408/Dream Patterns

Dream Patterns
Date of Scene:	26 September 2015
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Seishi wanders through dreams, and discovers one of the pivotal events influencing the Waldian attacks on Tokyo. Her interference causes the nightmare to go somewhat off script, but also convinces the alien princess to finally open up to her.
Cast of Characters:	Runealy Waldia, Seishi Tamashige

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Runealy Waldia has posed:
Within a 'dreamscape', the terrain might not always make sense. Grass or forests or urban sprawl can give way to indoor settings. Such is the case at the edge of one dream leading to another, as what was once an outdoor area suddenly connects to stone hallways with red carpets.

It's morning, as evidenced by the daylight shining in through various openings. A courtyard of grass, with stone walkways leading to various places can be seen through some openings on the left. Trees often line these walkways, and a gold-framed fountain can be seen near the center. This appears to be the second or third floor of the building, as the courtyard is clearly some distance below.

To the right, a village can be seen in the distance. It's too far off to be seen in great detail, but the building style is not at all Japanese. Nor is the technology; there are no streetlights, no cars; this looks to be either somewhere extremely rural, or five hundred years behind Tokyo.

Within the hallways, a few guards and maids stand frozen. There's nothing wrong with them, but the sub-conscious of whoever this dream belongs to is not bothering to 'render' these people because they're out of view and not doing anything relevant to the events at hand.

The only active figure in this hallway is someone who looks very much like 'The Princess', and may well be her. Her attire is different, though; no magic wand, no royal headwear, but she is in a pretty nice white dress with black lining. She's bright-eyed and smiling as she paces along, heading toward a door connected to a tower.

A wooden door that she stops at, and knocks. "Mom? We're late. We need to get going if we want to be back before evening." Her tone isn't pushy or upset despite the delay, just... reminding someone of something fairly important.

There is no response. Rune looks puzzled by this.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
It is always strange to suddenly find herself riding a horse down a hallway. At least by now Seishi has more or less conclusively determined that dismounting will not leave her stranded in someone else's dream, so when the muffled thudding of her mount's hooves strikes against carpet instead of grassy turf, she hastily pulls the gelding to a halt.

She's half expecting someone, probably multiple someones, to converge on her in outrage even as she dismounts... but no, and once she gets a look around it doesn't take her long to realize why. This, too, is something she's seen before in other dreams, but it has yet to stop being creepy. Seishi - dressed, as usual when she goes on these rides, in the red samurai garb of her other self - quickly homes in on the sole source of activity in the dream, as much to escape the vacant, frozen stillness of the castle staff (because this is clearly a castle, whatever else it may be) as anything else.

When she sees the girl in the white dress from down the hallway, she nearly facepalms. Well, when you're already in it up to your elbows...

"Is something wrong?" she asks, approaching the girl where she stands at that closed wooden door.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Huh?" Rune looks up from what she's doing, confused to hear someone talking behind her. A familiar voice. She turns around to see... Seishi? Runealy is immediately, visibly baffled by this. "No, nothing's wrong. We need to get moving since we're late, but that's all. Just, ah... how did you get here?" She looks puzzled, not angry, by this situation.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"On a horse, apparently." The wry response leaves Seishi's lips before she can think better of it; she flicks a glance back down the hall, though the horse is no longer there to see.

When she looks back toward Rune, she's wearing a crooked, apologetic smile. "It was an accident, honestly. I don't usually know where I'm going to end up until I get there. But if I'm not supposed to be here - if there's anything I shouldn't see - then you'll probably want to try to wake up now."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Wait, what?" Runealy looks past Seishi to see this is... apparently not actually the case. No horse. "Heh, you're funny." She offers a tiny laugh to what appears to be a sarcastic or witty answer to the question. "And what do you mean, 'wake up'? I'm already awake." She's apparently one of those who parses her dreams as completely real until she wakes up. "It's morning... late morning by now, but definitely time for us to get going. I have no idea how you got into the castle by accident, but if you're lost we can... ah... "

Something occurs to her. She asks Seishi, "Just how lost are you, exactly?"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Seishi takes a moment or two to consider that question, looking thoughtful. "Does it count as being 'lost' if you didn't have a destination in mind to begin with?" she wonders. "Like I said, I don't usually know where I'm going."

Distractedly, she reaches up to smooth her hand over her hair. "the trouble is, it's harder to get back out than it is to get in. Unless you kick me out. Or wake up."

It's so much easier when they know they're dreaming.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Maybe it counts?" Rune remains confused. "I wouldn't know about any of that, but... well, you're not /supposed/ to be here. You are, though, so we'll just sort this out. Come on, we'll go ask mom and see how to get you taken care of. Sound good?"

Despite Seishi's 'weird talk' of waking up making no sense to her, she's trying to be nice about things and offers a tiny nod, waiting to see if Seishi will accept.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
The sound that escapes Seishi is half sigh, half laugh, but she dips her head in a gesture of acceptance, returning that little nod with a certain feeling of fatalism. Her track record for trying to meddle in other people's dreams is fifty-fifty, after all. Maybe it's better, to let this one play out. At least for now.

"All right," she says, smile lopsided but sincere. "If you think that's best. Sorry to trouble you like this, it really was an accident."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Well, we can't just leave you here," Rune notes. "You're really not supposed to be here, not without some kind of announcement or a summons or something, but... it doesn't look like you're hurting anything. So we'll go talk to her, figure out how to get you on your way, and that's that." Apparently the castle operates on a 'trespassers will be given a reasonable talking-to' security policy. Or at least the princess does.

She turns again to knock on the door. "Mom? We've got a bit of a problem, someone got lost... /up here/."

No reply. So she knocks again after a few seconds. "Mom?"

Silence follows.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
As Rune turns to the door again, Seishi falls quiet. For the moment, at least, there doesn't seem to be much else to say. Clasping her hands behind her, she stands there with all the awkwardness of an accidental intruder, shifting her weight slowly from one foor to the other.

The lack of response to the knock - the silence beyond the door - stirs an uneasy feeling in her. Even before Rune knocks again, Seishi's face is shadowed by a gradually-forming frown. This... she couldn't put a finger on why, but it feels too much like waiting at home after school, anxiously watching the clock as the hours stretch out. She doesn't like it.

"Is that door locked?" she asks quietly.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"It can lock," Rune answers Seishi. "Whether it is or not is pretty much up to mom and dad. Listen, you should wait here a sec." One more knock as she addresses the door. "Mom? I'm coming in."

The door isn't locked, as it opens when Runealy turns the handle and steps inside. With her blocking the doorway and starting to close it, it's hard to immediately see inside. What little can be glimpsed shows a room of stone and red carpet with wood furniture.

There won't be long to linger on this though, as Rune doesn't quite manage to get the door shut. Something else gets her interest. Something that changes her voice from relaxed and amused, to frightened. "Mom?! Wh... what's wrong!? Mom!"

Whatever is going on, she does not stop to explain to Seishi. She /runs/, at top speed, further into the room. The door remains half-open and half-shut, easily worked if Seishi wishes.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Seishi doesn't hesitate. Maybe she should, but how can she step back now, in a situation like this? No, when the princess runs ahead and leaves the door standing half-open, Seishi follows without thinking, pushing the door fully open again to hurry after the other girl.

"What is it?"

Runealy Waldia has posed:
There's a very good reason Rune suddenly dropped the friendly conversation with their unexpected 'intruder.' She's kneeling down beside her reason.

Said reason is a woman in her thirties, lying on the floor near a large bed framed in gold with red curtains. She is blond, wearing red and white robes with fur trim to them, and a large gold crown with emeralds set about it... and she is face down, unmoving.

"Mom!? Mom! By the Barrier... hold on!" Rune is frantic, hands glowing in a white light pressed to this older woman. The light seems to have no real effect. "Mom... no... dad, guards, healers, anyone..." she looks back to Seishi with wide, trembling eyes, begging her: "Help!" She has no idea what, exactly, she expects Seishi to do. 'Anything', anything at all; this is the voice of raw, terrified desperation.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"...oh, no." Seishi breathes the words out, as the sinking feeling that started when Rune knocked on the door and got no answer becomes the bottom dropping out of her stomach. Oh, no.

She already knows that there's nothing she can do, but even so, she moves to kneel down next to Rune and her mother. After only a brief look at the fallen woman, Seishi meets Rune's pleading eyes, her own expression filled with pained sympathy.

"Listen," she says, placing a hand gently on Rune's shoulder. "Please, listen to me. This is a dream." She won't say just a dream, because it never is. But she can't just stand back and watch the poor girl put herself through this. "You're dreaming, and you can wake up."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"No it's not!" Rune shrieks back, staring Seishi right in the eyes. Her dreams are very vivid, they absolutely feel real to her until she does wake up. "That's not funny! I... I don't have time for this!" Slipping her shoulder out of Seishi's hold, the princess resumes pressing glowing hands to the fallen woman... and yields the same utter lack of effect.

She shouts again, "Guards, healers! Anyone!"

This time, the call is answered. Figures appear out of nowhere.

Chances are, the castle does not employ a few dozen creatures with black and red skin, wide bat-wings, solid-yellow-glow eyes, and jagged axes in their hands. These are the same ones seen at the shrine in a previous dream.

They pace in a circle around Seishi and Rune, making no move to attack just yet. They're having too much fun laughing, and making feinting motions at the pair to threaten them. Runealy does not take this well, starting to go into a near-catatonic daze as she sobs.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"I'm not--" joking, Seishi tries to protest, but it's no use. Rune isn't listening. Maybe her mind isn't capable of letting her realize that she's dreaming. Maybe some people's dreams are like that.

In any case, there's no chance to press the matter. Seishi surges to her feet when the demons appear, yanking the Shinken from her belt. A glance toward Rune confirms that the princess is in no state to fight, and with a grimace, Seishi snaps the tessen open and brandishes it at the creatures.

"Come, the wind that blows away illusions!" The war fan glints red as she sweeps it out before her, creating a wind that swirls around them from out of nowhere to push the demons back. "San-kyo-sen!"

Runealy Waldia has posed:
That assessment is apt. Rune is too caught up in the events going on, her subconsciousness conjuring up details to make the situation worse and worse, to make much of a show of fighting. Her mind just isn't willing to do her any favors in this regard.

It is however quite willing to interpret Seishi as very powerful. Just as with the previous dream battle, Seishi is able to immediately have a tremendous impact. The demons had thought menacing her with feints, implying imminent violence, was hilarious.

Their unnatural, echoing laughter turns to hurt, screeching hisses as they're smashed into walls and bookcases and dressers by Seishi's wind. The furniture is knocked over, dents are gouged into the stone walls, curtains ripped away...

...But the demons themselves take it far worse than the decor did. A few of them 'explode' into black-purple mist that fades away, or crumple into black dust. Most of the others survive, but they quickly decide they want absolutely none of this; it was far more fun to mock the grieving princess when nobody was hitting them. The remaining demons smash through a door leading to a balcony, and fly off.

This just leaves Seishi, Rune, and the late queen still in this room. The latter two remain largely unresponsive, both for different but obvious reasons.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Stillness settles over the trashed room. Seishi's breath leaves her in a sigh as she closes her tessen and slips it back into its place in her belt.

Then, once again, she turns and kneels down next to Rune, settling into a seiza posture and reaching to place her hand lightly on the other girl's shoulder.

"Princess," she says quietly - sure now, after seeing those demons, of what she'd mostly only suspected before. "Can you hear me?"

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune looks up slightly - gaze still set on the floor, but her head did lift some - in response. This is indeed the same person who has been attacking Tokyo's protectors, though she shows none of the air of melodrama or mystery that she had in their first encounter. "Yeah," she manages in a choking reply to Seishi, too emotionally crushed to elaborate on anything if a one-word reply will suffice. She just sits still in Seishi's grip, unresisting, making no show of threats or attacks. Not at all like what happened in a previous dream.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Seishi's expression aches with sympathy. Her hand on Runealy's shoulder is light, and when she reaches with the other hand to try to take one of Rune's, it's with care, ready to let go if the princess pulls away.

"My name's Akashimaru," she says, voice soft. "We've met before. Do you remember that?"

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune does no such thing; she shows no resistance of any sort, Seishi is able to take her hand and keep it. "Yes... no... yes..."

She's contradicting herself repeatedly. She recognizes Akashimaru, certainly. "But... there's no way you could have known about this, no way you could be here... the Unknown World is still... wait... it's 'Earth'... hold on..."

A grief-stricken mind tries to reconcile this impossible situation. Her dreams feel real, but Akashimaru /cannot/ be here for this event, it is chronologically impossible. "...We... hadn't... attacked any of you yet...?"

This finally lets Runealy assert some conscious understanding over the situation. This is either an alternate reality, or indeed some kind of dream as Seishi said. Her thought process bashes against the situation at hand, forcing facts to align and coming up with explanations for details. "...This is only partially how this happened. You weren't here. There was no way you could be, we hadn't met yet. The demons were gone by the time I got into the room, they didn't return! But this! Her, mom,"

She nods weakly down and to the side at the fallen form beside them, "...That's real. When I wake up, that's still going to be real!" Her voice is shaking, tears flowing free. "I see this over and over and I can't change it!"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"I know." The hand holding Rune's squeezes gently - a terribly inadequate gesture, but it's all that Seishi can think to do to try to show her support. "I'm sorry," she says, quiet but heartfelt. "I really am so, so sorry. I wish there were some way to make it so that you could wake up and none of it ever happened."

But there isn't. What's happened has happened, and she can't change it. Neither of them can.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"So do I," Rune comments weakly. "Listen... I'm done. We stopped several days ago. We stopped! Call me." She starts to rattle off a series of numbers, then realizes she just can't remember her phone number - the strange, baffling thing introduced into her life just a few months back, representing an impossible technology with implications that are unheard of on her world.

So she goes with something she can remember. "...The park. Same place as last time. I'll find you there and if you need answers, revenge, restitution, anything...!"

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
The outpouring comes so suddenly that Seishi blinks in surprise, mental gears grinding for a moment with the effort of keeping up. There's a brief delay before she manages to parse what Rune is trying to tell her, but once she does, she smiles and squeezes the other girl's hand again.

"I'm glad," she says, and then, "It's okay. I don't need revenge, or restitution... but I would like to understand, and help if I can. I'll meet you at the park, and we can talk about it then."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"You'll get your answers. All of it. I'll tell you everything there," Rune insists between sniffles, standing up and slipping away from Seishi's supportive touch. "But for right now..." Her subconscious starts to assert itself again, trying to get things back 'on script' for how this event should have gone. Or something reasonably close to it, at least.

She complies with this urge. "For now... I am Runealy, Crown Princess of Waldia, and I have to go. To the Barrier Shrine. She was supposed to be the one to fix this, to save our world and yours and everyone's. I'll... have to try, instead. It's not going to work, but I have to try. I'm sorry."

She starts to walk past Seishi. "Thank you, and... good bye."

This part of the dreamscape begins to blur, losing definition; Rune is starting to wake up. There is time for final remarks, but she will soon snap back to consciousness in an abandoned convenience store in Tokyo. Atop a bed salvaged from the trash.

It will be the last day she ever does that, thanks to Seishi's influence in previous events starting to open her mind and heart. Thanks to Virtue being receptive to those shifts in her actions, and finding a better place for her to stay as of today.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
When Rune pulls away from her and stands, Seishi remains where she is, letting her go. Her head inclines in acknowledgement as the princess begins to walk past her and the details of the castle start to blur together like watercolors in the rain.

"I wish you pleasant dreams, princess," she says, in the last moments before the dream melts away into wakefulness.