Two-and-a-half centuries later a wave of long-delayed homesickness hit, and you traveled back to Romania only to discover that your family’s mansion no longer existed. A quick scan revealed traces of a mass teleportation spell, meaning that Remilia had moved the mansion. More importantly, she had moved it without your knowledge or permission. A small part of your mind maintained that it was really your fault, since you only sent the occasional letter and had been saying you’d “be back soon” for nearly two hundred and fifty years. But that couldn’t be helped—the world outside the mansion was so interesting. There were so many libraries to enter, so many grimoires to read, so much magic to learn. And on top of that, human culture had rapidly begun to progress, so you stayed to watch where they would go (electronics are especially intriguing, and you’ve acquainted yourself with various devices).

And now you stand at the border of Gensokyo, about to enter in a fit of brotherly emotion. You check over your belongings one more time.

You have:
1 Nintendo DS (magically modified so that a fully charged battery lasts longer)

All the Castlevania games for that system (one might find it odd that a vampire enjoys the series, but you find the games deliciously ironic)

3 packs of blood (enough to last you three weeks— you’re a light eater)

1 laptop computer (you’re currently in the process of transferring all of your written magical research notes to the device. Also modified to retain power)

1 MP3 player (mostly classical music, but a good portion of modern stuff as well)

15 grimoires (on various topics)

1 camping backpack (to hold all the aforementioned objects. Enchanted to make the contents lighter)

And last but not least, your trusted partner, as well as the basis of your greatest magical feat: the demonic sword Tyrfing. Originally a longsword, you spent the better part of seventy years altering its form to that of a rapier, a weapon better suited to your style of combat.

Your pack is on your back and your blade is at your hip. You’re ready. You take a deep breath, and cast the breaching spell. It takes quite a bit more power than you thought it would, but you succeed, and tumble through. After regaining your breath (not that you need to, since you’re not technically alive), you look up.

[x] That's a shabby looking shrine
[x] So many trees
[x] There's a village over there.
[x] Wow, that's a big tree


Also, name:
[x] Wallace Scarlet
[x] Write-in (last name must be Scarlet)

Also, think up an obligatory Touhou power for our protaganist.

[x] That's a shabby looking shrine.

Also, name:
[x] Wallace Scarlet.

>erase yourselves and the mansion from the memories of the villagers

Keine called, she wants her power back.

As for feed back, so far not too bad, though as far as choice of a main character, you're on rather thin ice.

And if you went through this much trouble making him, you should finish it and give him a power of your own choosing.

>>33283

The memory wipe was a spell developed for the express purpose of hiding from the hunter. I forgot about that being Keine's power, though. Whoops.

The best power I could come up with was manipulation of will, but that's far too cheap.

As for why I prewrote the character... It's to lessen the burden of writing a brand new character. It's selfish, but that's how I'm doing it. If and when this story is finished, I'll try my hand at making a character from pure voter feedback. For now, though, I'm not totally confident in my abilities.

[x] Wow, that's a big tree
[x] Wallace Scarlet

This can go either horribly wrong or wonderfully good. If this really is your first story, then you're in for a wild ride.
Let's just say that you have started your first Danmaku battle against Yukari, Yuuka and Shinki at the same time. Blindfolded. In the moon

[x] There's a village over there.
[x] Emiliano Scarlet.

>>33286
That's about it. I've started something, so I have to see it through.

>>33288
Fair enough. A story with a powerful character, related to a main character and subtle (or not) hints of crossover moments (something that's usually frowned upon) are all risky stuff, but what really matters is the characterizations in the story. Please take special care on that part.

Regarding his power, if he's gonna go against Remilia, then why he doesn't steal a page from Gáe Bulg's book and obtains the power to defy fate? I think it's vague enough to be ZUN-ish.

>>33290
That could be interesting. I'll see what others suggest, but I may fall back on that if I have to.

[X] So many trees

>>33287
I like it, but let's use the French version.

[X] Émilien Scarlet, brother of Remilia Scarlet
It's time to live up to our family name and face full life consesquences.

[X] Power to manipulate probability
After all, this is the same thing as the power to defy fate, if you believe a certain witch.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine
[X] Wallace Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate reality

Everyone else can basically hack reality (I'm looking at you Yukari), so why not specialize in doing so?

[X] There's a village over there
[X] Giovanni Scarlet

Cant think of a power that hasnt been done and would be in line with the sisters. It also doesnt look like hes planning on revenge from the intro so far, just wanting to go back home.

>>33294
The French version of Giovanni would be Jean or Jehan, incidentally.

Please, writer, anything but Wallace. Putting aside the problem of a 16th-century French vampire having a 13th-century Scottish name, what kind of parents name their kids Remilia, Flandre, and 'Wally'?

>>33295
Actually, Wallace is Old French for 'Welshman'. It's originally a Scottish surname, though.

But if 'Wallace' is chosen, I have an excuse that might make it easier to bear.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine
[X] Wallace Scarlet

[X] Power to manipulate probability
Turn those 0% into 100%? I like it. Wallace is a strange name for a Vampire, but the writer probably has an idea as to why choose it.

[x] That's a shabby looking shrine
[x] Wallace Scarlet

[x] There's a village over there.
[x] Émilien Scarlet.
[x] Manipulation of Irony.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine
[X] Wallace Scarlet

[X] Power to manipulate probability

>Wallace
>Wally
>Wallachia
>REVERSE THE BIRTH REVERSE THE DEATH REVERSE THE WORLD

Suddenly, everything makes sense.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine
[X] Wallace Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability

>>33292
>It's time to live up to our family name and face full life consesquences.
I lol'd

[x] Wow, that's a big tree
[X] Wallace Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability

I've started writing. It may be a day or so before the next update, since I'm feeling s bit under the weather.

[X] So many trees
[X] Émilien Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability

[X] So many trees...
[X] Jean Scarlet, Remilia Scarlet's brother...
[X] The power to manipulate probability

'so he went. Jean Scarlet got his computer shut down and wet to the border and said "its time for me to live up to family name and face full life consquences"'

[X] There's a village over there.
[X] Émilien Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability

[x] So many trees
[x] Wallachia "Wallace" Scarlet
[X-X!V''Q] Power to manipulate probability

Maxing out our LCK stat. And I don't think meeting Reimu is the first thing we want to do after busting into Gensokyo, unless it's just to get it over with?

dammit why do I not check /sdm/ more frequently.
Voting against all odds.
[x] Wow, that's a big tree

[x] Henri Scarlet

>>33316
>X-X!V''Q
Oh wow. Well done.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine.
[X] Wallachia "Wallace" Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability.

Then again, in a world where probability exists, then hard Fate or Destiny probably doesn't, which would make Remilia's power *also* be manipulation of probability.

Hm. Maybe it runs in the family and Flandre's the odd one out?

(Thinking about it, this seems rather likely - beside's Remilia's "fate manipulation", fate and destiny are never mentioned as a justification for something in any of the games or supplemental material)

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine.
[X] Wallachia "Wallace" Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability.

This is an acceptable use of the name Wallace.

[X] That's a shabby looking shrine.
[X] Wallachia "Wallace" Scarlet
[X] Power to manipulate probability.

>Wallachia
ಠ_ಠ?

>>33326

Somebody doesn't know their Type-MOON.

>>33327
I do. It's a horrible name.

In before "it's just a name it's not like we're going to have him actually be Wallachia lol".

Also, in before Anon decides to make the protagonist a Captain Ersatz of the Melty Blood character via reference-laden write-ins.

>>33316

Well it's to get information, and after hearing our name, Reimu'd just sum it up as the family nuttiness.

And with Reimu there's nothing a donation can't fix- crap we don't have any yen. But I think such a meeting wouldn't go too badly provided there wasn't that much of a rucus, that and it's generally tracking down people that irks Reimu the most.

>>33316

Well it's to get information, and after hearing our name, Reimu'd just sum it up as the family nuttiness.

And with Reimu there's nothing a donation can't fix- crap we don't have any yen. But I think such a meeting wouldn't go too badly provided there wasn't that much of a rucus, that and it's generally tracking down people that irks Reimu the most.

That and the voting's called I think already here: >>33311

>In before "it's just a name it's not like we're going to have him actually be Wallachia lol".

Uh, the author pretty obviously intended it or, at the very least; dropped clues everywhere for those not skimming.

>the well-developed scholarly side of you
>The only conceivable way in which you could have won was if your sister had challenged you to a magic duel, a field in which your skill eclipsed hers.
>You wanted to do what you always did when a hunter came; erase yourselves and the mansion from the memories of the villagers, wait for everything to blow over, then undo the spell once the hunter had left. (Remember what the Tatari is?)

Updates? Updates!

>>33346
Coming later tonight. If not, then tomorrow. But nothing will come on Thursday, since I'm moving to a new apartment that day.

>>33370
It's Tuesday where I am, incidentally.

You’re on the grounds of a shrine. You start to panic, but stop once you realize that you haven’t puked your guts out— the shrine must be nearly devoid of the divine presence that normally causes your stomach to flip out. It looks you can wander about with little to no ill effect. You stand, and take a closer look. The shrine is pretty run-down, actually. You’d think it was abandoned, but you hear shuffling from the other side of the building. You decide to go take a look.

There’s a young woman dressed in an odd variation of the traditional miko’s garb.
She’s sweeping the porch of the shrine, humming softly to herself. You cough a few times to get her attention, and she turns to you.

“Yes, who is it?” she asks, taking in your clothes—then your wings and your eyes, and she frowns.

“Ah, sorry. My name is Wallace Scarlet.” You frown internally. You’ve never particularly liked your name. You’re named for the region of Wallachia, where your parents honeymooned to, settled down in, and raised you and your sisters. It was a nice place, you supposed, but it was just that in the end. A place. You didn’t want to be named after a hunk of land. It’d be like being named Paris, or London, or Berlin. You shake it off, though, and look up. The woman (more of a girl, really) seems surprised. Looks like the name means something to her.

“Scarlet, huh? Are you related to Remi and Flandre?” she asks you, and you nearly burst out laughing. No one called Remilia ‘Remi’, unless they wanted a spear to the face.

“Their elder brother, actually. I’m looking for them, actually, miss….” You trail off. You don’t think you caught her name at any point. She seems to realize this as well

“Oh. I’m Reimu. Reimu Hakurei,” she pauses for a moment. “Actually, I know where they live… but could you help me out, first? There was a party here last night, and I need to buy more food. There’s someone who usually does the heavy lifting, but…” she glares at a small orange-haired girl sleeping underneath an uprooted tree. “She’s a bit incapacitated at the moment. If you’d help carry some things, I’ll point you in the direction of the mansion.”

Grunt work, eh. At least she’s being honest about it. You’re not to keen on the prospect, however. As far as physical strength goes, you’re pretty weak for a vampire. You could man up, though. Or you could just search for the mansion on your own.

[x] Help Reimu.
[x] Search on your own.


Also, our protagonist is not the Wallachia many of you have come to know and love. He is a scholar and a vampire, but his thirst for knowledge isn't nearly so all-consuming.

>It’d be like being named Paris, or London, or Berlin.
Hey, careful what you say about-- oh, great, now look what you did.

[X] Help Reimu.

>the divine presence that normally causes your stomach to flip out.
But Remi isn't affected by crosses or other objects of faith... doesn't run in the family, I guess?

>It’d be like being named Paris, or London, or Berlin.
Or Athens or Rome or... Shanghai

[x] Help Reimu.
Man up, vamp kid.

>>33373
It's implied that the reason Remila's able to enter the shrine without any ill effect is because Reimu's such a slacker.

[x] Help Reimu.

I see no reason not to, since getting on Reimu's good side is almost always a good idea.

[x] Help Reimu.

[ø] Help Reimu.

[x] Help Reimu.

Sure we may not be THAT strong, but still we could do more than a human still.

We're not a vampire of the sparkly variety. Be a man.
[X] Help Reimu.

Huh. This Reimu is...oddly pleasant.

I guess I've been conditioned to expect...not-so-pleasantness?

[X] Help Reimu.

>>33388

Yeah until recently it was popular to have Reimu as a bitch due to a few reasons: Assuming her incident resolution temperment is the same as her noraml one, how she was in MiG

But a few others stories have a nice Reimu, like AoS in /shrine/, RiG in /th/

“Alright, I’ll help. I’d probably get lost if I tried to find the place on my own, anyhow,” you say. It can’t be that much work, after all. If a small girl like the one stuck under the tree can do it, you most likely have nothing to worry about.

“Great! Thank you!” Reimu claps her hands together. “Just let me get my things.” She heads off into the shrine, but pokes her head out after a moment.

“By the way, you can leave your stuff in here,” she says, and with that, she disappears once more.

“Ah, thank you.” You’re not sure if the shrine maiden heard you, but you meant it. You step into the shrine and take off your pack. As you’re unbuckling Tyrfing, you hear a loud ‘thump’. You pause, but before you can head off to investigate, Reimu exits what must be her room.

“Almost ready?”

“Yeah,” you reply. “Just give me a moment…” You finish with the buckle and place your blade against the rest of your possessions. “Alright. I’m ready.”

“Good,” Reimu nods. “Let’s go.”

As you step outside, you notice that the tree pinning the orange-haired girl to the ground had moved a good meter or so. The girl in question has rolled onto her back and is now scratching her stomach— you notice a large pair of horns on her head as well. A demon of some sort? Reimu’s calling for you though, so you hurry on.

As you walk towards what the shrine maiden says is a large human settlement, your companion begins to explain Gensokyo to you. You ask the occasional question and Reimu rambles on for a few minutes, until you ask another question. This carries on for about half an hour, until the topic of the Hakurei Barrier is reached. Reimu comes to a halt then and turns to you, looking you over suspiciously.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this, but why are you here? You seem nice enough— more polite than your sister, anyway— but you haven’t explained what you came here for. I’m also guessing that it was you who tore through the barrier,” she frowns. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that.” You were hoping she hadn’t. Darn.

“So, anyways, speak up. What are you planning? If you’re going to cause trouble, I’ll stop you right here and now.” She’s hefting a large orb with a yin-yang on it, and it’s making you uneasy. You might as well come clean.

“I’m really just here to yell at Remilia. She moved the mansion here while I was on a trip, and she didn’t even tell me she going to. Other than that, nothing else,” you say, and that’s the truth.

Reimu looks as though she’s struggling with something, but she sighs and starts walking again. “Oh, whatever. Nothing big has happened recently, and I’ve been in a good mood. I don’t want to ruin it yet, so I’ll believe you. Just don’t pull anything like Remi did, alright?” She beckons to you, and you pick up the pace. A few questions later, and you hear about how your ‘spoiled brat of a sister’ blanketed the realm in a red mist so that she could go out in the day.

Fifteen minutes later, you’re standing at the entrance to the marketplace. Reimu asked you to wait there for here, so wait you shall. The only problem is that your wings (marking you as a inhuman entity) seem to be driving people away. There’s also a woman with a strange hat giving you some very strange looks.


[x] Wait for Reimu.
[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.

[X] Tell her that you're not some peasant from the village. You're a noble vampire. Then turn around and ask her again about the direction. If she doesn't want to give the answer for free then leave the shrine.
From here you should able to see the village. So try to get your information from there..

>>33377
Reimu's temple has no effect on vampires..
In other words its useless, just like the miko herself..
Because no vampires in Japan..

>>33403 Oh goddamnit latePADvote!

>>33402 [X] Hide your wings (I don't think you didn't do it in the real World.)
[X] Then go to that lady with that strange hat. And flirt a bit. You're a vampire after all..

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.
Hello there Keine.

[x] Talk to the woman -- she's making you a bit aroused uncomfortable.

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.
Nothing wrong with chatting it up with the locals and getting a better idea of the current situation, right?

[x] Talk to the woman -- she's making you a bit aroused
No strikeouts

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.

[x] Talk to the woman -- she's making you a bit aroused

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.

[X] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.
-[x] Assure her that you mean no harm to anyone in the village.

A quick heads-up: The update may come later tonight, later tomorrow, or early Friday.

[x] Talk to the woman-- she making you a bit uncomfortable.

About two minutes later, you’ve had enough. The woman has been staring, and each time you look at her she turns away and looks at a scroll, as though she were trying to be subtle about it. She’s mostly been looking at your wings (which you probably should have hidden earlier), so her suspicion must be because of your demonic nature. Not wanting to be the bad guy, you decide to make your way over to her in order to clear the waters. Besides, it’s only about twenty feet to where the woman is— Reimu could spot you easily.

As you get closer, the woman tenses up, but continues to read her scroll. You cough lightly.

“Excuse me, is there something you need, ma’am?” you ask as politely as you can. Traditional vampiric arrogance has rarely benefited you in the social arena, and she’s wary enough as it is.

The woman flinches slightly, and then looks up. “No, not really. Why would you think that?”

You frown. “Because you’ve been giving me these looks for the last couple of minutes, and it’s getting rather irritating. If you have a problem with me being here, don’t skirt the issue, please,”

The woman nods after a moment, then stands up. One slim hand adjusts the miniature pagoda on her head, and then disappears beneath the opposite arm. At her full height she’s slightly shorter than you, but the no-nonsense aura she’s radiating (along with the hat) makes her seem taller.

Ah. So that’s it. There was something you felt when you first saw her, and now you’re certain. This woman….

“Pardon me, ma’am, but are you a teacher?” you ask. She was about the say something, but you just have to be sure.

She blinks, and for a brief moment you could have sworn her hat tilted to the side. It’s still in place, though, and remains that way as the woman nods slightly.

“Yes, I am. But that has nothing to do with you, does it?” Wow. So cold.

“… No, not really,”

“Right, then. I’ll be blunt, then. Why are you here?” she asks. That’s the second time today you’ve been asked that question. Oh, well.

“I’m in this village to help someone with their errands. But I’m in Gensokyo because I’m looking for my younger sisters,”

The teacher blinks, then looks at your wings and frowns again. “Your surname wouldn’t happen to be ‘Scarlet’, would it?” She’s rubbing her forehead absent-mindedly, and it’s starting to intimidate you for some reason.

“Why yes, it is. I’m Wallace Scarlet,” you answer, bowing slightly. “I take it you’ve met my sisters?”

She nods. “One of them. There was an incident a few months back, and your sister and her maid were one of the parties involved,”

Before you can ponder the existence of this ‘maid’, however, you hear a familiar voice from behind.

“Hey, Keine,” says Reimu, walking over to the two you. “He’s with me.” Then she frowns. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”

You open your mouth to reply, but the shrine maiden just sighs. “Whatever. I got what I needed, so let’s go. See you, Keine,” she says to the other woman, who nods and walks off.

After Keine has left, Reimu grabs your sleeve and drags you over to the entrance of the market. What are you, a child? But your indignation fades to apprehension as you see what your guide wants you to carry.


[x] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
[x] A large bag of garlic.

[x] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[x] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

I figured that we should find ways to make up for our lacking strength with our magic knowledge.

[x] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[x] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

[ø] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[ø] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

So cold, Keine!

So tsundere!

[x] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[x] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

[x]Carry the rice and let Reimu carry the garlic. If our vaunted vampiric strength is such a sham that we can't carry two bags of rice at once, use a spell. Hm, no, scratch that. Definitely use a spell. Imagine how it would look, we, a centuries old vampire, carrying those dirty straw bags with our bare hands like... like... a poor person. Disgusting.

...but anyways, even if we carry the rice, there's no way we wouldn't still smell the garlic Reimu's carrying, which iirc, ought to be enough to at least make us recoil, no? Not a pleasant experience.

[x] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[x] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

>Before you can ponder the existence of this ‘maid’
Did we leave before any of the more recent occupants of the SDM arrived, I wonder? Meeting them for the first time will be fun. Patchouli route is go.

[X] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[X] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?

[X] Two obscenely large bags of rice.
-[X] Isn't there a spell that could help with this?
[X] Ask Reimu if there are any 'other' people in the Mansion.

Can't hurt, we're on her good side.

>>33495

More or less though she was peeved at how we didn't wait for her (couldn't help it, Keine was kinda glaring at us)

>>33494

I wonder if Patchy taught him magic, since she was one of the longer living residents of the SDM

But it makes me wonder if Flan's been locked around in the basement while he was living there.

>>33497

I wouldn't know about that... canon dictates that Patchou's been freeloading at the SDM for a 100 years. If we go by the first two posts, the MC left the SDM about 250 years ago. The numbers don't match for him having even met her.

Question from a lowly writefag: how does one get italics to appear when you post?

>>33499
[i.][/i.] without the periods.

http://www.touhou-project.com/?page=faq
for other formatting tags.

>>33500
>>33501
Thank you kindly.

If one of the bags spills, will good Wally be compelled to count every single grain?

[X] Two obscenely large bags of rice.

[X] The Sacks of rice

10-50lb. Be a man.

[X] Two obscenely large bags of rice.

Short one this morning. More will be done later today.


Wow, that’s a lot of rice. Each bag is about three feet tall and about half as wide. You’re going to have to use magic to lift these. A levitation spell should do the trick. It’s going to leave you exhausted, though. You used up most of your power entering Gensokyo, and continued levitation of heavy objects drains power at a steady rate.

Reimu’s giving you an odd look. “What, can’t do it?” she asks. “Aren’t you a mighty vampire?”

You sigh. “Not really— I’m only slightly stronger than an average human. However,” you smirk, and cast the levitation spell. The bags of rice rise into the air. “I’ve learned to compensate.”

Reimu looks vaguely impressed. “Nice trick. I wish I could do that. It’d make things a lot easier for me.”

You gesture towards the shrine. “Sorry to interrupt your daydream, but could we get going? I used up most of my magic earlier, so I don’t have enough to keep these in the air for too long,”

The shrine maiden nods. “Sure. It’s going to get dark soon, anyways— and the weather looks pretty bad at that. Come on.” And with that, she starts walking.

The conversation the two of you have on the way back gives you a great deal of information, mostly about the woman you met (Keine Kamishirasawa, the guardian of the Human Village), and the current residents of the ‘Scarlet Devil Mansion’ (Your sisters, the chief maid Sakuya Izayoi, the witch Patchouli Knowledge, and a gatekeeper who’s name Reimu couldn’t recall). It’s dark when you reach the shrine, and you slowly lower the bags. When they touch the ground, you disengage the spell. Reimu bows slightly.
“Thanks. Well then, should I hold up my end of the bargain?”


[x] Get the directions, and head to the mansion now.
[x] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

[X] Actually, as strange as it may seem, ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

If theres going to be a confrontation with Remi, we should be rested and ready for her the next night.

[x] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

Why do I get the feeling that he'll end up exaching blows with Sakuya?
Anyway, better safe than sorry. We want to give a good first impression to the newcomers, right?

[x] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

This, just to see what happens. Though I'm not that sure Reimu will be too fond of letting a vampire spend the *night* anywhere near her.

[x Ask to spend the night and following daytime. But only, because you want to see her reactions. Then get those directions and start your journey towards the mansion.
[x] On your way drink some blood, but make sure that she doesn't see you drinking it.

Is Wallace this low? Spending a night in a run-down shine?
Then again, I would be much happier, if Remiu would show us the way, however I doubt that the overrated miko would do anything like that..

[x] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.
-[x] Mention that you'd rather be prepared for any trouble that might come when you do arrive.

I don't think Reimu would be that quick to refuse since Wallace has proven himself to be a more considerate sort than his younger sister.

[ø] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

>>33535
[X] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

>and a gatekeeper who’s name Reimu couldn’t recall
Isn't it sad, Meiling?

[X] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

Regenerating Games.

[X] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

[X] Actually, as strange as it may seem, Ask to spend the night and following daytime. You're exhausted.

Actually… “First, can I ask for one more favor?”

She shrugs. “…Sure, why not. What is it?”

“Can I spend the night?”

There’s a long moment of silence following your request. Reimu looks as though she’s trying very hard not to laugh.

“What… afraid of the dark?” she finally asks. You give her a half-lidded stare.

“Ha ha. Hilarious. What I meant is that I’m exhausted, and I need to be at my best to deal with Remila. I’m in no shape to do so right now. Can I please sleep here tonight?”

The shrine maiden finally laughs. “Ah, that was hilarious.” No, it wasn’t. “Sure, you can sleep here. You look as though you’re about to collapse, anyways. The guest room is over there.” She points to a nearby room. Then she frowns. “But no sneaking into my room and sucking my blood, you hear?”

You nod. “Of course. Thanks.”

“Alright. Good night.”

Yawning, you trudge over to your things and drag them to the guest room. There’s a futon in the corner, and you unfold it to full length. As you reach into your pack for a pouch of blood, you look around the room. It’s rather shabby, you suppose, and the futon is somewhat threadbare— but you don’t mind that much. Over the years, you’ve slept in places that were far worse; abandoned huts, rancid basements, and so on. You even braved an American motel, once. You stop thinking for a moment as you pull out and drink from the pouch, but start up again once you’re done (it’s about half full, now. You feel better already). Lying on the futon, you think over your plans, and eventually fall into a dreamless sleep.


When you wake up, it’s getting dark. A glance at your watch deems the time as 5:30 in the afternoon. You feel excellent. After buckling Tyrfing to your hip and grabbing your pack, you head outside. Reimu’s there, sweeping the porch (the orange haired girl from yesterday is nowhere to be seen), and she turns as you walk out.

“Ah, good afternoon. How’d you sleep?” She looks slightly embarrassed about something. “I really should replace the futon in that room— it’s pretty old.”

“It was fine. I feel fantastic, by the way.” You bow to her (like a true gentleman). “Thank you very much for your assistance, Miss Hakurei. But I’m ready, so we must part ways here. If you would?”

Reimu holds up a hand. “Hold on. There’s something you’ll need if you plan on staying in Gensokyo.” She reaches into her robe and pulls out what appears to be a set of blank cards. “Take these.”

You take and examine them closely. They’re rather unimpressive. “And these are?”

The shrine maiden clears her throat, and proceeds to explain the concept of danmaku to you. Five minutes later, you’re looking at the blank ‘spellcards’ with a new appreciation. This sounds right up your alley. Reimu’s finished her explanation, however, so you’ll put it off for a bit.

“Well, that’s it. The mansion is straight that way, if you fly.” She pauses, and then smiles softly. “Good luck, by the way. And stop by every once in a while— you’re easier to deal with than either one of your sisters.” She waves. “See ya.”

You wave goodbye as well, and take off. She was nice, if not slightly apathetic.

About twenty minutes later, you spot the mansion. You touch down about forty feet away and start walking. Memories of your childhood pass before your eyes. This place hasn’t changed much on the outside. There’s a clock tower that wasn’t there before, and the gate has been replaced, but the familiar red brick eases your heart. You’re finally home.

Except, no, you’re not. You haven’t even passed the gate yet. Speaking of which, you spot the gate guard Reimu mentioned. You can’t see her face, yet, but she looks pretty intimidating— tall, with long red hair and Chinese clothing. You get closer, and stare for a good few minutes. She isn’t that imposing anymore. How does someone sleep standing up, anyways?


[x] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.
[x] Just... sneak past her.

[X] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.
Doing the gentlemanly thing. Besides, I think we can take her.

[x] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.

[x] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.

[x] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.

It's the nicer thing to do, and if we remember her name as opposed to calling her China, that'll be a plus to us.

[x]Wake her up and command her to take you to Remilia.

Hey, we're a Scarlet vampire. That's pretty much a carte blanche to be a dick. And one we've definitely not abused enough.

>>33566
Yet that is our trump card over our sister; we're not a complete dick about things.

That and chances are Meiling wouldn't believe the claims (Either Remi would forget to tell Meiling about us, or she didn't just to be petty)

[X] Wake her up and request to see Remilia.

Oh, well. Guess you’ll have to wake her. You reach out and shake her lightly. Nothing happens. You shake her harder, and she snaps awake.

“Ah! I wasn’t sleeping, Miss Sakuya, I was just resting my… eyes?” She’s seemed to notice that you aren’t the person that she thought you were. Her eyes narrow. “Who are you?”

You bow slightly. “My name is Wallace Scarlet. I’m here to see my sisters, Remilia and Flandre. May I pass?”

Her eyes widen at your name, but it’s the last request that garners the biggest reaction. “You’re… asking me if you can pass?” She seems confused.

“Yes, I am.” This only seems to add to her confusion, however.

“He’s asking me if he can pass. This hasn’t happened before… usually they just sneak by…” she murmurs to herself. “What do I do? I forget….”

This is kind of hard to watch. “… Take me to the front door?”

She straightens up, and claps once. “Ah, that it! That’s what I’m supposed to do!” She turns and opens the gate. “Come with me, mister!” She seems to have forgotten you name.

“Alright, miss…”

“It’s Meiling. Hong Meiling. Please remember it.” She starts off toward the mansion.

When you reach the doors, Meiling opens them and gestures for you to follow. You do so, looking about. It’s cleaner than you remember it, but otherwise it’s the same as it is in your memories. You’re interrupted however by the gatekeeper yelling at the top of her lungs.

“MISS SAKUYA!!”

Nothing happens for a moment, and then a woman in a French maid outfit appears out of thin air.

“There’s no need to yell, China,” she says, frowning.

Meiling’s face sags. “My name isn’t China.” She perks up almost instantly, though. “But that isn’t important right now! We have a guest— he asked for permission and everything!”

‘Sakuya’ raises an eyebrow and turns to you. “A polite—!“ But whatever she was about to say dies off as an odd look crosses her face. It almost seems like recognition, but you’ve never met her before. She composes herself, and nods to Meiling. “Well done. Go back to the gate.”

After the gatekeeper leaves, a silence fills the room. After a moment, you open your mouth, but the maid beats you to it.

“So you’ve returned. I honestly can’t say that I was expecting this,”

“Excuse me, but have we met?”

She shakes her head. “No, but I know who you are, and most likely why you’ve come.” She bows slightly. “I am Sakuya Izayoi, the chief maid of this mansion. Wait here— I’ll fetch the mistress.” And with that, she disappears, probably in the same manner by which she arrived.

A moment later, you hear a loud noise in the distance. Before you can react, though, Sakuya appears once more. She’s looking at you with an expression that’s somewhere between sympathy and pity. Mostly pity.

“The mistress is in her room. Follow me.” She starts up the stairs, and you follow. A few minutes of nostalgia later you’re standing at the door to Remilia’s room. You take a deep breath, and open the door.

“Hello, Remiliargh.” Your greeting dies a horrendously violent death, however, as the eldest of your sisters rams her fist into your gut, bringing you to your knees.

“Wallachia Émilien Scarlet, just where the hell have you been?!” Oh god, she’s using your full name. She’s furious. “Two hundred and fifty years with only five letters?! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

You look up. Her hands are on her hips, and she’s glaring fiercely at you. You choke out a reply. “… I’m sorry?” You regret it the moment you say it.

“Sorry? Sorry?! You worry Flan and me nearly to death, and all you can say is ‘sorry’?! I should drive a silver nail straight through your heart, you worthless fool of a brother!”

“It’s… nice to see you too, Remi.”

The response is instantaneous. “Don’t call me that.” She’s calmed down— calling her by her nickname always worked to bring her out of a temper.

“Sorry. But I’m here now, so you don’t have to worry anymore.” You stand up and smile gently, ignoring your aching stomach. “You’ve grown more charming since we parted, dear sister.”

She smiles as well— that cocky smirk you never could quite imitate. “And you appear to have grown scrawnier, dear brother.”

A moment of silence falls, and then you both start laughing. After a while, Remilia hugs you.

“Welcome home, Wallachia.”

Just this once, you ignore the fact that she used your full first name. “It’s nice to be back.”

A few minutes later, Remila steps back and dusts her self off (not that there was any dust on her).

“Well, enough of that! You have stories to tell, brother! Sakuya!”

The maid walks through the door. She must have been waiting there. “Yes?”

Remila smirks. “Prepare breakfast for three. And bring Flan to the dining hall— today’s a special occasion.”

Sakuya nods. “As you wish, mistress.” And then she’s gone. You’ll have to find out how she does that.

Your sister grabs your hand. “Let’s go, Wallachia!”

“It’s ‘Wallace’. And let me go!”

She ignores your indignation and drags you down the halls. She finally lets go as the two of you reach the dining hall. You step through, and see a young girl sitting at the table. As you enter, she turns and spots you. She looks confused at first, but then recognition blossoms across her face as she grins excitedly.

“Wally!”

[x] Brace yourself; this is going to be painful.
[x] Preemptive strike!

[x] Evasive action!

[x] Preemptive strike!

[x] Preemptive strike!

Adorable little sister huggan games!

Typical Remi, even after throwing him out the window and leaving WITHOUT telling him, she gives him hell.

Well no wonder he's scrawny since I doubt he has a maid cooking such nice dishes in his travels. That and his build is more of a mage.

[x] Preemptive strike!

[X] Brace yourself; this is going to be painful.

Well, that went better than I thought.

[x] Preemptive strike!

We have yet to meet Patchouli. I wonder how those two would get along.

But I wonder if Wallace has any idea that the maid might have been the vampire hunter all the way back?

>“He’s asking me if he can pass. This hasn’t happened before… usually they just sneak by…” she murmurs to herself. “What do I do? I forget….”

Isn't it SAD, Meiling?

[X] Preemptive Strike!

>>33582
She isn't. Just letting you know.

[x] Brace yourself; this is going to be painful.

[x] Preemptive strike!

[x] Preemptive strike!

[X] Brace yourself; this is going to be painful.

Sakuya is probably the one who first saw the 5 letters Wallace sent, and his wings give away that hes a vampire.

[X] Preemptive strike!
Imouto huggan gaems
In before we actually attack Flandre

Best to minimize any damage before it can occur. Before your youngest sister can move, you rush in and hug her tightly. “I’m back, Flan! Did you miss me?”

She nods rapidly. “Uh-huh! You left one day and didn’t come back. Where’d you go?”

You smile. Flandre never failed to brighten your life. “Let me go and I’ll tell you.”

She lets go (somewhat reluctantly), and you take a seat next to her. Remilia sits on the other side of the table and leans in expectantly. You clear your throat and begin your tale.

You start with how you sought out a magical library in Prussia that you had once read of. You stayed there for about a month and a half until agents of the Church found the library. The old wizard who ran it handed you a few tomes, and gave you directions to another library, commanding you to learn as much as you could. You fled before the hunters could enter, and made your way to Italy. It was there, hidden deep beneath Rome (the last place one would expect a magic library to be), that you found the 'Bibliotheces Secretus', the largest magical library in the world. You were content there, able to lose yourself for weeks in a tome. Sadly, it all came to an end ninety years later, when the Church finally discovered the library. Once more you slipped out amidst the confusion, and escaped to France. You spent about ten years in Paris, until a chance confrontation with a vampire hunter forced you to leave. After that, you simply wandered the globe for a good century, going from library to library, never staying in one place for too long. As you wandered, however, you noticed something. People believed in magic less and less, allowing you and your studies to continue uninterrupted. But you had been to nearly every library in the world— there wasn’t that much more to learn, you thought. And so it was that you turned to the humans for knowledge. You slipped into their rapidly changing culture, and once again started to travel and learn. Then, about a month ago, you won a Castlevania series box set in a raffle. You started to play one of the games, and then remembered that you had a family back in Romania. And so you traveled back home to find that your sisters had literally moved house. Further examination led to Gensokyo, and finally, to your sisters.

You lean back in your chair. Breakfast is over, and so is your tale. You eye your listeners subtly. Sakuya (who had brought in breakfast, and stayed for the last three quarters of the story) looks vaguely impressed, Flandre is staring at you with shining eyes (you don’t think she quite understood what she heard, but she appears to have enjoyed it all the same), and Remilia… looks as though she’s struggling with something. The first to break the silence is the youngest sibling.

“It didn’t make a lot of sense, but you’re awesome, Wally!”

The middle child nods slowly in agreement. “Yes. In fact…” It looks as though she’s eaten ten whole limes. “I must… apologize to you, brother.”

“Really?” You maintain a neutral mask, but it’s taking an act of god not to smirk. Apologies from Remilia are rare enough, but sincere ones are about as commonplace as philosopher’s stones. “What for?”

“For how I treated you earlier. After hearing your story, it’s not that hard to see why you forgot about us.” Only Remilia can sound accusatory while apologizing. “Considering your fascination with learning, I should have expected it when you first left the mansion. Only, you never came back, and the letters were so rare—“

You interrupt her. “It’s alright, I understand. If I were in your position, I’d probably do what you did. Not nearly as physical,” so say as you rub your stomach. “But there’d be some words involved. I was going to yell at you about moving the mansion without contacting me, however, but if you answer one question, I’ll let it go.”

Remilia nods. “Alright. Ask your question.”

“How did you move the mansion? No offense, but unless you’ve changed while I was gone, magic was never your specialty.” Much to your surprise, she smirks.

“Oh-ho, this is going to be interesting,” she says, mostly to herself. “To answer that question though, we’ll need to go to the library. Sakuya!”

The silver-haired maid steps forward. “Yes?”

“Take my brother to the library. If you get there before I do, wait for me before opening the doors.” The maid nods, and Remilia turns to Flandre. “Flan, dear, let’s go back to your room.”

Flandre refuses to go at first, but you promise to play with her later. She agrees, and allows her sister to usher her to the basement. You nod to Sakuya, and follow her to the library. It’s going to be a few minutes, so you might as well start a conversation.

[x] Ask her about her duties.
[x] Ask her about how she met your sister.


'Bibliotheces Secretus' roughly translates to 'Secret Library'. I'm not sure about the tenses though, since I've forgotten everything from my high school Latin class.

I thought the Latin word for 'secret' was 'arcanum'. Huh.

[x] Ask her about how she met your sister.

Just because I'm always curious about how different writers all have a slightly different spin on this.

[x] Ask her about how she met your sister.
Is there any reason to ask about her duties? From Sakuya's attire it should be easy for Wallace to see that she's a maid.

>>33604
I think you wanted "Bibliotheca Secreta". More troubling than that is the fact that 'bibliotheca' isn't really a Latin word so much as it is a Greek loan word; a library of any respectable age in Rome itself would probably just use "Librarium Secretus" instead, a word stem that goes all the way back to Proto-Indo-European. But enough useless pedantry:

[X] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[X] Ask her about her duties.
[X] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

I yearn for knowledge.

[X] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[X] Ask her about her duties.
[X] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

[X] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[X] Ask her about her duties.
[X] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

[ø] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[ø] Ask her about her duties.
[ø] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

I believe that the last question is the most important...

[x] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[x] Ask her about her duties.
[x] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

I have the feeling that meeting Patchouli will be the best thing to happen to him in five hundred years.

[X] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[X] Ask her about her duties.
[X] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit.

Yeah i think there's never been a person destined more to end up with Patchouli than him, both of them being nuts about learning and magic. (He might be a while in the library itself!)

>>33613

>(He might be a while in the library itself!)

Either that or ask to have a room for him built there.

[X] Ask her about how she met your sister.
[X] Ask her about her duties.
[X] Ask her if Remilia makes her wear that maid outfit

A quick question to any architecture or math-minded people out there: based on this picture, what would the dimensions of the Voile Library be?

>>33618
Trick question! The library and all of the Scarlet mansion are magical in nature, thus their range varies depending on the day, the hour, Patchouli's humour and the whim of the writefag

All we can really do is estimate. Based on the width of the chair in the foreground and the length of the little red elevator things, I'd say each bookshelf is about 6 feet wide. The room is at least eleven bookshelves long and about seven bookshelves across (six actual ones, plus an extra for the staircase), so if the POV is from the entrance and this is the entire library, the floor dimensions are ~70 ft. by ~45 ft. There's no real good reference point for figuring out height (unless you want to try to estimate the average height of a stack of N books), so you're on your own if you want to guess about that spiral staircase.

>>33618

Varies due say a time/space manipulating Maid for starters.

>>33619
>>33624
Huh. Looks as though I'll just have to wing it. Sorry, >>33621.

My take: each book appears to be about 2 inches thick. It takes 19 books to go from the floor to the bottom of the first shelf.
Shelf base height: 39 in.
Shelf base is one third total base height
Individual shelf height: 13 in.
One hundred and four shelves high: 1352 in.

Total height: 1391 in: 115.9 feet: 35.3 meters

Each (individual) shelf is six times longer than it is high
Individual shelf width: 78 in.
Six shelves across: 468 in
The stairwell is one third longer than a book shelf
Stairwell width: 104 in.

Total width: 572 in: 47.7 feet: 14.3 meters

8 shelves deep (from this perspective): 624 in.

Total depth: 624 in: 52 feet: 15.8 meters

I am curious. Did you read any of the already written stories before you decided to write?

>>33618
I doubt Patchy would let all that space go to waste. Maybe that's the library in arena mode, with all the shelves magically moved out of the way during duels?

>>33629
It could be magical compression, those numbers could be correct.

Or we can just go with "buttfucking huge".

>>33632
I mean all that open space, with books only on the walls. Nobody ever describes it that way.

Obligatory "what does the protagonist look like"?

Since I've collided painfully with writer's block, the update may take a bit. Just letting you guys know.

>>33642
Nah, I meant the bookcases could be magically compressed against the walls to have an arena.

(I got over it. It's somewhat short, but oh well)


“So, Miss Izayoi…”

“Call me Sakuya.”

“Alright then, Sakuya. I was wondering… how did you meet my sisters?” This has been on your mind since you first saw her—she’s apparently human.

The maid chuckles. ”It’s not very polite to pry into a lady’s past, young man.” Young man? As far as you can tell, she’s only nineteen— you’re probably older than her. But you drop it as she starts speaking again. “But you deserve to know. I tried to kill her.”

“What?“ Your eyes narrow, but you wait for the rest.

“It was about… what, a hundred and twenty five years ago? Anyways, due to… various circumstances, I was allied with the Church as a vampire hunter. I was sent to kill the ‘Scarlet Devil’, one of the more notorious vampires of that time, and so it was that I ended up fighting the mistress. It was a long battle, but she emerged victorious. I was waiting for the final blow when she said that she was so impressed with me that she was willing to hire me as a maid. I ended up agreeing, and I’ve served your family ever since.”

You’ve reached the library doors, and an awkward silence has settled over the two of you as you wait for Remilia. You frantically grope for an icebreaker.

“What do you do around here?” Wow, that was lame. Sakuya raises an eyebrow.

“You couldn’t tell?”

“Humor me.”

She chuckles. “Very well. I cook, clean, and attend to the needs of the mistresses.”

“Alone?”

“Essentially. As you’ve probably seen, we have numerous fairies employed as maids, but they usually cause more harm than good.” You can imagine. Fairies aren’t known for their intelligence or fine motor control.

A few more minute pass. What’s taking your sister so long? Once more, an uncomfortable silence blankets the area. You think of something to say.

“Does Remilia make you wear that outfit?” Apparently, you weren’t thinking hard enough. Sakuya’s looking at you strangely, so you shake your head. “You know what? Forget I even asked that.”

Luckily, your last shreds of dignity are spared an agonizing demise by your sister appearing around the corner. “I’m done! Did you wait that long?”

You shake your head. “No, not at all,” you lie. “We just got here, in fact.”

She smirks. “Well, then! Shall we go in?” Truth be told, you’re a bit excited. It wasn’t actually your room per se, but you spent most of your time in the library. You’re eager to see it again.

Sakuya opens the doors. You step through, and promptly lose the ability to think straight.

Sweet Impaler.

It’s magnificent.

You grab a hold of the doorjamb to steady yourself. Your pride and joy has become something you’ve only dreamt of. Books cover the walls and floor for nearly the entire range of your sight. If you weren’t an unholy blight on Creation, you’d think you’d died and gone to heaven. A small part of your mind argues that a room of this size can’t possibly exist within the mansion, but is remorselessly squelched to make room for a new dilemma.

[x] Demand to know how this is possible.
[x] Start reading, now!

[x] Start reading, now!

[x] Start reading, now!

>>33650
[X] Demand to know how this is possible.

I'd be pretty stunned too.

{X} Start reading, now!

>>33645

[x] Start reading, now!

Kid in a candy store, etc. Plus, I'm sure he'll formulate some theories.

[x] Start reading, now!

[x] Start reading, now!

We'll find out eventually and Patchy catching Wallace reading would be a nice ice breaker.

[x] Start reading, now!
EARLY LATE CHRISTMAS!

[x] Start reading, now!

[x] Start reading, now!
Darnit, now we've made Wallace look stupid in front of Sakuya. Why did so many people want to ask her about her duties when it was clearly obvious she was a maid? Also that other question. I guess we're shaping Wallace up to be not that charismatic. Well I guess we should at least try to make him look smart in front of Patchouli when we meet her.

[X] Start reading, now!

>>33661
I was hoping that the conversation would continue from her duties to exactly how she accomplished them; for some reason, we brought up the fact that it was strange for her to do all that alone, then we just stopped talking. For that matter, the bit about Sakuya's outfit could have been played as a bit of harmless flirting or a joke about our odd little sister and her maid fetish, and I certainly doubt anyone who voted for it intended for him to stammer it out like a horny teenager. If anyone's keeping us from being charismatic, it's the writer.

>>33662

Yeah I think we might need to be more specific, since the writer does seem to be quite inexperienced in this case. Just to be safe; a good concept can be damaged by flawed execution.

>>33662

I felt that we'd just be asking a question or two before we made it to the library. You may have a point about the duties question, but the maid outfit question I could only imagine being posed as "So... does my sister make you wear that maid outfit?" Also I could only imagine it becoming more awkward since this is Sakuya we're talking to. Sakuya so far in this story seems to be very calm and professional in this story. Not the type you just flirt with or make a joke about her mistress to. Also Wallace doesn't seem that experienced with the opposite sex to actually pull of flirting since he's spent most of his time in libraries reading and more recently playing video games.

I also thought the maid outfit question was sincere.

>>33662
You're forgetting something: he's a Scarlet. It's genetically impossible for him to be charismatic.

>>33667

Scarlets can be charismatic, though Remilia can't name things well for the life of her. Though Remilia's is just easily broken at times.

But Even Flan has better spell card names than Remilia.

>>33665
She's only showing her professional side for all we know. (canonically she can easily be both cute ditzy girl and 'perfect and elegant' killing machine.)

You can’t hold back. You dash over to the nearest shelf, select a book at random, and start reading, oblivious to everything around you. You think you hear your sister calling your name, but you ignore her. Eventually she stops, and you sink back into your book.

Sometime later, you drift back to reality— you’re slightly uncomfortable. Looking around, you spot some chairs behind a stack of books. You make your way over to them, grinning to yourself.

“Good evening.”

And then your unbeating heart nearly starts. You spin to the side. Nestled in one of the larger chairs is a young woman with long purple hair, inspecting at you with a half-interested look on her face. You steady yourself.

“And who might you be, miss?” Actually, you think you know— Reimu mentioned her in passing. The woman sits up straight.

“I am Patchouli Knowledge,” she says, in a quiet, dignified voice. “The mistress of this library. And I assume that you are Wallachia Scarlet?”

You frown. “Yes, although I prefer to be called ‘Wallace’. I take it, then, that you are responsible for the current state of this room?”

She nods slightly. “Mostly. Sakuya provides the extra space,” Sakuya does? “I merely hold it together. Well, then, if you’ll excuse me,” And then she resumes reading her book.

That was… kind of brusque. Oh, well. You can’t really blame her. After all, you yourself would be eager to get back to such a big book. Speaking of which, you have one to read right now.

You plop down into a nearby chair and go back to your own tome. The world seems to fade….

“You have good taste, by the way,”

You look up. “Excuse me?”

Patchouli doesn’t even look up from her book. “You have good taste in books. When I first came here, I was rather impressed by the variety of texts you had in your collection,” A brief pause. “You can always discern a person’s character by the books they read.” You aren’t so sure about that. Either way, that was nice of her.

“Thank you for the compliment, Miss Knowledge.” She doesn’t respond. You smile softly, and pick up your book.

Some time later, you put down the book. You’re getting a bit restless. The desire to get reacquainted with the mansion outweighs the desire to read (it’s an odd feeling). Or, you could go talk to someone

[x] Explore on your own.
[x] Go find Remilia.
[x] Go find Sakuya.
[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

Classes have started, so I might have less time to write. Or I could write during class.

[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

>>33685
[X] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

Probably should go get reacquainted with one of our sisters after all this time, but bookworms gotta stick together.

[X] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.
- [X] Compliment her on how much she's managed to expand the library in your absence
- [X] If she seems open to conversation, ask for a book recommendation and talk shop for a while.

[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.
- [X] Compliment her on how much she's managed to expand the library in your absence
- [X] If she seems open to conversation, ask for a book recommendation and talk shop for a while.
- [x] Share tales about the libraries both of you been too.

We're a vampire we have all the time in the world.

That and our sister would forgive us, knowing how we are around libraries. She might be happy about this.

I think Patchy would like to hear about all the places we've been in 250 years.

[X] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.
- [X] Compliment her on how much she's managed to expand the library in your absence.
- [X] If she seems open to conversation, ask for a book recommendation and talk shop for a while.
- [X] Share tales about the libraries both of you been too.

Plus we can help when Marisa comes to call. And unlike Patchy, we can go after Marisa to take them back, being actually healthy and having a massive amount of magical power at our disposal.

[X] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.
- [X] Compliment her on how much she's managed to expand the library in your absence.
- [X] If she seems open to conversation, ask for a book recommendation and talk shop for a while.
- [X] Share tales about the libraries both of you been too.

>>33695

If not convincing her to give them back. It'll be interesting considering how some of the books she took were originally Wallace's at one time.

>>33697
Oh come on, what are the odds of... Oh.

>>33698

Yeah since in this story the library belonged to Wallace before Patchy moved in, so there's a chance of some of his books being taken and chances are with his luck he'll look for an old favorite and find it gone.

>>33700
>chances are with his luck
I thought that was supposed to be his forte.

>>33702

I think it'd be in a similar grade as his sister's power (not so insanely overt)

That and luck has its limits against a witch that is prone to taking anything that isn't nailed down.

>>33703

I can think of few instances where it can be incredibly broken.

For instance, changing the probability of a Master Spark actually hitting him into 0%.

At least that how I hope it could work.

[x] Actually, stay in the library and talk to Patchouli.

You give it a bit more thought. You aren’t that restless. You guess you just wanted to talk to someone. And luckily, there’s someone right here. Now, if only you could pry her from her book….

As if on cue, Patchouli closes her book and places it on the table next to her. Wow, that’s some pretty good timing right there.

“I’d like to thank you, miss Knowledge,”

She blinks. “What for?”

“This,” you gesture towards your surroundings. “You probably had no way of knowing, but a library of this scale was always a dream of mine. So thank you, for letting me experience this.”

She looks at you oddly. “… It’s your library.”

You shake your head. “No, not anymore. This is your accomplishment. Thus, it’s your library now. It was probably yours the moment you first stepped into it. I’m content to simply be here.”

Patchouli lets out a small sigh. It looks as though some kind of weight has been lifted from her shoulders. “Very well, then. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

You nod. “How did you come across all these wonderful books?”

“In a variety of ways,” she says, with a slight smile. “Some were bought at shops. Others were received as gifts, and some were discovered in ruins. A good portion of them, however, were written by me- mostly compilations of my research. Now, then, may I ask you some questions as well?”

“Of course.”

“What is your area of specialty?”

“Hm. It’s hard to pin myself to any one field and call myself a specialist… But I’d have to go with blood magic and alchemy— specifically, transmutation. My greatest feat was the altering of Tyrfing, a weapon in my possession.” You sit back and wait for her response. It doesn’t disappoint.

“Impossible.” The witch in front of you is gripping the arms of her chair in anticipation. “You mean to tell me that you altered the form of a mythical weapon?”

You smirk inwardly. Nearly every magic user you meet reacts like this when they hear about what you did. “I did. It wasn’t easy, I’ll admit. It took nearly seventy years to research the proper methods and then do the deed. But it was well worth it, in the end.”

“Amazing.” Patchouli sinks back into her chair. “You’re far more talented than I expected you to be.”

“It happens. By the way, what’s your field of study?” You’ve been wondering about this for a while, now.

“I specialize in manipulation of the Eastern elements, mostly for combat purposes,” So she’s a battle mage, huh? You wouldn’t have pegged her as one. “It’s a fascinating topic. The potential combinations and uses are near limitless. For instance…”

The sorceress starts rambling on about her craft. It’s rather interesting— this is the most emotion you’ve seen from her. She’s talking pretty fast, actually. Suddenly, she breaks out into a coughing fit. You move forward to steady her, but she puts a hand up to stop you. Eventually, the coughing dies down, and she sits up.

“I apologize. The state of my health isn’t the best.”

“No, it’s alright,” you shake your head. “I’ll be fine. You should rest.”

She nods, and reaches for another book. Soon, she’s reading again, and you can hear her breathing steady.

You smile, then frown. Now you’re restless. Actually, you’re a bit hungry as well.

[x] Go find Sakuya and see of she can set you up with some lunch.
[x] No need for that; you're a decent cook. Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.

[x] Actually... you're hungry for Knowledge.

[X] No need for that; you're a decent cook. Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.
Maid avoidan gaems

I guess the talk about libraries didn't come up yet (I think she'd be interested to hear about his journey), like in the suboption write in here: >>33693 I hope you might consider such things in the next discussion.


[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.
-[x] But if you run into Sakuya, accept her help.

I'd figure it'd be the gentlemanly thing to do to ask if she wants food.

But I must say it was a nice if short update.

can't wait to see Remilia teasing him about his crush on her friend.

[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.

>Patchouli lets out a small sigh. It looks as though some kind of weight has been lifted from her shoulders.
Interesting. So she was feeling somewhat guilty for using another person's library, uh? I think I'll like this Patchouli.

[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.

>>33732

Nice observation, I look forward to future interactions between the two.

>You think you hear your sister calling your name, but you ignore her. Eventually she stops, and you sink back into your book.

I can imagine Remilia going a mix of "This is just like old times" and "damn it, Wallace!"

>>33728
It'll come up at some point. I just couldn't fit it into that update.

[ø] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[ø] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.
-[ø] But if you run into Sakuya, accept her help.

[X] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[X] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.
[X] Porkchop Sandwiches, maybe.

C'mon, guys. This writefag needs more votes.

>>33746

Either it's a rare day where there aren't many people on or it's just low because everyone agrees on a basic plan.

But as you prove yourself a a reliably fast updater, more votes will come.

[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.

[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Go find Sakuya and see of she can set you up with some lunch.

>>33746
>This writefag needs more votes.
>6 of the same vote in a story with ~10 regular voters
...I think you could have managed.

>>33754
I'm picky. Oh, well. I'll get to writing, now. Expect an update later tonight.

[x] Ask her if she wants anything to eat.
[x] Head to the kitchen and whip something up yourself.

You glance at your companion out of the corner of your eye. As a species, witches don’t need to eat… but that doesn’t mean they can’t.

“Miss Knowledge,” you ask. “I’m going to get some food— I’m rather hungry. Is there anything you’d like me to get you?”

“…Tea. Chamomile, please.”

“Very well.” You stand, and head off to the kitchen.

When you reach it, you whistle softly. You never really noticed it before, but this is a nice kitchen. Years of living on your own had instilled an appreciation of the culinary arts, and you had taken up cooking as a necessity (a truly smart vampire doesn’t feed only on blood, your mother always said). You rarely had anything better than a gas stove to work with, though, so this is a welcome change.

Oh, well. Enough reminiscing. Let’s find the tea…

“Looking for something?” asks a voice from behind you. You flinch and spin around. Sakuya’s standing a few feet away, a bemused look on her face.

“How the hell do you do that?!” you gasp. You didn’t even hear her! When did she come in?!

The maid smiles infuriatingly. She must’ve learned how to from Remilia, you suppose.

“Sorry, that’s for you to discover on your own. Now then… what were you planning to do here?” She’s gotten a bit more serious, for some reason.

You relax a bit, and straighten up. “I was getting hungry, so I came up here to fix something for myself. Miss Knowledge asked for some tea, as well.”

Sakuya raises an eyebrow. “You can cook?” She looks faintly surprised.

“Nowhere near your level— that was the best breakfast I’ve had in decades, by the way,” you say. “But I do know how to make a few things. Don’t worry, I won’t break anything.“

The maid thinks this over for a moment, and then nods. “Very well. The food is in that room,” she says, gesturing to a large door with symbols etched into the frame. “You’ll find what you need in there. In the meantime, I’ll prepare the tea. I was about to make some for myself, anyways.”

That’s nice of her. You move towards the door, when you remember something. “Ah, by the way, miss Knowledge wanted—“

“Chamomile tea.”

She’s really on top of things, isn’t she? But that isn’t important now. What’s important now is food. You open the door, and a blast of cold air hits you— seems as though this room has been enchanted to stay chilly, making it a magical refrigerator. Convenient.

Hm, now what to make….

[x] Write in.

[x]Crêpes.
[x]Bring some for Patchouli, regardless.

[x]Crêpes.
[x]Bring some for Patchouli, regardless.

Yes

[X] Crêpes.
[X] Bring some for Patchouli, regardless.
Not really a full meal, but it's not as though we actually need to eat in the first place.

[X] Crêpes.
[X] Bring some for Patchouli, regardless, in fact make a few extra for that, so if she doesn't want any, that'd be more for you.

[X] Crêpes.
[ø] Bring some for Patchouli, regardless, in fact make a few extra for that, so if she doesn't want any, that'd be more for you.
Mmm wonderful.

[x]Crêpes.
[x]Bring some for Patchouli, regardless.

[x]Crêpes.
[x]Bring some for Patchouli, regardless.

[X] Porkchop sandwitches for yourself

[X] Crêpes for desert
[X] Bring some for Patchouli

Yeah, some crêpes sound good about now. You look inside the storeroom. Flour, milk, eggs, butter, assorted jams… yup, you’ve got everything you need. You move to the stove.

“Sakuya, would you by any chance have a crêpe pan?”

“Ah, so that’s what you’re making. Yes, we do have one— Flandre is particularly fond of crêpes. Here.” She walk over to a cupboard and pulls out a well-used pan.

“Excellent. Well, here I go.”


About fifteen minutes later, you’re done with the crêpes. All that’s left is to fill them, which you do. Smiling to yourself, you move to the sink to wash the various utensils. Sakuya intercepts you, shaking her head.

“No need. I’ll do it. In exchange… may I?” she asks, gesturing to a crêpe. You’ve made five, so you nod.

“Sure. It’d be nice to have another opinion, anyways. “ You say. And it’s true— very few people other than you have eaten your cooking. Being the best cook in the mansion, Sakuya is probably the greatest source of input you can find.

The silver-haired woman takes a bite and chews thoughtfully. After a moment, she swallows.

“Good. Slightly bland, but otherwise, it’s good. You pass.” She says, nodding. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

“Thanks. Guess I have a bit to work on.”

“No, thank you. It’s nice to have someone other than Meiling to talk about cooking with.”

Ah, so the beleaguered gatekeeper can cook as well, eh? Most likely Chinese… food… hey, wait a—

A sudden whistle derails your train of thought. Sakuya moves over to the kettle and pours the steaming water into a mug. A moment of stirring later, she puts the cup on the tray with the crêpes and smiles at you.

“Done. You should take this to the library, now. Dinner is in a few hours, so don’t eat too much.”

You smile back. “Alright, I will. I apologize for taking your time, Sakuya.” You say. Her smile shifts to a faint smirk.

“Don’t worry. I have more than enough as it is. Now, before the tea gets cold.” She hands you the tray and moves off.

What was that supposed to mean? And what were you thinking about when the kettle went off? Oh, well, no use dwelling on those things now. Shaking your head, you head back to the library.

Patchouli is still reading when you return. You set the tray on the table next to her and sit down in your chair. Soon, a slender hand appears and travels towards the mug. It brushes against one of the crêpes, and the witch emerges from her paper shell to investigate.

“…Crêpes?”

“I was in the mood for something sweet. I made enough for you as well, in case you wanted some.”

She looks faintly surprised. “You can cook?”

You nod. “As I said to miss Izayoi earlier, I know enough to get by.”

She’s silent for a moment, then she picks up a crêpe and takes a small bite. “… It’s slightly bland.”

“…Yes, so I’ve heard.”

“But it’s good enough.” Small praise, but you’ll take it.


A few more hours pass. The crêpes have long been eaten, and you’re starting to get hungry again. It’s probably close to dinner…. Sure enough, you see Sakuya enter the library. She walks over to you.

“It’s almost time for dinner. Your sister would like to know if you plan to eat with your family, or be a boor and take your meal in here.”

[x] Enjoy a meal with your family.
[x] Be a boor.

>>33795
[x]Enjoy a meal with your family.
--[x]Ask patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner.

[x]Enjoy a meal with your family.
--[x]Ask patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner.

sounds good

[x]Enjoy a meal with your family.
--[x]Ask patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner.
The books aren't going anywhere.

>>33794
[X] Enjoy a meal with your family.
- [X] Promise Patchy that you'd share whatever tales you'll tell your sisters with her.

'K

[x] Enjoy a meal with your family.
-[x]Ask patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner, and she'd be able to hear whatever tales your sisters want you to tell.
--[x] If not, you'd share whatever tales you'll tell your sisters with her when you get back.

It's our first day at home so we should spend time with the family.

[X]Enjoy a meal with your family.
--[X]Ask Patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner.

[x] Enjoy a meal with your family.
-[x]Ask patchouli to join you, you'd enjoy talking to her over dinner, and she'd be able to hear whatever tales your sisters want you to tell.
--[x] If not, you'd share whatever tales you'll tell your sisters with her when you get back.

I'm just letting you guys know that there won't be an update tonight. It's been a really long week, and I just need a day to relax. Sorry.

>>33817

Updates soon? It's been more than a day.

>>33851
Writing. Expect something late tonight.

“Of course I’ll eat with them— just give me a moment.” You make note of the page you were on, and stand up, glancing at your reading companion. “Are you going to join us, miss Knowledge?”

The witch in question continues to read. “No.”

You deflate a little. “Ah, is that so. Well then, I’ll see you in a bit.” You turn to Sakuya. “You can go on ahead. I’ll be there shortly.”

She smiles. “Alright.” And then she disappears. You’re going to find out how she does that one of these days. Sighing, you head off, closing the library doors behind you.



“Wally!”

“Ah, there you are, Wallachia.”

“For the nine hundredth and twenty third time, Remilia, it’s ‘Wallace’. And isn’t that my seat?” The eldest sister is sitting at the head of the table, the spot generally reserved for the head of the household. She’d been sitting there during breakfast, but you’d been too occupied to call her on it. Now, though….

A smirk. “Ah, but you’ve been neglecting your family and duties for so long, dear brother. I had no choice but to take up this seat and the responsibilities that come with it.”

… She’s right. You don’t deserve that seat anymore. Besides, you always thought that she would make a better head than you.

“Very well, then,” you sigh, and sit down across from Flandre. “It’s yours. But more importantly....” Here you smirk. “I heard a story from a certain shrine maiden about how my— and I quote— ‘spoiled brat of a sister’ caused her and her friend a great deal of trouble.”

Remilia winces slightly. “So Reimu told you first. Do I get a chance to defend myself?”

You lean back in your chair. “I’m a decent fellow. Make it convincing, though.”

And so you hear the other side to a story you heard earlier. This time, though, it’s about how a young girl wanted to play outside, but couldn’t because of the sun. When she remedied that, however, a mean miko in red and white and a thieving witch in black and white came to her house and bullied her friends until they let the sun out again.

Remilia nods and sits back, nodding. “And that’s what happened. I’m not to blame.”

You look at her for a moment, and then pinch the bridge of your nose. “Who do I have to apologize to?”

The elder sister falters for a moment, but any reply is drowned out by Flandre’s excited waving. “My turn! My turn!”

It turns out that the thieving black and white came back a few days later while Remilia was visiting Reimu, and played ‘tag’ with your youngest sister. You’re tempted to ask if the witch is still alive, but Flandre (rather glumly) mentions that the black-white managed to win.

Dinner is served, and more stories are told. How Sakuya helped recover Gensokyo’s ‘spring’ from a forgetful ghost and her gardener; how a mischievous oni caused consecutive feasts to flush out her kind; how Remilia and Sakuya, along with Reimu and a host of other characters, retook the moon from an alien princess; an event where flowers bloomed due to the Grim Reaper slacking off; and how a ‘truly spoiled brat’ messed with the weather out of boredom.


“Wow.” You say, and you mean it. Over the course of a few years, your sisters have experienced more than you did in two hundred and fifty. “I’m impressed.”

Remilia drinks in the praise. “Why thank you.” She stretches, and then sits up straight. “But enough about us,” she says. “Tell us another story, dear brother.” Flan nods in agreement.

Hm, what story to tell….

[x] Tell them about the Bibliotheces Secretus.
[x] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
[x] Tell them stories of the modern world; of human advancement.

[x] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.

Of the three, this seems like the one they'd most be interested in.

[x] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.

The SDM is a rather recent immigrant to Gensokyo compared with others (with in the last 20 years at most) so they'd know of the modern world's advancements.

>Tell them about the Bibliotheces Secretus.

We should save this for Patchy since she'd LOVE it.

[x] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.

>>33857
It might just make her jealous.

>>33860

Not if he starts talking about what he learned there. Problems happen when people are stingy with information.

And chances are Patchy's been to places he's never been.

[X] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
-[X] Afterword, ask if Remilia is still going on about being Dracula's descendant.

[ø] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
-[ø] Afterword, ask if Remilia is still going on about being Dracula's descendant.
Haha, this.

[X] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
-[X] Afterward, ask if Remilia is still going on about being Dracula's descendant.

An afterword comes at the end of a book.

[X] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
-[X] Afterward, ask if Remilia is still going on about being Dracula's descendant.

[X] Tell them about that run-in with the vampire hunter in France.
-[X] Afterward, ask if Remilia is still going on about being Dracula's descendant.

Sorry, no update tonight. I've had a rather rough week, and today was the straw that pulverized the back of the camel. I've written about half of tomorrow's update, though, so that should count for something. But for now, I need to relax. Badly.

>>33862
>Problems happen when people are stingy with information.
You know it, ze.

>>33883

Marisa's problem is that she never asks at all before taking, and she doesn't intend on returning them, saying Patchy could have them back when she's dead.

>>33890
Wow, I didn't know that, Wiseman. What was it she takes again? Boots? Touhou is so confusing!

>>33890
This makes me think. What if Wallace is absolutely fine with that proposition? He seems like the patient type. What would Wallace think of Marisa when he meets her? Would he encourage her quest for knowledge? Also Flandre seems to like Marisa.

>>33910

I think he wouldn't mind lending his books as long as Marisa doesn't damage them. Having said that, his manner would change if he happened to stop by Marisa to find some of his prized books buried underneath junk and damaged in the process. Giving his personality so far, he wouldn't go about blowing up the place, he'd just take his books back. It is a fact that Marisa is friendly with the whole SDM, to the point where Sakuya is said to have asked Marisa if she wanted some tea when she stopped by the library during one of her raids.

“After the fall of the ‘Secret Library’, I made my way to Paris. I spent about ten years there, working in a small magic shop, unti—”

“Working? You, a member of the noble Scarlet family, working?!” Remilia, always concerned with how the family presented itself, looks indignant. You sigh.

“Yes, Remi, I lowered myself to the level of a commoner. I didn’t really have a choice— proclaiming my status to the world would have given me far too much trouble— and frankly, I didn’t really care. I had fun working there. Now, do you want to hear the story, or chew me out for not having proper vampiric pride?”

Your sister thinks this over for far longer than she should, and then sighs. “I’d like to hear the story, Wallachia.”

Nine hundred and twenty four. “Don’t call me that. Anyways, as I was saying, I was working there until one really bad night in…. March, I believe.”

As you talk, the events of that night replay in your head. You’d been dealing with obnoxious customers ever since your shift had begun, and you were cranky because you hadn’t gotten a chance to feed for a few days. Eventually, it had gotten to be too much, and when someone tapped you on the shoulder, asking some inane question about where some ingredient was, you’d whirled around and spread your wings, hoping to scare them off.

“The man who had sparked my temper was rugged, had a bandolier of very silver knives, a flask of what had to be holy water, and a whip coiled at his side,” You say, leaning back in your seat. “After that, we just stared at each other for a good few minutes, trying to process what had happened. Then I kicked him as hard as I could in the shin, dashed to my room, smashed the window apart, and hid under the bed.”

As expected, Remila and Flandre burst out laughing (even Sakuya looks as though she’s trying hard not to chuckle). “Seriously? Under the bed?”

Yes, you explained, under the bed. Almost immediately after you did so, the hunter burst into room, stood there for a moment, then ran out. You crawled out from under the bed, grabbed your meager belongings, and left the building, bidding farewell to a thoroughly confused owner. From there, you escaped into the sewers, where you hid for a few hours until you thought the coast was clear. But it wasn’t, and you had only gotten a few steps away from the sewer entrance before you once again found yourself face to face with the hunter.

“He wasn’t happy. He didn’t even start with the ‘scourge of the earth’ business— he just snarled something unintelligible and leapt at me.”

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. It took all your meager fencing skill (you’d taken up lessons recently in order to properly use Tyrfing), wit, and liberal use of your ability to manipulate probability to fend off and eventually knock out your assailant. After that, you fed on the hunter (out of spite), carved a scathing message into a nearby wall with magic, and left Paris.

“Now then, enough about me,” You say. You don’t want to think about that encounter for too long. “I have a question for you.”

Remilia’s still giggling. “Yes, what is it?”

“Earlier, when I first got here,” you begin. “I passed through the portrait hall while going to meet you. I saw a rather interesting painting— one that doesn’t belong there. Are you still going around proclaiming yourself the descendant of Tepes?”

Your sister frowns and puffs out her cheeks. It’s kind of adorable. “Yes, I am. I don’t see what your problem with it is.”

You put a hand to your forehead. “Vlad Tepes was a tyrant who gruesomely executed and tortured thousands of people. As a vampire, I hold him in high regard, but not as a person.”

Remilia says nothing, opting to glare at you. You glare back for a moment, and then look away. Dammit, she always wins these contests.

“Well, then, it’s getting early,” You stand, and Remilia smirks triumphantly. You’ll get her one of these days. “I’m going to head back to the library for a bit before I go to bed.” You start to move off, but Flandre reaches across the table and grabs your shirt sleeve in a vice-like grip.

“Hey, don’t go, Wally! You said you’d play with me, remember?”

Oh dear. You did say that earlier. You glance nervously to the side. You love your sister, but her idea of ‘play’ tends to hurt very, very badly. Finally, you sigh.

“You’re right. Well, what do you want to play?”

[x] "Hide and Seek!"
[x] "Tag!"
[x] "House!"
[x] "Chess!"

[X] "Chess!"

Lets have a little sister similar to the one in Gensokyo High, but this time as an actual little sister.

>ability to manipulate probability
nice

>playing with Flandre
oh gods.
I would say Chess as the safe choice, but that would be boring...
[ø] "Hide and Seek!"
inb4 *with a lunatic smile* 'I've finally found you Wally'

[X] "Chess!"
As harmless as fucking possible

[x] "House!"
drinking tea, putting on girls clothes and playing with stuffed animals.
What more could you ask for.

[x] "Hide and Seek!"

Good exercise.

[X] "Hide and Seek!"

[x] "Hide and Seek!"

This'd be the most fun.

[x] "Hide and Seek!"

[] "Hide and Seek!"

He will be breaking cold sweat while hiding, and I'm hoping for it.

[ouch?] "Hide and Seek!"

[x] "Hide and Seek!"
-[x] 'Hide' in the library as you originally intended.

“Hide and Seek!” Exclaims Flandre.

That’s… not so bad, right? “Okay. You remember the rules, though?”

Your youngest sister rolls her eyes skywards in a rather uncharacteristic gesture. “Big Sister’s room, Big Brother’s room, and the library are off-limits.”

You smile. “Good girl. Go hide— I’ll start counting.” You move over to a corner and start counting down from two hundred. The minute you start, Flan scampers off.

When you look up, the room is deserted (Remilia left while you were choosing a game). You stand there for a moment, and then move off to the next room. After a few rooms of searching, you find yourself in front of a closet. You put your hand on the knob, and open then door.

“Well, what do we have here?”

Flandre pouts. “Aww. How’d you find me?”

You smirk. “It’s a secret~” Actually, the crystals on her wings tend to clatter slightly whenever she’s excited. It’s somewhat cheap, but she’s really good at this game, so you’ll take whatever advantages you can.


Minutes later, you’re hiding in a large, empty chest in one of the storage rooms. You feel incredibly nervous, and you don’t really know why. It’s ridiculous. How does someone so innocent cause you to break out into a cold sweat? Better think about something else, then. How about the people you met today? Reimu was nice. Also lazy and slightly mistrustful, but after hearing about all those incidents she had to solve, you can fault her that last one. How about Miss Kamishirasawa? She was… rather cold. But she’s apparently the protector of the Human Village, so that’s understandable. Meiling? She seems pretty hassled. You’ll make an effort to remember her name, then. She’s a contrast to Sakuya, though. The silver-haired maid has more work, but is calm, elegant, and mysterious. You’d like to know more about her. And then there’s Patchouli. Ah, a woman after your own heart. Very hard to read, though…

“Found you!”

All of a sudden, raging red-hot pain blossoms from your back. For some inexplicable reason, the phrase ‘BAD END’ flashes through your vision, but fades away. Ah. This is why you were so nervous. You look up, and see Flandre looking down at you, a questioning look on her face.

“Are you alright, Wally?”

You smile weakly. “Yes… I’m fine.” She still doesn’t know her own strength, it seems.

She grins. “’My turn again!” And then she dashes off, leaving you to yourself. You sigh, and start to count.

Three rounds later, you’re exhausted. Flandre is starting to look sleepy as well.

“Alright,” you yawn. “Bedtime.”

“’Kay. Ah, can you read me a story, Wally?”

Sure, why not. “Let’s go to your room, then.” And so you head to the basement,


Your youngest sister opens the door to her room. It’s pretty much the same as it was when you left. “Wait here.” She closes the door, presumably to get changed. You lean against the wall, and wait. Sure enough, after a few minutes.

“I’m done!” Says Flandre, dressed in a nightgown and holding a book. She hands it to you. Hey, this is….

“Are you sure about this?”

She nods. Huh, guess you underestimated her tastes. She climbs into bed and you pull up a stool, and then begin to read.

“It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria….’


You close the door behind you, and head upstairs. Remilia is waiting for you.

“Is she asleep?”

You nod. “Yeah, she is. I never would have pegged her as a mystery novel lover.”

An eyebrow rises. “What did she have you read?”

“Murder on the Orient Express.” You say, knuckling back a yawn. “…She’s grown.”

Your sister smiles faintly. “Ever since we came to Gensokyo, she’s begun to mature. The scared little girl from that day is no more.”

Aw, man. “What kind of sister are you, bringing up such depressing memories on her brother’s first night back?”

She winces. “…Sorry.” An awkward silence fills the room after that. Remila speaks after a while. “So, what do you plan to do now?”

[x] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.
[x] Head back to the library.

[] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.

[x] Compliment your sister in her work as the mansion's owner while you were away
[x] Head back to library.
You can sleep when you're dead. Err, dead-er.

[X] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.


Knowledge is better with a fresh mind~

[X] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.

> For some inexplicable reason, the phrase ‘BAD END’ flashes through your vision, but fades away.

Did we just graze one, or are you just making fun of us?

> Ever since we came to Gensokyo, she’s begun to mature. The scared little girl from that day is no more.
> What kind of sister are you, bringing up such depressing memories on her brother’s first night back?

Hmmm? What's this? A secret within the Scarlet family? Wonder what it is...

Anyway, vote:
[X] Head back to the library.

Since Remilia and Flandre are off limits due to blood relations, might as well as go for a Patchy route.
Might help lower most of the shitstorming in GH.

[ø] Compliment your sister in her work as the mansion's owner while you were away
[ø] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.

[x] Compliment your sister in her work as the mansion's owner while you were away
This. He has been, IMO, kind of a dick. Then again, maybe that's the relationship between those two.
[x] Go to bed. It's been a long night, and you're exhausted.

>>33963
Nyeh-heh-heh to question one.

For the second, I'm trying to find a way to fit it into the story without creating mood whiplash.

[x] Compliment your sister in her work as the mansion's owner while you were away
[x] Head back to library.

Some reading never hurts to unwind after playing with Flan and dealing with Remi.

Flan scared? I wonder if things are different than canon in regards to Flandre's imprisonment in the basement.