⇨ 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

[exaomori]

It's shochu, who doesn't enjoy it? Well, maybe some people don't. That's their problem, though. Besides, it isn't like they have a budget, so they can get the good stuff.

"It does, yeah. Most of 'em ain't this fancy, but you got the baths and everything, so they're good enough on their own~" It's just convenient to have everything all in one spot. "Ahh, you may have heard of it--" Shura's interrupted by the arrival of their drinks, a decent sized bottle of clear liquid and two tiny cups. Was that a hint to take it slow? Well, whatever it is, Shura's actually bothering to pour it properly, first his cup, then hers. "It was called Edo back then."

[kingsroads]

Strange brightens up at the word 'Edo.' Oh! He knows that place!

"I've heard of that city! Unfortunately, I've never been. I've been to the continent a few times but never that far east."

Tentatively, Strange takes a small sip of the shochu. Once he's decided that yeah, it's good, he takes a larger drink.

[exaomori]

Well, maybe she's satisfied his curiosity. Hopefully. It wasn't like she had really paid that much attention in her history classes.

"Ah, well, it wasn't that much back then. We weren't real interested in most of the Western countries back then, anyway."

Shura will nurse her cup slowly, at least until it looks like Strange is ready for a refill. Then she'll just toss it back.

[kingsroads]

"If it's even a quarter as impressive as this place, I'll be interested. Now that all this business with Napoleon is finished, perhaps I'll pay Edo a visit." He says, like Shura will undoubtedly know what that business with Napoleon is.

Strange polishes off the rest of the shochu fairly quickly. Fun fact! He's a tiny bit of an alcoholic! Shura tossing back the shochu makes Strange give her an approving nod. And now it's his turn to take the bottle and refill their cups.

"The next time it's quiet enough that we can do something like this, I'll take you drinking with Lambert and I. I'm certain the three of us would have a grand time drinking some poor bar dry."

[exaomori]

Shura knows who Napoleon is, though not in detail. She's more familiar withe the cake, let's be honest.

"Just be sure to take a bath before you go in the nice bath, 'kay? Thy won't let you into the spring if you're dirty." Those dirty Westerners, that Shura had heard plenty about.

But drinking, with both him and Lambert? That could be terrible. Shura drains half o f her cup, pretends to consider the option.

"Nyeheh, that'd be fun~ My coworkers back home were too tricky to drink around, y'know?"

[kingsroads]

"Whereas I didn't really have coworkers to drink around." One of the problems of being one of two magicians in England: it's you and some other dude. And if you didn't want to drink with said other dude, then that's a problem right there.

"I mostly drank with my fellow soldiers instead." Though this does make Strange a little bit curious. "What did you do back home anyway?"

It's hard to picture any member of the carnival at something like a dull office job: it's especially hard to picture Shura in one.

[exaomori]

Drinking with soldiers sounds familiar enough. Working with her rank and file exorcists was so much easier than anyone from the Vatican.

But her work? Shura hums, pursing her lips out. She hadn't thought too much on how to explain her job, but at least this guy did know that supernatural things existed, so that took care of some of the problem of explaining what she did.

"Back home, I was an exorcist. In a way, some parts of the carnival ain't too different from that, y'know?"

[kingsroads]

"An exorcist?" Thankfully for everyone, Strange knows the vague concept of exorcism. He's just in disbelief that someone could have a job as an exorcist to begin with.

"Does your world have enough ghosts that exorcism is considered a profession?"

[exaomori]

"Eeh, if it was just ghosts, then we wouldn't have much to worry about." Of course, he just thinks it's ghosts. Dang, this was already too much trouble.

"Anything that you'd prolly think of as supernatural--ah, lemme think--redcaps and goblins, along that line. If they get to be an issue, that's when we step in."

[kingsroads]

"That sounds like the stuff of children's stories," says the literal magician who's made multiple contracts with the fae. Still, Strange knows he can't really judge on what sounds ridiculous or not ridiculous.

He's super curious and nosy, though, so he continues to barrage Shura with questions.

"Do they come from the realm of Faerie or another realm entirely? Or were they simply always there?"

[exaomori]

"That's what most people say who can't see it." Fairytales, myths--anything but real. That was fine by Shura on most days. "An' honestly, it's better than most people can't see back home."

But seriously, wasn't this supposed to be time for relaxing, not interrogating her about home?? "Mm, you can kinda think of it as two parallel world mirrorin' each other. There's the material world you and I live in, Assiah, and then there's the spirital world demons come from, Gehenna. Demons don't have a physical form of their own, so they gotta possess somethin' in order to exist in Assiah."

[kingsroads]

Unfortunately for Shura, Strange views in-depth conversations about magic or monsters as a perfect way to relax. He will keep on pressing her until she changes the subject. He's super interested about the demons and devils of Shura's world and looks like he could talk about this stuff for ages.

"Interesting! Can humans go into Gehenna? Or does the physiognomy of demons prevent anything with an actual physical form from visiting? What about people projecting their soul instead?"

Just change the topic, Shura.

[exaomori]

Sorry, Strange, you lost her at physiognomy. Her nose wrinkles as if she just smelled something terrible, and she has to down her cup before she replies.

"I don't understand half of what you're sayin'. If you wanna ask that kinda stuff, you should ask that Four-eyes." Good job, Shura, passing the buck on to Yukio.

[kingsroads]

Strange looks a little confused for a moment. Four-eyes? However, context clues mean that he's able to figure out glasses + someone from her world = Yukio Okumura. He'll make a mental note to bother the shit out of poor Yukio when the time comes.

"I'll keep that in mind. Of course, if you have any questions about myself and my world, please feel free to ask."

At least he realizes that he's just been hammering Shura with a barrage of questions.

[exaomori]

Good, let the nerds talk. Though whether or not Yukio really needs to be questioned about home is another matter entirely.

"Of course~" Naturally, Shura has no intention of asking Strange any personal questions unless she absolutely must, but if it means he shuts up, she'll pretend that he's being generous. For now, she'll lift a foot up out of the water, wiggling her toes as she gives her skin a look-over.

"Nyeheh, it already looks so much better!"

[kingsroads]

Since Shura's lifting her foot out, Strange will join in and lift his foot out, to give it a better look.

"It does look better," he admits. "It's a pity we can't have something like this at the carnival full time."

Contract some pedicure fish, RM. (What do you mean that's not how it works.)

[exaomori]

Strange, dont show off your man foot!! But Shura knows that she probably invited a look at his tootsie when she pulled hers out, so she'll give his foot a quick glance. Well, it probably looks better than before.

"There's already a hot spring, y'know. It ain't out the question to add somethin' in like this, we just gotta ask real nice~"

Contracting some pedicure fish sound totally reasonable!! A maybe get a few masseuses or something and call is hazard pay.

[kingsroads]

He's only been to like two spas, okay, he doesn't know the etiquette!

Strange puts his foot back in the pedicure bath as Shura talks. "If I wasn't going home after my contract is up, I'd sign on for another year to get some proper spa equipment."

Pedicure fishes, maybe a masseuse, ooh what about body scrubs....

[exaomori]

"Mm, just find a place that has a DIY kit~ I'm sure you could figure out some things from that." If Shura was more into crafts and DIY, she could probably tell him how to make a decent salt scrub, but alas, he's SOL.

"Mmm, we need to get some fac emasks before we head out, don't let me forget. That's easy to do no matter where you are."

[kingsroads]

Strange looks a little confused as Shura mentions DIY kits. Though when she mentions face masks, he's even more confused, and can't help but frown.

"Are you talking about that mud thing they put on your face? I thought that was a specialized treatment."

Strange has yet to be introduced to the wonders of 'paper sheet masks' or 'things you buy in a squeeze tube.'

[exaomori]

"That's one kind of mask. There are plenty of them out there, lotta them we can do whenever we leave. It's just gettin' the right kind for your complexion." Meaning Shura is going to ensure he ends up with the dumbest sheet masks she can find.

[kingsroads]

And this is how a grownass man ends up with one of those sheet masks that look like animal faces.

Predictably, Strange is super pumped about this idea and looks like he's ready to take this from zero to 100. "Well what are we waiting for! I think my feet are eaten up enough—show me where you can find those masks!"

[exaomori]

"Y'think? Well, it'll be best if you come by here again before we head out~" Is Shura passive aggressively telling him his man feet are bad? Probably. But most assuredly, Strange is going to end up with a wide variety of the dumbest masks to wear.

At least she mostly remembers where she saw some little shop pretty close that sold face kits. It's half-souvenir, half-beauty store, plenty of little knickknacks and other things to distract customers. Shura won't immediately guide him to the face stuff, instead distracted by this particular device.

"Eeh, they sell those here, too?"