2191/What Dreams Do Come

What Dreams Do Come
Date of Scene:	05 December 2016
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	After the final dream about Hana Shiroi, Naru finds herself unexpectedly in direct communication with the White Flower. They have a not-unpleasant chat.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Hana Shiroi

---

Naru Osaka has posed:
It is possibly a bad sign that Naru has started looking forward to the nights where Hana's dreams invade her own. Not only for the change from her own dreams, which are rarely all that good, but equally because she has become actively curious about Hana's story.

Doubly so after the brief conversation the other night.

Naru watches the battle in the dream, her own dream self craning and wriggling to try and force the dream images into giving her a better perspective on the fight between puella and familiars and witches.

Naru watches Kyubey flee, turning back to hopefully catch just another glimpse of Hana as the dream starts to feel like its fading.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    Unexpectedly, perhaps surprisingly, as Naru turns back to try and glimpse Hana a final time, she finds that the girl is still there. Standing just where she was a moment before, outside the shimmering portal which leads into the Witch Labyrinth she had just exited.

    The rest of the dream seems to have stopped, though. As if someone pushed pause on the world- the portal no longer actively shimmers, the lights of the buildings do not twinkle, the breeze which had been blowing has fallen away. The leaves on the trees are perfectly still. Time does not seem to be passing.

    Hana herself moves, though. Even as Naru watches, she turns her head slightly to regard the frozen portal, multi-colored eyes lingering on it for a moment before she turns back the other way. She seems to be studying her surroundings with something akin to absent curiosity.

    Unlike in all previous cases, the dream does not fade and return Naru to her normal sleeptime.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh." Naru takes a half step back as the world pauses, but Hana does not. As if the pair of them have stepped outside the boundaries and pushed pause.

Naru lingers, watching Hana rather than watching their surroundings and letting the other girl gain her bearings, watching and waiting as she does. There's no sense of nervousness, or concern, simply patient consideration for the moment.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    Suddenly, Hana is beside Naru. There is no sense of movement, no passage of time or glimpse of the girl in motion. One moment she is below, in the courtyard. The next she is standing next to Naru, perhaps uncomfortably close if only because of the suddeness of her appearance.

    Up close, it's easy to see that she is older than in the previous visions, older than Naru by a fair margin. With her pale, doll-like features, traditionally Japanese with long, straight black hair that falls all the way to the back of her thighs, it's difficult to assign an age to her exactly, but the general sense is 'around twenty'.

    Although Naru wouldn't know this, those who had encountered her in the flesh last year would affirm that this is pretty much how she looks in the current day- when she has a body, anyway. Her most striking feature, of course, are her eyes- rotating, constantly twisting pools of color that cycle through every hue imaginable.

    She inspects Naru with an expression which suits the doll-like nature of her facial features- impassive, neutral, though with a faint sense of curiosity. "Little Bird," She says after a moment, in her placid, ambivalent tones, "Why do you stray into my dreams?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Naru replies, not twitching at the sudden invasion of her personal space, but taking a casual step to increase it after a moment. "You've been sharing for weeks, you know." There's just a little pause, thoughtful before Naru adds. "It's been fascinating to watch. Hard, often, but fascinating."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    Hana does not pursue as Naru takes a step backwards. She seems content where she is. Interestingly, as Naru watches, little details of her outfit begin to change- transitioning from the outfit she wore as a Puella, white and decorated with flowers, to the one she prefers in her current state- also white, but with a bit more militaristic/femme fatale flair.

    A waist-length white coat which buttons across her chest, fastening at the right side, with a somewhat flared collar and a white lotus blossom pinned to the chest over her heart. A pair of form-hugging white pants which have the look of leather, and white boots with a three-inch heel. It's a very super-villainy look ,honestly, which is perhaps why she prefers it.

    As Naru mentions 'sharing for weeks', though, there comes a faint tilt of her head. "Is that so? Things have been so.. unpredictable. It is hard for me to tell if I am dreaming or I am awake. This is a dream, yes?" A brief glance around. "Unless that wretched Homura Akemi is here pausing time, but I imagine she would have made herself known, if so."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Villains have some of the best outfits. Hardly fair, really. Naru isn't shy about watching the change away from puella and into something that suits Hana's current state of mind a little more fully. The awesome jacket gets a little nod of acknowledgement, possibly of appreciation.

"To the best of my knowledge, this is a dream." Naru confirms as she starts to move, and makes the effort to manipulate the dream space, to bring up a cafe table and chairs. "I would think so, yes. I don't often have dealings with Homura, so I'd be rather surprised if she was here."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    Hana's eyes narrow just faintly as Naru attempts to manipulate the dreamspace.. phasing a table and chairs into existence on the rooftop. "Ah.. the little bird sings." She all but croons, stepping forward to lay fingers atop the back of one of the newly-created chairs. It should also be noted that Hana is quite short- probably not much taller than Naru, at least if not for the heels, despite appearing a good half-decade older.

    "I feel the power in you," She continues, fingers tracing along the back of the chair. "Not a Puella, but.. it has echoes of my own. Second-cousins, perhaps, on the great tree of magics. Perhaps that is why you drew my attention, purposefully or not."

    "Dreams are not my realm, not usually. But it appears that, in my attempt to re-gather power, I have been... leaking, somewhat. I apologize. How very rude of me."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"No one wants to hear me sing." Naru points out with a little laugh and a gesture to one of the chairs in invitation. A perfectly civilized location for a conversation, all things considered.

"I don't generally work in dreams either, but every so often I seem to hit upon one where I've a touch more control than merely watching, or fleeing. Yours, only watching." She gives a little shake of her head at the apology. "Thank you for sharing them, even inadverently."

Naru mmms at the mention of power. "No, I am not a puella. I've never met Kyubey, other than in your dreams." She smiles at the mention of the great family tree of magic. "I do not know how we are all interconnected, but I do think we are. You are hardly a typical puella, though."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "A metaphor, as I am sure you have gathered." Hana says, her words precise, always formal though retaining that neutral lack of care, as if she observes the world from a great distance and simply can't bring herself to be terribly invested in what she is seeing. "Some sing with voices, others with actions, and still others with their minds. The universe is full of such harmonies.. though they often clash, and become meaningless noise."

    She eyes the chairs for a moment, then moves to settle fluidly into one, perched on the edge, her posture upright. "I can only say you are fortunate to have never met the Incubators. Although, truth be told, I cannot say I have faired poorly.. though perhaps against their wishes, rather than by them."

    A considering glance, at the mention of being atypical. "No system so vast and complex can exist without unforseen consequences." Is the answer she finally gives.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"They clash and resolve, and sometimes what was noise becomes music again. There are those who find musicality in what others consider noise." Naru comments as she gives her own white skirt a smoothing with her hands.

"You are not the first to call me fortunate not to have met them." Naru nods. "It's a skill, and an art to take the materials given and create something with your own mark and spin upon it." She smiles, the expression easy upon her face, relaxed. "But you are an artist, you understand such things."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "All things have rhythm. What so many fail to appreciate is that beauty exists in dissolution as well as creation. In fact, without the noise, the music loses its significance." Hana remains where she is. She displays little of the mannerisms of an average human- no fidgeting or nervous movements. Still, except when she is talking.

    At the mention of being an artist, she simply nods. "I am. Reality is my canvas. A stubborn one, but the greatest works require the most effort. Still, I have found that there is nothing so immutable that it cannot change. No perspective so rigid it cannot be bent, no conviction so solid it cannot be fractured. It simply requires the artist to be... persistent."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Reality is my canvas.

A simply stated fact that gives Naru thoughtful pause, the little quirk of her head as she considers that phrase, and one can almost see her rolling it about upon her tongue, in her thoughts.

"Reality is a fluid thing, so is perception." Naru agrees after a few moments with that delicious phrase. "The transition from thought to reality is a shorter step than most realize or appreciate."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "It is no step at all." Hana corrects, her multi-hued, ever-shifting eyes watching Naru as the girl mulls over her words. "Those with sufficient power shape the world with their actions. Those with still greater strength shape it with their minds."

    She gestures, and suddenly they are no longer atop a building in a night-time city, but in the middle of a sunlit field of green grass, the same cafe table perched upon a small hill among many rolling hills dotted with trees. It has the feel of a Japanese countryside, though there are no identifying marks to tell whether it is a real place or simply an invention.

    "We take the world. We shape it. Unfortunately, there is seldom agreement upon which form the world should take. So many artists, but just one canvas. Hence.. conflict."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru watches the landscape change around them, the feel of the dream shift and morph as they each now have had a hand in its shaping.

"One canvas, the ultimate collabortive work." Narucomments. "It is a fairly large canvas, all things considered. There is room for quite a number of artists, but so often we wish to work on exactly the same spot with our visions of how the world should look."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "Yes. How much happier would the world be if everyone was content with their own little corner of it, and felt no need to impose their reality onto the reality of others?" Hana asks this in a clearly rhetorical fashion, her eyes glancing with dispassionate idleness over the beautiful surroundings.

    "Alas, that is not how it is. Everyone believes that they know best- that their version of the world is somehow the most correct, or the most moral, or the most righteous. They try to impose their world upon those who subscribe to notions they find heretical. Evil. Unjust. The assailed have no choice but to retaliate, or be consumed."

    "Such is the tragedy of intelligence. This is a lesson I learned long ago, Little Bird, when people first began to call me 'monster' because I sought to protect myself from having my world erased."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It never is." Naru agrees as she watches the scenery, the rolling hills, the vibrant greens in all their different shades. The little whisper of wind that stirs the trees, but doesn't quite reach them where they sit.

Is it Naru's expectation that brings the breeze, or Hana's?

"I do not know whose version of the world is the most correct." Naru comments thoughtfully. "There are portions that bend to my will, and portions that must find compromise to be able to fit together."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "There is no 'correct'. That is a truth even the Incubators, with their galaxy-spanning system, cannot grasp. There is no way the universe should be. There is only how it is." Hana's eyes track those rustling branches, observing this universe, which exists only temporarily, in the minds of two young women.

    "So much meaningless conflict exists because when being see a thing they do not understand, they seek to force it to conform to their definitions of what should be and what is correct. Not because they actually believe it is more correct, but simply because they cannot stand not being able to understand."

    Her eyes shift to Naru once more. "You sought to stop me feeding, when I first became aware of you several days past. You do not understand me, and so you seek my destruction. It is the same as it has ever been. People believe I should not exist, because they falsley believe that should has any meaning at all. There is no should. There only is, or is not. I exist. I plan to keep existing."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"No." Naru shakes her head a touch, offering a correction to something Hana has said. Not in the desires of most to force things into their own narrow paradigms. Not in the reality that most people cannot stand to have unanswered questions.

The protest comes in the declaration that she sought Hana's destruction. "I did not wish your destruction. I did take offense at the gleeful destruction of others' property and the potential of their harm. You wish emotions to feed upon, fear and panic it felt like. There is plenty of that, although I admit, that way is the most efficient. I fully expect that you will keep existing, based on what you have shared, you are exceptionally resilient."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "I am what I am. I might have chosen a different path, had one been open to me, but unfortunately, at the time the choice was presented I was not old enough or experienced enough to understand the choice I was making. That is the Incubator's preferred tactic, after all."

    Hana regards Naru evenly, no judgement or anger in her face. "The fact that you are offended is irrelevant to me. I am, speaking on a purely physical level, insofar as such things apply to creatures such as I, a Witch. I must absorb the fear and despair of humans, the same way that you must absorb calories from food."

    "I bear no specific grudge against any of those people. But the world is cruel. If they could, they would destroy me. Therefore I feel no guilt about their suffering, the same as you do not feel guilt over the fate of the lettuce plant in your salad bowl."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"None of us get a choice." Naru shakes her head a little. "Yours was framed as a choice, but wasn't really. It is what it was, and that is what one works with."

"I understand that, and that is a spot on the canvas where we find ourselves debating over the details." Naru gestures a touch. "Although it would appear that we are closer than many, in that we seem to agree on the suject matter, but I am watercolours and you are oils, to stretch a metaphor further than perhaps it is good for."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "Yes. You have it correct." The faintest of sighs from Hana.

    "I do not begrudge you your treasured sense of offense at my actions, Little Bird. You choose to believe that because you do not hurt others, you are a good person. To me, such considerations are irrelevant, but I do not bear ill-will towards you because you hold them."

    "Similarly, I will not shrink from crushing you like a bug, should you choose to stand in my way again." There is no emotion in this threat, simply the sort of confidence that comes from unwavering confidence. "Madison Perry is no great thinker, but she is very useful when it comes to.. removing unwanted complications."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Interesting." Naru comments on Hana declaring that she thinks of herself as a good person, but she doesn't protest the fact. "To me, it is excessive, but I appreciate and understand your perspective upon it. I can recognize your perspective without necessarily sharing it."

The threat is met with no elaborate surprise, or shock and horror. Like so many other things, it is what it is. "I would expect nothing less." Naru answers honestly. "Like you, I plan to continue existing, and am likely to protest Madison's attempts to remove me from existance."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "She will likely not do so, if you do no stand directly in her path." Hana toys with a cup of tea which has appeared on the table in front of her, although it wasn't there a moment before. "Unless you are monumentally unlucky, in any case. No offense, Little Bird, but she likely does not view you as a threat."

    A pause, and then, "As I said.. no great thinker, she. But all tools have their purpose. It is unfortunate that the intelligent ones tend to turn in one's hand."

    A brief flash of a young girl with black hair and blue eyes crackles through the scene at the words, before vanishing as quickly as it had come.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"No, she would not think of me as a threat. Most do not." Naru has a mug of coffee not so long after Hana acquires her tea and she reaches to offer the plate of cookies over, politely. "The views on my luck are mixed, so it is not outside the realm of possibility."

There is no recognition upon Naru's face at the flash of the girl, and just a touch of a shake of her head. "All tools have a purpose, some tools are more flexible in their purpose than others."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    Hana inclines her head in what appears to be a gesture of thanks at the offer of cookies, but does not take one. No stomach for human food, it seems, although that doesn't stop her from sipping from the cup of tea.

     "You are lucky, then. Much can be accomplished when you are overlooked. It is the curse of success that the more you utilize that leverage to gain advantage, the more it inevitably slips away."

    "Yes, all tools have purpose. But the more flexible the tool.. the less sharp it's edge." Hana says. "The wise woman has different tools for different situations, each suited to its task. Alas, so recently freed of unjust incarceration, my toolbox is.. rather limited at the moment."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru does not comment upon her luck in being considered not a threat. It is possible that she might think its actually true.

"When the only tool one has is a hammer, every problem suddenly appears as a nail." Naru smiles a touch, reciting the well worn quip. "I admit, I am impressed at your selection even as it stands, all things considered."

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "Madison Perry is desperate enough to escape what she sees as a suffocating cage that her loyalty is without question, despite her very nature being to bite the hand that feeds." Hana comments, unconcernedly. "She is a child of violence who cares only for violence, and as a result, has honed her skill in that one area to a frightening degree while neglecting nearly all others."

    "It was not difficult to turn her to my purpose once her activities brought her to my attention. Though she does hate taking orders, she hates it less than the prospect of spending the rest of her life on Earth."

    Hana's eyes return to Naru's face. "Do not think I tell you these things out of any foolish overconfidence or lack of concern. The things I tell you are simply facts- they offer no particular advantage. Still, after a year with only Homura Akemi, and more recently, Madison Perry as company, I find someone like you a pleasant change of conversational pace."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I have no illusions that you are clutching me to your bosom, metaphorically speaking, to share confidences with me as you have no others before." Naru quirks a smile at the melodrama of it all. "They are facts, and there are facts that I have, or could, determine with research and observation." Naru does take one of the cookies to nibble upon as she sips her coffee and they enjoy a perfectly delightful conversation.

"As I was getting to know you through your dreams, or memories, I had hoped I might meet you at some point. I am glad that I do not entirely lack for conversational pace." Naru tips her head in gesture of acknowledgement. "Where does Madison wish to go?"

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "How embarassing, to spill one's past so carelessly out into the void." Hana reflects, with regards to her own broadcast dreams, though her tone doesn't vary from it's carless neutrality. "I do apologize. As I said, there are.. consequences to my present state."

    As for where Madison wishes to go, there is only a mild shrug. "I do not think it is so much that she wishes to go to a particular place as she simply does not wish to be confined. She is Mid-childan, you know.. or rather, of that civilization, though she is not from Mid-childa itself. The idea of being confined to a single planet.. well, I suppose it would rather be like your parents confining you to your room for all eternity. She is not the type to find comfort in a cage, even a gilded one, having known freedom."

    A pause, and then, "I find after my recent confinement, I sympathize with her more than I once did."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I can respect that distinction." Naru nods. "It is, as often as not, the principle of the thing. My times in confinement have been very brief, but there is a great deal of instinct that comes to bear when faced with a cage, gilded or not. Expansive or not." She mms softly and nods.

"Will you gain physical form again?" Naru asks, her tone curious rather than anything else at the idea.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "I will. It is a peculiar prospect of Grief Seeds.. in the hands of a Puella, or indeed the Incubators, they remain in stasis, a low-energy state which will persist indefinetly. That is how Homura Akemi was able to feel confident in her imprisonment of me. In the hands of any other, a Grief Seed inevitably re-hatches. There is enough fear and pain in the world that, given enough time, even the ambient levels will cause this to happen."

    "Madison's recent efforts merely serve to hasten that inevitability. I am not one to complain, however. I am patient, yet the prospect of being able to effect the world on my terms again is.. enticing after so long."

    Hana sets the teacup down. It appears just as full as it was to begin with, despite several minutes of sipping. "It is a terrible thing, being helpless."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"The sense of being helpless is a terrible feeling." Naru agrees as she absorbs further information about grief seeds. Again, nothing that is not unknown or new, but some that is new to her, or certainly reinforcement of previously more hazy topics.

"When you last had physical form, did you still make art in the traditional senese?" Naru asks, a divergence from the conversation, perhaps, but a curiosity that occured to her.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "When I had time." Hana answers, seemingly without hesitation. "I am an artist, Little Bird. The beginning of my woes, yet it has never changed in all this time. Though I work now upon the canvas of reality, to shape a world more pleasing to my eye, there is something cathartic about doing it.. the old fashioned way, with paint and brush."

    Her eyes settle upon Naru across the table after a brief diversion to watch white clouds scuttling across a blue sky. "Perhaps you will get a chance to see my collection someday. I am fairly certain it still survives. Madison is not much of an art-lover, so I would love to hear your thoughts."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I understand that it is a question much akin to asking if you bothered to breathe when you had phyiscal form." Naru admits with a gentle little smile. "It is cathartic and rewarding in entirely different ways. Paint, pencil, ink."

"I hoped it might yet exist, and that I might someday be permitted to see it. I would be delighted to spend time with your work. The intersection of power and art is a narrow one." The power she references comes with a gesture towards the mutable dream they share, the power of magic rather than any declaration of her own power level in comparison to Hana's.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "You would be permitted any time that you like." Hana says, with absent surety. "I would even go so far as to guarantee your safety. Despite my earlier sentiments, and our disagreement with regards to certain moral principles, I do not believe you are a threat to me, Little Bird.. at least, not yet."

    A faint rumble of thunder on the horizon- a glance shows ominous clouds, far off, yet clearly drawing closer. The wind which earlier ruffled the trees but did not touch the table suddenly increases in strength, cutting and chill as it whips the green grass in visible waves.

    "That may change, in time. I have learned that most often the most serious threats come from the places we least expect." She rises from the table, turning to glance out at the approaching clouds. "I was overconfident, last time. I do not plan to make that mistake again."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I am unlikely to be much of a threat to you." Naru comments, a smile at the mention of being permitted to see the work. Safely even.

The rumble of thunder draws Naru's attention towards it, the chill of the wind bringing a touch of a shiver. "Are my dreams trying to filter into our conversation?" She asks, thoughtful as she rises with Hana. "Jealous of my attention being away from them?"

"It is a fine line, to be confident without straying into overconfident." Naru comments as she stands next to Hana, watching the approach of the clouds, the play of the light upon the grass and trees as it changes.

Hana Shiroi has posed:
    "It is the certainty of conflict which inevitably follows my awakening." Hana says, watching the storm. "To too many, I am an abomination. A thing which should not exist. The result of a malfunction, a conflict of the laws of the system and an immutable Wish, causing an infinite feedback loop."

    "When unexpected new forms of power arise, the instinct of the establishment is to crush them, in order to ensure they are not replaced. I cannot blame them- we all wish to survive. Yet I cannot simply accept destruction, either."

    She turns to regard Naru. "I have enjoyed chatting with you, Little Bird, but I am afraid our time draws to a close. Great things are afoot.. there is much to be done. Take some solace in the fact that if I should triumph, and re-paint this world into a form which suits me, artists shall always hold pride of place."

    "Many call me a monster, but in one key respect, I differ from most. I am a creator. While I destroy some out of necessity, I also bring into being things such as the world has not seen before. Perhaps you shall see them, Little Bird."

    "Perhaps we shall speak again."

    And she is simply gone, leaving Naru alone in the empty field.