EZMode !iIyIHD.1G6 2008/06/10 (Tue) 19:36 No. 41444 So, someone said something about walls, so have some walls. Impending original backstory.
[x] "Why do you live in the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"
[x] "Why did you summon Koakuma?"
[x] "Are there any books in this library you can't read?"
Patchouli reclines in her seat, as if thinking. Koakuma swoops by with some tea, pouring cups for the both of you.
"From what I understand, Remilia met my mother long ago, when she was a girl living on the streets. At the time, Remilia had decided to take the girl as a meal, though when she attempted to attack, she was surprised to find that despite her young age she could cast magic." Patchouli said, taking a sip of her tea. "Remilia has always had a fascination with power, and she offered the girl a life in her mansion, to keep her as something of a pet. It was a rather whimsical act that no one would even notice, a homeless girl vanishes from the street in the night, and all she had to her name was a tattered book no one could read. No one but her at least."
Patchouli looks down at the book sitting in front of her as if recalling something. She idly runs her fingers along the edges of the pages for a second.
"She was given a rather exquisite life, able to roam the house as she pleased, eat all the fantastic meals made by the butler at the time, a very peculiar man. She was given a room in the far corner of the mansion," Patchouli continues, looking around at the library. As if in response, you start looking around as well, expecting to see something when it occurs to you that this library is in a far corner. You look back at Patchouli, who is smiling. "This was my mothers room. Once it was little more than just a small room, no more than a walk in closet. During the day she would sit in her room and read her book, over and over, and at night she would go outside and play with Remilia. Well, one day," Patchouli stops for a moment, pulling a small slip of paper out of seemingly nowhere and sliding it into the book as a marker, she closes it. "She asked for a pen and some paper. She didn't go outside that night, or the next night. Remilia was wondering why her pet human was being so quiet, and when she went to check, she found her, stained with ink and beaming over a pile of papers, each written in the same strange language as the book she read. It was the first magic book she wrote."
Patchouli takes another break to drink some tea. She takes a few seconds to get back to her story as she spends a few moments seeming to piece together the words in her mind.
"Every once in a while, she would ask for more ink and more paper, and a few days later she would have a new ink-stained stack of papers, written in the same language, each of them bound with string. After several months, Remilia has become a little annoyed by the constant requests, and went to her pet's room, only to find it packed nearly wall to wall with crudely fashioned books. They were magic books, as she explained to Remilia. They were nothing like the books in here now, filled with detailed theory and ritual procedures, they were the scattered thoughts of a girl's wild imagination for the impossible. To keep her pet happy, Remilia rebuilt the room, so it was a proper sized bedroom." Patchouli takes another moment with her tea. You decide to take a sip of yours as well, rather enjoying the taste. It has a very peculiar metallic taste to it, but it's faint enough that you almost can't notice it.
"The years pressed on, and Remilia eventually lost interest in her pet, but never asked her to leave the house. Instead, she would visit from time to time, finding her buried in a pile of paper, or asleep on a half written stack. She would occasionally leave the house, having grown up enough to manage the trip to the nearby town on her own, carrying stacks of her crude books and returning with a pouch full of coins. Remilia found this particularly interesting, and followed her one day to find her selling the papers to a bookstore. Every once in a while, the girl would leave with new books or incense rather than money. Eventually, she started returning more with books then money, and her room had to be rebuilt once again. Despite the hassle, Remilia allowed it out of curiosity. It wasn't too long later that the girl grew into a woman, and with her age came her new power, having fully become a magician and no longer being a human. She celebrated this occasion with Remilia, who had finally become curious enough as to take a look at the books her former pet had been writing."
Another brief tea break occurs, with Koakuma dropping by the table with a small plate of some kind of pastry. You're somewhat curious as to where she keeps bringing things from, though you decide it's not that important.
"My mother shared her books with Remilia, even though she couldn't read any but one. SHe offered to teach Remilia, though she declined, stating that she was just curious and would be able to figure it out on her own. In the long run, she did, even though she had to flat out lie about why she kept getting caught sneaking into the room to take another book. My mother would mention magic while talking with Remilia, and find ways to slip bits of knowledge into casual conversation, teaching her small tricks as if it was part of normal conversation. Whether or not Remilia caught on, I don't know, but she didn't question it either. During all this time, the room kept being rebuilt, due to an increasing number of books being written and purchased. She had become rather proficient in binding her own books, even going so far as to find a regular publisher, which was rare at the time. Several decades passed, and the room had become a library at that point, with my mother located in the center of it all, constantly reading new books or writing more."
"It was several more decades later that the publisher stopped accepting books written by my mother, as they were coming under attack for involvement in magic. There was an increasing awareness of the subject, and more and more people were becoming afraid. People who were accused of being magicians were being attacked more and more, so my mother stayed inside every day, reading and writing more books. Despite the danger, she would still leave the house on occasion, though Remilia never paid it much mind until my mother returned on day, hand in hand with the son of the publishing company's owner. He had been buying her books in secret and publishing them through the company under false pretenses, and in the process they fell for each other, even though he was a human and she was a magician. The original intent was for my mother to leave Remilia's estate and settle in another country, and they lived in peace for several years, even after I was born. The peace lasted until they were smoked out by devious hunters, magic users captured and forced to find and kill other magic users. My father was killed, and my mother went into hiding with me."
Patchouli takes another break, refilling her cup of tea and taking one of the pastries from the plate.
