2448/Emergency Slumber Party: Hinoiri Needs Help!

Emergency Slumber Party: Hinoiri Needs Help!
Date of Scene:	04 April 2025
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for Emi, that means a party.
Cast of Characters:	Emi Hoshino, Rashmi Terios, Ikiko Hisakata, 281, Madoka Kaname, Nephrite, Usagi Tsukino, Chiyo Sakai, Amanda Faust, Sayaka Miki, Mamoru Chiba, Catra, Zoisite

---

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It starts like any other party would. Emi told Mamoru, and Mamoru told some others, who told some others. The call went out. Hinori was in danger, and the only solution was ...

... a slumber party?

At first, it was marked for the shed, but after a little experimenting on her own, Emi discovered that the shed was unsuitable for her and their needs. 'There's inteference', she remarked to those who asked her about it. The end result was Chiyo being able to vcolunteer the Manga club's room, and that being set aside from a the slumber party.

Emi has been hard at work -- with help of course -- preparing the room for it. Getting mattresses, blankets, pillows. She's requested snacks, and anything that might help the room be more conducive to a restful environment. These things are important to ensure what comes next. What comes next and what's even going on? Well, she's going to explain that.

As the others arrive, Emi is seated on the floor, head bowed, looking to already be asleep. She's dressed in pajamas already, a black shirt and shorts ensemble that's adorned with cute little pink skulls. She is holding tightly to her torso a plush baku, a creature from Japanese myth associated with nightmares and their erasure.

As more arrive, she sits up suddenly, taking in a big breath like she just woke up.
% She looks about, eyes settling on the form of Himoiri, stretched out on a mattress and neatly covered in blankets. She looks to be asleep, but she is anything but peaceful. One might even say she's resting *uncomfortably*. Somehow, she seems ... very stressed, and whatever noise level the room has achieved with all this commotion, she doesn't appear to be waking up.

Emi hesitates a moment. This is ... a lot of people. A lot of people indeed. She looks like a deer in headlights for a moment. A cute, gothic deer with hair that hides a bunch of her face right this moment.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When the call went out, Rashmi responded almost immediately. 'Almost,' because she had to make a tally of her snacks stack, multiply by the number of mahou, multiply *again* for herself and Usagi, and make a detour at the local conbeni. But at least that gave her time for the venue to change without it disrupting her route.

Which means when she shows up to the Manga Club room, the first thing she does is pull an entire packing boxes of bagged chips, and another of sodas various, out of the *tiny sunburst charm hanging around her neck,* and set them on a row of desks with a weighty *thunk.*

Then, she turns to Emi, bobs a quick bow and a *bright,* sincere smile, and says, "You must be Emi-san! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

And with a flash of golden light, she henshins, and starts helping shove desks and lug luggables, placing things where she's told.

This is not a girl who is a stranger to helping clean up after club.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
A sleepover to help a fellow mahoujin trapped in a severe nightmare was not how Ikiko had expected to start off the new school year (her first year as a middleschooler!), but being a magical girl does often mean dealing with the unexpected, after all.

Still, as her birthday isn't until late in the month, she can still use some of her elementary-school energy; and so, when she arrives and notices Emi looking like a deer in the headlights, she goes over and gives Emi a biiig hug for comfort!

"Hey. It'll be okay," Ikiko says warmly to Emi. "You and Hinoiri both have lots of friends, and we'll make sure to save her and keep both of you safe."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
"Watching. Like a cat. A hunter. Silent, but deadly. The darkness prepares to strike at anyone who would attack its friends. You can't have them, the darkness would say. No I'm in here, there isn't room to get by. Stop, stop! They're going to hear us! I'm being stealthy!"

The grate over the air vent is talking. But there's clearly nobody there, it said so a moment ago and is now vascillating on how there isn't room to get past her butt no matter how many times it's run into thank you very much.

I have this vague suspicion that the vent is haunted. By a ghost. Not Entrapta and Emily. Why would you think that? Ridiculous.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka arrives, and not alone. She's here in her soft pink jammies, followed by the three fairies Kamiko (who could really use a nap if she's being honest), Sio, Tia; and... some cute girl with long black hair who is also in purple pajamas? Homura, for those who have met her already, is here for the slumber party. Madoka is carrying a bag full of baked goods and pastries, Homura is carrying the sleeping bags, and the three Chara are orbiting the two of them chanting, "Slumber party! Slumber party!" in a singsongy way.

    Homura sets the bags down and wordlessly starts helping push desks around, and once there's some room Madoka starts laying out the bready treats. After, the black haired Puella Magi stands off to the side in a way that may seem cold, distant and stoic to others; but which Madoka recognizes as shyness and social awkwardness. The relatively outgoing pinkette is taking point for the two of them.

    "Hey, Emi!" she greets. "So... how does this work? Do we just... fall asleep here? Or is there some kind of magic thing we need to do?"

Nephrite has posed:
Was it entirely appropriate for him, a highschool senior, to arrive at at a slumber party largely consisting of girls?

In any other circumstances, perhaps not. But, he had been assured of the emergency. Mamoru insisted that any and all aid was that could be offered in this matter was paramount, and who was he to deny his Prince in such a show of goodwill?

He arrives in golden, silk pyjamas and clad in slippers that resemble bananas. His wavy brown hair tied back loosely into a tail. At the door he stands, a pillow under his arm and a tote bag on hand, and raps knuckles against the doorframe to alert the others of his presence.

Gods, they've got mattresses laid out on the floor. He grimaces as he steps inwards.

"Evening, ladies."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The call - in this case, text message - had come from Mamoru, and Usagi had naturally confirmed she would be heeding that call. Hinoiri is her friend, after all!

Even if her response to hearing that Hinoiri was in trouble was to say again?! So Usagi comes into the room with extra stuffed animals and a few extra blankets, dressed in warm fleece pajamas with little sheep leaping over the moon, printed all over them. The base color is blue, the sheep are white, and her hair isn't in odango, but in a number of large twists, all pulled back for sleeping.

"This isn't the usual kind of slumber party," she says as she finds a spot to put her sleeping bag down, clearing enough space for Mamoru to sleep near her, "But we should still have plenty of soft friends, you know? And speaking of which, Luna is hanging back, but she'll be keeping an eye out for us!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
It wouldn't be the first time that Chiyo had suggested the use of the club rooms for mahou business. Of course, that was awhile ago before The Shed had come into existence. Even so... She still had the spare key to the Manga Club room as she had been the one that tidied up and brought snacks for the club members so often. Not so much anymore with her newfound life as a mahou.

Having been warned by Mamoru to bring a pillow she also brought blankets, and ... and snacks yes. There was always a bevvy of snacks from Nounamu Sweets that she could get ahold of. It's nothing heavy tonight, or too messy. Just some mochi balls rolled in freeze dried crumbled fruit for a sweet treat. And tea. Because everyone needed a good soothing drink.

The odango'ed plum haired girl wearing pink polka dot pajamas finishes setting up the little treat station before looking around at the others arriving. "Hey, Rashmi," she greets her roommate with a friendly nod before also glancing over to the others. "Ikiko-chan!" It had been awhile since she'd seen the underclassman as well. The others are also met with a nod as she pauses to snag her pillow giving it an idle punch or two feeling just a little awkward. Probably why she steps over toward the OTHER Odango-haired girl in here. For solidarity.

Then Masato walks in causing her to nearly drop the pillow. "Oh. OH. Is that... Oh." Right, that was a long time ago. A LONG time ago. Stop staring.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's had to help with the relocation from the shed to the club room. It sucks that stuff had to be moved twice. But on the bright side, that's given her an extra moment to ready sleep preparations:

    She's got a fan to generate white noise, and she's brought her own pillows and a sheet in matching red, and her plushies -- a teddy bear, a small cougar, a Hannah, and the cat plush given her by the Spirit Ember's spirits. Amy's got her hair tied back in a ponytail for sleeping, and is wearing an oversized black sleep shirt with the logo and words of APERTURE LABORATORIES on the front and a pair of plain socks; there are athletic shorts under the shirt in case of boys.

    When the others arrive she's setting up her sleeping station, having taken a blanket to lie down on and leaving the mattresses for others.

    She looks tense, having heard a little bit about the situation already, and greets people as they come in with a quick look and a nod, until Madoka and Homura arrive. Amy stands and walks up to her with things clutched in her hands. "Um... I didn't know if any of the chara are staying behind to watch us, but..." She lifts her hands in front of her chest and opens them to show her soul gem and a nearly-expended grief seed. "I'll try to be careful, but I don't know if I'll be able to see my soul gem in there. I figured if anyone might know what to do or have a good idea about that..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka has been warned by Mamoru of what happened, and she had started preparing as soon as possible, with Ula in tow. The message to warn of the location change gets to her just in time, and she promptly changes direction, though she doesn't know why a manga room would help with fighting these dream demons.

Neither does the Shed, but it's not the first time they have held strategy session there. Mamoru had mentioned carrying Hinoiri's body there. Are they actually supposed to sleep it off? With how magic works, she wouldn't have been surprised if they would have been transported into the world of dreams wholesale.

"Hello, Emi-san. Long time no see", Sayaka smiles at the now awake girl, waving at her together with Ula, and the bluenette is carrying the latter's pool with her, and she smiles at her friends. The former is wearing a light blue striped shirt with matching shorts, while the latter has a sleep mask designed after her tail over her forehead. "So, are you our ticket into the world of dreams then?", the koi mermaid asks Emi.

Meanwhile, Sayaka scoffs amused at the three Chara Guardians' songs. "They really find excitement in everything", she smiles slightly to Madoka, before she gives a look over to Hinoiri. She certainly doesn't look all that well.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's not in his pajamas, he's in black skinny jeans and a black Band-Maid t-shirt with a big white lightning-y bow in the middle of a red and white target splashed across his chest. His hair is messy and his glasses are smudged, and he's uncertainly left his shoes at the door of the club room, padding around in sock feet at school. His purple-and-blue-and-black argyle socks. He looks like he was bleary twenty minutes ago but has since had coffee.

Emi is uncertain, and Mamoru is uncertain if he can help -- he does, after all, loom without meaning to. Why is he so tall?!

"Kazuo will eventually show up," he says, "but he's a little delayed. He's planning on sitting in out here in the waking world to make sure... that um, that KenKen doesn't... get me. So that I can fall asleep. Sorry. Sorry! He can keep Luna company."

And Mamoru looks up at the air vent and squints. He stands directly under it and looks up. "If there's someone in there," he says reasonably, "please come join us. We're going to rescue that girl," he points at Hinoiri, "from nightmares from outside her own head."

Then he wanders off, and stops short when he sees Masato at the door. He can't help it, his eyes sparkle at Neph's jammies and MY GOD his SLIPPERS-- "Neph! Yay! That chair is mine," he says, pointing to the comfy chair next to where Usagi's setting up and immediately stealing one of Rashmi's sodas and one of Chiyo's mochi balls.

And... then he blinks and sort of shrugs into his henshin as he's walking, so he can start taking roses out of the air, depositing himself in the chair he claimed, cape and all.

Catra has posed:
Catra shows up. Late, of course. When does she ever arrive on time?

But almost nothing has been explained to the feline outside of some urgent sounding text that she should arrive, so... here she is. She enters, and then stands by the door, leaning with her back on the wall and her arms crossed; still dressed as ever in her Horde jumpsuit, Red Wastes Jacket, and with her sword in a scabbard hanging off her belt. The feline folds her arms, looking like she's equal parts considering coming all the way in, and considering just slipping straight back out the way she came.

"Someone... tell me what's going on?" she asks, instead of taking either option. "I got a text that said I needed to show up, something about Hinoiri being in trouble, super vague and I've no idea what's going on."

Zoisite has posed:
In a flurry of cherry blossoms, only knowing that it's a sleep over but having noticed the damn banana slippers were gone, decides that he'd show up for a few minutes only to be the bane of Nephrite's existence--Zoisite poofs in. Wearing a limited edition Barbie t-shirt, a silk bonnet, green pajama bottoms and a look of pure disgust directed at both his roommate and perhaps a bit to Mamoru.

"Really? The bloody banana ones?" Throws the pillow at Nephrite's face. "And you encourage him too much." Points at his prince.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It's getting weirder.

Emi is about to say something, many somethings, when she is suddenly hugged by Ikiko, whom she has not actually met out of henshin so it comes as a huge surprise to her. She is now a gothic deer with long hair caught in headlights that is also frozen solid for a good minute as her entire body stiffens to ramrod stiffness. She is neither hugger nor social butterfly. After the hug is released, though, she gives a slight bow towards Ikiko. "Sure, yeah. Cool. We'll make it." She gives a similar bow towards Rashmi, "Likewise but I have no idea who you are," she explains. Her mismatched, blue and green eyes scan the room as she holds up one hand to cover one of them, looking at each person in turn.

"...yeah, okay," she says after a moment. "I guess I owe a whole bunch of you some explaining before we get started.

"I'm Emi. It's, uh, nice to meet you all. Wanna thank everyone for showing up for Hinoiri."

"So, I guess..."

Deep breath.

"Hinoiri's been kidnapped."

A weird thing to say about someone laying *right there*."And then Zoisite just ... appears in a shower of cheery blossoms and she loses her train of thought. Then...

"Right. We're going to the dreamscape to get her back. I'm going to try to pull all of you in, and Mamoru's gonna help me out with it. So, I know this sounds crazy, but I need all of you to get comfortable, be normal, be relaxed, and let sleep claim you as naturally as possible. It will. That's why I need you all here, and I need you all to remember where we are when we sleep. Imagine this room, these people, these friends. Think about your connections to them. Think about the shared experience here. I know this is crazy sounding, but I need all of you to be as *normal as possible*, a big ask given the circumstances and why we're here, but ... we have to try. The more relaxed we all are, the better, and if all goes well...

"Well, I'll be seeing you in your dreams real soon. Because that's what my magic is, and that's where we need to go."

And with that, she settles back down on her cushion and clutches her baku plush close.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Usagi-chan, who is that--" Chiyo begins to whisper toward her cousin while trying not to openly stare at the dark curly haired tall boy that came in wearing, er. Well she hadn't really glanced down far enough to see the slippers. The sudden flower petals and pillow launched at his face helps to shake her out of it as she glances between one shittenou and the other with a small 'Oh' forming on her lips.

"He's one of Mamoru-kuns' boys," she reasons with a nod as if this makes sense entirely. They were all awfully tall (except Jadeite and this bonnett wearing one at least.)

Speaking up she offers, "I brought mochi dango and tea if anyone would like. I thought it might help relax everyone before we do... This." 'This' clearly encompassing all that was about to go on. Looking at Kamen, then toward Emi who begins explaining, she asks, "Should we transform before we try to fall asleep?"

She only pauses a moment, shrugging, before following suit. "Apprivoiser!"

Instead of pajamas she's left in a pink and white military styled suit with gold adornments and epaulets. With a grin she introduces for those who do not yet know her, "Ginga Hanma, at your service."

With that she sinks down to sit cross-legged on some of the bedding near Usagi (she's not getting in between her and Mamoru though)

linkies the pic that Mamo got for her aaaaah https://radiantheartmush.com/File:StarChiyo2.png

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Rashmi," says the redhead in the extremely toyetic sci-fi armored dress with the cheerful wave-- which is cut off by the probably-not-that-spooky voice from the vents. Clearing her throat, she moves a desk out from under the vent, reaches up, and thumps twice on the wall next to the grating. "Entrapta-chan? Come out and introduce yourself, okay? After which you'll get to take observational data from an entire world of dreams!"

When you know someone's levers, you know how they can be moved.

Gratefully accepting a rose, she looks around at the hot mess of mahou (their scientific group name, after all) and nods to herself. "I... actually have a lot of questions, but I feel like the answer to a lot of them is gonna be 'shrug?' so..."

Monching on a couple of dango, she picks a spot to settle in with a bottle of melon punch -- in henshin, a monitor-sized armored book floating a centimeter or so over her lap. "Pick a spot and get comfy, Catra-chan," she calls over the club room. "If you're here then we could use your help!"

Eyes dart to Zoisite and Nephrite, and she tries to hide a snicker, before glancing to Mamoru -- whose phone dings with a text.

    << I get why you need my help, now. >>

Nephrite has posed:
Of course it's Mamo's chair; the comfy chair. Mamoru couldn't sleep on the floor of the Manga Club, of all places-- even if the roll outs were comfortable enough-- that would be... untennable. Masato can't help but appreciate the shirt, however. He admires it like Mamoru admires his slippers.

"Dressed to impress, as we always are."

Sapphire eyes did take a long moment to linger upon Chiyo in the midst of all this, though. An acknowledgement, at least, that he was aware of her staring. A faint smirk ticked the corner of his mouth. Swiftly, though, his attention shifted to Emi, and then, to the slumbering girl. Hinoiri... He hummed, concern playing subtly at his features.

Kazuo may have been delayed, but very little would distract Masato from dutifully settling upon a mattress near that chair in the meantime. Not even the snacks, or the obnoxious floral swirl. Or he pillow that he caught and immediately hurled back.

At least Zoisite was present. That certtainly did make things a tad more routine for bed time.

"Knock it off, Zoisite. You're going to scare off the shy ones and chase the sleepiness out of everyone else. Why couldn't you be the one lurking in a vent?" He muttered the last, puffing his pillow and settling down.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Kamiko glances at Usagi and immediately tugs on Homura's sleeve. "See? She brought plushies!"

    Homura frowns and says, "If I give you a plushie, will you behave?"

    Immediaely the there Chara are lined up in front of her, pleading. The black-haired girl quickly henshins in a flash of pink, pulls a few stuffed animals out from behind her buckler-type shield, and then dehenshins. Kamiko, Sio and Tia gladly take the stuffies off her hands and fly towards a mattress they've picked out for their little group.

    Homura flips her hair and says, "... and this is why I keep a stash of emergency toys," before walking over to join them. She glances back at Madoka, wondering when she'll join them.

    Madoka glances down to Amy's Soul Gem. Homura crosses her arms and glances towards Kamiko. The purple eyed girl says, "I suppose you have a point. Tia-chan, could I trust you to look after our Soul Gems? I'm sure Kamiko has an unused Grief Seed or two on her."

    Tia covers her tiny mouth and giggles in a refined way, "Trusting me to keep things clean? Good choice! I'll watch after them... and eat some extra snacks since I'm staying up!"

    Madoka giggles and says, "Well, that works out. Tia-chan we'll be sure to tell you how it went."

    Homura sideglances at Amy and says, "There's a chance we can actually bring our Grief Seeds inside the dream, so I'll keep one on me too."

    When Sayaka enters the room, Homura gets quiet, crosses her arms and looks away. Madoka meanwhile turns to her childhood friend with a smile and says, "They really have a lot of energy. It's hard to keep track of them sometimes. I hope they can settle down enough to sleep."

    Homura closes her eyes and says, "They eat their weight in sugar. Of course they're going to be active."

    As Emi starts explaining things, Madoka and Homura listen to her for a few moments, then they start sitting down next to the Chara fairies and their plushie pile. Homura hears the part where she's told to 'act normal' and just tilts her head while giving Emi a cold stare. What even is normal?

    Madoka starts rolling out the sleeping bags and the pillows. Homura helps her and makes sure that the Chara also have their own pillow to rest their eggs on. Kamiko gives Tia an unused Grief Seed just in case, and Tia starts drinking some tea because she at least will be staying up and keeping watch. Once they're all set up, with Madoka and Homura each in their color-coordinated sleeping bags, the black-haired girl tries to get a little bit closer to her pink girlfriend. Getting comfy is important, right?

Entrapta (281) has posed:
The voice in the air vent stops. Two people talked to it. Cover's blown!

"Our cover is blown, Emily," she explains. "So this is how you handle that. Take notes."

The air vent opens, smoothly as if it's been oiled recently. Then a face peeks out, and a human slips out.

Lands on her head.

Rolls to her feet, and tries to cross her arms and lean against the wall, aiming to recover from the 2 on the dismount with a good end pose.

>.> <.<

She's wearing coveralls, like normal. But soft ones. With a bunny on the left butt cheek. The roomba that follows her out lands on the floor with a THUNK, then starts to tidy the floor amiably.

Emily, always with the grand entrance. Entrapta looks at the little roomba, then at Mamo and Rashmi, and shrugs. "Showoff."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Appreciated, Tia." says Amy, warmly but seriously. If Tia were human-size she'd touch her hand to Tia's, but... she just has to kind of very lightly tap the back of Tia's hand with a fingertip instead.

    After soul gem concerns are addressed, Amy keeps glancing up at the vent. Entrapta's voice is fairly distinct. Amy glances over to Sayaka with a brief smile after she comments on Madoka's charas. "Were the circumstances any different, I'd be just as excited."

    She looks over at Masato and hopes he doesn't feel too awkward -- ah, there's Mamoru and Izou, so Masato won't have to feel out of place. Zoicite's comment makes her roll her eyes. "They're fuzzy slippers. They're supposed to be silly."

    Mamoru's calls her attention to the vent again. "Unless you'd be more comfortable sleeping in there. I can understand, but would you like a blanket or something?"

    And then Emi's exposition calls her attention.

    Hinoiri's been kidnapped. It sounds weird, but even if Amy didn't know (a very little) about the dreamscape and nightmares, she'd have assumed Hinoiri's soul had been taken from her body or something. Amy has always considered the two seperate things; It's weird that it keeps coming up often enough for her to have to remember that other people don't usually see them that way.

    Amy nods as she accepts a rose, making sure to keep it close.

    When the time comes to lay down at her prepared spot, Amy lies down on a blanket and her pillows in front of the fan, with the sheet pulled over her, and hugs her small collection of stuffies to her chest. "I researched lucid dreaming. I've been trying the... focus on sight, focus on hearing, focus on touch, repeat, thing, but it doesn't seem like it helps me sleep."

    Beat.

    "...Huh. I was gonna say, to sleep try breathing slowly and try to either push all thoughts out of your mind, or focus on trying to make sense of the patterns you see with your eyes closed. But... that might make us less aware of our surroundings." What a font of esoteric knowledge she is.

    Amy is going to focus on sleeping anyway. Focusing on her surroundings seems like it will keep her up.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Oh, sorry; forgot we haven't met while I wasn't in henshin," Ikiko giggles apologetically to Emi. Ikiko goes over and hugs Chiyo and Usagi while everyone else arrives, then gets her stuff set up: an extra-thick pillow, plus a pair of blankets -- one laid out sort of like a nest, the other one to be used as normal. Simple and straightforward (like her pajamas), and easy to carry -- useful for a sleepover in non-hosted territory!

She munches a few snacks while listening to Emi's explanation, then nods. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can manage normal," Ikiko agrees...

    ...then pauses, looking around the room.

"...well, as normal as anything gets for mahoujin," she amends ruefully.

With Emi's natural magic making falling asleep easier, Ikiko yawns as she touches the locket around her neck. There's a silvery glow, then Cute Wolf Tsukiko curls up on her blanket, her head resting on her pillow -- oh, that's why it's an extra thick pillow: humanoid physiology curves on a different axis than canine physiology, so she can't just use her hands and feet as a cushion for her head -- and pulls the second blanket up over her.

"I'll see all of you in the dream realm," the wolfgirl calls softly as she closes her eyes and begins to doze, focusing on the room and everyone present at the slumber party.

Zoisite has posed:
Catches his pillow once it's thrown back, frown sharper than a knife only contrasted by the puffy, barely contained pout on his lips. "If they get scared, that's their problem, don't you think? And I am a very peaceful whilst sleeping, as you know." Throws his pillow next to Nephrite's as he really didn't want to bother looking for a spot since he arrived right on time for everyone to get comfortable.

No blankets needed, he was naturally very warm. Quietly he did wish Kazuo had shown up yet. Ah well, maybe his boyfriend would join next to him sooner than later.

As he starts to sit down, Zoisite gives a little squinty glance to Amy. "I am aware of their purpose, but he looks very clownish in them in my humble opinion." Which wasn't humble at all. But he was quieting down.

No greetings or anything, just act nice and normal. Mamoru has nothing to complain about, he's here to help. For now.

Flops onto his pillow, arms crossed like he's waiting for the sleep to get there fast.

Catra has posed:
Oh good, Entrapta's here.

Catra's eyes narrow as the purple-haired techno-goblin crawls out of a vent. Immediately her hackles rise, before she recalls that this is actually a different Entrapta -- a younger one, and not the one she electrocuted into unconsciousness and shipped off to Beast Island so she could use her work to rip a potentially planet-destroying hole in space and time.

Look, the point is, sometimes we have priorities that are just more important. No idea why that Entrapta would be upset anyway.

"Okay but she's right there," she replies to Emi, pointing to where Hinoiri is sleeping.

Oh, but there's dream problems. Well, that's what you get for leaping to conclusions before entirely listening to someone.

The feline gives everyone a wary, suspicious look, before slinking around the outside of the room and picking a spot beside Rashmi to 'get comfortable'. Well, as comfortable as one can get with their muscles tensed up, a little wisp of smoke wafting off the back of her neck, and one hand resting subconsciously on her sword.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru nods at Emi as he finishes up with the roses, and he drops henshin again and stands up from his chair to start passing out the roses, and he looks a little sheepish at Chiyo. "I was only henshined because I can't get at these outside it. But yeah, everyone--"

His phone dings.

He leaves it for now because his hands are full of roses, which he explains to everyone, "If Emi can't pull you in, these'll bring you to my dream home base, and I can help hand you off through the door to the dreamscape as long as she's on the other side. Or something like that. And-- you should be able to use them to get back in my dream, I think? I think. I hope. The stems cut things like concrete and magic so try not to stab yourselves with them."

Rose, rose, rose, rose. When he hands one to Neph he grins again. "As ever," he agrees. He hands one to Catra and says, "No chibis in nightmare-land, alas."

Once he's finished handing them out, and being godawfully amused by Zoisite and then the antics of Madoka's charas and Homura's methods of dealing with them and then EMILY oh my goodness, he checks his phone and snorts, then texts back to Rashmi, 'Yes. God. Yes. Especially Zoi, the one in the hat. He gets in a snit if you tell him to socialize, too.'

"I'm glad to see you're prepared! Let me know if your head hurts from the fall you one hundred percent meant to take," the very tall boy says to Entrapta. "And I'm glad Emily's here too, even if she is a showoff." He hands Entrapta two roses, "Here, one's for her, just in case she can sleep."

Izou's rose is handed to him with eyebrows up and no notes for the scolding of Mamoru's treatment of Neph's slippers.

Finally, Mamoru melts back into the chair and sits in it like he's bisexual; one arm dangles off the side to just rest with fingertips touching Usagi somehow. It really doesn't take long to fall asleep

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai returns Ikiko's hug easily only to settle down again once she departs. She finds her gaze sweeping around the room at the others who were most certainly not in henshin. She just sits a moment, legs criss-crossed with her pillow hugged up to her chest preparing to lay down (but not yet). It's when Mamoru comes over handing out roses and explains that she looks embarassed as well. "Oh, right that makes sense. ... Good thing anyway, Reshbal is chatty and there's a lot of gossip right now he wants to dish on." A pause, and she sighs, hiss-whispering to no one in particular, "*Later.*"

The henshin slips away easily with a mere thought leaving her in the far cozier pajamas again so she can flop back on the pile of blankets and futon she'd obtained. Instead she finds herself staring at the ceiling with her mind whirling.

The rose is absently clutched to her chest and drawn up to sniff enjoying the pleasant aroma to help ease her into a more sleep-like state. "I guess... See everyone there? Good night."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sounds like pretty standard stuff, and given the premise about the world of dreams, she has no problem believing in Hinoiri's abduction. Though the use of that word causes a lot of question she is not sure they have the time to answer. Even if having them bouncing around in her head is not going to make sleeping any easier.

And she doesn't feel tired at all. Maybe Emi's magic is supposed to help with that as well, together with making them get into the dream world? Assuming the two things are separate at all and they aren't in fact the same thing for her magic.

"I mean, as long as they are fine", Sayaka grins in response to Madoka, not before tilting her head towards Homura and wondering what's up with her reaction. Something to ask Madoka at another time, if she has the occasion.

"Hey, Ula, do you think you would be fine?", Sayaka seeks her fairy's opinion, starting to set down her pool next to her own sleeping bag. "Do we have another way? Let's try and do our best", Ula gives Sayaka her answer and pulling the sleep mask over her eyes. "Goodnight, and see you soon", the fairy tells her after a deep breath.

"Uh, wait a second", Sayaka tells the fairy when Mamoru starts explaining the purpose of the roses. That's really good foresight on his part. Hmm, between Emi and these roses, Hinoiri would probably be having a whole lot of new info for her studies.

"Thank you, Mamoru-san", Sayaka tells him, taking a rose for Ula and one for herself. The mermaid hugs the head of the flower, whispering a second goodnight. "See you quite soon", Sayaka tells her and the others at once, before sliding in and her sleeping bag.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You can't fall in love with him," is the first thing out of Usagi's mouth, a quiet whisper before she even knows who her cousin is looking at, and then she hears the next part and goes - "Oh yeah, that's Masato-kun, and that's Izou-kun, too."

Ikiko comes over, and hugs are exchanged, tight, and then the situation starts to get explained and she nods, sharply.

"Sleep. Okay! Okay, well, at least this is something that plays to my strengths." She can sleep! With a flash of light, she's even Sailor Moon, and quickly tugs a blanket down and gets into her sleeping bag, and tangles her fingers with Mamoru, and...

"I am so ready to sleep and rescue Hinoiri-chan and sleep," she murmurs.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai glances over at Usagi looking equally embarassed. "I'm not! I have a..." The word hitches in her throat a moment. "Boyfriend." Did she still? Her fingers clutch harder on the rose feeling the thorns prick into her fingers but not really caring. It probably wasn't going to make sleep any easier. Her eyes close though as she attempts to sleep at least.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
More oddness. Entrapta is just stared at, like 'oh hey its you'. Sayaka got a little acknowledgement as well.

As everyone settles in and drifts off, Emi observes them. As someone who can quite seriously fall asleep and enter the dream world on command -- a lovely perk of her powers -- she can afford the time to make sure everyone is in the same state, their bodies relaxing. This close together, it is only a matter of time before their REM states synchronize enough for her to make her next move.

She falls into her own dreamscape and takes a bit of time, focusing on the strands of connection between her and those present. All of them here with a shared goal, shared purpose, shared idea, and shared sense of place. Maximize the sympathetic connections, Emi told herself, and maybe you can finally do this right.

After all, doing it wrong is all she's done so far. They didn't need to know that, though, did they Emi?

She imagines herself at the center of a web of dreams, each point a figure present here in the room with her. Each a dream she can sense close to her. She pulls tight those connections and pulls them close, gathering them to her, connecting their dreams to her own, however briefly.

It's enough.

Each dreamer becomes aware of that sense of falling that so often occurs as one is falling asleep, but there is something else, too, alongside it. Like one is being wrapped in blankets, all warm and soft. One might even say cocooned in them.

Slowly, each dreamer will find themselves standing in a familiar place, the courtyard of the Radiant Heart Academy, but .. not quite. Different, somehow. The light of the moon shines down on it, silvery and pristine and entirely too large. The cherry blossoms fill the air, and there are other manner of flowers blooming along its walk ways in spiraling kaleidoscopes of impossible color and majesty. The air is light. They feel each almost weightless. Not in the sense of an absence of gravity, but rather, a distinct and palpable sense of unreality gnawing away at the edges of their minds.

And before all of these gathered Mahou is one Emi Hoshino, but this time in what must be her version of a henshin, all darkly elegant in her gothic-lolita dress with the black bodice strung with violet threading that seems to suggest a spiderweb pattern that's complimented by a skirt, whose long, flowing ruffles seemingly shift between black and twilight blue, adorned with what seems like tiny, shimmering constellations -- or no, eyueballs? Wait, no --spiders? The look is completed by black boots adorned with buckles tipped with bows, and more bows adorn her from top to bottom, up to and including her hair, where their pink stands out amongst the stark darkness of her hair. When she moves, little wafts of spider-webbing flicker and waft away from her.

"... I did it," she says breathlessly, and it is clear that the effort has taken its toll on her. She sways a moment before righting herself.

"...we did it," she corrects. She couldn't have done this without their openness, their trust, and their desire to help Hinoiri.

"...welcome to the dreamscape, everybody."

A gentle wind swirls amonmgst them, shnimmering cherry blossoms carried along it.

Familiar, but radically not at the same time.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Falling.

Actually kind of a novel sensation, to one who's spent two years a mere thought away from flying. And though she was falling, and her magic seemed out of her reach, she felt as safe and secure as if she were swaddled in her favorite blanket. But why was she--

Courtyard. *Moon.* Cherry blossoms and flowers and *so many stars* and and and--

**Emi**

...Ah! Right. Hinoiri. This... is the dream. That explains a great deal. Rashmi raises a hand to adjust her glasses... then looks down at herself, at the thin green sweater, charcoal ankle-length skirt, and eminently sensible flats that are, separately and together, *decidedly not her henshin.* The redhead blinks owlishly, then closes her eyes and seems to *strain* without moving, then clears her throat, turning *wide* eyes onto the Mahou Goth in their midst.

"...Okay, uh," she says. "...Wow. This is... uh... Amazingly cool and terrifying and I guess we're supposed to follow your lead? Because I thiiiiiiiink I left my magic in my other henshin."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Tsukiko gave Mamoru a small smile during the rose distribution, but otherwise just settled in for sleep as normal. The wolfgirl falls asleep, drifts into the dreamscape, lands...

    ...and realizes that she's Ikiko again.

*blink*

*blinkblink*

    "...Huh."

A slightly longer pause, then a trio of blinks. "I guess that's the difference between entering the dreamscape proper and contending with a waking-world Nightmare," Ikiko shrugs to Rashmi with a quizzical expression.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta has roses. She blinks, wondering when exactly Mamoru got so tall, and for a moment loses her general mein and demeanor.

Is that a blush? That is! Entrapta is blushing, holding not one but two roses!

Emily bumps into her ankle, wanting HER rose, but for a moment she doesn't get it. Then another moment. It's almost like Entrapta is actually human after all.

Then she sees Catra staring daggers at her and gives a bit of a start. Checks her stored memory banks on what's been said so far, and turns to start looking for a place to 'lay down'. She gets a quick briefing on how 'sleep over' is done, gets told that this is not a normal 'sleep over', and to stop using so many air quotes.

Then? Sleep.

"I PRACTICED SLEEP TECHNIQUES." She totally did. Wow. Read that book Emi recommended cover-to-cover didn't you Entrapta? Yikes.

Also there appears to be no roomba in here. But Entrapta's aura is super-weird. Her hair is moving, like tentacles. She sits on them, part of her body. An appendage, that she uses like her legs. They pat her shoulders, glad to be back? Seems so.

"Everyone alright?" This is the real her? Seems so too.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles at Sayaka and says, "Yeah, they've been pretty good lately."

    She and Homura each receive a rose. They look at the flowers, then at each other. Madoka carefully places the rose in Homura's hair, just over her ear. Homura gets a little red on her cheek, then mirrors the action to Madoka. The pink girl touches the floral hair ornament and says, "Ready to meet me in your dreams, Homura-chan?"

    "I always do," says Homura, with all sincerity and seriousness.

    Madoka blushes and then clears her throat, before pulling her sleeping bag more tightly around her and turning away. She desperately hopes she can hide the red creeping up from her neck all the way up to her forehead. Homura smiles at the back of Madoka's hair, adoring her reaction before she too closes her eyes and falls asleep.

    Tia holds up her hand to meet Amy's. It's not quite a 'high five' or a 'fistbump' but more like a gentle but elegant handpress. Kamiko and Sio curl up inside of their Chara Eggs, which close around them. That's generally how tiny Chara sleep.

    As Madoka drifts away into sleep, she falls and feels the unfamiliar warmth. She finds herself floating through the sky, looking over a cityscape that is supposed to be Tokyo but probably isn't geographically accurate. Soon Kamiko is floating next to her, and then Sio.

    There's a loud mechanical whirring overhead, and when Madoka looks up she sees a helicopter descending upon her. In the pilot's seat is Homura. When they get close enough, Madoka gathers her fairies in her arms and reaches out to the purple Puella's aircraft. Homura opens the side door and leans out, reaching back. When their hands touch--

    They are suddenly standing in the Radiant Heart courtyard, holding hands. The roses are still in their hair. Kamiko and Sio are resting on Madoka's shoulders. Homura flips her hair and says to Emi, "Nice work. I haven't seen anything like this before."

    Madoka blinks. "Huh. You haven't?" Then she looks around at the others and realizes, "Oh, we should probably... get into henshin? I guess that's different here than in the waking world."

    Fortunately not that different. It's not too long before Madoka turns into Hope Blossom, and Homura activates her own henshin. They somehow do this without ever releasing the others' hand.

    Madoka walks closer to Emi, gently pulling Homrua along. "So... where do we go from here? Can you reach wherever Hinoiri-chan is?"

Catra has posed:
Oh yeah sure just tell the ex-Horde soldier and (recently) ex-Obsidian operative with serious trust issues to fall asleep in a room full of people she's enemies with.

Or at least, used to be enemies with. Or might be again soon. Or maybe not. Or maybe she'll just be entirely without friends for the rest of her obviously worthless existence.

Look, it's complicated, alright?

Catra is one of the last (if not simply the last) to arrive in the courtyard. What starts out as an ear-twitching dream of being in the Fright Zone, running through some of the darker, deeper tunnels as a little girl of around Chibiusa's size, going through places that are progressively darker and more siniser and somehow impenetrable to her feline vision, eventually turns into the courtyard.

Where Catra appears with a small flurry of claws at the empty space around her.

Realizing where she is and what's going on -- and that she looks more or less like she did before falling asleep now, albeit without the sword -- she takes a deep breath, and adopts her usual, more taciturn demeanour. She meant to do that.

...What?

Zoisite has posed:
Weightlessness is not new to him. Perhaps a few years ago, when his powers were just blooming upon his skin, like the flames that follow him so loyally. His first time able to be one with the air was very similar to the sensation of floating in water until he wasn't anymore. Took time to practice, control it, and be one with it.

And his green eyes slowly open, rose pressed firmly against his chest once his bare feet touch the land beneath. What greets him is beauty, the eternal comfort of cherry blossoms that were his blooms of choice. Along with the stars that shone so vividly in the night.

Yes, the Academy looked different. Ethereal, always with that alien familiarity every dream comes with. Like he's been here before, but not this version of here.

Witnessing some around him already take on their transformations, his own activates with a thought, green gems sparkling as the cherry blossoms already around him swirl into shimmers of embers as his uniform of silver and white is laced on by flames, hemmed in green. Soft curls now free, green bow keeping them secured and tamed for the moment.

Now he felt alert and ready, already enjoying the atmosphere he was in--obviously not made for him but, might as well be as the blossoms were essential to his magics.

Finally, his gaze looks about, lock gaze with Mamoru for a moment, then Nephrite's. "Whoever's mind this is, possibly took a look into ours. I'm sure the view is to your liking."

Amanda Faust has posed:
Before sleep:
    "Is that a nightmare of yours? Looking clownish?" Amy replies, raising eyebrows slightly, and she pictures how silly Izou'd look in a dress or something. ...Shit, he could totally pull it off better than she believes her old body ever could. Hmph.

    Usagi's alarm at Chiyo reminds Amy of Mamoru's comment that she couldn't come to his dreams unless Usagi was there too. Hmm. She hopes Usagi isn't really constantly worried about people stealing Mamoru. There's no way Mamoru would leave her.

And then:
    It's so soft and comfy... I don't want to get up. Wasn't it important that I try to sleep, for some reason?

    Ugh, why is the light so bright? Turning away from the moon in the sky only brings into view... buildings?! Outside?!




    A fair-skinned foreign boy in his late teens? with white hair and blue eyes, wearing a green field jacket over a loose red T-shirt and black cargo pants, and sneakers, looks around with a start and pushes himself to his feet glancing around the courtyard. The hair is a bit long for a boy's, and the way it's parted over the left eye makes it tend to fall over the right side of his face and cover that eye if not brushed/combed aside. He's about average height for an American.

    Emi gets his attention, and his eyebrows go up as he sees her in henshin, and announces where they are. He pulls back his sleeve to check his watch, looks away for a moment, looks back at it. "Yup. Dreaming."

    He puts his hands in his jacket pockets and looks around. "So... this is the dreamscape? I'm glad I got to see it, despite the circumstances..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru fell asleep with his fingers entangled in Sailor Moon's, and when he opens his eyes he's still holding Usagi's hand, but he's in henshin, himself -- cape and mask and formalwear. He fell asleep in his t-shirt...

...and then he's in an alteration of his henshin, one many of those present have seen before. His hat's there but his cape's not, and he's wearing ripped jeans and spiked boots and a studded belt and a tuxedo t-shirt and white fingerless gloves with roses on the backs of the hands, and his top hat.

He surveys the local dreamscape, considering it, and checking to make sure nobody landed in his dream. His free hand opens and closes, and he blinks at Zoisite. "We all bleed into the locality. You just brought your own mind like a bottle of cheap wine you're blaming the restaurant for."

His hand goes over his mouth.

Happily, there's a strange b-- oh it's Amy. "Amy-chan, did you really used to be an emo?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
If there's one thing Usagi can do, it's sleep. She's always been a champion napper, able to fall asleep easily enough, so long as she wasn't having nightmares...

And this is no different. Mamoru's touching her gently, his fingertips brushing against the arm bared by her henshin, left out of her sleeping bag, and thinking of this room, this place, these people, this night, this goal, and as she drifts, she falls back, back, back, into the darkness of...

A milky way. A river of stars, with a cauldron at the center, a cauldron of light, fizzy... soda.

The stars in the sky are marshmallows and the black of space is just dark chocolate, and oh, the rings of planets are strawberry pieces....

And she, Usagi, is chomp, chomp, chomping away, snacking on her fill, swimming through the cosmos of candy -

And then she stumbles onto her feet, standing in the center of a Radiant Heart that is light, with flowers in the air, and a city that isn't quite Tokyo but is, and oh, this is the Dreamscape! Again!

She's not in her pajamas, but she isn't in a henshin, either - no, she's wearing a pink, sleeveless dress, with a bodice like folded petals, and a skirt like a lotus flower. Her hair is still in odango, but they're heart-shaped, with a red rose tucked against each.

"...huh," she says, upon recognizing the outfit. "I didn't think I was that into Cybermon."

And then? It's time to focus, and there's Emi, in her henshin outfit, and there's Mamochan, in his punk rock version of his henshin, and she laughs out loud at what he has to say to Zoisite.

"Does dreaming make you more blunt?" She asks cheerfully, before focusing. "You did it, Emi-chan. We did it! So - what next?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Oh!" Rashmi says as the yen drops, and friend start accessing their magic all around her. "I get it... Nicomachea?" she calls to the air. "Standby. Then, Set Up!"

    << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE, >> comes a strangely professorial voice, albeit one put through several 'computerfying' distortion filters. If the girl's cupped hands, her sunburst charm *plink*s into existence... then a moment later she's surrounded by a geometric bubble of golden light, and back in her 'work clothes.' Though the sheepish blush *probably* doesn't come standard. "Sorry," she chuckles. "It's not the first time I've messed something up on the first try."

Nephrite has posed:
Meditative states and long contemplations of the cosmos, listening to the stars swirls above and whisper secrets, had long been as natural to Masato as breathing. Even with Izou beside him and the others all around, he fell easily into steady slumber to be wound inwards by gentle coaxing. Down from the gentle stars, down upon the too-vibrant earth, beside his fellows.

There's solid ground beneath his feet and voices around him, even before he opens his eyes or uncrosses his arms. For a moment he simply listens, opening sapphire eyes to take stock of those gathered.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi is still a little fatigued, but she's getting over it. There's just a subtle sway to her that suggests it at this point. Her eyes close and she takes a deep breath to steady herself.

"You're going to feel different. Not yourself, exactly, but still also yourself at the same time. It's all ... very confusing. But look! It's also very pretty," she gestures towards the swirls of cherry blossoms, "and you haven't even see the fullness of Tokyo yet. Each of us is possessed of our own dreams, an infinite realm of possibilities that exists within us, and what is there bleeds out *here*, creating the dreamscape. This Tokyo is made by the dreams of everyone who lives there, but not just them, it is representative of the *idea* of Tokyo too. All this," she gestures towards the gate out of the academy grounds, "is just a threshhold."

"The academy's dreamscape is ... pretty pristine, actually. Not a lot of nightmares get in here, and the ones that do I pretty much take care of when I sense them, but you're not safe. Not completely." She grimaces, eyes cast down. She clearly is carrying a lot of guilt here for some reason. She strides towards the gateway. "Okay, everyone. I'm going to talk to you about what we're going to do here. There's more of us than I could ever have hoped for."

"Hinoiri's been taken by nightmare reflection of Japanese work style and culture. I call them the Salarymen." She glances towards Mamoru. He's heard this before, but the rest haven't.

"... they pick their prey from amongst the most driven of dreamers, the kind of people who will throw themselves into a job with abandon to prove themselves, who'll work those extra hours to help their coworkers. And then they twist it into something terible, pick you apart, make you run around like a rat in an office maze, consume every bit of your drive and ambition and determination... until you're left with nothing. Worker, 42, dies in sleep at desk, unnoticed for two days. He worked long hours." she repeats, quietly.

"This is what they're doing to Hinoiri. And if we don't get her back, she could die. Or worse: be assimilated into them. Do you all understand?"

"This is why we're going to cross the Tokyo dreamscape from here, and we're going to hit their corporate office in downtown Tokyo. I can sense where she is. Some of us will go through the front door. She won't be the only victim they'll have there. It's where they take their highest value targets to push them even harder. Keep their noses to the grindstone and make them better meals. Hinoiri's the goal, but anyone else we can free, well, we're going to do that too. Understand, there's a lot of them, and they're ... very pernicious. They have towers everywhere, all across Japan. I first ran into them back inthe Koyot dreamscape wher I... I..."

She trails off, looking away. "We're going to get as many as we can."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino pauses a moment. Stares at Amy. Immediately, there's a glint of growing understanding and her expression softens. She doesn't say anything at all about it for the moment.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hears about Hinoiri's peril and suddenly gets a bit pale. Homura gives her a sideways glance and says, "Sounds like you should be especially careful."

    "I-I'm not that much of an overworker, am I?"

    "You go to school, you volunteer at Mitakihara General, you do magical girl work, you do goddess work on top of that and no they are not the same. The Chara you're currently henshined with wears a pink business suit." Homura points out, which in retrospect might have been a bad idea.

    Madoka glances down, and sure enough her henshin has changed into a pink suit much like Sio's. "Ehehe... well at least I'll blend in? I mean... also it's not all work. I have hobbies!"

    Kamiko chimes in, saying, "Your have two hobbies: cuddling, and more work."

    Madoka whines, "You two...!" Around that time she notices !Amy and says, "Oh... huh. Amy-chan, is that you?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh also he's wearing glasses. Amy(?) smiles at seeing Usagi's dreampt herself in cosplay, and then Mamoru calls his attention, and his cheeks pink slightly as he looks away, awkwardly, hunching slightly. "It's not emo." He notes, quietly. "It's to hide my ugly face. At least, I always thought it was ugly. It felt like it, anyway." He looks... average? Although an average Radiant Heart student is probably quite handsome, actually; if he presented himself with confidence instead of hating his looks. As he is... loose clothing and trying to hide his face might bring to mind Taro; One can see why Amy jumped to a wrong conclusion when she met him.

    Some people are henshining. "Should we be trying to blend in?" Amy holds his left hand up in front of his face and looks at the ring on his finger. He blinks. "Huh. This shouldn't be here. I left my soul gem with Tia..." And he looks at Madoka as she calls his name, and he turns away like he did from Mamoru.

    Emi leads the group towards the gate, and he follows. "...Geeze. So they usually take people whose lives are already thankless drudgery and turn their one escape, into..." He clenches his right hand into a fist and growls, "They take even their dreams from them... And then kill them."

    "Now I'm pissed. Not just for Hinoiri, but for all their victims." He looks at Emi. "How do we--" And then he holds a hand to his throat looking like he just saw or heard something unpleasant. "What's the plan? Do we go in guns blazing, or is there a trick to it?"

    He's started fidgeting with the ring anxiously, tracing his fingertips over the gem. He glances at Madoka, then to Emi. "Should we try to blend in? I guess I can try remembering work clothes, otherwise... can I really transform without waking up?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi blinks sharply, as the full extent of Hinoiri's peril is laid before them, and her face goes ashen. "Black companies--" she starts, then shakes her head. This is not the time for questions, this is a time for saving people. *All* the people. Then, after, as a treat, she can work on analyzing what went right, what went wrong, so the *next* Salarymen stronghold they assault can go that much more smoothly.

Chrono might like to come along on the next one. They-- can't make a date of it because they'd need Emi and at least a dozen other people, okay nevermind that.

Entrapta is the first to catch her attention, eyebrows rising as the purplenette *sitting on her own hair-limbs. "...Huh!" is practically pulled from her mouth. "So that's what it was like before? ...Wow, Entrapta-chan, that's--" creepy? Concerning? Willies-attracting? "--cool!"

Never pass up an opportunity to give your kohai confidence.

The stange boy in their midst comes next, and Rashmi pauses, tilts her head and blinks, performing a mental head-count. ...Ah.

<< Amy-chan, >> she says, in a thought only for the Puella. << Be who you want to be. We'll be right with you no matter what. >>

Turning back to Emi, she takes in a deep breath, hugs her tremendous book to her chest, and nods. "Let's go."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
So basically, she's the exact opposite of their target profile, if you think about it. Usagi feels - almost - a little bad about that, that she's not the sort of person who would be targeted by these Salarymen - she's not the driven person, she's not the one who will do those extra hours to get a little farther in the project before the next day. Nope, if anything, she's the one who heads out early and naps at lunch, and she's...

"See, I always knew working too hard was a bad thing!" Proud of that. She pounds a fist into an open hand and thrusts a hand to the sky. "Nah, Amy-chan, I don't think they take people whose lives are helpless drudgery, they take hard workers. I get how you could think those are the same thing though!"

She takes a look around, seeing everyone they have with them, and nods sharply.

"Entrapta-chan, nice hair. Amy-chan, nice colors! If we've got to get after Hinoiri-chan fast, and we've got to get as many people out as possible, splitting up does sound like a good idea. Maybe some heavy hitters in each team, and also, also, we should probably make sure we... I mean, do we have a way out, besides you, Emi-chan? If we do, we can try and get people out as we get them free, but if not, the more people we save, the more we'll be escorting..."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko watches as the others arrive, and how some of them re-henshin, or variant-henshin, or even wait-until-arrival henshin. She's starting to get a sense of how things are working... and, come to think of it, something feels both present and not-quite-here, all at the same time.

She tilts her head to the right as she looks upward to her left, then tilts her head the other way and looks upward again, a thoughtful expression on her face. Ikiko then hold her hands open upward like the arms of a scale as she closes her eyes and begins to concentrate.

There's several moments of things flickering in an almost static-y way, some around her head and a larger amount near her waist. She curls her fingers as her expression intensifies, and then the wolf-ears and -tail of Tsukiko pop into existence...

    ...more or less.

While the shapes are familiar to those who know the henshin of the wolfgirl, the color of both match Ikiko's normal hair color -- and they appear to only be about 5-10% present, fading and flickering in and out, sometimes fully opaque, other times only visible as an outline of a silhouette.

"Okay, that feels weird," Ikiko remarks as she opens her eyes, experimentally rubbing one of her wolf-ears between a finger and a thumb (which happens to make that part of the ear more 'real' while it's being rubbed).

She blinks a bit at Amy, but shrugs -- Amy is Amy, and if Amy wants to talk about it when there's no concerns that are more immediately pressing, that's fine; in the meantime, the only significance of Amy's dreamself is remembering which face to put with the name.

Catra has posed:
Catra watches as people Henshin around her, and... she's not going to do that. Her ears flatten out, and she folds her arms. "If we're going to go get into a fight, I'm going exactly as I am," she mutters, though she's still standing a bit off from the rest of the group; and noticeably so, like the outermost electron circling an atom, like she doesn't really want to be there but doesn't want to not be there either.

or maybe she's just not fully convinced that they don't want her there. Or that they do.

When Usagi is talking about two groups and splitting up the heavy hitters, she snorts. "Yeah well I can fight," she points out. "It's the one thing I've been taught how to do since I was old enough to walk, and I'm very good at fights that are supposed to be unfair, so," she shrugs, "Count me as one of the 'heavy hitters', if you don't mind."

She glances back and forth, and the change in Amy gets a little raise of the eyebrow followed by a shrug. She's not about to make a big deal out of someone looking different in a dream. Not after the time Adora woke up insisting that she was a goldfish.

"But..." She finally manages to take a step closer, and be just a little bit less like that electron that's ready to just fly off, "If you could," she gestures towards Emi, "I dunno, dream me up a sword, that'd be great. ...I have no idea how this works. Usually I just go to sleep and sometimes I have dreams, sometimes they suck, and eventually I wake up."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta considers working all day without sleep for a full week to be a nice time. She is totally not 'getting it'. But she does tend to lean into using too many air quotes when she does that. And she's so well protected, you have no idea.

Waving a strand of hair at those who spoke to her, she lifts up into the air a bit. Her hair seems impossibly long, and she's being held up by it. Shouldn't that hurt? It does not.

A glance at Amy, and a smile. That's all, as she looks around from her high vantage. "I miss being able to do this," she says, her hair walking her to the gate. "So here we can be who we are. Fascinating..."

"This has huge therapeutic value, used properly. I wonder if it could be used to plan structural designs or map elemental pathways..." Okay she's not going to be of much use, she's on her own mental path now.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi purses her lips a moment. "I think Mamoru might be able to help with that?" she asks, curiously, glancing towards him. Like he might have an idea of how best to get these people out of there? She has some thoughts, anyway, herself.

Emi lets out a breath, nodding towards Usagi, however, while keeping an eye on Entrapta and her crazy hair. That's kind of cool, she's clearly thinking. She's always wanted longer hair. Maybe not THAT long and ... apparently active? Weird. Turning back to the others, however (after a long, puzzled look Madokawards), she rubs her eyes and elaborates further.

"This has to be a smash and grab. They're going to know we're there just about as soon as we enter. It's their place of power in the dreamscape. Focus on getting all the people you can out, but the longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets. The chances of them trapping one of you in one of their nightmare illusions gets higher. I couldn't even snap Hinoiri out of it when I tried. Also, when this is over and we get her back, we're throwing her a damn birthday party. Apparently she's never had one before and you all are fixing that. Got it?" She points at the lot of them.

"Those of you who've fought a nightmare or two for me before we'll have some experience to help you recognize some dream-tics, but expect to be surprised, and understand, there are a *lot* of Salarymen. A *lot*."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I set out snacks at the villa," Mamoru tells his cosplaying fiance, sweeping his hat off and spinning it on one finger. He nods to Emi, then continues, "The hope is that you can use the roses to get to my dream, which is still there even when I'm not. Like if you get hurt, or-- I guess if you shove a victim out maybe?"

He produces one more rose, and he tosses it to Amy. "Usa this is absolutely not flirting, but honestly Amy-chan you're very pretty no matter what body you're wearing." Mamoru sounds carelessly cheerful, and then he hip-bumps Usagi's poofy... um,,, well her forearm probably which isn't wearing a poofy skirt. "I think I'm more blunt, do you think I'm more blunt? Sorry, Zoi."

It's only after so much attention is called to Entrapta that Mamoru glances her way again-again, and he startles. "Your hair is so cool! Let's figure out how to get you a henshin in the waking world." A beat. "Later, I can see you're busy..."

He's losing the thread. There's no one in his house; he makes himself focus on here, this place, here. He exhales. "She's totally had a birthday party, but I think you're supposed to have a birthday *every* year."

He SHAKES his head and plops his hat back on it, then shifts up a henshin. "Catra-san, if you want a sword, you can borrow mine," says Endymion, unbuckling his belt from his armor and holding it out to her. "I plan to mostly be blowing them up."

Nephrite has posed:
It wasn't all that long ago that Masato was attempting to impart something of the importance of having a personal bar in his apartment, and of cutting loose-- especially with colleagues and friends. The bonds that tie together and strengthen good humour, and not taking oneself too seriously. Being able to say what needed saying and blow off steam, where it wouldnt bite you tomorrow-- even to the boss.

These Nightmare Salarymen were the very antithesis to that. Punishing those who's personal lifes were synonimous with their careers. People isolated by corporate labarynths, insulated by paperwork and broken fax machines. The soul rotting glow of computers screens, and copiers, always out of their toner. There was never any in the supply cabinet, and you had to see a specific person about the key, and the toner had to be for a specific machine--

Masato felt a shudder roll through him, unable to bear the thought. But he held onto that imagery, rather than be reminded too strongly of his parents who, even in waking life, had always seemed so very preoccupied by their careers.

"Birthday bash, noted. Zoisite and I could certainly divert a few of them between us, and draw some attention. Big and flashy, we can do." His gaze slides to Mamoru. "Kicking down the front door and making a lot of noise might make for a good distraction for the bulk of their numbers. We could try to section them, while Emi leads an infiltration to find Hinoiri?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Colors?" Amy blinks, then holds a hand to his hair, and smiles. "Oh, heh, thanks, I actually do like my original colors... Red's def second choice though."

    Amy catches the tossed rose, surprised, cheeks pinking a little but also smiling, with some awkwardness. "Thanks... It's kinda hard for me to see though..."

    Oh gods does Rashmi think Amy wants to be a boy? And some others are looking at her funny... Oh no oh no anyone starting to think that hits harder than temporarily having to deal with this remembered body and voice. This has to stop NOW. He touches the ring and, looks at Emi desperately, "Trying to shapeshift always wakes me up, will this still work? ...Fuck it. I'll just rejoin you as fast as I can if it doesn't." Without waiting for a response, he tries to activate his henshin normally.

    Fortunately, whatever problem she has trying to do this by will alone is suspended -- today she's not just lucid dreaming, but actual magic is involved.

    An ovoid of flame-colored light grows from the gem to surround him, enveloping him, lifting into the air with his unclothed silhouette curled up inside, and over like a half-second it shrinks to Amy's more familiar silhouette, long hair floating as if she's under water before the light cracks and shatters and Amy, now covered in flames as if from an explosion, snaps back, and

    Time is weird in dreams.

    It feels like it all happens within a second or two, but also

    Somehow they see each part of her outfit appear in sequence as the flames recede. Long white hair and blue eyes. Red dress, with her belt pouches. Her legs with tall red boots with little heart-shaped gem decorations. Her arms with red gloves, styled like Hope Blossom's. A white cape burns into existence, affixed to the top of her dress and draped across her upper arms and down her back, with a couple of thin red horizontal lines at the bottom to break up the expanse of white.

    ...And finally, a pink bow burns into place on her chest on the front of the dress, with her red soul gem set in the middle.

    She's looking at her hands and down at herself and smiling. "Hell yes, it worked!" She spins, "Tadaaaaa! I'm back!"

    She looks at her hand where the ring was. "Now if only it was that easy every time this happens in a dream..."

    Plans are being discussed. She raises a hand and calls out to Emi. "Hey, um. I am not an expert lucid dreamer, are we at risk of losing lucidity? If so, I'd rather be in a group with you or Mamoru so someone can remind me."

Zoisite has posed:
"Oh please, be as blunt as a sledge hammer, your Highness. Just don't be surprised if I bite back." Whether that was metaphorical or literal, he'd leave that up to Mamoru's imagination. At that moment however, he was more enthralled by the fantastic scenery as gloved fingers twirled some of his locks between fingers.

This would be his first experience in a dreamscape and he was enjoying it so far. Even the view of the salarymen. They seemed the type that, in a world like this, couldn't touch him. Nor did he entirely understand the type of feeling they entailed. Strange. Ignorance made it hard for him to understand. So he derived joy from it instead.

It only lasted long enough until his green gaze came alight with interest at Nephrite's suggestion of being a distraction. "Well well, not a bad idea, boar. Perhaps these entities would be distracted by my tricks like moths to a flame. I wouldn't mind playing with them at all~" Tone carried a smirk to it, sharp.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka notices Amy fidgeting with her Soul Gem ring and she taps her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if it still spells out your name in Witch Runes?"

    Then she overhears the claim that Hinoiri has never had a birthday and she plants her hands on her hips and pouts. "Now wait just a minute! I clearly remember Saya-chan throwing her a birthday party! I was there. And... huh... back then Kamiko was still an X-Chara, wasn't she?"

    Kamiko crosses her arms and nods. "I still have that noisemaker somewhere."

    Homura frowns and crosses her arms. "Even if she had one, she might still have trauma from all the ones she missed out on. Don't underestimate how deeply loneliness can get into your bones. Also, Amy, your face is fine."

    Kamiko adds in, "Yeah, your face is fine. We like your face. It's the face of a friend! ... though I'm sure you prefer your newer one a lot more and we like that one too!"

    When Amy actually manages to henshin, Hope Blossom and Kamiko clap for her. The veteran Puella realizes what the dokas are doing an joins in the applause.

    Homura frowns at Catra and tilts her head slightly to the side. "Have you ever used a gun? I might have one I can spare."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Homura asks Catra if she would like a spare gun. Amy grins, "If you can, you've got options!" As she holds up what looks like a pistol, then a sci-fi rifle with an octagonal cylinder magazine, and then an M72 LAW.

    "Or, you could have a bandolier of grenades or something?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"A smash and grab, with snacks back at the villa, alright," Usagi doesn't quite pump her fist, though there's that desire too, burning and bright, energetic in spite of everything. They're going to rescue Hinoiri, who's enduring something terrible, having her very life drained away, all her bright passion siphoned away by something terrible, but this, this is a monster that's so -

Simple. Easy. Straight-forward. It's bad, they're good. It wants to hurt people, they want to save them. There's no chance - not even the mildest possibility - that they could be in the wrong on this one, or have brought this on themselves.

There's only the grim horror of the worst of maturity and adulthood, and the lot of them to crash the party. What's not to smile about?

"You're definitely being more blunt," She tells Endymion fondly, "But it suits you."

And there's light, gathering at her chest, and green leaves bloom across her front, vines creating crescent moon patterns on the pink bodice of her flower skirt. It's not her henshin... but it's not-not her henshin, either. This is a dream world, and this is her power - and apparently, in her dream world, there's a little more flower power to the Moon Princess.

"She probably doesn't remember the birthday party because these things are taking her apart," Usagi says, wrinkling her nose, "But Mamochan's right; you do get one of those every year, sorta! So when this is done and those Salarymen are Sobberymen, we'll have a party! We've got Team Go Loud and Team Go Stealth, it's looking like, and between the lot of us... we're going to be great."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko makes note of Amy's panicked dysphoria, then goes over and gives the Puella a hug after she henshins into a more self-comfortable form. Nothing said; nothing relevant needs to be said, anyway.

Most of Ikiko's attention, however, is focused on the planning, and she muses on what part of the group she'd be best suited for dealing with. "I'm probably more suited for sneaky stuff than big, flashy things," she remarks to the group as a whole. "And I'm definitely down for throwing Hinoiri a birthday party after this!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"In, out, break as much as possible on the way, especially anything that's trapping people," Rashmi confirms, a serious look on her face as she bobs her head. "Understood. And we'll all be learning a lot on this, so... Emi-chan; what *I* do is a little bit of shooting things, but a *lot* of protecting and boosting. So I want you to let me know where I would be the most help to you."

Amy's henshin brings a relieved smile to Rashmi's face, a question answered without needing to be said, and she nods her understanding. "So, once Catra-chan's armed up... Iunno, Usa-chan, I feel like *everything's* gonna be loud. Most of us are pretty... splashy? Princes excepted, of course, but..."

Shifting through the crowd, she gently knocks a fist against Emi's shoulder. "This sounds really, really dangerous, and terrifying... but y'know what I've found? It can be *really, really fun* to give the Bad Days a Really Bad Day."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta heard Mamoru. She heard Usagi, heard Emi and Rashmi too. She's listening, she's just not processing. Or...selectively.

"I could henshin, I'd just have to figure out how to alter magical wavelengths from one form to another, but that'd open up other experimental paradyme-shifts with options for assisting magical girls by ...hmm."

She mumbles something about the possibility of being able to recharge magical girls who have drained themselves, but trails off into gobbledegook about 'thaumic pathways' and 'hyper-reality focal points' as she draws on the ground around her with her hair.

Catra, you have nothing to worry about. This Entrapta is well on her way to be just as weird and dangerous as the one you hate. But this one has a few safeguards the other did not.

This Entrapta has friends.

(Which is good, because she keeps forgetting how to find the doorknob or how to 'wear pants'. You know, minor details...)

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Emi's description of what Hinoiri is going through makes sense in all the worst ways. She has always known the unicorn has been extremely competitive (it was an open secret), and prone to work excessively hard exactly just like that. "That sounds just like Hinoiri", she grimaces. She really really wants to hurry up now and get her out of here before Hinoiri has to spend even one more hour in here.

"How do you distinguish a heavy hitter with us?", Sayaka starts thinking at Usagi's suggestion. They all have supernaturally enhanced strength of sorts, or at least, so that is probably reserved to people like Norie and Fate and Mami, and she doesn't think what little of Oktavia has stuck to her with Rondo con Toccata matters here. She is more just really durable.

On that matter, the dream manifestation has given very slightly changes to her henshin. Her gloves are a bit more metallic, and her cape rises behind her neck a bit now, and there is a faint shimmer to her stockings as well. Not very prominent changes, rather hard to notice, but they are there. Is it because even if Madoka has saved her, she still has the memories? She tries to think back to those days, and a frown flickers on her face for a second. Yeah. No.

Amy's change of form is noteworthy too. If the dream is your real self, does that mean she or he is not happy right now? What is going to happen when they get back to the real world? Well, at least the fact that Amy's Soul Gem has only ever filled due to spending magic is proof they don't have a crisis on their hands. And then she goes back to the Amy they know. "Amy-san, are you ok?"

Catra has posed:
"..."

One of the good guys just offered Catra a sword. His sword. Should she continue to be surprised when the heroes are welcoming to her and treat her like she isn't plotting to stab them in the back? Which she isn't? ...She isn't!! She actually really isn't.

"That's great," she admits, basically just sounding surprised that she asked for a sword and someone actually provided one, and that nobody was all like oh god now give Catra a weapon what a TERRIBLE idea.

And as she's buckling on the sword belt, Homura offers her a gun, and she bobs her head, "I don't usually use much beyond stun guns, but I've trained plenty in all sorts of weapons, guns included. I could use one, anything you can spare is great."

And then Amy is offering her--

"Grenades," she says, immediately. "Any sort. Stun, smoke, incendiary, fragmentation, high explosive, I can put anything you give me to use. And since there's gonna be people besides Hinoiri that we're trying to rescue..." she gives everyone else a bit of a shifty-mismatched-eyed look, and perks an eyebrow upwards, "A few grenades that don't, like, blow people up would be fantastic."

She settles her gaze on Emi once a gain, "I mean... if you even can blow people up here. I've never gone to war in a dream before." She pauses. "Well. Not like this anyway."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We might all be the type who can go loud, but some of us have more stealthy abilities too. I could go quieter, with my tiara or with an Escalation, and Amy-chan can go louder, with a million jillion explosives. Zoisite's got fire, Nephrite's got stars?, Rashmi-chan's got boosts, Mamochan's got craters - we all have different things we can do, to turn up the volume. Emi-chan makes it sound like they'll notice us no matter what - but I bet some of us can make sure they notice, haha."

It's just a suggestion though, and she raises her hands to suggest that.

"I'm not saying we have to - we should all do what we want, as long as it helps Hinoiri-chan. But it might be a good idea for the quieter folks to go on the dig her out mission."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
When 'Amy' returns to, well, a version of Amy Emi is more familiar with, Emi looks amiable to the change or, perhaps, transition. Like a big 'ah ha' light went off even further. Okay, then. This makes sense. A nod follows. Entrapta is again stared at. She flicks a lock of her own hair away from her eye and then gives herself a little twirl that sends wasps and fragments of gossamer pink webbing up all around her. "Kurukuru," she replies.

"Rashmi, right?" she says, making sure she's got the name right. "Seems to me the best bet for you is to go with the smash-group. They're gonna get pressed hard, and anyone you rescue. They're not gonna let go easy, you know. And 'squishy' brings up an important point."

Emi lets out a breath. "So, remember how I got injured? It was because a big strong dream monster threw me onto the trunk of a car and I bruised some ribs," Fractured. Maybe broke. She's not admitting that.

"Any injury that actually gets *through* and hurts you? You're going to feel when you wake up. I've been stabbed, slashed, bruised all over. There are real risks here because being able to be here like me, right now, makes you also more vulnerable. Just remember it. This is not without dangers just because it's a dream," she rubs her face, glancing to Usagi and giving her a nod of her head. "So, the plan. We're going to cross the city, you'll follow my lead. I'll keep everyone together with me by my webs. All of you hold on and just run with me. Once we're close, we'll break into the two groups. I'll take one, we'll be going up another nearby building and going from one to the other by way of my webs and bust in that way while they're all distracted with the front door. We'll work our way down, the rest of you can work your way up. Whoever gets to Hinoiri first, grab her and get out, I'll wake everyone up. The rest of you probably can't wake up on command, but I can." With that, Emi moves towards the gates of the academy's courtyard, a path which lays beyond the dreamscape of Tokyo itself.

"... just a girl, standing in front of a door, commanding it to open."

And it does.

Nephrite has posed:
A nod was given to Sailor Moon, and he too transformed now within the dreamscape.

As if to confirm that he was, indeed, a man of the stars, his Knightly attire was full through with celestial touches, and a splay of constellations in the underside of the cape that spread out behind him. His hair, too, seemed to shimmer as if with stardust. He rested his hand upon the hilt of a blade at his hip, and inclined his head towards Emi.

"Don't get fatally wounded or thrown into a car. Keep up with the thread aligned with the group you're in. Understood." He righted to glance around. "Everyone else, remember your roses if you manage to free any hostages."

With that, Nephrite took up ready behind Emi, his hair inexplicably moving in a permanent breeze.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    After transforming, Amy hugs Ikiko back warmly, and turns to Madoka and Kamiko to curtsey at the clapping.

    And then she offers Catra weapons and boy howdy does Catra want grenades! Amy considers this order. She dismisses the LAW and concentrates for a moment, summoning a couple of bandoliers with a half-dozen grenades each and walking over to Catra, pointing at each type in sequence.

"High explosive." Grey cylinder.
"Incendiary." Red cylinder.
"Smoke." A different-looking, fatter grey cylinder.
"Flashbang." Thinner, darker-grey-and-yellow cylinder.
"Dazzler." Light grey ball studded with LEDs.
"Hellball." A different red cylinder.
"Frag." Grey cylinder but with the distinctive 'pineapple' texture.
"Thermite." Thinner gray with a different surface texture.

    Two of those she can't actually do, but... she forgot. And it's a dream. They are also marked with symbols indicating which is which, thank goodness. She also offers a .51 caliber gyrojet pistol, if Catra wishes to supplement whatever Homura gives.

    Sayaka asks if she's okay. Amy grins, "I am now." Would that she were always her true self in dreams. It would have been nice, all those years. At least now she's always her true self when awake!

    Planning is begun. "How is a quiet group going to work? You said they'll know we're intruders, right? So we can't just pretend like we belong there."