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

[ElfCollaborator]

"For all I know, the circus clown who brought us all here's a Big Brother fan who just wants to see us all dance like a bunch of damn puppets so he and his friends can have fun, given some of the people you haven't even met yet. And no, I didn't mean back home, I meant here. Besides, getting you approved for employment would be a nightmare. You don't even have a minimum of thirty years interning in a proper department, and getting a robot work insurance would be a nightmare."

[AzyWng]

“Very well, then. I’ll assist in any way I can, Miss Powderbelle. Thank you for your time.”

 

And with that, IP seemed like it was done talking for the time being, turning its attention to Patchouli and the discussion about artifacts.

[Lucky Lulu]

Masako, meanwhile, was thinking.  Sure, she'd ignored Patchouli's warning for a little, but her rapid return after what looked like some trashy wizard romance novel verbally threatened to eat her wings had given her the opportunity to overhear the magician's claims.  Certainly, it raised some interesting questions.  Possibly, even, a new avenue of investigation.  Though from what they'd learned so far...

 

"There's definitely weirder stuff here," she mused.  Goodness knows her past investigations and recent incidents were pretty messed up.  "But the evidence doesn't suggest that this is a local artifact.  One way or another, it's a new arrival--or at least, a new creation--and someone or something is PROBABLY guilty of dropping it here for some reason.  Someone always is.  Why?  THAT'S a little trickier.  BUT we just need to do a little more hunting, and it should be easy to piece together the answer."

"You-"  She jabbed her finger at Patchouli, to the point of outright prodding her in the forehead.  "-said these things would probably respond to aquatic creatures, right?  Because if so, I know several people who we could kidna...  conscri...  investigate."

Edited September 28, 2019 by Lucky Lulu

[Chevaleresse]

Patchouli was physically knocked backward slightly by the gesture, and one of the tomes emitted an ominous-sounding hum (that sounded vaguely familiar) before Meiling shot her a look. Patchouli shot one back, Meiling replied in kind once more, and Patchouli elected to rub her forehead where she'd been poked. "Your tengu friend is unfortunately correct. This magic does't share any similarities in structure to anything I've seen in Gensokyo." She glanced at LOTUS, tone becoming less irritated as she continued. "That unfamiliarity is also why I could not tell you if this is corrupted or not. None of the energies within it are familiar to me, so I could not distinguish between the two distinct structures without intensive study. Other than the seal, of course, which is of a quality and subtlety that only a few in Gensokyo could manage. That, and they are quite old; any corruption I did find could simply be the result of spellwork degrading over time. Tread with caution." 

 

"Well, that's. . . alarming. But honestly, with all the stuff that goes on here? It'll probably be all blown over in a week or something." Meiling shrugged, then started to move towards the nearest set of doors, before Patchouli spoke again.

 

 "I'm not so sure. Nobody has seen Hakurei recently."

 

"Because she's dealing with the incident."

 

 "Perhaps. . ."

 

While the other two spoke, Sakuya pulled Empi aside for a moment. "Could I ask a favor of you? And your group, I suppose, though you are already doing more than I would expect. If you can find one of these inhalers, could you bring it here? I'm not familiar with pharmacy, but if you don't know where else to find one, Eirin Yagokoro at Eientei might be able to formulate it." 

 

"Anyway, if there is this much going on, we should probably get moving. It's bad enough that I let a bunch of strangers in here, let alone let them loiter around in the house as long as they felt." 

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi scratches her head. She didn't quite envision adding 'dispensary' to the increasing amount of odd, non-matchmaking related roles she was already taking up.
"Sure, I guess I'll do that. I'm not convinced we'll find one if your buddy didn't even know what the things were around this place, but if we pass by Eientei, wherever that is, when we're sorting out how to prevent your, uh, country, I assume, from taking more alien wing-wong than it wants to, then I'll look that Yagokoro lady up."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

Once more, Walmond had fallen silent as she took in the events unfolding in front of her. Or at least, that was what she would've said, if not for the fact that her focus had simply wandered off. At the very least, it returned in time for Patchouli to speak. That was, more or less, all Walmond needed to listen to. She thought at least. Hopefully.

 

"Thank you for the word of caution, Miss Patchouli, but a quick question, if you would. Is this library open for impromptu research?" the scientist asked aloud before turning towards the librarian, holding her chin as her eyes went from idle scanning to direct focus, "There's some theories I'd like to investigate, and with a library this size and of this nature, there's a good possibility of something being here that could help me."

[Powder Miner]

The AI-turned-fairy let out a "hmm", a little disappointed. "It sounds like we've exhausted the opportunities we currently can find here -- in that case, yes, we should certainly get moving. I suppose that our most immediate lead would be," and here there was a sigh, "the aquatic people that Masako knows. I... suppose... that we should follow her lead for now, at least until we find a concrete lead to pursue that will allow us to find some wider-ranging understanding and a solution to these artifacts. Operating with little information and little basis for strategy is not what I would prefer to be doing, and I certainly don't want to try and completely run blindly into this situation."

 

Isobel crossed her arms, also in thought. "Masako, I'd like to ask that you approach who you would think would be the most willing to work with us, first. I want to avoid getting into an unnecessary fight if I have to. It seems... honestly worryingly viable to just fight people and then work with them, here, but if we can avoid causing pain to everyone involved, it would be a lot better."

[kj1225]

Rory gives Masako and Isobel a confused look. "Uh, weren't we trying to help Miss Maid get her job back? At the rate things have been going we could probably go in any direction and find whoever we're looking for next but I'd feel bad if someone was out of work just because we didn't help."

[AzyWng]

IP nods at Rory's concern. "It would be remiss of us to ignore the problems of others, even if they are not directly related to our own mission."

[Powder Miner]

"This really does not seem like a priority to me. Considering that we are dealing with a Trespasser incursion in all likelihood, we can't waste our time running around and performing secondary objectives. If all goes well, we can just go back and do it later, can't we? We wouldn't want to run out of time to save this place from Trespassers just for compassion's sake, would we? We have to keep efficiency in mind, here." The fairy in Isobel's pocket crossed her arms, looking out at the rest of the group perhaps somewhat challengingly, only for a sigh to sound out above her.

 

"...right. My apologies.I think we're going to be perfectly fine helping her out, LOTUS. I know that you want to get the mission done, but wouldn't it be helpful to make friends who can help us along the way? Besides, if it really is these artifacts just getting spread around, and if we've already got two of them under control, I think this means that if it is Trespassers involved, they're doing things kind of indirectly and in kind of a limited way. So, well, I think we've got time to get this taken care of." Isobel now looked up at Sakuya. "How would we actually go about it, though? Are we going to go up and try to talk to your boss?"

[Lucky Lulu]

"Oh, don't be silly.  She'll be fine."  Masako waved her hand dismissively.  "Her boss will probably hire her back in about five minutes once she realizes she only has fairies and hobgoblins and China around to serve tea, and if someone trying to stab her (Scarlet really ought to be used to people trying to stab her by now) is enough to stop her, then she has bigger issues.  Besides, none of this is my problem, and it's not like there's anything worth the time of Gensokyo's finest here to distract from the bigger issue.  Unless..."

 

She paused, considering.  She COULD probably rummage through Remilia's stuff to solve a few unrelated questions.  Maybe if the others dragged her along.

 

"Anyway-"  The tengu leaned back in the air, resting her hands behind her head as she floated along.  "I don't know what you're so worried about; kappa are pretty easy to bul- talk into working with you.  Or with me, anyway, since we have a few agreements going.  Even if we did need to beat them up, it'd only be a little bit.  And if we run into some other tengu by the mountain, so much the better, since I'm sure everyone who's been stuck at home has heard something about it by now."

[Chevaleresse]

"Eientei is in the Bamboo Forest, not far from the human village. And. . . thank you." She returned her attention to the discussion the rest of the group seemed to be having. The maid nodded at Isobel's question. "Unless you have a better idea. You know more about these things than we do; your group is in the best position to voice for me." Meiling, meanwhile, was giving Masako a bit of a glare after being called "China" (or perhaps it was the slight around her tea-serving skills; Meiling happened to quite enjoy brewing, serving, and consuming the beverage.) 

 

"If this is really the plan, I should come with. Remilia is. . . perturbed. . . and would likely feel threatened by a group of armed strangers appearing suddenly in her house." The magician was confident that their combined power did not exceed that of her and Meiling, of course, especially if a fight were to break out in the library, but Sakuya was quite strong, and Remilia was aware of this. 

 

"I should come with too. Though, Patchouli, you have to know that Marisa is going to 'borrow' something while we're both occupied." The response was simply a long-suffering sigh with a small coughing fit following. "Well, if there are more of these things, we probably shouldn't waste any more time." Meiling gave Patchouli a last glance of concern, and as the indoorsy librarian seemed to be recovering, she started towards another large set of doors, which swung open with a light touch. "This way. And again, please don't wander around or poke anything."

 

The walk through the Scarlet Devil Mansion was interesting. It by and large looked like one might expect, with that grim and regal feeling that fit a vampire lord's castle perfectly. At one point, they passed a set of paintings that seemed to depict a man some would recognize as Vlad III, and immediately next to it one of a girl looking about twelve. It looked like the girl was doing her best to imitate the painting's expression, but otherwise there didn't seem to be much resemblance; she had light blue hair and red eyes. The group made their way into a large hall seemingly meant to serve to receive audiences, or not-so-close friends; Meiling looked mildly annoyed that it stood empty save for a fairy in a maid outfit taking a duster to a table in it (which seemed to be doing more harm than good.) They eventually traveled into a room dominated by the large staircase in the middle, and the equally large stained glass window. The second floor seemed to serve as a sort of frame for the whole scene. Dark reds dominated the window, which seemed to depict the same girl as the painting earlier as well as another girl, slightly taller and blonde but with the same scarlet eyes, with what could have been a pair of wings if it didn't look like a string of crystals sprouting from her back. 

 

Meiling lead the group past the questionable architectural choice (given the owner of the house) and around a walkway which gave a different, but still excellent view of the window. A smaller but still slightly excessively ornate set of doors (part of their excessiveness being that they were a double door for what was clearly a one-person portal) was their apparent destination. The gate guard sighed, then knocked on the door. A muffled voice sounded from within. "Is Sakuya gone?"

 

Another sigh. "No, Sakuya is not gone. You have visitors."

 

"Visitors!? Send them away! Why did you bring visitors to my bedroom!?!?" The voice, already fairly high pitched, turns shrill.

 

"Because you bolted here and wouldn't come out."

 

"I. . . It doesn't matter, get rid of them! How am I supposed to trust random strangers? Or are you trying to stake me too, huh?"

 

Meiling rolls her eyes at the door, then looks at the group with a look that said something along the lines of "do you see what I have to deal with?"

[kj1225]

Rory rolls her eyes at the door before looking aside to the redheaded guard. "Is she always like this? Because I thought if nothing else the rich had enough pride to not just hide in their room because of a little scare... _{Shouldn't have expected much though I suppose.}"

[AzyWng]

"Rory, please be civil. Even though I cannot see her, it is obvious Lady Scarlet is under intense emotional distress. Insulting her seems... rather unhelpful."

 

Turning to the door, the gynoid called out to the voice inside the room. "Please forgive her for her... reaction. She is Rory. I am Instructor Prototype, but you may also call me 'IP'. My colleagues and I are here on important business that involves the incident regarding your maid Sakuya's... behavior."

 

Turning to the other members of the party IP then asked, - "I believe you would be better suited for explaining the discoveries that were made?"

Edited November 1, 2019 by AzyWng

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi was, the whole time, hiding a snicker.
"....please....please don't tell me that was your actual boss. Was that her? ...then again, I shouldn't laugh, considering even the tiny midget fairies wanted a piece of us like not even a minute after we flew into that forest we went through."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Walmond

 

"Empi, please. Fear of strangers is natural when one of your workers recently tried to kill you" Walmond commented before stepping forward and clearing her throat, "Miss Scarlet, I am Walmond Reigard. My companions and I are currently tasked with dealing with a new problem that has affected this land. Part of that problem found its way to your mansion, resulting in your maid's sudden shift in personality. The cause of this was a piece of an artifact that we had also found with one Marisa Kirisame, if you know of that name. The artifacts warp the holder's mind, and eventually their body, if they are not of a proper bloodline in exchange for power, and as we've experienced so far, this change of personality generally leads to aggressiveness. However, separating the artifacts from their holder has so far shown to quickly remove the influence, and both relics are currently sealed.

 

... Which means that your maid is far less inclined to stake your heart" the scientist explained, pausing after her final sentence in order to let Remilia, or anyone else, speak. Mostly Remilia, but he had never been too good with sharing his discoveries with speaking.

[Chevaleresse]

"Remilia is upset. Don't be an ass." The profanity sounded distinctly odd coming out of the maid's mouth, as if it was shaped oddly. If anything, though, it just added to the impact.

 

"Seconded. I don't know what kind of. . . weird tragic backstory you're bringing in, or something, but can you make fun of my boss when she's not in earshot, at least?" Not that she didn't agree, to an extent - Remilia could be. . . capricious. . .at times. "Also, is it really that weird to get attacked by fairies? I swear I have to kill a dozen every time I get groceries." 

 

"Remilia, as far as I can tell, she is correct. These people seem to be experienced in these matters, and my research at least lines up with her conclusions." 

 

"How am I supposed to know it's not messing with all of you too, huh!?" 

 

"Remi, you're being irrational, can you PLEASE just-"

 

"Go away! And don't call me that in front of strangers!" All three of the heiress's employees sighed in unison.

 

"I'm going in." 

 

"She won't appreciate that."

 

"I don't have a better solution." 

 

"Well, asking permission isn't working. . ." The gate guard cracked her knuckes and stepped back from the door. 

 

"Must you destroy another part of the house? You seem to have misunderstood what a guard-"

 

"JAOOOOO-O!" Meiling abruptly dropped into a powerful stance and struck the door with a powerful palm strike, causing the unfortunate portal to liberate itself from its hinges immediately and slam into the far wall, sailing directly over the head of what appeared to be a very spooked ten year old in the process. It seemed to stick where it struck for a moment before sliding down in a nearly comical fashion. Said individual would have looked familiar had one paid any attention to the various paintings they'd encountered; it was difficult to mistake pale blue hair and red eyes. 

 

"AAAH! Meiling's attacking me too! Sakuya, save meeeee!" She skittered backward on the bed, then spun and leapt off of the edge with a flap of the bat wings protruding from her back. It seemed as if she was going for where the door had come to rest on the wall, at least until she apparently processed that it was not, in fact, an exit, at which point she vanished behind the (rather oversized) bed frame, save for the top of her mob cap peeking above the headboard.

[AzyWng]

Upon seeing Meiling's strike, IP quickly stepped through the now open doorway, hands raised in a "Don't shoot" gesture. "Lady Scarlet. I understand that this is a stressful situation for you, but you must understand that we do not intend to harm you. If we did, I would not currently be speaking to you. If you wish for me to disarm as an act of good faith, I will, but know that we are not your enemies."

[kj1225]

When the word "destroy" had left the maids mouth, Rory thought it would be wise to step away from the red headed door guard. She didn't know just what they would do, but both his own world and the previous experiences she'd had with people on this one had taught Rory that typically if someone is going to do something best described as "destroying" it likely would work out. The following strike and subsequent flight of the door only served to reinforce that idea. This of course, didn't mean that Rory wasn't impressed, rather the genderbent snake faunus was rather astonished looking between the door and Meiling with a shocked expression, which soon turned to a look of obvious appraisal as Rory very obviously looked the woman over, trying to see if there was any hint as to whether that was all natural or some form of semblance or dust based ability.

[Powder Miner]

Isobel gave Rory something of a hooded-eyed look as she prepared to enter the situation: "I haven't said anything during your scrapping with LOTUS because I feel it makes sense to get furious with him, but I think it's best that you not try to talk to her -- you have a way of insulting people that's already causing more grief than we really want to deal with." Isobel turned and jabbed a finger at Empi. "This applies to you too, Empi. We do NOT need the smug peanut gallery here." With a sigh, Isobel then turned away from the two she was admonishing, and then walked towards the doorway. "Do you mind if I take your place, IP? I'm probably one of the two least threatening people here, all things considered. And, ah, take these too, will you?" Isobel handed IP her hatchet, apron, satchel, green bag, and her Mar-made wrist chainshot, which put her in a position of having just her jumpsuit on, making it fairly clear she wasn't concealing any weapons, and which did show that her build was not exactly one of a powerful fighter.

 

LOTUS crossed her arms and climbed onto Isobel's shoulder, opening her mouth only to be interrupted by Isobel. "I do not advise remov--"

 

"Ah-- you should probably stay quiet too, LOTUS, I can only imagine you'll aggravate Miss Scarlet as well."

 

"I wouldn't be aggravating if people were l--"

 

"But you are, just for this one moment please be quiet." This last reply just caused LOTUS to scoff and then kind of just sit there and simmer, seeing as she still hadn't mastered flying.

 

With that accomplished, Isobel stepped into the room. "Hey, look, not only won't we hurt you, but I couldn't even if I wanted to -- I can't really fight at all, I'm honestly just a botanist and I definitely get scared of this stuff sometimes too. But we're here to help! These artifacts are pretty nasty, probably come from things that are really really nasty, and we're just helping to get rid of them before they can hurt people any more than they already have. Doesn't that sound fine?"

[AzyWng]

"Very well. If either of you require assistance, do not hesitate to ask for help. And one request: May I speak to the two of you later? I have a number of questions I would like to ask." Instructor asked as it accepted the weapons and equipment, examining the items it had been handed as it walked out of the room.

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi shrugs at Isobel, leaving her to it. Girl had a point, anyway, not that Empi was going to feel particularly guilty about it at the moment.

Okay, maybe a little guilty. She hadn't QUITE deserved Empi making fun of her.

[Lucky Lulu]

Isobel, though, had made a potentially fatal mistake.  So concerned was she with telling off Rory, Empi, and Lotus, that she forgot the biggest (metaphorically and metaphysically) problem in the room.

 

Fortunately, she would quickly be reminded.

 

"Oh, this is plainly silly."  The tengu landed sharply atop the cap of the vampire, in full defiance of literally everyone in sight.  She leaned over, hands on her hips and wings flapping to stabilize herself in the face of any flailing, glaring down at the Scarlet Devil herself.  "And shameful!  You really call yourself a youkai, hiding back here from humans like that?  Where's your pride?  Your charisma?  Did you lose it?  Or did someone steal it?  Because, if so-"

Masako reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her business cards, which she promptly jammed into Remilia's face.

 

"Chichimura Masako, Gensokyo's finest detective (accept no substitutes!), is on the case!  And, remarkably-"

The tengu straightened back up, a smug expression as she lit her pipe once more, giving it a pointed puff.

"-I have already deduced a solution to the crime, as my assistants have already explained.  Now hurry up, stop embarrassing yourself (and ME, frankly!), and re-hire Izayoi so I can take my commission and go do something else."

[Chevaleresse]

Rory's inspection doesn't reveal much at first. No obvious aura or semblance ability - but at the same time, the power and precision of the strike was clearly in excess of what a human could achieve without some kind of supernatural means. Looking a bit closer. . . she still doesn't see much, but there's the smallest itch in the back of her mind, a feeling of something distinctly non-human and powerful at that. Of course, Meiling barely noticed the look, being more concerned with satisfaction at her own strike, followed by realization that she would have to clean up the aftermath, followed by continuing exasperation that it was necessary in the first place. 

 

Isobel's approach seemed to work at first. The hat slowly rose up to reveal blue bangs and then a suspicious set of red eyes evidently belonging to the mistress of the house. A look that looked alarmingly like a cat spotting a mouse flitted across them for a moment, incongruous on her innocent-looking face, until the even-more-incongruous action of a tengu landing upon her frilly cap offered a rather decisive distraction. While Remilia squawked irritably and immediately began to wave her arms at Masako as she rattled off her spiel, Sakuya approached and pulled Isobel slightly to the side. "You may want to be slightly more careful. As an outside human, you aren't protected by the agreements of Gensokyo."

 

Patchouli, meanwhile, just watched the scene unfold, expression unreadable. 

 

Masako eventually found herself forcibly removed from Remilia's head, not by the gate guard as she may have expected, but by a rather startlingly strong grip on her leg by the mistress herself. A switch seemed to have occurred in her demeanor; while she hadn't physically grown in height (though the detective still hadn't found anything to solidly rule that ability out,) she seemed larger and more imposing. She found herself decisively set down (if by "set down" one meant "unceremoniously tossed," though likely not quite hard enough that a tengu wouldn't be able to right herself) as Remilia spoke. "Enough! I am Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil! You will not use my head as a perch or invade my bedroom! Sakuya!" The vampiress paused for a moment, realizing the decision she'd already made - which was enough to get her to change the following one. ". . . Please remove my 'guests' to the tea room." She took a deep breath. "I will be down momentarily." 

 

The maid raised an eyebrow, but elected not to push Remilia any further at the moment.  "Thank you, Mistress Scarlet." She gestured out the door.  "If you will?" Meiling stayed behind as Sakuya herded everyone out of the group and into the cavernous halls of the mansion once again, hefting the (visibly quite thick and presumably heavy) door and setting it in place while a gaggle of fairies in maid outfits approached around the corner carrying various tools and fasteners, most of which did not appear to be appropriate for the job. Patchouli, patently uninterested in home repair, elected to tag along with the group, falling in somewhat near Walmond and Lambda. 

[AzyWng]

IP seemed somewhat confused by Masako's... course of action.

 

"You are the leader of this group, then? I would have expected a more... professional approach to negotiations than what you did back there."