Scene #2981: Spellcard Duel! Doll Creep vs Fake Miko

Owner	Pose
Konoe Kanno	The time had come. The agreed upon date of the duel. Konoe had come prepared for...who knows how long. But here she was, standing by the Sanzu River. She was wearing her typical miko robes, not ashamed to be wearing them in Gensokyo. People didn't stare at her weirdly here. Sure, fights broke out at the drop of a hat and lasers and bullets were like greetings, but this was her world! "......." The miko's eyes were closed. Her arms hung loosely at her sides. She took a deep breath, as if she were focusing, meditating perhaps. She waited for her opponent to show. Whenever that would be.
Alice Margatroid	"Doll creep... that stupid cat.." Alice muttered on her way over the Chuu Road, "At least the banks should give me good time to test this and with new thread..." a light smile comes to her face as Hourai and Shanghai are close by. Alice, fortunately, didn't have a hard time and she was well respected around, but when the word got out that there was going to be a spellcard duel by the Sanzu River, a lot of the human village came to look, situated well enough from that edge but close enough to watch. "Alice is going to fight that Miko?" "The cat versus the puppeteer?" "Popcorn, only five yen!" Alice could be seen coming in, making a descent before landing, a singular card in hand with Hourai and Shanghai right behind. "Fake Miko, it's good you came. I hope you don't mind me using you as a testing ground for my latest doll." she smiled, "Free of silvervine and catnip."
Xiaomu	Hopefully the human villagers don't mind a nonhuman in their midst, but at least Xiaomu's presence means that anyone hawking fried tofu (or inarizushi) has a happy customer, and possibly a recurring one. Even for a single event. For good measure, though, Xiaomu has one of those big straw hats perched on her head, which helps obscure her hairtails and ears; it goes nicely with her Buddhist monk staff, even if the rest of her outfit doesn't. She munches contentedly on some fried tofu as she watches the two facing off ... not ENTIRELY sure who she's going to cheer for, but she's got something of an inclination in Konoe's favor. Gotta support your co-worker, after all, even if Xiaomu didn't realize Konoe was posing as a miko hereabouts.
Konoe Kanno	As the din grew louder, a testament to Alice's arrival, Konoe slowly opened her eyes, observing as spectators from the village and the dollmaker herself filtered in. "...?" She spotted Xiaomu among them and arched a brow in confusion. Well this was kind of awkward. Her calm expression turned into a mildly embarrassed one for a few moments before she recovered and shook her head. She managed a small smile and waved towards her co worker before frowning and turning her gaze upon Alice. "Doll Creep. You thought I'd run away?" A rhetorical question that needed no answer. The cat tilted her head slightly at the mention of 'testing', and blinked a few times. "You're using our duel as a test?" Konoe asked incredulously. She wasn't sure whether she should be insulted or amused. "......" "Fine. Whatever." She kinda wanted to hit Alice herself, but whatever! Another day! Another time! "Let's see what this doll you're so proud of is." Pause. "...It better not be a life sized Marisa-san doll."
Alice Margatroid	Alice's eyes don't even meet the crowd, shaking her head, "Yes, I did think that, especailly since you don't like catnip. Which Hourai has..." she smiled, "But yes, I'm using this duel as a test. No better way now, is there? Infused with spider silk, prana magic and aetheric thread..." that card glows slightly. "Oh, you want to see her already? I think we can arrange that. And no, it's not a Marisa doll, now stop assuming I have dolls like that!" Alice seems a bit annoyed at the assumption, "I'm not some crazy doll lady you think I am..." And from the crowd, "I think she is..." ...Blowing the comment off, Alice pulls out the spellcard and a very... very large spellcircle appears behind her. "Spellcard. Testing: Golaith Doll." And out from the spellcircle in large steps comes a humongous doll, easily three times Alice's height and wielding two rapiers. "Meet Goliath Doll."
Xiaomu	Well, Xiaomu reflects, the doll certainly isn't 'life-sized' and that doesn't look much like Marisa. Whom Xiaomu knows (and has been shot at by), and who doesn't use rapiers. The vaguely-disguised sage fox grants at the person who still thinks Alice is a 'crazy doll lady' and asks without missing a beat, "Why do you say that?" She won't be entirely surprised if her question gets dodged. Lots of skilled and agile evaders in Gensokyo, all the danmaku gives them plenty of practice ... and, well, saying impolite things about a doll-using danmaku-slinger could mean that the cheap seats become a splash zone with minimal warning.
Konoe Kanno	Konoe's eye twitched. "You'd better be joking." And then her head tilted in the other direction. "...You're /not/ a creepy doll lady?" Konoe asks, as if it were a total and complete shock to be told such. Apparently someone in the crowd thought otherwise. That drew a smirk from her. Oh well. The time for snarky jabs had passed. As Alice declared her new spellcard, Konoe drew a set of seals and took a ready stance. "....." What she found was not a typical doll the size of Shanghai or Hourai. But rather... The miko's gaze went up and up and up a little more... "...Seriously? This is your new doll? It's massive!" The bakeneko intoned incredulously. "What do you need a doll this big for!? You really are a doll creep!" Grumbling to herself, Konoe resigned herself to things. She agreed to this duel, and to the testing. All she had to do now was...fight. And so she did exactly that. Her held ofuda burst into flame and she hurled them at the doll, aiming for the head to start with. "Let's see what your new doll is made of then!"
Alice Margatroid	There were rules in a spellcard duel. Don't attack bystandards. Collateral damage, however, wasn't one of them. "I am not." she replies, "And a massive doll? For massive problems." and a flat statement, pointing her arm towards the bakeneko with a smile, "Go, Golaith Doll!" While Alice stands behind and seems to be moving her fingers in intricate patterns, Goliath literally dashes forward quickly, taking the flame ofuda into her face. With such a large doll, danmaku looks like it would be easy to land on it, but in retaliation to the ofuda, a pair of lasers in an X fashion spread out close to Konoe's location and... SHINK! Twin swords are rapidly brought down in that same X fashion, trying to cross themselves onto the cat! "Here kitty kitty." Alice taunts from behind the doll, "I hope you're good at dodging." meanwhile, the swords dig a small trench into the ground from the impact from said slice! Meanwhile, in the crowd. "Inarizushi, ten yen! Inarizushi, ten yen!
Xiaomu	! Xiaomu's skill at dodging is hopefully going to go untested for a bit, because that is an insanely good price for inarizushi and she's making a beeline for the vendor in question. Hopefully he has enough. Hopefully Konoe can get along with one less sage fox cheering for her in the meantime.
Konoe Kanno	"What kind of massive problems are you having!?" Konoe groused, watching as her thrown fuda...basically did nothing. Whee. Gonna have to try harder than that! "Bwah!" Thankfully, Konoe was a cat. Cats were good at running away. As the twin swords mercilessly sunk into the ground where she once was. The only evidence that she'd been there was a slight bit of tearing at her robes, no thanks to the near miss the swords had with her back. "Don't even start with that!" Konoe yelled, veering back around and leaping into the air right at the Goliath Doll. Once she was close enough, she aimed a flying kick straight at the doll's head, again. Seemed like she was going to attack the same spot over and over. Either she was stubbor or that was some kind of strategy.
Alice Margatroid	"Well, one massive problem is right there attacking it." Alice comments, a grin given as her fingers dance in the air, seeminly controlling the large doll and as gthe flying kick is given, the doll stumbles back just a bit, making a 'ping' noise as it's hit too. "Mmm, landed a nice one, good job." Alice semi-taunts but backs up as the swords go up again, laser targeting is given and DOWN the swords go! This time, the swords are followed by laser danmaku as they hit the ground, spreading out over an arc, it's thin and quick lasers and... did the doll seem to speed up? It presses forward, eyeing the bakeneko before swinging those swords once more, the laser warning only a couple seconds long this time.
Xiaomu	One rich inarizushi vendor later, Xiaomu circulates back to the front row of the crowd ... having missed Konoe kicking the Goliath Doll in the head, but in time to watch Konoe (hopefully) dodging.
Konoe Kanno	"You think I'm a massive problem? Well what a coincidence! I think /you're/ a massive problem too!" Konoe shot back, landing back to the ground after finding purchase with her kick. The giant doll was nowhere near down though. She didn't want to admit it, but it was...well made. Ugh. She felt dirty even prasing Alice in her mind. But then said doll was soon back upon her. "Gah!" The warning lines, as it seemed, were going faster and faster, making it harder to dodge. Konoe dove to the side, and then rolled away from another strike. She didn't expect that the Goliath Doll's strikes would begin expelling /danmaku/ however. "Mgyah!" Was Konoe's comical cry of surprise as a number of lasers struck her, sending her flying and skidding across the ground of the Sanzu. "....Grrr!" Okay, this was getting frustrating now! Konoe produced a single ofuda, holding it between two fingers and focusing. Divine energy soon flared up around the miko and she leapt into the air. SPIRIT SIGN - PROMINENCE SEAL Like a certain Hakurei miko's signature spellcard, Konoe spread her arms as the seal dispersed in a small burst of light. Energy built up, forming into several large spheres of spiritual flame that began to relentlessly home in on Alice's experimental doll, converging and striking all in the same frame of time!
Alice Margatroid	Alice shakes her head and throws her hand forward again and the Doll continues to go at it faster, however, Konoe's kick did do something, it does seem to be quite off balance and there's a hole where the kick landed. "This doll isn't going to test itself." she commented, as the warning lines appear faster and faster, soon it's a second between strikes to keep the kitty on her toes. Alice, however, looks very tired, as if the magic from the doll is taking a toll on her. Meanwhile, the Inarizushi vendor is back at home counting his new found money... "Ah, there we are..." she smirks between heavy breaths, the fake Fantasy Seal. The orbs strike home and do a considerable amount of work to the doll, the swords are chipped and the doll is looking ragged, but still the doll presses on and Alice slowly takes to knee. "Mmm. You actually do good." she comments, "I praise your efforts to mimic Reimu, I could almost not tell they were copies." yes, the dollmaker is praising the kittymiko.
Alice Margatroid	And in the crowd, "Takoyaki! Fifteen yen! Takoyaki! Fifteen yen! Made with outsider ingredients!"
Xiaomu	"Not all miko are mimics, they have a long and glorious tradition behind them!" And there's Xiaomu finally voicing support (of a sort) for Konoe ... in between inarizushi. She's not rising to the offer of takoyaki at the moment, mostly because she has plenty of inarizushi to scarf down first. She MIGHT even have enough munchies on hand to keep her until the end of the duel, for that matter.
Konoe Kanno	Konoe floated back to the ground, hunching over a little bit. She didn't appear physically damaged, other than some cuts in her robes and scuffs and dirt from rolling on the ground after being struck by those lasers. But she was a bit winded nonetheless. It must have been mental exhaustion. Alice's mimic comment caused Konoe to frown. "Mimic, mimic, mimic. Fake miko..." She lowered her gaze to the ground, repeating those words as her bangs hid her expression. "I've never even met this Reimu. I have no idea why I am the way I am or why I can do these things. And all I hear people say is /Fake/ and /Copycat/ and /Mimic/!" Oops, she was mad. Even if that was meant to be a compliment. She glared at the dollmaker and pointed at her. "Don't you have anything else to say!? What do I have to do to not be fake!?"
Alice Margatroid	Goliath stops a moment and Alice looks towards Konoe. That's a question that was never asked... "Guess I stepped on your tail there. Have you thought about making new spellcard?" she questioned, a honest to goodness suggestion meets question. "Even if you can only use copies... try changing it up. They are your spellcards, change them around." she smiled, "Nothing wrong with variety and experimentation. Isn't that right, Goliath Doll." Golaith gives a light nod before staring down at Konoe. It doesn't say anything but it raises its swords once more but no trailing aiming lights. Shanghai pipes up, "Do that orb thing again!"
Xiaomu	"All right!" Xiaomu calls out. "You show her, miko-san!" She doesn't actually care if she's getting stared at now; Konoe scored verbally, at the very least, and Xiaomu is looking forward to seeing her turn the tide physically as well.
Konoe Kanno	"....." A sigh was heaved. She got too worked up there. It's not like she really, truly cared deep down if she was a copycat. ...Did she? But hearing it over and over, from Alice, from villagers, from youkai. It grew tiring eventually. "Fine." After that freakout, Konoe took a deep breath and then calmed down. How embarrassing. Losing it in front of someone she disliked. Mostly. Kind of. Probably. Konoe looked over at Xiaomu, offering her co worker a smile of gratitude. She was glad the sage fox was here. Then she glanced at Shanghai, and then back to Goliath. Well, okay. She produced another ofuda and held it out behind herself, frowning in focus. UNKNOWN RELIC - FLAME SANCTIFIER ORB The seal burned up, leaving behind a small essence of flame. Konoe grabbed that essence, closing her fist around it. Once she opened it, what was there was a flame cloaked ying yang orb. It spun wildly and grew larger and larger in size, till it was about the size of Goliath Doll itself. "You asked for it!" And with that, Konoe dashed forward, meeting her opponent head on, regarding of the blades that would be soon coming down for her. Once in range, she thrust the orb forward, right for the massive doll face to face.
Alice Margatroid	Alice gives a stern look towards Shanghai, shaking her head before turning back to Konoe. "Goliath, finish this." comes her command, the red warning lines appear and half a second later the swords come down and a barrage of laser danmaku fills the area in front of her. "I admire your courage and faith there, Konoe. You do have something Reimu doesn't have." she comments before the Goliath Doll raises those swords again. The seal... and the orb. Watching the orb come into view and grow, it dissipates the laser danmaku that flies up from the sword strikes and meets Goliath Doll's crossed swords. "Passion." Alice comments, before the dollmaker backs away... the threads are coming apart, magic is leaking from the doll as it groans heavily and... soon, an explosion. Starting from the ground, the doll starts to explode, bursts of energy coming from the legs and moving on up as the spellcard dissipates, the Sanctifier Orb's massive power even taking some of the explosion as well, shielding even the watchers from such explosions. Alice, herself, is still on knees, panting, color slightly drained from her... "ASh.. ah.. ha... good... good show, Konoe..."
Konoe Kanno	"Wha-?" Konoe definitely heard that. She heard it, but her ears didn't believe it. The clash followed and after a fair few seconds of struggle...Konoe's spell managed to overtake the doll. The explosion that followed afterward blew the miko off her feet however. She landed a small distance away, hitting her back with a soft thump. ".....Ow." She grumbled, staring up at the sky for a moment. "....." Alice's words echoed in her mind. It felt so weird, but...Well, maybe Alice wasn't /so/ bad. Konoe got back up to her feet, steadying herself before walking over to the dollmaker. "......" After a moment of silent staring, she knelt down and pressed a hand against Alice's shoulder. A soothing energy then began to flow into her from the miko. "...Your doll was well made. I expect the next one will be better." She said, averting her eyes as she worked on healing her opponent.
Xiaomu	"GO KONOE!!!" Xiaomu cheers with gusto, pumping her free fist into the air as Alice's doll goes boom.
Alice Margatroid	It felt weird to have that healing energy flowing through her, much more so the compliment Konoe gave. "......" a comment from the Fake Miko... a compliment even. "I am sure it will, it was a good test." she turns her head away from Konoe and mms.. "How injured are you, I have some bandages back at my cottage... and I'll sew up the tears in your shrine maiden outfit. LEast I can do for this training session." Even if Alice didn't like Konoe, there's still sincerity in her voice. "You were that cat too I chased back in the forest, wern't you? YOu looked absolutely pettable back then." okay, a bit of teasing...
Konoe Kanno	Xiaomu got a look at her cheering, and she chuckled. "...Hehe." And then she turned back to Alice. "I'm okay. It was mostly just mental fatigue. Besides, I'm, no we're youkai. It'll take a lot more than this to ruin our days." She withdrew her hand after a few moments. "I'm done. How do you feel?" The mention of the forest incident and the factoring in of Konoe's 'pettable-ness' caused the girl's cheeks to flush a tinge of red. "I thought you knew that already." She stood up in a huff and turned away, obviously embarrassed. "I'll bring my robes by once I change. L-Later...!" And with that, she hurried off, walking over to Xiaomu, grabbing her arm, and then hurrying away. Suppose she was leaving Gensokyo?
Xiaomu	And Xiaomu is dragged off, fumbling so she doesn't drop any of the inarizushi she hasn't eaten yet. "Hey, I paid good money for these - !" she protests. Never interfere with a fox or her fried tofu.