2697/Of Dollmakers and Cats

Of Dollmakers and Cats
Date of Scene:	29 July 2015
Location:	The Realm of Gensokyo
Synopsis:	After an explosion of divine energy lights up the forest nearby Alice's house, the dollmaker goes out to investigate. Minor clues are attained, and even more questions are had. And still, the real answer eludes her.
Cast of Characters:	807, 847

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Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     The Forest of Magic was...not a friendly place for any human to be. Most were quite well warned to avoid the place, and not to venture in without proper preparation. And even then, doing so was still at one's own peril. Even still, certain folk, mostly youkai, made this strange and dangerous place their home.

     It was evening now, and though things were relatively quiet in this neck of the woods for most of the day...well, that all changed rather quickly. Suddenly, the darkening forest lit up as a massive pillar of spiritual erupted some distance away. Flocks of birds fled the canopy, scattering off into the rest of Gensokyo.

     The explosion of energy was enough to shake the ground briefly before things settled down to an eerie stillness, the darkness of the approaching night quickly reclaiming it's hold over the forest...

     ...Now what could that have been? In terms of proximity, the happening had taken place near a certain dollmaker's house. This wasn't a regular occurrence here, was it?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Yet, still people made this their home. Notably two different magicians, one who loves lasers and one who loves her dolls. The latter, sipping on some tea inside as the dolls skitter about and work on keeping the home meticulous. The Dollmaker watching the night sky as it faded, soon the youkai will be out and the cycle repeats itself.

    The noise of the birds fleeing is a curious note but the bright flash of spiritual energy catches Alice's eyes, a heavy frown upon her face as Hourai and Shanghai rush over to her. "Reimu?" is all Alice says, taking a look at the radio she got from Kourin to talk with the Syndicate.

    Hourai shakes her head and heads towards the door, "Alice, there's not any time to get Marisa, let's go check it out." Shanghai, however in all her exhuberance, "Yay! We're going to solve an incident!"

    With a sigh, Alice picks up her Grimoire and nods, taking off out the door and into the air.. what was Reimu up to? This wasn't like her. "It came from the north. Shouldn't be too far away, the energy is still lingering."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Through the trees Alice and her dolls went. It wasn't too far actually. Following the trail of lingering spiritual energy soon lead the dollmaker to a clearing within the forest. There was a large crater in the ground where some poor, unnamed youkai lay, utterly demolished.

     Who did this?

     There. In the sky ahead, a figure wearing red, white, and yellow floated. Reimu? ...No, something was off. That wasn't Reimu. Her hair was short, and even though her back was to Alice, red streaks could be seen peeking out through the brown. It was a bit dark from this angle, but it looked like she might have had a tail too. Were those ears atop her head? Or was that just some odd hairstyle? It was hard to tell.

     Around her body, a plethora of paper seals floated, each cloaked in flame and forming two separate rings that revolved around her slowly. This was definitely the culprit.

     "......"

     One of the figure's ears twitched slightly, and then she turned just a bit, giving Alice a glance from the corner of her eye.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Hourai and Shanghai float right next to Alice on the left and right as they flew along, coming towards the crater though, she looks down at the youkai, "Hmm, Reimu's gone a bit more... explosive lately. I wonder if Yukari took her snacks..." she gives a light shrug as she lifts her head to look ahead.

    Reimu?!

    Wait, something was... off. Reimu's hair was longer and didn't have streaks. And did... she have a tail and ears? "Too dark to tell... let's get closer." a smaller doll floats into view right in front of Alice, the classic laser doll.

    The glance makes Alice freeze herself in place, quickly uprighting and looking at the figure back, eyes squinting, "Reimu? Reiiiimuuuu? What's the meaning of that?! It's nightfall and I was having tea!" Hourai speaks up, "I did not think it of you to do something like that, did someone take your snacks or something?" Shanghai finishes the thought, "Or your donation box?"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "........"

     The girl stared silently for a moment, and then she simply...did not respond. She definitely heard, but nothing was said. Instead, she suddenly, and in a burst of speed, took off into the air, veering down into the forest canopy!

     It looked like 'Reimu' wasn't really feeling like having a chat tonight. Man, Yukari must have really pissed her off! Maybe her donation box was empty! ...If that was Reimu at all.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Reimu? Hey Reimu..." Alice shouts, floating closer to 'Reimu', reaching out as if to grab something, but as she dives into the canopy, Alice is left there a slight bit dumbfounded. "He.. hey! Don't run from me! Hourai, Shanghai!" And with a quick motion, Alice takes off into the canopy to chase after 'Reimu. "Get back here!"

    Alice frowns a bit, picking up the laser doll and taking aim, "I said get back here!" to fire or not to fire... well, she hasn't fired yet but those papers in ring formation bother her. Hourai turns over to Alice and gives a light nod, "She'll understand if she's been controlled some how, lets' knock some sense into her."

    Shanghai grins and cheers on, "Just don't run into Rumia!"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     STAGE __ - The Mysterious Shrine Maiden

     'What in the world is Reimu up to at this time of night?'

     The chase was on. The figure glanced back, seeing that Alice had decided to follow. What a bother. She was going to have to lose her somehow. Well, she had just the thing for that. Turning mid-flight, she proceeded to fly backwards, facing Alice. She was too far away to get a good look at her face, unfortunately. 'Reimu' spread her arms, and the flaming seals surrounding her all dispersed, spreading out in the gulf between her and the dollmaker.

     Those seals then proceeded to fire volleys of flaming danmaku at Alice and her dolls. With the distraction set out, the girl turned back around, no longer surrounded by seal rings, and took off, picking up a burst of speed to move further on ahead.

     Annoyingly enough, it seemed like their chase was attracting fairies. A whole bunch were floating out from the trees to have a look, and more joined the guardian seals in firing on Alice.

     Way to help!

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Way to go, indeed... Alice keeps her eye on the figure, face is still obscured but Alice will figure this out... she hopes. "I don't want to have to get into a danmaku duel with you if I can help it, so stop!" Now, what person in the right mind that's running away would stop. Apparently, not this one. With the seal rings breaking off and firing danmaku, Alice gives a sigh and lets loose the laser, sweeping it back and forth in bursts as it charges back up from each volley.

    And... the fairies. "Great. Hourai, Shanghai, take care of the fairies." With both dolls nodding, a wide angle bullet spread and another laser join in Alice's cacophony of danmaku, flying forward as some of those bullets graze her side, causing a small wince. It's been a while since she was on the receiving end of danmaku, even facing that one robotic like person at the Rookery.

    "Damnit, Reimu! I didn't want to fight you, but you're leaving me little choice!"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     'Reimu' frowned a tad at Alice's voice. Little did Alice know that she had little idea who she was. Only the vague understanding that Alice was a Magician specializing in dollcraft. She didn't stop. In fact, she sped up!

     The guardian seals were all cleared out in due time, only to be replaced by meddlesome, having nothing to do with it fairies. They smiled and laughed, all wondering what's going on and simply following the lead of the seals by firing on Alice without actually understanding what was happening at all. What a bother!

     Shanghai and Hourai were able to clear them all away in due time, but it felt like more and more curious fairies kept coming! And the more that came, the more errant danmaku filled Alice's path!

     In the middle of the chaos, the unknown miko took the time to veer off behind a tree quickly, but she didn't come back out. Instead, what came out was a small brown cat with a fairly bushy tail. It was actually two tails, but it was so fluffy, one could hardly tell a difference.

     The cat flew in the air, giving it away as a youkai, and once Alice and her dolls cleared away the annoying fairies, it acted. Suddenly, a telltale Spellcard Border surrounded them both and flames kicked up around the cat.

     FLAME SIGN - WILL O WISP

     Suddenly, a curtain of flaming danmaku was fired on the dollmaker. It seemed like a simple spread, but the flow of the bullets twisted and turned according to Alice's own position in the sky, essentially chasing after her last position constantly.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Bothersome, bothersome unhelpful fairies. Fortunately, popping them wont' hurt them too much as Alice continues to try and graze the shots incoming, losing track of the 'miko' that she was trying to capture. "Nngh, damnit, where did she go." as lasers and danmaku continue to fire out from the dollmaker to clear out the seals and fairies in the area, quite a few of the danmaku actually landing on point on the dollmaker herself, leading up the slowdown in trying to face 'Reimu'.

    The fairies cleared, the 'stage' nearly over... a flying cat makes itself known. "A... youkai cat? Here? Rin?" questions keep piling up on the dollmaker but the Spellcard Border appears and now she's on guard. "Alright, if it's a spellcard match you want, you'll get!" as a curious feeling washes over the Dollmaker. Is this how Reimu and Marisa felt...? She's going to solve this incident on her own it seems!

    The danmaku flame curtain comes in.. simple, dodge capable. "Hourai, Shanghai. Focus your attacks on that cat." and with a nod from both, two lasers and a widespread curtain of bullets start streaming towards the cat as Alice moves to outrun the flame curtain. When it follows her, another frown. "Okay, time to end that card quickly, I don't like those chaser cards!"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Rin that was not.

     The cat moves about, changing the direction and flow of the flame danmaku to try and trick Alice into screwing up. Shanghai and Hourai's bullet fire pelted the feline, pushing her concentration, but the spell did not break just yet. In fact, it got a little bit worse. The rate of fire was getting faster as the Spellcard's duration and the cat's concentration dwindled down...

     Just a little bit more! Try not a lose a life now.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    The one thing that Alice doesn't have compared to Marisa and Reimu... is a bomb. The direction starts changing as the cat moves and Alice has to come to a rapid halt and double back, as Hourai and Shanghai kept up the firing upon the cat. Chaser cards, almost as bad as curved lasers. "Nngh, I ... said... STOP!" as a red card slips from her grimoire. "No, I can't use this..." she slips it back in and shakes her head, the Spiritual Strike Talisman won't clear up bullets here.

    With the flame curtain's cutting in from the other side Alice takes a quick pause then shoots upwards, taking the laser doll she had in front of her, "Demonic Possession. Return Inanimateness!" and she lobs the now glowing doll towards the cat, though aiming was not her strong point. If it hit, it'd blow up into a nice blue pillar explosion... even if it hit the ground. "Take that, and end that card!"

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Whoops. Well! A doll turned improvised explosive would do the trick.

     The poor object is lobbed at the cat, and it doesn't realize what that meant until it was way, way too late. KABOOM! And with a distressed meow, the Spellcard shattered sending the feline careen back a ways and putting an end to that annoyance. Not about to attempt another card, the cat turned tail..s, and scurried off through the air, disappearing into the depths of the forest.

     It wouldn't be coming back.

     Alright! Midboss defeated, seals destroyed, and fairies driven off...it was time for the boss to appear!

     ...

     ......

     ..........Hello?

     Where was the boss?

     After a few seconds of crickets, it became painfully obvious that there would be no boss. No snide opening dialogue about how Alice was a stubborn one, no theme song, nothing.

     ...Where /did/ 'Reimu' get off to? She was totally gone!

     What would Alice do now? It seemed like her incident had vanished! ...Could this have been what the news report from the other day was talking about?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    The kaboom gave Alice a small smile and the spellcard shattering made her smile even more. Maybe that was just the midboss on the way to Reimu. Or whatever that miko was.

    ... ... ..."Hello?"

    That smile she had vanished from her face and so did Hourai's and surprisingly Shanghai's. "Well. Marisa is going to want to hear this." she muttered, looking around. That was... very strange. Maybe the youkai are being more onery than usual."

    With a sigh, Alice turns around towards her cottage's location, "This was dissapointing. But maybe they will think again for trying to use the forest for a danmaku duel... That report though, I think it time to question the locals in the village. Maybe... Aya might have a lead..."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Some distance away, behind a particularly thick tree, a cat landed onto the ground, and in the blink of an eye, where there was a cat, a cat youkai dressed as a miko stood. She sighed a deep sigh and took a furtive glance around the tree, staring at the lost looking Alice flying back over to her cottage.

     "......That was close." The girl muttered, narrowing her eyes. This was the first time she wound up with two at the same time. Usually she was pretty good about singling her targets out.

     And she kept calling he Reimu too... Reimu was the Hakurei Miko, right? Did she look even remotely like Reimu!?

     ...Well, that's okay. Let Reimu take the credit and the heat. She'd just keep doing what she believed was right.

     Once the coast was clear, she flew off, leaving the forest and vanishing to other parts of Gensokyo...

     I n c i d e n t U n r e s o l v e d . . .