Gensokyo: The After Years

[fantasysuccessor]

It is the year 187 by the Gensokyo Calendar.

58 years have passed since the Taoist group arrived in Gensokyo. The Hakurei shrine is now under the care of Hakurei Maiko, Reimu's granddaughter. Reimu died several years ago. Nobody is sure where the intervening shrine maiden has gone off to these days, so it's up to Maiko to keep things running. At age 12, she's growing into her powers quickly, but only has a vague idea of what her actual responsibilities are supposed to be.

What else has changed? Well, Marisa is a youkai magician now. The rest we can figure out as we go along. Most of the old guard are still around, being youkai.

Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine. Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, Maiko is probably busy tidying things up - clearing paths of snow, clearing paths of leaves, clearing rooms of dust, drinking tea on the veranda. Some things are forever.

[Feel free to bring anyone in, and decide for yourselves how the last 50 years have treated them. This is all very open-ended.]

Comments

[not_good_not_wicked]

When Yukari had been more active, she had had a bad habit of appearing out of nowhere to dispense cryptic advice before disappearing just as mysteriously. Marisa was more straight forwards: she strolled up along the main path, looking maybe a little older but certainly not sixty years older. She had not appeared at the shrine since Maiko's grandmother had passed on, but by her demeanor she might have been there last week.

She stopped to watch the little miko do...whatever it is shrine maidens do.

"Wow, Amina has you running things already? She always struck me as the more responsible type."

[rippers]

[ A certain someone is, surprisingly, still around, the only difference being that she looks about thirty, now. One can only halt their aging via time-stopping so much--until all you can do is slow it to a crawl.

But she's still as spritely as ever, of course, going about the same old errands and excursions. ]

[fantasysuccessor]

"I'm just holding things together while she's on vacation." That's what Maiko calls it, at least.

The shrine maiden steps sweeping to peer uncertainly at the witch. Reimu did live to see her granddaughter, but... not for very long after that.

"...Do I know you from somewhere?"

[fantasysuccessor]

[Sakuya hasn't aged significantly in the past sixish years, so as far as Maiko's concerned, she's always looked like that. Just one of the Grown Ups who knew grandma.]

[The two cross paths in the human village. Maiko is buying taiyaki.]

...If they run out, I'm not sharing mine.

[not_good_not_wicked]

"Oh yeah, we've met a few times. I think the last time was at your...fourth birthday?"

She considered this for a moment. "Something like that. Wow, I guess that was almost ten years ago wasn't it? My, how time flies."

[faithful_kitsune]

[She still hasn't gotten the hang of "gapping" around, and thus doesn't really bother for now. She isn't even sure why Lady Yukari is trying to teach her that sort of thing considering she's just a shikigami. Wasn't like she was supposed to inherit her title or anything, right?

There's no denying Lady Yukari is getting out less and less, though, which is why it is now Ran's job to "pester the Hakurei shrine maidens." And by "pester," she means "check up on" in Yukari talk. Of course, Ran doesn't quite have Yukari's sense of the troll down. Yet, anyway.]

Yoo hoo! I've come to visit!

[rippers]

Ah...if it isn't Maiko-chan. [ sup u lil punk ]

I don't think they'd run out so early in the day.

[fantasysuccessor]

"Does that make you one of grandma's weird friends?" Maiko does her feeble best to look aloof about it.

She's met some of them. If the pattern holds, she's about to be compared to Reimu again.

[fantasysuccessor]

That's probably true.

[Thoughtful pause while securing taiyaki transaction.]

...You fought with grandma back in the day, right?

[fantasysuccessor]

Oh, it's Ran. [Maiko knows Ran. Of all the weirdos who hang around the shrine, she's once of the more agreeable ones. Sometimes she brings treats.]

Is Yukari still sleeping?

[faithful_kitsune]

[She sighs.]

Yes, as she has been for several days now. Chen is watching over her currently. She'll be up soon enough, though. How are you faring?

[fantasysuccessor]

I wish mom had taught me a charm to stop leaves from falling on the path. I'm going to be sweeping this until winter.

[And then she'll be shoveling snow.]

[faithful_kitsune]

I'm certain it's teaching you quite a bit of discipline, at least. Your mother is still, ah... "on vacation," I am assuming?

[Hahahahaha like anybody really believes that.]

[fantasysuccessor]

...She should be back any day now. Still, maintaining the shrine isn't all that hard, so I'm fine. Sometimes people even donate.

[rippers]

[ Her eyes widen as she takes her own pastry bag. ]

Reimu-san? [ ... ] Yes. Why do you ask?

[fantasysuccessor]

[ ... ]

...How old are you?

[rippers]

[ without even missing a beat: ] It's not polite to ask a lady's age, you know.

[not_good_not_wicked]

"She didn't have a lot of friends, really. Just people she put up with."

Marisa sauntered passed Maiko to take a look around the shrine. "Hasn't changed much here, has it?"

[faithful_kitsune]

[Ran is pretty sure 80% of those donations are from her courtesy of Yukari.]

How very responsible of you! I'm sure the shrine is in very good hands right now. And at least there have been no major incidents lately, yes?

[fantasysuccessor]

It's not polite to try and take over Gensokyo, either. [Maiko's undertanding of the Reimu-era incidents might be a little blurry.]

[fantasysuccessor]

"Why would I change anything? Everything is already where I want it to be." Maiko brushes off the question, while trying and failing to think of something to ask this person about Reimu. Why's she strolling in like she owns the place?

[fantasysuccessor]

There was so an incident! I had to defeat a ghost.

[not_good_not_wicked]

It was just her style. Marisa nodded absently as she continued her tour around the shrine, smiling at things that had been there for Maiko's whole life like they were old friends. She actually laughed out loud at a plum tree with a shimenawa around it.

"I can't believe this stupid thing is still here!"

[rippers]

Take over Gensokyo?

[ a beat, and then she laughs ]

It was nothing that extravagant, I'm afraid

[fantasysuccessor]

Maiko regarded the plum tree, hands on her hips. "I still don't get what the point of this thing is. It doesn't even grow very good plums."

[fantasysuccessor]

Well, what was it, then?

[faithful_kitsune]

Is that so? My goodness, how exciting! What was the ghost doing?

[fantasysuccessor]

She was eating all the food at the shrine.

[not_good_not_wicked]

"It was one of Reimu's stupid ideas to get more humans to visit the shrine. It didn't work."

She glanced back at Maiko. "But you don't seem to mind that very much, do you?"

[fantasysuccessor]

Shrug. "There's enough youkai hanging around the shrine that I don't need a lot of human visitors."

[not_good_not_wicked]

"It doesn't bother you that lots of humans think this shrine is haunted and fear it just a little bit?"

[fantasysuccessor]

"Even if it did, it's not like I could just go tell people the shrine isn't haunted and have them believe me."

1/2

[not_good_not_wicked]

[Momentary pause...]

[not_good_not_wicked]

Eh, if it's good enough for you it's good enough for me.

[fantasysuccessor]

What does this place need visitors for, anyway? I don't even know if there's a god in the shrine. I just keep things clean and make sure nobody suspicious shows up.

[faithful_kitsune]

...

[Didn't... Yuyuko say the other day that she had visited the Hakurei Shrine?]

It must have been a very tough battle.

[Or would be if she were putting in even a fifth of the amount of effort more than Ran suspects she was.]

[fantasysuccessor]

Not really. Her danmaku wasn't all that tough.

[Maiko has no idea.]