It's not Stalking, it's Investigating! (OPEN)

[Kitten4u]

There was a rumor floating around Gensokyo, it said that a bunch of youkai were trying to cross the border in order to find weak humans to feast on. How much of this was true and how much of this was simply rumor? Did some of the youkai that came this way have different intentions? Aya simply had to know the truth, so she flew to the border and hovered over the forested mountain until she found some people to follow. Hopefully they would reveal something interesting.

Sadly, today was not a great day for investigating. It was pouring rain, and fairly cold. However, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good! Aya could not wimp out because of some falling water. She happened to notice more than one person head this way. Some of them might have been human, but she found that unlikely. They didn't appear to be in a group, or even be aware of each other, but they were close enough together that Aya could see all of them while remaining hidden in the forest. It was a golden oppertunity that the warrior of words, the radical of rumors, the god of gossip couldn't pass up.

Aya moved as quietly as she could so that none of them would know that she was there. After all, if her subjects knew about her presence they might act differently, or not reveal information they would otherwise. She grabbed her camera, took a few pictures, and jotted a few notes down in her notebook. They hadn't done anything noteworty yet, but she was ready for when they did.

Suddenly, Aya misstepped, and stepped on a fallen tree branch. The snap echoed throughout the silent forest, and she immediatly froze. She wanted to hit herself for doing something so stupid. Well...Maybe there was a chance none of them would hear it? Aya shoock her head, that was impossible unless they were all completely deaf. There were no real good places to hide either. Ugh, this was annoying, she was sure that she would be found out. Oh well, maybe this would give her a chance to intervew them? Or maybe they would notice each other instead of her? Aya just stood in place, and tried to look inconspicuous, at this point she wasn't sure what else she could do.

[hunter]

Why was Hunter here? Well why not? He was a traveler, after all. He walked all around Gensokyo, trying to fins interesting occurrences, and working for random people to pay for food. At the moment, he was walking near the border, having heard something about youkai. Whatever it was, Hunter thought it might prove interesting, and might end his boredom.

In a forest area, Hunter began to look around, searching for somebody to talk to. He had been lonely as of late, with conversatins of interest being rare finds. A lot of people didn't seem to share similar interests with him. You would think Hunter would at least try and find a girlfriend, but the trouble is that Hunter doesn't care for romance. It's just not him.

Snap.

Hunter turned his head as he focused in on the location of the sound. Walking over, he discovered Aya. Smiling, he looked down at her. Hunter stood at six feet four inches, so he was pretty tall in comparison to nearly everybody he met.

"Why hello there!"

[Kitten4u]

As expected, Aya was indeed spotted. Well this was certianly an annoying set back, but it was one she would have to live with so she might as well make the best of it.

"Um hello~" she responded trying not to show her uneasiness. "I am Aya Shameimaru, reporter for the Bunbunmaru newspaper. I'm here investigating the recent rumor about youkai trying to cross the border, do you know anything about it?"

As always, she was polite and clear when asking her questions. Aya hoped that it wasn't a weird question to ask, since he appeared to be a youkai himself. Hopefully she wouldn't get inacurate information since she had been spotted, since she would hate to report lies. However, there wasn't anything she could do about being spotted now, so she might as well see if this person knew anything.

Aya walked towards him, and forced herself to smile as she spoke. She wasn't completely sure how to act yet, but she would figure that out soon enough.

[hunter]

Hunter smiled and nodded. "Ahh,a reporter. How interesting. I'm sorry to say that I don't know anything about the rumor. But I do remember hearing some youkai talking about the border, I'm not sure if they were planning to cross it. Is there anyway I could help you elsewise, since I'm not that much of an informational goldmine?"

Hunter wanted to help, as that was who he was. He was just a nice guy, and he always did his best to stay on people's good side. He didn't know any other lifestyle except his own.

[Kitten4u]

He didn't know anything? How annoying. Well, she had only started investigating the rumor, it wouldn't be any fun if she knew everything about it immediatly...Or something like that. Fun didn't really mean much here. There was something she wanted to know, so she would eventually know about it no matter how long it took or how annoying it was to figure out.

Aya's shoulders slumped a bit, though she tried to hide her dissapointment as best she could. However, she perked up a bit when he did have a little bit of information at least.

"That's useful information in its own right. Do you know what these youkai looked like, where they were headed or exactly what they were talking about?"

[hunter]

"They were headed south, and they wore red outfits, but I don't remember their faces." Hunter said, scratching his chin as he tried to remember more valuable information. Suddenly something came to him. "Oh! They both carried bows and arrows on their backs. I don't know why."

Hunter hoped his information would prove valuable. He always liked to help people out, as it made him feel good. He felt bad when he couldn't provide any assistance.

[Kitten4u]

Heading south? Exellent, she was heading in the same direction. Aya knew she could always trust her reporter instincts. Wearing red? That wasn't particularly unusual. Her first thought was the resident miko Reimu Hakurei, but she probably wouldn't be carrying a bow. That's a shame too. Aya always liked getting information on Reimu. While that information wasn't enough to tell who the people were or if they were youkai enough it at least told her she was on the right track.

"Yes, that was definatly useful," she nodded and decided to leave out the rest of her thoughts.

The rain was letting up a bit. Perhaps this good fortune was a sign of things to come? Aya started to head south, and made sure to stay carefully hidden amoung the trees.

"You're welcome to follow me if you want. Just make sure you stay out of sight. When people know there's someone watching them they tend to act differently."