Planeside

[Recaiden]

[Enchanted Mountains]

Cleo glances back where the cat jumped from - she had no idea where it was. She's tempted to say 'stupid fox ears' but really, it's lucky for her that they have them. 'Louder than Keiko' isn't necessarily obvious.

She brings the pipes to her lips and starts to play. A song on pan pipes about pan pipes. Listen up, Hu, there's nothing you want to eat here. You're happy and at ease, certainly not hunting.

[Fenric]

[Enchanted Mountains]

Cleo's music worked well on the Kitsune, but it works nothing short of miraculously on the Hu. The cat half-closes his eyes and sways gently in time to Cleo's playing.

Keiko relaxes and puts her rapier away.

I guess that means we win... I suppose six thousand year old stories do need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Sun is suitably impressed, trembling now in awe and wonder

Who... who are you?

Keiko looks to Cleo for inspiration, unsure how to deal with someone quite so out of touch with what she considers common knowledge.

[Recaiden]

[Enchanted Mountains]

Cleo continues playing for a while longer, not wanting to break off at the first sign of success and thus startle the cat once again. Listen to the song only, little cat. And as it sways, some flowers should appear around the Hu's neck, nestled in with the fur.

In a little while, she judges it safe to let the song quiet away, look at Sun with a grin.
"This is Orochi no Keiko, the Nine-tailed fox-dragon. And I am the great Wizard, Alucleosepha the Pink."

[Fenric]

[Enchanted Mountains]

If the poor little Kitsune hasn't already been on the verge of groveling for mercy, that pretty much settles it for him... except Keiko catches him halfway down.

Nuh-uh! We're not doing that, got it?

Sun gets back up and nods, looking anything but confident, and the quite thoroughly cowed Hu swallows anxiously

My sincerest apologies, great ones...

Keiko rolls her eyes

Oi! I don't get worked up over an honest "hunting for food", especially if the misguided hunter lets it drop quick. Cleo didn't make you dance yourself to death or anything, so I kinda think she agrees. Now, let's finish our little walk, visit the elves, get some dinner, and then we can all go do whatever it is we're all going to do next, hm?

[Recaiden]

[Enchanted Mountains]

Cleo sighs and shakes her head.

"He should know better than to eat elves and humans and what-not though. They're dangerous!"

Then she hears that term of address and has to laugh and laugh. Sure, she did describe herself that way, but to hear it taken seriously...eventually she stops giggling and waves at Sun to keep going.

"Apology accepted. It's an easy mistake to make. Come on, let's get going!"

[Fenric]

[Enchanted Mountains]

Keiko nods, and Sun bows quickly then starts off again. Keiko follows and chatters

Oh, yes. And I'm sure they'll learn soon enough. But this place is still pretty wild and there's a really awkward period between the time the bigger predators first encounter people and are scared witless and the time they respect people as dangerous and worth avoiding when they are too bold for their own good. It's a good thing for us to intimidate guys like this so they learn sooner rather than later - better that then get poked full of elf-arrows.

The Hu is now following along quite meekly

[Recaiden]

[Enchanted Mountains]

"You're doing a public service here, aren't you, Keiko? Though maybe it's good for the mortals to have something to be afraid of too. Keep them from getting too bold. Would you need to repeat that translation spell for us to talk to him? I'd think not."

Cleo looks back at the Hu.

"What's your name?"

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Keiko shakes her head "no" even as the Hu answers

Cao Pi

Keiko arches an eyebrow

Wanna pick someone less famous? I mean, really...

The Hu looks offended and Sun interjects

Your Grace... should you know someone by that name already, I assure you it is a coincidence. The Cao clan is fierce and proud.

(( Also spelled "Tsao" ))

[Ionbound]

Realm of Cats

The thing jingles around a corner, and as long as Gwen chases it it'll always be just a bit beyond her. The area is short on dead ends and big on loops, so she can't corner it. In addition, it moves erratically, as if it is being knocked around by something.

The catnip patch is a lot like the other catnip patch that Gwen didn't let Salem play in. Gwen isn't here right now.

It's a fairly big tower, and interesting to climb, but near the top, hanging from the ceiling, is a key on a string.

Violet can't see the cat at all, no. The cat takes a sharp turn... through the wall of the hedge.

Realm of Cats

Gwen grumbles and slows chasing the ball, trying to see if it responds to her movements, or if it's controlled by something else.

Meanwhile, Salem is in cat heaven, rolling and wallowing around in the 'nip, having the time of her life.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

"Thank you, Pi." Is that 'pie' or otherwise?

"If it helps, Keiko, I haven't heard the name before."

"Tell me, what's your clan's relationship with the elves around here?"

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

(( "pee" ))

Keiko takes a deep breath... and is cut off, and looks miffed

My clan has long served the great Kami of the mountain. The Elves are new, but respectful and we do not hunt them. The Kitsune, however, are endlessly up to mischief and we must keep their numbers down lest their numbers disrupt the balance.

Sun does not respond to that comment. Keiko, however...

BWA! So: the Cao clan served the Han emperors around the end of their dynasty, and smoothed the transition to the Jin dynasty that followed. Cao Pi was the son of Cao Cao, prime minister to the last Han emperor and one of the major stabilizing forces for rightful law and order in the Three Kingdoms period!

Yes, that is my father's name.

Keiko seems rather disturbed

Can we... not... destroy one of my favorite classic novels?

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo nods to them both, and steps protectively towards Sun.

"I think you might have to live through a parody of it, love. Who's your favorite character? It's the sort of things that happen. In one place, it's ancient history. In other places, it's contemporary events taking place among tigers. In other worlds, it never happened at all. The patterns are bigger and more flexible than we might like."

To the Hu, she asks "How recently is 'new' to you? I've always heard of them as old, in-line with the land, and not coming new places."

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Pi shrugs

The time before they woke us up from our dreamlike lives of animals has been five hundred years and ten. How long they were here and what they did before we do not remember.

Keiko ignores him and looks thoughtful over Cleo's question

That's a tough one... Sima Yi really acts the most foxlike of the lot and it doesn't hurt that his family wins in the end, but he's so snooty. Everybody likes Liu Bei's motivations, but he's such a dip. Zhuge Liang was nifty, but had no character development worth mentioning. Sun Ce was too tragic, Guan Yu and Sun Qian were too dumbass-noble.

Her ears flick in the vulpine equivalent of a blush

Is it bad that I've daydreamed about Lu Bu more than once? So confident and bold...

Sun frowns

How am I too tragic?

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo nods. "A long time to us and them, then. If not also for you."

"Zhuge Liang then, and give them some character development?"
She puts a hand on Keiko's shoulder and shakes her head.
"Not bad, I don't think."

She looks sadly at the little kitsune.

"That's you, is it? Be careful."

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Keiko winces

Well, the short version is that in the story his father is killed in an ambush, leaving him in charge at a young age. He does a pretty good job and earns the nickname "Little Conqueror", but after his sister marries Liu Bei, he falls afoul of a sorceror who wants Liu Bei to take over the entire land and he gets killed rather unpleasantly

Sun frowns

My father is fine. Is ths some sort of prophecy or something?

Pi also looks unhappy, but remains silent

Keiko looks at Cleo

Hey! If this is a weird parody of the Romance, the tigers are Wei and the foxes are Wu, does that mean that the elves are Shu and that insufferably annoying, preachy Liu Bei is one of them?

Pi nods

I was uncertain if I had heard you quite correctly, but now you make it very clear... Liu Bei is the king of the elves, and you have already mentioned one of his two main henchmen, the other being

Keiko finishes for him

Zhang Feng! Oh, cool: the elves ARE Shu. That's so fitting, and now I don't have to feel bad about not liking them. If the theme holds out, there should be a big scary demon somewhere for Lu Bu, and a snotty golden dragon for Yuan Shao...

Sun resumes looking wonderstruck at Keiko. Pi, on the other hand, is now very thoughtful. On we continue down toward the Elven capital.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

"No, it's a history. Right, Keiko? This is something that already happened on Erda? Have you got a sister, Sun? You might want to warn your family members away from whatever this is."

Looking back, Cleo shrugs helplessly.

"I guess so. This isn't a story of my world, you know? Although, if you're looking for a big scary demon..."

Keiko is right here, after all.

"Do you think the elves are doing it on purpose? Or do they just happen to fall into the Romance?"

[Negative Material Plane - Border of Ash]

Spoiler: Cutscene, ending scene in Zaff's

Show

A bright spot appears in the sky. (It's not exactly right to call it a sky. There's no earth, no up, no stars. Only emptiness). Soon it will be snuffed out, as all traces of heat and light and substance must be here.

Out of the spot comes a girl, student aged and dressed in a dark outfit that could be a uniform at a curious magical school, if it had one. Dark and flowing and covered in buttons and scrolls, lacking only a pointed hat and one of her shoes. Anima keeps moving with the considerable momentum she was thrown with.

The light fades awat momentarily, as expected. The darkness resolves itself into shapes. There's a towering cone of cinders visible on the horizon, its dim glow the only light. There's a patch of stubborn earth up ahead, not willing, quite yet, to crumble into dust and vanish on the winds. It's on this doldrum that Anima lands a moment alter, and a facsimile of physical laws assert themselves. Gravity, reaction, organization. Wings beat against the nothingness, a tenuous medium that couldn't support flight, as a massive weightless creature passes overhead, circles around, comes closer.

The girl should be dead instantly, coming into such a hostile magical place, but something's keeping that from happening, keeps the death-essence a hair's width away, or makes it harmless. She's lived a few seconds already! She tries to stand up, taking a deep breath after another crash-

-except no, there's nothing to breathe here. Instead, she chokes and flails and widens her eyes, uselessly trying to find some air.

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Sun Ce looks miserable and nods

Yes... I do... she's very precious to us.

Kieko looks thoughtful

It's not from our world: it's from the "Earth" that the humans who settled on Yarissa came from - as if Ming China never ended... the folks who were brought there by the Celestial Bureaucracy.

I'm thinking it's Freddie's whole "probability sphere" thing... they're way on the outside of the 'real' events, but my home was hardly close to the center of it... and you're entangled with me now, so we can experience this particularly weird variation.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo frowns at the poor fox and nods.
"Don't worry too much. I mean, even if it goes as said, she'll probably be okay, right?"

As for Keiko, she just keeps nodding, no idea what Yarissa or Earth or Ming China are.

"And to think, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't know there's anything weird about this. So what's your problem with elves, Keiko? I mean, I guess they're the bad guy of this story, but you didn't even know that at the time."

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Keiko looks sour

Ok... On our world, there are a few different kinds of elves: the grey elves are super-snobby ultra intellectual "better than everyone" jerkfaces. The wood elves are blond nature hippy weirdos with bizzare priorities and a language that will break your brain to listen to.

But they're preschool teachers compared to the dark elves. And by "dark", we mean "evil" - they are controlled by seven incarnated demon lords: Akzitar, Balnish, Monrotha, Dargat, Guttan, Fangi, and Zelar. And well... Zelar lived here. Dad is the "demon dragon", but that's because he's not on the "Good" side. Zelar is a demon: cruel, cunning, ruthless, and nasty. And for my whole life, "elves" meant his followers - I only learned about the others later.

So, black-haired not quite albino just shy of immortal super magic powered total dipwads who would levitate you into the air and peel your skin off just to hear you scream... that's elves to me.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo winces.

"That...pretty much explains it, yeah. Sun, are these elves anything like that? To me, hippy weirdos with bizarre priorities is closer to the mark."

A shiver.

"I'm almost certain skin-peeling sadism won't be characteristic to the region."

[Lost_Deep]

Realm of Cats

Realm of Cats

"Yes!" declares Lee, grabbing the key from the swing. If there's no visible trap or reaction, he'll climb down the tower in a similar way to how he got up it, and cheerily head back to the door to use the key.
Huzzah for success.

It opens! Yay!

Cinnamon leads the way, but this part of the maze is just as twisty and turny as the rest...

Realm of Cats

That Dena can't follow. Unless of course... The drow attempts to stick her hand through the part of the hedge where the cat disappeared into. Maybe this whole place was a big illusion?

Nope, it just seems to be a normal hedge. Utterly mundane apart from the fact that this place is somehow entirely highly magical.

Realm of Cats

Gwen grumbles and slows chasing the ball, trying to see if it responds to her movements, or if it's controlled by something else.

Meanwhile, Salem is in cat heaven, rolling and wallowing around in the 'nip, having the time of her life.

As Gwen slows, the ball does slow, always being juuust infuriatingly uncatchable. There is a feel of intelligence behind it, if something of a teasing one.

[Deathkeeper]

Realm of Cats

Lee continues on, leaving his glamour hoofprints. For now, there isn't much else to do.

[Ionbound]

Realm of Cats

Gwen frowns and makes an annoyed raptor noise as she thinks about the problem. An idea strikes as she starts looking around, trying to find any corners she can maneuver the ball into.

[Shadowcaller]

Realm of Cats

Huh. Well then. "Hey momento? Can you try stepping through this hedge? I gotta try something." She asks the little pokemon as she points at the area where the cat disappeared into. She needed to test every theory before she moved on.

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo winces.

"That...pretty much explains it, yeah. Sun, are these elves anything like that? To me, hippy weirdos with bizarre priorities is closer to the mark."

A shiver.

"I'm almost certain skin-peeling sadism won't be characteristic to the region."

Sun blinks

I'm not sure what a "hippie" is, but blond and mostly friendly with an awkward language is very much more what I would be used to...

Pi snorts

That is because you do not get out much, little fox: the demon people live on the plain where the river leaves the mountains - they are heartless and vicious.

Sun frowns

As if you're particularly merciful: I'd have been your lunch if it wasn't for Keiko and Cleo!

The Hu shrugs

You'd have felt little enough if I caught you, but they never kill without pain.

Keiko makes a snarly noise

Enough! You tigers are going to have to stop killing your neighbors if the Dark Elves are at your border! The Romance is set before the major Mongol invasions of China, and these guys will be so very much worse for you than those guys ever were. We're going to have a crash-course in civilization and how to fend off demon lords. This is neither Earth nor pre-dawn-war Edra: let's fix the problems now, shall we? I know how those other two worked out, and neither of them was pretty.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo looks from the direction they're hiking in to the way she imagines the plains would lie, which is probably completely incorrect.

"You're saying we have to unite everyone living in these mountains against the dark elves? And that's a thing that didn't happen in the other iterations of this sphere? Okay."

She almost smiles; determined, not happy.

"We'll need to see Sun's elves then, and your father, Cao Pi. Are there any other societies around for us to worry about? It can't just be Foxes and Tigers, can it?"

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Keiko fairly glares at Sun

Ok, lead on: double-time!

Then she turns to Cleo, her expression softening

Yeah, I think that's about what we're looking at: get the elves and the tigers and the foxes and whoever else is bright enough to know the pointy end of a spear from the handle to play nice and work together. Teach 'em some basic magic, or more if they can already handle that. Get them to the point that they don't get invaded and overrun and have to go through a miserable dark age of enslavement.

But I know who we are in this little derivation of the story... it's a bit of an anachronism, though...

She grins both brightly and meaningfully at Cleo

You're a bright young summoner named Chiyoko. And I'm ... guess!

she looks expectantly at Cleo, tails flicking in anticipation.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo picks up the pace; twice as fast, Keiko said.

"That sounds like a lot for just, well, I guess it's probably possible."

She looks back at Keiko then and smiles.
"Might we just be a pair of people who don't go down in the history books? But no, you're the many-tailed dragon Orochi, who I summon to help."

[Fenric]

[Eternal Mountains]

Keiko looks absolutely thrilled

Yeah!

Of course, she really does know that this is a distant echo of things she has heard of before, and that Cleo is quite right... but that's not nearly as much fun.

So, we'll rescue this lot from certain doom, and maybe we'll find something more interesting to take to the Queen so we don't have to go tromping through the deep forest.

Coming around a bend, they are presented with the most-elvish looking elvish settlement to ever hold elves. An outright infestation of carved wood tree-houses, improbable and impractical bridges with insufficient railings, odd arches and ridges that don't really go along all that well with the surroundings... Keiko sticks out her tongue

Yeah... wood elves... no doubt. Now let's see if they sound like they're choking on a jawbreaker when they talk.

[Recaiden]

[Eternal Mountains]

Cleo shakes her head.

"We're really getting this in the wrong order then, aren't we? Guess that means that when you said one of the characters would be a giant demon, that was literal. "

She grins excitedly when she sees the elvish settlement, slipping into her dragon shape and running up a tree-trunk to get onto a nearby bridge with no railing to keep her off.

"Come on, what's taking you so long?"

Sure, it probably startles the elves, but who cares?