Okuu Quest Thereafter - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it isn't dangerous. It doesn't actually seem to have a complex mind, either, from what sense I can get of it. In a lot of ways, it isn't too different from a regular crow. I've always loved crows."

>"And, uh, I'd be more comfortable if you kept all of this to yourself, for now. This isn't something I go around sharing with everyone. I just felt like I could trust you, somehow. But there are any number of ways things could get uncomfortable if too many people knew about this at the moment."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it isn't dangerous. It doesn't actually seem to have a complex mind, either, from what sense I can get of it. In a lot of ways, it isn't too different from a regular crow. I've always loved crows."

>"And, uh, I'd be more comfortable if you kept all of this to yourself, for now. This isn't something I go around sharing with everyone. I just felt like I could trust you, somehow. But there are any number of ways things could get uncomfortable if too many people knew about this at the moment."

>"I suppose you would know better than I. And, I won't share this with anyone. Although, it is going to be difficult to hide..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah... I'm not quite sure what to do about that at the moment. Hopefully most people won't stare at it long enough to notice. Would be nice if it was either fully invisible, or fully solid. Easier to pass off carrying around a regular bird than one you can see through. But... just one more problem to puzzle over, I guess."

>"I probably should be going now, though. Thanks again, for your concern and your advice. I really do appreciate it."

>Leave the temple

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah... I'm not quite sure what to do about that at the moment. Hopefully most people won't stare at it long enough to notice. Would be nice if it was either fully invisible, or fully solid. Easier to pass off carrying around a regular bird than one you can see through. But... just one more problem to puzzle over, I guess."

>"I probably should be going now, though. Thanks again, for your concern and your advice. I really do appreciate it."

>Leave the temple

>Byakuren nods, and you're pretty sure she's far enough of her league that she doesn't have anything useful to add. She just wishes you well as you leave.
>You leave the temple, and find your borrowed motorcycle is still there.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Can we try coaxing the crow to vanish, or go to sleep in us for the moment, or something?
>If not, just put the helmet on and drive back to Parsee's
>Adjust speed if the crow has trouble staying on, or keeping up with us by flying. Who knows what the creature's capabilities are, after all

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we try coaxing the crow to vanish, or go to sleep in us for the moment, or something?
>If not, just put the helmet on and drive back to Parsee's
>Adjust speed if the crow has trouble staying on, or keeping up with us by flying. Who knows what the creature's capabilities are, after all

>You try to coax it to disappear. It steps sideways and into you, and fades rather like Stargazer does. It feels different, though, you can't quite describe it. You have a sense of Stargazer, and can kind of imagine her curled up and dozing from it. In the case of this...you can't tell much of anything about it now. It's just...there.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Well, that works, anyway
>Put on our helmet, and drive back to Parsee's

[Hello Purvis]

>Well, that works, anyway
>Put on our helmet, and drive back to Parsee's

>You put on the helmet, and made your way back to the Industrial District. As you do, You feel something slip from you. It's a strange enough sensation that you slow down. You then notice a somewhat translucent crow flying overhead and somewhat ahead of you; it's easier to notice its translucence in the sunlight. Thankfully the traffic is not very heavy here.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Does this mean that it had probably just moved physically inside the space we were occupying, and hadn't actually become less tangible in any way?
>Continue to Parsee's. Hopefully if anyone notices it, it won't be immediately obvious that it's following us

[Hello Purvis]

>Does this mean that it had probably just moved physically inside the space we were occupying, and hadn't actually become less tangible in any way?
>Continue to Parsee's. Hopefully if anyone notices it, it won't be immediately obvious that it's following us

>You don't know. Perhaps?
>You continue on your way as it circles overhead. It often falls behind, but moving in a straight line when you can't, it catches up.
>You reach Parsee's Building without any problems. As you park and remove your helmet, the spectral crow lands on your head. It is odd, you can't feel its weight, but you do feel its touch.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Go up to Parsee's apartment

[Hello Purvis]

>Go up to Parsee's apartment

>You return to Parsee's apartment with your passenger in tow.
>Upon opening the door for you, she considers it with a small frown. "Well, I see you've made a new friend. What's this one's name? Come on in, I made pork and rice."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ooo... sounds great. Thanks."
>Enter the apartment
>"And, not so new, really. I think I just managed to somehow wake up the crow that had been following me since the other day. I don't know that it has a name. It... doesn't necessarily seem that much smarter than a regular crow. Nothing like Stargazer, anyway."
>"I'm a little worried that it'll be a problem for tonight, though... It doesn't seem to turn invisible in the presence of other people, and I can't get it to go to sleep the way I can with Stargazer. I did get it to vanish inside me before I drove here, but it almost seemed to fall out of me, or something. Followed me through the air all the way here. I'm hoping I can get it to just stay inside me if we're only going at walking speed."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ooo... sounds great. Thanks."
>Enter the apartment
>"And, not so new, really. I think I just managed to somehow wake up the crow that had been following me since the other day. I don't know that it has a name. It... doesn't necessarily seem that much smarter than a regular crow. Nothing like Stargazer, anyway."
>"I'm a little worried that it'll be a problem for tonight, though... It doesn't seem to turn invisible in the presence of other people, and I can't get it to go to sleep the way I can with Stargazer. I did get it to vanish inside me before I drove here, but it almost seemed to fall out of me, or something. Followed me through the air all the way here. I'm hoping I can get it to just stay inside me if we're only going at walking speed."

>You walk inside and...oh, that smells nice.
>"Maybe it just wanted to fly around?" asks Parsee. "So, does it get along with Stargazer?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Stargazer seemed fascinated by it. I don't think the crow noticed."
>"Oh, speaking of which..."
>Tell Stargazer that she can wake up again now
>"And that smells delicious, by the way."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Stargazer seemed fascinated by it. I don't think the crow noticed."
>"Oh, speaking of which..."
>Tell Stargazer that she can wake up again now
>"And that smells delicious, by the way."

>You wake up Stargazer. She emerges and looks around, getting a sense of where she is. Then she looks at the crow, standing beside you and on her tip-toes.
>"Well," says Parsee, looking away from the scene,  "It's about done. Have a seat and we'll see if we can fill you up for once."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Sounds like a plan to me!"
>Take a seat

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sounds like a plan to me!"
>Take a seat

>You have a seat, and Parsee serves up the meal, placing a sizable plate in front of you. The spectral crow perches itself on the couch, and Stargazer follows it.
>"So what happened?" Parsee asks.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I went and talked to Byakuren, and she asked me how I'd been these past few days, and whether I'd found any of what I was looking for. I ended up telling her about the crow and Orin getting possessed. I'm not sure why I was so open to her, but she just has that calming and concerned manner to her. Makes you feel like you can trust her, you know? She actually had a camera on her, so she actually got a look at the crow before he decided to pop out and join us. I don't think she knew quite what to make of that."
>"Anyway, we talked a little more about my sense of wrongness with the world and with myself, and she suggested that I should take some time and reflect more deeply on myself. That I've been too busy to really take time to relax. Which is... pretty much true, really. Aside from a few fleeting moments, it barely feels like I've slowed down since this all started."
>"So she gave me a few tips on meditating, and showed me to a private room. It's... kinda boring stuff at first, really. But after a little while I managed to lose myself and actually explore some of this sense of wrongness in more detail than I've managed up to now."

>Dig in, during pauses in exposition

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I went and talked to Byakuren, and she asked me how I'd been these past few days, and whether I'd found any of what I was looking for. I ended up telling her about the crow and Orin getting possessed. I'm not sure why I was so open to her, but she just has that calming and concerned manner to her. Makes you feel like you can trust her, you know? She actually had a camera on her, so she actually got a look at the crow before he decided to pop out and join us. I don't think she knew quite what to make of that."
>"Anyway, we talked a little more about my sense of wrongness with the world and with myself, and she suggested that I should take some time and reflect more deeply on myself. That I've been too busy to really take time to relax. Which is... pretty much true, really. Aside from a few fleeting moments, it barely feels like I've slowed down since this all started."
>"So she gave me a few tips on meditating, and showed me to a private room. It's... kinda boring stuff at first, really. But after a little while I managed to lose myself and actually explore some of this sense of wrongness in more detail than I've managed up to now."

>Dig in, during pauses in exposition

>Parsee nods along. "I wouldn't have trusted her, myself, but I guess results are results."
>The food is not quite restaurant quality stuff; and a little heavy on the sauce, but it's sufficiently tasty. The quantity doesn't hurt either; Parsee was correct in anticipating that you were starving.
>"I've tried to find some kind of information we could use. But...well...nothing." She shrugs. "Sorry, Utsuho."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Aww, no worries. Hopefully we'll hit something big tonight, anyway."

>"I did learn a few things when I was busy meditating, though. Well, aside from waking up the crow. Of course, like much of what we've learned over the last couple days, it's fragmentary enough that I'm not sure how useful any of it is. Or, at least, there's not enough for me to see how useful it is, yet."
>"Did I ever tell you that I woke up during the first night I slept over here, suddenly convinced that part of ME was missing somehow? Well, I couldn't really figure out what at the time, but I stayed with this idea for a while while I was at the temple, and... well, I'm almost certain now that parts of me were somehow 'taken'. I don't know how, I don't know by who, and I don't even know what all these parts even ARE."
>"There's something wrong with my past, somehow. I don't know if it's my memory or just a side-effect of something being wrong with the whole world. But I'm convinced that things were taken from me, and yet I have no memory of ever having them in this life. I had a pretty normal life, as far as I remember. But there's some point in my past where things don't feel like they add up right. I tried to pin down when this is. I really, really tried, but... well, my memory's always been lousy, and I just can't seem to do it."
>"You'll probably laugh at this, but... well, I suppose it's not much crazier than some of the stuff that's happened lately, but... I think I had wings once. Having wings feels right. I know it's absurd, but..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Aww, no worries. Hopefully we'll hit something big tonight, anyway."

>"I did learn a few things when I was busy meditating, though. Well, aside from waking up the crow. Of course, like much of what we've learned over the last couple days, it's fragmentary enough that I'm not sure how useful any of it is. Or, at least, there's not enough for me to see how useful it is, yet."
>"Did I ever tell you that I woke up during the first night I slept over here, suddenly convinced that part of ME was missing somehow? Well, I couldn't really figure out what at the time, but I stayed with this idea for a while while I was at the temple, and... well, I'm almost certain now that parts of me were somehow 'taken'. I don't know how, I don't know by who, and I don't even know what all these parts even ARE."
>"There's something wrong with my past, somehow. I don't know if it's my memory or just a side-effect of something being wrong with the whole world. But I'm convinced that things were taken from me, and yet I have no memory of ever having them in this life. I had a pretty normal life, as far as I remember. But there's some point in my past where things don't feel like they add up right. I tried to pin down when this is. I really, really tried, but... well, my memory's always been lousy, and I just can't seem to do it."
>"You'll probably laugh at this, but... well, I suppose it's not much crazier than some of the stuff that's happened lately, but... I think I had wings once. Having wings feels right. I know it's absurd, but..."

>Parsee nods along as you explain how you feel things were taken. "There's all kinds of things that could make you feel like that," says Parsee. "At the least, they might have drugged you pretty bad at some point. Or...well...god knows how many times I've come across references of memory alteration and stuff."
>You mention your feelings about wings. She frowns. "Wow, they really must have gotten into your neurochemistry to do that."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I suppose you could be right... It doesn't FEEL like a chemical-induced hallucination, but who knows...."
>"But you have to admit there's parts of this that almost certainly can't be part of any government conspiracy. I mean, you don't think Stargazer is some drug-induced shared hallucination, now do you? The people at the research institute and elsewhere are certainly involved in a great many things, some of which may relate to me. But I'm not sure I'm willing to say that's all there is to this, either."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I suppose you could be right... It doesn't FEEL like a chemical-induced hallucination, but who knows...."
>"But you have to admit there's parts of this that almost certainly can't be part of any government conspiracy. I mean, you don't think Stargazer is some drug-induced shared hallucination, now do you? The people at the research institute and elsewhere are certainly involved in a great many things, some of which may relate to me. But I'm not sure I'm willing to say that's all there is to this, either."

>"No," says Parsee, "I think Stargazer is something else entirely, but I bet they're behind it. She might have been some poor woman they did something to, or...I dunno, maybe something from another dimension they pulled over."

>_

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "Either way... every time I picture myself with big Raven-Black wings... it seems to feel... fitting... right almost... Maybe I've started going off the deep end, maybe someone did screw with me big time, or maybe, just maybe, I'm right. And out of those three, option 3 is the best one..."
> Continue eating, Parsee cooked all this food for a reason!
> "Delicious... absolutely delicious... Home cooking beats out restaurants any and every day. I could eat your cooking every day and not get tired of it!" Give a big ol' smile.

[DracoOmega]

>"Are you really not open to the idea that she might just have been peacefully living in the forest all this time, with no meddling from outside forces? Just some form of life we don't quite understand? No matter how many things might be manipulated by black ops groups, or whatever, not all mysteries are the result of a conspiracy of some sort. Surely you can agree with that much?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Are you really not open to the idea that she might just have been peacefully living in the forest all this time, with no meddling from outside forces? Just some form of life we don't quite understand? No matter how many things might be manipulated by black ops groups, or whatever, not all mysteries are the result of a conspiracy of some sort. Surely you can agree with that much?"

>"Possible, but not likely," says Parsee. "If she's a life form, she'd had a species. Ways to reproduce, stuff like that. There'd be others, is what I'm getting at. There would be no way we'd be the only ones to know about it by now, things like her don't just pop out of nature. It got to be due to some action. And the fact she's here and not in Zimbabwe or something has to be due to them."

> "Either way... every time I picture myself with big Raven-Black wings... it seems to feel... fitting... right almost... Maybe I've started going off the deep end, maybe someone did screw with me big time, or maybe, just maybe, I'm right. And out of those three, option 3 is the best one..."
> Continue eating, Parsee cooked all this food for a reason!
> "Delicious... absolutely delicious... Home cooking beats out restaurants any and every day. I could eat your cooking every day and not get tired of it!" Give a big ol' smile.

>She nods. "Well, you're not the craziest person I've met, even saying that at face value without knowing anything else. I'll get used to it."
>You chow down. You are less famished now, but, now that you've gotten some of the excess sauce out of the way, it's a lot better.
>"Oh please," says Parsee. "Now you're just trying to butter me up for whatever terrible purpose you have in mind. Do keep it up, though."

>_

[Kasu]

> Contemplate if Rin would like to get in touch with her cat the same way we got in touch with our crow.
> Time.

[Hello Purvis]

> Contemplate if Rin would like to get in touch with her cat the same way we got in touch with our crow.
> Time.

>She probably would, but at the same time you imagine she is going to be beside herself with worry.
>It is few minutes after 8:00

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Finish up supper
>"Well, at least we'll have a few minutes of peace to ourselves before the real work tonight starts. How're you feeling? Nervous?"