LAST EDITED ON Apr-05-21 AT 10:31 AM (EDT)
 
>"Messages have been arriving at the desk downstairs for us since the morning
>editions hit the street. Most from well-wishers," she went on, holding up the
>letter she was holding and then putting it down on the smaller pile. Then she
>picked up the telegram from the top of the larger one, perused it, narrowed her
>eyes slightly, and dropped it into the fire, adding dryly, "Some not."
>

Remilia clearly knows how to deal with haters and trolls.
Though now that I type that, I expect she also knows how to deal with actual trolls as well as figurative ones.

>Meiling was surprised, and a little amused, but mostly puzzled in her turn to
>see Sakuya's eyes go wide, a blush rising in her cheeks, as she read the
>letter. Then, lowering the paper to look past it at Remilia, the maid gasped,
>"M-m'lady, I don't... how?"
>

I'm fairly certain the number of times in her adult life Sakuya has been fumbling for words can be counted on one hand. Possibly one clumsy shop teacher's hand.

>Remilia shrugged with affected casualness. "I asked nicely."
>

Heh, we all know this is precisely what she did, but this sort of reply could have a very different interpretation to an unknowing observer. Makes me recall the mob inspired SDM artwork and contemplate Remilia making offers people can't refuse.

>Remilia suppressed a shiver. "Be very careful if you go by boat. You know our
>kind doesn't handle rivers very well."
>If you only knew, big sister, Flandre thought, but all she said out loud was,
>"I will, don't worry. Anyway, Meiling won't let anything happen."
>

Under the circumstances, I'd say Flandre handled that river about as well as any vampire, probably better than most in fact. I expect Remilia would get a bit... dramatic if she heard the whole story though.

>Behind them came a pair of young women who must have been the servants Flandre
>had said were more than servants—the grey-haired girl he'd upbraided about the
>elevator, and a strapping, broad-shouldered redhead he was profoundly glad
>hadn't been the member of the household to catch him at it.
>

This generates two thoughts. First, that he has no way of knowing the relationship between Meiling and Sakuya and so he'd have no way to realize that his relief might be a bit understated. Second, that in a full, no holds barred throw down Meiling might actually be the least dangerous lady in the household.

>The bodywork was two-colored, black at the rear and a deep blood red in front,
>the dividing line partway down the front doors rendered with an artistic curve.
>

This might just be the most on-the-nose color scheme for a vampire's car I've seen in recent memory. Someone should give the car a little bat hood ornament for good measure. ;)

>The vampire stared hard at her for a moment, then snapped, "Why tell me this?
>Why seek me out, on the very night of my liberation from that atrocity, and
>claim kinship with one of its perpetrators?" Leaning forward slightly, not
>raising her voice but freighting it with as much quiet wrath as it could carry,
>she went on, "To throw it in my face? Your great-grandmother helped to
>slaughter my parents, half of our household, and one of the family's oldest
>friends—condemned me and my sister to decades of solitude and sorrow—then lived
>to a fine old age surrounded by her own happy family. Is that it?"
>

This sequence definitely made me wince a bit. Not because it was poorly done, just in sympathy for pretty much everyone involved. It was fairly obvious observing from the outside that Mme. Serreau took no pride in this story and didn't intend it as any sort of boast, but it was also obvious that Remilia had clearly reached the end of her considerable patience for the day (for reasons both obvious here and made obvious later.)
Another example, Gryph, of how good you are at making me want to hug fictional characters.

>She smiled a little mischievously. "I'll never hear the end of it of we end up
>tangling with the Neuroi and Sis finds out."
>

I had to chuckle that Flandre is more concerned with Remilia scolding her than actually fighting a Neuroi. It makes sense, her first encounter with one she ate the thing because it had annoyed her, but it's still a bit funny to see her priorities here.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Sometimes fanfic is a love letter to canon, sometimes it's a polite disagreement, and sometimes it's 95 things canon did wrong nailed to a door."

Spellcheck is useless with names, and I am too dependent on it as a feature these days.