WELCOME TO TOKYO.

[tokyodisa]

Who: Everybody!
What: Tokyo Day One
When: Tuesday, 16/July -- starting at midnight
Where: Paradisa Hotel in downtown Tokyo
Rating: kawaii

Maybe you were asleep in bed last night. Maybe you were out on the town. Or maybe you were working on something super cool, which you didn't really need to be disrupted by, oh, say a world change or anything else stupid.

Too bad for you, that's just what happened.

At the stroke of midnight, everyone will find themselves back in their assigned castle rooms -- except they're not exactly the same as they were left…

[ ROOMS | RESTAURANT & BAR | FITNESS CENTER | LOBBY & GIFT SHOP | COURTYARD ]

[this log is only for the hotel! if you'd like to explore tokyo, feel free to set up your own logs and posts.]

Comments

[therealrisette]

[Rise winks as she answers.]

My job!

[... Which she never told Utena about, did she? Whoops.]

Oh, right! I'm an idol. So I did all kinds of stuff! Photo shoots, modeling, concerts, acting... I had to travel a lot, but I got to visit the big cities all the time!

[princelyspirit]

Whoa! That's pretty amazing - I mean, talk about a glamorous life! How'd you even get into that stuff, anyway?

[Is surprised, but at the same time... isn't. The more Utena thinks about it, the more she realizes that Rise has the perfect mindset for an idol. Cute, fashionable, and outgoing, she really is a star in the making. She's surprised she never heard about her, though, but hey, it's not like she really kept up with the idol scene.]

[therealrisette]

[Rise gazes out at the city for a moment... and when she answers, it's a little less hyper. More even and calm. Slightly, but noticeably.]

Just got lucky, I guess!

[A pause... and then she figures she might as well give the whole story.]

... I didn't even want to be an idol at first. My family sent the contest application in for me. I didn't think they'd even notice me with all those other girls, but... I won.

[She doesn't really feel the need to vent about her past like she might have a year or so ago. About how she just wanted to make friends, and ended up in an even lonelier life because of it. She'd tell Utena if she asked, of course, but none of that is important right now.]

[princelyspirit]

[Not sure what to say to that - she doesn't sound too happy about how she started, but she seems pretty pleased with how it turned out. Utena pauses, before she smiles at her, and when she speaks she sounds calmer than before]

Well, for what it's worth, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more than you.

[therealrisette]

Awww... thanks, neechan!

[She gives Utena a playful nudge, but her smile is absolutely genuine. That was a really sweet thing to say!

The novelty of the not-quite-the-same Tokyo is starting to wear off, though. So she paces back into the room and plops right back down onto the end of her bed. Now that she gets a better look at the room, something about it really does seem strange...]

Must've been a while since they redecorated in here, huh?

[It's a really nice hotel room, but it doesn't have that... ultra modern look she's used to.]

[princelyspirit]

Huh...now that you mention it, I guess it could be a bit more fashionable...

[Looks around a bit before she walks over and plops herself on her bed. It doesn't look that old, but it's not exactly on the cutting edge of design, either.]

But, hey, it looks like it has everything else! Want to watch TV or a movie, or something?

[It's too late to explore, but there's no way she can just go back to sleep! This seems like as good a way to kill time as any]

[therealrisette]

[Rise had let herself flop backwards onto the bed, and started staring up at the ceiling... it's definitely late, but there's no way she can go back to sleep, either!

So at Utena's suggestion, she quickly props herself up on her side, glancing over at the other bed's occupant. It'd be a good time waster until morning, at least!]

Sure!

[She's just thinking about what kind of late-night programs they might have or what movies they could find, when she actually looks at the TV.]

Huh?! Since when do hotels like this have such cheap TVs?

[Is the castle just messing with everything? Nothing's quite the way it should be...]

[princelyspirit]

It's not that cheap...

[Sure, Rise's an idol and all, and is probably used to all sorts of luxuries. But the room isn't that bad. A little behind the times, maybe, but cheap? That's kind of a rude way to put it!]

[therealrisette]

[With almost anyone else, Rise would have just asserted that yes, it most certainly is that cheap! With Utena, though... she just kind of petulantly defends her position.]

But... they don't even sell these in stores anymore! They're just... piled up in junkyards everywhere.

[Where did this hotel even get one? Have they just had it that long? ... Castle logic is one way to explain it, but being in Japan is kind of dulling Rise's usual "weird stuff happens" excuse...]

[princelyspirit]

Sure, it's not brand new, but plenty of families still have TVs like this. Just be grateful that it came with a VCR.

[She'd rather have a laserdisk player, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Either way, they can still watch movies, right?]

[therealrisette]

[She can't have heard that right. Could she?

She looks again, and... yep. She hasn't seen one of those since she was tiny, and even then it was old!]

Wha-... but...

[She has a really weird feeling about this place now...]

... Is this some kind of retro themed hotel?

[She's seen stranger themes in hotels before. But that's really inconvenient!]

What if we wanted to watch something on DVD or Blu-Ray?

[princelyspirit]

[Aaand Utena starts to stare at Rise like she grew a third arm.]

...okay, first off? This isn't exactly what I'd call "retro". Second, what the heck is a Blu-Ray?

[therealrisette]

[... Okay, now Rise's starting to feel really out of place. But one of her best friends is from 1990, so it doesn't take her long to start coming up with shades of a theory...]

Wait... what year are you from?

[princelyspirit]

...Ninety-Seven, almost Ninety-Eight. Why do you ask?

[Has a bad feeling about this]

[therealrisette]

Really?!

[With Nora it was obvious... Rise knew there was a time difference between them. She never once even considered it with Utena, though...]

Wow, I was little back then! Littler than when we met!!!

[... Which is actually kind of amusing in a way, but right now all that's registering is shock.]

[princelyspirit]

Wait, what do you mean, back then?! I mean- wait, what year was it when you got here?

[therealrisette]

[Huh? Oh... she probably never mentioned that, either. And she didn't give Utena much to go on for a guess just now.]

Almost the same as it was here... 2012.

[princelyspirit]

...fifteen years in the future...

[Sounds a little dumbfounded. She's met people from the distant past, she's met people from the distant future, and she's met people from distant nations and distant worlds. But, Rise just seemed so normal that she just took for granted that they were from around the same time.]

[therealrisette]

[Wow... when she puts it that way, it really does drive the difference home. That's practically her whole life's worth between them! And Rise never even noticed!]

... So you're like...

[Wow, no, Rise. Don't bring up Utena's actual age in 2012. Don't even think about it enough to figure it out.]

... Huh. I guess I really am younger than you...

[She smiles, if a bit weakly. Trying to make a joke out of it. But she'll be gauging Utena's reactions very carefully now, because... wow. She's still pretty stunned at this news, herself.]

[princelyspirit]

[She doesn't want to think about it any more than you do, Rise. Seriously. Utena flops down on her bed, head against the mattress, when suddenly, she begins to laugh]

You know what? You really are, aren't you?

[It's weird, but... it's just so ridiculous when she puts it like that]

[therealrisette]

[Utena's laugh cuts through any tension immediately, and Rise finds herself laughing along with her. It really is funny to think about, a girl her own age (as far as Rise knows) being so much... older, in a way. Or Rise being that much younger, depending on how you looked at it!

But it explains a lot about their different reactions to this place, too!]

So this is like... Tokyo from around your time? Or, I dunno... closer to yours than mine?

[Makes sense for the castle's world changes, right? But it means there's no chance she'll find any Risette merchandise anywhere. She doesn't even know what idols were popular back in the 90's!]

[princelyspirit]

You know, I'm actually not sure. I mean, it doesn't seem that different, but... I don't know, it still feels pretty out-of-date.

[therealrisette]

I guess it could be worse. We could be in feudal times or something!

[If the castle had to drop them off in a different time, at least it's still a modern time with plenty of things to do!]

At least it's still... kinda like home, right?

[For both of them. Even if it's definitely much closer for Utena than Rise...]

[princelyspirit]

Yeah... it's a lot more like home than I could have hoped for. [Smiles wistfully as she looks back towards the balcony] For a while, I thought I'd never see Japan again.

[therealrisette]

Yeah, me too...

[Relaxing on the bed, Rise takes a deep breath and sighs. She knows she'll go home someday, but... she'll never see some of her friends from the castle again. Even if they're from the same world, some are in different countries or from different times. This might be the only chance she ever gets to spend some time in Tokyo with Utena...]

Let's enjoy it while we can!

[She may or may not already be planning days out with all of her friends she runs into. With Utena, naturally, at the top of the list as her temporary roommate.]