lostcarnival | ⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

Entry tags:

⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You wear earrings?" He didn't know her ears were even pierced. Rita doesn't usually come across as girly, but now that he looks at her and remembers the manor... well, she actually seems to gravitate to looking kinda pretty on special occasions, doesn't she?

"No way, let me see. I bet they look great!" Yuya doesn't wait for much response before he picks up one of the earrings with his free hand, and uses his other hand to try and clumsily turn Rita by the shoulder so he can hold it up by her face.

"Sometimes. I haven't worn any in a while, and there's usually no reason to, so..." As she trails off, Yuya grasps her shoulder, and she freezes, blushing slightly but standing still enough for him to see.

Yuya carefully brushes her hair aside to reveal her ear, holding the earring approximately where it should hang.

"Now's as good a time as any. It looks good!" Which Yuya would say no matter what, because his sense of fashion is terrible. But he says it so earnestly that it's genuine. Rita might be shy about the things that make her happy, but Yuya hates seeing her deny them from herself like that.

"Here--" He holds his mochi bag between his teeth, freeing up his hand so he can scoop up the vendor's hand mirror and hold it up for Rita to see. "Ou houl' uy vem!"

Unsurprisingly, it's hard to talk with a bag stuffed into your mouth. But she gets the idea.

Rita takes a long look at her reflection, then glances back at Yuya. Sure, he'd probably say it looked good regardless... but in the end, she kinda likes them, and hearing someone else say so pushes her a little closer to getting them.

Normally, she'd feel the need to make an excuse to buy them, some way to not look too eager, or perhaps she'd even walk away and try to forget about it... but this time, she manages a small smile a quick decision.

"...All right. Why not?"

She hands the vendor some coins, takes the earring from Yuya and, leaning to see properly in the mirror, affixes it to her ear. The other half of the pair follows.

Yuya grins wider, pulling the bag out of his mouth when she takes the earring and holding the mirror up until she's finished. He notices she doesn't fight him for once, and the hopeful part of him wants to believe her prickly exterior is breaking a little.

"We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves, right?" Hs holds out the bag towards her. "Do you like sweet foods?"

They are... aren't they? Yuya's encouragement chips away at some of Rita's doubt, and she reaches out to take one of the unfamiliar balls from it. "Yeah. What is this?"

Part of her wonders if he'd still be this friendly if he knew she wasn't entirely who he thinks she is...

But she'll try not to dwell on that worry. Before he can answer, she takes a bite out of the chewy confectionery.

The one she grabs has a pink color to it, and some sort of soft flour dusted over it. It's soft, extremely chewy, and tastes like sweet strawberry.

"It's daifuku mochi. That one's strawberry," he explains, if the taste doesn't tip her off. "But I have chocolate and green tea, too."

He sets down the mirror and rustles in the bag to pull out one of the chocolate ones, biting it in half and chewing with a satisfied hum. And then continues talking while he chews, because he has no manners. "It's really good, right?"

"Mm," Rita agrees, already shoving the rest of the mochi in her mouth. But in case that came out unclear, she clarifies with a, "Mm-hm." It takes a little while to finish chewing it.

"Have you tried much of the other stuff they have around here?" she then asks, staring down the rows of booths lining the street.

"Some of it! I've been in the city all day." On his feet all day, and he rocks back an forth on his heels momentarily. They're sore by now, but he perseveres.

"A lot of this is similar to stuff I know back home." Accounting for interdimensional differences, this is a pretty familiar trip. He's just a little homesick, thinking of his friends and family he can't spend it with... but he has friends here, and he's going to focus on making this a good time with them. "There's games, too, like the carnival."

"I guess it sort of is like the carnival..." Rita muses. "Or how it used to be."

She doesn't particularly miss the performance weeks. Even this Rita would rather avoid the crowds and the stage work. But there is an odd feeling of nostalgia, even though it hasn't been that long since they stopped performances.

"...Hey, those look good!" And suddenly, her attention has been grabbed by a different booth, and she's gravitating toward it. It's a snack vendor, proudly advertising chocolate-covered bananas, though it also sells other fruit covered in chocolate, caramel, or other sugary syrups.

Yuya's own reminiscing is cut short as Rita wanders to another vendor. He pops the rest of the mochi in his mouth before following right behind her, using his slight leverage of height to peer at all the confections. "Yeah... which one do you want?"

"Hmm..." Rita looks over the selection. There are caramel apples, chocolate-covered strawberries and cherries, candied pineapple and kiwi slices... but in the end, she points to one of the chocolate-covered bananas decorated with colorful sprinkles. "That one."

The vendor obliges and hands one to her.

Yuya roots through his pouch and passes the cost of the treat to the vendor while Rita receives it. It looks pretty good, and he's considering coming back for one of the supplies later.

"What else have you tried around here? There's so much to do..."

There’s a look of surprise when Yuya goes ahead and pays for her. It’s not a big deal, when they all have ample spending money for things like this, but still. After a moment, she gives him a small, grateful smile.

“I’ve been to the baths and I tried some of the spa treatments... but this is my first time really checking out the town.” Mostly because she was too worried about wasting time that could be used for more important things... before the split.

"I haven't really tried the spa treatments. I've been in town a lot instead," he says with a smile, leaning back from the stall.

"Uh, but I'm glad you're still having some fun while we're here! There hasn't been a lot of that lately..." So much so that they had to stop the carnival operations and all.

Rita takes a few bites of the chocolate banana, starting with small nibbles; it's partly frozen, after all.

"Y, yeah... I guess so," she agrees, though with some uncertainty. "Even when we had time, I'd always find something more important to focus on. I didn't really think I'd go out and do much this time, either, but..." She trails off, frowning.

"But...?" Yuya grins a little wider, looking at her with anticipation as his brain starts filling in possible answers. She has someone special to share it with, she realized she doesn't need to be shy about enjoying these things, hell even just that she needs a break. They all do.

Rita shrinks under his look of expectation, her face flushing. Whatever he wants to hear from her, he's probably going to be disappointed. How can she even explain what happened, anyway?

"...It's complicated," she mutters, then immediately occupies herself with another bite of chocolate banana.

"Oh." A non-answer is also, frankly, disappointing. But if she doesn't want to tell him, he won't press her harder for answers. It is a little hard to read her evasiveness with her blushing in this instance, though. Strange said she was dating someone... is it something to do with that?

"Well... I'm glad you're having fun with the rest of us anyway!" He pulls that smile back up. "You want to keep looking around?"

Her gaze averted, Rita keeps eating, almost as if to use it as an excuse not to say anything. She glances back up at him at the offer, and hesitates.

If she doesn't tell him... is she deceiving him right now? Already, feelings of guilt are starting to gnaw at her. But seeing his smile... Right now, Yuya's telling her he wants to spend time with her, and she wants to believe it. Even though she's just a reject...

"...Yeah. I mean, if you want to... sure."

"Great!" Yuya perks up. Last time he tried to tug her along she didn't like it, so...

He bounces around behind her and starts pushing her forward by her shoulders to guide her. Is this even more annoying than grabbing her wrist? Probably, yes. "Let's go this way!"

"Huh!?" Rita cries out in surprise when he starts pushing her, but she doesn't really resist. This whole 'having fun with friends' thing is still new to her. "Hey, what are you..."

She quickly gets distracted by the festivities in their path, however.

Yuya laughs. He won't push her along for too long, once she starts going forward herself he'll let go and instead fall into step beside her. His gaze drifts along all the stalls, equally enamored with the bright lights and fancy displays.

Once catches his eye, and he points to where bright paper kites with fancy shapes and patterns are being sold. "Look--kites! Have you seen these before?"

He remembers her mentioning she grew up in a cave city, so... there probably isn't a lot of wind or room for kite flying.

Yuya remembers right; they sure don't. Not only that, but Aspio has a general lack of kids and fun things in general.

Rita shakes her head. "Only in books," she replies. "Didn't know they made so many different kinds."

"You can get them in different sizes, too. Let's go look." He gently nudges her before swerving into the kite stall. It's brightly lit inside, putting them on display.

Yuya's drawn by the ones shaped like animals, mostly fish, dragons, there's an octopus in there. There's also lots of flat cuts cut out like animal heads, especially cats. Some really psychedelic ones...

Yuya flips through them, smiling nostalgically. "These are really cool."

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