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Post by Mima on Dec 20, 2012 21:32:47 GMT -5
Mima It was a fine winter's afternoon in the Forest of Magic. The sun was just starting to go down, and snow had blanketed the tops of the trees, but failed to reach the forest floor except in the rare clearing. The nocturnal youkai were just waking up and the humans were returning home, and fairies fluttered obliviously through the skies. Mima was enjoying the fading orange-tinted light, knowing that soon, her favorite time, nighttime, would cast its beautiful darkness and pinpoints of starlight across the forest. She had just been spying on her former apprentice, Marisa, and she hummed to herself as she drifted through the trees, her ghostly mist tail trailing behind her and glowing faintly in the forest's shade. She wasn't quite ready to go 'home' to the Hakurei shrine and mess with Reimu, though... maybe she'd find another youkai to bother. That could be very, very fun.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 21, 2012 23:42:00 GMT -5
Not far away, another petite-looking girl was attempting (and, bizarrely, successfully) to scare off a bear, spraying jets of water from a babbling river at the bewildered creature's face as it tried to snatch up a leaping fish.
"Shoo! Leave those fish alone, you big hairy brute!"
Looking rather offended, the bear resentfully huffed and turned away, hunting for an easier meal elsewhere, leaving a satisfied Umeko to dangle her bare feet in the ice-cold stream. A low grumble came from her stomach, and she rubbed it with a sigh. Even if she could eat, there wasn't anything tasty around here.
"This place is even more boring than the ocean..."
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Post by Mima on Dec 22, 2012 0:22:56 GMT -5
Mima As Mima drifted along, she approached the stream that ran through the forest. The water was cold, but for an evil spirit, temperatures were meaningless. She let the end of her ghostly tail drag through the water as she continued to float through the air. Suddenly, though, she stopped. There was another youkai there, one she'd never seen before. How unusual. She quickly and silently moved from where the youkai might notice her to the trees, and then without even the sound of breathing, floated up behind her. "What's so boring about Gensokyo~?" the evil spirit said, hoping to startle this newcomer. Her blue and green ribbons were rather pretty, and she had an interesting air about her. Perhaps she could amuse Mima until she finally felt like going back to the Hakurei shrine.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 23, 2012 2:24:13 GMT -5
Oddly enough, the aquatic youkai was easy to startle -- she practically squeaked, water splashing around her feet as she hopped up and spun around. Her eyes narrowed in a glare as she brushed off her dress, untangling some of the damp ribbons in a feeble attempt at reclaiming some dignity.
"Who wants to know, anyway? Some rude person you are, sneaking up on me like that..."
Her grumbling trailed off, and an expression of curiosity flitted over her face as she tilted her head and sniffed the air with apparent relish. Whatever mystical trace she smelled seemed to make her regret that action, as she wrinkled her nose and frowned.
"You smell all... dead and musty. So far I haven't seen anything but boring animal-spirits and moldy old corpses, anyway. Nothing tasty at all..."
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Post by Mima on Dec 23, 2012 16:17:53 GMT -5
Mima Mima chuckled when the other youkai jumped, clearly surprised. Now that was amusing, seeing her brush herself off in an effort to appear composed. Mima: 1, random youkai: 0. She was much less amused, though, at being called dead and musty-smelling. Now that was just unfair. "For the record, I am an evil spirit, not a 'moldy old corpse'. And hmm, you don't look like a magician-type. If you're not a magician such as myself, or a 'boring' animal-spirit, of course you're going to think the Forest of Magic is boring," Mima said, folding her arms across her chest. She had to admit she was a bit curious now, though. What was she doing here, anyways? If she was looking for something tasty... hmm, well, she didn't look like the human-eating type of youkai, but then again, neither did Rumia. Maybe she should point her to the human village and get some laughs out of watching everyone immediately gang up on her. Nah... that wouldn't be nearly as fun as messing with her some more. "And it's Mima, the greatest magician ever in life and the most feared evil spirit in death, who wants to know," she added. Might as well introduce herself.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 23, 2012 16:36:54 GMT -5
"Never heard of you," came the blithe reply.
She didn't feel the need to clarify, of course, that she'd been living on a turtle in the middle of the ocean for most of the past several hundred years, and was therefore rather out-of-touch when it came to the movers and shakers of Gensokyo. Most of the powerful youkai she had heard of were probably gone or forgotten by now. Just another of the many insufficiencies that marked her as an obsolete relic of a bygone age.
The crack about magic made her frown. She'd never understood the stuff well, and Umeko tended to be suspicious of things she didn't understand. Besides, if it was anything like the awful techniques that had beaten and sealed her years ago, it was bad stuff.
"Where should I be, then? There's not much of a map around here, and bears make terrible tour guides. I've got to say, whoever runs this place does a lousy job of it. Could seriously use some renovations."
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Post by Mima on Dec 23, 2012 22:12:57 GMT -5
Mima Mima was almost offended, but she quickly reminded herself that she had been completely inactive in Gensokyo for the past few years and if this youkai was new to the area, which her demeanor suggested she was, she wouldn't have seen any of her glorious exploits. "I was nice enough to tell you who I am. Now you ought to introduce yourself," Mima commented. She noticed her frown at the mention of magic, and shifted slightly. As a magician, any sort of negative response to magic made her unsettled. She wasn't totally sure why. Perhaps it was related to how she'd died? This was a youkai, though, so... she probably wasn't going to attack Mima or anything just over the mention of magic. She hoped. "Well, if you're looking for like company, there's a whole mountain full of youkai. If you're looking for humans to bother, there's a shrine and a village, take your pick~" Mima said. She gave a knowing smirk when the other mentioned that whoever runs this place did a lousy job- yeah, that youkai was known for sleeping more than she was awake, of course she did a lousy job.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 24, 2012 1:21:58 GMT -5
"A whole... village of humans?"
Umeko's eyes widened a little, and she almost salivated as her stomach growled audibly before her brain caught up with it. That was nonsense, of course -- even if she could still eat, surely no human village would survive Gensokyo unless it had some formidable defenses. She'd be banished or beaten down as soon as she licked her lips.
"...Well, I'm Umeko, the Wise Sea Spirit."
Not, admittedly, the epitaph she'd been most well-known by, but one that she'd heard a few times from people trying to flatter their way into her good graces. Much nicer than "the Hag of the Sea", anyway. Those were better days.
She looked around for a moment, staring off to the left and right, before sighing. "Eh... look, you said you're a magician, right? I don't suppose you could, um, break a curse or something? Or maybe know someone who could?"
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Post by Mima on Dec 24, 2012 18:01:13 GMT -5
Mima Yes, this was definitely a human-eating youkai. She must have been either very polite or very clever, though, not to immediately ask which way the village was. If she had asked, Mima probably would have sent her to the Hakurei shrine to take a beating from her 'roommate' Reimu instead. "Umeko, huh?" Interesting name, though really, Mima would probably forget it within the next couple of minutes. Names didn't stick with her unless the person they belonged to really stood out in her mind. Oh, and now this was interesting. A curse? "Perhaps. It would depend on the curse. I may be able to help, otherwise you may need someone more... specialized," Mima said, raising her eyebrows slightly and grinning. This could be fun.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 24, 2012 19:15:37 GMT -5
"Well..."
She actually blushed, clearly embarrassed by the whole fiasco. And really, for good reason. Trying to eat a shrine maiden, of all things, hadn't been one of her wiser ideas. It was almost legendarily terrible, in fact. But she'd been bitter and hungry, and resented the humans and their gods for ignoring her. She had a healthy respect for that kind of power now, at any rate, even if she thought the punishment was totally uncalled for.
"I, um. Accidentally ran into a shrine maiden, a few months ago."
Umeko unconsciously scratched her stomach, thinking about the intricate seal inscribed there now. Whatever it was, it had quite a bit of power and skill behind it. Breaking it, presumably, would require even more.
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Post by Mima on Dec 25, 2012 13:38:52 GMT -5
Mima Wow. A shrine maiden. Yeah, Mima knew what it was like to have run-ins with shrine maidens. She'd been sealed away by the previous Hakurei shrine maiden, managed to break free of that, only to be sealed away by the current one on a few more occasions. Sure, she had always eventually managed to get out, but it was painful. Her cold, dead heart almost gave a tiny twinge of sympathy for Umeko. She didn't let on that she felt this, though, instead giving a slightly forced chuckle. "I've worked my way through seals placed by shrine maidens before. It takes a great deal of time and effort, but I can," Mima said. "Of course, since it does require time and effort, you'd need a better reason to get my help than just expecting something from the goodness of my heart. I'm an evil spirit, I don't have any of that~"
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 29, 2012 16:16:10 GMT -5
Umeko raised an eyebrow and sneered, planting a hand on her hip. "Oh, obviously. But what would a powerful magician like you want from little old Umeko?"
Her tone expressed irritation and bitterness all too unsubtly, and she huffed and crossed her arms again, grumbling mostly to herself.
"What ever happened to charity, I swear... humans and youkai are all the same these days, it's all 'if you can't do something for me, I don't have time for you'. Bah."
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Post by Mima on Dec 29, 2012 17:45:36 GMT -5
Mima Mima chuckled. Ahh, her old pastime of annoying people, it never failed her. "Oh, calm down, I wouldn't ask much. Just some help pranking a 'friend' or two of mine," Mima said, giving a grin that was sincere yet held that characteristic malevolence that even a not-so-evil spirit like Mima could never shake. "I'm bored of playing all the same old tricks on the shrine maiden I live with, I want to try a new target and new tricks, and having a partner in crime for at least a couple of excursions would be oh so lovely~"She even managed to pronounce the tilde somehow. "Besides, it'd take a while to work out the curse anyways, and I wouldn't want to do that non-stop, so some distractions would have to be in order," Mima added, letting herself lazily drift in the air until she was lying on her back in midair, ghostly tail giving a relaxed swish every so often.
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Umeko
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Post by Umeko on Dec 30, 2012 16:07:38 GMT -5
The sea spirit frowned suspiciously, but at least stopped growling under her breath. "That sounds pretty immature."
It was really more of a token objection than a sincere one. Umeko didn't consider herself much of a trickster-spirit, but she could kind of see the appeal. Less motivation for people to try and kill you, too. But... another shrine maiden? Come on, that had to be fate intentionally screwing with her.
"...But you live with a shrine maiden? Sheesh. Must not be a very good one."
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Post by Mima on Dec 30, 2012 16:59:02 GMT -5
Mima Mima had been pretty calm and in control, right up until Umeko said that the shrine maiden she lived with must not be a very good one. Just that statement, that hilarious statement, made the evil spirit forget she was supposed to be floating and fall on the ground, laughing hysterically. Oh gods. Oh gods that was great, she was never going to get over that. "Ahaha... haha... oh, give me a second, that's just too great," Mima managed through her laughter. After a minute or two, she managed to regain her composure, floating back up to what would have been a standing position if she could stand, wiping away tears as a few last giggles escaped her lips. "Sorry. Heehee. You do know we're talking about the Hakurei shrine maiden, right? She's made a habit of beating youkai up and then making friends with them, though, which I find pretty amusing," Mima said. Hopefully Umeko at least understood the significance of that. If she didn't, well, Mima would have to explain, which she didn't fancy doing. Then again, since when did Mima fancy doing anything besides bothering people? Not often.
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