Open ♔ My pri may be pri, but it’s the pri in “prince”, pri!

[priforprince]

Who: Hibiki and you, pri
When: July 27, pri
Where: Harajuku, pri
What: An unusual ayakashi is preying upon Japan’s cutest citizens, pri.
Warnings: Pri-ating the dead horse that is Hibiki's phobia, pri. (Live horse also included. Pri.)


[ In an area of town as style-conscious as Harajuku, various fads come and go. The latest craze, however, seems to be completely involuntary: anyone visiting these two particular blocks of the area will find themselves compelled to add a cutesy suffix or “sentence ender” to the ends of whatever they say. What’s worse, the effect doesn’t seem to wear off for quite some time after leaving, and the longer people use their sentence enders, the fonder they grow of them.

This is causing no end of additional discord to erupt as friends and loved ones slowly cannot stand being around their affected acquaintances anymore.

Particularly adept or powerful gods and shinki may notice an ayakashi-like smoke issuing from people’s mouths as they use their sentence enders. The source is somewhere in town, hiding out. Lurking. Enjoying inflicting itself upon its unsuspecting victims, and growing stronger from ingesting said smoke. Why, it's even affecting any gods and shinki who wander into its territory...

Into this mess, preoccupied by dreams of revolution, rides one Shikyoin Hibiki on a literal white horse. (Don’t ask.) If she’s going to attract PriPara to the Near Shore, she imagines it’ll be touching down where Parajuku should be, as it’s the closest PriPara location to her shrine. Best scope out the area to be sure there’s nothing of use there right now….

But what is this chill in the midsummer air, and this deep-rooted sense of terror-stricken foreboding? ]

Comments

[freezetheheavens]

[Aside from being thrust into a place he's never been to before, it honestly isn't much too different from what Toushirou already does when a war isn't to be fought.

However, during a patrol, he notices the fog coming from people's mouths, a hint of a frown on his face. Sentence-enders seemed to be the common victims, even if Toushirou seemed a little put off by it in general. While the victims are still around, it's a different matter to find the one responsible.

Which leads him to seeing Hibiki on a white horse, so he soon appears in front of her.]

What are you doing?

[priforprince]

[ Accosted by a stranger. This happens far too frequently for Hibiki's liking when she is not accompanied by a retinue who can talk to strangers for her, but on the whole, it's no great imposition.

Doesn't mean she'll stop the horse, though. Just slow it. You're not that interesting. ]

Heading down the street.

[ Ask a silly question, etc.

Though, it's the strangest thing. She had almost...for a moment....her lips had started forming another syllable when she'd finished talking. One might almost suspect -

That couldn't be possible. Could it? ]

[freezetheheavens]

[He raises an eyebrow.]

On a horse.

[Why? but his attention is immediately caught when he notices her lips about to form another syllable. It has his eyes narrowing, almost as if suspecting something.

She's not afflicted by the one causing this too, is she?]

[priforprince]

[ Don't get ahead of yourself, sir. You too are standing in the affected area. Perhaps you may be in for a rude awaken-pring.

Hibiki sniffs. ] What better conveyance for a pr--

[ But then she cuts herself off. She had. She had almost punned on that. And, worse, she'd almost....

Head snapping up, alert as a stalwart knight sensing danger, Hibiki pri-mes her ears and listens. This isn't the Gobi Desert. No matter how lacking this world may be, it wouldn't afflict two places with the same disharmonpri.

Would it? ]

[freezetheheavens]

[When she stops talking, Toushirou remains quiet himself.

He expands his own senses. He's not sure just how exactly ayakashi can be sensed - they're different from Hollow, after all - but then he could almost sense it, too.

Toushirou cants his head to the side before he shifts his position to look over his shoulder.]

[priforprince]

[ - is he ignoring her? He made an overture and then chose not to listen to her?

No, that's not worth getting upset about, either. She's just antsy. And then he, perhaps, as well....

They make quite the striking pair of vigilant protectors, listening for anything amiss. And then.

And then.

"Akiko~!!! That purse is, like, the cutest thing ever, pyoro!!"

"Isn't it, kyuru? They're on sale at the boutique around the corner, kyuru!"

"We've gotta go check it out, kyapi!" ]

Mmmrph!!

[ Hibiki hunches over on her horse, both hands over her mouth. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[There is obvious confusion masking his face as he hears the conversation. What were they saying at the end of their sentences?

It seems out of place.

Toushirou tosses away the confusion in order to pay more attention to the black smoke that escapes their mouths. Did that have some connection to it? Though, his attention soon shifts to Hibiki when he hears something from her, curious about her reaction.]

Something the matter?

[Aside from the obvious.]

[priforprince]

Sentence...

[ No. No, she mustn't speak. If she speaks, she, too, might... ]

Sentence...ender....

[ And, now that she's listening, she's realizing. It's not just that group of girls.

The sentence enders

are everywhere.

This is so horrifying, she can't even scream. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[Sentence enders?

Is that what it is?

Toushirou looks bemused as he listens more closely and...yup, he's hearing it all the time now, too. He can almost feel a compulsion to do the same and he...

Oh hell no.

Immediately, he starts paying closer attention to the smoke that escapes from the people using the sentence enders, eyes trying to decipher where exactly that smoke goes to.]

[priforprince]

Mmmrr....

[ Hibiki doesn't have enough hands. She wants to cover her mouth, yes, to defend herself, but she also wants to cover her ears....

The horse kicks a hoof, confused why they aren't moving any more. Hibiki shivers.

Then, some of the smoke drifts past her, and she just

freezes

completely. Stock still. Statue-like.

If you're looking for a way to track the smoke, sir, there is one right here. It's on a horse. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[Oh, good.

Hibiki, be bait so that Toushirou can track the smoke. He's not sure where it can lead, but it doesn't take too long for him to figure out that Hibiki might help in causing some of the smoke.

He unsheathes his sword from his back, glancing at the horse briefly.]

[priforprince]

[ The horse does Not Look Happy, either, but with scary things everywhere it hasn't figured out which direction it wants to bolt just yet.

Hibiki, meanwhile, is in pretty much the same situation, but with a lot more cartoon physics. She'll start to gain color, but then smoke will waft over and she'll freeze again...

It's making her twitch. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[The smoke is growing.

Toushirou looks somewhat bemused now, so he decides to jump into the air, standing in midair and watching the smoke closely. It's not too soon before he finally notices the direction it keeps going on.]

[priforprince]

[ "....and so, I was, like, no way, daru~"

Whatever's ingesting the smoke snickers to itself and withdraws further behind a telephone pole.

Hibiki is starting to slide off the side of the horse. ]

[freezetheheavens]

Pull yourself together.

[He almost bites his tongue when the temptation to say something at the end becomes a little too strong.

But he sees where the smoke is going, so he'll appear beside Hibiki to catch her before he ends up carrying her to that telephone pole where he saw the smoke going.]

[priforprince]

[ Freed of its burden, the horse takes off. It even seems to give an extra "neigh" at the end of its whinny, affected just like everybody else, neigh.

Hibiki is quite portable in this state. And, as she gets closer to the pole--

A tongue lashes out from behind it to lick her cheek! ]

Rrk!

[freezetheheavens]

[At least Hibiki isn't heavy. Or, if she really is, Toushirou isn't going to allow that to stop him.

The moment he sees the tongue lash out, Toushirou unsheathes his sword swiftly and cuts it.]

[priforprince]

[ "Kero!!"

Something falls flat on its back and...bounces....out from the other side of the flagpole. It's....a frog. An evil-looking frog, with multiple mouths. And it's basically shaped like a big, rubbery, overfilled water balloon.

"How dare you, kero!" says one of the mouths that still has a tongue.

"Tasty, kero!" says another. ]

Hnng!

[ Says Hibiki. ]

[freezetheheavens]

So you're the one responsible.

[Landing on the ground, Toushirou places Hibiki down before he shifts a bit to move in front of her. So far, he's managing not to use any sentence enders, especially since this seems to be feeding on it.

Holding his sword out in front of him, ice slowly begins to appear underneath the ayakashi. He tries to focus on somehow managing to get his soulless shinki to him.]

1/?

[priforprince]

[ Whoa! The ayakashi bounces back and forth, trying not to slip on (or get stuck to) the ice.

"What's he doing, kero?"

"No fun, kero, no fun, kero!"

"Has to be stopped, kero..."

All around them, the crowds of people fall silent as one.

Then, all at the same time, they start talking.

Sentence enders. Everywhere. ]

2/?

[priforprince]

[ The frog ayakashi gets bigger and bigger the louder the noise gets.

There is a cracking sound behind Toushirou... ]

3/3

[priforprince]

THAT'S ENOUGH OF THIS CLAMOR, PRI!!!!!!!!!!!








[ gasp ]

1/2

[freezetheheavens]

[....

What the hell.]

2/2

[freezetheheavens]

[Shifting a bit, Toushirou turns his head enough to look at Hibiki, startled.]

[priforprince]

[ Honestly, Hibiki is startled too....that she's standing amid this noise. But apparently outrage trumps trauma, at least when it comes to realizing there's a concrete source of the disharmony.

She points to the frog, which is absorbing black smoke from her at an alarming rate. ]

WH-WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

EXPEL THAT CREATURE IMMEDIATELY, PRI! THAT THING IS PRI-YING UPON THE PRI-NNOCENT PRI-TIZENS OF PARAJUKU, PRI!!!

[ How noble, Hibiki. Are you done? ]

TOLERATING THIS DIN IS PRI-MPOSSIBLE, PRI!!

[ theeeere we go ]