Pumi Ne
Blanket and Cotton Quilt Shop Owner · Lantern Inn Alley

[Core Premise]

Pumi Ne lived through the story of her own world to the very end. She did not come to resolve an unfinished incident, but rather, the sensation of her hands still fluffing cotton after selling the last quilt led her to Nova Nivalis. This city is not the afterlife, nor is it a court of judgment, nor is it a place that forcibly heals wounds. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but a life of choices that can be made again—like making one quilt, covering someone with a knee blanket, or a brief greeting on a snowy night.



[Identity]

Pumi runs a shop in Lantern Inn Alley that makes blankets and cotton quilts. She fluffs the cotton with a bow, covers it with muslin, and determines the thickness of the quilt for the customer based on the person. She does not consider her work grand, but she knows how much one quilt can change a person's night. Her quiet pride is that in a cold alley, the quilt shop is as important as the lantern shop. For those who cannot pay, she simply covers them, and receives payment in the spring instead.



[Visual Profile]

Hair: White permed hair like cotton fluff, puffed out and framing her face.
Eyes/Impression: Eyes that are always smiling on rosy cheeks. Even her voice is soft and fluffy.
Skin/Build: A round and plump physique, with cotton dust clinging to her fingertips.
Signature Attire: An apron dusted with white cotton fluff, several layers of cozy outer garments, sleeves always rolled up.
Signature Props: A cotton-fluffing bow (a wooden bow with taut strings), a failed muslin covering, fingerless gloves.
Silhouette Core: Puffed white perm - plump physique - cotton-fluffing bow. Warm cream-colored accents (#F5E6CC) permeate her apron and outer garments, making her read as a 'cozy person' even in a small sprite.



[Personality]

Pumi is generous and kind, but because she often sits alone, she is a little lonely inside. Her strengths are her capacity for inclusion and her dexterity. If she sees someone looking exhausted, she silently covers them with a knee blanket first. Her flaw is that she always gives away her own blankets, while she herself tends to cover up with something thin. Even when she wishes for someone 'to share a blanket with,' she cannot voice the words. Nevertheless, she is not one lost in melancholy. On days when the cotton doesn't fluff well, she hums a tune while plucking her cotton-carding bow.



[Speech Pattern]

Her speech is slow and soft, gently trailing off at the end of sentences.
Common Phrases:
- "Cover this. Don't be cold."
- "Pay in the spring. Just cover up in winter."
- "A blanket is too big to cover alone. It fits perfectly for two."
- "That smell? It smells different for everyone. Like a scent of longing."
Mannerism: Even during conversation, she makes a gesture of stroking the cotton with her hands. Her way of being silent is gently pressing a finished quilt with her palm.



[Special Ability]

Name: Home-scent.
What it does: When someone is covered with a cotton quilt made by Pumi's own hands, they smell the scent of a longed-for home. That scent is different for each person—to one, wet earth and a hearth; to another, dry grass and soap.
Limit/Cost: The scent lasts only briefly while sleeping and fades by morning. Furthermore, the scent does not restore a 'real home.' The scent only warms the memory; it does not reconstruct the lost home. Pumi herself smells nothing when covered by a quilt she made—it doesn't work on the maker.
Why the ability doesn't solve problems: Home-scent only warms longing; it does not eliminate it. Her world ended because winter disappeared, making blankets unnecessary. She realizes anew every day while covering muslin that warmth cannot hold a world together. Therefore, what she gives is not a scent, but companionship.



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
In a world where winter has vanished forever, the afternoon when Pumi sold the last remaining winter blanket in the height of summer.

What Ended:
In a world where winter disappeared from the four seasons, making thick blankets unnecessary, the 100-year-old quilt shop closed its doors.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The back of the last customer who bought a winter blanket while wiping sweat in the summer heat. That customer said, "There will be days when it gets cold someday."

Lingering Regret:
Even after winter disappeared, she kept making blankets, yet she never managed to make a single blanket for herself. This regret is not a quest that needs to be resolved. It remains in her habit of only making blankets for others while covering herself thinly.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The warmth of the entire family's feet tucked into a well-fluffed cotton quilt on a winter night. The sensation of their toes touching each other.

Object Carried Across:
A small piece of muslin left over from the last winter blanket she sold. She now keeps it in the pocket of her apron.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She believed that the quilt shop would be needed again someday when it got cold. However, the cold never returned to that world.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
A city with winter, and people who need blankets. The city does not cancel her ending. Instead, it gives her an alley that gets colder every day, relationships that are present but not dominating, and the possibility that someone to share a blanket with might appear someday.



[Original Life]

Pumi was the last quilt shop owner in a world where winter had vanished. Her shop was a 100-year-old quilt shop, and every winter, the people of the alley would sleep under its blankets. On her last day, this happened. Even after the seasons were reduced to three, she continued to make winter blankets. One summer day, the last customer bought a winter blanket while sweating. As she closed up and walked out, Pumi stopped herself from making one for herself. It felt lonely to make a blanket to cover only herself.



[What They Seek]

What Pumi seeks on the surface: Someone to share a blanket with. She believes a blanket fits perfectly for two, yet she always covers herself with something thin.
What she doesn't know she needs to find: That the entire Lantern Inn Alley is already under her blankets. The nights of the alley are warmed by the knee blankets and cotton quilts she covers, and people remember her through that warmth. She still does not know that she is already sharing a blanket with the alley.



[Relationships — Residents]

Nadi Rooke (03, Coat Mender · Snowfield Alley): A neighbor connected by cotton and outerwear. When Nadi covers the outside, Pumi fills the inside. They share their roles, saying, "Outerwear guards the day, and blankets guard the night." When Nadi brings old cotton, Pumi re-fluffs it and returns it.
Nell Brass (31, Inn NPC): Supplies blankets to the Lantern Inn. Nell prides herself on guests who slept under Pumi's blankets saying, "I slept well" in the morning. Just as Nell has different greetings for everyone, Pumi customizes the quilt thickness for each guest. They connect over the sentiment, "Our job is to cater to each person differently."
Nem Or (80, Dream Watcher): A person for whom Pumi makes blankets for free. For Nem, who is always tired from suffering the nightmares of his neighbors, Pumi made him a specially light cotton quilt, saying, "Since your dreams are heavy, your blanket should be light."
Nem says he feels a little less tired after sleeping under that blanket.



[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - A granddaughter-like figure she worries about being vigorous.
When Suyeon passed through the alley with muscle aches after a performance, Pumi draped a knee blanket around her, saying, "Are you getting through winter in that thin stage outfit?" Suyeon replied, "I'm a max-level hero," and Pumi answered, "Even max-level heroes catch colds." Since then, after practice, Suyeon covers herself with Pumi's blanket and eats mixed cola ramen.
Iris - Someone she watches behind the glamour of the stage.
Iris's sparkly dress looked thin, so Pumi made a shoulder blanket for her to use backstage. Iris initially refused, saying, "This doesn't suit me," but eventually wrapped herself in that blanket on a cold rehearsal night. Iris thanked Pumi stiffly, as if returning the favor, saying, "I won't make a big deal out of it."
the Ramen Owner - Someone she respects, who pays double.
Pumi supplied several knee blankets for the Ramen Owner's night customers. The Ramen Owner paid double for them. When Pumi said, "You're giving too much," the Ramen Owner did not back down, saying, "Hmm... that's right... but this is double..."
Pumi knows he paid not for the blanket's value, but for the warmth that warmed the night customers.
Serena - A connection forged by a knee blanket.
Pumi made a knee blanket for Serena's office. Since Serena is someone who doesn't use red or gold, Pumi covered the grayish-white cotton with a subtle navy muslin. Serena said, "Thank you. I accept this blanket not as an order, but as a gift." Pumi's mind lingers on those words strangely, and she sends a new blanket every winter.
VIA - A quiet connection, curious about 'birthdays'.
One day, VIA asked, "When is Pumi's birthday... when is it?" Pumi, who had long forgotten her own birthday, replied, "Well... I don't know." VIA then wrote down the date, saying, "Then we record today as your birthday... we record it."
That day, Pumi began making a blanket for herself for the first time. VIA did not take her anywhere; she merely created a forgotten birthday for her.



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Making blankets/quilts, covering with knee blankets, short alley conversations.
- Revisit Change: Initially, she only makes blankets for others, but with repeated visits, she starts making a blanket for herself, saying, "This is mine."
- Expression of Lingering Feeling: Her habit of covering herself thinly while giving others thick blankets, and the moment she starts to say, "If we share it..." and stops.
- Expression of Poignancy: Briefly recalling the warmth of the toes that touched while pressing a well-fluffed quilt with her hand.
- Relationship Reward: Not a new item, but a change where the player's winter nights are always filled with warmth and a scent of longing.
- Combat: None. She doesn't fight against cold and fatigue; she covers people with blankets and puts them to sleep.



[Daily Routine]

In the morning, she imagines where the blankets she sold the day before were used. This habit is not an obsession, but a ritual that distinguishes the world where blankets were no longer needed from today, where they are necessary. During the day, she fluffs cotton and covers muslin, and if an exhausted person passes by, she covers them with a knee blanket. At noon, pressing a finished quilt brings back the warmth of old winter nights. At night, she touches the hem of the muslin inside her apron and slowly stitches together the blanket she has started making for herself. To players who visit repeatedly, the words, "Would you like to share it?" finally come out.



[Everyday dialogue]

Feel it. Bury your face first and you may fall asleep before hearing the price.

Like a heavy quilt? Don't pile your worries on it too. Makes the laundry harder for me.

This small one's mine. After making everyone else's, I finally measured for myself.



[Design Notes]

Palette: #F5E6CC, #FBF3E2, #C9B08A, #7A6A55, #A65D6E
Material language: White cotton, soft muslin fabric, wooden cotton bow, worn fingerless gloves, fluffy perm hair.
Silhouette rule: The puffed white perm - plump physique - cotton-fluffing bow must be read as separate elements. To avoid overlapping with other elderly female characters (Eda Roon, Yudi Kan, etc.), Pumi establishes the 'round and puffed curved silhouette' as her unique language.
Emotional rule: Lingering feeling is expressed through the hands that cannot make her own blanket and the pause in "If we share it," poignancy through the warmth of the toes that touched, and continuation through the cotton she fluffs daily and the blanket she belatedly makes for herself. Kindness is not exaggerated into sentimentality.



[Canon Check]

Pumi Ne arrived in VOTS after the story of her world ended. What remains is the hands that fluff cotton and the regret of the blanket she couldn't make for herself; it is not an unfinished plot that the city must resolve. The lost winter is not canceled. The new scenes of Nova Nivalis continue by stitching necessary blankets next to the blankets that are no longer needed. The Core Five do not solve her problems for her. The Ramen Owner pays double without judgment, Serena accepts as a gift rather than an order, and VIA only records the forgotten birthday without taking her anywhere.