Winter Faire

[voidtreckermods]

”Shortly arriving in World#5562102022. The dressing carriage is open for your convenience.” The announcement might be unexpected so late in the month, but soon enough further information arrives on their SCA’s.

World#5562102022: Home of the famous Winter Faire. Voidtreckers may spend the evening here. Please remember your Snowcoins. Enjoy.

The dressing carriage is open for characters to choose from an array of winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. There are also ice skates in a variety of sizes and shapes, suitable for all passengers.

THE PLAZA

The Express comes to rest in a station roofed by sheets of ice. Streamers of light run up and along the arches overhead, sending flashes of colour through the structure at intervals. A wooden path leads through stands of sparkling trees to the faire proper.

The faire is a large one, mostly made up of a large market of wooden huts. The market is held outside; while it's dark when they arrive, there are floating lights twinkling in the darkness that illuminate the area. There is snow on the ground and a light flurry in the air, the perfect amount of snow to be atmospheric without anyone being too damp or cold.

There are both ice paths and ordinary wooden paths through the market. In the centre of the market there is a large ferris wheel, where guests can sit in glass bubbles filled with soft cushions and blankets as they view the snowy market from above.

THE ICE RINK

There are two large ice rinks, and ice paths weave through the market, with many of the eateries having 'ice gardens' where skaters can rest and drink before continuing their skating. Wooden railings run through the middle of the ice paths, both to form two one-way lanes, and to give new or wobbly skaters something to hold onto. 

There are benches at the entrance to the large ice rinks for people to change into their ice skates and cubbies for them to store their shoes; the ice paths connect to both rinks. There are also skate aids for those that need them, carved wooden animals to hold onto and push along the ice for balance. An animal that looks like a furred penguin dominates.

THE SLEDDING SLOPE

To the north of the market, there is a snowy field with a hill perfect for sledging, and sleds to borrow for any who want them. 

The whole field is deep with snow, with a well trodden path leading up the hill and sledding tracks leading down. To the side of the slope are snowpeople and snow animals, some better built than others, and plenty of snow to add to this collection.

THE WOODLAND ENCLOSURES

To the south there is a small woodland where a member of staff will allow guests through with warnings to be peaceful and not disturb the creatures. 

The trees are bare of leaves and white with snow, some with frost forming crystal snowflakes on the branches. There are indeed woodland creatures within the woodlands: deer, rabbits, strange white pompom-looking creatures. They are comfortable with people, and won't flee.

THE FERRIS WHEEL

In the centre of the market there is a large ferris wheel allowing guests to sit in glass bubbles filled with soft cushions and blankets as they view the snowy market from above. The ferris wheel moves slowly, allowing plenty of time to take in the view and enjoy the company, the soft seating, or both.

Bubbles can fit up to 6 people, though the attendants will allow groups from single guests up to six. The glass can be made one-way, so that guests cannot be viewed from outside.

THE MARKET

All the activities in the faire are free.  Everything in the market, from a mug of beer to a blown glass ornament costs one snowcoin, the snowflake tokens that passengers received on station day. Each passenger has ten to spend.

FOOD STALLS

The actual market sells drinks: hot chocolate, mulled wine, beer, spiced apple juice and cider amongst some more alien picks like a bright pink concoction that is delicious but very alcoholic; food: sausages, bread, cakes, roasted chestnuts, candied nuts, stroopwafel and a whole collection of unrecognisable but delicious things.

All are available to take out, though many of them also have a bar area where shoppers can sit, drink and people watch.

SHOPPING

The stalls don't sell much that would be considered useful, but are filled with trinkets, decorations, cute hats and other clothing, sweets, glassware, jewellery, toys… and much much more.

After a good few hours in the market, things are beginning to wind down and stalls start to close. The Voidtreckers will receive a message on their SCA telling them it is time to return to the Express. Once all passengers are on board the train will leave the ice-covered station and return back to the Void.

Comments

[deductiongeek]

"Whatever I have to do," he says firmly.

If there was any chance, any chance at all, at not losing this, he had to take it.

[singlefaith]

A nod, very small, and after a moment, she lifts her head. Her eyes are puffy, red from too many tears, her cheeks stained with the marks of them. She looks at him across the small space between them, nearly looks away again . . . but seems to make some mental determination and stays. Maybe it helps that he's not wearing glasses at the moment . . . he's not quite Conan, and he's not quite Shinichi.

"Tell me why." Her voice is no louder, no steadier. But she's watching.

[deductiongeek]

"It all goes back to that night at Tropical Land." He stops a moment there, as he tries to decide how to explain this next part without upsetting her too much. Unconsciously, he rubs his hands together to try and keep them warm. His too big clothes weren't doing much against the cold.

"You remember the two suspicious men in black at the Mystery Coaster? I was right. They were up to something." A slight shiver. "They caught me following them and decided to kill me. Only it didn't go quite as they planned."

[singlefaith]

For her turn, Ran hasn't quite become aware of the cold yet. Even though her clothes do fit, they're both sitting still, and that gives the cold time to seep in -- especially when they're both sitting in the snow.

"What happened?" Because there's no apparent connection as of yet.

[deductiongeek]

He'd hoped that the implication was enough, without having to give her the details that would make her worry.

But it seemed that he had to spell it out.

He takes a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before letting it out.

"They forced me to take poison. It was something new, something that was supposed to kill without leaving any traces for an autopsy to detect. They left, and when I woke up again I was like this."

[singlefaith]

She's far beyond worry at this point. Maybe it will come later. Right now all she wants is the truth that he's promised to her, and there's nothing in their world that would have allowed for a teenager turning into a child. Even their science shouldn't allow for that.

Right now she's too numb to even react deeply. Instead she gathers details, one by one, trying to rebuild a new paradigm from the one she's lost.

"You didn't involve the police . . . why?"

Obviously they would have had a hard time believing him. She has no illusions about that. But he'd still made the choice not to try -- obviously he hadn't, or he would never have found his way to her.

[deductiongeek]

A small huff of annoyance.

"I tried at first. They thought I was making it up." And then a hesitant sigh. "And then I learned that this whole thing was much bigger than I ever expected. Its not just those two men, Ran. Its an organization. With agents everywhere. And they will kill anyone who tries to investigate them or even has any knowledge of their existence. I've seen it happen." He can't hide the remembered horror in his expression. "If I told Megure-keibu.... I'm sure they have agents in the Tokyo police. He would be killed before he could do anything."

[singlefaith]

"That's . . . a lot to swallow," she notes. Because a criminal organization that reaches everywhere, killing anyone in its path, with moles in the police . . . it's the stuff of thrillers.

Of course the fact of who's behind the small face in front of her is in itself a lot to swallow . . . and that's certainly been empirically demonstrated at this point.

[deductiongeek]

"Maybe, but it is the truth. I wouldn't have lied to you if the threat wasn't this serious."

[singlefaith]

A breath. "It's just . . . a lot to swallow, Shinichi. I told you that I want to believe you. You told me you wouldn't lie. But. If you had never gone through what you've gone through, if you were in my position . . . wouldn't you find it a lot too?"

[deductiongeek]

"Would I have believed that there was a drug that could kill undetectably or remove ten years from someone? No." He gives her a look. "But with all the cases I've seen, a criminal organization like this isn't that implausible."

[singlefaith]

"That's you," she notes quietly. "You live in this world. You're a detective. It's . . . not my world. I visit sometimes, with you and Dad, but mostly my world is high school and homework and studying karate and going out with Sonoko and Sera-chan. There are murders because people do awful things to one another, but for the most part I don't -- and don't have to -- think about criminals. You're taking it as though I couldn't believe you, but that's not what I'm saying. Do you understand why that might be scary to me to think that something like that exists?"

[deductiongeek]

True, this was his life. And one that he'd been buried in so long that for a moment he fights a spike of hurt and disappointment. Logically, he knew that Ran had no reason, beyond what she had just seen, to believe him.

But it felt dismissive, as if everything he'd suffered these last few months meant nothing.

"If you'd rather pretend that it didn't," he says softly. "That's still an option for you. I can't leave, but you don't have any reason to get dragged into this mess."

[singlefaith]

"I didn't say that." There's a little note of frustration creeping into her voice. He's thrust her into this; she's trying to understand, and he only seems to hear that she's denying what he's telling her, in spite of her saying directly that she isn't. "I'm overwhelmed, Shinichi. You've been living this life, but I haven't even known about it until today. I'm trying to listen, trying to hear, but it's a lot, and I'm scared. I'm still here, and I'm still trying -- if that doesn't count for anything to you--"

She doesn't finish that thought, pressing her lips together, but her body has tensed, as though she's strongly considered getting up.

[deductiongeek]

Shinichi bites back his immediate response and immediately squashed down all of his feelings of hurt and frustration. Time enough to deal with that later,and it was all his own fault anyway. If Ran never forgave him.... Well that was more than her right, wasn't it?

"What I am trying to say is that if you need time to deal with this, then you have it. I'll leave you alone. If you need an exit from this, if you never want to see me again, if you want to talk... You can have that too."

He shudders and draws back, making an attempt at rubbing his hands to keep warm.

"I want to help you, but I don't know what you want."

[singlefaith]

The words release the heat building in her stomach. She sinks back into place, slowly releasing a breath, staring into the snow.

What does she want?

"I don't . . . want you to go," she says after a moment. "I want . . . to understand. How this happened. Why it happened. Why it was so important to you that you felt like you needed to lie to me. I want to know if . . . what's between us . . . can be okay."

Another breath. "So I need you to talk to me. But I need you to understand that this is a lot. That I'm scared. I need you to be patient. And open. And . . . kind. I need you to understand that I'm still angry with you . . . but I'm sitting here because--because you mean more to me than anyone else. And for that I want to try."

[deductiongeek]

"Then I'll stay," he says immediately. "I want to explain." He dips his head again, enough to shadow his face. But not enough to hide the quick twist of grief and guilt, nor the exhaustion in his eyes. "And I want to make this work."

[singlefaith]

She would understand the exhaustion. She's tired too; this has wrung everything out of her. But to leave now, to let things go unfinished, doesn't feel right either, as much as anger, grief, fear, and weariness would like to send her back to her cot on the train, curling up against the world.

"Then . . . let's keep going." She swallows, presses her lips together. "You said there's a criminal organization that did this to you . . . that you ran into them at Tropical Land. That . . . the police can't help. What are you going to do? There's a cure that they have . . . isn't there?"

Never mind that he said it was supposed to be a poison. Surely there's a cure.

There has to be . . . right?

[deductiongeek]

"I'm going to bring them down," he says firmly. "Even apart from what they did to me, I can't walk away from this now that I know everything that they have done."

He winces slightly as he looks away. "Ran," he says softly. "As far as they know, all they have is a drug that kills. That's why they're not looking for me. They never meant for there to be a cure." He adds this next part quickly. "I'm working on it. But right now, all I have is something temporary. It can give me a few hours at most."

[singlefaith]

The answer about the Organization is nothing she didn't expect from him -- though it means he's pitting himself against something he says that not even the police can handle. However talented and intelligent he is, no matter how much she believes in his abilities . . . how can he possibly manage that?

Likely he can see those feelings flick through her face, but once again, it's a lot to absorb, and she'll have to return to it. Her fingers ball, wrap around handfuls of her coat, focusing on the second thing he's revealed. "Is that what happened this time? . . . All those other times?"

All those times that she'd seen him, where he'd withdrawn in apparent illness and anxiety, eager to squirm away . . .

[deductiongeek]

He rubs his hands again, and pulls them inside the long sleeves for the warmth.

"Yeah... Like I said, it never lasts very long. And it seems like it always wears off at the worst possible time."

He doesn't say that it always began and ended with the same painful transportation, but after what she had seen earlier she could probably guess.

[singlefaith]

Yes, she can guess -- both extrapolating from this instance and all the times he'd shown up as himself and she'd thought she'd heard him scream. She shivers a little herself, though not from the cold.

"If it's so painful . . . why do you do it?"

Because while it isn't frequent, he obviously has multiple times.

[deductiongeek]

"Because some things are worth the pain."

He leaves to her to guess what that was. But considering all the times he'd come back that he'd tried to spend with her, he suspected she could guess.

[singlefaith]

Blue eyes stare back into his, unguarded, and there's that squeeze again of her heart -- that same feeling as when he'd grabbed her arm in London, told her in no uncertain measures that she was wrong; he had feelings for her.

She wants to believe it and doesn't want to in the same moment. Wants because it's that reassertion of his feelings, however sideways he's come at it. Doesn't want to because how could she ever feel good about him going through that for her?

And of course part of her wonders if that's what he really means at all. Maybe she just hears it because she wants it. After all, hadn't he worked on cases during that time?

"Always?" Her head ducks a little, a small bloom of pink in her face. She wants it. But she's also not sure it was just for her. Maybe something he took advantage of. But not just for her.

[deductiongeek]

"Always," he says firmly. "I don't regret any of the times I've been able to come back. I want to come back to you as myself for good."