I do not own Touhou Project, all characters excluding Duncan are owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice.

An old, new world

Chapter 1

Hello, my name is Duncan, why don't I tell you a little about myself. I live (lived, don't worry about it, I'll explain it later.) In the windy city of Port Elizabeth in sunny South Africa. My sister's a singer, my brother a software architect and my mother a shipping clerk. My youngest sister lived in France, my father had left us, sadly, a few years back after being beaten with the cancer stick and though we didn't live together we were and still are a close family. I had in fact just returned home from living overseas and times were good.

I am the oldest out of four siblings, I turned thirty not too long ago and although being a really nice person (Ha, also pretty good looking,) I felt that besides my family I had no real prospects, maybe I just didn't click with the world and society. I was always very open minded to the possibilities of nature and magic, I guess I also believed that vampires, fairies and many other mythological creatures existed though had hidden themselves (Well back then I believed, now I know.) I was pretty disappointed with how society was getting more and more skeptical of anything interesting and often wished for something to happen to make people realise how little they knew, to no avail.

That's when things changed..

It was a dry, sunny afternoon. Typical weather during summer in Port Elizabeth, I had just finished some design work on my notebook and felt like taking a break in my garden. I love gardening! I am a lover of wild plants and trees and still do to this day, but back to the story at hand, I decided to head down to my shady, fern filled special place. I strolled down the path heading to a stately oak and as I wandered under the branches I started feeling a strange crawling feeling. It was as if my skin was trying to move one way while my body stayed put, not the most pleasant of feelings at all. I blinked and when I looked again the scenery had changed.

I was definitely not standing in my garden anymore, instead trees surrounded me in all directions, ancient lichen painted the branches in a mosaic of greys and greens. Ferns sprouted from moss covered roots and ivy crept up the thick, rugged trunks, making the slow trek up to the sun above. This was not a South African forest, the plants growing here more resembled plants growing specifically in Japan than what you would commonly find in a forest from my part of the world. The forest appeared to be comprised of white birch, the trees so ancient their thick trunks seemed to be hewn from rock. large shelf-like fungi protruded at strange angles from the trunks and dripped with moisture.

While I love forests I felt a little uneasy, a forest like this is never a good place to be when alone, especially considering I was not only alone, but pretty much lost. I noted the light had begun dimming. Lost, alone and with the light fading I had a good idea how stories like this seemed to end so clasping my hands together I prayed. Now I must mention that I believe in the Lord and the Lady, with all of my family roots going back to Cornwall England and the gypsies of Europe, to me it was not surprising that I had gravitated towards The Craft. While others had become increasingly skeptical I had embraced the Lord and upon hearing about the Lady had included her too, I was never as flamboyant about it as other practicioners, but I always felt the Lord and Lady, together protected me and I felt grateful that I could invoke Their guidance.

Looking around I noticed something odd, there appeared to be a ripple in the air, as if the air was slightly more solid just behind me. I found this interesting, could I actually see the energy here this clearly? Where ever this was, the energies seemed a lot more abundant than in my hometown, I felt a surge of excitement and began following the rippling air, the twilight had just set in and I was really starting to sweat when I emerged from the trees and found myself on a road. It wasn't really a road so much as a wide, well trodden path. Thanking my Lord and Lady for their help I pressed on, I could see dim lights about five to ten kilometres ahead of me, it must be a village of some sort I felt and as I thought this, my spirits lifted a bit.

It must have been about ten minutes later when a song hit me, when I say hit I mean hit because at that moment the scenery swam around me before fading into an indeterminable blur. Now in South Africa we have a very special mountain, it is called Table Mountain for the flat top and fog which resembles a table cloth, many people go missing if hiking in the fog so when you are unsure of your surroundings it is always better to stand still. I froze in place and waited, something seemed to come closer it appeared to be shades of pink, brown and white and I knew it was the source of the song.

"Hey you over there!" I yelled, the song stopped and my vision sharpened up rapidly. The song! That must have been why I couldn't see, I had read somewhere before that some frequencies can disrupt certain molecules that allowed for sight, maybe this was what had happened. I looked at the being drifting slowly towards me. It was actually a she, her eyes appeared to glow an incandescent red, pink hair flowed from beneath an odd looking winged bonnet to around shoulder length where it had been cropped short. Two feathery ears protruded from amongst her short tresses. A brown, frilly dress completed the look while a pair of interesting wings beat the air. A youkai, youkai, demon, monster, they all mean the same thing for humans, possible death.

The girl favoured me a smile, but I could tell she was up to no good.

"What exactly do you th-ink you are do-ing?" Asked with a halting voice this question did not convey the sense of being in control I had intended. Her smile grew wider.

"Just flying around, singing, oh and hunting~"

Well, I had guessed as much, the way she said that sounded really arrogant, she knew she was in control here. I did not like my chances, but having seen death in the passing of my father I wasn't about to bolt, that would just be begging her predatory instincts to take over. What could I do? Although I had felt, imagined and believed in magic it had never seemed to work back home, I wasn't sure I could rely on it here so I didn't want to risk it, yet. The only way out of this situation appeared to be barefacing my way out. Looking back she had taken to smirking at me.

"Confident aren't you?" I muttered, her smile turned into a wicked grin displaying perfectly white teeth. if she didn't have so much killing intent emanating off her she would have been just my type, I had an idea. I must confess I am a paradox, I am a nice person but I can appreciate using cold calculated stabs at a person through words if I feel they have wronged me, specifically if it makes someone either feel guilty or just upsets them, I'm not proud of this side of me, but for survival situations (Like now being a good example) at times I am. 'She knows she is cute, judging from her singing she obviously likes her own voice and from her bearing and attitude she will not be expecting an emotional attack. On the other hand though trying something like this could get me killed, but either way it seems like the outcome is the same.' These thoughts raced through my mind as I weighed up my options.

I sighed; "You know, you are not as cute as you think you are." The result was instantaneous, she glowered at me and her talons extended menacingly. She obviously did not like her looks being brought into question. "Do you have any friends?" She nodded and a pleased look started working its way onto her face.

"Yes~ Wriggle-san, the queen of insects~"

I nodded closing my eyes in thought; "Oh yes, another youkai right? I thought as much, I guess it would be impossible for someone like you to have friends outside their race." She flinched at that, her eyes dimming until they had taken on a silver hue, 'pretty eyes.' She appeared to be flexing her talons. "I mean it makes sense that you would not have human friends, I wonder if you even have a special person, you probably hunt down any people who might consider it." Her confidence seemed to be fading away, instead of smirking she bit her lip, she had balled up her hands into quivering fists. I felt really bad about what I had said to her, but it was either that or death. Now for the cherry on top; "Then you blind me with a song, but you know, apart from blinding me, I wonder if that is all your song is capable of, there was absolutely no talent or feeling in that song, I would not be surprised if your voice was so bad it blinded me. How disappointing."

That must have done it, her eyes swam and her lips trembled. Then the flood burst forth, she sobbed openly. Her high keening wails bit into my very being, I started creeping away but then the paradox which I am, I stopped and turned back to her. I felt really guilty about what I had said and could not leave her like this. I walked up to her cautiously.

"Umm.. Hello? Hello there." I tried to get her attention, but it seemed that she could not hear me. 'What are you doing?' I reached for her hand and grabbed it gently, leading her to a tree on the edge of the road. 'This is really dangerous, not minutes ago she wanted to eat you.' My inner dialogue was going crazy and I could not blame it, this was not smart, I had insulted her, brought her to tears and now instead of escaping, I was helping her to sit on a large gnarled root and taking a seat next to her. I tried to calm her down.

"Look, I am really sorry about what I said earlier. Please calm down." Her sobs continued unabated. "You really are cute, I should not have lied to you, it was wrong of me." Her sobs subsided a little. "Listen to me, I was wrong, I should not have said what I said, okay?" She hiccupped softly. I took off her bonnet and ruffled her hair before returning it to her head. "Cheer up, okay?" She gave me a demure sideways glance and nodded. "I am sorry I had to do that, but I needed to defuse what was happening back there, why were you trying to hunt me anyway?" She scratched her head in thought; "You looked interesting and I was hungry, sniff, I can't always eat lamprey~"

I passed her a clean tissue from my pants pocket and looked at her puzzled; "Lamprey, that wierd eel with a suction mouth?" She seemed to get defensive: "They only look wierd, if you use the right spices they taste delicious." A smile crept across my face; "You like cooking?" She nodded vigorously; "I have a stall! It's difficult to get customers though, No-one really comes here after dark." This was getting interesting; "Okay so where is here?" She wiped her eyes and looked at me incredulously; "The Forest of Magic of course!"

'So that is why that energy trail seemed so visible, a magical forest?'

I looked at her interested; "So tell me, am I still on Earth?" Now it was her turn to look confused; "Earth? What's Earth?"

'Wow, she doesn't seem too clued up about some facts.'

"Earth, a big round ball of rock, with salty oceans, people, cities, animals, you know, all of that stuff."

She seemed to be trying to solve a puzzle in her head, her face lit up, obviously she had found the answer. "I thought your clothing was funny, you're from the Outside World aren't you?"

"Outside world?"

She looked at me scornfully; "Yes the Outside World silly, the land outside Gensokyo, so near but so far away, the world of humans."

I held my chin, my thumb on my cheek and my finger crossing my lips in thought. 'Hmm.. I was walking under my oak tree, suddenly I am in a magical forest.' I pinched myself and jumped at the pain. 'Not dreaming either, can this mean?' I threw my arms around the adorable youkai and cheered.

"Eeeeeeh? What? What are you doing?" The youkai girl seemed quite flustered. I let go and looked at her cheerfully. "I made it into an alternate reality, I don't know how but I did, I knew that it was possible!" She looked at me amused; "You're strange, I don't understand 'alternate' and 'reality' but I knew that you looked interesting, you were mean to me, but I'm glad you stopped me from eating you." I rubbed my head sheepishly; "Please forgive me for that. Before I forget, I lied, your song was really beautiful, my sister is a singer too and for me to tell you that your song was beautiful means I think that you are as good as her." She looked down and fidgeted.

"You think my singing is as good as your sister's?" I nodded; "We humans love our families and will compare outside people to our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, it is a very big honour to be compared positively with a family member."

She stopped fidgeting and looked up at me hopefully; "Okay, I will forgive you," I sighed in relief, only to be interrupted by an admonishing finger; "But only on one condition." I looked at her warily and got a giggle in exchange; "You must take responsibility and be my friend forever!" I grinned warmly and ruffled her hair again; "I was right, you really are cute!" Giving her shoulder a squeeze I asked: "So then my cute new friend, what should I call you?" She glared at me half-heartedly and straightened her hair before standing up and lifting the edges of her dress in a small curtsey; "Lorelei, My name is Lorelei Mystia." That was very Japanese, giving me her surname before her name, I tapped my cheek; "Lorelei huh? There is a legend where I come from about a beautiful siren called Lorelei. She had the most wonderful voice." I decided to leave out the part about her luring human sailors to their deaths along the river Rhine though.

She smiled and looked at me expectantly before I figured it out, "Gatley, Duncan Gatley, but please call me Duncan." She nodded appreciatively and said: "Well, Duncan-san, do you want to eat at my stall?" I blinked before standing, she definitely had lost the killing intent from before, I am usually pretty good at judging a person's character and it seemed now we were friends she would not hurt me. "Oh yes, you like cooking don't you? I do too! What are your favourite spices?"

With that the two of us strolled down the road, discussing spices and food . I had decided that Mystia over here would probably be a lot more interesting than the village behind us. It was surprising, it was the first time I felt completely at ease speaking with such a cute person, no thoughts speeding through my head about whether she was judging my behaviour as I had in the outside world, I felt at peace, with someone not even human.

"Fu, fu, fu. How intriguing~ This one survived and even swayed the Night Sparrow. I'll be keeping an eye on you 'yawn' but not tonight, tonight I need my beauty sleep."


This is a kind of insert of myself with a changed name, but with a difference. Unlike other characters I do not plan on this ending in Gensokyo or in the Outside World or in any of the current bordering worlds.

In real life I am just like this character, kind, caring, highly imaginative and usually considered quite wise. I am often told that I am good looking and look younger than my age. However though I am kind, I often appreciate it when characters use cold emotional jabs when they have been wronged and I am not afraid to use this when I have been wronged either I have a slightly vindictive streak. I consider this a flaw of mine. I am however a smoother, I try to make everyone feel better even if they have just treated me badly and usually it works to my favour. People always like how interesting I am.

Be prepared for a character who is able to grasp flying quickly, etc, in real life I often use lucid dreams to practise flying and the creation of energy bolts. As I believe in magic I often use hand gestures and such for protection, peace, etc, thus this will carry over to Duncan.

I am also a person who does not like the skepticism that is growing in this world I find it repulsive and disgusting. I have a lot of faith that all gods, goddesses, vampires, etc.. do or did exist and perhaps went into hiding.

I wanted to place someone in Gensokyo for a bit who comes from South Africa, a country hardly ever seeing characters being whisked to Gensokyo even though it is rich in culture, superstitious beliefs, etc.. My family roots literally contain druidic, white witch and gypsy blood and my grandparents have all had some sort of psychic tendency, be it seeing spirits, being able to work certain magic works, etc. We have youkai possibly still active in this country, not too long ago a man almost got drowned while on a picnic with his family when he followed a weeping voice to a river in the park they were at. He only survived because he noticed its red eyes, this man did not drink or do drugs, it was in the newspaper about three years ago in 2008.

Well this is chapter one, Duncan has arrived in Gensokyo and although having a rocky start has befriended Mystia. This story takes place after any of the incidents in the actual games (I have never played them.) As Gensokyo in the real world would exist between Nagano and Yamanashi Prefectures in Japan the predominant tree type should be White Birch and after looking at this picture of an ancient white birch

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I liked the idea of the Forest of Magic looking more like this. Lichen loves pure air and as Gensokyo would have crystal clear air I presume lichen would be abundant. Look out for somewhat obvious nods towards some of the other stories on this forum or on others that I have read.