Post-Mortem: An Obituary

MelinPie was one of my closest friends. Her passion and breadth of knowledge was a huge part of what hooked me back into Touhou after over a decade. Her kindness and encouragement was a huge part of why I made jam games. She was always supportive and willing to talk and listen to even the weirdest of my ramblings about X or Y fancharacter and Z or A wild fantheory. She would correct where she saw fit, but always in a way that was full of interest. Never was she dismissive of anything I or anyone else did or said so long as it was in good faith

A few years ago, I commissioned Sartou for a Mitori fumo. The idea was that I would own her for a few years, and when I was in a more stable bill of health, I would package her up and send her to live with Melin. Mitori never made it that far. One month before I was due to have surgery to fix one of my biggest physical issues, I received the news that Melin had died. Mitori, who was less than two months away from going to her new home, found permanent residence in the place she was only ever meant to be visiting. She sits on my shelf, she goes places with me, but she never made it to where she was supposed to go

Melin and I spoke a lot about Mitori, and how we could reunite her with her sister. We never settled on a concrete "canon", but we pushed around many potential ideas. You can see one such idea in this game, as Mitori's little walk turns into her first visit to the surface in years, her subconscious desires throwing around her powers to finally get her to listen to her own heart

But Mitori's story in Acceptance is also my own. Mired in grief and guilt and loss, desperate for something mostly unknown. A huge hole in my heart where something - someone - used to live. Wanting desperately to see her again, but those feelings being buried so far that I don't even realise them fully. Moving forward, step by step, dragging myself out of the tar of misery and onwards towards something meaningful. Taking my grief and doing something with it

Letting Mitori finally see the sun

This game is and always will be my final [platonic] love letter to MelinPie. A broadcast to one of her favorite groups of people to show that she existed, she was here, and we loved her for it. A putting-forward of a mere fraction of the things she brought to the table, and an obituary. Something to say "I'm glad we got to meet. I'm glad that you were alive. I wish you still were"

"I miss you"