Paradisus Perditaque

[stringmods]

Paradisus Perditaque

☢

What: Closing Arena Ceremonies
Where: Aries Arena & Televised
Summary: 1/24/10AC
Warnings: This could get serious...but who knows.

The last week and a half had been, at best, an insane blur of lights, colors, Persona and celebrations.

And while your own victories have been appreciated by the population, you are, after all, Visitors. No playing in the main competition. Not even proper brackets, you were just lucky to be allowed to be IN the tournament as a main show at all! It was a great honor, and you should accept it as such.

That's show business for you.

The main news that had been on everyone's lips was that the longtime champion, Blue Sky Dragoon, had been beaten by his long-time rival, Royal Red Lion for top honors this year. Red Lion (real name Bunrakuken Karube, although they couldn't say that in public due to the new rule this year) had created the biggest upset since the event's creation ten years ago. For him, it was a monumental victory, as it meant he would be, more or less, the hero for the city for the next year. For Blue Sky Dragoon, it meant his reign of five years had finally come to an end.

Needless to say, the second place contestant looked rather bitter as he was ushered into the podium for the main division.

In the end, there had been no interruptions. The entire Games had gone off without a hitch. Your efforts had been appreciated during the course, however, and you were all invited for the final closing ceremonies. Kiyoshi Suou was still on alert, unwilling to relax even a little.

For the most part, closing ceremonies were trivial, and, dare we say, boring. The energy from the tournament had been slowly declining, and by the third national song and a kabuki reenactment of the final battle between Dragoon and Lion, most were trying not to doze off.

And yet...you...as Visitors. There's a strange feeling around you. It's not the lack of energy from the civilians, no.

Something isn't right.

Unfortunately you can't prove that and you can't stop what's going on but...you can try looking around. But you should probably be as discreet as possible, all things considered. While you can't just search the arena during the ceremony, there is still the underbelly of the stadium, athletes you could talk to, policemen on the job...

...it's like trying to finding a needle in a haystack.

[OOC - Alright timeline of events: Tonight is going to be just mingling, assessing the crowd and seeing what you can find. Create closed or open posts, or just watch the show and comment between yourselves. We have some NPCs that can talk with you (anyone who has an NPC, or was given NPC info for this log are free to have them be around), or you can talk amongst yourselves; this is, after all a celebration, although an apparently boring one.

Once this post is done, there will also be a mod post going up with a few additions about what is going to go down tomorrow, and some announcements! Our tentative hour for the main event will be the 24th at 6-7PM EASTERN tomorrow. Be there!]

Comments

So open

[selematpagi]

So Yukko sorta notices the strange feeling in the air... The problem is that she thinks it's just her. She honestly has no idea what the Grand Prix was supposed to be, and it makes her feel really weird! Some kind of fight? A race? Apparently this guy Blue Dragon beat a Red Taiga in a race or... something. And there was this other White Taiga?

Hey hey, it's not like Yukko's just being dumb either! Whenever she asked one of the locals what the Grand Prix was, they would just laugh and ignore her! How rude! That was no way to treat someone!

So Yukko relegates herself to a chair nearby with her arms crossed, her eyes closed and her lips bunched into a 'S' shape. Eventually she just can't take it, and she stretches out in the chair.

"Hnnnghhh! I'm so bored!" She thrusts her arms out, swinging her head back. "This place is lame! When is something cool going to happen?"

Boredom is no joke. It's a very serious matter.

[hinoto_ri]

"You can say that again!"

It looks like her boredom caught someone's attention. What's more, he seems to have been one of the competitors, though not one that made it to the finals. What's he doing out around here?

"Last year they did an interpretive dance for the winning match. Can you believe this?"

[selematpagi]

"... interpretive dance?"

She blinked, looking a bit skeptical. She's trying to 'interpret' what an interpretive dance would look like here, but she's drawing a serious blank. She looks away from him, getting more weirded out by the second.

Also she doesn't seem to recognize this guy.

"... Hinoto-Ri can be seriously weird some times. This whole event feels really weird."

[photonicfighter]

There's a purple lady a few seats down, just returning from a run to get herself a drink and some candy. Yukko's outburst gets her attention, though. So she moves down one or two more seats to close the gap, not yet sitting.

"I'm not sure. I didn't think to pick up a program. But it seems like all the fighting is done, if you were here for that..."

Boredom is quite serious. The purple lady is taking this matter fairly seriously. See the serious look on her face?

[selematpagi]

Yukko turns to look at the purple lady, smiling. She's a bit embarrassed that someone had noticed her little outburst.

"Uhh - there was fighting? Man, I really missed out!"

She laughs softly, scratching her cheek.

"Sorry, my friend brought me here. I haven't really been paying attention to the Grand Prix.... there's supposed to be Kabuki later, I think!"

That's all she can remember about the program. The fighting would have been cool to see.

[photonicfighter]

"There was fighting! But I only saw it on television. By the time I could get a ticket in here, the best of it was done!"

The girl's laugh makes her laugh in kind. She settles herself down in a seat.

"I'm still not really sure about all the fuss, or the champions, or... anything. But I do like tournaments, so I thought I'd come." Then she tears open her package of candy, but hesitates before tipping any into her hand. "Kabuki? What's that?" She had only skimmed the program, really, and wasn't at all what 'kabuki' was.

Open, CommLink to all available Guardians of Light

[dreamprotector]

It's really worse than trying to find the needle in a haystack - Riku has been tense for days already, and the taste of wrongness in the air doesn't help it at all. It's hard to pinpoint a specific source of Darkness when there is so many people around, so many small sources of light and dark and balance in between and while this sense is quite useful when he knows what (or who) he is looking for, it only serves headache and frustration in this particular situation.

Thankfully though, the really good thing about his newest Persona is that he can pass it off as quite inconspicuous as long as he keeps Highwind and Veles around - it's just a pet from his homeworld, and really, why would he be even bother analyzing the crowd around him.

He keeps his hands tucked away in the pockets of his cloak as he walks away further away from the ceremony, with Peepsta Hoo sitting on one shoulder, Highwind on the other and Veles sticking close to his legs - he's been keeping one or the other around the whole time during the tournament already for a reason.

It's only when he's further into the stadium building that he allows himself to send out a whisper through CommLink to the rest of his allies.

'Are you feeling this too?'

[hinoto_npcs]

A young girl, probably no older than 14 or 15 at the most, stares curiously up at the colorful owl-type creature hovering near Riku. Her eyes then wander onto the other two Dream Eaters, face lighting up a little with interest.

"Are they your pets?"

So... cute....

[dreamprotector]

He turns his head to the girl, arm lifting to allow one of his two flying types to settle on it, while Veles hops forward towards the girl, tilting his head as he lifts one of his ears in greeting.

Riku just smiles faintly at that, though he is still tense.

"They are."

For the lack of a better word, at least.

[hinoto_npcs]

She starts to reach one hand out towards Veles but quickly remembers her manners, hand detracting. She looks up at Riku with a smile of her own, a tinge of excitement in her expression.

"Can I pet him? Is that okay?"

CommLink;

[whereibelong]

Thankfully Aqua's done it before enough that Xion doesn't jump too badly. Her answer, however, comes quickly.

'Yeah. It's like... Something's wrong. Something's going to happen.

I'm with Sora now. We'll try to stick together.'

She's already having to fend off ragey fangirls.

CommLink;

[dreamprotector]

So it's not just him and his paranoia. Somehow that doesn't reassure him as much as it should.

'All right. Where exactly are you?'

[destinedwaters]

It had taken her a while to break free from a certain reporter after she'd gotten caught in an interview before she could find a secluded location and thus summon her Persona as well, albeit using Vanish instead of the "pets from their world" trick Riku was to hide in plain sight. The advantage of being a mage or sorceress, really.

'I am... and I've only felt it once before in the Realm of Light.'

We don't talk about the other realm.

[dreamprotector]

Reasons why he didn't sign up for this - he is really glad that he doesn't have to deal with that kind of public attention.

He nods to himself.

'...I think, I can think of an occasion or two myself.'

Most recently when he had found himself in the dream shape of the Castle That Never Was. And then some others.

While the might have turned out alright, there still had been a really, really bad spot in between.

[destinedwaters]

Probably a good thing, but Aqua could handle it. She knew what she'd signed up for the moment she had, and she didn't care if it made her liked or disliked by the masses. Being a Master, it was going to happen whether she liked it or not.

'I'd be surprised if you didn't.'

Especially considering the fact that it happens a lot in their field.

'Be ready for anything; if what our worlds have prepared us for means anything here, it will be an attack at the last second.'

[charmedbymemories]

"Yes."

She hadn't wanted to come in full battle gear despite her unease, lest she cause any trouble or preemptively frighten the other tournament go-ers. But she had come with what she could get away with-- her quiver and arrow slung across her back, hidden under her cloak; her arrow tips in their pouch, strapped to her leg; and the Oathkeeper charm in her pockets, ready to be brought out at a moment's notice.

"Kairi and I are going to patrol the south area together. We should set up a perimeter and a rendezvous spot in case of emergencies."

[dreamprotector]

Some preparation is at least way, way better than non at all and Riku is glad that all (or a least most) of them seem to be at least somewhat ready to face what may or may not be up ahead.

'All right, I'm currently in the east area and planing to stay there for now. A rendezvous spot is probably a good idea. Any thoughts on where we should set it up?'

[charmedbymemories]

"Center of the arena? Unless that place is attacked...maybe one of the concession stands instead," she answered, gauging how far it would be for any one person on their force to reach one. "It's high up and will give us a good vantage point short of being in the sky with Master Aqua."

She briefly wondered if her borrowed Keyblade would allow her to learn how to use that same Glider technique one day.

OPEN

[hinoto_ri]

If anyone's eyes are fixated on something other than the kabuki drama going on below, they might turn just in time to see a teenage boy walk into the stadium, wearing an easy smile. He seems to be around sixteen years of age with native Japanese features. He's also well-dressed, perhaps even impeccably so by teenage standards, like he's trying to impress someone by making it look like he's more serious and mature than those of his age group would be expected to be.

The teen is also holding a small, black case that he appears to be trying to slip into coat's breast pocket. That is, before he gets jostled over by few young children running by. He drops the case, and it hits the floor and bursts open, scattering a handfull of small, gold-backed objects across the arena floor, where they roll, a couple of them disappearing out of sight and into the arena stands where the crowds are sitting and packed in tight. Who can say how far they travel before they come to a stop?

The boy looks nothing short of distressed, cheeks reddening while the rest of his skin pales. He can be seen, almost clumsily, scrambling after them, picking up as many as he can.

No, no, no!

[hinoto_ri]

One of the objects rolls behind the teen, only coming to a stop when it runs into an expensive, polished dress shoe and landing on its back with a metalic, almost tinny sound.

This is followed by a deep, world-weary sigh, but who knows if the teen even notices the older gentleman attached to the shoe.

Open!

[recycleddestiny]

Masamune's eye narrowed slightly as he glanced around the stadium. That feeling, along with the series of headaches he had over the course of the tournament haven't helped out a whole lot, so right now he's wandering a bit. There were some weird things that were running through his head, and it only got worse after the original incident when he and Otoha had sparred and Senrima appeared.

During his fights, it wasn't that bad - the adrenaline had blocked it out for the most part, but when he had returned to his apartment for the night, his dreams were... interesting to say the least.

He shook his head with a smirk before continuing, a hand at his eyepatch for a moment in contemplation. "... man, this has been a hell of a week."

[charmedbymemories]

She tilted her head slightly to face him, not wanting him to stay in her blind spot.

"It has been a little exciting, hasn't it? It almost makes me forget that we're not here on vacation."

[recycleddestiny]

Masamune let out an amused huff of air, smirking. "Thought kendo tournaments back home could get nuts, but ... definitely an interesting experience." He paused for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "Though I'm not sure whether or not I'd like to count this as a vacation or not. Lot more work than any vacation I've been on, anyway."

[charmedbymemories]

She laughed faintly. "It's sort of a vacation for me. Compared to the place I was at before, I mean. Though you're right about it being a lot of work."

She offered a hand to him, smiling at him from behind the fringe of her blond hair. "My name is Naminé."

Open

[electricyousei]

Ruri hates needles in haystacks, but figures this place is under enough cameras that if she can get close to the media interfaces she can multiply her chances of finding it by 100 fold. With that in mind she's quietly heading out looking for the master control room, or if that is too heavily fortified one of the news vans outside with an exasperated sigh.