Naru's dreams have likely been happier, of late. More settled, certainly. And there has not been any sign of Witches in them for several weeks, or at least not the sort that hold active conversation. It's enough to perhaps make her start thinking that Hana and the nightmares are linked- that you can't have one without the other.
This assumption is proved very definitely false when, one night shortly after New Year's, Naru falls asleep and finds herself standing atop a rooftop. The nighttime city around her is unfamiliar- or at least, it's not Tokyo as seen from either the ECFH or Hana's old apartment. It may or may not be a real place. It feels real, though.
And Hana is there, standing at the edge of the rooftop, her petite form, as always, clad in pure white, her long, straight black hair rustling in the cool breeze as her kaleidoscope eyes gaze down at the moving lights and bustling life beneath her. She's still, almost statue-like, and seems to have a faint luminescence about her in the moonlight. As if she's more ghost than solid, though she lacks any transparency.
The distinction between Witches in Naru's dreams and Witches that hold active conversation is a valid one, but there is no denying that her dreams have been more settled. They aren't all good, by any stretch of the imagination, but better.
One might argue that appearing on a rooftop is not actually a /good/ dream for Naru and the sharp inhalation that comes with abruptly finding herself very high and not in a building is one of distress. She automatically takes a few steps back, to put herself in the middle of the rooftop, to quell the rising panic and then looks over.
Hana. Standing at the edge, as poised and calm as ever. It is a few slow breaths before Naru comes nearer to where Hana is, approaching from the side, rather than directly behind her, and not coming anywhere near the edge.
Luckily for Naru, the rooftop is a large once- although there is nothing to prevent one from stepping over the edge, there is plenty of real-estate to occupy which does not put one even remotely near that edge. Hana, it seems, has no such fears- although she's hardly hanging over the edge, she's standing at it.
This changes as she seems to become aware of Naru's presence, though. She turns, those whirling, multi-colored eyes finding the teenage girl approaching her. She does not smile, her expression that same doll-like, neutral passivity that so seems to define her interaction with the world. But she tips her head slightly in a greeting which only seems mildly condescending.
"Little Bird. I was wondering when you might find me again." She says, her voice calm, low, but easily heard. "The space of dreams is wild and not easily navigated, even for one such as I."
Standing at it is still entirely too close to hanging off it for Naru's psyche, but Hana turns and Naru can pause a reasonable distance from the edge.
Naru's smile is warm, welcoming. "Hello Hana. I had wondered if I would see you again, truthfully." She nods at the mention of the challenge of dream space. "I had been thinking of you, and your art, of late. Wondering how you were."
"I continue to exist. I suspect that is the most I can hope for, at present." Hana steps away from the edge, towards Naru, the heels on her white leather boots clicking softly on the rooftop.
She gestures around them. "Hong Kong. I lived here for several years, before coming to Tokyo last year. This is where I first met Madison, and first began to formulate my ultimate goals. Although it is.. less significant than Tokyo, in terms of magical focus, it holds a place in my heart, because of that." Funny, to hear a creature like her speak of having a 'heart'.
She pauses just in front of Naru. She isn't much taller than the teen girl, but her boots are heeled as mentioned. She has a way of looming, despite the only-slight actual difference in heights. "In truth, you are not unwelcome. There is a message.. perhaps a warning that I wish to convey."
"It is not insignificant, to continue to exist." Naru points out as she watches Hana approach closer. Her attention goes out over the city, looking it over more closely now that she has some context for it. "I have often wondered about Tokyo's magical focus. It's fascinating to hear of other places, and how other places, near and far from Tokyo hold significance to people." She is thoughtful a moment. "I would like to travel more. A life goal, perhaps."
When one is Naru-sized, there is little of the world that does not loom over you in a literal sense. To have Hana do so in a figurative sense doesn't seem to phase Naru even a little. "Oh? Do you have anyone in specific you would like me to pass this on to?"
"You are correct. Not insignificant. But if mere existence is the sum of your aspirations, then you are a sad creature indeed." Hana replies placidly. "Tokyo is a focus. It is the current focus. It is not the only focus, nor has it always been the primary focus. Magic exists the world over, and it shifts like the wind. There is an old saying I have come to know, and to believe in the veracity of. "Power draws power." It starts small, but once a powerful being or object makes a place its home, it draws others, which in turn draw others. A positive feedback loop that ends up drawing the attenion of all those sensitive to magic in the world."
"This is what has happened in Tokyo. But it will not always be so, and has not always been so." She pauses. "This has no particular relevance to my purpose. Forgive me for the tangent."
"No." She says, with regards to her warning. "For I care not for anyone but myself. But you are here, and I find you an amusing distraction. So I shall warn you."
She pauses again, then after a moment, continues. "My power is growing. Soon it will peak. Others.. less evolved, of my kind, will be drawn to it. I do not know why this happens, but I have observed it in the past and I believe it will happen again."
"Witches will return to Tokyo, probably in greater numbers than you have seen in some time. Possibly more powerful than you have experienced, at least since the last time I was awake. They are drawn to my power like moths to a flame, though I do not think they know why any more than I do."
"Mere existance is a rather low bar." Naru agrees with a flicker of a smirk. She's quiet then, listening to Hana's theories on the consolidation of power, and why, exactly, it is currently in Tokyo. There's a soft little mmm as Naru files that away in the myriad of thoughts and opinions and theories that she keeps track of.
The idea of being nothing more than an 'amusing distraction' doesn't seem to give Naru pause either. She's been called such before, and inevitably she will be again.
Naru considers Hana at the rightful declaration that her power is growing, this is no surprise. She quirks her head at the mention of attracting other Witches. "Hunh."
"I suspect that to properly protray an image of confidence, I am not supposed to admit the depths of my ignorance, but you are the only Witch I've ever met." Naru points out with a nod. "I understand that you are unique, but personally the bar on both 'more than I've seen' and 'more powerful' is rather low, once you are removed from the tally." There's a thoughtful pause. "I appreciate the warning, however."
No surprise indeed- just because Madison hasn't been blowing up any shopping districts the past few weeks doesn't mean that she hasn't been culling the negative energy required for Hana's rebirth in some other less flashy way. Plus, there is the simple truth that a Grief Seed will draw power all on its own, from the environment. The harvesting only makes it occur faster.
"My rebirth is inevitable." Hana says, in a tone which conveys no sense of excitement or anticipation. Merely stating a fact. "When it occurs, I will be able to bend the will of lesser creatures to suit my purpose. Until it does.. I have no such control. They will do as they wish, which often amounts to 'feed.' While I shall continue on no matter what happens to you, or anyone else, I have enjoyed our brief conversations enough to feel justified in giving you the warning."
"Be on your toes, if you wish to survive. When I am able to truly effect the world again, I will restore the proper balance." What, exactly, that balance is, and how it might differ from the norm Naru is used to... well. That remains unsaid.
"It is." Naru agrees simply on the inevitability of Hana's rebirth and her expression doesn't change as she tucks away the detail of Hana's control of other witches into her knowledge. Interesting.
"I try and be aware." Naru nods. "I am fond of my continued survival, and very familiar with being an ongoing target. They prefer to feed on the same things you do, do they not? Fear, hopelessness, despair?"
'Control' is not exactly the right word- Hana cannot force a Witch to do as she bids, cannot brainwash or make one into her puppet. Rather, it is more like being the alpha of a wolf pack. Lesser Witches seem to recognize her power and bow to it out of some form of instinct, some recognition of a greater repesentative of their own kind. It is strong, but it is never a guarantee- not that she'd admit that to Naru, of course.
"Human emotion sustains Witches, yes. In that we are no different. Negative emotions are more powerful. Or perhaps, more intense and easier to provoke, would be a better way of putting it. They do tend to be what Witches instinctively promote, in order to feed upon, yes."
"I didn't realize that positive emotions were useful at all." Naru comments thoughtfully. "Interesting. Heartening, in a sense, truthfully. They are far easier to provoke, everyone has buttons. Some are very obvious, some are far more sbutle to produce intense reaction."
"How did you learn to use your art for more than just decoration?" Naru asks after a silent pause.
"They often are not." Hana says, dismissively. "Positive emotions are too mercurial, too unpredictable. They require too much energy input to produce in the necessary quantities. There is a reason things are as they are, Little Bird, regardless of what we might wish for."
A faintly quirked brow is the response to Naru's question. "Art is always more than just decoration. True art, anyway." Hana says, in an infuriating non-answer.
"No, I agree with you and misspoke. Positive is hard to reliably get the intensity that I can imagine you would need. Negative is easier to push buttons and find. Positive emotions have a tendancy to be fragile, shattered in a heartbeat." Naru corrects herself calmly.
"Now you sound like every art teacher I've ever had." Naru quips with a dry little smirk. "They, however, are speaking of emotional depth, and I cannot ask them after magical art."
"Yes." Hana merely agrees with Naru's clarification, with a faint inclination of her head.
To the latter, she merely shrugs. "That means you have had good teachers. As for magical art... it is much the same as regular art. You impose your vision of reality upon others. The only difference is whether it is simply on a canvas, or whether you can give it shape in a more.. tangible way."
"I have had good teachers." Naru agrees before they get to a more detailed conversation. Even if her magic and Hana's magic have very little common ground from origin, there are few enough magical artists around.
Naru is thoughtful. "Both, to differing degrees." She admits after a moment. "Although I am restricted to canvas.. or paper most of the time. From there it can be given more depth, but it starts there."
"Are you sure?" A simple question from Hana, but a significant one. Her gaze is steady- or as steady as it can be, with all the colors of a thousand rainbows constantly circulating behind her irises.
"Or have you simply neglected to try other ways because that is what you are used to? Because that's what makes sense? Sometimes the only things stopping us are our pre-conceptions, Little Bird."
"No." Naru answers that simply, but there's no sheepish admission in her tone. No ducking away from the sort of question that a teacher might ask.
"Since we talked earlier, I have tried." Naru replies, giving form to her confidence. "I'm not sure, you planted that doubt, but it feels like I can form the idea, think of how one might will it, but flexing that will results in nothing. Like trying to lift a paralysed limb, I can't make the nerves fire to move the muscles. It makes sense, but I can't seem to make it happen."
"Perhaps you have not found the right muscles to flex." Hana says, with a faint shrug. Her apparent lack of concern may come off as dismissive, and in a way it is- while she finds talking to Naru a sometimes-pleasant distraction, she feels no obligation or even true desire to help. But at least she does answer.
"By your own admission, you are new to your power. One does not conquor such things in a day, or a week, or even a year, Little Bird. I would wager that those who have truly tested and know the limits of their power are few and far between. Most are not brave enough."
"If you are brave enough, and do not flinch from things simply because you are not 'supposed' to do them, then there may yet be much for you to discover."
"That is entirely possible." Naru nods in quietly agreement. "On all counts. I am new to my powers." She takes a slow breath, quiet and deliberate. "I suspect you are right about those who know the full measure, edge of edge, of their skills. Sometimes it is a matter of bravery. Sometimes a matter of deliberate choice. Sometimes, oft times I suspect, they have not realized that they have grown and their power with it."
Naru smiles a touch at the mention of her being brave. And at the idea of rejecting 'supposed' to. "Isn't that what all magic is? Rejecting mundane reality and enforcing our own upon the world?"
"In a way. But it is a mistake to consider 'mundane reality' a thing, anyway." Hana says, still standing still, almost unnaturally so, though her eyes move faintly, tracking over Naru. "Reality is simply reality. Just because a large portion of the populace does not experience it in its full measure does not make one perception more true than the other. The view does not cease to exist simply because most people cannot see the window."
"I am speaking more of self-imposed limits. People often feel very strongly, due to upbringing, influence of others, or even their own psychology that certain things should or should not be done. Sometimes they have legitimate reasons. But legitimate reasons or not, it is always those who can simply push past such limits, who want to see what they can do without worrying about what they have been told is right or wrong- these are the ones who go the farthest, and who discover the most."
"I suspect that my perspective as quite recently having been a mundane skews me towards a touch more sympathy for them." Naru comments mildly, thoughtfully. "There are philosophical branches who speculate on if the view really /does/ vanish, or change if no one is there to watch it, but that is perhaps a touch more theoretical thought experiment than even I'm willing to entertain."
Naru is quiet as she is advised to push past her pre conceived notions of right and wrong, of what is possible. "The ones who dare to dream big, and then find a way to make those dreams a reality." She lets her attention flicker around them both, to the dreamscape that they're both in.
"Yes." Hana says simply. "Much is made of morality.. of the 'right thing to do', and of good and evil." She pauses, turning her head and looking out over the city, her eerily-perfect face in profile for just a moment. "I do not believe these things exist. At least, not in the objective sense they are often portrayed."
She turns her otherworldly, intense eyes back upon Naru. "I have never met a being powerful enough that I would let them dictate morality to me. I have never met a god. It is up to each of us to decide what is 'right' and what is 'wrong'. There is no otherworldly council sitting in judgement."
A soft breath. "That is not to say that one may do whatever one wishes without consequence. There are always consequences. Understanding that, and being prepared for them.. this is part of what makes one powerful. Holding to one's convictions, to the right you define. That is true power. And until you have the ability to do so, your full potential will never be revealed."
"I have never felt that it is a binary scale." Naru comments quietly. "So often it is presented as a zero sum game, that if something, or someone, is not wholely upon the good side, however that is defined, they are evil and vice verse." She shakes her head a little.
Naru watches Hana, rather than the city. It is the woman who fascinates her, and not the city that holds no place in her heart.
"Having the confidence to make that choice, and be solid in it." Naru considers and then shakes her head a little. "It is truly powerful. There are always consequences, as you say. Always, even if one sticks to what society as a whole says is 'good', there are consequences for those actions, and they are not always desirable."
"Yes. This is because society is flawed." Hana's eyes sweep down, to the lights flowing below, the millions of people bustling in the city that stretches to the horizon. Are they really viewing Hong Kong, as it is on this night? Or is this merely a memory, summoned from Hana's mind? It's impossible to tell. "Do not mistake me for some great visionary leader, Little Bird. All societies are flawed. I am not suggesting I could come up with a universally fair system. I do not think such a thing exists."
"That is why I long ago decided to pursue the vision of reality which is most pleasing to me, personally. Attempting to conform to the expectations of others.." A brief, distasteful twist of her mouth. "Well. I suppose there is some safety in it, for those who do not have the strength to do otherwise. But I have been granted power- by chance, by mistake, and by underestimation. I will keep grasping, as long and as hard as I can, until I either attain the reality I seek, or until I am destroyed."
Her eyes turn to Naru once more. "So far, I have proven very hard to destroy."
"The flaws are part of what makes it interesting." Naru lets her gaze follow Hana's, out over the night city, watching people scurry about below, real or imagined, going about their lives. Hurrying home, or heading to a club, stopping on the street to fight with their boyfriend, pleading with a child to hurry up already. "To peek into the crevices, to see how people adapt, integrate work with the inherent unfairness of it all, that's fascinating."
Naru's attention settles upon Hana again and there's a smile. "You are you, and you enforce your reality. You /are/ hard to destroy, in so many ways. That too, is fascinating."
"You speak as one who has never known true hardship, Little Bird." Hana says, with no condemnation in her voice. Whether that makes it better or worse, Naru will have to decide. "I highly doubt the homeless man in the gutter, or the abused child think it is 'interesting'. Overcoming that adversity.. I suppose. It is always enlightening to see what people to when they have no other choice."
"I do." Naru nods in agreement, no shame in her voice, no self recrimination at her own privledge. Hana is not the first to tell her so, and no doubt will not be the last. "I have that luxury, to be able to view such things from the outside and not from within, and I know it to be a luxury. That is my reality." She pauses there, thoughtful again and then nods. "Once one accepts that society /is/ flawed, and when one has the luxury of being able to observe, then yes. It is enlightening. And interesting. To ignore that is to throw away the opportunity provided by that luxury."
"An interesting opinion." Hana says, her tone, as ever void of any inflection to indicate whether she approves or not. In many ways, talking to her is like talking to an internal judge- there is never any condemnation, nor any congratulation. Simply statements, of fact or belief, delivered in an even, unhurried tone. As if the world, despite her claims, holds no interest for her. "If there is opportunity in such privledge, then there is also responsibility. Why are you worthy of such a lofty perch, when others suffer so much, except that you might work to better the world you observe?"
"And yet.. what reward awaits if you do so? Must there be one?" A faint lift of her shoulders. "I have already said I do not believe we are being judged. In the end, your own satisfaction is all that matters. When you lay dying, at the end of your days, will you look back on what you have wrought and think, 'I did well?' In truth, that is the only goal really worth pursuing."
Perhaps that is why Naru enjoys her conversations with Hana, there is discussion and debate and a lack of judgement one way or another, by and large. Statements made, opinions declared, but a lack of judgement.
"Why indeed. Luck? Skill? Determination? Some combination therein?" Naru agrees with a nod. "There is responsibility. You say that to be able to reflect on one's life with pride and a sense of accomplishent is the only goal really worth pursuing, I would argue that such a goal is the reward."
"I do not see any difference." Hana says simply. "I work for what I feel is right. I define 'right' as I believe it to be, and I toil to make that reality." A brief shrug of her shoulders. "I do not know if I shall succeed. But I will not stop trying, because that is all that I am. Without purpose, I am nothing."
She looks out over the city again. "I must go, Little Bird. The time approaches swiftly when I shall look upon the world with my own eyes again. Perhaps we shall meet again, then. And not in dreams."
And then she is simply gone.