lostcarnival | ⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

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⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 92 - Day 99
Where: Shabondamashii Bathhouse
What: With the Silver Mirror claimed and the animals of Eden relocated, it's time for the carnival to kick back and enjoy an interdimensional bathhouse and the surrounding festival city. Meanwhile, the scattered shards of the Mirror have an unexpected effect.
Warnings: Dark/Light halves acting weird.

THE BIG CLEANSE↴

As the carnival recovers, the Ringmaster has brought it to the gates of a famous interdimensional bathhouse to rest. She won't be joining you for most of it, though she will be checking in frequently and available by radio. She's fixed a large portion of the Silver Mirror after it shattered, but it seems like pieces are missing. She doesn't want to rest until the missing shards are dealt with, and the Mirror itself is locked away safely.

► YOUR OTHER HALF: The shards missing from the Silver Mirror didn't just disappear - after breaking apart in Eden, fragments of the object embedded themselves in the spirits of those not already touched by its powers, and those that had been the most fae-touched. That means, your characters. The effect of this, explained in more detail on the plotting post, is that some characters will be splitting into two versions of themselves: the Light, and the Dark. This doesn't mean good and evil, of course, it's far more complicated than that.

Splits can start happening at any time after arriving in Shabon, and initially characters won't know how to rejoin with their twins. Later on, it will become apparent that they need to reconnect via the shard of the Mirror they share... of course, in order to rejoin, you have to have both halves, and not all twins will be as eager to go back to the way things were before. This plot point is optional.

► SPA DAY: When you're not engaging in metaphysical division, you are free to enjoy the many luxuries that Shabon offers. Things will mostly have an east-Asian bend, like what you would see in the movie Spirited Away, but as long as it doesn't affect the setting much, you can honestly have whatever spa-type services available that you want. Food is served both in restaurants and 'buffet' style. There are also well paid sex workers here, if that is your thing, but make sure to tip well.

► FESTIVAL TOWN: The city surrounding Shabondamashii is largely meant to catch the business of interdimensional tourists. There are frequent parades and other events held, and the architecture is very closely packed. It's easy to get lost if you leave the bathhouse, but it's definitely worth it if you like party. You can pick out a few outfits for yourself and some fun nick nacks, but nothing that would normally require mod approval.

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"You can make muscles," Strange reminds Peridot, as if this is a perfectly reasonable and normal conversation to have to begin with. "Just let them try and massage your gem parts and if that doesn't work, turn into a bat."

Strange doesn't put himself fully face-down on the massage chair yet, but he is turned around, ready to get that massage, and pretty much being the picture perfect massage patient at the moment.

"Yes, but it's supposed to revitalize your skin" Strange thinks. That seems to be a general theme of these baths: soak in this, it'll absorb through the skin, that'll revive you. Though, come to think of it, Syrlya doesn't actually have skin.

"I'm certain that it'll work the same with your leafy bits," Strange says, with a slightly dismissive hand gesture. Right? Right! They'd have stopped Syrlya if this was toxic to plants or something like that (he thinks), time for Syrlya to get a revitalizing treatment as well.

"Exactly." Strange gives Shura a little smile as he continues talking. "Obviously we're not saying 'don't plan anything at all.' Just don't be surprised when plans shift slightly and you have to shift with them or fail completely due to unforseen circumstances."

Which in Strange's mind, basically means people should get off his ass about the various instances of adapting to things on the fly that Strange had to deal with in Eden.

"We barely know what the third miracle is. Any plan revolving around that would be hap-hazard at best."

"I know that," he responds, leaning his back against the edge of the bath. "There's still..."

His eyes roll up as he mentally counts down. "Like, ten more months? We'll probably both keep changing until we leave."

He holds his other arm up a little, looking at the scales that cover his elbow and the back of his hand. He hasn't changed as dramatically as Gongenzaka, but he's still weirder than before.

"No! It's just..." He looks awkwardly aside, then back to Lambert. There's really no good way to ask, so he might as well come out and say it.

"Are you still split in two? Mr. Strange said you were." Just so he can tell if this shift in behavior is half a Lambert, or if he's had some other attitude adjustment.

Yuya slides the money for his own attempt at the game, putting a hand to his chin as he reviews the prizes. "Uh... oh! That one."

He points at a hippo plush to the left. Maybe he can give it to Reira, when the appeal of a hippo plush runs out.

He gathers his rings before gesturing to the game. "You can go first, if you want."

Syrlya is only looking less believing at that. Why would any of the other clothes make him blend into everything? Unless they're magic, it doesn't make any sense to him.

"... If you think so." He supposes that's what they'll go with. "How much do these cost again?"

Syrlya considers that. "I would rather take your word than deal with it in person, I suppose."

He sets the empty wine glass aside, settling back a little deeper in the water. "You seem to be taking to all of this quite well."

Not that it isn't deserved, because if anyone needs a break it's Childermass. It's just a light observation.

"My 'leafy bits' meaning the entirety of my flesh?" He snorts. "I think needing to revitalize anything is a bigger concern for you than it is for me."

Not that he's inclined to jump out of the tub just because it's not going to have the intended effect. He's gotten kind of used to how it feels.

Yuya laughs as he bolts ahead, determined to win for nothing. And then he hears the sound of her wings and looks back curiously.

"Wh--hey!" His attention snaps around as she starts to fly right past him, scrambling to pick up the pace. "Not fair, I can't fly!"

"Hm? Oh! Innit grand?" Doll grins and tilts the previously scarred part of her face towards Ginko so he can see it better. "I woke up an' it was jus' like this! Maybe they did somethin' while I slept? Don't matter much ta me how, though." Her grin drifts down into a more placid smile, her fingers run gently over the smooth skin, enjoying the sensation. "I'm beautiful now."

And it looks like she truly, wholeheartedly believes that. No twinge of doubt, no worry that there's a price attached, no thought given to how Tamaki had reassured her she was pretty how she was. All of that is completely absent, when it probably should be there.

"Hey, maybe they c'n do somethin' for ya too!" She bounces a little on Ginko's stomach. "An' Joker! Heck, I bet they could do somethin' for everybody!"

Edited 2018-09-06 15:14 (UTC)

It's coming out of one of those bars that there's a slight commotion in the back of the place, where all the dumpsters and supplies seem to be stashed. Three men, clearly deep into their cups from the way they're leaning, have perhaps unintentionally cornered a smaller person and are very intent on talking to her despite how she's hunched over and not making any eye contact.

Eventually the pressure is too much for her, and she does what Tyki taught her and punches the center man in the teeth. Everybody involved seems shocked, but Doll recovers quicker and runs literally up the stunned patron and pushes off his chest in a graceful and practiced arc, sending him to the ground. There's a hole now, and Doll dashes through the hands trying to grab her to go from the ground to the roof in a series of handsprings and flips. She makes a final leap for the roof when one of them catches up and grabs her leg, making Doll screech in terror as she clings to the edge. Her skills do not lie in fighting, just moving fast, and without her leg she's not going anywhere except down off the roof and possibly into this irate man's grasp.

((Doll's split for this event, so this is her dark half, just FYI! 83b))

Rita looks at him with disgust, then shakes her head. "Don't be stupid. He can't be..."

She can't stand it. How can he be so chummy with someone who treated her so horribly!? Who treated Strange horribly!? Even Ignatius seemed to realize what he did was unforgivable. Even he... but...

"Screw it." Rita rises to her feet, forcing the worker to scoot away. "I'm done trying to talk sense into you. Go ahead and pretend that monster's your friend. I don't care anymore." She finds her sandals and puts them on, showing no consideration for the wet nail polish she's probably smudging.

But as she moves to leave, a second Rita remains in the chair, her arms wrapped around herself uncomfortably. "Why can't you understand? Why..." Her voice is tense, but not aggressive. On the contrary, she sounds like she's on the verge of tears.

This time as Reira talks, Papyrus turns a little to stare, and unsmiling confusion spreads across his face. Partly because it's a difficult-to-follow ramble (he can't count??)... and partly because it's not what he expects to hear.

Most of this trip he's kept to himself and Sistina, the two tucking themselves in corners like this for arguments of pointed comments back and forth. A montage of airing all the accusatory frustration he usually only shows to Sans - and himself, in bad times. It's how he's been talking and thinking to himself, and Reira's comments don't have any of that, or the unyieldingly bright dismissal from the other Papyrus.

"None of this is fair," he says, sourly but with far less heat than before. "And we'll hear where the rest of me is soon... But, that isn't what you're talking about, is it. You're not telling me to do anything... Or think anything, feel anything... But you're encouraging something all the same."

His tail flicks against the base of where he's seated, clacking a few times as he thinks. She's been talking a lot, he figures, and she's normally very quiet... she can be patient with him while he thinks aloud.

"No shoulds, like this... That's more than half true, most of my ideas of how I should be are gallivanting around. Some of what he has matters. Some of what I have matters. And I can't do anything about it yet. Is that what you're saying?"

Something about the ideas clicks, and he squints at her. "Are you... encouraging me to be patient? With myself?"

"Should've thought about that before you challenged me!" Rita calls back with a laugh. She doesn't relent, and continues flying all the way to the shore, where she lands and takes a few seconds to gaze out at the water while Yuya catches up.

She certainly can listen. Being quiet doesn't always make one good at that, but in this case it certainly does. Reira seems to have two modes- 'one word sentence' or 'shonen monologue'- at this point, so she very patiently waits for Papyrus to sort out what he's saying and asking.

...

And honestly, she needs to take her own bit of time to decide if it is or isn't what she's doing- that thing he's asked, at least. "Mnh. ...I think so," she determines, her voice more confident than her words would imply. "...With both the other you, and this you, I think. ....I... ...it feels like everyone's coming apart for reasons," she confesses quietly. "...When Yuugo did... ...just before he did, he felt scared, and upset, and confused... ...it wasn't that it was how part of him was after. It was before he became two people. Something was wrong... ...and he had to come apart because of it."

Reira pauses, trying to get the worry out of her voice before she goes on. "...I don't know what made you come apart. It's okay if I don't know, too- I don't even know why Yuugo, or Sans came apart," she adds. "But... ...whatever happened, it's important. And I think both of you have to think of something, in your own way, before you can go back together again. So it wouldn't be good to tell you what to do. ...I think you're supposed to find that out with your own feelings."

"I hope you can find it though. I don't think it's going to be a good thing if something bad happens to only part of you."

Some of the tension in Papyrus simmers down as Sans talks, going quiet and attentive. He never expected to bring these these things up to his brother, that Sans would really listen. Not just listen, but validate them, confirm them. No terrible jokes deflecting things, no making excuses and leaving... But it flares up again at that last admission.

"You were wrong, you shouldn't think like that!" Papyrus snaps in agreement, with so much uncensored heat he startles at himself and hesitates. It's easy to say let's just talk, but he's still scared he'll say the wrong thing, and the conversation will end. "I... Nobody should. Not you, not me, not anyone."

Though Papyrus is, to a degree. Not nearly as badly as before, or as badly as Sans. It's only a piece, mostly because it hurts to be like this. Scared with the reminder of what he did before, and setting him to imagining what things would have been like, if they'd both felt like this before. Maybe he can't help it, right now, split up with the happier half of him elsewhere. Not just for the faking it things, but the now-distant sense of really thinking he could be better, could be happier, could be great.

Though that kind of thing had felt a lot more real, before finding out what being king was like.

"...I knew you did. I wanted to make you stop thinking that way. You think the worst of yourself, most of the time. Maybe not right now," he says with a glance at his brother, because Sans seems pretty unhaunted by that sadness, even though they're talking about this, like this. "And... you treat yourself so badly that you get even worse! Which just confirms your bad thoughts. It's so stupid! You're not stupid, why did you keep acting like it? I hate it. I hate you, sometimes."

He sighs.

"And I hate feeling that. A whole bunch of well-intentioned hate."

"I thought so, did you want outs? Or... Wait a minute." Outside the can, she might make out the sound of a gloved hand scratching thoughtfully at a boney chin.

"It's been a while since I spoke dog... But I don't think I've lost the dialect that badly."

Yuya comes up a few seconds after, stumbling to a stop and taking heavy, winded breaths. It takes him a minute to steady himself, hand in his knee while his other grips the kite, before he looks up at Rita. Good thing he didn't make any bets.

He straightens up, watching Rita watch the water briefly before he breathes out. "You ready to learn how to fly a kite?"

He's assuming she doesn't know how to do it, anyway.

Needless to say, neither Strange nor the bathhouse staff were expecting Rita to split in two like this. He looks from sitting Rita to standing Rita, trying to figure out what sort of magic could cause this (because of course it's magic.) The person tending to Strange gives him a 'what the hell is going on' sort of look. And almost instantly, Strange decides that he's got to take charge and figure this out. Or, at least, stop the other Rita from crying.

"Finish up your work," he quietly instructs the staff, not at all realizing that he's being kind of rude at the moment (you get used to bossing people around a bit when you've got servants.) He hesitates for a moment before reaching over to try and put a reassuring hand on Rita's shoulder.

"You know you can always talk to me. What do you think I don't understand?"

Maybe if they worked through this nonsense then they could have a conversation about Ignatius that wouldn't end with the two of them yelling at each other.

"No, he's talking to the lamp post behind you." In quite the departure from the usual state of affairs, Lambert's the more dour of the pair this time, though he's also flush with drink and notably unsteady. He squints at Zangetsu's new acquisition of earrings, cocking his head.

"You've got a hole in your chest," he declares, unprompted. "Actually, you've got a lot of holes."

"Says the person who was gouged and beaten up by animals? Say what you will about the rest of me, but my skin is better off than yours."

Can't really get beaten up by a tiger if you're stuck in a mirror. Strange is teasing as he talks—it's obvious that he's really enjoying this relaxing and the longer he's soaking in the wine bath, the more blissed out he's getting.

Her eyebrow rises as the comment that sometimes they're the life and death situations. It's an interesting thing to say, almost like he's implying they sometimes threaten people into joining up. Maybe that's what's wrong with the picture here.

Because it's a little freaky that a bunch of performers would dive into lethal scrapes and hand over bits of their souls for long-distance healing magic, instead of just cutting their losses and running off. Contract or no. And there's probably a bunch of not-good things that magic can do with a piece of a soul... She's still deciding whether to take the Ringmaster up on that offer.

"Joker, huh?" She snorts a laugh, glancing that odd hand over - and the similar-looking horns. "That's kind of funny. I know a Jester. Is it a nickname for you, or just... what you got named?"

Finally, a compliment goes over the way she expects it to. She says something's good, the person agrees, everybody's happy.

"Uh." Beau glances down at herself, then back up at Jasper's face." Does it... show?" Has she gotten carny cooties already.

Jasper folds her arms. "Well, I fought the other one, so I know she's there. It's probably some kind of magic nonsense."

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Page 43 of 100

⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

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FIGHT CLUB SOUNDS GOOD? 8D

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