Scene #2756: Welcome to the Dreamscape, Molly

Owner	Pose
Emi Hoshino	When Molly was ready, Emi simply offered to take her to where she'd be staying, a place where she'd be comfortable and ... mostly safe. Mostly. With Rashmi wanting to come as well, Emi responded with a lackadaisical shrug and said 'Yeah, sure, I guess that's fine' and took her with her too. Strode down to the border of Mamoru's dream manse and strode across the ocean it sits beside like it wasn't even there before simply peeling back the layers of his dream like it was an onion and stepping inside, with the two of them holding onto a thick line of purple-pink webbing she fed them. It's hard to let go of it. There's a darkness, then, and a weightlessness. Like the sense of falling one sometimes gets when they're just falling to sleep -- except when they jerk awake, they're standing just inside the gate of someplace familiar. Oh, sure, its unmistakable the Radiant Heart campus, but not the one they know. NO, -this- courtyard is one that feels too big to fit in the real world, with trees that are in a constant state of blooming with colors that would be impossible to describe, with swarms of koi that swim through air rather than water, with book pages fluttering from nowhere to spiral into shimmering flocks like starlings dancing across a cherry-blossom strewn sky. The buildings are half-recognizable, drawn from overlapping memories of its student body and different eras of the campus, if one had looked into the history of the school, they might even know that. There's Emi, suddenly dressed in a gothic variant of her school uniform, lit cigarette hanging loosely from her lips. She takes a drag on it, looking for all the world like your regular delinquent instead of the Oneiromancer that brough them here. "Well," she says, tossing a look over her shoulder to them, "Welcome to school and shit. Take a minute and I'll find a dorm dream for you to stay in."
Molly Skyline	Molly has been nursing a minor sadness that she cannot remain in her own dreamscape, but the arguments against doing so are both logical and sound. And as safe-feeling and frankly wonderful as Mamoru's is, everyone is right; the Radiant Heart dreamscape is the safest place she could possibly be right now, and this is not the time for half measures. Not until she gets control of her body back. No; for now, let Seriss think that she's rid of her. Technically, for the time being at least, she is. Molly follows Emi and Rashmi into the surreal version of the campus, and at first, she just marvels at the sights. Sure, she knew it was going to be fantastic in all sorts of ways, but she hadn't specifically predicted any of this. "...Yeah, sure," she murmurs distractedly, as she keeps holding on to the line of webbing. She, herself, has changed attire upon arriving as well, exchanging a pink dress for a pair of fashionably damaged jeans and a cropped tank-top with the Union Jack emblazoned on both the front and back. The purplenette takes a little wander, not going too far away from either Emi or Rashmi, but wanting to... take things in a little bit. "How long can I stay here?" she asks. "I... hope I can stay a long time, I don't know how long it's going to be before... y'know. Seriss can be beaten. You can't just summon her out to sacrifice her creations. It kind of has to happen on her timetable."
Rashmi Terios	As upsetting as it is to leave Molly's dreamscape behind without Molly in it... Right now it's under occupation, and decidedly unsafe. So... Gotta retreat, for now. And there really is no better place to retreat to, than the safest magical stronghold in Tokyo. Flying koi. Flocks of homework. A night sky that manages to be recognizably so, yet a riot of color all the same. Following behind Molly, Rashmi shoots a significant look to Emi, nodding at the instructions. "Thank you," she says in return... And while it's not quite the same tone as 'I swear my undying fealty and that of my family for countless generations'... There's a weight of sincerity and gratitude in her words, and the deep bow that follows, that evokes an echo of the kind of unpayable debt that spans dynasties. "Let her cook," she replies instead to Molly's questions. "We'll probably know how long after we find a spot for you." A thought strikes Rashmi, and she turns in place once, twice, to orient herself... then looks toward the dream of the woods on the edge of the academy grounds, in the direction the Shed would lie in the waking world. ...Now there's a thought... Her henshin drops, and her attire is... more in tune with the kind of dress one might find on an inhabitant of the Shire, peasant-simple and comfortable earth-tones. "But if the dream version of the school's anything like the real world... Probably as long as we need."
Emi Hoshino	"Can't say," is Emi's immediate answer to Molly, "but long enough, and I'll be here all the time patrolling to make sure it -stays- safe as long as I can. The thingy that protects the real world here doesn't work as well over the dreamscape. Students can still generate their own nightmares, unfortunately. You wouldn't -believe- the number of textbook monsters I've had to -- you know what, never mind." Another little cigarette puff before she pushes towards the campus dorms, intent on finding some place comfortable for her. You'll be fine to wander, mostly, and I'll teach you the basics of surviving in the dreamscape. Understand, though," she says with another loose shrug, "I -don't- know what its like to be herre full time. I'm here a lot, but even my perspective is still that of someone able to return to the real world in a blink of an eye. It's pretty cool here, though." She opens the door to the dorrm building and immediately students come streaming out into the silver light of the moon that hangs so large above. They're whispering indecipherable, little more than faceless visual novel protagonists -- echoes, truly. She waits for the stream to die down, and then leads the way in. "The dreamscape is composed of, I dunno, linked dream spaces as a sort of backbone. All the dreamers who live here and all the dreamers who have lived here and all the dreamers who dream about a place make it up. Shit bleeds from their dream into the dream space, making it. It's why it's recognizable, but not real. But it also means that one needs to be careful here because any door you open can lead to the space between someone's dream and -this- dream scape." She yanks open a door, revealing a doorway to... ... is that outer space??? It sure looks like it. She carefully shuts the door. "So anyway, be careful with -any- kind of threshold you've not been through before. When the character of a place starts to change, be watchful, you could be entering a liminal space, with all that that entails. It's not always abrupt as 'fuck is that outer space'."
Molly Skyline	Molly was right about to follow Emi through that door too, when it turns out to be literally outer space, so she draws up short and flaps her arms to keep her balance. "Ohmygoodness," she gapss, as she pulls back from the doorway that she was, actually, in absolutely no danger of falling through. It's just that it was literally outer space, like space, full of all the space things, so like nothing actually. But that ''is'' pretty cool. "So, I'm guessing someone is dreaming about being an astronaut?" She thrusts her hands into her pockets -- still holding on to the web of course -- and eyes up the door. Yes, in her dream Molly has full pockets. It's something she dreams of constantly, especially when she's stuck wearing some dumb pants that have pockets big enough to hold loose change and a stick of gum if she tetrises them into the space carefully. Well... Seriss hasn't really demonstrated to me that she has a huge amount of patience, so hopefully she'll be pushing her agenda forward soon in some way that she can be interfered with." She bites her bottom lip, and looks sideways at everything they're walking past. "But... and like I know I'm being a dweeb 'cause it was totally me who brought it up, but... let's not talk about Seriss any more tonight? Please? I'm sorry, I just... talking about it has made me realize how she's been the only thing I've been able to really think much about since... that day on the beach. And I need to think about something else." She pauses, and perks an eyebrow upwards. "Actually, if there's any chance I could... catch up on some schoolwork in here... I know that must sound like the nerdiest thing ever but I'd basically just like to not get held back a year and I can only do so much in summer school to catch up." She sighs softly, "Next summer, that is." Molly slows down, and blushes softly. "Sorry," she murmurs to Emi. "Rashmi-chan said to let you cook, and I should, I just... Aside from an hour with Rashmi-chan a while ago, this is the most I've gotten to talk to anyone in months."
Rashmi Terios	WELP OKAY, SO IT'S THAT KINDA MOVIE. The phantasmagoric colors of the school grounds are one thing, but the faceless student herds and an actual door that opens on outer space are a... less... fantastical... kind of fantasy that has Rashmi double- and triple-checking the wallpaper they pass, just in case. "...Okay," she says faintly, as she waits for her heart to stop jackhammering. "Message received." And it truly has; no better proof than this, that even the magically-enforced safety of the students that she literally helped safeguard has its limits, and those limits grow fuzzy in the world of dreams and nightmares. And as Molly brings up the subject she doesn't want to hear any more about, Rashmi just... rests a hand on her friend's shoulder. "No, I get it, Molly-chan. Don't worry... No talk about her unless you bring it up. And I definitely will be looking for ways to bring stuff across, though I've heard that writing gets weird in dreams?" A curious glance is turned Emi's way, as if the Oneiromancer can easily confirm. Which, between Rashmi's habit of trusting the expert's word and Emi's self-confessed patchy understanding of a country she generally visits more than inhabits... Yeah, it makes sense.
Emi Hoshino	"Looks like Nurse Meiou is having fun tonight," muses Emi of the outer space dream she showed them. Did she know it would be like that when she opened it? Maybe not that -exactly-, but perhaps something like it. She listens to the rest, nodding along like it's all no big deal to her. "Yeah, it's hard to writing in dreams, or reading for that matter. It's just not a part of your brain that's terribly functional here." Emi shrugs her shoulders. "But it's the dreamscape, so it's kinda different -sometimes-? Anyway, you're asking the wrong person for help with schoolwork. I'm far too cool to engage in such trivialities. But I bet I could bring Amy or Hinoiri here and they'd be better suited to help with that, so like ... yeah." She then stats down the hallway again, which seems to stretch on into the infinite. They all do, really. ""Heeeere we are." She moseys up to another door and then kicks it open casually. before striding inside to reveal ... A DORM ROOM. It looks worryingly normal.
Molly Skyline	Molly does her best to hide a crestfallen look; but the dreamscape is the way it is, so if she's going to catch up on schoolwork and challenge some exams, then other ways will have to be found to go about it. And hey, maybe time with her friends would be a good way to go about it. Emi, of course, is too cool for any of that stuff. "Maybe someday I'll be as cool as you," Molly muses, gathering back a measure of cheerfulness that she hasn't been able to either feel or express in a long time. "But for now I really gotta focus on the school stuff. Especially if I want to be both a racecar driver and an engineer. Which I do." The purplenette lifts one hand to rest on Rashmi's, and closes her eyes for a moment. "Thank you," she murmurs. "I just... I don't want to talk about it but I haven't had much else to think about for a while so... this is... hard. "So anyway, be careful in here, message received. But seriously, I feel like this is the ''least'' danger I've been in at any point since January and it's honestly kinda nice, if the worst thing I have to worry about is accidentally opening the wrong door and either getting sucked into the freezing void of space, sacrificed to some kind of monkey god, or eaten by a giant slug like off a magic card or something."
Rashmi Terios	As a friend is wont to do, Rashmi pokes her head into the room and has a look around. It... looks just like every other dorm room in the school! That's a good start! ...Right? But she bustles on in, and immediately starts looking under the bed, in the closet, behind the fixtures, and every other place that might hide something that ought not be there. "I get it," she says gently to Molly. "And it's gonna be the hardest thing you'll have to do for awhile, actually getting rest. But I'm pretty sure you won't have any-- um... many... big scares, and anyway I'll be checking in as often as I can. Other people will too, so you can definitely be sure you won't be alone."
Emi Hoshino	"Yeah, a lot of people are gonna be hitting me up for transit since most people can't navigate out of their dreams on their own. Their brains won't let them, so I have to do it." Emi gives another lazy shrug and lets Rashmi search around and check under the bed. She's fine with this, but she seems pretty confident that nothing is 'wrong' here. "Speaking of the Nurse, I should bring her to you too."
Molly Skyline	Molly hovers by the door, and lets her friend do her checking out of the room -- which is far more thorough than she herself would ever have thought to do. She almost suggests, jokingly, that they should check the light sockets for listening devices, just in case anyone nearby is having a James Bond dream, but keeps that notion to herself in the end. "I will try to get rest," she confirms. "I just... I hope I ''can''. I'm not sure I'll be able to think about, y'know, how we're not done yet. There's still a lot to do. The worst part is yet to--" she pauses, "Right, I forgot, I don't wanna talk about that tonight." The purplenette edges into the room, and leans against the wall. "Can I wander from this room, and get back here safely? My own dreams are abnormal, as I'm... sure you worked out, but I'm not versed in travelling to other dreams. And..." She bobs her head to Emi, "Yeah, I... really do need to tlak to Nurse Meiou, I think that's overdue. And she should know about the... things that Obsidian did to my body." ''Things Obsidian did to my body''. The words leave a sour taste in Molly's mouth, and it shows. ''My body''. So maybe they did bring her back to life, by accident mostly, but they ''did things to my body'' and that clearly hasn't stopped being a source of horror. "I'm never going to get it back. What I used to be, I mean. But... maybe that's okay? I'll just... have to adapt I guess."
Rashmi Terios	"...She saw the... notes," Rashmi says quietly. "Nurse Meiou, I mean. She was the first person I went to after we found out you were... still here. So... Given that there's not much actual scanning she can do, might be you won't have to relive... much." It's a paltry hope, but Rashmi was never one to leave a mitigating factor unvoiced. "And Molly-chan... It's okay to hope you'll get it back. Most of it, anyway... Because we're sitting in a dorm room in the dream world, and that's a fact of reality. A dream protector, a mermaid, a monster hunter, a moon princess, an Earth prince, three aliens, and a werewolf all have been fighting for you. So just... like... tell me what's impossible anymore, y'know?"
Emi Hoshino	Emi listens. Her face screws up. She keeps the simmering anger she feels on Molly's behalf to rest. A spider crawls out of nowhere and appears on Emi's shoulder, all prismatic in its color. "KenKen is going to stay with you when I don't need them. She can lead you back here if you get lost, but the shape of this place is stable -enough- that you -should- be able to find your way back. I'd advise not wandering off the campus grounds, though, strongly. You will be in danger quickly." She makes a cat's cradle of shimmering webs between her fingers, idly playing with it as she talks.
Molly Skyline	"No, I... I do have to relive it," Molly mumbles, before clearing her throat and speaking up a little louder. "I have to talk about it eventually. Not just because there's medical implications that I don't even know about I'm sure but like... If I don't talk about it eventaully, it's just going to be in my head, probably making me unhappy and then bad tempered and then just so miserable to be around that I drive all my friends away, and I don't want that." Molly finally wanders over to the bed; and her attire changes, shifting from damaged jeans and a cropped tank top to, of all things... a giraffe onesie, fluffy enough to guard against the cold when you're trying to sleep in the middle of winter. "I appreciate that," she adds, looking at KenKen. "I hope he's not offended but I am actually low-key kind of afraid of spiders, so like, if he surprises me and I shriek like a six year old, I promise I'm not being a horrible person. I will do my best, I promise." Molly manages a smile, before she turns to look back at the bed. She puts one hand on it, and gives it a little downward push, before she adopts a deeper grin, this time reaching her eys. "Hey... wanna see how we used to test out new beds at the orphanage, every time we got old enough to need a bigger one?" Without waiting, Molly hops up on the bed, and proceeds to jump up and down on it, bouncing herself as high as she can and stomping both feet down in the middle of it with all her might, just to jump and land and repeat and repeat.
Rashmi Terios	"...That makes sense," Rashmi says after a bit of unhappy silence. Left unspoken is 'and I don't have to like it,' but it's writ plain on her face. But when KenKen makes their appearance, Rashmi actually turns and bows to the prismatic spider. "And thank you, KenKen-sama, very, very much." Having spent more than a little time around Ahmya, otherworldly spiders are in fact less creepy than the real thing, for Rashmi. "Seriously, both of you... Is there anything at all I can do to help? Because..." She turns her head to watch Molly 'test' the bed, and can't help but chuckle. "This is my first, best friend. And now she's safe, if not all back. Seriously... name it."
Emi Hoshino	"All in a night's work for an Oneiric Guardian," says Emi, nonchalantly. She stares as Molly jumps up and down on the bed, eyes tracking her up and then down and then up. "Mmn." "I'll let you know if there's anything I need, but really, it'll mostly just be risking your life to help fight nightmares and evil salarymen again and you're already gonna do that so." She claps her hands together and then bowas towards both of them. KenKen hops onto the nightstand from Emi's shoulder and waves her forelegs. "Hiiiii," says the spider, it's voice in an undeniably twee feminine register.
Molly Skyline	"Ohmigodthespidertalks." Molly lands on the bed and the springs creak as she bounces up and down on it a couple of times, no longer jumping. "Okay actually that helps immensely. ...I'm sorry, I hope I'm not being a jerk, I just... didn't want you to be shocked if I like, shrieked or anything, I'll try ''really hard'' not to be weird." The purplenette steps forwards, letting herself fall onto her butt on the side of the bed, so she can sit. She clasps her hands behind her head and flops on her back, gazing up at the ceiling. Relax. This is relaxing. You can do it. "When I am myself again, I will joyfully help you fight whatever evil salarymen are. They sound evil and need to be fought. I promise." Molly bites her bottom lip, and looks up at Rashmi, "And... you already said you'd rebuild Starcrash, and I am already ''so grateful'' for that." She sits up, and brushes her fingers under her eyes. "He's been really... brave. This whole time. He deserves credit 'cause he, uhm." She clasps her hands together, "We haven't gotten to talk, but I'm pretty sure he allowed himself to be corrupted. He could've fought it but he didn't. He's been trying to protect me the entire time."
Rashmi Terios	"We had to rescue Hinoiri-chan from them," Rashmi says. "Like... they're the personification of every horrible thing you've ever heard about office work. And they're almost as bad as that cyberbullying Nightmare, that was..." She doesn't have nightmares about that one; being able to punch something is the face does a lot to make it less likely to creep up in your sleep. But oh, does that memory hit her sometimes, in the thin and dark hours of the night before sleep comes. 'It's okay to cry now. I'm sure Molly did.' Giving herself a full-boddy shake, Rashmi closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "...rough." And Molly talks about Starcrash, and that's enough to bring Rashmi away from that memory with a grim smile. "Chrono said he's gonna put Starcrash up for a commendation. I don't know how you're supposed to honor Devices, but if he ever makes contact with the TSAB? Starcrash's fight, and yours Molly-chan... People're gonna know why you both deserve medals."