barbie girl in a barbie world

[nopixiedust]

Who: Wendy nopixiedust, Kairi pure_radiantics, and anyone interested whether they saw the BBS post or not
What: Time to go shopping! Because no one wants to walk around in the clothes they died in.
When: June 6, the day after the beach party
Where: The Near Shore, Harajuku, other places maybe

As usual for warm weather, the streets are bustling with all sorts of people. Hopefully everyone going along for this little venture can find each other.... Or don't and just cause shenanigans on your own. That's fine too.

Comments

[nopixiedust]

[Oh, that got remembered! Wendy beams back up at Hibiki, putting the question of where they're going on the backburner for the moment.]

You did! Is that what you're going to get?

1/who knows, grab some popcorn, i'm sorry wendy

[priforprince]

Indeed!

[ Second corner is in sight. Hibiki is preening prematurely, she's so excited.

In a perfectly cool, calm, noble way, of course. ]

You wouldn't have known, but there exists a perfect maiden's paradise. Here, all ideal selves are revealed. Their inner radiance blossoms like greenhouse buds exposed to sunlight...

2/hibiki

[priforprince]

[ Here is the corner. Let us round the corner together. ]

And the name of this utopia on Earth is - P--

3/hibiki

[priforprince]

[ The corner is rounded! The intersection is revealed!

Behold ---





The shopping bags Hibiki has totally had slung over one arm all this time fall to the ground. Back in her temple, a teacup topples off the shelf and smashes of its own accord. ]

4/4

[priforprince]

HHHHhhhhhhhh?!?!??!

[ And that would be Hibiki either gasping or sucking in a breath. Her own mouth doesn't really know what it's doing, save from going suddenly slack.

Where there is supposed to be a closed hamburger store, there is a lingerie shop. And.

Where there is supposed to be, across the street, a clothing store called "Prism Stone" whence one can produce one's PriTicket and abandon this loveless world for a land of glitter and dreams and splendor,

there is a drab, squat, grey office building. There are even drab, squat, grey salarymen coming and going from it. In the middle of the girly fashion district.

Hibiki's PriTicket drifts out of her hand and joins her shopping bags on the ground. She is utterly still.

Except for some twitching. ]

[nopixiedust]

[....oh shit did she have a heart attack?]

[Promptly, Wendy stands on the tips of her toes, arms wrapping around one of Hibiki’s elbows to try and tug her down. IS THIS MORE MELODRAMATIC BULLSHIT OR SERIOUS, IT’S SO HARD TO TELL, GODDAMN DRAMA LORDS]

Hey, are you okay?

[priforprince]

...it's not here.

[ Hibiki is trembling. She'll sort of list to one side at Wendy's tugging, but doesn't seem to have actually noticed it. She's too busy staring at that office building. ]

PriPara's not....here?

[ Does not compute. System error. Please hold while we reboot your Prince.

Her face even has a slightly blue screen of death tinge to it. ]

[nopixiedust]

[....Oh. So she’s not having a heart attack, just being weird. Well, that, at least, is more manageable. Sighing, Wendy starts to gently smack Hibiki’s face.]

Hey, snap out of it. You’re not making any sense.

1/2 i bought a premium paid account early and i'm gonna use it :/

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki blinks when she's smacked. A hand comes up on its own to lightly bat that smacking hand away, but when her brain catches up, she suddenly has something to do. Over there. On the other side of the street. ]

Excuse me a moment, Mademoiselle Wendy!

2/2

[priforprince]

[ And she's going to try to...take off running. Across the street. To interrogate whoever's in that building where the Prism Stone shop is supposed to be. Leaving her bags, her PriTicket, and Wendy standing right here.

She is so intent on needing to do this, and so used to others arranging her universe to her own advantage, that she neglects to check the traffic signal. Or recall that gods have very little presence on the Near Shore.

Here goes the Prince's crusade! If nothing alters it, it'll take her right into oncoming traffic! ]

[nopixiedust]

[Oh, well, she guesses that happened. Sighing, Wendy straightens up, dusting off her dress and looking after Hibiki-]

[oh bugger]]

HEY!

[But Wendy isn’t expecting Hibiki to listen to her. Clearly she didn’t just a second ago, after all. So instead the tiny woman chases after her, a lot faster than one might think with her tiny frame.]

[God help her if she catches up with you, Hibiki, because she is going to tackle you straight in the knees before you can get run over]

[priforprince]

[ God must be helping Hibiki, as a Wendy tackle is still probably preferable, in the long run, to starring in a cautionary tale about looking both ways before crossing the road. Finding her path across the street suddenly impeded, she looks down, startled. Wha-- ]

Princess Wendy?!

[ does not compute

But, on the plus side, you now have her attention! ]

[nopixiedust]

[Thank god for, well. God. You know. Huffing and rosy cheeked, she glares up at Hibiki.]

You were about to run into the middle of the street! People- normal people- they can’t see us, right!?

[priforprince]

They can't...

[ Now that you mention it, she does faintly recall something of that nature. And it fits with the evidence from the day thus far. But.

Hibiki scoffs. ] I'm never invisible.

[ It's ego on autopilot. To avoid having to think about the inevitable. Yet Wendy might be able to feel the fight draining out of Hibiki as she stands here forced to confront the inarguable truth. No illusions, no tricks, no lies. This is the right intersection. And what she seeks isn't here.

PriPara is gone. Or perhaps had never been. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Now is not the time for your ego, Hibiki]

[Still, so long as she’s not going to get hit by a car, Wendy is willing to let her say whatever. Dusting off her dress as she gets up, she glances over to what has the god’s attention. It seems a little strange and weird to Wendy, in that way that everything has since she woke up, but nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking her head, she takes Hibiki’s hand firmly and tries to get her up and away.]

Come on. You’re acting bizarre. Let’s go to one of these cafes and you can get your head on straight.

[No time for the cute girl routine- she clearly needs to take the reigns here until Hibiki is back to her usual silly self again.]

[priforprince]

...Right.

[ Hibiki notices her ticket on the ground. So she picks it up. Then she notices her bags. So she picks those up too. After that she'll be surprisingly pliable.

But she's going to keep looking over her shoulder at where she was expecting the entrance to PriPara to be even if she's led away. ]

[nopixiedust]

[It’s actually kind of pitying, to see someone so boisterous and arrogant looking more a lost child than Wendy ever has. If she disliked Hibiki in any way, maybe Wendy would enjoy it, but, well. Sure, she’s been sort of tiring, but… It’s been manageable, especially with gifts.]

[Wendy guides her along patiently, making sure that she has her own things in check, and then she’s nudging the god into the first cafe that they come across. It’s a tiny but cute little place, and she manages to herd Hibiki over to a little table to the side.]

There. I’m going to get you some water or something, okay?

[priforprince]

Mm.

[ Hibiki slumps in the chair. She feels a chill. Why isn't Ando here with a jacket?

Right. Because Ando is in PriPara.

And PriPara is gone.

Hibiki looks like she might scream. Or pass out. ]

[nopixiedust]

….Don’t pass out without calling someone else who can carry you or something, alright?

[It’s a legitimate concern, okay? With that settled as much as it can be, Wendy goes over to the counter. She might not have checks, or overflowing princely charisma, but she does have big eyes and a childish face. No one would deny her a simple cup of water, which she soon brings over.]

Here, drink this, okay?

[priforprince]

[ "Drink" is something Hibiki can do on autopilot. She raises the cup to her mouth and sips, then blinks. As her lashes flutter, the first signs of intelligence flicker in her eyes again.

This. This is. Not tea.

Strange...

She cups both her hands around it, thinking about what she's recently discovered. ] The soil is barren.

[ Where there should have been a maidens' flower garden for a butterfly such as herself to flutter.

It makes perfect sense to her, okay. ]

[nopixiedust]

[It makes zero sense to Wendy, who is lacking in the mindreading department, and can only shake her head as she hops onto the seat opposite of Hibiki.]

What are you talking about? We’re in the city.

[priforprince]

PriPara is gone.

[ Maybe if she says it aloud, it'll make more sense.

Hibiki puts the cup down. She's still mostly talking to herself. Because she just can't believe this. How can PriPara not be here? It's always been there, a shining star promising a better world than the lie-ridden filth surrounding her. ] I can't go back.

[nopixiedust]

[PriPara…. The name is foreign to Wendy, but then again, everything is foreign to her, all the moreso with no memories to compare anything to. Still, it’s easy enough to figure out what Hibiki means, right? It’s a place of some sort.]

[....Still. It’s obviously hitting her hard. And Wendy can kind of understand not being able to go back to how things were before, even if she can’t remember it.]

I mean… You’re not alone, right? I don’t think anyone that was at that beach party can go back to things before.

[priforprince]

This is a world that sparkles have abandoned.

[ That's the only conclusion she can draw from PriPara not being here. And she's trapped in it. She, Shikyoin Hibiki. The most sparkling idol of them all.

Her hands tremble on her cup. Focusing on this may be just a defense mechanism to keep her from realizing Ando is gone. Ando, and Princess Falulu, and...and...

This is why getting close to people is so dangerous. They leave you. ]

[nopixiedust]

[What do sparkles have to do with- okay, you know what, nevermind. Hibiki is clearly in shock, and Wendy reaches over to carefully pat the god’s shoulder.]

Well, you can always bring the sparkles back, right? I mean, you’re a god.