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!

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Assumption, Darkness. Those were both...really, really dark (and kind of creepy) names for pokemon, but hey! Who is he to judge? Handsome Jack named his Meowth freakin' Money Shot, so it's not like he can judge a person by their nicknames they choose.

Oh hey, he should introduce himself. Duh.

"Oh-hoho, right. I should probably introduce myself, right? 'Specially if I'm going to help celebrate a birthday y'know, so I should, uh."

Rhys, stop.

"Uhh, I'm Rhys."

Rhys' rambling didn't put off Walter. As a teenager he had been very prone to stuttering when trying to talk to people, the few times he attempted it. He took a few steps towards the food booths, waiting for Rhys to join him before continuing onwards.

He looked him over again, taking in Rhys' differently coloured eyes and mechanical hand. Medically speaking, he was a very interesting person to look at. Such technology wasn't available in his world. If someone lost an arm, they'd simply have to live with the stump for the rest of their lives.

Walter nodded at his arm. "Where did you get that?" He knew better than to ask how Rhys lost his arm. Asking how injuries happened was something that had to be asked quietly, away from any who might hear and realise questions were being asked.

Oh, little would Walter know that things were different for Rhys! Everything he owns that isn't natural, from his arm to his eye to the port in his head, it was all voluntary. And he actually doesn't mind bragging- his arm was the talk of Hyperion for a while. There was commitment, right there!

"I had it done up on Helios. Where, uh, where I came from." Rhys flips his palm upwards, curling and uncurling it for Walter. "I struck an Eridium mining deal and got a huge raise, and I wasn't going to get any farther in data mining without some help, so..."

Rhys shrugs. He wasn't sick or hurt when he got these things done. Rhys is basically saying he sacrificed a healthy arm and a functioning eye for the sake of a promotion. "I figured, why not?"

Walter watched his arm, fascinated. He didn't know what 'Eridium mining' was but data mining he had vaguely heard of during his student days. At the idea of it being voluntary, Walter was actually impressed and it briefly showed on his face. After all, he had 'seeparated from his flesh' to attain the power of Heaven and gain the means to awaken the Holy Mother. Being willing to give up parts of himself for new abilities or powers was something Walter respected.

"So your new arm assists with that? I'm not familiar with data mining. I studied medicine before I died."

"Yeah. It's uh, kind of frowned upon at work, but I did it enough to get me through." And then some. "Not that anybody higher than me cared, but, uhh."

Did this guy just say he died? Like, died?

Rhys has met tons of people from other worlds where they escaped injury or certain death (like himself? maybe?), but never before has he met someone who actually keeled over and died. That's...weird. Unnatural. Kind of sad.

"Did you, did you just say you, y'know. Died?"

To be fair, after being dead for a decade the shock of it fades - and even at the moment of death he had known he would return as a spirit. The Scriptures had said so, and he had followed the 21 Sacraments for the Ascent of the Holy Mother to the letter.

"Yes. I was a ghost for...ten years, before I awoke here. I remember that I was twenty four when I died." Ghosts don't exactly age after their death. Subconsciously he lifted his hand and touched his neck, over the whole, unbroken skin over his carotid artery. If anything, he was more uncomfortable with suddenly being alive again than he ever was with being dead. "I don't understand how I'm alive. Or why."

"Wow. That's..." Rhys doesn't even know what to say about that. What did you say to a guy who's been dead for ten years and comes back from the dead? Oh man, that's heavy! Or sorry for your loss? That's really, really creepy.

But he's not going to tell Walter that! He's gone twenty four years with no freakin' birthday party- the last thing he probably wants to hear is how Rhys is creeped out by the fact that he's talking to a ghost, more or less. "Interesting."

Probably not the best word, but hey.

"Wish I could tell you, but I can't." He shrugs, running a hand through his hair. "Welcome to the land of the living, huh?"

"It's very different to the world I knew." Going from the world of Silent Hill and Ashfield apartments, his Otherworlds full of fleshy, human and canine and bug-like monsters that openly attacked him and ghosts that shrunk away from him to the world of Pokemon was...jarring, to say the least. "There's a lot of things to get used to."

He paused in front of a stand, glancing at the sweets on display. He didn't recognise any of them, but he did know what ice cream was - 'Mochi Ice Cream' was on a label in front of a collection of round, soft looking balls, with flavours listed in front of them and a price. He hesitated, before asking Rhys, "Have you had these ice creams before?"

Rhys honestly isn't sure what he's eaten today. He's gone from place to place ordering whatever, stuffing his face full of whatever. He may not know what he's eaten, but hey man it's been worth it thus far.

"Maybe? Half of the stuff I've gotten I don't even know what it was." He shrugs, offering Walter a smile! "Wanna find out?"

Walter nodded. Even if it wasn't...good, he could stomach a lot of foods. "I'm familiar with ice cream, but not...Moch-y?" He frowned. It looked like it hadn't been spelt right. Regardless he ordered some (drawing back a little into himself when the vendor laughed at how he pronounced it) and was received it, picking a strawberry flavoured one gently and biting it in half to try it.

He certainly hadn't eaten anything quite like it. But it was fruity and fresh and delicious and he hadn't had anything so sweet. He immediately ate the other half, as if it might be taken from him for hesitating.

Rhys has to frown at the vendor when Walter gets laughed at. Jesus, it's not like he can say it right either. Moo-chi? What kind of ice cream name is that? Just name it ice cream, really.

He tosses his money at the person dishing up the ice cream as they're given their deserts, poking at his before watching Walter eat. So if this guy never had a birthday, did he never have sweets? Presents? Birthday cake? The way he was absolutely inhaling his food, Rhys had to wonder.

Honestly, Rhys isn't sure whether to laugh because that's funny, or feel sad because that kind of confirms his previous thoughts. "Is it good?"

Walter nodded. "Really good."

He had eaten another one before noticing that Rhys was watching him. He was quite used to people murmuring and giving him unfriendly looks, but Rhys wasn't grimacing or frowning at him. Just smiling. He honestly didn't know how to respond to positive attention. He savoured the flavour lingering in his mouth and realised. "You haven't tried yours yet."

When Walter points that out, Rhys takes a big scoop of ice cream and more or less stuffs it in his mouth, grimacing a little as the cold nips at his teeth. He takes another spoonful of one that looks kind of red, and...oh god does he regret that. It's not strawberry he's tasting.

Rhys grimaces, looking up to the vendor to see what in the hell he just ate, and- yup. Red bean. For ice cream?

He wipes his mouth with his sleeve. "Okay. That's really, really gross. Red bean. Don't try it."

He hadn't brought the red bean. Walter had gone for flavours he was familiar with rather than take random picks as Rhys had.

It looked like Rhys didn't enjoy it as much as him, as Walter misread his initial grimace and then his reaction to the red bean flavour. He looked around, looking for another booth with a treat Rhys might like better. And maybe so he could stay with him a little longer. "Is there something you'd prefer?" He asked quietly, so quietly. He was still expecting a 'no'.

Over the sounds of the festival, Rhys can barely hear Walter's question. He bends down a little bit, but after a moment or two the question hits. Would he like something different? Oh hell yeah, because this red bean stuff tastes absolutely awful. No offense to anyone or anything, but dear god. How does anyone eat this?

"...I wouldn't mind something...sweeter. You know, like cinnamon rolls?" He looks over to Walter with a smile, before turning to look over the vendors. "Do you think they got any here? I could do with a really hot one with icing."

"They might." Walter hadn't actually had a cinnamon roll before. Had heard of them, but never had one. He began to wander down the stalls with Rhys, looking for one that might sell what he was after. There were plenty of sweet smells however, from sugary little donuts to more foreign treats that Walter glanced over.

As they walked, Assumption tugged on Walter's arm and pointing to the ice cream. He considered it, then gave one to him. Assumption gave a cry of joy and ate it whole. If they found a cinnamon roll stand Walter wanted to try one, so there was no harm in giving Assumption some of the ice cream.

Edited 2016-09-08 21:17 (UTC)

Rhys is about to give up when one glistens near the end of the row of stalls, advertising everything he wanted and more. "Ooh, thank god." He sighs like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest, and offers Walter a smile. "You gotta try one of these. They're really really good."

He wastes no time getting in line, looking to Walter expectantly. "You gotta get in line! One does not simply enjoy a cinnamon roll without it being fresh from the oven first." The line's moving fairly fast, but he's not walking any closer until his buddy's beside him!

Oh, he noticed Assumption getting a little bit of ice cream. Cute! He offers it to Loader, but he doesn't look interested. He'll totally agree with that.

"Is it okay if Assumption has some? Loader doesn't want it." He'll point to his ice cream. "I kinda already ate a little bit of it, but..."

"It shouldn't be wasted." Walter agreed. He joined Rhys, nodding to Assumption. "Thank you." He added softly on his Cubone's behalf, as Assumption eagerly wagged his tail at the prospect of more mochi.

He couldn't help smiling more truthfully when he was with Rhys. It was still bewildering and seemed like it wouldn't last. Like a switch snapping off the light. But it was there and Walter wanted to hold that light while he could.

"It smells amazing." Walter put Assumption down, instructing him to stay close as they near the front of the line. The rolls look different to how he had imagined they would, not like the rolls he had sometimes had for lunch.

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GHOST TRICK PART ONE: Festival Log!

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