Alice pulls the comb through her knotted hair, wincing in discomfort, dolls moving around about her. They clean up her dress - brushing off any patches of dust and straightening the fabric in places. Other dolls help with her hair, making sure it falls in just the right way and is just as perfectly straight as she needed it to be. She brushes a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and looks into the mirror. A few dolls flit around, making last-second changes, and, once they're done, Alice tries to smile. But, in her reflection, the smile looks awkward and uncomfortably forced, and she sighs.
When she's in front of the mirror like this, she can't stop nitpicking every little, insignificant aspect of her dress and her hair, so Alice walks out of the room, dolls following closely behind her. Her other dolls have already prepared everything she needed for the day, packed away neatly in a small basket. After going over everything once more herself, Alice exits her small cottage with the basket in hand, surrounded by her normal entourage of dolls. Then, she floats to the sky above the Forest of Magic slowly - any faster and she'd ruin her carefully maintained hair. Of course, once she gets high enough, the wind blows over her hair and makes a mess out of it anyways.
The doll maker restrains the urge to go back to her cottage to fix her hair. She'd just be procrastinating, anyways. As much as she'd like to hide in her house all day fussing over every small detail, she also wants to be able to actually interact with Patchouli. Even if the prospect makes her almost nauseatingly anxious and even more self-conscious than normal. She'd calm down eventually, anyways.
At least, she hopes she would. It'd be pretty unfortunate if she spent the entire time stumbling over her words and freaking out about Patchouli's inscrutable expressions. Not like that hasn't happened before, but still.
First, though, she had to run some errands. Hopefully those would help in taking her mind off of the upcoming events. And the first of those errands was at the Human Village. It's a pretty quick flight, from where she lives in the forest, but she tries to take it slowly. Even if her hair was already ruined, she'd rather keep it as salvageable as possible. She touches down a little bit outside of the village's bounds, kicking up an unpleasant cloud of dirt and dust. Her dolls brush of her dress almost immediately, and Alice makes her way into the village.
The humans look at her strangely. Some rush their children inside and shoot glares at her. Still, no one causes any trouble. Alice doesn't like visiting the village much, though - it's necessary, sometimes, to get certain fabrics and materials for her dolls, but ever since she became a magician, she was never really welcomed in any human settlements. At best, she'd be left alone and avoided, and even if she enjoyed the silence, she'd rather be surrounded by silence because she wanted to be. Not because everyone nearby hated her and her dolls. She'd been kicked out of other villages, before, for making them - she'd been called a heretic and a witch, been denounced for trying to play god.
At least things weren't like that in Gensokyo.
Alice makes her purchases from the small shop she always bought her materials from, politely thanking the vendor there, and exiting the building. Her dolls quickly package up the new materials, taking the basket from her to store them away safely. She makes a few other, small stops around the village - fetching ingredients for tea and coffee, and such. It doesn't take all that long for her to finish up with everything, and, soon enough, she's exiting the village the way she came in. Again, Alice waits until she's outside the bounds of the village before she takes off. The humans usually got uncomfortable seeing anyone flying directly to or from the village.
The Scarlet Devil Mansion isn't all that far from the village, but Alice takes it as slowly as she normally does, partly to clear her mind and calm herself down, and partly just to look over the landscape. Still, she can't procrastinate forever, and she's soon walking down the path leading to the mansion's front entrance. Meiling looks up from her gardening to wave to her, dress covered in dirt and grass stains. Alice waves back awkwardly, attempting to fake a smile, again.
The doors of the main entrance are unlocked, as always, so Alice pushes them open and walks into the main hall. It was uncomfortably dimly lit, and after the bright, sunny light outside, it takes Alice a few moments to adjust. Even in the dark, though, Alice knows the way to the library, so she starts walking there. On the way there, she makes sure her hair is as it was before the wind ruined it - her dolls fidget around rapidly, brushing it back into place to make it as perfect as possible. They brush off her dress, too, removing yet another layer of dust and dirt.
Once she gets to the door that leads down to the library, Alice clears her throat and fidgets with her hair one last time, before pushing it open. The library is far more expansive than the mansion should have room to contain, shelves stacked to a ceiling that couldn't possibly exist in relation to the mansion's dimensions. Thinking about in depth just gave Alice a headache. It was more trouble than it was worth, really, and Sakuya never gave a straight answer. More importantly, though, the library - it was truly a thing to behold. Patchouli had boasted before that it was the largest library in Gensokyo, which Alice didn't really have much reason to doubt. It was immense.
Almost immediately, Koakuma is at the door beside her, smiling. "Ah, Miss Margatroid! Its nice to see you!" the devil says, brightly.
Alice nods politely, smiling slightly. "Likewise." The two of them exchange brief pleasantries, before Koakuma shows Alice on her way to where Patchouli was poring over a pile of books.
She doesn't look towards either of them until Koakuma makes a small coughing noise and says, "Lady Patchouli! Miss Margatroid is here." Patchouli slowly turns from her book to look at the both of them.
"Oh. Hello, Alice," she mutters, before turning back to her desk. "Take a seat. Koakuma, could you - "
"Make some tea? On it!" Koakuma flies off into the distance of the library, and Alice awkwardly takes the seat opposite Patchouli, drumming her fingers against the desk.
"So," Patchouli starts, still flipping through the book in front of her. "What did you come all this way to show me?"
She never bothered with pleasantries. Alice gestures to her dolls and says, "Well!" They set the basket down on the desk, and Alice opens it up, pulling out a small-ish, incomplete doll. "I've been trying to work on developing another type of my dolls, separate from the Hourai and Shanghai models. This one would be called Edo." She sets the doll on the table gently, and Patchouli looks up from her book. She pauses at the sight of the doll, before reaching out to take it into her own hands. She handles it the same way Alice has seen her handle her older books, carefully and gently running her hands over the joints.
"I do not know what you expect me to tell you. She seems to be well-constructed," Patchouli says, eventually, not looking away from the doll. "I'm afraid I cannot quite tell the difference between this and your other dolls based on the construction alone. Doll making is not my forte, Alice."
Alice shifts in her seat. "Oh, I know. The difference between this doll and the others is mostly internal. This one is a combat-oriented doll, loaded with gunpowder and some other explosive reagents. The plan is to detonate it once I get it into an advantageous position in a spell card battle. The thing is, I've been having trouble getting it to properly detonate when I want it to. The previous models either detonate too late, or not at all. I made this one last night and brought it over now, so..." her voice trails off, and Patchouli doesn't respond, not at first.
"Alright," Patchouli mutters, setting the doll down. "You could have told me that earlier. You'd need a simple magical circle engraved somewhere, probably on the back, for easier transmission." She gently taps her finger against the center of the doll's back. "A doll like this would also benefit from sturdier and more secure construction, to prevent unexpected detonation, as well as to prevent another mage from deliberately setting off the detonation signal once they figure it out."
"Oh, I know," Alice nods. "I'll reinforce it later. I just want it to be detonating properly, first. Thank you, Patchouli." Her dolls scoop up the incomplete doll and set it back down into her basket, which they pull off the table and onto the ground.
Patchouli nods, already going back to her book, "Mhm." A few moments pass in silence, and Koakuma arrives to set down two steaming cups of tea. Alice sips from hers and kicks her feet, while Patchouli continues reading. And then, "Have you made any progress in creating a fully-functioning homunculus, yet?" Patchouli speaks suddenly, without looking up from her book, sudden enough that Alice nearly drops her cup.
"Oh! Unfortunately, no. It's... tricky, getting one that actually functions. I've been working on researching things mostly, as of late. Alchemy essays, and such. Not all of them are very helpful, but it's still informative."
"Who have you been reading? Rosenkreuz? Paracelsus? Jābir? Pseudo-Geber?" Patchouli lists off a bunch more names, glancing up from her book.
Alice sips from her cup again. "Oh, mostly Paracelsus and Pseudo-Geber. I've tried to read as much as I can, though. Do you have any books on alchemy I could borrow, maybe? I promise to return them in good condition."
"... I suppose. Another question. Once you succeed in making a homunculus, what are you planning to do after that? What are you going to do with the homunculus?"
"Oh, uh..." Alice shifts nervously, unsure of how to answer her. She had extensively prepared for such a possibility already. She could never know when she'd run into some breakthrough, so... she had simply written a list of plans and possibilities and expectations. But, she worries that Patchouli would find that kind of weird, to be so prepared for something that was unlikely to happen any time soon. Then again, it was best to be honest, right? Alice wrestles with her thoughts for a moment, before, "Uh, I'm prepared for that possibility. I have plans."
"Okay, then." Patchouli doesn't say much else after that, and Koakuma flies by not too long later with a small stack of books in her arms, which she hands to Alice. "Those are some of my books on alchemy and homunculus theory. Take care of them, and try to return them within the week, please."
Alice finds herself actually smiling, and quickly works to make it less apparent, raising her hand as if she was going to brush hair from her face. "Of course! Thank you, Patchouli."
Patchouli waves her off. "It's nothing."
"Still. Thank you." Alice stands up, putting her newly acquired books into her basket. Her dolls quickly clean up everything that remains. "I'll see you around soon, Patchouli...?"
"Presumably. Take care, Alice."
For a moment Alice hesitates, nearly taking a step towards Patchouli, before stopping. "Uh, yeah. You too." She exits the mansion quickly, chewing on the inside of her cheek, and takes to the sky as she pulls out one of the books that Patchouli had lent her.
May as well start reading it now.
Marisa is here. She's outside.
Alice jerks her head up when one of the dolls sitting in the trees outside transmits that piece of information to her. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she slams the books that she had fallen asleep on shut and pushes them to the side, where dolls pull them off to hide them.
She really didn't trust Marisa to not try to steal them as soon as she sees them. Finding out they were Patchouli's would only make her want to steal them more, in all likelihood. The dolls slide them under her bed and Alice wipes her mouth, grumbling.
Of course Marisa shows up just in time to wake her up from an impromptu nap. Fantastic. She fusses with her hair quickly, trying to get it back to how it was before she fell asleep - her dolls help. She rubs her cheek and scowls, before putting on a more pleasant expression and opening the door.
"Oi, Alice! You're up!" The sudden obnoxious sound of Marisa talking jars Alice even when she's prepared for it, and the witch pushes past her into her cottage. "So - I was out with Nitori earlier, and I saw you takin' a trip out to the mansion! Of course, Patche just ignored me when I tried to ask her about it, but I was thinkin' maybe you'd let me in on the juicy details~?"
Alice stares at her. "Juicy details."
"Yeah, I - "
"We drank tea, talked, and then I left." Alice cuts her off, turning away to sit down at the small table. Her dolls whir around, already working to prepare tea for her. Marisa ignores them, and takes her own seat, crossing her legs and propping them up on the table. Alice pushes them off, and Marisa just leans back in her chair, crossing her arms behind her head.
Marisa rolls her eyes, brushing dust and twigs from her hat. "Sounds like a great date, Alice."
"It wasn't a date!" Alice snaps, a small brush spreading across her cheeks. "We were just talking."
"Sounds boring. Was it at least an interestin' conversation, then?" Marisa takes a cup of tea from a doll as it flies past, apparently unbothered by the heat. "I mean, really, flying that far just to talk? You must have gotten SOMETHING worthwhile out of that - "
"For your information, Marisa, talking to Patchouli is worth the flight," Alice mutters, crossing her arms as another doll sets down her cup of tea in front of her. She realizes how that sounds a moment later, and flushes. "BESIDES, that's not all it was, she was giving me some advice - "
"Oh, score. She never gives me advice." I wonder why. "What kinda advice? More doll makin' stuff?" Marisa takes a sip from her cup. Alice internally marvels at her heat resistance. It'd be great to make a doll that tough… maybe it was something about the Mini-Hakkero.
"Yeah, she just helped me with some magical design specifications."
Marisa nods. "That makes sense, she's probably good with that kinda stuff."
"Yes." Alice blinks. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Well, you know, the homunculus thing." Marisa speaks casually, watching the dolls fly around.
"What are you talking about?"
"Eh?" Marisa shifts her gaze over to her, raising an eyebrow. "You know - oh, you don't actually know." She snorts, setting her cup down. "I thought it was obvious. She's a homunculus. Wait, how did you not know that? Isn't that your specialty? Aren't you supposed to be really good at seeing through illusions 'n stuff? How did you not know?" Marisa keeps on going on, but Alice just stares at her blankly, not really processing anything she was saying.
A homunculus.
It takes a while to process. At first, the only thing really processing is incredulity. How the hell didn't she pick up on that? Like Marisa said, that was her speciality. This was her life. And she was good at seeing through magical illusions and things, too. How did she not notice?
The first thought after that is "I wonder what she's made of".
Was it porcelain? That would explain her perfect skin, but it was always so soft - she cuts her thoughts off there and looks down at cup of tea in front of her. She needs to stop, right there. Patchouli isn't some experiment, some doll she can pick apart and analyze.
She lives and she breathes, and…
Alice looks around her cottage, at all the dolls flitting around with lifeless glass eyes. Marisa's still talking, but her voice seems distant. Alice realizes she's hyperventilating. She can't think about this, right now, but it's all that's processing, that, and the empty stares that her dolls give her when she looks at them for too long. She can't breathe.
She faintly registers the sound of Marisa going silent, and then the sound of her chair scraping against the floor as she pushes it back. "Uh, Alice, do you…" she trails off, and Alice shoos her away with one hand, trying to regulate her breathing.
"I'm fine," she manages, eventually, staring at the table. "Just… come back later. I need some time to… process things." Her vision is blurry, and she can barely make out Marisa, looking down at her with what is probably a concerned expression.
Marisa doesn't say anything for a while, until she sighs. "Alright, Alice. See you around." She leaves, and Alice turns her head back to the table. Once her dolls make sure she's gone, Alice lets her head fall to the table with a thunk, vision swimming over with panicked tears.
Blood swims down the drain of the sink and Patchouli raises her head, wiping at her mouth with her sleeve - already caked with dried blood from an earlier coughing fit. Even as little as breathing hurts, right now - it makes her throat feel raw and makes her lungs burn even more.
Koakuma pats her back gently, a cup of tea in her other hand. As soon as Patchouli's arms are steady enough, she offers it to her, and she takes it slowly, taking a shaky sip. Eventually, once she can manage talking again without making her throat feel like it's on fire, she whispers, "Take me to my room, Koa."
The familiar complies, gently guiding her through the maze that was her library, all the way to her room. It was tucked away in some inconspicuous corner, behind rows and rows of bookshelves. Koakuma pushes open the door and Patchouli stumbles inside, still sipping from her cup.
She was feeling a bit better now, but… she didn't want to do much more than lie around and feel herself waste away, right now. And her room was the perfect place for that. Without Koakuma's careful touch, it was a disaster. Books and scrolls and half-finished notes were strewn across desks and over the floor, in stacks. The room smells like paper, tea and sleep.
Patchouli's body was failing. A sloppily made artificial body like hers wasn't intended to last more than a few years, let alone a hundred. She had made it last for much longer than it should have - it took every bit of magic she could manage to keep her body from rotting away as she walked. It only became harder over time, though, and would only become harder with the coming years.
It was a constant challenge.
It didn't help that all the chemicals and reagents involved in alchemy were wreaking havoc on her body. Not like she didn't take precautions for those - magical, physical, everything possible. Mistakes were - regrettably - inevitable, it seems, and some things couldn't be completely prevented.
Patchouli takes a breath and she feels like there are needles in her veins. She had been hoping to spend some time looking over whatever research notes were scattered around her room, but… her body feels like hell, straining and struggling with every action, even one as simple as walking from the door to her bed unsupported.
She manages it - she hates that that feels like an accomplishment, she wants to feel clear and alive again - and collapses on her bed. Most of the tea spills from her cup onto the floor. Whatever. It'll only intensify the tea smell, really, and the smell helps Patchouli calm down after incidents like these, even if it's just a bit.
Patchouli drinks the rest of her tea - it's too hot, and it scalds her tongue and her throat, but at this point she doesn't care. She sets the mug on her night table, and pulls her sheets up and over her body. She doesn't expect to fall asleep anytime soon - her heartrate has barely slowed - but she doesn't really want to move at all, either.
Time fades away, minutes and hours blurring away as Patchouli's heart returns to beating at a normal pace. Her throat stops burning, and her lungs return to their regular, still unpleasant state. She still can't fall asleep - she shifts and stares at the ceiling and sighs.
Her thoughts drift to Alice and she tries to force them elsewhere. It doesn't work. Why did she give her those books? She should have found some way to tell her about… this, instead. She takes a breath and feels her lungs strain. Inconvenient. It's hard to talk about this generally, let alone to Alice.
Maybe her body would die before the topic came up again. What would anyone tell Alice in that case? It'd be better to tell her herself, really. She isn't looking forward to that conversation.
An indeterminate amount of time passes before there's a light knocking against the door. "Come in," Patchouli rasps, lifting up her head and squinting in an attempt to make out the shape in the dark. It was hard even in normal conditions to make out anything further than a few feet without casting some minor spell on her eyes. But she doesn't have the energy for that.
Not like she needs it, here - Meiling's silhouette is distinctive enough that she's easy to recognize. "Hey, Patche," she says, quietly, waving. "I got some more medication from Eientei while I was out." She lifts a bag, and sets it on an open space on one of her desks. "So, yeah. It's here when you need it."
"Thank you, Meiling," Patchouli nods to her, before lying back down. "I appreciate it."
"It's nothing, Patche. Get some rest." She's out as soon as she was in.
That sounds like a good idea, but Patchouli doubts sleep will come easy. It rarely does.