Author Topic: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.  (Read 13477 times)

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« on: August 23, 2011, 08:37:39 PM »
Hi! I'm Tai. I recently got into writing things, so I decided to make thisplus I need something to help me get ten posts. So, my writing style is mediocre. I'm not very good at writing. I'm mostly a "Concept" kind of guy. But, hey. I'll try. I enjoy writing stories for lesser used characters, so if you like those, read this, I guess.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2011, 08:40:55 PM »
Here it is! My first story!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   "People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some reason there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write, they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.

   As one tends to the graves of the dead, so I tend the books. I clean them, do minor repairs, keep them in good order. And every day I open a volume or two, read a few lines or pages, allow the voices of the forgotten dead to resonate inside my head.  Do they sense it, these dead writers, when their books are read? Does a pinprick of light appear in their darkness? Is their soul stirred by the feather touch of another mind reading theirs? I do hope so. For it must be very lonely being dead."

                                    -Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale.

I found it only fitting that I begin this story with a quote. My whole life has been merely the shadow of another, so why not do the same here, and start with words from another author that are much more powerful and evoking then anything I will ever write. I am writing these words down as a request from the mistress of the household herself. Imagine. someone in her position should take the time and effort to remember me and make a request. It's quite the change, but then again, everything has begun to change since I have arrived here. But, in order to arrive, we must have been going somewhere. And to go somewhere, would be a journey. And every journey, has a beginning. This is the story of my beginning.

I don't quite remember the details of my birth. I remember a woman in red crying. I remember seeing magic swirl all around me. I remember I wasn't alone, I was surrounded by others, all struggling to get to that crying woman. I felt compelled to rush to her side, to comfort her, to do anything to make her stop crying, and I tried to. But there were too many others, others who were bigger than me, stronger than me, smarter than me, and soon I was lost in the crowd. I was thrown backwards by the roiling sea of creatures, until finally I managed to force myself out of the crowd. I fell to the ground and stared back at the writhing mass of monsters I had just escaped, all still fighting to get to that woman. I was just a newborn at the time, but I knew that if I went back in there, I would die. And so, though it pained me, I knew that I had to leave. After all, why would the red woman want me, a weak little girl who couldn't even walk through a crowd? These were my first memories, and as unpleasant as they were, they were nothing compared to the horror and carnage I witnessed in my escape. Walking away, I found myself in some sort of palace. I wanted nothing more than to stay in the comfort of that place, but I still felt that I wasn't wanted. As if I was a failure, a disgrace to the red lady who had created me. I wandered around for a while, trying to find a way out, but having no such luck. I suppose I was a failure at that too. Still, I wandered through the labyrinthine passages, desperately trying to find my way outside. Something inside of me screamed with all of it's might not to go outside, begged me to return to my creator, but I didn't listen. In my wanderings, I passed by a young woman in a maid outfit crying in a corner, surrounded by swords and needles. Nervously, I asked her for directions. She just stared at me for a moment, then burst out into tears again, pointing down one of the hallways. As I walked down towards the door at the end of the hallway, that feeling inside of me grew stronger. With each step I took, that voice inside of me began screaming louder and louder, and soon my steps became strained. I felt like I was walking through syrup, as if that voice inside of me had become it's own separate being and was holding me back, trying to protect me from whatever was on the other side of that door. But I pressed on, and after much hesitation, I pushed the door open. I slowly walked outside to find...absolutely nothing. Everything was calm outside. Relief washed over me, and I took a moment to observe my surroundings. I had indeed been in a palace as I had suspected, and I discovered that it was at the heart of some kind of subterranean city. Again, I found that I had no idea where to go, so I just began wandering. It was strange, but I could find no people in the city. The streets were deserted. I tried to pay it no mind, but it began gnawing away at me. I began walking faster and faster, breaking into a sprint about halfway through the city. I was small, I was weak, but if there was one thing I could do, it was run fast. I began rushing through the city, the buildings becoming a blur, and the only sound was the echo of the rapid patter of my feet as I fled through the city. Suddenly, I tripped, and was sent flying to the ground. The horrible feeling that had been wriggling around in my mind suddenly hit me at full force, telling me not to look back, to run as fast as I could to get out of this place. But, being the fool I was then, I turned and looked back. Then it all hit me at once. I had desperately trying to cover it up, trying to convince myself that none of it was real, but now there was undeniable proof in front of me. The object I had tripped over was a corpse, the body of a fairy with a needle through it's head. Fighting back nausea, I stared down the road behind me, finding it littered with corpses that I had ignored in my haste. I noticed holes were blown in several of the buildings, an there were craters in the ground stained with blood. I fell to my knees, the combination of fear, nausea, and that horrible feeling I had in my mind becoming too much for me. I began sobbing, the sound of my cries echoing throughout the ruins of what had once been a city, now reduced to nothing by a massacre. I lost all will to move, just wanting to sit there and die. But, it must not have been my time, because a young woman walked over to me and carried me out of the city. She laid me down in a house near a gate somewhere outside the city. I passed out after this, and when I awoke, her and another woman were waiting by me with some food. They fed me, and introduced themselves as Luize and Sara, some of the lone survivors of something they called "The Mystic Square Massacre". They claimed that a shrine maiden forced her way past Sara, the gatekeeper, and made her way into the subterranean world I had just been in, Makai, and began killing everyone she saw. She wiped out the entire population of the city apparently, much to the dismay of the goddess Shinki, the protector of Makai and mother of all of it's inhabitants. Apparently, the shrine maiden attempted to kill her, but her maid and her "daughter" protected her long enough for her to gather enough power to force the shrine maiden to leave. Sara and Luize only managed to survive because they had met the shrine maiden in the early stages of her journey, before her power had fully awoken. Shinki had apparently become so grief stricken by the loss of all of her creations that she locked herself in her room. I thought about this for a moment. Shinki must have been that woman in red, crying over the loss of her children while creating new ones in a pathetic attempt to try and overcome her loss. Sara told me that as the gatekeeper, she had received orders to seal the gates forever, and that she and Luize were going to the outside world after they were sealed out. Already all of the other survivors had vacated. Graciously, they invited me to join them. I didn't want to be a burden to them, but back then I had no other options, so I accepted their invitation.

I'll never forget my first time seeing the outside world. We emerged from a cave in the middle of the forest, and immediately I was awestruck by what I saw. There were beautiful trees in vibrant shades of green. The ground was soft, and a much more pale brown than the rock I had seen in Makai. There was no ceiling, and instead there was an endless blue expanse called the sky, with puffy bodies called clouds floating lazily inside. A stream rippled by, but it wasn't like the streams I had passed in Makai, no, somehow it was brighter and cheerier. I could write volumes about the beauty of the outside world, but that's not what I'm here to write about. I wasn't the only one impressed by the spectacle though, Luize seemed just as thrilled as I was. Sara didn't seem that excited, though I suppose being the gatekeeper she had seen this all many times. And so began my adventures in the outside world. I traveled with Sara and Luize for several years, getting to know the land called Gensokyo. It was exciting and fun, and new things were always appearing. It was during these adventures that I discovered more about magic and the strange power I possessed as a demon. Then, one day, that all changed. I met someone.

On one of our numerous romps throughout Gensokyo, the three of us found ourselves in the Forest of Magic. At first, all seemed normal. There was the occasional prankster fairy who we would chase off, the odd stranger, nothing unusual. Then, I saw her. I loved her from the moment I saw her, that beautiful girl I saw fluttering through the trees. She spotted us, and flew over to us. Sara and Luize began chatting away with her, just like we did with all the other strangers, but I found myself unable to say a word. I was just staring at the thing she held clutched to her chest. Nervously, I worked up the courage to ask her what it was. She stared at me like I had the plague for a moment. When Shinki had created me, she had given me the basic knowledge of all sorts of things, but whatever that thing was wasn't included. And yet I found myself drawn to it, as if some strange sixth sense I had was telling me that it was important. Sighing, the girl held the split the thing in half, much to my surprise, and held it out to me. Inside, there were words. She told me that it was a book. That was the first book I had ever seen. When she informed me that she had a whole house full of books, I simply melted. It was then I made the stupidest split second decision anyone has ever made. I told Sara and Luize that I was going to go and live with this girl. They looked at me as if I was crazy at first, but when I told them about how I felt, they trusted that I was doing the right thing. My sense of intuition had gotten us out of quite a few tough spots, and my companions held it in high regards. And after all, wasn't the whole point of this journey to try and find a home? So, after a tearful goodbye and promises to stay in touch, I followed the strange girl home, and informed her of my intentions. She seemed a little confused at first, but seemed to recognize my determination, and resigned herself to my company. She lived in a store with her "father", Rinnosuke. Then, she asked me my name. It was then that it hit me. I didn't have a name. Throughout all of my travels with Sara and Luize, no mention of my name had ever arose. This girl was the first person ever to care enough about me to ask me my name. So, I told her that I didn't have a name. Curiously enough, neither did she. So, right then and there, we made a pact. We would name each other. I gave her the name Tokiko, after a kind of bird she bore a strong resemblance to. And she named me Koakuma, which means 'little devil'. After that, we became the best of friends in the world. The days that followed were some of the best of my life. Tokiko introduced me to the wonder of books, and soon I loved reading almost as much as I loved her. I helped out around the shop, and the owner of the store claimed I was of great help due to my special power. He possessed the ability to know the purpose of anything at a glance, so it didn't take long for him to figure out what my power was. I had the power  to sense when something was wrong, or when something was right. This knowledge made me confident that I had made the right decision in staying with these people. After all, why else would everything feel so right with my life? Then, one day, tragedy struck, leading me to what I believe to be my second home.

It was my day off, and Rinnosuke had insisted that I spend some time alone without a book, and he sent me to Misty Lake. He was like a father to me and Tokiko, so I knew he meant well and I trusted his decision. So, while strolling along by the water, I was suddenly overcome by the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong. I tried to run, but I was struck from behind by something. Glancing back, I saw in terror what had struck me. A needle. And behind that needle was the figure that had haunted my dreams for years, the horrible creature that spurred my birth, the one capable of causing endless doom and destruction to my kind, Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden. She was floating in the air some distance behind me, the corpses of several fairies surrounding her, all run through with needles, an one truly gruesome corpse had completely collapsed in on itself, a wound that I assumed could only have been inflicted by the gohei Reimu held so menacingly in her hand. Desperately, I tried to get up, but as soon as I got to my feet, I fell back down, pain shooting through my leg. Glancing down, I saw a needle embedded in the flesh. I couldn't think straight at all, the blind post traumatic terror I was experiencing clouded all logical thought from my brain, but one. RUN. AWAY. I didn't care where, but I just needed to get away. I began scrambling for the edge of the lake, trying to get into the water, hoping that I hadn't gotten the attention of the shrine maiden. Maybe the needle was a fluke. Maybe she had missed one of the faeries, and the needle accidentally hit me. Maybe I could escape. I continued thinking these thoughts as I crawled towards the water, trying to keep myself calm and sane until I was away from the murderess behind me. I had just gotten one hand in the water, when I was grabbed from behind. She hadn't forgotten me, she had just been toying with me. I found myself forcibly thrown back, falling into some of the tall grass, collapsing onto my back. I stifled back a cry, trying to ignore the pain that coursed through me. I couldn't feel my leg anymore, a quick glance at it revealed that the needle had been driven all the way through my leg, and I could see the spiritual energy coursing through it. Running was no longer an option. The grass was all the cover I had at the moment, and I attempted to crawl away, hoping that I might escape. I began scrambling back towards the water, figuring that it was my best chance for survival. Even if I drowned, it would be better than meeting the same fate as so many others who had been killed by this...this murderess. Suddenly, I found myself launched through the air again, slamming down to the ground by the edge of the lake. The shrine maiden was on top of me in a second, and she began brutalizing me. My mind has blocked the exact details from my memory, but I do remember getting stabbed several times by a needle. Through the miraculous grace of my goddess Shinki, the intense spiritual energy flowing through me made me numb to all the tortures inflicted on me. Bones were broken. Cuts were made. When it seemed like I couldn't take it any more, the final torture began. The terrible mike drew out a paper amulet and stuck it onto my forehead. Immediately, I felt intense pain searing throughout my body. Thanks to the books I had read, I knew exactly what was happening. I was being purified. With a certain amount of disgust, Reimu tossed my body into the lake, where I was set adrift. The tag was a rather weak one, so it would take a while for it to all end. Fortunately, my story doesn't end there. I drifted to a small island at the center of the lake, where the next chapter of my life began.

The first thing I saw when I awoke was books. Thousands and thousands of books. Then I noticed that the tag was gone. Slowly, I sat up, wincing as I did so. The tag was gone, but the pain wasn't. I was in some sort of library. A woman floated up to me. Patchouli Knowledge. Librarian of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. And the rest is history. I live in the mansion now, working as the librarian's assistant, my powers made me the obvious candidate, not to mention my love of books. I still se Tokiko whenever I can, and our relationship is slowly getting more serious. I haven't seen the shrine maiden since, and I hope not to. I've never gone back to Makai, the memories are to painful. I haven't seen Luize and Sara sine the day we parted, though being the wandering spirits they are I can't really blame them. My life has really gotten better since moving to the Mansion, and I haven't regretted it for a second.

I am Koakuma, assistant librarian of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Shikigami of Patchouli Knowledge, Companion of Tokiko, Child of Shinki, and just about the happiest  little devil alive.

For the first time, everything in my life feels right.

*Afterword: Shortly after writing this, Reimu Hakurei, resident shrine maiden, banished Koakuma. The Headmistress of the Mansion Remila maintains the ability to see fate, but she refuses to interfere. Though she informed no one of this, she requested that Koakuma write her memoirs so that we may remember her when she is gone. R.I.P. Koakuma.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...I like Koakuma. This is my theory about who she is. Also why she never appears.

Feedback Please?
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2011, 03:27:35 AM »
KAKASHI SPIRIT NEWS

Your source for all the latest gossip in Gensokyo

Season 125, 1st of the More Clothes Month


Annual Shipping Edition!


Awesome Reporter Hatate Himekaidou Takes a Look at Gensokyo's Power Couples <3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's that time of year again my amazing readers! That special month of the season where I, your adorable host Hatate Himekaidou1 take a look at some of Gensokyo's most notable romantic couples!

But first, there's something special about this issue!2 Instead of typing it out like I always do, I got this great new gizmo from some uggo nerd Kappa that let's me say whatever I want into it, and it like, types it out! How awesome is that! So, I've recorded some interviews of the hottest rumored couples in Gensokyo, and boy, have I got some juicy gossip for you!

Okay, first off, I heard from one of my girlfriends that Marisa Kirisame has a thing going on with the kappa Nitori! So, I went to the foot of youkai mountain to find out the truth! And here's the recording of the interview! I skipped ahead to juicy bits, because in order to get her to talk I had to listen to her ramble on and on about her nerdy inventions and junk and how she discovered the meaning of life and blah blah blah.

Me!:"So, spill girl, what's the scoop on you and Marisa?"

Uggo Kappa:"Marisa Kirusame? What about her? She's a good friend of mine. Nice enough, though I think she may be stealing my stuff."

Me!:"So, you two are like, dating?"

Uggo Kappa:"What? No, who said that?"

Me!:"You did silly!"

Nitori:"What? No I didn't!"

Me!:"Oh yeah? Prove it!"

Uggo Kappa:"You have a recorder right there. Just play back the interview!"

Me!:"What recorder?"

Uggo Kappa:"The one in your hand."

Me!:"This isn't a recorder."

Uggo Kappa:"Than what is it?"

Me!:"Psh, you ugly people wouldn't understand."

Uggo Kappa:"...GET OUT OF MY LAB!"

So, like, not only did we find out that Nitori and Marisa are like, totally dating, we also found out Nitori has total anger issues3!

My next interview is with Alice Margatroid, who I've heard is also in a relationship with Marisa Kirisame! Can you say love triangle? In order to get this interview, I like totally had to go to the Forest of Magic and find Alice's house, which was full of all these tacky puppets. She's a total creeper by the way.

Me!:"So, Alice, I'll get right down to it, are you, or are you not, sleeping with Marisa?"

Crazy Forest Girl:"Marisa Kirisame? What about her? I kind of know her, I guess. I see her from time to time, but other than that one time we've never really had much interaction. She needs to stop stealing my stuff though."

Me!:"What? But aren't you like, a tragic forest girl who ran away from her mother to chase Marisa and like, used magic to make yourself older so you could be with her, but are sad and lonely because Marisa doesn't get that you love her and is constantly chasing other girls?4"

Crazy Forest Girl:"...No. Where did you even hear that?"

Me!:"Internet."

Crazy Forest Girl:"?You have six seconds to get out before I blow you up."

This time, not only did it like turn out that Alice is a total b-i-t-c-h, but also that she is in deep denial of her love for Marisa. It's so romantic, isn't it?

The next interview is with Patchouli Knowledge, crazy shut in girl who works in some fancy mansion for some tacky vampire girl. Ugh, doesn't she know that vampires are so outdated? Anyways, I had to like, sneak in past some guard5, and then like sneak into the library6 and stuff to get this interview, so you'd better like it! Oh, but guess who her love interest is? Marisa Kirisame! Is Marisa some kind of player who likes to toy with ugly girl's hearts7, or is she just a slut? Let's find out!

Me!:"So, Patchouli, despite the fact that you look like?that, do you still think that you can make Marisa Kirisame fall in love with you?"

Book Lady:"...You think I have a crush on Marisa Kirisame?"

Me!:"Yeah, like, everyone does! How is your relationship going?"

Book Lady:"I'll tell you how it's going. IT'S NOT GOING! I FUCKING HATE MARISA KIRISAME! THAT LITTLE BITCH KEEPS BREAKING IN HERE AND FUCKING STEALING MY BOOKS! WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE WANT MY BOOKS?! CAN SHE EVEN FUCKING READ?! OR IS SHE TOO MUCH OF A DITZY IDIOT THEIF TO CARE WHAT SHE FUCKING STEALS! SHE KEEPS SAYING I CAN HAVE THEM BACK AFTER SHE'S DEAD! WELL, MAYBE I'LL JUST GO FUCKING KILL HER AND TAKE MY BOOKS BACK! THEN SH-ack!*cough**cough**hack**chocking noises*

Then she started like, choking or something because she has some kind of disgusting disease or some junk, so her assistant had to come and give her some kind of pills. Whatever. I'm not a doctor.8

So, it turns out that Patchouli does have a crush on Marisa, she's just a creepy weirdo fetish lady who wants to do weird things with Marisa in the bedroom. But, I figured I should catch up with Marisa to get both sides of the story on all of these crushes she apparently has.

Me!:"So, Marisa, is it true that you are currently dating and totally having sex with Nitori, Alice, and Patchouli, sometimes all at the same time?

Thief Girl:"What? No! Who told you that?"

Me!:"Oh, so you've broken up with them? I can't say I blame you. Those girls were like, total b-i-t-c-h-es, and Patchouli was into some totally creepy things. I would've dumped them if I were you. Except I would never be as not awesome and as lame as you."

Thief Girl:"What? No, I never broke up with any of them because I was never da-'

Me!:"Oh, so you're still dating all three of them?"

Thief Girl:"What? Where did you get th-"

Me!:"Scandal! So, here's the big question, Marisa, are you a player or are you a slut?"

Thief Girl:"What? Why would you even ask me that?"

Me!:"Ooooooohhhhh! You never answered! That must mean both!"

Thief Girl:"Are you crazy?"

Me!:"Are you coming on to me?"

Thief Girl:"What? No! How woul-"

Me!:"Ewww! Gross! Pervert! I know I'm hot, but still!"

Thief Girl:"What're you-I'm leaving."

So, not only is Marisa Kirisame a total player and a huge slut, she even tried to come onto me, making her a pervert!9 Watch out for this hoebag!

Next up is the reported love interest of Yuuka Kazami and Medicine Melancholy. I went to some creepy mansion in the center of some tacky looking field of flowers to ask Yuuka Kazami to confirm or deny this statement. Yuuka Kazami said

"Medicine Melancholy? Who's that?"

I went to an even tackier field of flowers to get a quote from Medicine.

"I don't know who that is."

Scandalous, isn't it? These two are trying to keep their love a secret! How romantic is that? So, don't spoil it by telling anyone!10

Next on the list is WrigglexYamame! One of my girlfriends told me about this one when we were gossiping, so you know I just had to check it out. I flew down into the forest to talk to Wriggle Nightbug.

Me!:"So, Wriggle, I've heard you've been messing around with Yamame?"

Gross Bug Girl:"What? Who's that?"

Me!:"Don't play dumb with me, you know who I'm talking about!"

Gross Bug Girl:"I honestly don't know who that is."

Me!:"Don't be silly, all of you insect youkai muss automatically know each other!"

Gross Bug Girl:"Insect youka-whatever. Look, did Cirno put you up to this?"

Me!:"Psh, that Nineball? No, but you must know that wallflower Spider Youkai who lives in the underground."

Gross Bug Girl:"Spiders aren't insects."

Me!:"What? They like, totally are!"

Gross Bug Girl:"No, they aren't."

Me!:"Yeah, they are! You know, for like, a princess of bugs or whatever, you sure don't know a lot about them."

Gross Bug Girl:*sigh*

After learning that Wriggle was as big of an idiot as she seemed, I traveled to the underground to meet Yamame to have her confirm the rumor.

Gross Spider Girl:"No, I am not cheating with Wriggle."

Me!:"AHA! You knew Wriggle's name, even though you claimed you've never met!"

Gross Spider Girl:"You asked me if I was cheating with Wriggle. I said no. That's it."

Me!:"But Wriggle claimed he didn't know you, but you know her! That must mean the two of you are sleeping with each other!"

Gross Spider Girl:"I don't think my girlfriend would approve of me cheating on her with her sister."

Me!:"You're cheating on Wriggle with her sister?! Scandal!"

Gross Spider Girl:"Not her biological sister no, but-wait, no, I'm not cheating on Kisume."

Me!:"You're dating Wriggle's sister! Then how come she claimed she didn't know you?"

Gross Spider Girl:"You probably just pissed her off. I know you're pissing me off."

Me!:"I don't believe you! You insect youkai have to be sleeping together!"

Gross Spider Girl:"Spiders aren't insects."

Me!:"...So what you're saying is is that you're dating Wriggle and her sister?"

Gross Spider Girl:"I'm going to politely ask you to leave before I give you the plague."

As it turns out, not only is Yamame dating Wriggle, she's also dating her sister, and I heard that the three of them get together and hold creepy three way parties! Ew! Some people are like, so gross.

Alright,so this next piece of juicy gossip comes from moi herself11! Did you know that the eternal hate that Mokou and Kaguya, those two crazy immortals, has like, blossomed into love? I totally interrupted one of their danmaku fights to bring you the unedited story.

Me!:"So, can you two address the rumors that you two are actually in love?"

NEET Girl:"...Mokou and I are eternal rivals. We are not in love. In fact, we hate each other."

Violent Pyro:"Yes. If there's one thing I know it's that if you fall in love with Kaguya she's just going to laugh in your face and send you home in disgrace to your family."

NEET Girl:"Yes. And if there's one thing I know it's that members of Mokou's family are weak ignorant fools who can't even complete 5 simple tasks, and if they lose they go whining back to their families, calling foul play even though they lost fairly."

Violent Pyro:"And if there's another thing I know about Kaguya it's tha-SCREW THIS! BITCH, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

NEET Girl:"Hmph! I'd like to see you try."

At this point they like, totally went back to fighting, but I had already gotten what I wanted. These two are like the couples in romantic comedies, they start out hating each other, but then there's a ton of like, whack shenanigans, and then they end up together!

My next couple i-Oh! Lord Tenma! Hello there sir! Oh, one moment please.

Device, Power Down.

Sorry about that sir, just some new te-oh, you don't care? Well, um, okay.

...

Wait, what do you mean my gossip isn't real news! It is too real news! Most of the stuff turns out to be true some of the time! Pl-

Replaceable? Yes sir, I understand. No more gossip stories.

...

What? But it's just gossip, not-Fine. No more bogus news stories. At least I'm not as bad as that Aya chick, right?

Well, yeah her stories are more accurate but-

...Well that's not fair! Spirit photography takes time! It's not my fault if stories are a little late!

...

Well, I don't see what my grammar has to do with anything sir. My readers happen to like how I talk.

...

Second lowest ratings you say? Well that's not fair! I-

...Yes sir. I understand sir. Thank you sir.

...

Oh my god, I hate him! He like, thinks he's so totally smart and all that junk. Well, I have new for him, I'm a way better reporter than he ever was! He's, like, just some stinky old geezer! I hate him! He's a total uggo too. I swear, some day I'm gonna like, kill him or some shit like that and take over. Then maybe tengu will start writing the juicy gossip people like to hear! Ugh, well, at least he's not a white wolf tengu. They're all like, total bitches. But you know who I hate more than him? Aya. That cu-Wait, is this thing on? OH SHIT! DEVICE POWER DOWN! DEVICE OFF? AHHHH! WHAT DO YOU MEAN "SENDING DIRECTLY TO PRINTERS"?! STOP! STOP! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! TURN OFF YOU STUPI-

-xoxo
Hatate Himekaidou <3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.<3
2.Other than the fact that it's super awesome!
3.Probably because she's such a fugly kappa.
4.True story!
5.Who I heard sleeps everywhere.12
6.A library is a place where ugly people go to read books.13
7.She probably picks ugly girls because you just know they're desperate.14
8.I'm too pretty for that~
9.Though I at least she shows SOME taste.
10.;)
11.<3
12.BTW That means she's slut.
13.Books are things ugly people write for other ugly people read.
14.Not like me~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aya leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her tea, placing what would probably be the last issue of Kakashi Spirit News. No big loss, it had always been just another gossip piece, albeit a terrible one. Though when Hatate tried to copy Aya's reporting style, she crossed a line.

"Um, Miss Shameimaru?:

Aya turned her attention to the Kappa sitting in the chair on the other side of her desk. Sighing, Aya unlocked the drawer hidden on the inside of the desk and shifted through her files.

"Let's see...Kaenbyou, Kagiyama, Kasodani, ah, here we go, Kawashiro."

Aya drew a photograph out of the folder and tore it in half. With a flick of her fingers she sent the two pieces flying over to the nervous kappa, who grabbed them out of the air. She scrambled out of the chair and to her feet, bowing to Aya.

"Thank you Miss Shameimaru."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Aya grinned as she watched Nitori shuffle out the door. Once the kappa learned that she had obtained compromising photos of her, it was child's play to blackmail her into sabotaging Hatate. That idiot tengu would think twice about crossing her ever again. Opening up a second secret drawer, this one in her wall, Aya pulled out another photograph of Nitori and grinned, placing back in the folder in place of the one she had given the kappa.

"It's fun being the best." Aya thought to herself.

============================================================
I wrote this to try and get better at writing conversations. It didn't work, did it?
« Last Edit: August 24, 2011, 04:21:33 PM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2011, 04:31:04 PM »
The recent incident with the shrine maiden and the witch had made her realize that she was way out of practice. She wasn't really a necessary part of the system, after all, her mistress was powerful enough to deal with any intruders, but it still made her sad that her mistress had to be bothered with these things. So, Elly decided that today, she would practice her forms. Holding out her scythe, she began going through a couple of warm ups first. Her joints were stiff, she hadn't done this in a while, but gradually, they loosened up. Slowly, she transited into the more complex drills. Finally, after working up to it for several minutes, Elly broke out into her first form. She had been nervous that she wouldn't remember it, but once she began, it felt like she'd been doing her forms just yesterday. Slowly, the drills became more and more complex, faster and faster. Elly allowed herself to grin. It just felt natural. With a bit of practice, Elly felt sure she could recapture the skill and speed she'd had in her prime with just a little practice. Her master wouldn't have to deal with any intruders anymore. Because she, Elly, would-*shink*

...

Shink? Why would there be a shink? Oh gods. Had she?no, she didn't. She couldn't have. She-She had been lost in her drills. Surely she hadn't accidentally?Slowly Elly turned around, and stared at the horrible sight before her. A single sunflower lay on the ground, it's head separated from it's stem. Staring at it in horror, Elly began backing away.

*Bump*

"Elly?"

Elly found herself experiencing pure terror when she heard her name spoken, and she scrambled to turn to face her master.

"Y-yes Miss Kazam-m-mi?"

"Did you just kill that sunflower?"

Elly stared in horror at her mistress's face, staring into the smile so many others had seen before meeting their doom on these very fields.

"Y-yes Miss. But I can explain! You see, I was practicing my drills so-"

"Elly, please, calm down."

Elly stopped stammering and stared at her mistress.

"I understand what happened. Elly, you're my oldest friend, and you know I can forgive you for anything."

Relief washed over Elly as she heard these words, and she began voicing her thanks to Yuuka. She'd been sure she was going to die. Evidently, she had to have more faith in her mistress. She was a kinder person than-Suddenly, she found Yuuka's hand pressed to her face.

"But Elly, no one kills one of my flowers. SUN SIGN-"

Elly's eyes widened as she stared into her mistress's face for the last time.

"MASTER SPARK!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kurumi glanced over at the lake, seeing an unmistakeable flash of light emanating from it's depth. Chuckling to herself, Kurumi sighed. Another intruder lost to Yuuka Kazami.

...Wait. The only way to Mugenkan was through her lake of blood. Which meant anyone trying to get into Mugenkan would have to go by her first. And nobody had even come close since that shrine maiden and witch. But that could only mean...no it was impossible. The thought was too gruesome for Kurumi to even consider. Besides, not even Yuuka was that much of a monster. Right? ...Right?

"Oh Kurumi~"

Kurumi froze at these words, not daring to make a single move.

"I get very upset whenever someone kills one of my flowers, and guess what? I'm still angry. I need something to work all of this anger out on."

Kurumi didn't even bother turning around, she just began flying away as fast as she could, trying desperately to deny the inevitable.

"You can run, but you'll never be fast enough!" She heard Yuuka taunt after her.

"SUN SIGN-"

============================================================================================================================
Ever wonder why Elly and Kurumi never show up again?
« Last Edit: August 24, 2011, 04:36:01 PM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2011, 01:54:11 AM »
"Hey Sanae-Sama, what's that?"

"Oh, this? It's a computer. I picked it up at Kourindou today. It's amazing the stuff that works it's way over to this side of the barrier."

"A computer? What's that?"

"Well Suwako, a computer is a machine from the outside world that does all sorts of things. It shows pictures, plays games, allows you to talk to other people, the possibilities are endless! I got a good deal on it because I helped Rinnosuke figure out what some of the things in his store were actual for. He actually thought that this computer was a Shinigami!"

"WHOOOOOAAAA! Is it?"

"...No Suwako, it's not. Run along now."

"Bye Sanae-Sama!"

"...Well, now that's over with, let's get down to business! I can't wait to go and catch up on all the forums and-wait, no internet. Oh well, I'm gonna play some games first then-oh, I don't have any games do I? Oh well, I can still chat with my friends o-oh, yeah. Right. Well, at least I can, um?what can I do with this thing? I can type stuff I guess, but I don't have a printer. Ummm...Power Point?"

"Come to think of it, where am I gonna plug this thing in anyways?"

"...Why did I even buy this?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a short slice of life. What do you think of it?
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2011, 03:12:30 PM »
Utsuho Reijui was lounging around in the Palace of Earth Spirits, enjoying her day off. Sighing, she laid back and enjoyed the lazy bliss. After all, her day off only came once a week.

"Utsuho."

Utsuho sat up with a start.

"Who said that?"

"Utsuho Reijui!"

"Where are you?!"

"Relax. It is I, Kanako Yasaka.

"...Who?"

"Kanako Yasaka. You know, Goddess of the Moriya Branch Shrine?"

"Can't say I've ever heard of you."

"...Oh come on! I'm famous!"

"You can't be that famous."

"I am too! I'm a goddess for my sake! You know what? Whatever. Look, I'm talking to you from my shrine, where I am famous, to tell you how something very important."

"...I'm listening."

"Okay. If you swallow the corpse of the god Yatagarasu, who is hidden somewhere in the flames, you'll gain a power that would fulfill the wishes of both those below and above the surface."

"?Can you be a little more specific? I mean, what do the powers do?"

"It is the power of nuclear fusion!"

"What's nuclear fusion?"

"Nuclear Fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together to form a single, heavier nucleus, resulting in immense quanities of energy."

"I feel like that would mean more if I actually knew what those things were."

"?Look. Basically, find the corpse, eat it, get the power to make endless energy and shoot lazors."

"Wait, I have to eat a corpse?"

"Yeah. So?

"That's kind of gross."

"I thought youkai loved eating corpses?"

"I'm not a youkai. I'm a Yatagarasu."

"So?like a youkai, right?"

"?Fine, like a youkai. But I still don't feel comfortable eating a corpse. Plus, if it's been in the fire for a while it's gonna be kinda gross.

"...Just swallow it whole or something, okay?"

"Wait, how small was this guy?"

"...I don't know, you have the corpse."

"Come to think of it though, how is there a corpse of a god? I mean, aren't all gods immortal?"

"Um, no, uh, he just wasn't, okay?"

"But then his corpse would have burned up already."

"But, um?his body was fireproof! Yeah, that's it, fireproof."

"How do you even know about all this?"

"I just do, okay?!"

"Is this some kind of prank?"

"?JUST EAT THE FUCKING CORPSE YOU WHORE! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU HERE!"

"?You know what? Just for that, I'm gonna find and eat the corpse, then I'm gonna turn the entire surface world into hell."

"?"

"Yeah. Then, when there's some super mega powerful hell crow up there blowing everybody up with lasers, you're gonna have to explain to everyone why it's your fault."

"?"

----------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh, Lady Yasaka! Why are you packing? Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sanae, I'm going away for a few days. If anyone asks, just, um, tell them I'm out shopping, okay?"

"Lady Yasaka is something wrong?"

"What? No, nothing's wrong, why would anything be wrong nothing's there's no reason to think that anything's wrong!"

"Lady Yasaka, you're acting very suspicious."

"...I'll contact you when this has all blown over."

"...Ohhhkay?"
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2011, 10:39:39 PM »
"Are all systems ready?"

"Yes Yumemi?"

"Are you sure Chiyuri?"

"Yes I'm sure! God, how old do you think I am?"

"Well, last time I checked you were about 17."

"?Are we doing this or not?"

"Fine, fine, calm down. I trust you. Alright, start the engines."

*click*"Engines in start up phase."

"Start the rotor turbine."

*click*"Rotor turbine spinning. Maximum speed hit in an estimated 2 minutes."

*click*"Alright, Artificial Magic online."

"I've got a lock on the Border."

"Okay, Artificial Magic is a go."

"Engines are a go. Rotor Turbine at full speed."

"Are you ready Chiyuri? We're finally doing it! Probability Space Hypervessel, take us to Gensokyo!"

Chiyuri flicked the last switch, and the two were blasted into Gensokyo. This wasn't like last time when they'd returned as failures, no. This time, they were prepared, with all the technology they needed on board the ship. They would stay in Gensokyo as long as it took to gather all the data they needed. They sat still for a minute, breathing in the wonder of the Great Hakurei Barrier. The barrier was tough, it would take them several minutes to get all the way through it, but they would get through. Magic, for all of it's wonder, had a remarkably difficult time dealing with technology. Suddenly, alarms began flashing all throughout the ship.

"Chiyuri, what's wrong?"

"I don't know! Something's wrong with the ship, but all of the systems are fine!"

"What? Let me see that! ... Wait, look! There! A breach in the hull!"

"What? How would that get there? We're still in the barrier!"

The ship suddenly hurtled through the barrier, and out into Gensokyo. Chiyuri and Yumemi stared out in horror. They had been so distracted by the hull breach they had lost control of the ship. Instead of emerging in the same place they had last time, the ship was now on a collision course with a mountain. The two stared at it for a moment, before Chiyuri leapt into Yumemi's arms.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The ship was engulfed in a huge explosion, and the two were sent blasting off somewhere, still screaming.

A lone figure walked into the remains of the ship, admiring her handiwork. She missed the old days when she could smash up all sorts of ships on the ocean to her heart's content, but there were no oceans in Gensokyo. Sighing, Murasa took out her trusty anchor and began smashing up the remains of the Probability Space Hypervessel. Oh well, a ship was still a ship, wasn't it?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel kind of sorry for Murasa. I mean, Gensokyo doesn't have an ocean (that we know of), so her power to cause shipwrecks is pretty useless unless she wants to sink her own ship or piss off Komachi. So, I figure, Yumemi came here in a ship, right? And so this story was born.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2011, 11:11:01 PM »
Wow, you're fast. Nice job with the stories. Better than mine, I'd say.  :]

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2011, 11:54:48 PM »
 :* A comment? Wow! But really? I've read your stories, and they're really good! Anyways, to celebrate, enjoy this convoluted theory on the PC-98 games!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's some backstory to this story first. A deity is a type of god, though one doesn't half to be born a god to become one. Any supernaturally gifted being can become one, they need only a shrine to attach themselves to, a Miko to serve them, and at least one follower. A deity without a shrine, but still a Miko and followers is still relatively powerful. A deity without a Miko is very weak, unless they have an abundant shrine and many followers. A deity grows weaker the farther it gets from it's shrine, though it can use it's Miko and followers to sustain itself while it is away. Extremely powerful deities can travel all around the world without any followers or a Miko, though they must have an abundance of power, a.k.a. lots of followers to do so. Basically, a popular deity with a dutiful Miko and a beautiful shrine is extremely powerful. An unpopular deity with a second-rate Miko and a run-down shrine is very weak.

Genjii was the deity of the Hakurei Shrine, though he never told Reimu. As the Hakurei Shrine became the focal point for the border, Genjii knew he had to do whatever he could to protect it. When the Hakurei Shrine was destroyed in Highly Responsive to Prayers, he poured his powers into the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs and gave them to the Miko Reimu Hakurei. He manifested himself as Shinygoku in order to prepare Reimu for the perils ahead. He then stayed behind to use his powers to slowly rebuild the shrine and maintain the barrier when she was gone. But the incident had made him realize that once Reimu was gone he would be reduced to nothing, having only the shrine and a few followers to sustain himself. The title of Hakurei Miko is not one inherited by blood, but rather it is given to a follower by Genjii. He had been lucky enough to get Reimu to do it, but his faith had fallen out of favor, so he had only a couple people to chose from. So, he decided to try and spend all of his power in one go for broke effort to spread his faith. He manifested himself as Genjii and began training Reimu to be a proper old fashioned Miko. His first step was to convince Rika, an old follower, to cause the events of SoEW, so he could reveal himself to Reimu and begin her training. He manipulated the border to allow Yumemi and Chiyuri in so he could use their competition to test Reimu. He was in fact the one who had summoned all the Youkai there in order to get Reimu more acquainted with them, knowing that they would turn into valuable assets. After Mystic Square he had used up all of his reserves of faith, so he forced REimu to grow up, a.k.a. stop dying her hair and actually wearing the official Miko outfit, and he resigned himself to living in the lake behind the shrine, watching as his faith ever so slowly comes back into power, ready to appoint the next Hakurei Miko when the time comes.

How does Mim? fit into all of this? Mim? was sort of a wild card. She followed Reimu home during HRtP, the one adventure where Genjii wasn't with her. Genjii was strong enough to keep her from entering the shrine, but when he was off testing Reimu with Rika, Mim? snuck into the shrine and took over, asserting herself as another Deity of the Hakurei Shrine. Though Reimu defeated her and Marisa, she refused to leave the shrine, and Genjii was to weak to chase her out once she was already in the shrine. However, Mim? had made Marisa her servant by using magic to force her to do her bidding. While she was in the shrine, Genjii slowly reduced Mim?'s hold on Marisa. That's why Marisa slowly became more and more independent. Eventually, he had freed Marisa completely. But here's the trick. Mim? had asserted herself as a Deity. She was strong on her own merit, but she only had 1 follower. And when Genjii freed Marisa, she lost her last follower, and when she traveled to Makai, she left her shrine. So, a deity without followers and without her shrine is very weak. So, she was so greatly weakened by her experiences in Makai, she had to rest in Makai. Then, Shinki sealed the gates of Makai and separated it from Gensokyo. And because Mim? was so weakened, she couldn't force her way out, and was trapped there. Once she was free of Mim?, Marisa dyed her hair and changed her outfit to try and start a new life. And she really only knew two people, Yuuka and Reimu. And nobody wants to be friends with Yuuka. So, Marisa became friends with Reimu.

Also, Alice from Makai and Alice Margatroid are different people. You see, Shinki was Alice Margatroid's biological mother, she gave birth to her rather than creating her, and so as the child of a Goddess, Alice was born a magician. She was planned to become Shinki's successor as the Goddess of Makai, but she had to pass a test in order to do so. Her whole life she had been trained in the art of making creatures. But, in order to successfully become the Goddess of Makai, she had to have her own style, so she was taught to use her own style in designing her creations, but Alice had to learn the final step herself. Shinki never taught Alice how to give her creations life. Alice was sent out of Makai to learn it herself. So Alice moved to the Forest of Magic and invented a fake backstory so no one would know who she actually was, and she began experimenting with her dolls. But Shinki missed her daughter so much that she created a copy of her daughter as a child, and gave her a copy of the Grimorie she had given her daughter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That sounds possible, right? Also, I outsmarted the Mim? -> Mima thing!
« Last Edit: August 25, 2011, 11:56:35 PM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2011, 04:01:09 PM »
To celebrate 100 views/10 posts, here's another story!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shanghai stared at her master with a concerned look on her face. Or at least, what Alice thought was a concerned look. It was always hard to tell with dolls. Still, Alice was getting definite vibes from her, telling her it was time to stop fiddling with her dolls and finally get some sleep.

"Shut up, I'll sleep when it's done, okay?"

Alice glared at her doll, as if glaring would help. People who knew the secret of her dolls knew that Shanghai wasn't really it's own being, rather that Alice manipulated it with magic to appear as if it was alive for her own amusement. But there was one secret she'd never told anyone. The reason Shanghai was so precious to her was because Shanghai was the closest thing Alice had ever gotten to a sentient doll. When she had been young, Alice had foolishly performed a ritual from her Grimoire in an attempt to transfer some of her life spark into shanghai. Needless to say, it didn't work, and the backlash of the spell left Alice in bed for weeks. But, when she'd gotten up out of bed and gone to retrieve Shanghai, she'd discovered just what the spell did. It had linked her subconscious to Shanghai, giving Shanghai a sort of mind of her own, though she was still very dependent on Alice. The ritual was too risky to try again, and even if she did manage to transfer some of her life into a doll for real it would just turn the doll into essentially a copy of her, but Alice still treasured Shanghai, the one doll who could comfort her to some degree.

Still, it was getting uncomfortable, having Shanghai's watchful stare on her. Shanghai meant well, but it was getting creepy. Perhaps she could just cut of Shanghai's supply of magic and?no.

"That was the one thing I swore I'd never do. It was gross perversion of nature, Shanghai trusts me to be her faithful protector and I-God dammit Alice, do you hear yourself? She's a doll. Go on, just stop sending her magic."

Alice glanced over at Shanghai, and she was struck by the emotion in the doll's eyes. Shanghai wouldn't hold it against her, she loved and trusted her master. Even though she was a doll, she still loved Alice.

i"Go on, stop the magic. ? Okay, how about now? ? Now? ?I can't do it."i

*sigh*"Fine Shanghai, you win. I'm going to bed."

Shanghai followed her master out of the room with what could only be described as a grin.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Alice lay down in her bed, surrounded by her dolls, as Shanghai floated to her special place beside the bed. Alice felt more comfortable sleeping, knowing that Shanghai still continued to use her magic even as she was asleep. Sighing, Alice bid her dolls goodnight, and drifted off to sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a field of flowers, lilies of the valley. Deep inside the field, what appeared to be a young girl grinned and danced, playing with what appeared to be a small fairy beside her. The flowers seemed to positively glow around this girl, the pollen in the air making it glitter and shine, masking the whole scene in a sense of magic and beauty. The girl threw back her head and laughed, falling into the flowers and rolling around, lost in the wonder of being a child in a field of flowers. Anyone watching would grin, unless they were made of stone, witnessing the wonderland that was childhood innocence. But?something was wrong about the girl. She didn't seem human, anyone sensing the aura  that surrounded her could tell that she didn't know humanity, and never had. But something else felt comforting, felt right about this girl. If one looked closely at her mouth, one could see faint lines on both sides, and when she rolled over onto her stomach, an unmistakable mark could be seen on her back. She wasn't a human child. She was a puppet. A living, breathing puppet. Suddenly, she sat up, and turned her head to stare at the onlooker trespassing in her field. Cocking her head to the side, she narrowed her eyes, examining the stranger as a child would examine a new relative, unsure of whether they were a friend or a threat. She turned her head and whispered something to the puppet at her side, covering her hands as if to hide her words from this stranger. The small puppet flew up to her ear and whispered something back. Suddenly, the girl broke into a huge grin and began running towards the spectator. The spectator stood there, unafraid, but rather curious as the excited girl stumbled closer and closer. She stopped directly in front of the spectator, and held her hand out, offering a handshake, just like a good little girl would do. A little surprised, the stranger reaches for her hand and-

"AH!"

Alice Margatroid shot up with a start, roused from her dream by Shanghai, who waved to Alice and gestured to the clock, indicating that it was past the time Alice was usually up.

"Gee, thanks Shanghai."

Shanghai stared at her, confused at why her master would be so angry at her. Alice sighed, remembering that after all, Shanghai was still just a doll. She trudged out of bed to get ready for the day.

----------------------------------------------------
Alice sat down at her desk, ready to spend another day making dolls for her experiments. The doll she had been working on last night still lay on the desk, beside what appeared to be another doll that was just beginning to be made. Alice didn't remember making that one, but that was nothing strange. She spent all of her time making dolls. As a matter of fact, the entire desk was covered in unfinished dolls. Sighing, Alice sat down for the long day ahead, thoughts of her strange dream last night still drifting about in her head.
------------------------------------------------------------
"Hi there!" The little girl exclaimed.

"Hello there. I'm Alice." Alice responded. The little girl giggled.

"Hello Alice! This is Suzan!" The little girl gestured to the doll to her left, who waved to Alice.

"What are you?" Alice ventured, hoping to confirm her suspicions.

"I'm a doll!" The girl responded, giving a little giggle. "One day, I hope to free all the dolls so they can be just like me, isn't that right Suzan?" The little doll nodded.

"You're alive? But how?!" Alice was brimming with excitement. A live doll! At last!

"You want to know my secret? Okay then, follow me!" The girl took off running through the field, laughing and chatting with Alice and Suzan who followed her faithfully.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Alice awoke on time that day to Shanghai's smiling face, much to her disgust. Sighing, Alice strode downstairs, not bothering to prepare for the day, only hoping to distract herself until she could fall back asleep again and follow that girl deeper into the meadow.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Shanghai noticed a change in mood in the days that followed. Alice became more and more reclusive, rapidly rushing through the day only to throw herself in bed and force herself to sleep. Every morning though, she woke up angrier than the last. One day, she left and came home with a load of straw, fashioning it into a series of dolls. Alice grumpily explained to Shanghai that they were to help her find the girl in her dreams. Had Shanghai been able to create thoughts for herself, she would have seen her master's growing obsession with finding this girl. Gradually though, she became more and more concerned. Alice was no longer eating or bathing, only sparing a few minutes each day to throw herself into some clothes before she ran outside to continue her work with the straw dolls, but she had very little success. People had always known that Alice hadn't been the friendliest person, but it had gotten much worse. Marisa stopped dropping by every now and then because the last time she had Alice had yelled at her. Alice had run into Reimu during a trip to pick up more straw and had yelled at her too. Even the three mischievous fairies feared her now, after one tragic incident where she'd had her dolls tear them to pieces because they had interrupted her work. The strange girl from her dream had made off with Alice's life, leaving her little more than a bitter, hollow shell.
----------------------------------------------------
One night Alice was following the girl and Suzan through the fields, chatting away, her only pleasure in life now, when she reached the edge of the flower field. Alice stared in excitement at the village they had just come too, one she recognized as Human Village. The flowers were growing into the city, and Alice could see the lilies dotting the roads and walkways, slowly turning the village into a flower garden. Alice turned to the girl in a fit of excitement.

"Is this it!? Are we here?!" Alice could barely contain her excitement, she was trembling. Finally, the secret of life would be hers!

Medicine gave Alice another giggle. "Yes, it's in here. Go on, you'll know it when you see it!"

Alice started to run into the village, but stopped. The girl wasn't following her.

"Aren't you coming?" Alice asked, feeling a little lonely without her companion.

"Tee hee~ No, you've gotta take this next step alone."

Alice hesitated, after all, she couldn't just abandon this puppet who had given her so many happy hours. But?Alice glanced down the path, and made her decision. She turned her back on the girl and Suzan.

"Thank you two." She said. "For everything." She needed no sentiments now, the secret of life was within her grasp!

Alice began running down the street, watching as the flowers few thicker and thicker, following the growing trail throughout the town, following the winding path along the streets. The town seemed to be empty, but Alice didn't care, the secret of life was within her grasp! Alice stopped in the center of the village. One building was completely grown over with lilies, the trail seemed to go upon it and smother it. Alice paused a moment to stare at it. That had to be it. Glancing around, Alice saw the trail of lilies weaving throughout all the paths that lead here. She stared down these paths and stared. She hadn't noticed it until now, but the trail of lilies had gone down every path in the village, no area was without flowers. But Alice had no time to puzzle over these things, she had found it. The secret that had given her little puppet friend life. Alice rushed to the door, pausing for a moment outside of it. She'd done it. Her quest was finally over. Grabbing the door, she turned the handle.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"NOOOOOOOOOO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"

Alice began screaming the instant she realized she had been woken up. A very frightened Shanghai floated beside her, holding her lance apologetically.

"YOU STUPID DOLL! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU IGNORANT PUPPET!"

In a fit of rage Alice seized Shanghai and threw her into the wall, cutting off all magic to her. Shanghai collapsed to the floor, no longer a being on the threshold of life, now nothing more than a doll discarded once her master got a new toy to play with. Alice threw herself into bed and desperately tired to force herself to sleep. It wasn't happening fast enough though, Alice wasn't tired anymore, if anything she'd been getting too much sleep. Shrieking a wordless wail of anger and desperation, Alice threw herself out of bed and began ramming her head into the wall, trying to knock herself unconscious. The pain was intense, but Alice didn't care, all she cared about now was falling back asleep so she could open that door and find the secret of life. Finally, her body couldn't take it anymore. Magicians could go long periods of time without food, but this was too much. Alice collapsed to the floor, the blood seeping from her head pooling around her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alice was back in the village, standing in front of the mysterious building. The door had swung partly open from Alice's earlier attempt at entry, and with trembling hands, Alice pushed the door open and stepped inside.

What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Humans were shackled to the walls, with looks of horror on their faces. They were covered in blisters, their clothes completely melted off, along with a good deal of their flesh. Their faces were frozen in expressions of horror, their eyes bloodshot and staring at a torturer long gone, their mouths open, as if still screaming for help that would come far too late. There were men, women, children, the elderly, even a few youkai. Some had faces in sickly shades of purple or blue, their eyes had exploded out of their heads and occasionally a drop of blood would still drip from their mouths. Some were little more than skeletons, their flesh completely burned away, revealing worn down bones in sickly shades of red and purple, but their skulls still expressing pure agony. Some Alice wished were skeletons, their entire bodies having become covered in blisters. Some were unrecognizable as humans, just mounds of flesh covered in bubbles and burns. Alice stared in horror at the corpses, slowly backing out of the building. This was the secret of life?! This gross display of death and suffering?!

"Tee hee! Do you like what I've done?"

Alice turned around and stared at her young puppet friend who had just arrived. Could she??

"I hate humans! They're nasty, they control dolls and force them to do things!" Medicine's cute exterior began to darken and twist, revealing the madness hidden beneath. "They left me there! For hundreds of years, they left me there in that field! But I'll get them all back! One day!"

Alice stared in horror at her once-friend, realizing the true meaning of the secret. Medicine was a creature born of pure hate, a puppet who had housed so much anger and hate at humankind that she had literally given herself life just so she could punish them. Alice had always wanted to give a doll life, but not like this! Medicine cocked her head and stared at Alice.

"What's the matter? Isn't this what you want? You hate humans too! You want them all dead just as much as I do! That's why you search for ways to give dolls life! So you can replace all of them!"

"Y-you did this? You're a monster!" Alice screamed, chocking back waves of nausea, but not being able to stop the tears from streaming down her face. The kind little girl she'd adored had killed all those people?

"What? Why am I a monster? You're the same as me. You want them all gone too. You won't say it out loud, but you want them all to just go away. For ever and ever." Medicine began slowly walking towards Alice, the soil in her footsteps bubbling and melting behind her. Alice continued backing away. She was right though. Oftentimes, Alice did wish that the world would just go way, that those annoying girls who bothered her would just walk into the woods and never come out. Was she really better than this girl. A quick glance back into the building full of the dead told her she was at least a little better. Alice couldn't take the girl's judging stare anymore, and she turned and ran. She heard the girl giggling behind her, and heard footsteps. No matter how fast she ran, the footsteps always sounded as if they were getting closer. Alice realized she was running in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine. Good. If anyone would be able to stop this monster, it would be Reimu. Alice kept her paranoia under control as the Hakurei Shrine grew closer and closer, as the footsteps grew closer and closer. Finally, just as Alice was sure the girl was giggling right in her ear, she threw open the door to the shrine and slammed it behind her, only to wish she hadn't a moment later. She stared at a corpse so mutilated it was impossible to tell who it had been. The skin was burned off, reeve;ing the inner flees, and the whole body was dyed all sorts of sickly shades that made Alice feel sick to her stomach. It was unmistakable though. The corpse was Reimu. Alice heard giggling behind her, and she reeled around to find the insane puppet standing behind her.

"Y-you killed her!" Alice screamed, almost unable to believe that the famed Hakurei Miko would fall to this little girl.

"Oh, I didn't kill her. You did. The poison you spread all around this place not only killed her, it's rotting at your mind!" Alice glanced around as the puppet slowly walked towards her. Frantically, she tried to summon some dolls, to use some magic, to do anything, but she was powerless. She had only one option left. Alice turned and ran, jumping out the window and hurtling into the Forest of Magic, hearing that screeching giggle behead her. She ran faster than she ever knew she could, fueled by pure fear and adrenaline. She rocketed through the forest, passing by several horrifying sights. The three mischievous faeries covered in blisters and gasping for air, screaming and thrashing, unable to die but longing to do so. Rinnosuke, his body visible through the open door, his skeleton still sitting in a chair behind the counter. Tokiko, a blistered corpse trapped where she had tried to run. Alice found herself frantically running towards the nearest building she saw, Marisa's house. Marisa had to be alright. She just had to. She was stronger than Reimu, even stronger than her. She would be alright. She would be alright. She'd be fine. Right?

Wrong. Alice stood in Marisa's doorway, staring in horror at the corpse of the girl who had been one of her closest friends. The sight was so gruesome that Alice finally lost it, turning around she began hurling her guts up, but her body had no food to reject, so all that came out was fluid and bile.

"We didn't do this. You did. The venom that you crea-" Alice swatted Suzan away from her ear, ignoring the pain as her hand blistered, and she began running for her house. She'd be safe there she had to be. But the footsteps were drawing closer. Maybe, just maybe, if she turned around now, she could die faster. Maybe her assailant would appreciate the sacrifice and end her life quicker in a show of thanks. Then again, perhaps not. It seemed as if the girl was right behind her when Alice charged into her house and slammed the door behind her. She knew it wouldn't help, but it was the only thing she could think to do.

"I just have to get some dolls, then maybe I can fight her. Yeah that's it, I can fight her if I have some dolls." Alice stared frantically around the room, but the house that was normally flooded with dolls was now empty. Alice began frantically searching through all the rooms, trying to find at least one doll, one friendly face who would comfort her before she died, but she found none. She ran into her workroom, hoping that she might be able to make at least one doll before she died, only to find it completely empty save one doll. The doll looked just like Shanghai, except it was hanging from a noose above her work table, head thrown down, face concealed by hair. Slowly, Alice approached it, hoping that it wasn't in fact Shanghai, her friend who had tried to warn her of the perils she'd so willingly thrown herself into. Slowly, Alice reached for the doll, to turn it's head up to confirm her fears.

The doll's head snapped up as Alice's hand was inches away from it, revealing a face Alice hoped she'd never have to see. It was her. The doll was a reflection of her, but it had a terrible expression on it's face. Pained, sad, terrified, angry, hostile, but above all, lonely. All of it's friends were gone, and it was left all alone. Shocked, Alice stumbled back to the floor, to find the young girl leaning over her.

"Now do you see it? You and I are exactly alike." The girl's cheery exterior had shattered completely, her words were harsh, but they rang of the truth. "We're both creatures who have been left alone to stew in our anger and bitterness, pushing everyone away, the only friends we have are the ones we've made. How long until you would've snapped and started killing everyone like me?"

What hurt the most was how much the words were true. Alice knew that every word this crazy murderess said was exactly true. She'd pushed away all of her friends, and had relied on Shanghai to keep her happy. When she'd started visiting this dream world, she'd not only found a kindred spirit in this girl, she'd found a friend. Though she didn't want to admit it, Alice had craved the companionship the girl had offered her, not realizing that the people around her were trying to keep her happy too. Poor old Shanghai had been the only one who saw what was happening before it was too late.

"And to think I treated her the way I did. I'm not a friend or a master, I'm a monster!" Alice turned around and kneeled before the strange girl, putting herself at her mercy.

"Y-you're right. I-I d-don't deserve to be alive." Alice choked these words out between sobs, as the girl stared on with morbid curiosity. "P-please. One kindred sp-spirit to another, kill me. I don't care how, just do it!"

Puppet and Suzan stared at each other for a moment, then turned their attention back to Alice. They knew what to do. The puppet raised her hand to strike Alice down.

*PEW*

"SUZAN!" Alice saw Suzan lying on the floor, and she saw her executioner rush over to her. Shanghai flew through the doorway to stand vigilant in front of her master.

"Sh-Shanghai." Alice said, tears filling her eyes. Even after all she had done, Shanghai still rushed to protect her. "I'm so sorry Shanghai! I-I didn't know!" Shanghai kept her lance pointed at Suzan and the girl, who were just getting up.

"You. Hurt. Suzan." The girl seemed to have snapped, staring at the pair with murderous intent. "You. Will. DIE!"

Shanghai was forced to raise her shield to defend herself from Suzan, who had shot through the air and attacked her. Alice fell back and began scrambling away as the insane puppet charged towards her. Alice bumped into the wall, and the girl reared her fist?

Alice awoke with a start to find herself soaked in her own blood. She saw Shanghai lying limp on the floor where she had been thrown earlier, and Alice rushed over to her. She cradled Shanghai in her arms and fed her the spark of magic that gave her life, or at least the closest thing to it. Shanghai began moving, and Alice clutched her to her chest.

"Oh Shanghai! I'm so sorry, I should have listened! I just wanted to know how to bring you to life so badly I guess I stopped caring for you and everyone else! I'm so sorry!" Alice let go of Shanghai, allowing the doll to float free. "Thank you Shanghai. For everything."

Alice glanced around the room to find it positively overflowing with dolls. Quickly, she ran around the house, searching every room, finding each doll where she had left it. Everything was back to normal. Except for one thing. In her workroom, a lone doll hung above her worktable. It was the one from Alice's dream, while she had been dreaming in the past month she had been sewing it, bit by bit in her sleep. Unsure of what to do with it, Alice decided she had the perfect idea. She cut the rope, though she left the noose around the neck of the doll as a constant reminder of what could have been. The doll had come to life in a way similar to that of Shanghai, it had been borne of her subconscious, a warning of where she was headed. It floated around her constantly, a sort of Yin to Shaghai's Yang. And she had the perfect name for it. Hourai.

Alice grabbed her bag and threw a few things in. She had some loose ends to tie up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marisa stepped out of her house that morning and tripped over something.

"WHAAAAAAH! Who left something on my doorstep, ze?"

Marisa turned to inspect the object she had tripped over. A small doll made in her exact likeness sat on top of a note.

'Sorry for everything.
      -Alice'


Marisa stared at the doll, then grabbed it with a grin. Alice was always keeping her on her toes, wasn't she?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Starsaphire shot up with a scream, and Lunachild and Sunnymilk shot up too.

"What? What is Star?" Sunny asked. The three were on edge since the incident with Alice.

"SOMEONE'S COMING!" Star shouted, and the three began screaming as Alice walked into the clearing they were in.

"Relax." She said. "I'm just here to apologize. Here, I got you three a present." Alice tossed three dolls into the clearing, and the three began screaming even louder, backing away from the dolls, expecting to be blown up at any second.

"Don't be strangers, okay?" And Alice left, leaving behind 3 very puzzled faeries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reimu sipped her tea. It was unusual to receive a visitor, even more unusual for it to be Alice. Oh well, the tea she'd brought was good, and it didn't hurt that she'd donated a little. Alice finished relating her story to Reimu, who just took another sip of tea.

"It made me realize that I've really pushed away the people around me, you know? And you guys aren't going to be around forever, so I figure I might as well get to know you." Alice said.

"You know, I think I know who that doll in your dreams was." Reimu said, prompting Alice to lean forward in excitement.

"Really? Who is it?" While the girl was terrifying, the prospect of a living doll was too much to pass up.

"She's Medicine Melancholy. She lives over on Nameless Hill. But don't bother, she's not a living doll, she's a tsukumogami." Reimu could see Alice's excitement die down.

"Oh?I guess I'm never going to meet a living doll then, am I?" Alice suddenly found Reimu's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. Look on the bright side, even if you don't discover the secret of life yourself, treat those two dolls of yours right, and they just might last long enough to become tsukumogami themselves." Alice felt stupid. She'd never even considered that. She glanced over at Shanghai's smiling face, and took comfort in the fact that even if all of her experiments failed, Shanghai just might get a shot at life after all. There was a loud slamming noise, and Alice glanced over to see Marisa had just burst into the shrine.

"Besides," Reimu said coyly. "It's not as if you don't have any friends in this lifetime."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alice stopped on the way home to purchase some pills she'd read about in the Bunbunmaru that granted the user the sweet dream of becoming a butterfly. Alice hoped that these would keep her out of that unfinished dream But one day, she would go back, but unlike this time, she wouldn't be alone.
=========================================================================
Epilogue:

"Th-there. I made you your own dreamworld, just like you requested. Now can you please let my sister go?" Mugetsu nervously asked.

"?No. As a matter of fact?" Medicine began slowly advancing towards Mugetsu, who began backing away.

Had anyone been present for the next hour they would have heard horrible screams emanating from the two demon sisters.

And that's why Mugetsu and Gengetsu never appear again.
===============================================================================
I've gotta get all of these out of my system before school starts.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2011, 04:31:16 AM »
"EYE AM TEH STRONGEST!" Cirno shouted, once again, much to the annoyance of Mystia and Wriggle. As usual, Rumia was nowhere to be found as Cirno threw another one of her fits.

*sigh*"Yes Cirno, you are the strongest." Mystia murmured, trying to get the young girl to calm down.

"THE! STRONGEST!" Cirno shouted, blasting the surrounding area with danmaku, again. Wriggle and Mystia cried out in pain as they threw themselves in the path of a flurry of bullets that was headed for the village, absorbing the blast.

"Y-yeah, you're the strongest." Wriggle said weakly. She sighed. Cirno may be strong, but she was an idiot, not to mention a child, and somewhere along the way she'd decided that Wriggle, Mystia and Rumia were some of her best friends. She forced them together and called them "Team 9", and Mystia and Wriggle were forced to go through punishments like this daily, lest Cirno would freeze them to death. Rumia wasn't as mature as the other two, so they generally kept her out of the way, but unfortunately Cirno kept a close watch on the two, and they'd never been able to escape her. Cirno was currently going on one of her rampages where she insisted she was the strongest. The only person who could snap her out of these was Daiyousei, but she was away at the time, leaving Mystia and Wriggle to try to contain the damage.

"SEE! I AM THE STRONGEST! LOOK, YOU TWO CANNOT STAND UP TO MY POWER!" That much was true. Mystia and Wriggle had tried to escape numerous times, but their plans had always ended in failure. They couldn't match the brute force Cirno put forth. She froze Wriggle's insects, and when Mystia tried to blind and confuse her, she began lashing out wildly, destroying anything and everything around her. Even on when the two had managed to kill her, she always just reincarnated and tracked them down again. Mystia glanced over, seeing that Cirno was done playing with bullets, and had moved on to smashing things with her Glacier Mallet. She heard Wriggle shriek, and she saw Wriggle throw herself directly under Cirno's attack, presumably to protect some insects or something. Cirno began laughing and continued smashing Wriggle over the back with her mallet. Fortunately, she was just a young girl, so she couldn't kill Wriggle, but Wriggle was very sensitive to the cold, and being smashed in the back by a small glacier couldn't be too healthy either. Sighing, Mystia flew over and put her hands on Cirno's shoulders, ignoring the biting cold that shot through her.

"Hey, Cirno, want to go play a prank on the shrine maiden?" Cirno stopped pounding poor Wriggle and turned to stare at Mystia. Mystia froze, unsure of what Cirno would do, when Cirno suddenly burst out into a smile.

"Yeah, let's go prank the shrine maiden! If I can beat her, then nobody will doubt I'm the strongest!" Cirno shot off in the direction of the Hakurei Shrine, leaving Wriggle and Mystia behind. Mystia sighed with relief, glad that her gamble had worked. Cirno's reactions to the shrine maiden ranged from excitement to?Mystia shivered just thinking about it. She pulled Wriggle to her feet, and pulled her close to try and warm her up. The two sat there hugging for a moment, savoring the peace and quiet. A beam of cold shot out from the direction of the shrine, striking Mystia in the shoulder, causing her to scream as her right arm and wings became encased in ice.

"HEY, WHERE ARE YOU TWO!?!" They heard Cirno shout. "YOU'D BETTER FOLLOW ME, BECAUSE I AM TEH STRONGEST!"

Wriggle curled up into a ball and began crying, and Mystia comforted her for a moment. Shedding some tears herself, she grabbed Wriggle's hand, and the two began walking after Cirno, unsure if today would be their last day among the living, forced to comply to the whims of a stupid little girl with way too much power.

:ohdear: Yeah...I don't much care for Cirno. I always viewed Team Nine as kind of a sham. i mean, Wriggle and Mystia aren't really that dumb. Rumia's just childish.

If anything, I think they would just hang around Cirno for Daiyousei.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2011, 08:32:48 PM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2011, 05:03:07 AM »
While there are statements in canon that contradict this sort of setting, and that pretty much every Team 9 member except Rumia is relatively intelligent, you did well on this short. Better than most of mine really.

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #12 on: September 03, 2011, 10:38:22 PM »
I tend to avoid crying. After all, tears are wasted on myself, I can't cry when I know that there are so many people out there suffering. People who have lost all they had, people on the brink of death. I suppose my existence is blessed to some degree. Though from a glance it seems rather lackluster. Still, life underground isn't without it's charms, there's the occasional excitement, and it's a rather beautiful place. I suppose the reason I live down here is to avoid the excitement of the upper world, I'm not meant for that kind of thing. I prefer the calm, quiet peace of a day underground with my friends. At least that's what I tell myself. The truth is, I stay here because I'm scared. The people above ground are afraid of me, they don't like me. They hate me because of what I can do, no matter how much I try, they'll never accept me. What I'm most afraid of is turning into the monster they make me out to be. Still, I crave intelligent contact, I need to be engaged. Most people who come down here just want to fight, and I enjoy that I suppose. But the ones who want to talk are the visitors I prize the most. I like to believe that if I was left alone I could continue to thrive, that even in darkness and isolation I'll bloom, like a beautiful orchid in the abyss, but I know I couldn't. For this reason, I created my own little piece of the world above inside of the caves and tunnels. Most people who stumble down here, should they dare to traverse the path to Hell, could find themselves driven mad by the endless scenery of stone and rock and fungus. They nearly collapse from the relief of finding the guardian's bridge, if nothing else it's a change from the same old cavernous expanse they've been seeing. Should one curious explorer find their way to my lair, they would find themselves shocked at the sight of a lovely garden growing in the caves, a small stream babbling into a pond, sunlight streaming through cracks in the ceiling. Most would flee when they see me, but many stay to fight, attempting to liberate what they see as sacred grounds, some kind of godsend in the abyss from the terrible monster that inhabits it. The rare few, however, see me for what I am and just want to talk. Not many people like that come around here. Still, I have my friends, I have my mate, and most importantly, I have my garden.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Come on Yamame, you promised me this weeks ago!"

"Kisume, you know I don't feel comfortable going up into the outside world."

"But I promised Wriggle I'd visit her, and I promised her you'd come this time to take care of Cirno!"

"Kisume?"

"Please? Those girls really need this."

"?*sigh*Fine, let's go."

That was how I got roped into the biggest mistake of my life. Though I suppose the alternative could have been worse. It could have been the end of my life. But, I digress, back to the story.

I followed Kisume through the winding passages of the caves to find our way to the surface world. As always, I was instantly stuck by the beauty I saw. The colors were richer and brighter than those in the underground and everything just felt so much more?alive. Taking a slight detour to avoid a certain unsavory shrine maiden and maniac witch, we met Kisume's sister in the Forest of Magic. Kisume spotted Wriggle and hopped over to her, a rather comical sight as she leapt on top of Wriggle and wrapped her arms around her. I said hello to Mystia and Rumia, some of Wriggle's friends, before we got down to business. If we were going to spend the day with them, a certain Ice Fairy had to be dealt with first. I wove a thin web through several trees, and the waiting game began. We didn't have long to wait. Cirno soon burst through my web and approached the group, Daiyousei following closely behind.

"How are my not strongest friends today?" Cirno burst out, much to the annoyance of her friends.

"Great Cirno!" Rumia responded with a cheerful attitude, as if oblivious to the insult Cirno had just delivered. "Today, I-"

"Rumia, shut up. The strongest person in Gensokyo doesn't have time to listen to children." Cirno spat on Rumia, who looked confused and wiped her face. She was young, and had never quite distinguished the difference between the Cirno everyone else saw, and the Cirno his "friends" saw.

"Now, listen up. I've decided that Team Nine sha-""Ummm, Cirno?" Cirno glared over at Wriggle, giving her a stare fit to freeze a toad, and Wriggle nervously continued talking.

"It's just, my sister is visiting today, and-" Cirno showered Wriggle with danmaku, and I winced from my hiding spot. Just watching what had happened made me sore.

"Shut up." Cirno said.

"Cirno, please, just let her go. She doesn't get to see her sister often, and I think it would be nice for them to have some time alone." Daiyousei attempted to cool the fuming Cirno down, but only resulted in getting herself thrown into a tree. Sighing, I figured that this was as good a time as any to jump in. I grasped one of the threads to my web, and focused.

*ACHOO*

"Cirno, are you alright?" Daiyousei asked, hearing Cirno sneeze.

"I'm fine, ju-*ACHOO*!" Cirno stopped talking mid-sentence to sneeze, prompting Daiyousei's concern.

"Cirno, that's it, I'm taking you home, you're sick." Daiyouse grabbed Cirno's hand and began dragging her away.

"Sick? Sick? I'm not sick. The strongest do not get si-*ACHOO**ACHOO**ACHOO*!" I geve Cirno's illness a little juice as she was dragged away, getting her to shut up for Daiyousei. I swear, I don't know why she's so nice to her. That girl is a saint. I rejoined my grinning friends, ready to spend the day cavorting around Gensokyo. Cue a montage.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We passed by the most beautiful sunflower patch I'd ever seen.

"Wow! I wish I could take some of these back for my garden!" I exclaimed.

"Uh-that's not a good idea." Wriggle stammered.

"Why not? I'm sure it'll be fine as on as I ask that gardener. Miss! Miss!" I shouted, not noticing my companion's reactions.

"Yes~?" The woman responded with a grin.

"RUN AWAY!" Wriggle shouted, and the grope scattered. Confused, I stared around me, only to notice the strange woman pointing her umbrella at me.

"SUN SIGN-"

"eep."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"*sigh*Aren't the Prismrivers wonderful performers?" Mystia stared dreamily at the trio playing their instruments on the stage. Apparently Mystia idolized them.

"Yeah, they sure are." Wriggle said. The two were big fans together.

"Is that so?" Rumia said, as usual. The four sat in Hakugyokurou, watching the Prismrivers perform one of their free concerts. I had to admit they were good, but I didn't see much point in watching when I could just listen to the music, so I wandered about, observing the lovely garden. I stopped and stared in wonder at the majestic Cherry Tree before me. I wonder if the gardener woul-"RUN AWAY!"

I spun around to see Mystia fluttering ahead of who I recognized as princess Yuyuko's half ghost gardener, who was chasing after Mystia with Wriggle and Kisume hopping after them.

"Get back here! I need a night sparrow for my Mistress's dinner!" Yomou shouted, blindly throwing one of her blades at Mystia.

"RUN FOR THE GATE MYSTIA! RUN!" I shouted, following after them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We wandered through the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, taking in the beauty of the shoots that towered high into the sky. We stopped to relax for a moment, enjoying the calm sounds of the wind rustling through the bamboo. Suddenly, Kisume shot up, staring at something on the other side of the clearing. We all looked over, and saw a small rabbit youkai in a pink dress. She giggled, and beckoned for us to follow. Confused, we all stalked after the girl. She slowly increased her pace, and we slowly increased our pace, until everyone was running. She kept shouting, "This way~", and we found ourselves following despite not knowing where we were going. We had almost reached her when-
We all fell into a pit. We glanced up and saw the girl staring at us, giggling.

"Sorry!" She shouted, before hopping off. Sighing, we noticed Rumia stumbling around above us.

"Rumia!" Kisume shouted. "Toss us something! We're trapped in this hole!"

"Is that so?" Rumia said, before falling into the hole herself, plunging us into darkness.

"Well this is a fine pickle." I said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the day went on like this for a while. The disease I gave Cirno would inevitably kill her, so she'd be gone for a while. Kisume escorted me back to the underground, and we parted for the night. I left for my home, happy. I scampered back into my garden to find it completely destroyed. The walls were riddled with craters. Plants were thrown askew, blown out of the ground by some unseen force, and they lay smoldering on the ground. I walked through the blaze, feeling strangely sick, and I found myself using my powers to protect myself from the unseen energy lingering in the area. I collapsed to my knees, and cried.

Yeah, I'm not very good at this. My school just started, so I wrote most of this late at night. I think that's pretty obvious. And I hate the ending. But I still think Yamame needs more stories about her.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2011, 12:04:45 AM »
I agree. I think Yamame is interesting in that she doesn't act like a youkai so much as the others do, and that makes me ask "why?" But she still is a youkai, and people hate youkai, which is what I understood from the last paragraph. Nice work!

Crow's Dumping Ground of Art

"So I never have to worry what tomorrow will bring, because my faith is on solid rock; I am counting on God."

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2011, 02:09:18 AM »
I thought it was a result of Okuu..... Oh, by the way. Give me one more week Crow, for your story.

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #15 on: September 04, 2011, 04:09:06 AM »
I suppose you could view it as either. Or a combination of the two. I mean, at this point, she's kind of transcended from Hell Crow to Hell Goddess, so her being racist against a kinder, weaker youkai makes perfect sense.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2011, 04:57:43 AM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #16 on: September 07, 2011, 01:49:35 AM »
Iku Nagae sighed, drifting lazily along in an atmospheric river, staring up at the moon. She sighed. The full moon had just risen, and she basked in the moonlight, letting the water wash over her hair. She loved the feeling of the water running through her hair, sliding along her scalp. She closed her eyes, becoming one with the river. It was intoxicating, she flowed with the river, she rocked with the waves, she felt the pulse of the river, she was the pulse of the river. Sometimes, she felt as if she could just let go of it all, and float down the river forever, slowly fading into the water herself. She pulled her eyes open, and amused herself by watching her shawls dance throughout the water, pretending they were fish. She used to toy with the idea of putting real fish in the rivers, but she had given up on the idea. Any fish placed up here would starve. Iku glanced around the river, staring in wonder as the moonlight reflected off of every wave, making her feel as if she was drifting in the Milky Way itself. The Milky Way. Such silly names humans made for things. Still, it was fitting. She certainly couldn't come up with anything better. Iku let herself fall back into the river, eager to join the pulse again, when she sensed something was wrong in the river. She pushed herself upright and glanced around the river, something in the distance catching her eye. She swam over at a leisurely pace, seeing no reason to hurry. She paddled next to the strange object, and nearly laughed at what it was. A Nagashi-bina doll. Iku remembered stories of how humans would throw the dolls into rivers, and the poor things were supposed to carry away all of the person's bad luck. Someone in Heaven must've tossed it in. Well, far be it from her to disrupt someone's good luck. Iku waved to the doll, watching it drift down the river and-wait, did it just move? Come to think of it, nobody in Heaven has any problems anyways! Iku shot over to the doll to find it thrashing facedown in the water. She grabbed it by one of it's ribbons, and hoisted it out of the water. It spun around to face her, and she found herself staring at a young girl. Shrieking, she threw it away from her, hearing muffled protests as it crashed into the water. Coming back to her senses, she shot over to the girl and pulled her upright, undoing the ribbon that tied her mouth shut.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Iku dropped the girl back into the river and plugged her ears, hearing the shouts grow muffled as the girl sank underwater. Frantically, Iku fished her out.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" She asked the girl.

"Y-yeah, I'm used to this kind of thing." Iku slowly began floating towards the shore.

"What happened?" Iku set the girl down on the ground by the edge of the river.

"I-it's nothing. This sort of thing happens all the time." Iku began untying the other ribbons that tied the girls wrist together.

"All the time? Who exactly are you?" Iku freed the girl's legs, and she rose to her knees, and bowed to Iku, pressing her forehead to the ground.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself erudā, I am Hina Kagiyama." Iku stared dumbstruck at the young girl.

"Hina Kagiyama. Imagine, having a goddess bow to me at my age! You, are, Hina Kagiyama, the spinning curse goddess, correct?"

"*sigh* Yes I am." Hina looked down at her feet, and Iku couldn't blame her, what with all the things she'd heard of this girl. No doubt she expected her to either attack her or demand she remove some sort of misfortune.

"Nice to meet you. I''m Iku Nagae." Iku held out her hand, and Hina grasped it and pulled herself to her feet. The two grinned at each other and-Iku's hairs stood on end as she stiffened, feeling, well, not feeling, herself go numb. Hina released her hand hastily.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, it's just sometimes the curses, they-they-" HIna began stammering out apologies as Iku slowly regained feeling.

"It's alright. Now, how about telling me how you ended up in that river?" Hina looked down at her feet and blushed.

"I-it's nothing. I was spinning around Youkai Mountain one day and I accidentally ended up in heaven. I figured no one here would need me, so I started to leave, when some girl grabbed me and tied me up and threw me in the river." Iku stared at her, speechless. A goddess, allowing herself to be tied up and thrown away? Unheard of!

"Who was this girl exactly?" Iku asked. She would give whoever it was a piece of her mind.

"I'm not exactly sure. All I remember is blue hair and peaches." Hina gave a little shudder. "Dear gods, those peaches." That could only mean one person. Hinanai Tenshi, eldest daughter of the Hinanai clan. Due to a recent incident, the Dragons had assigned Iku to try and give Tenshi some discipline as a private tutor, but so far she'd had little success.

"Come with me." Iku shot into the air, and Hina spun after her.

Tenshi leaned her chair to the side, toying with the Sword of Hisou. She technically wasn't supposed to have he Hisou sword, but what her parents didn't know couldn't hurt them. Besides, they never paid any attention to her anyways, no matter how bad she acted. The legs of her chair hit the floor, and Tenshi surveyed her room yet again. Heaven was supposed to be full of endless pleasure, but let's be honest, endless pleasure is apparently sitting around on a cloud all day doing nothing. Now, that may be alright for old people and her parents, but for a teenage girl, it might as well be Hell. So Tenshi was forced to amuse herself. She'd threatened Gensokyo with an earthquake a while ago, and that was fun, but then she got beaten up for it, and when she'd put the keystone in to stop the earthquake, that crazy old hermit Iku had showed up and attacked her for no good reason. I mean, really, what had she done wrong? Incidents like that in Gensokyo aren't uncommon, people were used to it, and it's not like she was actually going to destroy Gensokyo. She just wanted some friends and some excitement. After all, all she'd done was destroy some ramshackle old shrine that nobody visited anyways. Of course, the plan backfired on her, and she was now stuck with an annoying tutor and a drunken neighbor. Still, at least now she could torture crazy old Nagae whenever she wanted to, and it was certainly amusing to watch the residents of Heaven thrown into a panic over the behavior of this drunkard oni who was constantly doing crazy things. And now there was the occasional party. But, still, it wasn't enough. Tenshi glanced over at the door as Iku stormed in with some bedraggled doll in tow behind her.

"Eldest daughter, you have gone too far!" Tenshi sighed, and turned her chair to face her fuming tutor, grinning at the sight of her red face. Nothing was more satisfying than pissing her off. Speaking of which, what had she done recently to piss her off this much?

"Yes Miss Nagae?" Tenshi replied in her teasing manner, furthering Iku's anger.

"Eldest daughter, I am very upset with you! Do you realize just what you have done?!" Tenshi stared at her tutor with a blank expression.

"No Iku-sama, I don't. Care to enlighten me?" Iku seemed like her head was going to explode, and Tenshi loved it.

"Wha-why-ya-Tenshi, you threw Hina Kagiyama into a river, bound and gagged." Tenshi leaned her head to the side and caught a peek of a small girl shivering behind Iku.

"And?" Tenshi asked, seeing how far she could take it.

"?She's a goddess, eldest daughter." Tenshi stared at her with that same blank expression.

"So what? I thought she was a Nagashi-Bina doll. Get over it." Iku slammed her hand into her face, and stared at Tenshi, picking up a cowering Hina and placing her in front of Tenshi.

"Eldest daughter, I am willing to overlook all of this if you will merely apologize to Miss Kagiyama here." Tenshi stared at the cowering goddess the way one would stare at a pile of fish.

"?Nah, I don't think I will." Iku stared at Tenshi.

"You?won't?" Iku said with disbelief.

"Yeah, pretty much." Tenshi replied nonchalantly.

"Eldest daughter, you do understand the magnitude of what you have done."

"I do."

"And yet you refuse to apologize."

"Basically."

"Eldest Daughter, this isn't like your little fiasco with the keystone, this will have serious consequences."

"I know."

"You will be severely punished."

"Your point being?"

"I will go directly to your parents and inform them of what you have done."

"Fine. It's not like they pay any attention to me anyways."

"?Eldest Daughter, I will not ask you again."

Tenshi leapt to her feet, knocking her chair to the side, and she glared at Iku.

"You know what? Fine! Go ahead! Punish me! I want you to! Go on, tell my parents! Maybe then they'll pay some attention to me! You're not my mother! You can never be my mother! You're just some pathetic old woman taking orders from a teenage girl!" In a fit of rage, Tenshi kicked Hina into Iku's stomach. She gave out a little squeak, and there was a burst of energy. A curse had escaped her and struck Iku, knocking her unconscious. Tenshi grabbed the Hisou sword off the table and held it high above her head, plunging it into the ground, causing a shockwave that would launch Iku all the way into an atmospheric river. Hina tried desperately to scramble away, but Tenshi grabbed her, holding her up by her ribbons with a grin.

Iku slowly opened her eyes to find herself floating along in a river through a forest. She heard the sounds of someone thrashing around beside her, and found Hina tied up again, floating right next to her. Sighing, she dragged the girl to the side of the river and untied her.

"I apologize for the poor manners of Miss Hinanai." Iku said to Hina, who was coughing up water onto the ground.

"It's alright, it's not your fault. I'm sorry about hitting you with that curse."

"No, that's completely alright." Hina glanced up at the moon.

"Look, it's almost midnight, and people will start to panic if I'm not there so?"

"I understand. Farewell Miss Kagiyama." Iku waved to the girl as she spun away.

"Farewell Miss Nagae!" Iku sighed, watching as Hina faded away into the night. In retrospect though, she probably should've asked for directions. Iku decided not to go back to Heaven tonight, she didn't want to have to face anyone there, and besides, she was lost, and it would probably take too long to get home anyways, so she decided to find the nearest settlement and spend the night there. Sighing, she hovered up into the air to survey the area around her. It was too dark and too late to find any towns, but she did see a small light on a path in the forest, and she headed towards it.

It turns out that the light was a traveling yakkitori stand. Slipping through the curtains, Iku sat down in one of the chairs and looked around, surveying the area. A young girl flew around behind the counter, grilling some sort of fish. The stand was deserted except for two other woman. Sighing, Iku fished into her pockets, pulling out several coins. Glancing at the prices on the wall, Iku lowered her head and sighed. Not enough.

"Um, miss?" The girl behind the counter stood in front of Iku, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yes?"

"For that much I can offer you some baked carrots."

"Yes, thank you. That would be nice." Iku handed the girl the money, and she fluttered away to chop up some carrots. Iku stared at the counter, contemplating her next move. she was lost, far from home, and she certainly couldn't go back. Going back would mean facing Eldest Daughter again, and she wasn't sure she could do that. Iku was roused from her thoughts as one of the women who had been sitting in the stand sat down next to her.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked. Iku nodded numbly, and went back to staring at the counter.

"Soooooo?it's a beautiful full moon out tonight." The woman said to Iku. The youkai lifted her head and nodded.

"I love the full moon. It makes me feel truly alive. Do you have anything that makes you feel like that?" Iku stared back down at the counter.

"I used to." The woman stared at Iku with some degree of concern. The young girl fluttered over and placed the carrots in front of Iku. She glanced over at the woman, who nodded to the girl. She fluttered into the back room, leaving the two alone.

"What happened?"

"Oh, well, let's just say I can never go back." The woman tilted her head and stared at Iku. She poured a cup of sake and placed it in format of Iku.

"Tell me about it."

"And that's why I can never go back to Heaven." Iku slammed her glass back down onto the table, next to her empt bowl. She felt better after telling her story to this woman.

"Really? That's it? One little girl and you're leaving home forever?" Iku stared at the woman.

"But-but-but-she's terrible! Sh-" The strange woman cut Iku off.

"I'm Keine Kamishirasawa. I run a public school for anyone who can get in. You know how many crazy kids I have to deal with? I have pranksters, kids who are emotionally children, and even a few crazy ones. And do you think I let them get to me? No, I don't. I go in, day in and day out, and teach those kids discipline. I have a remarkably high success rate." Keine said.

"Really? What's your secret?" Iku asked. Keine glanced around, glancing over at the girl behind the counter, seeing her conversion with another young girl. She gestured for Iku to come closer, and she leaned in.

"If any of my kids get out of line?I give them a solid headbutt." Iku fell out of her chair in shock, staring at Keine with wide eyes.

"Y-you would strike a child?" Iku stammered, watching as Keine took a casual sip of her sake.

"Meh. Whatever makes them shut up." Keine pulled Iku back up, who continued to scare at her in disbelief.

"But that's terrible!" Iku couldn't just wrap her mind around the idea.

"Look, you need to give kids some discipline. I don't hurt them that badly."

"But that could scar a child emotionally for life!" Iku exclaimed.

"Meh. Those two didn't turn out so bad. Did you two?" Keine directed her last statement towards the two girls sitting on the other side of the stand, who waved to the her. "They've been in my class for several years now. Look, you said yourself that this Tenshi girl has grown up in Heaven her whole life, and that her parents neglect her. She has no sense of discipline. She's had it easy her whole life. If I were her teacher, I'd go up there and slam my head into her right now."

"Yeah. Yeah, you know what? You're right! When I get back home I'm going to give Eldest Daughter a piece of my mind!" Iku stood up, slamming her palms down on the table. Keine grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her back into her seat.

"What's your hurry? The night is still young, you won't be able to find your way home. Why don't you stay for a while?" Iku looked at Keine and grinned.

"I think that's exactly what I'll do."

*SLAM*

Tenshi glanced over to see Iku push through the door and storm towards her.

"Oh, look. You're back. Enjoy your little swim?" Iku seemed positively furious, and Tenshi loved it.

"Eldest Daughter, I have tried many times to teach you to be a good person. I have felt sorry for you, and have pardoned you on many occasions. I now see that was a mistake. So, I shall give you one last chance to apologize for all of your past misgivings." Tenshi stared at Iku like she was crazy.

"Wow. It's nice to see you so direct for once. Looks like fish lady decided to grow a spine. But yeah, no. Not happening." Iku seemed furious.

"Eldest daughter, you will apologize. Or else I'll, I'll, I'll-" Tenshi laughed at Iku's hesitation.

"Wow. Looks like I was wrong, you're still just as much of a coward as always." Tenshi tuned away with a smug grin, leaving Iku to putter behind her.

"Remember what Keine said, remember what Keine said, remember what- ELDEST DAUGHTER!" Tenshi sighed, and turned to face her tutor.

"What is i-" Iku grasped her shoulders. and held her head back. Tenshi's eyes widened as her tutor's head closed the gap between them.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"WHAT THE FU-"

"Owwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaa"

"Stop moving so much! You're lucky you're not dead, with that blow to the head you just took."

"Thanks for this by the way Eirin."

"It's nothing. But seriously, Keine, you can't keep going around telling everyone to solve their problems with headbutts."

"It was a metaphor, okay? I never expected her to actually headbutt anyone. But I gotta say Iku, that took guts. It takes training to do these things though. As soon as you're better, I'm gonna start you on some exercises. Soon, you'll have a head as hard as mine!"

"Groooooooaaannnnnn"

"You two are crazy."

Just a fun little story about two different teachers. Who also need to have more stories written about them.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2011, 04:24:34 AM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #17 on: September 07, 2011, 04:11:29 AM »
I could have sworn I once had a dream about this one time several years ago. But the plot was a little different, and it ha different characters. At any rate, some free advertisement for myself; almost done with the Kaguya fic! A few more days should do it. Oh, by the way. Aside from a few things here and there, this is probably your best yet. I actually laughed, instead of just reading with a perfect poker face. Nice job!

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2011, 02:11:34 PM »
6 children sat . On the table rested the weapon that would be used as a toy for the game to follow. It would drive these children over the edge, past the reaches of the human mind, into depths unknown. As the tale unfolds, we shall see the true terror of the human mind, with pettiness, betrayal, and true insanity. A story so dark and horrifying that none but the bravest souls should dare to venture into it.

Or, you know, it could just  be a stupid story about a group of kids playing a game. Either way is fine.

The young rabbit girl at the head of the table glanced around the table.

"We all know how to play the game, right?"

"Right. 5 bullets. Six of us." Said a young girl with black hair.

"So?who goes first?" Asked the yellow haired girl.

"?You go!" Shouted one girl to the girl next to her. The girl in black and white flinched, and after a minute's hesitation, the gun was aimed at her head. She shivered intensely as the gun pointed between her eyes. A moment later, she lay dead on the floor, her blonde hair spilling out behind her. It wasn't until she hit the ground that everyone grasped what had happened. Everyone nervously eyed the table, wondering if they would get the next bullet.

"Y-you're next." The yellow haired girl was on the floor, frantically shaking the black and white girl, trying to rouse her from her deathly slumber.  When she heard the girl in red address her, she turned and stared in terror, and stared around the table. She held braced herself for what was about to happen. She turned to the corpse of the yellow haired girl and shed a tear.

"I'm coming." She whispered, before falling down dead. Everyone just stared. The girl in blue realized it was her turn, and she motioned to the two corpses.

"There's no way I'm doing this!" Everyone stared at her, shocked.

"You made a promise here." The rabbit girl said.

"Well, I'm breaking it. I'm not as stupid as the rest of you." She stood up, and began walking away. There was a bang, and she collapsed to the floor, a bullet between her shoulders. The girl in red and the blue haired girl stared at the rabbit girl, smoke still lingering around her.

"Your turn." She said, and the girl in blue took up what had just killed 3 of her friends. She hesitated, possible death inches away from her skull.

"What's the matter? Scared?"

"I am the STRONGEST! I AM NOT SCARED! I! WILL!"*BANG*"w-win."

That left two players, the rabbit girl, and the red girl. They stared at each other for a moment.

"You know?we could walk away right now, and nobody would have to know." The girl in red said. "There's no reason one of us has to die."

The rabbit girl answered her by raising her hand, along with the last bullets. The red girl closed her eyes, waiting for what would happen next.

*click*

The girl sighed with relief. She had won. She got to live. She opened her eye's to see the rabbit girl pointing the gun at her own head. Wait, but that would mean?

"Shit." she said, just as the bullet penetrated her skull. The rabbit girl grinned. The one game she never lost.
--

The story has two possible sets of characters. See if you can guess both. If you can't, they're written in black below.



Don't read the below text until you've guessed. I tried to make it black, but whenever I click the change color thing it just refreshes the page.







Set 1: The black and white girl is Luna Child. The yellow haired girl is Lily White. The girl in blue is Star Saphire. The blue haired girl is Cirno(obviously). The girl in Red is Sunny Milk. The rabbit girl is Reisen. Explanation: You know how Reisen seems to always be losing? She's Eirin's test subject, Tewi tortures her, so one day she found a way to win. A game that was rigged so she would always win. First, she would gather a group of faeries and get them to play with her. She would convince them that her hand stored bullets like a real gun, and that they all had the same chance to win. But she always won because she could just not shoot herself. The faeries would recover, and they kept coming back for more, trying to win.

She would call it, Reisen Roulette.

Set 2: The black and white girl is Marisa. The yellow haired girl is Alice. The girl in blue is Sakuya. The blue haired girl is Remila. The girl in Red is Reimu. The rabbit girl is Tewi. This is not the original set, I just wanted to see if I could be vague enough to the point where people couldn't tell the faeries from these girls. Either one is correct I suppose. Preferably the first one though.

All right, show of hands, who guessed one of the sets correctly?

Who guessed the first set?
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #19 on: September 16, 2011, 03:03:43 AM »
"Hey PrismBitch!"

Layla turned around with a sigh, dodging the clot of mud that flew past her head. She stared with a blank expression at the children who decided to bully her today.

"What is it now?" She said, perfectly calm. The kids began jeering insults at her, taunting her, calling her names, nothing new. She was used to it. Children could be cruel.

"You should know by now that this doesn't bother me." She said. The lead boy walked towards her and grabbed her by the collar.

"What was that?" She stared at him blankly.

"You heard me full well. The fact that you make fun of me just shows how big of insecure you are." She held in her emotions as he threw her into a puddle of mud. "Please, stop being so mean to me. What have I done to you?" The little boy stared at her, and spit on her.

"Gee, what did little miss goody girl do to us? I'll tell you what. You make us all look terrible. Nobody's ever gonna do as well as you. And we're sick of it." The crowd of children murmured in approval behind him.

"I don't think you really all hate me. I think you're all just using me as a scapegoat for your own problems."

"Well why don't you go cry to your mommy about it. Oh wait, you can't. She's DEAD." That tore it. Layla began crying as the children stared on laughing. Finally, Layla couldn't take it anymore. She clenched her fists, and magic began swirling around it. The kids stopped laughing and began backing away, except for the first boy, who scoffed.

"What're you gonna do, kill me? You wouldn't dare." Layla hesitated for a moment, then swung her fist at the boy. He stood confidently still, Layla was too weak and sickly to do anything to him. There was a burst of music that sounded like a thousand different instruments playing at once, and the boy flew into the mud. The children stared silence as the boy began screaming.

"What's all this?" Keine strode into the playground, and all the children stood looking guilty. "What happened?"

"Layla hit me!" The boy shouted.

"Layla is this true?" Keine stared at the young girl, who stared at the children staring silently at her. She nodded. Keine looked at her and sighed. "Layla, please, go inside for the rest of lunch break. I'll talk to you later.

"Yes Keine-Sensei." Layla ran away with tears in her eyes. The young boy stood up, and they all stood motionless. Keine glared at them.

"Well? What're you all doing?! Go...have fun or something!" The terrified children scattered away.

Layla ran crying into the music room. Dropping down into her usual chair, she began whistling through her tears, and soon all the instruments in the room were playing along with her. Soon, Layla felt a comforting presence behind her. She turned around and grinned at the girls who appeared behind her.

"Is something wrong Layla?" Lunasa asked. Layla sighed and collapsed resigned herself to her embrace.

"I-it's nothing. I'm fine now that you're here." Lunasa looked at her sisters with concern.

"Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to you about that. Layla-" Merlin was cut off.

"Whenever I'm sad or upset, you guys are always there, and it just makes me happy. I don't know what I'd do without you. You guys are all I have left. I want us to be together forever." The sisters faltered and looked at each other, concerned.

"Yes Layla. Fo...Forever." Lyrica said. Layla began talking excitedly to her sisters, telling filling them in on what had happened when they were gone, and the instruments in the room played merrily along.

"Layla who are you talking to?" Keine asked, having walked in to find Layla talking to herself.

"My sisters!" Layla responded cheerily. Keine glanced around the room, then stared at Layla with concern.

"Layla, are you feeling alright?" Keine asked.

"I feel fine! Why?" Layla responded cheerfully.

"It's just...Layla, there's no one here." Keine sat down next to Layla.

"But of course there is! Look, my sisters are right there!" Layla was still oblivious.

"Layla, we're all alone."  Layla stared at her a moment.

"But they're there! Aren't they?" Her voice was dripping with cheer, but anyone could see that she was only trying to convince herself.

"Sweetie..."

"Aren't they?" She turned to her sisters. Lyrica smiled at her apologetically.

"W-we tried to tell you." Lunasa said.

"...They were there. Weren't they?" Layla began quivering.

"I'm sorry." Keine began rubbing Layla's back as the girl began crying.

The music in the room took a sad turn.

Epilogue:

Layla stood solemnly in the circle she had drawn. As a child she would have grinned at the sight of her completed symbol, but years of studies had slowly drained the cheer from her. She'd watched the children of the village move on, those foolish children who had mad her life miserable only because she was different. The only people who had understood her was her sisters, but they were dead. They had died a long time ago, taking Layla with them. She supposed she hadn't truly accepted it until that horrible day in the music room with Keine-Sensei. Keine sensei. She sounded like a child. But her childhood was long gone, dead along with her sisters. But finally, those specters that had been lurking in the back of her mind would come to life. She stood in the ruins of her old home, the only place where the ritual could be properly performed. It was time to set her sisters free. It was her own fault she supposed, she'd been just a child, and she'd unwittingly grabbed her sister's spirits and trapped them inside of her. But she finally had the proper ritual to undo what she had done so many years ago. She stood at the center of the circle and took a deep breath. The instruments were in place. Only one thing was left. Layla's magic took control, and all the instruments in the room began playing. While there was practically a whole orchestra of instruments, only three instruments were in the circle, the same three her sisters had poured their lives into. The melody dragged on for a while, and the rare few who passed by over the next few days heard countless haunting melodies floating out from within. Finally, she was done. In a burst of magic and music, Layla collapsed to the ground as her soul shattered, and slowly, her sisters materialized by their instruments. They rushed over to her, and she looked at them one last time, an old woman dreaming of the past, and leaned back into her rocking chairs and closed her eyes, her body, and the entire mansion beginning to fade away.

Yeah, this was my attempt at a sad story. I really like Layla.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #20 on: September 17, 2011, 12:16:56 AM »
Shizuha: "All right group, we have a lot on our agenda today. The Prismrivers are going to play a song for us, and our very own Yumemi Okazaki has brought us some snacks, so we can all look forward to that. But first, let's welcome our newest member. Everyone, this is Kikuri."

Everyone: "Hi Kikuri."

Shizuha: "Kikuri, why don't you talk about what brought you here today."

Kikuri: "Well, at first I tried to ignore it, chalk it all off as nothing. I mean, I only appeared once, and in the first game. But I thought, 'Hey, I'm the hell moon! That's cool, right?' But then the results came back and then-*sob*a-and then-"

Kikuri lost it then and burst out into tears. Shizuha reached over and touched her shoulder.

Shizuha: "Shhh. Shh, that's right, let it all out. This a safe space. Nobody will think less of you for crying. Don't worry, we're all here for you. Do you want to continue or?"

Kikuri; *sob* "S-someone else can go." *sob*

Shizuha: "Alright then, let's give our friend Kikuri some time to herself, knowing that she isn't the only one with this problem. Genjii, why don't you go?"

Genjii: "No, that's quite alright. I'm just here to offer my support to you youngsters."

Elis: "Sounds like somebody's in deeniiaall!"

Genjii: "Now you listen here missy! I've been dealing with this problem from before you were even born! And when your elders tell you to do something, do it! That's probably why everyone hates you!"

There was a collective gasp followed by an awkward silence as everyone in the room stared at Genjii. Orange actually burst out into tears. Blushing, he excused himself from the meeting.

Shizuha: "Wow. Okay, um, moving right along, Tokiko, you have the floor."

Tokiko: "Well, we recently got some self help books from across the border in the store, and I've been reading a lot of them recently. I believe that I've condescend them into several bullet points which I believe we can all study to-"

???: "HEY LOSERS!"

Shizuha: "Really? Again? Can't you just leave us in peace?"

Cirno: "Hell no! Why would we stop heckling you guys when it's so much fun? I guess you losers are actually worth something after all."

Letty: "Please, like you're any better. I'd rather be here than be famous for being an idiot."

Cirno: "Really? I thought that perhaps it was because I was so cute. Or because I was the strongest. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about those things would you fatty?"

Letty: "?"

Mugetsu: "How the hell did you guys get in here anyways? I sealed this dreamworld perfectly!"

Yukari: "You can thank me for that!"

Rika: "Yukari, please, stop this foolishness."

Yukari: "I really should, but I won't. Lucky for you, I'm not here to heckle you, I'm just here to drop these two off."

Chen: "Hey losers!"

Kana: "Get out of here you obnoxious little cat!"

Chen: "Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something? I was too busy being adorable to hear you!"

Koakuma: "Did you even read the polls? You aren't exactly hot stuff yourself missy."

Chen: "So-ah-bu-I-eh-WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! YUKARI! I WANNA GO HOME!"

Ellen: "EEEK! Stay away from Sokrates you big meanie!"

Cirno: "You know, if you were the strongest you wouldn't have this problem! But you're not!"

Kotohime: "Madame, I'm going to have to ask you to stop or else I'm going to have to take you in."

Cirno: "You're next psycho!"

Kotohime: "That's nice."

Chen: "WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Shizuha: "?Every time. Every single mother f***in time. All right guys, meeting adjourned. Let's try again next week. Geez, you try to do something nice for some people?"

I just got this image in my head of Shizuha leading a support group for unpopular characters, and then I wrote this.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2011, 04:11:51 AM by locoroco1 »
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #21 on: September 17, 2011, 06:15:05 PM »
Marisa: "Hey Reimu, did you hear? There's gonna be a new game starring us!"

Reimu: *GASP* "Really? Ohmygoshthisissoexciting!"

Marisa: "And not only that, you know those spellcard rules you submitted?"

Reimu: "Yeah?"

Marisa: "They're going to be implemented!"

Reimu: "That's amazing! No more almost dying for us!"

Marisa: "And we're allowed to wear our new outfits ze!"

Reimu: "Can this day get any better?!"

Satsuki: "Hi girls!"

Marisa: "...Who are you?"

Satsuki: "I'm Satsuki Rin! I'm co-starring in your game!"

Reimu: "Oh, that's cool. What stage boss are you?"

Satsuki: "That's the best part! I'm a playable character!"

Reimu & Marisa: "...WHAT."

Satsuki: "Yeah, ZUN hired me just the other day! I'm gonna be appearing in all of the upcoming games from here on out!"

Reimu: "Oh, that's ...something."

Marisa: "Well, uh, welcome, I guess. It'll be nice to have some supporting characters ze."

Satsuki: "Supporting Character? No, you misunderstand. I'm the new main character."

Reimu: "WHAT?!"

Satsuki: "Yeah, ZUN told me to come in and tell you guys. You've been demoted to Stage 1 Midbosses."

Marisa: "He can't do that!"

Satsuki: "Yeah he can. He kinda just did."

Marisa and Reimu: "..."

Satsuki: "I almost didn't take the job 'cus he was gonna use some stupid new thing called the Spellcard Rules. But I talked him out of it. I mean, what kind of pansy wants to use something like that anyways?"

Reimu and Marisa: "..."

Satsuki: "Guys, why are you looking at me like that? Seriously, it's freaking me out. Why are you walking towards me? Wh-what're you gonna do with that gohei? ...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! OH GOD NO! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU SICKOS! OH DEAR GODS! PLEASE, STOP! OH MY GODS THAT WAS NOT EVER INTENDED TO GO THERE! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHY ARE YOU DOING-GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

And that's why Satsuki Rin never appeared in EoSD.

Alternate Ending:

Satsuki: "Hey, ZUN, you should consider drinking less. It's unhealthy."

ZUN: "...Get the fuck out of here."
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #22 on: September 21, 2011, 01:41:35 AM »
Yeah, so it turns out in high school english class, they just let you write about anything. Literally, anything. So, I wrote this.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

I heave out yet another sigh as I continue tapping my foot. I am bored out of my mind. Most people take one look at me and they think, ?Oh, you can control jealousy? That?s so cool!? Idiots, the lot of them. Yeah, big deal, I can make people jealous. But of what? They have the nice things. They live in their fancy not-underground upper world. They have their fancy hats and their fancy houses and their fancy bridges and their fancy lives. I had all that once. I was married. I had a nice house, I had nice things, I had a hat. Okay, so my idiot of a husband had cheated on me one too many times. So I prayed to the Gods that I may take revenge on him. Can you really blame me? But, of course, history decided to side with the man in the story and make me into a demon. Literally. And now I?m stuck here on this stupid bridge for the rest of eternity, watching as all these stupid people pass by me on their stupid little lives. Gods I envy them.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #23 on: September 21, 2011, 11:29:50 PM »
I don?t remember much about my past. It?s all kind of blurry and vague, after all, I don?t think you could even call it a life. I wasn?t even alive. And yet somehow, humanity had managed to hurt my feelings even when I didn?t have them. The ultimate goal of any item is to be used, right? And yet somehow, I managed to go one hundred years without anyone giving me a second glance. Why? Because of my color. Because of my color I sat in a shop, rotting away for one hundred years. Well, actually, the shopkeeper threw me out after probably about twenty, and I ended up deep in the woods farther away than any rational human being would go. BUT STILL! They forgot me! I was a lonely little umbrella stuck out in nowhere, with nothing to do but sit and wait faithfully for someone to come for me. But someone never did. And now, I?m no longer just that worthless little parasol. I can walk, I can talk, I can fly, and best of all, I can take my revenge. I?ll never forget the first time I got my revenge. Shortly after coming to life, I saw a little girl and her mother walking through the woods. Excited that I may finally get an owner, someone to use and love me, I ran over to them. They shrieked and ran. Confused, I sat myself down and decided to wait, sure that my new master would be back for me. They came back all right. They came back with some very angry men who chased me down with their pitchforks and their knives, but I got away. Yes indeed, I got away. Furious about how my ?master? had abandoned me, I decided to get revenge. Ah, my sweet revenge. I began biding my time, watching the village carefully. I found out where the little girl lived, where she went to school, where her mother went shopping, the nights her father went away to go play cards. After several months of waiting, my chance arose. The father was gone, off gambling with his friends. The mother was asleep in her bed, completely oblivious of what was about to happen. I snuck into the village, flitting over the rooftops in the dead of night, until I reached the little girl?s window. I slipped inside, holding back a giggle at their naivety of leaving the window open. I gripped my parasol in my hand, it?s gruesome face grinning back at me, and I stood above the little girl?s bed. Grinning, I raised my umbrella high above my head, and prepared to get my revenge.

?SURPRISE!? I shouted, and the little girl shot up with a start to see me and my umbrella standing above her bed, making scary faces. She screamed, and her mother burst into the room, staring at me in horror. ?SURPRISE!? I shouted at her, before leaping out the window and escaping into the night, satisfied with my revenge. After all, a youkai?s job is to be scary, right?

SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!SURPRISE!
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #24 on: September 23, 2011, 04:24:43 AM »
The scene is a decidedly normal one. A crowded street in Japan, the busy masses hurrying by, never glancing up or at each other, their heads held down, studying the ground in an attempt to get around faster. Among the endless shops and offices, lies one building that is much the same as the rest. Perhaps it is. However, it is the people of the Gensokyo Mental Hospital are what makes it happen. Inside, a lone woman sits at a table, calmly munching on her lunch, her purple hair sticking out in the sea of grey that makes up the room. She gives out a forlorn sigh, and the door opens. A middle aged woman walks in, behind her a young girl, and three other women.

"Hijiri, I noticed that we've been a little?shorthanded recently, so I've hired some new help. I'll just leave you five to introduce yourselves." The woman says, moving to the side to allow the people past her. They murmur their thanks to her, and the purple heard woman looks up at her.

"Thank you Miss Yakumo." The woman gives her a crooked smile, but even a child would be able to see the strain she has to put herself through to put on this bright exterior.

"And Hijiri?"

"Yes?"

"Th-there are some new patients. I'm keeping them in the spare rooms. I'll just leave it to you to introduce them." She falters her words, before slipping through the door, leaving Hijiri to examine her new coworkers. After a minute of awkward silence, one of the women speaks up.

"Hello there, I'm Seiga Kaku. I moved here from China, and I got work here as a janitor." Hijiri eyes this girl. Her short blue hair held in talks above her head, her foolish little dress, the shawl that has slipped off of her shoulder and is cascading behind her. She had an all around insubstantial feeling to her, as if she didn't walk up and touch you you would mistake her for a ghost.

"Interesting. Tell me, did you move to Japan just so you could get work as a cleaning lady to a mental asylum?" Hijiri presses, noticing that the woman flinches at the mention of the word asylum.

"N-no. I moved to Japan for personal reasons. I needed a fresh start. My husband and I got into a disagreement over our daughter, and I just couldn't let him win. So I snuck my daughter and I out of the country, and I needed work, so I applied here." She stammered, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"But there's more, isn't there?" Hijiri pushes this woman even further, sensing that she's holding something back. "What was so important about your daughter you'd flee the country? And why a janitor? Why here?"

'I-it's my daughter. She-she's sick. In the head. She won't lower her arms, she always holds them extended in front of her. And she has an eating disorder where she gets very hungry very quickly. I wanted to seek treatment, but my husband, he-he wanted something else. He insisted that nobody wanted to live like my Yoshika does. And he made it very apparent to her, until she felt she might as well be dead. One night, I snuck us out, and never looked back. I agreed to work here in exchange for Miss Yakumo admitting my daughter. I really don't feel comfortable talking about it." Seiga stopped talking, and after several more minutes of silence, the next woman spoke up.

"I'm Soga no Tojiko. I'm sorry to disappoint you that I don't have any huge backstory, I just needed work and found it here. I'm basically paid to do whatever you tell me." Hijiri winced, her ears protesting the sound of the woman's loud booming voice. She wondered if Seiga's husband back in China had heard and was now coming to get his wife.

"Interesting. And you?" Hijiri motioned to the third woman.

"Ah, hello. I'm Mononobe no Futo. I'm the new spiritual consultant. I'm not sure quite why I was hired, but I suppose work is work. I'm here to do things like feng shui to try and improve the energy of this place." Hijiri eyed this woman with amusement.

"And how is the energy here now?" She asked, somewhat skeptical.

"It's?interesting." Mononobe said, as if she wasn't sure herself. Hijiri sighed. Another fruit for the bowl.

"I guess that leaves you." All four women turned to the young girl. They were as curious about what this 18 year old was doing here as she was.

"I'm Toyosatomini no Miko. I'm eighteen years old, yes, and you're probably wondering what I'm doing here. Well, I have an eclectic memory. I can remember everything. I flew through school, flew through college, and now I'm working on a degree in medicine. However, I need to get internship credits to do that. So, I overheard Seiga one day talking about this place. I heard about her daughter's condition. So, I figured that a hands on experience with interesting conditions would serve me best. And now I'm here." Miko flinched back, catching a  small ball that Hijiri tossed at her head. "What the heck was that?"

"Just testing. Are you right handed?" Hijiri jotted something down in a small notebook.

"Ambidextrous." Miko snapped. "What was that and who do you think you are?"

Hijiri looked at the four and sighed.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you the truth. Gensokyo isn't just a mental hospital. It's much, much more. I suppose I'll start at the beginning..."

Hey, remember that one TV Tropes WMG, the one about Gensokyo being a mental hospital? Everyone loves that one.

And it has never been adapted into a Fic. So I'm doing it. It will continue.

Kind of a celebration of 500 views.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #25 on: September 23, 2011, 04:30:33 AM »
I salute you. Make it good, make it funny, get more views!!!

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #26 on: September 24, 2011, 01:16:50 AM »
I salute you. Make it good, make it funny, get more views!!!

Because mental asylum just screams 'funny'. Sorry to disappoint you, but it'll be more serious.

"I've worked here for a long time. I enjoy my work, helping those who have problems with their minds, making them feel safe and happy. However, Miss Yakumo felt that I was getting too involved with the patients, and I was demoted. Instead of helping people I was locked in some room all day in the basement, doing paperwork. Soon though, people began pulling their patients out. Soon, nobody was left but a few patients. Things were easier, but it was strange. Quiet. We didn't fully grasp how bad some of our patients were. One day though, a young girl with a delusion problem, Reimu Hakurei, was convinced she was a shrine maiden. One  day, she threw a fit while she was asleep and destroyed her room. She became totally convinced that forces from Hell had destroyed her 'shrine', as she called it, and she burst out of her room and took a rubber ball we gave her she was convinced was the 'Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb', some kind of ancestral treasure from her family line. She kicked it into a bunch of camera she was convinced was some kind of seeing eye monster. She attacked a young girl named Elis, nothing serious, she was fine. The poor thing, in her mind, a light in the basement was the Hell Moon. She beat up the security chief Sariel and another patient named Kongarra. Needless to say, Sariel quit, and Kongarra was transferred out. We had to take her condition more seriously then. We brought in a specialist, Rika, and she attempted to use some new machines in an attempt to help cure Reimu. She resisted the first treatment. We brought in her sister Meria, but Reimu was convinced she was trying to steal her 'power', so she attacked her. At about the same time, we introduced a new patient to the center, a young girl named Marisa Kirisame, who was supposed to be Reimu's roommate due to budget cuts. Her mother Mima brought her in. Mima had actually met Reimu before, she had been attacked during Reimu's first little outburst, so she was on the fence about inducting Marisa, but eventually she decided she had to. Marisa was a kleptomaniac and had the same delusion problem as Reimu. Reimu came across them in the halls and attacked with her trusty ball. They were fine, but it hit Mima hard. She insisted on living in the asylum to keep Marisa safe. Rika tried one last time to cure Reimu, but deemed her 'Uncurable'. So all Miss Yakumo could do was turn to me. I came up with the idea of giving Reimu a turtle we named Genjii, and telling her that he had magic powers, and would tell her to the right thing. Her imagination did the rest, and soon she was better by volumes. Now, around this time we got a rash of new arrivals, so we called for an outside consultant. Miss Yumemi, I believe it was and her assistant believed that in order to effectively help mentally damaged people, you had to play along with their fantasies. She had her assistant convince the new arrivals that Yumemi was holding a contest and would grant a wish to the winner. So, under supervision, of course, we let them duke it out, but it was fixed so that each day one person won, and went on to be analyzed by Yumemi. There was no actual fighting, their minds were so far gone they believed they were using magic. The first winner was  a young woman named Rikako Asakura. She turned out to be a scientist who went undercover to try and find out more about the strange world of the insane, as she put it. Furious, we kicked her out. Kana Arabel was next, she was a young girl who was convinced she was a ghost, and she was constantly running away from home because she believed her parents weren't afraid of her, like they should have been. They cured her with hypnotherapy, and she was able to head home. Next was Ellen, an optimistic old woman who was convinced she was young and immortal. Sadly, she died shortly after coming here. Kotohime was an adorable little girl who told everyone she was a princess and a policewoman. She also had a fascination with unusual things. Turns out she was perfectly fine, just a normal, somewhat odd young girl with overprotective parents. Mima insisted on going through the procedure before she would let her daughter go through, and once she was sure it was safe, she let Marisa go. Unfortunately, Marisa and Reimu both resisted the treatment, and Yumemi was forced to call it a failure. This brought a lot of publicity to the hospital, and soon we had a steady stream of new arrivals. It frightened Reimu and Marisa, and it ended up setting them off. One day they broke out and somehow got into the children's ward. They had beaten up several young girls they thought were monsters before the two came across each other and attacked. Then another patient, a woman named Yuuka Kazami broke into the ward too. She was an odd case, she was a botanist with split personalities. one was a calm, odd woman, the other was extremely violent. Surprisingly, she protected the children and managed to fight off the two girls. We had to put them on some anesthetics, and they were both in a drugged haze for a while. It was tragic, really. It was supposed to make them calmer, but instead it set off their conditions even more, and they started having horrible nightmares. We took them off, but the damage was done. Unfortunately this set off another media scandal, and soon the hospital was nearly empty again. In order to avoid being shut down we had to install state of the art security systems. Then, Reimu and Marisa happened again, pulling Yuuka into their game too. The three stormed the basement, broke all of the security devices, and attacked some security guards, a janitor, the security chief, and her daughter. By the time Mima stopped them, they had destroyed everything, and destroyed the people. Mima went into a nervous breakdown and passed away. This time, some fancy equipment wasn't enough to take us out of the public eye. Everyone was pulled out but, even Yuuka, who experts deemed 'cured'.  Soon, there was nobody but Reimu, Marisa, me, and a couple of others. And Miss Yakumo, of course."

"Uh huh. Now, Miss Yakumo, who exactly is she?"

"Miss Yakumo? She owns the facilities. She has a?personal interest in the the center. She has full control of everything here, leading the community to believe that she can manipulate boundaries."

"Community?"

"Indeed. Here's where things get interesting. See, Gensokyo doesn't stay empty forever. No matter what happens, there will always be people here. Life finds a way. And it did. Soon, people came. And Gensokyo showed it's true colors once more."

To be continued...

But yeah, I hope it was self explanatory who the characters were.
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Drakometar

Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #27 on: September 24, 2011, 02:55:03 AM »
Meh, a few interesting shenanigans would surely be worth a laugh or two. Anyways, good luck. By the way, I recomend skipping a line or two here and there, to make it look more normal.

locoroco1

  • Amateur Spriter/Author
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #28 on: September 24, 2011, 06:09:48 PM »
"The new arrivals came slowly. The first one was a young girl named Rumia, a cute little child who snuck into her parent's room late at night, killed them, and began eating the corpses. The police placed her here because she was too young to go to prison and they feared she might snap if they put her in a full on asylum. Then came Cirno and Daiyousei. Cirno was another young girl who was found nearly frozen to death one night in the winter. Part of her brain shut down, and she got a superiority complex, she constantly claimed to be the strongest, and believed that she could control the cold. She had sudden outbursts of violence and only her friend Daiyousei could stop her. Daiyousei was an interesting case, shortly after Cirno was found, she showed up demanding that she should stay with Cirno. She's extremely shy, and she's never seen apart from Cirno. A bit later we got Hong Meiling, a young woman from China who escaped from China during the communist era when her mother claimed insanity, and got her asylum in Japan. Her mother was unable to follow. She bounced from center to center before finally ending up here. Unfortunately, constantly bouncing from home to home at such a young age caused her to develop extreme panic attacks, and they couldn't put her on tranquilizers because she moved around too much. So, they taught her meditation, breathing exercises, all sorts of calming things. She believes she can manipulate her 'chi' in order to calm herself down. It comforts her to think of her as a gatekeeper, because that way she give a reason to all the people in her life leaving her. Then came a case unusual even for us. Patchouli Knowledge. She checked herself in one day, claiming herself to be insane. She brought with her a whole library of books, and she spends all day in her room, reading. She's a rather odd woman, I often hear her talking to someone in her room when I know no one's in there. Has extreme asthma and anemia, but she could be the smartest person here. Then came the Scarlet Sisters and their maid. Remila and Flandre Scarlet are the children of nobility in England, but they suffer from a condition where they believe themselves to be vampires. Their family was ashamed, so they decided to send their daughters away to the most obscure faraway asylum they could. Remilia believes she can manipulate fate, but fortunately she doesn't try and drink people's blood like most people with her condition do. Flandre is a serious problem. We have to keep her locked in one of the padded rooms in the basement. She has two personalities, one is a sweet young girl, the other a destructive lunatic who destroys anything she sees. This is where Sakuya comes in. Sakuya Izangyoi is a maid sent by the girl's parents to watch over the two. She's fiercely loyal to the two, and she does anything to protect them. She's one of the only patients we allow to use knives. She's relatively stable, but she has a mental condition where occasionally her brain goes into overdrive and everything slows down. It's rather interesting to watch. However, we didn't want a repeat of the last new rash of patients. Reimu and Marisa had stabilized some, they had stopped dying their hair and wore new clothes. Genjii had died, but Reimu became somewhat more sensible. But we were still afraid that introducing them to all these people at once would startle them into relapsing. So, we came up with a plan. The two girls constantly had vivid fantasies, imagining that Gensokyo was a magical land separate from Japan, so it didn't take too long to convince our mentally damaged patients that they were in Gensokyo. Cirno and Daiyousei became fairies. The Scarlet Sisters became vampires, Sakuya their time stopping maid. And so, we introduced them into the hospital, one by one to the girls, letting them believe that they were dangerous youkai spirits. It was quite amusing to watch actually, the intense magical battles the girls had were only in their minds. It was rather humorous to see them weaving through patterns of imaginary bullets and firing fake lasers. Finally, the conflict resolved, and Reimu and Marisa accepted the newcomers into their lives. Unfortunately, we realized our error too late. Once we had done this, we were only encouraging the girls' delusions, and pulled some more people in in the process. The staff started to refer to this as an 'incident'. Soon, new arrivals, and an exceptionally long winter led to yet another incident."

Yeah, the entirety of the story is gonna be like this. Through all the games. Yeeeaaahhh. :dealwithit:
I made(edited) these:
My Short Stories

Jq1790

  • Wow I'm back to playing this game.
  • Let's puzzle together again, Karin!
Re: Tai's Ramblings: Collections of Short Stories.
« Reply #29 on: September 24, 2011, 11:12:57 PM »
This is a really interesting way to look at the different Touhou games, and I'm finding it quite engaging.  Makes me wonder why more help isn't brought in, but well, given that it's Gensokyo...I'm not about to get myself trapped by common sense.  =D
If you're a Pazudora player and aren't on #puzzleandlibrarians, come join us!