(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 2)

[DracoOmega]

>Nod to Jirou. "That's right. Signed on to deal with the cattle situation, as soon as this is done with."

>"I see." He pauses. "So you'll be heading back to Easthaven after this, in either case?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod. "That's the plan. Unless something big comes up."

[DracoOmega]

>Nod. "That's the plan. Unless something big comes up."

>There is a tense silence. Cirno bristles under it for a few moments before crying out  "You guys gonna move? Or do I have to make you-"
>"Do yourself a favor," Jirou says, still not looking in her direction, "and get a detailed invoice for every guilder that changes hands. I'll take your word for the moment - don't betray Ichirin's faith, even if she's too trusting for her own good." He gives Cirno a sidelong glance. "And next time, don't travel with such loudmouths."
>"Hey!" Cirno cries. "You calling me a loudmouth?! You don't even know who you're talking to. I'm-"
>"A fairy with a big mouth," Jirou interrupts. Cirno's hand quivers. You almost expect her to draw on him at any moment.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Are you about to attack someone unarmed for being honest with you, Cirno? Let's go make this delivery."
>Nod to Jirou. "I'll get one, alright."

[DracoOmega]

>"Are you about to attack someone unarmed for being honest with you, Cirno? Let's go make this delivery."
>Nod to Jirou. "I'll get one, alright."

>"He's the one starting it!" she protests. "I'll finish it, though, if any of you guys try anything." She fixes them with a determined glare.
>He nods back. "Do try to be quick about it," he says. "And if you don't show, expect a formal report to both the guild and the watch." With that, he flicks the reins and move his cart around Cirno's and back down the road.
>"That's right!" Cirno calls after them. "You're just lucky I'm in a hurry today!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Ponder just turning her over to the watch for brigandry.
>"I'll be as quick as I can."
>Also ponder why Jirou is so confident he could do anything about us if we decided to get insistant. One suspects secrets...
>Continue onward.

[DracoOmega]

>Ponder just turning her over to the watch for brigandry.
>"I'll be as quick as I can."
>Also ponder why Jirou is so confident he could do anything about us if we decided to get insistant. One suspects secrets...
>Continue onward.

>There might be a certain satisfaction in making her someone else's problem.
>You call out to Jirou as he passes, but get no further acknowledgment as his cart shrinks away down the road.
>That's a good question. Certainly the farmers flanking him who were actually armed (after a fashion) seemed rather more nervous than he did.
>You return to your cart and get ready to head out again. Cirno's previous irritation with the group seems to melt away as they disappear; no doubt she thinks she drove them off by shear force of awesomeness. Sadly, you get the impression Honeysuckle probably thinks similarly. Still, she asks for sidekick notes to take home from the encounter, and you do your best to give her an actually useful pointer or two; you're not certain how well she absorbs them, but there's only so much you can do.

>The rest of the trip passes without further event, and soon enough you come into sight of Braston.
>"Wow, it's so... big!" Honey says.

[Kips McKipzerson]

>"Dont forget Honey; The heros the strong one, The sidekicks the one thats smart. I'm pretty sure you can fit that bill."
>"Mhmmm, It sures is."

[Oldmansour]

>Grin at Honey.
>"This is the first time you've seen a big city, isn't it? Quite the sight."

[DracoOmega]

>"Dont forget Honey; The heros the strong one, The sidekicks the one thats smart. I'm pretty sure you can fit that bill."

>"But Cirno's smart, too..." she says, frowning a little. "I- I'll just have to make myself into an even smarter sidekick to make up for it!" She pauses and frowns again. "Um, how do you make yourself smarter?"

>"Mhmmm, It sures is."

>Grin at Honey.
>"This is the first time you've seen a big city, isn't it? Quite the sight."

>"It's amazing!" she says. "There must be... a hundred people here, at least!"

>You start to pass some of the buildings along the outskirts of Braston. Eastmarket is a couple minutes ahead of you, with the guildhall and The Melon Bowl being some distance to the west of that.

[Oldmansour]

>Better not tell Honey about the population figures of Braston. Poor fairy's head might explode.
>Are we still currently traveling behind Cirno's cart?

[Kips McKipzerson]

>You might want a Sky Gummi.
>"Try not to make too much noise. And what, You've never been to a city before?"
>How common are youkai in the city?

[DracoOmega]

>Better not tell Honey about the population figures of Braston. Poor fairy's head might explode.
>Are we still currently traveling behind Cirno's cart?

>On the plus side, it would get better! Well, as better as any fairy's head ever gets.
>Yes.

>You might want a Sky Gummi.
>"Try not to make too much noise. And what, You've never been to a city before?"
>How common are youkai in the city?

>"What's Sky taste like?" she asks. "I've never tried to eat sky before."
>She shakes her head. "Nope! I heard stories of places with lots of houses, but this is way bigger than home."
>There's a significant oni population in the city, as well as more than a few fairies and scattered other less classifiables. They're certainly in the minority, but not an uncommon sight, either.

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, heroes and sidekicks spend a lot of time in cities. Lots of evil to fight there, lots of good people to help. So have a good look around, take it all in."
>Let's catch up to Cirno. She's gonna need directions.

Speaking of directions, I hope you're still lurking about, Purvis. Because as much as I loved that idea you had about dropping her at the Seekers' guildhall, I have no idea how to go about it.

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, heroes and sidekicks spend a lot of time in cities. Lots of evil to fight there, lots of good people to help. So have a good look around, take it all in."
>Let's catch up to Cirno. She's gonna need directions.

>Honey nods enthusiastically. "Right! Got it!"
>You move to catch up to Cirno. At the moment, she isn't acting like she needs directions, although you know that logically she has no idea where she's supposed to go. A greater problem you can see, as you close in on Eastmarket, is her driving that thing in a crowded area might pose a legitimate hazard for someone. The open road is one thing, but some of these roads will be bustling with people at this time of day.

[Hello Purvis]

I am for the current time, but sleep will claim me soon.

I suggest we pawn her off on Marisa, with tales of how fuckawesome she is.

[Kips McKipzerson]

Telling Cirno about how big a hero Marisa is, and tricking her into the guild hall?
I like the way you think purvis.

[Oldmansour]

Then I'll get the ball rolling.

>"Hey, Cirno? While we're in town, how'd you like to meet another hero?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Hey, Cirno? While we're in town, how'd you like to meet another hero?"

>Cirno spares a moment from looking at where she's driving and turns to you, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.  "How big a hero? Think they could put up a real fight for once?"

[Oldmansour]

>Oh, this poor fairy...
>"Oh, I think you'll find she can give you a very good fight. Her name's Marissa, and she's a Seeker, like me. In fact, she was actually my mentor in the Seekers. She's a massive pain in the tail, but she packs more of a punch than maybe anyone on the continent."
>"She should be at the guildhall at the moment. She just got back from clearing out a haunted dig site."

[DracoOmega]

>Oh, this poor fairy...
>"Oh, I think you'll find she can give you a very good fight. Her name's Marissa, and she's a Seeker, like me. In fact, she was actually my mentor in the Seekers. She's a massive pain in the tail, but she packs more of a punch than maybe anyone on the continent."
>"She should be at the guildhall at the moment. She just got back from clearing out a haunted dig site."

>Cirno's smirk grows into a fierce grin as you continue. "Well, you ain't see me really unload yet!" she says.
>"Yeah, she can do all kinds of stuff," Honey says. "She's so awesome!"
>"Damn straight!" Cirno says, nodding. "So where's this guildhall place?"

>You note a few people scrabbling out of the way of Cirno's cart, while others give it both a wide berth and openly dubious looks. She's not exactly going straight, either.

[Oldmansour]

>Fairys may not be an uncommon sight here in town, but I reckon fariys driving carts sure is. Let alone when they drive like that. Make a note to see if Honey would be willing to drive that on the way back. Actually, better idea, she can keep Steady, and we'll drive Isato's horse & cart back to him.
>"Why don't you let me drive you there? I can get you there that much faster, so you can show Marissa, and all the other Seekers, for that matter, just what a fairy hero can do."

[DracoOmega]

>Fairys may not be an uncommon sight here in town, but I reckon fariys driving carts sure is. Let alone when they drive like that. Make a note to see if Honey would be willing to drive that on the way back. Actually, better idea, she can keep Steady, and we'll drive Isato's horse & cart back to him.
>"Why don't you let me drive you there? I can get you there that much faster, so you can show Marissa, and all the other Seekers, for that matter, just what a fairy hero can do."

>A fairy wouldn't usually be seen driving a cart, true. A majority of the fairies who have jobs in town work in baking, sewing, cleaning, or simple messenger work - tasks they tend to be fairly capable at. Even if they could handle a horse team better than Cirno is doing (which seems likely; certainly it would be difficult to do worse), it would be unlikely anyone would trust them with such a thing without oversight.
>"Nah, I got this," Cirno says, giving the reins a fierce yank and narrowly avoiding clipping a wheel off a signpost.  "Just tell me where."

[Oldmansour]

>Damn and blast. Well, was worth a shot. Sorry, citizens of Townsville Braston.
>Provide directions to the guildhall. Directions that do not go past the Melon Bowl.

[DracoOmega]

>Damn and blast. Well, was worth a shot. Sorry, citizens of Townsville Braston.
>Provide directions to the guildhall. Directions that do not go past the Melon Bowl.

>On the plus side, she's not moving terribly fast with all the swerving, so you mainly need to worry about the immobile or the very inattentive. Of course, Eastmarket does get kind of crowded...
>You provide directions to the guildhall. Ones that avoid the Melon Bowl are straightforward, but you decide to go a step further and take a slightly less direct route that avoids most of the crowded areas of the city. A few more minutes with Cirno is worth a few less civilian casualties.
>Travel is as painless as can realistically be expected. Miraculously you avoid any major collisions, although Cirno does upset an apple cart before you make it clear of Eastmarket. Actual people do manage to steer clear of her, though you imagine half the town will have heard about this before evening is out. Honey, for her part, seems captivated by each new sight, be they human, youkai, building, or unfamiliar market good. Her wide-eyed and attentive expression barely wanes for a moment the whole trip, punctuated only by requests that you identify something or other for her. In this fashion, you make your way across Braston and soon enough arrive at the Seeker's Guildhall.

[Oldmansour]

>"That's it. Seeker Headquarters. And a fine challenge inside, Cirno."
>At least I hope. If Marissa's flitted off to blow something else up, Cirno's never gonna let us hear the end of it.
>Make a note to procure two sets of documentation while we're here this time. One for the Melon Bowl staff, one for Ichirin when we get back to Easthaven.

[DracoOmega]

>"That's it. Seeker Headquarters. And a fine challenge inside, Cirno."
>At least I hope. If Marissa's flitted off to blow something else up, Cirno's never gonna let us hear the end of it.
>Make a note to procure two sets of documentation while we're here this time. One for the Melon Bowl staff, one for Ichirin when we get back to Easthaven.

>"Ha!" Cirno says, dismounting the cart without any attempt to secure the horses, or even move them out of the walkway. "We'll see about that."
>That could be problematic...
>You make a note to get appropriate documentation for the future. No more absent paper trails for you.

[Oldmansour]

>Better make that three sets of papers. Just in case something else comes up along the way.
>"Let's get these carts out of the way and secured before we follow her, Honey."
>Ice fairys make lousy valets

[DracoOmega]

>Better make that three sets of papers. Just in case something else comes up along the way.
>"Let's get these carts out of the way and secured before we follow her, Honey."
>Ice fairys make lousy valets

>It never hurts to have extras.
>Honey nods. "It's a sidekick's job to take care of the details!"
>They make great air-conditioners, though!

[Oldmansour]

>Does the guildhall have a stable? Or a hitching post, or something that'll serve the purpose?