>>203729 [x] Yukari the Mysterious Lady
Of all of the people Rumia had listed to you, Yukari was one of two she actually knew by name. And also "one of the most important people". You didn't have much to go off of for any of them, but these two facts in and of themselves seemed like strong enough reasons.
"How about asking this Yukari lady for help? If she's so important, she could probably easily get e a place to stay. Hopefully, if she's nice."
Rumia grinned and nodded. "Alright! Yukari lady it is then!" She said, her eyes filled with determination as she let her empty cup fall to the grass.
...
. . .
The wind blew, as her face held onto that determined look. Did she expect you to do something? "So, we..."
"I don't know where the Yukari lady is! No one really knows!"
. . .
"Well then why did you-"
"EXCEPT!" Rumia pointed a finger towards the air, excited to share this news with you! "Except for HER! One of the most powerful girls here, the protector of Gensokyo! She certainly will be able to show you the Yukari! And by me showing you the girl who will show you Yukari, I will have helped you!" Rumia gave a toothy grin full of pride. "The monk lady is going to be so happy with me! She's going to give me a bunch of food tonight!" She held out a finger and pointed to the west, alongside the shore of the lake. Following it, you could see far in the distance what appeared to be a small building tucked away in the mountains. Well, it seemed like a far trip but you had nothing better planned.
"We should get walking before it gets dark then, right?"
"If you want to Mister Human, I like the dark." Despite the change in her demeanor, the fact she specified you as human felt a tad unnerving.
You lead the way going in the general direction she pointed to, following the side of the lake. Rumia hummed as she floated side by side behind you. Her eyes were closed as she remained in her own little world. With her musical accompaniment and the fading sounds of the cicadas, you decided to admire some of the surroundings on your trek. The lake's water was notably pristine, mired not by pollution or murk. Its water was a deep blue. Though you couldn't make out the opposite side of the lake, the shoreline on this side seemed clean, with frogs, reeds, and... ice? Had it snowed here recently? The weather seemed like it was late summer or early autumn, that was way too early for there to be snow or even frost out. Yet, as you traveled further, more signs of Father Frost appeared.
Icicles dripping from spots on a tree. Small icebergs slowly melt in the water. A frog frozen in mid-jump. An entire igloo. You turned back to Rumia, who continued her melody blissfully oblivious. Maybe this was just... normal in this world? You turned back forward and kept walking, now seeing a frozen-
"HEY! Where ya going, Mister Human?"
You turned around to see Rumia floating, arms spread out, in front of the igloo. "She's here! Is your eyesight bad? How did you miss it?" Holding back any rebuttal, you walked back to her. She pointed at the entranceway. It was small. You'd have to crawl. You looked back at Rumia. "Well? Go on in! She's home! I think."
With a held-back sigh, "When in Rome I guess" as you got on your hands and knees, and began to crawl through the igloo's small entrance. "Good luck Mister Human! You're welcome for the heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp." Rumia's voice faded out. The minute you have to crawl she decides to bail? She must've thought her job was done the moment she could hand you off to someone else. Oh well, a-hey wait, you didn't even know who you were supposed to be seeing! Second thoughts began to fill your head, but you decided to keep crawling, at least to see if anyone was home.
This tunnel was longer on the inside than it looked from the outside, but you, at last, neared the inside of the igloo. The moment your face popped into the room though, it was greeted with a foot.
The foot came from another girl, one slightly taller than Rumia, but not by much. A blue dress, accompanied by blue hair and a big blue bow adorned this girl. Her face was sneering, like a bully who just saw his favorite target on the playground pull out his game boy. "Well well well. What have we here? What brings a human to Cirno's castle? You're not trying to destroy it are you?"
"NO! No!" You exclaimed, stuck right at the end of the entrance tunnel and thus unable to stand up. "Rumia just told me to come here, she said you can help me!" It was a bit hard to plead your case while a foot was on your face. Some people would pay good money for this experience, but you couldn't see the appeal.
"Ah, did she now?" She held a finger to her head as if to mimic someone deep in thought. "Well of course I can help! I'm Cirno. There's nothing I can't do! I can do anything, freeze anything, and defeat anyone! Gensokyo is my realm! Watch this!" Cirno took her foot off your face. She held out her hand, and several ice spikes appeared out of thin air, before they flung themselves against the icy walls, shattering as they did so. "Cool huh?" Was that a pun? "Oh, watch this!" She held out her hands and glared. Then she stopped. "Now that was cool, right? The coolest!"
"What did you do?"
"I froze time!"
"You... froze time?"
"Yeah! Better than that dumb maid's ability right?"
"Dumb ma-nothing happened though."
"You think nothing happened because I froze time! But then I unfroze it! You just couldn't tell! I can freeze anything." This was starting to look hopeless.
"Look, I just need to see this Lady Yukari lady, do you know here? Can you take me to her?"
Cirno brought her finger to her head again. "Hmmmmm...." She looked at you, her eyes going up and down. "Hmmmm...."
"..."
"Hmmmmmmm..."
"Is that a yes?"
"Hmmmmm... Yes!" Finally, that was- "On one condition!" Dammit. "I need an underling! Have you looked at the other people in Gensokyo?"
"No."
"What's the one thing all the powerful strong people have in common?"
"I don't know, I just got here an hour ago."
This young girl's arrogant-yet-idiotic thoughts were quickly wearing out your previously nervous and cautious attitude and replacing it with a much more curt one. Ability to generate ice out of thin air be damned, you were starting to get the feeling Rumia had misled you about who Cirno was.
"Well, all the strong people have underlings! But not me! And I should have one! I have friends but no underling to boss around! That's just not right! So you can be my underling! Pledge yourself to me and I'll take you to see Yukari!"
"... I'm sorry I can't do that."
Cirno frowned. "Oh, OK. I still need an underling though. I do have some others I'm thinking of making my underling though! I think they'd be all about equal in underlingness, so I'll let you pick the one that'll be my underling!"
She placed three pieces of paper on the ground, each with a crayon drawing. You looked at them, the absurdity of the situation sinking into you more and more. "So you want me to just pick one?"
"You'll also help me make them an underling too! Don't worry, you just need to come with me and tell them how powerful and strong I am and why I should be their underling! I'll even be generous - if we somehow fail, which we won't, I'll take you to Yukari anyways! What do you say?"
You looked down at the three pieces of paper. One had this tall green-haired lady crying and pleading for mercy. "NO CHEERNO U R 2 SRONG DONT HURT ME". Flowers surrounded her. Cirno was freezing some of the flowers.
The second had this huge circular woman inside an ice cube crying while eating cake. Snowflakes were drawn around her, while Cirno was freezing her. "O NO I AM DEFEETD UR FRIZ IS FRIZER THEN MY FRIZ I WANT CAKE".
The last had a girl with black wings, completely frozen over. She cried while Cirno stepped on her. "CHEERNO I WIL NOT WRIT DUM BAD STORES ABOT U NYMOR U R SMART AND COOL".
As dumb as this situation was looking, maybe one of them could actually give you some proper help? Or maybe you could try and actually make them Cirno's underling, though you had doubts that would work out.
[] "Please, mighty Lord Cirno. Mercy upon the flowers!"
[] "Oh indomitable Lord Cirno, don't ruin the slothful one's food stores!"
[] "Will the sovereign Lord Cirno please spare the humble journalist of her crimes?"
