With the package secured on his back, Kyle departed from the clothier towards the eastern gate of the village. "Let's see… knife, satchel, map, and forms." He listed off, "If I'm quick, I should be able to make it to Miss Margatroid's before sunset."
He walked around a corner, and avoided one of the native Villagers while trekking to the gates. Ever since he arrived in Gensokyo months ago, he had been trying to acclimate to the new environment. Arriving in daimyo Japan from Modern America was definitely a shock, one which was hard to grasp. He was thankful that, for whatever reason, he was able to read and understand Japanese, as it allowed for him to start picking up the local traditions quickly, along with get a job from the post office as an external courier.
Which brings him to the here and now, approaching the village gates, manned by two armored guards, bantering back and forth. "I'm telling you, you need to go for it," the left guard encouraged to the right guard.
The right guard rubbed his arm, "But what if she doesn't think I'm good enough? What if I mess up? What if-" his friend interrupts him.
"You'll be fine man, she talks about you a lot," the left guard smiles, setting his hand on the right guard's shoulder, "plus I think you two would look cute together."
Kyle ease-dropped on their conversation for a moment, before clearing his throat, getting the attention of the guards. "Heya guys, I need to get out of the village."
The left guard walked to the ledge. "What business do you have outside the village?" he called down, folding his arms.
Kyle was anticipating this, especially after the debacle last time (having to go back to the office after being sent away from the gate by the guards was embarrassing), opened his satchel, and pulled out a small, wooden rectangle with gilded characters and held it up for the light to reflect off of it. "I'm making an external delivery for Mrs. Yuuki."
The guard raised an eyebrow. "The clothier? Who outside the village would need cloth?"
Kyle put away the wooden block and clicked his satchel shut. "Someone by the name of Alice Margatroid."
The guard's eyes widened, before he shook his head and sighed. "Anything to keep her away..." he muttered to himself. "Alright then, my partner and I will let you out." He walked away from the edge of the wall, and out of sight. The gate lifted out of the dirt with a shrill grinding noise, causing Kyle to cringe. The gate stopped moving after a little while, allowing for him to walk under it and out of the village properly.
"Good luck out there!" yelled the right guard from the top of the wall.
Kyle waved up at the wall with a smile. "Good luck to you too, with the girl and all." He then began his walk away from the village.
Kyle had traveled from the village before, on occasion. Mostly to deliver things to the Buddhists that lived nearby, or to the Hakurei Shrine, but he had never been to the Forest of Magic. Generally, he had been advised against setting foot anywhere near the forest, for both his safety and the safety of deliveries (mostly the latter), so he'd never seen it before.
As he traversed the path towards the forest, he noticed a small house off of the beaten path, tucked away beneath the shadows of a small grove of trees. Surrounding the building were many odds and ends of items, ranging from common-place things such as old carts and wheels, swords, and barrels to the uncommon or out-of-place items such as tires, metal scraps, and even an engine block. Kourindou, as Kyle had learned from the odd villager or two he asked, was run by some strange half-youkai by the name of Rinnosuke. As to be expected, he was advised to stay away for many reasons, including the location's pertinacity to have "unusual" or "dark" objects around and within (i.e. technology), the place's proximity to the Forest of Magic, and the fact that the shopkeeper is, in fact, half-youkai.
However, investigating the place for old, modern technology had to take a back seat for in his musing, Kyle arrived to the foreboding entrance to the Forest of Magic; a place so mana infused, that it corrupted the very land it had sprung up from. Even standing at the entrance to the forest, Kyle felt waves of the raw arcane energy radiate from deep within the dark forest. "God, why did I take this job again..." Kyle muttered to himself before pulling his dagger out from its sheath.
He swung the silver blade a few times, getting re-accustomed to the quirks of it. The double-edge dirk was made of an interesting blend of materials and arcane arts; a half-gift from the Hakurei. The blade itself was a purchase Kyle made himself from the Kirasame Magic Shop when he first got the job as Courier. At the recommendations of Marcus, Kyle picked out a slightly weightier Silver-Gilded Steel Dagger, with an amethyst embedded in the cross-guard. He mentioned something about the blade being "atuned" to the wielder, however he was simply worried about self-defense at the time.
Kyle started his journey into the forest, immediately noting how it seemed to shift to twilight only a few meters in. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small jar that was half-filled with gray liquid, and a small, glowing aquamarine. He pulled the stopper from the jar, and dropped the aquamarine in. The two immediately caused a thaumatergic reaction, turning the gray liquid into a glowing blue one, devouring the aquamarine and leaving only few fine particles behind. With light, he continued into the forest, and with his previous train of thought.
At the request of Marcus, he made a pilgrimage to the Hakurei Shrine to get the blade blessed by the Youkai Exterminator and Shrine Maiden, Reimu Hakurei. At first, she was reluctant, worried what the blade was to be used for. When told it was to be used for self-defense from Youkai while making deliveries to and from the village, she simply sighed. She engraved a blessing into the blade, in return for a donation to the shrine, which he obliged (he had already dropped a large amount of yen on it from Marcus, what was a few more at that point?).
He was suddenly pulled out of his recollections and into the present by rustling in some nearby tree. He stopped, and listened, hooking the lantern onto his waist as to have both hands available in-case a fight broke out. The rustling came again, this time followed by a solid 'thwak' sound of someone running into something.
"What a terrible night to have a job," Kyle muttered to himself. He kind of wished the lantern was able to be turned off like a flashlight, but he wasn't so lucky.
"Is that so~?" A girl's voice came from behind him. He gasped, and turned around on the spot, only to be faced with a little, floating blonde-haired girl wearing a black dress with a red ribbon in her hair. She had a mischievous smile and bent forward with a finger on her cheek. "I couldn't help but notice there was a human traversing the forest with a bright light," she said, floating around the edge of the lantern's light radius, "so I had to investigate." She stopped her orbiting and rested in the air, blocking his path back out of the forest.
Kyle stood up tall, and fidgeted with the dirk that he held. "It is very interesting indeed," he started, stepping back from the obvious youkai, "I'm simply traveling through the forest, I'm sorry if I'm invading your territory..."
The child floats inwards slightly, still blocking the path out of the forest. "A lone human traveling the forest~ I'm so happy~!" she cheered, doing a twirl in the air.
Kyle chuckled. "And why's that?" He had a very bad feeling about this. From what he heard from the villagers, youkai were not to be trusted; advice he held to heart. During his time outside of the village, he had encountered many creatures. Wolfmen, harpies, bulls, fairies; he tried his best to get away, or avoid them as he came across them. However, that didn't seem to be an option here.
The young girl floated towards Kyle, dimming his light as she got closer to him. She gave him a sinister smile, revealing two rows of sharp, white teeth. "It means I can finally eat..."
She lunged at Kyle with her fangs bared, the lamp light glistening off of her cherry red eyes. Kyle gave a shout, and ducked underneath her lunged. She recovered out of it, and turned around. "Playing hard to get~?"
Kyle got into a knife-fighting stance. "I'd rather not die today, thank you," he scowled. The two began circling each other, waiting for the other one to make a move. The girl attacked again with a growl, launching herself at the young-man. Kyle side-stepped her attack, and hit her in the small of her back, sending her to the ground. Kyle moved to take initiative, stabbing his knife at the disorientated girl.
Kyle's dagger met the ground, the blade sinking into the dirt of the forest. His eyes widened. "Wha-?" he started, before being pounced. He felt the girl's teeth sink into his neck, and his eyes widened. "AAAHHH Son of a bitch!" He screamed. He retracted his blade, and immediately stabbed it into the girl's side. She unlatched herself from his side with a muffled shout, and flew away from him.
Kyle stood back up and grabbed his neck, feeling a line of holes leaking blood. He looked back at the girl, who had a hand to her side, while licking her teeth of his blood. "Hmm," she hummed, "slightly sweet, though a bit watery..." She grinned at Kyle. "I can't wait for the main course."
Kyle blinked. "That's creepy."
The girl shrugged at him, and dashed in again. Kyle stepped back from her attack, causing her to miss her target. Instead of clawing through his stomach, the girl slammed face-first into the light-jar on his belt. Thankfully, the jar is fairly sturdy and didn't break. Unfortunately for the girl, she got a face-full of jar.
She dashed away from Kyle, screaming and covering her face. "Aahhh! Too bright! Too bright!" she exclaimed. When she uncovered her face, it was beat-red, and smoking faintly. "What's in that jar?! The sun!?"
Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What are you, a darkness youkai or something?" he asked.
"Ye-yeah… oh." That is the face of regret. "Whatever, you'll bleed out soon enough." She was right, Kyle would bleed out soon. He knew this. He noticed that while he was still bleeding from the punctures to his neck, the girl's bleeding had diminished, thought the stain on her white undershirt still remained. It was obvious he wasn't going to just stab her to death, he had to get creative.
"Nah," he responded, "I think I can take another bite, if you could." Kyle hoped that this girl would take the bait. "I bet you're awfully hungry too, especially with the taste of my blood on your tongue."
The girl's composure was quickly failing, evident from her fidgeting and increased salivation. Now, all Kyle had to do was make her strike. "Well, if you're not gonna attack, then we're done here," he said. He turned turned around and started walking away from the demonic girl.
He heard a snarl from behind him and smirked. "Gotchya," he muttered. He unclipped the magic lantern from his belt and popped the top in a quick, smooth motion. He pivoted on his heel and threw the bottle towards the charging youkai. The entire contents of the bottle was splashed on her face, painting it a glowing blue color. He side-stepped her dive, causing her to miss him and hit the ground with a *thud*.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the young girl let loose a high-pitched, blood curdling scream of agony, forcing Kyle to cover his ears. She screamed long and loud, much like someone who was being branded, burned, and electrocuted all at the same time. She rolled on the ground, and clawed at her face, attempting to get the concoction off. Little bits of blue and purple splashed off of her face and she scrubbed her face with the ground. Eventually she got off of the ground and enshrouded herself in shadows, and dashed away through the forest, breaking branches and knocking over weaker trees. Only a bright blue speck marking where she was.
Kyle was stood stock still, arms at his sides and eyes locked on the ground where the youkai writhed in agony. He was shocked. He had anticipated her being in pain, but he hadn't anticipated her being in that much pain. He hadn't anticipated the liquid lantern to be that extremely painful to the poor girl. He excepted her to panic, maybe let out a yelp, but not the screech she had.
In the darkness now, Kyle shuddered. The scream still echoed in his head, bouncing around in his skull, permeating every thought he had and every sound he heard. He was dizzy, and a bit nauseous. He put a hand up to his neck, then pulled away when he felt the wetness of his own blood on his neck. "Augh," he muttered, sitting himself onto the ground.
He reached over to his satchel and started searching through it. 'Where are they', he thought to himself. His fingers brushed against something smooth. 'Ahh here's one,' he wrapped his fingers around the thin bottle and pulled it out of his pack. In the dim, twilight-like light, he made out a subtle red glow of the healing potion he purchased from Marcus. He popped the top off of the potion and caught a whiff of a sickly-sweet cherry scent coming from the liquid inside. "Whelp, bottoms up." With a grimace, he knocked the potion back in one go, downing the entire contents of the container in just a few moments.
He threw the container away from him and immediately started coughing. "Holy Christ that was awful!" he exclaimed. He bent over and covered his mouth, to try to stop his lunch that attempted to launch itself and the offendingly sweet potion out of his mouth. With much effort and a few minutes, his stomach and body accepted the magic potion and he felt his strength start to return, along with the grotesque feeling of his skin stitching itself back together.
Eventually, the sensations subsided, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He latched his satchel shut and stood back up. He stretched and let out a groan, trying to release the fog the healing potion had placed over his mind.
"Hmm, you managed that potion quite well."
"AaaahhhH!" Kyle let out a less-than-manly screaming and turned around. Standing there was a girl, wearing a blue, Victorian dress, with a lace ribbon over her shouldres. Her blonde hair was kept out of her icy-blue eyes by a scarlet red hair band. She stood tall, clutching a spell-tome against her chest, rubbing her thumb along the dark leather spine of the book. She was flanked by many small dolls armed with various implements medieval weaponry: Shields, Lances, Broadsword, Bows- all sized for the tiny dolls. Each one wore an intricately designed designed dress, helping distinguish each one from each other. Yet dolls of similar classes wore similar dresses, but with variations.
The girl covered her mouth with a hand and let out a small chuckle. "I hadn't anticipating scaring you quite so," she said, uncovering her mouth, "though I do not blame you for being so alert. The forest is not a safe place for humans."
Kyle grimaced. "Yeah, I try my hardest to avoid the forest," he scratched the back of his head, "but I didn't have a choice today."
The girl raise an eyebrow. "Oh? Why did you need to enter the forest today?" She stepped a little closer, summoning a light from somewhere. The dolls moved forward with her.
"Well… I'm in here to deliver something to Alice, who lives here," he stated. Realizing just what information he was sharing, Kyle shut his trap and went on guard. "Actually, who are you? Why are you here, and what's with the dolls?" His hand floated toward the dagger that had found its way back to his belt, and hovered there.
The Dolls tensed up, preparing to attack, however the girl commanded them down with only a gesture. She smiled, then bowed. "I am Alice Margatroid, the Seven-Colored Mage. I live here in the forest, building dolls and exploring the arcane." She stood up and directed to the dolls, who held their weapons wimply in their arms. "These are my special puppets, dolls I designed to accompany me into and out of the forest safely."
Kyle let out a silent "ooh" as he came to the realization of just who this was. He immediately bowed. "I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding," he started quickly, keeping his eyes to the ground, "I just fought this other youkai, and didn't want to get caught off-guard again."
Alice simply laughed at him. "It is quite alright, such due diligence is to be expected from humans, especially one that had just been attacked." The girl waved him off.
He looked up from the ground and saw her laughing to herself and blushed. He recollected himself, brushed himself off and stood tall. "Alrighty then." He reached over his shoulder, and grabbed the package off of his back. "If you are Ms. Alice Margatroid, then I believe this," he offered the package to her, "is yours."
Alice directed one of the dolls to retrieve the package from his hands. The dolls gave him a glare as it grabbed the twine bindings, and lifted it away. "I must thank you for making this delivery," she started, as another doll went to help the first, "I have been so busy with one of my projects recently, that I wasn't able to go retrieve my usual bundle of fabrics from the village. So I requested it to be delivered."
Kyle waved her off. "Ahh, it wasn't too much of a hassle."
Alice shook her head. "No, you must let me thank you," she insisted, "after all, it's not often that people enter the forest looking for me.'
"Uhm… I mean I have to get out of the for-"
Alice interrupted him. "I can guide you out of the forest, but I'd like to invite you over for tea. I'd like to hear about what happened in you fight against Rumia."
Kyle rocked on his feet for a moment, before coming to a conclusion. "Alright then, I suppose."
Alice smiled and turned around. "Follow me, and do not stray from my path, lest you want to become lost."
Kyle gave a salute and fell in step behind the girl. The two headed deeper into the forest, and towards Alice's home…
"Who's Rumia, by the way?"
This is one of two ideas I've had kicking around in my head for the past, ever. This first one is the idea that generic self-insert/oc outsider delivers mail across Gensokyo, having to fight to protect himself as he does so, receiving cool trinkets and thing of the such as he does so. If this sounds familiar to FG, then I must admit that my idea for this is based on that concept, as unoriginal as it is. I enjoy the crazy humor of the fic, but I quite I also wanna read a story based more strongly on certain characters, something to a deeper depth. I am not expecting any results from myself, neither should you.
The other idea is that of someone who is a normal individual who is forced into labor by the SDM as a servant/maid. The it would be a fairly ecchi fic, based around mostly exploring the characters of the SDM, and a few other "obligatories" (i.e. Reimu, Marisa). Again, this story is inspired by a few sources. The notable ones being "that one fic where a Great Fairy is a lower-level maid", my own curiosity around the SDM, and the aformentioned FG. We will see if results ever come.
For now, I should likely update "Stand Again" since the idea I have for that fic is more original than the idea I had for "Wit & Perseverance." I should focus more on writing instead of playing video games.
But for now,
~Auf Weidersehen.