SystemFailureV4 !BLzojn4jRY 2012/03/05 (Mon) 23:57 No. 51691 ▼ File 133099183540.jpg - (154.60KB, 992x647 , alice_and_marisa_touhou-992x647.jpg)
Seeing someone (actually two people) you know, you head over to them.
“Good evening, Alice, Marisa.”
Both magic-users turn to you.
“Ah, Wallach— Wallace.”
“Hey, Wally.”
Before you can respond, Alice frowns and turns to her companion. “Marisa, don’t be so rudely familiar. He has a proper name— use it.”
The black-and-white witch rolls her eyes, as if she’s heard this a thousand times before. “That ain’t my style, Alice. Besides, he gave me permission-ze.”
“Knowing you, you probably kept calling him ‘Wally’ until he gave up.” You guess that you lost control of your expression at this, because the puppeteer lets out a small noise of triumph. “See, I’m right.”
“W-Well, what about you? You nearly called him ‘Wallalalachia’! He probably hates that name!”
“It’s ‘Wallachia’, actually,“ you interject. “And I’d really prefer it if both of you called me ‘Wallace’—“
“Ha! I knew it-ze!”
Disregarding the gross abuse of your preferences for nomenclature, this looks really familiar. “If I didn’t know the truth, I’d say that the two of you were sisters. You certainly bicker like siblings.”
Marisa’s attention turns to you, as if she had never been arguing with her friend. “Speaking from personal experience, eh?”
At this, Alice looks slightly ill. “Does… that make me Remilia?”
Marisa laughs heartily. “Hahaha! But yeah, Alice here is the closest thing I have to a sister-ze.” She says, throwing an arm around the puppeteer’s shoulders, grinning wildly. Actually, it’s a rather masculine gesture…
“I agree,” Alice says, a bland look on her face. “You’re also the closest thing I have… to a brother.”
Looks like she thought so, too. The black-and-white witch is unfazed, though.
“Hehehe. Oh, speaking of which,” she asks as Alice disengages herself from her arm. “How do you two know each other?”
“Remilia was not pleased with the state of my wardrobe, and hired Alice to create something suitable,” you say. “I met her when she came to the mansion to take my measurements.”
“Thought it might be something like that. That suit looks like her work. Nice job on that, by the way-ze.”
“Thank you.”
Ignoring the conversation’s abrupt change in tone, you bring up something that’s been nagging at you for the last few minutes. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did the two of you meet?”
“Oh, she broke into my home about three and a half years ago and demanded that I teach her magic,” says Alice. “Typical Marisa, really.”
“That’s… uh…”
“Oh, it gets better. She somehow convinces me to teach her, goes off on her own a year later, and when we meet again a year and a half after that? She’s completely forgotten who I am.”
“…” You’re speechless. That’s a lot of chutzpah, for lack of a better term.
Marisa has a goofy smile on her face, and is blushing. “You’re embarrassing me, Alice…”
The puppeteer gives her a look. “That wasn’t a compliment, Marisa.” Then her expression turns sly as she looks past her friend. “By the way, I see Rinnosuke over there… and he’s looking a bit lonely.”
The witch turns and looks in the direction that Alice is looking in. “Yeah, you’re right-ze.”
“…”
“…”
“… Maybe you should go talk to him?”
“Y-yeah. Yeah, you’re right. See you, Wally!” And with that, she makes her way over to the shopkeeper.
You look at Alice. “Are you trying to…?”
“I am.” She nods.
“Any luck?”
“No, because for some stupid reason, they’ve convinced themselves that the other doesn’t like them in that way, when it’s clear to anyone with a quarter of a brain that they do!” She sighs. “Rinnosuke at least has a plausible excuse, but I’ve had more luck setting up Keine and Mokou, who are almost as dense.”
“Does… Rinnosuke blame himself for her disownment?” you ask, more to yourself than to the woman besides you.
Surprise flits across her face for a moment. “Ah, you’ve heard about that?”
“Uh,” you say eloquently.
“Well, in any case, yes, you’re right. But Marisa has never once blamed him for it.” She looks embarrassed for a moment. “I lost control once, and outright told him about her feelings for him. The fool’s brain convinced him that I had simply yelled at him incomprehensibly.”
“You seem adamant about this.”
She nods. “I might have been taking a jab at her earlier when I said she was like a brother, but that wasn’t totally inaccurate. She really is the closest thing I have to a sibling, and as such I want to see her happy. Rinnosuke, dense though he may be, is also a friend, and the same goes for him.” She pauses. “And you, as well.”
You look at her, surprised. “You consider me a friend? We’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“Well, there’s something about you. But enough of that, go talk to Patchy. She’s over there.” She points to the librarian, who’s talking to a woman with a long, silver braid.
“Alright. Nice talking to you, Alice.”
However, about halfway to Patchouli, a thought strikes you. Could Alice be trying to set you and your housemate up?
… Nah. If she was trying to do so, she wouldn’t be so blatant about it. Satisfied, you keep moving forward.
