[Accidental Voice/Action]

[knightofratatosk]

[Much to his embarrassment, Emil is terrified of storms. He's been trying to hide it ever since the thunder and lightning started and has been doing a decent job of it until a particularly loud crash of thunder awakens him with a start, causing him to jump and bump the nightstand. This jolt knocks his journal open just in time to catch his frightened yelp.]

Aaahhh!

Comments

[1week-wizard.livejournal.com]

Youkai (妖怪) is a term mostly associated with Japanese folk creatures and ghosts. The term can also apply broadly to anything that is a supernatural being or legend, from any culture. Because there are thousands of stories of magical beings around the world, the different types of youkai are endless. Fairies, vampires, oni, and nekomata can all be found in Gensokyo. Alternatively, it is a common Japanese belief that after a certain amount of time, ordinary objects and animals gain life and personality, becoming a kind of youkai as well. In some cases even a normal human can become a youkai under the right conditions.

Gensokyo youkai tend to live within the wilderness, far away from human settlements. Normal youkai seem to behave like wild animals, attacking humans within their territory on sight. Exceptional youkai are less common, but they often enjoy speaking to humans, and are much stronger than an ordinary Gensokyo human, one on one. These youkai are almost always humanoid in appearance, and can be quite unpredictable; friendly one moment, hostile the next.

Many, though not all, youkai are known to eat humans on occasion, if not on a regular basis. Many youkai are also stronger and live longer than an average human, with lifespans often reaching into hundreds of years (or possibly more in some cases). One common trait often seen among youkai is a weakness to various faith based and spiritual attacks, charms, wards, etc. In Gensokyo it's therefore natural for the resident shrine maiden to become involved whenever there's trouble being caused by a youkai.

However, despite the danger certain youkai present, humans and youkai can and do live together. Some are even helpful to humans. Deciding if a youkai is harmful to humans or not must be done on a case by case basis.

[knightofratatosk]

... that sounds really complicated. So they're kind of like monsters but not, and they're kind of like half-elves or elves because they can look human and live for a long time?

[1week-wizard.livejournal.com]

If you choose to think of it that way.

[knightofratatosk]

If I think of it that way, it makes at least a little sense to me.

[1week-wizard.livejournal.com]

That does not necessarily make it correct.

[knightofratatosk]

Oh.

[1week-wizard.livejournal.com]

It is rather pointless to argue, however.

[knightofratatosk]

Youkai are youkai. Right.

[1week-wizard.livejournal.com]

That is the best way of looking at the matter, yes.