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

[X] Let them sleep for a while.
- [X] After they're asleep, go talk to Fate, Nanoha, and Vita.


You shake your head and rub the tops of your friends' heads. "Okay, you two, time for a nap." Ilya just makes a disgruntled noise and tries to burrow against you; Lulu shakes her head.

"I'm no-aahhhm - not tired. Don't neeee~ …." You shake your head again - she can't even finish a sentence without yawning. Too much excitement for them? … Or are they just, combined with the warmth, coming down from the heightened emotion of Ilya's revelation? Probably a little bit of both …. Your clones dart out of you; two of them collect towels, while the other helps you get your friends out of the bath. Ilya nuzzles against your chin, but Lulu just makes a contented sound and sinks to the floor, letting your clones keep her stable. Once they're dry, instead of their old clothes, you fish out a pair of warm bathrobes from a cabinet; Lulu practically falls asleep as your clone finishes belting the robe around her, but Ilya manages to keep herself a bit more aware.

"Wanna sleep?" You pause, then nod.

"I do, but I need to check on something, first. Maybe in a bit?" She pouts. "I know, Ilya. You don't mind sleeping with her?" For a moment, as your clones carry your friends out of the bathroom, you think Ilya succumbs to sleep, too.

"My room," she mumbles, and you nod, following your clones into the suite. You tuck them into the bed and dismiss the clones, then give each of them a light kiss on the forehead. Lulu turns toward you - and Ilya - and Ilya snuggles into her. As she finally lets sleep overtake her, you think you hear something about a sister …. Yes, you're really glad they're getting along, now. Silently, you withdraw from the room and head down to the library.

"… Hello?" You could just send out your clones, or do something loud and flashy, but now that Koakuma has some assistants, you should be able to learn where they are without much fuss. And, sure enough, Deis strides out of an aisle as you walk down one of the pathways. "Deis!"

"Hey, Flan. Need something?" You nod and scamper up to her.

"I'm looking for Nanoha and Fate, and last thing I knew they were down here." Deis acts hurt.

"No one wants to see the old lady, is it? Only the younger girls. I see how it is -" She breaks off as you giggle and wrap your arm around her waist. "Oh, fine, you little munchkin. Yeah, they're still down here - want directions?" You shake your head.

"Could you walk me there?" She glances at you, then shrugs and smiles, nodding. "… I'm sorry I didn't warn anyone about you - I didn't even think about you meeting Zest." She laughs.

"Oh, don't worry - I was expecting a reaction like that. Although I'm not sure those two were really considering themselves a couple. Mostly seemed the fairy and the girl." You nod.

"I know Zest helped them when they were working for someone on Mid-Childa, and …" your mind casts back to an old picture Marino showed you once, "and I think Zest and Megane knew each other, but if that was just a professional relationship …. Hm. Agito, or at least Lulu could be expecting them to be together because she hasn't even thought that they might not be together, whereas if they knew each other for some other reason and weren't considering a romantic relationship then they would have considered being together. Hmm … well, they're both adults, so now that they've been pushed, they can make up their minds about how to proceed." Deis raises an eyebrow at you, but you just shrug. If they won't be happy together, then even if Lulu thinks she'd be happy with them together, their unhappiness will make her unhappy. "More importantly, I did get you a dress that I'm pretty sure fits you; would you like to wear it tonight?" She makes a delighted noise.

"Hmm! A new dress? Oooh, I hope it's one I like … ah, but there won't be any new men around, will there? Just Zest, right?" You tap your lips before shrugging.

"Well, if Tohsaka comes, she'll probably bring Archer, but more usefully - Remilia is planning on doing something political tonight, so some of the powers around here will be bringing their entourages. Oni are all pretty muscular, I think, and while most tengu are slender and quick, others can get pretty big. And, of course, even if no one suitable appears, you could just show off your figure. A lot of youkai can't do shapeshifting at all, and you're very beautiful." Deis laughs.

"Ooh, appeal to my vanity and my crueler side! That is an idea …." You chatter as she leads you through the library, mostly about how well she's fitting in and how much she likes it. You do consider asking her about the strange girl with Ershin, but you decide not to - surely you can give it another day or two of puzzling it out before asking for help. Eventually you reach a small conference area - Fate and Nanoha are looking over some scroll while Vita sits in a big comfy chair, stroking her little pet. Is it really that interesting?

"Ah, Flandre. Is something wrong?" Fate looks up as you walk into the conference area, shaking your head.

"No, I just wanted to talk about the next few days, if you have a moment." Vita keeps her eyes on you, but they're quite relaxed, not as sharp as they usually are when she watches you, and Fate and Nanoha sit up, nodding. You cock your head, looking at the scroll as you sit down across from them, but it just looks like some old-style Japanese official document. "Obviously, tonight we're having a party. Most people come for the food and to talk with other people, and some just for the music, but you'll probably see some spell card duels, too. It's a good chance to just meet some people - but I'll be really shocked if some people who know more than others don't try talking to you, first."

"And you'll be there, too, won't you?" Nanoha smiles at you, and you nod.

"Yes. Remilia will probably take some of the higher-ranked youkai to some other place to talk, so she probably won't be available for a lot of the night, but if you need something, I'll help if I can. Or Sakuya - it might be easier and faster to contact her, really, unless you need me to make someone back off. Sakuya's good at what she does, but she's still human, and a drunken belligerent youkai might need a heavier approach. … Not that I really expect there to be any problems - Reimu will be there, too, after all, and probably Marisa, and there usually aren't any problems at these parties, but everyone will probably notice that things are a lot different tonight than they usually are." And Aya, because she probably won't be taken to Remilia's meeting; really, there are going to be a lot of people there with an interest in keeping things calm. You see questions forming in Fate's mind and hold up a hand. "Reimu is the miko at the Hakurei Shrine, and her job is to make sure no one starts taking over Gensokyo; Marisa is one of the stronger local human magicians. The Hakurei Shrine is one of the places we'll be visiting while you're here, so if I can I'd like to introduce everyone to Reimu and let her know who'll be coming. Remilia should already have sent her a notice, but …." Nanoha and Fate both nod. "And since it's on the way, more or less, that day we'll probably also visit the Human Village."

"Why do you call it the Human Village?" You frown at Vita's question, then shrug - really, you aren't sure why the humans haven't given it a proper name after all this time, especially if it was around before Gensokyo was sealed ….

"Probably just for convenience's sake. I'm not sure if there are any youkai villages around - I don't think so - but it's good to make sure that everyone knows who's being talked about, right?" She grumbles something, then smiles down at her lap and scratches a particular area of her tribble with one finger, and it whistles appreciatively. "We'll also be visiting the Myouren Temple, although I don't know anything about that place, and the Forest of Magic, but those will probably be on different days. The Forest can get a bit dangerous, but mostly you just need to be careful. And we'll also be visiting Hakugyokurou, in the Netherworld." Of course, that gives them pause, and you nod, smiling. "I'll point Yuyuko out to you during the party, if I see her, but she is a friendly person, especially for a friend of Yukari's." Fate still looks a bit nervous, but Nanoha smiles.

"It seems like you have a lot planned out for us." You shrug and shake your head.

"I really don't know that much about everything; Sakuya is probably the one in charge of all the planning," you make a note to yourself to ask her about everything sometime in the next day or so, "and I've only been to the Hakurei Shrine a couple times." You click your tongue and shake your head. "But like I said, that'll all be spread out a bit, so you can get some rest and relax like you're supposed to. Tonight we're having a party. You have the right things to wear, right?" Nanoha smiles nods.

"Yes, we received letters informing us of the dress code, so we made sure to bring something. Even Vita is dressing up, isn't that right?" You look over at the knight, and even though she ducks her head, you can see that her cheeks are redder than her hair. That should be a treat, at least ….


What do you do?

[ ] Keep talking to Fate and Nanoha.
- About?

[ ] Go back to Ilya and Lulu and take a nap.

[ ] Go talk to Remilia about Ilya.

[ ] Other?