainly felt like this was the first time she was truly awake and aware of her past. But why?
Had Akyuu awakened her? Or had someone else done so? In hindsight, they really hadn’t planned it out all that much. She still looked like herself, and the yin-yang shell felt like a dead giveaway, but who knew if everyone would be that recognizable. Or easily found. They should have made a code word or something.
Maybe one of them had found her first. She tried calling out.
“Marisa? Kosuzu? Youmu? Akyuu?” No response. She took a deep breath.
“MARISAAA! KOSUZUUU! YOUMUUU! AAAAKYUU!”
There was a moment of silence, before the door spoke.
“...Bless you?”
She whipped her head around to the door. “Who’s there?! Show yourself!”
The door opened, revealing the ethereal green glow of an otter spirit.
“Rough sleep last night, young mistress?” The otter chirped, floating towards her. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
Reimu did her best to recover her composure. Of course. Her mother had never left her too much unattended - there was always an otter spirit or two around, and usually this one specifically. By her memory’s reckoning, this one was maybe a touch on the smaller side, and wore a collar with a green scale as the pendant - a personal mark of trust denoting them as part of the Kiketsu’s inner circle. Reimu vaguely remembered them as being more powerful than most spirits in her past life… but that was an extremely relative term. She’d still beat them in droves if she had to.
“Mmmm. I’m fine. Just some rough sleep, like you said”
The otter sighed in visible relief.
“Thank goodness! And it’s not surprising, what with how touch-and-go things got there. Don’t think many of us got much sleep last night.”
Reimu’s eyes narrowed. “What happened last night?”
The otter blinked, before coiling up defensively. “Oh, nothing, nothing!” It visibly squirmed under her gaze. “...Let’s get you fed and dressed first, shall we?”
Reimu glared, intending to give the otter the full force of the fury of the Shrine Maiden - and if that didn’t work, the full force of the Kicchou as well.
Something growled. It wasn’t the otter, and it wasn’t Reimu either. At least, not Reimu’s mouth. She felt her cheeks flush. The otter, initially intimidated, just smiled sheepishly..
“Let’s leave the discussions until after breakfast, okay?”
Reimu sighed, feeling her tail sag. “...Yes, let’s.”
The clothes that she’d picked for the day, and gotten dressed in with the assistance of the otter, were comfortingly familiar in style, if not entirely in make. It seemed that Reimu, no matter the species, would be forever classified as a red-white.
With a touch of black, in this case. It was a modern-world school uniform, her memory told her. White shirt, yellow ascot, black skirt, and a red jacket, topped with her second choice of one of her ever-so-classic red ribbons. (The first had been rejected when she realised, with no small amount of mortification, that its pattern was meant to make her horns look more developed than they actually were. Kicchou Reimu had wanted to insist on it, but Reimu the miko knew how deeply embarrassing such a childish choice was.) It was practical enough for her purposes, light enough to move in, fairly unremarkable in its own designs (jidiao shell and tail notwithstanding) and the jacket could be dispensed with at a moment’s notice.
It was a style of clothing her mother deeply despised as plain and ordinary, Reimu knew that much. She’d expected to have to argue with the otter over it, at least a little bit, but the spirit had happily complied. Maybe just… a touch too happily, in fact. Reimu’s intuition was tingling.
“It looks good!” The otter said, swirling around. “Love what you’ve done with the shell, by the way.”
“Mmm?” Reimu wasn’t quite sure what they meant, but they had already left to cook breakfast.
Reimu had spent a little more time gathering a few things around - mainly trying and failing to find anything that could work like her old talismans and needles - and soon enough found herself drifting down the steps, yawning.
The yawn caught in her throat when she heard two of the otters talking over the sound of sizzling egg. Staying just a touch airborne - was she still doing it the ‘miko’ way, or the way her mother did it? - she floated closer, and eavesdropped.
“I’m telling you, this was planned.” The otter acting as the cook said. “The wolves are onto us.”
Her guardian otter - Reimu was mildly impressed at her own ability to tell them apart - shrugged. “Kurokoma doesn’t know anything. She’s just chasin' a hunch.”
“It’s NOT a hunch! They’ve been walling us in for weeks!” The cook swung her cutely-sized spatula for effect. “They might not know what they’re looking for or where it is, but all the otters who retreated came here, and they will notice eventually!”
“That’s why the boss is talking to Toutetsu. We’ll just get safe passage through their territory, and we’ll be laughin'.” There was a notably more gruff choice of words when they weren't speaking to Reimu, she noted.
“You think Toutetsu won’t immediately try to take-”
The guardian otter smiled. “She will. But we’ve got lots of shiny baubles here. Those dumb eagles think everyone thinks like them, and the wolves let everyone else do the thinking. We’ll stick somethin' big and shiny in the centre of the motorcade and everyone will think that’s the prize.”
The cook didn’t look convinced. “And where will the actual ‘prize’ be, hmm?”
“She’ll be sleeping under a pile of clams or something. Packed in real neat and boring-like.” The otter smirked triumphantly. “Managed to get her in something real plain, too. Nothing the boss would mind gettin’ fishy.”
Reimu felt her breath hitch in her throat. The cook looked as shocked as she did. “I-what?”
Her guardian smiled. “We’ll get that really good driver who always looks like he’s about to piss the seat. At Yachie’s signal, he’ll scream out and ‘ditch’ us, and everyone will use their very best words to describe him, and by the time they realise he was the one with the actual prize, she’ll be getting the clamsmell outta her shell at the beach house.”
The cook looked impressed. “I-I see… but that’s assuming she’ll just let herself be handled like an ingredient.”
The guardian chuckled. “I don’t know, she’ll be veeeeeerrrrrry sleepy. The boss gave me one of her special blends for the tea this morning - she’ll be back to baku-land right after breakfast. Now, come on, let’s get all this plated up before it burns.”
Reimu, very quietly, pulled herself back, and scooted over to the dining hall. She pulled up her usual seat, and sat in it, waiting. After a moment’s thought, she hopped up to move a potted plant a half-step closer.
“Breakfast’s rea- oh, you’re here!” Her guardian carried a hefty platter that Reimu’s old life classified as “a whole day’s worth of food for a grown woman” and her current life classified as “a particularly hearty breakfast”. A few egg rolls, a bowl of steamed rice and a piece of grilled fish. And a cup of tea, already poured. Of course.
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Where’s Mama?”
The otter waved it off. “Ah, she’s just making some negotiations. Just a few minor things, you know how it is.” It smiled, warmly and gently. “But if all goes well, she’s planning to spend the night with you and take a few days off the business end of things.”
Reimu nodded, picking up the tea cup. Her skin crawled just touching it. “Because we’ll be at the beach house, right?” She waited.
“Yes, you’ll be at the bea-uh-” The otter looked up, shock on its face. Now that Reimu had its attention, she slowly, deliberately, brought the cup over to the potted plant, and tipped it in.
“I don’t feel like a special blend this morning.” She said, keeping her voice just slightly more strained than level. “Can you get me another cup? And just green tea will be fine, please. I will know if you try something again. In fact - bring over multiple cups; our throats might get a little parched when we talk after breakfast, like we promised.”
The spirit went from green to the more traditional white, and scurried off to comply. Reimu took a moment to organise her thoughts.
All she'd done by the end of that moment was realise it was a much more cumbersome task than a moment would suffice for. There were things Mama - things her mother was keeping from her, but she was still a bit confused about her own mind. Spending a few minutes to clear her head and ask some questions to her own memory would do her good, and anything her own memory couldn’t surface, she could ask the otters instead.
[ ] But what sort of questions to ask…?
Timeline
Mew 2024/03/12 (Tue) 10:53
No. 205507
▼
The Animal Realm is always a mess. And as always with reincarnation, unless it's as well known as Akyuu's, people are going to wonder what happened to the 'princess' and what nonsense she's spouting. So let's try not to take a deep stab at gaining info. Another problem: if we aren't involved with whatever Yachie's doing, we probably will just get placated. So the questions need to be specific, yet... slightly inefficient for the sake of not drawing suspicion.Or we hope our relationship with our new mother is good enough to accommodate our sudden interests.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/12 (Tue) 12:18
No. 205508
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File
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850x1133,
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Just to make sure we're clear, you're not voting on singular questions to ask, she'll ask whatever people want to know. If people starting fighting over whether a question should or shouldn't be asked, maybe then voting will matter, but otherwise don't feel like you have to beat out certain questions to get your own answered.
Also, there's no problem with 'stupid' questions. If Reimu's asking what would be a silly question to ask someone else (e.g. 'how long have we been living here?') she'll just consult her memory.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 12:40
No. 205509
▼
[X] "Who is Mama negotiating with? Be honest now."
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 13:23
No. 205510
▼
[X] Why would Mama try to placate me in such a way? (Going as far as to drug me.) Has my behavior in the past indicated to her that she should?
[X] How does my relationship with Mama currently stand? Really.
[X] How much has my behavior in this life differed (or not differed) from how I remember being in my past life?
Just shotgunning a bunch of immeidately relevant questions. They're pretty much all related.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 13:35
No. 205511
▼
>>205510
Not a in-story question like the ones I put above, but more of a question that we should probably think about.
Should we be concerned about resolving the Scarlet Mist incident? We might not even be able to get into Gensokyo right now. We have no idea if there is a replacement for us out there or if the other characters are in a position to take care of it.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 14:58
No. 205512
▼
>>205511
Honestly, I almost wonder whether reincarnation actually
did paradox-overwrite the human versions of everyone. For all we know, the Scarlet Mist incident is going perfectly normally unless somebody else's reincarnation butterflied things.
Here's a few interesting questions I want to know about:
[X] That otter had commented on her shell. How did she normally style it?
- Probably inconspicuous, but on the odd chance something like the yin-yang shell is a new development, best to try and catch it now.
[X] How involved was she with operations, if at all?
- Good idea to try and figure out how much authority we have to start with beyond nepotism.
[X] No, but seriously, what happened last night?
- Probably a good idea to figure this out before getting in the line of danger.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 16:14
No. 205513
▼
Agreed with basically all the previous questions so far, but a few more I wouldn't mind checking on...
[X] What does Gensokyo have in the way of shrine maidens?
[X] Has anyone heard of a Marisa/Youmu/Akyuu/Kosuzu? The odds are low (as they're unlikely to be of note yet, and probably got sent elsewhere), but there's no reason not to check.
[X] Has Keiki appeared yet, and if so, what is she up to? (Probably better not to ask about her if she hasn't shown up though, knowing about that ahead of time could look suspicious.)
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 16:42
No. 205514
▼
>>205509 Here, adding one more question:
[X] “Now, why are we going to the beach house?”
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 16:50
No. 205515
▼
>>205513
>Marisa is the Keiga princess.
Buckin' Broncos it's Romeo & Juliet.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 17:38
No. 205516
▼
>>205510 again here.
If we can agree, I think that rephrasing my last quesion and the last question posed by
>>205512 would be a good idea.
[X] What has happened/what have I done in the past month?
That is less broad than my question and gets us more information about who we are and what situation we are in. Probably more reasonable.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 21:29
No. 205517
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[X]Does the phrase "Da Ze" sound at all familiar to you?
[X]Do we have a rival our age in the other families?
[X]Do we have any operations on the surface?
[X] (for our youkai memories only) what is your perspective and or thoughts to our memories as a human Miko? (up to and including the disaster.)
Hope Marisa is alright considering how bad off she was in the opening. If she is alright, then if she's not in the rival families I'm going to guess she's become a fairy and has ended up with Team 9 or something.
also I also wanted to ask if there was anyone with... 'fancy' headwear that came to mind... though the group of returnees is largely tamer when it comes to the hats in comparison to some of the other Gensokyoians (Akyuu doesn't have any iirc, Kosuzu has a pair of small bells and that's it, Youmu just has a side ribbon, the only one with a large/prominent hat is/was Marisa...
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/12 (Tue) 22:29
No. 205519
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I'll just answer one certain theme of questions out of universe (but I'll answer them in-universe too, because it makes sense for Reimu to ask them in-universe as well.).
The other four Reincarnators aren't entirely set on where they're reincarnating just yet. the players WILL get to choose (though there's one particular species I'm hoping at least someone is, and it wasn't one of Reimu's options). So Reimu's unlikely to get any concrete information about them.
As for Marisa specifically, there are options that COULD lead to the sorts of theories suggested here. But we'll get there in time.
Anonymous 2024/03/12 (Tue) 23:29
No. 205520
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Human Reimu was an orphan, but now she has a "new" mother that never died. Youkai Reimu never lost her mother, until just now when several years worth of memories of her "old" mother being dead surfaced all at once. That's got to be at least somewhat of a mindfuck.
[x] How are we feeling about our mother situation? Both of them.
-[x] for that matter, do we have a father?
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 01:36
No. 205522
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>>205519
we're going to get to control other characters then? will those be posted as separate threads (the title of this one is Redo/
Reimu, after all) or will we switch povs within this thread later on?
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/13 (Wed) 02:03
No. 205523
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>205522 yes. This is a big factor in why the Instinct and Spirit stats are important, because when the players aren't controlling the other characters, their stats will.
As for if it'll be in other threads... not in the way you seem to think, we'll be controlling one character at a time, and frankly with this much enthusiasm it'll probably take a couple of threads just getting to the end of Reimu's part. With that said, if things line up or it's close enough, we'll probably title those threads based on whoever's in control at the time.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 05:31
No. 205524
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>>205523
what about when they meet up and work in a group? we'll be seeing those characters from reimu's perspective, and see their decisions then. or will we get to choose the decisions that reimu doesn't see?
additionally, how will we determine the other characters' stats when we meet them from reimu's perspective?
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/13 (Wed) 06:20
No. 205525
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>>205524
Who said you'd be seeing those scenes in Reimu's perspective?
In all seriousness, I'm sure once we get to a certain point of everyone being on the same page, we'll be able to control multiple characters. But until that point, it's gonna be the players controlling one character and trying to interact with the others to get to that point. And some combinations will be easier to match up than others.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 11:38
No. 205526
▼
I'm relatively late; supporting these votes.
[X] Why would Mama try to placate me in such a way? (Going as far as to drug me.) Has my behavior in the past indicated to her that she should?
[X] “Now, why are we going to the beach house?”
[X] How does my relationship with Mama currently stand? Really.
In addition: [x] Press on if they are unwilling to tell you. There's value in knowing what they won't or cannot divulge.
I hope Reimu Kacchie's dad is a Bowser type of guy; He's a great dad apart from his princess kidnapping hobby.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/13 (Wed) 11:44
No. 205527
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[X] What was her perspective and/or thoughts to her memories as a human Miko?
[X] How was she feeling about our mother situation? Both of them.
-[X] For that matter, does she have a father?
Reimu’s past life was still a mess in her mind. Perhaps the first thing to do was sort it out in her own head, while the otters reconsidered their plans.
It was… fragmented, heavily so. Whatever state they’d been in when those blazing people found them, either they had lost a lot of memories from the destruction of their bodies, or just existing like that had been causing their minds to degrade. Reimu could remember her work as a miko… but she couldn’t remember the shrine she served, or what her own last name used to be. Most of it just seemed to be on-the-job information, fighting various enemies and vague details on what felt like at least most of the incidents she’d lived through.
In the wake of Mama’s most recent acts, she tried to compare to her past life… and found nothing. No great sense of loss from having grown up alone, no fond memories of her past life’s parents… just a cavernous void where a part of her whole life should be. The fact that it was just… empty bothered her more than simply not knowing them would.
And to some degree, she knew that from experience. Reimu had never met her father in this life - by the time she actually had coherent memories, he was seemingly long gone. And Mama had beyond forbidden discussion on the topic. All Reimu knew for certain was that he wasn’t coming back, and Mama was nothing if not persistent in keeping things she cared about - whatever happened was beyond the scope of the Kiketsu to fix. The otters had done their best to compensate, and Reimu as a result really just treated it as… a fact of life. Nothing more, nothing less.
With that said, as she tried to reassemble what she had of her past life’s memories, she found some new ones surfacing. Ruminating on that moment of talking about Nori Senbei with her mother all those years ago allowed her to remember they’d been one of her favourite snacks in her past life. It was like trying to dredge a massive tangle of knots from a deep, dark ocean - most of it was too hard to pull, but if she found the right rope, she could surface that part, and that might make something else easier to surface. Perhaps when she remembered other important things, like what her true name was… she’d be able to start putting her mind back together more fully. At least, she’d have to hope that was how it’d work.
[X] That otter had commented on her shell. How did she normally style it?
She took a moment to scan the room, and found her eyes drawn in one location in particular. A few photos on the mantelpiece - she stood up and walked over to them.
There weren’t too many photos - there never were, aside from at the beach house - but they did paint a story. There were a few otters that absolutely loved taking photos, and their yakuza nobility were their favourite subjects. Images of her swimming, a birthday party, winning a genuine spar with one of the inner circle otters… she smiled at the memories.
Then her smile faded, as she looked at a colour photo. Her scales in that photo were on her red side, and yet… they were white. Right down to the tip.
She turned back to the black-and-white photos. Sure enough, where they did give a good look at her shell or her tail, it was pretty clearly a solid, pale colour.
Reimu inspected her own tail, pulling up one of the scales, and gave it an experimental scratch with a sharp nail. It was a deep red hue all the way through. …No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t like this before.
Thinking back, she was fairly sure it had been plain white yesterday. So… that meant she’d woken up this morning with both a new set of scales and an old set of memories. They were undeniably related… but were the scales a sign of her awakening, or was her reawakening a consequence of whatever coloured the scales? She turned back to the table, and sat there, deeply troubled.
[X] Has Keiki appeared yet, and if so, what is she up to?
[X] Why were they going to the beach house?
[X] Who was Mama negotiating with? Be honest now.
Reimu looked up, as the otter guardian returned, carrying a fresh cup of tea and a rolled-up scroll. “First thing. What exactly is Mama negotiating that means she couldn’t face me herself?”
The otter paused for a moment. “...She’s negotiating with the Gouyoku Alliance for safe passage.” It was a simple question, but asking it at least told her if the otter was going to tell her the truth or not. She resisted the urge to give any indication of already knowing that, and instead leaned forward.
“Okay, and why is safe passage necessary?”
The otter unfurled the scroll across the table. “Perhaps this will explain it?” It was a map of the city. Green, red, blue and yellow splotches covered the map, marking territories and other key points of interest. The biggest area the Kiketsu controlled was along the coast of the Sanzu, a river big enough to have its banks treated more as beaches on this side.
But Reimu was nowhere near that. Her eyes drifted to their location, in the foothills of hell proper. A tiny nubbin of green no bigger than a guitar pick, walled in mostly by the blue and yellow territories, snaked towards by an aggressive and erratic expansion of the red zone.
...At first glance, it wasn’t as bad as it looked. The haniwa and the wolves were the only ones who needed their spots to truly be all-together. The Gouyoku could take to the sky en masse, and the Kiketsu would move using the river and the waterways. Even then, the ground-bound gangs could move in enough force to prevent direct confrontation if they were only passing through.
Which made it clear what the real problem was; the reservoir for this sector. Painted an earthen yellow. Reimu glared at the map like it could be changed just with her eyes. “...They’ve got us cornered.”
The otter nodded. “It’s Kurokoma who’s hunting us, but the source of the problem is the Sculptor Goddess.” It proffered another cup to Reimu. “She cut us off not long after you two came out here. And when the wolves discovered Yachie was staying on this side, they decided to see if they could find out why. The whole reason their incursion looks so messy is because they don’t care about keeping any of this territory if they can squeeze out what we’re hiding here.”
Reimu picked up the cup, and without breaking her focus on the map, tipped it into the plant as well. “But why are we trapped here? Couldn’t we just break through?”
“The problem is that… you don’t exist.” The otter said, bluntly. “Not to Kurokoma, not to Toutetsu, and hopefully, not to Haniyasushin either.”
Reimu blinked, looking up to him. “I’m sorry, what?”
[X] What has happened/what has Reimu done in the past month?
[X] Does she have a rival her age in the other families?
It took Reimu a few moments to process.
It wasn’t like she’d spent a lifetime in hiding, or anything. Her mother had taken her no small amount of places for sightseeing, though usually with some form of pretext and a small flotilla of otters in the area. She’d known for a long time that the pretexts were at least partially there to hide their family outings. She’d never considered that it was to hide the fact she had family to go on outings with.
Even this trip had been intended as one of those intertwined ventures. Her mother had been taking her out to see some of the local vineyards, while allowing her to manage their assets in this sector more directly. Reimu had wondered why they hadn’t gone back to their usual home, the eponymous beach house square in the middle of Kiketsu territory, sooner - Mama had been insistent that the problem was thornier than she’d initially expected.
At least on that, she’d been completely honest. She’d probably been fighting a war on all fronts.
“So…” Reimu searched for the right words. “They don’t know I exist?”
Her guardian shook his head, as another servant brought in a fresh teapot and a few more cups. He poured a cup for each of them. Reimu picked it up and, sensing nothing wrong, took a gulp.
“You're a rather unique case in the whole Animal Realm situation. Toutetsu and Kurokoma are known to have had… relationships, but those people are long gone from the animal realm, if they were ever here at all. Haniyasushin’s only relationships are either with her worshippers or with her damned Haniwa minions.” The otter looked at her evenly. “In that sense - in the personal sense - the only one with anything to truly lose is us, and more specifically Lady Yachie.”
The jidiao took another swig of tea. “So, that means… there’s no heirs to the Keiga family or the Gouyouku Alliance? They’re about the same age as Mama, aren’t they?”
The otter flicked his pendant. “Not that we’re aware of, and - let’s put it this way. Our investigation skills are better than our secret-keeping skills, and our secret-keeping skills are better than any of the other gangs. If we otters were outside the Kiketsu and trying to find a secret like you are in Kiketsu, we would know about it. So the fact we don’t leaves us pretty confident that there’s no pegasus foals or taotie lambs about.”
Reimu put the cup of tea down, having drained it faster than she imagined. Either the otters had brewed it to exactly the temperature she liked, or jidiao had good resistance to drinking hot liquids. Or she was just that thirsty.
The otter began to pour her another cup. She took one look at it and scowled. “You think Mama hasn’t taught me the trick of that teapot?” The otter twitched, before looking guiltily up and scurrying away with the pot and the cup both.
[X] Had anyone heard of a Marisa/Youmu/Akyuu/Kosuzu? The odds were low, but there's no reason not to check.
[X]Does the phrase "Da Ze" sound at all familiar to him?
Reimu considered asking more directly about her other friends. Even if they weren’t in the other gangs, they might still be around.
The problem was with Kicchou Reimu herself, or more specifically, the pile of plushies in her room. Her second life had not been spent with many people her own age for any extended period of time, and those that were around naturally handled her with a bit of caution. Which had, she realised with a bit of heat growing on her face, mixed poorly with her only slightly-remembered first life.
Because right now, at the beach house, there was a custom crow-coloured eagle plushie with a magician’s hat sewn on, one otter with two swords, another purple otter with a flower behind its ear, and a small wolf pup with a bell on its collar, among others that new perspective tied back to her past life, like a blue catfish and a pink snake. And if Reimu started asking the otter about Marisa, Youmu, Akyuu and Kosuzu, they’d assume that group of plushies was what she was talking about.
She’d much rather ask that sort of question to someone who didn’t know her too personally. Or, actually, she’d rather be dead than let anyone know that was how she remembered them at first.
[X] Why would Mama try to placate her in such a way? Had Reimu’s behaviour in the past indicated to her that she should?
[X] How did her relationship with Mama currently stand? Really.
[X] How involved was she with operations, if at all?
Reimu looked up, as a fourth teacup made its way to her. “So. That’s why Mama’s getting you to use the sleeping drugs on me?”
The otter nodded. “...Yes, young mistress. Lady Yachie figured that would be the best way to make sure they didn’t catch any sudden movements from your hiding place.”
“And that’s what Mama thinks is best?” She scowled. “Packing me up like luggage and rolling me around?”
His focus under her scowl was admirable. “Yes, young mistress. Because she couldn’t stay here to convince you herself. It’s less… refined than she’d want, but-”
“Don’t. Use. That. Word.” Reimu’s own mouth shocked her. Refined. It roiled within her, even as she took another sip.
‘Refined’ was the embodiment of the friction of the Kicchou family. It was only natural that Reimu’s mother had wanted her beloved daughter to take on the family business, and Reimu had shown herself an aptitude for it - in a certain sense of the word. She was particularly good at spotting flaws in other plans, and when they’d presented a plan for an assault to her, she’d usually be able to accurately guess if it would work or not. Even if the only reason it wouldn’t work was something she couldn’t have known at the time. She was also unusually apt at understanding human behaviours in relation to various events, and solving what schemes the other factions would attempt to use against them. And where her mother tended to stumble when caught off guard, or get down in the dumps, Reimu was much better at maintaining momentum.
This had convinced no small amount of the upper brass that she was a worthy successor to her mother’s seat… at least in theory. The problem was in execution, as she proved more of an aggressive tomboy than a femme fatale. When Reimu was asked to come up with a plan of attack herself, she usually wanted to charge in and lead it directly (which, to be fair, she could give any of the otters a thrashing any day, and they were roughly even in strength with the eagles and wolves). Her more Kiketsu-like schemes tended to be considered rather hairbrained, and her more successful ones were seen as being more like the Keiga family’s modus operandi.
Not to mention, Reimu never had been as attached to the wilds as the animal gangs had been. It was seen as a common problem among the younger generation. Many didn’t much care about the once-wilds of old hell, and instead to varying degrees happily enjoyed the more modern city, or respected the humans more than the animal gangs officially thought they were supposed to. In the latter sense, Reimu was especially notorious among the Kiketsu for being rather soft on them - and, with the knowledge she’d been one in her past life, who could blame her?
But that was fine, because she was still a child. Still… ‘unrefined’, was the usual euphemism. Reimu had endured endless tactical lessons. She’d been forced to play so much shogi that she could throw a piece and hit a bullseye at twenty paces, which was a good measure of how those games often went. She’d been drilled in exhaustive detail about how to keep up and maintain various front-businesses, use various types of traps, and maintain a whole variety of facades. And she’d been lectured. At exhaustive length. All for the sake of ‘refining’ her into a proper Kiketsu.
It wasn’t anything all that new, she realised. She vaguely remembered being lectured at length by various people in her past life as well, for one reason or another. Some for being too brutal, others for being too soft. But she’d had more reprieves in one sense of the word or the other, more chances to prove the positive qualities of her mindset. Kicchou Reimu was still to be protected.
It wasn’t that her mother didn’t love her. It was just that she didn’t trust her, saw her as a child to still be kept close, rather than a grown woman who could take care of herself. She stopped midway from taking another sip, and scanned the cup, her eyes flicking over to a small bit of powder on her guardian’s paws. The plant got another serve.
“Which is why you’re still trying to drug me?” She growled. “I can sit patiently, you know.”
The otter squirmed. “Your mother just… needs to be in a different location this time. She can’t guarantee your safety herself, so she wanted to make sure there were minimal issues.”
“So she’d use her power on me if she could?” Her guardian-slash-poisoner flinched. Right, that was the other thing. Mama’s power, the ability to make others lose their will to fight back. She didn’t often use it on Reimu, but ‘not often’ wasn’t the same as ‘never’. When it wasn't because of her asking about something like her father, it meant that she felt that her daughter wouldn’t understand, at least not in time, and she needed her to follow Mama’s plan exactly, with no deviations. And that was with the understanding that Reimu tended to be better at spot-thinking.
In other words, it was usually a sign that her mother was panicking. Not necessarily a sign that she was making a bad plan, but undeniably a sign that plan was made under duress. Perhaps this packing plan wasn’t how she wanted to get Reimu back to safety, but it was a way she felt would do the job, and do it quickly.
Which brought into question why.
[X] No, but seriously, what happened last night?
“...So. What’s got Mama spooked, then? Is it what happened last night?”
The otter nodded. After a pause, Reimu irritably gestured for him to elaborate.
“Oh, there was… some strange spell last night. It streaked over the sky and kinda… stopped right above the building.”
Reimu’s eyes widened. “This building? As in… it was coming for us?”
The otter gulped, clearly sweating. “It was like a bunch of balls of light. Came right over to the house and surrounded it for a bit. Real spooky.”
Reimu leaned forward. “And what happened then?”
The otter sighed. “We… don’t know. They dove at the house and just sorta disappeared. Nobody knows what their deal was. But! But, we’re fairly confident the other people around here weren’t involved.”
The ex-miko’s eyes flitted back to the map, and the little island of green. “And… what makes you so sure?”
“Because they actually came from across the Sanzu River.” The otter smiled reassuringly. “And we’re the ones that control the river beaches. So it must have come from the land of the living, young mistress.”
Reimu blinked. “As in from Gensokyo?”
The otter shrugged. “Possibly. Or from anywhere else on the far side.”
[X] What does Gensokyo have in the way of shrine maidens?
[X] Do they have any operations on the surface?
“Do none of the gangs have anyone there?”
The otter sighed. “The thing is, the Yama gets very angry if we start trying to cross in force. Any of the gangs would need at least a couple living operatives on the other side to actually… y’know, maintain a presence there.”
Reimu leant back, thinking. “Right. And the only people that could really do that are the bosses, and me.” Her mind was trying to convince her that there should be some living operatives - like some kind of monkey-girl - but that most likely hadn’t happened yet. She was fairly sure, at least.
Did that mean the lights were what revived her memory, then? It was a possibility. Maybe one of her friends had tried to find her. It’d make sense if at least one of them was in Gensokyo proper, and… pretty much anyone aside from Youmu could have sent something like that, depending on their species.
“How much do we know about the Gensokyo situation, then?”
The otter shrugged. “Not a lot. Until now, we haven’t had much reason to worry about it.” Her guardian patted her on the shoulder. “So it’s probably not something associated with anyone down here. Which… admittedly isn’t much better because that means someone else is looking, but the other gangs didn’t get anywhere near enough information to pin down what it was doing, so we think the exact house is still not known to them. They might even think that was trying to reinforce us. But it’s only a matter of time at this point, and Lady Yachie doesn’t want to give them the chance to get their nerve again. So… we’re heading out today.”
This was said with a tone of finality, and Reimu knew full well there’d be no debating him, at least - likely she’d just be told to ‘take it up with your mother’, which… was a fool’s errand against her mother's power. That didn’t mean the matter was settled, Reimu wasn’t exactly keen on the plan, but it did mean that she wasn’t going to convince him.
One more otter entered the room, holding another cup of tea. She gave him a glare. The otter took one look at her face, sagged with guilt, turned around and left.
She could just go along with it regardless, of course, albeit fight for her apparently still-in-debate right to remain conscious throughout. She may have misgivings, but this sort of situation was one where even she had to admit furtive, tactical planning might work better than her more usual strategies. And if she was allowed to remain conscious, that’d at least allow her to switch tack if the plan went to pieces.
But… she could also break out and make her own way across. Nobody actually knew what they were looking for, and they expected the otters to guard it fiercely; the idea of their prize taking off and running for the hills would surprise the other gangs as much as it’d surprise the Kiketsu. She looked at the recent extension of the Keiga, dividing the Kiketsu’s offshoot from its main. It was an overextended mess, and probably a very active warzone between the Keiga, the Gouyoku, and the Haniwa Corps. It wouldn’t be reasonable for the whole otter convoy to make their way through… but Reimu could perhaps sneak through it herself, then there’d be nothing stopping the Kiketsu from just breaking out with no holds barred.
If her goal was to break out at all. There was another option, one she’d have to get to eventually; talking to Keiki herself, and recruiting her Haniwa against the incoming apocalypse. And judging from the way the map was indicated, and the recent aggressive expansions, it seemed like Keiki was operating very closely to their little holdout here. Conversely, the beach house was a long, long way away from any important parts of Keiki’s territory. If her plan was to sneak out to Keiki, she may as well try it now; if she could get to the Sculptor Goddess, she could at least warn them of the danger… and… well, she’d figure it out from there.
So… those were her choices. Go along with it, or sneak out and try her luck?
[ ] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
[ ] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 14:00
No. 205529
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
She's lucky, but the Otters just openly admitted to being more than capable of catching her in the act.
It would likely be really bad if we get caught and Yachie uses her ability to make Reimu spill the beans. Her 'reawakening' clearly raised alarm bells, so it's best not to turn that alarm into suspicion. The most likely thing I foresee is that they'll think Reimu was bewitched or possessed if they see behavior that is too unusual from her.
Moreover... why would Keiki not just capture or kill us? She'd not gonna trust us. It sucks, but I only see realistic bad outcomes from this and no realistic good outcomes besides maybe Keiki listens to us while in captivity assuming we make it out.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 14:11
No. 205530
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 14:16
No. 205531
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Going to concur that Reimu probably shouldn't be too rash, especially since if it goes wrong, it will probably get into a fight that Reimu wouldn't be able to beat without Floating, if she can even do that anymore.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 14:21
No. 205532
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
The problem is that we just don't have enough info to give at the moment, really. We just get in trouble if we try to sneak out, even if we do cross the battlefield, and we don't have anything of substance to give to Keiki.
There's a chance she recognizes the phenomenon, but if she doesn't, we don't even have a name to give her.
Better to just play along. We should be recruiting the people who can give us information before trying to recruit the heavy hitters.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 14:41
No. 205533
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>>205529
Cake is a god of humans; it might be the case that our... unique circumstances have changed our soul to be partially (or fully) human, which she might recognise.
However, that is far too much risk for a mere hunch, especially the risk of mum finding out everything.
[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 15:14
No. 205534
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Reimu might be the master of brute forcing incidents, but this strikes me as a way to get locked up for our own good. Even if it worked, we'd be drawing the direct interest of every power player in the Animal Realm.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 16:14
No. 205535
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 16:57
No. 205536
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 17:11
No. 205537
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As gravity pulls the earth to its core, the voices cast their choice. I see the flow of the tides. Unerring, constant and strong. And even then... Even if the enterity of the River Sanzu, and were to bear down on my person, I. Would. Stand. And against its tides, I. WOULD. PISS.
[x] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 17:40
No. 205538
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[x] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
Fight the Power.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 17:50
No. 205539
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[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
Lack of Info = Opt for Safest Plan
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 17:55
No. 205540
▼
>>205539 here:
Oh yeah, would Doremy be one of the first people to know who they (Reimu, Youmu, Akyuu, etc) actually are?
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/13 (Wed) 20:24
No. 205541
▼
>>205540
The problem is, how do you tell a dream of the past apart from a purely brain-generated dream?
You’d need to know what the past is, first.
>>205533
I wonder if there’s a way, like a certain stat or something, to measure if Reimu seems more human in mentality or not. If that theoretical stat was suggesting she at least was less youkai-like than most youkai, that might lend credence to being a reincarnated human.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 21:11
No. 205542
▼
[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
For now, let's trust "mama".
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 21:19
No. 205543
▼
If the otter spirits can track the direction that the spell came from, wouldn't that mean that those at the other end of the spell could track where it came from? So whomever had cast that spell which ended up awakening us (which is either one of the other returnees or someone that they might've managed to recruit.) so Reimu might have someone flying their way towards where we are... question is going to be how fast are they heading this way.
[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
-[X]see if one of the otter spirits can draw a line on the map from where the spell came from
--[X]also have someone keep an eye out if anyone comes along that line towards the hideout. just to get a description.
if they are on their way and we get to the beachhouse (which since I'm not too familiar with the animal realm, I'm assuming is near the Sanzu river?) maybe we can see who comes across from the direction the spell came from and get their attention. (aaand also get rid of some embarrassing evidence...)
on another topic, anyone have any guesses what the others will have for choices?
mine currently
Marisa: Fairy/ Animated Doll/ somewhere nearby.
-she seemed pretty bad off, and also her and Cirno going back and forth between who is the strongest & most powerful sounds hilarious, though she might also end up as a fairy maid, i.e. nearby Patchy, and the doll would be nearby Alice since the turtle thing for Reimu had something to do with genji with the 'nearby' guess because she and reimu are pretty much always around each other.
Kosuzu: Tengu/Tanuki/...book Youkai
- mostly of the youkai she interacts with during forbidden scrollery... either that or just her ending up as a book that the rest need to find being funny too.
I don't actually have any guesses currently for Akyuu or Youmu...
and on ANOTHER note: while Suika and Shinmyoumaru aren't at the shrine the entire time and thus likely were away when it was gapped away at the start of the incident, what happened to Aunn? she should've been at the shrine when things started going down! Did she fade before Reimu came to as a spirit?
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 22:53
No. 205544
▼
[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
- [X] But remain conscious for now, in case something goes wrong and we need to get out of dodge.
-- [X] Also take Genji with us. We need him for the coming troubles ahead.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 23:16
No. 205545
▼
I support the idea of taking one of the friend plushies. Not that I think Reimu will actually do it, but even her being tempted to do it would be hilarious.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 23:33
No. 205546
▼
>>205544
I second bringing Genjii around, even if only for flavor text.
>>205543
Marisa I can also see being a kappa, but she has lots of ties with fairies so that might be a solid option.
Kosuzu might be a kitsune, tanuki or a Tokiko-like bird youkai (all ties with Suzuran and books.)
Akyuu is a tricky one, maybe she'll end up as one of the "hidden" youkai in the human village (a tsukumogami, zashiki-warashi, heck, even as Keine's daughter/sister if we take in account their ties to history).
Youmu might end up around ghosts again, maybe working for the Yama instead of Hakugyokurou (ferrygirl in training? chicken little? stone stacker? dunno).
These of course are the obvious choices, and I wouldn't mind curveballs at all (in fact, those make it more exciting). I also tried not to be "OP" so no gods or greater youkai, but it would be funny if one ends up being an alternate shikigami to Ran, a part of team 9 or such. There's one lesser youkai in particular I would love to be featured but might be a long shot, and I'll not say who it is as to not askew anything off course.
There's also the question of "what happens to their old selves? are they retconned or replaced?" but I don't want a direct answer, I prefer to wait until those questions are answered eventually.
I'll shut up now, thanks
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/13 (Wed) 23:43
No. 205547
▼
File
171037339565.jpg
- (93.54KB,
850x1488,
__haniyasushin_keiki_and_joutouguu_mayumi_touhou_d.jpg)
Must admit, this is not the way I expected the vote to be going, but that doesn't mean you're wrong to do it.
Gotta still do some stuff today before I can get to writing, so while the vote's still going, let's add something.
>>205544
>>205545
>>205546
Asking the crowd, are we going all in on emotional support Genjii?
{ } Yes.
{ } No. ...But just barely no.
Anonymous 2024/03/13 (Wed) 23:52
No. 205548
▼
{x] Yes.
Why not? :3
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:00
No. 205549
▼
{X} Yes. Yes, yes, ____ god yes.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:03
No. 205550
▼
>>205547
I ended not shutting up, lol
I say yes, because all of those plushies represent fragments of her old life, so bringing at least one to help herself to remember her old life (or not forget who she originally was) makes sense. And the "Kicchou Reimu" part of her might be attached to them, they're there for a reason on a family outing instead of at home.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:06
No. 205551
▼
{x] Yes.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:40
No. 205552
▼
>>205550
Just to be clear, the plushies representing her old life are mostly at the beach house, with the exception of Genjii.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:41
No. 205553
▼
{X} Yes.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 00:56
No. 205554
▼
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 01:34
No. 205555
▼
{X} Yes.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 02:25
No. 205556
▼
{X} Yes.
absolutely yes.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 02:44
No. 205557
▼
{X} Yes.
This is what is known as a landslide vote.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 03:31
No. 205558
▼
{X} Yes.
Plushie
Mew 2024/03/14 (Thu) 03:48
No. 205559
▼
{X} Yes
Plushie is fren.
[X] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
We probably should take the safe road for now. Worst case, we bolt during the driver's breakaway. Well, if we somehow negotiate to not be drugged.
Kosu 2024/03/14 (Thu) 06:20
No. 205560
▼
I don't know if I'll do this for every character, but here's my version of the new Reimu, based on her description (plus some liberties).
It's not much, but I enjoyed drawing this.
Kosu 2024/03/14 (Thu) 06:21
No. 205561
▼
Also, Yachie's color scheme, just for fun.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/14 (Thu) 06:34
No. 205562
▼
>>205560
>>205561
...
...............................................................
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 11:46
No. 205563
▼
Emotional Support Genjii
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/14 (Thu) 12:00
No. 205564
▼
[2] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
[12] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
- [10] Also take Genji with us. We need him for the coming troubles ahead.
Her thoughts of an independent escape quivered in the wind. She took a deep breath, and pushed the rebellious thoughts down.
“...I’ll go along with it.” She held up her fingers. “But! Three things.”
The otter’s hackles raised a bit. “Yes?”
"First, we need to trace the source of that attack. I trust that you're already on that part, though." The otter nodded firmly. "Good, I'd expect nothing less." She paused, taking a deep breath.
“Second: no drugs. I’ll climb in there myself and I’ll stay quiet myself. If this does go wrong, I want the option to improvise in the moment.”
The otter considered it, tilting his head. “...And the last request?”
She took a moment to take a breath. “Let me pack a small bag of things to bring in there with me.”
“Your belongings will be brought over-”
“With me, in the box. Not a lot. Just some water to drink and a few personal effects. I don’t even mean any electronics.” She waved away an incoming objection. “They’ll help me stay calm for the trip in lieu of going to sleep.”
They stared at each other, for a long, long moment. At length, the otter sighed, raising his hands in defeat.
“You have an hour. Don’t waste it.”
Reimu nodded stiffly. Swallowing down the last of her breakfast, she stood up and walked over to her room. The otter followed, close behind.
She gave him a glare as she stepped through the door. “Don’t you dare follow me in.”
He gave a glare right back. “I can’t trust you to-”
“Then stick a guard outside my window or something!” She snapped, slamming it shut in his face. She turned and shoved her back against the door, latching and locking it with her other hand.
She took a moment to survey the room. It was still the same as she’d left it. Pile of plushies, mahogany furniture, nobody’d even made the bed. She took a step towards her bed -
There was a sharp, high-pitched noise she didn’t expect. Instinct took over. There was the sound of ripping cloth and scraping wood.
When Reimu’s rational mind caught up, she was on all fours between the pile of plushies and her chest of drawers, breathing heavily. She looked down at the source of the sound. A wolf plushie lay in pieces in the middle of the room, gently being snowed on by pieces of stuffing, its squeaker forever silenced.. It’s head only managed to hit the floor after her jaw loosened.
The room’s shadows swam around, and as she sat back on the floor, her tail curled around her legs. She wished she could retract her head into her shell, like a real tortoise. Her collar scarcely sufficed.
The plan to go out on her own was foolhardy, she’d known that from the start. And she’d turned it down in her own head, even if at the time she’d still wanted to fight. But when she’d considered just how ill-conceived it was… the fear had begun to build in her, and it hadn’t stopped.
She’d long been comfortable in the sense that she was well protected. That, at least within Kiketsu territory, she could go where she liked and not receive any retaliation, and that a few escort otters would be enough if she went anywhere technically contested but not actively fought over. The idea that Kurokoma and Toutetsu could jump her at any time had long stopped crossing her mind.
She’d never, not once, considered that might be simply because they didn’t know to look for her in the first place. And now she was all-too-close to being revealed, to being exposed like she never had been before, and if that happened, what safety she’d thought she had would be gone completely.. She’d gone from standing comfortably on the ground to suddenly being thrust on a tightrope, dangling precariously over the edge of a life where she was at risk of being shot in any street she walked through.
Her hands reached out, blindly, until she found the Genjii plushie in her pile. She pulled it close, hugging it tightly. Her nails either found or tore a hole in the fabric, and she dug in deeper. Plushie Genjii had been stitched up from worse.
Some part of her screamed in fury. It was her reawakened, human self - ____ Reimu recoiled at the cowardice. She was a grown-ass woman in her past life, and in this one she’d spent more than a decade at the heart of a Yakuza organisation. She didn’t have time for this. She didn’t even have to fight them, or anyone, she just had to go out there and rush through to the other side.
Even at this age, she’d fought vampires, evil spirits, and god-knows-what else. She shouldn’t be cowering in fear. She shouldn’t be hiding in her room, curled up in a ball, clutching a plushie like a child.
But… Kicchou Reimu was a child. The closest she’d come to really, truly dangerous combat in this life was sparring with the otters and Mama, and they’d never hurt her in any way that could be permanent. In terms of power, she guessed she was… about as strong as her previous incarnation had been at the same age, but she was nowhere near as experienced with her new abilities. Hell, she didn’t know if any of her old abilities stayed or were merged in as well.
She found herself wishing, fervently, for the real Genjii, instead of the plushie. For the one who’d taught her to fly, who’d whisked her away from danger when she bit off more than she could chew. She wished for her friends, who’d all, in their own ways, either pull her out of an emotional slump or help her fight bad guys off.
And, most of all, she wished for Mama. To come home, and tell her it was all alright. That the threat had definitely passed, and that she’d be safe, and she could go back to pretending she was just a spoiled little princess again. To let her rest her head on her lap while she sewed up the holes in Genjii.
____ Reimu’s voice was little more than a single sail in a stormy sea of emotions, and what little it contributed to the maelstrom boiled down to just an extra layer of shame, of proven weakness. The jidiao quivered, with nothing but her own thoughts, holding the plush tight.
Reimu’s Spirit is now Youkai-1.
She wasn’t sure how much time had actually passed, soaking Genjii with tears. By the time she stood up again, the house already looked drastically different. Much of the furniture had been taken away or disassembled - they’d likely not wanted to alarm her before she knew - and where she had eaten breakfast not much more than an hour before, a box now lay, prepared for her.
It was only slightly bigger than her size, with cloth and cushioning lining the edges. The hinged lid had been cut in two parts, one only about the size of her head, and there were a series of handles around its sides, to be carried smoothly by a team of otters. It was all reasonable, practical concerns, done in her best interest.
Reimu took one look at it and wanted to scream. The Animal Realm, being largely populated by spirits, had few cases where one needed to dispose of a carcass. When it was necessary, a gang’s own jaws and stomachs usually sufficed to break it down into something unidentifiable. So it was, perhaps, understandable that they would assume Reimu couldn’t make the connection.
That she wouldn’t see the box for what it so undeniably resembled; a crude but sturdy casket. A coffin, hand-designed for her.
She clutched her bag tightly. She’d gotten herself a drink of water, and refilled it herself, just in case. There wasn’t too much in her bag besides, a few little finger-puzzles her mother had given her to master, and Genjii. A book wouldn’t be readable in the dark, and any electronics could give her position away.
She turned to her guardian, standing solemnly beside her. “As soon as it’s safe, give me the signal. I don’t want to be in there a second longer than I have to be.” Her voice quivered more than she intended, but her guardian dutifully gave no indication of hearing it.
She climbed into the box, lying flat on her belly - there was simply no other way for anyone with a shell like hers to lay in anything resembling comfort. There was a small peephole, right in front of her, which at least gave her some vision and light. The otter looked at her through it.
“I’m going to close the lid now, and we’re heading straight to the car.” Reimu nodded, and the coffin
went
pitch
black.
Reimu shudded. Her hand scrabbled into the bag, pulling the turtle plush close to her chest.
After a few seconds, the box lurched into motion, Reimu’s nails already digging into the cushioning. She was hoisted up high, onto what counted as the otters’ shoulders, and briskly floated out. There was a storm of activity in the courtyard of the hilltop residence. Just over a half-dozen people-moving cars, a few more glamourous vehicles, a couple of trucks.
The one she was carried to seemed largely arbitrary, at first. It wasn’t much distinguishable from the other people-movers, with the exception of its driver, who did look appropriately twitchy and about to wet himself. Some dull part of Reimu’s mind really hoped that he was more hard-driven than he looked; she did not want to add anything else to what was already shaping up to be the worst morning of either of her lives.
It was only once she was inside that its placement became clear. It was positioned such that, when Reimu’s casket was placed into its appropriate spot she could look out at the other cars. Particularly the ostensibly main transport, her decoy. Absolutely decked out to the nines, crawling with otters and covered with weapons.
Her guardian looked at it, cooing. “It was a tense debate on whether to put you in that truck or here. We ultimately decided that… the truck was definitely going to get shot at. And the last thing anyone wanted was to get to the destination and find you bleeding out in there.”
Reimu gave no response. Even if she’d seriously intended to, she’d lost all capacity for words. Her eyes were locked on exactly one thing. The one person in the sea of black cars and green otters with blue clothes, and yellow horns.
Kicchou Yachie was making a grand show of it. She was hurriedly rushing around the decoy car, barking pointless orders and flailing her hands at the otters in what appeared to be transparent panic. Mixed in with that were the few real, cold orders, the ones the otters actually listened to and acted on.
And even below that... Yachie's eyes would glance, every now and then, towards Reimu's confinement.
Her guardian sighed. “Hah… so she’s gonna keep her distance after all, huh? Listen, Reimu. Looks like she’s thinking the best she can do to protect you is stay away for now. But me and the boys are all gonna report that our cars are good shortly. You want me to carry over a message, maybe bring one back?”
Reimu’s heart was beating in her chest. Her throat felt dry already. What could she even say? There were a million thoughts whirling through her head, and her mother seemed so, so far away…
She had a growing dread about this whole situation. Something felt terribly, terribly wrong. But… but she wasn’t sure if it was truly something off she was spotting, or her own terror and confusion throwing her off. She took a shuddering breath, and tried to think of something to say.
[ ] "...We'll talk at the beach house. There's nothing we need to talk about before we go." Anything she actually said would feel too much like a goodbye, or could throw Mama off. She just had to steady her heart and put her faith in the plan.
[ ] (Write in your own suggestion here.)
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/14 (Thu) 12:05
No. 205565
▼
Well, this update's come in the wake of a series of wild surprises. First the fact that they were BOTH landslides, and one of those I fully expected to go the other way. The only reason it wasn't a complete shutout on the latter vote was the valiant efforts of the noble Tidepisser. And then, COMPLETELY taking me by surprise Kosu's given some incredible fanart as well!
I'll mention that, as we go on, the story is being archived at AO3:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/54366490/chapters/137704354
The Ao3 version comes later, and votes are only counted on THP.moe, but it's also much easier to reformat. So if you prefer that reading style or want to more easily comment on an earlier part, feel free to go over there!
Related to that, a question to Kuso.
>>205560
>>205561
Do you mind if I embed one of these images in the Ao3 version? And if it's okay, how would you like to be credited?
Kosu 2024/03/14 (Thu) 12:59
No. 205566
▼
>>205565
I don't mind at all, on the contrary please do, I would be honored.
Credit as Kosuka.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 13:39
No. 205567
▼
[X] ...Please be safe
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 14:55
No. 205568
▼
Genji plush was totally worth the nervous breakdown, if that's what caused it.
I do appreciate the dichotomy between the human soul and current self, though. Like, it totally makes sense that Reimu'd freak out and maul some poor plushies, especially with (relatively) high starting instinct. Of course there'll be downsides to being in tune with our youkai nature. If it gets too much, we can always pull a Kasen.
[X] "...Please be safe."
She's trying the best she can. We can wish her well.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 15:17
No. 205570
▼
I won't vote just yet as i am on break and will wait till i get home for an actual vote. But did i just read that Reimu's instincts are sounding alarm bells?!
My vote will probably be
'something is wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
Please trust me on this.'
And then put something in between _______ Reimu and Kicchou Reimu.
I had something else but i can't recall it right now.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 15:53
No. 205571
▼
>>205570
That is a good point. It was mentioned she can judge how well a plan is going to go, right?
Possibly concerning if those feelings are acting up.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 16:34
No. 205573
▼
Deleted old post... Again. I had a thought.
If her insticts can tell her when a plan will probably go sour, shouldn't she probably check how she feels about Keine and Eirin's plan right now?
>>205570 I like this. Mind if I put a spin on it?
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
I have faith that she can fight if her human spirit is really all that frustrated.
Reimu's spirit stat going to youkai 1 from that is kinda... odd? Not really good, bad, or even concerning. I get that she's acting more in line with her current life than her past life by grabbing the Genji plush, but it's a plush of
Genji. Not some random other plushie.
Maybe it went up more from the immature showing of shredding the other plushie by pure instinct?
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 17:11
No. 205574
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
A good idea.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 17:14
No. 205575
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
What if these otters are traitors?
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 17:23
No. 205576
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
If these otters pull a fast one on us it’s going to be bad.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 18:25
No. 205577
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
>>205573
I think the spirit stat change isn't specifically from taking the plush, but rather from going along with Yacchie's plan in the first place; acting like a Kiketsu. I'm pretty confident in guessing that Reimu would have gotten human spirit if we voted to go out the secret exit and recklessly meet up with Keiki; acting like the incident solving shrine maiden. I mean her inner voice was berating her for it.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 18:35
No. 205578
▼
I wouldn't go for the "i can handle myself." Part myself. It would probably make her distracted with worry of reimu jumping out if something goes wrong. (Especially since Reimu's personal plans lean towards 'fly at enemy personally.') Probably better to keep it to ourselves until its needed. Though mind you the plan would be to do it, its just best if we don't say it.
And i have a thought that might be worse than the otters turning... What if the spell that awakened us wasn't from a friend.
We don't know or even have a clue who caused the incident that result in reimu and co. being sent back, what if they had a means of going back or reacting to the heroines going back. What if we don't have friends following the spell, but hostiles.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 19:03
No. 205579
▼
We did say it though? More specifically, we said that we wanted the option to improvise if things went wrong, and how else would you interpret that when she’s in a chest. Granted, that was to the otter, but you’re a fool if you think he didn’t report that bit to Yachie.
Kosu 2024/03/14 (Thu) 19:08
No. 205580
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I will be fine."
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 19:14
No. 205581
▼
[X] "Something's wrong. Keep an eye out and be safe. I can handle myself."
I like this story, it’s an interesting spin.
Anonymous 2024/03/14 (Thu) 22:10
No. 205584
▼
>>205579 I'd say that "I want to improvise in an emergency" and "I can handle myself" while slightly different is still notably different, especially to a currently panicking mother.
also the bit about
_______ Reimu being irate over Kicchou Reimu's current reaction is a little more notable as not only has she faced vampires and other things around this age, but a then you factor in the PC-98 incident which, while I haven't seen a tier list of strength that includes Mima or Shiniki, I think we've all seen or heard of ones with
YUUKA which means that even a year (or more!) younger than this Reimu, past Reimu has already faced down one of the strongest Youkai in Gensokyo!
also, I don't think we gained a point in youkai, I think it was youkai -1, not youkai :1, I might be wrong though...
anyways, finally have the time to vote.
[X] 'something is wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
Please trust me on this.'
I also want to put something along the lines of
_______ Reimu trying to pull whatever memory or anything from the fragments to get Kicchoumu ready for a fight Now. it might be only mentally, since Kicchoumu can't move or anything, but something before whatever is setting Reimu's instincts off happens, just don't know how to word it...
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 00:26
No. 205585
▼
[-] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
I think we want to thread the needle between self-reliant adult Reimu and child youkai Reimu.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 00:46
No. 205586
▼
>>205576 Here, changing my write in to:
[X] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 01:27
No. 205587
▼
>>205584 here, changing my vote to:
[X] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/15 (Fri) 02:08
No. 205588
▼
File
171046851458.png
- (270.26KB,
579x900,
__joutouguu_mayumi_touhou_drawn_by_wool_miwol__f49.png)
I think the general consensus for half the message is
[X] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out and please be safe.
So what about the second half? Counts so far if I have them correct:
[5] (Don't add anything.)
[6] "I can handle myself/I will be fine.."
Some other notes:
Reimu is now 1-point Youkai-aligned, to be clear, and it's because she gave in to the urge for emotional support genjii. FYI, if you'd voted for her to resist that urge, she would have gone to Human-1.
Also, this is a bit late, but for those speculating on what the other characters could be, keep in mind that the picks for Reimu were A: pretty wildly scattered, and B: Included a Kurodani Yamama, of all people. There will be options that have thematic connections (or just more fanart), but there'll also be some completely out-there picks as well.
>>205584
Perhaps an addendum something along the lines of Reimu consulting her old memories about fighting the other gang heads?
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 02:12
No. 205589
▼
Given that Genji plushie is clearly a good thing, this means that Youkai alignment is officially the light side of the Touhou-Force.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 03:02
No. 205590
▼
Okay so the spirit alignment IS also "current life vs. past life" and not just "thinking/acting like a youkai vs. thinking/acting like a human".
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 03:05
No. 205591
▼
>>205588
Part of the problem is a perspective I've picked up that I'm not sure i want to let go. There does seem to be a notable, if slight distinction between _______ Reimu and Kicchou, and I don't want to lose, well, either of them already. so the thought wasn't Kicchou Reimu asking or searching _______'s memory, but the other way around? let's see what I can addendum to my vote in
>>205587
-[X] _______ pull whatever memories of fighting the other gang heads we can. get Kicchou Reimu ready in any mental way _______ can, get her ready
Now.
and hope it is just the gang heads we need to worry about.
actually since the first part of the vote is fix'd I'm tempted to re-add "Please trust me on this" to my vote...
Just a Child
Mew 2024/03/15 (Fri) 04:51
No. 205594
▼
This is a nice reminder that technically, this is a fate forced upon a kid, even one that's been brought up as a youkai Yakuza. We'll work with what we have now, but it's gonna be rough. For what we should do...
[X] _______ pull whatever memories of fighting the other gang heads we can. get Kicchou Reimu ready in any mental way _______ can, get her ready Now.
This is a good idea. Don't want to be paralysed by fear once stuff goes down. On another note...
[X] Plushie.
Still mildly obsessed over it. Having a friend would be nice.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 10:05
No. 205596
▼
[X] _______ pull whatever memories of fighting the other gang heads we can. get Kicchou Reimu ready in any mental way _______ can, get her ready Now.
Goat of the Black Blood
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/15 (Fri) 14:08
No. 205598
▼
File
171051170470.jpg
- (108.03KB,
850x1057,
__toutetsu_yuuma_touhou_drawn_by_houzuki_hotondo__.jpg)
[9] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out. And please be safe.
- [5] (Don't add anything more.)
- [6] I will be fine.
-- [3] ____ Reimu, pull whatever memories of fighting the other gang heads we can. Get Kicchou Reimu ready in any mental way you can, get her ready Now.
“...Tell Mama… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
She heard the otter take a half-breath. “...Anything more specific about the bad feeling?”
Reimu shook her head. “...Not yet. Just… a bad feeling. Might just be the box… but please tell her to be safe. And… If needs be, I’ll be fine.”
The otter muttered half-under his breath. “Yeah, all that’ll get her not worrying. …I’ll tell her. You just try and figure out what’s bothering you.”
She nodded, before realising there was no way he could see it, and muttering an affirmation. A few seconds later, she heard the car door open, and after a moment, saw the guardian otter float towards her mother.
She clutched the plush turtle tighter, and tried to think back. For as much as she had misgivings about the tactical situation, this wasn’t the type of planning she normally contributed to the Kiketsu. She didn’t like it personally, but that was true of most plans of this style, and many of them worked more than fine. She… she wasn’t a hundred percent certain, but that just… didn’t feel like the problem.
So… was it something deeper, then? Something older? She searched through her memories of her previous life, trying to figure out what was gnawing at her.
She watched as the otter and her mother exchanged words. Kicchou Yachie listened, stiffened, asked a curt question. The otter shrugged, which brought out a visibly deep sigh from the Kiketsu leader, and finally, she looked, really, really looked, in Reimu’s direction. Thinking. Silently asking her daughter the question Reimu couldn’t answer.
Reimu wanted to jump out of the chest. To call it all off, and go right back inside. But she didn’t move. Not now. She had nothing she could tell her mother about why it felt wrong, just that it did.
After a long pause, Yachie turned back to the otter, and gave a short message. The otter nodded, and with a final call, everyone began climbing into their cars.
Reimu kept quiet as the door opened, and the otter buckled himself in. With a nod to the driver, their car began to move forward.
“Your mother… said she’ll keep an extra sharp eye out. And if you figure out what’s bothering you, let me know and I’ll page it through immediately.” Reimu murmured an acknowledgement.
With a stoic expression, he turned to the twitchy driver. “Now, let’s get moving - and take the bumps slow. Cargo’s fragile, after all.”
The trip was taking an agonisingly long time. The driver had drawn up the windows, which at least let Reimu talk to the otters.
“...How far along are we?”
The otter tapped the lid of the box with his paw. “We’re coming up to the bridge over the big canals. About halfway to Kiketsu territory when we cross it.”
The speaker system blared to life. “Look alive, wolves from the northeast flank.”
Her guardian nodded, picking up their microphone as the driver wound down the windows. “That’s always been expected. Waiting for the signal. Assuming Kurokoma sighting?”
“...Yep, affirmative. We're prepping to engage.”
A memory began to surface in the back of Reimu’s mind. She focused on it, pulling up phantom pains and old reflexes of having fought Kurokoma in a past life.
She was… a brute. A big, dumb brute, all raw power - a lot, a lot of raw power - and absolutely no brains. In her past life, Reimu had aligned herself with the Wolf Spirits when she first ventured to the Animal Realm, and Kurokoma’d attacked at the last, proving a very difficult opponent. She was more than Mama’s match in a fair fight - which was no small part in why Mama made sure to never actually have a fair fight with her. Case in point; the speaker blaring out that they’d managed to fire a net at her, and at least temporarily brought her to the ground.
Thinking back on the fight brought a question to Reimu’s mind. Spell card duels. Were they… still a thing? On a conceptual level, the Kiketsu were familiar with them - Kicchou Reimu had managed to turn no small amount of her sparring practice into pseudo-spell card duels, with her concious reasoning having been that the intricate patterns of weak danmaku were both safer, and allowed for practising dodging a lot of fire even from only one or two combatants. But did the Keiga or Gouyoku do anything similar? Was it being introduced on the surface, without Reimu there to create it? …Was Reimu there to create it?
She shook her head, slapping her cheeks to refocus herself. That didn’t matter right now… but it potentially could be useful to keep in mind. She wasn’t sure how much experience of fighting as Miko Reimu had carried over to her new body, but if she fought Kurokoma in a pure brawl, she may as well just jump off a building and save them both some time. But… if she could pique her interest with a danmaku duel, she might be able to at least make herself more interesting to the pegasus. She might spare her life, if she thought Reimu’d make for a fun opponent in the future.
There was a patter of magical bullets on the roof, nearly causing her to jump. “Aaaaand the Gouyoku Alliance is here, coming from the southwest. Look alive, boys!” Her guardian otter put the speaker back down, and nodded to the driver. “Wait for my signal.”
Reimu felt the pit in her stomach deepen. They were right in the enemy’s crosshairs now. And- and she couldn’t see, but the rain of danmaku seemed never-ending. She desperately, desperately hoped Toutetsu wasn’t there.
Toutetsu… even much older and stronger than she was now, Toutetsu had been rough. She was rather infamous among the gangs for just how unpredictable she was - in certain cases being even more shocking than the Kiketsu.
After all, the Kiketsu were crafty, but there was a certain, tarnished level of honesty in that craftiness. The Kiketsu were cold and cared little for any alliance, but still fancied themselves as professionals - they wouldn’t prolong suffering or be needlessly capricious or cruel. The Gouyoku Alliance were the complete opposite, underhanded and viciously so. Where the Kiketsu took pride in being noble rogues, the Gouyoku pride excused all of their ugly flaws.
“Yep, there’s a lot here, let’s do this.” At that signal, the driver screamed, and the whole car lurched forward, peeling away. The speaker blared up with prepared speeches (many of them rather coarse - the sort of words Mama had strictly taught her were ‘words to be used sparingly, for maximum effect’ when she discovered the ship on Reimu not knowing them had long, long sailed) as the car swung a corner, a flash of purple feathers bouncing off the windscreen.
“They’re getting away!” The speaker system blared out. “Let them!” Came another otter’s voice. “At least they’re drawing some eagles away - uh, at least they’re drawing a lot of eagles after them!” The two otters in the car cursed, and the rain of danmaku scarcely seemed to let up.
The jidiao thought back to her bouts with Gouyoku matriarch. Though her strength varied wildly, when she was glutted on the strength of the Hell of Blood Pools, even Miko Reimu in her prime hadn’t stood a chance. It had taken… one of the vampires, she thought, to actually fully break down her body, and then allow her to reform again with-
Reimu’s eyes shot open, and her heart sank.
“Oh no.”
Her guardian paused from firing a volley, pushing back the pursuing eagles. He leaned back in through the window, wide-eyed. “You think of something, kid?”
“When was Toutetsu last destroyed? When did she reform?”
The otter blinked. “Three weeks ago. Shortly after we came here, she got flattened by Kurokoma.”
Reimu gulped. “What’s she been feeding on?”
He never got a chance to reply. There was a sickening, metallic crunch. A metallic, rounded, trident-like weapon had stabbed into the front of the car, and brought with it an unmistakable figure.
Toutetsu Yuuma squatted down on the hood of the car, and gave a baleful grin.
The driver, at least, proved his worth. He swung the car around, smashing through a barricade Reimu hadn’t seen from her pinpoint view. For a moment, they were all in the air, and then they landed hard, Reimu losing her breath as she was thrown against the roof of her confinement. She agonisingly pulled herself upright, staring through the peephole to assess the situation.
The spork was still in the hood, only partially dislodged, but its owner was nowhere to be seen. They were down in the canal now, sharp slopes of concrete on either side of a channel of water. Her guardian was scrabbling for the speaker.
“BACKUP! WE NEED BACKUP! YUUMA’S LOCKED ON TO US!” He turned back to Reimu’s box. “You alright in there, kid?!”
Reimu gasped. “F-fine. Not good, but fine.” She did her best to refocus, resting a bruising elbow on Genjii. “C-can we take the waterway from here?”
Her guardian shook his head. “No, this’d still lead down to the same reservoir. Shit!” His eyes span around, looking for a way out. “Not sure how far we’re gonna get, there’s half of all the damn eagles in the city above us right now.”
The driver-otter’s head was turned directly ahead, and for all the chaos going around them, he seemed oddly calm. “Got a plan, but no-one’s gonna like it. Fold your seat forward, as far as it’ll go.”
The guardian otter complied, climbing halfway out of the car to hit the right level for the seat with his spiritual tail. When he climbed back in, he was nursing his shoulder in pain. The speaker flared up again. “Status report! Where are you? What’s going on?”
Her guardian reached over, ducking as a stray bullet struck the windshield. Another struck the spork, knocking it loose. “We’ve got birds all over us! We’re not gonna be able to get to the far side-”
The driver calmly pulled the microphone from the other otter’s hand. “We’ll be in the tunnel directly south of the canal bridge we were gonna cross. 'Bout two kays from it, you’ll know it when you see it.”
Reimu and her guardian looked ahead, as the latter crawled back to the passenger-side window. The tunnel in question was getting closer and closer, but-
The guard shook his head. “No way. We aren’t gonna fit through that. It’s got the height, but it’s too narrow.”
“But we can block it. And then all we need to do is make sure Reimu’s on the other side.” The driver nodded firmly. “It’ll be good cover, and no-one will be able to see through to the other side. You get to the window, and get ready to jump. ”
Reimu’s claws dug in deeper. They were slightly off-target from it, but the car was only going faster. “B-but then shouldn’t you slow down so I can get out the back?!”
The driver looked away from the tunnel for just a split second, flashing an ice-cold expression of complete calm, with only a slight hint of confusion. “Who said you were getting out that way? Better make sure you don’t bite your tongue off.”
The car swerved in preparation for a direct hit, tumbling Reimu’s box right behind the folded-up passenger-side seat. The driver otter kicked at her guardian at the same time, who fell out his side window, yelling profanities as he went. Then he turned to the box, saluted, and jumped out his side.
Reimu curled up, bit the plushie, and braced for impact.
The sound was incredible. Metal screeched, glass shattered, and Reimu felt herself crash against the front of the box, her horns tearing through the wood and slamming her skull against the frame. There was a moment of dreadful, hanging weightlessness, and then Reimu was thrown in all directions, knocking her senseless. Wall became floor became roof then floor then roof again…
She felt the box hit some of the water of the canal, sending a shock through her side, and then it plowed through, no small amount of water seeping in. The box slowed significantly, Reimu feeling the shock all through her back, and it finally hit something solid, tilting upright.
Reimu could barely make sense of the world spinning around her. Her whole body ached. Somewhat distantly, she heard the voices of the otters.
“If we make it through this, I’m getting you reincarnated so Yachie can kill you, then I’m gonna do it again so Reimu can kill you, then I’m gonna do it a third time so I can strangle the life out of you myself!”
“Worry about that after we get out of this! See Toutetsu anywhere?!”
Reimu slowly opened her eyes. Hell, youkai bodies were tough - some part of her human psyche noted that if she’d gone through that as a human, she’d be at least paralysed if not outright dead, but it seemed like her body, her shell, and some incredible luck had managed to reduce it from a crippling injury to just crippling pain. With every bone in her body aching, she pulled herself up, and looked through the peephole. Or, peepholes, rather, where wood had met horn and surrendered in defeat. The driver was crawling around the twisted metal of the car, while her normal guardian had already clambered seemingly underneath it, and was taking pot shots outside. There were constant flashes of purple, but they were bottlenecked from actually getting in by the few access points - no eagle could smoothly get inside.
“I-I don’t see Toutetsu! Is the cargo okay?” Her otter’s eyes flicked back and forth, torn between wanting to protect her directly, and wanting to guard the position so no one could get in.
“The box was made to keep it together, right? Worry about the damn eagles!” The driver roared, firing magical bullets at an optimistic eagle who tried to dive-bomb one of the holes in one smooth motion. She instead crumpled against the car with a sickening crunch.
Reimu’s heart pounded in her chest. Trying to twist her body around the right way, she curled up her legs, so she could get up at a moment’s notice.
[ ] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
[ ] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
Kosu 2024/03/15 (Fri) 15:18
No. 205600
▼
Tough ride.
If I read it correctly: on one hand, running away alone and leaving her guardians behind might take the heat off her now literal tail and allow her to try and travel home albeit injured (if we can trust the reports of the other factions not knowing about Reimu. Also, every mom's nightmare, even if they're a yakuza boss).
On the other hand, reinforcements have been called before impact and it would be a matter of them reaching the wrecked car in time, if they ever arrive.
I'll wait a while before voting to think about it a little more.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 15:54
No. 205601
▼
the 'get out' option also sounds like its running a lot more on the flight or flight and/or panic while the wait option is more thoughtful. so on top of whatever consequences the choice results in, this also sounds like a possible spirit or instinct choice.
though like the last part, is the fight/flight instinct the youkai part or the Reimu part? unlike last time, I think I'm leaning more on the youkai/animal instinct part this time, might be because its only in the choice rather than the leadup.
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 16:08
No. 205602
▼
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 16:18
No. 205603
▼
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 16:29
No. 205604
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
-[X] Can we breathe underwater? If so, flee by swimming at the bottom of the waterways.
The fact that Toutetsu came after Reimu instead of the decoy prize in the middle makes me think our cover is blown. This has turned into a three-way brawl with all the animal realm's heavy hitters involved (short of Keiki herself), so I doubt reinforcements will matter much at this point. Staying low just gives them more time to find us.
However, the driver's gambit has worked for now. He's clogged the tunnel and gotten us into the canal, which is as close as we get to home field advantage. I like Reimu's chances against anything short of Yuuma or Kurokoma. Besides, while I'm sure the named characters wouldn't be stopped by something as simple as a body of water, I do think the normal eagle and wolf spirits would struggle to get at us underwater.
Also, whatever that driver is being paid, they need to double it. That was impressive.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 17:27
No. 205605
▼
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
[X] She should try to steady her breathing.
[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
A lot of write ins this story I guess. I added another one to this vote. Might not need to be specified at all given that this is the level-headed vote anyway, but eh. Calm (at least calm-ish) Reimu is a Reimu at her best, I think.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 18:10
No. 205606
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/03/15 (Fri) 18:37
No. 205607
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
-[X] Can we breathe underwater? If so, flee by swimming at the bottom of the waterways.
Can’t chance it. She’s just gonna have to book it!
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 19:14
No. 205609
▼
Remember that the main goal, for now, is to get Reimu out without being seen.
The issue with the whole thing is that we're not inside the tunnel with them (Supposedly) and we're in a casket, just outside of the tunnel. And they're being swarmed by 10000 (or so) eagles.
Even if we could presumably fight all of the eagles off, at least 1 eagle would escape and the mission objective of not being seen will have failed.
But then again, maybe the author wants us to be seen to start an adventure...
If the water isn't deep enough to hide in:
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[x] Do not talk back to them to minimize attention towards us.
-[x] Prepare to get out (in a very flashy way) if any eagles take an interest in our casket in such a way that could lead to potential harm soon (We can analyze situations rapidly, right?).
From this point, there is only one way (assuming that Reimu is as strong as she was stated to be earlier...):
--[x] Eliminate all eagles (Reimu style) as fast as possible to get rid of any witnesses (Issue is being potentially discovered by Yuuma [as she will obviously notice if a large majority of eagles go silent.])
If the water is deep enough to hide in:
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[x] Should a sufficient distraction occur within a few moments to acquire the attention of all of the eagles, utilize Reimu's intuition (assuming we do have intuition?) to get out of the casket at the perfect time and swim stealthily away from the entrance into the tunnel, but close enough so that you can reasonably get back in a sufficient amount of time (should the reinforcements manage to overpower the eagles [very likely]).
From both of these options, all bets are off and you'll most likely be rescued by Yachie, shot at by Yuuma, and Keiki will be looking far away with her pair of binoculars with amusement.
Note that the choices deals with major assumptions: That Reimu has intuition (she probably does), that the current Reimu could potentially overpower the eagles quickly enough, that Reimu's shell color won't just immediately garner the attention of the eagles and result in the end of the run, and etc...
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 19:23
No. 205611
▼
Thinking over it a bit, the problem with hiding in the box is that if the situation does get worse, we're nearly certain to get seen. That said, running away from the holdout that reinforcements are rushing towards, while injured is just dumb. So how about this:
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now.
-[X] Find a place to hide inside the tunnel, away from the box.
-[X] Make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 19:30
No. 205612
▼
I don't think that stay down option means that we are staying in the box the entire time, but between getting out the box
Now, versus, waiting for the right moment to do so. we probably are either way, but one is calmer and waiting for the right moment and the other is hindbrain, well, the option as stated sounds like panic.
so, yeah, this is
>>205601 changing my vote to:
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
[X] She should try to steady her breathing.
[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
Kosu 2024/03/15 (Fri) 20:17
No. 205613
▼
We're not sure that the other side of the tunnel is safe either.
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/15 (Fri) 22:01
No. 205614
▼
Just for everyone’s FYI. Reimu being spotted or captured is still up in the air. One of these options will mean being at least seen, the other will mean she at least escapes for now. Whether that is from the immediate escape, or a slightly more patient escape, remains to be seen (or not seen). It also won’t have an effect on spirit, because I feel like both Reimus are equally likely to want to get out of the box right now, albeit for slightly different reasons.
However, I will say that one of the write-ins for one of these choices was going to be an option down the line that’d effect spirit or instinct, so if that write-in comes into play, it will have that effect automatically.
>>205609
She is in the tunnel behind them. The driver’s controlled crash has plugged the main entrance to the tunnel and put Reimu deeper into it.
Unrelated to anything, my mental image of the city for all this is basically just GTA V’s Los Santos.
Anonymous 2024/03/15 (Fri) 22:54
No. 205615
▼
[x] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
There is an entire army of eagles bearing down on us and the only thing stopping them from reaching us are 2 otters and a crashed truck. Those two otters are going to be overwhelmed long before reinforcements arrive, so there will be plenty of time for at least a few of the eagles to budge the truck enough to get in to the tunnel. When they get in here, they are 100% guaranteed to find us in this box, which is what we are trying to avoid.
We need to get while the getting's good. Its time to quite being an obedient little Mama's girl and take some action. That's the whole reason we argued to stay awake in this box, so we could take action once the plan went pear shaped. And this looks pretty darn pear shaped to me.
>b-b-b-but we'll never make it while limping.
-[x] You are Reimu. Float you numbskull!
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 00:05
No. 205616
▼
>>205614
Well, in that case...
>>205609 changing my vote to:
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
-[X] Make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 02:08
No. 205617
▼
>>205615
Yeah, my issue with 'waiting for the right moment' is that there's no guarantee that we're gonna get a 'right moment', it could just get straight-up worse from here. We don't know where Yuuma is but I want to be ready when she comes.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 02:27
No. 205618
▼
Personally, I feel like trying to do anything more with hiding in the box is like continuing to bluff after you've been re-raised twice. Even with the driver's heroic efforts, I'd be extremely surprised if reinforcements reached us before the eagles did.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 03:00
No. 205620
▼
Whoops, needed to delete the original message as I forgot to note I was a previous post changing my vote!
...
...
...urrrg its hard to choose, I might be even reversing this depending on followup posts
I am
>>205612 changing my vote to:
[X] She should try to steady her breathing.
-[X] She needed to get out of the box, now.
--[X] Make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner.
----[X] You are Reimu. Float you numbskull!
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 04:11
No. 205621
▼
... follow up to
>>205620.
I... still don't like the get out
now option because the tone of the pick reads like Panic, which is probably going to impact everything else that follows in the next part. I'm not even sure my vote even works because of how its pretty much gutted the choice as it is... both choices probably will involve Reimu getting out of the box, it seems more in just what sort of state and/or mindset it will be in.
dang it, I am changing my vote (
>>205620)
again to:
[X] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
[X] She should try to steady her breathing.
[X] make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner
[X] (when you inevitibly get out.) You are Reimu.
Float you numbskull!
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 04:24
No. 205623
▼
Wow this is becoming a disaster of vote changes and write-ins. I feel kinda guilty for contributing.
Also it seems like y'all figured it out but I was tempted to ask in what world dragons are able to breathe under water. Though I guess the turtle part is a thing, too.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 04:31
No. 205624
▼
>>205605
This is getting stupid, but I'm willing to conribute to voting for this write in, too.
[X] (when you inevitibly get out.) You are Reimu. Float you numbskull!
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/16 (Sat) 04:52
No. 205625
▼
File
171056477072.jpg
- (48.64KB,
500x789,
__remilia_scarlet_touhou_drawn_by_60mai__773510fef.jpg)
>You are Reimu. Float you numbskull!
...May have briefly forgotten that reimu can fly. Look, I wrote the options at 1am my time. They could have been written better.
If I have the count right, it's CURRENTLY 6 for stay in the box - 616(was 609), 613, 621 (was 620, 612 and 601), 605, 603 and 602
For get out ASAP, it's currently 5 votes - 615, 611, 607, 606, and 604
Not finalised, just... putting a pin in what we have so far so I don't have to try and recount this again.
For those talking about the path of escape, I think that, at the very least, Kicchou Reimu is an excellent swimmer, considering the Kiketsu explicitly take the waterways. Probably can either breathe underwater or at least stay under for a good long while like a non-magical turtle.
And with those, we're currently at:
3 for diving underwater
and 3 for floating in the sky
>>205623
It may be a shitshow, but it's
our shitshow.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 05:00
No. 205626
▼
>>205625 It seems the manga forgets they all can fly half the time, heck Marisa in a recent Lotus eater chapter forgot Reimu could too... and even after getting a reminder still insisted on climbing down the slow way with climbing picks!
also in regards to floating, I wasn't thinking way up in the sky, more like just above the ground/water surface if its painful from the impacts to walk/swim...
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 05:09
No. 205627
▼
>>205626
> I wasn't thinking way up in the sky, more like just above the ground/water surface if its painful from the impacts to walk/swim...
In a little waterway tunnel, there's not a whole lot of difference. Like two metres at most.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 11:04
No. 205628
▼
>>205625
Just making sure to let you know can set the update timer (click on the three dots above the postbox, it's a clock icon) up as a way to quasi limit voting time in case sporadic voting becomes too bothersome to deal with; it won't disable people from posting votes or anything like that, all it does is make a timer counting down to the set date appear at the bottom of your post. All it is is telling anons to get their votes in time or they'll be ignored (the votes, not the anons (but you could do that as well if you want to (you dou you)))
This is how a post using the update timer looks like
>>/shrine/41116
Just to make the point abundantly clear, this is just a suggestion in case you feel overwhelmed with chaotic voting changes or if you feel it makes your life as a writer more manageable.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 12:53
No. 205629
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
-[X] She should try to steady her breathing
--[X] Make sure the Otters are holding up alright in the usual TsunReimu manner.
---[X] Get in the water and hide
if this is still gouyoku territory, then there might be something at the end of the tunnel i'm not too keen on finding out.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/16 (Sat) 13:23
No. 205630
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File
171059543619.gif
- (6.57KB,
56x118,
Shard_of_Dreams_-_Extended_-_Mayumi.gif)
>>205628
Eh, its fine. the bigger problem isn't how fast they're doing their votes; it's me losing count of different votes. People being uncertain isn't too bad of a thing.
I will ask one thing, though, to y'all. If you're just adding write-ins to a previous vote, no need to write out the base vote again. The easiest way for me to count the votes is ctrl + f the exact vote phrase with an [X] at the start.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 15:23
No. 205631
▼
>>205606 Here, adding something to my vote if we decide to bug the hell out.
[X] Don’t forget Genji.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 20:02
No. 205632
▼
>>205630
I swear I've seen this style before...
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 20:51
No. 205633
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 22:00
No. 205634
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
Anonymous 2024/03/16 (Sat) 23:33
No. 205635
▼
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
-[X] Can we breathe underwater? If so, flee by swimming at the bottom of the waterways.
-[X] Don’t forget Genji.
>>205632
It's from a Pokemon-style Touhou fangame. Seems to be specifically from a mod for the expansion.
>Touhou Puppet Dance Performance: Shard of Dreams - Extended
All Hell Breaks Loose
Mew 2024/03/17 (Sun) 00:40
No. 205636
▼
Well this was a moment. Seeing that Yuuma personally went after us, yeah, they have a good idea that we are here. Best laid plans, yadda yadda. So, we break off, maybe get caught, or, we stay here, and get caught when they search the cargo. Yeah, I'll take my chances.
[X] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
On method... Water. Saki can fly, and even if we can, probably not fast enough to avoid her.
-[X] Can we breathe underwater? If so, flee by swimming at the bottom of the waterways.
As much as I'm loathe to do this...
[X] Leave everything in the box. Yes, including the plush. Travel light.
Sorry Genji. Maybe in another life (or story) we can keep you. That's the plan. Run, hide, whatever. Our job is to stay unnoticed until backup arrives. Whether we stay in proximity to the crash or book it down the river, we need to go.
Brain Food
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/17 (Sun) 01:14
No. 205637
▼
File
17106380704.jpg
- (200.36KB,
850x1593,
__toutetsu_yuuma_touhou_drawn_by_maboroshi_mochi__.jpg)
[X] Steady her breathing.
[X] Make sure the otters are holding up, in her own Tsundereimu way.
[10] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
[6] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
- [3] You're Reimu. Float you numbskull!
- [6] Dive underwater to hide/get away.
-- [2] Don't forget Genjii.
-- [1] Leave everything in the box. Including the plush. Travel light.
She took a moment to steady her breath. She did her best to mimic one of the otter’s voices as she yelled out. “Cargo’s fine! Worry about your own ass, you idiot!”
Her guardian’s head momentarily jerked back, before nodding and returning fire again. "I'm at least good enough that the cargo's my top priority!" Reimu took another slow, steady breath, trying to think things through.
She took a look around her confinement. It was in rough, rough shape - her horns weren’t the only thing that that pierced through. The lid’s two halves had both been viciously perforated from her shell, leaving small holes all across them, and much of the stuffing was hanging loose on the cushioning. A tiny bit of light filtered through the holes, revealing the rather dire state of Genjii, who’d been torn by fang and claw alike. She put the two pieces of turtle plushie in her bag, and sealed it tight.
As she tried to steady her thoughts, one fact came through crystal clear; Yuuma had their number. It didn’t matter why at this point, the fact was that she did. Trying to hide in the box was pointless if they already knew where she was - it’d just be waiting for the enemy to sneak up on her or reveal her. She needed to hide somewhere else, to wait out Yuuma’s inevitable attack.
One of the otters took another potshot, yelling out to the group. “They’re starting to let up on this end… where the hell’s Yuuma?!”
She opened up the top half of the lid, and felt her breath hitch. There was a manhole cover right above her box, connecting to the street above. Every part of her intuition screamed at her - that’s where the Taotie would attack from. Not only would she be unable to hide, Yuuma’d basically land right on top of Reimu.
“There’s a manhole cover above the cargo!” The driver’s head whipped around, and he dived in the water, swimming over to cover the new entrance.
Reimu, for her part, slipped out of her box. It was hurried, but now that she knew for a fact it was the better plan, her thoughts had come into some kind of icy clarity. She checked in the box to see if anything would give her away, before making sure to pick up her bag with Genjii and the puzzles in it. Genjii was most important - for serious reasons, she assured herself. Finding a child’s toy in the box would be a dead giveaway as to its previous contents. Fortunately, any Kiketsu with half a brain only used watertight bags.
She slipped into the water not a moment too soon. Already, she heard the scraping of the manhole cover being moved, and she dove into the depths. Spotting a small grate in the dark water, she swam under it. Here, she’d be incredibly hard to spot from above, but still able to watch the entrance.
The driver was moving to use the box as cover, but a flash of light from the streets above blinded him. An unmistakable figure leapt down, her weapon gleaming as she struck him. He hit the wall hard, slumping with a groan.
Reimu felt her breath hitch in her throat.
Toutetsu Yuuma squatted on top of the box, grinning maliciously. “Hold fire outside the truck there! We got the box.”
Though she couldn’t see him from this angle, she heard her guardian sputter in fury. “Toutetsu… you bastard.” The taotie puffed up her chest, grinning like it was the best compliment she’d gotten all day. “How… how did we get found out?”
The Gouyoku matriarch cackled, bending over and screwing her eyes shut with her raucous glee. The guardian otter surged forward, but a swooping attack from an eagle through the manhole grounded him. “Ahaha… Let’s call it an educated guess. You puny little otters think you’re so damn clever, it was practically a given that the big prize wasn’t going to actually be in the big truck. The only question was which feint was actually gonna be the real one.”
When Yuuma’s eyes opened again, Reimu’s eyes went wide with them. The taoties eyes were glowing with a spectral, green glow.
A very, very familiar green glow.
“And if you wanna think like a Kiketsu… all you need is a little brain food.” She grinned with oozing malevolence. Without waiting longer, she plunged her spork into the top section of the box lid. “Now… let’s see what’s behind door number one, shall we?”
The otter roared in defiance, but couldn’t do anything to stop her as she slowly, savouring every moment, pulled the box open…
To find nothing.
There was a long, long pause. The eagles clustered around Yuuma. Her guardian looked around, confused, unable to see from the floor why they were suddenly hesitant.
Yuuma, after a moment, shut the box. Then opened it again, as if that would change the results. She briefly looked at the inside of the lid.
“Where…?”
She jerked upright, leaping down from the box and pinning Reimu’s guardian to the floor. “WHERE IS IT?!”
The guard coughed, but managed a weak chuckle. “Don’t… know what you’re talking about.”
“Eagles!” The various birds stood at attention. “Is Yachie still trying to break through to this spot?!”
“Y-yes lady Toutetsu! This must be the cargo!” One of the eagles spoke up, not flying out of Yuuma’s range fast enough. She pulled her spork from the otter, using the back of the oversized implement to slam the speaker into the wall.
“Then I want you dumb little tweety-birds guarding every entrance and exit to the waterway, and I want the rest of you to maintain that bottleneck so the Kiketsu can’t get in! We’ll either find Yachie’s secret or force whoever’s carrying it straight into Keiki’s reservoir!”
She stormed down the tunnels, muttering viciously. The eagles flew into a flurry of activity, with several swooping down on the otters to pull them away. Her guardian managed no small amount of choice words as he was dragged away, though they came with a triumphant tone to them.
Toutetsu paid the insults no obvious heed as she stomped into the darkness, growling. Reimu watched her pass closer and closer overhead…
Only to stop nearly directly above Reimu. The taotie’s nostrils flared, and she sniffed. Reimu heard a mutter of “Yachie…?” As the matriarch sniffed, trying to find the source of the scent.
Reimu kept herself as still as possible. She didn’t move a muscle. From above, she’d almost certainly seem to be little more than some debris beneath the grate, but if she moved, it’d all be over. She tried to be almost statuesque, hoping, desperately, that after all this Yuuma wouldn’t sniff her out.
An acrid smell suddenly filled the air. The taotie’s next sniff got a noseful of the scent, making her half-choke on it. “The hell? Is there a chemical leak somewhere? I swear, if that’s some new plot by Keiki…” She stormed off into the darkness, uttering various threats.
Eagles were swarming the entranceway now, with some flying deeper into the tunnel. Reimu wondered if the Kiketsu would be able to break through… and decided that, no, that wasn’t likely. At least not here. The Gouyoku had seized the bottleneck for themselves,
Which meant Reimu would have to find a new way out too. She took a deep breath, and dove beneath the waves.
The waterways had long been the Kiketsu’s preferred means of covert transport. Many of their species were aquatic, after all, and could move almost as fast or faster under the water than they could above it.
Kicchou Reimu wasn’t that good, but she did swim with natural ease. Swimming was… strangely calming, in a way that her past life had never experienced in the act. Her mother had told her it was something to do with Jidiao instincts, which slowed their heart rates to a crawl while underwater so they could stay down there for longer. Whatever it was, it was helping a lot to defray her nerves.
Reimu could stay in the depths for quite a while with no major issue, either crawling along the bottom, swimming full-bodied with her tail, or gliding along with just her eyes and ears above the surface, which left the pursuit of the eagles more or less resembling a bunch of purple-glowing headless chickens. That was another matter; most of her pursuers glowed bright purple, and the only one who didn’t was effectively having a giant tantrum at having been denied her prize. She could spot nearly every enemy from a good distance away, and gliding along with her ears cresting the surface was enough to spot the last of them.
Instinct has increased to 3.
Moreover, these waterways had been controlled by the Kiketsu before Keiki seized the reservoir, and were thus duly postmarked, with deep grooves well beneath the surface of the water acting as directions. Where the waterways were essentially maze-like to the Gouyoku, to Reimu it was like travelling well-signposted streets - still potential to get lost, but easy enough to pick a general direction or a desired landmark and move in that general direction.
She’d been drifting around, trying to find an exit near Kiketsu territory, and so far had no luck. The eagles seemingly had gone by air, and plugged as many of those holes as they could find from above. Reimu hadn’t found any locations where she was confident she could take out the guards without being spotted, especially as her pursuers may not be able to see her in the water, but did naturally assume she would come from the water. She needed something to draw their attention away, if only for a moment.
As it was, she was slowly being herded, closer and closer to the Haniwa’s reservoir. She was gliding along the surface, trying to think of a plan, when she heard a pair of voices. One had that ever-so-pleasant screechy quality characteristic of many of the eagles. “You! You’re the Kiketsu secret, aren’t you?”
The responding voice was male, old, and had a certain jovial quality to its timbre - Reimu couldn’t even see him and already knew the eagle was badly off-target. “I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m here for other matters entirely.”
“A likely story! This is Gouyoku territory. What are you doing in the waterworks here, human?”
A gentle chuckle came in response. “Right now? My back is killing me, so I’m trying to rest it. You wouldn’t mind helping a poor old man, would you?”
Reimu rounded the corner. The greyed old man in question was leaning against the wall, breathing just a bit heavily. He was wearing green overalls, which Reimu presumed meant he was more likely an actual worker here, but the eagle flapping behind him took the green as proof of his Kiketsu allegiance. He kept his hair in a sizable bun at the back of his head, but he had a decent ghost-white beard and moustache to accompany it as well. The cement wall supported his weight as he tried to reach his back, unsuccessfully.
Reimu was quite certain she’d never met this old man in her life - in either of her lives. And yet… and yet. Something in her intuition was tweaking about the old man.
“Hah! You’ll not fool me with that ploy! Maybe I should get Toutetsu to come here, and really show you what for!”
The old man chuckled. “Would you? That would be wonderful. Her spoon should be good for my back.”
The eagle came in for a landing, on a small bridge behind the old man. “...What, you want Toutetsu to come?”
He turned his head, giving a grin with some difficulty. “Ah- pay that no mind, I’m just a regular old worker here.”
Mist seemed to be pooling around the eagle as it clicked its beak in suspicion. “Then where are your tools?”
He managed a weak shrug. “Unfortunately, I dropped them when I threw my back out. I think they’re in the water beneath you now. You could go down there and check yourself.”
The eagle immediately spread its wings. “Ah, so that’s your game! You plan to lure me into the water and attack me there- well I’m not fooled, Kiketsu! I’ll give you what for just by myself!”
Reimu surveyed the situation. It had been some time since she’d last seen anyone else (Yuuma, specifically, heading the opposite direction) and despite the ruckus the eagle was making, nobody else seemed to be coming close. The eagle and the old man it was harassing seemed to be the only people anywhere nearby.
Reimu’s tail flicked beneath the surface. All she had was one very distracted target, and one very debilitated potential witness. With that said, it was possible that the bird would see her in the scuffle, or there were other potential witnesses coming… but now seemed like it could be her chance for a little payback.
[ ] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
[ ] No, this was still too risky. Better to stay low...
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 01:44
No. 205638
▼
[x] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 01:57
No. 205639
▼
[ ] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Finally an opportunity for Reimu to measure how decent of a fighter she is, especially since we still don't have confirmation whether Floating is still a thing.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 02:13
No. 205640
▼
As
>>205604, I want to take a moment to say, I absolutely called that.
The current vote I'm less sure about. I don't have any real idea of who the old man is, (maybe Youki if his origin got shuffled around along with Youmu's), but I'd be surprised if his presence was coincidental. And while it could be bait, I think there's better odds he's somehow important, though I'm at a loss as to how.
Besides, this is Reimu. A younger, youkai Reimu, but still Reimu. She's not going to leave a human at the hands of a youkai, not when helping out is this plausible.
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 02:49
No. 205641
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/03/17 (Sun) 03:30
No. 205642
▼
- [X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
-- [X] Retreat into her shell and spin like a top directly towards the eagle!
Let's have Reimu pull a Bowser to save the old man.
Kosu 2024/03/17 (Sun) 03:32
No. 205643
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Because if this old man turns to actually be Youki, he doesn't even need to be saved and would appreciate the gesture, would even help Reimu if needed be.
Let's see what happens.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 04:07
No. 205644
▼
... Is that Youki Konpaku?
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 04:43
No. 205645
▼
so there's two options here, it could be Youki... or, green colouration, grey hair, old... Genji? in a human form?
probably is the former, but if it is the latter, did we accidentally Voodoo his back out with the doll?
either way, going with Reimu's intuition (glad that what I voted for lost this time around as this was the right choice, though +3 Youkai instinct from swimming, ouch, or potentially not, but still, wow that's a jump in score.) seems like the best bet, regardless of who it is.
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 04:54
No. 205646
▼
>>205645
Fortunately, it's instinct, not spirit (which is good).
A chosen one shall come, born of no father, and through her & companions will ultimate balance between youkai and humans be restored.
Refer to the bottom portion of
>>205484 for further information on instinct & spirit.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 05:05
No. 205647
▼
205644 here. Forgot to add this part.
We might have to forget about doing this non-lethally. Because unless Reimu manages a stealth takedown, the eagle would get a good look at her and quickly figure out the secret and would have to be silenced either be Reimu going lethal or her mom doing Yakuza Things(TM) later if the eagle ends up captured.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 05:20
No. 205648
▼
>>205645
>>205646
Instinct increased TO 3, not BY 3. It was 2 before, so it increased by 1.
Equivalence
Mew 2024/03/17 (Sun) 06:06
No. 205649
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Our responsibility remains the same. Protect. Enough said. As for how...we aren't going to kill. Yes, consequences, but remember. Reimu made the spell card rules to stop the use of lethal force. As idealistic as it seems, it has been done once. If the rules aren't in place, well. We just have to do it again.
[X] We're doing this non-lethally. This is what we're supposed to stop, after all.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 06:33
No. 205652
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
I think I'm swearing off write-ins for a while. That last round of voting was a shit show.
>non-lethally
Without the spellcard rules? He WILL try to kill us, you know. What happens when the eagle runs off to tattle about us?
I'm not gonna say we SHOULD have Reimu kill. What I am gonna say is "whatever happens, happens."
The end of the post seems to imply she's gonna try to do this non-lethally while trying to not be seen anyway, so...
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/17 (Sun) 07:17
No. 205653
▼
>>205640
>>205645
Y'all have no idea how close it was. I was just about to start writing Yuuma's entrance on top of Reimu when
>>205629 came in and tied the vote. For me it was bedtime, so I slept on it and come the morning, quick escape was winning handily.
>>205648
Confirming, she only went up by 1 point.
Currently there is only... two? possible cases I'm potentially planning where someone MIGHT gain/lose multiple points in one hit... and neither is one for Reimu. Heck, it might never come up if those particular person/species combination isn't picked, or they don't have the stats when those potential events happen...
>>205647
>>205649
>>205651
To be clear, yes, she's going for a stealth takedown and one-hit knockout. This is both what Kiketsu excel in and entirely in line with Shrine Maiden strike hard and fast m.o.
Also, it's a ghost. Just thought I'd mention that.
>>205651
I don't mind write-ins, even if last time was a little excessive. In fact I'll sometimes deliberately leave more elaborate versions of options unoffered and see if anyone writes in the elaboration, or immediately fill in a write-in if itd be something that'd obviously change the situation. (e.g. if someone had written in to check and open the box, i'd have written a quick post about the manhole above you)
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 10:53
No. 205654
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 13:03
No. 205655
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
Anonymous 2024/03/17 (Sun) 21:35
No. 205656
▼
>>205653
I figured you didn't or you would have just discarded them. My thought is more that it may be a little early for them (thread 1) and - yeah - last vote was a lot.
Hiding spot
Kosu 2024/03/17 (Sun) 23:43
No. 205657
▼
Let's hope we can escape safely.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 01:37
No. 205658
▼
[X] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
-[X] Go for a chokehold from behind
been trying out a ghost/clean hands run in dishonored recently, i'm feeling in the mood for some good ol' stealth takedowns.
The Old Man in Green
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/18 (Mon) 08:53
No. 205659
▼
File
171075202110.jpg
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__konpaku_youki_touhou_drawn_by_findzhenxin__sampl.jpg)
[12] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
[0] No, this was still too risky. Better to stay low...
- [X] Retreat into her shell and spin like a top directly towards the eagle!
There was no debate to even be had. This was her chance to get a sense of how strong she was, to be a little bit more like her past self, to give the eagle the start of the payback the whole damn flock deserved for how her day was going. And the only reason the man was in danger was that the eagles were chasing her. She locked her eyes on her target, and began to drift over, silent as the grave.
A random memory from her past life surfaced - something one of her old friends had shown her, some clip from the outside world of a spinning, spiky turtle. It was a ridiculous, crude move… could make a good centrepiece for a spell card, though. Regardless, she needed one good, hard hit to knock the eagle out cleanly; it wasn’t going to suit her purposes here.
But she could do the next best thing. She kept up her steady approach, waiting until she was nearly at the bridge the eagle was yelling from. When she judged herself close enough, she dived, using her tail to slap the surface of the water as she swam beneath the old metal crossing.
The eagle spun its head towards the direction the noise came from, but saw nothing. Reimu quietly broke the surface on the far side, taking to the air and floating just a couple of inches above the surface. And then, she twisted her whole body, bringing her tail around at whiplike speed. The eagle had only just begun to turn around when her tail came, and smashed into his face.
It was immediately effective - far, far moreso than she expected. There was a bright flash of light, and the eagle was knocked far back, its spectral form immediately losing cohesion and dissipating into mist. He’d take a good long while to reform, that was sure. Reimu blinked - how had she done that?
That was just a physical attack, but the effects… the feeling…
It felt more like youkai extermination. Like a shrine maiden’s youkai extermination. And she’d done it with just her tail, without using any of her tools. How the hell…?
She blinked, refocusing. “Hey, Gramps, you alright?” She gently alighted on the surface of the bridge, looking him over. His clothes were torn, but there were few injuries that looked significantly concerning. He groaned, stretching up.
“Mmmmm… I’ll be alright.” He flexed his back, but didn’t turn. “In fact, I think that last peck hit just the right spot.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “...What’s so interesting over on that wall?”
“Nothing, lass. But… you’re the one they’re looking for, aren’t you?” …Reimu could have kicked herself. She’d gone into full on miko-mode and was now standing exposed, on the bridge, directly behind the old man like she wasn’t essentially a fugitive.
"E-err... I'm... I'm not..."
He began a series of stretches, his bones creaking. “You’re a young kid wandering alone in the waterways, despite them being occupied by a bunch of eagles looking for a ‘secret’ belonging to the Kiketsu. You’ve been swimming through them like a Kiketsu, judging by the fact you sound like you’re dripping wet, and you took out an eagle in one hit, meaning you’re no friend of theirs and fairly well trained.” He gave an affirmative grunt. “Most likely, you’re some secret child of a high-up Kiketsu. Considering that you’ve not managed to get to the surface despite being that strong, I’m guessing… that even seeing you would give away your secret identity, so you’re likely a very unique species." He raised a single finger. "Most likely Yachie’s kid herself.”
Reimu stuttered. Her brain consulted all of its resources to come up with a clear, concise and effective lie to cover all the evidence.
“N-no… I was… Just… Visiting.”
There was a long, long silence. The old man coughed, and cleared his throat.
“Well, you don’t have your mother’s silver tongue, lass.” He chuckled. “Regardless, the point is that it’s probably for the best that I stay facing this way so I can’t give an actual description, no? After all, if they weren’t pecking me, they’d be pecking you instead.”
She flinched. “Um… sorry. There were a lot of things, and… I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
The old man gave another chuckle. “Just teasing you. Tell you what. You grab my equipment from the waterway for me, and that means I can probably get to where I need to go and back without being questioned. And I don’t think anyone will be asking me after the fact if I happen to know what Yachie’s secret is.”
Reimu nodded. “...Sure, gramps. I’ll take a look, at least.”
She dived into the water, looking around. There was something in there that did look interesting - two things bound together, long and thin. A mop, and a broom, maybe?
As she got closer, their shapes became a little more clear. They had a very gentle curve to their shapes, and had a roughly oval cross section. One section had what almost looked like… a handguard…
It was a katana. A sheathed katana. They both were. Reimu’s intuition roared.
She picked up the smaller blade, and pulled on the handle, unsheathing the sword. It was a perfectly maintained weapon, polished to a mirror sheen. She couldn't just see her own reflection, she could pick out individual branches of the gnarled tree behind her just by looking at it.
“So this is Roukanken? Pretty plain-looking katana, if you ask me.”
The owner of the sword groaned. “No, that’s Hakurouken. Roukanken is the katana with the white tassel, Hakurouken is the wakizashi.”
“Wakizashi are just stubby katanas.” Reimu retorted, sheathing the sword and handing it back.
Youmu sighed. “You really don’t appreciate a good weapon, do you Reimu?”
“If it works, it works.” She said, shrugging. “Though, frankly, I’m surprised you prefer the smaller one. Most people who like these swords seem to think the bigger the better.”
The half-phantom tapped out a list on her fingers. “Well, one, it’s a lot less unwieldy in tight spaces. Two, you can reangle it faster and I’m fast enough on my feet that the reduced range is negligible. And, while Roukanken was made for me… Hakurouken is a family heirloom.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Really? Can only your family use it?” She vaguely remembered that some of her own family’s sealing gear worked similarly to that.
The gardener nodded eagerly. “Yeah, it’s a very special blade! It has the ability to cut confusion, and it can send spirits straight to Nirvana. But if anyone else tries to wield it, the blade passes through without cutting anything. It’s only in my family’s hands that it’s solid enough to actually cut anyone.”
Reimu immediately pictured Marisa promptly trying to slice Youmu with the blade, just to test it out. She tried to imagine how that conversation would go, staring at the hilt of the katana. Wakizashi. Whatever. “A half-ghost blade for a half-ghost family? Does seem to be pretty effective, though.”
Youmu smiled. “Yeah… it was passed down to me by my grandfather, just before he left. He was my teacher, as well.”
Reimu raised her head, looking at the girl’s wistful expression. “Your grandfather? What was he like?”
Reimu quietly sheathed the sword, returning to the surface. “Gramps… you're not working the waterways, are you?”
She didn’t feel afraid. Maybe it was her intuition, or maybe it was because she was holding his swords.
Or maybe it was because she was essentially certain who this was.
He chuckled, slowly turning. Reimu had a feeling that he knew full well he wouldn’t get questioned about Yachie’s secret weapon, anyway. Not when the man was practically a living weapon himself.
“Most certainly not. My name is Konpaku Youki. Gardener of Hakugyokurou, Manservant of Lady Saigyouji Yuyuko… and currently, Taotie Hunter.”
She nodded, offering Hakurouken and the other longer sword - not Roukanken, of that she was sure - back to him. “Why are you hunting Yuuma?”
“Lady Yuyuko and the Yama sent me.” He said, sheathing his blade. “Yuuma has made some… rather despicable choices recently, ones that could interfere with the cycle of reincarnation. And this blade,” He hefted the wakizashi, “could be just the thing to cleave the taotie from her prey.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “You mean the fact she’s feeding on otter spirits?” He nodded. “Can… can you save them?”
He gave a reassuring smile. “I imagine they’d be able to reform shortly if only Yuuma’s stomach was properly slit. It’s hard to completely kill a spirit, after all. Though… there is a possibility some of them would be sent to Heaven, instead.”
Reimu nodded. “That’s... better than them being stuck in her for all time... So… you’re looking for Yuuma, then?” She sighed. “And Yuuma’s looking for me…”
The old man smiled. “Quite so, lass. In a certain sense, our primary goals align, do they not?”
Reimu raised issue with one of the words in his phrasing. “...Primary goal? My only goal right now is to get out of here unseen. Uh, unseen by any of the Gouyoku. What other ‘goals’ do you have?”
He chuckled. “Well… I was given another task by Yuyuko. And I have my own reasons for wanting to get a good look at the Animal Realm, as well.” He shrugged. “But I doubt that either of those missions will be resolved running about the sewers.”
He smiled at the young girl. “However… I’m sure that we can find an arrangement that works in both our favours, no? Perhaps if I give you a chance to get away… Yuuma will come right for me.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “What’s your plan?”
He smiled. “Well, there’s two potential plans, the way I see it. Firstly, I believe Yuuma’s trying to force you into the reservoir. We could, quite easily, go along with it. Now I know what you’re going to say-” He put up a preventative hand before Reimu could object, “But Keiki let me pass as a representative of the Yama, and with a little more effort, we could work on your pretence a little bit better and say you’re just a civilian I rescued from becoming collateral damage. If I throw my overalls over you, that’d let you hide your tail and shell. Then it should be easy enough to get you into Kiketsu territory either from the surface, or through the waterways on the far side of the reservoir. They won’t question me anywhere near like they’d question you.”
Reimu paused, then folded her arms. “What’s the catch?”
He nodded. “Two catches. One, I’d like Kiketsu's assistance in all three of my tasks. I doubt I’d need to ask for their cooperation in hunting Yuuma, but the other two would be greatly enhanced by the assistance of the Kiketsu’s intelligence network. The other catch is… I’d need to cut off your horns, to sell your disguise to the Haniwa.”
Reimu blinked, pulling her hands up defensively. “These are my first horns!” Sure, they were going to fall out eventually, Mama told her as much, but they were supposed to get at least twice as long as this before they did. Her inner Miko cringed at the protest.
“Horns don’t have any actual nerves in them. And believe me, I’m quite certain that I wouldn’t damage a hair on your head, young lass.” He nodded firmly. “That is, of course, but one option.”
Reimu folded her arms irritably. “And what’s the other?”
“We find a spot where your Kiketsu family is grouped up and regroup with them. Yuuma will chase us down once she hears about the breakout, and we fight her with their assistance.” He nodded. “The risks with this one are that you’re much, much more likely to be spotted by Yuuma, and we’ll still have to make it through Gouyoku territory, with whatever otters we can find. It’ll be a harder battle on the back foot, and we’d have to do it now, in this situation. We wouldn’t get to pick a moment like we could if you snuck out.”
Reimu… thought about it. Long and hard.
Neither plan was all that great, honestly. They made good use of the resources they had, but it was still… incredibly dangerous. One involved sneaking through Keiki’s territory, and the other would be a probably-messy breakout through Yuuma’s. She somehow… felt that he was being honest about his intentions, that he wouldn’t try to rat or sell her out either way, but it wasn’t like Youki was the only person she had to worry about.
Still, he was leaving the choice to her. She could go with either plan… or try and find her own way out. She took a deep breath, and made her choice.
[ ] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
[ ] Go to the otters trying to get in. The last thing this whole mess needed was anything Keiki-related.
[ ] Look for another path, on her own. If this man was trying to fight Yuuma, she wanted no part of it. She’d just have to… find another way, somehow.
{ } Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{ } Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 09:36
No. 205660
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
Probably best to go with the plan that at least gives us a chance at not being spotted at all. Plus, even if the Haniwa catch us... maybe we'll get a chance to talk to Keiki, and talking to her is on our to-do list anyways, isn't it?
{X} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
This seems like a great opportunity to fish for information about what's happening on the other side of the Sanzu, and asking about what Yuyuko's up to sounds to me like a great starting point for that. Who knows, maybe Youki's here investigating the spell that spooked everyone last night?
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 10:35
No. 205661
▼
[x] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
disregrd horns ACQUIRE means of contact with netherworld
with luck aq dqn dqn (dqn) juju works and she figures out who we are
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 10:59
No. 205662
▼
This does seem to imply that reincarnation does retroactively erase the human selves, which is good to know, I suppose.
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
Obviously it's not great to surrender the potential for such majestic horns, but perhaps we can keep them to make a small trinket later. Sentimental value. Anyways, Yuuma's an unstoppable force, so taking her out is #1 priority if we don't want a relentless pursuit, and doing it covertly stops anybody else from trying it either.
{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
This'll help verify our human memories, as well as just sate my curiosity on what this new sword is called. Plus, it should probably help lead into the other question.
That being said if we won't get two questions just count my vote as one for the latter.
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
I'm deeply fascinated by both mystery goals, so I don't really mind which one we ask about, but I'd doubt that any human in their right mind would want to come to the animal realm, so this has gotta be a juicy reason.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 11:35
No. 205663
▼
What if instead trying to go for a meeting with Keiki we go straight to Eiki? The Yama did send Youki to deal with Yuuma who nommed otter souls and interfered with the cycle of reincarnation, so imagine what she'd do if Reimu tells her that some time in the near future the humans of Gensokyo will get obliterated both body and soul by an unknown threat.
Kosu 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:10
No. 205664
▼
>>205663
Because even if Reimu is right and we know the truth, in-universe she's just a child and might not be taken seriously.
Also, the story is more interesting this way.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:23
No. 205665
▼
>>205664
honestly i was thinking more along the lines of "this was an unsanctioned reincarnation, you're breaking all the rules, go straight to hell. do not pass Go."
I'm not sure that the Yama (whichever ones are relevant to this case) WOULD do that, but they could. Maybe we'll get the opportunity to plead before them later on.
Kosu 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:48
No. 205666
▼
Horns do regrow, the only price to pay is her pride as a jidiao. Might get Yachie a little upset, but the price will be worth it as long as Reimu is safe and their secret, hidden. What we've learnt about her is that she does care about Reimu even if she's distant. She might even be proud if the plan works AND Yuuma is fully defeated (that means Reimu is successfully hidden), for what we know.
I would say: ask the specifics FIRST and then make a deal. Even if we do trust Youki, we need the info to agree on something that is not fully on our power to grant.
{X} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
Also, this one ties on the second question but maybe ask about Youmu covertly:
{X} You look too old to be doing this, don't you have a disciple or something? Someone who could do this job instead?
Even if we can kinda guess the answer, it's a little bit more info for Reimu.
Kosu 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:50
No. 205667
▼
>>205665
You make a good point, the Yama would know if there's something weird going on about reincarnation, but let's not get ahead of ourselves yet.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:50
No. 205668
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
Don't forget to wear a hair buns.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 13:57
No. 205669
▼
Welp. She can fight. She can't take on an army, but she can fight.
I'd rather take my chances with Keiki at this point. The horns are a bit of a loss, though. I don't expect him to tell Reimu much about his reasons, but I think that both asks are relevant. This may have to do with the reincarnation.
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
He's probably more willing to spill about the personal reasons. We can probably get him to spill about Yuyuko's assignment later.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 14:19
No. 205670
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It'd be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
feels like the safest option to me. yachie would understand, right? also, one of the previous options was to break out and try to get to keiki to warn her of the apocalypse. seems like a good way to get a peek of how things are going with her faction and see how likely they'll be to believe us. besides, if all else fails, reimu might have some good information about the haniwa corps to tell her mother after all this is said and done...
{X} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
both options would reveal information that could be related to youmu.
{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
{X} You look too old to be doing this, don't you have a disciple or something? Someone who could do this job instead?
seconded on these write-ins. additionally:
{X} Ask about the Yama, and the Netherworld. What are they like? How are they doing?
-{X} Ask about the Saigyou Ayakashi, if he brings it up.
--{X} Disguise all answers as the curiosity of a sheltered child.
if we're going to be seen as one, then might as well take advantage of it.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 15:33
No. 205671
▼
In terms of getting in contact with Keiki, would it be possible to leave a note for her once inside here territory? Going straight to her might be to dangerous for now, but if we can warn her some other way and get her to start preparing, it may be beneficial for us.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 15:42
No. 205672
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
{X} You look too old to be doing this, don't you have a disciple or something? Someone who could do this job instead?
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 15:48
No. 205673
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
We can always ask other questions while we're moving along the way (right?).
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 16:31
No. 205674
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
-[x] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
{x}Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
Reimu’s bow is big and her horns are small. Hey, it worked for Kasen didn’t it?
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/03/18 (Mon) 16:45
No. 205675
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
-[x] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
{x}Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 17:35
No. 205676
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
-[X] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
{X} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 17:43
No. 205677
▼
>>205668 here.
Add to my vote:
[X] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/18 (Mon) 19:24
No. 205678
▼
[X] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
A part of her pride as a Jidiao tried to stand defiant. The horns didn’t need to go, right?
She tried reaching up to get a sense of it… and could immediately understand the problem. Her ribbon normally sat at the back of her head, while her horns adorned the front, cresting her forehead. Even people who she remembered wearing it more forward, like that spinning green woman, rarely wore it anywhere near THAT far forward, and those who could hide their horns like Kasen both had horns in different places, and dedicated accessories for the job. Trying to just hide them would bring more attention than just not doing anything.
She felt… frustrated, both at the situation and herself. Her mother had told her, if she had to, it was better to lose the horns and grow them back next year. For Mama, while she bore pride in wearing them, losing them had long become a part of life. She’d celebrated Reimu’s first horns as a milestone while always making sure to encourage Reimu not to get too attached. But being a late bloomer on the matter meant that Kicchou Reimu had gotten very attached indeed, as a child did with any marker of growth.
Her past self, meanwhile, knew that there was no good reason to keep them. This was the part getting frustrated at herself, at both the obsession in general and prioritising it over anything else. Never mind the horns themselves, how could she expect to try and keep her identity secret around the Haniwa if she was this prideful about them?
Youki, politely, chose not to comment, and waited for her to come to a decision.
>>205666
>>205670
Pick one choice for primary question. By the time the conversation will circle around to the other one, you’ll be at the next decision point, especially with all the write-in questions.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 20:23
No. 205679
▼
Someone from across the Sanzu river just happens to show up the day after a spell comes across said river and , well, lacking any evidence otherwise seems to be the means of our awakening, here on assignment of both the Yama and Yuyuko... I think we can guess pretty darn well what the answers of the two questions are.
1. he's looking for Hieda no Akyuu
and
2. he's looking for an apprentice that he should have but for some reason has never had. (i.e. Youmu)
I don't think we need to be worrying about being spotted much anymore, we've found our way out out the rival family's reaches.
[X] Go to the otters trying to get in. The last thing this whole mess needed was anything Keiki-related.
{X} that spell from across the Sanzu river that hit my house last night, would you happen to have any involvement with that?
there, we satisfy both _______ and Kicchou Reimu. the former by going to the skull busting option, while also for the latter keeping the horns! and since we have an option that negates Yuuma's Gluttony powers, we have a chance.
something also to remember we are both at Instinct 3 & Youkai -1 so the bit that was brought up a couple of posts back of how someone (who isn't looking for a reincarnation issue.) could tell something was not youkai about someone if we ran into them, isn't going to be as noticeable right now.
and yeah, this is Reimu, why wouldn't she go for the direct option?
(if the write in isn't allowed then i'll go with... hm, personal is probably Youmu, the assignment is probably Akyuu. hmmmmmm. not sure yet, I'll wait to see i guess if the write-in is allowed or not.) Though I do have something to direct at _______, it didn't quite come up in the opening post, but the only one whose last name was actually said was Akyuu, so, let's see if we can yank some of those memory ropes from the deep.
{_)_______: what comes to mind when you think Konpaku Youmu.
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 20:43
No. 205680
▼
>>205678
>Pick one choice for primary question. By the time the conversation will circle around to the other one, you’ll be at the next decision point, especially with all the write-in questions.
Lol
Kosu 2024/03/18 (Mon) 23:06
No. 205682
▼
>>205666
>>205678
Sorry, I change my question to just
{X} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
My decision is still "cut the horns"
Anonymous 2024/03/18 (Mon) 23:13
No. 205683
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
{X} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
Anonymous 2024/03/19 (Tue) 00:31
No. 205684
▼
>>205678
>Pick one choice for primary question. By the time the conversation will circle around to the other one, you’ll be at the next decision point, especially with all the write-in questions.
>>205670 here, sorry about that. changing my answer to just the one about youki's personal reasons. main answer is still to abandon the horns and i'm staying with all the write-ins i supported/put in.
Kosu 2024/03/19 (Tue) 01:38
No. 205685
▼
Anonymous 2024/03/19 (Tue) 01:39
No. 205686
▼
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
-[X] Keep the horns on your person, don't discard them. We don't want to leave such an obvious clue that there's a second jidiao sneaking around.
-[X] If possible, leave a message with one of the otters; "Kicchou's Treasure is safe."
Hopefully such a message will be passed along to mama and calm her, knowing that her secret daughter is safe.
Anonymous 2024/03/19 (Tue) 02:42
No. 205687
▼
>>205679 here
Just clarifying my write-in, don't want to make it sound accusatory, just that if he was involved with that spell drawing his attention to who it affected (namely reimu.)
Anonymous 2024/03/19 (Tue) 02:49
No. 205688
▼
>>205685
I have to say, I'm really enjoying the art. Great stuff.
Anyway...
[X] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/19 (Tue) 14:57
No. 205689
▼
File
171086025124.jpg
- (98.54KB,
808x1024,
__haniyasushin_keiki_and_joutouguu_mayumi_touhou_d.jpg)
The art is indeed good.
I'm most-of-the-way through writing the next update; I just keep finding reasons to not have a vote as a stopping point. Just letting people know, so they don't put up votes I'm not gonna count.
Wakey Wakey Keiki
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/20 (Wed) 11:47
No. 205690
▼
File
171093522025.jpg
- (133.07KB,
850x549,
__haniyasushin_keiki_touhou_drawn_by_kirigawa_mika.jpg)
[15] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
[1] Go to the otters trying to get in. The last thing this whole mess needed was anything Keiki-related.
[0] Look for another path, on her own. If this man was trying to fight Yuuma, she wanted no part of it. She’d just have to… find another way, somehow.
{6} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{7} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
-{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
-{X} You look too old to be doing this, don't you have a disciple or something? Someone who could do this job instead?
No… there was nothing for it. Yuuma was on the warpath, and the sooner she was out of her territory, the better. She pushed her more childish pride down, sighed, and looked at Youki directly. “I guess we’re going to the reservoir. You promise it won’t hurt?”
He jostled the shorter blade in his hand for a second. “Oh, I’m quite certain. You won’t even know it’s happened.”
Reimu nodded. “Then let’s just-” Two gold things dropped past her eyes, being caught by the old man. She stared at them, mouth agape.
He gave a hoarse chuckle as he handed her horns to her. “I trust that will suffice for your purposes? May want to just make sure what’s left is hidden by your hair, though.”
Reimu, a bit stunned still, walked over to the water’s edge, looking at her reflection. There was a little bit of stubs remaining, so she ruffled up the front of her hair a bit, to hide them better. …Looking at her reflection without them, though, she found it somehow more unsettling than looking at her face with her horns. In a certain sense, her face was noticeably closer to what it once had been, but that just made the more subtle differences all the more stark - the slit pupils, the slight sharpness that her human face had never had. What was the term for it, where something being close to right made its smaller problems all burst out? The uncanny volley, or something like that? Whatever it was, her own face was giving that impression, now.
Spirit is now Neutral.
She looked up at him, scowling. “You know, I still look like a Youkai.”
The old man chuckled. “Well, I’m much more likely to have come across a living youkai than a living human in the afterlife, after all. What’s important is you look less like a dragon-turtle. Now, let’s be off, shall we?”
The eagle backed off, quivering with fear. “D-don’t come any closer!”
Youki, his ghost half floating calmly around his shoulders, paid the eagle’s command no heed. “Well, we needed to get through here, and you ruffians wouldn’t let us pass. This was the only option we had.”
“W-we? You have an-” The eagle disappeared beneath the surface. Youki walked over, and waited for the purple glow to fade.
He didn’t have to wait more than a few seconds. Reimu surfaced, nonplussed. “Really not getting how this is working this well. Either the otters are way, way tougher than I thought or there’s something weakening the eagles.”
Youki shrugged. “There’ll be plenty of time to discuss that on the far side, lass. Let’s just focus on getting you safe for now.”
Reimu nodded, floating along the surface. “There’s not much else but a bunch of straightaways to the reservoir from here. Should be smooth sailing, gramps.”
He nodded, walking along the waterside next to her. “Glad to hear it. Hopefully that means we have a chance to chat.”
“Mmm.” Reimu turned over, letting the water take her on her back. “So, what brings you here personally? You said you had like three reasons, and I agreed to them all, but I’m curious what a great swordsman can’t do that our otters can.”
He smiled. “Well, mostly, I want access to your Kiketsu information network. That might help me find what I’m looking for in Lady Yuyuko’s stead, and who I’m looking for in my own interests.”
“So… you’re looking for someone, specifically?” Reimu rolled onto her stomach. “Is it a disciple? You’re kinda old to be running about the sewers hunting taoties.”
He grumbled. “I’ll STRONGLY object to your remark about my age… but yes. I’m hoping for someone who can learn my techniques, and carry it on to the next generation. The next person to take up Hakurouken.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow at that. “Isn’t that… a hereditary blade? One that doesn’t work if the wielder isn’t a Konpaku?” From the moment she’d touched the weapon, she’d found herself remembering Youmu’s past life, frankly, better than she remembered her own.
He chuckled a bit. “Ah, were you trying to swing it when you picked it up? I thought you were down there for a long time.” He began to talk at length, before Reimu could correct him and dig her hole any deeper. “Yes, the Hakurouken will only recognise a Konpaku as its wielder currently, but there are two exceptions, with hereditary weapons. First, a current wielder can perform a ritual to essentially invite an outsider into their family. Depending on the weapon, this can be as simple as a sharing of blood with the appropriate intent to performing a very, very particular wedding ceremony. That’s the most common way that a person not bearing the name can wield a weapon, by a long, long margin.”
Reimu nodded. She vaguely remembered an ancestral weapon in her family, too, though she couldn’t remember what exactly it was. Something round, to be used with her gohei? …a ball and chain, maybe? “What’s the other method?”
The old man was quiet for a moment. “...Tell me, what’s your name, lass?”
“It’s Reimu. Why do you ask?”
He paused, mulling on it. “Tell me, Reimu. Do you know of the Immaterial Children Incident?”
Reimu floated into an upright position, looking at him directly. “...No, I don’t. Never heard of it before.” Not in her past life, either.
“There is… a certain village, across the Sanzu, that had a terrible affliction befall it.” He said, his voice darkening. “In the span of a few years, there were four false pregnancies, experienced by four very different families.”
Reimu’s eyes widened.
“The first was a merchant family, that most at the time assumed to be a prank of a local youkai - there are quite a lot of them in these parts, after all. Then the next was the local shrine maiden - and most assumed that the merchants had just been the unlucky testers for the prank on the shrine maiden.” He growled. “Of course, the families themselves were anything but laughing.”
“Then… then the Child of Miare went missing.” His expression got even darker. “Rather than being reincarnated in the family she was supposed to, her soul just… reincarnated elsewhere, and nobody knew where. That caused quite a panic, of that you can be sure.”
“The Child of Miare…” Akyuu. This was about Akyuu and the rest of them. It must be. “So is that true of all the kids? They reincarnated in the wrong spots?”
Youki nodded. “Yes, all four of them, they’re fairly sure - though no one knows where, last I heard. Of course, that was only found out after the fourth official victim, who was almost as benign as the first. So many children, disappearing like mist into the breeze…”
Reimu mused. “...Four official victims?” It was pretty obvious what he was getting at, even if she didn’t already know. “Your family experienced something similar?”
He sighed. “Yes. Very similar symptoms, some twenty years before the other victims. And without knowing why it happened, it broke my daughter’s heart to pieces.” He folded his arms. “So, my true mission… is to track down my missing grandchild, and bring them home. Whoever they are.”
He pulled out Hakurouken, inspecting the blade. “See, the other case where a blade can recognise an owner under another name… is when the person is a reincarnation of someone who was part of the family, and maintains some spiritual link to their past self. We’ve never had a case like the Immaterial Children, but my theory is that the principle will hold - if I find someone who can wield the sword, then I can bring her back, to meet the Konpaku family.”
Reimu steadied herself in the water, and opened her mouth.
“Of course,” The old swordsman said. “There have been far, far too many people claiming to be the Immaterial Children over the years. Humans, youkai, demigods… quite frankly, the next person who tries to tell me they’re one of them I’ll cut in half on the spot if they don’t have some good evidence.” He turned to notice Reimu’s slackjaw expression. “Sorry, were you going to say something?”
Reimu shut her mouth. And shook her head, for good measure. “N-no, nothing. So… that Hakurouken must be pretty impressive… What’s the other sword like? Does it have a story to it too?”
The man chuckled, drawing the second katana. It was almost impossibly long, with a rose-gold blade down to its very hilt, and a strange blue tint to its sheen. “No, Hyakunentou isn’t a storied blade. Not yet, at least.”
Reimu looked up at it. Even the normally skeptical miko had to admit it looked impressive. “What, so it’s name is… Hundred Years Sword?” The swordsman nodded, giving it a few gentle swings. “It se / ems pre tty sh / arp… woah. How did you do that?”
Youki smiled, sheathing the sword and folding his arms. “...I started learning the blade when I was a bit older than one hundred years old. They said that it takes thirty years of learning the blade to cut rain. I mastered it at thirty-five years, myself. They also say it takes fifty years to learn how to cut the air. That, I learned right on schedule.”
He hummed to himself. “Lady Yuyuko gave me Hyakunentou on my one hundredth anniversary of learning the blade - already named by herself, of course. And with that name, she gave me a challenge. It takes two hundred years to learn how to cut time… and when I master that skill, Hyakunentou will be the edge with which time itself is split.”
“Like a clock counting a century…” Reimu mused. It was certainly an impressive boast. And it felt a lot more real coming from a wizened old man than it did from a gardener shorter than she was. “So, how close are you to cutting time?”
Youki smiled. “Oh, it shouldn’t be too long now. A matter of years, rather than decades, at least.”
Of course, Reimu immediately did the maths. “So you’re like three centuries old? You really are ancient, gramps.”
He sputtered, but the sound of murmuring voices broke his focus. Reimu straightened up, peeking around the corner. Two figures - quite literally - clad in earthen yellow guarded the primary entrance to the reservoir. “Ah, time for us to change.”
Reimu was relieved to find the man was actually clothed underneath the overalls, having light clothes clearly designed for combat. She was less pleased to discover that the overalls had quite a musty scent to them, that almost made her gag. She quietly wished that she had some spare perfume from home, to try to repress the smell. Surely what she’d put on this morning had completely washed off by now.
…At least she was getting used to the smell quickly. She could almost imagine that perfume on her now.
Otherwise, it was just big and baggy, which admittedly was the point. She could curl her tail around her midriff and no signs of it would emerge beneath the folds of the heavy cloth. The problem was she wasn’t nearly as graceful as either she or her mother would have liked with it on. She couldn’t even reach the sleeves with any ease, so she wore it like a big poncho, with her arms having to reach between the buttons to reach anything. If she had to make a quick escape, it’d have to be dumped.
To be fair, she dryly observed, if I have to make a quick escape from Keiki, my cover’s probably already blown. The overalls’d just be in the way. If anything, not having her hands in it just made it easier to ditch if she had to.
Once they were dressed, they began to make their way over to the guards. Reimu gloomily stuck her hands in her pockets…
And felt her hands clasp around her horns again. She’d pocketed them, in the end. And now that she was walking up to Keiki’s territory, her mind was racing.
Someone finding cut jidiao horns would be a death sentence to her secret. Keiki or Yuuma seeing them would immediately figure things out. But she was too close already to subtly toss them away now. She just kept her hands in her pocket, hoping there was nothing that’d see through the overalls.
Though, again, if they could see through that, it’d already be over.
Youki waved to the Haniwa guards.
“Ho, lads. I’ve ended up finding a bit of a stray in the tunnels.”
The two haniwa - one male, one female, for whatever it was worth - nodded, stepping apart to let them pass. “Did you find Yuuma while you were down there?”
He shook his head. “It’s chaos down there. Eagles everywhere, otters all around the edges. We haven’t managed to have our duel yet.” He chuckled. “Most of the damage I took was from when I threw my back out and an eagle had a good peck. Little Reimu was the one who saved me.”
Reimu looked around the reservoir’s facility as she entered. It was coming up to about noon by what counted as the Animal Realm’s clock, but the facility could have been in the dead of night for all she could see of life around it. The only person who wasn’t literally statue-still, aside from the ones they were talking to, was a softly-snoring adult-sized figure collapsed over a table, still holding a can of some energy drink. Someone had tossed a blanket over them to give them at least some form of comfort.
The male haniwa - Reimu was quite sure she’d never met either of them in her previous life - stared her down, near-expressionless. “… I see. If a youkai child is saving you, I believe that rather proves Keiki’s point about your health.”
Youki’s wrinkles went from friendly to furious in a blink of an eye. “I told you, I was fine-”
The female haniwa, a model with a long ponytail, scowled at him. “You just said you threw your back out. Were you even fighting anything at the time?”
He began to interject again. “I was fighting the eagle-”
The haniwa lady just folded her arms. “When you threw your back out? Or after?” That shut him up, and he settled for glaring.
Her partner offered up a conciliatory hand. “Regardless of how the injury occurred, the point is that your back has taken significant damage. At least let our medics take a look at it - you want to be in peak condition when fighting Yuuma.”
This earned a grumble from Youki, but he settled for being lead away by the female Haniwa. That left Reimu with the stern male, who just… stared at her, unblinking. She stared right back, doing her best not to look intimidated.
“…What?” She was the first to break. “What do you want?”
The Haniwa remained quiet for a few moments longer, before rumbling out the obvious question. “Are you the courier of the jidiao’s secret?”
Reimu shook her head. “N-no, I was just… um…”
He leaned in closer. “Then are you her secret yourself? Some kind of bioweapon or powerful youkai, maybe?”
Reimu stepped back. “L-look, I’ve had a bad enough day already this morning, I really don’t need-”
“That is not an answer to the question.”
Reimu flexed her claws. “I’m just trying to get home. That’s all that I’m-”
His fist pounded the wall behind her. “That. Is not. An answe-”
“Wha-what time is it?” The haniwa turned his head. After a moment, Reimu did the same.
The blanket had vaguely straightened up. A head of blue hair had crested said blanket, and was now looking around, still half-dazed.
The haniwa saluted. “Lady Keiki. It is currently 11:49 AM. Konpaku Youki has returned without confronting Yuuma, and delivered a youkai child named Reimu here.”
Keiki got up, tossing off the blanket. She was wearing the clothes Reimu recognised from her previous life’s trip, though currently they were covered in creases. “Two whole hours? Ugh. I can’t afford that.” she pulled herself up, trying to stretch out a crick in her back. “What’s the sitrep?”
“Tactically speaking, little has changed as of yet. The otters have been driven increasingly back over the period, and the Eagles are still rampant throughout the northwestern waterways. However, there have been increasingly frequent and aggressive attacks on the reservoir gates. It is likely that the Gouyoku are increasingly certain that the Kiketsu prize is within our quarters.” He turned back to Reimu. “And indeed, at this point they may be correct.”
Reimu stuttered, trying to think of something, but the sudden appearance of the sculptor goddess had thrown off her train of thought. “N-no, I’m not… I’m not…”
The goddess in question wandered over, stifling a yawn. “Bishop, there’s no need to loom over her like that. You’re scaring the poor girl.”
“I-I’m not scared!” Reimu declared, earning a vaguely snort-like rumble that was the closest thing to an emotion the Haniwa had expressed yet. Keiki waved him off, crouching next to Reimu.
“Don’t worry about him. Bishop’s just doing his best to keep all of us safe.” She gave a warm smile. “This morning must have been stressful for you, no?”
After a long, long pause, Reimu nodded. “...Y-yeah, it’s not been great. Those eagles have been chasing me all morning.”
Keiki nodded, holding a hand up to prevent Bishop from interjecting. “Yes, I’ll bet they’ve been pecking anything they can reach. Tell you what - I need a refill, and you probably need some lunch. How about we head over to the lunch room and talk about some things there? Maybe there’s some info about the eagles you can give us.”
Walking through the reservoir was a strange experience. She’d been here before with her Mama, but that had been when it was staffed by humans and otters. Now, most of the usual staff had seemingly been evacuated for Haniwa guards to take their place in case of an attack from one of the gangs warring in the sewers, giving the place an entirely different feel. Where once Kicchou Reimu had scarcely been able to tell the difference between the facility and a train station, now it felt like she was moving through an enemy fortress. She jumped at any unexpected noises, and tried her best not to attract attention.
Attention came to her, regardless. She was a kid moving with the sculpture goddess, in ill-fitting overalls through a facility preparing for a gang war to take place through its halls. She stuck out like a sore thumb.
It didn’t help that Keiki was doing a fair bit of sticking out herself. She was exhausted, that much was clear. She was practically falling asleep on her feet, and at one point walked straight into a pole.
“Are you… alright?” By the time Keiki had managed to all-but-sleepwalk her way over to a vending machine in the lunch room, Reimu found herself somewhat worried for her nominal enemy.
Keiki shook her head. “I’ve been managing. The truth is that I’ve rather overstretched myself recently - we’re working on a rail line for the eastern district.”
Reimu cocked her head. “But you’ve done rail lines before, right? What makes this one so bad?”
She sighed, dispensing a small pile of drinks. “The wolves, mainly. The Keiga are convinced that the rail will be used against them, and are harassing everywhere they can. Trying to keep the railwork progressing forward has been a nightmare, and I’m just doing my best just trying to tread water. And of course, I don’t have time to finish the haniwa who’d actually be able to manage some of these tasks in my stead. So… to maximise my time efficiency, I do this.” She cracked the top of one energy drink and downed the whole can in one.
Reimu stared at her. “How much sleep have you gotten in the last week?”
The goddess returned a strained grin. “Well… if my maths aren’t wrong, let’s say about… two hours?” She sighed. “I meant to get some real sleep last night, but then all this happened…”
The goddess sat at a table, waving over some food from the haniwa operating the counters. It wasn’t like they had many other flesh-and-blood creatures to serve; from what Reimu knew, the Haniwa could eat, but didn’t have to, and none of the haniwa in the facility at the time seemed to have the time to spare. “But… enough about me. Reimu, was it? I wanted to ask you a few… questions.”
Reimu’s nerves immediately went on edge. “Questions? What sort of questions?”
The goddess chuckled. “Come now, Reimu. You think someone like you could pass unnoticed right in front of the Idola Deus?”
The jidiao quivered, which Keiki took as permission to keep talking. “I suspect you weren’t in the waterways just for any reason. You were trying to get to the beach of the Sanzu River, weren’t you?” She smirked mischievously. “And there are very, very, very few cases where one would find a youkai like you, after all.”
Reimu tried to speak, but her throat was drying on her, and no words came out. Keiki folded her arms. “Now… I believe it would be best for everyone if you came clean about it, no? So come on, let’s have it.”
[ ] She’s onto you. Run. Run.
[ ] Confess to the truth.
[ ] Play dumb. She’s just shooting in the psychological dark.
Vanilla_Enthusiast!AdF3bWaDQs 2024/03/20 (Wed) 12:27
No. 205691
▼
Bishop seems like a really cool guy. I sure hope we got to see more of his interaction with his haniwa peers, maybe one that is named after another chess piece.
The Art of Deceit
Mew 2024/03/20 (Wed) 13:20
No. 205692
▼
Well, good to know the in world explaination for what the hell happened to us. Five missing children. Good news is, we can get a master swordsman on our side for the upcoming fight. Question is...how do we prove it. Well, most straightforward way is to find Youmu. Unfortunately, we have no clue where she is. So second option, we bait him with something. If he finds out, he's probably gonna be pissed. Seeing he can nearly cut time...I'd rather not. Last option, we leave him be. Safest option, but we lose our guarantee of acquiring a damn strong fighter. If these seem like options that interest other posters, just nab em.
Now, onto the mess we're in. How much can we play up the 'innocent youkai child' card?
[X] Play dumb. She’s just shooting in the psychological dark.
We should remember that this was a well thought our operation. Yes, one with...issues, but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Imma trust our mother and her crew. Also, how the hell are we gonna get out of here with Keiki in front of us. She handed Reimu's past life a beating, we have no shot running away as a kid.
Minor Side Note
Mew 2024/03/20 (Wed) 13:27
No. 205693
▼
Another thing. Do we still have Genji? Since we still have him...hug it. Plushie.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 13:27
No. 205694
▼
We're currently spirit Neutral, so it's debatable if we should confess or play dumb imo. Running is probably a stupid choice that will not only set us to Youkai 1 and make this harder but also make us more suspicious overall.
Playing dumb may or may not play out well with us at Neutral spirit; hard to say if instinct would have an impact, either. Meanwhile, telling the truth probably means the WHOLE truth including that we're Kiketsu.
As much as I have been bitching about write-ins, the best compromise may be to tell a half-truth of some kind with a write-in. Not sure, though. The only certain thing to be is that running is outright a bad choice.
I want to hear other ppl's thoughts before voting on this.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 13:52
No. 205695
▼
[x] Confess to the truth.
One thing that's true in both of her lives is that Reimu is neither subtle, nor good at conning people. As Youki so tactfully pointed out, she doesn't have her mother's silver tongue. And considering he, Bishop, and now Keiki figured us all out immediately, I really don't see what playing dumb will actually accomplish here.
Running is also out of the question, unless we want to play through 17-6 without sixteen incidents of experience or animal spirits backing us up. Quite frankly, by coming to Keiki in the first place, we're counting on her being at least neutral to us, and with the additional chaos the eagles and beasts are stirring up, I think that's a reasonable bet.
And there's one more point. In the initial reincarnation post, Reimu mentioned how, out of her starting options, Keiki might be her best bet at stopping the actual incident that's coming, and getting on her good side would be an excellent first step towards that. As such, I think it's better to play along.
Also, next time we have a minute with him, can we tell Youki to look for someone named Youmu? We might not have any idea where she is, but just knowing the name should speed up his search significantly, and I don't see a downside to reuniting the Konpaku family. It might be a good idea to let him know the names of the others as well, I could see him looking for Akyuu at the least.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:03
No. 205696
▼
Can we convince Keiki to help us prevent the apocalypse?
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:05
No. 205697
▼
Hopefully eventually! But let's settle for convincing her to help us against Yuuma first.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:12
No. 205699
▼
>>205697
Then we have no choice but to
[x] Confess to the truth.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:30
No. 205700
▼
[x] Confess to the truth.
I mean,
>>205695 has very good points.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:36
No. 205701
▼
[x] Confess to the truth.
more bishop
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:36
No. 205702
▼
Back to neutral, which is usually probably our best state to be in to ensure balance, though of course it was mentioned being humanlike would be helpful in this scenario. No use crying over non-optimized choices.
Telling the whole truth is probably just our identity as a crime princess and not trying to explain reincarnation, especially with so little to back our claim. If we wanted to ask about the mystery soul eater or fully confess, it's probably gonna be a write-in. If we do, we should probably scraping for pieces of evidence to bring up.
running is, if not bad end bait, just a really bad idea. We're at enemy lines
I'm not exactly sure on calling her bluff. Reimu doesn't seem to be the best liar, so if she does see something we're doomed. If she really is guessing though, it might be safer for us at the moment.
I'm going confess for now but happy to discuss in more detail.
[X] Confess to the truth.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:42
No. 205703
▼
Hmm. Keiki seems to be treating us in an oddly friendly manner. Heck. She straight up admitted that she can't even continue making haniwa due to how little time she has. That is just something you don't share with anyone who could potentially be your enemy. In addition, do gods actually need any sleep? Admittedly, my Touhou knowledge is lacking in that regard, but I still feel a bit suspicious.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:53
No. 205704
▼
The only argument I'm seeing for confessing the truth and against playing dumb is that Reimu is bad at lying... not sure if that's really all that great reasoning. I'm not against telling the truth, either. It's just dangerous.
I'll just throw my vote in as telling the truth for now.
[X] Confess to the truth.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 14:55
No. 205705
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
>>205695 sums up all of my reasoning quite perfectly. out of all the kiketsu's opponents, keiki is probably the one least likely to cut us up into tiny pieces before sending yachie a hostage note while waiting for us to regenerate.
additionally, reimu revealing the names of the other Immaterial Children to youki could bring her under suspicion. and since youki's had enough of people claiming to be one of them, we might have to get solid evidence proving reimu is one before telling him more.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 15:29
No. 205706
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
Honestly, while the possibility of a Youkai child just being at the wrong place at the wrong time is not impossible, but the odds are so low that I don't see playing dumb fully working even if this wasn't Reimu, better to be respectful and tell the truth at this point.
Tough she probably will not reveal being one of the children since she lacks both the evidence and memories necessary to make it believable.
Kosu 2024/03/20 (Wed) 15:46
No. 205707
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
It seems like that's the less worse option at this point. Let's see if we're telling the whole truth...
!2VXsQ1mzKI 2024/03/20 (Wed) 15:47
No. 205708
▼
[x] Confess to the truth.
Might as well tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 20:17
No. 205709
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
I think she’ll respect us more if we’re upfront with her, besides she seems nice and reasonable so far.
Anonymous 2024/03/20 (Wed) 20:32
No. 205710
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
-[X] grumble about what the point of losing the horns were if you were going to be found out right away anyways. (and if her past self grumbled about it, give her a mental raspberry.)
Reflections in the water
Kosu 2024/03/20 (Wed) 23:25
No. 205711
▼
>>205690
"Familiar but strange at the same time"
Anonymous 2024/03/21 (Thu) 00:13
No. 205712
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
Also hug genji
Sylent-M 2024/03/21 (Thu) 00:27
No. 205713
▼
I wonder what counts as ‘good evidence’ for this in Youki’s book? Like, the whole time travel element isn’t something that most people would be aware of. With the exception of Akyuu, they’d all be assumed to be babes unknowing of who they should be. Unless Yukari picked up on it and passed the info on to Yuyuko who passed it on to him, he can’t be going around looking for people who know of the future or anything.
[X] Confess to the truth.
Old Swordmaster
Kosu 2024/03/21 (Thu) 02:34
No. 205715
▼
Anonymous 2024/03/21 (Thu) 04:16
No. 205716
▼
>>205713
If I may make a dumb suggestion, Reimu's shrine maiden abilities that seem to have lingered/come back are pretty good proof - assuming people know what it feels like to be hit by a Hakurei shrine maiden's gohei.
>>It felt more like youkai extermination. Like a shrine maiden’s youkai extermination
That basically ammounts to "hit someone if they don't listen to you/belive you" which is very Reimu imo. Probably a terrible idea, but it IS some sort of proof maybe.
>>205711 >>205715
Thank you for the art!
Anonymous 2024/03/21 (Thu) 05:03
No. 205717
▼
It would be difficult to directly prove our identity, but indirectly proving it is a bit easier.
You know what would be pretty good evidence in our favor? Knowing the names of the other reincarnees. And considering that Youmu is both the one Youki cares about and the one whose identity he can verify himself, giving him her name ahead of time should work pretty well.
Besides, while it would be nice to prove our identity, we don't need to rush on this. Remember we've got somewhere around a dozen incidents before we have to solve the human-disappearing one. We can afford to be patient.
Anonymous 2024/03/21 (Thu) 06:03
No. 205718
▼
[X] Confess to the truth.
Come to think of it, if Reimu still has enough of a spiritual link to her past self to do Hakurei shrine maiden-like exterminations, does that mean she's still linked to the Barrier as well? Do we have to worry about Yukari coming after us? And, on a more immediate note, is that something Keiki could sense?
End of Thread 1
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/21 (Thu) 06:31
No. 205719
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Well, everyone's hard efforts have managed to bring us to the end of thread 1 in what certainly feels like record pace - nine updates, in just under two weeks!
I'd like to thank you all for your fervent voting, and I hope you've enjoyed it all in kind. I'll be posting the next update to start the next thread once it's done - I hope you're all looking forward to it!
Special thanks to Kosu for all five of the pieces of art so far! Kosu's also the one who named's Youki's Hundred-years sword.
Gooboi!WkvVHQzh76 2024/03/21 (Thu) 11:01
No. 205721
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File
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New thread is up at
>>205720!
You've all agreed to confess, now it's time to figure out exactly WHAT you've confessed to.
...While I'm at it, if you're curious what Bishop was a reference too, Check out Ceramic Boy Third by Vanilla_Enthusiast:
>>/others/69194
And if you don't mind me doing a shameless self-plug, and you like 40k, I've got another story about Reimu as an Inquisitor right here:
>>/others/69334