Touhous Librarians Are Go
Ruro stopped just outside the nondescript door and took a deep breath.
Come and ask a favor politely, or do I demand her aid because of the nature of the situation?
Is she even home?After only a moments' deliberation, she decided.
She kicked the door in, causing it to snap free of its latch and swing into the wall, where the handle lodged itself in the masonry. Immediately, she heard something deeper within the house start hissing.
She drew a single blade from her paired set ? the Paradiso ? holding it so the black steel was clearly visible in front of her, and strode in.
As she made it through the antechamber, tentacles began to slither about the corner and anchor themselves to the end of the hallway she was approaching. Shortly after, the main body of Erebus padded into view.
Her current body wasn't even humanoid; some kind of eyeless quadruped with countless tails ? no, those are tentacles, not tails ? and wickedly sharp claws, carelessly gauging deep furrows into the floor.
Ruro pointed the blade at her and glared. ?Erebus! Clean yourself up, you're coming with me, dammit!?
The eyeless head tilted slightly, in confusion, and the tentacles broke themselves free from the walls and turned to look at her, as well.
In the time it took for Ruro to blink ? indeed, between one moment and the next ? Erebus shed the four-legged form and took on a more humanoid appearance. She grinned at the Head Librarian, and the tentacle-tails fanned out around her head and gave her a fang-filled smile, as well.
?Oh? An invitation? For what, pray tell?? the tentacle-tails said in unison. Erebus herself just kept grinning at Ruro as she suppressed a shudder.
?Don't give me that crap. That book you sent in for Esi to read ? tell me how to break its effects.?
The tentacle-tails stopped grinning, and Erebus blinked ? all of her eyes, especially the ones Ruro's mind was desperately trying to tell her weren't there, at once. ?What book??
Ruro lowered Paradiso. ?I hope for your sake that you honestly don't know what I'm talking about. An Eldritch tome has kidnapped Esi's mind and stolen her from the Library. It has, in turn, been attacking the rest of us Librarians via Esi, and stealing parts of our personalities.?
The grin returned to every mouth on Erebus. ?Oh, sounds like fun. No, I really don't know anything about it, but I applaud whoever dug up the grimoire. Very clever use of a psychic. And you want me to come and clean up your mess??
Ruro scoffed. ?Initially I wanted to see if you had anything to do with it. Failing that, I want you along so you can claim it and absorb it when we actually do get it taken care of, so it doesn't harm anyone else.?
Erebus nodded graciously. ?How apt of you to think of me. I'm almost sorry it really isn't my plan; I could've had a lot of fun with it.
?Tell me, have you tried hitting Esi with a fishing boat??
Tylt grabbed Chaore's shoulder, restraining her. Chaore's fist froze in mid-air in response to the touch, with Solais innocently looking up at it.
?That won't help us, Chaore. Solais, are you sure you can't be of any aid??
The fairy nodded. ?From what it sounds like, this is an entirely man-made affair. Despite its Eldritch roots ? if it even is Eldritch ? it was originally written by a human, for a human. Or youkai, in this case. Books don't naturally form, you see, so I won't be able to help.?
Chaore huffed, and pulled her arm free from Tylt's hand. ?You could at least help us if we had to fight Esi. Fairies respawn, and all that.?
?I'm so glad you think highly enough of me to volunteer me for cannon-fodder duty. Now, please leave.? Solais gestured towards the door and bowed her head.
Chaore heaved a sigh, bowed to the greater Faerie, and stomped outside. Tylt offered a quick bow as well before scurrying out behind the bunny-girl before she vented her frustration on any of the various potted plants.
?C'mon, Tylt. Back to the Library, then. Sucks that we can't get Solais to help us out, but then again, we're Librarians. We handle our own.? Chaore didn't wait for a reply before launching off into the air again, heading back towards the Academy, and by extension, the Library. Tylt shrugged to herself, turned her music back on to drown out the sound of the rushing wind, and followed in the bunny's wake.
After the two Librarians left, the Greater Faerie stepped away from the window and smiled to herself.
Reaching under her blouse, she pulled a book out of its hiding place.
'The Laws of Nature and the Servants Who Uphold Them', by the Faery Onmyoji. To anyone less-informed, that would've appeared to be a fairies name. She knew, however, that was a title, not a name ? and since the book was written more or less as an auto-biography, she was able to make ample use of it.
For example, using it as a focus to alter her appearance completely.
She shook her head slightly, as though trying to flick water out of her hair, and her features blurred and shifted. The vibrant green hair faded to a pale blue before darkening slightly, her physical height diminished, she completely lost an entire set of wings, and those that remained lost their organic appearance and became crystalline and translucent.
The gentle smile turned into a cocky grin as she tucked the book back under her shirt, and she strode through the glorified tree-house to the back bedrooms, intent on checking up on her prisoner.
The only thing she found was a stylized robe in a heap on the floor, with several coils of rope atop it and the strip of cloth she'd used as the gag.
The Iced Fairy blinked in shock.
She must've found some way to kill herself so she could force her regeneration!She didn't even get a chance to register that she'd heard the whisper of moving cloth before something slammed into the side of her head, sending her spinning into the doorjamb of the room she was looking into.
Blinking her eyes back into focus, she looked up and winced. Standing before her, wearing a robe that matched the one in a pile next to her, was Solais, looking incredibly pissed at her.
?You must think you're
so clever. You made one mistake, though.?
Iced frowned. ?What's that, then??
Solais' namesake sword materialized in her hand. ?You didn't ask me if I wanted in on your little prank, and instead decided to just knock me out. Big mistake. Real big mistake.?
Iced barely flinched in her attempt to scramble away from the greater faerie, but was immediately pinned in place as Solais stabbed the sword through the hem of her skirt and into the ground beneath it.
?I think it's about time we headed to the Library and checked out a few self-help books, wouldn't you say??
Sakana wanted to groan. It was hard enough to convince Roukan to wait until she was able to fetch her harpoon, and now the much more energetic ? and younger ? Librarian was determined to recreate some over-the-top spy story.
I'm surprised she didn't dig up a fedora and an trenchcoat from somewhere.?I tell ya, crime in these parts have gone way up since the Prohibition.? Roukan tried to sound aloof, but a teenager's voice doesn't do 'aloof' without a fair amount of coaxing.
?Do you even know what the Prohibition
is?? Sakana bounced the point of her harpoon against the ground ? in fact, the roof of the Library.
Roukan paused to consider the question, tapping her finger on her lip inquisitively. ?Lots of old guys with big guns shooting each other over stupid stuff?? she finally answered.
?...You're exactly right. That can sum up a lot of the worlds' issues. But there hasn't actually been a Prohibition in Mangekyou.?
?Oh, yeah. That's right... well, then... these parts haven't been the same since the Inquisition.?
Sakana stopped fighting the urge to groan and submitted willfully to it. ?
What Inquisition??
?The Spanish one??
Patience cannot ordinarily snap ? not in a physical sense. However, Sakana was one of the Head Librarians, and was standing atop the Library itself. Such a position of power is directly linked to the realm it is vested in ? even the lesser Librarians have a link to the Library, as well. However, it takes a special connection to be able to unconsciously warp reality enough to make a physical manifestation of ones' patience to appear and subsequently snap. For example, the connection between Library and Head Librarian.
Ignoring the pieces of patience now littering the roof, Sakana stomped over to the edge of the battlement and glanced over.
?Was?? she hissed. Standing there, in clear defiance of personal memory, was a cave. In what was
supposed to be a clearing.
Roukan poked Sakana in the side with her own tuna-half. ?Sorry, Sakana, I no speaky dee Dutch.?
?It's German, not Dutch. Deutsch. Sprechen sie Deutsch. And Esi isn't a Spanish Inquisition, either. She's not even Spanish. She's German, too.?
Roukan sighed and rolled her eyes with more emphasis than necessary to convey a sense of indifference. ?God,
whatever. Either way, since this happened, things are different. Duh. That's what I'm trying to say. Do you think Esi and Ryuu are down there??
Sakana squinted and scanned the horizon. Aside from a patch of clouds in the distance, nothing broke the monotony of sky-to-forest landscape. ?No other place to go and keep books. And, like you said, that wasn't here before ? it has to be related. Too much of a coincidence to have just popped up on it's own when Esi started... doing whatever.?
Roukan floated up off the roof and hovered alongside Sakana, just slightly beyond the edge. ?I wonder if their forge is down there, too.?
?Forge? What do you mean??
Roukan blinked in surprise. ?Didn't you see Ryuu? Looked like she was wearing some kind of armor.
All spiky and angry lookin'.?
How does armor look angry..??Hmm. Come on, let's take a look ? but we're not going in too far without the others. Just a peek, to see how deep it goes, then we go back inside to wait for Ruro to get back. Got it??
Roukan used Sakana's tuna-half as a saber to salute with. ?Yes, ma'am!?
Sakana told herself that it was a 'respectful ma'am', not an 'old lady ma'am' as she vaulted the barrier preventing non-flying persons from stumbling over the edge of the roof and let gravity carry her down.
She stopped herself from slamming into the ground and decided not to touch completely down ? keeping herself flying would make her more agile in case she had to duck a Ryuu-grade flamethrower. Roukan floated gingerly down alongside her, riding the tuna-half side-saddle again.
Just a peek, nothing more. Don't need to be wasting time getting ourselves thrashed ? or fricasseed ? before the others show up and know where we're off to.Roukan hopped off the tuna and plucked it out of the air, brandishing it as a saber again. ?Onward!? she shouted, and charged into the mouth of the cave.
Sakana's grip on her harpoon tightened enough to make the leather-wrapped handle squeak in her hands.