Well, while we wait for the Sull, here's Aya's next one.
Season 98, 2nd of Yayoi (~April 2nd, 1984)
Skeletal Remains Found from the Dry Well
◊
But who was it!?
As the bitter cold of Gensokyo's winter was only beginning to give way to thawing, a scream echoed through the human village. Although peace had persisted for some time, it seemed as if that day would turn out to be slightly different.
There were reports of children finding the skeletal remains of a human while playing around a dried-up well. The well was then declared to be off-limits.
Apparently, a Tsurube-otoshi youkai came out of well saying "So is THIS the body you dropped down here?", cackling as she threw the bones at them. As all of the humans in Gensokyo were accounted for with no one who had gone missing, no one had any no clue as to whom the skeleton belonged.
To make matters worse, the remains disappeared while no one was looking during preparations to bury it in Muenzuka. At the present state, it's hard to tell if there was any sort of incident or not, let alone the identity of the previous owner of the bones.
The youkai expert, Ms. Yukari Yakumo said:
"Well, I suppose it was an act by the youkai of the underground. Since their powers come from the negative energy of humans, maybe she wanted to scare humans who had become too peace-addled."
There is a nonintervention pact made between the youkai of the underground and the surface, so if this was the work of the youkai underground, the situation could become complicated. Even we tengu hope to avoid trouble with the underground.
"However, since we don't have the all-important skeleton, it could have been a simple misunderstanding. No, it was a misunderstanding, definitely."
The incident was settled as silver birch branches being mistaken for bones. No ominous occurrences had happened in the human village.
At a later date, we confirmed that the dried-up well was filled in with dirt. The person that did this is unknown, but since there was no incident in the first place, it's not a problem.
(Aya Shameimaru)
Kisume, stop scaring kids.
edited 1st Aug '14 8:36:22 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Wait, he isn't dead! Shia Surprise!
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Oh, he wasn't even a Chaos Space Marine; he was a human Alpha Legion operative.
Fear me
So he was Alpha. So could Nue (or Mamizou) do something similar on that scale?
^^ Oh, Yukari is telling us this. The most trustworthy youkai in Gensokyo.
What exactly was the skull made of if the rest were branches? THEN WHO WAS BONE??
Yes, let us all bow down before her wisdom. And clearly, the tengu have no stake in this at all, so we can trust them to 100% honest.
Next, bringing the Christmas spirit several months in advance.
Season 126, 4th of Shiwasu (~December 28th, 2011)
A New Business in the End-of-Year Rush
◊
Is this the outbreak of a Christmas business war?
Things are always busy around the end of the year, but that's what makes it such a profitable time for businesses. And it seems that a new competitor has arrived.
Many are well aware of "Christmas" by now. It's an event where a foreign saint called Nicholas comes, flying in the air as he whips his animals, sneaking into houses legally while the owner is asleep. This open-minded event has already become a fad in the outside world, and it looks like there are already signs of it appearing in Gensokyo as well.
Ms. Seiga Kaku (hermit) seeks to make a business out of this fad. She says that with her ability to go through walls at will, she is planning to sneak into human houses.
"During Christmas, everyone buys toys from Santa Claus (St. Nicholas), and he sneaks in to deliver them. That's how it works in the outside world. I guess it's an event that gathers faith from children."
But Seiga claims that it isn't enough:
"Why should we believe in some white-beard old man, especially when we don't even know if he's in Gensokyo in the first place? That's why everyone has such a hard time selling toys. So, I decided that I'm going to sell the toys directly to the owner, or, if they're asleep, I'll just take something that looks valuable."
With that, she showed me a bag stuffed full with her treasure. Her service seemed rather prosperous indeed. Humans and hermits should be expecting a heated battle around Christmastime.
Incidentally, St. Nicholas is known for his white beard, but when it comes to white beard in Gensokyo, we tend to picture Sarutahiko. Since he is also the god of us tengu, it wouldn't be good for him to develop a negative image. We just hope she will not conduct her Christmas business while wearing a white beard.
(Aya Shameimaru)
This one really speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Fear me
There's only room for
white-bearded bringer of presents 'round these parts...
So could Nue manipulate rumors about herself to the point of terrifying a planet into submission?
Eh? No, it isn't a power of hers. Quite honestly, Keine would have an easier time doing it.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Second Hatate article!
Season 123, 2nd of Yayoi (~March 28th, 2009)
Instant Hina Dolls Popular
What is in demand at the Dolls' Festival?
The Plum Festival is mostly a festival for girls. As part of this, the Dolls' Festival is held, allowing people to flaunt their wealth by decorating extravagant hina dolls. Some people spend more than what they're worth on the hina dolls, and end up going bankrupt as a consequence. This "Hina Bankruptcy" and the ability to appreciate objects separate from their meaning is something that is most likely distinctive to humans.
However, as of late, these traditional hina dolls are starting to slowly go out of fashion. Instead, extremely cheap instant hina dolls have become popular.
Instant hina dolls are made by cutting and folding paper, a simple article one would not normally consider to be a doll. These paper dolls appear to be taking the place of the traditional, extravagant hina dolls.
The individual behind this trend, Hina Kagiyama (Misfortune God), explains:
"Extravagant hina dolls being traditional is just plain nonsense. Sturdy dolls made by the poor to last many years are what became the fancy hina dolls you see today. The truth is that you're supposed to throw the dolls away after filling them with misfortune."
The new hina dolls are made to be disposable. Once the Hina Festival is over, the dolls simply float down the river.
"Humans who thought 'Letting these dolls be carried away by the river is such a waste' are the ones who made hina dolls into what they are now. As an unfortunate result, they no longer accomplish the original goal of cleansing. This has caused misfortune to slowly gather in the human village. If that's not discarded quickly, my power will..."
With this in mind, the instant hina dolls were created with the purpose of gathering misfortune from the human village. People tend to put a lot of money and effort into tradition, but once they learn that letting the dolls float off into the river was their true purpose, perhaps they will be happy to switch to the cheaper version. There is especially no reason to be extravagant about disposable goods. Cleverly taking advantage of of this current truth is good business sense.
If too much misfortune is accumulated, it will turn into a negative aura of bad luck. It's worrying that misfortune is flowing down the river like that, so she attempts to recover as many as possible. However, it is known that she overlooks a few sometimes. Downstream leads to the outside world, which is slightly concerning...
(Hatate Himekaidou)
This is genuinely saddening.
edited 3rd Aug '14 8:48:39 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Fear me
*twitch* not... *twitch* canon... remove... *twitch* from sight...
What are you twitching for this time? =)
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Crazed Lawrencian
Groar?
Proud member of the IAA What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish?
Fear me
Life of a stokkboy, cntd.
Alas! Gone are the days where I led great caravans of mysterious cures and exotic potions. No longer am I to charge about on a lightning-driven steed, the thunder of chariots behind me trailing like the scything edge of Death's mantle, pedestrians fleeing for their lives before my carriage of metal and medecine.
No, I am condemned to the dispatch area, an endless carrousel of grabbing boxes and stuffing them into large metal contraptions, the same which used to race after me and are now condemned to sullen immobility, closing them through brute force and savage beatings. We stack, we carry, it is mindless drudgery, this entire job is MINDLESS! In long hours, dozens pass by. Light, heavy, full and near-empty, closed and gaping open, ALL OF THEM! How they screech, how they squirm, and for no purpose, but that they might squeeze into their new conveyances.
Still, it pays well, and commuting's not too much of a hassle.
Also, to my great amusement, there's a brand called Smurfit Kappa.
edited 4th Aug '14 9:38:23 AM by Chabal2
Meanwhile, Kogasa is doing less well with her chosen profession...
Season 121, 2nd of Mutsuki (~February 19th, 2007)
What Is the Future Of The Worn Out Tool?
◊
Youkai babysitter spotted
Recently, a youkai carrying an umbrella, even when it's not raining, has been seen wandering around the human village. Its identity is, surprisingly enough, a babysitter.
She acts on her own accord. If there are crying children in the east, it startles and comforts them, and if there are laughing children in the west, it startles and makes them cry. Those are the aspirations of Kogasa Tatara (Karakasa obake).
Why did she take up such an occupation? She spoke on the matter.
"What, you don't know? A babysitter's job is to fly through the sky with an umbrella."
A karakasa obake is a type of Tsukumogami. An umbrella neglected for many years, she eventually turned into a youkai. She is a fairly classic type that exists to trouble humans. However, its connection to babysitting is vague at best.
"I don't really get the whole picture, but in the outside world, babysitters fly through the sky using an umbrella. When I heard of that, I decided to take a shot at it myself. I mean, children are pretty easy to scare."
I didn't have much faith in her story, so I decided to speak to other sources. According to them, a babysitter that flies through the sky using an umbrella does exist, but they are a small minority of professionals so skilled they seem to be able to use magic. I mistook it for wordplay of "Koumori (komori) umbrella" at first, but...
"Nobody wants to use me as an umbrella, so I'd like to turn myself into a more useful tool. All I can do is scare people though... I try to imagine what humans want, then try to become something that they could use. That's the modern Tsukumogami."
Someone that goes around startling children is not much of a babysitter and, I'm afraid to say, can only be seen as a simple deviant. In fact, bulletins warning about her are currently being circulated among human parents. Her quest to discover the true meaning of her existence as a Tsukumogami has just begun.
(Aya Shameimaru)
No Kogasa. You're not Mary Poppins. No, I don't care how moe you look, still not Mary Poppins.
edited 4th Aug '14 9:34:38 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Fear me
Damn xenophobic Creator Provincialism again.
Fear me
Musical find of the day.
Niiiice.
Bunbunmaru Newspaper
Season 124, 3rd of Shimotsuki (~December 18th, 2009)
◊
Opinions Divided On Mountain's Future Direction
The Great Serpent and the white wolf tengu at odds
Some of the tengu seem to have an issue with the talks occurring regarding the construction of a path to the Moriya Shrine that would allow visitors to attend the upcoming New Year's Visit.
The Moriya Shrine wants to construct a road that anyone can use before the end of the year, which is the most profitable time of year for them. However, among the tengu and other mountain-dwelling youkai, there are a few tenaciously claiming, "We are not letting anybody in."
The goddess of the Moriya Shrine, Kanako Yasaka (Goddess of the Mountain), spoke of these close-minded mountain youkai.
"I'm sick of these pointless objections from the white wolf tengu. It's not like we're going to wreak havoc on the mountain. In fact, it will help provide more faith to the mountain, which will then also increase their own power. I can't help but think that they are just trying to justify not going outside more than the absolute minimum required. This is why I hate those hikikomori."
In response to this, the white wolf tengu replied curtly, "It is our duty to remain alert for intruders."
As it is right now, worshipers praying at the Moriya Shrine are a rare occurrence. One of the reasons for this are the patrolling white wolf tengu. Seeing no way around them, Moriya established a branch shrine in the foothills to allow people to come and pray, as well as to be able to conduct business themselves and gather faith from humans.
However, the shrine has devised a new plan: the establishment of an "aerial tramway" from the Human Village to the shrine.
An aerial tramway is a cage held up by a rope which allows for the transportation of humans and objects. Using this, visitors would be able to visit the shrine without setting foot in any other location. As long as they don't trespass, there should be no reason to turn them away.
In response to this plan, the tengu leader Dai Tengu gave the following firm opinion:
"If the shrine were to dedicate something in the cage to us, this would not be out of the question."
It appears that they are willing to get whatever they can out of it without exerting any effort in the least.
A cage under the constant gaze of youkai, as if it were a target... With the shrine looking to open up the mountain to visitors and the tengu trying to keep it closed off, this whole matter doesn't seem like it will be easily resolved.
(Aya Shameimaru)
Isn't this nice? Some bickering between the Tengu and the Moriya trio~
Sanae looks so happy.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Fear me
Getting a weird image...
YOUUUUU! SHALL NOT!!! PAAAAAASSSSS!!!!
-Balrog flies over.-
... Welp. Better find me a new ringbearer.
-
I'll just be sitting here, my sarcasm lobe appears to have overclocked and exploded.
Crazed Lawrencian
Gremlins, I hate gremlins...
Has anyone had difficulties when updating Skype?
I kinda put off doing that with mine because the update page itself (and this is going to sound foolish) looked more like a 'install a whole new system" thing instead of something for updating what I already have. Well, the bastards signed me out while I was sleeping and so forced me to get their update. Well I did. The whole song and dance of downloading, dragging the icon over into Application, and then signing in. Except it rejected my sign-in, bringing up the old prompt about me being signed out and needing to download the update. It gets even more annoying when I find that my profile name and password work fine on the Skype site itself. Know what the deal is?
Proud member of the IAA What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish?
Fear me
I don't wear shoes use Skype. I mean, I've used it, just not on my computer, but I certainly know the automatic-updates-whenever-least-convenient-problem.
Crazed Lawrencian
I'm also using a 10.5 OS X, and one of the "help" bits is saying I need a 10.9... Need to know if there's a workaround, because I am not made of money.
Proud member of the IAA What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish?
Crazed Lawrencian
Okay, found my workaround. The problem is that there is a bunch of gobbledegook, big numbers, very specific things, and HALP I'M SCARED TO TOUCH ANYTHING. <8D
The topic on the workaround(s). Again, help would be appreciated. To those of you on Skype right now, please show this to the others if you don't know either.
Season 124, 3rd of Hazuki (~September 21st, 2009)
Summer Night Buddhist Services for Youkai
◊
Can they chill anyone to the bone?
The Buddhist services held at the Myouren Temple are a popular topic lately.
The brand-new Myouren Temple was built just this spring, but word is already getting around that their Buddhist services are very thrilling and exciting.
But what is a Buddhist service? Simply put, it is meeting for teaching and studying the way of Buddhism. Despite the dull concept, everyone says these are thrilling and exciting. But how? The chief priestess Ms. Byakuren Hijiri has this to say:
"The path of Buddhism is training to attain enlightenment. In other words, it involves exorcising evil spirits from the human soul. However, our Buddhist service is specially tailored for youkai, so..."
She may have been attempting to say that the very act of a youkai attending a Buddhist service would be like them denying their own existence, as they are an aspect of the evil lurking in the human soul. That indeed sounds like a thrill.
But Ms. Hijiri continues:
"The state of enlightenment is "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form", thus it is said to be a substance which is born by itself from the flawless soul. It may be that youkai are actually close to enlightenment, since the denial of self is directly connected to the denial of existence."
The stream of questions from youkai to the Myouren Temple is endless. Why are youkai are willing to join Buddhist services? I have questioned a youkai who attends them.
"It's just way too hot these days. I came here 'cause I heard there was a ghost story meeting called a "Buddhist service" going on, but, man, she sure is good. She's so good, the scares send shivers through my body 'n' soul. The Heart Sutra; boy, that was a doozy.
The Heart Sutra is the most famous sutra in Buddhism, and there are many others. After I told the youkai that, they said "Buddhism's all right with me. To horror fans like me, there ain't nothin' better." and shivered with joy.
Misaimed fandom much? Huh, youkai are youkai after all.
edited 9th Aug '14 11:29:39 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Fear me
Let's just hope she doesn't find out they're using her as intelligent air conditioning.
Ah yes, that one.
Life of Maid is generally a fun series.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
I was thinking more like... Sullen, who was that one CSM who managed to take out a planet without actually setting foot on it, letting rumors, fear and paranoia do the work? He was Alpha Legion or Night Lords, as I recall.
edited 31st Jul '14 8:00:31 AM by Chabal2