>>47122519
>Madeleine, anything ye know what to do with brainwashin?
>Maybe it's just a coincidence, and this kid here really isn't her brother.
>Maybe I need some serious help from Gougere with this.
>Maybe her name isn't really Esther after all.
>Start drinking, let it all go.
>Other?
>All of the tails and ears
>Doesn't matter who, as long as they have them
>No holding back or remorse
>NONE

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>>47122519
>Madeleine, anything ye know what to do with brainwashin?
>They're definitely related, remember the birthmark!

>>47122519
>Madeleine, anything ye know what to do with brainwashin?
>Maybe her name isn't really Esther after all. (we already know this though)

>>47122663
Adding to thisthis, it may be about time to another visit to the butler, complete with threats of bodily harm.

>Okay, everyone stop, Jack needs an ears and tail time-out.
>Madeleine, anything ye know what to do with brainwashin?
>Maybe her name isn't Esther?
>They're definitely related, remember the birthmark!

Writing!

Damn missed the first choice.

Hiya Announcer, how're you doing?

>>47122988
Same here.

>>47123029
Pretty good, some weird stuff happening on the horizon.

Just FYI to my players: Next Tuesday's thread is off and I'll have to make it up next Friday. I have a business trip.

>>47123038
Hope said trips works out for ya.

>>47123038
Hey no problem, at least you told us

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Your flask leaves the comfort of your mouth. The almost sweet burning sensation liquid comfort rolls over your tongue.
That's the good stuff, too bad it's only noon and the flask is half-spent.

You know what you need right now?

"Jack?" Keiko tugs at the tail of your coat, "Is he hurt? Why is he crying?"
"Glad ye asked that, Keiko, let's sit down for a minute."

Your butt meets the hardened timber of the porch. Madeleine continues to cradle and comfort the crying boy. Keiko eagerly plops down right next to you. Her tail is wagging slightly.

With a flick, your hand reaches out and musses the fur on her ears.
"Should we- go get help?!" Keiko seems genuinely worried, her tail continues to flick wildly in circles.

It's path is intercepted by your palm. You hold the fuzzy limb in place and gently stroke the hair back into position.

"No Lass, y'see: his pain is the hardest kind to heal. One of the heart."
"So something is wrong with his heart?!"
"In a way, yar." Your hand migrates back to her scalp. "Only time can fix that."

"I don't get it though, is there anything we can do?"
"Not fer him." You look over, and notice that Madeleine has already calmed him down. His crying has stopped, and he seems to be sleeping peacefully. "Aye think the best thing to do is focus on the Lass inside."

Madeleine notices that you're talking about her, "Hmm?"
"Anything ye know about brainwashin'? Ways to fix it, ways we can tell if it happened?"

"I was just thinking of that, but-" She peers over her shoulder, "It's complicated. If it's like, an herbal brainwashing, or a magic one. I could probably deal with that."
"So..?"
"-But I don't have much of a starting point. I don't know her medical history at all." Madeleine frowns, "I don't know if this is some kind of magic, maybe amnesia, it could just be that she forgot; poor memory? There are some kinds of plants, but they usually don't last more than a few hours."

Great, this isn't an easy problem.

>cont.

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"Are they even related?" You muse, "Maybe this is a huge mistake- Wait, the birthmark. Yar, nevermind."

"Maybe her name isn't Esther?" Madeleine gently lays the boy down on the porch. "Maybe, to find out when she was brainwashed, we need to ask people who knew her when her name was Elise."

"That just leaves, err. The kid, Gougere, and-"
Oh, you just remembered someone else who might know.

>Aye, let's go find that Butler.
>Let's go ask Gougere first.
>Wake up the kid, and we can get some info from him.
>Let's worry about it another time. This is our time.
>Other?

>>47123285
>Aye, let's go find that Butler.
I think I get why he did it, but I can't imagine him still caring.

>>47123285
>>Aye, let's go find that Butler.
And should he refuse, a savage beating for the ages!

>>47123285
>Aye, let's go find that Butler.

>Aye, let's go find that butler

WRiting!

>>47123285
>>Aye, let's go find that Butler.

>>47123691
Heh just a few seconds too late.

How's it going Announcer?

So when we meet the butler, what sort of approach should we try?

>>47124212
Calm and simple "tell us everything you did to her or suffer pain forever"

>>47124212
Well, we can always take an accordion and play it terribly and torture him that way

>>47124241
Aren't we going a little overboard on this whole torture thing?

>>47124290
I think it's more to remind him of our previous threats, hopefully we don't need to do much on top of that.

>>47124269
I like where this is going, just need some proper drink and could make an evening outta it.

>>47124202
It's good but I'm trying to get ready for this trip. Which takes up more time than I thought it would.

>>47124314
Eh, I guess... just that it's starting to disturb me a little how fast we're jumping to doing some really nasty stuff.

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"Aye." You click your teeth, "Let's go find that butler. "

"Yup, let's." Madeleine sits up.

"Hold on, what're we to do with 'im?"

The kid lays sleeping on the porch of the shrine.
"Ye just wanna leave 'im here? What will he do when he wakes up?"

Madeleine doesn't seem to have a good answer. Instead, she just stares at you blankly.
"Why did he fall asleep so fast, anyway?" You question her. "Ye must have a knack for parenthood."

"Oh, I do." She smiles, "But I also have this."

Oh, damn it Lass. You gave him some of the voodoo stuff.
"He'll be out for a couple hours, so no need to worry." Madeleine smirks.
"Lass, no druggin' the kids."

"But-"
"No."

She adjusts her voice, and then turns around to pick the kid up.
"I think we should leave him at the castle, then. "

"Sounds good, Lass." You help her place him on the bird.

Of course, you're not even entirely sure if you can visit the butler at this point.
If Charlotte had anything to say about it, that butler may be little more than the remains of his crotch on a stick.

--

You leave the kid off in Fritelli's care. She's equally interested in his lineage, and was going to fetch Aligot for a more in-depth look at his heritage.
Madeleine slithers along next to you, keeping a good eye out for pieces of glass in the castle's walkway.

"Oh!" Madeleine snaps her fingers. "If we're going to be 'asking' the butler a question. Maybe I should go get the 'good stuff'."

>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>Yknow what? Some things are better not to know.
>Sure! Bring it!
>Aye dun know lass. Aye'm not even sure I can visit the guy.
>Besides, strange stuff may lead te strange questions from the guards.
>Other?

>>47124900
>>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>Sure! Bring it!

>>47124900
>>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>>Yknow what? Some things are better not to know.

>>47124900
>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>Sure! Bring it!

>>47124900
>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>Can I get more booze then too?

>>47124900
>>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>>Sure! Bring it!

>Argh, what is the 'good stuff'?
>Sure! Bring it!
>Can I get more booze then too?

Writing!

Well, heading off now.
Thanks for running Announcer, hope you'll continue with that!
And good luck with that upcoming trip.

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"Argh." You think about the possible implications of that. "What is the 'good stuff'?"

She smirks, in a way that is either terrifying or a complete turn-on.

"Just a few special mixes I made special for Gallete Special Forces. If they weren't in jail right now, they would probably be using that themselves on the old coot."
"Aye, what does it do though?"

"Oh, a lot of things. One makes someone think that there are spiders crawling on them, another makes them too tired ot resist telling the truth. Another-"
"Aye, I think I get the picture."

Right, word to the wise, don't make snakelass angry.

"So, what do you say?"
"Sure, bring it along."

She doubles back in the direction of the dormitories. She must have some kind of secret stash somewhere in the castle.

You think that this is a perfect opportunity to refill your flask with another kind of good stuff. Madeleine always had trouble with those stairs that lead up to the dorms, so you probably got a few minutes.

God, it's nice having legs.

You stride over to the bar and sit back down in front of it. Your flask leaves the front pocket of your coat and rests on the table. Immediately, the barman knows exactly what must be done.

The thoughts and clues of the day swirl in your mind as he works.
That boy, what if he wasn't telling the truth?
Wait, no, it wasn't him that told you that. It was Gougere.

Still, the girl could still be a different girl than everyone thinks she is. You have no real proof that it's the same person, except the mark on the back of her neck. Gougere said herself that it could be some distant relative.

You don't know much about it. It's way above your head. The only real certainty right now is the hand that's trying to crush your shoulder.

"Jack." Atsuko states, in her flat tone of annoyance. "Where did you take my bird? And how would you feel if you never rode one again?"

>Oh hey Lass!
>Have a drink!
>Let me tell you what happened!
>Ah, funny story!
>Ignore her.
>Other?

>>47125831
>>Oh hey Lass!
>>Have a drink!
>>Let me tell you what happened!

>>47125831
>Ah, funny story!
>Have a drink!
>Let me tell you what happened!

>>47125760
Thank you! I'm a little nervous about it.

Have a nice night!

>>47125831
>>Oh hey Lass!
>>Have a drink!
>>Let me tell you what happened!

>>47125831
>>Oh hey Lass!
>>Have a drink!
>>Let me tell you what happened!


also

>She smirks, in a way that is either terrifying or a complete turn-on.

Por que no los dos?

>>Oh hey Lass!
>>Have a drink!
>>Let me tell you what happened!

Writing!

DAMN IT I'm getting tired again. Let me see if I can get just two more up.

>>47125932
>She smirks, in a way that is either terrifying or a complete turn-on.
>Por que no los dos?
My image of Madeleine is literally Deis. There is no "or", it's always terrifying AND a turn on. Or cute and sexy. Or just plain sexy.

She's sex on le- erm, snake tail, is what I'm trying to say.

>>47126063
She's a kinky one that's for sure. Can you imagine what sleeping with her would be like? She'd probably rub some shit on us and then things start getting wild

>>47126092
The question is, how did she discover those mixtures, the effects, and the dosage?

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>>47126063
It's funny, Deis is the thing that inspired Madeleine.

I don't use this art much because it's a little on-the-nose.

>>47126110
Well when a girl is alone and feeling experimental...

>>47126110
Alchemical research! It's like pharmaceutical research, but with less concern about testing on live animals and other pesky things like finding consenting test subjects.

>>47126124
Hence why Madeleine is Best Girl. The only other Breath of Fire Girls who came close to Deis' level were Katt and Ursula.

I do have a very large soft spot for Nina IV and Nina V, though

>>47126218
Eh I like some other girls in this quest.

>>47126260
All girls are best girls

>>47126294
Yet people always keep talking about Madeleine...

>>47126313
Because among equals she's at the top?

People like different things anon, don't get yer underoos in a twist.

>>47126313
I think the fuzzy fans get divided too many ways, so snake tail enthusiasts seem over represented.

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"Oh hey Lass." Your head turns, and an uneasy smile tries to diffuse the situation. "Have a drink!"

"I rather have my bird back."
"Oh! she's fine. She's outside, with the rest of 'em."

"Where did she go, Jack. I looked for an hour."
"-Aye was gettin' to that." You take a drink out of the complimentary shotglass set before you. "Ye see, I found a certauin friend in town that I was wantin' ye to meet. We learned he was kinda related to the Lass back at the shrine and-"

"You took the street urchin back."
"Hey." You correct her, "That's no street urchin."

"..Really?"

"Yup." You take another drink, "That's a grade-A Gallete royalty, that boy."
"You know Jack, for someone who hates Gallete so much, you sure do spend a lot of time getting involved in their politics."

"Lass, those words wound me moreso than any beatin' I've taken."

She sits down next to you, and the bartender gets her a small cup of sake.
"So, he's royalty, huh?"
"Aye, and the girl at the shrine is his sister."
Supposidly.

"Then what's the problem?"
"The lass at the shrine doesn't remember him. Nor does she remember her original name. Which is what Gougere couldn't figure out."
"It's not 'Esther'?"
"Nope, it's 'Elise'. We're gonna go ask a trusted source about that."

"Mm, that guy Charlotte was dragging through town, huh?"
"Err, what guy?"

"Charlotte had a public trial for a guy with a big mustache. He's guilty. He's gonna be dragged outside the barrier by tomorrow."

"Oh." You finish your drink, "Aye got plenty of time, then. No worries."
"I'd be more worried about getting him to talk." Atsuko finishes her drink, "Can you think of any reason he would talk to you, at this point? His fate is sealed."
"Pfft, I have my ways."

"Let me rephrase that, can you think of anything that Charlotte hasn't already done to him?"

That raises some questions that you're not sure how to answer.

>Thread End.

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Everyone, sorry for ending it there. I'm beat. I need to rest for this trip and my head is already screaming in agony.

Thanks for the thread everyone. Next thread will be next Friday. I look forward to it.

Please let me know what you thought of the thread. Take care!

>>47126742
Hurm. This is where threats fail and deal making comes in. Might want to talk to Charlotte first.

...Promising to spare his life for his cooperation, then reneging on the deal comes to mind.

>>47126110
It is a mystery!

>>47126742
"One word lass. Madeline."
>>47126758
Thanks Announcer.

Well we've already got truth serum available so it should be easy enough to get him to spill the details. Combine that with just a chance of sparing his life and the fact that he loses nothing for cooperation and I'm not terribly worried about it.

>>47126742
>can you think of anything that Charlotte hasn't already done to him?

I'm not sure if the implications are more dire for our situation or Charlotte's capabilities.

Thanks for running, Announcer.