Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Hakurei Shrine~ => Patchouli's Scarlet Library => Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore => Topic started by: FinnKaenbyou on August 09, 2010, 02:26:52 AM

Title: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars (Complete)
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 09, 2010, 02:26:52 AM: Nearly twelve months ago, a young man sat down at a computer and wrote what was intended to be a short. He underestimated how long the story would be and how much detail would be involved, and accidentally produced his first OC. 20,000 words and roughly 2 weeks later, Third Eye in Pure Waters (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,1882.0.html) was concluded.

Embarrassingly, it is to date the only sizable piece he has ever finished. But perhaps because of this, the character he created remained memorable, likable to him. He worked on other projects and stories and practiced the art.

Now, twelve months later, the time has finally come to attempt to write a follow-up. Dolphin loli is back with a vengeance.

(Note: I intend to make it so that knowledge of TEiPW isn't necessary to figure out what's going on. There hopefully won't be any continuity issues, so don't be scared off due to lack of knowledge. :V)

-----

"Ugh."

It's a little-known fact that ghosts can, in fact, get tired. Manifesting in a form that can interact with the physical world takes more effort than most people give credit for, and it's not uncommon for ghosts to be caught napping after overexherting themselves.

Captain Murasa Minamitsu, self-appointed Event Handler of the Myouren Temple, knew this for a fact. She just didn't mention it for the sake of personal pride. So after a night where she'd had to keep the ship in check more than usual, she was starting to feel the effects.

"Stupid Hijiri and her festivals. I'm not her goddamn mother, so why do I end up having to keep these faithful followers from tearing shit apart?"

The most memorable event of the night for her had been one drunken partygoer convincing himself that Murasa's steering wheel was a sacred artifact and trying to yank it from its socket to take home as a memento. Murasa had given him a warning, but she may as well not have bothered - from the dull, glazed-over eyes, it would have taken a slap in the face to get a reaction from him.

So that's what she gave him.

Of course, Hijiri had given her a good talking-to for that. Sometimes she wished the woman would show genuine irritation than her whole 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed' deal.

Anyway, by now everything had just about returned to normal. Hijiri was off meditating in her room, while Shou and Nazrin were busy recuperating after the festivities (Shou had taken part in it mostly out of obligation, and Nazrin knew better than to let her master drink unattended). Ichirin had been the only member of the temple to avoid the party entirely, currently taking a quick stroll on the deck while murmuring to Unzan about...what did they talk about, anyway? Murasa had no idea.

What mattered was that nothing was needing done around here anymore. For the next few hours, at least, she was more or less off the hook.

Time to take a break, I'd say.

She didn't want to look like she was sleeping on the job - if Hijiri came in to check on her and found her lying on the floor snoring, she'd get another lukewarm rant. Instead, she decided to take advantage of the fact that comfort was hardly an issue for ghosts, and simply stayed standing next to the wheel in her quarters as she let herself recuperate.

"Zzz..."

She had snored while she was alive, and death had done nothing to change that habit. Her form leaned forward slightly, still affected by gravity. Her hand, still physical, pressed down on the wheel the tiniest nudge.

There was only a light whirring noise as the Palanquin Ship took flight for the first time in weeks.

-----

But while some of Gensokyo's residents were falling asleep, most of them were waking up along with the morning sun. Morning was always the best time to visit the foot of the Mountain of Youkai, because it was now that the light glistened off the surface of its lakes and rivers. Several times, the god of the shrine on the mountain's peak had been praised for doing such an excellent job of keeping the waters pure.

It was praise she responded to with a blank stare and a raised eyebrow, because she'd done nothing to help out on that front. Unbeknowst to her, the true mastermind behind the mountain's sparkling waters was a little-known and less thanked youkai, currently waking up along with the rest of Gensokyo.

Well, half-waking up. Dolphins don't ever stop thinking entirely.

Another great day, huh? Guess the mountain god's feeling generous.

Time to partake in her favourite morning pastime. This one would take a little bit of a run-up, so after quickly surfacing for her first breath of the morning she dove back down towards the centre of the lake.

Then, with an impressive burst of speed, she leapt above the surface of the water, hanging in the air for more time than most would have thought a sea creature capable of. Maybe she couldn't fly like all those other youkai, but this looked cooler in her opinion anyway. This was her best chance to look downward at the water itself, to see what her efforts had managed to produce, to see the perfectly clean waters of the mountain and give herself a pat on the back.

Whoops. Can't really do that with this little flipper, can I?

The dolphin pouted a little as it landed back in the lake with a mighty splash, a sound that served as a natural alarm clock to most of the youkai nearby (another reason why she only did this once before bolting away from the scene of the crime). She started to make her way down into one of the connected streams, starting her scouting duty in earnest.

Clean, clean, clean...huh, that doesn't feel right.

She didn't usually try to find out why the river had been dirtied or what it had been dirtied with. Neither mattered, and the latter usually mad her want to be slightly ill. Which would inevitably mean she would have to clean up after herself. The hypocrisy made her head spin when she thought about it too much.

Less thinking, more cleaning!

She'd need another clearance for this, so she dove down to the bottom of the river before leaping upwards again. This time, though, as she broke the surface she appeared to be something else entirely - where before there'd been a dolphin, now there was a teenage girl with a dark grey fin poking out of her back. Her long silver hair sent droplets of water flying in every direction as she looked down on the river again with dark blue eyes.

The girl's hand reached down to one of the two vials at her waist - just a matter of keeping it pure this time, so she reached for the vial filled with what looked like ordinary water. Its companion was for turning freshwater into saltwater and vice versa, so it never really saw any use, but one vial on its own looked awfully lonely.

"It's not that bad. Just a little drop oughta do it-!"

She hung in the air for just long enough to open the water vial, letting a single drop of its contest slip into the river. Physically, there didn't seem to be much of a change - but as she slipped beneath the water, taking on dolphin form once again, she could feel the difference. The flow of pure water had changed subtly, but undoubtedly for the better.

Heh. I owe myself two pats on the back now.

This, basically, was her morning routine - swim through the mountain's waters, find out where people are throwing their [insert awkward dirty object here], clean up, rinse and repeat. It was a thankless and unpaid job.

And quite frankly, Sango Tororetsu loved every minute of it.

-----

In fact, she loved it so much that she took no notice of the black dot in the distant sky. A dot that grew larger and more visible as time went on, but wavered and trembled against its blue background.

It was like it was being driven by someone who wasn't paying attention...someone sleepdriving, perhaps.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: swamp147 on August 09, 2010, 02:56:09 AM: the only thing that can make me happy from a lack of rising star is more sango.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on August 09, 2010, 04:15:12 AM: Little known fact - this takes place within the Rising Star universe, but, of course, after the conclusion (of that and UFO NURHUR I'M SO CLEVER)
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Drake on August 09, 2010, 04:32:23 AM: Oh god yes.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on August 09, 2010, 01:26:53 PM: Oh ho~ A sequel?
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 10, 2010, 11:01:40 PM: "Um..."

It took Ichirin a few minutes to fully grasp what was happening. The temple had been firmly on the ground, when with a hiss and a whirr it lifted off once again into the skies of Gensokyo.

Not that this was surprising for the ship. It was technically wooden, yes, but a variety of charms and spells had powered its flight system. What was puzzling to Ichirin was that there was no reason for it to be in flight anymore; after Hijiri had escaped from Makai, the intention was for the group to settle down and live out life using the ship as a makeshift temple.

"Unzan, you didn't hear any plans about this, did you?"

The pink cloud at Ichirin's shoulder turned to face her, with the same stern look that always hung on its face.

I am as in the dark as you, I am afraid.

Ichirin bit her lip. Given that the rest of the ship was busy dealing with a night of festivities while she had slept, there would have been alcohol flying around. Had there been some sort of argument she'd missed? Was Murasa staging a one-man mutiny and holding the temple hostage?

"...I think we need to give the captain's quarters a visit, Unzan."

She decided not to rush on the way over - if this was all some misunderstanding, then she didn't want to barge in and look needlessly aggressive.

There was no need to rush, anyway. What could possibly go wrong?

-----

Well, that just about finishes up the morning rounds.

Most days, there wasn't much for Sango to do in terms of keeping things in order. Her scout of the mountain's lakes and rivers would take maybe an hour at most, and she'd only have to take care of a dozen or so impurities in one search. That was only thanks to her making the inspections like clockwork, though - things would build up quickly if she let off for a few days.

That left her with an awful lot of spare time, which she usually spent chasing around her fin-flaunting friends and talking about anything that came to mind. She wasn't really comfortable getting too far from the water - not because it'd do her any harm, but because in terms of the great power hierarchy of Gensokyo she was relatively low on the scale. She had one spellcard to her name, and it was a relatively weak one to boot. Even the local kappa could probably beat her in a duel without breaking a sweat.

So as a result, all the land-dwelling friends she had people that came, to her, rather than her going to them. Fortunately, saving someone's life is almost invariably a good way to start a friendship, and in that department Sango could certainly pull her weight. A strange coincidence had managed to guide two sisters of the same family to this lake, the one Sango called home, both leaping in without having a clue how to swim. On both occasions the dolphin had been around to save the day, and after giving them some pointers so they wouldn't end up in trouble again she made her first friends without gills.

Soon she met the family's pets and grew to be friends with them as well, though not without going through some dangerous times together. And Sango learned from them in turn - she'd come to accept that no-one was going to applaud her every success, and continued with her work simply because she loved it.

The days of thwarting demented scientists were long over, but the Komeiji sisters still visited on a regular basis. Satori, the elder sister, was much more routine in her visits - it would always be on the end of the week, arriving around noon, usually bringing her pets along as well. The younger sister, on the other hand-

"Heeeey! Sango-chaaaaaaan!"

Well, she had a habit of sneaking up on Sango when her guard was down. The dolphin flinched visibly as a voice called out from behind her, drawing her attention to the shore. Sure enough, Koishi Komeiji was waving at her with both hands like a desert island strandee calling for help. While her sister was more humble and calm, Koishi's emotions were on constant overflow, and you've have to be blind not to know what she was thinking at any given moment.

Sango dove back down into the lake for an instant, surfacing in her humanoid form. Dolphins were hardly masters of conversation, after all, and they weren't very good at pulling themselves out of the water. She emerged from the lake in her usual wear - a pale blue shirt with its sleeves covered in bubbles, and a light grey skirt that was soaked through (unsurprisingly).

It was this last piece of clothing that caught Koishi's attention, as it clungy tightly to Sango's legs. She squinted at it, barely managing to see through the fabric and catch a sight of her bare skin. She pulled her head down, looking for just the right angle to make out her pa-

"Where are you looking?"

Sango gave Koishi a much deserved karate-chop to the head, ending her perverse inspection of the dolphin. It hadn't hurt, but it was clear enough sign to cut it out, even for Koishi.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just that when you make it barely visible like that, there's this urge to look, y'know? It's like Pandora's box. Except, uh, with your underwear."

Sango's lip twisted into a look of confusion. Koishi seemed to have a thing for following whatever random urge made its way into her head. Satori had told her once that there was a long and ugly story behind it, so she'd never had the nerve to ask. Whatever it was, she seemed to be over it now, so no need to bring up an ugly past.

"...Moving on. What're you up to today? Last time I saw you you said you were going to visit the Celestials or something."

"Yeah, I went up to their heaven or whatever. Kinda dull, got bored fast, decided to come back here and get a dolphin ride."

A nervous pause.

"...What?"

"A dolphin ride! Y'know, like how little girls always wanna ride ponies, except with a dolphin! It's the sort of thing they'd make stories about outside the border, right?"

Sango's brain ground to a screeching halt. Where exactly did she even get that idea? It was nuts, it was absurd, it was...

"C'mon, pleeeeease? It'll be fun, honest!"

...exactly the sort of crazy idea she expected to hear from Koishi. Sango sighed, before pulling the bravest face she could.

"Well, alright. Never really done this before, so you'd better hold on tight. I'm pretty fast, if I do say so myself."

Sango stepped backwards into the water as Koishi let out a little squee of joy.

"Yaay! Thanks, Sango-chan!"

Koishi undressed in record time, placing her hat neatly on top of an otherwise disorganised pile. Beneath her layers of clothing was a simple, white swimsuit with her name written on the front in childish lettering. Sango raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...do you always wear that under your clothes?"

Koishi looked down, puzzled.

"Of course I do. What would I do if I had an impulse to go swimming and I wasn't wearing a swimsuit?"

Another few seconds of awkward silence. Sango dipped her head beneath the water so that Koishi wouldn't see her slam the palm of her hand into her face. Someone in the mind of Koishi Komeiji, a screw had come very loose. Maybe it had come out entirely. She was childish, immature, irresponsible.

But that was what made her so interesting.

When Sango surfaced again, she was back in dolphin form, ready to take on a new passenger. Koishi at least had the common sense to slowly step on rather than jumping on poor Sango, and the youkai was able to support her weight comfortably. Koishi sat on Sango's back, pointing into the distance with all the emphasis she could muster.

"Alright, Sango-chan, full speed ahead! Dolphin Rider Koishi, to the rescue!"

-----

"Murasa?"

Ichirin slowly opened the door to the captain's quarters, taking care not to step on any nerves. She knew Murasa hated these festivals, and the morning after was never a good time to try and talk to her. From the doorway, Ichirin could see her slumped over the wheel, making slight adjustments to the direction now and then. The ship shook slightly, never quite settling on one direction and making Ichirin feel a little queasy.

"Um. Sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you could explain why we've taken off?"

Silence.

"If it's a rough subject, feel free to take your time on it. I don't mind."

More silence. Murasa was giving her the cold shoulder. Ichirin felt slightly hurt - she hadn't done anything wrong, had she?

"I'll just wait until you feel like talking. It's okay, I don't have anything else to do."

Murasa didn't give her so much as a nod in response, continuing with her lazy steering. Ichirin counted the seconds she waited for a reply, growing irritated by the time she made it to thirty.

"Alright, this isn't really funny anymore. What's going o-"

It was that exact moment that Murasa turned the ship a completely different direction.

"Aah!"

Ichirin found herself slammed into the wall as the ship abruptly changed trajectory, Murasa's hands guiding the wheel with a sudden burst of grace. For a moment, Ichirin thought that the captain had seen some sense and was ready to land the ship.

Then she saw the viewpoint outside of Murasa's window, and that hope went firmly out the window.

"M-Murasa! What are you doing?!"

Unbeknownst to what she was doing, Captain Murasa Minamitsu continued to snore quietly, driving the ship onwards in her sleep.

She had spent her time among the dead causing shipwrecks. Now it looked like her subconscious was going to continue the trend.

Ichirin watched on, eyes wide open in shock, as a lake came closer and closer.

-----

"Whee!"

Koishi let out a cry of joy as Sango burst out of the water again, performing a little loop in the air. Koishi was clinging on for dear life by now, but from the sounds of things she was having the time of her life.

Sango wasn't having a bad time of it either. Even if she was just the trusty steed of the mighty Dolphin Rider Koishi, the hero who dedicated her life to defeating the Dark Crab King and thwarting his nefarious plots to rule the seas (seriously, where did she come up with this stuff?) it was exciting to play out nonetheless. Seeing Koishi smile so earnestly made her feel a little warm inside.

"Alright, Sango-chan! We've got to penetrate the King's underwater fortress! Let's go!"

Sango followed her cue, pointing her nose downward and sending both of them straight to the bottom of the lake. They prowled along the floor, searching for the Crab King's lair, set to pounce him while he was unprepared with the Super Iruka Beam. Only them would they recover the last of the seven Tidal Teardrops and bring peace to the waters on Gensokyo once more.

Yup. She's definitely crazy to come up with all this stuff. But it's kinda cool, in a way...

They passed by a cave on the lakebed in the midst of their search. Sango glanced at it for a moment, but quickly turned away from it. If that was the cave she thought it was, then it wasn't worth going in there.

She felt the weight on her back getting lighter.

!?

Looking backwards, Sango discovered that Koishi had abandoned her steed, heading on into the cave without her. All she got in response was a single wink from Koishi before she swam into the mouth of the cave, leaving her behind.

H-Hey! Wait! Don't go in there!

Sango had to make up for Koishi's head start, turning around and dashing into the cave behind her at full speed. It was an unstable place, prone to caving in at the slightest tremor, and that was why she'd tried to keep Koishi away from it.

But apparently, the girl had developed another one of her urges to see what was hidden inside. Maybe she was still playing out the game in her head, and treating this as the King's fortress. These were the times when Sango wished Koishi would display just a little common sense...

There she is!

Sango caught up with Koishi as they reached the end of the cave. All Koishi gave her was a shrug in response, but the playful look on her face said 'Curses, we've been had! It's a trap!"

This wasn't the time for games. Did Koishi even realise-

-----

"-how much trouble we'll be in if you crash!?"

Ichirin was shaking Murasa violently, trying to get her to pull up at the last minute. She'd had tried to do it herself, but the magic controlling the ship was designed so as to give Murasa - and only Murasa - power over it at all times. Unzan was doing all he could to help out, working his cloudy form into Murasa's ears and reaching in as far as he could.

The water was coming closer and closer now. At this speed there was no hope of the ship floating - it'd be on a crash course straight for the lakebed. That'd lead to all sorts of damage and flooding and...gah, it wasn't worth thinking about! Right now she had to get Murasa awake before things were too late!

"I didn't even know ghosts had to sleep! You and your stupid ego...!"

Closer, and closer still, until now all that Ichirin could see out of the window was a wall of blue. She would have taken the time to note that the water was brilliantly clean if she wasn't preoccupied by her attempts to avoid crashing into it.

"...Nnnh...yes, sir, I'll be in the mess hall in five..."

Murasa grumbled something as Ichirin's efforts finally paid off. The captain pulled her head upwards, rubbing her eyes as she squinted out the window.

"...Huh? Did I fall asleep at the wheel or something? The sky looks awfully blue..."

It took a few seconds for her brain to process that the sky didn't have ripples. Or fish.

"...Oh."

Her hands gripped the wheel tightly, trying to pull the ship up at the last minute.

Too late.

"Aw, SHI-"

-----

THUMP.

For a moment, the earth shook around them.

What the-?!

Sango and Koishi both turned to the path backwards as a massive bang echoed through the water. Something had landed, and it was huge - the impact was enough to send the waters within the cave all over the place.

On the ceiling, the rocks started to tremble, almost in slow motion. Sango turned around, realising what was about to happen, but not quickly enough to do anything about it.

Koishi only got one glimpse of the cave-in, her mouth slipping open in shock. Then the rocks came down around her, bringing up a wall of dust that blinded Sango for a few vital seconds.

By the time she could see again, the dolphin rider had disappeared beneath the rocks.

Koishi!!

-----

For all you people who appreciate irony, this sample (http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/724844) of a C78 doujin was uploaded today. I'll be watching intently for it. :3

Also, Dolphin Rider Koishi may receive a spinoff after I'm done with this. I put it together at random, but it's...strangely appealing.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Drake on August 10, 2010, 11:30:26 PM: Best line.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on August 10, 2010, 11:56:45 PM: Oh snap. Things seems to be getting serious.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on August 11, 2010, 12:14:26 AM: Is anyone else picturing Koishi declaring herself Dolphin Rider by pulling an Iku-fever pose while wearing her swimsuit? Kinda like an 'in-the-name-of-the-moon' fashion?

This needs to be drawn.

I would if I could. :<
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 13, 2010, 03:25:06 AM: why can't i write updates at a decent hour like an ordinary person :ohdear:

-----

The world exploded.

Ichirin watched in shock as in front of her, the front wall of the captain's quarters ceased to exist. Fragments of wood went flying in all directions, deadly weapons at the speed they were moving.

Lady Kumoi!

Unzan's first reaction was to move in front of his master, using his cloudy form to repel the shrapnel. The makeshift bullets bounced off of him, protecting Ichirin from the first wave of attack.

Murasa hadn't been so lucky, and at the moment of collision her head had slammed into the steering wheel, putting her out of commission. 'Dead' was the wrong word to use when it came to Murasa - for her, death was just a momentary setback.

The second wave, though, Unzan could do nothing about - and this one was a literal wave.

"U-Uwaaglb!"

The room flooded almost instantly, as the collapsed wall gave the lake water all the room it needed to enter. The pressure sent her spiralling back out the doorway, carrying her along with the tides. She was hurled through the corridor, spinning in all directions, losing sight of which way was up and which was down. Even when the water came to a halt she was still spinning on the spot, eyes glazed over and not even trying to make sense of her surroundings anymore.

Luckily, she'd been pushed up towards the surface, and Unzan extended his form to lift her up out of the water. Ichirin spluttered for a moment as her brain started to function again, though the current situation wasn't exactly making itself easy to comprehend.

For example, the corridor continued upwards rather than forwards.

"...She crashed the ship at that angle?"

She tried to get track of where exactly in the ship the water had reached. She recognised that door - that was the kitchen door, which meant that this was roughly the ship's centre. Further to the back were the exit and the main 'shrine' portion of the ship; at the front were-

The living quarters...!

No-one would have left their rooms after last night. Hijiri would be meditating, and Shou would be sleeping the morning away along with Nazrin. Both of those rooms were a good way along - or down, as it was now - and Ichirin was well aware she wouldn't be able to make a trip that far and back in one breath. Even if she could, it was possible that the ship coming apart had blocked the way back, so there might not even be a way to reach them from this side. Unzan could help, but he couldn't move away from Ichirin, so he was out of the question now.

"...Unzan, let's get out of here. There have to be local youkai who can help us here!"

Unzan nodded, lifting Ichirin into the air and up towards the back of the ship. The rooms weren't quite airtight, but they'd take long enough to flood that help could make it before it was too late.

Please...please let there be someone!

-----

...Well, this was a new way for Shou to be woken up. Nazrin had poked her in the eye, dropped a bucket of water on her face, and one time she placed a block of cheese on her nose for one of her mice to nibble at.

She'd never thrown her face first into the wall before. It worked, that was for sure, but it stung like hell.

"Oww...jeez, Nazrin, why are you being so forceful? Last night was rough, can't we just sleep in for once?"

She looked to her side, expecting to see Nazrin looking down on her disapprovingly. Instead, she saw her servant in the same state as her, with her whole body pressed against the wall.

Wait a minute. That makes no sense.

She was no scientist, but Shou knew a little about physics. Mainly, gravity - it shouldn't have been possible for either of them to lie on the wall, no matter how they tried.

Unless...

"We crashed."

Nazrin blurted out the end of Shou's thought process. Sometimes she wished that she could figure something out first for once.

"How could we crash? The ship isn't even meant to take off anymore."

Shou was the first to remove herself from the wall, trying to make her way back onto what had once been the floor. The incline was too steep, though, and every effort to get back up had just led to her sliding back down again. The beds had been sent sliding down as well, which would by all accounts suggest that the ship was almost on its tip.

Before anything else, the first step was to figure out what was going on. Murasa would have a better idea than anyone, undoubtedly, so it was time to take a trip to the captain's quarters.

Shou noticed a puddle of water making its way in under the door, spreading across the floor. She grumbled, taking a mental note to clean it later. Was she that crazy when she was drunk...?

"Huh?"

Shou pushed at the door, jerking at it forcefully, but it refused to budge. It wasn't locked - it never was, Murasa had lost the keys to this place months ago. It felt as if something was keeping the door closed on the other side, pressing it back and refusing to let her open it.

"Gah, door's jammed. What's that trick Murasa mentioned again?"

"...Shou. I don't think you should open that door."

Nazrin muttered something as her master fiddled with the doorway, gaining no results. The puddle between her feet continued to spread into the room with unnerving speed. That was one hell of a spill outside, apparently.

"Nazrin, what are you talking about?"

"Look outside."

Shou blinked once, with no idea whatsoever what Nazrin was talking about. She looked out the window without really paying too much attention, not expecting to see anything truly extraordinary.

Her brain failed to process the information her eyes passed on.

"Nazrin. Those are fish."

"Yup."

"And they're underwater."

"Yeah. Which is right outside, apparently."

"So that means the puddle is..."

"Precisely."

The water continued to rise. It would take a while, but eventually it would flood the room completely.

"...I'm going to kill Murasa the next time I see her."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

-----

Meditation was a process that required absolute concentration and total focus. It was said that a trained practitioner could stand in the eye of a tornado without noticing it.

So when the ship on which she travelled shook violently as it crashed, Byakuren Hijiri was too lost in her meditation to notice. She had centuries of training, after all, and in this state she was almost entirely disconnected from the world.

So it was no surprise that she didn't feel the water flooding into the room through her open window. It rose rapidly around her, reaching her waist, her chest, her shoulders.

And still, she did not move.

The water rose past her lips, her nose, until finally her whole head was submerged. It continued upwards, until in a matter of seconds the entire room was as flooded as the corridors outside.

Byakuren paid no mind to any of this. Until her meditation came to an end, the world around her was immaterial. Her body responded in the only way it knew how; by stopping her breathing. No matter - her magical prowess had enhanced her physical capabilities to the point where she could go without air for hours if need be. She was in no danger.

Others, on the other hand, were not as fortunate.

-----

Koishi-chan! Where are you?!

Sango darted out towards the aftermath of the rockslide, feeling her heart tremble. She should have paid more attention and stopped her before she even went close to the cave. She should have known Koishi would go off on her own no matter how dangerous it was, she should have kept her out by force if she had to-

Not the time!

If she wasn't in dolphin form, Sango would have slapped herself across the face. Every second she spent thinking about what she could have done was a second she could be using making up for that mistake. She examined the rubble more intently - she had to be fine, Koishi had to be fine...

"Mmmh!"

A groan emerged from underneath one of the rock piles, and with it a tiny trickle of bubbles slipped out. Koishi was squirming around underneath it, but the rocks had pinned her down.

Sango felt her brain click off, running solely on instinct. She shifted back to human form for this - no way she could move rocks with those tiny fins of hers. She swam over to the rock pile, quickly grabbing the largest stone she could see and heaving it to the side.

Gah, these are heavy...!

It took longer than she wanted to shift the rocks out of the way, but she couldn't allow herself a moment to catch her breath. After clearing up the worst of the debris an arm reached out of the wreckage, trying desperately to sweep away the rocks holding her in place.

"G...g-glb!"

More bubbles rose up from within. The streams were getting larger, and longer. She was running out of time.

Hold on, Koishi-chan! Just a little longer, I promise!

She started on the smaller stones. Koishi had been lucky with this - if the larger ones had come down on her first, she'd have been dead for sure. Now, though, she might still have a chance if Sango could get her out of there fast enough.

The rocks started to shake more violently. With every stone Sango shifted out of the way, Koishi had a little more room to squirm out from underneath the rocks. Her arm reached out further, and after a little squirming she managed to get her other arm out as well.

Alright, now hold on!

Sango took Koishi's arms and gripped them as tightly as she could. She pulled upwards with all of her might, working alongside Koishi's own attempts to lift herself out. It took only a few seconds, but to Sango it felt like a painful eternity.

When at last she was free, Koishi almost flew upwards out of the rockpile, still holding Sango's hands tightly. Her cheeks were puffed up, and the occasional bubble forced its way out of her lips. She wasn't going to make it to the surface swimming on her own.

Good thing, then, that there was a friendly dolphin nearby ready to give her a lift back to the surface.

Koishi didn't waste time seating herself properly this time - she wrapped her arms around Sango and held on for dear life. The dolphin kicked through the water furiously, dashing back through the tunnel and towards the surface. There was no time to figure out what had caused that impact now - Koishi needed air, right away.

The pair broke the surface at full speed, flying up out of the water faster than ever before. Koishi let go as she managed to take a long deep breath, hanging in the air for a few seconds. Anyone else in her position would have been thankful simply to be alive, and would be taking this time to thank their god or their saviour or something along those lines.

Not Koishi Komeiji.

"Woo-hoo! That was awesome!"

She splashed down, rose back up and lifted herself out of the water. Her arms and legs had various scrapes and bruises, but besides that she was almost entirely unharmed.

"That was pretty dangerous, but it looks like Dolphin Rider Koishi managed to escape the Crab King's ingenious deathtrap! We make a great team, don't we, Sango-chan!?"

Sango took a while to respond, slowly playing out the motion of swimming to the lakeside, reverting to human form, and sitting alongside Koishi. She was allowing herself to catch her breath at last, now that Koishi was out of danger.

"...Koishi-chan...do you even realise...how dangerous that was...?"

If anything, Sango seemed more out of breath than Koishi did right now. Anyone who happened to walk by right now would have thought it was Koishi who had saved Sango, not the other way around.

"Eh, I'd have been in trouble if you took a few seconds longer. But you didn't, so what's to worry about? I didn't die, you didn't die, no problem!"

This was the sort of situation where Koishi's carefree attitude was less than thrilling. Sango honestly had trouble understanding how her mind worked.

...I guess she has a point. I can give her a lecture about water safety later.

"And look! We found his headquarters after all!"

Sango blinked.

"What?"

"Look, over there! We must have activated something to make it rise out of the water! ...We didn't get it all the way, though..."

Sango thought for a moment that Koishi was talking nonsense. There was nothing poking out of the lake. There never had been. Look, she was going to turn her head right now and confirm nothing was there-

"Ah."

Sango's eyes widened. She found herself taking a few steps backwards from the lakeside.

"Huh? Sango-chan, you okay?"

Sango offered no reply. Her eyes were focused only on the giant wooden...thing that had decided to crash land in her lake. There'd be broken planks everywhere, all sorts of leaked goods, entire rooms with their contents just floating around the lake bottom - it would take her an age to clean up the mess made here.

And this wasn't like the minor mishaps where she would just let it slide. A food wrapper here, or a bucket of greywater there. This was, in her mind, an ecological disaster.

And someone was going to pay for it, she thought to herself as she broke into a dash, running towards the edge before leaping forwards into the lake.

"WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!"

-----

Murasa jerked back to attention.

"Uh, yes, captain, I did swab the decks...sure, I'll go and help with lunch duty. Thanks, capt-"

Her semi-unconscious rambling came to a sudden halt when she realised what was lying in front of her.

It was her physical form, slumped on her own steering wheel, with a wound on her head where normally blood would be flowing out.

She was also floating around the crumbling, submerged remains of what had once been the captain's quarters.

"...Weeeeeeeell. This...kinda sucks."

-----

My sleep-addled brain has been building up ideas for the inevitable Dolphin Rider Koishi spinoff at a disturbing rate. It's just so awesome in my head. If it weren't for the fact I'm already juggling enough stories as it is, I'd probably start writing it right now. ~~Anyone who wants to offer pictures as suggested by Esifex will be greatly appreciated. Swimsuit accessorising encouraged!~~

Anyway it's 4:23am as I write thisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

/me has collapsed on his keyboard...
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on August 13, 2010, 03:48:03 AM: You need to add Dolphin-Rider Koishi stories to your short-stories thread :derp:
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Nine West on August 13, 2010, 11:05:14 PM: Quote from: Roukanken on August 09, 2010, 02:26:52 AM
Dolphin loli is back with a vengeance.

(http://i38.tinypic.com/28rmsf8.jpg)

Sango-sama approves~

Oops. Considering the current predicament, I couldn't have picked a more inappropriate time to post this. :3

ilu

[ruro]Damnit, I thought I was the only one drawing fanart for this :<[/ruro]

!?

<Nwbi> Get to work, puppet. >:|

[ruro]SHUT UP NWBI I WORK AT MY OWN PACE GOSH[/ruro]

<Nwbi> That was directed at Roukan for not having an update for 4+ days, but okay. I can't say I'm not guilty of being a lazy bum myself when it comes to drawing.

P.S. Shitsurakuen <3
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 19, 2010, 04:47:36 PM: As a warning to Nwbi in particular: I'm sorta juggling this, DRK, Nitori Quest, and various other things that arise. So sorry that I can't give frequent updates. >_<

Anyway. On that note...an update!

-----

"Hey, Sango-chan! Wait up!"

Koishi ran along the side of the lake, unable to keep up with Sango's speed. She had never seen Sango get angry before, but from the looks of things it was a sight to behold.

"Give me a minute, Koishi-chan! I need to find whoever dropped this thing in my lake and show them what for!"

Koishi would have offered a point about how it technically wasn't 'her' lake, but by that point Sango had already dipped back into the water. She swam straight down to the lakebed, still in human form, examining the point where the ship had made its collision. Sure enough, there were wooden planks floating around in the water, moving in all directions. There were various other trinkets floating around as well - discarded books, maps, and...an anchor? These were probably in one of the front rooms when the ship crashed, and now they were floating around the lakebed waiting for her to pick them up.

Typical. If I get my hands on whoever did this...

She made her way through the sizable hole in the ship's hull, making her way straight into the captain's cabin. She took care not to accidentally stab herself with one of the dozens of glass shards floating around - why did humans insist on having windows everywhere? Did they even know how much trouble glass was to clean up? A sign at the back of the room declared it to be the quarters of Captain Murasa Minamitsu. All the better - if the culprit had been stationed here she had to be nearby-

Oh. Damn.

Sango couldn't hide her disappointment when she found a single body floating in the water, slumped against the ship's steering wheel. It was a young-looking girl in a sailor uniform, her short black hair bobbing about in the water. Her hat was slowly making its way out of the room, beckoning for freedom unlike the rest of her. She pouted - maybe she wouldn't go so far as to kill them, but she certainly thought that a crime of littering this extreme was worth a few good punches in the gut. She poked at the body, wondering if she could at least draw on the face. It was as close as she could get to payback now-

"Quit that, okay? I spent weeks putting that thing together."

!?

She hadn't expected a voice to come from anywhere - she'd examined the room, and besides this body there was no-one to be seen. There were doors, but if they'd been opened she would have heard them.

She didn't expect something to phase through the wall and talk to her from behind.

"Uwaagbl?!"

Sango let out a little yelp as she turned around, seeing the dead girl standing in front of her again. She could see through her now, though, and her body was a light tint of green. Sango tested her curiosity by poking an arm through her, and sure enough it went straight through.

Haunted shipwrecks? In her lake? Apparently, it was more likely than she thought.

"Jeez, I check some of the other rooms for damage for 2 damn minutes and some scavenger youkai is prodding at my corpse. Knock it off, okay? I'm gonna want this stuff back once we get out of this lake."

The ghost seemed unfazed by the entire ordeal. Surely death should have upset her a little more than this? Not that Sango cared much - now she'd managed to find the culprit, and if she couldn't beat the crap out of her she'd have to settle for giving her a good talking-to.

"Whagblt gle heglb abbl-"

Sango stopped mid-sentence, as a garbled series of gurgles and glubs made their way out of her mouth. The ex-captain looked on, lost for words.

"...Sorry, I don't speak blub blub. What was that?"

"Ibl saibld-"

Sango's second effort was no more successful than the first. Even if she could stay under for hours, she was still an air-breather, so speech was pretty much out of the question. She was forced to settle for waving a fist threateningly in Murasa's face, before pointing upwards as she made her way back to the surface. She was clearly hoping the ghost to rise up as well so they could have a genuine conversation, but unsurprisingly Sango surfaced alone.

How am I meant to lecture her when I can't even talk to her...?

Koishi was sitting at the edge of the lake as Sango re-emerged. She splashed some water onto the dolphin's face to try and cool her off. From the frown on her face, it didn't work.

"Don't worry, don't worry! I'm sure it was just an accident."

"I'm not trying to say they did it on purpose, I'm saying that they need to pay more attention!"

Sango punched the hull of the ship with a dull thunk.

She regretted it.

"Owowowowow..."

For wood, this stuff was pretty sturdy. Sango clutched at her hand, blowing at her red knuckles. Koishi stifled a laugh.

"Sango-chan, isn't that just going to give you more to clean u-"

"Hello! Is anyone out there!?"

Someone called out from the top end of the ship, turning Sango's attention away from her aching fingers.

"Hey! Get down here, already! I need someone to tell me what's going on here!"

The survivor looked down from her vantage point, making out Sango as a pale dot in the water. She jumped down, stopping in midair as a light pink cloud broke her fall. It had a face, which disturbed Sango slightly, but it didn't look like it wanted to hurt anyone. If anything, it seemed concerned, occasionally looking towards the ship as it carried its master down to the water.

As she came closer, Sango started to become aware that the girl's face was far from relieved. She herself had escaped, true, but she was still afraid.

"Right. Feel like explaining why someone dropped a giant wooden ship into my lake?"

The girl didn't look like answering that question was her main priority, and indeed she ignored it entirely.

"Ah, you're one of the local youkai, aren't you? I'm Ichirin, of the Kumoi clan...please, I'm sorry for the trouble, but I need your help. There are people still trapped in the ship..."

Sango's blood ran cold.

"I know this is a lot to force on you so suddenly, but my friends are trapped in there. I want to help, but they're too deep down for me to reach...I'm sorry, I'll explain everything later, but I don't know how long we have."

Any anger Sango had been feeling seeped away. She had time to get angry later, but the last thing she planned to do was let people die in this lake on her watch. The captain dying was bad enough-

"You don't have to worry about the girl who got us into this mess. She's been dead for a few hundred years now. It's everyone else I'm worried about..."

Okay, scratch that. That was some guilt off of Sango's shoulders, at least.

"Well, I can't really say no to a request like that, can I? Sango Tororetsu, reporting for duty."

Ichirin sighed with relief. The cloud she was standing on seemed to exhale as well, letting out a small gust of wind.

"Oh, thank you...! There are three people still inside, but only two of them are in any real danger right now..."

-----

"So, what's the plan?"

The water was at Shou's chest now, and it didn't show any sign of letting up. She was looking out the window for any sign of help, but besides a few fish passing by in the distance there was no-one approaching them.

"Well, either we hang around and hope someone breaks us out, or we make a break for the surface ourselves before the air in here gets stale."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much."

She'd hoped that Nazrin would have come up with something a little more enthusiastic than that. If they waited and no-one came in time then there wouldn't be enough air left to even attempt an escape, but if they made a break for it and there was something blocking the way to the back of the ship they were screwed anyway.

"Let's give it a few more minutes, at least."

Nazrin nodded. By now the water was just about at her neck, so she started treading water to keep her head up.

"This is...kinda har-glb!"

Nazrin's head dipped under the water for a moment. Shou pulled her hands out to hold her up, but she managed to surface herself.

"What's wrong? I thought you knew how to swim?"

"Yeah, but...these clothes are pretty heavy when they're wet."

Nazrin's movements in the water were rough and violent. She might have been able to keep herself up like that for a while, but it'd tire her out eventually. Shou looked down at her robes - they already felt like they weighed twice as much as they did before, and she didn't want to imagine how hard it would be to swim in them. Still, the alternative was-

"Just a second."

Nazrin took a quick breath, and dipped back into the water again. Shou was ready to lift her up if she ended up in trouble again, but she didn't expect something else to surface before Nazrin did.

Especially not Nazrin's dress.

"Uh."

Nazrin emerged shortly afterwards, apparently finding swimming a lot easier now. She was still covered by a set of simple grey undergarments, but the rest of her clothing was currently floating beside her.

Shou was on fire.

"N-N-N-Nazrin! You can't do that, what are people going to think when they see you coming out of the water wearing almost nothing?!"

Nazrin stared blankly at her master in return.

"I prefer staying alive over public decency, personally."

The water kept rising. Now it was at Shou's neck, bringing the two of them face-to-face.

The tiger sighed.

"Fine. ...But you'd better not peek, okay?"

"Can't make any promises."

Shou pouted as she placed her head beneath the water, removing every piece of clothing that would hold her back. So, the dress, the ring around her waist, the shoes...pretty much everything, unfortunately. All she had on by the time she surfaced again were a sarashi to cover her chest and a pair of pants to cover her lower area. It was more coverage than Nazrin had, though.

"Your robes sank. My point is proven."

Nazrin allowed herself a sly smile as she watched Shou's discarded clothes drop to the bottom of the room. Her master initially struggled to look her in the eye, blushing furiously, but she eventually found another way to express her embarrassment.

"You think Hijiri will let me away with killing Murasa twice for this?"

"Only if you get to her before I do."
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Nine West on August 20, 2010, 12:52:39 AM: Quote from: Roukanken on August 19, 2010, 04:47:36 PM
As a warning to Nwbi in particular: I'm sorta juggling this, DRK, Nitori Quest, and various other things that arise. So sorry that I can't give frequent updates. >_<

Caught on when you posted 3 different fics in a row. Don't worry, it was just me having nothing better to do. Sorry if I came off as a bit of a jerk about it. :ohdear:

That said, nice fanservice scene.

Aaand this is probably the last thing I have for Sango for a while. I'm not Roukan, so take everything you see with a grain of salt.
:3 (http://i33.tinypic.com/2vxg7rl.jpg)
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on August 20, 2010, 12:58:55 AM: Quote from: Nwbi on August 20, 2010, 12:52:39 AM
"Highly intelligent. [Citation Needed]"
Oh God... I laughed out loud.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on August 20, 2010, 01:26:40 AM: Quote from: Nwbi on August 20, 2010, 12:52:39 AM
"Rescued the passengers of the Titanic once in her sleep"
I am slain.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 20, 2010, 09:47:23 AM: Quote from: Nwbi on August 20, 2010, 12:52:39 AM
"Rescued the passengers of the Titanic once in her sleep"
That would finally give me a reason to watch Titanic.

Thanks Nwbi :3
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: ray10k on August 20, 2010, 12:51:10 PM: Quote
"You think Hijiri will let me away with killing Murasa twice for this?"

"Only if you get to her before I do."

lines like this remember me of why I just LOVE your stories.
also, I really enjoy what you did with Dolphin Rider Koishi, silly as the premise is.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 24, 2010, 06:44:48 PM: OK, let's get-a rescuin'.

-----

"Gah."

Murasa muttered curses to herself as she continued to inspect the damage. This thing was smashed up pretty bad. Just from looking at it, the main propulsion system was completely out of whack, and getting it back together would take both a lot of time and the help of the rest of the crew. It wasn't a physical engine like most boats ran on - rather, it was a catalyst through which the driver channeled their magic energy. This one had quite clearly breathed its last - the stone had shattered into a dozen pieces, one of which was careening out of the window at its own leisure. It could be replaced, but they were the sort of channeling stones only magicians would ever own.

Besides, that was the least of their troubles. The actual mechanics connecting the stone to the ship had been wrecked in the crash as well, and those could only be replaced through cold, hard effort. They ran along the length of the wall, too, so it was a two-man job at the very least.

And currently, the only other people who knew how to fix this thing were trapped in the rooms further up in the ship.

"Dammit..."

Murasa tried to punch a wall, and hissed as her hand phased through it. Dying wasn't as easy as it looked - her spirit was still connected to her mortal form, even if it was by a bare thread. She couldn't go anywhere she liked after she died - she was stuck where she was for now, and over time she would be able to stray further and further from her latest corpse.

But do they have that long to wait for me?

Murasa looked up the corridor, feeling powerless as she imagined what must be going on in one of those rooms. Hijiri would be fine, Hijiri was always fine - it was the other two she was worrying about.

"Nazrin, Shou...sorry, guys..."

There was only one thing she could do to help, and it was barely anything right now. She focused her mind, summoning a weapon to appear before her. An anchor emerged, surrounded by a faint green aura. She'd made a slight change to it, one that she hoped would get noticed when it mattered. This was going to take a little work, and it wouldn't be any help unless things went just right.

But it's this or nothing, isn't it?

She flung the anchor out of the room and through the broken wall, focusing her attention on it even after it had left her hand. It curved through the water at her will, following orders in spite of the lack of physical connection between it and its owner. In her head, she pictured the layout of the ship, adding in the fact that it was currently face-first at the bottom of the lake. That would make it...

There.

She positioned it at exactly the right place. Or at least, she hoped so. It was hard to focus on the ship's image in her head while controlling the anchor at the same time. It was all she could do, but it would have to be enough.

Ichirin...you'd better find someone, dammit. Hurry up...

-----

"OK, OK, OK..."

Sango walked along the shore of the lake, her mind concocting escape plans as quickly as it could. She occasionally pulled the flower in her hair off, spun it in her fingers, and put it back on to vent the nerves. She'd never had to work with anything more complicated than 'grab person by waist, lift to surface, bask in unending praise' - she'd never quite made it to the last step, but she was working on it.

"So. They're trapped in one of the side rooms, right?"

Ichirin nodded. Her initial worries seemed to have resided now that she'd found someone to help her through this ordeal. The pink cloud, who she'd introduced to Sango as Unzan, occasionally whispered in her ear to remind her of any particulars she forgot to mention. Koishi was strolling around examining the flotsam and jetsam emerging from the ship's innards - Sango got the strange feeling she wouldn't have had anything to contribute to the discussion that wasn't point-blank impossible.

"Yes. The living quarters are at the front of the ship, just before the captain's quarters. They were sleeping up until the ship took a nosedive, so I'm certain that's where they'll be."

Sango was getting more and more worked up with this. She needed a plan now, but nothing was coming to her - there were too many unknowns here for her to work with. The route inside could had been blocked by wreckage after the crash, effectively blocking them in. The alternative would be to enter through the captain's quarters and take them out the long way, but there was a good chance that the people she was trying to rescue wouldn't be able to hold their breaths for long enough to make the journey. She needed a third option, one that could get them out fast enough for that not to be an issue.

Aw, crap. I'm not going to have to...

Something was coming to her, but she didn't like it. It'd give her more cleanup to do, which was never a good thing, but in the end it was just about all she could think of. She sighed, biting her lip and trying to hide her immediate dislike of this idea.

"...How solid are the walls on that ship?"

Ichirin put a finger to her lip thinking it over.

"Hmm...they're rather strong, yes, but I think Unzan here should be able to make it through with a good punch. Unzan, would you be up for that?"

The cloud wavered up and down, the closest it could get to nodding. Sango did her best to look excited about the concept of more broken planks floating around in her lake. She failed.

"Alright, so here's the plan. You swim down with me and have Unzan...blow a hole in the wall. Then I grab those two and get them out of there. Sound fair?"

"Definitely. I won't be able to follow you in, but I should be able to do at least that."

Deep breaths, Sango. You can deal with a little mess when lives are at stake. For one, corpses are harder to clean up after than wooden planks.

She had the strange feeling Ichirin wouldn't approve of that joke at a time like this, so she kept that thought to herself. This was hardly an eloquent plan, but this was the best they could come up with on such short notice. There was only one niggling concern that Sango had to worry about.

What if they've already tried to escape by the time I get there?

This all ran on the assumption that the two trapped youkai waited around like good little girls for someone to save them. But that would be a risk in and of itself - waiting around that long would kill off any chance of escaping themselves if they let the air get too stale. They could have made a break for it, and just tried to swim through the flooded corridors up to the surface. In and of itself, there was nothing wrong with that plan - they would have plenty of time to get up to the non-flooded area, at which point Ichirin could have Unzan lift them out of the water.

But there was one big flaw with that plan. If the corridor had collapsed as a result of the crash, they'd be well and truly screwed. Even if Sango managed to find them and lead them out, the trip back would be too long for them to handle on one breath. She needed to find some way to bring air down to them in case the worst case scenario came to light.

Well, other than the, um, obvious method of giving them air. That was a last resort that she really wanted to avoid. Once was awkward enough.

"Hey, Sango-chan! Look at all this cool stuff!"

Koishi called out for her as she tried to figure out the last step in the plan. She really didn't seem to realise that this wasn't the time for playful scavenging, did she?

"Koishi-chan, I'm kinda busy here. I'll take a look at your-"

Sango turned around to look Koishi in the eye while she was speaking to her. The satori was wearing the same carefree smile as always, carrying a pair of empty bottles that must have once held sake. They were corked up, just enough to be airtight.

"Sorry I can't help you with your rescue, Sango-chan, but I can't find that ring you gave me...maybe I left it in my pockets?"

Koishi dropped the bottles at Sango's feet, suddenly running off to the pile of clothes she'd left behind to look for this magical ring of hers. Sango stared at them in wonder, as if they were made of solid gold.

Either that girl is a genius, or she's just really really lucky.

-----

"Taking their time, aren't they...?"

Shou couldn't keep the same joking attitude she'd carried beforehand - not when she could feel it getting harder to breathe. There was maybe a minute left before the room flooded completely, and she wasn't sure if the air would even be breathable up until then.

Nazrin didn't bother to respond directly to that statement. There was nothing she could say that was comforting and honest at the same time, and she was hardly going to lie. They'd waited for as long as they could, and staying here for any longer could easily be fatal.

"Shou. It's time."

The tiger sighed.

"I was afraid you were going to say that. Doesn't look good for us, does it?"

Nazrin slowly shook her head. Murasa hadn't emerged to help them, which meant that she'd been 'killed' in the impact. By the time she could stray into the living quarters, it would be far too late for her to be of any help to Shou and Nazrin. Ichirin was unaccounted for, and it was very much possible she hadn't survived either. Hijiri...well, Hijiri was a different matter entirely. She would undoubtedly be able to help out, but there was literally nothing that could pull her out of her meditations ahead of time.

"...Let's stay together. Whatever we run into. Right?"

Shou's hand reached out in the water, wrapping around Nazrin's. The mouse flinched slightly, but accepted the gesture. She was still very dishonest with her emotions, but Shou knew her well enough to interpret it as 'I don't want to look like I need your help, but I appreciate it'.

"Alright, then. On three."

They didn't need to discuss the plan. There was only one way they could make it out, and they'd just have to hope it wasn't blocked. Otherwise...well, it wasn't worth thinking about that.

"One...two..."

The pair took deep breaths in unison, before diving down into the water together. The door opened easily now that the room was just about flooded, and they made their way out into the corridor.

Later, Shou would regret not staying where she was for that final minute.

-----

"Ichirin. Ready?"

Ichirin had removed her headdress, revealing her long purple hair in its entirety. It was a necessary move, because water would undoubtedly cause it to flare up and block her vision. She nodded, getting a final OK from Unzan.

"Alright. Let's do this."

Sango was much more confident now that she'd worked out a solution to the worst case scenario. In fact, she was so certain that this plan was going to work that she honestly believed she could pull it off in her sleep.

The only uncertainty left was Ichirin - she had to remember where exactly on the ship Shou and Nazrin's room was, a job that wouldn't be made any easier by its new orientation. After that, everything was hopefully in the clear.

"Good luck, you two! Go save those innocents from the Black Claw!"

Koishi had appointed herself team cheerleader, offering words of commendation from the shore. Sango had made no objections - it got her out of the way, and that was all that really mattered right now. She played along for a moment before dipping into the water, Ichirin following close behind.

This was definitely the only uncertainty - the last time she'd checked, the wall of the ship was more or less totally featureless beyond a line of windows. This was going to be a test of Ichirin's memory for sure-

Hm?

Something had changed in the time they'd been making their plan. Rather, something had been added - there was something on the wall that hadn't been there before. An anchor - or at least, some sort of spirit in the form of an anchor - had been attached to the wall, its end pointing down at one of the windows. And if that wasn't enough of a hint, the bottom of the anchor had been hastily engraved with the word 'H E R E'.

The captain left us a message...but is she trying to screw us over?

Sango looked over her shoulder, checking if Ichirin had any idea what was going on with this. To Sango, the captain of this ship didn't exactly have a faultless record when it came to being cooperative, so she found it hard to believe that she'd suddenly turn over a new leaf now.

In return, she found a giant pink fist facing her, with only herself between it and the wall.

...Okaaaaay. Guess I'll take your work for it.

She awkwardly got out of the fist's path, and Ichirin gave Unzan the order with a dramatic finger point. The normal cry of 'CHARGE!' was understandably omitted, and the fist drove into the wall in relative silence. Of course, there were all sorts of sounds when it collided with it, smashing the wood into several dozen splinters that would all inevitably need to be cleaned up later.

Sango died a little, deep down inside.

"!!"

Ichirin's eyes widened as she got a look inside the room. Sango pulled herself out of her internal tantrum to follow suit.

There was no sign of the two targets, but a pair of dresses were lying forgotten in the room. The door hung open.

Well, looks like we're gonna have to go for the race against time after all.

Sango nodded in Ichirin's direction, giving her the all-clear to surface. The youkai nodded in response, and both the nyuudou and its master rose upward, their work done. It was all down to Sango now.

But against someone like me, time doesn't have a chance!

-----

"Mh?"

Shou looked back for a moment. There had been a strange sound in the corridors beneath them, in the direction they'd come from. She'd heard the sound of something getting smashed, and she was tempted to go back and check.

The hand tugging her along convinced her otherwise. Nazrin's eyes were severe, wordlessly saying to her 'why the hell are you stopping?' Shou shook herself before she started kicking for the surface again. She was hearing things, surely, and even if she wasn't it was probably just things coming apart after the flooding.

It hadn't been long, but so far things had been good. There had been no blockades, and at this rate they had a decent chance of making it to the surface. Nazrin lead on, putting her better eyesight to good use. She seemed optimistic - or rather, as optimistic as Nazrin usually got.

Not much further now. We just need to keep going up, and-

"Mmgbl?!"

Nazrin's grip on her hand suddenly grew tighter. All Shou could see from here was a dot in the distance. She was unaware of what had Nazrin so spooked until they came a little closer.

She felt her heart sink when she saw the corridor's newfound ceiling. Various planks from the walls had come half undone, then caught the planks that had fallen from higher up to create one, heaping pile of debris. And Shou and Nazrin were right under it.

You're kidding me. You are kidding me...

Even touching this thing was dangerous, because if they unsettled it there was a good chance the entire pile would come down on them instead, but the only other option was to go back the way they came and take the long way out. And that wasn't even an option, because Shou was well aware neither of them could make that trip without running out of air.

Nazrin looked back at her, her eyes containing the tiniest hint of fear. For Nazrin, that said a lot, and the grip around Shou's hand grew tighter still. Shou did the only thing she could, and squeezed back in response.

Let's try and look for an opening, okay?

There was an unpleasant creaking as Shou pushed at the pile of fallen planks. The pile shuffled slightly, but only by a matter of inches. Nazrin fared no better, her smaller frame giving her even less success than Shou.

"Mmph..."

Shou felt her cheeks starting to puff up. She gave the pile one final heave, but all she received in return for her efforts was more ominous creaking.

...There's no point. I'm just wasting my energy.

She gave up on trying to shift away the barricade, accepting that no amount of effort on her part was going to get anywhere. Nazrin was more tenacious, and if anything as she grew short of breath she started pushing harder.

"Mmbl...mmbwaagl!"

Her struggling came to a sudden stop as Shou put her arms around her. Only now did she realise how little they were wearing - Shou's skin was against hers, her hands were running along her back. The tiger pulled her in, pressing her against her chest.

If this is how it's going to end, let's make it count, alright?

Shou tipped her head forward, her lips pucking up. She did ninety percent of the work, leaving Nazrin to lean forward for the final ten. Her lips were warm, warm like she'd always remembered them being. She held her close, wanting to be found dead in her lover's embrace whenever someone came across this shipwreck. If these were her last moments, she was sure as hell going to enjoy them.

She ran a hand down Nazrin's back, feeling her soft skin for the last time. She felt Nazrin's hands do the same, carefully caressing her now while she still had the chance. Neither of them had much air to go, but what they had left they were sharing. This was no time for petty restraint - this was the last chance Shou would ever have to hold Nazrin, so she was going to do everything she could. Her hands grew brave, and finally she plucked up the nerve to move down to Nazrin's-

Poke, poke.

The loving, desperate embrace was cut short as Shou received a poke on the shoulder. Her eyes jolted to her side, suddenly realising that there was a spectator to the affair. Nazrin took a few seconds later to notice the newcomer's presence, but both of them responded in the same way.

Namely, by jumping away from each other and blushing awkwardly.

Even if Sango had been able to comment on what she'd just walked in on, she would have simply said nothing and let it go. As it was, she reached down to her waist and offered her secret weapons to the two floundering youkai.

...A bottle?

Shou examined what exactly she'd been given. It was one of the sake bottles from yesterday's festival - it must have been left on the ship after the party had come to an end. To specify its new purpose, the word 'AIR' had been quickly cut into the label by a fingernail.

She pulled off the cork, put the bottle to her mouth, and downed its contents like she was drinking ambrosia. Nazrin, at least, managed to look less extravagant as she took a breath from the bottle, but Shou was doing what she could to shift attention away from what she'd just been caught in the middle of.

She's not a regular at the temple. She's not going to spread the story. Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about...

Shou's panicked inner monologue was interrupted by the creaking from above reaching its absolute peak.

?!

They may not have made an opening, but they'd done enough to slowly tilt the balance. The trapped planks started to come loose, obeying the laws of gravity.

Laws that were set to bring the planks down on their heads.

Shou and Nazrin both turned to the third youkai. Or at least, where she'd been - now there was a friendly-looking dolphin looking at both of them, offering its fin as a handle before it started on a quick trip out of the shipwreck. Neither of them found any reason to reject the offer, and grabbed onto Sango with all the strength they could muster. The planks were coming down in droves now, but they couldn't hope to outspeed the dolphin youkai at full velocity.

Shou hadn't expected the dolphin to take a hard turn into her own room - she knew full well it was a dead end. Or at least, it had been until someone had...smashed...the wall...open.

You mean I could have waited around a little longer, and avoided...that?

Shou buried her head in the dolphin's back, dying of embarrassment. Nazrin's face was the slightest hint of red, which was Nazrin-speak for 'the shame will haunt me for the rest of my life'. Neither of them shared their saviour's enthusiasm as she pulled them out of the hole in the wall and up to the surface, taking on human form once again and wrapping her arms around them.

"Thank you for choosing Tororetsu Marine Rescue. We hope your trip has been a pleasant one, and that you refrain from crashing your ships into innocent, unsuspecting lakes from now on. Thank you, and stay safe!"

"Sango-chan, that was AWESOME!"

"...Are they alright? They don't look too well..."

Shou could make out Ichirin's voice, speaking concern for her. So she'd made it out after all. Right now, though, she was pressing against Sango's arm, too disgraced to face the world.

Really, just go ahead and let me drown now. I don't mind.

-----

...Ah, another good meditation session.

Byakuren allowed herself to come out of her state of trance as she reached the end of her daily training. It had been a productive session, as was the normal after a night of celebration. It lifted her spirits, and that always meant the next day turned out splendidly.

She had felt completely calm and resolute, even in the face of all the odds that her mind could throw at her. She stayed strong, even when it felt like the world around her was descending beneath the waves with a violent crash. It had felt incredibly real, and yet she had fought the emotion and turned out triumphant. All in all, an excellent session.

"Mm?"

It took her a few minutes to realise that her mind had conjured nothing. The big giveaway was the fish swimming past her nose, looking at her with one beady eye.

...Oh.

-----

People who want to point out 'but didn't you say the window was on the ceiling now?' - I sort of realised that if that was the case then it couldn't possibly be looking outside, so I went back and edited it. Apologies for the mishap. :V
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on August 24, 2010, 07:20:58 PM: Byakuren being oblivious to everything that's gone on strikes me as incredibly funny. :3

And ack, your Nazrin is adorable. Tsundere tsundere.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: ray10k on August 24, 2010, 10:04:19 PM: you know you had a good meditation session when...

... the first thing you see when you come back is a fish swimming in front of you.

It is true. Byakuren says so!
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on August 29, 2010, 12:12:59 AM: After being pulled out forcefully onto dry land and laid out in front of an overexcited bystander (namely, Koishi), Shou learned another interesting fact about water. Namely, that wet clothing got very cold very quickly.

"Brrr..."

Nazrin probably had it worse - at least Shou had pants for extra cover, but Nazrin was more or less stripped to the bone. She was very much tempted to wrap her arms around her servant for cover, but she had already been caught in one embarrassing display of affection today. Fool me once, shame on you and so on.

Ichirin was luckier than either of her companions, since she'd been forcefully ejected out of the water and hadn't needed to undress, but her robes were heavier as a result. Even on land she was struggling to walk alongside everyone else, her clothing weighing her down heavily.

"Oh yeah, you people have trouble with the whole soaking fabric thing. Guess it's not really something you consider when you spend most of your time on land, is it?"

Sango had never experienced any sort of trouble along those lines - for one, her clothes never impeded her movement in the water, and even if she was soaked she could wring out the water automatically with a single click of her fingers. It left a few awkward puddles behind on the ground, but she splashed water onto the lakeside anyway so it was no real issue.

Nazrin in particular looked so cold now as to be unhealthy. If she stayed like much longer, she'd probably end up catching something nasty even if she'd avoided the imminent danger. Sango had been told several times that there was no need to worry about the ship's final passenger - she'd emerge when she felt like it, and something as petty as the ship crashing headfirst into a lake would have no chance of stopping her.

Sango needed confirmation from another crew member that this was not a joke.

"Anyway. I figure you guys need to get some new clothes fast if you don't want to freeze to death. We can deal with cleanup duty when you three aren't about to catch pneumonia."

Sango pointed into the distance, tracing the path alongside the river.

"You'll find a store there that should sell something a little more protective. Tell the girl running it that Sango sent you, and she should give you the OK - I did her a bit of a favour a while back."

The shipwrecked crewmates were more than willing to take the dolphin's advice on that one, standing up collectively and making their way down towards the store in the distance. Nazrin and Shou wrapped arms around each other's shoulders - affectionate without being too clingy, which was what they needed now - and Unzan offered his master a little breeze to help her keep up.

For a moment, it was back to just being Sango and Koishi. The cheerleader took the opportunity to finally offer Sango a hug from behind in congratulations.

"Sango-chan, you did great out there! I'll bet the White Pearl must be so proud of you, huh?"

What was the White Pearl, exactly? Koishi had come up with this entire fantasy herself, but she hadn't bothered to fill Sango in on any of the important details. It sounded like the sort of joke that would end up expanding into a dramatic story all on its own.

"Yeah, sure. Just doing my job."

Sango wasn't as cheerful as Koishi would have liked her to be. Of course, given that it was Koishi, her standard of happiness was just about unattainable by the rest of Gensokyo, but Sango didn't even come remotely close. Koishi pouted, sitting down on the side of the lake along side her.

"Sango-chan, cheer up! No-one's dead or anything, so there's nothing to feel bad about!"

That did nothing to lift Sango's spirits, and only served to raise a deep sigh from her. It sounded childish, as if letting out a whined 'phwee'. Koishi seemed intrigued by the sound, as if taking note of it to use later.

"What's gonna happen when all's said and done, Koishi-chan? These people will fix their ship up, take it up to the sky again, and fly off like nothing's ever happened, right?"

One of her hands curled up into a fist, as the other rubbed against her temples.

"Yeah, I know that these people have been through a ton of trouble, but is it that much to ask for an apology from this captain of theirs? She's the one who caused all this trouble for everyone, so is it too much for her to just say sorry?"

Was it petty? Maybe. But the fact was that this ghost girl had caused her crewmates no end of suffering - hell, two of them nearly died because of her acting so irresponsibly. So why was it okay for her to just get away like nothing ever happened?

She would get an apology from this Minamitsu girl, sooner or later. Maybe she'd have to stalk her around the shipwreck, or poke at her steering wheel until it snapped, or feed some of those books in her room to the local fish. But whatever it took, she was going to make her apologise for what she'd done.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long before an opportunity emerged. The sound of something walking out of the water distracted Sango from swearing vengeance.

"Yeah, thanks for that little releasing ritual, Hijiri. I was about to go crazy waiting around..."

"No need to thank me. I'm certain you're keen on starting up on repairs right away, aren't you?"

Two people emerged from the side of the lake, but only one of them was walking. Long purple hair ran down her back, shifting colour to a dark brown on the way down. Her dress was running wearily along the ground as she left a long, heaving puddle in her wake. She was carrying something black under one of her arms, but Sango couldn't make out any more than that. She was talking cheerfully with-

"YOU."

Sango's attention immediately turned to the woman's companion - the ghostly captain who had caused this whole mess. Murasa sighed at the sight of her, her eagerness draining away double-time.

"Aw, great. The fish hung around to lecture me, huh?"

The monk - Byakuren, they'd said her name was - watched the staring contest that resulted with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, have you two met before?"

Koishi walked over to Byakuren's side, taking her by the hand and pulling her away from the feud. Byakuren followed willingly - a relief, because otherwise she would have been pretty much unmovable.

"Lady, let's go take a walk. I think these two need some time alone..."

-----

The store was much more impressive now than it had been when she'd started it up. It had taken coming into a good bit of money to make the first big jump, but now she'd earned a reputation her little emporium jumped from strength to strength. She'd grown a little more confident with every purchase, and by now she was just about willing to call herself a pro.

Gone was the nervous wannabe who'd been glad to get a single commission a month. Nitori Kawashiro was open for business, and business was booming.

Still, she'd always had an appeal for the dramatic, and thus she was sitting with her back to the door waiting for that beautiful ringing sound as someone opened it. It could be a long wait on slow days, so she tweaked at one of her latest contraptions to pass the time. The idea had come to her in a flash - she'd finally discovered what a television was. She would build a machine that could transmit a visual message across to other monitors across Gensokyo through radio waves! It'd be faster than the Bunbunmaru, and with a lot more content as well, not to mention more genuine facts. She'd have the Tengu pretty much at her feet asking for rights to broadcast-

Oh, who am I kidding? An idea this absurd is never gonna catch on.

Ding, ding!

That was it. The glorious sound that signalled the arrival of a new customer. Nitori dropped the remote she'd been prodding at so eagerly, twirling around in her chair.

"Gooood morning, good morning, good morning! Welcome to the Kawashiro Gadget Shop, where we put in 99% inspiration so you can settle for 1% perspiration! I'm Nitori, and I'll gladly do what I can to meet your needs. If there's water involved, I'm the kappa you nee-"

Her sales pitch stopped abruptly as she noticed the state of her customers. All three of them were soaked to the bone, and two of them were huddled together to conserve warmth with almost their entire bodies exposed.

"...Yeah, looks like you three need me pretty badly."

Ichirin was the one to do the talking, mainly because her companions were too busy shivering in each others' arms.

"Apologies for barging in like this, but Tororetsu-san from the lake nearby said that you could help us with our...wardrobe malfunctions."

She'd dropped a key word, and Nitori's eyes lit up in delight. It was thanks to the dolphin that her business had flourished to this extent, so she figured there was no harm giving out freebies where freebies were due.

"Oh, Sango-chan sent you guys? Well, in that case, you three had better come on in!"

Nitori jumped out from behind the stall, pushing the three customers off into one of the side rooms. All manner of gadgets were lined up on the shelves passing by, most of them mechanical, and none of them with a purpose that was obvious from first glance. Shou caught sight of something unusual called an Ip Od, which according to the note written beneath it was some sort of instrument given that it could produce music. Who would carry something like that around?

But now wasn't the time for silly sound gadgets. Now was the time to stop Shou and Nazrin freezing to death, and for that Nitori had them well and truly covered. She pulled them into the room at the end of the corridor, with the fancy sounding title 'Fashion of the Fathoms' written above it. Three cubicles were placed at the end of the room, ready to be locked from the inside. She nudged each of the customers into her own cubicle, throwing a towel in after each of them. They needed it.

"Alright, so I understand you're in a bit of a rush to get clothed, so I hope you don't mind if I pick out some designs for you. Don't worry, I'm a professional, really! Just undress in there and I'll take care of the rest."

No-one was in any rush to argue, and after drying themselves off the three crewmates quickly discarded of their soaked clothing. Nitori pressed a button on the side of the wall, and a panel in front of her flew forward, revealing a rack on which several dozen swimsuits had been hung. There were three panels opposite the cubicles, along with slots for the swimsuit of choice to be slotted in.

"Hm, first is the girl in the fancy robes, right? You seem like the simple, refined type, so pure white should suit you just fine, right?"

There was no complaint from Ichirin, and silence was consent in the language of the shopkeeper. Nitori quickly pulled out a white one-piece from the rack and placed it in the slot. The machine swallowed it, sending it around whatever mechanical system the kappa had installed.

Shou had no idea what was going on. All she could hear were mechanical whirrs and beeps. It unnerved her slightly, but she didn't hear any obvious complaints from Ichirin so she assumed that everything had worked as planned.

"Next is the mouse. I assume you'll settle for that shade of grey, won't you? Stoic, yet proud. Or at least, that's what the colour booklet told me..."

Well, that was reassuring. Not that they were in any position to complain, given that they were being handed all of this for free, but she had to wonder how much of this 'professional' shtick was just plain fiction. She listened out for cries of pain coming from Nazrin as the machine descended upon her.

Nothing. She relaxed her body, relieved that this wasn't some sort of deathtrap after all. She was probably just high-strung after all she'd been through today-

"And finally, the tiger. You're the lucky one - you've stepped into my prototype deluxe cubicle! I know just the thing for you, so sit back and have a blast!"

OK, that sounded really, really bad. Shou was torn between the urge to get the hell away from whatever this machine was going to do to her and the need to keep her levels of public indecency down to a minimum. Not that she had a choice either way - the door had already locked itself.

A variety of mechanical devices emerged from the wall behind her. Most of them were definitely NOT for changing purposes.

"Oh, for the love of-"

-----

"We will not speak about this."

Shou was the first to leave as they left the store, the kappa attendant offering them a final wave as they made their way back to the lake. Her swimsuit had a simple tiger print running along it, presumably Nitori's attempt to act clever with her fashion choices. It didn't work.

"I heard something whirr in there. Was there a saw in that thi-"

"I said we weren't talking about it, Nazrin."

After Nitori had let her out of that...thing, she admitted that there were still a few fine points she needed to work out before she could use it properly. Apparently, her various complaints and yells had been very instructive and gave her a variety of points to improve on.

More importantly, she'd supposedly mixed up some of the wiring with the machines from the hardware department, located on the other side of the wall from the cubicle. She would have offered a refund, but that was pointless considering they hadn't paid for it anyway.

"And what was that you said about a drill coming up from the floor?"

"Nazrin, this conversation is over."

"But why did you shout-"

"OVER."
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on August 29, 2010, 01:05:40 AM: Pro-Nitori is crazily awesome.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on August 29, 2010, 05:11:26 AM: I gotta admit, I'm with Nitori here. Three soaking wet girls come to my doorstep and need whatever clothes I can put on 'em? Dress-up time! :]
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on August 30, 2010, 02:21:47 AM: Quote from: Roukanken on August 29, 2010, 12:12:59 AM
It sounded like the sort of joke that would end up expanding into a dramatic story all on its own.

I lol'd
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on September 01, 2010, 11:46:00 PM: "OK, let me clear something up right now. This lake is not a parking space for your fancy-schmancy flying ship. If you're going to use it, at least have the decency to land the boat on the lake, not in it. Does that sound fair to you?"

"What, you think I picked out your little puddle to crash into on purpose? Damn, guess one of your grandparents annoyed me with his click click crap and I decided I'd drop a ton of wood onto his kid's lake for payback."

It was a relief that Sango and Murasa couldn't physically make contact with each other, because otherwise they would have come to blows some time ago. As it was, they had to settle for verbal conflict, but even then there was no love lost. If looks could kill, Murasa would have made history by successfully dying while already dead. Nazrin, Shou and Ichirin had seen the fight from a distance and had wisely chosen not to interrupt while things were still volatile.

"Well, you've got to get points for accuracy! All this land around, and even a mountain to crash into if you feel like it, but you somehow manage to crash this ship square in the middle of a lake. A perfect ten!"

"Look, shipwrecks are in my nature! Causing them is sort of what I do, even when I'm not really trying! Don't hate me for doing what comes naturally!"

She'd heard the story - apparently the captain had fallen asleep at the wheel and sent the ship crashing down into the lake - but Sango really hadn't cared about that. She knew it had been an accident, but she just wanted to see the culprit take some responsibility. All Murasa was offering her were excuses and shameless buck-passing.

"Besides, I didn't manage to get a wink of sleep the night before because Hijiri was having another one of her lousy festivals! You have any idea how loud drunken Buddhists are? They say that the empty vessel rattles loudest, don't they?"

"And don't you think there's a lesson in there somewhere? It's easier to not nearly kill all of your crewmates by sleeping in bed instead on the job!"

Sango was growing more and more frustrated as the conversation wore on. There was a light phweeing slipping out of her mouth as she let out a breath, almost as if she was letting out steam to avoid overheating on the spot.

"Now, now, you two. Play nice, okay?"

Byakuren returned from the little walk Koishi had taken her on, now clothed in an entirely different garb. This was the object she'd been carrying earlier - a simple black bikini, for use when making visits to the families of the local kappa. Koishi had been nearby when she'd changed, and had since walked off making muttered comments about 'those things on her chest that I don't have'. Byakuren walked over to the arguing pair, placing hands on both their shoulders like a mother breaking up her two daughters.

Murasa only reacted to her touch because of the link between the two, but she along with Sango glared at the monk with an accusatory glance. The pair cried out in unison.

""She started it!""

Byakuren couldn't help but chuckle at that one.

"I understand you may have differences to settle, but could they at least wait for another time? We have a slight issue that still needs resolving."

She looked out into the water - namely, at the upturned back end of the Palanquin ship. Murasa and Sango looked at the wreck with disgust, though they both did it for different reasons.

"I'm not asking for the two of you two kiss and make up. The fact is we all want to get that ship out of the water, and it'll be much faster if we all work together."

That was a fact neither of them really wanted to admit, because unfortunately neither of them could deny it. Byakuren could feel Sango's body relax a little, and even if she couldn't feel much from Murasa she could tell the captain felt the same.

"Freaky fish girl."

"Drunk driver."

One last immature exchange of insults, followed by Sango sticking her tongue out at Murasa. The captain responded with a gesture that will not be described for the sake of decency.

"Anyway. Murasa, what's the scale of the damage?"

Byakuren let go at last, and Sango could feel the circulation starting up in her arm again. Murasa let out a heaving sigh as she looked out onto the lake.

"Obviously, the outer construction isn't the issue - that, at least, I've got control of. After we get the thing out of the water, it should be possible to just order the planks to return to their old formation - they're pretty resilient like that. But the channelling device is completely outta whack - no lines, no Stone of Focus, nothing. We've pretty much gotta rebuild the propulsion system from scratch."

Byakuren's face shifted into a pout. Not a frown, it didn't quite reach that level of sadness. Sango's heart rose a little at the first half of the damage report, and promptly sank back down again as Murasa described the extent to which the ship was floundered.

"Question. What's a Stone of Focus?"

"Well, sardine-for-brains-"

Byakuren gave Murasa a quick glare for that one. She cleaned up her act pretty quickly.

"-I mean, Sango-san! Sorry, I suck with names. A Stone of Focus is basically a magical artifact that strengthens whatever magical energy flows through it. What this means is that to get the ship running, the power I use to control the ship goes through the stone, then travels through the ship to make sure the whole thing rises up."

"So you're saying you're too weak to lift it without help from a rock-phwee!"

A hand 'accidentally' hit Sango in the back of the head in response to that one.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose I must be in shock and not fully in control of myself."

Sango rubbed at her head, wincing from the blow. This Byakuren woman was frightening not because she was strong, but because she could somehow get angry without getting angry. Maybe it would be a good idea to cut down on the name-calling for now - she would live longer, if nothing else.

"...Anyway. Our Stone of Focus is more or less out of order. Kaput, kablooey, finished, broken, dead. Thing's lying on the floor in my room in about three dozen pieces, and no amount of work is gonna be enough to put it back together. We need to find a replacement, and for that we're gonna need to get in contact with a magician who'll have one in stock."

Murasa looked out into the water again, stepping out from the land and walking onto the lake's surface. Sango couldn't explain where the thought came from, but for some reason she felt that Byakuren was better suited to the whole walking on water deal.

"Not much point in getting a stone if we don't have a place to put it, though. First thing's first - we need to get the internal wiring back in action."

"And I assume that's where I come in?"

"Well, yeah, but it's a big job. I can give you guys instructions, but obviously I can't do any of the lifting because...yeah. Hijiri can go down there with you, I guess, but two people on the job is pretty much the bare minimum, and it'll take a while. If we could get the others to go down with you they'd be one hell of a help, but..."

Murasa pointed at her own chest. She didn't need to put the problem into words.

"Yeah, the bottle gimmick I used before isn't gonna work. That was pretty desperate, and it'd only be enough air for a few minutes anyway. That said..."

Sango cast her mind back to the events with her friends underground. There'd been a time when she and a friend from the underground needed to travel through a flooded tunnel. She had repressed a lot of memories of that escapade - mainly the ones that involved lips coming into contact with other lips - but one instant still remained fresh in her head. Now she was beginning to regret sending the three crewmates over to Nitori's store - there was more they could have picked up while they were at it.

"That kappa, the one who owes me? She came up with some sort of kooky invention for times like this. I don't remember the shiny fancy explanation she gave for how it worked, but long story short it's a gimmick that'll help out the people here who can't get over their breathing addiction."

Byakuren smiled at the sound of that. Apparently their new dolphin friend was knowledgeable in her field. She looked over to a nearby bush with a smile, staring at the light pink object poking out one of the sides.

"You three, does that sound like a good idea to you?"

The bush shook a little, until shortly afterwards three bodies fell out of it at once in a fumbled heap.

"Shou, I told you she could hear your stomach rumbling."

"But I haven't eaten all day! I couldn't stop it..."

"I'm pretty sure that translates into everyday language as 'we'd love to help you, Hijiri'."

Ichirin was the only one of the fallen three to actually answer Byakuren's question, while her companions went through the exchange of accusations that made up the bulk of their relationship. None of it was ever meant with any harsh intent, though, and the pair had apparently made quite a lot of noise the night before while the festivities raged on.

"Excellent to hear! Now, I'm sorry that you three have just come back from that walk, but is it too much to ask you to-"

"DUN DU-DUUUUUUUN!"

The sound that flew through the air couldn't be called a scream. It was a war cry, and its owner was headed right this way. Sango heard the sound of something being dragged along at high-speed, and immediately she knew exactly what was going on. Everyone else present, though, turned in the direction of the yell with looks ranging from confusion to aggression.

"Oh, these are tragic times indeed! A ship smashed, its scurvy scuttled sailors scattered ashore! But though men of the sea they may be, none of them are fish! How can they hope to restore their ship to its former glory?!"

As the self-proclaimed hero of the hour dashed towards the lakeside, there were no words from any of the youkai she was apparently saving. They simply watched, dumbfounded, as a girl in a plain white swimsuit leapt out in front of them, carrying a bag in one hand while pointing dramatically towards the shipwreck with the other.

"Worry not, my fearful fin-less friends! When the Black Claw sits down to play chess with Dolphin Rider Koishi, it's always a win for White!"

She landed in the middle of the crowd, posing with a dramatic flourish. The bag fell to her side, with four metallic tanks poking out from within.

The round of applause she was waiting for never arrived. Everyone present turned to Sango, who simply offered them a shrug.

"...Yeah. She's like that."

-----

"You two, careful with that pipe. It's pretty heavy. Lift with your knees, Shou! Naz, watch it, you're tipping that the wrong way! ...No, Ichirin, that's not where you want Unzan to punch it in. Take it out and start over."

It had been annoying enough beforehand listening to Murasa talk beforehand with that self-righteous tone of hers. Now the entire thing was worsened threefold. because it was literally the only voice in the room. Everyone else was either breathing from one of those mechanical contraptions or wasn't breathing at all - Murasa alone was the only one with the power to give out orders, and it was a power she abused for all its worth.

"Fishface! Quit staring at me! Those are eyes you should be using to slot that pipe into place!"

Busted. One moment away from the job, and the captain's eyes were on you like you'd just committed murder. Sango was glad to know she didn't serve on this ship.

As annoying as she was, Murasa's words were producing results. The pipeline was starting to resemble its old self rather than simply looking like a pile of discarded plumbing. Shou and Nazrin had been grouped together to take care of one end of the job, while Byakuren and Sango worked on the other side. Ichirin would walk around and have Unzan punch a pipe into place when it was set up right, and Koishi...well, she retained her position as team cheerleader, performing some sort of interpretive dance to raise morale. (There was no real place for her now that there were five people working on repairs, and there was a general belief that she was more likely to cause harm than good.)

"Alright, go pick up that pipe there and- godDAMMIT, Shou, stop breathing so loud! I can barely hear myself think over you!"

Shou flinched for a moment, then let out a little whine before she got back to work. From the look on Nazrin's face, it was a complaint she had wanted to make for a while. Listening to one of these things gurgle had been annoying with Orin, and being exposed to four of them at once did nothing new to win them Sango's approval. Either she got to focus on the four asthmatics, or she got to hear the captain yell at her for every wrong step she took. Joy.

"Mm?"

Or maybe there was a third option. An option that was barely audible, but just enough for Sango to make out from her side of the ship. There was a sound of movement in the water - something was approaching at high speed, and it was bringing some friends along with it.

In the back of her head, an ominous theme began to play. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK_y4)

"...!"

She ignored the pipe she was meant to be working to slide in, leaving it to Byakuren for the moment. Fortunately, the monk was more than strong enough to hold it herself while Sango's eyes suddenly looked through the hole in the wall.

"Oh, come on. Fishface, what are you even doing over there?"

Murasa muttered another complaint as she walked over to Sango, ready to whip out an anchor and try to smack her across the face with it now that she was back in her element.

As it turned out, Sango's distraction had been much more important than some measly pipe.

"Wait, those are..."

Sango had made a deal with them before to keep away from this lake, but rules, like ice on a lake surface, were made to be broken. There was a small army headed their way, each one looking hungry enough to swallow a youkai whole. And they were close - really close.

Murasa bit her lip.

"Uh, guys? You might want to put aside whatever you're working on. We've got company."

Sharks. It always had to be goddamn sharks.

-----

PLotSS Koishi is so fun to write she should be illegal.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on September 02, 2010, 02:59:20 AM: Koishi is always fun to write with.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on September 02, 2010, 03:42:14 AM: Quote from: Esuprisefex on September 02, 2010, 02:59:20 AM
Koishi is always fun to write with.

Seconding that statement.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on September 10, 2010, 02:36:59 PM: Immediately, several problems came to light. One - no-one had bothered to bring along anything resembling a weapon, because with everything else they were carrying around things like spears and dousing rods seemed a little excessive. Two - in addition to that, most of the crew hadn't brought spellcards either, mainly because these outfits didn't come with any pockets to hold them in. There'd been no consideration that anyone would attack them in the middle of repair duties, and now it was a decision they were seriously beginning to regret.

"Tch..."

Murasa pulled out a trio of spellcards; one was covered in a light green aura light that surrounding her body, but the other two were still made of regular paper. Sango looked over at them, reading a trio of strange-looking names. Maybe she wasn't kidding about shipwrecks being in her nature.

Murasa glared back at the body still floating around by the steering wheel.

"Dammit. Without that thing over there, these cards are useless. Guess one will have to do..."

Deep Vortex and Dragging Anchor would have to wait for a day when she wasn't dead. She placed them back in her pocket and held onto her third card like her life depended on it.

It didn't, but maybe everyone else's did.

There was no time for strategy or formation or any of the other intricacies they could have prepared to make the fight any easier. By now, the sharks were covering the exit, and they'd locked the door to the corridor so it wouldn't hang open and get in the way of reconstruction. If they made it inside, it was going to be a matter of everyone fending for themselves.

Murasa held her single card into the air. It shone for a moment as she made her declaration.

"Spirit of the seas, return from the abyss to bring forth a watery grave!
[Sinker Ghost]!"

The light green aura around her grew brighter, and Murasa quickly clicked her fingers. Another anchor emerged in her hand, but there was a key difference now - with the use of that spellcard, she could interact with the world in a limited number of ways.

Fortunately, these ways mainly involved inflicting pain upon the living. She glared at the oncoming hordes as she prepared to strike.

"Every good captain goes down with the ship! Bring it, losers!"

Sango tried to make her way out of the ship, holding her own card in tow, but Murasa put a hand out to stop her.

"Stay back, okay? Looking after this thing is my job."

Sango tried to start on an explanation, reaching into a pocket for her own card, but Murasa pushed her back inside before she could show it. Sango bit her lip - the card was useless in here, where it'd do more friendly fire than actual damage, so she was stuck trusting Murasa for now.

The sharks seemed to have been waiting for a moment of weakness, and upon finding none began charging in recklessly one after the other. They knew full well that it was a bad idea to attack Murasa, the only member of the crew who could properly be considered to have a defence, and so made to try and storm past her and feast on her less prepared companions. Murasa's method of defending the entrance was blunt - literally - but it was enough to hold off the initial wave as half a dozen sharks hobbled backwards with anchor-shaped bruises.

They circled the ship for a short while, looking for another way in. Thankfully the hole in the wall Murasa was covering was the only viable entrance - they could get to Shou and Nazrin's room, but they wouldn't be able to do much in the corridors after that. Eventually they came back around to her, injured but ready to take another shot.

Murasa beckoned them one with one hand. She knew that she could take them on, and unlike everyone else she didn't have to worry about injury. This was the best defense they could muster.

But every defense had a weakness, and the sharks had figured it out.

"Wha-!?"

The entire pack charged in at once, this time storming towards Murasa in pairs. She swore beneath her breath - no matter how well she could stop a shark in its tracks, two at a time was one too many for her. Even if she did nothing, there was still enough room in the gap for them both to get through.

Note to self: We're gonna need a smaller boat.

"...Alright, incoming! Watch out, guys!"

As the entire army of sharks charged towards, it was all Murasa could do to cut down their numbers. For every pair that came towards her, one of them was sent spiralling away with a well-placed anchor to the side, but its companion made it past her without a scratch. She cursed, but she was too busy holding the enemy off to do anything about the sharks that were already inside.

The first lucky infiltrator only had time for a quick glance of the insides of the ship, and quickly chose his target. That mouse there looked rather enticing, it decided, and it didn't look like it was in any state to defend itself. Dinner had just been served.

Shou and Nazrin both saw the attack coming, and glanced at one another for a moment. There was a nod of approval between then as they placed their hands on each other's shoulders, as if to make a final embrace.

It was anything but, because when the shark came for them they pushed against each other's shoulders, pushing each other out of the predator's path. It came to a quick stop between them, set to turn around and focus on Nazrin now that she'd been separated from her master.

It didn't get the chance, as from both sides a pair of elbow strikes slammed into its sides. Shou and Nazrin struck in perfect unison, and even if they weren't up-to-date on their marine anatomy they knew enough to determine that an elbow to the side hurt like hell. The creature promptly passed out, and above its limped body the pair exchanged congratulated one another.

Shark number 2 witnessed this turn of events, and decided that the mouse and tiger weren't worth going for. Now, this girl here, with the purple hair...she didn't look like she'd pose much of a threat. It pounced towards Ichirin, jaw gaping open to bite her in two-

Smash!

...and after a devastating punch from the ghost over her shoulder, the shark suddenly found its mouth a lot emptier. Its teeth floated around in the water, and it glanced at them blankly before fainting from both shock and blood loss.

The third shark was now very aware that these crewmates weren't as vulnerable and delectable as they'd looked before. Three of them had proven themselves capable, but that still left a few potential morsels. Third time was a charm, so the shark decided to take a risk and go for the largest of the group, the one with the strange gradient hair. She seemed totally distracted from the ordeal, busy trying to attach some sort of piping to the wall, so it had the perfect chance to strike her from behind. It opened wide, bringing its teeth slamming down around Byakuren's torso, waiting to savour the taste of fresh meat.

Much to its surprise, it didn't so much as pierce the skin.

"Mm?"

Byakuren looked away from her work momentarily, examining the shark that had just tried and failed to bite her in half. Its mouth was still hanging open around her, trying over and over again to bite into her, but all it gained for its efforts was a tired jaw.

My apologies. May you find better fortune in the next life, friend.

She gave up on the piping installation she had been working on, instead holding it in both hands. A few seconds were spent on preparing her swing, and after that Byakuren slammed the pipe square into the creature's nose, knocking it right back the way it came. It flew back out the hole in the wall, taking another infiltrator back out with it and removing them both from the equation.

"Nice shot, Hijiri!"

Murasa yelled out a quick congratulations as she continued to hold the attackers off. Byakuren gave the captain a bow, then simply returned to her handiwork.

The crew had defended itself effectively, but there were still two heads unaccounted for. The next shark to break through turned upon a familiar face - one it recalled being knocked out by a few months ago and keeping it away from a good meal.

Sango tried kicking away from the shark, but she didn't have the obscene methods of defending herself everyone else here had. All she had was her spellcard, but again that was more likely to hurt other people than it was to hurt the sharks in this enclosed space. She quickly found herself with her back against the wall, and the creature closing in at full speed. Sango winced, ready for it to start chomping down on her, until she heard something slam into it from the side.

The shark did all it could to burst free, but apparently Dolphin Rider Koishi was capable of some very strong hugs. Sango needed a moment to stare at the scene, before offering Koishi a puzzled thumbs up.

Screw what the ghost says, she needs some backup!

Sango made her way to the entrance again before the next wave could break through. Behind her, Ichirin ordered Unzan to punch out the shark in Koishi's grip, leaving the self-proclaimed heroine groaning about how she'd lost her new friend.

Sango had to duck around Murasa's swing as she made her way outside. This time the captain was too busy playing defense to stop her, and simply watched with a look of annoyance.

"What the hell is wrong with you, tuna-twerp?! Just get back in the ship already!"

Sango took pleasure in ignoring Murasa's complaint, pulling out the card she'd been trying to show her earlier. The ghost's eyes widened for a moment, before returning to her default emotion of frustration.

"You had a spellcard?! Why didn't you tell me earlier, dammit? I could have used the help!"

Sango resisted the urge to slam her free palm into her own face as she mentally declared the card. She'd had a little training with her underground companions, so she'd managed to make things a little more dangerous this time.

As the dirty waters are made pure, strike down my enemies with what remains!
Cleansing Sign [Purified Greywater]!

A long wave of pale grey bullets lined themselves up in front of Sango, ready to be fired forwards at will. Now there was no need to worry about hitting anyone behind her, she could let off an attack like this. It would only be enough to take out one wave, but it would have to do. She made to click her fingers and release the attack.

"Hey, outta the way! You're gonna hit me with those!"

Murasa called out to stop her, and in the time Sango needed to turn to her she'd already taken a swing at the wall of bullets with the anchor. They flew forward into the remaining sharks, still moving too slow to really pose a threat.

Sango's eyes glistened with understanding.

...Wait. That's brilliant.

Sango had to do something a little different, but she ordered the bullets to slowly travel forward, their pattern deviating only slightly from the straight line they had taken before. Murasa probably didn't even realise it, but she'd just given Sango a brilliant idea.

The sharks were aware of danmaku, and so they knew the grey spheres approaching them were a threat, but they responded simply by swimming over them. The bullets continued to trail on forgotten behind them as they stormed the entrance again.

Sango clicked her fingers.

The bullets burst apart, each one transforming into two distinct spheres. Moving forward, a wave of jet-black bullets continued to travel harmlessly into the distance, but another wave of bright blue bullets was quickly flying back the way they had come, towards the totally unaware sharks. Murasa only barely caught the sight in the corner of her eye as she fought them off, eyes wide open.

The sounds of the bullets colliding with the remaining sharks from behind were almost orchestral to Sango's ears. Each of them were knocked unconscious by the attack thanks to the non-fatal properties of danmaku, but they'd likely wake up in a lot of pain and with no more ambitions of eating the crewmates of this particular shipwreck.

The fight was over.

Murasa and Sango had needed to dodge the oncoming wave, but the crewmates inside were only aware of the loud 'pichuun' noises coming from outside. A few heads poked out the window, relieved at the sight of their aggressors well and truly defeated.

There was a tiny, miniscule, miniature fragment of a moment when Sango and Murasa looked at each other with something resembling respect. They made a good team, apparently.

"Great idea. Glad I thought of it. OK, people, back to work."

It didn't last long, as Sango found herself hauled back into the ship by Murasa's semi-corporeal form. They'd just fought off an army of ravenous man-eating sharks, and they weren't allowed so much as a tea break?

"Phweeblblbl..."

Just five minutes, please...

-----

The mental image of Koishi hugging a shark is possibly the strangest/greatest (delete as appropriate) thing this fic has produced so far.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Drake on September 10, 2010, 02:46:27 PM: Quote
The mental image of Koishi hugging a shark is possibly the strangest/greatest (delete as appropriate) thing this fic has produced so far.
Seriously where does this stuff come from.

Mainly? Sleep deprivation. Which means when university starts my writing will either get a lot better or a lot worse. :V
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Iced Fairy on September 10, 2010, 05:21:06 PM: Aw... Koishi didn't get to keep her new pet. :V

I am surprised at the number of sharks here though. This must be a truely awesome lake. Or they're magic sharks I suppose.

I'm also surprised at the lack of spear use, but hey, elbow combo worked.

There are several lakes on the bottom of the Mountain of Youkai, linked together through rivers. It's more a mass collective of sharks.
And spears are heavy. If Shou's robes were enough to weigh her down, a metal bar isn't going to do her much better. :V
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on September 24, 2010, 11:57:47 PM: The general atmosphere of irritation that had been present beforehand was nowhere to be seen as the group continued their repair efforts. Surviving an attack from what could only be described as an army of sharks had a strange habit of putting the little aches and pains into perspective.

The tanks they'd borrowed from Nitori did their job well - amazingly well, in fact. The only worker who ended up running low on air was Sango - even dolphins had their limits, after all - and she ended up poking someone on the shoulder once or twice to borrow their mouthpiece for a refill. Unsurprisingly, Murasa proceeded to yell at her for being a distraction.

After a few hours of toil and effort, the base pipeline had been worked back into shape. As the last piece of piping was forcefully punched into place, Murasa finally allowed the crew of the ship to take a break. There was much patting of backs, and (in Koishi's case) a good deal of hugging as the repair team made their way back to the surface for some non-processed air. Sango was the last to leave, expecting Murasa to follow on afterwards after she'd given the system one last-minute check.

"Hold on a sec, fish girl. We're not done yet."

Sango turned back, puzzled. Murasa had finished her inspection of their work, and given that she hadn't shouted at anyone it was obviously up to her standards. Regardless, she called Sango back in as she made her way back to the steering wheel.

"Alright. Let's see if this thing is getting anywhere."

She placed her hands on the steering wheel, but her feet still floated a few inches above the wooden floor of the ship. Her eyes closed, and a look of determination and focus started to run across her face. Sango looked on, not understanding exactly what she was trying to accomplish.

She couldn't be...

"Come on, talk to me. We're friends, remember? Gimme something. Anything."

Her grip around the wheel tightened, and her expression grew more stressed. The piping the crew had spent their time repairing began to glow the tiniest amount, but as she'd already said the Stone of Focus was damaged. The power she was sending into the ship now was only a fraction of what it needed to run.

But still...she had to check. Maybe she couldn't make it fly, but she should have been able to get some sort of response from it. A creaking, a little shuffle.

"Hah...dammit, speak to me. Don't say I need some stupid stone to work this thing..."

Even as a ghost, it was clear that Murasa was straining herself. She couldn't sweat, but as she channelled more and more of her strength into the ship the exertion made its way onto her face, her expression shifting from a confident grin to a forced grimace.

"D-Don't worry, I've got this. Just...just a little more, and..."

Murasa's words did nothing to comfort Sango. The pain rising onto her face spoke louder than anything she could have said, and every so often her form almost seemed to flicker. Maybe Sango didn't know a lot about ghosts, but she knew enough to be sure that this was very, very bad. She tried to reach out to the captain, but her hand passed through Murasa's shoulder as if there was nothing there.

"Dammit....what are you doing?! I don't need your help, remember?! I'm Captain Murasa! I can...do this..."

The flickering grew faster, more violent. Murasa was fading now, as if she was draining her entire being with the effort. Still, the ship gave her no response, and the single pale line of light running out of the system was clearly not enough.

Sango watched on half out of awe, and half out of fear. She had no idea what Murasa was trying to achieve with this, but even she had to be aware that she was pushing herself too far. And even knowing that, she pressed on anyway, putting more and more effort into an impossible task, to the point where she looked set to knock herself clean out of existence.

And from where Sango was standing, it looked like she was doing it out of sheer selfish pride.

Murasa had all but disappeared by now. The only part of her body that seemed to still have any form was her hands, still grasping desperately to the wheel. She was on the verge of disappearing, and she could easily have let go at any time, but still her grip was as tight as ever.

She might have really disappeared if another pair of hands hadn't reached out for the wheel to help her.

"Huh...the hell are you-?!"

The instant Sango placed her hands on the wheel, she felt a jolt passing through her. She winced, letting out a yelp of pain as she started channelling her own power along with Murasa's. Her body felt heavier, and her strength began to seep out of her.

"Y-You idiot! You've never used this thing before! If you don't let go now, you're gonna-"

The machine drew away Sango's energy at an astounding rate. Without the Stone of Focus it would need more energy to fly than either of them could hope to give it. But together, giving everything they had, the pair had just enough to earn a response from the machine. Behind them, the Palanquin ship let out an almighty creak as it shifted no more than half an inch through the water, an undeniable sign that the system was back in working order.

Both of them pulled away the moment they heard that creak. Murasa panted, eyes half-closed and barely aware of her surroundings, while Sango cried out with relief as she fell to her knees. She was lucky in that she was in no trouble air-wise at the time, or else there was no way to be sure she'd have made it back in one piece. It was a few minutes before either of them had recovered enough to move, but each of them stared at the other with a look of confusion. They both wanted to ask the same question, and they knew it.

What did you think you were doing? You could have...you could have...!!!

There was a difference now, though. One that neither of them would have noticed at the point, but was definitely there regardless. They gave each other the same incredulous stares as they had before, but this time around there was the tiniest hint of concern as well.

Sango eventually pulled herself to her feet, motioning with her head to Murasa. For the second time in a day, she needed the captain to come to the surface so they could talk with one another.

For the first time today, the captain complied.

-----

"Ah, you two. What took you so long?"

Byakuren was quick to greet them when they came back to the surface, smiling proudly at a job well done. Behind her, Shou was being comforted about her now pruned fingers, with Nazrin promising she would get better, and Ichirin was lost in another conversation with Unzan. Koishi had pulled out a sketchbook, and started drawing a poorly-made sketch of what looked like a woman in shorts and a tank-top. Sango decided that the fewer questions she asked about that, the better.

Right now, though, neither of them was really in the mood for discussion like that. Sango was too busy dealing with her new-found fatigue to offer much of an explanation, but Murasa as always was acting like nothing had ever happened, giving a grin to the head of the temple.

"Yeah, there's a little disciplinary issue that needs to get resolved. Nothing major, won't take us long."

A hint of doubt rose to Byakuren's face. No doubt she could see that Murasa was strained, and putting all of her effort into hiding that fact. After a moment of quick examination, she shrugged and allowed the pair to leave.

"Alright, then. I'd rather you weren't too harsh on our guest, Murasa..."

"Can't make any promises."

Murasa decided to play along with the laws of physics for a change, walking along the ground as if she was still constrained by gravity. She led Sango down a nearby river for a few minutes, neither of them saying a word until they were confident that they weren't being listened in on. Not that they suspected the temple's disciples, obviously, but Koishi had a strange habit of being in places where she didn't belong.

"...You're an idiot, you know that?"

Murasa wasted no time in letting the discussion fall to the most base of opinions. Sango grit her teeth.

"Hey, at least I didn't nearly kill myself for no good reason."

"I'm telling you, I was fine! I've captained that goddamn ship for years, and I could have easily got that thing moving without your help, thank you very much."

Sango had to grab at her temples after that one. There was so much she wanted to say, and now that Byakuren was well out of earshot she could let it all out at once. There was an incredible feeling of relief with every word, even if she knew what she was saying was insensitive at best and offensive at worst.

"Dammit, that's what I hate about you! Every little thing you do, you have to throw in how great you are and how incredible you are. You have to do everything yourself, you have to be the best, and you have to tell everyone around you every little thing they're doing wrong. Being around you makes me want to just run up to that shrine maiden on the mountain and borrow a few dozen of those exorcism amulets she has, I swear I am that SICK of you!"

Murasa didn't give any obvious response to Sango's outburst. Apparently, she'd heard it all before, because it seemed to just pass in one ear and out the other. She shrugged, putting her hands behind her head as she walked along.

"'Kay."

"...'Kay? That's it?"

"Hey, you don't run a ship like mine without making a few enemies. You think you're the first person to say they don't like me to my face?"

Sango flinched a little at that one. She'd expected some sort of response, anything, but Murasa had simply paid her no mind from the get go. She knew the captain was self-centred, but she didn't realise it was this bad.

Or maybe...maybe the more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

"...Thing is, what you're saying doesn't add up, fish girl."

Murasa's eyes still looked jaded as they turned to Sango, but the question that came afterwards was anything but.

"I follow that you don't like me. I get it, it's not exactly subtle. So why the hell did you pull that stunt back there? You can't tell me you didn't know it was gonna hurt, and please don't give me that 'I'm so goody-goody I don't want to see anyone die' crap. That's awful justification, always will be."

Sango had been pondering that question herself. She hadn't been thinking consciously when she'd done it, but she was willing to agree that it wasn't sheer goodwill that had convinced her to intervene. Something else had been at play, something more personal.

It was strange for Sango, as she realised that it was so much harder to be sympathetic than it was to be angry.

"Well...this is gonna sound bad, but you remind me a little of myself."

Murasa's head tilted.

"What, is there something stuck on the back of my ne-"

"No, I'm being serious. ...I can't say I was much better than you a while back."

There was a different emotion in Sango's voice as she continued to walked with Murasa along the riverside. This time, Murasa seemed hooked on every word.

"You probably noticed I'm, uh, kinda obsessive about keeping these places clean. It's sort of my life, my one big contribution to Gensokyo. Thing is, no-one really stops to think about it, so usually people just make the most of the pure waters around here without bothering to thank me."

A look of shame rose on Sango's face.

"I used to hate that. I felt like it wasn't fair, that I was being short-changed, that I deserved a little respect for all my hard work. I could hardly stop - I mean, what else could I do that'd get people's attention? - but I just wanted someone to look at what I was doing and say thank you.

"...I didn't get out of that mindset myself. I needed help, and a few well-placed words from a friend to get me out of that rut. To get me to the point where I could be happy with myself just for a job well done. To get over that silly pride of mine."

She let out a deep sigh, then turned to Murasa again with a look that could only be called worry.

"What scares me is that you've got all that, and more. You're the same sort of self-absorbed jerk I was, but you take it a step further. You're everything about myself I'm trying to get over, and more.

"But the scariest part is the risks you're willing to take to keep up that pride of yours. You could have let go of that wheel at any time, saved yourself from...well, not death, but you know what I mean. But you didn't, and you just kept on pressing. The fact you're literally willing to risk your whole existence just to look good to other people...that's what freaks me out about you."

Murasa was surprised as Sango finished her little monologue. She'd struck a nerve, hit a point that Murasa preferred not to discuss, and indeed would have kept to herself if she hadn't been confronted on it.

There was another long silence.

"...Well. Guess it's nice and all for you to say that, but I'd have preferred it if you just stuck with the selfish bitch angle. Personally, I'd rather look like a bitch than look like I couldn't be trusted when it came down to it, y'know?"

She spoke plainly, but there was a new frailty in her voice as she began to speak. Sango seemed amazed by it - it was a tender, self-inspective tone that didn't suit the Murasa she'd been introduced to.

"Look, there's a long story between how I met Hijiri, and it's not the sorta thing I'm willing to go over unless I have to. The point is, a long time ago some humans showed up to try and seal her away, and I went out there and did my damnedest to protect her. It, well...didn't work, and she got stuck locked up in Makai for god knows how long."

She wasn't aware of it, but Murasa's feet started to literally slam into the ground, falling through to give Sango the impression that the ghost was shrinking as she spoke.

"Of course, we got her out. Took us a few hundred years just to get back together after the attack, but after that we basically went all out on freeing her. We saved the day, rescued the damsel in distress, and then we rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after. ...Or at least, that was how it was supposed to go.

Murasa seemed to be struggling with her words now, torn between speaking and tearing up. A facade was breaking down, and a side that she tried her best not to show started to peek out through the cracks.

"Truth is, though? I never really stopped thinking about that screw-up. Hijiri forgave me, yeah, but that's because Hijiri is such a damn good person she doesn't know how to hold a grudge. There's no other way to look at it - I let her down. I wasn't good enough. I felt like shit after that one, and I know for a fact I wasn't alone."

She started to speak faster, wanting to get her story over with before she lost her composure entirely. Sango made no attempt to interrupt, looking on in shock.

"So...So I figure, if I'm gonna do anything, I'm gonna put in 120%. If I fail, I wanna fail so badly I'm not around to see the after effects. I want people to trust me, and the moment I start screwing up no-one's gonna treat me like a captain anymore, y'know? I...I don't want..."

She sniffed. She couldn't cry, perhaps, but she sniffled and started to dry her eyes anyway.

"I don't wanna let anyone down again..."

Sango couldn't give any sort of intelligible reply. Her mouth bobbed open wordlessly as she struggled for a response, but her brain could barely process what she'd heard. She'd been expecting Murasa to give some sort of reasoning, but she hadn't been expecting something as dramatic as that.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't kno-"

"Of course you didn't. It's hardly the sorta thing I talk about all the time."

Murasa seemed to be just about done crying. It had been for a minute at most, but that was probably more than the girl had cried in months.

"I...I don't know what I'm meant to do now. I guess I've sort of been in denial - there's a big part of me that just wants to act like this never happened, but I can't really expect everyone else to think the same way. They're busy with fixing it now, but when everything's up and running again everyone's gonna be pissed at me for causing this. They all thought I was some invincible super-captain, and that's what I kinda wanted them to think. Now, though..."

Sango could feel a lump in her throat. There honestly wasn't much she could offer to help out - when all was said and done, Murasa was going to be at the mercy of her crewmates, and Sango could hardly go and ask all of them to forgive her.

"Eh, what's to worry about? I didn't die, you didn't die, no problem!"

She suddenly snapped to attention as a voice drifted back into her head. Koishi's words from earlier, the carefree way she'd just disregarded what she'd let herself into. It had been childish, infantile, irresponsible.

And she had accepted it.

"...Minamitsu-san. I don't think you give your friends enough credit."

Murasa stopped walking, still drifting along beside Sango. She'd been too busy trying to figure out what that sentence was supposed to mean to remember to move her feet like living people were supposed to.

"Everyone makes mistakes. It's part of life...and, uh, death, I guess. The thing about friends is that they're willing to accept that they still make mistakes and like you anyway. They're fine with you screwing up, and they'll still think you're alright even if you aren't absolutely perfect. Your friends make mistakes now and then, right?"

"W-Well...Ichirin is pretty terrible at shogi - she only has any chance because Unzan helps her out. Nazrin can find an artifact from miles off, but her sense of direction is awful when it comes to getting how. That's what she has Shou for, but Shou...let's not get started on the sorta mistakes Shou makes. I could be here all day."

"But you still like her, don't you?"

Murasa's eyes widened.

"Y-Yeah, but..."

Sango would have wrapped an arm around Murasa, if only there was anything to wrap an arm around.

"Trust me, Minamitsu-san. I've seen people make some really dumb mistakes and get forgiven for them...though not before a good slap or two. Friendship's about accepting the whole package - the good side, and the bad side. They'll understand."

Murasa didn't reply for the longest time. The look on her face was one of quiet contemplation, as she took a moment to think over Sango's words of advice. Roughly an eternity later, she sighed to herself.

"...There's no use worrying about it now, is there? We've still gotta finish getting the ship out of your goddamn lake."

"True. We'd better start heading back, actually."

Sango turned on her heels, making her way back down the lakeside. Murasa floated along beside her, a smile starting to rise to her face.

"...You're still an idiot, fish girl. But you're my kind of idiot."

"How does that saying go? Fools seldom differ, right?"

-----

"Ehehehehe~."

Sango had thought long and hard about where to look, but she'd never thought about the least likely of places. It had been all to easy to swim alongside her, dipping under the water whenever someone looked her way, then whisper advice when the time was right and turn Sango's brain in the right direction. After that, it was a matter of diving back under again and returning the way she'd come, all without attracting a hint of suspicion.

She allowed herself a little victory laugh as she surfaced, making her way back to the lake.

Chalk up another win for Dolphin Rider Koishi and the forces of love and justice~!

-----

Koishi Komeiji. Maniac? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Cloudcuckoolander) Lucky guesser? Secret (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingStupidity) genius? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyAwesome) You decide.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Esifex on September 25, 2010, 12:50:25 AM: The satori are so much fun to write - Koishi, especially.

Hehehe
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on September 25, 2010, 05:40:44 AM: Quote from: Shou Toramaroukan on September 24, 2010, 11:57:47 PM
Maniac? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Cloudcuckoolander) Lucky guesser? Secret (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingStupidity) genius? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyAwesome) You decide.
These are not mutually exclusive. Koishi's one of the best characters ever to write. We've gone over this. :3

In related news, I feel for Murasa. Your captain and I have more in common than I thought, Rou.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on September 27, 2010, 10:08:11 PM: So. Now that my free time in general is disappearing, I'm gonna focus on finishing up PLotSS so I have less to feel guilty about not frequently updating. :ohdear:

-----

It was early in the afternoon by the time Sango and Murasa joined up with the rest of the crew. There were a few casual questions about where they'd been and what they'd been doing, but for now a simple 'just talking' would suffice. There was another problem they had to focus on, anyway.

"So. Where are we going to find one of these Stones of Focus?"

Murasa seemed to more or less be back in working shape, and Sango had done enough to convince her to focus on the job for now. She shrugged as the question was taken to her, a look of irritation written on her face.

"Don't ask me. I'm here to solve your practical problems, not the magical ones. And I don't really pay much attention to the visitors we get, I just work on keeping the place from falling apart. Hijiri, you're the one to go to on this, right?"

Byakuren looked slightly flustered as the question turned to her. This alone was enough to worry Murasa even before she started on a reply.

"Ah, yes. Stones of Focus are rather rare, the sort of item only the most powerful magicians of Gensokyo would be likely to carry around. And, well, I've only personally met one magician that would possibly own one."

Four faces grimaced at once as Byakuren's crewmates mentally processed her statement.

"H-Hijiri, please don't tell me you mean..."

Shou felt Nazrin clinging to her arm, as Byakuren looked towards her with a sorrowful expression.

"Yes, I'm afraid I do. It appears we may have to give our friend Kirisame-san a visit."

There was no verbal response, but the expressions said everything that needed to be said. Shou and Nazrin looked at each other nervously, while Ichirin shot an awkward glare towards Unzan. Even Murasa seemed to be distressed by the plan Byakuren was suggesting, looking away and pretending she was distracted by something in the distance.

Koishi, as usual, was the polar opposite of her companions, responding to the news with joy.

"You mean Marisa-san? I haven't played with her in aaaages!"

Sango was apparently the only person here who hadn't heard of this Kirisame person. The name only rang the vaguest of bells - Nitori had mentioned her once or twice as 'a human friend'. Beyond that, she knew just about nothing.

"...Hey, Koishi-chan. Who are you all talking about?"

"Marisa-san is a witch with all sorts of shiny magical attacks! Some of her stuff even gives me a run for my money, but I'll tell you right now that Master Spark is a plain ripoff. You can practically see the words IRUKA BEAM written all over it...still, can't blame her for admitting she can't do better!"

As usual, Koishi's contribution was just about useless. Sango looked over to Ichirin, the closest crewmate, for a second opinion.

"Ah, what she's trying to say is that Kirisame-san is one of Gensokyo's strongest magicians. She apparently has a stockpile of random artifacts that she's collected over the years, and it's very possible she'd have a Stone of Focus. Except..."

At this point, Ichirin looked away with a strained expression. Unzan did what he could to comfort her, and thus Sango found herself looking over to Murasa for the rest of the story.

"...Yeah, she's kind of a loose cannon. Most of those artifacts she has? They're stolen. And she doesn't ever sell these things, she just holds onto them in case they're useful to her later. Trying taking something yourself - hell, even try to get in her way - and she's probably gonna beat you senseless."

Murasa bit her lip, staring back into the distance and looking about as reluctant as possible. Sango was concerned, but confused at the same time.

"Wait, you're scared of one magician? And she's a human, too. Surely if you all showed up at once and talked business there'd be too many of you for her to resort to fo-"

"You've never heard of Marisa Kirisame, have you."

Nazrin cut Sango off with an emotionless monotone. It was either out of total disinterest, or utter dread. Sango couldn't be sure which.

"You know all those incidents that spring up around Gensokyo? Well, whenever there's trouble, she's there, blasting the living daylights out of anyone who tries to stir things up. She hangs around with that shrine maiden - the red and white one, and she's even worse news. We've had plenty of visits from otherwise strong youkai who ended up getting taken out by that black-white witch."

She didn't offer anything after that, her hand tugging at Shou's sleeve. The tiger saw that as her cue to finish the story, and did so while trying to maintain an aura of respect.

"And, well, we know for a fact that isn't just hearsay. A few months ago, we had a bit of an incident ourselves...apparently, the people of Gensokyo don't take well to boats appearing in the sky from absolutely nowhere. The shrine maiden - both of them, in fact - came along to investigate, and they brought Kirisame-san along as well. The maidens went off and, um, ended up freeing Hijiri, while Kirisame-san went off on her own agenda and started robbing us blind. Even though we all fought tooth and nail, she was just too strong for us...all of us. I've still got a little mark on my arm where she grazed me with that Master Spark of hers...and if Nazrin hadn't pulled me out of the way, it would've hurt a LOT more."

That, from the looks of this, was the end of the discussion. Sango had been told all she needed to know - Kirisame was dangerous, short-fused, and prime to beat the daylights out of anyone who took anything from her.

"I would offer her a trade, but we are a simple sect. We have nothing extravagant or expensive to offer her, but she is honestly our only hope at this point. No other magicians have ever visited the temple after they found our we were merely a religious group, so...it's her or nothing, to be frank."

There was a general aura of resignation as Byakuren finished speaking. Koishi defied the norm, talking to herself about how it would be fun to see Marisa fire 'those shiny sparkly stars that probably taste really good'.

Their words had done their job well. Sango mentally thanked herself for having never met this Kirisame person, and hoped that this luck would continue long into the future. Instinctively, she joined in on the desperate search to find another alternative to visiting the black-white, mentally drawing an image of her as some wicked witch of the east who captured puppies and cackled maniacally every other sentence.

She stood straight to attention as an idea jumped into her head. It was a piece of hearsay she'd heard from one of the lake's fish, coming back from a long trek, but it was better than nothing.

"Uh, guys? I think I may know someone else."

Immediately five faces looked towards her with hope in their eyes. Sango flinched a little from the sudden attention, letting out a gasped phwee, but recovered soon afterward.

"Well...this is just something I heard from a friend, but...I hear there's a lake nearby here, and in the middle of it there's this island. It used to be uninhabited, but about ten years ago a mansion apparently showed up overnight."

Some of the looks Sango received after that looked to be questioning her sanity, but she continued on regardless.

"Anyway. The mistress of the mansion is some vampire girl who brought her entire payroll with her to Gensokyo. One of them is some magician who's always locked up in her library - really, really powerful, just not very good at the whole social thing. Your odds probably aren't that good with her, bu-"

"We'll take it."

Shou's hand grabbed Sango by the shoulder, a look of desperation in her eyes.

"She's not Kirisame-san, and that's what matters. Our odds HAVE to be better there."

The looks of relief on the faces of the rest of her crewmates seemed to share in her opinion. Anything was less of a threat than Marisa, so however low the odds were it was worth trying. It was a good way back to the forest that the witch called home, anyway, so this was a shorter trip on top of everything else. Byakuren looked at Sango with a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Tororetsu-san. We'll see if we can arrange an audience with this magician at the lake. Feel free to join us - you've been a great help so far, and given all the trouble we've been it's the least we can do."

Sango smirked, glad that she didn't have to waste time asking if she could tag along. Cleaning this mess up was her responsibility, after all - she couldn't let them slack off on the job while she wasn't looking.

"Alright, then. The Misty Lake is down that ri-"

"Hey...I'm coming, right?"

Murasa let out a sudden hint of concern as she mentally considered the distance she'd have to travel. Sango didn't understand the problem, but fortunately Byakuren was there to fill in the blanks.

"Ah...Murasa here might have to stay behind. Her spirit is linked to the ship, so she can't move too far away from it for risk of disappearing. If she came with us, there's a chance she may end up passing on."

Murasa took offense to that claim, pouting with an angry face.

"Screw chance! There's no way you people are leaving Captain Murasa behind! Who knows what sort of super-strong youkai this vampire girl has under her wing? You need my help, and that's final!"

She was at it again, Sango thought to herself. Now that she'd seen the problem in a different light, there was something pitiful about the entire act - something desperate and self-conscious, insistent on always being there because one failure would bring everything apart. She prepared to give Murasa another talking to in order to get her back into sense.

As it turned out, someone else beat her to it.

"Murasa. We'll be fine, trust us."

Murasa seemed unimpressed by Byakuren's words, pouting like a child. The monk sighed, but there was no sign of frustration on her face. She looked to the rest of the crew, smiling.

"Feel free to go on ahead. I'll catch up with all of you shortly."

A crowd of mixed expressions looked at Byakuren, but eventually the crew complied. Sango was the last to start moving, and that was only because Shou had taken her by the shoulder and pulled her away.

"Don't worry. If there's anything I've learned about Hijiri, it's that she's very good at pointing out when people on the entirely wrong track."

There was a hint of sadness in Shou's face as she said that. Perhaps she had her own first-hand experience in the subject, with Hijiri correcting her when she'd been on the verge of making some horrible mistake.* (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6934.msg446368.html#msg446368) Sango decided it was best to leave it at that, pointing out the directions to the Misty Lake and leading the team onwards. There was an atmosphere of anticipation this time around, mainly because they had avoided dealing with Kirisame. Koishi was cheery as well, but she was always cheery so it didn't really surprise Sango to see her talking about 'meeting that maid with all the sharp things'.

Wait. Sharp things?

"Phwee...maybe this was a bad idea..."

-----

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Byakuren rejoined the group. She returned alone, having supposedly convinced Murasa to stay behind. She was greeted with a few words of relief, but besides that everyone did their best to brush over Murasa's earlier outburst. Sango twiddled her thumbs slightly, doing what she could to focus on her tour-guide duty and not let her thoughts about Murasa distract her.

She did a good enough job up until Byakuren broke away from the group and whispered in her ear.

"Tororetsu-san. A word, if you would?"

Eep. This might end badly.

"U-Uh. Sure."

Sango and Byakuren gained a few steps on the pack, just to make sure that they weren't overheard. The monk's expression was troubled.

"Murasa told me that she confided in you earlier."

There was a look of hurt on her face, like a mother who'd let her child fall off a bicycle, bandaging up her woulds as she bawled her lungs out. At the same time, something was totally absent from her expression - there was no sign of shock or surprise as a result of what Murasa had just told her.

"...You knew that she was pushing herself too hard, didn't you, Hijiri-san?"

Byakuren nodded.

"I thought it would be best for her to learn the hard way rather than just tell her off, but I hadn't expected her failing to be so disastrous...I had thought she would simply trash the shrine, or snap the steering wheel off. Something irritating, but easy to fix and without risk. This, though...the greatest relief is that there were no casualties, but if things had been even slightly different it would have been a different story."

She turned upwards to Sango, forcing a smile.

"On that note, thank you again for all of your help. Two of my crewmates owe you their lives, and for that I am truly grateful."

It was a strange thing. This was the sort of respect she'd craved so much long ago, and now she was receiving it without really caring. She brushed it off, rubbing at her fin nervously.

"R-Really, it's nothing. I mean, compared to all the great things you've done I'm just a big fish in a small pond."

Silence. They'd tried to change the subject, and failed. The Misty Lake was still a few minutes walk away from here, and eventually the pressure weighed down Sango so much she couldn't bring herself to stay quiet.

"...She is gonna be okay, right?"

Byakuren seemed surprised by the question, before bursting into a smile.

"Of course. Why shouldn't she be? No-one knows the ship better than her, after all. I'll simply order her to take mandatory rests rather than maintain her usual bravado. I hope that when this is all over, she will understand that we love her regardless of her failings."

"Well, yeah, but...what about the rest of your crew?"

She'd been positive at the time mainly because there was nothing to gain from telling her that she'd definitely be rejected by her former friends. In truth, though, Sango wasn't so sure of the extent to which they'd be willing to forgive Murasa for what she'd managed to get them into. Her face was a muddled mess as she asked the question of the monk.

Byakuren looked back, at the quietly conversing crewmates. While they clearly weren't overjoyed, none of them seemed to be distraught by their circumstances either.

"We have been through a lot together, Tororetsu-san. I know my disciples well, and I am certain they are willing to give Murasa the benefit of the doubt. They are close, all of them - so close, they may as well be sisters by now."

Byakuren smiled, patting Sango on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tororetsu-san. Everything will be alright. For now, we're counting on you to lead us to this island magician of yours."

Sango didn't realise she'd been holding her breath until it all came out at once in a heaving sigh. It was a definite relief to hear that she hadn't been giving Murasa false hope when she was in a state like that. Now she could devote her attention to getting this mess sorted out.

"Right. ...Thank you, Hijiri-san."

"Think nothing of it. Oh, and one more thing..."

She reached down into one of her pockets, pulling out a small rectangular piece of paper. In Gensokyo, that shape could only mean one thing.

"Murasa came up with the idea a while ago, but she felt it didn't fit properly into her arsenal. She asked me to give it to you."

The card was labelled as Maelstrom [Cauldron of the Speckled Seas]* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corryvreckan), along with an incantation written on the back. Sango examined the card, not sure exactly what sort of pattern it would produce, but she could feel the practically feel the power rising off of the paper. And for some reason the 'speckled seas' part had a nice ring to it - it fit the theme of purity that ran through all of her cards. Well, her one card, but she was working on it.

"Heh. Thanks. Tell her it's better than anything than I could have come up with."

"Oh, I don't think I'll need to tell her that - she saw your handiwork earlier, and she didn't have much good to say about it."

Another playful pat on the back, but this time Sango didn't take it with the same enthusiasm. Apparently, all of this hardship had done anything to make Murasa any less of a critic.

B-But it worked, dammit...

-----

The Misty Lake came into view soon afterward, and true to Sango's word there was a tiny house-shaped silhouette in the distance. Now all that was separating them from their librarian was another large body of water.

"Don't worry, people, there aren't gonna be any sharks this time, I swear. Just jump in and I'll lead the pack. If I'm too fast for anyone, you can ju-"

Sango stopped mid-sentence when Byakuren decided to skip her explanation, taking a step forward into the water. That wasn't what surprised her, though - what shocked her was the fact that her feet had come to a stop, both well away from the side of the lake, and yet she hung a few inches above the water.

"That won't be necessary, Tororetsu-san - we have our own methods of getting around, you see."

She floated through the air, hovering above the water's surface and ignoring silly matters such as gravity. Shou and Nazrin followed behind her, holding hands as they flew along, and Ichirin used her cloud companion as a platform to guide her across the lake.

Sango watched the entire sequence in stunned silence.

"...They can fly? All of them?"

A pair of arms wrapped around Sango's waist from behind, pulling her out of her stupor.

"Hey, Sango-chan! You aren't gonna let those guys outrace us, are you!?"

Looking back, she saw Koishi looking up at her with a blaze of passion in her eyes. It must have been infectious, because moments later Sango could feel it as well. She took one look at the crew flying off into the distance ahead of her, and before she could notice her rational thought had flown out the window.

"...OK, Koishi-chan. Like always?"

"Like always~!"

Sango nodded, taking a step backwards from the edge of the lake to get off to a running start. Koishi stood just behind her, letting go and taking a running stance as well. The pair leapt off the edge of the lake in unison, Koishi gripping Sango as they dove into the water and sitting on a dolphin by the time they surfaced.

"Any good hero knows how to arrive on time! Watch out, vampire - here comes Dolphin Rider Koishi!"

Sango burst through the water at top speed, feeling a burst of excitement the cluttered, stuffed-up rivers kept from her. She almost never got to swim at full power on the job, so finally being able to set the pace was incredibly refreshing.

Of course, it had never been a race. The crew of the Palanquin Ship were more than content with taking their time with the journey, totally unaware there was even a 'race' going on until Sango burst past them, her hyperactive passenger yelling at the top of her voice.

"YEEEEEEEEEEAH! HAVE NO FEAR, BYSTANDERS!"

Koishi gained the same response she usually did from people who witnessed her antics - namely, stunned silence, and a collective rubbing of eyes to ensure that people weren't hallucinating. Sango and Koishi blasted along regardless, and as the island shore came into sight the satori poked her steed in the side.

That was her cue for the big finish.

Now that she had a good opening, Sango dove down into the water, Koishi clinging tightly around her. For five whole seconds they plunged downwards, until finally Sango pulled up, rising to the surface at full speed.

For a moment, the pair were as high in the air as their temple companions. Koishi tipped her hat to the group behind her, who seemed as confused by the entire ordeal as before.

"Wish you were here~!"* (http://a.imageshack.us/img717/4517/tourismyay.png)

They couldn't really tell, thanks to none of them being experts in dolphin expressions, but Sango was just as confused by that statement as everyone else.

This girl really is one polyp short of a coral reef, isn't she?

As the moment passed, Sango brought her rider back down into the lake with a mighty crash. They had the good graces to wait for their companions to catch up before approaching the mansion itself, and they received a variety of responses from the crew - Byakuren and Ichirin had the decency to applaud the pair for their display, with Unzan nodding approvingly behind them; Nazrin offered nothing, occasionally giving Koishi a glare that practically screamed 'showoff'; and finally, Shou had yet to overcome the initial feeling of shock, still looking on with a puzzled expression. Nazrin eventually knocked her out of the stupor with a well aimed poke in the back, pushing her forward along with the rest of the crew towards the mansion.

It didn't seem to fit with the area - indeed, its Western design seemed out of place with the rest of Gensokyo. The walls were painted a dark red, but when the sun was out the light bouncing outward turned them a light, blood-red tint. A wall roughly 8 feet tall ran around the length of the mansion, and the one gate inward was guarded by a single guard, standing to attention and ready to do her job.

Or at least, she was now. Two minutes ago she had been asleep at her post, until a certain self-proclaimed magical girl woke her up with her screaming.

"H-Halt! The mistress will have no business with outsiders!"

The guard took a fighting stance, immediately ready to do battle with the advancing crew. She dressed in a light green robe that seemed foreign, though not the same foreign as the mansion she protected, and her long scarlet hair was frayed and ruffled as a result of her nap. In spite of that, though, her battle stance certainly looked threatening - she was quite confident she could take any or all the advancing foes in a fight.

She couldn't, of course. Byakuren could have probably given her one punch and sent her flying across the lake, and she wouldn't have much more trouble in a spellcard duel. Still, unlike a certain shrine maiden, Byakuren wasn't the type to resort to violence unless absolutely necessary, and gave her disciples the order to stand down.

"Please, do not panic. We merely wish to meet with your local magician as a plea for aid."

The guard seemed confused by the fact that Byakuren wasn't attacking her. Given Gensokyo's love for danmaku battles at the drop of a hat, this was unsurprising.

"Ah, well...I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Patchouli-sama has a strict no-visitors policy, especially with the black-white witch on the loose. You'll have to look elsewhere."

A collective groan from the masses. Marisa Kirisame had managed to take out their alternative, even if it was unintentional. It was obviously possible for them to just fly over the wall and break in themselves, but Byakuren was well aware that breaking and entering would not be good for the temple's reputation, emergency or otherwise. It seemed like they'd have to risk a visit to the black-white after all, but no-one approached the idea with any anticipation. They turned around, ready to take the long trip away to the Forest of Magic.

"What's wrong with you people?! Haven't you forgotten who your ally is?"

Of all the people to tell them off, no-one had expected it to be Koishi. She glared down the gate guard intently, clicking her fingers.

"I'm a girl of many talents! I'm a master of combat, beauty, and on top of all that..."

She ran straight towards the gate, right past the guard and through the open gateway. She was giving the guard every reason to panic and beat her senseless, or call the mansion's army of maids to apprehend the thief that had just broken in.

Instead, though, the guard simply looked onward, ignoring Koishi entirely. It was as if she were completely unable to see Koishi at all, like the satori had mentally told her that she wasn't there.

"Stealth!"

The party she'd travelled with still saw her plain as day, though, and they could only watch as Koishi darted into the mansion unstopped. Immediately, Shou ran over to stop her, but again the gate guard blocked her.

"I said no visitors. Don't make me get physical, cat girl."

"B-But didn't you see it? Our friend just ran in right past you!"

"...You're joking, right? If anyone came past me, I'd have seen it. Are you trying to say I can't do my job?"

Sango winced. Koishi had a habit of doing things like this - jumping in and out of sight, making herself invisible to anyone she didn't want seeing her - but she'd discarded it as a silly trait that wouldn't really affect anything. She hadn't expected Koishi to charge in all guns blazing like this.

...Aw, who am I kidding? It's Koishi-chan. I really should've seen this one coming.

Sango sighed, turning back to the water behind her. Ichirin was the only one to look away from the gate, seeing her ready to jump back into the lake.

"Tororetsu-san, you aren't leaving now, are you...?!"

Sango looked over to her once, and smiled.

"Nope. Just gonna stop her before she does something we all regret. Keep her distracted, 'kay?"

She leaped out into the water. Ichirin must have started on a response, but the water blocked her out before Sango could hear the rest. She had to hurry - knowing Koishi, it was entirely possible the entire mansion would be trashed by the time she surfaced.

She'd seen it during her big finish with Koishi earlier - a small hole in the rock beneath the surface, the start of a tunnel that would hopefully lead upwards into the mansion itself. Sango swam as quickly as her fins would carry her, mentally uttering a prayer to whatever god of the mountain happened to be watching at the time.

Please don't let her break anything too valuable. I've gone through enough today without having to explain a heaving bill in damages to Satori-chan...
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on September 28, 2010, 12:26:30 AM: Depending on the circumstances, this may or may not end well. :3
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Iced Fairy on September 28, 2010, 12:44:14 AM: Quote from: Kasunagi-no-Tsurugi on September 28, 2010, 12:26:30 AM
Depending on the circumstances, this may or may not end well. :3
Lies. This can only end well.

If by "end well" you mean, end in wacky Koishi based shenanigans.

Also good to see Byakuren is ready to give the smackdown to Murasa when needed.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on October 02, 2010, 01:04:25 PM: Many thanks to Ryuu for linking me to a new word processor (http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/) that's incredibly good with keeping me away from all those distractions that stopped me getting this written earlier. :V

-----

It took a few minutes for Sango to follow the tunnel to its conclusion. Most of that time was spent wondering exactly what this thing had been built for - she had trouble coming up with a reason for a mansion to have an underwater passageway.

She was helped along to an answer when the water started pulling her along by itself.

"Mmh?!"

A trap?!

Sango started turning around, trying to push herself back out of the tunnel, but whatever current was pulling her in was too strong for her. The tunnel jerked upwards, pulling Sango upwards despite all her best efforts to fight it. This must have been how they got their meat for dinner - lure in some innocent fish with an interesting looking tunnel, then chop them up with a hidden fan. She'd yet to meet this vampire girl, but she already didn't like her.

B-But I don't wanna be dolphin fillet!

She switched to human form, looking for something to hold onto, but the featureless walls gave her nothing to grip. The current continued to pull her upwards, growing only stronger as she was dragged further along.

Hm...?

She took a while to notice it, but the tunnel was getting...brighter. Maybe they shone a light over their chopping fan to lure fish to the surface. Maybe it was all a trap to fool them into safety and make them serve themselves. Either way, she was being pulled towards the light whether she liked it or not. She braced herself, ready for some sort of weapon to cut her up and turn her into tonight's main course.

She was slightly disappointed when it turned out that she had not been lured into a food processor after all, and she surfaced harmlessly in the mansion's fountain.

"...Phwee?"

Sango needed a moment to realise that she'd been letting her imagination get ahead of her. Behind her, the water in the tunnel was spouting upwards into the air, splashing into her eyes. Fortunately, the main hall was deserted, and no-one witnessed her rising up out of the water with a sigh of relief.

"Phew. That was a close one..."

There was no time for her to sit and relax after escaping a deathtrap that didn't exist, though. Koishi had been let loose on this household, and there was more potential for destruction there than with any weapon. Quickly drying herself off, Sango tried to get her bearings and figure out where she was. It was an attempt that failed miserably - the building seemed larger on the inside than it had been on the outside, as ridiculous as it sounded.

Either way, the first thing to do was find a way to blend in. If the no-visitor policy was as strict as the gate guard had made out, people probably wouldn't be too pleased to see a dolphin youkai roaming around minding her own business. If even one maid saw her she'd probably be in deep trouble. Even that maid over there, sighing to herself as she brushed at a smudge on her dress-

! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icv-7qvFAHQ)

Sango dipped back down into the fountain before the maid turned in her direction. It was a fairy, maybe four feet tall, fluttering through the hall while harrumphing to herself.

"Goddamn it, Izayoi...just because the mistress likes you doesn't mean you can force all the dirty chores to us..."

The fairy paid Sango no mind as she poked her head out of the water slightly, watching as the maid walked into one of the several rooms that branched out from the hall. Every door looked the same as the one next to it, leaving Sango to wonder exactly how the maids were expected to learn their way around.

A minute later, the door reopened, and the fairy reemerged with a clean uniform. She sighed as she made her way back down the corridor, mumbling something about 'deserts of dust I'm expected to traverse'. Sango pulled herself out of the fountain outright as she disappeared, the gears in her head slowly turning.

So...it's a changing room.

She looked momentarily down the corridors at her side, checking if anyone was looking out into the hall. The coast was clear. She ran as quietly as she could (read: not very, these human feet were still strange things to her) and snuck into the changing room herself. Sure enough, dozens of replacement costumes were lined up on dozens of racks, waiting for a disgruntled fairy to change into.

'Fairy' was the key word here, as Sango quickly discovered that these uniforms expected her to be about two heads shorter in order to wear them. She ran through the racks, looking for anything that could fit her, but it wasn't set to happen any time soon unless she shrank in the next two minutes.

She heard a patting sound from the hall outside.

"Ah?!"

Another maid, most likely. Sango eyed the room, looking for anything that resembled a hiding place, eventually settling for a nearby wardrobe. She pulled it open, only having a moment to look at its contents before entering, and it was only after she'd closed herself in that she realised she was standing right next to a full-size maid uniform. It was labelled as belonging to the Head Maid, whoever that was, though given it was here she assumed it was a replacement.

...Well, not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

The footsteps outside came closer as Sango tried to change in the wardrobe. She left her old clothes on the wardrobe floor, deciding that if she was going to wear a disguise she was going to go all the way. The entire ensemble fit her quite well, but there was an offputting ripping noise as she pulled on the main dress. She couldn't make out the problem in the dark, so she tried to put it to the back of her mind as she listened to the sounds of the passer-by.

It was only as the figure passed the door to the changing room that Sango heard the humming that was going along with the footsteps. She couldn't make out much, but alarm bells rung in her head when she made out the words 'dolphin' and 'justice'.

Koishi!

Sango burst out of the wardrobe, not bothering to pick up her clothes as she dashed out of the changing room. Maybe it was dangerous to leave evidence of her infiltration so obvious, but the alternative was giving Koishi more time to have her way with the innards of this mansion. Avoiding that was worth any risk.

She'd been too slow, unfortunately; Koishi had already passed out of the hall by the time Sango emerged. Fortunately, the dripping puddles on the floor were more than enough of a clue, and the occasional footprint gave her a direction to turn. For a moment, she considered looking backwards, at the path Koishi took coming into the hall, to see what sort of devastation she was set to unleash. She decided otherwise, because any time spent not chasing her was time she could spend destroying something else.

Running had been hard enough, but running with these cumbersome pieces of fabric that land-dwellers called 'shoes' was harder still. It felt like she was riding the world's shortest pair of stilts, and her balance was off just enough for Koishi to have the edge on her speed-wise.

There was something uncanny about the way that Koishi moved through the mansion, because every time Sango turned into a new corridor all she saw was a sight of the satori moving just out of view, leaving a devastated hallway in her wake. Vases were dropped, paintings were drawn over, and along the walls little pictures of dolphins had been painted with a childish hand. Sango wondered briefly how Koishi could have caused so much devastation in such little time (and more importantly, where she was getting drawing utensils when her swimsuit didn't have so much as a pocket); a few seconds later she simply put it to one side as 'a Koishi thing'.

One picture in particular, though, kept reappearing, and every time she saw it her heart pumped a little bit faster. It was a poorly-drawn stick figure, with a face consisting of two dots and a mouth, but there were two characteristics in particular that stood out. Namely, the long silver hair and the grey fin on the figure's back.

No.

She stopped staring, taking another turn. Again Koishi was just leaving at the same time she arrived, and again nothing of any taste had survived her onslaught. A marble bust had been toppled, broken apart to the point Sango had no idea who it was meant to have been. She took care not to step on any of the remnants of the sculpture as she took another glance at the wall. Again, the same character appeared half a dozen times on this particular canvas - no sign of Koishi herself, but Sango made several showings.

Oh, please, no. You?re kidding me.

So much for the disguise. Maybe she could have argued before that she was just a new enrollment that no-one had met, but when her face had been drawn along the incriminating graffiti that argument was just about useless. Placing her hands behind her back in a desperate attempt to hide her fin, Sango burst down the corridor, trying to stop Koishi and get her out before she could do any more damage.

At last the corridor came to an end, as Sango stepped out into a second hallway. This time she seriously had to question how one girl could devastate the room so thoroughly in such little time. Giant rips ran along the carpet, and where it wasn?t torn it was stained with what looked like...ice cream? The same art-ruining sketches had been drawn all over the place as well, but now there was even a stick-figure Sango looking down at her from the ceiling, a good ten metres above her. She had only given Koishi maybe ten seconds to have her way with the place unseen, but even by Koishi?s very loose limits this had to be outright impossible.

Worrying about the state of the mansion could wait, though. At last Sango had caught up to the self-proclaimed Dolphin Rider, standing in front of an ominous looking door - the first, in fact, to look different from the dozens she?d passed getting here. While the other doors were made of well-fashioned, neatly kept wood, this one had been crafted with the strongest, hardest metals that could be brought together, and dozens of locks were thrown across its surface for good measure. In case all of those precautions didn?t serve as enough of a warning, a sign above the door helpfully informed Sango that access to the basement below was punishable by death. (A second sign just beneath it said in smaller font that entering was its own punishment.)

Koishi, in typical style, paid no attention to these signs, simply starting to pick away at the locks on the door.

?Ah-?

Sango almost called out before she remembered that this was meant to be a stealth job - no doubt the maid armies that worked here would swarm around her if she raised her voice. She settled instead for running towards Koishi, planning to grab her and pull her away from The Ominous Door To The Basement if necessary.

This plan would have worked excellently if she hadn?t tripped over one of the tears in the carpet.

?Phweeeee-!?

Sango hit the floor hard, wincing as she grabbed her nose. These ?shoes? that land-dwellers were so fond of were really a pain in the neck, when it came down to it. If she wasn?t wearing the uniform for authenticity, they?d definitely be the first things to go, though these weird white things they called ?socks? were a close second.

?Are you all right??

A voice from above reached Sango as she struggled to her feet. She stood up straight, brushing the dust off her uniform and sighing.

?Ow...uh, yeah. No problem, really. I?m fi-?

Her response died in her throat when she noticed the other speaker had placed a knife to her throat.

?Good. It would be a shame if you had injured yourself before I could exact your sentence.?

It was another maid, this one Sango?s own height, and from the lack of dainty wings it was clear she was no fairy. The pair shared the same uniform, and even the same hair colour, but the maid?s was tied in a pair of braids, one on each side of her face. Her dark blue eyes stared at Sango coldly, catching a glint of the weapon she held with a masterful grip.

?Normally, my orders for dealing with intruders such as yourself would involve turning you in to the mistress. However, since you took the time to damage my spare uniform, I think I?ll make a special exception for you.?

This was not the best way Sango could have been introduced to the head maid, to say the least. She stuttered out a response, trying to come up with a story on the spot that wouldn?t get her diced.

?Uh, well...I?ve got a reason to be here, I swear, and it?ll sound kinda crazy, but I can explain it all. And...I don?t think I damaged it. Did I? I don?t remember doing anythi-?

Sango blinked, and the maid had vanished. She stood still for a moment, blinking wildly to confirm she wasn?t seeing things, until she received a helpful tap on the fin.

?We don?t fit uniforms for fish, you know.?

If this situation had been any less tense, Sango would have pointed out that dolphins weren?t fish and exaggerated the point as much as possible. Given that it wasn?t, though, she just turned her head around to see the maid staring disapprovingly at her back. The fabric of the outfit had been torn clean apart by the protruding fin, to the point where it was a stroke of fortune that Sango?s outfit was even staying together.

?...Oh.?

In the corner of her eye, Sango noticed that Koishi was well more than halfway through the array of locks to the basement door. The maid seemed intent on keeping her in place, though, holding a knife so close to her that Sango could make out the name Sakuya Izayoi engraved on its edge.

Plan A - asking for permission to enter - had failed. Plan B - sneaking in and stopping Koishi before she could bring the mansion to the ground - had failed even more spectacularly. Sango had two plans left, both desperate and unlikely to succeed, but the alternative was bloody and painful (at least for her).

She made an attempt at Plan C - distraction.

?Uh, shouldn?t you be more worried about that girl over there breaking into the basement??

Sakuya raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking over towards the basement door. To Sango?s eyes, Koishi was picking at the locks with a keen hand, as if she?d broken in to this room several times before.

The maid, however, simply looked back at Sango, unimpressed, as she saw the same firmly-locked basement door she?d always seen.

?If you honestly expected me to be distracted by that for long enough that you would have a chance to run, I?m afraid you are sorely mistaken.?

Sango sighed. Koishi?s subconscious antics had struck again. Plan C had gone down in flames faster than either of the plans before it, which left her Plan D. This was literally her last resort, her one opportunity to make a break for it. She felt a little dirty even before the words had left her mouth, but she preferred a little dirtiness over a little knife in her gut.

If she?d had time to come up with a witty name, she?d have called it Plan D - The DD Gambit.

?...Say. I don?t remember being this well-endowed before I put on the uniform...?

Sango looked down at her own chest, noting that she was a little...bouncier than she had been before. She was clearly onto something, because Sakuya?s hand tensed suddenly when she heard the phrase ?well-endowed?.

?I got changed in the dark, see. This is your outfit, so surely you know the secret behind it, right??

Sakuya?s face quickly turned bright red. The implacable head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion only had one Achilles? heel, and Sango had just called her out on it. The hand holding the knife began to tremble.

?T-That?s...that?s not...?

It was a moment of distraction, and that was all Sango needed. She slid the carpet beneath Sakuya?s feet, sending the maid spiralling to the floor in a heap as she was caught off guard. Sango didn?t bother hanging around to gloat, simply taking this as her cue to run to the hills.

She hadn?t been able to stop Koishi, and as she made her way down the corridor she could see the satori opening the basement door with a mighty creak. There was a confident smile on her face as she started to step down into the abyss below, ready to take on whatever danger the signs and locks had been trying to protect her from.

That was all Sango made out as she turned into a corridor and ran for dear life. That, and a head maid giving her a glare that looked deadlier than any knife.

-----

Which way did I come in again?!

The endless corridors and hallway of the mansion were coming back to haunt Sango, as she suddenly realised that she?d lost track of her direction. Her opponent, however, was a maid who had worked here for years, and who knew these identikit rooms like the back of her hand. Sakuya trailed her intently, still leering furiously as she tried to catch up.

?Get back here, you overgrown sardine! I?ll have you wishing you were the mistress?s next meal by the time I?m done with you!?

She didn?t know it, but Sango had made the perfect move in infuriating the maid. As she?d seen earlier, Sakuya had the ability to stop and start time at will, and with that at her disposal catching one intruder would have been an easy task. In her current state, though, she was about as relaxed as a prettyboy boxer who?d taken a punch to the face* (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMBKP_5PI2U), and her time powers required a level of calm and focus she no longer possessed.

As Sango found out several times, though, she was still a damn good shot with those knives.

?Whoa!?

Another lucky escape. She lost a few strands of hair to that attack, turning away just in time to witness another knife lodging into the wall where her head had been. How many of those things did she have?!

Her legs were starting to hurt now. She was used to high speed chases, but not outside of the water - there was only so long she could keep going before she outright collapsed. Her only chance now was to try ducking into a nearby room and blocking it from the inside, but which room was she supposed to use? How was she even supposed to know, given that they all looked the same?!

Well, except for that one. The one that was coming up to her side right now, made of an older, more refined wood than its neighbours, with the word Library written above it in a font more fitting of a holy scripture-

Wait. Library...library!

Two birds, one stone. If she could find a Stone of Focus here, then maybe there would at least be something to gain from this whole adventure other than a collection of cuts and bruises. Sango abruptly changed direction, shoulder-barging the door and slamming it open as a trio of knives flew past her head. She closed the door behind her the moment she could, locking it on the inside with a dainty looking chain.

Outside the room, she could make out Sakuya?s hands battering the wood, but the door held together in spite of the maid?s beating. Maybe it was reinforced magically as an extra precaution against intruders? It was a question Sango didn?t sit around to consider too long, not when she had her own problems to take care of. Finding herself a Stone of Focus, for one. That couldn?t possibly be too much of a problem, though - after all, how large could a library possibly be?

That thought quickly left her head as she turned around, seeing a sea of bookshelves stretching out as far as her eyes could make out, and probably continuing a lot way past that as well.

Oh, she thought to herself. That large.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on October 02, 2010, 07:40:01 PM: Koishi and Flandre's meeting in the background makes me smile with glee. Something like this: >:D

I wonder how Patchouli's gonna take to our dolphin?
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on October 02, 2010, 07:59:14 PM: The stairway down from the door did nothing to calm Sango?s unease. The bookshelves began to loom over her from the first step, a feeling that only intensified as time went on. She began to wish that she had could fly through the air like so many of the people she?d met, because otherwise she couldn?t imagine having a way to seeing the contents of the higher shelves.

Walking along the library floor, Sango was convinced now that this room alone was larger than the entire mansion had looked from the outside. She?d seen the maid earlier doing strange things to time - maybe she could shift space around as well, to give the mansion more scope beyond what the petty size of the island would offer. It was space that this library clearly needed - examining the shelves, Sango found hundreds, even thousands of unique books covering every subject that she could think of, as well as several that she couldn?t. And those were just the tomes written in a language she recognised - a good number of them had names scrawled on in ancient characters that she couldn?t make head nor tail of.

Where am I even meant to start...?

If she stepped in too far, there was every chance she?d get lost again. The moment she came to a juncture, Sango realised that just like the corridors of the mansion, every bookshelf here looked nigh-identical. Still, if it was a choice between looking around here and heading back out to the knife-toting head maid, she?d take her chances in this labyrinth.

She wandered around aimlessly, without a clue where she was meant to be headed. All she saw on the bookshelves were, well, books - no sign of any artifacts, especially not the sort that Murasa would be needing to get the ship up and running again. She soon lost her sense of time - there were no windows in this library, the only source of light being the occasional candle, flickering to an unseen wind. Occasionally the stone walls of the library shifted colour slightly, as if the blocks had needed to be replaced after being knocked out. The pattern made by the oddly-coloured blocks was almost human-shaped.

?...Yeah, this isn?t working out.?

Dolphin intuition had been a long shot, and sure enough it hadn?t brought her towards her prize. Surely, though, there had to be someone around here who knew her way around - the magician, or her assistants, or her servants, or whatever it was she had. Sango?s search shifted from looking for an item to look for a person - someone, anyone who could point her in the right direction.

This search, at least, didn?t take long, as echoing footsteps were easy enough to make out along the library?s stone floors. Sango approached hastily, following the sound to its source, but her target strolled along lazily as if entirely unaware she was being followed.

Thirty seconds later, Sango made it to her destination. Down the aisle of shelves, she could see a single young woman carrying a small pile of books, a matching set of black, demonic wings behind her head and on her back. Her attention was devoted entirely to balancing the stack of tomes she was carrying around, her scarlet eyes watching with utmost care. Seeing the little devil entranced in her duties, Sango couldn?t bring herself to interrupt, allowing her to finish her job before asking for her aid.

?This goes here, and that goes there...?

She spoke to herself as she started placing the books she was carrying into the shelves, but Sango noticed that her words and her actions didn?t add up. She looked at one spot in the shelf, but then proceeded to place the book in another. From where she was standing, it looked like the devil was deliberately placing the books in the wrong order, and when she came to a finish Sango noticed that unlike the descending order that every other shelf had been ordered in, this one had its titles listed in ascending order.

?Well, she told me to put them in order. Never bothered saying which. Oh man, she?s gonna lose it when she sees this. Good thing she has a loyal servant to look these titles out for her...?

The devil?s congratulations came to a halt as she turned around, seeing Sango waiting for her at the other end of the aisle. She froze in place, unconsciously straightening up her black dress with one hand and fixing her sleeves.

?W-Why, Izayoi-san! It?s unusual for you to visit us, isn?t it??

Izayoi...?

Sango quickly remembered that she was in the head maid?s attire. Apparently, she bore enough resemblance to Sakuya that this librarian had mistaken her for the real maid, and looked towards her with a respectful authority. That, or it was a trusty looking smile to get her to drop her guard, and given what she?d just seen the devil doing Sango was willing to guess it was the latter.

Still, better play along. This might be my free ticket.

?A-Ahem. Yes, apologies. I?m here because we need a Stone of Focus upstairs, and I was hoping that Patchouli would have her hands on one.?

Good thing she?d managed to overhear the demon saying her master?s name, or things would have gone much more awkwardly. Sango made sure to face her at all times, because showing her that fin of hers would probably ruin her disguise. The wings behind the devil?s ears twitched in confusion.

?Oh? A Stone of Focus? As in the channeling device? Why would you need one of those??

?Ah.?

Sango bit her lip. She hadn?t thought this far ahead.

Think, dammit, think! What could they used one of those stones for upstairs?

?To, uh...power the, uh...fountain. The mistress wants to make it more extravagant.?

It was a lousy excuse, and for a moment it looked like the devil had caught her out on it. Sango could see the suspicion rising in her eyes, but a blink later she looked cheerful and welcoming again.

?Oh, certainly! Well, I?m afraid I can?t let you simply take one without letting my mistress know. I?ll take you to Patchouli-sama, and you can discuss it with her, okay??

No. That was not okay. That was very, very bad. This lower-grade devil may have fallen for the disguise, but she had a feeling that a high-ranking magician definitely wouldn?t. She raised her hands up, attempting to protest.

?N-Now, that isn?t necessary. Patchouli and I are good friends, and I?m in sort of a hurry with this. The mistress won?t wait long, after a-?

?Nonsense! I know you work your maids very strictly, Izayoi-san, and we?re the same down here as well! We have rules and regulations, and we?re to stick to them whatever the circumstances! I?m sure she won?t mind if you?re a little late, will she??

Something told Sango that she hadn?t fooled this demon at all. There was a hint of smugness in her smile as she motioned to Sango to follow her, the pride of a predator leading its victim into a trap. Still, it was either this or blowing her cover entirely, so she had to just run with it and follow the devil?s lead.

?Well, I suppose I can always say its your fault...what was your name, again? Sorry, it?s been a while since I came down here.?

?Oh, I?m Koakuma! No worries, I like people not knowing who I am or what I do down here.?

She snickered as she looked away from Sango, who was busy doing some crunching in her head.

Koakuma...little devil?

Apparently, whoever had named her was hideously uncreative. She decided not to raise the point as Koakuma led her around the library, apparently knowing her way around these dozens upon dozens of shelves. Sango wondered if there was a map of the place magically implanted in her head, because she couldn?t imagine anyone knowing how to get from one place to another in a maze like this.

?So, I noticed you aren?t wearing those braids you like so much, Izayoi-san.?

Uh-oh. Think fast.

?I was cooking earlier. I couldn?t have my hair falling down into my food, could I? That would be unhygienic.?

That sounds good. She?ll buy that.

?Really...? The last time you came down here, I distinctly remember seeing flour in your braids. Why the change??

Koakuma looked back at her with a victorious glint in her eye. That was the point when Sango became well aware that she?d been discovered, a point that hit her doubly hard when she realised that the exit was long out of sight. Even if she were to run now, she?d be lost in the endless labyrinth of bookshelves for more than long enough to be caught anyway, assuming she didn?t starve to death first.

?...The mistress was ill after that meal. She ordered me to change her ways.?

?Really? That?s very interesting...?

From the tone in her voice, it was clear Koakuma hadn?t bought her words. In fact, Sango was wondering now if she?d been telling the truth in the first place with her flour story at all. The devil?s walk grew a little more relaxed, and she started humming to herself as she led Sango along, to a tune that the dolphin didn?t recognise but which could hardly be called welcoming.

The journey to visit Koakuma?s master felt like a trip to the gallows. Sango drooped her head as she followed on, until finally the shelves seemed to break apart and produce an opening. This must have been the dead centre of the library - there was only a single desk here, and it was occupied by another woman hunched over an ancient text. Her lips moved silently as she read, mentally repeating the words so they?d stay fresher in her mind. Even from this angle, Sango could see the deathly pale skin hidden behind her long, violet hair, as she continued to study in clothes that looked like they were designed to be slept in. Koakuma gave her a gentle prod on the left shoulder - careful, like touching a mirror and trying not to break it - while standing to her right side in an attempt at a prank. Her master had long since caught on to this game of hers, though, and glanced over her right shoulder towards the pair.

?Koakuma, I thought I had instructed you to order those books in the Reference section.?

She spoke with a detached tone, no real interest or care present in her words. Her dark purple eyes glared at Sango in suspicion. As she?d expected, the magician had seen through her masquerade in an instant. Koakuma cheerily walked up to her master, waving her hands towards the dolphin as an introduction.

?No worries, Patchouli-sama, everything is in place. Meanwhile...I have an intruder here for you.?

Koakuma shot Sango a demonic grin as she wandered off to some other part of the library, leaving the dolphin to deal with her mistress. Patchouli didn?t even let shock work its way on to her face for an instant, placing her book down and giving Sango a cold stare.

?I see that the rats have learned to swim.?

And already she was talking in riddles. Great. The magician could make out the confusion on Sango?s face, sighing as she found herself needing to explain.

?This library already has something of a rat problem, you see. We have vile, black things breaking in on a regular basis and taking whatever books they require. I had not expected more of their kind, especially not creatures like you.?

She glanced at the fin on Sango?s back - not with amazement, but it was close to that. She examined it almost scientifically, and Sango could imagine her pulling out every about her species from her long history of study.

?...A dolphin? Rather rare in these parts. A remnant of Greek mythology? Doesn?t seem to fit the characteristics when it comes to aiding others...?

She spoke aloud, verbally announcing her train of thought. Given the glare she was getting, Sango had a horrible feeling she was going to be given a good examination by the magician - the kind that involved taking her apart to see what made her tick.

?L-Look, I just wanna talk to you, okay? I don?t mean any harm, honest! I?m just here because I need a Stone of Focus!?

Patchouli?s glare grew more intense. It was an inquisitive look, the kind that silently asked for an explanation. Sango could feel her legs trembling slightly under the weight of that glare, and the story seeped out of her mouth unconsciously.

?W-Well, I live in a lake near here, and a ship crashed there this morning, and they need one of them to get it out. Your gate guard wouldn?t let me in, so...?

The magician?s gaze lightened slightly in surprise. She started muttering to herself again, but this time Sango couldn?t make out her words. She only caught the word 'fountain' and the phrase ?need to have Sakuya add a grate?. Eventually, she pulled herself to her feet, a task that seemed to rack her fragile body. For all her magical strength, she didn?t seem that well off physically.

?...Well, I must at least give you some merit. Making it all the way to me without perishing on the way is a feat I would otherwise have thought beyond your kind.?

?Hey, I resent that. Dolphins are highly intelligent, I?ll have you know!?

Patchouli ignored that claim, stepping out from behind her desk. Her movements were slow, strained, and by the time she?d stepped in front of it she was already breathing a little harder. She reached into her pyjamas, pulling out a trio of paper slits, their faces adorned with ancient characters.

?I would have otherwise taken this opportunity to research your inner workings, but as a reward for your bravery and ingenuity I shall give you a chance to prove yourself. Best me in battle, and you may have your prize. Lose, and perhaps you may have a future working alongside Koakuma...assuming you survive, that is.?

One of the cards in her hand started to glow, and the air surrounding it began to swirl. Sango could only respond with panic - if that was the power the card contained before it was declared, how strong was it going to be when she declared it!?

?Countless leaves of the elven forests, gather and rend my foes to nothing.
Wood Sign [Green Storm]!?

The card exploded in Patchouli?s hand, transforming into hundreds of green fragments that riddled the air around her. Each of them had edges sharp as razors, and all seemed primed to charge the instant she gave the order. Sango?s trembling grew more intense - she?d brought the two spellcards on her person with her along with the new outfit, but she doubted that either of them could possibly match this.

The tired-looking magician brought her hand down, pointing it towards Sango. She looked at her target emotionlessly, letting a single word slip from her mouth.

?Fly.?

The leaves obeyed their master?s order, darting through the air in Sango?s direction by the dozens. The dolphin quickly found herself facing a wall of bullets, flying straight onward with the intent of impaling themselves in the wall behind her - whether she was in their way or not. She looked at the oncoming wall hastily, trying to find some sort of opening to sneak through.

No time, no time! Just do something!

She picked a spot that looked just about clear of bullets, leaping towards it for dear life. The leaves blew past her, but she felt a stinging across her legs as some of their number caught her skin, cutting just beneath the surface with a knife-edge. She hit the floor hard, wincing as she saw more slices and tears along her outfit as a result of the attack.

Oh, great. Now the knife maid has even more to get mad at me for.

After a clumsy and painful roll, Sango rushed to her feet and started down the first path she could see. She?d learned two important facts about Patchouli - one, she was about as physically strong as a sheet of soggy paper, so she could make a break for it while the magician prepared herself a less grueling form of transport.

Two, and this was the important one - she wasn?t going to be able to take her in a head-on fight. No doubt she could sense her presence wherever she went, with magical powers as potent as hers, so a surprise attack was out of the question. That left her only one option if she was going to survive - she had to outlast Patchouli, run away until she was too tired to keep up the fight.

Easier said than done!

She?d been lucky to escape with so few injuries, but already her speed on the ground had taken a hit. She limped slightly, wincing with every step thanks to the cuts along her legs. If there was water on hand, she could pull herself back together, but...

?Spirits of the land, rise up in anger and dissipate in fury.
Earth Sign [Rage Trilithon]!?

Patchouli?s voice echoed through the library as she declared her second card. She didn?t need to be near Sango to tell where she was headed, and proceeded to send her a roadblock. A trio of stone columns burst out from the earth in front of her with enough force to knock her back, looming over her exit threateningly. For an instant, Sango stared up blankly at the stone pillars, too tired to rise straight to her feet.

That quickly changed as the columns began to collapse, their remnants falling towards her at high speed.

?Uwah!?

Sango rolled backward, dodging the first wave of bullets as they made destructive patterns in the stone beneath them. The second, though, was looming in on her quickly, and behind her she could make out the sound of leaves fluttering in the wind. On both sides, she was well and truly trapped.

Time for emergency measures. Sango reached into one of the outfit?s pockets, pulling out the first of her two cards.

?As the dirty waters are made pure, strike down my enemies with what remains!
Cleansing Sign [Purified Greywater]!?

She spoke as quickly as her mouth would let her, the card shining to life in double time. The same grey wall of bullets as always formed in front of her, and as she clicked her fingers it fired off into its requisite colours. The blue bullets dashing behind her cut through the wall of green leaves, while the black bullets tore a hole in the collapsing stones for only a moment.

Now!

Sango saw her opening and took it, leaping through the gap in the rocks. It was a close call, and she felt one of her socks being torn through her leg as the column fell back down. She was glad to be rid of it, and if she wasn?t in such a rush right now she would have removed the other sock as well, along with these horrible shoe contraptions.

Now the fatigue was really starting to set in. Sango needed a moment to stop, rest, recuperate, but there was no way she would be offered any rest here. She ran onward, looking for somewhere to hide and recover even for the slightest of moments.

Her prayers were soon answered, as a pool slowly came into view in front of her.

She didn?t want to know what a swimming pool was doing in a library, and frankly she didn?t care. She simply jumped off the edge, landing into the water with an elegant swan dive. Immediately the relief started to come to her - the water here had been formed magically, and so it was of the purest calibre. Simply by being in its presence Sango felt stronger, the cuts and scrapes on her legs beginning to close up. She was surprised that Patchouli had left her this option - it was a convenient escape for a youkai with her abilities.

In fact...it was a little too convenient.

?...I call upon the power of ice to condemn my foe to a watery grave.?

A voice drifted through the water, muffled but audible. Patchouli was floating above the water, sitting on a cushion of air and looking straight down at her. Even from down here, she could make out the same heartless glare as always.

By the time Sango was aware that she?d been tricked, it was too late.

?Water Sign [Bury In Lake]!?

Now it wasn?t the card that Sango saw glowing, but the water around her. She put a hand in front of her face to cover her eyes for the moment the card took to activate. As she looked again, she found that the surface of the pool had been encased in a firm barrier of ice.

!!!

Sango burst for the surface, punching at the wall keeping her trapped in the water, but the ice didn?t so much as budge. As fear started to make its way onto her face, she could hear Patchouli talking to her without a hint of emotion.

?Your logic was sound, but you were too hasty to seek shelter without bothering to consider the possibility of a trap. I cannot grade your performance as anything above thirty points out of ninety six. A disappointment - you seemed to be excellent potential.?

Patchouli let her air cushion sink downward, and the magician stepped on the solid ice. She looked down at Sango, seeing the look of panic as she started beating at the barrier for dear life.

?Yes, perhaps the rats have learned to swim. But they can still drown.?
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Iced Fairy on October 02, 2010, 08:24:30 PM: Quote
“Hey, I resent that. Dolphins are highly intelligent, I’ll have you know!”
Why do I see Patchouli saying "Citation needed"?

It was tempting, but I figured it was too blatant and awkward in the actual text. :V
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on October 02, 2010, 09:25:42 PM: I wondered for all of two seconds where the swimming pool came from, and then I remembered the last chapter of SSiB. BV
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on October 02, 2010, 10:15:06 PM: Dammit, you win! You win, okay?! Just let me out!

Sango wanted to shout at her, but she knew already that it was fruitless. Patchouli clearly had every intent of sitting here and waiting her out. Perhaps the magician wasn?t physically strong, but what she lacked in force she made up for in patience. She was fully willing to watch her victory unfold in its entirety, and all the while Sango couldn?t hope to break through.

It was a show of pride, a show of power, but it was one Sango couldn?t do anything about.

...Are you kidding me?

She took a moment to appreciate the irony of this situation. Here she was, a youkai of the water, and now she was going to drown. She stopped struggling, letting her body float backwards in the water as she looked up to the surface. Patchouli had thought far enough ahead to bring a book with her - she knew that Sango would be able to hold her breath for a good while before giving in, so she brought something along to pass the time. Sango, meanwhile, simply closed her eyes and contemplated over her own fate.

She?d achieved nothing. She hadn?t been able to stop Koishi, she hadn?t been able to find the Stone everyone needed, and now she was going to end up dead on top of all of that. To say she was mad was something of an understatement.

Never mind that...what?s everyone else gonna think?

She took a moment to think of the stranded crew of the ship, and how they?d react if they found out she?d died trying to help them. They wouldn?t be angry - or at least, Byakuren would convince them not to hate the mansion?s servants for doing their job - but there would be guilt, undoubtedly. They?d blame themselves for what happened, for letting her down and inadvertently getting her killed.

And Murasa. Oh, Murasa. She?d take it worse than anyone, doing her best to maintain that proud facade when she heard the news. Inside, she?d be dying all over again, carrying the blame on her own shoulders. She?d tell herself that if she?d just been a little less proud, a little less selfish, then the dolphin wouldn?t have had to die. It would haunt her, devastate her, destroy her.

Just thinking about it made Sango feel a little sick. She couldn?t do that - she couldn?t give Murasa a reason to feel even worse now than she had before. She?d die with a guilty conscience if she lost here, no matter how far the odds were stacked against her, no matter how unlikely her victory.

?Mmh.?

A muffled groan, as the first few bubbles started to slip past her lips. She was struggling to hold it in now - lying back in the water, lost in introspection, she must have lost track of time. The icy ceiling above her stayed as it was, firm as ever. Patchouli seemed to have forgotten about her entirely, staying close simply so the spell wouldn?t collapse as she lost herself in her book.

OK, Sango. Plan. Think of something.

There had to be something she hadn?t thought of. Something she hadn?t considered, hadn?t tried. Something that could turn the tides in her favour, let her break out of this deadlock and bring the fight back to Patchouli. She rummaged through her pockets, wondering if the maid left any of her knives on her person - maybe she could stab her way through.

She found nothing, but her hand stopped as it gripped around a card.

"Murasa came up with the idea a while ago, but she felt it didn't fit properly into her arsenal. She asked me to give it to you."

Byakuren?s voice played in her head, almost echoing in the water. She pulled the spellcard out of her pocket, examining it once again. Her eyes glimmered with both hope and ambition, as an idea started to form in her head.

Alright. Nice and quiet.

She dove down to the bottom of the pool, where she figured the card would have the greatest effect. She held it against the floor, feeling her chest begin to burn slightly. A mental declaration would have to do, but luckily Murasa had already written the incantation on the card for her to work with.

This had better work...!

She focused her mind, giving the spell all the attention she could muster. It was more powerful than her normal spellcards, so it was going to take everything she had. Slowly, but surely the card began to shine as it came to life, starting with a tiny current forming around its centre.

Wild waters, lash out towards the skies and bring my foes crashing down into the abyss...!

She saw Patchouli looking down with curiosity at the light forming in the waters below her. She?d long since passed Sango off as harmless, and figured that the light show was just some sort of last ditch effort. Her book was more interesting than a dolphin?s final struggle, in her opinion.

Sango was being pushed in two areas now - she was struggling to concentrate, and she was starting to run seriously low on air. The two problems bounced off each other on top of that, making things harder and harder. Sango grit her teeth, feeling more bubbles pushing their way out despite her attempts to hold it in. It was all coming apart, and she wouldn?t have enough time for a second chance.

No...not yet...!

A face flashed in front of her eyes for an instant. Murasa, letting that facade of bravado drop for a moment, looking down with tears in her eyes. The girl who gave everything she had because she was afraid of letting anyone down.

If she can keep fighting...

Sango pressed down full force on the card, her concentration back to full power. Determination blazed in her eyes as she put the pain aside for a moment.

Then I can keep fighting too...!

The spellcard started to glow in earnest, turning pure white. It was ready.

Alright, little miss librarian. My turn!

Sango had to hold back the urge to shout as she declared her final attack.

Maelstrom! [Cauldron Of The Speckled Seas]!

There was only a moment before the water around her responded to the card, but for Sango it played out in slow motion. The current emerging from the card, slow to start, began to grow and consume the pool in its entirety. A trio of smaller whirlpools broke apart from it, rising up to the surface and stopping just below the ice. Now Patchouli had started paying attention, her eyes glancing down with a mixture of surprise and sudden panic as one of these whirlpools hung right beneath her.

Then, things started to happen very quickly. The whirlpools burst upward in to the air, leaving the water entirely tearing holes in the layer of ice. One of them caught Patchouli in its grasp, sending her flying upwards into the distance. Sango could hear her cry out in shock as her book fell out of her hand, falling into the very pool she?d been guarding with a quiet splash.

This was Sango?s chance. If Patchouli had time to recover from this, it was over for sure. She kicked off the floor of the pool, swimming to the surface with every ounce of strength she had left. She grabbed the tome as she went - soggy, but still hefty enough to pack a punch. Behind her, the greater whirlpool on the pool floor let out occasional waves of bullets, but that was no longer an issue.

She leapt out of the water, gasping for breath and meeting Patchouli in midair as the whirlpool came to a stop. The magician looked at her, still surprised, unable to offer much in terms of a counter attack. Sango allowed herself time to smirk, lifting her makeshift weapon up into the air.

?Hey, bookworm! You dropped something!?

She brought the book crashing into Patchouli?s skull, sending her spiralling down again as gravity started to come back into effect. She hit the ground besides the pool with an almighty crash, fortunate not to bring another bookshelf down on her. The blow was easily enough to kill a human being, but as a long-lived magician Patchouli was more resilient than that.

Slightly.

?Uuuuuuugh...?

She shivered, unable to return to her feet as Sango landed back in the water. The wall of ice came apart at once, shattering as its caster was defeated. The dolphin had plenty of time to surface, pull herself out of the water and walk up to the battered magician with no fear of being attacked.

?Kh...I appear to have underestimated your species once again. I...revise your score to eighty eight points.?

?Where?d the other eight points go??

Patchouli coughed, spitting out a few drops of blood. A normal response from her frail body, though - nothing life-threatening.

?...For your lack of punctuality, of course. You could have defeated me with that attack twenty minutes ago.?

For a few seconds, the moment hung in place. Sango looked down at Patchouli with a smirk, and the wizard managed to produce a smile amidst the pain.

Then, as if deliberately late, Koakuma arrived on the scene.

?Oh, Patchouli-sama! You look terrible! Here, let your faithful servant help you back to your feet.?

This time, Koakuma made no attempt to hide her expression, reaching down to Patchouli with a cheeky grin. Patchouli didn?t give her the satisfaction of a response, silently accepting her help and leaning on her shoulder.

?You have proven yourself worthy. I shall offer you my assistance in your repairs.?

Another hacking cough racked her body. Koakuma?s smile seemed to grow larger as she watched her mistress struggle a little.

?...As soon as I?ve recovered, that is. I?ll just need a moment to-?

?Stop right there.?

A new voice broke into the conversation, interrupting Patchouli mid-sentence. Just from hearing the voice, Sango?s blood froze.

Oh, crap. She made it through?!

Sakuya looked straight at Sango, knife primed and at the ready. The anger that had consumed her before had faded, and now she was ready to give Sango a real fight. Patchouli made to turn, but had to be helped to turn around by Koakuma to fully see.

?S...Sakuya, what are you doing here? I thought the mistress told you that your maids hold no jurisdiction in my library-?

?She is here under my orders, Patchy.?

Patchouli stopped offering a complaint the moment a younger voice rose up from behind Sakuya. The maid stepped aside, revealing a girl with short, light blue hair in a noble dress. Her scarlet eyes looked towards Patchouli with a maturity that seemed alien to a girl of her size.

?R-Remi...?

Patchouli?s voiced trembled at the harsh glare her mistress offered her. As if to double the effect, she closed her eyes for a moment, and afterwards a pair of demonic black wings emerged from her back, at least twice the size of Koakuma?s. Her glare turned to Sango, and was roughly as effective.

?So. If my maid has been informing me correctly, you are the intruder who has been masquerading as one of my servants. Am I mistaken??

It took a moment for Sango to muster up the courage to respond, and even when she did her words were harsh and chosen without much forethought. It felt like she would be killed on the spot if she gave the wrong answer, but likewise she had to give some sort of response.

?Y-Yeah, that?s right, but I?ve got a great reason-?

Sakuya disappeared again, and reappeared just behind Sango to give her a painful smack on the back of the head.

?Watch your tongue. You will not address Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil herself, with such brutish language.?

Sango winced as she rubbed at her newest injury, but much to her surprise Remilia didn?t seem to share her servant?s indignation.

?Sakuya, stand down. I?ve already made my decision.?

Suddenly, everyone had their eyes on Remilia. Sango couldn?t have known it, but she had foreseen Sango?s fate from the moment she laid eyes on her. It showed promise, growth, and strength.

She had already decided that she would make that hers.

?You have committed grave crimes on my property. Illegal breaking and entering, disguising yourself as a member of my staff, and now bringing severe harm upon one of my oldest friends. I can tell you that only a great deal of self-restraint is keeping me from killing you where you stand.?

For a moment, the childish look of ambition slipped onto Remilia?s face. When she needed to be, she could be proud and mature, but when the situation didn?t call for that she was more focused on her own advancement than on anything else.

?But you have shown great potential in your deeds today. It would be a shame to let you die without fulfilling your fate, and so as the generous noble I am I?m willing to make you an offer.?

She walked up to Sango without a hint of fear, reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder.

?Join us. I can have the maids make you your own uniform within the hour. You?ll be charged with maintaining our lake exclusively. You?ll have no need to worry about your next meal, and I can have Patchy here train you in the way of battle. Your every need will be catered for, and you will become a well-trusted member of one of Gensokyo?s most powerful houses.?

The offer seemed enticing for only the slightest of moments. Working on the Misty Lake alone meant that every lake surrounding the Mountain of Youkai would fall into disrepair. And besides that, she could hardly leave those stranded shipmates to save themselves. Her response took a few seconds to come out.

?...And if I refuse??

The hand on her shoulder dug in slightly.

?Then I give up on the self-restraint, and have Sakuya serve up some delicious dolphin stew for dinner tonight.?

Sakuya clearly had no objections to this course of action, her knife looking ready to stab Sango in the back at any moment. The dolphin gulped, her hands trembling as she looked down into Remilia?s proud eyes. This wasn?t an offer. She was being press ganged into this decision, and if the only alternative was death then what was she supposed to do? It was one thing for Sango to catch a single magician by surprise while she was in her element - but to take down a high-ranking vampire and her strongest servant? Impossible.

...Sorry, guys...

She wasn?t proud enough to fight a battle she couldn?t win, and sighed to herself as she made to give her reply.

No-one expected the voice that followed afterwards.

?Onee-chaaaaaan!?

Every eye in the room turned to the newcomer, running towards the group from the side at high-speed. All Sango could make out was a pair of wings, with a rainbow of lights running across them like a disused Christmas display. The human(?) bullet charged towards the young devil, showing no sign of stopping.

For a tiny instant, Sango could make out fear on Remilia?s face.

?Flan-?

Remilia couldn?t even utter her sister?s name before she was violently tackled to the floor, helpless as another girl loomed over her. Her short blonde hair was tied to pigtails at her sides, and her outfit could only be described as insane - a clich?d witch?s apparel, in bright scarlet, with a series of stars running down it for good measure. In one hand she held a metallic wand, with a fuse sparkling on one end like a giant candle. Patchouli winced at the sight of her other mistress?s outfit, looking all too similar to a certain thieving rat.

?Onee-chan, don?t be a meanie! As Dolphin Rider Koishi?s number 1 apprentice, I?m not gonna let you be mean to her friend, okay?!?

Remilia?s earlier bravado seemed to have just about collapsed, and she was looking up at her sister with total confusion. How had she made her way out of the basement? What was she wearing? Who was this Dolphin Rider she was talking about?! Her mind was flooded to the brim with questions, but no-one had made to offer her any answers.

Naturally, another dramatic voice stepped in to take care of that.

?Llllllladies and other ladies! I?d like all of you to give a big, Scarlet Devil welcome to my latest pupil in my quest for justice - the Princess of Pulverising, the Queen of Collateral Damage, the Dame of Destruction - Cutie Crusher Flandre-chan!?

Koishi stepped in to the dazzled crowd, earning looks of shock from almost everyone present. Even Sango, who thought she?d seen just about everything Koishi was capable off, was caught off guard by this one. Remilia, on the other hand, was only slightly less confused than she?d been ten seconds ago, still trying to free herself from beneath her sister.

?F-Flandre, I?m a little busy right now. Big sis needs to take care of grown up business, okay? Just go back to the basement for now-?

?But you?re being a meanie! All Sango-chan wanted to do was help people out, and now you?re gonna enslave her for doing the right thing?! That doesn?t sound like the sort of deed the White Pearl would approve of!?

Remilia?s face twisted again on the words ?White Pearl?. Why was she dropping more and more words that had absolutely no meaning to Remi? Was she trying to confuse her or something?

?Flandre, really! This isn?t funny! I?ve got work to do, so just get off of me already!?

Now Remilia really was acting like a child, flailing around to try and squirm away as her sister sat on her. Flandre resorted to her secret weapon - she looked down at Remilia, opening her eyes wide, and gave her sister the best pout she could muster. Immediately, her resolve started to waver.

?H-Hey, come on...don?t pout like that, okay? That?s cheating, Flandre...c?mon, don?t guilt trip me...?

Flandre gave her sister no such relief, continuing her pouting. Looking at her intently, Sango could almost see the moment where Remilia?s last fragment of charisma broke apart, succumbing to her sister?s demands.

?OK! OK! Fine! She can go! Just stop doing that, please!"

Flandre?s face brightened immediately, and she wrapped her arms around Remilia in a tender hug. The entire thing had happened so fast that no-one was quite sure how to react to it - except Koishi, who came up behind Sango and offered her a pat on the back. She whispered slightly, so that the maid behind her didn?t overhear.

?I?ve been seeing her every so often for a few months. They had her locked up in the basement for destructive tendencies. Turns out drawing on the walls and pictures of the place was a great way to calm her down. Just had to make sure no-one else saw it, but that?s easy for me.?

Sango blinked once, still too stunned to truly respond. The drawings, the pictures, the damage - they?d been there all along. Flandre and Koishi must have been drawing them for hours, all unseen thanks to Koishi playing with the subconscious thoughts of everyone around her.

Good to know that at least some things were still impossible for Koishi, though. For a while she?d really been convinced that she?d done that much damage in so little time.

?But...why? How?d you know? Why did you...??

Koishi shrugged, smiling like an idiot again.

?I had a hunch. And when we heroes of love and justice get hunches, they?re always right~!?
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Drake on October 02, 2010, 11:27:24 PM: koishi for broken-tier character

She's ~~an Extra boss~~ FREAKING KOISHI KOMEIJI, it's what she does.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: Kasu on October 03, 2010, 12:14:31 AM: And so, Koishi continued her quest to convert all of the EX bosses into magical girls of the White Pearl.
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on October 03, 2010, 12:18:13 AM: Quote from: Kasunagi-no-Tsurugi on October 03, 2010, 12:14:31 AM
And so, Koishi continued her quest to convert all of the EX bosses into magical girls of the White Pearl.
Flandre and Mokou had been easy enough, and Suwako would likely pose no threat either. Ran, though...

Anyway, have a finale.

-----

Sango needed to hang around for a little while so that Koishi could properly introduce her to her apprentice. Flandre seemed starstruck in her presence, but she seemed to be particularly obsessive over what she called ?that phwee thing you always do?. Koishi had needed to remind Sango to get her to realise exactly what the vampire meant, and as she offered her a 'phwee~' on performance Flandre just about collapsed. Her arms wrapped around the dolphin, and as she squealed about how Sango was acting adorable she was unaware that she?d cut off her new friend?s ability to breathe. She only caught on when Sango started turning blue in the face.

Sakuya had begrudgingly handed her back her old clothes from the wardrobe in the changing room, her loyalty to her mistress overriding her personal grudges. Sango had offered an apology, but if it had any effect the maid certainly didn?t let it show. The last Sango saw of her, she had simply disappeared in the corridor, leaving only a single silver knife to signify her former presence. On Remilia?s advice, Sango had taken it as a memento of the occasion.

Patchouli would need a while longer to recover from her injuries, but she was still fit enough to yell orders at Koakuma. The devil responded with surprising obedience - when there was no room for mischief in her duties, she was wholly devoted to her master?s will. She disappeared into the labyrinth of the library, reemerging a few minutes later with a glowing amber stone about the size of Sango?s head. The much sought after Stone of Focus had been obtained at last, and it had only come after two near-death experiences and one narrow escape from slavery on Sango?s part.

Exhilarating, but not an experience she wanted to repeat again any time soon.

?Come back soon, okay? Those Black Claw bad guys could come out any time, you know!?

Flandre stood in the main gateway, waving the pair goodbye as they walked towards the main entrance. Sango and Koishi gave her a goodbye wave in return as they opened the door, letting the setting sun into the mansion the tiniest amount.

Of course, the anxious party hanging around at the mansion?s entrance had been informed of the unfolding events as soon as they could be told. Sighs of relief had passed around as they became aware that neither Koishi or Sango were in trouble after all, and as they emerged from the mansion?s gate a sea of greetings enveloped them.

?So you both made it? Shou was crying about it, you know.?

?Hey! Did you need to tell them that?!?

?It?s not like I?m lying, is it??

?B-But...?

?Ah, don?t mind those two, Tororetsu-san. They have a rather strange way of displaying affection. Unzan, you know what I mean, don?t you??

Byakuren was the last to respond, and unlike her disciples she offered no verbal response. She cut the middleman out entirely, and wrapped her arms around Koishi and Sango with an all-consuming hug.

?...Both of you, you have my thanks. You have done my people a favour we cannot hope to repay.?

Koishi didn?t even skip a beat in response to that.

?No problem, ma?am. As two of Gensokyo?s local heroes, your happiness is its own reward. Right, Sango-chan??

Sango nodded. It was the most sensible thing Koishi had said all day.

-----

Murasa had been walking around impatiently, waiting for the search party to return. As she saw the group appearing on the horizon, she quickly tried to twist the look of concern on her face to one of irritation, snapping at them in an attempt to hide her worries.

?Took you guys long enough, didn?t it? I swear, if you?d brought me along, things would?ve been so much faster.?

No-one responded or even took offense to Murasa?s words, simply hanging back as Sango came forward with the Stone of Focus. Murasa looked down at it with a connoisseur?s eye, nodding in approval.

?...Yup. This is a damn high-quality stone. Better than our last one, even. Maybe you take your sweet time, Sango-san, but apparently you deliver the goods.?

The difference in her register towards Sango didn?t go unnoticed, and the dolphin smiled lightly in response. She took a step towards the lake edge, ready to jump in.

?Alright, let?s get this thing installed. You guys have caused me enough trouble for one day.?

Despite her frustrated words, she kept smiling as she looked towards Murasa. Looking away so only the dolphin could see her, Murasa offered her a smile in return.

The pair dived down alone this time, in the final step of the plan to release the ship from its resting place. Swimming back into the captain?s cabin, Sango brushed aside the last fragments of the ship?s old stone, carefully lodging in the replacement in its stead. It fit the groove with a satisfying click, and she gave the captain a thumbs-up for the go-ahead.

Murasa let the old, confident grin rise back to her face, and this time Sango knew she meant it. She placed her hands on the steering wheel, gripping tightly not out of necessity, but out of passion.

?Alright, Sango-san. Now you get to see what Captain Murasa Minamitsu is REALLY capable of!?

Once again, she channeled her energy through the pipeline the crew had assembled earlier. The same pale white line ran along the path, reaching the Stone of Focus in its new lodging. The light bounced around inside the jewel, reflecting off its many surfaces dozens of times over until finally it burst out the other side in a brilliant white ray. Sango was stunned for a moment by the sudden intensity of the light, watching it run along the pipeline and out of the room.

Beneath her, the ship began to let out an almighty creak as it began to shift.

?Yeeeeeeeeah! The Captain is BACK IN BUSINESS!?

The first thing Murasa did was right the ship, bringing it back to parallel with the ground above them. Sango hung on to a nearby pipe for dear life as the ship began to spin around, lifting itself slowly out of the water. The Captain grew more and more excited by the moment, lifting the ship higher and higher until the surface was in sight.

Then, at last, the ship burst out from the lake and took to the air once again. The water that had flooded it drained quickly, making its way out the various holes in the walls where the planks had broken off. Even from this high up, Sango could make out the oohs and ahs of the disciples at the lakeside as their home was brought back to life.

?You think that?s good? Watch this!?

Murasa closed her eyes again, picturing the structure of the Palanquin Ship in her head. Every plank, every pane of glass, every piece of furniture - all of it took shape in her mind, coming together to form the ship she knew and loved. That mental projection had power in and of itself, and with the power she was pushing into it the ship had no choice but to reshape itself to fit that projection. The planks floating in the water began to rise upward, reforming and slotting in neatly where they had once been. The rooms inside righted themselves, and the window in front of Murasa reformed as if it had never been shattered. The entire thing had come apart in a matter of seconds, and Murasa had reconstructed it almost as quickly.

And for the big finish, she looked down to the body on the floor, the corpse that had once been hers. She let go of the wheel, lying down on the floor until her spectral form merged with her corporeal one. A second later, the body rose up, inhabited by its original owner once again.

?...Phew. Not bad, huh??

Her form slumped down slightly, as the fatigue finally started to take its toll on Murasa. To avoid another painful repeat of today, she took care to bring the ship to rest at the lakeside, sitting beside the wall for a moment. She pulled her cap down slightly, trying to use it to cover her face. Sango looked over at her, remembering the fears that had been plaguing her earlier.

?...It?s scary. I know you said it?d be fine, but...?

Sango sighed at the sight of Murasa doubting herself again, walking over and sitting alongside her. This time, at least, she could offer Murasa a hand over her shoulder in terms of support.

?Look, I went through a lot today. I saved a friend from a rockslide, rescued two people from a shipwreck, fought off an army of sharks, infiltrated the lair of a high-ranking vampire, and managed to fluke a victory against one of her best friends. And I?m not even a Captain, so surely you should be good enough to handle one little apology??

Murasa took a moment to respond to that. When she finally pulled her head up, Sango could see a glint in her eye as a single tear dropped down.

?...Yeah, of course. Gotta show those people how to accept mistakes in style, right??

She got to her feet, straightening her cap again. Sango didn?t bother to follow her out - this wasn?t her time. Murasa would have to face her crewmates on her own, and as she stepped out onto the deck of the ship she did exactly that.

The welcome that Murasa got wasn?t quite friendly, but it wasn?t outright aggressive either. Nazrin was definitely the most irritated, giving Murasa a harsh glare, and from there the scale went Unzan, Ichirin, Shou, Byakuren. Even though she was the lowest in the scale, even Byakuren seemed more upset than usual, her expression barely above neutral.

?...Huh. You guys are mad, aren?t you??

Nazrin, of course, wasted no time in getting to the point.

?You crashed our home into a lake, nearly got us killed twice over, and spent the whole time acting like a self-righteous jerk. I think we have a reason to be pretty mad.?

Byakuren didn?t outright stop Nazrin from ranting, but she placed a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. She looked Murasa in the eye, seeing that the ghost was already trembling in fear of her own friends.

No use prolonging it, then - it was clear she had learned her lesson.

?Now then, Murasa. I?ll be giving you a strict sleeping schedule so that this doesn?t happen again. If I catch you awake when you aren?t supposed to be, you?ll earn yourself a few hours in the cargo hold. Do I make myself clear??

Murasa nodded, still feeling the aggression in the air regardless of Byakuren?s words.

Fortunately, Byakuren had a plan to deal with that.

?Everyone? You can have one free punch. Nazrin, you first.?

Murasa stood to attention quickly in response to that one. The mouse cracked her knuckles, walking up to the captain with a look of satisfaction on her face.

?You earned this, okay??

Nazrin slammed a fist into Murasa?s gut, leaving the captain reeling for a second. By the time she?d brought herself back up, Ichirin was looming over her for the second blow.

?...No, Unzan, you can?t. You might kill her with a punch like yours. But you can choose where, if you want.?

She nodded towards the cloud, looking over various points on Murasa?s body.

?...The face? Alright.?

Following Unzan?s request, Ichirin brought her fist down on Murasa?s forehead. The captain staggered back again, hurt but not bleeding. Shou was last - Byakuren wasn?t going to take a punch either, mainly because if Unzan?s punch risked killing her, Byakuren?s risked killing her twice.

?Y-You...made me look like an idiot. Nazrin and I...we weren?t...?

Shou?s muttered words came out half-hearted, but the punch she sent to Murasa?s chest definitely wasn?t. Murasa could practically feel her ribcage rattling in recoil as she fell over, winded and struggling to breathe. The tiger pulled her hand back, sighing in relief.

?...Sorry, Murasa. I just...needed to let it out.?

The rest of the crew gathered around Murasa, each offering her their hand to help her up. After Murasa?s lungs decided to work again, she looked up incredulously at the sea of hands hanging over her.

The look turned into one of utter joy as she saw the smiling faces that accompanied them.

?You...you guys...?

She hesitated, as if unable to believe what she was seeing was real. It defied every belief she held about her friends, and about herself. Trying to convince her entirely, the crew offered her their last-minute words of comfort.

?Murasa. You?re an single-minded, brain-dead moron sometimes. Hell, today you proved that on a bad day you can even give Shou a run for her money.?

Nazrin?s words weren?t much more gentle than they had been before, but the tone had changed entirely. Ichirin picked up where she had left off.

?But that?s not all you are. When it comes down to it, you?re devoted, and when your friends are in need you?re always there to give everything you have to protect them.?

Shou, after she?d finished glaring at Nazrin for her earlier comment, spoke up next.

?We know you?re not the best at everything, Murasa. No-one is. But that doesn?t change how we feel about you one bit. We may get mad, and you gave us plenty of reason to be mad, but in the end we?ve been through too much together to stop caring about you.?

Murasa?s eyes watered more and more with every word from the mouths of her companions. Byakuren looked down on her, finishing the sentiment that all of them wanted to offer.

?They say that love is seeing an imperfect person for what they are, and thinking they?re perfect anyway. And we love you, Murasa, flaws and all. If you were perfect, then you wouldn?t be the Murasa we all care about so much, so please stop beating yourself up over it. We don?t care, and neither should you.?

Murasa could barely see now, the tears were flooding her eyes that badly. She held a hand up in the air, and four hands quickly reached out to pull it up. The moment she was standing, all of them wrapped their arms around her at once, passing on their feelings in the best way they knew how.

Murasa was crying. She was tearing up now, worse than she ever had before. She looked fragile, vulnerable, weak like she?d never let her crewmates see her before.

And as she croaked out a tearful response, she realised that for the first time she didn?t care.

?Th...Thanks, guys...you?re making your captain all sentimental, here...?

Of course, it wasn?t a full confession. That wasn?t her style.

But that was just the way they liked her.

-----

Sango had made her way off the ship during the crew?s embrace, smiling with relief as she saw them accept Murasa wholeheartedly. The crew came down a few minutes after, to offer Sango and Koishi their last farewells. Sango found herself being goaded into promising that she?d find time off from her duties to visit the temple, because apparently it was a beautiful place when it wasn?t trashed and half-flooded. Sango took a note of it, making sure to visit whenever other things weren?t holding her attention.

Murasa didn?t say goodbye with any words, simply offering Sango a handshake. The dolphin accepted, offering as strong a handshake as she could muster while the pair looked each other in the eyes. Sango could see the captain was still a little emotional, sniffling slightly as she pulled a brave face, but she let Murasa hold onto her dignity by leaving it unmentioned. With that, they offered a few final waves before making their way back onto the fully-functional Palanquin Ship. Sango and Koishi sat by the lakeside, watching as it took off and slowly made its way into the distance.

Sango?s first response was a heaving sigh of relief.

?Well. That was a new way to spend my time off, I guess.?

?C?mon, you know you enjoyed it! I had a great time, Sango-chan!?

?You weren?t the one who got chased through the mansion by a bloodthirsty maid. Or got made to fight a high-ranking magician. Or nearly spent the rest of her life serving a bratty vampire.?

?Hey, what?d I tell you before? I didn?t die, you didn?t die, so there?s no problem!?

Sango grit her teeth a little at that one. It was the same immature laissez-faire attitude that had nearly gotten her killed earlier. It was selfish, thoughtless, ridiculous.

And it was part of why Sango liked her so much.

?...So. Victory lap??

?It?d be my pleasure.?

Sango slipped down into the water again, rising again in dolphin form. Koishi sat carefully on her back, pointing off in the direction of the setting sun.

?Let?s go, Sango-chan! It?s time for Dolphin Rider Koishi to ride triumphantly into the sunset!?

And on her rider?s orders, Sango Tororetsu darted across the lake. For the second time, she?d earned the respect of some of Gensokyo?s most iconic youkai; for the second time, she had gone beyond the call of duty without the promise of a reward or fame. This time, however, she turned it down willingly, glad to simply know that she had done her part.

Koishi had said it best, in the end. The smiling faces that had waved farewell to her from on board the ship were all the payment she could ever have asked for.

---

PURE LOTUS OF THE SUNKEN STARS
FIN

---

Almost twice as long as TEiPW. Took nearly four times as long to write, all things considered.

And in my opinion, a markedly more polished piece. It's strange what twelve months of writing can do, I guess.

Anyway, it's good to finally put a lid on this one. And it was great to bring Sango out of retirement as well - it seems like now that I've made a name for myself around here, she's getting a much larger reception. :V

Thanks to everyone who commented/contributed/had the patience to read the whole damn thing. Until next time, phwee. :P
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars (Complete)
Post by: Kasu on October 03, 2010, 12:46:24 AM: Something tells me there is going to be more Sango even after Dolphin Rider Koishi is finished~

:3
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars (Complete)
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on October 03, 2010, 02:01:45 AM: Oh god yes Koishi coming in to save the day. <33333333

Though, I found myself empathizing with Murasa more than even Sango. Odd, but not altogether unpleasant-- she was redeemed by her friends in the end, so yay for that.

And yes, my hunch about the sketches and doodles always being there was right. :3 Koishi and Flandre together made me grin for that reason. Though, I didn't expect LOVE AND JUSTICE Flandre! That was nice~

A wonderful read. And now I'm gonna be jealous of your ability to finish stories. Again. :P
Title: Re: Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars (Complete)
Post by: FinnKaenbyou on October 09, 2010, 07:01:42 PM: Eh, guess I may as well post this as a bonus, since it's the closest I've got to a relevant thread.

Next Time on Sango-chan's Phwee Phwee Adventures... (http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm114/Roukanken/phwee/commission10165uwrjusth.jpg)