Fortune Favors: (QQ) Chapter 1 (Patreon)

I Don't Own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
**Linebreak**
A gasp leaves my lips as my consciousness returns to me, I sit up, looking around blearily. 'wh- what?'

'Where am I? What happened?' I take in my surroundings, a slight chill running throughout my body.

This isn't my room.

Wait.

My room.

A car came through the roof.

What the hell?! I... I died?

My hands shake, as my eyes dart around the new place I have found myself in.

My breath comes out in shrill pants as my emotions spiral. 'oh god. What the fuck? What? What happened? Where am I? Is this the afterlife? Wh-'

A sudden unnatural calm slams into my mind, I let out a single panting breath as I look around, a confused frown on my face.

Thoughts and words, only a few of which I know the meaning of, seem to bounce throughout my head.

Gensokyo. Kuda Gitsune. Reincarnation. Merchant. Second Half. Dimensional.

I have genuinely no idea what any of that means in this sort of context.

Gensokyo was that Touhou place, right? The fuck is a Kuda Gitsune? A Kitsune?

Holy fuck. Was I reincarnated as a Kitsune into touhou?! Crossing the dimensions into a game where the only important male character is some dude who owns a shop?!

And what's the deal with 'Merchant and Second Half'

What does that have to do with my situation?!

And where the hell even an I?

I'm in a room of some sort. It's small.

Oh god. It's one of those 'tiny houses'.

It's barely even a room.

I shakily get to my feet, being forced to hunch slightly as the ceiling isn't that high up.

I open a door revealing... one of the most cursed things I have ever seen.

A shower toilet combo in an incredibly small, tiled room.

I take psychic damage from the room as I flinch back. 'holy shit it doesn't even have a back to it... you have to turn on the shower head to flush!'

Speaking of the shower head, it looks... strange. It has runes etched into it, hell, the entire ceiling does.

They seem to dimly glow as my eyes widen. 'holy shit... is... is this magic?!'

I give the runes a suspicious glare then step back, closing the door as I turn and look around.

Holy shit this place is tiny.

No windows, a bed tucked in a cubby with a fold out table. Then a one-eye stove with a... crank...

I have a magic bathroom but I need to crank my hot plate. Wonderful.

I let out a long sigh as I take a seat on the small bed, letting out a quiet humorless huff. "Better than being dead, I suppose."

I pause as I realize something. Sensations that genuinely just feel foreign.

I carefully reach my hands up flinching as they come to rest on two fuzzy little ears. Oh right...

Fox.

My hands trail down, pausing at my human ears.

'alright. That's sort of weird... but, I guess I'm glad that I have normal ears. I have literally no idea what I would do if I felt the sides of my head and just felt nothing at all.'

I look behind me, seeing a large black fluffy tail, it sways briefly as I gently reach out and stroke a hand down it.

An involuntary shiver passes through my entire body.

'Oh fuck. that's weird.'

I stare at the appendage and let out a long sigh. "Alright. How long until I slam it in a door and get paralyzed?"

I flop back, onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying desperately to collect my thoughts.

I close my eyes and let out a long sigh as I roll up in the blankets of my new bed.

'Alright. Let's think about this objectively. I am no longer human. I seem to be in Gensokyo... and... merchant?'

'What do I sell? What do I do? Oh god. I'm in touhou! Where fucking mooks have 'end boss' powers and every ACTUAL end boss has conceptual powers like manipulating fate, boundaries, doors, and having unmatched leg strength!

That last one sounds lame... until you realize that by having unmatched leg strength she'd scale to GOKU if he was here! Her power is literally to be UNBEATABLE in a certain aspect! No matter how much you train, nor how much effort you put in, just by existing she will beat you every time! Then you need to think about other people like fucking Sakuya Izayoi who can stop time without limit and can manipulate space.

SHE CAN FUCKING MANIPULATE SPACE AND TIME AND SHE ISN'T EVEN IN THE TOP TEN OF STRONGEST BEINGS HERE IN GENSOKYO!

I'M GOING TO FUCKING DIE!

Another wave of calm presses down on me as I briefly sink further into my protective cocoon of blankets.

'How the fuck do I even... like... do my thing. My body is screaming at me to sell stuff, but sell what? Sell where? Like. I don't have many options here.'

I clasp my hands in front of my face, tilting my head as vague memories I don't necessarily recall spark through my mind.

My eyes roam over to the little desk just beside the door, merely acting as a tabletop for my little crank stove.

It has a double-doored cabinet at the bottom. Doors that cause me great intrigue for some strange reason.

I crawl out of my bed and open the doors frowning as the back of the little cabinet looks sort of like... a safe?

Like, one you'd see in a wall behind a painting or something.

'what is this?'

My fingers brush against the safe causing a small screen to light up on it.

'huh?'

"World Selected."

"World... selected?" I quietly echo as I reach out and gently grasp the handle and twist it open.

My eyes widen as on the other side... there is a forest.

I clamber through the door, crawling on my hands and knees to the other side.

As I reach the other side and look back, there is a small square hole in reality. As if someone had taken a square shaped cookie cutter and rent the very fabric of the universe.

It rapidly seals causing me to flinch as it closes back up.

'wait! Shit no no no!'

I reach out, pausing as my hand grows near to where the hole was before, a new rip in reality opening.

I close my eyes and let out a long breath.

'Alright. So. If I am getting this correct, I am a Youkai with the ability to punch holes in dimensions. Where the edges of said universe are weak.' My eyes skim the surroundings, carefully observing everything. 'I am also a merchant, being able to tell the general value and use of basically anything I see. That's useful. Next, I can... convert currency? Huh. I didn't know I could do that, but I seem to have some form of in-born magic or skill to transmute one currency into an equal value of another.'

I am literally in the perfect spot to take power from one universe and bring it to another.

This is giving me sooo many questions. Like for instance, how would some form of physical enhancement magic work with kaioken?

Do enchanting methods stack?

Ohoho I can't fucking wait to see!

Provided I don't die... and am given time to use my abilities.
How durable am I?

I'm not human, so I should be super human... right?

I shake my head as I begin more carefully scrutinizing my surroundings, taking a slight mental note that I can feel the way out behind me. 'I'm sure as hell not going to test that out.'

"No Strings! I've got no strings on me!" A voice sings as I blink owlishly.

I look around briefly, spying a small wooden boy skipping down the road.

I consider my next actions carefully... for about ten seconds.

'Well. I guess I must play the part of the... fox.' A small smirk appears on my lips.

I am not above a little scamming, and as I am currently? I have no real other options.

I step out of the tree line, gazing over to the wooden puppet boy.

"Oh. Hello. I didn't expect to see anyone around here." I begin with a small smile.

"Huh?" The boy blinks as he comes to a complete stop.

He offers me a small wave. "Oh! Hello! I'm Pinocchio!"

I haven't thought of a new name yet. I can't just go with my last one, that's so unoriginal.

A name pops into my head, so I guess I'll go with that.

"You may call me Argo." I smile kindly. "Now. What is a boy like yourself doing wandering throughout these woods? It's dangerous don't you know?"

"O-Oh! Well... I... I need to get back home to my poppa! I... I've been a bad boy. My poppa sold his coat to get me a book for school, but... I traded it to go to a show... then the mean coachman kidnapped me!"

I let out a quiet gasp, bringing a hand to my mouth. "What a horrible tragedy."

"The coachman let me out after a little bit... he even gave me some gold pieces!" The boy beams. "So I don't think he was all that bad!"

"He gave you gold pieces?" I question.

"Mhm!" He nods enthusiastically as he lifts a small sack that jingles. "He gave me five whole gold coins!"

"Are you sure that it is gold?" I question.

"Huh?" The puppet questions, tilting his head with a slow blink. "What do you mean?"

"Tell me about this coachman who kidnapped you. Surely he didn't just pick you up off the street for no reason. Surely someone would have stopped him, right?"

"W-Well... I messed up his puppet show." The boy meekly mutters under his breath.

"I see, I see." I nod twice. "So, he was angry that he had to give out refunds. You cost him quite a lot of money. That just makes me question one thing... why give you money?"

"I didn't steal it!" The boy exclaims.

"Oh, I believe you boy. What I don't trust, is this man's intentions!" I exclaim. "You are telling me that he hated you and decided to free you and give you money? No. I believe he had ulterior motives!"

"R-Really?! How can you tell?!"

"May I see one of the coins he gave you?" I question as I slowly approach, holding out a hand.

The wooden puppet takes out one of the coins and gives it to me.

I scrutinize the coin for a moment, looking over it. 'Oho? For me? This will be a nice little start to my merchant empire. Each of these coins is worth about seventy thousand yen! Or roughly four hundred and fifty American dollars.'

"Hm hm..." I lowly hum a frown on my face. "I see I see. This is troubling."

"What is it?" The boy gasps.

"This coin isn't gold... at least not entirely." I frown. "It's a counterfeit."

"Oh no!" The boy gasps before tilting his head. "What's a counterfeit?"

"A counterfeit is a fake made with the intention of tricking someone into thinking it is the real deal." I explain as I flip the coin over in my hand. "You see, gold is actually one of the softest metals, meaning if this coin was real. You should be able to bend it out of shape quite easily and bend it back."

I take the coin in both hands and strain, acting like I am trying to bend the coin.

Obviously I'm not trying. I don't know my new strength.

After around ten seconds I show the boy the coin, no noticeable damage at all.

The puppets eyes are wide as he looks up to me. "it's not real? What does that mean?"

"Using counterfeit coins is a real crime. A serious one. One that the law does not take kindly to. You might be able to get away with having a few fake copper coins as those hold no real value, but a gold coin?! You'll get imprisoned for a long time if anyone finds you with these."

"W-WHAT?!" The puppet gasps. "T-Then... that mean old Coachman wants me to give these coins back to poppa... to get him arrested?!"

"Precisely!" I nod as I smack a fist into an open palm. "He hasn't forgiven you and he wants you to take these coins back to your father! He is likely waiting to call the guards to investigate."

"OH NO!" The boy shouts. "What do I do?!"

"Tell you what. I know a little magic... and the outside of these coins does look to be real gold I could convert it into a real coin, but I'll just tell you now. It won't be gold. There isn't enough. It'll be silver at best, copper at worst. But it's your best bet."

The boy fumbles the coins out of the bag into my waiting hand.

I clasp the coins in between my hands and close my eyes. "Alright. I'm a little bit out of practice so let's see if I can do this..."

My hands shake briefly as they begin glowing.

I can feel two coins in my grasp, one far larger and thicker, the other a little smaller and thinner.

I allow the smaller one to drop into my hand. A silver coin worth roughly two thousand yen. Pennies compared to what I was just given.

"Here you are, small wooden boy. This should be enough to buy your father a coat. Maybe even enough to buy you another school book. I'd also like to give you some advice. Don't be greedy. Work hard. Work smart. Then you will succeed at whatever you try."

I offer a slow nod to the boy and turn, beginning to walk back into the tree line. "Be careful boy. There are people in these woods a lot less kind than I am!"

He waves after me. "Thank you, sir! You're very kind!"

He can't see my grimace as I am facing away. "No problem."

He begins skipping down the road as I return to the base of the tree where I entered this place. A rip in reality beckons me as I crouch down and crawl through, ending up back in my old tiny house.

I let out a single breath I didn't realize I was holding as the safe behind me slams shut.

That... didn't feel good to do, honestly. But. I have nothing. I needed to do that... there were no other options and I left him with more than the fox and cat originally left him with.

I look back over my shoulder as I sit on the floor, glancing to the shut safe door.

Ping Ping Ping

I flinch back as a screen appears in front of me.

Congratulations on your first successful trade! If you haven't figured it out, yet, you have the abilities of a merchant, or rather, you are given more power through pursuing the path of a merchant. Currently you are able to transmute currencies, but who knows what sort of abilities you might get if you continue to buy and sell things!

You might have noticed the door within your home. A door to other worlds. That's right. You are a multiversal merchant!

You may discard one of your linked universes at will, however, it will take a considerable time to find a new world to connect to. This time steadily grows longer after every time you choose to re-roll a certain 'world slot'. You gain additional world slots through reaching certain milestones.
​

'huh...'

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 100 dollars! You have earned a random item of random quality.

Item Generated: DVD Collection of every single ash-era pokemon episode 1-1234 with the inclusion of movies and specials.
​

I watch as three large rectangular boxes appear on the desk behind me, sat right next to my little stovetop. They are about the size of a shoebox each, just a little taller and thinner.

I stare for a long moment before letting out a quiet sigh. "I don't even have a Tv... let alone a DVD player."
Whatever. I might get one in the future.

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 1000 dollars! You have gained an additional 'World Slot'. ​

I look back to the safe as it glows slightly, leaning in towards the small keypad screen on the front of it.

It... has a list of all of my worlds. The first, surprisingly not being 'Pinocchio'. But...

Slot 1: Fables of Old
Slot 2: Empty (Connect to a new world? (Yes/No))
​

'I don't understand why it wouldn't do so automatically, but alright.' I push 'yes'.

Generating next world. Time remaining: 47:59:59 ​

I watch the number slowly tick downwards.

Forty seven hours.

Forty seven hours until I unlock a new world I can walk- or rather, crawl- into.

I have about three hundred and fifty thousand yen in my pocket... or a little over two thousand dollars. I need to prepare. That means spending this money to get items.

With what little I know about Gensokyo, my options are limited.

I know for a fact I can't enter the 'human' village.

Why?

I mean, it's sort of obvious, right? A lot of Youkai eat humans. I'm a youkai. It's the HUMAN village.

That leaves 'Youkai Mountain'. There are definitely a few towns around there. Though if I remember correctly, the youkai there are pretty territorial.

I let out a long sigh and shake my head.

If I'm unable to get to Youkai mountain, there's also that one half youkai dude's shop.

He primarily has things from the outside world, like phones, or computers. But he hilariously mislabels them despite his ability to more or less determine an items function.

Things that aren't that useful in Gensokyo, mind you, due to a lack of internet connection and accessible electricity, but he might have some interesting stuff.

I shake my head and look to the door.

There is no point in dawdling.

I turn to the front door of my house and open it, revealing... forest...

I bring a hand to my temple with a slight wince, flashes of fragmented memories briefly assault me as I get my bearings.

Huh? So... I live on Youkai mountain... that's good.

I shake my head as I turn and close the door of my miniature house behind me. Now that I look at it, it sort of looks like someone cut a slice out of a giant stalk of bamboo, turned it on its side, and put walls on it.

It's very... tubular... in its shape, propped up on stilts with a little step up to the door.

I look down to the coin in my hand. 'Ah. Gensokyo uses yen, right? This coin is pretty useless right now.'

My hand shakes briefly and the large coin in my hand is transformed into several long lines of yen coins, tied together with a large string.

'Alright, let's get some stuff.'

**Linebreak**

Pov: Elsewhere.
Ah. That was tough. Sometimes it seems like Megumu doesn't respect her input. But. Who cares. Being close to a powerful youkai like her is the only way to amass more strength.

A girl with blonde hair wearing a one piece cloth with ribbons tied around the fringes slowly walks through a bustling- but old-fashioned- town. Lanterns crisscross up above, strung between the buildings, unlit at the moment as the daylight hasn't disappeared quite yet.

Numerous food stalls line the streets, booths selling jewelry, little portable blacksmith shops offering to repair items and selling basic-

The girl freezes as a scent assaults her nostrils.

She takes a deep whiff of the air, eyes widening.

Wait... that smell...

Her eyes snap around her as she looks for the source.

She can't see it! Damn it!

She follows the scent to a nearby blacksmith.

She can see a string of coins tied to the hip of a Wolf Tengu blacksmith. The origin of that scent.

"Excuse me." The blonde begins slowly.

"Hm?" He hums, pausing briefly to look up. "Do you need something?"

He blinks once a smile appearing on his face. "Oh... wait. You are Lady Iizunamaru's attendant! Can I get you anything?"

"I need to know something... do you remember selling something to someone who looks like me?" She questions.

"I can't say that I do." He shakes his head.

"Allow me to rephrase that. Do you remember selling something to someone of the same type of youkai as I am."

He gives the girl an inquisitive look, looking at her from head to toe. "Well... now that you mention it... there was this black haired boy who came over and bought a knife."

"BOY?!" The blonde exclaims, eyes growing wide.

She was fully prepared to go hassle a girl of her race... it wouldn't exactly be as efficient, and she doesn't exactly swing that way, but drastic times call for drastic measures... but a boy? Even better.

"Do you know where he went?!" She snaps suddenly.

The white haired man slowly points to the side. "He left that way."

"Thank you!" She exclaims as she turns and begins sprinting through the streets.

**Linebreak**

Pov: Returned.

I look over the objects I had purchased during my short time in the Youkai town.

I unsheathe a simple kitchen knife and look over the polished metal. It was quite expensive, being about three-fourths of my current wealth.

But hopefully it will be worth it, as it is a magic knife. Made to be twice as durable as a typical steel knife, and about ten to twenty percent sharper... with an edge that will hopefully be harder to dull and damage.

It's not meant for combat. However. That is what I will probably be using it for.

I shake the knife slightly with a small frown. "Sort of wild that I spent so much on magic kitchenware."

The other items I got are a lot less interesting. Mainly food and drink, a water pouch, some extra clothes and a satchel as well.

That has left me with about fifty thousand yen left.

I let out a long breath as I glance down towards my little dresser. 'should I go back in?'

I mean, I've got a weapon now... I could try and mug some one for a little cash... maybe I could find the coachman turning children into donkeys, stab him, then steal his large sack of coins?

I'd be getting far more than I got from Pinoccio... besides! I'll be saving children! That should be more than enough to repay me scamming the small wooden boy.

I nod once and crouch down opening the cupboard. I crawl inside and open the safe on the other side, then make my way through to the world locked just behind it.

Instantly I can tell something is amiss.

This isn't the forest I was in a few hours previously.

Its dark, sunlight barely piercing through the trees.

No birds chirp. The normal sounds of a forest are horrifyingly absent.

I see a sole building in front of me, a gentle stream of smoke spews from the chimney, the lights are on, the door lightly ajar.

I walk forwards, tightly clutching my knife in my hand, the two animal-like ears atop my head twisting and flicking as I strain my hearing.

"Come here, dear... warm your grandmother up!"

"Alright grandmoth- AAAAHHH" my legs lock up, eyes widening as I hear a feral growl, there is a blood curdling scream of a young child.

The hairs on the back of my neck raise, my tail poofs up.

There is a sick crunching and tearing noise as I grit my teeth and walk forwards.

I shift the kitchen knife into a reverse grip and silently step through the front door. The sickening crunches continuing as I slowly creep forwards.

I peer through a door that is open, eyes narrowing in fury.

Gore coats the floor as a large bipedal wolf crunches down on the dismembered corpse of a naked little girl. She couldn't be more then eight or nine.

The lycanthropic beast faces away from me as my teeth grit, my tail lashing out behind me like a whip.

A folded set of clothes rest right by the open door.

Without thinking I lunge forwards, faster than I used to be able to, the wolf apparently hears the floor creak as he begins to turn his head, but I am already upon him, my knife plunges downwards into his throat as he lets out a gurgled scream, fur matted with blood.

I tear the knife downwards, rending the wolf's throat open and kicking him as hard as I can, he staggers back, clutching his throat as he trips over the bed and falls back, landing on the wooden floor with a thud.

It rolls over, nails carving large scratches in the floor.

The wolf bares its teeth as it glares hatefully at me, weakly trying to push himself up.

He collapses, steadily losing his strength as his life blood spews across the floor.

His body eventually falls still as I let out a sigh, looking to the sleeve of my kimono.

Blood had stained the underside of the greyish cloth from where I had stabbed the wolf.

I cringe as I look over the discarded body of the little girl.

If...

If I had been just a little bit faster...

If I had decided to walk in just a minute sooner.

I look away with a small head shake, bile raising in the back of my throat.

'don't look at it. Don't look... just... grab valuables and move on.'

I look down at the clothes sat perfectly folded by the door.

Why the fuck did the wolf have her get naked-

Wait.

What?

I wipe the blood from my hands on the discarded shirt and carefully reach down and take the small red hooded cloak.
What is this?

I take the cloth in between my finger and thumb, then give it a little rub.

This is... soft... surprisingly soft.

Silk.

Not only silk. It's also magical.

The magic woven into this cloak gives it two properties. The first. Is that it is supernaturally durable.

Like, not to a point where it rebuffs sword slashes and arrows, but you couldn't tear it by hand without some superhuman strength, nor could you accidentally rip it by getting it stuck on a branch or something.

But its durability merely seems to be a side effect of the fact that it is magical.

Its real effect is that it duplicates the weakness of whatever attacks the wearer. Say for instance, if you are attacked by a werewolf... it becomes silver. A vampire? Sunlight... or... possibly silver... or garlic... or running water. Huh... I wonder which weakness it would prefer?

There are downsides, however.

It really only works against 'unarmed' attacks. Or as dungeons and dragons would call it, 'natural attacks'.
If they have any sort of reach on you, they'll get off scot free... it also cannot create weaknesses for a race with zero weaknesses. Plus, it never duplicates an effect that would harm its wearer. If a vampire wears it and is attacked by another vampire, it will do nothing.

I abruptly swallow as I realize where I am, letting out a shaky breath as I take the cloak and carefully place it in my bag.

The circumstances in which I found the item... are not ideal.

In a perfect world, I would have arrived, saved the girl's life and took the cloak as payment. But...

I sigh and shake my head. Beginning to look around the house for anything useful to take.

The grandmother is dead, and little red is also gone. It's not like they will have any use for it anymore.

To be honest, there are probably far more valuable things in the bedroom, perhaps some clothes, maybe even some of the grandmother's jewelry... but I just can't bear to be in there right now.

I walk into another room. It seems to be the kitchen. The wood burning stove sits in the corner, wooden bowls rest on the table alongside silvery spoons.

I scour the room, taking whatever strikes my fancy, and after around twenty minutes I leave the house with a slight melancholy. My bag heavy with five silver forks, five silver spoons, a cast iron pot in hand, and several simple metal knives and other objects which I plan to sell to a random youkai blacksmith as scrap metal.

I never went back into the room...

I don't think my stomach could bear it. I tried looking back in there and just couldn't stop dry heaving. So I took what I could and left.

I make my way back to the area I entered from and crouch down.

I slink back through the tear in reality and return to my small and sort of sad abode.

Letting out a quiet sigh as I try to forget, I wait for the pings alerting me of my success and milestones... but they never come.

'huh?'

I look down to the cloak. 'this thing is worth FAR more than I got before... then I have the silverware.'

A flash on insight strikes me.

I only get credit when it is a 'transaction' between two people. And money at that. I can't increase the number by simply grabbing objects. Taking them from people I murder and tombs I've raided.

I have to then turn around and make a profit with said item for it to increase my 'profits' and give me rewards.
It worked with Pinoccio because there technically was an exchange. His five gold coins for one silver coin.

That's sort of problematic...

THUD THUD THUD

A fist pounds on my door, causing me to flinch as I whirl around, my hand comes to my chest as I take a deep calming breath.

Oh. What the fuck? Who is that?

I carefully reach out and twist the door handle.

Standing on the other side is a girl with chin-length blonde hair, she wears a one piece cloth around her body, with ribbons tied around all of the holes, she has brilliant yellowish-brown eyes that flick over my body for a moment, pausing atop my head and on the tail that swishes out behind me.

A smirk forms on her lips as two fox-like ears twitch on the top of her head, a blonde fox tail that is tipped with white sprouting from her lower back.

"So. I finally found you." She begins slowly. "We need to have a word."

**Linebreak**

Author's Note:
Ohoho! what's this? Something from Questionable Questing that I am finally moving over to Patreon? whatever could this mean? perhaps... could a new chapter of it be coming out? heheh who knows!

also. probably won't be Crossposting to Fanfiction because it has seggs literally in chapter 2. but hey, at least people who were unable to get QQ to work can read it now! thought I will admit, the best experience for all of my works is definitely QQ because I can add images to it.

I'll be uploading Chapter 2-17 over the next little bit (like, days or week or so). after that? who knows? but surely If I am doing this, a chapter 18 must be done, right?