No.106940
>>106939But
dork is a term of endearment!!
No.106974
>>106955Usamian contagious autism.
>>106960I think Renko's dedication
and autism too also had something to do with it.
No.107020
>>107010Even the greatest geniuses have their pitfalls.
No.107113
I want to touch Renko's rabbit ears
No.107148
>>106932I don't really care about the characters that don't appear in any of the games
No.107159
Renko is inside my computer
No.107172
>>107115Are the rabbit ears a sensitive part?
No.107210
>>107148Just wait until th21!
No.107229
>>107228It even has citations...
No.107230
>>107210well Toyohime just got her first debut in a game so i guess there genuinely is a chance
No.107236
>>107234Uuuuh...Y-you still need some skepticism for these models.
Y'know, this one seems very light on the math, and it needs a more solid grounding in first principles.
No.107263
>>107246As is any image with Renko in it!
No.107287
>>107267These dorks can be very cute sometimes
No.107313
Renko is smart. Does she know any cool Alice facts?
No.107348
>>107347It's rebellious and cool to be a
dork No.107474
If I take that hat off will she die?
No.107579
>>107474It would be extremely painful.
No.107586
>>107448This question becomes drastically different once you define
what Renko is.
No.107592
>>107591Thursday Renko a best
No.107593
>>107579She's a big dork!
No.107595
>>107586An awesome girl?
Or the girl's hat's ribbon.>>107591I'm partial to Tuesday Renko, but I wish at least one had a shawl.
No.107599
>>106952This... this is a very important image. It speaks to me on many levels.
No.107649
>>107598A Renko without her shawl is like an angel without his wings.
>>107599It's cosmological symbolism. Renko represents our world, the bird the otherworld, and the beak is the connection between the two.
No.107778
>>107172It's not about them being sensitive, it's about dignity. What kind of girl would Renko be if she let anyone touch her rabbit ears without even asking?
No.107868
I prefer European women
No.107881
>>107861Renko was talking and thinking of physics, and then Merry fell through space and time in front of her and came back.
No.107882
>>107881I feel like you could make that into a gif
No.107941
>>107929It looks super cute
No.108007
>>108004No, not at all, that doesn't really detract from the animation unless you're going for something highly detailed or serious in the first place. I think my favorite part of it is that little second glance at the hat lingering after Maribel falls.
No.108031
>>107861It is pretty strange that Renko fraternizes with the gaijin so much
No.108037
>>107868Even on kissu, Renko is never free from the euro menace...
No.108040
>>108031My personal headcanon is that Maribel is a weeb and moved to Japan because of that, and Renko simply didn't have any friends in Kyoto.
I think Maribel being a foreigner makes their dynamic way cooler, since Renko, being a native, takes everything special about Japan for granted while Merry actively wants to act Japanese.
No.108054
>>108048I'm certainly in the minority here, but I prefer Maribel's schizophrenia to her breasts. Besides, is it even schizophrenia if the voices in her head are actually real?
>Why do you suppose they locked her up in a Sanatorium?Insufficient anti-chimera measures. The Hifuu club health and safety department was entirely restructured after that.
No.108057
>>108054Damn, that's a great image. I love Trojan Green Asteroid, I think TORIFUNE is super interesting and I save every image that's related to it.
>I prefer Maribel's schizophrenia to her breastsThat's respectable, but nobody said you can't have both, y'know?
>is it even schizophrenia if the voices in her head are actually real?That's exactly what a schizophrenic would say, you know?
No.108063
>>108057TGA has what's probably the most unique aesthetic of any Hifuu album. I wanted to write a few things about it now, but there are so many unique details, I don't even know where to start.
I don't know how much anons here know about 4/jp/ 'kolture, but hifuuanons there are fascinated by the specific scene of Renko pretending to be in a shooter. It was the basis for the first Touhou drawing I ever made!
>but nobody said you can't have both, y'know?I like my schizos on the flatter side.
>That's exactly what a schizophrenic would say, you know?How do you know it's her that's insane and not everyone else? You are captive to your own perception. As much as you try to escape it, your experience of the world is permanently captive to it. "Schizos" are simply people who embrace that reality.
And about the voices in Maribel's head, aren't all heard voices in the head of the listener? What makes the voices you head realer than those she hears?
No.108066
>>108063>TGA has what's probably the most unique aesthetic of any Hifuu album.And story! Maybe this isn't the best word, but I always thought it was noticeably... grittier? Than the other albums. The songs are also really good too, of course, I love that LoLK-esque space feeling they give off, it fits it very well.
>It was the basis for the first Touhou drawing I ever made!That was a really cute scene, do you still have it anywhere? You should post it if you do. The first time I heard TGA I also went on a creative spree... honestly just thinking about it now is making me want to do something Hifuu-related again.
>I like my schizos on the flatter side.It's
autism that flatties go hand-in-hand with, not schizophrenia. That's why Renko exists!
>What makes the voices you head realer than those she hears?Well usually the ones I hear are also heard by others. Same with the things I see, that's a pretty good sign of not being crazy.
No.108071
>>107868We do not speak about European women here, sir!
No.108080
>>108066Sorry for the great delay, I has some things to do.
>And story!I always talk about the album and story as one, I didn't realize that until now. I think the grittiness might also come from the music, but the story feels like that a bit too, it's perhaps the concept of TORIFUNE being needed, that the Earth would need to be terraformed to bring back wild vegetation.
> I love that LoLK-esque space feeling they give offIt's amazing how the remixes can give the tracks from UFO, SA and the such such a spacey feel!
>do you still have it anywhere?I wanted to post it in the previous post, but forgot. It's not the best one ever, but a few anons liked it.
>The first time I heard TGA I also went on a creative spreeTGA is world-historic media. People drawing Renko doing a finger gun are the modern equivalent of the ancient Greeks painting scenes from the Iliad on their vases. What OCs did you make?
>It's autism that flatties go hand-in-handHow about
Sanny then?
>>108071I didn't know kissu had that rule... I'll be careful in the future!
No.108083
>>108080>the concept of TORIFUNE being needed, that the Earth would need to be terraformed to bring back wild vegetationI didn't get that from the story at all, my understanding of it was that TORIFUNE was just some sort of space Noah's Ark experiment gone wrong, something born out of curiosity, not necessity.
>It's not the best one ever, but a few anons liked it.Oh I actually remember seeing this get posted back then! I was only lurking the thread at the time, though.
>What OCs did you make?I started a TORIFUNE project in Minecraft and I
genned a bunch of AI images. The conversation ITT actually inspired me start working on something NToJ-related just now though (since that's my 2nd favorite album and I consider it to just be a part 2 of TGA, also it has my favourite Merry outfit), but I'll probably do something TGA-related right afterwards while I'm still in the mood.
>How about Sanny then?Sanny's tits are a miracle.
No.108086
>>108085Not so adorable when you realise she's about to EAT IT!!!
No.108090
>>108040Renko was ecstatic to finally meet someone that could match her extensive English knowledge! She knows
at least five whole words!
No.108092
>>108090>Hello Renko. Imˊ "Maribel Hearn"whats with this streak of cute and adorable pictures being posted one after another
No.108093
>>108092its called a comic theyre pretty diverse
No.108101
>>107929This is amazing! CUTE!
VERY CUTE! No.108345
I don't know much about this character, other than that they are always with Maribel Heard.
No.108347
>>108345But Renko is cooler because she's more proactive, likes physics and has a cool hat
No.108377
>>108360Cool scenario!
A detail I find really interesting about scenarios where Renko and Yukari meet with Merry nearby is that Yukari would already have memories of the event before it happened.
I feel like the time travel aspect of the Hifuus is somewhat underused.
No.108381
>>108347>likes physicsbut does she know how magnets work??
No.108382
>>108381Anon, she knows what magic is, she co-wrote a book on it.
No.108391
>>108382but magnets aren't magic!
No.108418
>>108404If you are so sure that magnets are magical red-text your post right now.
No.108419
>>108418You can't prove magic with red text...
No.108432
>>108419If you are so sure about it why don't you red text it?
No.108437
>>108432I'll gold text it for you.
Magnets are magic! No.108493
What would happen if she met Sanae? Would the clash between the physics dork and the nuclear /m/iko dork cause an atomic explosion?
No.108505
>>108493Well, I imagine Renko would be drawn to someone like Sanae, since
she is more on the childish side while Reo, although she acts grown up, is still a bit immature deep down. They also both like video games, although their tastes might not be that compatible. I've thought of a few scenarios about the two meeting.
Also, this is one of my all time favorite Renko images.
No.108522
>>108493It wouldn't cause any kind of catastrophic reaction thankfully, though it still wouldn't be a smart idea to stray too close. Dork-on-dork interactions are known to release palpable energies that are hazardous on prolonged exposure. Nine out of ten doctors recommend hats, preferably of the aluminum kind, to minimize such effects.
Now, if the sword dork were to also be added to the mix? You'll be lucky to say goodbye to your loved ones before the resulting spacetime collapse unravels the galaxy end to end. Handle dorks responsibly, friends.
No.108528
>>108522>preferably of the aluminum kindBut the black felt ones are cuter.
No.108537
>>108528You can always wear the felt hat on top of aluminum
No.108702
>>108528But those amplify dork waves!
>>108671Until the day I die. I do like the slightly longer hairstyle she's sporting in DLFR.
No.108704
>>108671MA and DLFR because I like eye covering bangs
No.108843
>>108815But she looks like an edgy dork
No.108858
>>108813Most of my favorite characters have longer hair, so there's a clear bias there. Like, just look at this. Wonderful.
Always found it fun to see characters with different or swapping hair lengths anyway.
No.108861
>>108671Hat and ribbon a best
No.108984
>>108858It does make her feel more real.
Are there any other 2hus who change their hairstyles? The only one that comes to my mind is Marisa.
No.109040
>>108990Renko and Sanae are one good example of characters you wouldn't really imagine working well together, but who actually function very well.
That is to say, Sanny needs a hat and a shawl.
No.109165
>>108990For gameplay and story reasons Sanae is forbidden from wearing a hat since they are known to increase a girl's power by 20 to 100 times. Shawl? Maybe...
No.109166
>>109165If this is true, then all of our protagonists are being power-limited except for Marisa...
And before you ask, no, Aya is NOT my protagonist. She is a fraud.
No.109177
>>109166> Aya is NOT my protagonist. She is a fraud.Is her hat too small to count for the power increase? Because both Renko and Marisa have big hats with wide brims and a ribbon.
No.109188
What's the best way to get into the drama CDs? Is that the only place Renko and Maribel are a part of?
No.109192
>>109188The text is on the wiki and you'll find 50 or so reuploads of the tracks on youtube. That is more or less the only place you'll find the Hifuus,
except for one or two references in SoPM, I think.You can read them in whatever order you want, really, they're short enough that you could go to each of them multiple times, I started with MA because I wasn't sure what the actual order was. Only a few albums have references to others, but the regular order is probably the best.
No.109410
>>109409You know what? I see the vision. Renko really does look cuter with her hair covering an eye.
No.109422
>>109409Why is Renko's hair always so messy, does she not own a comb?
No.109449
smellybel and stinko
No.109463
>>109449Maribel may be a little smelly, but Renko washes herself
No.109466
>>109436You know what I meant, they weren't in my top 10 back then.
No.109554
>>109436Maybe those trips are what changed anon's mind
No.109939
>>109936Cute Renko doodle!
No.110234
>>109839yeah this was extremely cute, wish ZUN would give Renko an actual manga of her own
No.110785
Did Renko managed to get a date?
No.111014
>>110785>>110831she has a chance now
No.111038
>>111014If Renko have a chance to get a date without suspicious drinks then I have chances at winning lottery!
No.111227
>>111038But you do have that chance, anon.
No.111229
>>111227At winning lottery? Yeah. But I never get the good numbers.
No.111272
>>111232>Though i'm not sure if they are supplying her with spiked drinks or if she is doing it herself.What do you think chuhai are in the 2100s?
No.111285
>>111272Probably less potent.
No.111289
>>111286>>111287Notice the natural flat Renko, smiling, proud, flourishing, the signs of a healthy Renko
Meanwhile the fat tidded Renko is frowning, upset, perturbed by the unnatural state of her boobiness, the signs of a Renko nearing death
Make sure to take proper care of your Renkos, and see a nutritionalist if they ever start developing unhealthy growths on their chests!
No.111290
>>111287No flat girls = No Renko. I have no idea who the girl in the image is supposed to be.
No.111291
>>111290What do you mean?
She had a bit of a growth spurt, does that mean that you don't care about her just because she has slightly larger breasts?
No.111293
>>111287That lady is engorged! She need help!
No.111296
>>111293Only if there was somebody brave enough to drain the alcohol from the massive Yamato biiru barrels...
No.111300
>>111287Except Renko.
Why do you think she gets away with so many crimes? Why do you think she's always at the center of any happening?
Renko is part of a secret government experiment meant to revive the flat gene!
No.111404
>>111302You're way too serious about it!
No.112096
I wish human girls were real...
No.112097
>>112096Be careful for what you wish. They can hurt you.
No.112100
>>112097Worse than youkai girls?
No.112101
>>112096I, for one, wish flat girls were real...Maybe even flat human girls!
But hey, if the world was perfect, there would be nothing to strive for.
No.112102
>>112100Even worse because Youkai girls aren't real
No.112110
>>112106If they're not at least a little flat, why even bother?
>>112108?! What accursed online lands did I wonder into? Are those girls human or youkai?
No.112536
They're all obsessed with the European girl... No one can appreciate a Japanese girl anymore.
No.112540
>>112537The power of tits is truly fearsome!
No.112543
>>112542Renko more than makes up for her lack of breasts with her...cool hat and...great personality!
No.112552
>>112551It's hard not to be when your friend has such a large chest and you're a little washboard
No.112553
>>112552Come on Anon.
She's not flat, she's average
right? No.112554
>>112553She's certainly not as big as that image makes her out to be.
No.112555
>>112553She's not any flatter than the average
plank of wood No.112557
>>112556So... She's still Asian but with less expressions and more autism? :D
No.112558
>>112556Now, show me
Yamato Maribel.
No.112571
>>112569This is the real reason everything keeps getting worse
Quality of life is directly tied to the flatness of women
No.112576
>>112569>>112571>>112572Flat is justice, after all...
No.112610
>>112563Yeah.. I should've said Japanese women instead... But now, i've changed my mind. I don't want to see Japanese
Merry anymore! Renko is all i want to see.
No.112842
Renko raped me...
No.112846
>>112842pics or it didnt happen
No.114610
>>112563An individual bearing the Yayoi flat gene.
No.116043
>>116041Now this is a good circle.
No.116118
>>116041I really love that Renko outfit
No.116125
>>116041Very good song (as expected of Shinra-Bansho)
Adorable Merry and Renko
No.117513
>>112536Here's a picture of a nice young and definitely human Japanese lady then, with her friend who shall not be directly acknowledged. Look at her go!
(and don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit today anons)
>>112554Maybe not, but she can still claim it to be average, can't she?
No.117551
I dunno, I heard you have to cover your drink when that girl's around...
No.117553
>>117513Renko is a rabbit girl, Merry has more cat girl energy
>>117551Even the ones she buys you herself?
No.117567
>>117551Sounds like slander if you ask me.
No.117570
>>117553I imagine renko as more of a dog.
No.117574
>>117551I know new-style liquor is not for everyone, but there's no need to be this rude!
>>117570Renko's smart, and rabbits are often portrayed as such. She also has too independent of a spirit for a dog, and Usami sounds too close to Usagi and Usamimi for her to be anything but a rabbit.
Also, she gets her powers from the Moon, just like every rabbit I know.
No.117575
>>117574>rabbits are often portrayed as suchname three
No.117576
>>117575I'll do you one better.
The rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, Meister Lampe in the Reynard cycle, the White Hare of Inaba, the rabbit in the Elephants and the Hares, from the Panchatantra.
No.117577
>>117576>The rabbit in Alice in Wonderlandi dont remember this one being so smart. his knowledge is only relative to his job. he's basically a wageslave.
No.117578
>>117577He's relatively knowledgeable still.
While rabbits themselves aren't that intelligent(with the distinct exception of Renko), they are small and fast, so it's easy to, for folkloric purposes, imagine them having to rely on wits to get around. Same with foxes, funnily enough.
No.119270
>>110234>wish ZUN would give Renko an actual manga of her own>>117578>rabbits themselves aren't that intelligent(with the distinct exception of Renko)I actually have something that might be able to simultaneously cover both of these points in varying ways, if any interested anons would be so kind as to indulge me over the course of a few nights worth of story posting (perhaps a week's worth to be precise). I have a bigger story about Renko I've partially told on Kissu before that I'd like to continue and this next part features her getting up to things on the moon itself, and as a bunny girl no less (pic slightly related).
Please wait warmly to see the start of how things might unfold for her this time..! (and I hope you've enjoyed your Tanabata festivities if you celebrated it already)
No.119271
>>119270Continuing from a previous archived entry, catch up with the story here at your own discretion: rentry.org/TheRenkoquestArchives--Separation and stagnation can, at times, drive even the most well-intentioned individuals to their very fringes......Even so, how much do you believe could still lay within reach by those with enough raw tenacity to continue their reaching at all?"Well Renko, still willing to admit you continue to stand by what you said earlier~? About your perception of a typical
'lunar surface'?"
"What I'm more concerned with is how cold you might end up standing out in the waters like that! And don't you think there's a chance you could end up cutting our time here short by slipping back to the campus again on accident?"
Renko Usami remained firmly planted on the pearly shores of what was locally known beyond the two as the Sea of Serenity, calling out to her dear friend Maribel Hearn while the blonde cheerfully stood nearly up to her knees in its vast unearthly waters spread widely before them. Renko had a good feeling she must've been the only thing of note currently stirring within that sea beyond the very forces of the depths themselves of course, that much wasn't a concern, but it was only thanks to Merry's own sudden plan and the inherent possibilities wrought on by her unique abilities that they'd even been granted temporary access here in the first place after all.
Though, enough power and influence over the murkier forces of Probability itself could surely still allow for different methods of skirting these same sanctified waters to technically continue existing for others, right?
"Even if I did, now we at least know with some Certainty that going this far is even possible for us both at all! It almost reminds me of one of our earliest Real explorations together, don't you remember? A liminal and Pure space, just like this one, only with such beautiful cherry blossom pedals quietly fluttering by in place of any waters..."
"Don't talk about that trip like it's already some form of ancient history! How can I even expect you to help me take some proper notes over here when your hands are already busy out there holding up your dress like that?"
"You're using that same sort of tone you had when you ended up forcefully cram-studying last month. Now that we've already gotten here, what rush would we have to still be in?"
"(
sigh) You know, I'm still just as excited to actually be here right now as you are..!"
She hesitantly broke her watchful gaze and allowed her vision to drift upwards into the picturesque yet seemingly thinning aqua horizon, and further beyond it still, the glint of the evening star impossibly far away from them in the dark recesses of space briefly catching her eyes once more amongst the many other vividly-clear stars directly overhead.
"Alright then, if you say so! I better come back over anyways before the tides wash away my dress shoes."
"It...really isn't so bad for your body out in the waters then, huh? By the time I'd turned around earlier you'd probably already been trotting through them for a few minutes at least!
"You'd think it
would be a lot colder, likely even naturally so, but I would describe the sensation as more '
refreshingly cool' against my skin than anything else. Less...stale? Than what a simple room-temperature tub might feel like in comparison, anyways."
"Almost makes you wonder how much of that is inherently 'by-design' or not. This is a society that forcefully established itself here hundreds and hundreds of years ago now, so they would've had the time for such big endeavors like that. Right? You can't start off with a landscape as harsh and irritating as the Moon normally ought to be and immediately wind up with...all
this."
It never helps anyone in the long run to start looking too hard with a searing, critical gaze at the world around them in order to find exactly where those 'rivets' holding Everything together behind all the wallpapers & decorations might be, and by Who's exact hand they were so precisely placed by to begin with. However, plenty could still be gained by those merely skimming atop those depths. Especially so from those that refuse to let their attentions become too singularly-defined as a result.
"We're talking about beings that could have easily been around tens of times longer than we'd ever hope to persist for. They may not even consider such fundamentalities along the same lines or scales we'd be inclined to use. Well...on the subject of potentially-deliberate variation to question, do you at least think we should still start our looking by walking alongside all these trunks for a while then?"
"Now that we've gotten out here a little more, Merry, I'm...honestly not sure..? Hmm..."
"
Oh? And what's that kind of
indecisiveness doing showing up at a time like this when you just finished going off about proactivity in the moment and such?"
"That doesn't just make it the same as an inherent desire to 'withdraw' or anything like that, we simply have a lot of possible options available from here now. In general too, even. The 'weight' of all that just might need more time to properly digest than I thought..."
Choice paralysis, insomuch as how it's more simply experienced by the general public through the overtly-vast amounts of both collected information and frivolous, distracting activities made widely available to them, was something of an increasing problem within pockets of the diversified & expanded populations defining much of the college girls' own modern era. Even somewhat-conscious awareness of this omnipresent influence could be felt by most, and even fewer were completely immune from paying some kind of mind to this artificial decadence all-together. A small people's own private bliss in a sense, but not one that could be inherently or equally shared by those living more beyond themselves than that.
"Really, at this point, it's just...how much farther could we even keep taking all this from here?"
"
Hmmm...well, maybe we should Reframe things for now by starting like this: Do you think it'll end up being a lot more peach trees the farther down the shore we'll walk and...
nothing else?"
"
Oh..! Certainly not, the residents of the Lunar Capital would do at least a little more to decorate the lands around them as they see fit. Don't you think so?"
Merry simply gently smiled back at Renko with eased satisfaction. "Of course there'd be more than that here, you just...look much better when you're smiling like that more often too, is all."
And with that, the two continued to float and drift together for the short time they felt they had to spare for that excursion. Their conversations lost, any fleeting sightings of them only gestating within the Capital as mere fringe rumor from there more than anything else.
The back of Renko's subconscious still continued to roil and bubble with these threaded moments of greater, accompanied independence for many moons thereafter...
No.119272
>>119271...even as the roaring waves of the Ocean of Storms continued to ever-persistently drag the body of a barely-lucid Renko and her assortment of hastily mishandled belongings along the swirling sands of its shores. She weekly grumbled to herself, gurgling into the muffling sand particles directly below as ecologically-untouched waters filled her now spacious ears and soaked her garments largely through. There was so much movement in such little time just now...or was that from a little while ago..? Both were equally hard to tell right now. A distorted echo of Maribel happily plucking her first peach from the moon's vast supply all those months prior briefly flashed through the darkened echoes of thunderously-forceful waves in the far distance raging on...
And just like that, she was up again after who knows how long. Mere hours...or less, perhaps?
The college girl sputtered, coughing hard as torrents of liquid poured out and back into the cradling tides below from her throat and clothing alike. She was more incredibly uncomfortable than nursing any sort of strict pain but would be quick to agree with the notion that she felt like she just had the wind fully kicked out of her had she not been so inherently isolated now. Far, up and away enough for those pesky know-it-all interlopers from that Clinic to no longer want to bother anyways...
...but maybe it'd be worth it to consider what she could've possibly just set in motion for herself now that she's finally fully acted on such admittedly wild accor—
"
O-Oh god..! ALL MY DOCUMENTS...!!"
Of course, of course..!
Maybe, if she really HAD slowed down and stopped to think things through for a second, she could've at least accounted for the inherent irreplaceability of everything
else she's been towing around besides that Orb..! An item that wasn't even anywhere to be found anyways now as she began her desperate tunnel-vision scrounging of the immediate space --
just her Luck! Most of the spare goods the Fairies had given her,
gone, the hat she'd spent all that time tediously getting back,
GONE...as she began to collect more & more of the very papers themselves however, the Physicist couldn't help but notice a funny pattern beginning to emerge.
While she took a trembling moment to breathe and steady herself some, Renko looked very closely at the familiar contents of most of those papers and was befuddled over how many of them managed to somehow
not become thoroughly tarnished by the ocean's powerful currents. Parts of her hands that were making contact with the papers weren't even fully dry yet, but the oddly crisp state of her loose-leaf collection couldn't be denied all the same...it felt Highly suspect.
Certain weirdly-isolated strips and chunks seemed to have at least suffered some sensible damage but Renko still couldn't even begin to parse why, let alone
how, until something else also hit her as she looked — most, if not, all the parts to her precious club-original notes that had now been lost seemed to contain sections or addendums not penned down by her own hand...
All of which could have, naturally, only been written by Merry instead. Renko even took a second to crawl a little further onto the shore and inspect the potential damage dealt to the other tomes she'd been carrying...only to find no evidence of waterlogged passages within both Kirisame's and Okazaki's own personal works. Just Maribel's...and not even Renko's scribblings either.
Given any other more grounded circumstance, this would have been an
excellent time to have once more reminded Merry she ought to've used a much stronger shade of ink for her field notes, but even all that couldn't be what fully 'mattered' right now either.
She'd made it back to the lands of the Lunar Capital at last, any notion over how to possibly get back from here didn't need to be the focus right now.
Renko wistfully picked up, wiped off and gazed at a playful polaroid her and Merry had once taken together at a local high-activity graveyard. This had all seemed simpler in so many little ways back when the two were first starting things out with the Club...though, that being said, she likely still wouldn't've been intimidated over how much there was still left to scale before reaching any sort of 'peak' if she'd known any better. It just meant there was that much more left to still experience for her own sake after all! The photo was slid back into the partially-dampened leather of her handbag alongside everything else still lingering as she wrung out the wool patchwork of the bag's strap, the girl making sure her tightly-sealed briefcase hadn't completely flooded through either, before realizing one last item among her assortments seemed to be missing now too.
"Oh,
shoot. Right, the Doll..." Now just where had that little Merry Doll scurried off to this time..?
No.119273
>>119272She looked to her right and saw nothing but dense peach orchards and scattered willows to frame any space not hogged by oceans or the sprawling beach.
She wearily looked to her left and, just a few yards down past much of the same, thankfully instantly spotted that vivid shade of orchid standing out against the shifting deep-blues. She nearly slipped into the foamy tide again while lifting herself up in a hurry with her recollected things as she also noticed that the Merry Doll seemed to have graciously found Renko's hat for her to boot! It wasn't long before she eagerly scooped up the two soaked trinkets and did her best to gently wring them both out as well. She took extra-special care not to damage the foundation of the hat's shape in the process and gladly placed it back upon her head with relief...
only to be reminded there was still more than mere strands of wet hair up there to greet it as the hat almost immediately gets knocked back down by an errant twitch of one of her still-dripping rabbit ears.
"
Riiiight, that too..." It took a few different angles before she had her hat right where she wanted it again, but she spent a few moments to herself afterwards tentatively exploring the new sensations granted by her impromptu Lunar camouflage. '
Maybe this really could work for proper espionage', she thought to herself as her fingertips traced the crinkled edges of fur and pinkened flesh alike. She really wouldn't be thanking those trickster fairies anytime soon for this happy-somewhat-acciden
t, but when life gives you magic lemons...
Now she could at least feel secure enough to more formally rise to her feet in the face of whatever might come next, but instead found herself quickly greeted by the aching strains and sudden bodily pains that would suitably come from a whiplash of torrid events as packed as what she'd just escaped from. Her back still hurt and her legs were sore and all that partially-crazed adrenaline she'd been carrying within her too had finally started to fully cool down...maybe it wouldn't hurt to simply rest for a moment either while she still had that self-appointed luxury of isolation.
Ferocious storms may have continued to rage upon the horizon, but she had her private solitude and a place to put it where it could remain undisturbed, if only for a little while. A real break to call her own for once without anyone else.
Tired eyes idly tracked down a suitable willow situated a good distance from the nearly breath-like tides, the tree's gently bellowing leaves and vines giving it a nearly eerie tranquility which nonetheless offered real solace for the questing college girl. A few other lone willows seemed to frame it quite nicely amongst the endlessly-recursive blooming peaches but not so much as to leave Renko feeling terribly exposed out here either. Its quiet shade under that transparent sky was soon over her with a few meager steps, the Physicist holding her belongings tightly to her chest before allowing herself to ease her body & mind into any sort of relaxed state. She pressed her worn back to the bark of the trunk and slowly lowered herself down with an extended sigh until she was sitting on the ground, her torso and bent legs still firmly cradling her things as she found herself too out of it to do anything about the weight now being pressed onto her newfound rabbit tail. This would take some getting used to...
One of her ears crumpled off to the side in defeat as her breathing continued to slow and her posture gradually began to ease itself further.
The sound of the waters was easy to get lost in like this after all was said and done...maybe even a little too easy...
As long as......as she kept her eyes open.........every now and again......she could...af...afford.........just a little moment of......of.............(TBC every 24 hours or so from here until this entry's through or I'm politely stopped by mods) No.119296
>>119273Cool to see people writing so much! I should try to get back into it one these days, although I don't know what I'd write about. Maybe one of those theoretical gamedev stories...
>(TBC every 24 hours or so from here until this entry's through or I'm politely stopped by mods)I don't see any reason for mod intervention.
No.119304
>>119270It's really nice to see you still continued the fic, and this was genuinely a nice read, even more than usually. I like the Moon-related legends a lot and they seem to have been handled well this far.
>>119291That's against the laws of physics!!
>>119296> to get backWhat kinds of stories have you written?
No.119332
>>119291Is anyone gonna tell her..?
>>119296>although I don't know what I'd write aboutIt doesn't always come to you all at once either is the thing so you shouldn't feel discouraged if the idea isn't exactly 'complete' right away.
>>119304>this was genuinely a nice read, even more than usuallyMany many thanks! This is probably the hardest I've tried with the story so far too, very glad to know it's already paying off (more of the story being posted soon...)
No.119333
>>119273Renko's period of rest was soon cut short as her sensitive ears attuned themselves to the unnatural tussling of bush branches emanating from distant foliage, likely around the area where she'd first regained awareness not too long ago. Her body tensely snapped itself back into engrained readiness before her psyche could even begin to hastily fill in the blanks with rough potential outcomes.
She...couldn't have been fully asleep for long just now anyways, right..?
An incredibly cautious peak barely beyond the flowing, paled greenery revealed exactly what was to be inevitably expected: a native resident of the Moon! From a distance, this sudden stranger of a Moon Rabbit didn't appear to be all that
overtly-unique. Her faded blue bob of hair, basic outfit and overall smaller stature nearly as modest as Renko's certainly weren't lending any favors to gripping first impressions, but it wasn't until the stranger turned more towards her direction again that the Physicist realized she was wearing a surprisingly formal tie & blazer. A lot like the ones she'd seen with that lavender-haired rabbit back in Gensokyo really, the whole look reminding her of the kinds of uniforms they sometimes have at private academies. An entrusted agent from within the Capital Ranks, perhaps?
The Moon Rabbit plainly looked over the sands baring minor evidence of Renko's struggles, which had at least been mostly swept away by the constant tides. Her hands went behind her back with a sigh as she looked back towards the illusory skyline at nothing in particular. It really wasn't hard to see that whoever this is was clearly bored with herself right now...but Renko still wouldn't let herself underestimate this stranger because of that!
She watched as the rabbit turned to resume her slow patrol down the beach again up until she froze, unusually so, and seemingly tilted her head up just enough for Renko to make out the strawberry-red of her irises.
Bad news, HORRIBLE timing...the fact there was any potential eye contact made at
all means it could already be too late for her..!
That's alright, no need to panic yet. The college girl simply darts herself back into the shade again and does her best to breathe quietly while guarding her things...
...a minute or two goes by of this. Could she have scared the little bunny off somehow..? Maybe she could just—
"U-Uh, excuse me miss..."
"
WAUGHOHMAIGAH!!!"
The Moon Rabbit suddenly managed to pop up out of the bushes directly behind the college girl as she reflexively jumped forward out of surprise before going deathly still again.
"Sorry, sorry! I just...saw your ears poking out from the leaves a little and felt like investigating. There aren't many other rabbits who'd spend their time off doing simpler things out here like this."
"
R-Right, yeah...I-I don't mean to seem so tense either I guess, a-ahahah..."
Renko face flushes slightly red while nervously glancing away from the Lunar Rabbit, all while this new acquaintance can't help but notice both her tightly-guarded handbag and the nearby suitcase resting against the trunk of the willow. She steps a little further onto the partially-buried roots beyond the bushes as both do their best to keep their composure with one another.
"Is that some luggage of yours..? (
gasp), You're not
actually thinking of going out here on your own to—?"
"
I-I'm not a Deserter, honest!! That's...what you were going to say, right?" Why did she feel so strongly over intuiting that just now, more so than what normally talking to someone ought to bring...
"Well
yeah! You know there's inherent punishments for going through with that! Just the thought of it even, but I mean..."
The rabbit looked back out towards those distant, crashing waves again.
"I sort of get it..."
No.119334
>>119333Oddly enough, this Moon Rabbit really doesn't seem as ambitious as she should be for running into Renko like this out of the blue. Playing the escapee card may have proved more effective than she could've suspected, the rabbit now taking a moment to sigh to herself again and plainly sit towards the Ocean with her legs splayed out. Renko remained unsure over what to do for another moment before settling on joining her uneasy compatriot on the ground,
for now.
It looked like there was a lot going on behind the rabbit's eyes and, unlike the eyes of that other suited rabbit on Earth, hers weren't giving Renko's subconscious all that much mind to worry.
"So, are you one of those new 'hires' the Capital is flooding in from the mochi pounding groups? The bureaucratic types meant to handle all that recent paperwork?"
"Ehh,
something like that anyways..."
"Well I only ask 'cause you're handling that bag full of papers so carefully. But, I mean, I think it'd be tough either way so...I don't really blame you for thinking there could be something better out there at least."
"There's...always something better even in the smaller things too though, huh?"
"
Yeah! Exactly...say, what's your name? I don't think we'd have met before now."
"O-Oh, yes...uhhhh '
Ren', like a lotus flower. Nice to meet you..?"
"'Ren', huh? Funny name for a rabbit, mine's 'Reisen' so I guess we both have that in common! Nice to meet you too."
The two could at least smile at each other briefly before the waters took over their sights again, the winds around them as calming as an inherently pure and untainted breeze could be.
"We probably shouldn't stay out here like this forever though", Reisen eventually pointed out.
"I know...I just...really don't even know where to go from here now, I guess. If you're looking for more honesty. It's not like I can just 'go back' or something..."
"Has it really gotten
that situational for you? There should be plenty of basic living options available around the peripheries of the Capital."
"I guess it's moreso that...the only other place that even feels
remotely appealing right now would be the central areas of the Capital itself. I don't know...frankly I just don't have the capacity for much beyond that right now I think."
Reisen wordlessly looked on at how Renko held herself after such a statement with a sense of previous understanding that could only
now be properly contextualized. She looked down between her legs and gradually came to accept what this walk had at least somewhat ended up really being about today after all.
This 'Ren' girl was going to wind up okay by the end of things still,
right..? No.119335
>>119334"Okay then, I can try asking for you if you really wanted me to."
"Wait a minute...'
asking'? Would it really be that simple for someone like you to do though?"
"Ordinarily, not really...but I'm sort of in a position where it wouldn't be too hard for me to try anyways I think. The Ladies of the Mansion are...
familiar with me, couldn't be too outrageous to bring up?"
Renko could endlessly poke around the outskirts of whatever grandiose societies have overdeveloped here all she wanted to if she liked, Easily, but to practically be handed her own golden ticket into what
had to be some inner-most region of the sanctified Capital itself nearly seemed too good to be true! As long as she had her disguise, things could surely still work themselves out up here.
"That would be fine by me then! U-Uh, I wouldn't just be...taken straight over there
now as a result, right?"
"No, of course not. I don't think I'd want to do that to a fellow rabbit right away,
buuut it might take me about a day or so to reach the palace again and then
also come back with any news."
"So I'll have to be holed up elsewhere in the meantime after all..?"
"Yes, but it shouldn't be anywhere bad! I know an old friend of mine we can trust that lives in one of the tallest dormitory plexuses of the whole periphery. You can be safe there for a while and she really isn't the kind of rabbit to judge you for anything."
Reisen dusts off the back frills of her skirt as she stands and extends a hand to Renko to get her up on her own feet too, the college girl making sure she's also rightly secured her briefcase & bag before the two wind up anywhere substantial.
"So what do you do for a living then Reisen? Feels fair enough to ask."
"Y-You...
really haven't heard any of the old Rumors then, huh?"
"
IIIII...can't say that I have?"
"Wow...I-I mean, that's fine of course! Perfectly okay with me, guess I'd gotten used to otherwise is all. But you could say I'm part of the Defense Corps in a way. Standard-issue militant operations — you know, training and things."
Their conversation carried on much like the waves, Renko only making sure to provide this rabbit with as much information as was needed all while their casual pace eventually brought them closer to a vast area that stood out quite starkly against the endless clusters of peach orchards.
The sight of the pseudo-skyline alone nearly made Renko choke up in the middle of what she'd been saying , but not exactly with raw emotion...
No.119363
>>119335Before the two rabbit-eared girls sprawled only a single district of the highly-advanced society that had spent so long putting itself together here on the darker side of the surface, and what would merely be widely regarded as simple commoner zones for even simpler moon rabbits by most 'important' folks around here. But to Renko, it might as well have all been some kind of twistedly-interlocked extension of the Lunar Palaces themselves. If they were even situated around here anyways.
Shining towers of polished platinum and steel, gold-trimmed reflective glass panes dotting the sides of grandiose complexes and heavily-wired tracks for both on-foot and metro travel alike weaving across the various extended levels like scaffolding placed by some crazed architect with too much spare time on his hands. Even the most Ambitious of modern city planners that her country knew of also understood that constructions on this wide a scale were still a good few decades away at
least!"Feeling better from the walk by the way, Ren?"
Renko watched a distant elevator pod snake its way up what had to have been an
incredible distance on a single thin cord suspended between two large towers, the constructions framed perfectly against a backdrop as scenic as unfiltered space could be. Almost like some kind of retro-futurist computer wallpaper, really.
"Hey?
Ren, still with me there..?"
"Ah! Yes, forgive me, you're right...I am feeling somewhat better." Renko's composure quickly came back to attention as the two officially began their decent onto the nearest extended walkway, the pair slowly making their way down a nearby ridge beset with stairs with Reisen continuing to lead.
"That's good! Then we shouldn't have to worry about too many strangers asking too many questions either. There's a lot of typical gossip that floats out from these southeastern neighborhoods sometimes but most rabbits are too involved with themselves anyways to really care about much out in public."
"Which building did you say your friend would be at again?" Reisen took a moment to stop as they were about halfway down to point towards the nearby metropolis and guide Renko's searching eyes towards an extremely tall building closer to the center of it all. It was a twisting helix of a skyscraper with many visible spaces for rooms and balconies and things either jutting out from its surface or set betwixt nearby support beams. The construction was donned with various colored panels mostly in vibrant shades of aqua and violet as Renko also began to realize the plethora of rabbit-centric billboards & advertising that still seemed present in an advanced place like this.
'
What a shame', she thought, '
that even the most well-developed societies still continue to prey on the lower classes...'
"I see...and we're just going to keep walking the whole ways until we get there..?"
"Don't get discouraged again yet Ren, it's all a lot more closely-packed than you might think. Just be sure to stay close if we happen to pass by any big groups."
"(
sigh), Alright! But this friend of yours better have a cozy-enough futon waiting for me up there!"
"
Hahaha, her name is Tomomi and I'm sure what she has will be accommodating enough..."
As the two girls continued to make their way through the metropolitan zones, Renko felt like she had
very little time to properly appreciate the view of the city from this level alone while she needed to focus on not losing track of her new alibi. Especially so when so much was towering both above and around them here. The only thing she'd be able to gleam from looking back at the distant Earth from here if she got lost, in the same way she might with the Moon itself, would likely be some needlessly-humbling sense of
humility that wouldn't do her
any practical good!
Reisen, meanwhile, continued to lead their steady march forward like she was walking down any other normal road for her.
The Physicist's ears and bodily cadence seemed to be doing the trick at letting herself continue on behind Reisen largely unnoticed by others, but every so often she'd find herself looking back down at her feet after meeting some stranger's fleeting gaze only to then quickly grow bored of the reinforced stone beneath her and wind up repeating the process. Admittedly, it was a great way to kill time in hindsight! Especially when she couldn't afford to sit down for a while somewhere herself and maybe just play a round of Go or something.
Wait a minute...is she getting envious of the lives of the moon bunnies already..?
FOCUS, Usami!! No.119364
>>119363Before much longer, Reisen rounded a corner with Renko and the two were facing down a pathway that led right to the entrance of the plexus itself. Various bushels and great cassia tress were neatly lined in planted rows closer to the edges of the raised path while groups of bunny folk all leisured about in their own nonchalant ways. It wasn't until the two were nearly inside that Renko's perspective of the building had shifted enough to allow her to plainly see the whole thing even extended down far below them as well...could low-enough levels of these huge city areas even be subterranean?
Too many real questions to ask, as usual...
Reisen stopped their walk just outside the leftmost doors and tapped a few random icons on a nearby touchscreen before a dialing tone could be heard. The screen briefly displayed '
connecting to Dormitory 32C-65B-7260...' before a voice could be heard that seemed oddly compressed for the level of advanced technology these peoples should supposedly have access to.
"
If you're here about today's deliveries, I've already told you guys to bring them to the front lobby counters instead!"
"Tomomi-tan, it's just me! I'm down by the walkways outside with a friend, is now a good time..?"
"
Oh my gosh~! Of course it is, you know I have nowhere else better to be on our days off. See you two in a second!"
A harsh buzz rang out just above the glass doors as the call ended and the entryway gently swung itself open for the girls, the idle humming of the populations outside quickly giving way to the calm echoes of many soft voices and collective footsteps all clattering against incredibly-polished surfaces. Some of the infrastructure might've looked a
little inherently aged or worn in places up-close, sure, but for the lobby of some kind of dorm building this all seemed incredibly clean and orderly to the college girl. It's not like her own campus was some kind of unkempt madhouse, but guess you can't expect even dust to wind up gathering in a place so focused on 'purity'.
"We'll take one of these lifts up to Complex 32, then it's just a short ride over to Bloc #65 and from there will be Tomomi's room!"
"I'm sorry, '
ride'..? Why phrase it like that?"
"Oh, maybe your old place didn't exactly have auto-tracks widely installed...but you'll see soon anyways. It's okay."
The rice-like pod of the lift opened smoothly after some more fiddling from Reisen with a smaller touchscreen, the two shuffling into the spacious chamber as it sealed itself behind them. Renko was greeted with yet another densely-packed view of various terraces and antennae-laden towers, all reaching out to each other as much as they all seemed to stretch up from below like interconnected roots with the dirt normally between them cleanly removed. The wall-length glass pane opposing them would provide little time for this to be appreciated, however, as Renko soon had to brace herself on a nearby support beam while the near-silent lift was shunted up thirty two stories in what was maybe seven seconds or less. They seemed to have traveled
quite a ways above the surface levels for simply moving up a few dozen floors but, once the doors of the pod opened for them again, the sheer scope of the inner constructions made Renko realize why they'd been called '
complexes' and not regular floors to begin with.
Stepping out into this new space revealed a ceiling high enough above them that a small apartment building back down on Earth could easily fit inside without touching the walls. Everything was decently-lit but not blindingly so, a very faint buzzing ruminating out from the distant lights, and the walls were peppered with more indoor windows and accompanying balconies for rooms both lit & unlit alike with the floor-level space between it all opening up to plots of artificial-looking grass and basic leisure areas. Reisen soon had them both on one of those "auto-tracks" she described earlier, nothing more than what was essentially an automatic conveyer belt in place of where would normally be a sidewalk or some equivalent, but at least Renko finally had another short break from needing to use her legs. Those stairs leading down from the peach orchards earlier were enough for her today as it stood...
The track smoothly came to a halt towards the far end of the complex as they approached a gated hallway labelled "7200-7299", which opened up for them as Reisen motioned for Renko to follow her deeper inside. The lights in here seemed a little less fluorescent than the lights out there, creating a very peculiar atmospheric effect to all these winding spaces that nearly reminded Renko of some of the loftier abandoned office buildings she's explored before with Merry.
Or the ones in good-enough conditions these days that they could still receive power, anyhow.
But she couldn't restrain her cry of anguish when she looked directly above them and saw the dimly-lit sets of stairs they were inevitably going to need to ascend. Reisen almost tried to comfort her by mentioning how they only needed to make it a little more than halfway up from here but decided it likely wouldn't do that much good for Ren's mental state...
"
I know...but we're almost there. At least it didn't take you a whole day to wind up somewhere potentially worse than this, right?"
"
Right......."
No.119365
>>119364A few reluctantly-scaled sets of concrete steps later and the girls were finally standing outside the traditional paper door they'd been heading towards. Reisen rhythmically rasped her hand against the paneling a few times before the door slid open seconds later to reveal a messily fuchsia-haired bunny girl clad in a nebula-patterned kimono. Renko couldn't make out her eyes very well from behind the thick-rimmed lenses of her circular glasses but it was easy enough to gleam how elated she was to be seeing her friend as a sudden surprise like this.
"Reisen~! It's been
months! How have things at the Palace been keeping you
that busy? I thought all the recent work they were doing had been..."
"Offloaded to rabbits like you? Yeah, they still have, Lady Yorihime has just been extra-thorough with our regimens too lately is all. This girl here actually
is one of those bunnies assigned to the Purification Fiasco though, her name's Ren."
"How do you do?" Renko instinctually tips her hat towards Tomomi as the Mochi Rabbit giggles innocently from the gesture, her floppier ears idly framing the sides of her face and vibrant hair bangs.
"Now is that right? Pleasure to be acquainted then! Please, please,
come in. Leave your things anywhere."
The college girl had to make sure she didn't reflexively grow tense after hearing such a statement either but it's not like her things could go far now that they were all here. The two guests removed their shoes just beyond the door as the dorm automatically shuts it behind them, Tomomi making her way over to her kotatsu while they all settle in.
"So have you heard the news Reisen? Something like how the Capital might've ended up 'saved' only because of some random invading Earthlings again?"
"Seems to me the aftermath of all that makes what happened feel a little more complicated than more pressure from the Humans but, yeah, the rumors are a little hard to not pick up on from my squadron alone."
"
Ren here would know a lot more about the details behind all that though now, wouldn't you?"
Renko was barely even aware of the conversation topic while she was still in the middle of finding a safe place for her suitcase, her subconscious already deciding the handbag would remain strewn over her shoulders no matter what for now.
"H-huh?
Oh! Well...I wouldn't really know much more than what all the other rabbits are already, uh...
saying? I tend to usually keep my head out of idle gossip like that."
"
Hmph. That's more resolve against temptation than I would've given you credit for, but fair! Can't blame
me for asking."
"Tomomi-tan really isn't the kind of girl to gab much either, Ren. You two could probably get along pretty well!"
"Yeah, so long as you don't end up drinking too much of the sake I have right now either!" Reisen and Tomomi could only laugh carefreely at the thought as Renko finally came to settle on the side of the kotatsu opposite the couch the others placed themselves on. It wasn't exactly ideal for the college girl to wind up as someone's houseguest again but at least it was taking place somewhere beyond Gensokyo for once.
Tomomi kept some of her nearby outer-patio blinds partially open and Renko could easily see how dominated the view still was by the tops of other structures poking into the visible stars.
"But, u-uh, listen. I didn't just come here with Ren to socialize, there's actually a small favor I'd like you to consider that should only last until tomorrow."
"Ohhhh,
I see now...so you want me to just watch this girl here until you decide to come pick her up again?"
Reisen seemed just a little deflated after her old friend's guess, mouth slightly agog. "H-How'd you figure that? I haven't even fully explained ourselves yet..!"
"But you're still the same old rabbit you've always been, even after you got 'captured away' from us and the Sisters started trying to toughen you up in there. Always thinking too much but never saying enough to the people that matter right away~"
"
H-Hey, not in front of Ren here, p-please..." Reisen was tittering away while fiddling with the hem of her blazer as her 'professional' mask continued to thin away.
"You know Tomomi, there really isn't anything wrong with needing to have some emotional privacy to yourself like that at times."
"
Heyyy, I know that's alright! It's
fine~! Really, it's just been a while since I've gotten to do this with Reisen in person is all." She barely stifles a giggle while the other Moon Rabbit recomposes herself somewhat.
"
And besides, you really shouldn't openly worry too much about privacy like that around here unless you happen to have something to hide yourself, but I digress~"
Renko could only tug at the collar of her shirt somewhat in return while letting out some halfhearted laughter. She
wanted to trust that this other rabbit really didn't have true motivations to care but she was certainly being a little on the nose with both of them about it all...
No.119407
>>119333>as her sensitive ears attuned themselves to the unnatural tussling of bush branchesThis reminds me, if Renko has rabbit ears now, can she talk to the other rabbits thru the Moon?
>Moon Rabbit didn't appear to be all that overtly-uniqueOh, so just the average humanoid rabbit you'd run into at the supermarket...
>>119334>are you one of those new 'hires' Why would the lunarians need to hire moon rabbits, wouldn't they just make new ones if they needed? Wait...how are moon rabbits made..?
>that lives in one of the tallest dormitory plexuses>tallestMoon rabbits live underground, obviously. What do you think all the holes in the Moon's surface are for?
>>119363I think if you went on to describe the capital, there wasn't any point to calling it "highly-advanced" right in the previous paragraph. It's an interesting description, but I imagine lunarian architecture would more closely resemble ancient China. Also, assuming the narration there is supposed to describe Renko's feelings, one would expect her to be a little more cynical.
>'that even the most well-developed societies still continue to prey on the lower classes...'Not to trash the rabbits too hard, but if you consider their abilities as a work- or fighting force, the lunarians are actually pretty benevolent(in the confucian sense), all things considered. At least that's how I imagine them. I really don't think currency is something moon rabbits have the inherit capacity to be aware of; they can learn to, but they otherwise exist in a "state of nature" economically.
>FOCUS, Usami!!Missed opportunity to use Usamimi.
>>119365> Lady Yorihime has just been extra-thorough with our regimens tooWhat, they now have to do target practice TWICE a month?
>too lately is allVery quaint way to end a sentence.
No.119412
>>119407>if Renko has rabbit ears now, can she talk to the other rabbits thru the Moon?Technically yes, but it isn't an ability she'd be immediately 'aware' of insomuch as how to fully differentiate the information she'd passively get from other rabbits from her own thoughts right away. In a sense, it'd be like having an invisible walkie-talkie you don't know how to talk back into yet but it's always transmitting back to you.
>average humanoid rabbit you'd run into at the supermarket...Very very normal...but the Defense Corp outfits really do just look straight-forwardly formal without their helmets.
>Why would the lunarians need to hire moon rabbitsTo take care of the jobs they wouldn't want to do themselves, for better or for worse, and what better way to use a surplus population in the aftermath of a small crisis?
>Moon rabbits live underground, obviouslyIt's just a
very tall building is all.
>I imagine lunarian architecture would more closely resemble ancient ChinaI don't disagree with you there, but my idea of the Capital is essentially supposed to be a synthesis of what we've known/seen from sources like TH15 or SSiB and how its visually depicted that one occasion in PMiSS. Of course, we've seen a lot more from the areas with the more Chinese-style architecture but that's also partially why I wanted to take this different angle with a lot of the common moon rabbits living in places that are advanced but not exactly as 'classy' as the manors and palaces of the more interior areas might be. Renko just hasn't made it further in yet is all.
>one would expect her to be a little more cynicalFunny you should point that out, I was in a small back-in-forth during that part over if I should've made her seem more bitter towards it all or not. Guess it wouldn't have been so bad after all.
>I really don't think currency is something moon rabbits have the inherit capacity to be aware ofMe neither, and I don't really mean to imply there's some kind of bunny bucks system going on with them. It's just fun to imagine how some of the city décor might be interprited by someone like Renko who likely sees a lot of that in some of the real life cities around her.
>Missed opportunity to use UsamimiI thought it would've been too obvious...
>they now have to do target practice TWICE a monthThese are Very serious times on the Moon.
>Very quaint way to end a sentence.The consequence of often typing how I talk and not initially using commas where I likely should, it's just hard to see until someone points it out sometimes is all.
No.119422
>>119365Renko continued to partially keep to herself while she let Tomomi take over the remaining conversation for the most part, her and Reisen not taking long to begin reminiscing about "old times" even though neither one of them looked like they could've been any older than herself at most if they'd been human. Tomomi, thankfully, wasn't all that accusatory for the rest of their little back & forth either as it turns out.
The time eventually came for Reisen to return to her own duties and, before leaving, she reminded Renko that it'd be best for her to refresh herself and get some
actual rest before it gets too late for her to do even that much.
"If I do end up getting the approval on this, it'll really help to keep things as presentable as possible for the Ladies of the Mansion."
And with that, Renko was left to her own devices in the small space of a stranger she's been assured she can trust as the auto-door slid shut again. It nearly looked as if Tomomi had something sly to say to the Physicist now that they were alone until a small chime rang out from the other side of the room, catching them both off guard. A nondescript panel on the far wall slid open only for the sound of rushing vacuum tubes to be heard before this new space was filled with a brightly-wrapped parcel. Tomomi clapped her hands together in glee from the sight.
"
Yaaaay, my package finally arrived~!"
"What'd you order?", Renko asked while the rabbit got up to bound across the floor and take the wrapped box before the panel shut itself again.
"Custom strawberry-flavored mochi balls! I had these personally requested a few weeks in advance before my favorite shops would be swamped with Harvest Moon orders."
The paper ribbon previously sealing the container drifted to the floor as Tomomi leisurely came back to sit at the kotatsu and unfurl the polka-dotted vessel, several balls of pink, sugar-dusted mochi alongside a few assorted toothpicks sitting neatly within the silken interior. For a moment it caused Renko's mind to drift back to that strawberry-red book she recovered and she instinctually reached into the handbag to pull it out, only to end up dislodging Marisa's continuously-added-to leather-bound work instead. She felt a little silly for it...
"Whatchya got there, private diary of yours or something~?"
"More like...reference notes of sorts, if you
must know."
Tomomi shrugged, the cover of the thing certainly looked a little odd without the rabbit being able to fully make out its title but she had sweeter & tastier things to focus on right now. Renko stared on at the book in her hands and figured there was no time like the present to at least take a proper read through Marisa's efforts now that she had the thing out. Hopefully that Witch had been holding herself together while still being stuck with that Vampire...
She skipped through about 50 or so pages and happened to settle on a few passages covering the danmaku patterns of that Doctor she'd fled from. Didn't exactly bring back entirely
positive memories...but some of the titles of these attacks paired with Marisa's train-of-thought descriptions actually did give her a good laugh. Everything surrounding the "Apollo 13" related notes felt especially commentative, Renko almost beginning to somewhat regret not getting a talk with Miss Yagokoro that could've lasted longer. But she shouldn't let that hold her back right now, it was honestly just better to see more depictions over what the very art of Danmaku itself had to offer from Marisa's own semi-crude field drawings. Renko flipped over to the next few pages as she set the book down in front of her, failing to notice that she just so happened to finally give Tomomi a somewhat better look at it's contents too as she quietly watched from across and ate with a smile. Now the girl was reading about that hat-thief...
also...named Reisen. That's right, Renko had completely forgotten that girl's name in the fray of it all.
Huh...must've been a common name for certain rabbit lineages? A little more forewarning over that bunny's ability to manipulate stress and things might've also been worth an earlier read...and saved Renko a headache or two.
"
Heyy, that book is talking about some
rabbit girl..?"
Renko's eyes went wide for a single moment. "Yeah..!
Ehh, but it's not like some kind of creepy stalker notes or something! Just practical information about...Things...
related to certain people?"
She hoped that didn't sound nearly as incriminating as it could've and placed the book back in her lap for now to keep Tomomi from spying any further than that.
"Oh, like a population census or something? Yeahhh I can understand why you'd need to guard a big tally like that. Probably a headache to even
remember all those rabbits anyways, right?
Heehee"
Renko almost considered mentioning the tome wasn't even hers but now wasn't the
ideal time to invite any more needless inquiry. Who knows how this'll all even turn up for her by the end anyways...
No.119423
>>119422Come to think of it, didn't Marisa tell her something along the lines that
anyone could technically create their own "Spell Card" so long as it had personally-strong emotions put into it? Something about honest thought too, maybe..? If Marisa's could take the form of what almost seemed like personal note cards while someone like that Patchouli girl didn't even need to use anything beyond her books, then it clearly wasn't a matter of the attacks needing to stick to stemming from one exact medium either. Marisa was still Human and she has great proficiency when it comes to her own understanding in the subject, what could stop someone like Renko from doing essentially the same here?
Would there
really be anything holding her back from just...creating her very own form of Danmaku while she still could?
She found herself unconsciously looking towards Tomomi's reflective lenses and nearly asked for her own opinions on the subject, still holding on to the typical instincts that come from getting used to a trusted dynamic almost always being available, only to be reminded yet again that this was
not exactly the environment to be thinking beyond herself much if she could help it. She broke their mutual eye contact with a sigh and simply took to rummaging through her handbag from there to find some decent notecard paper for this, or anything similar to use really...
Tomomi, meanwhile, waisted little time before speaking her mind towards the college girl anyways with as much as she felt confident in gleaming so far.
"Well, (
nom), don't let
me stop you from doing whatever else it is you apparently gotta do before tomorrow."
"Really it's more a matter of just having a clear-enough space to finally focus on something like this is all", Renko explained while setting aside a few assorted markers & pens as she continued to look for some suitable cardstock material.
"Don't you cubicle-types ever let yourselves take a
break from those sorts of duties? Y'know, just like every
other Normal rabbit? You have more than enough room here to do so!", Tomomi pointed out as Renko finally found a set of plastic notecard holders to act as extra support for this little project.
"Who's to say that isn't Exactly what I'm doing? There's always different ways of enjoying yourself y'know."
"Well yeah, you're not
wrong, but...
just..?" Tomomi really didn't want to tell this other girl how to best enjoy her life outright, especially since she was technically a guest here, she just looked so tense over there still for a rabbit on one of her days off is all...
"Ugh,
Here." Right when Renko was already deep in thought trying to settle on a good concept for at least one Spell Card, Tomomi takes the liberty of skewering one of the mochi balls on her behalf and leaning herself over the kotatsu slightly by the palms.
The treat is directly in front of Renko's nose by the time she opens her eyes again from the wooden surface creaking softly.
"E-Ehh...uh,
What?" From this distance, Tomomi's deep maroon irises are plainly visible from behind the usual glare.
"It's a treat, to relax?
Just have one already."
The faint dusting of sweetened powder on its surface
was fairly tempting...she guesses it'd be rude to come off as too standoffish here anyways. The Physicist opens her mouth and leans forward a bit to accept the treat, chewing quietly.
Tomomi immediately leans back again to resume her own mochi-related business with a cheerful grin from behind those spectacles, satisfied at the successful attempt to connect with this Ren girl a little more. While she still could anyhow.
It was right then that the
perfect idea for what to call this new attack of hers came to Renko, something with an amount of energy to it so incredible that it couldn't even rightly exist within normal space-time...
'
Energy Sign「Planck's Collapse」'...that seemed like something that could have some gusto behind it in a fight. Maybe with some kind of implosion-based pattern? If only the Renko from back during that first night she explored the Moon with Merry could see her now...turns out that the Lunarians have already done
plenty of their own gross overdeveloping before Humanity could even fully arrive here! The thought makes her laugh as she continues adding small bits of flavor to the card's design and gets ready to think up at least one or two more...and maybe ask Tomomi for some more mochi while she's at it.
Before the college girl realizes it, her and the Lunarian are wistfully singing the night away together after perhaps one too many more shots of sake than she otherwise would've suspected she'd end up with here. The mochi balls were good and Tomomi was funny with her stories about her crazy neighbors and things and her hat was across the room somehow now but she didn't care and her whole body finally felt fully warm again after what seemed like hours of recovering from essentially being a washed-up corpse recovered at sea.
For a few,
fleeting moments, she could just focus on this for now and freely enjoy herself alongside a stranger again...
No.119424
>>119423...and that she did before needing to peel her face off the crooked sheet of a futon she doesn't remember crawling into,
hours later, and realizing she must've completely blacked out at some point. It's not like the space had somehow become a
complete disaster, but...Tomomi was simply snoring away on the nearby couch under what couldn't be anything else besides her now-loosened spacey kimono and seemingly all of Renko's spare hats settled in a small pile over her frame. She luckily didn't have much of a headache, but
what had even happened in totality...maybe she should've set her private tape recorder up for this too or something.
"
Oh right!" Her new Spell Cards were still laid out on the kotatsu. Did she end up explaining what they were to Tomomi..? The third one still seemed unfinished as well, but the other two remained there seemingly primed and ready to be used for combat. Likely wouldn't be worth it to pull anything with them outside of Gensokyo like this, but once she got back again...
The Physicist took her time to collect her various odds & ends that were now scattered around them, mostly stemming from what was likely some kind of 'hat showcase' considering how messily torn-through her otherwise neatly-packed suitcase seemed to be. Definitely something done by her own hands but at least she knew it had all been safely contained to this one dorm as a result...probably. Soon, Tomomi was sleeping right through Renko carefully plucking each individual hat off of her body until her partially-disrobed figure was laying plainly on its own again. It's not like the Mochi Rabbit had been naked under there, but...it wouldn't do Renko any good right now to start mentally comparing how much more this girl seemed to fill out a kimono compared to her. Speaking of clothes as well, her own outfit had seriously started to feel stale after more than a day's worth of thorough use. By the time Tomomi finally managed to yawn herself out of her stupor and readjust her crooked glasses properly, Renko already had a new crisp button-up over her shoulders she'd been adjusting at the wrists before finally donning one of her trusted shawls again.
Now
THIS was an outfit worth exploring the
Fantastical in! Comedically-crinkled, temporary rabbit ears notwithstanding...
"
Uwehhgh, what a night...and look at you over there all '
ready for business' now and such. I don't even think we got to finish that soldier-girl manga we started!"
"I'd actually completely forgotten about that to tell you the truth, and now wouldn't be the time anyways!" She grabbed the last bit of her stray items laying around, the three Spell Card attempts from last night, and safely placed them in a concealed pocked set within the inner-hem of her shawl.
"Reisen said she'd be back here by today with news from the Palace for me and I'm not here to just keep pulling these punches with my work."
"Whatever you say then Ren-chan, but you sure are the committed-type to be knuckling down on yourself like this after a night like last night's~"
"I-I...have a bit of experience handling myself like that, I suppose..."
Maribel wasn't
always inclined to casually drink alongside Renko in their own old dorm, on the spotty occasion Renko felt they could responsibly get away with it for a little while of course, but when that girl was in the mood for it...
Oh man.The mild twinge of blush settling on Renko's reminiscing face quickly dissipated at the sound of knocking coming from Tomomi's front door again. It likely wouldn't have taken her long to get up for this but, instead, the moon rabbit simply groaned and clapped her hands together twice. Just loud enough for whatever system was running her auto-door to notice apparently, the paper panels sliding open with a hum without issue. There Reisen stood once more, her hands daintily folded over themselves in front of her person. Her expression was a little serious, head slightly cocked down, but it was less 'funeral proceedings' serious and more the kind of tense mood you'd be put in after just getting out of a stern talk with your superiors. Something Renko had become all too familiar with in many a debate with some bull-headed professors she's known...
"Oh, good. You're already prepared."
"Got the good word I take it?"
"Lady Toyohime herself has actually personally requested to see you at your earliest convenience...she listened to everything I told her! And I don't think you're really in trouble here, but..."
"No, I get it", Renko plainly responded. Tomomi had fully propped herself up on her elbows from the couch to tune in on the conversation by this point.
"Like you said, it's a little unusual to see some rabbit out that far on their own. Part of me was expecting this anyways too I guess..."
"I just don't think you need to be all that gloomy about it here is all..."
"Is that what it seems like I am?" Renko was asking a genuine question as she clipped her suitcase closed again and turned towards the couch to give one final goodbye for now.
"See you around Tomomi-tan, thanks a bunch for letting me have so much to drink in the end after all~"
"
Hah!", the Mochi Rabbit slumped back to her resting position not a moment after. "You should know I
always manage to get more when I really need to. Just take care of yourselves out there now, huh?"
She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of her guest now shuffling out of the dorm and down the hallway with one of her best friends. 'Ren'
probably didn't mean to hastily spill so many little things over the course of their drinking session, but...
A secret Human being personally escorted to the Mansion's gates by a single pet rabbit, and
she had somehow been their in-between...now
that'd be a good story to one-up her friends with at a bar next time she needs to~!
The better question would be how long she could resist before using it.
No.119508
>>119424[excuse the delay on getting to the following final few days of posting, had an unfortunately-timed nap yesterday that threw my personal schedule way off but things should be relatively fine from here.]The metro line from the southeastern communities over to the Central Capital didn't take long at all compared to typical Yamato transport, Renko beginning to understand that the overconstructed outskirts may have actually ended up being due to a general lack of available space up here more than anything else as time went on, before her stop was soon reached. Reisen began calmly leading her down a large section of 'town' that clearly held itself with completely different sensibilities than the stuffed metropolis most other bunnies seemed to be saddled with elsewhere up here. Ahead of them on either side of the many evenly-set rows of wide-open, smoothed-stone paths below sat countless streams of specialty shops, rustic leisure centers and humble vendor stands alike that all bore the same classical construction aesthetics that Eirin's Bamboo Forest manor had been dripping with. All of it set around layers of great white walls that housed Palaces and Manors alike that couldn't be considered anything less than inherently Imperial at-heart. It was a place that, appropriately so, felt somewhat frozen within a time long-since abandoned but without any given trace of stagnation as a result -- like a painting or scroll come to life from an era that could've seemingly almost never existed by Renko's modern standards.
Pine trees and peach orchards were threaded everywhere here, much like the outer shores, and any group of moon rabbits hanging out beside them always seemed to have at least one partaking in the fruits of their eternal Harvest.
"Guess
you ended up in a nicer part of the Capital, huh?"
"I don't know if I'd think too hard about it on those terms...it's not like I've really lived
exactly like all the other rabbits here for a while now."
"Doesn't make you any less of a Moon Rabbit though, it's just okay to take some pride in what you got too is all."
"Yeahhh, I know Ren, I know."
A few minutes later and the two came upon a large set of wooden doors that, nevertheless, opened themselves for the girls automatically as they approached. While the background chattering of the previous stalls and commoners had in no way been particularly 'loud', the level of palpable stillness within these inner areas seemed almost deafeningly quiet by comparison. Evenly-combed rows of perfectly crystalline sand covered the vast expanse of the courtyard sprawling before them, isolated patches of almost seaweed-like short grass containing pairs of robed rabbits that rhythmically & dutifully pounded away on wildly-multicolored mochi that nearly seemed to twinkle with each impact. The tiled path below continued to snake and twist ahead at sharp angles as they were accosted by sets of regal-looking streetlamps on either side, the occasional cobble path branching off from the main walkway leading to things like little ponds or ever-flowing miniature waterfalls framed by even more cassia trees.
In the very center of all this tranquility stood the front-most expanse of the Capital Palace itself set well-within the writhing growths of ancient peach trees larger than
any Renko previously had the chance to see before in her life.
There weren't any signs around discouraging flash photography but Renko would only dare to snap some
real pictures of this place anyways if she knew she was totally alone up here...which was likely completely improbable to bet on happening any time soon.
Not far from the base of some of those trees stood the imposing grand entrance itself, an actively guarded one no-less, beset with a pair of Imperial Soldiers that almost looked like they could've been buried terracotta statues in a previous life. They seemed different somehow from all the other citizens Renko's seen, distinctly non-rabbitoid in nature, but perhaps that was to be expected in the end as they edged this periphery of higher and higher Divine Importance.
"I know it's a lot to take in if you really haven't seen it all before but we're not here to wander around much either. But, feel free to just...linger a little? While I go over and let the Guards know what's going on.
Please just promise not to go far, it won't take me all that long."
"Alright Reisen, just do what you gotta do. You'll know where to find me!"
The Moon Rabbit only nodded in response as she hurriedly began to pace over to the Guards, Renko thinking it best to make her way towards one of the more gardened areas so she wouldn't seem so conspicuous just standing out in the main path otherwise. The nearest set of stones in the sand brought her over to a raised, square area for planting that seemingly held nothing more than a large, gnarled tree with pitch-black bark. Its many winding branches towering above were completely barren, though sleek in a way that reminded the Physicist of an aged oak tree deep in winter without any of its dressings left. The anciently-petrified & dyed wood planks surrounding the planter creaked slightly under the give of Renko's touch when she finally stepped close, but the support seemed sturdy enough for her to rest alongside with a quick throw of her handbag above its border so her hips could lay soundly against it without obstruction.
No.119509
>>119508There Reisen was a good few yards away, chittering away at the pair of guards while occasionally gesturing back towards Renko just softly enough for the college girl to be unable to fully make out what they were saying. Wouldn't the guards stationed there have seen that rabbit leaving earlier to fetch Renko in the first place? Maybe the chain of communications here isn't all that robust beyond the rabbit populations, unless there was
also a chance the Palaces here had rotating guards? Surely more than just two stationed elsewhere at least...actually, there was one now perched right above the walls housing the front entrance, slung bow & quiver in tow as he nearly seemed to be eyeing something going on just above Renko...
As a matter of fact, as she continued to watch with baited breath, that guard
did happen to be noticing something of interest in her direction as he quickly got the attentions of another more concealed guard stationed nearby.
The both of them looked on with complete shock as Renko could only look back down to see the entrance guards alongside an utterly-dumbfounded Reisen glaring at her with horror, the college girl looking behind her in a panic to find nothing more than her handbag resting near the base of the tree, as was to be expected...
Then around her slowly as she even saw a lot of the nearby bunnies looking right towards her section of the courtyard now...
And finally directly above her as something began to shimmer and glisten almost as wildly as the mochi that was previously being tended to. Many little somethings as it were, Renko stepping back with shock herself as her bag dragged itself alongside her and directly over the partially buried roots of the large tree. A tree she now distinctly recognized as having been a fully-grown
Hourai Tree from it's seven-colored fruiting normels, otherwise known as an Udonge Tree, apparently previously left completely untainted right up until it made such close contact with what had to have been the contents of Renko's handbag...or perhaps even the thinly-disguised living Human herself.
The glimmering buds continued to sprout out all across its many branches as Renko found herself increasingly surrounded from the many vantage points near her location, Reisen and the two guards finally reaching where the main path connected to the Hourai Tree as they continued to stare Renko down underneath the freshly-settling rainbow canopy.
"Ren...
who..? W-What's going on here exactly??"
"Now
look Reisen, I'm sure we can all rightfully settle this as p-perfectly rational Lunarians and just...just
settle down before we do anything—"
In a single, unceremonious puff of star-laden smoke, Marisa's half-baked animal potion decided it was finally done with Renko's body and left the college girl reverted back to her completely normal Human-eared self.
Everyone was silent enough for a theoretical pebble dropped across the other side of the courtyard to be able to make a sound even Renko could still hear.
"...h...
Hasty...here..."
The two guards were flanking her in an instant. Their blades carefully pointed directly against the soft flesh of her throat in a way that made Renko's blood run cold, the instinctually-nervous raising of her chin as a response causing her to notice several more pairs of archers now facing her and drawing back all their arrows from afar. Standing perfectly at the ready to receive further instruction...
Her hat tumbled below to the grounds by her shoes just as the previously-guarded entry doors burst open from within with a start.
All Renko could see out of her sight's periphery for a moment was a head of tied back, lightly-colored hair atop a richly-red garment of some kind before this figure angrily stormed over to her location without hesitation, the echoing of boots loudly stomping within the nearby walls sounding off with every step taken. Eventually the two guards beside her even made way for this individual, shortly after a soft gasp could be heard from Reisen still nearby, as the figure was properly revealed to Renko to be a slightly older, more mature-looking woman than the rest of the rabbits but one that could also believably pass as Human all the same. To most people, anyways.
However, this woman's fiercely-auburn eyes beset with nothing but unfiltered
rage and annoyance for the simple young girl currently standing before her carried an incredible Divine weight behind them that Renko could finally rightfully recognize through all her experiences thus-far as belonging to
anything besides a mere Human...
Of all the Lunarians she'd been walking alongside thus far, this was assuredly some kind of Kami or something she'd now been made to come face-to-face with...and one she already knew must've long-since lacked the patience to listen to any lowly prayers for forgiveness from its encoming wrath.
And Watatsuki no Yorihime understood that Renko Usami assuredly realized this too.
"You Ignorant,
Impure Girl...you are in a
Whole Heap of Trouble..!!"
Renko had nothing to say for the time being behind her anxious half-grin as her own eyes trembled in place from the mere sight.
No.119510
>>119509With little time to waste from there before any further panics could begin to erupt, Lady Yorihime directed the guards to lead Renko closely behind her as she began to professionally march alongside an equally-nervous Reisen back into the Palace chambers. The Moon Rabbit could only meekly let out a single "
Lady Yorihime..?" to her commanding officer that seemed to be quickly rescinded by nothing more than a stern & silent glare of frustration from this given Sister of the Palace, her hopefully-better-half patiently waiting away somewhere deep within these rooms as the Physicist secretly wishes for nothing more than the mercy of a quick, swift punishment that at least won't leave her
physical body suffering for too long...
Earth Reisen's final words to the college girl played back to her from a distance...but only now did all the risk of being in this sanctified place finally feel real. More real than all the times in her past where she felt that she could still directly mouth-off towards an agent of authority despite given power imbalances.
Pillar after pillar of centuries-old support beams rolled past them silently as their little entourage continued unimpeded, the occasional armored or robed figure making way as Yorihime continued paying little mind to the familiar gardens and décor around her. Renko could only solemnly hold her hat and suitcase in front of her while mostly keeping her head down quietly as they all stormed along. As they approached the end of the more open, naturalistic section they'd been walking past, Reisen managed to wearily give Renko a subtle look over her shoulder as the two locked eyes for only a moment before something rounding a hallway corner just ahead of them caught
everyone's attention.
"
Sister! It's a
relief to have found you so quickly at a time like this, especially considering what Reisen just brought to the Palace steps for us..."
"
Oh? And here I was, hoping I'd still have time to hand out today's pickings to her team before her return! How
astute you can be sometimes, Little Reisen~"
Renko watched as a woman just a little taller than the red-clad Lunarian casually approached Reisen, cradling a bundle of plucked peaches with one arm and carefully tussling the Moon Rabbit's hair between her floppy ears with the other. Watatsuki no Toyohime saw the entire ordeal beginning to unfold from about three stories up of course, from the very moment Reisen walked onto the courtyard with her interloping stowaway after she'd gotten those peaches, but didn't need to see one of the Udonge traps go off to know that things were still all largely proceeding as they needed to be.
"Yorihime, you don't need to continue to worry to yourself once you already have the Prisoner in our possession like this. Don't you think she would've caused more harm around here already if she could've?"
"
H-Hey! I'm—"
"Sister...this typical attitude of yours may allow
you to go through what other troubles we've needed to deal with recently as Unfazed as ever, but
I for one
cannot afford to let the Capital's integrity be undermined by--"
"--even the
smallest of potential disturbances", the Eldest Sister found herself able to perfectly mirror alongside her fellow Princess. "You really have been repeating little things like that
a lot these past few weeks you know~"
Yorihime scoffed as the Moon Rabbit finally took what might be her only chance to pipe up directly before they all ended up sitting down inside someplace to discuss things further...
"
Lady Toyohime...yesterday, when I'd first been telling you everything about Ren and stuff..."
"Yes?"
"Well...d-did you
know I was technically helping an intruder enter the Capital before
I even did..?"
She gave the rabbit a knowing grin with eyes that seemed far more carefree than how they ought to considering some of her genuinely-shared
internal sentiments with her younger sibling over all this.
"Even if you had held some clearer idea over the dilemma, it wouldn't have mattered towards the final outcome when you yourself had already been accounted for in these plans since the beginning, no?"
"
R-Right..."
Something passed between them that the college girl was plainly unable to even
begin postulating over to herself during that moment.
"
Ahh,
speaking of which...do you at least know with any amount of certainty over whether or not Lady Sagume will be able to join us in time for the
Final Sentencing? I can't imagine that she'd truly want to circumvent this considering how involved she's had to make herself..."
"You'll at least be able to rest assured on that much, then. Our Silent Sage
was able to return to the Mansion earlier with all necessary preparations not long after Reisen departed. She will be joining us alongside them in place of a more traditional Full Trial for our new Captive~! We don't need to waste
too much unnecessary time with someone not meant to be here
long after all."
No.119659
>>119510[the curse of the two day posting delay seems to continue...this entry's art will eventually be in the OC thread as well, but technically should've belonged to this post under better circumstances :P]The two Sisters continued their mild dialogue together over the day so far as everyone trekked deeper into the winding Palace, Toyohime charitably giving away all the peaches she held to most other attendants they wound up passing. The two guards that had been forcefully escorting Renko finally stepped ahead of the small crowd after a time, bringing the Physicist to the front once they'd all managed to reach a set of regal-looking doors which the soldiers wordlessly set themselves beside as the room soon opened itself before everyone. The area within was fairly enclosed but beset with many fancy furniture pieces and decorative classical artifacts that all subtly gleamed with impossible tidiness. It otherwise could've been quite relaxing for the girls here had their current circumstances been wildly different, but behind one of the sofas on either side of the central table already stood another figure seemingly waiting for the rest as quietly as the guards by the entrance were standing. They all shuffled inside calmly through the tensions as this silver-haired woman gave her regards with little more than a passive nod...
and a slight fluttering of her single white wing that made Renko's breath catch for a quick second as the girls began to situate themselves, the sound filling the room surprisingly well as the doors closed behind them.
"G-Good to see you again, Lady Sagume...", Reisen stuttered out as this violet-clad figure looked between both her and Renko while the Sisters continued to talk.
"Indeed it is! We really have had our hands
far too full in the aftermath of everything with that Stone Princess to have simply caught up again before
this took place, haven't we?"
"The Rabbits and I are the ones who truly have our hands full with anything besides
fresh fruit here you know..."
"Come now Little Sister, it's nothing that needs to be rushed anymore anyhow now that things are all said and done. We only have to worry about cleaning up the occasional hiccup like this is all."
The Sisters unanimously took to either side of the sofa that other Lunarian had been situated behind while Reisen remained somewhat unsure over what to do with herself, standing off to the right not far from Toyohime's side as the Moon Rabbit continued to nervously eye Renko over with an expression that almost seemed borderline pleading. Maybe the college girl wasn't exactly the only one in trouble for all this here, then..? She could only quietly take in everyone in front of her now staring her down as she came to sit herself and her things alone on the opposing couch.
The only one that had still been smiling through all this here was the Eldest Sister, but not for want of prematurely dampening the various impacts the following inevitable conversation could leave within the psyche of this lone Human girl.
A traveler is always destined to be passing through simply by nature, of course, and what they go on to remember is sometimes even more important than what they actually experience.
"Now Reisen, I'll need to ask you to please sit yourself down there on the couch beside 'Ren' but I don't want you to get too worried about hearing anything directly from us just yet. You've done what you had to for now,
Alright~?"
"Yes Lady Toyohime, understood." Renko at least takes the liberty of scooching aside some for the Moon Rabbit as she nervously cups her hands into the frills of her skirt before Toyohime clears her throat to continue.
"Now then. Miss Usami, yes? That is your real surname?"
"That's...right. L-Listen, I realize I might be way out of line here but—"
"
That you certainly are!", Yorihime snapped at the college girl while stamping a foot down at her greater point. "Your greater presence is a
disgrace towards everything we've been doing to stand against such
thorough corruption here as a Kingdom of Purity."
"It's not like I was planning on doing anything
wrong..!"
"And that alone provides your Tainted Presence with enough justification to undergo tactical espionage?", the Eldest calmly retorted.
"Well I'd hardly even call it 'tactical' when I arrived here more disorganized than anyone truly
more competent
should've been!"
"And who's saying we're strictly implying this as a matter of incompetence on
your part either?"
"
I-I'm—!!"
"You're just here because you
could be, aren't you? The fact that you were able to have that chance in the first place meant you were invariably going to wind up here for the sake of the exploration and experience itself. Is that right?"
Even the Sisters seemed to be in mild surprise as they peered over their shoulders at Sagume's sudden question, but not exactly with shock towards what as merely being said as far as Renko could tell...
"Yes! Yes exactly, but...I-I suppose it wasn't even going to turn out that way for me from the get-go here, was it..?"
"You certainly wouldn't be
here if that was the case, but in some extended senses this isn't even entirely by fault of your own inherent Impurity considering the potential Influences that already attracts."
"The same frankly goes for each and every creature fated to be born on that large rock, as Lady Sagume has somewhat implied, though that isn't always expressed in just the same way through each individual case as a result."
"
'Influences'..? What do you
mean? I started all this specifically so I could operate
without influences beyond myself!"
"And yet you freely stayed and fully socialized with an innocent, untrustworthy rabbit as a means to your ends simply because it was
suggested to you by
someone else."
"In much the same way you only gained your initial access here in the first place thanks to someone else."
The One-Winged Sage's words took Renko's mind back to that time she'd first bumbled onto the shores here with Merry at
exactly the worst moment in terms of the pressures on her nerves right now...
No.119663
>>119659"
You...you
Aliens really aren't planning on giving me any leeway here, are you..?"
"You forsook those rights the moment you fled here, and
you're the Alien among
us! You aren't even native to that Bubble of Sin you ran away from!"
Renko stared on at Yorihime with an incredulously-dumbfoun
ded sort of expression that the other Lunarian Princess was able to read easily.
"It isn't exactly our business to know the
precise nature or personal reasonings behind your current involvements with Gensokyo but, given the circumstances of what you've been able to breach here, we've been rightfully albeit somewhat
hastily informed over what ultimately led you to fatefully wash onto our shores this Harvest Moon."
"That
nosily-needling Doctor..!"
"Lady Yagokoro was only able to divulge so much in what little given time you allotted her through your actions", Sagume readily clarified in the Doctor's defense. "You can consider yourself lucky that any further interventions couldn't extend much beyond what was shared."
Renko's pupils drilled down at the smooth white tabletop with impotence as it increasingly dawned on her just how
prominently she'd managed to implant herself within such a tangled and spiritually-anomalous ecosystem, one that was practically guaranteeing time and time again that she would never be able to look at these sorts of topics in the same way again. The countless prices to pay for her righteously-insatiable curiosity and impulsively-determined whims were finally catching up to her, the fear over the consequences of falling short on settling those costs becoming more salient by the minute...
"Why was I able to even arrive here in the first place then if you're all on such high-alert anyways?"
"Because you Cheated, Renko Usami. You acquired something that wasn't yours and used it to access a location your kind has no right being in so openly to begin with. Your own lone machinations
surely would've only gotten you so far within Gensokyo alone,
don't you think?"
Renko did her best to stifle how appalled she was from the implications considering this hadn't been the first time now that an individual important to the Moon brought into question her personal autonomy during this extended-expedition, thinking hard over
everything she's been able to surmise so far considering the Hifuu Club's seemingly pre-determined involvement with all she's experienced as a whole.
So she might've had some kind of
secret benefactor or something, then? Maybe Maribel did too, even? Or was it more complicated than that considering the level of foreknowledge those who've 'noticed' seemingly need to hold...but then maybe the Lunarians were just sort of
like this..? It could even all be a
ploy to leave her less self-assured in the end..!
Or maybe someone had just been making a patsy out of her this entire time from the moment she crossed the threshold and eventually met Alice, and she'd been helpless to do little more than happily entertain.
"That glowing sphere didn't even fully belong to the person I took it from either!"
"I will admit...", Sagume specified while lifting her free hand from behind her back to reveal the concealed Lunar Occult Orb having since drifted back into her possession from the moment the Ocean of Storms graced Renko, "that I likely could've done
better to ensure the artifact remained within properly-caring hands in hindsight."
"Failing to account for another set of sticky fingers can't be put entirely on your shoulders now, Lady Sagume. No more than, say,
Reisen here can be implicated in assisting a wildly-unpredictable fugitive break into the Mansion unimpeded."
The One-Winged Sage simply sent the Power Stone off elsewhere with a wave of her hand as Reisen stopped breathing all-together for a moment from finally being acknowledged.
"Even still, my mistake for speaking to her so directly yesterday when it otherwise could've been a normal day off for Reisen."
"Hey! Also? I don't think it's simple enough to just label me as—"
"You threw yourself through an entire wall without hesitation just from being cornered,
Human. Your actions tell a Far different story than what you might
think your composure does."
"That being so..!", Renko immediately retorts on her own behalf as she passionately rises to her feet without fully realizing it, "I think you'll find that it isn't so unreasonable for me to have turned up here after all when I've even collected some documents over the years that could really—"
Toyohime's eyes went wide as Renko reached a free hand towards the opening flap of her handbag only to be interrupted by the otherwise calm, Fortunate Sage suddenly reaching a hand out with great concern.
"Don't even think about opening up that ratty satchel of yours here. You've been carrying around more Damning levels of Impurity with you than you could even be rightfully aware of, Girl."
No.119665
>>119663Renko hesitantly broke her eye contact with the Eldest Sister's foreboding expression to spy the slightly-uneven surface of her snugly-filled parcel, beginning to internally itemize each trinket or bauble in there that could possibly be eliciting such an extreme reaction...
"There's an intense amount of raw Life Energy alone emanating out from and off the bag itself, something that could really only be so blatantly provided by creatures like Fairies..."
"You can sense that by observation alone..?", Renko asked somewhat incredulously to the jacket-wearing Lunarian as her coevals once more took the liberty of elaborating on her behalf.
"Not only that, but there's something else that's been bothering me personally about what could potentially rest within that bag as much as it courses through your very veins..."
"And what might that be exactly, Sister?"
"
Well, the various Udonge trees we have situated around here aren't simply designed as hair-trigger alarms to go off from even the slightest whiff of Impurity. There would have been several repeated instances over the years by now of those normels needing to be preened away from branches if such was the case."
"
Meaning?", the college girl asked rather impatiently as a free hand idly traced the hardened ridges of that extra bottle from Alice's she still had buried away through the bag's leather.
"For an entire tree to have fully bloomed near-instantly upon close contact with little beyond your belongings, it certainly can't be denied you at least have some powerful Items of Influence on your person that simply
can't be tolerated here for the safety of our precious Capital."
Yorihime continued on to add to her Sister's point.
"To have narrowly avoided one such catastrophe only to trap ourselves into yet
another of even
subtler proportions would show as nothing short of Hierarchical Incompetence over an already unruly population."
"So...what? You wouldn't just be planning on sending me straight home from here I take it...is it still the same year for you all up here as it is in Gensokyo right now anyways?"
Sagume rolled her eyes at the question but was nevertheless reminded to retrieve one last item she'd managed to bring back from Eientei as she wordlessly turned around to excuse herself down the hall without the Sisters of the Palace paying much mind to her.
"Irrelevant. The better question would be why things
can't be as simple for you as dropping you back off on the Earth somewhere within space and time that would cause us the least amount of trouble."
"Are you...trying to say that's something you could've done with me at basically any time here??"
"In a sense. Foreign obstructions more passively winding up on our shores through anywhere else besides the Sea of Tranquility is noteworthy enough, but the current invisible trajectory of your very Fate seems to be fundamentally upheld by external forces so firmly rooted in Kegare of...
Unearthly proportions that, to be blunt, I'm left somewhat...Hesitant towards directly intervening with you any further than this."
As if Renko needed such a salient reminder over what ultimately awaited her before she would be able to leave Gensokyo safely...
"My Sister...we've had the Blessings of the Divine on our side for countless generations now. Would it really be that problematic to have me, for example, simply resanctify one of our Firing Squad rooms with the help of the Heavenly Kami afterwards and assign a mass misogi to the Defense Corps Rabbits involved with this girl's execution? Or perhaps..."
Renko eyed the barely-concealed hilt of Yorihime's blade at the same time as the Younger Princess, the two locking unblinking eyes as the Lunarian freely reached for a handle as spiritually potent as it was completely disarming for someone like the Physicist.
"...this truly
is an issue best dealt with Professionally."
"Don't be so dramatic Yorihime, that would only serve to invite further outsider intervention from sources that would surely do more irreversible damage than setting off a few trees. Not to mention the
unseemly mess it'd create for our carpets..."
Reisen looked over at the college girl with knowing concern considering how these conversations are often ended for those in Renko's position...that awful chill running just under the girl's skin again despite the fact she wasn't even being held against any weapons right now. At least not directly...
Yet. No.119824
>>119665"Now, Miss Usami...", Toyohime continued, "with all that being said there's only one last thing I'd like to ask you before we pass on your sentence."
She leans in close over the table as Renko's breath slows without her fully meaning to.
"What is it that you
truly wanted to get out of being here? Out of even doing this
at all while fully knowing what you were up against?"
She gulps once, opens her mouth to answer, and simply hesitates before swallowing air again.
"I-I...I just..."
Her free hand tightly grips the ample cushioning below her as waves of emotion finally begin to stir more heavily within from the constant pressures.
Surely they really were going to let her go somehow!
Surely she'd be able to make it back to Gensokyo and finish her business there in time before seeing Maribel again..!
"A-All I wanted here was...was..."
Her face feels hot and her throat feels tight from the three sets of eyes staring her down.
God, she always looks so ugly when she feels this emotional...not like when she's calmer. Not like when she's better...
She breathes uneasily as she carefully takes her hat off her head in silence, wearily holding it in front of her with both shaky hands in an attempt to better collect her composure. The Sisters merely observe as they watch Renko failing to fully stifle a despair-laden grimace.
She inhales sharply once, then twice, her voice finally breaking as she begins to fully choke-up from the unbearable understanding of having so much personal freedom within her own efforts completely undermined beyond her within such a small amount of time. This wasn't what she wanted for herself right now...this wasn't what she wanted for the Club...
"A-All I w-wanted was (
sniff)...w-was to
know m-more...a-and to understand m-my Reality better...I-I can't...I-I don't know (
sniff) w-what else to d-do with these i-interests..."
She might as well have been on her knees for them now if it wasn't for the fact she'd already been seated. Maybe they could prove a little more merciful if they knew this drive of hers was all she had? Sure, she
could try to make some huge ruckus like she did back in the Bamboo Forest and attempt an escape, but where would that realistically even land her in a place like this in the end..?
"I-I just wish...I could go back...a-and still finish m-my work...
I-I still need to...oh god I never should've done this
alone, I-I..."
Bitter tears of shame and regret streamed down her face as she gripped the brim of her hat tightly in the room's stillness, something about Renko's strained sentiments causing something ancient to flash behind Toyohime's eyes that made the Lunarian silently turn to her Younger Sister to see at least some amount of understanding reflected back. The
intensely-unappealing Curses now freely and quietly sinking their hooks into this human's Destiny aside, she knew there was nothing for Renko here anyways that could still move the college girl from her stance any further if those truly were her Heart's given sentiments.
Reisen stared on in shock at how quickly her owners had seemingly broken down this prisoner, something that could've even been admirable had she not been sitting on the very same sofa, though soon found herself meekly raising a hand all the same that eventually made its way to the college girl's shoulder to provide some mutual comforts to that shock. Maybe she should've been more worried over what Lady Toyohime had said about this girl's apparent power of corruption right now, but there was still something to be said about not always kicking someone when they're already down as well. Renko did her best to take that minute to put herself back together somewhat as she wiped away her tears with a corner of her shawl while easing her breath, Reisen also ending up as the only one of them around to have noticed Sagume's return just a few moments beforehand due to the display. The Semi-Heavenly Sage had also settled on giving the college girl room to express her thoughts for now, especially since she's already retrieved what will be required to carry out Renko's sentencing.
The Physicist, eventually, fully opened her weary eyes again to see a gold-trimmed, richly ornate box beset with what looked to be several pearls and gems of jade, ruby and sapphire all delicately cradled by Sagume. She carefully set the item down with both hands before the girl once Renko managed to mostly settle herself down for now and silently stepped back behind the opposing couch.
It looked a little long and seemed sort of heavy...
"You're...gifting me a normelry box as a
punishment..?"
No.119825
>>119824>normelry box[kissu filters have once again added a lot more humor than expected]"
That is meant to serve as type of a three-tiered benormeled handbox, specifically. The outer shell's been repurposed using a container from our own treasures, but within the silks of the box sit three partitioned lacquerware compartments and enclosed instructions over how to precisely use them."
"Make no mistake, however," Yorihime continues for her Sister, "you are being gifted little more than a swift and decisive Exile on the sole account that disposing of you outright would prove more trouble than it's worth."
The Imperial Holding Body across from her took little hesitation in smoothly and unsubtly nudging the box closer to Renko's side of the table with only the sheathed tip of her sword. The college girl could take a hint, but this whole procedure still felt
deeply insulting underneath that fresh angst she was still healing from. Reisen finally took her hand off the girl's shoulder but froze in the middle of bringing it back towards her person when Toyohime bothered to address her pet once more.
"
Reisen...please make sure to stay where you are for now so we may still talk things through with you as well.
You on the other hand, Miss Usami, are free to now take what's been made yours and kindly never return to these Pure Lands again. Lady Sagume will see to it you make it to your intended destination from here."
"You can either leave of your own volition or force me to order the Guards to see you out as well. If you hesitate or resist any further then our window to send you back from this in any sort of timely fashion
closes and You will be in Horrible, Awful Trouble. The choice is yours, Intrusive Girl."
For what felt like a long time in the ensuing silence, Renko could only disassociatively look between the Lunarian Sages across from her and the empty spaces between them before her gaze finally settled on the hastily-prepared charm in front of her. She carefully placed her hat back on her head and took both sides of the ornate container with both hands before hefting it close with a single inhale. It wouldn't be impossible to carry this alongside her suitcase for now but the solid physicality of it felt like an undeniable manifestation of all she'd ultimately come to be barred from up here. Maybe she could still come to better appreciate the inherent freedom that came with how things were run around Gensokyo by comparison after all...but now wasn't the time to worry about anything else besides getting back, whether she liked it or not.
"I guess I'll be on my way then...", she softly muttered while making sure she had a grip on all her things before walking over towards Sagume.
However, just as she brushed past the Younger Sister, the Eldest felt it best to leave the Physicist with at least one last parting statement.
"Oh...and, Renko?"
"
Yeah..?"
"When you finally
are done with so much running around in that...
Youkai Menagerie down there, be sure to remind whoever proves largely responsible for you by then that you can only be put through so much Work before you start coming out with worse things to show for it than a few measly Scars. Alright~?"
"Right..." The college girl glumly kept her head down from there as Sagume was already waiting for her by the doorways to continue this forced departure. Watatsuki no Yorihime waited until the space was largely isolated from the outside again before continuing on with what she had to say to Toyohime considering what they'd just left that girl with mentally.
"Sister...do you
really think it'll have been worth it for us to have explained so much to the girl after everything she's seen..? Can we truly rely on the chance that what she has ahead of her...really
is going to be that much bigger for her than making it to the Capital?"
"If Lady Yagokoro has enough Faith to still take what precautions she did for this in the little time she had to do so, I think we'll still be able to take things easier knowing what that Girl will ultimately come away with here won't
completely be what was 'wanted' out of her presence here in the first place~"
In times of familiar unrest on the Moon, you can never have enough helpers...or enough preventative measures to account for further meddling. Reisen was just nervously waiting for the part where everyone could maybe get a little less tense again before her heart rapidly flutters out of her chest entirely, the Youngest Sister curiously eyeing her over all of a sudden not helping in the slightest...
"...Sister?"
"Yes..?"
"Are you
also quite sure this is the same Reisen of ours that ran into the girl by the Ocean of Storms? So many of our precious pets over the years have all started to...
blend together. Perhaps it's finally time for us to stop taking in so many new Rabbits."
And just like that, the Moon Rabbit was right back to being totally speechless inside.
-Sagume Kishin had a psychologically-weathe
red Renko Usami standing with her on the whisper-quiet shores of the Sea of Tranquility in a matter of minutes, the fact that both individuals involved didn't exactly feel like casually chatting on the way over contributing to the expediency of it all. The Silent Sage held very little
true remorse for this Human girl beyond anything surface level, considering all that'd seemed to be set up ahead of her, but knew it was ultimately for the best that she still had so much to properly learn for herself as she instinctually held a hand over her mouth in contemplation. Her sheer momentum alone had somehow managed to get her this far already...but, next time, the Lunarian will simply do more to ensure the Capital's borders remain as steadily-monitored on either side as ever. So long as she doesn't forget to stop by Eientei again with that Power Stone sometime later after this is over with.
Renko, meanwhile, could take away nothing further from her all-encompassing view of flat waters set against a flat sky shrouded by flat stars. She continued to handle the benormeled box with both hands laid out just as flat, her suitcase sitting plainly beside her and the Lunar winds passing through her bangs quietly.
There was a certain tranquility within her grasp once again, but more the kind you might find settles in after stumbling across some sort of freshly-broken personal wreckage.
No.119826
>>119825In that moment, Renko was a mere statue compared to how she felt like she
should've been feeling towards whatever she'd initially thought the end of her Second Lunar Expedition would be more like. Sagume had a decent idea over the various sorts of things she could've been going through...but would've been
far more willing to admit how ill-suited she was for providing any kind of potential last-minute personal comforts at times like these. Maybe she really should try safely socializing with other Moon Rabbits more...
"You...really had
no idea you could've been here due to more than just yourself, did you?"
"I-I think...on some level I surely must've, from a more...practical standpoint, but..."
She stares down at the blank sands by her shoes.
"Maybe it still wouldn't've really mattered either way..."
"..."
The Lunarian knew better than to be too careless with what she could impart upon others,
but..."The actions you've known you're taking are always your own, and the actions of others you've known to
not have taken yourself are not your own. Greater Responsibility, when you get down to it, can be a truly
fickle and awful thing...try to stay conscious of all that whenever you can't come face-to-face with personally deciding upon the True Source of Your Decisions and their Final Outcomes."
And with that, the Sage flew off over the treetops with nary another sound to leave Renko with all that she had to do still. There was no getting around the deed in the end of course, but maybe it couldn't hurt to still sit here for a few more moments...
and just take in the
Silence.........but eventually, decisive action
must be taken no matter what. Renko pulled her things close and, preparing for just about anything, freely swung back the lid of the box to reveal its richly black & indigo interiors to the world. Once she realized she
hadn't been encompassed by a cloud of smoke as a result, she took a better look inside to find a rolled-up bit of parchment tied very simply to the inner-walls of the upper lid. A quick unfurling of its contents soon revealed a few brief passages of silvery, nearly-luminescent instructional text that carried genuine cause to be taken as seriously as possible by the college girl.
"
Dear Renko, if you're reading this in time and hopefully know your history like I believe you ought to then you'll already know what boxes like these are meant to do. Follow this sequence of steps Exactly to circumvent any unnecessary side effects to your timely exile, you have been warned:
- Open the rightmost compartment first and securely place the item therein on your person, this is to protect your Physical constitution as it currently remains before the return trip
- Do not open the central compartment until you have completed the previous step, but please proceed with your belongings to the awaiting receptacle that will be ahead of you in the waters after doing so
- Please consume what's within the leftmost compartment only when you have fully returned to Gensokyan soil, this is to protect your Mind and what you've experienced after your return trip
- Leave the benormeled container behind anywhere within your designated drop-off area for future third-party retrieval, do not worry about hiding it well (Udonge will find it no matter what)
Mild apologies for what was said to you in the moment that night after I'd learned more of your unfortunate circumstances. Watch your back moving forward and, next time, Please just use the door. --
from the desk of Doctor Eirin Yagokoro"
Renko sighed to herself and the still-lingering tenderness of her ribs from that night as she took to following the instructions as-noted. The first little box contained a large Raven's feather with a thin strip of some ephemeral-looking silken cloth tied to its stalk. The roughly-cut slice of mystery fabric almost gleamed against the Lunarian skyline as the Physicist tucked it away into the snug hem of her dress. Next, she opened up the middle container of the box and
did reflexively lurch back slightly as a lightly-amber-twinged cloud of mist erupted up past her face to circle overhead for a few moments before streaming itself into the nearby calm tides ahead. The foam of the waters roiled and trembled in place briefly before a rather-large liquid protrusion rising past the top swelled into a drippling bubble large enough to safely hold the girl, a single glowing seam stretching down its front to indicate readiness for Renko's travels.
Renko shut the lid of the box again and took one last look around at the pristine beauty the Lunar Capital had to offer...before walking along towards the bubble as the seam parted its surface and allowed Renko to practically be sucked inside off her feet. It was mildly disorienting, the surface of the slippery sphere quickly becoming completely obfuscated by rolling waters as the last vestiges of the Capital fully rescinded from view.
...it was extremely dark for a good couple of minutes, nothing more than the gleam of the bubble's inner surface shining off the décor of the box to illuminate anything of note for the girl...
Up until Renko began to barely make out the kinds of underwater plant life you might see around a bog or marsh hurriedly flowing past her.
Surface waters gave way once more as the sphere opened up almost like a dome or capsule, releasing the girl onto the shores of a small pond that was unmistakably Earthly in nature. Fireflies mindlessly danced over the pond's many lilies as the chirps of crickets and frogs alike echoed all around her. The Physicist saw that it wasn't long after Three in the Morning when she arrived, looking around to find little more beyond the buzzing creatures and a tangled mess of willows to comfort her once again. Far up the inclined land to her right, underneath a Full Moon that was already on its way out for the night, she could at least make out the distinct distant flickering of torchlights emanating out behind wooden walls housing obfuscated Shrine architecture fairly distinct from what she remembered of Reimu's place. Though it was all far enough away for now that she likely didn't have to care.
She sat down against a lichen-coated stump to follow-through with the final instructions of the benormeled box, revealing the touted consumable to be a
peach seemingly from the Capital trees themselves! Or, at least, a peach that's been not only de-pitted but completely
cored through as well for whatever reason. The meat of the fruit was still there and that's all that mattered...
The calm sounds of the pond's dark waters did wonders for Renko's mood as she was soon cleaning up the juices from her face, the uninterrupted ambiance from the greater woods around her ultimately easing her into something she knew she needed for herself again before anything else could get done from here:
a well-earned night's rest.[Thank you kindly for reading this entry if you have now that it's finally over! As ever, look forward to further things elsewhere as time gradually passes on...] No.119868
I really think you should make a new thread. If you hadn't noticed, /jp/'s bump limit is 250 after we raised it from like 100 a year ago. Feels wasteful to see this falling down.
No.119936
It might still be too early to make a final call, but, in conclusion, I'd say you guys do like Renko here!
>>119422>could've been any older than herself at most if they'd been humanWould Renko assume moon rabbits age slower than humans because they're magical, or faster because they're rabbits?
>Ladies of the MansionIt's probably not intentional, but this is very close to an English feudal title, which is fun because a certain section of scholarship on ancient China translates titles as their English feudal equivalent(Duke, Earl, etc.). It's kind of nice.
>had something sly to say to the PhysicistI think it would be better if you only used that byname for Renko(and this actually applies to all nicknames used) when it is directly pertinent to the story.
> danmaku patterns of that Doctor she'd fled fromIt's a cute idea to have Renko not get too badly hurt because everyone expects a spell card fight, while she just flees.
>still holding on to the typical instincts that come from getting used to a trusted dynamic almost always being availableRenko does a lot of stuff on her own, but it's funny to imagine a drunk dork talking to randos in the bars she visits as if they were Maribel.
>cubicle-typesI don't buy that rabbits work in cubicles.
>something with an amount of energy to it so incredible that it couldn't even rightly exist within normal space-time...>'Energy Sign「Planck's Collapse」'If this was in reference to blackbody radiation, it could've been tighter. Also, the name "Ultraviolet Catastrophe" was right there...
This scene as a whole was very nice otherwise. The less intense action allowed for the very pleasant character interactions and occasional descriptions to truly shine, and the scene's nature reflected very well the moon rabbits' own natural state as neurotic but carefree beings. If I was writing this, I would pair the last line of the post with a few more gentle, tranquil descriptions of the night. While the narrative has often been too tumultuous to allow this, it would be nice to have some lines be allowed to linger more.
I think it could've been better if Renko only had one spell card she could use in ultra rare special occasions.
>it wouldn't do Renko any good right now to start mentally comparing how much more this girl seemed to fill out a kimono compared to herThat was entirely unnecessary.
>anyways too I guess...Moon rabbit vernacular sure has some very quaint ways of ending sentences...
>The metro lineYou're really pushing it with the technologically advanced stuff.
>too is allThe rabbitspeak must've rubbed off on Renko too I guess is all.
>Hourai TreeNot my favorite part of the story. I'm not a fan of "the tension isn't high enough, we need something to happen without an obvious cause." I think the narrative would've been more interesting if thing did go closer to how it looked like they would go.
It's a little annoying how, even when Renko stays quiet, the story itself forces a lot of noise to happen. There is also a lot more that could've been done with the ears themselves. I get that Renko being impure sort of forced a discovery, but that could've been avoided in so many ways(for example, Marisa's magic potion that makes you have rabbit ears also turns you pure enough to pass any examination of the Moon).
>"You Ignorant, Impure Girl...you are in a Whole Heap of Trouble..!!"And now Renko up against everyone again... Too much of the story so far has been "Renko goes somewhere > something goes bad > she runs away." So much of the exploration potential of the story is thrown out because everyone just HAS to notice Renko and the world around just HAS to turn hostile the moment that happens. I hope she at least doesn't run this time...
I also don't agree with the characterization of the sisters. To me, Yorihime is stern and acts serious, but is more understanding. She is the kind of person the Capital would send after a trespasser, who, once no threat seemed to be found, would be willing to entertain those forceful guests in their games, but would also be ready to bend the rules to show off and feed her pride before sending them off without a scratch. Toyohime, on the other hand, acts calm and carefree, but is a loose cannon; she is the one the Capital would send after a genuine identified threat, like Yukari, and also someone who could get baited and deceived by a weaker yet more witting opponent, such as Yukari. An unorthodox interpretation, but I find it more correct.
Yorihime, by my judgement, would interrogate Renko, then, while trying to keep her hidden from her sister, would try to send her back home and inquire into the stranger parts of Renko's story while leaving her with as little info of the Capital as possible, inevitably failing on all counts and being found out(there you go, even a "things go wrong" bit).
>They all shuffled inside calmly through the tensions as this silver-haired woman gave her regards with little more than a passive nod...I don't think every named character had to show up in such quick succession.
>"You...you Aliens >That nosily-needling Doctor..!I think Renko is intelligent enough not to antagonize the lunarians like that. I swear, if she runs off again and finds Clownpiece...
> Sagume readily clarified in the Doctor's defense. "*Sagume defends Eirin*," Sagume said, defending Eirin.
Sagume here isn't exactly how I'd imagine her(here she is elequent, sure, but excessively verbose), my interpretation is she treats everyone else she talks to as a middle school teacher would a child while keeping her sentences short to avoid any issue with her ability, and I don't exactly like THAT she is here, but her rehabilitation of Eirin and defusing of the situation is both in-character and useful to the plot. I think if Sagume met Renko(canon or from this fic), she might have some mission for her in mind, if for no other reason than to keep her in check and send her away while giving her something to do.
>Are you also quite sure this is the same Reisen of ours that ran into the girl by the Ocean of Storms? So many of our precious pets over the years have all started to...blend togetherFunny joke.
>The Silent SageVery good nickname, much better than the others.
Despite the issues there were and the missed opportunities, this was a nice read. A lot of the wording is great and even the weaker points have still improved from the last chapter!