Faded Stars (or Yarrun Writes His Own Niche Touhou Fanfic, or Yarrun Rips off Mojave Yet Again)
Tagged:
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Prologue
In Gensokyo, the night belongs to the youkai - not that there haven't been attempts to change that. Seven years ago, Kanako had the Kappa erect streetlights throughout the city, powered by underground wires threaded by the oni. Four years ago, she had the tengu newspapers run a popular article about the economic benefits of extending the workday past sunset. Last year, she sent a squad of White Wolves into the city streets after dark, and their yellow eyes flashed in the shadows as a warning to troublesome youkai. Still, when the sun went down, the humans retreated to their homes or one of the few unofficial safe spots - nightclubs and bars and other places of pleasure - and the youkai freely went to their own bars to enjoy themselves out of the sight of humans and their judging eyes. The memories of human-kidnapping among the villagers-turned-townspeople were still fresh as an open wound. No amount of social engineering can heal such a thing, not in a decade's time.
So, as the tiny firefly youkai flitted from one shadow to the other, her light shining behind her none saw her. Everybody was too busy avoiding everyone else.
Wriggle stopped for a moment, catching her breath for a moment. She closed her eyes as she focused on the surrounding area. The flies clambering over a dropped ice cream cone saw nothing in the past hour. Neither did the caterpillar clinging to one of the few trees in the area. A few cockroaches noticed some light footsteps a while ago, smelling of fur and steel, but they had moved on a while ago. She silently thanks her minions and goes forward.
Reading the senses of insects is one of the tricks she picked up from Keine during the transition period. When consumer products came in bulk from the Kappa factories, and curious youkai wished to pay for them (that is to say, after attempts at thievery proved impractical due to White Wolf security), Keine brought it upon herself to teach youkai the mechanics behind employment. It was she who suggested that Wriggle recreate her insect messaging service in order to buy the one thing she desired: aerosol bug spray, which she immediately disposed of after purchasing.
It was a short while before she reached her destination. She scrambled over the cast-iron fence (flying’s no good in such times, not unless you want the eyes of the Mountain on you) and raced across the carefully manicured lawn. Past the public library, around the amphitheater, behind the backs of two drowsy fairy guards. At last, she sees the sign: a striking green ribbon stuck in the doorjamb of a storage shed. She quickly slips in.
It was usually a simple venture, the messaging service. The interested would purchase a box of crickets or fireflies, with the assumption that they’ll be fed and taken care of. When the time comes, they’d whisper the message and the address to the insects and release them. They would come to her, and she’d guide them to the address, where they’d write out their message using what was available. It’s widely suspected that the official mail is sorted and tracked, so the service became popular for those who wished to speak with confidence. A decent business. And yet, sometimes things went wrong, and she found herself getting shanghaied into odd adventures. Breaking into the compound of a powerful vampire princess was one of them.
It’s silent in the shed. And dark. She starts to light up when she’s grabbed from behind by a pair of strong arms.
“Don’t panic,” hissed a voice behind her. “And keep your light down. We can’t have light in here.” Reluctantly, she dims her light. The arms let her go.
“I got the message,” grumbled Wriggle. "Ten times the usual price for getting wrapped up in whatever secret scheme you're trying to pull. Fine. What is it?"
"You're a messenger, right?” the voice said, pointedly. “This message must be delivered to the listed address by dawn, by hand." A letter is forced into Wriggle's hand. “You must remain unseen until you complete the delivery and move out of the vicinity of the address, or the payment is forfeit. If you’re caught and detained, destroy the message by whatever means necessary, or the payment’s forfeit. And of course, if you deliver the letter to someone else, there’ll be trouble.” The voice finished with the same matter-of-fact tone that it started with.
"Hmpf.” Wriggle turns the letter over, feeling it through the darkness. Good quality paper, with a wax seal to ward off the curious. Her antennae quivered with interest, and not a small bit of suspicion. “Anything I should expect? White Wolf blockades? Kappa war machines? How important is this thing?”
"Expect nothing more than the typical trouble. Wandering youkai, inquisitive humans. And it’s important enough that I’m paying you ten times the usual price.” The voice paused for a moment before continuing. “There is no need to worry. We wouldn’t have chosen you if we considered your skills inadequate, or your loyalties out of sync.”
Wriggle was far from satisfied. We? Loyalties? What is she getting into? But it was a lot of money for easy work. And a few crickets nearby had seen some suspicious guards moving towards the shed. No time to haggle over information. “Done.” The figure moves away from the door, and Wriggle slips out. As she scrambled over the fence, she heard a yell, followed by the distinctive poof of a dying fairy. It takes a while before she stops running.
After a quick check reveals no one in a half-mile radius, she steps beneath a streetlight and pulls out the letter for the address. The wax seal was emblazoned with the crest of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Surprising. And the address even more so. Wriggle sighed as she disappeared into the night. It would be a long journey to the Great Barrier.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead