Kochiya Sanae
Nieve — City Streets
"Um, I don't think that we should..."
As soon as they were past the gates of the city, Remilia had wasted
no time at all in rushing off to do... Whatever it was that she intended to do. It was only natural that Sanae would try—and fail—to dissuade her from counting her chickens before they hatched, at the very least. She wasn't an expert in politics in any sense, especially when her patron deity was the one at the helm of anything on that front, but she had enough sense about her to understand that charging straight towards an asking for an audience from the highest power in the nation they were in right now was more than a bit absurd. It'd have been the equivalent of someone like her trying to question the Prime Minister back while she was a student in the Outside World, which... Well, to be frank, seemed a bit more apt given the vampire's relative size and stature.
Hopefully, Anne's choice to accompany her would also extend to keeping her from making them all public enemy no. 1 by accident; Fran's choice to tag along with them didn't sway Sanae's opinion one way or another, but the hopes that things wouldn't spiral completely out of control were still worth holding onto at this point in time.
That, however, meant that the blonde child they had brought along would be left in Lewa's care, as per Anne's own decision. It didn't take much for the Toa to leave with the child in search of what the young woman could only assume was a way to care for her, which left the options of exploring with those remaining...
And with Youmu opting to explore the area with Mokou, Sanae naturally gravitated towards helping figure things out with Rayne.
The shrine maiden remained mostly silent as she tagged along behind Rayne, making sure to keep an eye out for anything odd as the pair flitted to and fro around the city. While her companion found it more efficient to fly through the skies, though, Sanae chose to walk wherever she could around the area—at least, for the moment. Two people flying around when it didn't seem to be a particularly common means of travel seemed like it would quickly draw (more) attention to them, which wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Eventually, the two of them found themselves at a fairly large bookstore—or what seemed to be one, at least. There didn't seem to be any signs of a public library in this region, and between somewhere like this that had an air not unlike Suzunaan's back in the Human Village, it seemed like a good a place as any to start.
With a slight nod of her head, Sanae greeted the old man manning the bookstore's counter and, after asking for where any books related to history or mythology were located, began to browse through whatever tomes she could see. With none of their titles being noted on their spines, though, it seemed as if the only thing to be done would be pulling each point of interest out, one by one, and skimming through it as best she could.
While Sanae had begun her own attempts at research, though, Rayne would find that another person already there had been perusing what tomes were there already. They wore a hooded robe to conceal their form, but it seemed that the briefest glance towards the newcomer would cause them to calmly clap the tome closed and turn ever so slightly towards the girl.
"Seeing someone else around here is rare," they remarked as they casually glanced at the halfling's body. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR
With everyone else having all but left the area to seek out answers of their own, the two residents of Gensokyo were left more or less to their own devices and wander the city at their own pace. With no immediate purpose or way to seek out the root of the incident (as was par for the course), though, relying on their instincts for any vague sense of direction would be the best way to proceed.
For a while, nothing seemed all too out of the ordinary; people traveled around in fairly simple clothing, and though the pair drew a few glances, nobody seemed to do more than that before moving on. Thus was the nature of a populated city, after all; compared to somewhere like Aventon or the Human Village, the people here had more to do, and life moved at a pace to match their ever-changing needs and goals.
Eventually, though, Youmu would find herself bumped into by a woman whose appearance very much did
not match those of the people around them. With a straw kasa hat covering the wildly vibrant pink hair beneath and a pair of katana at her side, after all, how could she
not stand out?
"Oops! Sorry, sorry," the woman who the white-haired girl had bumped into said, one hand holding onto her hat as the other grasped onto Youmu's shoulder so as to make sure that she didn't fall over from the impact. "You were just so small that I didn't see you there."
The was a brief pause as she seemed to size up Youmu, though, and once her gaze fell towards the young woman's own pair of blades, her mannerisms seemed to change entirely.
"...Hmmm...? That's an interesting pair of swords you've got there. Do you happen to—"
Before she could speak any further, though, a rather irate voice chimed in from behind the wandering swordswoman. A small girl who looked to be even shorter than Youmu, with her hair braided past her back and a robe covering her body, simply stared at the woman with a look of exasperation.
"Are you trying to pick
another fight?" she asked as she crossed her arms. "Honestly, if I knew you were this addicting to fighting I'd have reconsidered making this contract of ours in the first place."
"Oh, it's fine, isn't it? It's not like I'm cutting people down in the middle of the street," the swordswoman replied with a smirk. "And besides, if a cute girl like that bumps into me
and has the air of a trained swordmaster about them, how am I supposed to resist asking for a bout?"
Upon hearing this, the smaller girl sighed before motioning for the woman to step aside and placing herself into the conversation.
"My apologies for my companion's behavior. As you might have been able to tell by her being... Herself, I suppose, she's a bit of a battle maniac," she remarked as she quickly looked over both of the white-haired girls in front of her. "Now, if you'll excuse us..."
@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze
Regardless of anyone else's misgivings about the situation at hand, Remilia's intent to head straight to the heads of the nation and do... Whatever it was she was planning would be promptly stopped by the presence of the guards standing by at the gates in front of the castle grounds. While the plaza in front of the building was abuzz with activity, what with people milling about or otherwise going about their lives, though, their focus did not seem to waver in the least.
It was only natural, then, that they were able—and more than willing—to stop the vampire and her entourage if they so much as attempted to enter the premises.
That
was their job, after all, and what would it say about the nation's security if any random person was able to so casually meet with royalty, regardless of what their intentions might have been?
@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92
Putting aside the blonde girl's unnerving comments—the first words she had spoken to
anyone since they had first met her—Lewa would be met with far more curious gazes from the passersby than any of his more (overtly-)human companions. It was hard to ignore the presenve of a massive golem walking through the streets carrying a young girl in its arms, of course, but nobody present seemed to have any desire to try and
stop something like that.
And given how the city guards didn't seem to be in hot pursuit of it,
surely they had to be aware of it already, right?
Regardless of anyone else's thoughts on the matter, though, Lewa would eventually find himself at a somewhat worn-down building constructed in a similar style to the one he had been first summoned into this world into. Here, though, there were people...
And no small number of them seemed to be physically unwell. There were a few men and women running around with bowls, towels, and buckets, but if there was anywhere that seemed to be a center for the infirm, this... Probably would be it.
The reason as to
why they were all here would have been a question in it's own right, though.
@Lugubrious@VitaVitaAR