I can't help but see it every goddamn time.

I thought I should share that with you all.

Man, the past week has been utterly wild. It all started with a good friend of yours, named Satori, happened to require an absence from Gensokyo for a little while, and couldn't bring her pets for whatever reason you didn't know at the time. She entrusted her pet raven, Utsuho Reiuji, to the local shrine maiden at the edge of Gensokyo, named Reimu Hakurei. Her pet cat, Rin Kaenbyou, she lent to your care. An odd choice, to say the least. Rin did not get along with you, and of course, you did not get along well with Rin yourself either. Still though, what had to be done had to be done, so you tried to make the most of your visit from Rin and attempt to make it as painless as possible.

Of course, this did not come so easily, for many reasons. For one, the beginning of things was not an ease into the factor. You had to trap Rin under your mattress to get her to cooperate. Sure, you sat on her by accident to start with, but things could've been forgiven right? She didn't have to look like a cat out of hot water. Speaking of hot though, and not that kind of hot, notable that day was also the fact that you ended up taking an unavoidable nap in Rin's warm spot that had left in her human form on the love seat. Judging from how short your trip to Marisa's was, you had to wager that she went into human form very shortly after you gave her the pillow, which is amusing and gives you something to tease her with later. With...proper care of course.

Yet, on the same day, you discovered something Rin had masterfully kept a secret. That she was in fact, a decent cook. She brought together a more tasty dinner then you honestly could have at that moment yourself. Even going as far as taking a trip down to the human village to gather up some missing pieces of the main dish. It surprised you, not just that she could cook, but that she actually did something nice for you, for a change. You couldn't remember the last nice thing she did for you, at the time. This is where it truly started, while you were showing mild forms of weakness to her cat form earlier that day, it's not something you're unfamiliar with. You've had the rare visit from Chen, member of

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"BUZZ!"

"Alright! I'm coming already. Hold on a sec -"

So persistent! Who would be coming to see me anyway? It was a weekend, and I didn't expect visitors. I had half the mind to tell the person off if it was some salesperson. I just wasn't in the mood for this stupid shi -

"Oh," I muttered. "It's just you."

Morgan only half-smiled in reply as he stepped inside. I couldn't help but feel that something was strange. Usually, he would grin stupidly like a Cheshire Cat, regardless of the mood. His default facial expression was that smile of his. But today, he seemed distracted, and even his grin looked forced. And, wait a sec..

"Hey! Don't just walk in here uninvited!"

He turned around and stared at me for a moment.

"Close the door," he said suddenly. "We need to talk."

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What fun. What games.

Gensokyo. It's apparently a world of mythical creatures and fantastic events, but you've realized that most of it is on the surface. The underground city is a different kind of Gensokyo, you would presume; there are a lot of misfits (most who which you haven't even decided to greet until today), but they're a friendly bunch. There must be a reason why you're down here and not up there, but you haven't discovered that that reason is. You have heard of a concept called "time", but it's hard to decipher it when the only things that change are the lights turning on and off for long periods of time each cycle. Even with all this, the city still seems a bit dull, although you might be in something bigger than yourself soon enough.

You wake up and decide to get up and out. Living in such a quaint home is nice, but nothing really does change. You slide open the door and you would never have guessed it, but you had apparently gotten mail. In further inspection, you find that it's a letter that looks plain, yet has a heart sticker sealing it. You open up the letter and read the invitation inside.

Dear whom it may concern,
I have requested you for an audience with me. It is not mandatory, but if you can afford the time, I would enjoy your company. If in the likelihood you have such a commodity, come to the door of the Palace of Earth Spirit and knock. Rin will inform me of your arrival and I will tell you what I would want you to know. Please be respectful and punctual. Thank you for reading this letter.
Sincerely, Queen Satori

You place the letter in your pouch and decide to go for a field trip. The broken down house near the place where you lived stood there, gradually creaking sometimes. Walking amongst the streets of the Underground City, it was a daily sight to see the activity of everyone in the vicinity. Nothing ever stood still when you looked at the population, including the marketplace and the bar on the district opposite of the residential area, yet the entire city in fact did. The Palace of Earth Spirits, you've heard, stood with vigiliance, never to crumble in any p

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First thread in /underground/!

Update in the next post so that this thread doesn't have to start with crying Yamame.

It's back! And now in /underground/!

There's a handy summary back in thread 2 (over in /others/) if you want to catch up.

And without further ado:

-----

“Ah... I was wondering if you were all right... since you seemed tired, but Satori said youkai don’t need sleep...” You trail off.

Instead of being annoyed, though, she smiles. “It’s okay. I’ve just been using more power than normal these last few days. After a little rest, I should be fine.”

“Power?” You cock your head and to the side. Does she mean mind reading? If so, why doesn’t she do it like Satori, with finishing people’s sentences and such? Not that you're complaining.

“It’s nothing you should worry about. I’ll be fine after some rest.” She smiles at you. “You should probably worry more about yourself.”

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Just a little something I feel like writing off to the side. Three thread absolute maximum for this story. It'll be short.

You're holding a little piece of paper up, written in quite the fancy lettering. You look past it and see your old friend's red haired pet sitting on her knees, looking up at you with quite the reluctant glare. You know just as well as she does that she doesn't like this situation any more then you do. You look back at the little note your friend has sent you, and begin reading over it once more to confirm this retarded situation.

Dear Satoshi-kun,
A few things have happened and I'm afraid I cannot
leave my pet Rin to stay here for the time being.
I hope you understand, but I would like to ask
just this one favor of you. Please take care of her
in my absense. I am entrusting her to you.
Sincerely, Satori

You stare at the note for a little longer before looking back at the mangey cat girl once more. You almost feel as if she'd be easier to look at in cat form. You then give out a sigh and step aside in your doorway.

"Right, come on in then..." Rin then gets up and walks past you, an air of disapproval about her.

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"And I don't trust you either. Yet." You retort. "What's in the jar? What'll happen if I open it?"
Orin's grin does not return, but her eyes narrow dangerously at you.
"Er ... " You gulp, feeling extremely uncomfortable. "Maybe if I could take a look at it?" You stammer your words, wanting to get away from that stare.
"Mmm~?" Orin raises an eyebrow. "Just a look?"
You try to shrug, but her hands are pinning your shoulders down. When did that happen?
"Y-yeah." You can feel cold sweat beading on your forehead. "Maybe it's safe. I don't know." You babble. Stop looking at me like that! Stop it! It's like she's coiling, readying herself to spring into action. The threat of sudden motion and speed is enough to unnerve you on a deep, animal level.

"Mmmm, okay." Orin lets you go, suddenly sitting up and then hopping off. You take a deep breath in relief as she steps over to the jar and picks it up. Her movements are so openly inhuman, too fluid and precise and stylised.
She sits across from you, squatting down so her dress rides up and exposes her shins.
"Here. Take it then." She passes you the jar, eager to get it out of her hands. There's a hint of carefully controlled tension in her face, as if she's expecting something.
Turning the jar over in your hands reveals nothing. The lid is screw-on, sealed with masking tape. Nothing out of the ordinary except the contents. The blue gas inside is very dense, so thick you can't see through the jar.

"So what is it?" You ask.
"Mine." Orin leans forward, putting her face closer to yours. "Open it."
"So ... " You frown with thought. "Farley took this from you, he's been here before?"

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To begin with, Gensokyo isn't real. It is a fictional realm created by a relatively small independent game maker, whose name currently eludes me. This place is the setting for a series of curtain fire games, collectively known as the Touhou Project. It inspired a considerable amount of derivative works; fanworks include comics, animation, music, and even other games.

Before I go any further, I must emphasize that I am not an expert on the world of Touhou. In fact, I only heard about it from some acquaintances online, and I never really delved deep into it. I barely finished "Embodiment of Scarlet Devil" on normal mode, and I only played halfway through "Perfect Cherry Blossom". In my mp3 player, I used to keep a modest folder of Touhou music - it only contained the few themes I really liked, such as the themes of Satori and Utsuho. A similarly small folder in my computer contained a few doujin comics, mostly those that were especially meme-worthy. I never played any of the other Touhou-inspired doujinsoft games, nor did I watch the recently released independent animation more than once.

If I was asked about my own experience with Touhou, I would say that it was just another series of games that didn't really stand out. I didn't understand what some of my other friends saw in this series filled with magical girls and lasers and ridiculously difficult gameplay. A few of them, who I shall not mention here to protect their good names, even worship Touhou as a religion. Thankfully, I was not one of those who collected Cirno figurines or owned a Yuyuko body pillow.

I suppose that there was a time, perhaps only a few years ago, that I really got into this Touhou business. It lasted for probably three, maybe four months at most, and for a while, I really wondered what it would be like to live in a universe full of magic and adventure. Of course, living with a bunch of cute girls wouldn't be so bad either. I even remember that it reached a point where I started visiting a few websites dedicated to the discussion and expansion of the Touhou universe through fanfiction. While the novelty wore off, I did meet some interesting people online, a fe

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Raising an eyebrow, you stare right at Satori.
"St-stop that!" Satori stutters suddenly. "Right now!"
You shrug, staying silent, but letting a smirk creep across your face.
"Y-you're doing it on purpose!" She starts blushing again. "You brute."

The contents of your mind right now are too filthy for polite company, but you keep yourself from going over the line of actually violating the poor woman inside your head. You blush a little yourself at that particular thought. She sure would look good in a swimsuit though. Or Thigh-highs.
"You-" Satori's embarrassment turns to cold anger. "Right." She says, face expressionless once more as she raises a hand.

"Recollection 「Border of Wave and Particle」"

Okuu promptly stops zipping about in the air, looking down with utter rapt anticipation on her face. You try to ignore her, focusing entirely on the bullets. This isn't like before, the waves are quite simple to avoid, right? If you just side-step, then side-step, then-

The bullets are too close together, the individual streams too soon after one another. Satori spins slowly in the air, the bullets coming off her in waves, spiralling around, breaking up and reforming as they make you hop back and fourth.

Your fingers twitch in the glove, your breathing becomes more and more ragged and rushed, sweat is beading on your forehead, staining your back and chest as you try to dance out of the way of the bullets.

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