Weekly Writing Challenge Thread 2 - The Morning After (Deadline December 31st)

~Hakurei Shrine~ > Patchouli's Scarlet Library

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LogosOfJ:

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Thanks, though I am not sure if this is what I asked for...

Minds: YGWYAF systems.

Amraphenson:
I rose from the haze of Gensokyo, shuddering, and glanced around in curiosity. Still within the border of reality and illusion, an unborn thing barely even a mile wide. It was silent. Completely silent. Save for myself, nothing moved. Bits of scenery, images of what could be, were all frozen in front of me like the shards of light in a child's kaleidoscope. Everything I had been forging up until that point had been at a blinding pace, testimony to my mastery over my power. There was only one possible explanation that everything was still now, that I had been taken from my work to address some other issue, right in the midst of my work.

"I see. You came." My voice came out a little weak, hours upon days upon weeks of misuse made apparent. Nothing a subtle manipulation wouldn't fix.

Footsteps, and the rolling of two slightly rusted wheels, sounded behind me, and the border grew hazier and hazier, as if viewed through a fogged glass. After a bit, it was too blurry to even see, and I closed my eyes merely to prevent an inevitable dizziness.

Then it cleared to an extent. I opened my eyes again and found myself in a different border entirely, standing on nothing and gazing at everything. My mind strained to categorize this place, this gap, and eventually came to an answer that caused shivers through every atom of my body and every shred of concept to my existance. There was nothing here but the border around me...

[BGM- Kid's Festival, Innocent Treasures]

...and a young man who did not look young at all, with black hair that was messily trimmed at the forefront of the brow. His eyes were a deep brown, hidden behind large glasses, and his dress was simple save for the moss green newsboy cap that rested upon his head; no man born had ever seemed quite so jovial as this person in front of me.

"You're used to me just messaging," he said. His voice was quiet, softspoken, but had the melodic step of one truly in tune with music. "I felt this was a suitable occasion for me to visit personally."

"Aren't you a little drunk to be bending the laws of time and space?" I whispered.

He laughed a little. It was a laugh that would've warmed the hearts of two warring countries and brought them together under the arms of whoever had voiced it. "I like what you did with it. Very you. I'm not a fan of the whole 'dream world' thing though, you may want to reconsider that."

I stared for a second and attempted to voice my thoughts, but they were as inscrutable to me at that time as they usually were to everyone else. He may have had a point. That was a bit of a tangent, probably a bad idea, and it was beginning to influence the rest of the composition. A reboot may be necessary...reuse some of the portions from the old, not all...I may just be making a big mistake with this all. I did everything to ensure I'd have the time to complete this, but in the process I may have damned a dear friend of mine.

I never wanted that for him. I...what had I done?

When I had spoken earlier, I wasn't joking. Not at all. This would be created, it would be there, and youkai everywhere would be safe...but this man in front of me, was he doomed in exchange? Had I forced myself to overlook the truth of the matter in a search for a 'greater good' that I had disillusioned myself with?

Normally, I would be safe in my self assurance, in the thought that my actions were all for a purpose greater than most could conceive.

I guess I'm not perfect.

The man facing me waited with the patience of a saint, apparently giving me my berth and time.

ZUN. How was he here? He had put the majority of his power against the rules of the world in order to hold it back, something even I could not do as a 'one with the power to the extent of manipulating borders.' Not many know of my power, less know of its limits, nigh none know of this man, and there was no one save for the two people within this very border that knew his limitations. I, at least, thought I knew his limitations. While I was the enigmatic man behind the curtain, he was the narrator. The creator. The janitor behind everything that kept things in check. He was not a 'man with the power to the extent of creating fantasies'. He was simply a 'man who creates fantasies.'

He was the quietest of all the big names, and in my mind that meant most dangerous. It was to my great fortune that he was allied to me.

We'd taken notice of each other eons ago, and in during one of my weakest moments he saved me. Empowered me. I'd done favors for him since, and he would occasionally send a slurred message or a case of beer. I was captivated with him, yet immensely annoyed, but I feared no one but him. He...was absolute. His power was beyond even mine. If I were to manipulate the 'border between myself and him', my mind would break from the simple task of perceiving it. Standing here, weakened as he was, I felt immensely mortal. I had always thought those who stood against the Rules would be crushed without mercy; to think this man had done so and maintained some form of existance, in addition to a portion of power, was astounding.

We were all right to be afraid of him.

"You...how?" I whispered again, extending a hand but fearful of actually touching him. "How did you...?"

"I had a dream."

I eyed him, not comprehending, and spoke with a fraction more volume. "What? I don't...I don't even..."

ZUN bowed his head an inch, just enough to hide his eyes and throw a glint into his glasses, and laughed. "I only ever had one power, Yukari. This was just another application."

I frown and shook my head. "I don't get it."

"Really now? I thought you did. Your project wouldn't be where it was unless you did."

For a moment, I stared. Then I placed my face into both palms and groaned. "Always. Always like this. With half-drunken rambles and cryptic riddles, even by my standards! Are you always like this? Is there a Rule in place that requires you to be so insufferable?"

"Maybe one or two. Possibly several more." He was very much amused. "I only wanted to see you one last time Yukari. That's all."

"Why? Why this then? Why not use that last breath to...I don't know, ensure some sort of reincarnation? Clearly, if you expended as much energy as I think you did to intrude upon a octuple-layered bounded field and create a personal avatar upon it, you could have done something...anything...but this..."

"I told you," ZUN said. "I just wanted to see my friend."

"...I didn't think you'd live. I didn't even believe you'd succeed, that it was even possible for someone to openly defy the Rules like that. Sure, I could bend them, even enough to the point where I could do this," I said back, gesturing to the beginnings of the realm I was creating. "But to give me time to do so...I never thought you'd win out, let alone survive it." My voice betrayed my disbelief, shaking as it was in the emptiness of the border, for at some point I had raised my voice beyond the ghost of a whisper I was using before. My tears betrayed my joy, flowing as they were into the fabric of his shirt, for at some point I had closed the distance and embraced him.

He laughed again, and I shivered as I felt him fade away. "I had a fantasy during that blinding moment, when it was just me versus the entirety of Reality itself...goodbye Yukari. Protect what we have sacrificed so much for. I'll be watching."

And then he was gone, as abruptly as he had appeared, and I was left crying into nothing with a half-made border still floating in front of me.

Maybe I was hallucinating. The haze of this border was still lingering, but I thought I saw something. A wisp of energy float away and out of sight.

I stared, gobsmacked and disbelieving, like I always was when faced with that insufferable man, and then I smiled cleanly and simply, without any enigmatic airs or hidden facets.

"Goodbye ZUN."

----
A creation of Gensokyo fic, in the style of Jim Butcher.

Esifex:
Orin skidded to a halt after finally finding her mistress. "Lady Satori! Okuu broke a pipe with her concrete boot thingy and now the basement is flooded! What're we supposed to do with all that water?"
Just then, Koishi dropped her subconcious cloak and brandished a series of tasteful swimsuits, with a gleam in her eye. "Isn't it obvious?"

Brought to you by the Rou Style, Flowing Tides school. :derp:

ilu rou

FinnKaenbyou:
BOOP

That was me pressing the deadline button.

Wait warmly, etc.

FinnKaenbyou:
Right, so after a thorough and rigorous judging process we have decided that Esi's entry is sadly lacking in dolphin cameos. Sorry, Esi. :<

On that note, congrats, Amra! You have reminded me that one of these days I have to sit down with the Dresden Files. >_<

Right, so that challenge might have been a bit rough and complex, so hopefully this is a little easier:

Challenge Topic: Antithesis

Tired of Youmu being so simple-minded? Want to see Patchouli get outside for a change? Do you wish Shou could just hold onto her goddamn pagoda?

Well, fret no more! In this challenge, your job is to write a character as their direct opposite. Whether that means flipping their personality (Cirno the genius) or warping their morals (Nitori murdering humans) is your call, as long as it's clear you're flipping the character around somehow.

You can play this for laughs, or try to build a serious story around how this change happened and how people attempt to resolve it. Either way, most entertaining story wins.

Deadline is 12:00 BST, 9th September. !krow ot teG

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