View source for 3435/After School Dream Chat

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2018/09/25
|Location=Pikarigaoka - Seiyou Public School
|Synopsis=Narumi, the gloomy new Seiyou transfer student, has a nice friendly chat with Kukai. And it turns out she can see Daichi, too! What's that all about?
|Cast of Characters=227,141
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi Nendai transferred to Seiyou Public School from Seishou exactly ten days ago. Her defining feature among her classmates is that she has gorgeous dark blue hair, but she's gloomy and unapproachable, and all but pushes away people who try to make friends with her; she's in the "Go Home club" and even sort of hides in her own corner while she's getting changed in the locker room. Towards the beginning, she was also seen as clumsy and not paying attention to where she was going -- she almost walked right into the boy's bathroom or locker room once or twice, only to recoil as if she'd been stung at the last minute, but she seems to have kicked that habit since then.<br /><br />Today is a nice early autumn day, sunny with scattered clouds and with relatively cool temperatures. Narumi is sitting off by herself to one side on the school grounds, working her way through a sandwich she got from a nearby cafe; she actually looks less gloomy than usual, and even watches the other students wander by instead of concentrating exclusively on eating.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It may be beyond most of the students' understanding on a real level, but the Guardians of Seiyou Public School keep files and information on every member of the school. Part of that, though, is that one member of the Guardians or another talks with every single person in the school, when they get the chance. <br /><br /> So today, Kukai Souma is heading over to the nearby cafe now that classes are over, and he sees an unfamiliar but known to him face nearby. He looks himself over, makes sure his Guardian's cape is arranged, puts on his best face, and approaches Narumi, giving her his best Jack's Grin, that friendly, heart warming smile he's used for years now. "Oh, hi! Narumi, right? I'm Kukai, Kukai Souma. I'd been hoping to talk to you, and see how you were getting used to the school!"

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi looks up. "Ah, um. Hi?" she says. "Oh, um, right, I've heard of you!" She manages a weak smile and sets down her lunch. "Yeah, it's ... well, it's a new school. I'm just sort of doing the best I can, I guess. Kind of ... mostly settled down now, though. I know where everything important is, and all that stuff." She fiddles a bit with her hair, trying to move it into a more comfortable position.<br /><br />To her credit, she doesn't seem to be ''trying'' to get her gloom on at the moment, although there is a little bit of gloominess regardless.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai smiles back to her and nods his head, standing next to her. "Hi!" He grins and then shrugs, nodding. "Yeah. A lot of people do. Well. I know what it's like. You figured out the layout of the school and everything? Know where all your classes are and stuff? That's good." <br /><br /> Kukai nods to Narumi. "So do you feel like you're doing ok? Do you have any problems or anything you wanna talk about?" He cocks his head, looking at the gloomy girl, feeling the morose vibe she's putting off but setting it aside. Daichi peeks up out of one of his pockets, then looks up at Kukai. He'd sort of expected to already be on the way home by now..

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi manages to force out another weak smile. "Yep! Homeroom, gym, that cafe I got the sandwich from ..." She takes a quick nibble of the sandwich. "Y'know, the whole works." This time, her grin is considerably more natural.<br /><br />She shrugs at the question. "Not really!" She doesn't seem to think that her total lack of friends is an issue at all. "Both home life and school, I have nothing to complain abWAH!?" She jerks back in surprise, hands back on the bench, eyes as going wide and then narrowing as she just ... ''stares'' at Daichi.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai laughs. "Yeah. Hey, I used to get lost too from time to time, so I know what it's like. But the cafe is pretty awesome. I was heading to get a sandwich for on my way home! I'm glad I saw you, though. I try to keep up with new people who come into the school, make sure everyone's ok. It's part of being a Guardian." <br /><br /> He nods. "Well, hey, no reason not to make friends and do what you... want?" He blinks, then cocks his head, watching her as her eyes narrow. "...Huh. You can obviously see him, can't you? He's a friend of mine, Daichi. So...." Kukai's mind spins, trying to decide how to approach the whole magic subject. "I assume you've got your own friends or skills or something similar?"

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi spends another moment just staring. "Yeah, I can see him," she says. "Um." She shakes her head. "Sorry, I'm just ... not used to seeing magic in the waking world." Well, she's certainly being forthright about ''that''. She takes a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. "Right. Um. I ... don't know about skills. I can lucid dream, which ... is useful for fights against magical nightmares? And I've met a unicorn and a vampire a few times in the, the magical dreams." She pauses, then opens her mouth to say something else ...<br /><br />(... but Manako doesn't want her to say too much.)<br /><br />... then just shrugs for a second. "Um. Not really anything else besides that."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai lets out a breath. "Well. That's a whole new kettle of fishies! No, I know what you mean. I had the same set of emotions and things when I first had it happen. It's... scary. And exciting. And amazing. And weird. So I know where you're coming from." He reaches over as she breathes deeply, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "I get it." <br /><br /> Kukai huhs and then nods. "Well, there's a lot going on in dreams, apparently. I'm not familiar with it all but it does effect the waking world. And I know those two. The unicorn's good people. The vampire is ok but she's got her own problems to deal with." When she shrugs, he nods. If she wants to hold something back, that's up to her. "Well. It's apparently enough. Welcome to magic."

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi laughs nervously. "Yeah, tell me about it!" she says. "Well ... I've only met Ariel-san and Lacrima-san twice," she says. "... and this ... waking-world magical girl called Clotho once. She was ... I helped her fight against this spirit-person called Icela who's been lurking around the park." She winces at the comment about Lacrima having her own problems. "Oh, yeah. I ... might have ''had'' some of those problems for a little bit when some toybox nightmare sort of switched a bunch of us around." She shakes her head. "I've got nothing but sympathy for her. I don't think I'd really be able to live like her."<br /><br />She shakes her head. "Anyway ... yeah." She smiles weakly. "Wow. I guess I hadn't ''really'' registered that there was just, like, magic in the real world." She shakes her head. "Or, uh, the waking world. I guess ..." She hesitates, and then looks Kukai in the eye. "I've really never had someone to just ''talk to'' about this before, really. I never knew how to find any of the other dreamers I've met after I woke up? So, you're, like, the first person I've had a complete conversation with about all this." She laughs. "Wow, I've been at Seiyou for ten days and already I've met someone, uh, magical!"<br /><br />... Exactly ten days ago, Sailor Mars made a post on HeartNET about a monster she'd fought the previous night alongside Lacrima and Ariel. The monster was named Maboroshi no Manako, and had attacked the principal's office at Seiyou.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai makes a noise as Narumi talks. "Oh. You met Clotho? Geez, I haven't seen her in a while. And another spirit person? Weird. But you helped her fight them? Interesting." He rubs his chin, thinking. "...Well, I guess you're ok now, but yeah. It's a screwy situation. Lacrima and I got kinda swapped for a bit as well, so... Yeah. I try to keep up with her and help her stay in one piece." <br /><br /> Kukai grins. "It's ok. I didn't figure there was a dream world, myself! And sure." He sits down besides her, staying back and giving her space, but nods. "You can talk to me about it. It's honestly part of what I do. I talk to people about magic when they first encounter it. You can talk to me about whatever you need to." <br /><br /> It takes Kukai a moment to register that last bit, but it's a bit confusing. Had she brought the monster with her? Was it chasing her? Whatever it was, Kukai shook his head and put it away. Until he had better evidence, it might've just been a coincidence.

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi nods. "Icela ... well, she'd pulled these two kids into a nightmare-world, and Clotho-san and I went after her. And when we defeated the nightmares she threw at us, they just sort of ... thought it had all been a dream." She shakes her head. "I'm really not sure what to think of that part. Do most people ... not recognize magic or ..." She hesitates, and shrugs. "I'm not even sure what I'm asking there."<br /><br />She shrugs a bit. "As far as I can tell ... the 'dream world' is just the ... conceptual space, I guess, where ordinary dreams take form?" she says. "Except that there are also nightmare-monsters and stuff, and they're actually dangerous, kind of thing. 'If you die in the dream, you die in real life' or whatever." She shrugs. "A while ago, I taught myself to have lucid dreams, and for a while it was just ordinary lucid dreaming, but then a bunch of nightmare-''monsters'' attacked that I couldn't control, and, uh ..." (Once again, Manako stops her from saying too much. "... yeah. When I found myself in the dreams with Ariel-san, they were the same way, I couldn't even change the clothes I was wearing in the dream." She blinks. "... that sounds really weird when I say it aloud."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai nods. "People without magic tend to not remember or understand what's going on when they're affected by magic. Generally." He grumbles to himself, something along the lines of 'brothers', but continues. "But yeah. Magic tends to protect itself and the people who use it. Unless they make a TV show about themselves, like Sailor V. But then they tend to think it's all made up or something." <br /><br /> Kukai thinks, listening. "That's really cool. I didn't know anything about the dream world, not like that." He cocks his head, looking at her. "Huh. Did someone save you? That sounds dangerous." He frowns. "But if you met Ariel, then she'd be able to detect things like that if they'd hurt you. And yeah, Ariel is powerful enough to lock the dream world around her, I believe." <br /><br /> Daichi hops out of Kukai's pockets, hopping up onto his leg, then floats up to land on Narumi's shoulder, cocking his head and looking up at her. When she looks at him, he wave wave waves cheerfully at her!

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi nods, and frowns. "Hmm ... that's interesting," she murmurs. "My mother ... well ..." She shrugs. "She ''half'' remembers something, and apparently it ... was a formative influence on the way she looked at the world, but she just straight-up can't remember it at all, even when something reminds her of it," she says. "And ... I guess that explains it, then!"<br /><br />She grins. "I didn't ''need'' to get rescued!" she says. "I just lucid-dreamed up some lasers and other things, and fought them off myself." This is obviously a note of pride for her. "It's how I've dealt with other fights in the dream world." She shrugs, and smiles down at Daichi, giving him a little wave of her own. "Ariel-san's ... stuff looked similar to my own. I guess it was just, like, a different source then. But ..." She shrugs, looking back up to Kukai. "I don't have any 'real' magic of my own, I can't do anything in the waking world. Maybe it's just the way I've been ... interacting with it? Or something?"

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai listens to her, then nods. "Without more information, there's no telling what's going on. But maybe!" He then laughs. "Lasers fix a lot of youma problems. Pew pew." He holds his hands up in gun fashion, making pew pew noises with his fingers. <br /><br /> Daichi grins up at her. Kukai smiles, then nods. "Yeah. I.. wish I knew more about dream magic stuff. Maybe sometime. Ariel's probably better about it than I am. As for real magic.. well, obviously you do have something. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to do this stuff, or see Daichi. I don't know where it came from, but it's there."

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi giggles at the laser-display. Her gloominess has completely vanished now. Looks like the Jack of the Guardians has charmed another one! "That they do!" she says.<br /><br />She frowns down at Daichi. "Yeah," she says softly. "I, uh ... hmm. I'll ... uh ..."<br /><br />In her own mind, refusing to talk about the business with Manako seems the most natural thing in the world. But on the other hand ... in context it doesn't make logical sense.<br /><br />She looks back to Kukai and shakes her head. "I'll ... have to get back to you on this," she says, standing up and picking up the sandwich. "Um. I don't suppose you know how to get in touch with Ariel-san or Lacrima-san? I, um, well, my mom's been kind of dragging her feet on letting me have a phone of my own, but she'll probably let me use the landline to call them up. Or you, for that matter."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai smiles. He can feel her sadness having completely left her, the darkness in the air around her gone. That's a good thing. <br /><br /> Daichi hops off her shoulder and flits back over to Kukai as Narumi stands, nodding to her. "Sure, yeah. Got something to write on? I'll give you their number and you can call them." He digs through his pockets - pens and paper are never something he carries, really. That was always Tadase's trick. "And sure. If you wanna call me, go ahead, anytime. I'll put my number down too." He smiles at her, then nods. "Think I'll go get that sandwich then, too. It was nice meeting you!"

:'''{{#var:227|Narumi Nendai| (227)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Narumi grabs her backpack and pulls out a somewhat disheveled notebook. "Okay, here we go!" she says, writing down the phone numbers she's given. And then she picks up her things and smiles at Kukai. "... Thank you, really," she says. "For ... well, all of it, I guess. I'll, um, I'll be sure to talk to you later when I get a chance."
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