Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[DracoOmega]

>Glance at the others.
>Double-check whether the stone actually points at the person on the bed.
>Approach carefully.

>You glance at the others. They're all sharing a dubious and wary expression as they survey the room.
>You take out the lodestone check it again. It is clearly pointing at the person in the bed.
>You approach careful, but sense no movement, or anything else, for that matter.

>Stepping around the curtain, you finally get a look at the person and your eyes widen. You hear Ran quickly draw in breath.
>Lying in the bed is a young blond-haired woman. Her eyes are closed, and there is a thin tube running from her hand to a small transparent pouch hanging from a metal pole next to her. She is breathing slowly, and looks to be asleep. None of this on its own would provoke such a response. However, the woman in the bed bears an unnatural resemblance to someone you know. Like a slightly younger version of her, in fact. Which should be thoroughly impossible. You glance at Ran, and the expression on her face clearly mirrors your own sentiments. The woman lying in the bed looks like Yukari.

[E-Nazrin]

>"sup mary"
>"... Ran, do you know if Yukari has any... sisters or something?"
>How similar is this condition to Yukari's current state?

[DracoOmega]

>"sup mary"
>"... Ran, do you know if Yukari has any... sisters or something?"
>How similar is this condition to Yukari's current state?

>"Hi, Keine," she replies. "I just had this strange dream where you pulled me to Gensokyo, and I got to learn magic, and watch my friend lead a fairy army into battle. ...I think I was having a lot more fun in that reality than I am here."
>Ran shakes her head absently. "None that I have ever known of."
>Other than then both having their eyes closed, you don't know that there's any similarities. Yukari was enmeshed in the heart of a web of gaps and barriers, almost as if she were the heart from which they were spun. This person is simply lying in the bed. She might simply be asleep for all you know. You don't know what the object connected to her hand is or what purpose it might serve.

[E-Nazrin]

>"Let's change that. Bend over."
>"What is all this equipment?"
>How much have we explained about Yukari?
>Is there anything magical about this girl at all?

[DracoOmega]

>"Let's change that. Bend over."
>"What is all this equipment?"
>How much have we explained about Yukari?
>Is there anything magical about this girl at all?

>"Sorry," she frowns. "I'm kind of bedridden at the moment. Maybe next time?"
>"Oh, that stuff?" Marisa says, pointing at the device attached to the woman. "That's an IV. You can think of it as a way to get medicine directly into your bloodstream. They're pretty common in hospitals."
>You did not mention Yukari to either Reimu or Marisa.
>Other than whatever the lodestone is sensing, you do not detect anything immediately magical about her. In fact, she appears quite human, which makes her resemblance to Yukari all the more bizarre.

[Hello Purvis]

>Make sure the lodestone is pointing to her, and not something else.
>"Um, is there any way to tell who she is?"

[DracoOmega]

>Make sure the lodestone is pointing to her, and not something else.
>"Um, is there any way to tell who she is?"

>You check the lodestone a second time. It is definitely still pointing at her.
>Reimu walks over to the bed and picks up a clipboard attached to the side of it. "Her chart says she's Maribel Hearn," Reimu says, then turns back and looks at you. "Why are you two staring at her like that, anyway?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"She...looks a whole lot like someone from Gensokyo. One of the most powerful and feared youkai; one who had a role in creating the great barrier to begin with."
>"Does that say what is wrong with her?"

[DracoOmega]

>"She...looks a whole lot like someone from Gensokyo. One of the most powerful and feared youkai; one who had a role in creating the great barrier to begin with."
>"Does that say what is wrong with her?"

>"She... does?" Reimu has a closer look at Maribel. "Well, she's no youkai. You sure about that?"
>"I am most sure," Ran says. "I have served as Lady Yukari's shikigami for many centuries. There is no mistaking the resemblance. She is not simply similar. She is nearly identical."
>You ask whether the chart says anything about her condition. Reimu has another look at the clipboard and frowns. "It probably does, but it's all in medical language and shorthand. I'm not sure what half of it means."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is she doing anything, um...gap related?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Is she doing anything, um...gap related?"

>"Not as far as I can tell," Ran says, shaking her head. "I... have no idea what this could mean."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, this lodestone says she's doing something magical, and apparently lots of it. It doesn't even care that Marisa is in the room. I don't expect you could tell me anything, Marisa?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, this lodestone says she's doing something magical, and apparently lots of it. It doesn't even care that Marisa is in the room. I don't expect you could tell me anything, Marisa?"

>"Not a clue," Marisa says. "I don't feel much off her, either."
>"Actually," Ran says, "Patchouli stated that the lodestone was attuned only to the specific magical signature of the energy you collected from the fissures. It wouldn't matter how much energy Marisa was generating if it were different in kind. Judging by the faintness of the lodestone's glow, the magnitude may not be great, either. It may simply be traces remaining from when the fissures were created."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, right. Sorry, too many details in the day."
>"So, should we wake her up?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, right. Sorry, too many details in the day."
>"So, should we wake her up?"

>Ran nods. "Don't worry about it. I can certainly relate."
>"I dunno," Marisa says. "Would you want to wake up a stranger in their hospital bed? Especially if she's actually real sick or somethin'."
>Reimu frowns. "She might know something important, though."
>"Oh, and how do you think she'd react if she woke up to 4 strangers around her bed?" Marisa asks.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Then what are we supposed to do? Slink off? There's really not much we can do."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Especially if she's somehow secretly magical enough to recognize a youkai."
>"... but do you have any other ideas? What else can you find about her, without asking?"
>... no, it'd probably be even worse to look her up in the phone book to try and find her place, wouldn't it?
>Come up with some way to explain Yukari.

[DracoOmega]

>"Then what are we supposed to do? Slink off? There's really not much we can do."

>"Well, I'm not willing to just leave this," Reimu says. "If she's connected to what happened to us, we're going to find out how."

>"Especially if she's somehow secretly magical enough to recognize a youkai."
>"... but do you have any other ideas? What else can you find about her, without asking?"
>... no, it'd probably be even worse to look her up in the phone book to try and find her place, wouldn't it?
>Come up with some way to explain Yukari.

>"I'm sure that wouldn't help," Marisa says. "Although I suppose if she was, she might have some idea why we'd be here."
>"Well, it's not like they're exactly going to have a magical history written on this chart," Reimu says. "Even if I could read half of what it says. ...why is their handwriting always so bad," she mutters.
>"I suppose we could track her place down," Marisa says. "If she really is a magician of some sort, there might be some hints around."
>"Would anyone that dropped by your place think you were a magician, Marisa?" Reimu asks pointedly.
>Marisa frowns sheepishly. "Uh, probably not."
>That is a bit of a conundrum, isn't it?

[Hello Purvis]

>Have a look at the clipboard. We're a teacher, dammit. We see the worst handwriting.

[DracoOmega]

>Have a look at the clipboard. We're a teacher, dammit. We see the worst handwriting.

>You take a look at the clipboard, determined that your greater experience deciphering terrible penmanship will give you the edge necessary. ...wow, it really is terrible. There are a few pages full of numbers and abbreviations that you do not understand, and several comments in short hand that are similarly inscrutable. The best you can assemble from the bits that you can understand is that the patient has been comatose and unresponsive for several days. Breathing is normal, bloodwork normal, x-ray normal, and several other things that you understand even less are also normal.

[Hello Purvis]

>Read these things off. Maybe the residents will know some of this stuff.

[DracoOmega]

>Read these things off. Maybe the residents will know some of this stuff.

>You read out a few more of the things that are apparently normal, in the hopes that someone else will know what they are.
>"Some of those are medical diagnostics," Reimu says. "Actually, all of them probably are, but I don't know what they all mean. Sounds like all the tests says she should be fine, but she isn't, for some reason."

[Hello Purvis]

>We are away of what a comatose is, right?
>Walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It worked with Yukari, at least.

[DracoOmega]

>We are away of what a comatose is, right?
>Walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It worked with Yukari, at least.

>Yes, you do know the word.
>You walk over and put a hand on her shoulder. She does not respond in any way.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I suppose there isn't much we can do here, then. Unless one of the doctors knows what happened to her?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose there isn't much we can do here, then. Unless one of the doctors knows what happened to her?"

>Marisa frowns. "I don't think they go around talking about patient's medical history to strangers."

[Hello Purvis]

>Frown.
>"I suppose the be best thing to do is try to find where she lived, and hope she didn't live alone."

[DracoOmega]

>Frown.
>"I suppose the be best thing to do is try to find where she lived, and hope she didn't live alone."

>"Well, if we have a name," Marisa says, "I should be able to find her address. I can even do it now." She pulls a small flat device out of her pocket and starts poking it with her finger.
>"I cannot accept that her appearance is a co-incidence," Ran says. "If she is connected with the phenomenon that manifested these fissures..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Her appearance alone might be, but along with this connection there's no way it's a coincidence..."
>Wait for Marisa to find something.

[DracoOmega]

>"Her appearance alone might be, but along with this connection there's no way it's a coincidence..."
>Wait for Marisa to find something.

>Ran nods, still staring intently at Maribel.
>Reimu sighs. "You know, I don't even think I'm even going to bother trying to understand any of this."
>After a little more poking at her device, Marisa calls out "Got it!" Wow, nothing even beeped this time!