The Fool
Regarding Momiji, for some reason, I believe Aya's being a bit over-defensive when it comes to her (you always are more sensitive to what the one you love thinks, even if you don't know you love 'em!), and thus sees her as being incredibly cruel, always holding back mean sentiments with "hmms..." and "uhmms..." when really, Momiji just doesn't get a lot of practice in social interaction because of her job.
And why is my writeup being ignored? I'm starting think you guys don't like me...
/shameless sympathy plug
I sure said that!
I do like you, Pulse. The minific, though, just didn't have anything that really caught my interest.
The Fool
'Tis fine. I just needed to that, at least.
Yeah, it really isn't that great, even though it took me forever to come up with it.
Well, I guess the most valuable thing you can do for a minific is to make sure first that what you have to offer is interesting. This is the 'Compendium, after all. It's all about spinning stuff into interesting ideas, or discovering the interesting ideas behind stuff that's already there. It's also great to present them in an interesting fashion that shows the same character everyone knows, but from a new perspective.
Inspired by the notion of a print-happy Tengu village we've been batting around. Dozens of newspapers? Okay! If you can think fast enough to fly 200kph and not die, you could probably read twenty of 'em a day and have time to make your own. Most of the ideas here have been mentioned earlier in the thread, but I hope nobody has beaten me to exactly this.
The Brain of Gensokyo
Imagine Gensokyo as a vast, lazy creature relaxing beneath the sun, stirring only rarely as it whiles away the decades wrapped in pleasant dreams. The mountains are its bones and rivers are its blood. Fairies are its cells, witches and mikos are its antibodies and I guess you could imagine the Oni as intestinal flora... by this point our analogy is getting strained and kind of gross. But where is this magnificent beast's brain? Why, the same place as yours - at the top!
Perched in the upper reaches of its tallest mountain is a village of Tengu, that ancient and proud tribe of youkai. Spies and assassins from time immemorial, the Crow Tengu never fell out of the habit of striking out to gather information, silent and unseen (except for aberrants like that troublemaker Aya - where does she get off?) Apart from mysterious glints from a hidden lenses, soft breezes from their passing and the occasional polite request from the shadows for a ninja interview, the Tengu pass unnoticed. Their eyes and ears are everywhere, but it is nothing to fear; they have no interest in using their knowledge and power to conquer Gensokyo and turn it into an Orwellian nightmare from which there is no escape, even in death. Honest.
The presses of the Tengu Village churn their findings out to be devoured by a thousand lightning-fast minds and stirred about a brilliant, excitable cauldron. Connections are drawn, trends are noted, history is charted and gossip is scattered on the wind. (Only the best and/or most shameless papers are published to Gensokyo as a whole.) To what end is all this information gathered and analyzed? Who cares! Gensokyo is luxuriating in every twitch and sensation of its long life. For their part, the Tengu see for the joy of seeing and know for the joy of leering smugly and blackmailing you for everything you're worth.
In truth, they're a bit of a nuisance, but the current landlady finds them to be worth the trouble. Even Yukari can't watch everywhere at once, but why invest in a small army of shikigami when you have a bunch of squawking bozos doing the work for free? Before Yukari wakes from her seasonal naps, Ran travels up the mountain to stay in a rented room and marinate in the Tengu Village's soup of information. Her razor-sharp ears catch every stray scrap and her stupendous mind sorts it all out - when her mistress awakens, the fox is ready with a detailed report of everything important that happened while she was out. Yukari ignores most of it, of course, but it's still nice to have available. And so the Tengu stay.
I'm sure Gensokyo is relieved. I wouldn't want to be lobotomized either.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a one-toothed geta stamping on a face. Forever.
edited 13th Oct '11 11:20:09 AM by Durazno
I'll be completely honest, you guys lost me on that last page.
Anyway, Tengu. There is some mythological thingy that I missed, but why, of all things, crows and wolves? Where they originally two separate races of youkai that banned together under the banner of tengu to survive against the Oni threat? Are they closely related, though not the exact same species?
And how do they view crows who become youkai or wolves who become youkai? Part of the team? Imposters?
Anyway, Aya. As mentioned (I think?), she seems really gung-ho into something that has to be fairly recent for her. Maybe she wasn't satisfied with her old life as a spy? I wonder if the other tengu comment on how energetic, mischievous, and outgoing she has gotten since starting the Bunbubmaru compared to her "old life"?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That spoilered out part sounds particularly painful. Even more so than the original saying.
edited 19th Sep '11 6:26:45 AM by Otherarrow
Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
One Winged Egret
I would think that she's just equally gung ho about anything she tries to do. You've never met the kind of person who gets a new camera and suddenly decides they're a photographer? She probably finds a new "calling" in life every century or so. Which is still pretty devoted by human standards.
The Fool
edited 19th Sep '11 7:12:56 AM by Pulse
I sure said that!
Aya seems to feel some kind of solidarity with fellow avain Mystia. Or just a mutual dislike of yakitori.
Also about Aya's age. Mokou claims to be older then her. So there's that.
Heart of Stone
The Fool
Aya claims to be over a thousand, whereas Mokou's ~1300 or so.
Aya's thousandth birthday could've been yesterday, after all.
... Speaking of which, if tengu hatch from eggs, would their birthday be the day the eggs were laid, or the day they hatched?
I sure said that!
Well, if you compare it to a human, that'd be like asking whether their birthday is the day when they were conceived or the day they were born...and this is a pretty stupid comparison and post, actually, so ignore it.
On the contrary, I think it's a good point. Their birthday is probably the day they hatched, since that's when they start moving and breathing and thinking and saying "Mama."
EDIT: I mean... they probably don't say "Mama" the very day they were born, but you know what I mean.
edited 19th Sep '11 8:05:06 AM by Durazno
Hatched. You don't count a random amount of time spent as a foetus as part of your age, right? Because otherwise I've been even more deviant when I lie about my age.
Heart of Stone
The Fool
I suppose so. It's just that, if I'm not mistaken, a mother bird will still be "pregnant" for a short while before laying her eggs.
What's more, we're dealing with a fundamentally different creature and society. Like how the Vietnamese traditionally only celebrate a child's first birthday and then it's just every subsequent New Year's that they are considered a year older.
edited 19th Sep '11 8:24:48 AM by Pulse
I sure said that!
Did you just refer to the Vietnamese as 'different creatures'?
Heart of Stone
The Fool
Angel of Draconic Wisdom
Hey guys. I'm back. And were still talking about Aya?
That Came Out Wrong Don't worry. It happens from time to time.
edited 19th Sep '11 9:46:06 AM by Dragonexx
Doing nothing is a choice.
One Winged Egret
No, we're talking about Shameimaruaya.
MERMAID
I have no idea where I was going with this
Vigor
I'm pretty sure this shop is sunk. I've barely had any customers since I opened last month. Yukari said that if I don't get enough money to pay back the loan, she'd take all of her stuff back.
Why can't people see the advantages of having items from the Outside World? Not only would it be a nice decoration, but they could also prove to be functional as well!
Ding!
Oh! "Welcome to Kourindou! How may I help you?"
The girl that walked in was wearing a black and white attire, with an autumn colored scarf around her neck. What stood out though, was the tokin hat and the one-tooth geta, which she was walking in with perfect balance.
Why is a tengu here?!
"Hello. I've been asked to scout out the new store that had popped up next to the Forest of Magic." Her voice was bored, lacking the usual tengu vigor I've heard about.
I had to keep my cool. Weakness and panic wasn't something you wanted to show to a tengu. "Oh? What makes my humble shop so special?"
"We've gotten reports of strange gaps in space opening up and depositing supplies here. We don't trust that gap hag with anything." As she explained the situation, she wandered around the store, picking up items and putting them back after a simple lookover.
"I see. Well, as you can see, all she supplies me with are items from the Outside World. I've recieved nothing harmful, and if I was, it would certainly never be put on a shelf."
She turned to me, a bored look in her eyes, but they still managed to glint with warning. "How would you know if these items aren't harmful? Yakumo is notorious for telling lies and half-truths without a care for the consiquences."
I smirked. "Ah, you see, there's the reason why I've opened a shop like this in the first place. I am half Youkai, and I have the ability to see the name and purpose of any item that I see."
Her eyebrows raised. "Oh? Well then, how about...That?"
"A radio. It's able to relay information and music across long distances."
"Hm. That?"
"A camera. It's able to take pictures, which are like-"
"That's a camera?" She looked perplexed as she picked up the black and white device.
My brow raised. "You know of it?"
"Yeah, but last time I saw one, it was clunky and slow. This one looks...Sleek...Fast...And interesting." The tengu turned to me, with a mischevious glint in her eye and a smirk on her face. "How much?"
I sold the camera to her, and she went on her way back to the mountain, looking much cheerier than when she first arrived.
A few weeks later, I heard a thud at my doorstep. What I found was a newspaper, with was titled BUNBUNMARU, EDITION #1. Inside, the main article was actually a review about my own shop. 9/10 stars. She reccommended that anyone who was interested in new and interesting items should visit.
Needless to say, I've had many more customers since then.
"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow
It's alright. The main problem I have with it is Rinnosuke, who by all accounts hates selling things to people. Why he opened a shop I have no idea.
Having said that, there is a possible connection between Rinnosuke and Aya as people who don't have jobs so much as hobbies, and they're both pretty poor at their hobbies jobs.
Heart of Stone
MERMAID
I like to think that, by the time he realised he became too attached to the items he was selling, the shop had already become somewhat successful*
edited 19th Sep '11 10:03:51 AM by Metaflare
"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow
One Winged Egret
He opened a shop because his power is well suited to it and he likes being surrounded by items. It may not have been the smartest choice, but by all accounts he's not very popular anyway so it's okay. And he doesn't care that much because his living expenses are absolutely minimal, given that apparently he doesn't need to eat. He just drinks tea and reads books.
Also, he gets his items from Muenzuka, which is apparently some kind of junkyard. The items appear from their own accord; Yukari isn't a directly a supplier. Well, she does supply him with fuel for a heater he has, but she takes items from him as payment for it. Against his will.
That's all Rinnosuke stuff though. As for Aya... everyone seems to assume the camera comes from Tengu technology, which is supposedly more advanced than the rest of Gensokyo. Maybe they got it from the kappa, maybe not, but they have the ability to make and maintain things like this instead of just borrowing them.
edited 19th Sep '11 10:17:08 AM by Clarste
Angel of Draconic Wisdom
Maybe the camera came from the outside world? Isn't it canon that some youkai venture into the outside world periodically?
Doing nothing is a choice.
One Winged Egret
Other than Yukari, I don't think so. I don't recall anything like that. Due to the nature of the border, I don't think they'd be able to even if they wanted to, since it's not like there's a gate or anything. On the other hand, youkai and gods seem to be able to enter by choice (Kanako and Mamizou), so maybe it's not that hard.
edited 19th Sep '11 10:31:56 AM by Clarste
In any case, if Hatate could just get a camera like that, I don't think they're considered anything special.
MAYBE THAT!
... Your theory is interesting, though.
It's a bucket.
That picture looks nice, by the way, but would be better if I could tell what is what in it. The one after that is more to my tastes. It's very lovable.