Closed ♔ Shikyoin Hibiki's Apollo Prayer Wall Special Medley feat. The Far Shore

[priforprince]

Who: Hibiki & various other parties
When: June (after the 7th)
Where: The Near Shore
What: A God of Fortune receives many prayers. While thoroughly satisfying her supplicants is her style, certain aspects of their queries are...beneath her. How fortunate she has all these ff. Frksff. Frr. Acquaintances.

[ I. For Ginia ]

Premiering a major entertainment juggernaut like PriPirates: Pirate Gang of the Puniverse requires some level of promotion. The Fujisaki corporation is sponsoring the production side of things, and is also in the process of forming a tie-in campaign where the characters promote its department stores ("The treasures of the puniverse....only at Fujisaki"). But a god never forgets it's themselves the people must worship, and that means occasionally making an appearance from on high so others may bask in their glory.

Yes. Even on....variety programming.

And thus it is that Hibiki, accompanied by her latest CelePara recruit, finds herself standing in a studio, cameras rolling, surrounded by -

"Surprise! We've switched up today's schedule from an interview to a candid feature! Everything in this room is edible but one object. Can you find it with just your mouth?!"

"....Of course." Hibiki sniffs, tossing her head. "Such a hidden treasure can be located by intuition alone."

"Ohh!" The hosts clap their hands. The audience leans forward.

But only Ginia might notice that Hibiki's neck is sweating.

[ II. For Waver & Iskandar ]

"How does one....read this?"

Hibiki is cross-legged on a worshipper's floor, the contents of a large flat box with the name of a certain Predish bargain furniture manufacturer spread out all around her. She's got the instructions out. And is looking at them upside down.

Truly, bringing along an accomplished mage and the King of Conquerors was a wise decision. Even a genius will require all the assistance they can receive!

[ III. For Chinatsu ]

After teleporting Chinatsu to her movie-theater shrine, Hibiki has vanished again with the promise of providing "suitable transportation herself this time", so that they both may patrol the neighborhood reporting loud noises at night keeping people from sleeping. The limousine is displeasing to this young lady, she has learned. So is the helicopter. And therefore probably also the carriage. (Why does no one like the carriage?! This puniverse requires revolution.)

But! They require something speedy, so they may locate the source of the noise as it occurs! There happens to be an extremely fitting vehicle for just such situations - and one which might appeal to Chinatsu's less-than-lofty transportation standards, as well!

Thus it is that a purple motorcycle rolls up to the curb just as Chinatsu might start wondering whether Hibiki forgot about the prayer, and a helmet is tossed her way.

"I've kept you waiting." Hibiki pushes up her helmet visor: she's kitted out in a full cycling bodysuit. "Now, hold me tightly."

[ IV. For Judar ]

Judar will discover a spygoat staa-lking him one day, bearing an envelope with an invitation to follow said goat back to her temple gates. It looks up at him with big pleading eyes as he reaches the part of the invitation about RSVP being required. Also, about fitting attire being provided by the host.

You'll come, right? The goat cannot speak, but it's trembling with maa-nticipation. Maa-ster has worked so hard to pick a very special surprise praa-yer for this person, so that her traa-ining may be a complete success!! It's this way, it's this way!

Won't you please follow??

Comments

i've been in a funk & couldn't think of a title.....but lbr, this is funnier

[priforprince]

"Hm?" The name? A minor detail; why is she being asked for the....

But the announcers are staring at her, and so is Ginia, and so is the audience. "A book by Hibiki-sama!" someone whispers. "I'd read it," someone else confesses. "Even if it's cake?" asks a third.

So Hibiki smirks. "The deceptions which flower the finest sprout from the seeds of truths. Our ruse is best titled--"

Whatever extremely clever piece of wordplay she was about to unveil upon the undeserving yet grateful populace is interrupted by a timer going off loudly enough to rattle the spygoat atop which it is positioned. And going off. And going off. The noise it makes is one half alarm bell, one half chorus of real goats bleating.

The other goats cluster around to figure out how to turn off their vibraa-ting friend. Someone poke that button! Right there!

Maa-augh! Nobody has arms!!

[unlucky7]

Ginia jumps slightly at the cacophony, having expected a ringing or buzzer of some sort, but not the bleating. She rushes over and disables the alarm, giving the goat a few pats on the head - the audience awws at the sight - before taking the cake out of the oven.

The camera zooms in on the cake as its brought out and set on a cooling rack. There's no time to let it fully cool before icing, so Ginia is a little nervous as she slices through the uneven top. Her hands are steady as she lifts the cake sheet and sets it on a plate (thank you, goats).

"Hibiki, can you choose someone from the audience to taste the cake?" Why waste the scraps, right? It's good television too.

[priforprince]

"Heh". The look on Hibiki's face implies she already has.

And, indeed, she turns to the audience - and makes a beckoning motion to the girl who'd mentioned being willing to read a book by Hibiki-sama. "You." Her head tilts. "You'd wanted to sample my book, correct? I'll grant you the chance."

Breath deserts the lucky volunteer. "Y-yes!" she squeaks, and the audience shifts out of her way with a murmur of jealousy and awe. Her legs almost give out on the way up to the stage, but a spygoat rolls into place to steady her -

And Hibiki helps her climb the last step, leading her over to where Ginia and the "chefs" await. (From the look on the girl's face, she wouldn't complain about being led anywhere at all right now.)

"Now, indulge." Hibiki gestures to the cast-off portions of cake. "How well has my co-star prepared to delight our next guest? I'll permit you to be the judge."

--Ah, right. She turns to Ginia, holds out her free hand. "Fork."

Someone eating cake? That's mildly tolerable television.

Someone being fed cake by Shikyoin Hibiki? That's an Entertainment Event!

[unlucky7]

Presentation is important. Even if they're scraps, Ginia quickly cuts a few squares, frosts them, and assembles a tiny three-layer cake on a fork. A light dusting of god sprinkles on the top and then delectable treat on a fork is handed to Hibiki.

Hopefully it's edible. Ginia looks over the bowl, certain the proportions were right enough. Should she have tasted along the way? No time to worry about that now. Besides, a flub is great television too.

i'm going to hell for this joke. or maybe hibiki is. but i. i had to.

[priforprince]

Hibiki sniffs with an approving nod of her head at Ginia's efforts for the sake of The Aesthetic. Accepting the fork, she turns to her volunteer, one hand cupped under the treat to keep crumbs from dropping.

"Now, say 'aah'," she instructs, that empty hand tipping up the girl's chin. "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche."

Whether the cake is actually any good or not.....remains unclear. The girl is all but glittering with delight before Hibiki even gets the fork between her lips. And once she does, there is squealing. There is "mmmm"-ing. There is clutching of cheeks, unable to bear how delicious this cake is (or seems due to the presentation).

Hibiki withdraws, satisfied, and drops the fork on a platter that rolls by courtesy of a forward-thinking goat. She watches the girl all but begin foaming at the mouth in delight, and decrees: "It suffices."

I love it

[unlucky7]

It makes for some good footage and the camera crew is quick to get every moment as a producer somewhere has the time of their lives with animated text and graphics. Ginia isn't sure whether the cake is actually good, but at least it's edible.

Once the moment settles, Ginia sets to work assembling the cake book. With the chocolate edges sealed up with a hot knife, a careful laying of covered candy rice paper, and gold decorations to finish it off.

A goat rolls over with some of the books from the shelf. Ginia layers the book between the other books. It's passable! At a distance, it works quite well! Perhaps the person won't survey the books too closely.

"I think this is as ready as it'll ever be." Also under the hot studio lights, the chocolate is going to melt if they take too long.

[priforprince]

"In that case, let's invite our tester in without further ado!" cries the host; the goat that had helped with Hibiki's fork, while it's here, maa-scorts the star-struck cake "volunteer" back to her seat so she doesn't fall off the stage.

Hibiki nods, stepping back - she knows when the spotlight should fall on her, and when temporarily diverting it is more exciting. While the book hunt is underway, she'll wait. With a sense of entitled calm. One hand on her hip, super cool and stoic.

....Yeah, half this audience is looking at her anyway because even when she just stands around, she exudes an aura of being Better Than Everything. But the show must go on, and she can't exactly turn off the charisma built into each strain of her celebrity PriNA. As long as the show is diverting, there shouldn't be an issue.

But. How long will this take...? The person on the hunt for the edible object seems starstruck by the opulence of the new set. This completely ruins the sense of suspense. Hibiki sighs. Snaps her fingers behind her back.

A goat shows up with a maa-gnifying glass to cue the volunteer into actually, you know, looking. Hibiki pretends she did nothing. No one saw anything.

Yes, Ginia?

[unlucky7]

On the other hand, Ginia falls easily into the background once she's no longer focusing on being noticeable. She could stand next to the seeker and no one would even notice. She doesn't because that would be rude, but Ginia considers it as the guest wanders around the space, too awestruck by the set to search.

The addition of a maa-gnifying glass is appreciated. Ginia huffs, looking away from Hibiki. Saw nothing, say nothing, right? She's far more invested as the guest begins to settle into their task. They work methodically, starting at one side of the room and working clockwise, poking and prodding and carefully trying to break off pieces that might be edible.

As they reach the bookshelf, Ginia holds her breath a little as they pan across the books. Closer and closer they inch, but will the book pass undetected?

[priforprince]

The closer to the book the volunteer inches, the more Hibiki feigns disinterest. The spygoat on set, however, is having a little more trouble calming its nerves: it's starting to shake, which sets its platter to rattling, and the closer the seeker gets to their quarry, the greater the shaking intensifies.

The maa-gnifying glass sweeps the bookshelf....

And there is a thud. It took Hibiki two and a half years of RP jamjar and countless maa-ltitudes of these "animals", but it's finally happened:

One of the spygoats, cursed with verisimprilitude, is finally a fainter.

The searcher looks over, startled. When they see all that's happened is that the robot ma(a-)lfunctioned, they shake their head to get back in the game and keep going. Missing the book in the process, concentration interrupted.

Hibiki smirks. This near miss, because it was caused by her goat, is now her doing. Absolutely. No doubt about it.

All hail the mighty Apollo!