3827/The Worm has Turned

The Worm has Turned
Date of Scene:	14 December 2019
Location:	Uminari City - Residential District
Synopsis:	While Yasumi is out flying in the waking world, and Lacrima and Ariel are on a lowkey date (eating unhealthy snack cakes!), they find that a caterpillar youma with a black santa hat is attacking the apartment building where Kotomi lives! Fortunately, Dream Defender Yasumi is here to help save the day -- and she has a few new tricks up her sleeve. Simple and straightforward, right? ... Right?
Cast of Characters:	Kotomi Kobana, Norie Okana, Ariel Theodore

---

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
It's the middle of the night. Not too close to midnight, but definitely when all the good little boys and girls ought to be asleep.

And who should be flying through the air above Uminari in the waking world but Yasumi Yumeji! She's dressed in what appears to be the lavender dress and navy-blue jacket Kotomi tends to wear outdoors in winter, and she's clearly having the time of her life. She does a loop-the-loop, runs up the side of a tall building, and glides forward onto the next one, letting out a musical laugh.

... Off in the distance, however, something dark is stirring ...

Norie Okana has posed:
You know.... high, office rooftops can be kinda dirty. So that's why Lacrima created a nightmarish push broom five minutes ago and heavily scrubbed scrubbed scrubbed a small portion of one and the top of a ledge and Ariel maybe arrived just at the tail end of this since, Lacrima had called her out for a semi-cute 'date' sitting on the side of a ledge of a skyscraper and eating..... snack cakes!

Look. Not every little dumb date-like thing needs to involve dinners or dresses or fancy ball rooms. Sometimes you're sitting on a formerly dirty ledge eating snack cakes. The cheap kind, with sparkly sprinkles that aren't good for you, but really... do you care?

"So..." pause. "So does Santa actually come out of the dream world. To deliver presents. Or is that just a dream thing?" she asks. It is December, and there's sparkling Christmas lights out there. Pause. "Does being a Nightmare Princess immediately put me on the naughty list?" she asks thoughtfully.

She gently peeks out as Yasumi happens to jump off the side of the building they're siting on as she peeks down. "Oh...!" she says with some surprise a bit. Before she looks back up and her eyes shift a bit.

"Huh?" she asks. "Something feels off...." she says, with a nose scrunch. Is something bad about to happen?

"....Thinks she wants a snack cake?" she asks. "Or we keeping them all for ourselves?"

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Most nights, Ariel would be in bed long before now. But when invitd out for a late night date by the princess of Nightmares, she doesn't quite have the heart to say no to Lacrima. And seeing as how it's a much more casual thing, then there's no problem in the least, especially if she doesn't have school in the morning!R    "Uhhhhh... You know, that sounds more like a question for my mom." She muses on the topic of Santa and the dream realm, nose scrunching in thought. She is but a young unicorn and does not know how the grand old elf operates, after all! But then her hands come up. "UH! No, I don't think so? I mean if you've been good then you shouldn't't have any reason to worry, and I know you've been good, right?"
    Annnnd there goes Yasumi.
    "I think we have enough to share." She ventures first in regards to the snack cakes before scrunching her nose. "But I feel it too. Maybe we should put this on hold and investigate?"

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Yasumi continues zipping along, corkscrewing through the air, so excited she completely failed to notice that she passed right by Lacrima and Ariel!

And then it happens: there's a clear and distinct feeling of darkness. Exactly like some sort of energy drain, in point of fact.

Yasumi comes to a screeching halt in midair -- there's literally a cartoon 'screech to a stop' sound -- and then starts flying towards the source of the sensation, which is approximately back the way she came. This time, however, she blinks as she actually sees Lacrima and Ariel. "Oh, hello!" she says. "I imagine you can feel ... that?" She gestures towards the source of the darkness.

And then she frowns suddenly, flying slightly higher so she can peer off in the direction of the dark sensation.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima pouts a little. "But snack cakes!..." she says. She sighs. "You're right of course, Ariel." she says as she stands up. "Hiiii!" she says. "We we're gonna offer you snack cakes but I guess there's something out there so after." she says with a curt matter of fact nod as she gently sighs and starts.... floating upwards.

She peeks around a moment as she gently turns into some sort of black shadow-y like being and starts traveling in that direction. That feeling is still weak from here. Need to get it stronger. Then you'll find it.

..or is it moving towards them!?

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Snack cakes are nice and all but dark sensations are pretty important. A hand lightly pats Lacrima on the shoulder as she pouts, but it really is time to move along.
    "Hiiiii Yasumi." The unicorn calls back before nodding pretty vigorously. "It felt like something we should check out."
    There will always be more snack cakes for after dealing with dream shenanigans.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Yasumi gives a brief nod to Lacrima and Ariel, before looking back towards the sensation of darkness. "Thank you kindly," she says, "but quite truthfully, I believe that snack cakes can wait."

And then she groans and smacks her forehead. "Oh goodness gracious me," she says irritably. "Just a moment, your highness, I believe I know where our destination is."

She glances down at herself. "Yeah this isn't ... proper adventuring gear," she murmurs. She's surrounded by silvery swirls for a moment, and when it clears, she's wearing a cute sort of black and white maid-esque costume with pink highlights, and a couple of round pinkish-red gems.

(... whose locations correspond exactly to those of the butterflies on Dream Defender Kotomi's costume.)

She waves her hand, and a blob of silvery light appears, like a stain spreading on an invisible wall. It takes a few seconds to get to full size, and then it opens up to reveal a haze that looks like a midnight sky, with another rooftop faintly visible on the other side. She gestures for Lacrima and Ariel to follow, and slips through.

The other end of the portal is on the roof of the building right next door to the upscale apartment building where Kotomi lives, and the source of the feeling of darkness is very close by. "Ah, of course," Yasumi says flatly, floating over to the edge of the roof. There's a ten-foot-long red and black caterpillar-youma clinging to the side of the apartment building, and there's a purple glow emanating from a third-story window and flowing into its eyes -- very obviously, it's draining the energy of the people inside. Of course, Kotomi lives on the tenth floor.

... Also, the caterpillar is wearing a black Santa hat.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima taps the side of her face as she raises a brow as she watches Yasumi get into her magical girl outfit. Lacrima idly wonders why this is a maid outfit. She doesn't ask about this because it seems rude to question it. At least right this moment. Maybe she just thinks it's cute! She blinks a little as she looks towards the portal that Yasumi makes as she moves to push through it...

"....that's a giant caterpillar." she says, as if she was Captain Obvious, pointing at it. "HEY!... FUZZBUTT!" she says. "GO TURN INTO A BIG DUMB MOTH BECAUSE YOU SURE AIN'T GONNA BE NO BUTTERFLY!" she says angrily as she waves her arms frantically as she floats in the air. Flail flail flail, she's trying to make a big target of herself.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    No snack cakes then. At least until later. Ariel spends a beat tapping a finger to her lower lip while Yasumi henshins, before politely applauding.
    Needless to say, she follows through the portal to... "Huh isn't this where Kotomi lives?" She observes before realizing the next building over has a--
    "Oh. ... Oh!" That is a large monster critter isn't it?
    Pause.
    "Wait why is it wearing a Santa hat...?"
    Ariel asking all the important questions as Lacrima tries to distract it. There's a brief glow of her horn as she waves the gossamer stuff dreams are made out of into a pair of suction cups and latches herself to the side of the building, making her way down to the third story-- first to check on the people inside.
    Then to dream-weave a big curtain to hang in front of the window and try and disrupt the Youma's energy siphon.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
At Lacrima's attention-grabbing display, the energy drain stops, and the caterpillar-youma stares up at her. And then it lets out a hiss, and fires a single darkness blast, before hissing again! It's aimed to miss, and it's not powerful enough to hurt much even if Lacrima wasn't a fellow creature of darkness. Seems that the creature has mistaken her for a competitor, and just wants to stake its claim in a belligerent manner.

Yasumi winces slightly as the blast sails off into the sky. "We must find a way to dispatch this creature without risking undue collateral damage," she says softly to Lacrima. "... Perhaps Prism Keeper Brass's cracked pavement ... which Kotomi mentioned to me ... is just the way of things. Hmm ..." She taps her chin with hurried thoughtfulness.

Just inside the window is a bed with a middle-aged couple, sleeping fitfully but clearly with less energy than they would have had before this. Distracted by Lacrima, the youma fails to notice Ariel until she's already put the curtain on, and it lets out another angry hiss, letting out a few puffs of dark energy! It's clearly not just going to shoot to miss if she isn't scared off by this display ...

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima crosses her arms as she frowns heavily as the horrid nightmare shadow thing crosses her arms. She's momentarily distracted by just how adorable Ariel is suctioncupping to the side of the building to do her thing but not much as she scowls and raises her hand. "I've had enough.... OBEY ME!." she throws her hand out..... !...

There's probably this few awkward moments where the creature and Lacrima are just staring blankly at one another. "I SAID..."

"OBEY ME!" she says, throwing out her hand again. Wait... why... why can't she feel this creature? She's reaching out. It's there but... she can't... touch it. Not like before.. when-----

Oh... OH... oh heck! She just finally blasts a dark beam of energy from her hand quickly. It's dumb. It's not very creative but it's better than standing there like a dummy with an outstretched, looking dumb about it.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    That's one issue out of the way. With the gossamer curtain up, the youma shouldn't be able to drain those people anymore, which frees Ariel up to skitter along the wall with her suction cups.
    "Norie, it doesn't seem to be working." She stage whispers as Lacrima struggles to make the Youma fall under her control and--
    Oh. She just shoots it.
    Well that probably works better.
    "I'm sure we can handle it without too much collateral." She asides to Yasumi, amid Spider-Man'ing her way along the building, pausing to hold on with one hand as she focuses. Once again using the power of dreams themselves, she dreams up a flashlight-- the super powerful kind. The kind that really burns if it shines in your eyes. And for the next past of her plan...
    She shines it in the Youma-pillar's eyes.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
The youma just hisses back at Lacrima's shouting! It ... continues to hiss at her ineffective shouting! And then the blast comes along, and paffs it in the face. It shakes itself as if it was hit by a snowball, and then hisses and fires another blast of darkness directly back at Lacrima!

Yasumi shakes her head at Ariel. "Think, think," she murmurs. "... hmm ... my portals are too slow to take it to the realm of dreams ..."

And then Ariel shines that flashlight, and the caterpillar hisses and flails, firing darkness-blasts back at her! They are aimed ... very badly. Looks like the blinding was successful, at least for the moment!

Yasumi makes a light bulb appear over her head. "... oh goodness gracious me, I just had like the most ridiculous idea ever," she says. "And that idea is: bringing the 'dream world' here instead."

She flies to hover directly above the youma, and curls into a ball. "DREAM ..." She uncurls, arms outstretched! "... BARRIER!" A ripple of light spreads out from her. Where it passes, non-magical life and moving cars vanish, and everything takes on a faintly unreal and dream-like appearance; the 'real world' is visible beyond it. It's not a big barrier, as these sort of things go -- it's only just large enough to encompass the building the caterpillar was attacking and the immediate surroundings of the battlefield. But for the moment, it's working.

Yasumi wobbles a bit. "Okay wow, I'm pretty sure I actually have this working!" she says, a faint smile on her face.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima mutters. "I can't control youma anymore. Can't even touch it's brain. That's.... disconcerting. I wonder what else I can't do now..." she says to Ariel's statement that it isn't working. Still, she gets smacked with a dark blast and sent flying backwards. "I don't think you wanna bring a youma into dreamland!" she says with wide eyes.

But then Yasumi does something else and... this feels really weird...like... a dream? But they didn't dreamhop right?

"Huh...!" she says. "I Um... if the stuff I do starts to corrupt this, lemme know..." she says softly, as she raises her hand and thinks a moment... she creates a rapier like sword... as she reforms back into her more human-like appearance before she tries to lance forward to stab into the caterpillar.

"GO RUIN OTHER PEOPLE'S NIGHTS!" she yells. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT BOX OF SNACK CAKES COST ME--- well it was like really cheap actually-- BUT IT'S THE PRINCECIPLE OF THE THING!" she says.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    And it worked! It's blinded! That only means it's shooting all the more wildly as the Youma starts to unload dark blasts everywhere.
    "Wah!" Ariel bleats. "Awawawawawa!" Squealed as she skitters along the wall.
    "Wait, bring the dream world here?" She asks, as though the idea had never occurred to her before.
    It hadn't. And when Yasumi makes an actual barrier, then... Well that kind of makes things easier.
    "That didn't take a lot out of you, did it?" She does ask, concerned, at the sight of Yasumi wobbling, before focusing on things like not getting shot.
    "--Wait the snack cakes are gone?"
    Ariel asking all the important questions.
    Not that this stops her from focusing again, horn glimmering as she dreamweaves... Some rope.
    Rope that she tries to tie from one end of a street lamp, to the caterpillar's tail.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
Yasumi does a double-take towards Lacrima as she gives her warning about corrupting it. "Goodness gracious me, I hadn't thought of that!" she says. "I will warn you as quickly as I can in that event, your highness!"

Lacrima's sword strikes true, and the youma lets out a hiss of pain, bleeding purple gashes! Not a very creative creature, it responds with a headbutt, trying to knock Lacrima back. It tenses up, rearing back and hissing and makes another lunge!

... It falls facedown due to the rope tied to its tail, but the street lamp is all but ripped out of the ground. The youma scrambles back upright and hisses at Ariel, firing a darkness blast towards her. Its eyesight is still not that great, however.

Yasumi stretches, and exhales at Ariel's question. "I'm fine!" she says. "Now. Stand back, your highness!" She holds her hands out, and fires a stream of orbs of light ...

... which glow bright with purification energy, the intensity startling even Yasumi, who jerks back in surprise!

The caterpillar is even more startled, though, as the purification leaves great big purple scorch-marks along its body. It lets out a shrill hiss that sounds almost like a shriek as it thrashes around, wildly firing darkness-blasts in all directions! One of them hits Yasumi's side, and she falls backward with a feline yowl!

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima, wether she likes it or not, is a nightmare now. She doesn't know if that means her presence in dreams may be corruptive. She hasn't accidently done anything terrible to Ariel, but she'd rather warn-- let her know rather than have the Dream Barrier turn into a Nightmare Barrier and who the heck knows what that could do!?

Lacrima gets headbutted and shot backwards into the weird hazy 'ground'... through it, even! There's a 'paff' like cotton candy fluffy as Lacrima has to floats angrily back through it, covered in fluff, looking like an angry lamb as she brushes it all off as she says. "Okay. Now I'm mad." she says as she tenses her hands down at her side. "No! But they're!.... just sitting there! On a rooftop! I bet.... they taste like a couple minutes less fresh!" she says. Those snack cakes we're probably made months ago. With chemicals and awful food science. Who cares.

(Lacrima cares. Way too much.)

When purification comes out, she hisses and recoils a bit... but throws that rapier through the air towards the caterpillar, trying to hit a weak point if she can.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    Oop, the Youma fell. And it ripped out the street lamp. Even worse, when it gets back up it resumes firing at Ariel! Another bleat and the unicorn is forced to dodge and roll away, tumbling and scrambling to avoid getting hit, and getting singed for her efforts, right up until Yasumi wields purification magic. Ariel rolls into the nearest alley, briefly, for cover against the wild fire that follows.
    "I think we'll survive if they're just a few more minutes stale." She points out to Lacrima, peeking out of cover for a moment as she continues to focus and summons... A spray can into her hand.
    Which she starts spraying the Youma down with.
    It's bug spray.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
The thrown rapier strikes true, and the youma staggers back with the sword sticking through its side! It's clearly having difficulty with moving at the moment, and even worse, its santa-hat fell off! It seems shocked for a few second, before it it lets out a hiss, trying to concentrate its blasts towards Lacrima ...

... until the bug spray hits it, causing it to recoil very slightly. It lets out another angry hiss at Ariel!

Yasumi manages to right herself, grimacing with one hand clutching her side. "Right, then!" she says. "Let us finish this, then, shall we?" White stars and lavender butterflies start swirling around her arms. "TWINKLING NIGHT!" She thrusts her hands forward, firing a laser with the stars and butterflies swirling around it in a double helix pattern! ... Just like Dream Defender Kotomi's attack!

The youma doesn't even have time to hiss, and it simply evaporates under the major purification assault! In its place is a cheap ordinary Santa hat, the kind you can get at any shopping mall this time of year. An ordinary caterpillar crawls out from under the brim of the hat; it's a bit cold for caterpillars, but it will probably be easy enough for it to find someplace to burrow for the winter.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima watches as the caterpillar gets blasted and the santa hat falls to the ground.... and then a smaller normalish caterpillar starts to crawl out from underneath it. She sighhhhhhhs and rolls her eyes as she floats downwards and holds out her hand to try to pick up the caterpillar and says. "I guess. We should get you to the park." she mutters under her breath.

She looks up at Ariel. "Ariel, I think we should get the caterpillar to the park, it'll be safer there!" she says. "Erm, right?" she says. "I mean. Kinda. Middle of the city... at the start of december..."

"Also maybe we should give it a snack cake..." pause. "Wait no... they eat leaves, don't they?" she says with a blink. Then she looks up at Yasumi. "It's okay!" she says with wide eyes.

Ariel Theodore has posed:
    And Yasumi finishes off the Youma! All's well that ends well. At least until a caterpillar crawls out from under the Santa hat. Ariel tosses away her bug spray can, causing it to vanish in a puff as she kneels down and gently scoops up the little critter with Lacrima.
    "Caterpillars do eat leaves, yes." She clarifies. "The park sounds like the perfect place for it, yes."
    It's totally okay.

Kotomi Kobana has posed:
For a split second, Yasumi looks as though she's thinking: this is the worst case scenario! But then she starts to settle down, seeming generally relieved as she descends to the ground. "Park, park ... Ah, I believe I can open one of my ... portals there." With a soft whoosh, the dream barrier fades, and all the damage from the battle disappears like a bad dream.

Yasumi lands on the ground, and then lets out a squawk, clutching her side where the random blast hit her. "Goodness gracious me," she mutters. "Well, I've had worse, I suppose." She snorts. "At least now I know that if there's any darkness remaining, I can certainly purify it. Anyway!" She holds her hand out, and opens another portal; this time, the front of the park's library is visible through the haze of midnight. She smiles, and gestures. "Shall we away? -- Wait, I know!" Her ears perk up. "My name for these idiosyncratic portals shall be 'winks'!"

... Ten stories up, Kotomi's sister Kurumi peers out of her bedroom window. She didn't see the battle, since the dream barrier filtered her out, but it's clear enough to her what just happened here.

She tiptoes out of her bedroom, and lightly knocks on Kotomi's door. A pause, and then she knocks again. Frowning at the lack of response, she opens the door.

On the other side, she discovers that Kotomi's bed is empty.