Marisa Kirisame sat at her desk, scribbling notes on a piece of paper. Today's findings hadn't been particularly interesting. She didn't get to do much experimenting with the mushrooms found in the forest, and all the opponents she challenged used Spell Cards she had seen before. If she had to hear another idiot yell "Icicle Fall," Marisa thought she might explode.
As she scrawled down her last note - Reimu's Fantasy Seals are still hard to understand - she set down her pen, clutching her aching wrist. She used one hand to take off her witch hat and put it on the desk, while she stretched the other one, trying to ease the pain from gripping the pen for so long. Then she untied the purple ribbon in her hair and tied it back up around the desk's leg. Finally, free of her earthly burdens for the night, she tiredly marched over to the bed.
Too tired to change, Marisa thought. Must sleep in dress... Must stop thinking without grammar...
Marisa crawled into her bed, still wearing her black dress, yet becoming still rather fast, though she wasn't asleep yet. Actually, she was feeling kind of restless, somehow. She looked out the window. The stars were shining brightly, glittering brightly, as if calling to her. Marisa always loved the stars. After a few seconds, though, she felt her eyes closing, so she just let the image of the calling stars stay in her mind.
"I hope tomorrow is more interesting," Marisa said to herself. She let her thoughts wander for a while as she tried to fall asleep. She thought maybe she'd go to Alice's tomorrow. She and Alice hadn't fought in a while, so she felt like dropping by to see if the girl had picked up any new tricks.
Hmm, maybe we could go to the shrine, too, Marisa thought. Reimu said something about getting more tea. That girl drinks a lot of tea... We should monitor her intake.
Soon, Marisa felt herself losing consciousness as the night grew on. A dream started to fill her head. One where she was flying on her broom, when suddenly Yukari showed up next to her with a kazoo and started playing in her ear. Dream Marisa calmly reached for her Mini-Hakkero.
Around that time, a somewhat different scene was happening somewhere else in the Forest of Magic. Alice Margatroid was watching her dolls finish washing the dishes. Some might wonder why she bothered with the dolls. She had to control their every move anyway, but even so, the extra concentration took off a lot of time. It allowed her to stay up late reading without having to worry about cleaning for hours.
As they finished up, she had Shanghai take off her headband while Hourai prepared her some pajamas. Alice sighed contentedly as she changed into them, hanging up her long, blue dress. Today had been good. Quiet. She was able to get through a lot of reading in some of her newer books and make a few more dolls. However, as the night went on, something began troubling her. She was beginning to sense a presence in the air. A presence that felt... unfamiliar to her, as if her mind was being filled with... something. She didn't understand what she was feeling, just that something was around her, doing something. It reminded her of the days of the Oni Night Parades.
The presence didn't feel hostile, really, but it still left her with discomfort. It wasn't even that strong, really. She could barely sense it. Still, it troubled her. She didn't want to have to wind up dealing with some fairy's antics or something.
She looked at Shanghai, who she had moved next to her bed, and said "I'm probably worrying too much, right? It's probably nothing."
Shanghai nodded back to her emphatically, her blonde hair swishing.
"Then again, it's easy to find people to agree with when you're surrounded by your own dolls."
Shanghai nodded again, less energetically.
I need to get out more...
Alice let herself drift into a dreamless sleep, a sleep where the presence poking around in her head seemed like it was a world away.
Someplace else in Gensokyo, another soul stirred. Yukari Yakumo. She was standing in the middle of a field, her gaudy white dress billowing around her, parasol in hand. She was troubled. She had started noticing a strange presence in the air. The very same one that Alice had been feeling. However, unlike Alice, Yukari was familiar with it.
Yukari stood a moment, looking up at the stars, as if somehow they could tell her what to do. She wished they could. Somehow she thought the stars might be wise.
Yukari then called for her shikigami. "Ran!" The fox youkai, clad in a white dress less overdone than that of her master, came to her in a few moments.
"Yes, Lady Yukari?"
"I'm going out tomorrow. There are a few very urgent things I need to take care of."
Ran chuckled. "Are you planning some dastardly deed again?"
"No... Something else has come up..." Yukari stopped talking then, as if the conversation was over. A beat later and Ran seemed to know that it was. She scurried away.
Yukari took a second to think, looking at the purple fabric down the middle of her dress. This violet was supposed to symbolize her strength, but now, she was beginning to feel helplessness creeping up on her. She looked around in her gaps, trying to gather as much as she could about what was happening without peeking too deeply. The nature of the presence she felt poking through her brain was all too familiar, and she knew that the faster she moved, the better.
I have some people I need to talk to tomorrow...
A girl sat down on her bed. The girl was looking up at the ceiling. Whatever those people had done worked. She could feel her power extending, reaching farther in every direction. She was still unable to use her ability on those people, and she didn't know why, but to her it felt like a breath of fresh air. Maybe these people wouldn't revile her like the rest of the world.
Those people... they confused the girl who sat in her bed that night. She didn't understand them, not at all, but she didn't care. She just wanted their help, no matter what. Still, she was concerned. She felt she might not be able to sleep tonight.
She sensed people approaching. Not long later, a hand was knocking on her door. "Come in," she called. The door open and two more girls stepped in.
"Are you feeling alright?" One of them asked. "You went to bed so early."
That's right... I haven't told them yet. I probably shouldn't. I don't want to disturb them.
"I'm alright," she told them. "I just had trouble sleeping last night."
"And we know how much you need your sleep," the second visitor said. "Go to bed then."
"Don't be rude," the first visitor said.
"No, it's fine. I really should turn the lights off and lie down." If I can sleep, she thought.
"Ok. Good night, Lady Satori."
"Good night."
Satori looked up at the ceiling again. She felt her power extending. She was reaching into minds, farther and farther away. It wasn't pleasant, and she probably couldn't sleep tonight. Still, so long as it helped. Then she could stop the whole thing or something. She really hadn't thought it through yet, which worried her. What if this turned into something bad? Still, the youkai above hated her. She could stand to retaliate a bit, even if it was cruel. Besides, if it got bad, she could just back out.
The girl sitting in her bed closed her eyes. Things had become quieter over the hours. There were less thoughts running wild as people began to sleep. It was odd. So many people sleeping at once. Even the youkai. She could even count the number of people left awake. "Four lie awake on the last night..."
