2250/Made of This

Made of This
Date of Scene:	15 January 2025
Location:	Dreamscape
Synopsis:	After helping Emi defeat Gin's Nightmare in Scene 2239, Mamoru, Usagi, and Kazuo meet up with Emi twice over - first in the physical world, and secondly in the dreamworld, where they learn far more about their new friend. Ally. Surely she'll take being an acquaintance?
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Emi Hoshino, Kazuo Saitou

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It is the promised two hours later, and Mamoru and Usagi are where texts said they would be: at the school's Cafeteria Plaza, occupying an otherwise-empty table by the door, with other students scattered about studying with snacks or plying crying friends with fried food, et cetera.

The too-tall boy isn't being too-tall right now, since he's sitting down, even if... okay, he's still too tall sitting down. His hair's fluffy black with a cowlick, and his leather jacket's draped over the back of his chair, and he's wearing a long-sleeved white t-shirt that says "I'm the Coolest Mamo-Chan" on it with his black jeans and a pair of dress shoes.

On the tray in front of him are: coffee, chocolate milk, red bean taiyaki, and red jello.

"If she doesn't come in like fifteen more minutes, we should just make out."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Be patient," Usagi chides around half a cream-filled taiyaki. She's got a small plate of them in front of her, and she's already devoured one. "She's probably spooked! I mean we did show up out of nowhere in that messy fight."

And it had been a pretty crazy fight - she's hoping Emi will give them more information about that, because that was pretty... scary.

She's changed clothes too, naturally, and is sitting comfortable in bright green leggings and a dark green sweater over a pink shirt. The sweater has a frog face pattern. In addition to the taiyaki, she's got hot chocolate, with a huge pile of whipped cream on top.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
In reality, Emi went straight back to her dorm room once she was free and pitched forward into bed. She needed to get back to the dream world and ensure that the matter had realy been resolved. This takes up much of the two hour window she had agreed to and soon enough she's rousing herself from her sofa, tripping over her coffee table, and getting a quick shower and fresh clothes. Deciding on an outfit is always tough for her: This black dress? This other black dress? Or this other black outfit? Very difficult choices, one sees. Soon enough, however, she has dressed. Today is indeed a skirt day and she compliments it with boots and striped knee-highs.

As such, when Emi finally arrives, she is looking mightily goth-appropriate and armed only with a carefully cultivated aura of indifference as opposed to a baseball bat. One is probably more believable than the other.

With a yawn, she makes her way towards the pair, recognizing them easily enough. That height and that hair would stand out anywhere.

She slides into an open seat and leans back in it.

"Hullo," she offers with a slight bow of her head.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Sorry," Mamoru laughs at Usagi's scolding, but he's clearly only mildly sorry.

After a moment's worth of coffee and setting it down, he sees Emi approaching and waves. "Hi. How are your hands?"

Straight to the point-- and then he takes a breath. "Also, sorry for scaring you. I knew what I was doing but I forgot how it would look." A beat. "With the sword."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
He is definitely only apologizing because she said it and not because he fully agrees, but lucky for him and her, she is happy to accept that - especially because Emi-chan is there! And looking cute in her goth attire and lack of baseball bat!

"Hey," she says cheerfully. "Want a taiyaki? These are mine, but I'll grab you one."

Usagi you have an entire plate of them - but at least Mamoru is getting right into the business end of things.

"He's really good with that sword," she says seriously, "But you don't really know us, so it was probably pretty scary?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi raises one bandaged hand towards Mamoru, palm towards him. She's replaced the loose wrap she had earlier with a properly cut bit of gauze and tape covering her palm.

"They're fine," she says, though its clear that the wounds still pain her some given her reaction to lay them flat on the table includes a slight wince.

"... sure." she offers as to food. She supposes she should eat.

"Yeah, I could see that you two knew what you were doing but I wasn't exactly expecting company." She sets aside the question she clearly has about how they knew she was there, and instead moves on to the more dominant question she's sure they have.

"A nightmare," she tells them. "You were right about that," She indicates to Mamoru with a slight gesture before she leans back in her chair with a creak. Also, the chair creaks too.

She struggles to find her next words, to take care with them.

"How did you know?" she asks Mamoru.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru glances at Usagi while she's speaking, but his gaze shifts to Emi's hand. His jaw sets when she says they're fine, but he won't push. He'll just ask one more time. Just-- in a minute. He looks unhappy and slouches down in his chair, eating his own taiyaki while he listens.

Then ... he blinks, and hurriedly finishes that bite so he can answer Emi, "That it was a dream? Because it was acting the way dreams act before I control them. The way space and time were stretching, things making sense when they shouldn't-- when you notice that, right? I didn't remember falling asleep, but that doesn't mean anything. And I knew it wasn't a Witch since we were still on Earth."

Perfectly honest answers that assume way too much knowledge on the part of the listeners. "Uh, I can tell if I'm physically on Earth."

Probably not the important part.

"So how did it get out into the real world?" he asks with interest, actually managing to forget about Emi's hands for a moment. "And bring some of its space with it? Was that what that was?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Those bandages do look pretty good," Usagi says diplomatically, "But you know, if you want instant no bandages necessary hands again, Mamochan can literally heal you. No healing time necessary!"

This is going to be her one additional pitch, but otherwise she's gonna let the girl have her autonomy. Even if the autonomy is to keep hurting.

"Okay, I'm going to be right back- honestly I didn't really know what was going on until Mamochan gave me the hint though!"

And she steps away to go grab Emi a taiyaki, real quick like.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
As Mamoru speaks, Emi listens. She leans forward in her chair, intense in thought. Her mismatched eyes study him intensely before she closes her green eye. She opens it again fter a moment.

"I believe you," she finally says, "And I definitely believe you." She lays her hand palm down on the table. "So here's what we're going to do. Rather than explain everything, I'll show you," she tells Mamoru. "If you are really a lucid dreamer, you might even be fortunate to remember if you're good with lucid dreaming."

She drums a finger on the table for a moment thoughtfully on how to answer, unsure how to parse a number of things he's otherwise said if her expressions are to be any guide.

"KenKen," she calls, "Come on out."

The Japanese jumping spider crawls out from beneath her collar and moves to sit on her shoulder. It's smaller right now.

"KenKen, say hello."

KenKen wiggles a front leg. "Hi," it squeaks, its voice belonging to some all too cutesy anime with chibi character, but it is, in fact, a talking spider.

"No one's ever been able to see KenKen. KenKen is also a piece of dream. My dream. I'd like you to take her home with you tonight. She'll offer me the bridge I need to show you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
'I believe you' AND 'AND I definitely believe you'-- Mamoru's gaze focuses on Emi's face at that, and he looks thoughtful.

Right before KenKen comes out, he's holding his hand palm up and out, sliding it halfway across the table but not touching Emi's.

Then KenKen comes out and Mamoru's reaction is instant, he pulls his hand back at just under the speed of sound. His eyes are very round behind his glasses and he's frozen in place. And then... KenKen... talks.

"Hi," Mamoru squeaks back.

He swallows.

"I mean or you could just show me, I'm a touch psychic. I can't dig but if you think something loud enough at me, or it's pictures, or clips, I can pick that up. Alsoo emotions. But I can wall it all off and still be able to heal, it's just more effort. But I had a nap. *Please* let me heal your hands this is-- KenKen-san can you please ask her to let me heal her?"

The storybook prince upperclassman brightens, holding up a finger. He twists a hand in the air and produces a perfect red rose out of nowhere, which-- if it's something Emi can pick up on, or KenKen, there's a whiff of dream about. "Or you can just take one of these. They have my magic in them. I can pull people into my dreams with them, if they go to sleep holding them."

His voice gets smaller. "But if I-- please, KenKen-san, I would welcome you to my home if you let my boyfriend carry you?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is returning with not one but two taiyaki, all the better to snack on after an exciting fight. One is filled with a chocolate cream, the other has red-bean paste, and both are hot and crisp, perfect. Hopefully, Emi's been convinced to be healed because letting things heal is a pain even if it is the totally normal thing, she supposes.

These are the thoughts she's having when she gets back to the table, and notes KenKen's presence among them.

"O-oh," she says, quick, eyes widening, and then she smiles because she has met Ahmya's eye spider and she can do this! "Hello! I'm Usagi, I didn't realize Emi-chan had a friend with her. Do you want to share the taiyaki with her?"

The plate is carefully placed by Emi, and then Usagi sits right next to Mamoru, and her hands are careful not to graze KenKen, even as she's smiling warmly.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
KenKen's pedipalps go up and down before it settles down into a more clearly restful position on Emi's shoulder. "No thank you," the spider replies to Usagi, "I ate a couple hours ago."

Emi smiles and without looking at the spider raises a hand to pet it on its back with her opposite hand. In the meantime, Emi is squinting at the presented rose as the words 'boyfriend' sink in. "But I thought..." She glances back and forth between Usagi and Mamoru before the understanding settles into place. "... you can pull other people into your own dream?" she decides to focus on. "Interesting. We'll talk about that." She clasps her hands together in front of her.

Givivng a thankful nod to Usagi, Emi takes a piece of the taiyaki as she does.

"Sounds like you have a lot about your dreams figured out already. That's good. It'll help. And as for the healing, you'll get your chance -- tonight," she tells Mamoru as she accepts his rose. "If what you're saying is accurate, that is. Will you be there too?" She asks Usagi, then. "ANd, uh... I guess?" She adds about someone else carrying KenKen.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru shrinks a little in his seat, trying to keep KenKen in his peripheral vision but not look directly at her, and his smile's a little fixed until Emi gives the go-ahead for Kazuo to carry KenKen. Then his shoulders relax. "Kazuo!" he calls, no honorific at all, cheer in his voice.

"I apologize, he's even taller than I am," he says to Emi. And then he bumps shoulders with Usagi as Emi takes the rose. "Kazuo-kun might be there too, or might be extra paranoid and be on watch outside, depending on what you plan on showing us."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I'll be there! Wouldn't be the first time Mamochan and I shared dreams, and besides... he's the better dreamer than me, anyway."

Given that he could pull people into his dreams! Usagi herself... she couldn't really do that, or much of anything with her dreams, besides have them. She doesn't mind though.

"Kazuo-kun is his boyfriend," she adds, having caught that little, 'but I thought', "And there's another one too, but Kazuo-kun's the one more likely to be around."
Shehe bumps shoulders with Mamour in return, light and amused, and hopes he understands that she's saying this not because Tamaki didn't spend time with Mamoru, but because he doesn't live in the same apartment as him.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
At the call, someone well across the cafeteria and not facing their table unfolds, leaving his tray behind to make his way over. Unlike Mamoru, he's actually wearing the school uniform. This doesn't help him blend in, because not only is he even taller than Mamoru, his long hair is stark white.

Kazuo comes up beside the table and bows politely to Emi, keeping enough distance that this doesn't risk either bumping his head on anyone or accidentally sweeping his hair through anybody's taiyaki. Or jello. Red jello on that hair would probably have people reflexively screaming for the school nurse.

Bow number one is followed by bow number two. Apparently still to Emi, for anyone who can't tell that Emi is also at the moment a vehicle. "You called?" he says casually aside to Mamoru.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"...hi," says Emi, peering up at Kazuo with one of her eyes closed, her green one, as she studies him for a moment with intense scrutiny. There's a certain tension to the way she sits, a sense of her restraining her desire to get the hell out of here.

She bites into her taiyaki and takes but a second to save it before she sets it back down and scontinues, "... KenKen, say hello."

KenKen again says, in that wee adorable sounding whisper, "Hi!"

"She'll spend the night perched somewhere safe. Just don't squish her, She hates that."

"Watch where you're sitting next time, Emi-Chan," replies the spider to Emi before aiming to JUMP RIGHT AT KAZUO to land on his shoulder. Jumping spiders can live up to their name.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We'll be hosting KenKen-san tonight. I'll ask Chibiusa-chan to cuddle Anko extra, because I would prefer nobody killed anybody else on purpose or on accident," says Mamoru, craning his neck. "Are you going to lurk ghoulishly or bring your tray over? Gosh, I didn't expect you to literally drop everything at my whim..."

He's a little too frantic. He's just a little toooo frantic. "Can you carry aaaAAAA^^^^" goes Mamoru as KenKen jumps; his blood runs cold and he grips the edge of the table like it's a high tension power line.

The Crown Prince of Earth and Elysion gulps air and laughs raggedly as he disentangles himself from where he practically crawled up Usagi. "Ahaha, sorry, haha-- ahm. Kazuo this is Emi-san and I don't know the rest of her name, and that's-- that's--" He takes a breath. "That's KenKen-san on you. And the two of you, this is Kazuo Saitou, my boyfriend and first of my knights."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Of course Kazuo-kun bows to a spider. He's polite like that, and KenKen is clearly not just a spider, the same way that Luna is more than a cat. It's still a little funny to watch. Especially when his bowing barely brings him down to Emi or Usagi's height. She leans towards Emi, stage whispering, "He's very tall, isn't he?"

What's he so tall for, huh? What's he need that much height for? The world wants to know.

And then the jumping spider jumps and her boyfriend screams and Usagi doesn't scream but she half-crawls into Mamoru's lap at the same time that he half-crawls into hers and the result is a mishmash of limbs.

"W-wow! You're really fast, aren't you KenKen?" Her heart is beating very fast.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
At least there is warning! ... in that 'Hi!' being followed by notes about where the spider is spending the night. Kazuo blinks and holds still. This is, in fact, a useless gesture, since by the time the blink is over he is now a vehicle. It does, however, mean he doesn't knock anything over when Mamoru and Usagi attempt to merge bodies.

"I'm pleased to meet you both," he says in the wake of the everything. "Kenken-san, I hope that if there's anything else that would make your visit easier or more pleasant, you'll tell me at some point." Not squishing: accepted. Lurking ghoulishly: also accepted. After all, he has the (pastel) (prismatic) decor now.

Also, yes: there is no actual blanket promise to carry through, because living with an overly communicative cat is an excellent way to be primed for vastly unreasonable requests right alongside the sure-no-problem kind.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino stares at Mamoru and Usagi for a moment, but then, she can sympathize. She would have reacted that one once too so she instead chooses to smile at them both. "Sorry," she apologizes to them. "I hope her presence will not make you too uncomfortable, but since you can see her she is the easiest bridge for me. You'll understand soon. Speaking of, I should get back to my dorm. I am going to need a little bit to prepare and you'll need time to get home and get into the dream. I'll see you soon." She's up om her feet, then, and she bows towards both of them, then to Kazuo.

"Let's see how this goes. I'm curious, and I think it will answer a lot of your questions and a few of my own." She then starts off, fully intending on exactly what she said.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Honestly, there are reasons Mamoru has such a big bed. Even the cat's sleeping on them.

Somewhere on a coast, or an island, there is a white-painted villa with a red tile roof. It has a tessellated mosaic floor inside, and a flagstone-paved yard with comfortable outdoor furniture, wood and wrought metal and cushions. Roses bloom in terracotta planters, spilling over the sides. Olive, lemon, and weeping fig trees hang over the yard's wall, overlooking a rocky beach and endless blue sea.

There's a considerably less armored version of the prince Emi met in the library: Endymion, in an embroidered linen caftan, trousers, and sandaled feet. No glasses, perfectly windblown hair. He's talking to the enormously tall young man who was kind enough to cart KenKen around: "--remember this place? My father's parents lived here sometimes... I remember one specific time I was climbing on those--"

He may be talking to Kazuo, but he's sitting next to Serenity-- Usagi-- on one of the cushioned couch-things out there.

There's a firm sense of time here, of logical progressions of events, of space. This is a clearly defined space and it's very hard to see the ragged edges.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I can't get over how nice this place is. It's always so comforting, just to sit here."

Serenity - Usagi - is dreaming with Mamoru, and in the real world she's curled up in bed and Luna is sleeping on her chest, but in the dream world she's sitting next to Mamoru and enjoying the sight of familiar-unfamiliar settings. She's beautiful, a faintly-glowing young woman with hair like moonlight and endlessly deep blue eyes, but she's dressed down.

...As dressed down as a woman dressed by a prince can be dressed down, anyway, in a white dress of fine linen with embroidered roses for decor. In these enclosed settings, her glow is hard to miss, but outdoors, she could pass for totally baseline human, if she wanted.

"So, do you think Emi-chan will knock on the door, or...hmmm...."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo is, thankfully, not in the Radiant Heart uniform. In this dream - in Mamoru's dream, or in his - he's dressed in a uniform that's less elaborate distant-kin to the Prince's. Mist-colored, at the moment, something between gray and white. Not quite as solid and stable an image as Mamoru's, but more than enough to manage. And the long cape he wears is a veritable highway, should a jumping spider need or desire one.

"I don't remember," Kunzite says, "but I don't not remember; I can't place it, but if I needed to find my way, I think I could."

Whether he thinks Emi will knock or not, he doesn't say; but he's angled so that between them, he and Endymion and Serenusagi have a full field of view. Not that dreams are limited to Euclidean geometry; but the gesture is made, all the same.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Back in her dorm room, Emi had already asleep from almost the moment she pitched into her bed. She'd gotten into her nightclothes for comfort and then resided in her own dream until the slender thread of connection she expected to guide her to their dream appeared.

The chosen locale for this dream does afford her the opportunity for a dramatic entry and she does her best not to disappoint with it. Briefly imagining herself riding a giant-sized KenKen into the locale, she quickly puts that idea away. Let's not make this traumatizing for a certain prince. Instead, she settles for taking advantage of the shade and shadow and settles for calculated nonchalance.

Emi's just here here, no big deal.

"Nice dream," she addresses them, now calling attention to herself while she strikes a pose, one hand on a hip while the forearm other rests against her brow. For the first time, there can be no question about Emi's magic status. Even if she didn't show any signs of it back at the library, here she is in even more floridly gothic outfit, an outfit of seemingly endless ruffles and black bows, the latter of which adorn even her hair. As she walks towards them, a trail of sparkling, ethereal spider-webbing falls behind her, dissipating into harmless dreamstuff behind her and vanishing altogether. She takes an individual seat thereafter, forming a complicated cat's cradle between her fingers with the same pink webbing. "Oneiric Guardian Emi at your service," A small bow of her head towards them.

"Thanks for taking care of KenKen," she adds, the spider having not been present until she arrives, or at least well hidden. It now jumps back onto her shoulder and is, once again, palm-sized. Once there, KenKen folds her legs and takes a restful seat.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's in the middle of a soft look at Kunzite - Kazuo - that Mamoru's hand goes over his heart and his eyes go wide, and the sky's overcast (the ragged edges flutter in something that thinks it's wind) and his hair's curlier than it was, and his skin a little darker, and--

--it's partly cloudy, and Endymion straightens up, not quite so tall as Mamoru usually is. His fingertips trace up Serenity's arm as he stands gracefully, looking at the girl who was always there. Was not always there.

But Emi walks up to them in a flourishing garden of black and spidersilk, and Endymion's gaze flickers to Kunzite, and then the sun comes out as KenKen returns to Emi.

He inclines his head slightly and smiles, finally. "That was a strange sensation, Oneiric Guardian Emi. I'm a fairly powerful psychic and you didn't break my walls on your way in. Yet here you are, in my space. Will you god damned let me heal you now? Last chance."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"He says it's the last chance, but if you really asked he'd make an exception," Serenity offers a faux whisper, her smile warm and bright. "But also, your hands looked like they hurt, so... I hope you let him help."

But aside from that? She's mostly just curious about Emi's new gothic look - it's similar but different to what she appeared as before, and her name - "Oneiric Guardian," she repeats. "So you're a new type of mahou? Or have you just been really good at keeping to yourself?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"It was a pleasure," Kazuo says to the Oneiric Guardian, this time with the bow to her shoulder first before the one to her. He sounds as if he genuinely means it. Possibly all the white is just being an inverted goth himself.

Because of course she was always there. And wasn't. That is, after all, the way these things work; perhaps because it's not his own dream, he can deal with it more easily.

Mostly, though, he settles to quietness, to letting the other two (other three, counting Emi) do the talking. He can't fade completely into the background; he's not part of the dream. But he can do a good job of it.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
There's a pause as Emi looks between Kazuo and Mamoru, eyes going up towards each of them and then back to Usagi as if to ask 'how are they so tall?!' at her.

"But you did invite ne," replies Emi, using her chin to gesture towards KenKen, "When you accepted KenKen with you, it forms a connection, a connection that I use to enter people's dreams when they need help. You had a strong emotional reaction and that made it possible." She gives him a sympathetic smile."It's okay. I used to be scared of them too. I'm sorry it made you uncomfortable, really I am, but I needed to show you. It's important."

She takes off her long black gloves and holds her hands up for them to see. They still look about as bad as was hinted at by her earlier bandaging, almost a bit a particularly nasty case of road rash really.

"I was dealing with a different nightmare when Gin's broke loose. The same, I guess magic yeah, that gives me power in dreams also makes me vulnerable, something you're going to need to know if you can do what I think you might be able to."

She stands up again, "Can you all come with me?" She gives a nod towards a way off the ground.

Now she's going to address Usagi's question as she walks. "I'm the only one of me I've met. I assume there may be others, but there are eight billion dreamers in the world so we might just be rare, or I suppose short-lived. That wouldn't surprise me either given the danger. So ... maybe? I've been doing this for a year now, or so," she muses.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Endymion's shoulders relax for real, and he's Mamoru again, lightly touching the back of Emi's hand. The pain goes away first.

There's a small flood of warm golden energy, calm and as peaceful as a glen in the forest primeval, as steady and solid as bedrock, as bright as the sun on an august meadow buzzing with cicadas, and as ancient as mountains and as cool as the caves below them, their stillness measured in geological time-- and a sense of refuge, respite.

Emi can see the healing, the knitting of the wounds, the expulsion of sand and grit from the asphalt... and then it's done, and he takes his hand away.

"Thank you, that was bugging me so much," he sighs with relief, and then he holds his hand out to Serenity, and looks to make sure Kunzite knows he knows he's following. There is a smile and it stays, this time.

"I don't think we're what you are," Mamoru says apologetically as he follows Emi. "But like Usako said, we're more than willing to back you up in whatever way we can. That thing was NASTY, and I'm sorry you've had to work alone for a year."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Finally, Emi gets healed, and she's so glad, mostly for Emi's sake, but also so Endymoru can chill out. She loves him and she knows that was going to wind him up all dream. Serenity takes Endymion's hand, and stands with him, smiling wryly at Emi's look of 'why so tall'. It's one she very much recognizes from a lifetime of being the shorty.

"A whole year, by yourself," she shakes her head. "You're pretty awesome, you know? How did you do that?"

Because she found friends within - days! Within days, she had allies! And now... she's finding out someone else was alone for that long.

"Well, now you've got us, and we'll introduce you to plenty of other people!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Of course Kazuo is following: that is what he does. More specifically, right now, he takes up rear guard. A trail not quite as quiet as Emi's dreamed and dissipating spiderwebs ... but he's not talking. He's listening with respect, committing details to memory, taking in everything down to the pattern Emi was using for her cats-cradle. Whether that'll be enough to keep him attached to the dream is a question, but he doesn't appear to be worried about it.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi does in fact slump a little, losing the tension that the pain was causing her as soon as it washes over her.

She takes a moment to recover, then hears Usako's words which make her just blush with discomfort. "Please. I'm just a girl," she says, full of the kind of humility someone tries to express when they're not so secretly thrilled with the compliment. She puts her gloves back on, then, and says, "... just a second. I need to see something first."

Her eyes seem to glaze over, as if she'd gone into a trance for a moment. Mamoru will have the distinct impression of being both present and not present in the dream, awake and asleep at the same time. Schroedinger's Dreamer, really.

"... it did work. So your powers do carry over to your dream," she says, rousing herself with a sudden stretch. "My hands look a lot better. Fortunately, I don't think anyone really saw me wearing them. But no, you're not the same as me. Honestly, this entire place has a weird vibe -- different than other dreams I've been in. Can't put my finger on what exactly," she adds.

There's a somewhat strained look at the thought of 'so many people' but she quashes it quickly enough so as not appear ungrateful because, really, she's not.

"It hasn't all been good," is all she's willing to say on the last year for the moment.

She begins moving away from the villa, then, her gothic dress flowing and bits of spider web once again flaking away from her aura.

"You're all familiar with this dream, it seems, but I imagine you've never been beyond it. I can lead you to the door, but I can't make it open for you and I'm curious to see if you can."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh," says Mamoru, and squints as Emi feels like she's flickering in and out. He pauses... and then turns to look at Kazuo. "Are you sleeping with one eye open??" he asks the tall ghoulishly lurking misty shadow of a boy, half impressed and half indignant.

But his attention's mostly on Emi, and in this space that attention feels like the entire dream's roused itself to be explicitly aware of her. He's an empath. She's in his dream.

"I can tell you ahead of time which ones are overwhelming in what ways," says Mamoru matter-of-factly towards Emi's back. "I don't do well with crowds, or with a lot of noise, but Usagi here knows probably two thirds of the mahoujin in this school. There are tricks to dealing with it."

But she's talking about much more interesting things. "Well, I mean--" he starts ruefully as he follows along, "--there's the labyrinth I made outside to keep things away from this dream, but past that, I don't know. That's not how I get to their dreams, or how I get to my other dreams."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Don't be ridiculous," Kazuo says back to Mamoru, keeping pace behind him. "You'd have scolded me over the cornea damage if I did something like that." His eyes laugh for a moment, even if the rest of his expression is still serious. "No, I'm just thinking through for a moment which I should be looking at for useful models for dream connections - n-dimensional geometry or TVTropes. Which is getting considerably ahead of myself, and I should stop." He inclines his head to Emi again, and lapses back into letting the rest of them do the talking.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
First things first - that flash of discomfort. Serenity leans in for a second, then pauses and leans back, smiling sympathetically.

"If you're more the introverted type, don't worry. I wasn't planning to dump you in the middle of a party or anything! But there's a place we can go - on campus, it's an old wood shed that's actually magic? - and I can leave a note there, to tell people about your magic. If you have a codename you want to use, to disguise your identity, I could use that?"

As for what lies beyond?

"I don't have any psychic powers of my own, at least, from what I know? I don't even like, lucid dream. When I have dreams like this, it's because I'm with Mamochan. So... whatever's behind that door could be anything, if it's in my dreams."

And then she squints at Kazuo and says, slowly.. "TVTropes. Because if you practice special geometry, we'll end up running into a math superboss, and I'll blame you."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Ducking her head as Usako suggests she's introverted, Emi manages a small smile. She tries to hide her blush a little bit. "...appreciate that. Thank you," she manages to stumle over the wordsa little bit while continuing her walk towards the door in the courtyard wall. "Are there really that many? My sample size seems to imply that being tall is requirement for the boys." She glances towards the two tall ones which only serves to make her feel shorter -- and she's definitely on the wee side of the equation. "This looks like the way to it," She says, glancing back to Mamoru for confimrationb before she opens the door to see it the trellis adorned corridor. "...yeah, that is DEFINITELY the way." And then she strides in.

"I have a lot of questions about how you knew where I was and what I was up to, but I'll save those for later. Like I said earlier, it was a Nightmare, but not the kind of nightmare you just have and wake up from. She'd been despairing for a long time and I'd been helping her with it in her dreams. I thought I'd been making progress, but while I was facing a different thing I sensed it surging in her. If I had to guess, some kind of wave of nightmare energy touched her amd probably others, and she was already so deep in her despair it took hold of her completely when she fell asleep. The nightmare came to life, breached into reality, and brought a whole bunch of dream stuff with it when it did. Dealing wit things like that, here, that's kind of what I'm supposed to do." She leads the way into the seeming maze, all twisty tunnels, and then seems to stop in front of a different door. She opens it, revealing another passage, closes it again, and the leans on it.

"I'm just a girl, standing in front of a door, telling it to open." She puts her hand on the handle.

"Try to follow me. You probably can't. Don't worry about it -- but --"

... she vanishjes through the door. Mamoru can he one hundred percent sure she just left his dream outright.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Both," Mamoru says to Usagi and Kazuo, beaming. "At least for my connections, anyway."

Ohhh it's funny, Endymion pouts when Emi finds a door out so easily. But she bypassed it entirely on entrance anyway-- and right there is where he finally lets it get through his silly head that he may be psychic, but dreams are her magic. And he is fascinated. And he shares his delight with Usagi and Kazuo and Emi, even as he nudges Kazuo for his Kazuo-ness, grinning.

And then Emi goes through the closed door, and Endymion gapes. "It's like she woke up-- oh gods, I hope this doesn't lead to her house or something," he says, sticking his arm through but not letting go of Serenity.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi stepped out of the dream, looking towards the doorway behind her. She could sense the 'proximity' of Mamoru's dream still and finding her way back in would be no issue for her. While she wouldn't expect him to make it, she did sense that his connection to the dream was already greater than most. Combine that with magical power of some nature and the impossible becomes possible, and the difference between unlikely and likely becomes impossible to define.

So when Emi sees Mamoru's arm pierce into the dreamscape, searchin for the way through, she widenes her eyes. "Well, I'll be," she muses, "Wouldn't have expected." She grabs at his wrist with her hand and pulls him through. It's *not* easy, after all. It feels like piushing through an barrier both fragile and strong. Like it clings to them like ...

Spiderwebs.

As soon as they are through, they find themselves to be standing on top of some kind of high, high building, one that pierces a mooonless sky of ever-shfiting stars and prismatic auroras for clouds. The skyline is dominated by uncanny familiarity. It looks like ... no, it *is* Tokyo, but a Tokyo put together by random, an ever-shifting, colorful jigsaw that shimmers like a mirage, tall buildings of steel and glass and neon born from the distorted vision of countless dreamers who create and recreate it each night. The colors are vibrant -- impossible even. Pink walkways connect void-like city streets with flow and glitter like sparkle infused quicksilver. A spire nearby descend towards another, reshaping themselves into a combined arch in the distance.

... but there are other parts too -- that look wholly mundane. An office building for example, city on a plainmly mundane ity street. Characters that look like they escaped from someone's manga dash up and down the street playing ... baseball? Something?

"I suppose it's not too cheesy for me to say welcome to the dreamworld?" she says, glancing towards the horizon.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Emi walks right through the door, not even bothering to open the door, and Serenity's eyes widen as Mamoru shoves his arm through, following, and she pokes at the door herself, standing beside him, arm in arm, and when she pokes, her finger does not go through the door.

Huh.

Well there's not too much of a surprise there - "Wah!"

As they're pulled through, Endymion first and she by virtue of holding him, and when they blink from the top of a tall, tall building, in an ever-shifting, colorful Tokyo that shimmers and twists with auroras for clouds...

"It's so pretty!" Her eyes shine. In the usual dream logic, standing in Tokyo has made the shine of Serenity's moon-glow fade, and it's Usagi Tsukino, with her blond hair and rosy cheeks that looks out over the skyline with awe.

"Emi-chan, it's lovely," she breathes, "The dreamworld is so cool - is it like... the place where everyone dreams? Every building a new dream or something?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's not a scream this time, but that's only because Mamoru swallows it, eyes wide as he's yanked toward the door. "Oh it's an Emi-san-feeling-hand--" he says, and holds on to Usagi tighter and they get pulled through. By the time they're on the other side, Mamoru's cringing away from his skin and the feeling of spiderwebs on it.

"Heugh," the prince says with feeling, brushing himself off not-quite-frantically, no matter if the webs are actually there or not.

Finally he looks up and sees the glimmering, shifting dreaming cityscape, and his eyes shine. "... you can say whatever you want, you're showing us this."

Leaning into the air over the edge of the tall building, Mamoru surveys the skyline for a moment, then looks up at the 'clouds', and then down at the streets and individual buildings-- he looks for the district of Tokyo that was scarred by haunting, he looks for Azabu-Juban, his old school, the buildings where he lived as a child...

He glances behind him, then looks to Usagi, then gets down on one knee and puts his free hand on the rooftop. It glows just a little. Ephemeral golden threads spill out of the contact with the roof surface, but there's nothing for them to grasp at, nothing for them to touch, and Endymion pulls his awareness back in with a little smile.

"So -- so tell us what you need from us, Emi-san?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"It can be *very* pretty. It is also incredibly dangerous," replies Emi, putting a hand to the back of her head. "Weird that we wound up here, though, almost like your dream is a bit disconnected. I suppose that makes sense with the way you'd walled it off. I don't think I could have gotten in if you'd not taken KenKen with you." She reaches up to pay her spider on her back slowly. KenKen makes a little rattling hissing sound.

"KeKen, can you explain to them the basics?"

"Of course, Emi-chan!"

Emi gives the spider a slightly dirty look.

"First, look at the horizon. It is both a snapshot of one particular time, and *also* an aggregation. Every dreamer has their own dream, but then they wake up. The dreamstuff that is drawn up to make that dream is then absorbed into the dreams here, creating an ever shifting but consistent idea of 'Tokyo'. Dreamers close together influence it together. The Academy you share, for example, has a strong presence in the dream on account of all its students sharing a space for so long. Tonight it looks like this, but tomorrow it ill be different as it absorbs new dreams into itself, and older pieces move further away from the dreamers, as they do, flowing ever outwards into the beyond. It is there that energy of those dreams break apart, recombined into new shapes. It is there that dreams of light and love may be born anew, ut so too may they twist ino nightmares that return in search of dreamers on which to feed."

Emi gives a nod of her head.

"To be honest, I know a lot less about this than you probably think. It's ... a lot!"

At the mention of help, though, Emi stiffens slightly.

Is she gonna be one of those kids with a big problem about accepting help?

Do magical girls sparkle?

Emi folds her arms across her bust and then considers her next words carefully.

"I dunno? If you guys can do what I can here out there," she says slowly, struggling, "Maybe? It's probable that now that this is happened once, there are nightmares out there I don't even know getting ready to be born into the real world like the one you saw ... hopefully not as strong. I think Gin's strengths made that one a little more ... bad. They're not quite like that normally. Like the one I was fighting before Gin's broke free was just a big mass of shadow in the vague form of H... someone's dad."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Very pretty, very dangerous. Honestly?

Sounds like everywhere else she's ever loved. Usagi takes it as a good sign, looking off around the world that's changing and shifting but clearly still Tokyo, and smiling a little. "So this is everyone's Tokyo. All of us dreaming, and making up what we know Tokyo is like... that's really cool."

But of course it means that everyone's dreams and nightmares are out there... it's a lot to manage, for just one person! She gives Emi an admiring glance.

"Man, this is a lot! So many dreamers, and you're the one who handles it when someone's nightmare goes, really, really bad?" A whistle.

"Well, I don't know if we have power here - but was that.... hmmm did Gin's nightmare come out into our world? Or were we in the library dream world?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
A nightmare of shadows shaped like someone's dad. Mamoru's jaw works a little, but he doesn't say anything. What is there to say? She made sure some kid's dreams were at least safe from that, so he would say thank you, but isn't that awkward?

"What you do is really important," he says firmly, "and you've been doing it by yourself for a year, and you don't have to anymore. Nobody's saying you can't-- that you can is obvious, since you have been. Teach us to help you and we can teach you to help us," the too-tall boy suggests, turning to face Emi. And then he looks sort of gently amused. "And you don't have to pad my ego -- you would have been able to get in. This is what you do."

He nods to what Usagi says, putting his hands in his pockets-- he's only the tall boy in the Coolest Mamo-chan shirt now, his hair fluffy, his glasses missing. "Yeah, if they come out in the real world -- text us where you are and we can be there in about ten seconds."

Then he looks back out at the horizon again, deep into the dreaming city again, and he laughs, and it's bright and big and loud. He's excited. "Do they always have an object that you have to destroy?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi turns her back towards them for a moment, looking out over the 'city' of Tokyo.

"....sometimes," She says, "but not always. Something with a connection to the root. A ring. A locket. A brush. But sometimes, there just isn't one." She closes her eyes a moment.

"If I even know in time, yeah. Look, I know you're here now. And that's good. You can make it here with some help. Your powers worked to heal me in your own dream but that doesn't mean much for 'out here'."

She turns towards them again, now, having regained the composure which she had turned away to avoid losing in front of them. She bows towards them. "Thank you," she offers, "I don't know what that will look like. I only found Gin's breaking through because I had a connection with her. There may well be others already out there I don't even know about. Maybe that have already been fought. Or maybe there's something changing I don't know about. I guess we'll find out."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We'll have to find out, then!" Usagi is certainly pumped up, her eyes bright, her smile warm and confident, sure that they'll be able to help Emi. She's not alone anymore - she's brought them into her confidence, and now, they'll be able to help her, with the monsters, and with the journey.

This whole being magical thing is an adjustment, after all!

"Thank you. I don't think I'll be able to get back here, not without your help or call - but I'll be ready, and so will everyone else."

She doesn't fully understand all of this - but she understands the concept of monsters and fears, things they prey and come for hope, and fighting to stop them.

"We'll all do our best. What else can anyone ask for?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru looks like he's taking notes. He looks like he's not sure if Kazuo can hear them, when he glances back and focuses-- but sometimes he has two shadows. But the important part! Is the taking notes; he nods-- then smiles a little. He produces a rose the same way as he did before, like it's edited itself into his hand, or teleported there--

--and he says, "Heads up," and tosses it to Emi. "You'll wake up with two. The one from before, and this one. They double as really good stabbing weapons if you're bad at darts, but that uses up the magic in them."

Then Mamoru looks toward where the door is that she pulled them out of, and hmms. "Do we just wake up, to get out of this part? The Dreamscape?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"... it's not so easy to wake up on your own out here," says Emi, "You're 'further' away from your waking mind. Can't just 'wake up' to get out of danger. LEt's find our way back to your dream, eh?"

Emi rubs the back of her head, seeming a bit flustered by the second rose as she accepts it.

"Come on. Let's find our way back to your dream."

Emi leads the way along the building top to the door to roof access. The door opens, all right, to a set of stairs twisting endlessly into the darkness.

"Right. Let's go!"

She leads the way down the stairs, leaving it to Mamoru to try to sense a path to his own dream. There are doors at intervals along this stair case, and at times, it definitely starts to feel a bit ... Escheresque.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
-- he always knows where to find home, and that dream is a piece of it from so, so very long ago. It's a ragged, broken off piece of home, lovingly preserved or rebuilt out of memory and the pieces his soul dragged with him when he was reborn --

And Mamoru laughs, because he made the mess, and he's never tried his own defenses from the outside, and this is pretty good. He trails his hand along the wall and sends out those golden threads of awareness into the stone until the stone answers back.

He exhales, and Emi can feel the weirdness vibe return as a sideways stairwell is forcibly resolved into an arch ahead of them, gold thread filling the cracks between the stones the walls are made of. It's bright through the arch, spilling light into the recesses of the maze they've been in, and squinting against the light, there's dappled rays of light on a dirt path between two stone walls, a trellis bearing grape vines overhead and the smell of the sea in the air.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Not surprising. This is where the dreams and nightmares of everyone intermingle, so it's no one persons, I guess."

It makes sense. Besides - it was hard to just wake up in a dream, and Usagi isn't a lucid dreamer, doesn't have control over her dreams. Here and now, she's awake, but if she were properly dreaming in her own head, she'd be stirring thought to thought, coming across the odd and unusual and fantastical without blinking.

As Mamoru moves, finding his way back, Usagi trails after him, falling in Mamoru's footsteps, seeking to balance with him rather than distract him. Spiral stairs shift into an arch, the light spills out to the maze, the scent of the sea wafts from above -

"I wonder if it's possible to will yourself psychic. That would be useful," she muses as she follows along, back to the villa, back to the sea.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Everyone's and no one's," murmurs Emi as she feels around with the pair3 of them, waiting until Mamoru finds his way back. She's following them up now and there's no hiding the relief that he can find his way back after all. She wasn't strictly sure.

"Okay, okay. It's safe for you all to wake up when you're ready once, you'r know, comfortable."

Emi spins a little web up of her ownn, its threads wrapping around the rose she was given as she attaches it to her shoulder so she doesn't lose it.

"I've gotta get back to the Academy dream o I'll... see you guys later? Gotta make sure some things are okay over there."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru gives Usagi some side-eye and a sly grin for a second, and then he bows to Emi. He straightens up and touches the wall of the maze; the cracks between stones pool with golden light once more. "Yeah! You'll see us later. I think it's naptime for a little while longer," he says with a smile.

The smile turns into a shiteating grin as the stones themselves shift, ahead, to make a straight line back to the sunny little flagstone courtyard. "Enjoy!" he says, and offers Usagi his arm.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Stay safe! Patrol well, or sleep tight, whichever one," Usagi calls cheerfully, taking Mamoru's arm and leading him onwards - he's tugged a little downwards, both in the effort to link arms and by the force of her tug. They're on the sunny little flagstone courtyard, and the scent of the sea is strong, and she wonders if they can dream of the sea and swimming in it.

Her bow to Emi is casual and free, her smile even moreso.