⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[lmpatientdefense]

If she gets the opportunity, Beau will want to see the aftermath of Strange's broken nose, if only to give him critical advice how to break it better next time.

For the moment, it takes her a second to realize who it is - without the puddles and hand mirrors framing him, but the real guy in physical space. It's more than enough delay for him to greet her - and for her to remember what Rita'd told her. Beau nods and waves back, then approaches with her teeth flashing briefly in what might be a smile.

"Oh yeah? I heard you got trapped in a mirror, a little bit," she says, with a teasing tone equivalent to elbowing his side. "That pretty common for you?"

[stompadour]

Jasper shrugs. "I thought I saw you back in Eden, but humans are hard to tell apart."

[lmpatientdefense]

"Mmm," Beau hums, dissatisfied but dropping the topic.

She's getting the sense Dark's not the one to air these questions to. He hadn't been very curious about making an escape route before, for that matter. Her question of what's with this carnival, or the bigger questions of what's with the fae... Those will have to wait.

Well, it's still good to have a drinking buddy. She finishes off her current cup, and waves for refills, then leans back and considers him.

"So what did you mean? Performing off stage? You don't like, what, having other people around when you do your thing?"

[lmpatientdefense]

That's a relief. Beau opens her mouth, reconsiders, closes it, and finally cocks her head to the side as she shrugs.

"Yeah, fair enough, I guess we are. Were you just... all horse, back there?" Some people were in disguise, some people weren't, it's all hard to keep track of.

[whattaprick]

"What do you think? To get drunk, obviously," Lambert answers before Childermass can respond, snorting. As unusual as it is to see Childermass rowdy, it's also unusual to see Lambert relatively quiet while he's drunk, which he very obviously is. Given witcher constitution, it's a safe bet to say it's taken significant effort to get to this point of inebriation.

"Plenty of places to do that here."

[osteothropy]

Sans doesn't startle at Papyrus's outburst, but he does turn to look at the shadow of his brother more carefully. It's interesting to see how much of that frustrating is deep and sincere.

"It's easier to hate than it is to change, bro," Sans says, quietly. "I could't do what I needed to do, and the failure shook me. I started to hate myself, and then I hated myself for hating myself. But... when you don't feel like anything can change, the only way you can make up for what you've done wrong is to let yourself suffer for it. Cause you feel like it's what you deserve."

"But you didn't deserve that," he says, glancing over with a couple of his eyes, disconnected from the ones staring ahead. "If I fell completely, I'd be dragging you down with me. So, I just tried to mitigate things by having zero expectations. Y'know? Can't be disappointed if you never hoped for anything in the first place. And I didn't want anybody to hope I'd do anything useful, either, if I was just gunna let them down."

He falls silent for a few moments, making a connection he never had before.

"It's kinda like the next best thing to not existing. If I showed how bad I felt I'd be hurting people around me, so I just did a bunch of pointless bullshit and acted like nothing that happened actually mattered. Even if it did. But then I came here, and I ended up with all these responsibilities... I can't just be a non-entity anymore so I have to try to be something else."

"All these people count on me and if I'm not good enough to do it, then... I don't know. I end up wondering what the point in being anything is."

DARK IGNATIUS AT THE POND

[npcarnival]

Frog Eruka will abruptly find herself picked up in someone's hands - hands that are bright red and also pleasantly warm. As it turns out, Ignatius is leaning off of the wooden walkway lining the pond, using his height and significant reach to scoop her out of the water. Whatever was chasing her flops back beneath the water, disappointed.

"You're not a regular frog, are you?" he asks, standing back up with her still in his hands. His expression is a bit flat, a little empty, and his words and motions are understated. He's wearing an open chested robe, with scars and some fresh bandages on his abdomen clearly visible.

[pipers_son]

"Oooh, then he has good taste!" Unless it turns out he's a horrible person, but, well, Joker wouldn't necessarily be surprised at that, either. He just continues to grin. "It's a name I named myself, if yer really so curious ta know!"

Although if they're talking about names... He waves one hand down a little lower. "If ya meet the most adorable girl in the world, with brown hair and bangs over one side of her face, that's Doll, and I named her, too! Because she's my precious little sister~." Playfully, he winks.

...But it is true.

[textsfromhotland]

He speaks dog? Now that does get a worried noise out of her. She doesn't want to blow her cover, but how do you say "please go away" in dog speak?

"Bark... uh, arf arf?" Unbeknownst to her, Alphys has just said help I'm trapped let me out.

[kingsroads]

At least Beau can see some of Strange's other sweet scars. His shirt isn't open open, but the top button is undone and the material is loose enough that Beau can see a large mirrored gash on his chest as well as a splotch of mirrored covering on his right shoulder. Strange matches Beau's teasing tone with one of his own.

"Tease me all you like, but I was more useful than half of the carnival combined." It's partly the ego talking, partly Strange realizing that there's no way the groups participating in a rescue mission would know about Lilith's arrival had he not told them (what with everybody being captured and all that). And considering that one of their other means of dispersing information over long distances was a sleeping child, suck it Rita, he did amazing.

"Besides, I wasn't trapped in a mirror. I was trapped in an intensely powerful faerie artifact with the power to destroy a True Fae itself." So you know, pretty impressive. "It just looked like a mirror. I could easily free myself from an actual mirror."

[amphibiopathic]

For a brief, fleeting moment, there's relief as Eruka's scooped out of harm's way, whatever exotic, 'lucky' water creature the pond's been populated with giving up the chase.

That lasts exactly about as long as it takes her to realize who's holding her. Frogs can't technically sweat or grow pale, and her blood can't grow any colder than it already is -- something that makes the warmth of his grip stand out -- but her heartbeat jacks up and her eyes all but bulge out her head once she realizes who this is. The last time she saw him, he looked half-dead, and now... wait, what is he even doing out here?!

Hopefully that question was rhetorical, since all she can offer in return is freezing in his fingers and ribbiting weakly. At the very least, she isn't trying to plop back into the water, but give her a moment or two to reboot.

[npcarnival]

He stares at her for a few more moments, slightly raising his eyebrows as if to indifferently say 'okay then.'

He leaves her in his hands, sitting on his palms but not gripped by them. He looks at the water and the creatures within it silently, apparently content to remain there unmoving for longer than she probably is.

[naturalsakura]

"Well, that's simple. We can talk and play." Haruhi is a natural multitasker so she's used to doing multiple things at once. Though, not everyone is her so that was something to consider.

"Plus, from what I've heard, the lines can sometimes get pretty long. We can just simply talk while we wait. It definitely helps time go by a lot quicker than it actually is."

[naturalsakura]

"Told you. I'm not too picky." She's surprisingly used to wearing boys' clothes. Thanks, Host Club. Though, it's interesting that Nagisa-san saw her as a girl. She definitely isn't complaining about it, either way.

"Ahaha. Sorry if it's not too pleasing to your own aesthetics, Nagisa-san." She says with a slightly nervous laugh.

[fortuneglass]

Carly is quick to shake her head. If anything she seems rather pleased with the choice. "Not at all! I just wanted to be sure- it's not a request I see made often!" she explains, nodding. "I guess..." She thinks it over.

"...Mnh...I think the last time anyone picked something like that, it was Steven? We designed a really nice dress for his act~ It was covered in sequins, and stars..." She cuts herself short before she gets carried away. "Anyway- it's not my store so make sure they know that when they're fitting it too, ok?"

[naturalsakura]

"Alright then!"

When it is their turn, Haruhi pays for ten rings. It should be simple enough. Heck, she's not even that far from them. When she starts off, she gets only two rings around the bottles before it just divulges into them completely bouncing off. Haruhi's eye twitches when she notices that she's out of the rings.

"What the hell? It's totally rigged." That was nothing but an accusation on her end but it definitely felt like she got played. She lets out a huff, crossing her arms.

"Your turn."

[atouts]

"Then I'll just have to tell him otherwise once he's awake," Childermass grumbles, settling down on his side of the bed as Celandine curls up. "Although now there's two Stranges wandering around out there. I suppose I ought to worry."

But he won't. One kissed his man and the other was, apparently, very useless, so why should he care? That's what the other one can do, not him.

[atouts]

"No, no, it was definitely Zangetsu, not a lamp," Childermass disagrees, waving a hand and beckoning the ghost closer right up until Lambert points out how many holes he has. The chest hole, yeah, whatever, but what are those? He squints at Zan's ears.

"What in God's name did you do to your ears? Those are a lot. A lot..."

He's going to stagger forward a step and straight up some, reaching for one of those aforementioned — and very pierced — rabbit ears.

[atouts]

"Here, there, somewhere. Does it matter? Lambert's right. There's bound to be another place to drink just around the corner," Childermass carries on jovially. It is very unlike him. Too friendly, way too drunk, probably still in need of bed rest but here he is anyway.

[periphrasing]

"My gem parts?" Peridot repeats skeptically, muttering under her breath. Does he mean her gem? That sounds kind of weirdly intimate!

She's not here to be a stick in the mud though, so after a second of contemplating what Strange could possibly mean by that, she shrugs and hops up on the massage table.

That's when Bryndah's assistant-- A strange little cat man with a name tag that reveals his name to simply be 'Patches'-- Comes out from behind the curtain wheeling a heavy looking covered dolly, like the sort of thing that looks like it's meant to contain a ton of linens or something.

[amphibiopathic]

It's a frog vs. fae stareoff -- and predictably, Eruka cracks first.

"T-that was good timing," she stammers, reluctant to offer something as easy as a thank you to a fae. If he didn't recognize her from her form, she figures, he probably(?) won't recognize her voice. He was pretty out of it. "But I'm all right now, so if you could, you know ... put me down?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert raises his brows.

"I am," he confirms, cocking his head. But that Yuya's asking about him has a pretty clear implication... "Is that a problem?"

[whattaprick]

Yeah, no. Even Lambert's better half can recognize someone that needs more help than he can give.

"Not if you don't want it to be," he says, reassuringly, then changes the subject.

"Where's Yuya? I would have thought you'd be stuck together while we were here."

[hippocarnival]

"It's been happening to a lot of people," he says, in a tone that doesn't belie any sort of positive feelings about it. Even if he doesn't outright admit it, he feels a sort of discomfort with it. He doesn't want to tell Lambert how much he has a problem with it when he's not the one experiencing it.

"But it's pretty easy to come back together, too. Gongenzaka and Mr. Strange did."

[npcarnival]

"Ah, I didn't know know if you could talk," he says, apparently not very fussed either way. With a visible wince he leans over to set her down on the walkway, then seems to basically forget about her as he crossed his arms gingerly and keeps looking out at the water.

He's ostensibly thinking, or something, but something about his disposition is just kind of eerie, like he's disconnected from reality. His tail slowly sways back and forth, lethargic and distracted just like everything else he's doing.