/jp/ - Otaku Culture

She supposed that it made sense for someone who was so doggedly fixated on being an ordinary magician. Patchouli made modifications to her own body; Marisa made modifications to objects. "Alright, let's - Whoa!" She immediately pulled the goggles down and squeezed her eyes shut. "Bright..." She groaned as she rubbed her eyes. "What the hell is this thing?" Patchouli looked down at Sekai's book and shifted the spells on her eyes. Yes, she had seen the same as Marisa had, but unlike Marisa, she could adjust the light exposure in her eyes to keep things bearable. Marisa picked up the goggles once more and pushed a small amount of magic into the side, causing a section of the runic structures that she had inscribed to light up. Immediately, the glass lenses darkened. "Alchemic process." Marisa explained as she pulled them back on. "Changes glass to-"

"To a darker opacity. Yes, I thought as much. It's very fine craftsmanship for someone so young." Patchouli wasn't lying. For Marisa's age, it was very delicate and patient work. She had certainly done a good job. "Now, tell me what you think of the book." She tapped the cover twice.

Marisa pushed the goggled up on her eyes. "Right." She went to lean forward, then stopped. "You said this would kill me if I touched it?" Patchouli nodded. That had been her conclusion from her first look at it the previous day. "Is that more of a, uh, exploding death, or set on fire?" In response, Patchouli summoned a chunk of wood from the shelves of the library. On the way, she nearly caught Koakuma with it, but she just barely missed her in a way that left her oblivious. Catching the wood, she slowly brought it into contact with the book. Immediately, it evaporated from her grasp as if it had never been there. "...Right. Yeah, that'd be bad."

"I imagine so." Patchouli replied dryly.

"But...That said, this is...Well, a marvel. I've never seen anything like it, not even in here. Where did you get it?" Marisa looked at Patchouli curiously.

"I'm afraid that that information is...Under wraps. For now." She was certain that Sekai's birth would not be an event to be missed, but that didn't mean she could get careless. "Anything else?"

"I haven't even started yet!" Marisa replied hotly. "So, first...That chunk of wood. It got destroyed when it touched the book, but the table didn't. Why is that?" Marisa went to lean down, then thought better of it. "Hang on..." She reached into another pocket, pulled out a hairband, and tied her hair back into long twintails. "Okay, so, clearly whatever made the wood explode doesn't affect everything, or it would be tunnelling its way into Former Hell right now by evaporating the floor." Patchouli nodded along with her analysis. "So...You've noticed where the runes are, right?"

"Yes." Patchouli replied, knowing full well that she hadn't had a chance to look yet. "Of course."

"Yeah, so..." Marisa pulled her chair closer so that she could lean out over the desk slightly more. She pointed a finger down at the spine of the book, being very careful to keep from touching it. "There's a line, flowing through the spine...But it's also covering the whole surface of the book. Not like...Have you got a, uh..." Marisa snapped her fingers a few times. "A thing. A dampener."

Dampeners were typical magician affair. No magician worth their salt wouldn't have a few lying around. They could temporarily weaken a magical item in a very small area. Not long enough to actually be of any use, but enough for the magician to spot various features of an item. How the magic flowed, or what caused certain effects in parts of the item in question. Using one on Hata no Sekai's book was...A concerning prospect to Patchouli. Of course, she had never seen an item in her life that didn't immediately bounce back after a dampener was used on it, but when a child's life was at stake...

Regardless, there was a reason that Patchouli did not possess one. With a deadpan expression, she indicated the library, or what remained of it.

"Ah." Marisa replied.

"Ah, indeed." Patchouli muttered, trying to restrain her annoyance. "No, I haven't any of my usual tools. It would appear that I am currently the least equipped magician in Gensokyo." Not in terms of mental capabilities, of course, but in regards to tools? Unless she went and painstakingly located all the things that had survived, she was going about as unequipped as possible.

"Right. Okay, let me just..." She fiddled with the sides of her glasses even more. "You can lower the sensitivity of the light receptors in your eyes, right? Lower them to...I dunno, something low." Patchouli frowned, but did as Marisa asked. "So, are you going to tell me?" Marisa suddenly asked, looking up at her.

"Am I going to tell you what?" Patchouli asked, squinting to see the witch in the suddenly much darker room.