Shrine Maiden (A Modern-Day Touhou Quest)
- Thread starter dmclain2
- Start date
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Japan has a lot of non-fiction manga. I wouldn't be surprised if there's several manga about Miko.
- Location
- England, unfortunately.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Honestly, gonna go with Marisa when I get the time to vote.
I don't want to traumatise Rei too badly.
I don't want to traumatise Rei too badly.
- Location
- Lost in the internet
Maybe we should buy a small electric cooking plate and/or an electric kettle ? To avoid buying propane ?
(Nothing against Hank's preferred apparatus but we have a
EDIT: monee we need moar monee! So much things to buy...
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- Location
- England, unfortunately.
- Pronouns
- She/They
[x] Meet up with Marisa
[x] Read manga [Reading]
Anyway... I'd say that such a hot plate is on the list, but we also need to think about how we actually spend stuff.
What we need is better ways to make money, among other things. Yuuka was useful, but like... 5000 yen just isn't much with how we're burning through it. Though the generator was a great purchase and will probably keep the cost of a lot of things down in the future.
Still, there's other ways to make it work - See the haggling we did with Nitori, or the possibility of us getting donations from the Shrine. And probably just accepting that like... sometimes Rei's going to go hungry.
As an aside - i really want to get this professor stuff checked out like, next in story day? Remember, we have our Aunt, and we were just expected to come down here to get some closure about the shrine. Knowing more about that situation will probably go a fair way to being able to explain what's happening (not the supernatural stuff, just the legal) to our aunt so that she doesn't need to worry about us and we might be able to get help if we need it.
[x] Read manga [Reading]
This really is managing to get the thread into the headspace of Reimu, huh?
Anyway... I'd say that such a hot plate is on the list, but we also need to think about how we actually spend stuff.
What we need is better ways to make money, among other things. Yuuka was useful, but like... 5000 yen just isn't much with how we're burning through it. Though the generator was a great purchase and will probably keep the cost of a lot of things down in the future.
Still, there's other ways to make it work - See the haggling we did with Nitori, or the possibility of us getting donations from the Shrine. And probably just accepting that like... sometimes Rei's going to go hungry.
As an aside - i really want to get this professor stuff checked out like, next in story day? Remember, we have our Aunt, and we were just expected to come down here to get some closure about the shrine. Knowing more about that situation will probably go a fair way to being able to explain what's happening (not the supernatural stuff, just the legal) to our aunt so that she doesn't need to worry about us and we might be able to get help if we need it.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I do want to meet Marisa again, but I'd rather do it by way of [] Investigate the shrine with Marisa next turn. That way we hang out, learn more about some of the mystery here, and do one of the Event actions.
It's only been a few days. Getting that done by the end of the week should be soon enough.
- Location
- Lost in the internet
Yeah, something cheap like a hot plate and a mini fridge would be optimal.
I mean, once we have the basics, weekly groceries can be done with around 3000¥ so 5000 isn't bad. I'm not sure that working at the convenience store would be better than that.
Maybe a full day of work with Yukka can earn us more.
As for donations, I don't now enough about the workings of Japanese temple/shinto faith/Touhou lore to really have an idea on it.
Eh... I would prefer to keep the Aunt funds for more desperate times or if we need a big purchase/money reserve. Right now we can deal with that and Rei seem pretty independent.
I do agree that mentioning the legalese of our need to stay in Japan with her, tho.
As for the next big event, I would prefer to have at least a fridge, hot plate and an additional weekly grocery before committing to the University as we would probably need to leave Gensokyo to go to Kyoto. Maybe exploring the shrine with Reimu first would be a better "early" event ?
- Location
- Lost in the internet
Maybe Nitori's shop have one, we alternatively ask her.
- Location
- England, unfortunately.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Is it? I have no idea if it's been 3 or 5 days, I was assuming it was 3 actions in the start and 2 towards the end, but given how we went through food this turn, I suddenyl feel like I have no idea how long things are happening.
Maybe? but like...
Yuuka is frankly terrifying and has been repeatedly saying things about how we shouldn't stick our nose into things if we know whats good for us. Sure this is mostly slice of life, but Yuuka is not someone who I want to cross because we failed an aplomb check at an innoportune time. I doubt we'd just bad end or something like that, but I view being around her as playing with fire.
As for the shrine, well most religious places make use of those donations for upkeep and providing for the people who maintain them. Most importantly, that's the kind of thing that's probably passive and doesn't burn an action.
Funds wasn't what I was thinking of. I was thinking of, say, getting our computer shipped over here once we're much more settled in. Or just being able to clarify about people like the professor. Just general help as opposed to funds. The legalese is the more important thing though
It's doable, I think? but unless we take 2 yuuka actions (and again - scary youkai is scary), I think we're likely to end up pretty strapped for cash regardless.
I'd like to explore the shrine, but again - Yuuka has been very clear that she doesn't want us snooping around. I'm game for it, but expect consequences.
- Location
- Lost in the internet
I think that Yukka was meaning keeping our head away from magic, not working in the greenhouse.
If Reimu don't start snooping around (and Yukka keep her hands on herself) we can keep this part-time job as a money supply, especially as we are good with plants
EDIT: I don't think that Yukka would be mad at us exploring our shrine ! I think she didn't wanted us asking her to teach us magic
If Reimu don't start snooping around (and Yukka keep her hands on herself) we can keep this part-time job as a money supply, especially as we are good with plants
EDIT: I don't think that Yukka would be mad at us exploring our shrine ! I think she didn't wanted us asking her to teach us magic
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Been following along on the money discussion, and I've got a couple of offers for you all:
1 - Write-ins (a sentence is plenty) that incorporate the people Rei knows or the hobbies she has in sensible ways may end up being more successful than stock options. I make no guarantees that the scene will unfold exactly as voted on, though.
2 - If it would help, I can add what Rei thinks things would cost to the shopping options going forward.
This is intentional. The ambiguity of time (and potentially other things), I think, helps add to the... liminal sense of living in Gensokyo.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
I don't think Reimu would get a better salary somewhere else that doesn't require her to have any special skills. Plus this job looks like a source of additional gardening experience, which is definitely valuable.
As for Yuuka, although she is indeed dangerous, as long as Reimu takes care of the flowers responsibly, everything should be fine. Plus, I want to see Marisa's reaction when she finds out. Although I don't think she can criticize, considering who her own mentor was.
By the way, could Reimu also buy some gardening supplies since she'll be at the store anyway?
As for Yuuka, although she is indeed dangerous, as long as Reimu takes care of the flowers responsibly, everything should be fine. Plus, I want to see Marisa's reaction when she finds out. Although I don't think she can criticize, considering who her own mentor was.
By the way, could Reimu also buy some gardening supplies since she'll be at the store anyway?
- Location
- England, unfortunately.
- Pronouns
- She/They
honestly, this is probably the thing that helps me stop shadowrunning the most. Just makes it feel like theres' less of a ticking clock or something.
Alright, less concerned now.
SaberFail
All Ideas. No Skills. a bit hungry
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You don't know much about Touhou do you?
Donations are a myth, you'd have better luck finding ten four leaf clovers in a desert.
- Location
- England, unfortunately.
- Pronouns
- She/They
I'm actually a little bit mad at being treated like a fucking idiot because of memes thanks.
- Location
- Lost in the internet
I think that, as Marisa mentioned, the majority of Gensokyo think that the shrine is abandoned, so we would need to become a legit (or appear legit enough) shrine maiden to give them confidence in donating.
That or we set up some kind of scam like a box with the inscription "100¥ for 100 days of good luck"
That or we set up some kind of scam like a box with the inscription "100¥ for 100 days of good luck"
SaberFail
All Ideas. No Skills. a bit hungry
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sorry about that, I legitimately only meant it as a joke, didn't mean to offend you.
Chapter 8 - Ikebana
A cacophony of birds screeching shocks Rei out of her slumber. She wriggles her head free from a blanket that had ridden up to just above her forehead and glares through the rice paper screen set over her window. Silhouetted against the pale dawn light were what must have been dozens of birds all perched on the windowsill. Did birds like flowers?
They did, didn't they…
Cursing her own proactiveness, she burrows herself even deeper under her covers, hoping to recapture a bit of her last dream. After all, who wouldn't want to live in a world where they had a tree whose leaves were $100 bills? Unfortunately, the cacophony of birdcalls only grows louder until it seems like every last bird in the whole stupid town had chosen her shrine as the place to gather.
Her growing urge to scream—and maybe get a cat or ten to cut down on the obnoxiously loud chirping—is halted mid-thought as her eyes fall on a pitcher set to one side of her futon. She grabs the pitcher in one hand, a teacup in the other, and pours, not at all concerned that she's sitting in her bed.
Vibrantly green liquid fills her cup and splashes over to stain her sheets before she stops pouring. Quickly raising the teacup to her lips, she takes a deep swallow. Cold-brewed matcha wasn't quite as good as having it warm, yet there was something to say for the refreshing chill on what would doubtless be another hot and humid summer day.
She sets the empty teacup to the side and laboriously kicks herself free from her covers, pitcher held firmly in both hands. The next drink she takes is straight from the pitcher, the drips of cold matcha spilling down her cheeks and chin a small price to pay for being able to guzzle the whole thing down in one gulp.
Refreshed, nightwear stained with bright green, and soon to be jittery from over-caffeination, Rei hops upright and strides meaningfully from her bedroom. She had breakfast to eat, money to make, and a pervert-boss to placate.
"Back so soon, miko? I hadn't thought you'd be so eager to see me again." The sound of a chair clacking against the floor greets her as Yuuka folds up a magazine and drops her feet from where they're perched on the cashier's table.
"Tch." Rei sighs, already regretting the miko outfit she'd worn to the store, but it was far too late for that. "Furnishing the shrine's expensive. I need the money."
"It's a common story," an indulgent, sly smirk crosses the shopkeeper's face. "A naive young miko selling her body to make ends meet."
Her attempt to bore a hole into the older woman with her stare is entirely useless, but that doesn't stop her from trying: "I can find somewhere else to work… I'm sure the 7-Eleven is hiring."
The glimmer of amusement dancing in her eyes undermines her boss's pout. "Oh, fine. If you insist on spoiling all my fun."
"I do." Rei crosses her arms in front of her chest, the loose fabric of her sleeves giving the gesture a fluid, graceful effect. "So… do you have any work for me, or should I head on down the road?"
"Well, since you're here and dressed like that," blood-red eyes trace up and down her form, and she rolls her eyes. "What do you know of kadō?"
It takes Rei a moment to translate the word into something that makes sense. "Way of flowers?"
"Ikebana, if you prefer," Yuuka shrugs guilelessly at her pointed stare. "It's the art of giving life to flowers."
"You could have just called it that, then." her boss shrugs again, and she sighs. "I made some arrangements for homecoming, but that's about it."
"A bunka-sai, hmm… Then you should be practically an expert." The smirk and mocking tone belie the sentiment of the other woman's words. "Come, let's go to my workshop and you can show me your mastery of this art firsthand."
Before Rei even has a chance to offer a retort, her boss has swept past her with the swirl of a white-rimmed dress. Sighing, she swallows whatever she'd intended to say and follows.
"You can keep a cutting alive indefinitely if you suspend it in nutrient-rich water."
Her eyes widened slightly as Yuuka led her into a small workroom lined on all sides by small jars filled with water and flower buds. She reaches under a workstation and pulls out a pair of shallow dishes, one she takes for herself and one she places in front of Rei.
"There are more schools of Ikebana than I care to name. Each with a thousand and more rules to codify expression." Some flicker of emotion runs across her boss's face as she says this, but it's gone almost immediately. "I haven't the time to teach, and I imagine you will soon be too busy to learn, so today, we shall see if your sense of beauty can match your intuition."
"Wha?" Rei blinks, confused, as the lecture ends with a flourish of green hair and Yuuka gliding over to a jar filled with chrysanthemum bulbs.
"It means make a flower arrangement, miko." Her boss punctuates the statement with a smirk. "If your efforts are good enough, I might just throw in a little bonus."
The whole situation was a bit confusing and not at all what she expected she'd been doing for the day, but Rei would hardly turn down a bit more spending money. There were a lot of things her shrine still needed. Like a fridge. Some lights. A way to play video games. Especially that last one. It sometimes felt like she was going into withdrawal here in Japan.
"Right, well…" She trails off as she looks over at Yuuka, only to find the greenette carefully adjusting a branch of cherry petals. Fine. She could do this. How hard could it be?
Rei frowns as her dogwood branch pops free of the base and falls to the side with almost mocking slowness. More challenging than she'd thought, it seemed.
A dozen more tries and a few masticated-looking flowering dogwoods later, and the centerpiece of her Ikebana is set. She leans back with a sigh and rolls her head, enjoying the soft crack of her neck. She looks over at where her boss has moved on to setting a small chrysanthemum bulb in the shadow of the cherry blossom.
Rei bites her lip as Yuuka moves her hands back from fixing a vivid pink bulb and forces a question that had been sitting in her mind since she first visited before she could change her mind. "Can I ask you something?"
"I don't know… can you?" A green eyebrow quirks up as blood-red eyes meet her own.
"Tch." Her boss simply smirks at the frown that forms on her face. "Fine. When we first met, it sounded like you knew the last miko."
"Hmm…" Yuuka makes an indifferent sound, but the indulgent smirk fades from her eyes in favor of something more serious.
"Did you know my mo- Miya?" Rei isn't sure if she wants to know the answer, but if she didn't ask now, would she ever be able to?
"Her story is not mine to tell… and in truth, I know little of the details. Your mother never cared for… flowers." blood-red eyes bore into her with an intensity that leaves her motionless.
"What I know is this: she was a strong woman. Powerful." the older woman pauses long enough that Rei isn't sure whether she means to continue or not until she does. "And that she carried a weight that eventually became too much to bear."
"Did she…" ever love me?
"Who can truly know the mind of another?" Her boss shrugs elegantly. "All I know is that after your birth, she seemed happier even as she started to fade more quickly."
"That's…" Rei sighs and blinks her dry eyes. Another dead end. "Thanks."
Rei chews at her bottom lip, feeling oddly self-conscious as her boss casts a judging eye over her flower arrangement. She'd set the branch of a white dogwood ever so slightly off-center. Beneath that, a single dahlia rested and stared out onto a gently flowing strand of baby's breath. Three points to capture a pastoral scene of a young woman lazing beneath the weeping branches of a willow tree as she watches water flow down a gentle creek.
"In truth I expected little of this exercise," Yuuka smirks at the flinch that flickers across her face. "And while I doubt you quite meant this as a declaration of eternal love, one undiminished by the trials and tribulations of life at that, the aesthetics of it are more than acceptable."
"Love?" She frowns, caught somewhere between confused and… more confused. "It's supposed to be a girl at a park watching a stream."
"Ikebana cannot be experienced without understanding Hanakotoba, the language of flowers." her boss's smirk widens, "Though perhaps you already knew that and were just feeling a touch shy."
"Tch. No." That sort of thing was… weird.
"You do know how to break a girl's heart, Miko." The amusement on Yuuka's face says she's anything but brokenhearted. "But despite your heartlessness, your work is more than acceptable. So here, the day's payment and a bonus on top of that."
Rei gladly takes the ¥5000 note and significantly less enthusiastically takes the Ikebana that Yuuka had been working on. A sprig of cherry blossom surrounded on one side by a white chrysanthemum and a similarly pale edelweiss on the other.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what it means, are you?" She doesn't even wait for her boss to shake her head, "Yeah, I didn't think so. Later, Yuuka."
"Oh, Miko, before you go," she turns around, half wondering if she'd get another of those predatory stares, only to see her boss holding up a canvas sack with several wooden handles sticking out of it. "Since you had so much trouble digging in the dirt, why don't you take some gardening tools back with you."
"Heh," Rei decides not to ask the rather obvious question and takes the bag with a murmured, "Thanks, boss. See you next time I'm broke."
The sun is setting by the time she gets back to the shrine. Rei pauses in the kitchen to drop off Yuuka's flower arrangement and grab a bag of seaweed chips, a room-temp bottle of lychee-flavored soda, and some chocolate cookie on a stick thing before heading out to her spot on the back porch. She sets her food on the porch and is halfway down to the wood panels before she stops and sighs. She'd forgotten pillows.
There's also that miko manga that I haven't gotten around to yet…
A few minutes later, she's comfortably ensconced in her blankets and pillows, dinner spread out in front of her, and the first page of her new manga opened on her lap. She takes a sip of her soda, unsure if she likes how the sweetness practically buzzes against her teeth and decides to cut the flavor with a seaweed chip.
Blegh.
She needed to get more propane for her stove... or find a restaurant so she could eat something that wasn't pre-packaged. Maybe Marisa would know a cheap place… well, Yuuka might also know a place, but Rei didn't particularly want to dine on the souls of her enemies, so that was out. She reaches out for the third part of her dinner and takes a generous bite. At least the chocolate on a stick was good.
Tastes almost like an espresso…
Resigning herself to a mostly subpar dinner, at least until she got hungry enough that the taste didn't matter, she starts reading. A dozen pages of boring exposition set in the Edo period about a group of mages casting some weird spell pass without anything interesting happening until the story flashes to a girl in a rundown shrine.
She reads as the girl gains some mystical power from the god to whom the shrine is devoted. She reads as the girl meets strange and wondrous beings and forms unbreakable bonds. She reads as the girl chases after a ghost that an ancestor had once sealed away that had broken free when a bolt of lightning obliterated the wards that had kept it bound. The chase goes on through the heavens and hells until, at last, amidst a field of stars, they fight.
Blades and needles and bits of paper—ofuda—blot out the skies, but the two combatants are untouched as they glide through impossibly small gaps hidden within complex patterns of attacks. Page after page after page, they fight, the momentum shifting back and forth and back again. Rei's fingers tighten around the spine of the manga, and her heart pounds loudly in her chest. The battle was poised on the edge of a knife. Who would win?
The Miko pauses. She wipes at a trickle of blood flowing down from her split lip. A wild grin forms on her face, and she points at a pattern of ofuda and purification needles floating in the sky beneath them. "Do you recognize the pattern, ghost?"
"No!!!" a panicked expression crosses the ghost's face as she sees the three tomoe flaring to life below her, and she streaks forward.
"By the laws of Man, I call you to return to slumber.
By the laws of Earth, I call you to surrender your hate.
By the laws of Heaven, I call you to return to the wheel."
Rei slumps in relief as the ghost vanishes into motes of light, a smile gracing her face. She reaches out for a seaweed chip and blinks when her hand returns empty. She looks up to the sky and blinks again at the sight of the full moon shining down on her. It was late. Very late.
Seemingly brought on by that realization, the day's exhaustion hits her all at once. Her jaw cracks open, and she yawns loudly—time to go to bed.
Grabbing her trash and blankets, she shuffles toward her bedroom, the words to the ritual the miko girl had used echoing in her thoughts.
Prices are based on Rei's assumptions. Things may cost more or less, but probably not drastically so. Clever write-ins can net Rei substantial discounts on the things she buys.
Reminder: Rei has ¥22000 and 1 day of food left.
Rei has 2 actions available (or just 1, depending) choose as many as you want, the top two options will win.
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] [¥500 - 1000]
[] Read manga [Reading]
[] 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 [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some electronic entertainment items [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some furniture [> ¥10000]
[] Buy a fridge and microwave [> ¥10000]
[] Write-in. Buy something not on the list.
Food Options - Feed yourself for a day or longer
[] Find a restaurant [¥1000 - 2000]
[] Go get dessert [¥500 - 1000]
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.
[] 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.
[AN]
I think I've updated everything, but please let me know if I missed anything.
They did, didn't they…
Cursing her own proactiveness, she burrows herself even deeper under her covers, hoping to recapture a bit of her last dream. After all, who wouldn't want to live in a world where they had a tree whose leaves were $100 bills? Unfortunately, the cacophony of birdcalls only grows louder until it seems like every last bird in the whole stupid town had chosen her shrine as the place to gather.
Her growing urge to scream—and maybe get a cat or ten to cut down on the obnoxiously loud chirping—is halted mid-thought as her eyes fall on a pitcher set to one side of her futon. She grabs the pitcher in one hand, a teacup in the other, and pours, not at all concerned that she's sitting in her bed.
Vibrantly green liquid fills her cup and splashes over to stain her sheets before she stops pouring. Quickly raising the teacup to her lips, she takes a deep swallow. Cold-brewed matcha wasn't quite as good as having it warm, yet there was something to say for the refreshing chill on what would doubtless be another hot and humid summer day.
She sets the empty teacup to the side and laboriously kicks herself free from her covers, pitcher held firmly in both hands. The next drink she takes is straight from the pitcher, the drips of cold matcha spilling down her cheeks and chin a small price to pay for being able to guzzle the whole thing down in one gulp.
Refreshed, nightwear stained with bright green, and soon to be jittery from over-caffeination, Rei hops upright and strides meaningfully from her bedroom. She had breakfast to eat, money to make, and a pervert-boss to placate.
"Back so soon, miko? I hadn't thought you'd be so eager to see me again." The sound of a chair clacking against the floor greets her as Yuuka folds up a magazine and drops her feet from where they're perched on the cashier's table.
"Tch." Rei sighs, already regretting the miko outfit she'd worn to the store, but it was far too late for that. "Furnishing the shrine's expensive. I need the money."
"It's a common story," an indulgent, sly smirk crosses the shopkeeper's face. "A naive young miko selling her body to make ends meet."
Her attempt to bore a hole into the older woman with her stare is entirely useless, but that doesn't stop her from trying: "I can find somewhere else to work… I'm sure the 7-Eleven is hiring."
The glimmer of amusement dancing in her eyes undermines her boss's pout. "Oh, fine. If you insist on spoiling all my fun."
"I do." Rei crosses her arms in front of her chest, the loose fabric of her sleeves giving the gesture a fluid, graceful effect. "So… do you have any work for me, or should I head on down the road?"
"Well, since you're here and dressed like that," blood-red eyes trace up and down her form, and she rolls her eyes. "What do you know of kadō?"
It takes Rei a moment to translate the word into something that makes sense. "Way of flowers?"
"Ikebana, if you prefer," Yuuka shrugs guilelessly at her pointed stare. "It's the art of giving life to flowers."
"You could have just called it that, then." her boss shrugs again, and she sighs. "I made some arrangements for homecoming, but that's about it."
"A bunka-sai, hmm… Then you should be practically an expert." The smirk and mocking tone belie the sentiment of the other woman's words. "Come, let's go to my workshop and you can show me your mastery of this art firsthand."
Before Rei even has a chance to offer a retort, her boss has swept past her with the swirl of a white-rimmed dress. Sighing, she swallows whatever she'd intended to say and follows.
"You can keep a cutting alive indefinitely if you suspend it in nutrient-rich water."
Her eyes widened slightly as Yuuka led her into a small workroom lined on all sides by small jars filled with water and flower buds. She reaches under a workstation and pulls out a pair of shallow dishes, one she takes for herself and one she places in front of Rei.
"There are more schools of Ikebana than I care to name. Each with a thousand and more rules to codify expression." Some flicker of emotion runs across her boss's face as she says this, but it's gone almost immediately. "I haven't the time to teach, and I imagine you will soon be too busy to learn, so today, we shall see if your sense of beauty can match your intuition."
"Wha?" Rei blinks, confused, as the lecture ends with a flourish of green hair and Yuuka gliding over to a jar filled with chrysanthemum bulbs.
"It means make a flower arrangement, miko." Her boss punctuates the statement with a smirk. "If your efforts are good enough, I might just throw in a little bonus."
The whole situation was a bit confusing and not at all what she expected she'd been doing for the day, but Rei would hardly turn down a bit more spending money. There were a lot of things her shrine still needed. Like a fridge. Some lights. A way to play video games. Especially that last one. It sometimes felt like she was going into withdrawal here in Japan.
"Right, well…" She trails off as she looks over at Yuuka, only to find the greenette carefully adjusting a branch of cherry petals. Fine. She could do this. How hard could it be?
Rei frowns as her dogwood branch pops free of the base and falls to the side with almost mocking slowness. More challenging than she'd thought, it seemed.
A dozen more tries and a few masticated-looking flowering dogwoods later, and the centerpiece of her Ikebana is set. She leans back with a sigh and rolls her head, enjoying the soft crack of her neck. She looks over at where her boss has moved on to setting a small chrysanthemum bulb in the shadow of the cherry blossom.
Rei bites her lip as Yuuka moves her hands back from fixing a vivid pink bulb and forces a question that had been sitting in her mind since she first visited before she could change her mind. "Can I ask you something?"
"I don't know… can you?" A green eyebrow quirks up as blood-red eyes meet her own.
"Tch." Her boss simply smirks at the frown that forms on her face. "Fine. When we first met, it sounded like you knew the last miko."
"Hmm…" Yuuka makes an indifferent sound, but the indulgent smirk fades from her eyes in favor of something more serious.
"Did you know my mo- Miya?" Rei isn't sure if she wants to know the answer, but if she didn't ask now, would she ever be able to?
"Her story is not mine to tell… and in truth, I know little of the details. Your mother never cared for… flowers." blood-red eyes bore into her with an intensity that leaves her motionless.
"What I know is this: she was a strong woman. Powerful." the older woman pauses long enough that Rei isn't sure whether she means to continue or not until she does. "And that she carried a weight that eventually became too much to bear."
"Did she…" ever love me?
"Who can truly know the mind of another?" Her boss shrugs elegantly. "All I know is that after your birth, she seemed happier even as she started to fade more quickly."
"That's…" Rei sighs and blinks her dry eyes. Another dead end. "Thanks."
Rei chews at her bottom lip, feeling oddly self-conscious as her boss casts a judging eye over her flower arrangement. She'd set the branch of a white dogwood ever so slightly off-center. Beneath that, a single dahlia rested and stared out onto a gently flowing strand of baby's breath. Three points to capture a pastoral scene of a young woman lazing beneath the weeping branches of a willow tree as she watches water flow down a gentle creek.
"In truth I expected little of this exercise," Yuuka smirks at the flinch that flickers across her face. "And while I doubt you quite meant this as a declaration of eternal love, one undiminished by the trials and tribulations of life at that, the aesthetics of it are more than acceptable."
"Love?" She frowns, caught somewhere between confused and… more confused. "It's supposed to be a girl at a park watching a stream."
"Ikebana cannot be experienced without understanding Hanakotoba, the language of flowers." her boss's smirk widens, "Though perhaps you already knew that and were just feeling a touch shy."
"Tch. No." That sort of thing was… weird.
"You do know how to break a girl's heart, Miko." The amusement on Yuuka's face says she's anything but brokenhearted. "But despite your heartlessness, your work is more than acceptable. So here, the day's payment and a bonus on top of that."
Rei gladly takes the ¥5000 note and significantly less enthusiastically takes the Ikebana that Yuuka had been working on. A sprig of cherry blossom surrounded on one side by a white chrysanthemum and a similarly pale edelweiss on the other.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what it means, are you?" She doesn't even wait for her boss to shake her head, "Yeah, I didn't think so. Later, Yuuka."
"Oh, Miko, before you go," she turns around, half wondering if she'd get another of those predatory stares, only to see her boss holding up a canvas sack with several wooden handles sticking out of it. "Since you had so much trouble digging in the dirt, why don't you take some gardening tools back with you."
"Heh," Rei decides not to ask the rather obvious question and takes the bag with a murmured, "Thanks, boss. See you next time I'm broke."
The sun is setting by the time she gets back to the shrine. Rei pauses in the kitchen to drop off Yuuka's flower arrangement and grab a bag of seaweed chips, a room-temp bottle of lychee-flavored soda, and some chocolate cookie on a stick thing before heading out to her spot on the back porch. She sets her food on the porch and is halfway down to the wood panels before she stops and sighs. She'd forgotten pillows.
There's also that miko manga that I haven't gotten around to yet…
A few minutes later, she's comfortably ensconced in her blankets and pillows, dinner spread out in front of her, and the first page of her new manga opened on her lap. She takes a sip of her soda, unsure if she likes how the sweetness practically buzzes against her teeth and decides to cut the flavor with a seaweed chip.
Blegh.
She needed to get more propane for her stove... or find a restaurant so she could eat something that wasn't pre-packaged. Maybe Marisa would know a cheap place… well, Yuuka might also know a place, but Rei didn't particularly want to dine on the souls of her enemies, so that was out. She reaches out for the third part of her dinner and takes a generous bite. At least the chocolate on a stick was good.
Tastes almost like an espresso…
Resigning herself to a mostly subpar dinner, at least until she got hungry enough that the taste didn't matter, she starts reading. A dozen pages of boring exposition set in the Edo period about a group of mages casting some weird spell pass without anything interesting happening until the story flashes to a girl in a rundown shrine.
She reads as the girl gains some mystical power from the god to whom the shrine is devoted. She reads as the girl meets strange and wondrous beings and forms unbreakable bonds. She reads as the girl chases after a ghost that an ancestor had once sealed away that had broken free when a bolt of lightning obliterated the wards that had kept it bound. The chase goes on through the heavens and hells until, at last, amidst a field of stars, they fight.
Blades and needles and bits of paper—ofuda—blot out the skies, but the two combatants are untouched as they glide through impossibly small gaps hidden within complex patterns of attacks. Page after page after page, they fight, the momentum shifting back and forth and back again. Rei's fingers tighten around the spine of the manga, and her heart pounds loudly in her chest. The battle was poised on the edge of a knife. Who would win?
The Miko pauses. She wipes at a trickle of blood flowing down from her split lip. A wild grin forms on her face, and she points at a pattern of ofuda and purification needles floating in the sky beneath them. "Do you recognize the pattern, ghost?"
"No!!!" a panicked expression crosses the ghost's face as she sees the three tomoe flaring to life below her, and she streaks forward.
"By the laws of Man, I call you to return to slumber.
By the laws of Earth, I call you to surrender your hate.
By the laws of Heaven, I call you to return to the wheel."
Rei slumps in relief as the ghost vanishes into motes of light, a smile gracing her face. She reaches out for a seaweed chip and blinks when her hand returns empty. She looks up to the sky and blinks again at the sight of the full moon shining down on her. It was late. Very late.
Seemingly brought on by that realization, the day's exhaustion hits her all at once. Her jaw cracks open, and she yawns loudly—time to go to bed.
Grabbing her trash and blankets, she shuffles toward her bedroom, the words to the ritual the miko girl had used echoing in her thoughts.
Yuuka +1 Gardening, ¥5000
- Allure 1 [Failed] ???
- Academics 1 [Passed] Rei knows the basics of flower arranging
- Gardening [Passed] Rei successfully arranges flowers
- Aplomb 1 [Failed] ???
- Academics 2 or History [Failed] ???
- Aesthetics 2 or Art [Failed] ???
- Awareness 2 [Passed] The ritual described seems remarkably detailed
Prices are based on Rei's assumptions. Things may cost more or less, but probably not drastically so. Clever write-ins can net Rei substantial discounts on the things she buys.
Reminder: Rei has ¥22000 and 1 day of food left.
Rei has 2 actions available (or just 1, depending) choose as many as you want, the top two options will win.
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] [¥500 - 1000]
[] Read manga [Reading]
[] 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 [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some electronic entertainment items [¥5000 - 10000]
[] Buy some furniture [> ¥10000]
[] Buy a fridge and microwave [> ¥10000]
[] Write-in. Buy something not on the list.
Food Options - Feed yourself for a day or longer
[] Find a restaurant [¥1000 - 2000]
[] Go get dessert [¥500 - 1000]
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.
[] 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.
Academics (1) - Rei's level of knowledge and understanding and her raw intellectual power.
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.
- 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. [6 of ??? gained]
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. [4 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).
[AN]
I think I've updated everything, but please let me know if I missed anything.
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- Location
- Lost in the internet
[X] Start a new hobby.
-[X] Flower arrangement (kadō, Ikebana, flower arrangement, whatever you want to call it, we seem skilled at that and enjoy it, maybe try it with mountain flowers ? Hell, we could even profit from it by working with Yuuka)
[X] Buy a Hot-plate from Nitori's shop
A little more ''exotic'' proposition but @dmclain2 surprised me with this last turn, well, turn of event and gave me the idea of giving Reimu an additional, and interesting, hobby. (And I dont know if Reimu ''swing that way'' but we seem to be building a connexion with Yuuka with our appreciation of flowers, weither it stays platonic or goes deeper, I will leave to our GM)
As for the hot-plate, it would give Reimu a way to heat up her tea and whatever she want to cook without the need to buy propane since we already have the solar-generator, basically a way to cash-in the dividends of our investment.
-[X] Flower arrangement (kadō, Ikebana, flower arrangement, whatever you want to call it, we seem skilled at that and enjoy it, maybe try it with mountain flowers ? Hell, we could even profit from it by working with Yuuka)
[X] Buy a Hot-plate from Nitori's shop
A little more ''exotic'' proposition but @dmclain2 surprised me with this last turn, well, turn of event and gave me the idea of giving Reimu an additional, and interesting, hobby. (And I dont know if Reimu ''swing that way'' but we seem to be building a connexion with Yuuka with our appreciation of flowers, weither it stays platonic or goes deeper, I will leave to our GM)
As for the hot-plate, it would give Reimu a way to heat up her tea and whatever she want to cook without the need to buy propane since we already have the solar-generator, basically a way to cash-in the dividends of our investment.