Maribel Quest Perpetuation: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>Ponder if it is almost as surprising to not be surprised?
>Go gather up the futon
>Did Renko have any other possessions around here that we knew of?

>You wonder if Kogasa has achieved a level of meta-surprise on you?  How disturbing.
>You gather the futon and roll it up, while Renko sets herself to taking the teepee down.
>Aside from those two things, there is nothing else to gather.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Some pleasant memories here, isn't there? My first night in Gensokyo. And my first with you. The place sure feels different without all the fairies around."
>"Anyhow, lets get this stuff back home."
>Return home

[Hello Purvis]

>"Some pleasant memories here, isn't there? My first night in Gensokyo. And my first with you. The place sure feels different without all the fairies around."
>"Anyhow, lets get this stuff back home."
>Return home

>"Mmmhmm," says Renko. "And yeah, without all the faeries, it kinda feels like the magic is gone. So yeah, let's get it home. Maybe we'll sneak back here one of these days."
>You return back to your home. Thankfully, it has suffered no further fire damage while you were away.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Hopefully, even in Gensokyo, bonfires don't spontaneously reignite themselves when you're not looking.
>Right?
>Enter the house, and deposit the futon in the room that we've designated as our new bedroom

[Hello Purvis]

>Hopefully, even in Gensokyo, bonfires don't spontaneously reignite themselves when you're not looking.
>Right?
>Enter the house, and deposit the futon in the room that we've designated as our new bedroom

>You hope to whatever gods happen to like you that they don't.
>You head inside and place the futon in the far corner of the northwestern room. It looks very lonely there, but it'll do for now. In the meantime, Renko leaves the teepee off to the edge of the southwestern room.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Can't wait to get a few more things and make this place look a little less empty. Hopefully we won't have too long before we have the resources to do that with now, though."
>"Anyway, I think I might go thank Marisa for the bracelet again. I'd hate to have gone through that battle today without it. Bet she didn't think it would be stress-tested that quickly, either."
>"That and, well... I'm sorta wondering what she'll think about this whole Alice thing, after what happened."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Can't wait to get a few more things and make this place look a little less empty. Hopefully we won't have too long before we have the resources to do that with now, though."
>"Anyway, I think I might go thank Marisa for the bracelet again. I'd hate to have gone through that battle today without it. Bet she didn't think it would be stress-tested that quickly, either."
>"That and, well... I'm sorta wondering what she'll think about this whole Alice thing, after what happened."

>Renko nods. "Some curtains and a dresser would liven this place up a lot."
>"I wouldn't mind seeing Marisa again. And yeah, she needs to know about Alice."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, let's get going, then."
>Head to Marisa's

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, let's get going, then."
>Head to Marisa's

>You leave the house once again, and head toward Marisa's house. It's not a very long walk. Passing by Kourindou along the way, you not nothing particularly different there.
>You reach Marisa's house without incident. You see no sign of her in the yard.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Knock on the door
>Do we have any idea about how many hours may have passed since we saw her crash?

[Hello Purvis]

>Knock on the door
>Do we have any idea about how many hours may have passed since we saw her crash?

>You knock on the door.
>It's been about half a day, less a few hours. You're pretty sure she should be-
>The door opens, and Marisa darkens the threshold.
>"Oh hey," she says. "Looks like you two brought the ruckus this afternoon."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"The... ruckus? I guess you read it already, then?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"The... ruckus? I guess you read it already, then?"

>"Yep," says Marisa. "Most enlightening thing I've read on the cheap. So, what were you doing that for?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, Renko can probably explain her motivations better than I could. I was really just an observer during the first battle. I gave the mansion fair warning, tried to convince them that Renko didn't mean any genuine harm. I stayed to watch, and try to make sure that she, or anyone else for that matter, didn't get seriously hurt."
>"And also... to try and stop Alice if she really did what I was worried she'd do."

[Kilgamayan]

> "Speaking of Alice...I talked to Patchouli after everything, and she told me not to hold the attack against her. I...guess there are still some things I don't understand with magicians, like there's some kind of universally accepted magician ambition or something, but...if Patchouli doesn't hold a grudge over Alice trying to ransack her house, I guess I shouldn't either."
> "That being said, Alice admitted to my face that she was only using Renko to further her own ends the entire time, and pretty much never actually cared. That...that's gonna take a bit more time to forgive."

[E-Nazrin]

Oh Kilga, you and your baby rabies

We can speak of Alice's plans without going blind now, right?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, Renko can probably explain her motivations better than I could. I was really just an observer during the first battle. I gave the mansion fair warning, tried to convince them that Renko didn't mean any genuine harm. I stayed to watch, and try to make sure that she, or anyone else for that matter, didn't get seriously hurt."
>"And also... to try and stop Alice if she really did what I was worried she'd do."

>Marisa nods, and looks to Renko.
>"It's hard to explain," Renko says. "Just, it was something that I needed to do, once I saw that i could. There's a bit more to it, but it's kind of personal. Just, I knew it would work."
>"You're not going to make a habit of it, are you?" Marisa says.
>Renko shakes her head. "I don't intend to."

> "Speaking of Alice...I talked to Patchouli after everything, and she told me not to hold the attack against her. I...guess there are still some things I don't understand with magicians, like there's some kind of universally accepted magician ambition or something, but...if Patchouli doesn't hold a grudge over Alice trying to ransack her house, I guess I shouldn't either."
> "That being said, Alice admitted to my face that she was only using Renko to further her own ends the entire time, and pretty much never actually cared. That...that's gonna take a bit more time to forgive."

>"I need to go talk with Alice," says Marisa. "I've never seen her get like that, and I didn't have any idea that she was working on a thing like that. But, well, Patchouli does have a point. There's nothing really strange about it, it's just inspiration driving you, you know? Just like any artist or poet. It tends to get worse with youkai."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "When you go, would you mind telling her that I'm sorry we had that conflict? I mean, I would defend the mansion from theft like that again if it came to it, but I didn't do it just to stomp on her inspiration. Given the condition the mansion was in, I would have defended it from theft from anyone. I even talked Renko down from the same idea yesterday."
> "Although, you say you've never seen her get like that before...there was a point during the battle where the construct started moving on its own, after Alice had been knocked out cold, and it seemed to be learning as it continued fighting. I was also told by a reliable source that...it's main drive was to kill me. Reisen supposedly ejected the evil from it the first time around, but I wonder if she didn't get all of it. Maybe...maybe Alice has been adversely affected by it for some time, or at least the pieces of it."
> "...Don't tell her I said that, though. Let her come out with it on her own if it's really what happened."

[E-Nazrin]

Suggest:
"I can understand getting passionate about something, but grand theft and using people as nothing more than tools to that end..."
Deep breath.
"I guess I can see how it would be understandable, but it's... not something I'm eager to forgive, either."
"I am willing to try and give her the benefit of the doubt if she's able to show something better of herself, but... I doubt that would be easy for either of us. If you're willing to help figure out how to patch things up or get her to shape up, then I'd appreciate it."

[Hello Purvis]

> "When you go, would you mind telling her that I'm sorry we had that conflict? I mean, I would defend the mansion from theft like that again if it came to it, but I didn't do it just to stomp on her inspiration. Given the condition the mansion was in, I would have defended it from theft from anyone. I even talked Renko down from the same idea yesterday."
> "Although, you say you've never seen her get like that before...there was a point during the battle where the construct started moving on its own, after Alice had been knocked out cold, and it seemed to be learning as it continued fighting. I was also told by a reliable source that...it's main drive was to kill me. Reisen supposedly ejected the evil from it the first time around, but I wonder if she didn't get all of it. Maybe...maybe Alice has been adversely affected by it for some time, or at least the pieces of it."
> "...Don't tell her I said that, though. Let her come out with it on her own if it's really what happened."

>"You'll get the opportunity to talk to her about it on your own soon enough, " says Marisa. "But I'm not too surprised one of her projects acted without her; that's what she does. But it was really picking up some kind of killing instinct, huh? Don't think Shanghai and the rest ever got that. And don't worry, I won't say anything about your theories, but maybe I'll poke her in that direction like it was my own idea."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Whatever there was of its 'mind' was manifesting nothing but a growing anger, and an imperative to destroy. Or so Koishi said she sensed in it, anyway. Said that was just all it knew. And I can believe it, after fighting it. You're right, it was nothing like her dolls at all."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Is... it normal for them to... cry?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Whatever there was of its 'mind' was manifesting nothing but a growing anger, and an imperative to destroy. Or so Koishi said she sensed in it, anyway. Said that was just all it knew. And I can believe it, after fighting it. You're right, it was nothing like her dolls at all."

>Marisa nods.

>"Is... it normal for them to... cry?"

>"Kind of," says Marisa. "They don't have emotions, exactly, as I understand it. They're just made to react to things in certain ways. Whether they really feel it or not, I don't know. Of course, once you give a doll a person's shape, move it like a person, and treat it like a person, it's pretty much going to become one sooner or later. At least that's what Alice says."

[Kilgamayan]

> "Huh. That sounds oddly similar to what happened with the construct..."
> "Also, I should thank you very much for being understanding about all this, since we, uh, did just invade the house of one of your best friends and beat another over the head with a frying pan."

[DracoOmega]

>"I wanted to thank you again for this."
>Gesture to the bracelet
>"I don't know that we could have done it without it. I gave it some of myself, like you said, during the fight against the construct. It was... unbelievable, while it lasted. I don't know that we would have opened a big enough hole its chest to get the grimoire out without it."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Huh. That sounds oddly similar to what happened with the construct..."
> "Also, I should thank you very much for being understanding about all this, since we, uh, did just invade the house of one of your best friends and beat another over the head with a frying pan."

>"Well, it says all you took was the food," says Marisa, "And you're not going to make a habit of it. Though that's going to be an interesting tea with Remilia. And, well, I've beat up Alice before."
>She shrugs.
>"So there's no point in getting too worked up over it.

>"I wanted to thank you again for this."
>Gesture to the bracelet
>"I don't know that we could have done it without it. I gave it some of myself, like you said, during the fight against the construct. It was... unbelievable, while it lasted. I don't know that we would have opened a big enough hole its chest to get the grimoire out without it."

>"No problem," says Marisa. "Thanks for giving me the idea. Ate up pretty much my whole stock until I can boil through those mushrooms you got me, but it was worth it. And yeah, once you get good with a focus, you can do some amazing things with them."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to get some good practice in with it, when I'm less busy fighting for my life. It, uh, kinda felt like I'd run a marathon after that blast. Patchouli said I probably gave it too much."
>"And, uh, what was that about tea?"

[E-Nazrin]

>Maybe Gensokyo IS as understanding as Renko thought...
>"Though I think I understand what you said about feeding it love, now..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to get some good practice in with it, when I'm less busy fighting for my life. It, uh, kinda felt like I'd run a marathon after that blast. Patchouli said I probably gave it too much."
>"And, uh, what was that about tea?"

>"Oh yeah, it's not something you should be trying to learn like that," says Marisa. "You do it wrong, and it'll leave you dry. There's an balance you have to strike, so you probably did give it too much."
>"I said that's going to be an interesting tea you'll have with Remilia."

>Maybe Gensokyo IS as understanding as Renko thought...
>"Though I think I understand what you said about feeding it love, now..."

>Maybe...
>Marisa nods. "You just got to use what works best for you."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I suppose that mightn't be a bad idea.... I'll admit the thought of it makes me a tad nervous at the moment, though."
>"I'd never actually met her before this, and I hear she can be a little... temperamental."