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Post by Kaigan Youenko on Apr 13, 2010 21:31:11 GMT -5
April 1 Early afternoon Youenko strained onto tip-toe, then let the twisted silver heels of her new, strappy black stilettos click back onto the stone paving of the courtyard, and scrunched her toes into little balls. Youenko loved ornate curlicue that made up the spike of the heel, and loved how it made up her legs look even more; but after three hours of elevating her heels five inches she was ready to scream. She shot her step-mother a pleading look, hoping for some sympathy, but instead the woman was barely supressing a smirk. Marie had warned her step daughter that the wedding ceremony would be several hours of standing on the hard ground, but as always Youenko had chosen fashion over function.
The official droned on and on about the homely young woman, swaddled in layer after layer of goregous silk kimono, and her carefully chosen pimple-faced husband to be. The young man happened to be the son of Marie and Kento's boss, which was what trapped Youenko in front the Hikawa shrine that day and she could take it no longer.
"I'm going to sneak off to the bathroom," she hissed to whichever parent would listen, and took off as subtly as her massive heels would allow. She hurried from the courtyard, cordoned off for the wedding, and made her way to the shrine, where nt only would she be allowed to remove her shoes but it would be demanded!
Youenko greatfully removed the shoes with a sigh of absolute relief, and slipped her feet into the scruffy slippers provided and shuffled off to the bathroom.
As Youenko washed her manicured hands, she peeked into her purse for the small, red hand towl she kept for public washroom, but something else caught her eye. Nestled in the bottom of her purse, lay the glossy red pen Chiyoko had won for her the month before. The tiny charms that hung from the golden lid were glowing a brilliant red. With a gasp, Youenko dropped the purse onto the floor, then cursed sharply under her breath. "Eww, right on the floor..." she mumbled, "at least it didn't land in any water..." Already she had convinced herself that the glow had been from something else, her cell phone or something.
Unready to return to the ceremony, Youenko bided her time wandering the temple until she spotted something which caught her eye. Sacred Flame, Shrine employees only. That sounded interesting enough.
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on Apr 19, 2010 16:59:37 GMT -5
Shizuko padded quietly up the steps of the Hikawa Jinja, her soft soled shoes making almost no noise on the stone steps. Although there was a wedding on at the shrine today it wasn't taking up the entire shrine, and it was the anniversary of her Grandfather's death.
None of the priests were about and as she moved further in to the shrine she caught sight of a girl heading in to the inside of the shrine. Assuming she was one of the shrine maidens, off duty obviously in those towering heels, she called out as loudly as she dared after her. "Excuse me? Do you work here, Miss?"
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on Apr 19, 2010 21:21:58 GMT -5
Youenko had pushed aside the slatted board door and was eagerly about to peek into the mysterious room when a voice from behind her caused the young woman to jump. Had she not changed into slippers at the door, she'd likely have broken her ankle.
"Yeah! I mean no, Youenko's words tripped over each other toppling out of her mouth, "wait, do you work here? No, then you wouldn't... Youenko realised how ridiculous she sounded and stood up straight, trying to sneakily shut the door behind her, "yes. Yes I do."
She tried to make her face look solomn, severe... shrine maiden-ly, but soon remembered the deep decolitage of her smoke-coloured cocktail dress and decided the lie was ridiculous. "Of course not, I'm here for the big wed-fest out back," she jerked her thumb in the direction of the festivites, "what about you? Are you here for the ceremony, too?
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on Apr 20, 2010 16:46:19 GMT -5
"Ah, I wondered if you were perhaps an off-duty miko. I'm not here for the wedding, I was just here to buy two omamori amulets for my parents." Shizuko replied, still keeping her voice down so as not to disturb the quiet or the wedding.
"Have you seen anyone spare about?"
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on Apr 22, 2010 2:25:19 GMT -5
Youenko looked around nervously. "Actually, I haven't seen anyone since I came in," she shrugged, then smiled deviously, "they might be back here," she suggested, eager for the chance to look in at this sacred flame which had her so intrigued, "wanna come look?"
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on Apr 24, 2010 12:47:04 GMT -5
Looking about and then looking at her watch, Shizuko nodded. "Yeah. I'm supposed to be meeting my parents soon, so I'd like to find someone pretty fast." Smiling at the red-headed girl, she didn't notice the 'no entry' sign on the door.
Slipping off her shoes she followed the girl in to the inner rooms of the shrine.
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on Apr 27, 2010 17:45:06 GMT -5
Youenko grinned to herself as the pair slipped into the dark room, illuniated only by the flickering glow of the promised 'sacred flame'. Youenko brushed her hand along the wall, feeling for a light switch. Nothing.
The flame was low, but still danced and flickered invitingly. No, inviting wasn't the word, Youenko thought. Enticing, maybe, or tempting. It was all she could do to keep from rushing to it.
"Hmm..." Youenko mumbled, then turned to Shizuko, confused "my family doesn't really do any of this religion cr- ah, stuff. Do you know what that's all about?"
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on Apr 28, 2010 4:37:25 GMT -5
"Aah! Thats the Sacred Flame! We're not supposed to be in here!" Looking about slightly nervously in case one of the shrine staff had appeared from nowhere, she caught sight of the red headed girls expression in the light from the flames. She seemed mesmerised, her eyes dancing with the flickering tongues of flame.
"This is the heart of the temple, we really shouldn't be in here!"
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on Apr 30, 2010 10:41:42 GMT -5
If she could hear Shizuko, Youenko gave no sign. Instead, she stared enraptured at the flame. "I feel..." she paused, unable to explain and worried that the girl would not understand if she could. Youenko felt as though the fire was physically pulling her towards itself, and at last she allowed herself to approach it.
Youenko knelt glassy eyed next to the fire and gazed deeply into the heart of the flame. Her heart was pounding and her palms were suddenly dampened with sweat. Only vaguely aware, she wiped them on the skirt of her dress. Something within the sacred flame held her captive. She furrowed her brow as beads of sweat began to form there. Something in the flame...
Blurry silouettes danced about the white-hot heart of the flame. What appeared to be young women rose from the fire, but were cut down just as quickly, and from their embers sprung a new figure, a small girl. Her hand extend towards Youenko, as though she were beconing the other girl to join her in the inferno.
Youenko forced her eyes shut and shook her head furiously, trying to clear her boggled mind. When at last she was beginning to feel normal again, she turned back to Shizuko.
"What is this flame?" she asked, then added somewhat more demandingly, "explain it to me!" Something bizzare was taking place, Youenko could tell, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what.
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on Apr 30, 2010 14:53:49 GMT -5
"It... its the centre of the shrine. The sacred flame is what this shrine is here for!" Shizuko's voice was beginning to rise in a mix of panic and worry. The girl was so close to the flames now and her eyes were so wild and far away that Shizuko couldn't help but worry even more for the girl.
"We need to go! You don't look well..."
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on May 4, 2010 4:28:33 GMT -5
Youneko's mouth opened and shut akwardly like a fish gasping for air. She began to tremble and sweat, then dropped to her knees before the now spitting and crackling flame. Sweat beeded on her forhead, making her concealer sticky and cakey.
Images flashed before her eyes like a film reel on over drive, making Youenko feel nauseous. A bloody battle, a falling queen, the rise of a silver messiah... then finally, a soldier in red glaring down at Youenko, comanding her to rise. To AWAKEN!
She gasped, then grabbed at the wooden slats fencing off the sacred flame, and pulled herself to her feet. "I'm sorry," she gasped to Shizuko, "its just... its too hot in here. You're right, we should go.
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Post by Aijouno Kyoutei on May 4, 2010 20:58:38 GMT -5
This outfit is a little hard to wear...
Kyoutei silently made her way through the uncrowded parts of the temple shrine. Her uncle sort of held jobs everywhere, it seemed, and today he was helping with a wedding of some sort. Kyoutei had been roped into it, but on seeing the crowds, the brunette had hastily pleaded to do something somewhere else, and offered some help with miko duties. Now dressed in the proper shrine maiden wear (and wearing red ribbons to match the hakama), Kyoutei had busied herself with sweeping and relaying returned amulets to priests so they could be disposed of properly. The brunette couldn't help but feel like she had been here once upon a time...
Some movement caught her eye and Kyoutei brought her gaze over just in time to see someone moving into one of the rooms--one that Kyoutei knew regular people weren't supposed to get into. Kyoutei didn't risk shouting, fearing she would be reprimanded for causing a fuss, and instead hurried as fast as she could after the intruders. Unfortunately, she'd never worn miko wear before, and as a result, it slowed her down.
Finally, she got to the room and stealthily made her way. "Excuse me, you're not allowed in--" the girl began to say, then blinked. "Yuukino-san? Youenko-san...?" she murmured in confusion, then took into account Youenko's state. "Oh my gosh! A-are you all right?!" she squeaked out, worried. She hadn't managed to catch anything that either girl had said, but slid the door open to allow both Shizuko and Youenko to pass with ease. She bit her lip as she motioned for them to move on through, keeping her eye on the redhead.
Something's wrong...
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on May 5, 2010 1:15:43 GMT -5
Youenko trembled, wobbling in her slippers. She gulped deep breaths of warm air and clung to the wooden rail.
"I'm alright," she said at last, about to plead dehydration as she turned, but was shocked to see Kyotei, "hey!" she rasped, "you work here, just what we were looking f," she grinned weakly and moved cautiously away from the fire, wiping her damp brow on the back of her hand.
"This you could help me find a vending machine? she asked the two smaller girls, "I need something to help me cool down."
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Post by Yuukino Shizuko on May 5, 2010 8:59:37 GMT -5
"Aijouno-san! You know this girl?!" Shizuko exclaimed as she slipped her arm around the redhead's shoulders to help her out of the room.
"We kinda got lost, I didn't see the 'No Entry' sign. I'm sorry Aijouno-san."
As the three of them got outside, Shizuko dipped her hand in to her leather messenger bag and pulled out a bottle of water which she passed to Youenko. "There you go, Miss. Sorry, I didn't catch your name before. I'm Yuukino Shizuko."
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Post by Kaigan Youenko on May 10, 2010 2:20:01 GMT -5
"Kaigan Youenko," Yoeunko replied, between greedy gulps of water, "thanks." She wiped her forehead on the back of her arm, "that was really wierd."
She smiled at the pair of smaller girls to assure them she was feeling much better. "Kyotei, I didn't know you were a Miko. Thats pretty cool," she paused, "maybe you can tell me what the deal is with the fire. It made me feel... well sort of loopy as probably saw. are they burning something wierd in it?" she paused to think, then asked excitedly, "is it drugs?"
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