(matt-wumbo 5)
"Hhk-" She gargled on her own blood.
Shink. I drew my ice scissor from her throat. I'd slid it right down her collar, from her neck.
The teal-haired kappa's blue eyes pan up as she feels at her own neck. "Nn-..." Also, for those at home wondering, this isn't Nitori. I actually asked if we could burglarize her instead, but Mima said we'd all die, so we didn't.
Chunky ice spreads across this kappa's neck. This impact should have frozen just her arteries, cutting the head off from the rest of the body.
As she falls down onto her back, seizing up, I step back from her wheezing corpse, and look around.
The cold, slapdash underground laboratory is dim. This kappa was working on some random shit or another before I came in, probably. Well, I didn't come alone, exactly.
BAM- CLACK- CLANG. The noise makes me jump slightly. Shimokoa's monolithic steel paddle sends a broken scrapheap of a sentry gun rolling across the room, partially frozen.
Vanilla's not in the lab with the rest of us. She's with Sanjiro- I mean, Pearl. They're… 'watching the perimeter', and by that, I mean doing nothing.
Alright, time to hold a Q and A. Question: why are we here?
"Nn- nnh…" Shimokoa's eyes are tired, as she hoists her huge paddle overhead, to break the sentry even further. I'm not sure why. She's probably terrified of it. Actually, her kimono's red in places... yeah. It probably shot her a few times. That's nice.
I step over to the counter. There's some technology just lying here.
A square module, with two rounded, curved platinum plates on the top, and a strange, shifting gem crystal in the center. It's a muddy color, shifting black, green, blue and yellow.
This. We're here for this. If we're going to attack Eientei at some point, we need shield technology of our own.
Question: how did we get here? That one's pretty mundane. We looked for kappa selling shields, Mima put a scry on one, and then we showed up in their lab.
The ones who sell shields make them by the crates to sell. This means there's more than enough for us. As for this crime, in Mima's words, 'the other kappa can pick up the remains and no one'll bat an eye'.
THOOM- CRACRACRACK! The teal sentry gun explodes into many pieces, when Shimokoa smites it with a cleave of her huge iron paddle. It- it was already dead. Did you have to make more fuckin' noise.
Scrunching my little nose, I look around. This whole lab is ice cold, for some reason. Hexagon and snowflake patterns adorn everything. It's… especially ironic, when I think about it.
"You take a crate." I tell Shimokoa. I sure as hell aren't carrying these things. I have no idea how they even work, either.
Before I hear her reply- I don't really need it- I hustle up to the door into the hallway out here.
This lab's fairly small. This is the only hallway, and all relevant rooms link to it. At the far end is the elevator up and down.
Cli- click, click! Accidentally clipping the floor with my scissors some, I lurch down and bound on all fours towards the elevator. Like a cat.
I avoid the scorch marks and icy spikes around the floor all around myself. Shimokoa sure didn't have a clean fight while I was doing my shit, did she.
We gotta go quick. Sticking around in mad scientist free-for-all land is probably a horribly shitty idea, especially when we're just being looters.
This particular kappa only had one really good sentry gun as defense. As it turns out, if you're wearing a kappa outfit, they don't shoot at you. At least, this one doesn't. Guess what I'm wearing. It's not gonna last, I'll tell you that much.
Reaching the elevator shaft, where snow fluttered down from above in the evening, I hunch down and look up along it… and-
"Nnh!" My feminine voice squeaks out as I jump up to one of the metal ridges of the rocky ascent. It's three meters up.
Now, it might be a question, how I improved my affinity for being a fucking cat bastard.
Eyes wide, my body tense, I perform short, yet wide leaps to each wall of the elevator shaft, slowly scaling it myself. Less time spent in that lab, the better.
Then, I arrive at the top. "Nnn-..." Don't slip- fucking-... aa- ah. Found my footing.
Brushing this asshole snow up here aside, my hands freezing, I claw onto the cold ground, and get out of the pit…
I now realize why cats have fur. This is perhaps the only time I also wish I had fur.
Nothing else interesting is going to happen this evening, by comparison. Therefore, I'll just take my time and think about how I even got here. I don't think I do that enough.
/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /
It started in Makai. Specifically, our last meeting with Shinki.
We were on that snowy platform in her… grey god space, or wherever the fuck this is. Shinki's fuckroom.
Pearl and Vanilla are still quietly awed by Shinki existing behind me, and Shimokoa is an unconscious lump, being held bridal-style by Mima.
Looking along my nazi outfit, then rummaging through my backpack, I drew the tome holding Page 65537. "Would this happen to mean anything to you?"
As I held it up, Mima took pause. She wasn't really shocked, or even really surprised. Or-... I suppose it would be surprise. A very cynical, knowing kind of surprise. "Whe~re in the fuck'd you even find that. We were in a fuck tower!"
You see, it had exactly one bookshelf. "...Is this valuable?"
Mima snorted. "Well- not exactly, but…"
Shinki perked up, still seated at her crossword puzzle. "Oh? Oh, is that one of the-... oo~h."
Standing up, smiling gladly, she paced over to us. Pearl and Vanilla were still behind me, and getting further behind me still as Shinki drew nearer.
"It is." Shinki nodded. "One of the books from my personal library. My… I even forget what it was about. Let's see…"
I hold it away from her. Finder's keepers. We haven't made a deal or anything yet-
Then, somehow, she has it. I look in my hands, and it's gone. What.
Opening it up, Shinki beholds the pages. "...Oh, my. Ooh." She flips through the pages. Somehow, despite its thickness, and despite the fact that a book can only have limited pages, midway through it seems like she's flipping through thousands of pages at a time. "My. She's been busy."
woosh. Then, Shinki chucked it outward like a frisbee.
It spun around in the air, enlarging, before-
Fwish. With a flare of light, Page 65537 sat atop her own pages again, blinking her eyes open. "...Aa-... ah." She beheld Shinki before us, and gave a respectful bow, even her carapace-clad tentacles at her sides joining the bowing with her. "My lady."
She didn't really sit on her pages; her lower, tentacle-like body merely poked out from the pages, supporting her, but-... you know, sits is as good a descriptor as any.
"At ease." Shinki held up a palm. "...I'm not so militant, recently. Feel free to be casual."
"...That's-... easier said than done." Page 65537 returned to-... standing? Regardless, she adjusted her glasses as she righted herself. "It has been so long, my lady."
"Centuries, in fact." Shinki agreed. "Mima, you wouldn't know her. This is-..."
"Page 65537." Page girl declared, as she faced Mima. "...Are you a servant, as well?"
"Nah." Mima smiled back at her. "I'm just kinda a' bookworm, if ya know what I mean. Eheh, eheh…"
Page 65537's expression fell.
"Re- regardless…" Grinning, Shinki beheld Page 65537 again. "Page. I'll get us some tea, and we'll catch up. Perhaps you can show me, some of what you learned."
"We had a deal." Need I remind her. It. Whatever Page 65537 is. "Just pointing that out."
The black-haired Page 65537 brushed aside one of her bangs unnecessarily, as her gaze levelled on me. "We did, it would seem. My lady-... I promised this cat rewards, were it to return me to you. I knew it was returning to the capital."
"Ah, wise." Shinki acknowledged her thinking. "Did you have anything planned? Or, would the burden fall on me?"
"...Well, yes, actually." Page 65537 nodded once. "She wanted to learn magic."
Shinki's body seemed to pause, and her smile widened. "Magic, hmm?"
Noticing her eager smile, Page 65537 waited in anticipation herself. "...Do you have an idea, lady Shinki?"
"Yes." Shinki smiled down at me.
"...If you could also make me not a catgirl, that'd be great." I request. "Otherwise-"
"Why wouldn't you want to stay a catgirl?" Shinki asked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
"Not in its entirety, no." Staying a cat girl was more trouble than I'd bargained for. "The cat part may be genetic now, but I'm sure it's nothing you can't change."
Shinki seems to ignore the voice I summoned up to make requests, and simply smiles even more smugly. "...My, my, my. I could enhance it, even, is what you're saying?" Oh, fuck off.
"That's not what I said. No." My glare should be enough, too. "...If I could have more control over it, perhaps-"
"Oh?" Shinki seemed particularly smug at the gall of that one. "So, you want to be more familiar with it, is what you're saying."
Fuck. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Why even bother. "What the hell's the point in asking me, then? If you're just-"
"Now, now." Shinki came closer, her smile warm. Her mere presence getting closer to me- it feels… I don't know how it feels. Probably shouldn't feel good, but it does. "...Nn- fufufu." She giggled at my reaction to her proximity. "You're so cute like that."
...Not sure if I can confirm or deny.
"Besides. You'll be getting some of the power you want." Shinki nodded. "Yes. I know exactly what you need. Of course, if this goes wrong, you might be left subby and kitten-like, but that wouldn't be bad either." I hate you.
"Um-..." Vanilla comes up, behind me. I really don't think she's gonna fix any of this. "La-... Lady Shinki, um- Matt-... it'd be nice, if you could be nice to Matt. Ev- everyone here... could use more kindness."
Shinki looked like she adored her, too. "...You little ones are the cutest things. Rest assured, Matt here will still get what she wants. She will attain more magical power. She'll just need a little test of character, first. It's all only fair. Nothing in this world is free, and while I am thankful she returned an old friend of mine to me…"
Shinki floated into the air, crossing her legs before herself. "You'll only gain the power you want, through hardship. This is the way the world works. Even a natural god such as I has had to undergo… roughly proportional trials. Power and understanding has its price, although in my opinion, it's always better to have it than not. But, that's just me. Some people aren't fit for it, and others… others enjoy other styles of living."
She's really overcomplicating this for no reason. "Couldn't you just give me a shitty fire spell and be done with it?"
Shinki's look became plain. "Do you only want a shitty fireball spell."
Damn. A rock and a hard place. "Well… I-... if I could feasibly, reasonably be given more..."
"That settles it." Shinki gave me a nod. "You will be more than the human you used to be. You want to be a cat girl, right? Then, I'll awaken your senses, for you." What.
"Hold on, now." Just... "By 'more', I could have meant other shitty spells, in addition to that shitty fireball spell-"
"Oh, don't be a pussy." ...Her serene smile cracked slightly, into one of ironic humor. "Sor- sorry."
"Lady…" Page 65537 shut her eyes.
"Nah, don't apologize!" Mima was a force for evil. "That was good!" Between Page-numbers and Mima, Shinki seems to have an angel and a devil on her shoulders.
"Anyway." Shinki hovered back, towards her table with a crossword puzzle on it. "Page 65537." What a mouthful.
Page- her name ought to just be Paige. She floated up to Shinki, gaze observant. "Yes, my lady?"
"Come here." Shinki held out a hand.
...When she got closer, Shinki zipped up and grabbed onto either cover of her huge tome underside, and held her facing me.
"Nn- woah!" Since she was tilted horizontally suddenly, Page 65537 held her own chest, to stop it from bouncing around from the abrupt movements. "La- Lady…!"
"Yes, I see it." Shinki beamed. "The very life experience you need to grow as a kitty, and as a fighter. Mima-... will you mind if I borrowed your friends, for awhile? I promise they'll come back in one piece. Well-... except for kitten Matt here. Her fate is in her own hands."
"Yeah, sure." Mima didn't care, giving her a thumbs-up. "I'll join ya fer that tea while they're fartin' around, then."
"Wh-" Vanilla became spooked next to me. "Aa- all of us? Why!?"
Shinki had a slanted smirk. "...Well, won't it be fun, at least? Don't worry yourself."
fwip. fwip- fwi- fwi- fwi- fwi- fwip! The pages of Page 65337's main body flick and flip wildly, seemingly blurring through her main body and her tentacles. As they did this, she receded into the pages, an inexplicably complex round sigil flaring out from the light left in her path.
Vanilla starts pulling on my arm with adorable intent, but I know there's no escape. "Come- come on! We gotta go…!"
I just stand there, and await the inevitable. Meanwhile, Pearl tries to desert us, but as she runs backwards, she actually ends up sliding closer than we do. No, even she's not that incompetent; Shinki's probably just pulling her closer somehow.
"Alright! In you go!" Shinki's surprisingly cheerful voice is overlayed by a wall of white. Can- things stop fucking blinding me. God-
+++ Book of Actualization
-damn it. Oh. ...Well, I whined, and reality answered.
My eyes blink rapidly, to adjust to a… rather scenic landscape.
It's midday. A gold sun is high in the sky over what feels like rural America. Wherever I am, it's around a barn.
A healthy, red barn house with what looks like fresh paint stands next to me. When I lumber out from around it, brushing my long black bangs aside, I take in where I am…
I'm no longer in my nazi outfit here. Instead, I'm in a pretty black-white dress. It's not a maid outfit… but, it's something that'd fit rural America quite well. I'm not fully opposed to it, but this whole rural vibe can go fuck itself. I've had my fill of it on the outside, thank you.
"Where the hell am I." I ask no one in particular. There's a shack to the right, and to my left, is a long path, and great plains. I can see what looks like a town in the far, far horizon distance, beneath hazy horizon glow of variant colors.
Geesh. I can see for miles. This makes me realize how cluttered Gensokyo's plains really are. Somehow, I'm not sure if these plains are more or less interesting for it. Maybe less. They're probably nothing but cows and freakin' wildlife.
Wonder where the others ended up. It'd be opportune to find numbers. Hold on…
I still have cat ears. How… incredibly inconvenient. I'm getting a lot of questions about these. Hopefully I don't instantly meet a farmer with a shotgun.
Crea~k. As I think this, the front door of the quaint, two-story shack of a house ahead of me opens. Well, isn't that-... shitty.
The person who steps out isn't the farmer I was imagining. A woman with long, brown hair leaned down to get out of the front door. She had a gown similar to mine on, but less dirty, somehow, and also not black. Hers was royal red, and she had-... alright, her boobs were so big she looked like a mutant.
According to me, anyway. Someone might consider it within physical possibility. But, unless she was a mythical porn star, I doubt it greatly.
"Mmmh…" She felt at her own chest, because yes of course, and panned her gaze around the clearing.
Whish! Um? Someone short, and fast darted across the clearing. Was that a cat-... cat boy?
It was. Tail and ears and all, and short, messy brown hair.
Furrowing her brows, the mutant pornstar watches him go. Then, she pauses, and sees me.
"You darn, damn cats." Oh. She's an angry lady, apparently. "Always stealing our milk." She even sounds like a porn star. Shinki has shit taste, apparently.
She struts out towards me, and draws something from one of her pockets. Let's not stick around and find out what it is, but it looks like a creepy, red-black orb.
I dart around the side of the barn-
CLACK- CLACLACLACK. Oh. Something loud, and metallic clattered behind me, as I rounded the corner.
Turning, I see what it was. A big, metal sphere, with oddly lucid, freely moving mesh pieces attached to a bunch of curved metal pipes, or bars. The circle of seams tells me that it had clamped shut before it met the ground.
It's rolling away. That lady tossed it at me.
Well, no need to say anything more. I jog around the back of the barn, and go around behind it.
I wonder. If she was smart, she'd be going the other way to cut me off.
So, at the back of the barn, I wait. There's a ladder here, too. But now I'm more curious than anything else.
...After waiting, I look around the corner.
She's waiting at the corner there. She sees me looking, and huffs loudly. "Mmh." I wasn't as stupid as she thought, apparently.
Well, this is fine. Let's go upstairs.
Climbing the ladder, I gradually find my way onto the barn's sunny roof.
Some of it is open, for some reason. Nice plywood roof. Some of it's metal grating too, actually. Either it doesn't rain a lot, or these people are strange. Considering glop-tits mcwhoreface down there, I'll bet on the latter.
But, from here, I can see inside.
...Um. Hmm.
"Mmm…" There's a cow girl down there. She has a huge-... length of brown hair. Not sure what the word would be. She's also pretty huge. If she was standing, she'd be probably eight feet tall.
Also, she's naked, lying in the open sun coming down through the roof. As I look down at her, my shadow's cast upon her somehow paleish skin.
Let's say no more. This is a family presentation. But, I think I know what that cat boy did last.
Of course, wherever Shinki sent me is of immense cursed energy. All the animals are humanoid, and not in the furry way either. Like, predominantly human. Wonder if Shinki knows what furries are.
There's more cow girls. Yes, they're all huge. Next.
There's horse men. Do they need any prose? No. No, they don't. I suppose I should say, they're still kept in stables. Well, as are most of the cow girls. Next.
This roof is hot and stuffy. I climb over its apex, and stare down at that fucking whore lady. She's just going to sit there and watch me, isn't she.
Well, step one: diplomacy. I step down some of the roof of many materials, and call down. "...Hh- hey! Hey!"
...She reels her arm back, ready to cast another one of those net things up at me. Well, alright.
Do I have my scissors on me. Oh-... oh.
I don't have my bag. I have a purse. Thanks, Shinki.
It also doesn't contain my pro gamer move items, like the railgun of instant death. Just scissors, except for the electric ones, because those'd kill me.
I just draw my black scissors of ragdolling myself around, because I don't really-... wait, actually-
CRACK- CLACLA- CLACK! Apparently she tosses like a bimbo, too. Provided, the net machine got onto the roof next to me, but then it stopped, and started rolling back down. If it was aimed right, it'd have caught me, but it didn't. She missed.
Drawing my hellfire scissors, I swing them. "Fire."
Fwoom! A dinky fireball leaves them, and moves for the hoe down below. Wait-... ah, fuck diplomacy. She's tryin'a capture me. They're takin' away our guns. No good dirty redcoats.
Fwam! The ball of embers bursts against her upper chest. "Uoh- aa-" She freezes up, her top burning. Not saying anything else, she just begins to run off. Pft…
Problem solved. Now, to get the hell down from here.
I crouch down, and- hup… oonh. There. A short little fall onto my limbs. Made somewhat awkward by this damn dress, but whatever.
...Since the hoe's gone, I'm free to do my cat things. Like… mmh.
There's more barn shacks than this one, all set up behind the house ahead. Quickly, I get into a sprint.
Rounding the railing-clad porch of the quaint house, I near a more quaint looking, unpainted wood barn shack on the house's left flank.
Coming up to it, I find that the front door is barred shut, with a-… a steel bar on the other side. Nice lock.
This doesn't even matter, because just to the left of the door, there's a somewhat jagged hole in the wood along the floor, which lets you inside. Well… lets me inside.
Getting down onto my kitty girl limbs, I keep myself really low, and just-... oo- oh. I can do that cat thing now sort of, since I have claws. Where I just- impossibly… swooce right in… not that it was needed, but it helps. No bumping my back against the damn overhang.
Aah. Inside. I had to crawl under a shitty shelf thing, too. What was that doing there. Whatever.
Nnh. Well, in here…
Oh? Oh. Supply closet? Supply closet.
...I venture into the dim, dark closet. Pretty spacious for what it is, even if it's small as a structure, and as an actual room. How awkward.
Oh. Behind a shelf fully lined with cans of paint, I see someone back here.
Laying on a huge, torn up sunhat, is a cat girl, of around my height and stature. She's got some kind of raggy dress on, and a blue skirt, both of which barely exist anymore. Levelling her gaze on me, I notice her yellow eyes and her fwoofed out, brown hair. She's not in overalls like that cat boy I'd seen prior.
...She says nothing. I say nothing.
She's cool? Then, I'm cool. We're done here.
Oh, wait. There's another cat crawl on the floor just behind me here, light pouring through it. This hoe must really not know how bad her cat problem is, or how to deal with it.
...Cat problem. That moment when your barn is being invaded by humanoid cat pillagers. How surreal.
Anyway-... ah. Outside again.
I see a particularly huge barn to the north-... well, I don't know which way is north. Ahead. The barn is ahead. It's past some other, smaller tool shacks and other shit. Oh, look, a tractor.
It's even open. The barn, not the tractor. I come up to the barn's huge, open double doors, and browse on inside. I feel like I'm at a shitty fair alone.
This barn… it's L-shaped. It's twice the size of the main house. Despite this, it's obscured by a little patch of forestry that sits around it.
When I step inside, and look around amidst the candle-lit stables and huge posts, I-... hmm. Considering I can smell the barn with my crappy nose, it must be pretty extreme in here.
Crea~k. Then, for some reason the doors behind me swing shut.
+++ Book of Actualization
Lanterns, and candles. Shitty, half-shattered windows that look crystalline or frosty, but they're actually just shitty.
"I can't believe I'm in the middle of fucking nowhere." I conclude, standing in the middle of the huge, L-shaped stable. Horse men kind of leer at me, meanwhile there's a few more whacky cow girls just lying around in here. I'm in a bad western porno.
Then, I hear- I feel someone walking along on the stone-and-hay floor behind me. That flooring is unique to this barn house, by the way. The rest are all true and pure dead grass and dirt.
"An' what the sam hell're you doin' in my barn?"
It's the cat boy from earlier. His brown eyes are examining my body, as he sizes me up. For some reason, it looks like he's changed out of his overalls, and into some shit-brown shorts, and a faded green… shirt. Just, plain shirt.
He's also grinning at me, his posture casual.
"Well." I highly doubt it's his barn, for one thing. "I can't believe a cat can talk."
He snorted, strutting closer. I see he's barefoot. "...Wha' kinda expression's that?"
"...None." Let's not explain my idle babbling. "Um." I take in my dress. I'm certainly eons ahead of him in terms of civil apparel... apparently. "It's an Albany expression."
"Not from around he~re…?" Cat boy deduced. I assume we're not in Albany. Wherever the hell Albany is. "Are ya, girl?"
He got woefully close for his own health, staring deep into my eyes, before looking down along my flat chest. You see, he's also about as tall as me, and of similar frame, too. Are all the cats here just lolis and shotas?
As he skirts around me, and I turn towards him, we create a never-ending cycle of him trying to look at my ass, and me not letting him stare at it.
"No, I'm not." I keep my voice cutesy at first, and somewhat fair. "I'm from the twenty-first century."
...He pauses abruptly, giving me a smile, and the stink-eye. Oh, so this is the twenty-first century.
"Y'kno~w." He slid his hands into his trouser pockets. "I don't right remember likin' yer type. Yer a little kitty from the city, ain't'cha?"
"...I suppose." My vocabulary probably isn't helping.
Suddenly, his hands gripped mine. Even I could feel the roughness of his skin when compared to mine. "Tha' damn fluffy dress. Yer white as a new-bought doll. I bet tha' dress cost a lotta money… how much?"
A lot. "...Th- three hundred dollars?"
"Hoo~!" He hollered, all of a sudden. "...You know what we do ta pretty little kitties we don't like up in these parts, don'cha?"
Kill. Maim. Rape. Let's see which guess is correct. "What?"
He pushed my arms aside, since our palms were together, and tried to press his face against mine-
Klunk! I- ow… I choose to butt my forehead against his nose, and, yeah. Ow. May or may not have succeeded.
"Nn-" Beaming wilder now, the cat boy staggers back, letting go of my hands. With a huge grin, he points at me. "I'm-... gonna fuck yer clean little butt up an' down this barn like there's no tomorrow!" Oh.
"...Were your parents related?" I feel like I've asked someone this before. "Like, before they were married?"
Blushing, he continued. "That-... I'm gonna spank that white booty a' yours red! City kitty! I'm's gonna give you a dickin'!" What the fuck. I'm's? I feel like that's a crime against some law of language, somewhere.
Staring down at his palms, the cat boy wiped them on his own shirt, before brushing his own bulge, and leering at me again.
I feel at a sore spot on my neck, and draw my newish ice scissors from my purse.
"Nyahaha~!" Letting out a catty laugh, the boy drew his claws. Oh, right, we can do that.
Maybe Fatal Blizzard will do away with him easily. Maybe all it'll take's a few stabs-
Fwi- fwish. Instantly, in two strange motions, he's at my left side. I turn, and since I put my scissors in my right hand, I've got to arc them towards him-
Wham. His knuckles meet my ribs-
Pap! Then, that same arm's elbow meets one of my tits.
Whish! When I stab at the air despite his bullshit, he seems to crouch way down, landing a fist onto the side of either of my knees- making me stagger.
"Nyah!" Leaping up onto one leg, he throws it out-
WHAM! Fuck! "Hh- uhn-" It hit my chest-
Thud! I- I land on my back, my scissors having flown elsewhere. Fuck-... that kick hit my gut- and sent me fucking flying. What the fuck-
That's when the cat boy collapses onto my waist, and then onto my body. "Mmh-" He went to kiss at my mouth, but I turn my cheek on him, and he slobbers all over that instead. Fuck…
I try to push him back- but, that's definitely not working.
With a hand, he rights my face, and his hovers over mine. "Nnh- sm- smile fer me-... c'mon."
I bring up one of my own hands- and once I remember how to retract a claw, I scrape into one of his eyes.
"Rrgh-" Oh boy. "Rr- reeo~w!" He wails, and-
BAM! A fist meets my head- and I tug his body in one direction-
"Rrgh-" He rolls off of me, and in a near instant, he's halfway across the room, skidding on his own claws.
With the Hellfire Scissors out now, I swing them in the air. "Fire!"
Fwoom! The fireball rolls out from my swing, and this one is stronger than the prefab I usually take to casting. Remembering Mima's training, I focus on the orb-
Fwi- fwi- fwi- fwi- fwish! With five of those janky, body-jerking motions, the cat boy is across the whole barn-
WOOSH! Then, somehow, he rockets at me like a fucking torpedo-
"Ughk!" He clotheslines me with one arm before I can react, and with both our bodies tossed in opposite directions, we slam to the ground together.
THU- THUD! Fuck… this fucking stone floor-
Thud! Then, he clumsily flops down onto me again. "Nn- hehehe!" He giggles like a lunatic, smiling over at me, as if this was a game or something. "Dh- damn yer cute…"
"Nnh-" I grunt, pulling myself back, since he seems to not really be trying to pin me down, at the moment. In fact…
He lets me sit up, and get back into standing, before getting up himself.
His face flushed, he steps towards me again once I'm standing, looking like he's going to punch me. This-... this is a cat thinking they're playing with their prey, isn't it.
"I just wanna throw ya all up an' down this damn barn…" I think he's actually getting turned on by this, as if it were play.
Whap! Then, as I reach for more scissors, he's weaved up to my form in a near instant, slapping my chest. Fuck-
KRAWHAM! Fuu~ck! Ugh- nnh! ...What the fuck! He- after he slapped my chest, he-... he leaned his body forward almost parallel with his right leg, spun around, and his left leg shot up, lining up with the straightness of his torso and right leg. The underside tip of his foot met my jaw and sent me fucking flying.
As I lie there, in abject misery and shocked anger, he dropped down onto my body, embracing me as I lied on my back again.
"Yhe~s…" He growled out his pleasure, as his face neared mine. "Gl- glare like that-" Wh- fuck.
He plants a kiss on my lips, and tries to work tongue into it. When I try to push him back, he hugs me hard, and tightens his arms around me. "Mmr- hmhmhm!"
...While he's busy, I just poke one of his eyes again while he's distracted, this time with my thumb.
"Rrrh-" Having not learned his lesson, he- oh.
Shooting straight up off of me in a near literal instant, saliva flaring from my own mouth, he's meters away.
Suddenly he runs at me, leaps, and readies to plant both heels firmly in my gut.
Whish! As I'm faced with the prospect of gut-destroying pain, I ram my right elbow against the ground, and roll out of danger.
Fwish! Then, after one roll onto my stomach, I press my left palm and left knee against the floor- and-
Wham! Oh. I hit a far-off stable door, with my side. I had to have traveled at least five meters. That… might be how he recovers so quickly. What the fuck.
His bare feet slap against the stone floor, and he cringes after his heels meet rock. "Nn-..."
Those jerky slide motions he used, they reminded me of what I do with my sliding scissors… except, he could just do them. Also, they didn't ragdoll him, making them endlessly superior.
"Mrrh…" A hum of cat-like proportions emits from under his breath, as he looks at me. "Not gonna make it tha' easy, huh?"
Not exactly, no. As it turns out, I'm not gay.
"I'm-..." I take a breath. A lot of things hurt right now. Like, my ribs, and my jaw. "I'm not- into men…"
"Hmhmhm?" The cat boy leered at me. "Nyo~h, I'm gonna make ya into men, cutie." I'm pretty sure that's just rape. As if he hasn't been trying to rape me this whole time.
Fwi- fwish. He begins sliding to my right again. Hold on…
Fwish. After jerking all my muscles, and practically throwing myself in one direction, I successfully slide. I have to arc a knee forward, and my left leg back, but… it's a sudden motion that almost disorients myself.
WOOSH! The cat boy leaps to tackle me-
Fwish! Almost by flinching, I make a quarter circle motion around him, as he flies past me.
Thu- thud! Rolling along his side, he grits his teeth, and gets back up. "Nnh-... wh- why's this gettin' harder? Y'want me ta fuck you or not…!?" I think this cat's confused.
Then, a stroke of wit. "If I'm gonna be raped," I grin back at him. "I'd want it to be by something bigger than a pencil."
...Oh, I think he's angry. His expression flares and his eyes dilate, his mouth snapping into a wild smile. "Oo- oh, yeah!? Ooh- I'll help tie ya to a horsie, then! Ooh, damn diddly tha' be hot"
Fwish! Sliding right up to me, he thrusts an elbow straight for my ribs.
Pap. Not today. I just use my arm to stop it this time, prepared-
Wha- pap- whack- pap- whap! We trade blows. He crouches down and goes for my knees, so I kneel down and slap him and punch his face-
Whack! Standing up, he brings his knuckles up under my chin, blowing me back into standing. "Nghk-"
Wha- whack- CRACK- wha- whack- wham- whack! Nngh- all of a sudden, with immense momentum, afterimages of azure line his every hooking, extremely greedy blow. His knuckles scrape against my ribs, arms, shoulders, my jaw, and my hips. I don't know how many times he hit me.
Then, spinning around, he leaps into the air. His left leg kicks out and curls back, a big blue line drawn by it. "Nyeah!" If it lands, the heel will hook into my upper body and annihilate me.
This is the same, hooking kick I used accidentally against that one ice sculpture of Louise.
WOOSH. I dodge it by crouching. Yeah. He leapt pretty high, so…
His feet slap against the stone floor when he lands. "Nnn-"
Slap! I slap him on the cheek. Then, I experiment.
Doing what he did, I bend forward along my right leg, so that my knee touches my chest. Somehow, it's… it's both possible, and doesn't hurt. I am fuckin' flexible now.
Then, as I did it while turning around, I flick my left leg all the way up along my back. It feels like it briefly clicks out of its joint to actually do this, having to go one-eighty, but it also feels natural. It's… if my other leg was with it, I'd be handstanding, basically.
CLU- WHAM! Also, my shoe met the cat boy in the chin.
"Ghh-" Holding his chin, he stumbled back, throwing his head around in pain. "Fuck- fuck…"
I draw my water scissors, because they're there and sharp enough. Speed… speed is one of my greatest assets.
Fwi- fwish! I flinch towards him while he's staggering-
Woosh! I leap into a clotheline-esque motion, my heart jumping as I fall and my body leaves the ground for an extended time.
SHINK! I slid my scissors right into the base of his throat, and the gravity of me falling drove it in, deeper and deeper.
Thud. "Ngh-" When I fall far enough, I'm forced to let go, landing on my ass. "Nnh…"
Thu- thud. Cat boy wonder fell over, choking on his own blood, and the flowing water. "Kh- ghk- gughugugu-" Oh. He's gargling up watered-down blood. Crying too, but the gargling's interesting.
As the red and crystalline, pink-tinted liquid leaves his mouth, flooding the floor under his head, he quickly ceases struggling, his brown eyes becoming still and staring into infinity.
...Alright. Good.
I shamble towards him, my body weak and aching all over. Once I'm next to him, I drop onto my knees.
Shunk. Kneeling down, I draw my scissors. It's a tough pull, but I get them out.
...Perhaps, this is what Shinki meant. In fighting this stupid cat boy, I've stolen some of his techniques… and, perhaps remembered that speed and deadly precision are my greatest assets. In that, not only must I be fast, but I should be bold enough to throw myself around like a fucking maniac.
Maybe this is why people don't like fighting. Who'd've thought it.
Alright, where the fuck's my magic. I've earned it. I had to swap spit with this foul-mouthed little shit.
...I look over at his corpse again.
It's featureless now, alternating between black and white light. Strings of text somehow emanate from his vague body, feeding into the floor, and the air around him.
Confident that this is a sign, I get close to it-
His corpse breaks into clumps, which all snap into my face. I flinch, and shut my eyes.
Wh- gh- god-
+++ Book of Actualization
+++ Shimokoa's Perspective
It is done.
In the house's kitchen area. The huge-chested human woman is no more.
"Wh-..." Vanilla cries next to me. "Why-... why'd you-..."
There is a hole in the wall. I'd fired an almighty spark of cosmic power at her. She threatened me for my cold skin, when she discovered that I was no lady, and I was in fact youkai.
"She threatened me." I justify this to Vanilla. "So, she deserved death."
"She- she was afrai~d of you~!" Vanilla wailed. "...And-..."
Rightfully so. Humans should fear me.
"She- she-... if- if you'd just-..." Vanilla is too mixed up for words. "Sh- Shimokoa, no…"
Water fountains out from a broken pipe. I believe that thing I shot the laser through was called a sink. I'd tried installing one in my cave, but… it never really worked out.
...A moment later, Pearl cautiously slinks into the room, holding a big emerald-tinted dress. "Hey, um… guys."
I face her.
...Pearl smiles sheepishly. "Do-... do you think, this dress- would make my ass look big?"
Of all the things you say that actually makes at least followable sense. Weren't you male? I'm… I'm confounded. Nevermind, it makes less sense than I had at first thought.
I don't answer, because the entire situation scares me.
Fwish. Freezing the pipe-based fountain, I skirt past it, and into the golden-cast, sunny world outside.
The human's form is shreds of cloth on the grass ahead, amidst a long line of blood traces. Just traces. A seasoning, here or there.
What is this huge world? Its plains are nothing like Gensokyo's.
Huge, kilometers long, expansive. Its scale is truly staggering. Monolithic mountains scale the very distance.
What a… what a terrifying world. So huge, so-...
Vanilla is running along the grass behind me. "Wh- nn-..." She takes pause at the sensation of grass on her bare feet. "Wa- wait-"
"Vanilla…" I turn to her. "Are-... are we on the outside?"
I've read books. The descriptions of the American plains… it couldn't be. No, this could be one of many other outside countries, surely. Wait-... no, that's still very bad.
Vanilla blinked. "...I- I think so?"
I don't know what to say.
Floating forward, I enter the red barn house that's ahead. What… what an open world.
And, if this is the outside… what an empty world. A lifeless, empty, human world.
Inside this barn is something horrible. Of course, of course.
Cattle. Cow women, horse men; the latter fit with lecherous, purely animal, carnal expressions despite their human bodies. All nude and kept here in absolute captivity, from the massive, spreading plains around us.
Those human heads and faces… they leer at me.
This truly is the world of humans. Gods. This sight…
I don't know how it makes me feel. Though I have little respect for the animal-types- for, despite their sentience, they still retain impulse and stupidity- to see them like this…
I just-... I can't.
Drifting back, at the entrance of the red barn… I close the doors, and place my hands on them.
Frost is fed inside. I don't know how much it will take, but… I plan to give them all a slow, peaceful death. Goodbye, cows. Goodbye, horses.
...I feel bad. But, it's what has to be done.
In the name of the destruction of humanity, and for the dignity of these youkai. Still… having to do this to so many people at once. I feel like crying.
...Vanilla wanders up, as I do this. "Um…"
I won't say what I'm doing. Though I let her bear witness to the murder of our foes… I shouldn't tell her about mercy killings. Perhaps to retain the shred of decency I have left…
BAM. Um…?
BAM- BAM. The animals-... are they struggling? Why? Is the-... do they notice the cold? It shouldn't be painful enough to make them struggle…
CRA- CRACK- BAM, BAM! They're breaking out!
BAM- BAM. I feel them bang on the door I'm holding into place! I- gods, I can't hold on!
CR- CREA~K! They swing open with force, parted by the cow girls and horse men. My arms are thrown up, and I float way back.
...But, they're nowhere near as panicked as I thought. My frost also had barely crept past the room's middle, somehow. It's warm, wherever we are…
Plainly, the huge cow women graze by me, seeming to ignore me. They're… surrealistically tall, and leave a trail of white fluid on the dirt behind themselves.
Vanilla's eyes boggle at the visual. "Wh- whaa…"
"Wh- hh..." I'm admittedly frazzled. They just- stroll by me without a care, some giving me dismissive looks.
Cr- crea~k. Inside the barn ahead, the stables swing open. The horse men let themselves out, and-...
Really, why are they all naked!?
"Who's that?" As one of them browses out, he speaks in a deep voice, asking his… other men.
"Mmh." A different horse exhales. They all look fairly similar to one another. Stark naked, muscular, and about as tall as the cow girls. "From the city, looks like. Maybe a foreigner. ...Cute." Cu- cute…?
"She's small…" Maybe- I shouldn't be flattered, all things considered. Listening to them, they sound-
One of them approaches me. "Wanna fuck?"
"Nn- no. I don't." I'm-... pretty sure it's not physically possible. Let's not. Also, gods- keep away from me.
"Aawh…" One of the cow girls walks up before me, and hugs onto him. "Seems like the missus ain't 'round right now."
There's a cacophony of snorts from the horse men, and slowly, the rest of the cow girls stalk back up to them. Um…
You know what? This is weird. I don't like this.
I turn around. "Mm- aa-" Oh, no, Vanilla…!
Crouching down swiftly, I circle around her and shield her eyes from behind, even if it's a little late for that. "We're-... we're going somewhere else."
Vanilla shook slightly, and my palms over her face could feel it. "Wh- where?"
"Anywhere." We do not need to see what's about to happen. The outside is a strange, strange world. I'd also rather not stir their ire. If they're fine like this… I- I'm fine too, I guess.
Turning Vanilla right around, I pass by Pearl, who is going to examine what I just abandoned. And, you know what? Pearl could probably use the education. If they don't just-... you- you know-... nevermind. I don't dare think such cursed thoughts…
Then, all of a sudden, I see that little cat demon. Sabrina…
She's in a new dress, for some reason. She bounds along the side of the house like a cat, and darts her gaze up at me owlishly.
I'm tempted to direct her to the massive demigod-proportioned youkai orgy that's about to happen behind us. At the same time, I'm not so cruel-
"Oh my god!" Pearl runs away from it. "They're having sex! Shi- Shimokoa-... did you see that!?"
I speak quietly. "I don't plan on it."
Honestly-... I'm still so exhausted, from the murder I had to commit earlier. Those damned Makai youkai… succubi are scum. Vampires, too. The whole notion of sex seems so ripe for ruin and violence. Love-... I- I wish love was so pure, but it seems so corrupted.
The sister of mine who died, so a tanuki could get their fix for pleasure from her. She wasn't supposed to die…
I- I hate the outside. I hate other youkai…
Genkan, in the hands of that human. If I'm too late, history will repeat itself.
We need to go.
I let go of Vanilla. She looks back at me, questioningly.
Drawing my huge, steel paddle from around my back-
Fwish! I flare magic up along it, and a layer of ice forms on either side, sandwiching the clean, icy metal.
Those horse men; those cow whores. They're capable of the ignorant ruin that killed my sisters. They'd fuck her, they'd break her insides, snap her limbs, choke her out and break her neck.
Shade wraps around my mouth, obscuring my skin. The maw of jagged icicles reforms for the first time since I've entered this strange realm.
"Shi- Shimokoa." Vanilla speaks up. "What-... stop."
"Hhh…" I breathe out through my mask of shade and ice. "What?"
"Don't-... go killing them." Vanilla insisted. "What'd they do to you?"
"It's what they could do. What they would do."
Their ideological tenets-... though we have not spoken, I have seen the violence beasts can commit. It will never happen again; not from these ones. "Is their nature not inherently suggesting it? Their eagerness to mate, the women they're likely used to…"
Sabrina spoke up, as she slinked up to us like an actual cat, except humanoid. "I-... met a rapist cat." She found it hard to speak from that posture, so she stood upright. "Nnh."
"Well- this isn't even our like, world." Vanilla argued back. "There's no reason to go killing them…!"
Then, we hear an unrelated voice. "Marianne…?"
It's a man's. It comes from the kitchen, where we're all standing outside of-
KRACKA- FWII~SH! Oh. The frozen fountain exploded, all the pipe water backed up under the ice I'd left on it.
"Marianne!?" He sounded like an aged man.
Running through the water, flailing his arms about, the man with short grey hair fought his way out onto the lawn- "Rrgh-" Correction. He flopped his way onto the lawn, after the rocketing water from the pipe defeated him. The hole from the room onto the lawn was a step down too, which he didn't seem to expect.
After doing a roll over his back onto his side, he rested in the ditch beside the house for a moment. "Rr-... nnh- nn… Ma- Mari-..."
Slowly, he pushed himself up off the ground, his head now bleeding.
Looking up from the ground, he saw me. "Ma-... Marianne…?" Oh. I-... I think he's quite mistaken. My hair isn't even brown…
He has a gun. Using it to push himself off the floor, he blinked warily, eyeing Vanilla casually, then ignoring her.
...Then, I turn, feeling huge steps behind myself, in the soil.
It was one of the huge, lumbering horse men.
Wrapping an arm around me, he pulled me close. "Nnh- aa-" His strength was tremendous, as he half-embraced me. Below me, between us, there was his-...
"Let-" Does he not see my mask? Does he not care? "Let me go."
He let out a big snort, a plume of warm air expelled, despite his fully human face. "Missus washes us."
"...And?" What do you expect me to-
"You wash us." He demanded.
The ve- very idea… "Why." I'm not your-... slave owner, or anything.
"No missus. You're cute." He- brushed his- up against me. "Wash me."
"You-!" Then, the farmer man stood up, and aimed his gun at the horse. "You leave Marianne alone…! She owns you!"
With that, the horse's face snaps into a huge scowl. "...Old man. Share this beautiful girl." Then, his stare met mine. "You want to-" He brushes it against me again. "-wash me, right?"
"Nn- no-" I can't swing my paddle easily, this close- "Aah…!"
He lifts me off my feet- and pulls me closer-
Wh-... what…!? I'm- sitting atop-...
When he sits me down on his lap, so to speak, I drift back and away. "Let me-..."
Something like this. Something like this could've been what got some of my sisters killed. Oni, tanuki… humans…
I float way back, past Sabrina where she stood, finished with being manhandled. "If you don't cease, I will kill you."
The horse didn't seem impressed, and he marched towards me further-
KABLAM! That's when the farmer got in the way, and shot. The noise was frightening, and indescribably loud.
KRACK. First, the volley of fire met the horse man's face. His skull began to shatter-
SPLA- KRAKA- SPLAT- SPLACK! Then, the top of his head was blown from his jaw.
Gods. What a mess. My eyes are wide.
That was certain death. A fountain of blood spread from the horse man's… neck, as he stumbled around uselessly, before falling over, his vitality withered.
The farmer was now on his butt, the gun having so much power that it disarmed him. "Rrh- gh…"
It lies at my feet. This double-barreled gun…
Bending down, I pick it up. It's made of wood and iron.
Vanilla sits on her butt some distance away, shaking after beholding its power. Pearl stands against a wall, similarly spooked.
Smiling, I aim it at Pearl, and she cowers. "God- please, no…!" Ehehehe…
I aim it down at the horse's body instead, and pull the trigger.
...Mmh? Nothing happened. Come on.
What the hell. Well…
I don't need it to work, then. I'll emulate its effects with magic.
"Ma- Marianne, that's dangerous!" The farmer piped up, standing again. "...Aa- also-... ya- ya gotta reload it, Marry. I- I know I never taughts ya 'bout guns, but-... co- come on, now…"
Reload it? Oh. Oh, right. Guns… take bullets. They don't just make or summon more. How… hmm. Inefficient? Inconvenient?
Regardless, um…
"Li- like this, Marry…" Coming up to my side, the farmer man reaches for my gun, and presses down on a steel button. Then, he pushes down on the barrels, and-
Click. The gun popped in half! Like this, the open backs of the barrels were exposed to me.
"Y- y'see, you put the bullets here…" He pointed at the holes. "An' then ya put the gun back tagether an' cock it-"
Fwish- fwish. I load it with two cylindrical pellets of ice, sliding them right in with one swipe of my left palm.
"Wh-..." He shook his head. "You an' yer damn magic-... that- that could break the gun, y'know? Take those out."
Click. Ignoring him, I fix the barrel back into place. "How do you cock it?" What does it mean to cock it. That term-
"It- it means ya-... pump the grip back." He pointed at where I naturally rested my left hand. "How-... how don't ya know-"
Chi- chik. I cock the gun.
"Marry- don't you dare fire it." The farmer-
He grabs my butt. "I'll spank you good tonight if ya fire it, Marry. Shotguns're expensive Marry- I'm talkin' two hundred spanks!"
…
Wham.With vigor, I smash the wood back of it into his ribs. "Uhu- fuck-"
Turning around, I aim the shotgun in his face. "Marry- no-"
I pull the trigger. Hmm? The pellets didn't explode on their own?
After he flinched, he glared back. "Marry! You put that damn thing down right-"
KRACK! Instead of the roar of thunder that was the pellets he shot, it was the sheer crack of ice.
You see, I simply flooded the back of the gun with ice, and when I pulled the trigger again, I reflexively created a snap that shot the ice along the inner barrels. It's not stupid or dangerous to myself, because of the protection the metal offers.
THI- THUNK- THINK! From my shotgun, crystalline shards smash through his glasses, cutting deep into his face. "Ggh- aagh-" He staggered back, holding his face where the immensely wide spread of icy bits met it.
What power. The recoil of the gun; it sends power into my own body. This weapon… feels truly powerful.
That didn't have the accuracy, power or volume whatever he used did. But…
Cli- click. Snapping the gun open, I feed it two more cylindrical pellets of ice, and snap it back together.
Chi- chik. I cock it. That… that feels good.
Aiming it back at his head, I pull the trigger lightly, anticipating the kickback-
KRACK! That-... huh.
THINK! Only some of the wild spread meets his body, in the upper torso. "Rgh-" His face is caked in blood, his whole upper body getting covered as he feverishly felt at his own features. The volley of ice I shoot apparently cuts deep and powerfully, turning flesh into a dough-like state.
I float right up to his face, and aim the barrels into it. Half of the ice wasn't shot, so I pull the trigger again-
KRACK- SPLACK! Ooh!
A fragment of his skull goes twirling away, the ice blowing straight through his head. A fireworks-like display of gore twirls with it, half making my heart jump, and half making me queasy…
Then, my icy maw grins.
"This…" I behold the shotgun. "This is a super gun." That's what I'll call it. Super shotgun.
I snap my gaze to the side of the red barn ahead. Oh, yes.
As the reaper, I float towards them, loading two more pellets into my super shotgun. My icy steel paddle spins out from myself on its own, carried telekinetically towards them.
Chi- chik. As my paddle whirls to bludgeon them, I hold my shotgun tight.
+++ Book of Actualization
+++ Matt's Perspective
God, is my head strange right now. Like after waking up from anesthetics, after a dental operation…
However, I was woken up by the repeated gunshots of these fucking maniacs playing with a shotgun.
A shifting sea of words and information about cats had met my mind, after I put down that cat boy. Information about my spry nature, about some of the ways in which I can contort my body, and how to… well, move like a cat.
"Hyup!" Let's watch Shimokoa's bullshit. From the floor, I leap off my legs and thrust my body at the same time.
Cla- clack! My- arms connect with the roof's gutters, and they creak unhealthily under my weight. Also-... I'm sure Shinki is up to bullshit. My tail-... whenever I'm not in contact with the ground is a leap of faith, and my tail goes slightly haywire, until I connect with the ledge I'm leaping for.
It was like this before… but now, it's more intense.
"Nnh." Tossing my legs, I do almost a sideward flip onto the rooftop, my knees landing on the shitty shingles. Thank fuck this dress is well-padded.
I crawl on hands and feet, somehow semi-comfortably galloping along the slanted shingles to the edge of the roof.
KRACK! KRACK! Shimokoa seems to be a natural with that shotgun, somehow. Weaving between the men, shooting their dicks off, as she telekinetically defends herself with her giant paddle of doom. It whirls around her in a circle, keeping men off quite easily.
"Ne- heheigh!" The horses sound mad. "Nngh-"
KRACK! KRACK! Shimokoa blows the head of one clean off.
Oh boy, oh boy. It's just now setting in, but this fuckass really didn't need a gun, now that I think about it. I needed a gun.
But then, as the world's sun starts to set, the sky's colors start to recede into whiteness.
...What's this feeling? We-
/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /
I wake up, in Shinki's realm.
"Mmm…" Shinki herself is standing by the tea table, looking pleased.
Shimokoa, Vanilla and Pearl are all seated around us; Vanilla to my left, and the other two across the table from us. They're all still asleep.
"Shimmy there's gettin' used to me quick." Mima had a pleased look, as she drifted in the air next to Shinki. "Her ideal style a' fightin', right away, was usin' my magic."
Shinki wiggled where she stood, slightly. "...I was hoping Sabrina there would've been into that cat boy. I could've written her a romance and everything."
Yeah, uh huh. "Maybe if they were a girl." I reply. "As well as not a country bumpkin."
"Oh? You're awake." Shinki smiled down at me. "But, that's not exciting. I wanted there to be a sense of you losing your former sex."
I can't believe she wanted me to lose to cock. "No." Also, no go. No matter how pretty I get, men stay ugly. It's almost like I wanted to be a cat girl loli because I really like cat girl lolis myself.
Also. "What magic did I supposedly learn, there." Just making sure I wasn't gypped. I was probably gypped.
Shinki pursed her lips at me. "...Oh? Was increased affinity for your body not enough? The way your balance changed. The realization, of how spritely your now more-youkai-than-human limbs behave. Eirin did a hackjob intentionally, knowing you requested only some features from fetishistic desire, but while you were all asleep… I made sure to finish the job."
...Not sure how to feel about that.
"And, you wanted to be more of a cat." Shinki kept going. "You want the fluidity and power it offers. And, since you've done me a favor… I've returned it."
Then, that fight, in book space-...
I feel at my ribs, and my jaw. I'm still bruised. So, that all did physically happen… to us, at least. Every entity in the book was likely a construct of Page 65537's foolery.
"Also, you're still as adorable as ever." Shinki felt the need to affirm me. "Just be careful, with those Aoyama family talismans. You may not appreciate how your original body feels as much now."
Yeah, yeah. I'll know it when I… feel it, I suppose.
Woosh. Then, Shimokoa floated up from her seat, into the air. "I-..." She snapped her eyes open, looking around.
Then, she glared down at Shinki.
Fwi~sh. Fwi~sh. Oh. Oh, I see.
Shimokoa creates two double-barreled shotguns out of ice in either hand, and aims them down at Shinki. "You- will not toy with me-"
poof- poof. When she tried to fire, Shinki expanded a hand like she was trying to flick a booger. The backs of Shimokoa's fake shotguns popped open, cartoonish smoke rolling out, as if they backfired.
"What-" She shut her eyes, and drifted away from the smoke. "Why…?"
Slowly, Shimokoa strays further away from the definition of what a double-barreled shotgun is. I wonder when she'll just start chucking them at people, or shooting the ice spreads from her hands instead.
"Relax." Shinki's voice was plain and warm. "I gave you the knowledge of guns. How about that?"
...Shimokoa took pause. Slightly surprising, considering she blew that farmer's head off as courtesy for teaching her how to understand a gun's existence.
...Well. Alright, then.
I get out of my chair-
thud. Oh. My body's less used to this-... cat thing than I'd thought. This- is going to take some getting used to.
"...Uu- um…" Vanilla seems to be up.
"...I'm getting homesick." Really, Pearl. Homesick. I guess that's a word that'd describe the feeling you get from being made a cosmic plaything of.
Mima folded her arms, and smiled at us. "Homesick, huh? How's about I send you all home, then? Trust me: I'll call ya when I need ya."
Pearl spoke up, while I tried to get off the floor. "Wh-... wait- I can't go home! Not like this! Mother- mother would kill me!" A line made ten times cuter by him being a petite anime girl instead of a greasy, slick-haired fuckboy.
Click! Mima snapped her fingers, and Shinki held up her arms.
FWASH! Immensely bright magic bloomed from Shinki's form, and then-
/ / / / FORWARD TO THE PRESENT / / / /
See? That flashback skipped all that boring after-job bullshit, like moving broken sentry parts and big metal things.
We're back in our base of operations; a fucking raggedy-ass shack settled in some shitty forest that's not quite at Youkai Mountain, but it's still fairly far from the Hakurei Shrine. If you went north from here, you'd wind up just before the Misty Lake, on the Hakurei side of it.
It's cold. We have, for some reason, a fireplace. It's small, it barely makes heat, and I hate it.
Mima's got a big coffee table in the midst of the room. Under it sits the crate of kappa energy shields, as well as two briefcases lined full with yen.
Pearl is practicing dancing in the right corner of the room. For what fuckin' reason, I have really no clue- you know what…
I stand up from the table, since watching Mima scratch her head over technology she doesn't understand is only so interesting.
"Pearl." I take two steps to the weird wooden dance floor she had built in all of one second. She meticulously polished, sanded and shined it herself once Mima popped it into existence, indicating she has some degree of carpentry expertise.
"Oo- oh?" Pearl pauses. Her dancing looks utterly retarded. "What's up!?"
"Why do you insist on practicing dancing every moment you're able to."
Pearl keeps doing her fucking-... what even is that. I can't describe it in prose, but rest assured that I cannot understand what it is conveying.
"I need to keep my skills sharp." She insisted. "This new body-... it's not as limber, Sabrina. Not as limber." She does her fucking-... peek-a-boo looking shit for a few more seconds. "If I want to impress anyone back at the village, I have to make a name for myself again."
"...By dancing." I figure.
"Well, of course." Th- sure. "How do you think I was so popular to begin with?"
"...You weren't." I was about to ask if he even was, but the answer was so obvious that I guessed it.
Pearl was staggered out of dancing briefly. "What do you know? I-"
"You were a pompous asshole with a superiority complex." I'm not putting up with Pearl's shit. You were transformed into a woman after being a complete and total pussy in the realm of demons and gods. Then, after learning nothing, you returned to being a pompous asshole as soon as it was safe to do so. "Even among the morons of the village, I can't imagine that being a recipe for popularity."
...Pearl doesn't say anything. She gives me a sort of blunt look, insulted. Then, she smiled, one of intense, creeping cleverness. "I think you're just jealous."
Are you kidding me. I'm a fucking cat. Provided, I wouldn't be caught dead dancing, but I don't think you want to insult the agility of a cat.
"I'm not." I insist.
...Pearl grins wider, and of course fucks this up even harder somehow. "Hey-..." She looks around for the others.
Vanilla is napping, on the single, extremely fancy ornamental bed we stole from somewhere or another. Mima and Shimokoa went off and did that on their own, at some point.
"Nn-..." Shimokoa sat in a corner, staring at the floor. Not sure if crying or not, and I don't feel like finding out.
"Mima!" Pearl calls for Mima, for some godforsaken reason. "Do you think-"
"Pearl, shut the fuck up, I swear to god, don't call for me again." Mima doesn't even look over, but her frustration is palpable. "If you couldn't see, I'm fucking busy."
Pearl actually walks over to her. "Oh, come on, you can't be-"
"I will blow your fucking head off!" Mima is really not having it today. "For the love of whatever god you believe in! Shut. Up."
"...Ge- geez. Okay..." Pearl listens, even if not quite well enough. "...We- well… Shimokoa-..."
Shimokoa doesn't react, still sitting in the corner and being emo.
Pearl hustles over to her. "Shimo-"
"I ha- hate dancing. Go away." Shimokoa's voice is broken up, indicating that she has indeed been crying.
Pearl is a treasure. "But- you aren't doing-"
Fwish. Shimokoa summons a super shotgun, and points it up at him-
KRA- KRACK! CRACK- BINK- TING! Shimokoa unloads both barrels into the air past Pearl, putting holes through our already shit-tier scaffolding roof.
"Oh-" Pearl pisses herself. "Oh, gods!"
Mima heaves a sigh, her hands scrunching up on the table. "Nngh…"
Pearl jogs back up to me, and cowers on the other end of the tiny dance floor, her back against the wall. Then, she quickly stops, realizing Shimokoa went back to sulking, instead of pursuing her death.
Once she's sure she's safe, Pearl centers her stare on me. "...If- if everyone here wasn't busy, they'd agree with me." I don't know what to say. The only people here who would… are Mima, and Shimokoa. Both people who have a clinical, chronic hatred for stupid.
"Do you really think so?" I want to know. "Those two? Not Vanilla?"
...Pearl purses her lips. "I- I don't really know… Vanilla."
"You know those other two. How would they react?" I walk her through this.
"...Once I showed them my dancing skills, and they weren't doing anything else, they would listen." Pearl is remarkable, truly. "Maybe even agree!"
Well, I'm out of ideas now. Time to go comatose on the floor like Shimokoa. She's had the right idea this whole time.
Noticing I'm losing interest outright, Pearl gets uppity, for some reason. "If you really think you're better than me, we can compete!"
"To who." Our audience of no one, because no one enjoys dancing. Also, I wouldn't be dancing, I'd be smashing your head in.
"...To each other?" Pearl's suggestion is bad.
"I'd rather just break your neck." It's too late for this shit.
Pearl snorted. "You? Break my neck? How?"
I'm tempted to prove it to you right now. But, before I say anything, Pearl makes a proposition. "You know, dancing is a lot like fighting. At least- that's what I've always believed."
I start to look around the room. I left my scissors on a shitty plywood drawer nearby, in my 'corner' of the room-
"If- if we spar-" Pearl held up her hands. "We shouldn't-... use our stronger moves! Like- stabbing. Or- or shooting, or magic. That isn't dancing. It's like, explicitly cheating."
Okay. "What if there was a magic dancer?" Do belly-dancers count as magic dancers?
"And use the magic for what?" Pearl is everything wrong with the world. "Magic is only for killing. Youkai use magic. Magicians are corrupted by it. It-..." She gestured down to her petite figure. "It did this to me, for god's sake!"
"Not sure if I'd call that killing." If you ask me, it's a marked improvement. Not that it will save her from me smashing her head in.
"If I was not with you four, I would be homeless, or slain for my now-youkai roots, identity known or otherwise."
Pearl's gaze met the floor, and she looked more uncertain. The fact that I can see Sanjiro's stupid, blunt expressions in hers ruins the image for me. "I've already failed my clan. Yet still, my mind is human, and so the cruelty of youkai eludes me. If this is not reversed, I am not long for this world." You were never long for this world.
"That sucks." I monotone.
...She focuses on me again, after parting pale blonde bangs from her eyes. Her blonde hair is ironically cute, and I hate blonde typically. "This is why-... I will prove that I'm the better dancer! That I can contribute more than you, when I'm able to!"
You know what? "Not interested." I was in the fighting mood a couple of seconds ago, but now I just want to stop being around Pearl.
"Wh-..." Pearl pauses, her arms snapping up before her modest chest, as she pouted back at me.
You see, since there's four of us, this room has four corners dedicated to each of us.
What do I have? Portable heater, a futon, and a shelf for some shit. Ironically works better than that creaky piece of shit back in Small Packages. When this whole party thing eventually falls apart, I'm takin' this stuff back and living like a king. Er, queen. It all hardly cost anything, anyway.
Shimokoa has nothing. She sleeps in a corner. Boo fuckin' hoo.
Vanilla has that bed, and that's it.
San- Pearl has that shitty dancefloor, and a chair. I hope it's a good chair, for her sake.
After I survey the room, I take a brief look back at Pearl, just to behold her shitty battlestation.
Slap! Pearl had snuck up on me, and slapped me across the face. Yeah, that's fucking it.
"Hah!" Doubling back, she brought up her arms. "You have to fight me-"
Whap! I lunge up to her while she's just not ready, and punch her in the gut, just above the pussy. "Uhu-"
While she staggers, I spin, my body stretching down so my face kisses my right knee.
WHAM! My left heel meets Pearl's chin, the leg flicked up parallel with the rest of my body.
Thud! Pearl landed on her ass. "Uu- nnh-"
Spinning to face her, righting myself-
Whack! I kick her in the face. "Nnh-"
While she's like this, I dart back, press my heels against the shitty warehouse-like floor, and leap off the floor towards her at sprinting speed.
WHA- CRUNCH! Both of my shoes roar down into her stomach and ribs, crushing her to the floor. "Kh- kaugh- ughuu…" Pearl wheezes, her chest shaking and contorting in agony, as she writhes on the floor-
Clack. I leap off of her, landing on my shoes before I lose my balance on her body. The act of doing so rolls her over onto her side. "Uu- kaugh- khahk…"
All in all, the exchange left me a little dizzy, but I can't deny the results. My body's lighter now, and I'm not sure, but I'm gonna say it's somewhat stronger too.
"Guess... I win." What a dance battle. Kicked her in the face twice and stomped on her ribs. My favorite dance move.
There's something inherently unsettling about her female appearance, however. If she wasn't Sanjiro-turned-woman and was just a really dumb woman, I'd probably have been way more lenient. Probably.
"Ahah!" Meanwhile, Mima miraculously makes a breakthrough in her fucking around with technology she doesn't understand. "Alright…!"
Standing up from her- fuck. Floating up from her chair with her ghost-ass ghost tail swishing around, she looks around with ten times the mirth she's had all evening, and floats up to me.
She hands me one of those square things with dishes on their top-... top face? Top area? it looks like someone took a computer mouse and split it in half, and put a jewel in the central mess.
Bobbing up to me, she just hands it off to me. "Stick that shit on yer tit, or something."
...How.
Well. I press the flat of the thing up to my left… chest. It stays there when I do so, by the power of miracle tape, I assume.
fli- flick. Oh? Huh. Boxes of black energy flare around my form, before their color fades in. Green, yellow, then orange and red. Once it actualizes, it goes invisible… but, every few seconds, I can see it flicker, reminding me it's there.
It's not really luminescent. It's a very… grungy kind of magical surface. The fact it makes shitty rectangle hitboxes around my form only adds to the slapdash feeling.
"Yo, Shimo-chan." Mima called for Shimokoa. "Hit Sabrina here wit' the absolutely most powerful technique ya can remember. One hit only, though. Pretty sure the shield's only good fer one hit, or for like, a second, if it's real damn powerful."
...Shimokoa stood off the floor.
"Go outside." She told me in monotone, as she claimed her paddle of spanking from the floor.
So, I do, because why not. We're literally not doing anything else productive or interesting.
There's woods and forestry outside our little fucktacular shack. It's still snowing, but it's evening. The woods around us emanate an immense feeling of nothing and omnisity, for some reason. Yet, I'm sure it doesn't compare to Shimokoa's aptitude for killing anything that looks at her funny.
It's really cold out here. I can see my breath. Maybe that piddly fire does more than I thought.
My boxy shield flickers, as I step before some trees, amidst the powdery snow.
Just outside the door of our refuge, Shimokoa holds her paddle ready with both hands. "Mima. Grant me power."
Mima does so, allowing herself to phase into Shimokoa's form. "If ya say so~."
...With that, Shimokoa's now minty-tinted eyes level on my form.
"Come to me…" She drifts into the air, holding the huge paddle up. "Ice Blade!"
FWA~SH! She creates a huge blade. Huge. I mean, taller than the trees huge. Probably too huge.
...And it shows, because she just lets go of it, and it fucking falls towards me. My heart jumps and I flinch as the entire, monolithic blade collapses down on me-
KRA- CRA- CRACK- Scree~ch! ...Well. Nothing hit me. Ice crumbled and shattered around me, the statue-like force of the giant ice sword somehow failing to crush me into nothing.
That screeching noise was the shield flaring up violently and fully around my form. As it dissipated, it went from red to yellow, to green, to black, and then-
sss~. Gone. The shield device on my chest emitted smoke, and the chrome metal it used was now extremely stained and eroded. Huh.
...Shimokoa was now kneeled against the floor. Slowly, she stood again, fixing her gaze on her paddle as she raised it from the cracking ice.
/ / / / SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
"Mima." I do believe that's enough of this. "When are we fighting Eientei? It's been nearly a week of this."
I don't know the true might of their guardians. But… I do know, that the next true step to power would likely lie there.
"Patience, girl." Mima says what she always does. "If we do it wrong, we're all so~ fucked. An' between you and us, you and Sabrina're basically the only actually fuckin' worthwhile people to send hittin' shit right now."
...Vanilla is too young and innocent, and naive of the world. Pearl is less than useless and would get herself killed.
Sabrina? She has an affinity for violence similar to mine, yes, but nowhere near the power. As a cat youkai… she only has speed. I don't know why, but the scent of human from her… it must have been the blood of others I've smelt. That, or I've witnessed the rare evolution of a human into a youkai, or something similar to a youkai.
With this done, Sabrina moves to walk past us. "If you don't need me here…"
Mima forces me to wave her off. "Yeah, yeah. Go sleep, y'little cat. Tomorrow… y'know- me and Shimo-chan're gonna think up what we're gonna do tomorrow."
She waves us off, and stumbles off to get some sleep. I'm tempted to tell her to 'sleep soundly in her bed tonight', but… I- I just don't think that would be effective…
...When she's inside, Mima speaks through my mouth to myself. "So. When we do roll down to Eientei… I think I'll have a map plotted out fer us."
Hmm. "A map? Couldn't you sense its magic?"
Mima shook her head. "Whaddaya think they are, retarded? The fake moon's obviously off in some kinda-sorta-not-really sealed room, but even then, they know how ta keep nosey whackjobs like us out."
The fake moon. An object of scrutiny some months ago, which has long since faded into obscurity after the many other incidents that have befell the land.
But, for what it is, Mima speaks of it still as a power source, and she has an idea. She tells me we can create a vessel of some kind, perhaps a portal or container, to harvest the fake moon's lunar energy.
With it, I'd truly ascend above my opposition. Oni, the overworld youkai, the human village… they'd all change their ways. When they saw the moon's power shining from me, embodying my tears.
During the Imperishable Night incident, the moon's power would berserk youkai, give them increased ferocity and irritability, and power greater than what a full moon offers beasts even now.
On my behalf, the fake moon will unleash its wrath. If Mima has told the truth. I'm willing to bank on it. If she isn't… I- I don't know. The only hope this world has for peace, true peace, is me. If Mima betrays me in the end, I will accept death. The risk is worth the reward.
"An' even if we have a way in, we'll need a separate way out." Mima thought aloud, as I continued to think quietly. "Once Eientei goes on high alert, they can set the Bamboo Forest ta make us go in circles forever. An' don't even suggest we fly around, 'cause-... y'know. Should be obvious."
It's not that I wish the legacy of my beloved sisters be lost in my own death, but… I feel like the world is hopeless if I don't obtain remarkable power.
Even if I could murder one being every day, the progress made would be staggeringly small, and I'd be no different than other high-performing youkai. And… the toll of executing the innocent is just something I can't quite bear.
If I could kill hundreds in an instant, it'd be the same as a natural disaster. I wouldn't have to see the faces of those who I kill.
"...You still there?" Mima knocked on my own head. "Yo, head's up…"
"Ye- yeah." I- somehow, my voice is somewhat strained when it comes out, despite Mima having exercised it quite efficiently. "I was just… thinking."
Mima snorted through my own nose. "Yeah, y'do that a lot. Maybe too much, even fer me! Lemme tell ya, y'get a little stir crazy in yer own head- well, anyway…"
...Maybe she's right. I'm not sure when I began planning on mass, widespread murder.
Over the past few weeks, I've realized how much of the world is violent. How quick the kappa might kill you. How beastmen and women of the plains are quick to act like their animal counterparts and attack. The adversity of the human hive…
It's really no wonder that my sisters are dead. We lived in a world where our innocence was maintained by a thread. It's also no wonder that we were undisturbed for so many years in our isolation.
"Do you have any idea when we'll attack Eientei?" I've… really had enough. Living in this pile of garbage we call a base, killing and stealing in the name of peace each day…
I- want to stop killing people. I want everything to just stop.
"...Mmm~." Mima put some serious thought into it. "Well, when kitty-chan finds Shikome, I'm sure she'll be all okay. So, we won't hafta hold her hand fer that. Not that she'd wait on us, anyway. As for our escape plan..."
Mima reaches into my kimono, past one of my breasts. Wa- wait, what-
She draws-... what? When was that there. What.
She's got… some kind of blue-white sheet which she unravels. A map? No…? It's-... I- I don't know how to read this.
"Landscape plans!" Mima announced loudly. "Also, stop tryin'a drop yer jaw- i- ih' makin' it hard ta talk…!"
Oh. Oops.
"The plans're just of Eientei's basic facilities, but they should give us a pretty rough idea a' where tha' fuck ta go." Mima decided. "As in, uuh, you know that other fuckass crate we stole from that kappa that Matt- Maa~ ma' Sabrina finished off?"
She stumbled on her own words more than usual. "...Yes?"
"It's got a big drill in it!" Mima beamed with my mouth, my mint-tinted icy maw curling. "We're gonna dig outta there!"
...Mmm. Hmm. "Are you... certain that would work?"
"I doubt anyone's ever fuckin' done it before." Mima supposed. "And they wouldn't fuck wit' my teleportin' magic if I went down low enough. We'd just hafta keep blowin' our way down, and just- just keep minin' down! An' maybe, if we get low enough, mine ta the side."
This feels like a really thin-strung plan, but this is Eientei we're talking about. "...Then, to get in…?"
"Oh, we just walk in." Mima figured. "Not a max security prison over there. Ain't on guard all the time, just kinda-sorta."
Just kinda-sorta. Not inspiring words, for a procedure that may result in incarceration or death.
"I want us to go as soon as possible." I reiterate. "I'm tired. I want to move on. I-... I'm sick of killing people-... and, having to watch them die."
We've killed people… who, I don't know if they even deserved it. I don't want to believe that I've been a murderer, like the kind I've set out to kill from the onset. I'm not like them. I have needs, and a logic. They have materials and goods we need, and they refuse to reason with us, some even threatening us.
Yes. Even dismissing all that… life needs to be eradicated anyway. To save the suffering, and to punish those who inflict suffering. Everyone is going to suffer and be hurt, and continue to suffer and hurt.
In just a few more days, it won't matter anymore. I can stop crying
The dark of the night around us is deep, and the world feels… serene. Empty, but good.
"Can we go for a walk?" I want to explore the woods. "It-... it's snowing."
Mima snorted. "Why the heck'd ya do that. It's shit out."
"I'm a yuki-onna." Need I remind her?
"Oh, shit, yeah." Mima silently chuckled, my upper chest shaking slightly in mirth. It feels so weird when I'm not doing it… "Well, go on ahead. I've got thinkin' to do about the Eientei shit. You do you."
...Well. Okay.
Closing my eyes, I follow my heart, and take into the forest around me. Not only is the frost strongest amidst the calm, fluttery midnight snow, but with Mima's power, I am the hand of the gods.
Let's float in the soothing cold.
...Yes. Peace.
Amidst the black and the cold, I open my eyes after some nice seconds of drifting.
I'm floating over a small creek of little note. I've found a navy-tinted pond, its liquid shimmering with-... such beauty. Lucid, deliciously translucent navy-colored liquid. It's vaguely luminescent, which makes it so beautiful.
Also, probably undrinkable. You shouldn't drink from the floor, unless it's a running waterfall, perhaps. Not that some youkai need to drink. We yuki-onna don't, but it feels nice. Beverages are nice…
It's been some time since I've made myself one. Maybe I'll look for ingredients out here, like berries. Freeze some of this water, and boil it later. It might come as a surprise to some, but we still need heat to cook things. Ice powers don't really help, aside from in the preserving of perishables. Even then, food can be destroyed by the cold and flash-freezing. It's truly fickle…
I'm glad I don't need material food like humans, or carnivorous beings. Such a hassle. So dirty, too. Last time I've had a prepared meal was… over a decade ago, probably.
cli- click. Oh? What's that noise?
It's the clicking of little ice shards on the shimmering creek's surface. Oh, yes. So satisfying. Amidst the wind and the snow, the clicking of the ice on the bubbling water…
I might want to ask now, why it's bubbling. It's glowing and bubbling.
Then, an answer to my questions hovers up from the water.
Click, click, click. Um? Aw…
Click click! A luminescent, blurry figure of a skull hovers from the liquid, trailing after me slowly, and in short, jerky movements. It's a spirit.
It's coming closer. It probably wants to hurt me. I'm not sure what happened in this pond, but I suppose I'll set these spirits to rest.
I hold out my hand, and a tiny shard of ice floats out at the spirit.
"ooouuu" It lets out a cute whine, as its blurry skull-esque shape blurs out, and its magic disperses. Rest in peace, little spirit.
Now, where was I?
Gliding across the creek, I come to the opposing shore, and gaze around the empty, deep black woods ahead. I haven't explored these woods much, as they're basically halfway across Gensokyo from my real home. I've been in this area… more than a couple times in passing however, I'm sure.
Would there even be berries out here? There has to be some fruit. I don't imagine the youkai out here entirely live off air. Or, the regular animals, for that matter.
It is deep winter, but in Gensokyo, there are food plants which bloom in the harshest of snow, too. Some have to bloom in harsh snow.
Oh, there we are.
Frostcreak. Luminescent, blue berries which almost look like a fungus or mold from high tightly they're packed together. They grow along tree barks in J-shapes, but only grow when it snows. Otherwise, they remain dormant in the cold weather, and have some kind of hibernation for summer.
There's hopelope somewhere in the distance. A yellow kind of berry that glows with house-like warmth in the snow. It tastes kind of okay on its own, but it weakens your body. It's more used to attract those who are lost in the snow than it is eaten…
As I approach the frostcreak on the bark ahead, however, something else gets to it first.
Sho- shoof, shoof. A can of metal beat me there. Something aluminum, with a mint ring beneath a rotating 'head' that was as cylindrical as its main body. To move, it had a rotating… wheel? I… how would I describe it…?
It was as if the can had no bottom, and an index of grey metal plates continuously pushed up and down and spun at the same time. Like this, it effortlessly scaled stones, snow and roots as well as flat surfaces with relative ease.
It was also quite slow. It'd come out of the dark, a single teal light on its front snapping to life, as it came up to the frostcreak.
Cla- CLACK! From its side, a huge limb snapped up. A massive scythe was on the end of it, and it moved to scrape the frostcreak from the tree.
Thunk. The front of the droid became square, folding open, revealing a shaft to accept it. What…
"I-" I speak up, coming up to it. "That's mine. I found it."
"eee_hiyagiga" The droid's head rotates a hundred and ten degrees to look at me, before continuing.
SHINK! It lops the face of bark clean off! No… it just killed the roots.
Cla- clunk. The bark face slides smoothly into the chassis of the can-shaped robot, which then closes.
"What are you doing?" I raise my voice. "You've claimed the roots too. It won't grow back next snowfall."
"eee_hiyagiga" It's not intelligent. This kappa industrialization…
"You will stop." I demand of it. "If you don't stop, I will destroy you. If you are intelligent, reveal so-"
"eee_hiyagiga" Its faceplate light goes dark again, and it turns away from me, slowly moving to go around the tree.
"-right now…" I don't think it's listening to me. Well… fine, then.
Fwish. In one arm, I summon an ice-birthed super shotgun.
Click, click. I load it with pellets, and stalk up to the behind of the robot. At least I won't have to kill something living today.
I aim at its head, and grin.
KRA- KRACK- KRINKAKRACK! Ooh!
Holes fill its aluminum head, denting its perfect edges something fierce, crumpling some of it.
"HIYAGIGA" Suddenly, its faceplate snaps alive with red light, and it pivots to face me.
Cli- click. Drifting back, I pop open my ice shotgun and slide in two more pellets.
Shing! From its torso, the huge scythe is drawn-
SWI- SWI- SWI- SWISH! It's swing around before itself in a figure-eight, but I'm too far away to be minced by it. Then-
Shing! It draws a second scythe!
KRA- KRACK! KAPLINK- PLINK! Unloading both barrels forward, the ice shards break the glass of the faceplate, and dent the metal some more.
SHISHISHISHISHISH! Both scythe blades whirl around itself with annihilating velocity, now held to make two vertical blades around itself. They tear stone and tree root from the earth, with terrifying certainty.
Cli- click. Hastily, I feed two more pellets into my gun-
WOOSH! It springs into the air, coming at me!
KRAKRACK! Floating back even further, faster, my heart jumping, I fire again when it gets scarily close
KAKLANK- BAM! Oh! Progress! The fragments of ice misalign the robot's head, and lock it off-center. I must've broken something!
Shoof! It lands in the snow before me, its momentum reversed by the spread of violent ice that met its head area.
"HIYAGI- GIGA" The red light flickers unhealthily. I think it's almost dead. This 'shotgun' thing… it's not as useful against robots, I've found. It's still respectably powerful, but…
Swish, swish… Slowly, once the robot stops recoiling from my gunfire, its scythes dig into the dirt, carrying itself towards me far faster than its 'legs' could.
Woosh. I toss my shotgun at its head, like a tomahawk. The 'stock', as it's called, becomes a tomahawk blade as the ice shotgun travels.
CLACK- SNAP! Oh! I did it. The blade didn't really hit it right, but the impact blew its head off its shoulders.
FWI- FWII~SH! A firework-like display of red-blue sparkles rain into the air, in a pretty fashion, before dying down. "HIYAHIYA_EMERGENCY_FLAaaa- aa-..."
...Finally. Its giant scythe arms remain where they were, stuck in the ground now.
Coming up to it, I inhale, and reach for the can. Let's see…
CRA- CRACK. I pull the machinery off that was beneath its head. Oh-... oh, this is a lot of stuff I don't really understand…
Shoof- shii~f. Tipping it over, I pull out all the metal innards. Oh, there it is.
I claim the tub that's holding the frostcreak. Bark and all. I only wish I'd destroyed it sooner. That stuff's not growing back next year…
"Oh, fuck off!" I hear a voice from somewhere. "It ain't any of your damn business! You-..."
From the snowy brush along my side, a kappa in green- as always- lumbers out, boxy shotgun held close.
She paused, glaring up at me. "...You're-... not that fuckboy…"
"I'm not." I leer down at her. "Is this yours?" I gesture to the dismantled can with my new tub of frostcreak.
"Ye- yeah. And you broke it." She aimed the gun up at me. "One good reason why I shouldn't ice ya right now, snow-bitch."
What a little cretin. "You were ruining the frostcreak. It's not growing back next snowfall, if you keep tearing the bark from the tree."
"It ain't gonna matter." The kappa returned, her extremely neat and bobby pastel-blue hair giving an odd jiggle as she tilted her head back. "I'm startin' a frostcreak farm."
Oh? "...For everyone?"
"Yeah!" She nodded. "Long as they've got money."
...Oh. "So, for yourself."
"No~." The kappa shook her head. "For everyone. Everyone who has money."
"That's-..." What greed.
"I'm the only person who has frostcreak in Gensokyo." The kappa girl beamed back at me. "So I can set any price I want. I'm gonna cut it all off any tree, 'cause it's not like any one owns trees now, is it?"
"That's awful." I can't abide this. "My sisters and I harvest from these trees regularly in the winter. It wouldn't do for you to-"
"You and your sisters, don't own these trees." The kappa enunciates her words like I'm dumb. "No one does. So it doesn't matter what I do to 'em. See? An' then, I have a whole farm a' frostcreak, so it's never in any danger, an' I can sell it as I see fit. I ain't even gonna charge a whole lot now, see?"
"Charging for something that was one free to all." I shake my head. "No, you can't do that. That's awful."
"But anyone could just come up and destroy it all!" She argued with me. "With me keepin' it safe, no one can destroy it. An' the fee for that's, well… it's as big as it's gotta be, right?"
"You're the only one who's destroying it." It has been undisturbed for years. "I refuse to let you disturb it any further."
The kappa snorted, and readied her shotgun. "Yeah? Go fuck yourself. You broke my robot. You know how much that thing cost? You gonna make it right and pay for the new parts?"
"No, I'm not." This kappa… "I was defending the land. It's your fault for trying to hurt-... for disturbing the frostcreak."
The kappa girl beamed at me, as if what I said was funny. "Defending the land? Get off your high horse. No. Gimme yer yen right now, or I'm breakin' you down for parts."
She's threatening me.
"Don't even try resisting." She beamed back at me. "Ice resistance, bitch. I'm part a' the Shivertech cong- whatever-it-was. We specialize in winter."
I turn away from her.
This greed. She's even prepared, for the event that one of my sisters may get in her way. She'd kill them for her profit.
I've seldom talked with the kappa… but I'm starting to believe they all truly are scum.
"'Course… I could not kill ya." The kappa supposed.
Searching the snow beside myself, I find myself getting angrier. "Yeah…?" Ice resistance won't save her from being crushed alive.
"You could like, help me make ice reagents." She suggests. That'd waste away at my heat and lifeforce… and, if I overdid it, it would kill me. "Or, y'know, just whore yourself out, if you were outta ideas. Both'd probably work you 'till you melted. But-"
I draw my paddle from my back.
SHOO- SHOOF. My mint-tinted icicle maw is now around my face, my luminescent eyes peering out from the shade hiding my features.
As I face the kappa again, and she sees my features for the first time, she slips back. "Wh- oof."
KRI~NG! Before she gets up or fires her gun, I summon a trunk-scale blade of ice before myself.
Behind this blade, I also summon up snow from the floor, and it gains my features. Snow clone. When I believe the kappa's gotten back up, I make my snow clone float unarmed around the big blade's side.
KABLAM! The shotgun's spread is instant. The top of my clone's head is blown clean off, ice and slush shooting into the winter air, and the strands of faux black hair whirling off with it. "Hk- kuaa- aa…" I have it fall over as realistically as it can, casting an arm up in vain, as it dives for the floor.
"Nnh…" The kappa girl scrunched her own face. "Dumb-... bitch…"
In this time, I hover around the other end of the ice blade. It can't be seen through in the darkness and the weather.
SHOOF! Then, I leap.
"Wh-" Hearing my sandals boom against the snow, the kappa looks back with wide eyes.
KATHOOMNK. The paddle roars down into her form instantly.
CR- CRA- CRACK! Her bones break, body going slack under the immense steel cleave of my new favorite weapon.
Her boxy shotgun's abandoned, as her limp body slides back on the snowy floor.
But, she's not dead yet, I'm sure. No no no. I'm sure she knows how to play dead.
Leaping back, I slide across the snowy floor in my sandals. "Nnh…" Then-
SHOOF- WOOSH! Bounding back at her anew, I cleave my paddle overhead, attacking again.
KRINK! Before I strike, a tundral spike erupts beneath the kappa, thrusting her body up, arching her back over it. "Uhu-"
KATHOOMNK- CRA- KRACK- SPLAASH! My paddle hits her so hard, blood and ice explode out from my impact.
It's a massive, amazing splash of red and white. The kappa's entire stomach exploded open with unreal ferocity.
"uu-" The light fades from her eyes. "ua…"
"Nn- hehehe..." I just-... it's such a- a mess. I did this? I-.. wo- wow…
Her body is a cavern of red. I cannot bear to stare in too long, for the warm, red crimson is just-... I- I think I might actually be sick...
Oh my gods, some of it got on the tree to the right of me. My paddle-... nnn. Wow…
Shii~f. I lurch down, clean the blood off my paddle with the snow on the floor, and pivot around. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end, and I beam nervously.
Slipping the paddle back onto my back, where I freeze it onto my kimono there, I bend down and reclaim the tub of frostcreak from the snow nearby.
If anyone asks, a wolfman came by. Yes, that's what happened.
"Oh…?" Then, a voice. Someone heard the racket I'd made.
From around the edge of one of the trees, a fellow woman of the snow arrives. She floated in cutely on the winter breeze, moving at a static rate like I tend to do when I'm relaxed.
Her hair was long and black, and she wore a white kimono. She reminds me of Genkan… and many other sisters, now that I think about it. It's a common look, really. I settled on a slightly less traditional mint-tinted kimono, myself…
I didn't always wear this. It wasn't until after the death of Zarame, that I wore a minty color in honor. She wore a deep green and gold herself, and it wasn't really… a traditional kimono, to put it lightly. Gods, I miss her.
Well. Less thinking on what could have been, the better.
Unlike Genkan, the snow woman before me is… less endowed. Not that Genkan was extremely endowed, but she had a bust larger than modest. This one is almost flat.
"...Wh- what happened here?" She's intimidated, rightly. For some reason, her kimono seems made for a bust far beyond hers. Far beyond anyone I know, actually. So… um. Her chest is exposed.
Then, she meets my face with her gaze. I've not hidden my mint-tinted zipper of icicles, or my shade-cast, eternal glare.
"I-" Her eyes widened, and she pivoted around.
"Wa- wait!" I hold out my arm, and-...
cli- clink. With a strange amount of force required, I tear off the maw of icicles from my own face. It's-... it really feels like a zipper, just without a zip.
I don't actually know how to dispel the shade that obscures my features. When Mima is with me, and I get angry-... no, it'd be irresponsible to blame Mima's influence alone. I want to be scary. My dismally happy, inhuman face of nothing but magic eyes and icicles cast on a being of black and mint. Just thinking over the visual now, and how I'd spooked myself with mirrors and reflective surfaces, makes me happy inside.
My voice, however, is anything but intimidating. I'm just a snow woman like her.
...Stopping, the yuki-onna notices. She notices how I'm holding my 'mouth' in my left hand, and gazes over me with some amount of suspicion.
Her vision returns to the kappa, whose belly I'd blown up, quite literally, with sheer, absolute force.
"What-..." She swallows, as I get closer, my face still devouring the minimal light of the dark night around itself.
I now realize, blaming a beast would be perhaps irresponsible. "...I-... I had- I defended-"
"Le- leave me alone." She held her kimono up, to cover her-... chest. I'd like to ask why it was exposed to begin with.
"No!" Please… "Si- sister!" I float after her in the windy evening, trying to be louder than the air through the trees.
To my luck, she eventually took pause. She had her arms raised, as if to cast magic. "What?"
"I- I didn't mean to scare you." I return. "...I've, um… the- the murder you see here…" I thought I'd be interrupted, but since I wasn't, I gesture back to the murder. "I had to defend myself, and the woods. This kappa… she was attempting to harvest frostcreak."
"...Oo- only?" The yuki-onna inquired. What? No…
"She was destroying the bark, and the roots." I repeat. "...When I broke the robot she used to do it, she attempted to murder me. She threatened me with enslavement. I-... I didn't appreciate it at all. I didn't want… someone like you to run into this situation, and be ill-equipped. She even resisted ice magic."
"Oh…" She stared down at the gory mess again. "I-... ye- yeah, the kappa, sometimes… they can be um, really bad, on occasion. Bu- but, they're usually kind of nice."
Really? "...How so?"
She explained with pleasing detail. "We- well, they're always a little greedy, but the good ones keep quiet and like, just... do as they do. They harvest metals, from the land and stuff. Sometimes they're destructive too, but… they um, wou- wouldn't try to hurt you. Some… some really go wild..."
Her hair is more than just the standard hime-cut my sisters favor. She has multiple tiers of evenly cut bangs around either side of her face, making her look… adorably fluffed out, in some way.
"Do you live around here?" She must.
She gave a nod. "Aa- and, I'll just… le- leave you alone." She began to turn away. She must be no older than… twenty, at most.
Then, she's gone. Spooked off.
...I sigh. We could have had a healthy conversation, if she came sooner, or if that kappa… hadn't chosen to become a smear on my paddle.
So much for my relaxing evening. Some part of me has the urge to lash out and smash things, and crush more fellow youkai. This part of me had also anticipated the inevitable violence this evening, but...
Some part of me is also disheartened. I don't know what to call it. I have a desire for violence, but at the same time…
Ugh.
It's getting late. I'm… tired, from that raid on that other kappa's laboratory, and the murder of this one who truly deserved death.
I guess I'll go home and sleep. I hope it's snowing tomorrow. I just want this all to be over.
Before this all ends, however… I- I want to free Genkan from her own downfall, and I want to make things the way they were again, if nothing else. Even if I must use my catastrophic power for that. Even if it takes all of the fake moon's lunar energy, and Mima's will to help me.
In just a few days… it may not matter anyway.
/ / / / SANJIRO CODA'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
Oh… gods…
I-... I think she broke my nose. Fuck. Gods- damn it…
"Nnh-" I snort up snot and-... is- is that blood? No… no, it's just snot. It- it's so cold…
"Ka- kaugh-..." Sitting up, I cough more, and shiver. I- I better not be catching a fever. Gods, this sucks! It suhuhucks!
My chair-... ma- maybe it'll all be better if I at least- get off this floor.
Climbing into the chair, I sit- ngh… no, no- it might actually be worse. The wood back is- it hurts. Oh, gods. Oh- nnh…
Thu- thump. I fall out of my chair, onto my knees, and shake violently again. "Rrgh…"
It's so cold. It's so cold. It's so fucking cold!
I stand- finally- and- and I walk to Sabrina's corner…!
"Gods- damn it…!" I shudder hard, and point at her. "You will let me sleep-"
Sabrina aims her gun at me. "Shut the fuck up."
...Damn it. Damn everything. She has the only source of heat in the entire shack.
Wait, the fire! Damn it, if only the fireplace was bigger, and made of brick, not iron! I would've recognized it in my stupor sooner!
It's gone out! No!
"Fuu- fuu~!" Kneeling down, I breathe hard on it, so the embers get air. Light back up, damn it! I need you! Sabrina will let me die!
"Ka- kaugh- kauff-" I- end up coughing on the fire instead. Works just as well, probably.
clunk. Then, ash billows out, as a big log is dropped inside the fire place. "Hak- kaugh- cough- nnh- kah…" I- I'm choking- fuck… my- my throat-...
"You put a log on the fire first, dumbass." Mima speaks through Shimokoa behind me. "For fucking-... do you even-..."
Fwoom. Then, when I look at the fire again, it lights up. Fucking finally! Heat!
I- I slide back from it a little. So warm…
...Scrunching my nose, I look up at Shimokoa. "You-... you had to use magic. Don't- act like you're any better."
Fwash. The fire freezes. Fuck- no! "I'm sorry- I'm sorry!"
"Nah, fuck you." Shimokoa's voice projects Mima's ill intent. "You earned it."
"I'm going to die, though! Come the fuck on!" I need heat!
"Make a fire yourself. Without magic." Mima-Shimokoa proposed. "Good fucking luck when it's like, two degrees out."
I look back at the fireplace. There's not even a single ember I can use. A chunk of ice takes up the whole fireplace. "But- you froze it! What'm I supposed to do!?"
"You figure it out." She went back to sitting at the table where she was the whole evening, except now with Shimokoa's body. "I'm just gonna keep fuckin' with the shield thingies here…"
No, gods! "Please, Mima!"
"Can you just shut the fuck up." Sabrina rattles off another threat, her strange lightning gun aimed at me. "I'm trying to sleep."
"If-" Shimokoa herself speaks up. "If you wake up Vanilla, I will make you sorry."
"Don't make me cast mute on your sorry ass." Mima herself wants me dead. She has to.
...Fine. "I see how it is…"
Youkai, magicians, vampires… they're all the damn same. Their magic does nothing but ruin lives and spread stupidity.
I'd always suspected it. Always. Everyone in the village talked about it, spoke of how the youkai of old used magic to ruin lives. Marcus Kirisame used it to create his wealth. He even lost his daughter, Marisa Kirisame, to it.
The most defining moment in my life, however? The moment all the village's warnings of magic came true. When that little teenage brat killed my father, and made ruin come onto our family.
Maria Yamada. The mere relation to the Kirisame name is a plague. Though their relation is somewhat distant and vague, the ties of magic run strong, so it seems.
And now, I cannot even relay my struggle to my sole remaining relative, my mother, or to the villager folk. It's all because I've been following Shimokoa around. I regret helping her. I've regretted helping her. Though I've gotten closer to revenge for my family's downfall, I've taken steps back in my own humanity. I fear whether or not I am more youkai than human now.
"Mima…" I need her honest opinion. Amongst the cold, the clutching cusp of deadly chill. "Am I more black, than white?"
...Mima gave me a look that is very clearly unamused, or something along those lines. "What the fuck'd you just say. Wh- no, you're not black, you fucking retard. I think the cold's going to your brain."
"I mean- am I more beast than man!?" Do I have to-
"If you yell one more fucking time, I will sew your mouth shut." Mima- alright, fair enough, I'll stop yelling…
"Am I more beast than man, though…?" I really have to know, for my own sake. "Is all lost?"
"All is lost." Mima confirmed. "Go to sleep already. Y'fuckin'..." Then, she snorted some, and grinned. "Y'fuckin' animal."
"Come on." Really. "Be serious with me. Mima."
"No, shut up." Mima waves me off. "God, I need to give you a fuckin'... chewtoy, or somethin'. Actually, hey. Have anyone you hate?"
Ah. Well, since you're asking. "Yes, actually. Maria Yamada."
"Stupid question. Anyone you hate who isn't her?" How awfully suspicious.
"...Are you and her in league?" I suspect Mima of treason. It's all starting to fit together, it makes perfect sense-
"No." She responds plainly. "It's just, if I gave you a doll of her to fuck around with, and you stuck your dick in it, that'd be so creepy I'd have to actually kill you myself. So I'm just gonna save us both the temptation, and force you to pick an arch-enemy who's not a sixteen year old girl."
Then, she paused. "...Oh. Correction. If you stuck it in your clit, 'cause- yeah."
...I- really don't know what to say. "I mean, though she would be quite desirable as a human, as a mage girl, she-"
"You know what? That does it." Mima stands up Shimokoa's body- oh Gods not the paddle! "Hey, Pearl. Don't look scared."
"Fuck off!" I-
"Yeah." Oh- Sabrina, fuck off! Fuck all of you! "C'mere, Pearl."
"Fuck you!" My rapier- it's across the- ughf!
Mima uses the paddle's hilt to smash me to the floor! "I'm sorry, Pearl, but- I just can't let that go. I'm gonna have to beat your ass."
I try to flail my limbs, stand back up, do something-
Whunk. Sa- Sabrina kicks me while I'm down-
WHAM. The paddle oouu- my gut-
Whunk. Pl- please-
THUNK. stop-
Whunk. THUNK. Whunk, whunk. THUNK.
/ / / / MATT'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
...This futon is- nnn- surprisingly comfy…
I slept well last night. Somehow, despite this being a shithole, the scenic nature of the place and the quality of this futon makes it feel like a quality experience. I don't even like camping, but if it's this comfy, I might be inclined to care slightly less.
As I wake up, shifting in my cuddly futon, I find Vanilla sitting on her legs next to me. Yes. This is the life. Hello, loli thighs.
"Um…" She blinks down at me, as I ogle her thighs. This is a rare moment, isn't it? "Goo- good morning. Some-... someone came in and beat up Pearl in her sleep, last night…"
Yeah. Someone. Wonder who.
...I'm tempted to giggle slightly. When I lean up, I see Pearl just looking lumpified in her chair across the room. While she was out, we gave her an elixir, but we still wanted her to wake up in mild pain, so we hit her a few more times, and gave her a black eye. Again. Yeah.
We aren't good people.
Shimokoa is curled up in the fetal position in her corner, on her side. Probably deserves it, too.
Mima doesn't sleep. She's just floating there at the door, playing with some kind of magic in one hand, looking mildly bored.
"Vanilla." My throat is dry, nnh. "Sc- scoot closer."
"...Oo- okay?" She does so, but only a little. "How's this…?"
"Closer. To the edge." I pat the edge of my futon for effect.
Furrowing her brows a little, she scoots a lot, getting quite much closer. "Well-... okay."
Good. I lean out of my bed, and lay my head in her lap. Face-down. Her panties are just ahead, and have a little bat design in the middle.
I'm having too much fun, this morning.
"What…" Vanilla snorts, actually. "This's the first time you've been openly perverted…" Yeah, sue me. You'd do it if you woke up with loli thighs before you, too. I know you're lowkey gay.
Vanilla's lap isn't completely warm. Her right thigh is warm because of my heater nearby, but her left is cold. Or rather, my right and left. Flip the terms around for her perspective.
I have no idea what bullshit Mima has planned today. Hopefully none, so I can just go buy the same setup for Small Packages, and manage my village council-oriented crap. It's going to be annoying when I go to sign papers, considering everyone under the sun betrayed me, and I have no one to read them.
Everyone except Vanilla. Thank you, Vanilla. You certainly don't smell like vanilla, but that's okay. You smell like loli.
"Mmhn." Shimokoa makes a grunt of existential dread.
"Well!" Instantly, Mima claps her hands together.
Ka- clak- klak- clak! Firecracker-like pops go off around her hands on-impact. "Since we're all awake, we can get started!"
"Euh- nn- whah!?" Pearl is awoken by the sound of bombs. "Nnh- nn…"
I have no idea what the plan is, today. I'm still hoping none, but since Mima's still here and excited, we probably have something to do.
...Slowly, Shimokoa is the first to actually push off the floor.
With a tight frown, she sits up, then stands, brushing dirt off her mint-tinted kimono.
"Alright, so." Mima rubbed her hands together. "We're all slightly better at fightin', we're all a li'l more armed, and we got a drill doohickey from the shield lab, so our plan's almost like, all set. But today, we're gonna need some other things too."
Hmmh. Fuck. Of course we are. If I didn't have to travel with these fucks again, it'd be too soon. I wanna get back to rigging the village council.
"So, I'm makin' a trade for a map." Mima proposed. "...Seems simple enough? Yeah, well, we're tradin' our services fer that map, so today we're gonna be helpin' someone out, so they can help us out."
Shimokoa exhaled. "Do we-... have to kill, this time?"
Mima snorted. "Y'know, I don't think so! Unless this goes pear-shaped and you all feel like killin' each other instead."
"...I've noticed we're keeping away from the human village." Shimokoa continued. "Any reason why?"
Mima snorted. "'Cause shakin' up the pot there's a stupid ass idea's why. Good opportunities for what we have ta offer are kinda rare, and the humans do a good enough job shakin' up their own pot. Basically, s'all none of my business. Whatever careful shit I need done, I got Sabrina here ta do it fer me."
Mima has hardly requested that I do anything, aside from buy things sometimes. I'd be inclined to disobey, but she'd threaten me with the paddle, probably. Not that it matters, since I have much more to gain in my pursuit of Shikome than she does; if I fuck around too much, she could just tell me to piss off and go about her bullshit herself.
Speaking of, Mima's had a myriad of excuses for showing us around and 'powerleveling' us. Pearl is probably still outright useless to her, I don't know about Vanilla and her, Shimokoa is obviously her favorite puppet, and I'm still just some asshole.
But, considering she'll even go as far as to keep someone from murdering Pearl, we must all offer her something beyond mere numbers.
Crea~k. Mima pushed open the metal door for our little hell-in-a-cell.
"im snow fluffle" A snow fluffle bounds in, moving on all four limbs, like a small roach. "and that means you win the jackpot"
Mima gave it a brief look, before paying it little mind. "Today's job… is actually just around Eientei grounds, in the bamboo forest of the lost. We're gettin' armor, an' we're gettin' the map. It's gonna be quiet an' easy, compared ta some of the shit we've been doin' recently. So don't get yer panties twisted just yet, yeah?"
Good. We don't have to distract an oni for ten years and still lose again. Fucking oni.
"Goo-... good." Vanilla was looking over at Mima. "Poledancing… it- it's really weird. I don't think I like it…"
"Me either." Shimokoa agreed. "You know what. Next time you send us poledancing at the Golden Grin for funds, Mima, you're obligated to let us beat you up for an hour."
Mima snorted. "That's just makin' me want to send you guys back to the Grin."
That poledancing visit sucked. I wanted to kill people. Actually, I did kill this fucking wolf boy. I wanted to kill that damn blue-haired cat man too, because he tried to pull me into sex, but he also knew how to be an annoying bastard. Kugo- whoever. I already forgot his name.
It's hard to care right now. Vanilla's lap is smooth.
"I think I'd just start shooting people." Shimokoa has a similar stance.
Leaning up from Vanilla's creamy lap, I add my own opinion. "I- I say we- sell Pearl, to the slave trade." Talking on your stomach with your head twisted is hard, it turns out.
"You-" Pearl stood up from her chair, finally properly conscious again. "You all beat me up!"
Mima gave her a flat look. "Yeah, we did."
"That-" Coming up to Mima, Pearl reeled a fist back. "I won't let you push me around!"
woo- woosh. Mima's a ghost. You can't punch a- nnh…
"Ff- nnfufufu…!" Mima has a hearty laugh. "St- still mad about last night, ze- nnh?" What was that last noise.
"Yes! Yes, I am!" Pearl's glare is so… I don't know how to describe it. She looks mentally deficient. So absolute, so bug-eyed. "You beat me unconscious!"
"Ah, shut up. You deserve it." Mima just abuses her. I can't disagree, to be honest. "Or would you prefer we leave ya fer dead in the woods? Nnh, hehehe..." She giggled at Pearl's obvious hesitation. "Man up. Or, I guess, woman up. Magic's amazing, isn't it?"
Pearl steps back, intimidated. Even Vanilla doesn't speak up in her defense, despite looking tempted to.
"Alright, so, if there ain't anymore objections…" Mima licked her lips. "We're gonna get goin' right now."
I probably smell like shit. Have I even taken a bath, since reaching Gensokyo? Does getting your body re-configured count?
My body has been spiritually and genetically modified more than it has been cleaned in the past month or two. I don't know how to feel about this realization.
/ / / / RED LIGHT YELLOW LIGHT GREEN LIGHT GO / / / /
I'm not sure what I was expecting.
We're aside a slow-flowing creak in the midst of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Airy, pale cold is reflected in the faded look of the bamboo around us, the splotchy snow on the ground, and in the wind.
And yet, we are being horribly tortured.
Mima drifts next to us, holding a digital camera. I'm freezing my fucking cat tits off, which actually aren't different from regular tits.
I'm in a black-white, frilly bra, which does nothing because I'm flat as it is. For my bottoms, I'm wearing a black-white, maid outfit-like pair of panties. For my own sanity, Mima has equipped me with thick black boots, so I don't fucking die in the snow.
That said, I'm already dying. It's cold, cold, cold-
"Mima." Shimokoa is in a mint-colored bikini, barefoot. She holds onto her chest with an arm as if she were naked still however. "I hate you." Her butchered, uneven medium-length of black hair is done up in a ponytail now. Two thin bangs accent her long, scowling face.
"God-..." Pearl cries. "Wh- whahahy…? Ouuh..." She's got an ivory bikini-top on, and a pair of white shorts. Also, plastic, white high heel boots she can hardly even walk in. "Mima~!"
...Vanilla isn't wearing anything different. Yeah. She's already naked, essentially.
"Well." Before us, a bunny man in a big, dirty brown coat wrinkles his nose, and ogles us. "...The cars are here." He gestured behind himself.
There was a collection of colorful, classic American cars here, in various states of disrepair and whatever. I don't know. I don't know anything about cars.
To our right, there was a shitty looking metal garage, with snow on its roof. Ahead of us was mixed buildings, concealed by thick bamboo. Perhaps we're on some fringe of Eientei.
I believe I said there was a creak behind us. We're probably not going to be using it, because it's so cold half of it is ice.
"So!" Mima turned to us, and beamed. "If y'all girls do a good job, we're gettin' lunarian battle suits, and a map!"
"I will end you." Shimokoa narrows her eyes, when she catches the bunny guy staring at her in particular. "And you."
"Yhou- hon- honestly make me sick…" Pearl shivered. "Aa- and, I want to ki- kick you!"
"Ff- fuck you." Not gonna lie, this is pretty kinky, but fuck is it cold. My fingers- my legs- I am in physical pain it is so cold.
...Vanilla looks like a casual loli. Her and not actually needing body heat. Fuck.
"Ca- can you not like, give them a heater, or something?" Vanilla just looks casually confused. She's also a saint.
Mima rolled her eyes. "Mmm, wax that first car and I'll think about i~t."
Shimokoa reached for her paddle, to realize Mima had set it aside along a tree's trunk, across the clearing. "Wh- what if I destroy these things?"
"I'll fuckin' rip out your ovaries." Mima countered. "Also- sorry I didn't tell ya, but we're also gonna do photo-shoots for some pocket change. Gage here'll be managin' sales fer that, too."
...The blue-haired bunny guy, Gage, gave us a thumbs-up. "Ye- yeah. What's the black-haired one's name?"
Mima snorted. "Who, ice queen or kibble 'n' bits?"
"Ice queen." Gage smirked at her.
"Shimokoa~." Mima drawled her name out. "She's smokin' in that bikini, ain't she?"
"He-... yeah." Gage almost went 'hell yeah', before thinking better of it, surely.
"I'll fu- I'll kill the both of you." Shimokoa on the other hand, looks displeased at best. "...If you lay a hand on me, bunny, you will regret it. You will regret it dearly."
Mima grinned more. "...I'd take 'er word fer it, Gage. She's got a daily kill count, at this rate."
"Se- seriously…?" Gage looked slightly worried. "You're- joking. I- nevermind, you're joking, yeah."
"Nah, I'm not." Mima shook her head plainly. "Anyway- the fuck're you losers standing around for? Start waxin' a car!"
"And- don't damage them." Gage added to that. "These cars are all made with imported parts. These cars themselves are imports. If they get scratched even… I'm gonna need recompensation, somehow. Either funds from the photoshoot, direct payment, or…" He eyed Shimokoa again. "I don't know."
So, he wants to fuck Shimokoa as compensation. Time to break a window.
"Pretty sure you'd just die if you tried ta rape her." Mima told him outright. "If you wanted a whore, ya could just ask. This ain't a doujin, now."
"Aa- ah." Gage looked disheartened, but didn't argue. "We- well… she's a yuki-onna, isn't she? How much'd it be to fetch another yuki-onna like her? And, you know, have her 'work' for me."
"Mmh. Like…" Mima began to think of a price-
"No!" Shimokoa's buttons have been pushed. "I will not! I refuse! I'd sooner-... I- I'll-"
"Aah, jokin', I'm jokin'." Mima lies horribly. "Sorry-"
"You- were not!" Shimokoa actually calls her out, even. She marches up to Mima, glaring. "I-... I- I might do many things one may mistake for depravity- but I fight for my sisters! They are why I fight! I-"
"Hey. Hey." Mima speaks up over her. "Settle the fuck down."
"No!" Shimokoa is really upset about this. "I-..." She looks between Gage and Mima, and starts breathing harder. "My- my sisters…" Oh. She starts crying, too. "I just-..."
"Don't forget." Mima spoke up. "All your power is because of me. If I left you for dead, you'd just be a dumbass with some ice magic and a paddle. Hot shit against humans and imps, maybe, but Gage here could probably fuck you up."
Shimokoa took pause. Mima's really making a point of being a dick to everyone else today. Particularly because we all depend on her for something or another. Except for Vanilla, but she's basically here because of me.
"And-" Shimokoa glared down along herself. "I-... I don't care. If- if I had to hurt my other sisters, for no reason… I'd rather have no power at all. I would let myself die. If-... if it came down to being defiled outright, I'd rather… ta- take my own life."
...Mima panned her gaze to Gage, and smiled. "So?"
He was very obviously uncomfortable. He shook his head, cringed slightly. "I'm… I'm co- cool. Just-... wa- wax the cars, alright? I'll, um… I'll bring a heater, or something, aa- and some food."
Mima rolled her eyes. "Aw, don't do that now. You-"
"No, no, I really insist." He spoke up over her. "No hitches. It- it'll be on me." He actually hurried off, before she could continue to object.
...As he hustled off, Mima gave us a droll look. "Guess you four won't be needing any of my magic, then. I trust that I can leave this all to you? Remember: don't screw it up, now."
None of us reply. No one liked this.
Except for Pearl. "Fuck you." She's straight to the point. Honestly- I find it hard to focus on how everyone except me and Vanilla is on the verge of tears because it's so fuckin' cold.
woosh. Mima phases into the floor, satisfied. "Don't let me hold ya up, now."
...Well. Now it's just us. Probably not for long.
Crunch, crunch. My boots press down on the snow. I feel like I'm one of those cosplayers who graze around in bikinis in a really unrealistic environment.
Pearl shivers up next to me, because there is no life left in her cold-ass body. On my right, Shimokoa steps up, her bare feet padding across the snow clumsily, before she resolves to float.
Yeah, know my pain. We're all in this shithole together, now. It's not worth commenting on, though I'm tempted...
How the hell do we even wax these cars. Where are- oh. There's the buckets, the soaps and the cloths.
The buckets of water are frozen. Are you fucking kidding me. Wait, the wax and other shit is frozen, too. It's all frozen.
"...Shimokoa." I gesture to the cleaning supplies. "Our supplies are literally frozen."
She furrowed her brows, and looked down at them.
fwish. She thaws them out for everyone with a motion of her hand. Good.
"What even ii- is, a car?" Pearl asks an important question.
I pat my hand on this snow-crested, red classic car before myself. "This. As well as the other things here- with four wheels. Next question."
"Waxing…?" Shimokoa looked pensively down at me. "I'd thought that was an euphemism for something."
Well, of course. "You take a rag and that soap shit and clean the car's metal. Clean and shiny."
"...I- I see." Shimokoa stared down at the snow cresting the car's top.
You know, what the fuck- can these cars even be driven in Gensokyo? They sure as hell can't go ten feet in the bamboo forest. They're classic cars, so even on the dirt straightway beneath the Hakurei Shrine, they'd eat shit on the uneven terrain and imperfections of the paths. How'd he even get them here?
"Aah, shit…" Ah, there she is. Mima drifted up from the floor nearby, with the camera. "I should've had you guys put on bikinis made outta Skittles and candy an' shit."
"Go away." Shimokoa now holds a brown, dry rag. She uses it to whip at Mima superficially. "That last thing we need here is you."
Mima snorted. "Well, someone's gotta take the pictures, and Gage-"
"Just be quiet, then." Shimokoa insisted. "Don't act as if nothing is wrong. You're-... you're disgusting."
Mima just flicked her gaze up, and held up the camera. "Well, wh'ever, don' mind me now…"
This has to be the most contrived reason for a beach episode ever. It's also the most uncomfortable beach episode ever.
fwii~sh. Shimokoa whipped her rag playfully at the snow on the car, and it all flew away instantly. The fuck?
Vanilla owlishly watched it leave as if it were a flock of birds, mouth ajar. "Whah…"
"Actually!" Mima spoke up. "Shimmy! Get on the hood, an' point yer ass at the camera! Look back too- an' glare!"
"I-... I won't." 'Shimmy' refused. Not to be confused with Shinmyoumaru, not that I really even know who that is. Some joke Mima had made on a different day.
"Oh, come on." Mima perhaps has a thing or two to learn about respect when it comes to teamwork. "Look, I know I'm a huge bitch t'day, but-" She smirked, suddenly. "I mean, how else're you gonna get all the hood?" That's a really bad excuse and you know it.
Shimokoa telekinetically moves the rag across the car hood, demonstrating why Mima's excuse was so bad.
"Oh, right." Mima's face faulted. "Damn it- we need a camera man. I was gonna ask Gage, but all a' sudden, he don't want anything to do wit' the shoot himself. Man- back in my day, nngh…" Gee, I wonder why. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure he was incredibly creeped out by Shimokoa's bluff of offing herself. If it was a bluff, and she's not just that crazy.
"Go- god-... gods…" Pearl is actually dying, I think. She collapsed onto her knees before the car hood, her arms pressing into the cold steel and whatever-hoods-are-made-of. Probably unwisely, because snow was just... there, on the metal, for hours. Must be some fucking cold metal.
Shimokoa stares down at her plainly, before looking down at the cleaning supplies. "...How do we actually go about waxing the car?"
"Not sure." Never fuckin' waxed a car myself before. I guess you get it wet and washed, then you start waxing. "Probably wash it with water, then wax it."
...Mima smirked. "I could help wit' tha~t. Y'know- I was kinda hoping Gage was an ultra-rapist, so I could help ya murder him later. Woulda built some character…"
"I still want to murder him, so that part could be arranged." Shimokoa agreed. "If only you weren't already dead, so I could have killed you myself."
Mima laughs. "Pft- hehaha! Aw, fuck! Man- I coulda heard that comin' from a buncha other people! Was a good one, too…"
...Shimokoa visibly isn't sure how to feel about her reaction.
"Aah…" Oh. Gage is back, and he even has… some kind of heater, I assume.
Shoof. He plants the white-chrome heater down in the snow near us. It's a big canister, with orange warmth emanating from the side panels. It's got two big handles with what looks like hydro-cooling flowing through their crystalline- or perhaps plastic- bars, to make them holdable.
Also, the heat instantly makes me shudder in joy. That heater is seriously warm, and Gage has to stagger back from it, having had it turned on the whole way here. "Ff- fuck…"
Shimokoa distances herself from it, for obvious reasons.
"Oh, gods…" Pearl however, is saved from hypothermic death. "Thank you thank you thank you!"
"You kn- know." Awkwardly, amidst the clumsiness of this moment, Vanilla turns to Mima. "You could afford to be nicer."
Mima seems to pay her no mind, as she floats up to Gage. "Yer probably gonna say no, but 'bout that photoshoot-"
"Aa-..." Gage seems confronted. "Hon- honestly, just-... I- I don't wanna bother anyone, now."
Mima exhaled. "Aawh, come on. What's a few cracked nuts, yeah?"
He snorted. "The- hell you mean?"
"Who cares how Shimmy there feels about it?" Mima kept pressing him to become a rapist. "I'm sure she won't, after yer through wit' her."
...He shook his head. "You really wanna know why I'm turned off?"
Mima smiled. "Shoot."
"The part where she said she was gonna kill herself." He decided. "I- I don't know. She's seems really serious about… this."
Fwii~sh. In the background, Shimokoa has quietly made herself an ice chest plate, obscuring her bikini top.
Mima didn't seem opposed to his answer, but looked on the fence about something. "Bu~t… the youkai a' ten-twenty years ago wouldn't've given it another thou~ght…"
"I can only go so far." Oh. So, Gage is a rapist after all, but a rapist with standards. "Look, I'll be fine with the pics of these other chicks. If the yuki-onna doesn't wanna do anything, she doesn't have to."
Mima clicked her tongue. "You just have a soft spot fer her type, huh. Well, whatever. I'm sure everyone else's photos'll pay alright too…" All it took was literally every part of the deal except for herself to want the deal re-negotiated for it to actually be re-arranged.
"Man…" Vanilla shook her head, and just looked disheartened.
/ / / / COOL CAT OF KOOL-AID / / / /
Surprisingly, this has gone better than anticipated.
Shimokoa hasn't really said a word to anyone, but her telekinetic control of all the sponges and rags has trivialized this entire procedure. We're already on the last car, and it's been thirty minutes.
"...Y'know." Gage nodded, arms folded as he stood near the red car we worked on from the start. "I didn't expect her to actually be really good at this. Like-... like, uh, we could just open a vehicle-washing biz, instead of selling photos."
"I would never work for you." Shimokoa comments somewhere amidst the cars before us. "Die."
Gage snorted.
"Y'know, fer some reason, I don't see that bein' too popular." Mima doubted him.
"Really…?"
I don't think Mima got many good pictures of us, because the only person who'd pose for her was Pearl. Of course Pearl did. At least she's a pretty face. No one has to know she's actually a mental midget.
Looks like Shimokoa's finishing up on the last car-
fwump. That's when a clump of snow comes from above, landing atop the freshly waxed car.
Shimokoa looked up into the open sky. There was no tree hanging over it. We're surrounded by bamboo, and although the canopy is thick, it seems Gage had cleared out the overhead foliage. I mean, it's already half regrown, but it's not covered in snow.
pa- pap. From above, an earthen rabbit boy landed on Shimokoa's shoulders, standing atop them. "Wh- woah…!"
Shimokoa hardly budged, his bare feet touching her ice armor's shoulderplates. "...Hmh?" She looked up…
"Hup!" Leaping off of her, the rabbit spun around-
"Nhah!" Then, he wrapped his legs around her armored mid-chest, and grabbed onto her shoulders with his arms. "...You're- kinda hot!" Uh oh.
Shimokoa smiled up at him. "Am I, now?"
He's got green hair. It's a sort of bland medium-green type color, which barely leaves his neck. It's slightly messy.
"...We- well, s'more like yer cold, but-..." His breath emanated fog as he spoke, which rolled past her face.
"Mmh." Scrunching her nose slightly, Shimokoa reached her arms up, gripping his thighs with them.
CRUNCH! Then, she pulled down and tilted her body forward, pulling him right off. She used such force he flipped backwards onto his head and shoulders, before landing on his stomach. "Uhf…"
WOOSH! From past all the cars, her giant steel paddle spun over them all, between four of them, creating a grey blur in the air as it snapped up to her form.
Vanilla ran through the snow to them. "Wa- wait-..." Her voice is really quiet and awkward. That moment when you haven't spoken in hours.
Clasping the paddle tight, Shimokoa gained an intense look of building pressure. "Nnn-...!" It was reeled way back overhead, and she was struggling to unleash it.
Vanilla ran up in her way. "Stop!"
Fwish! Oh. Vanilla used her hypnosis. Her eyes sent out light, which washed over Shimokoa's face.
...Shimokoa found herself stuck with the paddle held up. "Nn-... wh- why…?"
"You-..." Vanilla exhaled. "You don't have to take out your frustration on him. He-... he might have annoyed you- but-"
"He could have damaged the car." Shimokoa argued. "On the original terms, that would have been grounds for enslavement. I believe death is a fitting trade."
"It- it's not like he'd have kno~wn!" Vanilla yells back, obviously frustrated herself. "You don't know who he is!"
"I'm- not in a merciful mood." Shimokoa glared back down. "This is simply-... the world's cruelties. If- if I don't return them-..."
"Sometimes, you don't have to!" Vanilla yelled back. "And if you do- at least return them to sender! You big, freaking, idiot!"
...Shimokoa bit her own lip for a moment. "Wh-... why can't I?"
Vanilla frowns. "...Huh?"
"Why can't I- treat unkindness, with unkindness?" Shimokoa's gettin' philosophical. "It-... is it never my turn to return misery? To show them- those I hate-... the conclusion of their arbitrary, hateful-... reprehensible-"
"If you-" Vanilla fluffs herself up. "If you just go around-... aa- aba- arbo- arbitrarily hurting people- you're no better than the people who made you sad in the first place!" She also has trouble saying 'arbitrarily'.
...Shimokoa is quiet, after that.
Shoo- shoof. That's when the bunny guy gets off the floor, and starts to stumble off. "Gh- gee… what- the fuck…"
Cr- crunch. Shimokoa lets go of her paddle, and stumbles back in the snow.
Rounding the car me, Gage and Mima are idle around, Pearl hurries up to Shimokoa. I thought she was tanking the freezer burn on her feet, but I just remember she has those stupid high-heeled boots.
"I- I know how you feel!" Pearl's about to end this girl's whole career. "I wish I knew how to kill other people easily!" God, damn it, Pearl.
...Shimokoa hovers up to Pearl ominously, her expression neutral and gentle.
Then, she grabs Pearl by the belly skin and the back of her head, gripping the human girl's scalp tight. "Nn- wha-"
She almost smashes Pearl's head against the back of the car ahead, but realizes that'd be a bad idea.
WOOSH! Instead, she tosses Pearl horizontally at some tall trees of bamboo to her left. "Nn- eee~!" Pearl screams as she's tossed-
Shoof. Shimokoa even took a clump of Pearl's hair, having pulled her to the side so hard.
WHUMP. Pearl gets clotheslined in the middle by the awkwardly forwardly placed bundle of bamboo trunks. "Uhu- ghu-"
Crunch. She lands in the snow on her stomach, her body shaking and convulsing. "Nn- ngh- nnn…" Between the cold of the snow over there, and the overwhelming pain, she's probably not having a great time.
Vanilla has a ruefully parts-amused, parts-worried look on her face.
...In the ensuing silence, and Pearl's sobbing, I nod. "Gonna be honest, the pole-dancing was more fun."
Mima snorted. "Re- really."
Yeah. It was whacky anime bullshit, even if we ended up murdering random youkai for being lecherous. This is clumsy, cold, embarrassing and everyone wants to kill each other. Shimokoa hasn't even gotten to add to the party killstreak.
"Sh- should I just-... call this job done?" Gage was getting worried, apparently. "I- I think yer girls have, uh, done enough…"
"Pussy." Mima insulted him. "Yeah, sure. Suits an' map, yeah?"
"Yep." He began to move. "Um. Don't- let them break anything while I'm gone, yeah?"
This was the most depressing beach episode ever. I'm still kind of impressed just how shittily this party gets along. In terms of social function, we're literally just barely limping along.
"Can we go home, now?" I want to buy a fuckin' heater and waste the rest of today. Maybe get some manga at whatever the hell libraries exist in the village. Wait- it'd all be in Japanese. Fuck. Next quest: finding the glasses of translation that I'd bet my tail exists.
"I- I…" Shimokoa wants to speak as she approaches, but thinks better of it.
"Mmh. Probably." Mima's dismissive, now. "'Nother day or two from now, we're gonna be hittin' Eientei proper. Bu~t, before the~n…"
She looked over us. "...Yer all gonna need summore skills, if I'mma be honest. Maa~ Sabrina, y'oughta go cripple people in the human village fer fun." Good. "I'll hang wit' Shimmy, Pearl can go get laid or somethin' I don't really care, and- yeah cool, sounds like a plan dunnit." I like how there's no homework for Vanilla.
"...Fi- fine." Shimokoa fears for herself. "I would like skills… that would be possible without your aid." You say this like you don't already have enough. Pretty sure a huge ass paddle-proxy greatsword and a super shotgun are enough for day to day self-defense.
"Kh- kauhf…" Pearl's dying again. Poor Pearl.
/ / / / SNOWY DAYS SON / / / /
When we get Shikome out of juvie, I've gotta have a plan for how we're going to brutally dominate the parts of the village that fucked us over.
Aiko, Mokou, Seiga, that other bunny fuck. The council members that haven't been aggressive, but I haven't been able to push around in the past few days...
The moment Shikome's back, things can really get started again. I've waited so long for this.
I don't exactly know how to feel about her being captured. In fact, I think I'd prefer it more if she escaped on her own. But, if she's bound regardless, it'd be advantageous to get her out.
Thunk. In the center of Small Packages, which hasn't seen operation in awhile, I set down the new heater we've purchased. I'm still filthy rich, so I can buy nice things. Like heat.
Vanilla backs away from the other side of the heater. Also, for the time being, I've had doors with locks on them installed on both ends of the store. Helps to not get burglarized to fuck while there aren't any defenses.
There's not much for looting or robbers, but there does seem to be a crime community. That said, they prey on shit in the allies that stays out overnight, be it people or property. They don't break and enter. The only breaking and entering that's happened in the past so-and-so is the breaking and entering I've committed when I came to Gensokyo.
...Also, a few freak instances, but otherwise, it's whatever.
The boxy heater model I favor is this little metal piece of shit a particular village store sells. Villagers consider it modern and expensive. It's basically a metal box of fire magic that gets really warm. It's magic because fuck learning about electric engineering. Making fire pop into existence in a metal cube is easier.
I poke a button on the top, surrounded by heat-resistant plating so that it isn't a totally stupid design. Slowly, it gets warmer…
"I-... I don't think I like hanging around Mima." Vanilla voiced her concerns, as we watched the cube slowly get redder. The bottom's also thick, heat resistant plate, if that weren't obvious. No sheer temperature fires for us. "I- I basically go with you 'cause I wanna help the other girls, now. They could all be-... like… smarter, and having more fun, I- I guess."
"Waste of time." Why even bother? Shimokoa's probably just gonna get herself killed in the end. Pearl's not worth caring about. Hell, once Shikome's on the loose, if Mima doesn't have everyone fuck off, she could probably just murder them all and that'd be that.
"Well- yeah, of course you'd say that." Vanilla knows me too well. "I-... I- I think, if they were all happy, and knew how to keep themselves happy, they-... they'd be really cool friends for you, y'know? Like-... I- I just feel like, if things had been different… I do- don't know."
Anything can be different. Doesn't change what everything is. Not that she's going to be happy if I say that, so I just won't. She can keep trying to change them, even if things just don't work that way. She'd be happier if she did literally nothing.
...Although, I suppose like this, she can at least stop Shimokoa from doing things that make her queasy. Whereas, if she was quiet like me, that'd be harder. Not that it should make her queasy either way.
Here we go. Heater's nice and warm. Ti~me to consider… hmm. Maybe getting some food, or something…
Vanilla doesn't speak on her worries any further, as she takes in the orange heater.
'Hone my skills', huh. Maybe I'll buy a gun. Do something about my railgun, maybe. Hmm.
It's gonna be a bitch explaining to Keine why Shikome had to sit out of school for a week or two. I know there sure as hell won't be a doctor's note.
/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /
NEW SKILLS:
x Shimokoa
Heavy Cleave - Shimokoa slices her steel paddle down like hell, absolutely demolishing the target before herself. Less accurate than regular attacks.
Frost Shotgun - Shimokoa summons an icy super shotgun. It has reduced power, but it's ice elemental, and uses mana instead of ammo.
x Pearl
Mana Masochist - Pearl regenerates massive amounts of mana when she gets hurt.
x Matt
Cat-like Reflexes - After his encounter with Shinki, Matt's overall agility has increased incredibly.
Cat Quickstep - Jerking his small body, Matt makes near-instant sliding motions to maneuver around foes.
Critical Kill * Crossline - Matt leaps from afar to clothesline a foe, sliding his blade into their neck at the same time. Extreme physical damage to most humanoid foes, and may apply serious pressure to youkai. Leaves him extremely open if it fails, however.
Thug Rush Combo - Apparently all cat youkai know thuggish styles of combat, and Matt's not planning to break the trend. A quick flurry of blows aimed at critical locations to encumber and pressure foes. Ends with very punishing, precise combo finishers that may leave Matt extremely open if they fail.
Rib Crusher - When an opponent is lying on their back, Matt jumps onto their ribs and crushes them. Crippling, critical move.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
figured it'd be good to have a follow-up ambling matt chapter to demonstrate progression…
doing skill-based things and characters ACTUALLY LEARNING STUFF is tricky 'cause typically that kinda stuff takes time (probably why the yakuza series avoids stuff like kiryu teaching himself dragon style, even if a visual and interactive medium would far better illustrate and find explanations for such a thing)
especially because they end up taking up a lot of screen time
i wanted to put more of it offscreen but i figured it'd be a good topic to write about here to an extent and then put some other parts offscreen
also SHIMOKOA GETTING A SUPER SHOTGUN
DIDN'T REALLY PLAN ON THAT, BUT IT WORKS
i also got to illustrate more of the shaky-ass relationship between the party members, which doesn't really seem to be improving (and mima really isn't helping)
in fact it's probably gotten worse…!
but if it weren't obvious i do plan on this being the penultimate chapter to the developments of NEXT matt chapter, if it weren't obvious
we'll see where that takes us!
this chapter kinda took awhile to write 'cause capturing the emotions and flow of some of it was kinda awkward at times; i'm definitely gonna need to reread it after awhile to see how they flow, but it's got some interesting sections i think; they might just need some touching up in the like, scene setting senses, like painting a clear picture of the car waxing area, what matt's wearing and when, minor consistency things
hoh
as always, see you all next time!
