Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[DracoOmega]

Popping in to say I like you for numbering your thread titles :3

Happy to oblige ^^;

>Frown. Too busy for barter.
>Look around for someone who seems well to do, and not in a visibly bad mood.

>You frown. They really do seem rather busy at the moment.
>You scan around the store. It's somewhat harder to tell who's well to do when so many of the external markers of status have changed. The clothing styles are all different than you recognize, and no one at all you've seen so far carries a sword. Still, you eventually settle on a middle-aged man whose clothing seems somewhat more finely tailored than average here. His mood seems rather neutral. He's currently putting oranges into some sort of mostly transparent bag.

[Hello Purvis]

>Approach.
>"Excuse me sir, may I have a moment to make an odd request of you?"

[DracoOmega]

>Approach.
>"Excuse me sir, may I have a moment to make an odd request of you?"

>You approach the man as he puts the bag of oranges into unusual wheeled cart made of thin metal piping.
>He turns to you, attempting not to regard your dress with too much obvious dubiousness, although you catch a hint of it nonetheless. "Is there something I can do for you?" he asks.

[Hello Purvis]

>Smile.
>"I need money for the booth outside, would you be willing to trade me an antique coin for fifty yen?"
>Present a small denomination coin!

[DracoOmega]

>Smile.
>"I need money for the booth outside, would you be willing to trade me an antique coin for fifty yen?"
>Present a small denomination coin!

>You smile, make the man an offer, and present one of your coins. He takes it and examines it critically.
>"Is this genuine?" he asks, his face looking rather incredulous. "Something like this would be worth far far more than 50 yen. I- I cannot accept this. Even an imitation this convincing would be-" He hesitates and takes a closer look for you. "If you really need money for the phone, here."
>He takes a wallet out of his pocket, extracts a 50 yen coin from it, and hands it to you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take coin!
>"Are you sure you don't want it?"

[DracoOmega]

>Take coin!
>"Are you sure you don't want it?"

>You take the coin.
>"It's quite alright," he replies. "If you really want to sell it, I'm sure there are places that would be able to give a fair price for it."

[Hello Purvis]

>Bow.
>"Thank you very much, sir, that's quite kind of you!"
>Head back to the phone before he changes his mind.
>Examine the number, and consider how to properly transmit it to the phone. Likely the buttons, but let's take some time and be sure we have it right.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Bow.
>"Thank you very much, sir, that's quite kind of you!"
>Head back to the phone before he changes his mind.
>Examine the number, and consider how to properly transmit it to the phone. Likely the buttons, but let's take some time and be sure we have it right.

>You bow.
>"Oh, it's only 50 yen," he says. "It's no trouble at all."
>You quickly head back to the phone. The man makes no further comment.
>You look at the number in the phone book again, and the numeric buttons. It seems most likely that you're simply supposed to press the buttons in the order that corresponds to a given number in the phone book. Certainly, you see no other means of interacting with the phone.

[Hello Purvis]

>Make sure we have the number handy.
>"Alright, you. We're going to do this and I don't want any trouble."
>Put in coin.
>Pick up the noisy thing if it's in the road. Punch in the numbers.
>Listen.

[DracoOmega]

>Make sure we have the number handy.
>"Alright, you. We're going to do this and I don't want any trouble."
>Put in coin.
>Pick up the noisy thing if it's in the road. Punch in the numbers.
>Listen.

>You double-check the number. You think you've got this.
>You admonish the phone. It does not reply. At least you're not crazy yet.
>You deposit the 50 yen coin in the slot. The phone makes a beeping sound, and the display thanks you for depositing money, and asks you to input the number. So far so good.
>You pick up the noisy thing, and carefully press the numbers in their given sequence.
>You listen in. As you input each number, a beep came from the phone. Once the sequence was finished, it starts making a different periodic sound. This repeats several times until you begin to wonder if you've done something wrong. Perhaps there's some other trick required to get the phone to operate properly? Then suddenly this noise stops, and you hear a person's voice in it.
>"Hello?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Several sounds?
>Sound one: "Reimu?"
>Sound two: "Reimu is that you?"
>Sound three: "Reimu, are you making that weird noise?"
>Sound four: "This is really important, Reimu!"
>Sound five: "I don't know what's going on, is that you Reimu?"
>Pickup: "Oh good, why were you making that weird noise? And, is this Reimu?"

[DracoOmega]

>Several sounds?
>Sound one: "Reimu?"
>Sound two: "Reimu is that you?"
>Sound three: "Reimu, are you making that weird noise?"
>Sound four: "This is really important, Reimu!"
>Sound five: "I don't know what's going on, is that you Reimu?"
>Pickup: "Oh good, why were you making that weird noise? And, is this Reimu?"

>You utter a series of increasingly confused and desperate remarks into the phone, but get no acknowledgment.
>"Uh, what weird noise?" the voice responds. "And yeah, this is me. What do you want?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"The noise, that...oh, forget it. Are you Reimu Hakurei, of the Hakurei Shrine?"

[E-Nazrin]

>Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down if you let me speak it'll take a minute or two I'll tell you how I became a were-hakutaku

[DracoOmega]

>Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down if you let me speak it'll take a minute or two I'll tell you how I became a were-hakutaku

>"Sorry," Reimu replies abruptly, "But I don't want whatever you're trying to sell me."

>"The noise, that...oh, forget it. Are you Reimu Hakurei, of the Hakurei Shrine?"

>There is a pause on the other end. "What did you just say?" Her tone is rather severe.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I asked if you were Reimu Hakurei, of the Hakurei Shrine. You are, aren't you? This is Keine."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Well you see I'm an emissary from Youkai Mountain here to tell you about the benefits of converting to Moriyaism..."

[DracoOmega]

>"I asked if you were Reimu Hakurei, of the Hakurei Shrine. You are, aren't you? This is Keine."

>"I don't have a clue who you are," Reimu says. "But you're going to tell me how you know that."

>"Well you see I'm an emissary from Youkai Mountain here to tell you about the benefits of converting to Moriyaism..."

>"...do they give bigger donations?"

[E-Nazrin]

>"No, but they do drive hellcrows mad with power and lock them up for years!"
>"I'm a historian from the human village in Gensokyo."

[DracoOmega]

>"No, but they do drive hellcrows mad with power and lock them up for years!"

>Reimu sighs. "You're really not making the best sales pitch here, you know. You new at this?"

>"I'm a historian from the human village in Gensokyo."

>Reimu sighs. "Great. Just great. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or annoyed. Alright, how long you been here?"

[E-Nazrin]

>Skip a few steps of explanation, point out that we have a way back in
>"Several minutes so far, this time. I take it something like this has happened before?"
>"How's Marisa?"

[DracoOmega]

>Skip a few steps of explanation, point out that we have a way back in
>"Several minutes so far, this time. I take it something like this has happened before?"
>"How's Marisa?"

>"I sit here waiting for five whole threads for you to talk to me, and then you want to skip it!? That's it, you're on your own, buddy." The phone line goes dead.
>"Wait a moment... this time?"
>"Same as always, pretty much. Now answer the question."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I found my way here last night, and had a brief look around. Didn't even think you ended up here for until someone back home suggested it. But overall, I've not spent much time here. And, has anyone else showed up that you know about?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I found my way here last night, and had a brief look around. Didn't even think you ended up here for until someone back home suggested it. But overall, I've not spent much time here. And, has anyone else showed up that you know about?"

>"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment," Reimu says. "You came here, then left? How'd you get out?"
>"And the only other person here from Gensokyo that I know of is Marisa. Haven't seen anyone else all these years. Figured it was a freak accident or something."

[Hello Purvis]

>"We're still not sure why it happened. And yes, there's kind of a way back. But it's really unreliable at the moment."
>"Would it be possible to meet you? There's a lot of stuff to go over. And honestly, I feel kind of vulnerable out here."

[DracoOmega]

>"We're still not sure why it happened. And yes, there's kind of a way back. But it's really unreliable at the moment."
>"Would it be possible to meet you? There's a lot of stuff to go over. And honestly, I feel kind of vulnerable out here."

>Reimu pauses. "...how unreliable? How'd you even discover it? ...and are you trying to drag me back through it?"
>Reimu sighs. "Yeah, sure, I guess I can come pick you up. Where are you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Frown.
>"We found it with a lot of research into why you ended up here. As for dragging you back through, I guess you don't want any part of that?"
>"Umm. I'm not sure. There's a hardware store, a restaurant of some kind, a grocery, and...I don't know what the other one is for. Kappa-looking devices. Electrical stuff, I think."

[DracoOmega]

>Frown.
>"We found it with a lot of research into why you ended up here. As for dragging you back through, I guess you don't want any part of that?"
>"Umm. I'm not sure. There's a hardware store, a restaurant of some kind, a grocery, and...I don't know what the other one is for. Kappa-looking devices. Electrical stuff, I think."

>"Well, I-" Reimu sighs. "I don't know, ok? I'd kinda left the place behind me now, you know? And if someone's gone looking for me, I can only figure you want me to go fix something, right?"
>Reimu sighs again. "You have any idea how big this place is? You're going to have to be a lot more specific than that. Give me an address, or something."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I wouldn't mind your help with something, but I'm not here to drag you back or anything if you don't want to. Really, I don't even know if we can."
>Look around for addresses.