2271/Emi Has Questions

Emi Has Questions
Date of Scene:	26 January 2025
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Emi has questions for Hinoiri. It segues way into a trip to the dreamworld and a meeting that might predict future trouble for Hinoiri.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Emi Hoshino

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was sitting on the couch in the common area, a small smile on her face and a laptop on her lap. She was writing... something.

She'd never admit it, but it was... fanfic. Kind of. Sort of. It was a cute little story about this girl who ends up going to a magic school after getting dragged to another world, and meets all kinds of weird and awesome people, making friends... Like Raven, a smart guy who is also, sometimes, a bit of an idiot, and does a lot of pranks, tampering with dark magic to silly consequences... Or Roseon, Raven's best friend and someone who gave up dark magic because it was dangerous and now grew roses...

Okay, it was stupid, but it was therapeutic. And it wasn't like anyone would EVER know SHE wrote it.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It's been a rough few days for Emi Hoshino. While Mamoru might have healed the physical wounds she had endured on that terrible night at his insistence, there's still the lingering trauma that follows When It All Goes Wrong. And it definitely went all kinds of sideways, didn't it? From one fight, to another fight, to the real world where she got thrown around, met two weirdos who saved her, and then found out that this particular Academy has a lot more going on than she'd known. Goes to show what happens when you spend all your time dreaming instead of looking around outside, she tells herself ... but it's not like she'd really have been able to do anything different. One of the things that stood out to her, however, was the mentions of a certain Hinoiri, both in the note and by Amy as an 'expert on dark magic'. While Amy had cautioned her that Hinoiri had been through a lot recently, Emi is still immediately fuming when she sees her.

And so she takes advantage of her neighbor's distraction to casually make her way closer, dropping into a seat on the arm of the sofa itself.

"Hello," she says to Hinoiri. Today, Emi is indeed all done up to her gothic standards, her parasol closed but over her shoulder anyway. "Classwork?" she inquires, keeping things casual for the moment.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced over for a moment, before saving her work. "No, personal. Therapeutic, honestly. No spider today?" she asked.

Then she paused and... "No baseball bat... this isn't a dream, right?" She reached down to pinch herself. "Hmmmm. Tuxedo Mask took good care of you, right? Cause, I'll be honest, that whole bailing you out thing? That was... really just kind of a one day thing."

I hope they've got you sorted with a few dozen numbers now, and maybe some roses. The last thing anyone needs is some kid getting herself killed because she tries to fight a witch with like, a bike. I've been there, doesn't work. And only person I've seen actually deck a youma successfully was Osaka-san."

"So, what can I do for you? Wait, you're like... dream magic, right? This isn't like... about the unicorn thing, is it?" Tappy tap.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Each new phrase darkens Emi's eyes further as she looks upon Hinoiri until they're almost as fierce as any storm.

She leans closer and drops a hand onto Hinoiri's shoulder, the grip firm.

"Now, I'm told you've been through a lot but how the fuck do you know about that?" This is all but clenched through hissed teeth.

For a moment, it's far easier to see the girl who's been fighting in her dreams for a year, henshin or no henshin. "Amy told me not to be hard on you but I have *questions*."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and glanced at the hand. She took a slow, deep breath, before saving her work again and closing the laptop. She then smiled to Emi.

"Because a few days ago I got stuck in a time loop. I had to repeat the same day over. And over. And over. I spent nearly a year redoing it. And do you want to know what I learned in that time?"

She reached a hand up and grabbed Emi's wrist, her eyes narrowing. "I learned I have some *issues* I really need to work on. Which, admittedly, I'm trying to do. But I know a *lot* about you, Emi Hoshino. I know the first day of that loop, well, the first day we met in it? You got arrested for breaking up the library. I know the second day it was some weird youma librarian. And do you know what happened? She broke my leg. But oh no, that's not what pissed me off."

"What pissed me off was finding out there was some kid with a *baseball bat* running out to fight a youma. That some *spider* thought it was okay to risk your life over it. Okay, admittedly, I was a *lot* angry at the youma librarian. What I did to it the first few loops? Probably not warranted. Entirely. At least judging by the looks of horror on your face."

"But oh, I learned a *lot* about you, Hoshino-san. Because I had to relive that. Over. And Over. And over. And *over*."

She then let the hand go. "And so... I asked Tuxedo Mask to help you, because I'm hopeful you'll be smarter about this kind of thing going forward. As for who I am? I am Hinoiri Kirara. I come from the land of Kirakirafantastica. I am a unicorn, who was the most powerful mages in my homeworld. Trained by the sovereign herself."

"I then came here, and used dark energy. I proceeded to be one of the most dangerous and deadly enemies the sparkles here ever faced. I devoured the sun, not sure if you remember the day the sun went out? That was me. And, despite all of this? The girls here... saved me..." And then, she looked... less solid, less calm. A little... sad. But a happy sad, if that made sense.

"... I've had to learn a lot about... friendship. Allies. And that not everything is my responsibility. Amy's... not wrong. I went through a lot. Put people through a lot. Cause... a lot of pain, suffering, trauma. You're probably lucky you avoided it. But... I'm working through it."

"... But I punted Kyubey when I first met him. I came dangerously close to squashing your little spider friend when I met him when I realized what he was putting you through. You're not alone here, there are a lot of people here who can, and will help you if you let them. It took me a while to realize that. But I'm... admittedly, not the best at uhhhh... being that voice. I'm trying to be nice. I'm trying to be helpful. But it's not... entirely natural for me? It's still *really* hard for me to not like... focus on the fact I've forgotten more about magic than you've likely ever even imagined, let alone studied. Because... well... there's a lot I've learned here."

"... So what I guess I'm saying, is please don't try to threaten or intimidate me. I've rewritten the rules of reality and poked things with teeth bigger than me in the eye. And... believe it or not..." And then she leaned back, putting a hand to her forehead. "... I... would like to help you. I know what... it's like to feel alone. To... be alone. To feel helpless and like you still need to do everything yourself. To be scared... and... I still... get so mad when I think about you going out there with a bucking bat, as if you could do a bucking thing. Because... because that's how you end up getting killed."

That, at least... made the confidence... drip away. It wasn't easy for her to admit that. As boastful as she'd been... admitting... she cared was still a bit of a struggle. But she was working on it. "... Sorry."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino doesn't exactly look mollified as things begin. She has things to say, things that are close to being gotten out ... but every time she's about to say something, Hinoiri drops some new -- ridiculous on the surface to her ear -- statement about timeloops, about being from 'kirakirafantastica', about being a *freaking unicorn* ... which, actually, given what she witnessed in Hinoiri's dream once makes a kind of sense. More of it makes sense in light of the things that she saw that night, actually, no matter how unbelievable it seems on the surface." Her hands, once clenched tightly into angry fists, relax slowly right up until she brings up squashing KenKen and then she looks angry all over again. Her jaw sets and she looks even more aggrieved for a moment. She draws in a sharp breath, nostrils flaring and is about to interject and then ... talk about helping, about feeling alone, about feeling helpless. She tilts her head, staring at her with intense eyes that haven't let go of the feeling of violation she surely was experiencing.

For a moment, she has nothing to say. She needs to internalize, think, chew it over, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, but it's no more ridiculous than anything else she's heard.

As the silence lingers, Hinoiri will see that seeting, spiteful anger in her eyes dim somewhat before she closes them and lets the tension carrying her go. Or at least she tries to. It's not enough.

After what seems like an interminable pause, she speaks again. Finally.

"It's okay. I forgive you," she tells her. Her voice is not absent emotion and the serenity she has so often tried to present with is entirely absent. There's an unmistkable quiver instead.

Sometimes, Emi knows, forgiveness can be a weapon as sharp as any sword, sometimes made worse 'when it's offered in earnest and so she hesitates a moment longer before she continues, "Let's try this again. I'm Emi, Hinoiri. It's nice to finally meet the real you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Yeah... I think... this is the real me. Still, admittedly, trying to find that out. I thought... you know... when I gave up dark energy, for good? I thought it might mean my anger issues would fade out. But... nope. Turns out going good doesn't necessarily mean not getting pissed off anymore. Wish it did, somedays."

She crossed her arms and looked her up and down. "So... what's the deal, anyway? Like... I swear you're *trying* to get in trouble. But you also put your butt on the line, there. With that bat. Which, while incredibly stupid, was also brave. You could have died."

"... And I say this as a girl who like... almost got herself killed like... a dozen times. You met witches? I tried to eat the magic of one of their familiars. Well. Okay. Did. Got the worse hangover. I've... done the whole almost got myself killed a few dozen times over stupid things thing... so..."

"Is it being scared people will let you down if you lean on them? Or... is it a fear that nobody cares, but so long as you make a big enough mess they won't ignore you anymore? Or is it something you're scared to give up, because finally, just this one, someone needs you to do something and you finally *matter* and the idea of losing it, of not being needed anymore, is scarier to you than even dying?"

And it was the way she said it... Hinoiri didn't just understand it. Hinoiri had lived it. She'd been there. She understood that pain, that drive, that desperation. She understood the drive, the need, that came from it...

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"... people keep mentioning those. I have no idea what they're talking about and I'm going to assume they're not little old crones with a pointy hat from the context." She slides from the arm of the sofa onto it properly, finally, and then looks at the ceiling.

"I could offer a lot of pretentious stuff -- 'I am Emi Hoshino and I walk the space between dreams! Beyond the wall of sleep exists a place where ideas collide into abstraction and where dream and nightmare .... something something, I dunno where I was going with that still except into the realms of increasingly purple prose."

She looks down again, now and twists a little of the fabric of her long, black skirt up between her fingers before she answers, thoughtfully.

"They weren't kidding when they said you'd been through a lot."

She raises her hand to her eye and covers her green eye so that she looks at her only with her blue one before dropping it to her side again. "... KenKen isn't making me do anything. Let's start there. So please don't squish her. She really hates that and I have to tell you she has *never* let me heard the end of it for the one time I sat on her. There's a ...." She looks down for a moment. "I already let *Gin* down. I wasn't going to do it a second time. All right? I promised her that the nightmare was over. It was. It should have been. I thought maybe I could talk her down. Thing is, Gin's an author. She dreams in stories and narratives clouded by her self doubt. I thought -- maybe -- just maybe I could keep something bad from happening. Turns out I didn't have to find out. Thanks for that, even if its weird and a one time thing."

She turns to look back at Hinoiri again, her eyes having been wandering to and fro while she mulled over her responses.

"... maybe it's better if I show you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Uhhhhh... more like... the dying nightmares of magical girls who had their souls tricked out of them by a lil four legged fluffy bastard who is very much punt on sight. Kyubey. Some call him kyubey. I call him 'Aim for three hundred yards'."

Welp. That was... certainly... a way for Emi to learn about witches.

"Don't ever fight a witch alone. But... yeah. I've been through a lot. Did a lot. Caused a lot. I'm... a liiiiiittle bit of an over achiever. Not achieving much now, but... trying... to stop... trying that."

The talk about KenKen made her nod. "Ahhh, so not a kyubey situation. Good to know," she mumbled. "Wait... Gin. She was the..." And then she was silent. Letting Emi explain... before sighing. "Okay... first off, though. You didn't let her down. You put your life on the line for her. Sure, it didn't go fully right... but you were missing tools. Now? You have them... just... don't forget that. You don't need to do it all on your own. And if you do want to help people? To save them? Sometimes... that means you need to be willing to call someone else to do what you can't. Hard as it may be. Now... what do you want to show me? And should I go drop my... laptop off? We talking quick walk, inside the mindscape but our bodies will remain here, or teleporting to realms outside the realms of standard rules and laws of reality?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"...Kyubeh, huh? I'll remember that. Sounds ... kinda bad, actually. I thought I had problems." She puts her head back on to the back of the sofa and looks up at the ceiling as she listens to Hinoiri. She understands some of this but it doesn't seem to make her feel any better about any of it. "Hopefully I can get back on top of things, keep from crossing over again. I'd like to keep it to once. We're not ... wait, is that like actually a thing?" She squints at her. "No, no. I'm going to take you to your border. *If* you're as good as you say you are, *maybe*&* you can do what Mamoru did and find your own way in if I guide you there."

"That means winding down, getting some sleep, and dreaming with me."

The slight curl of her fingers. A microexpression of hesitation. There's a deep seated unease that she's not letting show. Holding things back. Something anyway.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara listened and... well... "Uhhhhh... guide me there? Just... remember. I don't currently have any magic. I... wait. Dreams?"

And then she gave a light snicker. "Ohhhh. Is this your way of asking me out? It's cute and all, but... I just got out of a messy relationship and-- pfft, bwa ha ha, sorry. Sorry, I couldn't keep a straight face," Hinoiri said, though she had tried to be serious. She'd failed. "So, some kind of like... sleeping next to each other, deep meditation kind of thing? Or like... do you just need me to sleep? Cause... I'll be honest... I've never quite been the best at sleeping on command. What... well, what'd happen then?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Now that just makes Emi stare at her for a long moment, cross-eyed, before a blush begins to crawl up her cheeks. That its visible through her gothly pallor is probably impressive.

"Abu .. aski-- " Emi is stammering, now, because that was earnestly the *furthest* thing from her mind. "As if I'd ... UGH!" She throws her hands up for a moment. "I'M NOT ASKING YOU OUT! I am TRYING to ... trust me. You'll fall asleep easy. I noticed it back in h -- "

There's an angry flash of temper like the memory of something scraping a nerve still exposed and raw just beneath the surface.

"Near me is fine," she utters curtly.

"You don't need any magic of your own. You just need to be able to dream and I am pretty su-- wait, you don't have any magic?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara couldn't help grinning at the blush creeping on the girl's face, and actually snickered at the huffy yelling. Oh, this girl was adorable and fun to tease a bit. "Ahhhh, dream magic. I dabbled in that a tiny bit back home, but admittedly wasn't very good at it. It's pretty hard where I'm from. So... like, do I need to be in the same room as you, or what?"

"... And... no. No magic anymore. Turns out there's not a lot of... sparkle things... that jump over themselves trying to give you magic powers when you almost destroy the world and all that. When I go back home I'm still as powerful as ever. But here? I'm just a normal teenage girl. Well, mostly. I'm still probably more dangerous than like... a kinda bad. But they hardly count, they're like... well. A baby dragon or something. Not really a threat, just a sign of what's to come."

"I'm... sure I'll get magic again eventually. Or I won't. And if I don't... that's okay. I'll just... I have friends now and I'll ask them for help." Even if she hated having to do it, and it was hard... she'd accept that.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino makes a face at her thereafter and tries to settle her temper back down and regain her composure. She likes her composure. It's nice.

"Just ... " She grabs her phone with its spider-webbed phonecase and chcecks the time. "It's late enough, I suppose. I'm going to see first if I can pull you into my dream. Mamoru can do it with those roses so why can't I? Except I don't have any roses, just spiders and spider webs. Worth a shot. Failing that, I'll be in your's and we'll see what it looks like on the fringe." The fringe of what, anyway? There's a pause, then she gets a smile on her face. One with just a little bit of edge.

"Yeah. Come to my room."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug and got to her feet. "Okay, then. Yeah, why not? I jsut need to drop my computer off." She got to her feet and started down the hall. It took her only a moment to drop the laptop off, and if Emi peeped into the room... she might notice how... empty the apartment was. How it had two beds, but only one was... well... had covers and such. As if someone recently left.

From there, she came walking back, following the other girl. Then paused. And sent out a text. "Since I'm like... not dumb? I let a friend know that I was hanging with you tonight. If you're trying to off me or anything, you're dead." Pause. "But... my sources don't think you work for Obsidian, so I found that unlikely. So... how's all this goin to work?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi does, in fact, take a peek. She's nosy like that. She's a delinquent, okay? She hops up from the sofa, stretches, and then platform-boots her way up the stairs to the consternation of anyone listening. Emi, thy name is definitely *not* stealth in those things.

She peeks, of course, but by the time Hinoiri has turned back around and emerged from her room, she's looking the other way. She doesn't make a comment about what she saw, and why becomes evident when they gravitate towards her rom. It is *also* spartan, though not as intensely as Hinoiri's. Seems she has few personal effects beyond her clothing...

The tattered remnants of one of her uniforms sits on the second bed which is at least made, showing the numerous wounds that were inflicted on her that are not in evidence now. In one corner, there's a spiderweb in which KenKen sits, casually grooming herself. Smaller than Hinoiri remembers, at the moment, but it waves a tiny leg in her direction and then a whispery voice says, "Hiiiii!"

Yes, it IS a talking spider, something it very much did not do in the many loops where Hinoiri was aggressive towards it.

"Hey, KenKen. Hinoiri will be staying with us tonight. We're going to try a little experiment. Go ahead and chill out I shouldn't have need to call on you unless, like, there's something really weird in her dreams."

"Okay!"

The rest of the room has her scattered classbooks and on her bed sits one very adorable looking Baku pillow. The only other thing of note is the overstuffed dressed with all kinds of gothic looking accoutrements and a few other pairs of shoes.

Sitting down on her bed, Emi unlaces her boots and kicks them off. Without them, it's a lot easier to see how small she actually is. Below average. Not the shortest, but slight.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara would glance over at the spider and... "Huh. KenKen? Odd, you never actually talked to me in the other loops. Hey, little guy. You know, back home the talking spiders are pony sized. Well, okay, usually bigger... Though, I guess I never met a lot of the talking spiders. The only ones I met were like, trying to run a kind of... weird... family thing... and... well... it was weird. So nice to meet you, KenKen. I'm Hinoiri Kirara." She kicked off her boots and walked to the bed. Without her boots, she was... actually not that much shorter. She was fairly average, maybe a smidge taller. She sat down on the bed and rolled onto her back, giving a light yawn. "So... like... how's this work, anyway? Should I try to meditate, or normal sleep okay? Should you sleep first? Should we share tea?"

"... Also, like. I am a unicorn pony from another world. My dreams are likely to be weird by definition."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Loops? Emi, I have questions."

"Later, KenKen. It's not important now. The only important thing you need to worry about is I am gonna try to pull Hinoiri into my dreams. I know it's possible, but I've never been able to do it before. Feel free to cuddle with her, though, it might make it easier."

She turns towards Hinoiri, fixing her eyes on her for a moment. "I can fall asleep on command. KenKen says it's something all Guardians can do --" "That's right!"

"...but I just call it weaponized narcolepsy since it's *great* for the boring parts of class and tuning out annoying people or teachers or shit, you know."

She grabs her nightgown and disappears into the bathroom with it.

"Do whatever. It's cool. Just do whatever you'd do normally and then you'll probably be asleep before you know it. If you find yourself hearing the ocean, follow that sound. Open yourself to it. It means I'm succesful. Otherwise, just be ... whatever's normal for a ... for a ... Unicorn, I guess." Saying that word seems incredibly hard for her.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug before chuckling. "Uhhhh... I wouldn't do that, KenKen. I've been known to be a bit of a sleep.. fighter... and roller. So, ummmm, when I fall asleep? Maybe... make sure you're out of range."

She laid back and closed her eyes. "Mmmm. Wait, weaponized... So THAT'S what you did that time! I thought you actually thought my lecture was that boring and... Okay, seriously. Don't do that when talking to someone magic. I slapped you so hard I knocked out a tooth and I thought I broke your jaw. It... uhhhh... sorry about that, by the way. It... didn't happen in the end, at least? And for what it's worth, I had ummm... been on loop like... five hundred or something, I think. It was... it was a very rough one."

She then sat up and put her hands together, crossing her legs and slowly pulling them apart. Slowly clearing her mind, resting her mind. Meditating. Clearing her mind before she laid back down, closing her eyes... and slowly letting herself drift off... How hard could it be?

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"... eh, I've had worse," says Emi, thoughtfully.

Which, funnily enough, is exactly what she said after Hinoiri hit her. Tough girl act. She would've been pissed off about the tooth, though. She lays back in her own bed and immediately finds herself in her dreamscape as Hinoiri works on drifting. She reaches out for her presence, not so much a physical act in the dreamscape as simply a magical one, a sense of Hinoiri in the distance. She imagines herself casting a web to bring her here. She feels the bonds of sympathetic magic strengthen, strengthen ... and then *snap*, the dream slipping through her fingers like so much black sand.

Disappointing, but at least a step in the right direction.

And so, instead, she simply slips from one dream to another, the proximity making it so much easier for her to just move in. That is something she takes careeful note of before having a look around for the ... the unicorn.

"I can't believe this," she utters, casually twirling a pink and glowing line of spiderwebbing between her fingers expertly. Here, she is every bit the magical girl in respledenty gothery, flowing ruffled skirts, black bows on her top and in her hair. She is accompanied by the faintest wisps of webbing that trail off her as she walks, dissipating into ephemera.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara eventually drifted off. It took a bit and... well... when she awoke? Well, not awoke, but was in the dream? She was... a pony. Huh. And she was walking. She was supposed to go... somewhere. Be... somewhere. Wasn't she? She had a job to do. Didn't she? She swore she did. She remembered... maybe?

Why couldn't she remember? She trotted through the forest, struggling to remember... why was she here?

... Where was she?

How did she get here?

"H-hello?" she called out.

Why was she... she'd been in many woods... so many woods...

... Why were the trees getting bigger. Scarier... deeper. Why were they...

They weren't getting bigger. She was getting smaller. She... was a foal. And she knew these woods. These trees...

The forest she'd been abandoned.

And lightning crashed and the rain began to fall while she ran and screamed. She could hear them, the howling wolves. As she galloped, frightened, confused, disoriented. The trees so massive she couldn't even try to reach the bottom branches. The bushes tugging at her, so thick and tall she had to jump over some of them. The panic... filling her.

Why was she here? Where was her family? No... she didn't... have a family. She was alone. Just like that, the forest trapping her became the nightmare of those dark, terrible memories. Helpless. Frightened. Alone. A child in the woods, not sure where they were or what was happening... and just afraid.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Having failed in her effort to bring Hinoiri to her dream, Emi instead finds herself in the middle of some kind of forest. She spins around in a small circle, trying to gain her bearings, to identify some indication of where Hinoiri's dream-self might be hiding. It's like this sometimes. Each dream its own world, with its own focus. She's sometimes had to search high and low for a dream-self. Still, they must already be near the border, she surmises, likely on account of her own suggestion of its existence -- exactly as planned!!! .... if anyone asks.

And then there is the baying of wolves. Hungry wolves. At first, she assumes it might simply be the background noise of the world, but then she remembers: supposed unicorn-ness and makes the connection.

"Ah," she says, "Damn it." She's tempted to drop an f-bomb, but she's more than a little concerned that logic of the dream might render that a 'buck' and she just refuses that.

That said, however, the logic of the dream is 'being in forest full of wolves', and soon she's burst into a run towards the second sound she's only now picking up on: terrified horse.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara felt herself getting more and more panicked. It really didn't help that she had, admittedly, been in a rather... negative space lately. In dream logic, it was easy to forget reality. Forget she was a powerful mage who could destroy a thousand things in these woods. Forget she could teleport with ease. Forget she could unleash fire.

All she could remember now was the panic of being helpless, small, confused, lost...

And that continued until suddenly... Emi saw a very, very tiny unicorn filly burst through the bushes, shrieking, and gallop right into her. A very tiny unicorn foal just... leaped into her chest, flailing around wildly with little scared shrieks. "Don't eat meeeeee!"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
So, Emi barely has time to process 'tiny unicorn' before it slams into her chest and she instinctively clutches it to her chest as one does when something comes flying at you.

Now, as someone who flits from dream to dream, Emi has seen many things. She has seen the blissful wonders of summer meadow memories, she has seen into the darkest imaginings of others, but in all those things both wonderous and terrible that fill her memories, she has never held a baby unicorn.

Baby.

Unicorn.

Her first concern is the protection of the foal. She can do nothing so long as she remains so terrified. She won't be able to lure her into even a hint of lucidity, if she can. So, first, there is comfort:

"It's okay. I've got you. You're not alone." Her husky voice is a soothing, raspy whisper, now. She kneels down with the foal in her arms and sets them back down, leaning forward to look in her eyes. She now has the next step *sure* to work on helping lure Hinoiri back to sense.

"... I am never, ever going to let you live this down, Hinoiri."

That ought to do it, right?

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara whimpered and sniffled and nuzzled her nose into the crook of Emi's arm. Baby unicorn was scared! Baby unicorn was worried! Baby unicorn was... "I'm not alone?" she asked. "W-where's my parents?" she asked. "Where am I? Where is... where..."

And, slowly... she looked up and... "... Emi?" she asked. "... Why am I a foal again?" and then... she teleported out of her arms and then... oh. She was an adult again. And had her cutie mark. And her horn. and her magic. And... "Wait, what are you going to never let me down? Where even ARE we?" she asked.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It is everything Emi can do to swallow down the desire to squee in girlish delight. She will not surrender her dignity without a fight.

".. oh my god you're SO CUTE."

And thre it goes.

She clears her throat a moment later and then twirls gracefully once in place, wisps of dreamy, gossamer webs suffuse the air around her and fall away from her, breaking into fine, misty pink sparkles.

"We're in your dream, Hinoiri. You're just waking into it. Do you remember, now? And tell those wolves howling in the distance to go b- away. tell them to go aay."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara preened just a little bit, managing to look... so smug. "Yes, I am pretty adorable, aren't I? Student monthly's three time annual 'cutest protege' winner." She flicked her head back and... "Oh, don't worry about those. They'll just maul you a bit. Ohhh, this is my dream? Dream walking? Weird... why... this place?"

And then the wolves came out! Racing out and--

Oh, that was a LOT of fire from that horn. And maniacle cackling before they were sent running. "Right, so, where were we? Also, nice, you have a henshin now. You really need to figure out how to get that to work in the real world. Not having magic outside of dreams has to suck. If you can do it here you can probably do it in the real world once you figure out how."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
UGH. She's so infuriating!

But Emi manages to keep that thought fromn showing. Mostly. When the wovles come out, she whirled around once, lashing out with long thin lines of webbing ...

... that are burnt away by fire. She stops what she's doing and lets her have her moment. She assumes it's therapeutic. She steps aside to avoid getting caught in the, er, cross fire. "I'm not sure why this place, first of all. It's your dream, and I'm guessing it has some significance to you given that you were, you know, a baby you. Not the first time I've wound up in such a dream. Can you find the way forward, what lays on the other side of this forest?" She gestures in one direction, then addresses the next thing Hinoiri said.

"Turns out, bringing dream powers into reality isn't easy. Who knew?" She shrugs her shoulders. "It just may not work that way, and it's not like I don't have a *lot* to do in here."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a shrug. "Eh. I mean... it... looks a lot like the forest I was tossed in and abandoned when I was a foal, after my parents like... either wiped my memory or I just popped into existence. Never really found out which." Pause. "Pony physiology is weird by your standards."

Yes. The fire was SO therapeutic. "So, ummmmm... so I just... keep... walking? Until... we're out of the forest? That's all? And... I guess. Trust me, though. There's a lot out of the dreams, too."

"I know there's more that's out there... maybe folks that need..." She bit down on it, cutting off the song before it could start. Nope, not the time.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Oh, that gets a *big* smile from Emi.

"Oh, yes. Just until we're out of the forest. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I'm sure it won't be a problem for you. It IS your dream, after all." The rest, of course, is something she makes note of, files away. Ordinarily, she'd press, but perhaps its not the right moment for that. It is hard, however, to miss the sympathy behind those eyes as she talks about her being abandoned by her family -- maybe.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a shrug. "I don't know. This is your expertise, so I figure you'd know more than I would. I've never really been good at dreams, let alone magic dreams, so I'll trust your judgement on it."

She then just started trotting forward, humming lightly to herself as she kind of... skip... walked... pranced...

She barely came up to Emi's knees. It was like having a big colorful dog that was a unicorn. She then paused. "Err... as an aside... sorry for ummmm... tackling you... there. Dreams. It... I didn't really... remember... me."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino covers her mouth with her hand at the ... prancing. She will not squeal. She will not squeal!

"It's fine, don't worry about it. And yeah, of course. But you came back to yourself pretty quick. All you needed was a little help and, as you say, this is my area of expertise!" She takes off after her of course. "We're already *in* the border region, it seems. It can take any form, unique to you. A forest prowled by wolves is a perfect example, actually. Sometimes I like to think that these aren't *just* liminal places, but also ways we warn ourselves not to stray too far into the dream. The dream is a place of beauty, but also a lot of treachery. There are even things that slip into the border of people's dreams to try to draw them out. Often times, I can protect a dreamer without ever interrupting their dream. The darkness lingers on the outside, influencing and waiting for a chance, its form only something suggested by the mind its attached itself to."

She lets out a breath.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug. "What can I say? I'm a quick study. I've always been known to learn fast." Pause. "Though, admittedly... I've sometimes learned the wrong lesson."

"So... it'll just be a forest, right? as we walk? And so, like... it's not likely to have... guardians... or anything? because... I should warn you. If my uhhhh... dreams... are like my world?"

"... There are some pretty nasty things. Bears made of stars, the size of mountains... dragons that bathe in lava... mafia spiders... pompous, arrogant nobles..."

As they came to a little stream, she got to watch how ponies cross streams. Namely, she had to wiggle her flank a bit, like a cat, before she pounced over it!

... She forgot to teleport.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"I till can't believe you're an actual unicorn from another world," is Emi's answers. "I mean, given what I deal with, I should be able to handle that better but it still makes me go all 'whaaaaat?' It could be the forest. Or we could find the mountain bears and have to talk oiur way through, or pay protection to mafia spiders, I guess. Nobles would definitely be the worst of all." She nods to herself in agreement with her own statement.

As Hinoiri pounces over the stream with a wiggle-butt, Emi tries very hard not to giggle. She is a little more successful this time before she simply stretches out a hand and a flow of gossamer webs erupts from her hand to bridge the stream for her, which she uses to cross without risking getting her skirt wet.

... not that she needed to worry. This was totally unneeded. She just wanted to show off.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug. "I get that a lot. For what it's worth? When I got here, I thought this world was tthe wildest thing. You all have FINGERS, like, wow. But EVERYTHING is a human. And you only come in like.... half a dozen colors. And you all have mono-colored hair! What's up with that? The technology is amazing, but the lack of magic is... less so. And your sun raises ITSELF! How amazing is that?!"

"... But it's still... pretty cool. The people here... are nice. Kinder than back home. I never had friends before. And they... helped me. A lot. They're worth all the weirdness. Annnnnd the buck," she said, coming to a stop.

Well, they... came to a cave. The cave near where she had awoken. "Must have gotten turned around... or it's a dream and it doesn't bucking matter... how is all of this supposed to work? You've got like... spider... powers now, right? Can you like... make a... spider... ladder? Or... a rope? To... okay I don't know how you get out of a dream forest."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Covering her mouth with her hand, Emi tries not to laugh again. She mostly succeeds.

"Well, let's see here. I'm going to look at that cave. It could be an exit."

She heads towards the cave and disappears into it ... and moemnts later reappears in a tree above her. "Anything can be an exit, really, if you think about it that way. I don't expect most people to get out on their first try. It's likely something you'll need to work on. I can *try* to pull you with me and that *might* work. It's something I've only tried a few times to ... mixed results. Just center yourself and think about *throughlines*. I'll be right behind you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded slowly, before... she started walking.

And walking.

And oh my gosh walking. Emi would learn one thing. Hinoiri... Hinoiri was incredibly good at a lot of things.

Not because she was talented, or smart, or skilled. She was, in a lot of ways. But that wasn't what made her so successful. No, what she was more than anything?

Was the most stubborn, hard headed mule of a pony.

And it didn't matter how many times she failed, she wouldn't complain, or object. She'd just keep going and trying. Pushing against the walls. Even as she kept ending up back where they started.

It was probably after the seventeenth attempt that Emi would likely realize... It was a good thing it wasn't just a big 'wall' blocking them in. Because this unicorn would have ran into it, repeatedly, to break out. No matter how long it took. But she WAS making progress... slow... very slow progress...

On the other hand...

"... Okay, so maybe you should try the 'carry me out' part. Cause I'm not sure this is going to work."

Why did she say that? Because now she was 'foal-Sunset' again. And dangling upside down from a flower that was trying, and failing, to eat her. "I hate these things. They aren't even dangerous they just get so grouchy when you light them on fire."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi observed in first amusement, and then later bemusement at the flower in question.

With the aid of her dream-webbing, she snatches the foal out of the grasp of the flower-thing and wags a finger in its direction, "No," she tells it, like she expects it to understand as she aims to tighten her webs and then slacken them to lower Hinoiri back to he forest floor.

"This is likely to be a bumpy ride. Pulling you out of your own dream is going to be *hard*. I might be able to pull it off, though. If I'm succesful, we'll show up right at the Academy! The dream vision of its students, anyway."

She bends over and encourages Hinoiri to climb on her back -- yes the irony is thick in this moment -- and webs her gently to her with glittering, sticky and soft strands of webbing to make sure she stays in place.

"Ready? Goooo..."

There's a sense of someting shattering all around Hinoiri and then like she's passing through some kind of veil of cobwebs or thick forest leaves. A sense of freefall followed by the sudden impact into ... a table? Emi lays there, flat on her stomach on the table for a moment, groaning. It's noisy here. There's men drinking all around them. Faceless men in business suits, all their jackets off and over their shoulders. They're piling on the drinks on a vaant eyed man sitting at the table with them, or were, because they're now all staring at Emi and Hinoiri, despite the lack of eyes of any kind. Or anything else for that matter.

"...fuck," thank god she's no longer in Hinoiri's dream.

"Salarymen."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara sighed as she was pulled free from the flower. Well, at least this helped... Right? Mostly?

"Well, you're the expert. Onward, Dream-Spider!" she said, pointing forward and...

And then all things were changed, and she was out of the forest, and they were... They were...

In the dreams of... salary men? Uhhhhh... How... what should she... how should she...

Blink, blink blink. Okay, still a foal, so what should she do...

"... We are the spirits... of... your familial commitments. You... should call your children. And tell them you're proud of them." Pause. "And get them a stuffed toy unicorn. Because they've been good and work very hard at times."

Then she whispered in Emi's ear. "How was that? Cause I can do a song and dance number if it's needed..."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Explain later," is what Emi says, all she has time to say, because everything explodes into violence immediately thereafter. The first Salaryman grabs at her only to lose a hand cleanly as Emi severs it with a sharp line of webbing. It falters, falling back while the othrs surge forward to grab hold of her. She struggles with surprising -- or perhaps not surprising strength because magical girl -- before kicking one back and punching another hard rnough to leave a fist-shaped impression in its soft, malleable face. It's not enough to free her, however, as she is then flung -- along wiht Hinoiri -- right into the table across the way fro them which shatters into splinters that embed themselves in her. With a groan, she kicks back to her feet. Unfortunately, this has caused the foal to tumble out of her grasp as she lunges back into the fray.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and... Oh. Oh wow. That was... Foal-Sunset scampered away under a table to watch and... huh. "Yeah, dream you kicks flank! You should learn to fight like this in real life, it'd be pretty cool!" she called out.

Oh, hey, she was grown up again! Dreams were weird. But... this meant she could do a very important thing.

She disappeared.

A moment later, she re-appeared, with a bubble tea in her magic, which she sipped from as she watched Emi kick butt. There was a second bubble tea for when she was done.

"Do a jump kick! Let me know if you want me to do anything to help!" she called out. "I think you got this, though!" Did she? Eh, who knew. Sippy sippy tea, for now. She had the good seats for this. And the violence, it pleased the unicorn.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
A swift, five forty crescent kick hits one and then another as she twirls through the air, using her webbing to hook and then tie another to a tabler. While they struggle to get free, Emi rounds to grab the victim -- that hollow eyed man -- but Hinoiri's cheering her on distracts her long enough, just a fraction of a moment, that she's caught by a black blast of energy from one of the Salarymen who has his hands held up along either side of his face, fingers interlocked over it. Through his fingers, a single red eye dominates his otherwise featureless face situateed in the middle of his face, and it is from this eye which that great beam of energy lanced out and hurled Emi first into and then through a wall. Splinters go everywhere, and yes that includes in her, though these splinters soon dissolve into multicolored particle that flake away into nothingness.

"Ow," she says Emi, laying there a moment before kicking herself to her feet. The wounded salarymen regather for a second go. They've started charging up, all mimicing the actions of the first one for more blasts together. As Hinoiri observes, she sees Emi weave her webs into a shield in front of her, the strands thick and resilient, though she's forced back by the combined weight of it all, leaving deep furrows in the ground that send more smokey particles up into the air.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara let out a low whistle as the other girl worked. Okay, she had to give her some props. Sure, not as impressive as she was when she was Sunbreaker, buuuuut... still. Impressive. And definitely superior to her as Equivalence. "You're doing great!" she called out... then cringed when Emi got blasted. Ow.

Worse? There were a bunch of others now, lining up and blasting her. Oh. Oh that was just MEAN. Ganging up on her. And... ignoring the... huh.

Unicorn.

She took another sip of her drink.

A few moments later, the bar, the tables, the drinks, the furniture, pretty much everything in the room was teleported over the salarymen before, with a resounding crash, slammed down on their heads.

Well, she had her magic in dreamland and she WAS Sora's prized student.

Siiiiiiiiip.

"Hope that's okay! Just wanted to help!"

The other bubble tea was floating by her head cause sitting on the bar wasn't really an option now, and she wasn't going to just put the glass on the ground. She wasn't an animal.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It's enough of a distraction. Emi is able to seize on it, using a line of web to grab onto the ceiling above their heads and bring down the plaster on the remaining two in thick chunks before slicing and dicing them to pieces with slender web-wire. It's not as easy as it seesms, as she has to get in closer to fight them, cutting an arm here, a hand there. As she avoiding their attacks with considerable agility, she's also grabbing their swinging limbs with her webbing and attaching them to the walls or the tables before quickly severing said exposed limb. Clever girl. Even as sh does this, however, one has grabbed hold of Hinoiri, grabbing her on either side of her head and *squeezing*. She can almost feel like their cold fingers are seeping in through her skin, into her minnd. Images flood her mind. Work hardeer. Do more schoolwork. Endlessly from class to class, vicious teachers for whom she's never good enough, endless critiquing of her performance. She'll be able to deduce quickly woith her experience that it's draining her, finding her a tasty morself indeed, a soruce of emotional energhy that is directly giving it power, if the black energy rippling around it is any indication in rolling waves of fire.

Powered up, it turns towards Emi and --

... collapses, its head separated from its body as it releases the unicorn.

"Fucking hate these guys," she mutters, observing as their bodies begin to ...start knitting back together around them.

"KenKen," she calls, as she begins webbing the bodies up quickly. "Do it."

The spider --- even larger here than in the real world, easily the size of a small dog, seemingly comes fromw nowhere, dissolving into being and landing atop the fallen form of one of the salary men, and starts to .... eat him.

MUNCH.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked and then smirked at the one grabbing her. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me, I... oh... oh wow..." she wobbled slightly. Drive. Determination. They fed off THAT?! Oh bucking... If there was one thing she had in abundance, it was that. She was a sparkly determined walking apocalypse! You didn't almost devour the sun or destroy multiple worlds or just cobble a weird magical BS device from spare parts by giving up EASILY!

However, Emi to the rescue. She let out a low sigh of relief before taking a sip from her tea... and then offered the other to Emi, telekinetically flying it over. "Dream boba? All of the great taste, none of the calories. Since, you know. Not real and all. I hope." Siiiiiip.

Then watched the spider go to town and... "Urgh..." she said, looking away and covering her mouth. "Yeah, uhhhh. I'm a vegetarian... did not need to see that. So, this has actually been pretty fun, what's next? Or we good? Cause, honestly? Kind of tired..." she mumbled before yawning. Then blinked. "Which is... interesting... because I'm actually asleep... neat."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"We're getting you -- and that guy -- out of here. They have something of a hive mind and if they got a taste of you of all people they're going to want more."

Emi grabs the vacant eyed man. "I'll explain them later. I gotta get this guy out of here and ... "

... the next thing Hinoir will see is Emi giving her a shake in the real world to rouse her from her sleep.

"Wake up, I'll be back in a minute." And then she lays back down and immediately is asleep again.

... for about five minutes before she herself wakes back up again with a groan.

"Ugh. I *hate* those guys."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara opened her eyes and then... reached up and... "Oh my gosh I hate this..." she mumbled, holding her head. "Ugggggh. Civilian life suuuuuucks. I got drained and now I just... ugh," she mumbled. She then glanced to Emi...

"So, that was pretty cool. I look forward to next time," Hinoiri said.

... Hinoiri was expecting a next time.

Hopefully Emi would be prepared for that...