A massive, brown tail, ringed by black stripes lazily swayed in the cool midday breeze. Mamizou, humming a nameless tune, was bent on her haunches in the middle of a trodden dirt path. She took a deep drag from her pipe, exhaled, and pushed a pair of glasses back up the bridge of her nose as she scrutinized the earth below her. Strange tracks were carved into it, two thin lines that joined at a base. The tanuki boss hadn’t the slightest clue what could have made them, their scent was unlike anything she was familiar with.
Mamizou continued to hum as she pondered the tracks’ possible owner. She suspected it was some kind of youkai that wasn’t well-known, those tended to crop up every now and again, but the shape was awfully peculiar, she wondered if the mystery youkai was some kind of bird. It would have to be a really big bird, judging by how the tracks sank into the dirt. In any case, whatever it was hadn’t stayed on the road for long, most of the tracks veered off to the side and into the nearby irrigation fields. If anything, Mamizou was glad that they didn’t lead towards the shrine, Reimu typically wasn’t fond of visitors when they were of the youkai persuasion. It was bad for what little reputation her precious shrine had.
Though Mamizou was absorbed in her musings, she was not unaware of a silent presence that had appeared to her left, trying to hide among the field’s crops. The mystery youkai had arrived, no doubt. She couldn’t gleam any details, but the strange, foreign scent was there and more prominent than what lingered on the dirt road. Mamizou lifted the pipe back into her mouth and continued to hum, tail gently swaying back and forth, as she waited for the stranger to make their move.
The alien felt very proud of himself. He had followed the scent with ease and now his bounty lay right in front of him. He observed Mamizou’s tail as it flowed behind her with a captivating rhythm, it seemed to him that her tail was shaded in the most charming color. The alien realized that he could lose himself in the slow, subtle movement of her tail. However, this odd creature was still prey, regardless of how beautiful it looked, the alien mused.
However, when he got a better look at her, the alien became equally as captivated by the rest of Mamizou, too. Her body was thin and gave the impression of being something very fragile. Her eyes were lawless, deemed the alien, he could divine a small light from within them that danced in such a marvelous way. She was the only other thing he had found since he awoke that actually moved, he wondered if perhaps they could share a kinship with one another.
Then the warm scent returned to him, and he remembered that he was far above the thing sitting in the clearing like easy pickings, he admonished and reminded himself that he was here to dignify his natural superiority.
The alien stalled for a while, he waited to see what his prey would do. Then, when she did not move, he built up all his strength, and leaped out of hiding, claws prone towards the clueless beast, spoiling for the sensation of soft flesh, tender flesh. But the feeling never came, for before the alien hit the ground, Mamizou had moved out of the way. It happened so fast, next thing he knew her arm, thin but unnaturally strong, had wrapped around his neck and he realized that she had been waiting for him. He was trapped in a fierce headlock, Mamizou forced him to bend forwards so that he reached her comparatively shorter stature. The alien hissed dumbfoundedly.
Mamizou smiled and took another drag from her pipe, the stench of tobacco crowded the alien’s nostrils and made his eye water.
“Boy, you’re a big one, aren’t ya?” The tanuki, with her years of experience and extensive knowledge on youkai, didn’t know what category the creature she kept locked in place would fit into. It was much taller than her, and its physique was nothing to sneeze at either. Its chitinous skin seemed to bulge under the size of its own muscles. It was also very angry, that much was easy to see, it must’ve been a newborn youkai that hadn’t been taught Gensokyo’s rules quite yet. It was fortunate then, that it had found her first instead of some unsuspecting human from the village. She could imagine him making quick work of the farmer that would inevitably come by to check on his field. That kind of incident wouldn’t end well for youkai or humans.
Mamizou was torn out of her thoughts when, to her great surprise, the alien began to speak, or tried to, at least. Everything came out harsh and mechanical, its reptilian eye stared intently into hers. She didn’t understand a word, but if it was trying to communicate then it was a lot smarter than she had given it credit for. Perhaps, and it sounded unlikely but it was worth try, perhaps this youkai could be reasoned with.
“Hey, hey slow down,” it seemed enraptured in its own speech as the noises grew more intense, “Hey, calm down. I can’t understand...”
The alien’s voice grew in even greater intensity, Mamizou sighed and, lifting her pipe, lightly bopped it on its head. It stopped immediately.
“Alright, maybe we got off on the wrong foot.” Mamizou, against her better judgement, released it from her hold. The alien straightened to his full height and stepped a pace back from her, he stood quiet and motionless. Mamizou held her arms up in a peaceful gesture. “I’m not going to hurt you unless you try to hurt me, it’s just, people don’t usually like to be attacked without any particular reason, y’know.” The pipe returned to her mouth. “I’m willing to bet you can sort of understand me, right?”
The alien was surprised to see that the creature spoke an entirely different language from him. Frankly, it was a disgusting language, but her voice, sweeter than even the scent of prey, still managed to fashion the noise into something that was at least tolerable. But he still found it ugly, and also eerily familiar. With his advanced alien mind, he was able to pick up on a few words and distinguish their meaning here and there, thankfully Mamizou seemed adamant on communicating with him and thus spoke a lot of words.
After few frustrating minutes, Mamizou eventually gave up, she sighed irritably and took another long drag, which she exhaled in an weary huff. The alien observed her curiously, since she had stopped talking, he figured that it would be a good time as any to try out this new, ugly language. The alien grabbed her attention by clearing his throat, he directly into her eyes, and with one sentence, he uttered his first ever human words:
[] - "Do you alwayzz tahhk so much?"
[] - "I didnnn't unnerstan' any a' that."
[] - write in
Image source: (
https://k0nfette.tumblr.com/post/615211956211679232/mamizou)
Done and done at last.