Flan representing Loki is remarkably fitting.

A mysterious tsukumogami

The genesis of youkai is a mystery to everyone. Are they born with clothes, do they have parents, if a man and a youkai really love each other will there son grow up to run a disappointing antique shop? Even tsukumogami, whose method of birth is know, provide their own mysteries. Are karaksas born with the desire to surprise or do they try it once and really like the sensation? Do tsukumogami remember anything from their time as an inanimate object?

That brings us to Medicine Melancholy. She was a doll throw away in a suzuran field and after a hundred years became a youkai. The environment where she was abandoned influenced her abilities and gave her the power to manipulate poison.

She's an inexperienced youkai who has spent most of her life since turning in the suzuran field. The two things she's sure of, against any common sense, are that she hates humans and that humans enslave dolls. But because of her home, she doesn't have much experience with humans. Who would willingly come to a poisonous field and interact with a poisonous doll?

So how does she know she hates humans? Perhaps her home has poisoned her, not just her body but her mind and personality as well. Or perhaps one bad experience was enough to sour her whole outlook. Perhaps her goal of freeing dolls from human enslavement, as misguided and dumb as it is, stems from personal experience. Maybe when she was younger and even more inexperienced, a human came up to her hill and enslaved her. Used her as a tool or weapon to accomplish something and then dumped her right back on the hill when he or she was done.

Tsukumogami are truly mysterious. There's no way to know but to ask her and she likely won't be very helpful.

Clarste, I'm not sure if that was a practical counter-joke, something motivated by spite, or a genuine essay, but whatever it was, it was magnificent.

It was pretty neat. Also, I noticed that I already wrote something for the Bunny Bunny SPIDER section so I can rest on my things that are like laurels.

All of the above. Except without the spite.

Seriously, does anyone have any ideas about the Pagoda of Bishamonten and its crazy laser powers? 'Cause it's got me stumped.

EDIT: apparently Shou's appearance is based on Bishamonten, who's often depicted carrying a spear and a pagoda. So there we go. No word as to physics-defying beams of light, though. I suspect that that's all Shou.

edited 1st Jun '11 4:12:12 PM by asterism

Shou did well to ally herself with a god that produces giant lasers.

The world of dharma is filled with light and lasers.

So it was a practical joke that is also a genuine essay, motivated by... the void?

... Okay, no, seriously, this is putting me in a pickle. In order to be consistent, I'd have to link that in the thing's profile, and then I'd have to link the profile in the OP and that would be no. ... Okay, you get the exclusive rights to a Philosopher's Stone write-up that'll be linked under your name in the OP like any other! But if anyone else tries to make another one, I'll use the stone to turn my OCD solid and throw it at them!

edited 1st Jun '11 4:10:28 PM by Fawriel

As far as I know, there isn't any deeper meaning to it. Bishamonten is sometimes depicted as holding a miniature pagoda. Shou is a disciple of Bishamonten. I think that's all there is to it.

Now watch Clarste or Hylarn or somebody prove me wrong.

edited 1st Jun '11 4:12:41 PM by SuperDimensionman

... Or maybe you could link it to Patchouli's profile when we get it up?

Yeah, I was assuming it'd link to Patchouli when she's up. Or I could just copy-paste it then.

Technically, Shou is an avatar is Bishoumonten. It'd be kinda of weird for her not to have the pagoda.

edited 1st Jun '11 4:30:44 PM by Clarste

She lost it, though. Nazrin had to go get it back from, apparently, Rinnosuke.

Or we could be reasonable and do it that way, yes.

Red Eye, Orange Carrot

Rabbit youkai are plentiful. No surprise, considering the memetically high birth rate of rabbits. They live and grow in the safety of the bamboo forest, making mochi as is their custom. However, in the large scheme of things, they are not important. Out of these youkai, the products of myraid warrens, come two individuals of greatness: the soldier and the con artist.

The soldier represents the glory of practices and drills and discipline. She is great through the will of her superiors. Born on the moon, trained by the Lunarians, she is a skilled warrior. Her gun has become a part of her; even her danmaku are bullets. However, the soldier highlights the training's failures as well as it's successes. The harshness of the training and the eternal threat of the human invaders and their impossibly charismatic leader, Neil Armstrong, broke the soldier. She began to fear the life of a soldier, something that had become a part of her, and fled to Earth. Even while she lurks among the rabbits of Eientei, she still holds her inner conflict. Constantly, she asks herself "what is a soldier that cannot fight?". Training is insufficient.

The con artist represents guile, cunning and stealth. She is great through her independent actions. From her origins on Earth, she became a master trickster. She became one of the first psychologists, using humans' idiosyncracies to make fools of them. However, she also is limited. Because she is driven by her own designs rather than the orders of a superior, she is shiftless. After she attained comfort in the creation of Eientei, she did not work to improve herself. Thus, she remains weaker than her soldier counterpart. Will is also insufficient.

In order for a rabbit to attain, or even surpass, the grandeur of these two specimens, it must learn from both of them. From the soldier, it must learn discipline. From the con artist, it must learn independence. Both skills must be mastered to create a great rabbit.

I'm afraid that writing dual write-ups is going to become a tradition. I'm saying this because Faw is eventually going to choose Satori and Koishi, and I have no idea what I'm going to write on those two.

edited 2nd Jun '11 3:17:42 PM by yarrunmace

Nice write-up.

It's more of a guideline than an actual rule.

edited 1st Jun '11 5:09:36 PM by Pulse

I'll probably post some write-ups about Maribel and/or Renko later on during the day.

After I spent the whole day hanging out with people for no real reason and returning home at 1 at night, who could be more fitting than...

Souls Adrift!

• Komachi Onozuka

"Price of Life"
-by Clarste

The gondolier of the troubled water sings an ode to life
-by Fawriel

Working hard or hardly working?
-by Bocaj

Her Own Pace
-by Hylarn

Komachi ~ Life Is Suffering, Death Is...
-by Raz Fox

Komachi: Death's Craftsman
-by WORLD Tree

• Kogasa Tatara

The Cheery Forgotten Object
-by Horselesshorseman

Tatara~World Walker
-by yarrunmace

Kogasa Tatara~You Finally Did It. Amazing
-by yarrunmace

• Letty Whiterock

What Winter holds within
-by Fawriel

Letty-Embodiment of the Turquoise Season
-by yarrunmace

Letty-The Strongest
-by yarrunmace

My biggest regret: I ended up not being able to put Letty, Yamame and Alice into one group and call it "Pulling Strings, What Fun".

edited 3rd Jun '11 8:41:27 AM by Fawriel

Letty is a soul? Isn't she a winter goddess?

I thought she was whatever the hell those snow ghosts are called. Yuki-onna, I think?

Letty technically is the embodiment of winter in Gensokyo as much as the Aki sisters represent Autumn, Lily White represents Spring, and Yuuka(apparently) represents Summer.

Speaking of Yuuka I propose we talk about her next cuz its summertime.

And you know what that means... I don't.

I guess it's nice that we have characters to represent the four seasons, but only the Aki's actually have an affect on their season.

Lily gets an award for effort though.

edited 2nd Jun '11 6:48:05 PM by Horselesshorseman

Actually Lily's appearance causes flowers to bloom

Hmmm... I always though that was just some fairy magic, but actual research proves that Lily is actually the official Herald of Spring.

Soooo... no award for effort.

The moral is I should do more research before posting stuff.

edited 2nd Jun '11 6:54:34 PM by Horselesshorseman