[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

DESTROY

Whoops, forgot to put a reference to the previous thread of M/M: >>212437

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Assuming this is the "beat his shit" option.

Tch. "Swing that knife if ya want! But you better be prepared for the consequences. The moment you try to swing that knife, I'll snap your fingers in half like matchsticks!"

Final Tally: 4 out of the 5 IC have tails. I was hoping for 5 out of 5, but whatever.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Is "kick him in the balls" an option because I think that'd be perfect in every single way.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

We should give him a concussion while at it

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?
Marisa should throw her own meteor

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Bash his brains 'Risa!

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Leaping into a situation Marisa knows nothing about and escalating "probable attempted mugging" to "manslaughter, or possibly just murder" is an absolutely atrocious idea. And if there's anything Marisa's good at...

The thread woke up and chose violence.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Meanwhile Marisa woke up and chose to "borrow" the train ride, a classic.

So, Driprisa, her being a bit of a conspiracy theorist is amusing, is she subconsciously thinking of getting some alien tech while she is at it I wonder?

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Mamimama.

And yes. this begins with murder.

I suppose this could be an Instinct vote or something but restraint at a dude trying to mug a girl and her dog isnt really in my vocabulary either.

Plus I wouldnt know what other things this may affect so unless someone has a good argument.

TAKE HIS SKULL MARISA!

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

the attacker will learn Marisa's peaceful method... by force!

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Blazing star time

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Might as well. I wonder what this selection is for. Her approach to conflict? Dexterity vs intelligence vs strength? An alignment check? A persuasion I check is my choice. She "had to do this carefully" here.

As a side note: a mugging with a knife? oh no, she woke up in London! /jk

Interesting to start us out with a completely unawakened Marisa. Not entirely surprising (when Akyuu managing to contact you via psychic power is more likely than encountering any trigger items, you are somewhat in trouble), but it means we probably get to see and define the instincts of Marisa before she regains her ego.

Ofc, I suspect the outcome of this incident is what is going to prompt aunt Mamizou to move up the Gensokyo migration timeline regardless. Of course then there is this line;

>> Her guardian poked at Marisa’s cheeks. “Because you’re all soft and squishy, that’s why. Your mother can’t stay in places like Sado, but where she actually lives is far too dangerous for a hal- for a hatchling.”

Which makes me wonder whether or not Marisa is actually only a half-youkai like Keine.

Anyway, for options and less speculation:

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

This option seems to make Marisa the most guile hero as possible, and pulling back some of Marisa's tendencies seems like a nice option if nothing else.

[x] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.
This is probably a spirit/instinct vote, and jumping straight to murder seems like a very youkai thing to do.

>>212778

[UNDO] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

You know, I have to admit that maybe going straight for ultraviolence is not the best answer here, giving the thug an opportunity to pass his wisdom check and just back off is fair, and if he chooses to still try anything funny, well..... at that point he will have no one to blame but his poor devision making skills for getting his ass handed by a totally "normal" 9 year old.

>>212779
[UNDO] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Finneeeeee. Baddies get *one* warning.

>"The Marisa on the other side of the glass wasn’t a magician, not even close - she didn’t even seem to understand her own powers"
I guess it was alluded to, but we got completely in the dark Marisa

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

>> The message boards had been calling it the Spiral Meteor. She’d seen it maybe a fortnight ago at this point - a comet that seemed to come from the moon, and land somewhere in rural Japan. It was a hot topic in the paranormal community - many who’d witnessed it directly had experienced headaches, hallucinations, or other effects afterwards.

At first I thought it was the orbs getting to Reimu (because of the spiralling lights), but this is clearly Akyuu arriving to Earth. I wonder if the side effects on humans are because of the lunarian tech, or because of Akyuu herself. Probably the latter, since it mentions that it was a distress signal. I like the "outsider" point of view on that part of the story.

>> Some thought it might be a resident of the moon, others thought it was an alien soldier.

"Clearly the rabbitians from the dark side of the moon! NASA knows about them, they know what they're capable of! That's why they faked the landings on the moon! They thought I was crazy but that's solid evidence!"

>> Was it an alien colony, hidden somewhere in Japan? Or maybe it was the japanese equivalent of Area 51?

More like a natural reserve for cryptids, but it does contain alien refugees somewhere in a hidden bamboo thicket.

>>212771
3 out of 5, Youmu doesn't have a tail iirc. At least on her "human" form.

I feel that Auntie Zou might have taught her to trick people instead of recurring to violence (as a first option, at least). Especially at her size. It's great that Mamizou got to be the auntie of at least one IC. I just hope Marisa left her a note or something before leaving.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Sorry for the double post, but only now I realize that her pursuers might be tanuki in disguise. Reimu is a Yakuza princess but Marisa might be a tanuki mafia protégé!

feels like marisa doesn't even know she's a youkai, which makes sense if she's only half. the wings (?) on her back weren't even there until the meteor passed by.

if she's hanging around on message boards about the paranormal, she's likely to have run into sumireko there. who is the only non-youkai (or god, but let's not be picky here) character to not only learn about gensokyo, but also break into it. i'm hoping they meet up and put their brains together for this one, because the chaos they're gonna stir up will be a sight to behold indeed.

actually, i think them meeting up might actually be the cause for marisa's awakening. sumireko's pretty close to marisa, and we've seen that something related to their past lives is usually the key to their initial awakening.

timeline-wise, this should be around... in between akyuu and reimu's arcs and youmu/kosuzu's arcs, i think? a fortnight is like two weeks, so two weeks after akyuu's arc. marisa's the second oldest of the ICs after youmu (order of village ICs mentioned by youki was marisa, reimu, akyuu, kosuzu. youmu was 20 years prior to them so she's like 20 years old in her arc.)

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

trick first, and then go for the kill if he doesn't back off. of course, she'll have lost the element of surprise, but there's pesky things in the outside world like "surveillance cameras" and whatnot. if marisa had the ability to actually make herself unidentifiable, i'd probably have gone straight to violence, but right now i don't want her to get into too much trouble.

on another note, a theory i've been nursing ever since the little spirits reveal is that we're actually the remnant spirits from the previous timelines, clinging on to the souls of the ones whose histories were changed. bit of a stretch, and i certainly don't have any clue on how it happened, but it's something that popped up in my head.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

I agree.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.
Let's save the violence for later.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Agree with this. I saw the early responses and thought, ‘this seems like an awful idea’.

Then again what do I know? It took me a hot minute to realize “Auntie Zou” was Mamizou.

[ X ] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Marisa's full of pluck and guile, after all, and that still seems the case.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Violence probably shouldn't be the first thing we go to. Especially if we don't know our powers yet.

If Marisa has gotten that youkai strength, but doesn't realize it, she might put a rock through the guys head.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.
Fine, fine, we can save the ultraviolence as plan B. Braining some random thug without giving him a chance to back down probably wouldn't end well, legally or for her conscience. It would be funny though.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

This feels pretty fitting for OG Marisa, who tends to rely a bit on trickery

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Honestly, this seems likely to put us in the best situation afterward. I don't want to deal with an unconsious mugger or end up lost.

what's all this thinking and being reasonable
The simple option of violence is here and we don't want it!?

This thread was _not_ link on AO3. Thought it was the same thread and used my previous website url history to go there.

Anyway, reposting from thread 0...

[X] Just get his attention, so the girl could get away while he was distracted. Throw some taunts at him, and then run for the hills.

Taunting? That sounds like Marisa.
This is also the less likely for us to get busted. Throwing rocks could probably pull more attention on us.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Sorry but if they didn't want to to succumb to reptile brain violence, they shouldn't have rationalized it like that

>>212804
It was considered, and discarded because it escalates too quickly. Going for an intimidation attempt also fits Marisa’s MO, just so long as she doesn’t screw up her words.

Besides, if threats don’t work, she can go for rocks.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Marisa is brazen about her lies, but that doesn't mean she's good at them. Any time I've seen her lie, it was very obviously false or immediately seen through. Also, Marisa, like other incident resolvers, is very much a "shoot first and ask questions later" kinda gal, even if it gets her ass kicked (her entire fight with Reimu in Barrier Team's IN's route could have been avoided if she listened to the shrine maiden for 5 minutes, just as one example)

The mere suggestion that Marisa would try calling the cops to resolve an issue instead of pelting someone with rocks feels anathema.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Violence isn't the answer. It is a question, and the answer is "yes".

As I see it this is a Marisa that as far as we know:

- Doesn't have her memories yet.
- Thinks she's a normal human, without any access to magic or other powers (tentacle wings nonwithstanding).
- Is tiny, and again, without the crutch of magical training. She's basically powerless against a thug armed with a knife.
- Was raised by Mamizou who, even if she's powerful, uses cunning, manipulation and intimidation way more than displays of strength whenever possible.

I think that this Marisa could be a decent liar because she might have been trained by one of the best. Also, her being "bad at lying" in canon is mostly played for laughs imo.

I know that this is probably where she ends up displaying any kind of power she might have awakened along with the wings stuff and everything, but "stone to the head" is not something I see her doing in character right now. If she had a taser? pepper spray? a gun? for sure. With a stone? Nah.

>> “One last time.” She managed a smile. “A final spell card for the Ordinary Magician.”

Oughghhh this line and the ones about her hakkero and broom disintegrating broke me. As for the choice

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

I know this sounds like it might give us trouble later but hey, from the way she rode a train and dashed away it seems like Houjuu Marisa invites trouble into her life all the time anyways. If we're so worried about accidental murder then maybe aim for the guy's leg.

Also I love her design and its concept so much. Driprisa

>>212812
Hey, that's awesome!

"Threaten to call the cops" or, well, pretending to anyway, is the option with the most foundation in "Outside World Common Sense," and, therefore the one that is least useful to us as both magician and Yokai in the long run.

Taunting the man shows selflessness and a bold spirit; throwing the rock demonstrates a certain level of brutal confidence; calling the cops on a criminal is just mundane.

Plus, there's a significant chance it might not work. This guy's a violent criminal acting without any apparent concern for witnesses, so trying to threaten him with the authorities might cause him to get even more aggressive instead of backing down—and that's assuming he doesn't just see through the lie or call the bluff.

>>212812
>>212813
I only have a very small nitpick about the belt: it should have three small rings, one for each ufo color. That's my only "complaint" lol.

Also the star is a design on the shirt itself, but I think I like it more as a pendant like you drew it.
Loving the asymmetry on the shorts' pockets, too.

As a final side note, in my design her "scythes" are smaller and rounder because she's a "hatchling" as Mamizou puts it (think kiddie scissors lol), but I don't remember if we said anything about that so that's up to interpretation and neither "right or wrong"

Lots of great art lately, I'm loving it

>>212814
At the same time, it’s the one that leaves options most open if it doesn’t work. We can still throw rocks if need be, but if we try and intimidate him, we can’t pretend to call the cops or throw rocks because his attention will be on us and he’ll be closer to us than before.

Throwing a Rock is also an all-or-nothing option. Either it hits him and hurts him enough to stop him, be it through actual damage or through pain, or it misses him and Marisa is now staring down an angry guy with a knife. The rock can also hit the victim, and, if it hits the mugger too hard, we could end up with a dead or dying person in front of us, and while Mamizou could probably get Marisa out of a Manslaughter charge, I’m uncertain if Marisa could live with having killed someone like this. She’s tough, but she’s not really the sort to kill in cold blood.

TL;DR the other two options are very all-or-nothing, while the “fake a call” option has the choice of a follow-up in case it fails.

That said, this reminds me of a classic “spirit” vote, so in that case, I think it flows like this:
Intimidate: neutral option.
Call: Human option. As noted by others, very grounded in real-life logic and priorities
Rock: Youkai option. Extreme violence and a disregard for human life.

>>212816

I honestly think that "Taunt" is the option with the least follow-through since it involves us having to run away regardless.

If we hit him with the rock (I sincerely doubt we'd miss; Nuerisa seems pretty physically adept), even if he doesn't go down, he'd still be hurt enough to allow us to pivot into the taunt plan.

>>212796
[UNDO] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

>>212796
[UNDO] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

>>212818
>>212819
Whoops I accidentally doubled posted, my bad

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Unfortunately, much as I love a good violence, we need to account for the fact that we were born in a world with plumbing and such amenities. Without any hints of Marisa being much of a scrapper (and the danger of getting into a fight and then accidentally blowing our cover through the jacket via instincts taking over) we should play it safe, I think.

I think some people are underestimating the power of "large rock to the unprotected head." That kills people. If we're/he's lucky, it's still gonna be permanent brain damage. Even wielded by a little girl, something that hard and that heavy colliding with a skull is not going to be pretty.

(Also, to be honest, I'm not convinced the guy even deserves it? We don't know anything about this situation or whether there's more going on than meets the eye, and, honestly, the degree of stupid he's being reads more like "desperate" than "hardened criminal" to me)

Now, of course, I voted for rock to the head specifically because it's a bad idea and that feels pretty correct even for this Marisa to me (and because I don't think Gooboi will actually let the very first choice of the story arc result in blood on Marisa's hands) so maybe I don't get to say this, but if you're voting for violence on the assumption that it will both work and not scar this poor little girl for life, perhaps this deserves more consideration.

>>212822

I think that whether or not Marisa is the kind of person who would be traumatized by caving in a man's skull is part of the point of this vote, no?

Either way, I sincerely doubt that "life-scarring trauma" is in the cards for the first vote.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?
Look, I love a good bad idea. Shoot first, ask questions later! XD

And so it begins.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

I’m going to go for this one, Marisa calls her… wings? I’m not sure what they exactly are. She calls them things and has only had them about two weeks, so obviously does not know what they are or do.

The only problem with calling the police is for all we know we’re just going to get a “So what? The police never do anything.” Response. But I do like the idea of a follow up attack if all else fails.

While I'm not changing my vote, the discussion opportunities that arise from Marisa having a kill count before she makes it to Gensokyo ARE interesting to a degree. As much as we have several Youkai leaning ICs, none of them actually have gone so far to actually kill a human (and in both cases, really have no need to attack humans). Marisa having blood on her hands also matches up fairly well with Keine, which is interesting parallels.

At the same time, I don't want a massive imbalance between Youkai and Human ICs, and while an option would be to overcompensate and rely on the Paradox Pair to rebalance it, I don't want to feel boxed unnecessarily when ultraviolence isn't immediately needed.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

with her Nue abilities, I think its going to be very hard for the mugger to realize that she doesn't actually have a phone... maybe even if Marisa doesn't realize that.

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Deserved.

>>212815
Thanks for the feedbacks! I'm loving the thing with her kiddie scissors, lets just chalk this up as the "seeing what you want to see" trait so I saw sharp wings because that's what I expect her to look like lmao. I thought drawing her wings would give me an easier time than when drawing myon's wings... yeah absolutely not lmaoo, I had to take a lot of tries to figure out how they work.

as for the rings I actually realize this after I finish everything so I thought "haha let's just assume it's hidden on the other side of the belt" it was silly of me to hope nobody's gonna know when the original character designers are in the room with us ahgfdhfas. Don't worry I will remember next time, surely.

Also lastly for the pendant/shirt design thing, I like how it also looks like the bomb fragments that you get from defeating enemies in-game lol.

again thanks for telling me the details! Really appreciate it. I'll edit it later for my own references in the future

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Regardless of where you stand on murder, I'm going to point out a couple of things:
1: We have a witness.
2: That witness is a little girl.
3: All that we know Marisa's figured out so far is that when she gets more agitated, so do the 'things'.

Let's try NOT to traumatise the kid, okay?

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Counting to >>212833:
Main Choice:
[1] Just get his attention, so the girl could get away while he was distracted. Throw some taunts at him, and then run for the hills.
[23] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.
[20] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

:3

>>212792
QM! GIMME RISA AND SUMIREKO DOUBLE TEAM AND MY SOUL IS YOURS!

>>212812
Rissa so fly. she bringin style back to Gensokyo

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

I am hoping that the girl is Sumireko. If so I think calling the cops option will leave a better impression of us over being a stone throwing manic.

>>212836

I thought the girl might be Sumireko too, but I’m pretty sure she’s around 3-4 at this time, so I’m not super confident about that.

>>212797

Also, this was me, just to make that clear.

[X] She didn’t actually have a phone, but she could pretend to call the police - that might get him to back off.

Try and resolve the situation without anyone needing to go to the hospital. The guy already seems to be held back by the dog, so the threat of getting the book thrown at him will hopefully deter him.

Marisa might have a bit of a hard time hitting someone with a rock. I don't think it would be unreasonable here though; knives kill people.

I'm pretty sure the girl isn't Sumireko.

Unrelated to what's currently happening, but I was thinking what a cowboy gardener would look like and long story short I drew how I'd imagine Kurokoma Youmu looking like

[X] He was mugging a girl in broad daylight, and not paying attention to any potential witnesses, so he clearly had rocks instead of brains in his skull. What was the harm in taking a heavy one off the ground, and trying to add it to his collection?

Rock.

>>212830
Yeah, the wings are deceptively hard to draw (It took many tries to get them looking like I wanted). As another fact, they are meant to resemble shooting stars (which can be seen better in your drawing!). The blue ones are missiles.

I can totally relate to "I hope nobody's gonna notice" lol. It was just a minor nitpick, nothing to worry about!

The design borrows a lot from Nue: you might have already noticed but the belt represents Nue's snake, the ribbon is meant to be Nue's herself (a keepsake from mom, but this is my design idea not necessarily canon to R/R), and the design on her shoulder resembles the one in Nue's dress (this one was hidden by the jacket). Also, yes! The star is a bomb fragment green UFOs drop when broken.

Lastly, her hat has the trigram for fire in the front, and water in the back (opposite sides in the hakkero, but the back can't be seen in the drawing). Plus the goggles.

Here's the design without the jacket for further details. Nothing fancy. I think that's all about her design?

>>212841
Cool Youmu! I like the little badges.

Y'know, I have to wonder...

How do you think Byakuren's gonna deal with one of her temple's...eh, tenants? Freeloaders? Guests? Whatever Nue is, how do you think Byakuren's gonna react to the fact that she's a single mother who gave up her kid because Old Hell was simply too dangerous?

>>212845
I feel like she'd be both somewhat disappointed and understanding; on one hand, Nue apparently had a kid and left her in the Outside World to be raised by a close friend, leaving her relatively isolated (as far as we know so far). On the other hand, Old Hell isn't exactly the best place for a kid either.

[X] Just get his attention, so the girl could get away while he was distracted. Throw some taunts at him, and then run for the hills.

>>212845

Wasn't Byakuren sealed away in like, the Heian period or something? I don't think she'd be too bothered by the idea.

>>212848
>>212846

Maybe...But Byakuren is a very empathetic individual, and I think she'd be rather tearful over the whole ordeal...

She'd happily help Nue "reconnect" with said daughter once she shows up in Gensokyo, though!

I suspect that Marinue is going to end up smothered.

I just had a Jimmy Neutron Brain Blast about Marinue's family line, and it's from the action vote.

We know she's a Nue, so faking a phone and making people believe that is a Nue ability. She's raised by Mamizou, a Tanuki. Tanuki modus operandi is mess things up and run away really fast. Not Mami's, but it's a common tactic.

But the third option, Throw Rock, made me think. Leaping straight to physical violence isn't *any* of their normal routine. Nue likes to lie with her power, Mami tricks, Marisa goes for the Beam Spam. So why jump to throwing shit?

Marisa's a half-Nue, as Mami's misspeak in the flashback noted. Which...makes sense, we don't know any other Nues to exist, and of the original five Reincarnates we only have one unaccounted for parent (Kosuzu's dad, brave man he is to boink Yukari's Shikigami). Everyone else is either known, dead (in Youmu's case), or non-applicable (Akyuu's mom was a *vat*).

So, who's the dad if they aren't a Nue? Well, Old Hell is the most likely location, and it's run by Oni. Oni is probably where the leap to physical violence came from...y'know, because Oni.

And then it hit me. Which Oni do we know of with blonde hair, great strength, and a minor association with stars in some official artwork?

Yuugi. Marinue might be Yuugi's *niece*.

...Or maybe i'm still working off the food-coma from Thanksgiving.

>>212850

While I would love an Oni making it into the group, I don't think Marisa is anything but a half-Human Nue.

Since the Spiral Meteor (aka Akyuu) was what triggered her Youkai heritage to emerge for the first time, it would be strange if only her Nue heritage emerged, and not anything that would signal other Youkai heritage. I also don't really think the three options are meant to tie into different youkai: they very much read into human social norms about how to "resolve" the mugging, either as a evasive distraction (neutral), relying on the threat of human authority (human), or violence and direct action (youkai).

While we haven't had a discussion of Fathers since Reimu in the epilogue chapters (as you state, Youmu doesn't know their parents and Akyuu's parents are a test tube and a vat), it would be fitting that the one youkai whose ability would allow them to 100% disguise their nature would be able to have a relationship with a human.

>>212851

Well, the issue with that is...

Well, as far as we're aware, there aren't any humans in Old Hell, and Humans themselves barely even remember old hell exists at all. Now, Nue probably could have gone up with some trickery to find a man, but considering how restricted the barriers...well, were, and travel is only done by a very select few...

Well, to be honest, Nue finding literally any Underground Youkai to lay with is more likely than her nabbing a human. And an Oni is merely both the most likely...and the one most easily hidden.

The only real indicator of an Oni is the horn(s), which are honestly very easily hidden as Kasen shows. Even easier with whatever trickery Mamizou could pull, and Marinue is pretty young regardless, so any horns aren't likely to be very big in the first place.

Heck, so long as they aren't Suika or Yuugi sized, they could probably be hidden by just her hair or a bandana, hair buns at the most.

>>212852
Not sure if it is an oni but Gooboi hinted at half and half Youkai in >>/shorts/2972 where Orin and Murasa was talking about Orin's brother being interested in Shou and considered sending any kids to one of the outside world temples to be raised. That would indicate that the Buddhist sutras choice for Kaizou/Kosuzu's origin would have been a niece of Orin making her half Kasha and half tiger Youkai.

I can't find it but I think Gooboi did talk a bit about this in one of the post in Kaizou/Kosuzu about how all three routes had the ability of having Kosuzu shifting into another type of Youkai (Kappa/Yamawaro, Kuda-gitsune/Kitsune).

>>212850
I am not convinced Kosuzu is not the result of Yukari clapping Ran's cheeks. Specially with the Gap powers she has.

I'll point out that for Marisa to grow up in the outside world, there logically has to be a way for either Nue to get to the surface to deliver her, or mamizou to get to the underground to find and bring her back.

>>212851

Found this quote in yester youmu

>The hell raven’s voice was incredulous. “Oh, you think living in Former Hell was easy?! It’s not called Former Hell because it’s become a pleasant place, you know! All the other hatchlings in our clutch were eaten! Me and Okuu only survived because the hellhound that attacked us saved the runts for last! We were all we had until Satori found us!”

So I looked it up, she really doesn't mention her parents from this timeline, and we also don't really see her or Youki talk about her previous timeline's dad, nor do they actively try to visit Youmu's previous timeline mom, which is ironic since she has the most adults looking after her, Satori, Koishi, Orin, Youki, Yuyuko, and even the Moriya goddesses whenever she has to go up the surface

>>212857
I think that Okuu and Myon are supposed to be orphans

[x] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

{x} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

[x] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

We visiting frog shrine, for all we know there might be hints of Sanae

{x} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

It's probably Mike

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

Last line makes me curious. Probably some useful trinkets in there.

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

I'm only voting for this so that Marisa has better control of her appendages.

Welp, so much for not traumatizing the child. Poor Marisa, these powers suddenly manifesting must be scary as hell. Well, good thing the other IM are a lot more durable now in case she forgets her strength upon meeting up...

Really looking forward to reading this Marisa!

But anyway—onto my votes!

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

As much as I'd love to investigate the Rainbow Market (Chimata, presumably), we just spent a whole arc with heavy involvement of an Unconnected Marketeers character (Tsukasa), and we delved into the Moriya Shrine some in Youmu's arc. So, by process of elimination, consortium it is!

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

We need all the allies we can get, so hiding that we're technically pretty dangerous might not go over like super well. Plus, if Calicoin is serious about investigating Gensokyo, they're gonna need to be prepped for anything. If they can't handle a friendly (half-)youkai like Marisa who is actively trying not to hurt people unnecessarily, they definitely wouldn't be able to handle a hostile one in Gensokyo.

Plus if Calicoin is Mike then getting on good terms with fellow youkai is desirable and an easy way to make a connection—youkai are quite rare in the outside world at this point what with silly things like "science" explaining natural phenomena.

woah woah woah. human 5????? i mean, it's kinda expected from someone who's always been adamant for sticking to her humanity and making her reputation as the "ordinary magician", but still kind of a shock since all the previous spirit choices were set to 2. i remember gooboi mentioning that marisa's spirit depends on which form we picked, but that was before her options were changed and replaced by nuerisa. would the previous option still have set her spirit to 5? and would the other options have set it to youkai 5 or neutral instead of a normal spirit vote?

primary choices all seem pretty obvious. i honestly want to go with the suwa one since it's already pretty close to the yatsugatake mountains (where gensokyo roughly is, if i'm remembering correctly), and more moriya lore is nice. but i'm also leaning a bit towards chimata's choice since 1. that's where mike (whom im assuming is calicoin) initially debuted from, 2. her advice for trades and business might be useful in getting marisa a magical instrument, which could kickstart her into learning about magic, 3. the moriyas and the sdm are already in gensokyo by now, and there's a chance that chimata's still around in the outside world and could be convinced to move there as well, adding a third person to the "break/move into gensokyo" team. i'll think more about it later, probably.

it feels like the choices for negative and positive instinct are reversed for some reason? like, hiding and repressing it sounds like something that leads to being less in tune with her body, and coming clean and maybe getting some advice from mike calicoin could be useful for gaining some control over them. or maybe i'm wrong and it's playing into a nue's natural tendency to stay unknown. either way, i'd argue for more instinct just to get them under control for now.

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well.

>Spirit set to Human-5.

well that didn't end well and Marisa's spirit is too high for the human side.

I wonder if these options are to choose how the two will get to gensokyo or something else... so...

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

Pretty sure Calicoin is Mike it will be pretty funny if she is Marisa's partner in this arc.

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

I was going to comment on it before, but this just proves it: Marisa is notable. It's already an interesting enough tidbit that we can actually communicate with her out here, but we had a broken choice almost immediately (I've been keeping track of these since they showed up in A/A, and these normally seem to happen when something interrupts the IC's train of thought, which happened with the mugging.) The fact that she was so easily able to assert her will and ignore our votes is fascinating enough. But then she's actually at least subconsciously aware of the vote.
Potential explanations:
- Humanity is a natural repellent towards the influence of votes, and we've basically hand crafted the human-est possible Marisa possible.
- Something else about her nature makes her naturally more assertive against our suggestions. We should try making her bite someone's ankle. That worked out great last time, and it'd be a good way to check if we can make her do something stupid.
- The barrier between fantasy and reality is actually pretty tight, so our votes are harder to get through.
- I'm overthinking the diagetic inclusion of votes too much and Gooboi was just commenting in narration at how close the vote was.

Anyways, onto the voting!
Looks like we get to meet Mike after all. Yay! We obviously have a chance to continue down the story introduced in Y/Y, potentially getting a clue towards the paradox pair? The other two options seem like a chance to check in with good old Ess Dee Emm and maybe find some interesting bits we could've had with the Vampire origin... But I kinda want to check out the Kogasa of gods herself. I'm doubtful it would lead to any Tengu shenanigans, but I kind of want to recruit her into the band of fantastical miscreants who will be headed through Gensokyo customs. (Plus, double UM characters is nice, always like giving newhus some love.)

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

For the instinct vote... Poor Marisa. Girl is absolutely traumatized by these things. I don't have a strong sense on whether her immediate response would be to try and bury them away or to try and keep others at a safe distance... I'm going -Instinct though, partially because most others are at least neutral at this point and it'd be interesting, partially because Marisa doesn't know how the stats of R/R works and might think that embracing them and showing them would be the way to gain control of them. She doesn't know that disguising is more in line with being a Nue because she doesn't know she is one.

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

---

Go after the SDM, the Moriyas, or Chimata; and either divulge upon meeting up with Mike, divulge later, or divulge never. Interesting stuff for this go-around.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Assuming braining him would have ended with a dead dude then, what with the super strenght and all. That was kinda intense for a first vote ngl.

[X] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

------------------

REMI-SAMAAAAAAA. FUUURRAAAAANNN.

Ouch, poor Marinue.

.. Also, super-strength? Hm. Is it just Youkai strength, or something more notable?

Also, Aunty Mami needs to help her niece!

Marisa is Marisad right now, so...hrm...Choices, choices...is anyone paying attention to the Moriya Shrine locale? But if we somehow enter through there, we're smack-dab in Tengu territory, and they've been...irritating in the quest so far. Chimata's path definitely has a way, but is Marisad up to dealing with that many people who may or may not be aware... and while the Vampires are an option, it's worth noting that Remilia and Flandre aren't the only vampires around. Just...the only ones of particular note. Also, Remilia is incredibly dramatic.

...Fuck it, Sackuya wins.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

As for "Calicoin"...Hmm...Does Marisa need personal safety or friendship more...?

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

Frens. Frens are best.

That first choice will... probably be our point of entry.
The first, we have somewhere on Youkai Mountain connected to RGB-Goddess (aka Chimata Tenkyuu). The second is the obvious Moriya Shrine and the third is the SDM (employing the paranormal, I imagine mean they employ fairy maids).
The only one with haven't had contact with was with Chimata and the tengu, so I'm going to vote for that:

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

The second choice is much harder. But I feel that whoever is that "Calicoin" is, if she's 100% human with an eye for paranormal, opening up too fast can be an issue. However, I feel that Calicoin is also a youkai and wishes to, basically, save her existance. If it's the latter, Mike (Calicoin refers to a Calico cat and its coin) is the most likely. As you know, that is only a nickname and, although you get along well on the internet, that could only be a front so opening up immediately is risky.

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

These interpretations and votes were decided without reading any input from the community. :)

>"The blipping and beeping informed her that the digimon inside was still alive, at least. Small victories."
She doesn't have leomon then.

Time for slightly odd question, what year is it in the story? like it didn't really matter when in Gensokyo, but it's a least good for frame of reference in the Outside World. I'm assuming 2002, since that's when EoSD released/happened.

[X] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

>>212864 here, casting my vote.

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

if this is our point of entry, moriyas are best way to go. they're already (painfully) aware of the immaterial children, and will be working with everyone else to bring them home in the future. who knows where breaking in with chimata might end up (probably youkai mountain but with the tengu, yikes) and the sdm might be more partial to working to prevent the apocalypse but aren't guaranteed on that front. if we get in near the moriyas, we'll start out in gensokyo with sort of allies, hopefully. not to mention that they're probably scouting out the underground right now, which could lead us right to nue herself. only problem is that they're already in gensokyo at this point, so we can't actually tag along, but there's hopefully enough clues to get started.

alright Marisa ... the journey went off with a traumatizing start but that's ok surely things will look up haha... As for the vote

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

as much as I want to pick the markets for kleptomaniac reasons, I have always thought of Marisa as someone that had a pretty "good" relationship with the mansion. The Mansion is one of the places she's shown to regularly visit, just like the Hakurei Shrine and Kourindou. Maybe this choice will bring us to more dealings with the SDM later and who knows maybe it'll spark a tiny bit of memory later. Maybe she think going to somewhere that "employs the paranormal" might bring her to meet more "abnormal" people like her which will make her feel less alone.

I also just want the mansion to lock in and have something to do lmao. we already have Youmu for the Moriyas and Kosuzu for the marketeers anyways.

and for the other choice,

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

it might not be the best idea to immediately tell "Calicoin" everything because based on the description there's a chance of her selling Marisa out, but frens are indeed best.

Also other than Marisa's worries about accidentally hurting them, I like to think that Eiki's scolding on her previous life about lying left such big impact on her that it carried over into her next life subconsciously.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

>>212866
Although that is possible, do note that Marisa at least tried to distract the mugger by "calling" the police before opting for plan B.
So I really wouldn't say that she "was so easily able to assert her will and ignore our votes".
I do think that her plan A was the mugger just leaving the girl alone & running away to avoid possible trouble. It's just that the mugger chose to engage with Marisa, so... yeah.
Anyways...

[x] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
{x} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
I think it's funny to put the thief in the marketplace. Maybe her kleptomania will put her on Chimata's radar?

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)
Let's just pretend to be an ordinary human who doesn't have bloodthirsty knife tentacles sprouting from her back. I know this is probably not going to win, but still...

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

>>212883
I more meant in terms of "she stopped a vote about her opinion on her outfit" than "she is independent of voting", probably could have been a bit clearer. The Plan A/B bit seems more pointing towards the two plans having close support to each other.

Oh, and just because I noticed vote count wasn't shown (not sure how intentional that was with the other vote weirdness) final count seems to be 24/21/2. So it was definitely close enough she would find it notable if pro police had a 1 vote majority.

>>212876
Point of order, at this time, the Moriya are unaware of the specifics of the Immaterial Children incident, as Marisa’s arc takes place midway between Akyuu’s and Youmu’s arcs. So, while the Moriya are at least aware of what’s going on, unless we somehow take ~16 days to get into Gensokyo proper, the only benefit visiting Lake Suwa will have is that it’ll be a possible example of how to enter Gensokyo, which, well, could be helpful, since it’s the only direct link to Gensokyo in the options.

That said, the other two options are interesting. I don’t actually think that the weird job offer is the Scarlets, if only because they’re in Gensokyo proper right now, and they’ve never shown the inclination or ability to recruit from the Outside World. Rather, I think the job interview is a link to Okina. She’s the only Sage who actively recruits people, and she likely has ways to the Outside World. We know that it can’t be Mamizou or Yukari, two other likely candidates, because they have other roles, so Okina is our best bet.

As for the Market, it’s probably Mike and Chimata, simply because Mike, as a minor Yokai, needs a patron to sustain herself while actively using her powers. Chimata fits the bill.

I’m torn between the Job and Suwa, but it might be cool to see what Gooboi has planned for Mike. She was supposed to be Nekosuzu’s foster mother, right? And a good one at that, correct?

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

[X] Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Not a fan of Human-5. I am voting to increase instinct to see if that helps lower it later.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

We connect to those Marketeers

>>212887
We're meeting Mike no matter what by virtue of "Calico Coin" being the single least subtle username ever.

I'm genuinely rather interested in who else Chimata could bring in. If we meet her before Megumu involves her in whatever form the UM four would take without Tsukasa, we could theoretically push her in a lot of directions.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

All of these options are interesting, but I suspect that this one has the highest chance to awaken some IC memories.

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

>>212874
>> She doesn't have leomon then.
lol true

I'm almost sure it's the early 00s (2002-03).

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

I don't usually care much for Chimata, but Marisa trying to avoid people while haggling for goods is tempting. Maybe she kept her sticky fingers. Maybe she gained sticky tentacle wing things.

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Maybe keeping the secret for now is the play here.

>She took a moment to pick through the ones with more phone-like shapes, eventually setting on a black and gold Digimon one.

is maybe blackwargreymon? that's the only thing that comes to my mind.

I will change only because there is a possibility that they will show information about why the tengus and maybe Megumu want to know about the ICs.

[undo] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
Might as well go to where Michael's familiar with.
{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)
The tentacles probably unnerved her enough to do this.

[ X ] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{ X } Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Meeting Chimata together with Mike should be nice, especially as the nice members of the Marketeers crew (good riddance to Tsukasa in this continuity).

For Lake Suwa, Moriya Shrine is already gone so at most it would provide Marisa the route into Gensokyo, and unlikely to have any character connection.

For the employment agency... unless its Marisa somehow accidentally getting turned around and running into Mamizou's actual operation (rather than the mini-one that exists to keep an eye on a potentially dangerous half Nue) it pretty much has to be Okina as the only other entity still with ties outside of Gensokyo. Maybe as a stretch it could be connected to one of the PC-98 characters we haven't really interacted with yet, though I couldn't guess which one.

As for the Instinct vote, I like the idea of a Marisa whose abilities know what to do even if she herself doesn't fully get them (as someone who thought she was just a human).

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Do remember what Instincts on Youkai do. And what Nues are known for. Obscuring information.

Too high instinct may make Marisa compelled to be dishonest even at great disadvantage to her.

It seems we’re choosing allies. Either the SDM crew, Moriya gods or Chimata.

I don’t think the SDM crew would listen to their new hire, especially if they try to run away, taking as much stuff from the library as possible.

The Moriya gods are faithless and thus weak right now and will start fighting at a later point, essentially losing both of them as allies.

Chimata though… hates thieves, probably hates murderers, but is the essentially the inciter of the incident Mike debuts in, and also might meet Megumu and start the incident once she enters Gensookyo. And you know what that means?

Further delaying the Scarlet Mist Incident!

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

Next, I think we should just stay neutral, losing instinct is a very tough choice, especially with how scared and confused Marisa is about her abilities. She’s already killed someone with her wing bits and broken about 5 different things with her (possibly oni) strength, being less in control of her abilities will not help.

{x} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

>>212901

Quick Correction since there seems to be a misunderstanding.

>> The feeling of blood made Marisa’s own run cold. She jerked back, away from her victim, and the scythes followed suit, retreating behind her and producing a splash of vivid red. He stumbled, turning to run with the speed of a man possessed and a howl to match. Marisa stared, motionless, as he vanished into the distance.

Marisa did not kill a man, just mauled him with her tentacles. She likely would have killed him if she had thrown the rock, but thankfully she didn't (this time).

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

It's always worth fighting the good fight in the face of overwhelming odds.

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

LOLing at the idea of Marisa trying to be open and understanding her murderknife tentacles but that just makes them harder to control. Poor girl hasn't learned to abandon common sense yet.

Oh my. Poor girl.

[x] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

Went back and forth on this one. I wanna go see Chimata, but I also wanna go see what's up in Suwa City. Can we just summon Chimata to Suwa? No? Fine. Well, I might change my mind later, but for now I'm gonna be loyal to the god on the mountain.

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

I know that's Mike, you know that's Mike, we know she won't be freaked out by Marisa being a youkai, but Marisa doesn't, and this feels correct to me. Not that I want to always vote according to what feels in-character at the moment, or else I'd stymy character development, but in this particular case, I feel like hiding it now could mean harder-hitting development later.

... Actually, thinking about it, would Mike not be freaked out? Youkai aren't exactly one big happy family. If she realises that she, a weak, basically harmless, friendly spirit, is trapped alone with a powerful and famously unfriendly youkai, she might freak out harder than a human would. Maybe.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

I say we don't immediately go for gensokyo or danger, Marisa just unlocked her youkai side and may want some preparation before going for broke.

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

I also want to dip with how much of outside world socials we can get. If it ends up in a mess, well let's see what Mamizou could do.

>>212864
> it feels like the choices for negative and positive instinct are reversed for some reason? like, hiding and repressing it sounds like something that leads to being less in tune with her body, and coming clean and maybe getting some advice from mike calicoin could be useful for gaining some control over them. or maybe i'm wrong and it's playing into a nue's natural tendency to stay unknown. either way, i'd argue for more instinct just to get them under control for now.

It's worth noting that there are advantages and disadvantages to each instinct direction, and they are treated as equal. Universally, higher instinct does make it easier to act like a youkai, but it also makes it harder to act like a human and more likely to have one's innate responses come through. The downside of a higher instinct stat is that the natural responses of one's species are harder to ignore. As a creature of the unknown, it makes Marisa more secretive.

A good way to think of it is that higher instinct means less conscious thought in controlling one's youkai abilities. There are times when you need to not think and with your gut, and times when you really need that manual override.

>>212874
>She doesn't have leomon then.
>Time for slightly odd question, what year is it in the story?

It's early 2000s.

I specifically imagined the device she has here as a Pendulum V5: https://digivicemon.com/guide/digimon-pendulum-guide-version-5-metal-empire/ because that's the one with Mugendramon/Metaldramon in it.

>>212901
As I said before, the SDM is the least likely candidate for an organization that crosses the Hakurei barrier actively, being more like the Moriya where everyone inside the mansion packed up and left with the mansion during the move to Gensokyo, and no one in said mansion displayed the ability or inclination to travel through the barrier unaided by a Sage of Gensokyo.

It’s more likely to be either Okina doing recruitment or Mamizou’s info network/business. I think it’d be funny as hell if we end up running into the mother we left two weeks ago in vastly different circumstances, honestly.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{x} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

Counting to >>212907:
Main Choice #1:
[18] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
[7] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…
[10] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

Main Choice #2:
{13} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)
{10} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)
{12} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

:3

>>212907

I see your logical argument, and raise you a page from Forbidden Scrollery Ch. 7!

Moreover, it's worth noting that Okina's last known hires, Satono and Mai, are normal humans she's given power to.

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

After a long and hard think, I do think it will be better to give Marisa more control over these.

Sleepy tallyanon from thread 0 here...

[18] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
[7] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…
[10] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{13} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)
{10} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)
{12} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

We pretty split on what we do when we meet Mike.
Hopefully my tallying is correct.

Damnit. Tally sniped. >.<

>>212910

Also incorrect.

>>212910
Does it, though?
I voted instinct-down because, like Gooboi mentioned, low instinct means we can more easily resist, well, instinctual twitches. Is higher instinct really more likely to give us better conscious control over them, or does it just make them more liable to lash out?

>>212914
Low instinct means less conscious control of our Yokai side. High instinct means the tentacles are more likely to come out, but it also means we are more likely to be able to control them. At least, that’s my understanding of it.

>>212915

…I literally just said almost the exact opposite. Only about ten posts ago. To clear up this exact bit of confusion.

> A good way to think of it is that higher instinct means less conscious thought in controlling one's youkai abilities.

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

i do not think being a murderblender is a good idea, so i'm voting for the -2.

[X] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

Being hired by the SDM might make it easier to recruit them into the fold later on. The question is what job would Marisa take? A gate-guard while easy with Marisa's super strength would be too dull for her. Marisa is too messy to be a good maid, but the SDM does have fairy maids so it isn't impossible for her to get this job. Librarian assistant is a very interesting choice as it feeds Marisa's love of books plus likely have Patchoili as her Magic teacher. With her strength she could be a good babysitter for Flandre if she could convince them that she would survive. It also reunites Marisa with old friends . As much as I don't want to speed run regaining magic until we can see what this Marisa can do, It would be funny if the SDM had 2 incident resolvers working together to solve incidents until Remilia can finally start hers.

{X} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

This allows us to change Marisa's approach depending on how honest Calicoin is about themselves. It is also the safest option as Marisa isn't lying or being too trusting of someone who is a stranger that she met online. As much as Marisa needs friends she should know better than to trust a stranger during her first meeting, let the friendship grow than decide if she trust Calicoin with her secret.

>>212917
I feel like +instinct would be better than -instinct at preventing murder-blender incidents, at least based on how I'm interpreting things.

Currently, Marisa seems to be repressing her nue identity and holding it back, treating it like a curse more so than an identity. Increasing instinct would make both her tentacles easier to control, as well as her presumed unidentifiable-ness ability inherited from her mother, making it easier to escape by becoming nondescript. Granted, it'd be a double-edged sword with her feeling like she needs more and more privacy and space, and thus pushing herself away from others.

>>212919

... I typed out a response to this, but then i realised I think I might have misunderstood your point. I thought you were reiterating the interpretation Gooboi just shut down, but I suspect that was my bad.

Are saying you think the tentacles are acting violently as a defense mechanism because she's not following her instinct to remain unknown and not be seen in her true form? So if instinct rises, and she stays hidden more, they'll stay calm more, whereas the more she ignores her instinct to hide, the more they'll lash out? That's actually an interesting take, and sounds really plausible. Hm...

>>212920
Pretty much. It does seem that Marisa isn't in complete control of them. They lashed out in response to her being threatened when she made herself the centre of attention. Being more nue-like could very well reduce the number of times she's threatened, and reduce the number of times *they* lash out.

In RPG terms, she'd be less of a valiant warrior facing things head on, and more of an evasive rogue sneaking in the shadows; drawing less attention from enemies.

[X] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well.

>>212866 here.
Anon teaches Marisa how the stats of R/R works through this debate after it's revealed she really can hear us... this is all dedicated towards the whole debate over what side of the instinct spectrum actually does what.

This is my sense of the Instinct spectrum is based on what Gooboi said and my own intuition.
Neutral: (We are here) - Marisa doesn't yet have the technique to use these limbs, and she doesn't have the kind of mindset to live in a way that works with their autonomous movements.
Positive Instinct: Marisa still has no idea how to use the tentacles. They're even more likely to go off on a hair trigger because she doesn't have human instincts to restrain them. But her mindset being more nuelike makes her avoid situations where she'd press those hair triggers better.
Negative Instinct: Marisa figures out how to actually use the tentacles as limbs for stuff, and is better at restraining her instinctual lashing out, but in exchange she has to deal with them trying to lash out more often.

It's possible in the future we could have enough Resistance to be able to save ourselves from the downsides of either side, but that'd take training. Our training budget in the forseeable future is already stocked with magical study, so I'd rather have better control of them until we get a decent chance at that.

(the other reason I'm still pro -Instinct is that we still don't have any characters with negative Instinct rn and I think that ignoring the stat changes, it's the more interesting choice.)

Allow me to mention something I just thought of.

If the vampire really is the SDM.

Thats the route closest to rekindling magic training(through Patchy and her library) for Marisa.

This is important cuz MAGIC.

>>212919

QM says literally the opposite. High Instincts seems to instinctually lash out if Marisa finds herself in perilous situations. while Low Instinct means more conscious control.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

>>212919
>>212920
>>212921
The thing is, to reword this in another way is "if I learn to resist my instincts, my instincts will cause me to lash out" and I think saying it that way illuminates the problem rather directly. While it's clear that part of Marisa's instincts is how she conceals herself, I highly doubt that how quickly she goes to using her tentacles isn't also part of the same stat.

Every other case of instincts being used so far has had physical implications first and mental implications second, but both together in tandem. In fact, the mental implications are often some form of drawback for the physical advantages. While Marisa could be a turnabout on this, both are always a factor, and it'd be weird to have her instincts segmented in such a way that they don't create her

There's another reason why I'm voting for this: we're speculating about how negative instinct works, but we have no idea... because we've never gone below neutral. And if there's any setting that'd justify trying to be as human as possible, it'd be the human world.

If we want to be able to rely on our Yokai abilities at all (and part of why we chose Nue was to be a powerful Yokai), I think having higher instinct is going to help because currently, Marisa is as human as we know spirit can go.

Sure, we might lose control and lash out, but I agree that our instincts will also cause us to avoid stressful situations where that might happen. If we have negative instincts, we might be unable to rely on our natural powers when they are needed.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

I don't think the +2 instinct voters understand that higher instinct means lower control of those things on our back and thus higher chance of accidental murder

I just think the combo of high Human and high Instinct is bad. Since Marisa will be reacting and acting out like a yokai but still thinking of herself as very human

>>212927

Nue instincts would help us avoid situations where accidental murder is on the table, is the argument.

>>212929
I'm really not convinced. Think of the situation like we're setting up a walkway high up. The floor is sort of slippery, so there's a danger of some innocent passerby slipping off and breaking their neck.

Would you rather install safety railings on that walkway, so that if there is a slip they're almost certain to be safe, or put down a carpet that makes people less likely to slip in the first place, but if they do slip they're still doomed?

With -Instinct, we might still get into situations that set us off until we figure things out. But if we do, it's a much safer assumption that we can get off without hurting anyone that badly.
With +Instinct, we might get into one or two situations tops that set us off, but if we do, we're probably maiming them at minimum like we did to the mugger this update.

Let's be real: No matter what we choose, something'll probably happen. We're wielding powers we don't understand, and either way we're sure to get into a bad spot. With that mindset, I'd rather have an actual treatment to the problem than a preventative measure. Harming 10 people once is less deadly than harming 1 person 10 times.

(To any 0 Instinct crowd wondering where you are, while I respect your desire to stay Nue-tral, I'm not focusing on it because I just don't feel like Marisa would reasonably choose to put it off like that.)

This whole instinct discussion has made me kind of confused with the instinct stat for most of the characters now,
so like with Reimu it's pretty obvious with how she couldn't sit still with a centipede on her arm,
with Akyuu... Was she more jumpy? (Haha)
Youmu had a hard time flying early on in yester youmu, but she seemed to get better at it over time but her stat stayed neutral
Kosuzu, I don't remember many examples since we were all so focused with her grip stat

>>212930

Adding on to this, the only clear indicator for Marisa's tentacles lashing out seems to be excitement/stress/danger right now. If Marisa ups her secretiveness, there's a chance that anything that starts to expose her will read to her instincts as danger, even if it's really just a more casual situation or even something she wants to do.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS2k91Y7rhQ

{x} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

Instinct isn't necessarily a bad thing to have. I can see it saving our bacon if we were surprise attacked, for example. Still, in this particular instance, maybe we should tamp it down a notch until Marisa actually knows what's going on. In the short term, as well, Marisa is more likely to figure things out if she has someone to bounce off.

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

I'm not saying there are no problems with higher instinct, but I still have the concern that with a very high human spirit and negative instinct, we might lose the only real supernatural advantage we have at present.

>>212935
We voted for the outside world origin, so I'm fine with spirit. Instinct doesn't correlate to power. If we were an oni, high instinct means stuff like being unable to get within arm's reach of soy beans, or being a night sparrow who can easily catch themselves on a breeze to get out of freefall. In contrast, low/negative instinct means stuff like being a rat who can sit around cats without freaking out, or an earth spider who trips while trying to run up a wall in a hurry.

It measures how close we are to an archetypical example of that species, for good and bad.

I kinda wish Instinct directly came up more often. Like, I understand what it does in theory, but in practice, without doing what was done that one (1) time a centipede dropped on Reimu and actually showing us blocked-off options, it's not entirely clear when or if it's doing anything. Literally the only other thing I'm positive it's responsible for is Akyuu's persistent inability to stop using "Earth" as an expletive.

[X] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…

Capitalism, Ho!

{X} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

[X] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…

I wanna steal from Remi not work for her lol.

{x} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)

>>212939
nothing says you can't steal from your employer

[X] There were always stories of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

Everyone thinks this is the SDM option, but they are occupied at this time. I think the vampire is actually Kurumi, and this is the Yuuka option.

{X} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)

>>212941
You can cook. You have my attention.

What better way to rember than seeing a Spark first-hand?

>>212940

Not to disagree with you, but I think the employer says that

Counting to >>212941
Main Ccoice #1
[21] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
[9] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…
[14] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

Main Choice #2
{18} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)
{12} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)
{15} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

Sleepy-tally-anon out.

I'm gonna be stopping the vote at >>212944 to write.

>>212931
Akyuu's language is actually more a consequence of her spirit than her instinct.

There's plenty of other factors, though many of them are subtle and haven't had much attention brought to them.

For example, Reimu's tendency to puff smoke when she's angry is a consequence of her instincts. This is perfectly fine when you're a young jidiao who's known to be such... but less so when you're supposed to be a human kid.

A big thing is that one of the biggest advantages of low instinct is blending in as a human more naturally. That hasn't been too much of a concern yet, because the only one who's spent a long time in human society has done so quite explicitly as a rabbit girl.

All this to say that the seeds sown in previous arcs will be reaped in later ones.

Counting to >>212941:
Main Choice #1:
[21] It was said that a certain market in the area was always framed by a rainbow in every photo. Not just the promotional images, every photo anyone took with sky in it had a rainbow in the background. Rumours abounded that the market had strange, occult wares secretly available for sale…
[9] There was a strange area on the edge of Lake Suwa with an almost perfectly circular cutout in it. Rumours were that a whole shrine had been spirited away, stolen even from people’s memories…
[15] Many stories told of secret consortiums run by vampires and the like. One of the more interesting ones dealt with a recruitment office with mysterious conditions for adding a person to their rosters. It was claimed that the business’ true industry was in employing the paranormal…

Main Choice #2:
{19} When she met up with Calicoin… she’d have to come clean about her whole mess. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt them, and that meant they needed to know exactly what was going on. Besides, they might have their own ideas about Marisa’s state. (-2 Instinct.)
{12} Exactly how honest she should be with Calicoin was something to decide later. Not like she knew in advance how well they’d react to her. She’d have to judge the moment when it came. (0 Instinct.)
{15} Whatever was going on, people freaked out whenever they saw her tentacles. Maybe it was better to keep them hidden from Calicoin, too… she didn’t want to lose her as well. (+2 Instinct.)

>>212944:
I can't believe I have to say this again, but... although your assistance is lovely, it is not required.
Please note that I didn't do this for some vast reward or etc. I did this initially because I liked this story (and I still do) & I wanted to help out in a subtle, but meaningful way.
The main reason why I'm stating all this is because I don't want a potential scenario where a bunch of people try to make counts & flood the threads with such counts (Which is important to note because autosage is a thing).
You can continue voting as per usual, but please don't count for future votes unless Gooboi wishes so. Besides, accuracy & precision should be essential whenever counting votes at all times (even if it seems like it doesn't matter most of the time anyways).
:3

>>212946 here:
Would this work as a nod? :3

>>212945

>All this to say that the seeds sown in previous arcs will be reaped in later ones.

This sounds like a threat and I am very scared now

>>212948
Cool your jets. There haven't been many Instinct or spirit checks so Gooboi is just saying that we'll see those down the line. Youmu had the idiot Jenny Say Kwoa stat to meme on and Kosuzu had the toxic parent stat to deal with.

>>212948
This is going to be a “Reimu has trouble keeping a disguise up” thing, most likely. Akyuu has Instinct Resistance training she can take to avoid the worst of it, but Reimu is heav on Instinct and has no amount of training to keep it in check.

We meme of JSK but have you seen the latest chapters of Cheating Detective Satori? If Youmu had even half of that we would be so overpowered

>>212951
JSK? The je ne se quois thing?

>>212958
Yep. Youmu just mangled the pronunciation

>>212959
Jenny Say Kwah, despite not being tracked in the stats menu, is a very important stat. I won't have such slander of it. Youmu grasps it perfectly. Jenny is not a person as we once thought, but is instead an affectionate nickname for genius. That means we are the one saying Kwah. What does Kwah mean? "Knowing what astrophysics holds." It's not French at all, merely a way to demonstrate our galaxy brain to Suwako through means such as translating Kotohime.

>>212960
Anon's jenny say kwah maxed to 5, give them yatagarasu

speaking of Y/Y I think it's funny how everytime Akyuu appears she keeps on getting beat up even when it's not her arc. She had plenty of sufferings in A/A, then she got punched by frog on Y/Y, and heck even in this arc the thing Marisa saw was probably her crashlanding. I wonder if she'll pop up again in this arc and if her misfortune continues

>>212962
operation "make akyuu go eat lunch and be cool" is not forgotten.

>Now the anons want to eat the sun

I really hope that happens, personally. It’d be fun to write.

Next chapter is still in development, but in the meantime: have a silly little epilogue: >>/shorts/3030

>>212964
Sunlight is an excellent source of Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient.
Eating the sun will provide the maximum possible amount of sunlight.
Therefore, the sun is very nutritious and should be eaten.
Q.E.D.

>>212965

That much vitamin D will earn us history's greatest case of Hypervitaminosis.

>>212965

Taste the sun~

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

Good food and good friends. What more could a questionably alien girl want?

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

MUSH-MUSH-ROOM

[x] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Indeed. Mushroom skewers are always nice.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Food is first.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

yayyyy, we found Mike! I'm looking forward to spending some time with her this arc!

>"She was maybe just a touch taller than Marisa (though that was probably just the hoodie… hopefully),"
HA, shorty

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

Mmmmm, Mushrooms.

How the hell is the mushroom vote winning?

>>212980
Because mushroom skewers are delicious & we should 100% have a scene of them eating together.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Can't do investigating on an empty stomach!

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Then, while eating: [X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

(If you want to only count one, please ignore the "While eating part")

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

What could possibly go wrong ?
(Came here from Ao3, I did not think the skewers would be winning)

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[x] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Maybe eating some mushrooms will help jog her memory (probably not but goddamn does she deserve to have something to eat right now!)

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Given where we are, there is a non-zero chance that said mushrooms are of the magic variety. Whether that means they are truly magical, hallucinogenic, or both remains to be seen.

[X] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

No one's voting for the stonks queen

>>212991
Would Chimata perhaps have reason to deal in mushrooms?

[ X ] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Oh, mushrooms <3

>>212991

Buying grilled mushroom skewers is stimulating the local economy, which is good for her by any measure.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.
The power of mushrooms! (And friendship, I guess.)
Gives a good, casual environment- hopefully build up some rappor before revealing the death tendrils, I suppose. At least it gives us the chance to progress the friendship with Mickey Meowse a bit before starting a new one.

>>212991
We have definitely not forgotten about Chimata. She's the color rainbow, which is the best color because it's the color of overwhelming firepower (and love), so we are definitely going to try hiring her. But spending a bit of money first can't hurt.

>>212995

"Hiring" Chimata is such a funny thing to say, as if the god of markets needs to be employed by a kid who just spent most of their savings on digimon merch

>>212996

Enthusiasic Half-Nue tries to hire a Goddess for her posse. Gets distracted by the possibility of mushroom skewers and Digimon.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

If there's anything I've learned from reading Dungeon Meshi, it's that you should always always always fill your stomach when you need to, lest it bite you in the ass later. XD

Plus, taking a break to eat could give us a sooner chance to Come Clean.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Marisa remembers magic through the power of possibly hallucinogic Mushrooms.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

Food is never a bad choice.

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

Marisa will always have a love of shrooms!

[X] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious

[X] Find the source of the mysterious rainbows, or the equally-mysterious Chimata!

Excessively-literal Rainbow Capitalism time, let's go!

... perhaps after eating, votes going the way they are.

>>213004
"You have to force behaviours..." - Chimata

Counting to >>213004:
Main Choice:
[1] Find the source of the mysterious rainbows, or the equally-mysterious Chimata!
[7] Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study.
[20] Mysteries could wait, but stomachs could not. And the mushroom skewers smelled… so, so delicious.

Potential Additions:
For [x] Mysteries could wait...:
-{1} Browse Investigate the stalls to see if they have any mysterious artifacts to borrow purchase study. (>>212984)

:3

[X] Find the source of the mysterious rainbows, or the equally-mysterious Chimata!
Mysteries first, then lunch.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

If this was a RPG, this is the part where we stock up on items that we'll never use because "we might need them later" (TM)

Third option sounds like an opportunity for sidequests

[X] Look for any other mysteries. Maybe see if they can find out more about Chimata, or if there’s any other hints they can uncover about this place.

Side-quest ho!

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Since we're at the magic market, it's worth buying a few useful items.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

+Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

>>213015 Shoot, that write-in's good.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

- [x] Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

- [X] Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

>> The exchange has been noted by the Goddess of the Market.
>> Chimata will remember that.

Let's get on Chimata's good graces, or at least try to. It might be useful?
As long as Marisa's sticky fingers are kept on check, we're good.

Love how Kasen immediately knows they're both youkai but neither has realized yet. I'm guessing she'll keep an eye on the possible runaways so they don't get into too much trouble.

Kasen?! Didn't expect her to show up here of all places...

[X] Investigate the walk-through fountain as Kasen recommended. It sounded like there was a big secret related to it.

Anyway, let's do what she recommands.

>>213018
Her showing up outside is actually on brand for her in canon. Yukari has to lecture her about it because she brings in invasive species of plants by accident in WAHH.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Yes we must learn how big of a nerd this Marisa is.
On that, it’s sad Sanae isn’t around. Her and this Marisa would probably have a Digimon vs Pokemon argument.

>>213018
>>213019
Not to mention, Kasen was explicitly said to be searching for specifically Reimu in the Outside World back in Again/Akyuu.

>>213018
>>213019
not only is it on brand in canon, there's actually a reason for her being here within the continuity! kasen is supposed to be looking for reimu on the chance she ended up in the outside world. she's actually complaining about it to the mushroom vendor.

> “They apparently had this all sorted out ten days ago, and nobody thought to tell me! Ten days! Ten whole days! What would have happened if I did find a relative, hmmmm? Oh, sorry, I know I made a big deal about it, but it turns out we actually found the kid after all! And then, of course, Okina goes…”

of course, she found a different immaterial child instead, but i don't think she recognized that...

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

never hurts to get on a god's good side. also, i hope kasen sticks around for more of the arc! getting through the barrier through her would be so much easier than busting in on our own...

(reloaded after writing this and realized someone beat me to explaining what kasen's doing out here lmao)

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Ah, I forgot the sage of snacking was Out here too. Wonderful to see her!

Not that it's relevant here per se, since Kasen in this continuity has a specific reason for being Outside, but I could have sworn it was established somewhere that the dandelions were actually Sumireko's fault, and though Kasen can open the barrier, she was still concerned enough about attracting attention that she had to use one of the Incidents as cover to go out and find her arm. ... But I can't find where that was established, so maybe it actually wasn't ever? But it seems way to specific to be completely a memory cheat...

Never mind. This is a tangent at best.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Let's work on boosting Chimata's approval!

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

- [x] Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Gather so many magical artifacts the writer can't keep track... then you can just make up your own in a pinch. ezpz!

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

-{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Side note, reading between the lines here, I think Nekosuzu’s arc would have been superficially similar to Marisa’s current arc, in that she would have started in the Outside World and made friends with Mike. The big difference being that she would’ve grown up with Mike, rather than meeting her in-story.

Another side note: fuck Tsukasa. Everyone else in the UM cast seems at least somewhat nice, and it’s likely that UM was ultimately caused by Tsukasa herself for malicious reasons in the original timeline of Redo/Reimu

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

-{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).
Love this write-in

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Kasen ordering everything on the grill lmao!

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
Kasen!!! We love an Oni. Let's do some shopping to appease the market forces.

And I love this write-in.
- {X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).
"Mike, please help me avoid spending all my money on my crippling digital pet addiction when there are other industries to support."

[X] Investigate the walk-through fountain as Kasen recommended. It sounded like there was a big secret related to it.

Kasen seems to know what Mike and Marisa are, and is seemingly guiding them!

also Mike has to control Marisa lol.
- {X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

kasen is buying all those skewers for his hermit training, it has nothing to do with the fact that she likes to eat a lot :)

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

If Marisa finds a "magic" trident it would be very funny

-{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

[x] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
- [x] Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Haha, now this is funny.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Don't know about buying, funds are limited and Marisa probably doesn't want to trade what few things she has, but there's nothing wrong with window shopping.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Yo that Oni was pretty good at cosplay She really nailed the character of a Hermit. She almost looks like a real Hermit, too. Lmao

Eventually, Kasen is going to learn about Marisa’s status as an Immaterial Child.

I think that her brain will overheat when that happens.

I sort of get the impression that Kasen was not informed of the fact that Reimu and the other Immaterial Children are now youkai. I actually hope this is the case since if nothing else, it would make Reimu's "I am most definitely not a youkai" act much more amusing.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
- {X} Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

Capitalism cannot be stopped!

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
- [x] Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

We gotta please the Goddess of the Marketplace if we wanna solve this mystery, after all. Capitalism, HO!

>>213039

Oh you know Kasen's gonna nag about this to either Yukari or Okina if she wasn't informed they all turned to youkai, but also I don't think they were fully sure everyone turned to youkai because at this point Youmu and Kosuzu haven't been found yet, so it's like 2/5 are youkai

[X] Investigate the walk-through fountain as Kasen recommended. It sounded like there was a big secret related to it.

>>213039
>>213041

Considering that it seems like nobody learned about this encounter until after Kosuzu and Youmu were found, I'm guessing that there's pretty significant dysfunction among the sages going on here.

>>213043
To be fair to the Sages, Kasen has no reason to be actively searching for any of the Immaterial Children when she meets Marisa, and Yukari and Okina have no way of knowing that the random Yokai kid Kasen met is an Immaterial Child. Especially given that, at this time, all the Children have been discovered in explicitly supernatural places. Chimata’s market may be supernatural, but it’s not The Moon or Hell.

And that’s assuming Kasen even thought that her meeting a pair of kids looking to get into Gensokyo was serious enough to warrant talking to the other sages

Just as a mental thing, the timeline as I understand it was Akyuu crashes and her story takes between 3-7 days, leading directly into Reimu’s story which takes maybe a day or two if memory serves, which then places Marisa’s start at the same time as Akyuu, currently before Kosuzu, after either Reimu or Youmu’s story is already finished depending on when Youmu’s story actually takes place, cause I don’t remember any special events that would denote the timeframe of hers. Please correct me if I’m wrong on any of this.

>>213045
Again/Akyuu takes ~3 days from start to finish, and Redo/Reimu takes place over the next two. At this time, it’s been approximately five days since Yuuma got a searing kiss from Yachie. Yester/Youmu is about ten days out, same for Kaizou/Kosuzu.

Also, Marisa has not fully awakened. She got a jolt from seeing Akyuu’s Meteor Pod, but she hasn’t gotten much beyond flashes. Hopefully being around people she was around in her previous life will help jog her memory

>>213045

If I remember correctly, Youmu's is a month after Akyuu's since Kutaka said they hadn't seen an immaterial child in a month, Kosuzu's happened either the next day or a week after Youmu's since she found akyuu's manuscript that was dropped in y/y

>>213047
Kaizou/Kosuzu happens over two to three days immediately after Yester/Youmu, since the inciting incident was Tsukasa going down to the Human Village the day after she advised Megumu to send Tengu to raid it chasing rumors of Youmu, and skipped town to the Animal Realm once she saw what happened.

Counting to >>213042:
Main Choice:
[3] Investigate the walk-through fountain as Kasen recommended. It sounded like there was a big secret related to it.
[20] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
[1] Look for any other mysteries. Maybe see if they can find out more about Chimata, or if there’s any other hints they can uncover about this place.

Potential Additions:
-{15} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly very Mysterious and/or Magical). (>>213015, >>213016, >>213017, >>213020, >>213022, >>213023, >>213025, >>213026, >>213027, >>213029, >>213030, >>213032, >>213033, >>213039, >>213040)

:3

[X] Investigate the walk-through fountain as Kasen recommended. It sounded like there was a big secret related to it.
- {X} Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical).

>>213019
I knew about that. I didn't think I'd hear about her or in this situation at all.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
- {X} Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical)

Well, if making trades and barters are key, we may as well do that. Marisa will have to suppress any urges to steal, but she seems to be doing alright with that already.

Also, Kasen indulging her appetite I see.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
- {X} Make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly Very Mysterious and/or Magical)

Marisa's going shopping! With a friend!

...Wonder if she's gonna be jumped by Tanuki...

>>213053
Jumped by Tanuki? Like the ones working for Auntie Mamizou or another rival gang? Honestly it’d be pretty funny for her to stop a gang of Tanuki from stealing from the festival only to run into Mamizou running the heist.

>>213054

Being raised by Mamizou probably earns a lot of cachet with the Bake-Danuki mafias.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
-{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly very Mysterious and/or Magical).

>>Kasen pointed a finger skyward. “The first hint is simple. Let us say… this market is blessed by a ‘goddess of marketplaces’. If you wish to uncover its secrets, pleasing the goddess is a vital step. You two haven’t done anything like shortchange or steal anything, have you?” The two girls shook their heads. “...Good, then that’s a start. Bartering’s fine, as long as the stall-owner agrees, but you do have to have an equal agreement.”
>>Marisa raised an eyebrow. “...Would this ‘goddess of marketplaces’ really know the difference?”
>>Kasen’s face turned stern. “She will. So you two need to be on your best behaviour, alright? Now…” She raised a second finger. “The other hint is where to look to start digging deeper. Once you’ve had your fill of the stalls around here, you should take a look around the walk through fountain. That’s where the fun will really begin, for a couple of young y- young kids such as yourselves.”

Kasen told us if we want to uncover the mysteries (visit Chimata) we first need to do some shopping, without Marisa's normal acquiring methods ("Borrowing"), than visit the fountain. Going to the fountain now is like rushing the main story in a RPG, skipping all the side content, while looking at the other mysteries could be interesting but increases the chance of Marisa and Mike getting themselves into trouble and gaining the disapproval of both Kasen and Chimata.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.

Big time the right thing to do. And Marisa probably isn't dumb enough to give in to impulse so easily when there is a serious reason not to.

[X] Spend some time actually checking the markets around here out a bit. Never hurt to leave the best for last, and by the sound of it, more shopping was a good thing.
-{X} Also, make sure Mike knows about your manga and digital pet collection (and that you shouldn't be spending your limited funds on more- unless they're clearly very Mysterious and/or Magical).

I'm a bit late but anyways time to get geared up Marisa, outside world currency wont be worth that much in Gensokyo... unless maybe if we go to Rinnosuke. Also we're already in a market and when in Rome, do as the Romans do... in moderation

Quick doodle I did at the office. Sketched it in paper and then I tried getting it into a post-it but the former is rough and the latter turned out wonky. Anyways, I liked the rough one so I'll be posting both. This is the first time I did a sketch before the post-it and it turned horrible lol.

I hate this pen, I miss my old one :'(

>>213059

maybe it's not the best art as you said but I still like it, especially because it's mom Ran with Kosuzu just being happy

Next thread is up! Let's see what's for sale now, shall we?

>>213061