[IC] TotMV:G^2: Touhou: Twilight of Paradise Butterfly

[kj1225]

Rory shrugs. "Well, I only just got here before we got... here. On this world, that is... that said, beating the tar out of them has worked fine so far, and I'd be willing to bet it will continue working."

[AzyWng]

Instructor nods at Rory’s comment. “We need you to help us find and destroy them. I can confirm that what Rory has said is true - although dangerous, such entities can be defeated.

 

At the moment we are preparing to have a meeting with one Remilia Scarlet regarding an incident we believe may be linked to Trespasser activity.”

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 stood from the chair and began to walk towards the group. I'll go along with it for now, but I still don't want to believe any of this nonsense. She stopped just short of the group and look blankly to every person standing there. "Well, I guess I'll just have to see for myself, then."

 

She turned and looked back at the room and stared intensely into one of the corners for a moment before nodding and looking back to the group, "I'm guessing you need something from in here since you were coming in."

[ElfCollaborator]

"And remember, if you think it's bullshit, that's because it is and you got to do it anyway. Story of our lives so far, really."

[AzyWng]

“Welcome aboard, UB-65. I hope we will be able to work together effectively. If I may ask... what were you doing just now?”

[EryaHistoria]

She thought to herself for a moment, "I had just arrived just off the coast of Cornwall. I heard a loud bang and then was in the chair there..." She pointed back to the chair, "....right before you entered."

 

She turned back to face the group fully, crossing her arms, "I didnt really have time to look around in the few seconds before you all came in, though." It all seems like everything has happened within a matter of seconds. What type of cruel fever dream could this be?

[AzyWng]

“I was referring to what you were doing just a few seconds ago. You appeared to be staring into a corner for a short period of time?”

[EryaHistoria]

"Oh, its nothing..." She paused for a moment, "...just thought I saw the light catch something is all." 

 

She put on the best poker face she could muster and looked blankly at IP. I guess they can't see him either. I'll have to keep it to myself for now.

Edited December 6, 2019 by EryaHistoria

[kj1225]

Considers pressing the issue but decides it's not worth it at the moment. "Alright, well if you think something is up, just remember to say something. Can't solve problems if we don't know about them, and I've had more than enough of problems from not noticing things on my own." He quietly chuckles to himself before frowning in a way that's obviously not directed at anyone in particular. Like he had soured his own mood somewhat.

[Chevaleresse]

"So. . . she's with you?"

"That appears to be the case." 

"At least the story is consistent."

 

Just as quickly as they'd prepared to strike, the residents of the manor had calmed down, and Sakuya walked out of the room after a brief visual assessment, presumably to fetch the beverage that gave the room its name. "Remilia should be right down." As if on cue, the doors to the room swung open, admitting none other than the mistress herself. Her demeanor was a far cry from her original appearance, being refined and regal overall. 

 

"Hello there. I haven't had a chance to properly introduce myself." Remilia performed a shallow curtsy, not actually breaking eye contact with the group. "As you already know, my name is Remilia Scarlet, and this is my mansion that you've invited yourselves into. However, you've done me a service, so I'll overlook that for now." She gestured towards the table; the number of seats wasn't sufficient for the entire group, but there were a few nearby at smaller, two-person tables that would probably suffice. "Please, sit for a moment. Since I think it would be mutually beneficial, I've decided to do you a bit of a favor in return for you helping with Sakuya." The maid in question came back from where she'd gone carrying a tray stacked precariously with teacups, as well as a pot that still steamed from the end. She offered the stuff to each visitor in turn, before leaving small containers of cream and sugar on the table between them. Remilia added quite a bit of both to her cup in a manner she probably thought was subtle, though by all other respects she seemed to be acting as the heiress she claimed to be. 

 

 

[AzyWng]

IP smiled and gave a bow in response to Remilia's curtsy, but remained standing, picking up a cup of tea and tentatively taking a sip.

 

"And as I have said before, I am Instructor Prototype, or 'IP'. Thank you for allowing us to be here. I'm afraid the unorthodox nature of our employment - and of our task - meant that we were unable to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to receive this favor, Lady Scarlet."

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 walked over and took one of the cups of tea. She moved carefully to one of the small two seat tables and sat down, staring curiously at Remilia. She began to sip on the tea easily, as not to burn her tongue. Quite a bit of fanfare with this one just from the way she is speaking. I hope that they aren't like some of the Kaiser's friends. She decided to remain quite and let the others do the talking with this one as to not step on anything sensitive. After all, she didnt even know how the group had helped Sakuya.

 

 

She took a small and tattered notebook out of her breast pocket and opened it to the nearest blank page and began writing do her observations of Remilia as well as taking notes on her own surroundings.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

At Remilia's entrance, Walmond had turned from the scenery around her (the decor and architecture again, not at the current introduction to a newcomer in their midst), putting a foot back to return Remilia's curtsy with her own, "It's a pleasure to properly meet you, Miss Scarlet" she stated, before standing back up and moving to one of the seats, sitting down just as Sakuya came in with prepared tea cups. It was a bit odd how quickly the tea was made, unless they had it ready on demand, but Walmond wasn't going to complain about being prepared, "Thank you Miss Izayoi" Walmond replied as she took her cup of tea. She would admit that she was never a huge tea fan, mostly because coffee was more to her liking, but it was naturally rude to deny a beverage when they had already invited themselves in... Disregarding the fact that it had been stated numerous times that the mansion was not a place for humans.

[Lucky Lulu]

"You're welcome, of course," said the tengu, as smugly as ever.  With everyone fully aware of what her contribution was and the efficacy of as much.  Ignoring the new arrival--another sort of boat tsukumogami, she could hazard, like that American they'd seen earlier, albeit built more compactly in such a way that she would guess she was meant to travel underwater--Masako reached over and helped herself to tea, not even bothering with subtlety as she dumped a not-inconsequential helping of both cream and sugar in her cup.  She was more of a coffee person too, honestly--even if it was often trickier to get--but whatever worked.  "Normally, I charge a hefty-but-entirely-fair-and-legitimate amount for the services of the finest detective in Gensokyo, but my assistants and I really are working a more important case--if you'd be willing to tell us what you know, I suppose I can waive my usual fee."

She paused, then added, meaningfully.  "I also suppose I can forgive the lack of snacks, if you do have useful information."

[Chevaleresse]

Remilia paused for a moment after Masako spoke, seemingly thinking about something. "First, I would thank you for helping my maid overcome the illness she was under. I'm sure it won't happen again." Another brief pause. "I know what you and Patchouli have told me, as far as your investigation goes. You will be able to find more information in the Human Village, and hopefully something else of use." The vampiress took a sip of her tea, and then most certainly did not burn her tongue or come close to yelping in pain, though her response to this definitely imagined event was graceful enough as she set the cup calmly back down. "Since you've been helpful, I'll overlook your trespassing on my property. I might even be inclined to let you visit again. . . but please give advance notice."

[AzyWng]

IP stood still for several seconds before placing the cup back down, nodding.

 

"I understand. Is there any specific place in the Human Village we should search?"

[kj1225]

Rory had stood fairly quietly off to the sides, to hopefully not offend their host too much, but the mention of a human village earns a small eye roll from the faunus. Of course there was a place just for humans, not like they'd be okay living around other peoples...

[ElfCollaborator]

"Wait, Human Village? Humans actually live here?"
Empi held her tongue to avoid the other snarky comments she was sorely tempted to make; after all, they'd just been forgiven by the vampire who owned the place, and Empi preferred her blood where it was, inside her, as opposed to being sucked out like a juice box by a kindergartener.  This whole situation had had Empi on edge - really, she'd been on edge since she'd gotten here. She really, really needed a stiff drink at some point. Preferably a pina colada. Or a Long Island Ice Tea, if people even knew what that was out here.

Still, what kind of sane human would want to live here? Empi wasn't even staying here and she wanted out of this place already. Granted, it wasn't as crazy as the demon sorority house parties she used to bung off cheap booze and food from because college fees were more expensive than your average pound of crack, but you'd then quite literally have to go to Hell to find something crazier. 

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS looked at Isobel and muttered a: "I think you can handle this one," before turning her attention to the new arrival, some sort of German ship turned human. This was very old history, once again -- she noted that this period of the 1900 to early 2000s seemed to be fairly common among the various beings coalescing into this team, whereas representation of history from 2050 to 2550 was quite rare. Still, though, that was just an aside, if perhaps it did play into their predicament -- being from such an old time period, LOTUS didn't doubt that a lack of certain preconceptions about the fabric of reality might doom this UB-65's comprehension of the situation. She was going to have to make it a priority to provide a proper debriefing once they left the mansion, and to the other normally-robot as well, though she figured that would be easier. ...so LOTUS was essentially just peering at UB-65 from over Isobel's shoulder, the one-foot fairy resting her head against her arms as she stared out with narrowed eyes.

 

As for Isobel... "O-oh!" It wasn't like Isobel hadn't been doing any of the talking up until this point, but she hadn't expected to just have responsibility actively dumped onto her by LOTUS... especially after she'd evidently put herself under a bit of risk earlier by trying her usual sorts of tactics. Still, though, it sounded like maybe she really should be talking. "Well, ahah... trespassing shouldn't be so much a problem from here on out. We're getting a better hang of this place every hour, and now that we've got a bit of a good picture of this mansion, we should be better able to act accordingly, you know?" Let's see, Isobel wondered, what would LOTUS say about now? Quite likely he-- she, in current circumstances, hah, would give some sort of caution about risks and the Trespassers-related things they'd encountered... "If any other strange objects do show up, I do ask that you please be careful about touching them. The things we've run into so far, here and elsewhere, seem to have corrupted on contact. I know we've already said this some, but a clearer picture of things is arising, after all. I bet that these won't be the only two, either... there might be people going around on rampages, and I guess it's pretty possible that they show up here. So, uh, yeah, that's something you should look out for on your end."

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 wrote as quickly as possible to be sure not to miss anything that was said by anyone in the room. Human Village? Investigation? Objects corrupting on contact? What sort of mess have I gotten into now? She continued to sip on her tea, her eyes darted to each person as they spoke in turn, but something compelled her to remain silent and just listen to the party and the rather small and childish looking mistress of the manor.

 

She flipped the page in her notebook and began to take notes on everyone's physical appearances and traits that she could make out from her position on the side of the room as to not forget them in the future if she needed them. Maybe I can see if the Abteilung III b has any information of these people when I return to Germany. Maybe we can get them to join our cause. She smirked slightly while writing at the thought of gaining more support for her country and the promotions it would bring for her.

[Chevaleresse]

Another pause before Remilia replied, though as before it was short enough to be barely noticeable. "I'm certain that any more otherworldly things like that will be brought to your attention before they can cause damage." The vampiress turned her gaze to Empi, a faint look of confusion crossing her face before she smoothed it out. "Of course humans live here. They've lived here since before the barrier, and will continue to live here. Do humans. . . not live in places near wherever you're from?" The confusion returns, and deeper as the vampire begins to recognize what, exactly, Empi is. Rory's response elicits its own confused glance, and an inaudible "Weirdos" muttered under her breath. 

 

Masako's comment on the lack of snacks elicits Sakuya, who had apparently moved directly adjacent to her at some point without anyone noticing, giving her the most polite and proper irritable glare possible as she held out a tray of tea cakes. Remilia, meanwhile, answered the last remaining question. "The Human Village is not large. It shouldn't be an issue finding anything unusual that might be there."

[AzyWng]

IP seemed to be processing the information Remilia had given her for a few seconds. "Since before the barrier? I'm afraid my knowledge of this place's history is... rather lacking. Similarly, I am not aware of what route to take that would bring us to the Human Village the fastest, or what dangers we should watch out for."

[ElfCollaborator]

"Humans tend not to live in places where they get possibly shot at by fairies the size of tater tots or, uh....in the middle of a forest right out of one of those horror movies where everyone gets eaten by some creepy monster thing that they make crappy Blair Witch bootleg films about. Unless they're from Detroit."

To be fair to Empi, she was still banned from Detroit and hadn't been back in about five years. That office party was a disaster.

[EryaHistoria]

UB-65 continues to write hurriedly inside of her notebook, her writing beginning to resemble some type of text from a long forgotten fairy tale. She flipped the pages as quietly as possible trying not to lose tracks of the words that were being said by the party. Now there's humans, fairies, and massive forests? She paused her writings as she finished marking down the most recent comment and glance up at Empi in confusion. Unless you're from Detroit? Isn't Detroit one of the cultural centers of America? They just had the World's Fair there two decades ago?! How could that be the same as some creepy forest?

 

She decided to wait until later to ask that question to her rather than interrupt the conversation and finished the last little bit of her tea. She replaced the notebook into her breast pocket, both having lost the want to continue to take note and having developed a nasty cramp in her hand. She leaned back in her chair and tried to relax a little while still keeping her eyes glued to those engaged in conversation with Remilia. She still couldn't let herself miss anything important.

Edited December 22, 2019 by EryaHistoria

[Lucky Lulu]

"Oh, no, that's quite alright."  Masako waved her hand at Sakuya.  "I'm not hungry.  That being said..."

 

Masako rested her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm, adjusting her glasses for a moment before peering intently at the vampire.  Given her earlier behavior, and something in her tone, the tengu doubted the vampire really knew much of anything regarding the situation.  Else she'd just tell them, if only to get Masako and co. out of her hair.  But, even if based on absolutely nothing, and even if completely untrustworthy, that didn't mean Remilia's suggestion was actually unworth trusting.  On the contrary.  Random guesswork it might've been at best, but it was exactly because it was random guesswork on the vampire's part that Masako knew it could be followed to the letter.

 

She was a master detective, after all.  And what would a master detective be if not someone who kept up on current rumors, or occasionally broke in to stopped by the Heida residence to take a quick peek at the Gensokyo Chronicle and see the most reliable information on what the locals could actually do?

 

Even if that was a bit limited.  But we digress.

 

"Well," mused the tengu.  "It's certainly a possible lead, if nothing else.  It may even be worth following up on!  Of course, it would be helpful if you could give us some specific assurances--say, that we will uncover evidence in the human city directly related to our investigation, and explaining the form in detail, and noting that we will also definitely acquire a good deal of additional compensation in the form of rare and valuable items and information of use to me in addition to the usual unusual findings you previously noted to make up for our recent detour to assist you, a list of possibilities for which I would be happy to provide--our work here might not be entirely done."  Masako stared at her, meaningfully.  She wasn't sure if this would actually work, of course--frankly, her guess would be that it wouldn't--but if it failed correctly that was interesting on its own.  And if it worked, she naturally had a list of Stuff She Could Shake Out Of Remilia in mind.  "I alone have dozens of questions, and it might be wise to conduct a search to ensure no other dangerous artifacts related to the investigation are located here."