Hatate Quest Nelja

[Hello Purvis]

>Have a seat near Celes. "Find anything?"

[Oldmansour]

>Have a seat near Celes. "Find anything?"

>"A great deal. Liluye has proven to be an excellent source of information. She has been here for far longer than I had thought. Decades, in fact." Sparing a glance at Meiling, Celes finishes with, "And she has great insight into situations outside of the norm."

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod. "Things have been...interesting around home. I'll get into it later. Right now, I kinda want a bit of a touch up."

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "Things have been...interesting around home. I'll get into it later. Right now, I kinda want a bit of a touch up."

>"May I assume that Momiji will be joining us later?" she asks cautiously.

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod.

>"Very good. I was hoping she had not become distracted in the interim."

>Finally finished, the Scarlet Manor gatekeeper hops out of her chair, doing a little spin to test out her new hairstyle, her red locks now gently curled at the ends. It is simplistic, but she wears it well. "Thanks again, Lily." she says, evidently not even trying to pronounce Liluye's name correctly.
>The barber does not seem the least bit offended as she nods. "Hhh, you and your friends from the Manor are always a pleasure to serve." she says as she accepts a small satchel from Meiling. Liluye's voice is rather deep for a woman's, and vaguely gravelly. "Please, give my regards to Flandre when you return home."
>"Sure thing!" the gatekeeper says brightly, giving you and Celes a polite nod in passing as she makes her way out of the barber shop.

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod back, then wait for Meiling to leave. Give it a few seconds to make sure she doesn't come back because she forgot something.
>Assuming the above conditions are met, quietly ask Celes: "Are we clear?"

>_

[Oldmansour]

>Nod back, then wait for Meiling to leave. Give it a few seconds to make sure she doesn't come back because she forgot something.
>Assuming the above conditions are met, quietly ask Celes: "Are we clear?"

>_

>A moment's pause shows Meiling strolling by the window facing the outside on the way down the road. She does not return.
>The Rider spares a glance at Ranka. "Forgive me for asking this, Ranka." she apologizes, then turns back to you, "You are certain of her?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"She's good. Don't worry. Miji and I both think she checks out. And we got Aya, too. They're doing some things."

[Oldmansour]

>"She's good. Don't worry. Miji and I both think she checks out. And we got Aya, too. They're doing some things."

>"Exactly what do you mean by 'got'?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"She's coming back with us."

[Oldmansour]

>"She's coming back with us."

>"Glad to hear it. I do hope that you didn't have to resort to, shall we say, drastic measures?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not quite. Came kinda close, but then I cleared my head up a little bit and changed tactics."

[Oldmansour]

>"Not quite. Came kinda close, but then I cleared my head up a little bit and changed tactics."

>"You and Momiji must have been very persuasive, indeed." Celes compliments you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Heh. But anyways, have you found anything out?"
>How does this barber's winds feel, anyways?

[Oldmansour]

>"Heh. But anyways, have you found anything out?"
>How does this barber's winds feel, anyways?

>Celes nods. "We have indeed." The steward nods towards Liluye, who is presently sweeping up the hair her previous customers left behind. "Liluye is like us. She was pulled into this book and trapped. However, unlike us, she has been here for over 50 years."
>Very peculiar. She's a youkai, and normally you can't get as much off of non-tengu youkai as you can your own kind. This woman, however, has a fairly strong presence. The winds about her carry that same smoky scent as her shop, as fell as a whiff of some kind of oil and gunpowder. She stands out as a stark contrast to the world around her. Even if Celes hadn't said so, you'd have no trouble telling she's from your world.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, she feels real. Interesting presence, too. I guess she was before my time. Or our time, I guess?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah, she feels real. Interesting presence, too. I guess she was before my time. Or our time, I guess?"

>"Perhaps not. She claims to have arrived in Gensokyo in the 1950's. I believe you would have been born before then?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, but things were different. We didn't look outward so much back then, so we really only knew about the important names."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah, but things were different. We didn't look outward so much back then, so we really only knew about the important names."

>"Then you most likely would not have heard of her, if you'll pardon me saying so, Liluye." The dark-skinned woman grunts an affirmative. "Liluye is a vampire hunter, or at least was in our world. She came to Gensokyo to investigate the rumors she had heard of powerful vampires hiding out there. Evidently the first building she saw was the Cobalt Keep. We are all still sealed at the time, but she investigated the Keep anyway. I suspect she may have sensed some of the lingering power of him. Eventually she found the library, and the same book that we saw. And was trapped by it just as we were."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Huh. Geeze, sorry to hear that. And you've been here for that long, huh?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Huh. Geeze, sorry to hear that. And you've been here for that long, huh?"

>The barber gives you an affirmative nod as she sweeps the area in front of the door.
>"What I found truly amazing, is that she has no succumbed to the influence of the book." Celes says, the respect plain in her voice. "I've seen many strong individuals succumb to these kinds of traps in less than a year, and yet she is still herself after more than half a century."
>"I had no idea." Ranka adds. "I'm a part of the trap, but I don't remember once thinking that you were fighting it."
>"Mh, it is not that I fought." the gravel-voiced barber replies as she flicks the 'open' sign over to 'closed'. "I simply found a firm stone to anchor myself to, while the waters flowed around me."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah?"

>Lilyue lowers the blinds in her shop, shutting out the outside world. "When I found myself in a world that had changed, I communed with the spirits, and I found that the spirits had become a lie."

[Hello Purvis]

>"So what'd you do?"

[Oldmansour]

>"So what'd you do?"

>The dark skinned woman smiles faintly. "I kept my head above water."

[Hello Purvis]

>"That's a bit too cryptic to tell me much."

[Oldmansour]

>"That's a bit too cryptic to tell me much."

>Liluye appears vaguely dissapointed, then she nods. "Mmh, perhaps this is so." The warrior lifts her broom off of the floor. "Allow me to rephrase my answer, then. What am I holding?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"A broom. But I am gonna guess that you're gonna get metaphysical and say nothing."

[Oldmansour]

>"A broom. But I am gonna guess that you're gonna get metaphysical and say nothing."

>"I am holding a lie." Well, you were partly right. "That is how I retained the sense of self that others have lost. Not once in all these years has that thought left my mind."