(in which we put our excess funds to work yo)

"Visit again sometime!" Meiling gives us a brief wave from aside the beige brick wall as we exit the manor…

"Sure thing!" Maribel gives a curt wave back.

We are currently heading out for the human village! The sun has not yet begun to set, but only barely. I kinda wanna stop at Alice's too, because I have a lot of fun things and I also now have the money to throw at her services.

I might also owe her something, but I forget. I'm sure out of the forty thousand yen I still have left, I got enough to pay it off.

Once we're a good distance away from the manor gates, Maribel begins the conversation! "Gensokyo's really pretty, isn't it?"

Ho ho. "Yeah, the visuals are almost always pretty freakin' stylized and saturated over here. Even on rainy days!"

It doesn't take too long for us to reach the lake… the way the sun's draped over everything is awesome. Like a good ol' summer barbeque, yo, except fifty or sixty degrees colder.

At the shore nearest the path to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, I see Wakasagihime in the water right before the lake's rim, playing with a-a… I dunno what to call that. It's tubby, though.

"Oo~h…!" Maribel recognizes how fluffy it looks, too! "A capybara!"

A capybara! ...What the frik is a capybara?

...The capybara turns to us. Well, I say that, but it's more like it faced the side of its head towards us…

It's like a big tubby mouse! It doesn't have a tail, though, which is weird. It looks wise, dude...

"Oh, hey!" Wakasagihime looks up at us! "How're you guys?"

Maribel focuses on her, eyes widening. "Wo-woah! A mermaid, too…!?"

...The capybara turns around, walks into the water, and begins floating in it. It can swim, too!

Wakasagihime smiles patiently. "Oh, I'm a mermaid? I didn't notice."

"Eheh…" Grinning, Maribel follows up. "Sorry. It's just… I didn't expect to see a mermaid around a lake."

"Aah…" Wakasagihime glances at the lake. "Gensokyo doesn't have a lot for bodies of water. This is pretty much the biggest one."

"Is that so…?" Intrigued, Maribel gazes out at the lake as well, moving her arms behind her back. That freakin'... inquisitive pose. "It must be hard, then…"

"Not really." Waving her hand, Wakasagihime smiled at Maribel. "I've grown up in these waters, and it's not so bad. I'm also not completely incapable of travel, but this is where my home is."

As one of the few waterbound youkai in the lake area, Wakaflakadingdong probably has a freakin' ton of elbow room beneath the lake's surface…

"Anyway, we've gotta get going before the sun sets." Maribel gives Wakafreakin'-hard-to-type-name a wave. "It was nice meeting you, mermaid friend!"

"Have a nice night." Wakasagihime waves back at us. The capybara slowly drifts up behind her, and she turns around in time to pet it. "Hehehe~..."

Freakin' capybara, dude. I wonder if they fall under Nazrin's jurisdiction? They look like mice, kinda.

"Don't drown, yo!" I give the mermaid some advice!

...She gives me a dry glance before looking back at the capybara. Hyonk.

...Maribel's also giving me a dry- albeit somewhat amused- stare. "Just had to say something, huh?"

"I can't help it, yo. It's in my nature- part of the family bloodline." Yeah, I dunno where I'm goin' with this one…!

"Mmm…" She nods idly as we continue around the lake shore.

From here, I see Wakasagihime and the capybara go further into the water, Waka-aauugh herself submerging entirely as the capybara swims at surface level…

Halfway around the lake, I bring up some stuff I wanna bring up. "When we get to the path towards the village, I wanna detour into that forest to the right for a moment."

"Why's that?" Maribel asks.

"I know a tailor-blacksmith-puppetmaster extraordinaire." I inform her. "She lives out in the wildlands, yo. Among the giga-fluffles and the deadly touch spider girls."

Maribel snorts. "Deadly touch spider girls?"

I nod. "Deadly touch spider girls, yo. Only the worst kind of spider girl."

It's not terribly long before we get to the Hakurei path, although it is now actually sunset. We better haul some ass…!

"Alright, so…!" I clap my hands together! "At night, things suck exponentially more than during day time. So we better haul some ass." I've got my hands together… now to put them up my ass-

"Okay?" Maribel stares at me blankly.

I begin running off the path, towards the magic forest! "Follow me, yo! We gotta truck it!"

"He-hey…!" She half-runs after me!

Bookin' it, bookin' it, bookin' it…!

We quickly get into the magic forest proper, and I'm forced to slow to a brisk power walk so as to not eat shit because of all the branches and roots and stuff…

Goin' in deep, yo. Within two minutes or so of walking, the sky's far darker than normal 'cause of the trees. Not that we can see that much of the sky; the magic forest is surprisingly dense at the best of times, even in winter.

"Oo~h? What is this…?"

From a tree before us, a spider girl with blue hair and accents drops down from above! She's hangin' upside down on some blue string, too. "A little couple, lost in the woods? How adorable."

Reachin' into my bag, I take out Swordbreaker! "She thinks we're a bunch of doors!"

"Wh-what…!?" Maribel is slightly winded from keeping up with me!

The spider girl just blinks. "...Ah. Well, in any case-"

"Throw yourself at the enemy!" I announce our battle strategy as I run at the spider girl with reckless abandon!

"Ahuhuhu~!" She retracts herself back into the tree before I can get close enough. Why I oughta, yo~...

Reaching into my bag, I take a moment to awkwardly draw Tundra Bloomer, just for that sweet sweet physical strength buff, yo…

I shake my fist up at where she retreated. "You'll not open these doors today, son! Some doors aren't meant to be opened!"

To our side, the spider drops down from the tree, landing on her many legs. She's givin' me a look, but keeps talking like I said nothing. "Who do I eat first…?"

With my one-armed grip on it, I stab Tundra Bloomer into the floor, channeling mana into it…

Fwooo~...

An earthy, green magical circle generates at the spider girl's position. Once it fully initializes… not a lot happens.

"A-aah…?" The force that's normally applied isn't, for some reason. She does get drowsy, though!

Maribel raises Dreamcatcher! "Ea-eat? What, u~h… do you mean by 'eat'?"

Dropping Tundra Bloomer outright, I hold Swordbreaker ready as I begin progressing towards the spider girl…

"...Yes." It takes a moment for her to shake off the drowsiness. "Eat. You two look delicious."

She turns to me. "Don't think I don't see you, boy." ...I mean, I wasn't trying that hard to be sneaky. "I guess you'll be first." With that, she holds her hand out, and a white magical circle generates. Then, she presses on it.

Bubbles erupt from under me!

Po-po-po-pop! Once they wash around me, they pop into water and completely freakin' drench me.

Good attack. I am now soaked, and cold. Moving faster from the sudden sensation, I get next to the spider girl and start dragging Swordbreaker against her individual legs.

Ti-ti-ti-ti-tick! Time to rack up that physical attack down debuff!

"What are you even doing…?" She smirks at my actions. "Oh, well." Her nails on her right arm extend, and her grin suddenly becomes unnaturally ecstatic.

Reeling my arm back, I suddenly give one leg a good whack!

Thunk!

"Hnh!" She lunges forward with her claws, and hits my arm.

"Gah…" My kimono rips slightly, and my arm gets cut up, but that's probably a lot better than whatever original strength she had.

There're now three scratches on my arm, and they're bleedin' a bit… but surprisingly not terribly painful. They hurt, but not like paper cut hurt, just generally. Weird shit.

Maribel's suddenly at her side, too! "Sto-stop!"

Thunk! She slams Dreamcatcher into one of the spider girl's legs, too.

Fwoom. A talisman generated where she struck, sealing the spider's magic!

"Hehehe…" Bringing her back pod up, the spider girl slammed it into the ground behind herself. Nothing happened as a result, though. "...What?"

Leaning forward with Swordbreaker, I slam it into her butt pod thing! Thunk!

"Cut that out." Turning to me, she lashes out with her arm, bashing it into me to knock me away.

Whack! Instead of launching me, I just get staggered by the blow. I'm still gonna feel that tomorrow morning…!

Thunk! Maribel smacks another leg with her hanger.

Fwoom. In doing so, she applies another layer of syphoning to the spider girl.

"You pest…" Turning away from me, she focuses on Maribel. "If you wanna die that badly…"

She swings her right arm at Maribel. Maribel tries to block it, only to get pushed so hard by the motion that she was knocked onto her back. "Aa-ah…!" Oof. I kinda forgot she's not got the buff I do! Provided, mine's not game-changing, but it helps me not get thrown around like a ragdoll.

As she advances towards Maribel for more shenanigans I grab onto her pod butt thing. "Yo, yo! Yo!"

"Grh…" She is now annoyed. Freakin'- you know what? Maybe I should upgrade Swordbreaker before I main it summore. Physical debuffing's pretty great, but once it's all applied I should really think about something more elementally appropriate…

Reaching into my bag- and pocketing Swordbreaker- I take out Flame Salvo.

Backing away from the spider girl, I let her turn to me properly. She gives me a sneer. "Your struggling only makes me hungrier, human."

...I jerk myself forward, only for her to jerk her claw forward a little. Reeling my arm back, I toss Flame Salvo at her instead of going in for a melee attack.

Thunk! It bounces off of her shoulder. "Gah…"

Fwoom! She is now on fire!

...Despite this, she grins. "Fire? Hehehe…"

The flames pretty promptly die out. Aah, water spider… she's flame retardant.

Freakin'... I take out Bee-Sheventeen Bawmber. "Alright, son. You're askin' for it!"

"Heh." She brandishes both sets of nail claws! "Give up, already. All this struggling does neither of us any-"

While she's taunting, I toss my bomb hanger at her!

Boom! It up 'n' explodes on impact!

"Gufah!?" She's staggered by the blast!

While she stumbles back, Maribel- who's gotten back up while me and spidey duked it out- gives a good whack to the spider's butt pod.

Fwoom! "Ow!" As the talisman generates- and an old one falls off- the spider girl begins to turn around towards Maribel… "You two are getting on my nerves!"

Reaching into my bag, I take out Sharper than Darkness. Yeah, time to actually use this thing!

Running up to the spider girl, I swing it at her side-

Shink! It cuts into her torso's side.

"Ouch!" She swings her arm on impulse, slamming me away.

"Aah…" I've still got my hanger, though.

"You know what?" The spider girl begins to scurry off, a little bit of blood flowing out of the stab wound I gave her from Sharper than Darkness. "Screw it! You suck! Have fun being food for one of my sisters!"

Wow. We annoyed her until she gave up!

Within moments, the spider girl was obscured by the foliage, her frustrated spider-stomps fading...

"Wo~w…" Maribel exhaled, looking somewhat disheveled. "Guess all these hangers actually come in handy, huh?"

I grin. "Yeah. Now help me pick 'em up, yo, before we get ganked by more freakin' demonic spiders." Off into the hazy magic forest draw distance fog…!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Briskly walking! We've found a pseudo-path which I kinda-sorta remember as leading to Alice's house. It's not usually difficult to find, anyway…

"Hehehe~!" Bubbles float over our heads, generated by freakin' water fairies who are tailing us from the foliage above.

Maribel is behind me, recently soaked. "I-it's… so-so cold…"

Oh, yeah, she has no cold resistance like I do. Aaa~h!

"We're almost there!" If we're not almost there, I'm gonna feel like an asshole.

After rounding a few burly trees-

Yo ho ho! We made it to the… back side of Alice's house. Good enough. Dunno how we got that far off track, but that works.

A water fairy dashes right ahead of us, but out of arm's reach. "Hey, hey! Isn't water great!?"

Too much water! Two outta ten, IGN!

She's still freakin' floating there, looking pleased. I hold up a finger. "Son-"

Kroo~m. A tiny rock spike juts out of some roots off of our actual path, drawing my attention.

"Darn it!" An earth fairy deflates in disappointment...

...Oh, right, I've also still got London. Not summoned, but she's still alive somewhere. She- it took off back when Shinki came to meet with us, I think…

Reaching into my bag, I draw the operating cross and put a tiny bit of mana into it to tell London to come save our asses from the pesky fairies.

After a moment, diamond-shaped danmaku rains in from above, London arriving on the scene.

Pi-pi~chun! The earth and water fairies were annihilated instantly.

"O-oh…?" Maribel is dazzled by the sudden lights. "What's even going on…?"

"Magic." I assure her. "Fuckery. Tomfoolery." We hobble out of the foliage, and walk far more leisurely around the house. Alice's yard is well maintained! "...Tomfuckery."

"Fr-freaking…" She stares at me tiredly, her shoulders shaking. "Aren't you cold?"

We're now at the front of the house… "Not particularly!"

Reaching the front door, I kick it. Bam! It doesn't open, but yeah.

"Re-really, now…" Maribel hugs herself, shivering. Her arms are slightly impeded by having a suitcase and a plant hanger out...

"Yeah, yo." I grin at her. The sun's pretty much almost down now, so the real youkai will soon be a' prowlin'...!

The door slowly swings open. "I'm busy…" Alice looks over us. "...Oh, great."

"Yo ho ho!" I wave at her!

...Just as she's about to close the door, I stick my foot in the way. "I got money."

She opens it all the way. "Come on in." Money talks, son.

On the inside, Alice briskly moves back to her back counter, numerous dolls working with parts and things.

Maribel gazes at the sight curiously, before shivering again.

Freakin'... I start to take off my yuki-onna robe. "Y'know what, put this on, for now."

"O-oh?" She blinks. "No, I'm okay. Just… wet." Son, that phrasing.

...I've also got nothing under this kimono.

"Hey, Alice!" I decide to ask her permission! "Can I walk around your house in my skivvies?"

All the dolls over the counter suddenly freeze, and she turns towards me with a perplexed look. "Wh-what? Why?"

"I need to give this chilly friend my warm robe!" I gesture to Maribel.

"N-no, uhm…" Said chilly friend gives a weak objection. "Hi."

...Promptly, some dolls clad in red float from the shelves, holding little vent cannons. That's new.

Vrrr~! They make a hair dryer esque noise as they orbit around us, blowing warm air…

"Oo-oo~h…" Maribel relaxes, her eyes fluttering shut as she takes in the warm air.

I refasten my kimono. No running around in my skivvies today, yo.

London drifts in the door behind us, absentmindedly swinging its lance up and down…

"Oh, you still use that doll I made you…" Alice looked it over. "How is she?"

"Tiny." I give her a very assuring look. "Makes a good night light! 'Cause lemme tell ya, she sure lights shit up during night!" ...Technically my nap was during the day, but y'know, same premise.

"...I'm not going to ask what that means." Alice turns back around, and the dolls with cloths, parts, tools, and a myriad of other fun constructive stuff resume work over her entire back counter. On what? I really got no clue; I think Alice is working on like, ten different things at once right now. "Did you come over to bother me, or to mooch off of me?"

I raise a finger. "A'right yo, y'see, I came ta buy."

"Trade." Alice corrects.

"Nuh uh." I shake the finger! "Purchase services. With premium currency."

...She gives me a curious glance. "...Really?"

"Excuse me, but…" Maribel speaks up once she is adequately dried off by the blow dryer dolls. She's got an arm on her hat to keep it from getting annihilated! "What am I looking at?"

Alice looks over at her, smiling. "Oh, just work. I've recently fallen behind on the designs I've wished to create for the village's fashion lineups, so I'm working on those right now."

...There sure are a lot of things floating in the air right now. Some shirts, some skirts… a single boot.

Also, a sword.

"That for village fashion?" I point at the sword, which two cyan-dressed dolls are apparently lathering some kinda weird liquid on…

"Oh?" Alice looks up at it. "Oh, no. I just felt like making a sword."

Oh, good. You're about as prioritized as I am on a productive day…!

Maribel yawns. "Haa~h…"

...Alice gives her a cynical look. "I take it you've seen many amazing things today?"

"Yeah, actually…" Maribel blinks some tiredness outta her eyes. "I've been awake for… awhile now."

"Oh." Alice points at the door to the guest room. "Guest beds are in there, knock yourself out."

"Don't mind if I do…" Maribel meanders off towards the guest bedroom without a second thought. Musta been freakin' tired! I dunno how long she's been awake for, though. She did arrive at like, early dawn and stay up until freakin' dusk.

"So…" Alice looks over at me, her arms behind her back. "Who's your friend, and how many doll masters has she seen before?"

Alice seems to be salty about her yawning…! "Maribel." I inform her. "She was an immigrant from the appalachian mountains. She recently came to Gensokyo to avenge the death of her parents at the hands of toenail bandits."

"...Okay." Alice doesn't emote. "I'll have to ask her later, then." Wahaha! "Any particular reason she's dressed like Yukari?"

"Nope. None at all. Complete coincidence." I move towards the table, and slowly crouch behind it. "It's the deep state, dude. Globalist conspiracy…!"

...Alice rolls her eyes in a rather pronounced way! "I see. Well, then… is there anything you came to ask for?"

I stand fully. "Oh, yeah. Give me a moment to consider, yo. Can I use this table?" I pat on her main table, which is curiously devoid of much but an empty bowl.

"If you mean take it, no." Alice assures the safety of the table. "You may also not demolish it, or turn it into a different entity."

...I tilt my head. "That happen before?"

"I could give you the full list I gave Marisa if you want." Alice remarks bluntly.

"I'm cool." Time to put stuff on this table…!

Let's see…

Reaching into my bag… I take out Remilia's outfit. Mob cap, skirt, and top! Way too small to fit me… but I wonder if I could get it fused with something?

"Yo, Alice…" I wonder. "Can ya tell me what this outfit's stats are?" Time to RPG it up, son.

Alice turns away from her work, and looks at the table. "...Where did you get Remilia's clothes from?"

"We became lovers." I nod at her. "Sorry, yo, but she's mine. Unless you're fine with sharing…!"

...Alice shakes her head as she progresses towards the table. Once at it, she moves around my side and rests her hands on the fabric, looking the materials over…

"...Hmm." She gives it a good once-over, twice-over, thrice-over… "Each piece is twenty-five percent dark resistant. Give or take a bit..."

Ah, yes, darkness. The element everything does.

"It also gives about… thirty percent curse resistance, overall." Alice reveals, before standing upright again, taking her hand off the clothes. "Ten percent per article."

Wait. Idea. "Can you… add resistances to clothes?"

...She swings her head around a little. "Kinda. Depends on my materials."

Wait. I just realized… I've got a bottle of butterfly dream pills in my bag. Doesn't Alice need- rather, want- these?

Keeping that in mind, I thought of fun resistances…

Fire resistance? If I maxed that, I could have Mokou brush my teeth with fire! Ho ho!

Water? I forget how drowning works relative to water resistance… and how much that would suck. Eeh.

Earth? Who even uses non-physical earth magic? Other than me, sometimes?

Wind… I'd be immune to Kanako tossing me like a ragdoll. That's a rather nuanced resistance, though…

Poison. I've yet to be poisoned, so uh…

I could increase my ice resistance, which is already at like fifty percent with the kimono on. I could just stack that higher and make it possible to hug yuki-onna whenever I want. Ho ho!

That, or elaborate on that darkness resistance. Nothing I know really uses that, though…

"Can you protect against status effects?" I grin at Alice.

She's back at her rear counter, working on stuff again. "Mmm. I have less materials for that, though."

...Maximum tired resistance, dude! Know no sleep!

"Instant death resistance." I request.

"...Nothing." Alice replies after a moment's hesitation. "I don't have anything like that." Yeah, sure…

Electric resistance. Dude- if I maxed that, I could deepthroat live power cords like that one fairy! That, and Ha-chan could heal me if I put that stuff over max…

Chances are, getting anything I don't already have some numbers in to one hundred percent would cost me a pretty penny. It's a fun thing to consider, though...

"How much would fifty percent ice resistance cost?" I ask.

...Alice looks over at me. "Thinking about improving that kimono? Well, I'd say… ten thousand yen, yes. You can do that, right?"

"Yeah, I can do that." Moving to sit, I make summore requests. "...Also, can you merge Remilia's stuff into it? And also make it camouflage?"

"Twenty thousand." Alice bumps the price up, looking back at her rear counter. "You imply that I am a miracle worker."

...Reaching into my bag, I take out the money sack, and dig through it…

She makes an offhand comment while I skim. "The camo doesn't cost anything, but I'm charging a little for it anyway as a bad taste tax."

Son.

Anyway, I take out twenty thousand yen! "Got the funds, yo."

...Alice turns around, and looks at the money.

Quickly, she steps over to the table again, and looks at the money as I set it down.

"That's…" Quickly, she looks over at it, and sifts through it a little. "...Twenty thousand yen. Where on earth did you get twenty thousand yen?"

"I sold myself on the street…" I look down at the floor. "S'not something I'm proud of, yo…!"

She snorts. "Well, all's well that ends well, then. Apparently I'm a miracle worker, now. I'll have it done tomorrow morning… I'll just be needing your kimono."

I begin slipping it off. "Alright, yo…"

"You've got a change of clothes, right?" She questions idly. "I remember you taking those suspenders."

"Oh? Yeah." I nod. "I'll probably walk around half-naked until I go to bed… which should be soon." A nap'll be nice…

"...If you must." Alice sighs.

"'Sides, Maribel's probably asleep." I argue.

Once I have the kimono off, I place it on the table with the Remilia outfit.

Examining the kimono, Alice makes a remark. "Want it back with or without the bloodstain?"

Oh, right, from my freakin' arm that spider friend cut. I actually half forgot about that since they weren't deep ass cuts. "...Without, preferably, yo."

With a snort, Alice lifts the kimono telekinetically. "Some people take pride in that sort of thing. I never really got them."

Nah, if I wanna take pride in a wound, it'd be one I got in some big decisive boss fight to symbolize my growth as a character and shit. Wait, potions and healing magic would repair it anyway. I can't even be allowed that cheesy trope!

Whelp, that's all the reason I need ta succumb to slumber. "Off to bed, yo." I begin walking for the guest room…

As I do so, Alice is again looking at her work with the like ten different projects going on. Honh.

Opening the guest room door, I progress inside and shut the door behind myself…

"Mmn…" Maribel shifts in her generic bed, and sits up. A- daa~h…!

Quickly, I dart for her bed and crouch before the edge to hide…!

...She rubs an eye, looking down at me, only my head visible. "...Why're you crouching?"

"Uu~h…" I've gotten myself into a predicament! "...I tripped."

She blinked, her expression slowly becoming more suspect. "I didn't hear anything, though."

...Crouching down lower, I look under the bed. Fluffles. My salvation.

"Oh- shit!" I suddenly yell, and roll under the bed! "The fluffles- they got me yo!" I thump my limbs against the floor for good measure!

"Whatever…" Maribel flops over into her bed. Wat. I thought she'd buy that… although I guess this is better.

Freakin'- now I'm all dusty.

Crawling out on the right side of her bed, I take some fluffles with me as I stand up...

"Hey." I call out to her.

"Mmh." She's facing away.

...I lift the fluffles, and drop them into her bed. "honh honh honh!"

"A-ah, what…?" She rolls around, and looks at the fluffles. "N-no…" Weakly, she pushes at them, and they flop around. Ho ho ho!

"Thanks for helping me with the fluffles." I give her a dry remark.

She looks me over, and her eyes widen. "Wh-wh… why are you naked?"

...I look down. "I still got underwear on!"

"Th-that doesn't help!" She grabs a fluffle, and throws it at me!

Oof! "He-hey, yo, the fluffles took my clothes!"

"Sure they did!" She picks up another fluffle, and chucks it at me.

I dive for the other bed! "Freakin'- you want a fluffle war, yo…!?"

Opening the covers, I find fluffles lying under the blanket, immobile. Once I notice them, they start shifting, and one looks up at me. "friend"

Ho ho! Nimbly, I duck under the covers, and- holy shit too many fluffles this feels fucking weird-

Another fluffle hits me in the face from Maribel's direction. Aaa~h!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

I blink my eyes open. The single window- that I don't remember this room having- tells me that it's morning again…

I'm punted by someone. Uu~rgh…

Lookin' around… oh. It's Alice.

"I have your outfit." Alice informs me.

...Sitting up, I realize I'm not in the guest room at all. I'm out in the main room, lying on like, five pillows laid out next to each other. What the fuck...

This new discovery energizes me!

"It's over on the table." Alice begins to walk for her own room.

Gettin' up… I move for the guest room to find out what happened.

The door's wide open, and a glance inside tells me Maribel fell asleep sprawled out across the bed in the wrong direction. Her arms dangled off the right side as she lied on her stomach...

We musta freakin' crashed and burned. It was fun, though…

Over on the table- aw, dude…!

Camouflage kimono. Remilia's mob cap is still next to it. Yo~... I gotta check the concert wreck and see if that stack of helmets is still there; I could put that on over my mob cap and be like 'yo ho ho'. Soldier yuki-okama!

One hundred percent ice resistance. Ice spells… no longer hurt me! Unless they're physical icicles, or those stupid spike spells that erupt from under you. But ice magic? Just shrug it all off, son!

Also, probably fifty percent dark resistance. That's… nice. I wish I knew if anyone even used that.

If I remember correctly, this kimono still makes me weak to fire. Considering I can put myself out easily and am now basically ice elemental, that's fair enough.

Also, fifty percent freezing resistance. Not that that's a big problem; if I did get frozen it'd just be a time out.

Quickly, I throw everything on, and also fit on that mob cap to my head. It's probably the other twenty-five percent darkness resistance that my kimono's missing.

Feel like a new man, yo. Armored and charged! This mob cap also… makes me a real touhou!

Alice walks back in, and gives me a glance. "...Are you going to the human village soon?"

...Actually, yeah. I nod. "Ye."

"Here." She gestures to her rear counter, where like six clothes sit stacked. "Take these down there. There'll be a guy in the square with a wagon, and blue hair."

Blue hair, sure. Freakin', everyone in the village has generic hair… except for this one dude, apparently. Well, these are fashion clothes, and I know how fashionable people can be sometimes.

I say this in a land where technicolor hair is a genetic trait. Maybe he just got lucky…!

"Aa~h…" Maribel walks into the room, half-dazed! She's also in her pajamas, which are just like, this white t-shirt and faded pink shorts she found in Alice's guest room. She takes one look around. "...I woke up, right?"

I shake my head. "Nope. S'the big snooze."

...She looked down at the floor. "Aah."

"You'll get a discount next time you show up if you take these clothes to the village." Alice bribes me. "...None of them have any elemental charges, so don't even think about stealing them, either."

Someone's confusing me for a certain thief person, yo. "Don't worry, yo. Worst comes to worst, they'll all just burn up, or get exploded into the mud."

...Alice's features grow at least ten times more worried. "...I'm not… sure I want to send them with you anymore."

"It'll… be fine." Maribel speaks up, backpedaling for the guest room to find her proper attire. "I'll make sure…"

...Alice huffs. "Very well. I have to go somewhere today, too…"

Huh. Her house will be empty, then…

She looks over at me. "The chimney will be plugged, by the way."

Goddamn she is smart. I was just thinking about that. Not that I'd do it, since I gotta quest with Maribel and stuff. That, and if her dolls were set to insta-gib… yeah. It'd probably do me well to stay far away from this house whenever Alice is gone.

That reminds me, my shoes were demolished in the concert the other day. Right now they're like… Mickey Mouse ass pad shoes. Plastic and fabric sleeves!

"I may also need some shoes." I inform Alice, tryin'a be casual "Any will do…?"

"Check the closet." Alice points to the guest room. "...I'll be at the door when you're both ready."

"I'm gonna go get changed…" Maribel goes for the guest room before I can more towards it. "I'll come out when I'm ready. If you peep on me I'll beat you up…"

"Don't worry." Alice assured her from the door. "I'll make sure he doesn't try anything."

Freakin'- I'm not that hormone crazed, even if Maribel's pretty attractive. I say this, but like, every girl in Gensokyo's freakin' attractive. I'm slightly desensitized!

...That, and internet porn teaches you self-restraint!

Like a minute after Maribel shut the door to change, I talk loudly. "Aww, da~rn. My plan to spy on the nude female body has been ruined."

"That's a rather delayed reaction…" Still gettin' a blank stare from Alice!

The door opens, and Maribel steps out, clad in her not-Yukari outfit. "Room's open."

...I step past her, and close the door while still outside of it. "Room's closed. Oh no."

...Turning, I see Maribel pretty much ignored me, moving to talk with Alice. Yeah, that one was kind of a reach.

Swingin' the door open, I rush towards the closet. Time to arm myself with footwear!

Inside the closet, there are…

Sandals and socks, fit for a shrine maiden! Hmm. They'd go well with my kimono… but they're freakin' wooden sandals. My stupid plastic pad shoes right now are technically a step up, even if they've got no support. I think. That, and I'm not sure if I could deal with the sandal bottoms just being two freakin' wood protrusions.

Magician boots! There's a few different kindsa shoes that would probably be Marisa styled; there's some boots, but also some regular-ish shoe things that attach by one band.

...The boots seem pretty legit, not gonna lie. Alice is sometimes wearing some kinda boots, too! They're always like, brown and pudgy, which is a good thing.

I take the brown and pudgy boots from the closet. There's also some high heels for Sakuya in there but y'know… I like my legs and feetsies in one piece. I mean, there's also some regular maid shoes there too, but I'm not about that life, yo.

I take the maid shoes as a spare anyway. Now I wanna find a fairy maid outfit that's my size. How the hell would the bust bit work though? I'd have to find a flattie.

Slipping on the boots- they're luckily not too shit of a size for my feet. Actually, I take 'em back off, 'cause I want new socks! You know how long I've been wearing these other- you know what, no.

I place my old socks in the corner of the closet, never to be remembered again.

Then, I take the stupid long socks meant for being paired with Reimu's sandals, and slip those on. They're surprisingly awesome for this era of technology… although Alice probably made them, which explains things.

Now I put on the boots...

Marching back out into the main room, makin' sure I got all my goods, I look over at the girls…

"Oo~h…" Maribel's watching a revolving ring of dolls rotate in the air. "How do you do that with string…?"

"Magic." Alice smirked cheekily. Freakin'...

I walk between Alice and the dolls. Despite it looking like the strings were between her and the doll ring for a moment, she simply shifted her hand and it was no longer so. The doll ring proceeded to behave as expected without any hitches.

How.

Maribel snorts. "Wo~w. That's amazing..."

Alice is smug.

Alright, yo, I give up. Lettin' my arms flop to my sides, I move for the door. I open it and head outside-

Holy shit. It's…

Running off the porch and into Alice's yard, I hold my arms out.

It feels exactly like it did inside Alice's house. No temperature difference.

...A cool breeze flows through the trees, and over me. I sigh 'cause it feels so refreshing...

Maribel walks up to me, shivering. "Se-seriously… how warm-blooded are you?"

Alice drifts up to us, holding the pile of clothes she expected me to walk out with. "Here."

...I hold out my arms, and accept them. Honh.

"If they get smashed, you're getting charged tenfold next purchase." With that, she turns around, slowly moving to leave… "Remember: blue-haired guy with a wagon."

...Me and Maribel watch her leave properly, drifting off above the trees.

"Did-did she just fly away?" Maribel turned to me dryly. "I thought that was exclusive to fairies and vampires and gods…"

I look at her. "Nope, nope. That's kinda a normal thing here. 'Cept for wimps like us."

...She shivers again. "Let's… just get moving."

I want to hug her to warm her up, but that wouldn't end well. Dammit, social standards.

...You know what? "Can we hug?"

"N-no." Maribel decides, hugging herself awkwardly with her suitcase and plant hanger in the way. "I'm not that cold. Yet."

"A-achoo!" She sneezed! "Actually, I-I have a better idea…"

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Maribel was now wearing two of the shirts Alice entrusted us with. Hey, if they make it out in mint condition, it shouldn't matter. I've also got the other clothes in my infini-bag...

We were now walking through the magic forest, which was like only twice as bright as night time during the day. Weird place.

"So much better…!" Maribel was pumped, though!

"Dude, I am immune to the cold." I am, too! "Next time I see a yuki-onna, yo, I'm gonna pick up a rock!"

Maribel glances over at me. "And?"

"That's… that's it, really." I conclude blandly. "That's the end, yo. The battle plan."

"Pick up a rock… and do nothing?" Maribel grinned.

I shake my head. "Nope. Pick up rock, end scene." Preferably via jump cut!

"End scene." Maribel monotoned. "Okay."

"Yeah." I nod. "Like… something like this."

Breaking from the slightly-kept path away from Alice's abode, I crouch down and pick up a rock…

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Don't worry, you didn't miss much.

"Nnh, nnh, nnh…!" Maribel whined a little as we sprinted.

...I'm not lying, either! All that happened was-

"We- we don't want to fight!" Maribel yells back at our pursuer!

"Is that so~?"

-we got chased by Rumia out of the woods, and onto the Hakurei path. We're still on that Hakurei path, advancing in the opposite direction.

By the way, I've still got that rock! It's like, the size of my head!

I'm willing to bet Maribel's regretting throwing on those layers of clothes, now. I'm getting a bit overheated, too, but it's not terrible.

"Sto~p!" Maribel yells back at the darkness youkai!

"Is that so~?" Rumia is oblivious, obscured by her ball of darkness behind us. Then, she dashes forward-

Woosh. Like a few times before, we moved to the side and let Rumia whiff. Doing a loop in the air, Rumia repositioned herself behind us, recognizing that she missed. "I can sme~ll yo~u!"

I'd make a joke about taking showers, but I'm a little short of breath to be makin' wisecracks…!

...We're nearly at the village gate! Jesus, my legs are freakin'-

"Aa~hn…" Maribel let out a weak primal roar! "O~w ow..."

Yeah, I feel that. I'm just a bit used to it by this point… and I haven't eaten anything other than waffles for awhile.

We near the village gate!

As we near it, Rumia begins to drift away, her darkness flickering to allow herself a confirmation glance of the village gate. Has she… memorized how long the Hakurei path was? Shieut.

"Hey, hey…" The guard there holds up his hand as we near the semi-rebuilt gate. They work fast, these villagers…!

Speaking of rebuilding, there was indeed a buncha workers with hammers and stuff working on the wall. There were some guards with swords and shields standing around the perimeter, but only half of them weren't leaning on their swords leisurely…

"Ha~h…" Maribel took deep breaths as we slowed down. "Ha~h…"

The guard smirked at us. "Got chased around by that darkness youkai, huh?"

I chuckled. "Ye-yeah, yo… gettin' our exercise on."

"Well…" He moves out of the way. "Head on in."

...Wow. That… was actually painless, for once. I was planning on dropping this rock on his toes, too, but I guess I'll have to save it, for now.

Maribel shambles through the gate, and I follow behind her.

Once we're a good distance away, and she's caught her breath, she speaks. "Gensokyo is dangerous…"

I probably coulda put the hurt on Rumia with my holy hanger, but I didn't wanna abandon my rock, and her accuracy was crap anyway.

"Aa~h, we weren't in too much trouble…" I wave with one hand offa the rock as we walk along the village streets. That freakin'... dip in the road. "'Sides, it warmed us up!"

"What if she actually caught one of us?" Maribel frowns at me. "If she bit into my arm, what would you do?"

I shrug. "I got mad healing potions, yo. They give ya flesh regeneration for like ten seconds."

...Maribel blinks. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'd show ya, but uh…" I shake the rock a bit. "I got a rock!"

"Where'd you get those?" Maribel wants some potions of her own. "...For research purposes."

Science, huh. I give her a reassuring smile, "I know a hole in the wall, yo."

She instantly pauses, and looks at me. "You better actually mean 'healing potions' and not 'drugs'." Maribel is instantly suspect! "Seriously."

...I shrug. "Isn't medicine also drugs?"

"You know what I mean." Maribel is slightly more suspect! "It's not drugs, right?"

"If ya mean crack cocaine, no." I finally clarify. "S'more like crappy medicine but it works."

...She folds her arms. "Okay."

After some walking, we've reached the village square.

"Now, where would Renko be…?" Maribel begins looking around idly.

After some lookin' myself, I see the blue-haired guy with a wagon in the middle of the square, reading what looked like some kinda book. He had a blue denim jacket on and some weird freakin' track pants.

I step closer to Maribel. "Hey, uh- that guy…" I point at the freakin' hipster. "We gotta get him his clothes, yo…"

Maribel held onto her new clothes, which were like, some sweaters. "...These sweaters are cool, though. By that, I mean..." Looking conflicted, she hugs herself. "It's cold."

Alice would probably fill my asshole with gunpowder if I failed to deliver these clothes, so unfortunately thefting them is way out of the question. "Sorry, yo, but I don't wanna die the next time Alice sees me."

...Begrudgingly, Maribel began taking off the sweaters she threw on over her normal attire. I stood in the way so the rich hipster couldn't see her taking off the clothes we were about to give him in ten seconds.

...Once she was done, she began folding them up. I sat down my fun rock, and began taking the other articles out of my bag. They were a little balled up, but uh- oh! Maribel just took those from me, too, and began folding them skillfully.

"Hold these." She plops some of the folded ones into my arms, so she can fold more without needing extra arms.

After a minute, we've got all the fancy sweaters 'n' dresses and stuff folded.

...Maribel hugged herself, sighing. "Cold again…"

We walk up to the rich hipster…

"...Oh?" He's got a hand on his hips. "What have we here…?"

"Hi, son." I hold up the clothes. "I gotcha your freakin' fashion stuff."

"Margatroid, yes?" He smiles at me.

I nod. "Yeah, yo."

"Splendid, splendid…" He takes the clothes from my arms, and plops them into the wagon behind himself. "Give her my thanks. You two look good." He gives us a thumbs up, and begins walking off with the wagon. "Remember: shop Yeterellus!"

Shop 'a what now?

The sounds of the wagon's crappy wheels against the dirt road slowly fade, and blend in with the square's usual hustle and bustle…

"Okay." Maribel accepted this sequence of events.

Oh, geez, I just realized that guy had like, gold earrings. O~kay, time to find Renko…!

"Let's find your friend, yo!" I begin moving! Maribel suddenly mobilizes behind me, eager to get on with things herself.

No~w… if I was a Renko, where would I be…?

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

After some meandering around and lookin' at generic villagers, we made our way through the crowded village square to a certain stand…

The stand was freakin' decorated. Purple wood, and gold-maybe-not-gold decorations! Toyota-whatever-the-frik-her-name-is no Miko was standing behind the counter, smiling at us…

"Hello~." She gave us a little wave. Yo, those headphones she's got! She's like, the posterchild for a buncha Touhou music stuff, for some reason. I… can't recall her theme though. "I'm in need of funds, so I'm selling some disposables."

I point at her. "You're friends with Mononobe no Fluffyhair, right?"

She blinks. "Indeed?"

"I was in the concert with her, yo!" I hold out my arms! "Yo ho ho!"

...Miko just stares at me. "I was instructed to ask you if you received a participation prize."

I let my arms fall. "Got no idea if they're even a thing yet, or who I talk to. Might be under the Prismrivers…"

She smiles. "I see. Well, then… would you like to shop?"

Man, with all the awesome crap I got with these recent funds, I really should like… do another job. I gotta find something with less killing, though. That, or a target that I know is a homicidal maniac so that I can massacre it with some peace of mind. The thing is, the homicidal maniacs get by on that behavior 'cause they're fookin' strong…

Oh, yeah, stuff for sale. Uh…

"What the frik is this stuff?" She's selling flashy treasure stuff! There's like, square slots on the wall behind her, and inside of all of them is a random piece of sun elemental gear.

Miko holds up an arm. "Allow me to explain…"

She takes a moment to give me like twenty lines of exposition worth of what each thing does. "The sun ring provides twenty-five percent sun resistance, and slightly boosts attack and…"

I begin to tune her out because she said this back in Matt's chapter. The actual listings for all that stuff's over there, but the short of it is that there's a lot of random shit, it's all sun elemental, and it all casts Sunfire Flare if you shove it up somebody's- or your own- ass.

I mean- you don't even have to look back, I know there's freakin'... a margin of you guys who steer clear of his bloodbaths. I'll give ya the long and short of it right now…

Sun Ring. Twenty-five percent sun resistance, boosts magic attack and attack during the day! It's the sun ring from Terraria, basically…

A yellow clone of Futo's hat! Twenty-five percent sun resistance, too. Randomly casts Sunfire Flare when equipped, which would be a hoot.

The yellow racecar helmet. I'd like to know why Miko has this as a 'treasure'. Fifty percent sun resistant, provides immunity to blinding, electrical stunning, and freezing.

"Ahem…" Miko interrupts my thoughts. "Are you paying attention?"

I blink, before waving her off.. "Yeah, yeah, antifreeze helmet. I'm listening."

...She looks perplexed for a moment, before going back to describing the stuff.

Two yellow fans, with an ornate sun-related design on them; probably meant for Yuyuko. Fifty percent sun resistance- somehow- lets the user cast Solar Flare, along with randomly casting Sunfire Flare. Boosts the power of sun attacks! Jesus, this thing's a blinding machine!

I wonder if I could use her fans. They're probably mad expensive for no reason, just so only she can buy them. You know what, though…?

Miko was just finishing her explanation of the fans. "Randomly casts Sunfire Flare. Boosts the power of sun attacks."

I hold up my hand. "Yo- hold up, how much for the fans?"

...Miko tilts her head back and forth. "How much do you think they're worth?"

I gotta give a good price, or else she'll just stiff me. "Da~h… ten thousand yen?"

"Fifty thousand." Miko lists her price. Dayum, I don't even have that kinda money…

Holdin' up my hands, I surrender. "Yeah, outta my price range. What, you embed freakin' gold into the vinyl?"

"Well, maybe." Miko admitted casually. "Shall I continue?"

I look over at Maribel, as if asking her to answer the question.

"Ye-yeah." Maribel manages, staring intently at the random sun equips. "This is pretty interesting…"

As such, Miko kept rambling on about the sun equips. "Ah…" Oh, nevermind, she's leanin' under her desk… to take out a glass of water!

...After some calm sips, she sat it on the counter and continued. "Boosts the power of sun elemental attacks..."

Sun elemental knives, likely for Sakuya. Boosts sun attacks, casts Sunfire Flare when it hits stuff, typical affair. I wanna see Sakuya constantly cast blinding sun flares every time her knives so much as tap something. I'd imagine Remilia'd like that!

There- there was also a plant hanger. Define 'treasure', Miko! Although… s'treasure to me, yo! Boosts sun attacks, casts Sunfire Flare when it hits stuff. Yeah, more basic stuff, but that could be fun.

Finally, there was this sun badge. Fifteen percent sun resistance- real useful. Ten minutes of listening to Miko talk about sun enchanted garbage could save you fifteen percent or more on sun damage you take regularly. Actually-

I interrupt her description of the sun badge. "Will that help me tan at the beach, yo? Can it stop me from getting cancer?"

...Miko just blinks at me. "I'm unsure of what you mean." What, don't they get cancer and die here? That, or the name 'cancer' wasn't pegged in like twenty gazillion BC, or whenever she's from. Old Japan.

"Ah, nevermind, yo." I wave my question off. "I can just duct tape fluffles to my skin when I go outside from now on."

...After I say that, Miko finishes her short essay on freakin' sun elemental bullshit. Still goin' on about that one sun badge, by the way. "In any case, this replaces on-impact effects of all weapons with Sunfire Flare when worn. Fifty percent resistance to blinding and electrical stunning."

Now that she's finished, she turns to us. "Now, then… is there anything you'd like?"

Maribel speaks up before I can even say anything myself. "That hanger…" She points at it. "How much does it cost?" Wha- no. She did not.

"Five thousand yen is my typical price, however, I will allow you to barter." Miko offered, resting her hands on the counter before us. Idly, she began to grab the water she took out earlier, and began to drink from it…

"How's four thousand…?" Maribel reaches into her pocket, and takes out her wallet. "Lemme get my money…"

"Sounds good." Setting the glass back down, Miko turned and grabbed the hanger. "Thank you for your business."

Within a moment, Maribel exchanged her funds with Miko for the hanger.

I wanted that weapon, too! Oh, well… she needs all the stuff she can get. I already got mad equips, yo.

Maribel looks down at the counter, where she's got her two hangers placed now. "How am I gonna carry all this stuff…?"

She pops open her suitcase again…

After a moment of looking, she tries to jam the sun hanger in, and by some miracle, it fits.

"Hn~gh…" It takes her some effort to close it and do the easy locks, though! "Okay… now I know it's at max."

I still wanna spend money to spend money! Looking over the selection of items…

"How much is the sunny badge?" I question. "Can't be that expensive, right?"

"Two thousand yen." Miko states her price. "It is indeed not that expensive."

Honh. "One thousand yen." I barter, 'cause I can.

"We have a deal." She sets the badge on the counter. Woo…! I can't think of when I'd actually need to set all my crap to freakin'... sun flare mode. Hoarding's fun when you have infinite inventory, though!

I reach into my sack, take out my money sack, and hand over the thousand yen. Taking the badge… I pocket it. I might use it for a build later, but for now replacing all my on-hit effects with freakin' blinding isn't really that great. Maybe if I get ganked in the woods again it'll let me be even more annoying.

Since that was so cheap, I look at more things. Can we go two for two with cheap deals?

Although… "Why is the fan so pricy compared to the hanger?" I question. "That makes sense for fluffle bullshit, but uh…"

"That fan and these knives," Miko gestures back to the wall of things, "are made of gold, and fine enchanted silk. The plant hanger was simply made of fool's gold, brass, and enchanted for durability. It's to be used as a plant hanger."

...I give her a stare. "That's why it makes a flare when you smack it too hard, huh? You described it like it was a weapon, yo."

Miko snorted. "Let's just say I had a feeling someone would be interested in plant hanger based armaments… that, and the item itself was the result of some rather excited spellweaving."

...I blame Futo.

My eyes run across the racecar helmet. That could be fun, although I'm not sure when I'd wear it. Hmhmhm. It gives some useful status resistances itself, including resistances to blinding, which I can just spam like an asshole now. What the hell even uses sun magic?

Also, it gives freeze resistance. I'd have like, one hundred fifty percent freeze resistance if I wore it with this kimono on. What would that even do?

"Ten thousand yen." Miko notices my gaze, and mentions the price for the helmet. Christ, did you think the villagers were walking banks?

"Five thousand." I stress. "Yer breakin' the bank, friend."

"Seventhousand." She stresses in return! "I am here to make a profit, you must realize."

Yeah, that's cool. S'better than freakin' ten grand. I place the seven thousand on the counter.

Nodding, she grabs the helmet, and places it on the counter for me to take. "Thank you very much."

Maribel just shakes her head. "You seriously bought that…?"

Turning to her, I grin. "Freakin', yeah. Dude- sun resistance! Now if someone drops a sun on me, it'll take twice as long for it to sear off my flesh."

"...Twice of one second is only two seconds." Maribel quips, suddenly becoming smug.

Freakin'...

Taking off Remilia's mob cap, I stuff it into my sack. Then, I take the racecar helmet, and try to put it on…

Oof. It i~s… a bit snug, but after a bit of pushing, it gets on alright. It's well padded on the inside, and is obviously something that didn't come from Gensokyo. For some reason, the air inside feels kinda fresh! Not as musty as I anticipated.

Even so, this is kinda claustrophobic! There's a plastic visor at the front that dims my vision. I've got okay visibility, though- just can't quite look outta the corner of my eye as well as I might normally.

Through my dim visor, I test my vision by reading Maribel's expression. She's giving me a dry stare! "You like dressing up, don't you?"

Her voice reaches me well enough; the helmet doesn't do much in reducing the volume, but does make things sound different. Which is kinda weird… isn't this a racecar helmet? Provided, it's now enchanted to be anti-sun armor, so I guess any kinda weird bullshit coulda befallen it.

...I grin, but my expression's probably not visible since this helmet covers all of my face. It's probably really opaque on the outside. "Yeah, yo. I'm like, fifty percent dark and sun immune, and a hundred percent ice immune. I'm becoming an elemental!"

She snorts. "Apparently…"

Miko's smiling at me. "You're completely ice resistant…?" She looks me up and down... "Hmm. You don't seem to be lying. Where did you get such highly enchanted clothing?"

"It was forged by youkai-Jesus, before being reforged by a puppeteer, from a vampire's casual wear and a yuki-onna kimono." I reveal, nodding casually. I can't facially emote- at least not in a useful way- in this thing, so I'll have to use more obvious gestures and stuff…

"...Okay." Miko's still smiling, but I think I confused her!

Anyway, didn't we come here to like, find out what happened to Renko?

Maribel seems to beat me to the punch. "Say, um, miss…"

"Call me Miko." Miko provides. Yeah, Toyosatomimi is a bit of a mouthful, innit?

"Miko," Maribel makes her request, "I was wondering if you'd seen my friend. She has a black dress on with a white shirt, and a black hat…" Maribel gestures to her head to show where a hat might be. Y'know- as opposed to on our knees, or elbows. "Her name's Renko."

Miko perks up. "Why, yes, actually. I have indeed seen someone like that. She stopped by here twice, with two different acquaintances." Oh, boy, this is gonna be a goose chase, yo.

"Acquaintances…?" Maribel glanced at me. She took her suitcase off the counter- pausing at its weight- and looked back up at Miko. "Like who?"

"One was a dullahan. She seemed to be rather friendly." Miko provided. "The other… he held a youkai which was in the form of a weapon, and seemed to speak with veiled malice. This Renko of yours didn't seem to particularly mind his hostile nature, though she was on guard. I only worry that he'll eventually hurt her, as they left my sight together."

Maribel took Dreamcatcher up off the counter, and looked over at me. "Brad- we need to find her. Like, now."

Got no idea who it could be from that description. Youkai weapon? "Alright, yo." I'll help Maribel out with her quest anyway, since yeah. "Ready for action!"

With that, Maribel began marching off. I looked over at Miko, quickly. "See ya, Miko! Tell Futo that Brad said hello!"

Miko waved back warmly. "Mmm, will do!"

With that, I began joggin' after Maribel. We're on a mission now, yo!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Maribel proceeded to drag us down, like, the west main street for two minutes before I told her I knew where that dullahan lived. Chances are it's Sekibanki…

As such, guess whose house we're in front of?

I knock on Sekibanki's door!

"You sure this is okay…?" Maribel speaks to me quietly.

I turn to her. I'd give her a stare, but this helmet won't let me. "We're just knockin' on a door, yo."

The door swings open!

Sekibanki stares out at me.

"Who~..." She gazes upon my helmet dryly. "Who are you?"

I try to adjust my voice to sound more like I'm an official action man, son. "They call me Darber Mario. I've come from the North- me and Maribella are here on a quest to stop Lord Chaos from vanquishing the- the…" Shit, ran outta breath- "the alpine spirit of yore."

...I had to take a breath mid-sentence. I dunno if that helped or hurt my performance.

Sekibanki blankly gazed at Maribel…

Maribel elbowed me in the side. Oof. "So-sorry, he's, uhm…"

"Come on in." Sekibanki struts inside, casually allowing us in.

...Huh.

We both step inside. There's a bowl of peppermints at the table…!

Oh yea~h, this room. She's got like, a table, four chairs, and one cabinet with scattered things in it. Very minimalistic!

Sekibanki takes a seat at the table before us…

After a slightly delay, I move to take a seat. Taking my lead, Maribel does the same.

"So…" Taking a peppermint from the bowl, Sekibanki looks between the each of us, before she rests her gaze on me. "What are you even talking about?"

"I'm just joshin' ya." I let my voice normalize. "It's me, Steve."

All this causes is her brow to raise. "Who?" Sekibanki is still guessing!

"Brad." I try my real name.

"...I don't know you?" Sekibanki is completely freakin' lost.

Freakin'... I move to take off my helmet. Oof- it smooshes my ears on the way off.

"Oh." Sekibanki recognizes me when I have the helmet off. "Hi."

"Hello, friend." I greet her.

"...I'm sensing a trend." She looked between me and Maribel. "An eerie trend."

Maribel stared at her questioningly, before turning her stare to me.

"You see some familiar faces, yo?" I indirectly ask her if she's seen Renko!

"Mmm. That homicidal maniac of yours had his sights on a girl, too." Gingerly, Sekibanki looks down at her peppermint candy she took…

"Homicidal maniac…?" Looking concerned, Maribel is slowly beginning to freak out. Freakin' fluffy.

I wave it off. "Yeah- she'll be alright." It's pretty obvious what happened, now. Yukari musta dropped Renko on Matt's lap. I wonder if Renko saw him freakin' manslaughter a dude yet. If she did, I don't think she'd still be hangin' around him…

"What do you mean, 'she'll be alright'? Weren't you listening?" Maribel is now freaking out! "Homicidal maniac? What did she mean by homicidal maniac!?"

I hold up a hand. "Rela~x, yo. I think I know that dude, and if I know what shit's goin' down, I know she's gonna be fine." I'd imagine Yukari'd sooner throw Matt into a meat grinder before letting him kill Renko.

Maribel's process of freaking out begins to reverse. "You better be right."

Honh. Crisis status: averted.

"...You say that like you know him." Sekibanki now has the peppermint in her mouth, her arms now at her sides.

I wobble a hand around in the air. "Well, yeah. We kinda go back, but we mostly like… knew each other over letters and stuff. Never actually met in person until this whole Gensokyo business… nor did I peg him for actually going on a homicidal rampage! Well, nor did I peg Gensokyo for existing…"

Yeah, letters. We shitposted in the mail, and sent 'em back and forth to one another every week. Y'know- I wonder if that happened. Ye olde not-so-instant-messaging.

...Sekibanki seems satisfied with that answer. "You're an outsider, then?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"That girl, Renko, she told me a bit about the outside." Sekibanki made conversation. "It was interesting. I told her some things about Gensokyo, and about… the man she was observing."

"Define 'observing'." Maribel pressed, worried by the word choice.

"Watching. Questioning." Sekibanki's reply is blunt. "It's not hard to see why. He's a very questionable person."

"Honh." I make a fluffy noise in agreeance. "Yea~h. Basically, me and Maribel here," I gesture to Maribel, "are trying to find Renko. Ya got any leads?"

...After a moment, Sekibanki shook her head. "No. They might come back here eventually, though. I don't think he has anywhere to live, and he often likes to stay here."

Hmm. Well- yeah, he shouldn't, but there's no guarantee he's not bummin' it out like I do. If there's anything the two of us have in common, it's our resourcefulness! That, and a lotta other things, minus the killing people thing, and the lack of empathy, and, uh…

"You just let him stay here?" Maribel gives Sekibanki a suspect question. "...You just called him homicidal."

Sekibanki nodded. "Well… yeah. I'm not really in any danger, I don't think."

…At that moment, Maribel paused. "Wait… you're a dullahan, right?"

...Hesitantly, Sekibanki gave a counter-question. "Is there any problem with that?"

Maribel blinked. "No?"

"Cool." To demonstrate, Sekibanki grabbed her own head with two hands, and lifted it up. "Yeah."

"Woa~h…!" Maribel was instantly awed! "That's amazing!"

I'm pretty sure the reason Seki's unafraid of Matt is 'cause she's a youkai and made of sturdier stuff than the average, gankable human. That, and she has no throat to stab.

"I'm pretty sure he's only used to attacking humans…" Sekibanki notes. "I'm also pretty careful not to let him have any opportunities for trouble in here."

I look up, and notice that this room's light source is like… a lantern thing. It's pretty dim.

"Well, we got two options, then…" I determine. "We leave and wander around like freakin' marauders, or we sit here and pray the noobs show up."

Maribel takes a moment to consider these options, looking around the dim interior of Seki's home. "...I think we should wander around a bit more. If it becomes night, we can just come back here anyway."

Y'know, that's a good point.

"Al~right…" Standing up, I lift my helmet to put it back on… "Freakin', where would they even go?"

"You know him." Sekibanki gave the maximum help with three words.

Helmet on! Ho ho~... this thing'll take some getting used to.

Oh shieut, she's right, I do know Matt. If I was extraordinarily bored in the human village, where would I be…?

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Me and Maribel stop outside the Golden Grin casino! This place looks pretty happenin'! And, even if we don't find anyone or anything useful, this'll be a nice place to waste time.

The building itself was like, four stories high lookin'. It seemed like a squarish, modern building you might see in cities these days. Admittedly, it's a bit stout, but in comparison to these plywood huts… like, frik!

Maribel eyes the scantily clad bunny girls at the entrance. "...Knowing this village, I somehow doubt standing out here like that is safe."

Hmm. Upon her examination, I look over them myself…

I point at a crate to the left of the main entrance. "Daa~h… notice that inconspicuously placed box?"

Maribel nods. "Yeah… hmm."

...Maybe we can question them on it. Taking the initiative, I walk up to the bunny girls!

One with cyan hair spots me. "Oh, he~y. Got an access pass?"

Oh, shit, this place needs a card? Awwh. "...Well, no-"

"Bye." She waves at me. Son…

"About that crate," I point at the crate! "There's stuff stickin' out of it."

"Tranquilizer guns." She bluntly reveals.

The other, red-haired bunny girl frowns at her. "He~y, Aya-cha~n… that was supposed to be a company secret."

"Whatever." Cyan-haired hare just looks away, disinterested.

Maribel walks up behind me. "Um-"

The red-haired bunny girl instantly flinches, and backs out of the way. "Ri-right this way, mistress Yukari!"

Even the cyan-haired deadbeat snaps to attention. "Oh- uhm, th-this way, mistress Yukari."

They both gesture to the front door, allowing us access as they stand at the sides.

...Maribel shrugs, and begins to walk inside. I move to follow her-

"Hey, hey!" Cyan bunny grabs my arm! "Real cheeky, asshole. Trying to sneak in-"

"Let 'em go." Maribel offhandedly wards off the rabbit as she continues inside. "Guest friend person."

"Ye-yes, mistress Yukari." The bunny girl backs off, bowing to me. O~kay. Freakin'- Maribel doesn't sound anything like Yukari. I bet they were instructed to act like this.

Also- Yukari owns this place? I guess I shoulda figured. 'Golden Grin' seems rather apt…

Inside this place, though, yo… there's a lot of freakin' room! Not too many people at the moment, though; guess midday on a weekday isn't great for the night club casino biz.

The room was tall, encompassing all four floors. This place has a skylight, too. Along the walls around the room's floor, there were booths and tables. Some tables had dudes, and some had what looked like employees. The distinction was pretty clear; old guys versus buxom girls with animal ears and scanty outfits!

Twenty feet or so inward from the wall, the floor dipped like, a quarter of a foot. There were some tables here, but also dividing walls that drew the border between seating and slot machines. Freakin' slot machines! Remind me to come back with luck buffs… or I could just massacre the slot machines themselves. That is, if Yukari didn't turn them into evil robots or something that could defend themselves.

Past the slot machines were carpeted floor. Just a lotta room.

At the back wall- which I noted was not the very back of the building, if this thing's proportions were actually accurate- there was a big stage. The curtains were drawn, so no show was going on…

"Oo~h…" Maribel was dazzled by the interior. By the way- there was a lot of gold shit! Reds, purples, and golds! Some greens, too, but mostly the former.

Yeah, Yukari definitely owns this place. This place is probably worth a few hundred times more than the actual village. The day villagers could recreate a structure like this is the day they could launch nukes at youkai indiscriminately.

"...Me and Yukari aren't even that alike." Maribel huffed, after taking a good few minutes of being dazzled. Freakin' delayed response!

"I know right?" I agree! "That was fishy, but I feel like we're onto something for it."

We idly, slowly step forward onto a tiled, hexagonal pad-

It shifts, and we nearly fall and eat shit! Ho ho!

"Wo-woah…" Maribel pauses, stepping towards the middle. "...What is this?"

"NES Legend of Zelda bullshit." I summarize, as the pad begins lifting. We lucked out on not walking past this, it started on a delay. Yukari- what the hell is this?

Slowly, it rises into the air.

"Oo~h, there goes another!" Some guys down at one of the tables point up at us!

"Hahaha~! Drink!" For some reason they drink to this, too!

"Yehehah!"

The girls at the employee booths also mumble stuff. "Yukari-mistress claims another…"

"Do you think she has a slave trade?"

"Pffft. Prohba~hbley…"

...Jesus, this thing's taking awhile to rise. My fear of falling to my death is arising again…! Would it 'a killed to install guard rails? Oh, well. If I didn't fall off of Heaven and break my everything, I shouldn't be able to here. I just remembered I can double jump. Don't judge me, yo…!

Eventually, the platform stops before a balcony on the third floor. There's an opening in the guard rail, and the platform's edge conforms to the shape of the hexagon we're on…

Yukari's sitting there, a fan unfurled. Before her are Matt and Renko!

"Renko-cha~n!" Maribel leaps off the hexagon before it's even fully stopped, and runs over to Renko.

"Me-Merry!?" Renko perks up. "Where'd you come from!?"

I leap onto the balcony platform myself, doing a tiny double jump just to make sure I don't get crunched by the freakin' platform or something.

...Also, Matt's here! I- think that's Matt, anyway. New mask and new snazzy suit, but still looks vaguely like I remembered! "Yo ho ho, son! How the hell've ya been!?" He's also got a hat, now! Freakin' fedora.

"Was about to get fucked on the first date." He provides, looking at my racecar helmet. "Then you showed up… in that."

I wave him off. "Ah- ah- whadda… whadda ya need three-dimensional girls for, son?" I ask of him. "We got all we need like, right…" Da~h, where's my 3DS?

Checkin' my pockets- nope. Check my bag- there we go!

...I hold it out to emphasize my point. "Right here!" It's also out of batteries. Aaa~h!

"Isn't that 3D anyway?" Maribel idly comments from the side, next to Renko.

Oof. I've been bamboozled.

"No." Matt counters. "It's 2.5D."

...I look over at Yukari, whose eyes have just kinda glazed over by this point. Wahaha!

"What've you been up to?" Maribel begins to ask her friend some questions!

"Oh… not a lot." Renko tilts her head back and forth. "This village sucks."

"Yeah." Maribel agrees. "I got to see a lake and that one mansion I told you about, though!"

Renko jerked her head back. "Wha~t? Why'd I have to get stuck in this dirt bath…?"

...After a moment of us just standing here, Matt looks away from the girls to aggress me. "Hey, son."

I turn to him. "Hi, dad."

"You've been a naughty boy." He states.

…Good. Good conversation.

After some moments, he speaks up. "And so I must take all your valuables… that you owe me, anyway."

Aah, crap, he remembered the money. Does he remember how much, though? I'll still give him like twenty grand since that's like half of what I have left, and it's not much of the original reward to begin with…

"How's twenty thousand yen sound?" I propose! "The rest got shat on in transit."

"As long as you're not ripping me off." He asserts.

I wave 'em off. "Aah… I got like sixty grand in the end, but the bozos wanted their cuts, too. Of course I stiffed 'em a bit, but I've basically just got forty grand left- excluding the twenty I'm 'bouta give you."

"Yeah, I'll just take care of them later." Matt resolves. Ho ho!

Settin' my sack on the table, I take out the twenty thousand yen applicable, and set it in front 'a Matt.

He scoops it up, and pockets it. "Thanks for the business. Sonny."

Wahaha!

...After a moment, Maribel comments. "Why do I feel like we just watched a drug deal go down?"

Renko snorts.

"Because it was." Matt assures her. "Only the finest back alley deal in broad daylight."

...I look over at Yukari, who has been freakin' quiet this entire time, watching us like a creepy stalker person. "Hey, Yukari. Wha's goin' on, yo?"

Yukari closes her fan, and gives a neutral smile. "Oh, nothing."

Holding up my hand- "No- no." I quickly interject! "That's what you say when there's something."

Yukari snorted. "Oh, no~. You don't need to worry about little old me."

...Matt speaks up from his chair. "You got old alright, but not little."

...Yukari lets herself look conflicted about that comment!

"Anyway…" Maribel speaks up-

Before she can say anything, Renko starts to go around the table to get closer to Yukari. "Why do you look like Merry?"

Yukari shrugs. "We both have great fashion sense?"

"Wearing a dish cloth isn't fashion." Matt interjects.

"Hey- hey." Maribel takes notice of that statement! "First, it's a mob cap, not a dish cloth. Second-"

"It's a dish cloth, Merry." Renko agrees with Matt's sentiment. "Where'd you even get it from?"

"Second," Maribel continues, giving Renko a stare, "I like it."

...Reaching into my sack, I take out my own dish cloth hat and put it atop my racecar helmet. "I'm fashionable, dude…"

Maribel grins, shaking her head. "Aw, geez…"

"What are we even here for?" Matt genuinely reflects.

This reminds Renko of something. Moving away from Yukari, she begins to meander towards that platform again. "Oh- you know what? Merry- what day of the week is it?"

Maribel pauses. "...Well, if we arrived on… I forgot. We've been here two days, though."

"Merry, we missed two days of school." Renko's face slowly became one of dread. "Do you know how much homework we'll have to catch up on?"

...Maribel shrugged. "Well, a lot…"

"Don't worry." Matt reassures them! "You aren't going back."

Maribel pointed at him, "Hush, you," before stepping onto the hexagonal platform. "C'mon, Renko. I'm gonna try to gap us outta here."

I give them some advice! "Yo, Merry- you know that one road? And that shrine we passed with the twenty million stairs?"

She looks at me. "Yeah- oh, yeah, I figured we had to go there already." Oh. Koo, koo.

Renko steps onto the hexagonal platform. "Alright, then." ...Turning around, she gave us a wave. "It was nice meeting you all."

Maribel waves at us. "Bye, Brad! See you later! Bye Yukari!"

I wave at her. "See ya, Maribel! Don't be a stranger!"

The hexagonal platform shifts, and starts to lower them…

That awkward moment when it takes awhile to leave but you already told your goodbyes. This is that moment.

"Just wait until we tell Sumi-chan about this…!" Maribel mutters to Renko as the platform lowers.

"...We shoulda brought a camera." Renko thinks aloud in retrospect.

After a moment, the platform lowers enough to obscure them and their voices.

I know we'll see 'em again, though. Yukari let 'em run around and get too much shit to not drag them back for more fun times.

"Well, then…" Yukari yawns. "That was fun. I'd like to do that again some time."

I turn to her. "Can we cuddle?"

She shakes her head. "No. No, I don't think so."

Awwh. Can't blame a man for trying, yo.

...Also, "Couldn't you have just gapped them out?"

Yukari nodded. "Well, yes…" She looked down at the tea table, and grabbed a cup off of it. "I'd rather they found their own way out."

"Can we kiss." Matt requests bluntly. "Can we have sex."

"Hush." Yukari takes a sip of her tea…

"By the way…" She stands up. "I feel like a nap. This chapter's over, now."

Matt stands, himself. "You'll feel like a nap when I'm done with you."

Wait, Yukari, you can't just- I wanted to-

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

END OF CHAPTER 57

PROTAGONIST: Brad, the Fluffle Slayer, Fairy Slayer, Accidental Human Slayer, Ph. D in Plant Hangers, Scarlet Liberator, Village Liberator, Eientei Crucible, Sinker of the Flufftanic, Assembler of the Legendary Air Ride Machine, Sky Climber, Amateur Espionage Practitioner, Illegal Fairy Harborer, Conscientious Party Member, Winter Warrior, Holder of Too Many Titles.

PRIMARY WEAPON: Tundra Bloomer - A earth-elemental plant hanger made from sturdy rock; has a flower curved around the hilt. Able to be used as a jack hammer for demolition purposes. Strikes can be empowered with magical energy. With the addition of an enchanted shaft, it is able to be used as a warhammer and grant the ability to self-cast attack buffs to the wielder. Allows casting of Gaia Seed. Casts Tundra, a weak spike of ice!

INVENTORY:

[Bag of Holding] - A small bag that always seems to be conveniently unaffected by whatever weird crap happens to me. Never enlarges, almost always gives me what I need if I remember it's there. Infinite inventory space. I would like to know where it actually puts all my stuff though…

Swordbreaker - Dark elemental plant hanger. Boosts the power of dark skills. Has a curvy, fancy design that lets it easily counter swords! It better, with a name like 'Swordbreaker'. Provides a weak but passive boost to defense, magical defense, and evade. Lowers the attack of foes as its on-impact effect.

Youkai Inconveniencer - A holy plant hanger, which works as a flail 'cause of the cross necklaces attached to it! May cast Flash, an attack that blinds; works best on darkness elementals and youkai. Acts as a flashlight via candles. Converted to a flail with cross necklaces! Can cast Shine.

Fairy Harp - A sand-red, cast iron plant hanger. It was used to hold a generic potted plant before being utilized as a weapon of mass skull-cracking destruction. With the addition of a wind-grate, it can cast Gust. By the addition of a steel block, its attack and magic attack increased slightly. Sparkles in the light due to fairy dust, able to reduce the accuracy of weak, biological enemies by irritating their senses with the dust. Can play beautiful, flat-tone musi~c!

Flame Salvo - A red and crimson plant hanger comprised of mysterious gems and metals. Boosts the power of fire skills. Ignites stuff on impact. Never again do I need a lighter or the ability to somehow rub two sticks together really hard to make a campfire! Has a flamethrower nozzle, allowing the user to cast Flamethrower Plus! Allows the user to cast Fume.

Vortex Hanger - Wind elemental plant hanger currently attached to the Yin-Yang flail as a crafting material. Granted a limited hover per swing when wielded, but that ability is what allows the flail-o-copter to fly now.

Deep Blue - A blue and silver plant hanger comprised of mysterious fantastical metals. Can produce limitless fresh water. Boosts the power of water skills. Allows wielder to cast Geyser. The addition of a valve served to allow control of its water flow. I wonder if you could use this in place of a sink...

Yin-yang flail-o-copter - A flail with a standard, maximized Hakurei Yin-yang orb in the sling of it. Unable to have its powers fully activated, as only Reimu can truly harness the power of Yin-yang orbs. Minor affinities from the base orb transfer over, though! Crafted from a Hakurei Yin-Yang orb, a rope of panties, and two bra cups. Ropes were used to attach the Vortex Hanger to the yin-yang orb, allowing the flail to be used as a flying device, although it's a bit straining on the arms.

Sharper Than Darkness - A dark, runed plant hanger constructed from the shards of a dead man's sword. Dark effects promote a glass-cannon style; physical attack increased, physical defense lowered. User bleeds out faster. Can cast Revenge, an attack that increases in power the lower the user's health is. A scythe edge from a mysterious ghoul was added to let it cut!

Bee-Sheventeen-Bawmber - A mechanical plant hanger enchanted to make big booms on contact. Explosions are mostly knockback based, but I think it could gib particularly weak-willed people… magic is weird. With the addition of a barrel, it can shoot singular, yellow danmaku bullets.

Million Bucks - A basic green cast-iron plant hanger, from the aged cellar of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's a gift from Flandre Scarlet! Has an obsolete map of the cellar's maze, etched by Flandre herself. Shoddily enchanted to give a speed boost when the wielder is lower on health. Lowers defense slightly. With added electric and holy charms, the hanger is slightly electric and holy elemental. Is able to fluidly chain attacks for stringing together longer aerial and ground combos. Allows the user to fluidly transition from combo to jumping. Allows forced aerial combo support. Grants the user the ability to air slide. Increased jump height when running. Gives motion sickness with avid use!

Market Gardener - Critical hits during blast jumps! Otherwise, it's just a normal, old plant hanger. Named after a very similar shovel…!

NERF dart blaster - Nerf guns are cool and all, but don't try defending yourself with one. Please. Unless you're surrounded by fairies who don't know the difference- but y'know- that opportunity's a freakin' million to one.

NERF longsword - 'CAUTION: Do not jab at people or animals'… you know what that means! Maybe one day this will actually come in handy...

Kaguya Houraisan Disguise - Wear to become a NEET! Tons of pockets! Seventy-five percent time resistance on equip. Voice, face, and height specifications not included!

Monk Robes - Wear to become a Buddhist! Actually pretty comfy…!

Butterfly Dream Pills - Makes you dream of being a beautiful butterfly!... now, if only there was a pill for lucid or wet dreams, and then I'd consider Yagokoro the doctor to end all doctors!

Remilia Scarlet's Mob Cap - Twenty five percent dark resistance. Lets me be a Touhou, too!

Camouflage Kimono - This kimono means business, son. One hundred percent ice resistance, and as such renders me immune to all magical ice damage. Dunno 'bout icicles and stuff, though. Fifty percent freeze resistance… not that freezing will hurt me with this thing on. Fifty percent dark resistance. Negative fifty percent fire and burning resistance. Hopefully hides me a bit when navigating in the freakin' brush...

Yellow Racecar Helmet - It's like a really knockoff space marine helmet! Fifty percent sun resistance, one hundred percent freezing and blinding resistance. Also gives immunity to electrical stunning. It feels like it's got good physical defense, too… at least for my head.

Seventeen thousand, two hundred Yen - ...Yeah, just in a bag. It's about time I documented how much freakin' money I have!

Seven Health Potions - They give you youkai-like regen for like, thirty seconds! No chuggin' these babies to indefinitely survive the cold reaches of outer space. Unless the regen outdoes the asphyxiation, but I think I'd rather die by that point…

Four Mana Potions - Restores an average amount of mana, I think. More than enough for someone like me!

Five Panaceas - Cures all status effects. I dunno if it works on debuffs, though...

WebDings Book about Foreign Juices - Wahaha! This better fetch a price on the market!

Dark Stone - I dunno what it is, but it looks cool. Probably something I can slap to one of my dark weapons!

PARTY:

London, the Multipurpose Combat Doll - What it lacks in brains it makes up for with a suit of armor and some OP utilitarian spells! Can cast basic fire, lightning, and ice attacks, both the magical and physical variety. Has lance, can shoot danmaku. Variety of attack commands now, including intelligent tracking, trailing, patrolling, and defending. Has mana pool for the stronk commands, though, so those should be used sparingly. I really have to remember to use her, at some point!

PRIMARY WEAPON: Shanghai Lance - Burly lance with jabbing ability. Mostly useful as a blunt object, it seems, and intimidation factor. London really likes it, apparently. London shouldn't have sentience, but I can't help but notice the awkward way which it just pauses before it swings this lance.

ACTUAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:

ho ho

this is the last of maribel and renko… for now! the battle is over, but not the war!

resistances! 100% ice resist, son

don't worry i don't plan on my guy wearing like two articles of clothing over one another without him getting too encumbered by it to keep doing it

that and it's fun to experiment!

aw, annoyed that one spider girl until she gave up trying to eat us, that was fun

to be fair who did she think she was gonna eat with WATER SPELLS, y'know the element that seldom does damage in and of itself . w ' like what was she gonna drown us on dry land

as always, see you all next time!