Scene #2770: Emi Hoshino Is Tired

Owner	Pose
Emi Hoshino	Emi was tired. The business of the dreamscape never lets up, and frankly, how can it? There's always something to do, some crisis that needs attention... and then there are the other matters to attend to, such as the matter with Molly and various people needing passage to and fro from the dreamscape. She can hardly blame them for any of that, really, so she does her level best to help. Sometimes, the requests come at a bad time. Like now. One hand grips hard on the back of a dream while her other snaps out long, luminous ropes of spider silk. Each line slaps down across a horn or an eye's ridge, webbing the monster's head into an awkward, sticky net. She struggles to control it, to direct it and then --- ""Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it!" "Oh fuck what does Amy want?" says Emi, testily, as she becomes aware that in the real world her phone is lighting up with texts from Amy Faust. She pats the monster on the head, says, "Just a second, buddy," closes her eyes, and then opens them again in the real world. She picks up her phone, still half asleep, and scrolls checks the display to see what'sa needed. <PHONE> A text from Amy Faust: So, Taro would also like to see the dreamscape sometime? Also he proposed that his dreams could make a good training area because they're weird. <PHONE> A text from Amy Faust: ...I suddenly wonder what he actually considers weird, it's going to be either extremely normal or very weird. "sec" is the texted reply before she's -back- in the dreamscape again. And then Emi, tiny furious Emi, is back to clinging like a jockey with spider-silk reigns attached to a monster whose footfalls shake dream-tokyo like an earthquake. All because one dreamer decided to dream they were Godzilla and busted through their border. "HEY! BIG GUY," yell Emi in his ear , "You don't belong out here! Let's get you back to your dream before you squish like a HUNDRED OTHER DREAMS!" The monster didn't listen -- why should he? He's fuckin' Godzilla! It swung its head, nearly hurtling her off its back. It's gonna be a hot minute before she gets back to Amy. ... about thirty minutes later, to be exact, she sits up in bed with a groan, combs her fingers through her messy hair and then texts Amy again. "yeah sure okay lets do this. I don't know Taro well so we'll need to swing by his place so I can give him something. Also, no kaiju dreams." Approximately an hour later, Emi has collected Amy, and they'll be on their way to meet with Taro in the flesh before anything else can happen. Emi. Is. Tired.
Taro Yamada	Taro's waiting for the two of them in his dorm room. He has a thermos of hot water, two mugs and a collection of tea bags waiting, as well as a selection of onigiri and biscuits he's made in anxious anticipation of this visit. His dreams are - strange. Terrifying. Surely they would be suitable for training. Wouldn't they. w o u l d n t t h e y Jack, the faceless porcelain doll, leers at him from his seat at the pantry. Taro gestures obscenely back before opening the door, allowing the girls into his dorm. "I've prepared a proper dinner in the fridge for if you need it now - or afterwards, if need be. I really appreciate the time the two of you are taking for this," Taro says, bowing as the two of them come in. Amy doesn' tneed it, but Emi - frankly, Taro would rather overcommit to making a good impression than keep his dignity.
Amy Faust	Amy's phone beeps the power rangers communicator noise and she looks over. EMI: Also, no kaiju dreams. Amy blinks. YOU: Did someone dream they are a kaiju? I don't think I've ever done that. Maybe had a mecha a couple of times. YOU: ...I'm not sure anyone can promise Taro won't have dreams about being a monster... YOU: OH YOU:OH YOU MEANT DREAMING ABOUT A KAIJU ATTACKING THEM i am dumb sorry YOU: Okay see you soon. When Emi collects Amy and they head over to see Taro, the redhead is wearing an oversized field jacket over a red T-shirt and black synthetic cargo zipoffs. She smiles as soon as she sees him -- "Taro!" and runs up to hug him before letting go and stepping back. "It's fine! Um, I mean, at least for my part, you know I'm happy to spend time with you. It's like it's more normal than 'normal'... did I forget to mention that? Well, it's true..." She turns to Emi and beams, "This is Taro! Yamada Taro-san. He's great!" She looks back to Taro, "Taro this is Emi! Hoshino Emi-san, the Dream Guardian!" She then looks over at Emi curiously and a bit concerned, quietly noting, "You do look really tired, though..." It's easy for her to miss Jack when she's not ''looking'' for him... he doesn't usually interact with her, anyway... And she hasn't seen Dory in awhile...
Emi Hoshino	"No, someone's Godzilla dream got loose into the dreamscape and -- It's not important now. I just have a 'no kaiji' rule today, just making that clear." Emi wrinkles her nose. And then they're meeting Taro and Emi bows in greeting to him, as is appropriate. She can tell when someone is putting in the work. "I could eat," she offers after a moment. The multicolored spider that crawls up onto her shoulder out of seeming nowhere stares at Taro from its perch. "Hi," chirps the spider, wiggling its pedipalps in his direction. "KenKen, you're going to get yourself blown off my shoulder one of these days," mutters Emi.
Taro Yamada	"I have food and drink available. This is a lot of work to put in, and I appreciate it," Taro says. There's plenty of onigiri and tea and tea adjacent drinks waiting. As the girls and their masacots get snacks, taro settles himself on the couch. Jack, the faceless ball-jointed doll in a black tuxedo in the pantry, watches Amy and Emi and Kenken; meanwhile, Dory the ball-jointed doll with a monster's face and a pure white kimono settles on Taro's lap as he waits with his mug of tea. "I haven't dreamt of kaiju. I keep on dreaming I'm in a maze and being chased," he tells Amy and Emi. "Or, sometimes, I'm the one chasing, but I don't know WHAT I chase. Either way - I have no doubt it will be interesting. What a charming spider you have!!"
Amy Faust	Amy actually bursts out "HA!" at the idea that Taro is going to be scared of Kenken. "Taro? Attacking your mascot for being a spider? He has his own mascots-- actually where ''is'' Dory, I haven't seen her-- Dory!" She smiles, "Good to see you!" and goes for a fistbump -- although, by sweeping her hand close to Dory and ''then'' stopping and closing a fist to complete the gesture, rather than by extending her fist directly at the tiny doll. "Come to think of it, where's Jack anyway? Oh. ...Why is he pretending to be a normal doll?" "Oh, I ''hate'' those lost-in-a-mazelike-building dreams. At least I'm not usually being chased... I guess chasing would be less stressful, but... Maybe not, depending on how desperately I need to catch whoever or whatever it is..."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara was actually returning late tonight, and had... glitter in her hair. It was bes not to think too hard about it... And when she saw Emi sneaking about late at night... Her voice had boomed. "Emi Hoshino!" she had said, her voice coming up behind her like the wrath of Sora herself. "You better not be doing out what I warned you about doing," Hinoiri said. But no, Emi was NOT, in fact, smoking tonight. Instead, she'd headed out to meet up with Amy and another kid, Taro? Oh, yeah. She'd... met him. She thought? He seemed... a bit cooky, but eh. She'd met worse. And she had no room to judge. She was a bucking pony. She literally had the least* room to judge in all the school aside from maybe the aliens. But she did follow along, just to make sure that Emi's cover was for real. And when it was... Well... "Huh. So no kaiju... how about just normal dragons? Do those still qualify as kaiju?" Hinoiri asked. "Hey Amy," she said, giving a wave when she saw the redhead and... "Yo, Taro-san, wassup?" she asked. "I'm tagging along, making sure Emi stays out of too much trouble." She does not clarify what counts as 'too much trouble'. Though... She did slooooooowly glance over to Emi... "And you know... Amy is right... you do look pretty tired..." Hinoiri mumbled. Uh oh.
Emi Hoshino	Were this an anime, the rumbling tone of Hinoiri would result in a sweatdrop appearing over Emi's head alongside nervous laughter. "Totally fine, Hinoiri! Just had to wrestle a kaiju today! Everything's good, everything's good! HA ha ha ha!" KenKen immediately serves her up. "She's working a lot!" Emi groans, pinches the bridge of her nose, then clears her throat. "I'm fine. I just have a lot to do." Amy gets a weird look from her, then, "Yeah, I said 'one of these days' not 'this day'." She squints at Taro for a moment, and the doll, before she cracks a slender smile and shrugs her shoulders. "Sure, I'll take food. I could always eat. The reason I had to come here is because I need to give you something so I can track you down in the dreamworld easier. It's a lot harder without something creating a ... bridge between your dream and mine," she explains. Worried expression. Hinoiri is scarier than any nightmare.
Taro Yamada	Taro's smile twitches a little at the sight of Hinoiri. It's been - what, months since they've seen each other face to face? At the wedding, when he was serving up food and Hinoiri was there to observe Usagi's greatest joy? Formally it's been far longer, since Taro wrecked Hinoiri's door as revenge for what she'd done to his mentor. Over a year now. But they barely know each other. It's been so long. And she has stopped causing mayhem, and so has he, and she is a guest. "Thanks for coming, Emi-san, Hinoiri-san, Amy-chan." He offers hot tea and onigiri before he grabs Jack the doll, holding him in his hands as he walks to the small living room couch. "Jack and Dory are used to pretending to be normal dolls - I only found out about mahou recently, after all. Normal humans wouln'd tbe calm about haunted dolls," Taro says as he settles on the couch, the faceless doll in his lap. Dory, the oni-faced doll in a white kimono, wobbles over to Amy and Emi and sits next to them, able to be picked up easily if they desire. Taro clarifies: "This is Dory, one of my.... friends. She'll help you create a bridge into my dreams." Dory the doll gives everyone a fanged smile, a wiling locus of power into Taro's reams: a foggy pavestone maze, smelling like iron and smoke, visibility low, the sound of people just loud enough to create a whispering veil over all who enter the dream world.
Amy Faust	Amy blinks at Hinoiri and processes the phrase 'real dragons'. "...I guess it depends on, how big are real dragons? We do mean, like, daikaiju here, not just 'large monsters'. Godzilla-size." She looks over to Emi. "...When you say 'wrestle a kaiju'... it was a dream, so could you make yourself big like Ultraman, or...?" "'Haunted'? They're not really 'haunted', are they? They're just... alive. Animate. People." Amy takes a seat on the couch, and then Dory's next to her, and Amy lowers her hand as a platform for Dory to stand on -- if she does, she lifts Dory to her chest and slowly pats her on the back with her middle and index finger, as close to a hug as she can manage with such dramatic size difference. Amy gives Taro a concerned look though. "Is sending her to stay with Emi overnight really a good idea? She's mute, and..." Amy's not sure how to politely articulate that Dory seems to be mentally a child and one that Emi is not familiar with. "...I think Emi was offering another way? Although... good thinking, if the dolls are linked to you that way... never know if that might come in handy someday."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times before shrugging. "I really need to take you to Kirakirafantastica one of these days..." she mumbled. "...For a vacation, if nothing else... Overworking yourself won't do us any good, either... at least you're not running around with the bat." She followed along, and... Huh. She had a... weird impression, for a moment. Was... Taro mad at her? Nahhhhhhh. She was sure it was just her imagination. "Hmmm... So like, planning to sleep here, then?" she asked, glancing to Emi. "We really gotta find you a like, sidekick or something. Maybe a backup. And I think Emi needs to give you something, not take something. Though, admittedly, usually I just like, crashed at her place when I needed her to try prying through my dreams." Yes, Hinoiri had her do it a few times.
Emi Hoshino	"Well, no. I was going to give him a little token I could use to find him -- but napping after a good meal -is- entirely plausible and everyone should start feeling very tired in due time anyway. I have that effect on people," remarks Emi, dryly. She side eyes Hinoiri at the mention of vacationing in KiraKiraFantastica. She has a briefly concerned expression! She'd have to be a glittery, sparkly pony again! The TERROR. Still, the offer is at least a little touching and she tries not to let that show either. "Everyone can just relax."
Taro Yamada	Taro's face pinks after the mention of Kirakirafantastica, the musical pink pony dimension. But as obvious as his reaction is, he does not react - not yet, anyway. "I find the couches comfortable enough to rest," Taro tells Amy. "I'm the only one who lives here, the door is locked, and you can be sure someone would wake you up before real world nonsense ensued. "But -a h - " He will just. Take Emi's little token and go take a nap. Before he gets flustered at how kind it was to prepare something like that in advance. he's FINE. (Meanwhile, the foggy pavestone maze awaits any who dive into his dreams... the smell of smoke and roasting meat.... )
Amy Faust	"''Ohhhh'' right or we could just fall asleep on the couch, too, that makes sense I wasn't thinking about how you can just... do that." Amy feels a bit silly for assuming, now. But then her eyes sparkle with excitement at the suggestion of taking Emi to KiraKiraFantastica. "Oh, you should go if you get the chance! You get to be a pony, it's so cool!" But as she feels sleepiness coming on, she makes sure to get comfortable, tucking Dory -- if she doesn't want to go to someone else -- inside her jacket and wrapping it around herself like a blanket. "I wonder if..." The memory of conversing with Dory, doll-to-doll, that night, is in her mind, and she does wonder if, in the dreams of someone like Taro, it would almost be more fitting ''not'' to be human... When Emi picks her up from the dreamscape, she's a doll, half-asleep here on the couch alone, at night, and the dream doesn't really have time to form more than that. It's been awhile! Emi, and soon the others, see: A doll about 1½' (45cm) tall, with a painted porcelain head and glass eyes that can look around under a red wig; There's articulation for her mouth to move like a ventriloquist dummy but when she talks it animates with much of the flexibility of a human mouth, except filled with creepy sharp teeth. The body must be some rigid material under her clothes; limbs have 'doll joints' although only her neck and hands are usually exposed. On the whole, she's still kinda creepy but not quite as much as you'd expect: For the most part she doesn't move like some unnatural puppet or doll creature, she moves naturally like a human being, which helps. She's in a simple blue coat and dress. When she sees how relatively large Emi is and realizes, she looks down at herself, "Ohhh, I was just thinking about this... Haha," then back up at Emi, "that's kinda neat, huh?" Once they enter Taro's dream, she sniffs at the air, "...Oh, something smells ''good''..." "...Wait, should I be able to smell? ...I can feel myself breathing, too, even if the dream-body isn't... this is weird."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Mmmm, so long as you don't overdo it, Emi. We only have the one dream sparkle. We can't have you overdoing it. It'd be like having only one boat. If you find a leak on the boat, you patch it up before it gets out of hand," Hinoiri said, lightly poking her on the top of the head. "And if you see anything smoking, you make sure to put it out, so it stays safe." Despite her teasing, though, there is some affection in her words... even if there was some obvious baseline logic to her words. ... And admittedly, was trying not to think too hard about the haunted dolls. The.... scientist side of her was screaming 'HAUNTING ISN'T REAL!' The other scientist side of her was saying 'Shut up, if magic here made sense you'd be out of a job'. She took a drink of the tea, before sighing. "Well... no time like the present. Pony or human... I wonder which..." she mumbled softly as she closed her eyes... and soon found out. Human, today. And very soon, as the smell of cooking meat filled the air... Hinoiri... retched, covering her mouth. "O-oh sweet Sora this is going to suck..." she whispered. Today's dream was going to be misery, wasn't it? Thy's name was vegetarian...
Taro Yamada	Here is the maze: old-fashioned paving stones that have been worn smooth by time; the buildings are partially hidden in the fog, but there are lit windows with shadowy silloettes showing there's some proof of life. There are shadowy figures in the fog, too, though none are trying to interact with the party so far. There's distant chatter, loud enough to be heard but not enough to be understood. This is the middle of a city, and yet no one seems to have noticed Amy, Emi or Hinoiri. Down one side of the street, there are more lights, more people, more noise, but the fog seems to grow thicker with all the light caught in it. Down the other side of the street is darkness, quiet, fewer people, the smell of roasting meat. There is no sign at all of Taro or his two dolls.
Emi Hoshino	Emi doesn't have a great response to Hinoiri. She just wrinkles her nose at her, and just sort of stares at Amy briefly at her enthusiasm for going back to KiraKiraFantastica on her behalf. She pinches the bridge of her nose and says, "Y-yeah. Let's focus on the task at hand." She dares not say being a pony feels weird in front of the ... actual ... pony, and she can hardly bring herself to utter the name... -that- name... Kirakirafantastica. The very words of it make her shudder worse than any horror movie, like it causes her actual, physical pain worse than the batterings and bruisings of the nightly dreasmscape patrols. "That's right," says Emi, "just relax. Sleep'll hit soon enough." It's not that Emi makes you tired or anything. She doesn't force anyone to fall asleep -- she can't -- but it's so easy to sleep when she's around that it just feels completely natural to slide into a deep, comfortable, warm rejuvenating rest. If this is how Emi sleeps all the time, it surely explains how she she isn't actually keeling over from exhaustion given how busy she seems to be, particularly in the dreamscape. While visiting this place is never 'old hat', that familiar sense of weightlessness, of falling, grasps Hinoiri and Amy first, like they're being bundled in, say, a safe, spiderwebbed cocoon for a moment asthey're pulled from theri dreams. She's going to take them with her when she goes to visit Taro, first. The more familiar faces with a new dreamer, the better. Easier to rouse them into the lucid state they need to be. "Hm," she says, as things seem to materailize into being around her as she arrives, "... very nice ambience," she remarks, comfortably.
Amy Faust	After a moment of focusing on her own situation, Amy's focus turns outward as she looks around the street. "Huh. I guess that he'd be right here was too much to hope for." The silhouettes all look ''human'', and Amy feels a bit surprised -- however, they haven't been seen up close yet... "I think... I need to check something." Feeling even more at ease from Emi's apparent comfort, Doll-Amy walks, and then remembering how slow little legs carry her ''runs'', towards the nearest silhouette in the 'darkness' direction. Trying to see them. Are they human when she gets close? And, once she ''can'' see one clearly -- or if she can't no matter how close she gets -- she hails the figure. "Excuse me! Who are you? And have you seen an eight-foot-tall oni, a tall human boy with messy black hair, or a pair of living dolls?"
Taro Yamada	When Amy grows closer and closer to one of the figures - it doesn't become very clear as she grows closer. There's dips of light and shadow like a face seen through frosted glass, and the shape of the body is obscured by a long jacket - the kind one might see in a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. The figure mutely shakes it's head when Amy asks her question, then will attempt to wander back into the fog.
Emi Hoshino	"Well. We'll have to find him. He -would- have some kind of big cityscape dreamscape, it seems," Emi doesn't exactly seem surprised. The little bit she's seen of Taro would suggest that this is not out of place for them. She sways back and forth and then casually lets a ribbon of spider's silk spread out from her right hand as she loops it around her shouder casually. Amy's doll form just gets kind of a side-eye from her. "What is it with people and dolls," She mutters.
Amy Faust	Amy briefly purses her lips -- somehow -- at the lack of help from the figment, and then turns back towards Emi. She puts her hands on her waist. "I was wondering if I'd fit in better here in some monster form when I got sleepy, and this is the only one I've actually experienced." She's not counting previous dream or painting shenanigans. She crosses her arms and looooks further towards the light, then the darkness. "...I figured perhaps the darkness was a better direction. I thought... we'd find friendly monsters. And the light..." she turns and points, "look how it's foggier there. The, the..." She waves her hand vaguely, searching for words. "Light is... human. Imposed on the world for their 'safety'. Which means less safe for everything else -- for that which they fear. And hurt. I wonder if the fog symbolizes that." She turns back towards the darkness. "So wouldn't outsiders be more at home in the darkness?" She holds a hand to her chin. "But then... is this a ''nice'' dream, or an unpleasant one? Maybe the three of them are suffering in the light."
Taro Yamada	As if in response to Amy, the dream changes. The path into the dark grows darker still, the shadowy figments being swallowed up one by one. The smell of roasting meat thickens - now there's salt and garlic in the air. In the distance are drums and a string intrument being plucked in a slow two-beat melody. The path into the light grows brighter. The outlines of old-fashioned western lamps become stark against the brilliant fog. Words slowly make more and more sense - "Help me." "Get me out." "Where are you." All in English, all in a muffled voice...
Emi Hoshino	"...mmmn," is what Emi says to Amy. Those are some weird, deep thoughts and she has very little connection to what she's talking about here, it seems. She just sort of eyes her, then shrugs her shoulders and observes as the dream changes in front of her. This too is normal. "I suppose we follow the voice and the lamps," she remarks. "Yo! Taro! Wake up! We're here to take out of your dreams." Worth a try.
Amy Faust	The food smells ''so good'', hopefully Amy can eat like this, it's a dream... Emi's response to Amy's thoughts is noncommital, and the dream expert suggests following words and light. Amy nods, running to Emi's side and then approaching the light. "Why would that be Taro... in ''English''? But... maybe it's his-- ...maybe he's nearby."
Taro Yamada	As they make their way into the light, the world sharpens around them. It's raining just light enough to make the air damp, and the fog is greying with smoke and industrial fog. Shoes track mud over the paving stones. There are signs written in english lit by gas-lamps, and the ambient noise is growing more focused - all English, all The people around them grow more solid, in grey and brown clothing and old-fashioned hairstyles. The Sherlock Holmes vibes are definitely increasing. Their faces and hands remain blurry, though. Which is a problem, because someone - or something - trails fingers down Amy and Emi's backs, and no culprit is obvious in the crowd when they turn to look.
Emi Hoshino	"Is he speaking English? I don't even know that much English," remarks Emi, apparently able to understand well enough anyway. Maybe it's a dream thing, or maybe she has better english skills in her dream. Either way, she's about to say something when something -touches- her. There's an immediate whirl, dangerously thin webbing lashing out for -something-, anything. Emi does not play, it seems, with anything that invades her personal space. She can't afford to. "Oi!" There's a whole lot of swearing afterwards. T"This is going to be one of those dreams. Usually, I don't have this much trouble finding the dreamer."
Amy Faust	Amy jumps when touched, and looks behind her at -- nothing? And it got Emi too... Amy sighs, "Dory, if this is a game, then don't we need a way to play, too? Or, Jack..." Well, if it's Jack, she knows nothing about him except that he misbehaves sometimes. A way to play too... "Oh... I see!" Amy smiles, as she realizes how that could work. She runs up behind the nearest figure and pulls at their pant leg before running back away from them.
Taro Yamada	As Emi spins around and snaps, no one seems to notice. ...But no one notices Amy running among them. When the pantleg is tugged, the tuggee looks around, head wobbling on a spindly neck, but is unable to find anything before going back to walking. Though if they look. There seems to be one person here who has a real face. He's neither short nor tall, neither thin nor fat, features neither sharp nor soft. He's wearing a black hat and a black cape and an apron. And he is walking through the crowd towards them.
Emi Hoshino	Emi lets out an annoyed sound. She's the one who does the creeping around here, damn it. Amy knows Taro better than she does, easily, so she's happy to follow her lead for the moment, even if that lead makes her groan and pinch the bridge of her nose a moment. "Right. A face. That's a good sign .But ... why dressed like that?" she asks of Amy, as she trails after them. She casually spins a little bit of web with her right hand, looping phantasmal, gossamer strands like streamers.
Amy Faust	Huh. Amy was expecting maybe some sign of the dolls' approval. But there's someone walking towards them. An average face. Not Taro, probably. Can the dolls take human form? Well, she'll greet the figure the way the dream greeted ''them.'' She tries to run around him and pull on his cape, then back away -- but then she thinks, wait, that hat and cape... "Tuxedo Mask???" Amy asks, surprised and unsure... "Wait, you've got neither of those things..." She's not sure at all about the clothing's significance either!
Taro Yamada	Emi's spider silk tugs like a fish on a line - and a disembodied doll's hand is caught on it, dangling limply. The sight of it makes the man in the apron frown before he takes off his hat, bowing. "I see even if I know one of you, you don't know me," he says; his voice is neither high nor low, crisply English but still fully understandable to all those in the dreams. "It's a pity, Miss Amy. I can understand why your lovely friend wouldn't know me or understand my style of dress, but you... I'm hurt. I would have thought at least some of my reputation preceeded me." Out of his hat he pulls a knife. It shimmers under the gaslights, as real and solid as the steel it's made of as he twists it around. "Don't you have time for a game with Jack? It's been so long," he says. "You hide, and I'll seek. Ten. Nine. Eight - "
Emi Hoshino	"Amy, you might wanna explain this to me. I don't know this Taro kid." Emi tilts her head as her loose webbing is messed with. She doesn't look happy with it, at all, and this person's presence triggers a few memories of horror movies she's observed and wafched -- though noting specific as of yet. She is, after all, a Japanese teenager in 2025. Old stuff for -her- doesn't always often cover the grounds that are being walked here. A quick glance. Bakc. Forth. Then at Amy. "As an Oneiric Guardian, I gotta say -- love what you've done with the place."
Amy Faust	Amy's eyes widen as she realizes. "Jack?!" She blinks. "Wait... are you the ''real'' Jack the Ripper, turned into a doll?!" A concerning possibility... but then, she's dealt with far worse monsters, hasn't she? At his proposed game, though, she bristles, and her voice gets as icy as she can make it. "No, I will not be ''hunted''. You know what I am." An orb of light engulfs her -- not the usual fiery orange, but the red of her soul gem, and it keeps growing, as does her silhouette inside it until the latter is human size, and the silhouette ''shatters'', and the light fades to reveal... Red hair, glowing red eyes, pale face, atop a body made of metal, with a large red spherical CORE in the chest. Her heart wasn't fully in it, though. She's still human-size, and her proportions don't get all monstrous, though the body and limbs are evocative of a skeleton with lot of sharp edges, the upper body connected by spine to a mechanical pelvis and thin legs that don't appear to possibly have room to support motors or the like, but move anyway and have tubes running down them as if for hydraulic systems. The arms have armored plates with mounted missile racks, with two more mounted on her shoulders. She's wearing the cloak from her Puella Magi outfit (there are holes in the back for the launcher-arms). She adopts a combat stance, left arm in front raised to block. Her voice is tinged with a metallic resonance. "Any game we play, is between ''two'' monsters." Back in her sleeping body, her heart beats fast. It's a brave front, an old reflex of trying to ''seem'' strong, and she was never very good at it. To Emi, she explains, "The dolls are his mascots. I don't know Jack came from, Taro made Dory somehow. She's like a kid, but if Jack was around when Taro found him then he's been around longer than any of us, and his job was to train the Slasher." Ohhh she hopes this is a joke and she's overreacting. She hopes Jack will be all 'oh my god chill you didn't need to be so serious', and maybe he'll even ''mean'' it, she doesn't want to fight for real, she doesn't want to fight--
Taro Yamada	Jack grins at the compliment from Emi. "Time passes on, but I won't. I've preserved all the important things from my first, greatest hunting ground. You never forget your first, you know? Especially since somehow getting powers made it harder to have fun. Next time around, I need to get a host who likes playing games over one with good potential. It's boring, so boring!! Where's the chase and the catch and the fear?" When Amy names him, Jack lights up even more, bowing again. "The one and only. It's a good thing I made a name for myself before I became magic, or I'd be stuck like him, right? Everyone would forget, and taht's no fun at all!" He bounces on his toes as he looks over Amy's transformed self. "Monster to monster? Don't kid yourself. At the end of the day, you're still just a little girl. And I am entirely a human at heart. "Now, you've made me lose count. You can be Miss Hyde, and I will be Mister Seek." And Jack strides forward with ihs knife in hand, unblinking at Amy's monsterous form or the growing wisps of spiderweb around Emi. Around them, the fog thickens. Jack vanishes into the blinding light of it. If Emi and Amy grow too far apart, they'll lose eac hother in the fog as well. "Ready or not, here I come!"
Emi Hoshino	"Wait wait wait," says Emi, holding a hand up. She's making the infamous time out sign. A sharp whistle. "Hold up here. Tweet. Whatever. Look -- we're here for Taro, not ... whoever the hell you are." The wheels are turning, given what Amy said, but it'll take a moment longer for Emi to figure that out. "WE're here for Taro, not the mascots. I was going to take him to the dreamscape and have a hang out on Campus. Now we're here, with you -- so you're his .. mascot? That's weird. That'd be like winding up in KenKen's dream. Hey! KenKen!" THOOMP. A rather large spider -- bigger than Amy's ever seen her -- drops to the ground behind Emi from -somewhere. It looks ready to pounce. "Every game needs a good wager on top of it."
Amy Faust	Oh how she wishes she could be just a little girl. But she's a witch-hunter and larval Witch, and come to think of it, while she's mentally characterized the former as being like some kind of battle construct -- thus this form -- isn't she ''actually'', literally, kind of a monster now? Even if a caterpillar isn't a butterfly, it also kind of is, right? She shakes slightly as she faces him. He can see she's not enough monster to stand strong. Being called Miss Hyde stings with its implication, all the same. Ready or not, here I come! "I-I ate it all..." Amy tries to recall the catch phrase, as if it might have some power here. And Emi calls time-out and honestly just ''someone'' finding a way to de-escalate here lets her relax a little. That'd be like me winding up in KenKen's dream. "Does that not ''happen?''" Amy wonders, turning to look at her, and then: GIANT SPIDER. But it's Kenken. Finally, a friendly monster, like she ''expected'' to see in here. And then she processes Emi's words, in turn. "A wager? What do you mean? What are you suggesting?" she asks, curiously, looking between Emi and their surroundings, searching for Jack to reappear...
Taro Yamada	There's movement in the fog. "You won't find that kid here. He usually doesn't come into my dreams anymore since he scares easily," Jack says, his voice coming from several directions. Emi's spider silk catches another doll hand taht goes limp as a dead fish when caught. "We help each other out. He needs me. Can't do anything without me." And then a pause, and the faint sound of boots tapping against pavement. "A wager sounds fun. What do you have in mind?"
Emi Hoshino	"Scares easily. Right. So, somehow we stumbled into your dream instead of his. You're overlaying. Whatever you are, I'm not really interested in you. I wanna find Taro. So," she continues, "I bet I can take the knife out of your hand before you can reach me with it." Dangerous game, but she has a feeling he'll take the bait, that's her guess. "If I'm right, you take us to Taro, no more funny business. If -you- win, well, we gotta stay and play some more games with you." She keeps spinning her vwebs, uncaring for what they make contact with. "I should warn you, though, I'm pretty good. Probably faster than you." That's right. Challenge the vanity. "And I'm just a little girl." "Of course, I'm a teenage girl who fought Gojira two hours ago. Make sure you know you wanna test me."
Amy Faust	He scares easily. I ate it all! Catch me if you can! Ready or not, here I come! Amy connects some dots, and whirls to face Jack, or at least, the sound of boots. (The shoulder turrets also aim that way, maybe that's subconscious?) "Did you train Taro by ''chasing him'' for ''years?!''" But, Emi has a suggestion, and that means she has a plan, and Emi's the dream expert. Amy feels safer already. She quirks an eyebrow at the wager, but she trusts Emi, and worst case... now that she's had a moment to calm down, she realizes that Jack probably isn't actually out for bl-- well, at least he doesn't actually want to ''kill'' them. No way would Taro ever forgive him, and also, she remembers with a chill, it would mean Jack would have to fight a ''real'' Witch in his dream and not a couple of 'little girls' and he ''can't'' think that's a good idea, right? Amy looks between them, not thinking she has anything to add to this, and not wanting to muck it up, but then she realizes that if her involvement ''isn't'' clear, Jack can exploit that. "So... what part do I play in this little game, then?" she asks, a bit warily.
Taro Yamada	"He had to learn somehow," Jack says, somehow shrugging verbally. "Besides, playing Tag is what I do. I signed off my letters to the police witch 'catch me if you can,' you know? If he's going to inherit my powers, he's got to be good at them! Besides, other people chased him too." Footsteps echo, though it's not clear from where, exactly. "I'll play this game, Miss Dreamer. Tell me if Amy is playing the game with us, or if she is entirely not involved - she can be either all in or all out but not in between. The spider isn't allowed to play. Those are the rules."
Emi Hoshino	"KenKen, you heard the man. No playing 'tag' with him. He's afraid of spiders," says Emi, sympathetically, "It's okay. I was afraid of them once too -- before I realized they're cute and adorable. Isn't that right, KenKen?" she says, half-turning to pet the spider on her fuzzy little head. KenKen makes a sound that can be almost heard as a purr. It's a thrumming vibration, at any rate, before she seems to shrink back down to a manageable size and hops up on to Emi's shoulder. "Just me," she says, still twirling a loop of webbing in her right hand, flakes of it dissipating into the air around her in gossamer sparkles. "Now, remember. You promised."
Amy Faust	"Nghrrh." Amy growls at 'he had to learn somehow.' I signed my letters to the police with-- "I wouldn't describe that as ''tag''..." Amy points out. Like, she gets academically that she is talking to a famous serial killer from the past, but her emotions haven't fully caught up yet and are still at 'Taro's mentor is creepy' She looks to Emi after he speaks, to find out if she's playing the game or not. She sort of mumbles something... but it's a dream and the thought was clear: "I'm cute and adorable too..." At 'just me', Amy's missile racks close up and cold out of the way and compact against her body, somehow, and she wraps the cloak around her. "Well bargained and done. I will keep to these terms as long as you don't break them first. But I'm keeping an eye out for any funny business."
Taro Yamada	"I'm not afraid of him. But it's no fair if you get to bring a friend to help and I don't. You're a strong girl who fights Godzillas, aren't you?" Jack says. "It's cheating if you get the spider to grab my knife." After all, he could just hand his knife to someone else before she knocks it from his hand, as much as she could have the spider knock it from his hand. Either way, not true to the rules of the game. If she gets to bring in help, so does he... (Jack expects Emi to try and cheat. He would do the same. He has thought it through and has not thought of a way to find a loophole in the rules - and so he will be ensuring his wily opponent has no loophole either.) "Ok, it's not quite actual tag!" he says with a laugh. "But it's close enough. Besides, Miss Amy, it's the most fun to play when the rules are clear, and when it's with cute and adorable girls." Jack's voice projects from the side closer to Amy. Jack himself has walked to a 45 degree angle behind Emi. IF the spider jumps in to block him, that's cheating and he can Get The Two Of Them. Likewise if Amy intervenes. If he's stacked the odds this much and still can't get Emi - well, that's on him! With barely a sigh, Jack lunges with knife in hand, aiming for just under Emi's ribcage.
Emi Hoshino	It's true that Emi is tired. It's like Hinoiri said: she's the only dream guardian they've got. The only 'dream sparkle', a sentence that was uttered to her great chagrin. Even right now, ther slender lines of webs she's been dissipating into the ether around her sparkle and wisp. She may not be specifically tied to them the way a spider properly is, but that doesn't mean they don't do anything, that they don't provide just the faintest bit of friction towards someone coming towards her. And that slight bit of friction is all she needs. Emi has spent so much time so severely outnumbered that she has developed a fighting style that is almost entirely reliant on a certain ... economy in its violence. In spending as little energy as possible, moving at only just the right moment, and at just the right time -- a necessity, when fighting outnumbered. Otherwise, she'd exhaust herself facing down nightmares and Salarymen and countless other strange denizens of the dreamscape that she calls her second (third?) home. And so when Jack comes at her from an angle that's certain to be a blind spot, she already anticipated him. There's just a half-turn, a flexible bening backwards at the waist to force him to overshoot with his efforts, alongside a face-full of web before a quick rise, a wrist grabbed to force the knife to fall into her other hand. Here, she is stronger than she looks. Jack -- and Amy for that matter -- would recognize the barely restrained lethality, the instinct to immediately strike and finish the job. She swallows it down, if barely, and then lets the knife clatter to the ground.
Amy Faust	Amy's not exactly left in the mood to talk about play and fun, but she nods when he says 'when the rules are clear'... and then looks kinda skeeved to hear 'cute and adorable' coming from the serial killer. There's a whiff of objectification, there -- are they really seen as fair opponents on equal terms he relishes a test of skill against, or does he just see this as an opportunity to spend time around pretty faces? But it's not the first or last time she'll encounter that, and at least it's not ''worse,'' not the double-objectification that she knows is out there and seen so many times while looking for manga expressing feelings like her own, that doesn't even see her as part of the first objectified group, so: Could be worse! Still, it feels a bit skeevy and brings the potential for worse to the front of her awareness, so she just grunts, "Ngh." and leans away from the voice, and waits. Amy's thoughts are distracted or she might have anticipated the webs. When she sees Jack behind Emi, she looks surprised and alarmed and starts to open her mouth, then closes it. She has a terrible pokerface, but she's not ''trying'' to tell Emi where he is. When Emi turns, Amy holds her breath-- and only a moment after the knife clatters, if there's no further aggression, does she let it out. Yes, she's an unbreathing robot at the moment. But she still ''feels'' like she's breathing, and to them she still ''sounds'' like she's breathing. It's a dream, it's not entirely consistent.
Taro Yamada	IF they were all purely human, this is where Jack would win. But none of them are anymore. Jack has put his heart in a doll so that he can never die, and Amy is a matryoshka of girl and monster where every layer reveals something different, and Emi is - Pure economy in motion. No excess motion or e-motion. Jack is almost envious how pure her strike is, the way she's anticipated how he'd try to use her blind spot, the hidden weapon of webbing stealing his knife away. The powers of the Slasher were in ambushes and sudden, decisive action. The way that Taro has been encouraged to talk, to listen, to connect with others, is all anathema to how his powers work. It's no wonder that Taro's beginning to bend under it all, Jack thinks. The one benefit is that he can see how Emi holds back rather than finishing him as he crashes to the ground - for his host's take rather than his own, no doubt. It's unfair. He spent all this time honing pure violence, and suddenly friendship and love are defeating sixty years of him sharpening a living weapon. Why is it so easy for them? So easy to defeat him? So easy to defeat monsters bigger than him? Why is it so easy, when all they have is love? They don't even enjoy hurting others! It's not fair!! But Emi has beaten him at his game, for now. Sh ehas not broken any rules. Nor was he able to tempt the spider or Amy into breaking their part of the bargain. She's beaten him at his own game, for now, and he's better off figuring out how to do better next time than throwing a tantrum. Jack rights himself, sitting up and scrubbing the webs from his cheeks. "You win and I lose," he says, face scrunching up. "Fine. I'll get you next time." He taps the ground and opens a hole in it; from within it emerges the top of a colorful plastic slide that goes down. Into the dark. "You'll find Taro if you go down there. "
Emi Hoshino	@Emit "Yes, yes I do win. And yes, you do lose," reiterates Emi, just in case there was any doubt and also because she's petty enough to want to rub it in to, so far as she's concerned, imitation-dream-Jack. She kicks the knife away for added emphasis and pats her spider on the back with a fingertip. "Yeah. Sure. Next time," she adds with a certain insouciance. She glances towards Amy, makes a face, and then starts down the way towards Taro. This was not a game she wanted to play.
Amy Faust	Could he not see how Taro was suffering, those sixty years? And how love and friendship give him a chance at something ''other'' than suffering? But Amy has no knowledge of what Jack's thinking. She just approaches, relief on her face, and nods to him, about to bend over and pick up the knife to hand it to him when Emi kicks it away. Oh. "[Next time, Gadget. Next time...]" she intones, and then jumps onto the slide after Emi.
Taro Yamada	"Next time," Jack says again, and he stares unblinking as Amy and Emi go down the slide. Next time. He won't lose. He'll find a way. He's Jack, after all. No one's ever caught him. He always comes back. But meanwhile - the slide goes into the dark, twining and twirling, nothing visible - until suddenly there are lights in the distant darkness, and a distant drumbeat, and the sound of people talking. The slide spits the two of them out into a pool of plastic balls that go flying. Taro, wearing a brilliant orange kimono that glows like it's under blacklight, is waitin gfor them. "There you two are! Dory and I looked and looked, but we couldn't find you anywhere!" Not that he was scared. Terrified. That someone might - that in his dreams, something might leak - But this is his dream, with the drums and the smell of soy sauce and sugar, the summer-dried grass under his bare feet. Surely nothing bad could happen so long as they were in his dream. Right?
Emi Hoshino	"So that was annoying," remarks Emi as she brushes herself off from the slide and adjusts her ruffled gothic skirts. Then she stares at Taro and for a moment she can't decide what she wants to say. Instead, she just sighs. "...yeah, sorry it took us a bit longer than usual. Dreamscape business. Come on. I'm going to get you outy of here." She holds her hand out towards him. Sometimes, the kindest thing to say is nothing.
Amy Faust	Amy wore the outfit she did expecting that it would match what she appeared in in here, save that here the jacket fits her. But when she comes down the slide, the reverse has happened: Now the ''rest'' of her clothes fit just as badly, the shirt looking more like an oversized sleep-shirt, pants held around a tiny waist by a belt with the cuffs rolled way up, and shoes that stay on only because she's not thinking about how they shouldn't. "Waugh!" she cries out in surprise as she's dumped into... a ball pit?! After a moment of adjusting to trying to move in the balls, she stands up to take a look around. The old ID hangs from her neck, and her hair is all mussed ''just'' right in a way that would probably be attractive if anyone here was attracted to women. The jacket looks exactly the same as it did outside. And her face lights up with a smile when she sees him. "Taro! We found you!" She wades her way out of the ballpit and then runs up to hug him. "Wait! Before we go, where's Dory? She should come see too." Amy looks around. "Can she talk in here?"
Taro Yamada	Taro pulls Emi out of the ball pit, smiling in relief. "Sorry about that. I hope there weren't too many issues? I let Dory use my dreamscape - she doesn't meet new people very often, so she wanted to show you something nice." He helps Amy out of the ballpit, too, hugging her cllose. Her new cleavage and tight pants mean nothing to him - after all, both he and Amy know he only likes men, and Amy is definitely not a man. "Dory can talk in here. She's somewehre over there - come on, follow me!" The world around them is black with pavingstones that glow neon, blacklit - And it leads to a festival grounds that glow brightly in the darkness. Statues and anime creatures and ink squiggles inhabit each booth, but they sell delicacies - sweets shaped like storks, or roast kebabs glazed with tantelizing sauce, or octopus-and-dough spun into neat takoyaki within moments. Long ropes of dangling toys, and aqariums filled with jewel-encrusted fish. Dory is at a game booth where one needs to toss a ball to knock over cans, glaring at both the cans and the pile of plushies waiting to be distributed. When Taro, Amy and Emi appear, she turns to them, her sakura-pink kimono swirling as her wood-carved fanged face grimaces. "They're cheating!!" Dory says, her voice as high and soft as a child's. "This is a dream! I should be able to win! I wanna toy!"
Emi Hoshino	Emi has herself a look around. Slowly. She's taking it in. One never knows what to expect in a dream, after all, and she's gotten very good at rolling with the oddity. She has to be. "Okay, well. We're going to get out to the dreamscape now," she says, eyeing Dory. She's not sure what to make of that. Or Taro writ large at this point. It's something she's going to have to dwell on. "Sure, sure," she remarks, "Cool, coool, cool."
Amy Faust	Amy happily follows after, and 'ooooh's at the darklit festival. And she gasps when she sees the doll, now human like them. "Dory!" She runs over to hug her, too! "I have lots of dreams where I can't do what I want. That's how dreams are, sometimes. Even when you're lucid, it can be hard to control them. Like I can't just shapeshift on purpose, although I think I've got turning into a kid down and my henshin can bring me back to normal form but that doesn't really count." She holds a finger to her chin. "If you could always do what you wanted in dreams, how could there be nightmares...?" She will follow instructions to get to the Dreamscape from here.
Taro Yamada	Taro watches Emi. Even if he can't put a finger on what's unnerved her, decades of pretending to be a yokai and a year and a half of being a Normal Man TM means he knows something is off for her. Hopefully she didn't run into - she's in his dream, so how could Jack - she'd have said so. She wouldn't. She didn't. She couldn't have. He goes to one of the stands, then comes back with a dreamscapes worth of festival foods on a paper plate - yakitori chicken, yakisoba noodles, takoyaki, grilled squid, fish pastries filled with red bean paste... "I hope it wasn't too much trouble to get here?" he says, offering her the plate of dream foods to choose from. Dory, meanwhile, groans and flops with the dramatic oomph of someone who's FINALLY human sized and not stuck being a foot tall. "I don't like it! I want to do things for fun! Jack and Taro can do stuff for fun, but I can't! I always have to be well behaved since I'm a doll! And I'll do it," and she shoots Emi a nervous glance, "but I wanna have fun too! Like all the peoples do!"
Emi Hoshino	And So Emi Hoshino takes Amy's hand -- gently of course -- and then moves to extend the same to Taro. Dory is stared at. "Mmmmmn," is her noncommittal response for a moment before she gives them a little bow. "Sorry. But I did promise to take someone to the dreamscape and we've already spent a fair bit of time just getting here. Time is passing at a certain rate in the real world relative to the dream and I don't want to lose too much of the evening. I have prior obligations -- so sorry. But there may be fun to have in the dreamscape proper. Or not."
Amy Faust	Somewhere along the way, Amy's clothes changed again to a blue-and-white yukata with a stars-and-moon pattern (sometimes, the white/cream parts glow in the lighting here): https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/lovenikki/images/8/89/Summer_Shooting_Star.png She takes Emi's hand, and holds her other hand out to Dory, trying to offer a conciliatory smile: "Last time I was there, there were sparkly winged frogs to catch! Even if there aren't, it's a new place to look around an explore... and later, if you practice lucid dreaming, you might be able to learn to control your dreams better?"
Taro Yamada	Dory frowns with her wide, wide mouth, but nods. "Okay. But you should get some treats before you go," and she points around her. THere are many stands serving dream food, tantalizingly aromatic, while festival music plays in the background. "Sorry again about the fuss," Taro says, looking increasingly apologetic. "The frogs sound like a lot of fun. And lucid dreaming sounds really useful."
Emi Hoshino	"You don't have to apologize for anything, especially not your own dreams," says Emi, not about to give Taro anything to feel guilty about for the moment. There will be words another time. Right now, it's time to get them out of the dreamscape. "Now, we just gotta find your border and I can guide you out of it. I've got a feeling I already know what it is, though." She snatches a little treat for herself at random to satisfy the request, and then pulls the two of them with her. Back into the cityscape, it seems, because that's assuredly the border region of Taro's dreams. "You'll recognize the border when you see it. It's a place you dream sometimes. It's what keeps you in your own dreams rather than dangerously wandering out beyond them most of the time. It can take a lot of shapes. A forest glade so peaceful you don't want to leave. An endless series o hallways akin to the backrooms. An office building that keeps you running back and forth to do work -- all that and more. It's purpose is to keep you -safe- because the dreamscape is dangerous. Of course, people get out sometimes."
Amy Faust	Amy looks from Dory, to Emi and Taro, to the food. She grabs one of the nearest treats before walking with the others to the border. She's wearing sandals to match the yukata, too. Maybe even geta, as long as she doesn't think about it they shouldn't be a problem to walk in regardless of the terrain. She groans out loud when Emi names 'an endless series of hallways'. "It may be keeping me safe, but damn I wish it wasn't so annoying. Why ''can't'' it distract me with a reason not to leave instead of trapping me in a maze?" More quietly, she mutters, "wouldn't even be that hard."
Taro Yamada	Dory, all ball joints and fangs, nods n satisfaction when Emi takes a snack from one of the booths. This is her dream, after all, a mimicry of the festivals she was able to visit last year with Taro's friends. It's only natural that Taro and his friends can visit - after all, their souls are so close together, why wouldn't Taro wander into her dream, or vice versa? (Why wouldn't his dream overlap with Jack's dream, or vice versa?) Taro takes Emi's hand. "Sorry, Emi - this is Dory, my familiar. The border probably looks like a weird city - yeah, this is the place," Taro says as they're transported to the mazelike dream space. "There's no way out untless you use a pothole or something. I didn't realize that it was protective, keeping me out of the dreamscape..." He's learning a lot today. "Want to trade, Amy? Backrooms sounds more fun than this place," he quips...
Emi Hoshino	"Don't ask me, Amy, it's your subconscious, so the answer is 'because that is what frustrates you the most'. The job is to keep you -in-, remember, and it's really just you doing it to yourself. Of course, if it were -easy- I'd have a much harder job than I already do since dreamers loose in the dreamscape are the kinds of people who get nabbed by the Salarymen." She gives the faintest of smiles. "I have dreamhacks," says Emi, casually, as she moseys on over to a door and just opens it up into a swirling black abyss that definitely isn't something that Taro has seen before here. She extends a line of webbing once again for them to take. "You two ready to hang on?"
Amy Faust	It's your subconscious, so the answer is 'because that is what frustrates you the most' "Ugggh!" Amy groans. "I played me!" Still, she shivers at the thought of being nabbed by the Salarymen. And then they're in an endless city. As long as it's not Jack's area... Amy looks around, and nods to Taro at the offer to trade, "Actually? Yes. This would at least be a change from the endless room-and-hallway maze or one-lane highway bridges." And then Emi opens a door. Amy blinks. "Should it look all voidy like that?" But at the question she nods, taking Emi's and Dory's hands and gripping ''tightly.''
Taro Yamada	"I guess having such a strange dreamscape benefited me in the end. I always ran away from this place," Taro says, looking around the paving-stone cityscape. "Lucky for me, I guess? My mind is chaotic enough as it is. He continues to hold Amy's hand as he grabs Emi's webbing, looking straight at the swirling abyss that Emi has summoned. This? He is not afraid of this." Let's go!!