Lacrima always dreams when she sleeps. Usually it's been about...colors. Just endless streaming colors. Wisps. Smoke. Sometimes she's had dreams of being in a garden courtyard, in a void- where she talks to a voice she typically knows as the embodiment of the darkness that's taken up residence in her. Sometimes she dreams of a life that isn't her own.
The very last one is the dream she dreams today.
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She opens her eyes and she is in a garden courtyard. There is a manor, built up around the central courtyard. It's always jarring to-- go to sleep. But then wake up. There's always a small start for her. She's always wakes up here though and she's always sitting on the same bench- which she stands up for.
Lacrima in these dreams, looks much like she does in reality. Long purple hair, pale complexion, stunning purple eyes- the whole nine yards. What's changed is the dress--- a long, victorian-earish looking dress, corseted top-- jewelry-- the spitting image of some sort of-- Spanish nobility of some sort.
She looks around at the garden. It is heavy and thick. The garden is always the indicator, to her, of 'where she is' in the thoughts that are not hers. It's 'later' in the many hundred year life span of the wielder of the power before her- Poderoso.
But something seems wrong about this.
It's the sky.
She looks up and the sky is just approaching dusk. That is. It's still 'light' out- even if not much of it left.
She never remembers dreaming in a day. It was always the dead of night.
Does that mean anything?
She looks back down and around. She's waiting.
Something usually happens that pulls her. Somewhere. She seems to be waiting for this. There's a certain heavy feeling of apprehension around as she waits. She's always worried about what she'll learn next. She knows the purposes of these dreams are to either demonstrate a skill she didn't know she had... or give her information of dubious uses-- or rather. That's always been the case up to this point.
There are two other benches in the courtyard. Dreamers tend to appear sitting in them and 'waking up' again. Unless of course. You enter another way. Somehow.
Ariel has had much on her mind lately. And a tired mind tends to wander, especially when asleep. Since moving out of the park she has had muc hto think about when laying her head down on her new pillow. Without paying attention, even a denizen born of dreams can find themselves lost and in uncharted territory. Like right now.
Lucky is with her, of vourse, the massive hound having gone to sleep at the foot of her futon, the two snap 'awake' on an unfamiliar bench in an unfamiliar courtyard in an unfamiliar dream. And with a big yawn from both and a moment spent rubbing eyes, Ariel's ears prick up, golden eyes blearily wandering. Up at the dusky sky, though the garden, at the figure lingering there.
That final one is what makes her squint, as though trying to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her and she manage to regain some focus and clear the cotton from her thoughts.
That's...
"... I know you." Murmured after memories settle into place properly. That's...
"Lacrima?"
Jiaying Maki is surprised to wake up in a place that isn't home, the place she really considers home that is. Sitting up from the bench, wearing a rather ornate qipao, though she's shrouded behind mist, moreso than even when she's actively hiding herself. The mist fades away as she 'wakes up' leaving her wearing a plain looking mask. Looking between the two of them, she hesitates, then asks, "Did auntie give me something weard again?" Initially asking in Chinese, before catching herself and asking in Japanese. She'll know something is up if they talk back in Chinese though.
Standing up, she smooths the dress out, then shakes her head, "It's Norie or Lacrima, there's two I think." She offers to the unicorn, not recognizing her like this.
Voices.
Lacrima is used to hearing voices, but the voices, and people, in these dreams never /see/ her or /interact/ with her- so to hear people... call out her names-- both of them, it causes her to blink and turn around suddenly.
"Wait. You!?" she blinks at Ariel. "Why are you here!?" she spits out. "Jia-chan..." she blinks "Why are..." she frowns a bit.
"This isn't how these go." she frowns.
She looks around.
"This...is...one of my dreams. I think. I dunno now. Since you're both here." she sounds slightly annoyed by this.
She sideeyes Jiaying a bit when she says there's 'two' of them. There is only one at the moment.
A figure walks by windows on the east wall, inside- then another and another- which draw's Lacrima's attention.
"It is usually nighttime when these dreams happen. It isn't quite... night time." she says.
"I feel anxious for some reason." she says.
She begins to walk towards an ornately carved door that'll seem to take her into the area the figures passed by.
She looks back. "Coming?" she asks.
"...I wouldn't try to interact with anyone. They ignore me. Sometimes I get the impression they do see me. But. I dunno. Maybe it's just me." she says as she opens the door.
Past that is a hallway, with the windows looking out into the courtyard. It's old, stained glass. The hallway has a long, red carpet down it- but otherwise seems to be a smooth cobblestone floor- with wooden walls.
There's oil lamps, hanging from wall sconces. None of them are lit. She begins the direction the figures were headed.
"This is... toward's..."
"The Oratory?" she asks.
"I think that's what it's called."
"...religious... speech... type room." she says.
"That.." she says.
She continues along. She stops and turns around a moment to the two with a frown.
"Why are you both here...?" she asks. She narrows her eyes at Ariel. "This isn't some sort of trick, is it?" she asks pointedly.
"Uh."
Yes. Her. She's here. Ariel still points one finger at herself, looking almost a sbewildered as anyone else. Lucky's ear's perk and the huge hound whines with much the same confusion as he peers between Lacrima and his ward. "Um. Yes. Am I not supposed to be here? I can leave if-- where is the exit anyway?" Of course she wouldn't want to overstay any welcome in someone else's dream, especially if she shows up unannounced, but there is the slight issue that she never expected to be here, herself, either.
And then there's Jiaying as well.
Floppy ears twitch, and Ariel purses her lips, offering something of a sheepish wave to the other girl and patiently waiting for the swap from Chinese to Japanese. But the 'there's two' comment makes her look back to Lacrima curiously. She never quite met the girl as Norie. "Oh."
Ahem.
Coming? The unicorn blinks as she's invited along instead of shoo'd off, and gives Lucky a tug by the scruff to make her hound follow. She is polite enough to not mount up though when entering someone's dream house. It's the figure that wanders by the window that near halts her, but she looks to Lacrima. "It's different tonight?" Asked as she looks back up to the dusk sky before following in. Fingers brush along a stained glass window, bare feet making no sound on the cobbled floor. "Eh?"
Again she looks to Lacrima, brow furrowing. "It's no trick. I have no reason to do that to you." She says very simply. "Dreams can be... Strange sometimes. Unpredictable, and sometimes even impossible to interpret, but maybe we're here for a reason?" Ventured before peering down the hall to the oratory. "Is that where you want to go?"
Jiaying Maki brushes herself off as she walks along behind the other two, not as worried about the dogs here because she knows that it's not a real dog. Really though, it's because she's in a dream which means... it's a dream right?
Looking to Ariel, she says, "Sure." and picks up the pace to make sure she's not left behind. She's looking around at the various dream creatures, talking to herself in Chinese and in general? Completely confused about this situation.
Looking to Norie she says in a flat tone, once more lapsing into Chinese before catching herself. "I have no idea why I'm here, I think that's a question for you, rather than me isn't it?" She looks down at herself, pinches herself and adds, "Are we part of your subconcious, is this a really weird dream or did someone do something?"
There's a moment of curiosity at the lamps, she reaches up and before touching one, asks, "What happens if we take one?" Her hands hovering there, she's wondering even further what happens if she tries to ignite it with purifying flame.
"Why are we going to the orathingy? What's there that you want to go there for?"
Lacrima blinks. Does she... want to go there?
That's something that Lacrima's never really asked herself in these dreams. She's always felt. Led. Like. Something wants her to see something- but she doesn't have to follow- but she /should/.
"I...don't know." she says. "But. These dreams... always tend to lead me somewhere." she says.
"Yes. It's still light outside. It's always been... night. When I have these dreams. I don't know if that means anything." she says.
She looks to Jiaying. "We talked about my dreams before. Remember?" she asks. "I either...dream of. Talking to myself. Or I have some sort of dream like this. Where I tend to learn somethings. Or just...colors." she says.
She frowns. "Usually. When something moves. It's leading me somewhere." she says.
She turns back around and continues her walk to the door. The oratory door is open. Flickering at the ground suggests candlelight or torchlight in the room.
She doesn't turn the corner into it as she turns back around if the two followed. She blinks. Is Jiaying going to try to do something to that lamp? She frowns at this, but she doesn't /stop it/.
This is a dream afterall. Right?
Lacrima turns the corner to stand at the entrance to the door and look in.
Inside is the expected oratory. Fine, wooden walls, carved with an intricate design, with stained glass windows- and a domed- similar stained room roof. It is ostentatious and elaborate.
The sun continues to set. It's getting darker.
There's a small platform about a foot off the ground at the far end. It has a very large chair, center. In it, sits a very bored looking man with a pale complexion, a masculine build. His hair is a bright red, and his eyes are the same color. He is wearing clothes reminiscent of the Spanish noble, and a cape. Jiaying's seen this man before- in a portrait. This is Poderoso.
Before him are three figures. Men in various states of dress in period clothes of the 1800s.
They are pleading...something. To Poderoso.
It is all in Spanish- but the tone suggests the men are frustrated to some degree.
Lacrima seems to be following along the conversation well enough.
"They want... what's due to them. What was promised..." she mutters to the two with her.
Poderoso seems to look past the three men for a moment. At the door, at the group. A strange moment like he sees them but doesn't care- and turns his attention back to the men. He finally talks. His voice is deep- but also, talking in Spanish.
"He said.. 'Fine'."
She walks into the room slowly and has a seat at one of the benches.
Jiaying probably gets the impression this feels very much like the church Lacrima likes to hide in sometimes.
She looks to Ariel and Jiaying. "I don't know why I was tugged here. But it looks like something is going to happen." she says.
"Those three men are not familiar to me." she says.
"But. The one at the head- in the chair. That's the person who had my power before me. Poderoso." she says.
Well. There's only one way to find out. Yet Ariel bites on her lower lip. She looks out the nearest window again. Always night. Though the sun is setting now, any difference can have a whole world of meanings. For the time being Ariel tucks that tidbit to the back of her mind in case it has relevance. But more importantly, she and Lucky are following. "I ah. Never thought I'd see one of your dreams." She admits to Lacrima. It actually has been a while since she had last seen the girl, to boot. So she is, at least, curious. But then she looks to the other girl with them. "Maybe she's here because you opened up to her?" Ariel theorizes. It's the best thing she can think of considering the two had apparently talked about dreams prior.
Onward to the oratorium. Ariel peeks over Lacrima's shoulder into the door as well, while Lucky scootches his huge self lower to look from under all the legs probably crowding the space. He has been on his best behavior around Jiaying, and that is probably for the best It is a good thing Lacrima translates though, because Ariel doesn't speak spanish.
"Poderoso?" She asks, looking from the trio of disgruntled men to the most important seeming one; the one indicated.
"What did he promise them?"
Jiaying Maki finds a place to sit down, "So, you said they notice you, but there's nothing resembling a reaction? So trying to burn them out wouldn't do any good right?" Because if she has an excuse to try and purify the... what, original source of the curse as best she can tell? She'd jump on it. Looking to the other three, she points and asks, "These are new, they aren't the ones that burned the manor down I think." Then she points to the lord of the manor and says, "That guy, original owner of- the curse." That works.
She then takes a moment to look the lantern over, poking at it with a hint of magic, just to see if it reacts. She's not fully sure if this is a dream, or if she's part of the dream and the philosophy is making her head hurt.
This helps her focus too, giving her a chance to focus on something small. "That was quite a while ago Ariel. If it was going to happen because of that, it would have happened sooner I think. Why are you here, though looking at that line of thought?"
Eventually, she holds the lantern at her side and begins to walk towards the three, getting right behind the vampire lord, watching for movement reacting to her, otherwise she's going to take some looks.
Lacrima frowns. "Ariel's talked to me a few times." she says softly.
"About things." she says. "Maybe something dragged her here." she says. She frowns. "I said- I think they notice me, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that- these dreams omit the important things. There should be more...people here. Servants. But. They're not. Because they're not important for this moment. For all I know, he was looking at some maid passing by."
"Remember these are like...memories? Empathic impressions...?" she asks.
"I don't think you can change anything." she says at Jiaying. "I mean. Watch."
Discussion between the men and Poderoso goes on as Lacrima yells something out in Spanish at them. Nothing happens.
"See. Nothing. "
She looks to Ariel. "I don't know what was promised. Probably wealth." she says.
Poderoso stands up and he casts his hands out- and he calls out something that both of them has heard Lacrima call out before.
'Oscuro'.
The room becomes blanketed in darkness. A dark void, surrounding them-- it blots out the walls, and stained glass. And the twilight from the windows.
All but Poderoso and the three others.
Lacrima seems complacent. Why? She clearly thinks this is a doublecross. She expecting 'Drenaje' soon-- and he touches the one in the middle on the shoulder. And he smiles.
Not the smile associated with happiness, one of malice- the kind people wear when they like hurting people.
"Apoderar!" says Poderoso. A red glow encompasses the vampire- and the man- but the flow is different from a drain. The energy is going in reverse- from Poderoso- into the man.
This does seemingly catch Lacrima by surprise- as Jiaying walks around the man. There are no reactions- but she can get super close to the affair.
"...Empower...." a pause. "He can't...."
"He ... I..." Lacrima shakes and balls her hands into fists on her lap. She's becoming agitated.
One wonders how she's even staying asleep through that state.
Eventually. The man's hair color changes, to a deep navy blue- and so does his eyes--and the same complexion-- and radiating the same familiar darkness-- but it seems much weaker- than what Lacrima or Podoeroso are. Like a lesser copy.
He turns his attention to the other two- who also demanded what's due them.
Power. Power is due them. Through a curse.
"I know what you want...." she seethes through her teeth. "I know what you're trying to have me do...." she continues- she is clearly talking to herself.
"Yes. We've met." Ariel does confirm. Theories fly about just why Ariel and Jiaying are both here, and when pressed on her presence, the unicorn can only really stare a little owlishly at Jiaying, tiny shoulder lifting in a shrug. "My mind wanders when I sleep. Maybe something pulled the both of us." Ariel also joins in that line of throught before her attention returns to watch the events through the door and bites on her lip. A wish for wealth? How many fairy tales and stories begin with those and end poorly? Ariel tries to count them in her head when the room goes dark.
"What's going on?" Her voice has dropped to a whisper, golden eyes squinting into the shadowy chamber at the quartet of figures, keeping especially quiet in hopes of remaining hidden even as Jiaying pointedly tries to get attention. If anything, Ariel actually takes a hesitant step back... When she's able to make out that smile.
She watches the process ina mix of bewilderment and fascination. She knows full well Lacrima needs to drain others to live, she has seen it before, and if Poderoso held her powers before she did, the assumption was an easy one to make. Except when everything goes in reverse.
'Empower'.
A small hand gently settles on Lacrima's shoulder the instant Ariel picks up on the other girl's body language. The squeeze is one of genuine concern when after a few beats, the unicorn's brow knots. And then comes the dawning look of an inkling of understanding.
Lacrima's dream is trying to show her something.
"... What will you do?"
Jiaying Maki looks between the three of them and says, "Norie, can you come and memorize their faces? We're going to look for them after-" she pauses, "Unless they were taken away when he went away." She then reaches out and tries to run her fingers through the head of the vampire, wondering if she can distort any of it before she tries anything like burning holes in Norie's memories. Would that work? That wouldn't be good really.
Then the room goes dark. She pulls her hands up and generates a sickly green light, fueled by her magic only. As the ritual goes on, she adds in a flat tone, "Don't even consider it Norie, that's a step down from where you're at. You can ignore this thing-".
She lingers near the ritual, trying to get a look at how it works, maybe she can find something to break in it, something that will work against the other one. Lacrima? She shrugs. "Is this a vain attempt to try and get us to seek that power? Because that won't work."
Lacrima doesn't get up. She's seething-- somewhere between anger and anxiety, not a good place to be. Maybe she's seen their faces already? Maybe she doesn't care.
The method seems like Lacrima's drain- in reverse. Infusing someone with dark energy. Cursing them? Like... a version of turning someone else into a vampire.
Poderoso moves to the next man, he goes through the same motions.
'What will you do?'
'Don't even consider it.'
"No. You're not supposed to be here. it doesn't know you're here...." she says.
"This is for me." she says.
"It's telling me. I can spread my curse." she says flatly, tonedead even more so than usual- her hands still shaking in those fists.
"or rather give it. Like a gift. Isn't that obvious!?" she suddenly spits out as her voice goes into a more proper fervor.
"Ahahahaha----" she suddenly laughs in the pew.
Yeah she's having a nervous breakdown in her dream and it isn't helping issues at all. Whether for the right reasons isn't obvious yet.
The ritual goes on. It ends. Eventually. The men are left dazed, confused and Podoeroso says something in Spanish. The men say something back. Lacrima doesn't translate. They begin to usher out the door, down the hallway. Something about this seems vile and wrong.
Eventually, it's just the group in the room.
Lacrima hasn't stopped laughing-- which turns into sobbing fairly quickly.
"Why is everything always ruined when I figure things out." she seethes in with a hard breath. She looks up at Jiaying with a sad frown and then to Ariel.
"Why would...anyone. Want this..." she suddenly asks. "To be this thing. /I/ Don't want to be this thing. /I wouldn't wish this thing on my worst enemy/." she says.
She stares at the ground. "But already...."
"It's tempting..."
"I could be with my brother again. If he was like me."
"Right...?"
Ariel... Has picked up on the drift.
Though she may be young and new, she is not oblivious. She is not blind.
Apoderar. Empower. Since Lacrima translated that one word, and she saw the ritual but once, Ariel was putting jigsaw pieces together in her head.
Seeing Poderoso repeat the process on the next two men only solidifies that.
"I don't think that's what this is..." She says softly toward Jiaying.
Ariel had said that sometimes a dream can try to tell something. This one was blatantly telling Lacrima what she can do. Just like vampires in all the stories.
Ariel cringes faintly when the laughter begins, floppy ears pinning back. But. That's not happy laughter. That doesn't sound like happy laughter in the least.
This is when Ariel grabs Lacrima. Not even half-way into the laughing fit, and much before the sobbing begins, the little unicorn puts her arms right around the other girl right then and there and tugs. There is a shoulder right there for all that sobbing.
'Creature of darkness' apparently does not matter to Ariel. There is a hurt girl right there.
"Maybe."
It's a quiet answer. There are details Ariel lacks. She knows nothing of the girl's brother. Nothing of that situation. She can't give a solid yes or no. But she can point out:
"But... If you wouldn't wish this on someone else, would you do that to him?"
Jiaying Maki looks at the creatures created, memorizing their features as best she can, intent on going through her prior notes to see what she can uncover. She draws the mist from around herself and lashes out, sending a faint grey line through the images before walking away. There's an Ariel giving Norie a hug already, which is a good first step. She also gives Norie a hug while saying, "Norie, you ran to avoid hurting him. You do not want to do this." She doesn't mention that creating another would... be hard for her to look the other way with. The mask she's wearing shifts, almost gaining the look of a guardian's visage before it fades back into the faceless look though.
Beyond that, she stays silent, not wanting to mention anything else for a number of reasons. The important one being, she doesn't have anything that would help at the moment.
Lacrima is hugged. This does help--- because her fists unfurl, but she's still shaking. And sobbing an sniffling. "I ran because I can't control myself." she says.
"Now what?" she asks. "What if I just feel lonely one night so I go out and feed... and do that. Just because." she says.
Jia's mask shifts. She notices. She wonders what that was about. All she does is sit there. In the Oratory. In a place that doesn't even exist anymore in the real world.
"Jia-chan...has been very nice. giving me a place to stay, with her father." she says. "but I wanna go home." she says.
"But this is...everytime. It's something new. Something awful. I may aswell go sleep for a hundred years and stop caring." she mutters.
Ariel does not let go. She keeps holding on and brushes at Lacrima's cheeks. Briefly, her mind wanders, to the first time they really met. It was in an alley. She had just drained a man and gave her name.
Lacrima.
Tears.
And here she is trying to brush some away. It's a feeling that leaves the unicorn with a slight stinging pang inside. She looks to Jiaying when further explanation is given. "That was kind." Ariel confirms.
"But running from a problem..." Or hiding and trying to sleep it off anyway, "Doesn't make it go away."
Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says, "You don't want to sit sleeping for 100 years, sealed away either-" she shifts before continuing, "Trust me on that." She looks to Ariel after and asks, "Tears?" Trying to figure out why she said that word, she knows that's what the name means, she knows that's what's happening. But that's just a touch too weird.
Looking to Norie, she hesitates before asking, "What about..." she scowls, "I don't know." She eventually admits, shrugging and staying where she's at. It's a dream, this isn't too bad-.
As far as dreams go. There's worse places to be. It's intensely quiet now. The important thing she was forced to dream about happened. She knows... something new. She wishes she didn't. But she does now anyways.
"I was going to brainwash my brother." she says. "To make him forget." she says.
"This is much worse." she says.
"This is worse than being able to do that." she says.
"I don't even know if it's permanent." she says.
"I'd need to /do it/ to find out."
She sniffs. Her tears are purple. They're always purple. Her color is purple. That may or may not mean anything.
Maybe it's just a dark, sad depressing color.
"I'm...done. For now." she says.
A pause. "I dunno. I don't hurt you guys by waking up. Do I?" she asks cautiously. She still sniffs.
It doesn't matter what color they are, Ariel silently dabs them away. "I don't think you should try it." It's a gentle note of her opinion on that matter. But that's the thing about knowledge, isn't it? Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
"Probably not. If you wake up we should go back to our own dreams, or wake up, too." There is a thin smile that tugs at the corner of her lips.
Mainly because Norie asked that simple question.
Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says, "Some things are best left undiscovered. I wouldn't test it, even in a lab experiment." She says that last one while looking hard at Norie for a moment. The question from Norie gets a light shrug, "I don't know. I've never been pulled into someone else's dreams." There's a beat before she asks, "I still want to know how we ended up here... surely there's more to it right?"
She scowls, "Though I guess if that were true... I could thi- anyway."
Lacrima frowns and looks between the two. "Maybe because something knew what I was going to learn. And maybe wanted to make sure someone knew. So. It wasn't a secret. I mean. This hasn't happened before. And this is..."
"It's /awful/." she says.
"Could you imagine... if you didn't know.. Jia...?" she asks quietly.
She frowns and looks over to Ariel. "Thank you." she says quietly. "But... just. I need to go. Think now. Don't worry. I won't. Leave the apartment Jia. Call me.. when you can?" she asks hopefully.
And then...
She wakes up.
And the dream collapses.
Perhaps with a WHUMP, yes.
Whatever the reasons were exactly will probably be a mystery- at least to Ariel. Whatever speculatoin may come, she simply sighs quietly. She shakes her head when thanked. There's no need for it.
But that's it. It's time to wake up. "Take care of her, okay?" That's to Jiaying. Ariel doesn't exactly have anyone's number here or even know where to find Lacrima. The best she can do is leave that to Maki.
The dream collapses. There is a whump. Ariel's bedmate has rolled over. Lucky now takes up the whole futon.
Which means Ariel is now face down on the floor with a whining little bleeeeeaaat.