Maribel Quest Perpetuation: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ok, sounds great, thanks."
>"Anything else you wanted to know? About today's events, or otherwise?"

>"Well, I'm kind curious how you got the faeries to do all that stuff," says Marisa.
>"There's a trick to it," says Renko. "Suffice it to say, it's a trade secret. But the first step is to treat them like you're best friend."
>Marisa nods. "Thought it'd be something like that..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"They're not as bad as they first seemed, once I got to know them a little."
>"If anything, a nice side benefit to all this is that they're less likely to unpleasantly accost me as I go about my business."
>"Oh, speaking of which, I don't suppose you've been to Reimu's since yesterday evening?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"They're not as bad as they first seemed, once I got to know them a little."
>"If anything, a nice side benefit to all this is that they're less likely to unpleasantly accost me as I go about my business."
>"Oh, speaking of which, I don't suppose you've been to Reimu's since yesterday evening?"

>"They're alright in small doses," says Marisa. "But after a bit, they'll give you as much trouble as anyone else. Faeries don't have that much of a memory."
>"No, I've not seen her since. Why?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, it's just that a fairy professed her undying love for her yesterday, and actually ended up sleeping over there last night. It was rather adorable, I thought."
>"Reimu's got her sewing things up for her, now."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, it's just that a fairy professed her undying love for her yesterday, and actually ended up sleeping over there last night. It was rather adorable, I thought."
>"Reimu's got her sewing things up for her, now."

>"What?" says Marisa, who is most definitely stifling a giggle. "Poor Reimu! Geez..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, I'd kinda feel a little sorry for her, too, if it wasn't so cute to watch."
>"Anyway, I think we may head off, now. Thanks for everything, again."
>Assuming no further questions or followups, exit and return to the main path

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I'd kinda feel a little sorry for her, too, if it wasn't so cute to watch."
>"Anyway, I think we may head off, now. Thanks for everything, again."
>Assuming no further questions or followups, exit and return to the main path

>"Might have to go see for myself," says Marisa. "And no problem."
>You leave Marisa's home behind and move on.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Head off to the human village

[Hello Purvis]

>Head off to the human village

>You make your way toward the human village. It is an uneventful, if somewhat long trip by foot.
>The village is bustling away, as the afternoon draws a fairly close to evening. You get a few more looks from the townspeople than usual.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Go poke our head in the tavern

[Hello Purvis]

>Go poke our head in the tavern

>You peek into the tavern. It's fairly busy at the moment. Among the mix of townspeople and farmers, you notice a woman with tiger-striped hair sitting at a booth; she seems oddly familiar; Nitori at a small table, and at the bar is the distinctive plaid clothing of Yuka, who is being given a polite amount of elbow room, to say the least. The blue-haired barkeeper is busy dealing with everyone. The atmosphere is still friendly, but subdued compared to last night.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Can we figure out why she might seem oddly familiar?

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we figure out why she might seem oddly familiar?

>You ponder for a moment where you might have seen her. You feel it  was yesterday, and not via any direct interaction...
>You notice a few people looking your way, then talking among themselves.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Quietly to Renko: "Well, I guess you've succeeded in getting people talking about us."

[Hello Purvis]

>Quietly to Renko: "Well, I guess you've succeeded in getting people talking about us."

>Renko chuckles, grinning like a fool. "Yep."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Grin back at her
>If Nitori doesn't seem especially preoccupied, walk over and say hi

[Hello Purvis]

>Grin back at her
>If Nitori doesn't seem especially preoccupied, walk over and say hi

>You try to match her grin, but frankly, having people staring and whispering about you is kind of embarrassing.
>Approaching Nitori, you see that she's glance at what seems to be a sketchpad. She looks up as you approach. "Oh, hey again. Looks like you two made quit a stir."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, I suppose we did at that. Was, uh, a little more excitement than I'd been banking on this afternoon."
>"How've things been with you?"
>Can we discretely glance at what's on the sketchpad? Does it seem to be plans for anything we'd recognize?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I suppose we did at that. Was, uh, a little more excitement than I'd been banking on this afternoon."
>"How've things been with you?"
>Can we discretely glance at what's on the sketchpad? Does it seem to be plans for anything we'd recognize?

>Nitori chuckles. "I've been fine. Nice slow day. Had a game with shoji with Momiji today. Didn't get to finish before her lunch break ended. Think I'm going to have to shelve that air conditioner for awhile, though."
>You try to take a discreet look at the sketchpad. You're not at a good angle for it, and what you see are mostly confusing grids.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, why is that?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, why is that?"

>"Can't get a good power source on it," she says. "Well, not one worth getting for a prototype, anyways."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, that's too bad."
>"I don't suppose that means the other project would be less of an interruption now, though?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, that's too bad."
>"I don't suppose that means the other project would be less of an interruption now, though?"

>"Until I get some inspiration, at least," says Nitori.  "And some muscle to actually put the stupid thing together."

[DracoOmega]

>"I asked a couple people about helping out with that. No serious hits yet, but I've been a little preoccupied today, as you can probably figure."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I asked a couple people about helping out with that. No serious hits yet, but I've been a little preoccupied today, as you can probably figure."

>Nitori nods. "Well, if you catch anyone, it'd help."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I'll definitely try to rustle up some more people, as best I can. I'm pretty highly motivated."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'll definitely try to rustle up some more people, as best I can. I'm pretty highly motivated."

>Nitori nods. "That's good. Oh, any news from underground? I know you've been coming and going there. Utsuho okay?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, she's doing pretty good. Ran into a little relationship trouble as fallout from the whole Gensoyko Isle business, but at least some of that seems to be headed in a positive direction now. And Okuu's taken the worst of it pretty well in stride, too."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, she's doing pretty good. Ran into a little relationship trouble as fallout from the whole Gensoyko Isle business, but at least some of that seems to be headed in a positive direction now. And Okuu's taken the worst of it pretty well in stride, too."

>Nitori nods, frowning. "You mentioned some of those things beforehand. Anything I ought to know about?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I'm honestly not sure. Dunno how much of it she doesn't mind getting around and how much she wants kept private. If you have the time, though, I'd suggest going down there and visiting her. She'd probably be quite happy to see you. And you could find out what you needed to find out directly from her, instead of hearing it second-hand from me."