Valentine’s Day 2008

Story 1
“Who are you going to spend Valentines day with?

I hate to say it, but I’m going to be by myself this year. It seems like no one in Gensokyo even remembered to give me any valentines. Isn’t that funny? I tried to ask Marisa about it but she said she was too busy and had some stuff to do at the Hakurei shrine. It’s alright though, I’ve got Hourai and Shanghai to keep me company and we’re going to make some valentines chocolate maybe just in case someone comes over and wants some chocolate. I’d really like if someone came over, just once. We could drink tea and have chocolate and I could show them my lovely doll collection. I want to show Marisa but she always says she’s busy and has to go to the Hakurei shrine. I wonder what she does there? It must be quite an exciting place, but when I try to go there Reimu just tells me to go away and leave her and Marisa alone. It makes me feel a bit sad, but I can always come home and tell Hourai and Shanghai about it. They listen to me. They’re good dolls. They never call Alice names like “creepy”, “leaks poop” and “freak”.

Still, this Valentine’s Day I wish I could have found out what it’s like to hold someone. I once worked up the nerve to ask Marisa, but she said some horrible things she couldn’t possibly have really meant and told me to play with my dolls. It must feel so nice to have someone in your arms. I bet it’s really nice. Oh well, maybe next Valentine’s Day someone will come here and eat chocolate and we can try holding each other. It’s really curious that no one came this year, isn’t it? I guess they were all busy, valentines isn’t a holiday or anything. That’s probably it. Lots of important stuff can come up on a day like today.

It must be wonderful to do small things like eat meals with another person around. It’s usually so quiet around here, with no one coming to visit and me being alone all the time. I don’t mind it so much, though. I have Hourai and Shanghai and all my dolls to take care of, and they keep me company even if they can’t talk. Have I told you how good at listening they are? They’ll just sit there and listen for hours to me talking about any little thing. I once tried having a long conversation with Marisa but after a few minutes she told me to shut up. I don’t think she meant it though. She said she was busy and going to Hakurei shrine. I probably interrupted her from doing something important and she said some rash words that she didn’t really mean.

Getting hugged must be great. I know you’ll be surprised by this, but I’ve never been hugged. It seems like the kind of thing that would make valentines with another person nice. Isn’t that funny? Little old me never having been hugged? I think it’s kind of funny. I guess I’m just unlucky. I almost got hugged once but Marisa told the person who was going to hug me that I leak poop and then they didn’t hug me. I felt a little bit sad but I suppose it’s alright since it was just a joke.

I really hope I can spend this valentines day with Hourai and Shanghai. For some reason they haven’t moved at all, and I’m a little bit sad because they’re usually the only ones around besides me and it’s hard to find anyone else to listen. It’d be nice to have them up and about because without there help the chocolate I’m going to make will turn out bitter, and that would be just awful if anyone happens to show up. I’m only a little bit sad, because I’m sure Hourai and Shanghai will get up again in time to make chocolate. Just in case anyone drops by. It’s funny that no one’s ever come by here, isn’t it? Not even for valentines chocolates. Can you believe that? I’ve been here by myself for as long as I can remember. I even made a funny song about it. “The ground is down, the sky is up, and Alice is meant to be alone.” Well, actually Marisa made the song about me.

It’s a little bit dusty in here, isn’t it? All this dust is making my eyes water. I guess I should clean up a little in case anyone comes to have chocolate on valentines day. It would be nice to have someone come. Maybe if they ate my chocolate they might like it enough to even try giving me a hug. It would be my first one. I think that would be really good. Hugging someone must feel so good. I don’t leak poop, it’s okay to hug me.

I guess I should start getting ingredients for the chocolate. I should get enough for everyone, just in case they all decide to come here and surprise me on valentines. I’ll make lots of chocolate. I’m sure everyone will want some.”

Story 2
“I had a dream…
A dream where Alice was mine.

I woke up in that strange world with only what I took to bed…my clothes, a blanket, and the gun I leave under my pillow. After waking up in some rancid forest in nothing but my pajamas, I had no idea where I was or what was happening, but the strange lasers and bullets that were flying over my head as I lie in the bushes was no way to start the day.

Crouched with my gun ready, I peeked carefully over the shrubs only to witness what appeared to be a little girl being murdered by another. With a book in one hand and the other extended towards her victim, the girl raised her arm and simultaneously the smaller girl was massacred in the most hideous fashion. Having been woken so abruptly, I was not thinking properly, and rather than thinking about the strange world I found myself in, I stood up and took aim at the murderer.

Somehow she noticed me and spun around to face me – but it was too late. Three rounds spiraled into her before she fell backwards and hit the ground. I approached my target only to realize the girl she had killed was nowhere to be found. As I was searching around for the missing body, I was suddenly attacked by small figures moving at great speed, whirling around me and trapping my body in wires. With a great force I could not overpower, the figures turned me around to face the girl who I had shot. I did not understand how, but she was still very much alive. Without seeming to be in much pain, she spoke to me.

She said that my magic was strange and new to her, and she wanted to know more. However, for not following the spell card rules, she would kill me if I did not help her. She explained that the injury left her body weak and she would recover, but it would be some time, and her dolls could not carry her. Without much say in the matter, I carried her for several hours through the forest towards her home as she yelled and derated me for not flying. I had to explain that I did not know how to fly and what I did was not magic. She remained dubious but tried to understand. I learned that she was a magician who loved dolls, who was called Alice Margatroid. I also learned about the world and various things, including fairies like the one she had killed. Through our explanations on the long trek through the forest, we no longer thought of each other as enemies, as most of it was a misunderstanding. However, this notion of battles and killing, and this world where dying is taken lightly was highly disturbing.

She allowed me to stay in her house while she recovered. Rather, if I had left her, she said the doll that currently sat on my head would explode and kill me. She was still injured and could not move, and I had to do the housework. It was highly unusual, she said, for her body to be damaged this long. After a week, it began to worry her but it wasn’t like I could fly out of the dangerous forest and get help.

Though by nature of being youkai she did not require much food, a week seemed long enough time to go without it. Today, I made a meal for two. When I went to feed her, she became angry, but her hunger helped in winning the arguement. Through this close contact, we came to know each other better. As the days went buy, I kept apologizing for what I had done. A month past and no help came. Not one visitor came to her door. Her cabin was like a deserted island in the middle of the ocean.

Months passed. We conjectured that the bullets had damaged her spine and left her a quadriplegic. As such, she wasn’t able to recover and might stay that way for the rest of her life. Guilty for being the cause of her trouble, I vowed to stay with her until she got better, even if it meant my entire life. I had grown to love her and wouldn’t want to see her suffer alone. No one came to see her. No one even knew about me. If I was with her, she would never have to be alone. I knew she suffered from her lonliness even more than not being able to move. So I promised to solve both those problems. I would love her forever and help her move when she couldnt. I took her arms and helped her hold the dolls she loved so much. I picked her up and became her legs when she had to move. She was like a doll where I had the strings. The doll maker in the forest became my doll, and I cherished her as much as she did hers.”

GOD! I am So ronery ;_;