⇨ 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

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's expression withers because, well, he's already gotten stuck in equally uncomfortable ways. But he's not going to admit to it.

"I'm not planning on jumping through the Silver Mirror." He's reasonably wary of touching fae artifacts.

He looks Lambert over, pausing for a moment. Strange said he was split in too, but it's a really awkward thing to ask outright and see if it's still a problem. So, he won't. Not yet. "But I'll be able to do more when we're in trouble."

[whattaprick]

"After what Strange did with it? Doubt the Ringmaster's letting anyone near it anytime soon."

Lambert doesn't seem to entirely realize he's being observed, tending to be a one- or two-objective sort of person at a time. He's alert and watchful, but there's a tension in how he usually holds himself that's missing. Lambert typically looks like someone ready to start a fight; this Lambert seems like he'd be more likely to end them.

"Magic can be tied to emotion or thought," he says, finally. "Was there anything in common about the times you succeeded?"

[hippocarnival]

"Uuuum..." Yuya's eyes roll up as he tries to find the common thread. He's not as sensitive to the actual magical force, so there's a degree of nuance he just can't pick up on it. Thoughts, though, or emotions..."

I guess... I had a clearer idea of where I was going." He pauses. "And I don't get distracted in the middle. But I think that's because I need to be faster at it."

[whattaprick]

"Maybe focus is your problem," Lambert suggests. "If you haven't gotten the spell working consistently and you've got a lot going on in your mind, maybe that's getting in your way. That's how it is with witcher signs, and that's about as simple as magic can get."

He looks at the mirror, then Yuya again, reaching out to tap a finger -- notably filed blunt and buffed to a shine besides -- against the glass. Pretty solid, which comes as no surprise, but he's not the one with the ability to travel through reflections.

"Walk me through the spell a step at a time," he directs. "What's the first thing you need to do?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya looks between Lambert and the mirror. It's not that he doesn't appreciate the help, but...

"I didn't know you knew so much about magic." He knows Lambert knows it but he hadn't gotten the impression Lambert was so... studious about it? Attentive? Is this hidden depths, or is he just bullshitting?

[whattaprick]

“What, because I don’t go on about it forever like Strange and Rita do?” Lambert asks, wryly. “I’m no mage. Magic doesn’t come naturally. I’ve had to work for every scrap of it I’ve got, and it’s saved my ass more than once. You learn quick when your life depends on it.”

He nods at the mirror. “Magic’s not so different from a new trick with a sword or a fancy bit of footwork.”

[hippocarnival]

"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.

[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?"

[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."

[whattaprick]

"It has," Lambert agrees, though with little apparent concern. "You didn't answer the question."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya pouts. "Well, it's not like it's a good thing." No offense to Lambert personally, this just seems like a crappy result.

"I'm not mad, I know no one's doing it on purpose." But this was supposed to be relaxing, and while nothing's exploded it's still a creppy situation and resulting in some terrible things being said. Done.

"Do you know where the... other you is?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert shrugs. "Somewhere in the city, probably. It doesn't feel like you said losing your soul does," he adds, casually referencing the tidbit of information Yuya shared with Ignatius like it's no big deal, either.

"I don't feel hollow, and it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. It's just ... better."

[hippocarnival]

"But you are missing things. You're missing parts of you, just like the other you is."

He folds his arms in a stubborn gesture. "I don't know exactly what's going on with this, but I've seen both sides of people being split. It's like--" Like him, like what happened with Zarc with less purification, but he pauses and remembers he hasn't told Lambert the entire story yet. Mostly, that means it'll probably be lost on him.

"... It's like each side got different parts, but neither one is whole." Which Lambert might not like to hear about himself, either, so he immediately follows up. "Why do you think it's better?"

[whattaprick]

"Why are you changing the subject like you think I'm going to get angry?" Lambert counters evenly, that placid ease never lifting. Nonetheless, he doesn't see any reason not to answer, so he'll continue:

"I'm calmer. I'm happier. I can appreciate what I have, and I can focus on the things that are important to me. Don't I deserve that?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya pauses, his expression shifting to unease as he has the accusation turned back on him. "I didn't mean you don't deserve that... but losing pieces of yourself isn't a good way of doing it. And what about the other you?"

Both Strange and Gongenzaka's more stable halves had been... well, not exactly empathetic about their messier opposites, but they at least recognized the position they were in. They knew they had to come back together, even if those other parts didn't have their best traits, because that's who they were.

[whattaprick]

“It’s not like they’re lost,” Lambert points out reasonably. “They’re just somewhere they can’t get in the way. I can protect the people I care about because I’m not busy feeling sorry for myself. That’s important to me.”

[hippocarnival]

"... You literally split into two people." He says it slowly, like he's not sure Lambert is picking up on the severity of this. He doesn't care if there's no hollow feeling, it's increasingly obvious some parts of Lambert are just straight up gone.

"Mr. Strange said it might be the mirror, and if it is that means your soul is probably split, too. It's not just getting over how you feel about yourself."

[whattaprick]

“And you told Ignatius your soul was split, but you’re fine,” Lambert points out. “Maybe yours didn’t become different people, but...”

Lambert trails off there, suddenly lost in thought for a moment. His memories of Portland, especially towards the end, are vague, considering how much running around he was doing trying to scramble for a way to get his lover back. Joining the angels had been a last-ditch thing more than anything else, and he’d only paid the barest of attention to the explanation about the ritual. Something about souls... that had been important, hadn’t it?

And though the changes make it hard to tell, now that he’s considering it with what he knows—

“You and Yugo are part of the same soul,” he says, slowly, stating it as a fact and not a question. “You said your soul was in pieces — just how many are you?”

[hippocarnival]

There's a flash of raw pain on Yuya's face when Lambert brings up his own soul, and his shoulders tense up as he gets ready to contest it. What happened to him--the situation was entirely different. They became even more different than two Lamberts, or two Stranges.

But Lambert connects two of the dots before he can, and he stops with wide eyes. He leans back, briefly dropping his gaze down as he loosely folds his arms in a way that's almost embracing himself.

"... Five. Not--not all in the carnival, obviously." He shakes his head. "But that isn't the same as what's happening here. We can't be one person again even if we tried."

And they tried. Zarc tried, and even with as long as Yuto was inside of Yuya their individual personalities refused to merge into a single mind. They'd become too different, like trying to attach an amputation at the scars.

[whattaprick]

"If you could, would you want to be?" Lambert asks. It's not hard to read the distress in Yuya's body language, but the question is serious and earnest.

[hippocarnival]

"No, but--" Yuya cuts off, as Lambert's pushing of the question catches up to him. He's looking for a way to justify himself with it, isn't he? As if because it's what Yuya's coping with, that makes it the right solution.

His expression hardens a little. He'll just have to make clear how much more complicated and different his own situation is.

"We were... we died when it happened," he starts slowly. At least, the easiest way to interpret it is dying. "And then we were reincarnated like that. You know, with different names and homes and everything. Like a restart. We didn't even know each other until recently! It's been like this our whole second lives."

When you spend fourteen years since infancy growing into unique individuals, it's almost impossible to consider erasing all of that to be someone you barely remember being. Let alone someone you regret being.

[whattaprick]

How Lambert takes it is hard to say, given he doesn’t have much of a reaction to Yuya’s expression or what he says. He’s not one to rush his words without thinking them over, after all, so he’s in no hurry to give his answer.

When he does, it’s with a thoughtful frown and a nod. “Sounds complicated.”

Then his expression smooths out, turning genuinely hopeful. It’s a softer, more open expression than Lambert ever usually wears, unselfconscious of his own feelings. Complicated situation or not, he’s taking entirely the wrong lesson from this. “But it worked out for you in the end. Maybe it can work out for me too.”

[hippocarnival]

Knowing, expecting Lambert's just asking for himself somehow doesn't make it hurt less. It's not something Yuya talks about, and then all he has is 'complicated' and 'maybe it'll work for me'?!

Yuya stares back at him, dumbfounded at first. And then it twists when he just looks hopeful, and Yuya holds back tears as he glares at him angrily.

He doesn't find the words to fight him. Instead he lunges, moving to forcibly shove by Lambert to storm down the hall and leave, letting his actions convey just how he feels about that.

[whattaprick]

Yuya shoves past Lambert and startles him out of his own thoughts, sending a twinge through still-healing wounds that makes him flinch. But the boy is past him before he can think of anything to say, and he twists around in confusion to watch him go.

He’s not quite sure why. Yuya’s usually the one in the position of trying to make him feel better about himself — and it worked this time, too. But Lambert’s light side isn’t inclined to lengthy introspection on why people might be angry at him. That’s all his dark side’s problem, with the empathy to fully grasp just why and how he might have pissed someone the hell off. Whatever Yuya’s taken issue with, he’ll probably get over... eventually.

If not, well. There are bigger things for Lambert to worry about.