Parsee Mizuhashi

Corrupted by her distraught emotions, Parsee is prone to bouts of paranoia and anxiety - often lashing out on a whim. While friendly and personable to those who first approach her, her true self is stubborn, aggressive, anti-social and mistrusting - she will drive away all who approach, their true intent be damned.

• Her temper is hair-trigger - it doesn’t take much to set her off.
• Her self-worth is abysmal, thanks to her husband’s betrayal. She honestly believes she has no worth as a person.

She doesn’t aim to murder everyone she comes across - just those who disrespect her. She is that sort of god. Her go-to methods are strangulation and drowning - you will not find the bodies of her victims unless they wash ashore down river.

Parsee is lonely - she misses having people who she can trust. Because of her husband’s treatment of her, she fears intimacy - of any type. She fears that whoever she lets in will treat her exactly how he did - she fears that they may break or take what little she has left to give. It’s absolute misery, but she’s convinced that this is the way it’s supposed to be.

Befriending her will not fix anything, nor will it resolve her fears. All you’ll do is create an entirely different set of problems - she will kill you, if she even remotely (irrationally) fears that you’ll abandon her too.

She doesn't like liars. To deceive the Hashihime is to sign your own death warrant. By all means, she’s not exactly outspokenly honest - she doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve, or announce her intentions for all to hear. She has enough social strengths to know when to keep certain things to herself. But she will never outright lie to you.

As a bridge guardian, it’s her purpose to protect those who cross her bridge. She doesn’t like humans, oh no - but if they’re respectful and ask nicely, she’ll aid them. Protect them even. But if respect isn’t given, then they’ve brought the consequences on themselves. She is that sort of deity.

Of the things she fears, there are two very specific concepts she finds absolutely terrifying. To be loved, and to fall in love yet again. As a Hashihime, her sheer existence is bound to the fact that her husband found her undesirable. To think she could once again be desired well… it’s a thought that would break her. And a broken youkai has no right to exist.

The Hashihime is a complicated poetical figurehead most prominently seen in Heian-era works - her character archetype compliments and reflects heian-era society. She’s been featured in all sorts of works, from anonymous poetry to being referenced in the Tale of Genji to having a Noh theatre play based on her story. She’s a youkai which goes bump in the night for a very specific purpose, and despite her malevolent nature, has even undergone deification - though of course the tales of her nature as a youkai are much more prominent.

HUMAN

Parsee is a pure-blooded Persian royal from the Sassanid era - the last golden dynasty of the country’s Zoroastrian era. While she was never in line for the throne (a reigning queen was almost never heard of), she did witness the fall of her empire - having fled from it in order to keep her own life.

Her true name has been lost to time - most people call her Parsee because that’s simply what she is - a Parsi. A name given to many Zoroastrian-following Persians who fled their home country following it’s fall to invaders.

Given her upbringing as a princess, she is well versed in the arts - and was exactly what a wife of her time should have been. It was through no fault of her own that her husband left her - she was the perfect wife. That being said, she’s also skilled in languages, and speaks at least Farsi, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. She likely learned other languages as well.

Persians lived within a strict hierarchy, and she still retains mindsets from the culture she was born into. Contact with men outside of her family was not allowed within her personal sphere, and because of this, she is not overly comfortable coming into physical contact with them either - purely for cultural reasons, rather than personal ones.

Along those same cultural lines, she does view herself as ‘belonging’ or ‘having belonged’ to her husband. Even though she was his inferior, she would also have had certain rights as his primary/first wife - and she still follows these ideals. Her husband is no longer around of course, but even still, she is not comfortable breaking cultural taboos from her home country.

INHUMAN

Abandoned by her husband for another wife, the Hashihime’s story was at one point quite well known - the neglected wife having waited in vain for him to return for her until finally, distraught with grief and jealousy, the poor thing simply couldn’t take his infidelity anymore and after gaining advice from the gods who took pity on her, disappeared beneath the river’s waves - taking her faithfulness to the grave.

Though of course, she didn’t stay dead. In fact, she never truly died - it was her life as a human that had ended. And a new life - one as a Kijo, filled with spiteful jealousy and ire - rose from the waves, haunting the bridge on which she had waited for so long.

She had the right motivations, but she took the wrong course of action - though the gods had been the ones to show her how to transform, her transformation came with a curse - her shortcomings and wish for vengeance binding her to the Bridge, unable to return to being human, or to pass onto the next life.

After becoming bound to her bridge, she got into quite a few scuffles with those who crossed - whether it be to their own misfortune, or for her own (it took her quite a bit of effort to get that arm back) The townsfolk eventually deified her in order to pacify her spirit - giving them her protection, in exchange for their respect.

Parsee has killed a large number of people - her husband, his other wife. Quite a few of their family members. And a wide array of innocent people who simply didn’t show her proper respect. Unlike many others within her era, she was not exorcised or destroyed - Abe no Seimei, though he tried, could only drive her off temporarily. Deification was the method which finally ended her reign of terror.

Parsee is the creator of the Ushi no Koko Mairi, a death curse involving nailing a straw doll to a tree on shrine grounds over the course of seven nights.

The tale of the Uji Hashihime is marked to have occured in the 800s, and the Uji Bridge she is said to haunt is said to exist since the 600s. Along with the end of the Sassanid empire, this makes the Hashihime roughly 1200-1400 years old - if not even older. In either case, this makes Parsee an ancient, Heian-era youkai.

Parsee is a Shinto god formed from the soul of a girl who practiced Zoroastrianism, and lives in a Buddhist Hell. Yeah, it’s as much of a headache as it sounds.

Parsee retains the distinct ability to detect, manipulate, and become empowered by jealousy. Jealousy is not one singular emotion, though it does have a very distinct symptom - fear of loss. More often than not, it is masked and hidden by a variety of different emotions, ranging from grief and sadness to anger and irrationality.

Envy, while similar to jealousy, is in fact different. Envy is a desire, rather than a fear - Envy feels threatened by what someone else already has, which you do not. Jealousy on the other hand is a fear of losing what you already have to someone else. They can go hand-in-hand, but they are two different situations. Parsee is afflicted with both.

Her abilities are designed to reach into the deep, dark corners of one’s mind, and push them into following their more wicked desires, or acting upon irrational fears. They are extremely invasive, and will bit by bit edge someone closer to the point of no return, until they fall into despair.

Jealousy is a very poetic emotion, but it’s like a snake hiding under a pretty flower. It’s very, very pretty - but those fangs can kill if they latch in.

Her powers are a double-edged sword - she is an embodiment of jealousy, they are her emotions as well - and she’s consumed by them. Her victims are brought down to her level - and that level is rock bottom.

Parsee can detect all emotions, since jealousy is often masked or blooms in the guise of other emotions. It’s a situation which causes other emotions to rise and bubble. She’s more attuned to noticing negative emotions than she is positive ones - and being near crowds of people can be overwhelming.

She can detect jealousy - but not specific desires or thoughts. She can’t know what you’re jealous about, but she’s very good at guessing - and she will try to coax it out of you if she can.

Her own festering emotions have boiled to the point where she is able to manifest her negativity into a physical form. Not exactly an inner demon, but rather her own wild emotions made manifest. It’s not sentient - it’s Parsee. It’s mind is Parsee’s mind, and it’s actions are driven by Parsee’s desires. Parsee thinks, and it acts accordingly, no different than moving a limb.

Though it has no true form, it usually manifests as an invisible, serpentine being - or as Parsee’s own doppelganger. It’s not capable of causing physical damage as the former - though getting it by it will knock one’s emotional state askew. But the later form is perfectly capable of causing physical, grievous harm.

Parsee can teleport - both long-range and short-range. A short-range teleport only carries her to places she can visibly see or can accurately gauge the distance between. Long-range can only occur on bridges, and is only good to move between different bridge locations.

Being a creature whose existence is bound to the bridge she haunts, Parsee has some degree of manipulation over how her bridge works. Usually this only goes as far as making it not have an exit, looping trespassers back the way they came. But so long as she exists, so will it, and vice versa. She will exist so long as the concept of there being a bridge between life and death exists. Because of this, and her physical location, she’s likely an actual worker of the Hell she guards - though she remained behind simply because she couldn’t be moved.

As a being of magic, she is weak to magic! But most importantly, she is weak to faith. She can feed off both faith and fear - she isn’t picky, but her sheer existence depends on whether or not others believe in her myth.

Outside of Gensokyo, she doesn’t even show up to the human eye. Her myth may be preserved, but unless people truly believe in it and believe in her existence, she’s no better than a phantom.

Sealing charms, talismans, and ofuda are all bad news. If it’s good against the supernatural, then it’ll be good against her. Eastern extermination methods work best - though some western methods can be just as troublesome.

She can’t hold her liquor nearly as good as an oni proper can - it’ll dilute and disable her powers, essentially making her vulnerable. If you get afflicted by her jealousy, then drinking alcohol will flush it out of your system. This is more of a mundane cure than a magical cure - you literally rant your problems away.

She is not usually a physical fighter, though she can get physical if need be! Most of her bark comes from magical prowess. She favors traps and puzzles, and she can and will be a sucker punch for someone expecting a more straightforward fight. If she has to get in close, then she will be an evasive hard-hitter - striking with her claws and teleporting out of range of a counter-attack, or overpowering in a way where a counter-attack is not easily possible. She’s very fond of aiming for the throat, or drowning them in the river.

Parsee cannot go against her nature - it goes against her core as a supernatural being. Her existence is dependent on people believing in her - and her legends are very clear in what she is supposed to do, and how she is supposed to act. Following that template set by her legend is compulsory and cannot be resisted easily. Attempting to do so will land her in an existential crisis, and succeeding may actually put her existence in jeopardy.

Being a type of Kijo - a species related to Oni - she shares their weaknesses to fried beans. They will burn to the touch. Ingesting one will give her a nasty case of food poisoning. Other anti-oni repellents like holly are also effective.

Parsee highly values touch - it’s an act of affection which she desires yet can’t have. All she wants is to know that she’s appreciated, that she’s worth something to someone. Despite all of her jealous tendencies, a simple pat on the head and a bit of praise is all that she truly desires, and needs.

Flattery won’t win her over, though - though she desires to be of worth, the only people she allows to see this side of her are her own superiors. The people who actually matter to her. After all, they decided she was worth keeping around - they give her life, as miserable as it is, some degree of meaning. So she will do her damn best to please them, and as such, they are the only ones allowed to lay a hand on her - and they’ve likely earned that right through sheer patience or trial by fire.

Don’t try to be affectionate with her - while it is a weakness of hers, it’s one she also fears, and she will fight tooth and nail against it - there will be loss of life or limb if anyone but her superiors try it.

The best way to deal with her is by showing her respect - that’s it. Be polite and curious, and if she gets angry, let her vent out her aggression. Just don’t fall for her emotional sways.

-- Retains her appearance from when she was human. Extremely pretty! But, appearances are very deceiving - her personality is anything but.

-- Parsee is the original Hashi-hime - the one who started the legend, and the creator of the Ushi no Koko Mairi.

-- Is particularly fond of fruits and nuts from her home country, and doesn’t get to eat them often. Pomegranates, peaches, and pistachios are particularly favored.

-- Despite her technically ‘living’ status, Parsee is in fact a specter. A phantom of sorts. And outside of Gensokyo, that is how she will appear.

-- Parsee did in fact use to be an extremely sweet person! Back when she was human. Even though she was a sweet girl, she was paranoid and susceptible to severe self-doubt, nor was she above thoughts of revenge.

-- Curiously, according to Satori’s mind reading, she’s actually quite soft at heart. Who’d have thought? Perhaps some of her old personality still lingers, even now.

APPEARANCE.

-- Parsee is a pretty person, a noblewoman of Persian heritage. She holds a distinct foreign air about her. Though she doesn’t look anything like what the legends say a Hashihime looks like, the fact of the matter is that she retains an appearance more reminiscent of her human life.

-- Modern Persians may have mostly dark colorations, but there is evidence in the preserved art that they were more diverse in the past. Thus, her blond hair and blue eyes are natural, though perhaps she’s gotten a bit paler than normal, due to living underground. They always did say she was as pale as a ghost in her legends, that may have some truth to it.

-- Her green eyes will vary in shade and intensity - the more intense her emotions, the more vibrant and bright their hue will get. They will practically glow if her emotions are strong.

-- Her ears are sensitive to the touch - and she really dislikes them being toyed with. Don’t do it. She will bite you.

-- Her age seems to peg her to be in her early twenties. She hasn’t aged a day in all these centuries, not since the day she gave her humanity away to the gods.

-- Her outfit is reminiscent of the clothing types of her country’s time and era, and she has a vast preference for brocade fabric patterns. Her scarf is large enough to double as a head-scarf, though she doesn’t usually follow that custom as much anymore.

-- She still retains a persian accent, though it’s gotten a lot lighter than it used to be with time.

-- Oni were always noted to have odd hair colors - blonde, orange, or red. And being a foreigner, a foreigner like her would have been considered an oni - an outsider to japanese society. She still fits that bill quite well.

The Hashihime is a type of aragami - a raging wild god. An oni-like, malevolent kami that is often encountered at dangerous locations (mountain passes, bridges, crossroads), it is usually blamed for any disappearances or misfortunes which happen in the area.

As a Hashihime, Parsee guards the “Bridge”. This bridge is both physical and metaphorical - between the sides of a river as well as the shores between the living and the afterlife - but conceptual sides as well. As long as there’s a separation which can be crossed between (whether it be one-way or two), she guards it as a type of separation deity.

Though her most popular separation request is divorce, anything which one needs separation - from the strings of fate to persistent bad luck - she can cut.

As an oni, and as a deity, Parsee is capable of shapeshifting - and her folklore is noted for the ability. Though she has little use for the ability in recent years.

A mythological figure found in theater, folklore, and Heian-era poetry, the Hashihime is a minor location-bound deity from the Shinto religion. A guardian spirit who oversees bridges across water with the help of her unruly and malevolent demeanor. Even though shinto deities in general are considered to be dual-natured, her malevolence was particularly praised as a factor which helped her guard the bridges she was enshrined on.

Further research seems to indicate that she’s in a category of kami known as ‘Aragami’, specifically being a type of untamed wild or malevolent kami often found at dangerous crossroads or rivers, and which are often considered to be demons due to the dangerous nature of their location.

Mentioned and featured in a wide array of stories, and mentioned and referenced in poetry and literature of her time, she’s been mentioned in some of the earliest written works, and even had a Noh Play specific for her story.

Given the development of her mythology and this violent god nature, she is also now seen as a type of Kijo, a female oni, and has been mixed up with Ibaraki-douji’s mythos on occasion, as some of their stories take place on bridges. Though once worshipped as a goddess, because of this development she is also now considered a type of youkai.

These two statuses are interchangeable in the culture, as well as in Touhou Project - youkai can be worshipped as gods and a god may revert to being a youkai if they lose faith. Though the bridge-guarding goddess is her original origin, and even though she’s known as a minor divorce deity in more modern times, the story of her youkai history which earned her this position is more well known. This may be in part due to her unruly disposition, as the more malevolent and reckless gods do tend to be seen as oni- the Hashihime included- but her stories are very clear that the youkai and the goddess are one and the same.

Beyond this, there are many stories of the Hashihime beyond the Hashihime of Uji - including ones of her counterparts on the mountain roads, of hashihime at other bridge locations, and of the Ushi no Koko Mairi, which originated from her myth.

A woman, abandoned at her husband’s whim for another lover, prayed to the gods for a chance to get revenge for his infidelity - and got it. Going through the ritual given to her and disappearing beneath the waves of the Uji River, she later re-emerged as a terrifying specter to murder her husband and his descendants. Now trapped on the bridge between life and death for her actions, unable to go forward to be reborn into a new life and unable to go back to who she used to be, she has become revered as a god of the bridge in order to placate her wrath.

NAME. Parsee Mizuhashi

SPECIES. Hashihime (servant)

TITLES. Hashihime, Bridge Princess

OCCUPATION. Bridge Overseer

CLASS. Avenger

ALT. CLASS POTENTIAL. Berserker, Caster

ARMAMENTS: Flaming trivet, Divine fire, Nails and curse doll.

STR. C END. C AGI. D MANA. B LCK. E- NP. B

HEIGHT/WEIGHT. --cm・--kg

SOURCE. Heian-era Poetry

REGION. Uji, Japan

ALIGNMENT. Lawful・Evil

GENDER. Female

TRAITS. Humanoid, Human, Earth, Demon, Divine, Female, Servant, Weak to Enuma Elish

BONDS.

• ABE NO SEIMEI. The onmyouji was introduced as an ending figure to the hashihime’s mythos. In truth, they’ve never actually met.
• WATANABE NO TSUNA. One of the shogun’s retainers, said to have chopped the Hashihime’s arm off while crossing her bridge, his sword becoming Higekiri after the incident. This myth is shared in common with Ibaraki-douji.
• IBARAKI-DOUJI. Shares some mythological confusion. Is a bit exasperated by the oni, but is also amused.

SKILLS.

• GRUDGE RETURNING (B). The poor girl works herself up into a frenzy, losing her mind in grudges and paranoia. Raising both her attack and irrationality. (Attack up, Defense down [demerit])
• LARGE BOX AND SMALL BOX (C). A copy, a false decoy to let one’s guard down. Which one is the real one? (1 time Self Evasion, Defense up, Attack up)

PASSIVE SKILLS.

• AVENGER (B). A lingering spirit and terrifying kijo, an entity not worshiped openly. A hated god. (Mana generation upped when receiving damage. Reduces party's debuff resistance except for herself. [Demerit])
• MEMORY CORRECTION (A). The spirit has not forgotten the wrongs committed against it. (Increases own critical damage.)
• SELF-REPLENISHING MANA (B). The spirit is fueled off pure spite, will not rest until it’s goal has been accomplished. (Recovers a minuscule amount of magical energy every turn.)
• DIVINITY (WATER) (B). The spirit is considered both revered and feared, leading to it’s worship as an attempt to placate it’s wrath. It is only found on bridges over water. (Increases own damage, and Crit up when on Water fields.)

NOBLE PHANTASMS.

• USHI NO KOKO MAIRI. anti-unit. A ritual is performed against a single target in mind. Deals Curse damage which accumulates until ultimately fatal. (Heavy single-target damage, curse damage inflicted (stackable), Death chance up.)
• GREEN-EYED MONSTER. anti-unit. A giant invisible entity chases down it’s target, ignoring everything in its way, attacking the sanctity of the mind and the emotional vulnerability of it’s target. (Ignore evasion, defense down, curse inflicted.)

QUIRKS.

• Stackable curse damage hell - Green-Eyed Monster is a curse on the mind, while Ushi no Koko Mairi is a curse on the body. Both start small and accumulate gradually until unsalvageable, unless the curse is broken or diverted.
• She has a surprisingly high defense in comparison to most Avengers. She’s absolutely meant to be able to hold her ground and take hits, while whittling down the opponent with her curses.
• Her standard attacks involve spreading divine red and blue fire, ensnaring nets of magic flower petals, and physically with her own claws.
• The Monster’s true form is that of a dragon-like serpent, but is also capable of manifesting as her distracting clone, and can also take the form of a white dog.

Original Name ???

• Alias Parsee Mizuhashi

Species Hashihime

Age 1300-1500 (heian era)

Occupation Bridgekeep, Deity

• Threat Level Medium 
• Human Friendship Level None

Location Former Hell of Blazing Fires (underworld)

Abilities

• manipulation of jealousy
• relationship breaking
• teleportation
• doppelganger
• green eyed monster
• ushi no koko mairi
• flight
• danmaku

Details

• Ethnicity Persian
• Orientation Heterosexual or Bisexual
• Alignment Lawful Evil
• Known Languages Japanese, Chinese, Farsi

Relationships

• Satori Komeiji (boss, supervisor-adjacent)
  

Shiki Eiki Yamaxanadu (boss, manager-adjacent)

Spellcards

• Jealousy Sign ❝Green-Eyed Monster❞ / Envy ❝Green-Eyed Invisible Monster❞
• Grandfather Cherry Blossom ❝Jealousy Against the Bright Good Man❞ / ❝Shiro’s Ashes❞
• Tongue Cut Sparrow ❝Large Box and Small Box❞ / ❝Egotistic Animosity to the Humble Rich Man❞
• Malice Sign ❝Midnight Anathema Ritual❞ / ❝Day 7 of the Midnight Anathema Ritual❞
• Resentment ❝Jealousy Bomber❞
• Resentment ❝Grudge Returning❞