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Does anyone truly die here...? Or do they simply fall to indefinite slumber...?

...

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Through a long, dark chamber, the sound of footsteps could be heard, echoing throughout a no doubt large, silent facility of some sort. The floors were made of some form of stone, or possibly metal, sprawling a complex obscure. "...it's almost time..." A feminine voice speaks, and a set of two, then four more footsteps could be heard approaching, now walking along with the first, and the source of the first voice. "...gather your brothers and sisters. I believe it time we put on a show for Gensokyo. One they shan't soon forget..." The voice lets out a low, sinister chuckle, and the scene fades to black...


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A woman wanders the forest of magic, bow in hand, and icy white hair flowing freely behind her. The forest seemed as lively as ever, home to many youkai, and other forms of danger. This particular woman wore the garb of a Miko, though her robes were tattered, torn to give more freedom of movement at the cost of being more revealing than they originally would have been. Taking a few steps, she enters into a clearing, and lets out a sigh, before sniffing the air. Wet fur... Turning, she raises an eyebrow, and smirks.

"My, oh my. Were you two tracking me this entire time? You've gotten sloppy," the former shrine maiden says, placing a hand on her hip. It seemed that the ones she had been speaking to were none other than Hiiro and Tsukiko Taiyo, Kitsune sisters that tended to shy away from civilization, save for the moments where they would help their father with his shop.

"Hartly!!!" One of them starts, grinning wide. "Hartly, Hartly, Hartly!! Um... uh..." The black-haired Kitsune, Tsukiko, frowns and places a hand on her chin, tapping it in thought. "Hrm... um..." The white-haired and furred Kitsune next to her, Hiiro, replies in her usual cold, unfriendly tone of voice, finishing her sister's statement. "...what are you doing here? We don't want any trouble... please, be on your way." Despite her cold words, there seemed to be a degree of fear in Hiiro's words, or perhaps, simply caution.

Hartly, or Mayumi, as she's known to people that she doesn't like too much, gives a small chuckle, setting her bow next to her and leaning against it a bit. Surprisingly enough, it was quite sturdy, unnaturally so. "Now, now. I'm not here to beat you up, I promise. That is..." She leans forward, giving Hiiro a wink and a smile. "...if you don't try to start any trouble again."

Hiiro pales further, causing her to look deathly ill. "I... was under orders from our father. Pricing those goods that high was still within reason, even if it didn't seem s-" She's cut off, eyes widening as the tip of an arrow is held just in front of her Larynx, threatening to puncture her throat. Hartly was now in front of her, bow readied, arrow pulled back. "N-nevermind... uh... what do you want..?" Hartly relaxes, standing up straight again and putting the arrow back into its quiver with another smile. Tsuki seemed to be ignoring both of them, going off somewhere to pick flowers or something of the sort.

"Oh, nothing too terribly important. I've just heard tell of rumours about some particularly nasty happenings here, and wanted to know if you two knew anything about what's going on, is all. I may be a bum, but this sort of thing is still upsetting, and the Hakurei Shrine Maiden can't be relied upon to solve every incident that happens here, now can she?" Hartly places a hand on Hiiro's cheek, causing the eight-tailed Kitsune to freeze in place, trying to keep a blank expression, however ultimately failing ."You can help me, can't you?"

"I... I'm sorry... My sister and I, we stay at our home and rarely come out. We only came out to go to the human village and gather supplies... we can't help you," she speaks hurriedly. Hartly stares her down, before nodding, and letting out a sigh, letting her arms fall to her sides. Hiiro lets out a slow, held breath at the former shrine maiden's decision to spare them the pain of another beating. Tsukiko, however, was now wrapping her arms around Hartly's neck in an affectionate hug, obviously showing no signs of hostility. This gained her a slightly more hostile look from Tsuki's white-haired twin.

"What a shame... well, I will be out and about searching. If you two would like to join me, I could use a set of extra eyes and ears." Hartly scratches behind Tsuki's ear, causing her to melt against the half-celestial happily. Hiiro shakes her head, crossing her arms across her chest.

"As much as we would like to redeem ourselves now... now is not the time nor the place. If we see any sort of 'nasty' happenings, whatever those may be, we will be quick to inform you, Tamashi," Hiiro says. With that, she turns to her side, and looks at her sister, whose ears perk up, and she quickly goes back over to Hiiro.

"Ah- fine. I suppose it can't be helped. Lovely talking to you two again, as always. Stay out of trouble, alright" Hartly watches as they leave, Tsukiko being the only one waving back to her. With that, the woman makes her way through the forest again, sighing. Well, that was a waste. She was sure that those two had something to do with it. Generally neutral or not, they were a nasty bunch when it came to business, and even worse in the case of love and jealousy. But we're not here to get into incidents of the past. Hartly moves forward, feet hitting the ground almost silently. After all, she was trained to hunt Youkai. Sure, the training was a little unconventional, but her Yumi longbow served her well. Not that she used it nearly as much considering the shenanigans that generally took place and how they were resolved these days.

Mayumi brushes some hair past her shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment, before opening them again and looking down at the cats. She then looks over to where the odd rabbits had scurried off, her hand already holding the tip of an arrow about the size of a small javelin. True, she had no reason to distrust youkai immediately, as some of her best friends were, in fact, youkai. Though at the same time, she had no reason to trust these two, nor the rabbits running off. What were they, exactly, is what she wanted to know. Looking at the rabbits, she immediately felt a sense of dread attempting to weigh down on her, though it was quickly conquered by her usual state of non-fearing indifference. Fear was irrational, and the only thing that Hartly seemed to even remotely fear in any way was the idea that her friends might get hurt, but that was more so worrying than true fear. No, Hartly had made peace with herself long ago and was prepared for anything. In her mind, she was already as good as dead, and would very much welcome it if it happened to her. After all, when you have hundreds of thousands of trains of thought going on at once, possibly millions of voices speaking at the same volume all the time within your mind, you'd probably start to wish death upon yourself. Yet, she stands strong, dealing with it simply for her friends' sake. That doesn't mean that she couldn't feel uneasy at the sight of the rabbits.

And so, bringing up her bow with an arrow, a strange light engulfing it as its drawn back, she aims it at one of the rabbits, looking back at the two cats.

"Terribly sorry, but I am terribly curious. You'll have to forgive me if these are important," she says with a wink, and, releasing the arrow, she sends a barrage of holy light towards the rabbits. The best way to figure out what something was, was to shoot at it and see what would happen, anyways. She looks on, curious about the result. "If I did not hit any, they are over yonder." Raising a hand, she points at where she shot the arrow. Despite having nonchalantly shot at something with a pretty strong holy weapon, she seemed pretty pleased with herself, as though this were normal behaviour. Which it was. The best way to make friends was to shoot at them first anyways, no?

Hartly simply watches, seeming a little frustrated, possibly even tired of, this apparent 'youkai of fear' already. Ugh. Blah, blah, blah. Her face simply goes back to a more indifferent look leaning on her bow now. "Youkai of Fear, eh? You sound an awful lot like an ex of mine. You even look like him. But I guess I should at least give you the benefit of the doubt, since you're being somewhat sensible in a situation such as this. Keep in mind, I didn't know what those things were. Even now, I have no idea whether I can trust you or not, Youkai. Sinister appearance and all, I really should see about exterminating you. That's what the old me would say." A smirk played across the woman's lips, and she lets out a low chuckle. "That being said, perhaps it be best if your parasites and servants not appear in such dark colours. They're an eyesore and, quite frankly, are more often than not welcoming of hostility from ex-Shrine Maidens and other Youkai alike."

Hartly then picks her bow up again, and stretches. Despite the weapon being much taller than her, she was quite tall herself, being around 6'2", almost hittiing 6'3". Letting out a sigh, she relaxes, and rubs the back of her neck, probably due to some neck pain of some sort. "My name is Mayumi Tamashi, but my friends may call me Hartly. You may call me Mayumi. Ex-Shrine Maiden of... well, titles don't matter. I've come on Ex-Shrine Maiden business, extending to business of that of Shrine Maidens and those curious in general, you see. Strange happenings here, caused by whom I believe to be someone I know. Dangerous sort. You'd do well to keep your little kitty cats and parasites at home, warm and safe by a fire if the disappearances are being caused by this particular person."

(( Sorry that it took so long to respond. I've been rather busy as of late. ))

"A youkai in the dealings of fear, offering to help an ex-shrine maiden such as myself do a deed of what might be considered morally 'good'? Normally, I would accept your offer, but call me skeptical for the time being. After all, my prey is a youkai of many servants, underlings, and forms." Hartly brushes some hair past her shoulder again, golden eyes seeming significantly more dull than most people. It was obvious that, despite her seemingly playful, sarcastic nature, she was much more intelligent than she let on, always calculating every aspect of a situation. Whether she wanted to or not. "On... second thought, no. Hrm. I suppose you can help. I've no idea as to his or her current appearance however."

Hartly then turns around, facing away from Nahumar. "I care not for your appearance. As far as I am concerned, you are simply one of many fear youkai in existence, or at least, one of the many youkai with a basis in fear, as far as you've told me. It's your choice whether you want to slip into the shadows, as you say so dramatically, or not. It doesn't matter too much anyways." The Archer thinks for a moment, before starting to walk forward. "By your previous statements, I have to assume that this is the first time you've heard of any happenings such as these in this manner, at least, in this specific way. So does that mean you've no information to help us along with, then?"

Meanwhile, in a much more interesting side of the story...

A certain, bubbly Celestial has busy marching and stomping her way through the Forest of Magic, looking more than a little agitated. In fact, she was positively fuming. Lumine had a determined look on her face as she searched, much to the twin's dismay, looking for their assailant.

"How dare they hurt my friends...!" She muttered to herself bitterly, hands balled up into fists. In all honestly Lumine had no idea where she was going, or even if she was heading in the right direction anymore. She had met the Taiyo Twins a short distance from their house, and after witnessing their distressed state, vowed to avenge their pain and injury. You can stop laughing now.

"HEY! Come out and show yourself, you big jerk!" Lumine shouted at the forest, and to no one in particular. "You're gonna pay for hurting my friends! So come on and fight me!"