aboxfullofstars | 31 [Open Post] Spring, Easter, And Traveling To Other Worlds!

31 [Open Post] Spring, Easter, And Traveling To Other Worlds!

Spring has come to City *****, the Flower Gardens are in full bloom...

And the World Tree Mart and the Market Square are all having their Spring Sales!

Some Beaches and Pools have also opened up for the spring, while the Onsens and Spas are having all kinds of special spring events.

But wait - Several things out of the ordinary does seem to be happening, as it so often does in the World Tree System.

[Yes, it's two Reality Waves at once, now!]

(1)A large amount of beings that seem to be Easter Bunnies are running around City *****, placing Easter Eggs in all kinds of strange places - And the people who find those Eggs will find themselves given a chance for their minds to be sent back in time to merge with a younger version of themselves, so that they have a chance to change their past (if that is what they want to do).

[Other characters can go with the character sent back in time as "temporary guardian spirits", and help them achieve what they want to do. The "spirits" will be non-corporal and invisible to everybody but the characters being affected by the Eggs.]

[If they succeed in changing their past, the character will either find themselves with two tracks of memories, or else a slightly AU version of them might turn up alongside the original. ]

(2)A large holo banner is floating on top of the City *****'s City Hall -

Tis The Time To Go Visit Other Worlds, And Take Your Friends With You!

A large parking area filled with tourist buses, tourist cars, tourist flyers and other tourist vehicles have suddenly appeared in front of the City Hall. One side of the parking area seem to have been set aside for horse carriages with some kind of tourist company like logo, while the other side has been set aside for several different kinds of dragons, also wearing all kinds of harnesses and tourist company-ish logos.

There are also a large amount of holos floating all over the area, showing the highlights and the destinations of the tours in question.

[Some characters will be getting a strong urge to go on one of those tours, whatever their original plans were.]

[The worlds they visit can be the characters's home worlds, AU or Crossover versions of their worlds, or different worlds entirely. Visiting several worlds are fine, too.]

[Whether the characters are affected or not by the Reality Waves are all up to their Muns.]

[All effects caused by the Reality Waves will end in 3 days, or whenever the Muns want them to end. All the characters who have been teleported to other worlds will also be returned to the World Tree System in 3 days (though they may stay longer then 3 days in the world they went to.]

[This is an open post, and the Muns can make up events and thread with each other as long as it fits the themes.]

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[Strangely enough, Yuuko is not in her Shop now.]

[Sumomo is sipping tea, and waiting.]

[James stared as he saw a very large rabbit-like Being went running down the streets, holding a very large basket covered with a piece of colorful cloth in it's hands.]

Oh, no - I'm late, I'm late!

[The Being lamented as it quickly raced through a narrow space between two food stalls.]

[James eyed the narrow space dubiously. James himself could fit though it, probably, but only barely, he thought.]

[Now - James usually did not follow strange beings around without a good reason, as a general rule of thumb.]

[...But on the other hand...]

[Hmmmmmmm.]

[James took a deep breath, then, and decided to follow his instincts.]

[He carefully peered through the narrow space, and then, he began to walk through it, grinning.]

Edited 2021-04-06 04:57 (UTC)

Kotomi's head turned towards the being, immediately recognizing a rabbit from a very familiar story.

She had been sitting on the same table as James, drinking green tea... when she saw that same rabbit. And while Kotomi was one to see weird sights and not bat an eye, either in this world or even HER own world.

While James at first decided against it, and then reconsidered upon having the curiosity take the better of him, Kotomi's thought processes were more of wondering what was the rabbit turning late to.

And then, as James peered through and decided to follow, Kotomi followed right at the same time, crawling on all fours.

"I hope he has passage for foreigners into Wonderland..."

[James twitched as he saw Kotomi come crawling after him.]

[...He'd totally forgotten that they'd been drinking tea together, the moment he'd seen that Rabbit Being go running past.]

[Darn it.]

[He quickly handsigned Kotomi, signalling "Possible Reality Wave" and "We might be being influenced mentally".]

[Kotomi blinked at that. It was pretty odd that James-san had just run off after the very big Rabbit Being without talking to her first, now that she thought about it...]

[Kotomi nodded, then, and handsigned back - "Roger!"]

[And then, James and Kotomi both crawled through the narrow space, as it had become rather too narrow for even James to just walk through.]

[James slowly blinked as they came to a small brook, and a small wooden plank over it, which apparently was supposed to function as a bridge.]

[He didn't think there was supposed to be anything like this in the park on the other side of the Food Stalls...]

[But then, the Rabbit Being turned back, and looked at both of them.]

...Oh! There you are! Please wait a minute...]

[James and Kotomi both sweatdropped as the Rabbit Being took out several round things wrapped in cloth out of a pocket that was obviously larger on the inside then the outside, and promptly dropped almost half of them.]

Oh, nooooo!

[The Rabbit Being groaned - The round things it had dropped were now rolling down the grassy knowl, right toward the brook!]

[Uh, oh. Kotomi bit her lip - She had to help that poor Rabbit Being!]

......Don't worry, Rabbit-san - I'll go get them!

[Kotomi said. She ran over the plank-bridge, and immediately started to grab the round things before they fell in the brook.]

[James groaned as he saw what Kotomi was doing - Come on, what if this Rabbit Being turned out to be their enemy or something?]

[But then, he sighed, stepped over the plank-bridge, and stopped one of the rolling round things with his foot, anyway. He wanted to keep his hands free in case the Rabbit Being tried anything, after all.]

[The Rabbit Being, in the meanwhile, had whipped out a basket out of it's pocket, and was now trying to put the round things inside them.]

Thank you, Young Miss!

[It said, smiling, as Kotomi went up to it, smiling, and put half a dozen round things into it's basket.]

[And then, it took one of them back out of the basket, and plopped it back into Kotomi's hands before she could object.]

Please keep this one - It was for you, to begin with, after all.

[And then, it turned toward James and waved a paw, grinning.]

And that one's for you, if you want it!

[James and Kotomi both looked at each other - And that was when the Rabbit Being waved at both at them, and began to run again.]

[And then, it disappeared behind a very big tree.]

I'm late, I'm late, I'm still late - But I did manage to do part of my job, anyway, tee-hee!

[James and Kotomi both sighed, then. James picked up the round thing he'd stopped from falling into the brook, and then they both went to look behind the very big tree. Nope, there was not a trace of the Rabbit Being in sight.]

[Kotomi slowly looked at the wrapped thing in her hand again.]

...I do wonder what this is, though...

[James nodded at that, and held up his own wrapped thing.]

...It's shaped like an egg, anyhow. Do you want to open yours up first, or should I?

[Kotomi blinked at that, and held up her own wrapped thing.]

- Are we still being affected? I want to open up mine, too, even though I have no idea what's inside - For all that we know, it might be some kind of booby-trap set up by the local energy-sucking monsters!

[James snickered a bit at that.]
...That Rabbit didn't exactly feel like an energy-sucking monster, but you're right - We shouldn't open both of them at the same time, I think.

[Kotomi held out her fist at that.]

Let's decide with a game of Jan-Ken-Pon!

[James grinned at that.]

Rock paper scissors? Sure!

[Kotomi won that one, and started to unwrap her round thing, grinning.]

[The round thing turned out to be egg-shaped, made of some kind of crystal, and covered with delicate and beutiful gold etchings.]

...OK, so it's - a Russian-style Crystal Easter Egg? It's very beautiful - Just like something in a museum!

[She said, holding it up. James nodded, agreeing with her.]

- Well, at least it doesn't seem to be anything that's too dangerous -

[Aand that was when the thing that looked like a Easter Egg began to glow!]

[Kotomi blinked as she found herself in a dark space.]

[There was a mirror in front of her - And reflected in the mirror was a little girl.]

[A little girl with the same hair and eyes and facial features as Kotomi herself.]

Mommy and Daddy are dead. And it's all my fault.

[Kotomi stared at the little girl.]

...No, it's not. That's not true. My parents -

[...But no, her parents she'd met here were not...]

[...They weren't her parents. Not really. They'd been the parents of a different Kotomi, not her.]

...Tomoya-kun said -

[But Tomoya-kun wouldn't know. He hadn't been there, after all.]

[And Tomoya-kun always thought his friends were the best people ever.]

- Ayaana-san said -

[But Ayaana-san loved her, right? So Ayaana-san's opinions would always be biased in her favor.]

[The little girl glared back at her, tearing poaring down her cheeks.]

I should have been able to stop them!

"I..."

That sudden beating of her chest. That guilt she had felt for so long. She stepped back, feeling the same terror at the visage she hadn't felt since she had seen the Vigil for the first time.

She was at a loss for words, holding her chest.

"You were young. You didn't know what was going to happen. You didn't know it would be the last time I..." There was that 'I' again. She realized she had tried depersonalizing the problem through her sentences, only to trail back all the way to herself.

But Tomoya... he guided her. He let her know the truth. It...

"It wasn't a punishment from God. It wasn't you. It wasn't the Gentleman," she mumbled. Her fists then tightened. "It was fate. It was misfortune. For so long I had wanted to be in that same plane that sunk into the sea."

She steeled herself, trying to gather her courage, "no day passes in which I don't wonder if I would've taken the same plane had I known what would happen... but I have my life, now, and it is what they would have wanted of me."

It still tore through her. The same tearing pain from a sword through her her heart that had briefly killed her years ago, and made her realize she did not want to die.

"If I got the chance... I would stop that plane, and ensure they live. Not for me, because I already know my past cannot be changed. But for them. And for whoever may be their daughter, still waiting for them."

[In the dark space]

[A small chuckled wafted through the dark space, then.]

In that case - Do as you wish, Ichinose Kotomi!

[Kotomi closed her eyes, then, as the dark space whirled, and collapsed on itself...]

[Back in the Past]

(Kotomi! Ichinose Kotomi, wake up!)

[Kotomi woke up slowly. The voice she was hearing was familiar, but everything else was strangely different.]

James-kun? What happened?

[She mumbled - And then, she almost tripped as she saw a strangely familiar face looking down at her.]

...Hey, hey, hey! Kotomi-chan - You OK over there?

[The woman was old and wizened, with white hair. Kotomi almost choked when she saw her.]

...Okane-Baachan?

[But...Okane-Baachan was supposed to be dead. She'd passed away when Kotomi was about 10 years old!]

- What were you doing under our engawa, anyway?

[Kotomi stared at her, sweatdropping. The house next door hadn't had a porch of any kind for ages, either.]

[Aand that was when there was a sigh, and a rather chubby young man over there way.]

...Oh, so there she is. Your Mom's looking for you, and so is your housekeeper, OK, Kid?

[The young man had thick glasses, and was wearing a garish T-shirt and sweatpants with a young dancing anime-esque woman on it. He also had two shining sticks in his hand.]

...Ken-nii!?

[Kotomi muttered. No, wait, Kenji-Nii couldn't be here either, he'd moved away a long time ago, once his grandmother had passed away...]

- Come on, Kid, your parents are gonna be back in about 10 days, right? So you can have your big birthday party when they come back, no problem!

[Kotomi picked herself up from the ground, and stared at young man. Why did he look so big all of a sudden, anyway?]

...Go away, Ken-Nii. They're my parents, not yours, and -

[Kotomi paused, then, as she remembered something.]

- And anyway, I would go hide all my "idol singer stuff" if I was you, because your parents are coming. In about 30 minutes.

...Oh, and you'd better hide all your manga and anime stuff, too, if you can.

[The young man stared at her, his eyes wide.]

- That is not funny, Kid.

[Kotomi shrugged at that.]

Yeah, your Granny didn't think so, either.

Your father tried to hit you when you told him it was none of his business what you bought with the money you earned working part time, but Okane-Baachan agreed with you, and told your Dad to get out.

And that's when he tried to shove her away, I think, and you caught her, but you ended up tumbling off the engawa, so you had to go to the hospital.

[Kotomi sighed, then.]

...He tried to say it was all your fault, of course. He always does that, doesn't he?

You went to Erika-san's concert anyway, but you couldn't do any of the fan wand dances you practiced for, because your arm was in a cast, and you were limping, too.

[Kenji stared at her, going white.]

- This had better not be any kind of prank, Kid.

[Kotomi sighed again at that.]

...It's not.

[And then, she looked around the garden, and pointed at an old, rickity shed on her house's side of it.]

- You can use my family's shed to put your stuff in if you want, Ken-Nii.

It's empty now, and I don't think your father would look in there...

[Kenji looked at her, and nodded, curtly.]

Thanks, Kid. - I think.

[And then, he ran into his grandmother's house.]

[Several minutes later...]

[Kotomi's father came out to the garden.]

...Oh, there you are, Kotomi!

[And then, he paused.]

- Do you have any idea why Kenji-kun is stuffing cardboard boxes into our shed, my dear?

[Kotomi sighed, then, as she raised her eyes.]

[...Yes, this was her father, as she remembered him for the last time. He was much younger then her AU father she'd met in City *****, of course.]

...Ken-nii's parents are coming for a "surprise inspection", and his daddy is awful, and yells at him a lot, and keeps trying to throw out his stuff.

So I told him he could hide his stuff in our shed, since it's empty anyway.

...That's OK, right, Papa?

Kotomi was not used to sub...ter...fuge. ... To keep secrets, that is. She strived to be honest whenever possible, all while keeping to her promise to be a good girl, even...

... even after coming to terms, long ago, of this all...

As a child, Kotomi was able to speak more easily what was happening, for a moment forgetting the guilt of many actions and instead thinking this was a world of possibilities. And...

... and of things she had to do. For her parents.

When she looked at her Papa in her eyes, Kotomi's eyes watered. She tried looking aside, wiping her eyes, trying not to sob or think to herself that this was the last time she saw them.

Even under the small mind and frail body of a child, she would have been willing to face the Vigil again, over having to face her own guilt.

"Please..." Kotomi hid her sniff on her elbow, "please let him keep it there... I don't want him hurt. And you..."

Kotomi didn't want him hurt. Kotomi wanted to hold him and her mom and stay with them. In her darkest moments, wishing to be in that very plane. She was battling not only trauma.

She was witnessing it as a helpless child.

"... I really, really don't want you hurt, either."

She said not as a child, but as the woman who had lived two decades in guilt for the last thing she said to her parents, and prayed for the day to see them again.

[Kotomi's father blinked, slowly.]

...But Kotomi! I'm not going to get hurt - Neither me or your mother are going anyplace that's especially dangerous, OK?

[Kotomi shook her head, then.]

- It doesn't matter where you're going if the plane goes down, Papa.

[Kotomi heard a small whimper then. It sort of sounded like James, though she couldn't see him anyplace close, for some reason.]

(Kotomiii! Did you have to give the entire game away right now!?)

[Kotomi tilted her head, then, wondering what James was talking about. The easiest way to make her parents stay off the plane was to just...tell them.]

[...Right?]

[Kotomi's father sighed, then, and hugged her.]

- Oh, Kotomi, Kotomi - Nothing is going to happen to the plane we're going to get on, or to us, for that matter.

I promise!

[Kotomi stared at him, then, tears welling up in her eyes.]

...You're lying, Papa. You - You and Mama said you'd never leave me, but you did!

[And then, she ran, wiping tears from her eyes with her fists.]

[She did not realize that Kenji, currently with a cardboard box in his hands, was staring at her as she ran to the other side of the house.]

[Nor did she realize that Kenji wasn't just staring at her - He was also staring at a spot behind her head as well, for some reason...]

[Kotomi ran into her family's garage, and leaned on the wall, panting.]

........Papa wouldn't believe me. Why wouldn't he believe me?

[There was a small sighed from behind her, then.]

(Come on, Kotomi - Would you believe you, if you were in his shoes?)

- Of course I would!

[Kotomi said, and then, she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and blew her nose, noisily.]

[There was a small chuckle, then.]

(Well, actually, now that I think about it, you probably would believe it if any of your children ever told you that the plane you and your spouse were supposed to get on was going to go down, but Kotomi - Your Papa isn't you, OK?)

[Kotomi sniffed again.]

...I suppose.

[And then, she turned around, looking for where the voice was coming from - And her mouth dropped open!]

...James-kun??? Is that really you???????

[A small chihuhaua with fairy-like wings was floating in the air and looking at her, sighing.]

[He was half transparent, and really, really cute.]

[Kotomi's eyes widened as she caught sight of him.]

- James-kun! You're...You're so cute!

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