Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>Couldn't we have acclimated Ran while the moon were full without any such thing, just that it would be temporary?
>"Let me have a look. There's got to be something..."
>Enter.

[DracoOmega]

>Couldn't we have acclimated Ran while the moon were full without any such thing, just that it would be temporary?
>"Let me have a look. There's got to be something..."
>Enter.

>You considered hiding her history to bring her across. You aren't certain it would have worked, and the consequences of failure, if the outside world rejected that effect, might have been extremely unpleasant.
>"Sure," Mokou says.
>You move to enter the barrier. It takes more effort this time, feeling rather like pushing your way into sand. Partway through you feel solid resistance against parts of your body. You eventually realize that some of your possessions are failing to pass through the barrier at all.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Now you start being a pain in the ass about them..."
>Remove our items from this timestream and leave them on the ground.

[DracoOmega]

>"Now you start being a pain in the ass about them..."
>Remove our items from this timestream and leave them on the ground.

>You grumble at the barrier. It remains indifferent to the inconvenience it's causing you.
>You take out all the items you're carrying from this timestream and leave them on the ground. In truth, that is... nearly everything you have. Hopefully the barrier will be more compliant now.

[Hello Purvis]

>Step through.

[DracoOmega]

>Step through.

>You again attempt to pass through the barrier. After a little struggle, you emerge on the other side. Yukari's house looks just as you left it, peaceful and bucolic, trapped in a world the size of a postage stamp.

[Hello Purvis]

>Go find Yukari.

[DracoOmega]

>Go find Yukari.

>You enter the house, noting the slight shakiness of one of the hinges on the front door. You pass through the entryway and down the hall into Yukari's room. She is also exactly as you left her, eyes closed amid that bizarre web of borders and gaps. It is still a little unsettling to look upon.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello again. I don't know if you can hear me, or care, but I've found Maribel and I think I know what happened to her. The problem is getting it undone. Ran and chen are doing fine. Oh, you'll probably be happy to know that Marisa and Reimu are alive and well. Well...assuming you know who they are. I guess you would know of the Hakurei Maiden."
>Of course, all this talking is just gathering up our courage to try to examine those borders and barriers in detail. Just look for now.

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello again. I don't know if you can hear me, or care, but I've found Maribel and I think I know what happened to her. The problem is getting it undone. Ran and chen are doing fine. Oh, you'll probably be happy to know that Marisa and Reimu are alive and well. Well...assuming you know who they are. I guess you would know of the Hakurei Maiden."
>Of course, all this talking is just gathering up our courage to try to examine those borders and barriers in detail. Just look for now.

>You give Yukari a status update. She remains silent and still throughout. You really have no way of knowing if she is aware of you.
>You take a closer look at the borders and barriers that envelop Yukari. They form a complex angular mesh that dominates the room, sufficing it with a harsh purple glow. It is at once both chaotic and orderly, precise geometries inside other geometries, at odd or impossible angles. You really have no idea of how to better interpret it, or what the significance of any individual element is. In fact, were it not for Ran, you would have no idea what the entire contrivance is achieving at all.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we see anything in them that seems like motion. In particular, the kind that people would make?

[DracoOmega]

>Do we see anything in them that seems like motion. In particular, the kind that people would make?

>There doesn't appear to be visible forms in them that you can identify.

[Hello Purvis]

>Sigh. "I suppose it was too much to hope I could see something from here."
>Look around the room itself. Anything noteworthy.

[DracoOmega]

>Sigh. "I suppose it was too much to hope I could see something from here."
>Look around the room itself. Anything noteworthy.

>You voice your disappointment. Yukari seems to be a quiet listener, at the least.
>You take a look around the room. It is fairly small and sparsely furnished, but aside from the monstrosity in its center, looks like a regular bedroom. You see a simple wooden bed, mostly obscured beneath the mesh. The sheets are unmade, and look hastily tossed aside. You have a funny feeling it distressed Ran greatly to leave them in that state for seven years, but it looks quite impossible to reach at the moment. There is also a small nightstand to the side, and a wooden wardrobe against the far wall. Aside from the mesh itself, nothing appears especially magical or even unusual.

[Hello Purvis]

>Any sign of anything that might have tumbled from the gaps?
>If not, exit the house and the pillar.

[DracoOmega]

>Any sign of anything that might have tumbled from the gaps?
>If not, exit the house and the pillar.

>You see nothing like that on the floor or elsewhere. Essentially, everything which is accessible in the room is quite neat and tidy.
>You decide to cut your losses and exit the pillar once more. Mokou is slumped over a nearby rock, while Ran is standing a short distance away, talking quietly with Mugetsu.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Nothing's changed inside. I looked around those gaps, hoping to find some sign of Gengetsu or Maribel, but nothing..."

[DracoOmega]

>"Nothing's changed inside. I looked around those gaps, hoping to find some sign of Gengetsu or Maribel, but nothing..."

>"I don't think they're connected to a physical space," Ran says, "so much as the world itself. What Yukari has frozen is... monumental in its scope, even for her."
>"However," she says, "I've been doing some thinking, and speaking with Mugetsu. When either of them enters a person's dreams, they decorporealize in the waking world. In a very real sense, they move inside the dream the person is dreaming. Of course, dreams usually have no form among the waking; they're a construct of the mind while we sleep, and thus to inhabit a dream is to inhabit that part of a dreamer's mind. If the Maribel you saw in the grove here was a physical projection of a dream, she would likely still have been tethered to the mind of the Maribel sleeping in the outside world. If Gengetsu tried to pass into this dream, she could have found herself unexpectedly pulled across time and world."
>"People can't wake up while we're inside their dreams," Mugetsu says. "But we don't want to harm anyone. We visit to observe, and to explore. We feel the natural end of the dream approaching, and leave to let it pass. But if she couldn't get out..."
>Ran nods. "That alone could keep Maribel asleep. Why she couldn't leave, I don't know. Maybe it was a matter of distance? Maybe something happened along the way? Maybe Maribel's mind is simply that different, somehow. That a dream of hers could pass across worlds is suggestive enough of that."

[Hello Purvis]

>"So, wouldn't that suggest Maribel is still in Gensokyo?"

[DracoOmega]

>"So, wouldn't that suggest Maribel is still in Gensokyo?"

>"The dream is not here," Mugetsu says, shaking her head. "Maybe she's dreaming something else. Maybe she's dreaming somewhere else."
>Ran frowns. "Or perhaps the reason Gengetsu can't seem to leave is connected with the reason Maribel isn't here anymore? I'm... really out of my depth, I'm afraid."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Where else is there, though, aside from here and outside?

[DracoOmega]

>"Where else is there, though, aside from here and outside?

>"I wouldn't be able to say," Ran says. "Perhaps nowhere. But at any rate, it seems likely that whatever Maribel is dreaming is still tied to her physical body somehow. Marisa and myself detected no enchantments on her, but this... would be somewhat different. "

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod. "I suppose, then, Mugetsu and I will have to go to her after all."

[DracoOmega]

>Nod. "I suppose, then, Mugetsu and I will have to go to her after all."

>"It may be the best way to deal with this at its source," Ran says. "Or at least give us a better idea of what we're dealing with."
>"If my sister's in there," Mugetsu says. "I'll know. I don't know what I can do for her if she can't leave on her own. But I'd like to know for sure."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I suppose there's no choice. Now we just have to figure out how to keep Mugetsu and I from being separated."

[E-Nazrin]

>"And try and warn her about the difficulties that might come up in the outer world... or at least the frightening parts."

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose there's no choice. Now we just have to figure out how to keep Mugetsu and I from being separated."

>"Indeed," Ran says. "I'm afraid that the technique I used to bond us isn't possible in this case. Neither of you, I believe, have the aptitude to invoke the rite, and I cannot bind two separate people to each other. However...." She pauses and looks at Mugetsu. "We may be able to 'cheat' the spatial limitations of these corridors."

>"And try and warn her about the difficulties that might come up in the outer world... or at least the frightening parts."

>Mugetsu frowns. "...I asked if it was scary out there. You said that-" She takes a deep breath, then shakes her head. "No. It doesn't matter. If my sister is out there, I have to see her. I'm going."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Well, I guess frightening isn't the best word for it... there are some parts of it that are alarming when you first encounter them. Those 'car' things, in particular, are noisy and really fast-moving... but it seems like the people controlling them from inside have some complex set of rules to avoid running into each other. They seem to mostly stay on paved black roads, if I recall correctly..."
>"What did you have in mind, Ran?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Also, there are no youkai outside. Just humans. Rather mild humans at that. I don't think you'd get more than weird stares. Just, the machines and buildings are overwhelming, at first. I wonder if you've seen them in someone's dream, now that I think about it?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I guess frightening isn't the best word for it... there are some parts of it that are alarming when you first encounter them. Those 'car' things, in particular, are noisy and really fast-moving... but it seems like the people controlling them from inside have some complex set of rules to avoid running into each other. They seem to mostly stay on paved black roads, if I recall correctly..."
>"What did you have in mind, Ran?"

>Mugetsu nods, a look of diligent concentration on her face, as you attempt to explain the concept of cars. "I don't really understand," she says, when you finish. "But... that's ok."
>"As I said earlier," Ran replies, "when Mugetsu or Gengetsu enter someone's dreams, they decorporealize in the waking world. I think you might be able to bring her along with you, as a passenger of sorts."

>"Also, there are no youkai outside. Just humans. Rather mild humans at that. I don't think you'd get more than weird stares. Just, the machines and buildings are overwhelming, at first. I wonder if you've seen them in someone's dream, now that I think about it?"

>"I've seen lots of things in people's dreams," she says. "Many of them exist in the waking world, and many don't. It's hard to tell the difference, sometimes."