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Fortune Telling While there is a place for Western divination practices such as Tarot Cards, Crystal Balls and Palm Reading, most fortune telling is rooted in Japanese and to a lesser degree Chinese practices. Many of these are extremely old, some possibly dating to before the end of the last Ice Age. In broad strokes, these include: Itako, a process where blind women are raised to become spiritual mediums with a patron Kami. By having cold water poured over them daily. By completing the process, they can speak with gods, spirits and the dead. Kokkuri, a tilting table used to summon Kokkuri-san. An animal spirit which acts as a medium to the spiritual plane. Kokkuri-san will tilt the plate beneath the table in answer to the questions asked, though his honesty or intentions are not always pure. Omikuji, random fortunes contained in boxes at temples. You pay a fee, and in exchange are provided the randomized fortune. If the fortune is poor, it can be evaded by tying it to a pine tree, thus leading the bad luck to the tree instead of the holder. Onmyōdō, utilizing calendars and astronomy to determine the fortune tied to specific places, directions and actions. A highly sophisticated system, those who knew its use were often found in noble courts in feudal Japan. Sanpaku, a form of face reading where studying the eyes can give the reader insight into a person's health and prospects. Tengenjutsu, a complex system of sixty rotating words involving Yin and Yang, the five Elements, your birthday and your physical appearance. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "TRIAL OF FORTUNE! Never fear, fellow Kami! I, Yorigami Joon, shall break this tie with a flip of a coin! Heads, Cirno wins. Tails, Agappa wins! *Ting* BWAHAHA! The Maiden of Misfortune triumphs! That'll be 1 Ryu." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The question was a difficult one. After all, each had their own advantages. Despite her occasional grumpy disposition, Wriggle had been a fair companion to him and her ability to communicate with insects may have been handy. Cirno was brave, if headstrong. Oscar had no idea if she could actually freeze a ghost. But he was sure at least she was absolutely confident she could. Then there was Agappa. Of all the group, she was the least expressive. Which did at least mean she hadn't picked at him. Her blank stares may have been disturbing. But in a building owned by a Fortune Teller, wouldn't her powers come in handy? Also he didn't think Wriggle would be comfortable being alone with her. "Alright. Cirno and Wriggle, you check that way. Agappa and I will go the other way." The Ice Fairy gave a thumbs up, along with a confident smile. Over her shoulder, Wriggle's face seemed to soften. For a moment, he even thought he saw her mouth 'thank you' before she turned. Sweeping her cape with her as she and Cirno started along the broken wooden walkway. The planks underfoot creaking far less than they would have under Oscar's feet. He turned to Agappa. Who regarded him beneath the hood of her raincoat with a passive stare. Her mouth slightly ajar as usual. Oscar took in a low, slow breath. Before forcing a smile. "Alright, let's go." She only nodded. Letting him lead the way. The walls here were pain, flecked with dust and little else. The boards under his feet were in a poor condition, and likely had been even when this place was inhabited. They let out creaks and groans of protest with his every footfall. Which he did his best to ignore as he crept towards the nearest door. The paper set in the door had yellowed some time ago, and holes had begun to tear in them... He took another step forward. And realized there was a weight on him. Agappa was clinging to the back of his suit jacket. Her face pressed against the small of his back as though terrified. The gesture may have been endearing were it not so odd... "What's the matter?" The question hung in the air. Patiently waiting an answer that didn't come. Eventually, a fearful arm rose and pointed at the door. Her eyes failing to open for a second. The baffling display left the overwhelming question...what now? = Cast a 'spell' or 'charm' which will fool Agappa into thinking the room is gone. = Give Agappa a pep talk and see if you can get her to tell you what's wrong. = Let's...avoid this door for now. Walk past it. = Let her cling on to you and press forward. You're strong enough to drag her behind you.

I knew it! It's perfect and you just proved it to me! From the start, I knew we were going to get along just fine, but this is just what I needed to confirm it. For starters, I feel like I need to apologize, despite calling you my ally, I still had my doubts about our alliance and never actually had plans to uphold this relationship... until right now! With this single move, you have already acquired my eternal loyalty, from now on, I'll be the first to back up all your decisions whenever I can. Alright, let's be serious now, to answer your unasked question, I actually missed my cue to review in the day, Yume posted the last update, and then in the following week, I decided to wait for his update so I could review both at the same time. Turned out Yummy didn't post anything at all... kinda funny no? So, I was stuck in this awkward loop of Should I wait? Should I review it? Thankfully, my dilemma is now over, although, I would 100% send you a message the moment I read "Yummy Toes". Ah, and before I forget, don't worry about the misunderstanding because such a trivial thing won't get in the way of our alliance ever. By the way, this is a nice remix, sounds so much like Cirno's math class. Aaaay Yumeee, I get the feeling, but don't worry, I'm not sure if you noticed but even with your brief absence your fanbase is still steadily growing, call it the fruits of honest work, and be proud because you really deserve it, friend. Now, if I could help you with something... oh I get it, listen, "The walls here were pain, flecked with dust and little else.", I think you meant plain instead of pain? Just one small typo, nothing to sweat over but it's enough to make me feel a bit satisfied considering that I finally managed to write an actual review at least once because, you know, most of my "reviews" are just me rambling haha. Nice to meet you master Gri, for some reason, I think of a Jedi Master whenever I read your nickname, are you an actual Jedi, master Gri? Well, since both Master and Ally have given their opinions about Aggapa then it's only fair I give my take too. First of all, despite my thoughts on her, she is someone we absolutely can't afford to lose in any circumstances, why? She fills an essential role right now, spiritual perception, Ozzy can't see past what normal eyes can see, be it curses or loot (don't think I forgot how she was looting that corpse when we first encountered her). The second reason is rather simple, she calls Oscar "Ningen" or human, which further proves my point about her perception stat being above the norm and it also means that, even if unknowingly, Aggapa is the closest person in Gensokyo to Oscar's true self, this is both good for his mental health and it also means that we can safely pull a Joseph Joestar near her without fearing any damage to his magician persona. Ops, I forgot to mention what I think about her, hmm... how do I say it? I can't tell for sure how she is going to act, at first, she seemed like any youkai interested in Oscar, perhaps scouting him to see if he could be safely eaten? Then, she passed the Keine radar without problems, which made me think that she was just a quiet girl who was being a bit curious about the weird guy, until her apparent outburst against Marisa put me on edge again, until now, this recent chapter had her act like a scared girl. I can't figure her out at all, feels like she might change sides at any moment but at the same time she is probably our closest ally. Hello there Sosh! I'm glad to see you are probably having as much fun as I am reading this, I wish I could advise you about writing, but I'm completely untalented in this, in fact, I'm mediocre at best in most forms of arts that the human being could ever invent, music, drawing, painting or writing you name it! The only thing I can do reliably is rambling, so if you ever start writing something, you can count on me being there to ramble about your story as soon as I can. Before I forget, Ozzy used to be a roleplaying project that Yume started a while ago, I believe the name is Illusionary Nirvana, you should take a look if you feel like it. Without further ado, I believe it's time for me to finally talk about the update... actually, I took so long to greet everyone that I forgot about what I wanted to discuss, thankfully I can just open another window and re-read it real quick. Coin Flip! I wrote a fun review for Nyoko a while ago, I remember asking for a coin flip to deal with a tie that I had with my ally, never expected I would see it here again and even less win! That's quite the winning streak. For my choice this week, I went with the only option that remotely presented us a chance to know what might be behind that suspicious door, maybe the right answer for such an unprepared duo would be to go past it as soon as possible and then return with the whole squad for safety but we can't rule out the possibility of that door hiding something useful, asking Aggapa a question probably won't get us in trouble as long as we don't go near it.

sorry for the lated post

NO WAY 420 POSTS!!!!!!

there's literally a world war in my head 2hus vs cubes vs buckets and stuff

Hey! I've been lurking here following the Survival Guide for a bit now and thought it was about time I pop in to say thank you for your work, I love it! I've been thinking about trying to get into creative writing for a while now and if you don't mind my asking, do you have any advice on how you structure stories? I know the Guide is a CYOA but it still reads as well thought out. Also, Agappa is definitely my favorite character. She has this dark & mysterious yet also silly and at times even lighthearted energy that really matches with the essence of touhou :)

Ahh...life was supposed to get easier as you got older... Finally got an entry up! Sorry about the delay. I could list all the reasons why I have been slow to reply, but the long and short is I have been working more to help gaps in the schedule, and have had a lot of demands on my scant freetime. I ended up working until almost 4 AM for an event outside of work last Friday, and until 1 AM yesterday for instance. This one is shorter. But its nothing too important...or is it? After all, hiding a key moment in something entirely banal is something I would do to surprise and amuse you all. But what if this is all just a fake out and I am trying to get you to think in circles? Why would Agappa have a reaction like that to an old door? Is there something concerning about it, do her eyes see something Oscar doesn't? Or is she being a creepy weirdo? Whooo knowwwsss. @kymoh @Gri Yeah, this is a much simpler version of the rope trick. I described it in brief in the post. But supposedly, it had several components described by English visitors to India in the 1800s: The performer (usually a yogi) would call up into a low-hanging cloud and speak with a voice with no source He would make a rope go rigid He would send a servant to climb up the rope, who would vanish from view He would call up to the servant He would then cut the rope with a sword The rope would fall to the ground with no sign of the servant The stage performance version is much simpler. You made a rope go straight and climbed it. How this was realistically performed...was variable. No two stage magicians seemed to share the same technique. Some just used a smoke machine to make a cloud to hide a fishing line holding up the rope. Oscar's version uses bamboo segments which slide together when he pulls the right cord. Which seems the most realistic and sensible option to me. Though when you and all your friends can fly, it probably doesn't seem that impressive. Glad you like Agappa! Its always nerve-wracking introducing a character to a story. Especially one with fan favorites like Cirno and Marisa running around. I hope her strangeness can make your days just a little brighter.

you can middle click the timestamp of the last post a topic had and it will take you to that post. <------ middle click that otherwise, I'm pretty sure there's a preference for that, I'll let you know if I find it edit: got it. this is on your profile settings, found at: click the arrow next to your name and select account settings

You're not the only one. Though I have voted last week, I've been meaning to write a post yet never took the time. My apologies for disappearing. So, let's start over... Greetings. Not much to add over what kymoh already said: We couldn't pass the chance to see the Indian Rope Trick a 2nd time. As for the vote this time, an interesting one, much like the one where we got to choose where Oscar would start his search. Now, I voted Wriggle not because I think she'd make a great team with Oscar over Cirno or Aggapa, but because Cirno & Aggapa together could be very funny. EDIT: I'd argue that Aggapa would be an interesting in this case, cause she's already with Oscar 24/7, so she'll get her moments to shine (for instance, the poem she spoke when seeing Marisa).

Sorry for being so terribly late! I've barely had time to go on this site in the past week or two, in fact it's only just now that I read and voted on the latest chapter >.< Ah well, looks like everyone else here slowed down a bit too... HUUGE MISUNDERSTANDING ON MY PART!! It seems like I not only mixed up Rinnosuke and the Fortune Teller, but even further mixed him up with Ryunosuke (who even is that?!). Anyways, before I realized my grave mistake Oscar and the gang had already plunged into a haunted house adventure so I guess it's fine :) As a side note, I was curious about the "Indian Rope Trick" ever since the option was mentioned for the village entrance. So it was cool to finally see it in action, though it was simpler than I expected :D Now for the "new" chapter from last week! I'm not sure if Yummy Toes is taking a break this week or simply running late, but I'll take the chance to vote and discuss it nevertheless. It looks like the actual exploration isn't starting until next chapter, and we get to choose Oscar's buddy for now. ..Despite me listening to an awesome cirno remix right now, I think I'll go with Agappa this time :) Wriggle also seems like a logical option but something tells me Oscar needs a close and reliable friend for a time like this. After all, Agappa's been at his side practically since the beginning of this whole story! And who knows, her scavenging instincts might come in handy here What does everyone else think? Is it just me, or is Agappa basically Oscar's bestie now, and overall a really interesting character?