A Certain Devilish Library EZMode !iIyIHD.1G6 2010/02/12 (Fri) 11:58 No. 111996 The Scarlet Devil Mansion, or more precisely, the underground magical library, Voile. Kept and maintained by Magician Patchouli Knowledge and her Devil familiar Koakuma. A dusty, dim place where hundreds upon thousands of magical books and tomes are kept in storage. A goldmine of arcane knowledge, and a very high profile target for one particular local witch. Within it's nearly labyrinthine depths, the caretaker sits at a desk, books spread out on the table in front of her, with several more free floating in the air around her, lit only by the light of a single candle.
“Koa, new candle,” Patchouli mumbles quietly, trying to maintain her train of thought. Dark circles under her eyes telling of her lack of rest as her eyes dart from book to book in the poor lighting. The winged girl collects a spare from a box, lights it with a simple gout of flame from her finger, and then sets it in midair, floating without effort. A mumbled thanks is given by the magician as she dips her pen into her inkwell, tapping off excess ink before returning to the page. She scribbles quickly, while the information is still fresh in her mind. She had finally come to the point where she was ready to learn the next key, advance her own magical power another level, and become the most powerful magician in Gensokyo. To keep herself from losing her shot, she's taken it upon herself to transcribe all the results of her study from the last 34 hours, a process which is quickly drawing to a close. A faint smile on her lips as she slides the full page away, exposing one more fresh page. She sets upon it as well, scratching out her knowledge and- pens dry, dip in ink- record her final steps towards the key. There's an energy in the air as Patchouli quickly scribes, and even Koakuma is growing tense as the words and sentences flow from the pen.
One final scratch, a flurry of strokes, and Patchouli sets the signed page aside, collects the stack of pages and then neatly aligns them, setting them back down... and then silence.
“I've got it,” she says, her smile still present, “I'm ready for the next key.”
“That's wonderful!” Koakuma exclaims, shuffling over to her mistress and laying her hands on he shoulders, gently rubbing them. “Now you can take a nice bath, and then get into bed.”
“Yes, yes,” Patchouli mutters, her head sagging slightly, “a bath, and then- No! No, wait, I'm not done!” Patchouli suddenly bursts, taking up her pen once more as Koakuma steps back with a sigh. “I need to enchant the book. Confound it's contents, keep Marisa from understanding it. I need to seal it into the library, no, to my very body. My mind!”
“Is that really necessary?” Koakuma asks, a little exasperated and slightly worried.
“Absolutely! I can't let her unlock the key, I can't let her match my power,” Patchouli mumbles feverishly as she applies a spell to paper. “I will keep this power to myself!” Silence falls over the library again, with the only noise being the scratching of pen on paper, and the soft sounds of pen in glass.
“After this, you could even summon a second familiar to help with management,” Koakuma speaks up after a few seconds, breaking the silence. Patchouli mumbles slightly in response at first.
“Right, a new pair of hands. Summon a new servant to help maintain the library,” Patchouli mutters as she works on the spell, fighting back the effects of sleep deprivation. Just a few more lines and runes and she's done, now she can seal the... the...
“Patchouli?” Koakuma asks, several seconds after the aforementioned girl stops writing, blinking down at the page in front of her.
“I made a mistake...” Patchouli says, blinking some more, then setting down the pen and wiping her eyes, “I made a mistak-” she repeats, cut off by a sudden burst of light from the page. She falls back in her chair with a cry and Koakuma rushes to her side, collecting her toppled master from the floor.
“Are you alrigh-” Koakuma starts, only to be cut off by Patchouli's cries again.
“No! Wait,” she shouts, attempting and failing to get to her feet, entangled in her own robes, “I screwed up the spell!”
“What?” Koakuma asks, helping Patchouli to her feet. The magician stumbles for the page, only to be repulsed by a bright flash of light that floods the room. Another flash and the light expands out from the page, consuming everything in it's path.
As the light subsides, Patchouli and Koakuma open their eyes, blinking against the spots and streaks in their vision from the light in the dim environment. As their eyes adjust to the darkness once again, a very peculiar sight awaits them. Upon the table lay a single figure, devoid of clothes. The table as well, devoid of anything but this figure. In fact...
The entire Voile library was empty.
“Oh,” Patchouli mutters, shuddering slightly, “Oh no,” she says, taking a step towards the table. Koakuma looks around in confusion at the change. The bookshelves are bare, stacks of books missing from the tables, chairs, and floor. Everything is missing, save for a pen, an inkwell, and a floating candle, pooling wax on the table beneath it.
“Mistress..."What happened?” Koakuma asks, taking a step after Patchouli.
“I... sealed the library,” she says quietly. Koakuma tilts her head slightly.
“Pardon?” Koakuma asks, as the figure on the table starts to stir. The light haired figure starts to mumble itself.
“I wanted to shut away... the knowledge I'd gained... lock it into my mind...” Patchouli speaks in slow, broken sentences, “keep it from being stolen.” The figure shifts, pushing itself up from the table with one arm. A thin black tail raises up form it's limp position, and a pair of small black wings stretch out from a folded position on both head and back.
“A Devil?” Koakuma reacts with a hushed whisper.
“... but...” Patchouli continues. The devil turns its head towards the two girls. A young man, bleary eyed, looks towards them in response to the sound of their voices. “Instead...”
“Hmmn?” the boy groans, rubbing his eyes. “Who're you?” Patchouli is on the table faster than either devil can react, hands on the boys throat, and pushes him down on the surface.
“Give me back my books!” Patchouli shouts, feebly attempting to choke the devil boy with her small hands. “Give me back my library!”
“Wha-! I don- Get off!” the boy struggles, pulling Patchouli's hands off him and holding her arms back. She struggles and flails in return, pulling her hands free and proceeds to beat her fists against the devil's head and chest.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!” Patchouli shouts during her assault, while the confused boy makes an attempt to deflect her otherwise weak and random blows until Koakuma steps up, grabbing her master by the shoulders.
“Mistress! Please!” Koakuma shouts over Patchouli's ranting, pulling her back and subsequently off the table with a cry, keeping Patchouli from mounting the table again.
“It's all there!” Patchouli shouts, struggling against Koakuma's grip. “In his head! My library! My books! Give them back!!” Patchouli cries, now on the verge of tears out of plain frustration, while both devils, equally confused by proceedings, exchange glances. Eventually, Patchouli's tantrum settles down, as she rapidly loses consciousness, fainting in the arms of her familiar.
**
“I'm sorry about all of that,” Koakuma says as she returns, bowing slightly to the boy, who is temporarily dressed in spare clothes rummaged up from Koakuma's own stock.
“I still don't even know what's going on. What happened to me? Where am I?” he asks, still all very bewildered by the recent events. Koakuma give a tired smile.
“My best guess is that Miss Patchouli fumbled a spell in her fatigue, ended up combining a spell to seal a book into her memories with a summoning spell, but...” she pauses, looking around the library, “it seems she sealed the entire library...”
“Into me,” the boy says, finishing the sentence. Koakuma nods hesitantly.
“That... seems so,” she says, tapping her fingers together, “I've never heard of something like this happening, I don't know what to do.”
“And for where I am?” the male devil asks next.
“You're in, well, the former magical library Voile, beneath the Scarlet Devil Mansion, in a realm known as Gensokyo,” Koakuma explains, giving a half hearted sweeping gesture to the large, empty library space. “There are all sorts of magical people and creatures in this world, so you'll fit right in... well, as long as you're around.” Koakuma seems to slump a little at the last part, the the boy seems no more pleased at that.
“What'll happen to me?” he asks.
“Honestly? I don't even know,” Koakuma replies sadly, “I hope that the books can be retrieved without incident.” Silence falls between them for a few seconds.
“You're a devil too, right?” the boy asks, looking over Koakuma. She nods in admittance.
“I am!” she says happily, “it's been so long since I saw another Devil, it's kind of nostalgic.”
“And you're here...?” the male leads.
“Miss Patchouli summoned me many years ago as a familiar to tend to the library,” Koakuma says, her tone dropping a little at the end thanks to the current state of said 'library', “she was intending to summon a second one, which would be you, to help, but...”
“Unforgivable!” Patchouli's voice calls out as she stalks towards the pair from the bookshelves.
“Mistress!" Why are you up?” Koakuma asks with concern, rushing towards the girl.
“Like I could die while my library is like this!” Patchouli states, looking worse for wear than before, visibly haggard and disheveled, not to mention stripped down to her underwear and a slip. “I need to expel this Devil and recover my library! Everything I know is in here! I can't let anyone but me have it!”
“With all due respect, Miss, it can wait,” Koakuma says soothingly, only to be met with a frustrated squeal.
“Absolutely not!” Patchouli wails, flailing on Koakuma now, who catches the attacks quickly and holds Patchouli back. “I must get started immediately, I have no time to waste on this!”
“Look,” the boy says, walking towards the pair, “I know that I have something important of yours locked away in my head, but have you looked in a mirror lately?” he asks, catching Patchouli's attention. “You look like shit, seriously,” he states, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at her face. He's got a head on her in height, just barely taller than Koakuma herself. “You want to wrinkle your face up over something like this? No man would want someone if they look like a hag before their time.”
“Who do you think you're talking to!?” Patchouli screams, struggling harder against Koakuma, as vain as it is. The latter throws a glance back at the young man as he steps back a bit, and catches an unusual sight. His lips are moving, as if he's speaking something. He finishes, and once again Patchouli goes limp in Koakuma's arms, however, the change is instantaneously rather than gradual. Coinciding with the end of whatever the young devil was speaking. Koakuma's eyes widen at the realization.
“You used magic on her?” she asks, and the devil responds by scratching his head.
“I won't deny that there's a lot of new knowledge in my head I didn't have before, but a sleep spell isn't anything special. Most Incubi know one or two,” he says, noticing the new look he's getting from the female devil, “not that I am one, but there's lots of opportunities to learn new tricks, you know?”
“Right, I understand,” Koakuma says while kneeling to pick up Patchouli's slumped form again. “Sorry, I'm going to bring her back to her room,” she adds, hoisting the short girl up and carrying her away.
“Hey,” the guy calls after her, “what's your name?”
“Koakuma,” she replies.
“... Your real name?” he presses, not content with the given name. Koakuma frowns a little.
“I gave up my name when I became a familiar, so it's just 'Koakuma' now. It will be the same for you,” she states. Now it's the boy's turn to frown.
“Give up my name...” he says, “and if I don't?”
“Your name was already stripped from you when you were summoned,” Koakuma replies matter of factly. This elicits a sneer from the new guy.
“No way, I still remember my name,” he says, which gets a disbelieving grin from Koakuma.
“So?” she asks, still smirking. A few seconds pass, and a rather pronounced frown crosses the devils face as he comes to realize the truth of the matter.
“It really was stripped from me, wasn't it,” he grumbles, kicking his foot against the ground.
“A devil's name is their power, after all,” Koakuma says, smiling gently, “it's to keep your power from being misused by others that might seek your strength, and it keeps you from breaking the contract on your own.”
“Guess I need a new name then,” the male sighs, folding his hands behind his head. “What did you say this library was called again?”
“Voile?” Koakuma repeats, only catching onto the intent after the grin spreads across the boys face.
“Then,” he says lowering his hands and wearing a cocky smirk, “I'm Voile from now on.”
---
No points for guessing what gave me the inspiration for this. There's also a similarly flavoured idea in the style of Railgun that would be another slice-of-life high school story, but I'm already writing a slice-of-life-story-based-on-a-mixture-of-anime-and-Touhou, so I figure only one of them at a time, eh?
This is actually not the idea I alluded to having before in... whatever thread I had brought that up in. I've still yet to write that, since it requires a certain... flair I suppose, given the subject. It also won't be in here, because this is an idea for a story, whereas this other idea is just going to be a oneshot, it'll have it's own thread. If I'm lucky, it'll have it's own picture as well.
Updates to my stories coming when I wake up in 6 hours. In before no one even comments on this. Even after I went through the trouble to hunt it down and bump it so I didn't clutter the board with another useless thread.