Izurich
PaulHaynekDark Elf jumps in water and works at a school
Sophos blinked with a blank expression as Rinnosuke walked away and locked away his store. She turned her head towards her "allies" that had spent the battle looting the store. Had they ever played an RPG before? Stealing from a store was hardly ever a good idea, at best you'd have the things stolen taken back, at worst well, this happened. Just how many events had they been closed off from? She let out a sigh and walked past the bunny. She walked into the woods. She could go to the sunflower field now, but considering what this world likely actually was, she reconsidered. She settled on the town, assuming it to be a fairly benign choice.
The forest was both alien yet familiar to her. There was myriads of trees growing together, several old oaks and many types of trees that she would usually see as normal. Yet there were others more alien as well, herbs of various kinds grew together, mushrooms both edible and poisonous grew to prodigious size, and ancient fauna stalked the forest, both magical and mundane. A noppera bo looked hopeful when it spied Sophos for a moment, before deflating and continuing on its way.
It wasn't long until she found a river, with a mysterious circular patch of blue in the water near its shores, as well as a bridge that presumably led towards the village.
Sophos, or rather Robin, found herself cooling down as she walked alongside the river. She considered chasing after the faceless ghost, but after her bout with Rinnosuke she decided she'd had enough fighting for the moment. "Hm?" She spotted an out of place blue area in the river. If she had a fishing rod this would be the time she'd pull it out. But she didn't have one, so should she just ignore it?...
"Banzai!" She leaped into the air and belly flopped right on top of it.
"Gyaaaaa!" the spot suddenly screamed. Wrestling itself off of Sophos, it came out of the water with an annoyed look. A female, wearing a pair of large tinted safety glasses, almost hidden under long unkempt blue hair. Almost all of her clothings were blue as well, both the long coat and the boots she had on.
"W-what was that for!?"
"Whoa!" Sophos scrambled to her feet in the river after realizing she had landed on someone. Taking a step back she saw the girl in full. It was another familiar face. "Oh, Nit-" She let out a cough. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you there. I'm Sophos. May I ask for your name?"
"Momoko."
She rubbed her head, taking off her glasses. There were dark bags under her eyes, as if she lacked sleep.
"So?" She wiped her safety glass with a piece of cloth from her pockets. "Whats the deal with you? Why'd you jump on me all of a sudden?"
"Momoko huh?" Sophos rubbed the back of her head and put on an apologetic smile. "Well uh, I saw something weird in the water and sorta figured that it'd uh, lead to something valuable? In hindsight it does sound rather dumb." She crossed her arms and looked towards the bridge. "Have you been to the nearby town? I'm new around here and was wondering what it's like."
"They're all excited. Didn't feel like going near them today." She shrugged. "Well, you know how humans are. They wo..."
Momoko stopped, staring at Sophos openly. "You... Are you one of those free spirits that took over that person's place?"
There was a slightly greedy glint in her eyes at that, as she waited for Sophos to answer.
Sophos's right eye twitched and she let out a nervous laugh. "Wow... News sure spreads fast around here. "I didn't exactly intend on taking the place, but some of the people I traveled with had other ideas." She let out a sigh. "You wouldn't happen to know Rinnosuke, would you? And maybe how to get back on his good side?"
"Nope," Momoko dismissed her questions. "But, if the shopkeeper there is gone... Hey, what if I set up shop there? As close as I can anyways. I don't like leaving the river. I promise I have better stuff than that dinky half human."
Sophos's ears quivered. She really did land on something interesting. "That'd be great actually. Would it be alright if I brought in some stuff for you to sell or... tinker with?"
"Fu..fu fu fu..." Momoko walked further into the river, putting on her tinted safety glasses, grinning widely all the while. "That will depend on what you bring me. I'll get ready to relocate there. I have a lot of things to move."
She simply moved beneath the water, leaving not even a ripple, though a blue outline of her could be seen as she moved further upstream. With that, Sophos remained alone once again, safe for the occasional youkai and fairies passing by.
"Ah, lemonade out of lemons if I do so say myself." Sophos patted herself on the back as she stepped out of the river. As her soaked shoes squeaked with each step she continued through the forest. Pulling up her menu she noticed that she'd gained a skill point. It was still early in this expansion so she decided to save it for now. If she came across a difficult situation she could perhaps spend the point then on a handy skill.
She eventually reached the edge of the forest to the sight of the city in the distance. Now that she thought about it, would she be okay walking into a human town? She almost looked human, her ears were a bit of a giveaway that she wasn't however. She shrugged and continued onward. Hopefully a soaking wet dark elf wouldn't be too much of a trouble sight for those at the gate.
The village looked peaceful enough, but as soon as she was spotted, it seemed most of the villagers started getting very excited at the sight. One ran immediately as the rest gawked at her. Other than that, the village looked pretty rustic, with its eastern architecture, utilizing mostly wood and paper in its construction. From where she was, Sophos could see more houses further down the road, with what seemed to be a main square in the middle.
"Well that's not a good sign..." Sophos walked as nonthreatening as she could and continued into the village. She hoped the villager that saw her and ran hadn't run off to get guards. Though even if they did, she figured she could just run away. As she walked further in she passed by a marketplace. She didn't have any money now that she thought about it, which was something she needed to fix right away. She wondered if the shop that would be set up would generate revenue for her. As she pondered this she stopped by a bar near the main square. She walked in and looked around. "Hello? I'm new in town and looking for some work." Places like this tended to have at least a few quest givers, someone was bound to have something for her.
"Oh? Fancy seeing you here." Rinnosuke raised up a glass at her from the bar. From the assortment of plates in front of him, he had just started on drinking after eating a meal. "Doubt they have a job for you, unless you don't mind being a waitress. Oh, and you might have to be careful, theres so- oh speak of the devil..."
A stern looking woman entered the bar just then, glancing around before her brown eyes locked upon the newcomer. "You, I need to speak with you if you don't mind."
Brushing off her silver hair, the tall buxom woman had a rather striking blue outfit, with a strange square hat with glyphs upon it. Sitting down at the bar, she gestured towards a seat beside her, looking at Sophos expectantly.
Sophos nearly broke out into a cold sweat upon seeing Rinnosuke in the bar, she was about to run off when she realized his demeanor was fairly benign all things considered. As the silver haired woman he was about to mention walked in Sophos let out an awkward cough and sat down as asked. "Is there something I can help you with? Lost son, cellar full of rats you need taken care of?"
"Yes, there was something I'd like you to help me with" The woman signalled to the barkeeper, who brought them both a drink.There was an uncomfortably long silence as the woman sipped at her drink, broken only by the tinkling of the door bell, indicating another customer had entered.
"First of all, what are you doing here?"
Sophos gingerly sipped her drink, her eyes not quite knowing where to look as an awkward silence filled the air between them. When she finally spoke she almost spilled her drink. "I'm... not entirely sure to be honest. I just need to make some money, and learn more about this land."
"I see. Then is that why you ransacked Rinnosuke's shop?" The woman replied nonchalantly. Rinnosuke was about to say something to that before she held up her hand. "I am Keine Kamishirakawa, de facto leader of the Human faction. What you have started here, may be the beginning of the end for us."
There was a matter-of-fact tone in her voice, speaking without bitterness or judgement. "Gensokyo, this place, has fractured, and various factions now vie for territory in this... game of theirs. The miko cannot act, for this too will balance out, but..."
Keine let the silence sit between them, leaving Sophos to ponder her words.
"Hmm." Sophos set her drink down and leaned back on the bar, stretching her arms out on it. "Sounds like things were on the edge of becoming like this anyway. Why would a simple robbery cause the land to become fractured?" She let out a puff of air and shook her head. "Even still I kinda feel responsible even though I never wanted to steal anything. These factions, I imagine there is tension between them all? Tell me about them. I'll gladly help."
"Robbery? No. You taking over territory. The Moriya shrine, Byaku-" Keine stopped. "No, perhaps it would be too complicated for newcomers to understand. But there are people just waiting for an excuse to cause incidents, some for their own reasons, others because they can. Some need no reasons."
Sophos stuck her tongue in her cheek as she nonchalantly scanned the room. Alright, getting bored. "What is it you want me to help with then?"
"Join us. If I take over all the territory, this.... fad, will go away, and we can return to our peaceful lives. Of course, you have to tell us about your former teammates as well, what they do, what your territory has right now, and what we can do to defeat them utterly." There was a gleam in Keine's eyes now, as she gripped her drink tighter. Perhaps Sophos would pick up that she wasn't going to be able to leave that easily if she refused to betray her teammates.
"Okay." Sophos said straight away. She hopped from her seat and downed her drink before slamming it on the bar, but not hard enough to break it, she was poor after all. She put on a wide smile, wide and toothy. "This should be entertaining at least."
Sophos defected to the Human faction
Sophos lost her save point at the Forest of Magic
Sophos gains a save point at the Human Village
"Really!?" Keine sighed at that. "Well, that's a load off my chest. Uhm... did you have a place to stay? If you're looking for a job, you could stay with me."
"Ahaha, she's going to work you to the bone," exclaimed a customer. It was the one that had entered before, with a simple clean blouse, and red pants with suspenders with odd tags all over it. The very same tags seemed to be tied in her hair, arranged to be symmetrical on both sides.
Sophos's eyes widened at the person that had just walked into the bar. "Oh really, to the bone huh?" She bowed, then held out her hand. "I'm Sophos, it's nice to meet you." She turned her head to Keine. "I'll work with you, but I have to ask, why is it necessary to capture every bit of territory for things to calm down? I'm sure some of the factions can be reigned in by other means."
"Mokou." Was all the silver haired woman said, clearing her hair from her face as she focused back on her drink. "Don't break your back now, ya hear?"
Keine looked thoughtful at that, but shook her head. "Perhaps. But no one here would start up such a faction if they did not intend to go through with it."
"Well, enough talk of that. Let me show you my place for now."
With that, she lead Sophos out of the bar, heading northwards. The streets were as busy as before, but now that Keine was walking along Sophos, it seemed no one gawked at her, or at least, no one gawked at her with the intensity that they had before. Soon the streets turned from busy, to well travelled, to almost abandoned as they walked towards the outskirts. It seemed they were heading towards a long building, with a large fenced off yard.
"This is it. My school." Keine looked proud of herself as she said that. "No one here now, but, there will be plenty of children later tomorrow. You're welcome to sleep in one of the spare rooms."
As they walked through town Sophos noticed the change in reception now that she was walking with Keine. She almost wanted to stick her tongue out at them in spite. As they continued and things steadily became less and less dense they reached her school.
"Kids... huh?" Sophos said with a wary expression. She couldn't really handle kids, she didn't know how to talk to them let alone look after them. "I'll try to stay out of your way then, thank you for the room."
"Hold on a moment." Keine had a positively evil gleam in her eyes now. "There was the matter of the job you asked about. For starters, help me clean up after the kids, clear their doodles from the walls and..."
Keine started mouthing off a long string of duties before ending it with "... and then perhaps you can try patrolling around the area to deter any youkai that tries to eat the children at night."
"Mokou wasn't kidding." Sophos let out a wary laugh. Cleaning up after brats wasn't exactly her idea of fun. She pulled up her menu and looked at her skills. With her recent skill point she unlocked a skill called Overdrive. It would help her get this over with quickly. "Sure thing boss lady."
