This is my first attempt at writing fiction so critiques are very welcome.
(edited 2/24)
A bright clear day, perfect for hunting. Tokiko hummed a nameless tune to herself as she went exploring for Outside artifacts. She was not sure how they got past the barrier that separated Gensoko from the Outside World but they did and were both valuable and fascinating. Tokiko was not the best hunter, she could fly but was always so interested in what she found that often her first find would keep her busy as she puzzled over the strange things for days or read about incomprehensible things. A bigger weakness as a hunter was her strength. Tokiko was not powerful enough to hold a claim against other hunters. She could beat a normal human but was no match for much greater entities as encounters with Red-White and the Witch went badly despite her irregular danmaku.
As for Tokiko herself, no matter what she tried, she was not very imposing like the proper yokai she believed she should be. She had the requite features to be terrifying; wings, horns, and piercing red eyes. Wearing her black dress and blue corset she originally thought she looked quite intimidating. Well if it her horns weren?t stubs and the cocalteal like crest atop her head amid blue and white hair. Her outfit, carefully designed to be intimidating came across as young lady who was an inordinate fan of Gothic Lotita. Finally her stature just was not up to being intimidating. Even though she was older than many humans she still looked like she was fairly young. Eventually Tokiko learned to tolerate being "cute". She discovered cute had some advantages and pretending to be powerful without actually being so got one into unwinnable fights.
Today Tokiko flew to the Forest of Magic. It was not a particularly good place to go hunting. The Witch lived there and claimed most of the really good stuff. Most human hunters avoided the place out of fear of the Forest Children. The Forest Children played there and woes betide the human caught by them. As a peer of sorts Tokiko only might receive better treatment.
"Talllly Ho!" was all the warning Tokiko needed to hurriedly drop below the tree line. The Witch soon streaked overhead. She was a bane to all hunters. Once Tokiko unintentionally crossed her while trying to retrieve some stolen goods. The resulting fight left Tokiko in a state that, well she didn't like to think about that.
Tokiko alighted on the ground and started walking. In their natural environment forest Yokai find you not the other way around even enhanced yokai senses make little difference.
"Still not one for the trees?" A melodic voice asked. Startled, Tokiko glanced in the direction of the voice. It had to be Mystia the sparrow yokai; she was a better aviator than Tokiko and was quite willing to remind her of it. "No over here." another voice from another angle. Quickly others chimed in and started laughing. Most humans would start fleeing at this point in hopes of escaping the Forest Children. Tokiko knew that only encouraged them and stood her ground. In the very least she could match any one of them on even footing.
After a few moments of silent stand-off a boyishly dressed girl with antenna stepped out from behind a tree. "What brings you to the forest?" The others move to more visible locations as well. "She's here to play!" a light excitable voice from the depths of the darkness proclaims as fact. "Rumia, you don't even know who it is." "I do to Mystia! It's umm...? The bubble of darkness faded to the normal dappled light of the day revealing a bright blonde girl in a black skirt and vest with a white blouse and a bright crimson ribbon. She could almost pass as human Tokiko thought exempting. Rumia's eyes matched her ribbon and looking at them deeply gives one shivers. "...oh, it's Toki! Didja bring snacks!?" With a small flourish Tokiko indicated her basket "Of course Rumia, did you find any trinkets?"
The various yokai closed the gap quickly trying to show off their random knick-knacks they found. Most of it was junk but enough of it was valuable that Tokiko made a tolerable living trading with those humans in the village willing to interact with her. Only Mystia remained unresponsive to the treats. She was the only one of the forest children who actually interacted with humans other than terrorizing them, via her grilled eel business. Even that was extortive. As Mystia used her powers to dim the humans vision before offering eels as a cure then removing the spell as they ate. Clever but dangerous business.
After a few minutes the frenzy petered out. Tokiko looked at the pile of stuff they found for her. As usual it included random things like a gray box with red buttons and a greenish panel, a discus with a hole in it with words printed on it printed on it ("aowl?"), and a small effigy of a man pointing at something. Oh, one of the fairies left a frozen frog, a wonderful treat for a marsh yokai like Tokiko. "I'll save that for later." Picking up her prizes she took back to the sky carefully staying near the tree line in case one of the greater yokai or the Witch came by. Tokiko intended to find a nice place to study her prizes before eventually selling them to that cheat Rinnosuke.
"You really think you'll get anything for that junk?" Mystia not only was she a more agile flyer she could sing, had a bunch of friends and even had an appropriate biome. Tokiko swallowed her jealousy. "What do mean by that?" "I know another buyer you might be interested in." "What will it cost me?" "You're so distrustful Toki! Hmm, you must promise to recommend my stand to your customers!" "Ah, well, you may not get much more business, Ms. Lorelei." "Hehe, all I asked was for your promise. Find me one new customer and we'll call it even." Tokiko pondered for a moment what Mystia wanted out of this before assenting. "There's a kappa named Nitori who is always looking for more outside goods. You can find her upriver on the mountain. Cheerio, Toki." With that and a wave Mystia dropped back into the trees and out of sight bursting with laughter once out of earshot of Tokiko.
So a customer near the Gods and Tengu. Considering the situation Tokiko knew the tengu were very proud and territorial so they shouldn't be a problem as long as she avoided their territory. The gods were all tied to their spiritual roles so in a way predictable. There was that new one who was a rumored troublemaker. Still nothing ventured nothing gained. "I'll do it." The rest of today however would be spent blissfully with her new prizes.
She flew to the Lake of Gensoko. Tokiko lived in a good sized tree somewhat apart from the forest and almost in the lake itself. Like most yokai she was resistant to most climate variation and favored the environment of that she personified. In Tokiko's case the Crested Ibis. Unfortunately as a fairly weak species it offered very little raw power like a tiger or wholly unnatural yokai such as a kitsune. Tokiko tried to make up for her weakness with cleverness.
Carefully sorting through her current collection, Tokiko pulled out the most interesting items. One in particular caught her eye. A thin device that that had a little wheel and some fluid inside seemed interesting. Turing the wheel created a small flame. Tokiko studied the flame for a while. A real valuable prize, instant fire. "This will sell well but may be better to keep."
It was getting late, so Tokiko decided to get dinner, a short fishing excursion later she had her meal, took a quick bath in the lake, washed her dress and after getting decent going to sleep. Tokiko dreamed of the marsh. Nice and wet with just enough trees to have a safe nest and ample view. Oh and plenty of tasty fish, snakes, and frogs.
