2855/The Nightmare Nexus: Nostalgic Synestesia

The Nightmare Nexus: Nostalgic Synestesia
Date of Scene:	29 November 2025
Location:	Yumegahama Ward
Synopsis:	A calling card shows up around Tokyo, and the first Princess of Sarek has revived to fight the Lady of the Labyrinth? No, of course she hasn't.
Cast of Characters:	Veronica Perenna, Laisa Samuiko, Catra, Usagi Tsukino, Emi Hoshino, Amanda Faust

---

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Rumors have started circulating across Yumegahama Ward, of cats coming to and from a specific alley somewhere in the ward always at Midnight on the clock. At first the rumor circulated without many buying into it, but then more and more people started witnessing them, and chasing after them, only to find themselves face to face with a wall.

Turning back would send them through a trip of hours through corners they don't remember passing, and paths that sometimes take them upwards of two hours to get out of the alley despite them only needing 30 minutes at best to reach the wall.

Even as streamers start getting into the popularity of the rumor, the end result is always the same. Sometimes they may hear loud music and people singing (screaming?) to the beat, but the cats inevitably leads them to the same wall. They have tried marking it, and each newcomer finds the marked wall, witnessing the unchanging bricks before preparing for the long trek back.

Sometimes a calling card recognizable as that of the Princess of Sarek flies through the video at random blink-and-you-will-miss-them moments. Following the chain of streamers, Veronica had almost dropped the phone when she first saw it, and immediately picked it back up, messaging whoever happened to be online (most certainly Laisa, at least, if she is available).

"Did you watch these streams going around lately? That wasn't me sending the calling card. I am going to get to the bottom of this case. Want to come with?" She was equally intrigued and annoyed by the anomalous appearance, and just at few minute short of midnight, she is standing at the entrance of the alley.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Laisa isn't much of a stream watcher, but if Veronica points her towards something then there's a certain amount of interest she's going to have in it. Even moreso if the painter thinks that something is wrong or off about it. The first time she sees the calling card she messages back with, "That's odd... and it wasn't you? Is my favorite phantom thief being impersonated? How dare they."

    Except... that doesn't really make sense, either. Why even bother in such a way? There's no painting involved here, is there?

    Though... with the way space seems to be acting 'odd' in these instances, Laisa can't really dismiss the idea that a relic might be involved.

    "Well of course. I'm always up for an adventure. I'll meet you there."

    Mou Fubuki shows up at the appointed time. Her eyes and expression are cold, as is the air surrounding her, and one might get the impression that she doesn't really care about anything. All the same, she is here, present, and with full intent to be supportive and helpful. "Hey." she greets, as she walks up to the mouth of the alley.

Catra has posed:
Alright... sure, why not?

Do that hero thing where you show up for no other reason than to help someone else out, and do it without complaining about the inconvenience of it or anything like that. So, having parked her bike a ways off, Catra arrives -- on the rooftops, parkouring her way from one to the next and using her claws as much as her agility to get by.

She's got her earbuds in, and is listening to something energetic and thrashy, with the volume turned way up as she appears on the scene -- not that it matters too much, since nobody on the ground can hear it -- and comes to a stop perched on the corner of a rooftop, looking down. She's not in Henshin, but she's not in her Rachel Miller disguise either. It hardly matters. When does anyone look up?

Well, just in case anyone does right now, the feline waves back down to them in greeting.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino tends to be kept abreast on cat related news for pretty obvious reasons, and when they involve strange labyrinths that people are finding themselves lost in -

Well, Usagi might have had plenty of other nightmares since, but she's certainly not forgotten that Nightmare. Not at all. Spotting Veronica's calling card had been a belated thing, and then there'd been the text message, and well -

Now, Sailor Moon has arrived, in obvious henshin because she doesn't trust it.

"This is reminding me a lot of a Nightmare we defeated and who Subsy brought back," she warns the others as they arrive. "I mean, it could be something else, but... Labyrinths, streamers, and getting stuck? A lot of coincidences. ...not sure why cats are involved, though."

She frowns, then glances sideways at Veronica, not accusing, but curious.

"Not sure why your calling card is involved, either, so maybe it is something else... either way, I've got your back."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Sometimes, you just gotta see things with your own eyes, right?

In Emi Hoshino's case, that's literally about the only thing she can do. Powerless and only slowly making progress in rebuilding her gateway into the dreamscape, she heard through the veritable grapvine about something that did sound awfully familiar and presented herself for accompaniment. Mostly because she wants a chance to lay her eyes on things. Maybe she can learn something.

The still-tired looking goth is all dressed up, though, and ready to accompany them for the moment.

She didn't bring her bat, at least.

"Obviously, I'll keep my distance -- but I thought I'd lurk close just in case KenKen is needed." Things -do- sound -awfully- familiar, and she smells a nightmare for the same reason Usagi does.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    So yeah that's weird. A phenomenon that attracts streamers and involves getting lost, and at exactly a specific time... sounds familiar. But why are cats involved now?

    ...Are they magical cats? Or cat-spirits or something? "Man...Before I realized the Lady of the Labyrinth was back, I was hoping that maybe there's a portal to a secret cat world or something, that would be a nice whimsical adventure after everything we've dealt with lately."

    Amy's with the group too -- she wasn't henshined at first, but Sailor Moon is in henshin, so she transformed too.

    She nods to Emi, concerned for the danger she's in but also glad to have an expert on nightmares here.

    "So...if she's back, there's something I never figured out. If she's about trapping people in mazes... why had no one else ever seen the party, and what's the deal with the party? It's not even like it's a party of people watching us lost in a maze on monitors or anything it's just kinda... there. And we defeated her by finding the party and hitting her a bunch. Was there more here I'm missing or not remembering, or...?" she looks to Emi curiously, since the dream expert is here why not take advantage of that?

Veronica Perenna has posed:
As soon as she sees Laisa come close in henshin, Veronica follows her cue and transforms into the Princess of Sarek, then hops close to her beloved, hugging her and rubbing cheeks for a moment. "Hello, fulfiller of my heart", she comments joyously, and takes a step back once others start arriving.

"One of Subsy's nightmares? Really?" Veronica can't help but frown at the news Moon is giving her. This gets from odd to odder. "I would not know what could they be wanting with me", she says, swirling her cane around pensively. "I have had no nightmares either."

She waves at Emi, and raises an eyebrow at the lack of bat. "You ok going in like that?" To Red she nods. "Let's find our way in for now."

Cats have yet to come, but the Princess of Sarek's swivel upwards when she notices the presence of a specific ginger cat following them from the rooftops. "Just one second, if you would", she tells the others, and leaps up to Catra with a smirk.

"What are you doing here all alone? The party is down there. You would not wanna miss it, do you?", she meows at her with a wink, and leaps back down to everyone, waving at Catra to follow.

When she leaps down, the first cat has started coming close, just like in the streams, but this time, it doesn't wander in and instead sits in front of the entrance to the alley, staring. The shadows in the alley flicker for a moment. Seven lights burst from the ground, and fall down in a mist.

When the haze disappears a blonde catgirl in a ponytail is staying at the alley entrance, dressed just like Veronica, but her jacket is replaced by a frock-coat and a waist sash cinches the coat, decorated by pearlescent sequins.

"Hello, dollies. I was waiting for you. Do you mind helping me out here?" she asks, but Veronica raises her hand, and brings it to her right shoulder with a slight bow.

"Hello to you as well. It is not any day I meet an impersonator. What are you up to?", the Princess of Sarek comments rigidly, squinting her eyes.

"Dollie, I am not an impersonator", the ponytailed girl replies with a laugh. "It is my Ward you are protecting. But please, let's talk further in. We have a lot ahead of us, and the Lady has to be stopped."

Veronica looks at the others with an inquisitive expression, and shrugs, getting in the alley after the supposed impostor. "Let's keep our guard up and see what her deal is." She is not quite buying that, for obvious reasons and more.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    The corner of Mou Fubuki's mouth twitches into a smile as Veronica comes close, and she leans against her slightly for a moment while they are near. A light but very obvious show of affection. "You tell me the sweetest things, my love."

    Of course, they do not have a lot of time to exchange sweet nothings right now. The mahoujin are getting down to business and Mou Fubuki is doing more listening than talking. They've seen something like this before? It might be Nightmare related? Suspicious. Concerning. She let's out a slow breath, and her frosty aura makes it a visible cloud.

    Mou walks up to the familiar cat, the one from the streams. Lights appear and burst, and Mou takes a step back as she expects an attack. When the impersonator appears, Mou Fubuki blinks. She glances between Veronica and the Other and she's not quite sure what to think. She knows that Sarek has something of a history, but... no that would be impossible.

    "Whatever happens," she promises, "I've got your back." Glancing to the other mahoujin, Mou adds, "All the same. Call out if something happens, alright?"

    Then the snow angel goes ahead, following the Not-Veronica deeper into the alley. She fully expects to get lost after this, but in her mind that was always part of the deal.

Catra has posed:
Catra doesn't immediately reply when Veronica arrives up on the rooftop and asks what she's doing up there, other than to shove her hands in her pockets nad looks generally stand-offish and antisocial. Which, honestly, shouldn't come as a huge surprise, she's a cat afterall.

Nevertheless, when Veronica jumps back down, she thumbs her phone to shut off the music and stuffs the earbuds in a pocket, then follows suit and jumps down off the buiding. On the way down yellow flames envelop her and when she lands in a crouch and the flames die down she's dressed in a charcoal black tuxedo with firey orange highlights; as she straightens she adjusts her cufflinks, and once again thrusts her hands in her pockets.

"Alright. Guard up, check. Follow the suspicious person, check." She glances down, "And keep an eye on the untrustworthy cat," she adds.

Hypocritical much?

With all that said, the feline glances about at everyone else present, and shrugs her shoulders. "Hey everyone," she greets. And that, it seems, is that.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Definitely a Nightmare," Sailor Moon confirms, "She had a Neon Labyrinth, last time, and had a party in the middle... we had to use a lot of light to get through," she remembers the exhaustion of firing off her attacks so many times -

But she still startles when the false Princess of Sarek appears, staring between the two girls in surprise.

"Okay, I know why these two have cat ears, but are you just an extra literal copycat, or -" Maybe you shouldn't ask people why they have cat ears, but she's doing that, okay? There's no choice but to follow - well, there is, but it's the only realistic choice, so she does, frowning. "Yeah, Catra, we're following Suscat and Suscatgirl for now."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh hey, there's a cat! Amy approaches, to either pet the cat or attempt to go through the wall, but suddenly there's lights and... a catgirl copying Veronica's outfit appears.

    And calls them dollies, which makes Red take a half-step back into a more wary stance.

    Amy looks at her friends, but... well, maybe this is a trap, but if it is... they're on guard and together, right? She nods to Veronica and follows, glancing around for anything jumping out at them.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"The heck am I supposed to know?" asks Emi of Amy. "Nightmares aren't logical, Amy. Put that out of your head. They're collections of energy rooted in random thoughts and ideas that start somewhere and become something else and more. And who even knows if 'the Lady' you're expecting to face today really is the same as 'the Lady' we fought back then. We don't know how this resurrection even works, if its really what it seems to be, or anything else for that matter. And, frankly, a sufficient application of violence is enough to cut through most problems anyway."

Emi rubs her face. "Most people never got to the end, anyway, I'd wager, so how would they see a party that nobody actually got to? That's probably just 'her thing'. Gotta make you work to get there so that you're an easier mark when you finally 'get in', and an exclusive party is a -secret- and stuff."

She shrug her shoulders. "It's all a stab in the dark anyway. Exhausting you before then was probably the real schtick, it's just that you know she probably wasn't expecting a bunch of magical people. Now they are."

She wets her lips, takes a moment, covers one eye with her hand, and then concurs with Usagi.

"Yep."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"I have a very sweet source of inspiration", the Princess of Sarek replies to Mou Fubuki with a bright smile, still keeping an eye on the impostor. Well, she does know what her predecessor looks like, and it's a match, roughly, even if they have about 20 years of difference between them.

"So what are you here for?", Veronica asks, keeping close to the impostor. "And if you are really here, why are you 14? She faded at 40, not whatever you are."

"Don't be so tense, you risk ruining your pretty face, dollie", the first magical girl comments. "But you are right. It must be all so sudden. Let me tell you: it has been a long time. You kept me waiting." She keeps leading them forward, taking turns and turns in the everlong alley.

"I will stick close to you", Veronica whispers to Mou Fubuki. "I don't really feel good about her. That's not how I imagined her, you know? I thought she would be someone more... charming, I think?"

The other Sarek bounces at Catra's side now. "Well, you are all so tense, but I feel you really must just trust me. I needed someone to fight back against the Lady, but I cannot keep her at bay much longer. That's where you come in", she remarks picking up a cat and giving it to Sailor Moon.

"My dollie, I had cat ears long before my successor came along. If anything you should be asking her. But nevermind, have a cat. It should be refreshing for your mood. You don't want her people, right?", the ponytailed girl says, basically pushing the one she is carrying in her arms.

"We have a smart cookie here", she looks at Emi. "She did try multiple times, but I always managed to lead her victims the wrong way ever since I got here. And I don't know how that is possible. Let us just go with the flow", she adds at the frowning Veronica.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    "Nobody here is more inspiring than you, my dear," teases Mou Fubuki, though in that same cold tone. The snow angel wonders if it would be off-putting to someone who wasn't used to it, or to someone who wasn't aware of her curse.

    Mou Fubuki listens to the exchange between her girlfriend and the one taking the appearance of her predecessor. How Interesting. So this person does at least look like someone Veronica should know. Yet the ages and time don't add up. "Could she be a figment of the dream?" she whispers to Veronica. If her kitten is suspicious then it's probably a very good reason. "Though, if she was from your dream, she probably would be a better reflection of your expectations." After a pause, she takes a glance at Veronica and considers her ancestry. "Out of curiosity... did the person you know... speak Japanese?"

    Mou keeps looking at the suspicious person, but occasionally her eyes dart back and forth, looking at the features of the walls in the alleyway. If there was a dream trap, would she recognize it?

    ... if there is no trap, does that mean that this girl is on the level?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon is absolutely not trusting this sweet talking faker, but given that she's been handed a cat... well the first thing she does is cradle it like a baby, then she gently encourages it to ride on her shoulder, keeping one arm up to support the risk of cat leaping.

The idea that the cat could be a trap simply does not occur to her. This is why she always fell for Dark Kingdom plots, honestly.

"Right... well.. why don't you tell us about like, fading way back then, while we follow you? That's a compromise, right?" She's following along, with the Moon Scepter in one hand, ready to fire of Moon Princess Halation as needed - stronger, and with just as much light to cast off.

Catra has posed:
"I'm not tense."

Catra's ear flicks at the suggestion. Tenser? Her? Phagh. She's walked into battle against everyone and everything from She-Ra to literally a dragon, who scary could a strange lady in a back alley actually b? Tense, the nerve to call her tense. It's not like her tail is poofed up or her ears are rotating on swivels.

"So what do you actually need us to do?" the feline inquires. As she walks she thrusts her hands in her pockets, which probably makes her look as unready for combat as is possible -- except that she's not unready, she's like a coiled up spring ready to explode, just like the cat on Usagi's shoulder. It's just how cats are. Murder on a moment's notice.

"Actually I'd like someone to, y'know, catch me up a bit," she adds. "Who is this 'Lady' and why specifically do we need to go kick her butt all the way into orbit?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Emi, caught off-guard by the tone, but nods. A secret party... "I... I guess..."

    Red blinks at Sarek. "Wait, who? How'd she fade at 40??" She looks back to the 'imposter.'

    "You... who are... how?"

    Amy sighs. "You're not gonna answer any questions, are you. Will you after we beat the Lady again....? Or will you just disappear and we have no idea what's going on...?"

    She sighs. "Of course we're tense. We met someone unknown on our way to fight a monster, that's working for a terrible monster we don't even know how to beat yet. It would be weirder if we weren't tense."

    She nods at Sailor Moon's sugggestion of comprimise. "Hey, yeah! How about that? How'd you make it to 40? ...And did you know any Puella Magi...?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
For her part, Emi is uncomfortable. She's here, exposed, tense. Then again, it's not like literally everyone doesn't know her identity. Still. She lets KenKen out and the spider skitters up her arm out from under her billowing sleeve and then settles on her shoulder, a point of vibrant, prismatic color on her otherwise black shape.

"Probably no idea what's going on. We have no idea what's going on," she mumbles, glancing towards Usagi. She's sticking close.

"I should have brought my bat..."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The noises of the party start getting closer, and lights and chatter "That is hard to say. The portrait we have doesn't show her so young, you know? And I don't have enough of her to really say she can't be like this". She extends her arm towards the other Sarek. But she confuses Veronica so much, the braided phantom thief can't make up her mind.

"But if this were my dream, I don't think she would be like this, you are right, my snowsweet", she replies with a quiet voice. Her supposed predecessor is going forward without a care, and she is not really sure how to take the fragments of answers they have been given.

"The fading back then? I don't like thinking of it, or that I should be gone, and yet I am here", the ponytailed blonde replies. "That's miracle and magical enough, wouldn't you think? I getting everything and anything I can, and that's all that matters here, don't you agree?"

The Princess of Sarek shrugs at Red's question. "That's what we know from the Magic Exhibit", she starts saying, but their guide interrupts. "Over here!", she says, and gets into a side path again.

On the other side, a door opens by a fissure and somebody impossibly tall lingers on the other side. As soon as everyone is inside, a wall rises behind them, and the cat on Sailor Moon's shoulder grows spines, and its eyes glow green, mere seconds before an acidic mist comes out of its mouth.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Immediately, the music starts. It's almost achingly familiar and haunting, a melody that defies description. One feels compelled, almost, to 'get down'. Perhaps even 'boogie'. All around, there is a sense of warmth and comfort that's constrasted sharply by the sharp rise of walls and sharper spines.

"I've MISSED you all so much! Who wants a drink?"

The voice is coming from every angle at once, it feels, followed by a worryingly intense case of vertigo. Movement seems to leaving after-images in front of your eyes, too.

Emi, not prepared for this, slumps back, bunches over, and hurls on her shoes.

The overwhelming vertigo got to her pretty much immediately.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Things aren't adding up, and Mou Fubuki really doesn't like the fact that this girl is triggering alarm bells in Veronica's mind. Mostly because if anyone here would know that something doesn't add up, it would be her beloved who'd know that best of all.

    Yet on the outside, Mou remains as chill as ever. Though the narrowness of her eyes might betray her misgivings.

    One thing is very clear to her: either some kind of time shenanigans are happening, or this is a dream copy.

    They walk through a wall. They see an impossibly tall person, the cat on Sailor Moon's shoulder seems to transform into a monster, and then there's the imposter who led them here.

    "Okay. No. I'll not toler--"

    Oh wow. Things feel very wrong. The voice from everywhere is weird, but the vertigo and after images make everything like twenty times worse. Mou holds her head with one hand, as the opposite hand reaches up to aim at the imposter. The temperature around her drops as icicles form around her and launch at the fake pretending to be Veronica's predecessor.

    "I take it that this is the Lady that you were warning me about?" she asks to the group as a whole.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"THIS is why we need to kick the Lady's butt, Catra!"

The suscat on Usagi's shoulder has completed its totally explicable betrayal and its only the fact that her henshin comes complete with a chestplate that covers her shoulders that prevents her from being skewered through as spikes erupt along the suscat's surface - some of them erupt towards her face, and Sailor Moon cries out and jerks her head, resulting in a few thin scratches rather than spike to cheek impalement.

The acid mists make her cough, skin starting to burn and yanks at the animal with gloved hands, grateful that henshin gloves are stronger than ordinary ones.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow get OFF you jERK!"

The cat is hurled away just as the Lady speaks up and vertigo strikes in accordance with the desire to get down and boogie with it, Sailor Moon spinning about to try and launch her attack and surrendering to the urge to shake what her mama gave her while she swings the Moon Scepter about.

"Moon Princess Halation!"

A beam of silver light blares out, surrounded by a spiraling shower of pink bolts of energy, shrapnel in the shame of star and crescent energy constructs firing out at Suscat and Imposter Sarek - even if they miss, they'll score the walls of the place.

Sailor Moon slaps a free hand to her face, feels the blood and grimaces - then catches sight of Emi slumped over beside a pool of vomit and runs over to her, passing her the Moon Scepter.

"Here," she says sternly, "If anything gets close to you and it's not us, swing this like you would your bat! It will do a lot more to help!"

For her own sake, she pulls the Spiral Heart Moon Rod, ready to fill this maze with hearts if it brings the Lady down once more.

Catra has posed:
Vertigo? Catra's a cat, she doesn't get vertigooOOOOooOOOH GOOD GRIEF THAT'S AWFUL

"What the--- what..?! Catra drops to a knee and claps her hands over her head. This is exactly the sort of problem she has with this planet -- too much noise coming from too many places. Or in this case, all the places all at once. Her ears flatten against her skull under her hands and she grits her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. As she growls and her muscles grow taught, her claws reflexively dig into her own scalp and draw ltitle points of blood.

"GRRRRR STOP IT!! she snarls, bouncing back to her feet with both eyes ablaze, as she hurls brilliant yellow fire around her in all directions. (Well, not at her allies. But most other directions.) "STOP STOP STOP!" she growls, tail lashing as she focues fire blasts at the imposter as well for good measure.

And then, as she pants to catch her breath, she rests her hands on her knees and looks sideways at the little cat that turned spikey, which Sailor Moon has just hurled away from her.

"Traitor," she hisses at it.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy has just been following and having this conversation, keeping an eye out for any monters creeping out from behind corners or the like, but she hasn't been memorizing the path taken at all... although that never helps in a dream, anyway...

    Someone impossibly tall. "Uhh, should we really--" Red starts to ask of the imposter, but she doesn't want to get lost or seperated from her guide so follows after a brief hesitation...

    And then the trap is sprung.

    She's heard this song before, hasn't she? Where? It is a bop...

    Warmth and comfort, but there's an edge...

    She always wondered what people saw in parties like this. And she thought that if she ever got a body like this she'd try and find out, at least once, but she ended up too young...

    So close, perhaps, to snaring her completely, but as with Bliss-chan's fake happiness, there are things that are wrong.

    Who said that? Amy wobbles on her feet, and then the after-images start and she shuts her eyes. "Is this what being drunk is like?"

    It does remind her of the sort of effect she might see in a movie to indicate the POV of someone drunk or drugged. Something sprays her suit and it kind of burns. She has to move out of the spray, but the only way she feels like she can go without falling over is down, so she drops to her knees, one hand braced on the ground.

    ...Are we drugged, she thinks? Senses are comprimised but nothing feels out of whack, and she doesn't feel tired or sleepy. Which is good, her stories don't exactly have helpful advice save to avoid this situation in the first place. But there's a nagging feeling she's forgetting something...

    No time. What sprayed her? Turn that way, open eyes briefly-- "GAH! What the hell is that!?" Amy conjures a weapon but daren't fire with her vision like this. So she conjures a cosplay sword and gauntlets and swings wildly at the spiky THING to try and buy a moment to think of something better!

    "What kind of party IS this?! If you want it to be enticing, you're messing it up! Just like Bliss-chan!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The thing proclaiming to be the older Princess of Sarek grows stiff at the Lady of the Labyrinth's arrival. The trick has done its job. Let's cast the scene away, where the Fade has left it for two hundred years now. It is still wearing the same clothes, but the face is gone now. A mere mannequin someone dreamed of in their longing, now used by dark forces not too dissimilar from those that bore down on the dreamer once.

In this form, the aura surrounding the mannequin isn't hostility, but that same sense of wistfulness and nostalgia that first made it. The same cannot be said for the cats, if that's what they can be called. They would be the sizes of Australian Shepherds, but those dull dark green spines growing in all directions makes that hard to discern.

The cats' eyes shift towards the Lady of the Labyrinth at her approach, and the sense of warmth and comfort she gives out gets to them too. The spines partially retreat, and the green glow of their eyes is partially replaced by a starry motif, a muted grey in colour.

The mannequin stiffly raises a hand and a moonlit wall, decorated by S symbols, rises to protect it from the ice spikes sent by Mou Fubuki. Crack form and form again, and one makes it through, stabbing into a part of its forearm. The mannequin looks down at it.

Would you look at it, someone who should have Faded is in fact, an imposter. Veronica grits her teeth. It did get them to pause and reconsider, so she cannot deny it worked, even when they should have known better.

And despite being a catgirl too in this form, it's not serving her any better than it does Catra, and she hunches over her cane while the world spins around (but well, it's actually still, so it would be hard to hope otherwise. Sadly, there is nothing she can do that wouldn't either risk hitting her friends or do nothing.

"Prismatic Wall!" The shimmering barrier of moonlight forms at her command, while she takes deep breaths, in and out, while she tries to get used to the sense of vertigo.

Catra's fire starts attacking cats left and right, and soon the air is filled by a cacophony of yowls, mixing together in such a way that the Princess of Sarek abandons her cane in favour of clutching her head. Her ears press flat against her head while she waits for the piercing noises to go away.

The intensity of the fire eats away at the spines, and soon, small wooden statuettes of cats are all that's left, and they too fall into the fire.

One of the surviving cats lunges at Catra, slightly inclined so as to hit her with both claws and spines of its size, but Amy's random strike hits their mark causing it to stop with a low meow and a piercing gaze at the redhead, alongside a few of its kind.

Bad choice, because the Moon Princess Halation takes advantage of their distraction to hit them all, making them completely fade into the air, and the same goes for one of the walls, whose upper half falls to the ground like with a loud thud.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi is handed a scepter. Wait, no, not -a- scepter but rather, -the- scepter. She's sorta flummoxed for a moment, a tendril of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth as she accepts it. The overpowering vertigo induced by the Lady of the Labyrinth has her shutting her eyes tightly ands hunkering down, ready to do as she's told: bash whatever gets too close to her with all her might.

Unfortunately, 'all her might' is ... not impressive. She's short and has noodle arms.

The vertigo is not improving at all. If anything, the disorientation is getting worse and worse until things suddenly seem to snap back, to realign.

"He told me you'd come," demures the Lady, striding into view from ... several directions, actually. It's like there were multiple visions of her coming from jarring angles, all striding to a central position to 'form' her like some kind of weird music video imagery. The feeling of warmth and comfort she generates, not so dissimilar to the feeling of 'joy' that Bliss-Chan generates but far less potent and behavior altering is at odds with the coldness of her words.

"He said to tell you that it will be so much easier -- oh, bother what was it -- right! It would be so much easier for you to admit he's already won. That you haven't even seen the beginning of what he's capable of. You know, it's almost that most wonderful time of the year. I should throw a 'Christmas' party," Warm, rich laughter bubbles up from her, "Oh ho ho ho! Yes, how's that song go? 'He knows when you are sleepimg, he knows when you're awake?' He always knows."

"Now, you wretched little things, it's time you pay for ruining my yesteryear party! I have some new tricks!"

Emi girds herself, holding the scepter tighter. "I. Hate. Mannequins."

It sounds personal to her.

Personal as it is, it doesn't distract the Lady from Unveiling her new tricks: a flickering aura of light and color rolling in a waves off her. The synesthesia it produces when it touches them is even worse than the vertigo: their senses are being assailed to a painful extent.

"You'll never guess what happens next!"

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki holds her head in one hand, while raising the opposite arm as if to say, 'no thanks, I don't want any.' Her feet can't decide if they want to stumble around or boogie down, and she's quietly grateful for the fact that at least one person here can testify that she's usually a more graceful dancer than this.

    Wow, this is a trip.

    The Lady starts singing a classic Christmas song, in a specific context to make it seem... pretty creepy actually. Do they really tell kids that kind of thing about Santa?

    "I'm a snow angel, so don't ruin Christmas for me!" protests Mou. That's her birthday too, so she better not-- Oh yuck what is that taste? Why does it taste purple? How can something taste purple?!

    With where her head's at, she's not sure she can attack the mannequin without potentially harming her partner in the process. She's also not sure if she's getting double- no, triple- no, septuple vision from this Lady? How many of her are there?

    Mou has to think a bit, and thinking is hard when she's simultaneously trying to dance, deal with vertigo and synesthesia, and not fall over at the same time. So she defaults to the 'safest' attack she has in her arsenal.

    Icy wings grow out of her back, and this time the added weight of them does cause her to fall over, breaking one of them as she gets on the ground. A new wing grows in its place, pinning her down, the extra weight on her back being the price of channeling this much of her curse.

    The temperature drops, and snow flurries fill the room. The snowflakes have purifying energy, and if anyone falls onto a snowbank then at least it'll hurt a little less.

    She feels really sorry for anyone fighting with exposed legs right now, though.

Catra has posed:
As Catra finishes her attacks, her hands are glowing like embers, and wisps of smoke rise in the air above her. She flexes her fingers, ears on a swivel as she waits for the next attack. Except, that's not what we're getting, instead the Lady needs to say her piece becau--"HEY!!"

The Etherian dives to the side as the evil cat (obviously it's evil) lunges at her with both claws and spines. SPINES. Of all things. And Catra is fast, naturally, but so is the cat (it's a cat afterall) and its weapons dig into Catra's tuxedo in passing -- and, well, Catra as well.

"What the HELL!?" she snarls, whirling around and dropping into a ready stance, bending her knees and keeping the energy ready to spring. "Claws, teeth, fine, but Spines?! What are you trying to be, a sea urchin? That is just UNCIVILIZED."

Catra's hands haven't finished smoldering as she raises them to fire twin rays of flame, one blue and one yellow straight for the cat. Her ears lay flat and her lips curl to show her teeth as she growls, glowing eyes narrowed. Wait, is this personal?

Her attack keeps up right up until the waves of light and color roll off the Lady, and Catra is caught up in the effects of it. Doesn't matter how fast you are; can't really dodge that. Her flames flicker and die out, as she claps her hands, still hissing with heat over her ears, and then over her eyes, as she drops to her knees and grits her teeth. This. This is too much.

Catra struggles back to her feet, just to collapse back down on both knees again; she holds out one hand like she's trying to ward it off, as the noise rattles her brain and bones and makes colors dance in her eyes that she's never seen before, all while that makes the noise build into something worse, and her skin crawls and her nostrils flare likes she's inhaled ghost pepper juice and everything hurts and burns and it

"MAKE IT STOP!!!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Moon Princess Halation helps to eliminate some of those vicious cats, which Sailor Moon, who was decidedly scratched earlier by those spines and is still bleeding from the face over, is glad to witness. What! She's a hero, not a saint, and getting almost stabbed by actually-evil-cats is just beyond the pale.

Another thing about Sailor Moon - she's not immune to vertigo. She's not especially weak to it either, at least, no more than anyone else is, but she does have the unique... blessing... of being an incredibly clumsy person entirely on her own. It means that when she twists from Emi, even though her feet are trying to boogie and her stomach is twisting, she doesn't quite fall, but slopes into an almost-fall that's almost-graceful, Spiral Heart Moon Rod twirling in the air.

"Why would we admit he's won? He hasn't even killed me yet. You can't say the same though!"

Pink hearts pop into the air, twisting, twirling, one growing in size until it's taller than Usagi (not hard) and three times as wide.

"We defeated you before, and we'll defeat him too. You could have done anything with your life and - urgh - instead you're doing the same old, same old!"

The great pink heart launches forward just as Sailor Moon tumbles down, falling to one knee as vertigo overtakes her. She hisses at the pain, and thrusts her rod forwards.

"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's wild swing connected with... whatever that was, but she may as well have hit it with a dull blade, albeit with mahou strength. But it's still for a moment, and that is an opportunity she can reflexively act on -- the cosplay sword is replaced by her pistol, firing point-blank at the... "[Evil Jeremys?]" What words is she even saying. Then the Moon princess Halation just purifies them away.

    But it's not fixing whatever this sensory effect is... Amy struggles to stand.

    And then, for a moment, things are clear. She stands, her outfit's been shifting every time people notice her between magical girl outfits, dresses, clubbing outfits, and more as she's not paying attention to it, and Amy looks...

    Everywhere? Somehow her awareness is drawn to the Lady. It elevates their captor's aura of menace to... more menace.

    "No, I don't think nnngh..." Amy points the pistol at the Lady just as the new effect starts. She fires, a quick double-tap -- and if the rocket-bullets miss they poof into sparkles after passing where the lady was -- and then Amy's seeing stars from how LOUD the gunfire looks. Tastes. Smells?

You'll never guess what happens next!

    It's true that Amy doesn't see a safe way to win here -- at least not when it's hard to think from how loud the lights taste in here -- And her mind contextualizes the path to victory right now as escape rather than winning in combat -- but she's trapped.

    Outside is a dream labyrinth, not a place to get help, and also her friends are here.

    "You can't... rrgh..." Amy growls, trying to see, as cold wind fills the room and feels a fluffy blue against her skin.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica is feeling... not well, but ok enough that she can actually move on her own without relying on her cane to stand still. She grits her teeth as she is assailed by sense of nostalgia for the mannequin. What even? She didn't even know her. She may look up to her story, but not wanting to reunite with someone she has never even met, much less a mannequin!

That sense is powerful enough that she has to actively ignore it to parry when the mannequin swings, in a clash of cane against cane. "You aren't someone I miss, so please take this and don't sling mud on her story!"

Veronica's vision is marred by the stream of colours the Lady of the Labyrinth is causing. It does make it harder to see, and then everything else is assaulted at once. She tastes metal rainbow on her tongue (how does that even work?), smells it even, and feels it tingle all over her skin in a way that takes all of her self-control not to scratch herself.

Worst of all is when the propagation of multicolour light assaults her ears, and she jumps back with a scream, pressing down on them even when they are already laying flat, grimacing at the many images of the Lady.

At the very least she is relatively protected from the wintery air thanks to her long sleeves and skirt, not to mention her long boots.

"You won't either, and I have a surprise for you if you think you can use colours against a painter!", the Princess of Sarek shouts to the nightmare. The ruby ring on her hand glows, and the tip of her cane lights up with a rainbow ember. The cat thief swings it around, and for a single second, the silhouette of a lily lingers into the air.

"Seven-Hued Flame!" Rainbow flames roar in a single stream of fire, and it flows around striking the mannequin and burying it under the blaze, and trying to reach as many images of the Lady as it can.

The mannequin rises again, and the angel of snow's spike has survived the flame, showing the spectacle of a youma singed everywhere with ice growing out of it. It takes stumbling steps forward and raises the cane again, half-consumed by the fire.

A mist of moonlight shimmers and spreads, and then silver shrapnels appear inside it, launched into all directions to attack every mahou here. They don't hurt much, but they are tiny, and they are many.

Several hit Veronica as she runs over to Mou Fubuki, and while they can't get past henshin armour, they definitely add to the sensory hell in a way that she thinks she would lose her mind if she wasn't focused on Mou. "Would you let me share the weight, my love?" She smiles at her beloved, offering a hand.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino is having a bad time of it.

She's already thrown up and now she's being assailed by light and color and she can't really resist it too well right now, as disoriented as she already is. Without her powers, she's just vulnerable.

She cringes.

Of course, as for the rest of them, they may well have guessed what's coming next.

The Lady's Minions barrel out from all directions as the area seems to resolve into a dance floor, and those minions are going for the dance, aiming to snatch the mahou up. As they make their efforts, all of them can feel it: the impending drain.

It gives new meaning to 'dance until you drop'.

As the dancer tries to fumble for her, Emi smacks it with the scepter. It's effective. It's -the- scepter, after all, and even in her hands its still, well... the scepter. THE. Capital THE.

Of course, this has barely begun when the Mahou's efforts begin to bear fruit. The chill generated by Mou with her purifying magic slows down the dancers, first, and then there's 'Moon Spiral Heart Attack', which does its job near to the Lady, sending her staggering to the side (gracefully, though, gracefully!) and there's some disruptive near misses by Amy which further break her concentration. The dancers vanish along with her focus.

"... oh bother," says the Lady, as she stands there for one crystal-clear moment exposed, and everything rights itself.

"I suppose this will hurt," she seems to muse. But she doesn't seem all that concerned.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou's senses, messed up as they are, might make it difficult for her to distinguish friend from foe by sight alone, but her sweetheart's behavior and unfailing kindness at least make her easier to recognize. Looking up at Veronica, she teases, "Offering me your hand already?" before accepting her offer and pulling herself up. Once Mou stumbles back onto her feet, she throws her arm around Veronica and leans against her.

    So, if this vague shape is clearly Veronica, then that other vague shape is clearly the imposter. What's more, it seems to be on its last legs.

    Laisa raises her hand and calls out, "Snow Heart Solstice!" Her snow flurries begin to gather around her and twist in her hand as a mass of snow and ice coalesces into a ball. Her purifying snowball that hovers an inch away from her palm. The magical frost launches from her hand and flies towards the offending mannequin. The snow angel hopes that at least one threat is taken care of for the night.

    Now as for the other...

    Suddenly, for a moment, everything is set right so quickly that it's almost disorienting in a different way. Mou Fubuki's mind goes from 'trying not to stumble' to 'completely normal' and she actually needs to take a moment to stand up straight. "Thanks again, my kitten. No one can say you're not a supportive partner."

    She'd spent much her energy on trying to finish the imposter, but she still has it in her to throw something at the Lady. Mou forms a spear of ice in her hand and chucks it at her.

Catra has posed:
Make.

It.

Stop.

Catra is still holding her head, assaulted by the onslaught of sound and color and sensory noise that's currently teaching her how sometimes those heightened senses can be costly. She grinds her teeth until her jaw hurts; her hackles are up and her claws are out, threatening to dig into her own skin as an enraged snarl rumbles in her throat. Oh, it would be so easy right this moment to just... use Dark Energy again. She can practically feel like, it's right th--

No. That's how she did things before. No more of that.

The Spirit Ember is right there, too, and she reaches for that instead, trying to focus on that instead of all of the noise, to find shelter where the crackling inferno makes an eddy in the howling sensory assault. She forces her breathing to slow; her ears perk up, and she opens her eyes. It's still too much, but maybe...

There's a pattern. There's always a pattern. Everyone is always predictable if you take the time to learn them, just like Shadow Weaver taught her back home. Breath. Think. There.

"Got you," Catra snarls. She bounces to her feet and both of her illusory doubles split off, standing one to either side of her as each of them put their palms together and fire screaming rays of fire at the Lady.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It gets worse before it gets better. Amy screams at tiny needles digging into her skin so brightly, hunched over, trying to pull them out with gauntleted hands, until

Moon Spiral Heart Attack!

    For a moment, everything is clear.

    "Ha! We took out your backup dancers, you're next!"

    Feeling buoyed and triumphant by not feeling hearing seeing tasting everything, Amy lunges for her like she's going to grab and energy drain The Lady instead!

    ...That's not a thing, of course. But setting off a point-blank

BANG!
                                                                   shaped charge explosion in the palm of her hand is.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The chill in the room tastes like sour candy, the sounds of combat burn like flame, every sense misfiring, but Sailor Moon's attacks strike hard and true, her grip on her Spiral Heart Moon Rod strong even down on one knee. There's more she can give, their enemies on the ropes, but there's more than just raw strength in her, and she swings the Spiral Heart Moon Rod, the feel of the firm metal like staring into the full moon - defiant.

Shrapnel strikes her as the mannequin attacks, tiny slivers of pain, and a golden circle is carved in the air as the Lady begins to falter.

"I'm so tired of both of you," Sailor Moon calls. "So are my friends! This should have been a peaceful night, and neither of you awful things should have dragged people into your cruelty! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

The golden circle floods with silver, purifying light, which blasts out.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The burnt mannequin has reached temperatures one would never feel on a winter day, with snow announced by the dark sky during the day. Yet the Snow Heart Solstice doesn't care for how much the mannequin is ready, and the coldest ice starts covering it forever. The purification is bad enough that all movement is stopping, but massive cracks tear the mannequin apart, brought on by the huge gulf between the two extremes in temperature.

Veronica giggles happily at Mou Fubuki's comment, and squeezes the angel's hand when her own is taken. "Might as well do the formality right. It won't change where my heart is, my love", she smirks in response.

There are two rounds of purification thrown around, by both Sailor Moon and her snowsweet, so why not complete the trio? "Let's crown this party with my favourite magic trick. Ready, set... go!" She marks each word with a tap of her cane.

Her cane then cuts the air and a trail of moonlight follows, falling to the ground in shimmers. Wherever the silver light touches, the ground ripples, and seemingly disappear replaced by a glistening sea.

A moon peeks out from under the water, and Veronica tilts her head, letting her top hat fall to her shoulder and outstretched arm, falling and disappearing into the illusionary sea.

The moon shines brighter: with a tap of her foot, more ripples appear in the waters, and with a rumble, her hat breaks out, gigantic and sweeping through the Lady of the Labyrinth with a burst of purification.

It arches in the air, and then falls at normal size into her waiting hand, ready to place it back on her head. The brilliance of the moon fades and the ground returns to normal. "Moonlight Masquerade!"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"In the name of the what now," begins the Lady, but she's too busy being savaged to really get that she's being punished in the name of the moon. Each attack, from Catra, from Amy, from the Princess and Laisa leave it vulnerable for the final attack from Sailor Moon to finally dissolve it into flakes of multicolored light. It's voice hangs in the air.

"... what you do, he will undo."

But for now, the Nightmare is over and that's enough. The music has stopped.

Laisa Samuiko has posed:
    Mou Fubuki has survived yet another magical battle and she has to say it's been a pretty wild experience from start to finish. The mannequin, the Lady, and their various dancers and cats are gone and the room has finally stopped being weird.

    Laisa is still standing close to Sarek, and so leans against her for a moment and complains, "Yeesh. Is it always like this?" She glances towards Veronica and asks, "Did we ever figure out what the deal was with your calling card? Was it just bait to lure you out?"

    Then she looks around at the others to ask, "Everyone okay? We didn't lose anyone did we?"

    After a moment she realizes that if she can make spears and polearms with ice, she can make a cane too. So she does so and uses it to support herself until she's confident in her footing again.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino wobbles and drops to her knees and then clutches her head. She's not feeling very well. Obviously.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is grinning in triumph and relief from the awful disorienting experience. Why was she so worried a moment ago?

    The chaos and disorientation over, Amy's appearance stabilizes, the skimpy clubbing outfit of a moment ago replaced by the 'cute' magical girl outfit as she straightens up and dusts herself off to make sure the shards are gone too.

    But the Lady just has to get the last word. What they do, he'll undo.

    "We'll see about that."

    The music is gone. Her ears are ringing a little. "What song was that? It seemed so familiar..." she mutters. And then realizes Mou Fubuki asked a question. "Uh, yeah, I'm relatively fine. A little sore is all I guess." She looks around, trying to take a count and confirm they didn't lose someone in the distraction.

Catra has posed:
As Catra's fire fades into an afterimage, so do her illusions, leaving just Catra standing where hse is and panting heavily.

It. Stopped.

Finally.

But her ears are still ringing, and she stands there blinking rapidly to clear her vision. And, someone is talking. Actually several people are talking.

"I'm fine," she growls, making the lie painfully obvious as she fishes about in her pocket for her cellphone, and fumbles to unwind cord for her earbuds, wrapped up around it. She jams the earbuds into each ear and taps away at the phone, calling up some music that immediately starts blaring in her ears so loud it can be heard over a dozen feet away, and with that going she turns to start walking back the way she came to get here in the first place, shoulders hunched over and her tail lashing agitatedly behind her.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
    What you do, he will undo.

"And we'll purify you as many times as it takes, until it's his turn," Sailor Moon calls back to the voice. "We've done it twice now, and it's not getting harder."

Subsy had obviously brought the Lady back, and if he did it once, he could probably do it again. Sailor Moon reaches to her cheek, and winces at the throbbing pain from her cat-spike scratches, grimacing. It's late enough that she'll make sure to catch Mamoru before class, because she just wants to go to bed, and they won't get worse over night.

"I'm okay, just a little sore," she confirms, and walks to Emi, reaching down to offer her a hand. As Catra stalks away, music blaring, she can't help but wonder, "How is that any better than all the music the Lady did?"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The Princess of Sarek nods solemnly. "If he is this set on fighting us, he should be ready when he faces everything we have made together. Can he claim to fight something he holds dear?", the cat thief comments in the last moments.

"Maybe, or maybe it was just a coincidence of who they brought with them. But she definitely was, so they are both the same in the end", she considers to Mou Fubuki.

"I didn't know they made headphones for cat ears", Veronica comments surprised and interested when Catra starts listening to music.

"Classy", Veronica smiles when Mou Fubuki makes a support for herself just like hers. I am definitely feeling much better now that those two stopped messing with our senses. Nothing to actually shrug it all off like a warm bath, though."