Specifically with Reimu. She's a hard character to get right because like... It's easy to brush her off as Lazy/greedy, when it's far more that Reimu is someone who often goes with the flow, doing what comes naturally to her.
It's hard for me to put into words, but there's a vibe to Reimu that's really hard to get, and I think you're nailing it so far with Rei.
Thanks. She's a fun character to write. It's also been fun trying to keep that vibe consistent while the context around her (and Marisa, et al) is so very different.
100% agree. I've always thought the other side of the saying... "do what you love for a living and you'll never work a day in your life" is "do what you love for a living and you'll never have a day off.".
All that said, I might as well close the vote here. Update should be out in a day or two
Scheduled vote count started by dmclain2 on Feb 17, 2024 at 3:55 PM, finished with 17 posts and 13 votes.
[X] Let's use our gardening knowledge to fix up the front yard, get rid of some weeds and make it look better. Sure it'll be an exercise, but it needs to be done sooner then later.
[X] Let's get our laundry situation figured out, and see about trying to make some good looking pairs of clothes. Being presentable to others when/if we try to get that scholarship or look for a job seems like a good idea.
On a side note, the cast of Touhou is massive. So if anyone has a preference for characters they'd like to see, specifically ones that don't arrive in Gensokyo via incident (e.g. the SDM crew) please let me know.
If you're still taking responses for this: I'd love to see Seija, and Kasen would be great too. Or the characters from Eientei, but that's probably straddling the line of being wrapped up in an incident. Although honestly, it's hard to go wrong with just about anyone- it's such a colorful cast.
Sanae is pretty integral to the Moriya Shrine as its priestess/descendant of one of the two Kami associated with it and is the direct cause of the events of MoF. I'm not sure she'd be able to show up too much earlier unless she like ends up in Yumemi's class with Rei.
Sanae is pretty integral to the Moriya Shrine as its priestess/descendant of one of the two Kami associated with it and is the direct cause of the events of MoF. I'm not sure she'd be able to show up too much earlier unless she like ends up in Yumemi's class with Rei.
Uh, she kinda does iirc. That was her and her mums moving into Gensokyo.
Edit: like, the majority of the HSiFS cast is closer to what I think you're going for - having existed prior, but only being introduced now. But the Moriya Shrine not being in Gensokyo before is pretty core to them.
Looks like I started reading just as Rei visited her mother's grave. I was going to vote to do that if she hadn't already.
No failed Awareness checks, so there's probably nothing suspicious about Miya's grave. I wanted to see if there were traces of visitors, or if perhaps the grave looked suspiciously old. Marisa's belief about the shrine being abandoned got me wondering if Miya actually died years ago.
If you're still taking responses for this: I'd love to see Seija, and Kasen would be great too. Or the characters from Eientei, but that's probably straddling the line of being wrapped up in an incident. Although honestly, it's hard to go wrong with just about anyone- it's such a colorful cast.
Edit: like, the majority of the HSiFS cast is closer to what I think you're going for - having existed prior, but only being introduced now. But the Moriya Shrine not being in Gensokyo before is pretty core to them.
I could definitely see meeting Sanae with whatever the training for the Scholarship involves, even if I don't think she'd be literally in gensokyo just yet.
Which would make for some tasty drama if/when that happened.
Rei shivers awake and frowns at the slowly lightening sky above her. This wasn't her bedroom. Where was…
Oh, right… I was out reading under the moonlight…
[+1 xp to reading]
She rolls onto her stomach and pushes herself up, frowning at the blankets clinging to her as she moves. After a minute of shifting and twisting, she frees herself from the cocoon she'd become wrapped up in. Blankets cascade down from her as she stands, and another shiver courses through her. Reaching out with a bare foot, Rei hooks the blanket with her toes and brings an edge up so that she can grab it and wrap it around her shoulders like a shawl.
Time to get some tea.
After a brief stopover in the kitchen to grab her kettle and a bar of chocolate for breakfast, she wanders out to her fountain, carefully avoiding the patches of morning dew that had settled on the weeds. Maybe someday she'd find someone to put some plumbing into her shrine, though where she'd find the money for that was another question. Or maybe there was some magical way to get water, though that was probably even less likely than getting the money for a plumber…
A girl could dream, at least.
She frowns as she notices the planter filled with hydrangeas had fallen over in the night. Her need for caffeine wars with… certainly not fear, but rather caution… over how her pervert-boss would react if she just left them there for a while. Eventually, the need for caffeine wins, though she does dip her head in apology and offer the flowers a silent promise that she'll get to them later.
Back inside the kitchen, Rei drops her kettle onto the burner with a metallic clang. She turns the knob and flicks the striker. Nothing happens. No dark blue flame to presage boiling water and a cup full delicious, delicious tea. Nothing.
A scowl forms across her face as she stares at the non-functional stove. Couldn't it have stopped working last night? Cold ramen would have been gross but edible. It would take hours to turn cold water into cold tea, though. Even if she started now, she wouldn't have anything to drink until sunset.
With a sigh, she picks up the propane stove, looking for… she wasn't sure what. Everything seemed to be in the right place, at least as far as she could tell. All the screw-y bits were tight, and the striker sounded like it still worked. The only thing she could think of was that it felt a bit… light.
She turns the gas knob again and leans her ear close to it. Silence. The propane tank was empty.
Well, shit…
As her frown deepens into a full-on scowl, Rei grabs her bar of chocolate, pausing just long enough to peel the wrapper back before tearing into it viciously. She starts chewing violently but struggles to stay annoyed as the taste of dark chocolate and orange oil explodes in her mouth. Another bar of chocolate, this one flavored with sea salt and almonds, blunts the last of her ire, and she turns her focus toward the day's activities.
Whatever Yuuka was in reality—a hijiri like Marisa thought... or that blood-stained predator Rei had seen slip free from that playful facade—she was right that her flowers needed to be planted. If she was going to do that, she might as well find a thrift shop and pick up some clothes better suited for gardening—and a Miko outfit for her pervert-boss.
As she steps into the thrift shop, a head of dark hair rises listlessly, but the cashier doesn't offer any sign of acknowledging her before returning to her magazine. A frown flickers across Rei's face at that apathetic not-a-greeting, but she dismisses the cashier's odd behavior a moment later. She didn't actually care about customer service—or lack thereof—which seemed surprisingly common in Gensokyo.
She'd come for clothes. And if the dozens of circle racks spaced out haphazardly across the shop were anything to go by, she'd found the right place.
Rei passes by a rack of winter coats and makes a mental note to come back if she is still here when the weather gets colder. A shelf containing underwear goes similarly unbrowsed. No matter how much they were cleaned, she couldn't even imagine wearing someone else's…
Ugh… no… just no…
She pauses briefly to skim through a selection of men's clothes before moving on when it becomes clear that nothing is even approaching her size. Several more racks receive the same quick skim before she finally stops in front of one that contains exactly what she'd been looking for—a rainbow-colored array of shirts and blouses.
Metal hangers clack loudly against one another as she pushes past several eye-searing shades of neon bright colors. She stops to pull out a pastel blue shirt and holds it against her chest for a moment before returning it to the rack. Next come several darker-colored tops, mostly in shades of blue and green, though she does find a cute ash-brown blouse with a v-neck collar. Having picked out another week or so of tops, shorts and skirts are next. It takes her another quarter of an hour browsing before she's satisfied that she's found enough skirts and shorts to match the tops.
With the everyday clothing found, all she had left on her shopping list was a Miko outfit for her pervert-boss. Something that was easier said than done since this was a thrift store and not a… whatever kind of store sold religious clothing. Or a costume store. However, she had a feeling Yuuka would see right through it if she showed up in a miko cosplay outfit. See through it and make Rei regret even trying. A shiver runs down her spine at the thought.
For a pervert, Yuuka sure was scary…
So that left her with the next best option: trying to mix and match the stuff around her to get the… vibe of a miko right, if not the actual look. At least she knew which colors she was supposed to look for. White and red.
A red skirt was easy enough to find, though Rei did spend a few minutes debating over which exact shade would work well with the tan beginning to darken her skin. She spent a lot more time outside here than she ever had in Seattle… there were a lot more sunny days, too.
The top was a bit harder, mostly because she couldn't quite remember whether the whole top was supposed to be white or not. As a result, she wandered around the store for probably half an hour, picking up and discarding various tops. Eventually, she settled on a sleeveless one that was the exact same shade as the skirt she'd picked out.
Holding the miko-ish outfit in front of her, Rei frowns, not entirely satisfied with what she'd chosen. The contrast between the flowing, knee-length skirt and the tight top was nice. The frill of white at the edge of the skirt and the collar of her top helped cut some of what would have been an overwhelming amount of red. And yet, something was clearly missing. But what?
Almost as if in answer to her question, a flash of pure white flutters in the wake of an oscillating fan. Drifting toward it as though pulled by a magnet, she reaches out and pulls at a pair of detached sleeves with bright red stitching decorating the ends. Holding a sleeve up against the skirt she'd chosen, Rei smiles. Perfect. Even the thread was the exact same shade of red.
As she snatches it off the rack, she notices three lines of something stitched into the hem of each sleeve. Flipping the fabric over, she frowns. It looked like kanji, but somehow not. Like someone stripped the symbols of flourish. Weird…
Maybe Marisa would recognize it…
Ten minutes later, Rei walks out of the thrift store ¥5000 lighter but satisfied with her purchases. She'd gained a week's worth of clothes, a miko-ish outfit for the next time she goes to work for Yuuka, and a maybe-a-message stitched on her sleeves to decipher.
By the time she gets back to her shrine, Rei would have liked to take a nap, but the nagging presence of her flowers stops her. With a sigh, she opens the front door far enough to toss her newly purchased clothes into a pile in the main hall and turns back outside—time to get started.
She drifts to a large planter filled with a fairly mature hydrangea bush already in full bloom. She leans closer to take the bush out without bruising any pink and white flowers, only to pause. She didn't have a spade… or a trowel… or anything to dig in the dirt with, except… tch…
Rei returns from a quick dash into the kitchen, serving spoon in hand and an exasperated expression firmly set on her face. Next time she visited Yuuka, she'd also make sure to buy some gardening tools. For now, though, she has some bushes to plant. And it wasn't like she needed the serving spoon for anything else anyway.
Better than digging in the dirt with my hands, at least…
An hour and a half later—far longer than it would have taken with real tools—her serving spoon is a mangled mess of bent metal, but there's a row of freshly churned dirt lining each side of the stone path to her shrine.
Satisfied and more than a little exhausted by digging through so much tightly packed dirt, Rei wanders over to her fountain. She pulls her ribbon free, wraps the length of her hair around one hand, and then dunks her head completely into the small pool of water. The cold is bracing, but it feels lovely—a perfect refreshment after working in the yard too long.
As her lungs run out of air, she pulls herself free and sticks her mouth directly under the fountainhead. She drinks deeply, the water cutting through the dryness in her throat, before sitting back. Water drips down her head and onto her clothes, and she sighs at the relief from the summer heat. Far too quickly, the water soaking her had dried to mere dampness, and it was time for her to return to work.
With the soil already prepared, planting goes quickly. She sets the hydrangea bushes at even paces, with the largest placed closest to the shrine, and each repetition getting smaller until the last handful are planted as seeds. That should give the walkway a nice gradation effect as people walk along it.
Next, she fills the massive patches she dug throughout the lawn with hellebore and peonies. Giving the lawn a kind of field-of-wildflowers look while still letting people follow paths to all the little separate buildings… if anyone ever decided to visit.
I kind of hope not… that all seems like a pain…
She'd still need to water her flowers, especially for the first couple of days as the plants got used to their new environment, but that could wait a bit. She was tired. She needed a nap.
Ten minutes later, her sweat and fountain-soaked clothes are in a growing pile of dirty laundry that'd been stashed in an unused room, and she's wearing a simple white shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. She's also set up a handful of pillows and a blanket on the front porch so she could nap amidst the fruits of her work.
She's out cold almost as soon as her head hits the pillow. And as she sleeps, she dreams. Of a fire burning the threads of a tapestry of Japan. Of a hole in the sky siphoning away light and azure skies. Of a palace made of glass slowly falling into ruin. Of… zzz…
Thrift store
Awareness 1 [Passed] Rei notices that the cashier seems unusually listless
Aesthetics 1 [Passed] Rei picks out some cute outfits
Awareness 2 [Passed] Rei sees something stitched onto the hem of a sleeve
Academics 2 or History [Failed] ???
Planting Flowers +3 gardening
Aesthetics 2 or Gardening [Passed] Rei plants everything appropriately
Athletics 1 [Failed] ???
Awareness 3 [Failed] ???
Rei's character sheet now shows how much XP she has gained in her hobbies, though it doesn't show how much she needs for the next level. Hobby actions now provide 3 xp while incidental use of hobbies in other contexts provide 1 xp. For accounting purposes, Rei has previously gained +1 gardening from working with Yuuka and +1 gardening from caring for her flowers; she also gained +1 chess from playing against Nitori.
Reminder: Rei has ¥17000 and 3 days of food left.
Rei has 2 actions available (or just 1, depending)
Exploration Options - Find a new place at random or look for a specific one
[] Explore the neighborhood around the shrine [1 of X discovered]
[] Explore Gensokyo [0 of X discovered]
[] Go hiking in the mountains around Gensokyo [0 of X discovered]
Social Options - Hang out with the friends you've made
[] Meet up with Marisa
[] Hang out with Nitori
Hobby Options - Improve an existing hobby or learn a new one
[] Go to the arcade [Video Games]
[] Read manga [Reading]
[] Plant flowers at the shrine [Gardening]
[] [NEW] Clean up the graveyard [Gardening]
[] Start a new hobby.
-[] write in which. Previously mentioned hobbies are art, exercise, sports, history, movies, camping, and music. Other hobbies can be written in
Shopping Options - Make the shrine and your existence there more pleasant
[] Buy home repair supplies
[] Buy some electronic entertainment items
[] Buy some furniture
[] Buy a fridge and microwave
Food Options - Feed yourself for a day or longer
[] Find a restaurant
[] Go get dessert
Employment Options - Find a job so you can afford to buy stuff
[] Go work for Yuuka
[] See if the convenience store is hiring
Event Options - sometimes things take longer to complete [event options only occur if they have the most votes]
[] Visit Professor Okazaki about the scholarship to Kyoto U.
[] Investigate the shrine with Marisa.
[] [NEW] Translate the strange language on Rei's miko outfit.
Write-in Options - The world is vast beyond belief and mysterious beyond words.
[] Instead of writing out a neverending list of things to do, I'll leave this here if voters want to do something else. Write-ins may well be incorporated into the turn options even if not chosen, so feel free to suggest whatever you want to see and do.
Aesthetics (1) - Rei's sense of beauty and her understanding of the interactions of colors and shapes.
Gardening (+1 aesthetics). Was it the simple elegance of a well-arranged bed of flowers or getting in the dirt that drew her to gardening? Rei never really cared to figure it out. [5 of ??? gained]
Athletics (0) - Rei's physical capabilities and her kinesthetic awareness.
Academics (1) - Rei's level of knowledge and understanding and her raw intellectual power.
Chess (+1 academics). Rei won her first regional tournament at fourteen and her first state tournament at sixteen. [1 of ??? gained]
Aplomb (0) - Rei's ability to control her emotions.
Allure (0) - Rei's charisma, likeability, and ease in conversations.
Awareness (2) - Rei's ability to notice when things aren't as they appear.
Reading (+1 awareness). If Rei had to pick a favorite genre, it would be a mystery. Murder mystery. [1 of ??? gained]
Video Games (+1 awareness). Back home, Rei has an aging gaming computer that she was constantly on the lookout for upgrades for (so long as it's within her budget).
Like her canon counterpart, Rei is not exactly the best at planning things. As an FYI, her Miko outfit looks like what she wears in (most) canon.
Ok, we need money for appliances, gardening tools and food, so going back to work is a no-brainer.
I would also like perusing the Mangas we bought, both to relax after work but also maybe get some general knowledge about the Miko work, since right now we only cosplay as one to fulfill the fantasies of our boss.
Plus I would prefer to accrue a little more money before doing more shopping.
EDIT: I do agree that doing an event soon might be a good idea, maybe after getting appliances and a new grocery?
I think that either exploring the Shrine or going to Uni as the next event, once we are settled, would be a good idea
I took a lot of inspiration for the mechanics from Persona, so it's cool that shows through. I'm gonna have to pick up the new one at some point, but I've got enough of a backlog as it is... curse you, steam sales.
I would also like perusing the Mangas we bought, both to relax after work but also maybe get some general knowledge about the Miko work, since right now we only cosplay as one to fulfill the fantasies of our boss.
I'm not expecting an accurate picture but at least some cues, I'm thinking that the true nature of what being a Miko entail would be revealed through the Uni classes
