Flandre's Quest (Touhou) World - (Madness Quest)

[X] See if you can go look at those music stores Ginga mentioned.


You shake your head minutely. "Hm. Ginga doesn't sleep here, right? When will she arrive?" Cinque frowns a bit at your sudden change of topic.

"She usually doesn't arrive until after the sun is fully up; she lives with her father in the city, so it takes her a while to get here." You nod, thinking, then smile.

"There's something I want to ask her, to get permission for, so I'll probably go see her when she gets here." A frown flickers across her face - probably worrying about how Nove will take your borrowing Ginga for something - but she hides it very well and simply bows, taking your obliqueness as a form of dismissal.

"I'll let her know if I see her before you. Welcome to Long Arch, Flandre Scarlet, Satsuki Yumizuka." She bows again and slips quietly out. You watch the doorway for a few moments as she retreats, until you can't hear her footsteps anymore. Very quiet. You shake yourself and turn back to Satsuki.

"So what do you think of her?" She frowns thoughtfully.

"She … she's very kind, I think, especially toward her sisters." You wait for her to continue, but when she stays silent you raise an eyebrow and cross your arms. Satsuki blushes and waves her hands nervously. "I don't know! I just … she seemed sincere, about wanting me to feel welcome, and about apologizing for Nove. But she … I don't know." You giggle at her confusion and cock her head when she gives you an upset look.

"What, you don't think she might be suspicious, or not fully trusting of us? I fought them before, these three, and she has to be wondering about why we're here instead of somewhere else, and whether we have any instructions about them." You wave off her shocked look. "Oh, I think she really meant that bit about making you feel welcome - but she's probably got a few other thoughts about us running through her head, too. Anyway." You hop onto the bed and hold out one of the few remaining blood packs. You'll probably have to get more sometime soon. But instead of taking it, Satsuki blushes and shakes her head. You raise your eyebrows and she looks at the trunk.

"Um, your sister gave me a supply. So, um, you shouldn't need to worry about me too much." You blink, then put the pack away. Just what did your sister let her have? Of course, there's a somewhat more pressing matter, too.

"Have you told anyone about it?" She shakes her head hesitantly and you sigh, relieved. "Good, good. When I was here before, they set up a situation to supply me with blood, and I'd like to see about getting that put into practice, too. The less of our supplies we have to use, the better." Satsuki frowns for a moment but nods. "So what were you studying?" She blinks, momentarily confused, then smiles and pats the book.

"Um, this one's for math, but I also studied some from my history and science books. Um … do you want me to tell you about them?" You cock your head.

"No." Satsuki giggles at your blunt response and shakes her head. "At least, not right now. You have to sleep soon, right? Maybe you can tell me about them another time, when we're able to focus more on them." You gesture at the open window and the barely-lightening sky. Satsuki nods and smiles a bit more naturally.

"Okay! I … I'll try to not be too boring." You sniff disdainfully.

"Should I add tone and presentation of voice to your etiquette lessons now, or wait until after?" You smile, trying to convey the fact that you're only being partially serious - because how one speaks is just as much a part of etiquette as what you say - but it takes a moment before your servant realizes that you are, at least somewhat, jesting.

"Heh heh. Um, maybe you should get ready, anyway. I'm … not really good at public speaking." You titter as she looks down glumly and tap her nose.

"Confidence, my servant. You should have ended that sentence with 'yet.'" She blushes and nods.

"Thank you, Flandre-sama."

---

After helping Satsuki get ready for her sleep - which elicits some annoyance from her, as you are the superior and so 'shouldn't be doing that' - you withdraw to the upper floor of the building. No one is likely to bother you up here, and more importantly, you have a good view of the approaching road. Your patience is, eventually, rewarded by a familiar vehicle's approach - and by that of another car. Now who could that be?

When they park, you find that the other car has the technician who told you to get Loki looked at - Shari, or something like that. You frown down at the parking lot as they pass from your vision, then shrug and make your way down to the main floor. Maybe she's here to check up on the prisoners? Or … well, if she is here to give Satsuki a Device, she'll be waiting for a long time! When you reach the entry hall, Ginga is already making her way to the stairs, unguarded expression showing some annoyance, but Shari isn't around.

"Ginga!" You hop forward, skipping the stairs entirely to land easily on the ground. Ginga frowns at you, but you giggle and pirouette cheerfully. "So, I was wondering …." You trail off, grinning, and Ginga sighs.

"Yes?" You hop forward to stand right in front of her and look almost straight up at her.

"So, you know those music stores you looked up? It's not a problem if I go see them, right?" Her frown switches from irritation to confusion and you skip back to stand at a more reasonable distance from her. "I mean, if they do have a piano, I'd like to get one soon so I can do something with it, and you don't need to come with me - just tell me where they are and how to get there and I can make my way there and back and you can stay and teach." She eyes you thoughtfully for a long moment before shaking her head, and your own smile flashes into a glower.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be out in the city on your own, but if Shari is alright with it, you can go with her." You soften your expression into an unhappy frown, but there's not much you can do … well, you could disobey Ginga, but that would probably make some problems for you. After you nod, accepting her condition, she gestures and a screen appears next to her. "Shari, do you have a moment?" The brunette's face appears.

"Hm? I'm here, Ginga. About to start the tests running. What's up?"

"Flandre wants to see about getting a piano. I have a couple places that might have one. Would you mind taking her to check them out?" Shari's eyes widen slightly and she smiles.

"Hmm … well, the tests will take some time to finish, and I don't really need to be here while they're running. So, sure, I don't mind. Just have her wait for me at the parking lot and I'll be there in a bit." Ginga almost seems disappointed but smiles back.

"Alright. Thanks, Shari." The screen blanks out and then vanishes entirely, and she frowns at you - at your wings. "Do you have something you can wear over those?" You grin and take out the domino mask.

"I have something better," you say as you put it on. Ginga raises an eyebrow, frowning skeptically, and you giggle a bit. "I've already used it, so I know it works properly. You aren't affected because you already know me, but people who haven't met me before will think I'm just a normal girl." Her frown doesn't change, though, and she sighs.

"If you can convince Shari that it works, fine. Just … please, no repeats of yesterday." You huff at her.

"Fine, I'll make sure to remember to tell the responsible people to make sure they have approval for me to use dangerous magic when they ask me to demonstrate the dangerous magic to them." She winces and starts to raise a hand, but you spin around and start running toward the parking lot entrance - a normal human run, something that won't stop her from calling out to you if she wants to … but she just lets you go. You keep running until you're at the door, looking out at the cars. Now you just have to wait for Shari ….

Of course, fifteen minutes isn't that long, all things considered. "You're ready to go?" You turn and nod at the bespectacled woman, then push open the door and walk out into the sun. "You don't want a coat or something to cover your wings?" You shake your head.

"That's what the mask is for," you reply, keeping any trace of annoyance out of your voice. She seems to believe you, though - or else she doesn't really mind the idea of having people stare at you because of your wings. She simply unlocks her car and gets in, letting you take the other front seat. "I went to see Juliette about Loki like you wanted," you say. "She said it was acting oddly, and that there was evidence of damage that probably shouldn't be there, but she has it right now and it's going to be fine." She laughs quietly.

"Yes, I heard from Ginga about your little incident yesterday. And … well, I am a bit sorry for forcing you to have it looked at, but …." You stare at her intently, but she just smiles and chuckles. "Oh, no - if what I think is happening, you'll find out soon enough, and if it's not, I don't think I should be giving you any ideas. Anyway," she continues, ignoring your intensifying glare, "what's this you're after? A piano?" You let your glare fade and nod.

"Yes. I'm a little worried, though, because Ginga wasn't sure if they have anything I want." If you're being fair, though, it's not that absurd that a completely different world wouldn't have pianos, at least anything besides specially-built pieces … hm, that's a thought if you can't find anything.

"Well, save worrying for after we look, and only if we don't find something you like." Entirely too sensible of her … but you nod at the advice anyway.

---

The first, closer, store doesn't have a piano. In fact, their selection of musical instruments is quite lacking in familiar instruments, with even their string instruments having different shapes than you're used to, and most having at least six strings. Shari seems quite surprised at Patchouli's mask actually working, and gets quite frustrated when you can't tell her how it works. Apparently, 'magic' isn't an acceptable response. Or maybe the frustration was because people referred to you as her daughter.

The second store at least has something of use, however. Two, in fact. The first is a smallish keyboard - electronic - with the wrong number and placement of keys, nevermind the wrong sound, but which the store owner claims can be 'reprogrammed' with different sounds. If that's true, it would be fairly simple and easy, and Shari believes him. It would just be a matter of finding the right sounds to 'upload' and getting them programmed in. You would, of course, lose some of the precision and presence of an actual piano, but it would also be a bit more convenient, and if you take it back to Gensokyo you could probably see if Lyrica wants it ….

The other interesting thing is a piano. An upright instead of a proper grand, but it's the right size, number of keys, and so on - it even has three pedals! What it doesn't have is the proper sound, and after some pleading with the shopkeeper you open it up to find out what's wrong. It turns out that the soundboard is patchwork, and a number of strings urgently need replacing. Retuning, at the very least, but you're pretty sure that no more than half the strings are actually suitable for piano work. The shopkeeper shrugs off your complaints, and not even his tone-deafness ameliorates your irritation with him - he ought to be able to tell that a patchwork instrument isn't going to perform very well!

And, of course, he's only letting you buy one, and not both. Once enough time has passed, and you're sure it won't be connected to you, you're going to have to come back here and make his last few hours extremely painful. But right now, you have a choice to make.


What do you do?

[ ] Get the keyboard; it's something simple and convenient.

[ ] Get the piano; it'll take a bit of work to make it usable, but at least it's a real instrument you can care for. And maybe you could give it to Lutecia when you leave!

[ ] There is one more store Ginga told Shari about … maybe it has something worth getting?

[ ] It's not worth the frustration of not being sure …
- [ ] Get one purpose-built to your specifications.
- [ ] See if you can get Fate to let you go to Earth to get one.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: The keyboard is something that Flan could at least play as soon as she gets back to Long Arch, although getting piano sounds would take another day or two (and she'd never be entirely happy with it). Refurbishing the piano would take about a week. Building one from scratch would take at least two weeks for a moderate quality piano ('workmanlike' upright) that Flan would be willing to play (getting one that actually suits her standards would be at least a couple months). And if you want to try getting Fate to let Flan go to Earth, put together a good argument.

[X] There is one more store Ginga told Shari about … maybe it has something worth getting?
- [X] If it has nothing worthwhile, get the old Piano.


"Shari, how far is it to the last place Ginga mentioned?" She frowns and checks something before shrugging.

"Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe?" You nod and turn back to the shopkeeper.

"If I can't find what I want there, I'm going to come back here and buy the piano. Can you hold off selling it to anyone else for two hours? That will give me plenty of time to see if they have anything and then come back here." He shrugs, apparently barely caring whether you come back or not.

"Two hours? Sure, I won't even show it to anyone." You smile and bob your head appreciatively. You're still going to come back sometime and kill him very slowly. You practically drag Shari along with you as you leave the store. "So where are we going now?" She sighs.

"Hmm … the 'Four Sisters' Music Hall.' I guess it's a family business?" You nod absently and slide into your seat, preoccupied with thoughts of the piano and what you'll need to fix it up. The soundboard, certainly, and the strings. The keys looked fine, but you'll need to put it through its paces - you'll have to really open it up to see what's wrong. At least you didn't see any mold or bug damage ….

You look up as Shari pulls into a parking lot. She keeps staring at a good-sized white building - stone of some kind - and you study it, nodding approvingly. It seems to be an actual shop, rather than a room located inside another structure, and it's definitely at least well-to-do. Your hopes rise and you skip ahead of Shari to see what they have, only to stumble to a halt as you see an organ. Big, too, and very well cared-for.

"I don't think we can put that in Long Arch, Flandre," Shari says from behind you, and you huff indignantly as a woman walks toward you, smiling. She's a bit older, her red hair going grey, but she smiles cheerfully at you and Shari … and she's wearing the Saint Church's attire. 'Four Sisters' indeed!

"Hello! I am Sister Mary Robert. Welcome to the Four Sisters' Music Hall. Are you looking for anything in particular?" You nod and look past her farther into the shop, but all you can make out are a few more organs.

"Um, yes, Sister Mary - do you -" Shari breaks off at the sister's raised hand.

"I'm sorry, but it really is better if you call me by my full name. We're all named Mary, you see," she says, looking almost embarrassed, but still happy. Still … while you can understand her wanting to make sure we know which Mary we're talking to, is it really so important to use her full name when talking to her? Shari seems a little confused, too, but acquiesces.

"Er … yes, Sister Mary Robert. Do you happen to have any pianos for sale?" She frowns thoughtfully.

"A piano …? Hmm, not that I can think of. We mostly do organs, but Sister Mary Lazarus would remember if we have anything in storage. This way, please." She leads you into the store as Shari frowns, even more confused.

"These … these are pianos, right?" You shake your head quickly, before the sister can turn around.

"No, they're organs. They may look similar, but where the sound on a piano comes from the string being struck by a hammer, the sound on an organ comes from the pipes They tend to have multiple manuals and a pedalboard. They're very complex and the bigger ones can imitate a variety of other instruments, but they aren't pianos. I've only gotten to play around with one once, but it was a really big one, and pulling out all the stops was really fun …." The sister turns and gives you a curious look before nodding at Shari.

"Your young sister is correct, Miss. Oh, there's Sister Mary Lazarus." She waves excitedly and rushes toward a much older woman. "Sister Mary Lazarus! These two ladies were wondering if we had any pianos for sale." The old woman frowns and stares at you for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, no - sold our last one a few years ago. Nice young man, wanted a present for his granddaughter." She laughs gently at the memory and you shake your head at Shari's wide-eyed stare.

"So you don't have any pianos?" Best to make sure … but at the old woman's headshake you sigh. Well, at least you'll be getting a piano, even if you have to put in a bit of work to get it usable. You curtsy to the shopkeepers. "Thank you for your assistance. I would love to see the rest of your selection some time, but we have other business today." Sister Mary Robert looks like she wants to protest, but her superior merely nods.

"Of course, of course. You're welcome any time we're open." You wave and turn back toward the entrance. Shari glances at you, at the sisters, and then turns to follow you.

"I'm still not sure what the difference is …," she says and you scowl back at her.

"Method of operation, ease of use and maintenance, and instrumental capability. If you really want me to explain it, I'll have to get technical." She grins and opens the car door.

---

By the time you were halfway back to the second store you visited, she had already started asking you to stop. That worsened your mood more than it already was, but perhaps that was a good thing, because it meant you weren't afraid to push Shari aside to haggle with the shopkeeper over the piano's price. You managed to get him down to something vaguely reasonable, although how much was due to your stated willingness to simply have one custom-built and how much was because of your threat to have him investigated for trying to cheat a Bureau Contract Mage, you aren't sure. He definitely wasn't happy about having to sign the statement of damage, either, even after you pointed out that it protected him by making it plain that the piano had known issues. Whether that protection really outweighed the fact that he was trying to sell something barely better than junk at nearly extortionate levels ….

Still, ruined as it is, you now have a piano. You look up at the roof - completely unnecessarily, of course, as your clones are holding it in place and you know where they are - and sigh. You'll probably find something else to complain about during your inspection, but right now you're thinking about where to get replacement parts. The Four Sisters' probably have some contacts you can use, if you ask nicely, but maybe you should look up some specialists on your own? Particularly for the soundboard, it might be better to ask a tree specialist … especially if this piano is native to Earth and not here or another world.

Shari, quiet all through the drive, pulls into the parking lot. "It really stayed up there, huh?" You give her a short, superior laugh.

"Of course! When I tell a piano to stay, it stays!" Especially if you have your clones making sure! Not that she needs to know that - besides, if no one noticed you using your clones, then either they or the invisibility aren't traceable by whatever the Burea uses to detect magic use. Potentially useful information. "Thank you for taking me shopping, Shari." You smile and have your clones flicker to visibility beside you, curtsying, before they so carefully take the piano off the car. Shari's eyes widen as she connects the dots - very clever of her! - and you giggle before zipping away, pausing only to hold the door for the piano. And then the four of you whisk it away to an unused room that should have decent acoustics for a piano and you begin a much more rigorous examination. You find a few more faults, most notably the springs that return the hammers to their resting positions are more worn for some keys than others. Additionally, you take copious notes on the physical aspects of the piano - the various dimensions of individual pieces, for example, for ease of ordering replacements.

Ginga and her charges wander in while you're working, too. "Geez. If you were gonna take it apart, why not just build one to begin with?" You sigh at Nove's question and shake your head.

"I actually considered that, but it would take at least a couple weeks, and that'd be for something like this - a piano that's actually decent would probably get finished as I was getting ready to leave. This'll probably still take a week or so, but that's mostly because that incompetent buffoon of a baboon's shopkeeper butchered the soundboard, and since that needs to be perfect - or at least really good - I'm probably going to have to involve a specialist at some point. Replacing the springs and the strings isn't that difficult, not unless the industry here is trash. And most of the exterior seems to have been mostly taken care of, although whoever was in charge of it could use a few weeks actually learning how to clean." You sigh again.

"Would you like some help with this?" You shake your head at Cinque.

"No! No, no - in fact, it's really for the better if you don't touch anything. I'm going to be fussy about details. Ah, good," you say, ignoring the others for the moment as your clone comes in with some cleaning supplies. You divide them up - you aren't going to need the metal cleaners, for example, because you'll be replacing them almost entirely - but the wood cleaners and oil are going to be very handy. Ginga shakes her head.

"You seem … different, going through all this," she says, frowning. You wait a moment, in case she wants to continue, then shrug indifferently and begin taking the keys out of the piano.

"Of course I'm different about this than most things. This is important."


What do you do?

[ ] Call the Four Sisters' Music Hall and see if they'll let you use their contacts to help repair the piano.

[ ] Look for assistance on your own.

[ ] The piano's here and not going anywhere. Give it some time to recover.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: So, I'm slightly kind of exhausted, which is the reason for the early post. I hope no one's too bothered by it. :hug: