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

[greatseal]

Maybe she pushed it a little too far, but getting him to make faces like that in public is too much fun. She squeezes his hand in a placating manner... while still grinning.

"I know." On most counts. The counts that have nothing to do with the possible battle today, because she's pretty sure he does have some uncertainty about that. She does, too... which is why she's making these jokes in the first place.

[themortalhalf]

That "maybe" he can see written all over that mad grin of hers tells him she's not very sorry at all. But she's right, as she often is. Though uneasy, would be the word he'd use. Something just feels wrong. And you don't usually start to feel like this for no reason. That not knowing is what's causing his nerves to fray—far different from the crippling paranoia from October.

And really, if Anoli is going to make their move, they're going to be doing it soon. Make their statement and leave their mark, if they can.

He squeezes back.

"You'd better." He keeps his tone light. He doesn't joke around, not really—and even when he does, it's dry—but he can lift some of the gravity out of his voice, though it does little to dispel the uncertainty.

But nervousness certainly isn't going to stop him from performing anything.

[greatseal]

It's different from a lot of things... Different from the unease leading up to full moons, or the tension before a big battle. It was closest to the feeling of fighting in Tartarus for the first time; uncertain of what could happen next, or how dangerous it might be, but also impatient to find out.

"You're welcome to make sure of that, later."

And now she's brazenly flirting with him in public when there could be a terrorist attack at any moment. The SEES leader certainly has excellent priorities.

[themortalhalf]

Minako obviously has excellent priorities, and flustering him is clearly one of them.

He looks away quickly, face reddening. If she wants him to flirt with her (a game he'll always lose within a few replies anyway), she shouldn't try to derail the train before it starts. They're in public, in case she hadn't notice. He's pretty sure she can be subtle when she wants to be. This, in his opinion, is not very subtle at all. He sure doesn't feel like he's been subtly flirted with.

She's not even trying.

If he had the presence of mind to, he might have mentioned that he earned himself a free night's stay at the Amagi Inn a few days ago, if she wanted to, you know, get away from the dorm (and his apartment) for awhile, but that wouldn't be very subtle either.

[greatseal]

She can be subtle, but when did she ever claim she wanted to be?

She'll never stop being amused by making him blush. Of course, if he'd been the one to bring up this topic so suddenly in public, she might have blushed, too. Maybe.

Though she will cut him a break, for now. "But we can discuss that later, too." Maybe then he could bring up the inn.