SnS - Machi

Machi

Yuureigasa (cocktail umbrella)

<sub>Wind manipulation - She can redirect and fortify gusts of wind, though only as far as it won't be too dangerous for her flimsy paper self. She mostly uses this to help her with lifting utensils and ingredients in the kitchen, or generally moving anything big that she can't herself. She can't create wind however (other than blowing with her mouth), only strengthen an existing breeze or gust. Because she is very light, she can use wind to levitate herself, her preferred mode of travel for longer distances. Mostly she'll transform to umbrella form when travelling this way but if she's carrying something you might see her bobbing along in humanoid form on a gust of wind.

Lightness - Ahaha this is more of a physicaly oddity than a power, but even in humanoid form she is as light as her paper umbrella form. Meaning she won't sink in water (i.e. she can walk on it, but she won't be able to go underwater without help) and would get picked up by a gust. Luckily she can manipulate a gust so she generally doesn't end up in the leaf litter unless she's careless.

Memory - She has an incredible memory, from her origins as an almost-kyouririn. It's not quite photographic but her visual and aural memory are particularly good. Mostly she pretends she doesn't remember as much as she does though, out of respect for the principle that people probably don't want someone to be able to recall every stupid thing they've said or done.</sub>

<sub>Fire - She is very flammable (because she's made of wood and paper, soaked in a little alcohol) and there's not much of her that needs to burn before she's destroyed. This is the one thing she is most afraid of.

Water - Less dangerous than fire, but water will also weaken her though it won't necessarily destroy her (think wet paper). By virtue of being a spirit she is a little hardier than a normal paper umbrella and can regenerate things like water-damaged paper.

General phyiscal duress - She's only paper trussed on a toothpick with cardboard. She will break if you're too hard on her. When she warns you it's getting dangerous for her, it really is. She cannot mend from rips or broken bits.</sub>

_{Machi is a little livewire, both by nature and by her own design. Her history of silently observing hard times has convinced her that the best way to live is to live fully - hang the hard times, life goes only in one direction and nothing can take you as long as you insist on making the most of the hand dealt to you. She is generous in her judgment of others - though she most likely remembers all your transgressions, she has a high level of forgiveness for people being imperfect people. This does mean though that prejudice, intolerance, grudge-holding and insistence on dragging around baggage rub her the wrong way.
Accordingly, she tends to throw herself into things. She likes new things, sometimes to the point of recklessness for her frail self, and expresses emotions with exuberance. She is loud, talks like a fountain, gossips like a shelf of tabloids and treats everyone like an instant buddy, even if they're strangers. She throws little tantrums which blow over quickly and generally don't have lasting effects, for her at least.
She loves to play 'anego' and give advice despite her relative youth as a spirit, especially relationship advice. She also likes to stick her nose into other peoples' business if she sees the opportunity - 'facilitating happiness' is what she prefers to call it. While it can be excessively nosy or bossy, her motivation is simply a well-meaning and unabiding interest in other people - she has always been an observer and sometimes guardian fairy of others, and has difficulty moving out of that role.}

_{Machi was crafted in 1936 by a female bar worker, for an underground Meiji-Era Nostalgia party held by opponents to the direction of Japanese politics at the time, following the February 26 Incident. The woman had heard of a new fad to put small paper umbrellas in drinks in America, and for interest cut and painted an old scroll to make a few for the Martinis served. The scroll itself was one year short of 100 years old, and by then had picked up some level of peripheral sentience on its way to becoming a Kyouririn. Unfortunately for it, the woman's interference got in the way of that - but instead the umbrellas gained the ability to observe and remember, if not speak or act.
Most of the paper umbrellas were discarded and destroyed, but the woman picked up one as a memento (the one which came from a drink she'd served to the man she fancied) and from then on kept it inside her glasses pouch as a good luck charm.
The rest of the Machi's life was spent inside that pouch, able to hear everything but unable to see, speak or move. She listened as the woman fell in and out of love still pining for that one man at the party, became drafted as a military nurse and died slowly in the aftereffects of the nuclear bomb landings. Relayed by the woman, who would speak aloud while writing in her diary - reading glasses on and pouch open - she listened to the memories of her owner's hometown of Mizoguchi and the goings-on of the wider world - the mounting racism, the victorious massacres in China and the rest of Asia, the second World War, the dropping of the atomic bombs and the devastation that followed, the occupation. After the woman died, Machi was picked up by a homeless scrounger and for a long time lived in his bag of oddities as he travelled around Japan begging and stealing for survival. Eventually he passed through Mizoguchi - and that was when, on the utterance of the town's name and all the collective years of absorbing the stories and affection of both owners, whose lives somehow came full circle, she gained spirit life as a yuureigasa.
For the few years he had left, she stayed with her beggar and secretly helped him in small ways until he inevitably died of an unknown sickness. Now that she was animated, she took to her own travels, observing the recovery of the economy and often sneaking into bars and kitchens to enjoy the gossip and the ambience. Equally comfortable in the company of paupers and bourgeoisie, for many years she enjoyed a lifestyle of eavesdropping and the occasional prank on drunken revellers - but there were few youkai around by those days and eventually her desire to speak after so many decades of listening became too great. The minute she heard of the Bathhouse, a gathering place for spirits, she headed for it like a shot.}

<sub>- She has only one eye in human form, the flower is a space-filler because she thought she looked silly without it. (Accordingly, she can't see on that side of her because she stuck her eye off-centre out of vanity.) She has managed to conjure up a second leg for herself, but still regularly jumps or hops everywhere as she is awkward with using both legs and thinks she looks stupid walking like a human.
- Her specialty is the 'Machi Matcha Mochi'. Ask for it and you won't be disappointed ;> Her repertoire is fairly broad from hanging around a large variety of kitchens, and includes both traditional and east-meets-west things.
- Her own favourite dessert is jiu niang, and her favourite canapé is honeyed lotus with sticky rice stuffing (yes, she likes it as a canapé rather than a dessert).
- She favours dogs. On her travels, she became friendly with a stray dog and used to ride it everywhere until it died (hit by a car).
- If you lick her, she tastes like paper, woodchips and martini. And very slightly of olives.
- Her laugh is loud and sounds like 'GYAHYAHYAHYAHYAHYA'
- She has a battery LED hand-fan which displays the message 'Asahi: A Beer for All Seasons', which she uses for a little wind boost when working. She considers it her life partner and is waiting patiently (and futilely) for it to turn into a tsukumogami too. She calls it 'Asahi' and looks after it religiously, making sure it gets plenty of healthy moonlight and talking to. Don't steal or threaten it if you don't want her to spaz at you :'D
- Despite her size she can probably drink you under the table. It just might take a while because she drinks out of a thimble.
- She does a sweet run after finishing work to deliver confections to her favourite people (a broad category). It's one of her favourite parts of the day so she does it quite meticulously. It's also an excuse to test new sweets so if you end up in the delivery list be prepared for some... decidedly odd ones.
- She has no issues with humans, and rather likes them in spite of being acutely aware of the terrible things they are capable to doing - after all, everyone is equally capable of doing nasty things, including gods. The thing she appreciated most from her long time with her two owners was their capacity to forget, and to create little pieces of happiness in the face of adversity. She secretly wishes spirits and humans could communicate better, but doesn't really think it'll ever happen.
- She has a thing for beards and manly men. In a purely observational, eye-candy way. Mmm, muscles. Mmm, silverfox. (This may or may not be because the man who drank her martini had a beard.)</sub>