/jp/ - Otaku Culture

She looked back at Sakuya. "Ancient pagans in the Outside World once said that stars are the holes in the firmament that covers the Earth, through which the much greater beyond can be glimpsed while the sun does not shine upon us. That the stars give us the tiniest view to something beyond. It is an interesting theory, is it not?" Patchouli had been ruminating recently. While thumbing through the pages of Sekai's book and pondering her existence. The viewpoint of those ancient pagans seemed very fitting, then. "Bring the theory back home. Perhaps I am attempting to recreate that worldview for myself."

"That...Worldview." Sakuya repeated slowly. Patchouli couldn't say for sure if she truly understood, but she seemed to be trying. But then, from what Remi had told her of their ill-fated trip to the moon, Sakuya did have something of a weak grasp on scientific concepts, even as they related to magic. "Lady Patchouli, I must confess that I do not understand."

"The world is a curious place." Patchouli found herself pacing. She reached an arm out toward the sky. "What if the stars let you see a different world? Someone else's world? A place that you had not considered to exist?" She spun back to Sakuya. "What if through those pinpricks of light, you could see the infinite potential? The day someone is born. The day they take their first steps. The days when they laugh and the days when they cry." Patchouli hadn't lectured anyone for a long while. Not in this sense. It was...Surprisingly enjoyable. "What if you could see everything laid out at once? A tree, with branches of experiences and leaves of emotions. The moment they experience their first breath - The feeling of freedom! A world tree made of boredom and happiness and heartbreak and learning to walk and deciding what to eat for dinner. What if you could bring that through to this world?"

"Didn't you say that manipulating the stars is beyond our powers, Lady Patchouli?" Sakuya asked, tilting her head.

Patchouli sighed, feeling a little deflated. What was the point of grand speeches if the target didn't understand them? "We manipulate not the stars, but the representation of the stars. And aside from that, I heard that there's a tengu on Youkai Mountain who can manipulate the starry sky as she sees fit. We move past the limitations of yesterday, one day at a time." She almost started to go on a tangent about time, but just barely caught herself. "Anyway, Sakuya, my point is that my current project is incredibly important, but is still unfinished." It wasn't just the spell, of course. She still needed the receptacle. A body for Sekai to inhabit. "And now, I must take my leave in order to continue my work. I need to collect several ingredients."

The thing about alchemy was that it didn't make sense. Inherently, it was something that functioned on a lack of logic. With alchemy, you could make a piece of glass bend and fold as if it was a piece of paper. You could take a piece of wood and give it the properties of tungsten. So, you could take the ingredients that evoked the idea of parts of a body, and weave a body out of them. It was partly alchemy and partly a ritual, but it would do the trick. That, in essence, was the conclusion that Patchouli had come to from Sekai's notes. It didn't make any sense if you thought about it for more than a few seconds, but Patchouli was fortunate enough to not need to think about it more than that to understand it. If Sekai's notes said it, then it would work. She had a list, and she had a place to store ingredients. She didn't need more than that. "Do not worry yourself about my physical condition." Patchouli finally said, noting the way that Sakuya stiffened slightly. So, that had been her angle. "I am recovered from the injuries that I faced, and I do not believe that anything of that nature will happen to me again. You will not need to send Meiling to retrieve me on this occasion."

"...I understand." Sakuya finally conceded. She didn't look too pleased about it, though. "May I please request an idea of where you are going?" Patchouli opened her mouth to rebuke Sakuya for continuing to worry. "For - For the Mistress. She worries." That was a cruel piece of manipulation.

"I do apologise, but Remi understands why I must keep certain things secret from her for now." Sakuya's mouth took on a decidedly frustrated look. "I will not be putting myself in any danger." She didn't think so, at least. Some of the ingredients would put her in danger of an unpleasant amount of social activity, but aside from that... "Now, may I please leave the library, or am I confined here?"

"I - No, I apologise, Lady Patchouli." Remi had, of course, relayed the general details of Patchouli and Meiling's predicament to Sakuya, and from the way Sakuya's distress became even more pronounced with those words, she now felt like she was the villain of the piece. Sakuya stepped to the side, looking somewhat miserable.