Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "Well, it turns out the Youkai I encountered was Mugetsu's sister, Gengetsu. One of the worst cases, Gengetsu caused all this by accident, when she encountered a 'waking dream,' which was essentially Maribel Han visiting Gensokyo in her dreams.

[DracoOmega]

> "Well, it turns out the Youkai I encountered was Mugetsu's sister, Gengetsu. One of the worst cases, Gengetsu caused all this by accident, when she encountered a 'waking dream,' which was essentially Maribel Han visiting Gensokyo in her dreams.

>"Sister?" Patchouli raises an eyebrow, still looking at Mugetsu. "I'll assume this is figurative, given the obvious differences in physiology."
>"She's my sister," Mugetsu says.
>Patchouli pauses, then sighs. "Yes, yes, very well. And I have no idea who this Maribel Han is, or why Gengetsu encountering her should have any profound consequences. Where is this Gengetsu now, in any event?"
>"She's gone," Mugetsu replies.
>"That's rather non-specific," Patchouli says. "Gone where?"
>"She's just gone."
>Patchouli breathes an exasperated sigh and turns to you. "Perhaps you should explain."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Maribel is...as far as we can tell, someone from outside Gensokyo intimately connected with Yukari. They look very much the same, and is very much a source of the energy that you placed into this lodestone. I should return that, I think."
>Hand it over.
>"She also has a curious ability to visit Gensokyo in her dreams. That is, she falls asleep, and comes here. She ran afoul of Gengetsu, who tried to put her dreaming self to sleep. This put her into a coma in the outside world, and both have since disappeared. This was the event I witnessed, I am certain, when all this begain."

[DracoOmega]

>"Maribel is...as far as we can tell, someone from outside Gensokyo intimately connected with Yukari. They look very much the same, and is very much a source of the energy that you placed into this lodestone. I should return that, I think."
>Hand it over.
>"She also has a curious ability to visit Gensokyo in her dreams. That is, she falls asleep, and comes here. She ran afoul of Gengetsu, who tried to put her dreaming self to sleep. This put her into a coma in the outside world, and both have since disappeared. This was the event I witnessed, I am certain, when all this begain."

>You take out the lodestone and hand it to Patchouli.
>"You needn't give this back yet, if you feel you have any further use for it," she says. "Although I'll take it if you're satisfied that you don't."
>Patchouli listens attentively as you relate your story to her.

>"Ok," she says, once you're finished, "let's set aside the issue of this 'waking dream' for the moment. Assuming your theory of events is correct, and that you did witness Gengetsu and this Maribel meet and their meeting was the trigger point that altered history around you. How? Why? Even if their interaction somehow resulted in Maribel falling into a coma and Gengetsu disappearing, why should this change the past?"
>"Well," Ran says, "if the path we followed through the fissures indeed leads to the future, then the process that created them has already demonstrated its ability to reach into the past, from Maribel's frame of reference."
>Patchouli sighs. "Ok, for the time being let's also assume that whatever created those fissures can indeed reach through time. Why must they have been created by reaching from Kyoto into the past, rather than reaching from Gensokyo into the future?"

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "Flow of time perhaps. Time does not flow into the past, but into the future. Reaching from Gensokyo to Kyoto 11 years from now seems more plausible, more natural I suppose, it would only take accelerated movement through time, the opposite though needs the reverse as well, going backwards in time, swimming upstream in a powerful current not meant to be swam against, only with."
> "To put it simply, no one F***s with Time, and someone did F*** with Time, willingly or not."

[DracoOmega]

> "Flow of time perhaps. Time does not flow into the past, but into the future. Reaching from Gensokyo to Kyoto 11 years from now seems more plausible, more natural I suppose, it would only take accelerated movement through time, the opposite though needs the reverse as well, going backwards in time, swimming upstream in a powerful current not meant to be swam against, only with."
> "To put it simply, no one F***s with Time, and someone did F*** with Time, willingly or not."

>"But if it can only go forward," Mokou says, "How'd you two get back again? And besides, how'd it change anything in your own past?"
>"What Yukari did," Ran says, "I'm fairly certain was to prevent things from being affected even further in the past than they already have been."
>Patchouli raises an eyebrow. "And what was it she did?"
>"Froze the border between past and present."
>"That.... what?" Patchouli puts a hand to her forehead. "As far as I understand the concept of time, such a thing does not even seem conceivable, let alone possible."
>"Nevertheless, I believe that is what was done."

[Hello Purvis]

>"But more to the point, it doesn't really matter which it is, right now. What matters is that we bring it to a close. Which means we need to find them. And that thing that attacked Rumia and I yesterday is the key, I think."

[DracoOmega]

>"But more to the point, it doesn't really matter which it is, right now. What matters is that we bring it to a close. Which means we need to find them. And that thing that attacked Rumia and I yesterday is the key, I think."

>"Oh?" Patchouli says, raising an eyebrow. "How so? And more to the point, what are you hoping I can do about it? I doubt you returned here to debate theories on the nature of time."

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "Well, remember how the gap creature came out? When I was gathering a sample of the energy? What if it detected what I was doing and decided to check it out?"
> "Well, if it's as connected to Mugetsu's sister, Gengetsu, as much as it seems to be, then if it notices Mugetsu's magic and such, it would come running, so to speak. If you were trapped in a strange world, alone and you detected magical energy you know is related or from Sakuya or Remilia, you would check it out, correct?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I have two ideas. The first is that I borrow that lattice again, and try to drain power from the fissure, like that last time. The other is we find a way to siphon some of Mugetsu's power into a gem, then release it into the fissure. She claims to be able to sense her sister's presence, and the hope is the opposite will be true. There's almost certainly a connection between her and the thing that attacked us."

>_

[DracoOmega]

> "Well, remember how the gap creature came out? When I was gathering a sample of the energy? What if it detected what I was doing and decided to check it out?"
> "Well, if it's as connected to Mugetsu's sister, Gengetsu, as much as it seems to be, then if it notices Mugetsu's magic and such, it would come running, so to speak. If you were trapped in a strange world, alone and you detected magical energy you know is related or from Sakuya or Remilia, you would check it out, correct?"

>Patchouli nods. "I suppose it's possible, certainly. What of it?"
>"I would imagine, were I trapped in some strange world, I would investigate any sort of anomaly, theirs no moreso than most. In any event, Sakuya's abilities, by their very nature, operate outside of my ability to detect. But... I suspect that is beside the point, in this case. Carry on."

>"I have two ideas. The first is that I borrow that lattice again, and try to drain power from the fissure, like that last time. The other is we find a way to siphon some of Mugetsu's power into a gem, then release it into the fissure. She claims to be able to sense her sister's presence, and the hope is the opposite will be true. There's almost certainly a connection between her and the thing that attacked us."

>"Well, I suppose that did work the last time," she says, "although I should warn you that you may be seeing causation where none exists. The lattice's effect is passive. In and of itself it should not be noticeable, any more than you would note the absence of water in a pond after someone filled a glass from it. It may simply have been co-incidence. As for the second suggestion..." She turns to Mugetsu. "On what principle do your abilities operate? Could you channel them into a focus? Can you ensorcel an inanimate receptor, at least in a temporary manner, regardless of the efficacy of your magic upon it?"
>"I can touch dreams," Mugetsu replies. Patchouli lets out an exasperated sigh.

[Hello Purvis]

>"There has to be something tangible she has, if the two of them can find each other."

[DracoOmega]

>"There has to be something tangible she has, if the two of them can find each other."

>"We just know where the other is," Mugetsu says.
>"Yes, but how?" Patchouli asks. "There must be something from her you're using as a distinctive element to track. Something about her presence that is unique or distinctive? Passive magical resonance?"
>"Yes," Mugetsu nods. "She feels like my sister."
>Patchouli grimaces and turns to you. "Could you just stick her through one of the slivers?"

[MysTeariousYukari]

> Hold back the laughs, barely, but hold them back.
> "Mokou would be more... suitable... for that, and even then, not wise, and can't simply tell that Gengetsu is their."
> "Mugetsu, you said that you can tell where Gengetsu is because you notice something that reminds you of her, correct? Aside from whatever it being familiar, what else makes you think "that's Gengetsu, not someone else?" Certainly their is something?"

[DracoOmega]

> Hold back the laughs, barely, but hold them back.
> "Mokou would be more... suitable... for that, and even then, not wise, and can't simply tell that Gengetsu is their."
> "Mugetsu, you said that you can tell where Gengetsu is because you notice something that reminds you of her, correct? Aside from whatever it being familiar, what else makes you think "that's Gengetsu, not someone else?" Certainly their is something?"

>You try to restrain your laughter. Fortunately, Mugetsu seems quite oblivious to Patchouli's indignation.
>You hear Mokou mutter something under her breath.
>"What makes you think someone's voice is theirs?" Mugetsu replies. "Could you put it into words that someone else could use to find it?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes. I could describe the pitch and the tone. I could describe their accent, or words and constructs they favor. It wouldn't be exact by any means, but I can describe someone's voice."
>Ponder.
>"If we were to show you a strand of your sister's hair, or a fingernail clipping, would you recognize it as distinctly hers?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Yes. I could describe the pitch and the tone. I could describe their accent, or words and constructs they favor. It wouldn't be exact by any means, but I can describe someone's voice."
>Ponder.
>"If we were to show you a strand of your sister's hair, or a fingernail clipping, would you recognize it as distinctly hers?"

>"But could you describe it well enough for someone else to find in a crowd?"
>"Perhaps it has some elements in common with a shikigami bond," Ran offers. "No matter how instinctive the connection is to yourself, it's not something someone else can feel. How would you explain how you know where I am, Keine?"
>You ask Mugetsu whether she could identify her sister's hair of fingernail cuttings. She shakes her head. "No. It's... probably close her presence that I feel. Those things are not her when away from her."

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "So, then we either need to encounter that being again, or one of us needs to go Outside along with Mugetsu and hope for the best... I do not like the way the latter will likely turn out and the former is a shot in the dark."
> "Mokou, sorry if I sounded mean when I said that about you."

[DracoOmega]

> "So, then we either need to encounter that being again, or one of us needs to go Outside along with Mugetsu and hope for the best... I do not like the way the latter will likely turn out and the former is a shot in the dark."
> "Mokou, sorry if I sounded mean when I said that about you."

>"A great deal of this has been hopeful guesswork from the beginning," Ran says.
>"No, no worries," Mokou replies. "I'd do it if I had to. Better than any of you doing it."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I think I could describe it, Ran. But that's beside the point...hmmm."
>Look to Ran. "Tell me, is there a way to detect if someone is a person's shikigami? Could someone detect the bond you and Yukari and Chen have?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I think I could describe it, Ran. But that's beside the point...hmmm."
>Look to Ran. "Tell me, is there a way to detect if someone is a person's shikigami? Could someone detect the bond you and Yukari and Chen have?"

>"You... probably could, with the right method," Ran says. "But I only suggested the sensation might be analogous. I don't know that you could trace a connection between Mugetsu and her sister that way, if that's what you're thinking about."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I suppose. I just would really rather prefer not to have to take her to the outside world, but I suppose it's going to be either that, or shoving her through a fissure, isn't it?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose. I just would really rather prefer not to have to take her to the outside world, but I suppose it's going to be either that, or shoving her through a fissure, isn't it?"

>"What's the outside world like?" Mugetsu asks. "...is it scarier than here?"
>Ran gives you a sympathetic look.

[Hello Purvis]

>"...In some ways. It's much busier, but there's no youkai. Hmm, Mugetsu. Has there ever been anything that has kept you from sensing your sister's presence before, aside from this?"

[DracoOmega]

>"...In some ways. It's much busier, but there's no youkai. Hmm, Mugetsu. Has there ever been anything that has kept you from sensing your sister's presence before, aside from this?"

>"Not like this," she says. "I can sense her while she's in someone else's dreams. I could sense her while I'm in someone else's dreams. If I tried hard enough. A little, anyway. Now there's nothing but an echo."

[Hello Purvis]

>"So, you've never been in a situation where she simply could not be sensed? And, an echo? Tell me more about that."

[DracoOmega]

>"So, you've never been in a situation where she simply could not be sensed? And, an echo? Tell me more about that."

>"I'm not always aware of where she is or what she's doing," Mugetsu says. "But I've never been unable to find her if I tried to look for her. And... I can sense that she was in that grove. And then she was not. That's all."

[Hello Purvis]

>"So, she was there, and now she's not. What is this echo, exactly?"

[DracoOmega]

>"So, she was there, and now she's not. What is this echo, exactly?"

>Mugetsu frowns. "Perhaps I used the wrong word. Just that I can feel the lingering pretense of her having been there earlier, faint and dissipating. Maybe a little like looking at someone's footprint?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Okay, I see. And this feeling, has it changed at all? I remember you saying there was something of her around the crater."