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File 132246098586.png - (222.76KB , 345x785 , school.png )
368495 No. 368495 ID: 068384

You are a nine year old girl, it's the middle of Friday, and you're
not in school. Normally this would mean you're skipping school, but
this weekend you're going to a hot springs resort with your two best
friends in the entire world. You wouldn't want to skip schools anyway,
unless your friends were to do so as well.

You really like your friends, but lately you've been worrying about
them. Well, really just one of them; she was recently beaten up by
someone. It wasn't obvious, but you could tell; she's never that
careful moving, and you could see her wince when she sat down. She
refuses to say who, though. Even when she's in school, she spends
most of her time staring into air, and she never seems to have time to
play anymore. Whoever did this to her, you want to punch them! It
makes you so mad.. but Suzuka is right, you can't force her to
talk. Can you?

Hopefully, this weekend you'll be able to get her talking.

Right now you're heading home in order to change, finish packing, and
wait for your friends. Nanoha is bringing her siblings, Suzuka her
mom and Farin. You wish your own mom would come.. but it's okay,
you'll be fine on your own. Your butler is going to drive you there.

Your only real goal is to have fun with your friends. You were already
living happily ever after, so if you can just get Nanoha to explain
what's going on, you're sure you can fix it. Worst case, your
allowance would probably stretch to hiring a bodyguard for
her.. secretly, of course.

You have a few minutes to plan your course of attack on your way home.

Your score is 5.


This is your chance to ask questions about the scenario. For
starters: Your parents are rich. You aren't, and you're probably
underestimating the cost of a bodyguard. Don't assume everything Alice
thinks she knows is correct. Barring interruptions I'm going to
timeskip until we're at the hot springs, but it'll take some time to
write; you'll have plenty of time for interruptions.

The score measures your synchronization. Well, basically it goes down if you make Alice do anything too out of character; she already has a personality, after all. Don't worry too much about it.

Expand all images
>>
No. 368500 ID: 3947e9

This looks interesting. but the following worries me

>Someone hurt her
>Pain sitting down
>Refuses to say who
>Social withdraw.

Sounds like that 9 year old girl is being sexually abused. Rather disturbing and something I would rather not quest about. Can you guarantee OOC that this is NOT the case?

>>
No. 368501 ID: e55966

whom are your other friends and some key school faculty ? its probably not important, yet. my goodness you really should punch something soon, this is quite depressing and infuriating. would you try to take some money from your parents if it meant you could use it to figure out whats wrong / do something nice for your friend ?

secretly, of course
>>
No. 368502 ID: 453e62

what about a DETECTIVE. if she wont tell you then maybe you can have a detective figure it out.
>>
No. 368504 ID: 068384

o_O

Oh dear. It didn't even occur to me that it could be interpreted in that manner.

Yes, I can guarantee absolutely that no-one is being abused in that manner, and additionally that Nanoha is not being abused at all. The cause is.. different.

Alice knows Nanoha, and her family, well enough that she isn't even considering this as a possibility. She's right in this assessment.

Also, this is fanfiction. You can look up the characters, and I won't mind at all, though it'd probably be more interesting if you don't.

If you don't want to do that, some critical facts that Alice *does not know*: There is one child being abused in this story, though not sexually; she is not the focus of the story. Nanoha was hurt trying to help her. Nanoha has good reason to believe none of her friends can help, and would just get hurt themselves if they try; this includes any faction up to the police. Moreover, attempting to is likely to hurt this child more. If you do nothing, Nanoha will succeed, though not without loss of life.
>>
No. 368507 ID: 068384

Notrottel: You don't really have any other friends, sad to say. You used to be a bully - in fact, you used to bully Suzuka, until Nanoha came along and, er, befriended you. This being a codeword for punching you until you listen. You're much happier now, and Suzuka forgave you long ago.

As far as you know Suzuka doesn't have any other friends her age either, though she's very close with her personal maid and friendly with the others.

Both of you come from rich families, which has served to distance you from the rest of the class, but the three of you are very close instead.

Nanoha has a few other friends, but none you'd feel comfortable relying on. They're just normal kids. Her family are bakers, and own a popular bakery nearby; they specialize in sweet confections for children.

Nanoha has two older siblings, who are both coming with you. You're pretty sure at least one of them practices kendo; perhaps he can help? You wonder why they haven't done anything yet, though.

Your allowance is quite large enough for most purposes. You and Suzuka (she insisted) are jointly paying for this trip, in fact. You're also an honest girl, sometimes to a fault, and without a better reason it'd cost a point to override that.

You could possibly hire a detective, but you don't really want to sneak behind your best friend's back. You're going to spend the weekend with her anyway, so maybe later. It would cost you a point to do so right away.

Also, you don't know how to hire one. You'd need to bring at least one of your servants in on it; you have one in mind, but he'd probably tell your parents.
>>
No. 368509 ID: 453e62

maybe she tried to er 'befriend' someone REALLY strong. maybe workout with her sometime? help her get stronger at the same time as lending some moral support. then if she tries again she could do it.
>>
No. 368517 ID: 068384

One more thing.

If you want a good ending, you will have to override Alice's preferences on occasion. I wouldn't give you the option if you weren't meant to use it.

However, if your score goes to zero then you can't. Decisions, decisions. :P
>>
No. 368518 ID: 44766a

Do you have any special talents or skills?
>>
No. 368519 ID: a23c78

You're only half Japanese. Your father was an american businessman, and as a result you are fully conversant in English; a skill that's rare even among adults in your country, much less nine-year-olds. However, in some places you may face light discrimination due to your obviously foreign appearance.

You are outspoken, and not easily intimidated. You also have somewhat of a temper. You'll stand up to others even when you perhaps shouldn't, though this doesn't always work out well. Poor Suzuka.. you wish you'd become friends sooner.

You once saw a ghost. You're pretty sure it was a ghost, anyway. Maybe you're a medium! You think so, or hope so; you want to think there's something special about you. If you squint, you think you can see faint traceries of light in the night sky.
>>
No. 368522 ID: 94dd4f

Do we have any bodyguard Or are our parents not that rich? Do we have any servants(driver, maid, Bodyguard?) that we trust if? So who? And do we have any unusual skills? If we do how did we get them? Last question, How close are we to our parents?
>>
No. 368524 ID: a23c78

Naptime. I'll answer later, probably in about twelve hours.
>>
No. 368528 ID: 453e62

have you told anyone about seeing the lines?
>>
No. 368534 ID: 786012

Do the lines have any pattern to them? Like a grid, or a repeating ornament, or a fractal, or something?
>>
No. 368536 ID: e55966

when you squint, can you see summoning circles ? activate that shit
>>
No. 368558 ID: 082da4

>>368528
Hmm... As embarrassing as this suggestion might be, maybe you should tell your friends about this?
>>
No. 368561 ID: 75e534

Complain about your rear being sore due to falling on gravel or something to her older siblings, and ask them how Nanoha's dealing with her own problems with said also rear for advice. You know, try to be subtle and see if there's a consistant story behind why she's in pain. Ask Nanoha later, before gets a chance to meet up with siblings what's wrong with her butt due to obvious pain. Compare stories. If they don't add up, you got something fishy.
>>
No. 368582 ID: 1a30a5

Okay, in no particular order, and I'll post the update in ~seven hours after I get off work:

You don't have a bodyguard. There's no need for a bodyguard! This is Japan, the place is safe! Nanoha's brother was hanging around for a bit last year for unspecified reasons that probably included guarding, but he's just good with a sword, not a real bodyguard. At the time you suspected he had a crush on your maid, actually. You still aren't sure if he was. Your parents are certainly rich enough to hire a real one if they needed to, they just don't need to.

You trust your maid and butler with your life. You do not trust them with your secrets. They were hired by your parents, and there's no way they wouldn't tell them if you were up to something odd. Your friend Suzuka is much closer with her own personal maid, and the two can certainly keep a secret. Unfortunately Farin is a little clumsy.. but she's all of fifteen, practically an adult!

There's also Farin's older sister, who's twenty-something. She's so cool.. you want to be like her when you grow up. Suzuka isn't as close with her, but if you can convince Farin, the three of you might be able to convince Noel.

Your parents love you, and you love them, but they're never around. Always busy at work. They took a week's vacation with you this summer, though!

Unfortunately they don't fully trust you, likely because of your tendency to get into messes. Suzuka's accidental admission of how the two of you first met didn't help either, you guess. They're likely to be dead set against anything dangerous.

(OOC: If you get those two involved, you'll be drastically limited in what you can do, and at the moment there's no way they can really help.)

Those lines? Um. This is kind of embarrassing, but they're basically the same kind of vaguely fractal patterns you can see when you close your eyes or just enter a dark room. You'd like them to be something special, but if you want to be honest with yourself it's really just noise. You've read about this, that level of synesthesia is common.

(Command accepted: Ask Nanoha's siblings. However, they'll have had plenty of time to come up with a story already; this didn't happen today.)
>>
No. 368587 ID: d6fdce

So... what now?
>>
No. 368588 ID: 1a30a5

Well, you're still walking home. You've decided to talk with Nanoha's siblings about this, where she can't hear; they're very protective of Nanoha, and will probably understand.

It will take you roughly six hours to get home, real-time, so check back then. :P
>>
No. 368674 ID: 068384

You walk the rest of the way home in deep thought, hardly even
noticing your surroundings except to dodge branches. Normally you'd
spend some time squirrel-spotting here, but not today. You have more
important things to consider.

Whatever is causing this, since Nanoha is unwilling to talk it's going
to take some subtlety to make her open up. That girl.. she would go to
extremes to help her worst enemy, but if it's about herself, suddenly
she has to do everything on her own. You're actually pretty sure she'd
want to do everything on her own even if it's her trying to help
someone else, it's just her default setting. She doesn't ever want to
be a bother.

If that is the case..

She has to have a good idea that you're worrying about her, and it's
definitely bothering you. This means she's probably thinking the
problem is big enough that knowing the truth would worry you more,
which in itself is just makes you worry even more. Which means it has
to be an even bigger problem, to make her do that. Which means..

You clench your fist in determination. Well, no choice then - you'll
just have to find out, one way or the other.

You briefly consider telling your parents, or at least someone with
enough authority that they can protect her. It's tempting, but
whatever is going on, chances are good Nanoha is trying to help
someone. If you forcibly stop that way, you're almost sure she'd never
forgive you. Her safety is more important to you than her friendship,
yes, but you'd still rather have both.. so unless it happens
again.. you guess you don't need to do that yet.

What you're really missing is information. You still have no
real idea what's going on, and no way of finding out on your
own. Asking Nanoha doesn't work, so.. conveniently, you're meeting up
with her siblings soon. You'll ask them, and if they somehow haven't
noticed and don't know anything, they could help. You can form a
Nanoha Protection League, maybe. You perk up at the thought.

As you're considering what the cheer of the League should be, you
accidentally walk right into the backside of your own house, bouncing
off and landing in an undignified heap! While you usually enjoy having
it built into the side of a public park, you might change your mind if
it's going to attack you like this.

Standing up and brushing yourself off, you quickly check to make sure
no-one saw. Trees to the left, bushes to the right.. nobody
did. Wait.. down there, it's your cat Niblet, somehow looking
unutterably smug. Well, let her; you've got plenty of embarrassing
kitty videos, if it comes to that.

It takes another minute to jog around to the front entrance, giving
you plenty of time to appreciate how pointlessly big the place is. Two
floors, five bedrooms, and most of the time it's just you, your butler
Kanon, and Lisa the maid? Your parents were hoping for more children,
but they never had any. Probably due to rarely even being in the same
city as each other, but what do you know?

As it is, you're practically raising yourself. Lisa and Kanon do their
best, you guess, but you're actually happy you don't have any younger
siblings to deal with. You just know you'd end up having to teach them
everything.

Just before you round the last corner, you hear voices. Lisa, and.. is
that Kyouya? Nanoha's brother?

You stick your head around the corner. It is! The three of them have
already arrived, and Kyouya is chatting with Lisa as the two move
baggage from Nanoha's car to your own. You assume Nanoha's mom or dad
is in there somewhere too, to drive it.

Nanoha is kneeling in front of your dog pen, getting reacquainted with
the dogs. Her back is turned.

This is your chance!

Do you..


[ ] Sneak inside, then look for Nanoha's sister Miyuki? You can't see her, so she's
probably talking to Kanon.
[ ] Try to get Kyouya inside without Nanoha noticing.
[ ] Go talk to Nanoha.
[ ] Something else?
>>
No. 368676 ID: f70e5e

we could try guilt tripping Nanoha into tell us her secret, by trusting her with one of our own. tell her about the circl thing and make a bit of a big deal about it, like its something you've been worried about but were to weirded out to tell anyone until now. but your telling Nanoha because you trust her and you don't want any secrets between the two of you.
>>
No. 368688 ID: 6af537

I think this should be our last resort, after we've exhausted all other possibilities. Moreover, doing this right now is not advisable - you're out in the open, this is no environment for such a private conversation.

I say we sneak inside and go look for Nanoha's sister.

Idle thoughts: if MrTT thought of something, chances are the characters can be manipulated into thinking the same thing. It can be our trump card to shock Nanoha's relatives into action. Just saying.
>>
No. 368703 ID: 754533

Hm. You'll have a hard time convincing Alice of such a thing, but yes, I imagine it would do.. something. And you could use overrides if it came to that.

But, OOC: The default end involves two people dying. Stopping Nanoha, which this might well do, could potentially be far, far worse.
>>
No. 368710 ID: 8f8650

Since we have these nice and ready-made options right there:
[x] Sneak inside, then look for Nanoha's sister Miyuki? You can't see her, so she's
probably talking to Kanon.

...Kanon? Uh oh.
>>
No. 368711 ID: 6af537

OOC, I don't really care about Precia, and who's the second one?

Anyway, do we even have any kind of plan? Because even if I try to meta-game, I can't think of how Alice can help Nanoha. As Wirjiry said, there's a good reason why she doesn't involve others.

... And having written that, I realised that the only catch we have is the lines. And there's noone better equipped to handle that than Nanoha and Yuuno.

I'm suddenly hesitant to approach her siblings at all. Regardless of whether we do that, and provided nothing actually happens if we do, a plan for further actions is suggested:

Alice, has Nanoha found any polecats in the woods recently?
IF YES: go to her, ask about its wellbeing, then tell her about the lines. Make a big deal out of it, disregarding anything you might've read about synesthesia.
IF NO: skip the polecat part, go straight to the lines.

To all the other voices: before we actually talk with Nanoha's relatives, WHAT EXACTLY are we going to say?

Oh, by the way, Alice, do you have any jewelry on you right now?

What happens if the Orb gets enhanced by the Jewel Seeds?
>>
No. 368713 ID: 754533

Hum. Given that most of you seem to not be familiar with the original, I'm going to black this out - spoiler tags hide spoilers, and always will.

The second one is Alicia, of course. In this story Precia is partially right, and Fate is *not* a proper copy of Alicia. Though I normally lean towards saying she is, it's more convenient here - saving her is not impossible, just so you know.

Said lines are more of a symptom than anything else, and not of anything Nanoha could figure out. Yuuno might have a better shot, adult Yuuno probably would figure it out. Symptom of what? Heh, it really could be synaesthesia.

Consider all your resources before claiming there's nothing you can do. From a metagaming perspective, consider that episode five is up next.

And she's bringing her ferret. *Ferret*, not polecat.

By orb, do you mean Raging Heart? Um, probably Nanoha goes boom. She doesn't have the prerequisites to deal with them; Precia's far more intelligent and has spent decades studying them.

>>
No. 368714 ID: 6af537

Eh... Don't remember what's happening in Ep5, nyoro~. Someone, help us out here!

What I wanted to do was not to get instant answers to the mystery of the lines, but to gain entrance to Nanoha's new extended world by possession of a related mystery.

... Right, ferret. I knew I was using the wrong word, but the dictionary was surprisingly unhelpful.

By Orb, I mean The Orb of Infinite Psyche, which Alice is(?) using to contact us, of course! Also, IIRC, it was Raising Heart, not Raging?

>>
No. 368716 ID: 754533

That Orb does not exist here. Its effects do, but I don't want to deal with an actual, physical device like that; things will get complicated enough as it is.

Raising Heart, Raging Heart.. whichever. I know it's not the official name, but I always preferred the latter one, so that's what it is!

If it helps, you may consider it a symptom of this also being slightly divergent from the main universe. Bits of Triangle Hearts are in effect, for example..

>>
No. 368717 ID: 754533

Alice is not inclined to tell anyone about visual figments. Largely, this is because she barely even remembers they exist, and she has no reason to care. There's more important stuff afoot.

If you want to force it.. well, okay, but right now doesn't seem like the time. Think carefully.
>>
No. 368718 ID: 1444d5
File 132259239843.jpg - (112.46KB , 689x402 , dda9c89ea2cb5238e42a64766f68800b.jpg )
368718

+1 vote to not investigate the lines.
Burning Arisa + magic = a hell of a lot more paperwork to file at the TSAB. Nanoha and Fate tearing up the scenery is bad enough.
>>
No. 368722 ID: 6af537

Right.

Looked up Episodes 4 and 5. Ep4 - Nanoha gets defeated by Fate, Ep5 - she's challenged by the same at the hot springs.

So, what can we do in the limited time we've got before we get to the hot springs? COME ON GUYS AND GALS WE NEED A PLAN.

Is there a discussion thread?

...Now that I think of it, if Nanoha got beaten up, there must be some bruises. How's she going to conceal them at the hot springs? Maybe we should help her with that?
>>
No. 368724 ID: 754533

Not to worry, Yuuno healed her up nicely after that fight. He's pretty decent with healing magic. (But she was still bruised at school? Well, yeah, that just isn't why.)

Discussion thread, discussion thread.. okay, since you asked, have http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/356291.html
>>
No. 368728 ID: 6af537

Must you destroy every line of approach I think of? >_<"

I'm joking.
Still, that means I'm out of meaningful ideas.


Right, let's sneak in and find the sister.
>>
No. 368730 ID: 754533

Hehe. I should perhaps stop telling you these things, if you're going to try only the optimal path. There's enough slack that you don't need to do that, and it might have been amusing.

On a less spoilery note, even approaches that turn out to be bad can still yield new data. Alice knows this, experimenting a little is perfectly within character for her.
>>
No. 368731 ID: 6af537

... Wow. Baka Etoile, I shouldn't have discarded that so soon. Ok, in we go, speak to the sister, then we'll see if we can combine packing and approaching Nanoha.
>>
No. 368733 ID: 8f8650

>>368730
> I should perhaps stop telling you these things
Yeah, that might be a good idea. Telling things in-story at the appropriate times is preferable.
>>
No. 368737 ID: 754533

Even when it's things anyone can look up?

Well, okay. From now on you'll just have to look them up. :P
>>
No. 368738 ID: 754533

All right. So, consensus is to go talk to Miyuki, then see if you can get Nanoha alone and talk to her?

What exactly are you going to ask Miyuki about?
>>
No. 368820 ID: 068384

You know, guess it might not matter. Oh, and I won't keep adding a "something else" option, but it's always there. Do what you want to, it's your game.


If Nanoha and Kyouya are here, that means Miyuki must be
inside. Nanoha's sister is not someone you've spent a lot of time
with, but from what you can tell she's a caring girl who deeply loves
her little sister, and like the rest of the family she cares more
about ability than age. You'd like to talk to her without Nanoha
nearby, which probably means this is the best chance you'll get all
weekend.

This determined, you smartly turn around and jog back to to the back
entrance. It's not somewhere you usually enter, because if there are
puppies nearby they'll usually try escaping, so you need to spend half
an hour chasing them down. That almost never happens, though, so it's
worth the risk instead of trying to sneak past Nanoha.

Twenty seconds later, you're peeking through the sliding glass
door. No puppies, and.. yeah, no-one to see. Sneaking into your own
house like this feels a bit embarrassing, but if you've got to you've
got to. Opening the door a crack and squeezing through is the work of
a few more seconds, and you're inside.

The sitting room is an airy space, filled with bookcases, a couch, a
formal tea set and several large floor-to-roof windows to go with the
back entrance. One of the windows has an imprint of your face from
when you walked into it earlier; fortunately you're the only one who'd
be able to tell.

You like this room. It's great for just sitting down and relaxing in,
and when your friends are visiting you often sit down here to drink
tea and eat cake, expertly served by Kanon and provided by Nanoha,
respectively. It's full of good memories, but Miyuki isn't here.

You glance around for a moment, but there are no obvious signs of
life, and searching the house would take all day. You know how to find
people here, though, so you carefully sneak to the intersection of the
kitchen and the main hallway, next to the stairs. It's not that you
really need to sneak - you'd hear them coming from halfway across the
house if they open the heavy main door - but it just feels like the
right thing to do.

Closing your eyes to listen, you can hear Miyuki's raised voice coming
from the kitchen, that is to say from the midsized room right next to
you, squeezed in between the outer wall and living room. She's
obviously not in there, which given the peculiarities of the tubing
means.. your own bedroom, or the bathroom attached to it? What. You're
not sure what to think of this. You suppose she probably followed
Kanon in there, but cleaning your bedroom is supposed to be Lisa's
job, and.. she's in your bedroom. It's yours!

You can't quite make out what they're saying, even from inside the
kitchen, so instead of staying in here you practically fly up the
stairs. You only slow down as you're approaching your bedroom, whose
door is open a crack. Even without trying, you can overhear a bit of
what they're saying. Right now Miyuki is talking.

"..to be worried. I trust.."

"..don't know. Can't hurt to.." "..Arisa might.."

Whatever they're talking about, it seems to concern you. You wouldn't
normally eavesdrop, but they're the ones who snuck into your
bedroom. Fair's fair, right?

[ ] Eavesdrop. You know you want to.
[ ] Barge in, pretend you haven't heard anything.
[ ] Go wait somewhere else. Eavesdropping isn't nice.
>>
No. 368834 ID: 1378fe

[x] Eavesdrop. You know you want to.

Right, fair's fair.
>>
No. 368836 ID: 786012

>>368834
Seconding. Knowledge is power.
>>
No. 368842 ID: a06b41

>>368836
Thirding
>>
No. 369073 ID: 068384
File 132272661094.jpg - (281.57KB , 1600x1200 , Stormy-Weather-Saguaro-Cactus.jpg )
369073

[X] Eavesdrop.

It's not quite what you had in mind when you came here, but this
opportunity is too good to miss. The door is open, so you can't safely
put your ear against it, but on the other hand there's a handy
crack. Walking as softly and carefully as you can, you make your way
over to the other side of the door, put your back up against the wall
and lean slightly out so only your right ear is exposed. If anyone saw
you now you'd totally look like a secret agent. Like this, you can
easily hear their conversation.

Kanon seems to be very upset, which surprises you. He's normally
utterly unflappable, subscribing to the theory that servants should be
like furniture - there when needed, but never intrusive or emotional.

The content of their conversation quickly stops you thinking of such
matters.

"Two trees, seemingly struck by lightning. Several bushes completely
blown up. One half-dead cat, one of Suzuka's favorites, and your
sister comes out of it looking like she lost a fight with a
sword-wielding cactus, and claiming she fell into a thorn bush. A
thorn bush, I'll add, that I can only assume has a serious grudge
against her. It must have, to start walking around - there aren't any
in that forest, we checked, and an immobile one wouldn't put her in
bedrest. Even if you're happy to leave it at that, I cannot. I don't
what she's gotten herself into, but she could have gotten herself
killed. Worse, she could have gotten Arisa killed."

You remember, of course. You don't think you'll ever forget.

Last Sunday. The three of you - Suzuka, Nanoha and you - were having
lunch in Suzuka's back yard, when Nanoha suddenly ran off, claiming
she was going after Yuuno. She came back a little while later,
carrying a half-dead cat and looking half-dead herself, with Yuuno on
her shoulder where he always is - and now Miyuki is talking, so you
stop thinking and just listen.

"I told you already.." she says hesitantly, then more firmly. "It is
at least as likely that Nanoha's actions helped Arisa instead of
putting her at risk, given that they're friends. I trust her
judgement, and if this was something that could be done elsewhere, she
would have. It's probably why she ran off in the first place."

"A nine-year-old. You trust the judgement of a nine year old girl."

Miyuki's voice seems to grow wistful. "It would be rather hypocritical
of me to do otherwise, if you'll remember. We'd intervene if she was
trying to do everything on her own, and we'll help if she asks us
to. Since she's asking for training instead of direct help, we'll go
with that for now, and I'm sure she'll tell us eventually."

"And Arisa?"

"I believe we can compromise on that point. Nanoha's heart is in the
right place, and her talent for the family Art is tremendous, but she
has only barely started. For the time being, let's say they will only
meet when either me or my brother are present, or at school, or at
Suzuka's place. They have their own retainers, who should be
sufficient to the purpose if they keep an eye on her."

"So the two of you coming on the trip when your parents couldn't is
not a coincidence, then. I was wondering."

There's more talk, but you're not paying attention anymore. Never mind
this talk of training and blowing up trees, you'll figure that out
later. They're threatening to take Nanoha away from you! You twist in
agitation, slip, and land on your side with a loud thud.

The door opens with a sigh.

Your face flushed, you slowly turn around. Sure enough, Miyuki is
looking down at you. She does not look happy.

She wouldn't. We're still basically in a cutscene, but if you'd
like to think of a good excuse, this would be the time. Running away
is not going to work.

>>
No. 369084 ID: 786012

Fuck excuses. The best defence is offence.
"Do not doubt for even a second that I will do everything to help my friend. You are faced with the Prisoner's Dilemma now; I ask of you, will you cooperate or be an obstacle?"
>>
No. 369134 ID: 068384

They say a good offense is the best defense, but Alice knows no game theory. She's nine.
>>
No. 369136 ID: 3627fe

>>369134
"I'll tell Nanoha's principle and my parents on your family if you don't help me help her!"
>>
No. 369140 ID: 6af537

>>369134
All right, all right. Change that second part to "Will you help me help Nanoha?" or something. What >>369136 said is good too.
>>
No. 369290 ID: 068384

I'm flying back from Mountain View to Dublin in a few hours, so no update today.

Instead, extra large update tomorrow, probably taking us all the way to the, hm, more interesting events of the hot spring - I'll have plenty of time to write on the plane.

From there on there won't be many opportunities to timeskip, I don't think, so you should enjoy this one. :P
>>
No. 370191 ID: bd4b61

I'm caught in an eternal recursion of jet lag.

I’m hereby declaring Alice to be 110 cm tall. Pint-sized, in
other words; at the 2nd percentile of height for her age. This will
never come up again.


[X] The best defense is a good offense. Claim you’ll help Nanoha no
matter what. Ask them to help you, not vice versa.

“Arisa. How much did you hear?”

Thinking quickly, you change your position so you’re now stretched out
on the floor, propping your head up with your left arm. Standing up,
you’re just some kid - it’s a point of annoyance with you that you
barely reach up to the waist of most people - but in this position
your.. vertical disadvantage can’t count against you, or so you
hope. It's also a pretty comfortable position.

Miyuki is tapping her foot and looking impatient. This will take some
careful maneuvering.

"Enough. I know that you know Nanoha's in trouble, and that you're
planning to keep me away from her. I also know you're not helping her
directly" - Miyuki looks like she's trying to say something, but you
quickly continue - "and I'm not going to say you're wrong. You just
wanted to trust her, right?"

"Your plan of keeping us apart will have to go, though. I came here to
see if you had noticed what is going on, and ask you to help me help
her, but I'm going to do so whether or not you want me to. Besides, do
you really think keeping her away from her best friend is going to
make anything easier on her?"

That was quite the speech, if you do say so yourself. If you hadn't
come here right now their plan might have worked, but with what you
overheard there's no way their fiendish plot can succeed. Still, at
this point you're pretty sure you can feel your toes blushing. If this
gets any more embarrassing, you might catch on fire. Please buy it..

Miyuki looks bemused, which you take to be a good sign. Kanon
looks.. like he has swallowed a lemon, whole, perhaps with a good
leavening of raw pepper. He seems to be straining mightily to hold
himself back. You've never seen an expression remotely like that on
him, and quite frankly you find it very intimidating.

"Young lady! You don't know what you are saying!", Kanon says
urgently. "Nanoha is" - a glance at Miyuki - "well, not safe to be
around. I could not possibly face your mother if something were to
happen to you."

This is bad. If he's willing to pull the 'mother' card, you have to
assume he'd actually call her in. If mom has to take time off over
this, you'll never hear the end of it, and she'd probably ground
you. That would be the worst possible outcome.

You look desperately towards Miyuki, who fortunately looks more than a
bit annoyed at this description of her sister. You'll have at least
one ally, but what to say?

"But..!"

That wasn't it.

This sucks.

"Nanoha needs my help! She's my best friend, I can't abandon her!"

Kanon does not seem impressed, and in this position he's practically
looming over you. Why did you think this was a good idea again?

"Young lady, please stand up and stop blocking the doorway. We can
talk this over later, after you have composed yourself."

You sullenly do as he asks, and stand aside. This didn't go the way
you were hoping at all. Kanon walks out, followed by Miyuki, who
hesitates at the doorstep for a moment. "Your heart is in the right
place, Arisa, but he's right. With what's going on, it's too dangerous
for you to be alone with her. I can understand wanting to help a
friend, but have you considered how Nanoha would feel if you got
hurt?"

"If you want to help her, the best thing you can do might be moral
support. You both need a break, I think, and conveniently we're going
to a hot spring right now. So why don't you hop to it, and get
packing?"

Well, let's try it this way. I've got plenty more written, so
hopefully you won't go too far off course.

>>
No. 370231 ID: 6af537

Well, go and start packing. Try to plot your way so as to maximize chances of bumping into Nanoha, and subsequently asking her to come along with you.
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