⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

Lambert stares blankly. Sorry, Peridot, witcher school only covered bullshit magic genetics, not bullshit magic physics.

“So .... you think you could make something that can keep iron from even hitting us?” he asks. While he speaks, he’s gingerly unwrapping his towel — revealing, somehow, even more scales than he had before, a smooth unbroken patch now covering most of the area from the apex of his thighs and curving over the bone of his hips. Not that the sight lasts long, because he’s quickly sinking into the water.

“That would work if someone’s shooting at you.” Unconsciously, he rubs a hand at a shoulder. “Stopping claws coated in iron might be trickier.”

I swear I'm gonna get faster about tagging this back ghggh SORRY

[periphrasing]

"Well... Yes, it would really only protect against weapons such as arrows or throwing knives or the like," Peridot admits with a small frown, privately a bit irked that he doesn't seem to be as excited about her brilliant idea as she is. "I don't think there's a strong enough magnetic force anywhere in the entire multiverse that would be powerful enough to deflect an iron strike from a pissed off bear like what Childermass experienced.

[whattaprick]

At the mention of Childermass, Lambert's expression unsurprisingly grows tense, pinching with worry. He's rested and patched up, but he's still in pretty bad shape, and it's all for such a stupid, avoidable reason too. His tail curls around himself a little, unconsciously, and he shakes his head.

"Probably not..." he sighs, trying to focus back to the idea at hand. "We know at least one of the Winter Court is thinking about the same thing." Testing it on hapless changelings, no less, but Peridot probably doesn't want to go down that route. Even if Lambert would probably volunteer.

"A magic shield's no use against iron, so something crafted is probably the right way to go." He pauses, thinking uncertainly. "Can you really get it small enough to wear...?"

Look, he might have experience with a camera and a laptop in his memory, that doesn't mean he appreciates how they work.

[periphrasing]

"The magnetic field generator? Sure I can, if I can get my hands on the right materials," Peridot snorts. "It's the stuff meant to deflect heavier strikes that I'm less certain about. I'm a technician, not an armorer. I know how to craft metals but having our entire militia running around in heavy plate armor probably isn't ideal."

She pauses, watching some of that medication that Lambert dumped into the bath drift around in the water. "The Winter Court... you're talking about that umm... The Mother of Invention, right?"

[whattaprick]

"Definitely not. You think Rita would let me make her wear that much?" Lambert snorts, but he nods at the second question. "Strange got talking to one of the changelings who was with the World Walkers, and apparently that's what she was working on. Pretty ambitious, but considering how badly iron fucks the fae over, you can't really blame them for trying to find a way around their biggest weakness. Maye a fae can't use iron for without starting a war, but that doesn't stop anyone else."

And now it's their weakness, too.

"Like silver for monsters," Lambert muses, sinking lower into the water so it covers his shoulders, too. He shuts his eyes, leaving the lingering conclusion unspoken -- that must make them monsters, too.

[periphrasing]

Peridot raises an eyebrow at that last comment, watching Lambert sink deeper into the water.

"Yyyyyeah. Well... I'll have to ask Strange for more details at some point, then," she adds awkwardly. She doesn't quite pick up on the unspoken conclusion that Lambert is putting down. Hypothetically, if it were explained to her, she would probably gripe about the inconsistent logic. If being weak to Silver is what makes something a monster, then how does being weak to iron ALSO make them all monsters? Sheesh.

[whattaprick]

“Probably not a bad idea.” Lambert’s thinking of it along biological and physical lines — the fact that there isn’t really any reason a monster should be weak to a metal so fragile it can’t cut without blunting itself.

“Demons are weak to silver, angels are weak to lead, and fae are weak to iron,” he recites tipping his head back to rest against the edge of the bath. “It’s got to have something to do with magic ... but steel doesn’t hurt or weaken as much, but it’s still got iron in it. Is there just a way to just ... make iron not be iron? Keep magic from recognizing what it is?”

He sounds steadily frustrated as he goes on, but then he snorts and shakes his head, dipping his mouth just below the water’s surface to exhale bubbles in disgust.

“I can think about this as much as I want, but I wouldn’t get any closer to an answer.”

[periphrasing]

Peridot frowns. "This will probably sound weird coming from me, but. You know we don't have to figure this out right this second, right? We're here to relax. You're in here specifically to try and recover from your gruesome tiger wounds. Plus, I'm the one that's in charge of the armory. Fixing this is my problem a lot more than it is yours."

congrats peridot you did it

[whattaprick]

Lambert shakes his head, raising a wet hand to run impatiently through his own hair.

“We’re fighting against time,” he says. “We can’t afford not to think about this, and it’s all our problem, not just yours.” Moving so much so quickly has him wincing, though, and he drops his hand back into the water with a weary sigh, looking exhausted and troubled.

“But maybe you’re right. I can’t even...”

What he can’t even, exactly, he never does get to say. This is partly because he’s trailing off, lost in his own thoughts. Mostly, it’s because there are suddenly two Lamberts sitting in the water. One immediately relaxes, stretching his arms over his head and rearranging himself. The other hunches in on himself, drawing his legs up to bury his face against them.

“You’re right,” relaxed Lambert says, calmly. “I’m sure you can come up with something. We should take the chance to recuperate and restore our strength as much as we can.”

[periphrasing]

"UHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Peridot creaks, boggling with widened at both Lamberts, ears drooping with confusion. "Uh... Umm... ah..."

She stops. Rubs her eyes in a sort of comical way, in case she's seeing things. Of course, she isn't. She knows she isn't. She ran into Jasper earlier who said something about getting split in two, but. This is the first time she's seeing the actual moment of the split.

"L...Lambert...ss..." Peridot babbles uselessly, lifting an index claw and pointing shakily between the two of them. What the fuck. What the FUCK.

[whattaprick]

The hunched Lambert only seems to shrink in on himself when Peridot points between them. The other Lambert blinks and looks to Peridot, head cocked.

"What's wrong?"

"We're wrong," the Lambert beside him mutters, ears flattening against his head. Irritation flickers across his twins face, and he scowls.

"I wasn't asking you."

[periphrasing]

Hearing the both of them speak-- and interact with each other, no less-- seems to snap Peridot out of it. She shakes her head rapidly and fixes a scowl on them both, finally rising to her feet to experience the extremely rare opportunity of being able to loom over them both while they're sitting in the water.

"No. Nuh-uh," she says, shaking her head in disagreement. "I'm not dealing with this. You two need to fuse back together right now!"

[whattaprick]

As Peridot raises her voice, the hunched in Lambert flinches out of his curled-in position, backing up with wide eyes.

“No,” he stammers, “I can’t—“

His other half doesn’t budge an inch, settled comfortably against the edge as the terrified Lambert jerks out of the spring, water pouring off smooth scales, and scrambles towards the exit.

[periphrasing]

"No no no-- Wait!" Panicked, Peridot lunges for the fleeing witcher but only manages to get a hold on the very end of his tail. It easily slips right out of her grasp, and as a result, she eats dirt and the anxious Lambert is free to flee god only knows where.

Peridot wobbles to her feet and casts an annoyed glare at the remaining Lambert, who's still chilling in the pool and looking cool as a cucumber. "Um. What the heck was THAT!?" she demands.

[whattaprick]

"What was what?" Lambert asks, frowning like nothing wrong has gone on at all. Then he turns his head back over in the direction the other Lambert ran off in, and huffs.

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it. He's useless, anyway."

[periphrasing]

"Useless--!?" she splutters, eyes bulging. "That was half of your soul that just ran out the door! And you're not even going to try to stop him!?"