/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Patchouli said the next part in unison with her. "Flashes of emotion." Meiling's eyes widened. "Something has happened to us. Just us. You and I. There can be no doubt as to what the cause is."

"The...The HSE, isn't it?" Meiling whispered. "I've been having dreams. I'm...I'm still in that fake version of the Hakurei Shrine, and I'm trapped there. Is it - Are you the one who's with me in those dreams?" Patchouli nodded grimly. "...Ah. And - The last dream, the most recent..."

"Something bad happened. Yes, I feel it too." Patchouli nodded and pressed her fingers to her eyes. A spell of her own design came into play. She could see the flow of her life force beneath her fingertips. It burnt a cool blue, swirling as it travelled her body. Across from her, Meiling burnt a fierce orange, brimming with life. "I believe that neither of us are operating with a full deck of cards, so to speak. The question is which cards we are missing. A two of hearts? A four of diamonds? Or are we missing our most important cards? Our aces?" She mused on the analogy for a second, then shook her head. "My apologies, Meiling, but I've not got a solution ready yet. To know is to prepare, and I believe that we will both need to prepare."

"That's, um, okay. Thank you for telling me, Lady Patchouli." Meiling inclined her head. "At least I know what's causing that feeling, now."

While she spoke, Patchouli watched the flow of energy in her body. At first glance, there was nothing. It seemed like everything was in the right place, but...No, wait. "Meiling, perform some ki manipulation. Anything you please, just do it right now." Meiling looked a little confused, but after frowning for a moment, raised her hand to the cup of tea she was holding. There was no outer change, but Patchouli watched the flow of life inside Meiling as it rolled and swirled around her hand. The tea inside the cup began to boil, and right then, Patchouli spotted it. A small sliver of energy being skimmed off of every single bit of ki that Meiling possessed. It wasn't going into the cup, nor was it going into the air. No, it was staying in her veins, and then it was just...Disappearing. "Thank you, Meiling. You can stop now. Give me a moment to think."

She looked down and performed one of the many magical tests she'd devised half a century ago to ascertain her own magical boundaries. Yes, now that she knew what to look for. Something was being skimmed off of her reserves and disappearing. It was going somewhere, of course. Energy didn't disappear like that. And given both her dreams and Meiling's dreams, she already had a suspicion about where it was going. If they were both still in the HSE in their dreams, and if Patchouli ever felt that she was trapped anywhere...She would do every test possible in order to escape. She'd devise whole schools of magic. She'd kill, if necessary. And if Sekai was a person - If Sekai was a person...

"...Someone's playing a game, Meiling." Patchouli murmured, tapping her fingers against the table. "Our dreams... The HSE. The missing energy that we can both feel..."

"A game, Lady Patchouli? But...Why?" Meiling frowned in confusion. "I don't see the pattern."

"Somebody does." Patchouli whispered. "The question is... Against whom? Are we being drawn in to help... Or are we being lured in for the kill? Who's tune are we dancing to?"

There was nothing they could do about it now, regardless. They couldn't go to the HSE. They couldn't resolve it just like that. But, before sending Meiling off, Patchouli advised her of something. "Keep a close eye on your dreams, Meiling. I suspect that whatever happens next will be critical. I know not what the energy we are both losing is being used for, but I know that we must keep track of it. Begin keeping a dream journal. If you think something has changed, come and tell me immediately. If Sakuya tells you to stay by the gate, tell her that this is a direct order from me. This is more important than whatever rabble wants to visit the mansion." Patchouli paused, and Meiling took it as her cue to leave.

"Right. Um, thank you, Lady Patchouli. I really was wondering what that feeling was." She took a deep breath, and suddenly her eyes took on that shift that signified the Meiling of the pre-Spell Card Rules rearing her head. "I'll keep track of my dreams, and we'll find out what's causing it eventually. And then..." She placed her hands together for a moment. "We'll take care of it."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Meiling." Patchouli murmured. "You should return to the gate now. Thank you for indulging me." Meiling nodded, bowed, and then turned and headed off for the gate. Once more, Patchouli was left along. She counted off fourteen seconds in her head. "Speak up." She finally said, without turning around.

>>46328168
Having recovered from my anaemia-induced coma, I'm very happy to see how you've taken care of Patchouli and Meiling. You've kept Patchouli to more or less exactly the way I see her; The speech about how they're stuck in a game felt very true to how I imagined her character in the early Patchouli (and Meiling) posts, and it was the same thing I'd have had her do too
I think that the only thing that's not necessarily the way I would have done it (and please don't think I'm asking you to change it or anything since I'm long since out of the loop on the whole project) is Meiling's forms of address. In my mind, they follow ironclad rules. She will always say Lady Patchouli (and Miss Sakuya).
So...I don't really have a point here. It's not like you need my approval (if such a thing was even worth anything), but I just wanted to tell you that you're doing a good job.

For a building in the Human Village, the so-called Hakurei Shrine Experience reeked of youkai. Absolutely reeked. Patchouli's expressionless eyes swept across the interior from where she floated outside the front door. There was, just off to the side from the hallway that led to what could only be the reception desk, a room with a sign above it that proclaimed it as the waiting room, and it was there that the scent of youkai energies gathered the most. Tengu, intermixed with oni, and kappa and hermits and everything in-between until there was no telling just how many had frequented this establishment. But it was a lot, and that was the crux of the problem. Just what had seemingly half of Gensokyo's youkai population so addicted? Patchouli floated around the corner of the building, remarking that it was rather strangely shaped. The shapes it contained were more consistent with a replica of a building rather than something built to purpose, as if concessions had to be made to the outer design to fit whatever was going on inside around it.

There was a noise coming from the front door, and Patchouli spun around, then carefully floated to the corner of the building to see what it was. Surprisingly, it was a human. More interestingly, it was the Shrine Maiden. Wait, no...Not the Shrine Maiden. The face was just slightly different, the hair a very close, but not exact shade. That pin in her hair was something that Reimu would never wear. It was the Shrine Maiden's daughter. Someone that Patchouli had heard of, and possibly even seen in passing during the period, many years ago, when Reimu had still visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion, her husband and daughter in tow. Someone who, most curiously, was breathing far too heavily for standing still. Frowning, Patchouli twitched her fingers, activating a complicated spell that had taken more than a decade to put together. The study of emotional responses was still very much a work in process, but if researchers in the outside world had the genius of Patchouli Knowledge, the world would be far more advanced. Immediately, the Hakurei girl's body lit up in various colors, and Patchouli's mind whirled through combinations before coming to a wholly unexpected conclusion.

There were two primary emotions that the Hakurei girl (Hata? Hera?) was feeling. One was overwhelming guilt, and the other was incredible lust. It was a combination that Patchouli had yet to see, and it was made more mystifying by the way that the girl stared at the building in front of her. What could be so interesting? She took a step toward the building, hesitated, then turned and ran away, her head firmly aimed toward the ground. How very interesting. And now, Patchouli felt that she had to see it with her own eyes, so she wasted no more time in floating back around to the door and pushing it open.

The inside was cool, but well-lit and decorated in what seemed to be a tasteful way at a surface level. Pressing her hand to the decorations, Patchouli could feel that they were cheaply made. Representative of the whole building? Certainly not, considering that one of the energies that she could make out from inside was from a Bake-danuki, and they cared for quality. A concession. Spare the expense on the reception because the clientele won't care as long as the main attraction is fully furnished. And what of the main attraction? Patchouli's eyes swept toward the reception, which was up some steps and consisted of a large, sweeping desk that appeared to be made out of marble. Another twitch of her fingers, and a shift came over her eyes. Faux marble, as expected. You wouldn't get this much marble in Gensokyo. She cancelled the spell and floated toward the counter. A being sat there, her eyes full of contempt so clear that Patchouli didn't need a spell to confirm, though it changed to surprise when she spotted her. Her nine tails fell aimlessly, as if she had lost the strength to hold them proudly. She was Yakumo's shikigami, an extension of her will, yet the extension appeared to hate the situation she was in. "Shikigami." Patchouli murmured. "What is this place?"

The fox looked up at her, her expression verging between that same contempt and some sort of hope. Hope that Patchouli hadn't been drawn in like the others? Contempt for those who had? She seemed to be fighting a war within herself about what she would say, and the master's will clearly won, because the speech she gave was stilted, barely contained the disgust that the fox obviously felt, and seemed to cause her physical pain to say. At the very least, it answered several of Patchouli's further questions. 'Serve and relieve'? A joke. This was a place of debauchery. It was no wonder why Koakuma had felt so drawn to it. How could a succubus resist?

And yet, the magician in Patchouli had faltered. There was knowledge to be gained behind those doors. What, then, made this man so special? "Fox." Patchouli said. "Give me the shortest course."

I didn't remember much of the sessions at all. I know I would lie down in a room, and I think some rabbits were there, but it was all a bit of a haze. I told Lady Patchouli as such. "As I thought. It's not that the memory was wiped from your mind. It's been muddled, swirled around and mixed up, like ink dropping in water." She suddenly smiled. "That will make this easier." I felt some hope enter my heart at her words. "I have some ideas. You're not going to like them." I tried not to sight, but at this point, I was used to youkai casually telling me how horrible something was going to be. "Obviously, the first person who'd be able to restore something like this is Eirin Yagokoro herself, but I suspect that you would rather not find yourself there." At my nod, she continued. "Marisa told me on her last defeat here that she had witnessed you eat a peach, and had then witnessed Yuuka Kazami take you with her along with a small plant pot. Am I to assume that this was not an ordinary peach?" I told her that Miss Yuuka had called it a heavenly peach, and Lady Patchouli's eyes widened at that. "My, my... Few outside of the celestials ever experience such a delicacy. You are aware that you're not...strictly speaking, a normal human anymore, yes?" I mumbled that I had suspected as much after Yamame's failure to bite me. "Well, don't worry too much. If Reimu didn't kill you for it then, she's likely not going to. Plus, it'll make this next suggestion easier to stomach."
Somehow, I thought that it was likely to still be awful. "Not all that long ago, I had the pleasure of teasing a Satori in the very chair that you're sitting in now. Do you know much about the Satori?" I shook my head. "Understandable. To put it simply, Satori are mind-reading youkai. I had the privelage of witnessing one - the same one, as a matter of fact - in battle several years ago, and I learnt that a Satori can use their third eye to hypnotize you and draw out your past trauma." I think my eyes widened, because I suddenly had a bad feeling about what Lady Patchouli was about to suggest. "That's right. You need to see her. If anyone has a chance at drawing whatever's hidden in your mind out, it will be her." I sighed heavily and cradled my head in my hands. Had this really all come about because I simply had wanted to meet a nice girl? Finally, I raised my head and asked Lady Patchouli where I could find her. "Satori Komeiji resides in the depths of Former Hell, in the Palace of the Earth Spirits." I'm not certain, but I think Lady Patchouli may have found my distress somewhat amusing. "If you were a regular human, I wouldn't suggest it, but as you are now, even you should be able to withstand any challenges you might come across down there."
I started to wonder if any of this was really happening or if I was in the depths of a fever dream. Lady Patchouli cleared her throat and brought my attention back to her. "Due to...certain circumstances, I cannot advise you on how to reach Former Hell. You may need to speak to someone who's been there." I suddenly remembered that Yamame had offered to guide me there if I needed, which really had come at just the right time. How lucky. "That's the best suggestion I can give you at this time." I nodded shakily and thanked her for her time. She smiled and told me that it was thanks for listening to her explain her magic when I was last here.
My mind was in turmoil for the entire trip back out of the mansion. As soon as I left the library, the silver-haired maid had appeared beside me once more to guide me back out. As we approached the courtyard, she asked if my visit had been successful, and I told her that it had been, more than I had expected. She nodded stately. As I left, I noticed that the gatekeeper, Meiling, was once more leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. This time, I elected to not hang around and quickly headed away. The rain hadn't let up in the whole time I'd been there, and I resigned myself for a miserable trip home. I hoped that, since whoever was entering my house hadn't done anything so far, I'd be safe for one more night.