Maribel Quest Continuation: A Z-Machine Adventure

[E-Nazrin]

>"You wanna die? Wouldn't that be meaningless for a fairy? If you want, it can be arranged..."
>"That... could be pretty useful, actually. I definitely think it's worth asking about."
>Ruffle her hair a little.
>"Chin up, now. These things take time. Don't give up too easily."

[Hello Purvis]

>"You wanna die? Wouldn't that be meaningless for a fairy? If you want, it can be arranged..."
>"That... could be pretty useful, actually. I definitely think it's worth asking about."
>Ruffle her hair a little.
>"Chin up, now. These things take time. Don't give up too easily."

>Oh shit she stole your kidney while you were hugging her.
>You ruffle her hair and offer her words of encouragement "You...really think so?" says Plum Flower.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How much did we donate to Reimu the first time around?

[Hello Purvis]

> How much did we donate to Reimu the first time around?

>Precisely nothing. You had no money at the time.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> What about any other time we have visited Reimu, not counting this one?

[Hello Purvis]

> What about any other time we have visited Reimu, not counting this one?

>This is the only other time you've visited.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I think it's certainly worth asking if you can help out somehow. You just overwhelmed her with all that affection all at once. It takes a little while for someone to get used to that, you know?"
>Leave a 30☼ donation

[Kilgamayan]

> Weird. I could have sworn we gave her something at some point. Well, whatever.
> Do NOT donate any money ourselves.
> If Reimu is still inside, fish out 27 currency for Plum Flower and bring our voice down.
> "When Reimu comes back, put this in that box."
> Point at the donation box.
> "Don't talk about it or make a big deal out of it. Just do it and then come back here. She'll like that."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I think it's certainly worth asking if you can help out somehow. You just overwhelmed her with all that affection all at once. It takes a little while for someone to get used to that, you know?"
>Leave a 30☼ donation

> Weird. I could have sworn we gave her something at some point. Well, whatever.
> Do NOT donate any money ourselves.
> If Reimu is still inside, fish out 27 currency for Plum Flower and bring our voice down.
> "When Reimu comes back, put this in that box."
> Point at the donation box.
> "Don't talk about it or make a big deal out of it. Just do it and then come back here. She'll like that."

>"O-okay," she says. "I just couldn't help myself...she's just so great..."
>You consider donating for a moment, then decide to let Plum Flower do it, handing her 27☼. It is something of an armload for her.
>"Okay, I can do that!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Good. But remember, if she gives you something or invites you in, you'll need to be calm. Reimu likes it when people behave."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Good. But remember, if she gives you something or invites you in, you'll need to be calm. Reimu likes it when people behave."

>"But, I was behaving..." she says, frowning.
>Before you can answer, Reimu steps out of the shrine, carrying a satchel. Plum Flower immediately sets off for the donation box, flying a little erratically to keep from spilling the coins, and dumps them all into the box.
>Reimu chuckles and hands you a glass jar with talismans affixed to it in several spots. "There, that'll hold any ghost you can stuff into it. Anyways, you can come along if you want, but there probably won't be much to do."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Take the jar
>"Thank you. And I think I'd like to come along. At the very least, I'd like to see how this works."

[Kilgamayan]

> Probably a good idea to hold off admonishing Plum Flower until she acts out again.
> "Plum Flower, would you like to come with us?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Take the jar
>"Thank you. And I think I'd like to come along. At the very least, I'd like to see how this works."

>"Alright," says Reimu, as she takes a picks up a gohei leaning against the door frame.
>As she does, Plum Flower approaches her. You can see Reimu brace herself. "Um...ah..." the faerie says. "I...um...want to help out. Um...if it's okay... I can...um...sew..."
>"Eh, maybe," says Reimu. "I'll think about it."
>The look that lights up Plum Flower's face is at once quite uplifting and somewhat depressing.
>"Right, lead the way," Reimu says to you.

> Probably a good idea to hold off admonishing Plum Flower until she acts out again.
> "Plum Flower, would you like to come with us?"

>"Yes yes yes yes yes!" cries the faerie.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, welcome aboard."
>Head back to the haunted house

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, welcome aboard."
>Head back to the haunted house

>You think Reimu groans a little, but if she did it is drowned out by Plum Flower's gleeful squeal as she flies out ahead of you.
>You head back toward the abandoned house, Reimu flying beside you while Plum Flower zips ahead, invariably trails off the wrong way, then  doubles back and returns.
>"That was cute, with the donation," Reimu says, her tone conversational. "But you really shouldn't have given her more money than she could normally carry if you were gonna try to put one over on me."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Curse our lack of a sense of visual scale for these things
>"Well, it's the thought that counts, right? I'm sure she would have on her own if she knew what it meant."

[Hello Purvis]

>Curse our lack of a sense of visual scale for these things
>"Well, it's the thought that counts, right? I'm sure she would have on her own if she knew what it meant."

>Well, an armload is a pretty good visual.
>"...Yeah, you're probably right about the second part." she says after a moment. "Where'd you even meet her, anyways?"

>_

[Kasu]

> "She attacked me on the path to the shrine on my first visit because she thought I'd cause you trouble.  I think she's been guarding it for awhile actually."

[Kilgamayan]

> "I met her around your shrine. I think she's been around you for a while, given how crazy she is for you."
> "My outside-world friend has actually spent some time with the faeries, and they really like her. She says that they're actually really good with sewing. If you have any need for sewing or fabric  repairs, Plum Flower is bound to be good for it."

[Hello Purvis]

> "She attacked me on the path to the shrine on my first visit because she thought I'd cause you trouble.  I think she's been guarding it for awhile actually."

> "I met her around your shrine. I think she's been around you for a while, given how crazy she is for you."
> "My outside-world friend has actually spent some time with the faeries, and they really like her. She says that they're actually really good with sewing. If you have any need for sewing or fabric  repairs, Plum Flower is bound to be good for it."

>"Huh," Reimu says, "I wonder if anyone actually came that she might have chased off?"
>She a little frowns. "Really? Well...I might have a few things that could do with a little darning... Much as I hate to encourage her"
>You can see the abandoned house not too far up ahead.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I know it seems kinda odd, but she's completely devoted to you. Train her a little and give her some food every day and you could have youeself a pretty darn loyal assistant. It seems to work for those folks in that mansion."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I know it seems kinda odd, but she's completely devoted to you. Train her a little and give her some food every day and you could have youeself a pretty darn loyal assistant. It seems to work for those folks in that mansion."

>"Maybe," says Reimu. "To be honest, I don't have a clue how Sakuya does it. You wouldn't think she'd have the patience for it. But there she is, getting probably a hundred or more of them in line..."

>_

[E-Nazrin]

I'm rather doubtful most of the fairy maids started off as fangirls.

Better tact might be to try humoring her as a useful friend until she loses interest - that's how fairies usually operate, isn't it?

>"I'm... rather curious as well. I've gotten the impression her methods may not be the kindest, but I haven't heard any real details."

---
And how convenient, a way to tie into the loose end we have with the SDM! We still need to figure out how to resolve that issue - it might be as simple as satisfying Renko's need for a grand feat, or it might require making sure that the SDM is being reasonable in fairy treatment. It might just be that the structured environment doesn't suit them for the most part. That Sakuya allows actual turnover shows that she isn't a COMPLETE tyrant. We should probably investigate what the situation really is, rather than rely on the biased sample of the fairies that were inspired to leave.

[Kilgamayan]

Hmm. This is an interesting opportunity. If we can endear Reimu to Plum Flower enough, she might be useful in solving the fairy respect issue without any fighting. It's worth considering telling her about the mass desertion, since she's brought Sakuya up.

[Kilgamayan]

Double post because lolphoneposting.

Renko said that some fairies can get crazy loyal, like the one we talked to. It's a good bet Plum Flower isn't going to up and lose interest.

[E-Nazrin]

While having Reimu being relatively friendly to fairies would be nice for them, I rather doubt she'd make a point of encouraging others to do the same. It's not a bad start, and it's cute, but it's not going to be enough.

... good point about the occasional hardcore loyalty, though. Maybe we can look for patterns among those that stayed?

[Hello Purvis]

I>"I'm... rather curious as well. I've gotten the impression her methods may not be the kindest, but I haven't heard any real details."

>"Wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't nice," says Reimu. "But I dunno."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

As long as she doesn't actively discourage the idea, I think Reimu simply having a fairy buddy at all will be a big victory for fairykind, because she's bloody Reimu. I don't think it would be too hard to work from there toward avoiding a battle with the SDM. Maybe it would be enough that Renko would be satisfied with knocking Alice down.

[E-Nazrin]

>"The whole place seems to have that sort of reputation, actually... why is that?"
>... wait, what happened to Plum's fairy cohort from earlier?