Castlevania: Now with 100% less backtracking [OPEN] [Action]

[youfool]

Ted donned his ill-used thinking cap. Where to find the madman's lab, with the prized elixir of life?

The skeletons might narrow it down to two fifths of Genessia: Fayren, and Everglade. And, Ted found, no matter how he mentally hemmed and hawed, he could not logically choose between them. Alchemy, necromancy, healing potions...either place could house them comfortably.

But if not mentally, perhaps emotionally? The laboratory he saw was, to make poor use of his vocabulary, creepy. A dirge from an organ would not be out of place. Put that way, it seemed right at home in Everglade. Fayren knew its share of the fantastic, true. But it seemed a sunnier, earthy, more wholesome thing. His journey's destination resonated most strongly with the dark, the old, and the spirits of Dickens.

So much for deduction. Now, Ted set upon Everglade, beating pavement, asking obvious questions. Have any witch brews made themselves especially pungent? Any mad scientist cackles roiling through the air? Did they know of a man with clothing as ornate as his heart was black? The night wore on, moon watching ominously overhead.

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[koishi_komeiji]

Success! The moment Gaibon hit the floor, Koishi began to move. The tentacles slid out to an impressive length, pinning its wings further, holding it still. Or as still as she could anyway. Already her youkai features were more visible as he sclera darkened, the glow of her eyes standing out even more. She couldn't stop Gaibon from struggling though, its head not completely restricted, the little youkai getting bashed against the ground as it rolled and struggled. It certainly hurt but it wasn't going to do much more than leave the little youkai with some bruising. The only rub was Koishi wasn't entirely sure what to do now that she had such a firm hold.

She tensed visibly, shifting her grip as quickly as she could as the gargoyle turned to spit fire at Ted. It only got off three shots before a clawed hand wrapped around the creature's snout, stifling the fire. It burned her hand a little bit, but it wasn't hellfire. She could endure it for a awhile. She flinched as she felt Ted's shield break, but she wasn't in a position to remake it. Even with her magic no longer being tapped, she was in no position to focus, and lashing out psychically would hurt Ted too. She grunted, having to tuck her head as the Gargoyle rolled again to avoid hitting her head, putting her face unpleasantly close to the beast's neck...

Well that could certainly work.

Her jaw ached as her teeth sharpened the younger satori biting into the creature's spine, where the neck met the upper back. Considering how tough the creature's hide was and how thick its bones were at this location it would take considerable effort to chew through to the beast's nervous system. Especially since Koishi's jaw couldn't unhinge and wasn't big enough to bite through the vertebrate and muscle in one go. Well that just meant she had to take more than one bite!

[youfool]

Ted barely scooted away as the spear plunged where his shins used to be. He was getting backed into a corner, nearing Koishi's struggle. He stole a glance, and was horrified. His partner's name was all he could yell before re-attending to his more present threat. He couldn't gamble taking out his speed loader and applying it in the time it would take Slogra to breach the gap.

Second verse, same as the first. He jumped with all his might, leaping over Slogra. At that exact moment, Gaibon entered a berserker rage. When either of these creatures neared the end of their mortality, their colors grew red, and their powers increased. In the gargoyle's case, his flames became thrice as large and intense. With the last of his breath. he ushered out alchemical flame, either launching at Ted's jump, or else at the hand that even now gripped him.

Ted dropped all of the things he'd bought from the Rabbit's Foot at once onto the beast's head. Surely one of them had to work. Indeed, it seemed to. As Ted alighted on the other side, he saw the beast flinch, its spear having disintegrated. Ted's adrenaline surged as he relished his enemy's disarmament. He took the time to arm his gun. One shot, two shots, then the beast lunged with its beak, increasing it's reach dramatically, and stabbed Ted's thigh. He howled in pain, nearly becoming disarmed himself. He hopped away with the strength of one leg, reflexively trying to create distance. He tried to focus on his aim through the pain, hopefully having enough impact to put the beast down for good.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi jerked her head ripping back the flesh with the first bite, taking a chunk of muscle with the second. The creature's blood tasted beyond foul, bitter and stinking of sulfur. She paused in her assault as her name was called, picking her head up slightly. That distraction was all that was needed for Gaibon to jerk its head free, Koishi's claws leaving deep scratches across its snout as it spewed fire around the room. Her hand was burned badly as she made another grab for its mouth. Holding its jaw shut again was out of the question. She would just have to kill it faster.

Her teeth met muscle again, this time scraping bone. She wasted no time, ripping out next layer of flesh to get at her target. Unlike the muscle, made tough by the gargoyle's ability to fly, the disks of its spine would give far more easily. Digging the elbow of her burned arm into the base of Gaibon's skull she she bit down twice at odd angles, breaking the disks, and once more to rip one of the vertebrae clean out of its neck.

She flinched visibly as the creature died, the psychic feedback providing a sobering shock, Ted's sudden pain compounding upon that. Pulling her claws free she struggled to untangle herself, finding some of the tendrils pinned under the large creature... And Ted needed help. Giving up on freeing herself for now, she took a breath, narrowing her focus on Slogra, her third eye opening wide enough for the corners to split. She promised to protect Ted. And that was exactly what she was going to do. Though it would not be easy seeing as Ted was also within her line of sight.

Focusing her power as best she could, she loosed a psychic lance at the beaked creature. Madness. Nightmares. Pain, sadness, fear. Everything that made up the darkest parts of the psyche were in that blast. Not as powerful as it could have been, she didn't dare risk more. Even after she put so much effort into focusing, Ted would undoubtedly feel the far edge of that strike.

[youfool]

A wave of fear overcame Ted from without. By now, Ted was getting a feel for Koishi's compulsive mood swings, and he reasoned that that might explain why the creature had given up the offense, merely standing there, quivering. Being Death's minions, their capacity for feeling of any kind was blunted. But it was enough. Ted steeled his resolve, limping towards the creature. He wrested the gun into the creature's eye, and fired.

It was dead, as made evident by the way it's flesh immediately encased itself in flame, leaving only bones that swiftly faded into dust. Ted purposefully looked down, concentrating on what needed no further notice.

The violence done to Gaibon was too much as well, and it followed suit in self-cremation. The struggle was at an end, at least against them. Ted continued to stare at the floor, until he knew for certain that whatever madness gripped Koishi had passed.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi had been ready to fire another psychic lance at the beaked creature, this one with the intent of stripping its mind... but she didn't have to, stopping short when Ted rose to finish it off. Her aura didn't dissolve right away, however. Not until after the beasts caught fire.

She remained silent, even when Gaibon's immolation scorched several of her tendrils. She simply shifted, readjusting and retracting fully her uninjured ones, drawing in the burned ones just short of the injury and allowing them to wind delicately up her arms. The burns needed to be treated and to dry out some before she could put them away properly. Though overall she wasn't seriously hurt.

Stepping forward, nearly tripping on the gargoyle's skeleton, the little youkai made her way over to Ted, not bothering to take to the air. She was too agitated. "Mister Spades?" Koishi had lost her frightening aura and some of her more monstrous features, her teeth and nails were still a little sharp. It didn't help that her mouth and hands were quite bloody and the sclera of her left eye was still completely black. The lid twitched a little. She reached up with a wrist, nursing the scar above her temple, the darker eye closing as her hat slipped off and to the floor. At least meeting the satori's gaze no longer felt like staring into empty sockets.

"Mm..." A deep breath. She had a migraine already. "Do... Should I cauterize that? Or do you have bandages..." A pause. "Do you need to be carried?" Her third eye drifted up as she made a half-hearted attempt to recreate her calming aura with little success. She was silent for another moment. She wanted to help, but she did't try to touch him yet.

[youfool]

"I'll be fine". Not his most convincing voice, and not his most dignified moment. He took out the dessert he had mocked a short while ago. Every foodstuff till now had had a mild restorative effect. Perhaps this...? It was worth a shot. He took a bite, and could feel his wounds closing, without pain. "Positively miraculous...Koishi, you should eat something we found. The cheese might do." He felt idiotic, like a sous chef who mistakenly walked into an ER.

Mostly, though, he wanted Koishi to remove herself. This, he felt, was why fairies let their chosen ones do the dirty work. Because they're the ones who can wear the dirt. This was brutally ugly, like a Fairy Godmother taking part in a World War. Ted still wanted to hope that this world might be a fairy tail, if only for a few hours. But then, hope always was Ted's weakest virtue.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi may not have been a mind reader, but she seemed to have a sense of how Ted felt. She took the offered cheese in her burned hand with a bit of hesitation, wiping the blood from her mouth with her opposite hand before taking a bite. It did indeed have a mild restorative effect, her skin prickling as it mended, many of her aches and pains growing more mild. Her eyes remained as they were, however, more a reflection of her emotional state than her physical. However her other features continued to gradually dissipate, her teeth and nails back to normal as she finished the last bite.

"Well I don't have that horrid taste in my mouth anymore." A weak attempt to break the tension. "I guess youkai don't make good fairy companions after all. I'm sorry you got hurt..." Another pause. "Please don't be scared of me." Perhaps a foolish request at this point, but sincere none the less.

[youfool]

Ted shook his head. "You're sorry for my state, I'm sorry for having induced it, as well as taking us on this fool's errand to begin with." It was a potentially scary thing when Ted, of all people, came to regret adventures. "Let's not bandy apologies till we have the energy."

'Scared' was an emotion, certainly, along with a host of others. It made for a cocktail Ted wasn't in the mood for sorting. At least his emotions weren't forcefully subsiding, this time. Ted got up, found that he was well enough to walk, and claimed the potion: genesis of the night's troubles. Into the bag it went.

"We've got what we came for. No reason to stay in this wicked place any longer. If you're good to go, by all means, let's go. If not, I have a few amenities in the bag. First aid, things to wash up with: a bath, if you can believe it." He was hoping for something more celebratory, but then Dracula wasn't the type to toss confetti. It's a wonder Ted didn't toss cookies. The violence, the adrenaline, the food, and Koishi's grisly sight all combined to make one roiling stomach. Queasiness, at least, was a feeling Ted had no doubts on.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi frowned a little bit and when she spoke her voice had some force behind it. "I don't think you should be sorry for that! For taking us on the adventure, I mean." There was conviction there. "A lot of humans would have run away but you did it. And now you've learned things and gotten better at adventuring." She didn't mention that this trip wasn't probably the best one for a novice. "And most importantly, we had fun! You should be proud we got so far. Even if the end was scary..."

"I do want to apologize though. I made the adventure a little bit less fun." Her voice was almost completely normal. "I get over protective of my friends when there is danger around. I underestimated you and focused so much magic on protecting you I didn't save any to attack with. I should have trusted your skill more and stayed by your side. I'll remember that for next time. I promise."

She hesitated a moment, drifting a bit closer, looking down at her hands. "I... um... wouldn't mind a little water to wash my hands and face though." Gaibon's blood did not smell good.

[youfool]

"Ask and ye shall receive." He took out a bottle of water and tossed it to her. There was much to respond to, listening to Koishi's progress report. True, most humans would have stayed away. Proverbs 22:3 "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished." Boy had that one come true. Had he learned things? Yes, though he would have remained ignorant if he could've. Had fun? Yes, but that was a bit outweighed by most everything else. As usual, Ted couldn't comment on applied magic, and hardly more on battle strategies. He didn't wanna think how things would've gone had he been using more traditional weaponry.

But, above all else, he was too tired to articulate or argue any of it. The night bore on him, running out even his motor mouth. Ted sighed, adopting his usual pose with Koishi. "I'll trust in your account." His eyes were averse as much as they were able; maybe after the wash.

Once she had finished, Ted would wordlessly make his exit, bypassing the lazy Larva once again, and referencing the map he'd been recording.

I do not apologize for the reference.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi caught it with one of her tentacles, flinching a little as it irritated the burn... But she didn't complain. She poured it over her hands, cupping them and bringing it up to wash off her mouth. It took only a few seconds, several drips of blood on her sleeves and the front of her shirt all that remained. She even took an extra few moments to clean under her nails. After all, it hadn't dried yet. She paused and took an extra moment to clean her third eye, delicately cradling it as she washed the blood from the edges and the blinded surface.

Shifting the bottle to her hand she floated over to Ted, offering it back to him. Her left cheek and the corner of her eye were tense, the sclera on that side still black, the iris and pupil eerily bright. Once he had taken it back she drifted over to her hat, picking it up and gently rubbing the scar with her other. There was the beginnings of a bump and bruise bruise forming under it, though the cheese no doubt would ensure it didn't get all that bad.

She tried to put her hat on, visibly twitching several times before she gave up. The hat put some pressure on it as it stood now. She followed behind Ted a short ways, drifting closer when they got back to the maid room. She placed the hat gently on his head. "You can wear Mister Hat for awhile if you like. He's very comfortable and keeps me relaxed when I feel tense. Because Sis made him for me."

Re: I do not apologize for the reference.

[youfool]

"Thank you". He took the hat, a bit concerned. They still had the obstacles courses to retrace, and Ted feared for the safety of such a precious heirloom with whirling blades about. But she probably knew the risks, repetitive as they are. He found Koishi's new, blacker countenance disconcerting, and was none too subtle about avoiding eye contact when he could. Mister Hat would assist there.

Ted was a bit bashful receiving the bottle, knowing that his usual absent-mindedness had caused pain again with a careless toss. Such is his life, he though resignedly, and with the same attitude made his way back to the castle entrance. Ted had little to say on the return journey, his thoughts centered around what to say for a farewell. He felt ashamed, of course. He owed much to Koishi, and detaching himself like this was a poor reward. And yet, what else could he do? All his disappointments were due to his own preconceptions; The Tower crumbling down. He thought they'd be in for a grand amusement; he was wrong, mostly. He thought Koishi would be like the Three Good Fairies; mostly wrong again. He thought he'd be able enough to brave the challenges capably; mostly wrong three times. Like a dark cloud hovering above all this, he thought that this attitude was most unlike him. The Fool ought to be cheery and open, cracking jokes with utter inattention. He might think of one now of Koishi's more carnivorous features, if he liked.

But he did not like. However alien the cloud, it remained, and no amount of mental attention would budge it. His ideas were wrong, his attitude was wrong. The Fool is not the most glamorous of titles, the Bible heaping no little abuse on it, but to fail to live up to even that happy idiot was pitiful. Perhaps it was just Castlevania's evil seeping into him; no good thing could last in there indefinitely, surely. They had trekked all the way back to the black forests past the drawbridge, and Ted, in another concession of personality, had nothing to say.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi drifted along behind Ted, perhaps a bit more unsteady than before. She kept her hand on her temple, massaging it very delicately. Perhaps the darker eye was more a result of her discomfort than anything else? It was hard to say unless Ted asked. She didn't seem to have trouble with the spinning blades, fortunately enough, actually speeding up at one point and pushing Ted along, ensuring his landing was safer than it would have been. She was dead serious when she talked about protecting her friends.

By the time they reached the drawbridge, her eye was finally starting to clear, but she was still rubbing her temple. Needless to say the looped heart normally held above her left shoulder was completely gone.

She paused, hovering there for a moment before drifting forward quickly, giving Ted a tight hug. Not too tight (she was amazingly strong for her size) but it might have been slightly uncomfortable for a human. "I'm really sorry if I scared you Mister Spades. Really. I closed my eye so I wouldn't scare people anymore but that doesn't always work out as planned..." The understatement of the century.

She let go quickly, taking a deep breath. Safe for a dark tinge around the edges of her eye she was completely back to normal. "Maybe the subconscious doesn't work well as a fairy? As opposed to a youkai not working well. I don't know..." She HAD actually been trying to play the role. "I act on impulse when I'm alarmed. And the subconscious is neither good nor bad. I just... Bring out various aspects. Usually joy. And calm. I really like those..."

[youfool]

Ted couldn't help but be warmed up after that. Given that his aura, if you will, was all wrong, what was Ted to do about it? Lie, obviously. One could say that the better part of morality is pretending to be better than you are. Ted vigorously shook his head, and burst. "A pox on apologies! This shall be the last for the evening, anyway. Ahem! I'm sorry for being such a dreadful bore. We won! We've done it! True you may have done the lion's share but nonetheless, the castle is vanquished! I dare say if we should ever pay a second visit, it won't even be standing by the end of it!

Not only have we secured the double-edged elixir of life—we must remember its conditions—, but we've secured a magic emerald, and no small amount of desserts. Made off like bandits! We ought to celebrate. As I lack the funds for a proper celebration, I substitute this." He made a move for Koishi's arm, put his dance lessons to use, and spun for a twirl.

Whew! That must've made an allowance to squeeze out the last of Ted's melancholy. He started again, quieter. "As to the fairy/youkai business, well...all I know to say is that, I suppose, neither of us are as I wished. Not that my wishes ought to count for much, mind. But one thing I wish very much is to sleep like a log, after all that excitement. Are you satisfied with the divvying of spoils? I don't suppose you know anyone in dire straits who might need the crimson fluid?"

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi did brighten when Ted cheered up a little, the artery over her shoulder twisting into a tentative heart. "You weren't boring at all Mister Spades! You were really helpful. I can't wait to go on another adventure with you! I'll do better next time, okay? I'll use more conventional and youki based magic like psychic lasers and stuff!" Did Koishi just say she'd use mind beams?

She did pause in her celebration after a moment though. "Emerald?" She reached into her pocket and removing the Frenzy of Wind. "It looks more like jade to me. Or maybe even malachite-" Her correction was cut off, however as Ted grabbed her by the arm and spun her about, the little youkai giggling uncontrollably as he did so.

She spun once when he let her go, a little lopsided in the air for a few moments as she corrected herself. Fortunately the mood shift managed to calm her down fairly quickly. "Not what you wished?" She blinked. "Mister Spades? You know I'm a four-hundred year old psychic monster of myths and legends, right? I should tell you more about satori youkai sometime. Sis is better at telling stories than me though but if she's not around I'll try my best." A pause. "Also, what did you wish that you were? I think you're fine just the way you are."

As for the spoils? "You can keep the stone too if you want Mister Spades. I got to eat so I'm happy. And I don't think I know anyone who is hurt and needs a healing potion. You should save it for sometime or for someone who really needs it. Okay?"

[youfool]

"If that's conventional, the strange Youkai must be truly unorthodox. I don't know; that phantasmal shield that hung about me was rather gracious. I rather enjoyed not being flattened like a pancake every now and again. But you're the expert in these things."

"Hmm, maybe take the stone to one of those...what were they called, oni smiths? See if they know anything about it."

Ted may not be the fastest thing on two legs, but he was never second rate at evading questions. "400 years? Hah, I suppose at that point there's no need to be less than forward." Women Ted knew tended to be a bit shier about that information once they got into their thirties. "You age well; I'm tempted to say not at all. Well, if I didn't know it now, I'm certainly starting to get that impression." He tried to let go of his preference for 'fairy', but that would be a hard-fought loss.

"Oh, and here's your hat." He placed Mister, garland and all, atop its rightful place. "Another thing: mum's the word on the potion, all right? Private victories are sweeter, for one, and for another, there's no telling what sort of unsavory types might want to get their greedy hands on it. If you must boast, do so only to the trustworthy, if you please."

[koishi_komeiji]

"Noooo! You misunderstood!" She laughed. "I'll use more conventional magic and magic that revolves around my youki. My youkai powers." She hopped forward. "That means less shield, okay? Maybe I could get you a pin that gives you a shield instead. That would be great."

Koishi did tilt her head a bit at the comment though. "Not at all? Nooo satori youkai age. We get taller. Slowly. Her smile grew."Some of the oldest ones were a whole foot and a half taller than me when I left home. But I was shorter then..." She looked thoughtful. "But I'm not that old for a youkai. Some youkai can live ten thousand years or more! The oldest satori I knew of was over two thousand, if he's still alive..."

She giggled softly as her hat was placed on her head, her left shoulder and the corner of her mouth twitching involuntarily. She closed her left eye before it started to darken again, quickly removing it once more. "I'm going to wait for the bump to go down before wearing Mister Hat again."

A pause... "Who is this 'mum' person? I wont tell anyone about the potion but make sure mum doesn't tell anyone either."

[youfool]

"I certainly wouldn't say no to more pins like that. It was rather fun to play astronaut. Will you be needing the flight pin back?" Ted tried not to be too covetous, but he couldn't help but enjoy Koishi's gifts, especially seeing as how useful they were for the preservation of his life.

"Oh, I see. Yes, you definitely have a measure of youth about you." Ted guessed that 400 may just as well have been 8, in Youkai years.

"Hah, just an expression. Should my mother arrive, however, I'll be sure to swear her to secrecy." Ted, unfortunately, would blurt out the results of their adventures during the upcoming election, though he had nothing to do with it at present.

Ted stood quiet, for a while. True, he was exhausted, but he could feel the flowering of something tender, and precious, that he didn't want to abandon just yet. But what more was there to say? He gazed at Koishi as his mind ebbed and flowed. Ted bore loss poorer than most, even if it was something as silly as a name, or a role, he had misguidedly assigned. His gaze contained a lot of feelings, mixing together into a look of love; the kind he might just as well have given to a fairy. Less godmother, more little sister. And then it hit him: a name.

Ted could hardly help being sentimental, and a few tears welled up as the product of their evening. His voice remained steady. "Oh, Koishi. You've given me so much, more than I can ever repay. But there is one gift I can match, I think: a nickname. Would you like it?"

[koishi_komeiji]

"You can keep the flying pin. But if you're allowed to use objects like that then I can teach you to play danmaku if you want to. I know you're nervous about it and you're not allowed to use real magic..." A small pout. But she wouldn't push more if he declined again.

"Youth? Well I'm an adult satori youkai. We just don't ever stop getting taller is all... At least... I don't think we do. We're a very tiny species of youkai mostly."

Koishi did tilt her head though. Expressions did sometimes confuse her, and she didn't really understand why this one existed, but at least she knew of it now. Her brow knit a little in confusion when she saw his tears though, third eye drifting higher and closer as she read his emotions. "You're really happy. So why are you crying? Don't cry Mister Spades. You can give me a nickname if you want to."

At least he wouldn't be calling her fairy anymore... probably... maybe...

[youfool]

He thumbed the pin. "Thank you. Yes, I'd like that. I could use more recreation. I think...magic like that will probably be all right. So long as it remains impersonal; from without. Allegiances and blood are where it gets tricky. But nicely." Ted did not want talk of sorcery to spoil the sliver of night they had left.

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "sniff Ahah, have you lived so long and yet not known this? Well, I don't blame you. It confuses me too. Sorry, I'm dithering. Better compose myself before waxing poetic." He took a deep breath, smiling nervously.

"That gives it away doesn't it? Ah well. All this time you had seemed so innocent, so childlike. I looked at you and saw the sun. This...was a hasty error. I know now that you're too fierce to be innocent, and too old to be childlike. But you are so like! How could it be? Unless you did have the sun's light, though it did not originate with you." This was not levied as an accusation, but gentled as an innocent fact.

He looked towards the perpetual, celestial backdrop of Castlevania. "The second of my follies was my assumption that even that lunar sphere was but another tool of Castlevania, making madness, and wolves of men. Alas, that such cynicism should infect. Truthfully it is a safeguard; a light to make sure even the deepest shadows do not overreach.

Do you see it now? You're The Moon. A reflected light that guides through the dark; a radiant reserve that survives the encroaching gloom. Your eyes even eclipse." He smiled, repainting the visage that had struck terror into a joke. "You were my guide into the unknown; a lamp to light the path. Every time my base nature threatened to undo me; flight and fight, those two wolves nipping at my heels, you thrust them back deep into the waters of the subconscious.

With your second-hand light, you've brought peace to journey. Again I dub thee: The Moon. My little lunatic."

He finished, exhaling again. Ted then promptly blushed, having escaped the moment he was caught up in. Most normal people would've filed a restraining order by this point, so Ted was counting on Koishi's abnormality to let it slide. "Hah, I'm sorry. I may have gone too far..."

[koishi_komeiji]

"You're welcome Mister Spades. Danmaku is very fun and I just know you'll like it! It's really hard though so be sure to practice a lot and go to Mister Stripe's school, okay?" Her third eye nudged his shoulder. "If you join it Mister Stripes will give you a much better flynig pin since that one will wear out quickly. It's cheap magic."

"Ah..." For once Koishi looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry Mister Spades. I'm so used to reading emotions that seeing one reaction and feeling another can confuse me. I'm better at it than Sis though. She's really bad at reading people if her mind reading is blocked. She get's really nervous and fidgets a lot."

Innocence? Youth? Hardly Ted. Koishi is anything but in the brief moments she regains her senses. But her brash and happy nature certainly could convey otherwise at times. She might have said something but Ted continued, Koishi tilting her head to one side.

"The moon?" She tilted her head the other way. "In my world, gazing at the true lunatic moon when its at its highest and fullest drives people insane. Humans and youkai alike. Even the reflection on the water's surface. I can be the moon and help you Mister Spades. It's perfect. My eyes are green, not red, so I don't have the power of lunacy that the moon rabbits have." Her eyes brightened significantly, lighting her face. But I can break minds and drive away danger. You can always count on me from now on and I promise to do my very best! Okay?"

Oh dear Ted... What did you do?

[youfool]

Heaven knew. "What a terrifying world you must have come from; I understand, a little, why you're armed so." He even sympathized with her sister, having never considered the arrest mind reading would make on one's sociability. It was possible that even Ted knew more about it, having had to learn the hard way.

If he may think so himself, Ted did feel the nickname very fitting. He wasn't altogether comforted by this moon, but given its portents, perhaps that was all right. An ideal moon...what would it look like? It would, above all else, be an advocate of peace. That darker thing, lower than even instinct, would cease its attempts at life, drowned forever under lunar auspices. It might even make the dark safe to play in. Of course, Koishi had been doing just that.

But then Ted thought of what sort of spiritual swamp creatures he'd have to bury, and inwardly shuddered, a look of terror passing over his features in an instant. An ideal moon would indeed be able to calm the deeps, but first it would have to look upon them, albeit mercifully. Ted found the thought abhorrent.

So absorbed, Ted hadn't realized the awkwardness he created by his conversational withdrawal. He forced a laugh to clear things up. "Sorry, it must be the late hour that makes me so silly." Of all the faces he could present, Ted chose the old standby: a dim smile. It didn't display everything, but it displayed enough. "Beware of rash oaths," he chided playfully. "Personally I never promise to do my best, for it's rare enough even on good days. But who knows? Maybe Youkai are nearer to perfection than I suspected. You have had centuries of practice, after all. But so long as you're making oaths, might I suggest an alternative?"

He paused, taking another moment to look and think of Castlevania, the setting of chaos. "Strive for clarity; for minds unfettered. Madness, I've found, is cheap, but calm is precious. You are so much lovelier as a soothing balm, than a shattering bomb." Goodness, at this rate Ted would overtake Dracula in unbridled arrogance. All the same, Ted did think so. That removal of fear had propelled him to new heights...perhaps she might teach him of loss' proper place; she likely knew enough of it, given her amputation.

Too much thinking, too much imagination, as is the moon's wont. "Goodness, if we go on like this, we'll spoil everything." Ted was well-versed in the fanciful, and the imaginative. With Koishi, those fancies amplified, and Ted wondered if he might get lost in them. All things in moderation. This moon had craters, and this fool had a long ways to go. Going to bed was as good a step on that journey. Ted decided he'd end simply.

"Thank you, Koishi, and good night, and thank you for good nights."

[koishi_komeiji]

"Nooo. My world isn't terrifying. Gensokyo is beautiful. It's full of so many great things and great people. Even if half of them try to eat humans on sight... But most youkai hunt humans so that's kind of inevitable I suppose..." She shrugged as if this wasn't a big deal.

She waited quietly as Ted thought to himself, tilting her head one way, then the other. She didn't interrupt his musings, however, nor did she seem off-put by the large stretch of silence.

"Does lateness make humans act silly?" A blink. "Rash... Oh! But I mean that Mister Spades. I always try my best for my friends, but my best on some days is better than my best on other days. I'm not perfect though. Miss Maid is really close to perfect but she puts lots and lots of effort into everything constantly so that makes sense..."

She looked a bit thoughtful, her eyes dimming a little, third eye opening a sliver. She was seriously considering Ted's words. She sounded astoundingly focused when she spoke. "I'm going to try to be as clear as I can, okay Mister Spades. Calm is nice and ideal but it's easy to breed chaos under it. Without breaks in the calm we will never be able to see what is going on beyond it before it is too late." She seemed to flicker, becoming less defined for an instant. "And the appearance of actions is important but less so than the actions and their effect. Hands that kill can also heal. The real value comes in knowing which action to take."

Don't preach to your elders Ted.

Koishi wavered, listing a little in the air as her eyes closed. She looked disoriented, her outline swimming into focus again. It had been a mentally stressful day, after all.

"Oh... Okay Mister Spades. I'll keep you safe on your way home, then I'm going to chase some rabbits and bring them home to Sis. She has been restless and some meat that's not fish will probably cheer her up!" Koishi faded from view, even difficult for Ted to see. Likely the state she took on when following and 'protecting' Satsuki.