(…plan for the future.)

It takes more than a slight effort to not snap your fingers in frustration. Remilia wants you on a leash now, does she? Only makes sense after that Cirno incident. And for that matter, it sounds like you might not be spending another night in this mansion whether or not Nathaniel ends up doing whatever it is he’s trying to do.

“Well then,” you continue politely, “could you maybe escort me to the library, then? I don’t want to be a bother, but I don’t just want to sit around like a lump, either.”

Another shake of the maid’s head. “It would be an inconvenience for Miss Remilia were we to leave this room. She expects you to be waiting here for your audience, and considering that she is not in a forgiving mood right now, I will not be doing anything that may inadvertently jeopardize your standing with her. It would be best for you to wait here. I expect—“

Whatever she “expected” will have to wait; the door to the kitchen suddenly receives a soft tap-tap-tap. Could it be time for you to face the Scarlet Devil already? “You may come in,” Sakuya says, smoothing her uniform and folding her hands in front of her as she turns to the opening door.

Forget nearly falling out of your chair in surprise; you really do fall out of your chair as you reel backwards a little too far. This…man!! As long as you live will you ever be rid of this man, even for one bloody hour?! Nathaniel stands in the threshold of the door and walks in a few steps, though he leaves the wooden portal open. He’s dressed much differently than he was before; less bloody, for one. He wears old tan pants than are made out of some ridged, rugged material, and are held together with, of all things, brass rivets as well as stitching. Blast, you know you’ve heard of those things before, what are they called again? A nut-brown jacket made of light, worn leather rests over a pine green shirt, and his boots seem to be a few centuries out of date, even for you. What skin you can see on his hands are half-covered with cream bandages, darker brown-red spots already seeping through them. Equitas is at his side as before, but from this angle you can see a few other indistinguishable items and pouches on his belt as well. From where you stand—err, sit—he looks just like a fairy-tale wanderer about to embark on a journey…or perhaps a real-life “Wanderer” about to engage in a suicidal battle.

“Nathaniel,” you “greet” through gritted teeth.

“Farmer,” he returns, tipping his head towards you. “Glad to see you made it back all right, then.”

“Am I to assume,” Sakuya comments, “that your presence here means Remilia is ready to see our guest now?”

“Not sure,” he shrugs. “You know her better than I do. What does it mean when you just walk away and she doesn’t say anything to you one way or the other?”

“Oftentimes, it means that she is not yet finished with you, and expects you to return of your own accord,” the maid answers. “I would suggest returning to her to avoid invoking her displeasure further than you might already have done.”

His face grows a little more serious, as does hers. Both seem to have forgotten your presence for the time being. “Well, I expect she’ll just do whatever she wants no matter what I decide, right? I don’t think something like going back and asking for forgiveness would change her mind, would it? She’d have already made it up by then.”

“Sometimes, Mr. Nathaniel, asking for forgiveness can heal much damage that seems unsolvable, were one to try.”

“And sometimes, asking for forgiveness shows that you don’t have a spine. Sometimes you just have to stand up for what you believe in and let the other person believe what they will, right?”

You see one of Sakuya’s hands picking at the hem of her skirt absentmindedly and lifting it just a little higher, drawing your attention to her very fine thighs against your will. “I certainly hope that you haven’t been treating Mistress Remilia with that kind of disrespect which you talk about. Such an action, in her eyes, may very well be unforgivable.”

He rests his hands on Equitas’ ruby pommel and leans nonchalantly to one side. “Perhaps she should try to forgive. I’ve heard it can heal damage that seems unsolvable.”

Sakuya closes her eyes wearily. “You know as well as I that our hostess is not that kind of person.”

Though he speaks to Ms. Izayoi with his next sentence, he looks directly at you. All that cold rage and iron-clad determination has been washed away, replaced with a dull weariness. You can see his eyes speaking to you, and they’re telling you two simple words: Just watch.

“Well then…maybe she’s not my hostess anymore.”

[ ] Stay on the ground.
[ ] Get back up and sit down.
[ ] Push the chair back in and get up. Remain where you are.
[ ] Push the chair back in and get up. Back up and give those two some room.
[ ] Push the chair back in and get up. Stand so that Sakuya is between you and Nathaniel.
[ ] Push the chair back in and get up. Get in between those two.
[ ] Do something completely different, like, umm… (Write-in)

And then…
[ ] Remain silent
[ ] Say something to Nathaniel: (Write-in)
[ ] Say something to Sakuya: (Write-in)
[ ] Say something to both of them: (Write-in)
[ ] Say something in general: (Write-in)

[x] Become the Lord of the Dance.
[x] Trample your enemies and ascertain the truth through your ancient art.
[x] Start a traveling dance troupe in Gensokyo.

Write-in waitan games.

[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Get in between those two.
[x] Say something to both of them: "As much as I'd love to see what Sakuya has beneath her skirt, could you two cease with the veiled threats? I'll speak to your mistress now Sakuya, Nathaniel can continue his discussion with her after I'm done. Is that okay with both of you?"

This is once again, pretty dangerous since both are a little unbalanced...but having them duel it out is probably what we least want nor do we want Nathaniel back alone with Remilia before we had our chance to talk to her.

So that leaves 2 things-

-Stopping this dicussion
-Getting Sakuya to fufill her duty and bring us to Remilia

Of course, Nathaniel is a bit of a loose canon...who knows how he'll react.

>“You know her better than I do. What does it mean when you just walk away and she doesn’t say anything to you one way or the other?”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[x] Scramble to your feet.
[x] In the meekest voice possible, "Well since everything seems alright on this end, I'll just be going to have my audience with Remilia then."
[x] In passing to Nathaniel: "Remember, it's not the length of your timestop that matters, it's what you do with it!"
[x] Make for the exit; you have to find Cirno.

If she's planning on fighting, Sakuya will be relieved at the notion of you putting yourself out of harm's way, and as for Nathaniel you'll be indulging in his desire to play the part of heroic rescuer.

>You see one of Sakuya’s hands picking at the hem of her skirt absentmindedly and lifting it just a little higher, drawing your attention to her very fine thighs against your will.
It is delicious thigh, you must appreciate it.

[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Get in between those two.
[x] Say something to both of them: "As much as I'd love to see what Sakuya has beneath her skirt, could you two cease with the veiled threats? I'll speak to your mistress now Sakuya, Nathaniel can continue his discussion with her after I'm done. Is that okay with both of you?"

don't let Nat kill Mai Waifu

[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Get in between those two.
[x] Say something to both of them: "As much as I'd love to see what Sakuya has beneath her skirt, could you two cease with the veiled threats? I'll speak to your mistress now Sakuya, Nathaniel can continue his discussion with her after I'm done. Is that okay with both of you?"

Indeed, time to piss him off more and time to confront Remilia.

>You can see his eyes speaking to you, and they’re telling you two simple words: Just watch.
[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Stand so that Sakuya is between you and Nathaniel.
[x] Remain silent.

[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Back up and give those two some room.
[x] Remain silent.

I get the feeling we should stay out of this.

>>25670

You make a good point.

[x] Push the chair back in and get up. Back up and give those two some room.
[x] Remain silent.

STAR PLATINUM VS. THE WORLD.

This is going to be awesome. I wish Cirno were here to see it.

>>25670

Since when do we actually let Nathaniel take the initiative..."

>>25673
That part where we followed him down into the basement instead of leaving him to deal with Flandre by himself. Then shortly after, there was that time we fucked ourself over with Flandre, leaving him to rescue us from imminent obliteration. Then when we followed him out of the catacombs, then back into the catacombs to look for his watch, then back out again.

Farmer is a pretty passive guy.

My apologies for slowing my updates as of late. While I do feel that the votes have been moving a bit slower lately, I’m not going to force all the blame on the lack of a clear majority. I’ve been distracted too much this week with a new pastime, and it’s eaten up a lot of what would be my writing time. Also, my professors have so far been inclined to manifest annoying homework right from the start, and I wasn’t exactly prepared for it. Hopefully this is just a temporary stall, and I’ll be back to my daily-ish updates next week.

To make it easier for myself, voting is now closed. Because this might be a complex segment (and because of classes), I doubt you’ll be seeing an update until 7 P.M.-ish Eastern American Time.

Spoilers for irrelevant information:
The pastime is the Universal Fighting System card game. I must have spent at least 20 hours of freetime trying to brainstorm a deck, and I only heard about the bloody game last week. It has certainly piqued my interest, though whether it will continue remains to be seen.

>>25688

Oh I've heard of that game, always thought it looked kind of cool.

>>25688
Voting really has slowed down. But have no fear, it will pick up again when shit hits the fan.

[Push the chair back in and get up. Get in between those two, but give them some room just the same.]
[Say something to both of them: "As much as I'd love to see what Sakuya has beneath her skirt, could you two cease with the veiled threats? I'll speak to your mistress now Sakuya, Nathaniel can continue his discussion with her after I'm done. Is that okay with both of you?"]

This is getting too tense for you. These snappy phrases Nathaniel and Sakuya are firing back and forth might as well be outright bullets fired from a gun; they’re practically accomplishing the same thing. With one more phrase those two could be at each other’s throats, and then if your life here hasn’t already gone to Hell in a hand-basket, it surely would then. Yes, Nathaniel kind of told you to “just watch”, but quite frankly you’d rather not “just watch” two people try and kill each other, not when there’s a chance of you getting caught in the crossfire (and with Nathaniel, it’s a definitely possibility).

You move forwards and step somewhat in between the two, though not exactly between them in case worst comes to worst and you need to make a hasty retreat. You see Sakuya’s hand move off her skirt, and Nathaniel lets one of his hands off the sword…though the other remains close by.

“I think that’s about enough,” you say, trying not to sound antagonistic to either of them. “It’s nice to see you two having a little…umm, playful banter, and—no offense Ms. Izayoi—it might be nice to see just what you’re hiding under your skirt as well, but can we just stop it for now? If Nathaniel’s finished, I’d like to go see Miss Remilia and get this over with. Nate, I suppose you can finish your talk with her after I’m done if you want. Is that okay with everyone?”

If Sakuya was offended by your flippant remark about her legs, she doesn’t show it, and folds her hands in front of her. Nathaniel moves away from the door so that now the three of you are in a small triangle, and motions a hand towards the outer hallway. “Fine by me; way’s clear,” he says blandly. Sakuya casts him a wary glance, but makes no other motion.

“Very well, sir. If you would follow me…” Sakuya states, gliding forwards to the door. You’ve never quite paid much attention to it, but her posture as she walks, so utterly stiff and straight, with military precision, must be absolute murder on her back. You follow her a few steps behind—

You’re both in exactly the position he was waiting for. Dashing forwards, he grabs Sakuya’s wrist with his right hand and two of your fingers with his left, Revelation already in his hand. You hear a fast clicking sound emanate from the watch like the spinning of a revolver’s chamber, and he pulls the lever which you remember him pulling in the tunnels. There’s a slight hiss of air near Sakuya, and Nathaniel pulls away just as a knife misses cutting off one of his fingers by a hair’s breadth. You instinctually back away from them both, and Nathaniel does the same, moving in front of a shelf of spices.

“That action was most inadvisable, Mister Nathaniel,” Sakuya says coldly, one silvery knife in her right hand and three more cradled between the fingers of her left. “You have overstepped your bounds in this house for the last time. Perhaps…if…”

She unexpectedly trails off, and for the first time since you’ve met her, there is actually a look of panic on her face. Her mouth hangs open ever so slightly, and she grips her knives more tightly, shaking just a fraction of an inch in surprise, or perhaps rage. Her eyes are wide and vacant, looking at Nathaniel but not really seeing him. She grits her teeth and refocuses herself.

“Toki wo tomare…” she whispers in a strange, foreign tongue, her brow furrowing deeply. “It was you?!”

Nathaniel swings Relevation back and forth from his fingers like a pendulum, almost taunting her with it. A knife spirals towards the magical timepiece, but he snatches it up and slides it back into his sleeve, now planting his feet squarely on the ground.

“That watch!” she hisses at him violently, plucking a blade from her left hand to return herself to a dual-wielding status. “That watch was worthless! A mockery of the Luna! That watch was—“

“—was created in a world of which you know not, Sakuya Izayoi,” Nathaniel interrupts harshly, curling a hand around Equitas in anticipation. “A world where the knowledge of the magic of time had stopped, and I alone could move it forwards. There are more ways than one to stop the clock; you just haven’t had to worry about them until now. How does it feel? How does it feel to know that someone else can enter your world of solitude, and break you free from this artificial dominance? To know that even your own magic of time can be rendered useless?”

The maid straightens herself up and tries to intimidate him with her presence, aided by the fact that she’s actually taller than him by several centimeters. “Do you claim to lecture me on my own limits of control, Mr. Nathaniel?”

“Yes. Yes I do. I’m no fool about time myself, but even a fool could tell you that you can’t slow time down to below zero. And if you can…well, then you would have stopped me thirty seconds ago. No, you’re just the same as everyone else now.”

As if to answer his insult, she reaches under her skirt and procures half a dozen more knives, spinning and juggling them in the air more for show than for purpose, though a trio of them fly purposely an inch below the fork of Nathaniel’s legs, embedding themselves in the wooden divider between some paprika and rosemary. She thrusts both arms to her sides defiantly, three knives in each hand like makeshift claws.

“My skill is admirable enough without the use of magic, Mr. Nathaniel. If it is a fair death you seek, then I shall provide you with one.”

Nathaniel grabs a pair of the knives from below him, gripping one right side up and the other in a reverse fashion. “If that’s your choice…then let it begin.”

(The penultimate showdown…)

(…of penultimate destiny.)

Sakuya wastes no time in making the first move. Relinquishing the grip on one of her “talons”, she sends the silvery spike flying and quickly follows after it. It clips Nathaniel’s jacket without effect as he dodges to the left, avoiding the maid’s incoming slash as he retreats into a more open area, knuckles white against his stolen weapons. Sakuya sweeps a kick low to the ground, catching Nathaniel off his guard and unbalancing him enough to stick a flying knife into his calf. She instantly takes the opening she created for herself and moves in close to Nathaniel, swiping and stabbing in a cyclone of steel that Nathaniel barely manages to either block or retreat from.

It’s not hard to tell, even in these opening exchanges, that Nathaniel is a defensive fighter. He hardly ever moves to attack, and really doesn’t have a chance to due to Sakuya’s relentless offense. He’s good with the knives, no doubts there, but it seems he’ll be needing more than “good” to best Sakuya. A stab is quickly parried to the side of him, then he backs away from the other arm’s slash with just enough time left over to ready his first hand for another block. The soft scraping of the small blades together is unusually quiet compared to what you expected, and thought the two are breathing heavily, their footwork is light, and no words pass between them: this is a silent battle. Not a battle for glory, nor honor, nor vengeance, nor hatred, but only death. These two will not stop until one of them lies with their throat cut on the ground.

You back off into the distance, hopefully out of harm’s way, though too intrigued by this fight to run for help or break the silence. A kitchen is hardly the best location for a knife fight, or any fight for that matter. The walkways are narrow, the obstructions many, and the open clearings few. Cooking utensils hang from racks on the ceiling, and every ten or twenty seconds you hear a metallic clatter as some pot or metal spoon gets knocked to the floor from one of their errant slashes. The fight becomes obscured as they shuffle behind a rack of stainless steel pans, only to reappear someplace completely different fifteen seconds later. You find yourself being drawn to the fight against your will, following them around the room so that you can see their progress.

You’ve seen Sakuya fight before, but this is far different. She doesn’t throw her knives like bullets this time; in fact, she’s down to only three knives in her hands now, and makes no move that you can see to throw any more. Nor does she dash about like crazy avoiding her opponent. She’s always right in Nathaniel’s face, never more that a long stride away, maintaining pressure every second of every clash of every circuit around some wooden table or large stewpot. If danmaku is an art, then this must be a dance. Every move, every flick of Sakuya’s wrist or half-step forwards is executed smoothly and with a graceful purpose. Nathaniel is as fluid in his defense as Sakuya is in her offense. He never wastes a movement of his arms, always carrying the motion of a parry into the next block, or the next sidestep. His jacket sports multiple rips and starts to redden, and the back of his left hand is smeared in blood, but he’s no slower than he was when he started, and Sakuya seem to have acquired her share of battle damage as well.

Suddenly, the maid slips up. Sakuya carries a viscous lunge one step too far and stumbles past the side-stepping Nathaniel, who runs past her and clips her feet just enough to get her sprawled on the ground. His knives clatter to the floor and he uses his purchased time to draw Equitas instead. It seems like he tries to pin her neck to the ground with it, but she rolls away and returns to her feet, grabbing Nathaniel’s discarded knives to bring her count back to four.

The presence of the dragon-blade turns this into a much different battle. Though not a long sword in any respect, Equitas’ range and weight over Sakuya’s knives quickly puts her on the defensive. He holds the blade at arms’ length like a fencer, forcing Sakuya to keep her distance or risk getting her throat cut. It’s suddenly turned into a mind game: Nathaniel will move the tip of his sword just a few centimeters closer, and Sakuya instantly lashes out and slaps the blade away, only to be denied an advance as Nathaniel returns the sharp edge of his weapon to her torso. You wait ten, sometimes even twenty seconds in complete silence before one blade hits another, both of the combatants trying to attack each others’ mind rather than their body, trying to instigate openings for attacks using sheer will power.

With the style changed, Sakuya begins to speak very curtly.

“You fight well, Mr. Nathaniel,” she comments, smirking.

“The same to you,” he replies, shifting his sword’s point from her chest to her throat. “A pity you—“

She cuts him off and takes the conversation’s distraction to slap the flat of his blade upwards and rush at him with two knives in either hand. He only just has time to bring it across his chest and force a deadlock with her weapons rather than get his heart ripped out. Despite Nathaniel having a fairly strong build, he can barely keep her knives at bay as the maid uses every last centimeter of height she has on him to force him downwards, causing Equitas’ angle to slip downwards degree by degree, until he can barely hold it.

Both break the lock and attack simultaneously. Nathaniel ducks down and makes a clumsy-yet-effective swing at Sakuya’s midsection as she crosses all four knives in an X across his collarbone and upper torso. Nathaniel slumps to the ground near the table where you woke up, his free hand clutching his profusely-bleeding chest. Sakuya likewise staggers backwards with a massive ragged cut across her stomach, angled upwards into her left breast.

(Fatality!)

(You win!)

You run forwards until you’re almost on top of the two, planning to help at least one of them (you haven’t decided who), but Nathaniel lets out a loud, “Don’t!” which startles you, causing you to humiliatingly collide with the table and tangle your legs up with one of the wooden chairs as you fall to the ground. Nathaniel rises to one knee as he glares at Sakuya, who is…laughing?

The maid leans against the counter, twirling a knife and chuckling to herself as her face is plastered in a satisfied grin. The front of her uniform is completely ripped open and flops limply to the side, and yet…there’s no blood. A flexible layer of metallic silver coats her stomach and chest, formed around her curves so perfectly that she could put on a new uniform right now and you wouldn’t believe it was there even after you saw it.

“You…you coward,” Nathaniel wheezes, wincing in pain from every little movement he makes. “You little girl…you pad?!”

She taps the left globe of her armor with her knife to emphasize. “Undergarments of steel are so much more useful than ones of cotton and plush, wouldn’t you say? I would have expected a smart man like yourself not to underestimate your opponent.” Her arm shoots outwards and her knife pierces through Nathaniel’s right wrist, causing him to lose hold of Equitas. As she walks towards him she bends over erotically to pick up another knife, giving him a full view of her cleavage from above her breastplate. “And I certainly wouldn’t have expected you to underestimate a woman of all things.”

She looms over him like a giant and kicks his sword away, sending it spinning in your direction. He reaches for it, but a quick slice in the back from Sakuya delays him just long enough for it to fall out of his reach. She stands behinds him and hovers the tip of her knife—more red than silver—over his head like a guillotine. She’s wholly concentrated on him now; she probably even forgot you’re in the room.

“Mr. Nathaniel, I must commend you for a game well-played. The Mistress has not been so excited to host a guest in decades, and you certainly did not disappoint her expectations. Would you not have wasted your time with drivel such as that farmboy, perhaps you might have been successful. However, The Lady Remilia has grown quite tired of your futile attempts, and thus your time with us ends here. Shall I relay a message to her from you before you go?”

He tries to talk, but at first only emits a rough rasp. Though Sakuya can’t see it from this angle, you can: Nathaniel’s good hand reaches into his coat and grasps something by his left shoulder. He mumbles something, but you can’t make it out, and you doubt Sakuya can either.

…What are you doing? What just happened here? The game…the game is real? Is Sakuya just another pawn in the magnificent lie Nathaniel spun for you, or is this the unaltered truth? Did they stage this battle for your benefit, or is Nathaniel really about to die? Wait…did she just call you drivel? You…you have to do something. You must do something! No! You can’t, you can’t get involved! Let it happen! No, don’t let this happen! Take action! No, stay here, stay safe!

[ ] Stay there.
[ ] Just run away! Go to: (specify destination)
[ ] Don’t just sit there, say something! (Write-in what)
[ ] Quickly, push Sakuya out of the way!
[ ] Quickly, push Nathaniel out of the way!
[ ] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[ ] Sneak up on Nathaniel and attack!
[ ] “Write-in” is always on the menu, of course.

If you choose to attack, what will you attack with?
[ ] Thy danmaku…
[ ] These knives.
[ ] Those iron skillets!
[ ] That sword!
[ ] THIS CHAIR!!

========================================

Do it. You know you want to. You’ll never get this chance again.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

Sure, the sword or knives might be more effective, but I don't think it's a good idea to apply lethal force to the only person who knows where Cirno is. If Sakuya were at a disadvantage here we might be able to save her and hope she was grateful enough to help us, but she's got Nate beat(or thinks she does anyhow).

Plus, we get to use a fucking chair against a time stopping super-assassin. Rule of cool says this will work.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

Well that last vote was kind of pointless...oh well, let's try and sneak up Sakuya and knock her out with the chair.

Unlike the usual, she can't timestop so we don't have to worry about her teleporting or anything. She's distracted for the most part and if she even casts one bit of attention in your direction, will most likely get attacked by Nathaniel the instant she moves in your direction.

Also, if she does somehow manage to break our weapon, splinters and pieces will most likely fly in her general direction anyways, giving Nathaniel time to act...

I'd rather not side with him...but we can't just let someone die right infront of us, even if it's Nathaniel.

Hopefully he won't do anything lethal though, cause Sakuya is one of my favorite touhous.

Side Note : Hahahaha, she pads!

>>Do it. You know you want to. You’ll never get this chance again.
Why yes, I would like to destroy THAT CHAIR!! It's been deserving of it since Expectation of Sanguine Disorder.

Joking aside, I'm wondering if he means using one of our cards.

Regardless,
[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
For the reasons listed already.

It was necessary that I post this.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!! THIS CHAIR!!

[X] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[X] THIS CHAIR!!

Magnificent

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

No regrets.

Chair Sign 「Twinkie House」

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

I lol'd incredibly hard at this update.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

I'd be sarcastic, but I really think this can only go wrong.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!

"Did you just knock her out with a fucking chair? Ha... hahahahaha! You really do fight like a farmer! Haha--"
"How appropriate, you fight like a cow."

[x] Don't let him make the killing blow; knock Nathaniel out too.
[x] After checking them over to make sure you've disarmed them completely, drag their unconscious forms to the library; leave them in the librarian's care.

Nathaniel is just too unpredictable; he might kill your hostage before you find your fairy, and God knows how Remilia would react to that. She might even kill one of "his" chess pieces in retribution for killing "hers".

Now this way Remilia's response will predictably favorable: The farmer triumphing over the two greatest present dangers to her, solely because they had underestimated him (one of whom bringing him here in the first place as aid), is the ultimate irony, and therefore the most desirable outcome to Remilia. This is made richer in that the only "reward" the farmer will ask for is the fairy who almost killed him to begin with and who she herself finds an intolerable nuisance. The maid is humbled that her master doesn't want rid of her despite seeing through her plots, the wannabe-hero learns the meaning of the word "humility", and the two "fools" walk off happily into the sunset. She couldn't have planned it better herself.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.

[/+] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[/+] THIS CHAIR!!
[/+] Don't let him make the killing blow; knock Nathaniel out too.
[/+] After checking them over to make sure you've disarmed them completely, drag their unconscious forms to the library; leave them in the librarian's care.

btw, what is our Sneak level at, what stealth rating do our clothes have, and do we have access to a stealth boy? Hahaha

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.

Finally a chance to correct our mistake as Belnonymous, and rid this world of THIS CHAIR.

>>Do it. You know you want to. You’ll never get this chance again.

AND SO I SHALL.

[X] Don’t just sit there, say something! ("So, why are you wearing pad?")

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.

You don't necessarily want to knock him out yet since his watch is a complex piece of equipment, and you need time to resume first or you won't be going anywhere. Alternatively, if you need to knock him out, you can disarm them while they're unconscious, bind them, and then simply wait for him to rouse himself and then have him tell you how to use it.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let him make the killing blow; knock Nathaniel out too if necessary.
[x] Make sure you disarm them completely, then call one of the fairy maids to fetch Patchouli, so their injuries can be treated.

Pushing for True End here.

We promised to uncover the truth behind all of this to Nate, but not at the cost of anyone's life. We know how Remilia is going to justify herself in playing Nathaniel and Sakuya like strings. They're both self-obsessed, volatile sociopaths who were otherwise a danger to themselves and the world around them, she kept them here for the same reason she kept Flandre here. Sakuya was given a chance at a more normal life in the service of others, and Nathaniel was shown first-hand just how terrible the consequences could be if he continued down the same path (though it seems he hasn't quite taken the lesson to heart yet). I still want to say it's a dick move on her part, and she definitely has her own faults--such as not being more involved with the life of her sister, something which needs to be said--but in the end I can't see her as truly villainous.

That's not to say there aren't things left for us to resolve. Cirno's safety is the most obvious and pressing concern, then Adam should be freed from his insanity, which can be done through reaffirming the relationship between Flandre and her sister as well as showing Flandre that Adam will stay even without being coerced into doing so. There is also need for greater oversight of the younger Scarlet to ensure Flan doesn't mutilate any more people or fairies, which is something entirely within a reformed Sakuya's abilities. Nathaniel needs to develop a less destructive life philosophy, to learn to create for the sake of creating, as opposed to creating (weapons) for the sake of destroying, and I think his prior positive interaction with Patchouli shows that if he chooses to remain here voluntarily we might see some transformational change in his character, once he stops believing that he has the fate of the world on his shoulders, that is.

When UNOwen was canvassing for a more defined personality for the Farmer, something I took to heart was the concept of him as an everyman, who wants for nothing and expects only decency, so I think it's wholly within his character to forgive pretty much every injury he's been the unfortunate victim of, as his experience with Cirno shows. As the folk adage goes, an eye for an eye leaves the world blind, and Farmer has got only one left already.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] Those iron skillets!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.

You're probably asking "Skillets?! Why is he choosing skillets?"
Because your memes be damned. Chairs are unwieldy and slow weapons. Even if Sakuya seems to have lost track of us in her preoccupation with Nathaniel, it would be hard to sneak up on her with a chair. A stool, maybe; a step-stool, maybe; but, not a full chair.
According to the sorting algorithm of weapon effectiveness, frying pans are a penultimate - if not the Infinity Plus One - source of attack power. Even in wrestling, chairs are common, low-tier (and their chairs are usually folding, metal chairs; ours is probably wood).

Isn't Equitas infinitely sharp against an evil opponent? Then, that would mean Sakuya isn't as malevolent as she seems despite the lying and constant threats of violence.

Well, it's either that or she wearing a suit of plot armor.

>Because your memes be damned. Chairs are unwieldy and slow weapons. Even if Sakuya seems to have lost track of us in her preoccupation with Nathaniel, it would be hard to sneak up on her with a chair. A stool, maybe; a step-stool, maybe; but, not a full chair.
>According to the sorting algorithm of weapon effectiveness, frying pans are a penultimate - if not the Infinity Plus One - source of attack power. Even in wrestling, chairs are common, low-tier (and their chairs are usually folding, metal chairs; ours is probably wood).

Watch out guys, we're dealing with an expert here.

There is a reason why they eliminated weapon speed in D&D: Discussions involving it would invariably lead to immense faggotry.

[x] Quickly, push Sakuya out of the way!
Less of a chance she'll turn on us, I think.

>Sakuya vs. Nathaniel
AY GUEY, NO MAMES!
Well, I figure coincidences like these can't be helped. Losing an idea to someone, I guess, is my punishment for being slow.

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.
[x] Make sure you disarm them completely, then call one of the fairy maids to fetch Patchouli, so their injuries can be treated.

If we distract her, he will kill her for good. I don't want her to die.

>>25707

I'll be changing my vote to

[x] Sneak up on Sakuya and attack!
[x] THIS CHAIR!!
[x] Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.
[x] Make sure you disarm them completely, then call one of the fairy maids to fetch Patchouli, so their injuries can be treated.

Because I can't condone anything that has a chance of killing my perfect maid!

Also

The results of the 6th Touhou Popularity Poll : http://thwiki.info/th/vote6/

Characters:

1. Reimu Hakurei - 5739
2. Sakuya Izayoi - 5433
3. Marisa Kirisame - 5380

Sakuya made it to the top 3!!! Awesome!!

17. Suwako Moriya - 2691
18. Cirno - 2604
19. Tenshi Hinanai - 2603

Cirno was 18, not too shabby. Still in the top 20 out of all the touhou characters ever...

[Sneak up on Sakuya and attack with THIS CHAIR!!]
[Don't let Nathaniel make the killing blow.]
[Make sure you disarm them completely, then call one of the fairy maids to fetch Patchouli, so their injuries can be treated.]

You have to stop her. You must stop her. Nathaniel deserves a lot of things, but death isn’t one of them; not like this. You reach for the sword…No. You don’t want to kill her, either. All you want is to defuse the situation, nothing more. No time to find anything better. This chair…Yes, this chair will do just fine.

As silently as you possibly can you crawl out from behind the table and slowly stand up, both eyes on Sakuya all the while. You grab the two back chair legs and hoist them up off the ground; it’s a cumbersome thing, but at least it’s not that heavy. Nathaniel continues to grumblingly whisper something which Sakuya bends her ear just a little closer to hear, her entire world just a little sphere of focus between herself, Nathaniel, and that knife. She notices absolutely nothing as you creep up behind her and heft the improvised weapon over your head, like a judge about to issue a criminal’s sentence. Your muscles tense and burn, eager to end this madness once and for all.

Thumph!

The angular object collides with the back of Sakuya’s head and torso, the seat and frame collapsing instantly as the arc of your swing passes through the resistance of her body. A multitude of wooden cracks echo throughout the room as the chair splinters into kindling, never more to be a boon or a bane to anyone ever again, and your palms sting with the overly-excessive force of the blow. The maid instantly crumples to the floor, Nathaniel shuffling out of the way to avoid her from landing on top of him. The blade remains loosely gripped in her hand, and you slide it away with your shoe for good measure. Nathaniel keeps his hand gripped on the object inside his coat, however, and you instantly hold up…well, a broken chair leg, in a rather foolish effort to threaten him to stop.

“Don’t you dare kill her,” you reprimand harshly. “I don’t care if she was about to kill you; I just saved your life, and I’m telling you not to kill her.”

Though your weapon poses no real treat to a man gripping the handle of a loaded gun, he complies and raises his hand into the air, the other still putting pressure on his bleeding chest.

“Wasn’t…going to. Wasn’t ever, going to…but, k’,” he replies, his words sounding a little light-headed and weak. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s not like we’re counting how many times who’s saved who, anyways.”

He nods tiredly, then asks, “…But, why the chair?”

You don’t really feel in the mood for being direct at the moment, and answer sarcastically, “Because it tripped me. I wanted revenge.”

He shakes his head and tries to stand up, but his legs give out on him and he slumps back to the ground. Crawling on his hands and knees he tries to make for the kitchen exit, leaving a smear of blood on the ground with each painful meter of progress. Dropping the chair legs you walk over to him and force him to stop, propping his back against a wall.

“Where do you think you’re going, little man?” you mock, trying to ignore how much blood Nathaniel must have lost by now. “The only place you’ll be going to if you keep on like this is a pine box, and quickly at that.”

“Gotta…” he wheezes, not even bothering to look up at you. “Gotta, get, get to Glish…get t’ Flandre. S’all, s’all going down…only one, only one who can…can save. Th’…th’ card…”

With a limp wrist he draws a blood-stained card out of his pocket: Third Wish, 「Fate of the Present」. He tries to hold it up as an example, but it flops uselessly in his fingers. “Rem…Remilia’s cards. Present, Ihh…it frees, frees you from the fate. Don’t…don’ use it on, on yourself…you’ll waste…it.”

You look at the card, then stuff it back into his jacket pocket. “I’ve already got one; thanks. You just take it easy; I’m going to go get Patchouli to help. Do you die on me now, idiot.”

He flops his head from side to side, possibly tried to disagree with you. “N-No, don’t…don’t bring any, anyone; th-they’ll, she’ll…knoww-w…” His sentence dies on his lips as he fades from consciousness and slides onto the floor; still breathing, but definitely out of commission.

You look over the kitchen scene with astonishment. Two powerful fighters unconscious on the ground, and the room in relative disarray. How did it come to this? Nathaniel grabbed Sakuya’s wrist to stop time with all of you together, and she suddenly lashes out at him with an intent to kill. What was going on between them when your back was turned, anyways? And that bloody game…was this one of the battles in it? Sakuya, the “Queen of Fate”, against Nathaniel, a “Bishop”? Or is this just Sakuya’s own little scheme on the side, finally coming to fruition? Gah, why can you never find anything out in this house?!

You deem it smart to disarm both Nathaniel and Sakuya before doing anything else, on the off chance that either of them wake up without you noticing. Though you feel rather dirty doing it, you search underneath pretty much every piece of clothing Sakuya wears looking for knives, and it was a good idea you did: in addition to the two empty belts on her thighs, she carried a knife in the sole of her right shoe, one hidden intricately in the folds of her apron, and a pair attached to the back of that odd steel corset/brassiere she wears. You contemplate actually stripping her naked in case she’s hiding one someplace weird, but even in the pursuit of safety you have your limits.

Nathaniel is both easier and harder to search at the same time. Equitas, Seraphim, and Revelation are easy enough to procure, as well as the plethora of odd bags and trinkets on his belt you’d rather not try to figure out the purposes of (isn’t that the weird drill/glove thing from Flandre’s room?). However, due to your inherent distrust of him, you search the man just as thoroughly as Sakuya, and find…nothing. No hidden knives, no secret sleeve guns, no strange clockwork bombs, nothing. It’s disconcerting; he must be hiding something, but you simply can’t find it.

(Of course, you can’t find…)

(…what isn’t there.)

You delicately hold Revelation in your hand. The normal hands are moving now; Nathaniel must have flipped time back to normal when you weren’t looking. You think about messing around with it, but there’s more important things to do right now. Quickly venturing out of the kitchen, you look for someone, anyone at all who could fetch Patchouli, or offer some kind of help. It doesn’t take long for you to find one of the random fairy maids polishing a set of silver candlesticks on an end table. You try hard to ignore that these are what those creatures in Flandre’s “playground” once looked like, and call out to her.

“Hey! You, over there! Go get Miss Patchouli; Mr. Nathaniel and Ms. Izayoi are unconscious and bleeding in the kitchen, they need to be healed right away!”

The fairy nearly falls over in shock, but quickly bobs her head in conformation and runs off down the hallway (wouldn’t it have been faster to fly?). You return to the kitchen door to get your bearings straight and to check up on those two; nope, still unconscious. But at least this madness is over. Patchouli will come, heal them up, you’ll get some explanation from Remilia, hopefully Nathaniel will get some sense knocked into him, and everything will be just fine.

…Right?

[ ] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya (specify what).
[ ] Do something else while you wait (specify what).
[ ] You don’t need to do anything else in the kitchen right now.

Once your affairs in the kitchen are settled…
[ ] Wait here for Patchouli. (Note: if you wish, you can choose what to do once Patchouli gets there)
[ ] Don’t wait; go to the library and meet Patchouli on her way.
[ ] Seek out that lounge Remilia is in.
[ ] Try to find Cirno. Sakuya said she’s in the servant’s quarters, right?
[ ] Go outside, and do something there (specify what).
[ ] A write-in is fine, too.

========================================

>>25705
>Plus, we get to use a fucking chair against a time stopping super-assassin. Rule of cool says this will work.
Since when has the rule of cool ever applied in this story? But then again, if I didn’t want you to use THIS CHAIR, I wouldn’t have made it an option. Plus, may be the one time I’ll actually allow you to do something absurd and get away with it.

>>25707
>Side Note : Hahahaha, she pads!
And thus, I have once again taken a classic meme and bent it to my will.

Breastplate > Breastpad

>>25709 & 25724
And there was much rejoicing. THIS CHAIR had it coming for a long time.
This kitchen scene was all one giant set-up to get you to vote for THIS CHAIR once and for all.
HY, please don’t hurt me.

>>25711
Yes. Yes it was.

>>25720
>Now this way Remilia's response will predictably favorable: The farmer triumphing over the two greatest present dangers to her, solely because they had underestimated him (one of whom bringing him here in the first place as aid), is the ultimate irony, and therefore the most desirable outcome to Remilia. This is made richer in that the only "reward" the farmer will ask for is the fairy who almost killed him to begin with and who she herself finds an intolerable nuisance. The maid is humbled that her master doesn't want rid of her despite seeing through her plots, the wannabe-hero learns the meaning of the word "humility", and the two "fools" walk off happily into the sunset. She couldn't have planned it better herself.
You do know I’m right here, reading every word you say, and making sure that nothing is ever going to go according to your plans, right?

>>25731
Readers pushing for a successful ending always make me smile.
Pssh, and you think that’s “True”. Sounds a bit too “Good” to be “True” to me.

>>25732
While your argument is valid, good sir, you underestimate /sdm/’s hatred for THIS CHAIR. It has evolved past it’s Tsukihime origins, and has haunted the halls of the Scarlet Devil Mansion for far too long. It is a chair worthy of being destroyed.

>>25733
Direct quote from Nathaniel himself. Be careful not to misconstrue his words; they’re already misconstrued enough:
>“And yes, they are more than mere metal and crystal,” he adds adamantly, really getting into his words now. “Magic flows in them of the kind I doubt many could replicate, and certainly not easily. Equitas is not just named justice, he is justice. His blade grows sharp to smite chaos, and dull when he strikes the just. No unlawful creature who runs from justice can defend against his razor’s edge. Not with tenfold shields, not with infinite regeneration, not with all the magic in the world. A blade of evil’s bane, Equitas is my oldest friend, and my most trusted ally. I will not leave him here while I still drawn breath, not even if Hell itself stands against me.”

>>25738
I’m just going to make an EoSD-based bulleted list of comments about these rankings. Mostly because I’m bored. I’d talk about my favorite characters here, but this is /sdm/, not /owen/.

+Sakuya beating out Marisa is a good thing. Reimu beating them both is not. At least the silver-haired maid takes the silver-shining medal.
+Remilia at #5? Didn’t expect her to be so high; not that I disapprove in the least.
+Flandre only gets #12? I would have expected her to be in the Top 10. And I don’t approve of her getting beaten by Shameimaru.
+Patchouli takes #14, not bad at all.
+If Flandre didn’t make it into the Top 10, I certainly didn’t expect Cirno to miss the Top 10 as well. #18 isn’t bad, but I just thought her fanbase was a lot bigger than that. She could have easily gotten #9.
+Meiling at a mediocre #22 is to be expected.
+Rumia at #38; I can’t say I didn’t expect her to be buried. Now if EX-Rumia were canon…
+Nobody ever remembers Koakuma. Buried deep at #44. Isn’t it sad?
+And if people don’t care about Koakuma, they really don’t care about Daiyousei. #52.

Also, congratulations Scarlet sisters for snagging gold and bronze on the music charts! Septette being the most popular is a total surprise; I would have bet money on my namesake taking #1.

[x] Whatever kitchen action wins
[x] Don’t wait; go to the library and meet Patchouli on her way.
[x] Scry Cirno

Though, not necessarily in that order. We should meet up with Patchy so that she won't have to walk all the way back to the library to get something for our eye.

[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya
[x] Equitas, Seraphim, Revelation, 2 Knives, Nathaniel's Card.
[x] Seek out that lounge Remilia is in.

Time to gear up for a possible Boss battle. Not sure if it's against Remilia or something else, but we will need everything we can. This will sure as hell not be easy and be a 1 to 10 chance to win this.
And we can return the stuff we borrowed later on, not like we are stealing it. Gonna need it more than the two of them at the moment.

>With a limp wrist he draws a blood-stained card out of his pocket: Third Wish, 「Fate of the Present」. He tries to hold it up as an example, but it flops uselessly in his fingers. “Rem…Remilia’s cards. Present, Ihh…it frees, frees you from the fate. Don’t…don’ use it on, on yourself…you’ll waste…it.”

We could use this card to save Cirno from her Fate and free her from the Mansion.

[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya - Nathaniel's card, Sakuya's knives
[x] Do something else while you wait - Tie up Sakuya with something in the kitchen that won't degrade too quickly with time, like a bent ladle or something, tie it behind her back and remove the Luna Dial if she has it. Nathaniel promised her wouldn't kill her so it should be okay...

Once your affairs in the kitchen are settled…
[x] Don’t wait; go to the library and meet Patchouli on her way.

Lemme explain,

1- I don't really trust our farmboy to understand or properly use Nathaniel's toys.
2- Sakuya might have the ability to accelerate time to degrade whatever we tie her up in if she wakes up.
3- Why the heck would Patchouli listen to a fairy and leave the comfort of her library?

>[ ] Try to find Cirno. Sakuya said she’s in the servant’s quarters, right?

derp option is derp

>Cirno, Cirno…where art thou? A black void is all you can see. As first you dismiss it as the darkness of sleep, but a ripple catches your eye. There’s a few slightly lighter shades of black within her vision that seem to shift about periodically, almost as if she’s in a dark place rather than somewhere else with her eyes closed. A closet comes to mind, but then you remember Flandre’s caverns.
>[...]
>Cirno most likely isn’t just resting in the servant’s quarters, wherever she is.

My bet? Sakuya tied a rock around her and dumped her in the lake.

[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya.
- [x] Gather everything except the bloodstained card and dump it all unceremoniously in a sack.
- [x] Pocket the bloodstained card.
[x] Wait here for Patchouli.
- [x] Scry Patchouli to make sure the fairy actually gives her the message, then scry Cirno and Remilia while you wait for her to arrive.
- [x] Hand off the sack the Librarian when she arrives; the only weapon you'll need to face Remilia is a bottle of liquid courage.

Nathaniel might be upset that we let Patch get a hold of his stuff, but he seemed to trust her at least somewhat earlier, and this is payback for never returning your lighter.

Aside from the fact that these trinkets didn't do any good to the people who knew how to use them, Remilia isn't going to fight you physically if you're unarmed; that would be unsporting and therefore boring. Rather, if she's set on confrontation, this will force her to another mental battle, so skip the embarrassing foreplay where she strips you of your equipment. The alcohol may have help as it did the last time, and at the very least she'll get a laugh out of it. This is a kitchen, so there is at least going to be a bottle of cooking sherry, even if the stuff normally intended for consumption is in the wine cellar.

I'm imagining you'll wager your Fate Cards on a double or nothing bet, ostensibly to free yourself and free Cirno from Fate. What Remilia doesn't know is that we have two Present Cards now or that we know what they do, and it may therefore be possible to save Cirno, yourself, Nathaniel, and Adam on success. Of course, you cannot know if you're playing "for fun" or "for real", but you have to at least make this fun for her, lest you disappoint her. And nobody wants that.

I must commend U.N. Owen once again. THIS CHAIR! has been a mental pain in my side ever since Expectation of Sanguine Disorder. Destroying it frees my mind from that unsightly chair. The fact that we got to smash it over the back of the perfect and elegant maid makes it all the more sweeter. Icing on the cake, if you will. I wish you could see the foolish grin on my face right now. Thanks for the satisfying experience, really.

>>I'm imagining you'll wager your Fate Cards on a double or nothing bet, ostensibly to free yourself and free Cirno from Fate. What Remilia doesn't know is that we have two Present Cards now or that we know what they do, and it may therefore be possible to save Cirno, yourself, Nathaniel, and Adam on success.

Interesting take, I'd like to see something like that happen. Nothing feels greater than deceiving your opponent to make an overwhelming victory. Then again, is Remilia truly our enemy? We have yet to determine her motives, or the motives of most people in the mansion, actually. That said, I'm going with you on your choices.


[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya.
- [x] Gather everything except the bloodstained card and dump it all unceremoniously in a sack.
- [x] Pocket the bloodstained card.
[x] Wait here for Patchouli.
- [x] Scry Patchouli to make sure the fairy actually gives her the message, then scry Cirno and Remilia while you wait for her to arrive.
- [x] Hand off the sack the Librarian when she arrives; the only weapon you'll need to face Remilia is a bottle of liquid courage.

[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya.
- [x] Gather everything except the bloodstained card and dump it all unceremoniously in a sack.
- [x] Pocket the bloodstained card.
[x] Wait here for Patchouli.
- [x] Scry Patchouli to make sure the fairy actually gives her the message, then scry Cirno and Remilia while you wait for her to arrive.
- [x] Hand off the sack the Librarian when she arrives; the only weapon you'll need to face Remilia is a bottle of liquid courage.

[x] Gather up some of the things you disarmed from Nathaniel and Sakuya.
- [x] Gather everything except the bloodstained card, Revelation, and Seraphim, and dump it all unceremoniously in a sack.
- [x] Pocket the bloodstained card and Revelation. Leave Nathaniel with Seraphim, but pocketed.
- [x] Hide the sack in the kitchen.
[x] Wait here for Patchouli.
- [x] Scry Patchouli to make sure the fairy actually gives her the message, then scry Cirno and Remilia while you wait for her to arrive.
- [x] Work-up a good explanation about what happened that dilute blame (if someone should go to tell Remilia, volunteer yourself, but only so that no one else does).

If Sakuya recovers and awakens first, we're all screwed anyway, but leaving Nathaniel with his gun just seems--safer. It helps that there are no weapons fire damage to the room. There's no point in taking extra precautions in keeping the Luna Dial from Sakuya; like I said, we'd all be screwed anyway if she wakes up first.

While we have no clue how Revelation really works, we do know which button he clicks to make it "do its thing." We wouldn't be using it as a weapon, anyway, but a last minute defense, a security.

As for stuffing the sack away in a corner of the kitchen, out the window, into the oven, wherever it isn't obvious, that removes the possibility of anything falling into anyone's hands if someone else does not want it to happen.

>We wouldn't be using it as a weapon, anyway, but a last minute defense, a security.

It is at that point that which the aggressor rips away the security blanket and the illusory safety it provided, to the horror of the victim and ultimate gratification of the victimizer.

>>25751
Awesome scene whether it works or not.

>>25738

Reimu and Marisa, can't dislike them enough. At least Satori is on top 20, right under Flandre. Can't believe Aya is above her.

>>25742
>>And there was much rejoicing. THIS CHAIR had it coming for a long time.

THIS CHAIR THIS CHAIR THIS CHAIR THIS CHAIR

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

Ahem.

>>25740
>“[...] Do you die on me now, idiot.”
Was this on purpose, I wonder.

>>25738
>The results of the 6th Touhou Popularity Poll : http://thwiki.info/th/vote6/

translated:
http://pastebin.com/f69ed8ec4
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ykzwjtmmlzz

No update until tomorrow evening, I'm afraid; I've needed to finish up some homework for multiple classes today, which still isn't quite done, and tomorrow looks like it'll be lacking in free time as well. I always hate slowing down my writing schedule, especially when I've been fairly slow as of late, but I'm going to college for a reason, and I don't want to sluff off classes so early in the semester.

>>25748
>I must commend U.N. Owen once again. THIS CHAIR! has been a mental pain in my side ever since Expectation of Sanguine Disorder. Destroying it frees my mind from that unsightly chair. The fact that we got to smash it over the back of the perfect and elegant maid makes it all the more sweeter. Icing on the cake, if you will. I wish you could see the foolish grin on my face right now. Thanks for the satisfying experience, really.
The pleasure is all mine. I never could believe the number of times the voters passed up THIS CHAIR in EoSD, and I only hoped that perhaps I could give them one last chance. Plus, I think I wanted to prove to myself that I still have the ability to not take things completely seriously.

>>25756
So, I made the original author of THIS CHAIR rage…Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

>>25757
Gah, bugger! That was not intentional at all, and now I feel bad for not catching it. You get that idea out of your head: the phrase was supposed to be “Don’t you die on me now, idiot.”

Kind of funny how the typo worked out that way, but you people fabricate enough red herrings out of this air as it is. You don’t need to chase another one based off a typo, not if I can help it at least.

>>25761
>>So, I made the original author of THIS CHAIR rage…Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Just needed to get it out of my system. Thanks Owen.

So I spent two days reading from the beginning. All the discussion, all the updates, all the rage. I read it all.

And now I must say that this story really, really brings out the paranoia in a person. I must have spent a good deal of time looking around me as I read during the night.

You've created a monster U.N. Owen. I hope you can live with it.

>>25763
Ha! Another person who read the entire thing in two days' time. Do not underestimate the power of a good story, U.N. Owen, it makes people like us read like no others can.

>>25762
You should vote if you don't write.

>>25765
Who says I don't vote? I'm around here somewhere, most of the time.

Eh, funny how we forgot about romance. Almost no flirting at all.

>>25769

Too busy not dying.

>>25769

Closest thing to that would probably be Cirno. I don't think we really spent much time with anyone else. to warrant 'romance'.

>>25769
We forgot about the lonely gate guard, too. Would've been nice to have her help in all this.

>>25769
All the things we did and said will get us Cirno End. Farmer will die and Cirno will freeze him into an ice block so they can be together for all eternity.
Or the Good End where Cirno turns human and with a lot of little Cirno Children.

>>25769
I sense Sakuya route.

>>25790
Really? I would have thought any chance at romancing the maid (if there was any to begin with) would have been thoroughly smashed along with THAT CHAIR just now.

>>25791

A Sakuya route would be pretty nice...

Sure Cirno in maid attire is nice but try as she might, she just can't exude the same maid aura that Sakuya has...

[Gather everything except the bloodstained card and dump it all unceremoniously in a sack. Pocket the card.]
[Wait here for Patchouli. Scry her to make sure the fairy actually gives her the message, then scry Cirno and Remilia while you wait.]
[Hand off the sack the Librarian when she arrives; the only weapon you'll need to face Remilia is a bottle of liquid courage.]

First things first, then: if you’re going to go through the trouble of disarming these two troublemakers, might as well take care of their weapons. You search around the corners of the kitchen until you find a large empty sack of flour stashed away in a rubbish heap, and unceremoniously toss the offending items into it. Though a part of you thinks that this is such a waste, letting valuable weaponry like this be removed from the battlefield, a larger part tells you that the only thing these trinkets will do is end up getting people killed, and you’ve made up your mind to prevent that from happening for as long as you can. And besides, they’re no good in your hands, anyways; any opponent you’d be up against will tear you limb from limb, magic sword or no magic sword.

As you shuffle through the knick knacks of Nathaniel and Sakuya, your hands stop on Nathaniel’s bloody 「Fate of the Present」 wish card. The words are fully activated, like yours are now, and you even pull out your own to compare them. Exactly identical, minus the red smears. You wonder…would his card work for you? He said that the magic of this card will “free you from the fate”, if his words can be trusted. You’re still flaky on his whole “Remilia’s fate will doom us all” philosophy, but the first card you used certainly had power, and if this one does too…You make up your mind, and pocket Nathaniel’s card. If he’s down for the count, he won’t be needing it, and you’ve got a gut feeling that sometime very soon you could put these things to good use. Plus, he never did return that lighter of yours…On a whim you quickly rummage through his pockets and pluck it out, returning the thing to your possession. Serves him right.

As you stand up and look at the horrible aftermath of the time manipulators’ battle, the gravity of what you’ve done suddenly kicks you right in the face. What have you done?! You just smashed a chair over Sakuya Izayoi! You knocked unconscious the master maid of this entire mansion! You just attacked a servant of Remilia Scarlet! A cold sweat suddenly breaks over you, and you sit down to try and calm yourself. Not good not good not good, what will Remilia say? What will Remilia do? Will she get angry at you for “damaging her property”? Will she thank you for preventing more needless bloodshed? Will she just turn around and walk away without saying a word? Got to think of something…got to word it better if anyone asks. Just say you don’t know, say you’ve got no idea why they started fighting…do you say the chair wasn’t you? Say is was Nathaniel? Would such a lie be worth it?

Calm down, calm down…You’ve got to think these things straight. The only way things will go sour now is if you panic. Got to think about something else, got to focus on a different subject…Scrying. Yes, that’ll take your mind off things for a while; it’s worked well in the past, thus far. Who to check up on, hmmm…

Patchouli’s name comes to mind; you’d better see if that fairy delivered the message properly. After less than ten seconds of focusing (you’re getting much better at this scrying business) the gigantic library comes into view. Amidst the mountains of stacked books you see the red-clad fairy you delivered the message to bobbing up and down frantically, too fast to see if she’s actually saying anything. Whatever’s being said or not said, Patchouli’s vision begins to glide smoothly forwards out of the central study she always spends her time in. Though her progress isn’t much faster than a casual walk, at least she’s moving. Good; she got the message.

Cirno’s name appears next on your mental checklist, and off you go into the land of the frozen fairy. Her vision is, unfortunately, not much changed from when you looked at her maybe a half-hour ago: fuzzy darkness, punctuated by a few vague ripples of lighter black, illuminating nothing and only making you wonder even more. Where is she? What happened to her while Sakuya had time stopped? Did Sakuya move her herself, and if so to where? Why does she always have to be the one who takes the collateral damage?

Considering Nathaniel and Sakuya are moot points, Koakuma has always been a lost cause, you haven’t the fortitude to deal with “the kids” right now, and Meiling’s view will only give you more boring scenes of the mansion’s exterior, Remilia Scarlet becomes the next and last item on your scrying agenda. What could the mistress of the mansion be seeing that she wasn’t seeing thirty minutes ago? Apparently, not that gloomy study anymore; her view is of the mansion hallways, and her sight bobs up and down like she’s running, or perhaps skipping down the corridors. Since you have no bearings as to where she was or where she is now, you can only guess as to her location. Her speed is an enigma: she appears to have mastered the art of moving with purpose while taking her sweet time doing it. Eventually she approaches an open door in a familiar hallway you think you’ve seen before, though maybe not from this angle. She enters the doorway…

…and looks directly at you.

The experience is so completely sudden that you watch yourself jump in bewilderment and nearly fall out of your chair for the second time since this morning (or is it the third?). Squeezing your eye shut you return your mind back into your own head and look at Remilia properly, who is viewing the kitchen with intrigue, holding a delicate hand to her chin in contemplation.

“Rem-Miss Remilia!” you shout unexpectedly. “I didn’t, this isn’t what it looks like!”

She focuses on Nathaniel’s motionless body, then on Sakuya’s. “Well, this looks to me like something I don’t like to look at at all. I pride myself on knowing what goes on within my walls, but this? This is a problem. Remedy it, if you would.”

You explain to her the situation as Sakuya relayed it to you: how you had apparently lost your mind in the basement, would up here, and then Nathaniel came in. You decide it best to leave out the part about Nathaniel stopping time, and just state that, “suddenly Nathaniel grabbed Sakuya’s wrist, and the next thing I know the two of them are having a knife-fight!” Afraid that Remilia might take offense to your stunt with the chair, you reword it so that, after their weapons-lock, Sakuya was pushed backwards into the chair and knocked out, while Nathaniel passed out from blood loss as per what really happened.

Remilia keeps her chin held up by that hand of hers, and continuously seems mildly interested, but says nothing until you are completely finished. When she does, her tone betrays nothing that you can fathom. “Ahh, what a bother Nathaniel has turned out to be! Such a good man, full of promise when I first met him. I thought he would be such fun to have in my house, but no; always playing with his watch he was, and now look at him! Perhaps…but no matter. What’s done is done. Am I to assume that you have been too taken with fear to call for help, then?”

(Remember…)

(…when you assume.)

“No, not really, Miss. I told a fairy to go get Miss Patchouli to come help; that was a few minutes ago. She can fix this, right?”

As if on cue, the librarian appears behind Remilia, and the vampire (it’s still so weird calling Remilia a “vampire”; she doesn’t feel like one to you at all) steps aside for her to pass through. Patchouli doesn’t even look at you, and crouches over Nathaniel’s limp form first, flipping him over with levitating magic.

“Wounding implement?” she asks, looking at the gashes in his chest.

“Oh, umm, Sakuya’s knives. She crossed four of them across his chest like a spring. They’re over in this bag if you need them, I guess.” You hand the bag out for the librarian, but she’s stopped paying attention to you again.

“Unnecessary,” she replies distractedly, tearing away the man’s shirt with a few mystic flicks of her finger. Studying his wounds intently, she starts to whisper unknown incantations very fast, seemingly without breath, which strikes you as rather odd; isn’t she supposed to be asthmatic? As she speaks, you notice that the gruesome knife marks seem to just barely glow with a healthy green light, like sun shining through the leaves of a forest. Though the blood remains on his torso, the cuts seem to grow smaller ever so slightly, but do not heal completely. Miss Knowledge floats into the air rather than simply standing up.

“Imperfect,” she frowns, “but passable.” She turns next to the maid, but after a few glances turns away. “Her condition is minor. I am weary.”

Remilia rolls her eyes behind the librarian’s back. “Keep a good eye on both of them, would you Patchy? I want to make sure they’ll both be okay, whoever wakes up first. Wouldn’t want them to repeat their little tussle, now would we?”

Patchy closes her eyes and rubs them wearily, but nods. “Understandable.”

Satisfied, Remilia wags a finger at you. “You there, young man; come with me. No buts.”

Though playful, there’s a definite hint of seriousness to her voice, and you deem it best to comply for at least this one instance without questioning. Pushing the bag of weapons towards Patchouli, you tell her quickly, “Keep an eye over this, too; it’s important,” and follow the Lady Scarlet out of the kitchen. She says nothing to you during the walk, and you say nothing back. Though she walks upon the ground at a moderate pace for her small stature, you have an unusually hard time keeping pace with her, and almost have to jog a step or two to keep up on several occasions. Ascending a flight of stairs to the second floor, you come to a beautiful set of redwood doors that somehow you’ve never seen before in your previous trips through the mansion. Set in a small circular foyer with a high ceiling, the doors are twice as tall as you, and are inlaid with both gold and silver leaf worked into the magnificent loopy carvings. You think there might be words carved into the frame of the door, but you don’t have time to read them before Remilia unlocks them with a heavy gold key and steps inside, the doors seeming to swing shut of their own accord once you’re inside.

The doors lead into an area which you have no other name for but a throne room. Past a small staircase, it is a room both long and wide, with grand tables stretching the length of the side walls. It is dimly lit, with only thick red candles in sets of three burning on mounts periodically spaced throughout the room, making the discernment of specific features difficult. As Remilia walks further and further back in the room, you see the outlines of old tapestries in the walls, their topics shadowed in darkness. Finally you reach the back of the room, where a semicircle of chairs rings a gigantic seat of gilt and crimson red plush, set just ever so slightly higher than the rest of the room. On the wall behind it, a portrait of a man is ringed with more of the scarlet tapers: his hair black and long, as thick as his wide moustache. Clothed in red robes and brown fur, a regal hat ringed with pearls and emblazoned with an eight-point gold star rests upon his brow, the ruby in the center as red as the ripest apple. His face has a good look to it; his eyes are bright with life, but neither giddy nor foolish, and his lips show just the tiniest hint of a smile hidden under his full moustache.

“Sit here,” the girl commands, motioning to the seat directly in front of the “throne”. You sit, and she leaves you to enter a door behind the enormous chair. The room becomes as silent as a tomb; even your breathing seems to produce no sound to your ears. What is this? Where is this? Why is this?

As mysteriously as Remilia left you, she now returns, carrying two crystal-clear glasses and an emerald bottle of wine. She pours you a glass, filling it with the essence of liquid rubies, then gives it to you as she pours one for herself as well. Seating herself elegantly within the throne, you notice that her clothes have changed, ever so subtly. While her dress still maintains the complex lace and ribbons as before, the color is noticeably different. The silky cloth, which was once pink, is now white as snow, but it makes the scarlet ribbons which accentuate the ensemble appear all the darker. Crossing her legs in comfort, she fans her wings out behind her, a stark blackness of night to contrast the white of her garb. Taking a sip of wine, she leans back in her chair and places a hand on the armrest.

“Now then…where shall we begin?”

[ ] Write-in only.

========================================

To those who frequent IRC: mark you calendars. I’ll be attempting to get on #MiG between 11 AM and 2 PM tomorrow (Eastern American Time, +3 hours server time, -5 hours GMT). This is just in case you’ve been meaning to talk to me, but have been missing me since I don’t chat often.

>>25762
You are most welcome, good sir.

>>25763
Is it fear, or courage, which compels you?

I can live with creating what I have created. Far greater to create a monster which people fear and remember, than to have your skills laid to waste, never to feel the caress of a pen’s warmth.

>>25764
And yet, are not good stories to be savored, like a fine wine that increases its bouquet with age? Enjoy life as you may, but do not neglect the other factors of your world. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…

>>25769
In this story, “Stay on target” means “No time for love, Dr. Jones!”

>>25785
And after you went though all the trouble of not having free sex with her, too. Yet another soul lost to Anon’s forgetfulness.

>>25788
>Farmer will die and Cirno will freeze him into an ice block so they can be together for all eternity.
Would that be “Sad” or “True”?

>Or the Good End where Cirno turns human and with a lot of little Cirno Children.
When you find out how to possibly make that happen, let me know, so that I may crush your hopes and dreams with the palm of my mighty hand.

>>25792
Should have thought of that about ten threads ago.

>>25791
Whacking her with THAT CHAIR has her totally hot for us.

Trust me on this. I have experience.

>“Now then…where shall we begin?”

[x] Open your a mouth and raise a finger in objection, then close your mouth and retract the finger because you don't have the words.
[x] Cock your head to the side and cross your arms huffily: "In the quiet words of the Blessed Virgin Mary... come again?"

Utter incredulity.

[x] "Well the logical place would be the beginning, wouldn't it?"

No idea what she wants from us here.

[x] "Well I'd say you should start off, in an affected Transylvanian accent, while considering the wine in your glass: 'On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on throne of blood!' Then maybe a ritual, possibly involving human sacrifice, or performing a black mass during the full moon at midnight tonight. Say a few words of incantation: 'Now is the season of evil. What was once will be, what is will be no more. Yadda yadda yadda. Cue maniacal laughter. Exit villain. Curtain falls with the protagonist locked in a death-trap. End scene."
[x] "Or, maybe I have don't have the slightest idea what you talking about, why you brought me down here, or what you're trying to accomplish in doing so?"

[x] "Well I'd say you should start off, in an affected Transylvanian accent, while considering the wine in your glass: 'On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on throne of blood!' Then maybe a ritual, possibly involving human sacrifice, or performing a black mass during the full moon at midnight tonight. Say a few words of incantation: 'Now is the season of evil. What was once will be, what is will be no more. Yadda yadda yadda. Cue maniacal laughter. Exit villain. Curtain falls with the protagonist locked in a death-trap. End scene."
[x] "Or, maybe I don't have the slightest idea what you talking about, why you brought me down here, or what you're trying to accomplish in doing so?"

Hahaha, oh wow. A bit rude, but i like it. It's not time to lay our cards on the table yet. Let her talk for a while and hopefully find out something.

[x] "Well I'd say you should start off, in an affected Transylvanian accent, while considering the wine in your glass: 'On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on throne of blood!' Then maybe a ritual, possibly involving human sacrifice, or performing a black mass during the full moon at midnight tonight. Say a few words of incantation: 'Now is the season of evil. What was once will be, what is will be no more. Yadda yadda yadda. Cue maniacal laughter. Exit villain. Curtain falls with the protagonist locked in a death-trap. End scene."

[x] "Or, maybe I don't have the slightest idea what you talking about, why you brought me down here, or what you're trying to accomplish in doing so?"

Sounds good to me

[x] 2nd Card 「Fate of the Future」

>>25800

...

Seriously? Seriously?!

Fuck me, let's rewind this a bit, shall we?
>>21492
>several chapter books you don’t recognize: Paradise Lost by Milton, Dracula by Stoker, Eldest by Paolini, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by Lewis, Frankenstein by Shelly, and God’s Debris by Adams.
>Dracula by Stoker
FYI, chaps: the myth of vampirism existed way before Vlad the Impaler, and it was present in more locations than eastern and central Europe. It was everywhere, from south america to east asia. Bram Stoker was the first to associate the centuries old 'vampire' myth with Vlad III the Impaler of Transylvania and his attrociously fanatical behavior. Considering we've never heard of the book before that first associated vampirism to Vlad the third, the Dragon's (dracul) Son (-ulea), how the hell does this make sense?

I'm all for witty/clever write-ins, but for pity's sake, at this point in the venture put some effort into it.

I need to sleep on this one; you'll see my vote tomorrow.

On second thought, let's not sample the wine. Glish's tale with Flandre is stuck in my head for the moment. That, and the cake from "Cendrillon."

Hm. Also, watch the missing eye's socket.

>>25800
>>25801
>>25802
Vigo, you were a horrible villain. Don't pollute good things.

[x] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand. 'Fix watch', and that was as far as I could get."
[x] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"

this:
[x] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand. 'Fix watch', and that was as far as I could get."
[x] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"

plus

[x] "About your sister, she misses you"

or something to that effect

[x] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand. 'Fix watch', and that was as far as I could get."
[x] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"
[x] "About your sister, she misses you"

Going with this, mainly because the >>25800,>>25801,>>25802 response is complete garbage.

[x] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand. 'Fix watch', and that was as far as I could get."
[x] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"
[x] "About your sister, she misses you."

As funny as the other suggestions were... I'd rather not give her any ideas. Let's be a bit cautious here until we get a better feel for the situation.

[Z] "I've always found it best to start at the beginning."

As much as I'm all for Remilia and Flandre healing their wounds, nows not the time to bring it up. keep it simple for now, and keep your ace for when its needed.

>>25812
[x] "I've always found it best to start at the beginning."
Yeah, I'm on board with this. No point saying too much at this stage.

>>25806
Actually, where does Nate say that Remilia suggested anything to him?
I'm going over the bits where he speaks between him entering the kitchen and starting fighting Sakuya, and i'm not seeing anything.

>>25815
It's called bluffing.

[x] "Well I'd say you should start off, in an affected Transylvanian accent, while considering the wine in your glass: 'On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on throne of blood!' Then maybe a ritual, possibly involving human sacrifice, or performing a black mass during the full moon at midnight tonight. Say a few words of incantation: 'Now is the season of evil. What was once will be, what is will be no more. Yadda yadda yadda. Cue maniacal laughter. Exit villain. Curtain falls with the protagonist locked in a death-trap. End scene."
[x] "Or, maybe I don't have the slightest idea what you talking about, why you brought me down here, or what you're trying to accomplish in doing so?"

>...you notice that her clothes have changed, ever so subtly. While her dress still maintains the complex lace and ribbons as before, the color is noticeably different. The silky cloth, which was once pink, is now white as snow, but it makes the scarlet ribbons which accentuate the ensemble appear all the darker...
Anyone else think that she has done this to prepare for making a meal out of farmer? This little change would allow for her to fit the title of 'Scarlet Devil', after all.

>>25817
That could also refer to when he explained to us the possible future of a Gensokyo under Remilia's rule, and Nathaniel's part in creating it.

[X] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand.
[X] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"
This, of the assembled write-ins, seems best. "Start at the beginning" was pretty appealing, though.

[X] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand.
[X] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"

This works, I guess.

[X] "I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand.
[X] "He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"

[x] "Okay, I'll start: I was born missing my left testicle."
[x] "...Your turn."

[x] How bout from the end?

>>25825
Why’d you have to go and steal my picture, eh? I described the situation and everything! It would have been awesome!

========================================

[I've always found it best to start at the beginning."]
["I haven't the foggiest. I've been wanting to know what this is all about since I came here, but Nathaniel was never very good at explaining things in words I can understand. 'Fix watch', and that was as far as I could get."]
["He said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, that you had suggested something to him?"]

“Where shall we begin?” Perhaps if you had any clue as to what the question meant, you could at least attempt a beginning. But after all that’s happened since the last time you talked to her? How are you supposed to respond to such a large umbrella-question as that? Ask her a question? Demand an explanation? With the mansion’s situation standing on the edge of a knife, flying off the handle might not be the best idea, and you’ve had rather bad experiences thus far from committing to ideas without enough information. Think back to E-Card…You’ll start slow, and go from there.

“I guess, well, maybe from the beginning?” you suggest, doing little more than fishing for a response right now. “No offense, but I really haven’t the foggiest idea of what’s been going on here. I’ve wanted to know for days—ever since I came here, really—but the only answers I’ve ever gotten were from Nathaniel, and, well, he’s, umm…”

“Difficult to understand,” Remilia comments, completing your sentence for you. “Yes, he is at that. So very enigmatic, that man; so very polite at the dinner table, but ask him a question any other time, and all you get back is philosophical nonsense. I often wonder why I allowed him to stay for as long as I did. If only I would have known that he was to be such a bore…”

She closes her eyes and licks her finger, spinning it round the wine glass and creating a silvery crystal ring that permeates through the dark room. Setting it on the floor next to the green bottle, she begins to answer your “question”.

“The beginning,” she muses, resting her chin in an elegantly curled hand. “Dear me, such a long time ago, the beginning…” She turns around and looks at the giant portrait behind her. “The beginning would have to be my grandfather, then, up there. Vlad the Third, ‘Tepes’. He was once a great prince, long, long ago. A ruler of a small country in Europe, back when war was all the minds of men could fathom. It was under his guidance that his people remained free, though armies pressed against him from both sides all his life. He did not care for ceremony or royalty, but for the common man and woman and child who lived under the shelter of his shield and rod. His methods were hard, and his unwavering determination harder, but the love for his country hardest yet. And yet, though he loved them…they did not love him back. His nobles disliked him, his enemies misunderstood him, even his own family did not trust him. Time and time again he was betrayed by those whom once he trusted, to fight back and regain what he had lost, only to lose it again, and again, until his last stand ended with his sad death.

“I never met my grandfather, you see; he died over a decade before my birth. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like, to have a grandfather to talk to, for him to have a granddaughter to bounce on his knee and smile at. I wonder what we would have talked about, what he could have taught me, and what he would have expected of me. Parents are supposed to care for their children, of course, but grandparents…in them you will find true love, and true devotion. In their age they are wise, and wish to pass on the stories and wisdom to their children, and their children’s children, so that one day perhaps the younger generations can do what they never had the opportunity to do.”

She’s standing on the seat of her chair now, her back to you, leaning against the large throne childishly. Though she’s talking more to herself now, you can tell that she really feels for what she says.

“I wonder, Grandpa…would you have liked me? Would you have been proud of me? Would you have loved to see me grow up to be big and strong like you? Would you have liked it if I gave you a present for your birthday?

She slides back down and returns to a normal seated position, shaking her head bemusedly. “Dear me, but that’s probably not what you wanted to hear at all, was it? I’m beginning to sound like our dear friend Nathaniel! Of course, you would have questions about your stay here? Well, starting at the beginning is no good at all; those are the hardest questions to answer, after all. Let’s start with the end and go backwards, shall we? You ask the first question.”

Question? Well, if she’s going to go back and forth like this, starting from now and going backwards, there is that one little question about Nathaniel you want cleared up.

"Nathaniel said, before the kitchen had gotten wrecked, back when he was talking with you I think, that you had suggested something to him. What was it?”

She makes a little “tsk-tsk-tsk” noise with her teeth and shakes her head. “Dear, he said that, did he? Well there’s no truth that I can see in it; I haven’t talked with that man since, oh, over a day now. And from what I remember, the last ‘suggestion’ of any sort I made to him is that he really ought to let Sakuya help him with that foolish watch of his. Now, my turn: why did you hit my little Sakuya with that chair?”

Wait, wha—but you didn’t tell her that! Your mind races for an explanation, but Remilia doesn’t give you time to fabricate a false one.

“Ohh, we’re afraid that I found out about your little lie, are we? Fair is fair, young man. If you want some truth, you’d better be prepared to give some in return, and if you’re going to lie, please be prepared beforehand; it’s so pitiful when you don’t even try. Now, the chair?”

There’s no way around it; you have to tell her the truth now, if she’s already called your bluff (but how did she bloody do it?!). “I hit her because…because I thought she was going to kill Nathaniel, and if I did nothing I thought Nathaniel would have killed her too. I don’t want anyone to die here, not if I can help it. And, well, if it means I have to do things like that, then I’ll do ‘em. Even if it means you’ll throw me out of the mansion for it.”

She laughs at your remark. “Oh, so afraid of me?! I wouldn’t throw you out because of a little thing like that! Sakuya’s been behaving rather poorly these last few days; I daresay she deserves it! I really must have a talk with that girl when she wakes up. But I’m getting too far ahead of myself. Your turn.”

[ ] You may ask Remilia some of the questions burning in your mind. However, for every question you ask, Remilia will be asking one as well. Ask as many as you like, but be prepared to give answers for her questions in return. Do not expect questions of low magnitude to be countered with ones of equally low magnitude, or vice versa.

[ ] You may wish to describe the tone of your questions, or some further-reaching goal of your inquiries. Questioning without a purpose may not help you very much.

[ ] Possible counter-measures or fail-safes could come in handy in case things go sour somehow.

Cutting this segment a little short, since you seemed to falter with a direction to take, and I wanted to give you one. Hopefully this write-in might be a little easier. Don’t go overboard on the questions, now; Remilia isn’t the same kind of person as Nathaniel.

>>25796
While I have absolutely no knowledge of “Dere”, or whatever you people classify your girls as, I don’t think it works that way.

>>25800
>>25801
>>25802
>>25821
All you dear fools, please read >>25805 closely. Farmer has no knowledge of Dracula aside from the title of the book and a few words from Nathaniel. Furthermore, he has even less knowledge of Ghostbusters 2. While I appreciate your wit, it would be both completely out of character for Farmer, and impossible for him to say. Be glad your vote didn’t win, because if it had, I would have had to reject it based on impossible character knowledge.

I apologize for sounding harsh, but these kind of votes don’t come up often, and when they do, I need to deal with them seriously.

>>25806
I am in your debt, dear friend. Felis Ovum’s art holds a special place in my heart for reasons I can’t explain, and I was unaware that he also wrote a story or two. I have now read Cendrillon, and am entranced by it. I hope his other stories are just as intriguing. Thank you for drawing my attention to this.

I would just like to say that you are an inspiration, U. N. Owen. Thank you.

>for every question you ask, Remilia will be asking one as well. Ask as many as you like, but be prepared to give answers for her questions in return.

So if we ask a question and she answers it and she asks us one, do we get a choice what to answer or will you write it in the same update without a choice? But most of all, will we get a lie or the truth?

[x] "Why don't you visit Flandre?"
[x] Think about how you felt when apologizing to Flandre as Remilia while you ask her this.

[x] What is this I hear about a chess game that you are playing?

>>25840
>So if we ask a question and she answers it and she asks us one, do we get a choice what to answer or will you write it in the same update without a choice? But most of all, will we get a lie or the truth?

For the first part, a little of both. Depending on how many questions are popular enough to write, I might do one update, or several. I won't make you answer for each and every one of Remilia's; that would be stupid. What I'm hoping is that you will provide me with just how you want to answer the questions in general, and I'll try to interpret your wishes, mixed in with Farmer's personality. With open-ended things like this, voter input is a big help to me to make the back-and-forth convincing.

As for the second part...how should I know? Do you know when you're being lied to, if the lie is convincing? All I'm saying is that Remilia gave no guarantee. Nathaniel did, and you still don't believe him. What then?

One question I'd like thrown in in the middle of the questions somewhere is..
[Z]"Do you truely hate Cirno?"
another is,
[Z]"Nathanial made it sound like the mansion itself has a will of its own. does it?"

just two little points that have been nagging on my mind, because I'm pretty sure Remilia is entertained by Cirno but just acts like she hates her so she'll keep coming back to entertain her. Anyways, it would be a good question to break any tension that comes up over the course of this conversation with.

Also, don't hammer any really heavy points or ask any questions you know will raise Remilia's ire until the end. that's my suggestion.

Well if she can see through our lies this easily, I don't see any reason not to lay it all out on the table.

[x] "Nathaniel. The man has threatened me with a blade, shot my maidservant, embroiled me in a game with Flandre for which I lost an eye, and just now nearly got me killed so he could upstage the head maid. Furthermore, he seems to think you're the Antichrist."
[x] "Nathaniel seems to believe he is somehow being kept here against his will, even after he completed his watch, and after I reacquired his possessions for him. Now he wants to 'rescue' Flandre's adopted brother, Adam, who he knows as Glish, despite Adam stating he doesn't want to leave. Is there some kind of arrangement we can make where you could remove Flandre's compulsion on Adam so he can tell Nathaniel he wants to stay in no uncertain terms?"

[X]"Do you love Flandre?"
[X]"Do you truly hate Cirno, with no chance of forgiviness?"
[X]"After my first night here, I found some mysterious cards." Show Nathaniel's card. "Can you explain what are they and why I, and Nathaniel, received them?"
[X]Explain Nathaniel's theory to her. "What I want to know is, why are you doing this?"
[X]"How can I save Cirno?"

All I can think of.

>>25848
Can she? That was the point of the question "Nathaniel mentioned you offering ..." She went with that without calling us out on it. Two possibilities: the more mystical one would be that she can see what else happens in her mansion, the more realistic one being that it was obvious that we bashed Sakuya over her head with the chair. We did specifically mention it in our recounting to Remi. In either event, the question of whether she can hear what we're saying or read lips during that time remains questionable, only has vague utility right now, but should not be ignored.

The first point also offers very bothersome implications - that Remilia is capable of spying into events that happen during a "time stop."

The real question is whether we should run with the fabrication of events that Sakuya told us, the version of events that came to have us gouge our eye twice, or if we should ask Remilia for her version. She probably shouldn't outright implicate anything that Nathaniel told us about his future yet if we're going to bring those up at all, and we should avoid rudeness since she is still civil enough to just talk, deceptions or not.

You know, as much of an interest as Remilia has in her guests, isn't it just a bit odd she has yet to say a single thing about the most obvious change in the farmer? Even if she had already been informed by Sakuya, you think she would still want to hear a first-hand account of why he's suddenly missing an eye.

Then again, if she is working backwards in her line of questioning, I suppose that could just be coming up after the more recent matter of Sakuya's chair-induced unconsciousness had been addressed.

[x] "Do you love Flandre?"
[x] "Why don't you visit Flandre?"
[x] Think about how you felt when apologizing to Flandre as Remilia while you ask her this.

Not relevant to the situation, but relevant nonetheless.

[x]Ask about Flandre.

>[x] "Do you love Flandre?"
>[x] "Why don't you visit Flandre?"

These make it sound like you're accusing her of not loving her sister.

[x] Take a sip of the wine. She poured it for you, so at least humor her.
[x] "Your maid is hiding my fairy somewhere. Do you think you could ask her to return her to me when she regains consciousness?"
[x] Tone: Ironic. Aware of the absurdity of the situation he finds himself in, as well as his essential powerlessness.
[x] Contingencies:
- [x] Appeal to her sense of decency, and if that fails, her sense of sportsmanship and fair play.
- [x] Bargain. There must be something interesting to her in you; otherwise, she wouldn't have brought you down here. You don't have possessions, but information is free.
- [x] Drop names and relate context-free anecdotes, as if she already knows everything. Provide her just enough information to arouse deeper probing.
- [x] Even if she refuses something outright, don't under any circumstances insult her or raise a fist in anger.

>>25836
Feels like a consistent sentiment is going to be difficult to acheive. Then again, the last couple posts haven't really give us a lot to work with, so that's not surprising. Anyway, if this is going to eat up a chunk of time, a couple of things need to be established right away.

First of all, what's up with the one-on-one? The context of our last personal meeting was pretty obvious (how'd you like China?); this one, not so much. We started with the Question and Answer format immediately, without any context or grounding. If it's anything goes, I'm all for Patchu's three sizes and if Sakuya's choice in undergarments is an indication of some more exotic interests, but I doubt that's the case. Still, that needs to get established before we proceed.

Second is our tone, our demeanor. Thought processes, choice of answers, questioning style: all caution and paranoia. Paranoid is always good. Paranoia and ASSM go together like Anon and ADD. But we can keep that on the inside and freak-out internally. For our external demeanor, we do what Remilia likes in us: rustic farmboy. Nothing amuses, entertains, and interests her more than when we reply with salt of the earth reasoning and understanding. If we need to excuse any pensive moments, we're just a farmboy Miss Remilia, we need some time to think on matters like that. If she wants to call us on it, fine, at least we know the gloves are off in terms of questions. If she plays along but tries to talk down to us, we can stab straight to the heart of an issue while playing it off as a farmer's "common sense": Miss Remilia, I must confess, if I had a younger brother and sister like Adam and Flandre, you couldn't keep me away from them. So... why'd little Flandre cry so hard about not being able to be with you?
It'd probably be good to keep some of that commonsense understanding close to our heart, too. It kept us from connecting with Nathaniel in any significant fashion (farmer haet sophistry), but we clicked like nothing else with a straightforward personality like Cirno (and to a lesser extent, Meiling). That's our strength right there, and while it may not work with Remilia's personality, it has worked before and that's just about as good as can be expected.
Furthermore, while it may have been a one-off thing, when we answered her about "What we really want," Remilia was impressed that we didn't shrink from the question and in her presence: we were honest and spoke what we felt. If this is a game for her, I imagine a reasonably unsatisfying end would be to simply rip our head from our shoulders for our impudence. She'd rather manipulate us to the worst end and the best way to prevent that is to ignore, to some extent at least, the air of authority she is trying to effect. Casual, respectful, and honest with a healthy dollop of "we're going to die" in the back of our head would be best.
Finally, if we can make her laugh, we'll be better off for it. It keeps the charm up, used wisely it can be a way of sliding in some pointed observations, we know she enjoys it, and at the least she may feel a pang of regret when she ends us.

Third and finally, we may as well address the only long-standing issue between Remilia and ourselves before launching into other, more pressing, issues: finding our dreams and helping Remilia to find hers. Honestly, I don't think we have, but it is something Remilia charged us with, so it is something concrete to at least ask about. I expect an answer as vague as the one to "why not take it from the top?" Her answer is an indication that she either isn't going to answer our questions at all (at which point it may be prudent to ask to be excused or why your time is being wasted), or she is going to respond only to a question as direct as "why'd you break a chair over my maid?" Probably the latter: she's not going to volunteer any information that isn't directly asked of her (that's not a bad idea, I think I'll steal it). Anyway, three questions that range from definite ("yes/no") to vague ("what's your take?") and something in between (we've got a good idea of the answer should be) should let us gauge her demeanor, answering style, and goals. Woulda' liked to start this way, but I was sick and high as a kite on flu meds for the last couple posts.

[X] "I'm getting ahead of myself Ms. Remilia, I apologize. To what do I owe the honor of this personal audience with my hostess?"
[X] "If I recall, the last time we might like this you asked me to find my dreams. I've found the inklings of a few so far, but I wonder, have I helped you find yours yet?"
[X] "Anyway, I have to comment: was it really alright not inviting your siblings to our dinner? The more the merrier for such events, no?"
[X] Tone: sincere, honest, and simple, but still assertive.
[X] Mental Condition: paranoid, cautious, and alert.
[X] Goal: right now, to determine her goal and the means by which she seeks to get them. Pay close attention to her responses and questions. Remember she may be playing a game to twist your very fate against you.
-[x] Sub-Goal: Answer only what was asked; do not volunteer information not asked for.
[X] Contingencies:
-[x] Feign simplicity/naivete to buy time to formulate a response. Best used if she asks about last night ("I don't know, I remember this, but Sakuya told me this")
-[x] Make a joke if the tone of the conversation becomes threatening or aggressive
-[x] Gaping hole in our head is acting up; ask to be excused for a moment as a last ditch effort to stall/buy time/get away

First question is the one we've got a vague notion for what the answer may be; an intermediary question to see where she falls when it's not at the extremes. Second question is a purely opinion question. Wondering if we get more evasion like with our first question or not. Third is a yes/no where we already know the answer: "Siblings" plural is deliberate, seeing if she'll bring up Adam/Glish or not. Gauges truthfullness. Probing questions, but still on point. They fulifll the goal of trying to figure out what the meaning behind this all is. Contingencies buy time to craft responses fitting with the goal and, more importantly, the sub-goal to keep our cards close to our chest right now. More on point questions will come after we've had time to understand and appreciate the game she's playing.

To me, this is the second move a chess game. Time to shift our pawns to let the bishops onto the field and cause some confusion and make her play defensive before moving the knights into some strategic areas. We've the advantage with her queen (temporarily) out of commission.

And no, we are not sacrificing any pawns. Pawns are the soul of chess.

[X] "I'm getting ahead of myself Ms. Remilia, I apologize. To what do I owe the honor of this personal audience with my hostess?"
[X] "If I recall, the last time we might like this you asked me to find my dreams. I've found the inklings of a few so far, but I wonder, have I helped you find yours yet?"
[X] "Anyway, I have to comment: was it really alright not inviting your siblings to our dinner? The more the merrier for such events, no?"
[X] Tone: sincere, honest, and simple, but still assertive.
[X] Mental Condition: paranoid, cautious, and alert.
[X] Goal: right now, to determine her goal and the means by which she seeks to get them. Pay close attention to her responses and questions. Remember she may be playing a game to twist your very fate against you.
-[x] Sub-Goal: Answer only what was asked; do not volunteer information not asked for.
[X] Contingencies:
-[x] Feign simplicity/naivete to buy time to formulate a response. Best used if she asks about last night ("I don't know, I remember this, but Sakuya told me this")
-[x] Make a joke if the tone of the conversation becomes threatening or aggressive
-[x] Gaping hole in our head is acting up; ask to be excused for a moment as a last ditch effort to stall/buy time/get away

>>25863
[x] What this guy said. All of it.

Very impressive.

["I'm getting ahead of myself Ms. Remilia, I apologize. To what do I owe the honor of this personal audience with my hostess?"]
["If I recall, the last time we met like this you asked me to find my dreams. I've found the inklings of a few so far, but I wonder, have I helped you find yours yet?"]
["Anyway, I have to comment: was it really alright not inviting your siblings to our dinner? The more the merrier for such events, no?"]
[In tone, be sincere, honest, and simple, but still assertive.]
[In thinking, be paranoid, cautious, and alert.]
[Try to determine her goal and the means by which she seeks to get it. Pay close attention to her responses and questions. Remember she may be playing a game to twist your very fate against you.]
[Answer only what was asked; do not volunteer information not asked for.]
[If things go not quite as planned…Feign simplicity/naiveté to buy time to formulate a response. Make a joke if the tone of the conversation becomes threatening or aggressive. If all else fails, that gaping hole in your head is acting up; ask to be excused for a moment as a last ditch effort to stall/buy time/get away.]

You’ve got to think this through. This private meeting with Remilia is full of opportunity, and you can’t afford to waste any more of those. It’s an opportunity to get some questions answered. It’s an opportunity to learn more about just who Remilia Scarlet is, and what she thinks of you. Perhaps, as much as you fear it, it’s an opportunity to get your head ripped off as well. Remilia is no Flandre, but they’re of the same blood, sharing the same powers. You’re just a worm in comparison to her power, and you both know it. One wrong move from you, one wrong answer, and just like that you’re nothing but a lifeless corpse…or perhaps something even worse.

Fear. You can’t help but be afraid. Of what, you don’t know, but you are. And yet, you know that it’s a good thing to be afraid. It keeps you cautious and alert; keeps you thinking about the really important things in life, like staying alive, or making sure other people stay alive too. You don’t want to be afraid, but you need this fear to stay with you, so that you can remember just what kind of danger you’re probably in.

“Well, Miss Remilia, if we’re starting at the end, I think I might have gotten a little ahead of myself,” you state calmly, not letting your fear show as best as possible. “To what do I owe the honor of such a personal and private audience?”

“Honor?” She giggles. “Heh, no, no honor, just business. I haven’t had a chance to really talk with you since our chat about my little China doll, if you recall. There’s been just so much going on since then that I figured we should try to clear up this mess before you go off making any wild speculations that could lead you into trouble. I’m sure you agree that there’s questions which need answering about this whole mess, and as I am the mistress of this mansion, it is only proper that I aid you in this regard.

“Now then, as it is my turn…this small matter between Nathaniel and Sakuya bothers me. Would Sakuya have been at even her lowest levels of expertise, our dear Nathaniel wouldn’t have been able to so much as touch her, let alone wound her to such an annoying degree. As I’m sure you know by now, she would merely manipulate time around him and do what she pleased with the man. So tell me…how did the boy manage to equal her in battle?”

A simple question, you think, but since Remilia knew about the chair, it almost seems a little too redundant. She’s a smart girl, right? She should be able to deduce that the only way to stop Sakuya’s powers is to either have similar ones yourself, or else have something that nullifies magic completely or something like that. So then why ask? Does she just want to confirm her hunch? Or is she perhaps testing your truthfulness again? Well, if these questions are going to be like some kind of strategic game, you’d better start playing some defense. Tell her the truth, but only enough to satisfy her. Nothing more.

“He has a watch,” you respond, “some kind of magical watch. It lets him stop time. He grabbed a hold of Sakuya and me to get us into his time-stop world or something; he said that Sakuya couldn’t slow time down past zero in it or somesuch. I don’t really understand it very well, but that’s what he said as far as I can remember.”

She frowns. “Tsk, but that explains nothing. I didn’t ask about before the battle, I asked about the battle. Her ability with time and her ability with a knife are separate. The proficiency of her blade is second to none, dear farmboy; second to none. Her skill is perfect. She does not fail. Even barring your amusing chair, she should not have gotten so much as a scratch on her, and yet I saw several. How?”

“Not to be rude, miss, but that’s more than one question.”

She lounges in her chair, sighing. “Hummm, is this how it’s going to be, then? Sticking so plainly to the rules without interpretation? I asked you a question, and you did not answer it properly. I merely ask for a proper response to what I ask. Is that so hard, or are we to turn this into a battle of wits and words, without mercy and without understanding?”

You don’t take the word “battle” lightly, as she seems to stress that word a little more than proper. Just like E-Card, it seems; she’s bending the rules to suit her better, under the guise of “re-clarification”. It’s an underhanded approach, but if she’s insinuating outright antagonism, you can’t really argue the point and expect to get anywhere fast.

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess I really don’t know. Sakuya was fighting her heart out, just like Nathaniel. She was better, no doubt, but he wasn’t all that shabby either. He just got in a few lucky hits here and there. She made a mistake, too; lunged to far, which let him use his sword. See, he was using knives before then, but then he switched to that sword, so he got a few other cuts in there, too. Don’t take this the wrong way, Miss Scarlet, but in my mind, nobody is perfect. It just can’t be done. We all screw up sometimes, and you just gotta make due with the best you’ve got, right?”

She closes her eyes and nods to herself. “Mmm, yes. Sometimes you must. And since that was a question from your lips, I think that I might—“

“That doesn’t count,” you interject, not wishing to lose the floor yet again. “I thought you said we were going to question each other with understanding. You can’t just take every sentence with a question mark on it and call that my turn; it’s unfair.”

“Life can be unfair sometimes, young man. But you needn’t shout; ‘twas but a joke, in bad taste I’m afraid. You make continue.”

You grumble inwardly. This is started to frustrate you as much as Nathaniel’s question answers; just in a different way. But you can’t let it bother you; must press on.

"Since you brought up the subject of our last meeting…If I recall, the last time we met like this you asked me to find my dreams. I've think I’ve found the inklings of a few so far, but I wonder, have I helped you find yours yet?

(I have a dream…)

(…I have a dream today.)

She takes another sip of wine and bites her lower lip, thinking for a while. Finally she replies. “You’ve helped, certainly, and in a most interesting way I daresay. But as for the dreams themselves, well…It’s one thing to find your dreams. But it’s a rather mite more difficult to make them come true. I doubt that anyone but myself could help me there. Perhaps with enough help, someday I might, but until then people like you just need to keep doing what they do best: be themselves. So then, to answer your question, yes…and no. I trust that you are satisfied with your opportunity to speak, yes?”

You consider using her own cheating joke against her and taking that little “yes?” as her question, but think better of it. “I’m fine. Go ahead; your turn.”

She points to your missing eye, and it instinctually reminds you that, even though it’s bandaged property, it still smarts a decent amount. “That eye. Now, I know that my little Flandre made you play one of her “games” with you; it’s not the first time a guest has wandered into her room unawares, I assure you. I know that she has created a rather painful chair which forces the player to make a difficult choice, to say the least. I know that she made Mr. Nathaniel and the little fairy play similar games as well. And yes, I even know that my maid told you all those worthless lies when she should have been consoling you about the truth. I’ll be speaking with her about that once we’re done here. What I would like to know is…Why did you choose the eye, and not the trust?”

The heck?! How does she know all that? How could she know?! Sakuya skirts the issue like a loaded pistol, and then Remilia goes and blurts everything out like it’s no big deal? Too weird…it’s not possible. She should be lying, but she can’t be; you can’t lie when you hit nails on the head like that. But, but, but…?

“Ahh, oww, I, I’m sorry miss,” you say, holding your bandaged socket in one hand. “I’d forgotten how much this hurts. Give me just—owww—just a minute or so, please.” It doesn’t exactly hurt as much as all that, but you need time to think.

After focusing your thoughts for a minute or two, you’re about to answer…and then hold back. It’s a loaded question. Maybe not completely loaded, but there’s more to it than what she’s saying. You know for a fact that the reason you couldn’t choose trust was because you had seen that neither Nathaniel nor Cirno would have come for you in time. Well, okay, Nathaniel might have, but by then Cirno would…The problem is, you shouldn’t have known that. Scrying is what told you the truth there, and nothing else. Had you not been able to scry, you probably would have just waited for help to arrive. So what Remilia’s probably really asking is, “How did you know no one would save you?” And since scrying is the only real answer…

“Do you know that I can scry, Miss Remilia?” you ask blandly.

She sets her wine glass down and gives you a few light claps of applause. “Ooo, very good! I was so hoping you’d understand the question! Yes, Patchy informed me not long after you left the dinner table the night before last. A most intriguing power, no? But continue with your answer, if you would.”

You grit your teeth together. She already knew, and she asked the question anyways?! But there’s no use crying over spilt milk; might as well answer the question and keep her attention off of violent thoughts. “I scryed Cirno, and saw that she was busy fighting with monsters. I scryed Nathaniel, and saw that he wasn’t moving an inch inside a locked room. No one was coming to save me, so, well…I had to go and save them. I think that was the whole point Flandre was trying to make with that game. Are you the savior, or the saved? Plus, it was only an eye. There’s probably a magic way to get a new one in Gensokyo.”

She nods to herself. “Interesting. I don’t nearly give my sister enough credit. It seems that she really can still behave like an adult at times.”

“Speaking of Flandre,” you continue, considering this the perfect time for this next question. “Was it really all right not inviting your siblings to our dinners? The more the merrier for those kind of things, right?”

She tilts her head a little and gives you a queer kind of look. “Siblings, with an s? I’m afraid you’re mista—oh, yes, yes, the Four-Of-A-Kind, I see. That gave me some trouble for a time as well. But that’s another matter. Dinner, yes. Well, the answer’s obvious, isn’t it? You can’t expect me to have a girl like Flandre frightening the guests like she does, do you? You’re quite an understanding young fellow, and even you’ve been no match for her mind. Image what a more proper person with a more closeted mind would say! She’s only a child in an adult’s world after all, I’m afraid. And I’d rather not mention her difficult power right now; suffice to say, we’ve lost enough good men in this mansion to last a lifetime, and I’d rather we not lose any more. She is quite the problem child; I think missing a few guest dinners is the least of her troubles.”

Wait…”Four Of A Kind”? What’s that supposed to mean? And haven’t you heard this explanation before? “Flandre’s a difficult child, she’ll frighten people away, it’s best if she’s just left in the basement and kept safe, kept quiet, kept alone…”

“Now then,” Remilia continues, leaning a little closer to you and resting her elbows on her knees. “Let’s move onto something a bit more important. Though your experiences here have been…regrettable, this does not change the fact that, for better or for worse, you are in Gensokyo. What are you going to do about it? Explore the country like the bold young man you are? Find an honest job, working like everyone else? Or will you perhaps stay here a while longer? Thought I admit my halls are not quite as straightforward as one would like, you’ll find no place safer in Gensokyo if you’ll just give it a try.

“So…what is your plan? I assume you must have one by now, don’t you?”

[ ] Write-in only.

[ ] Now might be a good time to re-stock your question list as well.

========================================

>>25839
You are most welcome. It’s always nice to see my work doing people some good besides making them paranoid.

[x] "All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."

I have nothing else right now, so I'll just suggest something along these lines. Asides from our infrequent "when can we leave" internal monologues, we really haven't thought this all that well through.

[x] "All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."
[x] "However, having fulfilled the service that man asked of me, I do have at least one goal to fulfill here in the halls of your mansion, and it is a rather straightforward thing: Through the unknowable winds that drive the hearts of man to care for the lives of another, I have come now to care for the life of that ice fairy, Cirno. Right now, she's trapped somewhere, through the actions of your head maid, and, more concerning, is that she seems to have acquired an affliction that is resulting in the loss of her fairy regeneration; the transformative effect this had on her psyche has led her to know the fear of death and to fear for the deaths of others."
[x] "To me this proves that her character is not incorrigible, and that she is capable of mental growth. I wish to utilize the extensive knowledge contained in the library to seek the cause and, hopefully, the cure of the illness, while keeping what this has taught her close to heart, so that she may continue to grow into the person she wants to become."
[x] "I don't have the pretensions of Nathaniel--I doubt I could even save myself, let alone the entire world--but if I can find happiness for just this one person, I'd feel that my life would not have been one of complete vanity."

>>25876
Too condescending and patronizing. I don't think Remi would appreciate the farmer suddenly becoming a scholar, especially when she seems to pretty much know everything about our adventures.

>>25877
I wouldn't be too sure of that. Recall what she said about not having her "siblings" at dinner.

>>She tilts her head a little and gives you a queer kind of look. “Siblings, with an s? I’m afraid you’re mista—oh, yes, yes, the Four-Of-A-Kind, I see. That gave me some trouble for a time as well. But that’s another matter.

Uh-oh, Remi. Your bluff is showing.

Flandre was right, Remilia seems to have absolutely no clue about Adam. That there's another resident in her mansion, let alone an addition to her family, is a rather big thing for someone as all-knowing as Remilia to be unaware of. Throw in how little she seems to know of Nathaniel's origins and abilities, as exhibited by her questioning how he could match Sakuya in combat, and I'd say it's a fair bet there's even more our hostess does not know.
Of course, how to figure out what she genuinely does know, and what she is merely bluffing at knowing is the trick, but if you keep an eye out for little slip-ups like her response the the sibling issue, you might learn as much from her responses as she is seemingly trying to learn from yours.

>>25877

I don't see anything condescending or patronizing about the above. In fact, it reads extremely honest and earnest.

>>25876

Then Remilia asks "Do you love her?"

What would Mr.Farmer answer to that I wonder?

>>25881

Mr. Farmer would probably sputter a bit, likely to Remilia's amusement.

Looking at the evidence, though it's clear: The heartfelt and tearful embraces, the willing sacrificing of an eye after nearly getting killed by her himself, and admitting to Nathaniel his sole reason for staying in this death-trap of a mansion was to save her.

>Flandre was right, Remilia seems to have absolutely no clue about Adam.

You know what pisses me off, concerning television shows and anime and such?

When no one talks to each other.

I mean, take Othello. Do you know how much needless tragedy could have been avoided if Othello had gone, "Hey, you may have noticed I'm angry. This is because I'm certain I've been cheated on!"

Likewise, that one guy in GARO ever bothered to say something like, "I'm trying to kill you because I'm pretty sure you're responsible for the death of my lover." No. He just shows up, announces his presence, and tries to kill the protagonist, who is, of course, innocent.

And no one in any Nanoha series every says anything along the lines of, "By the way, even through my actions can be construed as evil, I'm actually doing this for what I consider a very good reason. Would you like some more information along these lines?"

Poor communication kills, and also sets viewers on one hell of a wallbanger.

Let's nip this in the bud. Please?

[X] [Explanation concerning Adam here.]
[X] "All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."

>>25883

Apart from the dubious claim that Othello is "TV and anime and such", the inability to communicate clearly due to assumptions, the fear of cognitive dissonance, or because of limiting social conventions is simply part of the human condition, which is why it's so universal a trope in literature.

>>25884
Othello falls under "and such". Oi.

>>25883

AND WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH AIRLINE FOOD?

>>25883

It's kind of funny that you're complaining about people's communication skills, when you apparently think that this is a useful and well worded write-in:
>[X] [Explanation concerning Adam here.]

>>25887
Yeah, that is sort of ironic.
I'm not good with write-ins.

>>25863
Give us a godly write in, i am no good with it.

[x] "All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."
[x] "However, having fulfilled the service that man asked of me, I do have at least one goal to fulfill here in the halls of your mansion, and it is a rather straightforward thing: Through the unknowable winds that drive the hearts of man to care for the lives of another, I have come now to care for the life of that ice fairy, Cirno. Right now, she's trapped somewhere, through the actions of your head maid, and, more concerning, is that she seems to have acquired an affliction that is resulting in the loss of her fairy regeneration; the transformative effect this had on her psyche has led her to know the fear of death and to fear for the deaths of others."
[x]And I did mean "siblings". I don't know what "four of a kind" is, but Flandre definitely has a brother. She did say that you probably didn't know he exists, and it would seem that is correct. However, your head maid certainly does know that he exists, and there is the additional matter of the ridiculous lie she gave me. She seems to have been trying to keep secrets from all of us.

And then tie that into the question/answer format somehow. I was thinking of mentioning the game, especially since Sakuya "confirmed" it's existence during the fight, but since Remilia is still the most likely mastermind behind it, bringing it up right now may not be a good idea.

>>25881

I see that smirk Remi. This is my answer.

>>25870
The level of gamesmanship being practiced by Remilia just reinforces the notion that this is less than a simple meeting and more of a challenge of wits. Another damn game. I think she scored a couple minor wins by calling us on THIS CHAIR and time-hax nullification, but we managed to deflect a major victory by seeing through her scrying question: not seeing the truth of the question and lying would put Remilia in a great position to start probing about scrying and keeping us on the defensive. I'm 80% sure we got the leg up on her with her interpretation of "siblings," but there's a strong chance that it's a bit of misdirection to get us to explore an aspect of her relationship with Flandre (Adam) that may be an ambush.

To me, it feels like the Remilia/Flandre relationship is the lynchpin of the situation that must be addressed. From a literary stand-point, I don't know why U.N. Owen would take such pains to develop Flandre's plight while making Remilia's game the primary point of conflict. From a practical stand-point, there's too much inconsistency between Flandre's understanding and Remilia's understanding. Something has to connect the two because it's obvious that there's something keeping the two separate. The bizarre similarities and discrepencies between Sakuya's and Remilia's take on Flandre emphasize this. Sakuya lied to us about Flandre's game, but acknowledged Adam's presence. Remilia was perfectly honest about the game, but displayed no recognition of Adam. However, an agreement does exist:
Remi
>You can’t expect me to have a girl like Flandre frightening the guests like she does, do you"... And I’d rather not mention her difficult power right now; suffice to say, we’ve lost enough good men in this mansion to last a lifetime, and I’d rather we not lose any more.
Sakuya
>“It’s her poor mental condition, I’m afraid, mixed with her temperamental ability. The young mistress is quite a sweet child at heart, but her presence would frighten the guests away, or threaten their life in the rarer cases. Please do not worry for her sake; she is quite content to remain in the basement for the majority of the time, and I would like to believe that she knows she is a liability.”

The question is, who came up with this line or reasoning: Sakuya or Remilia? If it's Sakuya, she is actively deceiving Remilia. If it's Remi, for some reason she is actively trying to distance herself from Flandre. Different situations, same question: why? This is something we must know. Hence, our new goal.
This is just half of the current situation, though. While we have a new goal, we still need to understand hers to try and prepare ourselves for future questions. So, what was asked?
>Her skill is perfect. She does not fail. Even barring your amusing chair, she should not have gotten so much as a scratch on her, and yet I saw several. How?
>Why did you choose the eye, and not the trust?
>So…what is your plan? I assume you must have one by now, don’t you?
Unfortunately, not a lot of common aspects. The first is a clarification of an unknown aspect, the second was testing our understanding and determining our line of reasoning, and the third is to gauge our future plans. The first is the nut, because that latter two are about us. However, taken in context of the very first question, it makes sense: she's progressing. Start with the most pressing concern (Maid of Fate is out of service) and move on to the status of the guest (level of understanding and amount of fate manipulation). I can imagine a question or two more about what we know about the situation before the questions take a turn for the morbid to try and put the fear of Tepes into us. In this story, it's a very Remilia-esque strategy: start simple, adjust the rules early to take advantage of the other side's unfamiliarity, stonewall/evade where necessary, and increase the intensity. It has happened when we entered the mansion up through now (absent Cirno's icycle attack, a major wrench in the works that threw the participants into a frenzy), it happened during E-Cards, it happened with our confrontation about her "China doll," and it's happening now.

If we can pick out as much of a pattern, she'll pick up on ours: defensive, heavily reliant on deception and misdirection, and prone to use erratic/inconsistent moves at opportune times. We can either stay the course and try to pick up where she's exploiting us, or change radically to throw her off. I favor the former, since it's in keeping with our approach that we know more than they think we do. Best to play off her superiority complex, let her try to take advantage of us, and throw it back at her. How? Great question. Best answer is to stay mentally limber and not answer carelessly.

[X] Answer: "Well, I have made a promise of sorts. A certain childish ice fairy has started growing up before my very eyes, and it's been promised that some day a special someone will come along to make her dreams come true if she only has patience. I don't want it to be left to the seldom chance it'll be found in her, so I'd like to stay around on the off chance it'll be found in me on her behalf."
[X] Question 1: "Speaking of which, what did my little maid do to garner such rancor here? "
[X] Question 2: "Flandre seemed fairly keen on taking in Cirno as an adopted little sister: what do you think it'd be like to discover such a new sibling?"
[X] Question 3: "Oh! This might seem to come out of the blue, but do you know what a 'phylacteries' is? Nathaniel said the crystals on Flandre's wings were 'phylacteries for her soul.' I figure you'd be the best person to ask, especially when it comes to Flandre."
[X] Goal: Shift our conversation towards Remilia's relationship with Flandre.
-[x] Sub-Goal: Answer only what was asked; do not volunteer information not asked for.
[X] Contingencies:
-[x] Flandre is truly a charming enigma to a person such as yourself: excessive questioning is due to profound curiosity
-[x] Make a joke if the tone of the conversation becomes threatening or aggressive

>>25892
An answer that I am genuinely passionate about, one question to keep the transition clean and clear up the grudge between 9 and SDM, one question to bridge the gap (and to probe about Glish), and a question about Flan-chan that is on point but easily dismissed as the earnest musings of a man fresh from the farm. I'm hoping the answer to these will inform as to who knows more about Flandre: Remilia or Sakuya.
The answer and question 2 are the most troublesome, so I'd feel no regret if they were dismissed as garbage: the answer tells Remilia that Cirno is the weak point that she can attack for massive damage, and question 2 is so bizarrely phrased that it's obvious we're up to something. In theory, I'd respond first that we have two Fate of the Present cards to save Cirno (lol?), and as to the second, we'd do well to fire a warning shot across Remilia's bow to let her know Flandre is priority one to us. She can deny/lie to us and open up the opportunity to start picking her apart on the details, or she can admit to the whole/part of the situation and move us closer to our focus: the facts of the relationship between Remilia and Flandre.
in b4 U.N. Owen finds option three to screw us over

>>25883
Man, do I ever hear you on the power of clear and unambiguous conversations. You'd be gobsmacked how easy it is for people to acheive understanding and resolve conflicts if you can only get beyond emotional and superficial positions and drill down to the underlying principles motivating people. The process is an arduous one, though. Getting people to open up and explain themselves is fucking hard, especially for people with a lot of pride or responsibility. For times like that, it's best to get their take, understanding, and motivations before you start hitting on the big stuff. That said, I think we should hold off on some of the heavier topics (like Adam/Glish, Flandre's sense of abandonment, and the implications that her wrecked state was self-inflicted) until we've gotten Remilia to at least acknowledge their sisterly relationship isn't as peachy-keen as she is making it out to be.

Ha ha, oh wow. A write-in that broke the character limit.

I really wouldn't recommend letting the cat out of the bag about Flandre's "brother" just yet. Despite what she said, this little quid-pro-quo line of questioning is very much already a game of wits, and in such a situation the greatest asset either side can have is information. Our knowledge of Adam gives us a couple things that we know that Remilia does not, and in that way we have something of an advantage over her.

The most obvious, of course, is that there is someone named "Adam" living with Flandre in the basement, he's a sorta half-vampire half-dragon boy, and is pretty much Flandre's adopted brother.
More importantly, however, and likely far more of interest to Remilia, is the fact that Sakuya also knows about him.

With that one little bit of info, you reveal two very significant problems for Remilia. First, that there are things in her own mansion that she is not aware of, and secondly, there are things her servant knows that she is not aware of. Throw in that little lie Sakuya fabricated regarding what happened to us, and that bit on her note about Remilia becoming suspicious of something, and I think a certain perfect and elegant maid has got some perfect and elegant explaining to do.

>>25883
PROTIP: Japan is all a-fucking-bout repression and not sharing your problems.

Seriously, why do you think so many anime villains turn out to have snapped because they went apeshit over some minor incident or misunderstanding and then desperately convince themselves it never happened?

Japan: Because facing and working out your problems in a sensible fashion --much like consulting source material, and not using cliched reactions-- is for faggots.

I don't have time for a good write in, but I'd like the following addressed

[x] Make certain to tell Remilia about Adam. Explain in detail. If she seems surprised, discretely mention your own surprise that Sakuya had not mentioned it.

(This NEEDS to be done. She doesn't seem to know about it, and it might give Remi more of a cause to look into wtf is going on, if she's not the cause that is)

[x] Tell Remilia about witnessing her maid's notes on her own little game.

(This should be obvious. The only downside I can see is if Remi is really the bad-guy and Sakuya is the good... but I highly doubt its that simple anyway. Just friggin' tell her like you should have the instant you found out)

[x] Question: "Where is my fairy and why does it appear she's locked away in some cellar or some such?"

(Do I need to even explain this one? This should have been our first question)

[x] Question: "Why has Cirno appeared to have lost her ability to regenerate?"

(Above may be dangerous to tell Remi if she does indeed want to get rid of Cirno for good.... but if Remi was the cause of that in the first place, she would have done it by now. Besides, I'm interested to see what kind of reaction this will get out of Remilia )

[x] Mention Nat's theory on Remilia's little "fate game". Question: "Is there any truth to this?"

[x] Mention the incident with Flandre near the statue. Question: "Do you love your sister?"

Plans for the future:
[x] Explain that you just want to keep yourself and Cirno alive, and that you'll make a decision when you're certain someone isn't plotting your demise.

Whether this conversation is a game or not, I do not care. Either Remilia is being deceived, or we are. But then, we already knew that. Just lay it on the table. She knows enough to have damned us. Isn't it time she knew enough to save us?

Finnally, if it will fit:
[x] Scry Patchouli briefly

We should make sure the troublemakers stay where they should be. Last thing we need is to be spirited away by Sakuya the instant we leave Remi's line of sight.

>[x] "All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."

This is bad, and you should feel bad. No perspective on Gensokyo? Bullshit, the farmer wants adventures, Gensokyo is full of them. He has spent the entire time inside the mansion and knows nothing outside it, he is in no position of "having no perspective on Gensokyo".

[X] Answer: "Well, I have made a promise of sorts. A certain childish ice fairy has started growing up before my very eyes, and it's been promised that some day a special someone will come along to make her dreams come true if she only has patience. I don't want it to be left to the seldom chance it'll be found in her, so I'd like to stay around on the off chance it'll be found in me on her behalf."

[x] Make certain to tell Remilia about Adam. Explain in detail. If she seems surprised, discretely mention your own surprise that Sakuya had not mentioned it.
[x] Question: "Where is my fairy and why does it appear she's locked away in some cellar or some such?"
[x] Question: "Why has Cirno appeared to have lost her ability to regenerate?"
[x] Mention Nat's theory on Remilia's little "fate game". Question: "Is there any truth to this?"
[x] Tell Remilia about witnessing her maid's notes on her own little game.
[x] Mention the incident with Flandre near the statue. Question: "Do you love your sister?"

>>25900
>He has spent the entire time inside the mansion and knows nothing outside it, he is in no position of "having no perspective on Gensokyo".

You don't seem to get what this is saying. This is an indirect barb against Remilia; the implication is that he's been unable pursue his dreams of adventure that Remilia claims to want him to fulfill because he's essentially been held captive in her mansion. He knows absolutely nothing about Gensokyo, nothing about the adventures he might experience, and so far she hasn't done much to enable him in this regard.

>Question: "Do you love your sister?"

While I'm all for informing Remilia of the distressing situation of her sister, wording it as an accusation like this is a terrible idea. At best, she'll get indigent and refuse to discuss her family with you further. At worst, she'll kill you in outrage.

Consider this a vote against asking Remilia if she loves her sister.

[x] >>25892

>Goal: Shift our conversation towards Remilia's relationship with Flandre.

I agree with this, turn the table on her. If we are playing a game, why not use the rules for our own good.

["All due respects to the hostess, but I've only really been on the mansion grounds while here at the whim of an eccentric clockmaker. I was kinda hoping Nathaniel would 'spit me back out' afterward, if you understand my meaning. I don't have any perspective on 'Gensokyo'."]
["Well, I have made a promise of sorts. A certain childish ice fairy has started growing up before my very eyes, and it's been promised that some day a special someone will come along to make her dreams come true if she only has patience. I don't want it to be left to the seldom chance it'll be found in her, so I'd like to stay around on the off chance it'll be found in me on her behalf."]
[Direct the conversation towards Remilia’s relationship with Flandre, possibly including Adam as well]

A plan? Truth be told, you’ve been too busy with little things like staying alive and going insane to actually care about a long-term plan for your new life in Gensokyo. Not that “Gensokyo” as a concept means much to you anyways, considering all you’ve seen of it is the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and that’s not exactly helping your perspective any. You wouldn’t mind actually getting back to your initial plan of adventuring and seeing what else this magical country has to offer, if only to rest your mind from the heavy load that’s been put on it the last few days.

And yet…if there’s one mystery that you’d really like to solve, for more than the sake of curiosity, it’s the matter of Cirno’s mortality. Whatever rubbish Nathaniel or Sakuya or Remilia spews from their mouths, you simply cannot deny that something is causing Cirno to lose her abilities as a fairy, and that something is most definitely real. Perhaps Nathaniel’s right and Remilia’s magic caused all of this, perhaps Cirno’s right and, what was it she said…“Sometimes even nature dies”. Or perhaps you’ve missed the point completely, and something altogether unrelated is the culprit. But in either case, Cirno’s not someone you want to give up on, not when she’s made so much progress as a person under your unintentional care.

You scratch your head and try to explain your thoughts to Remilia in a way that makes sense to someone besides you. “Well, I guess I’ve got a few kinda-plans thought up, but when it comes down to it I’ve been a little too busy to care about the future. Though…with all due respects, Miss Remilia, the only reason I’m here in your halls in the first place is because random chance just decided to spit me out at your doorstep, and left me with very few other options at the time. I was kind of hoping that I might finally get a look at just what kind of country Gensokyo is, since I’m going to be here for the foreseeable future. No offense to your gracious hospitality, but I don’t really have any perspective on this mansion compared to Gensokyo as a whole, and I think perspective’s a pretty useful thing for a man to have if he wants to make good decisions.”

You pause for a moment and hold up a finger to indicate you’re not quite done talking. You feel it necessary to explain your care for Cirno, but you’ve got to do it in a way that won’t make Remilia completely tune you out.

“But, well, I guess at the same time, there is something still on this island that I should resolve before trying to see the world. A promise. You see, there’s a certain little fairy who lives around here; you’ve probably seen her around. She causes a lot of trouble and boy is she headstrong, but I’ve started to get to know her while staying here. She’s a lot more deep of a person than I think most people give her credit for. She’s got feelings and beliefs and reasons just like everyone else. She can feel sadness and pain, fear and regret, loss and love, just like you or me. Now I’ll be the first to admit that she’s difficult to deal with. But she’s trying to grow up. She’s trying to become someone bigger than she used to be. All she needs is a friend or two.

“Someone made a promise to her, not too long ago, that one day someone would come who would make all her dreams come true, and turn her into the person she always wished she could be, if she would only be patient enough to wait for the right time. Maybe you’d call it her ‘soul mate’. Now I don’t know who that person is, or where they are, or if they even exist, or if that little fairy has the patience to wait as long as it might take. But I do know that I care about her. And I don’t want to let random chance decide whether she’ll be happy or not. If, I dunno, if maybe me staying close to her will help her dreams come true, then I want to try.”

Remilia responds to your heartfelt explanation by doing a quite inelegant thing: snorting into her wine glass and nearly choking on the liquid. She coughs and gags for a few seconds before degrading into all-out laughter.

“Ackk-ha-hggk ha-hu-huck-ha-caughh-ha ha! Thaah…tha-ha-hat’s p-positiv-vely he-he-he...! Oh, I can-can’t-t-t, I can’t ssp-peak-ke-ke-he-he…” She just manages to set her glass down before clutching her sides and curling into a ball on her chair as she rocks back and forth, unable to contain her childish fits of mirth. You can do nothing but sit there in awe as she treats your feelings like a big joke. Is the subject of Cirno just that much of an oddity to her?

After what must be at least a minute, and probably more, she manages to compose herself and wipes a few stray dribbles of wine from her face with a lacey pocket handkerchief. Though a gay smile remains irremovably plastered to her face, she tries (and only partially succeeds) to return to her proper mannerisms and speech.

“That is, a rather…’interesting’ way of feeling towards the little fairy, young sir. Not, hmm, not exactly what I would have expected, at least not of this magnitude. Feel that strongly about her, do you?”

“I wouldn’t call it a matter of ‘strength’, Lady. When I look at Cirno, I see a girl who has problems, and yet has potential. I see a feisty fairy, but I also see a friend. If a friend is in need, why shouldn’t I try to help him or her? It’s not really about strength of emotions; it’s about what one friend should do for another, I guess.”

Remilia chuckles silently to herself and shakes her head ever so slightly. “What an amusing prospect. You two became those kind of friends in only three days?”

You think you might see where she’s going with this, and try to head her off. “No offense, but I think that’s a bit too far away from ‘What is your plan?’ to count as the same question, Miss Remilia. I think I’d like to ask one of my own, now.”

She holds out her hand. “But of course, of course. Fair must be fair.”

(Little man is thinking his best and is now preparing…)

(…please wait indifferently.)

You order your thoughts and try to think how best to word your next question to hit as many points as possible. You need to talk about Flandre; that much you know. She’s one of the enigmas that if you don’t understand, you can at least see. Everyone in the mansion seems to tell you something slightly different about her. To “Adam”, she’s a good sister who’s just a little weird; to “Glish”, she’s a creature who imprisons his mind, and yet is a creature in need of help. To “Nathaniel”, she’s…well, you really don’t know what anything is to that man. To Sakuya, she’s the mistress’s little sister who must be “taken care of” according to what is smart and what is instructed of her. To Remilia, she’s a problem child that would tarnish her mansion’s reputation, though a sister she may be.

And to Flandre…? What is Flandre to herself? What does she know about herself? Does she know anything about herself? Or perhaps…how many “herselves” are there? There’s the happy-go-lucky little girl with too much energy, no enough focus, and a deadly power. Then there’s the mystical girl who seems to know more than anyone you’ve met, but says very little about it. Then there’s the creepy maiden who plays “games” with people’s lives for the sake of understand the world around her, seemingly immune to the problems of morality or conscience. And then there’s the enraged, psychotic Flandre who hates everything and everyone, even her own sister. “Four Of A Kind”…perhaps Remilia’s little phrase isn’t too far from the truth.

“Forgive me if I’m treading old ground,” you begin, “but there’s just so much about your sister Flandre that I just don’t understand. Half the time she’s insane, half the time she’s not. She can be as hot as a volcano one second, and as cold as ice the next. She can draw beautiful art, and yet can barely focus on one topic for more than a minute or two. She can destroy anything she looks at just by pointing a finger at things! She keeps talking about making Cirno into her ‘sister’, and from what I saw, ‘sisterizing’ fairies turns them into monstrous creatures that only care about killing. She understands, and yet she doesn’t understand. And I don’t understand either. So, I guess, what I want to know is…how? How did Flandre end up like this? Was she just born with a broken mind, or did something…happen to her?”

Remilia sighs and looks somewhere off to the side. Almost in a lamenting tone, she replies. “The blood of the vampires is either a blessing, or a curse, depending upon who looks at it. We are masters and mistresses of the night, nigh immortal save for a few choice difficulties. But this is the very essence of eternal youth: we remain forever young, because we do not grow up. Though I act and speak with wisdom beyond my appearance, I remain, at heart, a child. I accept this fact gladly; I relish in it. Why worry about the complex problems of the world, having the weight of knowledge falling down upon you day after day, when you can enjoy simple thoughts and simple pleasures? I understand the cost our blood must pay…my sister did not.

“She wanted to grow up. She was curious; she wanted to see what knowledge existed in the world, and learn the secrets of life. And so she tried. She read many books and practiced the arts, talked to scholars and discussed the philosophy of ages with all. But though her mind would let her advance beyond the fate of a child, her soul would not. It could not. She learned more than a child ever could, but a child she was fated to be. And so her mind began to fail her. She would gain wisdom only to lose it, learn an important fact only to forget she ever knew it a day later. It was a universal compromise. As one of our blood, she could never, would never grow up. For everything she learned, an equal amount had to be lost, so that she would remain as but a child.

“She tried to prevent this. I still remember that day…the screams…as she used her own magical power in a vain attempt to “destroy the vampire within her”. It destroyed her wings, her tooth, her mind and her soul. For all her attempted logic and reasoning, she was and is a vampire, and thus had attempted to destroy herself. From the bits and pieces which remained I tried to save her, body and mind, heart and soul. From old odd-ends taken from ages long past I had fashioned for her wings, wings of crystal, and in these crystals would be stored the fragments of her soul which still remained after her horrible experiment. “Phylacteries” I believe they are called. She was never the same after that. She was as she is now: broken, broken and chaotic, but still at heart herself. Perhaps, whence comes judgment day, she will be restored to the child she was supposed to be from the beginning.”

In the silence of her last words you both sit, immobile, letting the explanation of dear Flandre permeate though these old halls. So…that’s her story. Weird, but you expected no less.

Suddenly a loud knocking can be heard in the room, which jumps you both out of your odd stupor. You turn around and notice that the noise is coming from the large redwood doors at the end of the hall. Remilia rolls her eyes and sighs.

“It appears that we have a guest who wishes to come in. Perhaps someone should answer the door.”

[ ] Go ahead and answer the door yourself.
[ ] Suggest that Remilia answer the door; she’s the hostess after all.
[ ] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it
[ ] Suggest that Remilia ask you the person is before opening it; she’s the hostess after all.
[ ] Ignore the door; these questions are more important.

[ ] If you choose to ask the person’s name beforehand, state what you might do depending on who the person is.

[x] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follows.

This should cover most possibilities. Some may seem unlikely, but I do not believe that such turns are much unlike you, Owen.

That's an interesting take on Flandre, actually. Must say I like the concept.

>Remilia responds to your heartfelt explanation by doing a quite inelegant thing: snorting into her wine glass and nearly choking on the liquid. She coughs and gags for a few seconds before degrading into all-out laughter.

>“Ackk-ha-hggk ha-hu-huck-ha-caughh-ha ha! Thaah…tha-ha-hat’s p-positiv-vely he-he-he...! Oh, I can-can’t-t-t, I can’t ssp-peak-ke-ke-he-he…” She just manages to set her glass down before clutching her sides and curling into a ball on her chair as she rocks back and forth, unable to contain her childish fits of mirth. You can do nothing but sit there in awe as she treats your feelings like a big joke. Is the subject of Cirno just that much of an oddity to her?

I think this is the best reaction we could've hoped for. I don't get why Anon seems so keen on withholding information from her; she's been an entirely affable host thus far.

[x] Go ahead and answer the door yourself.

Whoever it is probably won't skewer you with Remilia present, so you may as well affect courage and bravado. If it's Sakuya, Remilia gets a laugh at the irony. If it's Cirno, it'll prove the veracity of what you had just said when she greets you with a hug. If it's Nathaniel, he'll have the opportunity to grab your hand and stop time without alerting Remilia beforehand.

[x] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follows.

I like this option, particularly after the write in war for the last post...how did you manage to sort through that Owen?

And of COURSE we didn't mention Adam. Apparently we're going to hold on the stupid ball for a good deal more turns?

Pardon my French, but foutre that merde.

[X] Clearly-worded parting shot concerning Adam and Sakuya's knowledge of Adam.
[x] Go up and ask who the person at the door is.

>>25916
>Apparently we're going to hold on the stupid ball for a good deal more turns?

Yes, the idea seems to be to wait until Sakuya recovers and decides to threaten us directly into not revealing this or anything else we might know about her plotting.

And why? Because revealing any new information to Remilia means she wins. And we can't have that!

Sakuya's the biggest problem in this situation.

[x] Scry Sakuya quickly as you walk to the door.
[x] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it
-[x] Adam/Glish: annotate his actions for Remilia's benefit, if he acts sane.
-[x] Cirno: continue as before but keep her behind you.
-[x] Flandre: make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
-[x] Nathaniel: keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
-[x] Rumia: Spanish Inquisition!
-[x] Sakuya: be on your guard.
-[x] Koakuma, Meiling, Patchouli, or fairy maids: pay attention to what follows.
-[x] Other, or no response: look for prompting from Remilia.
[x] Stay behind the door while opening it for everyone but Cirno.

[x] Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.
- [x] If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.
- [x] If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.

This way we show Remilia personally the utility of your ability.

If it's Sakuya, she might want to send her away or ignore her, without revealing that you are down here, as she has the only key to the room (I'm assuming the doors lock automatically, since they close by themselves).

If it's Flandre, you give her some time to steel herself, or maybe she'd rather ignore it completely, since she'd be afraid of us dying on her again.

If it's Adam you get some time to inform her who exactly "Adam" is.

If it's Nathaniel, you might want to take the opportunity to tell her that he's out to take her life.

>>25919
>This way we show Remilia personally the utility of your ability.

I like this. I really like this. Remi will like this. "A most intriguing power, no?"

[x] Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.
- [x] If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.
- [x] If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.

[X] Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.
- [X] If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.
- [X] If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.
Though the following are most definitely still worth good consideration and following:
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follows.

[x] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follows.
[ ] Adam/Glish: annotate his actions for Remilia's benefit, if he acts sane.

I like the story that you gave Flandre. One of the best so far, counting the ones from doujin too.

[X] Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.
- [X] If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.
- [X] If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.
Though the following are most definitely still worth good consideration and following:
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follows.

[X] Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.
- [X] If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.
- [X] If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.
Though the following are most definitely still worth good consideration and following:
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follow

>>If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.

Not even a quick mention to Remi that her other guest, who is at the door, just so happens to think she is a very, very bad person and wants to make her die? If lack of communication is such a problem in this place, I don't see how not informing your hostess that the person at her door is after her life does anything to alleviate that problem.

>>25925

Yeah, the second part of the write-in don't seem to take into account the emergent circumstances that would arise from the first part, since no matter the condition, they all basically say "don't do anything, stay paranoid", which of course is ignoring that 1) that paranoia gets us nowhere, as we are utterly defenseless ourselves, and 2) it's probably better to follow Remilia's lead with most of them. The Cirno case in particular is a bad idea, since telling her to hide behind us would imply that Remilia would do something to harm her (ignoring the fact that we couldn't do anything to protect her from Remilia anyway), and may be taken as offensive, destroying the frank and amicable atmosphere we've built up here with Remilia.

So I'm amending with a vote against the following:
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follow

>>25926
>>25920 here, also voting against this. Most of the list is completely obvious anyway.

Sending a guest seems a bit rude, though, in all fairness, we did KO the person who would have answered the door normally ("Farmer, with THIS CHAIR, in the kitchen").
Let's streamline the process:

[x] Go up and ask who the person is before opening it.
-[x] If they reply, announce them and open the doors.
-[x] If there is no reply, ask for prompting from Remilia.
[x] If you assume hostility from the other party, or if there is hostility before that, hide behind the door while opening it.

So I'm amending with a vote against the following:
[ ] If Nathaniel, keep an eye on him but don't say anything.
-If he asks anything about his missing card, tell him you were protecting it while he was unconcious. Give it back too, of course.
[ ] If Sakuya, be on your guard. This could easily be a trap.
[ ] If Patchouli, take caution, but be more wary of Remilia.
[ ] If Cirno, continue but keep her behind you.
[ ] If Flandre, make sure to keep a very close eye on her.
[ ] If Koakuma, Meiling, or fairy maids, then don't be too concerned about them but rather what follow

If the card really is the only way of saving someone precious to me, and it suddenly disappeared, I would despair too much express it with words. Don't be so cruel Anon.

>>25930
>If the card really is the only way of saving someone precious to me, and it suddenly disappeared, I would despair too much express it with words. Don't be so cruel Anon.

It seemed pretty clear to me that he wanted us to take it. He was practically handing it to us:

>With a limp wrist he draws a blood-stained card out of his pocket: Third Wish, 「Fate of the Present」. He tries to hold it up as an example, but it flops uselessly in his fingers. “Rem…Remilia’s cards. Present, Ihh…it frees, frees you from the fate. Don’t…don’ use it on, on yourself…you’ll waste…it.”
>You look at the card, then stuff it back into his jacket pocket. “I’ve already got one; thanks. You just take it easy; I’m going to go get Patchouli to help. Do you die on me now, idiot.”

>“That is, a rather…’interesting’ way of feeling towards the little fairy, young sir. Not, hmm, not exactly what I would have expected, at least not of this magnitude. Feel that strongly about her, do you?"

I was hopin for us to say something along the lines of caring for her like a little sister if we had such a thing. Perhaps as a lead-in to the Flan-centric questions. At least it is clear Remi loev Flan to a degree if shes willing to put her back together.

>>25932
>I was hopin for us to say something along the lines of caring for her like a little sister if we had such a thing.

Relies too much on Remilia's credulity for it to work. Farmer simply hasn't given enough thought to his relationship to make this a truthful analogy; Remilia would see right through that and call bullshit.

"Is that how you really feel? Are you sure?"

>>25931
>It seemed pretty clear to me that he wanted us to take it. He was practically handing it to us:

Oh, so he didn't want to use to free Glish? I think he was just advising the farmer how to use it, not handing it to him.

[Scry the usual suspects to try to find out who it is: Nathaniel, Sakuya, Patchouli, Flandre, Adam, and Cirno.]
[If you find out, tell Remilia who it is; ask her if she wants you to let them in.]
[If you don't, tell her this, and go ahead and answer the door yourself unless she stops you.]

You stand up before Miss Scarlet. “I’ll get it, then.” You’re about to turn around and start the fairly long walk to the door, but suddenly an idea hits you that makes you stop, and you turn back to Remilia. “Actually, Miss, I just thought of something. How about I scry some of the mansion residents first, just to see who might be at the door? It might give us a little forewarning if it’s anyone important.”

She tips her chin upwards and looks down at you, though while you’re standing the two of you are practically at eye level. “Hmm? Ahh, what a clever plan; shame I didn’t think of it first. Yes, by all means, scry away dear boy.”

You sit down and close your eye (dang that other one still smarts!), quickly focusing on the usual suspects whenever you scry. Nathaniel comes first: he looks at a giant carved redwood door, and as his bloodied fist knocks upon it a second time, you hear the exact same knock inside Remilia’s hall. Well then…that was easy.

“It’s Nathaniel, miss,” you reply, looking at her once more. “Don’t ask me how he got well enough to walk so quickly, but he’s here now. Should I let him in?”

Remilia closes her eyes and ponders this one for a while, long enough that Nathaniel knocks on the door a third time even. Doesn’t that man know how to show a little patience? When she opens her eyes again, she responds in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, might as well. We’ve needed to talk for some time anyways. Let him in, good sir, let him in.”

You make a slight bow towards her, then walk down the dark hall towards the door, contemplating just what kind of absurd thing Nathaniel is going to do this time. You imagine it will probably be some random, nitpicky grievance that make or may not end with Equitas at your…oh wait, that’s right; Patchouli’s looking after his effects for you. He should be safe then, right? Well, unless she likes him better than you and gave them back…Eh, it doesn’t really matter. He wouldn’t try to pull anything stupid with Remilia sitting right here, would he?

You walk up to the door, put your hand on the handle, and then ask, “Who is it?” just for good measure.

Though the doors are thick and muffle his voice, you can still makes out his words, though not his tone of voice. “It’s Nathaniel.” Well, as least he’s telling the truth there. You open the door inwards to let him in...and immediately feel the sharp sting of a hearty slap across the face.

Nathaniel doesn’t even give you a chance to react. Within an instant he’s rifling through your pockets, looking for something. He passes up the lighter, finds something in your back pocket, and rips it out, the entire ordeal taking place in under ten seconds. You glace at the object—his “Wish Card” that you borrowed from him—as he holds it with an iron grip in front of him.

”Use your own bloody cards.”

He returns the card to his left breast pocket and stands there, breathing with heavy emotion, or perhaps pain, though for the moment he says nothing, giving you an opportunity to look at him better. His chest wound is definitely smaller, down to what you would call nothing but scratches, though his shirt is still torn to rags and there’s blood all over his skin. He seems to wobble a bit as he stands, kind of like a person who’s started to have just a little too much to drink, but not to the point where they’re hopeless yet. Equitas is, strangely enough, not at his side right now. After he’s allowed this melodramatic pause to take place, he continues talking to you, speaking very harshly, yet also very quietly, so that only you can hear.

“Did you think I didn’t have a use for this, Farmer?” he asks, brow as furrowed as a man’s brow can be. “Did you think you could use it better? You’d have saved your fairy with one, wasted the other on yourself, and then where would you be? Still under Remilia’s spell, and without anyone else to help you. I’m not letting you throw away one of our only two chances to leave this mansion alive, Farmer!”

It’s all you can do to not slap the man back. “Frankly, you were unconscious at the time, and I was going to go see Remilia alone. I wanted all the help I could get.”

He presses his fingers against his brow and looks downwards in annoyance. “Remilia’s the one who gave us the cards, idiot! Do you really expect them to work on her? They completely remove the influence of fate she has on a person; she managed to let that slip before I used my Past card. You and I, we’ve been under her spell for mere days; nothing would change, nothing that we could tell, and nothing that would help us right now.”

You cross you arms in front of him. “Well then, who’re you going to use it on, if you consider my ideas a waste?”

He looks up at you, but those eyes…there’s tears in his eyes. For the first time since you’ve met him, he is actually crying, his face a mixture of pain, fear, and sadness. His voice is extremely shaky when he responds, and the words are not something you’d expect from him.

“You…you’ve never heard. You’ve never heard her screaming. Screaming in the night. Crying, crying for hours. Wishing for it all to end. Wishing to escape…wishing to die…wishing to kill her in her sleep…and so powerless, powerless to do any of it. You’ve never sat there as she poured out her soul, when she thought no one else could hear her, and when I couldn’t do anything but listen. Listen to her horrible life. The life that, monster, forced on her.

“She was nobody before. Nobody. A girl looking for adventure, nothing more. She was young, foolish, head in the clouds, so optimistic. And that devil took it all away from her. Turned her into a slave. The perfect slave. Tortured her. For years. Forced her to do everything perfectly, without mercy. It twisted her mind. Made her forget who she was before. Made her think that she enjoyed it, that she was happy to serve the Devil for eternity. Turned her into nothing but a shell, a puppet on scarlet strings.

“One escape, and only one, keeps a scrap of her alive. Her world. The world where only she can move; where no one else, not even the devil can touch her. In this world she huddles in a corner and cries herself to sleep every night. She screams at the devil, her words never to reach any ears or mind but her own. She screams from the devil, feeling the scalding memories of her enslavement. She runs, only to become lost, and once again forced to crawl back to her master like a dog with her tail between her legs.”

Her draws you close and drops his voice even more, looking you right in the eye with the tears streaming down his face.

“You’ve never heard her screaming……I have. This has to end. This will end. And I’m going to end it.”

With shaking hands he lets go of your shirt and folds his arms inside his torn leather jacket, trying to comfort himself in some small way. You have no words. No actions. Nothing but silence.

“Hmm…it there a problem between you two men that I should be concerned about?”

You jump backwards and realize that, during your conversation, Remilia must have grown bored and now stands beside you. Her arms are folded across her chest in a rather bratty fashion, and she looks between you and Nathaniel, awaiting an answer.

Nathaniel clears his throat and returns to his businesslike tone he often uses in her presence. “Yes, Miss Scarlet, I’m afraid there is. You.”

(Well that’s no good…)

(…I can’t see this ending well.)

Six shots. Six shots in rapid succession. You didn’t even see him grab the gun, but there it is, in his hands, smoking as he fires half a dozen rounds into Remilia’s head at point-blank range, reducing everything above her neck to nothing more than an indistinguishable mass of crimson jelly, some of it slapping onto your face like red mud. Her body slides backwards with the bullets’ impact and falls to the ground behind you. You stare at her lifeless form in horror, then look at Nathaniel, who’s already loading more bullets into Seraphim’s large chamber, speaking to you quickly and with indifference.

“I didn’t want to have to start it like this,” he explains hastily, “but unfortunately we are out of time, and I’m not letting her make the first move. I’m not gonna tell you what to do now, but I’d suggest you do it quickly.”

He returns Seraphim’s chamber to a ready position and runs off down the hall with the gun hefted in front of him, leaving you alone with the headless corpse of the Scarlet Devil.

[ ] Stay here.
[ ] Follow Nathaniel; try to stop him (but how?)
[ ] Follow Nathaniel; aid him (but how?)
[ ] Go somewhere else in the mansion (specify destination)
[ ] You’ll probably just use a write-in anyways…

========================================

>>25913 & >>25922
>That's an interesting take on Flandre, actually. Must say I like the concept.
>I like the story that you gave Flandre. One of the best so far, counting the ones from doujin too.
Thank you both very kindly. I’ve had the idea in my head for months, and had pretty much all of it set in stone several threads before you even met Flandre to begin with. The real question I had to ask myself was “Why?” Why is Flandre insane? The answer was not easy to find, let me tell you. To this day I still don’t know how I found it.

>>25915
>…particularly after the write in war for the last post...how did you manage to sort through that Owen?
With difficulty. I pretty much had to break up all the votes into their individual components (such as “Talk about Cirno” or “talk about seeing the world”), and tally the components by themselves, combining whichever ones were highest in conjunction with whether or not they would actually be coherent with each other. I’ve had to do it more than a dozen times before now as well, and it’s a task I do not often relish doing.

>>25916
>And of COURSE we didn't mention Adam. Apparently we're going to hold on the stupid ball for a good deal more turns?
You would have, but then someone knocked at the door first. Gotta address the most pressing issues first, now don’t we?

>>25926
An interesting idea, using your vote to cancel a less desirable vote rather than voting for something different. I like it, and think it could work. As long as it does not degenerate into vote-canceling wars, I will let this practice continue, and see where it might lead.

>You cross you arms in front of him. “Well then, who’re you going to use it on, if you consider my ideas a waste?”
>
>He looks up at you, but those eyes…there’s tears in his eyes. For the first time since you’ve met him, he is actually crying, his face a mixture of pain, fear, and sadness. His voice is extremely shaky when he responds, and the words are not something you’d expect from him.
>
>“You…you’ve never heard. You’ve never heard her screaming. Screaming in the night. Crying, crying for hours. Wishing for it all to end. Wishing to escape…wishing to die…wishing to kill her in her sleep…and so powerless, powerless to do any of it. You’ve never sat there as she poured out her soul, when she thought no one else could hear her, and when I couldn’t do anything but listen. Listen to her horrible life. The life that, monster, forced on her.
>
>“She was nobody before. Nobody. A girl looking for adventure, nothing more. She was young, foolish, head in the clouds, so optimistic. And that devil took it all away from her. Turned her into a slave. The perfect slave. Tortured her. For years. Forced her to do everything perfectly, without mercy. It twisted her mind. Made her forget who she was before. Made her think that she enjoyed it, that she was happy to serve the Devil for eternity. Turned her into nothing but a shell, a puppet on scarlet strings.
>
>“One escape, and only one, keeps a scrap of her alive. Her world. The world where only she can move; where no one else, not even the devil can touch her. In this world she huddles in a corner and cries herself to sleep every night. She screams at the devil, her words never to reach any ears or mind but her own. She screams from the devil, feeling the scalding memories of her enslavement. She runs, only to become lost, and once again forced to crawl back to her master like a dog with her tail between her legs.”
>
>Her draws you close and drops his voice even more, looking you right in the eye with the tears streaming down his face.
>
>“You’ve never heard her screaming……I have. This has to end. This will end. And I’m going to end it.”

...

O HAI, CAN I HAS SPESSIFICK NON-MISTIRIUS ANSER PLZ?

Alright. Fuck stopping Nathinael, fuck stopping Remilia, fuck fate, fuck everything. We still have no idea what the hell anyone is doing or why. Almost everything we've learned has been passed to us from deceptive or delusional sources. We can verify nothing, and we can’t do anything based on nothing.

We just need to find Cirno and get the hell out of the SDM, and only one person knows where she is.

[X] Scry Sakuya. Go ask her where Cirno is.
[X] If Sakuya's still unconcious: Scry Patcholi to see if she's still with Sakuya.
[X] If neither of those give her location, head for the kitchen and hope she's still there.

Yeah, she’s pissed at us, and might try to kill us, but I really don’t see any other way for us to find out. The SDM is too big to check every closet.

[x] Stay here, at least until you get a grasp on what happening in the other parts of the mansion.
[x] Remove the heavy gold key from Remilia's person. Lock the door.
[x] Scry everyone. Meiling, Sakuya, Patchouli, Nathaniel, Adam, Flandre, Cirno. Is there a clear path to the library.
[x] Check Remilia's corpse; is she showing any signs of regeneration?

The only thing I can think of doing is carrying her corpse on our back to Patchouli and see what she can do, but the possibility of running into Flandre, Nathaniel, or Sakuya in the basement or halls makes this a dicey proposition.

>>25941
>She was nobody before. Nobody. A girl looking for adventure, nothing more. She was young, foolish, head in the clouds, so optimistic.
That sounds unfortunately familiar...
>And that devil took it all away from her. Turned her into a slave. The perfect slave. Tortured her. For years.
...and that doesn't sound good at all...
>“You’ve never heard her screaming……I have. This has to end. This will end. And I’m going to end it.”
...and that is just about the most convincing thing he's ever said to us. Would have been nice to know during the monstrous Q&A sesstion, but:
>>25118
>“Yes? The last paragraph, what does it mean?”
>He smiles contentedly, ever so slightly. “It means…she isn’t completely lost. More I dare not say.”
He was playing this one very close to the chest for some reason. Either didn't trust us with this information, or wasn't 100% sure or willing to act on it yet (since everything else was something he accepted as God's own truth). I wonder if it would have come up any sooner if we had just agreed with his take without questioning him at every turn.

You wonder if Sakuya's abilities were something simpler than they are now, or if she even had them before entering the mansion. Maybe it started off as something simple, with only a marginal amount of utility. However, prolonged exposure to fate hax turned it into something more powerful, more frightening. Now she has a remarkable ability but is permanently bound to servitude under Remilia. Now that she's done this at least once (or maybe 4 times: Sakuya, Meiling, Patchu, and first time contestant Nat), she's got to have all of the best techniques for breaking and subjugating someone down to an art.

We're screwed~

So, Cirno's still MIA, Sakuya is probably up but immobile, Remilia is down (but probably not out), the mansion has probably turned on Nat (or will soon), and Nat is off to the races to use his card on Sakuya before Remilia rezzes and starts wrecking shit. On the one hand, I'm morbidly curious to see how Remilia grows a new head (and if the process creates a new silly hat), but on the other, now that it seems most of the cards are on the table (we know what Nat wants to do and what Remilia is probably going to do to us) I think it's time to use one of our MacGuffins to figure out our "true future."

[X] Go somewhere else in the mansion: our room.
[X] Gather any of our inventory that have been returned there.
[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

With the knowledge of what our future is sans fate manipulation crap, we can probably start to act a bit more definitively.

My prediction is that our Fate of the Present is going to end up being used on either Cirno or Nathaniel to get them out of the mansion safely(-ish). It'll probably Nathaniel: he escapes (hopefully with Sakuya) while farmer (and Cirno?) becomes the newest resident of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. A Scarlet-Stained Memoir becomes the record of our descent into absolute servitude under Remilia. That sounds bad enough to be a True End to me. At least we'd become a super-scying/mind-raping butler in the process.

Nathaniel really damned himself by not being straightforward with us about this whole matter; and, ignoring that, his story appears to be morphing slightly again, unless that is just him not being very clear about what he's talking about, or not having been very clear the first time he dropped the ball on us.

Shoot, I knew we should have used that Future Card earlier...

It would have been awesome if we had caught Nathaniel's punch and simply told him to keep quiet for a bit.

Oh well, I wanna use it now so let's go with this.

[X] Go somewhere else in the mansion: our room.
[X] Gather any of our inventory that have been returned there.
[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

>>25945

That's a dangerous road, especially since it revolves around following the word of a lunatic who has been constantly vacillating on his reasons for being here: First he threatens us into helping him escape, then he wants to save the world from Remilia's evil, then he wanted to protect us, then he tries to kill Sakuya, then he feels he needs to get to Glish and Flandre for some reason, now he kills Remilia after some making some rediculous non-sequitur about using the Fate cards against her, contradicting what he said earlier about their use, using them save others.

They're all nuts. Sakuya's a violent sociopath. Nathaniel is a man gripped in the throws of paranoia and bloodlust. Adam is sometimes nice except when he's tearing your throat out or murdering your maid. Flandre is plain batshit insane. Remilia, Cirno, and Patchouli are our sole bastions of sanity in this place, and Nathaniel just murdered one of them in cold blood, another is trapped somewhere, and Patchouli, well we don't know, do we? Maybe he killed her too?

We didn't leave Sakuya and Nathaniel's bodies for them to die, despite our feelings of antipathy. Remilia is going to regenerate anyway, and I'd like it to be on the record that we did our best to help her. She's the best chance we have at getting Sakuya to spit up the location she hid Cirno, as well as surviving with all these nutjobs running, around causing havoc.

[x] Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.
[x] Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.

The farmer has always tried to do the most decent thing he can in trying situations. This should be no exception.

>That sounds bad enough to be a True End to me.

Honestly, would that really be so terrible? We'd be clothed, fed, and be provided excellent medical care, and we'd have our fairy co-worker, to spend our off time tutoring her with the vast resources available in the library.

Adventure and freedom sound fun, but Farmer just is too weak at present to survive out in Gensokyo just yet. He's got the danmaku down, but he needs time to develop his magical abilities--he can't even fly yet.

You have look at the reason one would have for leaving the homestead: A void in one's life. He went on an adventure in order to fill it, and now, in Cirno, I think he has.

[x] Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.
[x] Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.

Farmer doesn't seem like the guy who'd go and let people get attacked. We always go for ending conflict or settling it.

>>25957
I'd be inclined to agree with that interpretation, but the torture, eternal servitude, and lack of free will that would be associated makes getting to such a charmed life is a deal breaker for me. I guess I'm a glass-is-half-empty kinda guy in that regard.

>>25950
I don't really see the danger in Nat's situation. Actually, it's probably the first time I have: he's finally something more than a "means justify the end" type of guy, which is quite reassuring. The type that'll do anything to acheive a single goal regardless of means are scary people, and right along Nat fell squarely into that category: regadless of anything, I'm going to kill Remilia because she's evil and needs to die. Now that it turns out he wants to save Sakuya by killing Remilia, we can understand his actions, and even sympathize to an extent. Put yourself into Nat's shoes, replace Sakuya with Cirno, and consider what was just revealed to us: what would you do?
Getting Equitas was a pre-requisite to completing Revelation. I believe him when he said he wasn't trying to kill Sakuya: Revelation was the key to fighting Sakuya equally and giving him a chance to disable her. With no possibility of her time hax, he could confront Remilia without her interfering. Why he's not using Revelation to time stop and rip Remilia to shreds is a question, but it's probably the same reason Sakuya never did. Maybe Remilia needs to be (somewhat) alive for the cards to work: use card, free Sakuya, destroy Remilia.
Looking back, it's pretty likely that Nat has never lied to us. He's withheld some really-fucking-important information (which is debatedly just as bad as lying), he enjoys battering us whenever the opportunity presents itself (before the story ends we need to crack him one in the shins, even if it's the last thing we do), and in terms of manners and communication skills, I'd peg him a little above Rumia (at least she asked politely if she could eat us; not even a "thanks" after we got him Equitas. Ingrate). Sill, every piece of information he's deigned fit to share with us has probably been true. I don't think killing-killing Remilia is the answer. But if she's going to be a child forever with no chance of growing up, developing, maturing, and messing people up with her abilities will forever be a game to her, and nothing more, then we need to get our act together and start playing safe.
Also, chasing lolis is our greatest flaw: for all our planning, paranoia, and carefully considered decisions in every other situation, as soon as a loli is plopped in front of us/put into peril/is in distress/etc., we lose it. We know it, and more importantly, so does U.N. Owen, and he is not afraid to exploit it. Having Cirno locked away has been one long stress test for anon. I don't think it's time to crack yet. The best we can do is come up with a plan with Second Wish to see what needs to be obtained/accomplished/removed/whatevered, and work rescuing Cirno into it. Hell, maybe Cirno is the key. But a plan and an idea is better than running off for Cirno whilst uninformed.

But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Finally, I wonder what would happen if we tried to scry Remilia right now: whole lot of nothing, absolute mindfuck, or something in between?

>>25960
>I'd be inclined to agree with that interpretation, but the torture, eternal servitude, and lack of free will that would be associated makes getting to such a charmed life is a deal breaker for me.

We don't have any evidence that she's done anything untoward to anyone. The tortures that we do know about, ours, Adam's, and Nathaniel's, were on the part of her admittedly uncontrollable sister. We can't even really accuse her of whoring Meiling anymore, taking into account Meiling's words and Remilia's explanation.

And as for Sakuya, she proven herself to be a consummate bullshit artist, what with that story she concocted this morning on the fly to explain our "memories". I wouldn't put it past her to lie through her teeth to achieve whatever her ends are, and we know she has long term plans for the mansion's inhabitants. She's been the one making attempts on Nathaniel's life and ramping up his paranoia. If she really is a vampire hunter like Nathaniel suggested, and has spent the last three years playing charades, then I can't see why she would hesitate to use him now that he's made himself available to her. It certainly wouldn't be difficult for her to play off his wholly-consuming desire to be the hero.

On the basis that, unlike Mr. I'm-always-fucking-right Nat, if we piss Remi off we're not even qualified to be a speed bump to her in a fight. In addition to this Remi has given us little reason to actively be against her - distrust her perhaps, but not directly hate her the way Nat has decided to do.

We don't know why Cirno can be hurt, if anyone does it would be Remi or Patchy, and somehow i expect Nat to fuck over any chance of getting the answer from Patchy. With this in mind hoping that Remi will revive is our best option, and having her corpse may be enough to convince Patchy / Meiling that Nat has gone mental.

... Come to that, lets see if we can find a window to yell out to Meiling from, see if we can get some help there.

[x] Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.
[x] Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.
[x] Find a window to try and yell to Meiling from

[X] Go somewhere else in the mansion: our room.
[X] Gather any of our inventory that have been returned there.
[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

>It'll probably Nathaniel: he escapes (hopefully with Sakuya) while farmer (and Cirno?) becomes the newest resident of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

This is exactly why Farmer is here, why Nathaniel brought Farmer here. To get him out of here and maybe Sakuya too. Using his own life as a barter for the two. They leave and he stays.

>A Scarlet-Stained Memoir becomes the record of our descent into absolute servitude under Remilia.

This, a thousand times this.

>That sounds bad enough to be a True End to me.

I don't think there is a "Good End" here that we can get. Archer didn't get a good end in UBW too, but he still smiled and was content about the choices he made.

>At least we'd become a super-scying/mind-raping butler in the process.

Probably controlled by Remilia if she is as bad as Nathaniel says. But he is strong and i see some chances. Maybe we can get some influence on her and change her somehow. She says she is always a child, a child can still learn.

>Also, chasing lolis is our greatest flaw: for all our planning, paranoia, and carefully considered decisions in every other situation, as soon as a loli is plopped in front of us/put into peril/is in distress/etc., we lose it.

Hell yes! no Loli is goin to die on us here no matter how evil they are. And that includes Flandre, Remilia and Cirno.
I still hate Nathaniel for killing Rumia, only good that she is alive again.


I think for using the card you need like 2/3 of the people voting for it. If this doesnt work Owen, i vote for

[ ] Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.
[ ] Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.

[x] Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.
[x] Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.
[x] Scry EVERYONE

For all we know, Nat killed Patchy to get to Remi's room. Or Sakuya is now roving the halls. Cirno may have escaped. At this point we need to know wtf is going on. We have this ability for a reason.

So far this Remilia has given me no reason to dislike her, while Nat has done just the opposite. If we do this Nat's way, we'll end up with the whole mansion dead without ever finding out what is really going on. That is an ending I would like to avoid.

After this, I think we need to use our future card, it's time we at least got a better glimpse at the big picture.

>>25965
>[x] Scry EVERYONE

Too much time consuming, Remilia would probably shred Farmer to pieces first, even if he didn't actively harmed her.

>>25931
>”Use your own bloody cards.”

Told ya.

>>25966
But our cards weren't bloody! They were relatively clean!

We readers aren't giving Nathaniel any slack, are we?

>bloody

On that note,
>reducing everything above her neck to nothing more than an indistinguishable mass of crimson jelly, some of it slapping onto your face like red mud.
Should probably wipe that off. Nothing wrong with a little paranoia...

>>25969

Yeah, we didn't listen to Flandre when she said to trust him even after all that happened. Why the fuck did "Steal his card" win in the first place?

I had hopes of the farmer and Nathaniel becoming friends or something close to it, but no! Had to keep distrusting him every fucking time and try to screw him up like that!

What are the requirements for using the 2nd card anyways? I mean, why can't Nat just freaking use it on Sakuya now? He's had the card, and if it CHANGES THEIR FATE, then why does he have to go through all this trouble? I personally don't see the logic behind all this. Of course, if the reason he is doing this is because Sakuya is already too far under Remilia's control that it affects her outside of the mansion (as is most likely, since sakuya has to go outside), then the cards would appear to be useless for Nat. Why would he even care if we have it in that case?

>>25968

This I'd agree, hasn't past anon already stated that in many twisted ways, NAT WAS RIGHT?!

Why I wouldn't be amazed if by some twisted fate and breaching of reality, Remilia's working a majority of the anon into a trap slowly and meticulously.

Message of Nat's actions should take a short while before the entire mansion gets up in arms in going after both Farmer and Nat. I wouldn't put it past Remilia to want to take revenge on such behavior, assuming such bullets did nothing more than create a gory light show and inhibit her latent regenerative abilities.

[x] Go somewhere else in the mansion (Your Room)
[x] Quickly gather all essentials (memoir/compass/dagger ect)
[x] Scry at the very least either Sakuya or Patchouli. (We can either aid Nathaniel and get back Revelation for him on the off chance of bumping into him/or quickly convince Sakuya to aid us in the off chance that with Remilia temporarily out of commission, she'd feel more cooperative with us; especially work in rescuing Cirno with us and herself.

This may be the only way to defeat Remilia's game, bend it to the farmer's advantage. I don't recall us being so stalwart to the point we'd die pointlessly just on our principles if it serves no one any good; especially of all those we care for.

FOR ONCE GIVE NATE A CHANCE!

>This I'd agree, hasn't past anon already stated that in many twisted ways, NAT WAS RIGHT?!

Note the twisted part. The way Nate sees things tends to differ from how a sane man would see them. For every truth he tells there’s a related and crucial fact withheld. The man is insane. While I have no doubt his INTENSIONS are noble, I’m not certain the goal he’s reaching for is quite so just.

>FOR ONCE GIVE NATE A CHANCE!

For once? We've given him plenty of chances, and it almost never ends well.
Off the top of my head:

-We behaved civilly towards him in the beginning. To thank us, he cornered us in the bathroom and held a knife to our throat.
-We gave him the benefit of the doubt and went to Flandre to help him get his sword back. As soon as he had it back he threatened us with it. Following that we ended up in Flandre's game, and we all know how that went.
-We went back into the basement with him to help him find his watch. This is the only time I can think of us helping him where it didn’t directly backfire.
-We saved his life when we knocked Sakuya out. The next time we saw him he punched us, rifled through our pockets, lectured us, and blew Remilia’s brains out.

>>-We behaved civilly towards him in the beginning. To thank us, he cornered us in the bathroom and held a knife to our throat.

But did nothing else to actually harm us in any real way.

>>-We gave him the benefit of the doubt and went to Flandre to help him get his sword back. As soon as he had it back he threatened us with it. Following that we ended up in Flandre's game, and we all know how that went.

He only threatened us with it after we basically mocked and questioned the existence of dragons, to which he sought to correct our misconception in his typical excessively-dramatic manner. As for the game, we were the ones to choose to agree and go along with it, although whether or not it would have made any difference if we declined is uncertain.
At the very least, we certainly didn't have to bring Cirno along with us, especially after we had confirmation that she could no longer regenerate and was for all intents and purposes mortal.

>>-We went back into the basement with him to help him find his watch. This is the only time I can think of us helping him where it didn’t directly backfire.

No, we went back to make sure he didn't "accidentally" lose anything else in what has become our typical excessive suspicion of him and his actions, as if he intentionally dropped the prized possession he had spent so much time protecting and completing in the first place. The only "help" we offered him was lending him our lighter, and even then we couldn't do it without seeming a little dickish about it.

>>-We saved his life when we knocked Sakuya out. The next time we saw him he punched us, rifled through our pockets, lectured us, and blew Remilia’s brains out.

I wonder it that has anything to do with the fact that we basically STOLE HIS CARD RIGHT FROM HIS HAND WHILE HE WAS BLEEDING AND LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS. I know if I woke up from nearly dying and found that the guy who has been treating me with nothing but suspicion and been an all around ass to me (however much I may have deserved it, myself) had basically stolen one of my possessions, I'd want to smack him upside the head, too.

Oh, and as for shooting Remi, well what did you THINK he was going to do to her? He had already made it quite clear he intended to kill her, and knowing full well he had a gun in his arsenal armed with silver bullets and explosive rounds, I'd say this sort of thing happening was pretty much inevitable, one way or the other.

>>25971
>Yeah, we didn't listen to Flandre when she said to trust him even after all that happened.

She wasn't talking about Nathaniel, you idiot, she was talking about Adam. And even if she were talking about Nathaniel, then we did "trust" him in following his lead and agreeing to play the game, which as you know cost us an eye, a fate card, and a fairy.

>Why the fuck did "Steal his card" win in the first place?

Because he was unconscious and defenseless in the midst of his ostensible enemies, enemies whom he would have to rely on to treat his wounds. His only apparent hope to "save" Adam or himself or whoever appeared to lay in the Farmer. Which may have well been true, depending on how the conversation might have progressed if Nathaniel hadn't empty an entire chamber of bullets in Remilia's head. With this act however, I fear that he is quite doomed.

>I had hopes of the farmer and Nathaniel becoming friends or something close to it, but no!

The only way to be friends with the man would be if Farmer was completely spineless and servile. As the author commented, there was never any chance of changing Nathaniel's mind, about anything.

>>25977
Nathaniel's last stand. If he knew a way to get out of here, he would have done so earlier. He has none, so he will only try to kill her now. And fail miserable.
If there is a game then you can win it. I see that as the only chance to get an End that doesn't end with everything dead and shit. Time to win it and set Sakuya free along with Nathaniel.
Too bad that there is nearly not enough time for it. Farmer is the only one who can do this.

>>25977

So, instead of being excessively suspicious of Nathaniel, you'd have us put our entire faith in believing in his excessive suspicions of everyone else?

Look, we've humored the man plenty. He wanted us to find his sword? We did, although it put our lives in such danger that in retrospect it was reckless of us. He wanted our help to escape? We brought him to the door, more than willing to take any fallout in helping him do so.

I've acted the apologist for Nathaniel before, but this level of flailing spent attempting to vindicate the progressively abhorrent actions on his part... well, it just drives me to dislike the man more.

[Carry Remilia on your back, ignoring the gore.]
[Make your way to the library as quickly as possible; ignore anything or anyone who gets in your way.]

This…this…no. No, no no no, no this can’t be happening. She’s...he’s…he finally…but…and now? You brace yourself on the doorjam, trying not to lose your mind at this sight. You’ve seen blood before, you’ve seen death…you’ve even been the one to cause it. But this…this is so close, so, so red, so messy. You wipe a piece of blood and skin off of your face, cringing at how cold it feels on your fingers. What’s happened to this mansion? You knew this would happen, but you had hoped...maybe, maybe it didn’t have to be like this.

No! Snap out of it! It won’t be like this! Vampires must be able to regenerate wounds just like fairies or youkai, right? Can’t they only be killed by a cross, or baptism water, or something like that? Even though…head…she can’t be dead; she’s way stronger than Rumia was, and Rumia was worse off than this, right?

You grit your teeth and steel your nerves for what you know isn’t going to be a pleasant experience. You try hard to look away from the body as you pick Remilia up and drape her on your back, leaning forwards and supporting her legs with your hands. She’s light, but in your weary arms she feels so heavy. Cold liquids ooze across your neck and down the back of your shirt. Don’t think about it…don’t think about it…get help. Get to the library; get to Patchouli. You don’t care if she’s not a healer, or says she’s not. She’s all you’ve got. Not going to let anyone die…no one, no one will die. You’re too weak to fight anyone, too weak to even keep yourself from dying if the worst were to happen. You can’t do anything else but this.

The library, fortunately, is in a completely different direction from where Nathaniel ran off to. Good; one less thing to worry about. How far do you have to go? How long does Remilia have before she’s gone for good? Have to go faster; have to pick up the pace. Your missing eye sends horrible aches through your head, compounded by your already sore body. No, don’t…don’t fall over. This physical labor reminds you that you haven’t slept in ages it seems; your body screams at you to stop, to let Remilia go. How can you save her if you can’t save yourself? And if you can’t save yourself, how can you save Cirno? Too many…too many people need help here. Remilia, Cirno, Meiling…Sakuya?

Nathaniel never once said Sakuya’s name when he talked to you just minutes ago, but you know it was her. The “perfect” servant…disappearing into a world all her own...there’s really no one else he could have been talking about. And his voice…his sincerity…was he finally telling the truth? Does he actually have a heart beyond his vengeance and justice? Or…no, but those tears, that tone of speech…he couldn’t have been faking that, could he? Unless…no. No time to think. Must, keep moving. Get…get to library. Get help. Legs, must keep moving. Arms must…unnghh…must keep holding. Can’t waste time. Wasted…wasted too much already. Always never doing anything. Always waiting, watching, never doing. Must…must do something.

You stumble and crash onto the floor, unable to even support the weight of Remilia’s small form any longer. You can’t do it. The tunnels, the fights, Flandre…you’re too tired. Too weak. A human surrounded by superhumans, people who can actually fight and keep going. How can you ever do anything for these people? Scrying…bah! What use is it if it can’t save a life? Knowledge of what lies around you won’t help you change a thing if you’re too weak to even carry one small child down a few hallways! Your head continues to pulse with new pain, focused around your neck and shoulders, sharper than before, like small knives stabbing at your skin. Why did you have to go and rip out your eye?! Why couldn’t you have just died down in Flandre’s caverns? Why didn’t Nathaniel just kill you the half-dozen times you two were alone? Why didn’t you just throw yourself off that boat and into the lake before you had even heard of Cirno’s name?! You crawl across the red carpet in a futile attempt to make any kind of progress towards your hopeless destination.

“You can stop now; I think you’ve made your point.”

Remilia’s voice croons into your ear like an angel, dead and alive at the same time, yet both sides full of compassion. You turn your good eye towards your back, and there she is, head and all. Her hair is lank and missing its iconic hat, and fresh red blood stains her lips, but it’s the same face as before, the same voice.

“H-how…” you stutter, looking for words. “How are you not dead?”

She smiles and ruffles your dirty hair. “Magic, little boy. Magic.” Standing up, she offers her hand to you, and together you manage to return yourself to a standing position, greatly aided by the removal of her body from your shoulders.

“Where were you going with me, anyways?” she asks, trying to straighten her hair with her pointed fingernails.

“Library. Patchouli. Try to heal you,” you answer, catching you breath as well as you can.

She rolls her eyes at you. “Don’t you remember? She’s in the kitchen, not the library; watching over our dear maid. And speaking of which…I really must start cleaning up my beautiful house now. It seems I’ve been too careless in letting affairs go where they will, with only Sakuya to guide them. A mistress must remain the master of her own mansion, after all.” She stretches her arms over her head and sighs. Off the top of your head you ask her a question that you think would be stupid any other time, but at moment you’re not thinking that straight.

“Do you know where Cirno is?” you ask curiously. “She disappeared once I got into the kitchen, and I haven’t seen her since. I think Sakuya has her locked in a closet somewhere.”

(Perhaps then it’s time…)

(…for Cirno to come out of the closet.)

Remilia nibbles on her fingernail and thinks for a moment. “Mmm, no, I can’t say that I do. Sakuya’s been up to far too many tricks lately; tricks I daresay I can’t approve of any longer. Perhaps we should go and ask her about it. But, oh…” she pauses and frowns, looking at you with sad, childish eyes. “It’s going to be getting rather loud in here before long, and it wouldn’t do to have you getting in the way of things, now would it?”

You understand her meaning. “No. I really don’t want to be near any ‘loud’ things right now.”

The girl nods her head and starts walking away, but then stops and turns your head to look at you. “It might be smart to get to someplace safe for now. Promise me you won’t get into any trouble?”

“Well…I can’t promise that trouble won’t find me, but I sure don’t want to find it after what I’ve been through lately.”

“Too true,” she agrees. With a little wave of her fingers she floats slightly into the air and glides off elegantly down the hall and out of sight. Alone again, you realize that your shoulder’s pain is really quite annoying, and massage it with your hand, only to draw away new blood from a would you’re pretty sure wasn’t there before. Hmm…must have hit something wrong when you fell down before. But no time for pain now; you’ve got things to be doing. Important? Maybe not. But at least they’re things.

[ ] Just stay here and rest for a while. Maybe scry people or check yourself over; anything that doesn’t take much effort.
[ ] Shadow Remilia anyways; you don’t like being out of the loop if “things” are going to happen
[ ] Go back to your room, and do…? (Specify what)
[ ] Go into the library, and do…? (Specify what)
[ ] Go into the basement, and do…? (Specify what)
[ ] Go somewhere else, and do…? (Specify destination and actions)
[ ] Upon this computer screen, a write-in waits to be written...

========================================

And once again, the famous Nathaniel conspiracy theories of A Scarlet-Stained Memoir return, giving the starving new food for thought. For bane or for boon, not even the good author knows. Would that I had the time and ability to answer each one in turn, but alas, I cannot do such a thing.

Ahh, the things you do to that poor man.

>>25942
WAT STORIE R U REED? I IS REED ASSM! ASSM IS HAVE ALL MISTIRIUS ANSER!

>>25945
We’re screwed

As if you didn’t already know that anyways.

>My prediction is that our Fate of the Present is going to end up being used on either Cirno or Nathaniel to get them out of the mansion safely(-ish). It'll probably Nathaniel: he escapes (hopefully with Sakuya) while farmer (and Cirno?) becomes the newest resident of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. A Scarlet-Stained Memoir becomes the record of our descent into absolute servitude under Remilia. That sounds bad enough to be a True End to me. At least we'd become a super-scying/mind-raping butler in the process.
Is this the kind of thinking I inspire in my readers? That sounds borderline “Sad End” to me; but then again, I’ve never read/played any visual novels, so I wouldn’t know. But wow would that be an interesting way to end this.

>>25947
>It would have been awesome if we had caught Nathaniel's punch and simply told him to keep quiet for a bit.
Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Farmer is not a protagonist full of charisma and win like other ones are.

>>25964
>Hell yes! No Loli is goin to die on us here no matter how evil they are. And that includes Flandre, Remilia and Cirno. I still hate Nathaniel for killing Rumia, only good that she is alive again.

Read this a bit closer:

>as soon as a loli is plopped in front of us/put into peril/is in distress/etc., we lose it. We know it, and more importantly, so does U.N. Owen, and he is not afraid to exploit it.

If you think I’m going to let you go along on your merry way and save every loli girl you come across, then go ahead and think that. I won’t stop you from thinking that. Just don’t come running to me after they’re all dead, because I’ll only have four words for you on that day:

”I told you so.”

>>25967
Which is funny considering that Farmer is the Brit, not Nathaniel.

>>25969
Some of you are. Some of you aren’t. But the people that give him no slack somehow manage to win the votes more often than not. Don’t ask me how; I just write things, and sometimes people read them.

>>She wasn't talking about Nathaniel, you idiot, she was talking about Adam. And even if she were talking about Nathaniel, then we did "trust" him in following his lead and agreeing to play the game, which as you know cost us an eye, a fate card, and a fairy.

And what, exactly, makes it any more likely that she was referring to Adam than Nathaniel, I ask you? Considering how she had already displayed knowledge of people and events beyond what she should know from being basically confined to the basement, Nathaniel was every bit as likely to be who Flandre was referring to.

Of course, the fact that Adam himself warned us that when under Flandre's control he was every bit as dangerous and insane as she was, and which we saw first-hand with what he did to Cirno, I find it highly unlikely that he was the one she could have been referring to. In case you hadn't noticed, but the whole point of her advice to us about fighting our fate, resisting temptation, and trusting "him" was to aid in our survival. Trusting a crazy half-vampire bonded to an even crazier vampire, both of whom display the ability to turn lethally violent with zero warning would not help much to that end, I would think.

Of course, the fact that Adam/Glish turned out to be a good friend of Nathaniel's pretty much renders the point completely moot. Either you're trusting Adam, and thus by extension Nathaniel, or you trust Nathaniel directly.

Not that it matters much at this point, anyway. What little trust we placed in Nathaniel was done so in such a highly selective way, "trusting" him in some ways but not in others despite those being the ones that mattered most.

Why is it that we've been so quick to take everything that anyone else has told us at face-value, barring the blatantly obvious lie Sakuya told us about our experience in the basement, and yet when it comes to anything Nathaniel says we pull a complete 180 and pretty much question and second-guess virtually everything he says or does? You're fine with Remilia's entirely too convenient explanation about her seemingly whoring out Meiling, and yet when Nathaniel tells you Remilia is evil you're suddenly all "Nah, I don't buy it."

And you wonder why he continues to not fully confide in you. Sheesh.

FFFFFFFFFFFFF

We've been bitten!

>>Your head continues to pulse with new pain, focused around your neck and shoulders, sharper than before, like small knives stabbing at your skin.

>>fresh red blood stains her lips

>>you realize that your shoulder’s pain is really quite annoying, and massage it with your hand, only to draw away new blood from a would you’re pretty sure wasn’t there before.

Damn it, Remi.

>With a little wave of her fingers she floats slightly into the air and glides off elegantly down the hall and out of sight. Alone again, you realize that your shoulder’s pain is really quite annoying, and massage it with your hand, only to draw away new blood from a would you’re pretty sure wasn’t there before. Hmm…must have hit something wrong when you fell down before.

"Magic" was it? Perhaps Farmer's efforts helped her out more than she admits.

[x] Go back to the throne room. The wine there will numb the pain and your frayed nerves.
[x] Rest on the big, comfortable chair and watch, through Remilia's eyes, everything that is about to happen.

No one is likely to look for you there, and if it's usually locked with Remilia holding the key, then Flandre and Adam are probably not going to try to open in.

And if anyone does? Then at least before you die, you can toss your wine glass on the floor and make a dramatic monologue.

[x] Go back to the throne room. The wine there will numb the pain and your frayed nerves.
[x] Rest on the big, comfortable chair and watch, through Remilia's eyes, everything that is about to happen.

>>we did "trust" him in following his lead and agreeing to play the game

As you might have forgotten, Adam explicitly warned us about not agreeing to anything Flandre suggests or asks unless you know exactly what it is she means. Nathaniel did not receive that exact warning, and as he had less exposure to Flandre (and thus, knew even less about what to expect from her than we did) following his lead in that particular matter, trust or no trust, was an extremely silly thing to do. And if Adam was the one we were supposed to trust, then why disregard his advice like that?

>>following the word of a lunatic who has been constantly vacillating on his reasons for being here

I would think it's only natural for your motivations to change when you keep finding new ones you were not expecting to find. Take Adam/Glish, for example. Until their reunion in the tunnels, he had no way of knowing that one of his best friends had been living in the basement of the mansion with a psychopath who adopted him by turning him into a monster and occasionally hijacking his mind, and had probably been there the entire time Nathaniel was staying there without him knowing it.

I would think discovering something like that so suddenly would cause anyone to reevaluate their priorities.

>>"Magic" was it? Perhaps Farmer's efforts helped her out more than she admits.

If by "efforts" you mean "bleeding from the neck when pierced by a couple of fangs," because, yeah, we did do that. Though as I doubt she could bite or drink blood very well without a mouth (or head, for that matter) I think it's safe to assume that her regenerative abilities had finished their job before she went and got all bitey on us. The only favor we did for her was provide a nice little pre-battle snack.

>>25986
...........
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..........................( bro fist

>>25985
>Is this the kind of thinking I inspire in my readers?
As if you didn't already know~

>Read this a bit closer:
Good to know at least one person reads these posts through to the end.

>I just write things, and sometimes people read them.
You're getting that impression too?
...don't answer that.

Anyway...
>“It’s going to be getting rather loud in here before long, and it wouldn’t do to have you getting in the way of things, now would it?”
>You understand her meaning. “No. I really don’t want to be near any ‘loud’ things right now.”
Wait, what? Oh... ffffFFFF
>“It’s going to be getting rather loud in here before long, and it wouldn’t do to have you getting in the way of things, now would it?”
FFFFFFFFFFFFFF
>Alone again, you realize that your shoulder’s pain is really quite annoying, and massage it with your hand, only to draw away new blood from a would you’re pretty sure wasn’t there before.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Welp, Remi has rezzed, she's off to nuke Nathaniel from orbit, we're suffering from a bizarre new flesh wound from carrying a vampire around on out back, and find ourselves remarkably agreeable to whatever Remilia says.

Meh, whatever, we're good to go. Remi's been kind and has been an immaculate hostess. Her graciousness and childlike demeanor ensure that there's nothing to worry about. We'll let her deal with that deviant Nathaniel and before you know it, Cirno and farmer will be out of here in no time!
This is what people actually believe

[X] Examine shoulder wound
[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

Looks like she is off to dispatch with Nathaniel. I'm kinda bummed by the prospect, but I figure I'm in the minority, so oh well. Regardless, being prepared for whatever may come afterword would be in our favor.

I suspect she might not have bitten Farmer intentionally, but rather instinctively. Getting your head blown off has to be a bit disorienting.

Too long have we been too useless. Now that shit hits the fan and the fighting begins, we have to finally find Cirno.

[x] Scry Cirno
[x] If you can find any clues, head toward that directon
[x] If you can't, go to the kitchen and ask Sakuya where she imprisoned her.

[x] Scry Cirno
[x] If you can find any clues, head toward that directon
[x] If you can't, go to the kitchen and ask Sakuya where she imprisoned her.

[x] Scry Cirno
[x] If you can find any clues, head toward that directon
[x] If you can't, go to the kitchen and ask Sakuya where she imprisoned her.

[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

I'll mix these 2 together. I'm not the kind of guy who ends up saving one of his best items for the end of the game and ends up realizing that it probably would have been much more helpful had I used it earlier...

But then, I'm a lot more simple minded than your average guy.

Hmm...you know, I just thought of something...it was Flandre's fate to remain a child mentally?

Flandre's fate....I sure hope that it's nothing but paranoia that's making me consider the possibility...

At this point I’d like to advocate a strategy I’m calling ‘Grab the fairy and run’. It’s not complex or complicated but I still think it’s a good idea. As the name would suggest it involves:
1. Finding Cirno
2. Running away

Some people may object over leaving Nathaniel to fail, leaving Remilia to conquer, or leaving Sakuya and Flandre to suffer. All of these are valid problems, I admit, but I do not believe that we can actually do anything about them at this stage in the game. That may sound a bit pessimistic of me, but it’s an honest assessment of our current knowledge and abilities. If we still possessed our fate of the past card we might be able to go do a bunch of things over for a good happy ending for everyone, but we had to use it.

We need to forget about helping everyone. It’s not going to happen, no way, no how. The best I think we can hope for in an ending is the survival of both Farmer and Cirno, and even that seems less and less likely by the update. If we don’t focus on what’s actually achievable starting right now then we will accomplish nothing.

>>25999
Either this or we try and save them all. Set Sakuya free, show Remilia she is wrong, heal Flandre and Nathaniel of insanity and whoever else has some problems.

But yes, i am for this strategy.

[X] Examine shoulder wound
[X] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

[x] Scry Cirno
[x] If you can find any clues, head toward that directon
[x] If you can't, go to the kitchen and ask Sakuya where she imprisoned her.
[x]Grab the fairy and run.

[x] Examine shoulder wound
[x] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」

although I really like the idea of sitting down with a drink to watch it all come down. And does anyone else feel like saying "Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!" to JohNathan?

>>25985

Hey Owen, how bad are our chances for getting the TRUE END now? You said it was entirely possible for us some time ago, but from the looks of things, I don't think we're gonna get it anymore.

Screw the True End. With the way Remilia seems to have taken a shine to us, I'm hoping for Farmer End: A newly vampirized Farmer settles down with the now equally immortal Cirno to transform Scarlet Devil Mansion into Scarlet Devil Plantation.

>1. Finding Cirno
>2. Running away

Problem with this is that we have yet to solve the issue of her waning immortality, and as such, even if we found her, she's either doomed to a slow, aging death outside the mansion walls, or to getting killed in the crossfire--she was hit by one of Nathaniel's stray bullets already. Upon asking, Remilia all but promised to extract her whereabouts from Sakuya, and it's clear now that Sakuya's comments about her hatred toward the fairy were entirely a ruse on her part to get us to distrust and fear her (seeing as Remilia betrayed not a hint of this antipathy on mentioning her), and as we know, Sakuya has no problem lying to us, while Remilia has been up front with us from the start. If we go parading around the mansion now, we're only going to be used as a hostage by Nathaniel or Sakuya at best, and at worst their paranoid suspicions will cause them to turn on us.

The only people who have acted with benevolence toward you have been Adam, Remilia, and Cirno and here you are yet again ignoring their prudent advice. Things are going down, and wandering the halls looking for someone who is (clearly from the visions) not simply stuffed in a closet is only going to get you killed. Furthermore, wherever Cirno is hidden, it's safer there than being around you at the moment, essentially a limping target. Survive, and recover her after the dust clears.

And in the unlikely event that the hypothetical Sakuya/Nathaniel faction "wins"? Then they have no reason not to help us find her, seeing as how we haven't actively been trying to get in their way. And if they don't stick around, then we have just as much a chance of finding Cirno as we do right now.

If this is a "game" then from the way Remilia talked about Nathaniel as being a bore and Sakuya being in need of chastisement, acting out of desperation will only doom you to a similar fate.

[x] You're wounded and just nearly collapsed from exhaustion; go back to the throne room. The wine there will numb the pain and your frayed nerves.
[x] Examine your shoulder wound.
[x] Second Wish, 「Fate of the Future」
(or failing this vote succeeding)
[x] Rest on the big, comfortable chair and watch, through Remilia's eyes, everything that is about to happen.

>>26012
>Survive, and recover her after the dust clears.

Under normal circumstances I might agree with this, but we have metaknowedge that today is the 'final day'. By the time the dust clears the story will be over. We can't just cower around and wait, we have to at least try and do something.

>>26014
>Under normal circumstances I might agree with this, but we have metaknowedge that today is the 'final day'. By the time the dust clears the story will be over. We can't just cower around and wait, we have to at least try and do something.

That kind of thinking is what led Nathaniel to shoot Remilia in the head. In some situations the best thing you can do is nothing at all. Though, we're not doing nothing, we're using the card to look into the future and using Remilia's eyes to look into the present. If we can find clear cause to intervene then we will; otherwise we'd do best to save our strength until a time where we can actually use it.

Cirno is very possibly in danger in parts unknown. We haven't seen her since Flan went fucking nuts. Hell, Flan might have dragged her back to the tunnels if Sakuya didn't bring her inside with us.

Now is not the time to sit on the fucking lazy boy, drink some wine, and watch Remilia go nuts. Go. Find. Fairy.

>>26016

We've scryed her a number of times since, and it's been the same thing each time: Darkness and water ripples. Sakuya isn't the kind to just leave loose ends just lying about. She put Cirno somewhere where she won't be found. With her ability to stop time and fly, it's entirely possible Cirno is not even inside the mansion anymore.

Though I see there is plenty of discussion still going, I don't have an update ready to start a new thread yet. I have to go to work right now, so expect it within the next 6-9 hours, hopefully. To make it easier on myself, voting is now closed.

And even though I know I said otherwise, I'm going to allow Fate of the Future to win this round. My intention was to make it be something special, something irreplaceable that you wouldn't just go using at the first sign of trouble. However, I didn't realize how hard an "overwhelming majority" would be to come by, so I'm canceling that stipulation and running with the vote. I'm all for keeping rules, but if a rule is detrimental or just plain bad, it should be changed.

>>25941
> An interesting idea, using your vote to cancel a less desirable vote rather than voting for something different. I like it, and think it could work. As long as it does not degenerate into vote-canceling wars, I will let this practice continue, and see where it might lead.
I've been doing this since the days of MiG. Not very recently --I think the last time was a number of months ago-- but it's not new.

I'd just like to say that I absolutely hate the "Take the fairy and run" plan.

I mean, we may not be able to save everyone in the mansion, but Mr.Farmer wanted to find out the truth behind the mansion at the very least.

I'm all for saving Cirno and our hide, but after going through so much I'm not about to give up at the last second because things are getting a bit sketchy...

>I'm going to allow Fate of the Future to win this round. My intention was to make it be something special, something irreplaceable that you wouldn't just go using at the first sign of trouble

Well damn, this sounds like we wasted it for nothing.

>>26024
>Well damn, this sounds like we wasted it for nothing.

Really? I got a different read. If I recall, U.N. Owen imposed the rule to impart the importance of the cards and to not use them for things relatively minor things, like winning E-Cards or beating Cirno at danmaku. We could've, and I think there were some times people actually voted to use some Fate cards in situations like those, but considering their power doing so would have been silly. That we can use such a powerful without an "overwhelming majority" tells me that this late in the story, with all sorts of grievous danger at every turn, there's no way to possibly waste it right now.

When, and how, to use Fate of the Present though... That will be the shitstorm to end all shitstorms.

>>25987
Considering everything else we've been through, that's nothing. She just recovered from her head exploding and needed a little pick-me-up. Unless we're really straying from canon and Remi could vampirize people with a momentary bite.

>>25961
I find it hard to argue with this. Something we should definitely keep in mind.

>>26029

Exactly the same issue was raised over the blood Flandre left on the spike in the death-trap, and nothing ever came of it.

This? A love bite. She was touched by your concern--not something to despair over.

>>This? A love bite. She was touched by your concern--not something to despair over.

I think it's more likely she was just a little hungry after having regenerated her entire head from it getting blown the hell up. I know I'd want a little pick-me-up after having something like that happen.

>>25961

I think Nathaniel is right about Sakuya. Suffering for so long, being corrupted and distorted for so long can make anyone paranoid (and other things). Her notes and her lies, she probably was trying to maintain control over the situation so things wouldn't be harder on her.

And I trust Nathaniel.

>I think it's more likely she was just a little hungry after having regenerated her entire head from it getting blown the hell up. I know I'd want a little pick-me-up after having something like that happen.

Our weakness and collapse was quite sudden, suggesting she might have drained quite a bit more than was necessary.

>You stumble and crash onto the floor, unable to even support the weight of Remilia’s small form any longer. You can’t do it. The tunnels, the fights, Flandre…you’re too tired. Too weak.

But her expressed concern afterward makes me think this was less to sate her thirst, and more a way for her to be sure you'd be too weak to get yourself into anymore trouble. Seeing as we do seem to have a propensity for nearly getting ourselves killed, you know.

>“It’s going to be getting rather loud in here before long, and it wouldn’t do to have you getting in the way of things, now would it?”
>“It might be smart to get to someplace safe for now. Promise me you won’t get into any trouble?”

>>26034

"Oh no it wasn't my fault I tried to kill you, it was all Remilia! Remilia was forcing me to do it! All of it! She brainwashed me into serving her, and did all these horrible things to me! Please, you have to rescue me by killing her!"

Our man Nathaniel, desperate for any reason to fight his admittedly quixotic war against Remilia and his fate, would eat that bullshit up like candy. Even though Remilia seems quite unaware of the goings on in the mansion (Sakuya's actions in particular), this isn't a problem for Sakuya if she can convince Nathaniel he needs to kill her in a manner that prevents any explanation on her part.

>>26036
What?

All of the crying and self-loathing was done while she was in her time stopped world:
>“One escape, and only one, keeps a scrap of her alive. Her world. The world where only she can move; where no one else, not even the devil can touch her. In this world she huddles in a corner and cries herself to sleep every night. She screams at the devil, her words never to reach any ears or mind but her own. She screams from the devil, feeling the scalding memories of her enslavement. She runs, only to become lost, and once again forced to crawl back to her master like a dog with her tail between her legs.”

Sakuya had no idea Nathaniel could intrude on her world before their fight:
>“Toki wo tomare…” she whispers in a strange, foreign tongue, her brow furrowing deeply. “It was you?!”
...
>There are more ways than one to stop the clock; you just haven’t had to worry about them until now. How does it feel? How does it feel to know that someone else can enter your world of solitude, and break you free from this artificial dominance?

To be that pissed off that he could do the same time trickery as her? Either she genuinely didn't know he could intrude on her world, or she is the best liar ever. Nothing about their fight gives me any impression that it's the latter.

As an aside, is that "artificial dominance" the one granted to Sakuya by the Luna Dial, or the one Remilia has over Sakuya?

>>26035
Interesting idea, although considering everything the poor Farmer has been through in the past day with minimal rest or food, I don't believe his sudden weakness and collapse was really THAT sudden, all that stuff would have to catch up to him at SOME point. Hell, the blood loss alone should probably have been enough to cause him to pass out by now. Factor in the pain, stress, and the physical and mental fatigue he must be experiencing by now, and it's amazing he's been going as well as he has up to now. As far as I can tell, he's been pretty much set up to collapse for a while now. Remi's little "love bite" (if you could even really call it that) was likely just the last straw.

Perhaps she did it with this in mind, or perhaps this was just an unintended consequence of a vampire who only drinks enough from her victims to leave them kinda weak for a while drinking from a human who is already somewhat weakened and drained of blood.

Either way, I can't help but think she could have at least ONCE said "thank you" for the drink.

Of course, there's that little paranoid part of my mind that questions if Remilia's apparent concern with us staying out of trouble and away from the action isn't due to concern for our safety, but concern for us hearing something she doesn't want us to hear.

>>26037
>All of the crying and self-loathing was done while she was in her time stopped world:

How could he have possibly witnessed all this hypothetical crying if he only completed his watch last night?

No, what's more likely is that one who was roused to consciousness first stopped time for the both of them. Since obviously Patchouli didn't do a good job of keeping them disarmed, they could've been talking for hours or even days. Nathaniel's profound shift in mood, condition, and reasoning almost necessitates that this is just what they did.

>Sakuya had no idea Nathaniel could intrude on her world before their fight:

No one is saying that she did. She attacked him for the same reasons she was trying to kill him earlier--because he was a rogue variable. Once he actually had the time to express his mission to her, he's suddenly become, like the farmer and the fairy, not dangers, but easily manipulated tools. We know she has the ability to fabricate on the fly, and it wouldn't be difficult for her to convince Nathaniel of what he wants to hear in the first place.

The other issue here is that nothing to says that being able to stop time allows you to "break" into another's time stop or somehow spy on them. Sakuya was not able to reverse Nathaniel's time stop, even though he admitted her abilities was superior to his own, and the only way he was able to stop time mutually in the first place was to physically grab her hand, in the same way he needed to do so with yours, Cirno's, and Adam's earlier.

>"In this world she huddles in a corner and cries herself to sleep every night."

So unless you're making the ridiculous implication that they were holding hands every night, the only way he could possibly have known of this is through hearsay.

>>26037
If she is really a Victim here it might be interesting to try and save her if we ever go for a 2nd round.
This round we concentrate on Cirno..... from time to time. Just not right now it seems.

>Of course, there's that little paranoid part of my mind that questions if Remilia's apparent concern with us staying out of trouble and away from the action isn't due to concern for our safety, but concern for us hearing something she doesn't want us to hear.

Given how frank she's been with you so far, I very much doubt it; the way she leaves you here after you've just demonstrated your ability is practically telling you, "Sit back and watch." There shouldn't be any certainty on her part as to your ability being solely visual--even Patchouli was unable the find out the specifics. And you simply can't be antsy about voyeurs when you have a maid that can stop time at will.

>>How could he have possibly witnessed all this hypothetical crying if he only completed his watch last night?

Glasses.

>>26048

She already knows what they do.

>>26049

He's been in the mansion for far longer than we know it.

>>26049
But then, how did she find out?