victory_road | GHOST TRICK PART ONE: Festival Log!

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GHOST TRICK PART ONE: Festival Log!

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hell of a time difference. I mean, you've gotta have come from...I dunno...

[His fingers drift to where the mask clasps ought to be. No metal. Just organic, flawless natural skin. There's a surge of something and he honestly doesn't know which impulse is stronger: to press his lips to where his fingers are touching, or to curl his fingers and rake a bloody gouge down that beautiful face.]

Couldn't be more than a few months after the whole Elpis thing. Which, uh, was a few years ago for me. So yeah. Yeah, it's been a while.

You lucky son of a bitch.

Um... I'm from a, uh, a few days after that mission to get the H-Source. Athena said that was, like... three years ago?

[Assuming Jack and Athena are from around the same time, anyway. Well. Athena should be a little ahead considering certain events she told him about, he knows that much.

Also this just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Maybe if he just subtly moves back a little, that'll be fine?]

Uh. Lucky. Sure, let's go with that...

[Muttering that last bit under his breath. If this is what being lucky is right, he'd hate to find out what it's like not to have luck.]

Christ. The whole rim of my face still burned, from the implants, back then. They...they weren't fun, I gotta say. Getting'em put in. Course now the skin around'em's just...dead. Doesn't feel anything anymore!

[He laughs, but there's a hollowness to it. His face is a mess of dead nerves. He's blind in one eye. And this lucky little shit is just sitting here, not even appreciating it. Jacks hand tightens on the other man's face, fingers moving to subtly grip in his hair.]

So yeah...you're really freaking lucky. Hold still, I'm not done.

Oh. That... sounds unpleasant.

[Okay, so moving back? Didn't go as planned. And now he's right back where he was before, right back to being too nervous to move.

And god, this is honestly very scary. Even dealing with Jack as just a concept wasn't something he took really well, Athena sure saw that. But away from him and with backup, yeah, he started thinking that maybe she was right and Jack wasn't that threatening here.

Boy. The universe sure does get a kick out of proving him wrong, doesn't it?]

Uh, right, s-sure, boss... Sorry?

[Why is he apologizing for wanting personal space, he's not the one being weird and creepy here, why is this his life.]

Damn right you're sorry. This face? It might be slapped onto your skeleton, but it's mine. In every sense of the word.

[He owns it. He paid for it. Contracts were signed. And it's his friggin face!]

I already told you I'm not getting skeevy, so just relax. Do me the friggin favor of letting me remember what it's like to touch my own god damned face!

[Because he's not going to have many more chances. Much as it kills him, it's gonna have to go. This is his doppleganger. Exact match. They don't match. Besides, it's just not cool. Someone else gets his face when he doesn't.]

[But in the meantime...his hand stays on the other man's face.]

["It's mine."

Timothy really wishes he could argue that point, but he can't. Because, fuck, it's true. It's bullshit, but it's true. Hearing Jack actually say it makes it so much worse, though.]

Y-Yeah... I know.

Trust me, I know.

[He really wishes he could forget about that. Hell, he almost did during the festival. So this must be his reality check. Wonderful.]

Right, yeah, of... course, sir. That's fine...

[It's not even a little fine.

But not like admitting that is gonna do him any good. He really, really doesn't want a pissed off Jack holding his face. So just... go with it.]

Yeah it is.

[Geeze, it's sounding like Other Jack might be forgetting who he is here. The fact that he is 'Other Jack'. He's Jack the Second, the artful copy of the masterpiece.]

[And holy shit, what a masterpiece. The way the light hits his eyes. The shadows thrown by such chiseled, patrician features. Jack's fingers trace them, an odd sense of longing coursing through him. It's not like he didn't try to fix his face. He had access to the greatest plastic surgeons in the world. But it was unfixable. Nothing could be done. It defied all medical science.]

[And sure, there's a part of him that's kinda proud. He had a Vault relic punched into his face and he lived through it. It's part of what's made him who he is. But it's also freakish and scares kids and who's gonna want to go to bed next to that?]

[He's slowly leaning in close. He doesn't realize it at first, but he catches himself. He can say that Other Jack belongs to him all he wants, but there's some lines even he won't cross. Dude's still, you know, an actual human dude. And the guy's made his position pretty clear.]

[Jack clears his throat and drops his hand. Clearly, enough's enough.]

Uh...sorry 'bout that right there. Didn't mean to get weird on ya.

[It's really a terrible position to be in. This close to Jack, not really able to move, with him touching his face. Shit like this, this is exactly what he wanted to avoid. And everything about it is uncomfortable, obviously, but god the staring is really getting to him. And as long as Jack's holding his face, Tim can't really do anything but stare right back and it's awful.

Still, not much he can do other than wait it out.

...Wait he's leaning forward, why is he leaning--]

[OH WOW NO

NOPE

HELL NO, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING

THERE ISN'T ENOUGH NO IN THE GODDAMN UNIVERSE]

[It's just when Tim's mind catches up to him and tells him to pull the fuck back already that Jack moves back himself. And thank god for that, because that's... no.

The apology is actually surprising and it's... okay, it's just for the last part, but fuck it, he'll take it. It's plenty.

Tim doesn't quite let out a sigh of relief, but his next few breaths are a little deeper, a little steadier. That sure was an experience he doesn't ever want to repeat.]

It's, ah, fine. Y'know. Whatever. No harm, no uh... [Man, how about he stares at the ground for a moment. Look at... all that interesting ground, wow.] Yeah.

[Nothing happened and that's the important part. Let's focus on that. Let's focus on that and absolutely nothing else forever.]

Yeah, no, just...uh...got a little carried away. You know. Uh...gotta lot of feelings going on, and it's been a while and...well, you can't blame me. It's one tempting face. But, uh, no. No. That wasn't cool. You've got boundaries, I respect that.

[And hey, the memory's fresh. He'll just put it to use later, nothing wrong with that!]

[But he does feel kind of...not bad. He's got no reason to feel bad. But Other Jack's all freaked out now. And he really hadn't meant to do that. He likes messing with the guy, but it's just messing with him.]

[Oh, hey. He said he liked cats, didn't he?]

Hey, wanna see something? Just got it, you'll like it!

[Well, that's... that's good, right? So this probably won't happen again? Okay. Okay, he's calming down a little more now. He won't really be okay until Jack's gone and he can start working on repressing this whole thing from his memory, but it's a start.]

Oh, uh. Well, it's alright. I mean... we're cool? And... stuff.

[Wow, is that a subject change? Okay, assuming it's not an awful subject change, because... well, it is Jack, he is all for it.]

...Sure? Yeah, okay.

Oh yeah, we're cool. Look, you've made it very clear you're not interested. I mean, I don't really get why not, but whatever. There's a line, it kind of got scuffed a little, it wasn't on purpose. Here.

[Jack reaches into the depths of his robe and pulls out a Pokeball. He tosses it to release the critter inside. He's already forgotten what it's called - an Espurr - but it's cute and it's a cat so Other Jack can have something to focus on. Maybe calm him down some.]

[The purple psychic cat pops out of ball with a quiet 'purrrr?'.

Buddy of mine's catching Pokemon for me, caught me this little....whatever it is. Guy? Girl? I dunno how to tell...

[Okay, that is a very excellent change of subject. Because that sure is a cat. That sure is a small purple cat with little folded ears and oh god, small white paws, what the hell, how cute can one animal even get?]

Holy shit...

[...Yeah, suffice to say, as far as distractions go? This is very effective.

Tim moves slightly down and just a little closer to the Espurr - trying to get a better look without freaking the kitty out.]

Okay, this is like insanely cute.

Man, this place likes cats, this is like... I don't know, the fourth different type I'm finding out about.

Tell me about it! Dogs, too. I gotta say, I'm probably more of a cat guy than a dog guy. But dogs are scarier, and you know. Tougher looking. So I've been looking up all the dog ones.

[Not that that's been working out for him, as evidenced by the happy pile of puppy fat at his feet.]

[The Espurr makes another soft noise as Tim inches closer, blinking it's abnormally round eyes. One tiny white paw comes up, just a fraction of an inch.]

Hey, lookit that, it likes ya! I've got no idea what they do, if it spits acid at you, it's not my fault.

[Yeah, he glances down at the not-so-tough looking dog for a moment.]

Sooo... how's that been going?

[It's... y'know, cute! Very cute, very good at being adorable, but uh. Yeah.]

I... guess that is an actual thing that could happen on this planet, huh? [He can't really bring himself to care though, because holy shit. This may be one of the cutest things he's seen in his life.] But it's probably fine.

[Maybe he can just... carefully pet it? He's making an attempt anyway. He can't resist this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

GHOST TRICK PART ONE: Festival Log!

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