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

[X] Finish up with this garden, then head to the other one.
- [X] Stay along the side of the mansion.


Ilya looks down at the chiming, glowing plant for a few more moments, then leans back, frowning. You tilt your head curiously, but she shakes her head and smiles at you. "It does seem kind of annoying to listen to, doesn't it?" You grin and nod energetically.

"Come on, we're almost done with this side!" Ilya and her servants follow you as you wind around to catch a few more groups of flowers. Sella catches a glimpse of some of the roses and nearly throws a fit. Apparently you're not supposed to have blue, red, and green roses all growing on the same plant. When she realizes that she's the only one terribly bothered by it, however, she turns rose-red herself and tries to pretend it didn't happen. Ilya gets a great laugh out of it, though. Then you start leading them around the mansion, staying under the veranda and out of the sun.

"Is there anything interesting in the forest?" You shrug and turn around so you're floating backwards.

"I'm not sure. I mean, there are trees, and some paths that go around inside it, but I'm not sure if there's anything else. No hidden Japanese-style houses back there that I know of, or anything like that." Ilya nods and keeps looking out at the forest. "Do you want to explore it?" She shakes her head.

"Do … do you know if there are any walnut trees?" You blink at the quiet question.

"I … I think there are. I'm pretty sure we just took everything that was within the wall when we came here, so if there were any, they should have come with us. There are a few other forests in Gensokyo, though, and even if they're Japanese trees, I think there are walnuts around somewhere." You lean close, startling her. "Do you like walnuts?" She smiles sadly and shrugs. You pat her shoulder and shrug back, smiling, when she seems to have trouble voicing her thoughts. It's not important - and if it is, you can wait until she knows what she wants to say.

"Lady Flandre, what is that?" You look over at Sella, then across the lawn to what she's staring at. Part of the grass - a fairly large part, really, midway between the mansion and the forest - is badly torn up from something recent. You fly over, glaring up at the sun as you increase your altitude to see the whole thing from above. Some of the gouges and furrows are parallel tracks, others a single line cutting through the grass, and others look like the ground was simply blasted up. Frowning, you descend again. It smells … oh, right. You tap your forehead and fly back to Ilya and the others.

"That must be from the duel that Remilia was overseeing yesterday." Ilya frowns at the partially-restored devastation, but Sella keeps watching you.

"Is that not the purpose of danmaku?" You spread your arms and nod.

"Some people don't like danmaku, others aren't any good at it - and others just hate each other so much that they're willing to kill each other. That's probably one reason no one's going to do anything to her anytime soon. Not everything can be solved with a danmaku game, and Remilia's a neutral arbiter for when that happens. And no one cheats, because she's powerful enough that even if she can't beat both duelists at once, if she joins one then that one will definitely win." Ilya nods and looks sort of relieved. That, at least, is something she's used to.

"So who won?" You snort and shake your head.

"I don't even know was fighting, Ilya! I mean, there were two, almost certainly, and one of them was probably unarmed and fought with claws, but apart from that …." You shrug. "And it's not the sort of thing we should ask Remilia, either - to keep potentially-lethal combatants away from everyone else is only part of the reason they're held back here." Another nod of understanding, and you grin as you continue on to the other garden. This one isn't as formal as the other - rather than paved walkways and ornamental (and functional) fountains, this one has few structures and fewer real 'improvements.' The 'paths' are simply places where the grass is more heavily trodden than other places, and plants aren't set in their own concrete beds, but are simply set apart from others.

"How … if I ask how these gardens are kept, you are going to tell me to ask Miss Hong, aren't you, Lady Flandre?" You giggle and nod at Sella. She actually pouts as she looks around and touches the leaves of a short, big-leafed plant.

"Jealous." Sella shoots upright at the insidious whisper, and all three of you turn to look at Leysritt. She simply tilts her head, as if confused by your reactions, and cover your mouth and turn away. A few seconds later, when you're sure you haven't heard shouts or the sound of magic or Berserker being unleashed, you turn back. Ilya isn't quite as good as you at keeping her laughter in check, but Sella has simply turned away from everyone, a stern expression on her face. Shaking your head, you gather everyone and continue strolling through the garden. It doesn't take Sella long to unwind, and soon she's back to studying the plants. Much like in the previous garden, Ilya doesn't seem to be interested in the plants so much as simply being outside and out of the mansion. You're quietly glad that the suite she'll be getting has a large balcony - and even if she takes a while to learn how to fly, Berserker shouldn't have any trouble getting her up or down!

"Lady Flandre." You blink and turn to see Sakuya standing a short distance from you, a large wicker basket hanging from one arm. It hasn't been that long since breakfast … she sees where you're staring and shakes her head. "Ah, this is for Meiling. If you want to have an outdoor meal, I can arrange it …?" She trails off and you glance at Ilya. She hesitates, seemingly nervous all of a sudden, then calms herself down.

"No thank you, Sakuya. At least, not right now." Sakuya bows.

"Of course, Lady Illyasviel. Lady Flandre, it seems that Milady will be gone for a longer period than she had anticipated. There is nothing that particularly requires attention in the immediate future, but I thought it best you know." You blink before nodding. It shouldn't be a problem … not unless there's some sort of emergency, or if the other shrine maiden decides to raise a fuss about what happened to her, but that shouldn't happen. And if something does happen and they need Remilia and not you - well, Patchouli should be able to bring her back for a little bit. If nothing else, whatever she's doing can't really be as important as what happens here!

"Thank you, Sakuya." She bows again and turns to leave.


What do you do?

[ ] Keep walking through the garden.
- [ ] Then go see Meiling.
- [ ] Then head back inside.

[ ] Go with Sakuya to Meiling.

[ ] Go inside now.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: As I said before, the next update won't be until Saturday.

[X] Go with Sakuya to Meiling.


You decide on your course of action by the time Sakuya takes her second step. You wave for Ilya to follow you and scamper up to the chief maid. She frowns as you take up position beside her. "Lady Flandre, what are you doing?" You grin mischievously.

"We're following you, of course." She looks back and her frown deepens.

"Weren't you showing Lady Illyasviel around the grounds?" Ilya giggles from behind you.

"It's probably a good time to take a break from that, actually. If we go too much longer, Sella's going to ask for some space to make a garden for herself and try to compete against Meiling."

"Lady Illyasviel …." You look back to see Sella's normally imperious face covered by a pleading expression. It actually takes some effort to avoid snickering, but you manage it.

"Besides, they haven't met Meiling yet, and we can't leave her out!" Sakuya sighs. Ilya catches up to you as you take a particular path through the garden. You lean closer to her as you float along and stroke her hair a few times, but mindful of last night, you stop before getting too invested. She looks a little hurt, then shakes her head, smiles, and then tosses her head, nose turned up. You snort and reach out again, but Ilya ducks her head to the side, evading your grasp. You mock-scowl at her and spend the rest of the garden silently making attempts to grab Ilya, only for her to slip away each time. After your first couple tries, Sakuya and Sella exchange glances – some sort of maid code, perhaps? You'll have to get Satsuki to explain what those are – and shake their heads minutely. Leysritt, of course, displays no such sentiments regarding your and Ilya's activities.

You find Meiling leaning casually against one of the stone posts when Sakuya opens the gate. She nods her head to the chief maid and gives you wide smile, but when her attention focuses on Ilya and her servants she forgets herself and stares at them, studying them, for several seconds. "Meiling." Sakuya interrupts whatever she was doing before you can, but you're surprised at them – Meiling for being rude, and Sakuya for taking so long before intervening. She smiles apologetically at your frown.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lady Flandre, Lady Illyasviel. I guess I was thinking with my stomach too much." You scowl at her as she bows her head in apology, but Ilya just looks a little interested.

"Have you ever eaten a human?" Meiling nods as a stern-faced Sakuya hands the basket over to Meiling.

"Thank you, Sakuya. Yes, I've eaten humans before, but that was a long time ago; I don't touch them anymore." You still stare at her suspiciously, but then she snaps her fingers and looks over at you. "Ah, Lady Flandre? If you could cover your nose for a bit?" Your frown remains on your face, but you obediently cover your face Even through your impromptu mask your mouth begins to water as you smell the garlic. Ilya covers her mouth, too, although it seems more likely that she just doesn't like such a strong smell. Sakuya looks down the path as Meiling folds herself into a sitting position and starts eating her soup. "Is there anything I can do for you, Lady Flandre?" You nod quickly and your wing taps Ilya's shouder.

"First, this is Illyasviel von Einzbern, my friend, and her two servants. Ilya, Sella, Leysritt – this is Hong Meiling, gate guard and gardener of the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Ilya and Meiling trade nods.

"So you're responsible for all the plants out here?" Meiling smiles at Ilya's tone and Sella's expression.

"Except for the forest, although I do go through every few weeks to make sure nothing's acting strangely." Sella's lips press together tightly and Meiling laughs. "I can manipulate the energy of living things, to a greater or lesser degree. Plants are pretty easy to handle, so I use that to make sure that they stay healthy and to keep track of where and how quickly they're growing." That doesn't seem to make Sella any happier, for some reason, but Meiling simply looks at Leysritt. "And Lady Flandre mentioned something about helping you recover your fighting skills if you wished for the assistance." She finishes slurping up the soup and changes to a large platter of chicken. You feel Ilya's eyes on you and try to smile – of course, you're still blocking your face as much as you can, for all the good that's doing. Then Meiling shifts focus and blurs to her feet. Her arm shoots out – and she catches a scroll that falls from a rift in the air. Your eyes narrow as Sakuya turns and takes the scroll from Meiling, and your frown deepens even more as she hands it to you.

"'To Lady Scarlet,'" you read. You don't recognize the hand, but considering how it arrived, it's almost certainly from Yukari or one of her subordinates. Of course, it's also presumably meant for your sister, but … you carefully undo the purple ribbon and unroll the scroll.

"Lady Flandre?" You sigh and shrug.

"It's a request for a meeting with you, Ilya. From the Hieda household." Ilya cocks her head, not knowing what that means, but Sakuya bows politely.

"The Hieda household is one of the wealthier families in the Human Village, but more importantly, I believe, is that it is home to Hieda no Akyuu, a scholar. She has the duty of recording the history of Gensokyo – we have the abridged and full compilations of the latest Gensokyo Chronicle, if you wish to read it."

"But considering how it arrived, it's probably Yukari's next idea to see if you're some kind of 'threat.'" And you're not a fan of the timing, either – just after Remilia decided to stay away for a few more days? A small part of you doesn't think that the Yukari could have met her, explained what she wanted, and had the scroll written in the time since Remilia left, which would mean that this is a legitimate request … but it's a very small, unconvincing part.

"May I see it?" You stare the scroll for another moment before nodding and passing it along. Ilya studies it for a while. "… Well, it's very politely written, and it does ask to meet me at my earliest convenience." You scowl anyway. It's just too convenient.


What do you do?

[ ] Send Sakuya to meet with Akyuu and establish the purpose of the meeting.

[ ] Go yourself to meet with Akyuu and establish the purpose of the meeting.
- [ ] After nightfall.

[ ] Shelve the letter until Remilia gets back.

[ ] Send a letter suggesting that Akyuu come to the mansion to discuss the meeting.

[ ] Suggest reading the (abridged) Gensokyo Chronicle so Ilya can get a feel for Akyuu's character and make her own decision.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: First thing – based on my schedule right now, it's a bit more likely that an update will happen on Tuesday than on Monday. As far as the update goes – and I'm sorry it's a bit sparse – Ilya doesn't really know what to think. The letter does imply that she would be visiting the Hieda residence, with all that implies. Also, disclosure: Had you not followed Sakuya, they would have gotten the letter and sent it on to Patchouli instead of handing it over to you; Patchouli would have held it until Remilia gets back. The letter is just a fairly basic 'Hello [Insert Name], I would like to meet you at your earliest convenience' type deals; it's not overly complicated or anything, just a fairly normal message.

[X] Suggest reading the (abridged) Gensokyo Chronicle so Ilya can get a feel for Akyuu's character and make her own decision.


"Shouldn't we ask the Mistress?" You blink and turn your frown on Meiling as Sakuya's cheeks color.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I meant to tell you - Lady Remilia will be unavailable for a while. Lady Flandre is the Lady of the Mansion." Meiling stares at her for a moment, then her eyes slide onto you for a moment. She nods once.

"Oh. I see." She smiles as you start to bristle at the curt response. "Congratulations, Lady Flandre. I'm sure your sister is glad that you're taking an interest in running the Mansion, and it's good that you're coming out of the basement again." Your mouth twists into a smile - on the one hand, you're glad to be getting some recognition, but on the other, you probably should follow her advice. Besides, it almost sounds like she's unhappy about something … but you can't exactly order her to tell you what's making her uncomfortable, not with everyone here right now.

"Thank you, Meiling." You frown thoughtfully as you tuck away your dissatisfaction and try to focus on the issue at hand. You could just accept the letter at face value, in which case there's no problem - even without Berserker, Ilya is personally far more powerful than the Chronicler, at least from what you know. But it's much more likely that it's actually from Yukari. In that case, it might be better to send Sakuya to have a chat with the Chronicler - or go yourself …. Something pokes the back of your head and you whip around.

"You were thinking about something silly, weren't you?" You frown at Ilya and shake your head. "Really? You weren't thinking about blowing this out of proportion and going yourself because you think someone was threatening me again?" You wiggle your shoulders.

"Well, I was thinking about going, or sending Sakuya, but that's because it's probably a trick of Yukari's." Ilya pouts for a moment before shrugging and sitting back in her chair.

"We could simply wait until the Mistress returns," Meiling says. "Unless it has some kind of secrecy clause or time limit, that shouldn't be a problem." Sakuya nods.

"Although if she is gone for a few days like she thought she might, it might be suspicious." You tap your lips thoughtfully.

"… Well, what is this Akyuu person like? Is she likely to be going along with some kind of plot against me?" You flutter your wings and tilt your head at Sakuya. She's met her before, right? But she doesn't seem able to make up her mind.

"What about the book she wrote - the Gensokyo Chronicle? We should be able to figure out a bit about how she thinks and what she wants from reading it, right?" Sakuya nods.

"That is reasonable. Shall I bring the latest edition?" You glance at Ilya, and after a moment she nods. Sakuya bows. "I shall return momentarily." She vanishes without even a whisper of sound, and you glance at Meiling. She smiles and shrugs before returning to her food. You shake your head and turn to Ilya after looking up at the sky.

"Ilya, this way." You have her follow you to the other side of the path and then turn, then float behind her with the parasol over your shoulder.

"You know you could have just had Sella or Leysritt hold it, right?" You nod and grin.

"I could have, but then I wouldn't be able to read over your shoulder as easily." She shakes her head - and then a small podium appears in front of her, and a table to her side. You blink, wondering what Sakuya is doing, and then a book appears on the podium and a tea set on the table.

"I hope I haven't taken too long," the chief maid says apologetically, then hands another parasol to Sella. "Is there anything else you require?" Ilya shakes her head.

"Thank you, this is enough." She reaches out and opens the book, and the podium changes, extending closer to her so she doesn't have to lean forward. Is that something of Patchouli's? You read the foreword, but it's fairly useless - although you do look at the thickness of the book and try to figure out where her 'monologue' would be. Ilya clucks her tongue. "No skipping ahead, Flan." You descend slightly and rest your jaw on her shoulder. You read along silently as Ilya reads the entries on fairies and some of the more notable ones. She smiles a few times, but quickly passes the section. In fact, she spends almost as much time on the overview of Phantoms as on the entire Fairy section - so much so that tilt your head to look up at her, but she shakes her head and continues through the section. Your eyes narrow as you read through the Prismrivers' entries; the nature of their abilities, to affect the listeners … now you understand why Remilia kept an eye them whenever they came over, and why Merlin never even considered giving you a solo performance. The 'Youkai' entries are fairly interesting, if not particularly useful from what you understand, but after reaching the beginning of the Magician entries, Ilya pauses and sighs.

"Would you prefer to finish reading inside?" She looks up at Sakuya and shakes her head. You take the opportunity to pour her some tea and hold it up for her; she doesn't even notice that you're doing it.

"No, thank you. It's quite nice out here." She takes the teacup and sips it, nodding in satisfaction. After staring at the magician entry for a while, she sighs again. She sets the teacup back on the table and, grumbling unhappily, pages forward to the Vampire entry. You lean forward interestedly … but the entry on Remilia is pretty basic. For a book that purports to be a guide to avoiding difficulties with powerful youkai, it doesn't put a lot of thought into how to mollify your sister. You have to wonder how much input she got from Remilia and how much was from some other source … then Ilya turns the page. You snort disdainfully - as if you'd be so boorish as to carelessly destroy things with your power! Besides, you do have things you like to keep, like your pianos. Ilya shakes her head, too, then flips to the back of the book. After reading the Chronicler's Monologue, she closes the book and sits back, thinking. You float up and wait for her to order her thoughts. Finally the chair turns and she looks up to face you. "… Flan, you don't mind if I meet this person, do you?" You shake your head, frowning.

"No. Why would I?" Ilya blinks, then shakes her head and smiles apologetically. You float forward and gently bop her nose. "What, did Patchouli make a mistake? I should have let Remilia finish up …." Ilya snorts and shakes her head.

"No, no! I was just … I don't know." Her expression collapses into melancholy and you frown before settling on the ground in front of her.

"Ilya? Is something wrong?" She shakes her head.

"No, I'm … I'm just tired, Flan. I'm sorry. I just need to go get some rest." She shivers and the wheelchair turns and begins moving back toward the mansion as you stare, shocked. A white-robed figure hurries past you, and when she turns to bow you see that it's Leysritt. She follows Ilya, walking just behind the wheelchair, and you turn away. Sakuya looks disturbed, and Meiling is frowning grumpily, but - oddly enough - you find some solace in the worried expression on Sella's face.

"L-Lady Flandre … I am sorry. I do not know …." She trails off and bows deeply when you shake your head and wave a hand. It's fine. Something is bothering Ilya, and if she doesn't know … it's probably something that was in the book. You look back at it, still sitting on the podium, but you don't remember seeing anything that could have made her act this way.

"No, it's fine." Your own voice is quiet and unhappy. "Um, when you go with her, take the Chronicle with you, okay? She didn't finish reading it, after all."

"Yes, Lady Flandre. Thank you." She responds quietly, but when she doesn't move you turn to look at her and she flushes embarrassedly. "I … um, I do not wish to press, Lady Flandre, but - have you thoughts on this meeting?" You blink, taking a moment to unravel her question. Right. Ilya did say she wanted to meet her, and you said you don't have any problems with it, so all that's left is working it out. Easy.


What do you do?

[ ] You'll take her to the Hieda household yourself.
- [ ] Tonight, if she feels like it, or tomorrow.
- [ ] Tomorrow, after she's had a good night's rest and you can make sure the mansion is running smoothly.

[ ] You'll send a letter explaining that Akyuu will need to come to the mansion herself, as Ilya's mobility is even worse than hers.

[ ] You have no opinion right now.
- [ ] Whatever Ilya wants?
- [ ] Wait until Remilia gets back?

[ ] After Sella leaves:
- [ ] Stay and keep talking with Meiling.
- - About?
- [ ] Head back inside and keep an eye on Ilya. (Invisibly)
- [ ] Head back inside and see if Patchouli will let you see what Remilia is doing.
- [ ] Head back inside with Sakuya and see if there's anything you need to actually take care of.
- [ ] Take a walk.
- - [ ] Through a youkai-infested forest.
- - [ ] Along the lake.
- - [ ] See if the 'Fairy Kingdom' has collapsed yet.

[ ] Other?


DM Note: Wound up with more free time yesterday than I thought I would. I'm ... still not sure about this week, although after Thursday everything should be back to normal.