Scene #2828: It's Questions Time with Emi Hoshino!

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Emi Hoshino	There's s a famous American Batman story called 'the Long Halloween'. Well, the Mahou of Tokyo have one up on Batman in that regard: they had the WORST Halloween. And now they're here to debrief what happened during it with regards to Kyoto, as Emi knew they must. She looks better than she did, but she's still not fully recovered from whatever it is that happened to her. Sure, she's not bleeding out her ears and eyes anymore but she's not her indifferent, oh so delinquent self either. Just ... washed out. "Hey, everyone," she says, as people filter in to the shed. She wraps a blanket around herself. Looks like she's been sleeping in here.
Usagi Tsukino	"Hey, Emi-chan," Usagi says cheerfully enough, scanning Emi with worried eyes - it's been a week, but she's still looking washed out and tired/ Which... fair, based on everything that happened to her, but ''still'', worrisome! Maybe it's the lack of a henshin in the real world, making her recover more like a normal person? Usagi takes a seat near the front of the Shed's main space, and frowns a little at the blanket - "Are you camping out in here? Or just napping?"
Mamoru Chiba	"... there are probably more comfortable places to camp out," Mamoru says with a little bit of concern as he comes in after Usagi. "Do you need to switch dorm rooms? Or get out of the dorms?"
Chiyo Sakai	When you see the 'usual gang' head for the Shed, sometimes it paid off to follow. Chiyo steps inside not long after the others only to step to the side to get out of the way. Just in case. The plum haired teen glances toward the blanketed Emi with a raising eyebrow in silent question--Mostly because Usagi had already asked the most obvious one. "... Would now be a good time to try the new candy out?"
Kureha Senkenzan	"A pleasant day to you," comes a slightly lilting reply to Emi. Kureha Senkenzan is not supposed to be here. She's supposed to be in Kyoto, with the Senkenzan family. As far as her father knows, as far as two of her three attendants know, she ''is'' there. But right now, Kyoto is not a very friendly place to be. And after a disastrous attempt to deal with the particular evil haunting the city, Kureha is secretly staying in Tokyo again. Only one person is aware - Chisa, the only attendant of hers that is actually aware of the other side of the curtain, so to speak. The woman has been doing a great deal to ensure her young charge can remain in the city safely. For the moment, Kureha remains quiet, aside from her greeting. She's content to wait in silence for the meeting to begin in earnest.
Amy Faust	Amy walks in from the cold in T-shirt, slacks, oversized jacket. Worry about the situation on her face, but as she sees the others she smiles. "Hey Emi. How're you holding up?" She glances at Usagi. "...''can'' she sleep right now? Or does she have to be awake as long as her dreamscape is broken? Kinda like you, a little less than a couple years ago when there was that thing with Gaito..." She looks at Emi uncertainly, concerned. How long can she go without sleep?
Madoka Kaname	Homura would use any excuse to hang out with Madoka, in most situations, but right now she's coming to The Shed alone. Well, 'alone'. There's a tiny pink haired art fairy following her, and she just so happens to be arriving at the same time as a large crowd. After she enters, her eyes immediately go to the blanket-covered Emi, to the room itself, to those entering with her. Her eyes are dour, and she's not smiling. Lydian is also quiet, eyes wide open, curious and concerned as she follows Homura around. Eventually the Puella finds a chair to sit at and sets herself down, not greeting anyone but instead listening.
Veronica Perenna	"Hello, everyone", Veronica walks into the Shed. She brought Emery with herself, after asking the cat if she was willing to come with. But well, the last experience was such that she feels it could use a bit of comfort. Emery only groused a bit and said yes, so here the two of them are, with the cat held in the cradle of Veronica's arms. "How are you doing?" Veronica asks, offering a smile. "Has anything changed, or do you want us to on a pilgrimage for an exceedingly rare herb that will give you good dreams no matter what? Just say the word", she jokes. She stares up and down at her, and notes the blanket, and takes it as confirmation it is affecting her sleep, though it wasn't actually needed. "This is Emery, my cat", Veronica says.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara was looking, admittedly, a little worn herself as she came into the shed. She was lightly yawning and had light bags under her eyes. She'd been burning the candle at both ends. And wanting to bash certain people in the head with said candle (Riventon. She wanted to bash Riventon with the candle.) Of course, when the chance came to get some answers there was no way that Hinoiri was going to ignore it. And this, luckily, was something NOT tied to Riventon. So she came as soon as she heard Emi was going to be explaining what was going on. Notebook in hand. And, for once... She hadn't started threatening Emi. Yet. Though, when she walked into the shed... She did give Emi... A look.
Emi Hoshino	Emi Hoshino can't quite bring herself to meet Hinoiri's eyes. She bows her head, shame-faced. It is a fact that that sense of shame seems to be something she is deeply affected by and it's why she opens up with an apology, wrapping her blanket around her tighter. "First, before everything else, let me apologize. I thought I could stop something from happening. I thought I could spare all of you from having to deal with the consequences of my failures -- and in doing so, failed again and failed all of you. I'm sorry." She bows her head lower. She doesn't quite have the energy to go fully prostrate herself again, thankfully. There. Now that that's out of the way, she tries to work out where to start. Then... "So, uhm. Kyoto. Yeah. That was a bad scene. There's a lot of things even I don't know. Let's start with why I'm in the shed sicne you asked. Do you remember, Mamoru, when Hinoiri was kidnapped, and I went here and tried to set up here for everyone to bring them into the dreamscape? You might recall we had to change locales because I couldn't access the Dreamscape here. That's why I'm here. My dreamscape is vulnerable right now. It's shattered." "I tried to contain a powerful nightmare within my own dreamscape, lock him up the way I'd seen Reiko do to the Flicker Man or the way Seriss Nyx trapped Molly. I was going to seal him away, cut him off from everything. I nearly did it." She lowers her gaze. "but nearly doesn't matter. Somehow, and I don't know how, he was able to reach out from within my dream, and somehow he corrupted my dreamscape's border with nightmare power and shattered it. Right now, I can't fully access the dreamscape -anyway-, and I'm trying to fix it. And it's not safe for me to do so out -there-. Setsuna's been helping me, too." She doesn't elaborate on how Setsuna is helping her with that. With that explained, Emi raises her eyes back up towards the group, scanning them for a moment. "So, let's start from the beginning. The 'he' I'm referring to is a Nightmare called 'the All Subsuming One'. He's the single most fiendish nightmare I've seen, and he claims to be older than Kyoto itself. He's done ... something to the Kyoto dreamscape." "So, dreamscapes are local, right? Most of you know that. They're local. There's a Kyoto in the real world, and then there's a dream version of Kyoto, made up by the people who dream there past and present. From what I could see, somehow, he's turned into the Kyoto Nightmare-scape. The entire dream was twisted to nightmare, and that impacts every dreamer connected to it."
Kureha Senkenzan	"Including my grandmother," Kureha continues, right off the end of Emi's sentence. The black-haired young lady looks around at those present, hands folded together. She takes just a brief moment to straighten her kimono, a visibly expensive piece of clothing, before continuing. "You can call me Senkenzan Kureha, if it pleases. A good fair few of you are familiar faces, and it's quite wonderful to see you all again. The Senkenzan clan is my mother's family, and our line traces all the way back to the Heian imperial court. So I've a good bit of history in the city, you could say. And I've been living there most of the past year." Kureha turns a brief glance to Emi, and then continues. "I've been a touch concerned, these past few months. My sleep has been troubled, to be sure, but my grandmother's been in a dreadful state. She may be healthier than a woman 30 years her junior, but Senkenzan Kiyomi is still in her 90s. I should dearly like to know more about this thing that's threatening her life."
Madoka Kaname	Homura notices Veronica's cat. She can't be too bad if she has a cat, right? Lydian seems to think that way also, because she floats over to Emery with a smile and waves her tiny arms. "Hii~, Emery!" The Puella glances at the minidoka for a moment, wondering for a moment if Lydian will (unintentionally) cause trouble, but right now she's just being cute. No harm there. No, the harm instead is coming from what Emi is saying. What she's confessing to, and the way Homura's expression darkens just slightly more. Her arms are crossed, as are her legs, and one finger taps against her upper arm. "Every dreamer." she reiterates. "So... Even non-mahoujin." Homura is quiet about what this means to her, but she's not hiding her displeasure. Her time travel is still a secret to most. "How bad could this get, exactly? What are you prepared to face, as a result of this? I'm guessing that 'All-Subsuming' isn't just an empty threat."
Usagi Tsukino	Usagi has already told Emi that she doesn't need to apologize. Has stressed that failing isn't a thing to apologize for, even. That was true, the day after Emi woke, still reeling from defeat. It's a little less true, a week later, hearing about the stakes. Emi doesn't need to apologize for failing, Usagi still believes that - but apologizing for ''going alone'' is... good. "As long as you won't do it again," is what she says this time, instead of telling Emi not to apologize. And you ''are'' camping out here, so... there's got to be a way to get it to make you a bedroom. It made a greenhouse, for Zoisite. Entrapta was able to make a shooting range, and I heard about Rashmi's workshop... so one of the things we've got to work out is a bedroom, for you. So you can sleep here peacefully, while you and Suna-san work it out." It, being what she assumes will be regular trips to the Gates of Time and their endless horizon of nothing. She's thinking of what to ask next when Kureha speaks up on the tail of Emi's sentence, confirming that her grandmother has been affected, and Usagi grimaces, never so grateful that her own grandparents live in Chiyoda, even if - "Kureha-chan, you ''really'' got into being with your family in Kyoto, huh?" Usagi had not meant to say it, but, well - it's just so ''notable''! The way her voice is different, her cadence, the Kyoto-slant to her language... She shakes it off. "Subby definitely sounds like a problem, if he's made everyone in Kyoto sink into nightmares... is that... do you know if that's how he got ''all of them'' back? By, I don't know, tapping into all those nightmares, and turning Kyoto's Dreamscape into... a nightmare hellscape zone?"
Chiyo Sakai	Chiyo Sakai purses her lips together tightly as she listens to the explanation of what was going on. While she didn't join in many of the issues Emi spoke of, she had at least experienced the dreamscape on occasion before. The news was rather disturbing. "So they're trapped... Does that mean they're in a coma in the waking world? Since they can't wake?" A pause as she murmers, "I really have a lot to catch up on."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara nodded, and started taking notes, writing in her notebook... and didn't seem to be berating her, at least. "It was nasty, when we got there. It was hard to tell if we were even in a dream, or... it might have sucked us into one once we arrived. I'm not entirely sure. But it was powerful. A city-wide threat. Made even more dangerous by the fact it summoned a lot of prior-fought nightmares with it." "... Had we been more prepared, known what we were going into? We might have stood a chance. However, going in, fighting that alone, was reckless." "... We all make mistakes, Hoshino-san. Just... don't be so reckless." 'Hoshino-san'. That was new. Hinoiri was maaaaad if she wasn't calling her Emi. As she kept taking her notes. "... What I don't get is why Kyoto? There's so few leylines there. There can't be that much magic there. Is he trying to establish a hoofhold? Branch out from there before making a move?" Hinoiri asked as she wrote more notes. "And... what is the upper limit of how many people you can take into the dreamscape with you at once?"
Amy Faust	I'm sorry, I failed, and failed all of you. Amy sighs. "We all make mistakes. Beating yourself up won't make anything better, I just hope we can work together from now on." She nods and smiles at the idea of adding a bedroom for Emi. Smart! Amy sits down on a couch and listens, and sucks air through her teeth at the whole of Kyoto's dreamscape becoming a nightmarescape. And at the news that Kureha's grandmother is there. Although as an American the bit about an ancient family line is just kinda noise to her. All-Subsuming isn't just an empty threat. "I mean... it resurrected all those other nightmares, and no one of them was an easy fight. Though I guess that guy's future self and the lady... whatsername... we could take down pretty quickly, if they don't have new tricks."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru nods to Emi's reasoning and looks like-- yeah makes sense. He looks at Kureha as she speaks, then listens to Homura and sits down next to Usagi, stretching out his arms in front of him and briefly putting his chin on the desk itself, before he Inhales and sits up again, slowly, tired. He smiles when Usagi takes his suggestion on what to call the King of Nightmares... "He's on his way over the leyline ''to Tokyo''," Mamoru says quietly to Hinoiri. And then he folds his hands on top of the desk. "Hinoiri-san, it's-- I can help too. I just do it the back way with the roses. I can get out of my dreamscape to come here. But I'm-- I'm not going to be able to go back to Kyoto while it's like that, and I don't know how much use I'll be if it comes here."
Veronica Perenna	Emery mews at Lydian's approach, and her ears flicker at the fairy. The cat's blue eyes stare intently at the Chara, and lowers her head, allowing the Chara to pet her. "Seems she likes you", Veronica smiles at Lydian. "Don't worry, she is well-behaved, and I asked her before bringing her here", Veronica explains to Homura at her concerned gaze. "Her name is Emery. As for me, Veronica." She gives a wince when Emi starts speaking contrite. If Emi has done something shameful trying to contain it, then what about her? "You meant well. Let's focus on picking up the pieces", the brunette gives her a warm smile that keeps everything secluded. Though she actually has no idea how to repair a broken dreamscape. Her guess stops right away at fighting off those nightmares. "What do we call this demon? Subsy? His full name is kinda a mouthful, and I don't feel we should recite a poem each time", Veronica comments with a levity she doesn't actually feel. The brunette clears her throat. "We need to form a plan, right? Do we want to go over the nightmares one by one, or do we just suggest what comes up?", she asks, petting Emery.
Emi Hoshino	'Hoshino-San'. Emi's shoulders slump even more. She knows exactly what that means, and its a cut that seems to leave her feeling even more ashamed. She's let everyone down. Again. It takes her a moment to compose herself. Typically so indifferent, so uncaring of what others might think of her, and here she is, about to collapse to pieces. She draws in a shaky breath, then, and raises her chin. "Okay," she begins.To Homura, she answers first: "It could get very bad. I think he's coming for Tokyo next, and I think he's going to try to replicate on a bigger scale what he did in Kyoto. The consequences of him doing that in Tokyo, given how much stronger magic is here apparently, I don't need to say potentially catastrophic." To Usagi, she turns, now, and adresses her. "I don't know how he was able to restore the nightmares but I think it has to be tied to whatever he's done to Kyoto... but how'd he know to restore -those- nightmares? You'll remember that the first time we faced Bliss-Chan, I had told some of you that she'd already been defeated, I was sure I'd killed her, and she came back And now she's back -again-. It's likely he set her on me in the first place. It's possible Nightmares here were growing stronger, too, -because- of what he's done to Kyoto already, or that he was empowering them in some way. All of that might explain why he knew to bring those nightmares back in the first place." "No one is trapped or in any comas, at least as far as I can tell. Everything about waking life in Kyoto seems to be going ahead as usual." Now she turns those eyes to Hinoiri. "I don't know for sure but if I had to guess..." "'Trial run', yeah. Hoofhold? Yeah, I'd say that stands a good chance of being true." She bows her head again. "I didn't tell you about him because if you know who he is, he can find you. It's like he's tapped into the dreamscape in such a way that 'knowing' him is dangerous. I think all of you are better protected from that than I was. There's a reason that nightmare knew to say my full name. That wasn't any kind of slip, it was a deliberate statement to all of you: he'll find out who you are, and he'll ruin you too. That was the message. You're better protected than me, but he will hurt the people near and dear to you. I had to," She takes a breath, "I had to protected you all from that. I wanted you to be ready." She presses her palms against the side of her head, panic tinging her voice.
Madoka Kaname	Lydian giggles and pets the top of Emery's head. "You're a nice kitty, Emery!" she says, while enjoying the feeling of her fur. "We have a kitty at home, too! Her name is Amy." She then glances at the redhaired Puella in the room and says, "No relation." Homura glances at Veronica and says, "Thank you. I'm Homura Akemi, a Puella Magi." Homura opens her mouth slightly at Usagi's use of a particular nickname. Her mouth then closes to a frown and she looks away. When Veronica suggests 'Subsy' Homura's frown turns into a flat line. "I'd prefer Subsy over Subby, even if it makes me think of soap." The answer she gets from Emi makes her eye twitch. She doesn't elaborate on what she knows about how this can go. There's a period of silence from her where she studies the floor of the Shed, listening to the dreamer's description of the threat, and after the elaboration all Homura says is, "I believe you." Homura wonders... will knowing about him more directly now affect her in future timelines, now? Would it now endanger Madoka, and her family? No, that part doesn't matter. This will be the last loop. She'll make sure of it. "It's not unusual to face certain enemies more than once, but if they can be brought back indefinitely... even the weakest youma could be major threat if it didn't have to worry about dying. How do you suppose we stop this cycle? Does it all come down to defeating..." she hesitates before using the nickname. "... 'Subsy'?"
Usagi Tsukino	"Hoshino-san's going too far," Usagi mumbles to Hinoiri, elbowing her in the writing arm in reproach. She's seen the way Emi's slumped. Hinoiri's got a question, too, while Emi is gathering herself, and she says, "Kyoto is the old capital of Japan, and there's a lot - a ''lot'' of old stories about Kyoto... I wonder how old a Nightmare can be." But after that? She listens closely to what Emi has to say, not just about the likelihood that Bliss-chan was sent deliberately after Emi and the rest of them, probably twice... "So everyone's having bad sleep, and it's making him stronger, then. And he wants to come here, because ''everyone'' wants to come here - because ''everyone'' thinks Tokyo is the place to be..." She frowns a little more, and then shakes her head. "Emi-chan, the only mistake you made was trying to handle it on your own, without telling anyone about anything. Even if you couldn't tell us about ''him''... and I understand. You wanted to ''help'' us. Subsy," she switches to the nickname without missing a beat. "Is dangerous. He... that was a ''good'' threat to make, because it means that he... could hurt ''you''. Did hurt you. And you wanted to spare us." But it's too late now. They know his name, so they're connected. "If he's coming after Tokyo, and he's coming through the Dreamscape, the best thing we can do is try and stop him. Mamochan ''can'' get us back in, while you're recovering, and we can keep fighting the Nightmares as they come to Tokyo, while we figure out how to... stop him for good."
Kureha Senkenzan	Usagi's comment gets a brief, surprised stare from Kureha, which then lapses into a more thoughtful look. "...It's the first family I've felt any true connection with," she replies, with unusual frankness, and a soft tone. It probably says a LOT about her father's family here in Tokyo. Most of her attention is reserved for Emi. "Simply by staking his claim on Kyoto, putting the Senkenzan in danger, he's already done me quite the disservice. And more to the point... I'm an oni. The ancestor at the head of my clan is the reason children still hear tales of Shuten-douji and Ibaraki-douji to this day. Oddly enough, I don't think I've ever heard tales of a 'Subsy'. Someone ought to teach him the difference between age and renown." There's a certain, hard set to Kureha's eyes as she says this, and her hands curl a little more tightly together in front of her. "It's perhaps a bit straightforward of me, but I'm the sort to punch things until they stop needing a good punch. How do we go about closing the gap between our fists and his face?"
Amy Faust	(Yes, she understands that Kureha's grandmother and family home are threatened by the Nightmare. It's the centuries-old clan lineage that she lacks the context for it to land with her.) Amy is mostly glad that Emi is alive and able to help them (her knowledge of nightmares counts as helping even if she can't access her powers right now!) She's not continuously frowning at Emi or anything. And she nods at the explanation. "A memetic hazard, yes. I'm not sure how you could've told us about him without telling us about him... we could've worked something out but how could you even ask us to come up with ''how''..." Amy takes a breath and sighs. "Maybe if this hadn't happened, we could've never known about him... but one day he'd be a hazard to other people, again, right? It's better that we find a way to beat him." She nods at Usagi's summation. And Kureha saying that that was the first family she felt a connection with... oof. That does make it hit a little harder. She chuckles a bit at the oni being more famous than Subsy, though. And when Kureha mentions punching him, Amy looks back to Emi. "So... does he have any weaknesses? Any powers you know of that we haven't seen yet?"
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "I gotta agree with Subsy on the name, honestly... However..." And well... As Usagi elbowed her... Hinoiri couldn't help but agree. She sighed, and relaxed a little. "Emi... Yeah. That. Just don't take the risk, okay? Share things with us. I get wanting to do it on your own. It's hard to depend on others. It's... terrifying. Especially when you're used to doing things on your own. Or worried it might get others hurt. But they got it--" She stopped. "We got it handled. All of us. Together. And tell us the risks, then. And let us choose for ourselves." "I mean, I'm an orphan pony from a world of singing unicorns and pegasi, with a moon alicorn dream guardian protecting it. If he wants to come after me, he's welcome to try. There's a pretty long list, though, and it's not like they haven't tried that once already." "... But... honestly? Right now? What we don't have on him... is information. You are our only source of it. And information is dangerous. It's one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. And if we lose you, we lose too much of it. We need you. So we need you to trust us, and share with us. We don't need you to protect us. We need you to work with us, so we can all kick this guy's butt back where he belongs and get Kyoto back. And uhhh... free the people who are well... stuck in that nightmare..." She glanced towards Kureha then, squirming a little herself. "As soon as possible..."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru glances at Usagi before looking back at Emi; his fingertips are on Usagi's arm for a half second, broadcasting to her that he doesn't think Emi should have to suffer like this, under the weight of their collective gaze, and he ''can't help her''. But he can offer, after Usagi actually was already going to actually see to That Part of the Situation. He holds out his hand to Emi, voice firm and quiet, "I can shut it up for you for a little while, if you want me to, for as long as you hold my hand. It won't hurt me, my armor's up. No is fine, but ''so is yes''." He addresses the everyone next though, and if Emi doesn't take his hand, he lets it drop as hard as he lets calling it 'Subby' drop. As hard as Mizudori Teion drops the bass. "Please don't let it get to Tokyo. I--" That's a very small unhappy smile. "I really was useless back there, sorry. At least I comported myself excellently on the train."
Veronica Perenna	''A kitty...'' Emery thinks to herself. ''How long has it been since I suited that name?'' She shares none of that, and mews to Veronica to thank Lydian for her. "She said thank you, Lydian-chan", Veronica immediately relays to the Chara Guardian brightly. "Nice to meet you, Homura-san. I am a Curse Hunter, specializing against greed as the Princess of Sarek", Veronica completes the introduction with a polite bow of her head. They should come up with a title for her later, to use during fights. The brunette bites her lips at the news. Well, yeah, letting him consume Tokyo wasn't a thing she was keen on doing regardless of him getting stronger or not. And they need to get Kyoto back too. Hopefully he has yet to figure out Kureha too has ties there he could use against them. "Let's not worry, Emi-san. Are we sure they are the same nightmares?", Veronica ponders. They do need as much info as they can right now. "Maybe Subsy hasn't actually resurrected anything, and he just has created some clones of them. Doesn't matter if they are fake, when what they do is the same. It's not ''much'' better than infinitely resurrecting, but it would be a bit easier. "Could we get that Gaito guy and set them against each other? If he has dream powers too, I doubt he would want to have a competitor around", she asks Amy.
Emi Hoshino	Emi, absently, takes Mamoru's hand. She's squinting at him, a little confused, but the relaxation is evident. "...ah," she breathes. "So," she lets out a breath, tension flooding out of her shoulders. "Here's what I -know- he can do. Like any nightmare, he can slip in your dreams and blacken them. But he's different than most. He can control people he's touched when they're awake. You know how I can sorta wake myself up from a dream while still being in the dreamscape and look at the world? It's like that. Like -- you saw at the train station, he was in those people. He can talk through them, make them do things like they're sleep walking. I think he has a number of more willing hands, too, but I was never able to confirm that. I could see that there were people attached to a nightmare and that was how I tracked him down the first time. He'll likely make use of hands in the waking world to make our lives difficult. Like other nightmares, he can alter your perceptions in the waking world. He can make you see things. I once saw him animate an entire department store and the mannequins within as a nightmare I had to fight in the waking world. I wound up setting it on fire so that Kenken could eat it." This may explain some things. "I think you're all better protected from him than I was on account of your disguises, but he'll try to dig into us." A beat. "Mamoru, I think your connection to the ley lines might just be the early warning system we need. The Tokyo dreamscape is likely too big for us to identify what he's doing in there, once he's here, but we'll know when it's starting once it affects the leylines. That'll give us an opportunity to intervene, and know WHERE he's doing something." She looks down for a moment. "He's a mastermind. He won't confront us directly. Those of you with family in Kyoto, I'd strongly recommend we try to find an excuse to pull them out of there if we can. He won't hesitate to use them against you if he's able to piece together anything about any of you. He did it to me."
Madoka Kaname	Homura is quietly relieved that 'Subby' has been dropped without protest. She does not want to explain that one. She glances around at various people she knows better than they realize and offers them a silent look that might be gratitude. Then she goes back to scowling because this is the Best Timeline from her point of view and she doesn't want to lose it. Emi's reaction is hard for Homura to read. Is it self-loathing, or did All-Subsy do something to her? She's missing context that she's not sure she can ask for. Though, the comment about disguises and the Veil keeping her family safe is a relief. Instead of worrying about that, she clears her throat and says, "Honestly I'm not terribly concerned with assigning blame, either. So you couldn't tell us about Roko's Basilisk. You're not the first among us to keep secrets, nor are you the first whose secrets have become everyone else's problem." "So our main course of action now is to keep a look out? In that case, we'll need to be able to contact each other quickly. I'm sure most everyone here has some kind of communicator or telepathy, but if anyone of us can't be easily contacted then it will be a problem later." Her purple eyes flicker towards Mamoru as she says, "Is there anything in particular you'd need for your early warning system?" Lydian smiles at Emery and nods when Veronica conveys her thanks. Lydian says, "Thank you for letting me pet you, Emery-chan~!" At the mention of Gaito, Lydian scratches her chin. "Oh, well maybe. There was one of Michel's people who does dream stuff, too. Alala, I think?"
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara did a bit more writing, before sighing softly. A part of her almost wanted to suggest Emi come and rest in Kirakirafantastica... but with her dreamscape damaged, she didn't know what effect that would HAVE on the girl if she crossed over, so it was likely better if she did stay over here for now. "The leylines in tokyo feed in from all over the country," Hinoiri said. "So even if Bubble-dub gets into-- wait, did I just call him bubble-dub? Errr, even if Subsy gets into some of them, there's a lot for him to get into. And they're all being hotly contested, more or less. And who knows? Maybe he'll also contest whatever Riventon's going after if we're lucky. Wouldn't depend on it, though," she said softly while she twirled her pen and took more notes. "... And you weren't useless, Mamoru," Hinoiri said, firmly. "You were hit with something you were weak too. Everyone has things they're bad with. But you also helped get us there quickly, too. That was very useful." "... You know, maybe we can see if Yellow Pearl Voice can sing you to sleep. Subsy might not like bothering you if it means he has to go through mermaid purification and that purifying heart aura to get through it..." Hinoiri said as she twirled her pen a few more times.
Veronica Perenna	Veronica focuses on petting Emery when Homura talks about the secrets they keep becoming everyone else's problems. If only it were that simple. All Emi is guilty of is trying to fight him by herself. "Easy, Veronica", Emery addresses her when it starts bothering her. Veronica blinks and lifts her hand off of the cat. "Sorry, Emery", she meows in return. "If he tries his illusion on us, I could attempt to take them out with my Uncloaking Shimmers", she suggests, going back to look at her friends. Doable in theory, but his illusions are probably strong enough that they could easily overpower her magic. "We are at least prepared on that front", she comments with no hesitation. "We already had to evacuate a few of ours due to the Black Moon Clan. We can simply do that again. My family is safe, though. They live over in England." On the subject of the communicators, Veronica looks at her wristwatch. "I don't have telepathy, but Usagi-chan gifted me a Senshi communicator, so I can be contracted through there." Veronica rubs the back of her neck. "None of us did too hot, Mamoru-san. So don't worry about it. We all got out of it, and that's what matters." She looks at Hinoiri with a smirk. "Well, apart you from you and Kureha-chan."
Amy Faust	"...Moon alicorn dream guardian?" Amy echoes. She shakes her head at the idea of involving Gaito. "It was some special artifact he had at the time that we destroyed, I think. And um... It's probably best... if we leave him alone." It would be depressing to go to his base and possibly see that he did kill himself after their last meeting as she suspected. While Emi talks about what she knows, Amy moves from the couch to the floor to sit by Emery. Kitty! She holds out a hand for Emery to sniff, and starts petting her if she seems amicable to it. Kitty! She's glad she doesn't have family in Kyoto, but that is ''worrying'' for some of her friends... And she nods at Hinoiri's comments on Mamoru's condition in Kyoto. "Yeah." She actually ''groans'' when Homura mentions Roko's Basilisk. "Ugh, that's ''so stupid'' though. I hate that it's like, memetically become this idea people are seriously afraid of. ''Every'' thought experiment with a premise of 'probabalistically determine which parallel version of you you are' is suspect. There is no clear proof of many-worlds there's just... that book by that guy, uh that a bunch of smart-sounding people found convincing for some reason. And even if there ''were'', 'Am I the original version of me or am I a simulation someone's making at a later date to hold hostage' is something many-worlds ''isn't about.'' It's dumb." Amy blinks. "Ah, sorry. But yeah, S..."Subsy" is a ''real'' memetic hazard, not like that dumb stuff." "...Did Emi get a communicator yet? Can we get her one?"
Usagi Tsukino	Usagi ticks off the powers on her fingers as Emi explains - control people he's touched, talk through them, make you see things, leave you fighting dangerously in the real world... It definitely explains some things about Emi and all she's dealing with. She doesn't have the benefit of a henshin in the waking world. She doesn't have the protection of the ''Veil'' in the waking world, and the Veil is all that protects their identities. It's why they all know that Riventon's new apprentice is Yuyami Kagayaki, and why they could all remember that Emi is Emi, whether asleep or not. "The Veil... should help us with that, but if he gets in our dreams, we'll have to hope we don't give ourselves away," she says slowly, not wanting to rub that extra defense in Emi's face but also knowing it needs to be said. "At the same time? We ''definitely'' need to try and solve this before he does figure out our identities. We all have people who could get hurt." Every one of them knows someone who could be used against them, one way or the other. She's never heard much about Homura's family, but Madoka definitely has civilian family, and what hurts Madoka probably definitely hurts Madoka's girlfriend... She focusses on something easier, for a moment, "Runa, remember? Sora's sister? She had a big moon on her flank, does she do things with dreams?" Is it rude to have noticed the big picture on someone's flank? She hopes not! "...Amy-chan. We literally went to an alternate future??? Time loops exist where alternate things happened??????" What is she TALKING about? "Never mind. We have to be careful about dreams then, and - wait... if he touches us while we're ''awake'' he can control us while we sleep? Am I getting that right, Emi-chan?"
Mamoru Chiba	"I-- don't know yet," says Mamoru to Homura, a little on the spot; most of his attention is on keeping a psychic wall up between the two of them as he does the magical equivalent of basically xanax. Calm coral beaches, deep dripping cool caves, undiscovered glades in forests primeval, underwater vents, bedrock. Everything still and bright and living, the quiet-minded breath of the planet in the low-grade healing effect. "All my family is here, in Tokyo," he murmurs, "but thankfully none share my name. I can only hope the effect doesn't slam in all of a sudden-- that it was just a side-effect of teleporting there." He smiles at Hinoiri and Veronica, one corner of his mouth turning up higher so it's crooked. "Thanks. That's true." Hey, sometimes tsking and corrections work! After thinking about what she said for a moment, though, Mamoru brings his free hand up to rub at his face. "I really hope they weren't lying about not messing with them, I don't need nightmares, glyphs, AND whatever they're doing all hitting at once." Then... Amy... starts going into something that he doesn't even know about, and he squints, but determines it's not actually relevant to the topic at hand, so he puts his concentration back into WOAH WHAT DID USAGI JUST SAY. He looks to his wife, incredibly alarmed. "Is that it? I thought it was the opposite?? Which is also bad! But--?!" He shakes his head hard, fluffy hair going everywhere. "We don't have universal communicators yet. Rashmi-san was working on them last I knew. We can see if Ami and Luna can make another one of the ones they made when you all got lost in that stupid Beryl portal."
Emi Hoshino	When Amy talks about the Moon ALicorn Dream Guardian again, Emi speaks up, "She's really nice! We've talked. I felt really bad that she had to deal with the Salarymen too." Leave it to Emi to feel bad -- AGAIN -- about something like that. It's like she's got a terrifically overdeveloped sense of responsibility! ... as if that wasn't terribly on display all night. "To clarify," she begins, bowing her head. "He gets in people's heads. And then he can induce a state like ... sleep paralysis. You know, have you ever woken up but not been able to move? That's what he uses to speak through people, I think. I can't say how it all works, it's beyond me, but I suspect he'd have a harder time doing it to any of you than an average person who isn't magical and unprepared -- but we can't discount the possibility he could get into someone near us and watch us through their eyes, either."
Madoka Kaname	Homura listens to Amy's rant about Roko's Basilisk, and smirks a little because it ''is'' a stupid concept even if it's also the first thing that comes to her mind when she thinks of a cognitohazard. "Don't discount the idea of multiple worlds." Closing her eyes and frowning, she adds, "You know at least one person who has seen others and you've been to one yourself. That said, I also happen to know at least one benevolent god-figure and ''she'' would never dream of ''torturing someone'' for not creating her ''fast enough''. I doubt any being worth reverence would." It feels weird to bring up Madoka's connections to alternate worlds when Homura herself is the ''reason'' for that connection, but nothing she's saying right now is technically false. Nor is it particularly predatory, unlike a certain ''Incubator''. At Emi's elaboration, Homura gives her a wide-eyed stare. "You're... joking." Lydian scratches the back of her hair. "Talk about nightmare fuel. No pun intended."
Amy Faust	Amy ohs and nods, at the mention of Runa. "Right! I think I remember hearing about that now. She's nice... wait, she had to deal with the Salarymen?!" But time loops! Amy sighs and holds a hand to her face. "That's different... But that's just it. Many-worlds isn't referring to time loops and other dimensions, or whether someone is simulating you in the future. It's just saying that every moment, instead of... instead of quantum waveforms collapsing into one specific possibility, parallel worlds are created where they're ''all'' true." "That's not the same as a time traveler or a seer taking different actions based on information from the future." She sighs. "The point is, that thing where people see the word 'quantum' and act like suddenly it means anything is possible ''also'' applies to people who should know better." "They're saying, if many worlds, then... Okay, here's how absurd this is: Yeah, the memory bubble! So, say if someone tries to revive Beryl in the future and succeeds, she's gonna make, like, memory bubbles with copies of us in them, that think they're experiencing right now. And if the copies don't decide to help her revival, she'll torture them forever. So, are you really now, or are you one of the copies?" "That's it. That's the dumb thought experiment. People with their heads up their asses can't think of a way to prove they're not one of the copies, so they're worried anyone who hears this might help revive Beryl. Despite that ''they'' don't decide to do that." Amy shakes her head. "That's not a memetic hazard. The guy who can invade your dreams if you know he exists, ''that's'' a memetic hazard." Who... can control them if he touches them? "I don't ''think'' that's what she said..." But she looks at Emi for confirmation. She groans at the mention of sleep paralysis. "It's really annoying, yeah. But a bit less scary if you know what it is, and hallucinate friendly presences instead of unfriendly ones." She sucks air in through her teeth. "He could get people around here that easily, huh...? Does Radiant Heart's ward do nothing...?" "Geeze, ''that's''... ''that's'' a real problem, not the dumb Roko thing..."
Usagi Tsukino	Usagi still does not understand Amy's objections. "Chibiusa-chan is a time traveler who came from a different dimension where lots of people from this world are still there but different," Usagi says, "Who says that ''isn't'' because of this many worlds thing or whatever? I just think saying it definitely isn't real is kind of silly when you consider the situation we're in and the people we are. Is the reincarnated Moon Princess with a talking alien cat advisor going to say that anything ''isn't'' possible?" She listens to the thought exercise, and shrugs. "I mean - that ''could'' happen? Mamochan and I fought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle monster from the sewers who tried to steal our pizzas last year. I'm not going to go around saying anything is impossible." Emi's got valuable information though, and Usagi considers - "Sorry, focusing on important things now, but - okay, so he probably can't get us, but he could be... if he finds us, he could watch us from people. And - probably try to get us in trouble, huh? I mean... if you had to set a store on fire..."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara The long list of the nightmare man's powers, though, concern her even more... "Ugh... yeah... that's... definitely stuff we're gonna need to deal with. And why you really need us outside of this, Emi. No wonder you keep getting in trouble..." She did give a sheepish grin to Veronica. "Well, you know me, I always tend to burn a few degrees over what's recommended." She then just... glanced at Amy. "... We all... have proof... of other worlds... though." She waved her hand. "Hi. I'm proof," Hinoiri said. Before, finally, she glanced to Mamoru. "Well, on the upside, we do have the leylines in Tokyo mapped decently well. If they start messing with them, we should be able to tell. And... yeah. When they kidnapped me. Dreamnapped me? Oh Sora that was miserable. Paperwork. They had me doing BASIC! PAPERWORK! I WAS PUSHING! BASIC! PAPERWORK! WHY! Ugh... Apparently they tried to go back home through me or something. Runa did not approve." Hinoiri blinked a few times as Amy went into... more... explanation of it... and... "Ah... yeah... okay, that's it. Emi, we're gonna do an experiment later." "Do you think you can like... so... with Mamoru's help, can you get both of us into the dreamscape? Do you think you could help get me in my pony form?" Hinoiri asked. She pinched the bridge of her nose and felt a headache growing. "Oh Sora. Maybe we can like... see about amplifying the crystal heart or something to protect the dreams here... If I could go in my unicorn self in the dream... And could cast kirakirafantastica magic... but I don't think the magic would really work, except it's a dream so it might? But I don't actually know those spells, so I'd need to learn them there to begin with, which wouldn't be that hard, but I'd need Runa's help probably to begin with, but then that might even be... And this. This right here? This is why we work as a team because there is no way in Tartarus even I could come up with a way to do this kind of thing on my own and I am amazing." "... No offense."
Emi Hoshino	Emi listens to everyone's worries and concerns and then she cracks a wan smile. "Not joking. And I have to figure out how to trick my parents and sister out of Kyoto for a bit before he goes for them. He might not, too. He likes leaving the threat hanging over me. I've been watching their social media profiles and I keep a back channel open to my little sister. She's not supposed to talk to me, though. Bad influence, you know?" "So, the good news is that while he can hide it from me, I can often see when he's touched someone." She puts her hand over her blue eye and studies each of them in turn, "and right now, all of us are fine." And then Amy, she listens. She has no idea who Beryl is. That was all before her time. So she just says... "... that sounds like a beryl of laughs." And then she continues, "I'm sorry you had to do paperwork," she says to Hinoiri again, sympathetically. The wages of nightmare are terrible indeed. "I'd wager the Crystal Heart thing may also help," she nods towards Hinoiri, "so that might be worth investigating too. I can take a lot of people to the Dreamscape now, as well, to answer a question I forgot to answer earlier ... but it's gonna have to wait until I can actually -get- back in the dreamscape. I feel like I'm making progress, my I feel like I have jagged glass behind my eyes when I go in there right now and that's no good. but, yeah. Let's try and find out? Any steps we can take to protect ourselves from him, and the dreams of the student body and stuff, we need to take. The repelling effect isn't as strong in the dreamworld as it is in reality, but it's not absent, and the students here generate a ... lot of positive energy and stuff."
Veronica Perenna	Emery makes a show of sniffing Amy's hand when the redhead approaches her for pets. She really doesn't feel like being pet any more right now, but she can bear with it a bit more if it's for the sake of not upsetting her magical girl's friends. Pushing her head against Amy, the Russian Blue cat gives her the go ahead. Veronica meanwhile is thinking about how to best protect herself from an invasion. At least she is good at not giving herself away, and with her disguise magic, she can cycle through many different identities that would prevent Subsy from understanding it's her while still maintaining the benefits that come with a henshin. The brunette hopes she doesn't have to meet Rate your Henshin again though. She really doesn't want it to probe too deep. She was lucky once, who is to say she will be again? Her thoughts stop when others start talking about Runa as a guardian of dreams. "Wait, couldn't we get her over here? Or does she only have powers over to KiraKiraFantastica? That's three people we could resort to with Alala and Gaito, and the only one who'd be on our side." She nods excitedly to Hinoiri's plan. "That, that. I think I vote for that. I think that's the most solid path ahead we have right now. KiraKiraFantastica runs on different time, right? How long would you need to learn those spells?"
Amy Faust	At Emery pressing against her hand, Amy awwwws, and scritches and pets. "You're so sooooft..." She mutters, smiling. But then gets distracted trying to explain the thought experiment and getting nowhere, she thinks. Amy sighs as she can't think of how to quickly explain... but also, none of them conclude that they have to help evil, so... it doesn't matter right now. She listens to Hinoiri's idea. "Oooh. I mean... if it's your power... like... it seems like ''some'' stuff works in dreams? So like... if it's ''your'' magic but you just don't know how to ''do'' it without a horn, maybe...?" She hmms at Veronica. "Runa's help... might not be bad to have, yeah..."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru gives Amy a very tired look. "I think we ought to be more worried about this ''monster'' using the hands and eyes and bodies of people we care about against us. Or against themselves in order to hurt us." He shivers, gooseflesh under his sleeves, and swiftly banishes the mental images and strengthens his psychic shield so his nonsense doesn't disturb Emi. He opens his mouth to say something. "Maybe barriers--" he starts, then shakes his head. "Nevermind. I can't remember, were the civilians it-- he-- should we ask for pronouns, i mean-- controlled-- were they in the barrier with us or did it separate them from the effect and punt them out safely?" Then Mamoru blinks at Hinoiri. "Do you just need to be lucid in a dreamscape controlled by someone else? Because if you're going to experiment you should do it with safety glasses first, you know?" He looks to Emi. "You mentioned you couldn't even get to the dreamscape here--" But then she continues, and he nods. "Okay, so, you'll be able to bring everyone in soon, but right now it's asking you to give yourself a migraine and make yourself vulnerable for no reason. And I know you didn't want to touch mine yet-- I think it should be safe enough if you and KenKen come to my dream, on my power, using the rose road. And then leave from there if the controlled environment, uh-- if you want to get out into the greater Tokyo dreamscape for the rest of the experiment? I have to make the effort not to be Endymion there, so maybe I can help with getting your pony form in alignment." He glances to Emi and says, giving her hand a little squish like a hug, then loosening his grip. "I'm going to let go. You should be okay, your nervous system's had a chance to calm down." And then he lets go her hand.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara blinked and actually went a little red when it seemed that people actually... liked her idea more than she thought they would. "Err... I mean... well... here's the thing. Kirakirafantastica magic doesn't work here... normally. But there's workarounds." "Runa is going to be busy back home, she manages the sleeping country. Learning the spell itself likely won't take long. A day or two? I can send a message. The biggest problem is I'll need to wait for the portal to open again and that can vary, due to the different timeline intersections. On the upside, they HAVE been opening more often, as of late. So I'll send a message when I get back to my room and ask Yuyami, err, the pony one, to see if she can find something to protect dreams over there." "Once I know the spell, however, I can use the workarounds. While my magic won't normally work, if I know and understand the spell, in a dream? I can kind of... believe it works? If that makes sense? And that's usually enough. And I could practice the spell first under Runa's guidance, back home. It'll be a lot like what I did when I was Sunbreaker. When I was in the dream, I sometimes would be Cure La Licorne, and have my pretty cure powers. But sometimes I'd be a unicorn, and I could use my normal unicorn magic. And I think it's cause of a dream? But the important thing is I think it would give a good baseline, something for other stuff to grab onto. If we could use it to like... tie into and amplify the crystal barrier's effects from the dream? It could give us a reprieve. And I think if we had more people, it could be even stronger. Runa probably has all kinds of dream magic she could help me to start this with. And from there? Maybe we could tie more people's power into it. See how keen he is to bother us at school if he has to do it through giant pink blasting rainbow hearts, tuxedo bombers, hope arrows, mermaid stages, heck, even some of Red's turrets and some moonlight hat tricks. Give you a full dream base to launch out from," Hinoiri said, as she was now drawing in the notebook. Then paused and blinked a few times. "How in the world did I not die?"
Madoka Kaname	Homura feels a little awkward about bringing up the topic of weird thought experiments from people who aren't as smart as they're desperate to pretend, but she also doesn't really want to elaborate on it further because it's pretty irrelevant. Regarding Hinoiri, Homura shrugged, "I mean... was able to create a helicopter in the dream world, and that's not anything I can do while awake. Maybe learning dream magic would help even ''if'' magic itself works different here. The rules are different in dreams." She glances at Emery again, but gets the feeling that the cat doesn't want too much more attention, so she instead cups Lydian into her hands and holds the Chara close. Homura also glances at Mamoru as he lets go, then briefly gives a pitying look to Emi before closing her eyes. "I will of course be sharing this with Madoka. I'm sorry she couldn't come today. She was... busy."
Usagi Tsukino	"A lot to be worried about for our friends and family... avoiding them a little where we can might be something to like... think about." She doesn't like the idea and she's sure Mamoru will hate it, but what else can they do? She certainly doesn't know. But the idea of trying to strengthen the Crystal Heart? "Maybe there's something we can ''all'' do - some way to put a little of ourselves in, to strengthen it? It's worth trying, right?" Mamoru warns that he'll let go of Emi, and Usagi squints at the pair then shuffles a little to stand behind Emi, ''just'' in case.
Emi Hoshino	"Yeah, okay, sure," says Emi, "I thionk we've covered a lot -- does anyone have any qu--.." Emi sways right back into Usagi's grasp. All that tension took a toll, and she is just OUT. Has a cute little snore though.
Veronica Perenna	Veronica makes sure to leave Usagi enough space when she moves behind Emi to catch her. ''Hopefully, that will be a good rest'', she muses to herself, impressed with the speed Emi goes deep into sleep. "That sounds perfect", Veronica grins widely as Hinoiri elaborates on what she can do. "I will leave you to it then. Let me know if you'd like something", she offers, then looks towards Homura. "It was nice getting to know, Homura-san", Veronica remarks to the dark-haired girl. She doesn't miss the gaze she gives her cat, and adds. "If you want, you can come by my dorm room later. I don't mind the short notice."
Madoka Kaname	Homura watches Emi go to sleep. She still feels a bit sorry for her, but is also fairly confident that she'll get better. Probably. That, or she'll die. Which would be a huge problem, actually. At Veronica's words, Homura turns to her and nods. "The pleasure was mine. I'm sure we'll have a chance to speak again."