Scene #2913: A Barrier A Day Keeps The Nightmare Away

Owner	Pose
Emi Hoshino	Finding Emi is not hard. After all, Hinoiri knows where she lives, and she doesn't exactly go out and about without cause all that often. Especially lately. Especially. So it's no surprise that when Hinoiri arrives at her dorm, her knock is greeted with a 'yeah, sure, come in', and finding Emi sprawled on her bed, hands behind her head, eyes fixed on the ceiling. She's not even all that gothed up at the moment! She's actually not alone, either. Hinoiri might've heard about the other girl thorugh the mahou-grapevine. Aoi (not Ami, darn it!) Mizuno, a former nightmare victim who had her entire person erased from reality and is now attending Radiant Heart until something is figured out for her."Hinoiri?" says Emi, sitting up. Aoi is seated at the desk, apparently doing homework. She looks over her shoulder at the girl with the hair. "That's Hinoiri?" she asks.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara came busting in and just sat on the bed by Emi. "Yup, I'm Hinoiri," Hinoiri said, a hand reaching out to lightly pat Emi on the head. "Guess who just got back from Kirakirafantastica?" she asked, a big grin on her face. She then nodded to Aoi. "Uhhhhh... And.... sorry. I... I don't think we met? Sorry, I've been a bit out of the loop, lately. Been very hectic, working on some projects, lots of little things, then big things, then little things," Hinoiri said, eying Emi. 'This girl cool?' she seemed to ask, with her eyes. After all, she didn't know who this girl was. She could be anyone! Even a boat! And... she really did need to catch up. But that was part of why she was here! And if she was back from KKF... that likely meant one thing... she had something very important from said KKF... Something awesome and neat that was very useful for certain parties.
Emi Hoshino	"I can go for a bit if you two need to talk serious stuff," says Aoi, looking between them with the kind of look that says she has no idea what KiraKiraFantastica is or why Hinoiri is back from it. "IT's cool, Aoi. We're supposed to keep an eye on you so that the weird-cat-thing doesn't get you by your lonesome, remember?" "Ugh, I know," is the response, "'kick it and run'. I'll head to the vending machines and get us some sodas or something." She flicks a quick smile and heads out the door, brushing her her hair back. "She's cool. Her entire life got erased by a nightmare so she like ... didn't exist for a while? And now she does again because Sailor Moon and Mamoru saved her. I'm letting her crash on the spare bed when she's feeling lonely." Emi looks a little more pale than usual, and sleepless still. Her eyes got the dark bags under them, now that she can be inspected more closely. She sits on the edge of the bed and gives her a tired smile. "I'm glad to see you. Sounds like eveerything went well over there?" Her tone is hopeful. She knows, after all, why she left and what she's assuredly brought back.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod, before grinning. "Awwww, I like her. Punt and run, the proper response to dealing with kyubey. She's smart," Hinoiri said with a low, content smile. She then focused back on Emi, leaning back and well... she seemed pretty chill. But of course she was... now that Emi had someone else, someone who knew what she was up to and, more importantly, to keep an eye on her? It meant she didn't need to do it herself. Which meant that she didn't need to hound Emi as badly. "Huh... lost her whole life? That... sounds miserable," Hinoiri said, glancing to the door. "I can... kind of relate? I mean, I had a life, but it was on the other side of the mirror. Having one, but losing it? That'd... suck." And she definitely crashed here when feeling lonely. She had a lot. "And yup. Runa was.... well. She is... very, very thourough. But I got the spell, ready as soon as you are able to go back in. But..." She ruffled her hair. "How are you doing? You're not looking too hot yourself, you know?" Hinoiri asked, her voice tinged with concern. "I have half a mind to drag you back home with me to a spa day, get you a hooficure..."
Emi Hoshino	"Yeah, she's gonna need all the friends she can get. Not even her own parents remember her. They tried to take her home after they saved her and that ... that didn't go well," says Emi with sympathy. They both know what its like to not be on speaking terms with family, even if its a bit different. "And yeah, everyone gave her that advice. I hope she listens." She licks her lips, then covers her mouth to hide her smile as Hinorii starts talking about getting her a 'hooficure'. "That. Is. Awesome," she says firmly of the spell. "I need to get back into the dreamscape." She puts her fingers to squeeze the bridge of her nose. "I haven't been able to manage it since. Tell me about the spell?"
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Well... I mean, at least she'll fit in decently well? A lot of people... don't have parents at all?" Hinoiri offered. "... I don't know if that's better or not. But, yeah. The spell itself wasn't... okay, it was pretty complex," Hinoiri said with a smile. "Like a dozen different sub spells she wanted me to learn, including dream basket weaving... which... I don't know if you're aware? But dream basket weaving. Not. Very. Fun. Lots of repetition. So much. I think Runa needs to get out more." "But, once you get past the basics, the spell itself mostly just needs me to focus it, something to ground it, which will be the heart. You'll need to be there to keep it stable and, well... to be my ground in the dream realm. From there? We'll need everyone else to be the ones making their fortresses, more or less. Envisioning their own powers and magics, how they would 'defend' the school, things like that."
Emi Hoshino	"Yeah, I can't imagine it won't go unnoticed that we're up to something. He'll try to disrupt it once he sees it. I don't know how far his reach extends into Tokyo's dreamscape yet, but ... it's not feeling good around here lately, if you ask me. Okay on Campus for the moment so let's keep that way." She manages a smile at Hinoiri, but yeah, she's struggling. It's clear she could probably use that spa day. "After Bliss-Chan showed up on Christmas, I've been trying to get back in even harder. It's not going well at the moment. But we'll get it figured out." She folds her hands together on her lap, looks down for a moment.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod, grinning over at her. "I agree with you on that one. The school is supposed to be a place where everyone can feewl safe. And I don't think some weirdo who likes to be popping in and out of dreams and the like should be tampering with that," she said firmly. "Any ideas on how we can... well... fix that? Cause I don't think until we do, we'll be able to... you know... go and fix any of this," Hinoiri said. "And the sooner we can start, the better. Once the first wave is established, I think we'll be good. Others can re-enforce it. But the first, the grounding? That's going to be the toughest. That'll be the one we need to work extra hard to make sure we get it right and establish it as secure as possible. Everything will stem out from it."
Emi Hoshino	Emi looks down, a sense of helplessness washing off her for a moment. "No. I don't know yet. I'm /trying/, Hinoiri. I really am. But every time I try to go in, it's like jamming glass shards into my eye sockets and rooting around in there until I stop." She flexes her fingers. "But we'll have to try and keep trying because what else am I gonna do? It's like an injury that isn't healing just right. Like, you know? But we'll figure it out. We will. I have to." She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Maybe heading over to ... to ..." She grimaces. She's going to have to say it. "...kirakirafantastica," she mumbles, "...isn't a bad idea."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara cocked an eye, before snickering. "Oh noooooo. You'll be a pony for a little bit. How terrible for you," Hinoiri said in a teasing tone. Before ruffling her hair again. Though her voice did fill with concern. "But... the rest of that? That sounds terrible. And I wasn't kidding before. You are our dream person, Emi. You're the only one we have. Mamoru can do a little bit of stuff there I think? He managed to help me with some things but... you're our specialist. We need you." "You're irreplaceable. So we can't afford to lose you. So don't overdo it? And who knows, maybe getting out of here for a bit will help? And we can maybe have Runa take a look at you... I mean... she is the Sovereign of the Night and what have you, she might be able to at least give you some insight... And getting out of your head, and away from this environment, might help a bit, too." "Everyone needs a vacation now and again. Next time the portal opens, I'll drag you with me, okay? We'll make a day of it. Just us."
Emi Hoshino	"...yeah, okay," says Emi, rubbing her face. She wilts at the description of how irreplaceable she is. Of course she did. No one is harder on Emi than Emi, after all, and the pressure that that places her under is probably enormous. She side eyes Hinoiri, and then leans slightly towards her. NO contact. Not touching. Just a slight movement. "Yeah, okay," she repeats. "We'll get there. I'll get there. I can do this. I will do this. I just don't know what's wrong yet, but I'll ... we'll fix it."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara sighed and then lightly reached out, tapping her on the head. "I saw that," Hinoiri said, cocking an eye. "I didn't say that to make you feel bad. I said that to make you understand that we can't have you running off and overdoing it, silly. You're important. To all of us. We all want you to get better, and that means taking proper care of yourself and not letting yourself get overly pushed right now." She reached out an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a tight squeeze. "And trust me... I understand the drive to push yourself hard. Probably more than most," Hinoiri mumbled. "It's easy to overdo it. Especially at times like this, when we need to rest and relax and recover. And that doesn't help anyone. Trust me. I practically wrote the book on poor choices one can make when you're in the worse mindset to do it."
Emi Hoshino	Awww. A tight squeeze. Now, Emi, as Hioiri knows, is not much of a touchy-feely type person and one who generally doesn't go for affection. But right now? She lets this happen, and she leans on Hinoiri for the moment because she just needs it. She takes a shuddery breath in and then lets it out, relaxing. Trying to. "No running off again," she mumbles.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara nodded. "Please don't, you had all of us scared half to death. You're one of us now. That means when one of us does something stupid, the rest of us feel contractually obligated to run off and try and fix it," Hinoiri said with a smile. "And then I gotta bully you again, otherwise how will you know it's me?" Well, she had lightened up... some. But not entirely since. "But we'll figure this out. Just like we do everything else out. It's a process. And the process? Involves some trial and error... but in the end? It works. Just gotta work through all the fiddly bits first."