Lulu Pin
Poultry Feed Stall Assistant · Snowflake Market

[Core Premise]

Lulu Pin came to Nova Nivalis after the stories of her own world ended. Just because she is a child does not mean different rules apply. The habit of following with her eyes the birds that flew away, and the hand that opened the last cage, still remain, flowing into this city. VOTS is not a place that gives rewards or punishments; it is a place where small daily routines, like sharing feed with the birds every morning, continue. Within those small routines, Lulu checks with the sparrow on her shoulder every day whether what flew away truly returns.



[Identity]

Lulu Pin is an assistant at the Pino Galda poultry feed stall in Snowflake Market. She scoops seeds with a scoop, folds bags, and chases after birds that customers miss to bring them back to their spots. Despite being a child, she takes the stall's work seriously and is proud of her own 'title.' In the city, her job is not a cute sidekick; it is actual labor—wherever Lulu spills seeds, birds gather, making the market mornings noisy.



[Visual Profile]

Hair: Sparrow-colored (grayish-brown) short, patchy cut. A few seeds are stuck to the crown, and a clump of hair at the back sticks up as if pecked by a bird.
Eyes: Round and dark brown. Her eyes widen first when she sees a bird.
Teeth/Expression: One front tooth is missing, causing a whistling sound when she smiles. She smiles widely and often.
Skin/Build: Chubby cheeks and small stature. Her hands are always dusted with seed crumbs.
Signature Outfit: An apron with multiple seed pouches. Each pouch contains a different seed, making it jingle with every step.
Signature Prop: A regular sparrow on her shoulder. It has not left since Lulu named it.
Silhouette Key: Spiky sparrow-colored short hair, seed-pouch apron, sparrow on the shoulder. Whether sitting or standing, one shoulder sags slightly due to the bird.
Accent Color: #C7A16B (Brown of sparrow feathers)



[Personality]

Outwardly, Lulu is bright and spirited, boasting about her birds to strangers. She is competitive and proud of scooping seeds more accurately than anyone else. Internally, she constantly tests whether 'what flew away truly returns.' Since opening the last cage, she has not yet decided if letting them go was a good or bad thing. Her flaw is that she cannot hide her disappointment if the birds do not respond—if a bird doesn't answer after she names it, she pouts and sulks for a long time. However, if the sparrow on her shoulder chirps in response, she looks like she has gained the whole world. She is not a child steeped in tragedy, but a spirited child who names birds prepared to be betrayed every day.



[Speech Pattern]

Her speech mixes casual and polite forms, and her sentences speed up when she gets excited, accompanied by a whistling sound from her missing front tooth. Frequent phrases:
- "This one has a name! I named it!" (When introducing a bird)
- "Did it answer? Did it just answer?" (When wanting confirmation of a single response)
- "Grandma is bad with directions. But birds don't get lost." (When teasing Pino)
- "...It's not answering." (When unable to hide her disappointment, her voice gets small)
Mannerism: When talking about birds, she points to the sky with her finger, tracing the trajectory. When sulking, she rummages through her apron pockets, pretending to count seeds.



[Special Ability]

Name: 'One Response'
When Lulu names a bird, that bird chirps exactly once in response.
Limit/Cost: The response is only for a single lifetime. Even if she calls the same bird again, there is no second response. Furthermore, even if it responds, the bird does not necessarily stay by her side—most birds fly away even after responding.
Why the ability doesn't solve the problem: What Lulu truly wants is 'proof that what flies away returns,' but the ability only grants 'a single farewell before leaving.' The ability cannot determine whether the bird will stay or go. Therefore, this power does not prevent parting; it only leaves behind the fact that there was one response even in parting. The sparrow on her shoulder remained not because of the ability, but because that bird chose to stay on its own—Lulu does not yet know that difference.



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
In a world where cages were common, after all the adults left, Lulu opened the door of the last cage, and the bird inside hesitated for a moment before flying up.

What Ended:
The custom of keeping birds caged in every home, and the market that bought and sold those birds, ended because there was no one left to keep the birds.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The eaves lined with empty cages, and the empty cage door swaying after the last bird flew away.

Lingering Regret:
She couldn't name the bird that flew away. Lulu sometimes still asks herself, "If it had a name, would it have returned?" This lingering feeling remains not as a quest to be completed, but as the habit of hurrying to name every new bird that arrives.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The thin metallic sound of empty cages swaying in the wind. This sound briefly overlaps with the sound of the metal scoop at the market stall hitting the wind.

Object Carried Across:
A small cage latch from the last cage. She left the cage but took only the latch and put it in her pocket.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She thought that if she let all the birds go, they would become free and come back to visit. Some did not come.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The spot at the stall to share feed with birds every morning, new birds to name, and the sparrow that remained on her shoulder instead of flying away. The city does not return the birds that flew away. Instead, it continues the mornings where she calls a bird and that bird responds, every day.



[Original Life]

In her original world, Lulu was a child who released birds. In a market that bought and sold cages, when people entrusted her with unsold or sick birds, she would release the healthy ones. On the morning the adults gradually left and the market closed, it became the child's duty to open the door of the last cage. That day, Lulu opened the cage door, watched the bird fly away until the end, and put the empty cage latch into her pocket. That day was not sad, but quiet. The birds did not cry, Lulu did not cry, only the empty cages on the eaves swayed in the wind.



[What They Seek]

What she outwardly seeks: Proof that things that fly away return. Lulu believes that if she names a bird, that will be the proof.
What she doesn't know but must find: That the sparrow on her shoulder is already that proof. That bird remained by her side even after using the ability's single response. What Lulu needs to realize is that what she seeks is not new proof, but that staying and responding are different from leaving, and the sparrow stayed not because of a response, but with its heart.



[Relationships — Residents]

- 024 Pino Galda (Poultry Feed Stall Owner): Mentor and employer. Grandma Pino never loses her birds, but she is bad with directions and gets lost, so Lulu pulls her sleeve, saying, "Grandma, this way!" and leads her to the stall. They are a combo that fills each other's shortcomings.
- 064 Som Ire (Greenhouse Watering Duty): Animal and plant combo. Som sneezes in front of a thirsty pot, and Lulu names birds. They report their day by boasting about the "sneezing pot" and the "named bird."
- 161 Ori Hana (Paper Lantern Folding Shop): Acquaintance from receiving a sparrow lantern. The duck folded a sparrow-shaped paper lantern modeled after Lulu's shoulder sparrow, and when Lulu asked him to name the lantern too, he did so. Lulu's sparrow sometimes rests on the duck's lantern hanging in the inn alley, and the duck told her it was fine for the bird to sit there because the lantern doesn't burn even when wet.
- [Existing] Tessa Wren (Seed and Dried Flower Merchant, Snowflake Market): Seed errands. When Pino's scoop is empty, Lulu runs to Tessa to get seeds. Tessa gives her a dried flower as payment for the errand, which Lulu sticks into the bird stall's scoop.



[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - The connection that pierced the snow with an ice sword. When Lulu was struggling to pass with a sack of seeds on a snowy morning, Suyeon split the path with an ice sword. When Lulu asked, "Should I name your bird?" Suyeon said, "I'm not a bird," yet her face held a brief expectation, and Lulu pointed to the sparrow on her shoulder, saying, "Then this one is your fan."
Iris - The connection mistaken for a drone. Lulu named Iris's drone and waited for a "chirp," but the drone did not respond. Iris said, "That's a machine, it doesn't answer," but she said nothing about the one turned-off drone, and Lulu strangely did not name that one either.
the Ramen Owner - The acquaintance who leaves bird feed by the window. The Ramen Owner leaves a few grains of rice on the shop windowsill every morning, and Lulu's sparrow comes to eat them. When Lulu asks, "Why do you leave it?" the owner replies, "Because it eats it," and writes what he saw that day in the corner of his ledger. There was no judgment, no reason.
Serena - The acquaintance to whom she named all the birds on her shoulder. Birds strangely often sit on the shoulder of Serena's coat, and Lulu named each of those birds individually. Serena first asked Lulu for permission, saying, "May I name them?" When Lulu replied, "Aren't you the one naming them?" she said, "Then please do," and yielded the spot.
VIA - The acquaintance who records bird footprints together. When VIA records the bird footprints in the snow, Lulu names them, saying, "This is a bean's footprint, this is a butterfly's footprint." VIA writes down the names Lulu gave exactly as they are in the notebook, saying, "There are names for footprints... they are."



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Buying seeds, requesting to name a bird, mini-errand to find a lost bird.
- Revisit Change: On the first visit, she only boasts about her birds; on repeated visits, she briefly mentions the empty cages; later, she asks the player to name one of the birds.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: Hurrying to name every bird that arrives, pouting if there is no response, fiddling with the cage latch in her pocket.
- Expression of Poignancy: Sensory dialogue regarding the metallic sound of the scoop and the sound of empty cages.
- Combat: None. In danger, she calls a bird to indicate direction or spills seeds to mark a path.



[Daily Routine]

Early in the morning, she brings Pino to the stall, fills the scoop, and receives the first greeting of the day from the sparrow on her shoulder. During the day, she greets customers and chases after lost birds. In the evening, she leaves a little of the remaining seeds on the windowsill, touches the latch in her pocket once, and goes home. If the player visits repeatedly, Lulu asks the player to name a bird too, and they wait together to see if that bird responds.



[Everyday dialogue]

That bird only comes to me! …Oh, it likes everyone holding seed. Broad tastes!

Shall we name it 'One More Handful'? Poor Pino would be confused every time we called.

I wonder if calling a name would have brought it back. I still want to know the names of the birds coming now.



[Design Notes]

Palette: #C7A16B, #E5D3B3, #8A6E4B, #A8B87C, #4A3F30
Material language: Rough burlap seed pouches, metal scoop, seed crumbs, old cage latch, sparrow feathers.
Silhouette rule: Spiky short hair, jangling seed-pouch apron, one-sided sag due to the sparrow on the shoulder. Must not overlap with other child characters.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown through the habit of hurrying to name and touching the latch; poignancy is shown through the metallic sound of the scoop; continuity is shown through the repetition of greeting the birds every morning. She is not depicted only as a sad child.



[Canon Check]

Lulu Pin arrived in VOTS after the stories of her world ended. What remains is the regret for the bird she couldn't name, not an unfinished plot that the city will resolve. The ability only grants a single response and cannot prevent parting. The core cast does not save Lulu. Serena asks for permission to name, the Ramen Owner leaves rice grains without reason and merely records what he saw, and VIA only transcribes the footprint names without bringing the birds. The bird scenes do not erase the empty cages but continue with the chirping of every morning next to them.