A/N: Gensokyo Festival 2021 Day 14 prompt: Tea for Two.
It's a bright and sunny morning outside, but inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion library, with all the curtains drawn shut and the entire room plunged in darkness, it might as well be nighttime.
From the hallway, Remilia notices the small isolated island of light over by Patchouli's desk, so she decides to be helpful and bring the girl some nourishment. Sometimes that girl can get too absorbed in her work and forget to take care of herself.
Of course, she could always ask Sakuya to do it, but Remilia doesn't really have anything else to do this morning, so why not use this opportunity to see what Pache is up to?
One quick trip to the kitchen later, she has a little tray with a pot of tea and some biscuits and snacks in her hand.
"Pache." Remilia says as she walks into the gloomy library, approaching Patchouli's desk. She sets the tray on the table, smiling. "You're up early this morning."
Patchouli blinks, looking up from her mess of books and papers at her desk, glancing up at the vampire. "Remi? You're up already? What time is it?"
"It's 9 in the morning."
Patchouli blinks, staring at the snacks. It seems to take her a moment to fully register what's in front of her. "Ah. Thank you, Remi, but I shouldn't drink any caffeine this late at night. I still need to sleep."
"Wait. You haven't slept yet?"
"I'll go to sleep soon, I just want to finish this train of thought first." Patchouli's stomach growls. She blinks. "Oh. Come to think of it, it has been… what, 14… 15… no, 16 hours since I last ate anything?"
Remilia shakes her head. "You really ought to take better care of yourself, my dear Pache." She picks up one of the biscuits and shoves it into Patchouli's mouth.
The girl blinks, only mildly surprised, before beginning to eat the biscuit, returning her attention to her work. "Thfank 'ou," she says, her mouth full.
Remilia hops onto the table, and pours herself a cup of tea. Well, since Pache isn't having any, she'll just drink it all herself then.
Patchouli finishes eating the rest of the biscuit in her mouth. "By the way, shouldn't you be going to bed soon, too, Remi?" asks Patchouli, without glancing up from her work. "It's daytime already. Aren't vampires supposed to be creatures of the night?"
"Oh no, my sleep schedule's been really messed up lately," says Remilia. "So I actually ended up sleeping all night so now I'll be awake all day." She shrugs, picking up one of the biscuits and examining it closely for a moment before taking a bite from it.
"Hm, okay," says Patchouli.
"Mm."
Patchouli continues with her work. Remilia glances over the girl's shoulder out of curiosity, but doesn't bother to ask her any questions, because she knows Pache doesn't like it when she gets interrupted.
Well, it's not like Pache has ever really complained about Remilia's interruptions before, but Remilia doesn't really have any reason to disturb the girl's focus right now.
By this point, they've known each other for quite a long time, so Remilia doesn't really feel any pressing need to fill the silence between them. She's comfortable just chilling around her friend.
Patchouli continues jotting down some notes from one of the thick books in front of her, and as Remilia's attention drifts, the vampire just amuses herself by looking around at the library, idly contemplating various things, like bats, and space-time space warping shenanigans, and ideas like maybe they could renovate this place a little, make things look a bit more modern? (On the other hand, there's a kind of charm to this older style, so maybe not.)
In companionable silence, the two of them eventually finish working their way through the rest of the pile of biscuits.
Then, Remilia gathers up the tray and the remaining tea, wishes Patchouli a very "get-some-sleep-soon-you-health-neglecting-nerd", and then heads off to the hallway to see if she can catch some fairy maid or other to take this tray back to the kitchen (because she's too lazy to make the rest of the trip herself).