Gessen Playtime

Murakumo's next Sci-Fi masterpiece would require some help. Kumo could always rely on Shiki to help her play out certain scenes and it improved the quality of her work. For the pivotal scene in her new work she would need another player in order to act out the events. Shiki suggested Minori, she was imaginative, playful and uninhibited, it seemed like the perfect match and Minori agreed to play a game of "Sci-Fi" with Kumo and Shiki but they had to make sure to get the scene finished before Minori got impatient and lost interest.

 

They took their play out into the snow-covered grounds of Gessen Academy, the commotion caught the attention of Kotarō and Kagerō who were starved for attention and lingered around the girls. Murakumo laid out the plans for her story 'Okay, this is the part where three space-faring Cowboy-Shinobi are caught in a stand-off, and the victor will lay claim to the galaxies greatest treasure. I'll be playing the role of our hero, Shiki will be the villain, and you Minori will be the-'

 

'Do I get to have a transforming robot dinosaur?' Minori interrupted. She actually managed to lose focus before getting an answer, instead content to scratch Kotarō behind the ear.

 

'That isn't part of my story, stick to the script.' Murakumo huffed 'So as I was saying Minori will be the third member, the clumsy comic relief chara-'

 

Minori barged in again 'That's dumb! This "Sci-Fi" game is dumb! It's all make believe so why can't I have a robot dinosaur? Aren't we supposed to have fun?' She puffed her cheeks and pouted at Murakumo.

 

'How dare you!' Murakumo fumed. Shiki had to physically hold her back. 'Science Fiction is where daring, bold creators can explore the questions of our time without being limited by-'

 

'Boo!' Minori jeered 'I want to play a fun game. I'm gonna go play with Kotarō!' Minori took out a chocolate cookie that she stored in her pocket and fed Murakumo's wolves by hand.

 

'Minori! Don't feed them chocolate! You'll make them sick!' Murakumo barked. She had dedicated years specifically training these wolves to do her bidding and was rewarded with the animals respect and position as alpha, now Minori was sabotaging all of her hard work. The wolves were attached to all of the Gessen girls, almost as much as Murakumo. It made keeping the wolves in check a difficult task.

 

Shiki did her best to play mediator. She put on a bright smile and the tone of her voice went higher 'Hey Minnow, come on, we just have to play by Murky's rules for a while then we can do something you want to do.'

 

'No!' Minori scowled 'We're gonna play my game now! And Kotarō and Kagerō are on my side now too!' Minori had seized control and lorded her authority over her sisters. 'We're going to play a game of "keep away" go get her mask boys!' Minori thrust her finger at Murakumo and sent the wolves on their mission 'And don't let her get it back!'

 

Kotarō snatched Murakumo's mask and bolted for the treeline. Kumo felt naked, she covered her face with her hands and meekly chased after the wolves 'K-K-K-K-K-K-Kotarō!' Murakumo stuttered 'You traitor! Give it back!' Kotarō and Kagerō danced around the trees to make Murakumo dash in circles.

 

'Minnow, you're being way rude!' Shiki huffed. She put her hand on her hip and stared Minori down. 'This is supposed to be Murmaid's game and you're totally wrecking it!'

 

'This is my game now! If you want to stop me you'll have to catch me!' Minori transformed into her Shinobi outfit and shaked her rear at Shiki. She had a huge grin on her face 'Good luck catching me like this though!' Minori darted off, sending a wake of mist and snow behind her that fell as dunes, turning the flat yard into a series of hills separated by trails.

 

'Whoa! Minnow! You're taking this too far!' Shiki couldn't pursue Minori with kicked-up snow being flung at her face but did the best she could to follow her 'Minnow! This is crazy! It's not supposed to be like this!' Shiki was cast in a huge shadow and she had to backflip out of the way of a stack of a humongous stack of pancakes that was dropped with the intent of flattening her 'No way! Like are you for real right now?'

 

'Either you catch me or I get my robot dinosaur! Now!' Minori let out her best impression of a dinosaur roaring and she flung candy from her bucket all around. Shiki was forced to transform and it was bats against sweets in a fight that was spiralling out of control. Neither Shiki nor Minori could land a finishing blow to bring this spectacle to an end, and Murakumo refused to lend any aid without her mask.

 

Shiki panted, she couldn't keep up with Minori's energy 'Murky! I say we write a deus ex machina into this story of yours!' She pleaded.

 

'B-b-b-b-b-but if I do that people will think I'm a hack!' Murakumo stuttered. She didn't want to give up but they had lost all control. There was no other choice but to summon the greatest power in her Sci-Fi series, the "all-mother." She put her hands over her eyes and took in a deep breath 'Yozakura!' She called out and Shiki joined in 'Yoza! Minori's not playing fair!'

 

Murakumo and Shiki continued to call out until the doors to yard flung open and Yozakura stood tall as she could in the doorway. Everything came to a standstill, even Kotarō and Kagerō stopped running and sat like well-behaved pups. Murakumo took the opportunity to snatch her mask back, wipe away the wolf slobber and plant it back on her face. Yozakura slowly trod her way over to the girls

 

'What's going on here?' Yozakura ordered. All three of the girls blurted out their wild explanations and excuses for what happened, and the wolves joined in with barks and howls. Yozakura lost her patience 'Enough! One at a time!' Everything went silent again, and Yozakura prodded each of the girls for information, and took in their sides of the story like a detective. By the end each of the girls got a talking too but none worse that Minori who also had her dessert privilege taken away. Murakumo and Shiki were just glad to not get punished, although Murakumo would have to take her new Sci-Fi story in a wild new direction that surprised her fans.