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[:: Inloading Data-Packet; Lord Commissar Bulgraff :: ]

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  The muffled clatter of carapace plate armor striking a wooden floor echoes among the clearing within the bamboo forest, Bulgraff yells out and barks out a curse as he takes in the sight of his captors. Trapped within a small storehouse, around him stood a dense host of estranged abhumans, almost entirely human save for lengthy ears of various mottled hues and earthen tones. The collection of rabbits prod and jab at him with bamboo shoots, plucked and sharpened that jar and jostle the old human, causing him to growl out insults and a whirlwind of curses upon them and their bloodlines should they continue their antagonizing.

As Bulgraff watches the crowd with a scowl of disdain, one of their number after what seems like ages, breaks their looming crowd and walks before him. The newcomer was garbed in a soft pink hue dress, long floppy white ears hanging from her head as she leans down and prods at Bulgraff’s face with a sharpened bamboo stalk, her voice self satisfied and bemused at his discomfort.

“Alright old man, time to start talking. Your two friends were a bit too chatty for their own good. Can’t really get them to shut up now at this point. But we learned quite a bit about you and your friends secret plan to invade our homes here. Pretty devious if you ask me.”

Bulgraff stares blankly at the rabbit, working his jaw as he tried to recall any vital information he’d provided to his aids prior to their capture. Upon remembering whom exactly his aids were, it was readily clear he relaxes slightly, raising his brow slightly as he tries to face the rabbit.

“Oh yeah? Who the in the Throne-Worlds name are you anyway, huh? As for the others, it's pretty much a damn shame then, bet they told you all those juicy tid-bits about the big drill huh? Bet you lot weren’t expecting that.”

The white rabbit gives him a self-satisfied smirk, giving him another probing nudge on the cheek with the pointy end of the stake, her head nodding along with his words. Bulgraff indeed had to hand it to her though, for being told absolute bupkis nonsense about a fictional big drill, she had a hell of a poker face.

“Tewi, not that you and your friends will be remembering that too clearly, if you don’t keep cooperating gramps. And yeah, we heard all about you and your friends big plan for that big drill, so where are you digging to huh? Not much fun to be had underground, unless you're gonna try to dig up something. Now, my compatriots and I, are just dying to know what you're digging for with that big drill, as you honestly had the gall to interrupt a fairly quiet evening with your iron monster you rode in on. So if you get to talking, we might just let you all walk out of here, and not eat you like we had planned.”

Bulgraff face twinges, his eyes glancing around to take in the crowd about him. Aside from several figures vaguely the same size and with a humanoid shape like Tewi’s, there was a sizable collection of small furry creatures with unerringly similar long ears, these animal-like entities stared at him with the same intensity as this Tewi figure. Bulgraff recollects himself as he clears his throat, trying to probe the inquiring rabbit and her dedication to her persona she was trying to put on.

“Eat me, huh? That it? Little lady you gotta try harder then that. You don’t think I ain’t been threatened before to be eaten? I get that sent to me on the daily little lady, by beings with far larger teeth than yours! If you think I am gonna b-”

His words are cut off as the bamboo stalk is wacked across his face, causing an angry red mark mirroring the strike upon his countenance, the white rabbit rolls her eyes and leans back clearly trying to dig into her play book, as Bulgraff starts to thrash about and curse that he was cut of.

“Mhmmm, alright alright, shut up. Don’t go off on a tangent, no one wants to hear your weird bragging about how people want to eat you. Outsiders are weird. So this is how it's gonna be, just tell us where your stupid drill is, so I can get Reisen off my back and then toss you back into the forest. Fair? It's a win win, you don’t have to get dragged back with her, and I don’t have to start doing increased patrols. What do you say about that, huh? Fair?”

The rabbits all around Tewi start to nod eagerly, several of them prodding and jabbing at the bound Commissar as he thrashes against his bindings, his normal calm compromised as he works his jaw to chew out a reply.

“What kinda offer is that supposed to be? I ain’t got a clue where I am and what sorta hokey two bit back-water world I am stranded on. I have no clue what a Reisen is, is that like a food item or a food processor? Some sorta interrogation servitor? Also, Throne damn your forest you little white -”

-Wack-

  Another bamboo strike against his face only draws out more angered shouts from the Commissar as he thrashes about once more. Tewi slowly lean back, sitting cross-legged as she gives a tired sigh, an begrudging look on her face as she indicates to her nearest minion.

“Alright, I’ve done all I can, looks like the old man is going to be resistant. Sorta a shame since his friends at least gave us a little something to work with. Go get Reisen, tell her that intruders were plowing their way through the bamboo forest. Actually tell her that Outsiders had come to attack Eientei, but we caught them before they reached too deep…” She pauses, glancing down at Bulgraff before tapping a slender finger to her cheek, “... Alright outsider, last chance, if you spill your guts about why you are here, I’ll tell Reisen your just lost. If you don’t fess up, I am going to tell her you are all three spies sent here for the boss.”

Bulgraff ceases his struggle, his tone sharp and curt equal in line to the growing impatience he has for the yokai,

“If I have to say it again, I am going to bite off the first hand or limb that gets near me. I told ya, we were in space…” He gestures aggressively with his head towards the roof of the storehouse, “... Up there you insipid little rats, some sort of doorway opened and bam, are ships started falling out of the sky on your Throne-damned world. We did -not- plan on coming here, your world wasn’t even marked on stellar charts nor maps. So when I say that we are just as confused as you are-”

Yet again the bamboo falls, this time Bulgraff loses his patience, clamping down on the stalk with his teeth as he vented his fury in muffled curses. Tewi merely shifts away a hair, an disgusted look on her face as she waves away her nearest compatriot, clearly displeased with how this conversation was going, incredulous of Bulgraff’s claims.

“Yep, it's no good, just go get Reisen. This human might just be sick, claiming he came from the sky and all this what not. Did the other two fellows say something similar?”

The collection of rabbits murmur and collect together in hushed tones as the messenger moves off heading from the store-house, as another mottled brown and white yokai rabbit raises her voice.

“Um, yes actually. The other humans mentioned something about coming from up there. But it doesn’t really make sense as what Lady Eirin leads us to believe is that humans are somewhat slow in getting up into the sky. Not to mention that the big metal ship they arrived in was massive! It was like buildings, but they flew!”

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Tewi shakes her head, ears swaying idly to and fro as she tries to wrap her head around the presented narrative the outsiders seemed to be providing, all whilst Bulgraff finely bites his way through the shoot.

“Mhmmm, that just doesn’t make any sense, this has got to be another incident in the making. Outsiders don’t just show up in flying buildings, they never have. They aren’t yokai, so what gives? Someone is gonna get their plans shoved when the Shrine Maiden and her goons find out about this.”

The dull noise of an approaching figure, causes the rabbits to tidy themselves up, trying to look as imposing as they could as a new individual wheels around the corner. Lead by the departed messenger, the newcomer is clad in what Bulgraff could only describe as some sort of juvie uniform from a Scholarium. The figures long pleated skirt and and a neatly maintained white dress shirt would not betray any sort of marking nor iconography. The new figure bore a pair of tall white ears, not unlike Tewi. However as the smaller rabbit bore a messy mop of black hair, this new figure bore strains of long light purple hair, her face was impassive and stoic as she took in the sight of Bulgraff’s struggling form.

Instantly, the pit of the Commissar’s stomach started to churn, something wasn’t quite right about this new arrival. This Reisen as she had been called seemed to exude an unsettling aura, as if she was toying with the very realm around the aging Commissar. The hair on the back of his neck stands on end, as he recomposes himself and spits out the chunk of bamboo he’d stolen, his voice firm and unimpressed.

“You brought another one of your long eared abhuman friends? Oh Throne is this the best you lot can muster? Can’t you at least get someone with some spikes or knives? Thrones this ain’t my first dance with being a prisoner.”

Reisen only cock her head to the side, wordlessly indicated for the others to hoist the Commissar to his boots. As he is jostled and brought nearly face to face with the rabbit, he finishes scolding one of the smaller of their kin at his back for pushing against an old injury, just in time to wheel about and find himself staring down the barrel of some oversized mockery of a weapon. Now normally, Bulgraff would have guffawed and laughed aloud to spy the weapon leveled at him bore ears just like it's owner, but he opted to quiet himself as this must have been the strangest las-weapon he’d ever seen. Reisen speaks flatly, indicating to his hat, which was now atop the head of a nearby rabbit so self satisfied with their new head decor.

  “You're the leader of the band of Outsiders, aren’t you? Look, I get it, they handled you a bit rough and you’ve got some grit to you, I’ll give you that human. In addition you’ve probably got fifty questions about how you got here and what you're doing here, and where even here is. What I can tell you, is that we have someone, just a building away, that can answer all those questions for you. Now the one hang up I have, is what your intentions are, and if I should even let you have the time of day with my Master. So answer me truthfully when I ask, what are you doing here, and why did you come looking for us among the bamboo shoots?”

  Bulgraff clenches his jaw, shutting his mouth as he worked over her offer, the weapon to his head made her argument ever more compelling. However the way Reisen carried herself, and the manner in which she spoke to him, gave him a sense of deja vu. Countless times had he waded into situations with not a single clue as to what was unfolding and thusly been forced to puzzle through as best he could. That feeling of having stumbled into a situation far outside one's pay grade was something the Commissar could relate to on a deeply personal level, the fire-arm pointed at his head withstanding. Inwardly he knew full well that she was more than likely just as lost in this whole situation as he was, thus he swallowed his pride and spoke up, as plainly as he could.

  “Aight, just lower your weapon lass. I’ll be frank with you, I’ve not a clue in the Throne-damned world where I am or what this place is. Just as I told your minions here, we dropped out of the Immaterial, somehow directly above this world. It wasn’t my choice nor was choosing even an option. I’ve got no bad blood between you and your abhuman friends here, nor any ill will to anyone in your bamboo forest here. Throne we didn’t even know anyone was in here, till you all jumped us and gave us a bloody nose. So, if you know of someone that can give us some measure of insight into what is happening here, and maybe some way of getting home. I’d be obliged to tell ya what I know about who made it planetside.”

  Reisen stands motionless for a few long seconds as the Commissar works his jaw, the rabbit lass then lowers her estrange weapon, nodding in his direction.

“I don’t have any reason to trust you, or if I am being totally honest, distrust you. Since you look like a man with some military bearing but I don’t recognize any particular piece of your attire, so tell me then, from where did you come from in the Outside world if this all was just a happy accident?”

Bulgraff is given genuine pause, his weary face slouching slightly as he does finally have a moment to work over in his mind how they wound up in this mess to begin with. The Hive-Spires of his homeworld stood ablaze in his mind, the ruination of an entire system brought low for the savage sport of vile xeno, only provided Reisen with a long morose pause. When he spoke up, his voice was hoarse, tired and panged with tones of misery,

“To be frank lass, I ain’t got a home no more. The place I come from is naught up ash and gnarled perma-steel. The place we came from is far out there… “ He gestures upward, towards the roof of the store-room he was trapped within. “... Far up there, in space. Sounds like the ravings of a loon, I know. But trust me lass, there are countless billions of humans up there, all over the place in a state of constant war against the unimaginable. It was my job to see a bunch of these warriors back to a safe haven. Somehow, we wound up here, and Throne it's different from how our worlds work. It's all leafy and green and bereft of proper defenses. The world I called home, was set upon by barbaric and destructive beasts, Greenskins, they came and brought ruin to countless millions for the sheer thrill of the fight and nothing more.”

Reisen, by this point had sent forth a runner for some unspoken meeting with this Master of hers, but her focus still rests be upon the grizzled Commissar and his story, her effort maintained not to make eye-contact with the older man. As he spoke, her hardline expression softens, ever so slightly, a look of sympathy written on her face as she draws up the words to reply, still not quite certain she could manage to believe such a fantastic and wild tale, but in some manner the same pain Bulgraff felt about abandoning his home, did strike some measure of cord with her deep down. She gestures to try and reassure him in some manner, as she softens her tone.

“O-Oh, that seems pretty intense for someone to just make up on the spot. I-I am not too sure I can really buy that though, I mean that does make you an alien doesn’t it? Since you are not from earth and all? I mean it doesn’t make any sense how you could be human, but still claim not to be from earth. You're definitely not from the moon, but, to be from someone else up there in space? …” She pauses and scratches her chin, catching the look of despair that flashed upon the Commissar’s face, to which she’d head off with a shake of her head. “... Well! B-But that doesn’t mean you are lying. It's just so far fetched and crazy to think over, I suppose I am having a hard time understanding it. But stranger things have happened in Gensokyo, so who really knows what can and cannot happen? That would also explain your strange weapons that fire danmaku as well, it's far more advanced than anything the natives have ever tried to build or with what anyone from the outside world has ever showed up with.”

  Bulgraff nods slowly as Reisen continues, indicating for him to follow after her, as the rabbits behind him move to cut him free from his restraints.

  “How about this, I take you to my Master, as she is far wiser than I am. We try and get this whole mess sorted out and we try and talk it out over a cup of tea? I mean, from what I can glean, it doesn’t really seem like you or your men came here with an expressed purpose to harm our home here in the Forest. I suppose we just want to make sure your telling the truth, and not patients in need of medical treatment that came wandering in the woods…. With a giant metal monster you rode in on.”

  Bulgraff gives a relieved sigh and nods his thanks to the tall rabbit, he bows his head graciously as the smaller rabbits manage to cut him loose, forcing him to rub at his wrists.

  “Ah, that truthfully doesn't sound too bad, I reckon. On behalf of the Imperial Authority, I do apologize for any action that might have been seen as hostile or dangerous. It’s just a chaotic time for all of us. But aye, please if you would, show me to your Master. I would very much like to try and get my bearings here so I can effectively organize a withdrawal from this world as swiftly as I can. The greenskins won’t wait forever. Pray tell, do your people here have some sort of central authority that could be discussed with? Maybe a Lord or Governor?”

  Reisen indicates for Bulgraff to follow as they make their way from the storehouse back into the crisp and cool evening air of the forest, a short jaunt away, stood an imposing classical structure of timber, an elegant manor of rustic and oriental design and theme. She turns back and speaks up to him with a but of a shrug, a strained chuckle on her lips as she leads them forth.

  “Ah, central authority? I can’t really say we have one of those. All I can tell you Mister, is that you are certainly two feet in the hole now with this place. Hopefully my Master Eirin will be able to give you the answers you seek. She has some insight into how this place works and the dynamics of it. But let me tell you, Gensokyo is really unlike any place that you’ve ever seen.”