Tengu Reporter Quest (Touhou) (World 7 - Wheel of Time)

Fine, you'll rescue a princess. Just this once!


The door closes and you shake your head. What are you going to do with this charm? After another few seconds of consideration, you gingerly pick it up and attach it to your bag, then put your notebook away and stretch. "Aya? Are you okay?" You wave off Hatate's question and walk up to the door again, peeking through the slot. Why does it have that? Does Booster regularly keep maidens prisoner on his balcony? … Well, just because he didn't feel like a youkai doesn't mean he's not something similar; a lot of youkai wouldn't know Rinnosuke is half-youkai if it weren't common knowledge. No one is waiting in the room, however, although your eyes sweep across a mess of toys scattered across the ground – one that looks a lot like Toadstool, one that looks like some kind of oni-kappa hybrid, one of a mustachioed man wearing blue and red …. Huh. Well, if that's what he looks like …. You whirl away from the door and walk back to your companions.

"Hatate, have you ever kidnapped someone?" She gets all cute and adorable and locked up, and Toadstool frowns as you gesture for them to stand up. You pick up your bag and hold it out for Hatate to take, and she shakes her head as she rises. "Well, good, because now's your chance!" The princess backs away nervously.

"W-Wait! You … you're going to kidnap someone?" You chuckle and nod, grinning.

"Well, yes. You, actually." She blinks, and her head twitches to one side, and you dart forward, slipping around her and swinging her into your arms in – what else – a princess carry. "Now, seeing as we're not from around here and all, I was thinking about taking you somewhere else for safe-keeping. That Mushroom Kingdom place sounds like a good idea to keep a princess, at least temporarily. I've heard some things about someone regularly stealing princesses from the place, so it's not so great for long-term storage, though." Toadstool stares at you, her expression stuck between confusion and outrage, and then she looks past you at the tower wall. Hatate catches up as you clear the top of the tower, and you finally have a good look at the vast inland sea, sparkling and blue.

"Ohhh … Aya, when we're done …?" You nod as Toadstool's arm fasten around your shoulders, her face pale.

"Yes, yes. Princess, not so tight, please. I'd hate to drop you~" Of course, that just makes her scramble and tighten her grip, and you laugh as you start flying northeast. Not too quickly, of course – you want plenty of time to keep an eye on the land below, as well as anything you happen to be sharing the sky with. The map Remilia gave you seems quite accurate in general: a grand forest, a modest kappa-friendly lake or pond structure, the rising flatlands and hills that lead to the Mushroom Kingdom.

"W- would you really have dropped me?" Toadstool keeps her eyes resolutely fixed on your face, although she long ago relaxed her grip slightly when it became clear you weren't actually very likely to drop her. You grin slyly at her, wondering if you should tease her some more, to make up for the fact that you can't take any pictures. "A-And I'm sorry for taking so long to say so, but … thank you. For rescuing me." Hatate stops looking around for good pictures and turns a little so she can see you and Toadstool's face, her camera rotating in her hand in preparation for a good shot. She's going to have to be a little more subtle than that, though; it might work for danmaku duels, but reporter photography is a skill that needs to be learned.

Of course, now you have to figure out how to respond to the princess. You could argue that you really are just kidnapping her, but as your immediate goal isn't harmful, that doesn't actually contradict the claim that you're rescuing her. You're kidnapping her from someone holding her prisoner, which is certainly unorthodox, but hardly unheard-of – and you spin, and the fact that you turn just in time to avoid Hatate's picture must have been pure coincidence. Toadstool squeaks in your arms and you shoot a look at Hatate, who slumps her shoulders and nods, conceding defeat. "Why aren't there many birds flying around, anyway? You do have birds, right?" Toadstool nods slowly.

"Yes, quite a lot. Oh, whatever happened must have been serious … you really haven't seen any?" Hm. Maybe their absence indicates the presence of an incident? Sort of like how fairies tend to swarm during an Incident in Gensokyo. It doesn't feel like there's anything in particular happening, but the air is certainly different from that of Gensokyo. It's like there's actual magic circulating through the air, diffuse but present. "Ohh … there's Mushroom Kingdom!" The jagged cliffs tower over the ocean and sea, and are only slightly more traversable heading toward the lake where you think the kappa could build a home. The land itself is quite green, with rolling hills and vibrant forests – and even some forest-birds flying among the trees! - and to the east, between the castle and the ocean, are farmlands. Just the kingdom itself is about the size of Gensokyo. "Wait, we – we haven't been flying that long, have we?" You chuckle and continue flying until you're over the castle town. Even if someone looked up, they wouldn't recognize you. Hatate flies up to you.

"So, what do you think we should do, Hatate?" Toadstool looks up sharply, confusion evident as you switch from using the local language to Japanese. Hatate looks down at the castle town.

"Well … I guess I wouldn't mind seeing how things work here. I mean, we did rescue their princess, so shouldn't they be a little grateful? So we could probably learn a lot about how things work." You nod, ignoring Toadstool's unintelligible yammering.

"On the other hand, we don't want to give them the wrong idea, and just dropping her off while letting her know this was a one-time thing might be better. Especially since if we do move here, you and I won't necessarily ever come here again." There are other tengu who can serve as liaisons, and in fact you could get away with using only the wolf tengu as envoys if you needed to. Give them a couple generations to forget about this little stunt, and then you can go back to just being Aya, reporter, without having to deal with also being Aya, that tengu who saved a princess.

… Gah, why did you do this?! True, you were never terribly awful, but still! Maybe being in the library made you a little stir-crazy? "Aya?" You shake your head and let out your breath. Right, what to do ….


What do you do?

[ ] Just drop Toadstool off on top of the castle.
- [ ] Go see Bowser's Castle. It looked like a good place to brood.

[ ] Properly escort Toadstool back into the castle.
- [ ] Accept any hospitality they offer.
- [ ] Decline offers of hospitality and go see Bowser's Castle.

[ ] Other?