Okuu Quest Next - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Dishonesty never gets people where they truly want to be, I've always tried to be as forward as I can as a result.  Also, being nice is always more rewarding than being a dick.  The world may not be a good place, but if one looks at it with such unrelenting negativity, then it'll turn out worse than it actually is."
> "And, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like you too"

[Hello Purvis]

> Okuu x Parsee OTP

>Daaaw~

> "Dishonesty never gets people where they truly want to be, I've always tried to be as forward as I can as a result.  Also, being nice is always more rewarding than being a dick.  The world may not be a good place, but if one looks at it with such unrelenting negativity, then it'll turn out worse than it actually is."
> "And, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like you too"

>She nods.
>"You better not be." she says. "Anyways...um, I'll expect you for lunch, okay? Oh! And are you going to be staying again? So I know whether to fold the couch up..."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Lunch is a possibility, depending on several factors.  I have than meeting with Tenma at 10:30 and then work at 12.  I haven't thought of an excuse to cut it yet, so I doubt I'll even try and skip it."
> Do we have a lunch break at work?
> "Would you like me to stay another night?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Lunch is a possibility, depending on several factors.  I have than meeting with Tenma at 10:30 and then work at 12.  I haven't thought of an excuse to cut it yet, so I doubt I'll even try and skip it."
> Do we have a lunch break at work?
> "Would you like me to stay another night?"

>"Oh, right, work. Sorry, I didn't even think about you doing that kind of thing, given circumstances. I was kinda hoping we could use it to plot out our next move, too. But yeah, you know how to contact me, let me know when you can."
>You do. It is federally mandated! Nitori's usually pretty nice about it, as long as the work gets done and you don't try to skip out in the middle of a job for it; unless it's a job that will take hours.
>"I wouldn't mind," she says. "But if you are going to, let me know ahead of time."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "I'll probably stay here again unless something drastic comes up later today."
> "What time will you be busy today?  I'll try and work my lunch break around that."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I'll probably stay here again unless something drastic comes up later today."
> "What time will you be busy today?  I'll try and work my lunch break around that."

>"Alright, I'll try to clean up a bit more, then," says Parsee.
>"Since I'm not going to class, I'll be open all day," she says. "But I do wanna get some things done around home, if you don't need me for something specific."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "I'll probably be in touch after 2, but I can't say exactly when."
> "Anyway, I should head back for now and get ready for today.  Thanks for, well, everything really!"

[Hello Purvis]

> "I'll probably be in touch after 2, but I can't say exactly when."
> "Anyway, I should head back for now and get ready for today.  Thanks for, well, everything really!"

>She nods. "Alright. I'll do what I can here. Let me know when you're sure about plans."
>You say good. "Keep safe, and keep careful for people following you and stuff."
>After a moment, she gives you a rather stiff and awkward hug.

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Aww"
> Return with a nice warm hug, hold it longer if Parsee starts to loosen up.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Aww"
> Return with a nice warm hug, hold it longer if Parsee starts to loosen up.

>You return the gesture. "I'm no good at this spontaneous affection stuff," she says, softening a bit. "But it seemed like that right thing to do, all considered..."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "It doesn't have to be spontaneous, long as it's real it's good enough."
> Hugz~
> When it ends:  "I'll be touch later, bye Parsee!"

[Hello Purvis]

> "It doesn't have to be spontaneous, long as it's real it's good enough."
> Hugz~
> When it ends:  "I'll be touch later, bye Parsee!"

>"Yeah. But it was still the right time." she says.
>You hold on a few more seconds before letting go.
>"You better be," she says, as you collect up your stuff.

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> Current time
> Head home for now

[Hello Purvis]

> Current time
> Head home for now

>A little after 8:30.
>You leave the apartment, and head downstairs, then outside. The streets are fairly busy at this time of day, with people coming and going, gathering around bus stops. You find yourself crowded in while waiting for the proper bus to come, and can barely squeeze into a bench. Yet for all this activity, no one even seems to look at you.
>Thankfully, the bus trip home doesn't take too long, as the two parts of the city are right next to each other. You step off at the bus stop near Mad Mart once again. The Skids are quiet; only a few people get onto the bus after you step off. Much of its rush has come and gone. You can hear someone's dog barking in the distance.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue heading towards home

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue heading towards home

>You walk home, seeing no one else the whole way. As you arrive on your street, you see a number of crows milling about in a neighbor's yard; you recognize Momo among them; a smaller crow who is somewhat shy. Looking to your own house, you see Satori is in her garden again.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Toss a handful of bird seed towards the crows as we pass by
>If Satori can see us, wave
>When we get closer: "Hi. I-I hope you weren't too worried about me yesterday..."

[Hello Purvis]

>Toss a handful of bird seed towards the crows as we pass by
>If Satori can see us, wave
>When we get closer: "Hi. I-I hope you weren't too worried about me yesterday..."

>You toss a handful of birdseed to the crows, and cannot help but grin as the little piggies swarm around it with delighted caws.
>This tumult draws Satori's attention, and she returns your wave.
>You approach Satori. She is a short, purple-haired woman with sleepy eyes. You've long ago stopped really noticing her abnormally short arms, the source of her monthly disability checks. She smiles at you, then says, "I'm happier to learn you're alright. But...why were you being chased? Did you get into trouble with some gang?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I wish I knew, to be honest. I'm still trying to find out. I mean, you know me. I'm not usually the kind of person who gets into that sort of trouble."
>"That's sort of why I'm not sure I should hang around here too much, just yet. I don't want to get you and Orin tangled up in this if I can help it."
>Consider asking Satori to look at the video / photo-taking with Orin. Do we think it would be kinder to leave her out of it for the moment?

[Hello Purvis]

>"I wish I knew, to be honest. I'm still trying to find out. I mean, you know me. I'm not usually the kind of person who gets into that sort of trouble."
>"That's sort of why I'm not sure I should hang around here too much, just yet. I don't want to get you and Orin tangled up in this if I can help it."
>Consider asking Satori to look at the video / photo-taking with Orin. Do we think it would be kinder to leave her out of it for the moment?

>"Not usually, honey?" asks Satori. "Well, I trust you've not been doing anything wrong. But, I would like to know what's going on. Even if it tangles me up just a little bit."
>You don't know if it would be kinder to leave her out of that, but it would certainly be easier to have to only convince Orin right now, and have a potential ally in convincing Satori, rather than two skeptics...

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"That makes two of us who'd like to know what's going on. I promise I'll tell you more when I figure this out."
>"I need to go have a quick talk to Orin about something, now, and then I'm off to an appointment at city hall to see if I can straighten out that business about Akyuu's house. Try not to worry too much about me, ok? I'll be back around."
>Give her a hug
>Head into our house

[Hello Purvis]

>"That makes two of us who'd like to know what's going on. I promise I'll tell you more when I figure this out."
>"I need to go have a quick talk to Orin about something, now, and then I'm off to an appointment at city hall to see if I can straighten out that business about Akyuu's house. Try not to worry too much about me, ok? I'll be back around."
>Give her a hug
>Head into our house

>She frowns, but she nods. "Well, alright. But please try not to get into any more trouble!"
>You give her a hug. "Just be careful, alright?"
>You head into your half of the house. You find Orin is in the front room, sitting at the computer. "Welcome back, ghosty," she says.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Haha, nice to see you, too. Actually it IS nice to see you. Yesterday was the longest day of my life, I swear. It feels like it's been weeks since I've been home..."
>"So... got the camera? Let's get this over with."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Haha, nice to see you, too. Actually it IS nice to see you. Yesterday was the longest day of my life, I swear. It feels like it's been weeks since I've been home..."
>"So... got the camera? Let's get this over with."

>"Yep," says Orin, producing an old digital camera of Satori's. "What do you want me to do?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Just take a picture of me. Nothing special seems to be required. You should be able to see my 'guests' in the photo."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Just take a picture of me. Nothing special seems to be required. You should be able to see my 'guests' in the photo."

>She nods, and does so. Then she looks at the picture, and her eyes widen. "...Thanks for warning me. Holy shit, girl...You need an exorcist!"

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Or something.  I don't know what's up exactly though."
> Give Orin a run-down of our adventure in the forest and everything with the investigators to try and explain the beasts.

[DracoOmega]

>"So... convinced I'm not crazy, yet?"

>"I was actually to 3 separate shrines and temples yesterday, which, to the best of my knowledge is all of them, here. None of the people there seemed to pick up on anything. Of course, I don't know for sure when these guys started tagging along. I saw the big one in the forest yesterday afternoon. It might have attached itself to me, then, but for all I know, it could have been there for ages. Multiple aspects of the same being in different places at once. Heck if I know how this stuff is supposed to work. The crow is anyone's guess. Might have been there since the last time anyone took a photo of me. So maybe they couldn't sense anything because nothing was there? But I met Reimu, the shrine maiden in the forest temple, AFTER my encounter with the spirit. Of course, I think she might have been a bit of an atheist in the first place..."

>"There's another miko at the Moriya shrine that I didn't meet when I was there, though. Read a few of the stuff she's written on this shrine maiden website, though. Seemed to deeply believe all this spiritual stuff. Whether that means she'd be able to sense anything from me or not, I don't know. Might be worth a try, at any rate..."

>"At the very least, these spirits don't seem to have tried to harm me, yet. In fact, they don't seem to be doing... anything. Reimu said her mother told her the forest spirit was something of a guardian. I'm hoping she's right about that..."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Or something.  I don't know what's up exactly though."
> Give Orin a run-down of our adventure in the forest and everything with the investigators to try and explain the beasts.

>"So... convinced I'm not crazy, yet?"

>"I was actually to 3 separate shrines and temples yesterday, which, to the best of my knowledge is all of them, here. None of the people there seemed to pick up on anything. Of course, I don't know for sure when these guys started tagging along. I saw the big one in the forest yesterday afternoon. It might have attached itself to me, then, but for all I know, it could have been there for ages. Multiple aspects of the same being in different places at once. Heck if I know how this stuff is supposed to work. The crow is anyone's guess. Might have been there since the last time anyone took a photo of me. So maybe they couldn't sense anything because nothing was there? But I met Reimu, the shrine maiden in the forest temple, AFTER my encounter with the spirit. Of course, I think she might have been a bit of an atheist in the first place..."

>"There's another miko at the Moriya shrine that I didn't meet when I was there, though. Read a few of the stuff she's written on this shrine maiden website, though. Seemed to deeply believe all this spiritual stuff. Whether that means she'd be able to sense anything from me or not, I don't know. Might be worth a try, at any rate..."

>"At the very least, these spirits don't seem to have tried to harm me, yet. In fact, they don't seem to be doing... anything. Reimu said her mother told her the forest spirit was something of a guardian. I'm hoping she's right about that..."

>You explain things as best you can, summarizing your trip to the forest and last night's discovery. As you tell the story, Orin looks at the photograph with fascination, though looking up at you and nodding every so often. She snaps a couple more of them while you talk about the cat shadow.
>"I...don't even know what to say," says Orin. "Just go with whatever you trust the most. But, I guess if they've not hurt you, that's a good thing. Maybe that charm the Moriya Shrine gave you is good for something after all?"

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Should we tell mom about these things yet?"