lostcarnival | ⇨ 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

All things considered, Shabon has been pretty okay! Sure, people started splitting into halves at some point, but none of them seem particularly evil or violent, so that's probably fine? Steven has been trying to make the most of the rest stop for what it is, and not dwell too much on whatever magical problems they have had. He needs to focus on healing these cuts.

Amethyst doesn't end up having to approach Steven, nor does she consciously get the chance to avoid him for long. The moment he sees her, he ends up running up and grabbing her into a hug from behind, with a squish.

The squish is because he's covered from head to foot with some kind of green goop, with only a towel around his waist, and some kind of leaf-based wrap covering his still-healing wounds above that.

"Amethyst!" he yells.

"Steven!"

Amethyst twists around in his slippery grip so she can throw her arms around him. If it was up to her, she'd be putting off speaking to him a little longer, but also? She had no idea until just know whether or not he was okay, and he seems to be, and that's great.

She leans back to get a better look at what exactly is going on with the goop situation. "Whoah, you're really gettin' the whole spa treatment, huh?" She licks some of the green stuff off her hand. "You feelin' any better?"

The goop is definitely made of seaweed, among other things, because I'd have a hard time believing Amethyst hasn't tasted that before.

"Yeah, haha - I think the iron cuts are getting a lot better. This goopy stuff is supposed to accelerate natural healing and I've been getting it every day."

He's not sure if it's an effect that actually stacks like that, but who cares, he hasn't got anything better to be doing.

"How was home? Was everyone okay? Is... Is dad still there? He is, right?"

He's pretty sure everyone that isn't currently in the carnival should be back there, but he isn't totally sure. Not to mention, he has no idea where Amethyst is sitting timeline wise in comparison to him.

"Yeah!" says Amethyst. "Yeah, it's -- everyone's fine. Actually I just came from an awesome party and everyone was having a great time."

"A party?" he sounds surprised. "I... I don't actually know if we're coming from the same points in the timeline or anything. But... nothing I remember from the time I left was very party-like."

Yeah, Amethyst is pretty sure that if Steven had experienced the same amount of their timeline as she has now, she would have heard about it. She keeps that to herself, though.

"Yeah, it... Huh, well, what was the last thing you saw?"

"Well... Um..."

Come to think of it, he's not sure if they ever talked about it. So much has been focused on carnival stuff, he's practical forgotten about his home life half of the time.

"These gems came to earth looking to abduct some humans for the Human Zoo they have in space, and... I kind of... told them I was Rose Quartz so they would take me instead of hurting anybody else?"

He blurts out the last part very quickly. He's only just realized that he never really touched on this with any detail - everyone had been so bogged down by Portland at the time.

"... Oh," says Amethyst. "Oh, dude. Yeah, there's been some stuff since then..." She hesitates. She doesn't want to get into any of the stuff that might stand out as especially bad, like the whole thing with Lars, or Lapis leaving...

"... I mean, you came back, obviously, and... we've all been kind of worried about about the Diamonds and everything but..." She scratches her nose, getting some seaweed goop on her face. "Well, before the wedding you sang this whole song about how we should just try an' take our minds off the bad stuff for a bit, and I guess that's where everyone's at, y'know?"

"Wait - there's a WEDDING?!" Steven exclaims, that detail immediately dominating his focus. Nothing else matters until she explains who is getting married. It could be basically anybody, and he'd still be thrilled.

"Oh! Yeah!" Amethyst sits up on her back legs. "It was awesome -- Ruby and Sapphire got married!"

"They WHAT?" Steven starts, and at first it's in the jovial tone of just asking for the deets, but then he seems to realize that actually doesn't make any sense at all.

"Wait... I didn't even think they knew how marriage worked."

"Ruby read about it in a comic," says Amethyst with a cheerful shrug. "Her and Sapphire had a little falling out about some stuff and they decided to make a big thing out've it when they got back together. Obviously you helped a ton."

He kind of wants to ask what happened, but at the same time, it's not like he hasn't seen Garnet break up about something before... and there was a lot going on at home. The fact that it has a happy ending is so pleasing, though, that he's not even sure he wants to know.

"Oh man. It must have been so romantic..." Garnet is everyone's favourite couple, after all. "...It sucks that they got in a fight, but... who could ask for a happier ending? I hope I get to see it whenever I go back..."

If Garnet had a wedding and he never gets to see it, he'll be really upset.

"Aw, of course you will," Amethyst says, giving him a pat (squelch) on the shoulder. "And it'll be great. I never knew how much of a pro at weddings you were."

"Haha, oh man, I've been keeping a scrapbook filled with all the best wedding stuff ever since dad told me what a wedding was!" Steven says, vicariously pleased at having been able to realize his wedding dreams back at home. "I've never organized a wedding before, but I've watched a lot of TV, and that's practically the same thing."

"Yeah, don't they have entire shows about that stuff?" She sighs wistfully. She kind of misses browsing TV. "Hey, maybe one day someone here will get hitched and we can have a big party at the Carnival..."

⇨ SHABONDAMASHII

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

COMING BACK TO THIS FOREVER LATER, SORRY

GASP! NO WORRIES I AM HAPPY TO BACKTAG

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject