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

[x] That's enough snow-fun for today. Head back inside.
- [X] Let your friends rest and sleep.
- - [X] See if Nanoha has been through the galleries yet.


You toss the snowball away and look down at Ilya. She blinks up at you, then reaches her hands out for you, and when you grasp her arms she tries to pull you down beside her. Futilely, of course, and she pouts at you. "I know, Ilya, I know. But it's about time to head inside, isn't it?" She sighs and clambers to her feet; a snowball whizzes past your head and she glares in the direction it came from.

"Should we let the fairies keep playing?" You shrug and she scowls.

"It's probably easier to just leave them alone; they'll figure out that we've gone back in eventually, if Sakuya doesn't come for them first. And they didn't seem to be on-duty when Sakuya brought me to them in the first place." Ilya nods and looks around. Sella approaches with the others; Lulu is chattering excitedly about her mother's performance as Kyouko listens politely, smiling.

"Ah, Flan, Ilya! Did you see? Mama was amazing!" She rushes up to you and grabs your and Ilya's hands and pulls you excitedly. You smile, not wanting to interrupt her, and Megane quickly rescues you.

"Lulu?" Her daughter looks back at the questioning tone, and Megane smiles. "Flan, are we going to play another match, or do you think it's time to head back in?" Lulu pouts at you, but you nod in agreement with her mother.

"Back inside for now, I think. Wouldn't do to be too tired to properly appreciate tomorrow, after all, and we should be able to have some more snowball fights before everyone leaves." Megane gasps in mock betrayal, but Lulu squeals happily and throws herself around your neck. You look at Illyasviel, Kyouko, Agito, and Koakuma. "Are you four heading in as well, or are you going to try and herd fairies for the rest of the day?" Illyasviel snorts and shakes her head.

"I have enough trouble getting them to listen to me when I'm supposed to be telling them what to do," she complains, and Koakuma titters at her.

"And here I thought we'd fixed that problem. I guess it's back to Patchouli for more lessons, then~" A shadow crosses Illyasviel's face as the familiar links their arms and starts dragging her toward the mansion. "I'm sorry, everyone, but we're going to be busy for the rest of the day." You shake your head, then glance at Kyouko and Agito; they both shrug and follow you as the fairies continue their snow-based warfare.

"Can we go back to that room? It's cozy!" Ilya surreptitiously nods when Lulu can't see her, although you can't tell whether she's agreeing with the request or signifying that she doesn't mind. Either way, you nod, and your clones dart away to begin their tasks. Only one heads for the room, of course - the other two go prowling for Fate and Nanoha.

"It is cozy, isn't it? A nice warm fire, a view of the falling snow, snacks …." Lulu giggles and leans into you. You nod for Ilya to come along your other side and hug them tightly, ignoring the snickering sound coming from behind you. It's obviously your imagination.

---

You leave Ilya and Lulu curled up in thick blankets near the fireplace, snacks in easy reach - although Lulu looks ready to doze off any moment now. Megane is resting on a couch while Kyouko and Agito play what appears to be a variant of chess. You nod and quietly close the door before flitting through the halls, heading down to one of the parlors. You knock before entering, of course, even though the door is open; Nanoha's head jerks toward you, drawing looks of concern from Vita and Fate. You pretend to not notice. "Nanoha, Fate, Vita. Good afternoon."

"Ah, Flandre-chan. Is there something we can do for you?" Fate winces, and you pause, staring levelly at Nanoha - that's not usually the sort of thing a guest asks the host. Still, while she does look distracted, it doesn't look like anything is wrong.

"Actually, Fate said something to me about you wanting to go to the galleries. If you would like it, I can guide you through them. I know most of them pretty well, so if there's something specific you want to find, I probably know where it is if we have it." Nanoha looks a bit surprised, and Fate looks a little embarrassed when Nanoha looks at her.

"That would be great, Flandre-chan. Ah, Lutecia-chan and Illyasviel-chan …." You nod, smiling.

"We just finished some outdoor time and snowball fights, so they're curled up in a corner room … probably falling asleep, if they aren't already." Nanoha nods, looks thoughtful for a moment, then looks down at the papers on the table. "Do you want me to come back later?" Fate looks apprehensive, but after a moment Nanoha shakes her head and closes the folder.

"No, now is a good time." She stands up quickly, using a chair to steady herself, and Fate and Vita look worryingly at her before clearing their expressions. "Ah, do you have a gallery on local work? I mean Gensokyo, not Japan in general." You frown thoughtfully as you lead the mages toward the galleries, eventually shaking your head.

"I'm sorry, we don't. There are Gensokyo pieces in the Japanese galleries, as well as tengu work - and I'm sure Patchouli has local books as well as old copies of Aya's paper if you're interested in those." Nanoha nods absently but doesn't say anything, and a quick glance back at the other two shows them to be a bit more relaxed than they were in the parlor.

---

Despite her apparent interest in Gensokyoan artifacts, once in the galleries themselves Nanoha seems to ignore them. Instead, she looks at all the Japanese artifacts and questions you closely on how Remilia obtained certain pieces of art and equipment. Unfortunately, you can't help her much - you know the tengu were involved to some degree, because Remilia only got some pieces after meeting Aya, but not much else. Curiously, Nanoha seems to very much dislike the idea of just asking your sister, simply shaking her head when you suggest it.

When you take them through the European section, however, you're much better-able to help with her questions, and there are only a few items she's interested in that you're unable to place. Amusingly, she's quite surprised that you and Remilia never met certain famous individuals, and seems confused when you explain that you and Remilia didn't travel across Europe and so rarely met people who didn't come to Germany, and that some of the people she asks about died before you would have had the chance to, some you never heard about until later, and others just didn't interest you. You surprise her further by asking about some of the people you did meet, but that she had never heard of.

As you come to the end of the tour, you frown unhappily. Nanoha doesn't seem relaxed - if anything, she seems more jittery now than when she was in the parlor - and that's making Fate and Vita unhappy. Worst is that Nanoha is so absorbed in whatever she's thinking about that she hasn't noticed her companions' discomfort. There are a few things you can do, of course, but how well will she receive them …?


What do you do?

[ ] Directly ask Nanoha what's wrong.

[ ] Find Remilia, tell her about what Nanoha was interested in, and ask her if something happened last night apart from Yuuka's threat.
- [ ] Ask about visiting the Human Village.
- [ ] Ask her about Loki, in case she knows anything about its changes.

[ ] Suggest she talk to Patchouli; the magician isn't a doctor or a pharmacist, but she probably has something for nerves and relaxation.

[ ] Nanoha's an adult and can take care of herself, and she also has two other adults looking after her. You don't need to intrude on a private matter just yet.
- [ ] Piano practice.
- [ ] Join the cuddlepile.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: I keep forgetting to bring that up.

[X] Directly ask Nanoha what's wrong.


You sigh and shake your head. "Nanoha, what's wrong?" She looks at you, flustered, and starts to respond, then closes her mouth and looks away.

"Nothing's wrong, Flandre," Fate says, and you turn to stare at her. She meets your gaze unflinchingly, and you sigh again.

"Alright, then can you answer me another question? Why don't people believe me?" She frowns, confused, and you shrug carelessly. "It's … people just don't believe me when I say that I mean it when I'm trying to be helpful because they're my guests. Did hospitality just get obliterated in some war, and now people make their guests bring their own supplies? Or do people think I'm lying when I say that I want to help them?" Now Fate blushes and looks away, but Vita scoffs. You turn toward her, wondering what she is going to say, but Nanoha shakes her head.

"Fate-chan. Vita-chan." Vita slumps and looks away unhappily, and Nanoha tries to smile at you. "I'm sorry, Flandre-chan. It's … well, your sister is …." You nod and gesture toward some couches.

"Would it be easier if you sit down?" She nods gratefully and the three of them sit on two of the couches while you perch on one of the display columns, holding its enameled helmet on your lap. Nanoha remains quiet for a moment, collecting her thoughts, before looking up at you.

"Last night, your sister told us about the youkai that wanted to challenge us. She said that she was one of the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo, and that even if by some mischance you allowed us to fight her, that she would not permit it. Not unless we allowed her to heal me." You cock your head to the side, confused.

"Temporarily heal Nanoha. Because fixing her permanently would be more trouble than it's worth," Vita snarls, glaring at you, and Nanoha nods hesitantly.

"Several years ago, during a mission, I was attacked by a hidden enemy. I nearly died, and it took a lot of therapy before I could move properly again. … Not as much as it could have, I know. I was very lucky." She holds her hand against her chest, presumably where she was attacked, and stares at nothing, thinking about something else, before shaking her head. "But … I had had a habit of overstressing my body, and my magical ability didn't recover. I can't safely output as much magical power as I used to, and I run the risk of further damaging my magical capabilities if I overwork my body too much." You nod - Remilia is right, if Nanoha is risking that sort of thing, then there's no way she should fight Yuuka, because that would require maximum output. Even all three of them probably wouldn't be able to overwhelm her ….

"But what concerns us with Remilia … well, how she found out is a concern, but not a major one, all things considered. It's worrying that she knew, but it also wasn't something only the three of us knew about, so she could have found out some other way." She probably just scried it at some point, but you don't interrupt Fate. "What's more concerning is that … she didn't actually say she would heal Nanoha. She said that she would allow her to use an undamaged linker core for ten minutes. The natural reading, of course, is that she's referring to a kind of temporary healing, but … Illyasviel and Rin." You nod thoughtfully.

"You're concerned that what she might mean is that she'll find an alternate Nanoha and temporarily swap their linker cores, right?" Nanoha nods. It's certainly something your sister would consider ….

"But there's also what Vita mentioned," Fate continues. "It would only be temporary, because making it permanent would be more trouble than she wants to go through. If it's 'just' a swap of linker cores, why would making it permanent be the more troublesome option? There has to be something more to it, but without knowing more about your sister and what she can do, it's hard to come up with an answer." You stare thoughtfully down at the helmet for a while before looking back up at them.

"Have you considered asking her what it would entail?" Nanoha and Fate both look uncomfortable.

"It … I've almost … gotten used to this," Nanoha says, stumbling and mumbling most unconvincingly, and you give her a look. "And it feels like it would be rude to ask what she's doing." Fate and Vita both look like they're thinking what you're thinking - that making sure your sister isn't going to do something objectionable to Nanoha's body isn't rude - but if Nanoha is being stubborn, one more person isn't going to change her mind. "Besides, actually learning that would mean that we would have to report it, however it's done, back to the Bureau," Nanoha finishes quietly, and you think you understand a bit better. If they don't say anything - if they avoid Remilia and Patchouli and never learn their limits - then they avoid a potential fracture point in the already diminished Bureau. Considering what it's been through, it's unlikely that anyone unscrupulous would be able to do anything, especially since they would still need your sister's help, but letting out that information could be devastating. … If it's true, anyway. There are other possibilities, including the most likely: that she would simply be using her abilities to temporarily restore Nanoha's linker core.

"You do know that Remilia will be coming along on our visits, right? You can't just avoid her forever, and if you're worried about being rude, then you should be aware that this sort of atmosphere you're creating - edgy and wary - is rather rude, especially to the head of the household." Nanoha and Fate nod.

"We know, Flandre. And we'd like to get things resolved somehow by tonight, it's just … difficult to come to a decision."


What do you do?

[ ] Memory modification can be tricky, but Patchouli ought to be able to pull it off. Suggest they talk to her about it.
- [ ] Then see what your friends are up to.
- [ ] Then take a nap by yourself.
- [ ] Then go see how Homura is doing.
- [ ] Then see your sister:
- - [ ] Ask her about your visiting the Human Village with everyone else.
- - [ ] Ask her about Loki, in case there's anything she knows about it.

[ ] There really isn't anything to be done; just give them time to come to terms with the fact that your sister is amazing.
- [ ] Then see what your friends are up to.
- [ ] Then take a nap by yourself.
- [ ] Then go see how Homura is doing.
- [ ] Then see your sister:
- - [ ] Ask her about your visiting the Human Village with everyone else.
- - [ ] Ask her about Loki, in case there's anything she knows about it.

[ ] Other?