Maribel Quest Abridging - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"Is it a curse, to you? It's an honest question. I don't know what it's like. And I know I never really can, but if you could maybe help me understand why it's been that way to you?"
>"Also, there were... other issues with Gensokyo Isle's existence that you might not have realized. When it was created, it prevented the flow of dead souls from reaching the Higan. They'd been accumulating ever since Gensokyo was moved, and couldn't be fixed until it was returned."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is it a curse, to you? It's an honest question. I don't know what it's like. And I know I never really can, but if you could maybe help me understand why it's been that way to you?"
>"Also, there were... other issues with Gensokyo Isle's existence that you might not have realized. When it was created, it prevented the flow of dead souls from reaching the Higan. They'd been accumulating ever since Gensokyo was moved, and couldn't be fixed until it was returned."

>"I know what you're feeling, right now," says Koishi. "I know things you're feeling that you don't even know that you're feeling. And I knew the same with your lover, as well. Even as I tell you this, I can feel your heart shy away from me, just a little. No, don't worry, I'm not angry with you. It's not your fault. No one can blame you for not wanting yourself exposed like that. No one does. But that's what it means to have a third eye. Those that know, inevitably, shun you. Those that do not know, you deceive. And, they will find out. It's impossible to hide forever, they'll figure it out when you know them just a little too well."
>"Kanako wasn't very concerned, nor was I."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I haven't wanted to shun Satori. I admit that it's a bit... unsettling to realize that you're exposed to someone in that way. But that doesn't change the fact that she's a genuinely kind and caring person. It would be very cruel to shun a good person for something that is an inexorable part of their very nature. I would never want to do that. She doesn't deserve it. And I'm sad if that's what you feel has happened to you."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I haven't wanted to shun Satori. I admit that it's a bit... unsettling to realize that you're exposed to someone in that way. But that doesn't change the fact that she's a genuinely kind and caring person. It would be very cruel to shun a good person for something that is an inexorable part of their very nature. I would never want to do that. She doesn't deserve it. And I'm sad if that's what you feel has happened to you."

>"That's because you can leave," says Koishi, still smiling. "You can mentally prepare yourself before you see her, and you can leave when you can't stand it anymore. And because she won't find you. You won't run into her unexpectedly while traveling around. You won't find her when not prepared, and you are thinking things you don't want anyone to know. She won't visit you when you least expect it. It's easy for you to say you're alright with it, but only because you've been in control for the most part, because she has tried so hard not to be a nuisance about it. She doesn't deserve it. And Utsuho forced her, us, back into it."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I still don't feel it would be right to hate someone for something like that, when they cannot stop themselves, and when there's no malicious intent. I'm sure I can't be the only one that feels that way."
>"But you feel that changing everything and everyone in the rest of Gensokyo so that you two could be free of this is equitable?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I still don't feel it would be right to hate someone for something like that, when they cannot stop themselves, and when there's no malicious intent. I'm sure I can't be the only one that feels that way."
>"But you feel that changing everything and everyone in the rest of Gensokyo so that you two could be free of this is equitable?"

>"You say that, but you've not experienced it," says Koishi. "You may think that, but you wouldn't feel it for long. Trust me, I know. First you would be mildly annoyed, when it happened while you weren't prepared. Then it would bother you, more and more. Maybe you would try to endure, because you believe what you just said. But it would still gnaw upon you. You may not hate, but you would resent. And we'd know."
>She nods.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"And because your sister doesn't think it's equitable, you feel that she must by lying to herself?"
>"Is there no other way to be rid of it, if that's what you truly want? What was done to create Gensokyo Island clearly isn't an all or nothing deal. Okuu reclaimed her powers in a world where nearly no one else had them. That seems to imply that something like that could be applied on a more selective scale."

[Hello Purvis]

>"And because your sister doesn't think it's equitable, you feel that she must by lying to herself?"
>"Is there no other way to be rid of it, if that's what you truly want? What was done to create Gensokyo Island clearly isn't an all or nothing deal. Okuu reclaimed her powers in a world where nearly no one else had them. That seems to imply that something like that could be applied on a more selective scale."

>"You act like you know her better than I do." She shakes her head again. "She's lying because that's what she always does. She shoulders the burden herself, hiding away, trying not to be a problem to anyone."
>"And of course there is no other way. Don't you think I've tried?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Sorry, I mean no disrespect. I'm honestly trying to understand. And I'm sure you have tried. But if the history of an entire land could be changed like that, why couldn't the history of one or two people in it?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sorry, I mean no disrespect. I'm honestly trying to understand. And I'm sure you have tried. But if the history of an entire land could be changed like that, why couldn't the history of one or two people in it?"

>"Partially, because I couldn't do it alone," says Koishi. "I needed their help, the gods. I needed to give them something to do it. And, partially, because it would change too much to just to that. It was easier, better, to start everything anew. Begin a new world rather than extensively rewrite the old one."

[DracoOmega]

>"For that matter, why do you remember all of what happened? As best I knew, no one but the gods and the couple people who were there when history was set back have clear memories of that time."
>"Why do you feel that Okuu did it, anyway? From your own perspective?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"For that matter, why do you remember all of what happened? As best I knew, no one but the gods and the couple people who were there when history was set back have clear memories of that time."
>"Why do you feel that Okuu did it, anyway? From your own perspective?"

>"The subconscious is my playground," says Koishi. "I took care to make sure it wouldn't leave me."
>"Oh, probably a few reasons," says Koishi, still smiling. You thought it might have been an actual smile, once. "She was outraged, she was upset because people didn't have a say in taking away our curse and helping them as well. She thought that restoring everything would make everything better so strongly she chose to believe we would be happier this way."

[DracoOmega]

>"And don't you think that some people are happier this way?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"And don't you think that some people are happier this way?"

>Koishi shrugs. "I don't think they were cursed nearly so badly there as Satori and I are here."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "So you knew that the flow of souls to Higan had been interrupted? If Kanako didn't seem concerned, it's because she didn't know."

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

> "Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive Utsuho? Regardless of if she was right or wrong with her actions, it just seems a bit sad if you both condemn each other for the rest of your lives."

[Kilgamayan]

Utsuho doesn't condemn Koishi, so you might want to modify that a little bit.

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

ah, good point.

> Change the above to: "Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive Utsuho? Regardless of if she was right or wrong with her actions, it just seems a bit sad if you just condemn her for the rest of your life."

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "Koishi, would you be even remotly willing to give Utsuho another chance? As you said, she thought things would be better if they were restored, and she said she wants to at least say sorry to you. Would you be willing to give her the chance, to say sorry? To make up for what you think was forcing the curse back on you? I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but Utsuho said that she wanted to make amends."

[Hello Purvis]

> "So you knew that the flow of souls to Higan had been interrupted? If Kanako didn't seem concerned, it's because she didn't know."

>"I suspected."

> Change the above to: "Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive Utsuho? Regardless of if she was right or wrong with her actions, it just seems a bit sad if you just condemn her for the rest of your life."

>"She certainly condemned me for the rest of mine."

> "Koishi, would you be even remotly willing to give Utsuho another chance? As you said, she thought things would be better if they were restored, and she said she wants to at least say sorry to you. Would you be willing to give her the chance, to say sorry? To make up for what you think was forcing the curse back on you? I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but Utsuho said that she wanted to make amends."

>"How exactly does she intend to make up for it if I gave her this chance?" asks Koishi, still wearing the smile. "I would be very interested to see exacting how she would make up for shackling me once again after tasting freedom."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I don't honestly know what she intends. You would have to ask her or Satori. She must want to do something, though. She was pretty distressed over losing you, and she wasn't nearly as concerned about Kanako and her situation."
> Did Keine ever explain to Maribel about how fucking with history makes reality go wonky, or did only Utsuho hear about that?

[E-Nazrin]

>Did Satori ever say why Utsuho lives with her, or whether her pets ever become youkai? What do THEY think about having their minds read all the time, if they're used to it...?

There must be some way to block off or disable that power, if only sometimes... but how? And how much would it help, if Koishi's fear is of being hated?

And is she truly happy like this...?

[Kilgamayan]

Koishi's clearly not happy like this, else she wouldn't have tried to change the world. I've had a very strong feeling for a long time that Koishi helped Kanako for her own selfish, cowardly reasons and is only using her sister as a excuse/crutch (just as Kanako and Suwako used the happiness of others as an excuse/crutch), but I'm not about to confront her about it, and she can easily brush it off with "you don't know". She has nothing to prove to anyone.

[E-Nazrin]

Agreed on most counts, though it's likely that there is a little validity in those 'real' excuses as well. Just not nearly enough to fuck with Gensokyo and history so much, especially when there are alternatives (and/or if Sanae had been allowed one jet flight before the end, but them's the breaks). How did they pull it off, anyway?

I wonder... changing the history of someone is more trouble than it's worth, but wasn't there some earlier speculation about making someone not a youkai? If there were a way to end it or hide it without messing with time, then that might work better. It's the how that's the problem, and I don't have any clever ideas for how to do that... I'm not sure if Purvis' Yukari would be able to, and I can't think of any other usable routes offhand...

[Kilgamayan]

Kanako nipped a hakutaku soul from Eientei during the party Reisen organized and combined it with her power, Suwako's power, the Aki's powers and Koishi's subconscious manipulation to make one huge reset button. It apparently took them a ton of effort, which makes Keine's almost flippant reversal of everything all the more amusing.

[Hello Purvis]

> "I don't honestly know what she intends. You would have to ask her or Satori. She must want to do something, though. She was pretty distressed over losing you, and she wasn't nearly as concerned about Kanako and her situation."
> Did Keine ever explain to Maribel about how fucking with history makes reality go wonky, or did only Utsuho hear about that?

>"I'm not finding myself able to care about Utsuho anymore," says Koishi.
>She didn't really explain it, but there were definite implications of this.

>Did Satori ever say why Utsuho lives with her, or whether her pets ever become youkai? What do THEY think about having their minds read all the time, if they're used to it...?

>Not directly, but from what you could understand, the animals didn't seem to ming, given how they crowd around Satori.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "You wanted to know, that's how you'd find out. I wish I could be more of a help, but..."
> Shrug
> "Out of curiosity, if you suspected what was going on with the flow of souls being blocked, did you also suspect the magnitude of the damage to reality that alteration would apparently have caused, if allowed to persist?"

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

Koishi sure loves indulging in self-victimization and self-loathing.  :wikipedia:


> Bitch gonna have to deal with it.
> Slowly lower shades onto our face.
> "Who says you can't be free? Having those type of powers doesn't mean you can't make friends or be social. Sure, some people may shun you based off of their own delusions, but that doesn't mean everyone will hate you. Maybe you should stop hiding yourself and just be yourself."

[Kilgamayan]

Yes, and there is a reason I wrote this. Our goal is not to win a moral victory over Koishi, our goal is to get her to reconsider Utsuho.

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

Yeah, I'm sure everyone knows we're not going to change her mind on this. We just want to try to get her forgiveness. Which doesn't seem to be happening at any rate. She's pretty pissed.