Thunder.

It is the first thing you notice.

Thunder roaring in your ears.

Pounding away at your brain like a never ending storm.

No. That isn’t thunder, you realize. It’s your own heartbeat, hammering your chest as your consciousness swims in red and black darkness. Mutedly, you hear some odd beeping in the distance, but that doesn’t concern you now. What does is the bizarre exhaustion that saps every bit of strength from your limbs. Your arms, your legs, your head, it all feels so heavy, dizzy, and wet.

Wet? Ah. There’s something running down your face, slick and warm. Is it blood? Your blood? Probably. You force your eyes open, cringing at the wave of dizziness and nausea that follows. What you see is a spiderweb of cracks, smeared red with trails of carmine dribbling down. You’re wearing a helmet, it seems, but beyond that you can’t seem to make heads or tails of what you are doing and why everything just feels horrible. Apparently you are slumped over something too, placing an uncomfortable pressure against your chest.

Where the hell are you? What in the world happened?

With great effort, you manage to lift your head a scant few centimeters up. Through the distortion caused by the cracks, you can make out something green. It is widespread, going as far as your blurry vision can make out. Is it daytime? Night? Damn. It’s so hard to keep your head up…

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Black...

It's been like this for who knows how long, but you soon come to and find yourself laying on the ground, dust covering your robes. You remember that you are a mage...well a freelancing apprentice as you have yet no teacher. Even so, your spells are elementary at best, not enough to truly take down anything of significant strength. All you truly know is some cantrips, elementary telekinetic abilities, and some danmaku.

You remember being mugged by some unsavory fellows, tossed out here in the Bamboo Forest as a cruel...and quite possibly deadly joke. In fact, you wonder why nothing has eaten you yet!

Still, you are lost in a foreboding place with nothing but a few magical tricks and a knife. Everything else was taken from you though, making things seem rather disheartening.

Then she comes...

You have heard of these strange youkai, and aren't immediately frightened as they can be friendly at times. Still you are cautious as a mysterious earth bunny bounds up to you. You are amazed that an earth rabbit even would present itself to you!

Before you can even question your circumstances, the bunny bows and says, “Greetings poor downtrodden human! Are you tired of bad luck, misfortune, and all around miserable outcomes? Well lucky you, I've decided to take time out of my busy evening to be the first to offer you Tewi's Inaba's Fortune Services!”

She notes the most likely confused expression very quickly, and before you can even answer, she says, “You look like someone who dabbles with magic no? Well then you happen to catch me at a good time. I have on me some top notch magical scrolls that you might be interested in. I can also find a way out of the Bamboo Forest for you! But there's a price to pay for my generous services, and seeing as you have no money most likely...”

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Previous thread >>17620

“There is something else actually.” You say, voice coming out strangely steady. Your buddy looks at you with something of a reserved expression. She seems hesitant to even mouth the logical followup question. You don't let the initiative wither away from you and into awkward silence. At least not yet.

You suggest something again, not joking in the least.

“We should go. Leave together.”

Time seems to stop in the room. Matt walls and equally dull floor are suddenly more vivid. You think that it may be an illusion; Kaguya looks still, remarkably so, like the quiet visage usually found in an old photograph. Your suggestion is out in the open. And for what may have been either an hour or a few seconds she seems to try to make meaning of your words, as if they were said in a foreign language.

It goes without saying that you can't tell what she's thinking at first - If anything at all.

“The others are waiting for us.” She finally says silently, as if you hadn't said anything at all.
“We should leave. Just the two of us.” You repeat yourself.
“This isn't the time to be joking.” She smiles awkwardly.

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Post any Tei-licious pics here!

(My new year present, can I have it?)

Kaguya Imagethread!

[ ] Answer the question.
[ ] Tell Ran it’s your duty as a soldier of the Red Army to prepare them (Kaguya, Reisen, Tewi and Aya) for upcoming battles, and that you have the responsibility to shape them into better people.

“It is my duty of as a soldier of the Red Army to prepare them for upcoming battles,” you begin. “What’s the use of a soldier’s skill if he cannot implement it in the battlefield and be responsible to shape his underlings to become better people?”

“I can see that, but why Eientei?” Ran asks.

You laugh. “Ah… the answer for the question has always eluded me ever since the inception,” you utter. “The only thing I’m aware of about it… is that these people- no, bearers of the flag of the Revolution must know their role in defending the Motherland from the ruthless grip of the invaders. Hmm… I just remembered something.”

“Which is?” the fox lady inquires again.

“It occurs to me that I forgot to teach them the anthem of the Motherland,” you answer with a heartily laugh. “What a foolish I am, proudly speaking of my role as her defender yet didn’t even bother praising her on daily basis.”

“That would be an interesting sight to see,” Ran says.

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Posting som Reisen.

(This is a short, Eientei centric WuiG style adventure.)

You wake up, opening your eyes to bamboo above you. This is odd since the last thing you remember is sitting at your computer, then nothing. Did you fall asleep waiting for a download to finish? Are you sleeping now? You pinch yourself. It hurts.

You sit up, and all you can see is bamboo in every direction.

What do you do?

[ ] Mokou
[ ] Kaguya

Skills unlocked:
+ Closed Quarter Combat I

Perks unlocked:
+ Rabbit Shield (deflects all oncoming danmaku. Reduces forward and side movements by 2, and backward movement by 1)

Attachments unlocked:
+ Aperture Sight (increases accuracy of the PPSh-41 by one point)

I'm not sure if the above stats are necessary but I have them included just in case.

[ ] Proceed with caution. There are probably more of them waiting to ambush you at the corner.

Shit.

You realize you’ve just made yourself the centre of attention this morning. If the shooting didn’t alert all forces in the area, the battle cries would have. Your current priority is to proceed with caution, knowing that there are probably more of them waiting at the corners to ambush you.

Holding the rabbit shield close to you (surprisingly despite the heavy barrage it has sustained the shield remains intact) and leaving the downed squad behind you tread the hallway as quietly as you can, keeping your ears on high alert over suspicious noises. The rabbit still doesn’t regain consciousness, which is good because if she does you’ll find yourself immersed in hot water.

You reach the end of the hallway and are now approaching the junction. While there’s no one coming from the right direction you can hear the sound of sliding door being opened from the other. You don’t have any idea of who the person is but whoever it is your best bet is to stay hidden from sight.

[ ] wait until the person has walked past you.
[ ] use the rabbit shield as bait.