Author's Notes: oh god i'm writing why am i writing i hate dreams
Reimu and Marisa glanced nervously at each other. Tension(and electricity) filled the air, raising the hair on the back of their necks. Black clouds loomed overhead, and the sky goddess looked, no, glared down at them. Even though her avatar stood on the ground, she did not use her mouth to speak. The blue and white shrine maiden stood across from the two, next to her goddess.
"You two!" shrieked the sky. "Are you here to harass my Sanae again?"
"Talking to gods... let me do it," Reimu whispered to Marisa.
"Twice have you come up my mountain," boomed the thunderclouds. "Each time, you've attacked her!"
"Well, to be fair, she attacked us the second time, saying something ridiculous like 'You can't let yourself be trapped in common sense in Gensokyo!'"
The sky roared back, "Clearly she was shocked by your first attack!"
Reimu tried to reply, but Marisa had covered her mouth by then. "My dear lady," she said, flashing a flawless grin, "I'd like to rectify that." Turning her grin on Sanae, she continued. "Sanae, let me take you out," she said with nary a wink.
The sky cleared up, and for the first time Kanako's avatar reacted. She blinked twice and turned to look at the young girl standing next to her.
"Wh-wh-what?" said the green-haired girl, blushing furiously. "I don't know what it's like here in Gensokyo, but I d-"
"No, no, no, my dear! You misunderstand me, although that idea is not terrible," continued Marisa, smiling pleasantly and ignoring Reimu's glare. "We realize that prior experiences," with this, she looked towards Kanako "may have clouded your view of our fair land."
The goddess looked back and forth between Sanae and Marisa, but didn't say anything. Taking this as approval, Marisa continued. "So Reimu, charming girl that she is, wanted to show you around Gensokyo, to expand your view of the world."
"It's not like I spend all my time in the shrine," Sanae said, frowning. "It's not like I'm an introvert or anything."
"No, no, no," said Reimu, frowning. "There's a difference between going around and trying to gather faith in your shrine and going out and really meeting people. They treat you differently when you're doing that sort of thing."
"I'm really not too sure about this."
Marisa smiled warmly, and walked forward. Sanae took a step back, raising her gohei defensively. "Stay back!" she said, frowning. Kanako took a step forward, between the witch and shrine maiden.
The witch just looked up and continued to smile. "Don't worry, Kanako," she said, addressing the goddess by name. She continued to walk forward.
Kanako bristled at the idea of a mere human talking to her like this. The sky darkened again, and she stepped towards where the witch had been.
But Marisa was no longer there. "H-h-how did yo-" shried Sanae, and Kanako turned to her shrine maiden.
Marisa had reached her arm around Sanae's back, holding her warmly. Ignoring Sanae's question, she walked, gently pulling her along. She leaned over, whispering quietly in her ear. The two girls walked to the border of the shrine, to the peak of the Youkai Mountain. She gestured out towards the horizon, pulling Sanae closer to her. "This, Sanae! This is our beautiful land, full of wonderful, beautiful people. There are sights, sounds, and smells out there, every one exquisite in its own way. It is almost a crime, certainly a pity, to not go out and experience it all."
Sanae looked over the sprawling land of Gensokyo, then over to the golden eyes and the brilliant grin under the hat.
Marisa gave her one more squeeze. "How about it, Sanae?"
"I... I'm not sure.."
"I've got approval from your goddess," Marisa said, looking back at the shrine.
"What?" shrieked the sky god, eyes flashing.
"No, no," said a new voice. "She means me."
Reimu yelped and jumped to her feet as the rock she'd been sitting on sprouted a pair of grinning eyes. Thusly unburdened, the rock rose into the air atop a similarly smiling face. "How else do you think she got around you earlier?" asked the earth goddess. Taking on a motherly tone, Suwako continued. "Sanae, go with these two. The shrine can manage without you for a little bit, and the most important thing is to know your place and your neighbors."
Kanako glared at the woman who had subverted her, but was startled by a flash of movement from the red and white shrine maiden. Reimu made a quick somersault over the sky goddess, landing next to Sanae and Marisa. "Well, well," she said, smiling pleasantly back at the two gods. "Looks like there are no objections. Let's go, girls."
Grabbing Sanae by the shoulders, Reimu leapt off the cliff and flew towards the lowlands of Gensokyo. Marisa turned back and smiled once more at the goddesses. Waving her broom, she shouted back, "Don't worry, Reimu and I are mostly good girls." With that, the tail end of her broom ignited and she took off into the sky, quickly catching up to the two shrine maidens.
"My my, this is going to be interesting," Remilia Scarlet said to nobody in particular. She made her way down to the library, slamming open the doors as she went.
Barely looking up from her book, the librarian still managed to acknowledge the vampire. "This is a rare, albeit noisy sight. What brings you down here, friend?"
"What's with the funny talk? Besides, it's not like I never come down here. It's been a few days at most."
"A few days makes you a pretty rare sight if we live in the same house."
"Maybe it's because I always have to come to you."
"Maybe that's because there's nothing interesting upstairs."
"Oh ho ho ho! That, friend, is where you're wrong." The vampire hovered in the air, looking down on Patchouli. "Miss Knowledge, I've got some pertinent information for you. Some juicy, wonderful information for you."
"Is Sakuya making flan for dessert?"
"Information that doesn't pertain to your sweet tooth."
"Oh, then something relevant with your fate ability, then?"
"That's a pretty big jump in seriousness."
"Well, you have to aim for the stars."
"Pretty good aim, Patchy. I've seen that it's probably a good idea for you to go to Youkai mountain. Something important will be waiting for you up there."
"Hmm." Patchouli looked at her friend, magically manipulating the air infront of her eyes to provide greater clarity. Years of living with the impulsive, mischievous vampire had made Patchouli a master at figuring out when the vampire was and was not being serious. It was a point of pride for her that she could read her friend better than even the head maid could.
Today, Remilia was being perfectly honest.
"Doesn't seem like bad news. Still, did it have to be all the way at the top of the mountain?"
"Sorry, but that's fate for you. You're pretty slow, so you should probably get going soon."
"I'm not that slow," the magician fumed. "Still, it's good to take a relaxed pace, so I suppose I might as well head out early."
"Do you want an escort?"
"No, no, I'll be fine by myself. Besides, I'm sure that you'll see if I'm in danger and come rushing to my rescue." The magician smiled, and started to tidy up her reading area.
"You directly subverted me." said Kanako.
"Yeah, pretty much." replied Suwako.
"When did you even arrive?"
"You love theatrics too much, so it was pretty easy to sneak up on you guys."
"Do you really think this was a good idea? We haven't exactly been the nicest to the people in Gensokyo so far."
"You mean you haven't been the nicest, right?"
"Regardless, we probably don't have the most credit right now."
"Those two girls she's with, and Sanae herself, I think, should be able to smooth that over. It'll be good for the Moriya Shrine to be doing something other than subverting the natural order of Gensokyo."
"Still, I worry for her."
"Me too, Kanako."
"Oh ho ho, pretty slow today, aren't you?"
Marisa slowed as she caught up with the shrine maidens. Keeping pace, she waved to Sanae.
"It's not my fault, I've got to carry her!" Reimu shot back, hoisting her arms, which she had hooked under Sanae's armpits, for emphasis.
Sanae blushed and wriggled free. "I can fly on my own, you know."
"That's good, that's good," said Marisa. "Well then, where to first?"
Author's Notes: Well there's a prologue. Where to first?