Hatate Quest Kolme

[Oldmansour]

>"What makes that so unbelievable?"

>"The version I know." your doppelganger replies, then pauses. "Wait a sec here. If you're only from the recent past, how can you have a Cobalt Keep that's so different than mine? Or, different at all, since the place's always been the same."

[Hanzo K.]

>Shrug in puzzlement. "Maybe there was a different branch for our timelines that caused them to be so different?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"There's some other ideas I have, but I wanna wait til we've gotten through both our stories before getting into that, so I have more of the pieces. Now, about your side of things?"

[Oldmansour]

>Shrug in puzzlement. "Maybe there was a different branch for our timelines that caused them to be so different?"

>"Time travel." Your twin makes a face. "I remember Keine trying to explain that stuff to me and Aya a while back. Gave me a doozy of a headache."

>"There's some other ideas I have, but I wanna wait til we've gotten through both our stories before getting into that, so I have more of the pieces. Now, about your side of things?"

>Hatatwin gives her head a little shake. "Yeah, got a little sidetracked there, didn't we. Where was I. Oh yeah, the story of the tengu." She leans back in her seat a bit. "Did your timeline have an Incident called the Grand Harmony? It was a big music show in the Bamboo Forest."

[Hello Purvis]

>Did it?
>"Let's just act like none of them happened and explain the basics, so if they did happen I can tell if something went differently."

[Oldmansour]

>Did it?
>"Let's just act like none of them happened and explain the basics, so if they did happen I can tell if something went differently."

>"Allright. Well, it was a big concert, all of Gensokyo was invited, human and non alike. I remember, the three big religions organized it, the Taoists, the Myoren crew and the Moriyas with Reimu." Your twin grins. "I remember thinking this was all some kinda recruitment drive at the time. I wasn't that interested in it at the time, I don't think anyone really was. But then Aya started stirring up interest. Said it was a big chance for tengu to show other folks what kind of music we could make. I'll be honest, I didn't really think she'd get that far with it, but she did. She didn't just find one or two people willing to come down the mountain to play, she found a performer or group from every caste. Never knew she was that persuasive 'till then. OR that she was that interested in music, for that matter. She like that where you come from?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not that I know of. But then again, neither did you, so..."

[Oldmansour]

>"Not that I know of. But then again, neither did you, so..."

>Hatatwin laughs. "Touche."
>"Anyway, the turnout was huge, music was great, everything was comin' up roses. But there was a bit of a problem. From one of ours, actually. One of the Yamabushi that came down off the mountain, uh.... Edea, that was her name. She'd been researching song magic, and one of the songs she played turned some kind of devil loose." With a mote of pride, she says, "In my article, I called her the Spirit of the Song. Was rather proud of that term. Anyway, she caused a bit of mischief and mayhem, and she started off basically immune to danmaku. Until Mystia started using one of her spellcards and started singing. That seemed to get to her, so Marisa and Aya got every band together and starting them playing and singing, all the same song. It was a hell of a show. And then after the Spirit was weakened, Reimu did her thing, and then everyone went home happy."
>"It was after that that things around here started to change."

[Hello Purvis]

>Haven't we heard the name Edea before?
>"Go on."

[Oldmansour]

>Haven't we heard the name Edea before?
>"Go on."

>It doesn't sound familiar.
>"The tengu who went to the Harmony came back with a lot of stories about the non-tengu they met down there. And they took a lotta questions, too. People got curious. REAL curious. Me and Aya had to answer a whole lot of questions, reprint a lot of articles, tell a lot of stories..." She whistles quietly in recollection. "I never imagined I'd be doin' that, but I was, and in spades. Ah." she pauses as the door opens, admitting a fairly young Long-nose tengu, clad in a maid's gown and cap. The young blonde carries a silver tray weighted down by a tall bottle containing a golden-brown mead and two glasses. "That was faster'n I thought, Wanda."
>"That's what they pay me for." the enmaided tengu replies with some confidence, placing the tray down on the large table between you and your twin. Stealing a glance in your direction, she comments as she straightens. "She really DOES look just like you."
>"She IS me." Hatatwin says with a grin. "Cool, isn't it. Uh, you can just leave that there, I'll take care of it."
>"Sure." The Long-nose bows formally, but before she leaves the room, she looks back at you. "Did you plan to stay here for a while?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not yet, anyways. We'll let you know if plans change."
>Back to our twin; "So it became kind of a trend, you're saying?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Not yet, anyways. We'll let you know if plans change."
>Back to our twin; "So it became kind of a trend, you're saying?"

>The bird called Wanda acknowledges your statement with a nod, then departs.
>"It went deeper than just a trend." your doppelganger replies as she grabs the bottle of mead. "Beads on wingtips was a trend, but this was something else. More and more tengu started asking for visits from the Kappas and the humans and the gods and the youkai that live on the mountain. It was like that concert had started a bonfire of curiosity. That just kept growing and growing. And the Dai-tengu didn't like it, not one bit. Oh sure, some of them caught the fever too, but then there was the old guard, the conservatives. The ones who had the most influence, the most power. They were not impressed with this trend in the least, and that's putting it mildly." She pauses long enough to hand you a glass of the golden wine. "Take this here mead, for an example. Family that made this got this recipe from a honeybee youkai, and now it's one of their best sellers. Now, in the olden days, if and when a tengu ever did something like that, they'd have taken all the credit for it. But not now, now they're right honest about Amitsu's help. Even give her a stipend for it, insisted on it, in fact."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I am surprised they would lower themselves to stealing from others at all. That sounds really...pathetic? I mean, why pass off something that's not our as ours? That's what peddlers trying to dupe some poor human fool do. So, what happened? And most importantly, what did Lord Tenma say about this?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I am surprised they would lower themselves to stealing from others at all. That sounds really...pathetic? I mean, why pass off something that's not our as ours? That's what peddlers trying to dupe some poor human fool do. So, what happened? And most importantly, what did Lord Tenma say about this?"

>"Tengu steal as much as any other race. We just didn't admit that other races could have ideas better than ours, so we lied about it." She pauses to quaff her drink in one swallow, visibly savoring the sensation. "Oh yeah, that's a good year. And you're right, it IS pathetic. But our ego was refined to the point where we didn't see it that way. Not until things started changing." Hatatwin pours herself another round. "It was like that concert... opened our eyes. At first to the outsiders, and then to ourselves, our own shortcomings. Our own blindness, as Aya put it. Joining with Gensokyo in song... it was like we joined with Gensokyo in spirit."
>"And Lord Tenma turned out to be pretty useless all in all." your counterpart says with some disdain. "The message from his office seemed to change everytime someone asked. Half the time, he reasserted the authority of the Dai-tengu, other half the time he said that we needed to change with the times. Pretty soon, both factions stopped listening to those announcements. Aya really became the center of Tengu society. The people who wanted change basically adopted her as their leader... Well, more like their symbol for change. And the old guard wanted her silenced. They blamed her for starting this whole thing." She takes another drink, this one just a small swallow. "I'd wager you know what comes next."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I'm assuming it got nasty. I'll tell you what, though, I can hardly imagine Lord Tenma being so...indecisive. I guess things are different here."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah, I'm assuming it got nasty. I'll tell you what, though, I can hardly imagine Lord Tenma being so...indecisive. I guess things are different here."

>"I think he was kinda stuck between a downdraft and a cliff. I'm prepared to bet that he wanted to side with us, but he didn't have a choice but to support the old guard. I don't blame him for what happened. I doubt it could've been stopped even if Tenma had picked a side."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah. So, how bad did it get?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah. So, how bad did it get?"

>Your twin takes another drink. "Not as bad as you'd think, really. Well, the first night was sort of bad, the night the Dai-tengus tried to spirit Aya off in the night, but after that, practically all the fighting was done with danmaku. The New guard, if you wanna call us that, stuck to it because we liked it. It was flashy, effective, and most of all, new. The Old guard had to fight us on our terms, and not just because they were afraid of what Reimu and Yukari would do if they started breaking their rules." Slowly swirling her mead as though it were fine brandy, your counterpart goes on to say, "A lot of the White Wolves wanted to take to the fighting with sword and shield and spear, but Aya and Momiji talked them out of it. No one wanted change more than Aya, but no one wanted to avoid bloodshed more than Aya. It was a very rare event where steel clashed against steel, and only when the Dai-tengu forced the fight."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm surprised that wasn't enough to get Reimu involved right there. Politics or not, I can't imagine she'd stand for things going hot on her watch."
>If we got a mead, sip it.

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm surprised that wasn't enough to get Reimu involved right there. Politics or not, I can't imagine she'd stand for things going hot on her watch."
>If we got a mead, sip it.

>"I asked her about that after everything was said and done." your twin informs you as you take a sip of your drink. The mead is an almost perfect balance between sweet and tart, very flavorful without being overpowering. You're not entirely sure what other fruits were used as part of the brewing of this wine, but whatever it was works wonderfully. "Now you may find this as a bit of a surprise, but she said she had faith in Aya. Said that she was confidant Aya wouldn't let it go too far. I had no idea before that Reimu had anywhere near that kinda confidence in Aya. But then again, there was no outsider that knew Aya better than Reimu did, so I guess I shouldn't have been TOO surprised."

[Hello Purvis]

>'Well, I'm surprised. So, what happened?"

[Oldmansour]

>'Well, I'm surprised. So, what happened?"

>"The fighting basically boiled down to Aya taking on the de facto leader of the old guard, a one Tsubaki Ayatsuji." She grins. "And if that one is like she is in your time, then you can imagine what that fight must've been like."

[Hello Purvis]

>That would be the one who broke into Aya's house way back when, yes?
>If so: "Yeah...I've dealt with that one before. She's a disgrace to Daitengu in my time, too."
>If not, prompt her to continue.

[Oldmansour]

>That would be the one who broke into Aya's house way back when, yes?
>If so: "Yeah...I've dealt with that one before. She's a disgrace to Daitengu in my time, too."
>If not, prompt her to continue.

>That is correct. Good memory, mate.
>"She and Aya'd been sniping each other for decades, but the Rebellion sort of brought everything to a head. When the two of them starting dueling, everyone kinda knew that this was it. Whichever one'a them beat the other would win the whole thing. Now I don't know what she's like where you come from, but Tsubaki's no slouch here. She gave Aya one hell of a fight. As the fight went on, though, it was clear Aya was gonna take it. And then, Tsubaki really lived up to that 'disgrace' descriptor of yours. She cheated. During a close exchange of danmaku between her and Aya, she pulled a knife and stabbed Aya in the ribs. We had Kanako look at that knife after the fight, and the damn thing had been cursed, had some kind of slowing enchantment on it. Not enough to stop someone like Aya in her tracks, but enough to let Tsubaki get the upper hand."
>"Now, as you can imagine, when we saw her do that, everyone on our side wanted to jump up and dogpile on that cheating bitch, even some of the ones on HER side seem outraged at what she did. But as it turned out, no one had to. At least, no tengu." After another quick drink, she asks, "Does the name Yuugi Hoshiguma mean anything to you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I've photographed her. And she's one of the devas; so she used to live up here during the occupation."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah, I've photographed her. And she's one of the devas; so she used to live up here during the occupation."

>"Somehow, during the revolution, Aya found the time to go into the Underground world and have a very interesting talk with Miss Yuugi. How she did that without me or Momiji noticing, I still don't know." Your twin shakes her head as she smiles ruefully. "I've come a long way, but I still can't quite match her."
>"Anyway, to get back to the point, Aya had a feeling that Tsubaki would do something to cheat. She hadn't counted on getting shanked, but that's besides the point. Aya made a deal with Yuugi, so that when Aya and Tsubaki had their fight, Yuugi was waiting in the wings to even the odds when Tsubaki cheated." With an expression and a voice that tells of enormous satisfaction, your doppelganger finishes this part of the story by saying, "There was a lot of ways Yuugi could've evened up the odds, but she chose to do it through the very simple means of clubbing Tsubaki upside the head from behind. And I mean that quite literally. And that pretty much ended the fighting."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Wow. Going back to our old oppressors? Not sure what to think of that. So, what came after that?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Wow. Going back to our old oppressors? Not sure what to think of that. So, what came after that?"

>"A stunned silence." your twin says with a chuckle. "And after THAT, the fight just went out of the old timers. After Tsubaki hit the ground, they all surrendered en masse. After that, the rest of Yuugi's crew came out of hiding and helped us round them all up. See, Aya'd had a piece of foresight that the rest of us really didn't. She didn't want to just behead everyone who'd been fighting against us, but she knew that if she just banished them from the Mountain or imprisoned them, they'd still have power and influence over the rest of us, and that it'd only be a matter of time before some or all of them started trouble all over again. So part of the deal she cut with Yuugi went like this: Anyone who was identified as an unrepentant troublemaker, basically Tsubaki and those that thought like her, was taken Underground for the Oni to keep on eye on, like they do with all the other most dangerous youkai. But this isn't a permanent exile, either. Anyone who demonstrates to Yuugi and Aya's satisfaction that they can fit in with the new society is given passage back up to the mountain." She grins again. "Everyone except Tsubaki. After she'd been down there only a couple days, she disappeared. That caused a bit of concern for a while, until Yukari paid them a visit. The gap youkai was none too pleased at Tsubaki's rule breaking, so she... 'Took charge of the prisoner herself', as Yuugi put it. So far as I know, no one's seen that Dai-tengu since."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I...really don't know what to think of selling tengu in slavery, either.  Anyways, after that, I imagine things ended up like they are?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I...really don't know what to think of selling tengu in slavery, either.  Anyways, after that, I imagine things ended up like they are?"

>Your doppelganger sits upright very suddenly, nearly spilling her mead. "Whoa, whoa there, sister! Where in all the Gods' names did you get slavery out of that?"