685/Can You Drown In A Dream

Can You Drown In A Dream
Date of Scene:	31 October 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Emi senses the troubled dreams of Coco and seeks to help her. Inspired by something the mermaid asks of her, she attempts to do something new. It does not go well.
Cast of Characters:	176, Coco Kiumi, Miya Sakamoto

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Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
...this uniform makes her itch. Not that it's her first time wearing it, of course, but she's not fond of it. Not in the slightest. The colors are all wrong for her, absent her true favorite: black. And more black.

And maybe some purple or pink like the kind that lights up the strands of her hair.

Even in a sea of uniforms, though, she manages to stand out. That's mostly on account of her eyes, the mismatched green and blue, colors marginally unusual enough to draw attention on their own, let alone when they inhabit the same face. That's probably one reason why she was hanging back against a wall, hands over her face.

One reason.

The other is that her ability to sense who needs her help works based on a kind of indirect viewing, out of the corner of one eye, or through between her fingers. This way, she can see the signs of unsound slumber on those who pass by and determine who might need her.

Having identified one such subject, but with no way to get close enough to identify them, let alone find a token to pass them to make her passage into their dreams easier, she's resolved to make an effort at entering their dreams tonight, as the shadows clung heavily to them. What despair could they be holding within them to burden them so? Can she help? She's sure going to try.

Falling asleep is the easy part. One glance at the too large jumping spider, its pedipalps rythmically dancing as it silently observes and judges her from its position on the end table, and then she simply rolls onto her back, gives herself a little shake, and falls into slumber.

The start is always the same, the inky blackness of the void, illuminated only by a bridge of prismatic light built by each of her footfalls through it as she searches for the cue. There's always a cue to the dream she's searching for.

In this case, it is the sound of first dripping water, then running water, and then an ominous silence as she butts up against fierce resistance as she pushes againswt the boundaries of another person's psyche. She leans into it and then falls through the barrier as it gives way with an equally sparkling prismatic glimmer.
r And then she's ... present. Within the dream.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco was dreaming. The veil of night had fallen over the girl, and she is currently deeply asleep. The dream, thankfully, is a positive one, when she brought Miya to her kingdom in the South Pacific Ocean.

An all in all accurate recostruction of her palace appears in the dream: a submerged yellow castle with plenty of columns and wall reliefs. This, of course, means the dream is deep underwater, which might be a bit surprising to any sudden guest who stumbles their way in.

Coco is currently swimming around in the mermaid form, showing her Dream Miya the room with refreshments prepared for guests, all sorts of food on a table. Is dream food even edible?

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
It takes a moment. The crush of the waterr, the slowness of her movements, the lack of air. There's an instinctual panic that nearly overcomes her, nearly forces her *out* of the dream before she remembers: it's just a dream. Sure, the wound a demon might inflict on her could linger, but she isn't going to *drown* in a place she doesn't need to breathe, necessarily, right?

And with that in mind, she calms down, her eyes now pink-hued and luminous as she makes her way within the dream-castle under the sea, taking a moment to ... well ... not catch her breath, but give herself a moment now that the wave of panic is over. She pushes her way through the halls, observing the reliefs and the pillars and now the mermaid and her companion and their food. Aww. How cute. Someone is dreaming about mermaids and feasts!

She hesitates a moment, not *quite* ready to interrupt. Instead, she observes to see if such an interruption is warranted -- but then, such an intrusion into someone's dream may not go unnoticed.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is still reliving her meeting with Miya, the dream emitting a very happy feeling. It's clear this dream is very precious and dear to the dreamer, bright feelings everywhere.

The mermaid is still running through the script, as it were, cheerily sticking to her home and friend. At least, until Emi shows up. Then the girl turns her head towards the magical girl, a confused expression on her face, Emi's presence breaking her out from her self-imposed routine while keeping the dream going.

Coco swims over, looking at Emi with reservation, her body tense. "I don't know you. What are you doing here?"

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"This is delicious!", exclaims Miya; she's in her yellow/orange overalls as she savours another of the Mermaid's treats. "I had never considered it before, but underwater cooking? That's quite the challenge. I suppose you can't quite start fires, or stir-fry, or bake; most of our land food would end up sooggy. And then there's the whole story of beverages." She picks up a roll of seaweeds, with fancy coral chopsticks of course, and places it in her mouth, before she melts into a squeak of delight. "This thing is -amazing-! I've never tasted anything like this-"

Miya turns to face Coco. "I can't believe it! You are a mermaid! A real mermaid! And there's a whole palace to explore! And the food is delicious! Seriously, it's as if every wish of mine had come tru-"

Her attention is yanked elsewhere, with the appearance of Emi and Coco pointing it out.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
There's a twirl of skirts and prismatic sparkles as Emi introduces herself with a little spin and curtsy.

"Well, begging your highness' pardon for crashing the party! I'm an Oneiric Guardian, a protector of wayward dream dreamers, a defender of the tranquility of sleep, and an uninvited guest, if you'll be forgiving me."

A curteous, and more formal, bow follows the cursty, now, her eyes wide and luminously focused on the mermaid. Miya's certainly paid a bit of attention to. Who is she? Why is she important? Questions dancing at the forefront of her mind as she straightens.

"I sensed a troubled spirit and so I am here."

That's how this goes, right?

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Yes, we take a lot of care of our food", Coco says confused to Dream-Miya. Didn't she already hear that? Yes, this is not the first time. And Miya already knows she is a mermaid anyhow. Why would she act like it's something new?

Coco swims back when Emi calls her "your highness". Nobody knows about her being a mermaid princess on land, except her close allies. So she must either from Obsidian or a water demon, right?

Though she calls herself an Oneiric Guardian and moreover she insist someone is troubled. Is that really it? The mermaid tentatively goes along with that explanation. "I am dreaming about all this then?" she says, still looking at Emi with reservation. It would explain the repetition. "Nobody here is troubled, I was just remiscining about when my friend came to visit. How did you come in?"

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
The way she darts back makes an eyebrow raise on the otherwise reserved and calm seeming Guardian's expression. She didn't expect that -- and perhaps that's a clue to why she's navigating these waters in the first place. She wonders, for a moment, how it is that she's even talking to her when the environment is so hostile to her naturally, but then, dream-logic is dream logic and it's best she not trry to poke too many holes in it unless need be.

"You *are* dreaming," she agrees, "A miasma clings to you, poisoning your slumber -- sometimes, it's a monster invading dreams. Sometimes, it's more ... mundane. Something you you're revisiting, perhaps." She glances around the chamber, then pushes her ruffled skirts down.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"What?", exclaims dream-Miya with a furrow of her brow. "Dreamers? What is this about dreams? I'm pretty sure nobody is dreaming here." She gestures towards Mermaid Coco, "Just hanging out with my friend who is a mermaid, with her own underwater palace, and, despite me being human, I can breathe without problem here, and..."

She stops for a moment, as if for considering what she has just said. And whom she's said this too.

"Look, it's all very real, okay?"

Dreams resist being recognized. They take their suspension of disbelief very seriously, and their logic will resist people trying to peeking behind the curtain to see The Man.

Or The Mermaid, in this case.

And that might explain why dream-Miya is so reticent to admit to the artificial nature of this space.

On the other hand, dreams are also very fragile things, sometimes easily identified once one manages to hook onto the right detail.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Ok, so it's a dream", Coco accepts after the other girl confirms it. Though she more asking the obvious by that point. The Miya from her memories isn't of the same opinion, and instead opposes that notion. "I guess it makes sense for a fragment of my dream not to recognise that", she says quietly to herself.

She looks back at Emi. "She is right, anyway. My actual palace in the real world has an enchantment to let human visitors speak and breathe with no issue." She isn't sure whether that's the case here, or if it's dream logic at work. Probably the latter.

"I was actually having a pleasant dream before you came in. I was back home, with a friend visiting", she gestures first to the palace, then to the dream-Miya, "so I doubt there is any miasma here." That's supposing she is actually telling the truth.

"Can you actually visit dreams as you please?" Coco inquires. "Would it be possible for you to either bring the actual Miya in my dream, or for us to visit her?" If she is who she says she is, she should able to do that, the mermaid thinks.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
"Mmn. I don't try to visit dreams as I please. Something usually has to bring me here." That's not a direct no. It's not a direct yes, either. It's not that she's evasive (except for where she is) but that she's simply unsure of some of the reality here, and how much this unusual subject might remember by morning.

"Well, I apologize for my ill-timed interruption, then -- but something *did* bring me here. Perhaps all you do need is a friend, then?" She muses. Perhaps that makes sense. She's considering it, clearly, as she turns in a circle, skirts-a-floofing as she does. She's clearly contemplating their ask.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"What? I -am- the actual Miya!", protests the dream-Miya. "What is going on here?"

She looks between Emi and Coco, and pointing at the table, suggests, "Why don't you explain it over a nice plate of underwater food?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco isn't sure what to say to that. If she doesn't want to or simply can't, that's it, not much she can do about that. If she wants to, that's great.

"I can try singing you a song, mermaid princesses are famous for their songs", she comments as if mentioning an everyday fact. Surely if Emi could identify her as the princess, she was aware of their background, right?

So Coco sings their iconic song, her melodious voice resonating through the palace, bringing with itself the serenity and peace of the seven seas. Hopefully that calms the confused Dream-Miya too.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
She is, perhaps, trying to *understand* how to do it. If she can do it. The presence of the dream simulacrum is a one of a kind oppoortunity to try. In a sense, it might even serve as a bridge to allow her to do someting she ordinarily couldn't do at all. An opportunity to flex, perhaps evern grow, her capabiltiies.

Or maybe she'll fall flat on her face -- but this IS the kind of thing she needs to try if she's ever going to get to go back home.

... her brow creases. Concentration, perhaps, but then she's distracted by the magnificent singing. She's about to ask aloud how that works underwater, but she clearly halts herself from saying anything and just listens instead. Don't disturb the dream logic. Don't disturb the dream logic.

... and then she's inspeting Miya again.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"I don't know how to tell you!", says Miya, one hand reaching to her heart. "I -am- the real deal!"

But if Emi has any way to detect little signals in dreams characters, Miya will show them. Be it little inconsistencies in the exact design of her overalls, or perhaps in the exact shape of the tip of her fingernails, or maybe, who knows, other details like the lack, or logically incorrect, distribution of callus on her hands, for someone like Miya who engages in a lot of manual work, there are artifacts.

This is not the real Miya.

"And besides, what are you-"

Real or not, Coco's song seems to have an effect on Miya -- she suddenly loses interest in arguing, and focuses on listening to the melody.

Seems like Coco's idea worked -- she just acquired higher control over her dream, subduing a rebellious fragment thereof.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The mermaid princess sings joyously as Miya gets calmed down and as Emi would actually discover, her singing has a beneficial effect on people. Aches, fatigue, negative feelings and emotions, worries, anxiety, all become things of the past, and the person becomes at ease both on a mental and physical level, so if anything, Coco's singing lends her a hand, pushing her to her top form.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
The singing is lovely. It's absolutely a bolster to Emi's waning confidence in herself, to be sure. After all the losses she endured back in Kyoto, after being shuffled off here to Tokyo to attend a school she doesn't want to be at, away from the thing she *wants* to be doing, it's no surprise she isn't feeling great about herself or her capabilities right now. But that music... it definitely gets her creative juices flowing. Not for the first time, she ponders the scope of her abilities. Can she do what the mermaid girl suggested and find a way to forge a connection from one dream to another? It seems unlikely but ... so was being here in the first place. This is magic, after all, and as welcome as its reality is to her, the doors it can open are equally terrifying. She holds a finger up towards Coco, a sure sign that she's thinking, while she studies Miya's dream self in thought.

If she could do this, the doors of hope it could open are real. To allow families to unite to push back the darkness, to allow victims to stand against a tormentor in a shared space of safety and healing, perhaps even help coma patients to speak to their loved ones! All possible.

All unlikely, unless she tries.

"All right." She gives her skirts a floof.

"I'm going to try it. Think about Miya. Reflect on the emotions that tie you to her. Bring them to the surface. Sing, even, if you have to." She holds the image of Miya in her heart and mind, casting out a web of dream stuff -- metaphorically this time -- to glide upon the strength of Coco's emotional connection to this figure, hoping that Coco will do as she has asked and allow her to make this effort. She's still unsure about the darkness she saw, but trauma has a way of lingering on the soul, and it might be that this is exactly what the mermaid needs. A friend.

Fine then. Let's find her friend.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
Miya is wandering through the plains of Africa.

No, it's not barren Earth and majestic sunsets. This is a verdant plain, with short, but definite grass. The miracle of life is in full bloom.

Bless the rains.

While the grass is short, as if it had been trimmed, or, more likely, grazed on, there are patches of much taller grass around, tho', tall enough to hide what's behind from the sight of people.

Miya, in her school uniform, but with her toolbox slung over her shoulder, parts one such barrier, to look behind it.

Behind, there is a fully tiled bathroom, with a Jacuzzi in the middle. Enjoying the sweet bubble massage, there is a hippopotamus.

"So, this is where my services are needed?", she asks, stepping into the space which now is an enclosed room, with a ceiling and all, as if that was the most normal thing in the world to do.

"Why, yes, my dear," says the Hippo. "Can you please remove the plug from the bottom of the tub for me? It is only now that I realize I lack opposable thumbs."

"Wait! There is something you have to know first!", exclaims a voice behind her. Miya turns to look at who spoke.

"Walter Gropius!?", she exclaims, staring at rectangular-faced gentleman in a bowtie. He is dressed smartly, although his wardrobe looks rather antiquated.

"You... you are my hero!", exclaims a flabbergasted Miya. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, perfecting the design of bathtubs for hippopotami, what else?", the man replies.

"Hello? We're trying to finish our bath here!", interjects the hippo.

"Yes... yes! One moment," Miya tells her 'customer' hippo. He's a customer alright, but meeting -Walter Gropius- is not something that happens every day! "What should I know before I go in?"

"First of all, you have to ensure that the plug of the bathtub is not large enough to suck in the hippo. It's very important."

"That... that makes a lot of sense. Gosh, why didn't I think of that? I feel like such an idiot for not thinking about it!"

"Sooooo?", goes the impatient hippo.

"Alright, alright!", goes Miya, and that said, she dives into the swimming pool.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco does as instructed, recalling each and every meeting she had with Miya: the chance encounter she had in the club building, Miya playing with the otters, then fixing her bubble maker, the fight together with Cure Spanner, the talk at the grotto, the dance at the masquerade and finally the same event that is currently forming her dream, the visit to her palace in who knows how long.

The mermaid hasn't stopped singing all this time, rather, she infused her memories into her song, bolstering it with her positive feelings towards the brunette.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
Emi is focused intensely, thinking. Concentrating. She can almost feel the weight of the emotion, now and she hears .... something. The smell of damp earth and plains, of garden and grass and nature and beauty.

Yes, there!

Between her hands springs to life slender lines of gossamer webbing, taking on a cat's cradle configuration between her fingers. She raises her hand up towards the wall of the castle and then, with a flick of her fingers, brings down the stands of the web and their tasseled edges along the side of the stone wall of the castle room. At first, there seems to be no effect, but then a slender, slowly widening line of prismatic color begins to form before the wall seems to -split- open, revealing a narrow passage. Too narrow to pass through, at first, but wide enough to see the sun-dappled day beyond and to smell the fragrance of grass despite being underwater, the odor of it spilling unbidden into Coco's dream.

"Yes," says Emi, "I did it!"

She looks so proud of herself.

/So proud/.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
The Miya in Coco's dream, recognizable because she's wearing her overalls, gasps in surprise at what Emi did. "Is that magic?!", she exclaims, as she approaches the seam; she appears genuinely curious about it. "I have never seen a wall break this way...", and mumbles, as she gets closer to take a good look at the opening, "This looks well past a simple application of grout...".

Meanwhile, the Miya in Miya's own dream, recognizable by her school uniform, swims to the bottom of the Jacuzzi; she doesn't have the benefit of enchantments, so she has to hold her breath; she finds the plug, circles around it to ensure it is not large enough to let a hippo through, and once she's certain it's safe to proceed, she pulls it.

She zips up, as a whirpool begins to form, and climbs out of the pool. "There!," she says, pulling herself out of the Jacuzzi.

"Why, thank you!", replies the hippo, to which a perfectly dry Miya (dream logic -- don't question it), replies, "It was nothing. Now- what are you looking at, Mr.Gropius?"

"This," he says, pointing at something with concern.

The scene has switched again. The floor around the Jacuzzi is tiled, but as one gets farther from it, it turns more and more into short grass; the ceiling is gone, and stretches of tiled bathroom walls alternate with tall grass. It is in one of these tiled section that the seam is, offering whoever is on the other side a glimpse into the pseudo-savannah scene. "That seam," the man finally announces, sounding grave.

Miya frowns, and approaches the anomaly; "This does not look good," she says, turning to the man, and adds, "At least it isn't big enough to leat a hippo through?" The man nods. "You learn fast, kid. That's very important." School Uniform Miya studies the seam in the tiles again, appearing genuinely curious about it. "I have never seen a wall crack this way...", and mumbles, as she gets closer to take a good look at the opening, "This looks well past a simple application of grout..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"That's great, thanks!", Coco says excitedly to Emi, looking at the expanding prismatic wall. Her dream is actually connected to Miya's now. It feels somewhat weird having the familiar environment of Coco's palace mix with the odor of grass.

"Is that a hippopotamus?" Coco looks curiously at the big animal resting in a Jacuzzi. Why is Miya dreaming about hippopotami? Eh, she shouldn't question what goes on in dreams. Not all dreams are based on actual events, after all. At least, Miya is actually there, even if accompanied by a weird square man.

The mermaid wastes no time swimming towards the opening and meet with her friend once it has expanded enough. As a result, a short fall awaits the mermaid (maybe she should have swam closer to the floor), making her crash against the tiled floor of Miya's bathroom, an "Ow" fleeing her mouth as a result.

The mermaid starts massaging her tail and the crumpled fins as she looks up at the repairgirl with a smile despite the odd entrance. "Hello, Miya, it's great to meet you!" she exclaims happily.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
"...I hope this doesn't have any negative consequences that I could have forseen if I waited to think about this more," muses Emi, thoughtfully, as the crack expands enough to make way for Coco to just swim through.

... and then the crack splits wider still. Wider. Now it's not a steam, or even a crack. It's a tear. A tear bleeding prismatic flakes, spider-webbing further as it does and revealing a featureless expanse absent stars above.

Emi looks up.

There is a rumble.

"...huh. That's not good."

Boy, Emi, that's sure understating it.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
As the crack expands, the two Miyas find each other face to face. "What?!", they both exclaim in unison. "Uh-oh," says Walter Gropius, followed by a much lower "Uh-oh," by the hippo.

It is to note that, at the demarcation line, there is a massive wall of water leading into an underwater palace on one side, and air and open sky at the other.

Both Miyas both look up as the rumble gets louder; the clear blue with swatches of cloud white of Miya's dream turns an ominous starless black revealed by the webbing pattern. Looking back down, Overalls Miya and School Uniform Miya stare at each other.

And then the wall of water, a whole dream ocean, splashes into the savannah, submerging it, while our hippopotamus gets dragged into the palace by the massive current that sweeps everything.

"How dare you break reality!", the Miya from Coco's dream finally snaps at Emi. "You are a force of destruction! You have flooded Coco's castle!"

She stops and thinks.

"...by...letting air into the... water? So... reverse-flooded?" She shakes her head, and resumes her accusatory tone. "This won't do!"

"What?!" asks the Real Dream Miya (or is it Dream Real Miya?), who's utterly flabbergasted. "What is going on here?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
When water floods into Miya's dream, it gets all over plants and tiles alike, turning the former into ground only suitable for growing rice and the latter all slippery.

Meanwhile into Coco's dream, the sudden entrance of air doesn't provide much change: it just turns into bubbles and makes its way to the ceiling of the palace and stays there, covering every centimeter of it.

Back to Miya's dream, the slippery tiles turns out to be rather useful to Coco, reducing the friction between her and the floor and letting her mermaid drag herself to the pool and hoist herself into it with a splash. She doesn't know if she can change form in a dream, but with this pool, she doesn't have to, letting the mermaid be fine even with this environment.

"Hello, Miya", Coco waves at her from the pool. That's the real Miya, right? "Thanks to... Actually, what was your name?" She asks Emi, realising she never got it up to now. "Anyway, thanks to her, we hopped into your dream to meet you."

Meanwhile a Hippocampus squeeeeeezes through the portal taking the hippopotamus' place in Miya's dream. The winged marine horse moves his head around, looking his golden-green eyes observing everyone present. "What's going on here?" he bellows in a deep voice. "The South Pacific palace is all in turmoil. There is air in there, air!"

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
Meanwhile, that crack, that *split* is growing wider.

Emi isn't actually paying attention to Miya, or Coco, at the moment.

... at the moment. Either Miya, actually.

She's watching that crack, now that she's on the other side of it, waving her hand airily at the conversants.

"Just a -- just a ..."

"Oh boy,"" she muses. "I think I made a big error," she mumbles, eyes fixed ahead.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"Why, hello fellow bearer of the hippo- prefix," the hippopotamus greets the hippocampus. The river creature turns its massive head left and right, to take in the surroundings with a sleepy look, and comments, aimably, "Love what you did with the place. So much water."

"Not my style," adds in Dream-Mr.Gropius, "but I have to concede it is a masterpiece, in its category."

"Coco!", Miya asks. "What are you doing here in Africa?"

"And him being here is completely normal?", interjects the hippopotamus, glancing at Dream-Gropius.

"Oh, right! Didn't you, like, die before I was born?"

"Yes, but I got better."

"Oh, that makes sense- NO IT DOESN'T!", exclaims Real Miya, as she grabs each side of her head.

"How dare you interfere with the Realm of the Subconscius!", exclaims- wait, where did Dream Miya go? She is gone, it appears, but in her place, there is... someone who looks a lot like Cure Spanner, except that, while the reflective white/silver bands of her outfit remain, the high-visibility orange of her henshin uniform has been replaced by the darkest of blacks; the oranges of her retroreflector gems? Blue, much like her otherwise salmon-colored drill hair is now a shade of blue. "Dreamscapes are to be kept segregated! Such are The Rules! By the weakening and breaching the Barrier, you have committed a most heinous crime against How Things Should Be, and set us dream repairpeople up for one heck of a headcache!"

She even points an accusing spanner (with a head which, somehow, manages to look heart-shaped) at Emi.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The Hippocampus, Guardian of the Seven Seas, Defender of the Mermaid Princesses, Vassal of Aqua Regina is a proud mythical creature, whose duty is most solemn, and deviations from the status quo are quick to gather his attention... All that actually just means he has a terrible temper.

"What are talking about!?" he shouts at the hippopotamus when he is complimented on the changes done to the environment. "This is a complete disaster! The palace is all weird, and the water is still flowing outside! Who has done this!?"

Coco waves at Miya from the pool. "The girl over there has the power to visit dreams", Coco explains pointing at Emi, "so I wanted to pay you a visit."

"I would have expected better from you, Coco", Hippo butts in. "To ask someone you don't even know to do something this dangerous, this is not how a mermaid princess should act!"

Coco looks at the furious Hippocampus, not sure how to deal with a figment of her imagination. "Calm down, Hippo, this is all easily solved." She thinks.

"Calm down!?" he replies. "Even that dream repairperson over there is worried about it!" He points a hoof to the dream Cure Spanner.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
"Excuse me," says Emi, "Would you all be quiet?! First of all, I'm the dream repair-man. That's MY job. To ensure the tranqulity of slumber, to -- oh to heck with it. I've screwed this up majorly! KenKen! I need you!"

... there is no answer. Whoever KenKen is, they've decided not to answer.

"Oh, *real* funny. Reap what I sow again, huh? I'm going to need to seal this passage, and then stem the flow of the weird through the dreams. They weren't supposed to --- BLEED like this. It was just supposed to be a warm, welcoming presence and I've majorly messed up AGAIN."

That quiet fury is reserved for herself. That anger is surely her own darkness leaping to the fore. Something simmers beneath it.

Her eyes go to the Hippo and the hippocampus. "Pfft. I'll fix it," she hisses, gossamer webbing like tracers sparking along her fingers.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
"Joining dreams? That's... that's so cool, Coco!", Miya beams. On the surface, she might look like she's just excited at the prospect of sharing a dream with a friend. But on top of that, despite not saying it, she's estatic that a friend would think of inviting -her- to her dreams. Nobody ever invited her to their dreams before! Does that mean... does that mean that this whole 'making friends' thing is actually working out for her?!

"You are a menace to this plane of existence, and as such, you need to be vanquished! Begone, wrecker!", declares Dark Spanner, then leaps, raises her spanner, which has suddenly become gingantic, and swings it to crack Emi's skull without pity-

CLANG!

All of a sudden, the real Cure Spanner, in her shades of high-visibility orange and salmon drill hair, blocks Dark Spanner's attack with her own gigantic spanner. "Not so fast! Your concern for the safety of this Domain notwithstanding, it is unjust to unleash violence on this inculpable maiden, pure of heart, who was simply striving to join us in a Celebration of Friendship! Your brand of justice is misguided in intent, devoid of understanding, and overcomplicated in enunciation! I, Cure Spanner, shall prevent your overbearing ways from affecting this Innocent!"

"...-notwithstanding-?!", frowns Dark Spanner, incredulous, teeth clenched as her spanner is locked in a mutual push contest with Cure Spanner. "How do you even come up with that gibberish?"

"I... I don't know, really!", exclaims Cure Spanner, teeth gritted in effort, little beads of sweat forming on her temples (despite being underwater). "They... they just spout out of my mouth without me having much say in it!"

"Oh my goodness, you too? I thought it was just me!"

Dark Spanner manages to shove Cure Spanner back, the latter tumbling on the ground and getting up again in an upwards spray of bubbles.

"You should really listen to the Lady there," the Hippopotamus sleepily suggests to the Hippocampus. "You look like you could use a nice mud treatment followed by a long, nice soak in a Jacuzzi. Does wonders for your stress! Wanna join me for a spa day?", he suggests.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Isn't it!?" Coco smiles back at her friend. Really, the thought of that being possible is just extraordinary. They are here spending time together, all the while their bodies are still resting. Is this the secret to 24h long hangouts with no repercussions? And she is glad Miya is actually happy about the idea. Though she still needs to figure out if it actually is safe to transform in dreams before then. The form she arrived in is not exactly conducive to to the contents of Miya's dream.

The aggressive Dark Spanner gets an icy glare from Hippo. "Enough! That's not how you do things! You don't gain anything out of killing her. What we need to do is correct and guide them, and the correct way is through a punishment", the Hippocampus says, flying by her side. Ok, the real Hippo wouldn't have resorted to aggressive punishments.

Miya intercepts! Out of nowhere, her friend not only accomplishes an instant blocking of Dark Spanner's strike, but she also proves there is nothing to fear from transforming in dreams. Miya 2 - Dream 0!

"Hippo, stop!" Coco leaps high into the air from the pool, the mermaid transforming into mid air before floating there thanks to her creating a Live Stage around herself. The Guardian Hippocampus only reserves her a glare before taking up speed as a battering ram against Emi.

"If you won't listen to me, then listen to my song." The power of her voice creates a Live Stage around Hippo, immediately immobilising the Hippocampus no matter how much he thrashes and tries to break free. "Let go, Coco!"

He certainly is in no condition to listen to the hippopotamus' advice like this.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
Distracted.

Emi is distracted.

That's why she misses 'Dark Cure Spanner's' leap at her. She's busy getting ready to web up her error, you see. That webbing which was forming with crackling sparkles at her fingertips dissipates when the clang of battle is met nearby and she whirls in a floof of sparkling skirts to stare at the two of them.

"... did ... did that dream fragment just try to get me?" She stares, eyes narrowed on the pair of them. She has more to say -- really she does -- but she's instead skittering back from the breach. "I'm sorry. I think I'nm going to have to tie up that one there before she cracks my skull with a /gigantic spanner/. What the hell is even happening here?"

The dream guardian has very little experience with other magical girls and, honestly, is very confused about why the spanner is suddenly so large and a whole number of other things. This is getting increasingly odd, and she does. not. like it.

Webs spill forth and she flings them directly at Dark Miya -- aiming to bind her up in their sticky, prismatic confines but then she sees she's got something *flying straight at herr*. There's an uttered curse word -- not very nice!! -- and she hits the deck instead. Eating dirt is preferble than getting torn asunder.

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
The question is, is Dark Spanner truly evil?

Sure, her color scheme consists largely of black and blue (with silver/white reflective bands), and she is kind of attacking the heroes with excessive violence.

But can one call a swarm of hornets' attempt at stinging someone who is threatening to destroy their nest, 'evil'?

Ok, no, bad example. Some people might argue that hornets are obviously made of concentrated evil. Let's go for... bees. Yes, bees. It's socially acceptable to hate hornets, but not bees.

The question is not merely a philosophical exercise. It is relevant for one important reason: how will she react to Coco's song?

It seems like the reaction consists in frowning a little, as if she had a very mild headache, closer to the 'more or less annoying' rather than the 'crippling' end of the spectrum.

It turns out, Dark Spanner is not thoroughly evil, just somewhat: she's mostly being overly zealous in reacting and dispensing justice, but not rotten to the core.

There is what looks like a fencing battle of martial arts between the two Spanners, with the two spanners: they clang, twirl, jump, swim; watching underwater martial arts is quite the spectacle, especially after Cure Spanner attempts to jab her wrench at her Dark counterpart at extreme speeds, which results in an unexpected explosion around her own weapon, which hurls the orange heroine backwards.

"What was that?!", asks Cure Spanner, twitching as she lies on the floor.

"Cavitation," replies Dark Spanner, as she, her expression a sort of grimace of mild pain, points her own spanner at the original Cure Spanner. The Dark One towers over her twin, and pointing her spanner at the other's head, she says, "Prepare to-"

She does not get to finish her sentence: she is flung aside and wrapped in sticky webbing, and as she hits the floor of the underwater palace, she snaps, in Coco's direction, "Will you cut that singing?! There are people trying to dispense justice here!"

Meanwhile, the hippopotamus is scarfing down industrial quantities of something that looks a lot like popcorn out of a tray of refreshments.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Hippo, calm down!", Coco exclaims at him between songs. This is not a request, she ie commanding this. The Yellow Mermaid Princess orders this, for him to give up on his actions and stop acting so rebellious.

Too bad for her he doesn't have the slightest inclination to listen, instead causing a mighty wind with a swing of his wings threatening to topple her to the ground. "I will stop when I have adequately reprimanded everyone here, at that means starting from the cause of this mess."

No words come out of Coco's voice in response for now. She is busy keeping herself upright again the air currents, as well as still dancing and singing, and the others might start having to account for the gusts of wind too, given that Hippo is aiming down in her general direction, not specifically at her.

Still she isn't intending to let him do as he pleases, as the power of her song manifest a Live Stage around him, constricting him there and blocking his efforts to get there. She is just tired of having to deal with his stubborness right now, and is taking the metaphorical gloves off. Her actual ones stay where they have always been.

Then there is also the other rebellious element of the dream addressing her. "If you were truly trying to dispense justice, you would be helping us repair the dream rather than obstruct our efforts to repair the dream. You dishonor your title of Cure Spanner!" Coco replies to Miya's dark Alter Ego, a brief pause in her singing just for this reply.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
"...dreams are such headaches," grumbles Emi.

With the nuisances being distracted, she's going to seal the breach -- and hope that sealing it draws everyone back to their own dreams where they beloing. This was a colossal mistake.

...she can feel KenKen's eyes judging her from here. She has six too many of them.

The glowing, flaking, cracking, crumbling breach in the wall of the dream-bubble is now being webbed up as the gothic guardian of gothness does her level best to repair what she broke.

"... this could wake you all up. Or not. But at least it should stop things from flowing into where they shouldn't be."

Miya Sakamoto has posed:
Dream-Gropius notices the situation getting close to a resolution, and applauds. "Well done girls! Well done! That was masterful! An outstanding example of oneiric architecture!"

The narrower the crack becomes with the sealing, the faster alien elements are sucked through -- the Hippo is the first to whizz past Emi, followed by Dream-Gropius, and all that air, in a stream of bubbles. Cure Spanner starts skidding, slowly, at first, but then, just as she realizes what is happening, she smirks; "Goodbye, Coco! It's time for me to go...", she says, and is yanked away from the floor, into her own dreamspace, towards the image of a starless night sky. The threat, now gone, allows Dark Spanner to shift back into Coco's Dream Miya. "...what...what just happened?", she asks.

* * *

Cut to the real Miya, out in the real world; the camera is looking down at her dorm room, the whole of it visible. It lingers there, then it begins to zoom on Miya's face, slowly. Cut to a montage of what just happened. It's a whirl, zipping through fragments of the recent events, backwards, from everyone being sucked in, to Emi stitching, to the fight with Dark Spanner and the hippocampus, to Emi sealing, to the two worlds melding together, to Africa, to Emi showing herself to Coco, to Coco and Miya recreating the memory...

Cut to Miya being ecstatic at spending dream-time with Coco, and to Coco smiling at Miya, at the thought of it being extraordinary that they can spend time together in their dreams while their bodies are resting.

Cut to Cure Spanner blocking the attack on Emi, to Coco getting the hippocampus under control with the Live Stage, to Emi successfully sealing the breach...

Cut to the two Spanners being locked into an elegant and powerful battle of martial arts and tools, cut to Coco leaping from the pool, transforming in mid aid before floating to the Hippocampus who gives her a glare.

Cut to Dream-Gropius applauding at the end.Cut to Miya being sucked towards the starless sky.

Cut to a view of the savannah, being restored to its original majesty. Cut to the camera looking down into Miya's room zooming faster and faster towards the face of the sleeping girl, her closed eyes fluttering, as if something was about to happen...

They snap open.

"Bass-chan is up next in our selection of rising internet phenomenons you should dfinitely check out!", says a tinny voice coming from somewhere close to Miya. "This girl can -rock- a bassline, let us tell you."

Miya feels around the covers, and finally picks up her smartphone, from which the voice originated; with sleepy eyes, she swipes to see the recent playlist history. Hm. Seems like she fell asleep to a streaming music channel. Toto. A lot of other stuff. And now, it appears that this... 'Bass-chan' is up? She sounds interesting.

She lies back into her bed, waiting for the streamer to be done with his talking, and the song to start, all while thinking back. She had an amazing dream! It was about... about...

She squints...

...about...

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I suppose things have worked out somehow", Hippo admits grumply from his confines inside the Live Stage, looking at Emi repairing the dreamscape with annoyed approval. "You can let go of me, Coco. It would be dumb to push things further as things are now. I am not going to make a fuss of it anymore." The Hippocampus keeps his wings unfolded as much as the restricted space allows him to, waiting to be freed.

"See, Hippo? Things were working out, you were really disproportionate about it", Coco says, unmaking the Live Stage and letting the marine horse fly free. "I would say you should keep it in mind, but well, things are going to be over for you anyway", she smiles nervously. "Are they now?", he grumbles, looking at the whole dream that's slowly getting repaired and fading away, the water receding into Coco's palace and jets of air getting out of it.

"Seems like it", he reluctantly admits in a flash of surprising self-awareness. "Please be safe, Coco, and if you meet the real me, tell him not to ever falter, because his job is now more important than ever." With that, he flies back into Coco's dream of his own accord before the repairing dreamscape decides to speed things along by pushing him in.

Coco goes to address the confused Dream Miya too. "Only a repairjob gone slightly out of hand, but things are fine now, you can go back to my palace, I will catch up to you later." The Dream Miya probably does so at this point, leaving Coco alone with Emi and Miya. Well, and a hippopotamus somewhere around plus a complimenting Dream-Gropius.

"Thank you", Coco says to the latter, unsure. Who even is he? She knows next to nothing about him. Better focus on the people she is familiar with, and, most importantly, real. "Thanks a lot for making this experience possible", she addresses Emi first before turning to Miya. "And it was awesome meeting you here, let's see each other in the real world.

With that, she walks back into her own dream, and from the other side of the closing portal, her mermaid self can be seen waving back at them one last time, smiling.

Emi Hoshino (176) has posed:
With a mermaid waving on the other side of the rapidly occluding breach, Emi sort of stares off into space.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this," she tells herself, eyes closing. She's about to say something more when the dream she's in abruptly terminates as Miya awakens. For a moment, she's plunged into darkness. There's a sense of falling... the one any dreamer might be slightly familiar with, but it doesn't end, not immediately. She's falling into a blackened abyss for what seems like a few minutes before she 'slams' back into her own consciousness, into her own dreamspace, at the colossal and spindly leg of a giant spider.

The spider looks down upon her with its many eyes, flickering with prismatic energy reflecting off their unblinking lens.

"...Well," thunders the spider's all too loud and feminine voice, "What did we learn today?"

"Hi, Kenken," says Emi, thoughtfully, picking herself up and brushing herself off.

"... that I'm definitely not ready to link two dreams together?" She muses. "And that I shouldn't have been so cavalier about following the dreamer's idea in the first place -- but I *was* curious. I just ... should have been more careful."

"Doing something without thinking it through, Emi? That doesn't sound like you at ALL."

"Don't sass me, spider, or so help me I'm gonna get a bug-zapper and deny you your dinner."

Emi looks up for a moment.

"Still, if I can link people together in their dreams, maybe I can link the victims of the Kyoto Shadow together and give them a fighting chance against it?"

r "You are not ready. You just said so yourself."

"I *will* be."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
When Coco wakes up from her dream, she is in fact in her human form, and she is staring at the ceiling, the details of the dreams all too vivid. Is that what it means to be incredibly attached to a memory? Because she has the distinct feeling of that dream even now, so much so she isn't quite in tune with her surroudings yet.

She knows where she is and what she has been doing here, but an intense feeling of alienation assaults her sleepy mind, as she tries to make sense of having gotten out of that dream. She slowly gets up from the bed, a few steps at a time to let her mind understand this is her human body and let her feeling of alienation dissipate, holding back the instinct to scratch at her legs.

The dream was a really happy one, so why the weird state of both happiness and wariness? Meeting Miya like that made her night, but there is a feeling as if something else hid under the dream, kept away by the happy memory. It's admittedly much better than the freaked out state she was in the other times she awoke, but something is lurking beneath, she knows.