A rough day at work turned out to be only the prelude of the longest, busiest week of my entire summer break. Anyway, with classes starting, that won't happen again for a long while. And with that said, LET'S GET THIS SHOW BACK ON THE ROAD!

[X] “h-Hello!” You say while introducing yourself, stumbling over fewer words as you speak, “Who are you?”

No choice looks good, this can only end badly.

>[ ] Stay quiet and be very still. Her vision is based on movement. So she can’t see us if we don’t move.

Dr. Grant

[x] Take a few moments to collect yourself; first impressions are important.
[x] “Hello!” Smile and introduce yourself & Tokiko. “May I ask your name?”

[♤] Take a few moments to collect yourself; first impressions are important.
[♤] “Hello!” Smile and introduce yourself & Tokiko. “May I ask your name?”

Flanderedere

[x] Take a few moments to collect yourself; first impressions are important.
[x] “Hello!” Smile and introduce yourself & Tokiko. “May I ask your name?”

Come on, me. Years of training and living in fucking Gensokyo, I shouldn't afraid of anything.

[x] Take a few moments to collect yourself; first impressions are important.
[x] “Hello!” Smile and introduce yourself & Tokiko. “May I ask your name?”

>[ ] Stay quiet and be very still. Her vision is based on movement. So she can’t see us if we don’t move.

Clever girl.

[x] Take a few moments to collect yourself; first impressions are important.
[x] “Hello!” Smile and introduce yourself & Tokiko. “May I ask your name?”

And then Flandre loses patience and jumps us while we're trying to collect ourselves.

Writing now...

>>19341
I see what you did there and despite the referring to two different things within the same greater whole, I smiled.

Your hair is standing on end, and you can’t trust yourself to speak without stuttering. What’s come over you? You steal yourself under the girl’s persistent stare to collect your thoughts. First impressions are important. You close your eyes and speak with all the clarity you can muster.

“Hello!” You force a smile while opening your eyes, “This is Tokiko and…” You trail off as the golden haired child begins floating in fast circles around Toki’ like a moon in orbit. You hadn’t noticed it before while you were occupied with your own worries, but Toki’ is trembling. The whites are visible around both her eyes as she stares off into nowhere. Her wings twitch feebly, and she is holding herself so still you wonder if she’s evening breathing. You hope she’s breathing. However the curious girl just continues like a vulture, sniffing the air around her and circling, her leg still twitching.

Another wave of unease hits you.

She’s dangerous
She’ll hurt Tokiko
She’s a monster
An abomination
You have to get away
You have to stop her
Kill her
Run
Save Tokiko
Save yourself
Escape
Fight

Relentlessly, the thoughts crash like tidal waves against the worn rocks of your sanity. Collecting any sort of calm will take too long. You have to do something. Tokiko is in danger. You are in danger. This monster WILL destroy you both if you don’t destroy her first. It is the only way. You need to. You have to. You are going to kill her. You have to get away.

The partisan in your hand burns with the intensity of a forge. A sharp pain like flowing lava courses through your veins from the tips of your fingers through every blood vessel up you arm. This excruciating pain is the only thing you can think of as the hot liquid agony creeps slowly towards your elbow. Seconds begin to feel like hours with the torturous heat pacing up your fore arm at its own leisure. You need to drop this traitorous weapon…

However, you hold onto the partisan. You need it.

Why?

You need it to fight the girl who hates the shrine maiden.
To kill the child who looks like a beggar covered in dirt.
To exterminate the thing with the golden locks and lopsided grin who hasn’t even done anything to you or Tokiko.
To murder a completely innocent child.

The absurdity of your train of thought is strikingly obvious now. Something’s wrong with you… Thinking straight was never so difficult.

You finally begin paying attention to your situation again, and apparently, during the time you spent lost in thought, the golden haired child had found herself circling you in the same fashion she had Toki’. Glad you could reign in your emotions, you watch as the girl stops her curious circles to float in front of you.

“I know! Let’s play tag!” She has an odd accent. “TAG! YOU’RE IT!”

Her fingers press into your shoulder quickly.

The volcanic heat from the partisan is no distraction this time.

Sanity flees.

[ ] KILL
[ ] RUN
[ ] Vomit

Looks like the blade burns when it tells us we're about to do something stupid.

>Sanity flees.

[x] Lift Partisan in the air proudly. "I'M IT!"
[x] Count backwards from ten, loudly.
[x] "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Give chase.

We're freaking badly. Time to pull out the big guns.

[x] Bomb: Remember your training and shake yourself free of fear (Technique #290: Doesn't Afraid of Anything).

>>19357
Damn it anonymous, how many times do we have to go over this?

You are not your father!

[x] Lift Partisan in the air proudly. "I'M IT!"
[x] Count backwards from ten, loudly.
[x] "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Give chase.

CRAAAZY

[X] RUN

Everything looks bad, especially that write-in.

[x] Lift Partisan in the air proudly. "I'M IT!"
[x] Count backwards from ten, loudly.
[x] "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Give chase.

[x] Lift Partisan in the air proudly. "I'M IT!"
[x] Count backwards from ten, loudly.
[x] "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Give chase.

PARTY@MY MANSION‼

[x] Lift Partisan in the air proudly. "I'M IT!"
[x] Count backwards from ten, loudly.
[x] "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Give chase.

Trying to fight Flan is pretty much suicide no matter who you are, and escaping probably leaves Tokiko behind. Vomiting is just stupid.

You can’t run. You can’t fight. And you certainly can’t throw up. You have to make a good impression. You have to do what the girl wants. That is all you can do. There are no other options.

You try to lift your partisan in the air, but it shatters like glass in your hands. Something is odd about that, but it’s not important, you need to play ‘tag’ right now. That’s all that is important.

“I’M IT!” You shout, blood trailing down your raised arm. And the golden haired girl flees down the tunnel, the wind-chime wings on her back clattering loudly.

“Ten” The strange feeling from before has passed.
“Nine, Eight” You don’t know what else to do. So you accept the situation.
“Seven, Six, Five, Four” Tokiko is flying ahead now, too; following your lead no doubt.
“Three, Two, One… READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!”

The lacerations in your hand sting as you give chase down the endless tunnels.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How long has it been?

You question yourself as you hide for another game of “Hide and Seek.” The basement tunnels still glow red with the same magical torches that were there when you first arrived. Just like the girl, they never seem to run out of energy. Thoughts of escape only bring back the feelings of terror; the inevitable choice of having to run or fight.

At first you couldn’t run because of Tokiko. But she died six games ago. Now you just don’t have the energy to even imagine outrunning this girl. Fighting has been out of the question ever since you lost your weapon. You’d definitely die within’ a few second of a fight without your partisan.

Too afraid to fight and not willing to run, you play the games she tells you to play.

Your only solace is the words that girl feels delighted to tell you every so often.

“You’ve lasted so much longer than my other toys~!”

…

…

You die of starvation two hundred thirty eight games of hopscotch later…

BAD END

what

[x]Back no choices
[x]ಠ_ಠ

>>19358
No, but we are our father's son.

[X] Bomb: Remember your training and shake yourself free of fear (Technique #290: Doesn't Afraid of Anything).

[X] KILL

Too early to bomb.

I'm sure there will be at least another choice after this. Next choice would probably be a better time to bomb.

>I'm sure there will be at least another choice after this.

There wasn't another choice after starting to play with her. We were autopiloted to our death rather than using guile or bombs to elude or trick her. What makes you think this would be any different?

>>19416

That write-in ignored the character's current mental state. I think the BAD END was his way of discouraging ill thought out write-ins.

>>19416

I think the previous options were purposefully sparse as to suggest using a bomb; he wants to test the mechanic.

[♤] Back 1 choice.
[♤] Bomb: Remember your training and shake yourself free of fear (Technique #290: Doesn't Afraid of Anything).

>>19418
This one.

[x] Back 1 choice.
[x] Bomb: Remember your training and shake yourself free of fear (Technique #290: Doesn't Afraid of Anything).

Let's get a move on. Hope you don't mind Anonymous co-opting technique numbers, Mystiafag.

Ouch, talk about difficulty scaling. From a level 1/2 boss to an Extra boss.

>>19431

If you think this is hard, just wait til you get to Phantasm.

Worst day of my life, man.

I'm just gonna call the vote on
[X] Back 1 choice
[X] BOMB

And for those of you who really NEED to know why I HAD to BAD END you (because none of the previous choices actually led to BAD ENDS):

The second you met the "attention deprived, golden haired monster" she decided she wanted new playmates. She has moved and is currently crushing the eye of your and Tokiko's "FREE WILL" (she doesn't want to break it entirely, that would ruin the fun of a playmate, but she can't let you choose to go away either). Instinct kicks in, you know something is wrong, and you have to do something about it. Vomiting would prolong the choice as Flandre would hesitate worried about accidentally breaking you outright, and for the same reason, attacking her suddenly would make her completely stop. If you ran, she'd make off with Tokiko to play, but free from her grip yourself, you could go back and save Tokiko.

Instead, you choose specifically to go along with what she wanted. She wanted your free will, and you were handing it to her on a write-in silver plater. Got it? Now, don't worry, BOMB is already in action. You'll see what happens.

Anyway, I will probably start a spoiler thread, I'm willing to spoil anything two threads old if it doesn't effect the future or present story. I currently don't plan on a second run through. So the "What if" questions in a spoiler thread will help anyone if they want to take "Afterthought..." from me when I'm done.

>>19438

I hadn't figured Flan could destroy concepts; I was assuming Tohno-level death h4x, not Ryougi-level h4x.

Still, your continuity. You don't have to justify yourself, so long as you update, nigger.

No second playthrough?

We've got one chance, lets not completely screw it up.

>>19450

Don't worry. We have continues, and we have bombs.

>>19450
>lets not completely screw it up
Who do you think you're talking to here? Anon's ability is screwing things up, telling him not to is like telling Rumia to sunbathe.

>>19438

Stop your sputtering and UPDATE, fool.

Writing in progress; expect update late tonight/early tomorrow. Building wall.

>>19504

Anon waited.

>>19449
Hm, yeah, I didn't expect that either. Daaamn, MystiaTrip's Flandre can engage in conceptual destruction? h4x youkai is h4x.

I've heard her ability compared to mystic eyes of death perception, so the killing concepts doesn't really surprise me. The fact that she's capable of holding back to not destroy something completely does surprise me though. I always figured destruction was an all or nothing deal.

>>19572
It is said that Miss Flandre destroys things by finding the point of highest tension, literally a "pressure point", and pouring her power into it. Given that the destruction is simply a direct result of the immense power used, it might stand that, should she be able to control the power flow, she might only weaken the tension point without destroying it.

However, her questionable sanity causes me to wonder whether she has such a measure of control. She has been known to destroy a human so utterly that not even blood is left behind, after all.

>>19573
While you make a valid argument, I must bring to light the question of her sanity.

Nowhere in canon is it implied that she is insane, but the effects of being locked away for nearly 500 years in a basement clearly must be taken into consideration. While it can be argued that this would drive anyone insane, many unbelievable things happen in Gensokyo.

I myself have always been of the persuasion that she is entirely skilled and knowledgeable as is appropriate for her age, but the lack of human (Or vampire, as it were) contact in conjunction with the very contract that a vampire faces for their immortality has left her mindset as that of a child's. Thus, she controls this vast expanse of power and knowledge with almost surgical precision, but knows not of the moral implications of its use.

This of course isn't supported in canon either, nor is it a particularly popular opinion, but when one takes the popular opinion as his own without a second thought, he will often find that life has lost its edge.

>>19582
Read her Perfect Memento article and then her Bohemian Archive interview. She's nuts.

>>19583

I've read both, and I stand firm in my stance. Perhaps it would do you well to re-read them both, yourself? In both, it is only stated that she's a shut-in, and emotionally unstable - not mentally, as you claim. The way she describes her powers and incidents is not as one who's insane, but as a child, their mind wandering and unsure or perhaps uncaring of what to say to keep things on subject.

Or perhaps it can be left open to interpretation. If nothing else, that would be the easiest way to avoid meaningless conflicts, wouldn't it?

>>19582
>I myself have always been of the persuasion that she is entirely skilled and knowledgeable as is appropriate for her age, but the lack of human (Or vampire, as it were) contact in conjunction with the very contract that a vampire faces for their immortality has left her mindset as that of a child's. Thus, she controls this vast expanse of power and knowledge with almost surgical precision, but knows not of the moral implications of its use.

So in other words, crazy.

>>19585
While I have not read many of the Touhou canon stories, I find myself looking upon Flandre Scarlet's page on the Touhou Wiki. Beneath the heading for "Official Profiles-Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil", I find the following phrase:

>She's kind of nuts and isn't usually allowed out of the cellar, but she usually doesn't try to let herself out. She really respects her older sister Remilia, but her raw destructive power far exceeds that of her sister's. Although she is usually docile, her insanity makes it difficult for others to understand her.

Both the words "nuts" and "insanity" appear in the phrase. They could perhaps be mere figures of speech, but I am led to believe that this is not the case. Regardless, you are correct: it should most likely be left to one's own interpretation, so as to avoid meaningless conflict.

But enough of this. Mystia, please desist from taking your seven-minute break and return to your labors, you dark-skinned person you.

>>19588
Ah, it would seem my efforts been fouled by the single most obvious source of information. The simplest solution is always the last one to try, as they say.

I concede then, good sir. Indeed, her mental state is less than stable, though whether this is a cause or an effect has yet to be proven either way, and could make for an interesting train of thought to ride whilst not busying one's mind with more important matters; for example, the fate of our dashing hero.

And to that ends, I must rally behind you in calling forth our dearest Mystia. Before you lies a vast field of plotton, most popular and valuable among your market, and I must insist that you continue its harvest!

>08/09/02(Tue)16:46
>expect update late tonight/early tomorrow

I suppose delays are to be expected when the writer is made of food.

ITT monocles

>>19590
this picture makes me fap furiously

pls update!

Your hair is standing on end, and you can’t trust yourself to speak without stuttering. What’s come over you? You steal yourself under the girl’s persistent stare to collect your thoughts. First impressions are important. You close your eyes and speak with all the clarity you can muster.

“Hello!” You force a smile while opening your eyes, “This is Tokiko and…” You trail off as the golden haired child begins floating in fast circles around Toki’ like a moon in orbit. You hadn’t noticed it before while you were occupied with your own worries, but Toki’ is trembling. The whites are visible around both her eyes as she stares off into nowhere. Her wings twitch feebly, and she is holding herself so still you wonder if she’s evening breathing. You hope she’s breathing. However the curious girl just continues like a vulture, sniffing the air around her and circling, her leg still twitching.

Another wave of unease hits you.

Your muscles are lead, your head is stuffed with cotton, you are on fire, hanging upside down and being spun in circles. Nothing could be worse than this torture. The inability to do anything while Toki’ is surely in as much pain as you. Worse more likely. She didn’t have Pops’ training to blank out as much torture as you can. Her pride is probably the only reason she keeps standing. The only reason she can resist the overwhelming unease.

Not like this…

You’re not quite sure when you started. But you can’t let things continue as they are. You feel lighter than you could imagine. A feather on the wind as you let your pack drop to the tunnel floor.

Like tongues of fire, your partisan pierces the air between the child and Toki’, blurring into waves of red and orange. All the unease and pain and indecision vanishes in an instant. The girl flies jerkily out of the way of your lunges, her wings clattering with the motion. She is fast, always just barely a step ahead of you, dodging every one of your strikes. She is faster than you.

No. If she were faster, she would attack rather than dodge. All of her attention is on avoiding the trefoil blade that reaches for her again and again. However her smile never falters.

And then she lunges for you.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Muttley

He had no right to go and put his life on the line. Not for any plan; but there was no turning back. That shadowy blonde tart he brought in tow would never let her live this down if they never made it to the boat. She wouldn’t dare allow it. Being wrong. Being made a fool of. Having others take her stuff without retribution. Her wings ruffled at that thought.

Knowing you’re outmatched and being outmatched, they are very different concepts. She never imagined being cowed by fear alone, unmoving like some peon in front of royalty, too afraid to offend. It made her sick. And worse was Muttley saving her when she couldn’t save herself. That wound went deeper then claws could reach.

Muttley continued though, his dark clothes fading into the darkness and that lance of his glowing bright red in the dim light. It was like watching an elegant dance. Spirals of red circling each other; one darting, a broken red comet spraying dirt in all directions with each impact, the other a constant blur of motion flowing in circles that would occasionally snap back into a straight line before its twirling began again. The whole ordeal made her feel useless, and she wasn’t about to put up with that.

That red bolt of lighting flying between her and that beast of a child marked a dept she couldn’t accept from her friend. If she owed Muttley any dept at all, she was paying it off right now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A ball of light appears behind Tokiko beginning to glow with the intensity of the sun, the source of all creation in a small ball of white light; and yet it is not so bright as to distract from the tussle in front of her. Her shadow, evil incarnate, casts itself across the floor, a streak of pitch black trailing across the red earth, beneath the feet of the flying girl, and up a wall behind her. And from that wall, like some crazed mirror, her silhouette gazes back impossibly.

The simple magical ruin to create a barrier appearing in front Tokiko is mimicked by the shadow with its inverse, an overly elaborate ruin to create fire. With a flash of light, Tokiko allows the barrier to snap into existence.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

She lunges for you.

Parrying her attack runs through your mind as she darts toward you, claws outstretched. Deflecting her would be easy with her attacking so directly. You also consider just catching her in an attack of your own. A flash of light occurs in the corner of your vision reminding you of Toki’s presence. Maybe you should just dodge?

[ ] Dodge. Leap out of the way, Toki’s aim is not trustworthy.
[ ] Parry. Simple and efficient.
[ ] Attack. Offence = The best defense.

{X} Attack. Offence = The best defense.

BELIEVEee

[X] Attack. Offense = The best defense.

It would awfully shitty if Tokiko hit the wrong person.

dept = debt?

ruin = rune?

[x] Parry. Simple and efficient.

You don't want to be committed to an attack when Toki looses that thing, but you don't want to leap away prematurely either, lest Flan dodge the thing herself.

This way I assume Toki will do the smart thing and fire it when Flan has committed herself to a lunge.

>No. If she were faster, she would attack rather than dodge. All of her attention is on avoiding the trefoil blade that reaches for her again and again.

Flan mentioned in her interview that spears were one of the only things she fears; looks like the partisan was a good choice.

[X] Parry. Simple and efficient.

>>19742
>>19745
>dept
>ruin

It was 2:30 am. I was tired. So I didn't bother with any proofreading. Be glad it's coherent enough to guess from context.

[X] Parry. Simple and efficient.

I have not much else to say; my mind is not as attuned to this tale as it could be at the moment. Curses that my own written words bound through my head as I read another's'!

[X] Attack. Offense = The best defense.

This should give Toki the best chance to fire away.

[X] Parry. Simple and efficient.

And let Toki make the riposte.

[X] Dodge. Leap out of the way, Toki’s aim is not trustworthy.
And pray for your life~

Writing now...

>>19821

Hooray!

No more time left to weigh pro’s and con’s… This isn’t a tea party! You hurl the side of the partisan into the girl’s body. Knocking her off course is all you have to do. No theatrics. Just some applied physics, and she’ll give way without much difficulty.

Or at least that’s what you think up until you actually try moving the girl. The shaft of the partisan lands squarely against her small frame, from shoulder to hip. With two hands, the friction from the ground, and the girl as far from the fulcrum of the action as you can manage, you realize you have as much luck trying to parry a mountain. Pouring all of your strength into the motion does little more than slow her.

Her dirt filled nails, faded with worn pink nail polish stop inches from digging into your skull as your parry turns smoothly into a full block. Your shoulders feel like they’re going to pop out of their sockets from the strain, but you just tighten your grip and thank god you have longer arms than this girl as she claws the air in front of your face.

You imagine she could back up and try another charge, breaking your shoulders in the process. Heck, you imagine she could lash out at your arms now and force you to dance away from her instead.

But then again, you can also imagine the last time you had major second-degree burns.

A high pitched, wordless shriek escapes from the girl as light consumes the world around you. Her silhouette shows cracks of light spanning from her head to her toes that make no sense. You can see the girl still smiling at you as you close your eyes with the sudden light.

An explosion of fire shakes the tunnel. A wave of heat and pressure push you backwards as you keep your eyes purposefully shut. A fireball to the back is never a pleasant experience, and you're pretty sure Toki' wasn't holding back.

With your eyes closed, they focus quicker to the returning low light of the tunnel, but what you see as your vision returns makes you question whether or not you were knocked out in that blast.

A few paces ahead, the golden haired girl from before lies on the ground smiling a perfect smile, laughing, snorting and coughing at intervals as she lies on the ground making soot angels with her arms and legs. Perfectly content, she absolutely exudes happiness despite the charred clothing on her back.

Beside herself, she sits hugging her knees sobbing excessively. Her mouth agape while silent wails escape, she rocks steadily back and forth. Tears run down her cheeks as she buries her face into her lap hugging her knees all the harder. Her puffy hat falls from her head, as a small hand knocks it rudely away.

The girl once more over, kneels behind her crying-self with a deep, malicious grin on her face. The now unprotected head of the latter is now subject to the relentless “noogie” of the prior. In fact, the silent course voice of the assailant repeats “NoogieNoogieNoogieNoogieNoogieNoogie…” under her breath in the same fashion as the village children do when they rough house. She seems a bully in every sense as she continues despite the squirming and wailing of her victim. You stop pinching your arm when they don't disappear.

The scene looks like it came straight from the village schoolyard. Well, it would if you ignored the fact that they were all the same girl. Or at least you THINK they’re all the same girl…

“I guess it was inevitable,” A depressed monotone voice states blandly, “And we were holding together so well this time.” A fourth copy of the girl stands beside you, dress charred in the same fashion as all the others, her eyes are heavy lidded and she seems ill interested in anything. She stares at you with her half open eyes as she holds your pack up towards you. “So you’re sneaking into the mansion, right?”

“???”


[ ] Answer her question and ask one of your own. (Write in only)
[ ] Remain quiet.

And

[ ] Take your pack from her.
[ ] Don’t take your pack from her.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


KID YOUKAI ACQUIRED:

Technique #1: Tongues of Fire – A rapid barrage of lunges. Fast and deadly, it’ll keep an opponent on his toes.

* Technique #2: How to Parry a Mountain – No longer underestimating anything ever again; all parries will come full strength from the get go. DEFENSE LEVEL UP!

*(Passive) Status Effect #1: Facing Fear – All fear affects are now reduced by half. “It couldn’t possibly get worse than this, right?”


TOKIKO ACQUIRED:

SPELL #1: Inverse Barrier/Massive Fire Ball – Attacks from behind and defends from the front. Confusing tactics are Dastardly’s specialty.

*(Passive) Status Effect #2: Doesn't Afraid of Anything – Dastardly isn’t afraid of anything. Her pride won’t allow it. Tokiko will suffer NO fear affects within’ SDM.


*Acquired because of BOMB

[X] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[X] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

Damn, Toki' took a level in badass.

God I'm so confused, so I'll just go with
>>19829

[X] Remain quiet.
because I'm lazy to write-in~

[X] wait untill she gives back your pack, if not ask for it, if she still doesn't want, then ask her why, and take it away~

>>19829
[X] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[X] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

Yeah I can roll with this write in.

[X] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[X] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

>>19847
Bandwagon choice = easy choice.

[X] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[X] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

[x] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[x] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

Daaaaamn. That's a very interesting way to spin her "Four of a Kind".
Also, hurray for new abilities/traits.

[Q] "I'm afraid so. Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back. I hope that's not going to a problem?"
[Q] Put your hands on the pack and thank her, but wait for her to let it go before taking it.

"I'm afraid so,” you reply to the drowsy looking child dubiously. You can’t help but be a bit tense. Even though the feeling has left your body, the tension in the air was so tangible. You’d be embarrassed over attacking her out of the blue like that, but the way she’s acting now… the way THEY are acting now, it’s like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Maybe you’re going crazy? “Someone inside has stolen something that belongs to my friend over there, and we've just come to take it back.” You shift your balance ready for the fight to resume. “I hope that's not going to a problem?"

Her mouth is a line. Disinterest incarnate. “Maybe…” She says. Maybe?

“What does that mean?” Your irritation permeates every word.

She shrugs in response and starts to shake your pack in her outstretched hand. You pry one hand off of the partisan and grab onto the pack. “Thank you.” You mutter feeling sheepish; you wait for her to let it go before taking it.

“You’re pretty polite for a thief, aren’t you? I’m Flandre, a part of Flandre at least.” She gestures mildly to the other three; the bully and the crybaby are still tangled in a heap, rolling around in mock battle, and the laughing one is now in an animated discussion with Toki’.

“Follow.” She says. The emotionless voice is really getting on your nerves, but all of the Flandre start to move further down the tunnel. And you have to start walking too before you get left behind.

The magical torches begin to dance as you pass them, fading in and out. And their constant motion begins to throw off your balance when you look at a group too long…

Not knowing how much longer this tunnel could be, you decide to take Dastardly’s lead and be friendly.


Talk to:

[ ] Flandre. Who is currently looks tired and is walking in front of
[ ] Flandre. Who is currently sobbing, and flinching away from
[ ] Flandre. Who is currently flicking pebbles at Flandre while
[ ] Flandre is waving her arms frantically, talking to Tokiko.

And:

[ ] “Where did this tunnel come from?”
[ ] “Those torches are annoying. What’s with them?”
[ ] “May I ask you about those… ‘wings’?”
[ ] “How are there four of you?”
[ ] “Tell me about your house.”
[ ] “Tell me about the people you live with.”
[ ] “Sorry about attacking you…”
[ ] “Wanna race?”
[ ] Vomit

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will allow you to say various things to each Flandre, but not the same question more than once.

[1] Flandre. Who is currently flicking pebbles at Flandre while
[1] “Those torches are annoying. What’s with them?” -distract her!
[2] Flandre. Who is currently sobbing, and flinching away from
[2] “Sorry about attacking you…” -cheer up
[3] Flandre is waving her arms frantically, talking to Tokiko.
[3] “How are there four of you?” - she should speak a lot
[4] Flandre. Who is currently looks tired and is walking in front of
[4] “Wanna race?” - if not you can still carry her in your arms...

Also:I'm glad to see the update

>>19925

[x] What the tripfag said

>>19925
[X] Saguya has a good idea, aka "Logical Paradox".

[1] Flandre. Who is currently flicking pebbles at Flandre while
[1] “Those torches are annoying. What’s with them?” -distract her!
[2] Flandre. Who is currently sobbing, and flinching away from
[2] “Sorry about attacking you…” -cheer up
[3] Flandre is waving her arms frantically, talking to Tokiko.
[3] “How are there four of you?” - she should speak a lot
[4] Flandre. Who is currently looks tired and is walking in front of
[4] “Wanna race?” - if not you can still carry her in your arms...

Okay.

[x] Vomit

[1] Flandre. Who is currently flicking pebbles at Flandre while
[1] “Those torches are annoying. What’s with them?” -distract her!
[2] Flandre. Who is currently sobbing, and flinching away from
[2] “Sorry about attacking you…” -cheer up
[3] Flandre is waving her arms frantically, talking to Tokiko.
[3] “How are there four of you?” - she should speak a lot
[4] Flandre. Who is currently looks tired and is walking in front of
[4] “Wanna race?” - if not you can still carry her in your arms...

BRILLIANT!!!

[X] >>19925

I love it.

[ze~] >>19925

This is just too good.

>>19925
[1] Flandre. Who is currently flicking pebbles at Flandre while
[1] “Those torches are annoying. What’s with them?” -distract her!
[2] Flandre. Who is currently sobbing, and flinching away from
[2] “Sorry about attacking you…” -cheer up
[3] Flandre is waving her arms frantically, talking to Tokiko.
[3] “How are there four of you?” - she should speak a lot
[4] Flandre. Who is currently looks tired and is walking in front of
[4] “Wanna race?” - if not you can still carry her in your arms...
This set of good choices is relevant to my interests.

>>19947 Brilliant!
I do sling a most minor derogatory term in your general direction for having stolen one of my favorite phrases in real life. You, however, could not have known, so there is no harm done.

[X] Updates!

7 minutes

[x] Updates!
[x] Less work!

>>20108
Excuse me, but wtf r u doing?

derp

Where have all the writefags gone?

>>20294

....Why can't I hear this in anything other than 1936 Homestar's voice?

[x] Much less work!!!

Dammit don't abandon us!!

Not knowing how much longer this tunnel could be, you decide to take Dastardly’s lead and be friendly.

You look upon two of the girls in particular: The one launching pebbles and her target. “Two of the one girl,” You correct yourself mentally. Just thinking about that is going to give you a headache.

Allowing something so petty as bullying to continue is beyond you, and you’re not sure confronting the bully will help the victim once you inevitably have to leave her to herself again. Instead you decide to try your hand at distracting the less kind Flandre with some conversation.

“Hey, Fl-,“ the words almost leave your mouth before you realize that they will probably grab everyone’s attention. Instead you step quickly putting yourself between the pitiful Flandre and her assailant. A pebble bounces painfully off your arm.

Ignoring the pain, you look for some off hand comment to start talking about when you catch sight of another group of the swirling magical torches. Their erratic movements make your eyes lose focus from just glancing in their general direction.

“Those torches are annoying.” You hold back a wince as another pebble nearly breaks your skin. “What’s with them?”

Grimacing is her only response as she prepares to flick another pebble at you, but then it seems the words actually process. “Eh? The Fire Flies?” She turns a scowl towards a small group of the floating torches, “I made ‘em a while back. Bunch of know-it-all poets wrote about ‘em being all pretty and how life ain’t worth a dang if you haven’t seen Fire Flies before.” She rolls her eyes and spits, “Well I’d never seen ‘em, so I made something better, and THEY AIN’T ANNOYING!!!” She turns pointedly away from you, floating sideways in a seething silence. You doubt she’d speak to you again any time soon.

And that’s fine by you. You have more pleasant Flandres to talk to…

“You okay?” You say in a near whisper moving towards the cheerless Flandre.

She bobs her head slightly and her hair flops lifelessly on her face. From the way she carries herself, the slump in her shoulders to the film of tears that cover her cheeks in a luminous sheen, she looks frail. More frail than you would expect for a part of the child who nearly broke both your arms. Distracting the other part of her and keeping her from “beating herself up” was worth it. Your gut wrenches remembering how you had attacked her earlier.

“Hey... I’m really sorry about earlier. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It ‘sokay...” She mumbles weakly through flowing tears, “‘smy f-fault. *sniff* b-Big Sis’ s-says ‘snot my f-fault, *hic*, bu’ I know. ” She trails off as the words become unintelligible.

“No, no, no,” you rebuke, “I’m in the wrong here, and you’re not taking any blame for my mistakes...” She looks at you skeptically through her delicate, tear stained eyes. It’s heartbreaking. There has to be something you can do. You throw your best uplifting smile her way. “I bet you don’t get many strangers intruding like this do you?”

Her sobs slow. “Not that live this long,” she says in a bare whisper.

You start laughing before you can stop yourself. Cutting off abruptly with a hand over your mouth, you try to explain it away despite being short of breath. Apparently she was serious. “That’s a good one!” you inhale quickly, “I’m pretty good at living though!”

Her eyes go as wide as she watches you laughing at her suggestion. Does she really think you are that fragile? Is there something in the tunnels so dangerous no one lives for long if they don’t expect it? You calm yourself with these thoughts, but the smile doesn’t leave your face. To your relief, your little outburst has stopped her crying if it hasn’t quite brought a smile to her face.

“Whatcha up to, Mr. Muttley!” Slender, steel arms wrap around you as you hear Toki’ laughing. Apparently the peppy Flandre got tired of talking to Dastardly and decided to give you a try. She hangs from you like a living backpack. “So your the sidekick, eh? I figured you’d be the Hero, the way you acted back there. Almost broke you didn’t I? It would have been so fun though! We would play for sooo long! I bet you’d probably be around for a week! I bet we could play tag! You like tag? I like tag! Big Sis played me in tag TWO whole times! She’s so nice to me! Do you have a sister? You should meet mine! I’m not allowed upstairs, but she she says guests shouldn’t go downstairs. But you really didn’t go downstairs so I bet she won’t be mad if you stay a bit. I hope you stay a awhile. Ms. Dastardly too! She’s funny! She makes fire good too! Aunty Patch makes fire bigger, but I always see where it comes from! Can you make fire? Can you? Eh?”

She wriggles on your back with her words, her warmth radiating through your clothes.

“A little,” you answer remembering a few tricks you have up your sleeve, “But could you tell me how there are four of you? I’m curious.”

She squeezes her small frame further into your back. “Only if you promise to play with me, ‘kay?!” She feel her hands dig into you for a better grip, “Sis’ says I should be more normal. She said I can’t keep “moodswinging”, that I probably broke my head. So I split myself to match! Pretty good, huh?! I like it but the others are funny! Hey Flandre! Why are you three so funny funny?”

The quiet Flandre doesn’t turn toward you as she keeps walking down the tunnel. That’s odd. She’s walking while everyone else (even Toki’) float down the tunnel. You’d wonder why, but you’re more interested in what her response to being called “funny funny” will be.

“Because emotions don’t break,” she states matter of factly, “your happiness can’t be split between us because it can’t be split at all. Our memories might differ as we each only get so many, and we may be able to vary as much as we can within’ these separate bodies, but because we each only have one of the four basic humors, our personalities will obviously seem at odds with each other.” Her dictation seems to practiced as though she’s answered this question a thousand times before. “On the bright side, Sister has mistaken each of us individually as “sane” because of it. Most likely because are ability to destroy things may as well not exist when we, ourselves, are broken.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll continue writing at [x] Wanna race? Later tonight/next morning. I'd forgotten how many clubs I’m in and how many classes I was taking this semester. Anyway, for those who care, I’m finally up to pace with everything in my schedule and should be able to update at least once daily again. U.N. Owen wouldn’t let me live it down if he passed me in threads. See you later tonight, and it feels good to be back.

>>20427
Finally! Representing the general assembly of the anon, I do think I may safely say we are glad for the good news.

ｷﾀ━━━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━━━!!!!

>I'll continue writing at [x] Wanna race? Later tonight/next morning.

Hooray!

And I'm liking your Flandre.

>U.N. Owen wouldn’t let me live it down if he passed me in threads.

Surely not; my emotions are not so petty as to get worked up over a count of posts or pages. We all work at the pace life allows us to achieve, and oftentimes it prevents us from pursuing the interests we desire; it is a common occurrence that all face at some juncture. Does a handful of threads determine the worth of a person? I tell you the truth, great fools have written volumes upon volumes, yet their words bring them no glory, no honor, only a passing glance. It is quality that is to be sought after first, and only quantity afterwords.

Your return brings a smile to my face. Perhaps with time the halls of the Scarlet Devil Mansion may recover the old luster once remembered in days of legend, should enough brave souls dare to clean them. I shall read your story anew, so that my input may be useful to you. I must say, though my analysis is yet spotty and incomplete, your interpretation of Flandre Scarlet is most intriguing; something unexpected and unexplored. I can only hope that I too may have something interesting to offer concerning her when the time comes.

Flandre goes on to explain other things about being separated into four and what she theorizes about it for quite some time. You find yourself enraptured. The resonating tone of her voice as she talks creates grandeur in her every word despite the lack of emotion. In fact, you imagine that even if you weren’t interested in the subject matter, you’d listen simply because of how soothing her meter was. You’re a little disappointed when the speech comes to an end.

“Wow,” is all you can say. And then the idea comes to you. “You want to race the rest of the way?”

The happy Flandre, who fell asleep on your back earlier in the speech, perks up immediately at the words. Of course it was an obvious idea. Each of these Flandre seemed to mention being bored or lonely at least once, and even if you didn’t have time to play other children’s games, a foot race will probably make their day.

“So how ‘bout it?” you chide gently.

“YOU’RE ON!” The Flandre drops off your back and reappears in front of you while at the same time, the unemotional Flandre asks, “What are the conditions?”

Conditions??"

[ ] Flying allowed.
[ ] Flying banned.

And

[ ] Give the Flandres a head start.
[ ] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[ ] Ask for a head start for yourself.

And as for personal expectations

[ ] (let Flandre win by a large margin if you can)
[ ] (let Flandre win by a small margin. Can’t have her suspect you threw the race)
[ ] (try to win by a small margin. Don’t want to rub your eminent victory in her face)
[ ] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)

And you should start the race going how fast: Pick 0-9

0 – Tortoise
1 – Very Slow
2 – Slow
3 – Medium
4 – Fast
5 – Very Fast
6 – Hyper
7 – Light speed
8 – Warp
9 – Plaid

[x] Flying allowed.
[x] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[x] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)
9 – Plaid

[x] Flying allowed.
[x] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[x] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)
10 – LUDICROUS

[x] Flying allowed.
[x] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[x] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)
11 – These go to 11

I am amused by anon's current insanity, and add to it.

[X] Flying allowed.
[X] Just count down and go!
[X] (try to win by a large margin. Aim to win.)

12 - because there's always one more.

[x] Flying allowed.
[x] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[x] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)
13 – For luck

>>20453
>>20454
>>20468
>>20470
Keep this up, and you soon be able to outrun even Youmu's sword slashes out of pure willpower. A half-second later, you will collide with an impeding wall, break though it, then collide with a second, less-impeding wall. BAD END.

>>20476
OR we'll go back in time and become our own grandfather! GOOD END!

[x] Flying allowed.
[x] Draw a line for everyone to start from.
[x] (try to win by a large margin. Show off…)
[x] 14 - It's 7*2. That's DOUBLE your luck.

AND WHAT THE HELL, A COUPLA CORN DOGS!

Writing now

Have to go take a test. I will be back to writing in a couple hours.

“Just one condition,” you say as you come to a stop. A quick flash of your partisan leaves a deep straight line across the tunnel floor. You lean forward with the toes of your forward foot just barely touching the mark. “Everybody start at the line! We race till we’re out of the tunnel!”

“What are you thinking, Muttley?!?!” Toki’s harsh whisper is right by your ear as she takes her position next to you.

“Figured it’d be fun, AND the sooner we get out of these tunnels, the more time we’ll have to hunt down your books, right?” Toki eyes you suspiciously, but a smile tugging at her lips keeps the joke from going further.

“On your mark!”

Everyone is on the line. Happy Flandre and Dastardly floating just above it.

“GET SET!”

You can hear a malicious giggling coming from the bully and a sniff from the victim. You can feel their muscles tensing, ready to launch themselves at your word.

You wonder how long it’ll take them to catch up.

“GO!”

Your vision blurs as the tunnel flies by. The air feels nearly like a solid object as you push through it. Your hearing, at first distinct with the sound of foot falls and rushing wind, slowly fades into a high pitched whine. As the whine raises in pitch, you note the timbre and understand that you are currently running at your fastest.

And for some reason it’s not exhausting.

You know you can go faster than this. You WANT to go faster than this.

And so you kick it up a notch. Your legs are moving ever faster, eating more distance in less time, the air feels thicker, and you can’t here a thing. But you can still see.

Despite the horrible blurring, you can feel the moderate slope upward and tell the ground and lighting change in the distance, with no one ahead of you, it feels like an easy victory, but there’s no point in leaving that up to chance.

You push an ounce more of your strength into moving faster.

Everything lurches. Your feet don’t touch the ground. Your eardrums pop. The world spins around you. You feel like your falling. Your gut feels like it’s exploding. The wind feels like razors. Your head is muddled. You can’t breath. You can’t see. You can’t think. You cartwheel out of control. You feel your arm trying to rip itself off. Your entire body bruising. Your legs shattering.


And if you had the time, you might have even felt some pain before the darkness claimed you.


------------------------------------------------------------


“Ow!”

You stare at the cut on your finger where blood flows in a crimson curtain. The blood bubbles slowly and snakes down your index finger and over you palm before spilling off in a thin but steady trail toward the ground. You stare at the impossible amount of blood from the tiny cut unable to comprehend why it seems out of place. You lose interest quickly. “Where am I?”

The room is large with nothing in it. White walls, white floor, a white chair, a white table, and upon closer examination, a single sheet of white paper on the white table.

You sit in the chair unsure of what to think and your eyes catch the trail of blood you left in your short walk to the table. Like a lake at the end of a river, the pool of blood from when you were standing still sits in an amorphous blob while a trail that thins and thickens follows the floor straight towards you before taking a gentle curve around the tables legs before becoming another pool at the bottom of a waterfall. Your entire palm is red now, but without much thought to the fact, you push your index finger into the paper and scrawl a word. The red in this place seems at odds with the white all around it, and it’s obvious that it doesn’t belong here. You pick up the paper to look at what you wrote. For some reason you can’t remember though you’re sure you just wrote it. Looking over the table you realize you don’t even remember what you wrote it with. You stare at the blank page wondering why you’re holding it and let it drop from your hand to the table. As it drops, a corner of the paper drags sharply again your finger.

“Ow!”

You stare at the cut on your finger where blood flows in a crimson curtain. The blood bubbles slowly and snakes down your index finger and over you palm before spilling off in a thin but steady trail toward the ground. You stare at the impossible amount of blood from the tiny cut unable to comprehend why it seems out of place. You lose interest quickly. “Where am I?”


------------------------------------------------------------

Here.

What?

Your eyelids feel too heavy to lift, but your body feels too pent up with energy not to try. Your chest feels damp and heavier than usual as you prop yourself onto your elbows. Why would your chest be damp? You try and remember the last thing that happened to explain why you were on the ground, but all you can remember is starting a race.

“Ow,” you say with no particular reason than feeling sore.

You finally wrench open your eyes and find a small audience for the event.

“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!” The upbeat Flandre has her way with these few words as she stares at you wide eyed with a smile plastered over the entirety of her face.

“Congratulation,” The dull voice of reason wafts from the unaffected Flandre sitting by you, “That explosion of sound and pressure wasn’t entirely necessary... you were winning by a few paces and the tunnel collapsed, but congratulations all the same.”

“I didn’t know you could do that, Muttley,” Toki’ states matter of factly gasping for air beside the Flandres. “You okay?”

You move to stand up, but an unfamiliar weight shifts on your chests. You notice now that your chest is damp from tears. “Yeah, I’m peachy,” you say feeling a bit worn, lowering your voice to a whisper, you direct it to the Flandre on your chest, “Are you okay?”

She nods her head into your chest still sobbing quietly. Getting up is a tad difficult with Flandre gripping you like a vice, but once you’re on your feet again, she eventually detaches herself from you, dropping to her feet before darting away behind some bookshelves.

Taking in your surroundings for the first time you realize your in a basement. In fact, it’s not much larger than your basement back home. Barely a hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, the primarily gray stone walls peek out over the tops of bookshelves that line the majority of the walls where they aren’t placed arbitrarily. Though some of the bookshelves are lined with tattered books, most seem flooded with knick-knacks. Piles of objects that are indistinguishable from each other at a distance but are most definitely made with some purpose in mind fill every shelf. And most the floor, you realize looking down. It feels rather comfy here, and if it weren’t for an entire wall missing, (in its place is a gaping hole, now filled with boulders, that was the entrance to the tunnel,) it’d seem much too conservative for the mansion above.

“There are some trapdoors up into most the main rooms of the mansion here,” Flandre states, “If you want to go the garden, lobby, sitting room, kitchen, library, gallery, maids’ quarters, or the audience chamber, there are ways from here.” She looks into your eyes with her heavy lidded stare.

“Hmmmm...”


Choose one:

[ ] “How long was I out?”
[ ] “How did I end up winning the race?”
[ ] “So what do I get for placing first?”

And

[ ] Garden
[ ] Lobby
[ ] Sitting room
[ ] Kitchen
[ ] Library
[ ] Gallery
[ ] Maids’ quarters
[ ] Audience chamber

And somewhere in the depths of your mind, there is a single word scrawled on a single sheet of paper. What is it?

[ ] One word write-in.

>“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!” The upbeat Flandre has her way with these few words as she stares at you wide eyed with a smile plastered over the entirety of her face.

I think that sums up my reaction nicely.

[x] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[x] Library

>And somewhere in the depths of your mind, there is a single word scrawled on a single sheet of paper. What is it?

[x] "CONGRATULATIONS"

[x] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[x] Library
[x] "CONGRATULATIONS"

OMEDETOU

[X] “How long was I out?”
[X] Maids’ quarters
[X] Written in black ink using thin, quick strokes, an encouragement: "Fight!!"

Delicious KFC~

{X} “How long was I out?”
{X} Maids’ quarters
{X} Written in black ink using thin, quick strokes, an encouragement: "Fight!!"

>>20528
>[X] Written in black ink using thin, quick strokes, an encouragement

But the word was written in our own blood, so yeah!

>>20530
Details, shmetails.

Because I feel like switching things up:

[X] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[X] Library
[X] Somewhere within the depths of your mind, you conjure not a word, but an image... An unfamiliar red spear, alone yet strangely intimidating.

While my knowledge of the story is still not enough to merit a full vote, I shall propose a suggestion to this mysterious white void.

[+] The smears of drying blood create haunting gradients of crimson through the swirling letters. For such a hastily-written word, the characters seem deep, piercing, more intricate than even the most revered painter could create. It rests there on the paper, silently, consuming the white purity of its host:

"CHAOS"

>>20535

Castlevania reference? You have my axe.

[x] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[x] Library
[x] CHAOS

>>20543
An unlikely reference, considering the only Castlevania game I have played is "Circle of the Moon", and even that was quite some time ago; I remember hardly anything from it. I simply thought the word "Chaos" sounded particularly ominous at the time, and voted thus.

I really must stop this consistent habit of randomly alluding to works I have never encountered. By my count, I am up to three separate instances now.

>>20544

The unintended reference here is to the Chaos at the heart of Dracula's castle, the force which allows the castle to reappear time and again even with Dracula's defeat.

I do hope we get more votes; this chaos option intrigues me, and I wish to see where it will go.
Screw it, changing my vote. 'Twas a poorly thought write in, anyway.

[x] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[x] Library
[x] CHAOS

Vote if you haven't, I have stuff that needs doing tonight; I'll probably stay up late for the update.

Currently Library is winning by a fair margin (apparently finding hay in the haystack sounds like a good idea).

“So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.” has a nearly undisputed lead.

and Chaos is leading by one. I'll also start the spoiler thread for page 1. Every event up till grabbing Rumia in the darkness, if you want to know what would have happened on any choice or just extra description on specific things or any questions at all, I'll be happy to oblige.

[x] “How long was I out?”
[x] Maids’ quarters
[x] Written in black ink using thin, quick strokes, an encouragement: "Fight!!"

>Currently Library is winning by a fair margin (apparently finding hay in the haystack sounds like a good idea).

Yeah you'd think the library would be the first place to start looking for books.

[x] “So what do I get for placing first? I mean besides the concussion.”
[x] Library
[x] Chaos

Incidentally, the trippy pime taradox stuff in the dream reminds me of the FF series Chaos.

Writing now

>>20571

Hooray!

Writing got derailed by path planning. Expect details next update.

“So what do I get for placing first?” You rub your head gingerly, “I mean besides a concussion?”

Toki’ snickers under her breath, “You mean a prize? Geeze, Muttley, you should mention something like that BEFORE the race. Maybe I wouldn’t have held back then.” The both of you share a laugh; Flandre wouldn’t know it, but you’ve never lost a race to Toki’, not even once. She may be agile, but fast isn’t part of that.

“So let’s get this over with,” Toki’s wings glow throwing her shadow against a nearby bookshelf, and she shoves her arm into the darkness up to her shoulder before pulling back a large burlap bag and throwing it at you. The thing is ridiculously large. You imagine if you filled it to the brim, it’d be three times your height, and you’d look like Atlas holding the world on his shoulders.

Looking up from the bag you see Toki’ tying off a handkerchief behind her head, a navy blue triangle pointing down over her nose and mouth like a bandit in a western novel. She’s holding a similar bag, half as large as yours.

“So where’s this door to the library?” You direct toward Flandre. The only Flandre still around now that you notice it. Where’d the others run off to?

She quietly floats steadily towards a corner of the basement, weaving around two bookcases in the process. Floating to the ceiling, she pushes some boards up in the corner that really don’t look out of place. The entire piece of ceiling swings up smoothly, and Toki’ disappears through the hole immediately.

Throwing the bag over your shoulder, you prepare to jump after her.

“Wait,” you stop yourself mid spring and instead hop forward slightly. Behind you all four Flandre are looking at you. One whose pink eyes are blurred behind tears is holding out a small steal box. Her hands tremble as you take the gift from her, and you end up leaving your hands over hers a bit longer than necessary.

“For getting first place!” Flandre cheerfully pipes.
“Next time I ain’t goin’ easy!!” Flandre sticks her tongue out at you.
“Try not to bug Aunty Patch,” the drowsy words sound like a warning.
“…*hic*pleezdon*sniff*leev…” she mumbles incoherent words between her sobs.

Staring at her pitiful visage, you want to promise that you’ll come back, but you know it will be a lie. Why would you ever return to a house you broke into and robbed? (Even if what you stole didn’t belong to them in the beginning you doubt the residents would be happy to see you, if you run into any of them before escaping.) Maybe if you got away scott free you could come back with some feeble excuse and visit the basement. But then again, Flandre said guests aren’t allowed down here. Would they make an exception? Would they figure out you had trespassed before? Maybe they’re all really dense people.

Standing there engrossed in your thoughts and grasping at such thin hopes, you realize you shouldn’t let Dastardly get too far ahead, and yet you feel compelled to say something before you go.

Pick 1 Flandre:
[ ] Sunny
[ ] Stormy
[ ] Peaceful
[ ] Rainy

And pick 1 phrase to say to her:
[ ] “Goodbye.”
[ ] “Au Revoir”
[ ] “See you later.”
[ ] “Adieu”
[ ] “A farewell is necessary before we can meet again, and meeting again, after moments or a lifetime is certain for those who are friends.”

And before entering the Library, what day of the week is it?
[ ] Sunday
[ ] Monday
[ ] Tuesday
[ ] Wednesday
[ ] Thursday

End of Chapter 1: Breaking in…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upping difficulty for the next chapter. Alot.
You've been warned.

>Expect details next update.

Okay, each path is planned with a (entirely) different story. A few are mutually exclusive. A few are not. This is somewhat good and somewhat bad. The good news is you can, and may explore multiple paths and get a doubly awesome ending. The bad news is some paths don't mesh well, and by pursueing both, you ensure tragedy no matter what.

[x] Rainy
[x] Smile. “Sorry, Humpty Dumpty." Ruffle her hair. "I promise someday you'll find someone to put you back together again. Until then, take care of yourself--all of yourself.”
[x] Sunday

Easy like Sunday morning.

[X] Rainy
[X] “Goodbye.”
[X] Sunday

>Upping difficulty for the next chapter. Alot.
Sounds like we need bombs, unless we want to be railroaded into despair.

How long is this story and will retrieving Toki's books be the main goal?

[♤] Rainy
[♤] Smile. “Sorry, Humpty Dumpty." Ruffle her hair. "I promise someday you'll find someone to put you back together again. Until then, take care of yourself—all of yourself.”
[♤] Sunday

RUFFLE. CANNOT. RESIST.

>>20704
>How long is this story and will retrieving Toki's books be the main goal?
I was originally aiming for 6 Chapters, but after some more planning a better estimate will put you anywhere between 7 - 10 Chapters depending on how much of an impact you have on the mansion. Toki's books are not the main goal.


>Upping difficulty for the next chapter. Alot.
>Sounds like we need bombs, unless we want to be railroaded into despair.
Take it easy. BOMBs are a quick fix for BIG, OBVIOUS problems, not for paranoia. The only Bad End you guys even managed so far was a "please don't railroad the plot with write in's" Bad End. Seriously, you would have probably pulled through anyway.

[X] Rainy
[X] Smile. “Sorry, Humpty Dumpty." Ruffle her hair. "I promise someday you'll find someone to put you back together again. Until then, take care of yourself--all of yourself.”
[X] Sunday

oh god flan is my weakness

>Aunty Patch
D'awwwwww

>And before entering the Library, what day of the week is it?
>[x] Sunday
in before Solar Sign 「They Call Me Mr. Sunshine」

>>20727

Well, shit. Totally missed that.

>[x] Sunday
>"sun", for activeness and offense

Something tells me this is gonna suck.

[Sun Sign] Royal Flare

>>20745
"Sunday is a good day for this magic!"

>>20745

Good thing Royal Flare is rather easily beatable by a trick.

>“That explosion of sound and pressure wasn’t entirely necessary... you were winning by a few paces and the tunnel collapsed, but congratulations all the same.”

Running faster than the speed of sound? Check

update damn you

abandoned?

Chapter 2: Escaping Madness…

*********************************************************************

Looking back, you’d always imagined that a moment like this would be accompanied by screams. Screams of horror or sorrow or both. Maybe it’s just the shock. But remembering all that had happened, maybe losing your arm wasn’t nearly as bad as anything else that could have happened.

***********************************************************************


Smiling, you lean in closely towards the Flandre you’ll miss the most, tears running down her eyes. “Sorry, Humpty Dumpty," you speak in a bare whisper while running a hand through her simple golden curls knocking her simple hat to the floor in the process. "I promise someday you'll find someone to put you back together again. Until then, take care of yourself—all of yourself.” The words seem to hit her harder than you’d have guessed as you notice her breath catch in her throat. The feeling of her hair lingers on your hand as you pace quickly back underneath the trapdoor. You peer upward into the room above, and decide from the steady, haggard breathing that you shouldn’t stand around while Flandre’s struggling to keep up what modicum of composure she’s managed for you.

Time to go.

You jump nimbly, the twelve or so feet into the air without looking back, through the trap door and into the library.

Taking in your surroundings, you find yourself in awe at the impossibilities now in front of you as you close the trap door with your foot behind you.

You are surrounded by bookshelves stacked upon bookshelves stacked upon bookshelves stacked upon bookshelves so high above you that you have to crane your neck to see the impossibly high walls of literature as they loom ominously over you. Impossibly high because you know this mansion is only three or four stories tall from what you’ve seen from the outside. However, these walls of books easily reach ten stories by themselves and go beyond. Each bookcase filled with more books than Tokiko ever possessed, an amount you used to believe was incredible. This is ridiculous. Finding Tokiko’s books among all of these will be an impossible task to accomplish in one night…

Damn it… Finding Tokiko among all of these books might be an impossible task as well. However far ahead of you she managed to fly, Tokiko with all these books around spells trouble. She’ll undoubtedly try to read and steal as many as she can whether or not they were hers. Turnabout is fair play in her book, but you can’t imagine stealing a library larger than Tokiko’s house and your own combined. Honestly you hope she just sticks to the plan:

1. Rumia gets the boat close to shore in the cover of darkness while Toki’ and you use the old tunnel to get inside.

2. Locate and steal back Toki’s books.

3. Sneak out of the mansion and get to the southwestern shore where Rumia is waiting with the boat.

In was never a detailed plan, just enough to get things done. And you aren’t going to get anything done if you just stand here doing nothing.

Looking down the aisle you’re in: one way seems to go on forever into the distance. Turning and looking down the other way, you see an abrupt fork in the aisle as another wall of bookcases makes the path become a “T”.

[ ] Walk down the aisle you’re in, down the path that looks like it goes on forever.
[ ] Walk down the aisle you’re in, down towards the “T”. Take a left.
[ ] Walk down the aisle you’re in, down towards the “T”. Take a right.
[ ] Screw walking. Start climbing.

And

[ ] Start filling your burlap bag with any books that look interesting.
[ ] Keep an eye out for Tokiko’s books.

[+] Walk down the aisle you’re in, down the path that looks like it goes on forever.
[+] Keep an eye out for Tokiko’s books.

The arbitrariness of this arbitrary choice is arbitrarily arbitrary.

>>21368
The irony of this ironic choice is ironically ironic. It is good to have you back, Mystia.

[x] Screw walking. Start climbing.
[x] Don't even bother looking for Tokiko's books.

Ten stories is too high up to actually find her, but we'll at least get the layout of the library and make sure Patchy hasn't started slinging spells around already.

Looking for the books themselves in a place so huge is a waste of time; we have to find the librarian or her assistant if we want to find them.

>The words seem to hit her harder than you’d have guessed as you notice her breath catch in her throat. The feeling of her hair lingers on your hand as you pace quickly back underneath the trapdoor. You peer upward into the room above, and decide from the steady, haggard breathing that you shouldn’t stand around while Flandre’s struggling to keep up what modicum of composure she’s managed for you.

What is this tight feeling in my chest?

I was worried for about seven minutes there.

[x] Screw walking. Start climbing.
[x] Keep an eye out for Tokiko’s books.

[x] Screw walking. Start climbing.
[x] Keep an eye out for Tokiko’s books.

Let's see which one of us gets caught first.

[x] Screw walking. Start climbing.
[x] Keep an eye out for Tokiko’s books.

Writing now...

Looking down the unexpectedly loooong path between bookshelves and the equally tall walls of bookshelves, you convince yourself that only giants would actually bother traversing this place on foot. The room is probably larger than the island it’s built on, and that can only mean one thing: Magic.

Magic, in all of its ridiculously glory, is the bane of your entire lifetime of hard work and training. Even Tokiko admits that the relative ease of getting results from magic with minor effort is pretty demonic. But she also reminds you that it’s not her fault some people are born with more mana than others. Your own mana reserve is pretty small (one moderate spell a day is the best you can do), but you assume whoever made this library (besides being a rabid bibliophile) probably has some “magical” means of traversing it. There’s no guarantee that any given path on foot doesn’t lead to a dead end.

You again turn your gaze upwards. At least you’re sure that there is a definite maximum height to these walls, and when you get up there, you’ll figure out what the rest of the layout of the room is.

...

In your hand is a small metal box, the parting gift from the girl in the basement. On closer examination, it’s locked and the key is broken inside the lock. Trying to pry it open with your hands fails miserably, and you’re not particularly certain how much effort you want to put into opening this right now. You’ll get to it eventually.

You place it in your pack.

The large bag intended for books is too bulky to roll up and fit in your pack, but thinking outside the box is easy enough. You tie the bag around your partisan before you hop backwards, extend your arms, gauge your strength, arch your back, focus on your target, and let fly a streak of red nearly vertical into the air. You don’t even bother watching it come back down, point first, onto the top of the top shelf before you begin scaling the wall of literature.

Glancing at titles now and then, you hope by some random chance you’ll find a shelf dedicated entirely to books stolen in the last three days. Of course, your search doesn’t yield any results as far as finding Toki’s books, as you’d guessed, but you do find some interesting looking books nonetheless. It’s too bad you’ll never have the chance to read them, but one of the books just seems to pull your attention more than the others. About seven stories up, looking old and musty in a leather jacket cover, the large brown tome with the indecipherable ruins trailing it’s spine beckons you from it’s place two shelves across.

Before you realize it, your outreached arm is next to it, and you’re surprised how quickly you shuffled over here. It’s pretty odd...

[ ] Ignore the devil book. Keep climbing.
[ ] Take the book. It may come in handy.
[ ] Attempt to read the book one handed. Right here, right now.
[ ] Contemplate this decision further.

[X] Take the book. It may come in handy.

[x] Attempt to read the book one handed. Right here, right now.

We're just waiting to stumble upon Tokiko, so there's no real wrong moves to make here. Let's at least see if this book is worth it before Patch can accuse us of stealing.

>>21481

The only way to gain bombs is to take risk. I believe this may just be one of those risk.

[x] Take the book. It may come in handy.

I ain't afraid of no book. Maybe we can judge how dangerous it is by seeing how Koakuma or Patchy react to us having it.

[x] Take the book. It may come in handy.

Whatever.

[x] Attempt to read the book one handed. Right here, right now.

Wotth'hell, Archie, wotth'hell.

[x] Take the book. It may come in handy.

Will it summon a demon to kill us? Will it set of an alarm? Or is it one of those fucking books from stage 4 of EoSD? In my opinion it would be far safer and smarter to take it and read it while we're on the ground, or not read it at all.

And that's precisely why we can't do that. Every instinct I've had in this CYOA has been wrong, so the opposite must be correct.

[x] Attempt to read the book one handed. Right here, right now.

Grabbing the book, you suddenly wonder why you bothered. It’s quite obviously a cook book. The spine reads:

“Finding Your Way Around The Kitchen”
by Cameron Hampton & Oswald Smith.

It must have just looked fancy from a distance, but you could swear there was some reason you grabbed this book... Some GOOD reason.

And as soon as you figure out what that reason was, you’ll be glad you didn’t just throw this book away.

With your one free arm, you climb the rest of the wall without too much difficulty. Hefting yourself onto the top, you stand up and take in everything you can of the room.

Above you is an endless expanse of black littered with lights imitating stars in the night sky. An obviously fictitious hint of freedom. A few motes of light are obviously fairies that must live in this library. Giant lettering floats in the sky naming stars and constellations in beautiful handwriting. Dotted lines segment the sky in some places while numbers keep track of other things like relative distances.

The sight is particularly breathtaking.

Not the night sky, of course, you see that every night. But this night sky. This night sky could never occur in the half of the world Gensokyo is in. And it never will. This is the southern sky, familiar and yet foreign, floating over your head. All the constellations... the Octant, the Flying Fish, the Cross, the Chameleon, and the Firebird... everything you ever studied about the southern sky is documented here and more. This is it. Proof that there is at least one person beyond yourself that even cares that a world beyond the border exists. Someone else who’s at least curious about something beyond the borders of his ordinary life.

You can understand why someone curious about the outside world would take Tokiko’s books. Most of them were from beyond the border. But then again, you couldn’t imagine this person ever having a shortage of reading material. You can imagine this number of books would keep even a youkai busy for his entire life.

The tops of walls of bookshelves create a maze of paths below you. You’re actually pretty glad you didn’t just pick a direction to walk in randomly. The way the paths twist and turn seem to be in fashions that accommodate the addition of more books rather than allowing for easier access to them. The walls of the room are equally far away, and you note that from the placement of windows on the north and west walls that an exit should be on either the south or east wall, if not both.

After giving the room a thorough once over in your mind, (trying your best to memorize the winding paths,) you catch sight of a faerie flying in your direction. The creature is carrying too many books to see you past them, but given the direction it’s flying in, it won’t matter in a few moments. Your partisan is still grounded point down two bookshelves down from where you stand. Four long paces away.

That faerie will see you if you just stand where you are, and you don’t imagine intruders get particularly warm welcomes. However life has been pretty strange recently.

[ ] Quickly and quietly hang from a shelf ledge until the faerie passes. This is a sneaking mission.
[ ] Run and grab your partisan. If the faerie hasn’t noticed you by then... hide.
[ ] Subdue the faerie before she notices you.
[ ] Try a more diplomatic approach.

If you choose to subdue the faerie:
[ ] Lethal force
[ ] Non-lethal force

and

[ ] Unarmed combat
[ ] Partisan
[ ] Use specific item from pack or immediate surroundings.

If you choose a more diplomatic approach:
[ ] Honest story
[ ] Fabricated story

and

[ ] Simple words.
[ ] Big confusing words.
[ ] Make up words for the occasion... possibly based on your immediate surroundings.

>“Finding Your Way Around The Kitchen”
>by Cameron Hampton & Oswald Smith.

:awesome:

[x] Try a more diplomatic approach.
[x] Fabricated story.
[x] Simple words.

[x] Try a more diplomatic approach.
[x] Fabricated story.
[x] Simple words.

[x] Try a more diplomatic approach.
[x] Fabricated story.
[x] Simple words.

[X] Try a more diplomatic approach.
[X] Fabricated story.
[X] Simple words.

What we do doesn't seem to matter. We'll still get stuck in a shitty situation where we need a bomb.

update

>>22345
'kay.
Writing now.

>>22346

hooray!

Faeries have never been brighter than three watts in your experience, and you doubt that just because this one is flying around carrying literature that this fact has changed by any degree. Not that you would say ALL faeries are as dumb as bricks, but as far as generalizations go, this one fits like a glove.

“Hey there! You dropped this!” You shout the most obvious lie in her direction, waving the book you just picked up in your outstretched arm. She nearly bolts right then and there as she catches sight of you, peering slowly and carefully around the stack of books that are quivering in her trembling arms. Her eyes are wide like saucers staring at you. When the words finally register, she flies down close with a silly grin plastered on her face. Fear absent at the thought of help. Honestly, if faeries were any lazier...

“Thankya!” She says now glancing back and forth from the precarious stack of books in her arms and the one book in your hand trying to fathom how one will combine with the other.

Definitely a brick. You swiftly reach out with one arm and hoist her entire stack from her, balancing the entire affair without any difficulty. The stack really isn’t that large in your arms considering you’re easily twice as tall as the faerie.

“Here, I’ll help you take these where they need to go, if you’ll tell me something in return.” you offer already knowing what to expect.

“What do ya wanna know?” She pipes immediately, eager to slack off at the first opportunity.

“Where do the new books in the library go?”

“Over there,” She points hurriedly at a circular clearing towards a corner. “And those books go in the pile over there.” She points towards the west wall while floating backwards. “Ba-Bye!” She turns and flies away immediately before you could possibly go back on that deal.

Well that was easy. Somehow you imagine as awesome as apprehending her with say, your sewing kit, would have been, this way was definitely direct and to the point.

You set down the stack of books in your one hand. No point in actually doing that faeries work for her. You throw the cookbook you just found into your pack, and it clanks against the Flandre’s metal gift box. And you turn to walk the three paces and pick up your partisan with the sack tied to it. And it’s not there. You turn your head to look behind you thinking you might have turned around at some point. It isn’t that way either. Wait. You probably have something in your eyes. You give them a quick rub, taking a couple paces to where it should be before opening them again. And there it is! The hole your partisan made in the shelf, completely unoccupied, the burlap bag lying next to it. Someone’s doesn’t know who they just crossed, but they’re going to have a couple broken bones the second you find them. You can swear on that.

[ ] Fan out, find people, kick ass, take names.
[ ] Calm down. Forget about it for now. You know where Toki’s books are, retrieve them now.
[ ] On second thought, you don’t want to get that faerie in trouble, take those books to the west wall.
[ ] Anemia is always an option…

Who wants to bet another fairy maid saw it, said "Whoops! This doesn't go here!" and is now dutifully taking it to the lost and found?

They might come back for the sack, too. Might be worth it to wait, or scout around to see if any maids are coming back on a return path to grab the sack.

[x] Fan out, find people, kick ass, take names.

Toki's books are one thing; your heirloom partisan is another.

[x] Fan out, find people, kick ass, take names.

Whatever.

I propose a mix of two listed here.
[X] Calm down. Fan out, find people, and find your partisan!

[x] Fan out, find people, kick ass, take names.

Writing now.

Classes starting...
Back to writing in a bit.

Your eyes search the scene carefully, if frantically, looking for the direction that the soon to be dead thief went. You analyze everything you can remember; everything you could hear, smell, feel, and see during the short conversation with that faerie.

Despite being angry at yourself for not noticing anything of great value, you do feel a mocking sense of admiration for anyone who can sneak that close by you without you noticing a thing. The kind of admiration that makes you want to knock the fool off their high horse for ever flaunting the fact.

Your feet fly as you race on the tops of shelves scanning everything and anything looking for the familiar red light of your partisan. You fan outward trying to cover as much area by sight as you can. The overwhelming monotony of endless books on endless shelves in endless winding hallways grates at your patience.

All the worse because of the absence of anyone to blame.

All the faeries aren’t flying anywhere nearby, and you haven’t seen a soul sense you started this search.

If anything you finally understand what Tokiko must have felt when she woke up without her books. Having something so irreplaceable taken from you and having nowhere to vent the frustration. You’d tear this mansion to shreds trying to find that partisan, and you’re amazed that both you and Toki’ haven’t started to yet.

Catching sight of movement in the corner of your eye is all the excuse you need to launch yourself through the air. Ten stories down a single girl in a french maid’s outfit dusts off a book before placing it on a shelf. Not much of a suspect for theft, but the proof is in the pudding. Your partisan lies next to a hill of books beside the maid.

Her slim figure seems at ease taking all the time in the world to remove dust from the jacket cover of the next book she picks up with a small feather duster. Your arm catches hold of a ledge three stories down, and you use the momentum to rebound further away from her field of vision, if closer in general.

Swinging from shelf to shelf down, you try to make the action as smooth as possible to keep from making any noise. You stop when you’re directly behind her still hanging a couple meters in the air.

From this spot you could easily jump down and catch the thief unaware. You begin to wonder whether you should apprehend her first or grab your partisan first. If anything, her frail visage marks her as human, but everything else about her seems oddly perfect. From her lithe and slender legs to the sheen of her silver hair. Even her blue and white outfit seems to be pressed perfectly with every curve of her body. You’re not sure what to expect from this maid.

Watching her bend to grab another book, you catch a glimpse of the smooth, toned skin under her rather short skirt even at this height.

You steady your breathing and shut your eyes while thinking of how you should deal with the situation.

[ ] Ask for your partisan back. REALLY NICELY.
[ ] Grab the maid. Interrogate her while you have a chance, then move on to a sleeper hold.
[ ] Grab your partisan. Then deal with the maid.
[ ] Position yourself for a better view... to um... gather more information...

[x] Position yourself for a better view... to um... gather more information...

Awesome.png

[x] Position yourself for a better view... to um... gather more information...

You know you'd wanna take a peek before disturbing her.

[x] Ask for your partisan back. REALLY NICELY.

excuse me, wtf r u doin?

[X] If Flandre is any indication, not everyone in this mansion is as they seem. Best to be diplomatic, here.

Asking really nicely just sounds like groveling, to me.

[x] Position yourself for a better view... to um... gather more information...

Sakuya. Reach for the book on the top shelf. Yes, just like that...

Writing. It's taking place.

Not one to pass up the finer things in life, you lower yourself the scant feet left between yourself and the floor, quietly, taking in every detail you can of the maid as she busies herself in the menial task of dusting books. Her silver hair falls to her shoulders in waves as she moves back and forth, falling with the grace that seems to emanate from her very being.

Her outfit is like nothing you’ve ever seen. Navy blue high heels are laced to her feet with twin blue ribbons that snake up her ankles. White frilled socks that end halfway to her knees leave her bare skin visible all the way to the hem of her short, blue skirt. A large white bow in back is made from the loose ends of the small apron in front, and the lose ends of the bow flutter through the air as she sways her hips to a disjoint melody she hums while working. A blue corset over a short sleeve shirt fits snugly over her modest chest, frilled trim lining her collar and sleeves with a white lace head piece topping the whole thing off.

Watching the hem of her skirt move as she bends and stretches to grab and place books from the pile onto the shelf is mesmerizing. Scant glances of a lace garter at the top of her left thigh being an occasional bonus.

Her outfit almost seems to be a size too small as it conforms to her curves, and her skin couldn’t possibly be as soft as it looks. The biggest challenge you find is keeping yourself from imagining things. With her right in front of you, you shouldn’t start daydreaming.

But now that you’re on level ground with her, you realize something. She is nearly as tall as you are, something rare in girls of this area. And from some tone you can see in her muscles, she’s probably capable of taking care of herself. Not that you could envision this girl throwing a punch in a fight.

Scratch that. You can easily picture her in a few of the more... flexible... stances you know.

You try to wipe the silly grin off your face as you see her reaching for the last book in the pile still humming that strange melody. Wow. Time must fly when your having fun. Otherwise you can’t quite place how she finished dusting off that many books so soon.

If anything, it’s about time you get your partisan back.

[ ] Announce your presence to the maid, she seems like alright folk.
[ ] Surprise the maid, opportunity knocks.

And

[ ] Grab the girl first thing, better safe than sorry.
[ ] Grab your partisan first thing, you miss holding it.
[ ] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?
[ ] Do or say something else first, write in only...

[ ] Surprise the maid, opportunity knocks.
[ ] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?

GOOD EVENING MADAME, MIGHT I SAY YOU LOOK FABULOUS IN THAT DRESS OF YOURS

[x] Surprise the maid, opportunity knocks.
[x] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?

I'm rather amused at the thoughs anon is having about this, but since she has already probably seen us (she presumably is the one who got our partisan, after all) right behind her (signs of time-stopping, anyone?), the best option I see here (so we don't have to use a bomb) is to announce our (presumably) already plain presence.
[X] Announce your presence to the maid, she seems like alright folk.
[X] Politely ask if you may have your partisan back. If it seems she will not give it back to you, try to spring towards and grab it, quickly.
because I can think of nothing better.

[x] Surprise the maid, opportunity knocks.
[x] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?

If she's noticed you, then that she hasn't yet addressed you means that she is putting on a display, so sate her ego by letting her know that it was appreciated.

>>22452
That is a possibility, though it could also be a plot to catch us off-guard.

[ ] Announce your presence to the maid, she seems like alright folk.
[ ] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?

She probably knows you're already there. Still, that doesn't mean you should try sneaking up on her and put yourself in a dangerous situation with a knife at your neck. That would take away a lot of the flattery's power (because it'll look like you're just sucking up).

And of course, flatter her! The guy has no clue what she can do and I did my part to try and keep him alive a bit longer(depending on her personality in this story, the canon Sakuya is a bit of an airhead actually), but I gotta say that (not knowing who she was) I probably might say something dumb like that too.

Sakuya's a cutie after all.

[x] Announce your presence to the maid, she seems like alright folk.
[x] Comment on her more firm features first, who doesn’t appreciate flattery?

Writing now...

>>22469

hooray!

Dammit... Work related interuption... Will finish writing later.

Later as in later this week? Or later this month?

>>22578

Give it a rest. These guys do have lives you know?

>>22582

I don't believe you.

>>22578
Tonight I have time. I'll start writing when I finish helping my club pack up for the night.

>>22582
These guys have every right to complain. I slack off every now and then when I do have time to be writing.

ಥ_ಥ

“I must say you have quite the figure there Miss.” The words slip through your lips. “And if you don’t mind me saying, that goes doubly for your lovely posterior.”

The maid spins at your words, twirling so fast, her loose hair flies wildly and her skirt flashes another glimpse of her legs. Her face a torrent of red. A mix of embarrassment and anger, you’d guess.

A puff of wind hits your face making you blink. Strange since you’re indoors…

Suddenly her face seems not nearly so flush. Her hair which you could have sworn was unadorned, sports two long braids on either side of her face, ending in green bows. And something you know for certain is different, her skirt now seems to be passing her knees, and her blouse is definitely looser.

“If you were a guest, I’d ask you not to interrupt me in my cleanings, but since my mistress rarely has guests and Miss Knowledge never, I doubt you’re a guest.” The accusation flows smoothly from the maids lips.

“How did you do that?” You only blinked your eyes.

“What do you mean ‘that’?” She seems defensive now.

“Those aren’t the same clothes you were wearing just a moment ago, not that you don’t look amazing in these too,” You reassure, “but I could have sworn you were a human.”

“Well, I am a human, and as far as ‘that’ goes.” A small puff of wind brushes your arm, and a knife dances through her fingers as she casually flicks a hand. Cool. “My talents will be more than enough to escort you from the premises.”

She stops the knife mid-twirl, and jabs the point down the aisle.

“March!”

You struggle to not laugh, a hand in front of you face trying to smother your grin. She’s not very intimidating. And you guess you must not be very intimidating either if she thinks a knife trick from a self proclaim human will make you follow her commands so easily. Oh man, is she tapping her foot? “Um, sorry?”

[ ] “Could you change back into the other outfit? That thing was lovely.”
[ ] “Right away, Ma’am.” Start marching. Humor the poor delusional thing.
[ ] Try to convince her that you are indeed a guest of either Flandre or Patch.
[ ] Overpower the girl. You have more important things to be doing.
[ ]Write in...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bad Ends and BOMB acquisitions are now among the choices. Danger level 5.

[x] “Could you change back into the other outfit? That thing was lovely.”

If there's a bomb to be gained here, it's by continuing to fluster Sakuya.

[x] “Could you change back into the other outfit? That thing was lovely.”

[x] “Could you change back into the other outfit? That thing was lovely.”

This is the only path, I have no regrets.

[X] "Oh, and could you play some nice music? When one is marching one needs fitting music for it."

Adding this for semi-listening to her. Feel free to improve or ignore.

[ ] Try to convince her that you are indeed a guest of either Flandre or Patch.

Flirting aside, now we should get back down to business. Sure you weren't invited expressely by Flandre, but she let you stay inside anyways and that's as good an invitation as any for a servant. Tell her about Flandre's Four of a Kind spell card, not many people know about that.

[ ] Tell her that you and your accomplice came here to get our possessions back. As polite as she tries to be, stealing from someone else is equally as rude.

Ok, let's stop tempting fate and get back to business. Sakuya isn't playing around anymore and your youkai instincts should warn you about demon exterminators like herself.

>>22664 Agreeing here, though I suspect it is a separate option that would grant us another bomb. Since I have little to no idea as to what it may be, you have my support.
[ ] Try to convince her that you are indeed a guest of either Flandre or Patch.
[ ] Tell her that you and your accomplice came here to get our possessions back. As polite as she tries to be, stealing from someone else is equally as rude.

[ ] Try to convince her that you are indeed a guest of either Flandre or Patch.
[ ] Tell her that you and your accomplice came here to get our possessions back. As polite as she tries to be, stealing from someone else is equally as rude.

[X] “Could you change back into the other outfit? That thing was lovely.”

This is either a BOMB or a BAD END

Was studying for a test, and now I'll be gone all weekend at a computer programing contest. Expect an update monday morning.

>>22833

hooray!

[X] Tell her that you and your accomplice came here to get our possessions back. As polite as she tries to be, stealing from someone else is equally as rude.
[X] Try to convince her that you are indeed a guest of either Flandre or Patch.

>>22590
I'm with this guy.

ಥ_ಥ

That and your chapters seem to be getting shorter and shorter.

>>23012
Had half a page written Monday morning (not enough to post) and will continue writing now.

Chapter 0: pages 1 - 16. Total=16
Chapter 1: pages 17 - 44. Total=28 (1 page of which was the bad end.)
Chapter 2: pages 45 -55(current). Total=10 and not even a third done.

It isn't the chapters that are getting shorter. It's the posts. The actions feel choppier and less overall awesome (memorable parts). I wish to rectify this. So complain often. It'll keep me from slacking and in turn write more than necessary. I also have a break from work/school next week. I have plans to write ludicrous amounts. Also to visit grandparents that aren't mine...

Also, for those who may want to rage for another reason. If you noticed the abrupt jump between Tokiko's nest and the tunnel, that was where you were going to meet Cirno and re-learn danmaku. I cut it and may never reincert meeting her.

>>23016

RAWR! Then get to it sometime this year!!!!!

...please? :(