[x] “...Still, as a courier you should just run past her, you’re not getting paid to fight.”
- [x] "But if push comes to shove, a spell card fight is how things are done in Gensokyo" explain the rules.

“I can crawl along these caves faster than you can run, you know!” Yamame calls out, “I didn’t do it this time, but I can also set up my webs to slow you down if I want to! There’s also diseases…actually, you don’t need to know about that.”

“Well, fight it is then.” You shrug, “Ian, want me to explain the spell card rules for you?”

“Please do so.” He’s already shuffled off the pack and is settling into a battle stance. He’s not manifesting his sword though, strange.

“Rule number one of a spell card fight, you must give names and meanings to your attack sequences that you will use as a sort of…video game boss pattern? That’s the best comparison I can make. For us, these attack sequences are usually patterns of magical bullets, but I expect outsiders to have their own techniques. However…technically you don’t have to do this if you’re okay with being on the defensive the whole fight.”

“I have some names for my attacks, and they are far more unsightly than patterns of magical bullets, but they can deal with airborne opponents.”

With a deep inhale, he furrows his brow as his arms melt away into a stream of black ink, before swiftly reforming into something significantly more threatening. Something metallic, and colored ivory and gold. You clap as the massive claws emerge from the ink, bound to his normal body by chains.

This story originally began on MotK. Due to the very low user count associated with that forum, the updates there were done in a one-on-one update format where no voting was done. The viewer/responder simply stated what Kisume would do and I would respond accordingly, adjusting the response if necessary.

Some of the early formatting and mannerisms are a bit inconsistent, that should resolve itself as I go on.

(For convenience, the story up to this point will be reposted here. Voting on Kisume's decisions will begin once I catch up to the most recent story state, probably at some point tomorrow. Two updates per post until the story gets caught up. See you on the other side.)

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(Initial post)

You are KISUME, tsurube-otoshi youkai. You are known for attacking unsuspecting humans by knocking them out cold with your trusty bucket.

There's not many other youkai that you recognize on a regular basis, given that you're not exactly the most talkative person in Gensokyo. Still, rumors do go around, and the latest one is that that same red-white shrine maiden has had to go out and deal with another incident recently. Serves her right.

(What do?)

This is a somewhat different sort of story that I've been planning for some time. Comments, discussion, feedback of any sort and—of course—votes are appreciated. Activity certainly motivates, helps the story continue at a good pace and enriches the experience for fellow readers. I hope we both enjoy the journey.

Content Warning: Vague mentions of cruel or weird manner alongside the risk of being burned as fuel.

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Hot, it is hot.

Very hot even!

That's the first thing that registers in your mind.

An unwelcome heat has spread through your body, one that cannot have been made by the humble sheets you usually dwell in nor the ever so intolerant rays of the sun since you always sleep in away from the window in your house.

Soon after, a second sensation comes: Coldness. Your body is covered from top to bottom inside some pile of coldness. You're not sure how it's possibly for your surroundings to be hot and cold at the same time yet it is, quite the odd thing.

Finally smell joins the fray, to your regret that is as a putrid smell assaults your nose and wakes you up faster than being showered in cold water ever would. Coincidentally this gesture makes you open your eyes, upon which you see the following things before you:

Thread 1: >>16546

[X] Just eat the fruits you bought while chatting

You reach into your pack for a pear. Taking a bite, you find it refreshingly cold and juicy, just what you need right now.

>puppetMaster204: Hey, Mizuhashi, what do you do for fun outside of painting? Being in the boonies and all.

“Um, normal human things.” You say as you take another bite out of the pear, “I socialize at bars, talk to people crossing the bridge and...play video games.”

>Yujin444: what’s your favorite band?

“The Prismrivers.” You say the name of the only named musical group you can remember, “They’re pretty obscure. They only have a presence over here where I’m living. I know none of you would’ve heard about them.”

>I_Am_Fire: I personally like Mili the most, you heard of them?

Traditional CYOA. Short, un-proofread updates. Probably going to hit a dead-end very fast. May or may not be a horror story. Go go go.

=========

You yawn and wake up from your bed, brushing aside traces of your blond hair from your eyes. Staring at the arched ceiling, a necessary consequence of your house being under a bridge, you stretch a few times before getting up.

Brushing your teeth, you look at your own green eyes in the mirror. What a sorry sight. Few people have passed over the bridge, and the oni you usually hang out with have disappeared from your social radar, citing “work”, as if those youkai would ever let things like jobs get in the way of their drinking. Spitting out the water, you get the feeling that you might be forgetting something as well...

Oh right, your package! You open your front door and there it is, the cardboard box bearing sigils of the gap youkai. Excited, you tear apart the box and retrieve the object within, a large, flat entity that reminds you of a slate. It is smooth and black, a pleasant sight, as you paid a pretty hefty amount of money to Mayohiga for this to be modified.

It is a “laptop computer”, a complicated Outside World device. Yukari has tampered with its components to A: Function off of Old Hell’s nuclear-fueled power grid, and B: Tap in to “networks” outside of Gensokyo. There’s a large note attached to the computer which warns you that the latter modification is highly experimental, and may produce local environmental side-effects similar to the border weakenings in Muenzuka.

You brush off these concerns. The computer offers you an unprecedented opportunity, for it has access to the “internet”, which apparently lets you communicate with humans all over the Outside World. You can talk with an infinite amount of people, probing them and extracting their weaknesses. Then, you can manipulate them, turning them against each other, and breed the most delicious of emotions: jealousy, the fuel that sustains your existence. In fact, given the amount of people on this “internet”, you might not even have to do anything, and just feed off of the jealousy that humans naturally produce when interactin

With a current vote of

[0] MORE business. It’s time to start talking with money-makers.
[2] Meeting up with Yuugi again.
[3] Fuck. Just relax with Koishi for the rest of the day. Fuck, man.

Thread 1 >>16139

Still voting phase

Wherein happens something terrible.

[ ♫: https://youtu.be/-rbIGLbQqvI ]
[ ♫: https://instaud.io/36TA ]
(Tindeck's dead, baby. Let me know if there are issues with this new site.)


[℧] Ought to live the lie. Talks like it seems she should.


The area around and next to me is full of free and open seats—to me, it's a buffer zone. To them, it's keeping a safe distance <kinda the same thing isnt it>. No. There's definitely a difference <well in perspective maybe but tha>. It doesn't matter. There's space between me and the other people, and it's working out well for all of us. Of course, it also makes very obvious where the onje in the room is to anyone who's walking through.

Like Honne.

Well, that's fine, too. It isn't the first curveball I've been thrown, and I'd bet all the yen in Japan that it won't be the last. Stupid Makai.

I give Honne a polite look—neutral, don't smile; but don't look dead. "Not at all. Please, do." I knew Kana-mama's posture lessons were going to be put to use in ceremonies, but until an hour or so ago, I didn't really expect I'd ever use them outside of that <and photos>. That's true.

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[Escape from Midwich Valley - TRILOGY (Carpenter Brut)]

I've still got 3 hours.