Lucky Lulu

The bird seemed about to insist that yes, absolutely, she was definitely above it and it was impolite to continue disproving that assertion, when she was silenced by her perch proceeding to smack her in the side. She'd proceeded to glare down at it and consider giving it a good kick in return, but--given the lack of a Yukari to look down upon, and the rapidly approaching frame of a door that threatened to knock her on her rear--thought better of it and merely grumbled something about not standing where someone else who needed the spot could very easily stand on you before hopping off. Which

"Well, maybe if I was a human, but it hardly justifies tossing ME this way and that." Masako huffed, blatantly ignoring the rather loud protestations from somewhere off to the side. "She's interfered with TWO investigations now in two separate realms of existence. Who will resolve the Case of the Missing Dango now, I ask you? Certainly not me; that case was time sensitive. I have a reputation to uphold. and I don't want it to go from 'most spirited detective in Gensokyo' to 'most spirited-away detective in Gensokyo.' I already got a stack of business cards, and the printers charge by let

FWUMP. Masako had, moments before, been taking advantage of the end of her conversation to continue her exploration of the castle in which she'd been unceremoniously tossed. Making rather good progress at it, at that! She'd just managed to uncover what looked like some sort of magical control device to something rather important, and was well one her way towards uncovering its function by way of logical deduction; that is, she was hitting buttons to see if something broke and making a judgement based on that. There had been a rather intellectually satisfying/non-intellectually horrible s

"Dunno anything about all that," Masako added, after a moment's consideration. "I think she just said it was something to do with defending communism, whatever that's supposed to be. It didn't seem all that important." The tengu shrugged. "Either way, the Lunarians are still up there, so whatever they did didn't really work. Though they DID probably deserve whatever the humans tried to do."

"Oh, I wouldn't necessarily say that," Masako mused, rather glad to have the topic changed. For now, anyway. She'd definitely have to do a bit of prying later. "They seem like they'd probably still use battleships, if the issue ever came up. Probably not YOU, of course- I think they still hate Americans after that whole thing about them landing their warriors on the surface and invading the Lunar Capital, though I'm still trying to figure out how they managed to do that. Still, the Moriya shrine maiden was pretty insistent that it happened, and she'd know. Guess that Armstrong guy was pre

"I mean, the Gensokyo from five minutes ago isn't the Gensokyo from now, and this seems like one of those weird 'timelines' things you hear some people talk about, so they might be different in a technical sense. But since she obviously recognized some of the people I mentioned one has to assume that it's not THAT different. Heck, maybe the only real difference before this stuff with these 'trespasser' things is something weird like blue being green, or Saigai being there, since I don't remember someone like her being from mine that'd be able to get away from something that could-" Masako

"Are you sure? I don't really know what these trespasser things you people keep talking about are, but I doubt that shrine maiden would be..." The tengu trailed off. It sounded absurd. But the goddess didn't sound like she was lying. Or look like she was making anything up. If anything, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Did she actually, really see something like that? It seemed impossible. Then again... "Er..." She shifted a little. Even if she hadn't, Saigai Mitsurugi remembered seeing... that. And the tengu hadn't the faintest idea how to react. "It's... possibl

"Oh? You're from Gensokyo, too?" She seemed rather pleased. Someone from her own place could probably give her more details on this one. Maybe even tell her how to get back home. And ideally without relying on the whims of some people. "Excellent. I thought there might be someone else, given my means of arrival. I was wondering- Blink. "Wait." Blink blink. "Destruction? That's silly. I know there have been a lot of weird incidents lately, but it's not like they went and dropped the barrier or anything." The tengu straightened herself up, giving the goddess a quizzical

Masako rolled over a little. Enough to fix her eyes on the new arrival. A fairy? Yes, she said as much. "I wouldn't worry about it. Some of them are just like that. Not many, mind, but still. Though I've seen plenty involving both bugs and breasts, so I don't really know what she's complaining about..." She blinked, shook her head, and twisted again, peering at the first of the three she'd seen. "You... Yes, she's definitely a goddess. One of... natural disasters, if I'm any judge. Albeit one without many worshipers." "But..." The girl accepted the hand of the goddess

Chichimura Masako The tengu was lost. Hopelessly lost. Though, as being lost typically required that you had a destination in mind, perhaps she wasn't lost at all. Beyond the whole being lost in time and space... thing. Though as that was well outside her power to resolve as of yet, and was hardly her fault in the first place, she hardly gave THAT notion of personal misplacement any mind. Regardless, she wasn't where she'd IMPLIED she was going, when departing the barracks, though she recalled passing those suites on her way through the halls. She'd lo

Under normal circumstances, a comment like that might have prompted a comment from the tengu. Skepticism, perhaps, that the man could unhinge his jaw before the shy girl with her murderdoll knocked him silly. Or a dry reminder that tengu--and both youkai and non-youkai corvids--ate snakes a good deal more often than the other way around. But she gave neither. She didn't say anything at all. The reason for this soon became quite clear. The birdlike youkai had long since flown her perch. Masako wasn't terribly hungry, at the moment--she'd had a large lunch, earlier--

"Will you?" She sounded as though she were unsure as whether to be pleased or skeptical. It probably didn't matter. Better just to wait for Hiroki to take everyone off and their marvelous multidimensional meal tour or whatever this was supposed to be.

"Given your current situation, anywhere in all of space and time." She seemed serious. This didn't mean she was helpful. "In theory, at least. Most likely whoever it is you're talking about is somewhere in our current dimension." Nope. Still not helpful.

"That's silly," said the tengu. "Absurd, even. You don't get people to swing clubs at trespassers if you don't have access to suitably sized clubs. And you don't have trespassers to swing clubs at if the trespassers don't have reasons to be around to have clubs swinging at them. So neither you or they would be here if YOU were right. Wouldn't be a motive either way." "Not that it's my concern, mind. Sounds like something you'd want to contact your local shrine maiden for. Hardly a mystery worth looking into for me." Unless, of course, there was more to it than that. Masako

"Oh, no, probably not." The girl seemed pretty nonchalant about her dismissal. "You don't really need a consulting detective for a trespassing case, and they're usually too dull for my work anyway. Be better off just hiring someone with a large club. Or-" she amended, quickly. She tended to be accused of trespassing pretty often herself, after all, and didn't want people to start getting ideas. "Don't. It's probably nothing, anyway. Sometimes people just need to get a quick and perfectly innocent look around without permission. Besides, it's not like someone PULLED me here. I was ju

"Interesting." The black-winged girl peered at Rory's face, then gave a satisfied nod. "Perhaps not quite remarkable, but I was still right. Not that I know how to USE that yet, but..." She shook her head and gave a little hum, tapping at the edge of her lips. Behind her, Masako's wings gave a few delicate flaps, carrying her up to the top of a pile of rubble made by her entrance where she could properly sit and have a good think. And there she remained, for a time, staring off at the wall. At least until she managed to distract herself again, peering back down at the hunter.

"Oh, no, don't be absurd. I am a detective. I've never even seen a moving ancient ruin. Except that one time, I guess, but that hardly counts and I wasn't even involved in THAT whole scenario, so it's not like I could have solved it. Not that I couldn't have solved it, mind you! I just wasn't around before someone else did." Masako paused, as though aware she were getting a bit off track. She gave a little cough, waving her hand around before she could start to look embarrassed. "Regardless, I solve practical problems. Where did my cat go? Who committed a murder

She blinked. She blinked again. Slowly, she removed the pipe once more, though she didn't light it this time. Merely nibbled at the bit. That is, until her expression brightened, and she snapped her fingers. "Because both come with inky-black quills. Obviously." She sounded rather pleased with herself. "Though that is HARDLY the sort of puzzle I meant."

"Quite unfortunate," she replied. "Still, that's a matter between you and them." "As for myself-" The girl, apparently, wasn't going to give him so much as a moment to respond to that. "I am but a humble consulting detective. No mystery I can't solve, no puzzle I can't unravel, even when everyone else has long since given up. THAT is me. Chichimura Masako! Finest investigator amongst all the tengu--no, in all of Gensokyo!" There was a bit of a gleam in the girl's eye. Though where Masako's claims of humility came in, who even knew. "Accept no substitutes."

"Ah, well, not alien alien, but also kind of alien alien. Not that it matters, as I meant alien in the sense that-" The tengu paused. She could have SWORN she heard a very loud, clear, rude complaint issued from just beneath her feet. Which was absurd, of course, because she'd just got here, and no one would have had the time to complain about anything related to her as of yet. Unless it happened to be her manner of arrival, which was HARDLY her fault. Not to mention, it would require her to be standing on someone or something capable of speech. She looked down. Stared for a

There was little sound. A faint draw, like an intake of breath, buried beneath Rory's rambling. Nothing worth noticing, nothing worth a moment of attention away from the conversation. But that was what they heard. What all but Rory SAW, however, more than made up for that. A line drawn on the air, ribbons weaving at the ends. The line splitting, growing wider and wider. Opening into a cavern, into a blackened maw, filled with a thousand-thousand eyes, that seemed it might consume everything. Until it stopped, a hole in the boundary between this boundary-place and another, ha

Crowlock Holmes Masako Chichimura CHICHIMURA CASEFILES