Anonymous 2010/01/13 (Wed) 09:43 No. 19192 Firstly, let me apologize for getting this out rather late. I could offer excuses, but I doubt any of them would be good enough. Holidays, break, etc. Whatever. Back to this.
[x] Investigate the defeated rabbit.
[x] Try to find and thank Reisen for her help.
[x] Meet up with Eirin and speak to her about your experience.
[x] Go see if you can help Kaguya with her tasks.
[x] Clean up, then go rest.
Well, that was certainly an interesting moment, and now with Eirin and Kaguya breaking off to do their own thing, you’ve been left alone with the two bunnies. Reisen comes to land near her opponent, huffing quietly as she touched ground. You rush up to Reisen, much to her surprise.
“Reisen! That was amazing! I had no idea that danmaku could be so beautiful!” you find yourself unable to hold back, the earlier excitement rushing back to you. “Thank you so much for showing me that. I think I understand what spell card battles are like now.”
“It was no problem! I was happy to do it,” she gives you a happy smile, blushing faintly from the praise, before turning to the fallen rabbit girl. “Besides, I got to punish Tewi for being such a brat.”
“I’m sorry to have missed that part, since…”
“Oh! My god, that had absolutely terrified me!” her red eyes are wide with worry, her crooked ears almost standing straight up. “You almost hit by Tewi’s danmaku, and I was sure you were going to get hurt…”
“Eirin said it was non-lethal though, so I would have survived, right?”
“Well, yes. It is non-lethal, but it does hurt quite a bit if a bullet lands a solid hit. The arms, the legs, even the head, it’s not so bad, but if it hits you center mass,” she puts a hand over her chest. “It feels like someone actually shot you. The pain is… very uncomfortable, deep and piercing. It’s not a good feeling, nor is it something I would want you to experience.”
Well. Death is nowhere nearly as bad as a painful loss, but it still sounds like something you want to avoid.
“Fortunately, it only lasts for a little bit, but it does mean you lost. I… it worries me to see you almost hurt. So… be more careful next time? Please?”
You can’t seem to ignore her pleading look at all. She is genuinely concerned for your well being, and so far she has been nothing but a great help to you. That knowledge alone brings warmth to your chest, a profound feeling of appreciation.
“I promise,” you say honestly, smiling as those words seem to please Reisen immensely. You turn you attention to other rabbit girl, still unmoving and ungracefully laying there on her face. “So, erm… what about her?”
“Oh, well Tewi will be fine. She’s youkai, after all,” Reisen’s demeanor makes a complete 180. “Give her a moment and she’ll be back to her aggravating self again.”
As if on cue, the little rabbit girl brings up an arm and directs a certain finger digit in your general direction. While the full meaning of the gesture remains a mystery to you, you’re pretty sure it’s quite rude. Reisen only confirms your assumption, as she scoffs and shakes her head.
“If you’re well enough to do that, then you’re good enough to clean up after yourself. I am going to my room,” she gives you a pleasant look and saunters off, leaving you alone with the still prone Tewi.
Was she still injured? Other than the earlier gesture, she has not made any attempt to get back up.
“Are you okay?” you try, taking a cautious step towards her.
“Get away from me.”
Guess so.
“Sorry, I thought you were still hurt,” you step back, having no desire to make things any worse.
“Don’t underestimate me, punk. I’ve been alive longer than you could ever dream of living,” she seems quite displeased at your presence as she hops to her feat and brushes off the dirt from her dress. “Save your pity for someone else.”
“Hey, I was just trying to be nice,” she’s grating on you severely, even after you extend the olive branch. “What the hell is your problem?!”
“Problem?” she whirls on you and gives you the fieriest glare you have ever seen. If looks could kill, then you would have exploded into small gibs. “I already told you, idiot. You are my problem. I do not like you here. I do not want you here. Hell, I would have thrown you out the moment you woke up, but goddamn Kaguya and Eirin want to play nice, and Reisen is completely set on helping you.”
“I can’t help that! I can’t even remember who I really am!”
“Is it really amnesia? Do you even know what that is? Memory loss isn’t that simple.”
“Wha—”
“For Reisen’s sake, I’ll tolerate you, but only barely. I could care less to what happens to you. And if you hurt her, so help me god or devil, I’ll show you why youkai are be feared,” with that, she bounds off into the darkened halls, leaving you to gape wordlessly after her.
No way. She’s just a rabbit. She couldn’t do anything to seriously hurt you… right? And what did she mean by memory loss not being that simple? Amnesia is amnesia, right?
Argh. Could she be any more vague? Nothing she says make sense, much like her hostility towards you. But… what can you do? Maybe you should go talk to Eirin about it, and not just about Tewi’s apparent hatred towards you. That earlier incident with the danmaku has you confused somewhat, particularly why it happened, and if you can make it happen again. Perhaps it is a link to your forgotten past, so it is definitely worth investigating.
The hallways are rather dark, but the moon is out tonight. It isn’t full, but it is still bright, illuminating your path. The halls of Eientei seem much more different in the dark than it did in the day, an almost eerie feeling settling over the quiet halls. Heh, you almost expect a rabbit to hop out to try and scare you, or maybe some other youkai appear suddenly to surprise you. However, no such thing happens as you quietly make your way to Eirin’s workplace. It’s easy enough to find, the only brightly lit room you see. The faint scent of chemicals wafts from the cracks in the door, though from here don’t hear anything inside.
You knock on the door gently, getting a quiet, “Yes?” in response.
“Doctor Eirin, it’s me, Ein. I am sorry for interrupting, but I wonder if you could give me a bit of time. I want to talk to you about something…”
There is a moment of silence, and then the door slides open to reveal a labcoat-wearing Eirin, a fresh stain of blue on a sleeve.
“Will this take long?” she asks.
“I…” you hesitate, unsure.
Eirin looks at you, then back at the gently bubbling brew among a large mess of flasks, test tubes, and pipes.
“Well, I suppose I can multitask. Come in and take a seat,” the doctor steps aside and gestures for you to enter. “You are feeling well, I hope?”
As you enter the room, the chemical smell is even stronger. Astringent, sweet, bitter, herbal, it is an assault to your nose, and it is almost dizzying. “Oh, yes. I’m feeling fine.”
“Good,” she nods absently, turning her attention back to the experiment. “So, what is it you wish to discuss? If it is about Tewi’s behavior, I’m afraid I cannot do anything about that. Youkai tend to be fickle creatures, especially those like Tewi. You will just have to deal with her.”
There goes one topic…
“Uhm, well, I was hoping to talk to you about that danmaku battle between Reisen and Tewi.”
“Oh yes. I was hoping you would discuss that,” she nods. “An excellent fight, though you were quite foolish to get in the field of fire. Who knows what would have happened if you got hit?”
“Yeah, I admit that was dumb of me,” you have the decency to look shameful. “But the bullets didn’t, right?”
“Indeed. That was a spectacular graze.”
“Is it…?”
“Each bullet came a hair’s breadth from striking you in center mass. In spell card battles, that denotes a hit, but since you were a mere observer, it would have hurt quite a bit. Still, I am impressed as to how quickly you were able to dodge those rounds. A barrage from Tewi far different than a fairy’s.”
“Well, that’s the thing…”
“Yes?” she looks expectant.
“A bit before the bullets came close, something weird happened,” you lick your lips. “At first the bullets were moving really fast towards me, but before they hit, everything slowed down. It looked like time itself had slowed for me, but I was slow too. I mean… argh, I don’t know how to describe it better than that. I just saw everything slow down in front of me.”
“A change in perception? Curious. So this slow down was what allowed you to perceive the danmaku trajectories?”
“I guess,” you answer with a shrug. “I saw gaps showing up in the cluster, and my body was already moving to avoid it.”
“Hmm, the princess and I were watching you, and I saw nothing different other than a well-coordinated graze. I suppose that was the result of this ‘slow-mo’ you are talking about.”
“Yeah! That’s probably it. But, how does that work? I mean, do you think I could do it again?”
Eirin looks thoughtful for a moment; she shrugs. “It’s possible. It could have been a burst of adrenaline, making you extra aware of your surroundings and the threat to you. You didn’t know the danmaku were non-lethal, right? So your body must have reacted as if it were a danger.”
Would adrenaline really do something like that? You don’t know, and Eirin is the medical specialist here…
“Alternatively, it could mean you have better reflexes than most. In my experiences, I have never witnessed a slowdown in my perception when I had engaged in a few spell card battles—”
“You’ve been in spell card battles too?” you interrupt, completely surprised by the thought that Eirin too had engaged in a bullet war like that. It just seemed so… not-like her. “Err… sorry for interrupting.”
“That’s quite alright. To answer your question, yes, I have been involved in a few. I am not infallible, and at times youkai have thought me a prime target. Thankfully, the spell card system lets me fight on even terms. But I digress. In the battles that I have participated in, I have had to move quickly, and move more carefully, but never had I witnessed a change in perception.”
“So… am I special for that?”
Eirin doesn’t speak for a moment, quickly stirring a beaker with a strange purple precipitate forming in clear liquid. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s something to do with my past?”
“Were it only so easy,” she shakes her head and puts the beaker down. “I only know as much about you as you do, other than numbers and observations I jot down. Perhaps your true persona is that of a fighter, and your senses are honed to better deal with sudden dangers; your mind may not remember, but your body will. Or perhaps, it was just a fluke, a belief of genuine deadly harm coming towards you, and your body only reacted as best it could. Stress makes people do amazing, almost inhuman feats, you know.”
“I see…”
“Well, whatever it is, it helped you survive. That is a sign of good instincts. Whatever you were before coming here, you were a survivor, and that trait seems to have come with you despite your memory issue.”
Hmm.
“Is there anything else?”
“No… I guess not.”
A part of you wants to ask her about amnesia, but as the medical doctor, you should trust her word. After all, you have absolutely no knowledge in medicine, so who else can you trust?
“You should go rest, Ein. It is late, and your body and your mind need to heal.”
“I understand, doctor. Thank you,” you give Eirin a polite bow and show yourself out.
As uninformative as that was, you feel a little better for talking about it. The mere act of chatting with the doctor managed to calm your nerves somewhat. You didn’t even realize you were that nervous… but maybe that’s just the tiredness creeping up on you. A yawn captures you as you quietly make your way to Kaguya’s room, remembering that she said she had some tasks she wanted to get done. A convenient sign that announces the landlady’s room, but seems darkened; likely its occupant had already gone to sleep. There’s a dim glow against the thin paper making up the walls and door, but you chalk that up to be the moon. There are no sounds, though, so maybe Kaguya really is asleep. In that case, helping her is out of the question.
Hmm, well, a peek at your watch says… it says it’s 1200 hours. Right, you can’t trust this thing for time. You’ve got nothing else to do, so maybe you should just go to sleep.
Scratching your head, you shrug and quietly make your way back to your room. It’s empty, but there’s a futon prepared for you, with adorable carrot designs on it. That Reisen girl… Bless her. She’s too nice to you. Really. You strip off the jacket and pants, leaving you in just a shirt and shorts, then slide into the prepared futon. Moonlight is gently streaming into the room, a quietness punctuated with the occasional chirp of a nightbug.
It’s peaceful here…
END Day 1
Current Status:
Name: “Ein Gietz”
Memory Recovered: 9%
Feats:
[Locked: 2/3]
[Locked: 0/3]
[Locked: 1/3]
[Locked: 1/2]
[Locked: 0/3]
Equipment:
Casual clothing
=============
There’s a bunch of lights in front of you. Which one should you reach out to?
[ ] Red
[ ] Blue
[ ] Yellow
[ ] Green
[ ] Purple
[ ] Black