(in which genkan pilots the fisherprice car)
They got me, man. I wiped out.
I woke up, and it was… evening. Yeah, our sleep patterns are fucked!
Me, Genkan, Ha-chan and Maria are just in a pile again. Genkan has me hugged close. Maria's wedged up against my back, trapped there by Ha-chan. There's a cover over us, but the chaotic forces of thought and nature have forced it to get bunched up, only covering our midsections.
We're all still clothed though, 'cause we considered passing out in the village on par with passing out in a dungeon or something. I'll be honest: everywhere's a dungeon! S'not gonna be until me and Genkan refurbish the cave that anything's gonna be comfy enough for me to truly loaf out in the nude.
...After a few drowsy moments, Genkan is awake too, watching me.
"Oou." I groaned.
"Nnmn." Genkan groaned back.
Wind howled. Oh…?
Y'know what, I give up. I buried my face in her chest and died.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: MARIA'S PERSPECTIVE ====
Wh— where… am I? Oh. Up against Brad's back, somehow…
I yawned. What hour is it…?
When I sat up, I saw how Brad tried his hardest to wedge himself between Genkan, the bed and himself.
Drowsily, Genkan blinked up at me, looking peaceful.
It was… strangely ephemeral, everything being so cold but warm at the same time.
Looking down along all of our legs, I took in my stupid golden boots Brad got me. Combined with my snowflake shirt and outfit, I'm at least fully resistant to the cold…
We're all immune. We can literally sleep anywhere that's cold. What a thought.
If only moments like these could last forever.
Beautiful rainbow lights hung in the air around the village, visible through this guest room's windows, some light bleeding through the fair paper walls.
It was snowing. I could hear the wind sigh against the house.
Maybe Brad was right in going back to bed. ...No, I ought to get up. How long have we been out?
"Genkan… do you know how long we've been asleep?" She was awake, after all, so…
Her voice was quiet. "No idea."
I guess it's not important. Alright…
Now this feels like a holiday. These rainbow lights, this fleeting feeling of calm. Later I'll rub this in Genkan's face… but now's not the time. No, now's the time to… relax.
Wait… what? Ugh. I reached under me, and took out a fluffle that was tucked under my side.
"type two type b" What was it doing there? No, get, get. "nugge get get get" I threw the fluffle, and it spread its fins out to glide across the room.
...Spreading out on the bed, I wrap an arm around Hana, and another around Brad.
PATATATAT! A violent noise came from outside.
CRACK! Fzzt. What's going on out there? It sounded like something was getting destroyed.
"We killed it."
"Good riddance."
"Why is this happening now?"
Three monotone voices were heard, and lights flickered around near the door to the room. After another moment, they were gone.
...Once the commotion passed, the fluffle continued to make small noises by slamming its tub onto the floor repeatedly.
What was that about? ...It's probably not important.
I closed my eyes. I'll gladly return to sleep, if only to… feel as though I've captured this moment.
What is it I really want out of it, though? Something feels so close. Maybe this is just what being happy feels like…
Something's calling for me. Maybe I'm just restless. I spent a lot of New Years itself dead inside from a lack of energy. Now we're… well, is it still New Years? We picked a great day to totally screw up our sleep timing.
I have to ask Brad about this. I'm sure he's felt something similar. I have half a mind to think his questing for power and loot is just an excuse to see the sights. Not that I can blame him…
I yawned again. Oh, gods.
...So, I waited. It used to be slightly awkward, waiting in bed with everyone as the hours went by. Now it's just normal. It's still awkward, but… it's not uncomfortable.
The colors around the village, the cold, the void of black, it was all so nice.
I wanna sleep again. I wanna dream.
After who knows how long, Hana stirred. Wha— hey…
She climbed onto me. Smiling, she just flopped onto me and Brad, half of her on each of us, hugging on.
"Hehe…" Drool still crept from the right of her mouth. "Mwa." She— she kissed my cheek! "Mmm…" Leaning over to Brad, she gave him a peck too.
Giving into my spontaneous energy, and because she's Hana, I hugged onto her thin frame and buried my face in her chest.
You wanna know something? Genkan might be around a D-cup, but I'd say Hana's a B or C. More importantly, I'd say, is their frames. Hana is very skinny, with some curves. Genkan is… huh. I'm not sure how to put it. Womanly? They're both a different kind of balanced, I guess.
"Mmf." Hana's new kimono smelt like smoke. Weird.
One good thing about being extremely cold is that we all don't really smell. Even Brad. It's sweat that makes scent, but even when exerted, we don't really get warm, so we don't sweat. We just… get tired, and get better. It's weird.
If we were all heat resistant, would this be the same? Sweat's a process of maintaining the body's temperature and, in the case of exercise, expending the heat made by bodily reactions… so what if that didn't matter? We'd probably still be immune to sweating.
The only thing is, we could sweat with cold immunity… if we were in a very warm environment. It's just after New Years, so that's probably not going to happen.
"We should all bathe again." I quietly suggested it into Hana's kimono.
Genkan snorted. "...Perhaps. We do smell, somewhat…"
That's not why I suggested that. I suggested it because I was a pervert who wanted to rub Hana and Genkan's breasts again. I'm gonna be honest about it. I never got a close look at Brad either, but he's like… he just feels like he's Genkan's. You know? It'd just feel wrong. It feels wrong thinking about it.
Meanwhile, Genkan's boobs are a community resource. ...I'm not sure if I should hold onto that thought as a joke for later.
"Hey, Hana. Do you like boobs?" I'm in an awfully strange mood this morning.
"Whnn." Hana's still dead.
...I need to stop thinking about horny things. I'm in a pile with my friends. I just… ugh. I was on my own for a little yesterday, why couldn't I have just gotten it out of my system then!?
"That was an awfully Brad thing to say," Genkan suddenly accused me. "I see he doesn't even need to be awake to debuff the party's intelligence."
The worst part is that she's right. "It— it's nothing…"
"It was just so random, I had to tease you. What's up?"
"...Wha— what do you mean, what's up? Nothing's up."
"...Okay." Genkan just accepted that, and began to smile.
Brad rolled slightly, but Hana had him trapped. "I'm up…!"
"No you're not." Genkan clarified.
"What…! Woah— mmn." Brad was silenced. She hugged him tight, smothering him.
"I am sex." Hana declared. "Hear me roar…"
I could feel Brad's quiet chuckling through his back. Genkan smiled strangely, probably able to feel it in the core of her chest.
Oh, man. Now I'm actually… tired again.
Whatever, Brad's back will do. I curled up into my pillow, sort of nuzzling into Brad's back… but not too close, just in case he rolled over and accidentally smashed my face in. If only I had Genkan's presence, so I could just entirely encapsulate him and make him worried I'd roll over onto him.
...I say that, but I'm actually really comfortable with my body. I can't imagine being super tall. Like Brad. Compared to Gensokyo's normal sizes, he's a freak. And normally people's height is like, somewhat related to their power level— unless they're a freakishly powerful little girl like the earth goddess or that one oni. Or Marisa.
Hmm. Maybe height is more coincidental. Powerful people always just feel really tall though. It's probably because most of them float or can fly… that, and their big fluffy dresses.
It's still unbelievable that Hana doesn't know what sex is. I'm sure she's received an abstract on the whole thing, but freaking… come on.
"We're telling Hana what sex is," I decided.
Genkan gave me the flattest look. "...How?"
"I don't know. But I really want you guys to be more honest with her. She's been good to you both so far, right?"
...Genkan closed her eyes. "This is true, yes. What would you have me do? It's clear that she wants to have sex with Brad."
Oh. That's… I hadn't thought that far ahead. "I— I, uh…"
When Genkan opened her eyes, she stared into mine. "What do you think?"
Oh, god, oh god… "I— I, um, I think… ma— maybe, it…"
Maybe it couldn't hurt. I opened my mouth to say that.
"Maybe— I'll show her!"
...That seemed like a better way out in my head, I'll be honest. Oh my god. What did I just say. Oh, no.
Genkan hardly reacted. Her brows raised in dulled, sedate surprise.
Screw it. I guess I'll just— stew in embarrassment forever. "Or maybe I don't know Brad could actually do something with her— but you're his boyfriend so it's your decision…" Inhale! "But I didn't want to say that 'cause it sounded wrong!"
"So instead… you offered… to… have sex with Hana, for us."
Oh my god, don't word it like that! "Ye— I gu— guess."
"...Is that what you really want?"
"It, like, doesn't have to like, be like… a— a big deal…"
"How would that even work?" Genkan demonstrated a surprising innocence. "It can't feel… you know, the same."
"I mean… I could buy a str— strap-on… or we could just..."
I should have just laid down and gone back to bed. My heart's pumping so hard.
Genkan sighed. "This party dynamic of ours… really is so confusing. I'm not as phased by the idea of Hana and Brad having sex as I should be. Nor am I really that surprised that you would feel like playing with Hana yourself."
"Huh? But…?"
"We've all spent perhaps too much time together. Sleeping in piles like these. That, and… I feel like I just trust Brad that much. Sex is really a footnote. Something so precious, yet… if we didn't love each other the way we do, it would hold no meaning in the first place. I don't know if Brad would truly want to actually have sex with Hana. I think he'd feel too awkward. He'd be thinking of me."
...That does put things in perspective.
Hana raised her face from between me and Brad, her cheeks red as cherries. "...If— if it's okay, I'd like to have sex with everybody!"
Genkan let her eyes drift up, and I smiled sheepishly.
"You know what?" Genkan huffed. "We should eventually get it over with just so we can get it out of your system. Sex isn't even that impressive. Wait…" She came to a realization. "Hana. Do you masturbate?"
"Master huh?" What…!? Oh no!
This can't be! "Hana— do you like, touch yourself? Down there…!?"
"Only a little, when it starts to feel weird! Like right now…"
Has she ever… orgasmed? Ever? Oh my god.
"I think we have some important ground to cover first," Genkan realized.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
Stretching my neck, I approached the door, making sure my outfit was on straight… yeah, it was.
It's night time now. I forgot that we fell asleep in the noon so now it's night. Yeah, we really screwed up our patterns. This is gonna be annoying when I wanna do things in the village.
"I need a brush." Genkan's hair was screwed up.
"I am a brush!" Brad woke up mid-way through the commotion.
...When no one said anything, I became curious. "Genkan, what if you brushed your hair with his hair?"
"We'd just shed on one another. A brush's strands are firm for a reason. Brad's messy hair is soft and fluffy. More suited to mop the floor with."
"Fluffle duster," Brad declared.
...Turning back, I saw the mess of blankets we'd left Hana in. Her face was still red, her cyan eyes pitched unevenly as she laid there love-drunk.
"Um… when you're all rested, you can find us, right?" I'll just say it outright: we taught her a thing or two. It was embarrassing. Brad woke up mid-way— or, wait, was he always up and I just forgot? Either way, it was a nightmare… for my nerves, at least.
"Hwaa. Ye— yeah…"
Cool. "We'll leave you here for now, then. We've gotta get moving."
"I'll… catch up." She closed her eyes. "I'm so warm…"
Taking a deep breath, I turned to the guys. "Alright. How about... we get a move-on?"
Brad and Genkan stared at me with equal innocence, but Brad looked displaced by the sheer hormonal chaos that just happened.
Me and Genkan— we helped Hana masturbate. Right there. Then and there. That's all I'll say. And personally, I'm still… pent up. But I'll get over it. I wonder how much that influenced Brad and Genkan...
Genkan agreed. "Let us wander about, aimlessly."
"Are we not gonna talk about that?" Brad wanted to talk about it!
"No." Genkan decided. "Or else Maria will explode." Thank you…
"But uh…!"
"If we aren't going to requite her desire to have sex with you, Brad, the least we can do is show her how to get it out at all, while we think about it. I hadn't known she just didn't know how to do that."
"Y'know, that kinda slipped my mind, yeah." Brad admitted. "S'probably not a bad idea… but the fact I rolled over and it was just happening right there…!"
Genkan actually kinda smirked at that. "Hey, hey. This party thing was your idea Brad. We're in these things together." Oh my god, the amount of sass. Genkan's surprisingly confident after all of that!
"Ha ha haanh~..." Brad whined affectionately. "Maaan."
Basically: we um, showed Hana how to do it at that moment because it really couldn't wait much longer. We could tell Hana was melting.
With that, we went outside, into the evening.
vzzt, vzzt. On the deck of the house, there was a… what the heck is that? It looks busted. It's fizzling, still smouldering.
"What…?" Brad gazed upon it with almost adoring incredulity. "Oh. How?"
"What is it?" I'm curious.
"It's a broken television! Aw…" He crouched before it, giving the side of it a tap. "It's freakin' full a' ice. I think a snow chick killed it."
The outside air is full of the rainbow lights that I'd seen drifting about from inside the house. They're just bright enough to pierce the paper shoji walls, creating this wonderfully cozy atmosphere. It feels stupid to just be like… "look at the pretty colors," but I mean… they're really pretty!
He stepped back from the television that was punctured through the center by a chair-sized spike. We followed him off the porch, into the dark central road.
No one was out… which was strange. It didn't seem yuki-onna obeyed human sleep cycles on their own, so I don't see why they were all away. Unless there's something I missed.
"Are they all asleep?" I wondered aloud.
Genkan shook her head. "No. They're… hiding?"
Oh no. "That… can't be good."
"Hooh." Brad scratched his head. "...Man. I dunno if it's 'cause it's still night, or whatever the hell you guys were doin' but I still feel kinda zoned out."
"With any luck, whatever's forced them into hiding isn't that scary." Genkan supposed. I hope she didn't jynx us.
However, before we could really go anywhere, some yuki-onna drifted up to us. And they were armed to the teeth.
"Ooh…" Brad made a noise, examining their armaments. "They're freakin' ready!"
They were three hime-cut girls, but they had facial masks with white X's painted on them. Like, the mouth-guarding kind. They had black kimonos, and they carried futuristic rifles.
"You three." The one in the lead came up to us. "Go home."
"What's going on?" Genkan decided to make peace with them.
"Don't you see the lights? The village is being threatened."
"Threatened?" Genkan's brows drifted up. "How so?"
FZSHHH! That's when something roared to life behind us!
KZZT! The black-clad yuki-onna held out a walkie-talkie. "We found one!"
"Oh, god!" Brad recognized our foe. "The television has come to life, before our very eyes…!"
FZSHHH. The floating television roared with static, hovering towards us menacingly.
KRING- KRING- KRING! Oh— it sent a cascading eruption of metal things from the floor at us! They were neon-red, reflective hexagonal signs, all reading "STOP" in capitalized English.
CHU CHU CHU! One of the yuki-onna unloaded her lunar plasma rifle at the thing.
KZZT! "Grenade." Another drew a wispy, blue object from her kimono pockets, tossing it at the television.
Genkan tried to approach, but Brad held her back. "Yo— don't get near the blue thing! S'boutta go off!"
"Oh?" Genkan stared intently.
The blue, fluttering wisp stuck to the television. In reality, it was a ball-like device emitting the wispy blue smoke. It seemed to be a fiery, almost plasma-like reaction once it really got going. It hadn't ignited until well after it left the snow woman's pocket. It must've gotten hot really fast!
And then— it went off.
KRRAAASH! The flash of blue and white from the plasma explosion was sheerly blinding. It was incredibly violent.
"Aa—" Genkan's voice vibrated and she planted herself on the ground. Even though the blast was many meters away, the wave of sheer heat from the detonation was alarming.
"...Holy shit." Brad beamed, beholding the violence.
The television was just a smouldering, flaming heap now. It was also many, many stories in the air, having been totally annihilated by the explosive.
KZZT. "We killed it." The yuki-onna spoke into her walkie-talkie. "No loss of life on our side. We used one of the plasma grenades. It favored a ground-based non-elemental attack, so we cut it off before it could approach to use it more."
...When Genkan turned to her, she approached Genkan and gave her the lunar plasma rifle she had. "You will need this more than me. We have many to spare. Keep yourself safe, sister."
"Oh. Thank you…" Genkan gazed at the plasma rifle in slight befuddlement.
With that, the special operations yuki-onna accelerated off, going off the trail to scout around the village.
I sighed. "You know, it's always when we do something really close that something whacky like this happens immediately after."
BAAM! Oh! I jumped when the television wreckage landed behind us!
...We all watched it, as a fluffle came up to sit before the burning television, gazing on as it burned.
"Man, we gotta get some drinks. It's too early for this." Brad leisurely began to stroll towards some random buildings ahead of us. I don't know if he knew where he was going.
"I'm armed." Genkan was excited. "I'll be honest... I really want to practice my dance combat arts. It's been awhile since we've seriously fought something where it could apply."
"I still gotta work my water magic." I can't go back to Patchouli with insufficient data. "And…"
"That's it, son. We're gonna climb this igloo." Brad approached this cute-looking igloo on the other side of the road.
shoof. Rather incredibly, a fluffle raised its face from the snowy soil next to the igloo, looking absolutely blasted for no good reason.
"What..." Brad was in awe. Scooping it up, he brought it over to me. "Here, friend."
Huh? "I'm gonna blow you up." I don't want it.
...Against my better judgment, I held the incredible fluffle close. Smelled like it was digging in the dirt.
Brad climbed up onto the top of the igloo while I wasn't looking.
crunch. And, promptly, one of the ceiling bricks gave away. "Woah!" Brad descended inside.
"Hey…" Genkan drifted up over the igloo, worried. "Brad?"
"Aw!" Brad's voice came from inside. "Greetings, comrades!"
...Fwish! Fwish, fwish, fwish! After a delay, the yuki-onna inside the snow home began attacking him with ice.
"Aaaaa~!" Brad yelled unnecessarily, considering he was actively healing from it. "Aaa— aah, aaa~!"
I knocked on the front door, and the violence slowed.
shoof. A yuki-onna slid the wooden front door open. "Hello?"
"I'm here to trade." I held out the incredible but dirty fluffle.
She took it from me wordlessly. Brad shuffled out of their house, stopping next to me, his shoulders and hair covered in snow.
Shuft. Still quietly, she slid the door shut, glad to have solved the home invasion somehow.
"Y'know… I like when they just forgo words entirely and just attack you." Brad reflected on his actions.
Genkan snorted. "Sometimes we panic. Though, Brad, imagine this. You're minding your business during an invasion of your village, keeping safe, and then your roof silently gives away to a strange-looking man."
"...Y'got a point!" Brad admitted. "I'd probably attack on sight too!"
We returned to the road and walked in a big circle because this single road is only so big. No vendors were out, so we couldn't buy anything.
Brad walked into the center of town, looking stranded. "What. No. Come back…" He knelt on the ground, arms on his knees. "I've got a fluffle pet…"
Once he's done pretending to be dramatic, he activates his gravity boots and drifts into the air. "I'mma get a bird's eye view! Ooh!" Sometimes, I wonder what goes through his head.
...Promptly, he landed again, losing his balance because he deactivated his boots too early. "Wha— oof!"
"Brad, please." Genkan gave him a flat look. "Perhaps we should just get back in the car and drive it around. That was fun. It would kill time."
"I came back down— 'cause I spotted an attack! Like, this way!" Brad got up and immediately ran past some buildings. An attack…?
When me and Genkan slowly followed— oh, geez!
KRINGKRKRINGKRKRKRING! A roar of noise! It was the eruption of multiple sign-like objects from the floor ahead!
Fwi- Click! Summoning his dual dart gun hangers, Brad ascended into the air. "Yeehaw!" Oh, boy…
There were five levitating televisions approaching us.
"Hup— aah…" Genkan broke away from me, spun around and twirled into a handstand! "Yee— haw!" That's incredibly unfitting coming from her!
"Watera!" Thrusting Iron Lantern into the air, I watched the blue light flare from it as I cast.
Fwush, fwish, fwoosh. From the snow around me, clumps disintegrated into water, forming a crystalline, spiralling mass of wet around me.
FWLUP! Extending my staff, I aimed it at one of the televisions ahead of Genkan!
KERSPLASH! The massive glob of water enveloped a TV head-on.
ZAZAZAP- KABOOM! Oh my god! It exploded! Are they weak to water?
KRING! KRING! KRING! A wall of stop signs erupted towards Genkan from a different TV…!
"Huup!" Diving out of her handstand spin, Genkan spun around briefly to regain her sense of balance, before curling up into a ball and doing another. "Waaa~!"
WHAP! One of her feet hit the floating TV.
CRACK! The second strike hit the screen full of eyes and static, shattering it.
WHAPWHAPWHAPWHAP! The proceeding succession of rapid hits from Genkan's twirling handstand made the TV more and more depressed, until it flopped out of the air, into the snow.
"Yahoo!" Dropping onto her hips, Genkan spun the base of her spine into it.
CRACK- BOOM! Oh! It exploded!
Crunch! Genkan was sent hurtling through the air, landing in the snow next to me. "Aa— uu."
"...Blizzard." I pointed my staff at her casually, spraying frost onto her.
Fwoash! The ice magic rejuvenated her. Lifting her face up out of the snow, she snapped into her usual relaxed floating posture in record time. Glaring, she promptly accelerated at the television horde, not breaking her relaxed posture. Genkan, why?
KABOOM- BABOOM! KABOOM! Oh god— what's Brad doing? "Woohohoaah!" In the background, he's riding an exploding stack of televisions higher into the air, taking off into the midnight sky.
THOOM- CRUNCH! THOOM! Televisions rained down from the tiny mushroom cloud that was produced by all of them dying at the same time.
Only a few more televisions remained, but—
pzt- oom. They chose to shut down instead of keep fighting, embedding in the snow immediately beneath them.
...Descending from the air incredulously, Brad did circles around one of them, before landing and putting his hands on it. "Dude, free TV!" He tried to pick it up, but stalled. "Oh my god, it's heavy. Fuckin' old ass tube TVs."
Genkan approached cautiously. "How do you know it's not simply biding its time, waiting to strike?"
"Good question! I dunno, if it did strike, we could probably just kill it! S'a freakin TV! They're not actually that intimidating!"
"Are these things… normally aggressive, on the outside?" I was curious…
"No more aggressive than fuckin' ovens and toasters!" Brad looked somewhat set aside by all of this. "Why's the snow woman community literally under attack from televisions…!?"
Genkan had a theory. "Maybe my sisters angered them."
Brad's mouth hung open. "Aa— angered the TVs? Stole their TV children from their TV nest?"
Genkan furrowed her brows. "Is… is that how it works?"
Beaming wider, Brad held his own hair. "No~…! They're inanimate objects! Well— they're supposed to be!" ...After a quiet moment, he took out his bag. "Genkan, help me thieve this teevee. We're taking a prisoner. Maybe later we can like, interrogate it, or make a pet out of it, if it ever wakes up again."
Once they secured the wild television, I'd had enough of how much we just kind of wandered out here on auto-pilot. You know what? "Brad, I need to practice my water magic, so I'm just gonna shoot you with it."
Brad blinked. "Wait, what…!?"
"Waterra!" Raising my staff, I cast the spell.
Fwush, fwish, fwoosh. Once more, my liquid is derived from the previously frozen snow, creating a halo of water around myself.
SPLOOSH! Then, I shot it!
"Hooh!"Brad moved to get out of the way— but the glob tracked him.
KERSPLASH! Woah! When you're so close, you realize just how violent the impact is.
"Woohoohoohoo~!" Brad was sent hurtling meters away in a linear ray, before descending for the flank of a big tree. "Woah!"
He flipped around mid-flight, and used his gravity boots to brace the impact. Woah…
The buoyancy caused him to do an involuntary forward flip. When he righted himself, then landed, he stumbled back to me…
"Jesus…!" He held his now-soggy hair. "Y'freakin' dunked me!"
"Waterra!" I cast it again.
Fwi-Click! While my halo of water formed, he switched his equipment. Oh… it's those new gauntlets made out of those arch-fairies.
SPLOOSH! Once more, I sent the whirling glob of water at him. This is a really fun spell to cast!
He held the purple gauntlet named Nari up high, and once the water neared, he braced his arm against it.
Krack! Amazingly, a flash of white-purple light exploded from the impact. The water dispersed as a shockwave, some still brushing past Brad, but it hardly managed to touch him at all. Some of the clear drops rained down around us.
"Hehah!" He beamed at me, looking over his arm. It seems like he took a little force from the impact, but if his body could sustain it, it must've been very negligible. "...Hoh." It didn't seem like the attack charged his weapon with much energy either. It was just a rush of water.
I was curious. "Hey, Brad. How do you think that weapon works?"
He gave his best guess. "The orange arm parries physical attacks, and the purple one parries magic. They both charge independently, and uh… honestly I haven't really used 'em enough to find out what their benefits are!"
That's fair. "Let's find out, then. Fire!"
Fwoom! Abruptly, I shoot a ball of fire at him!
"Oh!"He brought his arm up to stop the impact.
Shing. A grating, duller metal sound was created, Nari absorbing the fire and creating a visible pulse of electrical, magnetic energy around Brad.
"...Huh." He gazed at it idly. That was less amazing than last time.
I had an idea. "Try it again, but defend yourself at the last possible second. Fire!"
Fwoom! Shooting another fireball from my staff's tip, I watched expectantly.
Brad inhaled, and lowered his arm. He flung Nari up to guard it as it raced towards his face.
Krack! This time when the fire was erased, brilliant sparks danced out from the impact, and the spell was all but erased, no shockwave residue to be seen.
...How strange. I don't have any really heavy-duty magic to use on him to test out if it does anything under high loads.
"Aw, dude." Brad held up a fluffle he just found, somehow. "I found a fluffle. It's incredible." Whaaat.
Genkan approached him innocently while he took in the fluffle's dusty scent. "You are literally sniffing dirt, dear boyfriend."
"It's incredible," Brad looked awed for some reason.
Genkan took it from him. "Incredibly bad. Here." She spun around, and chucked it!
"fly in our hearts forever free" The fluffle spread its fins out and glided up into the sky.
"The legendary sand bird is born!" Brad celebrated the take-off.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: BRAD'S PERSPECTIVE ====
...How's the sun still not up yet? How fucked did we make our sleep schedules!?
CLACK, CLACK CLACK. Under the rainbow warning lights of the snow village under mild invasion, Genkan drove our toy-like ice car along the snowy plains outside the town.
Maria and Ha-chan zoned out in the back seat while Genkan drove, and I just kinda… looked around.
"Here I was hoping we'd at least get into more awkward confrontations with my people," Genkan reflected. "I suppose we'll have to make another return trip, some day. Though I cannot deny that the guest house is quite cozy. I can tell it never gets used."
Y'know, she's right. "Yeah, it's pretty good, actually." It's only got one room, but it's a nice room.
I dug through my inventory while Genkan drove around. Man, as always, I've got too much shit in here…
Wait. Hold on. "Genkan, have you ever, ever used the fans I've bought you?"
"You bought me fans?" Genkan totally forgot! "...I've used fans? I know I used to practice fan dancing before I learned breakdancing."
fwif. Reaching into her kimono's sleeves, she took out some paper fans. "Oh, they're still here." Being cute, she shifted in her seat and waved her fans around, as if trying to dance. "This is stupid." She quickly decided that wasn't possible!
"But it was cute!" I wanna see her groove!
She clicked her tongue! "You have a thing for adoring when I embarrass myself."
Man. Y'know, doesn't Maria have a ton of outfits too? Genkan has all these fans… I have all of these goddamn hangers… like this one I got for Christmas!
Magnetic North. It's a presumably magnetic, smoothened hanger fit for a viking chapel or something. Kinda gothic, kinda futuristic, super weird. The navy blue steel is pretty and kinda sparkles, even under moonlight.
The gears in my head turned.
"Hey, Maria. Does Iron Beacon buff your magic attack?"
Maria woke up from her trance in the back seat. "...Um. Sorta. It's kinda why I use it a lot."
I had a terrible, awful idea. I really wonder… "Do you think Genkan could freeze Waterra to turn it into a meteor? And, Genkan, can you freeze things while doing flares on the floor?"
Genkan had a small expression, slowing the car. "Brad, you're not getting another idea, are you?"
Leaning back in my seat, I held Magnetic North towards Ha-chan! "Yo, Ha-chan, use your electric magic near this thing."
"Um…" She blinked twice! "Okay!" She rubbed her hands together real fast, and sparks began to dance between her fingers! "Zappity zap zap!"
za- za- zap. When she held her hands close to it, the electricity formed halos and direct rays towards the magnetic hanger itself.
I had the biggest idea of all time.
CLACK, Clack, clack. Genkan slowed the ice car near Alice's place. "Should we stop here?"
"I think she's asleep!" I noted!
"Oh. Right." With that, Genkan sped up again.
CLACK, CLACK, CLACK. As the munted ice block car clicked along, I wondered… "Man, if only I could change my party's outfits on the fly!"
"No?" Genkan shook her head. "No. That's a bad idea."
"What…!"
"I don't need to go around dressed in nothing but the cow bra half the time, thank you."
You say that, but… "It does buff your maximum vitality too! And with the strat I have in mind, it might actually be an unironically good idea."
Genkan huffed. "Oh, okay. What is your strategy, Brad?"
PATATATAT! We're shot at by a volley of plasma bolts!? That's not my plan! That's not my plan at all!
Fssh! One strikes Genkan in the shoulder. "Aaah!" Holy shit it burned into her!
Fi- ssh! "Ghhaa!" Ouch holy shit fuck! That one hit me! Why're we under attack!? Oh, god— that fuckin' burns holy shit!
FWICHOOM! A pin-point laser ray passes us entirely, barely missing the ice car itself.
Genkan quickly drives us between some trees and stuff. "Blizzard!" Maria aims her staff at us, targeting us both with the healthy splash of ice.
Fwash! We're healed from the icy support.
FWICHOOM! Another sniper-like laser shot passes us, blowing a huge chunk right offa' our car! "Oh god. Who'd we piss off…!?"
"Do you think it was those bunny renegades!?" Maria speculated.
"It must be…" Genkan figured. "Well, Brad? Now's a pretty good time for that plan, whatever it is."
"We gotta pull somewhere where we can get dressed. Until then…"
I noticed Genkan still had her plasma rifle, just in the seat beside her. While she focused on driving, I took it. "Maria, spam thunder. Hana, prepare to get-down-mister-president for us!"
"Huh?" She smiled cluelessly!
"If y'think we're gonna get shot, act as a body shield!"
"Can do!" She all-too-quickly agrees to tank!
Standing on my knees, propped against the back of the ice car, I aimed out into the forest behind us.
CRUNCH! Some snow loudly crunched to our left.
PATAT! Channeling magic into the plasma rifle, I fire it! Oh— god… that's not even regular gun recoil at all, but I almost lose my grip anyway 'cause I'm that weak!
PATATAT! Oh god.
"Thundara!" Maria thrust her staff into the air, in the vague direction of where I fired.
THWASH, THWASH, THWASH, THWASH! Oh my god, that rain of lightning is intimidating to look at! Bolts just rained down.
Fwaash! Fwaash! The bolts were far, far more efficient than my rifle fire, breaking two shields of unseen lunar operatives without us even having eye contact with them.
"Thundara!" Maria just— casts it again! Why not?
THWASHTHWASH- THWASH! Fwaash! ...After a third shield was broken, the heat was taken offa' us.
"Wow." I nodded plainly! "I keep forgettin' that Thunder's fuckin' broken."
"Huh?" Maria blinked at me. "It's not broken, it worked just fine!"
Uuh! "I was usin' a different definition a' the word 'broken'!"
"What…? Whatever!" Maria ignored me! "Thundara!"
THWASHTHWASH- THWASH! Bolts rained down behind us, but they didn't seem t'home in on anything. Guess they stopped tracking us.
Genkan yelled! "Brad— look out! We're going to crash!" What…!
Click! I flicked my gravity boots on, and—
KRAAM! Genkan drove the car straight into the Scarlet Devil Mansion's brick wall!
"Wooah!" My gravity boots caused me to do a flip straight up, taking all the crashing momentum in a new direction!
I ended up doing a perfect arc over the wall, right barely over the spikes that're supposed to make scaling the wall impossible. Like that, I actually was put inside without ever confronting Meiling.
...Wait, that's a bad thing! "Hup!" Once I landed in the snow gracefully on the other side, I did a U-turn, leaping forward in the air again. Once I reached the wall's spikes, I just grabbed onto them and calmly tossed myself over, 'cause I was so floaty.
...shoof. I gently landed in the snow next to the party! "Oof. Aa— anyway, let's organize!"
"We could just flee inside…" Genkan offered.
I shook my head. "Nah— we can take this fight. Okay, so—"
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
A blue-haired bunny soldier strolled towards us, on the path just before the Scarlet Devil Mansion. He wore only a musty orange work jacket around his shoulders, leaving his abs exposed all the way down to his pants' belt buckle.
Genkan stepped forward first. Her own midsection was exposed, but she wore one of the renegade lunar jackets around her shoulders; even so, her cow bra and skirt were plainly revealed to the world. She held the two massive cardboard fans dubbed Heavy Tanker, and now wore the Sighing of the Moon ring that I got for Christmas. Also, she had on those Chinese martial shoes we got her too!
Maria had a crimson gown on; that Scarlet Event Dress we got outta a dress which I think was supposed to be for Remilia! A black-crismon rose was fixed to her hair on the right. A gorgeous ring of rubies, sapphires and topaz hung from her right ring finger. The Golden Treads were still on her feet too; combined, she was still immune to ice! Those elementalist accessories really cover the bases too well! Oh, and she wielded Iron Beacon.
Ha-chan hung behind Maria, ready to lift her. I left her in her kimono and ice crown, 'cause ideally she won't be taking hits.
Myself? I had the Lunar Jacket worn over my Camouflage Kimono, since it seems like the jacket's more of an accessory. Really I just need it for the energy shield! For my protection, I had the Yellow Racecar Helmet on, and still wore my Gravity Boots.
In my hand, I wielded Magnetic North.
...Genkan turned to me. "You've entirely ruined our core sense of aesthetics."
"Somehow, having that jacket on over your half-naked outfit makes it even hotter," I've got to admit!
"Somehow that helmet makes you look even more stupid."
"I somehow came out looking cool…" Maria liked her new rich red-and-black aesthetic! "I kinda feel like Remilia in this stuff."
The punk-lookin' bunny soldier before us had a huge sniper rifle slung over his shoulders. "Hey. You guys."
Our attention grabbed, Genkan faced him. "What? What do you want?"
"Heyy~!" He beamed in a fake-ass way. "Shimokoa. How ya been?"
Genkan blinked. "...Excuse me?"
"I've been waitin' for you." He strolled closer. "I wasn't out here lookin' for you, but you know, priorities. While I'm here, I figured… I'd make good on Mima's part of the deal." What…!? Wha— Genkan doesn't even look that close to Shimokoa. They even have different favorite colors!
Genkan looked at me, questioningly. I shrugged 'cause I didn't fuckin' know! "We don't know what you're talking about," she told 'em.
He snorted. "Come on. Don't play stupid."
From the brush around him, other members of his squad came out.
A pink-haired bunny girl picked some wax outta her ear. She looked like a big pop culture bubbly girl sorta sort. "Heey, Gagey-poo? You know these renegades?" Renegades? Oh, the coats. Oh boy. And, Gagey? Is his name freakin' Gage?
"Yeah. Business partners. Helped with the car wash photoshoot." Gage crouched, stretching with his sniper rifle over his shoulder. "Aaah…" He stood back up, sighing.
This green-haired dude with goggles held his plasma rifle higher. "So? What's the situation, boss?"
"Shimmy there, the chick with the big tits, she's the only one y'gotta worry about. You leave her to me. Kill the rest of them."
Genkan was alarmed! "What? No! They're my friends! Don't kill them!"
Gage smiled at her panic. "S'not like you'll miss 'em anyway. Guys, take 'em down."
PATATATAT! Suddenly, the four supporting operatives fuckin' fired at us! "Genkan— the plan!"
"Right!" With that, Genkan executed the plan.
She was totally immune to taking lunar damage, and the lunar weapons all did lunar damage, so she went first. "Mmm!" Letting out a grunt, she dropped onto her hip and began flaring around on the floor. Due to her Heavy Tanker fans— the heavy metal version of OnlyFans— being drawn, she was completely infallible while she did her combo.
That's not all though! Activating my gravity boots, I drifted overhead of her, avoiding the first curtain of shots.
Ha-chan carried Maria in the head over me as I ascended. Like this, we formed the team formation!
"Bless!" Maria targeted herself and Ha-chan, buffing her own magic attack with an amplifying spell. "Here we go! Waterra! Waterra! Waterra!" Maria held out her glowing, now neon-blue staff as Ha-chan slung her around in a spiral!
ZAP— ZAP, ZAP! "Woah…!" Electricity arched down from Ha-chan's wings, combining around Magnetic North.
Fwi- Click! Equipping Hoarfrost Forecast, I charged it with mana, and the static electricity began to arc between both my nunchuck-hanger mess and Magnetic North…!
GLOOB. FLWUUP! FLOOP! As the culmination of all of Maria's Magic Attack buffs, Waterra's globs were fucking huge. Previously they were like "what if you tossed a bathtub on someone" but now they're fucking car-sized holy shit!
FWAASH! FWAASH! FWAASH! As they descended, Genkan froze them on instinct, the huge chonks of water becoming massive icy meteors.
Beginning to spin, I let go of Hoarfrost Forecast, finding it caught in a magnetic halo around me. Magnetic energy bubbled out from me...
ZAPZAPZAP- ZAPZAP! Ha-chan's electricity began to arc to all of the icy boulders, after getting caught in the magnetic halo.
Gage raised his sniper rifle, before lowering it again. "What— the fuck."
PATATAT- PATATAT! His squad fired up at me, but the plasma energy rounds were caught in the magnetic field, all their mana stripped from them!
FWICHOOM! Gage shot at Genkan, but Genkan was 100% resistant to moon-elemental attacks, which that laser sniper round was!
The icy meteors descended onto Genkan, and her combined super armor and health pool conquered each of them.
KATOOFT! KASHOOF! KASHUFT! The sea of snowy meteors would hit her and ping off, hurtling off in random directions, creating both an icy mist and a series of massive projectiles!
"Umm!" The pink-haired bunny operative dove outta the way of one, before getting clobbered by another! "Wguuaa!"
"Waterra! Wattera! Wattera!" Maria spammed water like her life depended on it— 'cause it did!
BWOOP, BWOOP, BWOOP! Massive bubbles flared out from the pink-haired bunny girl on impact, absolutely ginormous mana prizes bouncing out!
"Mobilization Formation!" I yelled! "Strangulation!"
"Hooo…" Genkan performed a handstand, spinning all the while, and began progressing towards the mana prizes.
I spread my legs out, dropping slightly lower in the process. Ha-chan descended, her body sparkling with electric energy. Soon, the mana prizes began to get vacuumed towards us…!
TINK- BOOM! KAKRUNCH- BOOM! BAM! Some of the settled snow meteors began to get magnetized back into us, getting pulled into Genkan's legs or under her hands, before being forced to compete with her superarmor, being launched away from her at startling velocity when their entrance velocity was perfectly mirrored and surpassed!
Maria had fired some of her water globs into the air like mortars, and the rabbit soldiers hadn't noticed while they were paying attention to Genkan and all of the magnetized ice chunks. I could hardly see— but I could imagine them silently, menacingly descending from above…!
KERSPLASH! SPLOOSH! "Guaa~!"
"Holy crap! Woah! Oh fuck!"
Fwiish! "Shield's down!"
Gage looked around in sheer disbelief! "What the fuck is goin' on!? I was told she uses a fuckin' sword! Holy shit!"
fwiiish. Some of the globs of water exploded in the air, causing it to just fuckin' rain around us.
Fed with more mana, Maria thrust her staff into the sky as she spun. "Thundaraaa~!" Oh boy…!
KATHOOM! KATHOOM! KATHOOM!Oh holy shit. Dude— the lightning bolts homed in on shit and fucking exploded!
ZAZAZAZAZAZAZA! The magnetic ring around me fucking blinds me.
"Huu- AAA!" The bunny girl with the short pink hair's sent flying holy crap—
"Aaaeegh!" The green-haired braniac lookin' dude is ragdolled into the forest, sent doing innumerable three-sixties into the air.
Fwiish- Fwiish- Fwiish- Fwiish! Literally all of their energy shields were broken immediately.
"Du— dude…" Gage's sniper rifle was stolen by time and space, and now he was for some reason hanging from a tree!
Kzz- kt. Somehow the magnet ring around us picked up their radio chatter. "Sergeant, I have to bail. All of my guns are fried, and we can't get near that thing. We can't land a shot on it."
Kzz- kt. "Gagey~... I— I can't feel my leheheegs."
Kzz- kt. "Motherfucker— Gage, this is the last time we go off-mission for one of your fuckass girlfriends. We're fucked now! We got fuckin' wiped off the map!"
Kzz- kt. "Guys—" Aw, this was Gage! "I literally do not know what the fuck happened."
"Yeah, you never fucking know!"
"Shut up, four-eyes."
"No, I won't! What the fuck was that, Gage? Tell me, what was that?"
Lookin' from around the tree he was hiding behind, Gage beheld the mechanization. "...I still have no fucking clue. It's like some kinda fuckin' fuckass tornado."
Kzz- kt. The fifth dude was apparently a guy. "Yeah, a tornado of fuckass is right. It sure fucked our asses alright."
"You know," bubbly girl spoke up, "Could we have liiike… floated over the ice?"
"Nah," 'four-eyes' replied, "they shot water on us to butter us up so we were ready to take that lightning spell up the ass. They used lightning earlier, remember? They know about our shields."
The womanly voice replied, "They are renegades, after all."
Gage spat. "Fuck me. Fine, let's just fucking regroup…"
...After a few moments of silence, our formation fell apart!
"Ounh." Genkan just spun to a stop on the floor, dizzy as hell. "Br— Brad… help."
thud. I descended and just flopped onto her, dizzy as hell. "Oh, shit…"
...BAM! Ouuuch! Maria fucking fell on us from like two-three stories up! "Gkuhkp!" I let out a sad noise.
"Shit!" Maria swore! "I'm sorr— sorry! Ah…" She tried to get off, slipped on some statically-charged slush, leapt over us and fuckin' landed on her ass! "Oof!"
Ha-chan divebombed the floor beside us! "Ooh! Uuf…"
Holy shit. That technique fucking killed us. Together we become functionally a single Touhou boss fight, but the recoil from using that technique, holy crap!
"Brad…" Genkan spoke up, squished beneath me! "You're a mad man."
"Uu…" My voice hadn't come back after Maria fucking crushed me. "He— help…"
"Brad? What's wrong?" Sitting up, Genkan applied some cold to me.
Fwoash! Hooh, holy shit! Why'd that wake me up? When'd I get tired? Wait oh my god—
KRIK. My ribcage slots back into place, and part of my shoulder too, and maybe part a' my spine. It's so much pain that I'm just gone for like half a minute.
"Brad? Brad, say something!" Genkan shakes me!
"Something! I am… okay!"
Genkan hugged me. "Oh my god…"
"I think... when Maria landed on me, somethin' funny happened. But I'm uh… better now." Was I fucking dying because Maria landed on me wrong? Hohoholy shit.
"You're not in pain, are you?"
"...Not anymore!" Sayin' that didn't look like it reassured her much! Also— "Maria, your fat ass broke my fuckin' bones! I took your fuckin' fall so hard it nearly killed me!"
"Oo— oh my god…" Maria looked somewhat mortified! "I heard the crack when I landed. I almost thought I did kill you. I— when Hana let go of me, I couldn't do anything but fall, so…"
...I look to the right.
Remilia's there, gazing on at us with a vacant expression. And by "there" I mean she's not even two meters away from me, crouching and leaning in to look at us!
"We have to stop meeting like this." Pfft...
I chuckled. "We were chasin' bunny rabbits!"
"I could tell." She scratched her brow. "I'm standing at the gate on Meiling's behalf tonight."
"Hoh… oh, why? She sick?"
Remi laughed! "Haha. No. I was just bored. It's a nice evening too. When you first breached the gate, I'd thought the witch made a midnight visit and was about to humiliate me."
"Ooh. Don't worry. I only beached the gate entirely on accident, an' then purposefully unbreached it so I could play dress-up for half an' hour and then kill myself."
She did her best to not smile at that. "...Good job. You seemed to have missed the mark on that last part."
Genkan snorted. "Barely."
...Remi looked around! "You four sure did make a complete mess of the path here. I suppose I'll blame this on Eientei. This path already gets violently erased every other day as it is…"
I stared up at the sky. It's starting to dawn on navy-blue, stars just beginning to obscure.
"Shame you had to get here so late," Remi figured. "As if my sleeping patterns for the past few months have not been…"
"Incomprehensible?" I supplied her a fun word!
"Yes, quite." She gestured to the open gate. "Go ahead. If I need to, I'll catch up. I'm not feeling particularly social at the moment."
Hoh? "What, are you sick…!?"
She shook her head! "No, fool. I just want to take in the atmosphere. Normally, not a soul would approach the gate at evening with myself standing guard. Meiling's the one everything wants to pick a fight with. It's all about the rush of the infiltration, you know? Seeing me out on the lawn kills the fun of getting to me."
Maria stood up, brushing her dress off. "I'm already getting this thing dirty… and it's so pretty too."
Remilia beamed at her figure. "So that's where that dress went. Here I'd thought the witch had made off with it. Though, I must say, it fits you."
Maria blinked. "Oh? Well um—"
"Royalty is befitting of a woman like you." Remilia stretched! "Mmn. But I'm sure you didn't need my confirmation. You're a queen in your mind, aren't you?"
...Maria didn't say anything, looking extremely called out!
Genkan piped up! "Why would things wish to attack the mansion?"
"Well…" Remilia winked one eye shut. "Imagine being a strapping young beast, seeing my visage through the window, and seeing all of my ironclad defenses. Captivated by my beauty, in a passionate frenzy, they throw themselves at the walls, all for a chance to lay their claws on my vanilla skin, to run their tongue across these delicate, doll-like features of mine…"
"Or maybe that's not what happens at all and you're a huge pervert."
Meiling showed up, kinda just strollin' on out here! She had a cup a' what was probably tea, and for some reason, a surprisingly casual outfit!
"You're on break. Shoo." Remilia fanned her off!
"I thought I heard some noise."
"That was just the fun gang being themselves." The fun gang…!? Aw! "Which reminds me: we had a rabbit problem, just a moment ago. Quite inconvenient. Gave dear Maria here a case of the sniffles. Brad may as well have caught hay fever."
"...You've been talkin' to yourself a bunch again, haven't you?" Meiling guessed, for some reason!
Remilia looked caught off-guard! "Why, I—"
"You're really not that different from yer sister, y'know."
Deciding not to bother responding, Remi put her arms on her hips, lookin' pouty!
"Anyway…" Meiling looked on at me! "I'm glad y'managed to use like all zero of our training skills in that fight."
Heh. "Y'know, I think I've been going at this training thing all wrong."
That got her attention. She didn't emote, but she sure as hell stared into me!
"I've kinda been amassing the skills 'cause doing fancy surprising shit in combat is undeniably effective, but the way in which I've been learning them and translating them has been dumb. I've kinda just been cluelessly adapting skills, without a real appreciation for the weapons they come from. So…"
Taking a breath of the icy morning air, I looked Meiling in her eyes. "Next time we train, how about we do something less rushed? Really take in the flavor of each weapon. I'm sure you were just accommodating my impatience, but I've come to realize… I don't actually need to chase power the way I was."
It's not really that power follows on its own, but it's more like I've always put myself into positions befitting of my power… or, at least, ones that don't result in me dying or getting trapped if I fail! Which's why I threw myself at Sakuya that one time, many months ago. If it weren't obvious then, the goal was never to beat Sakuya, it was to see what I could get away with before she thrashed my ass.
I was always paranoid that something would throw me into a bad spot. But now I'm confident I'll be able to deal with most problems. It's like I told Genkan earlier: if the world really arbitrarily decides we oughta die, then we'll die. But until then there's nothin' to fear.
Power's a side-effect of other good things too. Like creativity, the ability to read others, the ability to know and therefore be brave with true confidence rather than an imposter syndrome-draught ego: something I've personally never struggled with, but I recognize the tails of it in enough people to have latched onto it as a symptom of something. All of these things give you a more abstract kind of power.
That power is character. The ability to change yourself to suit the situation while still retaining certain values. With the power of foresight you should be able to judge how much you even need to change.
Meiling smiled. "What brought this about?"
"I just did some thinking. I felt like something was off about how I approached martial arts. Something implacably… not coherent with how I actually applied myself in combat. Gensokyo's not a kung-fu movie, at least not half the time! Y'know, I can't beat you in a straight-up regular fight, but when we get magical an' chaotic, well, y'wouldn't become easy, but we'd probably get a decided advantage.
"Like, physicality isn't really a tool of mine, but I can do good physical damage through other means. And in practice, Gensokyo mostly revolves around magical combat since it ramps up in violence far quicker than physical arts."
...At that, Meiling stroked her chin for a moment, before nodding. "That's a promising line of thinking. Though, I'll remind you: good physicality makes for a good core. Lady Patchouli had to put in double-time to make sure her magic covered her immediate bases as well, and even then, she still struggles. There's no downsides to havin' good health."
I nodded. "I don't disagree. Except… it does take time."
Meiling shook her head. "You're already movin' around all the time as it is. I'm sure you've gotten a little stronger since when you first showed up."
Genkan spoke up! "He also never eats."
Meiling smiled wider. "You also wanna start eating! I'm only a half-dragon myself, see, so I still gotta eat pretty good. Bein' youkai only goes so far."
Does it really? I'm sure being youkai removes some context from the act of maintaining a physique and the discipline therein, but… I dunno passive regen sounds pretty damn good for exercise too! Literally makes things less painful!
"Anyway, come on. Let's get you guys some tea." Her beckoning made Maria and Ha-chan perk up!
Remilia stayed behind, watching us go on.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
We're all seated at chairs in the dining room, pulled up to one a' the big windows. The sun continues to rise in the background.
Meiling sipped her tea, sitting up in her wood chair with apparent vigor. The white winter light began to bloom on the world, at first golden as it came over the horizon. I saw how it met her eyes.
Genkan, comparatively, wasn't at quite the same angle, chilling out to her right. Despite being so close, it was almost as if she was in a dark shade.
Examining that made me become aware of the other party member's seats and my own, none positioned in quite the sweet spot as Meiling's. And yet, things must feel pretty damn comfy where she's sittin', 'cause she might not realize how her spot looks from the inside…
I looked to the left, seeing the other window's edge before me. Perhaps my seat has a certain look to it too that I'll hafta survey when I get up later.
"Well…" Meiling felt at the back of her neck. "You can come by to practice whenever you feel like. I'll keep some trainin' weapons ready. And this time, it'll be less about me usin' 'em on you, and more about you usin' 'em with me."
I wonder if that'll be something worth being on-screen… but either way, it'll be nice to do. "Hoh. Yeah."
"Y'know…" Meiling smirked at Genkan. "That punk look's actually great on her. The moody bangs go well with the open jacket."
Genkan folded her legs, inadvertently showing off her chinese shoes. She opened her mouth—
"But the chinese shoes do not fit. Not at all. She needs boots for the tough girl outfit. I wonder if we got some around..."
After her first attempt at speaking was deflected, Genkan looked at me in worry! "Brad, what have you done to me?"
"I have filled you with the power of mean girls." Yeah man! "And Meiling's right, we need to get you boots."
"Why?" Genkan's protest is innocent and adorable.
"We gotta turn you into a Final Fantasy character!"
It has occurred to me that many of the times I've described Genkan as "gentle," it's when her innocence contrasts with her aura of intelligence. Although sometimes she is just gentle and soft.
Maria spoke up! "Heey. While we're here, maybe we should use their washrooms and do a little laundry…"
Meiling perked up at that. "The laundromat's at the other entire end a' the mansion from the baths."
Maria smiled wider! "Okay but why...?"
"No idea!" Meiling beamed! "I think Sakuya's just screwin' with us."
"That I am." Sakuya was there, standing behind Genkan!
"Hey, d'you just like seein' everyone run around in their skivvies?" Meiling asked her outright!
"Hmm. Only sometimes. It's more to add a little of that outside world imperfection to our day-to-day routines."
"Don'cha think the fairies are imperfect enough as it is…?"
"No. I was simply thinking…" Sakuya trailed off! "Fairies are confusing."
Meiling chuckled. "Ah, whatever. S'not that bad of a walk anyway. Mansion ain't that big."
Maria snorted. "Easy for you to say."
So yeah, we just kinda chillin'. Man, this place really is huge. Getting to the baths would take a linebreak, moving the laundry would take a year…
This is cozy, though... and I could tell by the ease on Genkan's face, a quiet version of the mansion's aesthetic was what she was lookin' for. Not like the crazy party we got thrown into the other day. I know people like faces, but man, it's total chaos! Enough to overwhelm me, even!
Genkan had a similar train of thought. "When will the next party be?"
Meiling snorted. "Pftuh, I dunno." ...After a brief moment, she began to smirk! "Hey, Brad. Look behind ya. I think a fairy wants to play." Oh?
Koi was there, just standin' behind me! She looked over at Genkan with a mischievous yet clueless expression. "I want to have sex with your boyfriend."
...Genkan blinked plainly, almost chuckling! "What? That was the most forthright you've ever been. What's even the deal? You can't be this starved for attention."
Koi was frozen stock still, her listless gaze switching between Genkan an' me.
"I know he's cute, but also that he's not that cute." Genkan declared! "Spit it out. What's your angle?"
"I…" Koi didn't know what to say!
Ha-chan spoke up! "It's because of Brad-kun's wings. Or um… not his wings." I forgot she even called me "Brad-kun," oh god. "Something weird!"
"I don't really know," Koi told us! "To be honest… I'm a little scared!"
Uh oh...! "Woah no." I dunno what else to say about that!
Koi moved around my seat, and tried to sit on my lap— what is with fairies and me!? Oh my god she has a fat ass. "There's something about him. Snow lady please, let me borrow your boyfriend."
"No." Genkan's reaction was prompt and disdainful. "Do you hear yourself?"
"I know it's really stupid and crazy but—"
"No. Find your own hairy skeleton man." Oh my god.
"Hairy skeleton!?" Koi found that way funnier than she should have! "You know, I guess he is. He's not that hairy though."
"He's not, but— my point is, I love him. Unless you get off to the same things I get off to, which I extremely doubt, you're simply inferior."
I tried to lift Koi off an' put her down— but she was just too heavy!
She beamed at me! "Oh my god, are you touching my ass?"
"No, I'm tryin'a put you on the floor like a fuckin' cat, but you're too damn heavy!" Eventually, I just stood up.
Thump! She landed on the floor, loud! "Ooh! Hehehe!"
"Why are you so thirsty?" When'd Maria learn vernacular like that!? "We had a talk last time, but I forget what about…"
"You told me I didn't have to suck up to Komi-chan. And I took it to heart!" Koi stood up, giving her a peace sign! "I'm now a certified lone wolf fairy! Namori-chan also went her own way, so now I'm…"
"Happy?" Maria guessed!
Koi looked vacant. "Really, really lonely." Oh…!
"Oh…" Maria looked aloof! "Um."
"...Please let me third wheel." Koi bowed before Genkan, her cleavage accelerating in the process! "Please please please you guys seem so cool please?"
"We've been getting a lot of you unwanted guests." Genkan's voice raised only slightly, gaining just a little edge! "Hana is already a third wheel, but she has exclusive rights. We're not running a commune."
"Damn it…" Koi whined! "Hana~. Let me take your place…"
Ha-chan actually has a look of mild haughtiness! "No. You don't know anything."
The accusation from Ha-chan of all people causes Koi to fall back onto her ass, completely staggered!
"They're already trying their hardest to get along with me, and I'm kinda hard to work with." Ha-chan puts her arms on her hips! "We don't need to start all over again with you." Damn!
Koi looked at Maria helplessly, as if Maria would give her some kinda excuse here.
Maria sighed. "I mean… she's basically right. Brad and Genkan are a unit. Maybe if he was on his own, you could be his friend, but—"
"Well, fine." She stood up. "Can I… um…"
Genkan sighed. "If you behave, you can be our friend, I guess. But no excessive following-us-around. We have things we want to do today."
"Oh? Like what?" Koi pursed her lips, looking playful! She also got up off the floor really fast!
"Like nothing. I'm not telling you."
"Come onnn…" Koi pouted, before she had an idea. "You know, I could give you something. Like… maybe I could show you how I do my hair! And—" she came up to Genkan and looked behind her.
Genkan looked standoffish, but didn't say anything!
Koi eventually replied, "You aren't me, so you can't rock the shortstack dream. But you might still look cute with pigtails…"
Genkan with the cowgirl outfit, the shoulder-bound jacket to frame her torso, boots and pigtails sounds like an oddly powerful combination, not gonna lie.
Noticing my stare, Genkan sighed. "Perhaps I'll give it a try."
"Yay!" Koi leapt in place! "Okay, maybe we don't have to have sex! Even if, you know, it'd probably like, speed things up…"
Genkan gave her the airiest look! "No one is ever going to have sex with you, you sex fiend."
Ha-chan spoke up. "You're hungry, Koi-chan."
Koi blinked at her. "Hu— hungry?"
"Yeah. You're drawn to something invisible. Something we can't see. Something that isn't love, or even your desire to have sex. You're not that attracted to Brad."
It was a surreal exchange. Ha-chan was kinda firm about her assertion. Koi just kinda listened harder than we thought she could listen.
"I've started to notice this myself…" Ha-chan smiled strangely! "And when we met that fairy queen or whatever, she said somethings that I didn't really listen to… but I think whatever she told Brad might be important to explain what's going on." Man, she's really firing on all cylinders today!
Meiling closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. "It's somethin' to do with those fairy wings that come from your back when you're excited, right? Don't know anything 'bout it myself."
The fairy chick— I forget her name, I think we called her Mike Wazowski or something— told me I had the "gift of nature" or something to that effect. Some kinda natural blessing. It was the explanation for the initial horny fairy surge so long ago.
I briefly explained the premise. "Forget if I told anyone about this. When I entered Gensokyo, some huge fairy basically raffled off the seed of some kinda nature blessing. And, in order for the blessing to become empowered, I'd have to become more intune with Gensokyo's nature. Somehow."
Genkan didn't visibly have an opinion. "...This is the first I remember hearing of it. This was when you got stuck in that giant rock in the sky, right?"
"Yeah!" Yeehaw! "So basically, I'm thinkin', fairies are nature. So the more this blessing gets more powerful, however it gets more powerful…"
Maria finished my thought. "The more fairies will be attracted to you for no reason. And, the easier it will become for you to interact with them. Ever since I met you, fairies just came up to you or fell into your lap or leapt all over us."
I met Koi's cute orange-eyed gaze, and came to a realization.
"Fairies throwing themselves at me is kinda like this nature thing I got attempting to overtake me, to feed itself. So what I've basically been doing is starving it."
Unsurely, Koi smiled widely! "Ehe… so what's all that mean?"
Everyone wanted to say something, but I said it first! "It means something is drawing you to me unnaturally, or uh, artificially naturally. What you're trying to normalize it, half-rationalize it, by trying to actually get to know me. And probably 'cause you're a horny asshole, you decided sex would be the best icebreaker, and everything just kept feeding into that."
Comprehending the point, Koi stared out the window past me. "Oh my gosh." Yeah. "Does that mean we can have sex now?"
"Haha… no."
An' there was nothing anyone had to say about that in the moment.
Genkan looked slightly put off! "When you put it that way, that's a scary power to have." I also like how it took me so long to realize I even had it. I thought Gensokyo's fairies were just that aggro all the time!
Maria interjected! "What Brad means is that your individuality is being robbed by some kind of natural force. You're not making decisions when you're around Brad, you're being controlled to jump all over him."
Koi beamed! "By my… pussy?"
Genkan stared at the floor, sighing. "You are a bimbo."
Koi giggled! "I know!"
Maria gained a sassy posture! "She might just also be a bimbo with no standards, yeah."
Man! "I mean, sex is good and all, but it's nothing without preamble! Would you really wanna just jump into it like that and spoil the whole thing?"
"Yeah!" She was like a fuckin' kid with a cookie jar!
"We need a hammer to hit people with when they're horny," I told Genkan.
"It would be used on you ninety percent of the time. I agree." Genkan agreed!
Soon, pure golden light peered through the window from the morning sun. Everyone became quiet, innocently humbled by the gentle rays. The soft silence made everyone seem very cute!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
The baths. We're all fuckin' washed up. Oh god.
My arms on my hips, I beheld the giant stone yukkuri Remilia faucet, which was dispensing vampire-treated water onto the big indoor spring.
Splasplasplasplash! Koi fumbled towards me in the water, eyes alight with excitement.
Genkan grabbed her by the hips and slowly brought her back. When she let Koi go, she continued to splash towards me, only for Genkan to catch up to her and bring her back.
...When I turned around, Maria was claiming some of the bath water with a freakin' science beaker.
"You're right," I told her, both of us naked and completely not giving a shit. "We should purify this water to make gelatin."
Maria pursed her lips, then gazed upon the slightly tinted water. "You know, now I'm curious."
"I'm curious too— where'd you get that freakin' beaker from!?"
"Somewhere." Doh! "I bought it in the village. Anyway…"
Fwish! With a flash of some kind of magic, the water is gone. A purified, purple-black substance rolls around like soap at the bottom of the beaker. Weird, shifting, oval-like apparitions are seen in the dark ecclesia, as if it were far deeper and vast than it really was.
"Oh." What the fuck is that. "What is that?"
"Probably the unholy treatment to make the bathwater good for Remilia. It probably also empowers youkai."
...When I look to my left in the water again, instead of Koi and Genkan having their wacky race, Ha-chan is hiding in the water like a sea monster, ready to strike me.
"If we collect a lot of this stuff, we can probably do something dumb." ...With that, she began looking for Genkan! "I bet Genkan can help make more containers for it."
I like how last time we were here was infinite sexual tension, but now we're just chillin'. I totally missed this fuckin' yukkuri Remilia faucet the first time.
"Hey, Brad-kun…" Ha-chan slowly ascended from the water next to me! "Can I… wash you?"
That's when I was reminded of the last time she requested. The one where I flooded fuckin' buddhist bath house and knocked Stormy the fuck out…!
I'm not sure what to say either! I panned my gaze to Genkan.
Koi was trying to do her hair into pigtails. Unlike Koi, Genkan had a lot more hair overall. I've never seen that fairy without her pigtails, now that I think of it.
Fwish. In the background, Maria obtained an armful of ice beakers. They were too much to carry, so she dropped them into the warm water, and they began melting instantly! "Genkaaan..."
"Oops."
Since I said nothing, Ha-chan slipped behind me and began scrubbing my back! "I'll just— start here…"
It did feel good, although it was strange since I was just standin' here in waist deep water. "Maybe we should sit at one of the stools!"
Y'know, some would say it's a bad idea for these marble stools to be in the spring pool, because you could fall and hit your head on them. They'd probably be right! But then I kinda remembered: these bathrooms are for fairies and vampires, both of whom aren't really concerned with cranial damage.
...After a quiet moment of my back getting scrubbed, Genkan came up to me. "The fairy forgot my hair was wet, so her hair style wouldn't work."
Oh, right. "Aw yeah. You're probably gonna have to do that while we're all awkwardly standing naked at the laundry area."
Maria comes up to us again, putting a cork on the top a' the beaker of magic pool miasma. "Good enough. Now..." Panning her gaze between me, Ha-chan, and Genkan, she pursed her lips. "...For some reason, the energy of this moment is entirely different than I thought it'd be."
"It really do be like that!" I admitted!
Genkan shook her head. "We treated this with so much importance and shame before."
Maria stared straight at my crotch. "A few weeks ago this scenario would overwhelm me."
"I'm kinda surprised you're like… letting me like…" Ha-chan hugged herself to my back oh god! "Touch Brad…"
Genkan was indifferent. "I'm curious. You're also not a real threat to our relationship."
"Huh?" Ha-chan blinked! "A threat? How?"
Not bothering to respond, Genkan let her eyes drift up. She turned to find Maria really close to her! "Oh…"
"Genkan, let me wash you." Maria made her demand!
"...Sure. Why?"
Coming around Genkan's back… oh.
Maria pressed her cheek to the side of Genkan's chest, just under her arm. Like that, I could see her fixate on one of Genkan's boobs.
In that moment, I had a pause of realization. It was so damn surreal to see someone else captivated by Genkan's chest like that.
"Nn— no reason." Maria said, despite being halfway wrapped-around her. "I just think, um…"
"You know what? We should rotate a bunch." Genkan found a faux-clueless smile. She knows just how evil that idea was. "So everyone can scrub one another a little."
...Maria gave her a slightly cross look! "That sounds inefficient."
Koi raised from the water behind her! "Can I join!?"
Genkan gave her a flat look. "If you join, we will beat the crap out of you." Pftuh— hahaha! Woah! Genkan's fuckin' ready, dude!
Koi looked mortified! "Wha— what? What'd I do…!?"
After a brief shuffle at this one big marble stool halfway in the water, we were in different positions.
"Why?" Maria was getting scrubbed by me! "Genkan, why?"
Genkan was getting very clumsily washed by Ha-chan. "Why not?"
"This feels incredibly wrong," I admit!
"Because it is!" Maria was incredulous! "Genkan— I'm not like, innocent like Hana. I just— hwaa!" Ooh! I touched an area along her side a' her tummy and she froze up! "Brad, I'm going to destroy you!" Oh no!
"Just relax." Genkan was quietly chuckling! "It's no big deal. It's just washing."
"Genkan, you're a jerk." Maria folded her arms! "...And Brad, stop— poking me in the ass."
"Y'know, I wasn't gonna say anything, but I literally cannot help it, the body is not engineered to not do that." I'm gonna be real! "This's why it's so wrong, Genkan…!"
Genkan had such a smirk! "This is your mutual punishment for being horny. Please accept it."
Maria held her arms out, her face becoming increasingly red! "I just wanted to rub you down…!"
I beamed! "I had zero expectations, but this is slightly uncomfortable!"
"Rub Brad down."
"Alright, fine!" Maria suddenly turned around to face me oh god! "Fine. Come here, Brad! I'm…"
When she was in my lap, she beheld me, and took a pause.
Y'coulda swore there was an audible poof as her face was struck with blush. "Ge— Genkan, I hate you."
Genkan was really gettin' her chuckles out! "I never said you both had to do this."
Despite herself, Maria did actually swipe the wash cloth from me and just started goin' to town. "...You know what? I accept this challenge on one condition. Later tonight, I get to sleep with you, and Brad and Hana cuddle together."
Genkan snorted. "Sure thing."
Koi kinda just watched on in some kind of awe.
Somehow, the bath returned to peace after that. Me an' Maria were forced to get a real close look a' one another!
"I don't get it," Maria announced, as she held her face close to my chest. "What do you like the most about Brad, Genkan? Physically, I mean."
"He is the kind to be held close rather than to hold you close… however, he can hold you if you let him. Much like yourself."
Maria nodded! "Yeah, I didn't ask for a freaking character analysis." Wahaha!
Genkan snorted. "Well…"
Maria slid her hands up and down my ribs. After a moment, she raised a brow. "Brad, your whole body is like, thinner than mine. But…"
She poked at my knees, my elbow, my ribs, and a little at my sides, as if perplexed.
"I guess it's how he contrasts me," Genkan declared. "As well as how I contrast him. I can't really describe it without using dumb words like cute or hot or something. It's a feeling."
"You've got some similarities, though…" Maria supposed. "In personality, at least."
Ha-chan spoke up! "Genkan, your boobs are so big. How did they get so big?" Oh my god.
Genkan's brows drifted up hopelessly! "How am I supposed to know? This wasn't a decision. They're not even that big."
"Yeah— Hana, you're only like a cup size or two down." Maria just— up an' remarks!
"Ah. Of course…" Wait, what!
We all look at Remilia, who is just in the bath spring now too, with a towel! around herself!
She has a very pointed kinda look! "You four are truly something else."
Maria held her arms up. "I— we… well…" An' then she sighed. "Yeah, we're perverts."
Remilia began to leer! "I can see that. Here I thought I might just bump into some fairies again." It took me a hot minute to remember that she can just feel our pulses from anywhere in the mansion, so she always knew we were in here.
She came up to the water stool we were sat at, and just kinda takes a nice sit. "You four do know we have towels, right?"
"You do?" Maria hadn't seen them… and I didn't either!
"Yes. You all didn't have to go commando."
Sighing, Maria continued to attack my front midsection with the washcloth. "Whatever…"
...I looked at Remilia while she just stared on at us! "It's impolite to stare, son."
She snorted. "I was thinking of something embarrassing to ask Maria there."
Maria smiled pensively! "Today's really not been my day…"
"Oh! I know. Maria, would you say you're into men, women, or both?"
"I'm into shutting you up."
"Fufufu!" Remilia liked that! "I'll take that as a both."
Eventually, the wash cloth was back in my hands. Maria looked away from me, her face extremely red, almost looking a little dizzy.
"You have my permission this once to scrub her chest," Genkan declared, while scrubbin' the shit outta Ha-chan in the background.
Maria tried to count the ceiling tiles. "Get it over with."
So I guess I'd just get it over with! Wasn't sure what to do first, so I began with the soap. Y'know, "How hard should I scrub, actually?"
"Oh my god, just scrub." Maria demanded! "You're not giving me a massage!" I am so fucking confused.
"Would you like me to help?" Remilia got closer, leering wider!
"No!" Maria firmly refused her!
"How about me!?" Koi came up to Remilia! "Hey, mistress! Lemme wash you!"
"Who the hell are you?" Remilia was surprised by her! "No, get back. Get back—"
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
We have finished our laundry, and now we are here!
"Clean me, clean clothes…" Maria let out an easy breath. "This really makes me wish the village had more water to go around." Oh, right, the village is an eighteenth world country.
"Hooh. I keep forgettin' that the village is just that bad. At least on the outside, water from a faucet is normalized for every livin' space."
"Is that so?" Genkan found that interesting! "That's a likely necessity for rapid expansion. It's not often you say good things about the outside."
"Yeah, undeniably, public plumbing is kinda just a good thing. Same with electricity for devices, which goes with preserving food mostly, but also heating in the winter. Of course, all of this costs money, which means you're going to have them as outgoing expenses as long as you live."
Maria pursed her lips. "Not just property tax?"
"Nah, you got that stuff and property tax. And let me tell you, whatever property tax this little dinky village has is beans compared to most outside prices. Let alone the price of housing. Pretty sure houses on the outside are astronomically more expensive despite theoretically bein' everywhere… but that's because living in the places of interest's actually a super competitive thing."
"More people, more problems…" Genkan supposed. "But, the outside is so big."
"Yeah, and there are too many human beings, and not enough food, and not enough money for all the people who wanna spend everything." One's pride is never satisfied.
The halls of the mansion felt like night time compared to the rising dawn on the outside. S'probably mid-morning now. Either way, the mansion really is just its own entire environment…
"Kinda why I enjoy bein' half-homeless," I told Genkan! "Nothin' to tie me down. No need for me to be beholden to the costs. No one to answer to."
"Until now," Genkan figured.
"Yeah. Havin' things and havin' a nice home sounds a lot more appealing, now that we got somewhere we can hang and hide out." You have unlocked a new hideout, yeah man.
We approached the mirror room, inside the great Scarlet clocktower. And—
Oh, right. I should mention this! Genkan actually had her hair done up in pig-tails!
Koi used freakin' shurikens as pins to put Genkan's hair through. Ultimately, since Genkan had super straight hair, she ended up with two massive thin pigtails that curved out and down towards her hips. Otherwise, she was still in her punk-like getup of boots, a loosely-worn jacket and the cow bra-skirt combo.
"We need to get you a maid outfit," I reflected.
"Why are you trying to make me look cute?" Genkan wondered! "I don't do cute. ...I don't do many things, but I especially don't do cute."
Maria felt at her scarlet dress, and at the rose in her hair. "This dress makes me feel sexy. I'm not sure if I really do sexy, personally."
Ha-chan felt at her kimono! "This makes me feel warm!"
As we continued town the dimly-lit, vacant-of-fairies hall, we kept on our way to the grand clocktower.
Then, we came up to a fuckin'... stock plant hanger just drifting in the air, rotating around. "Wat."
"Hmm?" Genkan took in the hanger. "What's this?"
"It's a plant hanger, just floating there." Maria announced! "...It's not magical or anything. It's just a normal one."
I accepted the stock hanger regardless, putting it in my bag. "Weird! Maybe it's a sign…!"
Maria snorted. "Of what?"
"A sign of fluffles. Yeah I dunno."
We slowed when we came onto another thing. It was a wooden staff, just floating there.
Maria took out her classic wooden staff. "...Um?"
We left it behind because it was apparently kinda useless as far as stock weapons go. Then, we came up to…
An icy shotgun— like the makeshift kind Genkan makes, it wasn't precious or anything, a NERF Maverick, and a taser, all just drifting in the air, rotating around…
I realized these were like, weapon drops. Like we were in a boomer shooter! ...I did take that extra Maverick though, that'll be useful later! Now I got fuckin' three. Yeah man, keep 'em comin'!
"Um?" Genkan was creeped out! "Why?"
Some distance forward, as the corridor grew dimmer, there was...
Woah. There's a Themier lancerocket launcher thing here!? "Dude, Genkan, they left you another rocket launcher! Now you can dual wield!"
"As if…" Genkan was not in the mood to dual-wield!
Beside it was a… stock greathanger? Huh. It's a greathanger-sized plant hanger, cast-iron, but it seems to be a totally normal one. Yeah, that totally pairs up to a fucking anti-armor launcher. Genkan gets a fuckin' DOOM loadout and I get a shoehorn and a big club!
Maria was given— what in the fuck. "Um…" A sniper rifle? Wait…
"That was the sniper rifle that bunny wielded," I realized. The one called Gage.
It was so big, Maria held it like a staff. "Um. Which side do I hold it from…?"
"Probably uh, the fatter one! The stock!"
"It's way too heavy to use as a gun, so… I'll just use it like this." Woohoo! "But until we can appraise it, I'll just…" She put it away, trading it for Iron Beacon.
We came up further up the hallway. There were three ornate bottles just drifting in the air there.
"Oh my god!" Maria was awed! "Elixirs!"
"It's time to never use them." We will store them in a box under Genkan's bed and they will go unused.
"What? Well, yeah, selling them might be a good idea…" Maria does not know the meme. "But we should keep them handy! They're… uuh. I don't know if they're human-grade, but considering everything else here's tailored for us..."
"Worst comes to worst, I will drink them all," Genkan announced for some reason! "...It would probably be for the best if we could avoid drinking them at all. Strange as it sounds, I think Brad was correct."
Maria furrowed her brows. "He used his sarcastic tone, though…"
I had to clarify now…! "On the outside world, elixirs are a sorta artistic idea in uh, some interactive video games. It's kind of a running joke for people to get a lot of them and not use them, and then once the game's over they end up not having a reason to use them ever."
"...Elixirs are a concept on the outside?" Genkan was confused! "How is this?"
Pausing in this dark Victorian hallway, I smiled at 'er. "Magic and magical alchemy are ideas for stories, but they're not real. Although to a lot of people, sufficient technology may as well be magic if they don't understand how they work. And considering where I am… perhaps magic is just something people out there forgot. The stuff we saw in stories might just be reflections of an older time."
My explanation made her look somewhat anxious.
We abruptly came up to the hallways's end, like it just popped up from the shadows before us. The door frame looks strange.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
We step through the window-like door, entering a huge, dark room that I recognize as the clocktower interior…
"So… what was the deal?" Maria was still confused! "Why'd we just get stuff?"
"Someone left it here for us… presumably." I think I know who, but I won't say. This must be Yukari's veiled warning from her to me… or perhaps a sort of "good luck" greeting.
"Maybe we should be careful." Genkan was wise, dude. "Actually… why are we here, Brad? I get this feeling you brought us here for a specific reason."
"I~... just had a feeling I should come here." I half-lied. Telling them about Yukari would raise some unneeded questions.
Taking a pause, I looked behind us.
Instead of a strangely window-like doorframe, there was just a mirror behind us. Hooh…
Before us, there were two more mirrors.
Soundlessly, Brittany strolled from the rightmost one. Man, I hadn't thought about it the first time I saw her… but how'd they make my facial structure so feminine in that dimension!? Alice in Wonderland-lookin', princess-lookin' ass over here!
Koi leapt from the mirror behind her. "Coast is clear, guys~!"
Komi followed her out, landing, aiming a lunar plasma rifle around. "...Oh. It's these guys again." She took notice of us!
Namori followed them out, a plain magician's staff held behind her back. She said nothing, just kind of panning her gaze around.
Finding a smug expression, Brittany strolled towards the center, where I was goin'. "Hello, Bradley~. You know, Bradley's such a nice name, isn't it?"
I gave her a grin! "When are you growing boobs...?"
"Later." She held her arms behind her back, smiling. "What's new, Scooby Doo?"
"...I used that freakin' key," I told 'er! "Almost got jumped by all those fairies!"
"Ooh." Brittany pensively pursed her lips. "Wait… so, you serve her now, right?"
"Wa." I go "wa." This apparently doesn't help her or him, I forget the right word, so I elaborate! "Whaddaya mean?"
"You stood no chance of resisting her power. She told you about your gift and set you straight, right?"
...I shook my head! "Nah. She just kinda let me go. I found a way outta there, but she did help me out a little."
Brittany clicked her tongue. "You're missing out on so much."
Komi came up to Brittany's side and ruffled her hair a bunch. "Yeah. You could've been my bitch. My adorable little princess…"
She wrapped her arms around Brittany's shoulders, and Brittany stepped back into her embrace. "You could never understand a love like ours."
"Yeah! True love!" Koi chirped!
Genkan came up to my side! "Have you forgotten the bond we've shared?"
"Oh, please." Brittany sneered a snotty li'l sneer. "It's clear as day you two haven't thought about it. From the last few times you were here, you were… in a haze. Wandering about, aimlessly. You didn't have purpose. You don't work for the lady Scarlet, and you don't fulfill your role as nature's blessing— what are you good for?"
It took me a moment to think about that. Truth be told, Brittany's words kinda went in one ear and out the other so I had to focus to remember 'em.
Namori stepped forward to be bold! "Br— Brittany and us… all really care about each other. How could someone who's accomplished nothing compare?"
"But it's not too late," Brittany smiled a golden sorta smile. "We're here in the mansion, after all. And if you want… I can give you a few pointers."
Hoh. "Bold words for someone who was so shy last time."
"I wasn't as complete then. We weren't as close then."
"You'd been in Gensokyo for a year, months longer than me, and it was like that? I've been here three or four months. And what're you now, year two?"
Brittany clenched her fists, a fire sparked in her eyes. "Now you listen here, Bradley, I'll have you know—"
"Hey." Komi spoke up. "Let me speak for you."
...Brittany swallowed. "Thank you, Komi. I love you."
Smiling warmly, Komi marched up to us!
But then, she came up to me. We were as tall as one another, so she glared her grey eyes dead into mine.
I showed her my resolve. When she got in my face, I doubled-down on staring.
"I can see your fear." Komi bluffed. "Admit it."
Shakin' my head man, shakin' my head. "I love Genkan because she cares. And I recognize that… in a different world, I could forge a similar love for different women. But in this world, Genkan was the one. And I don't just care because she's adaptable, or curious like me, or any of those things. They help. But I'm also just interested in her. Her innocent expressions that contrast her aura and pride, those little mannerisms, just as she's latched onto mine."
I stepped forward. Komi stepped back. I gestured to Brittany. "Aren't you the same? Brittany did a thing unique to her, so you stepped in to apply the muscle that you knew she couldn't."
"Tha— that's not…" Brittany shied back. "You're wrong because— because I've put a lot of thought into how you acted when I met you before! And—"
Koi advanced past her. "What Brittany-chan's trying to say is that you suck and she knows it!"
Komi huffed. "What the hell are you playing at? Stop insulting her. You're talking to me."
"We— well…" Namori spoke up beneath everyone else. "Um… I— I think… we're actually kind of being stupid right now…"
Brittany took pause, heeding Namori's words when the other two wouldn't. She doubled back, as if trying to convince Namori to speak up.
Komi got into my face again! "That's an awful lot of talk for a little subby bitch. I know you, Brad."
Hoh. "You know Brittany."
"Exactly! And I know that she must be… just like you." Komi didn't finish that statement confidently!
Y'know… "Do you remember interacting with yourself from this dimension?"
"Oh, god." Komi was immediately taken by the topic change! "Don't get me started. She was cool, but like, ouch. She was fucking pathetic…"
"Brittany taught you more about people, right?" I took a guess.
"...Yeah." Komi looked real unsure. "She taught all of us. She might not sound like it from the way she whines, but she's… smarter than all of us."
"That's right." Brittany was damn proud of it! "I am entrusted with nature's blessing for a reason, thank you." How are we the same person again? What happened to me, man!? Look at how they killed my boy!
Floating into the air, Koi put her arms on Brittany's shoulders. "She's like a skinny little encyclopedia!"
"Yeah…" Even Namori agreed! "She— she started learning magic with me…"
"Thank you." Suddenly, Brittany had a look of realization. "How come none of your girls have spoken?"
Genkan's brows were furrowed. "Because Brad can speak for himself."
Maria agreed. "Because Brad doesn't need our opinion to know himself."
Ha-chan looked sorta listless. "Because I'm not very good at arguing… and I wanna eat some food..."
Coming up to me, Brittany met my gaze too! "No matter what you say, you're still living your life wrong."
Ho ho. "Y'sure I'm not just… living it differently? Those things y'mentioned, tell me what's more important: the fact you're doing them, or the situation you wound up in through doing them? You've got a buncha close friends, right? But what if doing those things meant you had to give them up instead? What if you chose to be alone instead?"
"Well…" Brittany's face scrunched a little. "Don't try and toy with me, Bradley. Yes, it wouldn't be so fun without them… but Komi taught me a few things that Genkan never could have taught you."
Aw! "Like what?"
"We helped each other claw to the top. We are second in rank to only Sakuya Izayoi herself. We are the most popular, beloved faces among the fairies in the entire mansion. I taught her how to be curious, and she gave me her power. She lent me her hand. We're unstoppable. We're cool. And the world is ours… as long as, you know, we do our chores as the mistress demands."
I wonder… "Would you say your happiness is conditional to these things?"
She nodded hard! "Of course! My service to the mansion is my life. My service to my fairies too, is my life. To teach Komi, Koi, Namori… it's what I've been made to do. That's what they helped me realize. My purpose is loving them, and so they love me in return."
"Damn straight." Komi pet Brittany. "This is why you're awesome, Brit."
"Hehehe…" Koi wiggled up to Brittany's side. "So damn cute!"
Namori sighed. "Brittany… is right. I don't know what she would be without us…"
"Me." I responded to her! "She'd be me!"
At first, the others didn't even realize I'd replied to Namori, but after a few seconds Brittany figured it out.
Komi figured it out too. "Oh, damn! Sorry Namori. It's just, you're so hard to hear, y'know?"
"It's my fault for not speaking up. I'm just tired…"
Brittany beamed at me. "I am wisdom, Bradley. I am your wiser self!" Pfft— duuh…
click, click, click. Oh. Someone trotted outta the leftmost mirror.
They were me, again! They… wore a black suit, with a red tie.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
END OF CHAPTER 158
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
a big ol' chapter that does a lot of things!
the main utility of this chapter was to show the growth between brad and his party very concretely; additionally, finally, brad gets over some of the goals he's stuck on, finding the true answers through subverting his previous attempts
he's solidified the premise between him and genkan's love, admitting some of the conditions while also being down for the unconditional parts.
he's solidified his approach to power: in that he doesn't have to be that powerful as long as he can put himself in the right place
and, after all of that and all of the bonding, brad faces the confident face of someone who'd gone down a very tangential path: himself, the fairy lover, fairy pet and fairy warrior, child of nature, self-proclaimed wisdom wizard, a half-earned title given by those too biased and simple to properly judge. someone obsessed with the idea of approaching wisdom, who has naturally been granted confidence and power, yet still unable to truly get there, caught in her obligations, tripping on her(?) own power and the power of those who sometimes think for her.
friendship and social interaction is a hell of a drug, but too much of anything's a bad thing. brittany's friends give her power, but…
also this chapter had me go back and actually take survey of my inventory! and, man oh man, there's a lot of shit in it! next chapter has the TRUE (sans some mistakes probably) INVENTORY REPORT son
hoh hoh…
anyway i'm kinda up against the anniversary deadline so i gotta get going! i'll see you at the finish line
as always, see you all next time!
