PSYC Ward: Explorer

World 8, Part C: The Ivy and the Dragon

The morning went by fast. The girls had eaten breakfast, and Kyle went to get a few extra hours of sleep seeing as she hadn't slept well again. Rachel used that time to continue working on her present while Jing looked around outside.

"Is there some way I can hide my eyes? I want to go out and see what's going on, but I don't want them knowing I'm not a human." She said.

Rachel gave a smirk and pulled out her sunglasses.

"Yeah, we got something for that."

She tossed them over to Jing, who put them on.

"I can't see a thing out of them." She said.

Rachel held her hand out, asking for them back.

"Thought not. Those are called Sunblinders. We can get you a pair of sunglasses, which'll have the same effect without blinding you. We'll have to wait until Kyle wakes up, though. They'll still darken things a bit but no one will know we're not a group of perfectly normal humans."

Hong Yan Jing gave a bright smile and took the sunblinders off, handing them back to Rachel.

"Then we can go to home right?" She asked.

Rachel nodded.

"Yeah."

Eventually, Kyle opened her eyes, complaining about a headache. Once she was feeling better, they went out and began the day. Kyle got Jing the promised pair of sunglasses, they got themselves dressed ready, and they went on their way. It was already past noon, but that was okay. Most of the festivities didn't get started until halfway through the day anyway. They spent the rest of the afternoon celebrating together. Rachel found herself buying every sweet item she came across and eating them. They were great, especially when they were sweet and sour. She also bought herself a dragon figurine. It was a long, singly carved piece of wood, with a stand to support the figure on it of a painted green and red undulating dragon. After that, she more or less followed Kyle.

They also bought gifts for Jing, with the small fortune Xarkon had lent them - a mask for her of a rat, that having been the year she was born in, along with a golden set of bangles. Kyle bought herself a bright purple fan with a large central moon on it and otherwise filled with shooting stars. They even played a few of the games. Time went by fast, and before they even knew it the sun was setting. They found themselves even setting off street fireworks, when Hong Yan Jing suddenly gasped and ran off to one of the booths. Rachel and Kyle followed as soon as they realized she had.

"Look at that!" She said.

Hong Yan Jing was pointing to one of the necklaces for sale. It was a ornate dragon necklace made of cast gold for the bas and silver for the detailing. Curiously, even though this was a long, oriental type dragon, it did indeed have a pair of wings emerging from its back. A biologist might've looked at their puny size in comparison to the body and labeled them absolutely vestigial.

"Ah, you like it, hm?" The shopkeeper asked.

The shopkeeper was exactly what Rachel expected. A tall and thin man with a curled beard and black hair that was beginning to whiten, dressed in red and gold and wearing a top-knot hair style. He had that same grin on his face the Underdweller had had - plastic and impossible to read - and seemed to constantly be glaring at all three of them despite his otherwise disturbingly polite demeanor.

"Your friend has good eyes." He said. "That is an exquisite piece. Made it myself! Though its outside is made of soft gold and silver, they have been enchanted to stay strong."

Jing reached for the necklace.

"How much for it?"

The man struck quickly flicked out a fan and pressed it against the wrist of the small yokai, preventing Hong Yan Jing from touching it.