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

[X] Get something to drink, then show Ilya around with Lulu.


Instead of sitting at a table, you simply walk to the table with the drinks and look over what's available - juices, mainly, with some teas, and alcoholic drinks in the back. You pick out the best tea they have and pour a cup for yourself, and one for Ilya when she nods at your questioning look. Lulu pours a cup of something milder, but of course she adds a liberal amount of honey to it, and Agito scowls at you. Ilya looks around, more idly curious than anything more serious. "Should we find a place to sit or go for a walk?" You tilt your head for a moment, considering the question, then shake your head. Sure, some of the people here are important for Mid-Childa, but right now they aren't relevant to you or Ilya.

"Let's go for a walk, and we can show you around." Lulu nods and refills her cup, adding a bit less honey this time, and the three of you slowly shuffle toward the door. As you suspected, Fate frowns at your departure, but you just wave and make a shooing gesture, and Lindy pulls her back to the humans in the room. Nove and Wendi sit together against a wall, with a modest box sitting at a third spot. Agito looks like she wants to follow you, but turns and joins up with Zest and Signum instead. Lulu looks around, seeming more to be keeping track of everyone than loneliness or wanting to stay, but quickly moves into the hallway, holding the door for you and Ilya. "Thank you, Lulu. Now, let's see what's still the same." It shouldn't have changed much, if at all, of course - you haven't been gone that long!

You walk with them through the building, pointing out the medical area and the game room, the offices, and then you take them upstairs to see your old room. Ilya looks at it, unimpressed, and then pokes her head back out into the hallway for a moment. "… Your room is this whole floor, right?" Lulu makes a face, and you giggle and poke Ilya's nose.

"No, this was it. It's not like I needed anything bigger, anyway." She starts to respond and you press your finger against her lips. "Ilya." She blushes and looks away, and you glance at Lulu, who just sighs in relief and smiles.

"Well, what did you do for fun, then? Or did they just make you wait around unless they needed you?" You take a drink of your tea - the last of it, for now - and shake your head.

"There were a couple things I could do, apart from the games. Let's go see one of them right now." Ilya just nods and starts heading toward the door, but Lulu gives you a hopeful look, and you grin and wink. She claps her fingertips together, so very quietly, and you hold back a laugh as you catch up to Ilya. "So, what do you think of Mid-Childa so far?" She finishes her own drink and looks up at the ceiling as she thinks.

"… Magic is known and widespread, right?" You and Lulu nod, and Ilya shakes her head. "It's … weird. I keep thinking that things shouldn't be able to work like that, and that's affecting the way I think. I keep … looking for the ways things are wrong and improper, for something that will make everything fall apart." You share a look with Lulu, then call out your clones, who proceed to catch up your two friends - and the third catches the falling cups and takes them, with your own, back to the cafeteria.

"Well, let's get rid of bad thoughts for the moment, shall we?" You fly just above the floor and hurry down to the best room in the building - and, fortunately, your piano is still there. It would have been quite embarrassing if they'd moved it already. Lulu sniffles and wipes her eyes as your clone sets her down, and Ilya guides her to a bench to sit down. You press a few keys, listening for any changes in the sound, then sit down and begin to play softly, telling the story of the piano's purchase and restoration around the music. "… And now it's yours, Lulu. I do encourage you to learn how to take care of it yourself, but until then I, of course, will do what I can, and the company that works with the Four Sisters' Music Hall should be able to help, too." Lulu nods, blushing.

"I've been reading about piano maintenance, and I think with Mama's help I'll be able to at least figure out what is wrong if something happens." You smile fondly at her, and Ilya hugs her as you play another piece. You leave your hands on the keys for a moment after that, wondering if you should play a third, then shake your head and turn away from the piano.

"But I said there were a couple, didn't I? We played some of the games, once Satsuki got here, but there's something else that was pretty fun when I got to use it." Your clones sweep up Ilya and Lulu again, and you take them outside through the front entrance, carefully skirting the portal's location. Once outside in the cool evening, you and your clones fly up to the top of Long Arch. You point out the training field just outside, and the courses next to it, and the ocean, and then you point them toward the city, just to draw out the suspense. "And, you see that little island down there? That's the Simulator." Lulu leans forward in your clone's arms, and you follow her straining eyes - it looks like the four members of Fate and Nanoha's team are heading down there, accompanied by Shari. Hmm … that could be fun ….

"Simulator … what does it simulate?" You grin at Ilya and shrug.

"Anything they can program, apparently. Enemies, locations, anything they have the knowledge and desire to program - that also fits into their magic system or can be emulated with it or technology - they can reproduce for mages to practice against. It's almost like real combat, although it's most effective with a Device, since then they can program things to interact more safely." Ilya nods in understanding, and you sit down between them at the top of the building. Your clones tilt slightly so they lean against you - not that they needed the help, of course - and you look up at the night sky. Just one moon is visible right now, but the harsh lights from the city ensure only the brightest of the twinkling stars are visible, compared to the lavish tapestries of shining points you could see in Gensokyo. Perhaps in a few hours, when it gets truly dark …?

But you'll be far gone, by then.


What do you do?

[ ] Go to the Simulator and see what's going on.

[ ] Go back into the cafeteria. After all, Megane hasn't come out yet.

[ ] Best to say goodbye now instead of drawing things out. Head back home with Ilya.

[ ] Other?

[X] Go to the Simulator and see what's going on.


Eventually, you look back down. "Shall we go see them practice? Shari can explain anything Lulu or I can't." Lulu looks interested, but Ilya looks a bit skeptical - at least until the small island sprouts into a dilapidated town, and she leans forward, eyes wide. "Is that a yes?" She twitches, looking back at your smug grin, and starts to pretend that she isn't interested, then smiles and shakes her head.

"Yes, I'm curious. Let's see how it works." Your grin widens, and your clones adjust their grips on Ilya and Lulu before falling forward into a gliding flight toward Shari. You soar down just a little faster, land a little harder, and bounce forward, hovering just behind the engineer.

"Shari~! What's happening?" She jumps a little at the thump of your landing, but recovers well, turning with a smile on her face.

"Ah, Flandre, good evening. Lutecia-san. And …?" You nod to yourself.

"Shari, this is Illyasviel von Einzbern, Lulu and my friend. Ilya, this is Shario Finieno, a Device Meister." Ilya curtsies, and Shari bows politely before stepping back and to the side, to make sure she can keep track of what's going on while maintaining a polite conversation.

"Illyasviel-san," she says, nodding to herself. "Well, as you can see, the Forwards are going to be doing some training." You watch the screen as the group advances cautiously, the miniature silver dragon flying overhead while the Nakajima girl and Erio prowl forward and Caro walks alongside the other girl. All five of them seem to be quite alert, but you don't see any Gadget Drones in the broken-down town.

"Where are the Gadget Drones? And why are you using all these old wood and brick buildings instead of the big concrete-and-glass like you usually do?" Shari gives you a mischievous grin.

"Oh? You don't recognize it?" You frown at her, then study the environment a little more closely as Lulu starts explaining Gadget Drones and their AMF to Ilya - and, more importantly, how the Simulator can use their Devices to simulate it by adjusting the outputs of the Devices. You narrow your eyes and look back at Shari, but she smiles and shakes her head. "They don't know what they're getting into, but Teana wanted something tougher - and the only way the Drones are a threat now is if we either absolutely bury them or make enormous changes to their output. So -" The dragon's squawk cuts her off, and it launches a small fireball toward the shadows of an alley, startling a dozen brown night-demons into activity. Erio falls back, interposing himself between the night-demons and the rear line, while - according to the statistics screen - Subaru launches herself at the group. They're just weaklings, though, unarmored, scrawny, and carrying items that only barely qualify as weapons, and even unsupported she deals with them easily. Ilya tilts her head and studies the screen, then looks at the Simulator itself.

"How much control do you have over the interior environment?" Shari looks back at her and smiles.

"A lot. Gravity, pressure, temperature - almost everything can be manipulated, with the primary limitations being the safety of the individuals using the Simulator and the amount of power available to make those changes." Ilya narrows her eyes and stares at the Simulator; you focus your attention back on the 'Forwards' as the night-demons start moving in force - Teana seems to be the leader, directing the others, and Caro focuses on supporting her allies while the dragon launches warning blasts whenever it sees a new group. You shake your head; the brown night-demons are getting tougher, larger and actually carrying equipment, but they aren't even the real threat. And without the dragon in its full size, they don't have a good area-attacker. "What do you think, Flandre? Should I give them some help?" You snort and shake your head.

"No, not unless they ask for it. I want to see what they do." Shari bows her head as you stare at the screen, arms crossed, and Ilya and Lulu watch, too. More and more brown night-demons begin flooding in, and as Subaru and Erio start to withdraw, forced back by sheer numbers, sheets of fire begin spiraling down on the group, indiscriminately blanketing the area. Teana calls for Subaru to deal with them, and a gleaming blue path hurtles through the sky. As the brawler zooms along the path, Erio conducts a fighting retreat, his spear a blur backed by lightning as Caro creates great chains to bind and confine the night-demons - at least until a green night-demon attacks her from behind, instantly downing her. The dragon snarls in fury and dives as a second night-demon charges past the falling support mage, but Teana manages to get one arm up. The night-demon collides with her as it slashes her arm, but a point-blank shot defeats it, and the first night-demon capers in pain as the dragon blasts it with its tiny flames. Then it snarls at the dragon and spits, and the spray of vapor turns the poor creature's anger to pain. The night-demon is defeated by Teana, but now she can see the other night-demons cutting off their retreat. Letting her useless arm fall, she stands back up and orders the others to make their escape - back to the Simulator entrance, probably.

Erio either doesn't hear or ignores her command, and as Teana falls to a combination of reds and browns, he fights on until a green slips past his guard and cripples him, letting a surge of browns fall over him. Subaru fares better, and actually moves to escape, but an enterprising green manages to slash her leg, slowing her. Even so, she makes it almost halfway to their starting point before her glowing path flickers and she's forced to the ground. She smashes through the browns and reds that bar her path, using fists and feet and magic, and with but a hundred meters to go a dozen blue night-demons bind her with their watery magic and a pack of greens descends to finish her off. Shari sighs and shakes her head before tapping something on a screen in front of her, and the night-demons vanish and the fallen stand up, rubbing their false injuries. The first thing Teana does is call everyone to her location, and Subaru and Erio move toward her. "Would you like to explain things to them? Or do you want to show them just how far those things scale?" Your mouth twists at the question; it's not that you'd mind slaughtering the night-demons again, but working your way up would take a long time, and you're not the Bureau's mercenary anymore. They should have data from all the Devices, anyway, so Shari ought to be able to show them the most dangerous versions.

"I bet Berserker could win," Ilya says cheerfully, drawing a confused frown from Shari, and you and Lulu stick your tongues out at her almost simultaneously. She giggles in response. Besides, you should probably head back soon, and fighting the night-demons would take a while ….


What do you do?

[ ] Debrief the Forwards and explain about the night-demons.
- [ ] Then head back to the mansion.

[ ] Decline to debrief the Forwards and see if Megane is done with Cinque.
- [ ] Then head back to the mansion.

[ ] Other?