As with PMMM, theTouhou franchise is something that I really love, and so I've struggled with writing something for the series for a long time. This is my first real attempt at a Touhou story, and I hope it's enjoyable.
There was nothing Alice Margatroid could not make her dolls do.
For her, their precious master, Shanghai, Hourai, and the rest worked tirelessly when Alice desired them to. Thus, her quiet woodland cottage felt busy - lively even - when the puppets cleaned for the girl, or learned how to perform her newest spells, or respectfully listened as she rattled off complaints about that local miko - "How dare she accuse me of doing who-knows-what with her donations!".
At this time Alice sat fuming at her desk, whose window overlooked the beautiful majesty of the surrounding Forest of Magic where trees shined emerald from the fine touch of the sun's rays caressing their tops. Their solid trunks provided some measure of protection, small though it might be, from various youkai and other uninvited guests. The blond enjoyed this scene; it calmed her, provided serenity and inspiration in equal measure.
Shanghai brought its master a steaming cup of tea. The amber liquid hardly moved; Shanghai was a practiced maid when it came to things like this. In its dainty little cup the fragrant herbal tea only added to the calming atmosphere that Alice tried to set in her study.
"Thank you." Alice took it from the doll's hand softly. No need to take her anger out on those precious puppets.
She straightened her back and took a deep breath before opening up an old tome and spread the book across her hardwood desk, which was piled high with skyscrapers of notes and texts. She poured over one spell in particular. For a few days - a few days that felt like weeks to the girl - Alice unsuccessfully attempted to discern its meaning and proper usage.
"This is hard." she held her chin in her hand. "I can understand this part, but - "
From the outside of her quiet cottage came a loud boom, followed shortly by a voice Alice loved, and loved to hate.
"Alllliicccee!" it blared, disrupting her focus.
She thought that, were she to perhaps stay quiet, the voice's owner might go away.
"Alice! There you are!"
No such luck.
"Marisa," the girl sighed. "Don't you ever notify someone when you're going to stop by? Did no one ever teach you manners?"
"Manners shmanners, I gotta show you something." Marisa grabbed the puppeteer's wrist, and the second girl had to hide a sigh.
"In case you hadn't noticed," she cleared her throat, "I'm in the middle of something here. Can't whatever this is wait?" She attempted to shake the hand off of her wrist, to no avail.
"Nope!" Marisa grinned wide - a radiant sun, a lovely master to Alice's heart. "I wanna show you something now, you know?"
Alice paused, weighing her options. I can continue arguing, or I could just get this over with. I suppose the latter will be quicker.
She cleared her throat. "Well? Are we going Marisa?"
Alice could never get used to flying. Correction: she could never get used to flying with Marisa. The tomboy witch was a mad rocket, zooming off in star-tailed bursts through the sky, zig-zagging every which way at a speed the puppeteer thought only possible for someone with little - or no - regard for bodily harm. Fear didn't simply grip her heart on broom rides with Marisa; it strangled it. And yet...and yet she found that she couldn't complain. In order to keep from falling back to earth she had to hold herself close, oh so close, to Marisa. Press their bodies together. Rely on the other girl, give up all control and simply trust that Marisa would keep them safe. Through her clothing she felt the witch's strong back and confidently beating heart. Her arms wrapped tight around Marisa's stomach, just underneath the girl's chest. And best of all, Alice had no other choice but to nestle her head in the crook of the other girl's neck, touching her cheek to Marisa's soft one. Alice could never get used to flying with Marisa, but she hoped beyond hope to be given many more chances to try.
"Are we much further?" Alice asked as wind whipped past them.
Marisa only grinned wider before accelerating them past the already break-neck speeds.
It didn't take much longer for the girls to reach their destination, the bank of a wide river wrapping around a sparse forest. Its water clear and warm, Alice could see small fish swimming to and fro. The air here felt lighter, perhaps even fresher, than the air around her deep forest dwelling.
"Stay here, 'kay? I'll be right back." Marisa ordered before walking down river. Alice sat at its bank and removed her shoes, placing her feet in the slowly moving water. She watched Marisa's figure retreating, getting smaller, and sighed. As much as she enjoyed spending time with the witch, she did have work to do back at home. The spell she was trying to perform weighed heavily on her mind. How are those magic words supposed to make - she thought, until her pondering was cut short.
"Ay, Alice, here's who I wanted to show ya." Marisa returned, towing young Nitori Kawashiro behind her. The kappa carried on her back a large knapsack, which bounced up and down as she ran to keep up with Marisa.
"Hello Nitori." Alice greeted. She stood up after putting her shoes on and wiped a bit of dirt from her dress.
"Nitori here has these really cool things she made. I thought of you immediately when she showed me this morning." Marisa explained. Next, she turned to the engineer. "Ready?"
"Yep! Look at these, Alice!"
From her backpack the girl pulled out 3 small metal objects, each identical, each humanoid in shape. They stood stock still, about a foot high, and resembled Nitori herself. Each had a small, thin piece of metal with a harshly blinking red light coming out of the top of their head. Alice looked at the objects suspiciously.
"What are these?" The puppeteer asked, bending down to inspect them. They were cold to the touch, utterly lifeless.
"Humans call them robots. I made 'em better than anything I've seen humans do - so far, anyway."
"Robots?"
Marisa seemed unable to handle her excitement. She tapped her foot quickly. "Just show her, Nitori. It'll be quicker than explaining."
Nitori nodded. From her bag she pulled out a large rectangle covered in buttons and sticks. On its top was piece of metal with a blinking light matching that on the 'robots'.
"Watch this!" Marisa grinned wide. Alice's heart skipped a beat at the beautiful sight.
That was, of course, before it sank. Before she felt utterly betrayed.
Nitori pressed a button on the box in her hand and immediately the 'robots' began marching in unison. Tilting one of the sticks, she had the robots walk towards Alice, and then raise their arms. Nitori led the bots all over the area next, making them fire blasts of energy at stones and fish, and move in ways that seemed to mock humans and youkai alike. She pressed one more button and in a grating, horrifically in-organic screech echoed by each robot came an inhuman "HELLO." Marisa looked back and forth between the bots and Alice at first still excited, until she saw the expression on Alice's face.
"Look, Alice! Nitori's just like you now. She's a puppeteer. Interesting, eh?"
To say that Alice didn't agree would be an understatement. "Just...like me? Is this what you think of me, Marisa? That I see my dolls as nothing more than lifeless tools of destruction?"
She glared at Marisa as though the witch was then and there nothing but a bug.
"Eh? No, I mean, Nitori controls her bots like you control your- "
"Choose your next words very carefully if you've ever considered yourself my friend."
Marisa went quiet, clearly confused. Nitori had already started packing her things away; she didn't understand what might be going on between the two but she hoped to get out as quickly as possible.
"Guess I'll go." she said, before making a speedy retreat. Alice and Marisa stood apart from one another, neither speaking. They didn't even notice that kappa leave.
"What're you angry for, Alice? That was so cool! I was sure you'd love it."
"Would you have loved it if the 'robots' mocked your magic, Marisa?" Her words burned her tongue with the acid forming in her wounded heart. "What I do as a puppeteer is an art. My dolls are not mere trinkets to control. To compare me to that is...it's disrespectful. It's hateful, even."
"Alice, you're taking this all wrong!"
"I'm leaving, Marisa. Don't follow me."
"Hey, wait!"
The wounded puppeteer, however, had already left.
There was nothing Alice Margatroid could not make her dolls do, except live.
Try as she might, Alice never could give her dolls true autonomy, true life. It was her lifelong project, something she spent years experimenting, and untold time pouring over ancient texts hoping to find the right words, the proper procedure, to achieve. To see her life's passion boiled down to Nitori pressing a button on a box truly disgusted her.
Upon returning to her cottage Alice paid extra attention to her dolls. Shanghai, Hourai, and the rest of her precious creations sat peacefully upon shelves in her home now that there was nothing to do. The house was quiet, and felt as lifeless as Nitori's robots.
"Shanghai," Alice called. The doll floated towards its master and stared wide-eyed, with a smile. "I'd just like you to...," she thought for a moment, "to spend time with me. Stay with me while I study, please."
The doll nodded, eager to make its master happy.
Or simply following my orders, like a robot. Alice found herself thinking. Her heart shuddered. No. I can't doubt myself after all this time.
Troubled as she was, Alice once again attempted to decipher the same spell she poured over that morning. Hopefully this one might offer her a step in the right direction when it came to giving her dolls, her lovely creations, life not unlike her very own.
Perhaps it was the difficulty of the spell. Perhaps it was the terrible feelings that afternoon created in her heart. Perhaps, even, it was the look of hurt that painted Marisa's face before she left, clear as day. Whatever the cause, Alice could not focus on her work. Her head pounded and she could not stop trying in vain to understand what Marisa had attempted that day. How in the world did that lovely, infuriating magician see any connection between those lifeless robots and her precious puppets?
What hurt even more was the revelation that Marisa simply didn't get her. She couldn't see things from Alice's perspective, or understand how the puppeteer thought or felt if the comparison to Nitori and her robots meant anything. Alice cared for...no, she loved Marisa. The thought that their hearts and minds were so blind to one another was a thorn stuck deep into her heart.
Shanghai floated before its master's downcast face. With its small hands it tried lifting the corners of Alice's mouth into a smile; although the attempt failed, Alice's spirits were still raised. Shanghai was nothing like those robots. None of her dolls were, and this already proved that she was at least on her way to creating a living puppet.
"Thank you." she patted the dolls head, a mother to a child.
A few days passed by as calmly and quietly as Alice liked it. Given time, she had cooled down from her anger and poisonous disgust at Marisa. She did not believe that she was wrong to get angry, although she felt slightly ashamed for acting the way she did. For spitting such venom at a girl who, in actuality, meant so much to her.
Marisa only tried to make me happy, she thought while on a stroll through the woods around her home. Perhaps I overreacted. The sun's light barely reached this part of the forest, and in the midst of the moody trees the cool air washed away the remains of the incident in her heart.
Still, she didn't want to be the first to apologize. Marisa started this whole thing; it was her job to finish it.
When Alice returned home quite the curious thing happened. Shanghai, who had been asked to clear the weeds from the flower garden, handed its master a small piece of paper that had seemingly come from nowhere. It was rolled up and tied with a green ribbon.
Alice pulled the ribbon to open it, and recognized the messy script immediately.
"Alice," it read. "I'd like to stop by tomorrow. Is this alright?"
Marisa wanted to come over? At least she'd taken Alice's advice and sent a notification this time around.
The puppeteer returned to her desk and wrote a response.
"Shanghai, please give this to Marisa." she asked. The doll nodded, took the note, and sped off on its way through the Forest of Magic.
Alice awaited Marisa's visit the entirety of the next morning. Although she was the angry one, although she was the hurt one, the puppeteer could not help but want to impress Marisa (as she always desired to). She and her dolls cleaned the cottage and prepared tea, and when the the busy work was done Alice found that she still could not settle her mind enough to study. Instead she sat on a sofa and tried as hard as she could to not appear as nervous as she was to see the other magician.
When the sun rose to its apex, spreading golden light in the clearing where Alice's cottage resided, Marisa knocked at the door.
"May I come in?" she asked, far more politely than Alice had ever heard Marisa speak. The courteousness didn't match the magician's usual tone and attitude.
"Come in, Marisa."
The girl entered, and Alice's heart nearly melted. How could she be mad at that face? Marisa had quite an uncharacteristicly somber expression gracing her features, flattening her ever-smiling lips, dimming those always-shining eyes. Marisa was the kind of person who wore her heart on her sleeve. No, Alice corrected herself. She wears her heart on her face, for all to see. The magician stood before Alice and cleared her throat.
"Alice, I wanted to say...I wanted to, you know, express - " she pursed her lips. Evidentially, even when she felt bad Marisa had a hard time suppressing her pride.
"Yes?"
Like a wildfire, a blush burned across Marisa's cheeks red and bright. She turned her head to the side, unable to look Alice in the eyes. "I'm...sorry, alright? I thought you'd like it, you know? I just wanted to do something nice for the girl I, uh, care a lot about."
Now she turned to Alice, although she still avoided the puppeteer's eyes. "Really, I didn't mean anything bad by it."
Alice took a sip of tea without an expression on her face. She waited for Marisa to explain herself; it was easy to say "sorry" without truly meaning, or understanding, the reason behind it.
Marisa got the hint. "Those robots are nothin' like Shanghai and your other dolls. I don't totally get why that is, but the difference is real important to you, right?"
"And?"
"Come on, Alice, this is already hard enough!"
"..."
"And I'd like to...make it up to you." The blush on her face somehow grew redder.
"How?"
Marisa finally looked Alice in the eyes with strong determination. "I want you to teach me how to make dolls like yours!"
Alice certainly didn't expect that. She didn't know how to respond, and took a few moments to collect her thoughts.
"Why?"
"If I get how to do it maybe I'll get why you got mad, eh?"
Alice considered this. Marisa certainly had a point, and it'd also give them time together. Precious, lovely time together.
"This is not just a small project, I hope you know. Making dolls is an art. Are you prepared for that, Marisa?"
"Absolutely!" she was back to her old self, confidence pouring off of her in waves. She puffed out her chest and pointed to herself with her thumb "I won't back down."
"Good. Apology accepted, then."
Marisa smiled wide, carefree as though nothing had happened between the two to spoil their relationship. "And we can totally make 'em explode into star-shaped danmaku bullets, right?"
Alice giggled. "Sure, we can do that."
She rose from her seat and took Marisa by the hand. It felt right to once again interlock fingers with the girl she loved. "Why don't we start right now? You might be able to help me figure out an old spell, while we're at it."
"Leave it to me." Marisa smirked.
As she lead the magician into her study Alice could not help but hope that, in their attempt to create life, the two might also create something precious between them.
Reviews and criticisms are highly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!