2887/Entrapta Nightmare Warning

Entrapta Nightmare Warning
Date of Scene:	01 December 2025
Location:	Entrapta's Lab
Synopsis:	A group of Entrapta's friends and also Emi come to warn her about the nightmare express on its way to Tokyo.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Rashmi Terios, Entrapta, Coco Kiumi, Emi Hoshino
Tinyplot:	The Nightmare Nexus

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru had read the note in the Shed and thunked his head against the wall immediately, before rolling unhappily over in his lean to face the room, then taking his phone out. He had taken a picture and texted it around to the mahoujin residing in the Cat Cafe building, then texted it to the Entrapta's Lab Trustees. Then he'd texted Rashmi and Coco and Emi separately, all to meet him at the back door entrance to Entrapta's lab (and its location) at (time).

Then he went home and changed, and talked to the boys and worried about Kazuo's mom and grandparents who couldn't be on campus, then he'd gone to let Entrapta and Penelope know that people would be coming to visit.

Now he's waiting at the bottom of a sturdy outdoors flight of stairs leading to a second-floor security door and chunks of new brickwork where there used to be windows, on several other floors above. He's bouncing on his heels and has his hands in his pockets and Usagi's dad's coat on over his leather jacket and a beanie and a scarf, because he is cold.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Emily is powered down, outside Entrapta's door. Looks like her battery has gone dead, and she's sitting there waiting to get in to her charging station. It's a sad thing, when a robot can't get to its home, and a sign that Entrapta herself is probably extremely distracted since Emily is the closest thing to a daughter she has!

That being said, there's not any real danger to the roomba. Just a bit of a quiet moment, when it is on a downtime. And it'd be easy enough to pick her up and bring her home, when the group has gathered.

Inside, the soundproofing is doing its job. You can't even tell that it's likely a mad scientist's laboratory. I mean, nothing's on fire at all! Visibly from the street anyway.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Now, Emi got that message and responded with something akin to 'yeah sure', and made her way over there.

If we're being honest, Emi still doesn't look great. Better, perhaps, than she did in the immediate aftermath of the fight in the Kyoto station, but still not great. There are dark circles under her eyes , even now, and her fashion isn't even fully up to snuff. Still gothic, of course, but just a little less elegant. A lot less elegant, actually.

She greets the others with a tired little wave. Still a long ways to go, it seems.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The combination of Emi's note in the Shed, and Mamoru's call to meet at the cafe's parking lot, is definitely urgent enough to bring Rashmi out with a quickness. And as she rocks up on the growing outdoor conference, she seems to have some hot chocolate confection keeping her fingers warm.

Beaming a silent greeting to those currently gathered, she brings one hand up to the charm at her neck, and comes away with a bakery box, still leaking steam around the edges. "I got assorted taiyaki! The white gills are custard, the black gills are chocolate, and the red gills're raspberry jam!"

For some mahou, 'food is love' is less a saying than a sacred creed.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Coco was only vaguely aware of everything that had been transpiring recently, with how frequently she had been moving between Tokyo and the Indian Ocean with Seira's help, but she has still read the notice on the Shed and is in Tokyo when Mamoru sends her that text.

She isn't really making a lot of progress anyway, so the change of pace might help her come back with a clearer mind. Even if she were, one of her friends needs help anyway. Why would she ever turn it down?

And if there is something she can do well, that's fighting back against negative feelings and those fueled by them, so she is feeling reasonably confident about helping out here.

Slightly later, she at the door of Entrapta's new residence, bringing Cora with herself. Extra support from an amicable otter, never hurts, and she is quite friendly, even if Coco has to act as an interpreter.

"Hello, everyone", she smiles after being let in. "I got here as soon as I could."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When Mamoru sees them approaching, he scrambles up the steps in a hurry, then he leans over the edge of the little balcony that those sturdy steps lead to and waves. "Come up, come up, she's usually in the lab instead of her apartment," he calls, then buttonmashes to get inside where it's warm, and holds the door of the 'airlock'/corridor for everyone, and inhaaaales the scent of taiyaki. And there's Emily just outside Entrapta's door with dead batteries, and Mamoru looks alarmed and scoops her up into his arms like Coco with Cora, except Emily is a modified roomba. Don't worry about it.

Before he opens the door to the lab itself he says to Emi, very seriously, while holding a roomba like it's a baby, "I can probably help with the physical wear and tear on you from all this, even if I can't help you put your dreams back together. Let me know. Also, I don't know if you've talked much to Entrapta, but she's weirder than me. She means very well, I promise." Then he pauses. "I don't know how she feels about eating in her lab, so let's try to get her downstairs for a little while."

Finally Mamoru opens the lab door and calls, "Entrapta! Penelope! I brought some friends and also Emily, who's asleep. Where's her charging station?" he calls out, louder if Entrapta's not currently visible. He gets out of the way of everyone else coming in.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
First things first: Entrapta is not visible. She is, in fact, in her laboratory. Working. She has electricity flowing between two machines, and it's crackling in the air and she appears to have opened up the roof to get access to the wiring.

The shouting has an effect. The effect is Entrapta dropping a beaker, and suddenly there's smoke and some kind of stink coming out of the laboratory half. A sudden metallic screech echoed from the lab's depths, followed by a cascade of violet sparks that danced across glass beakers filled with bubbling emerald liquid. Entrapta stood frozen mid-reach toward a control panel, thick goggles slid down her nose, revealing wide eyes fixed on her work. Her hair, usually a chaotic halo, is partly tangled in a network of glowing fiber-optic cables snaking from the ceiling.

Turning from the sudden (or not so sudden, given how much she's already worked on the apparent electrics in the ceiling) chaos, Entrapta comes to the door. Then peers out, her face now kind of darkened by soot and smoke.

A silver ring on her thumb flickered wildly. Behind her, a containment sphere pulses with unstable light, casting jagged shadows that slither like fractured code across the walls.

"Hi."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah, we've met a time or two," replies Emi. The roomba is giving a weird look. Did they say its name was 'Emily'? Hmph. Too close to her own for her own comfort.

When Entrapta shows her soot-covered face, Emi sort of winds up staring at her as she addresses Mamoru's comment towards her own self, at last. "Uh. Yeah. I appreciate that, Mamoru. Just, you know. Working hard trying to fix stuff. I'm making progress, I guess."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
'Entrapta is in the lab.'

Despite how little Coco had met her, she has understood that news was already on the level of 'books found in the library'. "Well, I hope she is taking breaks sometimes", Coco replies smiling at Mamoru's announcement, and following behind him.

She gives a curious glance at the modified "dead" roomba, but it otherwise goes unaddressed.

"Let me know if you want help. I can deal with any stress or troublesome emotions you have, Emi-san", Coco intervenes in the discussion. You never know how many hands are enough.

"Hello, Entrapta, we got here to help!", she bursts into the room, making herself heard as soon as they enter the room.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Also," Rashmi says to Emi, "I need to talk to you later. I kind of owe you a huge apology, but I'll explain then." Whatever it is, the redhead does look genuinely contrite, so it's possibly not frivolous.

At the sight of Coco and Cora, Rashmi cannot help but grin and wave, beaming to the blond. "It's good to see you both, Coco-chan, Cora-chan! Thanks for coming!"

At which point Mamoru lets them into the lab, and Rashmi peers about, both surprised and utterly unsurprised at the amount of work done already... which is when the mishap mishappens, and for a moment Rashmi just... stares back at her kohai, eyes wide. "...Hey, Entrapta-chan, uh... did we come at a bad time? Cos I brought tiny snacks for you and we all have news you're gonna want to hear..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Just saying, the help's on offer with no trouble to the," he nods to Coco at the mermaid princess' addition to Emi, then gestures at himself, "people offering help. I'll let it be, just text us or whatever if you want it."

But WOW is stuff IMMEDIATEly going on.

Mamoru stares for a moment, then holds Emily out to Entrapta. "Also, she needs to nap on her charger, not outside the door."

He glances between the others, then looks back at Entrapta and says, "We can set up a feed to the cameras outside your exit to the building and your apartment door inside, to make sure Penelope's notified when there are people approaching, and she can tell you-- would that help in keeping you from being devastatingly surprised?"

Once Emily is no longer in his arms, he adds, "There are delicious snacks. We'll bring them downstairs. Please come with us as soon as it's safe to!"

The door to the apartment downstairs is at the other end of the "calm" lab, the one everyone is standing in except for Entrapta. Mamoru starts over toward it and opens it, then looks back hopefully.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Emi squints.

Rashmi gets a long stare.

"Yeah, okay," she tells her after that pause and then she looks towards Entrapta and then around at the others. She's got a feeling that this is all her fault (of a sort) and that her problems have once again complicated things for others.

"Uh, yeah," she says after a moment, raising a hand to sweep her long bangs out of her eyes. This pale and drawn she already looks too much like a yurei.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Coco smiles at Mamoru over his clarification, and focuses on Entrapta for now. Guess Emi will decide to tell them if she needs help. She instead looks at Rashmi, and immediately matches her energy. "It's good to see you too, Rashmi-chan! I wouldn't miss it, of course!"

Cora raises her face and squeaks a few times at Rashmi. "She is saying she is happy to see you too, and if you have any berries" Coco explains to her.

The contrite expression surprises her, though, and she tilts her head at Rashmi. Coco half-raises an arm, really wanting to ask if something is the trouble, but... That could put Rashmi on the stop, no? Best to keep it for later, she decided, relaxing it along her side.

"Can we also set up some detector of magical energy? Entrapta can know how much she has around her home. And if they can't be seen, a strong signal would still give them away" she suggests to Mamoru, starting to follow him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
So there's a lot going on, and Entrapta has said exactly one word. Having Emily in her arms though, that seems to ground her given her complete lack of a response til now.

She turns, twisting her hair out of its entrapment, and then carries the little robot to a charging station. Then she kneels, almost delicately, and whispers to it while everyone else is chattering.

"It's okay, I'm so sorry. I'll fix the door, so this never happens again. You'll be okay, I'll take care of you...."

It's so clearly motherly, that the little light showing 'charging' on the roomba makes her smile. Then she stands, pats the roomba affectionately, and turns to the ...people. Can't call them all humans, really.

She seems to take a long breath, hold it, then let it out. Rashmi sees her visibly put on the 'social' mask, as she smiles. Review the conversations so far from her stored memory. Decide what to say.

"I'm sorry, but most of what everyone's just said is not sense in any form that I can decipher. I've got offers of food, apologies for things that haven't been clarified by multiple people, and inter-party discussions that I have no context to parse. Can someone please state what the purpose of this visit is?"

Then, as an add-on, "Thank you for caring for Emily. I wasn't a good robot mom."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...Sorry, Entrapta-chan," Rashmi says as she follows the Etherian's logic. Yeah, bunch of people all bursting in on her lab space making little sense... Yeah. Better to just summarize. "So the short version is, something really, really bad's on its way to Tokyo, and when it gets here it's going to cause problems that don't line up with the 'usual' Big Monster Crisis. Would you like to come downstairs with us, so we can explain in more detail and have snacks?"

Hopefully that'll be sufficient to inform a decision!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru actually keeps his mouth shut as he leads the way down the stairs, removing himself from the confusion of the situation and positioning himself to get Entrapta's tinyfood set up as backup in case the taiyaki is too big. He also puts tea on and fishes around in Entrapta's fridge doing an inventory while he waits for the entourage to relocate.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Ah. So, the 'why' of why she's here is starting to make sense. Emi sort of nods along with it, yawning. She's giving the others room to explain a little bit for the time being. Pretty much anything she'd have to say out of the gate just got covered by Rashmi and so she follows along. Not much for her to add just yet beyond looking fatigued. She's good at that.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Ah. Entrapta glances into her laboratory, clearly loathe to leave work unfinished, but she says, "Give me a moment."

Then she goes inside, and starts shutting down the stuff that won't wait. "This gives me time to remodel the walls so I can install things there anyway. I kind of got ahead of myself with installing tech before setting up the basics, but I was so occupied with the work! There." She re-emerges then, only smoking a little bit from her fingers, and washes her hands in the sink. With soap and water.

"Okay, let's go. It's healthy to take breaks, and I needed to rethink my priority schedule anyway."

She motions to the doorway, and her stomach rumbles. The frown on her face suggests that she'd forgotten that eating was necessary. Again.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Coco gives an awkward smile as Entrapta points out the rather obvious flaw in their approach. Looks like she has been letting the situation gets ahead of herself. "Sorry, Entrapta-chan", she apologises after Rashmi has finished explaining the situation for them.

"Please don't worry though, we should be able to deal with this no problem", she tries to preemptively comfort the Etherian, and follows after Mamoru when they once again change location.

"I really like how this place turned out", she comments on the way downstairs. Despite providing money to help build it, it's actually the first time Coco sees it. "What kind of remodeling do you want? It's part of our job to make sure everything is as you like it", she nods twice. "But I think we should let Rashmi take care of your stomach first", Coco notes at the rumble smiling gently.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It is important!" Rashmi agrees with a bob of her head, leading Entrapta down the stairs and into the living area. "And we'll get you some proper food after, I just brought snacks."

Once downstairs with the rest, Rashmi brings out the big box with its steaming hot taiyaki treats, to set on the table. When Entrapta chooses a place to sit, she retrieves a smaller box, and sets it in front of the Etherian.

Tiny dorayaki, a bite-sized sandwich of pancakes around the exact kinds of filling she'd described for the other snacks, but in almost-macaron shape. "There... So, who wants to get the explanation started? I'll handle drinks for folk, I'm pretty sure we have something for everyone?"

This last, said with a questioning look at Mamoru by the fridge.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a nod back to Rashmi, cheerful; he takes out a pot of adasi -- Persian lentil stew -- and sets it on the stove to reheat, and takes lentil stew ice cubes and literally puts them in shot glasses in the microwave. He flashes a packet of flatbread and a packet of pita chips at Rashmi before putting them on the table, too. "Protein," he says, gesturing back at the stew.

Then he leans with his knuckles on the table and says, "Entrapta, there's a big problem badguy, and his backup is approaching Tokyo. It's going to mess with everyone's sleep by sending lots of nightmares, and the closest place to sleep that has even a little bit of psychic protection against that onslaught is campus. We're worried about you when it hits. Will you be willing to temporarily relocate during the nighttimes until the problem's dealt with, or shall we work something out? Also, you don't happen to have anything that can protect against psychic assault, do you?"

This last is added sheepishly.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hokay. In order of response, and allowing everyone to finish before she speaks, Entrapta keeps her mouth closed until that time. She sits in a seat, watching folks gather and move food around into optimal positions, and begins to inspect the food before her.

"Cute," she says as she looks at the tiny foods. and noms one as is appropriate, given that she is actually quite famished.

"I don't know what remodeling I need. I just know that I need it. My laboratories often change from one day to the next, so I'm not going to put constant remodelling on anyone else. I'll thicken the walls at the very least, and rewire for more access points. Thicker walls allow me to safely store away dangerous tools without having them openly accessable."

Then, after eating a tiny dorayaki, she turns to Mamoru. And raises a point. "What effect would it have if I just didn't sleep? But if needed I can use my old dorm room, certainly. I need to strip out a lot of equipment there anyway, we left without letting me get everything back to spec. And I could put together something to handle psychic energy. What wavelength is it on? Nobody's let me test psychic powers yet."

Another new magic? I'm surprised she's not squealing.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...you need to sleep, Entrapta," says Emi, firmly aiming to slap that one down right away. "Do you remember when I took you to the dreamscape? He's there -- but he's a big problem and you'd be safer on campus." She rubs the side of her head for a moment and then adds, "So sleep is good. We just don't want to leave anyone exposed if we can help it, you know? Safety and stuff." A nod.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I mean, yeah Entrapta-chan, sleep is kind of essential. At the very least, hallucinations are kind of bad for getting anything worthwhile done, and it falls under 'things that people who care about your health will nag you about,'" Rashmi says firmly, nodding her agreement with Emi.

She pauses for a moment, then tilts her head. "I'm not sure how we can make scanning dream magic possible, but... there's a project at the Shed you could help us with, Entrapta-chan? Apparently there's an old artifact that used to be used to transfer memories, and more analysis is always better?"

Yessssss... perhaps her kohai will succumb to the lure of new data...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When food starts getting passed around, Coco takes a few strips of salmon out of her bag and hands them over to Cora so the otter wouldn't feel left out, and switches to cradling her with her left harm.

"Thank you, Rashmi-chan", she tells the redhead while taking one of the Taiyaki. While the otter has started nibbling into her food with her head turned towards everyone else, Coco addresses what Entrapta is saying.

"You can't just not sleep forever, right? And you will put yourself in danger even just without a few nights", she points out gently. Then she makes to her the same offer she has given Emi. "My magic can help out if you are feeling stressed. At least with helping you approach sleep well." She can make no guarantee with the sleep itself.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
...Mamoru looks so relieved at Entrapta's reaction and response; all the tension just bleeds out at once when she's so agreeable about sleeping on campus. He leans against the counter with his arms crossed, not stirring the stew yet, waiting for the microwave to beep the shot glasses (guaranteed microwave-safe!)

"What they said: not sleeping has well-documented effects, and none of them are positive. I believe you're certifiably insane and hallucinating after seventy two hours awake. I know I hallucinate by 40 hours..."

The black-haired boy laughs, half-turning to finally stir the stew a little bit, and turn up the heat under it. "I'm psychic and I can interact with dreams a little more than most people, though mostly my own. You can test my psychic stuff whenever, except for right now, because right now is time to eat. Emi-san, however, is the Oneiropope. You and she should have a scientific research sleep session soon! After this is over."

Then he snappoints to Rashmi. "That too. And I'm reminded, we should see if we can get the pieces of real jar-- or the real jar? I don't remember if it's broken or not-- back to the museum. I can sneak it in." Mamoru gives Coco a little smile. "I might take you up on that myself. This is really going to suck."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"How many of the tests have been done on my species?" Entrapta asks, not tense at all. Just curious, from her tone. She eats, because eating is something that she has tested as a necessary addition to standard study time. "Still, I suppose I can generally go along with it. I've gone much longer than that though."

Entrapta turns to look around, then says, "What project?" to Rashmi's comment on the Shed. She knows the Shed. It was her first lab in this realm.

Clearly not arguing the main point, she's going to go where required. Scratching her head, the purple haired pigtailed wonder pauses. "I still don't understand some of your slang. What does sucking mean in this context? Does it relate in some fashion to the way an oxygen-low atmosphere drains away your ability to take action?"

She glances to Emi, and to Coco, uncertainty on her face.

But then she pauses. Looks at Rashmi, then asks, "Does nobody other than you know what I'm actually doing?" She makes something of a face. "What I do, all day, is scan magical signatures and try to recreate them with existent tools. Or invent the tools that allow me to interact with them. That's...literally all of my research. Magical wavelength guides and the ability to manipulate them."

She shakes her head. "I should put up a memo someplace..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
So, Entrapta is talking and Emi is listening.

Or she gives the appearance of listening.

Her eyes might be glazing over a little.

A litle.

"Yeah. Oneiropope. That's me," she remarks. The comments on the jar are largely lost on her, if we're honest. She's been a little self absorbed as of late. "Magical wavelength ... so you can like detect magic and stuff? I wonder if you could help identify nightmare energy in the leylines like that?" Okay, she understood that, at least. She glances towards Mamoru. She has concerns about him, after all, given how he's been responding to its presence thus far.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Poor Entrapta-chan needs a lot explained to her, at the moment. But what is a senpai for, if not explaining the unknown?

"Okay... easiest one first, 'suck' in this context is slang for 'be unpleasant to endure.' In this case it's a massive understatement, but a typical use case is like 'I didn't do my studying, tomorrow's math test is really going to suck.'"

Personal experience? Probably.

"The project... a magical artifact was stolen from the museum, and recovered by our people. Apparently it was a tool for storing and reliving memories, but whatever memories were in it are gone now. But we've still been analyzing the jar itself, so there's plenty of time to give it a serious look before we take it back -- and it's whole, Mamo-san, just used up."

Pausing to take a bowl of soup, and appreciate a new meal, she beams. "This is really good! And yeah Entrapta-chan, a memo'd probably be a good idea. Also taking breaks in research to talk to people, but, that's always just optional."

Rashmi pauses, mentally running down a checklist to see if she covered everything, then nods decisively. "I do hope we don't run you ragged when this nightmare drops into Tokyo, Coco-chan."

Because even with the Crystal Heart's protection, it feels to Rashmi like Coco's music will be an invaluable help in keeping the students going.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Coco tilts her head when Mamoru mentions he allucinates by 40 hours. That is really a lot to have spent awake. "I am sure Entrapta will enjoy running tests with your psychic abilities", she considers with a smile.

Though, her curiosity strikes Coco as bottomless, so maybe someone should come along with him and switch places to ensure Mamoru has a break. Or Emi too, since Mamoru brings her up.

"I am not here on vacation", she replies to Rashmi with a smile. "So I don't want to watch by the side with something like this. We are friends, no? And I really like singing, so don't worry about it. I can give you both one of my specials anytime you want." She is really going to insist they don't trouble themselves over it, it sounds like.