On The Boundary ~ Illusionary Festival for the Dawn

[Oldmansour]

Kohaku stops dead in her tracks. Hyozan runs into the back of her legs, and scampers backwards in canine surprise. The Daidouji heir's face has gone absolutely flat.
"Laresa, I am not one for exaggeration. So believe me when I say, I believe I would sooner swallow acid than associate with someone like her."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"If you knew what she's been through," Laresa said, "you wouldn't be so quick to say that. I knew her, you know. Before. When she was nice, and friendly, and had no desire to hurt anyone. You'd probably have liked her. But then... well, I'm not going to tell you what happened to her. Who knows is her choice to make, not mine. But believe me when I tell you that if you did know, you would understand. You wouldn't agree, but you would understand."

[Oldmansour]

"I understand this. The world I envision is one where youkai and non-youkai coexist peacefully, happily. I believe in that world, that ideal, very strongly. So you can understand why I don't want to be anywhere near someone like her, let alone work with her."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"Yes, I can," Laresa said, "but refusing to have anything to do with her is not going to make her vanish. You can't work towards an ideal if you ignore anything that doesn't fit it."

"I would advise you," Laresa said, "To look at it this way: any time Vaxla spends aiding us is time she's not spending killing youkai. And the task of identifying and locating the sages is one that's likely to take quite some time."

[Oldmansour]

"And when she's done? What then? Back to murdering every youkai that crosses her path? That sort of hatred is poison to Gensokyo. And believe me, I do understand hatred. My brother's heart was consumed by his hatred; all his life he hated himself, hated his human weaknesses. For 16 years, I lived with that hatred. I was one of the only good spots in his life, but it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. I saw what that hate, that anger, did to him, to those around him. Hatred is a toxic, hollow thing. It brings nothing but misery to everyone."
Hyozan barks once in agreement.

"And have you considered that she might just be using this as an opportunity to track down bigger targets? Assuming she's able to track down one or more of these sages, what's to stop her from-"
She pauses in mid sentance. It hit her like a bolt of lightning dropped from the sky. Her jaw drops in amazement, then snaps shut, and she smiles. A wry smile at first, but then it spreads into a more genuine one. Like a child who's just figured out a puzzle before him.
"I understand. Now I understand." she whispers, her mind reeling from the thought in her mind. "I'm to stop her."
She walks forward, turning her face away from Laresa and up towards the sky. "That's it, isn't it?" she cries upwards. "That's why it's me, isn't it?! Because I want a world of peaceful coexistence! Because there ARE people like Vaxla, humans that hate youkai like she does. And because there are youkai that feel the same way, that hate humans, that think nothing of their lives. That's what the Hakurei does, isn't it?! She keeps them from killing each other, from everyone around them, keeps the peace in Gensokyo!"

Hyozan takes a half step backwards and tilts his head to the side, and whines once, confusion in his voice. This does nothing to stop Kohaku's rant, though, her eyes positively glow as she shouts her revelation to the world. "That's my dream, my vision! I've believed in it my whole life, and now you want me to make it real!"
She pauses at last and laughs, a joyous sound, the laughter of one that's had the clouds pulled back from her eyes. Heedless of dignity or composure, she drops to her knees right there on the ground. "I finally understand..."

[Hanzo K.]

'Bluh...Well, at least it's now a dull roar. Should be able to go about the 'usual business' now.'
Indeed, though the headache was still present, it had slowly abated to a more tolerable level of pain. Which enabled him to finally get out of bed, though his body still protested quite a bit.
'Oh that smarts...Someone remind me to not drink that variety again, it'll just end the same way...Ugh.'

Looking in the mirror he had hanging off one of the walls for the sake of keeping at least remotely presentable, he saw that he looked to be quite the mess. And despite the headache, he managed to croak out a snarky comment to himself.
"Ugh, I look worse than I feel. Which really says something."
So thus, he resolved to go and wash himself up, clean the stench of the booze from his hair, and get a fresh set of clothing. Luckily, he wasn't wearing the Kappa-Gifted Overalls the other night. Merely one of a group of backups that he'd managed to procure over the course of a past job.

---Boys are Cleaning Up and Such, Please Wait Patiently.---

'Well, that helped quite a bit, I gotta say.' Indeed, having cleaned up and changed to a fresh set of clothing did indeed help alleviate some of the matters that were causing him grief.
He then decided that today would be a pretty neutral day, going by how he'd started the day. 'Maybe someone in the village has a job ready for me. May as well check out there, and confirm if what happened was a dream or not while I'm at it.'
Of course, he never leaves home without his Rune Gloves, and his pouch of Rune Tiles. Couldn't defend himself against Youkai without 'em after all. So with all his affairs in order, he departed for the village, taking the extra time out to put some extra Warding Runes in place before doing so of course. Which, sadly, did take the wind out of his sails for a bit, but he would soon recover over the trip.


OoC: He'll be en route to the village, so there's a shot he'll run into Kisei, or anyone else heading to or from the village.

[CrowCakes]

Diurnal youkai were not unheard of, but running into a bloodthirsty monster in the morning was still very possible. Kisei had run through the shrine road as fast as her legs could carry her. While the feast had been her first time at the shrine, the worn-out, ruined structures by the roadside were a giveaway that nothing had set foot there for a long time. A perfect trap for youkai- being a friend of one didn't change anything about being their next meal, really.

Her body ached only slightly from running all the way, which she didn't find surprising anymore, but she was gasping for breath while stopping to rest on the fringe of the shrine's entrance. The torii was still a few paces away, and the shrine compound was dead silent; the shrine maiden must have been inside, probably sleeping. The party seemed quite tiring, after all, with the standing and walking and talking.

Then she moved to the red arch itself, resting on it as she searched for any signs of life nearby.

[Orphea.Russ]

When Yumiko's vision returned to her, blurry though it was, she was graced with the surprisingly comfortable surface of the floor... Oddly, it looked a bit more dusty from this angle. No matter. She tugged the blanket tighter around her and--
...Wait.
Blanket?

Immediately, she tossed the blanket to the side and hurried to her feet, her eyes hastily scanning her surroundings for anyone that wasn't her.  When she found nobody in the immediate area, however, she calmed down somewhat. It seemed she'd been found out sometime during the night, and the consequences of it were not nearly as severe as she had thought. Still, by now it was probably better to stop trying to hide herself, at least; now that whoever it was knew she was here there wasn't a point in trying. She picked up the closed book she'd been reading earlier, slid it back into it's proper place on the shelf, and took to folding the blanket into a neat square, keeping it in arm as she made her way towards the front of the library, keeping her eyes and ears quite open for anyone who might be nearby.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

In general, Laresa preferred honesty to deceit. Telling the truth was just so much simpler. But sometimes honesty was not the best policy, and this, Laresa knew, was one of those times. Kohaku wouldn't be able to change Vaxla, but she didn't need to know that.

Laresa walked over to Kohaku. "That is... a distinct possibility. But even if it's not why you are the new maiden, you can still work towards that ideal. Nothing is stopping you from-"

"Remember that charm I told you about?" Laresa said. "The one that'll alert me when someone's entering the shrine grounds? It just activated. Someone's at the shrine. It may be just an ordinary visitor, but we are away from the shrine at the moment, which makes now a good opportunity for a theif. I can set up measures against such things once we return from the village, but this will take quite some time, which is why I wanted to go to the village first. And I did not expect anyone to return to the shrine so soon.

"I have nothing of value at the shrine; everything that might have any value to a potential theif is in my pack." She indicated the pack on her back. "What of you? Did you leave anything there that might be of value to a theif, and if so, do you want to return to the shrine?"

[Sonae]

Thud!
The sudden impact with the floor woke the albino girl with due haste.
?Ow?? she muttered lowly as she rubbed her head.
What hap?pened... Sora thought as she slowly inspected her surroundings. After a few seconds had passed by, the fog in the girl?s mind cleared.
?Oh yeah, a party?that I was dragged to?? Sora frowned and, after a moment, sighed. ?I wonder if this job is always like this?? she spoke under her breath once more.
Just then, a sudden knocking at the door brought the albino out of her daze.
?Ah.? She mouthed as she hurriedly got herself up off the floor and back onto the bed. As she finished doing so, the door opened, revealing a familiar face.
It was Meiling.
?Sora-san, the Mistress wishes to see you.? Meiling said with a small smile.
?Eeh? I thought you said she sleeps during the day?? the girl spoke hesitantly, afraid to offend her new boss.
?I don?t think she?s slept yet.? The redhead began, ?The Mistress had some-? Meiling?s mouth came to a halt. The woman?s expression held a touch of worry mixed with sadness. After a lengthy moment, she continued.
?She was?busy.?
Sora blinked as she tried to comprehend the youkai?s body language, but her drowsy mind was unable to make heads or tails of it, so without considering it for much longer, the albino shrugged it off and moved on.
?Okay,? she mumbled as she pushed herself off the bed and stood up. After a bit of stretching, the girl sauntered over to Meiling.
?If it?s not too much to ask?? She said softly as she approached the redhead. ?Could you?escort me to the meeting place? I?m uh?not very confident in my navigation skills as far as this mansion goes??
Meiling blinked, then smiled at the girl. ?Sure, follow me.?
With that, Meiling opened the door fully, turned, and headed down the hall.
Sora bowed her head hastily as she paced after the woman.

[Oldmansour]

Hyozan walks over slowly to face her friend, whining quietly and curioously as he sits himself down before her face. Kohaku, smiling broadly, tears in the corner of her eyes, reaches out to her canine friend and grasps him behind his head. "I'm fine, Hyozan. Better than fine. I feel like a huge weight's been lifted off my shoulders." She leans forward and embraces the big dog.

Lost in the moment, the Daidouji's mind whirls with the potential that comes from her revelation, so it takes her a few moments to realize that Laresa was talking to her. "Oh... I'm, I'm sorry, I was merely... Lost in thought.... Did you say something about a thief?"

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"A potential theif," Laresa said. "That charm I told you about before went off; someone is at the shrine. It may be a theif, but it may simply be an ordinary visitor. I myself have nothing of value there, but what of you? If there is nothing of value there, then there is no reason to worry about returning, as even if the visitor is a theif, he or she would find nothing worth taking. But if there is something of value there, then a theif would likely take it, and so a return might be warrented. Is any of what you left at the shrine something a theif would have an interest in, and if so, do you want to return to the shrine?"

[Oldmansour]

Kohaku swallowed her initial reaction of disgust at the idea of a thief at the shrine- it was still THE shrine to her, not HER shrine, THAT will take a while to get used to saying- as the Daidouji had an issue with that particular brand of parasite. But this wasn't the time to act on her own personal issues, not when she has bigger fish to fry. She shakes her head and stands, Hyozan backing with a slight jump.

"This is one case where you and I are alike, Laresa. The things I hold most dear, I keep on me at all times. The only things I left at the shrine are a pair of yukatas, a small mirror and my hairbrush."
"Personally, though, I wouldn't think the odds of it being a thief are very great. That shrines' been abandoned for years, wide open. I didn't find anything of value when I arrived, apart from those papers we went over with Keine yesterday. If you haven't left anything behind, I really don't think there's anything of value left at the shrine that's worth stealing; it'd have been stolen years ago. And even if I'm right about why the sages chose me, finding them is still more important than dealing with one thief who doesn't have anything to steal." She chuckles briefly. "I still want to have words with them about asking me first."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"Then let us continue," Laresa said.

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

OOC: Yeah, Laresa doesn't really have anything more to say here. I'm ready to arrive at the village. Sour, I'll want to do Vaxla's introduction, so maybe you should do our arrival at the village. That work for you?

[Oldmansour]

The return to the village went without further incident from Laresa and Kohaku. If there were any youkai around, they kept their distance from the two girls and the big dog.
The being at the shrine issue having brought Kohaku back down to earth, she and Laresa compared what they knew of danmaku, and spellcards. As she mentioned before, Laresa's knowledge on the matter was a bit skeletal, and didn't extend a great deal beyond what Kohaku had seen and learned from Haine and Koryu. Laresa did have one thing Kohaku didn't, however, and that was first hand experience. She had actually formed shots before, and Kohaku hasn't.
The two girls and their canine escort arrive at the outskirts of the human village before Kohaku can try out making bullets, but the Daidouji girl's mind is working, the ideas of working her chains into the art of weaving danmaku. Perhaps, as an unconscious distraction from the person she was about to do business with.


(OOC: Sorry for the delay, had a couple hang-ups past couple days.)

[GuyYouMetOnline]

Laresa led Kohaku to the village center, where she and Vaxla had agreed to meet. She nudged Kohaku and pointed out a woman standing by herself, a good distance from any others. In fact, it looked like many people were staying away from her deliberately, choosing not to come near her. "That's Vaxla," Laresa said.

"Okay," Laresa said as she led Kohaku over to Vaxla, "Vaxla's not one for small talk; expect her to get straight to business. Don't try to be frendly with her; she won't appreciate it. Expect her to be very blunt, and if you bring up the issue of killing youkai, don't be surprised if she gets insulting. Don't get any closer to her than I do; let her choose how closely to approach you. And do not, under any circumstances, make physical contact with her."

"Hello, Laresa," Vaxla said as the two approached her. "And the new maiden."

"Yes," Laresa said, "this is Kohaku."

"You two want me to search for the 'sages' you mentioned last night."

"Well, I do," Laresa said. "I don't think Kohaku wants much to do with you, though."

"You also mentioned that." Vaxla looked at Kohaku. "I hope you understand how large a favor I'm doing for Laresa."

"I told her about your... views towards youkai," Laresa said. "Without you agreeing not to kill, she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with you. In fact, I was barely able to get her to agree to this even with that agreement."

"You want to coexist peacefully with youkai," Vaxla said to Kohaku. "Such a position shows ignorance of reality. What woud you do if a youkai attempted to kill you, Kohaku? If you had to kill it or be killed yourself, if those were the only two possible outcomes, what yould you do?"

[Oldmansour]

"I'm not really interested in having a hypothetical debate with you. Suffice it to say, your views and mine are different. Let's just leave it at that."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"You choose to avoid the question, then," Vaxla said. "You are unsure of your answer. That's good. It wasn't a question to be answered quickly. And it wasn't a question of your values, either. It was a warning, Kohaku. You have found yourself in the role of the Hakurei maiden. You now live a dangerous life, whether you want to or not. And your ideal will not survive long. It does not exist in this world. Work towards it if you want, but right now, conflict is inevitable. You will have to fight, perhaps even kill. If you try to live by your ideal, you will die. You will have to act against it if you want to live long enough to make progress towards it. If you lack the resolve to do so, you will die soon, well before you can make any progress towards it."

Vaxla approached Kohaku more closely, stopping just in front of her face. "If you lack resolve, you will die, and there will be no point in aiding you. I will not aid you if you lack enough resolve to survive. Can you fight for a goal of peace? Can you do battle towards the goal of ending such things? Can you accept that the world does not yet match your ideal, and can you work towards it despite this? Tell me, Kohaku. Tell me your resolve."

[Oldmansour]

Kohaku rotates her head and neck, working the muscles in the area, but takes no motion away from the hate-filled human. She stands her ground.
"You want to hear my resolve? Okay. If I think I have to, before this day is over, I'll fight YOU. Or any other day. And anyone else who stands between coexistence between human and non-human. I never wanted to sling my chains at anyone, but if I have to, have no doubt in your mind that I will."
A bit more of an edge slides into Kohaku's voice as she adds, "Now, if you'd be so kind as to get out of my face, I'd be a great deal happier."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

Vaxla backed off a couple steps. "Good. That's what the answer needs to be. But saying it and doing it are two different things. When the time comes, can you live up to those words? I'm not looking for you to answer; you do not yet know the answer, and will not until you truly see battle, until you must fight."

Vaxla turned to Laresa. "I am satisfied for now. You want me to identify and locate these youkai sages, correct? Do you have any leads?"

"An oni named Suika Ibuki," Laresa said. "She was responsible for the gathering yesterday morning. I spoke to her at the shrine last night, and she said that she did it basically just for kicks, but I'm not satisfied. You likely saw her at the shrine yourself; she's the one who suddenly grew giant. Her ability is manipulation of density. So far, she's used it to change her size and to disperse herself into a mist."

"Where would I find her?"

"No idea."

"Still worth investigating," Vaxla said. "Anything else?"

"Keine apparently has some texts that may contain relevant information. She's already offered to let me look through them when she gets a chance, so I'll handle that. I doubt she would be quite so willing to show them to you."

"Agreed." Vaxla looked over at Kohaku. "Like you, Keine does not approve of my approach to dealing with youkai." She turned back to Laresa. "I will allow you to look into that, then. If you learn anything, inform me as soon as possible. Anything else?"

"No, unfortunately," Laresa said.

"So, the term 'youkai sages' and an oni named Suika. Not a lot to work with."

"There's a reason you're the one I asked for help on this. It took some work to get Kohaku to agree to this, but I think you have the best chance of anyone in the village of identifying any of these 'sages'."

"I agree," Vaxla said. "I'd best get started, then. And Kohaku, remember: you will not truly know your resolve until you must show it in battle." And with that, she turned and walked away.

"Well," Laresa said after a moment, "that was Vaxla. I know you don't agree with her, but she is our best chance of finding the sages, so I thank you for allowing me to cooperate with her.

"Anyways, now that we've met Vaxla, there are a few other things I think we should do while we're here. First, I would like to meet you family. Would that be alright with you?"

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

OOC: Your choice on that one, Sour.

[Amraphenson]

Tetsumaru simply stumbled into the village center, disoriented and lost. There wasn't any particular direction to his wandering, nor any energy. He...he never realized how much he relied on his father, but here he was. Entirely alone and without a single thing to do, nor a single clue of where to begin to look for his dad or the missing merchandise.

A lady from a tea shop he and his father visited somewhat frequently didn't have any idea where Jin was. Neither did the baker, or any of the other merchants Tetsumaru knew. No one had seen him since the party had begun, which was odd because Jin didn't even go to the party. Had his father lied to him and snuck away so as to enjoy himself? Did something more sinister happen? What about the goods? Ugh, thinking about it made his head hurt.

It's when he came across three girls in the midst of conversation, one heavily scarred and another accompanied by a dog, that he paused his derailing train of thought.

"Excuse me, have any of you seen my father?" he asked, walking up to them.

====
OOC: Hi GYMO and Sour.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

OOC: Vaxla left. It's just Laresa and Kohaku (and Hyozan) now.

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

Laresa looked the newcomer over. Not anyone I know. "I don't know who your father is," Laresa said, "or even who you are. I don't suppose you know who this young man is, Kohaku?"

[CrowCakes]

Really, there was no point in trying to find anyone near the crummy old shack. No one's watching, Kisei thought, and the "ghost" from last night could not possibly show up again. That would be terrible.

The shrine maiden would not mind if someone took a walk around the shrine grounds, anyway, and it would be her fault for not being awake or whatever it is that's happening to her. So the girl walked down the stone path to the shrine building; she would check there first.

[Oldmansour]

"I've never had the pleasure." The Daidouji girl smiles at the male before her. "My name's Kohaku, and this is my... companion, Laresa. What's your name?"

[Amraphenson]

He tried smiling, but it was a little difficult. "Mine is Tetsumaru. My father's Jin, the blacksmith? I'm afraid I got...disoriented yesterday at the party, and now I have no clue where anything or anyone is. I somehow ended up at home, but, well...that might be a problem in and of itself. I don't recall ever heading home." He fidgeted in place, nervously handling his shikomizue. "I'm honestly getting very worried."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

'Disoriented'. Drunk, I'd assume. "You may just not remember coming home. That can happen with sufficient 'disorientation'. As for your father, I haven't visited a blacksmith in some time-I have the tools and skills necessary to maintain my weapon myself-and there's no guarantee that your father's the blacksmith who made it, anyways, so I wouldn't know him. I would recommend checking with any friends or colleagues of his, and especially with any women he may know or have recently met. If you still can't find him after that, you might consider making a job posting."

[Oldmansour]

Stifling a quick scowl at Laresa's use of 'women' there, Kohaku maintained her composure. "Of course, if you'd like, I could help you look around for him."

[Amraphenson]

Tetsumaru narrowed his eyes at the obvious implications there, but didn't really put it past his father. "I...suppose. If he isn't back by the end of the day I guess I will send something out." After a moment's contemplation he blinked, then bowed frantically. "Ah, sorry! I must have been interrupting something. I didn't mean to intrude, I hope it wasn't anything too important," he apologized.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"It is, actually," Laresa said, "but even so, Kohaku is not one to refust aid to someone. That being said, however, I doubt that either of us would be of much help, seeing as how neither of us even knows what he looks like. We couldn't even split up to cover more ground, as you would be the only one who would recognize him. You would be best served by going to friends, colleagues, anyone he knows. If even after that he is nowhere to be found, if he is likely not in the village at all, that is when you should post a job, as that is when one such as I could effectively aid you."

[Oldmansour]

"Laresa and I do have a... bit of a task to attend to, yes. But she's also right about me." Kohaku smiles despite herself. "I live to help." Laresa and she may have had a mission to complete, but Kohaku wasn't about to just send the young lad off with a 'good luck'. It just wasn't in her.
"If you'd like, we can keep you company until we find him." Kohaku offered the boy before her.