The household was in a cold, listless calm; and the only energy in the old cottage was the occasional turning of a crusty archaic tome running through Alice's fingers. For days on end it was usually like this, barring the daily repetitive tasks that to a Youkai were needed only for the purposes of mere luxury. And the main source of activity was that of an intellectual enterprise, because for the moment, creation led way to abstraction for an ideal so complex as independent thought.
Yet the more Alice read on any sort of magic relating to the endeavor of independent thought, this intention was clearly not in the mind of the creator of such magic. Any effect that seemed to be autonomous was merely ancillary to what its inventor was trying to achieve. The engagement was one of creeping features of autonomy rather than pure autonomy itself, and the debates raged themselves away from being ones purely magical, to being ones purely philosophical.
This was what had dawned on Alice.
This simply will not do.
She slowly closed the frail aging book, and leaned back to think.
I am hitting the barriers of what has been done in magic. It seems as if I am left with experimenting on my own. But to what end?
Alice pushed herself away from the desk and looked up at the stars for a long while.
Well...perhaps I should be going along the opposite direction for inspiration in this. Instead of making the controllable uncontrollable, I should examine more closely the opposite and easier problem of making the uncontrollable controllable. That is...putting some human under my control.
She paused, thinking how to best go about this.
Well, if that's the case, then I could just as well experiment with the oldest trick in the book: a good old charm spell. But then who will be my guinea pig?
A wry smile wretched itself over Alice's face as the obvious answer came to her.
The next morning Alice made the concoction that almost every witch and magician before her had to make at least once in their lifetime: a love potion. She spiked some tea with it, enough dosage to last for a day, and she waited for her daily visitor.
And waited....
…
Oh yeah, she just comes when she feels like it, doesn't she?
…
Darn it, maybe I should think this through more.
Alice got up to start up putting things away, when a familiar opening slam of the door came ringing through the house.
"Yo, Alice! Make me some tea!" Yelled Marisa, crashing into the patio.
Alice stopped gathering things up and quickly placed them back on the table, "Stop acting like you own the place!"
Marisa entered through the doorway, with her usual wide grin, "Then you should at least leave the door loc-" She stopped, surprised by the tea already arranged on the table.
"Th...that was fast."
"Ah, well, I was already drinking tea, so..." Alice paused, noticing she had already created a hole in her story...
Which Marisa picked up on, "Then why are there two cups?"
Alice hesitated, Darn it, I didn't plan this ahead very well. At this rate, she will probably find out what I'm up to.
She sighed, Well, the whole thing is so ridiculous, that maybe if I told the truth she wouldn't believe me.
Alice gestured to her cup and in the most sarcastic voice she could muster said, "I set up a cup of tea spiked with a love potion for you, hoping you would come by and drink it for the purposes of my research."
Marisa laughed and shook her head, "Oh Alice," and then grabbed the tea and took a sip.
A silence fell over the room as Marisa suddenly took a very somber expression. She slowly placed down the tea, gazing out through the window for a long while, as if to collect her thoughts. Then with a resolute nod she turned to face Alice.
I...REALLY should have thought this through more.
"Alice, I have something I feel I should tell you. Something I have been keeping from you a long time until now."
Alice's face started to become flustered, I REALLY REALLY SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH.
She grabbed Alice's hands and looked deeply into her eyes, "Alice..."
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
"I love you."
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHFSDFAGGHDSF!!!
Alice stood wide-eyed staring straight at Marisa, and then soon-after promptly fainted in her arms.
Alice awoke later on her couch. She looked over and saw Marisa reading against the light of the noon-day sun pouring through the window. Marisa seems to be almost angelic when she's reading...
Well, when your normal activities include looting and property damage, ANYTHING would be angelic by comparison.
Marisa caught Alice looking over at her, "Ah, you're awake."
She continued, "You fainted and I carried you to the couch. I-"
She took a deep breath, "I don't take back what I said!"
She went back to reading, or...attempting to read from the looks of it.
Ugh, why in my right mind did I think I could do this to Marisa.
Alice rested her head against the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"Ah, the tea was really different today, I liked it," Marisa tried to change the subject.
"Oh, tha-" Alice paused for a moment, "Wait, did you drink the rest of it?"
Marisa looked up from her book towards Alice again, "Yes, why?"
"Ah, well, I guess I was planning on saving some...excuse me-" Alice rushed to the kitchen to check whether she really had indeed drank the entire potion.
She sighed when her suspicions were confirmed, That isn't enough to last for a day. That's enough to last for a week!
She dug her head into the palms of her hands, What was I thinking?! What could I possibly learn from doing this? Why do people even make these potions?
She paused, thinking it over, Erm, except the obvious.
She stopped to think again.
Well, they do things they otherwise would not normally let you do...
A wry smile covered her face again. She walked back into the living room.
"Marisa?"
She looked up at Alice, "Yes?"
"Do you think you could give me back my books?"
There was a long pause as Marisa stared deep into Alice's eyes.
A very, very long pause.
It's a charmed potion! She's supposed to be under my control! Don't tell me she's so bad a kleptomaniac that it surpasses the power of the potion...a WEEK's worth of the stuff no less!
"You really DID spike the tea!"
Alice's patient stare turned into gaping awe as she saw the spell break free.
SHE REALLY IS THAT BAD OF A KLEPTOMANIAC.