Author Topic: Eternal Moonlight of the Spotless Soul (PCB prequel feat. Yukari & Yuyuko)  (Read 2912 times)

Nobu

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(Merry belated Christmas, Aoshi.)

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Yukari Yakumo was never known as the most punctual youkai, but today was a special occasion. She was meeting an old friend. One that she had yet to meet, but time is a tricky thing to perceive for a god of borders such as her.

Borders are a peculiar thing. As any mortal will tell you, the border between any two things is apparent to the senses. Usually they won't think of the complex process involving the interface between eye and brain that allows one to discriminate between the objects.

As any youkai would tell you, all borders can be negotiated. Youkai themselves straddle the border between reality and imagination in Gensokyo.

As Yukari Yakumo would tell you, borders exist for a reason. Without the ability to distingush between things, the world would exist in a primordial soup. The soup of creation. Without borders, we would lose the ability to tell a chair from the air around it. And that simply wouldn't do.

The border between time and memory is one that is purposely 'weak'. At any one point in time, you are a culmination of all of the memories that you remember. You are shaped both by what you end up remembering and what you end up forgetting.

Sometimes it is good to forget. Past traumas, psychological issues, and the drama of day to day life given long enough can dissolve into the aether of the past, allowing one to begin anew.

Yet Yukari can never forget. The God of Borders can only negotiate borders by existing beyond them altogether. Even her physical form is a negotiation with the minds that bring her concept form. Yukari's vision would be utterly incomprehensible to a mind used to seeing clear borders between things. But omniscience is something best left to youkai anyway.

"I'm sad that I am a ghost. But i'm happy it turned out this way, as my body was used to seal a great evil. But now what do I do? I thought I would be liberated from my plight, but I still hold this terrible power to beckon people to death."

"You can choose when to use your power. You don't have to use it if you don't want to."

"Who are you? Where did that voice come from..?"

Yuyuko Saigyouji looked up from the grave she was floating over. Her own grave, buried in the shadow of the sealed Saigyou Ayakashi. She had thought she was alone, but it seems someone had overheard her thoughts.

"Greetings, Yuyu-chan. How are you adjusting to life as a ghost?"

"I don't know how to feel. I perished to save others, but now I don't know what to do with myself. Who are you?"

"I am Yukari. Just a meddlesome youkai that has come to pay my respects."

"Pay your respects? To me?"

"Yes. It is no small feat to seal a youkai like this one." Yukari gestured to the large blossomless sakura tree. "You gave up your body for a good cause. You deserve to move on."

"Move on? How so? Are you here to take me to the Netherworld?"

"I can, if that is what you wish. But I can take you other places first."

"Other places?" Yuyuko boggled. She did not expect this to be what she'd be doing after death.

"Yes. You only have to go to the Netherworld when you are good and ready. Usually spirits are incorporeal, but you've managed to keep your human visage. Though with a few slight differences, I suppose." Yukari noted her pink short hairstyle, which was originally long and black. "So how about it? Do you trust me?"

"I suppose I have no reason not to trust you.. Hmm.." As she paused for thought, she felt an ache deep in her stomach. "Was that hunger? I can still get hungry? What do I eat?"

"Ah, as a ghost you can pretty much eat whatever you want. I usually only eat delicious food though. Want to go to a restaurant?"

"Oh, that sounds good. Sure." Yuyuko smiled. 'This Yukari person seems genuinely nice. I wonder who she is? I suppose I'll have the time to figure that out now that I'm dead..'

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Time goes by differently for ghosts and youkai. In Gensokyo there is no true need to sleep, but many youkai sleep anyway to facilitate the forgetting process, and to avoid perceiving stretches of time as one long day. Put enough time between a memory and the present self, and one is bound to forget even deeply held thoughts. It is simply a fact of the cosmos that time and memory are opposed in this fashion. At least, this is what Yukari Yakumo would tell the average layperson if they knew how to phrase the question. The border between time and memory is one negotiated by human and youkai alike.

In time, Yuyuko's burial kimono became simply a favored outfit. Time and companionship had transformed Yuyuko down to her soul, to where it even forgot the circumstances surrounding her death. She was the princess of the Netherworld now and forever, tethered to the memory of the Saigyou Ayakashi.

'Just as planned.' Yukari mused to nobody in particular. 'Forgetting is the exclusive purview of sentient beings.' Yukari rubbed her eyes, wondering when the next time she would get to sleep would be. 'I can sleep and wait, once I take care of this last task.'

"Someday I'd like to drink sake with you under the cherry blossom tree, Yukari-chan."

Yuyuko's sudden request snapped Yukari out of her daydream. "It would take quite a spring to break the seal on this particular tree." Yukari looked deeply into Yuyuko's eyes for any hint of the trauma that was there when they first met. There was none. Good.

"This is something I really want to do. Do you trust me?"

On the inside, she smiled. Yukari hesitated for a moment, weighing the options of telling her the truth. 'No, perhaps this will work out for the better. I've been putting off meeting the current shrine maiden for quite some time. Wouldn't want to go down in Akyu's history book as the god of procrastination after all..'

"Sure. Just tell me what I need to do."

« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 05:36:09 PM by Nobu »
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Aoshi-shi

  • Back at it again in the Land of Origin
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Re: Eternal Moonlight of the Spotless Soul (PCB prequel feat. Yukari & Yuyuko)
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2012, 02:06:48 AM »
Ah, many thanks Nobu~

I like your style, so please keep up the good work!
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