Remilia Scarlet

Hearing Remilia’s quiet humor prompted Daichi to slow down, taking tiny sips to match his hostess… Okay, maybe he took larger sips, but for him, this was showing a great deal of restraint.

“You have… Trouble with water?” Before he could stop himself, the reporter glanced in the general direction of Misty Lake, less than a kilometer away. Vampires are so weird. It only took a moment to shake the confusion, and his hands were quick to return to note taking. “Anyway, do you suppose Honored Yakumo didn’t invite you intentionally? I’ve heard passing breezes whisper that you two don’t get along. Any truth there?”

Remilia caught Daichi’s glance and matched it, “It’s one of the few weaknesses I still have.  Any large body of moving water is not something I can willingly cross, even the tides are too much motion.”

As she continued to gaze at the lake she couldn’t help but comment, “One of these days I’m going to swim in that lake.”  Her tone held all the conviction and expectation that one might reserve for a lofty aim or challenging goal, Remilia certainly thought swimming in the misty lake counted as such.

Returning her attention to Daichi, Remilia leaned back into the soft cushion of the chair’s back, “It is of little concern.  Patchy is working on it, I trust that she’ll find a way around it in due time.”

“I suppose there’s no harm in it.”  Remilia nodded at the maid who then proceeded to refresh Daichi’s glass from the bloodied wine.  “I don’t imagine you’d be able to taste this, but whomever this blood comes from had quite the unhealthy blood sugar level.”

“But anyway, about Yukari.”  How to put her opinion of the gap Youkai in a diplomatic way?  Remilia downed the remainder of her glass and held it out for a refill.  “Among other things, Yukari, and I don’t see eye to eye on how Gensokyo is run.  Were it me, I’d be more involved in ensuring that the land was cared for.   Incidents being a necessity is all well and good, but between incidents things are too chaotic and disordered for my tastes.“

Once the wine was served, the Tengu was a bit perplexed at how… Small the wine glasses were. Very finely crafted, sure, and beautiful to boot, but the glass barely held two mouthfuls. He swirled the wine and sniffed at the drink, as he’d seen some Daitengu do, before downing it in one gulp. 

“Very tasty, Honoreds,” he said to the obviously tense Fairies. It seemed like the polite thing to say, especially compared to the perhaps more honest sentiment he was thinking, is this a drink for fledglings? There’s almost no alcohol in here! “Jisen.” Turning back to his hostess, Daichi made another quick note speculating on a Vampire’s possible weakness to booze. “Only 18 years? Interesting. Did you miss the call from Honored Yakumo for all Youkai to come to Gensokyo? Or…”

One of the two fairies breathed a quiet sigh of relief at Daichi’s seeming approval before pouring him another glass.  Remilia meanwhile found herself somewhat amused at how quickly the Tengu had drank the entire glass as she took a tentative sip of it, doing her best to avoid spilling any.

“You can expect nothing but excellence and professionalism from any reporter with ITP, Honored Scarlet, and jisen for the opportunity,” Daichi replied cheerfully as he pulled the instruments of his trade from his pocket and set them on the table. Ohhhh, he’d even brought the nice pen today! He popped a tiny sandwich into his mouth, followed promptly by another, before speaking again, “I got the definite impression that Honored Shameimaru was letting her personal feelings bleed over into the piece… Since we’ve not spoken before, we can avoid that turbulence all-together!”

Predatory, he noted as he gave the Vampire a thorough listening to, but controlled; none of the all-consuming hunger. Dead, but less so than Ms Miyako. Carries it better. Dignified… No, refined. Oh, like a knife edge! No, no… Evocative of violence. Crystal! There we go… The observation was scribbled down before he returned his gaze to his hostess.

“Yes, I’ve been here for nearly 18 years now.  Patchouli and myself had been searching for quite sometime to find somewhere with...”

Remilia paused for a brief moment trying to think of non-threatening phrasing for ready source of blood.

“...the amenities to which I’ve grown accustom.  When she discovered Gensokyo it was an easy choice to make.”

As Remilia spoke the fairy maids returned pushing a cart on top of which sat a bucket of ice with two bottles of wine in it, both identical save for that one had a bright red string tied firmly around it marking the one that had been mixed with blood.  They may be forgetful, but even the fairies remembered that the fastest way to placate the mistress was to feed her.

Remilia paused as the two fairy maids poured to make sure they didn’t pour Daichi’s wine from the bottle with the string or something else equally bad.  After both Daichi and herself had been served appropriately, Remilia leaned back and let herself relax a little.

Snacks? Drinks? Daichi was on that. Not willing to wait for Fairy maids to serve, he immediately walked over and heaped a plate. The drinks, not whiffing of alcohol, were promptly ignored. “The winds were very warm and I caught a good tailwind, thanks. Very pleasant,” he answered and pointed back towards the spread of food. “Might this lesser one get you something while he’s up?” Without waiting for consent, he tossed another plate together for his hostess and approached the table. Another bow was offered before he took a seat.

They forgot the drinks?  They forgot the drinks.  Remilia did her best to keep her annoyance hidden from her guest.  Which is to say she might have been able to hide it from a five year old.

“Yes, the drinks will be out shortly.”  If looks could kill, the fairy on the receiving end of Remilia’s glare would... probably be fine, fairy and all.   Even so, one of the fairy maids hurried away to find something to assuage the mistresses’ wrath and her guest’s thirst.

Minor hiccup solved, Remilia turned her attention back to her guest, resting her elbows on the arms of her chair and clasp her hands in front of her face.  She also took careful care to remember to blink occasionally, she understood that it disturbed the still living when she forgot to do that.

“Yes, thank you.”  Remilia smiled as she accepted the plate, she was unsure of the details of Tengu etiquette, but a bow and a offering of food probably weren’t bad things.  Though she neglected to mention that she had made sure to eat before Daichi’s arrival, it wouldn’t do to spend the whole discussion staring at the Tengu’s neck after all.