Touhou Gensokyo Girls
Episode 7: A witch's grimoire (secret love color)
SCARLET MANSION LIBRARY: evening
In the Library, Patchouli and Koakuma took a stroll around the bookshelves in their hunt for a few of the books they didn't normally use, and on that stroll, they found their usual visitor Marisa, who sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning up against one of the bookshelves and the wall, she was so focused on the book that she didn't notice them.
Patchouli noticed that Marisa was writing something down in the book, "Marisa! Are you writing in our books?" she asked harshly, as she was worried for her books' safety.
Marisa looked up from the book and said, "No, this is my very own grimoire." before she turned her attention back to the book.
Patchouli suddenly changed to to a more apologizing tone, "Oh, why did you take your grimoire here?"
Marisa flashed her usual grin, without looking up, "to copy spells of course."
"Of cour-" Then Patchouli stopped as the grim realization hammered in, "WHAT! Do you steal spells from my very own books, is that what you have been doing lately!" she demanded to know this.
Marisa gave her the usual lady killer smile, "steal is such a harsh word to use and it's not like you will lose any of them."
Patchouli just rolled her eyes and then turned her head to her assistant, "Koakuma, make sure she does not get anywhere near my personal grimoire." she ordered.
Koakuma gave her mistress an apologizing look, "that's the one next to Marisa's grimoire."
"And why did you not stop her!?" Patchouli's blood began to boil.
"Seriously I thought the two of you had some sort of agreement, she has been reading in it for the past few days." Koakuma excused herself.
"Damn it!" Patchouli muttered, Then turned back to Marisa, with as much determination she could muster, she commanded, "Marisa, give me my book back!"
Marisa ignored her order and continued writing, she didn't want so much hard work to go to waste, "just a little more and I am completely done with it." She hastened her scribbling, just slightly.
"Have you already copied that much?!" Patchouli exclaimed in disbelief.
Snapping the book shut with a loud bang, Marisa put the pen away and said with a satisfied voice, "all done."
Patchouli hid her face in her hands and made an ugly grimace that no one could see, "...You can't be serious!?"
"I did not need all of them." Marisa grinned with great self-satisfaction.
"So you say that I have bad spells!" Patchouli glared offended, she did not need to hear that on top of her spells being pirated.
"Not all of them blow stuff up." Marisa snorted in amusement.
Patchouli gave her an odd look, "Do you only use spells for combat?" she asked, and mentally went on, "In my experiences, one can only get so far with destructive spells alone."
"Mostly yes, but I do try to find some way to become immortal though." Marisa answered casually. almost in an offhand manner.
Patchouli gave her a disapproving look, "Immortal is something no one should become."
Marisa rose to defend her case, "and why is that?" she asked in a proving manner.
"Because it will upset the balance of nature." Patchouli explained, but she not sure Marisa would even care to listen.
"Do you really want to die at some point in time?" Marisa asked curiously.
Patchouli was quiet for a few minutes, "...not really." she saw what Marisa was getting at, even though she disagreed with it.
"That's why I try anyway, I don't want to get old... humans have so short lifespans." Marisa muttered irritated.
"Have you thought about becoming a youkai instead? We do have books about transformation magic." Patchouli tried to steer her away from such a horrible path, unto something more manageable.
Giving that idea a shoulder shrug, Marisa declined it, "Nah, that's too cliché. immortality is the way to go." She was way too enthusiastic about it.
Patchouli decided to stand firm and keep on trying to discourage her pursuit, "...I still think you should stop those thoughts."
Marisa thought to herself, that she had had enough lecturing at this point and swiftly changed the topic, "By the way Koa, how did you come to live in the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"
Koakuma was not used to being asked personal questions like that from someone other than Patchouli, so she was a little fidgety when she answered, "I was summoned from Makai by Lady Patchouli, and we became soul-bound, I decided to stay since I had no real life in Makai anyway."
Marisa looked thoughtful and nostalgic at the mention of that name, "Makai, huh… sure brings back memories." Her thoughts continued, "I wonder if Mima is still there."
"Eh, you've been to Makai, Marisa?" Koakuma was a little taken aback.
Marisa was about to tell her, about her awesomely wicked trip there, but at that very moment, the door was slammed open, and Flandre stood in the doorway, "Marisa-Marisa! Are you ready to turn up the heat?"
"You bet I am. In fact, I have some new spells I want to test on you." Marisa grinned and clapped Patchouli on the shoulder.
Patchouli moved Marisa's hand away, gave them both a hard look, "you mean my spells, right! And if you are going to fight, take it outside, I will not tolerate you making a mess in my library... again."
SCARLET COURTYARD: night
And so the front of the Scarlet garden was lit up, as Flandre and Marisa took turns to fire upon each other.
Looking at the fight from below, Koakuma made an objective observation, "Marisa is getting rather good at using your spells."
Patchouli was sulking, a lot, "I feel so used." she decided to not watch a whole lot of the battle.
"Maybe you should think of it as an honor, that someone read your entire legacy of spells, I would call that an achievement." Koakuma said trying to cheer her mistress up.
"Every mage should make their own spells!" Patchouli mumbled more to herself then her familiar.
"I don't know how many spells we read about from other mages before us, and you could read Marisa's spells as well?" Koakuma asked, not sure if she should press it further, or just shut up.
"I still find it wrong to use someone else's magic." Patchouli finished, and took one more glance up at the two combatants battling in the sky above them.
The jeweled winded vampire and black cloaked human was full force engaged in battle, as they circled each other and traded blow for blow, "Let me try this one 'non directional LASER'" Marisa shouted the last part and fired the lasers out into the open air around them.
Flandre flared in excitement as she dodged the lasers, "good one, now dodge this, 'Cranberry Trap'."
Marisa just spinned around to avoid being hit, "you need be faster to trap me with Cranberry, try Pineapple next time, works much better, now let me try this new one, 'ROYAL FLARE!'"
Flandre could intensely feel the heat become a lot hotter in an instant and quickly outmaneuvered it before getting fried completely, "Hey no sun-power! Are you trying to kill me?!"
Marisa gave a little nervous chuckle, "Good thing I haven't perfected it yet."
Flandre's determination to impress and win became just that much more intense, "well then, get through this one, 'Maze of MY LOVE.'"
Marisa had to make a quick dive down so she wouldn't get caught in the extremely flashy and now also very complex Maze, "Shit! A little too close, she is really getting good at improving her faults, this could be a future problem."
On the balcony, Remilia was watching with Sakuya by her side, "It is a very beautiful match, Miss Kirisame is handling lady Flandre well, but lady Flandre has also improved, she is stronger and more focused than ever before." Sakuya couldn't help but admire the beautiful but deadly battle.
Remilia just turned her head slightly to get Sakuya in her field of vision, "it seems so..." she muttered in a low voice.
"Something wrong mistress?" Sakuya asked worriedly.
"...it's nothing." Remilia just waved her off.
But Sakuya knew her mistress well enough to know when something was bothering her, but also knew not to confront her with it,"I wonder what mistress is thinking, it's properly about her little sister, maybe mistress is thinking about if it was a good idea to let Flandre out of the basement, giving her the means to move on her own, to fight, to make friends, it's so nice to see her smile and enjoy life with all her heart, but will the happiness last, will she become a monster again? And would we then be able to stop her? I think no one knows."
SCARLET MANSION LIBRARY: later that night
Flandre and Marisa sat around a table in the Library, with nice hot tea and bamboo flower cake, "that was the best battle ever!" Flandre exclaimed, not able to sit even remotely still on her chair, either she had restless legs syndrome or her wings was flapping like crazy, it alternated between those two.
"Your spells have become surprisingly difficult to dodge." Marisa complemented her friend for the effort she put into bettering herself.
"Can we continue tomorrow?" The question Flandre asked, was phrased the same way a child would ask if they could have Christmas two days in a row.
Marisa flashed her vampire friend the cool grin, "of course, I haven't tested everything yet."
"And to copy more of my work" Patchouli added as she walked into the library.
Marisa was getting tired of hearing that and smacked her grimoire on the table, a little harder than she intended, "You can just copy my work too, I don't care."
"I do not rip off others' magic." Patchouli's voice was lofty and proud, as if she was above such cheapskate things as copying magic.
"I doubt you've written all of the books." Marisa countered this time more coolly.
Patchouli nodded in agreement, but she wanted to clarify one thing, "I may read about others' spells, but I make my own version."
"Naa... Takes too long." Marisa just replied, grinning in her usual manner, of course, being a human, Time was one of the things Marisa was short on, compared to her peers.
"You may copy my spells, if you wish." Flandre said in an earnest and sincere tone, trying to help her friend.
Marisa couldn't help herself and gave Flandre a light hug because that was cutest thing she had ever heard... so far, "Thanks Flandre, but I can't use yours, you being a vampire and all."
Flandre was slightly disappointed, that she was unable to help, but the hug she got was a fair tradeoff in her opinion, "...err okay, if you say so."
Marisa then started to noticed the absence of the little devil, "by the way Patchy, where is your little demon friend?"
Patchouli took immediate offense to Marisa's lack of address, "Don't call me that! and if you are talking about Koakuma, I sent her to bring more cured black grass; we need to stockpile it for future experiments."
In the meantime Flandre decided to look around but then she noticed a book that seemed somehow different, when she opened it had pictures in it. "Ohh what's this, ah a picture book."
"What are you talking about we don't have picture book's in he-" but as Patchouli's eyes fell on the book her face filled with dread, "PUT IT BACK!" she yelled.
Flandre could feel the tension rise, and her curiosity was piqued, "Now I don't want to." she giggled in response.
"Please Flandre, put it back now." Patchouli tried again with a much softer voice, but the damage was done.
Marisa instantly caught on to it, "This is getting interesting, over here Flandre, show me what it is."
Flandre flew over to Marisa and showed her the contents, "here, it has some funny pictures." she said handed Marisa the book.
"Ohh, personal, Koakuma looks so cute in this picture, didn't know you two were so close." Marisa laughed with all her heart.
"I said give it back." Patchouli demanded with more force to her voice.
Marisa continued the laughter as discovered more hilarious pictures, "Oh that one is really good; if I could, I would borrow that one."
"GIVE. IT. BACK!" Commanded Patchouli as her blood boiled yet again.
"I have a better idea, Flandre catch." Marisa tossed the book into Flandre's hands, a pretty good pass to be fair, but Flandre looked bewildered.
"Fly that way, and pass it back to me." Marisa took off quickly, and not surprisingly Flandre followed.
It became a chase, they flew all around the library, Patchouli was right behind Flandre when she came upon an opening in the bookshelves, in an instant she saw Marisa on the other side, and threw the book, with a little too much force, which made Marisa lose a bit of air, but hurried right along, Flandre grinned at Patchouli, "Now I can't give you the book."
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Flandre…" Patchouli growled angrily.
As planned, Patchouli chased after Marisa, and thus gave Flandre free reign to receive the book once she got into position. It didn't take long before Patchouli's breath became ragged and her body started giving out. She knew she only had one last chance to get it back, since she couldn't hit them or catch them; her only chance was grabbing it in the air with a spell. She gave it her all… and it worked, the book immediately flew towards her, she grabbed it and thought of the nearest safe hiding place, which was outside the mansion so she teleported it away.
"Hey no fair!" Flandre cried out in a moody tone.
Marisa was a bit disappointed, "oh come on Patchy, don't ruin the fun."
"that. wasn't. *huff* fun, at all! Now. *huff* I want both, *huff* of you. *huff to stop playing in my library." Patchouli was completely out of breath as a result of the chase, having breathing problems prior to it, only made it that much worse.
" 'lax Patchy; don't go all serious on us*ZE*." Marisa grinned.
Having finally gotten her breathing under control, after some deep breaths and trying to clear her head, Patchouli felt a need to make Marisa stop using that name, "please don't call me that."
"Why not? Koakuma call's you that all the time." Flandre was not sophisticated enough to understand the finer points in calling a person's name, and how terribly rude it could be.
"WHAT? NO!" Patchouli looked horrified for a moment, "How did she know that?"
Reading Patchouli's facial expression and using that as her cue, Marisa continued her teasing, "Ah, sounds like there is something behind that, could it be related to those pictures?"
Patchouli had just had enough, plain and simple as that, "Be quiet Marisa; just be quiet, same goes for you Flandre."
A pouting look was plastered upon Flandre's face. "Ahh you're mean."
"Well, so was what you just did, now I would like to have some peace and quiet." Patchouli said firmly and awaited their responses, while eyeing both of them back and forth, repeatedly.
Marisa knew she was getting close to an already torn line, and decided to divert the attention by leaving, "well then, I am hungry again, this light exercise has worked up an appetite."
Flandre chimed in response, going along with whatever Marisa suggested, "let's go get some more snacks."
They left, Patchouli just sat motionless in her chair until Koakuma came back, "What's wrong Patchouli?" seeing a great deal of irritation from her mistress.
Patchouli took a very deep breath and sighed it all out, "Marisa and Flandre have driven me nuts while you were away."
Koakuma instantly saw how fatigued her mistress was and knew something had to be done to relieve it, so she asked, "Do you need anything to calm down?"
Patchouli looked at her underling with a grateful smile and said, "A shoulder massage would be nice; I tensed up a lot, Koa…" That last word was filled with more emotion than anyone beside Koakuma could notice, it was special between the two of them.
Responding in kind with that feeling, Koakuma also used her affectionate nickname for her master, "Very well then, Patchy…" She then went behind her mistress and put her hands on her shoulders, giving it a light squeeze.
"By the way... They saw it, Koa, they saw, you know..." The instant Patchouli said that, Koakuma tensed up, and was getting into a small panic attack, and Patchouli had to try and undo the damage she had done to her underling's psyche.
The door was opened with a loud smack, and the two had returned, with snacks in arm, a few seconds of awkward silence was all it could amount to, before Marisa exclaimed, "HA, I knew something was up with that nickname."
"GET OUT!" What Patchouli responded with, was not a shout, nor did she yell, in fact it came out as more of a shriek, a shriek of unspeakable horrors.
IN THE BASEMENT: a bit later
The culprits sat on Flandre's bed with a large plate of various snacks. Marisa was the first to ask, "So did you find out anything new on Sakuya?"
Flandre lowed her head apologetically, "Not much... everytime i try to talk about Sakuya or even just hint at it, it's like everyone clamps shut like they are mutes, the only thing I found out when talking to Koakuma is that, Sakuya wasn't on good terms with Sister and was in no way the same kind and friendly Sakuya we know today, Koakuma also told me, that she doesn't know more because she was summed after Sakuya came to live here and was never told about the origin of Sakuya."
"So it's secret to Koakuma too," Marisa could feel the excitement in her body, "Ooh, sounds like it's something big after all, good job Flandre, this story gets better and better."
"Really!?" Flandre was surprised, because in her opinion it was a failure, but not for Marisa, she seemed thrilled somehow.
After that, the two of them sat in silence and ate snacks, when all of the snacks were gone, Marisa slumped backwards in the bed and just relaxed, on the other hand, Flandre looked at Marisa with some hunger in her eyes and her withdrawal symptoms returned, and in a quiet voice she asked, "Marisa..."
Marisa was quick to notice the warning signs, and quickly replied, "No. you know what happened last time, so no more drinking directly from the source, got it?."
"Aww, darn." so she just slumped back next to Marisa instead and not so long after, they were both asleep.
Sakuya walked in on them after a little while and looked at them sleep, "Aww, so cute." And decided to pull the blanket over them both, before she left again.
