Heavy Drinking

Chapter Text

If there were plenty of inns in Gensokyo, Reimu Hakurei would never be here, so close to Alice Margatroid's ominous black-cubed home. She still shuddered thinking about the confrontation over Marisa before Alice's tragic death, which took place over there. She'd been relieved when Alice seemed to be philosophical over Marisa transferring her affections to Reimu, only to be blindsided by her angry and powerful hidden daughter, Medicine Melancholy. Only a radical intervention by Marisa and Alice, as well as all the force Reimu could muster, had saved her.

There were not. This was the only inn she knew of, especially anywhere near her home territory.

She had sought out the inn to see if she could scare up some information. It was rumored the Palanquin ship had returned, bringing visitors from Makai. That could mean anything from Shinki herself, still angry about Alice, to a flock of demons creating an Incident, to Byakuren, Mamizou and Murasa renewing their battle with the Taoists. Unfortunately, she had arrived later than she hoped to, and the only voice she could make out, eavesdropping outside before venturing in, was Suika, unsurprisingly drunk. She normally had no issues dodging Suika under those conditions, but she was worried attention would be drawn to her if Suika recognized her and called out to her. She decided to try to make out what she was saying for a few minutes, first.

"Drink up, Minamitsu!" she heard, first. Oh great, she thought. That explained the rippled ground near Alice's cottage. Apparently, Murasa was back and was now able to control the Earth as well as the sea using the ship temple. That might count as an Incident all by itself. Definitely, if she was here to renew the Buddhist/Taoist war. Then she heard something that made her heart leap into her throat.

"That Alice girl is even more of a looker than she was last time, Minamitsu! You know what I mean? She was givin' you the eye, too, big time. It's a shame to let a beauty like her sleep it off alone, I say."

She heard Murasa raise her voice and protest that it was her job to guard Alice, not seduce her. Alice. Who was alive. Who was, apparently, sleeping off a drinking binge no more than twenty meters from where Reimu was eavesdropping. It might not be a Gensokyo-wide Incident, but it could easily be a personal one. That was confirmed the next moment.

"Alice!" Yuika yelled. "You need company in there? Minamitsu is looking awfully lonely out here!"

She then heard - yes - Alice's voice yelling "Shut the hell up, Yuika!" But somehow it seemed younger and less educated than she remembered.

"Are you sure, Alice? Minamitsu's a real looker. Don't let the ghost thing bother you, it didn't stop Mima with Marisa and yo ... oh wait you wouldn't remember." Yuika hiccuped and laughed. "Any way, take my word for it, she'll show you a good time and teach you a lot."

Hold up. Mima with Alice? Mima with Marisa? She knew Marisa had been Mima's ward and Alice her maid, but. Marisa was going to have some tough questions to answer in the near future. She remembered her sense of moral values as a young vengeance spirit, before Byakuren. Nonexistent. Those questions would come in the very near future.

Murasa raised her voice again to protest that she was not, in fact, a ghost of loose morals. Meanwhile, Alice raised her voice to be heard over Murasa. "She's VERY pretty, Yuika, but you know I am saving myself for Marisa!"

That made Yuika laugh a little harder. "Oh, what about that shrine maiden. I hear she takes up all of the black/white's time nowadays."

Reimu heard Alice say something that sounded like "That BITCH!"

Then, after a pause. "If Reimu doesn't know enough to stay away from MY WITCH, I'll have to teach her a lesson."

Murasa expressed the sentiment that Alice should by no means accept any suggestions from Medicine, at least.

"My *hiccup* daughter has her head on straight, even if she is a lil' grumpy, Minamitsu." Now she could hear Alice clearly. Apparently she'd left he bed and come back to the table where Yuika and Murasa were drinking. Come to think of it, Murasa seemed rather drunk, too, which was a feat given that all but a few drops went through her ladle.

Reimu realized it would be a disaster if she were detected now, and she decided to fly to Marisa's cottage, which wasn't far off.

They walked back together, so Reimu could fill Marisa in on the situation. Because her curiosity was almost as bad as Patchouli's, she actually asked Marisa how she thought Murasa was getting drunk at the inn. Marisa had brushed off her furious questions about Mima as "ancient history."

"My guess, from what you've said, is that Alice is acting more like me than she used to, right?" Marisa asked.

Reimu pondered that and nodded.

"Well, in Alice's shoes I would let Minamitsu share my cup. Alice is a demigoddess, remember. And her cup is probably one she brought from Makai."

"I don't suppose there's any hope of getting Alice together with Murasa and then she leaves us alone?" Reimu ventured.

"Two problems with that. Minamitsu is pining for Byakuren the way Alice is for me. Of course, Alice has better taste and more common sense ..."

Reimu looked at her.

"At least I put out!"

Reimu started to get mad, but Marisa just chuckled.

"Hey, if I let myself get all that tied down, you and I would never have been an item, you know. Maybe now you know how Alice felt."

She had known, at the time. She just hadn't cared that much. Now it had come back to haunt her. Perhaps literally, with the ghost girl guarding Alice and her children. She felt a little guilty. The thought also occurred to her that this must be how the humans who turned into youkai felt when Reimu hunted them down. Now, she was the hunted. It wasn't a good feeling.

"There's a solution, my little shrine cutie. There's a way to fix your jealous attitude once and for all, pacify Alice, and keep things on an even keel in Gensokyo."

Reimu gave Marisa a skeptical look. They had nearly reached the inn, so she motioned for her to be quiet. They crept up to the door, and Reimu started to listen when she felt magic welling up behind her. She whirled around, but too late. Marisa fired off a barrage of spells. The first one didn't harm her, but felt like it was shredding her clothes. She glanced down for an instant and discovered she was dressed only in the skimpiest of lingerie. She didn't even have time to react to that before Marisa's next spell trussed her up like a game-fowl with a ribbon and bow on top. A final spell seemingly did nothing but produce a warm feeling in her midsection.

With that thought, she suddenly saw Marisa's foot lash out and kick the door open. She was unceremoniously shoved through it, then Marisa magically shut and locked it. She could hear Marisa's laughter trailing away as she abandoned Reimu and went home.

Hpw did a good, loyal ghost girl like her end up in a situation like this?

It wasn't just that she was in bed with her charge and her charge's worst enemy. To make things worse, when they finally slept she'd had both girls clinging to her, naked, on each side. She felt a mouth on each breast, and she was in turn groping both girls. It was all Marisa Kirisame's fault, but she wasn't sure Shinki would see it that way. And how would she explain it to Byakuren? It was a disaster. She saw no point in letting go of Reimu or Alice's breasts, mind you. The damage was already done, and it helped her think.

Even Yuika had been left speechless when Reimu Hakurei, of all people, came flying through the inn door dressed like a courtesan, tied up with a note pinned to her ribbon saying "Present From: Marisa To: Alice. Enjoy!"

It got even weirder when Reimu saw Alice.

"Oh my goodness. I mean, I knew you were a demi-goddess, but wow, you are a goddess!" she crooned. Alice was too drunk to really take stock of the fact that this was her rival and nemesis. She'd been half-talked into bed with Minamitsu by Yuika, though the ghost girl said her duty was to guard Alice, not bed her. Quite honestly, she was in a mood to feel good, and this girl drooling over her wasn't half bad-looking. Plus, she liked presents, and she liked Marisa, and she was a present from Marisa, right? She was still wavering, when she had an idea.

"My guardian there doesn't like me being alone with strangers. Do you mind if she comes along?"

Reimu only had eyes for Alice, but she obligingly looked Murasa over. "She's pretty. I don't mind. Whatever you want, beautiful Alice. Oh my goodness, even your name is so beautiful!"

Yuika couldn't hold her laughter in any longer. She looked at Murasa, effectively checkmated by a drunken teenager, and winked. Then she grabbed Reimu up, spun her in the air until all the ropes were off her, and gently placed the dizzy miko under the covers of Alice's bed. She gestured to Minamitsu to head in with Alice. Murasa glared at her, but there was little she could do.

"Won't you be lo-lonely Yu *hiccup* Yuika? I dunno if the bed is big enough, but ..."

Yuika laughed yet again. "Don't you worry about me, Miss Alice. I been womanizing pretty hard lately and I could use a ..." with that, the oni girl fell forward onto the table, fast asleep.

"wo-wo-wo-womanizing!" Alice said, delighted. "What a wunnerful word! I wanna womanize. I have two women so I can women-ize."

Reimu called out from the bedroom that she agreed it was a truly perfect word. Murasa hid her face in her hand and groaned. She really didn't remember much after that, as Alice insisted she drink a very large "night-cap" from her Makai-made cup before they all got under the covers.

Come to think of it, she felt awfully solid, even a little hung-over, for being so long away from the Palanquin ship. When she'd first started piloting, she wouldn't have even been fleshly enough after hours away to gambol with the two girls as she did last night. And something else felt odd. She glanced over at the night-stand. Carefully placed right in the middle was. Was.

Her ladle.