~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore
Fresh Faces in the Kaleidoscope (Completed!) (+Epilogue)
Esifex:
--- Quote from: IcedFairy on July 19, 2010, 01:06:18 AM ---Hm... I wonder if the Sara bleed over is occuring,
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This'll blow your minds. Different bleed over, though.
Sara and Acied, the characters I introduced to you lot in my other story, Everlasting Wanderers, are actually characters from a story I'm writing that isn't related to Touhou. They were written deliberately to be a pair of characters, never meant to work independently of each other.
They are two facets of myself. Acied is the side of Erik (that's me) that the public sees. He's got a short fuse before he says 'enough, how do I deal with this?', lets his hair grow out to shoulder length, has a taste for cold weather and overcoats, he's very gruff, and his magic is what I would love to have the best out of my story (the ability to shapeshift into anything so long as he can hear music).
Sara is the alternate facet, the feminine side. Yin and Yang. She is the parts of me that are usually kept hidden; the instant trust, the easygoing spirit, the absolute love of music and singing, the feminine and cuddly parts that are all bits that will only come out when I can find someone I can fully trust. The telepathy started as a plot-critical tool to let Sara communicate with Acied while he didn't have human vocal chords, and was inspired by... things I've been putting my mental resources to. That's another can of worms for another time.
In Everlasting Wanderers, Sara becomes embittered with the rest of the people around her in the human village because of their subtle suspicions of her telepathy. In this story, this particular telepathic Sara pulled the short straw, and their suspicions weren't so subtle. As anyone who's been the target of prejudices and false accusations, she reacted rather poorly.
Esifex:
--- Quote from: Kasunagi-no-Tsurugi on July 19, 2010, 12:40:29 AM --- I love the humour you inject into the story as well.
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That's cuz mah momma always used to said, 'better to be a smartass, than a dumbass.'
Well damn, looks like I'm obligated to write more. This'll be fuuuuun >:D
MysTeariousYukari:
--- Quote from: Tactician Esifex on July 19, 2010, 04:09:09 AM ---That's cuz mah momma always used to said, 'better to be a smartass, than a dumbass.'
Well damn, looks like I'm obligated to write more. This'll be fuuuuun >:D
--- End quote ---
Yes! This story is awesome, PLEASE write more, I'm reading through it again as I wait, hoping for an update as I go.
Esifex:
--- Quote from: Cirnore on July 19, 2010, 12:57:32 AM ---Well, given his lack of breasts...
Actually, according to Ran that pretty much is him! : D
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Esifex is actually about as well-endowed as Rin Tohsaka.
That is, not really all that 'well' endowed.
The updates will come - give me a bit of time. I'm currently going through a few changes in my daily work life, and I may end up with a bit more free time here in the near future.
I haven't forgotten this story, nor the other one I've started with Iced Fairy's help (but haven't yet posted), and I do plan on finishing this one. I have a resolution already in mind, just gotta write my way there.
Esifex:
No, I didn't forget. :P
The gateway mountains, while large, didn?t meet up with each other. There was a generous path that wound around each of their bases, leading into Gensokyo. At the end of the path was a wooden gate, without a fence. The top of the gate had two crossbeams; Koishi said it was called a ?torii? gate, and that if we didn?t walk through it and then follow the path, the border here would eventually cause us to loop back into Mayohiga.
Apparently it was a little harder to get in to Mayohiga, but getting out still required a specific technique.
Luckily for us, our path finding abilities were no match for this earthen route, and we easily conquered the task of walking in a straight line.
It was interesting, passing through the barrier that separated Gensokyo and Mayohiga; on one side of it, my telepathy was passively blocked ? I couldn?t read into Gensokyo without projecting, and once I got into Gensokyo, I couldn?t read into Mayohiga without projecting as well. Stepping through, the difference was literally like going from one room into another. The lights go out in the one you came from, and then you have so much to explore in the next.
?Well, here we go again. Welcome back to Gensokyo, me.?
Koishi chuckles. ?Have you perhaps considered any of Yukari?s suggestions? I could lead you to the Underground, keep the oni from screwing with you on your way to the Earth Spirit Palace. Satori really could use someone like you to help her out, even if all you do is contribute another mind reader. Being the tribunal for the under-dwellers can be pretty tricky, especially with how crafty most of them are, with their talent for telling half-truths. And with how much strife there is between castes down there, you?d never be out of work.?
?Are you sure you?re not offering me that just so you can keep me and my delicious nubile body where you left it? I?ve seen how you?ve been looking at me.?
She snorts and gives me a playful push. ?You found me out, I see. Give yourself to me, I demand you!?
I sidestep her advances and bat her groping hands away, grinning.
Hmm. Working out of Chireiden? It?s a possibility. Doubt there are many humans down there, and if there are, they?d be such a rare commodity that they?d probably actually stick together and not be dicks to each other.
From the Mayohiga Valley, you can see for miles. However, the human village isn?t visible from here. At least, not in the pre-dusk light. This only further drives home the point that Yukari had planned her little agenda out by deliberately dropping me in Koishi?s path, close to the village. I resist the urge to roll my eyes, mostly because Koishi is still trying to get under my shirt and I need to keep them on her.
?Alright, enough of that, or you?ll get what?s coming to you. The sun?s on its way down, so I think we need to be setting up camp soon. Near as I can tell, too, we?re not exactly close to any shelters, so we get to deal with those nasty owl youkai swooping down in the middle of the night to spirit me away.?
This succeeds in stopping Koishi from further molestations, and puts her into wilderness business mode.
?Okie-dokie. Leave me your rut-sack; I?ll set up the camp itself. You go and gather up any loose brushing you can find. Get about an armful or so, don?t really need that much. Once you have that and bring it back, I?m gonna send you out to find some thick branches, so be on the lookout for those, too. If you hear anything ? wait, you can scry around yourself, you?ll know what to stay away from. If something starts coming after you, come back immediately ? I?ll take care of it.?
?Yes, ma?am. Anything else?? I ask, swinging my rut sack off from my shoulders and dropping it to the ground.
?Don?t eat any berries or anything that you see without showing me, first. Don?t want to have to bust out the first-aid kits on our first night out. Keep your gloves on while handling the brush, too.?
?Simple enough. Be back in a little bit.?
No berries presented themselves to me, but plenty of twigs and dried up leaves and the sort were lying around just waiting to be rounded up. It was a stunt and a half trying to get an entire armful in one go; instead, I made several trips, depositing my finds on each visit back to the campsite, checking on Koishi?s progress towards pitching camp. We didn?t have a big fancy tent ? which, you know, c?mon now, Yukari, you really could?ve given us one, wouldn?t?ve cost you anything ? but instead a fairly sizable lean-to. Koishi was expertly rigging it up to be freestanding, and I made it a point to note where she had all the anchor lines planted so I wouldn?t trip over them at night.
After three expeditions I had enough kindling for Koishi to send me after the thick branches. Considering that there weren?t many trees around, I didn?t have many options, but there were a few here and there that I?d spotted while gathering the little stuff.
One outing later, and I returned with a mighty two branches. Koishi looked at them from under the lean-to ? she?d finished pitching it ? and nodded her approval.
?Snap ?em in half and lean them across each other over the little stuff you gathered up, and I?ll light it later on when the sun goes all the way down.?
?Looks like it?ll be a pitiful little fire. You sure this?ll be enough? Or that it?ll be a good idea? I?ve seen Lord of the Rings, you know; fire attracts bogeymen.?
Koishi considers my statement before dismissing the reference. She really should?ve asked, ?cause LotR is a totally badass series of books. ?Sentient youkai know better than to attack a human that?s in the presence of another youkai ? that is, me ? and the feral youkai won?t get close to the fire. Not unless it?s a biggy.?
?No biggies around us right now. I?ll scan the area at sundown and let you know.?
Koishi blinks at me, and then shakes her head. ?Yeah, right, right. Are you hungry yet??
It would?ve been hilarious if my stomach growled at that instant, but, this isn?t an anime, and I actually wasn?t that hungry. Still, it beat putting it off till later, when I?d be too tired to do anything about it.
?Not all that hungry, but I?ll eat. Should we set up some traps for small game, or something? Or what, how do you hunt??
?Hunt? I was just gonna pop open some of the food Yukari sent out with us.?
Oh. Duh.
?I knew that. What?d she send out with us??
Turns out Yukari sent us on our way with a bunch of stuff, but Koishi singled out the beef jerky of all things and tore into the packaging. ?Doesn?t need any preparation, and you should get used to eating stuff like this if you?re going to be roughing it,? she said, gnawing on a hock of jerky.
The image of her actually gnawing on something ? a very unrefined look ? coupled with her fancy blouse, her hat, her skirt, the wires from her Third Eye wrapping around her, and a blank stare aimed at me as she spoke, made me laugh.
?I dunno; if it?s gonna turn me into some kind of jerky-zombie, with blank, soulless eyes, I might not want any.?
?Eeeeeeeeeat. Braaaaaaaains,? she holds a piece out for me to take.
I graciously accept her offer and begin gnawing the jerky, not brains, after plopping myself down next to her under the lean-to.
Not bad. A whole day without any awkwardness, no mention of the jackasses in the human village, and aside from mentioning Chireiden to give me someplace to stay, Koishi hasn?t mentioned anything about my immediate future or the plans I may or may not have made.
We finish our snack in silence, content to simply munch and watch the sky turn pastel with the sunset. Koishi had pitched the lean-to facing east (at least, I assumed Gensokyo still had the same cardinal directions. I?m not even sure if it?s on Earth, as all I have is Yukari?s word) so that we were in the shade of the sunset, and sunrise would shine on us, waking us up.
?I?m going to scan the area now. Be back in a little bit.?
?Right-o. I?ll make sure your body doesn?t get up and go anywhere without you.?
?Appreciate it. I might be out for a while; I plan to explore Gensokyo some. Get myself orientated.?
She nods. ?Take your time.?
I lie down properly and draw my blanket up over myself, getting comfortable before I separate my mind from my body.
Let?s see if I can?t find out where the human village is, from here.
The same effect that I saw surrounding Mayohiga is present around Gensokyo. I assume it?s not visible under normal light spectrums, and that it?s the barrier that separates Gensokyo from everything around it.
The entirety of Gensokyo seems like it?s only about eight or nine days of traveling on foot from one end to the other. To be fair, though, the border wasn?t perfectly spherical, and there were parts that seemed to ebb off into the distance, kind of like how Mayohiga was an extension of Gensokyo. Inconvenient to a ground-bound human, perhaps, but not impossible to fully explore on your lonesome. Considering that just about everyone here can fly, though, it seems terribly small.
Like Yukari said, though, expanding upwards and downwards makes up for this lack of size. There?s another mountain range here, with one fairly large mountain as the crown masterpiece. A network of tunnels riddles them, as well as underground.
Despite having only so much surface area, the actual livable space here seems like it?d take a lifetime to explore. That?s the charm of Gensokyo, I suppose. Easy on the outside, complex on the inside.
Going from my old saying (during hours of PVP combat in World of Warcraft) that ?height equals sight?, I elevated my awareness into the sky a considerable distance to look out across Gensokyo. From my newfound altitude, spotting the human village was easy. A sizable forest intruded on the most direct path between our camp and the village, though if we wanted to, we?d only be cutting through a small portion of the outer edge of this forest.
Satisfied, I relaxed myself and allowed my mind to be pulled back to my body.
Again, I took a deep breath immediately upon reentering my body before attempting to adjust myself.
Once situated, I realize something. Koishi is bloody weird.
I pull her hands out from around my stomach and try to un-entangle my legs from hers, but give up. I?d just wake her up and she?d just cuddle up against me again; the combined body-heat will help ward off the cold of the night, though.
Good night, Koishi. You perv.
Morning found Koishi awake bright and early, and Esifex the same as she always was ? sleeping through it.
It didn?t help that Koishi had convinced Esifex?s subconscious to take another circadian cycle, giving her ninety minutes of guaranteed privacy.
She wandered a short distance away from the camp and procured the walky-talky from her pouch once again. ?Yukari, are you awake??
A period of silence almost convinced Koishi that Yukari was in fact not awake, and right before she went to slip the two-way back into its pocket, she got a response.
?I?m awake. I won?t be taking any sojourns from Gensokyo until this little incident is taken care of. What?s news??
?I tracked Esifex while she scryed Gensokyo. She was interested in finding a route from where we are now to the human village, of course. From where we came out of Mayohiga, the Forest of Magic keeps us from going straight there. We wouldn?t need to dive straight into the Forest to get to the village, though ? we?d barely even lose sight of the tree line if we did. I?m going to of course recommend steering clear of the Forest, but I just wanted you to know what?s going on and whereabouts we?ll be in case I can?t convince her to stop. As it stands, if we packed up the camp and headed straight towards the village, we could be there in about five or six hours. If we circumvent the Forest, closer to eight hours. I don?t think she?ll be awake for at least another hour, though.?
?Understood. I?ll let Reimu know when she wakes up.?
?You?re at the Shrine?? Koishi blinked at the two-way.
?Yes, I am. Why??
?We could be there by nightfall if we left as soon as Esifex woke up. Should I try to convince her to go to the shrine??
There was a pause as Yukari considered the idea. ?Try it, but I?ll be operating under the assumption that you?ll still be going towards the human village. If I don?t spot you there come closer to late afternoon, I?ll assume you?re on your way to the Shrine and I?ll leave. Either way, whenever you can, try to update me on what?s going on ? both physically and mentally.?
?Alright. I think it?s time I started putting something together for breakfast.?
?Goodbye.? Yukari signed off with no banter, no pretense at exchanging pleasantries. Koishi shrugged and pocketed the two-way once again, turning back to the camp.
To be continued, of course.