(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)

[Hello Purvis]

With the horrible invisible killer she cannot fight, cannot bargain with, and is already exposed to, yes.

Unless you have an idea? I  was kinda waiting for you all week ;_;

[Oldmansour]

Yeah, I have an idea. We try a different approach, since, be honest, man, you can't scare Yuuka Kazami into... Well, really anything. Trying's only going to annoy her more than she already is. So let me try it my way. And this first thing we need to do is get this vine off of us. If we can. And we're not going to cut it off, she'd either kill us first or be enraged at us damaging one of her plants, so that leaves the one option.

>Instead of mutilating ourselves:
>Choke out, "You're right. I'm sorry."

[Hello Purvis]

I don't recall planning to cut it off. And what is this plan? Because the more we screw around, the more it comes off as an empty threat.

[Oldmansour]

Well it IS an empty threat, since we know we're not contagious.
As it stands right now, she has no reason to help us. We're just appealing to her humanity, and that's probably a lost cause. And I think I know how we can do that, but we can't do that with her as annoyed with us as she is now. We need to calm her down a little, or at least convince her not to kill us right at this moment. A little humility might do that. In fact it has to, since I can't see anything else working. Fingers crossed.

[Hello Purvis]

What empty threat? We die here and she's gonna follow. Blood would spill, or anything else, and it would contaminate her.  You're mistaking the idea that it's not airborne with the idea its noncommunicable at all. And we've tried appealling to humility and humanity, this is what we started with. She don't care. I mean, roll with it a bit, but unless something new happens, I can't see it working.

[DracoOmega]

>Instead of mutilating ourselves:
>Choke out, "You're right. I'm sorry."

>You try to gasp out an apology, but the vine's hold around your throat is so tight that little more than a pained gurgle emerges.
>"You'll have to speak up," Yuuka says pleasantly. "I'm afraid I couldn't quite hear you."

[Hello Purvis]

>Gasp as loud as we can, "I'm sorry!"

[DracoOmega]

>Gasp as loud as we can, "I'm sorry!"

>You try again to force sound out your constricted throat and manage the thinnest of uneven whispers.
>"Oh, I think I almost heard that one. Try your best now!"

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm sorry!!"

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm sorry!!"

>You put every bit of vocal force and will you can muster to demand words escape your lips while the relentless coil of green squeezes tighter. There is no immediate response from Yuuka, just a very contented smile as you struggle. The way the vine digs into your skin would be enough to make you wince, were it not for the more immediate problem of breathing. You can feel your lungs start to complain and then burn as you fight for air that will not come, for words that will not form, and still Yuuka just... watches, her face almost placid if not for the hungry gleam in her eyes. Just as you are starting to wonder if she really means to kill you here, like this, the plant releases its hold on you and slithers teasingly across your cheek before retreating back into the foliage. You let out a gasp.
>"I do hope you can be quicker next time," Yuuka says lightly.

[Oldmansour]

>Rub our throat. "Noted. Thank you."

[DracoOmega]

>Rub our throat. "Noted. Thank you."

>You rub your throat and catch your breath.
>Yuuka smiles beneficently at your gratitude. "Now then, care to try again?"

[Oldmansour]

>"All right."
>"The flower I came here looking for is for a cure for a blight. A blight that once affected plants and people alike. It had been wiped out for a long time, but that Earth Spider has the power to unleash it. For all I know, she may have unleashed it on my home by now. Now you obviously know plants, but that means you know plant diseases as well. From what I know of this blight, it's one of the worst ones."

[DracoOmega]

>"All right."
>"The flower I came here looking for is for a cure for a blight. A blight that once affected plants and people alike. It had been wiped out for a long time, but that Earth Spider has the power to unleash it. For all I know, she may have unleashed it on my home by now. Now you obviously know plants, but that means you know plant diseases as well. From what I know of this blight, it's one of the worst ones."

>"Are you trying to suggest I should care about what happens to your home just because plants there might also be dying?" Her expression is hard to read.

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm not suggesting that you care about my home one way or the other. Distant lives of humans and youkai wouldn't mean anything to someone in your position. But I am suggesting you might care about a potential threat to plantlife in the world. Especially one that might not be contained to some backwater village across the world forever."

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm not suggesting that you care about my home one way or the other. Distant lives of humans and youkai wouldn't mean anything to someone in your position. But I am suggesting you might care about a potential threat to plantlife in the world. Especially one that might not be contained to some backwater village across the world forever."

>"Consider it noted," she says coolly.

[Oldmansour]

>"Then again, you might already have seen this blight and beaten it. I'm sure you've seen and beaten more diseases that affect plants than I'll ever hear about."

[DracoOmega]

>"Then again, you might already have seen this blight and beaten it. I'm sure you've seen and beaten more diseases that affect plants than I'll ever hear about."

>"You are very bad at getting to your point, aren't you? Perhaps you could use some more encouragement."
>At her word, you hear more rustling in the plants around you - slower than last time, and slow enough to observe the group of vines snaking languidly out of the foliage towards you, some along the ground and others a few feet higher. You could probably try to evade them if you wanted, though you're not sure she means this as anything more than intimidation, given how much time they're taking.

[Oldmansour]

>What's the point of evading? If she wants us dead, there's no much we can do about it.
>"Help me make the medicine I need, and I can take the knowledge of the cure back home to help protect the plants and the people there. And help contain or destroy the youkai who can spread the blight as well, to keep her from doing this to anyone or anything else."

[DracoOmega]

>What's the point of evading? If she wants us dead, there's no much we can do about it.
>"Help me make the medicine I need, and I can take the knowledge of the cure back home to help protect the plants and the people there. And help contain or destroy the youkai who can spread the blight as well, to keep her from doing this to anyone or anything else."

>You stand still and make your plea while the vines steadily creep towards you. You try not to flinch as one starts to wind around your ankle.
>Yuuka's smile is mawkishly. "How gallant! How noble! How brave!" The words roll off her tongue like she finds them amusing. You can feel the smooth-textured plant slowly coiling up your leg as the smile falls abruptly from her face. "How very little I care."

[Oldmansour]

>"Then what do you care about?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Then what do you care about?"

>"The sanctity of this little haven of beauty I have nurtured here, and the peace of knowing it remains unsullied by nosy travelers like yourself." A vine winds around one arm as the first rises past your knee. You feel a third tickle your left ankle. "You knew you were unwelcome here," she continues. "I know you felt it, chose to ignore it, chose to trespass in another's sanctuary. How very rude! I wonder if you properly regret yourself?" She lets out a laugh as the vines bind you steadily tighter. "I wonder if mice make good fertilizer."

[Oldmansour]

>Proper regret?
>... There's a thought.
>Get down on our knees. If she allows us to do that, bow our head down as one does when they might be begging someone for forgiveness.

[DracoOmega]

>Proper regret?
>... There's a thought.
>Get down on our knees. If she allows us to do that, bow our head down as one does when they might be begging someone for forgiveness.

>You attempt to sink to your knees, but your right leg is bound too tightly to bend properly and your left arm pulled too high, so mostly you stumble face-first to the ground instead, only righting yourself a little after the fact.
>"Oooo... That's a good look for you." Yuuka actually sounds impressed, albeit in an unsettlingly predatorial way. "Are you going to beg?"
>The vines dig steadily tighter into your flesh as they coil around you; it's actually starting to get a little painful.

[Oldmansour]

>"If you want me to. I need your help, Yuuka. And if I have to beg for it, throw away my pride for it, then I will."

[DracoOmega]

>"If you want me to. I need your help, Yuuka. And if I have to beg for it, throw away my pride for it, then I will."

>There is a pause, then a peal of laughter rings out, rich like fine wine. "Then show me! Show me how pitiful you're willing to be!"

[Oldmansour]

Vexingly, I've been hitting a bit of a creative wall for the past couple days with what to say here, so I'll try this first. Just to see if it works.

>Let us grovel before this powerful youkai who has us plainly and unquestionably in her deadly clutches.
>No point in having pride right now if a shameful display will get us out of this mess.

[Hello Purvis]

Yeah, I've been trying not to mess up your flow.

[Oldmansour]

I think I actually messed myself up a little bit. I made the mistake of going to sleep after Yuuka said that last line of hers rather than going with the flow at the time. Got out of the groove. You know how it is.

[DracoOmega]

>Let us grovel before this powerful youkai who has us plainly and unquestionably in her deadly clutches.
>No point in having pride right now if a shameful display will get us out of this mess.

>You're more than willing to throw away your pride; only a fool would think pride was worth dying for. But... do you even know how? You don't grovel. You've never grovelled. You were always stronger than that, always more composed. It would never be fear that reduced you to blubbering, and none of the binds you've been in would be solved by begging. You're pragmatic. You pick the solution which works and ignore the rest - or so you like to tell yourself, no matter your success rate these past few weeks.... But if this is the solution this situation requires, then so be it.

>You do your best. You admit defeat. You admit your powerlessness. You admit that you are at her mercy. All of this is essentially true, so it's easy enough to say it. The vines continue their leisurely climb across your body, wrapping your legs and arms and coiling around your torso. They draw steadily tighter as time passes, slow enough that you don't quite notice until it starts to hurt. But the one that brushes over your cracked ribs actually makes you gasp mid-word when it squeezes. Yuuka smiles. It does it again. Harder.
>You try to keep speaking, try to find something to say that might satisfy her. Try not to groan too loudly as the plants contract around your injuries. All the while, Yuuka watches silently, your words echoing in the stillness.
>"Is that really the best you can do?" she says after another moment. Her voice sounds lightsome, but disinterested. "I'm not sure I quite believe you."