Open-ish ♔ Un, deux, trois

[priforprince]

Who: Hibiki & YOU! (prompts for Maria, Elfnein, Kuroyukihime, Lavi, & Chinatsu)
When: August 29 - September 1
Where: Far Shore Library, Apollo's temple, the Near Shore
What: Missions, prayers, and the sun's short fuse getting even shorter.

[ I. Library - Open, followers/exp for Maria, Elfnein, Kuroyukihime, & Lavi ]



[ Didn't this place used to have more staff?

Ah, well. Hibiki is sequestered at a table, attempting to read the largest, most ornate book on Pr--ugh, Greek mythology she could find. Other books are open on the table to various pages, most of which show things like people staring up at the sun in awe, satyrs gamboling merrily, and a woman being turned into a tree.

Hibiki may not be Narcissus, but she sure is reading up on herself. And a stack of the books are, inch by inch, moving as if of their accord towards the edge of the the table....

If they tip over, and they will soon, there's going to be a tremendous crash.

Alternatively, you could check out the other side of the table. There, Hibiki has her laptop open to pricing...the Japanese stock market, it seems...and has a bunch of thick books of business history. One of them has a purple bookmark with a gold tassel in it, which opens to a chapter about Sendai. ]

[ II. Apollo's temple - Open ]



[ There is a barricade in the hallway.

You walk into Apollo's temple, head down the path that takes you to living quarters and not to the amusement park (though you're welcome to use that, too - the noise of the rides being open might attract an audience), and you will find your path blocked by a whole bunch of tables, ottomans, chairs, and loveseats turned on their side and stacked up atop each other.

On the other side of the barricade, someone is coughing. They do not sound happy.

And the air is full of jangly wind chime noises. ]

[ III. The Near Shore - Open ]



No. This car. Credit, check, or cash is no object.

[ Hibiki is arguing with a station assistant in the subway, pointing at a train that's now boarding. ]

I'm willing to sell it back afterwards, so direct me to the authorities! Doesn't this organization pride itself upon service?!

[ She's missed a piece of paper that's fallen out of her pocket. She won't notice if you pick it up to read it.

It says:

"Dear box office god-sama,

Thank you for the lozenges before my audition. They were my favorite flavor!

Thanks to those, my throat relaxed, and I managed to pass!!! Now I have one last round, but it's in the big city, and I'm scared of being alone on the train. Please, please watch over me." ]

[ IV. The Near Shore - Closed to Chinatsu ]



Are you ready?

[ Hibiki has been waiting, in a tuxedo, for Chinatsu to open the door after being given a prom dress to wear for this outing. Whatever kind of dress Chinatsu has always dreamed of wearing, even if she doesn't realize it, even if she's forgotten - that's what was in the box Hibiki brought for her.

Genius comes in many forms. Mostly useless, aesthetic ones. ]

Comments

I, sorry this took so long orz

[declamando]

[Maria doesn't exactly frequent the library, but now that books can be taken out for more than a day without being stolen back, she finds it enjoyable to pick out random volumes from the shelves and take them back to her temple to read. It means she ends up finding both some very interesting and strange things, though today she just has one or two books in her arm so far. One appears to be pulpy science fiction of some description, while the other is a period romance.

Initially, she's not planning to bother Hibiki's study session, but she catches the movement of the books in the corner of her eye. Considering how close they are to falling, she hurries over to straighten the pile with her free hand.]

You might want to split your stack up. It's going to fall over if you leave it like that.

np~

[priforprince]

[ Something clicks an invisible tongue against nonexistent teeth. Hibiki looks up, as if noticing the books for the first time. Huh. How did they... ]

Rearrange them as you like.

[ Why would they fall? Actually, why are they so close to the edge? ]

[declamando]

[With a slight nod, Maria sets her own books down on another part of the table and starts looking through the pile to see if she can divide them by subject. They all seem to be about the same main thing, though, and after about a half-dozen, Maria is sensing a pattern.]

That's quite a bit of research on Apollo. Though I suppose a god like him would have a lot of material to work through.

[The question is more why she's doing it, but Maria will wait to see if Hibiki presents that information herself before asking.]

[priforprince]

It's not the first time my reputation has preceded me.

[ Hibiki does seem to be warming to this topic, given that it is her favorite (herself). In fact, she offers the information Maria was looking for. ] In any case, his festivals were distressingly varied.

[ How is she supposed to unite them under a single theme???

By making everything up herself instead?

WHAT A GOOD IDEA ]

[declamando]

That's not quite what I meant. [Maria's smile quirks a little, though she imagines it would take her directly pointing out that it's the ancient incarnation of Apollo's reputation that would be preceding her for Hibiki to actually get it, so she moves on.]

That seems to be the case for a lot of gods in those larger ancient civilisations. Traditions change over time, and bigger civilisations could celebrate in more ways. I'd prefer that to having almost no information, though.

[She doubts she'd turn up anything at all if she tried looking up her own god's traditions.] Are there any aspects in particular you're looking for?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki moves some papers around. ] Traditions and themes, mostly. A spoke around which to turn the wheel of celebration.

[ And thereby revolution. But let her think for two seconds that she's being subtle and clever despite running her mouth about her Grand Plans every other day. ]

[declamando]

So foundational things. It would be hard to translate a lot of the older festivals into modernity... [For now, Maria's just going to pretend it's all about the festival part here. So she picks up one of the books and starts flipping through it, looking for some kind of indication the information is arranged rather than just random.]

It would be nice if the older writing had some kind of reference system...

[priforprince]

These can be inconvenient. [ Hibiki is not going to argue with that. Has no one ever specialized in just writings about Apollo?!...

Oh, she found a prayer to Apollo from ancient times. It's very long and very complimentary.

She falls silent to absorb it. ]

[declamando]

Certainly. [Maria's encountered the same problem looking for information on her own god - there's basically nothing exclusively written about him, it's all tied up in writings on the Tuatha Dé Danann. Not to mention that even within that, there's very little information.

Letting Hibiki get right into that prayer, Maria flicks through a few pages of this book to try and find any sections that might mention a festival. She does manage to stumble on an entry describing the proceedings of one of the Apollonian festivals, and she hums a little as she reads over it.]

This "Hyacinthia" one sounds like it could be adaptable...the middle day, at least, since the other two seem to be more days of mourning. I think we could do without the sacrificing goats, though.

[priforprince]

They're surprisingly useful animals when left intact, yes.

[ Said offhandedly, but thoughtfully.

....was that not. What we were talking about? ]

[declamando]

...Well, I'm sure we could work living goats into the proceedings somehow.

[Assuming they didn't disrupt the feast. Maria wasn't exactly expecting Hibiki to have some kind of low-key appreciation for goats, but she'll take it relatively in stride.]

The middle day of this festival is largely feasting and entertainment, it looks like. So it seems appropriate enough for your purposes.

[priforprince]

Let me see.

[ She will assess this description and see for herself. The name of this festival pleases her, however. It bodes well. ]

[declamando]

[Maria hands over the book. As she mentioned, the first and third day largely seem to be mourning, but the writing on the middle day describes a variety of colourful celebrations. The youth playing music and singing to Apollo's glory, parades of carts decorated by Spartan women, competing chiors...Maria leans in to scan a bit further down the page to see if there's anything she missed.]

I think that's all the information on it in this book, but it might come up in others. It was an important festival, from the sound of it.

[priforprince]

[ This does sound promising. Does it - ah, good. It even includes a song to Apollo, one page over. How thorough. ]

As expected. Your charisma drew an intriguing festival towards you.

[declamando]

Unless the books can sense charisma, I think it was more a matter of luck.

[Maria offers a slight smile, as if to say she's not rejecting the compliment even if she thinks it's a little misplaced.]

A festival is something to be enjoyed by everyone, I think. So something like that feels appropriate.

[priforprince]

All may witness, but one is gloried.

[ She's. She's down for that. Hibiki nods. ]

You'll have to await further details.

As a rival.

[declamando]

[Maria seems more amused by that than anything, though she picks up another book to take a brief look through it.]

In a scenario like this, I think you'd have a few more rivals than just me. I wouldn't even say I'm particularly active as gods go.

[She does what she can, yes, but she doesn't tend to get out on prayers much given her domains are hardly broad.]

[priforprince]

Then those praying are fools.

[ Sometimes she despairs of this audience.

But it's not their fault. Of course they have no taste, or style, or sense of pronunciation of geographical locations.

They don't have PriPara yet. ]

[declamando]

[Maria shakes her head a little - usually she reserves her disagreement about some of Hibiki's talking points, but this one is a little excessive for her to let it slide unargued.]

They're simply praying for what they need. A lot of people wouldn't think to pray for a god as obscure as who I'm representing, and I'll admit I haven't done as much as I could have to spread the word that I can help with more than what he represents. The gods with the largest followings would have put in work to get there.

[Complacency may not be the right term, but Maria is more than ready to take responsibility for her own lack of presence to the people of the Near Shore.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki'd intended to give Maria a compliment, so this response is intriguing. A woman with a strong sense of justice, Maria Cadenzavna Eve.... ]

You're very strict with yourself.

[declamando]

I have a lot to make up for. Keeping myself on track is part of how I do it.

[At the very least, Maria's tone is one of looking forward more than preoccupation with the past, but the sad edge to her smile leaves no doubt that her past has something to do with it.]

[priforprince]

Admirable discipline.

[ Will you at least accept this compliment? ]

[declamando]

As I always hope it is. [Maria feels what it looks like to her is a little less important than what it looks like to others, considering she knows by now she doesn't exactly have the fairest view on herself, and this is more relevant to her present and past behaviour towards others. For something like this, at least, she's willing to take the compliment.]

[priforprince]

You could never disappoint.

[ Hibiki smiles to punctuate this sentence.

Teacup ghost does the same thing by knocking some more books over. ]

[declamando]

[If only that were true. Thankfully, Maria is saved from answering that further than with a slightly wan smile by the drop of the books, which puts a sudden frown on her face as she turns to the source of the noise.]

Honestly... [Going to pick up what's fallen, she tries to arrange them into some kind of order.] I really don't know how anyone finds anything in this library.