EZMode !iIyIHD.1G6 2008/06/07 (Sat) 12:54 No. 40867 [x] "I'll look East."
Everyone splits up in opposite directions, and you choose the East side of the library. As you make your way over, you take note of the windows on this side. You hear the other twos voices echoing around the library, calling for Patchouli. You wonder if that's even effective, since she would be able to respond if she could hear them, unless she was stuck or trapped somewhere. Looking at the library floor from the air, you can see that indeed, a lot of books were shaken from the shelves, many piles bunched up everywhere, entire rows filled with books. You kind of hope that you don't need any of these books, since having to find the right book in a mess this size would take a long time.
As you pass near one of the windows, you hear a knocking sound. You turn your head to see Marisa outside the window, waving at you. With a simple push, the hinged window swings open.
"What's up Alice?" she says, floating in through the window. "I noticed you left early, you could have at least waiting until I woke up."
You didn't really have an excuse for yourself, since you had just wanted to leave. You don't need to explain anything though, as Marisa notices the huge mess the library has become rather quickly.
"Wow, this place is ruined! What's happened?" she asks, floating down between some shelves. The house shakes again, and a book topples from a shelf and just barely missed Marisa, who floats back up where it's safe. "Whoa, going to need a hard hat in here. What's been going on?"
"Remilia's sister is probably loose, and Patchouli is lost somewhere in the library. We're trying to find her, I have some questions I wanted to ask her as well."
Marisa tips her hat.
"Well now, just leave this to me, I can find that girl no problem!" she exclaims, pulling her hat from her head. She pulls a bulbous flask from somewhere in the hat and reels back, throwing it up into the air. As it ascends into the air, Marisa fires a glowing ball of light at it. The light impacts the vial and erupts into a fountain of coloured lights with a bang, the balls of light slowly drifting out in all directions. The fountain of light fades, but the various floating lights are left behind, casting rainbow lights all over the library, making it much easier to see through the gloom and dust.
"That would get her attention if she's asleep, so all we have to do now is find her." she says. She then proceeds to float off towards the corner, in the direction Meiling took. The new lights are rather helpful, as it makes seeing the floor much easier. If Patchouli is buring in books, it might be easier to find her now too. After a few minutes of floating over rows of books, you hear a noise coming from below you. You float down to check it out.
The first thing you see is a long tail of purple hair poking out from a pile. After a little bit of digging, you find Patchouli, face down beneath a stack of books, apparently asleep. You notice that despite being buried under books, there's a small space open in front of her, and in that space, a book is laying open. You ignore it for now and shake her to wake her up. She comes around and begins to open her eyes.
"Huh? Alice?" she says sleepily, squirming a little despite still being half buried in books. "Oh, that's right."
A few seconds of moving books later, and Patchouli is able to pull herself from the pile up and takes a seat on the pile, rubbing her eyes.
"I must have dozed off while reading..." she said, still sounding half asleep. You look back down at the open book in the small clearing. She decided to read instead of try to free herself when she got stuck?
"You were buried in books though," you say, a bit concerned. "Weren't you worried you would be stuck?"
Patchouli looks at you like the thought never crossed her mind.
"Koakuma would have found me eventually. It's not like I'll die of old age or hunger or anything," she says, leaning forward to pick up the book, which she starts reading again immediately. "I'd been looking for this book lately anyway, and when I saw it in front of me, well..." she said, not finishing the sentence. Truly weak for books it seems.
"The doors were locked, I assume for protection from what's going on in the rest of the house?" you ask. Patchouli simply nods, already caught up in her book.
"Well, I should probably tell the others that I found you, and I have more questions for you about my research as well." you say, floating into the air. You can already see Koakuma nearby, and in the distance you can see Meiling chasing Marisa, who from this distance seems to be carrying several books. You call out to Koakuma, who flies over to you. A few second later, Koakuma and Patchouli float up, Koakuma leading Patchouli as she's too busy with the book still to even look where she's flying. You follow them to one of the many small tables spotted around the library, where Patchouli immediately takes a seat. You take the eyes you took out of your pocket.
"I've managed to get some eyes, though I was wondering what it was I needed to do to be able to use them for my research." you say.
"You'll need to be able to synchronize them with the mind, so that they will be able to work together with the brain in order to properly analyze their surroundings. I don't have any suggestions for what to do about creating a brain though, you can't just use a real brain unless you want to run the risk of giving your doll a dormant split personality. Your best bet would be to try to create a complex spell centered on a small enough object to fit in the head to simulate a concious, sentient mind. Something like that is beyond the capabilities of a single magician to cast however."
You're still amazed how quickly she can produce information. You briefly think that perhaps you should try to talk her into finishing the research, since she'd likely be able to do it quicker than you could.
[] "How many would I need?"
[] "Is there -any- other alternative?"
[] "You'd help me cast the spell, right?"
