The trepidation of a speeding train coming through with no destination in sight. Anyone riding the abandoned line between reality and fantasy could feel the pervasive foreboding: something awaited at the end of the track, wherever and whenever the train would eventually stop. The eerie violet glow seeping through the windows, obscured by thick, embroidered curtains of velvety touch. Creak after creak of uncertainty. Flickering neon lights, a small rocking, the interior going dark for a fraction of a moment, alone with the things outside. Shadows flashed over the rusting handlebars and adverts for discontinued products. Old scratches and damp spots and shrivelled filling littered out of seats unkempt for decades. And the drone and hiccup of the wagons’ wheels rolling on unending rails, the smell of the incense which Yukari Yakumo had lit to get rid of the stench of mold.

The youkai of boundaries had always had a soft spot for what could only be conceivably called a rust bucket on rails. As long as it suited its purpose, there was no need to spend effort in restoring the train to its former glory, and she had other more convenient methods to travel to the Outside. The velvet curtains were the only concession Yukari had made to making the interior more hospitable, and it was only because, for the first time in years, the Purple Express was carrying a passenger other than her.

The clack of her heels echoed through the train as the youkai slowly made her way across the endless cars. In normal circumstances, there would have been no-one riding this train at all. After all, it had been out of commission for years when she took possession of it, left to rust at an abandoned station. The way Yukari saw it, nobody would miss it, and she was doing everyone a favour by giving the old machine a second life—and for years it had run without stops, across the endless expanse of the boundaries between worlds, until she commanded otherwise. But these were not normal circumstances, and even the Yakumo Express had to reach a station some time.

Eventually, Yukari reached the car where the first passenger of the Express sat by their lonesome:

[]A stout, aloof woman, exil

“Daiyousei! Where are you?!” I didn’t like this place. It had this visceral feeling of hopelessness and despair so thick you can lick it off the air. The kind that not even animals could stand to be in. Racoon and crows and such would run (or fly?) away in horror while bugs crawl away as fast as their tiny legs could carry them before they’re crushed by a deep sense of existential terror invoked by a cruel uncaring world. Darkness so deep and entrenching that even Rumia would stay the hell away from it.

But I didn’t care.

Even if I had to stop a meteor.

Even if I had to jump into a pool of lava.

Even if I to jump into a jaws of a mad raging beast!

I’ll still find you Daiyousei! Just wait right there and I’ll find you!

“Cirno?”

“Uh… What do you want Reimu?”

Sipping her tea, Yukari watches the beauty of nature in fall.
Using a gap as a chair, she looks over the ocean of orange trees "Ah this is the life."
She relaxes until she finishes her green tea "Such a shame that this will end earlier than usual."
She says frowning remembering the little incident with Yukako and remembering the pain delivered from Reimu from her fight with her.
'Did those needles have to be so big?'
She sighs "Oh well." As she leans into the gap but stops when she felt something... off.
Then she understands, an outsider is going through the Great Hakurei Barrier. What is strange though is that the outsider didn't leave a hole, which while thankful, confuses Yukari on how they didn't leave a mess.
She opens a gap to view this outsider "Well would you look at that." she says to herself.
This outsider is dressed like a hiker, brown coat, bright-blue jeans and a pack back probably filled with a variety of goodies.
The outsider looks rather frail as if a simple breeze can knock them over! They are wearing small round glasses showing blue eyes. Black hair tied back to a pony-tail to keep it from blocking their view.
They look around the area before walking as if already knowing where to go.
"Well this is strange, how did they enter Gensokyo?" The way the outsider enter was like Gensokyo was just a part of the outside world. Perhaps a hole in the barrier? She gaps in the area after the outsider left looking for any holes, but found none.
Yukari scans the area looking for her shikigami, but did not find her "Ran wasn't able to detect it... stupid fox." shaking her head sighing.

What will you do?

A theme fitting for the tale ♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tXMk-vk7ns
[Tada Rin Toshite - Starry Sky Logic (Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets)]

Lyrics: http://www.faceorama.com/bluelight/kishidakyoudan/tadarintoshite.html

A story of magic.

Music Collection: https://mega.nz/#F!1BdBzIKZ!bhLzijfM3iyphpueDOKf0g

THREAD 1 >>65260
THREAD 2 >>65548
THREAD 3 >>65922
THREAD 4 >>66462

Previous Thread: >>64882

[32] "So, apparently I'm water-powered."
[32] "Ohh, by the way? Some redhead tried to murderize me and/or seduce me."

— - — - —

Picking it up, I found it to be both as soft as a newborn cake's butt and as goddamned cold as ice. Was a weird combo, to be honest. Was like it was somehow just pulled fresh from an oven that cooks by cooling somehow. Was left scratching my head more than a little over it, to be honest. Still, I got to relieving it of its papery threads, went about laying it bare before me. Au monchere. ...Or however you say it. Still, I'm being a bit silly now, so I figured I'd take a bite of the thing, finding an even greater shock to the system within.

The hell! The inside was piping hot!

Cold on the outside, hot on the inside and with fluffy, pink icing in a decoratively set pile on top. In the middle of all that, it was topped with further icing saying, 'BOO!' nestled into a neat little alcove among that pink. Although, that was more conjecture, 'cause I kiiiinda turned it into '300!' when I gave it a nibble. Proooobably should read cakey messages before I dig in, but y'know, hindsight still ain't something I have up front. Be kinda weird if I did, 'cause that'd be crotch sight or somethin' weird like that. Then again, she could just really freaking like Spartans, but I had a feeling it was nothing of the sort.

Lunch lady must have some sorta weird magical oven, though. For all its strangeness, and for all of its chilliness, the little cupcake was packed with enough sugar to make it considerable as some sorta confectionary A-bomb. S-bomb? I'd go with F-bomb if I could think up a good word for it. ...Fructose? Think that's somethin' sugary, but I'm not great with crap like that. I just know it's used a heck of a lot on commercials, to be honest.

Reworked.

… … …

—you rouse: another dreamless night.

You lie in bed a while. Eyes taken of nothing; mind perched on nothing. Absent sense; absent bearing.



You sneeze, and notice yourself.

With a token sniffle you rise from your pillow, leveraging neatly into a pair of bunny slippers at the bedside. Pink and white and fuzzy all, they were the first thing you’d bought yourself when you had finally moved out of that glorified basement of an interception base, resolving never again to suffer the indignity of cold floors in the morning. You throw on a bathrobe, too, garishly floral, and stuff your nightstand pistol into the left pocket, suppressor slotting neatly through the hole in the bottom stitching.

Yawning, you trod over to the washroom and, with a single look in the mirror, cede battle against the bird’s-nest tangle claiming to be your hair. You’ve no plans of meeting anybody today, anyway. Still, you go through the rest of your morning motions, letting the cool water wash away the last remnants of drowsiness.

♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRj1EfwRnQI

The story of...

THREAD 1 >>65260
THREAD 2 >>65548
THREAD 3 >>65922

A theme fitting for the tale ♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BooDupEyp84

Winter is here, but Spring will come soon, right?

THREAD 1 >>65260
THREAD 2 >>65548

[x] You can’t really refuse this level of desperation. Looks like it’s tea time at Miss Margatroid’s home for all of you.

There’s no reason not to go with Miss Margatroid. She hasn’t proven herself to be dangerous in the slightest — and even if she is, you have Mori and Hina with you. Hina does seem hesitant, but you get the feeling that if she really didn’t want to have tea with Miss Margatroid, she would say it bluntly like she does everything else. Instead, she’s relying on you for some reason. It’s possible that she could be conflicted between following you or Miss Margatroid, since you had something for her to do first. If that’s the case, then there’s no reason for her to prioritize Hatate over anything else. Whatever damage could be done by the indignantly lazy crow tengu being in your apartment has likely already happened, and then some. You just want her out sometime today so you don’t have to sleep next to a shut-in birdbrain.

However, since you don’t feel like going back home to deal with Hatate yourself, you might as well accept Miss Margatroid’s invite— even if it was only out of politeness and/or desperation. It would be interesting to see how a magician lives, anyway. “I’d like to accept her invitation,” you tell Hina, “but I don’t know why you’re letting me decide. If you want to drink tea with her and chat, you should drink tea with her and chat. If not, then refuse.”

Hina wavers, glancing away from you. Maybe your direct approach lacks tact, but Hina acting so troubled over a pleading invitation is surprisingly ordinary for her. She didn’t seem like this at all when you invited her over. “I would not want to be a nuisance on any one or any household susceptible to misfortune,” she says. “However, I feel that ignoring an opportunity to converse with someone who shares my craft would be a mistake. If you are with me, PI, it should be enough of a buffer to prevent any calamity from befalling Miss Margatroid’s home.”

Wonderful, more misfortune talk. “A buffer? So the misfortune will only affect me, then? I can’t say I feel comfortable about that.”

Hina smiles. “That is why I have somet

A theme fitting for the tale ♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA38mIYhXzo

The story of a library, an outsider, and a little pandemonium.

THREAD 1 >>65260