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

[pipers_son]

[What are you talking about, this is clearly a great move. Joker’s wide grins definitely never signal disaster happening or anything from dumb ideas.]

Miss, yer gonna have ta threaten me with a scarier thing then death.

[The joke is that he’s already dead as a doornail, it’s fiiiine. Sliding over some cash to pay the stall owner, Joker flexes his good hand.]

Start on three, what do ya say?

[foolishwren]

Deal.

_{[Heather picks up one of the balls, giving it a light toss to test its weight, then draws her arm back, ready to throw.]}

[pipers_son]

Right then.

[Picking up a ball of his own, he grins.

One… Two… Three!

[LET THE BALL THROWING FRENZY BEGIN]

[It’s a task Joker gets right to with glee, trying his best to throw the balls in. He works in a goddamn circus, after all. If he doesn’t win, it’ll be a disgrace to his name.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTIN, THOSE BALLS WERE FAST AS LIGHTNIN]

[The tickets stack up fast between the two of them-- a circus performer and a person whose dad took her to target practice on a regular basis from age seven onward are probably the best aimers this stall has seen so far.]

[After awhile, Heather can't help but start up some friendly taunting, grinning sidelong at her competition.]</sub>

You're not doing half bad!

Kinda sad that I'm still definitely gonna win this thing, though.

[pipers_son]

[Laughing, Joker glances over at her from the corner of his eye.]

Miss, I’m the owner of a circus, and I’m keepin’ up with ya with one hand!
Don’t count yer chickens just yet~.

[foolishwren]

My chicken numbers were set in stone the second I walked up to this stall, carnie!

<sub>[As though to prove it, she grabs up a veritable armful of balls and starts to pop them off in rapid succession.]

[Between them, the poor gamerunner is having a hard time setting up the bottles fast enough to keep up with them.]</sub>

[pipers_son]

[Joker starts to laugh harder at the sight of her, half because he knows he’d be doing the same if he had the arm to spare for it and half because this is getting ridiculous.]

Miss, I’m gonna-

[Whatever asinine thing that means to leave his mouth is interrupted.]
[To be exact, he’s interrupted by a ball managing to ricochet so hard off of a bottle that it slams into his face.]

[Excuse him, he has to leave. As in, consciousness. With a startled noise from the surprise burst of pain, he collapses to the ground.]

[...So that probably means Heather has won this round.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It was really only a matter of time until there was some kind of casualty.]

[Needless to say, even with her competitive spirit more or less running things brainwise, Heather's head whips around at the telltale THUNK of someone getting nailed right in the skull with something hard.]</sub>

--SHIT!

Oh, shit!

_{[Prize temporarily forgotten, she drops the balls and immediately leaps to Joker's side.]}

Dude, are you okay?!

_{[DID I JUST KILL MY BOYFRIEND'S BOSS???]}

[pipers_son]

[YOU HAVE KILLED YOUR BOYFRIEND’S BOSS]

[Wait, no- there’s a slight groan, and Joker’s eyes flutter open… although, uh, not at the same time. Quietly, with feeling-]

Fuckin’ hell.

[foolishwren]

Fuck!

_{[She drops to her knees. There are concerned bystanders leaning in. At least one has popcorn, because this whole drama unfolding just gets better and better.]}

Should-- oh man. SOMEONE CALL A NURSE JOY!

[pipers_son]

[What comes out of the crowd isn’t a Nurse Joy, but instead a puzzled and concerned Zoroark who’s heard of the commotion. When he sees it’s his owner splayed out on the ground… Invidia can’t even be surprised. There’s a concerned noise, and the furry fox comes over to kneel besides Heather. Joker weakly waves.]

S’my fox.

[So helpful.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Poor Invidia. Have fun dealing with this mess.]

[Turning frantically to the Zoroark, who honestly is likely to be way more useful than the random rubberneckers standing around (one of them is snapping pictures on their 'Gear), Heather gestures wildly.]</sub>

I-- he kind of got hit in the face, and he's probably got a concussion??

I don't have my first-aid kit with me!

_{[HOW IS SHE GONNA EXPLAIN THIS TO ENVY AND LUST]}

[pipers_son]

[Fortunately, one benefit of being a part of a circus is that you have a rough idea of what to do in case someone gets injured, and Invidia has always been one of the smarter Pokemon in Joker’s troupe. There’s a ripple of light as he takes on a human form (yes he does look like he could be Joker’s brother, ssh) and turns to speak with Heather.]

Can you help me get him to a bench?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's not that she hasn't seen a Zoroark before-- she knows what they can do. That doesn't make it not a minor shock when Invidia suddenly 'turns' human and starts saying words that aren't 'Zoroark'.]

[After giving him a brief owl-eyed look, her brain catches up with her and she scoots around to try and grab Joker under the arms.]</sub>

Uh-- yeah!

Can you get his legs?

[pipers_son]

[Fortunately for Heather’s “what the hell” factor, Invidia doesn’t stay in his human illusion for long. In fact, right after she’s answered that she can help, there’s a flicker of light and he’s back to being a normal Pokemon again.]

[A chirp answers her even as he moves into place, hefting up Joker’s legs with carefully placed claws. You good over there, Heather?]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[SHE'S GOOD. Fortunately for everybody, she's pretty much in peak physical condition after living in this world for as many years as she has. The 'no cars, shh, only hiking now' thing may be a pain in the ass, but it does wonders for one's physique.]

[So they get Joker safely onto a bench without too much trouble.]

[Once he's there, she leans in to squint at his eyes a little bit, biting her lip.]</sub>

Can you-- like-- go get a Nurse Joy?

I really do not wanna be responsible for killing somebody at a carnival, man.

[pipers_son]

[Invidia is pretty sure that Joker won’t die, but he still nods to Heather and scampers off. There’s…. probably some sort of emergency stall or something on the festival grounds for things like this, right? Right?]

[In the meantime, Joker squints open an eye.]

Think I saw the llama for a bit there.

[foolishwren]

_{[--oh thank GOD]}

Holy shit.

For a second I thought I'd have to explain to Envy and Lust that their boss wasn't gonna be around for awhile.

Can you sit up?

[pipers_son]

Ah ha…. S’fine.

[Sort of. Probably. Takes him a second of hand flopping before he finds the back of the bench and wobbily pulls himself up.]

Just… a little concussion, that’s fine, innit?

[No it’s not Joker]

[foolishwren]

... Nnnnno, actually.

I'm gonna need you to, uh, not go to sleep for awhile, okay?

_{[At least he's sitting up. That's a good sign, hoooooopefully...?]}

[pipers_son]

Well, I ain’t bleedin’, so it’s fine.

[...This is why the Circus needs a medical staff.]

[Still, Joker isn’t as animated as he usually is, although the throbbing in his head isn’t doing him any favors. Unfortunately, his only good hand is what’s keeping him up, so he can’t grip his head.]

But hell… you’ve got a bleedin’ good throwin’ arm. Think about joining the circus?

[foolishwren]

_{[Please have someone on-site, if only for the day when Wrath inevitably lodges a knife directly in someone's throat.]}

... I'm flattered, really, but that's probably not the most pressing of matters right now.

<sub>[LATER, SHE MIGHT CONSIDER IT. Because hey, she always enjoys visiting Envy and Lust during their practices and working in the same place her boyfriend does would be kind of neat...]

[BUT IT REQUIRES HIS BOSS TO NOT BE DEAD FIRST]</sub>

[pipers_son]

It’s always pressin’.

[Fortunately, before Joker can press this ridiculous issue, Invidia comes back with a Nurse Joy bustling behind him, and Joker gets swarmed by the combined pink of her and a Chansey.]

[While Joker is under medical interrogation, Invidia comes up to Heather and offers her a thing of cotton candy in what is clearly gratitude. Bless his fox heart, he doesn’t really think she’s done anything. After all, when he got there, she was trying to help! Clearly she is a Stand Up Citizen who helped save his dad’s trainer’s life.]

[foolishwren]

Not more pressing than internal bleeding of the brain.

<sub>[WHICH SHE'S PRETTY SURE IS WHAT'S HAPPENING oh thank god Nurse Joy is here.]

[Heather steps back and lets the pink-haired lady do her magic, awkwardly hovering off to the side when Invidia returns with the cotton candy.]</sub>

--Oh!

Uh-- ... thank... you.....

_{[Oh god. She can feel the stall-runner's judgmental stare burning the back of her head. He saw the whole thing. :I;;; SHE CAN'T ACCEPT THIS CANDY.]}