Touhou - Revolution in Retrospect (IC)

[Luceid]

It's a darn shame that there isn't more time for Marisa to appreciate the last-ditch hard work Meiling just put in to keep the fairies happy, because it deserves a lot more praise than it's currently getting. Unfortunately, the more immediate concern for Marisa is the strange, inky-black shard lying inside of the bag. The fairies' arguments fall on deaf ears, as the internal speculation builds: what is it Reimu would want with such a thing? What does it mean? Is this related to her disappearance? Is it dangerous?

None of which go answered before a handsomely-dressed arm snatches the black shard away from the bag and dumps it into a poofy pants pocket, which yanks Marisa from her spaced-out reverie with an obvious blinking of the eyes.

"The heck is that, anyway? Doesn't look like any kinda gem or bauble you'd find lyin' around here," she remarks, having since let go of the bag of treasure and stood up. "Looks an' feels like the kinda thing you'd see some kooky, scary book about in the Voile... hey! Don't just stuff it in your pants, jeez, at least leave it out here!"

The good humour in her voice is a little stretched, but it's trying to stay there.

[Merilan]

Team Shrine 'n Brine

"Yakitori?! Wow!" Star Sapphire was already taken in an instant.
"Um, umn! I want teriyaki!" Sunnymilk chimes in, looking with dazzling eyes as they're tempted by the promises of delicious grilled food.
"You two are such pushovers! I'd want--" Luna gets about halfway through her statement, before she, too, gets distracted by the scent of sugar cookies coming from Meiling's grand and timely arrival. "Oooh!"

With the faeries out of the way, the group collectively get to get a better look at the shard. It truly was a bizarre item, the kind that seemed to suck in the light around it and not reflect it in any way. What larger piece could it have come from? Certainly it didn't feel like it gave off a good vibe... but it didn't feel... unnatural either, in the way something truly malevolent or demonic would.

Alice could determine that it's no Magician's Crystal, to be certain. There's no strain of magic to be had in it.
Meiling had never come across any kind of stone like this on her many journeys; it was no stone to be connected to the ancient dragons or the far east of old.
Mokou, similarly, never encountered any kind of black stone of this sort in her long, long life. There were other dark stones, of course, but nothing felt or vibed like this.
And Marisa feels like she's seen it before......

The shard started to flicker and warp the light further around it. A crackle of non-electricity followed suit, and then there was a flash of blacklight that enveloped the shrine's living room--

--and it was gone as fast as it came. Nothing happened... no one was harmed, not even the faeries, who didn't even seem to have noticed it as they munch on their cookies. Nothing felt off in the air, no mental or emotional compulsion was about...

Just... what in Gensokyo was that black light all about?

The black shard now lays a little more dormant, having released -- if 'released' could even be called the right term for it -- its ... effect? Mysteries compounded upon mysteries.

[banthesun]

Nitori had begun to shake as the tengu guards scanned around her cabin. She was concentrating so hard on holding her breath that she hardly paid any attention to the conversation between Aya and the guards. Only once Aya let her know they were gone did she breathe out again. Nitori slumped into her seat and flickered back into view.

"Aya, what's going on?" she asked with an expression of concern. "Why's everyone being gathered up like that? This doesn't sound like Kanako just needing more repairs on her dam. And what was up with you telling those guards what to do? Don't you work at that newspaper you're always talking about?"

[Merilan]

Team Kapparappa

Aya swallowed and turned to Nitori, with a contrite look on her face. "I do! I just-- it's not like it's just--" she was tongue-tied for a moment, and then said, "I also just have authority over them in situations like this, okay?"

As exuberant and excited Aya could be about the news and about stories, she wasn't exactly Gensokyo's smoothest liar. And in this frantic, anxiety-filled situation, it was barely half a lie. There was always more to the story, was something Aya would ironically say.

"And-- I don't know," she continued on. "It's Tenma. Here," she handed Nitori what looked like an official document that spoke thus:

Youkai Mountain and Tengu City is hereby entering a state of martial law.
All able-bodied tengu are to report to their hierarchical duties under this state.
White wolf tengu and all patrol and military units are to report to their platoon leaders.
All kappa are to report as part of this military mobilisation in the role of research and development.
This is not a military drill or exercise.

Sure enough, it's got the stamp of the enigmatic lord of the mountain upon it -- the leader of all tengu, Tenma.

"It's crazy," she chewed on her nails, "It just seemed to come out of nowhere, and I heard about them rounding everyone up so--" she slumped for a moment, exhausted.

"Momiji bought me some time so I could warn you." She looked on weakly to the kappa. "Nitori, you have to get out of here. I... I'm not going to be able to just be absent from this, they'd question and search for me. Same goes for Momiji." It was a plausible enough excuse, but it felt like... there was another reason behind it, a more personal reason she couldn't just up and leave the mountain. There were certainly plenty of arguments for it -- she could cover more ground easily.

She forced herself to get to her feet even if she really looked like she could use rest, putting her hands on the kappa's shoulder. "I can buy you more time. But you need to find someone who can help... like-- like Reimu, or Marisa. Or-- just someone from outside the Mountain. Please. Can I entrust this task to you...?"

[banthesun]

Nitori took the document from Aya's hands and scanned over it quickly. Then, shocked by it's contents, she held the page up to her face and gave it a closer read.

"Martial law? Does Tenma think he's the marshal of this mountain now? That he can just marshal us all up like that? That's so irritating!" Looking up from the letter, she noticed how worn out Aya looked, even more now than when she'd first came it, and that took her attention. "Uh, sure, I can do that! I run my store down at the village sometimes, so I'd know enough people there!"

It was a lie, of course, she'd hardly talked to most of her customers more than it took to explain the devices she was selling, but she wasn't going to give Aya to go ask someone else to do this. Besides, with how concerned Aya looked, she might as well try and reassure her. Nitori got up from her chair, and hurried to start packing for the trip. Her backpack was already bulging with inventions, and the thought occurred to her that they should have hidden that too. If the guards had seen it they would have been clued in that she hadn't gone on any research trip. The clutter in the room was great enough that it would be difficult for anyone who didn't know where to look to spot it, but the thought bothered Nitori none the less.

"Let's see, do I need the Super-Instant Humidifier Mine? What about the Bamboo-copter Camera?" Nitori pondered, before just shoving in as many machines and spare parts she could find nearby. Time was of the essence, after all! Hefting the backpack onto her shoulders, she turned back to Aya. It felt strange to see her like this.

"I'm surprised you don't want to spread the news yourself! Actually, you're probably wanting to stick around so you can get the best scoop or something, aren't you!" she commented. In part, her response was because Nitori felt it would be weird to say something earnest to Aya now, but perhaps such teasing would help bring Aya back to her normal self as well?

[Merilan]

Team Kappatain Pororoca

If Aya thought it was just irritating, she didn't show it. She more looked mortified at all this. She-- pulled her head up and tried a weak smile in turn to Nitori. "Y-yeah. It'll be the biggest scoop the Bunbunmaru's ever covered yet, just wait for it." The spirit wasn't in it, though, as she spared glances back towards the castle in the far distance where the lord of all Tengu was said to reside. Come to think of it, the castle's been a terribly closed-off structure even to most tengu... it wasn't the kind of place that was open and inviting to just anybody.

She did, at least, pull herself up and assist Nitori in some packing. She didn't really know about most of the devices Nitori invented -- aside from her camera, the 'traditional' in 'traditional reporter of fantasy' could also probably be a negative. "Just enough to keep yourself hidden for the time being, I suppose." She swallowed uneasily. "And something to protect yourself if a fight breaks out." Just the way she said 'fight' kind of had a different context. Just whatever happened to good ol' spellcard duels, ultimately harmless?

Aya was pacing a little, but when Nitori looked to be ready, she pulled something out of her pocket to place on the kappa's palm. "Take this as well." It looked like an Ornate silver ring of some sort. On the top, it had a circular design that wasn't familiar -- like some sort of crested signet, with symbolised wings and a five-ringed staff along the centre. "If the tengu patrols give you any trouble, that should hopefully help a bit."

[Luceid]

Marisa's mouth hangs open as she summons another bit of good natured ribbing for Alice and Mokou both, hands having since gone to her hips where she's sitting. What follows the motion is anything but, as a flicker of doubt crosses those eyes in the moments before the strange black shard activates terrifyingly. Seeing the world for a split second through a sickly, inverted wall of ephemeral black, there's no time to so much as yell in surprise before the entire ordeal is over...

... in time for the magician to wobble a little, and tip over sideways with a ker-flumpf kind of a noise, her hair splayed out all over the shrine's floor. Marisa is unharmed, that much can be said even here, but terribly put-off. Almost kinda sick. One hand is already draped over her eyes, mind racing to catch up with the warping sense of deja vu. "Anyone else, uh... catch... that?" she croaks from the floor. Whatever it was she wanted to jab Alice about, it's forgotten entirely.

Incident? Incident.

[Stelas]

Alice jolts backwards as the stone starts to shimmer, Shanghai automatically launching up in front of her to try to cover her, a tiny but ornate shield drawn out of who-knows-where. "Get dow--!" is the start of her cry over what feels like a sudden din in her ears - and then she's left stunned and confused, squinting through a raised hand as light first peters out then reasserts itself.

"--n. What?" she immediately adds, more out of sheer surprise than any actual question. "What just--..." It's only when the stone sits dormant, no sign or sensation of its power, that she dares lower her hand to look around her. She's clearly expecting - something, like singed walls and three pichunned fairies or a sudden gateway to Makai or really anything she can use as a point of reference to the stone's power. When none makes itself known, her shoulders sag, and her hand goes to her forehead to accompany the lost sigh.

[banthesun]

With Aya's help, it wasn't long before Nitori was ready to leave. She took the ring from Aya, and carefully examined it. The ring looked important, not to mention valuable, and there was something undeniably intimate about giving someone a ring. Nitori could clearly tell that wasn't the type of situation this was, but the connotations there only helped further impress the seriousness upon her. She slipped the ring in her right pocket and looked back up to Aya.

"Thank you! So I just have to stay out of sight, and make it to the human village. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone who'll fix this! I bet the shrine maiden and her witch friend are just waiting for another incident to resolve! I'll be sure to tell them you're not involved too, so they don't try beating you up or anything!" She was doing her best to remain positive, so things didn't get any weirder than they already were. "I'll be seeing you, then, once this whole thing is over!"

[Merilan]

Aya could not help but blink and-- chuckle very faintly, patting Nitori on the shoulder. "... your optimism is infectious, you know that? Okay. I'll do my best to keep things from going too crazy on this front too. I'll see you when this is over."

She took another deep breath for courage, and nodded as she headed to the workshop front door, glancing around. "I think you'll be okay to leave now. I don't see any of the guard." With that, she gave a heavy wave, and departed into the stormy air...

[Mokou-tan]

Mokou is about to explain herself when the shard erupted in its flash of light. While it was in her pocket, Mokou didn't try to throw it away or escape in the instant. Her immortality left her with a level of confidence in her ability to survive just about any incident and a rather diminished self-preservation instinct. Nonetheless, she looks a bit surprised at the activation of the shard, the immortal's body starting to ignite as she instinctively readies to retaliate. Though, no harm came to her. No pain, no blindness, no sudden swarm of demons. Nothing. Quickly she extinguishes herself and tries to put on a strong face for the others.

"See, this is why the immortal holds the strange object. If it had done something dangerous, I'm the one who would be the least miffed about losing an arm or a leg. Though, I guess Reimu wouldn't have sent the fairies for something dangerous... Not unless she... Nevermind!" A small look of worry crossed the phoenix girl's face as she trailed off.

[Stelas]

It takes a while, but eventually the puppeteer has recovered her composure; the hand on her hip and the light sigh she lets out are proof enough of that, though she does have to hesitate for a moment at the realization that the fairies didn't notice a single thing. Did that mean it was only affecting the four of them, or were they simply that unobservant - or the stone that benign?

"... with something like that, I tend to consider 'losing a limb' rather low on the list of possible dangers," she grumbles, peering cautiously at the black stone. "Physical effects are all well and good, but what about mental ones? In any case... it seems to be spent. I suppose the question is to what end?" she adds as she straightens up from it, then throws a glance Marisa's way. "I imagine this is a proper incident now, yes?"

That aaalmost (read: definitely did) sounded like anticipation, rather than resignation.

[Luceid]

The queer familiarity of the black shard, slim a chance as she might have to glimpse it, is giving Marisa an uneasy pause to the whole situation that doesn't sit well with her. It's usually to her advantage to tactfully forget a few things here or there, but something like this is a gnawing pit of doubt that doesn't feel like a classic incident. There's no cavorting into danger to bring winter's end about, or storms of pink blossoms unending. There's just... a missing miko, and an eerie wave of change seeping into the land of fantasy.

"Er--yeah, you keep it." is what the magician is reduced to, sounding like she doesn't have her mind on the game. "I'll, uh... I'll ask the kids what Reimu asked 'em."

[banthesun]

As Aya took to the skies, Nitori hurried off down the mountain. She pulled her cap low, and moved cautiously. Aya had impressed the importance of the situation on her, after all. The rain was a welcome gift, keeping her skin pleasantly wet, and making it harder for her to be seen from the skies. Jogging her way down the mountain, Nitori could almost pretend she was swimming along with a steam.

[Merilan]

Team Kappa Delta Phi

Nitori found her journey to be surprisingly quiet; there truly weren't a lot of patrols out here at this time of day, and what patrols she met seemed to be more distracted than anything else. Pretty soon, she was off the Mountain and headed to the human village.

The next day -- the same day as the others

But there wasn't a lot there to see in the human village either; the most Nitori got were instructions from Kamishirasawa Keine, a schoolteacher at the village, to go see the Hakurei Shrine. It'd been clear that the Hakurei shrine maiden had gone missing for a few days now, courtesy of several newsletters that Aya had distributed a few days prior.

Was this related at all to what was happening on the mountain? What's only certain is that the answers lay in the shrine...

When the kappa approached the shrine, she saw it too -- a sudden burst of what looked like negative light that overwhelmed her for a moment; but it was gone the moment it came, and left no lasting mental or physical impression. Just... what was that?

Team Shrine

You hear an approaching figure from the distance -- someone else's come to the shrine, it seems.

(Paths converge here!)

[CecilHoshino]

Meiling was rendered speechless by the sudden...she wasn't sure if it was a "black light," or a spacial snuffing of the natural light. Either way, this was far beyond anything she knew, so she left it to the magicians to try and make sense of it all...the nervousness and uncertainty coming from Marisa and Alice wasn't exactly helping. "This has to be a mistake, what would Reimu need with such a..."

The words stop. Over all the grumbling and stammering, she could hear the sound of someone climbing the steps to the temple. A new visitor, that Meiling could handle. She steps forward, in between the entrance to the shrine and the others, and looks over her shoulder with a smile. "You go do that, Marisa. I'll see to our new guest." Meiling strides forward, to stand at the top of the stairs, under the main gate to the Hakurei Shrine. You could remove Meiling from the gate, but you can't remove the gate she guards from Meiling. Despite standing as tall and imposing as she can, arms folded under her chest, she still bears a warm smile to whoever it is that's approaching...

[banthesun]

Nitori was taken by surprise by the burst of darkness from the shrine, and rummaged in her pockets for a spellcard in preparation for battle. When she looked up again, she saw a youkai striking a menacing pose at the top of the steps, and almost activated the card on instinct. No, this was probably just some guest at the shrine! There was probably some party going on, for the shrine maiden's return, perhaps? Besides, she'd seen this human-like youkai before. Always in the background of whatever scene she'd shown up in, at least. What did she do again?

"Uh, is the shrine maiden in today?" asked Nitori, deciding to play it safe.

[CecilHoshino]

Meiling lets slip a soft chuckle, noticing the kappa's alarm. She loosens her stance, at least resting her arms at her sides, as she shakes her head. "Sadly not. You heard the news she went missing? Miss Alice, Miss Mokou, and Marisa are all here looking into that." She chuckles, and rubs the back of her neck. "I guess I am, too, but I'm mostly here until Miss Sakuya shows up. ...I hope you didn't have business with Miss Reimu, today. I'd offer you some tea, but, we kinda already used the last of it to treat some other unexpected guests."

[Luceid]

Marisa rubs the back of her neck as she watches Meiling head outside to investigate a new arrival. "Wonder if news is spreadin'... shrine doesn't get this kinda traffic unless there's a party." it's not really the kind of point made in search of an answer, and the magician is dusting her butt off as she gets up off the floor and flicks the brim of her hat in what looks like a tic of annoyance. It's time to focus. The doubt over that black shard can get shelved for a while, there's work to be done.

"Oi, you three." is Marisa's way of getting Luna, Sunny, and Star's attention. It doesn't sound particularly brusque, or anything other than casual. More importantly than that, the blonde nabs a sugar cookie and pops it into her mouth. She didn't even wind up pinching lunch from Alice's house like she'd hoped to do, and thus, is running on empty. "What'd Reimu ask you to find, real specific-like? D'you remember? If you can satisfy this burnin' curiosity, I'll even be in your debt a little*."

*Extent of debt and terms of repayment to be specified at a later date, undoubtedly pursuant to the whims and requirements of Kirisame Marisa

[Stelas]

"Ah... it's... Nitori, isn't it?" she realizes half to herself and after a moment to recall the name; with Marisa taking care of interrogating the fairies, she's naturally headed the other way to check on the newcomer to the shrine, just in case they might have any new news to help the investigation. Instead she gets a Kappa, but that doesn't stop her from walking up alongside Meiling with Shanghai hovering just at her shoulder and offering a nod of mild recognition.

"I'm afraid she's not around. You haven't seen the papers?" she wonders as she folds her arms, cocking an ear towards the questioning inside the shrine. It isn't exactly hard to hear the fairies when they're at full blast, after all, and it's probably best to try a more diplomatic stance towards damn near everyone else around the place when all they have to show so far is a chunk of newly inert black rock. "For whatever reason, Aya was reporting on it recently. No-one's seen her in... just shy of a week, I suppose it would be."

It's hard to keep the worry and irritation out of her voice entirely, so she barely even tries - there's a significant huff of air, and she's redoubled the folding of her arms before she can really help herself. When she pauses, and adds a grumpy "Honestly... she's probably lazing off somewhere," with a flick of her hair, it's pretty much the most transparent thing around.

[Merilan]

While Meiling, Alice and Nitori spoke outside, the faeries were busy and content with Meiling's magical sugar cookies. Truly, a treat to behold, for all ages, past and present and future.

"Hmm?" Luna blinked once and tilted her head. "Uh, well--" She was clearly trying hard to remember.
"It wasn't like the other treasure hunts she sent us on!" Star helpfully (or not so helpfully) pointed out.
"Yeah, usually she asks us to find a hidden Hakurei Shrine bag! And she gives us a map! Usually it has candy or fruit in it!" Sunny related. It was quite clear that the shrine maiden hid these ahead of time for the faeries to find, like a children's game.
"But this time, she told us to just find-- any glowing rocks we could find. Weird, huh?" Luna pointed out. "Just bring as many as you can find, she said. We only really found the one glowy one, though."

[banthesun]

"Oh, the dollmistress!" There had been some fuss back when Nitori had built that Hisoutensoku a few years back, and she'd remembered Alice being involved with a giant doll somehow. It wouldn't surprise her if Alice just thought of her as another of the kappas, though.

"I thought she'd be back by now?" Nitori asked hopefully. "Normally she comes back before too long, doesn't she? I need someone to come help with an Incident!"

[CecilHoshino]

Meiling's eyes went wide at Nitori's mention of another incident. The gate guardian looks to the doll maker and the charcoal seller with an expression of concern. "Ms. Reimu and Ms. Sakuya's disappearance, the Incident back at the mansion, and now this...Incidents don't normally pile up this fast in Gensokyo!" Or, maybe they did, but they were resolved just as quickly. Or these were just blowing up to "incident" proportions due to the overall atmosphere of panic.

Meiling looks back to Nitori. "What kind of Incident? It must be serious to be a capital-I-Incident."

[Luceid]

Marisa has never been party to one of the friendly, fairy-oriented treasure hunts, but it doesn't take a whole lot of processing power to figure out the kind of game that's reguarly being played with the three winged goofballs munching away before her. "Many glowin' rocks, huh?" Marisa sounds like she's querying herself as much as the fairies. "Good work findin' one, it didn't feel... weird to you three, did it? I mean, it doesn't look like somethin' you'd find in nature, does it?"

Importantly, before she continues her line of questioning, the magician pauses to give Luna, Sunny and Star an approving pat on the head. "Either way, I'm pretty sure Reimu'd be proud of ya."

[Stelas]

Alice flicks her eyes once towards the conversation happening within the shrine, quietly noting down the fairy's statement - or what she can hear of it, at least - for later. Beyond that, though, she greets the Kappa with a quiet nod of recognition, a sign of appreciation from one craftsman to another. "Another Incident? Something on the mountain?" she guesses, because there's really only one place she can really imagine Nitori being. Pronouncing the capital letter just comes as natural at this point.

The dollmistress draws her hand to her mouth in thought for a moment, staring off to one side as she mulls things over. "... still... this might be useful," she notes to the poor gatekeeper in over her head. "If there's something going on, Reimu's intuition might have already led her there, and Sakuya's as well. Perhaps... that might be called wishful thinking, I suppose," she adds with an apologetic smile. "But as far as leads go, I suppose it's a little more concrete than anything else we've got. Could you tell us about it?" she asks of the kappa, looking back over to her.

[Merilan]

Star, Luna and Sunny looked at the rock for a moment, before looking back to Marisa. They were totally grinning at getting praised. "It just felt like a normal rock to us, but... a bit tingly, maybe!" Whatever that burst of energy was, they really seemed to not have noticed it. How peculiar.
"I think that rock I found was tinglier!"
"That was a snail, Sunny!"
"Was not! It was so totally a rock!"

Squabble squabble squabble!

[banthesun]

"The tengu have been acting really weird! They're gathering everyone up for something, and ordering people about!" Nitori explained frantically. These youkai weren't who she'd had in mind to solve the incident, but with her luck so far, she'd take what she could get. With that in mind, she was doing her best to sell her Incident to them.

"I had to go in a hurry, there's guards patrolling around, and Aya said the tengu have declared martial law! She couldn't even get her newspaper out!"

[Mokou-tan]

After Mokou listens for a bit longer, she lets out a sigh. If this was the start of several incidents, things were only going to get worse from here. Gensokyo wasn't as bad off as it used to be, with the new shrine maiden being around and Byakuren striving for a level of friendship between Youkai and humans, but Mokou still remembers the times before Reimu. Before the Spell Card battles that modern Gensokyo had adopted. Without Reimu around, there was suddenly a huge risk of it falling apart.

"I've wasted too much time already." The immortal's voice was a whisper, more for herself than the benefit of anyone else. With her goal in mind and the shard in her pocket, she runs towards the shrine's gate. As she passes by the trio there, she calls out to them. "If you find anything out, let me know!" In the same moment as she finishes speaking her body becomes wreathed in flame and she soars towards the Human Village.

[Stelas]

"Eh? What are you talking about-- wait!" she huffs as the phoenix suddenly flies off at speed, leaving the dollmistress standing there with her arms folded and an irritated frown on her face. "Honestly! What if we need that thing?"

Still, moments pass without further incident - or Incident, thankfully - and Alice is left with rubbing at her forehead as her only option, her tone of voice turning more thoughtful as she thinks Nitori's statement over. "The tengu have always been fairly secretive, and guards patrolling around isn't anything new, I suppose. But..." she trails off as her brow furrows. But martial law and 'gathering people up' only tends to mean trouble. Not that she's about to go voicing that aloud, or anything of the sort.

"... in any case, I suppose we're not going to get anything done staying here. We could search for Yukari, or go and see how the mountain's doing. Not that I know how well that would work, if they're that riled up," she adds, glancing towards the others assembled there. After a moment, the Magician blinks, and looks to the black-white with her eyebrows raised. "Come to think of it, didn't you do that once already? I... think I recall the morning edition of the paper the day afterwards."

[CecilHoshino]

"Ah, o-okay, I'll BunBunBook you later!" Meiling stammers in alarm as Mokou suddenly takes off, even though none of those syllables made sense in that combination (or, really, any permutations). "Although, in her defense," she says, talking to Alice, "My first thought would be to bring it to Patchouli, see if she knows anything about it, or if there's anything in her library on something like it."

Meiling rubs the back of her neck, and looks cautiously towards Nitori. The gate guardian wants to follow in Mokou's example, and split for home--well, a stop by the village first, to see if Keine heard any news of Sakuya, THEN to home. But hearing how she was effectively run out of her home or face house arrest (or much worse), her heart goes out to the displaced kappa. "I'm not sure we should got to the mountain right away, until we know a bit more about what's going on up there. Don't want to stumble into a prison landing faux pas."