/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Recently my tool repair and clothing mending stall was visited by one of the Great Tengu.
As expected, the morning prior to the meeting she had sent an envoy, which wasn’t a White Wolf or Crow Tengu, but a sort of fox youkai. Contrary to her position as an aide of someone high-up within the hierarchy, she was quite friendly and easy going, a little too much I’d wager as some of the White Wolf Tengu showed visible displeasure at her behavior.
They’re not many “flirtatious” women in the village, especially ones who’d be interested in someone as work oriented as myself, so it came as some surprise when she conversed naturally while her small body was very nearly budding against me, doubly so as she casually touched my arm while laughing at a joke she made.
Her outfit also had a sensual quality to it, seeming to just be a white sheet that had been tailored to her body adorned with green patterns and tassels. I didn’t want to be rude, but working frequently as a tailor, I couldn’t help but think about the thinness of the fabric, if any support had been swen underneath, and how she kept it so pristinely white.
The proud White Wolves wouldn’t make their displeasure known vocally. Instead, their eyes narrowed at the fox, some bared their fangs behind her back, and others turned away to avoid the sight while tightening their grip on their weapons. If the fox noticed this, she didn’t seem to care, and left un-molested after telling me her master would be here tomorrow afternoon and telling me ‘Not to worry’ while patting my chest ‘it was only a courtesy visit after all’. Her master must be quite an eccentric to keep a subordinate who put the mountain guards so on edge.
My suspicion about the great Tengu, Megumu Lizunamaru as I learned she was called, were quickly validated.
She appeared casually and suddenly in the dead hours of the morning while I was washing clothes, many hours in advance of what the fox youkai had told me, flanked by two White Wolf Tengu who I recognized as regulars. She didn’t fuss about my apparent dis-respect of being in such low-down work when I should have prepared properly for her arrival, stating ‘Courtesy shouldn’t come at the expense of commerce’.
While they both seemed… unconventional to the image I had of Tengu culture, The Great Tengu did not prod personal boundaries like her subordinate so much as she blew through them. Walking right through me to examine my stall, pulling me by my arm to various workstation and asking about my methods and materials, even opening some of my personal effects, which I didn’t mind since the Wolves had done so many times before.
When she was done, she asked me if I had any requests of a Great Tengu. I was caught off by such an offering, so I simply asked that I be allowed to conduct my business in peace. She laughed at this, told me ‘Peace and business are anathema’, but also told me that I was considered a ‘Friend of the Tengu’ and that they wouldn’t suffer other’s molestation of my stall lightly.
Megumu departed with one of the White Wolves, but the other she came from remained behind. She was shorter then was average for her kin and had bobbed hair that made her look childish, in contrast, her red eyes shone with age, and she walked to me with a dignified gait that betrayed her experience.
‘Sit.’ She had said after pulling aside two stools. When I did so she placed her weapons aside and sat beside me, carefully holding her lower robe to her thighs so her garb wouldn’t get caught. Then, grabbing my arm, she whispered into my ear:
‘Just because you’re friendly with us doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate transgressions, if anything, you’ll be punished more severely now and watched twice as carefully.’
When I looked into her intense, ruby eyes I felt a sort of animalistic terror which was supposed to be foreign to the society obsessed Youkai.
Just what would it cost me to be a ‘Friend of the Tengu’?