Marsh Terracoon
Poko poko pon poko pon.
Pon poko poko pon pon.
Poko poko poko pon pon pon.
The jovial drumming echoed throughout the woods, stirring those who had already settled down for sleep back awake, and catching the ears of all of the crepuscular animals that were out wandering at this time of the evening. Those brave enough to make the trek through the woods, following the pounding of the drum, would eventually come to the stone walls surrounding a massive Buddhist temple. Though temples were not an unusual thing in Gensoukyou, what was unusual was the plump tanuki that sat up against the walls, a full bottle of sake on one side, and a smoking kiseru placed carefully in a dish on her other side. She did not have a drum on her that you could see, but instead, her round belly was puffed up a bit, allowing her to pound on it like a it was a drum. You wanted to shrink back, turn around and run, because it was never a good time to run into a youkai, especially when it was getting dark.
The tanuki paused in her jovial drumming to take a long swig of sake, when she noticed she was no longer alone. "Oho, hello there!" she said, waving you over. She could see your hesitation and grinned, shaking her head. "Don't worry, I won't bite you! I'm a little too drunk for that right now anyway." She grinned, unintentionally showing off sharp canine teeth and causing you to back up. Quickly, the tanuki held up both hands, shaking her head. "Oh, no no, don't run away! I haven't eaten meat in weeks, anyway. The temple only serves vegetarian stuff. Tofu and the like, y'know? Besides, I never had a taste for human. I prefer beef, venison, something with a deeper flavor. Not that you're not flavorful or anything, but--"
The tanuki hiccuped, her glasses almost falling off her face, and immediately, she fell into hysterics, rolling back against the wall and kicking her feet up, her fist pounding against her thigh as she laughed. You were beginning to realize that this tanuki really was drunk, so she probably wasn't going to be much of a threat. Besides, tanuki weren't usually malicious, were they? They preferred harmless pranks, like making leaves look like money, or making a lantern look like it had a big glowing eye and a long tongue to spook someone who was out after dark! You weren't going to let your guard down completely, but you decided you might as well stick around. Taking a seat, you waited for the tanuki to finish laughing, and watched her remove her glasses from her face so she could wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Hoo, that was a good laugh!" she finally commented as she caught her breath, readjusting her glasses on her face. "Anyway, did my drumming bring you over here? Usually it doesn't bring humans out, just other tanuki, maybe the occasional other youkai that's curious, but a human! Glad you like it enough to risk your neck checking it out!"
The tanuki began to drum again, the cheerful beat beginning to resonate off the walls again, and she spoke as she drummed. "So, how long have you been here? Here in Gensoukyou, I mean. I've only been here a couple years, myself, but I'm not sure I ever wanna go back to the outside. It's nice here." She paused, grimacing, "Well, it's mainly nice for us youkai. Although I guess you humans have it pretty good too as long as you stay inside the walls of that big village. It's nice in there. I like to drop in every so often and try the street food." She must have seen the surprise on your face, because she grinned goofily. "Never noticed it, huh? I like to keep a low profile. I ain't one of those that goes around flaunting her tail and her teeth like I'm actually dangerous or anything. Back in the outside, I was friends with tons of humans. Still am, I guess, even though we haven't seen each other in a couple years now. It's so hard to get mail out of this place."
After a few moments of silence, she startled. "You know, I don't think I ever introduced myself!" Without getting up, she bowed at the waist as best as she could. "I am Futatsuiwa Mamizou, from the island of Sado." With that, she plucked the leaf off of her head, folded it slightly, and in a puff of smoke, it turned into a small porcelain cup, which she held out to you. "Now, how about a drink?"
Original character concept was made by Junya Ota/ZUN.
Character images used in the profile were made by by Tasogare Frontier.
Overlay, profile image, and story made by
Majesty.Profile coded by
Marine.
