The sun was shining, birds were singing, frogs were being frozen in the centre of the Misty Lake (which, true to its name, had a shroud of mist hanging over its deeper regions), and there was nary a breeze, generally causing most of the residents of Gensokyo to be burning to death. This was not, however, the case for Flandre Scarlet: with a fairy desperately trying to keep a parasol over her head, which was hard when she sometimes started running at an unpredictable time, she was actually quite cool. Even moreso now that her shoes and socks were well in hand, and the water of the lake was up to her knees. She seemed quite happy to be sloshing through the water, despite the silt.

It seemed that there was at least one person up ahead, and the blonde vampire was determined to say hello!

---

Elsewhere, Sanae had also found shade. For someone that hadn't yet woken up this morning, it was quite some achievement to even need to find shade in the first place, but the shrine maiden sometimes had to deal with bouts of sleepwalking, and with the ability to fly she could get quite far afield. By some miracle, she had found a shady building with open doors and a mostly intact roof, and was snoring away on some sort of wooden bench, which at least had a handy cushion (or something equally soft) to use as a pillow.

So, as far as the mildly ill miko was concerned, this was a fine place to be sleeping. Especially with her huggable plushies well in hand.

The nun that ran this church might not feel the same way, though.

"Ahhh..."

Whew. It was hot. Not just hot, the temperatures were pretty damn unreasonable. Marisa couldn't even bare sneaking around and stealing! No, she was spending her time a bit differently today. Namely, dangling her feet into the cool waters of the Misty Lake. She was sitting on the bank, her black bathing suit acquired through somewhat dubious means. But it was good for getting in the water. Her hat also gave her some shade, so it was functional as well as awesome! All in all, the girl was pretty relaxed. This was so much better then wandering around like some kind of zomb-wait, no, even the jiangshi wouldn't tolerate this kind of heat... Then running through a wave of Fujiwara no Mokou's danmaku! Yeah, that worked!

Marisa leaned back, resting on the palms of her hands, and gazed across the lake... and her eyes immediately caught a familiar shape. Small(well, Marisa was small... but this figure was smaller! Loli-sized!), with distinctive crystal wings... Flandre Scarlet was out and about?

"Flan-chan?" she called, "Hey! I didn't expect to see you here!"

The diminutive vampire normally hung around inside. A basement. In a huge mansion. Marisa liked to play around with her during her visits, she was pretty awesome at danmaku and it always made for fun duels. Plus she was cute, in a kinda little sister sort of way. There was one of the fairy maids, too, but she was a bit less of a surprising sight.

Well today sure was hot.

Kokoro groaned weakly as she stumbled forward, aimlessly wandering. This was definitely the hottest day she had ever encountered, and while the displeasure was somewhat lacking in her face, the mask bearing an exaggerated look of pain and suffering conveyed her feelings well enough. There was no way she could perform her plays in this state! She needed something to protect her from the evil rays of that infernal sun.

And so, the boiling youkai found herself entering a public property, glad to be shielded from the sun. It was definitely far cooler in here. Who knew having long hair and a large, poofy skirt could be so disadvantage in certain weather?
Flopping to the ground, Kokoro groaned, "So cool... this is my happy face..." and indeed, the mask floating by her shoulder had somehow switched to a much happier Noh mask.
Kokoro figured she could check out that snoring sound when she had recovered some more.

Maria Shepard, lonely church on the hill

Was she still sleeping? Could it all just be a wonderful dream? No, it really seemed like it... There was not one but two people in her church! And it wasn't even a Sunday! They didn't look like any member of her flock that she recognised, though (not that it was difficult to forget what they looked like, as there were only three of them to begin with)...

...New converts! Finally, someone else in this pagan land had decided to embrace the one true God as their lord! Well, she hoped so at least. Eagerly, the tiny blonde nun rushed out to greet the new faithful...

Maria was rather disappointed when, upon nearing the two, she discovered that one was simply lazing about and the other was, in fact, using the pews as a bed. She was even snoring, rather loudly too. How could she disgrace the house of our Lord in such a way!? This wasn't some kind of sleazy inn, this was a holy place of worship!

"Um... Would you kindly wake up, please?" she said, gently prodding the green haired girl. She didn't want to be too forceful, since... Well, she was resting rather peacefully, and it wouldn't do well for a nun to lose her temper. She was the sole representative of the one true God in Gensokyo, after all; she had to give a good impression to all.

Flandre's eyes, if it was really possible, went wide at the sight of Marisa--and she run out from under the safe cover of the parasol to slam into the witch with the sort of high-speed hug only a vampire or a tengu had any right pulling off from a standing start. The instant the girl left the shade, her skin started to sizzle; smoke visibly rose in the few brief seconds before the fairy managed to catch up and restore the safety so that the blonde could heal the damage.

It was, all in all, a very eye-opening experience regarding starting a fight with the little girl at night: she could move fast, hit like a train, and damage disappeared as quickly as it formed. Not that Marisa was at all likely to be picking a fight...

"Marisa! You're not wearing very much. Are you getting ready to have a bath? Remilia says I should take baths more often, but I don't go out enough to get dirty, and Sakuya keeps everything clean. She used to mention showers a lot in the outside world, and how they would be good if they weren't dangerous, but I don't know why should stopped talking about the weather since we got to Gensokyo..."

Darjeeling looked relieved that the girl seemed to be unbothered by the damage, though maybe it was relief that Flandre's babbling had been directed at someone else? Even halfway around the lake was quite a long walk, and with nobody else to bother any conversation would have been directed in her direction.

---

There was a sort of mumbling sound, words that could be vaguely resolved into 'but I've already finished school' and very little other response from the slumbering green-haired girl for a few seconds. Then, on cue, she sat upright and pointed dramatically towards the nun, struggling for words before finally finding the only truly appropriate phrasing that could come to mind: "There's a cute girl in my room!"

Then, several seconds later, Sanae realised that this wasn't her room, and amended it to, "There's a cute girl here!"

After a pregnant pause--assuming, of course, that Maria was equally stunned, or at least spluttering incoherently rather than saying something--the priestess managed to think of something conversational to say despite the pounding in her head, "Cotton pyjamas are comfy..."

Marisa didn't have much of a chance to tell Flandre to stay in the shade so she didn't get hurt. No, the second the witch opened her mouth, the blonde blur slammed into her stomach and sent her flopping heavily back on the ground, legs still dangling into the water. Marisa let out a wheeze as all the air was shot entirely out of her lungs, finding a new home in distant lands. Well, that was the thing, really. She was pretty familiar with Flandre's high-speed rocket hugs, but they still managed to be a bit surprising. She gasped for air, and when she spoke her voice was just a bit strained at first.

"H-hi, Flan-chan," Marisa began, her breathing leveling as she gulped in air. So she had to explain her outfit now? Well, it wasn't like that would be difficult, that was for sure. "It's just 'cause it's so hot, Flan-chan. I'm gonna take a dip in the lake to cool off!"

It seemed like the loli vampire had similar ideas, really. Marisa tried to put on her most winning smile for the next part.

"So, do you wanna let me up now?"