For now though, you figured it was probably a good idea to head down to the site of the explosion from last night. If nothing else you wanted to know the scale of the damage and... well, maybe it could be cleared for building work or something? A tiny part of you had come up with the thought that building an escape route from the house somehow may be a very prudent idea indeed, a tunnel or something would be the best idea... Perhaps Marisa would have some kind of earth-moving magic or something that could do the work? Although you weren't entirely willing to put faith in magic, the tiny terrified part of you that you had successfully hidden away last night was perfectly happy to rely on anything that would give you a better chance of survival if this all went to hell. Having the exit be on a spot already bombed would be an ideal location... unless they did actually resort to nuclear or nuclear equivalents, in which case you were screwed no matter what you did.
“Marisa!” You call, knocking on her room door. “You in there?” Given the lack of reply, you guess not. Shrugging you also try Komachi's door, just in case. Meiling you knew was still outside, as you could just about see her when you looked through the second floor hall window. Again, no response. Since you have been gaining a handle on the girls personalities lately you even stick your ear to the door and listen hard for snoring, without any luck. Well, the girls weren't in their rooms at least, which was one place checked out. Sighing you head downstairs and through the living area - where you find Komachi snoozing in the same chair she had been in earlier. As you pass by her you poke her in the shoulder, causing her eyes to open and blearily focus in on you.
“Wha?” She slurs, “You want somethin'?”
“Can you come with me for a while?” You ask, “I need to go check...” You pause and glance at Letty and Renko, who seem to be happily talking to each other. “... some stuff... And I want to ask you a few things about it, Meiling too, maybe Marisa if I can find her.”
“Eh,” Komachi yawns and stretches, “Sure, jus' gimme a minute or two.”
Nodding to her you head off outside, via the kitchen, over to where you saw Meiling practicing earlier. You watch for a few moments as she moves from move to move with a slow, deliberate, purpose. Kick, punch, kick, block, with each move you sense that she's growing closer and closer to the end of her performance and, a few moments later, you are proven right as she stamps the earth with one foot and lashes out with both arms - if you didn't know better you could have sworn the trees at the forest edge she was facing swayed in time to...
Actually. You probably didn't want to know if they were moving because of the force of her strike or not. It would only make you worry about things, things you couldn't afford to worry about right now as you had bigger things which required worrying about. Instead you wave to Meiling and smile when she turns and waves back. “Hey!” You call out as you approach her. She's a little red in the face and panting slightly “You mind coming with me for a little while?”
“Eh?” Meiling stares at you, “Me? What for?”
You shrug, “I want to go check out the explosion from last night.”You say, “I want to know what you think about, I've already asked Komachi as well. If I can I'd like to ask for Marisa's too but I haven't seen her around yet.”
You notice a slight blush on Meiling's face as she grins and nods her head in agreement. Then she pauses and brings one finger to her lips in thought. “Hmmm... Marisa... I saw her head off to look for mushrooms in the forest or something. It's the kind of thing she usually does all day I think.”
“Mushrooms?” You frown slightly, “She's... sort of obsessed about them, isn't she?”
“Mn...” Meiling shrugs, “Well, as far as I know she spends most of her time looking for mushrooms, stealing from Lady Patchouli and Miss Alice, or mooching off of Reimu.”
You glance back at the house, Komachi still hasn't shown up yet, and you don't want to set off until she's ready. Marisa, if she's off mushrooming, can carry on with that - though you suspect she's really gone off to sneak a look at the blast site without you. Well, since you have a few minutes to kill, why not ask Meiling for a bit more information on Gensokyo?
[ ] Ask about 'Lady Patchouli' [ ] Ask about 'Miss Alice' [ ] Ask about the 'Mansion' [ ] Ask about Gensokyo in general
[X] Ask about 'Lady Patchouli' [X] Ask about 'Miss Alice' [X] Ask about the 'Mansion' [X] Ask about Gensokyo in general Choices are selected in order of priority.
“Hey,” you begin, wondering how to phrase the question that's on your mind. “What... What's Gensokyo like?” You ask, “I mean, everyone keeps mentioning people and things I don't know, so I'm sort of curious about it.”
“Eh?” Meiling looks at you in surprise, “You're asking me?” She glances around the area, then looks back at you. “Me?” she repeats, “I don't know much about anything!”
You watch her panic for a second or two before raising your hands to calm her down, “That's still more than I know though,” you say, “I don't know anything at all!”
The girl stops and looks at you, then blinks in realization. “Oh!” she exclaims. “That's right! Hmmm...” She scratches her cheek thoughtfully as she, evidently, considers what to say first. “Well... Gensokyo is kinda... small.” she begins, “Flying hard I can get from one end to the other in maybe a day, but I'm not exactly as fast as some others. I guess Aya can probably cover it in a few hours without trying too hard.” Turning she heads in the direction of one of the outside benches, where you see she had put a towel and some water. “I've only done that onces though, there's not much point since once you go past the Youkai mountain it's mostly wasteland, sand and rocks and stuff I mean.”
“Youkai mountain?” you ask distractedly, wondering how big Gensokyo must be. If this 'Aya' could cover it's length in a few hours, and she was maybe around the speed of a fighter jet according to what had been mentioned last night... “That's... How is that even possible? Surely someone would notice an area that large on satellite maps or something?”
“Sa-tell-ite?” Meiling shakes her head, not knowing what you mean but evidently guessing the concept at least. “I don't know how, but Mistress Remila once told me people from the outside could practically walk over Gensokyo and not even notice it's there. It's like... uhm...”
“Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?” You suggest, only to see Meiling grin at you and nod.
“Exactly! Hey, you're pretty smart to guess that, huh?” She says, only for you to smile in embarrassment. You weren't going to mention that you had guessed that based on old television shows you used to watch. “But yeah, It's bigger on the inside, I guess that maybe came as a surprise when the barrier came down... because then it would be big on the outside too.” She pauses and frowns. “I think. Well it's also in the middle of a bunch of mountains anyway, so I doubt anyone would really notice. Might be a few surprised birds though!” She smirks at her own joke and you smile back.
If what you're thinking is right, such a change could possibly go unnoticed by all but aircraft. Sure satellites could take pictures but, well, you knew there would be a long delay between them being taken and them showing up on a map - especially if the government was keeping it quiet. Military aircraft had probably spotted it first and taken note, passenger aircraft may have but... really, how many people knew geography well enough to tell if something was amiss at the kind of heights they flew at? Idly you wondered exactly how many, beside yourself, knew of Gensokyo's existence. Actually, worse, you wondered how long it would be before the general public found out...
No, you think, there was something much, much worse. How long before *he* found out that youkai were free in the world? Not long enough you were sure. Your father, and possibly other priests, were almost certain to cause trouble for you somehow. Especially if your family actually discovered you were LIVING with a number of youkai.
“Is something wrong?” Meiling's voice snaps you back into paying attention.
Shaking your head, you smile at her reassuringly. “No,” you say, “Nothings wrong, just thinking is all. Nothing important, please, tell me more?”
“Well, if you're sure.” The redhead sounds doubtful but continues anyway. “There's a big lake that's pretty much the middle of Gensokyo. It's got a few islands and stuff on it but, well, it's usually covered by mist or fog, so it's hard to find anything out there. That's where Cirno lives, around the lake itself. Everything else in Gensokyo pretty much borders it, there's Youkai mountain to the west - all the Kappa and Tengu live up there with a few others, I heard a new shrine, ah, started up there recently too, but I haven't been there.” She pauses and thinks for a moment. “There's the mansion I work at which is sort of to the south, and the forest of magic is just a bit to the east of that - Marisa has a house in there. To the north of the lake is the bamboo forest, no-one really knows too much about it but Sakuya-san and Lady Remilia went up there some time back when the moon was funny. They wouldn't tell me what they did - but they were kind of beaten up, so I guess there must be someone pretty strong up there, though I heard a doctor lives around there too.”
You nod, even as Meiling crouches down to draw in the dirt with her finger. After a few moments a rough map has appeared on the ground, and she points out each place as she names them. “There's also, uhm, a village around the east of the lake, between it and the Hakurei - that's Reimu's - shrine. It's pretty small - no-where near as big as the place you took us to yesterday. Miss Keine would know more though, because she lives there. But, uhm... There's a market, and some farms... uhm...” She glances at the ground and goes quiet. “You'd probably think it's stupid.” She says at last, “You have such amazing things in the outside world... and we don't. Even the mansion has nothing like what you have here...”
“Actually,” You say, “It sounds a bit like where my grandfather lives, he lives out in the countryside - he runs a little shrine in the middle of a village.”
“Eh? Your grandfather is a priest?” The redhead looks up, surprised, “I thought you felt a little funny, maybe that was it? You've got a priest as a grandfather.”
“And a father.” You interject. “and my mother was one... I think her parents were too, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm not one because of.... reasons.”
“Oh.” The chinese girl nods in understanding. “Yeah, I understand. It's impressive though! A family of priests! I wonder if Reimu knows about that?”
You frown and nod, “I think so,” you say, “Renko thought that might be why I'm doing this, maybe I'm too holy to be eaten alive by a youkai or something? Or at least, maybe that's what they figured anyway.”
You see a look in Meiling's eyes for a moment, one of distress? Upset? You're not sure as the next thing you know she's slapping you on the back and laughing happily. “Awesome! Awesome!” she declares, “Youkai-proof, awesome priest, mister Ryogi!” After a few moments she seems to calm down and instead settles for beaming at you - but, after seeing that look in her eyes earlier, you get the distinct impression her smile isn't quite as genuine as you thought. You frown at her for a moment, then your eyes widen in shock - how could you have been so goddamn stupid!"
[ ] “Miss Meiling... are you... a youkai?” (cautious question) [ ] “You're a youkai, aren't you miss Meiling?” (direct statement) [ ] “Miss Meiling, can I ask you about Youkai? (indirect question) [ ] WRITE IN
Take a note of the terms in brackets, since the important thing about these choices is how govanon approaches the question (cautious, direct, indirect) rather than the question itself.
>“Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?” You suggest, only to see Meiling grin at you and nod. “Exactly! Hey, you're pretty smart to guess that, huh?” She says, only for you to smile in embarrassment. You weren't going to mention that you had guessed that based on old television shows you used to watch.
>old television shows you used to watch.
oh shi- Gensokyo is made from TIME LORD TECHNOLOGY!
[X] “Well not completely youkai-proof. That smile cuts through all my defenses, doesn't it Miss Meiling?” (indirect statement)
[x] “Well not completely youkai-proof. That smile cuts through all my defenses, doesn't it Miss Meiling?” (indirect statement) This is so stupid that it might actually work.
>[ ] “Miss Meiling... are you... a youkai?” (cautious question)
We regret saying some things about youkai without knowing shit about them. >[ ] “You're a youkai, aren't you miss Meiling?” (direct statement)
>We simply don't care. >[ ] “Miss Meiling, can I ask you about Youkai? (indirect question)
Will this get us anywhere? But hey, we need the knoledge. [x] “Well not completely youkai-proof. That smile cuts through all my defenses, doesn't it Miss Meiling?” (indirect statement)
“Well not completely youkai-proof.” You whisper, just loud enough for the redhead to hear you. “That smile cuts right through my defenses, doesn't it Miss Meiling?”
You see Meiling stiffen and her face slowly turn bright red. She sputters incoherently, making wild gestures with her hands in a mixture of panic and evident embarrassment.
Meiling was a youkai. Her reaction pretty much confirmed it - and you inwardly curse yourself for being so blind to that fact until now. In truth you had been so confused by finding out who wasn't or who might not have been a youkai that you had almost completely forgot about the fact that those who 'might' not have been youkai could instead actually be youkai!
God you were so stupid.
“Wha - you - I - but - not - “ Meiling babbles, only one in every few words being actually understandable to you. She continues babbling for several long seconds before suddenly stopping, ramming her arms down straight at her sides. “I don't eat people anymore!” she yells, pauses, goes even redder than before and brings her arms up to clap her hands over her mouth in shock at what she just yelled. You stare at her in surprise at her outburst, and are about to speak when she beats you to it. “I-I mean I don't eat people!” She cries, “At all! Never! I... I... I'm not a bad person!”
“O-Of course you're not!” you manage to get out before she goes off on another stint of babbling, “You're a very nice person miss Meiling!”
“But you hate me!” wails the redhead, causing you to blink in surprise as she falls to her knees.
“Wha... Hate you?” You begin, “I don't hate you! Why would I hate a nice person like you?” You're starting to panic, you've never been all that great at dealing with other people - especially girls - and now you have one crying her eyes out on the floor in front of you for... well, you're not entirely sure why exactly. “I... I don't mind if you're a youkai!” You yell, “Miss Meiling is Miss Meiling, youkai or human or anything else! And Miss Meiling is a nice person!”
“B... But...” The girl sniffles, but seems to be calming down, “You... Why are you being so nice to me?” Sniffling again she stands up and wipes at her eyes with the hack of one hand. “You gave me my own room, you bought me all these new clothes... a-and all did to pay you back wu-was to cause trouble!”
“When?” You ask, “I don't seem to recall you causing any trouble,” You shrug and hold your hands out to emphasis the motion. “Now there may have been the odd mishap, but I wouldn't call that trouble.” Then you frown, “Besides, if anyone's caused trouble it would be Marisa.”
“But I let you get hurt!” Wails Meiling, “I should have moved faster, or dodged better or...”
“Or nothing!” You glare at her for a moment, then soften. “You did what you could, that's what matters. It's not like I wouldn't have got blasted if I had just stayed on the ground - if anything it probably would have been worse, I know you did what you could to keep the damage down.” You pause, letting her think on that for a moment, then step in quickly before she can start wailing again. “And at the supermarket!” you say, “You were awesome! You stopped a criminal! That's not the kind of thing bad people do!”
“But... I'm a youkai...” She whispers, staring at the ground “You said it yourself... I'm a man-eating monster...”
“Have you ever made a weapon designed to kill an entire city full of people?” You reply, also in a whisper. “because humans have.” Reaching up you put one hand on her shoulder. “Just because humans don't eat people doesn't mean we can't be monsters too. Throughout the years humans have done... horrible things. To themselves, to each other and to the animals around them. Yes, I am afraid of being eaten, I am afraid of youkai but I'm also afraid of Yuki-Onna, of Shinigami, of magic and of everything else Gensokyo has. But I'm also afraid of what my own people would, or could, do. You saw the explosion from last night, I'm afraid that maybe next time they won't be aiming somewhere else, I'm afraid there there may be people who will attack me, or you, or any of the others simply because they're too close-minded to accept Gensokyo.”
“Mister Ryogi...”
“Mainly, though,” you continue, “I'm absolutely terrified that I, not you, am going to do something stupid and get us all killed. So yeah, I am afraid - but I'm working on that, with every new thing I learn about you, the others and Gensokyo I grow that bit less afraid.” You smile at her, “Besides, even though I'm afraid I feel kind of... amazing. I always used to dream about doing something special with my life and, look, how could this not be something special to do with it?”
You feel a sudden pressure against your chest and around your back and realize that Meiling has just embraced you in a hug. “I'm sorry Mister Ryogi!” She wails again, “I was so worried about breaking Lady Remilia's orders that I didn't even think about how you felt!” As she hugs, you smile, glad that she's feeling bet-
Wait a minute.
“Lady Remilia's orders?” You ask, frowning and gently pushing the girl off of you. “What... orders?”
Meiling stares at you, then goes pale. “AH!” She cries, “J-just forget about it Mister Ryogi! I-it's nothing! Honest!”
[ ] OBJECTION! [ ] Press Harder. [ ] Leave the issue alone. [ ] WRITE IN
I'd like to find out this secret, but Govtanon should be nice to the poor girl. I'm sure she isn't up to anything devious. After all, Meiling is a good girl~.
[x] Take her hand. [x] "Meiling, you've told me you've eaten people and I don't hate you for it; whatever this is, I think you can tell me. I'm not on any sides here--like I said, the greatest monsters this world has been human."
"Thats ok, Meiling. So whats it like being a youkai? Do you have a different metabolism and TELL ME YOUR SECRETS YOU LYING MONSTER!"
Nah, but actually Anon could probably coax it out of her. I like guilt, personally.
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Ms. Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even they were you wouldn't perform them." Give a sad look. "I just wish you'd trust me enough to let me help, if I could. I'm sorry I'm not useful."
[X] Place your hands on her shoulders. [X] "This is obviously something important to you, so I won't press any further, but... Meiling, I want you to know, you don't have to feel nervous about telling me things. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen."
[x] Take her hand. [x] "Meiling, you've told me you've eaten people and I don't hate you for it; whatever this is, I think you can tell me. I'm not on any sides here--like I said, the greatest monsters this world has been human."
[x] Take her hand. [x] "Meiling, you've told me you've eaten people and I don't hate you for it; whatever this is, I think you can tell me. I'm not on any sides here--like I said, the greatest monsters this world has been human. BELIEVE IN ME, WHO BELIEVES IN YOU!"
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them."
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." [X] "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
{X} "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." {X} "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
{X} "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." {X} "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
{X} "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." {X} "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." [x] "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
{X} "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." {X} "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
{X} "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." {X} "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." [x] "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
I shall ride this bandwagon and see where it goes.
[x] "Ah...I see." Give a warm smile. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling. I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them." [x] "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
[x] Clasp her hand. [x] "I really would like to know, but if this is important to you I won't press any further. If you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
“Ah... I see.” You smile warmly at the panicking redhead. "You are a good person, Miss Meiling.” You say after a moment, causing her to pause and look at you oddly. “I'm sure that whatever orders Lady Remilia gave you were not malicious, and even if they were you wouldn't perform them."
“Then you,” You hear her mutter, “Have no idea what Lady Remila is like.” She has a point, and you make a note to ask someone else about this 'Remilia'. From what little Reimu has mentioned when she had been around, you were damn certain she was someone you didn't want to deal with if you could avoid it.
"I really would like to know,” You say, “but if this is important to you I won't press any further.” Smiling at the girl you scratch your cheek nervously, “But, uh, if you ever want to talk about something, I'll be there to listen and help in any way I can."
Meiling blushes and looks down at the ground. “Thankyou,” she whispers. You're about to say something when you glance over to the house and freeze in shock. In the kitchen window you see two faces - Komachi and Renko, the two of them both with their hands over their mouths to hide their evident smirking. Behind them you spot both Keine and Letty, the former with a slight smile and the latter with a slight frown. You realize that you are blushing in embaressment even as Komachi slips out of the back door and slinks over to you and Meiling.
“We~ell” She drawls, “Looks like someone is a bit of a fast mover eh?” She laughs and grins, then reaches out to ruffle the hair of both yourself and Meiling. “I guess I had better come along with you, no telling what you'd both get up to if I didn't tag along.” She laughs again and you sigh, a sigh echoed almost exactly by Meiling. Naturally this only serves to make Komachi smirk and laugh some more at the two of you as she strolls off in the direction of the blast-site.
You and Meiling glance at each other again. You're about to apologize for this when the red-head smiles at you. “I... I'm sorry abou-” you cut her off with a wave of your hand.
“Don't worry about it,” you say, “We're friends, right?”
“Ah!” The girl looks at you in surprise, then smiles widely, “Yes!”
Komachi, however, just keeps on laughing.
It took a while but the three of you made it to the blast sight without much trouble, although Meiling had flown up above the forest canopy a few times to make sure the group didn't get lost. As the site comes into view even Komachi, who had been needling both you and Meiling the entire time, falls silent. The ground is black with char and the trees around the edges of the site all lean outwards, as if some great hand had simply pushed them to one side.
“This is...” Begins Meiling, though Komachi holds up a hand to silence her.
“Nothing.” She says after a few moments, “Compared to *that* weapon, this is nothing, but it's still enough to kill some of the weaker youkai. That crazy flower girl probably wouldn't even notice this, and I doubt any of the Yakumo house would either.” She frowns and looks around the clearing. “You I don't know about, but I'm fairly certain it would kill Letty and the others without much trouble - as well as mister Ryogi of course.”
You nod and try not to show how uncomfortable such a notion made you feel. “What about you?” You ask at last, causing her to shrug.
“No idea,” states the busty woman, “It can't kill me since you can't actually kill a death god, but I also can't say for sure how bad it would leave me. Bad enough that I wouldn't want to find out how bad I guess.”
“It's horrible,” Meiling murmurs, “Even Flandre rarely does this much damage with a single shot. I know more can be done with her spell cards but...” She trails off and gazes over at the debris. “What are we going to do?”
You, too, look over the debris and sigh. “I don't know.” You whisper, “Clear it away for now I guess, maybe plant some trees or something later...” Sighing again you glans up at the sky, “As to the missile... I can't do anything about that except do my best to make sure they don't need to use any more. Aside from that? I have no idea what to do.”
The two girls nod and stride into the charred area. Giving another quick glance around you follow them, intent on doing what you could for now - even if only to get your mind off of the reality of the situation.
Work progresses... slowly. Despite Meiling being able to pick up chunks of charred wood almost twice your size, and Komachi's apparent ability to sweep whole swathes of land clear with a wave of her scythe, there is simply too much to clear up before you realize the sky has started to darken. Still, the three of you have made progress - even if your entire contribution paled into insignificance compared to what the other two did. Now most of the larger debris has been piled to one side of the clearing, and a lot of the ash and burned plant matter had been swept clear from the opposite side. Another day, perhaps, and the clearing wouldn't look anywhere near as devastated.
“Let's head back.” you say at last, surveying the progress you've made. At that moment your stomach rumbles, and you realize you haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. “When we get back we can have something to eat,” you state, “then take it easy for the night. But first, lets worry about getting home.”
[ ] Ask for a lift from Meiling [ ] Ask for a lift from Komachi [ ] Actually, we should probably walk.
Ugh, AWESOME SHIT got delayed due to technical difficulties. And the heat, I can't think in this goddamn heat.
>“Nothing.” She says after a few moments, “Compared to *that* weapon, this is nothing, but it's still enough to kill some of the weaker youkai. That crazy flower girl probably wouldn't even notice this, and I doubt any of the Yakumo house would either.”
As much as I love Meiling, we're aiming for Letty here. Let's not make it look like we're closer than we are. Besides, she'd be embarassed and Komachi would be teasing us the whole time.
I am terribly tempted by Meiling path, but Letty is a jealous person and if she sees us on her back things will just get worse. Also we need to get to know Komachi better (she doesn't have much of a personality yet. Feels like she is lunatic mode, while Meiling is easy mode.)
Also its safer. In the event of a crash, Komachi's massive breasts may be used as a flotation device or impact reducer.
>>51985 If Ran, Chen, and Yukari were all in the same room, Chen could probably do the bomb in damage. And if she's seen the Master Spark, she probably wouldn't be to fazed by just seeing it.
>>51976 Which brings up an interesting point. I wonder if we're fully out of the 'character introduction' phase, given that Kiene isn't really all that well fleshed out, same for komachi or Marisa. Yeah, we know how we think they'd NORMALLY act and have fleshed them out based uppon this, but AD hasn't shown much, nor has anon tried for anything. And all we've sorta gotten from Letty is her backstory, and that's about it really. Same with Meiling. We really don't know who Remilia is yet, Nor really anything about china. Same for Meiling/Marisa/Kiene. Hell, we haven't even heard about alice and patchy in relation to Marissa. Nor Mokou from Kiene. Flandre's only been mentioned in passing, so really, Govanon barely knows anything about the girls, really.
>>52189 >Osterhagen Project? Not familiar with this one.
Also, is it me or is Flandre basically a human teleforce generator? Wireless power transmission would be nice. Maybe she could recharge our battery-operated devices by sitting near them.
>>52303 Well, that wouldn't work. All the nukes in the world combined don't have enough of a payload to crack the crust in one single spot, let alone spread out over multiple areas.
>>52341 Huh. One would think that a nuke having a shell durable enough to withstand the temperature of the earths core would be completly useless for detonation purposes.
>>52393 Indeed. I mean hell porcelain and fare skin was a highly desired trait for royalty in Europe. It showed "purity" (in this case pure royal blood) and had a heavy contrast to everyone else who was tan from working manual labor outside (aka peasants). Thats why people used that ridiculous white powered all the time.
>>52393 >You can be chalk white and still be healthy. Not in my locale. That'd get you a fifth-degree sunburn anytime you go outdoors around here. Hello, skin cancer!
>>52455 It means, more or less, light colored. Fare hair would usually be blond. A 'fare lady' would have light skin and probably blond hair, attributes associated with royalty, nobility, and beauty.
>>52464 >Red eyes = fuckwin. Problem is that this is the level of taste of a 13 year old idiot. Enjoy your twelve million ORIGINAL CHARACTER DON'T STEALs with totally hardcore red eyes.
>>52455 While I thank you for your ongoing struggle for excellence and perfection while critiquing my grammar and spelling, I'm afraid minor mistakes such as this do not concern me after a full day at work and exhaustion from 2 hours at the gym.
>>52548 no, I was talking about irl. I knew an albino girl. She was probably the singluar hottest 3d girl I've ever seen. Long white hair, powder white skin, and piercing red eyes.
A thought. I've heard the debate that things like that, red hair, and even different racial features are attractive because they are uncommon or rare to us (exotic?). If it is rare it is of high value and desired. While I understand the logic behind it, I think there has to be something else. Anime is a good way to explore this, since you can have any color or feature imaginable.
>>52557 I think it could be a variety of things. My personal prefrences include a combination of rare/common things that I like. Freckles for example. They're somewhat common, as are glasses. I think it's more of a personal prefrence thing, though a degree of 'exotic' makes just about anything interesting. But if you get TOO exotic then you can get into things that are repulsive. More arms/legs, multiple heads. Yeah there's things like that which people find attractive (/d/ for example), but that seems to be something of a minority. I'm not overly fond of hispanic/latino/whatever the fuck that particular group is calling themselves now, and most of thier facial characteristics. I sometimes find asians very attractive, but that's primarly for the fact that many asian girls tend to have long black hair. The facial features aren't always pleasing to the eye, and the fact that many people from south east asia don't have straightened teeth.
But I think I may have diverged from the point I was trying to make. I think it depends on a variety of factors, as well as things like how you were raised and the like. I was raised with a very open mind to a vareity of things which may make me value 'strange' and 'unusual' things more, because I'm strange and unusual to most people. It's more an extension of how a person views themselves as to what sort of 'exotic' things that they may find attractive. So yeah. Stemming more from the self more so than anything external or 'exotic'.
“Hey, uh,” You begin, a little embarrassed to be asking thing, “Miss Komachi... You think you could give me a lift?”
“Eh? A lift? What would you want -” The busty redhead pauses, “Oh, right, so we can fly back.”
“Yeah, it took us a good while to walk here, and I'd rather not be traipsing through that undergrowth in the dark.” You say, gesturing towards the clearing's edge. “Besides I... never really got to experience flying, last time I was too busy being shocked by it all.”
“Why don't you learn to do it yourself?” Meiling pipes up, “Marisa and Keine are human and they can fly, maybe one of them would have some idea of how to teach you to do it?”
You blink and turn to stare at Meiling in surprise, “You mean they actually are human? I thought that...” You pause as you hear Komachi snickering behind your back. “... nevermind. Isn't there any way to tell human and youkai apart?” you ask, putting a slightly pitiful note into your voice.
“Not really,” comes the reply from the chinese redhead, “Unless they have something obviously non-human, like wings or antennae, then you don't really have much chance going by sight. Most of use can tell because they, well, they feel different - magically I mean.” She frowns for a few moments, trying to work out how to explain the concept, “Darker... perhaps. I'm not the best to explain 'cuz i'm... you know.” You nod, “But I remember the first time I ever met Rumia - she's pure Youkai, absolutely pure. Even a normal human would be able to feel something evil about her... though by then it would be too late.”
“Too... late?” you ask, gulping slightly. “You mean...?”
“I mean they'd be eaten, yeah. Rumia's a nice girl, unless you happen to be edible. Of course to her that means pretty much anything that isn't a tree, a rock, or someone capable of beating her in a fight.” Meiling says, waving her hands about to emphasize her words. “Or a friend. She won't eat her friends, but you'd need a lot of luck or a lot of help to survive long enough to actually become her friend since she tends to go out of her way to make people hate her.” The redhead looks at the ground, “It's sad really... She makes people hate her so she won't feel guilty if she ever eats them... She and Keine get on well though, so you might want to talk to her about that sort of thing - and about miss Mokou too.”
“Mokou?” You ask, “Is she important?”
“Sort of, she's Keine's friend. I've seen her at the shrine festivals a few times, she's... sort of human.” Meiling nods, “I mean, she feels human to me, but there's something... off... about her. Doesn't feel right you see? It's like, uh, rice flavored ice-cream - it's ice cream, but it tastes all wrong.”
“Nnn... Humanity is pretty piss-poor.” You blink at Komachi's comment and turn, only to see her casually leaning on the scythe she had pulled out to help with the cleaning earlier (although how a scythe helped with cleaning you had no idea. It seemed to have worked though.). “Always trying to cheat death in some way or another, it... rarely works though. Some look for immortality of the body so they can never die, others look for immortality of the memory so they can continue to remember their lives throughout the cycle of reincarnation. Most, though, end up trying to become youkai.”
“People can become youkai?” You say, then pause, “Wait, don't animals become youkai if they live long enough?” You ask, vaguely remembering some more of the stories your grandfather used to tell you. “Thats how kitsune and bake-neko get started, isn't it?”
“Eh. Well yeah, living long enough is a requirement. 's not the only one though, so you're not gonna become a youkai just by growing old enough. Anyway,” Komachi marches up to you and, without warning, wraps her arms around your waist. “I'm hungry~” she whispers into your ear, causing you to turn bright red, “So let's get home! I'm staaaarving!” She declares, causing your eyes to widen as you realize she was teasing you.
“Komachi!” You yell, only to have her smirk and glance down. Naturally you looks down to see what she... oh.
The trees seem so tiny from up here.
You gulp even as a lightheaded feeling threatens to overtake you. The idea of flying back had seemed like such a good plan at the time, but you had not expected to end up so high... Your first flight, after all, couldn't have been more than fifteen feet or so off the ground - scary, but not too bad. Now however? You were guessing at a good hundred or two at least, that was a far, far scarier number than a mere fifteen.
“Are you okay?” You manage to pull your gaze away from the far away ground and turn your head to look at Meiling, who is happily floating along beside you and Komachi. “You look pale,”
“Man...” Komachi whines, “Yer heavy, Let's get home already.”
With that, she moves.
Fast. Much faster than Meiling moved when she had carried you - fast enough that you were sure you'd left something behind, like your stomach for instance. Several minutes were a blur as the scenery, what little of it you could see, sped by at a ferocious pace. Doing your best not to look down, or at Komachi's chest - which was pressing quite, quite firmly against you right now - you try to distract yourself with thoughts of dinner.
Namely, who to get to make it - 'cuz you were sure there was no way in hell you were going to be doing anything but throw up when you arrived.
[ ] Renko [ ] Meiling [ ] Keine [ ] Letty [ ] A previous girl (pick one)
[+] Keine Renko doesn't need to be made to cook after all she's done today. Letty would melt from the stove, and any cold-prepared foods wouldn't be very filling.
>>52933 Judging by the fact that she hasn't been described as being covered in a layer of ice condensed and frozen to her from the moisture in the air, I don't think she's THAT cold.
>>52933>>52995 <Kapow> how cold is she anyway? <%Angry_Desu> Up to her, she'll never hit like, normal body temp though. <%Angry_Desu> though her coldest would be around ice - but she herself can make other things even colder. <Kapow> so like, room temperature <Kapow> or a little lower <%Angry_Desu> something like that. <%Angry_Desu> Low enough to notice, but not so low as to be uncomfortable normally. but her body temp'd be up to her mainly. <Kapow> she manipulates heat transfer, right? like if she makes something colder she's actually making it lose heat to the surroundings? <%Angry_Desu> Yeah. I wanted to make her power different from cirno, <UBOA> Christ what would the H scene be like with her? <%Angry_Desu> Letty can move cold around, but not make it. Cirno can make cold directly. <%Angry_Desu> That's why Letty is more dangerous the colder it is, because there's more y'know, cold to move about. <UBOA> I can see govanon getting his tongue stuck~ <Kapow> it would be nice and mildly cool
Does anyone know the connotative difference between 冷気 and 寒気? PMiSS lists Cirno's ability as 冷気を操る程度の能力 and Letty's as 寒気を操る程度の能力, which both loosely translate to "manipulation of cold". It would probably be clearer if the rest of Letty's entry was translated. http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Letty_Whiterock
>>53044 A quick search shows that Cirno's power would be controlling cold as an object, and Letty's as 'how cold it is'. So, Cirno can controll cold, while Letty can change the temperature. My thoughts, anyway.
