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Current Strand: 5.875

Previous Strands:
1 - missing
2 - missing
3 - missing
4 - missing
5 - missing
5.8 - >>29818
5.85 - >>30272

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"Fire on deck!"

The shrill cry goes out and a bell tolls somewhere deep within the ship, clanging out a warning. Dirty orange flames tinged sooty black seep across the smooth steel deck rolling around with the list of the ship sending the fire rolling as it singes the mist, the thick black smoke billowing into the hazy white air, smog that reeks of sulfur conjuring images of a blazing hell.

"Why is it always fire?" You mutter bitterly at the ship sailing past your vision, a tiny vessel no bigger than a fishing boat with a pathetic engine that chugs in protest to it's work load, it drifts almost leisurely through the towering flames. As it sweeps past you notice the hull hasn't been touched by the heat or even the smoke, the bright red paint of humble wood is spotless, perhaps treated to be resistant to it's own weapon? You're amazed that anyone would attempt to attack a ship of your size and class in a civilian vessel, yet seconds ago is sprung forth from the fog with no warning or lights to spew gouts of that sticky orange flame at you. Mounted upon the prow of this petite pirate ship is a mysterious device seemingly made of pumps, tanks and tubes set in gleaming brass that spits fire like dragon's breath with a steaming hiss.


"Return fire! Don't let them get close enough for a second strike!"
"Enemy vessel has already left visual range, captain!"

Of course, to deny you any retaliation the smaller ship has slipped off between the narrow channels between the towering islands here, you had hoped these foggy straights would hamper pursuit or even make them lose the trail entirely but now it seems your ambusher is using the terrain against you. By moving through the small, almost porous gaps between the crushing gray rock your opponent can perform a surprise attack from almost any direction while you are forced to follow your prescribed "safe" course through it all.

The bridge is a flurry of activity as all hands do their duty with admirable diligence, but wide eyes and panicked energy reveal the under current of nerves, or even fear, present in your girls at the prospect of an

**This was written late at night while just as sleepy as Marisa. Future installments will be shorter, but more coherent.**

You are Marisa Kirisame. Ordinary Witch extraordinaire, kleptomaniac, and self-proclaimed best girl of Gensokyo. Also not a morning person. Then again, when being a "morning person" means waking up with the sun, who would? That question rolls through your head for the thousandth time as you attempt to climb out of bed. "Attempt" is the key word, here. You don't really manage to make it out of bed before tripping over the blankets you forgot to push back and tumbling headfirst into a pile of (stolen) books.

*That* gets you awake. Nothing like a headache to start off the day! With a grimace, you grasp your head with one hand and start re-stacking the books. Some of these you don't even remember taking. "Cryomancy vol. I: A Study of Entry Level Ice Magicks" you *definitely* don't remember taking. And to top that off, you don't think you have a real reason to be taking it. Ice magic doesn't interest you except for dealing with a cranky Cirno, and even then a few well placed lasers work just as well. Better to just blast her and let her reform than try to reason with a fairy. Never mind that last time you tried to "reason" with Cirno in one of her moods you ended up in the Misty Lake having to swim back to shore. Setting that thought line aside, you arrange the stack neatly and read the titles on the spines, seeing if there's any you should actually read instead of setting them aside in a "to-do" list. Surprisingly, there is, in fact, one book you like: "Warp vol. V: A Study of Advanced Spatial Manipulation and Other Dimensional Magicks". Sure, the title is a mouthful, but anything about how to get into other dimension should be an interesting read, no?

The headache and your sleepiness forgotten, you open up the book, prop yourself against your bed, and start reading.

**Where will you start?**
[]Chapter 1: Spatial Magicks in Review
[]Chapter 13: Wormholes and Other Shortcuts
[]Chapter 20: Creating Pocket Dimensions

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Current Strand: 5.85

Previous Strands:
1 - missing
2 - missing
3 - missing
4 - missing
5 - missing
5.8 - >>29818

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So, third time’s the charm, right? I’mma give this another shot, and hope that I can actually…you know, finish a story this time.

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There are days where you just don’t want to get out of bed. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you still gotta, but sometimes you really, REALLY wish you could lie in bed and tell the world to buzz off. Maybe it was the training I had back at my last home, or living out in this ‘magic forest’, but something had tipped me off that I needed to get up and moving.

NOW.

Had I been anywhere else, or any other time, I would have told my instincts to shut it, but with a groan, I dived out of the hammock. That got me a few seconds to think before the little girl who had been hunting me for the last three days brought her jaw down where my arm had been moments ago..

“Really, again?” I sighed, jumping to my feet and stretching.

“Yeah! They told me you taste like jerky!” The little girl was practically bursting with excitement as she spoke. She flashed me that little devilish grin, and I knew talking would be just as pointless as the last three days. “I want another bite! All I got was smoke and chalk last time!”

That made me chuckle. Poor girl tried to bite my left arm in a surprise attack the day before yesterday. Unfortunately for her, I had lost that a few weeks ago in an accident. Fortunately for me, I have enough control over ash and smoke to make a working replacement from it.

“What’ll it take to get you to go away?” I groan and shake my head. I wouldn’t be getting an answer to that one since the little brat decided to charge me while I was talking. Another sigh and I consider my next move.

[ ] Use the power of that dragon tattoo.
[ ] Time is on your side, consider it carefully.
[ ] Just make something blow up in her face.

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So, think about your votes, because for the first three or four votes, these will factor into the backstory of

[X] Which means you've got responsibilities, here. Estimate as truthfully as ya can.

Which means you've got responsibilities.

Regardless of any douchenozzle tendencies this dude in front of you's displayin'.

Nuts. “Eight dollars,” ya say, puttin' the disc back down. “I'm gonna say 'bout eight dollars.”

Rika does a squinchin' of the peepers, royal. “You paused,” she says.

“I didn't pause.”

“You paused,” Rika says again. “Before you named your price, you paused.”

“That wasn't a pause,” ya say. “That was more like a happenstantial ellipsis.”

“That would be a pause. That's a pause. An ellipsis denotes a pause.”

“As the dude who either did or didn't pause, I think I can tell if I paused or not, which I didn't,” ya say. “Tell 'er, Mac. Tell 'er I didn't pause.”

Rinnosuke sits there lookin' ya both askance, cheek of his mug restin' easy in his palm.

“Mac,” ya say again.

“She didn't pause,” Rinnosuke says. His syllables come out half-squashed, squeezin' between his lips and the hand he's not even botherin' to move away for understandability.

But that's good enough. “See?” ya say, whirlin' back to the dude ya like least here. “I didn't pause. Eight smackers, over easy. Whaddya iratin' at me for, anyways? That's scant compared to what the others're worth.”

“My problem is that the more you talk, the more I think that you're simply making these prices up as you go.”

Well, ya can't say she's wrong.

“You're wrong,” ya say.

Or ya guess ya can. Whoops! And with that, ya flip label-side-up the grand finale of disc procession and—oh, wait, this last one's actually just tax preparation software. Talk about an anticlimax. “Yo Mac, how'dja score these agai

This is the restart thread of "Tales of the Flower Youkai's Mansion - Tale of the Outsider". Keep that in mind. Now, let's restart this tale!

---------------

It was quiet one moment, quiet the next. Such was my life. Day in, day out, always the same process.

Suddenly, I could hear a quiet song being sung, yet I could not figure out what the person was singing. Then, there was darkness.


"Hello...What...here...Spark..." What? "Why... are you... garden..." I can't understand her, and I think I'm slipping in and out of consciousness. I couldn't run away, nor move at all, to the best of my knowledge.

"Can... hear me? No? ...Mugenkan... go!" ...Something something what? Mugenkan?

-----TIMESKIP-----

"Can you hear me?" Someone asks, as they enter the room where I'm located. I nod. "Do you know where you are?" "...No... Not at all..." I reply. "I see..." "What is your name?"

>> We restart our story. The original is RetConned.
>> Votes are called by the next Saturday of the post's date, or when a choice reaches 5 votes or more. I will over-ride this secondary rule if I believe there is some sort of cheating going on in the choice voting, and ignore all non-tripcoded votes.

[_] Alex
[_] Travis
[_] Cline
[X] Write-ins prohibited.

>> The story begins once more. The image may or may not have something to do with the story.

I'm digging through a pile of books in the corner of one of my non-study rooms when I hear the knocking at the door.

My name's Marisa Kirisame. I'm an ordinary magician who likes to make potions, read books, and have a good Danmaku battle. People say I'm a kleptomaniac, but really I just like borrowing stuff.

I'm also not really in that good of a standing with many people in Gensokyo, meaning that no-one really knocks at my door, and the people I'm friends with don't really care all too much for formalities anyway.

Except Alice, but she told me today that I should stay away from her home or she'd kill me. I don't see why she always needs to say something like that, though.

Anyway, the knocking at the door catches my attention. For a moment, I consider going back and rifling through all those books again, since there's probably nothing that I need to do right now. But that's not me; I'm more of a living in the moment sorta gal. So standing up, I take a deep breath and dust off my hands, then raise my voice to say 'Coming!'

I take my time tiptoeing around the small piles of books scattered around the floor, alongside the few relics that I stole borrowed from Kourin. That guy's a bit kooky even if he did help raise me when I ran away from home.

I step into the hallway and turn towards the door. Taking a few steps forward, I put on my best smile and open the door. 'Morning.'

'Good morning, Marisa.'

I blink. Then again.

Standing in front of me is Okina, that loli goddess from the door place. The one who offered me a job at being her slave. She has a wide, friendly smile on her face.

If you'd ask me to describe Okina, then I'd say she looks pretty nice. She's about 4'6", shorter than I am, and she looks like a little kid.

And as much as I hate to admit it, she's pretty cute.

I open my mouth, but my voice gets caught in my throat and I start to feel a bit nervous.

Okina notices. 'What's wrong?' she asks, tilting her head in a gesture

You heard... some sort of lyric. They were also the last thing you heard up until this point. Suddenly, you blacked out.



"Why... in my garden...? Get... or you... I'll do..." You are going in and out of consciousness, and it sounds like you're being threatened. You can't even move, or talk...

"Hey... hear me... No... I guess... take you... Mugenkan Mansion..." ...Okay? What does this person want with you? Sounds like they're taking you to a mansion named 'Mugenkan'... or something of the like.


????? HOURS LATER...

"Can you hear me now?" You nod. "Good. Now, who are you...?"

[X] Alex
[X] Travis
[X] ________
[i] Write-in.

// I was going to post this in /coriander/ but it was locked.

Moonlight is cast in maze-like patches across the forest canopy, mingling with the ambient magical radiation in a display that would be considered beautiful if not for the implications. Everything under the full moon is made stronger, more violent. Lunatic.
Except you, a human.

You are hunting, but it isn’t hunger that justifies your being here. After all, being consumed by a moonlit beast ill fills your own empty stomach. You have a far grander purpose. Paying your rent. Be it in veal, rabbit, or whatever other tolerably untainted animal happens upon your eye. As long as it’s fresh.
Tomorrow is your due; but if your sense of time is accurate, that tomorrow just became today.
All the more reason to be here.

So you stand, knee deep in the magically doped bramble of reed and fungi constituting the undergrowth of The Forest of Magic. At the stroke of midnight. Under a full moon. No one has died from a youkai attack since the implementation of spellcard rules, but you’re trying your best tonight. The amalgamated array of seals stretching across your body and arms have done a noble job of deterring would-be foes times past; be it by their potency, or the sheer gravitas of the Hakurei brand, even by proxy.
You doubt that under this lunatic light the seals would fare any better than the paper they were scribbled on.

All that‘s between you and a particularly delirious set of jaws is a bow and knife-
-and the fact you haven’t seen a single living creature the entire day.

The Forest of Magic, on full moon, is filled with a silence more deafening than the howling of beasts it has usurped. You've grown accustomed to its usual cacophony, and your place within it. It's your sanctuary of nearly a decade. You knew traversing the forest on the full moon would be reckless, bordering on suicide with the usual berth granted by youkai breached by moonlit judgment. But this eery state of stillness stokes your paranoia to the obscene.
You are filled with the constant sense of being isolated, yet at the same time hounded by the shadows which replace the forest's inhabitants. Each time your foot so much as glances into the forest's gloom, a fl