Keine Quest (Part 3): Broken History

[DracoOmega]

>"What in the...?"
>Get closer.

>You move within reach of the barrier. You're... pretty sure you're right about your previous assessment. It's like someone preserved a pocket of an alternate history, although you're not quite sure how that's possible. Then again, it is Yukari. If anyone could put up borders between impossible things, it would be her....

[Hello Purvis]

>"Mokou...I think it's my timeline in there!"

[DracoOmega]

>"Mokou...I think it's my timeline in there!"

>"What!? How... how is that even possible? And... how does that even work? I hope your Gensokyo was larger than a postage stamp."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yukari."
>Get closer. See if anything can be seen.

[DracoOmega]

>"Yukari."

>You get no acknowledgment. Either she cannot hear you, or she is choosing not to respond.

>Get closer. See if anything can be seen.

>You walk until your face is all but pressed up against the barrier. Nothing more can be seen inside it.

[Hello Purvis]

>That was an explanation to Mokou.
>Does it feel unsafe at all?
>It not, tentatively touch it.

[DracoOmega]

>That was an explanation to Mokou.

>Apparently she was too stunned to acknowledge, either.

>Does it feel unsafe at all?

>The barrier seems stable and not especially threatening.

>It not, tentatively touch it.

>You reach out your hand to touch it... and it passes right through. The transition is an odd sensation, but you feel nothing unpleasant on the other side; just open air.
>"Hey, what?" Mokou says, noting the reaction. "Then why'd the rock bounce off it?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Sigh. "Yukari, again."
>"It doesn't feel...dangerous or anything."

[DracoOmega]

>Sigh. "Yukari, again."
>"It doesn't feel...dangerous or anything."

>"Huh," Mokou says, walking up next to you. "What's she playing at?" She reaches her hand out towards the barrier, and it rests against it as if it were solid. "Huh?"
>She pulls back and  punches the barrier, then winces at the impact. "Ok, how the hell does that work!? Wait, right... Yukari." She sounds rather exasperated.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Rumia? Touch this, please?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Rumia? Touch this, please?"

>"Ok!" Rumia trots over and puts both hands against it. And then her face.
>"Is shis ohay?" she says, mouth mashed against the barrier.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Perfect, thank you."
>Pat her on the head.
>"I think I need to look into this. I'll try to be back shortly."
>Enter!

[DracoOmega]

>"Perfect, thank you."
>Pat her on the head.

>You pat Rumia on the head. She smiles into the barrier.

>"I think I need to look into this. I'll try to be back shortly."

>"I was getting used to sitting around here, anyhow," Mokou replies. "C'mon, pipsqueak." Rumia wanders off after her.

>Enter!

>You step through the barrier. It is a curious sensation. Two curious sensations, in fact. One, more mundane: an odd tingling across each part of yourself as you cross the threshold. The second, rather more unusual as you sense the history around you shift. It's momentarily jarring, but passes quickly enough.

>You are in a small grassy area, surrounded by the barrier on all sides. In front of you is a small cottage with a gabled roof, perfectly mundane in appearance. There is very little else to speak of, and in fact, there would be very little room to put anything else, were it here.

[Hello Purvis]

>Head toward the cottage.
>Does it feel like our world in here?

[DracoOmega]

>Head toward the cottage.
>Does it feel like our world in here?

>You move towards the cottage. To be honest, given that the whole world here seems to be little more than 30 feet in diameter, you almost arrived on the front doorstep as it is.
>Yes... and no. But you feel that, at the very least, this is a part of your world in the way that the outside wasn't.

[Hello Purvis]

>Knock on the front door.

[DracoOmega]

>Knock on the front door.

>You knock on the door. You wait, and get no response, so you try knocking again. This time you hear footsteps inside the house. The door opens a crack, and you can see Ran staring at you with an expression of absolute disbelief. She says nothing.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello, Ran. I believe you and I have some catching up to do."

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello, Ran. I believe you and I have some catching up to do."

>"Uh...." She blinks a couple times, then her eyes dart back and forth, surveying the area behind you. She looks totally bewildered.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Perhaps we have a lot of catching up to do. May I come in?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps we have a lot of catching up to do. May I come in?"

>She blinks again, and then her expression shifts, as though she has suddenly realized that someone is standing in front of her. "What!? How'd you get in here!? No, no, wait, we both know that's impossible, Ran." She smiles at you. "Good day!" then closes the door again. You can hear her muttering to herself, inside.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ran. I'm still here. And there's been a great deal of impossible things happening lately."

[DracoOmega]

>"Ran. I'm still here. And there's been a great deal of impossible things happening lately."

>"Go away!" she calls out. Then she opens the door a crack again. "Who are you supposed to be, anyway?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm Keine, and...we never properly met, did we?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm Keine, and...we never properly met, did we?"

>"Nope, I must be getting creative. Good day!" She closes the door again.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ran, I've have a very long and very frustrating night and if you don't open the damned door right now, I'm going to kick it in and make myself comfortable whether you like it or not."

[DracoOmega]

>"Ran, I've have a very long and very frustrating night and if you don't open the damned door right now, I'm going to kick it in and make myself comfortable whether you like it or not."

>"Sure, fine, be my guest," she calls out without apparently moving.

[Hello Purvis]

>...
>"You seriously want me to do that?"
>If she calls our bluff, well, it's time to relieve some stress and exercise some youkai-like strength on the thing.

[DracoOmega]

>...

>That really seems like the most appropriate response at the moment

>"You seriously want me to do that?"
>If she calls our bluff, well, it's time to relieve some stress and exercise some youkai-like strength on the thing.

>"Go right ahead," she responds cheerfully.
>Well, you can't say you didn't give her fair warning... There's been a great many things you've felt like kicking tonight, and this seems as good a target as any. May as well get some use out of your were-strength for all the good it's been doing you otherwise tonight. You pull your leg back and slam it into the door with as much force as an exhausted and irritated were-hakutaku can muster.... which is actually quite considerable. You hear a splintering sound as the door tears off one of its hinges. That was a very satisfying impact.
>Ran leap awkwardly out of her chair as the door crashes in. "Gah!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Ah, that's the stuff.
>"Not fixing it."
>Stride in. Have a seat.
>"So, like I was saying, we have a lot of catching up to do, I think?"