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

B

[kissmyaspis]

[Unsurprisingly, Athena has the look of someone who very much does not want to be here. She just... didn't get it. She could understand wanting to show respect to people who are already dead, but what do such festivities have anything to do with that? And games??? It all seems a bit ridiculous, and under any other circumstances, she would have stayed in Violet while all of this was going on.

But... her companion had wanted to go. And she wasn't going to let the guy go off on his own, not when Jack was out there. So she tagged along, and had made... somewhat of an effort to mix in - there was no way in hell was she getting into one of those yukata, but she did leave her armor back at the inn. That should be good enough, right?]

... I don't get it. I thought we were supposed to catch these monsters with those balls. Why are they making others do it that way?

[Seriously why is that so needlessly complicated???]

[secondhandsome]

You're overthinking it.

[Hanging out with Athena at a festival is... weird. Not bad weird, but... Well, basically all the time they spent together back on Elpis was mission related, there wasn't all that much downtime. Just hanging out someplace fun with her is new.

...It's also pretty new for him to be the fun one. But wow, Athena...]

It's a game, it's not really about the catching, it's just... y'know, about the fun and the challenge?

...Or about profit for the one running the game, if you wanna get cynical about it.

[kissmyaspis]

I'm starting to think it's the latter. How can you expect to catch anything using wet paper?

[Look, bud, you remember how she was with the motivational posters thing. If she can't understand that, there's no way she'd understand silly carnival games.]

Why not try one of the ones that's less obviously rigged?

[secondhandsome]

I dunno. Really carefully? Or maybe just with lots of determination.

[Yeah, how's that one working out for you, Tim? Cause another Goldeen just swam away.

...Maaaaybe Athena has a point.]

Um. Well, I guess there are a bunch of other games. Maybe one you'd be more into.

...There's the strength tester?

[kissmyaspis]

[One eyebrow just. Twitches up.]

You were the one interested in all of these games. I'll just watch.

[secondhandsome]

Aw, you're not even going to try once?

[kissmyaspis]

No. I don't see the point.

[secondhandsome]

I guess it is a pretty different challenge than the kind you're used to.

Maybe you're right. Might be for the best, y'know, if you don't think you could handle it.

[Is he seriously using this strategy on her?

You bet he is.]

[kissmyaspis]

... Really. You're really using that kind of tactic on me, now?

[TRAITOR]

[secondhandsome]

Is it working?

C'moooon.

[kissmyaspis]

[There's a pause, then Athena lets out a long sigh. God, when did she become so damn soft...]

If I do it once, will that make you happy?

[secondhandsome]

[Holy shit, it actually worked. Well, sort of.]

Absolutely.

[kissmyaspis]

[Look she's doing it just to stop him from bothering her. Totally. That's the only reason. It doesn't have anything to do with that dumb, excited smile on his face.]

Fine. [She turns away from the goldeen scoop booth and towards the strength test, rooting around in her pocket for some cash.] One shot. That's all it's going to take.

[secondhandsome]

[Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Athena.]

Oh, I believe it. [He's seen Athena fight, he knows what she can do. It's still gonna be great to see anyway.] I'd say I'm rooting for you, but I doubt that'd make much of a difference.

[kissmyaspis]

It'd be like rooting for a bird to fly.

[Yep, utterly pointless. She drops the needed money into the booth runner's hand, completely ignoring them as they explain how the game works. Instead, she just rolls the mallet around in her hands once, getting a feel for the weight of it. Then she steps forward, lifts the mallet with one hand, and brings it down. Hard.

DING.

It's not just a tap of a ring, either. It's a good, solid sound that shakes the top of the game's tower, and the booth runner is looking pretty glad that they double-checked everything before opening today....]

There. Happy?

[secondhandsome]

Whoa!

[Even if he expected this result, he's still impressed. One handed and a solid hit like that? Damn. Well, that's Athena for you.]

Uh, yeah? Not gonna lie, that was pretty awesome.

[kissmyaspis]

I know.

[Look Athena has great pride in her abilities, so there's no way she's going to be modest when someone compliments her on that, at least.

She doesn't even glance at the prizes the vendor is trying to direct her to. Instead, she just jabs her thumb over her shoulder at them, nodding to Tim.]

I don't need any of that, so you go pick.

[secondhandsome]

And so humble, too.

[He'll gladly tease her about that, okay.

He raises an eyebrow at the prizes, though. Right, she did win something, huh? Uh.]

Pfff, what, like I do... need... [...Sorry, he's distracted, because he just saw, uh. Yeah, you know what, he'll just take one of those stuffed toys, because of... reasons.] ...I mean, I... guess it'd just be a waste to not take something.

[It's definitely not because he's super weak to cute cats, okay.

Shut up.]

[kissmyaspis]

Hey, why be modest when you know you're good at something?

[Using her strength and her skills in battle is what she was meant to do. Why wouldn't she take pride in it?]

... Can't say I was expecting that one.

[secondhandsome]

Ha, well, can't say you're wrong on that one.

[He just... holds the skitty plush a little defensively.]

What? I mean, I just... y'know, took whatever. [Sure you did, Tim.] And it's... kinda cute.

[kissmyaspis]

Suuure. That's why it took you a moment to pick out the one you wanted.

[Look, she's not judging! She was just surprised is all.]

[secondhandsome]

...Okay, yeah.

I just like cats.

[kissmyaspis]

[Yeah, she's def looking amused now.]

Should I be keeping my eye out for those creatures, then? After all, we are supposed to be catching them. Or something like that.

[secondhandsome]

Right, I guess we are supposed to... Should maybe actually get on that myself too. But uh... Yes. Please.

[If he's gonna be on this weird planet, he wants to surround himself with cats. He's earned that much.]

I mean, I already got one type of cat so far, but I wouldn't say no to more...

[A cat which he got from a very dubious source, but he's trying not to worry about that.]

[kissmyaspis]

At least you have an idea. Everything's just too....

[She waves a hand at the stuffed skitty. Too cute.]

Something intimidating would be more my style, but there's been nothing so far.