[OPEN LOG] Welcome to Cape Beryl!

[theharvestmods]

Who: Everyone!
When: Spring 2nd - all day.
Where: All across Cape Beryl.
What: You've splashed down into the Harvest Goddess's sacred pond, pulled yourself out - or perhaps been pulled out by an out-of-breath and soaking stranger, shaken off the worst of the shock of the cold and the unexpected trip underwater, and likely by now noticed that the little silver piece of jewelry that put you through this seems to have found its way around your neck.

Now you ought to get your bearings. Leave Goddess Grotto whenever you're ready, take the path out along a beach and up the cliffs to a village - see where you are, maybe if you can get directions. No matter what, you're going to realize that you're somewhere new - but maybe some of the Bower Village townspeople will be willing to help you get sorted out. If nothing else, maybe you'll be drawn into talking to anyone else you might catch sight of wandering the village, disoriented, soaked to the skin, and with a silver heart-shaped pendant around their neck. Depending on how you see it, you're not all alone - not any more than everyone else, anyway.

Headers for open interactions in example locations will be posted - but by all means, start threads wherever and with whoever you like!

Rating: Expected K-PG - subject to change as appropriate.



It's a cool, early spring day - the air and the breeze may not agree with anyone with wet clothes. But apart from that, the atmosphere is pleasant and peaceful; distant chirps of birds can be heard from the mouth of Goddess Grotto to Mt. Throne. The trees and grasses are pale green and flowers are budding in the meadows - not to mention the garden at Florist Lilia and de Sainte-Coquille Park.

And the town at the top of the cliffs is somewhat drowsily at peace. It's far from deserted - stabled behind a house on the town's east side is a healthy-looking mule, and a pair of chickens and a goat hang around in a pen behind an inn, the town's brightly-dressed mailwoman is out and about, as is the town watchman, who will likely be ready to approach anyone with an unfamiliar face before they can approach him, if he happens to catch them on his rounds. However, although anyone may freely knock on any of the doors in Bower Village and expect a polite "come in", no one is prepared for company, and whoever is inside might jump at finding themselves talking to a clearly displaced stranger!

Comments

[flowersinherhair]

No, no, no! He was supposed to just keep walking! ...But she did need help... Oh! She could handle this like she did with Eugene! That's right, she could do this. She'd already done so much! ...And look where that'd gotten her...

She mustered up what little courage she had left and at least tried to look like she could handle herself. "You should know that I'm stronger than I look and I have a dangerous...frying pan."

Well, that sounded much better in her head. Not to mention her pan was still by the water.

[topgun_textiles]

"...Frying pan?" Yeah, okay, he was in la-la land, wasn't he? She didn't seem to have any cooking implements on her, though he did sort of see something black in the grass; though he never really bothered to check it out.

But he was noticing something else: His arms weren't full of silk... they were full of hair. The same color flowed from her head, around the branch, and down to the pile gathered in his arms.

He was- he was pretty sure that was impossible. But he shook his head- focus, damn it!

"Look, wh-whatever, I ain't here to brawl, a'right!? Point me to a phone, or a town or somethin' so I can get the hell home!"

[flowersinherhair]

Her kinder side was a little disappointed in her for her reaction. He was clearly just as lost and confused as she was. Besides, last time she'd threatened somebody they turned out to be a really nice group of people.

"Look, I don't know where I am and I don't know what a phone is, so I'm sorry but I'm not that helpful right now." Useless. She was completely useless. She should've listened to Mother. Her hands clenched around a section of her hair hard enough to turn her knuckles white and spoke softly to herself. "I never should've left. She was right about everything, I never should've left."

[topgun_textiles]

He blinked up at her. The hair was wet, and so was she. Did she end up in that spring, too? He'd never seen her before, but he remembered a class (when he bothered to stay awake for it) mentioning underground rivers and stuff. Was this spring connected to that pond he was in, but somewhere where she's from?

Augh, but thinking about how that would work was giving him a headache. And judging by her body language - he sighed - he was scaring yet another person. At least, he thinks he was, as he couldn't quite catch that last part she was talking about. But after making one girl cry when he was a kid, the sight of this girl was making his stomach twist up uncomfortably.

Gotta make things right.

"A'right... let's getcha get down from there. We're gonna go find a town and figure out where the hell we are."

[flowersinherhair]

She studied him a bit, unsure if she could trust a stranger. But then she reminded herself of the ruffians at The Snuggly Duckling and decided she could risk it. Besides, staying up in a tree didn't seem to be a good option. "Okay...wait a second."

She reached behind her neck and gently lifted away Pascal to put him on her head for safe keeping. Then she quickly unwound her hair from the branch, a feat made much easier from all the time she'd spent in the rafters of her tower. Finally, she gently lowered herself so that her bare feet landed harmlessly on the ground when she let go. She smiled at him sheepishly before going to fetch her frying pan. There was no way she'd go anywhere without it.

[topgun_textiles]

"...H-holy shit. So this is really your hair!?" Okay, so he couldn't focus for long, but this is his first time meeting a girl with seventy feet of hair, mind. As she went to fetch her frying pan, he didn't really see the need to drop what he held, figuring it was weighing her down as it was. They probably needed to move quick anyway- the area looked woodsy and he wasn't in the mood to deal with cops. Or... bears?

He could punch the hell out of a bear if he had to.

Kanji's day was all ready weird enough, but unlike his friend Yosuke who would take weirdness like this and freak, he chose to charge ahead and see if he can't find a way out of this mess. And hey, he got this girl down from that tree, even if she was eyeballing the hell out of him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, but he knew he'd have to keep making baby steps.

"How d'you even deal with this?"

[flowersinherhair]

Oh, right. He didn't know about the hair thing. She gathered up more of her hair, wringing some of the water out as she went. "Um, yeah. It's a long story."

She does smile at his attempt to make small talk as she finally has most of her hair in check. "A little patience and a lot of time. I've gotten brushing down to an art." She knew Pascal was probably eyeing him, making her feel more than a little guilty. "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier. It's just that Mother always said the world was a dangerous place and I thought I could handle it but...apparently I can't."

[topgun_textiles]

Or maybe it was that weird lizard glaring daggers at him making that hair stand up. He couldn't tell which.

But when she says it's an art, he couldn't do much other than believe her. The hair wasn't a tangled up mess and she spent her life dealing with it, so he could only nod and think to ask more about it while waiting for the cab to take them all back home or whatever.

The apology made his eyebrows lift slightly. He was usually the one trying to awkwardly apologize for his behavior, but he'd never really gotten one first. But: "The hell're you apologizing for? Don't worry about it."

His eyes trailed up a nearby hill, leading away from the sea ahead of them. He didn't hear any hustle and bustle around him - just sea water and gulls - and he wasn't going to track down civilization or a phone by standing around here chatting. Slinging the trail of hair against his shoulder like wound-up, really heavy golden rope, he nodded in that direction.

"Uhh... m-maybe a town's further in? I dunno." Worth a shot. He started off in that direction. They could probably spot some rooftops at the top of that hill.

Ah. Crap. He kicked himself inwardly. He cleared his throat and looked away. "...Kanji."

[flowersinherhair]

But apologies were a thing, right? You mess up and you say you're sorry. And she had been kinda rude. "But it wasn't very nice of me to make assumptions. I did that with a group of ruffians, and they turned out to be really great guys."

She didn't really have much choice, considering they were both in the same boat, so she followed him down the path. "We won't know if we don't look, right?"

She looks at him, confused. "Kanji?" What was a kanji?

[topgun_textiles]

Kanji's response was an idle scratch against one side of his nose. Of course it wouldn't make much sense; this girl didn't look Japanese, and he supposed to word would be kinda weird outside.

"Uh, my name." It just felt weird to him to walk along like this as complete strangers. Whether they'd ever talk after this was a mystery, but he wasn't about to call or be called 'hey you'.

"Kanji Tatsumi."

[flowersinherhair]

"Oh." And then she got it. "Oh! Um, Rapunzel. I'm Rapunzel." Her chameleon pal stirred on top of her head, as if reminding her of his presence. "And this is Pascal."

Her natural curiosity was begining to override her cautious approach. "I;ve never heard a name like Kanji before. Where are you from?"

[topgun_textiles]

Rapunzel...

Nah, that ain't ringin' any bells. But that was a name whose country of origin he couldn't work out at all. Stuffing a hand in his pocket, he started the trek up the nearby hill. They could see for miles once they got to the top, so this was their best bet.

"Inaba. 's this little town in Japan. Used to be a coal mining town, I heard, 'til it turned into the town nobody really knows today. Kinda small, but it's my small town, y'know?"

He looked ahead, glanced her way.

"Uh... what about you?"

[flowersinherhair]

Inaba... Eugene never mentioned a place called Inaba before. Or a Japan, for that matter. It must be a long way away from her tower. "It sounds really nice."

The question throws her off guard for a minute. "Me? U-Umm..." She couldn't just say 'a tower in a forest', because then she'd have even more explaining to do. What was the name of the kingdom Eugene'd been taking her to?

"...Corona. I'm from Corona."

[topgun_textiles]

He'd never heard of Corona, but that would only be the beginning of terms he just didn't understand here. But he could get to all that when he got there.

At the crest of the hill, he stopped and shielded his eyes. The fields and flowers were really kinda pretty, and he could even see a rabbit or two nibbling on fresh shoots, but he couldn't let himself get distracted. But when he squinted just so...

"Think I see some rooftops down there! Hell yeah! Not stranded!!"

[flowersinherhair]

His enthusiasm was contagious, and she found herself doing small jumps in place. "Really? Great!"

She, however found it a little harder not to get distracted. Hey, she spent her entire life in the same tower and only just recently managed to get out and explore. Wow, she really wanted to roll around in that grass... "It's really pretty here."

[topgun_textiles]

The sight was enough to sweep away the dark clouds forming in his mind. That village down there would have something to eat, they'd have a phone he could use, and he'd finally know where in the freakin' earth he was and see about getting a way home!

"Yeah, it... seriously is!" Yet he couldn't get the scenery out of his head. The way the flowers swayed along with the grass, all but begging them to take a minute to roll around in the grass and let the sun dry them off. When he looked down, saw one of the rabbits stopping to sniff the air in their general direction, he was finding his resolve slipping. The smile faltered and he glanced her way. It was a habit he was trying to break, assuming people will laugh or poke fun, but he was learning to brush that off, wasn't he?

So he took that chance. Kanji sunk into a crouch and couldn't help himself, reaching out slowly, then keeping his hand still as his mind begged don't be scared. Just one rabbit. He'll pet one rabbit and then go on to check out the town.

[flowersinherhair]

At first, she was too preoccupied with looking around to even notice Kanji and the rabbit. This was different from the forest around her tower. Everything was so calm and open for miles. Her toes curled into the grass and dirt beneath them almost as if she was getting a feel of the place. Apparently they liked what they felt, because she finally relaxed. She wasn't home, but she wasn't exactly alone. She'd be fine.

She set her hair down at her feet and stretched to make sure her wet clothing wasn't sticking to her skin before finally noticing him and the rabbit. "Aww, I think he likes you." There wasn't any judgment or teasing in the statement. She was just being genuinely honest.

[topgun_textiles]

"...Ya think so?" Meanwhile, he sounded genuinely interested in the idea that this bunny wasn't gonna run off on him. He stretched and felt his stomach clench when the rabbit withdrew a little.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya. C'mere." It was his mission now to pet this rabbit. When the lapine inched forward, his fingertips brushed against those ears, and Kanji's face was getting a little pink.

"Y-you're seriously soft, y'know that...?"

[flowersinherhair]

She watched the little exchange with fascination. What did rabbits feel like? She'd seen some on the way to The Snuggly Duckling, but she'd never actually gotten to pet one. But this was Kanji's rabbit. She couldn't just take it from him, so she went with her second option. She laid down on the grass and rolled herself downhill, laughing as she tumbled down.

The downside, of course, was some of her hair had wrapped around her like a spool, but it wouldn't be too hard to untangle. For now, she focused on the fun she was having. Thankfully, she didn't roll too far away from her traveling companion.

[topgun_textiles]

Maaan, all she had to do was ask! But he looked up when she went with option two, and decided to go downhill in style. But she looked like she was winding herself up in that hair in the process.

Didn't seem the care, though! He pushed himself up to his feet and couldn't help the small laugh. That looked fun, but... no, he really couldn't! He'd just look weird.

But he followed on after, taking a run down the hill and slowing when her momentum finally slowed to a stop. Hands on his knees, he looked down at her. The silver chain dangled down, just a little purple shimmering in the black stone.

"Think you're gonna be able to get outta that, or do I wait 'til a butterfly comes out?"

[flowersinherhair]

She laughed and grinned up at him from her hair cocoon. "It'll be easy. It's just like unwinding thread!" To demonstrate, she stood up and twirled, causing her hair to loosen around her. She kept going until there was just one loose coil around her feet, which she gracefully stepped out of. "Ta-da!"

The necklace catches her eye. Isn't that...? "Hey, your necklace!" She reached up to touch her own heart pendant. Where did the purple come from, though? Was it always purpleish? "How's it doing that?"

[topgun_textiles]

It really was like unwinding thread. She spun and the hair fell into a coil she could hop right out of, and the smile was easy to form upon that demonstration. That's just what he gets for doubting somebody who's lived with it all her life, right?

But he blinked, gathered the heart charm dangling at his neck and inspecting it, the faint purple among that sea of black stone. "That's weird... it was all black before."

His eyebrows lowered briefly as he scrutinized it - and hers, too - before he had himself an idea. "Think it's like a mood ring?"

Kanji paused, then nodded. Yeah, that had to be it. "There's this shop back home that sells these weird rings that change color depending on your mood. Purple's pretty good, I think!"

If he figured something out, then that was a good start. So he'd close his eyes and think about his friends for a moment, and how happy they make him. He thought of Souji, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Teddie, and that fuzzy purple turned into hints of green, hints of yellow as he opened his eyes and looked in that heart-shaped stone. But then his head filled with the detective with the short, choppy hair and big blue eyes, a hand on the hip and that smirk on her face she gets when she's got everything all figured out.

As his face burned, that fuzzy glow couldn't decide between yellow and brief hints of orange.

"It's... it is a mood thing," he said, awed.

"I-I mean, I'm just thinkin' about all my friends back home and it's shiftin' around a little. But it's still all black. What's that mean...?"

[flowersinherhair]

She wasn't quite sure what a mood ring was, but it sounded pretty simple. "Is it like magic?"

After watching his necklace shift colors she decided to give hers a try. The very first person that came to mind was Mother... "It turned pink! Pink's good, right?"

She didn't even mean to think of Eugene next, but it made sense. He really was kind of her only friend. Besides, he was all alone now. She hoped he wasn't too lonely as her necklace settled on a fuzzy yellow color. "...Does yellow mean you're worried?"

[topgun_textiles]

He scratched his head, stumped. "I'unno, maybe. I never worked out how mood rings change color."

But he watched the black stone on hers as she concentrated, and saw that very faint tinge of pink trying to break through the black, but failing. He wondered if they could turn a solid color somehow, and what would happen if it did. Mood rings were harmless, but cloudy ones were usually ones you threw away and swapped for a new one. "Can't think of a time when pink's been a bad thing!"

The question brought him pause, though. When hers turned a little yellow, he wondered if yellow meant worried. Souji was on a train back to the big city, and he missed him... but he wasn't worried. As for the other... hmm.

"I worry sometimes, I guess. The people I thought of can take care've themselves pretty good though." Man, why'd hers turn pink, though? Who'd she think of? He wasn't sure if he should ask.

"B-but they turned into all the bright colors when we thought'a people. Like, brighter means happier or somethin'. But... m-maybe since we ain't been wearin' these long, it's still all fuzzy?"

[flowersinherhair]

She stared at her heart pendant and watched the yellow flicker a little. "It's just...I was thinking of a friend. We were travelling together before I came here, and I was wondering if he was okay, so..." But then she looked up and smiled, trying to shrug off her fears. "But then it would've been yellow to start off, not pink, so I must be wrong!"

What he said made sense, so she nodded in agreement. "Maybe if we wear them longer, they'll get clearer!"