"Seriously, I want Hawaii. And I'm a physicist, I'm done being shot at. You understand that, right?"

"It's time to choose."

"You're threatening me, you took my weapons, and you're a fucking time lord. This is bullshit."

Everything's green again, big surprise. And now it's all black. Wonderful.

"Wisely done, Mr. Freeman. I will see you up ahead. Although... I may have to... call in a favor, in the meantime."

The hell is this guy talking about? I agreed to his stupid job offer, right? Why is everything still black? Did I die and this is my own personal hell? Because that would suck.

"Oh, this is unexpected. To what do I owe the honor?"

Wait, that's a woman talking. Not anyone I recognize, I don't think.

"Mrs. Yakumo, I wasss hoping to... cash in a favor, if you didn't mind."

Yakumo? Don't know anyone by that name... sounds Japanese, maybe.

"Really? Does it have anything to do with your... 'client' here?"

Client? Are they talking about me? I can speak for myself, assholes!

"You see, thissss... individual, was chosen by my, employers. However, he has proven to be most... unorthodox. I hoped that you would be, willing to... 'watch over' him until he is needed, again."

Great, they can't hear me... Wait, "watch over"? What am I, a fucking child?

"Hmm, I'm not sure, he'd probably cause all sorts of trouble in Gensokyo..."

Gensokyo? Sounds Japanese again. Oh, Christ, I'm not gonna have to learn Japanese, am I? I already know like four languages, and after the day I've had, I don't think I can bother with learning another one.

"But that means he would, fit in perfectly, yesss?"

Oh right, my future is being decided while I literally can't say anything about it. This is just the worst part of being a kid again.

"Oh, alright, you've convinced me. But only because I owe you, okay?"

"Thank y

"You can't be serious!"

Sumireko responded with a noise that she would firmly deny bore any relation to a squee. "I told you this is for real! The bake-danuki gave me Gensokyo's own Occult Ball!"


Despite your misgivings, you hid a grin. For all she loves acting above it all and making noise about her psychic powers, Sumireko looked every inch a high school girl just now. Well, apart from the animated cape and her levitating from sheer excitement. You shook your head and got back to the matter at hand. "There's no way a youkai just gives someone anything, right? We've both read up on those legends; there's always a trap or a trick, or something."

"Oh, she didn't just give it to me. I won it off of her in a duel, right above downtown!"

Even with all the notice-me-not charms Sumireko's got going on, you're still shocked that didn't make the news. "And that's another point. Every single youkai you've summoned has fought you. Why would this one be willing to give you a treasure like that? A duel isn't exactly a friendly thing."

Sumireko considered that for just a moment. "I'm pretty sure in Gensokyo it's just the long version of saying hello. But to get to the actual question, they all thought they would win, not realizing their tricks were helpless against the wisdom of humanity. Besides, the Occult Ball is clearly legitimate! I know you can feel the power coming off of it."

While you were skeptical of the rest of her argument, she isn't wrong about that last point. While Sumireko herself is radiating more power, the Gensokyo Occult Ball isn't exactly outclassed. That thing's capable of some serious sorcery. Heck, to be emitting that much magic passively and still be a long-term enchantment, it would have to be continuously drawing power from Gensokyo, which is even more evidence of her claim.

All the same, something feels a little off about the whole thing.

"I don't know, Sumi-"

"Come on, this is our chance! We can finally visit Gensokyo as we please, find more real

I awake to the thumping of my head against the train window. I don't even remember falling asleep. Not surprised I dozed off. Work has been been draining the life from me these past few months. Mandatory overtime, garbage wage, and ridiculous quotas are driving me insane. It's a miracle I can even get out of bed in the morning.

"College degree doesn't mean shit." I sigh heavily.

Outside the window, the landscape rolls by and the sun slowly sets. On normal days I'd be arriving home at four in evening but today I won't be home until at least nine. I miss when I had free time. It's hard to even get in a workout when your entire existence is consumed by work. It's a sad state when exercise is the only enjoyable hobby you have.

"Is there anyone sitting here?" I lazily turn my head to the voice. A beautiful, blonde woman, dressed in a purple dress, and holding a parasol stands smiling. I perk up. Women usually don't approach men on trains and women rarely approach me. Her outfit is a little odd though, could be some kind of cosplayer.

"Nah, here let me give you some room."

"Domo arigatou." I'm convinced she's a cosplayer. You don't often hear Japanese where I live. "Hello, my name is Yukari Yakumo. What's yours?"

"Victor Dziedzic, nice to meet you Yukari." We lock eyes momentarily. There's an unsettling amount of intelligence in her eyes. A feeling of unease settles over me.

"Don't look so uncomfortable Victor! I have a question for you. Do you yearn for a better life? Isn't so unfulfilling working a deadend job?" I scoot further away from Yukari in my seat. How could she possibly know I'm unhappy with my job? I scan the car for a way out. I can hear her chuckling. "I have a job proposition for you. Well, not me but a confidant."

"And why should I trust someone I've never met before?" Every part of my being is telling me to run. I have a death grip on my backpack.

"You can go back to living in your rundown apartmen

Yasumi was a child of nature.

He woke on the dawn of every morning to pray to the Earthen Gods. On days of calm, it would be repaying grace, and on days of not, it would be pleading. Temperamental the child was, much like the other mortals of this Earth.

But to be compared to humans… it was sickening to Yasumi. This mortal was raised by gods, and only in name was he a ‘human.’ Beyond his fleshy construct, his dull, dark-brown eyes, and his matted, black hair, Yasumi was no more than a vessel—or a medium—for his gods. To be voided of all else was his duty—no, his honor.

His gods, nameless but many, were the Earthen Gods. In the days of yore, before Yasumi’s time, the shrine dedicated to their existence stood proudly on top of the rolling hillsides of Iwasetsu. Now, beaten and dilapidated, the shrine was then forgotten, left as an excerpt of history.

It was of no matter to Yasumi. To be with his gods was more than enough. The crops that Yasumi had gardened on the perimeter of the shrine filled his belly for most of the year, and non-mortals of similar faith would bring sustenance in the winter. He had no wants.

Though, for the Earthen Gods, the idle days that Yasumi wrought were not sufficient.

‘Yasumi’, said one, ‘It is time to go.’

The human nodded, asking not why but only, “When do you need me?”

[ ] ‘Now. Time is of the essence.’
[ ] ‘We can wait until the dawn of the next day.’
[ ] ‘Never.’

Player’s choice:
[ ♪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VijcbugfLhY ]
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-09Sox6voGU ♫ ]
[ ]
[ Change the Destiny – Masquerade Circus =Pizuya's Cell= ]
[ Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There – Persona 5 =Meguro Shoji= ]

Make a fist. >>/underground/16139 >>/underground/16408

Music: https://mega.nz/folder/1BdBzIKZ#bhLzijfM3iyphpueDOKf0g

He took the earth at gallop.

Vents, Door, or Window.

Either option will suck, but that’s al you’ve got in front of you at the moment.

+++

[] Vents

[] Door

[] Window

The first thing you notice when you wake up is that you're dead.

Well, not really 'wake up,' per se. But it's definitely very noticeable for you.

Ah, so you're... well, 'awake' perhaps isn't the right word, is it? a voice says inside your mind.

You're pretty sure being dead means that you're supposed to have lost any sense of consciousness or anything like that. And that you can't hear things.

Ah, did you really think it would be that simple? Just... cessation of existence? Because if you did, ha! There's no way you're getting off that easy.

You feel something indescribable, as if you're getting twirled through a blender or something...

And then you wake up.

[ ] Something feels fairy suspicious about what just happened.
[ ] This really seems out of the ordinary.
[ ] You aren't feeling very merry right now.
[ ] Something's really bugging you.
[ ] There are gaps in this that aren't really adding up.

Continued from >>201537, new thread since I can finally give the quest a name.

For one thing, you can tell now why walking was so much harder. Your legs are long. You weren’t exactly the peak of masculine stature before, but you were at least a normal height. It’s immediately apparent, however, that you’ve gained at least half a foot overnight.

You’re not wearing your old clothes, intact or not. Instead, you’re wearing some kind of a… robe? (Not a dress, definitely not a dress.) There’s four colors to it, winding down from the top to the bottom, side by side. White to your front, a sandy yellow to your left, a deep brown to your right, and you can see a trailing stripe of red curling in from the back.

You try to move what you thought for a moment was a third arm, but it’s difficult and confusing to consciously use it. Instead, you reach behind yourself with both hands and force it to bend to your front. What you find certainly isn’t an arm. It’s a wing. A big wing. The white feathery appendage is easily as long spread out as you are tall.

Finally… you glance with trepidation towards your chest, gently poking at it. It’s soft, squishy, and most certainly protruding more than it used to. With shaky hands, you lift the bottom of your oh-god-it-is-a-dress-isn’t-it and look underneath. You fall back on to your back, close your eyes, and take a moment to have a silent mental breakdown.

...

……

………

…………

…………...Okay. You’re okay, you’re fine. It’s not all that bad. You’re like, some kind of a huge bird lady or something now, right? It could be worse. It could be a lot worse. And, like, you’re probably cute, right? So it’s fine.

Once more, you bring yourself onto your feet, this time paying close attention to your legs, and walk towards the light. It’ll take a bit to get used to this, you think. As your eyes adjust to the light, you g

Hello, T-P. I’d like to play a game with you.
Before that, however, I have to ask you a series of questions. Let's say it's... a more interactive way of character creation than rolling a few dice. Don’t worry, they won’t be hard, and there’s no wrong answer. On the other hand, the effects your answers will have will be a little obscured. We can't throw out all the uncertainty, can we?

First, what is your favorite flavor?

[]Water
[]Ketchup
[]Caramel
[]Smoke
[]Artificial banana
[]Leaf
[]Raw Flour
[]Tangerine
[]?
[]Coffee

And while we’re at it, what is your favorite color?

[]Denim
[]Grandma's Refrigerator
[]Puce
[]Chocolate
[]Nacho Cheese
[]Anonymous
[]Mayonnaise
[]Corn Silk
[]Chartreuse
[]Dragon’s Blood
[]New Age