As of today, we’d like to present a reward for surviving - well, thriving thus far! After all, it’s difficult to imagine that so many lives remain intact despite the circumstances. With Autumn approaching, we’ve arranged a celebration in recompense.
The event will last from OCT 14th until NOV 1st (we've provided an extension due to everything that's taken place). You have roughly two weeks to explore as much as you’d like! After that, you’re no longer permitted to post new threads for the event, though you certainly may let them continue to finish up!
The redeemable points function like so: For every event post you make, you’ll gain two points that you can use to gain prizes with later on, however you’ll only be able to redeem the points if you make AT LEAST five posts for an event, totaling up to a minimum of ten points. If you finish a thread, you’ll be rewarded the points you gained for every post. If you’re still finishing the thread once the event’s finished, you can hold off on redeeming your points so you can get the most out of it! We’ll be making a redeem blog for prizes and such soon. Keep an eye out!
*BONUS: Since the labyrinth has special properties, every post done there will gain three points instead of two.
All event posts should be tagged with ‘PP event’.
Have fun!
The vicinity you’ll find to be the least intimidating (as usual) would have to be Julia’s Kingdom. Chipper and casual, you’re likely to find stations for a handful of engaging activities such as bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins of treats and tricks that await you amidst the carts of vendors. Even so, its “cheery air” is being tailed by darker undertones. You can’t really place it, but the staircase which leads down below feels longer, and more winding. Ghosts of dark, less than penitent spirits are tangible (they can touch/harm you), so you might steer clear if you’d like to keep your health. That said, we’ll also be hosting a costume contest that you’re free to participate in so long as you follow the following instructions!
Please post any costume ideas in the format of a mini and tag them as ‘PP CC’.
We have several prizes in store for a first, second and third place winner. Consolation prizes for all participants is a bag of treats and regular potion that might come in handy later on!
Tomorrowland, typically bright and full of energy, is acting up. A glitch in the system has resulted in the malfunction of several working robots and attractions, creating simulations where should you board a roller coaster, a virtual image of your cart flying off its hinges comes to mind. No real harm will come to you on these rides, but it’s certainly enough to shake someone up. Giving the appearance of an unforeseen death is not for the faint hearted.
The Haunted Escape, needless to say, has increased in levels of danger and fatality. Each “fake” killer or hallucination is more vivid and realistic, the safe houses are more sparse and overall, its been populated by more cliche monsters. (Perhaps your favorite horror movie villain is lingering around these parts - if not, your worst fear is right around the corner.) Fortunately, should you venture far enough into the labyrinth, we do have replenishing supplies for emergencies! Kittens of all colors, shapes and sizes are safely wandering the grounds with ribbons and bells attached to rations and provisions that might just get you through the rest of the way. And who knows - maybe it’ll like you enough to come along. Remember, there are no rules preventing pets in the hotel so long as your roommate doesn’t oppose it!
There are some roads better less traveled or, in this case, some parks better less traveled. Atlantis, for example, is not the way it used to be— at all. While the park was previously a refreshing getaway from the heat and a way to cool down in general, it is now a little.. strange, to say the least. The previously clear waters of the park aren’t so nice any longer, but the only way you can tell that is from the stench due to how foggy it is surrounding the pools. If you really want to explore, then you’ll find that the water has taken on a swamp-like state and, well, while you can still totally get down to the underground aquarium, why would you want to? After all, who knows what’s in those waters now? Only the brave (and those without a good sense of smell) will find out.
Olympus Square’s atmosphere as a whole has taken a turn for the worse, shadows lingering in every corner. With skeletons hanging around as both figurines and active statues, its almost as though The Underworld’s attempting to creep out from its hole! Fortunately for you, there haven’t been too many changes to the place down below as its deadly enough as is. (Though the River Lethe is emanating a strange fog that’s less reliable than the surefire way to avoid it by staying out of the water. Don’t let it touch you unless you’re looking to experience general amnesiac symptoms!) Even the library is guarded by two gargoyles who’d rather not let you enter, so be careful!
Obscurity dubs itself the word of the early evening, though Yamamoto has - been trying, prowling pace deft but languid - to shake it off (to redefine the hours) since the sun's light first began to stutter.
He's said it before, and he'll say it again: a worthy batter, a talented player, relies on their eyes as a matter of fact, focusing on environmental machinations and piecing them apart, like silk under an imperious tailor's inspection. Maybe there's an eloquent word for the ability, but Yamamoto knows it just as a feeling, easy to dredge up from the bottom of his heart and let bloom, a sensation that stops things (fists, baseballs) midair and takes their arcs apart. That lets him see the swing of a sword in the whiteness of a knuckle, tendons straining with killing power, and freeze it exactly where it will stop a second's fraction later, bowed by the curve of his own blade. And Yamamoto would never confess as much - but he feels vaguely uneasy about his ability to see like that now, even if he's left Kintoki at home - replaced it with a harmless candy apple.
A tautness jolts his bones even as the castle (lit to resemble one massive jack-o'-lantern) rises above, dazzling. The boy's glance up reveals clouds playing shadow puppets with the warp of buildings. There's a muted rumble of quicksilver, of burnished copper shiver, across brick and ivory beam that in itself seems a little twisted. Darkness shores up against the feet of passerby - and, if it can, if they happen to stray from the comforting beam of watchful path lights, swallows them almost whole from sight with ease.
Under Yamamoto’s rumpled costume collar a muscle twitches and skitters, before he blinks, turns - is released, a hand rubbing his neck unconsciously as he wonders: was that someone turning the corner or another trick of the light? Had there been a mouth attached to that brief, murmuring chuckle, or to the bark of (he doesn't know that he'd call it) fear he hears, passing the last few food stalls?
Yamamoto releases a soft laugh of his own, a breathy exorcism. Sure, the dungeons are quite close, but lots of things are said to be haunted that simply: aren't.
"Must have been my imagination - "
- but the shoulder he jostles ("Ah!!") definitely isn't.
And the apple, barely three bites in, now caramelized to another person's front? Well, that throws up Yamamoto's hands immediately, the same old gesture he's always used to deflect conflict, coupled with an equally defusing, if contrite, amiable huff. Okay, I know how this looks, says his posture, chin tipped to meet the other's eyes.
"I, uh, haha," a great start to an apology - "I'm really sorry, wow!"
The festivities, and spending them with people far different from those he's become accustomed to, are: welcome distraction; severe brightness in a sea of unknown; a comforting return to roots while remaining adrift.
Yamamoto cares almost too deeply for those he's left behind - but it's a relief, somehow, in a bittersweet, brightening way, to have fallen in with another who feels the same about what she's left behind - and is, like Takeshi himself, somehow still surviving the divestment of it. Without really knowing what's going on in their homeworlds, that's all they can do: hope someday they'll be able to exclaim, 'Wow!'
Or in Rinoa's case, because it seems like something she'd let slip, instead of the gaping teenage wordlessness Yamamoto's more exemplary of: 'I'm so happy to be back!'
'What the heck happened while I was gone?'
For now, though, they are where they are, and they might as well make the best of it. Enjoy themselves a little, since it is an amusement park.
The Rain Guardian's costume for the day is a little tongue-in-cheek, what with its nostalgia and simultaneous simplicity. Lingering in the crook of the hallway, where the arc of many doors ended and gave way to the elevator waiting spaces, Yamamoto's fingers tuck into the arch black of pants which emphasize gangliness rather more than elegance. At the least, the suit sits well on his shoulders, even if his tie is mediocre in its knotting and garish baseball pattern - unworthy of a real mafia member, probably, but that's what he means to go as.
Turning at the tap of footsteps, Yamamoto raises a brow and breaks into a smile.
"Yo!" he calls, raising one hand. "Are you ready to go, Rin?"
