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

[Location] Final Fantasy VIII


You spend a week recovering on the tower of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, feeling the neverending winds of Gensokyo, usually mild but occasionally wild, and no one bothers you except to bring you food. You don't have articles to write, really; you do write what you have, but since you hardly know anything about the world you just fled from, you'll probably have to recommend that it be struck from the options. Knowing Remilia, she likely left Nazarick with a rather bloody black eye, so even going there out of vengeance won't really fit, and they hadn't gotten around to doing anything irrevocable to justify a long-term punishment.

Eventually, however, it's time to resume your work. You lead Hatate down into the mansion and toward the library. Remilia meets you at the base of the stairs and guides you into the portal area. "... So, have you decided where you want to go next?" Images of the remaining destinations appear over her shoulder, but you keep your attention on her for a few seconds. Should you ask about the attack? Would she tell you if you did ask? Would she be accurate? Should you wait?

"... Yes. We'll go there next." You wave at one of the images and it comes to the fore.

"Hyne's world. A good choice, I think." She chuckles as you raise an eyebrow, and the image wavers to show an overhead view of a kind of city sitting astride a railway in the middle of a body of water. "It's a developed world, technologically and societally -"

"What?!" Yoshika skitters sideways at Hatate's outburst, and as the vampire turns soft red eyes on her Hatate whimpers and tries to hide behind you.

"Just how far ahead are they, technologically speaking?" Remilia shrugs.

"Hard to say; I know they have firearms, and I also know that a major military power arms most of frontline troops with swords. And they also have magic. So …." She shrugs again, a lopsided almost-smile on her face. "Contrary to what you may have thought, I don't actually already know everything about these places. I can tell you a bit about some of them, more or less depending on several things – I can, for example, tell you that the place you will be going to is expressly pacifistic and opposed to conflict in all its forms. Even if they don't want you there, they won't actually force you to leave. So it'll be a good place to start investigating, I think." You frown at the small smile she has on her face.

"Er? It doesn't look that big, so how can we get investigating done – I-I mean -!?" But Remilia just sighs at Hatate's question. Has she really given you any useful information about this place that would justify her disappointment at that sort of question?

"Well, it shouldn't take you long to find something to help you out. Would you prefer a ground-level entrance, or something a bit higher up?" Your frown doesn't change, but she ignores it and sets the portal for your use, defaulting to a high-altitude opening. She's offering you less information, and you probably aren't going to get much if you have to drag information out of her, especially since you don't know what you're getting into. You finger the restored necklace, then sigh and shake your head before looking at Hatate. She hands over her bag and picks up Yoshika, and you step through the portal.

It's a beautiful, clear morning, and you inhale deeply. You can smell the pollution on the wind, the stink of oil and gasoline and coal, but it's a mild irritation, and despite what looks like a very involved train yard down below, very little comes from the city. Hatate sighs happily in the salt air. You take a couple pictures, then freeze and slowly look up to where the portal was. She can see you, and you can just about hear her laughter, musical and teasing, as realization dawns. "Um, Aya? Is something …?" You hold up your camera, but she still doesn't get it.

"She said they're technologically and societally developed; they have firearms and trains. And she was being coy. What do you think the odds that they have newspapers are?" Hatate stares at you for a moment, then her eyes widen and she turns a greedy gaze at the dying city on the ocean. Sure, they won't have the things you're looking for, and you can't just replace your own articles with stuff pulled from them, but if there are newspapers, then there are reporters – your people! There'll be some shock differences, of course, and maybe you'll have to sneak around instead of being welcomed with open arms, but there must be some kind of civilization if there are newspapers! The two of you dive simultaneously, although of course Hatate is limited by having to worry about Yoshika.

Metal groans below you as you land, and you shift your immediate priorities. The city is … not old, precisely, but it's been around for a while, and the sea is not kind or gentle. The city is not dead, not yet, but like all things touched by human hands it is a long time dying, fighting against its fate. Rust stains vast sections of the metal colossus, and other parts are pitted and corroded – but those are non-essential pieces. What places are necessary for the city's survival are better cared-for, cleaned more thoroughly and showing signs of replacement. You take a deep breath and feel the winds shift around you, answering your command and shifting, swirling, organizing. The city is not dead yet, merely dying, but there are so few people here … it might as well be. It's dead, and refuses to accept that fact, raging against the death of its light.

And then some of your winds, bringing along with them the whining of a bored child, carry with them another prisoner: a stained piece of newspaper, with part of a story about an invasion of some nation called Dollet by another called Galbadia. The date is meaningless to you, as are the specifics of the story – humans are still human, what else can you expect? – but what's exciting is the confirmation, the proof and evidence that real civilized people live here, even if they are human. Hatate hugs you tightly.


What do you do?

[ ] Into the city!

[ ] Follow the tracks to the east.

[ ] Follow the tracks to the west.

Into the city!


You hide your wings and turn to look at Yoshika. Unfortunately, she's a tad large to be easily concealable … but if these people are as pacifistic as Remilia claimed, then you'll be able to get away with it, and it'll be a good gauge for whether you'll be able to bring her along when you enter other cities or if you'll need to figure out who's going to be on wolfos-sitting duty. … It'll be Hatate, of course, but she doesn't need to know that yet. And she managed to keep from attacking anyone in E-Rantel, so she can control herself for short periods, at least. "Let's head inside, shall we?" Hatate looks away from the city, down the rail tracks that pass into the distance, fading away before you reach land.

"It feels … empty. Do you think something's happening due to that war?" Hm, now there's a thought. You start walking, and Hatate keeps a hand on Yoshika's neck as they follow you.

"Mm, maybe. But it might just be that the philosophy of this place doesn't hold up well for one reason or another, or maybe it's not very well-known to the rest of the world. Maybe they discourage outsiders." But they'd better not discourage you too much, or they might have to weather a few storms – you shake your head. Still grumpy over that last place, it seems, but if you can find the local news outlets, you should be fine. You'll be able to analyze their way of reporting, and once you find out more from other sources you'll be able to figure out if these are real news places or … bad ones.

The walk in is uneventful, and you quickly reach the apex of the city. Everyone must be down below, either on the water or in the odd glassy bowl …. You frown and take a few pictures. It looks almost like an arena, but instead of seats … you've seen something like those before, haven't you? And down there is a tree, a lonely symbol of nature – well, apart from all the ocean around you, of course. And while there is a building down there, it looks too small to have many people. Unless they're all underneath the metal. Hatate seems to come to the same conclusion you do, and you look at the path that you could continue on, but it looks like it'll end near a set of windmills. And maybe there are people living in those, but the wind dances around you, and you hear the voices below. There might be people ahead of you, but for now, you're going down.

The metal around you is a curious mix of well-maintained and starting to wear away, so there must not be enough people to maintain the city properly. Could there be a story there? Remilia did say that these people are pacifists, and it takes hard work and cooperation for pacifism to work out – it's almost a shame that Byakuren probably won't be able to come here. She'd probably get along with the locals. Yoshika seems to get more and more jittery as you descend toward the water, and you cast a concerned glance at Hatate. "There's no wood, I think," she says in response. "She doesn't need it, I don't think, but she's probably feeling surrounded by weapons and armor and not anywhere natural – this is probably the first time she's been so close to an ocean, too." Hopefully that's all it is. It'd be just your luck to find out that she's nearing that time of the year when she needs to bathe in the blood of a murder victim, or something like that that you don't know.

You finally make your way down to sea level and walk along the train tracks that seem to serve as the main street. Yoshika tries pushing forward eagerly, and it looks like Hatate was right – oh, she'd better not do anything embarrassing when you've just gotten here. The people walking around – mostly older folks, but there are a handful of younger adults and even a couple kids playing around where they aren't in the way. You get a few looks, particularly as Hatate lets Yoshika dig her nose into the wood and follow a trail of some kind that loops back and forth confusingly, and you return their looks with a pleasant smile so no one feels offended. They nod back and return to whatever they were doing, either working or wandering or just relaxing. Hm, yes, there's definitely a population problem … but since the place isn't falling down around their ears, it can't be too bad. Not yet, anyway, although this area seems both better- and worse-maintained than the walkways above. It's really easy to tell where everyone's energy is focused and what areas are used more frequently by what's being kept in good shape and what isn't. Eventually, one woman sitting outside a building waves you toward her in a friendly manner, and Hatate pulls Yoshika away from the water as you walk toward her.

"Good afternoon," she says warmly, smiling but not getting up from her chair. "You look like you haven't been in FH long." You nod.

"That's right. We just got here; you're actually the first person we've spoken to. Is there anything we should know so we don't cause any trouble?" Her eyebrows rise a bit and she chuckles.

"Oh, don't worry about that – it's just most newcomers aren't as upfront about that. To be fair, most of them are kids even younger than you, so when they show up talking about how they're 'just want some change' or want to go on adventures, we know they're not likely to stay. And no one asks about not causing any trouble, they just act like they're back home …." She gets a nostalgic look as she trails off, then shakes herself and smiles apologetically. "Sorry, mind wandered for a bit. As for not causing trouble – well, that's not hard. We don't fight here; if you have a disagreement, just talk with the other person. You've probably noticed that we don't have any police, no military; we don't force people to do things, or not do things … but we won't help people who won't respect our beliefs, either." She frowns and looks down at your hands, and you hesitate before smiling embarrassedly and step back, scratching your head nervously.

"Ah, sorry, sorry – it's an old habit of mine by now, writing things down. I'm – I'm a reporter, so it's just what I do." You didn't even do it consciously, not this time, and though the woman's face hardens a bit at the revelation, she nods and tries to smile.

"Ah. Well, it's … I'd like to ask you to not write any stories about this place, at least not without talking to Dobe and Flo. They're the … well, I guess you could call him the mayor. But we've had a couple situations where people came here because of stories they'd heard. And, well … it's worked out, but -" You nod understandingly.

"You don't want people to not come here, because you don't think you're wrong, but you also don't want people who have something to prove coming here because they heard you'd be 'easy' and wouldn't fight back." She relaxes and nods.

"Yeah. Or who wanted to prove that we're no different from anyone else and that we would fight." She shivers at some memory.

"Dobe and Flo … they'd be at the building with the tree?" The woman nods after a moment.

"Yeah, that's their house. It's nice that you said it that way, though – most people assume it's the power generator, because it's in the middle of all the solar panels, but you caught the most important thing right away." She smiles, then shakes herself and nods at you. "Oh, and my name is Julia." You nod – and you're writing again, but she doesn't seem to mind – and gesture first at yourself and then at Yoshika.

"I'm Aya, and this is Yoshika." Julia nods at you, then holds out a hand for Yoshika to smell.

"Hatate. It's nice to meet you."


What do you do?

[ ] Keep talking to Julia.
- About?

[ ] Go talk to Dobe and Flo.

[ ] Look around the city for a while.

[ ] Other?

A Tengu's First Impressions


Fisherman's Horizon is a small town sitting along a rail bridge that extens over an ocean. A village made of steel built over possibly the most inhospitable environment to human kind, that such a settlement exists at a testament to the will of it's inhabitants, though time and the sea have both left their marks.

While it is built on a railway, this part of the line has fallen into disuse, and the people of FH are largely self-sufficient. Local dishes are mostly fish based, and the town recycles whatever it can.

The people of FH are not friendly, but one shouldn't expect hostility from them either. These are men and women who are trying to avoid the typical conflicts of the world, and have isolated themselves in a location of little value, with no valuable ores, great food production or anything else that would make them an appealing target. They wish to live quietly and by their own beliefs, for which others would take advantage of them.

Whatever one might think of those beliefs, you cannot say they haven't put forth the effort to build a home for those beliefs to exist in. A life on the ocean is hard, and maintaining even a moderately sized structure on it is a monumental task, made more difficult by their near self-imposed isolation. One can see the wear and rust that's built up over the years, but one can also see the care and effort put into the maintaining it, and it stands strong in the face of adversity.

Fisherman's Horizon is not an old town, but neither is it young, and one can only wonder what the future might hold for it? Its people likely wish for it continue on as a quiet town far removed from the world, and one is inclined to think if they've worked this hard to achieve that goal, that is its fate, for good or ill.

Go talk to Dobe and Flo.


"Is there anything we should take care about when talking with them? Like … oh, there are some people I know back home who love to debate philosophy, and there are a few who really hate it and just say 'these are the rules and that's the way it is.' Anything that would be a problem to bring up?" Julia stares at you thoughtfully for a moment, then leans back in her chair to think.

"Anything that would make them raise a fuss? Mm. Well, I can't say much about that, but maybe you shouldn't bring your sword to meet them?" You blink and look down; you've started forgetting about it already, haven't you? "Oh, they'll understand, of course – you can't reason with monsters, after all, not like you can with humans. But it'll make them annoyed if you bring a weapon to meet with them anyway, so you should probably leave it outside, out of the way." You want to make a comment about negotiating with monsters, but that would probably force you to put off a meeting with the mayor until tomorrow at least. Instead, you just nod along with her suggestion. It's not a bad one, particularly if you're understanding her intent properly: if these people really believe that every conflict can be solved by discussion and violence is never necessary, then the very existence of weapons is likely a sore point for them. If there are entities that qualify as 'monsters' here, or if they hunt or fish, then there are likely to be exceptions for those, but any sort of exception creates a precedent, and letting it get brought up will probably end as poorly as walking up to them and discussing the merits of a standing army.

"Thank you, Julia. I don't think I would've noticed that until they did, really." Julia chuckles and shakes her head, then shifts so she's a little more laid-back. Hatate joins you in your farewell, and then you turn around and head back the way you came. Your notebook and pen in your pouch, and you carefully detach the scabbard from where it hangs.

"Would it really be that big a deal?" You shrug in response.

"It could be. It wouldn't be sensible, but if these people are as idealistic as Julia implied, then it becomes more likely. Lots of people have quirks like that, where saying or doing something makes them more or less likely to do something. Sometimes it's based in something reasonable, but a lot of the time it's just a facet of dealing with that person." Hatate grumps a bit and you grin despite yourself. Back you go, ascending the ramp to the height of the city once more, leaving behind you the sleepy part of town and its mix of restoration and decline. Your mind turns over what Julia said about the mayor's residence – it's in the middle of the solar panels, and many people think it's part of the power generation infrastructure. You glance at the building down below – they're outside, now, sitting across from each other on the deck of the structure – and then sweep your eyes back over the strange arrays. Yes, it reminds you a bit of Yuuka and her sunflowers, and also of some things Patchouli has done. And … solar panels. Drawing power from the sun's light? If it moves the world away from pollutants, you'd be happy to see them succeed in it.

Dobe looks like an older man, soon to leave middle age behind, and watching his hair grey steadily. Flo is perhaps not as old, but still far from the flower of her youth and beauty. Since you have the distance and it's been so long, you raise your camera and take a few pictures of the couple. They're playing some kind of game, perhaps? Something with small cards, it looks like, but you can't really see anything from this angle. "Um, I'll just hang back with Yoshika and the bags, okay?" You look back at Hatate. "I mean, sure, we could just leave the sword leaning somewhere out of sight, but since they're outside already …." She trails off uncomfortably, and you wonder if this is the first time she's encountered someone who doesn't believe in the use of violence at all. It probably is, since most of the humans she's likely to have met would have been inside Gensokyo, where pacifism is just dumb.

"Fine, fine, you won't have to come meet the possibly-crazy people," you say, and she ducks her head. Well, she's still new at this, and it's probably difficult to reconcile wanting to ask them why they believe in such a foolish ideology with wanting to not aggravate them into making your lives more difficult. You watch the game as best you can – some kind of card-flipping game, it looks like – and leave your bag and sword with Hatate as you head across the deck to the central platform. The two humans look up from their game as you climb the stairs, and they certainly look approachable. "Hello. You're the mayor, aren't you?" Dobe sits up and gives you his full attention.

"I am, yes. My name is Dobe; this is Flo, my wife. How long have you been in FH?" The woman nods at you when introduced, and you walk up to them.

"Mm, less than an hour. My name is Aya, that's Hatate down at the stairs, and – you can't see Yoshika, our pet, but she's over there, too. We actually went down into the city itself, but we met a woman named Julia who told us that you lived here, and since it's your city …." You trail off as you study the tree growing out of their home. It's not a type of tree you recognize, but that's hardly surprising.

"Hmph. I wonder what that woman wants, sometimes." You turn back to Flo, but she just puts down a card depicting some kind of fish in one of the corners. Ah, they have numbers, and if the values match the sides and you want higher values, then she's putting down a defensive card. Dobe scowls at her, but she smiles and shrugs.

"She probably said something about what we believe, but one thing I don't believe is in preaching," Dobe says a little sullenly. "We don't believe in violence here, and that includes verbal as well. As long as you follow our rules, there won't be trouble." You keep your expression firmly masked – if they don't believe in violence, what kind of trouble can they cause for someone who does? Wearing out their sword arm and hoping they get sick of killing? Well, as long as you don't push too many buttons, it shouldn't matter.


What do you do?

[ ] Ask about that game they're playing.

[ ] Ask about the history of their city.

[ ] Other?


Note: Too sleepy now, and Daylight Savings Time is throwing things off.