>>18557
To add more onto the Kagerou discussion after the fact, recently I was thinking about the movie "The Gray," you know the one with Liam Neson where he says that wolves kill everything within a 30 mile radius. Not very representative of real wolves but I think it shows a rather contemporary example of where wolves live in the human zestiest and how we expected them to act. If anything Kagerou not being aggressive is even odder due to that
That and how real life wolves work in unison with ravens, and Lunarians use ravens as spy drones, and Lunarians are partly responsible for the creation of were-creatures. It gives me the mental image of Kagerous as a special forces operator working alongside Seiran and Ringo. It's not very Kagerou but I think it is very novel.
Although I have seen her depicted as a lover, or predator of Tewi. Which is at odds of my own perception of Tewi as a shrewd business woman and matriarch of the Inaba, but it is kind of cute. Although over all I'm not very fond of Tewi depictions that have her as only a child and a pet, I like to think of her as someone who has a carefully maintained outward appearance she rarely lets down, due to how she acts in SSiB and CiLR.
Although I think I've gotten distracted from Kagerou, I think a spec-ops Kageoru has potential.

>>17461
To add onto the Aya dicussion from the Aya thread and from Megumu week. I feel like one of Aya's stronger charm points is her racism and politics that contradict with how she acts. Although the particular example is from AFiEU and is also a Kokoro article, I think it highlights her charm.
Aya often has, what I term, "Youkai conservative/reactionary politics," she prefers Youkai to be more antagonistic to humans, looks back fondly on the days when she could commit arson freely, dislikes the spell card rules, and when she thinks Reimu might have died in SSiB she hopes the next shrine maiden is interesting. Her articles, about Reimu in particular, are often inflammatory looking to sow distrust and make Reimu look unreliable when Gensokyo's peace rests on her and she's publicly the inventor of the spell card rules and thus the one who ushered in the new era Aya chaffs against.
Of course it's not like Aya hates humans or anything, but she certainly looks down on them and likes antagonizing them.
In contrast with that she's the most human-like Tengu we know. She even goes to the human village in her newsboy outfit, give positive review to things like KKR48's "Ningyo-yaki In Love," and printed pinup photos of herself in AFiEU. It's pretty cute, although she's not a very stereotypical youkai-like-youkai like Seija, she has similar opinions chaffing against the status quo of peace while being borderline humano-phillic at times with how she imitates outside world humans.

>>17394
This wasn't discussed in the Okina week, but I really like Okina as a sort of shitty mom to Kokoro, Aunn, Narumi, and Cirno. Although I know none of them have that close of a relationship in canon. Anyways, what I mean by shitty is that she's normally disinterested in her pseudo/adoptive-children unless she has use of them, but when they do interact she can be annoyingly smothering.
With her having a messy relationship with Kokoro and Narumi. While Aunn and Cirno mainly just accept her as she is and don't give her any mind when she's not around. Aside from that, I really like how she actually shows some care for Cirno, Sotono, and Mai in HSiFS. Despite how she acts in the fairy manga, she shows concern for Cirno's tanned state, although I don't think its a contradiction. In the fairy manga Cirno wasn't in real threat, unlike HSIFS.
And I do think behind all of that godliness, quirkiness, and how odd she is, she actually does care for them. Although unlike Yukari she doesn't try to hide the fact she cares about people, she's just honest and harsh with the people she cares about so it can be hard to pick up on.
Unfortunately I don't have a good idea of what her relationship would be with her former prince.

>>18748
You can still Yachie post until Monday UTC.

[x] Kurodani Yamame

[x] Tenkajin Chiyari

Whoops, apologies. The link is actually >>/shorts/3334

Just got up. Posted my entry.
God speed to every one else.

I think it's pretty clear now that I'm not making the original deadline, so thank you to whoever slid in and asked for an extension! Let's see if I can make that.

I'm really fond of this idea, I'd like to do it justice.

>>18650
>I wanted to comment on your argument, maybe even dive in... now that I've read it — we're thinking in such different paradigms it's nearly pointless. Simply look at this:
>two? three?
Three I think. Me, my usual conversation partner, and some other guy.
The quota you were responding too isn't from me, but I don't think you, me, or my usual partner have all that different a perspective. Incidents are largely theater, Gensokyo is a dark setting, everybody is a hypocrite. Although I do believe outsiders do die unlike what you and others say, so they die alongside the people who break the rules/law.
Neither do I really think Reimu is a good or evil person, the situation is more complicated than that and boiling down to good and evil is boring and isn't something I'd want to write in a story. Which is why I don't argue for Reimu being a good person, I don't think she is and the idea of Reimu being a good person without any moral complexity, questionable decision, or moral grayness doesn't interest me. At the same time, Reimu have no internal conflict us equally unappealing to me.
But to answer your question, is such a peace worth it?
I don't know and I'm not sure Reimu is entirely confident in her answer either and I think that's interesting. It's something interesting to explore in a story. So to jump off of that really metal idea of Reimu becoming the little living shrine of the Hakurei god. I think that would be a good place to explore that idea.
For instance, maybe as Reimu undergoes physical and mental changes, she comes to believe it isn't worth it. So in order to repent for her crimes and ensure Gensokyo is destroyed she kills herself at the perfect moment, right in the middle of her transformation. When the Hakurei god is mortal enough to be killed and Reimu is godly enough to make sure she can drag it down to hell with her. Of course her friends and self interested Youkai try to keep her from committing suicide but Reimu succedes anyways and ends up

New one's up!

>>18688
link it, then! (it's >>18683)

>>17987
Speaking as a collaborator on that one, it would have been hard for Kinu to finish since the writer, uh, didn't plan much and lost interest in figuring it out after a while. Rural Concord ended up being something like a spiritual continuation, even if it wasn't strictly the same.

Here's another story I haven't seen anyone bring up:
>>/border/31609

The premise is pretty interesting as far as "walk around and survey Gensokyo" stories go, and it's short and sweet. No need to artificially heighten stakes for the sake of a forced plot or neatly tie up everything with a comprehensive conclusion, just a quick, cozy stroll with some fun character interactions. There's not too many stories that (tangentially) touch on the gyrations of the afterlife, so there's that too. Reading it shouldn't take that long for most considering it's pretty short, so there's not much reason to not. More CYOAs ought to be as small-scale and focused. Maybe more would finish like this one.

>>17990
Is there any way to contact him? He seemed to change his trip alot, so I'm not sure. Really wanted to talk to him about his interpretations.

>>18374
If you come across any Japanese goblins, give them a sniff for good measure, too. Report back on that.

On a slightly tangential matter, I wonder what humie scent is like to non-humans. Do they find it offensive? Intoxicating? Attractive? At the very least, distinctive? Can they tell us apart by smell, or is it relatively constant? Is there a fairly consistent value ascribed, or is there wide variance?

I think I've seen matter of the sort pop up once or twice in THP stories, but it seems like something not often paid much heed.

Any good recent academic papers out there on miko? I read a few some years ago that I unfortunately never saved. Not having academic database access anymore sucks...

I don't think I have anything to add to the tengu scent discussion (other than maybe that I suspect Hatate's habits overcome whatever scent tengu naturally have or prefer to apply, and she smells like anyone else who shuts themselves in their room 364 days/year. Personally that makes me want to dunk her into the nearest bathtub, but somebody in this thread probably finds it attractive), I'm just dropping by to drop off some tales of necromancy from the journal article I used as a resource for my exhibition entry last month.

Specifically: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2015.1007120

I have access through my university, but I suspect most other people are going to be out of luck, so if anyone wants I can at least summarise the myths mentioned within (it's mainly focused on one in particular, but it details several others for cultural and historical context). Or just copy them out, if that doesn't violate the site's rules on piracy? Just the summaries of old stories, I mean, not the whole article.

>>18395
I can try and take a look if I have time, though with classes starting up again soon, I don't expect I'll have much.

>>18439
Thank you, highly anonymous enthusiast of olfactory and linguistic fancy.

>>18440
But, anon, in truth I've accomplished nothing! Only a listing of trifling details absent any true significance. Why, an actual writer could have taken the same ideas and conveyed a sense of place far better than I did in the semi-shitpost above. Globs of adjectives and adverbs spattered about higgledy-piggledy hardly qualify for even a decent attempt at sensory detail. No, I've managed a far cry from any writer with a half decent imagination, to say nothing of enthusiasm for the subject.

>>18441
>>18439
You've made a good effort in your reply. Perhaps you could expand your attempt for an extra-credit and longer form assignment on the scentscape of Gensokyo. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to highlight how specific stories would be improved by the inclusion of such considerations in their text.

>>18417
>Any specific recommendations?
Tbh I don't know any from english natives I'm so sorry

Here is a link to the letters sent by TS Elliot, a famous poet, to a muse of his called Emily Hale. They cover a period of 1930 - 1956, continuing throughout WW2, so they should have some juicy stuff in them for someone wanting to write an piscescope work like yourself. Best of luck!

https://tseliot.com/the-eliot-hale-letters

>>18413
For something to read: Dracula and Frankenstein are always good recommendations, I like Flowers for Algernon as well.
Speaking about Dracula, it's amazing how interesting Bram Stoker can make some of Van Hellsing's transcribed monologues.

Last bit, and then I'll talk a bit about my story!

22. just ignore this one
- It reads like an interesting creepypasta but okay!

23. Cyberpunk: Lunatic Red (Reinsen in Cyberpunk 2077)
- I'm not familiar with this franchise either. I wonder why Reisen took so many pills too, I thought she'd probably be more careful with those

24. (Unnamed Alice Short)
- I like the interview format, since you can imply so much about the interviewer and the interviewee.
- I like the interpretation that Alice is from Makai and that she was sort of made there, that when she went over to Gensokyo she was essentially already set as a person. I also like how Alice here is a bit fogged up with her memories, which suggests something magical
- The ellipsis use here is a little too much for me, but I like how it's used to show the significant pauses in the story, like the pause before 'big things'
- The characterization of Alice as having a bit of a mimetic desire is interesting. Her explicit denial of loneliness at the start is really nice as it shows she's probably very worried about being lonely. I get the impression that Alice is still very much seeking, and that's a nice melancholic feeling to evoke
- Overall an enjoyable melancholic short about Alice

25. Would you like to know more?
- I think this is the Starship Troopers style? I see the irony in it. I've never played Helldivers either, so I can't speak to that game, nor have I read any Warhammer 40K books
- I like the bits about recommended usage, since it evokes scarcity
- I'm not sure about the bits of speech interspersed since that makes me a little confused about the format. Is this some sort of propaganda broadcast being interrupted by a drill instructor? Also, I'm not sure why some terms are italicized and some aren't
- I like the recursive promotion of Reisen into infiltrator
- Overall, I'm not sure about this one.

26. One Shell Too Many

Sen here! Before anything else, 'tom' in the context of my entry is related to 'tomboy', so a 'tom outfit' is an outfit emphasizing more masculine, angular stylings. In my headcanon, it's the equivalent here of a woman with her hair cut short and wearing a turtleneck with pants, sort of the Audrey Hepburn look. Rabbit fashions!

I hope that clears up the mystery and I apologize for confusing everyone.

I vaguely promised a self-review somewhere up-thread. There's not terribly much to say since I've gassed on about thematic matter in responses to others, but I suppose I can make a quick remark about the writing process.

Unlived was a fairly deliberately written piece in a way that I feel other works of mine haven't been. I started from a fairly basic core conceit — someone looking up at the summer sky and feeling wistful — and tried to derive a narrative from that. The choice of Youmu as a central character came from a slightly murky place, but it was a sort of process of elimination of characters I felt could feel wistful about anything; I was also deliberately avoiding Mountain characters this time, as I hew rather close to them in writing. I perceive something of a purity and simplicity of feeling in someone like Youmu, and the starting place was that simplicity in drawing on the longing felt gazing up at the nighttime sky in summer. The rest was a question of what she would long for and how that would manifest, not to mention how to practically tie that up in a thousand words. I feel the construction of it was like an essay in some ways, and I wasn't very sure of it as a story as I was writing. As I've said elsewhere, I felt I may have been beating the audience over the head with thematic ties like the strings, cords, and so on, not to mention the endless severings and cuttings. There were certain bits where I fell victim to trying to be too economical with words in service to the word count, and I ended up being a little awkward in terms of wording. In some ways, I also feel I might have been a bit too simplistic in my approach to portraying things, but I also believe it was suited to the format. Anything more involved would have called for a longer story, so there was little I could really do in that regard.

Ultimately, I'm not sure of my prowess at flash fiction, nor do I feel an especial affinity for the medium, but I did have fun with it on some level. Being able to keep a certain strong focus on a single idea made writing, something rarely simple for me on a certain basic level, straightfo

>>18163
>>18164
Ah, shoot. That's what happens when you, ah, over-focus on, er, certain areas of the picture over others. An easy fix at any rate, if you at all care:
https://files.catbox.moe/el7p3u.jpg
>I had a more silvery hair colour in mind while I was writing it
My thought process went: eagle -> bald eagle's the popular depiction, innit -> so, a smoothed-down, white-ish dome with some kind of yellow/orange accent to evoke the beak. Come to think of it, perhaps looking at bald eagle pictures stuck him with yellow eyes in my head.
>August/September
I'll drop a note and pop the question somewhen closer to that time, then.
>AO3 version
Planning on that soon? I'd like to include a link once I chuck these up in the usual places, some time, finally, eventually.

>>18167
>an interpretation of the peanut trees
Admittedly a bit of an afterthought on my part, and I realise those nuts are the size of award-winning apples, but I wanted something visible there. Yanno?

>>18170
Human I remember your
>interpretation

That Doremy cosplay pic is almost criminally cute.