A dream, typical of children's dreams, it takes place at school. Morning classes are over, and recess is about to start. The school in question looks like Seishou, though the middle and high school elements of are missing. All the students are young, wearing the Seishou elementary school uniform.
One of said students, Nicola Esprit, seems to be alone even in this crowd. She's smiling, looking around, as she files out the building along with her classmates. This all still seems very new to her, she's making extra care to walk the right way, perhaps afraid of getting lost.
Dreams about school aren't out of the ordinary at all! As it just so happens, there is another, wandering the land of slumber and dreams; though as a natural denizen thereove, moving between them is a little easier for Ariel and Lucky. After the chaos of D-Point, she had somewhat retreated temporarily, spending most of her time recovering through sleep and letting her mind wander that way.
With a light thump, the unicorn, mounted on her massive hound, land on the roof of the dream school in question, topaz eyes wandering the crowd below. Normally she wouldn't stick around long if everything seemed alright, but for some reason she's compelled to linger in this dream a little longer.
And that's when it becomes apparent more is going on. When the girls are finally starting to scatter, Nicola walks towards one of her classmates, but her steps make no progress, only getting further away. She sighs, not yet realizing that the building behind that classmate was also moving away from her.
And so, she changes directions, heading for another. Only for the same thing to occur. This repeats a few times, before she is well and truly alone, on a featureless grey plane with schoolbuildings, a playground and classmates only to be seen in the distance.
Oh dear, that's what had pulled her to stay. There's a brief glimpse at the star-shaped pendant down on her neck, as Ariel purses her lips. fingers curl into Lucky's scruffy neckfur as she watches Nicola left all on her own. No matter who she turns to, no matter which direction she heads in.
It's not a dream, it's a nightmare. Anyone can see that; and Ariel would be remiss in her duties to let it go unchecked and try to feed on another child's fears and negative emotions, for it's own gain. But when a Nightmare is little more than a nebulous concept like loneliness, with no direct form to take it on, there is a better way to thwart it. By defying it.
"Come on, Lucky." The unicorn says gently, nudging her canine steed with a knee. With a grunt, the huge hound hops clean off the roof, landing softly, but still earning a tiny bleat from his rider, before padding over and nudging cold nose right against Nicola's back.
Nicola jumps when the feeling of a weird creature's nose reaches her back, and in surprise she yelps 'I didn't do anything' in a language not native to Earth. If it wasn't for the panic, at least it would have been a pleasant sounding language.
After the initial shock, she turns around, and looks at the giant dog and its rider. It seems an unusual scene for her, though she reaches out for the hound's head to give it a gentle petting. "Hi." She says in heavily accented Japanese, the same language she had been using to call out to her distant classmates, "Who are you two? I am Nicola Esprit."
Loppy ears prick up-- on both the dog and unicorn at the strange language. So turning around results in a pair of bewildered stares from the huge hound and his tiny rider. Lucky lowers his head, ears splaying as he gives a low "Wurf." and allows Nicola to pet him.
He's abnormally warm, but then again maybe that can be expected for a glowing dog made of starlight. But then Ariel is reminded that conversations are a two way street. Her Japanese isn't perfect, but it gets the job done. Other than a few stumbles here and there, her grasp on the language seems strong enough to manage.
"Hi! I'm Ariel. And this is Lucky! It looks like you're having some trouble fitting in." It's a little blunt, but she clearly means no offense by it.
Another person with imperfect Japanese, somehow it makes Nicola feel more at home. "I do." She admits, petting Lucky a little more as she looks around at all the people in the distance, but makes no effort to move. "I recently moved to Japan, and I don't really fit in that well, I feel." She sighs, just a little. Whatever emotions helped this nightmare form, they aren't gone yet. "So, uh... are girls with horns common around here?"
"Ruff."
Uh oh, petting Lucky too much means there's only one outcome. That huge jaw opens- his tongue comes out- and unless Nicola stops him, she's going to get licked right on the face. At least his breath doesn't stink.
Ariel, though, flashes something of a sheepish smile. "Um! I'm not sure." She admits on the topic of how common her type can be. "I don't think so, though." She admits, before her nose scrunches. It looks like she's puzzling something out for a moment before nodding. "I just got here, myself-- to Japan I mean. It's really big and strange- and kind of a little daunting." The unicorn agrees, offering a clear and common ground between the two, before holding out her hand. "But here, climb on. Lucky's faster than most people, so I think on his back, you could catch up to anyone here."
After all, the Nightmare won't be able to maintain its hold and take real root, if it's denied at every turn. Sometimes all it takes is a helping hand.
And thus, the little girl gets licked right in the face. With slobber on her face, she's helped onto Lucky's back, and she wipes her face dry with a hanky she pulls out of her bag. It may be strange, but Nicola doesn't ask where Ariel is from if she's not from Japan, nor does she volunteer where she is from other than 'not Japan.'
"Lucky is... a dog, right? I don't think I've seen a dog this big before." That's where her questions take her instead, outwardly curious about things that do not open her up to questions that could end with 'and how about you?'
Lucky is big enough for two girls of Ariel and Nicola's size to hop on, easily. Though there is a light giggle from Ariel as Nicola has to wipe her face off. For now it seems to work out for the best without prying too deeply into prospective backgrounds.
"Lucky is a star. Though he seems to like that shape, I guess."
"Wurf."
Though Ariel makes room on his back, regardless. He begins trotting off in the direction of the last group of students that had filed away. "This is... Ah... Seishou, right? I took a little peek around when I first got here- normal girls go to schools like these, yes?" It's as strange a question to ask, as any, as she tries to distract Nicola from the negative feelings the Nightmare could try to feed on. Either way, she was telling the truth, Lucky can outrun most humans!
"Yes." Nicola might not know much about normal girls, but she knows they go to schools just like this one. The distraction works, for the most part, as though things are still moving away, they're now doing so at a rate that Lucky seems able to catch up, given time.
"If Lucky is a star, why doesn't he look like one? Stars are made out of extremely hot hydrogen. I don't think we could sit on one without burning." Nicola is immediately drawn to the scientific interpretation of stars for some reason, "And I think they're supposed to be quite a lot bigger, too..."
Lucky is already picking up his pace, though he does SNORT when Nicola turns to science on the topic of stars. In fact he actually turns his head, nose scrunching up in a display of mild irritation- though Ariel gives him a gentle pat that sets him back on his course, and speeding up.
"That's because he fell out of the sky." Ariel explains, as though it were the perfect, simple, answer, and the only one there was. In her case it's true. Though she does look somewhat befuddled by the logic and physics and science the other girl presents her with as she tips back and cups one hand to her mouth. "Use your imagination a little! Besides, this is your dream, anyway, anything you want can come true in it."
Dream basics 101!
"Maybe if you make it come true here, it'll be a lot easier when you do it, while you're awake, too!"
"Anything?" Nicola asks, and in the distance, a vague image of an adult man in a lab coat appears, but the followup statement from Ariel is enough to wipe it away again. "Don't give me false hopes like that." She says softly, a little angrily. "He's dead." And somehow, she sounds like she doubts that; or at least wants to doubt it.
They do get closer to the classmates, and the playground, by now, and slowly but surely the world starts to shrink back to normal proportions. Still, Nicola doesn't quite seem happy, feelings of loneliness displaced by feelings of loss and grief. ... at least they don't fuel this nightmare?