Even so, I'd rather have her beside me. I know she'll do what she thinks is best for me. I think I'm the one closest to her, same as she is to me.

As for Rin, I can't say the same. I don't know her. From the looks of her, she could subdue me with no trouble if she so wished: weak people don't spoil for a fight as she did — I'd know.
And I'd be completely alone with her. It might be a tad paranoid of me, but I've earned my paranoia. I'd feel more at ease with Yamame around..


Of course, I don't communicate any of my thoughts. What I feel or don't feel has no impact on anything.
Luckily, however, the fates are going my way for once.

“I'll go.” She draws herself up as she says it, sticking out her chest. Rin also flicks her eyes downwards for a split second, perhaps just now noticing Yamame's impressive... stature.

“Very well. You'll have to deal with miss Satori yourself, though. If her sister doesn't come home for too long, she gets a little... on edge.”

She nods, eyes filled with inexplicable resolve. I'm not sure where it came from, but I'm not about to refuse help.

“Then we have no time to waste.” She cracks her knuckles theatrically, suddenly looking like she's enjoying the moment. Her fangs peek through her grin.
What a strange girl.
“Bring along your food, water and a change of clothing. The trip isn't short.”


Oh yeah, it's really quite far, isn't it? Through the tunnels, over the chasm and the bridge, past the city and all the way at the mouth of the fiery tongues of old hell proper. As soon as I think of the distance we have to cover, the old exhaustion descends upon my head like an iron anvil. I've already flown around so long today... I'm not accustomed to being this active, you know?
And no, passing out drunk doesn't count as proper rest.

I'm reminded of how bad I am at hiding what I'm feeling.
“If you're that tired, dear, you can ride with me!” She winks, tipping a wheelbarrow that wasn't there seco

“It’s cold.”

“Much too cold.”

“Yes, I know, but what about…”

“No? Then why did we…”

“Actually, where is she?”

“What? I didn’t drive her off!”

“But you said…!”

“Hey! Don’t put this on me! And please stop worrying over it, that won’t solve anything. Listen, I’m sorry, but right now this place is in total disarray, so would you please help me do something about it? Just help get some warmth around here. And go find her while you’re at it, gods know where she’s wondered off to. And be careful, we’ve only just settled in. Who knows what’s out there.”

-----

Well this is just great. You have just been placed on “woodcutting” duty after spending who-knows-how-long trying to stay by Her side to keep Her safe to begin with! You guess it doesn’t help that you finally showed Her your humanoid form. As great as your natural form is, this one is just convenient. Come on, opposable thumbs! What’s better than those? Though it has meant that you’ve had to be more helpful than you anticipated. Such as the clearing of Youkai infested mansions.

You suppose it can’t be helped. After these numerous tedious days trying to make this dump a semi-decent place to live, you guess that after safety comes basic necessities of life, such as a source of warmth. Probably a consistent source of food too, but you’ll cross that bridge when you get there.

-----

Your name is Rin Kaenbyou. You are Youkai, specifically a kasha, of decent power. You have the joy of being able to hold the magical finesse to shapeshift from your natural twin-tailed cat form to a more prominent humanoid form. In this form, your long, ruby hair is decorated with black bows and falls down your back, over a simple black dress that’s conveniently retained as you shift.

You can hold power over spirits of the dead, which is convenient, considering you’ve chosen to reside in Hell, where spirits are abundant.

Well, former Hell. Ever since the Migration caused by the Yamas in a place known as Higan, but that’s neither here nor there. It does mean, however, that this place is a t

Light. Such an annoying glare.

I toss around uncomfortably in my sleep, trying to get the light away from my still-closed eyes. For a few moments, I'm awarded a small measure of comfort as I escape from the overbearing glow only to realise that I was being attacked by something else; the unbearable heat that accompanied the sunlight beating down on me. With a small sigh I force my eyes open and shield them with an arm numbed from sleeping on the hard, uneven ground.

Looking up at the sky I guessed that the time would probably be around midnight by now, not that I could tell for certain since the perpetual daylight started countless years ago. I had been able to accurately keep track of the time in the beginning with the random clocks and time-pieces I ran across in the ruins of the human cities I happened to pass-by, but that quickly lost its meaning through the meandrous years. It was always day, the accursed sun was forever pounding everything beneath its harsh reign with its punishing glare. The heat stayed as a constant reminder of whatever the unnamed calamity that befell this world was, and the crumbling remains of human civilization served as a bitter refuge for my lone figure wandering on the blasted earth.

Just another day I guess.

Forcing myself into an upright position, I massage my protesting muscles feebly. My first attempt at standing up ended with me falling down to one knee and I quickly became aware of the total lack of feeling from my right leg. Whoops. It seems like not all of me has woken up yet. Pulling myself against a baked concrete wall that was now shaded by the partially-ruined building I took shelter in, I waited for the blood to circulate in my sleeping limb and contemplated my fate again as I had so many times before. It was rapidly becoming a habit for me to think about the past whenever I started to idle and it was only recently that I recognized the fact that I did that to keep my sanity intact instead of a conscious effort at trying to formulate an explanation for the mess that was this world.


------


<i>Once, many lifetimes ago, I had been an ordinary human. In an age when gods still walked the earth and

[♠] Why not? A game'll pass the time 'til she's movin' again.

"All right," I tell her. I still don't feel up to moving around much <if youre lazing around its gotta be card games>.

Elis shuffles the deck blindingly fast, then holds it out to me. I cut it, but her hand stays in the air. She gives the deck a weird look, then me, but before I can ask about it, she takes it back, then begins dealing the cards. We each receive a hand of 8 cards, and then the deck is split in two, each half placed a hand's-width apart from the other.

"Normally the inviter goes second, but I'll start us off, this time," she mentions, before picking up her hand.

"Sounds fine to me."

I pick up my cards, confident in Elis' reassurance that I'll figure it out as I go along. It's just a card game; it should make sense soon enough.


...


This game doesn't make a gods-damned bit of sense.

"I'm afraid not. Tibley matches don't permit you to move that many bags of wheat in wartime, so naturally, the excess is sent to the next shire mo." I move an eight from the left pile to the right, then place down one card on the left pile, and another to the side of it. "The Duchess of Naraka harbors dreams of usurping the throne, and has one of her handmaidens infiltrate the Queen's personal staff at Mainyu Keep."

A standard deck of playing cards in Makai is 64 cards; 66 with jokers.

"Ha! Do you think I was born yesterday, Kochiya?" She slaps the Delta of Madness down atop the right pile, takes out two cards from the bottom of it, and flings them over her shoulder. "Mainyu Keep's had a tainted water supply since the Thirty-seventh Reign, so she'll find nothing but a slow and terrible end, hobbling your maneuver. Darmin Court sends the General pir on an inspection under the terms of the Vermstadt treaty."

There are four suits— War, Love, Madness, Joy —with sixteen cards each: Ace, Twin, Delta, numb

This story has nothing to do with the historian.

---

Over the course of your lifetime, there are very few things you look back on and think "now that was incredibly stupid of me."

Add this one to the list, you think wryly as you look down into the pitch-black shaft below you.

For a moment, you think back to how you ended up in this predicament. This morning, you planned to explore a new cave you and your friends had discovered not too far from the village. It was an admittedly risky and dangerous hobby you all had, to explore these hidden nooks and crannies near the village that no human had ventured into before.

The adventure had gone smoothly overall, actually; you and your friends had had quite the fun spelunking through the natural caverns and underground streams. It was only when your friends went back home and you decided to stay a little longer to see if you could find anything else interesting when things went sour. You had found an opening from one of the large caverns leading further down into the cave, and followed the tunnel until it widened into this large vertical shaft. It was at this point that you had slipped on a patch of wet moss and went sliding over the edge. Only by a miracle did you manage to grab hold of an outcropping on the side of the shaft. This is where you are now.

Both of your hands hold tightly to the rock that spelled the difference between hanging there or being splattered at the bottom of the shaft. The illumination from your dropped torchlight is still plainly visible in the exit to the tunnel some three or so meters above you. It may as well have been three kilometers.

As you hang there in the dim light, you give thanks that you're as strong as you are; holding on with just your hands is only moderately a strain at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before your strength starts to give out.

You briefly think to call out for someone, but instantly give up on the idea as your friends had left quite a while ago; the chances of anyone hearing you is pretty unlikely.

Well, anyone human at least. Attracting the attention of any man-eating youkai or other creature wa

>>8620
>>10052

The main theme I worked with for my dolls was swords.

A strange theme, perhaps, but it seemed to work well. It played to my strengths while covering my weaknesses. I would never be able to match somebody like Yumeko or Sara in a contest of strength or martial skill. However, the weapons I could create were excellent.

With all the time I spent working on golems and other automatons, it didn’t take much to transfer the basics over to forging weapons and other tools. Sara was absolutely delighted when I started trying to create weaponry on the fly. The gatekeeper loved to smash my conjured weaponry into things – eventually, the weapons stopped breaking.

In a way, my swords were better than what I based them on. Yumeko’s ability to generate swords was limited to her single gleaming blade, copied over and over again on the fly. My weapons were restricted only by my imagination. From composition to form, I could change what I liked.

When metal met metal, my weapons held strong. My own arms were liable to break if I clashed with Yumeko, though. That was where the dolls came in. My creations had limbs of steel, reinforced by magic. If they broke, there wasn’t much hope for me anyway.

However, that kind of situation never threatened my daily life. Other than for fun, it wasn’t like I was fighting anybody. Fortunately, the specialization for my dolls proved to be useful in other ways.

“Hey, Alice. How’s it- What happened to your room?” Ko dropped by one night, but lost her words when she saw what I had done.

I was standing with the goddess in the center of my room. The much enlarged, quadruple sized room, where the previous furnishings in one corner looked insignificant next to the hulking metal tables that formed row after row of workspace.

“Redecorating!” Shinki cheered and put away her transmutation artifact. “I’m not sure if I agree with her choice of style, but it is quite interesting.”

Ko walked in and looked

It's cramped in here.

Really cramped.

The ceiling is only tall enough for me to crouch or crawl, and the room is only wide enough for me to lie down in it sideways. What's more, the walls, floor and ceiling are all cold, rough stone, meaning my knees and feet are permanently full of shallow cuts, and I hit my head on an outstanding bit of rock more often than I'd like.

I'm a bit clumsy.


It's hard to move around in here, so I don't clean it up much. I like it like this, though, it's cozy. I sleep in a cluster of blankets to a side, which as far as I'm concerned, is the best way to sleep. The little piles of trinkets and books don't help much, either. Children's toys, writing implements, all kinds of stuff serve to clutter what little space I have. They're mostly stolen, and I often have to toss some out to make room for more. Sometimes I dig to expand, using my claws. I don't think they were made for it, though; I keep losing them. It hurts, but I heal pretty fast, so it's fine. I wish I would remember to get a real tool for digging already.

I say claws, but really, they're not much. Some youkai have awful long ones that come to a point, to rip into flesh really easily. Not mine. Mine are just like a human's, except sharper and harder to break. Same for the teeth.

I'm something of a half-baked youkai. I don't even like the taste of human.



It's also dark.

The only source of light I have is a dingy, scorched kerosene lamp I swiped from the oni, who in turn probably swiped it from someone else. I think there's something wrong with the mechanism, because the fire keeps flickering for no reason. I'll have to get another one soon.

The lamp is only enough to give the room a red-yellowish... reddish-yellowish? Orangeish tinge when turned on, which imparts a comfortable warm aura to it. Perfect to drink hot chocolate by, if I had any.
Unfortunately, the warm ‘aura’ does very little to alleviate the very real pervasive cold that the naked rock gives off. I only use it to read, staying in th

Because /underground/ could use some stories actually focusing on the SA characters.
*********************************

“The flames of Old Hell sear body and soul alike.”

The green-haired judge proclaims this with a solemn expression, an alarming postscript to my life’s verdict. Beside her, a buxom redhead, the one who brought me here, shifts uncomfortably. The enormous scythe she wields bounces from one shoulder to the other.

“...Is that supposed to reassure me, Your Honor?” I manage to respond, sardonic tone a poor mask for the cold wash of daunting fear I feel. “That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? I might have committed some sins in my life, I admit that; but were they bad enough to warrant burning my soul into a metaphysical crisp?”

My voice cracks on the last word, surprisingly- I’d never been one to care about the state of my soul before, but I guess some shift in priorities would be warranted.

The soul’s all that’s left of me now, after all.

“It was intended as a forewarning,” the judge says, eyebrows furrowing in a frown. “So that you would not be wholly unprepared for your next place of spiritual residence.”

“Next and last, you mean?”

“Not so; or, not necessarily, at least. There are many like you who will be bound eternally to the world by their malice, forgoing the cycle of reincarnation and remaining trapped eternally. However, some less malicious souls consigned there can come to terms with their actions, letting their souls be scoured clean by the flames and eventually reincarnating. Considering the state of your soul, I am nearly certain you would fall under the latter category; indeed, a normal human in your position would receive a far lesser punishment.”

“Then why do I need to go through this?” I growl, because it’s less demeaning than a wail. “I am a normal human!”

In response, the judge merely looks to her redheaded employee, who winces and shakes her head.

“That’s the thing, though. You’re not, not anymore at least; it’s because of what happened after your death. It’s my job to ferry the dead across th

“NO!”

My body jolted and tried to spring in the air, but two hands were holding my shoulders down. I struggled and kicked my legs out to try and escape from the restraint.

The sharp pain that exploded in my toes put a stop to that. “Ow…”

“Calm yourself, Alice. Everything is fine.” Pandemonium’s resident maid spoke to me in a stern but calming tone.

Looking around, my surroundings weren’t as I remembered. The field of shattered crystal and open sky had been replaced by the primary colors of my room.

I was lying in my bed, snugly tucked underneath my blanket. I could feel the soft touch of pajamas against my skin and actual bandages wrapped around my injuries. Yumeko was leaning over me, gently preventing me from flying off in a panic. After I ceased my struggling the maid slowly allowed me to sit up.

Why am I- Everything was aching. What happened to- My body felt like lead, but I couldn’t just lie down. Is everybody- I had to get up and go! There’s no time to- A whole chunk of the forest had been destroyed! Please please please don’t be- My new family was-

“Drink.”

A small cup and saucer was positioned in front of my face. Yumeko lifted my hands and had me hold onto the drink. It was a cup of warm milk.

“Drink, Alice.” Yumeko made a refined drinking motion with her own hands to encourage me. I stared at the cup before shaking my head, moving to put it down so I could get up and leave. In my mind, there was no time to waste.

I squeaked in surprise when the maid grabbed my hands. “I said drink.” The cup of milk was firmly shoved towards my mouth.

She was a tyrant. Trying to struggle was useless. If I somehow managed to match Yumeko’s strength I would only end up spilling my beverage, so I did as I was told. Slowly tipping the cup, I enjoyed the soothing refreshment.

Yumeko nodded in satisfaction while I drank. Once I finished the milk, she pulled out a light pink handkerchief and dabbed at the sides of my mouth.

”YOUR LOVE, PLEASE”

A mini-sequel to “Tenshi is in This Story”


The king loved endlessly his little spouse, and she loved him from the bottom of her heart in turn.
Such a thing as that was bound to end in upheaval.

—Flourens Delannoy, “Fairy Tales & Myths,” paraphrased