>Where are we living these days, anyway? Still at the graveyard, or was that just to mess with Reimu and Marisa?
>Hmm... maybe actual ghosts would be helpful too?
>Relationships summary.
>Normal ghosts would be with Youmu, right? Maybe we should start with her area? Well... maybe that'd be a little challenging to start.
>What's our skillset like? Inventory?
>Become Charlie Brown
>Would being cute when someone doesn't expect it count as being surprising?
>Do we know about anyone else that's good at surprising people?
>We're hanging out at the graveyard right now, right?
>Would we know where Nue, Mamizou, or a fairy well known for pranking is at the moment?
>If so, seek the nearest one of them for advice, even if we're going to eventually have to turn said advice against them.
>Despite the fact this is going to fail regardless, sneak up on her and unleash our best "Urameshiya~!"
> "Aw... you're supposed to be surprised. Could you, I dunno, at least pretend? For me?"
> Hm... Maybe if we kissed her on the lips? Let's try that next.
>"Hey, it's not like I was trying to be a good kisser or anything... That's not the point!"
>Frustrated face is frustrated.
>"You're right, I do want to surprise people, but every time I try, they aren't scared. Do you have any advice, being a trickster and all?"
>"Ooooh... okay, I think that makes sense. Thank you~."
>Stop making frustrated face. Mamizou looking like she thinks we're cute is upsetting.
>Right, so we have to make people experience totally unexpected things from us... hmmm... so we're going to have to be smart and plan things out! Right! Off to find someone to surprise!
>Let's start with the Misty Lake! After all, if we're going to surprise everyone in Gensokyo, we have to level up our power to surprise people through experiene, and that's generally done by going from easy to hard!
>Before we leave, turn and shout, "Thanks again Mami! Mami X Nue ships forever!"
ninja'd
>Ponder if gaining new abilities would help our cause.
> If we're going to surprise people the way Aya does it, we'll need a camera and we'll need to start making up lots of juicy stories.
> Wait, no, that doesn't feel like Mami's point.
> Uh... Mami's point was that we'll have to either 1. make events happen that no one expects or 2. behave in a way no one expects us to, right?
> Secret Agent Kogasa go! No wait, that sounds like it'll get us beaten up.
> Huh, Aya has dirt on everybody. Weigh pros and cons of starting our quest to surprise everyone by stealing Aya's dirt. And her notes on everyone in Gensokyo, that's probably much more useful than soil samples.
>Right, so... we're going to have to go about that in other ways. By, you know, careful and sneaky observation of people during their personal time. We can spy on people, see if they have anything we can exploit, and then go go surprising time!
>Of course that means we should actually ACT, otherwise the mist is probably going to damage our umbrella. Right, let's find somewhere we can hide and see if we can't spy on someone to gather information.
> Well, everybody nags Reimu. Maybe we'd hear some interesting stuff if we sunbathed on her shrine's roof? Preferably on the side facing the back so people can't see usnappingSPYING as they approach the shrine.
> Er, well, since we're already at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, we couldnapSPY on their roof instead.
>How tough would Meiling be to surprise?
>Do we have to be present when someone is surprised? Or observing? Or just for it to be our fault?
>Maybe if we set up something for when she wakes up... just waking her up with a loud noise would be too easy. And she might fight back...
> How good is our Sakuya impression?
> Do we have the supplies to write "Cirno was here" on her face?
> It's probably a good thing that she's asleep. Makes it easy to sneak past her. Write "Cirno was here" on her face, then sneak past her.
> You know, unless we have a desire to surprise her right away, instead of leaving a little "delayed action surprise" for her.
>Could we fill an umbrella with water from the misty lake next to the SDM and then dump it on Meiling?
And yeah, don't just write on her face. It's too hard to see the aftermath of that since we'd have to wait for someone -else- to come see it, anyway; if she'd even do more than groan afterwords.
>Oh, if we were going to try anything like that we'd definitely use a summoned umbrella instead. But yeah I imagine they likely wouldn't be too durable...
>How hard can we make it rain?
>How long do the summoned umbrellas last? What other limitations might they have?
> Do we have to be nearby when we surprise people? Also, do they have to know it was us?
> Thinking we could use a summoned umbrella as a bucket, instead of the real one. The disappearing act may actually be convenient.
> They are proximity-based, once they are more than a few meters away from you they return from whence they came. Littering is bad, after all.
>That, and we don't need to end up responsible for three dozen little kogasas (http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1605007?tags=morichika_rinnosuke+tatara_kogasa) every time we get in a skirmish.
>There isn't any other easy way to condense our drizzle into a larger single splash?
>Is there anything on the ground we could use to mess with China's outfit with?
>How much would tickling count toward surprising?
Let's save that for someone where that would be more fitting, or shocking. Maybe the Yama. Meiling is too easy a mark to up the ante that quickly.Also we need to steal all the dildos first
>How well would we be able to make a scary mask/addons for our face using the mud and sticks? Having that staring at her as she wakes up might do something...
>What about her hat? Or would she wake up if we even touched it?
>How much remote control do we have over our umbrella half/true body?
>If we can, coordinate the umbrella-tongue licking Meiling's back while we give her a good "Urameshiya~!" from another direction.
>... that would be a useful ability to develop if we get the chance. Is there anyone we're aware of that might be any good at improving the flexibility of object-youkai like ourselves?
>Would we be able to reach far enough to lick her cheek/side from one side while standing and spooking on the other?
>Go for the pincer attack!!
>...but first make a mud mask
> Be glad Aya's not here. Or maybe disappointed. Getting in the newspaper is always good for our profession, right? Still, there are much better ways to end up in the paper than this.
> We'll need to do some research into setting the Misty lake on fire.
> Wisper in Meiling's ear, "Say my name."
>Time to scream "WELL THEN WAKE UP HONG MEILING~!"
>Smile with the widest smile we can muster.
>"Kogasa Tatara~. And I figured it would be more surprising to call you by your real name when no one else does~."
> "I can call you China if you want, but I thought you didn't like that name?"
> "Dreaming about anyone special?"
"Why not? After all, the way I see it, so many people call you China that even just one person calling you by your real name would be like a shock~."
> "If you don't like 'China', it would be rude to call you that, Hong."
> "Although, Hong, I don't see why you hate the name so much. Isn't a nickname a good thing? I mean, I wish people would call me 'Rain Man' or 'Umbrella' or anything, really. Sign of affection and all that."
> "Is it because you're secretly Scottish (http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1456681?tags=setz+hong_meiling)?" (Danbooru warning. Pic safe, site not.)
> "Hm? But isn't Hong your first name?"
> We are over a hundred. We're practically grannies if anything, right?
> "Well, Meiling, if that's how you feel, then I won't call you China. Though if I were you, I'd find a job where your employers at least remember your name. I'm sure Byakuren could use a gate guard."
> "I have my reasons for staying with this place." Meiling said.
> So we have the intellect and savvy of a 9 year old?
> "Now you have to tell. No fair ending the topic with a tease of an excuse like that."
> Enthusiastically reply with a wink, "Ai, somebody's getting mysterious on me! A secret favor between you and the vampire sisters, huh? Sounds like you've got some romance in your life!"
> Check if Meiling blushes.
Train of thought: A secret favor means she doesn't want people to know about it. Guessing that means it's not something mundane, like they took her off the street. Prying if it could be a romantic reason, romance create quite a few secrets.
>"You've got the Bunbunmaru to blame on that one, really, eheh~."
>No blush? Damnit. Let's pry a little more, shall we?
>"Regardless of who needs to be blamed, I don't think you answered my question~."
Hmm. That's a real opportunity, but also a real risk. If we offered to help, it might surprise Sakuya now... and if we succeed we might be able to surprise Marisa and Patchouli a little... and it would get us into the mansion... but odds are good we're just going to get our asses kicked. Is it worth it?
>How bad would it be to get beat up by Marisa again? How likely is it if we join the brawl in the library? Was she completely out of our league or would it be possible to catch her off guard?
>Meiling and Sakuya have already gotten tired of shipping jokes, right?
>We should probably play nice with the maid until we're done with the mansion. Her power's scary.
> Wonder if Sakuya likes gossip.
> "Why don't you just ransack her house back? It only seems fair."
>"I could do it for you, perhaps. The miasma shouldn't affect me, since I'm umbrella~."
>By offering to help, this may or may not surprise them. If it doesn't, well, perhaps we'll be able to surprise Marisa by pulling off a heist on something of her's that she treasures?
>"Maybe not all of them, but perhaps while she is here I can recover at least one or more for you~."
>Yes, yes we have thought this through. It seems more like Sakuya will be surprised if we pull this off. Marisa probably as well, although that might be harder to see the results of. Still, we can do it, right?
>"You'd be surprised!"
Before committing to this, anyone have any other ideas, or are we going full speed ahead?
How about we forge Marisa's diary
>Could we stea-er "borrow" her hakerro and books? She'd be surprised by that right?
Entirely fair. In which case, let's actually do something, then!
>Wave goodbye and head for Marisa's house. Let's be quick and get in and out before she returns from her latest SDM heist.
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
- Albert Einstein
> Would it be worth doing something fantastically stupid if it surprises everyone?
> Marisa might not notice if we steal a book from her house. Make sure to scan the house for personal possessions or at least things she will definitely notice are missing.
>Better hope our umbrella doesn't get overly affected by the miasma. Not that it can poison us, but there's always the danger of other forms of damage to it.
>Nevertheless, onwards into the forest! Let's try to find Marisa's house!
>Hmm... well let's see if we cannot get a bird-eye's view quickly. A house the the middle of the woods would most likely be in the middle of a small clearing, so we might be able to find Marisa's house that way.
>Oh. This might actually be problematic.
>Uhh... go towards a direction which is the opposite we entered from.
>If we turned a bunch along the way and thus don't know the way we came from, the best we can try to do is look for where there is more sunlight.
>Could we fold up our main body, and what would be the benefits of doing so?
>Can we creep up to the window and see who it is?
>Have we met Alice? What do we know about her?
...I just realized the only reason there has been no progress in this is because no one has reacted to the last post.
We could surprise her now, but doubtless it would be harder to surprise her, and even then, we don't know a good way to do that at the moment. We'll probably come back later when the time is right. Besides, we need to get to Marisa's before she comes back from her SDM raid, assuming she hasn't already.
>If possible, note the location of Alice's house... somehow.
>Regardless if the previous is possible or not, go on our merry way to attempt finding Marisa's house. It has to be here somewhere. Somewhere closer to the forest mushrooms, perhaps?
>Ah well, can't be helped. We'll find our way back later.
>Nevertheless, follow the path.
>Have we seen this place before?
>Perhaps peek in a bit?
> Enter the shop.
> Say the surprise word.
>Was that a successful surprise? If not, roll for seduction.
I keep thinking someone else has posted when they haven't. Oh well.
>Oh, okay then. YAY WE GOT ANOTHER ONE WHOO-HOO WE'RE AWESOME AT THIS.
>"Eheh, I got you, didn't I~?"
>Do we know anything about Rinnosuke or his shop?
>"Who, me? Hmm... now that you mention it..."
>Smile innocently.
>"Do you happen to know about the other people who live here? Who they are, where they live, that kind of stuff?"
> How many years old would a middle-aged half-youkai be? 50? 500? 2000?
> "Hey shopkeeper, if it's not too rude... Just how old are you? I mean, who knows how half-youkai age, pardon my curiosity."
I can't tell whether Rinnosuke is lying, or that there's a canon derp going on, since it's implied he's at least older than the Hakurei Barrier, and he would have to be good at magic in order to create the mini-Hakkero.
That aside...
> Well, unless Rinnosuke can help us find Marisa's house, this has been a waste of time.
> Althooooooooough... there might be something in this shop that might be useful for a future surprise. So let's look a little. We can't look too long, however. Marisa might return to her house soon. Hopefully the librarian is keeping her busy...
Fair enough, I suppose. I was going by stuff in the wiki as well (specially more about the information listed in "Backstory" and the section about magic), but I'll let it go.
Also holy crap, after the last several years of being a teenager, I nearly forgot Roald Dahl existed.
> Oh yaay, this could be helpful!
> Also, hey, someone new? Too bad we don't have the chance to get the jump on her!
> "Uhhh... yeah, I'm a customer! I was just looking for something... uhh... scary! Yeah, I reaaaaaally like horror!"
>Smile as creepily as possible.
>"I like to read horror stories for inspiration."
>Inwardly fume and rage.
>"Oh, um, really? We'll just see about that on the next foggy night! Stay indoors if you know what's good for you!"
> "Of course I'm scary, it's my job. A surprise demon that isn't scary is like peanut butter without jelly."
> "Could you, I dunno, pretend to be a little intimidated by me? Please?"
> We are filling that youkai's pillow with termites tonight.
> "I'll have you know it was babysitting I was fired from, not being scary!"
> Mentally facepalm at having mentioned that.
> "...Regardless, just watch your back!"
> And huff out of the store.
> Oh wait right the book.
> Huff BACK into the store and slam the book on the counter, angrily saying "How much is it?"
> The bird is just going to insult us. Leave her be.
> "Oh, thank you for the book, then. And uhh... why did I ask about people who lived in the forest... oh right!"
> Bluff: "I was asked to deliver a message to Ms. Kirisame's house... but I wasn't told where it was, and the forest is downright confusing."
> If that doesn't work, try telling the truth, "I want to steal back all the stuff she stole because my competence would catch the vampires off guard."
> Have strong desire to steal rainbow mushrooms.
> Curse self for having the maturity and forethought of a 12 year old (or whatever age it is that most closely corresponds to our maturity). Because stealing Marisa's Master Spark gas will likely get us killed in the future, no matter how good an idea it seems at this moment.
>Follow the trail.
> See if we can find anything interesting that we can use for later.
> "Thank You!"
> Screw it, steal a couple rainbow mushrooms. STEALTHILY!
> Even if we are anathema to stealth.
>Well... that mushroom could've been a lot more harmful.
>Try to regain orientation. Who's giggling? The umbrella us or girl us?
>anyone noticed us while we are laughing?
>remind us never to pick stuff up in here without any knowledgeable background.
>Spin umbrella and generate a little of that magical rain to wash away any remaining spores on our umbrellaself.
>Since we recovered a bit, we might as well keep going.
>I guess we should keep it. Who knows, maybe we might find some use for it later.
> Are we there yet? if not, then let's hum our own theme song to pass the time :V.
> can we see fine in the dark?
> Looks like Marisa isn't here yet. But just to make sure, Let's check the windows.
> Uhh.. talk about 'borrowing' things too much. Who knows what could be lying inside those piles of junk. *shudder*
>Well then, let's see if we can go inside through the front door.
>Search for other entrances. Might be a back door or a window that ISN'T buried under piles of junk. Maybe.
> There must be a chimney, no other way to heat a house like this in the winter months.
> Try accessing house through chimney. Ho Ho Ho!
>Can we make it rain and focus it on one spot so we can let the water go inside the chimney? So we can extinguish the fire, If there is one.
>Looks like it's safe to jump in.
>Close ourselves and hope for a soft landing.
>Open ourselves and check if anyone heard us.
>Rub off the ash that got on our clothes and umbrella.
>Mentally lament that we got dirty.
>Examine the room.
>Stealth mode activate!
>tiptoe our way to the bedroom door.
>Slightly open the door and peek through the bedroom.
> This is the perfect opportunity to surprise her.
> And die.
> Would we consider that a fair trade?
>Check the room again for any books that might belong to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Can we blend ourselves with the piles of junk if we were to close ourselves?
>looks like this would be harder than we thought it would be.
>let's lean on the Bedroom door and try to hear any signs of Marisa being inside.
> What's worth stealing in this room?
>Can Marisa fly without her broom?
>Would she be surprised if someone "borrowed" it?
>What if we just hid her broom somewhere inside her house?
> Ask ourselves, What Would Marisa Do?
> Steal broom.
> Leave house.
We shouldn't steal anything from Marisa if we're actually going to deliver that message.
I thought it was the Scarlet Devil Mansion book theft quest.
Oh crap, the chimney! Hey, what goes down a chimney down, but not up a chimney up? (allerbmu na)
>Hide broom in chimney
>Look for other exits.
We shouldn't steal anything from Marisa if we're actually going to deliver that message.
Hiding the broom in the chimney sounds like a great prank, but it also sounds like something that would make a lot of noise.
>Look for a pile of junk. Not for a towering pile of junk. A pile of junk that stands relatively low in comparison to the towering piles of junk that can be found throughout this house. That's where Marisa's latest illegally acquired books from SDM most likely are. That is, if she currently isn't taking a look at those books.
>Wait... have we seen a single bookshelf here?
>Do we have the ability to detect magic?
>if so, then check if there is any trace of magic inside the books.
I'm gonna bet that they have magic circles on them because they're those annoying books from EoSD Stage 4, not because Marisa booby trapped them.
>Which end of the pile do we think would be safer to pick these books up from, top or side? Even if they're not booby trapped, we still don't want the pile of junk to cascade all over the floor.
>Then we should grab as many of the books as possible for us, and check any windows that we can open so we can get out of here.
>if the windows won't budge, then let's go through the front door.
I doubt the books are booby trapped anymore since they're in Marisa's possession, but there's one thing that we should consider:
>Handle the books carefully. Who knows if they're sentient or something like that, they might get provoked if we are too hasty.
> Eh, who cares, throw ourselves out the window then.
Seeing as how the book has just started to glow, I say we leave it alone.
>Just jump through the window.
> Run.
>Background: do we know Yuuka and/or Raiko?
>Look behind to see if anyone is following us.
> No-one is following you. You still very faintly hear the alarm-like sound of Patchouli's book. It seems Marisa has not yet managed to turn it off.> Good. Now let's fly as fast as we can and head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
> Good. Now let's fly as fast as we can and head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
> Greet Cirno's gang and ask what they're doing.
> Act on paranoia and nervously look behind us to check if Marisa is: A. Frantically chasing after us or B. three seconds away from sparking us to Makai and back.
> Smile.
> "Okie dokie then!"
> Continue to destination.
> Smile.
> "I win. What do I get?"
> Show books for proof.
> Follow Sakuya into the mansion. Ask if she was serious about the flying thing. If she was, follow her in while floating a little ways off the ground.
> Look for traps. Memorize the location of visible traps.
> Let Sakuya open library door.
>Frantically follow after Sakuya. Worry every so often that you might get lost.
> "Okie Dokie!"
>"Are you Patchouli? Marisa sent these books to return to you."
> "Why are you in your pajamas?"
>"I want to surprise you. Can you help me do that?"
Obviously lying about Marisa didn't work, but what if we took the three books and put them outside Alice'srestauranthouse with a note saying that Marisa returned them? Ah, but the dolls would notice us. Maybe throw them through the window?
>"Who CAN you help me surprise?"
> Leave before they kick us out?
If Koa isn't on our list, maybe we could ask her for help "pleasantly" surprising Patchy.
> Could we get away with discussing just what these books are over tea with Patchouli then? That would give us some time to plan.
> See if we can convince Patchouli to converse with/lecture us by showing an interest in her art.
> Try to look the cutest we possibly can.
> "Will there be a problem if I asked for both? If not, well, maybe about the book on Dark Magic?"
Who knows, the more skills at our disposal, the better, right?
> "I'm a little curious why Marisa targeted these books in particular... she's up to something. Knowing her she wanted the knowledge to find a new way to blow things up."
> "Does Marisa need another reason?"
> "Huh. If not from you, and not from Seiga, I can't think of anyone else who'd even keep a dark magic book for Marisa to steal. Any ideas where Marisa would have to go to steal daemonic literature?"
> "Betcha it came from hell."
> "They have a satori, right? Think she likes books?"
> "Well, the last thing I want is to wake up one morning to a surprise a demon army on my doorstep. Wanna bounce ideas off each other?"
> "You say it's not yours, and I imagine you'd know if it was Remilia's or Koakuma's."
> "You don't think a Satori would keep this, and from what I've seen of oni, I doubt they'd have an interest."
> "That hell cat that pops up at funerals asking for corpses, she seems to know a LOT about demons, you think this belongs to her?"
> "Or if you have a tracking spell, I suppose that works too. Must say, this thing has my curiosity."
> Can you somehow use magic to trace back to the owner of the book?
> Well, if the writer's no longer alive, no sense letting their life's work go to waste.
> Browse the contents of the book.
> What good is having a daemonic summoning ritual book if we can't use it?
> "Wanna try it out then?"
> "Ai, I'll make sure Mima gets it then. ...Just as soon as you tell me where this Mima girl lives, I mean."
> Did we surprise her with our stupidity? Not that we should try to surprise people with our stupidity, but as long as it's still a surprise...
> "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why wouldn't you want to try out random spells in a book of dark magic? Do the dark magic books have side effects that light magic books lack or something? I mean, if it's just the whole library blowing up thing, we could always try them out on the Misty Lake..."
> "Yeah, we're young. We don't know much about dark magic or why it has such a bad reputation."
> Lets decide to learn dark magic from Mima.
> Unless we can think of a reason not to do so. Such as 'we don't want to die when we miscast'.
>"I've already surprised Sakyua. How about Remilia?"
> One day the fact that we're a surprise youkai is going to kill me. "Well, you know, annoying scary people is an occupational hazard. What do you have in mind?"
> "Well, now I have to surprise the basement girl, now that you told me about her. Who is she?"
> We should probably find a psychiatrist about our OCD need to surprise people. Before we kill ourselves.
> Smirk. "I'm in."
>Wonder if the Wonderful Wizard of SDM could give us a heart and a brain. Or at least a clock and a diploma.