3819/Here We Are

Here We Are
Date of Scene:	11 November 2019
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Kotomi went to bed as usual, but the next morning, she was found unconscious and overflowing with Nightmare-energy. Her sister Kurumi calls in Ariel, Lacrima, and Riley to help, and the four of them (wait, Kurumi too!?) enter Kotomi's dream to find out what happened to her ... (... QUITE TRUTHFULLY, THIS IS THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO ...)
Cast of Characters:	Kotomi Kobana, 243, Ariel Theodore, Norie Okana

---

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
The situation is relatively straightforward and obvious, really.

Kotomi is lying in bed, asleep or unconscious and not waking up. Her hair has turned silvery-white, just like Yasumi's; to those well-versed in Nightmares, she is chock full of that sort of energy, but it's obvious to everyone that there's something dark going on here.

Her younger sister Kurumi, in-the-know about magic, grabbed Kotomi's phone and texted a few relevant-seeming numbers. The message was short, terse, and vaguely frantic.

When people arrive at the Kobana household in an upscale apartment building in Uminari, Kurumi is arguing with her and Kotomi's mother Hanami. "Why didn't you tell me about this!?" Hanami is saying, though she's clearly more afraid than specifically upset with Kurumi.

"I did!" says Kurumi. "I told you she got attacked by a monster, and you thought it was a joke!"

Hanami just ... stares at her.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley did her usual thing of jetting in, hovering and flaring to touch down upon the apartment's roof before quite literally scaling the side of the building to catch up with the rest of the gang, quite literally dropping in on them via the balcony. Walking was for chumps. Chumps and sensible people.

"Yo, has anyone seen the miniseries "It"?" She said, looking between the various faces assembled. "Like, the old one. With Tim Curry. Saaame grey hair after the clown went all spooky on one of the bully guys. We're dealing with a killer clown folks, let's get busy." She clapped her hands together. "Right, we're gonna need a slingshot, battery acid, aaand a lump of pure silver."

She took a moment to check in on Kotomi herself. Typical things, like putting her hand to her head to check her temperature, a finger to the neck to check her pulse, all of that. Sure basic first aid knowledge probably isn't too useful when it comes to the supernatural but she *felt* like she was helping at least. That's what counts. Maybe.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Well, needless to say, when Ariel recieves a frantic text from Kotomi's number that was NOT sent by Kotomi herself, there was some bewilderment. But the frantic nature of the message made it clear that something was very wrong. Ariel arrives leading her massive hound, Lucky, by the leash, the gigantic dog pausing to sit at the door obediently as she rings the bell and waits for an answer and to be let in, but she can practically feel the nightmare energy through the door.
    "Um. I don't think this has anything to do with a clown."
    No. No she's not even going to QUESTION Riley showing up via window theatrics at this point, once she's inside, anyway.
    Pause.
    "... Where are we going to get pure silver, anyway?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima has arrived on Ariel's heels, because Lacrima was gonna ask Ariel out for a D.D. A Donut Date, you see. But then stuff happened and Donuts didn't happen and now they're here because something is wrong with Kotomi. She purses her lips as she bows to Hanami and then wave to Kurumi, who she doesn't know but is assuming she is Kotomi's sister. She was a wry expression that borders on 'uh oh' because....

It's never good when the family gets involved in the magic stuff. Never ever. As far as her experiences have been. Thanks Ryo.

"So... how long has this been going on. Just. Now?" she asks quietly as she hovers over Kotomi a bit. "Yeah that's a nightmare." she says bluntly. But She didn't need to tell Ariel that. Ariel already knows.

"...Um." she says. "I don't think that's gonna work. I mean. The IT movie stuff." she says softly.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi narrows her eyes at Riley. "We have a door, Brass-san," she says flatly. "Uh ... I ... have no idea what you're talking about." Her mother just stares.

From a distance, it looks like Kotomi is breathing gently as if she was asleep, but when Riley tries to touch her, there's a sudden poof of darkness, pushing her hand back!

Kurumi looks between Ariel and Lacrima, before settling on the latter. "You must be Hanazawa-san," she says. "Yeah, she went to bed last night, and when I went to check on her this morning, she was ..." She gestures vaguely at Kotomi. "... like that. Um, I'm Kurumi Kobana, by the way, and this is our mother Hanami."

Hanami sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I'm afraid I simply can't understand any of this," she says. "But ... can you help my daughter?"

Kurumi frowns at her mother, looking like she's suddenly been struck by a completely different worry.

Riley Hunter has posed:
"Yeah but if I went through the door, what'd I use for a catchphrase? Knock knock. Who's there? *Justice*. Okay wait no that's absolute gold. Saving that one. Also no. Tim Curry always works, and I dunno on the silver front. Maybe one of y'all brought some fancy jewelry to this emergency clown party... Honk honk."

Riley recoiled at the sudden darkness forcefield, her face and tone suddenly turning more serious. Or you know, more serious for Riley anyway. "Hoooohohooo, purple nightmare stuff of death! Getting a little old! You know, I genuinely thought we were past all this. Okay so she looks like they're just asleep but I can't check her vitals because Sith magic. Well uh, they're breathing. That's, that's good. Soooo... What's the play here? Are we going full inception again? We'd better be getting an oscar for this."

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    "It's nice to meet you, I'm sorry it had to be under the current circumstance." Ariel says when Kurumi introduces herself, and her and Kotomi's mother. What she's stepping into here is a very delicate situation... Kotomi is comatose, her family is scared, and her mother... Doesn't know a thing about magic does she? The sister may, but explaining things to Hanami is going to be... Odd at best. So how to do this.
    "Yyyyyyes... I think we can help her, but we're going to need some time alone with her, and to absolutely not be disturbed." She says. "We're not going to anything strange, but this isn't exactly something a doctor can help so please just trust us?"
    Oh god this is a terrible situation, Ariel really doesn't know how to explain magic to people not in-the-know.
    ...
    "What's Sith magic?"
    Riley not helping.
    "Wait, Inception?" The movie? Ariel hasn't seen that one either. "But yes, we're going to have to go in. We'll be needing some extra blankets and pillows." You know. To take a nap on. Oh and dream.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima head tilts. "Hanazawa-san is one name, yes." she says softly. She gently looks towards Ariel and nods a little as her eyes look back towards Riley. "Ugh it's not an inception." she says. "This has nothing to do with American Blockbusters!" she insists softly.

A pause. "Sith Magic is a type of evil magic from a movie that doesn't actually exist." pause. "I hope it doesn't exist." she says. She looks towards Kotomi's mother. "Kobana-san." she says. "This is a work of something called a Nightmare. Capital N." she says softly with a deep breath. "We're going to do our best to fix this." she says softly. "But yes, we'll need those things." pause.

"....Yeah, we're not good at explaining this to... others. Adults. Mainly. Sorry." she says rubbing the back of her head. "Just, we can fix it." she says, giving a small smile , worried as it is.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Hanami and Kurumi exchange a look at Riley's shenanigans. "Language, please, er, Brass-san," Hanami says weakly.

Kurumi says, "Eh, she's always like that." She's only met Riley twice before, but some people are just obvious about how they are. She nods to Ariel. "Okay, yeah, good."

Hanami sighs softly, and nods to Ariel and Lacrima. "Thank you," she says. "This is ..." She shakes her head. "Beyond anything I've experienced."

"I've only experienced a little of it," says Kurumi. "For the record." She shrugs. "I guess this is one of Kotomi-chan's 'worst-case scenarios' ..."

...

    ...

        ...

This is a dream of a garden in front of an elegant two-story manor. A dark and overgrown garden, to be precise; the sky is overcast, black weeds choke the ground, dark kudzu covers every available vertical surface, and every other surviving plant is all thorns and no blossoms. An unpleasant wind fills the garden with low whispers. Dreamers will find themselves in a small yard in the middle of the garden, the center dominated by a cracked and dry fountain. There's a straight path leading right to the mansion ...

It's just like the dreamscape where Yasumi made herself known, with one significant difference: the sky is considerably darker and cloudier (although somehow, the level of lighting is still about the same), and there's regular flashes of lightning. -- Wait, no, that's not lightning. It's more like ... glitching. It sounds like some sort of 8-bit thunder sound-effect, too.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    A worst case scenario, huh? Ariel purses her lips at that. She can't begin to know how to try to put herself in the shoes of someone suffering from anxiety, but in this case... Even from an outside perspective, the little unicorn can tell... It's pretty bad.
    So she hunkers down with blanket and pillow and closes her eyes, readying herself to guide Lacrima and Riley into Kotomi's dreamscape as soon as she knocks out.
    So when the trio do arrive, Ariel is mounted on Lucky's back, already in her armor, guiding the massive hound and her companions towards the manor and garden.
    "This place is..." The sky is so dark... And the clouds are so dense. But something is wrong. The glitches make that obvious enough, but someone is standing in the garden, with their back turned towards the three as she hums a lullaby under her breath.

    "Sleep, good girl, my beautiful girl.
    Good night, sleep tight...
    Quietly the moon is looking into your cradle.
    I will tell you fairy tales, and sing you little songs.
    But you must slumber, with your little eyes closed,
    good night, sleep tight~..."

    There's no mistaking that raven dark hair and floppy goat like ears. No mistaking the dark armor. Not as the First Nightmare, the black unicorn, turns to face the group, with her favorite knife in hand.
    "Greetings!"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima softly looks around at the area. She knows a turbulent dreamscape because she's had one for ages, but it's never been so... corrupted to glitch out. Even when Poderoso took it over it wasn't glitchy just... changed.

Then there's the nightmare again as she frowns and steps closer to Ariel. "Remember when I told you about the Nightmare in that prison with the Eater of Dreams?" she says in a whisper.

"That's it." she says softly as she frowns heavily.

"Go away." she says softly. "This isn't your place, and you know it." she says curtly.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi says, "Uhh, wait a minute." Wait, Kurumi's here too!? She looks between the First Nightmare and Ariel, and sighs softly. "Okay, this is even weirder than when Kotomi-chan was describing it to me ..."

Glitch-thunder rolls. The front doors creak open -- not as if someone was opening them, but as if nothing was holding them closed, and the breeze was just now finally enough to gently push them open. A light inside lingers slightly longer than the lightning.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    "Bwuh?"
    Up comes a finger. Ariel is staring. Her lips move but no sound comes out for a moment as she boggles, amid Lacrima saying that THIS was the nightmare the others had encountered in the lair of the Eater of Dreams.
    It's like staring in a twisted mirror, for her.
    But the First Nightmare is beaming brightly even when told to go away, knife twirling in her fingers. "Oh! Well yes, I'm quite fully aware I don't belong here. That's what makes it all the more satisfying, o' princess mine." She says, dipping into a mocking little bow, before righting herself.
    "I just thought I'd have a little fun with your friend. But it looks like she's not being very responsive anymore. Oops. My fault~."
    She... Doesn't stop anyone from going towards the doors, though, just... Standing there with that eerie smile plastered on her face.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima immediately shoots back. "I'm no princess of yours." she says angrily. "You can consider yourself exiled if this is how you wish to do things." she says bluntly. "You can come back when you're ready to be a decent being." she says angrily as she digs her nails into clenched hands at her side. She looks to Ariel and then back up at Kurumi she mutters. "I'm.. kinda Princess of Nightmares, long story..." she explains quietly.

"Ariel, we outta go inside quickly I think but watch for a trap." she says softly. Because that's the first impression they had of this particular nightmare, was a trap. She looks down at Kurumi and gently frowns. "Stay close." she says bluntly.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi gives Ariel a funny look, but mostly just seems relieved that Ariel thinks this is just as weird as she does. She blinks, and nods at Lacrima, hurriedly sticking close as the group enters.

As it was when Yasumi took over, there's an open front hall with a sweeping double-staircase leading to the upper floor. It's even darker inside than it was at that time; any lighting seems to have gone out, and the windows seem frosted over with blackness. The glitch-thunder rolls, briefly lighting up the interior; the light which was visible before is revealed to be the text "QUITE TRUTHFULLY, THIS IS THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO" scrawled on the walls in several places, taking a few seconds longer to fade out than the glitch-lightning.

"Quite what?" mutters Kurumi. "... Do you hear something?"

There's ... something ... moving through the upper hallway in the same direction Yasumi ran ...

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Ariel is still staring even as Lucky starts to move, carrying her for the door. "Buh uh...?" Yeah she's shocked to say the least.
    But the First Nightmare makes no aggressive movements as the squad pass her by, simply twirling her knife as she resumes singing her lullaby.

    "You will look like a hero,
    and be a Cossack deep in your heart.
    I will accompany you and watch you go,
    you will just wave your hand.
    How many secret bitter tears will I shed that night!
    Sleep, my angel, calmly, sweetly,
    good night, sleep tight~."

    Right though, passing through the door, Ariel rallies, shaking her head and focusing. Her horn begins to glow, shimmering with a seashell green light, before she looks up and sees the writing.
    "... This is kind of really bad, I have to agree." Mused as she guides Lucky towards that upper hallway. "There's only one way to find out."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns heavily at the being. She looks back at Ariel. "I think it only copied you because you we're there in the ... place." she says softly. She walks into the room and frowns a little... she considers what that may be written in, or why it was written but it may just be that thing out in the garden making a mess.

Lacrima frowns a little as she starts up the stairs as she looks back to the newcomer. "Be careful." she says softly. "This is dangerous. I dunno why you we're pulled in but I dunno if it's a good idea to send you back forcibly either with the dreamscape in it's current state I..."

"I have no experience with this..." she mutters softly and looks at Ariel. Dreams are.. so weird.

"Yasumi?" she calls out. "If you're in danger just let us know...!" she yells out.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi shrugs. "Oh, I just went to sleep with you guys," she says, although there's a bit more tension in her voice than you might expect from just that explanation.

There's a thump from down the hallway. In fact, it's from the same room where Yasumi was keeping the shard of the Prince's heart!

And then the door creaks open, and a shadowy humanoid figure with oversized cat-ears staggers out, glitching all the while and unsteady on its feet. It seems to be made entirely of shadow, and it's wearing an outfit which sort of looks like a jumble of pixels superimposed over the figure -- the left half is white with a scattering of black and lavender pixels, and the right half is reds and blacks and grays. Oh, but it does have a clearly-visible glowing heart-shaped brooch -- the left half is red, the right half is white, and both sides are tarnished with purple.

The figure looks towards the group, takes several seconds to focus on them, and then, in complete silence, it staggers forward!

"What the fu--" Kurumi darts back behind everyone else.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Needless to say Ariel is STILL baffled by the mere existence of the Nightmare copying her form. But she rallies well enough once past the threshold and once it's out of her sight. "Um. That's... I don't think I'm going to get used to that." She admits, while ushering Lucky forward.
    "This could ger dangerous. Or weird at the very least." She does warn Kurumi, just as the door slowly opens and she's staring down the glitchiest dream being she's ever seen.
    Ariel stares doe-eyed in confusion for a beat, while Lucky takes a cautious step backwards, rumbling with a low growl.
    "... Uhhhhhhhh..."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima makes sure Kurumi is behind them because she doesn't want her being the victim of an attack. Though, in theory. She should just 'wake back up' if something does happen to her, as Ariel has told others in the past.... usually. But something seems particularly bad about this dream and she isn't sure if something may or may not happen wrong.

She gets to the top landing and looks about as she bites her lip a moment. "Something feels....."

And then this horrid... weird creature appears at the other end of the hallway. "....Off...." she says bluntly, with a trail off to her tone as she blinks. Yeah. Yeah okay Kurumi's getting further behind them good, good because that thing doesn't look even a little friendly.

"It uh. Isn't attacking." she whispers at Ariel. "What do we do?" she asks in a stage whisper-like manner. It appears Ariel doesn't even know because she's 'Uhhhhhhh' about it too.

Though Lucky's reaction is all she needs to know that this isn't a good thing happening. "Um...."

"Hu...h... Hi?" she asks with a slow wave, though she's gently keeping her other hand behind her back, charging up ... something just in case it starts running towards them or something.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi exhales softly. "Okay," she murmurs, "the fact that the heroes have no idea what's going on isn't comforting anymore."

The incomprehensible thing doesn't react at first; it just keeps walking forward with that unsteady, stumbling gait. It soon slows to a stop, however, and holds out its left hand, palm outward and shaking uncontrollably. For a few seconds, it simply stands there, wobbling in place, evidently trying to keep its motion under control; the fingers of its right hand flex a few times.

And then a single blast of darkness erupts from the outstretched hand, with what appears to be kickback that sends the creature staggering backwards. The blast is identical in both appearance and composition to the ones Yasumi fired all those months ago, and it is aimed with surprisingly good accuracy, directly at ...

... Lacrima.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley was being cautious as she moved through this dreamscape, her blue eyes constantly scanning around as she watched for any threats looking to jump them. The girl wasn't talking at all actually, which was perhaps a little strange for her but she didn't want to say or do anything that might draw unneccessary attention to the party here. She even didn't say anything when confronted with, uh, well whatever that was.

It kind of looked like that one time she dropped her DS in the sink.

Rip Pokemon Nuzlocke team. Unova will never be the same without BoatyMcBoatFace the Wailord, let alone the rest of her rather colourfully named team.

She only really reacted properly when she saw that blast of energy coming at Lacrima, flaring up and attempting to intercept the blob of darkness with a spout of flames before turning her attention to the thing, readying another strike.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    'What do we do' is a question that earns a bewildered shrug from Ariel. "I don't know, talk to them?" She ventures. Of course that's always her first option in a First Contact situation, it looks like that goes nowhere very fast when the creature wobbles so badly and holds out its hand... Only to lob a dark projectile at Lacrima.
    Ariel's instincts kick in, immediately.
    "-Norie look out!"
    Intellectually she knows that Lacrima can probably just... Absorb much of the dark energy on impact. Instinctively, it is a unicorn's sole purpose to protect their Maiden.
    Leaping off Lucky's back, Ariel shoulder-checks Norie out of the incoming path, grunting as the force of the blast slams her dead in the chest and makes her stagger backwards, clutching the point of impact where a scuff marrs the silvery plating of her armor, the damage done to her at least mitigated thanks to Riley.
    A slow breath and the tip of her horn glows with a seashell green light as she weaves the very gossamer stuff that dreams are made out of into a kite shield-- a little late after the fact now, but still worth it as she purses her lips. "Kurumi stay behind us, we'll ah... We'll figure this out."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima narrows her eyes as the creature raises it's hand and thwips her hand out to try to think up the best counter and this happens to be!---- a gun with a strechy boxing glove on the end. The boxing glove is glowing dark purple. Lacrima frowns heavily at this. Really, brain? This is the best you could come up with. She really really has to work harder next time.

But before she can even pull the trigger there's a fast flying, accurate bolt of dark energy flying at her and she's preparing to just take it in the face and try to absorb it. That feels like dark energy.

But then two things happen. One is that Prism Keeper Brass gets in the way... and the other is that Ariel tackles her to the ground, causing her to tumble to the ground and the boxing gun glove goes flying and poofs out in a small splash of the dark sticky ichor that nightmares are made of before it boils away way too overdramatically for nothing.

She gets to her feet as she gently huffs and makes sure to stay behind Ariel. "That was... familiar?" she asks quietly.

"Why are you attacking us!?" she calls out.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Kurumi jumps back, although she's a little bit slow on the uptake. "Don't need to tell me twice!" she says, and tries to position herself so that she's out of the monster's line-of-sight behind the shield. She can't resist peeking out from behind it, though.

The Acatalepsis doesn't react to Riley mitigating the blast, but when Ariel takes the hit for Lacrima, it actually seems surprised. It loses its balance for a moment, and collapses against the wall of the hallway, barely managing to stay upright.

When Lacrima calls out to it, it stares at her for another moment. Then it raises its hand, palm towards the ceiling ... and then there's a sudden ephemeral pop of white light tinged with lavender, like Kotomi's preferred special effects.

There are two results of this. The first result is that for a brief instant, its hand is flesh-tone, before immediately being consumed by the darkness again. The second result is that it falls back onto its backside, clutching its hand in obvious pain.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley saw it lose its footing slightly, glaring, she raised her hands and focused everything she had at it, sending forth a huge purifying beam of flames. All she saw was a threat that just tried to attack her friend, and a threat that had left iself vulnerable at that. She didn't even really see the hand turning back to flesh and blood, nor the strange white-lavender pop, her vision was obscured from the fairly collossal attack she was charging up.

Yup. Riley's going full Dragonball Z. This could not *possibly* have any bad consequences whatsoever.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Oops. Ariel didn't mean to disrupt Lacrima like that and for a moment she shoots the Nightmare Princess a sheepish look of apology. But then several things happen. The creature appears surprised by her thoughtless altruism.
    And then there's the white-lavender light that looks so familiar. ... And the briefly visible hand.
    "--Brass! Brass stop!" She bleats when the being falls back on its behind.
    Ariel moves without thinking.
    There's more to this than meets the eye and there has to be a better solution than just lighting it up. Which is why Ariel is suddenly in front of the glitched out dream thing, shield raised to fend of Riley's fire.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima just gives a little smile to Ariel. It's a small, sidemouth kind of one. She's fine. Tumbles won't kill her. But that incredibly amount of purification being thrown about suddenly will. Both. What the creature does..... and both what Brass is throwing, and this basically causes her bottom half to melt and suddenly shoot her back towards the wall. "H--Hot too hot!" she snaps.

Then a sudden pause. "....Why am I tasting...."

"A Hairball Donut." she says blankly. Before a look of realization shows over her face. And given Ariel just threw herself in front of the creature, she thinks Ariel just figured it out too via a different means as Lacrima responds by throwing her hand forward. It melts into black ichor and she just tries to slam Riley against the wall and stick her there. Then she's suddenly just in Riley's face, in that Shadowy black mass form.

"If you don't stop now and hurt Ariel, I'm going to make you wish you hadn't done that." she says with extreme anger in her voice.

"That's Kotomi. Or Yasumi. Or Both. Probably BOTH." she spits angrily as the shadow crosses it's arms and drops it's hold over Brass a moment.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
The glitch-monster tries to throw itself out of the way of the blast, freezes up for a second when it sees Ariel move --

"Huh?" says Kurumi. "Wait, what are you --"

-- and then the "QUITE TRUTHFULLY, THIS IS THE WORST CASE SCENARIO" text flares up, burning brassy flames. ... Even though Riley's blast only hit Ariel's shield. It looks at Lacrima, flinches away from the sight of her melting away, but then starts to relax when she simply reverts to a shadow.

When Lacrima says 'Kotomi', it moves its head awkwardly, possible in a failed attempt at nodding. When Lacrima says 'Yasumi', it gives another awkward nod. When she says 'both', it does the same motion more vigorously, slightly more recognizable as nodding. It raises its hand, then quickly points it away down the hallway, firing another Yasumi-style blast that harmlessly breaks a window.

Riley Hunter has posed:
Riley dragged her beam away, carving a smouldering furrow into the dreamscape's terrain as soon as she saw Ariel running ahead. Even so, the hit still glanced against the unicorn's shield. "What the hell are you doing Ariel!? That thing attacked us! Get out of the wa-!"

SHOVE!

Riley's feet dug into the ground, though she was still pushed back a fair way. Even when confronted with the shadowy Lacrima though, she showed absolutley no signs of fear. Instead, she flared up hotter, the very earth beneath her feet and the wall behind her starting to burn and crack, glowing with red hot fissures. "Oh really!?" She said, growing hotter and hotter until...

PCHWOOM!

Fortunately, it wasn't purification magic, Riley had held back on that at the very least yet instead it was a pretty damn potent shockwave intended to blast the shadowy figure back and away from her.

Riley was now hovering above a smouldering crater, nothing *too* large, but a good couple meters across.

Despite all this fire though, the voice that came from Riley next was ice cold. "You really don't want to try me, vampire." She said, spitting out that last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. "The next one'll be purification bullshit. The last thing I want to do is to hurt Ariel, but if you try that again, I will tear you apart."

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    This is... Certainly turning in a direction. Ariel's shield had taken the brunt of the flames, but then... Lacrima mirrors her suspicions. That is Kotomi. Or Yasumi-- no it's somehow the both of them at once and... It's no longer attacking.
    But then things go south in another way entirely.
    "Both of you stop right now!" Ariel bleats.
    "You two are friends, you shouldn't be threatening each other." She points out very firmly. "Riley didn't know it was them." She points out. "At the same time, though, if you use purification magic on Norie you could really hurt her and you know that. We shouldn't be fighting each other we should be trying to figure out how to help Kotomi and Yasumi!"
    A huff and Ariel rubs at her eyes before turning to the dream amalgam.
    "Did... Did that Nightmare outside do this to you?" She asks. "How do we... Fix this?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima angrily huffs at Riley, as she strikes out. She seethes, contorts a little in her wispy shadowy form but otherwise doesn't actually retaliate against Riley's backlash as it washes over her. She has to raise her arms. It stings, but nothing more than a normal strike. "We'll talk about this later." she says angrily. She has no more words for Riley right now.

She just merely tenses at Ariel's words though. She mutters. Something akin to 'she was attacking you' but otherwise doesn't argue with Ariel because Ariel is usually right in these situations.

Luckily, Lacrima will have cooled off enough later to not try to send creepy clowns into Riley's dreams for a whole month. She gently pinches her nosebridge.

"If purification can fix this I can step back for a moment." she says quietly. "Or... I can... um..." she says. "I dunno can I do anything?" she asks meekly scratching the side of her head. "To fix this..." she says looking at Ariel.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
The glitched-out dream figure looks between Ariel, Lacrima, and Riley, somehow recoiling even though it's sitting perfectly still. Yeah, there's definitely some Kotomi there, all right.

Its head jerks around to face Ariel when she addresses it (her? Them?). They look between Ariel and Lacrima, and when the two talk about what to do, the figure raises their hand, quickly lowers it, and then gestures to Ariel quickly.

Kurumi just boggles at this whole situation, her mouth hanging open in shock.

Riley Hunter has posed:
"I look forward to it." Did Riley take that wrong? Probably. Judging by her tone there and how she just cracked her knuckles it sounded like she thought Lacrima was saying something more akin to "We'll throw hands later", especially judging at how Riley was glaring daggers at Lacrima, her hands burning with purifying flames as if just waiting for her to try something again. At least, she did for a little while anyway, she soon turned her attention back to the threat at hand which was the glitchy pixelated... whatever the heck.

Still, she held back, both from blatting Lacrima and from opening up on pixelface over there. She decided to just hover there above the still smoking crater, being all firey and scary looking.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    "Me?" Ariel blurts as the amalgamate being of Kotomi and Yasumi motions at her. For a moment she seems at a loss for what to do, looking between Riley and Lacrima and hoping for some kind of input, and scratches her head. Lips purse as she contemplates and considers for a moment before something strikes her. "I..."
    She trails off, worrying on her lower lip for a beat as it comes to her. "This is..."
    It takes much to make a unicorn shed a tear, even one so young and new to the world as Ariel. But when they do, it is a total outpouring of all the love they have to give, as Ariel tilts her head, cupping her palm under her jaw as a single crystal pure tear rolls its way down her cheek. A tear that she holds out to them.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima softly frowns at Riley, and looks back at Ariel as Ariel goes about shedding a tear. She doesn't frown, but she also doesn't like the mental image of Ariel crying. Even if unicorns can't cry. Even if it's a miracle.

Yes this is a good thing, but it still can't help but make Lacrima look a little uncertain as she hopes this will work. Because. Really, Lacrima can't really think of how to fix this properly.

Or if she even can.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
A shaking shadowy hand reaches out to the glow of Ariel's tear. The figure seems astonished more than anything else; they definitely know how momentous this is. A very gentle contact is made ...

Everything fades to white for a few seconds. When it clears, sunlight is streaming in through the windows of the manor; all signs of the darkness has vanished, and the broken window and Riley's smoking crater have been repaired.

And sitting next to Ariel is Yasumi, except ... her hair is the same shade of black as Kotomi's, and her eyes have turned the same brilliant shade of violet that Kotomi gave herself inside the Eater's prison -- though they still have no pupils, just circular irises. "Okay, wow," she says. "Um. Goodness gracious me. That was ..." She sighs. "Quite truthfully, I have no desire to repeat that experience, lemme tell you."

Kurumi sighs with relief. "Oh thank god," she says. She smiles weakly. "Guess you guys really did fix this, huh?"

Yasumi hesitates, looks around nervously, and then says, "It ... would appear that Kotomi-san has woken up." She shrugs. "Well, then. All's well that ends well, I supp ... ose ..." Her eyes go wide, and she looks down at herself. She pulls a lock of her hair into her field of vision. "I've ... I've been purified! I'm free!" She laughs out loud, and it's a gentle musical sound. "I'm not a Nightmare anymore!"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima watches this with wide eyed awe as she gently pouts. She only pouts for a moment though because she was kind of needed nightmare help and if Yasumi isn't a nightmare anymore she can't exactly provide that lest Yasumi get corrupted again. But that's why it's only a little pout because generally, you don't want things to be corrupted because it's horrible to be corrupted when you don't wanna be.

"Awesome!" she says with relief. "You're um. Gonna have to explain stuff to your mom when you wake up." she says. "Um. Hold that thought.. a moment." she says as she throws her hand up, that weird... boxing glove hand gun forming again in her hand as she suddenly runs quickly to the window and throws it open quickly and---!

Fires it down into the garden where the First Nightmare was singing earlier, maybe hoping to get a quick smack in. Even though she's probably super gone by now.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    When the bright white fades, Ariel squints, shielding her eyes for a moment longer before it all dies down and... "Um..." Yasumi looks slightly different. And it looks like Kotomi has awoken as well, earning a huge sigh of relief from the littlest unicorn.
    "I can imagine you wouldn't want to do that again. It must have been pretty harrowing.
    But then realization sets in.
    Yasumi is no longer a nightmare. A flustered, sheepish look crosses Ariel's features for a moment. Before she smiles gently.
    "Eheh... I'm glad for you, then."

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
She chuckles at Lacrima's behavior, then immediately turns serious. "... Do be cautious, Your Highness," she says, still having that much deference to the Princess of Nightmares. "Quite truthfully, fighting against the First Nightmare was ... well, I mean, um ... a nightmare." A small, Kotomi-like smile briefly crosses her face.

She nods to Ariel. "Just so," she says. "And I mean really ... thank you all for your assistance."

            ...

        ...

    ...

Kotomi is just starting to sit up when everyone else awakens. "Wow ... um ... thanks, guys!" she says. "Quite truthf-- I mean, uh. That was just terrible!"

"Kotomi!" exclaims Hanami, rushing over to pull her into a big hug. "You're all right!" Then she stops suddenly and looks down at Kotomi, suddenly looking worried.

"... Kotomi?" says Kurumi. "You're a little bit ... different."

Kotomi freezes up in her usual expression of near-panic, then looks down at herself. Actually, now that one examines her properly, her voice and appearance have just that little subtle difference that she usually only has when dreaming ...

"Uhhhh ... one sec!" Kotomi gently extricates herself from her mother, and runs out of the room and into the bathroom for a moment.

When she returns, she's looking a bit misty-eyed. "Okay, so, uh ... I sort of ... transformed into my dream-self?" She laughs weakly. "Goodness gracious me. That's, uh, that's every trans girl's ... um ... dream. Wow ..."