Yin-Yang Orb Quest

[Tapsa]

>What color are her eyes?

>They're amber.

>Follow the fairy.

>You follow Hima. Again, there's not really any other fairies in sight, but that's only good right now since you're going to the place where Hima hides her possessions.
>Hima stops and looks to her left. On her left, there's a large boulder amidst the sedges and flowers. It looks rather out of place on the lakeside, for some reason.
>Himawari gestures towards the forest, which is now on your right. "This way."

>She guides you in the forest for a while until she comes to a halt under a large spruce. Well, all the trees here are large, so it isn't really a point of interest. She quickly checks that there's no-one else around but you, and then goes around the spruce and shows you a mound covered by the spruce's low-hanging branches and overgrown moss.
>She carefully shifts the hanging branches out of the way and brushes aside some of the moss, revealing that the mound is infact a very well camouflaged rotten log. She sticks her arm into the gaping hole on the rotten log and reaches inside it, and pulls out a large messenger bag. It reminds you of the one which that farseer fairy back then had. You wonder if that fairy perished while fighting against Reimu.

>"Oh, you wanna see what I got in this, right?"



>_

[O4rfish]

>"Orbs don't really have possessions. Except for Crazy Yang."

[Tapsa]

>"Orbs don't really have possessions. Except for Crazy Yang."

>"I can see why..." She giggles at you. You find that giggling a bit offensive. It's not your fault that you don't have limbs to manipulate objects with.
>"Anyway, just take a look. It can't hurt to know what I got. Also, ask me about my stuff if you want to, I'll try to answer. "

>She opens the messenger bag and begins unloading its contents on the ground.

>HIMAWARI'S INVENTORY

>Compact spade: A spade with a steel blade fastened with two screws into a short wooden handle. It's in a deteriorated condition. Its blade seems to have sharpened edges, if somebody swings this around or throws it, they might hurt someone real bad! Aside from that, it would probably make a great gardening tool.

>Glass flask: A nondescript spherical glass flask with a bottleneck. Inside the flask, you see small balls with tiny bulges on them. The balls sport various different colors: red, green, yellow, blue... There's a white label with something written on it with black ink, but unfortunately, you are illiterate and thus cannot read the label.

>Paper fan: A typical fan made out of washi paper. This one is white, with a red circle adorning its middle section on both sides when the fan is unfolded.

>Huge leaf: This appears to be a birch leaf roughly the size of a human adult's head. Aside from its size, there's an another peculiar thing about this leaf: there are three semi-transculent green orbs orbiting each other atop the centre of the leaf. You've absolutely no idea what this thing could be, but it's definitely magical from the looks of it!

>Small bag: You do not know what's inside this small bag made out of burlap, since Hima didn't actually open it for you.

>Koku coins: Minted golden coins with a square cut off their middle. This is an obsolute currency, you're slightly confused why Himawari has a reasonable pile of these coins.

>Straw hat: A bowl-shaped straw hat with a chin strap. It looks exactly like the hat which traveling Buddhist monks wear. Thanks to its size and shape, it can partially cover one's face. You're pretty sure Himawari could wear this without looking too comical, since she has very human proportions.




>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"I get the feeling I'm going to want some explanation for most of these. I think I can guess at the story behind the fan and the hat, but the rest I'm not sure I understand. Is the spade just for digging, or...?"

[O4rfish]

>Would the hat fit our head body self?

[Cheez8]

> "Wow. That is one cool leaf. Where did you find that?"
(assuming Hima hasn't just told us where she found it, that is)

[Tapsa]

>"I get the feeling I'm going to want some explanation for most of these. I think I can guess at the story behind the fan and the hat, but the rest I'm not sure I understand. Is the spade just for digging, or...?"

>"Yeah, I got the hat off some humie chump walking down a road. He really didn't see me coming with that hat over his eyes, hahaha!" She looks pretty smug there. While this fairy sports an unusually high drive for self-preservation in your opinion, she hasn't forgotten to take pride in committing petty theft.

>Hima picks up the spade.
>"Sure, you can dig ground with this..." She brandishes her sharp spade at you. "...but you can also dig into a jerk with it and dig a grave for them afterwards!"
>Can you even come up with something cornier than that? She laughs a little to herself, but quickly stops.
>"Just kidding! Anyway... wasn't me who sharpened this. Found it while dawdling in one of the forests next to the Lake. Looks like it's been left outside for a looong time. Wonder how nobody had picked it up before me." She gently presses her finger against the sharpened right side of the spade blade, testing its edge. "Probably hasn't seen much use. Ain't gone dull at all."

>"Okay, lemme tell you about this other stuff, then."
>She drops her compact spade and picks up the paper fan.
>"Grabbed this from a house porch near the humie rice terraces. This heat makes you do desperate things, ya kno~w..." She fans herself so hard that her dark red hair bangs lift up. You wonder why she even bothers to try to justify her thievery, nobody is going to come and apprehend a fairy for their crimes.

>She folds the fan and puts it back on the ground, and then grabs the flask.
>"I was heading back after finding that paper fan, when I happened to run into this! I saw a humie merchant pulling his decked out cart while I was near a trail. He sure was in a hurry! This flask fell off his cart..." She points at the koku coins and small bag while still holding on to the flask. "...and also those, too."
>"But am I lucky! Those merchants aren't dumb, ya know. They put their most shiny things in middle of their carts while on the move, so you can't just zoom past a cart and hope to grab anything cool. You'll only end up jacking a broom head if you do that! And those merchants are no joke, they can fight fairies back!"
>Hima shakes the flask and watches the colorful balls with tiny bulges tumble around inside it.
>"Anyway, dunno what these things inside this are."

> "Wow. That is one cool leaf. Where did you find that?"
(assuming Hima hasn't just told us where she found it, that is)

>"It's from the edge of that one stupid forest... Forest of Magic, or whatever they call it. That place is a real mess."
>Himawari takes a good hard look at the leaf and contemplates as well as a fairy can. But in the end, she shrugs.
>"Another one to my list of things I can't figure out.", she begrudgingly admits.

>Would the hat fit our head body self?

>I'm surprised that you didn't ask if it fits on chest!
>Hey, now that you think about it, it would actually fit on top of you quite well. Wearing it could help you develop a stronger sense of individuality, perhaps?



>_

[E-Nazrin]

>Hat's not strictly necessary... well, let's try it on and see what Hima thinks of it, at least.
>"What about the bag, if you're willing to say?"

[Tapsa]

>Hat's not strictly necessary... well, let's try it on and see what Hima thinks of it, at least.

>Try it on how? You're going to need someone's help with this daunting task that requires limbs!

>"What about the bag, if you're willing to say?"

>She gives a glance to the small burlap bag. "Oh, right. The coins that fell from the cart were in that bag. I emptied it and filled it after that with unhusked rice cuz I need my shiny things within arm's reach."



>_

[O4rfish]

>How does our black and white pattern correspond to sensory or internal organs? Do orbs use mirrors?
>"These are some impressive items you have collected Hima."

[E-Nazrin]

>Ask Hima if she wants to help us with the hat and what she thinks of the look.

[Tapsa]

>How does our black and white pattern correspond to sensory or internal organs? Do orbs use mirrors?

>You don't know if your appearance has anything to do with how your senses function.

>As a matter of fact, you do have seen your own reflection. You're red and white instead of black and white, unlike those Hakurei orbs.

>Ask Hima if she wants to help us with the hat and what she thinks of the look.

>You ask Himawari if she's willing to help you with your overwhelming task of equipping the straw hat.
>She blinks at your request, but gives you an affirmative response nevertheless: "Yeah, sure!"
>She picks up the straw hat that must've been stolen from a Buddhist monk and starts lowering it on top of your head body.

>Suddenly, she pulls back the bowl-shaped hat that was just about to touch you and clutches it against her flat chest!

>"Hah, nope! This hat's mine!"
>Hmm. Seems like she's taken a liking to that hat.

[O4rfish]

>"That's probably for the best. If I dropped your hat I wouldn't even be able to pick it back up."
>"Should we look for your friend?"

>How old are we?

[Tapsa]

@O4rfish: I just noticed I missed your second input there. Sorry for that. Don't know why my brain skipped that line and went straight for Mus' post.

>"That's probably for the best. If I dropped your hat I wouldn't even be able to pick it back up."

>"That's right! Not that I'd let you wear this hat anyway, ha!", she winks and smirks.

>"Should we look for your friend?"

>Before you even get the chance to ask this question, Himawari is already in middle of packing her items back in the bag.
>"Yeah, we oughta." She stops packing for a moment to look around. "Well, didn't spot her here... bet she's somewhere near that place on the lakeside where we were just at."

>How old are we?

>You're unable to quantify your age, since you don't exactly keep a calendar of any kind. However, the earliest things you remember from your life date back to the times of the Scarlet Mist Incident. As for your parents, you are unable to determine how much older they are than you. It certainly doesn't help how they're nowhere to be found anymore.





>_

[O4rfish]

>What colors were our parents, and do we have any special way to tell orbs apart?
>"Ok, ready to go?"

[E-Nazrin]

>"What's your friend look like?"

[Tapsa]

>What colors were our parents, and do we have any special way to tell orbs apart?

>They were red and white, just like you are.
>As orbs do not have facial features or anything else that would make identification easier, it is quite hard to tell orbs apart from each other with only sight. The fact that pretty much every orb is of the same size complicates things even further, the only exception you're aware of were your parents. They were very large orbs, taller and wider than humans. Your parents truly were great in every sense of the word, weren't they...

>However, if you hear an orb's "voice", and even if they're near other orbs, you can tell them apart from the other orbs present. While the "talking" of orbs sounds like normal speech, it shouldn't be forgotten that this "talking" doesn't produce an actual, physical voice. It is entirely a psychic process as far as you know. Now, as for how to proceed with precisely explaining how you can tell orbs apart by listening to their "talking", you unfortunately do not know. But if there was a group of orbs with exactly same colors and voices, you're positive that you could tell them all apart by listening to the imponderables in their 'voice'

>"Ok, ready to go?"

>After finishing her packing, Himawari slings her messenger bag over her shoulders and leaves it hanging behind her. She left quite some slack on the strap, presumably so that she can quickly swing the bag in front of her to access her inventory.

>"Yup, let's go look for her."

>"What's your friend look like?"

>"Ehh? Didn't I already tell you? She's got a light blue dress, long narrow wings and a weird hair style. About as tall as me."


>_

[O4rfish]

>Follow Hima.
>Do we have any hobbies or special traits, other than not following the path of the warrior?
inb4 that's the player's job to decide

[Hanzo K.]

>"...Right. It's been a weird day after all."

[Tapsa]

>Do we have any hobbies or special traits, other than not following the path of the warrior?

>You do have an ambition.

>Since you couldn't follow in footsteps (figurative) of your parents, you've given up on following the way of the warrior. Instead, you now believe that your destiny lies elsewhere. You want to become something greater than a mere Yin-Yang Orb. Your desire is to transcend this body, breaking free from all of your shackles and constraints binding you down. As a sentient and sapient creature, you deserve the ability to experience the world around yourself to the fullest, without any of your current bodily limitations! By transcending this spherical form of yours, you believe that you can surpass even your parents in greatness.

>If there's anything right now that comes close to being counted as a hobby for you, there's this thing where you've got your hands fu-... there's this thing where you're busy helping this fairy with her investigation of the prevailing heat in Gensokyo. You've got a hunch that hanging too much around fairies is probably going to take a toll on your mental well-being in the long run, but you can't ignore the fact that fairies seem to be the only beings apart from orbs that can hear you "talk" right now, what with Yuuka being seemingly unable to hear you during that scary encounter.

>Follow Hima.

>Before you both leave, Hima recamouflages the rotten log. You do have to admit that her stash is hidden quite well, how does she remember every single time where it is when she wants to access it?
>You head back lakewards with her, making sure to trail behind her so that you can keep an eye on her. You're still cautious with her, since she has demonstrated that she won't hesitate to wander off to places for no particular reason whenever she wants to.

>"...Right. It's been a weird day after all."

>"Yeah. Today, I met a talking orb, and the flower lady didn't break my bones one by one. This heat is making everyone weird!" She puts her hands behind her head and sort of half-reclines in the air while levitating forwards with the power of her wings, and sighs. "Wonder if my pal's okay..."
>You pull up next to her side to have a look at her face. You can tell she's looking worried, even from just the profile of her face.


>Soon, the coniferous trees around you disappear, and mist and fog encircles you. The familiar sedges and wetland flowers of Misty Lake sprout near the waterline. You're back to the lakeshore with Himawari.

>This time, there's fairies gathered around here. It looks like they're up to typical fairy shenanigans. It's quite hard to tell what exactly each fairy is doing here with all the chaos going on, but you think there's fairies engaged in mock martial arts fights in middle of all this hustle and bustle, since their punches, kicks and chops are accompanied by exaggerated yells. You also see a bunch of fairies gathered around a quite smug-looking fairy holding a big catfish.

>"Alright," Himawari says to you, "let's start looking for her 'round this crowd. She's gonna stick out like a sore thumb if she's here. You cover that side, okay?"




>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"How should we find each other once one of us finds her?"
>How likely is it for us to get in trouble with the fairies around here?

[Tapsa]

>"How should we find each other once one of us finds her?"

>"You don't need to 'cover that side', I just wanted to say it because it sounds cool, haha!" Hima grins in that supremely obnoxious fairy way of grinning.

>"You can stick with me, this crowd ain't too big to sift through together. And if we somehow lose track of each other, um... go to that big rock over there." She points to the large boulder by the lake, which you saw earlier.

>How likely is it for us to get in trouble with the fairies around here?

>Unlikely. You've seen bored fairies before, and those didn't bother to annoy you. Orbs just aren't as fun to bugger as other fairies or humans. You don't think Himawari is going to get in trouble here... maybe.



>_

[Captain Infinity]

>Commence the search for our fairy's buddy as planned.

[Tapsa]

>Commence the search for our fairy's buddy as planned.

>You agree to stick together with Hima while searching for her friend.

>You circle around the fairy crowd with her, luckily, she hasn't picked a fight or done anything similarly troublesome yet. She seems more concerned about finding her friend right now.
>Soon, you spot a fairy who stands out from the rest of the fairies. Quite literally, too, since she's near the edge of the crowd. She dons a light blue dress, four long narrow transparent wings arranged like if she was a dragonfly and a rather strange hair style. Numerous pigtails sprout throughout her short black hair, you can count six from this angle. She matches the characteristics Himawari gave you about her friend pretty well.
>Speaking of Hima, it appears that she didn't spot that fairy, since she's already about to move on...





>_

[Hanzo K.]

>"Uh, that her?" Indicate the fairy in question however best we can.

[O4rfish]

>After saying this, fly over to the fairy.

[Tapsa]

Parser's note: I'm back to working on this. What originally was a minor writer's block resulting from not being able to come up with a name for Himawari's pal inevitably became a major writer's block as I kept pushing the deadline for writing up further and further, but that block has now been shattered into a million pieces. I can't forgive myself for one and half month worth of updates never happening due to this hiatus, so let's press on!

>"Uh, that her?" Indicate the fairy in question however best we can.

>You manage to make Himawari look over her shoulder back to you, and also elicit a "Hm?" from her. You've got her attention now.

>After saying this, fly over to the fairy.

>You start flying towards the fairy, thinking that Hima will surely notice the fairy she's been looking for while tracking your movements.
>"Mica!", you hear Hima shout behind you as you advance towards her friend.
>Hima zooms past you, rocketing headfirst towards the fairy in a light blue dress. She cancels her arrowlike flight into a skillfully timed front flip and employs her wings as airbrakes, effectively killing her momentum as she lands on her feet 5 feet away from her fairy friend. Hadn't Hima done that maneuver, her poor friend would've got headbutted in the chest by her!

>"Yo, Mica!", Himawari greets the fairy whose name is Mica by getting closer to her and slamming her right arm on Mica's shoulder. "Haven't seen you in a while."
>"O-oh... It's you, Himawari." It goes without saying that Mica was pretty startled at first when she turned her head and saw this Himarocket heading straight towards her, but she's looking much more relieved now that she's figured out that it's her friend: "Phew, I thought I was going to get swooped in all this silliness that's going on around here right now..."
>"Sorry for making you jump there, I felt like doing that. Gotta lighten up my mood some more, today ain't the best day I've had...", Hima stares at her own left arm which she still doesn't seem to be able to move.
>"...what happened to your left arm?"
>"Got in a fight with red-white, with a lot of others. Didn't end up well for any of us, even though it was an ambush. Didn't die though, heh!" Hima jolts backwards a little when Mica tries to touch her left arm. "Don't touch it, still hurts."
>"Ah, sorry...", Mica apologizes even though she didn't manage to touch Himawari's arm.

>"Don't worry about it, it's the only part that hurts anymore." Hima lifts her gaze from her left arm to make eye contact with Mica. "Anyway, what's up? Anyone called you fountain-hair lately?"
>"Huh? No, not at all. Why?"
>"Cuz if some jerks been calling you a fountain-hair round these parts, I'll punch 'em in the snout so hard that they'll need to respawn a couple times before they've got all their teeth back in places!", Himawari clenches her right fist and brandishes it towards the crowd of fairies who don't seem to be paying much attention to any of you.
>"Um... I don't think you need to do that to anyone." Mica lets out a sigh. "I haven't done much else today other than looked for you around the Lake, I'm glad that I found you finally. I've wanted to talk to someone about what has been going on lately. But first..." Mica shifts her gaze to you.  "...do you know what this orb has been doing here this whole time we've talked?"

>Himawari's eyes start glittering: "Oh! That's my new buddy! I saw it getting kicked from reaaally high up by the red-white during that fight, and there was this big boom when it hit the ground! I went to check on the hole it left and it was still there in one piece! It couldn't move after that for a while, though, so I saved it by lifting it out from the bottom of the hole! After that, we've been sticking together all the way to here!"
>Himawari clenches her right fist again and waves it in the air: "But this Orby ain't just any orb..." With lightning speed, Hima changes her fistwaving gesture into a gesture of pointing at you! "...cuz this one can TALK!"
>"Come on, say hello to it!", Hima tries to encourage Mica who seems to be a bit doubtful about this whole deal.
>"A talking orb... really?"

>Mica's expression is a combination of doubt and a perception of being ridiculed as she looks at you before greeting you:
>"Uh... hi?"

[O4rfish]

>Consider not saying anything just to mess with Himawari.

>"Hello Mica. Nice to meet you."

>Can we rotate ourself perpendicular to our viewing axis, so we stay looking at something but make the pattern spin around? If so, try to do so.

[Tapsa]

>Consider not saying anything just to mess with Himawari.

>Considering how she messed with you when you wanted to wear that hat, it wouldn't be unjust to countermess with Himawari. You were close to making a Yin-Yang orb fashion statement...

>Can we rotate ourself perpendicular to our viewing axis, so we stay looking at something but make the pattern spin around? If so, try to do so.

>Yes, this is pretty much how a Yin-Yang Orb can focus its vision on something while spinning. However, since your viewing axis is constrained on a horizontal axis, this obviously doesn't work at all when vertically spinning.

>"Hello Mica. Nice to meet you."

>You give Mica your greetings while trying out your spinning thing. To your relief, you still find yourself able to focus your vision on a point while spinning. Guess Reimu didn't kick that ability out of you to make space for the ability to talk, heh.

>Mica blinks twice at you, she's clearly surprised...
>"W-wow... you weren't joking. It really does talk!"
>You glance over to Himawari, and notice that she's wearing the hat stolen from a monk. You're not sure when she managed to grab it out of her bag.
>"Hehehe... as expected from me, right? I find cool loot and cool other things, like this orb!"
>Hima grabs her bowl-like straw hat by the front ledge and tips it to cover her face.
>"I'm a dealer of cool.", she claims, looking all smug. Probably. It's hard for you to tell what's her expression, since she made the hat obstruct her face.

>"Cool, huh...", says Mica who strokes one of her pigtails. "Well, that's what gave me the idea to start looking for you around the Lake. I thought this heat would make you show up here sooner or later, since it's always cooler here than in the surrounding area due to Cirno." She stops playing with her hair.

>"Yup, at first I thought I should hang 'round here for a while to cool off, but then I remembered about..."
>Himawari quickdraws the folded paper fan from her bag with one slick movement of her right arm.
>"...THIS!", she shouts, raising the folded paper fan above her head, before unfolding it with a flick of wrist, revealing its red circle against a white background.
>Looking at Mica after that, you can almost imagine a massive sweatdrop forming on the side of her head.
>"You're really acting out every thing you do today, aren't you...", Mica notes.

>"Oh, c'mon." Hima gives a sort of disappointed look at Mica. "I told you I'm havin' a bad day, I need to balance it out!"
>"'Sides, I'm hyped for the start of our investigation!" Hima shoots a glance at you and gives you the good ol' fairy grin, before returning her view to Mica.
>"Investigation?", Mica raises an eyebrow.
>"Yeah! You know, an investigation for what's up with this heat!" Hima clears her throat. "Not that kind of 'investigation' red-white and the others do, tho. Orby and I ain't so stupid to think that we've got enough power to go around beating strong people up for clues. Not when it's just us two, at least!"

>Mica blinks and slowly nods to Himawari. "Oh, okay. So you're doing that Incident-solving thing, sort of? Well, you can count me out of it."
>"Boo~", Himawari playfully protests over Mica's pre-emptive refusal to join your party. "Oh well, I was expecting that. You always lack fairy power, really~"
>Mica doesn't respond to Hima, but instead stares at the ground for a few seconds.
>"Still... I can help you get started, I think."
>"Hm?"
>"You know, now that I think about it... It feels like it isn't any cooler near the lake right now than anywhere else, even though it should be." Mica grabs her right arm by the upper arm with her left hand and finally shifts her gaze from the ground up to Himawari. "In fact... it kinda feels like it's gotten even hotter while we've been talking here."
>Hima nods and fans herself with her paper fan. "Hum... that's odd. It really does feel like it's getting hotter..."

>You're not sure if Himawari and Mica have noticed it yet, but the fairy crowd next to you seems to have gotten even rowdier than when you arrived here. The tension building between the fairies in that crowd is almost tangible for you...

[O4rfish]

>"Girls, maybe we should start moving away from the crowd."
>Can we talk to multiple orbs or fairies at once? If not, say that to Himawari.
>Start floating in the direction away from the cloud of fairies.

>What gender are we?