Little

It's a little known fact that if you save a cat, they then owe you a favour. As the runt of the litter, it was inevitable for Little. For the regular person, catching sight of the gentle and fragile Wandering Spirit isn't difficult. However, discerning her one's from the surroundings is. Appearing as gentle balls of light, collecting under street lamps and lanterns, one might just think his or her eyes are playing tricks on them. Little, is a particularly kind spirit, made up of many pure souls who all agree to live peacefully as one being. A special person whom she feels compassion for may be lucky enough to see her in the form of small cat, totally white.

Little desires to close to everyone, humans and yokai alike. Desperation in the pain of being alone has nearly cost her life, and now she seeks to repay her rescuer by accomplishing something even more deadly.

 Appearance:

Height | Little's 'humanoid' form is rather petite, just barely making the 4'8 notch.
Weight | In 'human' form, she appears to weigh no more than a eighty pounds. However, being a spirit, she has no real weight. If she were to be picked up, there would be no sense of weight.
Build | In 'human' form, she  has a light weight frame, with thin limbs. Her round face is the only exception in terms of her sharp, angular body type.
Alternate Appearances | Her alternate appearance varies greatly. The majority of the time she appears as many small balls of light, sometimes adopting the shapes of flowers, stars, or small animals. In 'humanoid cat' form, she appears as a young woman with long white to grey hair, feline eyes, a tail and tattered ears. She also likes to go into down as a cat and hang out on people's porches to sunbathe.

Please note that these attributes vary.

Personality:
BENEVOLENT : Intending or showing goodwill; kindly; friendly. Doing good or giving aid to others, rather than acting for profit; charitable.
CURIOUS : Eager to learn or know; inquisitive. At times prying; meddlesome. Arousing or exciting speculation, interest, or attention through being inexplicable or highly unusual; odd; strange.
BLUNT : Abrupt in address or manner. Too honest.
CHILDLIKE : Marked by innocence, trust, and ingenuousness. However, just as naive, gullible, sheltered, and inexperienced.

Gifts:

PURIFICATION | She purifies Shimizu's water and farm lands, which allows the village to produce superior crops and keeps them healthy.
CULTIVATION | Is able to help plants grow at an alarming rate and to incredible sizes.
HEALING | Can heal people and 'purify' objects. But, she will only do so if she hears a number of prayers as they give her the energy to preform such a task.
CONSUME | Little can consume and purify malevolent spirits, but it takes up a great deal of energy and stamina.
ASSIMILATION | If someone in town dies, and they are of a particularly pure spirit, Little will approach them to assimilate their soul into her being so that they find peace.
ILLUMINATION | Similar to a solar panel, she is able to illuminate herself in the darkness to lead and guide lost people from dangerous places. This pure light also enfolds people and protects them from being taken or attacked by other yokai. Due to this, she spends a lot of time in lanterns and by street lights, soaking up their light and energy. If their is a person of particular purity, such as spirit mediums, she will linger around them and nibble on their energy, too.
DEFENSE MECHANISM | Little also likes to hide from yokai and curious people in books or bags, and when one opens the article, she will shoot out. Most people see this as dust or soot.
LOCATION | Has an alarmingly easy time locating lost things and people.
HUMANS | She cannot touch or be touched by a human. If she is touched or touches one of her own will, she will disappear and dissolve. No one knows precisely why, but, it is assumed that she is made up of such pure energy, to touch a human who is in comparison so impure, would undo her being from the core.

Character Information:

In the beginning, it was small and dark. There was only one, and it had no one to talk to. But, able to move the slightest bit, it caught the sleeve of a passerby, the only light visible in the world of darkness. It was a beacon. In the light, there were other small things all calling out to anything around them. Lonesome, they came together and latched on to each other until they became one.

The first thing that she was aware of was movement, the gentle rise and fall of the Omyoji's pack as he trekked up the mountain in Shimizu. She was carried to Shimizu by the Omyoji in his prayers and books. When the Omyoji settled on the mountain, preparing his charms and wards, he finally noticed the smallness collected in the pages. He beckoned her out, and was able to ascertain the form most alike to what she had been while she was alive. There, the guise of the young woman, dressed in grey appeared. Beside herself, a small white cat, with bits of it's ears tattered sat watching. She did not recognize herself, and instead asked "who are we?"

The Omyoji understood the precarious situation. A spirit who was not at rest and wandered the world without knowing who or what it was ran the risk of becoming like Kaonashi, a faceless creature who only consumed. The man saw within her several violent and sad deaths, one being a young girl left to the elements in an inhospitable landscape. Another was that of a small white cat, who had died despite the intense care of a young woman. He also understood that to tell the spirit what had happened to it when it was alive and in death would result in rage and despair, creating an even more malevolent force. A faceless creature who tainted and consumed everything in it's path. The Omyoji sensed her underlying benevolence and gift for purification, and used his spiritual power and those of the Mountain God, to allow Little to keep her face. He then gave her a name, Little Night, to remind her that 'evening' was shortest and safest, when humans would be sleeping. For, should she touch a human, her face and purity would come undone and she would be left alone, all of her collective persons being lost again.

For several years after, Little stayed on the mountain, in the safety of the sanctuary. The fear of becoming undone kept her close to the Omyoji. Every day she developed more and more of a personality, living astride the other yokai who occupied the mountain side, those good and bad.

Until, one day she could hear something just beyond the gate. Curious, she approached and watched from safety. Before her was a small child, weeping and clutching it's knees. Although she didn't have a word for the emotion, she could recall it. The word 'lost' came to her. Understanding very well, the loneliness and sadness which accompanied being lost, Little felt the call to do something. For the first time, she broke the threshold and approached the small thing who was crying. Her light illuminated the forest and she called from a slight distance to the child who stopped crying to listen.

"Are you lost, too?" She asked, and the child nodded. "I see," she said and crooked her finger. "If you follow me, I will help you to go back to where you came from. But you must not touch me." The child obeyed, and for the first time, Little stepped off the mountain, the child following her lights safety off the mountain and into the arms of her family. The family offered prayers to her at the base of the mountain, and shared the odd event with the rest of the town's people. The praise and prayers she received gave her happiness and confirmation. From that time on, Little visited the people of the village, purifying their lands, helping their crops and bringing prosperity to those who she adored. And still, to this day, when someone or something is lost, she leads it home. Whether that means bringing someone back to their home or taking a lost soul into her bosom,she attempts to put the lost thing on the right path.

However, Little feels the call to save that thing which is still most lost. The person, even while they were dying too, who tried so hard to save her, who had saved her was owed a favour. After so many years, she was finally able to recall it. That favour which now would be the most dangerous.

To let that soul be reattached to the one it loved; the red string to the pinky. To no longer be lost.

Background Information:

Shimizu: a quiet, old town situated deep in the heart of rural Japan. An idyllic setting of traditional homes and shopping arcades, many of the residents are small time businessmen or farmers. No-one with ambition ever stays in Shimizu. It's not the kind of town where innovation and progress can take root; it's the kind of town that will staunchly remain an example of an older, simpler way of life before the birth of the modern age.

The locals call it the 'spirit town'. They are proud of the wealth of local folk stories and cling to their superstitions. If you meet a cat at the crossroads of Tenkaichi street and Zaimon, clap twice before continuing on your way. Never discard an old umbrella, burn it instead. Oh, and never venture too far up Green Mountain (Aoyama).

Aoyama shadows the town from the west. Although technically too short to be classified as a mountain, the locals have always revered it as such and laid offerings at the mountain god's shrine at the base. Although the locals warn against climbing Aoyama, some foolhardy souls have braved the mountain god's wrath and wandered into the thick forest which covers the mountain's craggy slopes like a blanket. Most disappear, lost amongst the trees - spirited away, the locals call it. However, those who miraculously returned told of a winding path ascending the mountain with tiny spirit houses lining the way. It lead to a bright vermillion torii gate draped over which were ropes and charms of purification. Beyond this the returnees could not comment; the locals mutter about spirits and yokai behind the gate, a hidden world into which no human should ever enter. Those who cross over can never return, and in exchange those who live beyond the gate will never extend their mischief into the town. It's an old agreement bound with ancient and forgotten magic.

Aoyama was once a tall and magnificent mountain. The old records tell of a disastrous earthquake which wracked the landscape and caused a landslide which devastated the mountain's peak. This was back in the ancient days when life was simple and Shimizu was but a small village far from the grand capital. In the years that followed this disaster the woodcutters and foragers who entered into the forest disappeared without a trace. Strange sightings took place around the mountain: a collection of floating lights drifting through the trees, ghostly apparitions, missing children. Shimizu sent a messenger to the nearest temple, beseeching help in dealing with the problem. A priest arrived within the month to assess the situation but he too went missing. His disappearance reached the ears of his temple; a specialist was sent for to examine the strange happenings around Aoyama.

Another stranger showed up at the foot of the mountain. He was a finely dressed and well groomed man; when he smiled, his blackened teeth glistened softly in a dark mouth. He had travelled from the court in the capital to climb the unruly mountain. He never gave his occupation, but the townspeople whispered 'onmyouji' as he slowly began to climb.

He moved with the grace of water, showing no signs of fatigue even as the mountain grew steeper. The further he climbed, the more aware he became of the spirits. The forest was filled with them: the dead, the missing and the lost. They flocked to the mountain, attracted to the purity that lay beneath the soil and rock. Eventually he reached an old wooden toriigate, one side collapsed into the shifted soil. The landslide had almost completely knocked it over and split the wood down one side. He entered beneath the slumped archway and followed a crude path that led to a raised dais. To the average eye the dais would appear cracked and half buried beneath a fallen tree. To the onmyouji's trained eye, however, he was face with a far more harrowing sight. The mountain god, a great beast resembling both wolf and bear, lay half-dead across his shrine. He bore a gash across his side where the tree had fallen and crushed his ribs and he had been reduced to a humiliating size from lack of energy. Why, he could easily be mistaken for an ordinary creature of the forest! The onmyouji approached him and, as they conversed, he understood the god's predicament.

The mountain was pure and sacred. Since the birth of the land the mountain god had lived on the mountain, defending his shrine from spirits and safeguarding the humans who honoured him. The earthquake - an attack from another god who envied his loyal human patrons - decimated him and had placed the pure land of the mountain at risk. The spirits used to find solace in the purity of the mountain, but now that it was tainted they remained lost and drifting.

The onmyouji listened intently and sat in silent contemplation for what seemed like hours. Finally he nodded and opened his mouth to speak. He made an offer to which the mountain god accepted: to bind the mountain god's spirit to the his body and to stay atop the mountain as the god's vessel. In exchange, the mountain god would lose all freedom and form. He would be a bound spirit, subject to the whims of his vessel. The god agreed and the mountain was saved.

The story follows that the onmyouji remained on the mountain as an immortal. With the help of forest spirits he built a new shrine to the mountain god and restored the broken torii gate. He built living quarters for himself and any other spirits who chose to live alongside him and ushered the drifting souls of the lost and the dead into the new 'sanctuary' so that they could rest on sacred ground. When the humans came looking for him he instructed them to never pass by the torii gate and to give praise to the mountain god at the base of the mountain, where it is safest. He told them that, should they leave the shrine atop the mountain - his 'sanctuary' - alone, they will be protected from harm and blessed with bountiful harvests. The villagers agreed to leave the shrine atop the mountain be, and over time it became the subject of folklore and myth.