2799/Dreamscape Discussions

Dreamscape Discussions
Date of Scene:	19 October 2025
Location:	Dreamscape
Synopsis:	Following the destruction of Seriss Nyx's remaining monsters, Rashmi and Amy are guided back to Molly by Emi, to share the good news. Molly's worried, and most of all, longing for what she lost. At least her friends can provide some comfort.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust, Emi Hoshino

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly remains in the dreamworld at Radiant Heart, where she has been for several weeks now. A fact which you won't catc her complaining about; this certainly does beat sitting in the passenger seat while Seriss uses her body to perform increasingly dangerous acts of villainy. There is the downside of her not having any capacity to warn her friends about said acts of villainy ahead of time, but really that was a bridge she burned to get out the warning of the hit on Hotaru anyway.

She should probably be studying.

Instead, she's clinging to the back of a white unicorn without the benefit of a saddle, hanging on tightly as it charges at full gallop through a dense forest where Radiant Heart's academics wing is usually located, with trees that look like they were plucked straight from a painter's pallat, laughing joyously all the way.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
With the second-hardest part of the job done, it really, really, *really* needs to be conveyed to Molly, that the endgame is almost upon them. With Emi willing to ferry them to the dreamscape, Rashmi looked forward to, if not a *relaxing* sleep, then at least one in which she gets to dream about her best friend having wild adventures.

But she would have to say, as she stepped out of the 'dorms' of the shared dream of the Academy, bareback unicorn steeplechase was *not* on the bingo card, but perhaps it ought to be. Radiant Heart is *wild* on so many levels of reality.

"Hiiiiiii, Molly-chan~!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy gets to sleep, soundly, and

    People have been going missing. There's some kind of time anomaly at the beach that's been flinging people across time, and she's investigating, and it would bo doubt be a very involved and high-concept story, except that Emi steps out of a door and reminds her she's dreaming and after a moment to get oriented Amy remembers, excitedly: "We've got to tell Molly!"

    Amy steps out of a door in the forest -- it's set into a tree and looks like it probably goes to some sort of fantasy gnome's home or something -- wearing pyjamas: fuzzy white unicorn slippers, greyish-blue sweatpants, and an oversized T-shirt that is either red or black and sometimes has some kind of magic circle on it and sometimes it says ¤APERTURE LABORATORIES. (And sometimes it says n2-<87?EC./3|4\)>346Ev Or maybe it says-- Maybe it's best not to keep trying to read text details in a dream.)

    "Molly!" Amy cheerfully greets, and... Molly is riding a majestic unicorn. Amy's mouth hangs open in an astonished grin.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Sleeping soundly around Emi is always easy, and she always recommends that trips to the Dreamscape are easiest on her if people are around her when they sleep.

Something about synchronized REM states, and so anyone who wanted to was invited out with her in her dorm room, where they would have spent the night watching horror movies with her: just the thing to help get a good nights sleep ... if you're Emi, anyway! It may not be helpful to anyone else. Still, for anyone who takes her up on her offer, she looked tired. Funny thing: the sleep mahou is always sleepy.

Now that they're in the Dreamscape and she's in the fullness of her power, however, she seems fine! Fine enough to greet Molly with a wave of her hand as she seems pleased to see she's adapting so well.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly doesn't so much steer the unicorn towards her friends, as basically just hang on for dear life as the fantastical steed wheels itself around to approach them. The stallion pauses just long enough for Molly to swing her leg over the side and hop down to the ground before taking off, galloping away into the forest once more.

Molly's outfit shifts from what you might expect a DnD Ranger to be wearing into something closer to her usual look; damaged jeans, belly shirt, and a knapsack slung over one shoulder, as she plops down onto a very convenient, overgrown park bench.

"Rashmi-chan," she greets, grinning. "Emi-chan, Amy-chan. ...I know I really should be studying, but... it's hard to study in here and really when else am I gonna get to ride a unicorn?" For emphasis, she unslings the knapsack and tosses it behind the bench. Who cares about that.

"So... what's up? Got any good stories from school to tell me? Anyone start dating yet that I need to know about? Any bullies mysteriously fall down the stairs?" She pauses, and mmmms, "Any good video game releases or anything?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I mean you should, but like..." Rashmi pauses on her approach to the bench to turn in place, grinning widely and waving at Emi and Amy. "I get it? And no good stories from school, but um..."

Rashmi pauses, then takes a breath and the words come out in a rush. "We're gonna get you your body back *soon* Molly-chan, Amy-chan and I just came back from a fight with Seriss and Lachesis and Clotho are *both gone,* Molly-chan. The next time Seriss shows up, *she's not gonna have anyone but herself.*"

At which point the redhead subsides, sighs, and plops down onto the bench. "...And I'd be *so much happier* if she'd paid even a little bit of attention to the fight, but she didn't even look up when one died, let alone both."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy watches the majestic unicorn drop Molly off, or Molly drop off the majestic unicorn, at least. "Did I ever tell you I got to be a unicorn a couple of times? I wonder if I can--" She concentrates. "Did it work?" Well, she got the ears and tail, at least.

> It's hard to study in here.
    Amy waves a hand dismissively, "It's fine! We will do study sessions, but you need recovery time, after... everything, and..." She spreads her arms to indicate the forest. "Seriously. Yeah, you should take the cool chances when you get them. I would've."

> So... what's up?
    Amy breathes in, grinning, eyes shining, about to speak--

    > Anyone start dating yet?
    Amy blushes and glances away, hesitating, and then Rashmi explains why they're here and Amy nods, "Yeah! We kicked her ass! Well, her monsters' asses. Which it turns out they have because there were creepy giant bodies in those coffins. ...I wonder why all of her monsters are like... giant humanish zombies, anyway...?"

    Amy shakes her head. "Not important right now. We're two steps closer to getting you out of here, Molly!" Amy raises her fists in the air and grins!

Emi Hoshino has posed:
As Amy looks away and blushes, Emi's eyebrows go up. Did Amy start dating someone? Maybe she did! It's not like Emi pays attention to the gossip or, you know, a lot of social things going on around her. She sweeps some bangs out of her eyes and then rocks back on her heels and says, Sup," in greeting. She's always so nonchalant about these things. Too cool. Totally.

She does seem glad to hear that things are looking up, though, even if Seriss' seeming uncaring has her seeming to think 'that's not so good'.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly doesn't quite react with the same bursts of excitement as displayed by Rashmi and Amy, but her smiles deepnds, and she bobs her head.

"Good, and... you got both of them, that's excellent. I don't know if Seriss could have been defeated while they were still alive." She pauses, and shrugs, "I mean I suppose anyone can be, but it would have been a lot *harder* and a lot more dangerous for everyone. I don't like to think about it. But... About her not caring.

"She did." MOlly sighs. "She considered those creations to be like... I dunno. Not quite children, but close. She loved them. And you do not want to know what was really inside them, I do know and I'm doing my best to forget about it, but like... She cares, and she'll want revenge, but if she didn't even look up from whatever she was doing when you killed them... I... I don't even know what that means."

Molly shakes her head, and lets that thought stew for a moment, before looking up at Emi, "Hey, uhm, I don't know if I've properly thanked you, by the way.' She bobs her head once more, "You did a lot to get me here, and save me from where Seriss left me to... y'know. Die." She shrugs her shoulders. "And I'm very grateful."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...To me that means whatever she was doing was *more important,* and some of us heard Hotaru-chan's name," Rashmi says, pursing her lips. "Also... She *thinks* you're gone for good, Molly-chan. So whatever you do, it's *gonna* be a total surprise. We'll just have to have everything in place for that to mean something."

With that she subsides, taking a moment to just... *look* around the academy's dreamscape, smiling gently for a moment. "Oh hey, Emi-chan? D'you happen to like curry, at all?"

Well *that's* a nonsequitur if ever there was one, and it's at that point she finally looks around to see Amy blushing.

But Rashmi doesn't press her fellow redhead, simply raises an eyebrow and smiles.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's ears splay and tail droops as Molly reveals what Seriss felt about those creations, and that, one way or another, Molly knew how Seriss felt. She smiles a little back at Rashmi, but it's already fading as she thinks of more serious concerns.

    "That's... I guess if you're evil enough, can you sacrifice something you love like that? ...Or she believed the goal was that valuable and what they would have wanted."

    "Maybe it's like... I mean... she's trying to bring back something that's gonna destroy all of existence, right? So, everything she loves is gonna die anyway, if she wins."

    And then Molly is thanking Emi, and it sounds... Rashmi asks about food, and Amy focuses on that, "Curry? I wonder if I have any food in here..." She attempts to bring up that inventory from before. They can kind of see it, full of miscellany as if from an adventure. Keys, treasures, a mermaid scale, books, a bomb, was that book titled How To Cook Giant Spiders? Amy hurriedly scrolls past it, wondering if she can just like, create a curry bowl or something.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"All in a night's work for your Oneiric Guardian Emi," replies Emi, nonchalantly, to Molly with a faint smile. "Think nothing of it. You'd have done the same for others -- probably have countless times already that I'm not aware of." She shrugs her shoulders, sending faint wisps of webbing and sparkles up around her with the sweeping motion.

She's about to respond to Rashmi's question about curry when she sees it.

How To Cookl Giant Spiders.

And then KenKen -- the prismatic little jumping spider, is on her shoulder and COMPLAINING.

"Excuse me?!" squeaks the spider.

Molly Skyline has posed:
'You'd have done the same for others'.

A certain night on a particular beach replays itself through Molly's brain; an ill-fated trip through a portal to the Dusk Zone climaxing in self-sacrifice, and almost a year's worth of... well.

"Yeah," Molly replies, smiling faintly. "Yeah, you're right. I would."

Molly catches sight of the book. And she knows about Emi's spider all too well. ...Molly herself is more or less terrified of spiders, but this one has proven itself to be pretty chill so he's alright. But, that book title is a problem, but maybe it didn't get notic--

"Hey, I'm sure she didn't mean it...!" she pleads, after the outburst from the spider. "I mean I totally understand, but... y'know what I'm just not gonna get in the middle of this one." She shakes her head, and tilts her gaze back Rashmi's way. "So like... when this is over, and... assuming you managed to destroy Seriss without destryoing, y'know, my body in the process, I... I really want curry. Really really. I've missed it bad."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Amy's inventory is causing real concerns tonight, and Rashmi can *see* the near future unfolding at that single glimpse of the book title. ...Oh boy.

Reaching out to pat Amy's shoulder, in a 'you made this moment, *you* get to fix it' kind of gesture, she turns back to Emi and beams. "Hi KenKen-chan! Anyway Emi-chan I asked cos if you go to the Korma Chameleon and tell the server you're one of Rashmi's friends, I can guarantee a discount for the first few visits. Family restaurant and all... And Molly-chan you will get *all the curry you can hold,* I can promise you that."

Amanda Faust has posed:
+===========================================================================+
| Key Item · Found in BJMi'CZpC.WS@CZc                                      |
| A cookbook for hungry adventurers, covering many nearly-edible dishes.    |
+===========================================================================+

    Amy jumps when KenKen sees what she saw and tried to scroll past. "Iunno! It's like, the sort of ridiculously-named thing you'd see as a throwaway line in a game, right? It doesn't mean I want to do that!" She also winces at the mention of possibly destroying Molly's body.

    But, focusing on the imagined text just starts to make it destabilize; when you look back for words you just saw, you can't see them, and soon it's all... hard to look at.

+===========================================================================+
| Key Item · sQ]XHaVnCVVVM%IWTa9i&TOcG                                      |
| naKYSMOo3MmW=TgRYPTr=aOUDGV^YTRr7mmT=XM\MPT 1C\jMPMKVNf-)FWS:GgNMUUe7o    |
+==============================<* Key Items *>==============================+
|[How to Coo9a/SEPa vRWU3T[        x1]  "KTO                             x1 |
| !EZO[F_i:G`                      x1   rOM\ENQ uQR                      x1 |
| H%98Gf;fLC"Nt)B                  x1   !GIi;Kac,haptGU]XQ[e             x1 |
+===========================================================================+

    Amy winces and rubs her eyes as the menu fades. And reaches up to pet KenKen lightly with a couple of fingers. "Obviously you are a friend, KenKen."

    She looks at Molly. "And we won't... we won't destroy your body. We'll... We'll figure this out." She looks away. "We have to. We have to..."

    She turns to Emi, "Can we get dream curry, tonight? I guess there aren't like, restaurants in the dreamscape... are there?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"HMPH" is KenKen's response -- but she is mollified by the pats to her furry little body. She chitters -- it sounds something like a purr.

Emi puts a hand over her mouth. She's trying not to laugh. It ruins her cool. All the same, she glances towards Rashmi, then gives a casual nod. "Oh, sure. Good to know. I'll have to like check it out when I have time I guess." She sweeps her hair out of her mismatched eyes and gives a ghost of a smile towards Molly and then Amy again.

"Okay, so like .... maybe? We don't really have full control here in the dreamscape, obviously, but like we could go into someone's dreams, like say Rashmi's, and have dream curry there since they could 'generate' it in their dreamscape for us. We can make that happen if you'd all like. It wouldn't be hard to transition to one of your personal dreamscapes."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly pushes her spectacles up her nose -- not going to forfeit those even in the dreamscape -- and stands, lifting both hands up over her head and bringing them slowly down to either side as she stretches.

"Yeah, I know you will," she replies to Amy. "I'm sorry if I'm fatalistic a lot lately, it's just... y'know. Died, got accidentally resurected along with my body after a dark ritual, had a daimon inhabiting me since February, missed most of the school year, I..." she trails off, and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry. I am trying to not... dwell on things and not let them get to me, it's just... it's hard, that's all."

The purplenette smiles at Emi, and bobs her head, "If it's alright with Rashmi-Chan, I would like that very much. I really do miss curry."

Molly pauses, and looks back to Rashmi, "But first, really important -- about the backdoor that Chrono put into Starcrash. I'll try to use it like I said, but if I can't... or if... if Seriss starts charging 'Supernova', use if then. Do anything. Interupt it, set the range to zero, just... don't let it go off."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...We could do that," Rashmi says uncertainly. "Just, fair warning... I've had, like, a *lot* on my mind lately. Not all of it's great, but I think if I can focus, I can at least make sure we have a nice dinner."

Leaning over, se wraps an arm around Molly's shoulders and squeezes. "Yeah... I'm not surprised it's hard. But it's almost over, and soon you'll be back where you belong and I *absolutely will not* allow her to finish a Supernova, to be sure. That sounds like a tolerance-busting kinda spell anyway, and I want to *rebuild* Starcrash."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy grimaces at Molly at the... well, grislier topics of discussion. Sorry for being fatalistic? Amy shakes her head, "It's understandable..." she starts to add, but Molly goes on, and Amy runs up to hug her, shaking her head.

    "It really is a lot. I've been fatalistic about, well, years of magical battle, in the past. Heck, I was scared we were gonna get trapped by Bliss-chan forever," Amy looks to Emi, who... is the only one here who was also on that mission and remembers how fatalistic and worried she got after the briefing, before they did get trapped for a bit.

    She looks back to Molly, "What you've been through is so much worse." She squeezes a little extra in the hug, before letting go and stepping back.

    She nods at the warning. "Her spells certainly are named... concerningly. She also mentioned a gamma-ray burst... is it really a supernova?"

    It was her suggestion, so she will happily go to dream-dinner at Rashmi's.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"I can help you focus, Rashmi," says Emi to Rashmi with the sort of confidence that suggests it won't be a problem.

Really, she's -fairly- sure just the suggestion of that confidence will do more than to make it happen than anything else she might suggest or do out the gate. A lot of the talk about Nyx and starcrash and supernovas is just going over her head. She's really quite hopeful the world isn't going to get consumed in a supernova, though. That'd suck.

And then she starts heading into the school, deeper, to towards the dorms. Seems she's fine with all of this.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"It's not a real Supernova," Molly is quick to assure everyone. "The same way her version of Stellar Convergence is called Event Horizon, but it's, like, not actually' a black hole. It's just a really big explosion, I've watched her practice it a couple of times. Didn't have much choice but to watch, anyway." She shrugs her shoulders. "And yeah, try not to let her hit you with Gamme Ray Burst either, it's... it's not literally that, but it'll hurt."

Molly returns the hugs, and follows after Emi. "I just want this to be over now," she murmurs. "I want my body back. I want to be stuck sitting in a boring class passing notes to Rashmi-chan 'cause she's always sitting beside me or in front of me or something. I want..." She sucks in a breath, bottom lip quivering.

"I want my Moms."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah," Rashmi whispers, squeezing again. "Soon, Molly-chan. It's almost over, I promise, and then you'll get your life back."

Molly, perhaps, might try to be more realistic, and assume the possibility that she'll die for good, but not Rashmi. There is no world, apparently, in which Molly does not get back everything that was stolen from her. "C'mon," she says, helping Molly up. "Let's go have some dream curry, but like... excuse the mess."

And the confidence *does* help, because as she leads Molly and Ami after Emi into the dorms, and they transition to her dreamscape... well.

'Mess' is a good word for it.

To enter the dreamscape, first they have to cross a 'path' of broken, floating rocks, with ever-greater distances between them. While it never really gets too far to jump normally, there's definitely the psychological impact of hopping from rock to rock with no guardrails over a yawning abyss. But then they get to a point where tremendous floating rocks bumble past them, and reveal the dreamscape proper.

Seen from the outside, it's a series of dioramas set into the side of a mountain. Here, what looks like a pastoral setting, there a home kitchen, over *there* what might be some kind of workshop? But around and between it all fly... well it's not homework koi, that's for sure. Some of it is indecipherable bits of glowing technology, tumbling in schools that seem to try to self-assemble into actual things, but fair and fly back apart. Some of it resembles youma of varying descriptions, half-visible and seen through a pearlescent haze. And some of it is a great silver dragon, banking and sweeping over and around the mountain, tumbling through clouds apparently composed of magical energy; her attacks, those of others...

Rashmi has a *lot* on her mind.

But she guides the group toward the kitchen dirama, and when they've come close enough to swallow them whole... There they stand, in the Terios family's kitchen. Dinner is ready, a stack of bowls and another of spoons are placed next to a great big bubbling pot of richly spiced curry. "...I've had a lot of dinners here," she says by way of explanation. "'Food is love' is pretty much a family motto, so... Dreams I have here are *always* nice and relaxing."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at the explanation about attacks. "I'm glad she can't just give everyone in an area radiation sickness. That sounds awful for our healers to deal with."

    Molly wants her body back.

    Molly wants her life back.

    Molly wants her Moms back.

    Amy hugs her again, tightly.

    By the time they're stepping into Rashmi's dreamscape, Amy's forgotten about trying to be a unicorn, and is wearing that 'cute' magical girl outfit they've seen a few times, the pink one with the vest and hat.

    Jumping from rock to rock is familiar enough of an idea, Amy's played platformer games like that, but it is slightly more harrowing to experience it, even when she can superjump like a mahou. If she can. If she can't, she henshins so that she can. Still, there's something about this that makes her frown a bit.

    But once they get close enough to see the dioramas and the... techno-fauna? She looks around in wonder at the dreamscape, and eventually they make their way to the kitchen. Amy smiles at the friendly, home-y-ness of it. "It already smells good, too..."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
With her back to them, no one can see the stricken look that crosses Emi's face at Molly's wish there, that last one, and she moves forward at a quicker pace in response until she can control her emotions again. It doesn't take her more than a moment to get herself composed.

A barrier made of floating rocks? This has her look towards Rashmi with curiosity. Is someone -afraid of heights-? That's her initial assumption. She doesn't say anything about it but then she doesn't need to: the question on her lips is obvious.

She's able to neatly cross the boundary, and provide safety to the others with thick strands of glowing, pink, gossamer webs. Easy enough for her.

Once they're finally in something approaching a domicile, her shoes are left at the door and she takes a seat after neatly brushing her skirts clean.

Molly Skyline has posed:
On crossing the boundary, Molly's outfit changes again; briefly, she's wearing the sort of jumpsuit you might wear if you were driving in a professional race car, one of those flame-proof suits in case you crash while going at hundred of kilometers an hour and your car explodes into flames, so you don't get instantly transformed into a strip of charred bacon.

She follows along behind Emi carefully, making sure to keep up without getting left behind. By the time they're in the kitchen the purplenette has her usual look back, and kicks off her shoes beside Emi's, having never noticed the stricken look across the dream mahou's face.

"...Rashmi-chan, your dream landscape is awesome," she comments. "I wonder a lot what mine actually looks like... y'know, when Seriss isn't ruining everything." She plops down in a seat, and rests her chin in one palm, elbow on the table. "Maybe I'll get to find out? ...I've dreamed about the future a few times, I talked to Rashmi about it," she adds, glancing towars Amy and Emi. "I wondered if it was, y'know, a prediction. I guess if it was then it'd have to mean I'm gonna, y'know, still... be here after Seriss."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When Emi glances back, Rashmi can't help but chuckle at the curiosity. One day she may even ask, and the answer will no doubt surprise her; it's not the *heights* that are the problem, it's that *not being able to fly* is the problem; because at no point has Rashmi henshined, and took the jumps exactly as if she just did not have access to her magic. Maybe it's a trick of the mind? Perhaps not? But she hasn't done *nearly* as much experimenting in dreams as Amy has, so the Devicer may just not know the full extent of what she can do when dreaming.

Regardless, flying is what the giant silver dragon is for.

But here in the Terios kitchen, she waves everyone to the dinner table, and starts serving up heaping bowls of curry, just spicy enough to be *called* spicy, but not overpoweringly so. Emi gets the first bowl, then Molly, then Amy, and finally herself. "So this is pretty good," she admits as she sits down next to Molly. "But if you go to the *restaurant,* you get the secret to good restaurant food; twice as much butter. Ever wonder why food tastes better when it's not made at home? That's probably it."

Leaning over, she nudges Molly's shoulder. "Exactly. You *know* you're still gonna be here, you're gonna *win* against that heartless jerk, and Papi'll invite you and your moms over for Labor Day so you can be *surrounded* by family."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is barely an oneironaut... it's far from any of the most studied subjects in her life, but then, the vast majority of people don't even try to explore dreams, so among the people they know aside from Emi, perhaps only Mamoru has more experience? And now, of course, Molly.

    Amy sits down with the rest of them, accepting a bowl with a smiling 'thank you!' and blowing on it to cool it.

    She smiles and nods at the comment, she has heard of the secret of butter. "Honestly, the foods that I do know how to cook? Are harder to find better at a restaurant. They just don't make that great of a burger, and they dunno how to properly, um... what's the word... you put mayo with lemon pepper stirred in and spread it on salmon fillets and broil it. They'll charge you more and not make it as good!" Amy shakes her head. "Gods, I haven't cooked like that in forever, though..."

    Amy looks at Molly. "We'll make a better future. That..." Amy frowns. "The way people were treating you at the race, even your own managers..."

    Amy sighs and looks at her bowl of curry. "I hope... I hope some of you can figure out how to make a world better than that. Maybe one day I'll even know how to help."

    "Itadakimaaaaasu!"

    "Mmm...!"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Itadakimasu," agrees Emi, quietly, side-eyeing Amy. What she knows about that dream, she isn't willing to share just yet. Not more than she did at the time. She casts her eyes on Molly, though, and just says, casually, "Yeah. Dreams are often are way of interpreting a possibility. I hope you'll remember what you saw there." And that's all she has to say about -that-.

For now.