Welcome to Gaia! ::

A cold chill ran through Lumine's body. She paused, her limbs slowly falling back to her sides.

"O... Oh.... S-Sorry, I didn't mean...!"

She felt awkward now, and anxiously reached up to fix a lock of hair that had fallen astray. Then another thought came to her:

"Wait, you said Kasumi was a human, right? And you're...? ... Then your child's a half-oni?" She knew such things were possible, but never experienced it first hand. "Where is this kid? A house filled with traps is no place for them!"

"So you're all alone up here?" Lumine asked, tilting her head in thought. "You must get awfully lonely! ... Then again, with traps like those you must not like visitors very much. I suppose it can't be helped!"

She craned her neck, peaking around Shen's massive figure, and spying on his craft as he worked. It looked like he was already almost finished; a brand new sword had quickly formed out of nothing! Glorious! ...Not that her sword was anything special to begin with, just something she picked up off a trader in the human village, but nobody needed to know that.

"So what's your kid's name? Maybe I've seen her! I travel a lot ya'know, and I've been aaallll over Gensokyo. I might have run into her at some point! Or maybe seen her in a dream...!"

"So, why not go look for her?" As Lumine listened to Shen's story, she moved to sit/lean against the table. She took a look around the Oni's "home"; more than not, it was just a place to stockpile booze and broken dreams. More of one than the other.

"It looks like you've had a lot of time on your hands, judging by all these barrels. What was it? Eighty-something years since that night?" She hopped off the table, brushing her skirt free from dust. "You should go look for her! Besides, whatever warlord took her is probably either dead or really really old and frail by now! Don't tell me you spent that long cooped up in this place feeling sorry for yourself!"

"Better yet," Lumine walked forward, swiping the brand new sword from Shen's grasp, giving it a few swings herself before letting it rest on her shoulder. "Why don't you let a REAL hero take care of it? I bet I can find her, no problem!" she flashed her trademark grin, "and if I do, then you'll owe me some of your treasure! How 'bout it, big guy?"

"Hah! You forget; I am a Celestial! Be they gods or men, nobody can stand against me!"

...

Wait, he actually agreed? Lumine watched, still somewhat awestruck, as Shen revealed a secret vault in a nearby wall. Inside glittered armaments of all forms, those fought for and sought in the oldest tales told, lost to time and memory. The forge's glow set all these items ablaze with light, giving them an even more impressive visage.

Lumine peeked around Shen, peering into the vault, her heart skipping a few beats. She straightened up, sheathing her blade and folded her arms.

"Tch, I don't need fancy toys! It takes more than a shiny sword to make someone a Hero! You Oni are all alike, you value treasure more than anything else!"

"Hah, I've never heard of any of them! Whoever they were, they must be pretty old, and long dead by now!" She proudly laughed off her ignorance, admitting to herself (and only to herself) that she truly had no idea who any of those people once were.

"I don't believe you about that Celestial though: Only Shinigami can slay Celestials, and even they fail at it!" Lumine walked over, giving cursory glance over the naginata. "'Sides, I bet she wasn't as cool as me!"

To be honest, the idea to snatch a piece of armor right then and there and stuff it in her rucksack while Shen was busy and distracted had crossed Lumine's mind, but the thought of having her face driven through the wall as a result acted as a sound deterrent.

"So, do you have any idea where we should start looking? Where were you when she was taken? Which direction did the warlord go? Gensokyo is only so big, so there aren't many places for an army to hide for eighty years! The army might not even exist anymore!"


((...? I can't even pronounce that, so any joke that lay within is lost to me ^^;

Edit: Scratch that, after 2 minutes of practice I can now pronounce it!))

"H-Hey, paws off!" Lumine fidgeted as Shen attempted to apply armor to her. She swiped the cuirass from his grasp and turned away, attempting to fit it to herself instead.

"Stupid perverted Oni, trying to cop a feel..!"

She fumbled with the armor, finally managed to clasp it shut, then turned back to Shen with the breastplate now worn. "I'm not an idiot, ya'know! My sidekick is a Tengu guard! She wears this kinda stuff all the time, so of course I know how to wear it!"

"Anyway, that's a good place to start. Even if your child isn't there anymore, there might be clues that'll lead us to her! If she's half-Oni, then she probably hasn't aged too much either. She's probably still young and fit! ...Ya'know, if she's still alive and all. --I-I mean, of course she's still alive! And we'll find her too!" Lumine knocked her fist against the breastplate, "I swear it!"

"There doesn't need to be any killing! If you hold back your strength, you can just knock people out, right?" Patting the armor in place, Lumine grinned back. "So let's get going!"

And like that, Lumine bolted out the front door, the ever-energetic Celestial far too excited to worry about any comments she may or may not have heard.

Despite being far more armored than she was less than an hour ago, Lumine felt only slightly heavier under the bulk of the plate mail and woven fabrics. As she waited for Shen to join her, she flexed her body from side to side, testing the amount of freedom her new clothes gave her. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any restrictions at all!

"C'mon, if we hurry, we should reach the southeast before sundown!"


(is a time skip in order?)