The Prince of Dreams has not moved since the terrible events of the last few days. Remaining sequestered in the well furnished but slightly run down guest room of Lacrima's dream manor, he has largely kept to himself and not come out, brooding where he sits in the plush confines of a comfortable, albeit slightly dusty, chair.
He spends his time with his chin propped on his knuckles, staring at the face of an ornate pocket watch that he occasionally flips open and closed. Gone are the dark pattern to his clothes, replaced with brighter whites and reds, and gone is the opera mask now, as he largely ruminates over his actions and their repurcussions.
Lacrima's dreamscape is an old castle sitting in a dense woods. It's based off the memories of Poderoso's castle-- the base for-- well the old base- for Lacrima's powers-- but Lacrima's own control over herself granted her more control over it, and what you have is a grey stoned, manor, in an eternal sunset, with a clear sky-- that time of day where the sun is just setting... but you can see the stars too.
The highest tower has stained glass windows. It's overflooded with rose vines up to the top after a fight here in recent times. Lacrima opted to let Mamoru's roses remain. She likes them. It helps her feel safer here.
The interior is... old and run down but not 'neglected' either. Things look old, creaky, hastily patched together and maybe not quite clean enough in the further reaches when it comes to dust.
Lacrima has brought Riley here, since Riley wished to speak to the Prince of Nightmares/Dreams.
While walking, she says. "This is my Dreamscape. I ask you please.... be as civil as possible." she says through seethed teeth as she bites her lip. She gently reaches the Guest Room she's been letting the Prince stay as she opens it, and motions her inside. The Room has a bed, a desk, a chair-- all very old and antique victorian style.
"You have a visitor." she tries to say a little brightly.
She knows this isn't gonna be a happy visit. She tries her best. "I'll go get donuts." she says as she walks off back down the hallway the other way. Donuts. In a dream!? Yes.
Whump. Whumpwhump...
Lacrima would have found Riley deep in her own dream, the girl standing in what looked like a half abandoned old timey gym. At first, the vampire's voice didn't seem to get much of a reaction from the girl, Riley continuing to land punch after punch on the brown leather wrapped heavy bag, dust flying from it and dancing as it was trapped in the warm summertime rays filtering through the the murky windows.
Whump! Whumpwhumpwhump! Whump! CLANG!... THUD...
The thing broke free from its chains, slamming to the floor with its surface smoking and smouldering. Riley just stared at it, taking deep and rapid breaths before finally turning around, pulling off a pair of antique boxing gloves and tossing them hard against the floor.
"Take me to that son of a bitch."
All the way there, Riley kept mostly quiet, only answering questions with a simple grunt or nod until they climbed all the way to the tower. She looked as though she might have simply booted the door clean off its hinges and stormed in had Lacrima not opened it and told her to be civil. Instead she just walked up to him, smoke and flame rising from her in a barely controlled rage as she stopped short, snarling through clenched teeth.
"My friend is dead because of you. We are all *fucked* because of you. Why. Why the hell did you do it?! Why!?"
A visitor for the Prince? Certainlyhe could not say he was expecting anyone, and for a moment the young-looking man barely stirs in his seat. Only his eyes flick upwards as Lacrima opens the door.
And then... Then Riley.
Slowly the prince sits himself up, the creak of the old chair quietly whining under his weight as he folds his hands on his lap and meets the girl's gaze.
"Because I was a heartless fool." He replies, level and calm in the face of the storm that is Riley Hunter's anger.
Lacrima returns with an old, clean- but tarnished with age silver tray on which lays a mountain of vanilla cake donuts with white frosting and chocolate sprinkles. There's also a pitcher of milk, and one of lemonade on there, and glasses. She places the tray down just as Riley is getting into the beef.
"Ariel is not dead." she says. Shakenly. A little. She has to hope. Hope with everything she has that's she right.
"She's keeping the seal shut until we can go back there." she says. "I dunno, I need to speak to Akashimaru. There has to be something even the Eater of Dreams fears." she says quietly.
She smooths out her dress and has a seat on the bed as she lets Riley get her frustrations out as she closes her eyes with a sigh.
Riley heard Lacrima's voice, but the girl was barely able to register it. To her it sounded almost as if it was a long way away, as if Lacrima was calling to her from another room or from a long distance down an endless hallway. "You think that is some good fuckin' excuse!? Do you!? I am about five seconds away from shovin' that cane of yours up your ass, frying you up real good and turning you into a corn dog!"
As she shouted, her form fully burst into flames, her clothes smoldering and burning away to reveal her Prism Keeper form, her cape billowing out behind her, yet, something was wrong. It wasn't a smooth transition in the slightest as compared to her usual "suit up", it was more akin to if someone had doused the girl in petrol and lit a match. Fortunately, her rather ferocious form change hadn't caught the room alight any.
"How the fuck do we kill that thing?"
And then come the threats. To his credit, the Prince remains calm in the oncoming and sheer righteous force of Riley's fury. Lacing his fingers together on his lap, the youthful looking dream simply closes his eyes.
"And you have every right to do so." He says matter of factly. "I will not stop you, if retribution is what you are after. I have much to atone for." He states like a man accepting a death sentence. But then one eye cracks back open.
"I tried. I tried and failed to destroy the Eater of Dreams. What makes you think I have even the slightest idea of how to do that?" He points out, before drawing a slow breath. "She is not dead. Not yet. Though she is a dream, like myself and that puts her at an immense risk. If she were to be devoured by the eater, there would be nothing anyone could do to bring her back. The other one trapped with her is a dreamer. Thought she stands to lose everything, she would at least survive. But those are the darkest outcomes. So long as that gossamer barrier remains at the entrance of the seal, I gaurantee you at least one of them is still alive."
Lacrima is about to say what the Prince says, but more snarky. "I don't think.... 'raw power' is going work here." she says softly. "I imagine that many purifiers might wound it but... like. That was... a lot of dark." she says quietly.
"-and I can count the number of people I know how to purify on like one hand...." she says quietly.
She shifts a bit as she settles.
"Like I said... Akashimaru might know." she offers. "Akashimaru fought that thing before. In a past life." she says. "She might know how it was sealed the first time..."
Riley took a swing at the prince, her fist wreathed in fire. She wasn't really sure what she was hoping to achieve there, though truth be told she was probably beyond thinking clearly at this point. "'I don't know' isn't fucking good enough! 'I don't know' doesn't bring our friend back! 'I don't know' doesn't unfuck this entire mess you brought onto us!"
She seemed to calm just a little at being told that Ariel wasn't dead though, the girl raising her fist again but holding it there rather than committing to the swing. "How? How could she still be alive? You were there, you saw what that thing did to all of us. It nearly ripped my leg off, how could anyone still be alive with that thing around?! Tell me!"
"The red samurai may know something. As would the baku that is always with her." The Prince says. Only to be cut off by the sudden contact of Riley's fist with his jaw. The blow is stunning, and sends him sprawling out of his chair with a grunt as he topples to the floor.
But he does not complain about it as he picks himself up to sit on the floor, rubbing at his cheek where the fist made impact. It was a strong blow. He must be made of stern stuff just to have taken it at all without getting knocked out entirely.
But he sighs. "I suppose I deserved that." He does admit.
"Gossamer can only retain its form so long as someone is dreaming it into shape. If she dies the barrier she made will vanish." He explains. "Though she is at immense risk the longer that she remains in the seal with the Eater. Just even the slightest contact is a death sentence to a dream such as her or myself."
Lacrima gets up angrily. She'll go over to help the Prince up, softly. If he needs it. She then frowns. "I said. Civil. Please. I.. I don't like... fighting... in my castle." she says softly as she sits down. She doesn't act any further than that. She doesn't trying to expel Riley or anyone.
"Yes." she says quietly. She gently strokes at her arm. "I... that dark is...."
"...Reminds me of.. this period between... dying and... becoming... dark energy... construct." she manages to vocalize. "It's such a horrid thing." she says quietly.
Riley let her fist drop back to her side, the flames still spitting and flickering. She at least heard Lacrima that time, the girl taking a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. "So that puts us against the clock even harder then. Right."
She turned, or more glanced really, towards Lacrima. "All the more reason we have to pull her out, if she's still alive. That and if she's still her. When that, that *thing* grabbed my leg it felt like it took a part of me with it." She sounded at least a little more controlled at this point, though she was still standing there all henshin'd and fiery with fists at the ready glaring flaming daggers towards the downed prince. "Do you at least have any theories on how to undo what you've done? You started this clusterfuck, and I don't think we're going to be able to solve it with the "power of love" or some other hippy bullshit."
A motion of his hand indicates that the Prince declines aid in getting up as he picks himself up and slides back into his chair with a slump. "That darkness is a void. The Eater of Dreams sucks away the environment all around it until all that is left is a dead, dry husk of anything positive. Imagination, hopes, dreams, it eats it all until there is nothing left. If anything, that is the closest to death one might come without actually dying."
But does he have any theories on how to undo what he has done? The prince purses his lips. "Not personally." He does admit. "But. I do have connections still. To both dreams and Nightmares. Perhaps one of them might know something..."
Lacrima frowns heavily. "Saving Ariel... is my primary concern." she says quietly. "But if we save her, we've found a way to stop the Eater of Dreams anyways." she says softly. "Because... I don't think... that girl is gonna let me drag her outta there otherwise." she says softly. "Even if I had a big... nightmare crowbar to try to wedge her out... or something...." she mutters.
She sighs a little. "If you can find anyone that might know things. Or have ideas beyond what we have, that could help a lot." she says to the Prince of... Dreams? Dreams now. Yes.
"....Considering I just got this whole... Nightmare... Princess thing going for me and I don't even know anyone besides Ariel and her family and Icela in the dream world." she says.
"...and I wouldn't be going to Icela-- and I barely know the catgirl that bothers Kotomi... Yasumi... I think." she says softly.
Riley sat down heavily and backwards in a chair, folding her arms and leaning over the back of it. "We could always nuke the site from orbit." the girl suggested, with a tone nearly as dry as the Nevada. "Only way to be sure." She sighed, shaking her head. She had managed to at least contain herself somewhat by this point, no longer shouting and raging against the Prince.
"Right-" She said, her tone losing its sarcasm. "so who are these contacts of yours? Also yeah, no, Icela's not an option. She'd probably try to hug that thing from what I've seen of her."
Of course saving Ariel would be Lacrima's promary concern, and for a moment again the Prince has something of a sheepish look. But he recovers quickly enough.
"Destroying the seal would just free it." He does point out to Riley, though, but he leans back in his seat. "Over my centuries I've met countless dreams, dreamers, and nightmares. One of them would be bound to know something. I will begin speaking with them tonight."
Lacrima nods. "If you need to come back here. The door's open. If you need to bring someone here to talk... there's a meeting hall. I would ask you use that. For public speaking. It's... somewhere. In here. There's lots of rooms I actually don't visit on the regular. The throne room... for example... up there. At the tower. With the roses." she says.
"I... really need to check on that room again though. It's probably filled with roses." she says quietly. And Also. She hates being reminded of another jerk that nearly ruined her life again.
"You do that." Riley said, her tone ice cold despite her fiery form, the little "superhero" still glaring daggers at the Prince. Her face softened as she turned to Lacrima though, nodding and standing up. "Right, I guess that's it then. That's all we have. These contacts of yours better bring something more useful to the table, or I'm going to feed you to that whatever the hell it is myself."
"Wait..."
"Why would it be full of roses? That tower's stone. Now I ain't no green thumb but how would roses be growing through drystone?"
Lacrima blinks and looks back to Brass. "Oh. Um. There was a fight. In there. Tuxedo Kamen made them grow up the tower and into the room to weaken what was there. He said I could remove them but.... they make me feel safe. So I just kept them." she says softly.
She'll walk away to go mope in the courtyard, regardless for a bit. Riley can of course leave whenever she wants, just by waking up.