Three Fairies Quest

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

(inb4 tongue gets stuck to ice)

[Tapsa]

>Out of pure curiousity, lick the icy ground. See if its all frozen.

>Lick the ground? Why?

>You are disappointed in yourself for even considering letting outdoors ice get anywhere close to your tongue. That's just asking for trouble and embarrassment.

>"What if Cirno's in trouble? Star, do you sense anyone nearby?"
>Are we aware of Letty Whiterock?

>"Yeah, there's somebody way bigger than a fairy there. Not going very fast.", Star says and points in the direction where the ice path curves and presumably continues deeper into the forest. "It was real fuzzy, so if Cirno's there I couldn't tell her apart from that big thing!"
>Yes, you know that name. You saw her one time at that muscle-leum place and talked to her a little. She claimed to be some kind of a winter youkai. You wonder if she has the power to do something like this.

>_

[Kyo Tanaka]

>Follow the icy trail!

>Any change in temperature?

[Tapsa]

>Follow the icy trail!

>Any change in temperature?

>"Don't care who it is. But we gotta get 'em stop freezing up all the places, it's not nice to the forest!", Star says.
>Luna picks up a stick and pokes the icy ground. The stick doesn't seem to be affected.
>"...Nah. I don't trust this ice. What if it knows?"
>You start following the ice trail south, deeper into the forest. You do your best to avoid stepping on any ice. It's really a shame because it looks perfect for sliding on, but the dead and at least partially decayed plants under cover of ice make you feel uneasy about the ice.
>After following the ice path for some time, the air temperature has clearly begun to drop around you. You hear crunching and crushing noises of ice up ahead, coming from around a bend...

>_

[O4rfish]

>Ambush the crunchy ice monster!

[Tapsa]

>Ambush the crunchy ice monster!

>You should be coming from behind it, the best position for ambushings! This'll be an easy one.
>You take one final glance to review your comrades before carrying out the ambush. Star nods eagerly, seemingly thinking exactly what you're thinking, while Luna looks just about anxious as she always does, so you take her silence as compliance.
>You swiftly corner the turn to ambush whatever it is out there from behind!
>"Freeze!", Star cries out. "Wait, uh, no, I mean... WHOA!"
>You feel your ambush backfire as you're caught by surprise by the sight of the very thing you were going to ambush. A dark purple, hill-shaped figure taller than anybody you've ever met before looms ahead, trudging away from you at a walking pace, withering and freezing any plants in its that way that come in contact with its body. You feel intimidated by the sheer height and size of the figure, but you also find something about its appearance very unnerving and sinister...
>"W-w-what the heck is that th-thing? A-are those arms!?", a trembling Luna stammers.
>The figure suddenly comes to a halt.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Vanish now!
>Also those other dorks, too.

[Tapsa]

>Vanish now!
>Also those other dorks, too.

>Once again, light submits to your will. You can see Star and Luna just fine, but anybody looking from the direction of that thing shouldn't be able to see the three of you anymore. You could probably do a better job with the illusion if you were bathing in sunlight at a field instead of being in the gloominess of a dense forest, but hopefully, the thing straight ahead of you isn't very perceptive.
>The ominous creature slowly turns around, revealing that it has a face. Two round eyes stare forward without blinking or moving, and a wide row of shining, white teeth immediately stands out from the dark appearance of the creature. Oh god... Can it see you? It's gaze is aimed nowhere near you, yet you still feel its cold staring eyes boring into the back of your mind. Your ears begin ringing and your heart beats faster and faster, all while you're starting to feel increasingly lightheaded...

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Start tiptoeing back.
>How are the others taking this?

[Tapsa]

>How are the others taking this?

>They're as shaken as you are, if not outright on the verge of panic. Star's eyes are darting all over the place and she's already backed up a few steps. Luna stands still, frozen up by terror, and is hyperventilating.

>Start tiptoeing back.

>You've managed to back up a couple steps when the creature makes a long, bloodcurdling growl.
>"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▄▄▄▃▃▂▂▂▂▂▂..."
>Star shrieks and stumbles on her feet, falling on her back on the ground, while Luna shows no change in behavior.
>"It... It's gonna..." Star continues to back away by dragging herself across the ground. "W-we gotta..!"

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Grab Luna by the shoulders and pull her back, let's backpedal away from this thing fast!

[Tapsa]

>Grab Luna by the shoulders and pull her back, let's backpedal away from this thing fast!

>"...RUN!", Star screams and routs away.
>You grab Luna's shoulders and begin withdrawing, but towing her in her current state is more difficult than you were expecting. Her body seems to resist more and more the further you pull her, tensing up so much that her ankles dig into the soil through the thick undergrowth. It quickly becomes impossible for you to continue pulling her stiff and heavy body. It doesn't help she's heavier than you or Star to begin with...
>To your horror, you notice that the creature has begun to slowly inch toward you. Loose skin drapes down the lower half of its body, dragging against the ground like the hem of a long, dark purple skirt.

>_

[O4rfish]

>Maybe we're dreaming and we need to wake up!
>Pinch Luna.

[Tapsa]

>Maybe we're dreaming and we need to wake up!
>Pinch Luna.

>You're not sure if it'll help if using her as a living fairy plow just now couldn't bring her senses back, but you're running out of ideas here!
>You pinch Luna's cold cheek. She doesn't complain, try to punch your arm or display any other appropriate reflex, but her breathing starts to slow down to a more normal pace. It seems to be working!
>"What... are you doing?", Luna asks. She continues to lean perfectly still against you with her scared stiff body.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Harsh whisper: "We gotta go!"
>Tug her again and hope she gets the point.

[Tapsa]

>Harsh whisper: "We gotta go!"
>Tug her again and hope she gets the point.

>"Huh? Why?", Luna says.
>You handle Luna roughly some more. Her neck relaxes and her head swings back until her hat-covered scalp bumps into your chest. She stares you in the eye greatly confused, her head almost upside-down. She then lifts her head up to look forward, directly at the creature. After a brief moment of staring at the creature, Luna's body goes limp for a second, before she jolts away from you with all her might!
>"AAAHHH!", screams Luna as she runs away, miraculously in the same direction where Star routed!

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Like hell Luna can outrun us! Let us demonstrate her folly with the cruel undeniability of practical results. Head in the same direction!

[Tapsa]

>Like hell Luna can outrun us! Let us demonstrate her folly with the cruel undeniability of practical results. Head in the same direction!

>No matter how particularly dangerous and scary this situation is, you're not going to be slower than Luna running for her life in a dense forest! Whoah, that's actually a pretty brutal simile you just came up with...
>You give the horrifying creature one final glance before sprinting off in the direction where Luna and Star are routing. You quickly catch up with Luna who's doing her girly run. As you overtake her, she somehow trips on a tiny tree root that barely stands out from the forest undergrowth, faceplanting herself in a thick mat of moss. After gaining considerable separation from Luna, you look behind and see her fuming and beating the moss with her fists before she finally scrambles back up on her feet to continue running.
>After a while, you see something blue and white flickering through some particularly thick brush up ahead. You think you're catching up with Star now.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Make sure Luna is still behind us. If so, keep going. If not, then it's probably time to stop.

[Tapsa]

>Make sure Luna is still behind us. If so, keep going. If not, then it's probably time to stop.

>There's a fair amount of separation between you and her, but you're fairly certain from the glimpses of her you're getting through the forest that she's still running and stumbling in a straight line in your and Star's direction. Speaking of Star, you've indeed caught up with her.
>You keep on running behind Star, while keeping tabs on the lagging Luna to make sure she doesn't stray off course. Running a little more probably won't hurt even if that thing appeared to be totally incapable of giving chase. Things are starting to feel a bit off, though. Shouldn't you have reached the trail already by now?

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hey, where's that trail at?"

[Tapsa]

>"Hey, where's that trail at?"

>Star slows down to lean on a tree to catch her breath.
>"Huff... We clear?", she says, a bit winded.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>"Maybe, but let's keep going. Where's the trail at?"

[Tapsa]

>"Maybe, but let's keep going. Where's the trail at?"

>"I don't believe you! I feel some big thing coming this way!", Star says and starts powerwalking away while looking over her shoulder.
>Luna arrives at the scene with another dramatic faceplant. She doesn't bother to get up, but just lies there breathing heavily.
>"Oh wait, it's just Luna." Star winks and taps herself in the head. "I really couldn't tell the difference!"
>"T-that... that was a r-real youkai! Not some bird that sells food!", Luna says with ragged breath.
>"The trail?" Star shrugs. "Dunno, I swear it was behind us the whole time! But there's somebody over there, maybe they're on it?"
>She points in the direction where the somebody apparently is. You don't see anything that stands out from here because the trees are limiting visibility quite effectively.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'll check."
>Creep up and peer through the foliage.

[Tapsa]

>"I'll check."
>Creep up and peer through the foliage.

>Peering through the foliage, you see a purple-haired fairy in a yellow dress, sitting on a rock just big enough to have a seat on. Several small, crude toys crafted from tree cones and sticks are placed in a circle around her on the ground. You're not sure what exactly the fairy is doing currently, but since she's holding a pen of some kind and hunching so hard her face is almost touching her lap, you guess she's trying out how it's like to write like a super near-sighted person?

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>Is there an appropriate unspoken etiquette for approaching faeries without causing problems, outside of the basic kind?
>Assuming not, call out, "Hey, you got a minute?"

[Tapsa]

>Is there an appropriate unspoken etiquette for approaching faeries without causing problems, outside of the basic kind?

>There is none to speak of, really. Since you're fairy yourself, you should have no problems casually approaching fellow fairies. That is, if they don't have some kind of big idea going on in their head at the moment that isn't readily apparent to anybody without mind reading powers. Even then, fairies tend to be much more belligerent towards non-fairies than their kin.

>Assuming not, call out, "Hey, you got a minute?"

>The fairy shushes without changing pose, although she fails to produce the customary shushing gesture because the space between her face and lap is just too tiny for her free hand to fit in, no matter how hard she tries. She lifts up her face and stares at you for a brief moment, then springs up on her feet!
>"WHOA! Yeah, I got all the minutes! Are you the rescuerer!?", says the purple-haired fairy, her face beaming.

>_

[Hello Purvis]

>"Am I? I just wanna know where the trail went..."

[Tapsa]

>"Am I? I just wanna know where the trail went..."

>"No, that's what I wanna know! Wait, don't tell me you got stuck here too..." The fairy frowns.
>"Oh, it's a fairy?" You jump as Star's voice suddenly appears right behind you. "Greetings, comrade."
>The fairy puts her hands to her hips and gives you a stern look. "Stop messing with me! You gotta be rescuerers, there's two of you! You gotta get me outta here!"

>_