[X] Agree to help with the blood-spilling, and offer to carry her around the city to speed things up.
Lutecia shifts uncomfortably at your silence, maybe reading something else into your hesitation, and you step forward and pat her head, a smile on your face. "Of course I'll help, Lutecia. Why wouldn't I?" She looks grateful and hesitant at the same time, and you lean into her. "Don't worry; we'll get you to your mother, safe and sound, and you can tell her about your adventures. She'll take care of you if you're hurting or worried, okay?" She nods slowly and gives you a slight smile. "Now, it's time for breakfast, so go sit down and I'll make sure everything's ready."
"Yes. Thank you, Flandre." You grin at her as she leaves, then get everything out. Plates, glasses, napkins … to keep things fair, you don't use your clones, and it takes you a few moments to get it all together. You catch Agito as she wanders into the dining room and stick your tongue out at her. Once everything's ready, you take it all into the dining room. They do taste a little odd, because the dough you used isn't the proper kind for something like this, but the counterfeit strudels are well-received by the judge, and you preen.
"… So, Lutecia told you about our little excursions for the next few days?" Agito courteously waits until breakfast is finished to talk business, and you nod as the magician wilts.
"Yes, she did. I … have a proposition about that, actually," you say. Agito frowns and Lutecia looks up quizzically. "Um, so you two were going to walk around to set up the boundary, right? Would it be okay if I helped? I could carry Lutecia, flying around, so it should shorten the amount of time you'd need to work, right?" Lutecia seems stunned at your offer, and Agito blinks in surprise.
"It … um, it would, actually. We'd figured a few days because we'd have to walk around a lot, and since flying would let us cut corners …." She shakes herself and glances at Lutecia. "What do you think, Lulu?" Lutecia looks down at the table for a long moment, then nods quickly.
"Please, Flandre." You smile and hop out of your chair to curtsy gracefully. She still looks unhappy, but you won't know just how she feels until you see her reaction.
"Of course, my friend." She jumps a little, shocked by either your gentle tone or your choice of words, but you pretend not to notice. "When did you want to leave?" It's still early, but the faster you get started, the sooner you can do things. Lutecia shakes herself from her stupor and takes a breath.
"As soon as we can all get ready," Agito says, and Lutecia nods determinedly. You smile, both at their decision and Lutecia's attitude. If you can give her something to do, she'll feel better.
The three of you left almost immediately, delaying only to retrieve the map of key locations they'd made and for you to put the rest of the strudels and a travel tea set in a small basket for lunch. Then you carried Lutecia and Agito carried the basket as you moved north to set up the first point of the boundary. It wasn't outside the city limits, but it was apparently near the border of Mami's claimed territory, as far as they could tell, and the buildings were older and not as well-kept in some parts. From there, you moved east to the river, forming the first solid anchor of the spell. They would not be passing the river, and you agreed with their reasoning - as the spell was used by Remilia and taught to you, the possibility of the river disrupting the ritual's effect had to be taken into account.
Lutecia grows more tired from setting the anchor points than the lesser points, and while your aid lets her rest between setting the points, each point takes longer than its predecessor, and you wonder if they would have been able to keep to their schedule if they had to transport themselves. Part of the problem is undoubtedly the large area covered by the spell, but you're sure some of it is that Lutecia can't use that style of magic very well - not yet, at least. When you reach the rail bridge, you insist on stopping for lunch, and then you and Agito let her take a nap. You aren't particularly thrilled with the amount of sun you're being subjected to, but you can simply drink more blood to deal with that particular problem. Human observation is the one you're more concerned with, but as is so often the case, humans simply don't look up. There are times when you feel it's safer to walk at ground level, or to wait for a crowd to disperse, but for the most part, you're safe to move more-or-less as you wish.
As you fly, you chat with them about Gensokyo, about its denizens and features. You can only give them second- and third-hand information on some of the places, but you're able to give them lots of information on the major residents, thanks to your sister's frequent parties. The magicians in the Forest of Magic, the tengu and kappa of Youkai Mountain, some of the more adventurous humans, representatives of the youkai factions that use the Mansion as a meeting ground to settle their disputes under the watchful eye of a neutral arbitrator - or at least one that is biased against both parties equally. It helps to pass the time, and Lutecia seems truly interested.
Setting the points takes longer and longer, and Lutecia needs more rest between setting the points to even start the next one, but she insists on continuing, even as twilight turns to dusk and full night. Agito grows more distressed at her desperate insistence on finishing before returning to Homura's, but it's nothing you haven't seen - or experienced - before, and you simply keep her from doing anything too foolish. She wants it set and done so she doesn't need to go out later and try to mesh spells from different times, which is perfectly reasonable. Finally, however, she finishes, then works through each point and anchor point, making sure they're stable and will last - then allows herself to succumb to sleep, and you take her back to Homura's. You wait in the library as Agito tucks her in. The fairy finally walks in and sighs.
"I'm … not sure if I'm as grateful as I thought I'd be," she says, and you frown. "No, I mean, I appreciate your help, but … she got a little weird, and now I'm worried about her." You nod.
"Mm. Why make such a big area to cover? She shouldn't need that much energy, should she?" Agito shakes her head and shifts to her smaller size.
"No, although we thought it might be a concern. She's going to set the spell and channel all the power into it - it should rip the hole open once enough energy's been absorbed. We just couldn't decide on how to go about it …." You frown.
"I'll be taking care of that part, won't I?"
"Er, yes, I meant … okay, so Lulu's probably going to want to do it tomorrow, regardless of what shape she's in, and she can't keep it up for more than a few days before we'd have to replace it anyway, but we weren't sure on when and where. Start the ritual at night? We'd get better results going after residential areas, or the hotels. Do it during the day, and the entertainment or business areas would work better. And Lutecia … she couldn't bring herself to make a decision, and this is eating at her enough, so I didn't want to force it." She sighs and gives you a frustrated look. "So, as long as you give us enough warning to get set up, timing and targets are up to you. Just …." You nod.
"Yeah, I'll … try to avoid killing people. Lutecia wouldn't like it." Agito shakes her head again.
"It's more that she's starting to wonder whether her own happiness, her own goal, is worth all the harm she'll have to inflict on a lot of innocent people. You never tried to push her into doing anything, so she thought you wanted to stay here - but then that business with Karen and Kirika happened, and she finally worked up the courage to get this over with." She gives you a pointed look. "What I was going to say is, 'don't screw this up.' I'm not sure she could do this again, at least not here." You frown.
"Everyone's supposed to die in a week or so anyway, right? At least this way their deaths will be productive." Agito stares at you, then frowns.
"That's … a distinct point. The first part, anyway … and weren't you looking forward to fighting that Witch?" You shrug.
"Yes, but, I read some of Homura's notes. Weather manipulation and storms." It takes a moment, but then Agito figures it out. "And there's making sure nothing happens to Lutecia, and since it seems to like throwing buildings around, that might be hard to do." Agito grimaces.
"I bet you feel like this has been a bit of a wasted trip, huh? No fun fights, and some bad things happened to you." She seems to be trying to console you, and you smile at her.
"Maybe." You don't explain, about the good times and the fun you had with Lutecia. Things didn't go the way you wanted them to … but you probably wouldn't call it a waste. "Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"
"I … I guess not. Just … thanks. Thank you for helping Lutecia." You grin and tousle her hair.
What do you do?
[ ] Start the ritual tomorrow.
[ ] Start the ritual the day after.
[ ] During the Day.
[ ] During the Night.
[ ] Residential Area.
[ ] Business area.
[ ] Downtown/Market.
[ ] Move between them.
[ ] Anything else you want to accomplish?
DM Note: That last bit would be things like trying to get someone to come with you (I'll tell you right now, it'll be hard, due to the circumstances, but you'd have a better shot at getting Sayaka than anyone else to come willingly), whether you want to give any of the Grief Seeds you took from the Church to someone, etc.
). Learning more things about Flan is helping, and seeing her emotionally and physically unwell had some effects. :shrug: Their relations probably would have decayed a little if the vote for bottling up or crying privately had won - at least in the short term - because Flan would have kept things hidden from them, but knowing how much it affected her and why helps.
