Let Your Fists Do The Talking! Akyu Quest Continued!

[Hello Purvis]

>"Did you ask for, Utsuho? I didn't hear you ask for it. Did you hear her ask for it, Marisa?"

[Fightest]

>"Did you ask for, Utsuho? I didn't hear you ask for it. Did you hear her ask for it, Marisa?"

> "Oh, come on, that wasn't trouble. She's just a bit cranky, is all."
> "Who's a bit cranky?" Reimu comes out of the small building, holding a basket with three wrapped bundles in it.
> Marisa grabs the basket and gives it a sniff. "I will be, once my stomach remembers I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. Right, you two, hop on. Kid, hold the basket. You drop it, you'll be responsible for feeding me. Got that?"
> Utsuho nods sheepishly.
> "Akyu?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Follow those directions!
>"Yes?"

[Fightest]

>Follow those directions!
>"Yes?"

> "Right, you're ready!"
> Marisa gives Reimu a stare. "Hakurei."
> Reimu returns the favour. "Kirisame. Hieda."
> Marisa sniggers, so does Reimu, and, suddenly, the shrine is far behind as the broom shoots off into the sky.
> The view is quite breathtaking, you rarely get the opportunity to see the land from such a vantage point. Utsuho certainly looks awed by the panorama.
> "Right, I figure I'll drop you off - Akyu - where you want me to, then head back to my place with Utsuho. Seems like the quickest way about things. What'd you think?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Just take me home. It's in town, there will probably be enough rabbits and faeries there for you to figure out where it is."

[Mr_Bob]

Reimu: Dour and Gloom!
Akyu: Wah! Meanie!
Reimu: Sass.
Akyu: Sassier.
Reimu: No you di' n't, girlfriend!
Akyu: Boo Hoo.

Oh, you guys.

>Onward. Try not to get headache from imaging how things are holding up back home. But be happy to see everyone regardless.

[Fightest]

>"Just take me home. It's in town, there will probably be enough rabbits and faeries there for you to figure out where it is."

>Onward. Try not to get headache from imaging how things are holding up back home. But be happy to see everyone regardless.

> The landscape shoots by below you.
> Time passes.

> ...

> With a good-bye wave, Marisa jets off, Utsuho hanging on tightly to her. You have been dropped off on your front lawn, your home looking none the worse for wear, at least from the outside. The rice cakes, carefully-wrapped, are tucked under your arm. You can hear what sounds like a major scuffle coming from inside of your house.
> "Get the sod off me, you berks, lest you find a sodding shiv up your..."
> You take a deep breath, and walk inside.
> It's...a bit of a scene.
> Kaguya and Eirin have teamed up to restrain a furious-looking albino girl wearing nothing but some dirty red trousers and strategically-placed sarashi, pinning her to your kitchen table, while Keine - oh, look, it's Keine - her foot planted in the girl's side, looks like she's trying to wrench one of the girl's arms - battered and bleeding, nearly lifeless - right off. Fairies and rabbits are scattered around, holding all sorts of surgical implements. The whole place is an utter mess. Everybody freezes when you come in. You're the undivided centre of their attention.
> "Uh. Hi." says the albino girl. Everyone else is obviously trying to do their best to look innocent without actually moving.
> At least you know who the newcomer is - Mokou, the last scion of the Fujiwara clan, and an immortal who has lived for over a thousand years. A bit of a recluse, only recently establishing the smallest of contact with the human village, she's got the reputation of a hooligan and a troublemaker. Her dedication to guiding people lost in the Bamboo Forest has earned her a dose of respect. At the behest of Keine, she has worked with you once or twice to correct and clarify certain aspects of Gensokyo's history. Her favourite colour is red, and she enjoys getting riled up.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Keine, I am way too tired for all this. Give me the short version, please."

[Fightest]

>"Keine, I am way too tired for all this. Give me the short version, please."

> Keine looks at Mokou, then at Eirin and Kaguya, then back at you. She smiles.
> "I found Mokou!"
> She punctuates her statement with a wrenching pull that has Mokou roar "sonovab...!" and lets go. Mokou's arm starts quickly looking healthier and healthier.
> Humming to herself, Keine starts washing the blood off her hands in a bucket on the kitchen table. Everyone else is still looking for an opportunity to start moving.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well I'm happy for that. Did something else happen, or is Mokou just after the Princess?"

[Fightest]

>"Well I'm happy for that. Did something else happen, or is Mokou just after the Princess?"

> Keine gives Mokou a stern stare.
> "Mokou, are you planning on getting into another fight with Princess Kaguya?"
> Mokou looks taken aback.
> "Heavens no, guv! Gave up the old harangin' weeks ago, you know that! Lest some berk be itchin' to go a round with yours truly nevertheless?"
> Mokou turns around a gives Kaguya a dirty stare. Kaguya returns it with equal intensity, but doesn't say anything. Eirin just sighs and rolls her eyes.
> Keine shrugs, takes a white silk shirt off a nearby chair and hands it to Mokou, who starts putting it on without taking her eyes off Kaguya.
> Keine then crosses her arms, and her expression goes a bit sour. "I went to look for Mokou a few days ago, and only managed to catch up to her earlier today. Found her in quite a state at the foot of the Youkai mountain. I had an adventure or two on the way, but I would have to say that Mokou has some far more interesting stories than me. Mokou?"
> The albino makes an annoyed clicking sound, then breaks eye contact with Kaguya. Her stare is now on you, instead. Her voice, already naturally hoarse, is low and imposing.
> "Yours truly found out what the cutters were so bloody coy about. The prize, I mean."
> She finishes buttoning her shirt.
> "It's sodding ambrosia, nectar of ye gods. In chant relevant to us..."
> Kaguya and Eirin speak at the same time, interrupting Mokou. They sound haunted.
> "The Hourai Elixir."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Who wants the Hourai Elixir now?"

[Fightest]

>"Who wants the Hourai Elixir now?"

> "Oh, you know, only every sodding idiot who knows about it."

[Mr_Bob]

>Think.
>"Point taken. Please elaborate on your tale, Fujiwara ."

[Fightest]

>Think.
>"Point taken. Please elaborate on your tale, Fujiwara ."

> "Don't reckon I need tell how the glit sends lives down the gutter. They don't dub it the curse of immortality for shits'n'giggles, you follow? Yet some sod up above got it in their head that it'd be a right laugh to put it up for grabs. Heard it first from the bird down in the forest, no sodding clue who she got got the grapes from, but she was sure holdin' on to them real tight until yours truly got her to gab. Moseyed along to see for myself - ham'n'eggs, Mokou, I thought, no cutter's stupid enough to mess around with the glit, for sure it's a con - had to pound a few munchers into the ground on the way, made it up to the pearlies, and there it was, all fine'n'dandy, on a fancy pedestal and everything. I'd recognise the stuff anywhere. Wound myself up to torch it, whats-her-face got in the way and, well, now yours truly is here. Couldn't lay a sodding finger on her. How's that for storytime?"

[Mr_Bob]

>"I am a Recorder of Events, Mokou, not a flibbin', errr... not a Guesser of Events. Who is this Face of Whats? Can you describe her, or draw her?"

[Fightest]

>"I am a Recorder of Events, Mokou, not a flibbin', errr... not a Guesser of Events. Who is this Face of Whats? Can you describe her, or draw her?"

> "Oh sod it, you know, the pearly-bird, the one with the peaches and the sword. Started a ruckus a while back, I think?"
> Reisen's voice comes from deeper inside the house. "Tenshi. Eldest Daughter of the Hinanai family. Mistress, I told you about her back then, she was the one who started the earthquakes."
> Eirin nods.
> You recall the earthquake incident. It was an incredible mess to record, as there were at least twelve individual and unique accounts of what happened, neither agreeing on anything other than the fact that the culprit - a Celestial called Tenshi - was thoroughly beaten, literally and figuratively, at the end of it. You have very little information indeed on Tenshi.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oy..."
>Shake head.
>"And she was too much for you? What did she do, exactly?"

[Fightest]

>"Oy..."
>Shake head.
>"And she was too much for you? What did she do, exactly?"

> "Oh, she fights like a little girl, all fancy-pants "finesse" and "tactics" and jank like that. Just... you know the peckoes who you can't even think about attacking, or even mouthing off at them, long as they don't fight anyone? Well, she had that first part, and didn't look like she gave a sod about the second."

[Hello Purvis]

>"You couldn't even fight back, then? Huh."

[Fightest]

>"You couldn't even fight back, then? Huh."

> "It would seem to me that this Tenshi might be a valuable source of information about the tournament," says Kaguya.
> "Oh yes, if she is able to cheat the immunity clause like that," says Keine, then exclaiming, "oh dear me, I almost forgot!"
> Keine fishes a small envelope out of her pocket and hands it to you. It smells faintly of roses.
> Akyu Hieda designates you as the intended recipient on the front in neat, cursive handwriting. You've seen that handwriting once before, on a note accompanying the very rapier that you are wearing at your side when it first came into your family's collection.

[Hello Purvis]

>Frown, read it.
>Consider what we know about Tenshi as well. Is she renowned as a little shit?

[Fightest]

>Frown, read it.
>Consider what we know about Tenshi as well. Is she renowned as a little shit?

> Inside the letter is a single card, delicately embroidered with watermarks along the edges. It says You are hereby cordially invited to a meeting with Her Ladyship the Countess Remilia Scarlet at the Mansion on the Lake A.S.A.P.
> You don't know much about Tenshi at all. The dozen-or-so different accounts each describe her in differing light, ranging from "misguided troublemaker" and "raving lunatic" to "unfortunate girl" and "that poor child, she could use a friend or two."

[Hello Purvis]

>Sigh. What do we know about Remilia?
>Are we at all rested from prior shenanigans?

[Fightest]

>Sigh. What do we know about Remilia?
>Are we at all rested from prior shenanigans?

> After getting somewhat of a hint after being the first individual to have fingers pointed at when an Incident occurred several times over, Remilia Scarlet has been very diplomatic with at least the human population of Gensokyo. Nobody trusts her as far as they can throw her about this, but she gets some grudging respect for, as many of the villagers put it, "sticking to the act." You met her once, and she gave the impression of being an impeccable lady. Some of her customs are a bit strange, but never intrusive. She likes to stay up late and enjoys fava beans and a nice Chianti.
> You could use with a good night's sleep, the fact that it's early afternoon be damned.

[Hello Purvis]

>Then it's too soon to be possible.
>"Look, I'm going to bed. Remilia wants to yell at me at, and I'm having trouble standing. I'll give you my short version. Utsuho has been dealt with. Some phantom and possibly Kanako were controlling her. She's with Marisa now. Sometime soon I need to go find Satori's sister and try to do something about the mental damage Utsuho took. But as far as that front is concerned, things should be fine from now on. Someone have breakfast ready when I wait up, and I'll not mention this again. ...Oh, and a couple of take away lunches."
>Presuming there's no more pressing needs, head to bed.

>_

[Mr_Bob]

>Don't be too adamant about going directly to bed. The others may want to see us, and brushing them off would be rude. However, we really do need to rest up, so if it can wait, it will have to wait.

[Fightest]

>Then it's too soon to be possible.
>"Look, I'm going to bed. Remilia wants to yell at me at, and I'm having trouble standing. I'll give you my short version. Utsuho has been dealt with. Some phantom and possibly Kanako were controlling her. She's with Marisa now. Sometime soon I need to go find Satori's sister and try to do something about the mental damage Utsuho took. But as far as that front is concerned, things should be fine from now on. Someone have breakfast ready when I wait up, and I'll not mention this again. ...Oh, and a couple of take away lunches."
>Presuming there's no more pressing needs, head to bed.

>_

>Don't be too adamant about going directly to bed. The others may want to see us, and brushing them off would be rude. However, we really do need to rest up, so if it can wait, it will have to wait.

> You stomp off to bed, nobody looks like they're going to stop you. Behind you you hear your near-semi-permanent visitors busying themselves with clearing the mess they made.
> "Princess, you and Miss Doctor collect the equipment, I'll start cleaning up. Mokou, please get the fairies doing something useful."
> "Of course. It is quite embarassing that we got our hostess' house into such a state."
> "Reisen, gather the rabbits, make sure they're not being a nuisance!"
> "Right, you little sods, get to scrubbing lest you find yourselves in sore want of some teeth!"
> You climb into bed after disarming yourself and tossing yet another ruined outfit into the corner and fall asleep immediately.
> ...
> The mind continues to work whether one wants it to or not. Arranging and rearranging thoughts and memories, emphasising experiences, consolidating things learned...
> What do you dream about?
> > Your fight against Utsuho, and the defense you found yourself sometimes lacking.
> > Your conversations with Satori, and the self-control you had to enforce on yourself for small thoughts.
> > Your encounter with Yuka, and the Compassion that allowed you to endure her assault, defeating her without lifting a finger.

[Hello Purvis]

>Well, at least they're doing that much.
>Dream of Yuka. That was a brighter spot of the day.

[Mr_Bob]

>If we want a more peaceful resolution, we better increase our compassion.