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]

[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 ]

[freezetheheavens]

[......

Hibiki, you are not helping.

Toushirou looks a bit annoyed once he notices how larger the frog is becoming. Fortunately, his soulless shinki has arrived and the poor thing looks almost startled by the sight of the ayakashi.

Instead of wasting time, Toushirou calls out the shinki's vessel name, taking the shape of a scythe. Without wasting any time, he charges at the ayakashi and immediately gets rid of it, hearing it scream as it's being Rended.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki is blasted with the last residual smoke as the frog vanishes from existence. It blows her hair back, only for her bangs to fall right back perfectly into place, because she's Shikyoin Hibiki.

Putting one hand on a hip, she smirks. That's more like it.

Then the adrenaline wears off and she falls over.

Whomp. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[Allowing his soulless shinki to return to their normal form, Toushirou is quick to appear by Hibiki's side and catches her.

He steadies her, his annoyance evident and he finally releases a heavy sigh.]

[priforprince]

[ Fortunately for Toushirou, now that the area is free of the ayakashi's influence, Hibiki does not remain unconscious for long. She will, however, remain flopped against his arms until she's positive the coast is clear.

Are all the sentence enders...gone? ]

[freezetheheavens]

.....Are you feeling better now?

[Once he sees her getting back to normal, he'll slowly release her.]

[priforprince]

[ There's no sentence enders. There's no sentence enders. This is, once more, a safe and beautiful place.

Hibiki blinks, standing, in a daze, awed at the beauty and purity of the world.

Then she returns to herself. ] ....Well, for someone who's escaped my notice thus far, you dispatched that nuisance admirably.

[ If you were a bigger deal, she would have heard of you. She makes that sort of thing her business. ]

[freezetheheavens]

If I've managed to escape your notice, it's likely because I'm still new here.

[At least she's okay.

Toushirou doesn't sense anything particularly special about her aside from her being a human, so it's not surprising she's escaped his notice, too.]

[priforprince]

Then I applaud your adaptability.

[ She eyes him a bit more closely. Could he be useful...?

Well, when her plans come fully into blossom, there'll be no need to exterminate ayakashi. None will form. ]

[freezetheheavens]

[Should he give her a nod of thanks at that?

....Nah.

But he does look over at her.]

Have you been here for a while then?

[priforprince]

More or less.

[ Hibiki returns to scanning the area for any signs of PriPara's imminent, or even eventual, arrival. Focus. Focus... ]

[freezetheheavens]

...What are you looking for?

[priforprince]

PriPara.

[ What? She's living a far more honest life.

There doesn't even seem to be a single PriTicket here, though... ]