[x] Ask more specific information about the residents of this house, mainly those you haven't met.
-[x] Ask her opinion about them; it'd add extra insight on how to deal with them.
[x] If time allows, ask about the kind of things that happen around here.
“You know, it occurred to me just now,” you say, picking up a topic idea from Cottonsky, “I don't know a whole lot about the others around here, though I'm sure you do. Mind if I ask some questions?”
“Oh, not at all,” Cottonsky replies, “who do you have in mind?” she asks. You take a moment to think, you've met a few people so far, though you don't really know a whole lot about them besides some general information. Aside from Remilia though, you've had a bit of time with everyone else, so you decide to start there.
“How about Remilia for starters? Should be easy enough,” you say.
“Lady Remilia is kind enough, I guess,” Cottonsky answers after a few seconds of thoughtful silence, “she can be a bit grouchy at times, particularly when F-” Cottonsky pauses, clapping a hand over her mouth quickly, something obvious enough to pique your interest in whatever she was about to say.
“Oh? F-, what?” you inquire, pausing in the hallway and turning to the fairy.
“Uh... uh... when.. fairies make mistakes,” she quickly covers. You have to give her credit for the fast recovery, but she should know better than to try to lie like that to a devil. Your normal life was spent surrounded by deception, lies and trickery. The 'f' sound she was making before wasn't what you'd associate with the word 'fairies', but closer to 'flower'.
“Cottonsky,” you say, keeping your voice mellow, “you're lying to me.” Cottonsky's panic becomes obvious, and she turns her eyes away. “Something you're not supposed to talk about?” you ask, and Cottonsky nods emphatically. “Is it something bad?” you ask next, and Cottonsky doesn't react for a while, rather she seems to be thinking. After a few moments, she shakes her head slowly.
“It's just... a secret. We're not supposed to bring it up,” she says, sounding a little frightened actually. You're even more interested now, if it's the 'secret' that scares her or the supposed punishment she could face for talking about it. Of course, you can't just leave the topic alone now. You take a step in closer to Cottonsky, maintaining a devilish warm smile, and lean in slightly to bring your face closer to hers.
“Come on now, if I'm going to be living here, I should be in on this secret too, hm?” you say, placing a hand gently on her shoulder to reassure her, “it wouldn't be very good if I end up having to deal with this 'secret' and not know what it is, would it?” you continue. You can almost see the thoughts processing behind Cottonsky's eyes as she buys into your attempts.
“Lady Remilia would have told you herself if she wanted you to know,” Cottonsky says in response. You move your hand off the top of her shoulder and onto the back of it, sliding up a bit closer.
“This could be a problem though, if something happens involving this 'secret', how would I know how to deal with it?” you ask, plying your charm more to try to get her to spill the beans, though you imagine that the right catalyst could break this dam. “What if I got hurt?” you ask after giving Cottonsky a few seconds to think, and the impact is immediate. Her eyes widen and she gasps slightly. You were really taking a shot in the dark with guessing it could endanger you, but it seems that it paid off.
“You can't tell anyone I told you this, okay?” she says quietly, looking around the hall, then looking back at you, “Lady Remilia has a sister, a younger sister,” Cottonsky whispers.
“Is that so?” you ask, egging her on, “and is this it?”
“She's kept locked in the basement, but not the same basement as the library, deeper then that,” Cottonsky continues, “she's not allowed upstairs though, she's dangerous. She's not a bad girl, but...” Cottonsky trails off, “Lady Remilia says she's 'not well', and she doesn't know how to control her temper.”
“And her name?” you ask.
“Flandre,” Cottonsky responds. That would also make sense for the 'f' sound she made.
“Was that so bad?” you ask, rubbing the back of Cottonsky's shoulder a bit to comfort her a bit more as you pull back.
“Don't let anyone know you know, okay?” Cottonsky repeats, apparently seeking confirmation. You give her a nod, then pull away your hand. You do feel a little pang of guilt for so openly manipulating the fairies trust, but your curiosity got the better of you, and it turned out to be fairly important as well. Perhaps something you could investigate on your own sometime. For now, you return to the original topic.
“So now, back to Remilia,” you say.
“Oh, yes, uhm... I said she can be a bit grumpy at times, but she's polite most of the time. She can get angrily easily if something doesn't go right though, and she really doesn't like people coming inside uninvited,” Cottonsky says, giving you a bit better idea of the kind of person Remilia is, “oh, she's also fairly generous with her own possessions among her maids. The book I'm reading I borrowed from her, after all. She also likes to play games with the fairies, and has a lot of parties as well.”
“Sounds like a pretty nice person to work for,” you say, and Cottonsky nods.
“Except when she's grumpy, but she locks herself in her room at times like that. She'll only talk to Sakuya, Patchouli or Meiling at times like that. Everyone else she just tells to go away,” Cottonsky adds.
“That brings me to Sakuya then,” you say, since she's the second person you've only had minimal contact with.
“She's the Head Maid, all the fairies answer to her and help her out. She's the boss of the Great Fairies, and we take orders and directions from her, and then pass them down to our own underlings,” Cottonsky explains.
“Well, is there anything more to her then that?” you ask with a slight smirk. You already knew the maid part.
“Oh, well, yeah. She's a really nice person, I don't think I've ever seen her get mad at one of the fairies, but she can be very scary when she does get serious, it's like a complete other person,” Cottonsky says, “though she only ever gets like that when someone comes in that isn't welcome, or forces their way in when Lady Remilia isn't allowing visitors.”
“So how is she normally?” you ask, deciding to tackle the 'two sides' to Sakuya's personality separately.
“She's always happy to talk, but she's almost always working during the days. The only time she rests is when Lady Remilia is asleep, but even then she's usually back to working before she gets up. She always seems happy though, I don't think I've ever seen her complain. That's why... when she gets mad, it's really kind of scary,” Cottonsky sounds a little bothered at the end.
“I would imagine someone that always seems cheery suddenly getting angry would be very unsettling,” you admit, “I haven't seen it myself yet, though.”
“She gets really... I don't know how to explain, uh...” Cottonsky pauses, “cold, I think that's the word. She stops being cheery and is very direct, and if her suggestions are resisted, she starts just vanishing and appearing everywhere and throwing knives everywhere. I don't even know where all they all come from, they just all appear in her hands.”
“Throwing knives, huh?” you repeat. Seems like a fairly unusual main method of attacking. You're aware of their utility in combat as a back up, but a main method? Then again, with the ability to manipulate time, she could very likely kill anyone she wanted without even giving them a chance to retaliate. Maybe it's as much of a deterrent as it is a form of attack. Strange way for a maid to attack though, still. “On the subject of maids though, I'm a bit curious about other fairies. That one at the kitchen, Crystalpool? She worked under Rainyday, right?”
“Yeah, she's one of Rainy's charges,” Cottonsky says, “she's a bit hard to talk to at times, but she's not a bad girl.”
“She's definitely got a sharp mind and a quick tongue though,” you muse.
“Yeah,” Cottonsky trails off, “I just wish she was more like my Misty.”
“Misty?” you repeat.
“My second in command, Mistyview, she's another kind of cloud fairy... sort of. She gathers fog,” Cottonsky explains, “she's a really hard worker for a fairy, and very friendly. Actually, she's so good that I hardly really have to tell her what to do. I just give her the work for the day and she can handle everything on her own. It leaves me pretty free to just do what work I need to and really not too much else,” Cottonsky beams, sounding rather proud, “she's definitely going to be a Great Fairy when she gets old enough.”
“And what about Breezy's underlings?” you continue the questioning.
“Ah, Breezy's got Howl,” Cottonsky answers, “she's a really lively one.”
“With a name like Howl, she sounds like a handful,” you say. You remember Breezy's reasoning for being silent all the time, you can't help but imagine that Howl would be the opposite. “I'm going to venture a guess that she's really loud, too?”
“Yes, actually,” Cottonsky replies with a bit of surprise, “she's another Wind fairy, she's almost the complete opposite of Breezy. She's not really that great at housework either, but she tries.”
“What are my chances of meeting these others and more?” you ask, a bit interested in meeting the various 'second in commands' on the job.
“Pretty good, actually,” Cottonsky says, scratching her head, “actually, if you come out early enough after the Great Fairies get our instructions, you'll see pretty much everyone.”
“I see,” you say, contemplating the chance to meet a great many girls. Cottonsky rubs her eyes a bit. “Feeling sleepy?”
“Starting to a bit,” she replies, “I think I'm going to go back to my room and relax a bit before going to bed.”
“Ah, I wanted to ask you a bit about what kind of things happen around here, but I guess I can wait for another time,” you say.
“Yeah, we could talk more tomorrow,” she says, taking a few steps back and starting to turn, “I'll see you then Voile.”
[] Accompany her back to her room.
[] Continue on alone.
[] See if you can't seek out someone. [Write in]
---
>>36794 I like the way you think.
Shame how difficult that would be to achieve. >>36801 This is just completely silly.
This spoilertag is here to give you false hope.