The first day, Meiling had been laying against the outer wall of the mansion, unsuccessfully fighting off sleep as the warm sun shone down on her, and a cool breeze blew through, threatening her focus.
This was how the Gate Guard was unable to even sense the small presence approaching the mansion, until it was practically right on top of her, and she suddenly found a bucketful of ice shavings poured down the back of her shirt, and an ice fairy to quickly fleeing the scene, laughing at the top of her tiny lungs as she proclaimed herself "the strongest."
Meiling didn't mind the small distraction, she realized as she shook ice shavings out of her shirt, as it had managed to wake the woman up, and even better had done so just before the head maid came to check up on her before the redhead took her half-hour break. For once the gate guard hadn't been scolded for sleeping on the job, which Meiling didn't think Sakuya realized was sleep-inducingly boring.
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The second day, Meiling had been ready for the unknown ice fairy. After the pre-emptive strike the fairy got on her before, Meiling knew that she had to one-up the girl, to prevent any further pranks. Fairies were notorious for sticking to a single victim as long as they weren't caught. It was probably why those three fairies continued to hang around the Hakurei shrine, as Reimu simply didn't see the three as a threat, and, if Meiling was reading the mood right the last time she had visited, even sort of enjoyed the girls breaking the monotony around the shrine.
She caught sight of the blue-haired fairy peeking out from behind a tree just on the edge of the road, probably thinking herself well-hidden (and Meiling wouldn't tell the girl that Blue stuck out in a forest like a sore thumb, she wouldn't risk her initiative), and pretended to be asleep, as she relaxed her muscles.
Catching the grin that broke out on the fairies face, Meiling watched as she retrieved a large bucket, bigger than the previous days, filled with an unknown prank material, and began to slowly fly across the road, obviously thinking herself sneaky as she flew in plain sight.
Once the fairy was within arms reach, Meiling struck out like a cobra with her fist, startling the young girl, and only just missing her as the young girls (fairies age were a rather shaky topic) reflexes proved to be better than expected.
Tossing her bucket into the air, the Fairy seemed to abandon her plan altogether, and flew away back into the safety of the forest, quickly retreating out of Meiling's sight. The Gate Guard would have chased the fairy down to ensure something like this wouldn't happen again, but she knew that Sakuya would be along shortly, and she did not want to be reprimanded or punished for abandoning her post.
Unfortunately the woman forgot about the aforementioned bucket, which had flipped over in the air, and dumped it's load all over the ground, and the unfortunate gate guard beneath it. Meiling found herself covered in half-melted, cold white stuff, blinking owlishly at the odd situation.
Daring it, the girl scooped up some of the prank on her arm with a finger, and brought it to her mouth, sucking it clean.
Meiling had to admit grudgingly later, that despite it being a prank, and the scolding she got from Sakuya for the mess, the Ice fairy could make some very good ice cream.
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On the third day, Meiling was already wide-awake and alert, and had thankfully been able to intercept the Black-White during another of her attempts to raid Patchouli's library. The only thing Marisa had left with was her bruised pride, and a broken broom. Meiling had thought it only fitting considering it was one of the main reasons the girl ever got past her in the first place, since her ability to fly was quite limited compared to other residents of the land of fantasy.
Regardless, she once again saw the Ice fairy approaching, but this time it seemed the girl was coming directly for her. slipping into her hand-to-hand combat stance, Meiling prepared to deflect the girl in her mindless charge, until the Ice fairy veered off at the last second, giving Meiling's now confused mind no chance to adjust to the large snowball that the blue-haired girl had been holding. The offending projectile hit the Gate guard in the face, and caused her to stumble. It was only through years of training that kept the woman from falling to the impromptu attack.
This time though, the fairy seemed proud enough of herself to stay and gloat for a bit, while smartly (especially for a fairy) keeping well up in the air, out of Meiling's reach.
"Hah, take that you red-haired woman!" She taunted, waggling a finger at Meiling, "everyone else may say that you're strong, but eye'm still the strongest in Gensokyo!"
Meiling blinked as she looked up at the girl in surprise. This was what her vendetta had been about? The fact that since the scarlet mist incident everyone agreed Meiling was the strongest physical fighter in Gensokyo.
Hum, it seemed just like something a fairy would do, Meiling had to admit.
Unfortunately the fairies boasting was cut off with a strangled cry, as a silver-haired maid suddenly appeared behind the girl, and grabbed her by the collar of her dress, in the woman's other hand a silver fob watch that Meiling knew was the source of some of her powers.
"Is this the fairy that has been making such a mess of you Meiling?" Sakuya asked in the refined tone that always made Meiling's blood freeze in her veins. Blame it on being the dog of the devil, but Sakuya was almost as imposing as her mistress, if she wasn't too enamoured by the local shrine maiden at the time.
Rubbing the back of her neck and blushing, Meiling replied, "Err, yes Sakuya-Sama."
"Pitiful," The Maid commented, making the gate guard wince at the woman's blunt words. What she didn't expect was for the maid to turn towards the gate, and begin to march the fairy in front of her, "Come fairy, I believe my mistress would like to have a few words with you, regarding your harassment of our guard."
Meiling's heart went out to the innocent prankster, as the two disappeared from view thanks to the maid's powers over time. She did catch the booming sound of the front door being closed, but ignored it as she dutifully returned to work, trying to push from her mind the little fairy that had harassed her for the last few days.
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By the fourth day, Meiling had yet to see the Ice fairy leaving the mansion, and feared the worst for the girl. She knew that if her mistress was truly annoyed, that the fairy would have probably been annihilated, and then had her remains tossed as far away from the mansion as possible, so when she regenerated she would never be able to find her way back.
Meiling tried to brush the thought from her mind, but a blue-haired girl kept popping back into it, with her thus-far harmless pranks, and found that she couldn't focus on her work, or fall asleep, because of it.
Therefore she was grateful when Sakuya arrived to relieve her from duty for her half-hour break, and Meiling retreated into the mansion for protecting from the growing heat of a Gensokyo summer.
What she didn't expect was that the mansion felt cooler than usual, something the guard hadn't noticed that morning after her three-hour sleep between shifts. She brushed it off as something lady Remilia had pulled off, and stumbled her way into the kitchen.
It was while she was in the middle of eating that Meiling found three people come into the kitchen. A shut-in, an obnoxious witch, and an Ice fairy. The guard was understandably surprised.
The three were speaking as if they were old friends, though Patchouli was contributing the least to the conversation, while Marisa and the unnamed ice fairy shot the breeze and joked around.
They stopped once they noticed Meiling sitting there, and the four were left in a somewhat awkward staring contest for a moment as no one knew what to say.
Luckily Marisa was uncouth enough to find the perfect way to break the ice, and loudly greeted the woman with, "Hiya China!"
Meiling was literally floored by the magician's impoliteness. Climbing back onto her chair, the red-haired woman regarded the trio with curiosity, "Considering the two of you aren't having at it in the mansion, I must believe that lady Remilia has something to do with this?"
Once again Marisa was the one to answer, as the ice fairy took a seat across from Meiling at the small dining table, staring intently up at the woman, "Yeah, it's a long story. The short version is your mistress decided it was getting to be too hot for her to sleep, and contacted me to try and help find a method to keep the mansion cool."
"Remilia also had me already working on research for this "pet project" of hers, so I was understandably glad for the assistance, even if my new research partner is a bit uncouth," Patchouli added, causing Marisa to squawk in indignation.
"And I'm assuming the solution had something to do with her?" Meiling asked, pointing at the ice fairy who was now apparently forming a snowball out of moisture in the air from boredom.
"Yeah, Remmy heard about Cirno pranking you constantly, and had Sakuya bring her on as our power source," Marisa answered, "Even offered the squirt room and board in the mansion in exchange for use of her powers."
"We have since been doing our best to shape Cirno's powers into convenient methods of cooling down the mansion, using Marisa's...unconventional problem solving," Patchouli spared the black-white a glance that received a large smirk in response of, which forced the shut-in to try and hide her own smile, "and my research and control, to create a sort of air conditioner system through the mansion."
"It sounds like a really neat project," Meiling admitted, even though some of the finer details eluded the simple-minded guard.
What the redhead hadn't expected, since her guard had been down while in the safety of the mansion, was for the aforementioned snowball to find it's way into her face, and make her fall out of her chair in surprise.
Cirno wisely chose to flee the room again, while Marisa openly laughed at the Fairies surprise attack, and Patchouli looked pensive about something.
Groaning and wiping snow from her face, Meiling swore that she would get the ice fairy back for this, as long as the girl was employed by Remilia.
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The next few days passed in a relative blur for the guard, as Cirno seemed to consider her new job at the mansion doubled as encouragement to continue pranking Meiling at almost every chance she got.
One day she found a bucket of ice poured into her bath water while she was supposed to have a day off. Meiling spent the rest of the day with chattering teeth and blue lips because of the ice fairy.
On another day she woke up to find her room had been turned into a miniature winter wonderland, complete with real snow falling from the ceiling and covering the floor, and a snowman built in the corner farthest from the window, wearing Meiling's beret. The woman could only assume Marisa had played a part in the prank, and had enchanted the ceiling to snow. As she had annoyingly found out, the Black-White was surprisingly talented at enchantments, a field that the mansion's own resident magician sorely lacked in.
Even Patchouli and Sakuya seemed to find amusement in the ice fairies otherwise harmless pranks, though both hid it much better than Marisa did, who Meiling couldn't even pin part of the blame on, as it always seemed the girl had an alibi.
And Cirno was only ever in her presence for minutes at a time, usually to continue pranking the older woman before darting off deeper into the mansion.
Thus Meiling was initially suspicious when she came in from a hot summer day for her break, and found a bowl full of ice cream sitting innocently on the counter, addressed to her. She was quick to track down Marisa, who had largely taken up non-violent residence in the library, and grill her for information.
"I swear I don't know anything," The girl replied calmly, "Cirno hasn't been keeping me in the loop at all for the last few days since we finished off the east wing of the mansion, and has been keeping to herself lately."
That was odd, Meiling mused. Ever since this project had begun to be funded by Remilia, Cirno never seemed to stray far from Marisa's side, except when she was attempting a quick get away from the scene of the crime, and then the two would reconvene later to laugh over their victory.
"Perhaps she is luring you into a false sense of security by giving you a false peace offering, and plans to unleash a bigger prank on you later," Patchouli suggested over a rather thick encyclopedia she had been taking notes from ever since Meiling had shown up.
"Maybe she put something in the ice cream as the real prank," Marisa pointed out, making Meiling even more suspicious of the girl's motives. She hadn't forgotten the bucket full of ice cream the fairy had planned to dump on her several weeks ago.
"Perhaps Cirno simply has a crush on you, and pranking you has been her way of trying to make you realize it?" A new voice suggested, causing all eyes to turn to the doorway, where a timeless maid and a maiden of paradise stood.
"Oh, hey Reimu," Marisa said with a wave from the large, incredibly comfortable-looking arm chair she had been relaxing in since Meiling arrived.
Turning to regard the maid, Reimu bowed to the woman, "Thank you Sakuya, and could you tell your mistress I'll be along to see her shortly."
"Of course Reimu-Sama," The maid curtsied and disappeared in a blink, once again using her time-stopping powers.
"Sama huh, since when did you start getting recognized by the head maid?" Marisa teased, but it seemed Reimu brushed off the taunt, as her red eyes focused on the guard.
"Did you know that fairies play pranks on each other as a sort of courting ritual?" Reimu asked, causing a collection of raised eyes around the room. Patchouli set down her book, now paying rapt attention to the shrine maiden as she explained the unknown habits of fairies.
"Seriously?" Marisa asked incredulously, "Then wouldn't that mean that fairies are crushing on all of those people they prank in the human village?"
"No, that's different," Reimu replied, sharing a look with Patchouli as she took a seat across from the shut-in, obviously asking for silent permission, "It's only when fairies continue to prank the same person that shows they may have a crush, or a romantic interest in them."
"And you know this from...experience?" Meiling asked, causing Reimu to give the girl a sad smile.
"Those three that live at my shrine play pranks on me exclusively, and Yukari explained the concept of Fairy courting to me one day when she found me covered in eggs and feathers."
Marisa had begun laughing at that point, but Patchy and Meiling were still paying rapt attention to the shrine maiden's story.
"After I got cleaned up, Yukari explained everything to me, and told me that all three had to be smitten with the shrine maiden that offered them protection from Youkai, allowed them to live on the shrine grounds, and let them get away with pranks with only a light scolding."
"And you took it poorly?" Patchy inquired. Thankfully Reimu's smile seemed to recover slightly, but it still looked rather depressed.
"I was a bit flustered at the time, since I hadn't expected to attract the attention of a group of mischievous fairies, but once I accepted what Yukari told me, I realized how much I cared about those three knuckleheads, and called them into the shrine the next day."
"So did ya confess your love for em, and now you are all together as a happy little family?" Marisa teased.
"I told them that I didn't share the kind of love that they were feeling for me," Reimu admitted sheepishly. "They were a bit dismayed at that."
"But then I explained to them that because of their pranks, and how much time they spent around the shrine, I loved them in a different way, more like a mother than a lover. They seemed to understand, and they haven't pulled pranks on me since."
"Well that's a...thing," Marisa announced, "So you got three fairies to fall in love with you, but you ended up becoming their mother instead?" The magician summarized, "I swear, only you could manage something like that Reimu," She finished with a shake of her head.
"Trust me, I wasn't expecting it either, and if Yukari hadn't explained it to me, then I would have probably remained oblivious," Reimu admitted, "as it stands, I'm sort of glad things turned out they way they did, as I'm not nearly so lonely anymore living up in that run-down shrine all by myself."
"So you think that all of the pranks Cirno has pulled on Meiling are because she has a crush on her," Patchouli said, and Reimu nodded in response. "It's the only reason I can think of."
"But before she started to prank Meiling, the two had never seen each other before, even during the scarlet mist incident," Marisa pointed out, but Reimu shook her head at her friend.
"Considering all of the time Cirno spends wandering the forest around the misty lake, is it so farfetched that one day she could have stumbled across the mansion, and seen Meiling standing guard?" Reimu asked, "Besides that, I thought you were a magician of love Marisa, don't you believe in love at first sight?"
Meiling thought she had seen a flash of hurt pass over the blonde girl's eyes, and definitely saw the Black-white's hand drifting down towards a pocket sewn into her dress, where she noted with some surprise a slightly faded blue ribbon half-hanging out. Marisa was quick to push it back inside once she realized the guard had noticed it, and she noticed Reimu giving her blonde friend a knowing look as Marisa replied, "Yeah, I do."
"Anyways, Meiling, you may want to think hard about how you feel about Cirno's pranking, and then talk to her," Reimu suggested to the red-haired woman, "if you can make her understand that you recognize her feelings for you, then maybe she'll let you get to know the girl behind the mischievous fairy, and she'll tone it down."
"Yeah, thank you for the advice Reimu-sama," Meiling replied, before hearing the grandfather clock that Patchy took meticulous care of, and realized that her break was over. She was quick to bid farewell to the girls, as Reimu got into an argument with Marisa about some old acquaintance of the pair. She caught the terms ghost and vengeful spirit before silently closing the large wooden doors to the library.
The woman was stopped at the door by a small girl in a blue and white dress, holding up a bowl of ice cream, her eyes shining with childlike innocence as she waited for the guard to respond.
Biting her lip for a moment, and mulling over the thought, Meiling stepped forward and quickly slipped the bowl out of Cirno's hands, before reaching up and running her fingers through the ice fairy's hair, which was surprisingly soft. She thought it would be cold and brittle because of her powers.
She noticed the way the girls eyes lit up when she took the bowl willingly, and was over the moon about the head pat she received, then Meiling shooed her off so she could get back to work, before Sakuya found her slacking off again.
Meiling had to admit, as she walked the path through the courtyard to the front gate, beyond all of the pranks, Cirno was a very free-spirited and confident girl, but could be quite a softy at times.
Maybe she could learn to appreciate the ice fairy a bit more as she got to know her, Meiling thought as she wrapped her fingers around the spoon shoved into the slowly melting bowl of ice cream.
Taking a large spoonful, Meiling was quick to shove it into her mouth, and closed her eyes in enjoyment, as the familiar vanilla flavour exploded in her mouth.
'Wait a minute...' Meiling thought as her mouth began to quickly heat up, just as she found something solid in the melting ice cream.
"Waugh!" The Guard shouted, as her mouth burned from the chilli peppers Cirno had grated into the ice cream mix, masked by the vanilla extract.
And somewhere deeper in the mansion, a certain ice fairies heart fluttered as she heard the scream of her crush as she enjoyed her latest "declaration of love."
Marisa's philosophy was right, love hurts. Even when it wasn't focused into a destructive beam.
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So yeah, courting rituals of fairies huh, yep that's a thing now. Please note I have no idea where that idea came from, I blame a partial lack of sleep and far too much Touhou lately.
Just for placements sake, I intended for this story to take place between EoSD and PCB, so before the introduction of a few characters into the Touhou universe. And yes, the Pc-98 era was alluded to a few times. I had two references to the PC-98 era in the story, one more obscure than the other, but I'm confident at least someone can find both.
This may sound a bit odd, considering fairies are considered children to most people, but considering fairies can live for a long time (no knowledge whether they are truly immortal or not), I would imagine their physical bodies don't reflect their age, and that Cirno has to be batting an age group somewhere around Meiling, if not even older than her.
They may have child-like mindsets, but Fairies are still ancient beings, and have access to all of the knowledge of centuries of life, even if they don't show it. if they want to try and court someone they have a crush on, keep in mind how old they probably actually are.
I like Reimu and the three fairies, not as a pairing, but more their interactions together. in a lot of fan work I see them either being an annoyance to Reimu that she tolerates, or in some cases openly mothering them.
Yes this story implied Reimu X Remilia, but I don't normally ship it. I much prefer my ReiYuka, or my ReiMari. Or hell, even AliRei (which I've only seen...twice I think. No, three times.)
I'm getting off topic again. Ja Ne!
Note: there may be a form of sequel in the future set post PCB, if not post IN. I don't know yet since this was written as a sort of spur-of-the-moment idea. Hope ya'll enjoyed!