In Gensokyo(SI, working title)

[Farzi]

A/N: I really don't have much of an ego to write one of these, but I'm gonna try and indulge a bit to make this work

Prologue

You know, have you ever wondered why your here?

No seriously, have you ever asked yourself that question? Just why the hell you're here?

Me? I'm here because of a bored youkai. I won't bore you with the details, but long story short-I died, got grabbed by the gap bitch and was given a choice-she either sends me to whatever afterlife she felt like sending me to, or I participate in a little game she had in mind. Looking back now, given all the trouble that I've been put through because of her...I'm not sure I made the right choice.

So, after a bit of tense negotiation, let's just say I got a bit of a leg up compared to some. But it does come with a price, mainly in the form of occasionally picking up the stray outsider she brought in and making sure they got safely through whatever game she played. But at the same time, I occasionally have to do some of her dirty work. That's always fun. And no, I'm not her Shikigami, so don't ask.

So, I suppose I oughta start from the beginning. Well, as close as I can remember anyways-human or youkai, still have trouble remembering things from time to time.
-----
"Come on guys!" I gritted my teeth at the high-pitched voice as I rolled over in my bed. The door to my igloo banged open. "FARZI! ARE YOU AWAKE!?" A blue-haired girl, dressed in a white blouse and blue and white jumper dress came barging in and damn near gave me a heart attack-or would have if I wasn't made up of ice and magic. The light nearly blinded me, and the fact it was reflecting off the crystals that floated just behind her didn't help the matter any. I sat up, glaring at her. "Yeah," I drawled, doing my best to stay calm, "I am now." Do not shoot her-Cirno doesn't know any better. This was the mantra I had to keep repeating to myself. When I'd first arrived here two, maybe three years ago after being punted out of one of the Hag's gaps I'd found myself on the shore of what I later learned to be the Misty Lake.

She had apparently decided that the lake needed another Ice Fae-or she thought it was funny. Either way, I found myself in the company of the 'illustrious' Team Nine. And by illustrious, I mean an absolute pain in everyone's ass. Including mine, but the Ice Fae was happy to have a 'Sibling' and more often or not I got dragged off on whatever schemes she had in the works. Which was likely the reason she was here now. "So, mind telling me why you came barging into my house?" I replied as I pulled the thin sheet I used as a blanket off got to my feet. I reached for the old cotton jacket I always wore-one of a few sentimental items I still had leftover from my old life.

"No time, the others are waiting!" She grabbed me before I could finish put it on, and suddenly I found myself flying through the air. Cirno's got one hell of a grip when she needs it. I struggled to stabilize myself. "Damnit Cirno, let go!" I snarled, attempting to wrench my arm free-this attempt was less than successful as I couldn't get the proper leverage. "Stop whining-we're almost there." The rest of Team Nine were assembled in small clearing, Mystia, Rumia, Wriggle, and Dai. "Alright, now that we have our sixth member!" I rolled my eyes at that as she puffed out her chest and placed her hands of her hips with her proclamation. "We can finally commence with the plan!" Donning my jacket-I noticed it was a little warm. Huh, enchantment musta been wearing off....

"Alright oh Glorious Leader." I said, my voice thick with sarcasm, "What's this master plan of yers?" She gave me one of those cocky grins of hers. "Well, I figured we'd play a prank today on that maid lady." Maid lady-what? I furrowed my brows at this. Who around here was some kind of maid-I knew of a couple individuals, but they weren't anywhere near here. "So here's what we're gonna do-we're gonna break in and dump a big bucket of ice water on her when she's not looking-we just need to get past China first and we're home free!" Wait a minute..."But didn't we get into to trouble the last time we went into the manor?" Dai asked, twisting a lock of her green hair in contemplation.

"Aw hell. We honestly aren't-?" I was interrupted by an outburst from Mystia. "Yeah!" She replied, "That's why me and Rumia are here-I'll blind her, and when we splash her Rumia will cover us." The blonde youkai nodded sagely. "Now hold up a moment." I said, everyone turned and looked at me. Well, at least I had their attention, leastwise for all of five seconds. "Last time you all broke into that place, you ended up-" The moment I ended trying to dissuade them from I was suddenly shushed by Cirno. "Don't worry little bro, big sis will protect you." She declared, before nodding to the others and grabbing me by the arm. I was getting dragged into this one way or another. "Alright Team Nine, Let's go prank a maid." The shouted reply's of "Yeah!" Mixed in with a barely heard, nervous "Okay." from Daiyousei. And everyone took off, Cirno and I taking up the lead (Read-me being dragged along).

Resigned to my fate, there was at least one upside: I could get Patchy to check the magic on my jacket.

 

[ARSLOTHES]

ooh, a touhou fic. Hope you continue this since I don't see very many of these done well.

 

[Farzi]

Chapter 1

As we floated within range to the all-too-familiar European Style manor that made me think of the first Resident Evil game, I found myself dreading the next part. I needed to talk with Patchy about getting my enchantment renewed, but at the same time, I really, really didn't want to be involved in this whole thing, given the fact that the target was a Maid who could stop time and a penchant for knife work.

I spotted Meiling outside the gate as we landed a good distance away as not to be seen. Everyone hunkered down, where as I simply leaned against a tree pulling my jacket hood over my eyes; I was considering just simply sleeping through this and letting these idiots get themselves into trouble. However, the sensation of small droplets of water sliding down my back made me reconsider. "Alright now we just need to wait for China to leave." Cirno sounded way too eager to kick this off. I glanced from behind my tree-the youkai seemed to be napping though I knew more likely than not she probably already knew we were here.

Was probably waitin' on us to try something. I let out a sigh. "Alright...uh..." The Nineball was trying to think of something, face screwed up in concentration-I could see steam rising off of her head-though it was more likely than not just the difference in temperature. Everyone shared a look-probably wondering if she was gonna blow a gasket, though none of them probably knew what one was. "Looks like she's putting some major effort into this one." Mystia remarked, earning a round chuckles. "Think she'll melt from the effort?" Rumia asked. This brought more laughter. Even I cracked a smile at that. "Okay!" Cirno spun around and pointed a finger at poor Dai-the green haired seemed caught off guard, "Dai-you and Farzi will get China to chase you, and then we go in."

Wait a minuet...

"Hold up a moment!" I was shushed by the lot of them-either I got too loud or they liked the idea. Glancing at big fairy beside me-who looked really nervous at the prospect. The two of us found ourselves being manhandled-Dai with a little nervous stammering, and me snarling a number of curses accompanied by me giving Wriggle a black eye before being tossed unceremoniously into to the open. I'm honestly surprised that Meiling hadn't done anything as of yet. Dusting off my jacket as I got to my feet. Dai had already begun to float over to the gate. I glared back at their hiding spots, gave them the bird, and trudged after the other fae.

What? Just because I can fly doesn't mean I have to.
-----
As I approached, I saw Meiling was now fairly alert and currently trying to make sense of Dai's stammering. "Well, what is it?" I heard her say. "I-I'm...eheheh" I saw she was visibly shaking, "I-I wanted to s-say hi!" I wanted to face palm at that one. The other woman didn't look too convinced, but simply patted her on the head. I came up behind Dai and nodded to the Gatekeeper. <"Afternoon Meiling."> I said in English-my southern accent didn't mix too well with Japanese, and when I first arrived it butchered almost every word I spoke. It hadn't quite faded even after living three years here, but Meiling spoke some English-perhaps at Remilia's insistence? Or because she though would make an amusing game, probably that. <"Here to see Patchy. She in?"> She looked from Dai, to me, then back to Dai, then sighed.

<"Yes, she normally is."> She replied, placing her hands behind her back, <"Though why is she here?"> She nodded at the big fairy beside me. I made a not-so-subtle gesture over to where the rest of Team Nine were hiding.<"Ah."> That was all the explanation she needed. "Meiling." A new voice had joined-an almost melodic tone, "I've left your meal in-" A sudden noise behind her made both of them turn-I couldn't see her due to Meiling blocking my vison, but I suspect Sakuya had probably drawn a knife. "NOW MYSTIA!" Son of a-

"Chin!ChinChin!~" Everyone let out a mix of cries, shots-and my case a creative stream of swear words describing their exact lineage and how they were conceived as we were all suddenly blinded. There was a loud splash-and a shout, followed by a cry of "GOT HER!" There a brief pause, followed by the sound of metal hitting stone. My vision returned as I heard Rumia shout "SCATTER!" Followed by more blackness-thanks for that by the way, followed by being blinded by the sudden reintroduction to the bright mid-morning sun. And no Dai. They left me! I sighed and turned-facing a very annoyed, very wet Sakuya and a glaring Meiling. <"Uhh….I uh...I didn't have anything to do with this."> If it hadn't been for the fact they'd been blinded, and one of them chilled to the bone-I probably would've ended up as a pincushion, or a punching bag. Meiling especially was good at catching intruders, regardless of what everyone says. Still, while the Gatekeeper had at least some warning, which is why she hadn't beaten me to a pulp(again), the Head Maid didn't look convinced.

<"I really didn't, honestly."> I took a step back as she produced a trio of daggers between the fingers of her right hand. <"Now Sakuya, let's think about-CRAP!"> She threw them at me with one of them clipping me hood. I stared at the rip it had left for a moment, and then glared at her-she had already produced three more. "Your services aren't needed here at the moment Gatekeeper." She said calmly, hurling another barrage of knives, forcing me to do what amounted to an impression of the Matrix to avoid being hit, "I will deal with the intruder myself." I found myself flat on my ass, and the look of pity Meiling gave em, followed by a mouthed <"I'm sorry."> told me just how much trouble I was in.

<"Sakuya,"> I said calmly, floating into the air, <"All yer doin' is makin' a damn fool of yourself."> A another barrage knives and danmaku. Alright, stay calm, and try to talk her down. I launched a few counter shots-single bullets rather than a pattern. "Illusion Existence: Clock Corpse!" Aw hell! Time froze as a flower shaped pattern of diamond shaped danmaku mixed in with knives materializing in thin air, all pointed at me. I immediate cut the magic, plummeting downwards as they whistled past. The sudden change combined with the impact as I landed feet first, bending my knees in order to absorb the impact-albeit imperfectly-blasted the air out of me. She wasted no time capitalizing on this, hurling yet more knives, this time in a stream.

I was forced to take the hit, hacking a up a lung in the process. That stings a bit. <"Sakuya. Stop."> I said again, my voice strained. <"Yer gonna get hurt."> I began to focus-she was still soaked which was a good thing. "I'm sorry, Farzi-san, but I am required to protect the mistress and her home from any intruders." She seemed to be sorry, but at the same time I was here and the others had ran for it-she was probably just putting a show to save a little face. "Conjuring: Mesmerizing Misdirection!" A burst of daggers, followed by what seemed like her teleporting around and throwing more-and what's worse, the daggers seemed to bounce off of things. I didn't bother dodging this time, instead I simply grinned. "Yo Sakuya." I reverted to Japanese, she had paused a moment, "LAZY SNOWBALL!" A large ball of snow, about the size of a basketball slowly floated towards her. A raised eyebrow, followed by her simply sidestepping the attack. I used the opportunity to float close enough to touch her. "You win-fight's over." I placed a hand on her shoulder, "Now, I need to see Patchy. Jacket's wearing down."

She regarded me for a moment, and nodded. Good-having ice stuck in yer clothes isn't comfortable-doubly so if it sticks to you.
----
What? You would've done the same?

Ugh, fine. Maybe freezing her might've been a little extreme.
----
<"Yeah, sorry bout earlier."> I said as we walked towards the library, <"Unfortunately Cirno got it into her head to prank you and used me and Dai as bait."> She shook her head, having accelerated time to dry her uniform. <"I see."> She replied with out looking back towards me, <"And you didn't think to do something dissuade them."> While her tone was conversational, I could tell it was a not so subtle accusation. <"In my defense, I gave Wriggle a black eye, and there were a lot more of them than me."> She 'Hmm'd' at that, but she didn't say much more. Soon we arrived at the great doors. She knocked, and a scarlet haired devil in a black dress poked out. "Hey Koa, Patchy busy?" I asked, which led to the maid giving me a brief glare. "Yes, but she's busy at the moment-did you need the enchantment on your jacket renewed?" I sighed. "Yeah, startin' to fade-when she gonna be free?" The devil thought on this a moment. "Probably in about a week, maybe longer-she made a major breakthrough with a ritual and hasn't really been sleeping lately, so she's exhausted."

Whelp, talk about a wasted trip-I got the crap kicked outta me after being dragged along in some hairbrained scheme all for nothing. Story of my life right now. "Alright, I'll see if I can't get Alice or the Black-White to give it once over until then." With that, she nodded and closed the door. Guess I have to make another trip. I took it off-while the enchantment still held the cold, it was starting to get uncomfortably warm. I looked to the head maid. "I'll see myself out." Adding mentally that we both had wasted enough of each other's time.
----
Proll'y around...I dunno, half-hour? I arrived back at my igloo. No sign of Team Nine, which was always a positive in my books-door was shut. Wasn't odd-might've closed it on the way out and didn't realize it. I opened the door-still chilly, though it had an odd blue light shining inside. What the hell.

"You really should tidy up more, you never know when you might receive company." A playful voice said. I spun around, ready to clobber the intruder, when I paused. A deep purple western style dress, tinged with blue light, with a tabard depicting various Japanese symbols that covered it. A mob cap of the same color rested atop long, waist length blonde hair. Golden eyes peered into mine, shining with laughter, with a gentle smile coloring her face.

"Shit..." Was only response I had for Yukari Yakumo.

 

[Farzi]

A/N: GO GO GADGET EGO TRIP!

"Shit." Was the only response I had for Yukari Yakumo. She chucked. "Such language," She said, stepping past me-I noticed now that the source of the light was Coldfire-stuff had more in common with liquid nitrogen than fire-and best of all I could keep it in the home and use it as a source of light, though it needed a source to 'burn' in order to work. "Do you always greet your guests like that?" I let out a sigh her comment, on both my home and behavior wasn't wrong-a few dirty dishes here and there-an unmade bed. Laundry that I hadn't gotten around to doing yet-along with some discarded food packages scattered about...and I really didn't like much in the way of visitors. "I don't get too many guests, you know that." Another chuckle. "I am aware-but you do need to maintain something resembling a decent standard." I rolled my eyes at that-what was she, my mother now?

But she was right-as usual...gettin' real tired of that.

"Alright," I said, looking up at her, "I know this ain't a social visit, so wha'ddya need?" I really, really wasn't in the mood. She sat down on the large chair I kept for her visits-it was a plush recliner I had salvaged after it had appeared-I had to fight off a couple of other fairies who wanted it. I'd managed to keep it mostly intact-had to apply some patches here and there, but it was still in one piece. I sat on the stool I had cobbled together. The gap hag raised an eyebrow at this. "What, I can't visit one my favorite experiments?" I didn't respond, instead choosing to give her a hard stare. This continued on for a few moments-her same amused look as she sipped a cup of hot tea she had pulled out of a gap. "I really wish you would learn to loosen up-you would be much happier." Yukari cupped her beverage with both hands, and finally after a moment longer of tea drinking relented. "You are correct though, I do have a job for you." Out of another gap, she pulled a file. I took it in my hands-thing was almost as tall as I was-right, fairy small. Get used to it dummy, you've been this way for three years now. I got off my stool and placed the folder on it.

Opening it, I examined it's contents-written in English rather than Japanese for security reasons.

Villager Disappearances
Status: Unresolved, immediate response required

Report:
As of several months ago, several villagers had disappeared along the path to the Moriya Shrine-at first it was believed that perhaps they had taken a wrong turn-possibly led astray by the work of fairies due to inattention and were possibly set upon by feral youkai. This disappearances at first seemed to be sporadic in nature, as well as the number. This is not unheard of as occasionally such instances do happen. Around the same time, an eerie indigo light had appeared-often accompanied by an eerie tune attributed to the wind blowing through the streets. However as of recently, the number of missing villagers have increased-with a number vanishing from their homes. This has raised a number of serious concerns on the security of the village and has led to an increase in patrols.

This unfortunately has not deterred the youkai in question from further attempts, as several more villagers have disappeared. We believe that the lights and song may be connected somehow.

There were a few other details, mostly a timeline on when each disappearance happened-but from what I could see it didn't really pick up until around a month ago. The number that had disappeared however-that wasn't a good thing. I closed the folder with a sigh. "Alright, I'll bite," Picking up the folder, I sat back down, "Why exactly are you coming to me with this? Why not go to one of the shrine maidens or Marisa?" The gap youkai gave me one of her trademark smiles. "Come now, the fact I asked it of you isn't enough?" While it didn't sound like it, I could tell she was losing patience as stood, opening a gap, "I expect this incident to be resolved within the week, am I clear?"

Of course she wouldn't tell me, just li- "Farzi." She called my name when I didn't initially answer. Her tone was gentle, but had an edge to it. "I'm giving you this chance because at the moment I have no other options available."

"Now, I will ask you again; I expect this incident to be resolved within the week-am I clear?" The same, gentle, edged tone.

"Ye-yeah, I'll get it done." She let out a chuckle. "Good. Standard rules apply." With that she stepped through and the gap closed behind her. I looked at the folder, sighed and went over to my dresser. Opening the top drawer, I reached in and pulled out a simple arm band with three eyes-similar to the ones that that manifested in her gap-the largest one in the middle with two smaller ones beside it. Pulling it on, I sighed.

Welp, time to get to work I guess.

 

[Pinklestia]

"I'm giving you this chance because at the moment I have no other options available."

Click to shrink...

Bullshit.

Honesty, at this point I would just look in the locak bars until I find that lazy ass grim reaper, explain my situation and go to whatever afterlife I was supposed to go.

 

[Farzi]

Chapter 2: The Song in the Wind Incident, Pt.2

As I walked along the path that led to the village, a single question echoed in my head: "Why?"

Yukari had never assigned me, let alone trusted me with anything this big. Usually the vast majority of the work I got from her were simple errands or occasionally tagging along with Ran or Chen on a few minor tasks. Well, that and looking after the odd outsider she dropped in for jaunt around
Gensokyo-at least the ones she told me about. Most of them got out in one piece-more or less...maybe, kinda? Alright, maybe there were a few hiccups here and there. My point is I smelled a rat the moment she said I was her only option at the moment; I knew for a fact that if this was really as bad as the gap hag let on, she would've either sent the kitsune or intervened personally.

Just what in the hell is she up to? And more importantly...why do I even care?

I shook my head and mentally went over my other gear to take my mind off of the gap youkai's particular brand of nonsense-before I had left I grabbed a belt that held some useful stuff-a flashlight and a large bore flare gun with some ammo, mostly used to chase off Rumia and Wriggle when I too damn lazy to use danmaku. A radio that had been enchanted to open communications between me and the Yakumo household that hopefully I wouldn't need. My spell cards for obvious reasons. Finally, a small notebook and pencil so I could take notes and hopefully have something useful by the end of the day.

Guess it'll have to do.
----
As I approached the crest of the hill overlooking town, I spotted the half-dozen or so guards at the gate-looked like a couple of samurai and a few
ashigaru-a form of peasant militia similar to the levies that European lords would raise to fight for their king-or for their own gain. The fact they were being use to bolster the already standing guard was not a good sign. 'How much you wanna bet I'm gonna be butting heads with these boys when I try to enter.' I thought bitterly. This was already shaping up to be an already wonderful start to the mission, and it isn't past midday yet. I started down the hillside, making sure to observe the guards at the gate.

Thankfully, from what I could see while the samurai were fully kitted out they didn't have any ranged weapons. The ashigaru, six in total, four on the ground, two up on the gate, on the other hand had simple spears rather than naginata and no armor, while the other two on the gate had what looked like short-barreled matchlock guns with lacquer armor breastplates-meant that while the two were probably properly trained the others had probably been conscripted on short notice and the village just didn't have enough munition grade armor to outfit them properly-I knew the village kept a small stockpile to hastily outfit any militia just in case. That wasn't a good sign either way. The samurai, while clearly on alert didn't seem too jumpy, while the peasant troops maintained a nervous grip on their weapons. Given the current situation I couldn't blame them, and more likely than not wouldn't be able to get in.

Wonderful. And here I was hoping to get a few more leads before I started poking around the Moriya Path-maybe a few more bodies to make the search go quicker.

I was honestly considering just abandoning the job at this point and just piss around for the next week or so. Unfortunately the samurai had already seen me, and one was already moving to intercept. Right. Let's get this over with. I stopped short, probably around fifteen, twenty feet short, letting him come to me-mainly because I wanted something between me and those gunners. The samurai seemed to realize what I was up to, stopped about five feet short-making sure he was out of the field of fire; while I could technically fly, all it would take would one of the those gunners timing his shot correctly. "State your business youkai." He stated harshly-I think I recognize the guy-but I can't quite place it. Welp, let's see if I can't pull this off with out getting shot.

"Well Hoss," I said in pleasant tone that probably sounded as genuine as a supermodel's tits, "My business is I'm here to run a small errand for Yakumo Yukari." I showed him my band-this was I guess kinda like a police badge, a symbol of authority. The samurai's eyes narrowed. "That's quite a claim little one." Was his response as his hand slowly inched towards his blade, "Have you proof beyond that simple band?" I snorted at that, placing both hands on the back my head and yawning. "Look Mister...?" Dropping my hands, I gestured for him to introduce himself. The samurai tensed, and then finally nodded after a bit. "I am Okada-"

"Koji!" I pointed at him, "I knew I recognized you! Elder's youngest right?" Either it was tantamount to the discipline and training he received as a samurai or an extraordinary amount of self control that he didn't just cut me in half then and there. Koji was the youngest boy of the village elder-decided to become a samurai instead of a politician. I could respect that. "If you knew who I was, why did you need me to introduce myself?" The man's voice was even. "Just couldn't put a face to the name-err name to the face-bleagh," I shook my head, "Tongue-Tied. Anyways, sorry bout' that. And as for the claim-don't much think anyone would be dumb enough to use the gap youkai's name to back them up unless they had good reason." At least I don't think so anyways, but I've been wrong before. "May I at least have your name, since you already seem to know mine?" Yep, he's probably gonna cut me in half at this rate...but he's put up with me so far, might as well throw him a bone. "Name's Farzi." I replied, and to that his eyes widened but showed no other reaction, "Now I really need to get in and speak with yer pa."

He hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head. "I'm sorry Farzi-sama," He said formally while his face retained a neutral expression, "But unfortunately my father has decreed that no youkai may enter, not even servants of the Great Youkai Sages." He looked down at me, and I judging by his expression while he did take some satisfaction in this, he was being genuine. Don't fault the grunts for doing their jobs-they aren't to blame. "Alright Koji, mind if ask a few questions then?" I pulled the notebook from my belt. The samurai looked pensive for a moment, and shook his head.

"I'm afraid not-I must return to my post." Crap, well there goes that idea. "Well, thanks anyways." Still stuck on square one I guess.
----
So after basically wasting my time trying get into the village, I found myself sitting in a tree going over what few notes I had.

1. The youkai in question has some how been luring victims away from either the path or village-and if the report was anything to go by, it was likely luring the victims in by song. In that case perhaps the indigo glow was possibly a side effect. The human village itself probably had around fifteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants-this was enough to ensure a healthy amount of variation the population, along with the occasional outsider who managed to stumble in on their own or decided to remain here permanently after Yukari was done with them. This in turn ensured that the local youkai population could also sustain themselves on their fear with out possibly going extinct-and occasionally devour some of the more foolhardy ones.

2. Village Security . I knew the village maintained a standing guard of around twenty samurai backed by another one hundred trained ashigaru that formed a part time millita and were rotated out in groups of twenty five every four months so they didn't strain the village resources, and all of them could be activated on short notice if needed, kind of like a local National Guard. More than enough to deal with any youkai that managed to break into the village as well as keep the peace-not to mention if it got past them it had the school teacher to deal with. What was she-a were-hockypock thingy? I don't remember. Though if I call recall correctly, usually the samurai would guard the gate while occasionally leading patrols along the perimeter of the village while the militia would be used to keep the peace in the village. The fact that I'd only seen two samurai at the gate along with the guys that had probably been conscripted meant they'd probably lost some guys already-and if they were on duty at the time....

3. I probably should've told those boys why I was there in the first place-might've gotten me in. Nice goin' dummy.

I leaned back in the tree I was sitting in, and came to the conclusion that I was probably overthinkin' things. Chances are some moron was lookin' to cause trouble, and was making people vanish as a result. I floated down from my perch and began to pace. Alright, well, I do have one other lead-long shot though...
-----
Let me get one thing straight-I hate flying-always have. Mainly because I don't much care for heights. But I'll be frank it's one mighty convenient form of travel-how a lot of the more powerful residents get around. But I was flying over the Misty Lake, mainly to find one particular youkai. I knew she had a particular spot that she favored. As I flew towards it, I heard a song I didn't quite recognize. The tune was unknown but the voice wasn't. I saw a figure dressed in brown and white hunched over a stream that fed into the lake itself. Pulling a small net out of the stream-Mystia Lorelei prepped her catch for her stand.

"Mystia!" I called, going in for a landing. She seemed surprised to see me. "You can actually fly Farzi?" Really? The first thing that comes out of your mouth is asking if I can actually fly? I let out a deep sigh. "Yes Mystia," I groaned, trying not to face palm, "Like the vast majority of faries, I am fully capable of flight if I so choose." She stared for a moment, then pulled one of the lampreys out and sliced it open-letting the blood drain as she strung it up. "So I guess the maid let you go?" She inquired, not bothering to look back at me from her work. "Yeah. Anyways, got a question for ya." She turned and looked back at me. "No, I'm not giving you any of my lampreys-try and take them and I'll blind you for a week."

"I don't want any of yer damned leech-fish!" I snapped back. I was already annoyed at the fact I had been left behind, assigned work from Yukari and then had to deal with this nonsense. "I was gonna ask you if you'd been near the human village lately?" That surprised her. She stared at me for a moment, then saw the band on my arm. "Why's the Gap Hag want to know, huh?" She was defensive, and quite understandable-Mystia was known to roam around the youkai trail and frighten humans. And if I remember right, also ran a long con with her stand-blinding humans and then using her lampreys to 'cure' them. "Look, I don't care about the stand," I said, taking a step forward-my temper was starting to slip, "I don't care about the goddamned lamprey con yer runnin'; all I care about is finding out who's been behind the disappearances." I didn't realize it-but the temperature had dropped sharply around us-cold enough to freeze the blood from the hanging lampreys. "Disappearances?" Ah shit. "You think I'm behind a bunch of humans going missing?" I saw her reaching for something-spell card likely. "I'm not letting you-"

"MYS. TI. A."

The temperature dropped even further-chunks of ice were starting to form on the surface of the lake. She hesitated for a moment-think I might of scared her. I took yet what seemed the umpteenth million deep breath today. "Look, I just need to know if you've been near the village around the Moriya Path, alright?" I explained, placing my hands in my pockets. She shook her head. "No, I don't go that way cause' I'd likely have that other shrine maiden after me." Okay, that...actually makes sense. I decided to try a deferent question. "Have you noticed anything unusual lately?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Aside from Cirno's lazy brother flying?" The bird youkai chucked at that when I glared at her. "No-wait, actually...yeah." I motioned for her to continue. "I heard a really weird song the other day-couldn't place my finger on it. It wasn't Japanese though." I made a note of it. Right. "Anything else?" She shook her head. "Thank you." I nodded and flew off-I could feel her eyes on me as I left.

Keep it together man-turning people into popsicles isn't going to help, no matter how satisfying it is. Guess all I can really do is stake out the village for a little while.
----
By my reckoning, it was probably about six in the evening before the sun set. Not much had happened-there was some shouting and a scuffle from the village, followed by from what I could see from my tree a couple of guards breaking it up. By the time the sun was almost completely down I was ready for an ice bath and my bed. I was just about to head home when I saw it-that indigo glow the report had described-a good distance away-followed by a tune-hauntingly beautiful. Made want to find the source-then I remembered this was also the source of the trouble that was plaguing the village. I wasted no time in getting airborne.

Maybe I can get this solved tonight in time for supper.

A/N: This chapter is a bit of a mess, I got caught up in too many ideas.

 

[Farzi]

A/N: This one gets a little graphic

Chapter 4: The Song in the wind incident PT 3.

I flew at top speed, making sure to try and keep low so I wasn't spotted. Didn't want to get tagged by the danmaku equivalent of a SAM-or scare some poor villager into thinking the village was under attack. The song was steadily getting louder, and I could make out some of the words;

"ο᾽βελοϝεδ, ϊωεεπ̈φορ̈τηεε,
το̈ηαϝε̈λεφτ̈φορ̈τηε̈σεας,
νεϝερ̈το̈ρετυρν,
ο᾽βελοϝεδ, ξομε̈βαξκ̈το̈με,
φρομ̈τηε̈δεπτησ᾽̈ξολδ̈εμβραξε."

The language itself was unfamiliar, but it was clear much like Mystia said it sure wasn't Japanese. The melody itself was haunting and sorrowful. I could feel the tingle of magic up my spine-not as powerful as when Yukari had turned me into an Ice Fae-but clearly incredibly potent if I could feel it. I pulled up short of the glow, trying to compensate for the sudden change. 'Alright where are you?' I had a half a mind to use a flare to further illuminate the area, but I might actually end up scaring off whatever creature was singing. I wasn't referring to it as a youkai until I had more information, but first I actually had to locate the darned thing. I noticed some movement below-gotcha!

I began to drop-if this creature was indeed a youkai-at least a native one-then it had a lot to answer for. I landed behind a small patch of bushes, peering out into the dimly lit forest. The light itself seem be pulsing and dancing-almost like it was alive. I heard footsteps approaching and hunkered down so I didn't get spotted. I thought I heard the rustle of leather as I moved some of the leaves to the side-I spotted the armored form of a samurai. Why was he out here alone? Did he get charmed? With a fair amount of apprehension-I left my hiding spot and floated after him. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for letting someone better trained do a job that I can't, or at least can't do particularly well. But my job's to solve the incident, and by extension help these people.

I cursed my sense of responsibility-you'd think as a fairy I'd be taking every opportunity to shirk my duty. But no...I just had to-focus! Get this guy outta here now, self-berate later. "Hey!" I called, and when he didn't seem to respond I grabbed his shoulder, "HEY DUMMY!" I yelled into his ear-and winced at the noise. The song seem to waver for a moment, but continued. When the samurai still didn't react I immediately circled around, pushing against him in an attempt to stop or at least slow him down. Yeah-all maybe fifty pounds of me. I seemed to be making progress until I was suddenly flung to the side. Slamming into the tree I felt the air being blasted from my body. I spent a good few moments wheezing and looked up-the guy was already mothing further away. Well, if I can't break whatever kind of trance he's in, maybe I can follow him to our mystery singer. I was honestly curious now-was the singer's hold over him so strong that he didn't even draw his blade to finish me while I was stunned. While I could feel the magic, I wasn't really bothered by it, and it was awful pretty. Huh, wonder why?

I shook off the dazed feeling and took off after him, my flight pattern erratic. I was doing far more flying in one day than I have in three years-and no, being dragged along by Cirno doesn't count. I flitted from tree to tree-taking care to avoid any direct sight lines while keeping the human in sight. I pulled the flare gun, loading a red flare in it; hopefully someone would know what it meant. Danmaku might be a better choice for signaling someone, but I was always for some of the mundane solutions-and the flare would last a little longer.

Unless their was something about the magic that would snuff it out...you know what? Just gonna use both. I could feel the magic getting stronger with every second-seeming to suffuse me. No, not suffuse...I wasn't sure how to describe it. The music was so pretty...

So...

Pretty....

What was I doing again? I landed with a soft thump, a smile on my face. The lights seemed to dance and pulse around me-in spite of how sad it was, I couldn't help but feel a kind of joy in the song. I began to hum along, nodding my head as I sat their for a moment. I'm supposed to be doing something-maybe find the source? Yeah....that....that sounds right. Navigating through the trees, I chuckled-if only Yukari could hear this-she'd probably find it just as pretty. Yukari...wait...she...wasn't she the one that sent me to find the song? I reached for the radio, shaking my head to try and shake off the effects of the song, and upon taking a deep breath-

Gagged upon the stench of something rotten. Have you ever smelled a decaying body? I have-mostly when walking home when I was in school and came across roadkill. Almost like a sulfur stench mixed in with decaying meat. None too pleasant. And it was strong. I made a conscious effort not to breath though my nose-if the stench was this strong, it meant that the bodies-and possibly any surviving villagers were nearby. Alright, don't breath through your nose and ignore the song. Not hard because all I had to do was breath through my nose again. I instead reached for the flare gun. My plan was to fire it off as soon as I located the youkai, and hold long enough for someone to arrive.

A few minuets later-followed by the near overwhelming stench of death-I arrived in a clearing where figure atop a large bolder stood, with a few figures were sat cross-legged around them, while the samurai stood stalk still. Maybe he was trying to throw off the effects? There were more figures around them-motionless. I didn't need to look closer. "Here's our culprit." I muttered, rasing the flare gun, "EY!" I fired at that-the red light shining brightly as I unleashed a spray of danmaku alongside it. The music stopped, combined with the confused groans humans. Better illuminated, I stared at them; most of the humans were in bad shape-but the youkai in question was a woman-wings where arms should be-legs ending in scaly feet, with dirty blonde hair. She wore a loose fitting toga, and from what I could see here skin seemed to be covered in the same scales-or small feathers. "Evenin'," I said pleasantly, walking forward, "Mighty fine night, isn't it?"

The woman floated down from her perch, and replied: "σο...ψοϋηαϝε̈φιναλλψ̈αρριϝεδ." She seemed, both relieved and sad at the same time. <"Reckon you don't speak Japanese."> I let out a sigh, and glanced at the samurai-he seemed to be coming out of it as his hand inched slowly towards his weapon, <"How bout English?"> She shook her head, and oddly enough, her wing ended in a four fingered hand, to which she summoned a small blaze of fire.

"ασ¨φατε̈φορετολδ̣̈ψοϋαρε̈τηε̈ενδ̈το̈μψ̈ταλε." Her tone was almost resigned, "ωηετηερ̈βψ̈ψοϋηανδ̣̈τηε̈ωαρριορ᾽σ¨ορ̈τηε̈αβομινατιον̣̈μψ̈φατε̈ισ¨σεαλεδ."

"Now hold up, you don't have to-" She hurled it at me, in which the firebolt expanded to the size of a fist. I reflexively ducked, feeling the heat of it overhead. "Of course she chooses to do this the hard way." I fired off a stream in a wedge style pattern, alternating between icicles and standard balls of energy. She danced around them, and made to take to the sky, but not before a shout of "BANZAI!" echoed through the clearing. She leapt back from the warriors katana, narrowly avoiding decapitation, and followed up with several strikes from clawed hands which scraped against the man's armor. "LAZY SNOWBALL!" That same slow moving projectile-one that served absolutely no purpose beyond having a card was now going to be somewhat useful. The samurai began to slowly drive her towards it. I threw several more shotgun-like patterns in order to keep her on her toes. So long as he could keep the youkai locked down...

A quick flash of movement followed by a scream as he went down clutching at his neck "Well damn." So he might be mortally wounded. I had to finish it, fast. Reaching for the radio, I hurled a single, fast moving spike that while missed, at least took some of her feathers. Turning it on as I narrowly dodged several more fireballs and-was that lightening? "I NEED BACKUP NOW GODDAMNIT!" I roared as she unleashed a column of fire in my direction, setting some of the trees alight. I took to the sky. "I've located the youkai, but she's putting up-shit!" Searing pain ran up my arm as a lucky gout caught the radio and melted one of my hands off-the pain itself fading as quickly as it had come-benefits of being a fae I guess.. She'd taken off, and was currently flying towards me, gathering sparks. In a panic, I hurled more icicles at her. I heard a squeal of pain followed by a thud. Looking down, I saw that several of them had made their mark. Breathing hard, I glared at her. Floating down, I saw she was trying to rise-I could see the blood running down where the three had penetrated-stomach, shoulder and chest area. Gathering flames in hand, I saw the hatred in her eyes. "I'd be havin a mind to be stoppin if I was you." I'd all but snarled as I readied for another attack. She made a move to attack, a bloodied sneer on her lips-only to stop short as an arrow embedded itself in her chest just above where my icicle had hit. I used the opening created to try and freeze her using the icicles as the focus points.

The youkai started to charge again, but began to turn blue as she collapsed-unable to cope with the blood loss and her insides being frozen solid. I turned, and spotted another samurai-was that Koji? Accompanied by a woman in a blue dress-it was that school teacher. I laughed weakly, feeling exhaustion taking over.
----
A few minutes later, a party from the village came to exhume the bodies. Many of them were festering with vermin, clad in decaying rags, though showed no signs of being savaged which was odd. The few villagers who had survived, including the samurai-would need medical attention. I had drawn upon some of the water in the air to create a new hand-it'd probably be around an hour or so before I could use it again. No one had yet to come and talk to me, so maybe I could go home for the night.

I leaned against a tree, watching as they worked. I heard footsteps approaching, and turned. It was Ran. "Yukari-sama would like to speak with you." The kitsune's tone was formal. I shook my head. "Youkai was an unknown species, didn't speak English or Japanese. Proved a lot tougher than what I could handle." My reply was rather lame, "Had to call for backup. If she's annoyed about that-" When she placed a hand on my shoulder and started to steer me towards a gap, I had a feeling I was in for it.
-----
Going through gaps, even Yukari's, isn't like traveling through a tunnel, but rather is somewhat instantaneous-you loose all sight and sound for a moment and then bam! You arrive at your destination. I found myself in a western style living room, and was still being steered by Ran as she guided me though a long hall and finally came before an eastern style sliding door. Ran knocked on the door frame, and spoke: "Yukari-sama, I've brought him."

The silence stretched for a moment, followed by a reply.

"Enter." The slid open, and I stepped in. Yukari was seated on her knees at a table, a steaming pot and two cups sitting on it. "Farzi, good to see you." Her tone was that infuriating calm tone, "Have a seat." She gestured to the spot in front of her. Here it comes. "First," She said, calmly pouring both of us a cup of tea and setting the pot down, "I would like to congratulate you on solving your first incident, and in a timely manner." Reaching for the cup, I noticed it wasn't steaming anymore, so that's good I guess? Fighting the urge of rollin' my eyes at her praise as I took a sip-hmmm, lemon. "Alright. But you wouldn't've brought me here for a little bit of buttering up." That earned me a raised eyebrow. "Aside from your rather...rude transmission interrupting our evening meal, I would like to know exactly what you saw."

"Well, aside from the woman-looked like some kind tengu-lot of the bodies weren't tore up or nothin, almost like they just let themselves die." And ain't that a might bit disturbin'. The gap youkai seemed to process that for a moment. "I see," She put her cup down and looked hard at me, "Do you have anything else to report?" I thought real hard on that one, and shook. "Aside from what I told Ran: youkai was an unknown species, didn't speak no English or Japanese. Proved more than I could handle, probably be a puddle right now if Koji hadn't shown up." She regarded me for a moment, and nodded. "Unfortunately I couldn't apprehend her, so she was exterminated instead."

The silence stretched on for a few moment, with her drinking her tea and me more or less playing with mine. Finally, she set her now empty cup down. "Hmm...well that's very unfortunate-I would've liked to have met them." As if you couldn't bring her back, I decided to test my luck. "So what's keeping you from doing so?" At the question, she actually did a double-take, or at least I think she did. "Perhaps, if fewer villagers had died or she had been caught beforehand." Yukari simply shrugged. "Unfortunately, her extermination would've been necessary one way or another." The way she said it...that meant she-

Before I could say anything, a gap opened up behind me. "I've dropped off your payment and a replacement radio at your home. This gap will take you to the shore of the Misty Lake." A dismissive wave of her hand indicated I should probably be moseying on. "Please refrain from using radio unless it a true emergency." Standing up, I glanced back at her. Same smile, same playful look-and she was fanning herself-her eyes on the other hand were cold and analytic. Shaking my head, I stepped through the gate; I wasn't in the mood to push my luck any further tonight.

As it closed and I stepped out into the cool night air of the lake with the sound of chirping insects and gentle lapping of the waves, I murmured into the empty air:

"If you knew what was going on, why didn't you intervene sooner?" The night returned no answer.
----
Yukari...Yukari-while she's held up to her agreement with me, which is why I have greater degree of common sense than most fairies-yes I know if I actually had some to begin with I wouldn't have taken her deal to begin with-and she compensates me for my time when I'm working for her; I will never fully trust her and with good reason.

This incident often comes to mind. God I need a drink, maybe I'll hit up an Oni for one later.

A/N: I actually had to retype this after my browser crashed-so it went from half decently written to a messy text wall.

 

[Farzi]

Chapter 5: Off Day

After the mess that was the previous day's incident, I was ready for a day off. After heading home, I found said radio and a envelope containing the pay from the job. Tossing both into my dresser, I had turned in for the night.
----
Special Heat-Resistant Charm: Check
Cast Iron Skillet: Check
Cold Brew Coffee: Check
Food: Check.

I was ready to begin. Donning the charm-which was arguably a waste of money because I had coldfire, but it wasn't good for cooking. That and I didn't really need to eat, but I like food. So, I grabbed a bundle of wood, some flint and steel and set up for creating the world's finest food: A breakfast sandwich-bacon-which was a pain to get in Gensokyo, but I managed to scrounge up a slab-some eggs-put em a bowl of room temperature water so they scramble a little easier. Most folks around here use em for medicinal or religious purposes-but I'd just rather eat em. Hashbrowns fried to a golden crisp, a slice of cheese, and sandwiched between two pieces of toast. Right, so set the cooking gear-rack, cast iron skillet-up and yer wood prepared and get the tinder in there. Then apply flint and steel with char cloth to get the fire goin'.

A few tries later, I had managed to get an ember going and it seemed to be catching. I blew on it to make sure it spread to the other bits of kindling. The fire after a minuet or two was crackling merrily. I set the pan over the flames on a special rack, and waited for it to get hot enough to fry. I perked up as I felt a warm breeze on the back of my neck. Did it get drafty in here? I looked around-door still closed-double checking my charm to make sure it was both still attached and I could feel the magic-was as strong as ever. Shaking my head, I went back to work. Pan should be up to tempature-right so do the bacon first. I cut a trio of slices-about the size of my little finger-and then transferred them to the skillet. As the smell of cooking began to permeate the igloo, I thought I heard a whine followed by someone shushing them. Reluctantly, I stood and checked under the bed-no one there. I opened my door-no one there.

"Must be hearing things." I went back to the fire and checked the slices-almost done-I flipped it, and after a few moments, set them on a plate on a stool, and turned to grab an egg. Looking back-I saw one of the pieces of bacon was missing? "What in the sam hell?" I checked to see if I didn't accidentally set it on the stool itself. "Maybe I dropped it?" Nope-wasn't any bacon on the flo-another piece was missing.

I smell a rat. Making sure to take the plate with me-I cut three more slices-wash, rinse-repeat. Or it would've been, if the bacon along with an egg hadn't disappeared on me. Alright, time to play hardball. I made sure to continue to repeat the routine, and scrambled my remaining egg-with one little exception. I smuggled a small ghost pepper along with them. I could hear them clearly now-a satisfied hmm that was accompanied by a quiet sigh of exasperation. I made sure to let it cook for the same amount of time-letting the egg fry just long enough to form the beginnings of an omelet; great for sandwiches-but in this case, it would serve a more devious purpose. I made sure to carefully apply the ghost pepper's juice during the cooking-I'd have to wash it before cooking in it again, damned pepper's hot-and set them on the same plate.

Pretending to be distracted, I wasn't too surprised when I turned with the bowl of shredded potatoes to see my plate had been emptied. That's when I heard with no small degree of satisfaction that culprit was whining now, crying something. "How'd that plan work out for ya dummy?" I asked smugly, throwing some snow on the fire to snuff it out, "Maybe you'll learn!" I pulled the pan off the rack-I could still hear them moaning. So, I didn't get my sandwich, but taught a thief not to take things that weren't theirs. Meh, I call it a win.

Still, I wonder who it was?
----
After the excitement that was the morning cooking-and not having gotten any food-I stepped out for the morning after cleaning up. It was a beautiful day today. Sun was shining, birds were singing, the flowers were blo-

Really Farzi? Yer gonna go that route? Yer an ice fairy, not a funny bone. Cringe aside, it was a nice day-none too hot-perfect for napping. "FARZI!"

Or not...

Turning, I spotted Cirno flying my way. I was considering flying off at this point-but chances are she'd probably take that as a challenge. Judging by the mud on her feet, she'd probably been wallowin' around the lake most likely lookin' for frogs. "Ya got mud froze to ya." I commented as she landed, to which she simply laughed and did some weird shake that sent it all over place. I flinched as a number of pieces peppered me. "So, what'd ya want?" I had a suspicion why she was here, and slowly reached for a spell card. "Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to come and hunt frogs with me." Blinking, I retracted my hand. That...was not what I expected. "Okay? You've never asked before, so what gives?"

"Well, you usually act really grumpy when I see you." She looked genuinely puzzled, as if though this was the most obvious thing in the world, "And I figured since you're really lazy and don't like danmaku much, maybe some frog-freezing would be fun." Ouch. Well, she's not wrong; I had planned on napping for most of the day. Well, chances are she'd probably just hang around if I tried to chase her off, or start a danmaku duel. Cirno was staring at me, a slight smile on her face.

Actually, scratch that-she WOULD start a duel; and I'd probably lose then get dragged along regardless. "Alright, let's go." I said -resigning myself to the fact that my day's plans had been derailed. Oh well, what can you do? Letting out a whoop of excitement, she took the sky with me trailing after her on the ground. What's the worst that could happen?
----
About 15 minuets later after Cirno got impatient and decided to drag me through the air, we had arrived at a shallow inlet overrun with weeds and cattails. Huh, those could actually be handy later. "Okay-let's go!" She waded in, pushing them this way and that, where as I just simply floated just behind her. I'm not above getting a little wet, but I don't feel like washing my clothes later after this. Criibbit! Hmm? I turned, spotting one of the little hoppers on a lily pad. "Yo, found one!" I called-I could hear the rapid splashing as she burst through the reeds-as the frog disturbed by the sudden movement leapt-and was frozen mid air. "HA! Got it!" She cried triumphantly as the amphibian ice cube splashed and bobbed. Turning to me with a cocky grin, she jerked a prideful thumb towards her chest. "You're gonna have to be a lot faster than that if beat The Strongest!"

"Yeah, Cirno," I said, my drawl becoming more pronounced and butchering my Japanese, "No one in Gensokyo can beat you." She swelled even further. <"Specially when it comes to gettin' kicked around like a can."> I muttered, recalling the time she got into it with the Black-White.

She got beaten like a rented mule. Last thing I can recall from that was seeing a smoking Cirno plummeting with Marisa speeding off into the distance. Cirno had made quite a splash in the process. I smiled, and found my musing interrupted by the sound of a frog croaking. "AH-HA!" Shooting off like a bullet leaving bits of melting ice and frozen mud bobbing and splashing along the surface, my fellow ice fey practically parted the water around her as she shot off in the direction of the sound. I chuckled and made a move to follow, when I spotted it-sitting there on a lily pad that had somehow remained unaffected by the sudden change around it was a little frog. <"Yer one laid back hopper, huh?"> I said, floating closer in. It croaked in response, it's tongue shooting out to grab an unfortunate dragonfly that happened to be buzzing nearby. <"Heh heh, nice."> I felt bad about what I was going to do next-with a subtle shift in temperature, I coated the frog in a thin layer of ice. It'd be okay-once it had the chance to thaw properly.c

I pocketed it, making sure to try and keep the temperature from getting too cold. <"Have to be faster than the Strongest my rear!"> I wandered into the clearing, and spotted Cirno in the middle of a ring of frozen frogs. Probably about six or so. "See?" She cried, flexing her arm, "I'm the strongest." I snorted.

After another half-an hour of us both hunting frogs-I had about 5 frogs where as Cirno had about 10. Which, I wouldn't cared so much of not for one simple fact:

Cirno was currently rubbing it in my face.

"Woo! You'll never beat the strongest!" She started to do some kind of dance-jumping and spinning, "I am the best! Go Cirno! Go Cirno! You're a loser! You're a loser!" Jabbing a finger. "See! You gotta do more stuff like frog-freezing, and fighting, and...and..." I think she broke, if the cracking noise was any indication. Maybe her train of thought wrecked with as fast her mouth was moving.

At least, that would've been the case, if wasn't for Cirno beginning to back away slowly-looking somewhat disturbed. Chink-click! Oh, so that's what that was. I felt my wings circle around, rubbing against each other, and then clicking back together into two separate ice crystals like my...sister's. "Yep, you beat me." I replied calmly-it's yer day off-not worth it. "So, now what?" Blinking-she seemed to be confused as I applied a layer of ice to keep them together. "Why do you do that?" Ah hell. The question was innocent enough. "Mostly just get tired of the noise." Good enough answer, and was partly true. "They don't freeze together all proper like, and I ain't shattering them-too much work."

"How many?" I shrugged. "Never counted." That was a lie, but was good enough-not like anyone that knew me would believe otherwise. Stretching, I placed my hands behind my head. "So, now what we doin' now Hoss?" When she didn't answer, I looked back, putting my arms at my side. Cirno was still staring at me, face unreadable. "Welp, if you don't have anything else planned-see ya?" I began the trip back home, taking my time-I thought for a moment I heard her say something-but it was probably unimportant.

Meh-not like it's all that important anyways. Now...let's see if my mysterious guest made another appearance.
----

Welp, aside from my little adventure-I may actually get my nap in. First things first-I need to see if anything else has gone missing while I was gone.

As I walked in, I was greeted by the sight of Ran trying to tend a crying Chen-the bakeneko wasn't having it, and would constantly put her hands up in front of her mouth and jerk away-and by the looks of things turned my house into a warzone in the process. "Welp, that explains a few things." The kitsune glared up at me. "What. Did. You. Do?!" She bit off each word. "Peppers." My reply seemed to just make her angrier, and probably the only reason she wasn't trying to tear me a new one was the little turd that had probably been crying after the horror that was the ghost pepper got er'.

"Didja try some milk? Maybe some yogurt?" I had to dodge a stream of danmaku-which knocked a few good sized dents in some of the igloo's bricks. I was simple suggesting a few remedies-no need to get bent out of shape. Though the half-sarcastic tone I was using might have had something to do with that. I grabbed a sweet bun out of the cupboard and tossed it to her. "Give her that and then git." Ran eyed me suspiciously, and then handed the brat the bun after inspecting it and taking a bite. She seemed to calm down after that. After seeing that her familiar was seeming to calm down a bit. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Kitsune turned. "Please refrain from tricking Chen into eating those peppers you keep around." All traces of her previous anger had vanished-alright, guess she's that mad, or that relieved

"Well, you keep yer turkey"-this elected a 'Hey!' from the aforementioned turkey-"from eatin' food that don't belong to her and this won't happen again." We stared at one another for a moment, and finally shook her head and ushered Chen through a gap. 'Cribbit!' I looked down-oh, hello Frogger, forgot you were in my pocket. "Alright little guy-off with ya!" Just before the gap closed, I floated close and ushered him through.

If anything, it would at least annoy them. Get em' Frogger!

 

[Farzi]

A/N: Guess I finally decided to try and suck down some more ego juice-it's awful stuff but I chose to open the bottle, so fuck it. That and it might be a little early to introduce some outsiders, but hell with that too.


Chapter 6: An encounter of the Outsider Kind

"Ugh..." I finally managed to get the last of the branches cleared out from inside my house-a bad storm had rolled in-thunder, lighting, all that jazz; and had blown hard enough that I had the pleasure of having a tree smash through the roof of my igloo in the middle of the night. Needless to say, sleep sure as hell wasn't going to find me at any point and I had spent the better part of the night trying clear my home. As the early morning sun rose, I could see that the culprit was young oak had smashed through the left side. Well that was-

A scream interrupted my thoughts, I turned and spotted a pair of panicking...Outsiders?-being pursued by a large, floating black orb. And both were headed towards the woods of the SDM. Son of a bitch....

Welp, guess I'm on the clock now-as if I didn't have enough trouble today. Taking to the sky, it wasn't hard to track them-there was only one youkai that I know of that can do the whole floating bowling ball impression. And if it was too much effort, she'd back off. I just had to make it there in time, preferably before they reached the Devil's domain. Swooping in low and circling about, I should be able to flank em' before they reached the manor so long as they didn't wind up as Rumia's midday snack. Flying at a near-dizzying speed, I spotted the pair just as they burst into the clearing-one of them was being carried. And of course they were running full-tilt towards the manor-which made sense because it would mean to them a five-foot thick wall between them and their attacker. I would never get there in time, even flying. So, I made a calculated risk and drew as much of the moisture out of the air to try and forcibly form a wall of ice. If I timed it right, the darkness youkai would slam right into it-but if I did it wrong?

They'd never have a chance.

Needless to say, no plan, especially bad ones, survive contact with the enemy. The Ice wall, probably a half a foot thick and five tall , formed a hair second too early-causing them both to wind up sprawling on the ground as it rose and sensing her prey was close, and more importantly-vulnerable-the darkness youkai rapidly closed the distance. Ice, despite what people think of in the movies and books is pretty sturdy-and considering a just over a half-foot can support a car so long as it isn't on a river and ain't slush. So when I say that to her credit Rumia managed to fly at such a speed that she managed to hit hard enough to break through-it was in such a way that the wall literally shattered, sending icy shrapnel out that by some miracle didn't hit the pair. However, even for a youkai impacting at such a high speed would have consequences as indicated by her bubble of darkness vanishing and digging a small ditch in the process. At least she wasn't getting up, for now anyways. Now to the...problem at hand. Both of them were attempting to get to their feet, and one of them was pointing at the house trying to get their companion up.

Right.

Floating down, I called to them. "You two alright?" The standing one immediately shot up from their position, stepping in front of their downed companion as they got up. "Easy." I held up my hands, attempting to look small and harmless-something told me they weren't buying it. "Stay behind me." The voice, male-probably in his mid 40s by the looks of it, dressed in what looked like hiking gear, backpack and everything. The look on his face was of determination-looked as if though he was gonna take a shot me. I noticed the other one was considerably smaller, dressed for a similar activity. Ah hell...."Daddy, where's mommy?" A little girl, proabably about four or five. I saw him tense at that-so a family got stuck here-just great. "Probably back the way you came." I answered taking a step forward-'And probably dead.' I didn't want to say it front of the kid. "Alright then-first things first we need to get you two somewhere safe." I said, changing the subject-a small part of me really didn't care-the piece of my existence that defined me as a youkai, but I quashed it down; had a job to do. "And why should I trust you with our safety, when we were already attacked?" He had a good point-Gensokyo was not a kind place, especially to outsiders like them. "If I wanted-" I hesitated for moment, I didn't want to scare either of them-it'd make it a lot harder to get them out of here "-something to happen, I would've minded my own business." That answer didn't seem to inspire any confidence-right, let's try a different tactic. "Look, I get it-yer scared and would like nothing more than to be anywhere else but here." I lowered my voice, floating up-which seemed to surprise them both-and leaned in, glancing at the kid-who seemed hypnotized by the floating ice fae in front of her, "But if you go into that manor...you'll be in a lot more trouble than you were just now-think of your daughter if anything."

That seemed to do the trick as the man hesitated for several moments-I glanced back at the manor keeping an eye out for any approach-last thing I needed was Sakuya, or worse, her mistress turning up. Honestly I was surprised that the ruckus hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. "You can help us?" I could the hear the cautious hope, I nodded. "I'll certainly try."

"And my wife-can you find her?"

I hesitated at that-those were long odds. "I'll see what I can do." That answer wasn't really sufficient, but it would have to do. "Let's go." I landed, and began to trek by to my place. After a moment he followed, kid in tow.

"Mind tellin me yer names?" I said without looking back. "Adachi Minato, and this is my daughter Akari." He replied-I could tell he was stressed-and me probably sounding like an asshole wasn't helping. "Right, well Mister Adachi-I'm Farzi, and let me be the first and hopefully one of the last people to say: Welcome to Gensokyo."

Yep-I am the epitome of social relations when it comes to helping distressed outsiders.

Not.
-----
Dickishness aside, I did make a point of trying to keep my word. As we approached my home he looked at me with a 'Are you serious look?' "Yea-had a tree hit it last night." I replied, "It's sturdier than it looks, trust me." I approached the door, still open from where I'd been clearing the branches. "Would've been smushed otherwise." I went in gesturing them to follow. "Even with the tree on it-it's lot safer in here than it is out here." The chair was undamaged-oddly enough-though my stool and fireplace needed replacing. I maneuvered around the branches that hadn't broken off, applying ice throughout the gaps as best I could to try and secure the tree-no sense in having my guests get squashed-I fished my arm band out of the dresser-along with my radio and flaregun then grabbed some food-a container of riceballs I happened to have left over from yesterday in the cupboard and some cold tea. I heard them at the door "Farzi-sama?" It was Minato-though I should probably address him by his last name. "It's safe, for now anyways." I mutttered. Approaching, I saw them both standing there. "You can come in-again it's it's about as safe and sturdy as I can make it right now." He hesitated, and finally both of them entered. "Here, you two could probably use it-sorry it ain't fresh." I pulled a rice ball after giving them their tea and share out and took a bite. <"Hmm...needs salt."> I went to shut the door, and looked at my guests. The kid had taken a big bite out of her own ball, while Minato sat staring at his rice and tea.

"Hey." I called, walking over, "Everything'll be alright." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her, and you'll all be back home safe and sound before you know it." I inhaled, and walked to the door. "Stay put, bar the door behind me, I'll let you know when I get back." I walked out, making sure to close it behind me.

I didn't have the heart to lie to them.

As the sound of the bar being slid into place, I let out a sigh and turned, hitting the switch on my radio-I needed to report this in. "Farzi here, anyone there? Over." No response, alright. I looked back to the direction I remember seeing them come from-a trail of broken branches and trampled fauna. Well, at least their trail was fairly obvious, and thumbed the button again. "If anyone's reading this, I've got a code 2: 3 outsiders, two secured for now, one missing, possibly DOA. Conducting search of third outsider-I'll report in as developments warrant." No, that didn't sound cringy at all, did it? I wanted to request to get someone out here, maybe someone from the village or god forbid the Red-White, get them off my hands or at least to watch over them till I got back. Though the more I thought about that, I'd have better odds of beating an Oni in an arm wrestling match. No...no time was not on my side; this had to be done quickly. A quick leap sent me up and flying. Accelerating rapidly, I followed the path slowing occasionally to make corrections and to ensure I hadn't lost the trail. The trail eventually ended, opening up to a flower-filled, sunlit clearing-might of been nice if the place hadn't looked like an elephant hadn't gone through it. Flowers and bushes had been trampled, mud and dirt being churned up here and there. Landing, I began to inspect the spots-no burn marks or any other unusual signs that may indicate magic-though given how soft the ground was it was likely they simply slipped trying to get away from Rumia.

Right. I floated up, intent on seeing if I could get a better view-and nearly ran into another fae-"Dai?" The big fairy seemed just as surprised to see me as well. "H-hi F-Farzi." Dai's voice was shaky-well a little shakier than usual, and she was scuffed up all to hell-her bright blue dress covered in dirt and grass. Dai looked spooked; I was going to ask what was wrong, but when she glanced at the band on my arm she began to visibly shake, and had to take a deep breath. "Uh-are y-you looking for that o-o-uts-s-sider?" Dai generally was timid-essentially Team 9's butt monkey, and avoided me like the plague when I'm working-so something must be truly wrong for her to be coming to me-or at least telling me directly. "Yeah, you see her?" She gave a slight nod. "Where?" The harsh tone I unintentionally used had caused her to flinch-but I didn't have time to baby her. Steadying herself, she inhaled and pointed east, still trembling. I floated back down, searching for some sign, some trail. But the damage to the clearing combined with the recent storm made it damned near impossible to find one.

Goddamnit. "Alright Dai, can you take me to where you last saw her?" She was shaking even more now. That wasn't good-she was genuinely terrified. "Dai, please-this woman's life is danger." I pleaded, floating back up and placing my hands on her shoulders, "You came to find me, right?" Dai shook her head no-it meant she was likely running from whatever had spooked her, but I had to push. "Can you at least tell me something, anything?" I guess my desperation finally got through, for she swallowed hard, and uttered a single word; "S-s...sunflowers...."

I let go as she shot off, as a cold pit of dread formed in my already icy stomach-looking east, past the woods where I could just barely make it out-a sea of gold, swaying gently in the wind as it caressed it...

...was the Garden of Eternity.

 

[Vaalintine]

HER? Oh lord, this is gonna be horrible I can already tell.

 

[pingas plight]

hello new affiction.
i shall be watching your career with great interest