2461/Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle
Date of Scene:	11 February 2017
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Ariel's dreams are troubled, affecting her memory of a very important point in her life. So her friends intervene and rescue Ariel's memory of the time she met Lucky, from an unexpected intruder.
Cast of Characters:	Ariel Theodore, Norie Okana, Kukai Souma, Seishi Tamashige, Kunzite, Sachiko Hayakawa
Tinyplot:	Darkly Dreaming

---

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    "S-Seishi? I had a bad dream. I felt like I was starting to forget something very important to me... But I couldn't remember what it was..."

    Ariel had quietly mentioned to a few key people that she's been having problems. Though she had kept silent for a little too long, perhaps, due to all the varied crises that had been bothering others, to not burden them with her problems, this has now officially hit the point of being an issue, and that is how this foray begins.
    After the appropriate calls and texts are made for a gathering, meeting up, and preparing, it's time for a journey back into the dream where she was born.
    So it begins on a beach, warm and calm; the small zone of the dream where Ariel's mother holds back the encroaching nightmare darkness swallowing everything else. Ariel is currently huddled on the sea witch's lap, ears flicking as dusky fingers run lazily through silver hair. Though her mother wears the exact sour countenance on her face as some may remember, she seems haggard. For those who DON'T know her, it might seem surprising how Ariel's mom looks like the kind of woman has never smiled once in her life.
    "I see new faces. I suppose I should be happy my daughter has been making friends in the waking world. But yes, there is an issue in a part of this dream." She confirms. "In a place called The Grove of Time. That is where memories of the past play out again and again." She says, motioning in a direction into the darkness.
    "Alright let's--" "No."
    Ariel begins to speak but she is cut off.
    "Ariel will remain here with me. I have things to discuss with her. The rest of you should be cautious. I do not know how this darkness might have twisted this dream. And part of me does not wish to find out."
    Well, her mom is about as warm and welcoming as ever. But once anyone steps off the beach it's into that pitch black forest, with only a vague idea of direction to go.
    "A-ah... Um. Good luck I guess." Ariel murmurs.

Norie Okana has posed:
Ariel-chan is a friend. Lacrima can count the people she's willing to call people she calls 'friends' on one hand. Everyone else are just people she knows that she is fond of, but isn't willing to share things with. So when Ariel expresses there is a problem, a problem that she needs help with, Lacrima slips into her coffin in the basement where she sleeps the best nowadays.

Because some Vampire sterotypes are real somehow.

She meets up on the beach. Her 'dream self' is as it always looks, fancy dress, just slightly less pale. She looks more in place in an idyllic forest manor than a beach.

She brushes a hand down her face. Her eyes looks over to the darkness Ariel's mother motions to.

She does notice the slight demeanor difference between Ariel- who usually seems happy and friendly, and her mother who seems 'less that'.

'Where memories of the past play out again and again.'. She has those a lot. She is suddenly hesitant due to the recent issue with the Return Card.

But Ariel-chan has specifically asked them for help.

She looks to the others. "I'm not quite sure if walking into a deep dank darkness is good for anyone." she says as she stares ahead.

A pause. "Why is this area dark, anyways?" she asks turning back to Ariel's Mother a moment. "Is the past really that bad for everyone?" she asks with a blink.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Kukai had spoken to Ariel recently about his own dream occurences, so it was only natural that when he'd gotten a text from her, he immediately responded. A little rest makes you feel better, that's for sure.

In the middle of a deep, restful sleep, curled in somewhere warm and soft, Kukai - no, Sky Jack - well, it's the same, really - finds himself on the beach, looking at Ariel and her mother, who looks perfectly scowly. Good grief. There are others here, people he knows.

Jack hears Ariel's mother speak and then blinks, turning to look towards the Grove. "We'll go, investigate, with..." He stops as Ariel's mother denies her movements. "Well. I guess we'll go investigate. And I think most of us are used to fighting the darkness. We'll do what we can."

Sky Jack waves back at Ariel and gives her a thumbs up, before he begins moving towards the forest.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"It's corrupted." Akashimaru is the one to answer Lacrima's question, dark eyes turned to stare off in the direction that the sea-witch pointed them. "Like Osaka-san's dream was. That's why Ariel and her mothers need our help."

She'd been standing with her hands tucked into the deep sleeves of her scarlet kimono, but now the samurai girl unfolds her arms, one hand falling to the metal war fan tucked into her belt. She looks toward Kunzite first, assessing, and then - seeming satisfied though not much pleased by whatever it is she sees - she turns her regard towards Ariel and smiles a little. "Don't worry," she says. "I'll be sure to bring everyone back safe."

A swift, decisive movement pulls the tessen from her belt and settles it into her hand. "Let's go see what there is to see," she says, and then she too is starting off.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite looks, for the most part, like Kunzite. His self-image eternally the same -- in the uniform of his Prince's guard, sword at his side that he seldom wears in the waking world, white hair blending with brown-line white cape. (That certain parties here have seen him look distinctly different is another story.)

His eyes, when Akashimaru glances at him, are that same steel-gray -- not the red with which she first found him, tonight. No more of that, then. And he doesn't flinch at the mention of memories of the past.

He asks Ariel's mother no questions, this time; he's grown accustomed to that she'll tell them so much, and no more. A little pause to respect Lacrima's question -- a nod toward Kukai -- and then when Akashimaru starts off, he follows. Letting the dreamwalker take the lead without doubt or hesitation.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel had mentioned her mother always had trust issues. The fact that she's letting the lot of this crew wander into the darkness, into a zone of past memories must be a massive leap of faith for her. But that does not change the fact that this time, Ariel is not going with them. It is with an apologetic look, that Ariel watches the others begin to make their way into the forest. But Akashimaru answered the question well enough and quite succinctly.
    But apart from the small stretch of white-sand and seaside beach... There IS on part of the dream that isn't suffused in darkness. A cold black chill hanging in the air that no amount of layering can protect from. Mist hugs low to the ground, and the complete and utterly forboding silence is broken only by the CLANK of something metallic lurching in the darkness, a single glowering blue point of light occasionally visible from the corner of the eye.
    Kunzite and Seishi will know exactly what it is. But it does not approach. In fact it edges off and vanishes wholly by the time they arrive. There is no missing when they find the Grove of Time.

    "Must you go?" "Yes, for her sake."

    Two voices, a whispering echo of the past-- not just Ariel's memories it seems, or if they are, so very distant and difficult to recall.

    "She misses you." "I know. And I her, but this needs to be done."

    One voice shoulde be familiar. Everyone just heard it not too long ago. The sea witch. The other though is not as familiar. But it doesn't matter as the voices continue.

    "Ariel, go now!" "But what about ... I don't want to!" "You don't have a choice in this, be a good girl and GO!"

    Everything seems to shudder in the throes of a bad memory rocking the dream, before it goes still and silent. In the distance there's a faintly golden glow though the trees, warm even while distant... And then.
    "Who are you?"
    A tiny hand tugs on the edge of Kunzite's cape.
    She wasn't there a second ago. But she is now, staring up with topaz eyes. Everyone already knows Ariel is quite small for her age.
    Ariel at six years old is absolutely tiny; her usual tunic hanging off her at least three or four sizes hilariously too big.
    "Oh. Well, if you're all here, we can look together! My moms always said to not go out alone at night, but I saw a star fall this way! Come on~."

Kukai Souma has posed:
Jack hmphs a bit, looking over at Akashimaru and nodding. "Well. It's not surprising that it's corrupted - look at how dark it is. We'll do fine - we're good at fighting darkness. We'll make it through just fine." Jack tries to infuse his words with morale and hope, wanting to strengthen the resolve of his allies as they walk into the wood. The fact that Lacrima is here annoys him slightly, but he's ok with it because she's here to help Ariel.

Akashimaru leads the way through the dream, with him and Kunzite behind. The clanking in the distance is strange, but hey, it's a dream. And then they're in the grove.

Jack listens to the voices, considering. Somebody had mentioned 'mothers' a minute ago - that may be what he's listening to. Part of the past? OK, sure. Then Ariel's voice kicks in and Jack huhs. This must be one of her memories. The shuddering, rocking sensation washing over him makes him a little ill to his stomach, even as his magic ensures he is kept whole. Jack shields his eyes, looking towards the glow, peering at it to see what it is...

And then there's a tiny figure, near Kunzite, tugging him and the rest of them on towards an unknown star. Jack looks at the others, then shrugs, motioning towards tiny Ariel's path. "Good as anything else."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns as she looks to Seishi. So it's not normally like this. It's corrupted. She looks to Sky Jack. "Are you sure you shouldn't let me go?" she asks, offering to go first, but-- Sky Jack goes ahead. She looks to Kunzite and give a series of soft welcoming nods.

She removes two crystals and places them into the air in front of her. She mutters something in Spanish. "Armonizar.". Attune. Harmonize.

The two crystals float in front of her as she begins to walk along. The crystals have vauge similarity to similar magic Kunzite's seen in the Dark Kingdom for sure. Lacrima has been heavily modifying what she's learned from Melanite's book.

"These are tools. Don't mind them." she says plainly. "So I'm not making things worse." she says as she frowns a bit.

A blue light playing at the edges of vision and clanking. Voices. One is familiar one, is not. She takes this in before...

Is that a much younger Ariel? She squints a bit at this. "Huh?"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
The first distant clank is answered by a softer noise of metal on metal, a flick of Akashimaru's wrist that opens the tessen in her hand. She tracks that point of blue light out of the corner of her eye as they proceed... but it does not approach. Instead, there is a tiny Ariel, and for a moment Akashimaru is left blinking in surprise.

Well, she did say they'd see what there was to see. If Ariel's memory is going to be their guide, they could surely do worse. She gives Sky Jack a brief nod before returning her attention to tiny-Ariel. "Sure," she says, and once again for a moment the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile for the little girl. "Lead the way?"

Kunzite has posed:
Voices and glimpses. That's what dreams are sometimes made of, yes. Kunzite follows Akashimaru's lead -- when her tessen opens, his hands lift, still empty; but that gleam of light fades, and he does not chase it away. The way things change as they echo in a bad dream is all too familiar to him. So are Lacrima's crystals, but he nods to her without complaint --

'What's that over there?' is never a question to ask in these moments. Especially when his cape is being tugged.

Kunzite blinks down at the younger unicorn for a moment. "That way?" he asks, nodding toward the golden glow. "As for who we are -- the lady with the fan is called Akashimaru; the lady with the crystals is called Lacrima. The one out in front is Sky Jack, and I am Kunzite. And we'd be pleased to keep you company."

In the night. In the dark. But not all nights are terrible.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    There is a moment of pause. Long enough for the tiny unicorn to look from face to face at Kunzite's introduction. But then, even the pitch black dark of the night, this Ariel of the past is positively beaming. "Mm! For some reason I feel like I knew that." She admits. "And like I could go anywhere with alll of you and feel safe."
    Which is good in this miserable chill and gloom, but that doesn't stop her from being polite. "I am Ariel~." Of course everyone knew that already, but she's nodding vigorously, and apparently completely oblivious to the phantom voices all around. as they begin to whisper again. The voices are much more familiar now. People will probably heir their own, in flashing whispers of things they may have said when Ariel first met each of them.

    "Your fears work against you, but this is your mind. Your will can be stronger than they are."
    "I asked him if he needed help. He said yes. I helped him. I don't know why I..."
    "Some things never change."
    "You're Ariel, right? Dunno if I ever properly introduced myself. I'm..."

    It might be a little eerie.
    "That way yes!" Towards the light- which begins to conspicuously fade little by little with every second. Perhaps a reason to hurry as she so casually reaches up and slides her hand into Akashimaru's, and leads the way deeper into the gloom with no fear. And then. They reach a clearing.
    "Mom always said to pick one star... It would be my lucky start from now on. But that's the one that fell, so I have to look for it and... ... And..." And she trails off. "This isn't right..."
    It's not.
    The clearing is a crater, caused clearly by something crashing from the sky, a long dragging trench of an angled landing showing where it hit the ground, bounced a few times, and slowly skidded to a stop. At its center is a familiar sight, shaggy glowing fur, curled into a ball. It is an only SLIGHTLY smaller Lucky, curled up in a ball. Motionless and draining of light slowly. Thanks to the menacing, leafless dead tree that has sprouted over him, trapping him in the roots and seemingly sapping his life away.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
There's a peal of thunder and lightning, as a rainstorm begins to whip up. This isn't right: this isn't what happened, but it's happening here and now. Sitting in the branches of the tree is a green-eyed girl with cinnamon coloured hair. She's dressed in a beautiful black and wine coloured gothic dress, safe from the storm that's beginning to rage in this place of memories.

"Shhh, little puppy," she whispers down to Lucky. "It's okay, soon we'll be together, a family just the two of us."

Lightning crashes down from the sky, streaking towards the incoming group--towards the little unicorn!

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Without hesitation, Akashimaru's hand clasps Ariel's and she follows the smaller girl's lead. Her head cants a little to the side at the echoes, taking them in, but her focus is ahead, on the crater that opens up in front of them - and the shapes within it.

As thunder begins to rumble and the wind swirls her hair and sleeves around her, Akashimaru frowns.

She's already lifting her tessen, but when the lighting lances down towards them - towards Ariel - the samurai girl's movement changes course automatically. In an instant she's let go of Ariel's hand to step in front of her, sliding into place even as she lifts the spread fan up as though to catch the lightning bolt against its broad side. "Hansha-sen!"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima raises a hand as rain begins to fall and lightning and thunder. She head tilts as she lowers her hand and then she suddenly just has a parasol in her left arm, poised against her shoulder like she'd always been holding it. Is it elegant and of a Spanish make.

She blinks and head tilts at the girl in the tree. Cinnamon hair. Familiar. But no cinnamon scent.

Delicious delicious cinnamon.

She frowns- she doesn't call out the attack. Or suggest a shield because she's positive Kunzite is going to move to do so anyways. She'll raise the crystal to the right, though and it emits it's own local barrier. It isn't huge- but just incase she assumes too much about what may happen- but she can only protect herself.

There's only so much you can do to force the dark to do things it doesn't want to do.

Akashimaru handles protecting Ariel at least. Good.

She raises her right arm and frowns.

"Haz Oscuro." she calls out. Dark Beam. Which is what emits from her palm- a black beam that seems to be aimed for the girl.

"Someone might want to take care of the tree. I can focus on that if any of you do not want to." she offers.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's hands lift to command his own shadows -- but his focus is on that faintly-glowing ball at the base of the tree, all fur and light and misery. That's the star they're looking for. And that's not what's supposed to be happening to him. For an instant, as light flickers, he might have hesitated -- but Akashimaru is moving; he does not stop to see what success she meets with. He trusts her to know her business, instead, and his darkness swarms among the roots of the tree as well. Covering the fallen star. He can't shield Lucky from the drain, per se. But he can reverse his shield, he can trap the star's energy in, he can keep it from being drawn entirely away from him --

For a little while, at least.

His eyes track up a moment later, and he frowns. The girl's almost familiar, but her hair is wrong, and didn't that one have a chain--?

Kukai Souma has posed:
Jack smiles at Ariel as she says she could go anywhere with them. That's good, because really, she could. Kunzite introduces him and he nods his head, as they run towards the light, the fallen star. They reach it, and it's... Lucky? OK. Wait, he's surrounded by dark power. What.

The wind picks up and Jack lowers his goggles, staring through them at the green-eyed girl. Huh. Who is she? (The benefit of henshin, apparently.)

Dancing along the lightning storms is something Kukai does for fun. Sensing the ozone buildup and spinning away from the blast is almost second nature, but he's unable to care for Ariel. Thankfully Akashimaru takes care of that, as a beam of dark energy lances for the girl, and a bubble appears around the fallen Lucky.

Sky Jack takes the lead, rising into the air and racing towards her, intent on getting her attention and drawing her away from the stardog. "HEY! Whoever you are, leave the dog and this dream and this memory and the girl who owns them all ALONE! You don't get to just take what you want!" Racing along on his flying board, he rears back, punting a test case wrapped up in a magically powered soccer ball at the small figure!

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    No, this is not right at all, and for a moment, the tinier Ariel scrunches her nose. Then her ears prick up, and she's scootching a little closer to Akashimaru as the storm worsens. "Who is... She doesn't live in this forest, I've never seen her before." She says on seeing Memoria.
    And then lightning strikes. Ariel bleats in alarm, but Seishi spares her from injury. Right then and there she crouches, hiding her face in her hands and ducking her head down, making herself as much of a small target as she can. She will clearly not be taking part in this sudden fight.
    But Lacrima makes an announcement that someone might want to act on. The tree shudders.With the creak and crack of dead, rotten, wood. Two eyes open on the trunk; followed by a mouth of jagged teeth in a more than menacing frownface. The tree makes a sound, much like wind hissing through leaves on a cold winter night, as the branches shift and slink. Two reach down-- intending to strangle more life from the memory of Lucky, an act it finds much more difficult as Kunzite directs his magic unto the fallen dog-- while others reach- for Sky Jack, Lacrima, Akashimaru, and Kunzite; presenting a fight on two fronts.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
Akashimaru's swift and decisive action catches the lightning bolt dead into the metal of her fan. It flickers, glows brilliant blue, and sounds with a clap of thunder. The same bolt then reflects back into the sky, where it dissipates harmlessly.

Memoria, in her tree, makes a soft noise of disapproval, but she's forced to raise a hand against the dark energy that courses towards her. Rather than dodge, she simply absorbs it into herself, such a minor attack doing little more than empowering her further.

"Keep draining him," Memoria says to the tree, as she hops out of the branch and floats in the air next to him. A scythe appears in her hand, long and deadly and ugly in its purpose. "I'll deal with these four."

Two more bolts of lightning streak down from the sky, one aimed for Lacrima and another for Kunzite, this time.

But Memoria herself dances on the memory of that dark beam, which suddenly streaks towards and past Lacrima, aimed right for Ariel once again. Only Memoria isn't just sending the beam of darkness at Ariel: she's riding it, scythe held back ready to cleave the little unicorn.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Two enemies, the girl and the corrupted tree. The star and the unicorn, both in need of protection. Four of them. It should be enough - right?

In any case there is no time for second-guessing. "Ariel!" The tessen whirls in Akashimaru's hand as she calls out, the metal ribs of the fan snapping closed in a quick and decisive motion. "Stay behind me!"

Her sandals slide along the churned-up ground as she shifts her stance to meet Memoria, darting in on that dark reflection. "Come," Akashimaru declares, "the strength that shatters iron--"

The scythe sweeps out and the samurai girl lunges forward, swinging the blunt iron bar of the closed tessen to intercept the blade. "--Sankonsen!"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns. Well that answers the question of whether she was fighting another force of dark. She gets grimly frustrated. The crystal on her right begins to rotate violently on it's axis as she begins charging it. Glowing bright purple as she moves to avoid lighting-- that crystal in the left moving to block again where she doesn't move to dodge it- as she jumps in a series of quick motions along the edge of the crater.

The tree comes to life and she frowns.

"I'll handle the tree." she says.

She tilts the crystal towards the tree and mutters....

"Convertir Fuego." in Spanish.

"Encender!" she then calls out. Dark energy gets transformed into a breath of flame that emits from the crystal, spraying out in the direction of the tree. Not very elegant nor outrageously powerful but better than filling a dark thing with more dark energy.

"Burn." she seethes. Well that's curt enough.

Kunzite has posed:
The fun of Lacrima's attack, of course, is that it almost can't miss. The fire that doesn't strike the tree falls down among the roots, where Kunzite's shield absorbs and re-emits it, providing a little additional roast for the menacing tendrils. And beneath the shield -- well. Keeping things from becoming too hot was the first use of Kunzite's powers, back as a child in the desert, before history began. Even if it could harm a star, something they've yet to test, the fire won't menace Lucky at all.

Of course, the problem is that with his shield occupied there, Kunzite himself can't merely soak the lightning. Nor can he dodge efficiently and keep his concentration. He drops down, sweeping the cape that Ariel tugged on earlier about himself, hiding himself completely in its folds; the lightning strikes at that secondary focus of his power, and much of it deflects off, finding another tree nearby as a more suitable target to ground through.

Even lessened, even converted into force and distributed, the impact still drives him the rest of the way to the ground.

It's a double pity. Lightning's so useful.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack sees the small girl racing forward on the beam, and Akashimaru steps forward to face her. Getting involved in that fight might be bad, unless he can manage a few balls to slap away at her. Likewise, Lacrima is working on torching the tree, so it should be done soon. Kunzite keeps Lucky covered even if he's taking lightning blasts himself.

That leaves one task for Jack. He lunges in, zipping around behind Akashimaru and Memoria as they clash and scooping up tiny Ariel in both arms. "I've got Ariel, take care of shadowbrat!" He hugs the little unicorn girl close to him on his board, both feet planted firmly, as he skews away from Memoria, watching both ahead of him and back over one shoulder alternatively to get some distance from the invader.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel need not be told twice to stay back. In fact for a moment longer she doesn't budge from where she's curled up, hugging her tail in her arms and burying her face in it. If she had found this place alone, who knows what disaster would have happened. But right now it's still sort of a blitz of chaos and violence.
    As Akashimaru focuses on the mysterious girl in apparent control of the tree, the tree itself remains a presence of ill menace. It radiates all the nasty chill of a cold dark night, doing everything it can to smother Lucky and his sudden defenders. Still not n easy task for it while Kunzite has his focus on guarding the hound. Or when Lacrima lashes out with flames of dark energy Elegance is, perhaps, not needed here right now as the bark starts to crackle and peel, several of those offensive branches burning away to ash, the others snap out, sprouting rot-colored leaves as sharp as razors in long vines, like a deadly weeping willow, and lashing out with them at the vampire and anyone else close enough in retaliation.
    There's a bleat. Though she had been told to stay behind Akashimaru, and she faithfully remains out of the conflict as instructed, as Kunzite hits the ground, Ariel is pawing at him worriedly. "--Get up. It's just a bad dream, right?"
    Right?
    Only for her to realize... Memoria is heading right for her. Topaz eyes widen as she picks herself up and starts to bolt- not going to get away in time-- only to be scooped up by Sky Jack- and clinging pretty tightly as a result.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
"No no no," Memoria screams in frustration, moments before she clashes with Akashimaru's blades. "This isn't right at all!"

Then there is the crash, and just like all bad falls in the dream, the whole of it shatters around them.

It's like a splash of ice cold water to the face, a sudden shock to the system, as the nightmare ends.

They're on the patht hrough the forest, and it might be a little eerie.

"That way yes!" Towards the light- which begins to conspicuously fade little by little with every second. Perhaps a reason to hurry.

It's not right.

The clearing s a crater caused clearly by something crashing from the sky, a long dragging trench of an angled landing showing where it hit the ground, bounced a few times and slowly skidded to a stop.

There's Lucky, curled up in a ball, grasped in the roots of a tree that's slowly sapping the energy out of the poor fallen star.

And in the branches of the tree, a little girl sits in a black and wine coloured dress, peering down at the prey caught in the roots of her tree. "Shh, little puppy," she whispers down to Lucky. "It's okay, soon we'll be together, a family just the two of us."

This happened before, but the lightning and thunder and rain are all gone. There's no wind and no storm at all. Instead, it is the ground beneath them all, starting to rumble and shake, an earth quake of sufficient magnitude threatning to tear the ground assunder and pull them away from the memory of poor Lucky in his moment of need.

Norie Okana has posed:
"These are tools. Don't mind them." she says plainly. "So I'm not making things wors...."

Lacrima pauses a moment as she blinks at the situation. Didn't she already explain this? Yes. Yes she did. Then there was rain and wind and thunder and lighting and a parasol and...

Well she knows darkness will just empower the girl this time as the dream restarts.

However rain and wind do not come. Instead it is an earthquake. She blinks and lets her feet lift off the ground as she floats into the air softly. She needs to get off the ground. The crystals hover with her.

She doesn't waste time this time. The crystal spins as it charges and she scowls.

She's waiting for Kunzite's shield again as she feeds the crystal her energy.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
One moment she is engaged in battle - the next, abruptly she is being towed along hand-in-hand with the tiny Ariel again. The sudden shift has her stumbling for a moment before she rights herself and takes in the sights in front of her, wide-eyed.

"Oh," she mutters under her breath, "that's just rude."

Ruder still is the earth itself rebelling under their very feet; snapping her tessen closed, Akashimaru swears softly and throws a hasty look around her for options.

One suggests itself immediately - Sky Jack was willing to play aerial rescue a moment ago--

"Here!" Akashimaru calls to him, and provided she manages to snag his attention she simply hoists tiny-Ariel up to his board without pausing to ask 'by your leave'.

Of course, that doesn't do much to help her own situation, but there are still options...

"Fighting might not work in this one," she warns, voice rising over the rumbling underfoot. Even as she says it, as though making a liar of herself, the closed bar of the tessen in her hand flashes with red light, growing outwards into the arc of a short bow. "We may have to get creative!"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack feels the world shatter around him, the ice cold chill blasting through his body as everything changes and.. resets.

Then he's racing through the forest towards the light, pulling up at the edge of the clearing as... wait. There's Lucky. There's the dark-clad little girl. What in the hell is going on here, this is the same thing he'd just done!

Sky Jack looks over at Lacrima as she hovers off the ground as well, and lets out an angry snarl. "What are we supposed to do if she can just... reset things, huh?" And then he's promptly presented with a tiny Ariel, whom he scoops up and turns, moving back away from the front line with her. He looks down at the little unicorn girl, then hugs her. "C'mon! You gotta focus, I think! Remember how it actually was when you met Lucky! Maybe you can prevent her from resetting the dream again!"

Kunzite has posed:
Silent agreement: that is just rude. The earth itself. Granted, a dreaming earth, not the one he's sworn to, but Kunzite's still irritable on the topic after the card that manipulated the real thing a few weeks ago.

Which is why he moves -- it's not always that he and gravity have an understanding, but sometimes, and sometimes might be enough for the dream; he shakes off the shadow of the nightmare before, and moves, leaping into the air to place himself in the line between the tree and Sky Jack, likely to come down just at the tree's roots if nothing intercepts him mid-arc. "He has a family," he says to the girl. "Why do you want to take him away from his family, rather than join them?"

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    That's pretty sudden isn't it? Waking up, jarring and violent- only to wake up in the middle of a new nightmare. But when it all starts again, Ariel's hand is back in Akashimaru's; so ver ytiny by comparison.
    "This isn't right... Who is... She doesn't live in this forest, I've never seen her before."
    But the memory playing over again seems lost on tinier memory-Ariel, who gives a tiny bleat when she's hoisted and desposited on Sky Jack's board. Which is fine with her when the ground starts to rumble. She scrunches her brow, looking from Kukai to the others briefly.
    "... The ground wasn't so shakey... It... Was kind of a clear night..." Murmured as she reaches back into the memory that she represents. She certainly does not remember this.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
The little girl's head whips around suddenly, and she glares at Kunzite in a moment of hatred. It passes just as swiftly--only a memory of the hatred that was--and she offers him an almost innocent smile. "Hello," she says. "It's very rude of you not to introduce yourself. I," she says, "am Memoria. And this is my friend Infelicis," she motions down towards Lucky.

"His former family was mean to me," Memoria explains to Kunzite, raising her chin. "And my family was taken away. So I thought it's only right that I should take him away from his family, and be mean to them in return."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Ariel's safe with Sky Jack, which leaves Akashimaru to manage her own more immediately perilous situation. As the ground breaks up beneath her feet, her fingers find the red bowstring that takes form from nothing, draw back the heavy black arrow that materializes out of nowhere... and lets loose.

Her stance was hardly steady, and the arrow flies on a wild arc up overeveryone's heads, but it's all right. It didn't have to hit the mark, it just had to fly high - and fly it does, tracing a line of scarlet cord through the air in its path, unspooling behind it.

The arrow disappears from sight amidst the dark treetops; the red cord tangles in the branches. The bow dissolves into sparks and reverts to a tessen in Akashimaru's hand as she yanks the line taut and then jumps, swinging on a long swift arc that closes the space between her and the tree growing out of the bottom of the crater, where Lucky lies imperiled and Memoria has perched.

She lands in a tumbling roll that takes her down the last of the slope, is on her feet again before her momentum has spent. "His name is Lucky," she calls up in a voice of reproach. "I'm sorry about your family, but that doesn't give you the right to take away someone else's. Why would you want anyone else to suffer like that, when you know how much it hurts yourself?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack stays back, with Ariel, away from Memoria and Kunzite and Akashimaru as they talk. "Atta girl. Can you remember the ground in a way where it's not shaking so much? Certainly the ground wasn't shaking the night you went out alone! And remember how clear the sky was? It must've been full of stars, watching where Lucky landed. See it clearly..."

Sky Jack is working off half-remembered superstitions and possibilities at this point, but he's trying hard. He moves in closer, letting Ariel get closer to Lucky as they move in. "And there's Lucky, not.. whatever she said. That's Lucky. Remember?"

Kunzite has posed:
"The lady is correct," Kunzite says up toward Memoria, his head tipped back. "This is no way to treat either the friend you call him, or the family you say you want to call him. One does not torture a friend. Nor kidnap a family member."

He kneels down beside the roots, stretching a hand warily in among them, reaching to slide fingers between Lucky's shaggy fur and some part of the tree itself. No shield, this time. Only a glow, almost imperceptible against Lucky's own. Pink and gold, as if dawn were adding a tinge of itself to the fading golden star. Maybe it'll do nothing; maybe it'll occupy some part of the drain, spare some part of that fading energy.

From there, he has to lean back even further to look up at Memoria again. But he does so all the same. "And I apologize for the lack of introduction; one does such things in what appears to be an emergency. I am called Kunzite."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima is charging that crystal but not releasing energy yet. It spins violently, but that's all. Fighting won't work. But this girl is... enough dark energy to absorb it without damage. A few words won't work.

"It's terrible when you don't have your family, I know." she says softly.

"But there's ways to have family without stealing them." she says quietly. "If you're willing to talk. and listen." she says.

"But if you continue this. I can try other things." she warns icily.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    It's far less chaos than the wild fight from before, but no less tense. There's a lot at stake in this moment and Ariel frowns. Watching these people she feels she knows leaping to the golden hound's defense. And then she hears what this girl has to say. This girl that invaded her dream and tried to take something she knows is-- or at least will be dear to her.
    "I'm so sorry." Tiny she may be, but Ariel is no less earnest when she says it. "About your family." She adds to clarify, floppy ears flicking as Memoria gives him such an unfamiliar name. Ariel looks up at Kukai's prompt. A night full of stars... In spite of how dark the dream is, starts begin to flicker and appear in the sky overhead through the foliage- one space conspicuously missing one. It's not just her that can see it- the others can too. And che concentrates.
    The ground wasn't so shaky.
    TThe quaking earth lessens-- not entirely perhaps, if Memoria works against it. But topaz eyes look to Akashimaru.
    His name is Lucky
    Kukai repeats it.
    That's Lucky.
    "That's... Yes. I'm sorry but I feel like he's going to be very important to me. Please don't take him away. You can always come and visit? I know things are scary here right now but..."
    That tree is starting to wither as Ariel begins to remember it wasn't there either.

Sachiko Hayakawa has posed:
The tree is withering, and with it, Memoria's power is beginning to fade.

"Lucky?" she asks, as if she's never heard the name before. Memoria looks around herself, momentarily confused. "No, that can't be right, I remember his name ... it was ..." she starts to say, then trails off. The tree--withered though it is--has a swing. It wasn't there before, but it's always been there all along, and Memoria is sitting in that swing, a brown haired girl wrapping arms around her.

"Hey, maybe next time," says the brown-haired girl, as she plucks Memoria from the swing. Her hand lingers on the chain meaningfully, for just a few moments, its weight h ardly slowing her, as she hefts the little girl and starts to carry her off.

Memoria seems confused and contented as the brown-haired memory carries her off. "This one's not for you, little one. We'll make our own dream, some time."

Slowly the pair begin to fade from this dream, from this memory where they don't belong.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack watches the tree wither and fade, still holding onto Ariel as Memoria fades away, carried in the arms of the brown haired girl. She looks... familiar, but it isn't coming together just yet.

Sky Jack makes a small 'huh' in his throat as the two of them fade away, finally setting tiny Ariel down next to Lucky and looking at the others. "...Sun's coming up, I think. Darkness is fading, too."

Kunzite has posed:
Brown hair. And a chain. But not --

It slips away from Kunzite, too, as dreams do. He isn't certain why it's Sky Jack he glances toward, rather than Ariel. The two are close enough, right now, but his focus is certain.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
She was prepared for more resistance... but instead, Akashimaru finds herself watching as the dream shifts and the brown-haired girl she doesn't recognize appears to carry Memoria away. Whatever else she was prepared to say is lost into silence, vanishing on her tongue; she frowns faintly, brows drawing together in a vague confusion as she watches them go.

When they're gone, she looks toward the memory of Lucky, and then toward Ariel. Something's nagging at her, but with Memoria no longer interfering, things should start to improve, shouldn't they?

She's not sure. Softly, very softly to herself, she murmurs, "...was she the source...?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima purses her lips and frowns as the scene changes. Then it's quiet.

She frowns and looks around. "She's gone but the corruption is still here." she says as she begins to lower herself to the ground. That Crystal still spins, but it isn't doing anything besides. It's stopped charging, but it's still holding the charge it has. Just in case.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel's brow is still knotted as Memoria takes her leave. She recognizes niether the girl, nor the one that arrives and ushers her off. But the swing is new. She watches as the two fade, and the tiny unicorn does that thing... She purses her lips- just as she does to this day. That thoughtful little look.
    But the ground has stopped shaking, and though the tree still looks terrifying, it is no longer aggressive- it actually is dead-- and though it still has that scary face on it, it is perhaps a remnant of Ariel's actual memory.
    "I don't know?" That hearing is something else, floppy ears flicking as she replies to Akashimaru, as Kukai sets her down. It's easy when the ground isn't shaking anymore.
    Lucky stirs slowly under Kunzite's fingers, rousing now. A low rumble works up in the hound's throat as one eye opens, wild and wary. He starts to show signs of life, actually snarling at Kunzite-- and Ariel when she begins to approach. It slows her, and she stumbles. But there is no aggression. Eventually she edges close enough to get her own fingers running through shaggy fur, making the growling lower and even getting a slow wag of tail for her efforts.
    "He's hurt from the fall... I'll talk to my mom's about taking care of him, from here. Um. Thank you- all of you. For some reason I feel like you're the kind of people I can depend on~."
    And she is right.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"I think... the root of the problem is something else," Akashimaru answers Lacrima in an undertone, watching with narrowed eyes as Lucky rouses and begins to growl. But - no, this memory at least seems to be okay now. "Seems like we've done some good, at least."

Her expression softens a bit at Ariel's thanks. Tucking her hands into her sleeves tessen and all, Akashimaru bows to her in answer. "You're welcome," she says. "I'm glad we were able to help."

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack nods to Ariel and Akashimaru both. "Even if it's not, the corruption is pretty widespread. There's no telling where the trouble is coming from. But it'll be located soon."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima softly brushes her hands down her dress and looks around and back to Ariel and nods. "You're welcome, Ariel-chan." she says deadpan- but non-menacingly. When it's clear the danger has passed she quickly places her hands around the spinning crystal, stopping it, and also reabsorbs the energy- as not to discharge carefully back into the dream.

She then gently takes both crystals and puts them back away on her person.

"Did anyone else feel as if either girl was familiar?" she asks tapping her bottom lip. "Not a new feeling to me. However. Things feeling familiar, that are not." she says.

Kunzite has posed:
The rumble and the snarl are enough to prompt Kunzite to move away, slowly, hands in sight. Yielding place to Ariel perhaps more gladly than gracefully, though as usual there's no sign of any pleasure or relief in his expression. "Thank you," he says to Ariel in turn, "for taking care of him."

Akashimaru's estimation of the problem, and Lacrima's, are let to stand; they would both know better than he would. And Lacrima's question --

"Yes," Kunzite says to Lacrima, matter-of-fact. "The first girl, a little. The second, more so. I can't place either of them. But familiar, all the same."

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    There's still a little rumbling, but it dies down as Lucky realizes the utterly tiny child means him no harm. She turns her attention back to the others thouhg, tilting her head at mention of corruption; but the stars still twinkle. And with no knowledge to either girls, she settles into tending to the fallen start.
    But the memory comes to an end slowly; the Grove of Time no longer playing back the events of the past, with a few last whispers and giggles as the visions of the two from the past fade.

    "You're bringing what home?"
    "Mooom, pleeeaase?"
    "Oh come now, Amalthea. It could be good for her to have a friend other than butterflies and fish. She is lonely when you leave."
    Siiiigh. "Fine. Fine. I can never win with you two."
    "I'll take good care of him, I promise~."