Episode 2: Scarlet Devil Mansion
Close your eyes. Listen to the silence. Open them. Prepare to run when the screams begin.
Welcome to Gensokyo.
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In a clearing of the Forest of Magic, a group of fairies gathered around a campfire. Ostensibly, they were there to help Renku with his little radio show. They were to discuss information gathered from fairy gossip fairy information network, set up the workspace and soundbooth for the broadcast, and plan out patrol routes.
In reality, it was chaos. Par for the course for any group planning things, but especially true for Fairies.
“All right! Places, everybody places!” a green haired fairy in a simple blue dress shouted at the unruly mob.
Daiyousei, a Greater Fairy, was having a rough time trying to live up to her namesake. You would think that being a Greater Fairy would mean that other fairies would listen to her. In all actuality, it just meant that she was a bit stronger and less reliant on an aspect of nature to maintain her existence. Impressive, but she had no real clout over her comrades.
Crossing her arms, Star Sapphire scowled, “Why do we need to be in places?”
She was the Fairy that embodied Showering Starlight, the trail of yellow stars that trailed across her blue dress showed off her thematic quite nicely. The blue bow on her head tied off her ensemble nicely and helpfully twitched to show off her annoyance. She was the de facto leader of the Three Fairies of Light, also known as the Sanyousei. With her ability to sense movement, her innate radar allowed her to know when to retreat from a prank gone wrong. Most times, she was even compassionate enough to let her friends know when to run too. Most times.
“Boss-man’s just going to be off in his zone, talking,” her friend, a fairy with burnt orange hair and a scarlet ribbon tying two short pigtails at the side of her head, “We only really need Luna Child to do her mute-y thing and even then she just wanders off after! We don’t need to be in places.”
This was Sunny Milk, Fairy of Glimmering Sunlight, who had the nifty ability of refracting light. Typically using it to veil herself and her compatriots in invisibility, they used it to hide from the consequences of their pranks. She wore a red and white dress with frilly sleeves and frilly edges. A snaggletooth peeked out from her near-constant grin, though she was scowling.
“Yeah!” the third of the San-Yousei cried out.
Luna Child, Fairy of Silent Moonlight, was a bit quieter than the other two, suiting her ability to mute sound. Clad in a muted black and white dress, she wore a white beret over her yellow princes curls. She was only quiet in comparison to her friends and was down to create mischief and chaos whenever possible.
“We don’t need to work hard!” Star Sapphire shouted, once more speaking for her group.
“Workers’ rights!” Luna Child pumped her hand straight in the air, confusing a certain Communist Party’s clenched fist with another, much less palatable, party’s salute.
“Yeah! Worker’s rights!” Sunny Milk agreed, mirroring her friend,. She then lowered it to whisper-ask, “What rights are we fighting for though?”
Luna Child shrugged, “I don’t know, but it’s our rights, so it must be right?”
“Right!” Star Sapphire rallied, joining in the salute, completing a most disconcerting image for the trio.
“You guys are insufferable!” Dai shouted, stomping her foot and balling her fists.
“No, we’re the Fairies of Light!” the three of them chorused as one.
At that point, Dai simply screamed. When it died down, all three fairies had taken to hiding behind the tent in the background. Wanting nothing more than to fire off a barrage of Danmaku bullets at them, she tempered herself and settled for growling, “BOSS-MAN!”
“Yes, Daiyousei?” a voice called out from the tent. With a bit of grunting and effort, the tent rustled as a man emerged from it.
Standing up, he was quite tall, easily towering over the fairies. Dressed in muted grays, his clothing was scruffy to say the least. A faded white jinbei as his top and a patched up black hakama covering his legs, the only thing that looked remotely new was his tattered gray tenugui bandanna wrapped around his head. He had taken to wearing a beige hanten as winter came around, but it only made him look more homeless than before.
Fitting as he was living alone in the Forest of Magic. This was Renku Manuke, self proclaimed Fool with a Voice and the one responsible for the recent broadcast. For a man that caused such a buzz, he was quite boring to look at. The only thing that aided in his mystique was the two mirrors that floated around him, a clear, white one and an opaque black one that traced lazy, random circular patterns around his head.
First impression was that he was a bit limp in demeanor, slouching slightly, hands folded into his armpits most of the time. The scruffy appearance wasn’t any help in disproving that demeanor though. When one looked at his eyes, they tended to back off. It wasn’t quite a glare, wasn’t quite blank, but it was definitely something and most people tended to look away quite quickly after sharing a short gaze.
For the fairies, they had long gotten used to his stare. The San-Yousei quickly flew from the tent to hide behind his back, sticking tongues at Dai.
Dai stuck her tongue back. She could blow raspberries too.
“Daiyousei,” Renku yawned, covering his mouth. He blinked blearily before continuing, “What’s the problem?”
“You can just call me Dai,” Dai reminded, pausing in her tongue off with the idiot trio. Neither Dai nor Daiyousei were her real name, but she hadn’t picked one yet. Dai felt like she should, but… She couldn’t be bothered. Unlike these three stupid fairies who wouldn’t listen to her!
Renku yawned again as he stretched his back, cracking it, “I like calling you Daiyousei. It’s a fun thing to say.”
“...I need your help!” Dai ignored his aside. He had a way of speaking that swept you away from your problems. It was best to be blunt and push forward, “They’re rebelling!”
“I heard?” Renku shrugged, “They don’t really need to be in places though? Just wander around Gensokyo and bring in information or anything they think is interesting. Or something. Basically find gossip to bring to us. They’re good girls, and you’ll keep them from the worst of it.”
“...Boss…” Dai did not whine. She was a Greater Fairy, a leader of Fairies. Or she was trying to be at least. It would help if Boss-man backed up her authority.
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Frowning, Renku stroked his chin before musing aloud, “Well, I guess we do need people to drop off the contact box, so if you could get fairies on that, that’d be great.”
“I’ll do it!” a voice cried out from the air, “Sorry, I’m late! I had to fight the Toad Boss before he went to hibernate!”
Entering the scene with a burst of frost and ice, an icicle winged fairy with short blue hair and a blue dress landed with aplomb. Cirno, Fairy of Ice, was the epitome of the stereotypical tomboy and naturally drew eyes to her. Fists on her side, she proudly proclaimed, “I lost!”
“I really wish you wouldn’t antagonize him. He scares me,” Renku sighed, addressing the Fairy of Ice. Scratching his head, he then asked, “Also why do you sound so happy about that?”
“No Cirno. The Fairies of Light are doing that!” Dai scolded Cirno
“Okay, so we’re not going to talk about the giant toad?” Renku asked aloud. He was ignored.
“But I’m the Strongest!” Cirno complained to Dai.
Dai refuted, “And I’m the leader!”
“We are not talking about the giant toad,” Renku nodded to himself, smiling blandly, “Noted,” he continued, pointedly not sighing, equally blandly.
“Not for long!” Cirno shouted, rolling up her non-existent sleeves. More importantly, the temperature began dropping.
“Oi! Oi!” Renku shouted, clapping his hands twice, “ Not so close to showtime, ‘kay!?” Pivoting to face Cirno, he addressed her,”This isn’t something that needs strength, Cirno.” He patted her head, causing her to smile despite her pout, “Right people for the right job. Think of it as having an unexpected break, ‘kay? You had a hard fight with the toad boss already, right?”
“Right!” Cirno cheered.
“Who said we would do it though?” Star Sapphire interjected, carefully keeping Renku between her and Dai.
“Yeah!” Luna Child chimed in, also keeping Renku between herself and Dai, “Worker’s rights!”
Also keeping Renku between herself and Dai, Sunny Milk cried out, “Down with the Burgers!”
“Is it burgers?” Star Sapphire asked with a frown.
“...Down with something!” Sunny Milk tried again, saluting with her palm stretched out..
“I think you mean bourgeoisie, Sunny,” enku sighed before gently grasping her hand, shaping it into a fist, “Also wrong salute, it’s a fist, not an outstretched palm.”
Renku then shrugged, “Still, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. We can find someone else.”
“...Hey, we can do it!” Star Sapphire pouted.
“Never said you couldn’t. I just said if you don’t want to do it, you can--”
“We can do it!” Luna Child shouted, “We just want compensation!”
Star Sapphire nodded, “Worker’s comp!”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Sunny milk asked, tilting her head and tapping her chin.
“Indeed, it is,” Renku nodded before offering, “I can get you guys some candy later.”
“Yeah!” the three fairies cheered, high fiving amongst themselves, “We’ll do it!” On an unspoken signal, the three of them flew into the tent then out, carrying with them a simple wooden box.
“What about me!?” Cirno pouted as the San-Yousei made their delivery.
“You’re supposed to be on break,” Renku chuckled before drawling, “Buuuuuut I guess I can get you some later too.”
Smiling widely, Cirno saluted, “The Great Cirno is taking a break then!”
“Cool. Try and catch some frogs. I think I need more protein in my diet.”
WIngs buzzing, Cirno flew off, her shout trailing, “The Great Cirno shall bring back a grand hunt!”
“Don’t wreck their population please! Just enough for all of us to eat!” Renku shouted. Then lowering his gaze, he muttered, “And definitely not enough to summon the Toad Boss. An amphibian should not be that big.” He paused and rubbed his chin, “Wait, are toads amphibians? Or frogs? I know they’re not the same, but how are they not the same?”
As silence descended upon the clearing, leaving only a fairy running and the hermit pondering upon frogs and toads Dai couldn’t help but pout, “How do you do that!? Get them to listen to you!?”
“Daiyousei,” Renku chided softly, having decided to shelve the frogs and toad debate for later and patting her head, “Strictness is something that they need, but you can be soft too. They want to be good and just need a gentle touch to guide them. You nudge them, just a bit. Carrots and sticks I think?” He scratched his head before shrugging, “ Meh, I don’t know how to explain it better.”
“...Fine,” Dai muttered, voice heavy with doubt. Cirno, she could maybe see wanting to help, but the other three? And most fairies? They just wanted to have fun instead of actually doing things.
“Chin up!” Renku drew her out of her thoughts, mussing her hair about. As Dai backed away, hands over her head and hissing, he continued, You’ll get the hang of it. You’re doing a good job and I want you to know that I’m always so grateful that you’re helping organize them. You do a good job leading them even if they don’t always listen perfectly.``
Standing up, Renku directed his twin mirrors to begin setting up his booth. “You’re going to be a great leader,” he called out over his shoulder, “And I’m so happy that you’re helping me with this thing. But just relax a bit. It’s for fun and it doesn’t have to be perfect. We’re just playing around on this station. It’s not that important that you have to fight with them every step.”
“But boss-man! You’re changing things. The fairies are working together for the first time in ever and it’s actually good and--”
“That’s because of you,” Renku waved off her remarks. He was, to quote his words, a bit of a dumbass like that, Dai thought. “You always were supposed to be the leader of them. I remember that from my first life. Or I think I remember that? Zun did say you were a greater fairy, whatever that meant. Actually, you may not even have been supposed to be a leader?” Renku shrugged again, “Ah well, no matter. You’re the boss-lady of them now. You chose this.” He paused with a frown, “You did choose this right?”
Dai nodded. She wanted to say more, but when the boss-man got like this, he kind of spiraled into his own trains of thought. Especially when he was about to do his broadcast.
Feeling reassured, Renku grinned, “Good. Then you’ve got that age old curse of responsibility. Sometimes some of them won’t listen, and that’s rough. Sometimes they do listen, and it’s easy. Most times it’s just you nagging until they do things. It’s hard, thankless work, but… somebody’s gotta do it. When it counts, hopefully you’ll have built trust and they’ll listen for sure then.” He then sighed heavily, “I am doing a horrible job explaining this. Point is, what I’m trying to say is that it takes time to be a good leader, but… Ah, I lost my point. Had it. And lost it.”
“Just… You’ll get there someday and you’ll be the Banchou, eh? No matter what though, you’ll love them and watch out for them. You trust them, they trust you, and that’s got to be enough somehow, eh?”
Kicking her foot, Dai murmured, “Yeah.”
Boss-man really was weird. He was too sad to be a proper victim for pranking, but he had so much faith in her and Cirno and the Fairies of Light and just… it was hard not to want to be more than just the silly fairies. Despite her complaints about the San-Yousei not listening to her, the fact that they came to the meetings was more progress than ever before.
“Then it’ll come into place,” Renku stated with complete and utter faith in her, “A good leader is feared and loved, but a great one is trusted and trusts them. Trust takes times to build though, so just chill.” Renku nodded, “We’ve got time. This radio thing is a just for fun thing, like I said, no biggie if it gets messed up just a bit.”
“...Right.” Dai said, before jerking her head up. If Boss-man believed in her, than she should at least let him know that she believed in him too, “But your radio thing! It can change Gensokyo.”
“I don’t doubt that, but I’m sure it’s only small changes,” Renku stretched, yawning again, “I just want to… Oh, I don’t know what I want, but I’m just glad you’re helping me. All of you.” Renku grinned wryly, “I did say that, right? That I’m so happy that all of you are here with me? Helping me”
She couldn’t help but giggle at that, “Only every other day, boss-man.”
Booping her nose, Renku cackled softly, “Don’t say it often enough then. Should be everyday.”
“You’re sappy,” Dai sighed before hugging his waist, “And definitely dorky.”
“Hah, guilty as charged,” Renku mussed her hair again. Dai only hugged him tighter in response, “Well, if you really want to boss some fairies around, you could always have some of them start looking for a new place for me to camp. I don’t think I can find anything else to eat in this section of the Forest soon. Frog legs are tasty and all, but I really need to find some plant fiber too. Maybe the Bamboo forest? Nah, I’ll get lost and I don’t want to be vivisected at Eientei or roasted in one of those weird immortals’ flirt-fights-murder-things.”
“Okay,” Dai nodded, not really understanding the ramblings toward the end, and flew off to find some fairies. Fairies were free-spirited, but most of them liked the Boss-man so they would probably be willing to help.
Just as she reached the edge of the clearing, a worry came to her mind and Dai stopped. Turning around, she wrung her hands and asked, “...Hey boss? You’re happy right? You don’t want to… you know.”
He was silent for a bit. Just as Dai was getting worried, Boss-man shook his head and smiled widely, “Haven’t thought about that in months! Daiyousei!” he then raised both hands and waved in a deliberate motion, “Now go on and shoo. I’ve got a show to flail about in.”
Dai smiled and began flying away.
“Oh,” Renku called out again, “And do make sure you get the advertising slips from those two girls at their shop. The one close by the Kourindou. They’ve been really helpful in getting me those camping tools and it’s only fair I help advertise for them.”
Saluting in acknowledgement, Dai began flitting through the trees. It was hard being a part of the Gensokyo Transmission Association, but it was nice to be part of something. Dai hoped she could be a good leader for the Fairies.
Just like the Boss-man.
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The Scarlet Devil Mansion has finally moved! No longer is it an island in the middle of the lake and is now located along a ridge overlooking our beautiful Misty Lake. If you’re brave enough, feel free to bring housewarming gifts to their new location.
It should be noted that house invasion is NOT part of housewarming protocol. Unless you are Yukari Yakumo. Then it is fine, so long as the housewarming gift is good.
Housewarming gifts should involve human blood, preferably Type O-Negative, books, preferably informative or the trashiest of romances, and absolutely no garlic, holy water, and/or other items that would instigate vampiric allergies. Please leave all gifts with the Chinese Girl, Hong Meiling and ignore whatever sounds you hear. She is on high alert at all times and certainly not sleeping at all.
Trespassers will be taken out by the Perfect and Elegant Maid, Sakuya Izayoi.