Norie's Dreamscape is a small patch of mostly dead grass that appears to be lit up like a spotlight in a wide area- though there's no source of light above- and outside of the small 30 foot radius spot- there appears to be nothing- just black and non-existance. The grass looks a little long, and a little unkempt.
Sitting in the middle are four trelis that hold up some sort of elegant canopy that appears to be made of wood and decorated in the typical spanish style of elegant curved metal vines along the edges and lined with wooden slats. Large, dead almost tentacle like vines grow up the side and around the trelis, making for some unerving protection from above. If you could even call it that. Smaller plants line the edges- unidentifable plants and flowers that bloom at the edges. At the center is a small circular path with which a bench sits in the middle, surrounded by two large plants that end in long stalks and two rather large flowers that seem to be.. alive. Probably the only living plant here.
Overall, a pretty creepy and dour place.
Of course, Ariel would be use to this now. It's the same place everytime Lacrima dreams. It looks similar, but- not quite- to the same sort of garden that Ariel and Jiaying and herself woke up in- just- there's nothing beyond the 'light' here- if it could even be called that. Lacrima opens her eyes on the bench. She's always on the bench, when she wakes up here. Hands placed down to either side of her- in that elegant dress that only exists in real life now because she bought something like it.
She frowns and sighs a bit- as she slides to the right to make room for the usual visitor- that may or may not come. She always waits a bit before she begins talking to herself. Ariel has caught her talking to herself at least once before. Some sort of argument it sounded like she was having with herself.
Which is odd because there was no other voice in the area. But she hasn't started yet tonight.
She sighs and places her hands in front of her, one folded across the other against her chest.
And the usual visitor comes. Ariel must have either been waiting or in the relative area of that foggy and fantastic realm between sleep and wakefulness, when Lacrima drifted off enough for the unicorn to enter. She is, by now, a little less put off by the dour scenery, than she was the first time coming.
As soon as room is made on the bench... There she is. Just a slight plop of light weight on the seat, Lucky already curling around ankles and bare feet, as the unicorn-girl swishes her tail out of the way to sit.
"Hi~."
Cheery as ever no matter what the circumstances, here she is, hands folding together on her lap, lips tugging into a sheepish grin. She didn't catch the girl talking to herself this time- that was a little awkward, last time. Though the smile mellows slightly at the sigh. "Bad time?"
Lacrima ahs. There she is.
Really. Ariel here is much better than being here alone. or talking to herself. But when you have a stupid internal voice you talk a lot. She head tilts. "Hello Ariel....-chan." she says silently. It always takes her time to get used to that. Chan.
Like she actually has close friends. meh.
She head tilts. "How are you?" she asks softly. Because that's polite.
"I'm not taking you from anything am I?" she asks curiously.
"Who was..." she says. "That other. In Naru's dream. Not Kunzite. The... one that looks like a Samurai." she says.
"Just Ariel is fine, really." Comes her initial response. Being non-native from Japan, in spite how how normally formal and polite she can be, grammar-wise, in more personal interactions she doesn't seem to mind dropping honorifics in one-on-one moments.
"I'm alright." She then follows up. "Sleep has been a little ah... Well not too bad lately. Yourself?" Of course she asks with a genuine and earnest care, one floppy ear pricking up, before the girl shakes her head. "I wasn't doing anything important tonight, I thought I'd come see how you were doing." Added, before her lips purse at Lacrima's next question. The samurai in red. "That was Akashimaru. She's a friend of mine. She's helping me out with some things, and I try to help her out when I can."
Lacrima head tilts. "She seems to be some sort of dream traveler like you? On some sort of horse." she says. "I can't travel dreams. Just stay in my own. That must be intresting." she says.
"Kunzite seems to know her. But I try not to bother Kunzite too much." she says. "I don't think he likes me too much, but I don't blame him." she says.
She head tilts. "Naru said she's not having nightmares anymore. At least. Last I asked." she says. "I checked her out for external dark influences but found nothing. I suggested she get someone who can a 'real' scan of her while she's sleeping and see if anything pops up then." she says.
"But that's all I can do." she says.
She sighs a bit.
"I haven't... flipped out. And tried to turn anyone yet." she says quietly. "I haven't felt a--- strong? Temptation to do it. But it is there. Sometimes." she says quietly.
She sighs a bit. "No other. Dreams like that. I used to have them often. But that was when I needed to know a lot of stuff. How to feed. And things. Like that." she says quietly.
"How to cast spells. That sort of thing." she mutters.
Lacrima hits the nail on the head. Though Ariel furrows her brow at something tangentially related. "Her horse is... Well I guess he's convenient for her." She muses, tail flicking absently. "You may not be able to on your own, but I appreciate that you came with us. You could have said no." She does note, that smile returning by fractional degrees. Ah but then Kunzite comes up. "I think they knew each other before I met either of them. He's ah... Well he's always been nice to me, I think he just shows it differently than most people are used to. Maybe it's not like how you think?" She ventures.
Ariel nods. "She told me the same. I'm still trying to keep an eye on her a bit, when I can but." But." Ah there's that grin again, "I'm pretty sure she appreciates you doing what you can." Topic however shifts again, and now she fidgets, thumbs twiddling as topas eyes glance down at her lap. She remembers the first time she had come across Lacrima feeding. "Mmm. Do you think it means you're more in control?" Hopeful there. "... For what it's worth I never throught you were bad. You're worried about what can happen because of your curse, right?" Asked somberly. ""You never deemed like you've wanted to hurt anyone."
Lacrima frowns. "Well." she says. "He kinda. Tried to help me. But I lost control of my... self. When he did. And I almost drained him too much. Because he was sort of feeding me what I 'feed off of' from people in it's direct form." she mutters. "Nothing else with it-- just..." she sighs.
"I drain. Peoples... sense of self? I guess because I have none of my own if I don't feed." she says quietly.
"Then I kind of. Drained. Um. Some guy. Mamoru? Who's important to him. But I didn't know that. He was just some guy not paying attention to anything around him while he was alone in the middle of nowhere at night, playing Pokemon GO so he was an easy target." she says with a sigh.
She shakes her head and sighs.
"No, I don't think I'm any more in control then I was." she says. "It's hard. Just."
"I haven't felt... a need. To do it yet. Very bad." she says quietly.
She frowns. "I don't /want/ to hurt anyone. But I need to. Because I need to 'eat'." she says.
This is much more detail than Ariel had known before. She was aware Lacrima had to feed off others to sustain herself. She had seen her do it before, even. But when she hears that the girl drains people of their sense of self, it maker her frown. There is a moment, a sidelong glance. A beat where she wonders whether or not it is rude to ask thr question on her mind. She decides it's better to ask and then beg forgiveness after, if it brings insult.
"Do they... Get it back?" A pure curiosity there, no judgement, nor fear. Lacrima COULD present a very real threat and Ariel knows it, but it's just easier for the girl to... Ignore that. For now, at least. But then she turns her head to better face the girl and stare.
"Ah... Mamoru?" She repeats, blanching slightly. She's not privy to the relationship between the Earth Prince and his chief general, but she is not blind. "Ah those two care about each other a lot. I'm not surprised that would um. Upset him." That is probably putting it delicately.
This is when Ariel makes contact again. Just a slight touch; hand setting upon the back of Lacrima's own hand, gentle and comforting. "I know you don't want to."
Lacrima blinks. "Do they... get it back? I don't know." she says. "I think so. I mean. There's been no. Permenant? Damage? From me feeding from anyone. They always recover in... well I guess It depends. How badly I feed. Usually a day." she says.
"But...no one's. Complained of any after effects. That have let me feed willingly." she says.
"Amu-chan seems perfectly fine. Just tired after I drain her." she says.
She head tilts and frowns. "Yeah he said... 'Not him. Never him.'" she says. "or something like that. It's been. A couple months." she says quietly.
She frowns. "I just wish things would stop getting bad. It's like..."
"Everytime I find a new baseline for 'normal'... something I can... live with..." she says. "Something new messes it up. I hate it." she says sourly.
She turns a bit sideyed to Ariel.
"Where do you come from anyway?" she asks.
"I mean. Did a Unicorn. Bite you. Or something?"
No apparent permanent or lingering damage. That answers Ariel well enough, earning a slow and understanding nod. As best as she can understand, anyway. Usually a day to recover.
This doesn't stop the light squeeze to Lacrima's hand. "Maybe I can talk to him for you, if you like." She does offer, "But I won't if you don't want me to."
Moving on though, Ariel keeps quiet for a beat longer. That... Sounds like MAYBE long enough for Kunzite to have cooled down. Maybe. Hopefully.
She can dream.
Then she sighs. The fact of the matter is she doesn't know what to DO or how to actually help. And it visibly makes her wilt where she sits. She is not so presumptuous as to start flinging ideas nor solutions where she genuinely has none to give save for something small and selfless. "Well... If it will help, and you ever need to. I wouldn't mind if you..." She leaves the rest unsaid. It's Lacrima's question that halts her. Because now she's staring. "Bitten by wha."
The look of utter befuddlement is priceless, really. But she rallies. "N-no! Oh no, I wasn't bitten. Ah. I am a unicorn." The answer is as simple as that. "It's just how I was born."
Lacrima blinks. "You can talk to him.. if you want. I dunno if it'll change anything really." she says quietly. "I dunno if they're upset or not. I know Mamoru had no problems with me going to one of his rooftop party things..." she says. "I dunno even know if they're regular, at least." she says.
She frowns a bit and bites her lip as she listens and then... she stammers and---
"Oh..."
"Oh!" she says. "I didn't know. Usually...Unicorns. Look different. Like Horses. But. With a horn...in pictures...and books." she suddenly says quietly. "M-my bad." she insists.
She sighs- she doesn't Squeeze hands back. But she does try to hold. Which is better than she usually gives back.
"W..what was that. You were trying to say?" she asks.
Mentally Ariel files away a note to approach Kunzite. How that goes, only the actual conversation will tell. Here's hoping she doesn't catch him in the middle of one of his nightmare fuel horror-terror tier dreams. But her focus is now on something else. Lacrima hasn't pulled away from her hand. So Ariel's other hand joins it. There is much light squeezing as she huffs, giving her tail another flick behind her.
"Oh don't say something like that around my mom." She notes. "She gets really angry when people think we're horses." Pointed out, but then she shakes her head, lips pulling into a thin smile. "It's okay!" She has clearly taken no offense herself, and that's what matters in the moment.
"I'm actually still trying to get used to a lot in the waking world- um. I was born in a dream, so that's why it's kind of easy for me to move around in them." And that might explain much. Though when pressed to finish her line of thought, the smile she gives is infinitely more sheepish. "W-well! I just thought if an emergency came up, or if you needed someone else to feed... Being tired is a small price to pay if it'll help even just a little."
Lacrima head tilts a bit. "Ah...okay then. I'll remember. That." she says. In order to correct people. Yup. She head tilts. "You were born in a dream? That sounds really strange." she says. She squints a bit. She wonders the implications of that.
She purses her lips. "Ah.." she says. "I appreciate the offer. But. It is ... unlikely. I'll be able to contact anyone in the case of an emergency. If it's an emergency, I'm already starting to loose myself and after that point- I won't... really be rational. Or know what I'm doing. I don't even remember what I do when it's that bad." she says softly.
"It's easier if I have people for regular feedings that don't mind it. I have one... Amu-chan." she says quietly.
"I don't expect anyone else to want to do that. I'm just glad that.... everyone agreed not to come after me for that one." she says. "Unlike the last person who let me feed willingly." she says quietly.
"I really don't mind." Ariel says again, earnestly. But then backs up a bit at the squint. "Wh-what? What is it?"
Ariel crosses her eyes, trying to look at herself. "Do I have something stuck on my horn?"
Whatever any implications could be, she catches none of them, and is left trying REALLY HARD to look up at the tip of her horn. Her attention comes back to the conversation though. "Huh..."
Ariel knows Amu. But more importantly, her brow knots. "What about the last person?"
Lacrima frowns. "Sachiko." she says. "Sachi-chan." she says. She sort of grows incredibly uncomfortable and /everything/ in the dream wilts horribly more at the same time- even the two only 'living' plants in the garden even that circle the bench.
"She was... a friend. Who was willing to let me feed from her. And she was one of the only ones to dance with me." she says quietly.
"But..Kukai. Didn't like that. And despite what...Sachiko wanted. He still tried to make me stop." she says.
"---and... he and.. someone.. with purifiying attacks, attacked me when I went to go feed from her. Because they didn't want me to. Despite her yelling no the whole time..."
"...and I don't...think..or act...rationally...under purification.. and I kind of...drained her.. into a coma...." she mutters.
"I'm an idiot." she says quietly. "I tried to stop but I couldn't because... because of that... and... just...Kukai. Yelling at me....just..." she clenches her teeth a moment.
That is... Not a pleasant story. In fact the more Ariel hears, the more she frowns. Certainly it's just Lacrima's side to it, there are probably others, but Ariel has no reason to believe, right now, that she's being lied to or that truth is being onscured in anyway. But she can't exactly say anything in response. She doesn't know where to begin.
Sigh.
Lacrima clenches teeth. Ariel just squeezes her hands.
Lacrima frowns a bit. Ariel says nothing. Bad things continue to happen to the dreamscape. Literarly, one of the Trelises snap in two causing the roof to suddenly slant at an angle with a loud thud and dead, tentacle vines to snap in twain.
"You should. Probably go. I'm obviously not well right now. And ... rather. You go. Than myself become irrational or something because of. This." she says quietly.
Before Ariel can protest....
Well she's shunted out of the dream. Gently. Not by force persay. But rather. Lacrima forces herself awake and the dream ends for now.
There's other things to do in the dead of night besides dream. Right?...
Right?