GHOST TRICK PART ONE: Festival Log!

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Either Ecruteak City or Lavender Town; please mark your toplevel comments accordingly!
When: August 13th-15th
Summary: Celebrate O-bon at a festival near you! For details, see the infopost.
Rating: Will vary from thread to thread. Warn for common triggers if something comes up.
Log:

The streets are lined with NPC-run stalls for food, games, and the assorted tchotchkes of every summer festival you’ve ever seen in your animes! There’s Goldeen Scoop, heaping cones of Swirlix Candy, Test Your STRENGTH (there are two different machines for people and Pokémon; HM04 not required); basically, if you can think of it, it’s there. There will also be a yukata rental stall if you want to go full hog on the cultural side of things. Ecruteak boasts a small stage where the Kimono Girls give a short performance once every two hours; the festivities in Lavender Town are a little quieter, but they also have Haunter-shaped ice cream treats. When you lick them, they Lick you!

On the last evening (August 15th) of the festival in either location, there will be a large bonfire and traditional bon-odori dance in which everyone is welcome to participate. In Lavender Town only, they also set paper lamps afloat in the water past the cliffs.

The closer you get to midnight on the last night of the festival, the more ghosts pop up.

Again, please say which city your character's in and note what dates/times they're there in the header of or within your top--level comment to avoid confusion. Play nice and have fun!

Comments

[defyingfrigidity]

I am. Even with how hard it's been to keep track of Anna, I've had quite the time here so far!

[She laughs. Of course Anna is the one to indulge more in everything the festival has to offer. She's honestly given up on trying to keep track of her sister, choosing instead to just set up a meeting spot to regroup at once they've both had their fill of the festival.]

It's funny, though... sometimes I forget that I've been here for almost two years. But then celebrations like this happen and I think about how I would've been terrified to participate in something like this back home.... so it's been making me think, I suppose.

[That isn't to say she isn't nervous on some level - she's sure she'll always have this lingering anxiety no matter what she does. But it's no longer crippling her, so that's what's really important.

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust chuckles softly, understanding that sentiment.]

There are days I simply stand back and take stock of my life and wonder that it can be real. I never had fun, before this place. Not real fun. Not like this.

[And maybe she isn't enjoying herself as much as she could, but that's not the point. All of this life...it's so much more than she'd ever dreamed. And so much less, at the same time.]

Sometimes it's overwhelming.

[defyingfrigidity]

I know how you feel. About it being overwhelming, I mean. But... [Another laugh, softer this time.] It's... not such a bad feeling, isn't it? Better to be overwhelmed by something positive than something negative.

[a_sin_for_him]

In a way...but it brings guilt, for me. Sometimes I feel I don't deserve it.

[Not when so many others are denied, or have it taken from them too soon.]

I know it's a foolish, irrational way of thinking, but...ah well. That's how feelings are, I suppose. I'm not complaining, I'm not. I'm very lucky, and grateful for that.

[She doesn't want Elsa to get the wrong impression. She is very thankful for the life that's been given to her. But it sometimes feels as though she has something that she shouldn't. Like she's stolen this life, which is ridiculous.]

As I said. it can simply be...overwhelming.

[defyingfrigidity]

I understand that feeling, as well. Sometimes, no matter how much you try and make up for the things you've done in the past, it doesn't feel like enough. So good things happening to you...

[Elsa's gaze drops as she idly runs a thumb over the snowflake patterns on her yukata's sleeve. It's been almost two years since she arrived in Johto, since the gates of the castle in Arendelle were opened and she and Anna were reunited. But two years.... no matter how good they are, they can't make up for thirteen years of ignoring her sister. It can't make up for how she nearly destroyed Arendelle because of her inability to control her powers, and the need to just run from everything like a coward.

She still can't fully believe that she's in the clear for what she'd done. And yet...]

But... if whatever higher being may be up there didn't believe that we deserved this goodness, then we wouldn't be blessed with good fortune, would we?

[a_sin_for_him]

Yes, that's it exactly. Can all trespasses be made up for? Or do we simply have to live with the knowing of what we've done? Or haven't.

[Lust looks back on both, now. She should have made better use of the time she'd had here, with those she loved. The ones now lost, gone back to that strange unknown land from which there is no return.]

[Normally.]

My...I've heard that before. I like to think its true. This place, it's a second chance for so many of us... even if we can't undo what's been done, we can be better here.

[defyingfrigidity]

... Maybe we aren't meant to be the judges of that. If we were, I don't think any of our wrongdoings would be made up for in our eyes. But if everyone else says that we have nothing else to make up for...

[It doesn't really make it any easier to accept, as evidenced by Elsa's continued guilt, but. If others say it's okay, she can at least be comforted that they're not bothered by it anymore.]

Indeed. Not only does it give us peace, it gives us a chance to see more than what we could've seen back home! It lets us do so many things... [Her smile returns, a fond glint in her eyes.] Even if I hadn't been isolated for most of my life, I doubt I would've ever had the opportunity to see the outside world as much as I have while traveling just through Johto.