I thought you were gonna use the Dishonored version and make something far darker. :V
Nah, that would indicate it had something to do with the story!
Anyways stuff now:
----------------------------------------
Alice stretched before returning her attention to the tome. Shanghai leaned over her shoulder, following her mental interest in the words. Being a puppeteer required more than just studying magical tomes. In order to be a performer one had to learn storytelling as well. Alice's skill in that field was... mediocre. Still she was passable at ad libbing, which meant that if she studied a story well she could use that as a basis for her own performances.
She was currently reading through a tale about a princess who escaped her captors before the various princes looking for her ever found the castle, and the various issues that sprang up from it. There were a few edits she already had in mind, specifically the princess? disposition and competence. But overall it was a good piece for a festival.
She sighed as a knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. Shanghai flailed in annoyance as she stood to deal with the intrusion. Who could be visiting her anyway? Marisa would have already walked inside. She waved her hand and a doll levitated over to open the door.
To her surprise a demon with flame red hair in a librarian's outfit was standing there. "Ah, sorry to interrupt you Lady Alice, but something's come up."
"Something stranger than you being out of the library without Patchouli?" Alice replied. Shanghai waved the little devil in, and Alice mimicked the gesture. "Well it must be important then. Come in. Do you want some tea?" Alice sent a few dolls out to the pot just in case.
Koakuma gingerly entered her house and sat on one of the couches. "Ah, tea might be nice, but I'm not sure how long we'll be staying. You see, there's a problem at Marisa's."
Alice raised an eyebrow at that. "What kind of problem?" she asked as Shanghai bobbed about in agitation.
Koakuma's head wings twitched. "Well, Miss Patchouli sent me to get back some books.... So I decided to stake out Marisa's house and break in while she was out."
"A good plan," Alice stated. "So what's the problem? If you want me to act as a decoy I'm afraid I'll have to refuse."
"It's not that. Breaking in would be too easy." Koakuma frowned. "The problem is Marisa's been moping about during the day and drinking herself senseless at night for the last three days!"
"What?!" Alice bit her lip and stared down at the table. What could cause Marisa to mope like that? It wasn't romance, since Alice was... decently certain she knew who Marisa was interested in. No one in the village had died recently. And Marisa never let herself get this obsessed over spell research.
Shanghai's agitated pacing brought her back to reality. She looked up at Koakuma. "So you want me to help break Marisa out of her funk?"
Koakuma nodded, her wings drooping slightly. "Yes. I'm afraid I'm not the best person to cheer up Marisa when she's down. If she were her normal self I could help I think, but right now," Koakuma looked away, "she doesn't need me making her question her romantic inclinations."
Something in the little devil's tone caught Alice's attention. She looked closer at Koakuma, trying her best to read the tiny movements of the woman's true emotions. Finally the truth struck her.
Shanghai covered her little doll mouth as Alice stated "You like her, don't you."
Koakuma drooped some more. "Not the same way I like Miss Patchouli, but...."
Alice sighed. Devils were apparently complicated. "We'll have to have a talk later I see." Shanghai zoomed upward as she stood. "But first let's deal with a drunken witch."
Koakuma's recovery to her cheery self was remarkably fast. "Right! Please lead the way Lady Alice."
"Hmph. You're the one who asked me to go." Shanghai shook her head as Alice floated out the door. "Still, I guess I am the one who will be doing all the work. Come along then, and try not to interfere too much."
She flew along doing her best to ignore Koakuma singing "What do you do with a drunken witch girl," as they traveled. Though she had to admit the woman had a fine mastery of doggerel. It had to be all the books.
------
Marisa's house was, as always, a wreck. Strange metalwork, discarded items stolen from Kourindou and other assorted junk filled the girl?s yard. The grass itself was poorly kept as well, with strange (and poisonous) mushrooms growing in the shade and odd vines wrapped all over.
Alice put aside her annoyance at how messy Marisa was and landed straight in front of the door. She considered being circuitous for a moment, then discarded the idea. Marisa could be subtle, but usually the direct route was best. She knocked on the door. "Marisa, it's me, Alice."
There was a rustling from inside followed by the dull clank of a bottle hitting the floor and a series of curses. Shanghai and Koakuma flinched as another dull clank indicated someone had kicked the bottle. "I'm busy. Go'home."
Alice felt her lip curling in disgust. What could have driven Marisa to such a sorry state? "Sorry Marisa, I'm here to beat you in a magician's duel and enslave you for a year and a day. Today the forest will be mine."
Koakuma's mouth dropped open. "What?! What are you saying?! That's not part of the plan!" Alice ignored the little devil. Her panic helped with verisimilitude after all.
There was another curse from inside and the clattering crash of a table being violently swept clean. There was another clunk as a bottle was kicked again, then several stomping footsteps before the door was flung open and Marisa pointed a hakkero right in Alice's face. ?I told ya to get lost.?
Alice's eyes flew open at Marisa's appearance. The witch was disheveled and reeked of far more than three days worth of boozing. Dark rings encircled her narrowed golden eyes, and her hair was matted and ratty. She'd been sleeping in her outfit as well, given the creases, smudges, and missing hat.
And to further Alice's surprise there was an aura of power around the black white witch that Alice hadn't expected to feel for some time.
Shanghai bobbed forward as Alice stared. ?You've become a magician.?
?What?? Koakuma's voice helped pull Alice back to reality. ?You're a magician now, Marisa?? The little devil moved up next to Alice, ignoring the danger posed by Marisa's hakkero. ?Why didn?t you tell us? This is impressive!?
Marisa's eyes and arm dropped at Koakuma's praise. ?Yeah. I'm a youkai now.? She turned and kicked a basket full of umbrellas over. ?The worst magician in Gensoukyo!? she spat as Alice flinched. ?Can't even cast my own spells right!?
Alice could only stare in shock as Marisa carelessly threw her hakkero to the side and stomped back to her table, pausing only to grab a bottle from a shelf on the way. ?So whatever. Do your damned magician's contest or whatever then go away. I want to be alone.?
?Marisa....? Koakuma looked at the newly born magician with sympathy in her eyes. Alice understood the little devil?s feelings. Something had gone very wrong to get Marisa this out of sorts. On the other hand, Alice was also angry at how blas? Marisa was being about something she'd worked damn hard to accomplish.
Shanghai straightened up as Alice decided on her course of action. First things first. She needed to get past Marisa's refusal to admit her problems to find out what was actually going on. And the best way to handle that was to put Marisa off balance.
She marched up to one of the other chairs, righted it, then sat down. ?Very well then. I challenge you to an endurance contest. Whoever can withstand Koakuma's back rub the longest wins.?
?What?? The two other women stared at her incredulously. After a few moments Marisa started rubbing her eyes to check that she was still awake. Koakuma on the other hand started smiling wider and wider. ?You're joking, right?? Marisa muttered incredulously.
?Nope,? Alice replied. She waved Koakuma forward. ?You go first Marisa.?
Marisa just stared at Alice stupidly as Koakuma skipped over behind her. She finally snapped out of her stupor as the little devil rested her hand on her shoulders. ?Wait! What are you- But I thought-?
?Now now Marisa, this is a formal challenge,? Koakuma cooed. Marisa sat bolt upright as the succubus started massaging her shoulders while pressing against her back. ?But don't worry,? Koakuma said in a false conspiratorial whisper. ?I'll take it easy on you.?
Marisa sat there mouthing words soundlessly as Koakuma went to work on her. Alice did her best to pretend to be uninterested in the proceedings, though the fact that Shanghai was fuming next to the wall probably belied her calm a bit. Finally Marisa sighed and relaxed a little. ?You just set this up to try to get me to talk didn't you??
Alice took a deep breath. ?Yeah,? she admitted. ?It was the only way I could think of that would work on someone as hard headed as you.?
Marisa grunted, then gasped as Koakuma somehow made her shoulders pop. ?Yeah, that figures.? She sighed and sat there for a few moments with her eyes closed.
?The immortality potion wasn't supposed to make me a magician youkai,? Marisa finally said.
?Huh?? Alice blinked at Marisa's statement. ?It wasn't supposed to make you a youkai?? Shanghai started hovering forward as the full meaning of Marisa's words hit her. ?You mean you turned yourself into a youkai by accident?!?
?Ha! That's right!? Koakuma hopped back as Marisa slammed the table, then slouched forward. ?I created a potion that absolutely, positively, one hundred percent could not turn a human into a youkai. And here I am! A fucking youkai magician!? Marisa slapped the half full sake bottle to the floor then buried her face in her arms.
Alice ground her teeth while sending one of her dolls to right the bottle. How
dare Marisa just brush off the effort it took to become a magician. How could she....
She shook her head and forced herself to take deep breaths. Obviously there was something else at play. She did her best to calm herself. Fortunately Koakuma had gone back to giving Marisa a back rub, so the other magician wouldn't notice Alice's annoyance.
When she'd gathered some control over her temper she asked carefully, ?Why didn't you want to become a youkai magician? Isn't that the normal result of an immortality technique using magic??
Marisa snorted. ?You wouldn't understand. You're from Makai. Humanity doesn't mean much there. Here...? Marisa managed to push herself somewhat upright with Koakuma's help. ?Here it's different. Now I'm on the other team. Forever. Even if I solve an incident I can only make things worse.?
?Ah...? Shanghai sat down on Alice's shoulder as she thought. Marisa did have a point. She didn't completely understand the details here in Gensoukyo. And she didn't think much about what it meant to be human one way or another. She was Alice, raised by the demon goddess Shinki. The concept of ?humanity? didn't mean much there.
After a while she decided to return to facts. ?So, you created an immortality potion in order to become immortal without ending up as a magician, lich or hermit. And after taking it you ended up as a magician.? Alice frowned. ?That seems wildly improbable. Especially since you're so good with potions. Perhaps you ran afoul of some magical law that isn't in the literature??
?I shouldn't have,? Marisa muttered. ?I made extra sure the potion was inimical to youkai power. Hell the damn thing should have killed me when I became a youkai. There were three different allergens in there.?
Alice sighed. ?I see...? She turned her attention to the table for a while, trying to think of what to do. She couldn't understand this. Koakuma couldn't understand it. She had a feeling talking to Reimu was out of the question. So who could they turn to?
?You don't need to keep twisting my shoulders Koa,? Marisa muttered.
Shnaghai took to the air. That was the solution. ?Marisa, go get cleaned up. We have someone to meet.?
Marisa glared over at her. ?I don't recall saying I wanted to go anywhere.?
Alice rolled her eyes. ?Think for a moment. You want answers to two questions. Why did your potion fail, and how to be a human that isn't fully human.? Alice tapped on the table. ?And the obvious people to answer those questions are Patchouli and Sakuya.?
Marisa blinked a few times. Then nodded. Alice was pleased to see a spark returning to those golden eyes. ?Sakuya. Yeah, she'd understand.? Marisa sighed then slowly stood as Koakuma stepped back. ?I guess I?ll have to take a bath.? She sighed again, then slowly walked over and picked up her hakkero. ?Oh, and if you peek Koa, I'll blast you.? She walked out towards her bathroom.
?Don't worry Marisa,? Koakuma called after her.
Alice closed her eyes as Marisa entered the bathroom. ?Well, we're getting somewhere.?
?Yes. That was very clever Lady Alice. I'm glad you came to help.? Alice started as a softness pressed into her back. Then two hands fell on her shoulders. ?Still, I'm afraid I'm still favoring Marisa in the contest.?
?That was a joke and you know it,? Alice sputtered in protest.
?You said it was an official challenge~? Koakuma replied. Alice's retort was cut off as Koakuma somehow managed to make both shoulders and her breastbone pop. ?And besides, as a succubus my pride demands I prove that I did go easy on Marisa....?