Not many people knowingly encounter a tanuki. One mage who did, however, remembers every detail of one so vividly that she knows for certain she runs into him on a daily basis, despite his frequent shape-changing. It’s become a game for her to find her Ojisan (uncle) and discover more about herself and the world.

Because of Ojisan’s highly variable appearance, recogniz­ ing him presents a difficult challenge. The mage memorizes everything about him each time she sees him, his gait, how he leans, the slight waggle of the corner of his mouth before he smiles. Noticing everything came easy to her; not noticing was always the hard part. At first, it seemed like meeting Ojisan was the worst thing that ever happened to her. For someone who constantly deals with a firehose of information, needing to scrutinize details to find someone made things immeasurably worse.

But Ojisan always gives the mage a small riddle or task to complete. Each time, she has to narrow her focus to

accomplish it. Every day, it gets a little easier to slow the blast of sensory data, and life gets a little easier, the sensations of life becoming not just bearable but enjoyable. It’s not always fun and games, though. Ojisan warned her of trouble more than once, alerting her to concentrate on incoming dangers instead of finding him.

During Seekings, Ojisan tends to ask the mage for more favors than normal, in the hopes that it’ll help her focus and that she’ll notice the edges of her obstacles. Why leap a hurdle when you can just go under it? For the mage who has trouble filtering out the noise of daily life, having to take a step back to truly see challenges can be a major boon.