Reimu Quest (Part 9)

[Hello Purvis]

>Calm voice.
>"No. Stop lying. Do you think I didn't hear you gloating a minute ago? There was a time where, despite all the hard times, you actually cared about me on some level. But you didn't. I didn't mean any more to you than a nail to a carpenter. You couldn't even treat me like a decent person, you lied to me all of my life."

[O4rfish]

Edit.
>"No. Stop lying. Do you think I didn't hear you gloating a minute ago? There was a time where, despite all the hard times, I thought you actually cared about me on some level. But you didn't. I didn't mean any more to you than a nail to a carpenter. You couldn't even treat me like a decent person, you lied to me all of my life."

[Hello Purvis]

>No, keep the calm voice. We're not giving her the satisfaction of giving into fury.
>"And don't talk me about Gensokyo, if you cared about Gensokyo's wellbeing so much, you wouldn't have turned a blind on on Kikuri until she exploded. If you cared so much about Gensokyo, you wouldn't have sat on your butt while another universe was hurtling toward it. This isn't about Gensokyo and never was. This is about you and making people dance on strings because it's what you want."

[日巫子]

>Calm voice.
>"No. Stop lying. Do you think I didn't hear you gloating a minute ago? There was a time where, despite all the hard times, you actually cared about me on some level. But you didn't. I didn't mean any more to you than a nail to a carpenter. You couldn't even treat me like a decent person, you lied to me all of my life."

Edit.
>"No. Stop lying. Do you think I didn't hear you gloating a minute ago? There was a time where, despite all the hard times, I thought you actually cared about me on some level. But you didn't. I didn't mean any more to you than a nail to a carpenter. You couldn't even treat me like a decent person, you lied to me all of my life."

>No, keep the calm voice. We're not giving her the satisfaction of giving into fury.
>"And don't talk me about Gensokyo, if you cared about Gensokyo's wellbeing so much, you wouldn't have turned a blind on on Kikuri until she exploded. If you cared so much about Gensokyo, you wouldn't have sat on your butt while another universe was hurtling toward it. This isn't about Gensokyo and never was. This is about you and making people dance on strings because it's what you want."

> You struggle with your words for a minute, but keep yourself calm.  For once, you don't want to give in to anger.  Yukari's expression is perfectly neutral.
> "Do you think I know everything happening at every minute in Gensokyo?  Do you think I wanted any of that to happen?  Do you think I wanted to see Tamiko's body, an emaciated, lifeless husk from releasing all of her power at once?  Do you think I'm doing all these things for fun?  I monitor the Hakurei shrine maidens to keep them from ending up like that, and I let Tamiko die under my watch.  I'm a youkai, not an omniscent god.  I don't care what you think about me, but if you think for a moment that I've never cared about you and Gensokyo, then you can get out of here right now."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep calm. Can't break up while calling her out, not now.
>" Now you're not omniscient? That's a little different than what you were saying earlier, don't you think? It's pretty convenient that there's only two ways to do things, which both coincidentally happen to further your whims, but when this whole mess is laid at your feet suddenly you're just a youkai. You care about me only as much as you care about a tool. You care about Gensokyo only as much as you happen to live here and it's an excuse to do whatever you please. If you cared about Genoskyo or me, you wouldn't have done half the things you have done. "

[日巫子]

>Keep calm. Can't break up while calling her out, not now.
>" Now you're not omniscient? That's a little different than what you were saying earlier, don't you think? It's pretty convenient that there's only two ways to do things, which both coincidentally happen to further your whims, but when this whole mess is laid at your feet suddenly you're just a youkai. You care about me only as much as you care about a tool. You care about Gensokyo only as much as you happen to live here and it's an excuse to do whatever you please. If you cared about Genoskyo or me, you wouldn't have done half the things you have done. "

> You need to stay calm, you need to stay calm!
> "And what's your idea?  If you recall correctly, you were asking me earlier if Tamiko was accumulating power in the Yin Yang Orb."  Yukari's eyes narrow.  "You're not thinking of following her footsteps, are you?"

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"There's a few leads. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll follow up with the Dragon God since you went out of your way not to."
>Hopefully Iku managed to come through with something on that front...
>"Maybe I'll work with Sanae to try to correct things from the dream world's side. There's a few different approaches."

[日巫子]

>"There's a few leads. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll follow up with the Dragon God since you went out of your way not to."
>Hopefully Iku managed to come through with something on that front...
>"Maybe I'll work with Sanae to try to correct things from the dream world's side. There's a few different approaches."

> "Were you listening to anything I told you?  If you do what Tamiko did, you will die, and this time there won't be a successor around to replace you."  Yukari steps closer to you.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Then I'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen, won't I? I wouldn't want you to feel the sting of spending a decade or so sharpening a tool go to waste."

[日巫子]

>"Then I'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen, won't I? I wouldn't want you to feel the sting of spending a decade or so sharpening a tool go to waste."

> Yukari lifts her hand and opens a small gap near her.  She sticks her hand in and says, "I won't even let you attempt it."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Just stick a talisman on my head like Seiga does with her zombie afterward. It'd be more honest of you, anyways."

[日巫子]

>"Just stick a talisman on my head like Seiga does with her zombie afterward. It'd be more honest of you, anyways."

> Yukari wordlessly takes her hand out of the gap, and in it is the Yin Yang Orb.  Her hand is blistered and bleeding.  It hurts just to look at it.  She opens up another gap, drops the orb in, and zips it up.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"And here we see how much Yukari actually cares about saving Gensokyo. Amazing how quick that one turns around the moment it involves something you don't like!"

[日巫子]

>"And here we see how much Yukari actually cares about saving Gensokyo. Amazing how quick that one turns around the moment it involves something you don't like!"

> "You're right, I don't like your idea," Yukari says.  A gap opens under your feet, and you go plunging into the darkness.
> Just as quickly as you fell in, you come tumbling out into the soft grass.  The sky is warm with sunset, and the shrine's pond is just nearby. 
> When you hit the ground, your entire inventory comes spilling out of your sleeves.  The shards are absent, and with a sinking feeling, you realize that you forgot to pick them up after showing them to Yukari.

> _

[Sect]

> ... She did not just do that.
> Is the gap Ran opened still there?

[Hello Purvis]

>"What a coward, Yukari. The moment you hear the truth, you stop caring about Gensokyo after all."

[日巫子]

> ... She did not just do that.
> Is the gap Ran opened still there?

>"What a coward, Yukari. The moment you hear the truth, you stop caring about Gensokyo after all."

> She did.  She just took away the Yin Yang Orb and kicked you out.
> The gap Ran opened is gone.  Ran isn't here, either.  Chen is, though: she's sitting on the back porch, kicking her legs.  You also see Suika on the other side of the yard.  Tenshi is with her, and it looks like they were talking, but with your appearance, they've stopped that and are now looking at you.  Konngara, standing at the edge of the forest, looks equally confused.  You also note that she doesn't look any less nervous than when you last saw her.
> You curse Yukari, unable to do anything else.

> _

[Sect]

> Don't look at m-Konngara right now: we're angry enough as it is and we know we're not ready to talk to Konngara about the everything.
> How long has it been since we left Sanae and Youmu at the hole in the sky? We should probably hustle to her before Yukari becomes stupid and tries something to her.

[日巫子]

> Don't look at m-Konngara right now: we're angry enough as it is and we know we're not ready to talk to Konngara about the everything.
> How long has it been since we left Sanae and Youmu at the hole in the sky? We should probably hustle to her before Yukari becomes stupid and tries something to her.

> You almost call Konngara something else, but stop yourself.  The situation has become too complicated and you're not ready to face her yet, especially when you're this angry.
> You'd wager it's been a few hours, because the sun is already starting to set.
> "Uh, Reimu?" Suika calls out, hesitation creeping into her voice.  "Why'd all that stuff come outta your sleeves?"

> _

[Sect]

> Terse: "Because Yukari. Has Sanae, Youmu, or Marisa stopped by?"
> Gather the items we absolutely need to have, such as spellcards and such, and put them in... do we even have pockets?

[Hello Purvis]

I think we should at least tell Konngara we know now, before taking off. It'll give her some relief, I imagine.

SPEAKING OF TAKING OFF HERE ARE SOME PLANS

Plan A: Find Sanae, see what we can do about dreamtown. I suspect something is down, given it cursed us but Sanae never seemed to have problems.
Plan B: Go find the Dragon God. I can't imagine he'd want to ignore this, and might well take a little joy in thumbing his snout at Yukari.
EXTRA TASTY PLAN C: We know our mother is dead, and can see into the future. Let's go make an special request of Higan to talk to her about that. They aren't in a position to refuse outright, given they're in trouble too.
CRAPSHOT PLAN D: Makai has a goddess. Makai may well be in the shit too.

[日巫子]

> Terse: "Because Yukari. Has Sanae, Youmu, or Marisa stopped by?"
> Gather the items we absolutely need to have, such as spellcards and such, and put them in... do we even have pockets?

> "Oh.  No, they haven't," says Suika.

> Obtained: Gohei
> Obtained: Spellcards
> Obtained: Ofuda x7
> Obtained: 1235μ
> Obtained: Water Charm
> Obtained: ☼300

> It's a shame about your other items, but you'll just have to put them somewhere safe for now.  Unfortunately, you don't have any pockets to put your current items in.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Clean up the rest of the stuff and carry it inside. Give Konngara a nod, and as warm of a smile as we can muster despite our immense irritation at the world.

[日巫子]

>Clean up the rest of the stuff and carry it inside. Give Konngara a nod, and as warm of a smile as we can muster despite our immense irritation at the world.

> You gather your items in your arms the best you can, resorting to carrying them in your skirt.  You give Konngara a nod and the best smile you can manage.  She looks taken aback, but gives a slow nod in return.
> You carry your things inside.  Chen scuttles to the side allow clear passage into the kitchen.  Ahh, you have so much stuff, but dumping them in here probably isn't a good idea.

> _

[Sect]

> Dump everything in our room.

Plan A: Find Sanae, see what we can do about dreamtown. I suspect something is down, given it cursed us but Sanae never seemed to have problems.
Plan B: Go find the Dragon God. I can't imagine he'd want to ignore this, and might well take a little joy in thumbing his snout at Yukari.
EXTRA TASTY PLAN C: We know our mother is dead, and can see into the future. Let's go make an special request of Higan to talk to her about that. They aren't in a position to refuse outright, given they're in trouble too.
CRAPSHOT PLAN D: Makai has a goddess. Makai may well be in the shit too.

I really wanted to keep those shards to see if they could somehow help, but unless we can get Ran to fetch them for us we're stuck on that. Plan A is a given, and we can ask Tenshi for a favor to get Iku to help us (Tenshi is a snot, but at least she's an honest snot). Plan C is interesting and I'd like to try it if we can't immediately figure anything out with Sanae, but D is pretty much a Hail Mary throw.

For now, the idea that's popping in my mind is seeing if Sanae can set up her own successor in the dream world, but I don't even know how exactly that would work.

As for telling Konngara... I think it would be a better idea to wait: Reimu is VERY angry and emotionally vulnerable right now, Konngara is still pissing off Reimu with her terrible communication skills, and that talk will take a LONG while. It would be a good idea to tell Konngara something in the mean time, but I don't think it should be that she regained her memories per se.

There's something else I was thinking of but I can't remember it.

[Hello Purvis]

Yeah. No real conversations. I would literally just say "I remember everything now. We'll talk later. Beat the shit out of Yukari for me if you see her."

I am irate that I didn't get to pronounce my curse on Yukari before leaving.  ;_; But we definitely irked her~~

So, do we pursue Plan A or Plan B first?

[Sect]

A. Sanae technically caused this incident, but I'm not exactly holding it against her and she might have the power to resolve it without needing to rely on Yukari. We should send a runner up to Iku to let her know we want to talk to the big guy.

Hm. We could also let Youmu and Komachi know what's up with the ghosts: if we're far into the future then that explains the sudden influx and the odd information they gave Komachi. They'd also like to know what exactly happens to those ghosts from the future when we fix the everything.

[日巫子]

> Dump everything in our room.

> You go to your room and throw everything on the floor.  You never realized how much you've accumulated over the past few days until you've seen it all on the floor.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

In theory, Iku was supposed to be arranging something for us already, from the first time we visited there.

The problem with Sanae is that we don't know where she is. Presumably, she's still working on the border. But it'd take ages to get there, and there's a decent chance she moved on and went to bed. At the same time, while she would presumably go back to the Moriya Shrine or her own shrine, I am not sure if that's a guess we should be making.

Also, something that struck me as odd, now that I think about it. Why was it Kanako that vanished rather than Suwako? Isn't Suwako more in the background and generally not as acknowledged? This leads me to suspect there may well be more than just lack of faith in Kanako's case.

[Sect]

I thought the reason Kanako vanished was because she was blamed for the flooding.