Day 4

~BEGIN: DAY 4~
You are still Kazuma. Thankfully. At least, it doesn't look like your body's changed, from a first glance, though you haven't had a chance to look in a mirror recently- or indeed, at all since you got here. Man, you still kind of need to do that. You probably look like shit. And let's face it, you were never that hot shit to begin with, what with being kind of a pudgy little bastard. Maybe that's changed? You're not sure, though you have had an easier time moving around since getting here and that autocorrect or whatever it was kicked in. You look down. Same loose shirt.
You notice it's a bit looser than usual. Maybe more than a bit? You feel in better shape in general.
In any case, you start looking around, and see if you can ping the server from here- maybe even contact Mirit, though you kind of doubt she's up at this hour. Nevertheless, you leave a message:
Undergoing kung fu training. May not be able to contact you.
With that done, you go ahead and hibernate your lap top again, and start exploring the rest of the house, particularly for some sort of washing up area, as, once again, you probably look like crap. It's also the only place likely to have a mirror.
The house is bigger than it looked on the outside, but you find a bathroom with the door open pretty quickly. The toilet's the squat kind, but there's a sink and mirror sure enough.
You go ahead and use the plug and take a helmet wash. Dear heavens you were grody. Let's take a look in the mirror now...
Your hair's gone from brown to black, black enough you're not sure light's reflecting off it or if the lighting just playing tricks on you. Your eyes are orange-ish now. The last bits of pudge and baby fat are gone from everywhere you can see - you don't have saran-wrap skin, but you're looking more and more like a guy who could wrestle bears for a living.
Okay, you can't resist now- you take a look at the goods.
You're pretty sure you're thicker than you used to be. You can't tell if you're longer or not yet.
It's not worth jacking off in someone else's house to find out, honestly. You go ahead and put your clothes back on, or at least, the spare set you washed yesterday. You wash up your others in a new basin of water, and rinse and hang them up in there.
By the time you come out, the huskie's up and about and making breakfast from the smell of it. "<You done yet?>"
"<Yes. Sorry about that, been a while.>" You look at breakfast and determine if you can take over for him.
"<It's fine. It happens.>" He waves it off. He's making what looks and smells like hamsteaks.
"<I can take over if you need to go,>" you offer.
"<Go for it.>" He steps away and legs you at it.
You take it up and tend the hamsteak while he goes and uses the restroom and whatever else he needs to do. He might not be happy about the water on the floor, but there's not much you can do about that- nor could do, given what you had to work with. HAAAAAAM~ It's days like this you miss your medallions of bacon. Mmm, bacon. Maybe some rashers, too... Or eggs. Man, you're hungrier than you thought you would be. What's with that, anyway? Man, there's some strange things going through your head right now.
Well, in any case, if he's willing to put up with you, you can probably get away with a day of training today, and maybe tomorrow as well. Maybe then you might- MIGHT- be competent enough to take on one of those urgent jobs. You're sure other people can deal with them in the meantime, but that doesn't mean you can't do your part. And what's with tai chi even being partially effective, anyway? Does that mean there's some sort of ki that just happens to match the Chinese belief, or is it more complex than that? And why did that geode have power? Was it an extension of the power running through it as a leyline, or did a leyline run through it because it was such a decent channeling of power? It seemed like every question you have about the world that gets answered only brings up follow-on questions in a giant pile. Is Central Core really a benevolent host? Was there a strange, unrelated reason for them to want server people here? Why have the job board in the first place? Was it censored, and if so, by who? Who were the global admins, and what did they respond to?
All that can wait, you suppose...  You congratulate yourself on your nice mental recap.
... You've read too much Sluggy Freelance.
Breakfast largely passes without incident, and then the old man takes you outside. "<Well, I'm not sure how much these old bones can teach you, but let's start with seeing where you are, hm?>"
He puts up what looks like a frail stance, which you sort of match.
Five seconds later, you are face up, on the ground, and not entirely sure how you got there.
You get up and take another shot at it, and the old man chuckles, and you last about six seconds. What. The. FUCK!?
"<Well? Come on, I've not got all day! You said you had some chops!>"
... This is going to be a long day.
You are Mirit, and there is a cat on your chest. You're not entirely sure how it got there.
It certainly is a cat, though, and it's definitely staring at you, thoughtfully. "Mew?" Its paw kneads your forward torpedoes.
You blink at it sleepily. "Where'd you come from?" You cradle it and sit up, and scritch it behind the ears. It takes you a couple minutes to wake up enough to look and see if it's a baby kittypeople or an actual cat.
You're not sure, but it certainly seems like an actual cat! And it doesn't look like the kittypeople's fur color, so if it's a kittykittypeople it's not any of theirs. Come to think... Two couples, secluded valley, lots of those pheremone producing flowers...
It hits... "OH DEAR GODS I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF BABY VALLEY." You clap a hand over your mouth. "Sorry kitty. Sorry sorry." Petpet. "Not yellin' at you."
Well, baby-making valley, perhaps. The cat doesn't seem that perturbed by your yelling, oddly enough. It does mewl at you again, though...
If you check your laptop, Kazuma left you a message from earlier:
Undergoing kung fu training. May not be able to contact you.
... What the fuck?
You stare at it for a bit.
You're doing what? How?!
Contact Central Core, there's a job board. As an aside, I have never been so sore.
What happened? I have a cat now.
Long story short
I got my ass kicked
That's really all there is to say on the matter
Pffft I'd pay to see that. Alright, I'll contact it. Them?
It says there is a global admin, but I don't know if contacting them is a good idea. The local admin could be anything, be aware. Mine is apparently a Krek.
A Krek? I knew those things were smart but I didn't know they were that smart. I may try contacting them - you know that Nexus?
It was a fuckin' castle.
Who was there?
Whole lotta bounders. With a lotta babies. I think I'm in baby-makin' valley.
Oh? How do you figure?
Both the couples here don't have any, and I about walked in on a couple.
Are they at it again today?
Oh god forget I asked that that is a bad question
that is not a thing you probably want to know and it is not a thing I should ask
I have no idea. I woke up to a cat kneading my boobs and realized that's where I am. I haven't even had breakfast yet.
You could swear you hear someone wading up the river in the distance.
Well, anyway, I don't have long before sifu decides it's time to actually start training me, though I'm not sure what the hell else he can do to me at this point. I mean he's already pounded me six ways from sunday.
You giggle at that.
Probably beat you until you can't get up. You'll be lucky if you don't have Zeetha.
I thought he already did that. Well. Anyway. Any idea whose cat it is? Or if it's really a cat?
It's still in your arm. It's quite happy to stay there, apparently.
You give it a scritch and check it for a collar.
Not a clue. It's damn friendly though, cuddling with me.
Oh shit. Gotta go.
*CLIENT DISCONNECTED.*
Welp. You wish him luck, then stand up and go to see who's at the river.
Looks like a new set of three. Two males, one female.
You wave from the cave and hope you're not gonna have to clear out for them.
They nod, and start looking for other caves. Looks like you're okay for now. But it's a pretty extensive cave system around here.
Looks like you might have company soon then!
Yep. That definitely looks like a thing that is true... Oh gods they're picking all of those damn flowers they can find, this cannot lead to good times.
"Hey kitty, I think we're gonna find somewhere quieter. You gonna be a good kitty?"
Define 'good', because it is completely interested in your boobs. Otherwise, though, it's staying put.
You sigh, and tie your shirt up around your waist. Kitty goes in!
It is certainly a happy kitty about that!
You chuckle and start gathering your things up. It doesn't take long, you don't have a lot.
Are you going to ping Central Core before you go? You might not find another server.
After a moment you decide you are, and sit down to do so. Clickty-click!
Gods you wish you'd remembered to bring a bra along.
Especially because while the rest of you may have shrunk, they certainly haven't. Gaaah.
*CONNECTING TO CENTRAL CORE...*
A screen pops up!
WELCOME TO CENTRAL CORE.
CONFIRM YOUR LOCATION?
FIND GROUP?
JOB BOARD?
CONTACT LOCAL ADMIN?
CONTACT GLOBAL ADMIN?
REQUEST PICKUP?
You check the local admin first, then the confirm location thing.
This is the local admin. I am assuming you are the new person called in?
Yeah, friend of mine told me I should check in with you? Hi.
All rights. This is kind of unusuals, there isn't more than one or two new peoples coming in at any one times~!
There's more than just the two of us? Huh. Well! It's nice to meet you. Sorry for not contacting you sooner, I didn't realize I could.
That's okays, not everyone decides to contacts peoples for every little thing~! You'll wants to get on the job boards to go and sees someone about language~!
Does... Does this admin actually always talk like this, or are they just being silly?
Duly noted.
You try to think if there's anything else you might need to say. You're amused by the quirk at least.
Is that alls you wanted to talks about?
I can't think of anything else, so I guess so! Unless you'd know anything about this cat.
Ooh, you has a kitty? Is it all friendlies~?
Very. It's also obsessed with my chest.
Yep! I knows what that is! I'm going to post a new jobses, comes and sees me~!
Alright, will do! Thanks.
S/he's sure excitable, but seems nice enough.
Yep, there's a new job on the board, titled *Gathering ups some mushrooms~*
Exactly like that. Stars and all.
You facepalm and laugh to yourself, then click on it to see if it'll tell you more that you need to know. You have a feeling there are references you should be getting.
Heyo! I am always on the lookouts for more mushrooms to power my ethericses! Help me find some, and I cans help you with the local language, yeps!
It also gives you a location, thankfully relative to your position. It's not that far away, but it'd be a bit of a hike- well, defined as 'an hour or so'.
That's not too bad. You mostly empty out your backpack - you'll figure out moving later, and stuff it with your computer, some munchies, and your charcoal and bone, then arm yourself, and head off to see a lady about some mushrooms. You leave the backpack unzipped so the cat can chill out there too, if it decides it doesn't like riding on your boobs while you walk.
It takes you about an hour- and after a few minutes of being bounced around and maltreated by the girls, the cat decides (wisely) to take up residence in your backpack for the rest of the hike, mewling weakly.
The area slowly becomes more forested- at first trees show up, and then they thicken until it becomes clear that most of what you're following is a sort of deer-track.
Eventually, you come to a house. Whoever built it built it either around a tree or they decided that, for some reason, letting a tree grow in the middle of their house was a good idea. You vaguely recognize a small antenna attached to the tree. It's also readily apparent that whoever this is, they decided that their... 'ethericses' is more important than intensive housekeeping- or, indeed, basic housekeeping. The place needs a rethatching. It needs some junk cleared out. It needs some heavy-grade power scrubbing. It also needs a major update to cover the fact that it is, in fact, in the middle of a rainforest and not, say, some baba-yaga esque conifer forest somewhere. Who the hell would live here?
A witch. Of COURSE the local admin is a witch.
There again, you guess you kind of are too, now. You walk up and gently knock on the door. "Hellooooos~?"
The door flies open and there is, standing in the door, a girl, not all that much older-looking than you are. Actually, she almost looks younger. She's blonde. She is in a black dress, with white frilled petticoats and lots of what you imagine she calls 'pocketses'. One of them is empty, and you imagine it is usually taken up by what you see is an octagonal sort of wooden device, in whose center is a mirror. She's pointing it downwards, which you can only hope is a good thing. "Hellooooos~ Oh! You're the new ones, isn't youuuus?"
Oh gods, she's going to have you doing it too in no time. "Yes I am. I'm Mirit, it's nice to meets you." SEE?! "You can come out now kitty." You doubt it's going to listen, it's probably eaten your brunch and gone to sleep.
She pockets the octagonal device, and grins a biiiiiig grin. "Oh, goods~! That means you gots the job I posteds!" ... She really does talk like that. It's... Almost annoyingly cutesy. "Let me get my hats and baskets!" She heads inside, which looks kind of dark.
Dare you enter a witch's house?
You've entered bounder caves. You're pretty sure that qualifies as scarier. Still, you just poke your head in for now. You'd rather not get her mad at you for coming in uninvited.
Not too surprisingly, there's a black, pointy hat... With white frills under it in a part cloth layer. And there's also a hand made broom, sitting right next to the door. It isn't covered with cobwebs, but considering the state of the house and the outside, it's probably never been used for its originally intended purpose.
It isn't even that long before she comes back, shoves the pointy hat on her head, and grabs the broom. ... That dress is waaaay too short to be used in broom riding. "All rights! I gots everything- Oh! That's rights, you've never gotten these befores! Lemme show you what it is we're getting~"
She hands you a small book, which contains... pages upon pages of drawings of plants. She opens it to bookmarks. There's a red toadstool with white spots, a black-headed mushroom, one that looks priapic... "Every bookmarks has a mushrooms I'd like two of from yous~!"
You knew it was going to be a fetchquest, but you still have to fight the urge to roll your eyes and go 'of course'. "Alright, I think I can handle that." You hope you can, at least. You scan thorugh the book to see if there's hints on where they might be hiding.
Yeah, if nothing else, she takes meticulous notes. Even if they're all in that same sort of cutesy tone. Maybe she just didn't learn the language right? In any case, you have a good idea of where you can find good mushrooms now. It's a bit of a walk, given the geography, but nothing too bad. "Good! I'll be looking forwards to seeing you this afternoons~ I'll make you lunch toos!" She steps out into the clearing, broom in hand. "I'll be gathering up some mushrooms toos, so take your timeses!"
"Alright, thank you." You smile and wave to her, heading towards the furthest ones - that way you can just loop back around.
You see her flying overhead after about a minute. Yeah, you can also tell she wears bloomers. Big, poofy ones, that go down to her knees. In any case, it's not really any sort of trouble to go around to the fairy circles and take some mushrooms.
You make pretty good time on it, and after you get the second set you wipe your hands off carefully and see if the cat left any of the fish for you to nibble on before your stomach growling attracts something dangerous.
The cat did leave you some fish! Though it seems to have taken small bites of everything like it was looking for a favorite.
"Thanks cat. I wouldn't bite those mushrooms though." You give it some scritches and tear off the nibbled bits so you don't get a nasty surprise cold or something.
It purrs, and you consume fish, while you walk back towards the- yeah, okay, it's not anything other than a witch's cottage. Really, you're surprised it's just an ordinary, everyday witch.
You get the last of the mushrooms and arrive there just about on the dot at noon. She said afternoon, but you don't like to be late.
Not surprisingly, there's already smoke coming from the... You guess it's a chimney? It must be the only thing she keeps clean.
You knock on the door. "May I come in?" Being polite always helps!
Tap tap tap tap tap OPEN! "Oh! Yes! I sees you gots thems~!" She ushers you in, quickly.
Stacks of strewn books scattered about litter the hallways, as well as various jars of... things, bottles full of unidentified potion, shelves full of... you're not entirely sure, and, sitting on a table, a small deck of what looks like cards, except there are only about five of them, and they all seem to depict a certain pattern of... Energy? You're not sure. Anyway, you're not about to pry, and whatever's in the pot smells delicious... Until you realize there are sandwiches already sitting on the table, and she takes the mushrooms and throws them in the pot, pretty unceremoniously, and the steam turns purple.
You kind of stare at that for a second, before putting your bag down so the cat can hop out. "Yeah, it wasn't hard. You take good notes!" You're horribly curious but don't want to be rude.
The cat hops up on the table and meows at the witch. She turns from where she's tending... whatever horribly poisonous thing it is she's making. "Mew?" She asks, before getting another big grin. "Oh! I sees~! You even broughts your familiars with yous!"
"Oh is that what you are?" You ask the cat. "She woke me up this morning." You add for the witchling's benefit.
The cat nods.
"Sees! I tolds yous I knew what it was!" She pets the cat and pours you some tea.
"So you did." You smile. "Thank you." You give the kitty some scritches too, waiting for your host to sit and eat first.
It doesn't take her long to sit down to her own sandwich, though she's careful to wash her hands before sitting down. "So! Yous is a witch too, huh?" She has a big grin- at least before she nomfs on her sandwich.
You nomf hungrily. Mmm sammich. "I guess so. Lotta my family has been, but I hadn't really learned before I got here."
"That's okays! I can definitely teaches yous~!" She nods exuberantly, taking another huge bite of her sandwich.
"That'd be very kind of you." You also sort of want to get the hell out of baby valley, but you won't mention that juuuust yet.
"I can also teaches yous the language of the local peoples! But that's easy to take care ofs, yep!" It is only at this point you realize that she didn't pour herself any of that tea that you're drinking.
You look at it, then at her, then raise an eyebrow.
"Yep! You're smarter than mosts~! Peoples usually don't realize it till they gets woozy!" Yeah, that's the.... Oh dear...
You manage not to thump over, though you do end up needing to slouch in the chair to do so. "Euuugh. You don't say."
"Yup! Don't tries to talks right now, you don't sounds so good~" She walks over and helps you to your feet, sort of, and the last thing you hear before you black out is "Works every timeses..."
In your drugged state, you could swear you could hear both that girl's voice, and the voice of the trees of the forest- or is it a single tree? It's so difficult to tell- whispering a language that you have never heard...
Slowly, you awaken.
"<I think I'm gonna hurl.>"
"<Nopes! Tree takes cares of thats!>"
QUEST REWARDS:
Gift of Gab
Etherics level increased
Leyline Skill Increased
Combat Specialty: "Witch" unlocked...
You do feel a little less hurky after a second. "<... Thanks.>" You look around to see where you [and the witch!] are.
Looks like you're in some kind of underground cellar. It's surrounded by roots, lots of roots, so many that it's hard to tell where the ground ends and they begin. There's nothing else here except the chair you're sitting in, which seems to have grown into the tree, or maybe the tree made it that way? In any case, your energy seems to be returning the longer you sit here, like the tree itself is nourishing you. The stairs up are behind the witch in question. "<You knows, I never did introduce myself, da ze~>" She nods. "<I'm Marisas!>"
Beat. "<The Marisa that stole the precious thing?>" You tilt your head slightly.
"<Oh, I steals books all the time da ze!>" She nods. "<Well, more like borrowses~ When you're mortal and the person you're borrowing froms isn't, it... Gets a bit complicated da ze.>"
"<Ah.>" You think she might have a word mixed up there but you sort of get the idea. "<I'm Mirit. Well, Miranda, but I prefer Mirit.>" You shrug, what can ya do?
"<... She's a little protective of her bookses, that patchy is. But she's so quiet like a librarians, sooooo~ Sometimes she says things that can be taken the wrong way da ze.>"
"<I see.>" You nod, you can be a little touchy about other people handling your books. You're probably lucky you didn't bring any of yours. "<That... that could be awkward, yes.>"
"<Anyways, you're probably still woozies from the tea~ Little too much of the one things, never enough of the other thingses- learning potionses is not Marisa's specialty.>"
"<A little, but I'm feeling better all the time. You said the tree's doing that?>"
"<Yeps! It's on a leylines, sos it's gots special properties~!>" She nods.
"<Makes sense.>" You grin back at her suddenly. "<So what's your specialty?>"
She pulls a firework out of one pocket and that dangerous-feeling octagonal prism out of the other. "<Marisa thoughts you'd never asks! It's EXPLOSIONS!>"
Blink blink. "<That... explains a lot.>" She wouldn't, would she?
Marisa is just standing there, grinning like a loon. "<And Marisa can teaches yous how to do it too.>" She's tossing that firework in the air nonchalantly. "<Y' Wanna~?>"
You pretend to think about it for a good minute, hemming and hawing like this is actually a big decision. "<YES.>"
"<Sweet.>" She puts the firework away and drags you out to the clearing in fron of her house. You're a little worse off than you thought, because that made you a little faint and light-headed.
The octagonal thing resting in the palm of her hand, she nods. "<Okays, the first things I'm gonna shows you is the biggest weapons I gots! Mostly because I never gets to show it off anymore, but also to show what anyones can do with a little hard work!>"
She kisses the octagon. "<Firsts, you whispers a little love note...>"
Then she points it skyward. "<Thens, you reach out and touch someone~>" You can hear the high-pitched whine of something generating a LOT of force. "MAASTAAAAAA SPAAAAAAAAAAAKU~!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM, a lance of light that is gigantic- bigger around than she is tall- pierces the clouds and the sky in a rainbow colored shot of what you can only imagine is pure pain.
You're probably going to catch a fly with your mouth open like that. Hooooolyyyyy shiiiiiiit... Once you get over the shock you have to fight the urge to squee. Ehehehehe big go boom.
She looks at your dumbfounded expression and gets a biiiiig grin. "<Now, that's only because I gots what I gots~ You're gonna needs to work really hard to gets where yous can do that.>" She nods. "<For nows, though, I think you needs some rest. Yous can stays here if you wants~>"
"<It went SPLODEY.>" Is all you can get out at first. Then you manage to get your brain working again. "<I'd like to, but I left most of my stuff back in the cave, and it's probably got Bounders defiling it by now...>" Oh gods why did you have to think that somebody pass the brain bleach.
"<... Hehehehehe, you wanna play with one don't yous?>" But she still goes inside to get her broom.
"<... Of course I do.>" You wait patiently, glad you're wearing brown jeans and not a silly poofy skirt with bloomers.
"<That's not surprising to Marisa! Mosts peoples smells the pheremones, and sees hows thick and long they ares and has a little funs with them!>" She nods, sagely. "<Get on!>" She's on the broom already, leaving space for you to ride in back of her.
"<I considered it, but I brought along my own *ahem* entertainment, and having kittens sounds like it'd be uncomfortable at best.>" You grin and get on, a little worried about this but trying not to show it.
"<Hang on tights to Marisa~>" She says, making sure you do before launching into the air.
She apparently knows exactly the place you mean, which, given that she's the local admin, isn't surprising. You can't hear anything over the rushing wind, and she doesn't bother trying to explain anything while you're in the air- fairly sensible, really. You get there in a few minutes. "<Hm... Now whereses is that... Ah!>" Apparently she remembers because suddenly the broom is tilting down and you're accellerating and how is she not going to crash oh FUCK-
Marisa pulls up right next to the path to your cave. "<Go gets your stuffses, I'll waits.>"
Deeeeeep breaths. You practically have to pry yourself off of her after that, but you quickly go to get the rest of your stuff. It's mainly non-essentials but you're still glad to have them! You stuff it all into the duffle bag [which groans in protest] and tuck the sheet over it since it doesn't want to zip closed now.
You hope the ride back isn't quite so terrifying.
Marisa doesn't seem to mind you holding on tight at all, nope!
When you come back to the cave, the scent is much stronger down the corridor where you were dumping earlier. It's almost overpowering. You can almost hear the wet slaps in there. At least they're not in your cave, directly, but...
You soon leave and Marisa is sitting there, just as promised. "<Gots all your stuffses?>"
"<Yes. I was right, they're in there defiling the cave next door.>" You climb on again, wondering how to balance the bag.
You don't have to worry- she takes the bag, and mutters something, and suddenly it hovers next to her. "<Well, to thems, it's not really defiling! This is sorts of a holy place for this sorts of things!>"
"<Oh. Huh. I didn't mean it in an insulting way- just a 'dude I was sleeping there' way.>" You're probably not explaining that very well. Thank goodness about the bag.
"<Oh. Sorts of likes when you sees the shrine maiden becomes the former shine maiden?>" she asks. Before you have a chance to respond, she launches into the air.
You are so confused by that, but just cling on tight for now. You suspect this would be pretty fun if you were steering.
She doesn't go for the shock value this time, instead quietly stalling out next to the house. The fact that this lets her lean back into you is of no consequence. "<Anyways, here we ares~>"
You smile, releasing her slowly. You're no dope! "<Thank you for letting me stay.>"
"<It's no problems~>" She says, picking up the broom and setting it back next to the door, and the hat back on its peg.
You grab your bag, wondering where you'll be staying so you can put it up.
She leads you upstairs, where there are several rooms. One actually looks like it was intended to be a study, but, well, it's got piles of books, left largely unorganized, piled such that it's probably quite difficult to get at a desk. One looks like a dusty guest room, and this is where she deposits you. "<Sorrys about the mess- Marisa usually doesn't bothers to cleans up because there's never any companies!>"
"<No worries. I'm the same way, my house back there was just as bad. Maybe a little less dusty, but just as messy.>" You wave off the apology. You don't really mind, though you'll probably want to dust the place when you get a chance. You just put your stuff down for now but- You don't want those borrowed without your knowledge, so you pull out the gamebook and the novel. "<Just so you know these are around. I'd appreciate them not disappearing.>"
She looks over the gamebook, flipping through it, until she chuckles and hands it back. "<Nothing I didn't knows alreadys!>" And then she reads the back of the book blurb. And starts sitting there, in the guest room, reading the novel.
You aren't surprised about the gamebook, and start unpacking while she gets absorbed in the book. It's a well-worn paperback, both covers have been carefully taped back on, and you even have a bookmark inserted and each of the interior 'books' dogeared so you can turn to a particular one at will.
By the time you finish the unpacking- dealing with a few stuck drawers, and like that- you find she's finished one of the books. She's smirking, and puts it back on your bed. "<So is that a history, or is it just fictions?>"
"<Just fiction. One of my favorites, though. It's by the authors of my favorite series, and I think I've read the damn thing ten times now.>" You grin. You are such a nerd.
"<Hmmmm. Reminds me to tells you abouts the time I tooks the Hakkeros away from Yuka.>" She seems pretty pleased about that one. "<Is there anything you'd likes?>"
"<Will do.>" Your stomach growls noisily. Oh, right, you only got a couple bites of lunch and a bit of fish. "<... I think I'm hungry.>"
"<Oh, rights. The teas thing.>" She heads out and downstairs. If you follow her, you see her canting a potion into a bottle from the cauldron, then cleaning it and putting it away before getting a different cauldron and starting to put actual... Food items in it. Say what you like about her housekeeping skills, she keeps that kitchen as well-separated as she possibly can given she's only got the one to share between her etherics and her actual sustenance.
Your sandwich is still sitting there, lonely.
You do follow, if only to get your bag and check on the cat and mmm sammich. You sit down so you can watch her cook and keep her company.
"[Hello again, master. Food?]" ... Did that cat just talk? You could swear you also heard a plaintive meer, as well.
Your bag is sitting there, calm as ever.
"<Kitty's hungry too.>" You speak up, looking around for the kitty. Hmm... "[I'll see what we can do?]"
"[Mistress can speak Cat? I did not know she was so clever.]" The cat steps around the counter where he- she- was and hops down, a bit unbalanced. It is, after all, only a kitten, right now.
"<Marisa knows, she can do that toos.>" Marisa looks around. Where did she leave that... Ah! She descends somewhere and brings up some... fresh meat. It looks sort of gamey, so you may be thankful you can't identify it precisely. However, the cat takes to it easily.
"[That may have something to do with her just learning.]" Snarky? You? Neeever. "<I figured as much. Thank you.>" You're saying that a lot!
Kitty isn't listening, because kitty is busy OM NOM NOMMAN. Either that or isn't bothering to speak.
"<You're welcomes~>" Marisa covers over whatever it is she's cooking. "<That's going to be an hours or twos, sos you knows. Marisa could cooks it fasters, but then it might not bes very good to serve. Or it may ends up being too widespreads to serves!>" She never really uses explosives like that. Except the once. Which is why she jokes about it now.
You giggle a little. "<Good cooking takes time.>" By the time she's looking at you you've devoured the remains of the sandwhich. The mental image keeps you giggling.
"<Yeps!>" She isn't quite sure where to take the conversation, except- "<Can yous tells me more about your world?>"
"<If you like.>" You shrug. "<Places like this, without a lot of people? Are really rare now. There's cities all over the world, and we have a really expanded version of the server networks. It's called the internet, and you can play games and stuff on it. Most people live in the cities, very few people just live off the land.>"
She nods along, listening to it. "<My homes didn't haves the networks at alls. Gensokyos wasn't that ways. It was a place of magics. In facts, Marisa was informed at one points by someone very very importants there that it was defined by another worlds. Whatever was impossible there, fell through the gapses and became part of Gensokyos.>"
"<Huh. Sort of sounds like a game series from my world. I was never very good at that sort of game though, so I don't know a lot about it.>" You headtilt a little. "<We studied our world a lot. My friend and I have been tracking the moons and planets and he's talking about building a telescope.>"
"<Marisa does reesearch, too- it's sort of focused, thoughs.>" She nods. "<She could probably help you with that, as wells- she probably has an almanac somewhere arounds here.>" You're beginning to realize Marisa may be older than she looks. Or at least wiser.
"<That would be useful, though I was sort of using it as an excuse to look at the sky. We don't get such clear views.>" Well she is apparently your mentor. "<I take it you were called here too?>"
She nods. "<A long times agos. That very very importants persons came to see Marisas one night and told her that it was time to leave Gensokyos. She made this houses like her old houses. It's a pieces of her homes, but nothing in it is from there except her and her Hakkeros.>"
"<I... see.>" You nod slowly, mentally chewing on that info. "<I just opened the door a few days ago and it didn't lead outside anymore. So I packed, and here I am.>"
She shakes her head sadly at that. "<Impersonal. She led Marisas through the 'Gap between Gensokyos and the Scorched Lands' herself. Said it was the least she could dos.>"
"<Heh, it would have been nice to know that's where I was going before I got here.>" You shrug a little. The gap comment kind of makes you smile though. "<That was nice of her.>"
"<She was a nice persons, Marisas thinks. Just. Tired. And bored, and too powerful.>" Marisa looks distant, like she's brooding about that now.
You give her a bit to brood, looking around to see how the kitten's doing.
The kitten is rubbing at your leg, purring out, "[Up?]"
"[Come on up.]" You pat your leg. Precious baby!
The kitten makes a leap, and doesn't quite get there, scrabbling up on its widdwe fuzzy paws. You can hear the kitty struggles and effort like ickle kiddie effort, but soon its curled up in your lap. "[Yaaaaay!]"
You giggle and pet the kitten. "D'aaaawww."
"[Oooooooh....]" Yeah, kitty definitely likes that, all purring and blissed out.
Marisa is smiling at the antics, but isn't saying anything about it for now.
You snuggle the kitty and smile back at her. You've always been a kind of kitty girl.
"<Like cats, huh?>"
"<Always have.>"
Marisa nods. "<Makes sense, then. No ideas of Marisas ever had a familiars- it was more the dollmakers tricks than hers.>" In any case, small talk (and probably some required reading) aside, you eventually have dinner.
This stuff isn't bad.
And you're still damn hungry, so you do a pretty good impression of the kitten. OM NOM NOM.
She grins, and tucks in herself. It's pretty shortly dark outside- or maybe that's just the forest. Or maybe... "<I'll be backs in juuuuuust a seconds!>"
She steps out, you hear a loud THOOOOOOOOOM~ and she comes back in grumbling something about 'youkai' all getting up in her 'bweeznass'. The outside is a bit brighter now.
You raise an eyebrow, curious. "<What was that?>"
She shrugs. "<Light-suckers, I calls 'em. Theys likes to hang around at sunsets to confuse peoples. Usually theys gots the good senses to stays aways from Marisas, though.>"
"<Duly noted.>" You blink. "<Weird.>"
"<Not really. Theys eats whatevers theys traps in the darks.>"
"<Oh.>" New dangers.
"<They shares the same weakenss as most creatures does, thoughs!>" Marisa nods.
"<Oh?>" Headtilt. "<Exploding?>"
"<Marisa would have also accepteds 'Overwhelming FIREPOWER', or> Master Sparks~" She nods again, apparently pleased she has impressed upon you some of her philosophy, or at least that you shared it already.
You grin at that. "<There is no kill like overkill.>" You have to agree. There's a reason you like the Cra.
"<Yeps! Sos Marisa thinks it's probably times yous went to sleep! We're gonna be doing lots of stuffs tomorrows!>"
"<Probably a good idea.>" You agree, picking the kitten up so you don't get claws in your legs. "<I'll see you in the morning, then.>"
"<All right.>" She starts heading up to what you can only assume is her room. Presumably to sleep, herself.
You head back to yours, hauling your backpack with you. Before sleeping, you look to see if Kazuma left you a message.
Hope you found what you needed, Mirit. Will be staying training with the old man for a few days, then attempt to take on local assistance jobs. Will attempt to keep in touch, share information.
Hey you were always more into these kinds of games than I was. Turns out my local admin/new mentor is Marisa.
He's asleep by now though.
~END: DAY 4~