Tonight was Halloween night in Gensokyo. A very distinct night where human children dressed up as youkai and ran around collecting candy, while youkai...did the exact same thing. Of course, there were a few youkai who had better things to do with their time. Including, but not limited to, Team Nineball. Gensokyo's most loved (or most annoying, depending on who you asked) gang of merry pranksters had something really fun planned for this wonderful night. And it was all Cirno's fault.
"The rules are easy," Cirno said, looking at her crew just as it was getting dark out. "We're all going into the bamboo forest!" The rest of the crew looked surprised at this daring move. "This place is loaded with scary monsters, so whoever stays there the longest wins!" There was no prize, of course. Just bragging rights that the winner was the bravest of the group. With no doubt, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and the Forest of Magic were both scary places at night, but there were such twisted things (and Marisa) living within the latter that Cirno didn't want to bother with that place. And before the team even entered the bamboo forest, the first person out left.
"I have a stall to run, so I have go get going," Mystia said, sounding rather upset that she lost that fast. Now Cirno would undoubedtly call her a big chicken. There was a price to pay for having things to do, and it was more than just the financial requirements. With that, four girls remained. Would've been five, but Chen had reported earlier that day that she had prior engagements. So with that, four girls stepped forth into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, unsure of what exactly awaited them inside. In no time at all, all four girls went their own way. Wriggle went to the right simply to avoid Cirno who was going left, and Rumia ? unable to see so well in her bubble of darkness ? simply walked straight ahead. Daiyousei, rather than leaving, just stayed right there, at the very edge of the bamboo forest. Her reasons were simple enough. No matter who won or lost this contest, Dai was and always would be Team Nineball's number one coward, and the only reason she even came to play this game was so she wouldn't be alone tonight. And in the end, not only did she end up alone, but she wound up alone on a dark night in a bamboo forest she was entirely unfamiliar with, which Cirno had spent all day telling her scary stories about. Tenacity was the only thing keeping her from giving in to her fear and sprinting after Mystia in a panic. By the time she decided it'd be a good idea to follow Cirno, the ice fairy was long out of eyesight. So, deciding on the best course of action, Daiyousei simply went left, same as the very girl she was hoping to follow.
It wasn't like she ever really liked Halloween. Sure, she loved the idea of free candy, but all fairies were in favor of that. Dai was admittedly a first-rate scaredycat, and tried to stay inside on
normal nights, let alone nights where people dressed up as scary youkai. A distinct memory from last Halloween came to mind at the thought of costumes, when Dai stumbled into somebody dressed as nothing more than a bloody human. Even in the face of a relatively harmless costume, Dai still needed a new dress that night. Halloween was a scary night for a weaker fairy, and adding that to being easily scared as it was made tonight a really bad night for her. And this was all before anything even remotely scary happened. As luck would have it, though, that thing just had to happen the second Dai let her guard down. She heard a scream. Judging by the voice, it sounded like Wriggle. She was the second-bravest in the group next to Cirno, so for something to scare her, it had to be pretty bad.
Daiyousei's reaction was to turn around to begin running away...only to find herself lost. It was called the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, but the fairy hadn't expected to get lost so soon. Panic took little time to set in. In the end, she concluded that she was probably going to die here tonight in one way or another, even if it was death by fright. Especially death by fright. At least luck smiled on an otherwise-unlucky fairy for a second, when she saw a familiar face sprinting right past her. Wriggle, almost as hysterical as when she'd been captured by that flower youkai a few weeks prior to tonight. So she was alive.
"She's gonna frigging eat me alive!" the firefly screamed, bolting right past Daiyousei. No matter how lost one gets, running in a straight line long enough can get one out of anywhere, so Dai was sure Wriggle could get home relatively safe. For now, she had bigger concerns. Who was going to eat Wriggle alive? And more importantly, what? There was an earth spider Wriggle had mentioned once before, and Mystia was a night sparrow, but those were the only two people Dai could imagine as eating fireflies. With any luck, the fairy figured, she'd never find out exactly who or what planned to eat Wriggle. But if one thing were ever to conspire against Dai, it had to be luck, of which she had none. Or, more accurately, she had plenty of luck. Just not
good luck.
Daiyousei's craptastic bad luck shone once more in a brief gust of wind. Strong enough to knock the fairy off her feet, but short enough to do only that. Some bamboo stalks around her had been pulled out, and other tidbits of dirt kicked around found themselves very much at home in the fairy's otherwise-green hair. And so there she lay on her back, scared, alone, a little chilly, and still wondering about the identity of Wriggle's assailant. Within the next three seconds, two of those things were resolved. However, she was still on her back, scared and a little chilly. In fact, she was even more scared now than she was before, which furthered her chills and made her too afraid to get off her back. She was no longer alone, and her questions of Wriggle's almost-predator were probably answered by the face before her.
"That was terrible," a woman's voice said, running a pair of red-nailed hands through her hair as she walked onward from and in the direction Wriggle had come from and went just a moment ago. "Such a terrible wind on a lovely moonlit night." And then, in yet another instance of bad luck, this long-haired woman turned right toward Daiyousei and saw her. "
Bonjour~"
"H-H-H..." On that night, Daiyousei would have been very able to teach even warriors with the souls of dragons a thing or two about shouting. "
HELLLLP!" The greater fairy burst into an all-out screaming panic, too scared really to think of doing anything else. The woman before her ? aside from an impressive height and figure ? boasted long dark brown hair, striking red eyes, and a set of very fine red nails. Too fine. More like claws, really. The ears on the top of this woman's head seemed to flinch each time Dai screamed for help again. After only two of these screams, the fairy was most terrified to find a red-nailed hand on her mouth.
"I don't plan to hurt you, fairy," she softly said. Daiyousei could hear a heavy accent on her voice, but couldn't tell where it was from. Somewhere nowhere near Gensokyo, that was for certain. "I'm willing to take my hand off your mouth, but you must promise to stop screaming first. You'll be quiet if I do,
oui?" The green-haired fairy nodded in response. As promised, the Frenchwoman's hand found itself no longer on fairy faces, but rather on the cheek of her own face, with her elbow being held in her other hand.
So, Daiyousei told herself,
I'm at least alive. Who is this person, anyway? And as a great person had once said, if you don't know an answer, ask the question. Daiyousei took those words to heart with her next move, which consisted of looking at this mysterious woman and giving an introduction and a question. "Thank you for not killing me. My name is Daiyousei. What's yours?"
"It's Kagerou," she smiled. "Kagerou Imaizumi, very fine specimen of both woman and werewolf~"
"Oh, that's nice...w-wait,
WEREWOLF!?"
"
Oui. Is there a problem?"
"W-Well, it's not that there isn't a problem...did you see a firefly youkai recently? A little taller than me, dark green hair, wears pants?"
"Oh, yes, I spoke to her just recently! I invited her over for dinner, but I must have offended her in some way because she just ran off. But it's quite alright, because maybe you'd like to join me instead?" The Bamboo Forest of the Lost wasn't really a place where one could expect many neighbors, which ? aside from being a werewolf ? made it a bit odd that Kagerou lived there. True to her canine nature, she loved people, and took dinner guests whenever possible. "I'm a wonderful cook, you know."
"...just dinner?" Wriggle ran away over dinner? Maybe Dai's luck was beginning to turn for the better, after all. Sure, she was trusting a werewolf, but it wasn't like she wanted to have the fairy over for dinner. Eating bugs was one thing, but fairies weren't exactly edible, so what could possibly go wrong if she accepted? And besides, skillful a cook though Mystia may have been, Dai was getting tired of the same few dishes for every meal. With a smile and a nod, the greater fairy said "Sure!"
"Fantastic!" Holding out a hand to help Daiyousei up, Kagerou said "I live in a very cozy little cottage here in the bamboo forest. It's not so great for visitors, but the view of the night sky here is
tres magnifique." Once Dai was up on her feet, Kagerou added the same comment she'd given her last potential dinner guest. "You know, you're a cute little youkai, aren't you? I could just eat you right up~" Then with a smile that was anything but calming, what with the sharp wolf-like teeth that filled Kagerou's mouth, she added "But that's only a figure of speech, of course."
"...ha," Dai nervously chuckled. "Ha-ha...of course."
"Well, shall we be on our way, then?"
"U-Um, actually, I just remembered I-I have to see somebody. M-Maybe we could have lunch tomorrow instead?"
"Nonsense~" Not letting go of Daiyousei's hand, Kagerou said "It gets so lonely never having any dinner guests. You don't think I'd let myself lose the chance twice in
un night, do you?"
"No, really, I have to get going."
"No, you must stay."
"I'm serious, ma'am!"
"Ah, but so am I~" Picking the fairy up off her feet, the French werewolf said "You must come along and enjoy some fine home-cooked meals with me. Do you have any idea what it's like never having anybody over for dinner?" Rather oblivious to Dai's increasingly loud cries for help, she continued onward about her issues of eating alone. "Sure, I could just kill an animal and cook its meat anytime I want, but it's not every day I get to enjoy talking to somebody while I do it. Canines are very friendly by nature, so not having anybody to enjoy having over is a really upsetting thing for
moi.
C'est un catastrophe for my mood."
"I really can't have dinner with you! Lemme go!"
"Quiet, now. I'd hate to have to silence you myself." With a smile that hadn't yet left her face, Kagerou walked onward and forward deeper into the Bamboo Forest. With every step, Dai felt a little piece of her hope of escape fade away, replaced with the fear that she was about to become a werewolf's dinner.
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Later; residence of Kagerou Imaizumi"And we're here~!" Setting her fairy hostage on her feet once more, Kagerou gestured to her little cottage. Nothing all that impressive, and certainly hand-made. Behind it was a large fenced-in area with a few different kinds of livestock. Namely sheep, chickens, and cows. That area was probably the highlight of the werewolf's property, until one saw the scary bloody cleaver hanging from its gate. It ? like Kagerou's teeth ? was disturbingly sharp. Daiyousei used the few seconds she spent looking at it by trying to imagine which body part would be the least painful were that cleaver to amputate the fairy. In the end, she concluded that if it came to it, she'd beg Kagerou to cleave off the right leg if she had a choice. Breaking her train of imagination was the voice of the possible-amputator herself. "It's a nice little place, oui?"
"It looks cozy..." In the face of death, honesty was always a good idea. The little cottage looked cozy enough from the outside, but she wondered what the inside was like? A doghouse? A meat locker? Maybe it was both. As she was guided by the hand toward the place Dai was certain would become her grave, she was regretting not following Wriggle's example by running at the mention of dinner. Then she was inside. Against all expectations, it looked just as cozy on the inside. A tiny little fireplace in the corner, a nice-enough-looking bed with what looked like wool blankets, and even a nice rug laid out in the center! It looked like one of those fake tiger rugs people-
"Please try not to get the tiger rug dirty," Kagerou said. "He was my toughest kill, and I'd rather not have to kill another one to replace my rug. Merci."
"!" So the tiger was
real? Suddenly, all the things in this otherwise-cozy cottage seemed much darker and more twisted in nature. All she could see in Kagerou's wool blanket was the sheep she must have butchered to get the wool, and turning to look at the deer head mounted on the wall brought her to a fairly obvious conclusion. That otherwise-cute quilt with the different animal prints became a terrifying phantasmagoria of the countless species Kagerou must have hunted to make it, and worst of all was the leather seats on the numerous bamboo chairs. What kind of animal had to die to make those? In that moment of moderately distorted perception, the fairy swore that if she left here alive, she'd found some kind of organization to end the mistreatment of animals for things like furniture and clothing. But that was just the crazy in her talking.
"You look nervous," Kagerou said, lighting an oven and preparing what could only be described as a meat-heavy dish-in-the-making. "Something wrong?"
Dai couldn't get the words out. All she could do was stammer and stutter in a scared attempt to think of what kind of words she could use. Here she was on Halloween night, in a cottage filled with stuff made from dead animals and a scary cleaver in the back, deep in a bamboo forest she'd never escape without the help of the very werewolf she was increasingly certain would turn the unfortunate fairy into her next meal. Until the sound of something landing outside resonated into the cottage.
"
Un moment," Kagerou said, stepping past the fairy and out the door. Visitors were welcome, but some were more welcome than others. Notably, that doctor and her rabbits weren't so fond of Kagerou after one incident in which the werewolf quite literally devoured half of the Eientei staff. They'd been giving her trouble ever since. However, the conversation Daiyousei heard implied that the person outside wasn't hostile.
"Hey, I'm lost. Do you know how to get out?"
"
Oui, but I am cooking right now. Perhaps you'd like to join me, and we'll take you home afterwards?"
"Sure! I love home-cooked meals!" Then came the sounds of footsteps, coming closer and closer to the little cottage Kagerou called home. "Oh, you wouldn't happen to have seen a fairy, have you? Besides me."
"I saw one other fairy. A little smaller than you, green hair, gold trim on the top of her wings?"
"That's her! That's Dai! Where is she?"
"Right here," Kagerou happily said, stepping inside. Dai's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she saw who had stumbled upon this disturbing-yet-still-rather-quaint place. It was, of all people, Cirno. Dai was about to yell "Get out of here, she's going to turn us into dinner!" About to. What stopped her was a happy declaration by the very person she was going to say planned to make a meal of two fairies.
"Tonight I decided to have something from a cow. How do you girls feel about meatloaves basted in French wine?"
"That sounds great!" Cirno exclaimed. "Hear that, Dai? Meatloaf! Basted in wine! I don't know what this French she's talking about is, but it sounds good!" Cirno for one sounded ecstatic. While she wasn't necessarily fond of alcohol, Cirno had a peculiar way of knowing when something would or wouldn't work. That probably came from or added to her amazing planning powers that outdid her control of ice, but Daiyousei still looked kind of concerned.
"Suddenly, I'm not hungry anymore," she lied.
"Then feel free to just sit and speak with your friend while I cook up some dinner~"
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One cooking later..."C'est fini!" Setting three plates down on the table with a big fang-filled smile on her face, Kagerou said "Let's all dig in! Oh...I forgot, you lost your appetite, Daiyousei, didn't you?"
"Huh?" The cooking was done? And she wasn't dead? Nor was Cirno? Maybe...maybe she was mistaken. She'd once read a book Mystia lent her, about these two kids who got lost and wandered into a house. The woman living there gave them nice food just to fatten them up, then planned to eat them afterwards! On the other hand, Dai couldn't even remember the name of that book, so she obviously couldn't have liked it that much. Maybe Kagerou's intentions weren't bad, after all. Cirno sitting down, taking her first bite, and immediately going "Wow, that's amazing!" also tipped Dai in the right direction a little.
"So, Daiyousei? You are dining with us, oui?"
"...
oui!" She didn't know what it meant, but Kagerou sure had used that word a lot today, among others she didn't understand. In case the word meant something Dai wasn't trying to say, the fairy quickly sat herself down at the table opposite Cirno, to the right of Kagerou. In front of her was a well-cooked slab'o'tasty-looking meat that had a distinct red shine to it. That must have been the wine Kagerou mentioned.
"A shame your
travesti friend ran away. That one empty seat looks much emptier now," Kagerou said. "Go ahead, Daiyousei. Try a bite."
"Oh, sure." The green-haired fairy plunged her fork into the meat, cut a little piece off, and put that piece into her mouth. It was amazing! The meat was very nice and had a good flavor, and the wine she basted it in added a smooth texture that wasted no time in giving in to the meat's texture, and left an aftertaste that was somewhat sweet and somewhat bitter. It was the best thing Dai had eaten in a long time. "How did you make this?"
"I could teach you someday. How about you come by and visit now and then?"
"..."
"Unless you don't trust a werewolf~"
"I guess...sure, I could come by every few days."
"Ah,
c'est magnifique, merci! The wine on that meat is quite strong, so I'm sure we'll be partying once we're finished~!"
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November 1st; Bamboo Forest of the Lost..."Uuu...my head hurts..." Daiyousei opened her eyes to take in the surroundings she wasn't expecting at all. She found herself on a tiger rug, in a place with many decorations that looked vastly creepier last night than they did now. And she heard the sound of water outside, and a woman humming something merrily. Cirno was asleep next to her, holding an empty bottle of wine like a drunkard passed out from alcohol. On it were a whole lot of words Dai didn't understand. For now, the woman outside was her concern. It wasn't raining, so whoever was humming had to be working with water. The greater fairy got up to her feet, stepped out and around the werewolf's cottage to find? The werewolf herself, with a not-so-bloody cleaver in her hands and a tub of water with a deep red hue in front of her.
"Ah,
bonjour Daiyousei."
"Hi there. What happened last night?"
"Oh, we had such fun! I don't remember most of it, but I recall there was a point where you and Cirno said you were going to win something."
"Huh?" Then it hit her. Four girls entered the Bamboo Forest of the Lost last night to see who could stay here the longest. At least two of them were still there. Daiyousei smiled when she realized she wasn't going to lose this contest. No way. Thanks entirely to the person who at first nearly scared her right out of the contest to begin with. With a witty smile, Dai said "Cirno needs to get up soon; I'm sure people are missing her back home."
"Yes, of course. Let me finish cleaning this, then we'll wake her up. Will you be going with her?"
"...nah. I want to stick around here for a little while."
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I wrote this one as a Halloween special last year; one of two. The other one is in one of those threads I've got in here (the ones that were gonna be one-shot threads but I ignored them to the point that it would be necro-bumping by now) so I might just put that up here too sometime.
That said, as I'm typing these notes, I can't quite tell if I'm full to the brim with energy or unusually tired for this time of day. Whichever is the case, I'm in no mood to re-read this and have fun pointing at little details. Hope you enjoyed, and will continue to as always 
