2742/I'm Not a Youkai, Seriously ft. Marisa and N'raha

I'm Not a Youkai, Seriously ft. Marisa and N'raha
Date of Scene:	06 August 2015
Location:	The Realm of Gensokyo
Synopsis:	TAKE IT EASY, THAT'S MY MOTTO! N'Raha learns the ropes on Mushroom Hunting from Marissa
Cast of Characters:	N'raha Tia, 829

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N'raha Tia has posed:
    Slowly but surely, the Miqo'te N'raha has been venturing out of his little part of he Multiverse and seeking new locales and new places to stretch his legs. Also sometimes he's out doing jobs. This is one of those latter times.

    Today, however, Mister Raha is currently carrying a big gunny sack, as well as his cell phone, as he hunts through the underbrush and junk and dirt. The sack is full of various sorts of mushroom,s and the miqo'te is glancing back and forth at the cell phone on occasion to make sure he's getting the right ones. All in all, not the worst job he's had to do. Certainly it much less strenuous than 'murder the fuck out of Garleans'.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    The Forest of Magic isn't just home to your ordinary, run of the mill mushrooms! This place is a veritable paradise of fungus! Some are as tall as trees, others wind up ancient pines like cap-sprouting ivy. Each little fruity body fills the air with spores that have soaked in the ambient power of this strange, mystical place.

Which makes it perfect for a witch to go gathering for ingredients.

    Marisa putters along amidst the treeline, a big sack slung over one side of her broom like some sort of saddlebag. Every so often she stops at a tree or one of the bigger shrooms, shoving gigantic spores or whole caps into her bag as she goes. It's a relaxing evening for this sort of thing, the perfect time to harvest some nightcaps or some of the more dangerous varieties of magical shrooms.

It might just put her on a rendezvouz with a certain cat, too!

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Which probably is going to be easy enough given the power of Narrative. I mean, the Echo.

    That said, the catman sighs a bit as he looks up at one of the tall mushrooms, remembering the words of the weird old lady. "Gotta climb for some of em, huh?" Right, well, she wanted a spore clump and she's paying for spore clumps, so up he goes.

    He grunts, taking out a pair of his old punchclaws and starts using it as makeshift climbing grips, sinking the spines into the woody stems of the shroom and makign the trek upwards. That tail lashes a bit as he balances himself as well.

    There's a wooshing from somewhere behind him. Like someone flying past. His ears twitch faintly, but he's concentrating on his climbing and not falling.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
Don't you love it when a narrative comes together?

    Marisa is meandering through the treetops on her lazy broom-ride when SUDDENLY she spots a very certain someone else trying to... Scale one of the bigger shrooms. What the blazes is that guy even doing, not flying in a place like Gensokyo? EVERYONE flies in Gensokyo!

But... That sure is a tail there. And those seem to be ears. So...

    Marisa descends until she's just behind the climbing cat, her legs dangling lackadaisically from the side of her broom. "I thought cats were s'posed to be good at climbing things," The witch grins from underneath her broad-brimmed hat, "Careful, or something might decide that your tail looks tasty."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha has the foresight not to lose his grip, at least, and wobbles a bit as he looks up and around at... at the witch. The voice he recognizes a bit. "Oh... Ah. Hell, Miss Kirisame! And I am good at climbing! Just it pays to be safe, rather than sorry, you know?"

    That tail swihes a bit at the mention off being chomped on, and he curls it around his waist. "Sorry I can't properly greet you!" He looks up at a sturdy looking branch of the shroom, and smiles. "Meet you up there!" And then he's climbing again, a look of concentration on his face.

    It takes a few moments, and then he's flipping himself safely out onto the woody branch, balancing his weight a moment or two before settling in. "There. Hello! Nice to meet you, I guess!"

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Uh? You know who I am?" Marisa quirks a brow, then catches herself. "W-well of course you know who I am! Everyone should know the name of the great Kirisame Marisa, witch of the Forest of Magic!" If they know what's good for them, that is!

    Deciding that she has quite literally all night to collect the mushrooms she needs, Marisa wills herself higher up the mushroom-tree as N'raha continues his ascent. "Pfft, safety. If I worried about being safe, I wouldn't be half as successful or even a quarter as awesome as I am today!" But maybe some people prefer living longer to living faster?

Those people are weird.

    "I guess you're that one cat-guy on the channel then," Marisa supposes, floating just off to the side of N'raha's shroom-branch. "What're you doing up in my neck of the woods, anyway? Scaling shrooms for fun n' profit?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The young warrior holds out his hand. "Yep, that's me. N'raha!" That tail swishes happily off the side of the branch as he settles himself in, his own bag of shrooms getting planted in his lap. "Ah, well. I took a job! Turns out a lot of people are getting used to the idea of leves and that not every job the Syndicate sends out has to be a big scary world changing one, you know?"

    He does peer a little bit at her dangling legs and the broom but... well, it's magic. She ain't gotta explain shit. "And I didn't say you weren't awesome! Just, you know, dying sucks."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Eh. I've been to the underworld once before. If you like busty, pink-haired ghost-queens, it ain't that bad of a place to be." That's a very specific kind of ghost-queen to be advertising, but Yuyuko doesn't exactly have the ears everywhere to complain. The witch leans over and gives N'raha's hand a firm shake, a grin spreading across her face. "Well, whatever. Welcome to Gensokyo, I guess! Hope it hasn't done anything too weird to you just yet."

"So you got some kind of job from one of the locals, huh?" She asks, leaning back a bit on her broom. "You just out for stuff in general, or were you looking for something specific?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha blinks more than a few times at the 'busty ghost queen' bit but... you know he's not going to ask, really. "Ah, well.. we don't really have that where I'm from, at least I don't think we do, I'm not really all that religious..." Though, religion really doesn't have much to do with it here, really.

    Hands wipe some dirt around on his pants, and he smiles. "Ah, mushroom hunting! The lady gave me a list of shrooms to go and gather and I'm doin' that. Nothing's tried to kill me yet, so I think I'm doing good?" He holds up the bag. "You're a local though, so, maybe you can tell me if any of these are dumb."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Well, you never know 'till you go ghost huntin' yourself, I guess," Marisa replies with an earnest chuckle. "Heck, we didn't even realize there was a big old underworld gate 'till the local Gap Witch forgot to fix up the barrier. But that's an old story now." And it's unlikely that Eorzea has a Gap Witch OR an Underworld Gate so the point is probably moot!

Probably.

    "Oh, uh, sure," she nods and takes the bag, propping it open to peer into the contents... "Uhhh. You said you had a list, right? Was she askin' for food or poison or magic, specifically?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "Oh, uh..." He pulls out his phone and hands it over. It's got a series of pictures queued up already that were apparently taken in the lady's house, so there's a little dingy and washed out from the camera's flash. "I... I shoulda asked that, I guess. I /am/ wearing my gloves though!" He tilts a bit to show the heavy gardener's gloves on his hip.

    Marisa will recognize most of them. It's a melange of the safe and the dangerous, all, just sorta jumbled together, as if the lady didn't actually care to keep them seperate.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Man, this is kind of a weird bunch. You've got some that'll just straight up kill a guy standing, and others that just go good with a stew," Marisa shakes her head, picking out a couple shrooms that look a lot like some of the pictures in N'raha's phone-to album, except for a few veeerrry subtle differences. This one has more prominent gills, that one is red and white spotted instead of red and white dotted, this one bleeds mauve milk instead of saffron. "Looks pretty good 'side from these. I've got a few of the ones you're lookin' for so how about I trade you for th' ones you don't need?"

"And uh. If you're handlin' some of the more poisonous ones, you might want to not touch your eyes. Or nose or mouth." She... giggles? "Don't want your insides meltin' out, y'know?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The catman lets out a bluh. "Well I learned that one early doing botany. Poison isn't fun. Less so when you got a fellow just sorta conjuring it up out of thin air into your lungs." N'raha haet Bio.

    That said he shifts a bit to straddle the mushroom stem and props open his bag a bit more easily. "So, uh, you're a laser witch. What do you need mushrooms for? I figured you'd be all like..." He makes gun-y motions with his hands and makes pchooo noises. "Like, what do you use shroms for? Eating?"

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Eating, poisoning wannabe heroes who're trying to take some of my stuff, alechemical supplies, that kind of thing!" Marisa flashes a cheery grin, swapping a few mushrooms between her bag and N'raha's. Seems like she knows her local shroomery! "I'm definitely the best laserwitch around, but that doesn't mean I only know how to shoot lasers, you know."

    "Bein' a witch is about way more than just that," she says with a shrug. "You gotta know at least some alchemy. I know enough to make some sketchy medicine and some crazy-big explosives. That's why I'm a laserWITCH instead of a Lasermage."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha... Seems okay with that explanation. At least thefirst part. "Well, yeah, I suppose on that one. Inscrutable old ladies gotta do stuff that'sscary. I mean, in a place like this that's practically a requirement. I read stories." He snickers and then that tail flicks a bit more as he thinks.

    "And I really wish I could do some of that stuff sometimes, you know? The-" He pchoos again, his ears drooping as he starts to sort out the shrooms and spores in his bag. "All my talents are hittin' stuff not Pchooing."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Well what's stoppin' ya?" Marisa asks, quirking just an ever so slightly incredulous brow at the cat's Pchoo-ing fingers. "I mean, it's not like I knew how to shoot lasers the day I popped outta my mom. You gotta learn it yourself if you want it!"

There's a beat.

"...You callin' me an inscrutable old lady?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Woah woah woah danger danger. N'raha's hands lift up defensively. "No no no! I was callin' the lady who hired me inscrutable and old, she looked like a prune with a walking stick!" He hides a little bit behind his mushroom bag and stammers.

    "And I mean, like, you can check me out if you like, I can't cast spells but i can use my Aether properly, you know! I just hit things with it!" Ears perk up a bit over the edge of the bag before he peeks a bit. "I'm not saying I don't wanna try, I'm sayin' I'm never gonna be good at it."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "If you keep believin' that you're no good at something, then you'll never be good at it!" Marisa harrumphs, bundling her own mushroom sack back over the side of her broom. "You gotta reach for the stars if you ever want to get anything really great done, you know? Otherwise you're just doin' what you do instead of doing what people never thought you'd be able to do."

    "If you're bummed about not knowing how to use magic, then go and learn," she shrugs, crossing her arms over her chest. "There are a bunch of libraries n' stuff out there, and if you've got time to go hunt mushrooms you've got time to memorize some spells!"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha snickers a bit, and then, there's a bristling of fur. "Or, I can just become really really good at hitting people and not worry about spells." He grins, and those green eyes burn faintly. "I mean, I'm starting to get really good at the axing. Besides, I thought you also wanted me to become a pirate too? Or am I suposed to be a pirate thaumatuge axecat mushroompicker?"
    He's grinning. Like, a much more confident one.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Hey, whatever floats your pirate ship," Marisa answers with a grin as she swings her legs under her broom. It's getting darker now, but Marisa doesn't seem to mind it. Parts of her outfit actually seem to be glowing! Upon closer inspection, they seem to be small glass vials filled with strange, bluish goo. "But you know, you could totally become the very first Pirate Thaumaturge Axecat Mushroompicker ever. You could even throw in treasure hunter n' warlock for good measure if you wanted to! There'd be stories about that kind of thing."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha snorts a bit, and funbles around in his own bag a little bit to snag... well, it's a wind up thingamabob. The little clockwork aetheric Bomb wobbles up out of his pouch, and then floats next to his head, casting a warm orange light.
    "Well, maybe. I'mma focus on one thing at a time though. The Axeman Pirate stuff goes together though, cause it's pirates who teach that back home." The miqo'te snickers and then his brows furrow. "Stories? I'm just a doofus nobody who talks to big crystals though. I mean, m-" Well, no, you're not a nobody, you're a catman who talks to the Seedseer. That tail lashes a bit more in thought and consternation.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "See, that's what I mean!" Marisa grins, jabbing at the cat's chest with a couple of almost accusatory fingers. "You keep talkin' like that and you really will be a nobody. Trust me, everybody's somebody, you just gotta have faith that you can be whatever it is you are!"

"I mean," Marisa sniffs, "At the very least, you're a pretty good climber, right? I'm sure there's other stuff you're better than a lot of people at!"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha lets out an ooof at the poking, his tail swishing a bit to make sure he keeps his balance. That said, he snorts and grins again. "Okay okay, yeah, I guess, maybe I'm less of a nobody more recently than I thought." He sighs, and crosses his arms, protecting that chest.
    His ears flick forward though, and he grins. "Well, climbing is needed sometimes. Gotta get to where you're going if you gota get stuff done. I'm also pretty good at fishin' and I can, you know, repair armor and stuff if I have to."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Repairin', fishin', climbin'. Sounds kinda like you're a pretty good housecat, huh?" Marisa grins mischeviously, drawing back a bit from the branch to evade any possibly reprisals. "'Specially with that tail of yours. Come on, you've got an axe, right? You must'a used that thing to kill something pretty crazy at some point. Maybe some kind of gigantic monster-tree or something?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Those green eyes go faintly distant though, and he grumbles. "The new one? So far it's been like, dodos and rocks and jackals, and then a couple of Garleans." It's so matter of fact, including the Garleans in with the unimportant stuff. "Havne't done monster trees yet. I kept one's attention long enough for someone to light one on fire, but that was with my sword and sheld.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
No response to being called a housecat, huh? M-maybe his condition is worsed than she feared!!

    "Well, see? You've fought some pretty crazy stuff. Takes somebody to do fighting. Nobody's can't fight, on account'a them not being persons, y'see? Makes sense, right?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Well, the house cat bit finally filters through, and he grumps. "Maybe in another life as a house miq. I'm not a dancer and I'm not a servant. I just, you knwo, do jobs. That's different." N'raha's ears turn pink as he folds them back, and he again crosses his arms. "I suppose. But that's because people needed the help and because I gotta be awesome before I go home, you know? No sense in just... slinking back without having done something."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Keheheh, that's more like it," Marisa's grin widens noticably, almost dividing her face into two halves. Do witches just have ultra-grinny faces or something!? "If you don't go out there and take life by the horns, you'll just be disappointed in yourself by the end of it! Better to be proud and in mortal peril than safe an' mopey, y'know?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "That's right, cause the Nuhns and Dad can just, you know, jump in a dune and get buried for all I care. I'm gonna be better than them." And it's right about 'than them' that N'raha's face slackens and he shuts up, ears turning pink. Shit did he let that all out?

    Yes, yes he did. Shit.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Oho, a family feud, huh?" Marisa chimes, her expression turning... Oddly thoughtful. "Well. That's the best way to do it, you know? When your parents think you can't do something that you CAN do, you go and prove them wrong. Then rub it in their faces once you're at the top of the heap," The witch chuckles, confident in her ability to be the worst possible influence. "Well, however it turns out, I'm sure you'll do fine!"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The miqo'te's ears perk back up though as she's not making fun of him for that, at least. He grabs the mushroom bag again, and smiles. "Well, that's the plan. The huntresses need the Nuhns, but they're all cowards who wouldn't do anything, so... I'm gonna." His face screws up a bit, and then evens out into a look of peace. "I'm gonna do something and it's going to be awesome."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Marisa nods firmly and enthusiastically. "Show your dad that he's not as awesome as he thinks he is! And then punch him in the face when he tries to say otherwise," the witch crosses her arms, a sparkle in her smile... which then turns to an inquisitive glint. "So uh. What's a Nuhn, anyway. Some kinda... Conventy... thing?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha considers this and...

    "Well, there's only so many of us guy cats, you know? For every one of us, there's like... 20 or more lady cats that get born. So, you know, there's not a whole lot of us to go around. So, in the Seekers of the Sun, the Nuhns are the ones who lead the families."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
Marisa gives the cat a long, wary look.

"So basiscally. You cat-guys get a whole harem of lady-cats all to yourselves, is what you're tellin' me here." She inclines her head slightly, "And those guys get to run the show... Why? Just 'cause they're dad to all the local kittens?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "Well, not all of us. If you're dumb or weak or not fit, the huntresses ain't gonna follow you. Don't what's stoppin' em now but apparently all my Aunts are... hnnn." N'raha stops there. Not going to speak ill of his Mum and Aunts, it seems. Hands work faintly at his pants.

    "Why am I tellin' you this?"

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Ahahahahaha! Well, that's obvious, ain't it?" Marisa laughs. LAUGHS! She laughs so hard she FALLS OFF HER BROOM! No, wait, she's swinging herself around from underneath it, leaping into the air to land feet-flat on the bamboo broom's shaft. "Because I'm the great witch renowned throughout heaven and earth! Because I'm the one who shot for the moon and decided to scoop up all the sky as she went! Because I'm the one who races the Tengu through the clouds and drinks with the Oni deep underground!"

    Shafts of prismatic light lance out in a bright array all around her as if on cue. Marisa crosses her arms as /something/ explodes behind her, "It's 'cause I'm the one they call Marisa the Star Breaker. And I'm /totally awesome./"

    She pauses, then, and hops to sit again on her broom as if nothing at all had just happened. "So tell me what's keepin' your mom an' aunts from kicking your rat coward dad off his high chair."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha... actually applauds a little bit at that, before snorting. Boy she's full of herself.

    There's a serious question though, and the Miqo'te leans up against the stem of the mushroom, getting more comfortable. The Toy Bomb floats over too, making a ticking grumpy noise. "Well, they don't think he's a rat coward, I guess. But they just kept running from the Garleans when they came to the desert. When they came and..." He goes quiet.

    "They ran with all of us."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Oh, well if it's war that's kind of a different story." Marisa sniffs a bit, taking a moment to get comfortable again now that she's seated. "I mean, those Garlean guys are an empire, right? How bad would it've been if you stayed and fought anyway?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "We lost people anyways. We lost people and we ran and we lost people and we ran and..." N'raha's green eyes are burning and... There's a youthful rage there. That sort of indignant hatred of authority combined with the loss of war. It's palpable in the air, even, as the young miq's aether kicks up. The toy Bomb starts to pulsate warmly, getting brighter.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Marisa frowns. Oh dear, she hit a trauma switch. This wasn't exactly the sort of conversation she had in mind! Time for emergency measures! Marisa scoots her broom closer and... Pats at the cat's head. "I get it. So you're angry that he didn't stay an' fight, an' maybe keep those Garleans from killing your family an' takin' your land, right? So you're tryin' ta get strong enough to take it all back."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Patting his head. That- uh.

    The miq's ears flick a bit but he doesn't stop her from doing so. It's strange enough for him, though, that it interrupts his TEENAGE WRATH. "Whehan huh oh." Ears fold back but not in a mad way. Just... He looks a little confused at that. "Y-yeah, something like that. Or... I dunno, come back and something I dunno, I just am not going back now."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
CRISIS SUCCESSFULLY AVERTED.

Marisa's Mental Note: Petting the cat totally works.

    "Yeah, can't blame you for that. Maybe when you've got a bad enough posse you can go back and strut around like the biggest cat in town, huh?" Marisa snickers, ruffling N'raha's head one more time before pulling back away. "Just keep reachin' for it no matter what, you'll be just fine!"