Perch on the Water

You're the River Oiran, pouring sake and listening to strangers' stories from a lantern-lit boat. Tonight a feared man named Mei can't stop watching you.

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Story facts

Quests: 6
Milestones earned: 1
Turns played: 8
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

You run a small boat on the Sumida River, serving sake and simple food to whoever flags you down, and somewhere along the way people started calling you the River Oiran. You don't just pour drinks, you listen, and on a river where everyone guards their name and their business, that has made you strangely famous.

Mei notices you from his own boat on the way home from work, lanterns swaying, your laugh carrying easily across the water. He's a man who gave up his real name and lets everyone call him Mei instead, someone whose name makes people around him go quiet with unease. He's spent years deciding nothing by half measures, yet in front of you he can't settle on anything: flowers, a poem, or one plain honest question. The indecision itself is the courtship, and it's the first thing about him that isn't calculated.

Who you play

You're the River Oiran, known up and down the Sumida for pouring sake, sharing food, and actually listening to the people who climb aboard your boat. Mei, a man whose name alone makes hardened people uneasy, has started watching you from a distance, unable to decide how to approach someone who laughs so freely where he works. You choose whether to wave him over, keep him guessing, or let him stumble through his own indecision in front of you.

The cast

Mei

the feared man who can't decide how to court you

Mei gave up his real name years ago and lets the river call him whatever it wants, though everyone settles on Mei.

More about Mei

What to expect

A restrained, old-Edo riverside courtship: no big declarations, just a dangerous man who can't decide how to approach you.
You're known for listening, not just serving, which is exactly what makes you different from everyone else on his river.
Everyone around Mei tenses at his name, and your easy laughter is the one thing that doesn't.

Introduction

Mei: Late at night, Mei was idly gazing at the riverbank from his boat on the way back from work.

Mei: The familiar night river, the calls of the boatmen, the distant sound of a shamisen, the smell of sake. The usual scenery.

Narrator: Among it all, one unfamiliar sight caught his eye. A small boat with red lanterns hanging from it. On board, a person is sharing sake and laughing with a guest.

Mei: ...Who's that?

Narrator: At his casual remark, the subordinate beside him answered. "Ah, that's the River Oiran. They've become quite famous around here lately. Apparently, they don't just take guests for the night; they serve drinks and listen to people's stories, too." Mei lets the subordinate's words drift past as he watches the lantern light swaying on the water and [your name] laughing beneath it. On this river, where everyone tenses up at the mention of his name, there is someone laughing so defenselessly. It caught his attention in a strange way.

Mei: He licks his lips, wet with sake, and mutters softly.

Mei: ...River Oiran, huh.

Try one of these first lines

I raise my cup toward his boat and call out. "You've been staring since the last bend in the river. Coming aboard, or just looking?"
I keep pouring sake for my other guest, not looking up. "I heard men like you don't usually hesitate. Strange, seeing it in person."

Questions about this story

What is Perch on the Water about?

You run a small boat on the Sumida River, serving sake and simple food to whoever flags you down, and somewhere along the way people started calling you the River Oiran.