A...Castle? (Genshuku)

[Kitten4u]

This wasn't Andrea's first time in the Forest of Magic, but she still managed to get lost. The forest was dark and dense, so she was never surprised when she did get lost. Plus, this place always seemed to have an ominous feeling around it. It was almost like someone was always trying to prevent unfamiliar people from leaving the forest. This is why she always came prepared whenever she came here, she had enough supplies to last around another week if she ate well.

Andrea came to the Forest of Magic to hunt one particular youkai. This particular youkai looked human, and those kinds were always the most dangerous. Most humans (including Andrea) could not tell when something was a youkai or not on sight, unless there were some plainly obvious features such as red eyes or cat ears. Any youkai that could pretend to be human could easily sneak up on them and devour them without that human even noticing, so they were the ones that she tried to kill as quickly as possible. She hadn't found that youkai yet, though she did find something that probably belonged to it. Earlier, she heard a faint buzzing that at the time she thought was a fairy. Naturally she tried to eliminate it before it could do anything annoying, but when she stabbed it she found that it was completely hollow, and not alive. It flew off before she could examine it though. She had been walking in that direction ever since that encounter.

It was one of those situations where she was lost, but she had a vague idea of where she was going. Sadly, she had been walking nearly all day. The sun was setting and she was getting tired. Perhaps now was a good time to res--Oh what was that? There was a giant thing in the middle of the forst. Andrea certainly didn't remember that being there the last time she came to this forest. She couldn't quite tell what it was from where she was standing, so she went to go inspect it. It appeared to be some kind of building, a tall one at that. She couldn't even see the top because of the trees. She began to wonder just how far she had gone and why she didn't notice this before. It had been a long time since she had ventured into the forest, but surely she would have remembered something like this? It seemed unforgettable. Plus, if it were that tall wouldn't she have noticed it from the outside of the forest?

Well, it didn't seem any of those things were worth thinking about right now. There was a huge building (a castle of some kind perhaps?) right in front of her that she didn't remember being there before. Perhaps this is where that youkai she was looking for lived? Andrea didn't know what that youkai looked like, she only have a very vague idea based off of things she heard. The youkai had short hair and was wearing a colorful dress. Thta was pretty much everything she knew about it. She had a hard time picturing any type of youkai living in a place like this, though if this one was more "human" than other youkai it would make some sense. Sadly, there were no windows on the ground floor, and she honestly didn't think she could climb the side of the building. She might be able to climb the trees, but that may take more effort than it's worth.

Instead, she would politely knock on the door. If that youkai was living there Andrea would try to stab her before she knew how to react. If it wasn't her...Well there were lots of possibilities there, so it's hard to say exactly what she would do. As much as she liked having a well-defined plan before doing anything she really couldn't make on in this situation. At this point the only thing that she knew that she would probably do was ask about the castle. She still didn't understand how something like this could just show up out of nowhere, or remain hidden for years.

[Genshuku]

Some people inside the castle heard the knocking, and spoke to each other in a voice that no one could hear from outside. '*'

Akkei was laying/sleeping on a tree branch, which was away from Andrea's view. But when she heard the knocking, the noise woke her up and she promptly fell off the tree with a surprised "Ahh--", and landing with a thud.

She then checked on the castle to see someone knocking on it's door....wait...no, that shouldn't be possible. That CAN'T be possible.
She had it all nice and hidden...but here this person was.

"Wait a second...why can you see that? You shouldn't be able to see that..."

Incidentally, a machine had returned to base earlier with stab wounds. When that happened, Akkei was actually awake, and let it in. But she thought nothing of it.


'*'
Grunt 1: "Akkei wants to come in? Who could be knocking on the door...No, I must be hearing things."
Grunt 2: "No, I heard it too."
Grunt 1: "Eh? It's against orders. She would follow orders to the letter for certain..."
Grunt 2: "But...oh, I guess it must be one of those 'exceptions' Ozma was talking about earlier. Leave the door alone for now, but stay on your guard."
Grunt 1: "Will do."

Grunt 1 (to self): "...Besides, she would rather take a nap..."
Grunt 2 (to self): "...Never know people unless you've seen everything they have done in their lives..."

[Kitten4u]

Andrea jumped herself and instinctively grabbed her sword when the person feel out of the tree. It looked human, though that didn't mean much here. She didn't fit the rather vague description of the youkai she was looking for, so there was no need to seem hostile for now. She simply put away her rapier and crossed her arms. How could she see the building? Well that was a rather silly question. Large structures like that were very easy to notice. In fact, it would be much harder to not see it than it would be to see it.

Andrea looked at the person, blinked a few times, looked at the building and then looked at the person again. "It's rather difficult to miss..." she turned her head to the side.

It didn't make sense. Why shouldn't she be able to see this building? This person seemed to be able to see it just fine as well. Then it hit her. Andrea knew that she couldn't see illusions since she was about three. Her older brother was an illusionist, and a bit of a jerk as well. He would always try to play various pranks on her using his abilities, but they obviously never worked. Her parents also seemed to know about this ability ever since she was born. People born with "Illusionary Eyes" had one of two characteristics: odd patterns on their tongue, or no pupils. Andrea had the latter.

So this building was shrouded by an illusion? Well, at least that seemed likely right now, though that didn't necessarily mean that was correct. It would also explain why she had never heard of a castle in the middle of the Forest of Magic. Rumors spread through Gensokyo like wildfire, so it seemed odd that she would have never heard about something like this before.

"I don't understand, why shouldn't I be able to see such a large building?" Now seemed like an excellent time to confirm her theory.

[Genshuku]

She jumped back at her pulling her sword out, (rather a big distance too) but when Andrea relaxed it, she did the same, along with a sigh and statement.

"Whew, worried I was gonna have to have a really bad awakening. That's already happened once today, if I got another one...but anyway."

...What

The building was not supposed to be able to be seen because it was invisible. Why could she not see...well, why could she SEE the castle was the question.

And she asked, specifically. So of course, because no one was telling her not to, and because it wouldn't have mattered anyway, Akkei would answer this question. (That and to maybe brag a little bit.)

"Because the whole castle is under my illusion magic. Really, it's why I was taking a nap." I normally sleep when the sun is even lower than this...I really should get back to bed soon."


Inside the castle:

Security #1: "Should we use the hidden security camera? To be safe."
Security #2: "What's it being hidden with? If it's the magic, all bets are off."
Security #1: "It's made to not look anything like a camera, and no one would be able to tell if it was on or off."
Security #2: "Go for it then."
Security #1 (to self): Ask the higher up first, ask the higher up first...which bastard drilled that into my head...
Security #2 (to self): They finally made cameras that don't look like cameras...welcome to the new age.

[Kitten4u]

So she was right. No, that was a bad way to phrase it. Of course she was right. Though, she did have to admit that it was quite impressive that she could actually keep the illusion up while sleeping. This was the first time that she met someone that could do that with out being concious. Though, she was far less impressed when she said that she was sleeping. This person was supposed to be guarding this place right? What kind of door-guard sleeps on the job, even if the building is supposivly invisible? It was a good thing Andrea came here. Clearly she needed to learn to do her job properly.

"You can never be sure when someone will be able to see through lies like that," she laughed. "That's all illusions are after all. What is this place anyway?"

What could she possibly be trying to hide? There were several rich, anti-social people in Gensokyo, but not even they tried to make their homes invisible. They live in hard to reach areas. The Forest of Magic was already difficult to navigate, and no one ever came here anyway. There was really no need to hide it. Clearly there was more to all this.

[Genshuku]

Akkei was that kind of door-guard. Besides, there were several other reasons too:

1. She needed energy to continue the things, though she didn't need her conscious, she needed the energy.
2. No one can get in without being able to open the door, at least not without a plan (and blasting it open alone was nigh impossible)
And probably others. Heck, a real guard would attack people coming in, but that would attract too much attention as well.

But she didn't hear any of this, so it went unsaid.

What she heard was a rather rude comment about illusions being lies. Akkei thought at them being more like alterations of the truth, which isn't just a bold-faced lie like she said.

"They're more like 'alterations of the truth', not something made up entirely, like a lie is...though you do have a point, with the others being able to see though it. They just can't break down the door."

Then she asked a question. It was one of the questions on the 'List of Questions That Your Not Supposed to Answer' (written by Ozma), so of course answering it would be something she can't do.

"And that's one of those questions I'm not supposed to answer. And I won't. Say, why are you here anyway?"


Inside the Base:

High Ranked Grunt #1: "So, how's the pest control? I did hear some funky noise in that one room..."
High Ranked Grunt #2: "I was there when they opened the door. The guy never left the room. I, of course, watched from outside. He decided to take some key out of there, that the things placed inside the chaos generator."
High Ranked Grunt #1: "Those little things? Not even like 1000 of them could be hard to deal with, they're so...tiny and fluffy."
High Ranked Grunt #2: "And they formed together with some red versions and beat the living hell out of the guy as soon as he left with the key. Then, the subject was dropped."
High Ranked Grunt #1: "Whoa..."
High Ranked Grunt #2: "Kaosu said something about guarding the keys, but this is probably why she dropped it, they were already guarded. Go figure, she's using the guests as pest control..."

[Kitten4u]

Alterations of the truth? That's exactly what a lie was! Euphemisms were extremely irritating, as they were practically lies themselves. Sure, a good illusion had to be based on truth or it would be plainly obvious that something was wrong, but a good lie needed to do the same thing in order to be believeable. Andrea really did think of them as the exact same things. So, she was very pleased with her ability. Sure, it didn't make her stronger, faster or let her kill people, but it suited her perfectly.

There was definitly something suspicious about this place. Why couldn't this person explain why it was here? If it were just an ordinary mansion inhabited by an anti-social youkai then she should be allowed to say that. Andrea's certainly never heard of any youkai hiding their existance this thuroughly, and she's seen (and killed) many youkai in her lifetime. Something clearly wasn't right here. So, she couldn't simply open the door? Well that was certainly interesting as well.

"Oh, I see," she put her hand on the door and looked at it for a moment. "Then how do you get in? Surely you don't stay outside all the time?"

Now Andrea was curious. Like many people in Gensokyo, getting her curious meant that she would undoubtedly figure whatever she was interested in out no matter how long it took.

[Genshuku]

But of course, Akkei was going to deny illusions being lies. It was just how she was. And of course, the place was suspicious. Like Ozma had said earlier: 'If a castle appeared out of nowhere, people would enter against anyone's will. It's how people are. Might as well put it there ahead of time AND hide it so people appear when we WANT them to.' Well, how right she was.

"Oh, staying outsides not bad, really. I get good rations when I need them, and I happen to be the only person available for the job. If I for some reason need to come in, the people inside know it's me. Speaking of which, get your hand off the door. It makes me rather jumpy. The people inside can be dumb sometimes..."

Akkei was bored anyway, and ready to do the verbal tango all night long. Well...not really. But she was bored enough to do it now.

Incidentally, staying outside was something humans wouldn't really do. Odd.

...A small voice could be heard from the castle: "We're not dumb!"

Akkei sighed. Really, they were. But whatever.

...Hey, she never answered the earlier question.

"And you didn't answer my 'What were you doing here' question..."

[Kitten4u]

"Oh you're right. I'm looking for someone," she sighed. Then she took her hand off the door and leaned against it instead just to be obnoxious. "It seems like they already know that they shouldn't let me in. Why so nervous?"

Andrea wanted to see what was in that castle, though at this point it seemed like the only way to do that would be to fight the door guard. Spell card rules could be very convenient sometimes. Though, it seemed like it would be an extremely difficult fight. Rapiers were not meant for piercing armor, so the only place she would actually be able to hit the guard would be her head. Sure, her illusions wouldn't work on her, but the guard knew about her ability already (or at least Andrea assumed she had a vague understanding of how it worked). While there was a chance this person might think that she could only "see" through illusions while no kind of illusion affected her she didn't really want to count on that. It would be much easier if she could simply convince the guard to either let her in or explain just what this place is.

Was it really smart to blatantly insult people like that, particularly if they could actually open the door? This actually gave Andrea an idea. This person seemed very "reasonable," something that actually bothered Andrea. If something isn't right, or if something's annoying then people should try to change it. Just accepting it is a terrible thing to do. The guards inside seemed to understand this. If they were as stupid as the guard here seemed to think they were she might actually be able to trick them into opening the door.

Andrea took a few steps away from the door since she didn't know which way it opened. "Are you just going to take that? Why don't you come out here and show her just how strong you are~?"

Of course, being strong didn't make you smart, but again if they were as dumb as the guard seemed to think they were they might actually buy it.

[Genshuku]

Looking for someone? Well that was an answer, though not a complete one. They certainly had a lot of someones here, anyway. Perhaps if she found out who she was looking for, she would go away.

...Fat chance, but might as well.And why was she nervous? Well, she was the door guard. Any door guard that let someone touch the door was going to be the next day's hot topic.

"I might have seen a someone...I've certainly seen a lot of someones. And why I'm nervous...being a door guard and letting someone touch the door is not ever going to look good."

Andrea then leaned on the door.

...

...

Akkei got out her blade once again, quite irritated. Her hand being on the door was quite enough, but the fact she actually had the nerve to lean on it was quite enough. She was the intruder, Akkei was the guard. She eventually did walk away, but Akkei was irritated enough already.

The people inside heard Andrea's comment, and thought about it for a second before replying:

Grunt: "...Right, it's what O--"
High Ranked Grunt: "Hey! Don't give out names."
Grunt: "--sorry. It's what second-in-command said. One, always have a higher rank with you when targeting any sort of enemy. Two, Fighting amongst ourselves is a huge distraction that WILL let someone in almost every time, especially when 'someone' is the one to start the fight. Three, instead of opening the door if you need to get out at the people while disobeying the other rules, use the teleporter. The second 2 will be met with punishment if broken, the third will either get us fired or killed, depends on what mood the chooser of the punishment is."
High Ranked Grunt: "Yeah, most of the time when we break those rules, second-in-command becomes wrathful. Plus, insulting a higher in command usually leads to broken bones. Eh, we just get paid, not worth the ego."

Akkei heard this. Well, at least they could follow orders to the letter right.

"Changed my mind about you people. You are...not completely dumb, but you still need to work on it. Now what were you all doing before this?"

The people inside grumbled, and scattered around, doing what they were doing before. Akkei turned back to Andrea, still annoyed, with her blade still out.

"Anyway. You were looking for someone? I would be happy to help you out, if only to get you away from here. Besides, I was hearing rumors about me being able to stop having to hiding this place. I'm certain I'll end up having a different use, of course. And I still get paid. Or are you going to continue to be annoying? I want my sleep."

Chances are even if Andrea left, Akkei probably wouldn't get sleep for another hour.

[Kitten4u]

Okay, so they weren't completely incompetent. Too bad, it would have made getting into the castle much easier on her. Wait, there was a teleporter? Perhaps there was still hope of getting in there without a fight. Though, it looked like she might be pushing her luck a bit. The guard was actually starting to look annoyed that she was there. Well, that was technically good, though it was bad for Andrea.

"Wait, there's a teleporter? Then how do you get back in? Or if you just teleport back in then why do you have a door at all?" she turned her head to the side again.

Andrea drew her sword again. She didn't plan on "starting" the fight, but if that guard started to attack her she wanted to be prepared. Sadly, it didn't look like a simply parry would be enough to get that monsterous sword out of her hands. She would still avoid fighting if she could, but if she had to choose between not fighting and not getting into that castle or fighting and having a chance at getting into that castle then she would fight. It's not like most fights in Gensokyo were lethal anyway.

"Unfortunatly I do not know much about my target. All I know is that she is a youkai that looks like a human, has short hair and wears a colorful dress. Seven colors I believe, though I could be wrong. She's supposed to live around here somewhere, but I haven't been able to find her. Sadly, it's very easy to get lost in this forest. Though, I did find something interesting today that might have been hers, and it seemed to be coming this direction. I feel the need to confirm that she doesn't live inside of that castle with my own eyes."

It wasn't that Andrea didn't trust people, but it seemed pretty obvious that she shouldn't trust the guard. She was supposed to keep her out of the castle, and letting her in for any reason would probably be a bad thing. She really couldn't believe anything the guard said because of this.

[Genshuku]

Well, she asked about the teleporting system. This is one of those things she was trained to talk about, as they couldn't really abuse the system.

"We have teleporters inside, and only inside. Only a select group get teleporters back in, and even they have to get the password right. The others have to get their way back here. Good thing they all know where it is."

...A youkai that looks like a human? That was just plain rude. But what really made Akkei laugh inside was that the colorful dressed one was unmistakeably Kaosu. Perhaps she has been a too bit open as of late, and now...wait, something flying this direction? Something she had recently opened the gates for? Oh bother, that was her too.

"Ah, she never learns...I will not say who she is, only that I know her and that she is far, FAR better than any youkai that exists in this dimension. And that she's not a youkai at all, but still something that one would want too look for for whatever reason. Oh, and she's currently out. Won't say why."

...That was still offensive, that youkai comment. It got under her skin, unlike most insults. After all, it was her race as a whole. That and she couldn't make fun of it with an illusion, as this girl seemed to see right through them.

"And what do you mean by ''youkai that looks like a human'? That's just rude."

She then mentioned 'something', which Akkei knew was the mech that had recently came in. Well, that was the drawback to 'certain people'...oh well. In any case, that means this was the SECOND time that Andrea messed with her sleep.

"And that was you too? I really don't like you now. I just want my sleep, and we have what appears to be just a human ruining it. Go away, or I will MAKE you go away."

Which was true. Ruined her sleep 2 times, took the whole youkai race down a notch (or at least the humanoid ones), was trying to get in, and called Kaosu a youkai. The last straw was currently in the midst of being pulled and broken.

[zapy]

cross was walking in human form and stopped when he noticed something powerful
it had kaosu's hint to it so he walked toward it
"ozma spoke of this..."
he smiled when he heard people talking...problem was there was a huge amount of magic and nothing there
with a sigh cross walked closer and reached out and put his hand on the side of the castle not noticing the other two
"clever kaosu very clever"

[Kitten4u]

"Well, if she's not a youkai she's not the person I'm looking for. The person I'm looking for IS a youkai, and she does look like a human."

Oh dear, the poor thing seemed to be offended now. Andrea wasn't quite sure what she said, though if the person the guard was thinking wasn't a youkai she could understand how she would be offended. If someone mistook her for one of those horrible creatures she would be offended as well. Though, something in her words sounded strange. How was saying that some youkai look human rude? Many types of youkai had very distinct features, but there were some that really did look exactly the same as a human. It was simply a fact, how could anyone be offended by that? Wait, yes there was a way she could be offended by that.

"Are you a youkai?"

Andrea's entire demenor changed. She was playful before, but now she was very serious. That was only natrual. Andrea was a youkai exterminator after all. This was great. She had come into this forest to find a single youkai, and now it seemed like she was standing next to an entire castle of them. Even if this person tried to deny she was a youkai it was pretty obvious now, so she would just attack the gaurd anyway. However, she was a polite woman, even when in the presence of a monster.

"I want to see what's in this castle and to see you dead and you want me to get out of here. How about a spell card duel to settle this? We each get three cards. If I win you let me into the castle. If you win I'll leave."

At this point she figured that if her not-youkai boss figured out she let an intruder into the castle she might be killed, so she didn't bother to put that into the terms of the dual. Most people didn't agree to duals when their life was on the line anyway. Of course, if the guard wasn't killed Andrea could always come back later and finish the job.

[Genshuku]

...Oh. Well, that was a very silly thing to say then. The people inside the castle giggled at hearing this, but thankfully for them, she didn't hear it.

"Ah, my mistake then. Oh well."

Then the person's mood changed considerably, followed by a question. A question that, with the mood change, was hinting towards something that Akkei loved to hate: youkai exterminators. It all made sense now, she was looking for a youkai that she wanted to just kill off, and treated them all the same, like that one group...

"Yes, I happen to be one. I would assume that's a bad thing to you? If it is, I would be happy to further your claim by beating the crap out of you for that and everything else."

She then proposed a spell card battle. Akkei was severely limited, because she could see though illusions, which made up most of her spell card skills. However, she knew the security inside was completely badass, and if she were to lose the battle, security would be waiting with something that was just plain unfair right next to the door.

"Eh, with your illusion-seeing though power, it wouldn't be much of a contest. Besides, you want to kill me, if I'm right. I personally would be glad to tear you limb from limb, but I don't eat people. I prefer actual food. Humans might as well be poisonous. If they aren't, they certainly would taste awful."

She then noticed someone touch the castle.

...OH COME ON. MORE PEOPLE?!

However, this one knew Ozma and Kaosu for some reason. This was an odd thing, so before she was to tear the other person from limb to limb, she would send a message to whoever this newcomer might be, with illusion powers. Hey hey, she wouldn't even know Akkei did so, but Cross would. Akkei made an illusionary note close to Cross, with this written on it:

'What business would you have here? If it's important, say something. If it isn't, go home."

Andrea, being oblivious to illusions, would not be able to see the note at all.

...Ah, it's been one of those days.