Chapter 1: The Fortuneteller:
Name: Fortuneteller (占い師 Uranaishi)
Gender: Female
Hair color: Platinium
Eye color: Amber
Status: Alive
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Mononoke Exorcist, Fortuneteller
Introduce:
The "Fortuneteller" (占い師 Uranaishi) is a charismatic nameless Mononoke with unlimited powers and may almost seem like a curse more than a gift. She lived in the human world a long time ago, helping them by being an exorcist under the guise of being a fortuneteller. What makes her special is that she is not blinded by things like revenge or hatred, she has thoughts and feelings. That's what makes her difference from others Mononoke. Her moods rotate like a pinwheel, making her an elusive person.
She lives in a brothel she owns in a red light district with her two retainers and with the people who worked there such as yūjo, kamuro, shinzō, hashi-jōro, kōshi-jōro, tayū, oiran, yarite, and the yobidashi who replaced the tayū when they were priced out of the market.
The two courtiers of Uranaishi are twin sisters with identical facial features, they both have black hair, pale white skin, has red lipstick with white pupils and black sclera. The two of them all always have flat expressions on their faces. Their name are "Yuna" and "Mei". In order for the Fortuneteller to distinguish them, Yuna is the one who usually wears light colored kimonos, while Mei usually wears darker colored kimonos.
They were once children raised by Uranaishi, then they all died because of being murdered and turned into Mononoke. The Fortuneteller couldn't bear to exorcise the two of them, so she let them become her retainers.
Appearance:
The Fortuneteller is described as a beautiful young woman standing tall in height, though the story's timeline suggests she is older than she appears.
Although she always sat behind Byõbu and let the candlelight shine in to show the guests her silhouette, they all imagined how beautiful she was. Even the Oiran of other brothels had to admire even just looking at her figure on Byõbu. Uranaishi also caused many girls, samurai and lords of other places to hear about it and want to come and see her. They all wanted her to receive them, not the Oirans in her brothel and she never once showed them her face.
She possessed a voluptuous figure, with a large bust and hips and small waist, plump lips with red lipstick. She has pale white complexion with two large white fluffy fox ears on top of her head (usually hidden by her when humans are around), razor sharp canine teeth and she doesn't have a tail.
She has droopy amber eyes with prominent red eyeliner painted at the lower corners of her eyes and prominent white eyelashes, Hikimayu eyebrows. Her pupils are vertical like fox eyes. Given her nature as a Kitsune Yōkai, Miko has long, pointed red fingernails, giving her hands a claw-like appearance, hinting at her fox nature.
The Fortuneteller often lets her long platinium (or black when she's with humans) hair loose. But there are times when she had her hair in date-hyōgo styled and has many silver or gold Kanzashi studded with various gems making others think she was some famous Tayū.
She wears a similar styles as an Oiran consists a long plain red Uchikake coat over an extravagant plain white Shiromaku Kimono with a red obi tied just beneath her bust. Unlike legitimate kimono, her clothing rests pasts her shoulders and exposes cleavage as well as having a white obi that is not too long and thick is tied in the front. Uranaishi wore a silver anklet with several small round golden bells on both ankles. She also brought a pair of black tall three-legged koma geta with no socks.
Personality:
Ironically, she is a person who is quite contradictory with her own words. She once said that she would not remember a single Mononoke she had purified. Meanwhile, she often goes to places where "people used to be humans" before they became Mononoke to place bouquets of flowers to commemorate them.
She said she hated humans, yet she became a brothels manager who lived with humans, help each person, if they get pregnant with the customer and love the customer, she will immediately let them quit and be paid more than the number of days they worked. Uranaishi regularly asked or checked on prostitutes who had stayed "overnight" with customers to see if they were pregnant or not. If they get pregnant and the father leaves, they have the right to stay here and raise the children. That's why her brothel has many kamuro and shinzō running errands. Therefore, there are also many prostitutes who respect and wish to work at Uranaishi's brothel. These things show that she is a kind person inside, it is difficult to say what is in her heart or what is on her mind.
Uranaishi is also a sly and sadistic person as she says she is the one letting people have their karmas and she likes to watch others suffering it. She shared the sentiment of delaying a kill shows that she is not a cold person and that she often acts according to her feelings. Even though she is a conflicted person on the outside, if something touches her soft side, she will cry a lot.
Normally she is quite calm and cool-headed in all situations. She often lets things happen first before she steps in to solve the problem when those around her panic just for the sake of her amusement. But there are some cases where she will have such intense emotions that she will kill people, even if they are the main reason in the creation of Mononoke.
Her mood changes constantly, making it impossible for others to guess what she is thinking, sometimes going from a flat expression to a playful, mischievous mood to an irritating mood if things don't go her way. She has an extremely blunt way of speaking when someone disrespects her or does not believe in Mononoke to the point that she resorts to moderately insulting them.
Being someone who is quite comfortable with herself, Miko often has a lazy personality like a cat, she can sit or lie down and prop herself up to smoke anywhere as long as the place is clean. Also she showed no concern for properly covering herself.
She is also quite childish and sulks whenever things don't go her way and often throws small tantrums at something. Even if she is over a thousand years old or looks mature, she is sometimes like a child wanting to be pampered. It can be said to resemble a kitten because of its sulky personality and love of sleeping
Equipments:
• A long pipe resembling a kenka kiseru at the end is hung a scented bag containing "magic" dust: When she smokes from her kenka kiseru, she can release flames that fills the space to reconstruct the story when she is sure of right and wrong. She can also use it as an attack similar to a katana.
• A magic circle made of copper with the bagua face on the back, hidden in the sleeve of her kimono: Uranaishi's magic circle is copper colored and contains many symbols. The symbol in the center is an eye, and surrounded by the 8 stages of the moon. The circles that are directly upwards, downwards, and to the sides (north, south, east and west) contain symbols that looks similar to the one contained in talismans. The smaller circles on the diagonals contain the symbol of the bagua. Three of the symbols in the diagonals of the circle are the old time symbols. The fourth diagonal looks like an infinite symbol. The smallest circles on the edge of the entire magic circle are the zodial signs.
These circles will rotate furiously when Mononoke is nearby, or when the story is complete and ends with a "click". She can also use it for fortune-telling.
The eye in the center of the circle matches the eye on the back of her hands. It is unknown what the circle symbolizes though one could think that it means that Miko "sees" and "knows" everything.
• A scented bag containing "magic" dust hung on her kenka kiseru: Is the container for her "magic" dust" that's, she can take the dust from it and use it to summon red flames.
• The small golden bells: In addition to being a decoration that sounds quite fun, they are also a signal that abnormalities are about to happen when the jingle suddenly stops.
Powers and Abilities:
• Kitsune Physiology: Uranaishi possesses the traits, attributes, characteristics and abilities of a Kitsune.
• Pyrokinesis: The Fortuneteller can summon red flames to appear at the palm of her hands maybe blow out from her mouth or use the magic dust to create illusions or make the target she wants faint.
• Shapeshifting: She can transform into anyone or anything she wants with her will. The most commonly seen is a fox with soft and fluffy fur. But she usually just makes her pupils look like a "normal human's" and makes her fox ears disappear.
• Teleportation: In addition to the ability to summon smoke, she also has the ability to open doors with a mere jester of her hands and she can teleport people away with her red smokes and create a gust of wind.
• Illusions: Uranaishi can manipulate the flames causing targets to see, hear, touch, smell or taste things differently from what they truly are.
• Making talismans: Using the dust in her scent bag, she will blow red flames towards the walls or things she wants to place spells on. It will made a red eye similar to the eye on the back of her hand to appear on it and is known to be more powerful than other paper talismans.
• Summoning things: She can summon her personal items such as her red Wagasa umbrella and other things by taking a pinch of magic dust from the scented bag on her head, then placing it in her palm. It will transform itself into red flames before gradually dissipating and appearing as the items she wants.
• Her Innerself: There exists another being within her, which appears every time she raises her hand to cover the side of her face. The red ink eye on the back of her hand will become sentient and look around. It will determine right from wrong and it will probably control Uranaishi's body to talk. Its voice is very deep and it's more cunning and sadistic and very wisedom than Uranaishi. It often insults Uranaishi but doesn't like making her sad because every time she's sad, it rains and gets wet inside her mind, so it's very uncomfortable.
• Trickster: She is also a trickster who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. She openly gives and mocks authority encourage impulse and enthusiasm, seeks out new ideas and experiences, destroys convention and complacency, and promotes chaos and unrest. At the same time, she is a person brings new knowledge and wisdom.
• Mononoke Sealing: She can only exorcise Mononoke when she finds all 3 elements: Katachi (physical shape), Makoto (truth or origin of something), and Kotowari (reasoning behind an action) of a particular mononoke she wants to exorcise.
Once the above conditions are fulfilled, she will drag the Mononoke she needs to exorcise and herself into a space of pure white nothingness. Where the Tori gates will fall from nowhere onto Mononoke's body, the size of the Tori gates also depends on Mononoke's size, until Mononoke can no longer move. There will be chains attached to paper talismans that will appear and wrap around them, and finally a black fire will burn them to death.
• Spiritual Insight: The Fortuneteller has a sharp intuition and can see past illusions or lies. She often senses hidden emotions, dark secrets, or suppressed memories in people, which helps her uncover the truth about each Mononoke and people's stories.
• Medium Awareness/Breaks the 4th wall: There will be a few segments where it seems like Uranaishi is talking to herself but is actually talking to the "audience".
Fear:
• People important to her die and Mononoke with sad pasts she is forced to exorcise: This can be said to be her biggest weakness. For her, as an immortal and immortal Kitsune, she had to watch many of the children she raised or those who raised her die. It was a truth that she could never accept, just like when Yuna and Mei died before turning into Mononoke.
As for the Mononoke that she exorcised, there were Mononoke with such sad pasts that when they were exorcised, they cried in a sea of black fire. She was heartbroken with those cries and couldn't do anything. She could only pray that in the next life, Mononoke could become humans and live a better life.
• Her senses: Although her sight, hearing, touch, and smell still function better than a human's. But she was losing her sense of taste more and more, she only got a little bitter taste from the tobacco pipe she used to smoke with a little sweetness from candy made from malt sugar. She no longer felt any sense of taste from human food so she only ate to satisfy her hunger.
• Injured: Even though she couldn't die or use healing magic, healing magic had no effect on her, every time she is injured, the bleeding cannot be stopped, and she can still faint from anemia. In addition, she is also very vulnerable and easily sulky when being injured.
• Mating Season: Uranaishi is a Kitsune so she will have mating seasons but it comes so randomly that she cannot control it. At those times, although it is difficult to notice, she will have jerky or sensitive gestures and be irritable with a slightly red face. Also she is more vulnerable and often distant herself from others than usual.